An Ode to Ajaatashatru

Ajaatashatru literally means one who does not have any nemesis. Indeed Dr. SPB was one who lived and passed on just like an Ajaatashatru. There had never been a single statement that spoke ill of him while he lived and none as he passed on recently on the 25th of September 2020.

Sripathi Panditharadhyula Balasubrahmanyam fondly known as SPB or SP irrespective of the circles, be it his professional circles, or his huge fan base that he garnered over the years was born on the 4th of November, 1946 in Konetampeta, Nellore District of Andhra Pradesh state back then belonging to Madras Presidency. Having born to a Harikatha Vidwaan, Sri Sripathi Panditharadhyula Sambamoorti, it seemed but natural to have been blessed with a golden voice. Although, SPB may not have been trained classically as a musician, it seems that he has always been the almighty’s favorite child when it came to music

As SPB grew up he sang along and at one occasion he had the fortune of meeting the most divine singer of Indian playback singing Srimati. S. Janaki and singing in her presence. It was around that time when SPB was in the first year of engineering. As suggested duly by Srimati Janaki, SPB met a few music directors of the time and in particular Sri S.P Kodandapani. Although, all the music directors praised SPB for his divine voice, they all suggested that SPB got himself a decent education before he ventured into playback singing. It seemed the right thing to do, thought SPB and went back promptly to education.

It never seemed that he had any less of an inspiration to continue singing while, the god of Playback singing considered the great Mohammed Rafi as his God of Playback singing. After almost two years of initial attempt towards playback singing, he was traced and found to sing in his first ever playback singing assignment by Sri S.P. Kodandapani for a Telugu Movie Sri “Sri Sri Maryada Ramanna”. Barely 8 days into his playback singing, he had been chosen to sing his first kannada song for the movie “Nakkare Ade Swarga” by a stalwart music director Sri M. Ranga Rao That was it and there was no looking back for SPB in the kannada Film Industry.

A singing stalwart of over 40,000 songs in 16 different languages to his name SPB was a darling of South Indian Film Industry. It seemed as though he was loved a little more in Karnataka and Kannada Film Industry as compared to the others. Duly, it is also a fact, that he has rendered a great quotient of his hits with the Kannda Music Directors like Sri Rajan-Nagendra Duo, Sri M. Ranga Rao and the likes till the recent music directors like the Sadhu Kokilas and Guru Kirans of the industry.

Be it the romance of “Yelliruve Manava kaaduva roopasiye” from the movie Bayalu Daari or the pathos “Premada Kadambari” from the movie Bandhana, SPB came alive in every song he sang. There are innumerable such movies and such songs that one can go on remembering that have led to their success just because of SPB’s golden voice. How can one forget the lullaby he sang for the Lord Srinivasa himself in the movie “Srinivasa Kalyana”?

SP, SPB or Balu as he was fondly called went on without looking back since 1966 recording and mixing sometimes 19 songs a day, sometimes 14 in multi languages and so on, there came a time when things changed for him. All who called him, SP, SPB or Balu started offering him respects and called him “Balugaru”. Thanks to his Magnum Opus works “Shankarabharanam”na directed by K. Vishwanathan and music composed by Shri. K.V. Mahadevan, it went on to become a run away hit during the times of pop and Jazz culture venturing into Indian Cinema, making SPB an international phenomena overnight. As SPB himself confessed on several occasions, he initially shied away from singing for Shankarabharam and it took mountain of an effort from the director to have SPB agree to sing. For the sole reason, SPB thought the a classically trained singer could do a better justice than him. As they say, rest is history, if one really could imagine Shankarabharanam in anyone else’s voice.

The man SPB had been blessed with an innate quality of making it sound so natural for any actor on the screen to look as if they sung themselves. The reason as quoted by himself that he could emote the best as compared to any other singers and that he was a natural actor himself. This had led to such a huge demand that many of the star actors from the south insisted, that the directors and producers obtain SPB’s call sheets even before their own. In fact, Dr. Vishnuvardhan, was one among pioneer actors to have signed a contract with the producers of the movies basis the date availability of Dr. SPB. So much that the first ever song of D Vishnu Vardhan “Haavina dwesha” from the movie Naagarahaavu and the last song “Garane Garagarane” from the movie Aapta Rakshaka was sung duly by SPB. Such contracts and demands were a common place with superstars like Rajanikanth, Kamal Hassan, etc. Such was the enigmatic magic of India’s one of the finest Playback singer.

Speaking of his acting skills, there are again an innumerable number of movies that he lit the screen in various roles from being a support artist, a character artist to a protagonist. It must also be noted that he has been the only Playback singer who has been sung by another great playback singer while on screen. The great thespian Dr. Rajkumar lent his voice to SPB while SPB enacted the central character in the kannada movie “Mudidna Maava”.

As SPB often mentioned, that he has been fortunate to be loved a little more in Karnataka as compared to other states and languages, and that if he has a re-birth, he would like to be born in Karnataka and as a kannadiga, this is an ode on behalf of the kannadigas to one of the finest playback singer this country has ever produced. Indeed, music knows no boundaries, neither does it know any languages, But SPB is an emotion that has touched every kannadiga and will remain so as long as the music is played ever.

It is unfortunate, that we unfortunates lost on many more years of Golden Voice,more so a great humanitarian as he was one such soul,that no ill was spoken about while he lived and when passed on. With the demise of his physical body “Baalu Saar” will continue to live on and on forever through his undying songs and voice till eternity. May he be blessed by the gods “Shataayuh Chiranjeevi” (100 years for an eternal being) and may his soul Rest in Peace.

!!Narayana. Narayana!!

The Art of Hiring

When it comes to organizations, although the actual hiring is performed by the Business Units or the departments, considering the Business Units or the departments bring the actual monetary value back to the organizations, the Human Resources department actually plays a very critical role in hiring employees into the organizations. The Human Resources Department, specifically the Talent Acquisition (TA) Department is more or less the face of the organizations that advertises the organization itself towards attracting talent. In this regard, The Talent Acquisition department has a few tenets to follow to ensure that hiring is at its best and that they leave an impression on the candidates who don’t make it as well to aspire towards being a part of the organization in the future.

Detailed and Descriptive Job Description

This aspect of hiring takes an effort hand in hand between both the Hiring Unit (HU) and Talent Acquisition. Unless it is a mass hiring, the hiring unit must be able to document the job description of position in contention as accurately as possible which must entail what that position would do on a daily basis. The talent acquisition must possess the acumen to understand and explain it to a prospective candidate to be innately understood. If this step is followed religiously, the first gate of filtering the right candidature to the respective position will be superlatively effective.

Call it discussion

This may be one of the smallest virtue, but it carries off immense value to the whole process. When usually the TA calls the candidates, they mention that there would be a scheduled interview. Instead, if the usage of the phrase “A Scheduled Discussion” prevails, there would be a lot more value added to the process.

i. For one it would ease the tension of the candidate to begin with and the candidate would feel a lot more relaxed and confident

ii. In the process of not just calling it a discussion, but also orchestrating the same, there may be a lot of positive outcomes from the discussion as compared to an interview which would tend to become more of a Question & Answer session.

Explain the Context and Content

There is most often this hideousness from the side of the hirers in explaining the entire Context and Content of the position in contention. This usually is taken care of by the actual HU who is in-charge of carrying out the technical and departmental discussions. Therefore, it is very important that both the context under which the position is being hired for and the content of the position be explained with keen detail. It will very well help the candidates put themselves in the clear perspective of the position in contention and yield a much fruitful discussion

Articulate Clearly

Whether one would implement the step above or not, it is mandatory that the HU representatives or interviewers articulate themselves clearly. When an interviewer seeks an answer to a question and not have been answered satisfactorily, it would require an extra mile to go further and articulate themselves as to what exactly they are looking for. For instance, if there is a specific answer that you are looking for sitting in the interviewer’s chair, then ask the specific question. It is always safer not to assume that the candidate would know what you are looking for. For, a discussion or an interview is not a mind-game or telepathy. This will definitely yield much better value to the discussion

Feedback Mechanism

Having had a good discussion if possible, it is also of utmost importance that there is an extremely good feedback mechanism. This keeps the candidate engaged with the organization. It is almost the prerogative of the TA to provide the candidate with a detailed feedback irrespective of the feedback being positive or negative from the rounds of discussions that have taken place.

In addition, it is the duty of the TA to respond to the candidate with a feedback immediately after the discussion proactively, rather than the candidate reaching out to the TA in desperation. This would really help build a great brand value for the organization.

Keep the Cycles Short

It is understandable that there could be many reasons that can be offered to justify the delay in the process of recruitment. However, it is always in the best interest of both the organization and the candidate that the hiring cycles be kept as short as possible. As much as business and business outcomes are important for the organizations, it is equally important hiring the best fit candidate who would contribute towards the sustainability and growth of the business and organization. This essentially means that both HU and TA should set time aside importantly for the process of hiring.

Setting Expectations

It is again the prerogative of the organization hiring to set clear expectations to the candidate. It must include the Pay Bracket with in which the Candidate would fall into, the culture of the organization, the vision and mission of the organization and the department, the Strategy and so on. This not only helps set the expectations of the candidate, but also helps the candidate understand what they are getting into as an organization. Having understood all the above elements of the organization, if a candidate chooses to be employed at the organization, it certainly will be a win-win situation for both the organization and the candidate.

For, having understood all the above mentioned elements and then getting into a commitment with the organization, it is only ethical and moral on the part of the candidate to comply with the organizational culture and rules.

Last Words

Having been on both sides of the table, these are some of the tenets of the business, that I have followed and I expect organizations to follow to be an attractive organization that the candidates would choose to be associated with.

In my experience, I have seen, the technical panels, the mangers and HR Business partners multi tasking between Business Meeting and Hiring Discussions. This is a strict No-No. For one would be effective in neither discussions, which would most often result in either hiring an inappropriate candidate or rejecting a valuable one. Secondly, it shows disrespect towards the candidate who has chosen to spend their time with the organization. This would result in the negative brand value impact of the organization.

Building and Leading Successful Teams

Building and Leading teams is often a quite difficult task and a long one enough for a Leader to endure. Building and Leading teams is more often like Operations if the engagement that has to be delivered is of a longer duration. Skilling, re-skilling, up-skilling, learning, unlearning and re-learning both for the leader and the team is essential through out the journey of the engagement.

With my experience of being managed and led, and having managed and led teams, I wanted to share a few learnings of mine which have helped me in being a part of a successful team and also in building and leading successful teams

Trust– Trust is the highest of the order element that come in while building and leading teams. Most often than not a manager/leader has to risk of trusting in the capabilities of the team before experiencing it first hand. This leads to a reciprocation at most of the times from the team.

Transparency – Create an environment of Transparency at least with in the team. This is most important to ensure that information is available to all and that information is no longer a power. This also mean that all statuses of the projects & Operations, Waterfall from Senior Leadership meetings etc are all available at the disposal of the team.

Tip: When I led teams, I ensured that my one note is shared with teams so that the information is relayed to them real time if they accessed my one-note. e-Collaboration always comes in handy.

Fail Fast Learn Fast – A culture of failing fast and learning fast is an absolute must. This culture enables the team to be inquisitive and exploratory. This also curbs the fear of failure to a great extent which allows the team to experiment and succeed.

Culture/ Environment of Fearlessness – This essentially refers to providing an environment within the team for the team to speak their mind out about the work, team dynamics, or anything related to the team and it’s delivery. There should not be an iota of doubt of being perceived wrong or understood wrong. The leads to an open feedback culture which is most benign in the interest of the team. The leader of the team needs to act as a moderator here and should encourage only the constructive feedback ensuring the development of the team.

Purpose – This is the second most important element of building and leading a team. As a leader one needs to always present the purpose to the team. The “Why” element of our work always motivates us subconsciously. Therefore, it is the responsibility of Leader of the team to seek the purpose if it is not clear for him/herself and then translate it till the last member of the team.

I often spoke to my team about Simon Sinek’s Golden circle. It is indeed one of the most powerful theories that has been propounded. Here is a visual of the same below

Impact Analysis – Usually, in organizations and teams one of the phenomena that is spoken is Business Impact Analysis. As much as the Business Impact Analysis is important, it is important to understand the impact of the work on the greater good of the organization. It means both the positive and negative impact of the work we deliver needs to be understood by every team member which in turn leads to a great quality output. To me, this has always been a quasi-static process. Greater the quality of output, greater the motivation to deliver better output every time.

The Big Picture – Another most important aspect towards building/ leading a successful team is to ensure that the team always have a visibility towards the Big Picture. This exercise needs to be repeated often so that the there is no deference from the main goal and hence the team starts to believe in core idea or The Big Picture

Patience is a Virtue– Most of the teams, whether it is a Project team or Operations Team go through the various stages. Forming, storming, Norming and Performing. The Project Teams go through adjourning as well. Therefore it is very important to be a little patient til the entire team comes together and starts performing. As a Leader, that space has to be given to the teams to self nurture.

Meaningful Goals – While a lot has been spoken about the outer dynamics, what is most important for each member of the team is the question – “What should I do?”. Hence it is most important to have meaningful goals for individuals and the team to develop collectively. As much as it is important to show the big picture to the team, it is equally important for the Big Picture to be broken down into quantifiable, measurable and achievable goals which can be first understood and then delivered by the team.

One of the most useful methodologies in achieving them is the “OKR“s – Objective and Key Results. A brief of OKR can be found https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OKR

Another way of defining the goals is to give the team the Big Picture and ask them to deliver the OKRs for the year. Therefore, both the onus and the responsibility is on the team to deliver what has been promised. It would bring in a sense of ownership from within.

Have the Talk – It is a very good practice for the leader of the team to have conversations with the team and with individuals very often and on a recurring basis. It helps build a rapport, help the leader understanding what work is ongoing and helps the team express their state of affairs on one count. On another count, it gives the team a confidence that there is always some one who cares.

Having the talk on most occasions can be informal unless a documented output is absolutely necessary. Knowing and addressing every team member by name no matter how big the team is, having a small talk regarding their personal life or casually asking about their hobbies will definitely bring the team closer and make them confident in the leader

Emote & Articulate – Do not expect the team to understand what you as a Leader want from the team. It is always better to express yourself clearly and emote as well. The team is always capable of emoting and expressing back and thus further enhancing clarity.

Often, Leaders fail not because they have a bad idea or lack of vision, but because of the lack of articulation of the vision to the team. Remember, not everyone in the team is as intelligent or experienced as the other. Therefore, it becomes very important for you to articulate your vision as a leader very clearly so that the most nascent and least experienced has also understood the vision to the letter ‘T’.

Leader from within – Lastly, it is very important that you are a leader from within the team. It is not meant that you are to rise from with in the team to the leadership position, but it is more towards being a leader who is amidst and within the team.

Most often, it is observed in organizations that the Leaders spend more time with the Leadership team or the Senior Management. It is therefore, a very important task to strike the right balance of spending time with the senior management as well as the team. This way, you will always have the opportunity to inspire the team from within, being together and most importantly continously.

**The above tenets are coming off from a personal experience and which have worked mostly in Building and Leading Successful teams so far. Hope is that it would also work in the future and yet everyday is a new learning in all aspect.

It is all about Writing -10 Tenets to an Engaging Blog

It has been a while since I actually wrote a blog as such, rather a very long time. I must say it has been a little over a decade. Hence, being detached from the habit of writing, I started looking around for some introduction courses to blogging to just get back and start writing. While I came across various videos, training material, articles, etc, I finally figured out a few things that actually makes a blog successful. Let us look at it below. While, this may also end up to be another “me too” article, nevertheless, if it helps someone , then that would be of some value.

1.Open with a Punch

Just like probably akin to a movie, a presentation or a theater act, every blog roll also has to have a very captivating opening. Remember, if you catch the eye and the mind of the reader in the first few seconds, then you have the reader for the entire blog roll. No reader is on any blog site to waste their precious time by reading the whole blog roll. It is your opening that decides if your blog is worth reading or not, no matter how strong your subject is.

2.Keep it Simple

While blogging, “Simplicity is the best policy” is the mantra. You don’t want your reader or audience of your blog to sit with a dictionary or a thesaurus in their hands to figure out what you have written on your blog.

The sentences must be crisp and short as much as possible. They should deliver the message intended without any ambiguity. Ensure that you do not use too many jargons.

I remember from the my blogging days of past, that many of my readers commented “Though they found the subject gripping, they couldn’t latch on due to the heavy words I used back then.

3. Do not use Abbreviations

In continuation to the the foundation mantra of keeping things simple, do not ever forget not to use abbreviations. Though sometimes the writers effort is painstakingly long in writing longer sentences, it is much easier for the reader.

My ex boss from Germany who was an expat in India, always commented, it took more close to three years to understand the abbreviations used while speaking or writing. Remember, your abbreviation is not universal.

4. Be Authentic

With the advent of Microsoft Word, the most abused feature is ctrl c & ctrl v. Try and make sure that you do not use this feature on your blogroll. Be authentic, Be genuine and be yourself.

It may happen that you might not like your own post at first. What I have realized is that writing is just like your weapons. It starts to lose sheen as long as it not being used. Keep writing and you will get better every single day.

5. Emote

One of the most important thing is to Emote in your blogroll. The more you express, the more you would be connected to your reader. Be it Anguish, despair, Anger, happiness, it is absolutely right to express all of them in good faith.

6. Punctuation

These are another important aspect one should incorporate in their blog rolls. Perhaps a well read person reading your blogroll also may be a sound audience and he/ she perhaps may read the your blog in the same intonation as you thought of while writing if your punctuation are perfect.

7. Content

Content has always been the king of any media. It may be a write up, a story, a movie or a book. Ensure that your content is sound and clear. The plot of your blog roll needs to be very strong and immovable. What you write about is very important as much as how you write it. Your blog should not end up becoming “All Fart and No Shit” example.

8. Structure

Your blog roll definitely must have a structure. Your reader should be able to connect the dots immediately. The essence is that the reader should follow the writer always and having a continuity always helps the reader follow the writer.

9. Devil is in the Detail

After having possibly written a blog considering all the above tenets, one possibly needs to have a keen eye towards the detail. Your post must contain details optimally. On certain topics, it may require to be detailed and on certain other topics it must follow the rule of Statistics – Details must just be like a mini skirt, while it keeps the reader interested and reveals exactly how much should be seen.

10. A picture worth a 1000 words

Remember, what you write on the internet blog site is a blog and not a novel. While you need to be as descriptive as possible, but you possibly cannot be elaborate. Use a picture where possible instead of writing a long passage. Use a video where possible instead of few or many pictures.

I hope I can follow what I have written above. See you around in the next roll.

Weekend…. Persistence…. Perseverence… Journey of Life

…..Here I come again…. The previous weekend was indeed a great one in the last couple of years at least as far as the self’s remembrance goes… The weekend usually goes off idling away to glory doing nothing beneficial…..catching up with friends, acquaintances, strangers, so on and so forth. The weekend passes by usually with above mentioned humans in having a cuppa coffee, seldom, often imbibing into the liquid diet. Generically can be termed as worthless time spent with no motive or objectives. Else it just is total idle of time doing nothing at all rotting like a vegetable unused, unsavoured.
But the weekend just passed by has shown me great deal of what life has to offer. It started off with a lazy note on the saturday morning. Thanks to the liquid diet that the self was on, on the friday night. For once it all went as planned on the saturday afternoon. We caught up to play cricket which we have not done in quite a while. K, N, R, P and the self induldged ourselves in a few games of cricket. Thought not physically stressed by the game but immensely releived of a guilt that we had not sweat in quite some time. Yes, ofcourse, though the self and the others except for N did not run around much, we still felt that our strokes are pretty much there. We still had a great deal of straight bat. We still possesed some fine leg glances. We could still turn the ball quite a bit. We had all that excitement and passed comments, sledged each other jovially as the spirit of the game grew. “Its over…its all over for him”,”yup…pitch it right there and he would offer a regulation catch”…. so on and so forth. In all it was a very decent effort seen through till a good end.
Then came a part of the day when the self saw quite a deal of what life has to offer. R, N and the self caught up for a while at one of the reggular hangouts. This was by far for me one of those conversations that we have had in the recent times which was totally abstained from pure non sense and gibberish that we speak every other time. N spoke brilliantly, R and the self counter argued and agreed to disagree on a few things, but agreed to most of it.
We talked about how we push ourselves to get what we need in life. N uttered a concept of “Point of No Return”. It simply means to an extent a human feels that he cant push himself/herself any more. It also means that, so far this feet has been acheived and there is a lot more to cover, while you just rest for a moment and think, let go ahead. It also means, that this feet has been achieved, I will come back later to cover the rest.
We talked about things that do not yield upon touching base with the point of no return, hence we most often step back and decide to come back for it once again….. Lest there is another aspect to it. I will persist, just stay there , stand still, I shall not wither, I shall make myself a synony for persistence. Persistence is what as they say brings out the mettle in a human. Persistence as the self sees is the first step the journey called Perseverence. Hence as the old chinese proverb goes ” A journey of thousand miles starts with a single step” , persistence is a small single step. Lest it just makes the human robust and strengthen him through the journey of perseverence.
These things when he spoke, came as a realisation to me. The self looked at the self and questioned in amazement. Have I not stood there? Have I not waited? Did I wither?Did I step back? Did I reconsider? Did I think about coming back later? I never ever realised that I was standing on my point of no return. That conversation dint hin to me, that I actually have a point of no return. What N spoke was absolutely logical but, for me I believe there is no point of no return…… I believe Point of no return is in the process of looking and working forward towards a definite destination. But what i’ve chosen is not a destination, its a journey…. if used as a management jargon, its not a project, it an operation. This journey of happiness that I want step on and tread the unbeaten path has its destination only at a place called “Bliss” . Is that all about this journey? Very ambigously, strangely and extremely surprisingly, but with extreme pleasure I see this destination is not a place where I can stop myself and look back and say i’ve achieved a feet. Lest, this destination in itself is a journey towards eternity. Its a journey that doesnt have a destination. Lest it offers you all the fruits and blessings of a destination through out the journey.
This is just what I call a perfect paradox that life has to offer me. “The destination which is a journey” . Its so true that, this journey wouldnt be present, this destination wouldnt exist for if do not have the need for “LIFE”. Most of it all, this is a beautiful persistence and an excellent perseverence – a journey that I am desperate to begin.

Phaedrus

A Writers Diary….

……..back again… feels actually good… this place is quite a placation for the restless mind which has innumerable thoughts to put up with….. on friday said to the self…. blog a day will be the mantra for a sometime to come. A blog had usually come up in the past only when an itch had started to scribble down something for the self. More often it used be an impulsive blogging kind of an activity, which in the future tending to have an intention of being more of a compulsive blogging. I often wonder there is something that I have lost as a writer in the journey so far. I wish to contradict myself here again. I started off trying to wash away the itch of a restless mind a couple of years ago when I had the self up through the night. No I wasnt an insomniac. I sacrificed being in the arms of a beautiful angel while catering to customers of a certain company residing elsewhere where the sun rises as sun set in the part of the world where I prove my existence. I worked for an international customer service contact center to support my existence. It used to be a way to vent out the frustrations of life at the end of the day while for most of the normal homosapiens around me started the day. Well, ofcourse i dont deny a bit of it that I’ve graduated to quite a few levels in writing. I very well acknowledge with myself the fact that I do not ususally scribble for else to read and comment or come to a consensus regarding the views I have towards life or the way I visualises life. An unusal write up which doesnt seem inane to the world around would be shared with a few for whom being sensible is just a state of mind with impeccable relavance.
The initial ramblings of the self used to congregation of two languages though inane most of the times but still would be in congruence with the thoughts let to flow. A graduation I witness is by condescending to be more unilingual and developing a planned strategy and executing the same of honing the way the ramblings are to be scribbled on this personal space of mine. Should I actually call it an ascendance in an inane articulataion of thoughts? Well, I do admit that it makes self quite impressed looking at the levels of ascendence or condescence, just for it comes as a fact of life that there is a constant upgradation in one certain aspect of being and hanging around.
I aspire to get better and better with every write up going forward, No it is not to prove a point to any other fellow being, but its a genuine appreciation of the selfs improvisation in the diligence of achievement of a constant betterment.
A few fellow dwellers on the face of Terra Firma do interact with the self on the matter of write ups that the self does seldom than often. These dwellers are quite some bloggers themselves whom the self appreciates as writers. Often conceived by the compatriots of this sanct place or should I say perceieved? as a quite a serious blogger or a heavy writer. True, it is to quite an extent that most often I visit and scribble on this wall when the frustration of existence turns to an itch. Seldom, it is an itch of an idea or a thought flow that comes out as an incidence of a rambling while passing through a pleasant state of being. But I do beg to agree with the fact that writing or reading is a perfect food for thought, which not being present will make a human defintely anorexic in the context of intellect which will only lead to the peril of living and create room for mere existence of mediocricity. The self never than seldom has exploited the art of scribbling day to day mundane happenings of life. Ofcourse, I dont even in the remotest of dreams either deny that they are fun filled, thought provoking or even situations that cater to minute celebrations as compared to the magnitude of the highest order of life. The self on contemplation only converges to a point that it could be only due to the fact that the self is a visitor here seldom than often. I must admit that a few blog rolls that the self follows religiously is filled quite in excess of incidences of daliy sustenance which brings out a lot of excitement, sarcasm, cynicism, helplessness, mockery, appreciation, adulation, oppression, pride, amusement, threshold of enjoyment, threshhold of happiness, depth of frustration, abyss of anger, heights of disagreement and many more umpteen number of such daily expressions which actually makes up this wonderful phenomenon called life. It is not really a reason that such writing of the self causes any kind of a depression, it is just a feeling or a thought that can keep the self more cheerful by incorporating such incidences of life either intending a pun at the incidences or by encompassing them in a divine armour called humour. Should I call it an artistry a few compatriots possess that the self doesnt?
I often feel that I do write better, to an extent while I could pronounce to the world out there that I can write at least a 150% better than I do speak. It may be for the fact that I do get more time to think while I write and speech or a conversation is absolutely instantaneous instinct. I can sound contradictory at times saying and believing that I do not look up to many people around or who had been, while I aspire to speak some day this language that I write in impeccably like a few who live around in the same part of the world as I do. It is defeinitely not a point that I would deny that my writing qualifies to be creme de la creme, quite often it is subjected to being banal and cliched. An instance can be witnessed just by observing the title of this roll. I hope my mantra for the near future is going to be in function and doesnt go defunct “a blog a day… keeps idling away”. On this note I sign off.

Adieos
Phaedrus

The Living

….. Off late the existence of human race on this part of Mother Earth has been and is being a witness to incidences that tend to cease the existence of the race itself. An evil thy name terror is playing the protagonist on the stage set for living. Massacre, blood shed, damages, artificial catastrophe, name thus what one wants as is claiming the lives of innocent humans. The land once known for peace and prosperity is now a victim of terror and anguish all along. Being witness to such occurrences causes an alarming disturbance of every commoner of the society who is already bearing their own turmoils of mundane life. Do we wonder actually what the reason is?
There can be umpteen number of excuses that can be put forth by the cult of terror as reasons. Do they stand a chance in placating the victim in the best sense of logic? While I wonder, the reason for such disturbances, it really is not only in this part of the world that human race is going through such inhumane sacrifices. Logically thinking, is it not just the intolerance of one human towards the other? Racism, fundamentalism, castism, what not…. but it connotes only intolerance.
It is but obvious to be an evidence of such inhuman acts. Retreading back on the path of human living it has been an evolution though but in a manner that has been quite offensive to the entire race. If one looks at the way things have evolved over aeons it has been one sect of humans intervening with another sect, which may have been a welcome act. After all the supreme being himself pronounces that world is one large family. But is this really true? Ofcourse not. There exists an element of being secular as a nation harbouring demographics of various sects. Alas ! it just fails to bring in the element called Harmony along. If a sect of people residing in a geographical location tend to be secular and offer space and living for another sect of humans, then doesnt it become the natural gesture of humans harboured to behave in a manner alike “being a roman in rome”. Contradictorily, it so happens that such harbouring caters to give way for oppression. Result is a revolt. Destruction of human race.
Looking back at the past in the recent centuries to recent daces to recent years and a past few days, its only intolerance that has got into the mind of Terror sub counsciously or consciously that is playing a part in plying human souls to a world above and the carriers of such souls to a world beneath us. We name it aparthied, jihad, caste segregation and what not. Have we ever wondered what is the cause for such behaviour. Has tolerance led to intolerance? What ever happened to the ethos with which it was created and destined to live in peace and tranquility only to enrich Mother Earths presence in the universe which remains unmatched from a time unknown.
Every geographical demarcation as man evolved towards being civilised has welcomed beings from a seperate demarcation to only enrich the living, to grow together as humans to reach a state of being the epitome of knowledge in state synonym only for Harmony and Bliss though unintentionally. Alas! it has never been conceived to be so. What is such accomodation or universal brotherhood catering to? Conversions, Opression, Fundamentalism, Hatred , eternal dither. Should we advocate the fact that we shouldnt believe in being a global citizen and restrict ourselves to our community? Is that going to be a vital factor that is going to bring back the existence and stop the extinction of the species that we all belong to?
To be utmost honest, while I scribble I would not even in my dreams count on myself to be tolerant towards the homo sapiens out there who are not of my color, caste, creed, nationality et al even at the levels of mediocricity leave alone being the epitome of it. But I aspire to be more tolerant in the coming years of my living on Mother Earth. We need to remember one aspect, that no human is more powerful than the Mother Nature. One whip of anger by her knows no boundaries of demolition of being. Do we need to cause more harm to our fellow beings yet?
Lets obliterate the dogmas of the past and head towards a much more peaceful world with an open mind and a different view. Lets make this yet again “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam” – One large Family

Phaedrus

Just another inane thought….

….. It is the day of the “God of the Elephants”. Yes it is the fourth day of the brighter fortnight in the sixth month of the Hindu Lunar almanac. Bhaadrapada Shukla Chaturthi. This God of elephants is inarguably one of the most beautiful gods worshiped in Hindu. A huge body of a man with trademark pot belly which later goes on to become a simily for all the obese individuals. Another name so attached to this God of Elephants – Lambodara – which essentially means the one who has a possession of a big belly. Lamba means closely humongous while Udara means the belly essentially meaning the creature called Lambodara. Just a few days back I was contemplating on the way of Hindu emphasis on the mundane existences of life and mother earth.
There is a story attached to how this God of anti interruptions to any work assumed to be carried in the world was begun to be worshiped by lesser demigods and lesser mortals. Apparently this God whom I personally like to address as Ganapatus can also be called as Gowri Manasa Putra which essentially means that he is a mentally conceived offspring of higher goddess. This offspring was stationed at the door while the mother divine prepared for her ablutions. Enter, the Father divine Lord Shiva who is connoted as the lord of Laya, the God of destruction of the universe when the dooms day occurs as described by the Hindu. The father divine seeks the way in to the abode, upon refusals and denials by the son, the father known for his anger and destructive powers bestowed upon him as being one of the supreme gods called the the Trimurti beheads the son in the fit of rage to let live the son head less and life less. Upon the return of the mother divine to witness the fall of the son, wept in grief, unbearable to the god of end to see the beloved wife in grief and pain, sent his men who are called the Ganas in all directions to find if there was any being who posted the head towards the north and asleep in state. However, the Ganas did find and beheaded the being who dwelt in the state of sleep posting the head towards the north. Alas !!! it was the head of an elephant. Since the father divine had disrupted the aesthetic beauty of the son befitting the head of an elephant awarded the foremost worship to be offered to the son before any one. Thats the story so far. Thinking and linking back to the contemplation of the self I wondered why the Hindu portrays gods with the head of an animal or something else.
Here we can witness Ganapatus, Narasimha (Human Body with the head of a lion), Hayavadana(Human headed by a horse) and so on. Also we can find umpteen number of instances where the gods of Hindu have a lot of animals as their vehicles or should I just refer to it as medium of transit or commutation. There have been umpteen number species that Terra Firma sports that are associated with various gods of the Hindu. There have been lions, tigers, bulls, rodents, peacocks and so on and so forth that are associated with the gods as their medium of transit. India being a land with umpteen number beliefs by the lesser mortals who comprise can be said in other words that the nation has been made up of. There are beliefs attached with a whole lot species. For instance down south it is believe that when a lizard extends a sound of a mating call it is believed that the words spoken by human at that instance is the truth. Fair enough to be discarded as a superstition. Treading back in contemplation the self found quite a lot of reasoning can be found to such aspects of life, I wouldnt be able to term them as the facts of life though since a lot of herd in the world consider that bit to be mythologically fabricated fables. However there is a lot sense that Hindu can attach with such association of species with the Gods or the association of species with way of life kind of beliefs. The Hindu emphasizes the importance of every living species on the face of earth. This is what the logic I came up with when I questioned the self. There are innumerous such instances that one can stumble upon as he or she treads the path of Indian mysticism. The ancient generation of Hindu was probably was way forward than the current generation in relevance to the thoughts of bestowing the importance to every aspect of mundane life to make it more excited, in the sense that something to be cautious of, some things to be celebrated with gay abandon, some things to be neglected or abandoned, somethings to just celebrate life and triumph.
Superstitions as well as I think was just instituted into the normal lives just to bring about the existence of umpteen number of creatures that exist here on Mother Earth. Beliefs to be believed in order to impart prominence to other beings and not alone the homosapiens.
They probably believed in the phrase that was delivered by the omni potent super being “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam” to an extent that they included all the species residing around them to be a part of one big family and believed in being so….. hopefully the current generation also would move forward in the direction that is similar to a path when treaded back to the history of man kind.

Adieos
Phaedrus

Good Riddance

… Its been some time since I came back here. I wouldnt give myself an excuse that being busy in mundane activities kept me away from this most personal space of mine. It has been an itch over a last few days that I said something to this most personal friend of mine. Ultimately I am back here to scratch the itch off.
Good Riddance – thought not the right term that I could use, alas! I dont find a better one at the moment. Those couple of words mean something this – “An expression of pleasure on being rid of some annoyance – usually an individual.” However I wouldnt claim that I’ve gotten over a period of annoyance because it was something that I always treasured to have against my name. Yes, this is my quite well earned post graduate degree. It brings out something that I’ve always recapitulated looking back in time, yet another display of defiance. I take quite a pride in achieving this feet in the journey of life. I treasure thee for the reason that I have just crossed all hurdles that came my way and clinging on to it tenaciously until I finished the race.
Yesterday was officially the last day when most of my compatriots and contenders in the race met for one last time. It was time for some nostalgia to spurt. I wonder yet if I would be still associated with the race that I have finished ever in a longer race called Life. Yesterday it was the day when most of my compatriots and contenders met for one final time at my alma mater. Nostalgia was the word of the moment. Emotions ran high. I have cherished every moment over the last couple of years. I wouldnt beat the point that I sailed all alone through the voyage. There were these men and women who were also very instrumental in rowing my boat to the shore.
The two years that just went past by have seen some vivid things in life, some horrible, some cherishable, some forgettable, some unforgettable. These two years have earned some friends for life. As they say “Till the Grave”.
I see a life apart from this post grad degree. This was the question my that sprung up from no where in the grave of the night after yet another conversation over the phone. Is this what I always wanted to do? I see a life out there with umpteen number of interesting things and concepts that a man live a life time and not just exist.
I hope I can live that life and not just exist.

Good Riddance
Phaedrus

Age or Ageless

….. For quite a while off late I have been thinking about this concept called Age. For one I relate this concept to that same most trivial aspect of what is called as Life as brought about by far one of the most revered Philosophical entity who lived in this great country called Jiddu Krishnamurthy. That concept that I see a relevance with age is Time.
Can we call age to be subset of time? How is that we can define age as? what is age as a noun? Well here it becomes so very ambiguous and I find myself discombobulated with the whole thing. Is growing old is what you call Age? Or is that phenomenon of some accomplishment that has been carried out through one’s life? Or is that duration of time that has been invested in this accomplishment? Yet again I find myself lost… it seems a whole lot of entanglement, overlap and chaos.
What is your age? The common notion or if I wish to call it as the response to stimuli in the society that I exist in would be ” How old is this person?” who is in the context of being asked the question. The observation of the self is that not even in the sub conscious mind of the questioner there would be a thought “what is your achievement?”
An achievement or an accomplishment is actually irrelevant to the fact there is age is attached to it by commoners. So, ladies and gentlemen, this yet beautiful world of our’s have seen flashes of lives as brilliant and as eye hurting as it happened during the “Fatboy” explosion at Hiroshima on the 6th of August, circa 1945 . Short lived flash……. eternal impact on the human race.
Here are men and women the world has witnessed who have lived for just a few years but they have impacted this very world to the eternity. “Che” lived only 39 years. What a life that was!!! Oh boy he till date is branded as the brightest spark of revolution that the world has seen and so shall he be till the world sees the doomsday. I wonder if ever anyone has questioned Che what’s your age mate? But then I can vouch for the fact that nobody ever probably dared to put forth that question to the ” Jim Morrison”. He lived only as a stint…. 27 years. He was what one can call a Free Radical human star. What has he not done in life?? He got married too? He died when he was 27….. He lived there on eternally…. There are a whole lot of such people who lived for stint… killed themselves but lived on forever…..I could just rattle of few such names… Kurt Cobain, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix …… These are men & women who were born as commodities but went on to become a brand that would never phase out as long as Terra Firma would cease to exist. The icons started a cult that would live on and on.
Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev & Rajguru lived and died for their nation at an age much younger than the ones that have been mentioned afore. Ofcourse they lived on as well.
I felt that I was a part of the cult… thought that I may just end my life sometime soon… this very year was what i thought earlier… rather wouldnt have minded if I did so. Then I saw a few more people around who lived the life to the fullest even in terms of time… Those who wished they could live a little more longer so they could make this world that we live in a better place to live.
I think of that old woman who has a zeal to live who teaches her grandkids the value of livelife in values. Well this is just another woman who doesnt have a face but when questioned why she wanted to live for a few more years says “there is that world , that beautiful world I want my children and grand children and their children to see which I have seen. I need to live because I can give them what it takes them to retain the beautiful world that I have lived in”. Here is this woman who no one knows who is unheard of, but she has left a cult back that may retain her beautiful world.
A few incidents in the recent past in the life of the self who had always been thinking that the end is the reality has changed the way how the self looks at things now. I have a motive to live. I have a life to live. I have to give my successors, my companion atleast this beautiful world that I live in.
I must admit that there are four kinds of people who live in this world. Ones who live for short and live on forever, ones who live for long and cease to exit there on, ones who live for short and forgotten an one who live long and live forever towards eternity. But the question comes back yet again what is your age?

or

Is it Age or Ageless ?

Signing off
Phaedrus

and the