social networks

Lots of things going on lately - baby showers, garba, diwali, bollywood music nites, farewell parties and birthday parties - in a nut shell, a whole lot of socializing and networking with people - I am beginning to realize that society is a mould, a paradigm, a framework where the rules are not spelled or written but are implied - and if you do not follow them - you soon become an outcast - the concept of "fitting in" is paramount - You absolutely need to walk the walk and talk the talk - I like to be a free spirit, not a mould like this toy making machine shown in the picture - I choose to lead than follow - not just be one of those cookie cutter type people who please society and people in it - and so with such views - obviously I have a lot to deal with :-) Having said that I also agree on my wife's viewpoint that it is vital to establish a circle of influence - a circle of reliability and trust - I admire my parents on this aspect - they have a strong circle of influence established and they really have a good time with everyone in that circle - well there are its ups and downs but again more ups than downs - I am trying to set that up for myself here - and its hard - realllllllly hard - so next few weeks i am going to devote my personal time to learning on how to set up a circle of influence? If you have ideas - drop me a message!

Impressions

Recently I got an opportunity to go for a college recruiting trip! Oh ya, I just grabbed the opportunity - not coz I want to get into HR someday - but just to see what goes on behind the scence - I was going to UIUC - one of the top engineering campuses in the US - I flew into Chicago and drove to Urbana - I had heard that there were just corn fields and the campus was really in the middle of nowhere - and it was true! It was going to be a week long affair - We had our presentations on Day 1 and then there was career fair for a couple of days followed by on campus interviewing - Seemed pretty simple - Since I am a technical person, I always thought huh, hiring thats all simple and fun - Jez was I wrong - it was a looooot of work - talking all days to students who were trying to put on their most impressive hats and finding the right match to my group - it was tough - I almost lost my voice on the third day I felt - But after the week got over - I realized one important aspect of life - balance - its all about that - I ended up remembering those folks who had it all - great GPA's, relevent projects, impressive internships, leadership roles, outgoing personalities - wow thats a lot to do in four years of college - Thats what we try and do on a daily basis in our lives - Be it relationships, work or anything in life, we try and do it all the time - it is so critical - so then came the conclusion that perhaps you dont have to do everything right, just have to do enough right to be successful! I will always cherish my experiences of recruiting - and thank my boss for giving me the opportunity!

Perspectives!

Some say life is mundane. It probably is - and at the time you start feeling that way - you really should do something different - One of my friends has a flying licence and we wanted to go for a good lunch to the coast and get back to work! But we are about 60 miles from the coast - So we decided to rent the cessna - I convinced my wife and he convinced his girl friend and the four of us - landed up at Twin Oak Airport the following Wednesday - We were going for lunch - This was the first time I was sitting in a plane that has no security systems or safety jackets - no cabin pressure - just a simple 70's cessna that flys about 5000 ft - It was exciting. We flew over the mountains - saw the entire cascade mountain ranges (St. Helens, Mt. Hood, Mt. Rainier, Mt. Adams) - went over hag lake - the day was perfect - clear skies and about 80 degrees! On and off, we would have turbulence but hey it was great - We went over the capes of the oregon coast - tillamook and were back! My wife and I really enjoyed the experience - and I'd recommend to anyone who wants to do something different - When you start seeing the things you see everyday differently or from a height - you really cannot say that life is mundane anymore!

life in 2015

What will life in 2015 be like? Whats the next technology boom? Whats going to be the weather on earth? Which countries will be doing well? Whats going to be minimum education standards of people? The technology jobs that are shifting from US to India and China? What are the implications of that going to be? What will be the foreign exchange rates?

Daily double

Its always about execution - managing time, juggling priorities and completing tasks - I am learning this really vital skill with experience and time - When i was in graduate school i always asked my room-mates what are your priorities in life? It used to sound really stupid back then to most of my friends, but I guess somewhere in the back of my mind i knew that this was the single most fundamental question to answer - No matter what dots you may have thrown and what paths you may have chosen, the key is to execute them well - Working in a deadline oriented society, managing time and having the presence of mind becomes vital - Its pretty competitive out there - you know the big fish eat the litte fish - yes it is really true - and there is no dream land where everyone does the right thing - so time management is very important. Presence of mind is also equally important - one of the days i was driving home from my gym and i saw a guy who had pulled over in the middle of the road - he was trying to get hold of a box which had fallen off his truck on the road - instead of stopping on the road and allowing him to go get his box, i just barely slowed down - i sort of lost my presence of mind for a brief moment - that was stupid - its very important to do the right things in times of need - I really wonder when 9/11 happened four years ago - kudos to the rescuers who put their life in jeopardy and helped lots of folks - or when the tsunami struck this year - so many people did the right thing - In a nut shell, i think if you know your priorities well, can manage time, have the presence of mind, be active then you will be able to execute your daily tasks really well!

Dots ............

My grandma told me a story on joining the dots when i was growing up - it never seemed to quite make sense then, but now it does a whole lot - she said, at every stage you in your life you want to throw dots and every now and then you want to join them - if you feel that you are joining all your dots, it means you are not challenging yourself enough and if you feel that you are not joining any of your dots, it means you need to take a step back and really think what you are doing with your life - Next obvious question you may have is what is a DOT really?
Think of a dot as a goal or a task you want to achieve
Throwing a dot means - declaring that this is your goal
Joining the dot means - you were able to establish a path to your goal from your current status
There is no right answer here - sometimes it might be nice if you can join some dots and sometimes it might not be - One of my friends wanted a job at a big company really really bad - but did not make the cut - this was his dot - getting into a really big corporation - but instead he got accepted at start up and now he is really rich - So you see its not always about the joining of dots but it definitely helps to throw dots - and you will be able to join them eventually .........

Same or different?

I think I am getting addicted to this blogging shit - I mean seriously two blogs in 24 hours - I have been spending a lot of time reading blogs of different friends - some random blogs - knowing what other souls think and do - I hope to keep up the enthu and be more regular and systematic to this stuff - Impulsive that I am, I sometimes get into things so quickly and then get out of it just as fast - Lets see how this goes!

While reading these blogs, I am beginning to realise that most people who are relatively "similar" - be it education, age, culture or upbringing - have the same thoughts going on - same questions - and same concerns - what amazes me is that this whole social framework was created- and we will create a whole new generation of such people after us - it seems to be pretty systematic and regular - yet, a copy command does not seem to work - The very nature of human thought is random, yet the section of society that is "similar" has the same properties - something so random can actually be so similar - Fascinating! And so in order to be really different - (why one should be different - thats a different question) - you must do unique things amongst these "similar" set of humans.

To illustrate my idea - I am posting the picture of a boat I took when my wife and I did a cruise in Lake Michigan this summer - this picture tells me how to be different in the surrounding that looks so similar from all angles

responsibilities sucks

....... really really sucks - we have to do things, earn a living, pay bills, take care of people and in general deal with a lot of stuff - adulthood is totally overrated - i remember when i was a kid my biggest worry was to do well on a test or how to knock the other kids down in a game - it never was so complicated -
The scariest part about responsibility is fear of screw ups - don't get me wrong its not the fear that you may regret what you did, but its the fear of what people may think about what you did - Unfortunately, once you get past the age of braces, responsibility doesnt go away. It cant be avoided. Either someone makes us face it or we suffer the consequences.