Age is mind over matter, if you donot mind it does not matter........
- Mark Twain
I was celebrating my birthday as usual this year. Friends started wishing me Happy Birthday from night nine O'clock on the previous day onwards. At midnight 12 I got lot of calls wishing me happy birthday. It gives immense pleasure for me to know that so many friends remember my birth date. By the way it comes to my mind one question - is birthday so important in one's life? Some people even donot remember their birth date and celebrate the day as usual the same routine as any day. So many people hype it up with party galoring over wine flowing in and around. Some people make it simple to celebrate the birthday a bit special buying new clothes and visiting temples. Some people do some charity on the birthdays doing some great deed that will serve someone needy - these are socialites. Someone shy off to say that it is their birthday but they bask in the glory of getting recognized on their birthday. Not a problem! However you name it, it is anyhow a special day. But how many of us are really understanding what birthday means and what it tells us in life?
Does birthday mean that we need to celebrate a party with an extra candle? you will reach a age where you may need ceasefire or at later age fire department to blow the candles off.... but the fun is always there. Does birthday mean you spend some 500 bucks and give away party and spend the whole day for enjoyment? I shall tell you that the people who are born before 20th of a month are fairly lucky. I know how many purses will go empty when it is monthend and people who are born in last week need to plan for their birthday spending from first week of the month. Isn't it? However whether we show off or keep it simple it always reminds that you cross another year in your life. Each year is a reckoning. Each year is a realization of ambitions. Each year is an experience. Each year is a journey. Each year is a passage and so on.....
Infact it is a day to realize the past mistakes and make resolutions. We generally take Jan 1 to do it so why not keep birthday to do a revision? It is a revision of what we have made a resolution in past one year and what we need to make a resolution in future year. It is a time to verify our past one year tenure and be aware what needs to be planned in next year. Every year on personal front is quite important. Whether we move on careers or do something to enhance our work, our personal life is same and always changes with new phases of life entering in. It is the day to look behind and see what have we achieved in past X years when we complete the X on this day. It takes 10 minutes to make a self analysis and make a point to do something new in this year that will help our personal life. In my case, I made some resolutions myself to get to a better work-life balance. I decided to join yoga to enhance my health. I decided to finish my Guitar this year to get some self satisfaction of extra ciricular activity. On professional front I felt happy that I have completed one year in my current company and revisited my past one year experience. I made a resolution to enhance new skills on linux and drivers. On family front I decided to get some changes in my financial planning. On the view of friendships this year I brought many new friends into my circle but I keep forgetting to make a point with them catching them up. I decided to spend some ample time with them whenever I get some time. Remaining time I decided to dedicate to my reading skills and communication skills and improve my vocabulary. I have been doing some silly and want to become an expert in expressing things. This year also brought a quadrant way of planning time into my life. So I realize that this year will be great for me.
So it is your turn if your birthday is over or getting to come. you need to start thinking about what new resolutions that you plan to do this year and how do you plan to achieve them.
Friday, June 27, 2008
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Real-life Dilbert quotes - some amazing entries
A popular magazine recently ran a "Dilbert Quotes" contest. They wanted people to submit quotes from their real-life Dilbert-type managers. Here are some of the submissions:
1. As of tomorrow, employees will only be able to access the building using individual security cards. Pictures will be taken next Wednesday and employees will receive their cards in two weeks. (This was the winning entry; Fred Dales at Microsoft Corporation in Redmond, WA)
2. What I need is a list of specific unknown problems we will encounter. (Lykes Lines Shipping)
3. How long is this Beta guy going to keep testing our stuff? (Programming intern, Microsoft IIS Development team)
4. E-mail is not to be used to pass on information or data. It should be used only for company business. (Accounting Mgr., Electric Boat Company)
5. This project is so important, we can't let things that are more important interfere with it. (Advertising/Mktg. Mgr., UPS)
6. Doing it right is no excuse for not meeting the schedule. No one will believe you solved this problem in one day! We've been working on it for months. Now, go act busy for a few weeks and I'll let you know when it's time to tell them. (R&D Supervisor, Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing/3MCorp.)
7. My boss spent the entire weekend retyping a 25-page proposal that only needed editing. She claims the disk I gave her was damaged and she couldn't edit it. The disk I gave her was write-protected. (CIO of Dell Computers)
8. Quote from the boss: "Teamwork is a lot of people doing what 'I' say." (Mktg. executive, Citrix Corporation)
9. My sister passed away and her funeral was scheduled for Monday. When I told my boss, he said she died only so that I would have to miss work on the busiest day of the year. He then asked if we could change her burial to Friday. He said, "That would be better for me." (Shipping Executive, FTD Florists)
10. We know that communication is a problem, but the company is not going to discuss it with the employees. (AT&T Lone Lines Division)
11. We recently received a memo from senior management saying, "This is to inform you that a memo will be issued today regarding the subject mentioned above." (Microsoft, Legal Affairs Division)
12. One day my boss asked me to submit a status report to him concerning a project I was working on. I asked him if tomorrow would be soon enough. He said, "If I wanted it tomorrow, I would have waited until tomorrow to ask for it!" (New Business Mgr., Hallmark Cards)
As director of communications, I was asked to prepare a memo reviewing our company's training programs and materials. In the body of the memo one of the sentences mentioned the "pedagogical approach" used by one of the training manuals. The day after I routed the memo to the executive committee, I was called into the HR Director's office, and was told that the executive VP wanted me out of the building by lunch. When I asked why, I was told that she wouldn't stand for "perverts" (pedophiles?) working in her company. Finally he showed me her copy of the memo, with her demand that I be fired, with the word "pedagogical" circled in red. The HR Manager was fairly reasonable, and once he looked the word up in his dictionary and made a copy of the definition to send to my boss, he told me not to worry - he would take care of it. Two days later, a memo to the entire staff came out, directing that no words which could not be found in the local Sunday newspaper could be used in company memos. A month later I resigned. In accordance with company policy, I created my resignation letter by pasting words together from the Sunday paper. (Taco Bell Corporation)
13. This gem is the closing paragraph of a nationally-circulated memo from a large communications company: "Lucent Technologies is endeavorily determined to promote constant attention on current procedures of transacting business focusing emphasis on innovative ways to better, if not supercede, the expectations of quality!"
1. As of tomorrow, employees will only be able to access the building using individual security cards. Pictures will be taken next Wednesday and employees will receive their cards in two weeks. (This was the winning entry; Fred Dales at Microsoft Corporation in Redmond, WA)
2. What I need is a list of specific unknown problems we will encounter. (Lykes Lines Shipping)
3. How long is this Beta guy going to keep testing our stuff? (Programming intern, Microsoft IIS Development team)
4. E-mail is not to be used to pass on information or data. It should be used only for company business. (Accounting Mgr., Electric Boat Company)
5. This project is so important, we can't let things that are more important interfere with it. (Advertising/Mktg. Mgr., UPS)
6. Doing it right is no excuse for not meeting the schedule. No one will believe you solved this problem in one day! We've been working on it for months. Now, go act busy for a few weeks and I'll let you know when it's time to tell them. (R&D Supervisor, Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing/3MCorp.)
7. My boss spent the entire weekend retyping a 25-page proposal that only needed editing. She claims the disk I gave her was damaged and she couldn't edit it. The disk I gave her was write-protected. (CIO of Dell Computers)
8. Quote from the boss: "Teamwork is a lot of people doing what 'I' say." (Mktg. executive, Citrix Corporation)
9. My sister passed away and her funeral was scheduled for Monday. When I told my boss, he said she died only so that I would have to miss work on the busiest day of the year. He then asked if we could change her burial to Friday. He said, "That would be better for me." (Shipping Executive, FTD Florists)
10. We know that communication is a problem, but the company is not going to discuss it with the employees. (AT&T Lone Lines Division)
11. We recently received a memo from senior management saying, "This is to inform you that a memo will be issued today regarding the subject mentioned above." (Microsoft, Legal Affairs Division)
12. One day my boss asked me to submit a status report to him concerning a project I was working on. I asked him if tomorrow would be soon enough. He said, "If I wanted it tomorrow, I would have waited until tomorrow to ask for it!" (New Business Mgr., Hallmark Cards)
As director of communications, I was asked to prepare a memo reviewing our company's training programs and materials. In the body of the memo one of the sentences mentioned the "pedagogical approach" used by one of the training manuals. The day after I routed the memo to the executive committee, I was called into the HR Director's office, and was told that the executive VP wanted me out of the building by lunch. When I asked why, I was told that she wouldn't stand for "perverts" (pedophiles?) working in her company. Finally he showed me her copy of the memo, with her demand that I be fired, with the word "pedagogical" circled in red. The HR Manager was fairly reasonable, and once he looked the word up in his dictionary and made a copy of the definition to send to my boss, he told me not to worry - he would take care of it. Two days later, a memo to the entire staff came out, directing that no words which could not be found in the local Sunday newspaper could be used in company memos. A month later I resigned. In accordance with company policy, I created my resignation letter by pasting words together from the Sunday paper. (Taco Bell Corporation)
13. This gem is the closing paragraph of a nationally-circulated memo from a large communications company: "Lucent Technologies is endeavorily determined to promote constant attention on current procedures of transacting business focusing emphasis on innovative ways to better, if not supercede, the expectations of quality!"
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Greatest threats to climate - the global warming
There is a growing concern over climatic changes around the world and increasing number of people are showing interest towards the global warming. Year by year, the temperatures of a region are increasing and one fine day it may reach to a level which common man cannot tolerate. In the recent 10K run marathon conducted in Bangalore, I have seen a lot of Majja run participants propogating some information to save the climate and what we can do to the climate on our behalf. Infact it is every citizen's responsibility to show a concern towards climate. By the way what is 'global warming'? Global warming is the rise in temperature of the earth's atmosphere. Carbon dioxide and other air pollution that is collecting in the atmosphere like a thickening blanket, trapping the sun's heat and causing the planet to warm up. It's said that by the time a baby born today is 80 years old, the world will be 6 and a half degrees warmer than it is now. Although local temperatures fluctuate naturally, over the past 50 years the average global temperature has increased at the fastest rate in recorded history. And experts think the trend is accelerating: the 10 hottest years on record have all occurred since 1990. Let us consider the case of cities like Bangalore. This city which was considered to be most serenic cool sity in 1990's is now grown to a temperatures around 37 ° C which was never imagined 10 years ago when it was not even around 30 ° C .
We keep reading about rising temperatures and sea-levels in other parts of the world like United States and the UK, but actually India is one of the most vulnerable countries when it comes to effects of global warming. India has a vast coastal line and the rising sea levels caused by global warming will cause an ecological disaster. This is according to a 1989 United Nations Environment Programme study. We already saw some warnings through Tsunami. - the massive tidal waves that have slammed into our costs have already taken the lives of many a thousands and left several others with no way of continuing their lives.
The Himalayan glaciers have started to melt and the average rate of retreat is almost twice (34 metres) per year as compared to the 1971 levels of 19 metres. The melting glaciers will cause temperatures and sea-levels to rise and there will be a cascading effect on the crops and the monsoons. Worse - whole islands are expected to vanish! In fact two have already gone under - two islands in the Sunderbans, an area which India shares with Bangladesh. Temperatures in the group of islands has already gone up by one degree centigrade. While some climatologists say that sea levels will increase by just 4-35 inches from 1990 levels in another hundred yea.... some feel that the range could be higher - 20-55 inches. Thats a lot and will affect human habitat in a big way.In fact, as far back as 1993 a study to evaluate the impact of rising sea levels on India was carried out by JNU (Jawaharlal Nehru University). They calculated what would happen if the sea-levels rose by just 1 metre…and they found that as many as 7 million people would be displaced and 5,764 sq km of land and 4,200 km of roads would be lost!
What can one do to save the global warming? On a daily basic this is what we can do to contribute to climate. These are simple, but are highly practical and effective.
1. Plant native and/or drought-tolerant plants. Some grasses, ground covers, shrubs and trees do not need to be watered as frequently.
2. Make sure you re-cycle newspapers, glass bottles, tin cans, and magazines.
3. Reuse your shopping bag plastic instead of getting new ones each time you go to the market.
4. Donate your unwanted clothes.
5. Turn off the faucet when you are brushing your teeth. Avoid water wastage.
5 .Turn off electrical devices (lights, fans, tv, computers, etc.) when they are not in use. Again saving electricity will mean saving water used to generate electricity.
6. Use “Energy Efficient” appliances. They will save you about a third on their energy bill with similar savings of greenhouse gas emissions, without sacrificing features, style or comfort
7. Check for leaks (toilets, faucets, pipes, irrigation systems, etc.). • Install a low-flow shower head
8. Ride your bicycle instead of driving for short distances. Atleast try to walk. Walking is a good excercise.
9. Have showers instead of baths. Shower will take less water than a bucket.
10. Solar water heaters than Electric ones would mean saving power.
And the list goes on..... And now I am sure you will have enough ideas in your brain to save environment. Implementation of simple steps is very much important.
We keep reading about rising temperatures and sea-levels in other parts of the world like United States and the UK, but actually India is one of the most vulnerable countries when it comes to effects of global warming. India has a vast coastal line and the rising sea levels caused by global warming will cause an ecological disaster. This is according to a 1989 United Nations Environment Programme study. We already saw some warnings through Tsunami. - the massive tidal waves that have slammed into our costs have already taken the lives of many a thousands and left several others with no way of continuing their lives.
The Himalayan glaciers have started to melt and the average rate of retreat is almost twice (34 metres) per year as compared to the 1971 levels of 19 metres. The melting glaciers will cause temperatures and sea-levels to rise and there will be a cascading effect on the crops and the monsoons. Worse - whole islands are expected to vanish! In fact two have already gone under - two islands in the Sunderbans, an area which India shares with Bangladesh. Temperatures in the group of islands has already gone up by one degree centigrade. While some climatologists say that sea levels will increase by just 4-35 inches from 1990 levels in another hundred yea.... some feel that the range could be higher - 20-55 inches. Thats a lot and will affect human habitat in a big way.In fact, as far back as 1993 a study to evaluate the impact of rising sea levels on India was carried out by JNU (Jawaharlal Nehru University). They calculated what would happen if the sea-levels rose by just 1 metre…and they found that as many as 7 million people would be displaced and 5,764 sq km of land and 4,200 km of roads would be lost!
What can one do to save the global warming? On a daily basic this is what we can do to contribute to climate. These are simple, but are highly practical and effective.
1. Plant native and/or drought-tolerant plants. Some grasses, ground covers, shrubs and trees do not need to be watered as frequently.
2. Make sure you re-cycle newspapers, glass bottles, tin cans, and magazines.
3. Reuse your shopping bag plastic instead of getting new ones each time you go to the market.
4. Donate your unwanted clothes.
5. Turn off the faucet when you are brushing your teeth. Avoid water wastage.
5 .Turn off electrical devices (lights, fans, tv, computers, etc.) when they are not in use. Again saving electricity will mean saving water used to generate electricity.
6. Use “Energy Efficient” appliances. They will save you about a third on their energy bill with similar savings of greenhouse gas emissions, without sacrificing features, style or comfort
7. Check for leaks (toilets, faucets, pipes, irrigation systems, etc.). • Install a low-flow shower head
8. Ride your bicycle instead of driving for short distances. Atleast try to walk. Walking is a good excercise.
9. Have showers instead of baths. Shower will take less water than a bucket.
10. Solar water heaters than Electric ones would mean saving power.
And the list goes on..... And now I am sure you will have enough ideas in your brain to save environment. Implementation of simple steps is very much important.
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
The time matrix - follow the basic thumb rules
This article relates to a good time management. I am inspired by this matrix and decided to pour some gyan into your mouths to light your brains with some innovative ideas. These are told and practiced by most people who succeeded in their lives as leaders
URGENT NOT URGENT
UI NUI IMPORTANT
UNI NUNI NOT IMPORTANT
Q! - URGENT & IMPORTANT
Q2 - IMPORTANT but NOT URGENT
Q3 - URGENT but NOT IMPORTANT
Q4 - NOT URGENT & NOT IMPORTANT
DEFINITIONS
URGENT - Tasks that take veNOTry less time to complete. The quickies
IMPORTANT - Tasks that need an ample amount of time allocation - The planned ones
THUMB RULES - in office
URGENT & IMPORTANT - The tasks for which ne is hired for a firm.
URGENT but NOT IMPORTANT - Not important for me but for others. I can spend quick time to attend them because they are urgent and need to be attended now.
IMPORTANT but NOT URGENT - Need to spend some time on them. They are important for me. but they need not be so urgently done. I can plan as per my convinience.
NOT URGENT & NOT IMPORTANT - All personal tasks that come across when I am at desk. I need not give priority NOW and need not spend ample amount of time NOW. I can do it at home
THUMB RULES - at home
URGENT & IMPORTANT - The tasks that need immediate attention at my home and are to be done NOW. I cannot go ahead unless I do it.
URGENT but NOT IMPORTANT - Some help my friends or relatives need. Need to attend them as it is important for them and urgent for me.
IMPORTANT but NOT URGENT - Some regular important activities that I need to plan but no so urgent that I have to do it NOW
NOT URGENT & NOT IMPORTANT - All tasks at my personal level which donot make ANY relevance to me. Forget ! why I am thinking about them too much?
Planning daily activities
Quite important! based on where I am! IF I am at my office, then the above rules for office exist in nature and give my critical time. IF I am at my home priorities change.
These are not told by me but by many succesful people and these achievers always stress on planning. What is a life if it has no goal and a plan and a schedule? We follow some process at office only to impress our bosses and at home what is the process we follow? The basic nature of relaxation and leisure makes us not to plan the personal things properly. Being so sincere at offices, why many fail to manage their schedules on the personal activities? It is lack of planning of the activities properly. Many people are very much ignorant of ground rules and suffer in their life with their mis-timing and cause others to suffer. Some people excel well in their careers but fail to impress their spouses only because of lack of organized life! (kidding - How can I say that if I am not married is not it? ok makes sense!)
Some fundaes
1. We nned to be organized
2. We should know when to prioritise what to do
3. We need to work to make priorities
We are enough matured and say " I know these! " Ok! Then what is the problem?
- Either we were forgetting them or either donot know how to work like this mentioned above
- We approximately are aware of them. But we are too busy to follow rules
- We know rules. We hate to follow rules since we DONOT want to follow
Out of above three, two are very easy to get corrected. If we are forgetting the rules or way to plan, we can make ways NOT to forget them by making a note of them. The expenditure will take a pen and paper to note a daily plan, weekly and monthly plan and follow them. That is what the quadrant matrix is all about. Follow simple ground rules and write your daily schedule. Second one - If we are too busy to follow rules - again we need matrix to basically organize ourselves as when we need to be busy with what so as to make sure that we spend busy time as per planned timing. Third - You are a haw and not the hem. You need a latest reading of "Who moved my cheese". We are most sophisticated to continue something we already know. Sometimes we are driven by urgency and we are not able to think about some RULE to make us force to do things in that way only. We are skeptical about it since we donot know what the schedule next week would be. Or mostly we like to be too dynamic than static in changing next moment plan due to urgenncy. Everything again boils down to a word urgency.
If you are a very busy person and you are driven by urgency and deliver the best when at urgency, it is the very procastination that is creating a sense of urgency in your activities. If you follow the matrix and give most importance to the way of first defining the 1st quadrant activities then your priorities will surely change. If you need to deal with others, just move to Q3 if it can be done quick or put it as Q4 if it can be dealt later. Plan your daily Q2 activiies to give importance. IF important tasks are well ahead planned without urgency then the very sense of urgency for Q2 tasks does not appear. And you will have sufficient time for Q1 to complete NOW. It is the very NOW that you need to agree with to complete the tasks that you list as Q1. Anything that releates to your duties are all Q1. Beware! donot run away! Some day you HAVE to do them! It is better to do it NOW them doing them LATER correct?
Life has many unexpected things. We get to go off with many things which we need to attend in no time correct? Learning to be as quick enough as it takes will make our lives easier. Planning important things is most important aspect of scheduling. One who is NOT driven by sense of urgency in life - is a great achiever. Since he plans ahead as what the very basic sense of urgency is for. He knows when to be urgent and where the important one is! Hopefully the definition of ground rule will help him each time dividing tasks one by one and keeping himself cool. It is not that priorities with URGENT - IMPORTANT category change but it is that how best we can determine which one to finish first and which one to finish next. Again it takes only few minutes for us to do that! After all it is a matter of pen and paper right? I agree we are hi-tech people and we all have organizers in our cellphones! Let us start using them!
URGENT NOT URGENT
UI NUI IMPORTANT
UNI NUNI NOT IMPORTANT
Q! - URGENT & IMPORTANT
Q2 - IMPORTANT but NOT URGENT
Q3 - URGENT but NOT IMPORTANT
Q4 - NOT URGENT & NOT IMPORTANT
DEFINITIONS
URGENT - Tasks that take veNOTry less time to complete. The quickies
IMPORTANT - Tasks that need an ample amount of time allocation - The planned ones
THUMB RULES - in office
URGENT & IMPORTANT - The tasks for which ne is hired for a firm.
URGENT but NOT IMPORTANT - Not important for me but for others. I can spend quick time to attend them because they are urgent and need to be attended now.
IMPORTANT but NOT URGENT - Need to spend some time on them. They are important for me. but they need not be so urgently done. I can plan as per my convinience.
NOT URGENT & NOT IMPORTANT - All personal tasks that come across when I am at desk. I need not give priority NOW and need not spend ample amount of time NOW. I can do it at home
THUMB RULES - at home
URGENT & IMPORTANT - The tasks that need immediate attention at my home and are to be done NOW. I cannot go ahead unless I do it.
URGENT but NOT IMPORTANT - Some help my friends or relatives need. Need to attend them as it is important for them and urgent for me.
IMPORTANT but NOT URGENT - Some regular important activities that I need to plan but no so urgent that I have to do it NOW
NOT URGENT & NOT IMPORTANT - All tasks at my personal level which donot make ANY relevance to me. Forget ! why I am thinking about them too much?
Planning daily activities
Quite important! based on where I am! IF I am at my office, then the above rules for office exist in nature and give my critical time. IF I am at my home priorities change.
These are not told by me but by many succesful people and these achievers always stress on planning. What is a life if it has no goal and a plan and a schedule? We follow some process at office only to impress our bosses and at home what is the process we follow? The basic nature of relaxation and leisure makes us not to plan the personal things properly. Being so sincere at offices, why many fail to manage their schedules on the personal activities? It is lack of planning of the activities properly. Many people are very much ignorant of ground rules and suffer in their life with their mis-timing and cause others to suffer. Some people excel well in their careers but fail to impress their spouses only because of lack of organized life! (kidding - How can I say that if I am not married is not it? ok makes sense!)
Some fundaes
1. We nned to be organized
2. We should know when to prioritise what to do
3. We need to work to make priorities
We are enough matured and say " I know these! " Ok! Then what is the problem?
- Either we were forgetting them or either donot know how to work like this mentioned above
- We approximately are aware of them. But we are too busy to follow rules
- We know rules. We hate to follow rules since we DONOT want to follow
Out of above three, two are very easy to get corrected. If we are forgetting the rules or way to plan, we can make ways NOT to forget them by making a note of them. The expenditure will take a pen and paper to note a daily plan, weekly and monthly plan and follow them. That is what the quadrant matrix is all about. Follow simple ground rules and write your daily schedule. Second one - If we are too busy to follow rules - again we need matrix to basically organize ourselves as when we need to be busy with what so as to make sure that we spend busy time as per planned timing. Third - You are a haw and not the hem. You need a latest reading of "Who moved my cheese". We are most sophisticated to continue something we already know. Sometimes we are driven by urgency and we are not able to think about some RULE to make us force to do things in that way only. We are skeptical about it since we donot know what the schedule next week would be. Or mostly we like to be too dynamic than static in changing next moment plan due to urgenncy. Everything again boils down to a word urgency.
If you are a very busy person and you are driven by urgency and deliver the best when at urgency, it is the very procastination that is creating a sense of urgency in your activities. If you follow the matrix and give most importance to the way of first defining the 1st quadrant activities then your priorities will surely change. If you need to deal with others, just move to Q3 if it can be done quick or put it as Q4 if it can be dealt later. Plan your daily Q2 activiies to give importance. IF important tasks are well ahead planned without urgency then the very sense of urgency for Q2 tasks does not appear. And you will have sufficient time for Q1 to complete NOW. It is the very NOW that you need to agree with to complete the tasks that you list as Q1. Anything that releates to your duties are all Q1. Beware! donot run away! Some day you HAVE to do them! It is better to do it NOW them doing them LATER correct?
Life has many unexpected things. We get to go off with many things which we need to attend in no time correct? Learning to be as quick enough as it takes will make our lives easier. Planning important things is most important aspect of scheduling. One who is NOT driven by sense of urgency in life - is a great achiever. Since he plans ahead as what the very basic sense of urgency is for. He knows when to be urgent and where the important one is! Hopefully the definition of ground rule will help him each time dividing tasks one by one and keeping himself cool. It is not that priorities with URGENT - IMPORTANT category change but it is that how best we can determine which one to finish first and which one to finish next. Again it takes only few minutes for us to do that! After all it is a matter of pen and paper right? I agree we are hi-tech people and we all have organizers in our cellphones! Let us start using them!
Neverthless to say! writing this blog took me approximately one and half hour for total compilation and posting which I am doing it as IMPORTANT but not URGENT. I wanted to share with others which is IMPORTANT - I need to spend some ample time for it. NOT URGENT for me - it is not a immediate task to finish quickly NOW correct? hence doing in leisure time. OK! Time for now to plan my weekend activities based on time matrix!
Saturday, May 31, 2008
If Aamir Khan Did Not Make Taare Zameen Par: A Movie Un-Review
If you want to know how good Taare is, just go to your nearest theater and watch the people coming out after the show. The cacophony that surrounds a crowd exiting a theater will be missing. Some would be walking in slow motion. Some would look petrified. At least thats what happened in the theater I went to. Not a single soul was talking after the movie, probably because what everyone saw on screen was not fiction, but a semi-biography of his/her own life. In fact, the normally rowdiest gang in a theatre (ie my friends and I) that is uber vocal at the end of a film left the theater in pin drop silence. The first thing we said to each other -Aamir Bhai has done it again.
Indeed, Aamir Khan had done it again. I have a gut feeling that Taare would change people like no other movie has previously done.
I know only Aamir can make a film like Taare. But let us assume he did not make it (dream on!). What would the film have been like?
If Karan Johar made Taare
Obvious starcast:
Shah Rukh Khan as the arts teacher (duh duh duh!!).
Aryan Khan as the dyslexic child (even if he could not act for nuts).
Rani Mukerjee as the kids mom (assuming Kajol is unavailable).
Abhishek Bachchan as the kids dad.
Amitabh Bachchan as the school principal (who cares if the role is ultra minute, he can afford it).
It would be shot in New York to appeal to the NRI audience.
The story line would obviously be different. SRK would fall for the dyslexic kids mom. The last scene would have the mom running to the teacher rather than the kid. And again, like in so many other movies, SRK would get someone elses girl.
It would have one dance number.
The film would be titled Kuch Taare Zameen Par.
If Sanjay Leela Bhansali made Taare
Obvious starcast:
Salman as the teacher.
Rani as the mother.
Of course the whole film would be shot on elaborate sets. The school would be nothing short of Harvard university.
An orchestra would play every time anyone cried.
Slow motion, different camera angles for every scene..
The school uniforms would match the classroom walls even though that does not make a difference.
The film would cost 60 crores.
If Farah Khan made Taare
Obvious starcast:
SRK as the teacher (yawn).
In the original Taare, Aamir makes an entry at the interval point. In Farahs version, SRK would be on screen on for 2.30 hrs out of the 2.45 hrs and would be introduced in the first scene itself.
The story would be changed to make sure the above happened. The focus of the film would be a teacher who helps a kid fight dyslexia.
To make it a complete entertainer, there would be a romantic angle, comedy, and action thrown in. Oh idea!! Nikumbhs character likes another teacher and the kiddo helps him.. throw in some comedy moments there and you have romance and comedy settled. For action.. hmm.. lemme see.. oh yah, the kid gets kidnapped and the teacher fights the baddies to save him. Wow!! Im quite an imaginative writer. I can see how Farah can write a film from scratch in two weeks straight.
The film posters would have a big SRK with the tiny image of the kid in the background..
If Rakesh Roshan made Taare
Obvious starcast:
Hrithik Roshan as the teacher.
Since Rakesh Roshan cannot think beyond science fiction these days, this film would have that too. Instead of dyslexia, the kid would have alienositis or something, a condition induced due to him witnessing an alien abduction.
Instead of Nikumbh being an arts teacher, he would be a physics teacher, and instead of asking kids to be creative, he would ask them to challenge the science we know.
In the scene where Nikumbh asks the kids to open their minds and make whatever they want outdoors, the kid Ishaan, instead of making a boat, would end up making a working spaceship prototype.
Nikumbh would cure the kids problem by making a full fledged version of the kids prototype, traveling to the alien planet, and asking them to give the kid his powers back.
The film would have music by Rajesh Roshan ripped off from some world music.
The films name would again start with a K.. probably Kuch Aliens Taaron se Zameen par.
The director would make sure Hrithik gets to show all his abilities. This would mean a scene with Roshan jr flexing his muscles, and a dance competition in the end, instead of an arts competition.
If Priyadarshan made Taare:
Obvious starcast:
Akshay Kumar as the teacher.
Paresh Rawal as the kids dad.
It would be a brainless comedy. The kids dyslexia would be made fun of. Half the times the parents will be running after the kid from one room to the other and that, in the directors opinion, would be funny.
The film will be full of sex jokes. So for example, when Akshay would come to the parents telling them that their son has dyslexia, the ignorant father would say something inappropriate like is umar mein? par kaise, woh to hamesha boys school mein padha hai!. And yes, the director would think it is funny.
In the climax of the film all the characters in the film would run around in the amphitheater for no reason, spilling colors on each other. Thats where the film will end, without any logical conclusion.
And of course, Paresh Rawal would emote like an epileptic himself making us question the boys mental abilities anyway.
I know there are a lot of other directors, but I choose these guys because I feel they are the most gutless or overrated directors we have today. They keep doing the same shit again and again and more often than not depend on the stars to carry a shitty film forward. They have no courage to try something non-nonsense, something that can use the medium of cinema for a little more than just entertainment, in spite of being the most sought after Taare Zameen Pars in the country.
The reason I am making this comparison at all is to show how Aamir (and Amol Gupte) has made a pure film, without giving into the temptation of masala or what would the audience like to see philosophy; for giving chance to fantastic yet unknown actors like Vipin Sharma and Tisca Chopra for riding against the tide; for not trying to hog the limelight in the film by happily playing second fiddle to the boy (even Aamir Khans name comes after Darsheel Sarfi, the boy, in the credits); for giving the audience something different once again as an entertainer; and for truly caring about the society and using the medium to bring a change.
I remember earlier this year SRK made a statement: films are for entertainment; messages are for post offices. Well Aamir Khan has proved that cinema is probably the best medium for giving a message and I can say that looking at the face of every person in the cinema hall. Not only that, he has proved (yet again!) that a message can be entertaining.
Have you tried cooking? here is one...
Ingredients
3/4 cup toor dal.
Two medium tomatoes
A bunch of coriander leaves.
2 tsp coriander powder.
Some red chillies(around 10) or 2-3 teaspoons of chilli powder.
2-3 flakes garlic.
A small piece of ginger.
1/4 stick butter.
Three small onions.
1 teaspoon cumin seeds or powder.
1 each cardamom, cinammon, cloves.
salt to taste.
Method
Boil the toor dhal in the cooker for only two whistles.
It should be just boiled and not too soft.
In the blender, grind together two onions, garlic,
ginger, coriander leaves, tomatoes,cumin seeds,coriander
powder and the red chillies(or powder).
Slice the other onion finely.
Melt the butter in a pan and fry the sliced onion with
the cardomom,cinammon and cloves.When the onions are turning
a little brown, add the ground masala and fry for around
15-20 minutes(all the water should have evaporated, and the
paste should be dry).
Now add the boiled dhal to it and add a little water to
make a gravy.
Add salt to taste.
Boil for a while till you get the required consistency.
Eat it hot with rice and papad.
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Thursday, May 29, 2008
Atitude make it all
I was reading an article on ATITUDE word and it says ' hey sum it up and it is 100 %'. How? See everyone of us have a way to see things. Every one of us has an understanding of what needs to be done in order to do things fast and all of us are mostly or merely urgent. But how many of us really look to finish the tasks the right way that we are supposed to complete? We tent to procastinate many times. We tend to be timid in execution of tasks. We are rather skeptical about the task execution itself. We sometimes say "I shall try' or 'ASAP' to make ourselves fools. ASAP in short - 'making ass out of you and me'. It is better to say I shall do it or I will do it than saying I will try to do it. A sense of positive thinking and optimism makes it all!
Most of us tend to become tenatious in execution of work becoming caring and worrying about simple things too much. The basic underlying metaphor for the day is 'being positive takes over everything in life'. Positive atitude has the vibration of creating waves across the people. It not only becomes a morale booster for you but also increases confidence in you.
Trying and giving a shot instead of fearing whether it can be done or not will give us more confidence. Unless you try it you donot know whether you will be able to complete it or not. It does not take much time to start off a thing in a positive fashion constantly reminding yourself that you will first start with it than thinking about it as how to start it. Negative atitude always is dangerous. It creates fear amongst you and others around you. It will give all a disp;leasure of your pessimistic approach. I have seen when people give a shot and start doing it optimistically than procastinating it, they have succeeded. It may take a bit time first but it is not difficult. It may be difficult but it is not impossible.
Positive atitude
1. I shall give you on xyz date.
2. I shall do it
3 I shall sart it and see though it is difficult
4. It may be difficult to achieve but not impossible
5. I shall plan accordingly as what is to be done
6. Everything is right. If it has gone wrong let me figure it out and fix it.
Negative atitude
1. I can try doing it in few weeks of time
2. I shall try doing it but not sure
3. I have difficulty in understanding it.
4. Seems to be difficult to achieve. May be impossible to finish
5. Let me think as how to plan and when to plan for it to do. Planning schecule depends on when I am free
6. It does not seem to be a right one. I donot know how to fix the problem when it comes
See here the negative atitude guy gives up a task before he himself does not know what the problem might be if it comes. He is too afraid to face the problem itself so how can he solve it? Positive thinker will only worry about the problem and deal with it when it comes. He may be smartly working till he finds a problem. Positive atitude person knows when to do a context switch where as negative atitude guy keeps switching between tasks since he is always confused as which one he needs to work with or pay attention. He is a hurry-burry man.
So it is good to start being optimist than being a pessimist. Pessimism may work when you catch a fish in a pond or when you hunt for someone. But whenever you start a new work be optimistic about the work itself that it will be fixed somehow and will be addressed by someone or you ( in case you can do it for yourself.)
more bla bla in coming blogs.........
Most of us tend to become tenatious in execution of work becoming caring and worrying about simple things too much. The basic underlying metaphor for the day is 'being positive takes over everything in life'. Positive atitude has the vibration of creating waves across the people. It not only becomes a morale booster for you but also increases confidence in you.
Trying and giving a shot instead of fearing whether it can be done or not will give us more confidence. Unless you try it you donot know whether you will be able to complete it or not. It does not take much time to start off a thing in a positive fashion constantly reminding yourself that you will first start with it than thinking about it as how to start it. Negative atitude always is dangerous. It creates fear amongst you and others around you. It will give all a disp;leasure of your pessimistic approach. I have seen when people give a shot and start doing it optimistically than procastinating it, they have succeeded. It may take a bit time first but it is not difficult. It may be difficult but it is not impossible.
Positive atitude
1. I shall give you on xyz date.
2. I shall do it
3 I shall sart it and see though it is difficult
4. It may be difficult to achieve but not impossible
5. I shall plan accordingly as what is to be done
6. Everything is right. If it has gone wrong let me figure it out and fix it.
Negative atitude
1. I can try doing it in few weeks of time
2. I shall try doing it but not sure
3. I have difficulty in understanding it.
4. Seems to be difficult to achieve. May be impossible to finish
5. Let me think as how to plan and when to plan for it to do. Planning schecule depends on when I am free
6. It does not seem to be a right one. I donot know how to fix the problem when it comes
See here the negative atitude guy gives up a task before he himself does not know what the problem might be if it comes. He is too afraid to face the problem itself so how can he solve it? Positive thinker will only worry about the problem and deal with it when it comes. He may be smartly working till he finds a problem. Positive atitude person knows when to do a context switch where as negative atitude guy keeps switching between tasks since he is always confused as which one he needs to work with or pay attention. He is a hurry-burry man.
So it is good to start being optimist than being a pessimist. Pessimism may work when you catch a fish in a pond or when you hunt for someone. But whenever you start a new work be optimistic about the work itself that it will be fixed somehow and will be addressed by someone or you ( in case you can do it for yourself.)
more bla bla in coming blogs.........
Life is filled with signals
It sucks ! We never knew that our whole life is filled with a word 'signal' and our life is dependent on the energy of the signal. What we see, what we hear, what we speak and everything in da to day life is a signal. Of course it is hard to correlate our life routines with DSP ('Daily Signal Perception') and somehow our body as a system has been example to many to make a lot of signal based systems. We never realized that there will be someone who will understand our body model itself as a system to simulate the concept of a subject which is called as Digital Signal Processing? True to the fact that most of our DSP systems are inspired by the system that our body is adept to!
Take the very case of HVS which has the ability to distingwish brightness and color. HVS refers to human visual system which has given the idea for entire image processing algorithms. The very basic luminance-chrominance model of image representation and video representation is inspired by our eyes??? And infact it is interesting to know our eye can act as a low pass filter (for who cannot understand this filter bla bla and gyan to put simple - low pass filter is very much same as a coffee filter except that it allows to pass signals of low frequency instead of coffee. Designers often use it to seperate signals which are intermixed like water and milk). Our ear can act as a model for audio perception. Infact all the audio decoders today are based on the human perception system of the ear where the cohlear filters model the cohlea of our ear. Famous standards like MP3 (hmm! you know it as you hear it!) are based on the principle of perceptual model for audio. Our vocal tract is an inspiration for those who wanted to understand the nature of pitch. Observing people of high pitch and low pitch people came up with an interesting representation of human vocal system as a speech model. All practical Digital Signal models for image, video, audio and speech are inspired from what we see, watch, listen and talk.
This is only an interesting point to start with. There is a lot of other gyan that relates the human body with signals and having a real observation of daily life can bring some more interesting facts....
Take the very case of HVS which has the ability to distingwish brightness and color. HVS refers to human visual system which has given the idea for entire image processing algorithms. The very basic luminance-chrominance model of image representation and video representation is inspired by our eyes??? And infact it is interesting to know our eye can act as a low pass filter (for who cannot understand this filter bla bla and gyan to put simple - low pass filter is very much same as a coffee filter except that it allows to pass signals of low frequency instead of coffee. Designers often use it to seperate signals which are intermixed like water and milk). Our ear can act as a model for audio perception. Infact all the audio decoders today are based on the human perception system of the ear where the cohlear filters model the cohlea of our ear. Famous standards like MP3 (hmm! you know it as you hear it!) are based on the principle of perceptual model for audio. Our vocal tract is an inspiration for those who wanted to understand the nature of pitch. Observing people of high pitch and low pitch people came up with an interesting representation of human vocal system as a speech model. All practical Digital Signal models for image, video, audio and speech are inspired from what we see, watch, listen and talk.
This is only an interesting point to start with. There is a lot of other gyan that relates the human body with signals and having a real observation of daily life can bring some more interesting facts....
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