Value of an Object!

Jay had gone to his home town Sirpur for Diwali vacations. He decided to visit his uncle's home in Virpur to meet his aunty and his little cousins - Uday and Ujay. He and his mom decided to buy clothes for his cousins as gifts and went to a shopping mall named "Nirmal mart", one of the chains located in the heart of the city. His mom started looking at different sets of clothes while imagining the size of the little ones and many times measuring them with little kids out there in the shopping mall. Finally after about half and hour, they managed to select a couple of sets for both his little cousins and came back home.

Next day, Jay started off on his bike with a bag of sweets and the gifts to Virpur. His mom had secretly inserted the bill-copy into the gift packets. He visited his uncle's family, played with the kids, enjoyed the hefty meal, gave the gifts to his cousins and returned back happily overnight to his hometown. Day after, while on a phone discussion with his mom-in-law, his mom came to know that clothes were not of much use to them as they had too many sets. She asked her to take the bill and exchange the clothes for a pair of shoes in a outlet of the same shopping mall in Virpur.

On hearing this, Jay became upset and asked his mom if this was to happen, why did they spend so much time, effort and affection to buy those pair of clothes and why was it needed for him to go to Virpur at all. Her mom explained - The clothes had no value for the kids as they already had many sets and probably the need of hour for them was shoes. However huge a number be, multiplying it with zero always results in a zero.

Jay touched his mom's feet, went back smiling and thinking - "The value of an object gets decided based on its usage and not in the process of acquiring it".  

Short story of a Honeybee

Once a honey bee while collecting nectar from flowers in a garden, saw a nearby window and entered inside it. A gust of wind came and closed the window. The bee realized what had happened within moments and came towards the window in an attempt to get out. The window was completely shut, leaving no means for our little queen to get out.  But our friend didn't lose heart; it tried hard, very hard to push the window and find a way through, but not surprisingly, all its attempts were unsuccessful and finally it broke and died ...

Little did it know , that barely inches away there was a door wide open through which it could have easily gone outside. 

Value of 100 Rupees ??

A few months back, my bike had met with an accident with its backend fully damaged as if cut using a chopper. Its structure had bent slightly and i gave it to a workshop for repair.  The service guy shocked me with an estimate of around 15K and a delivery time of 3 weeks which actually took 10 weeks because of the range of the damaged vehicle parts. Initially i was not happy with the service centre, but the service man used to update me every other day with the detailed status of the repair and had slowly taken my heart (because of sincereness & proactiveness) untill the final delivery of the vehicle. He had definitely put extra effort ( way beyond expectations !!) than what was expected from his service. My mind thought to reward him personally but  i was confused how to do it. On suggestion from my friend & positive feeling from my heart, i removed a Rs100 rupee note from my wallet and handed to the guy who smilingly accepted it. I was getting confused whether i was treating or giving a bribe. The same sweets appear as bribe when treated for personal favour (probably illegal) and appear to be more sweeter when treated with love/affection. I knew my case and felt happy (as if i gained Rs100) while testing my new bike on my way back to home.

Last week, I went to the same service centre to upgrade my insurance for the vehicle. I greeted this old service guy , but chose not to take his help this time, the reason being he had already displayed promptness and extra care in the 2 services for my bike after the accident repair and probably i didnot want to take any further advantage for the Rs100 rupees i had rewarded him once (sweet or bribe). I went to the counter ( where insurance is made) and handed over the documents needed and the lady there provided me a quote of  Rs1005 which included service charge of Rs100 for inspection of my vehicle. I was glad for paying the Rs905 for the insurance but for some reason , a sense of dis-satisfaction went through me for the extra Rs100 that i was asked for. I had serviced my bike hardly few days back (which means there was no need for inspection) and i had already been a good profitable customer of their service centre (remember the 15K for insurance). For a split second, i thought of the service guy who would have never charged the same (to my belief) and the innocence of the lady on this counter about my past relationship with the service centre. I didnot open my mouth but was definetely unhappy this time (as if i lost Rs100) while riding my bike back to my house.

Looking from a different perspective, a reader may argue that in the first case I shouldnt have given Rs100 as that was out of normal service proccess (the money didnot go to the dealer..but the service guy) while i was perfect (as per the process) in paying the same in the second case. But I was happy in the first case while unhappy in the second !!!. And what, the value of same Rs100 also turned exactly opposite in the second case.

Last vacation at my home-town, I was coming back with my sister from bustand to my home on the evening of Bhasani day (Visharjan) , the day when the goddess Durga is sent for immersing into the river (kathjodi) after about 10 days of worshipping. We usually board an auto which costs about Rs20 and travels on the ring road on the banks of river kathjodi on the way. The other way is through the city which is very long in terms of distance and time because of high traffic conditions and costs around Rs100-120. On this auspiscious evening, many number of processions from different areas of the city block the traffic on the ring road and hence the road was being closed by the police at all entrances from the city. We boarded an auto unaware of the changed conditions and all of us (we, the autodriver & the auto) moved towards the usual way. Two more elderly people joined in a short while, so i had to sit next to the driver and I could watch him and the road ahead clearly in front of my eyes. The initial entry point to the ring road was blocked using barricades and policemen standing near to it. The driver diverted the auto towards the city to find the next entry point but didnot manage to enter the ring road.I was astonished at seeing a strong sense of attraction in his eyes to travel on the same usual way. While observing and talking to him, i realised there was some other force than just business which was causing him to behave in this fashion. He got about couple of phone calls from his elder sister waiting for him at her home ( somewhere near to our home ) whom he had promised to pick her up as soon as possible. Suddenly we felt like passengers given lift by a vehicle going to the same destination rather than a nomal auto. I was stunned by seeing the force of love (affection) from someone who was not even her real sister. Finally after few more unsuccessful attempts, we ended up using the way through the city and reached our home. I asked him how much to pay & to my expectations, he answered "whatever you give".  I gave him only Rs30 while staring at another Rs100 note in my wallet. I didnot chose to give additional Rs100 as it wouldnot have meant anything more than Rs10 to him at that instant. He was being carried by the force of love of his elder sister and was hardly concerned about anything more than his fuel costs. This incident again made me realise the sense of positiveness love can create while thinking its boundaryless aspects.

In this case, the value of Rs100 ( which i should have paid to any auto driver for travelling through the city) had probably changed drastically to nothing more than Rs10.

This Monday while the value of 100 rupees was still running through my mind, I was heading towards my office with my bike running on reserve and wallet running out of money. I stopped at a small street on the hosur road near to a petrol pump; in front of an Axis ATM staring as always at the bank logo. I was standing in the queue at about 5th position behind a guy who looked as a middle class worker. He had worn a blue coloured check shirt which shirts out and a dark green formal pant which was muddy at its bottom. His face was dark with a little beard. I watched through the glass door while he took his brown coloured ATM card and inserted within the slot of ATM machine. While these scenes were still getting processed within my brain, i could see his hand taking just a Rs100 note from the ATM !!. I wondered how in this world one would stand in a queue long for just 100 rupee note. He folded the note into about 1/4th of its size and placed into his front pocket similar to a government employee placing his/her salary and walked away happily from the place.
The value of Rs100 now looked much higher as if he would probably fulfil all his necessities for atleast a few days.

In conclusion, all these incidents raised a question in my mind on the actual value of money which probably varies a lot according to the surrounding conditions.

Can there be more Fridays in a week ?

This was the question running in my mind while i was coming back to "my little home" (cubicle !!) from a party at work one Friday. The treat was hosted by one of my enthusiastic colleagues who executed it faster than did his award. By the way, never the hell could i stop thinking and calculating the productive hours of so many resources moving around in the campus everytime whenever i was also being one of them.

I always feel personal and professional(work) life cannot be separated from each other. One leads to other or is the cause of other or is within other, hence they have to go hand in hand. It reminds me of one of my teachers in college whom I made a phone call and got scolded from her husband because of calling at non-work hours. She later explained me that they had decided not to mix work with personal life and i tried to break that rule. I was confused, but relented myself thinking i was too young to understand what personal or professional life meant. It wasn't untill i got a chance to enter into so called professional life.

I feel productive means anything and everything that is involved in resulting of faster,quicker,better or a new by-product including items that can motivate, energize or rejuvenate towards one's goals.Infact many great ideas,solutions and inventions have happened during so called "non-productive" hours - over coffee, driving, walking or even in rest-rooms because it allows us to visualise those items in a rather un-conventional way than we usually do at work. Hence ,the belief of defining productive work as just activites which directly result in profits (or revenues) seems highly inappropriate. There should not be any such distinctions which entice employees to do such work only as it may restrict free flow of views and ideas thereby leading to loss of interest and motivation.

Freedom plays an important role in an employees productivity. Research has proved that people are more prone to commit mistakes when forced or they are told they are being observed. In an event involving tying of shoe laces and typing, one group of people were told that they are being monitored where as the other group was not observed at all. Results showed the group who were monitored made more mistakes than the other group, although they completed the job at a quicker rate. Freedom is an indispensible right of every individual and the outputs of a person are greatly impacted if it is deprived or hindered. In the earlier example, the first group felt deprived of freedom of action which resulted in higher number of errors. Recently a work hours policy introduced in our company insists employees to mandatorily spend certain hours daily resulting in criticism by many employees. At times, certain employees seem to stay in office just to comply this policy. Stringent deadlines is another such constraint. Focus goes on to complete an activity quickly rather than doing it in the right way. Such constraints in my view tend to distract employees focus, decrease their motivation and impact moral values which mostly results in lower quality of job. The job might need to be re-performed causing over-burning of the employee or the schedule getting delayed. In any case, ultimately the employee might feel de-energised and less happier at work.

Well What is a Friday then ? One very common thing discussed on this day is about the coming weekend. People seem to be too happy and excited on fridays discussing about the activities for the next two days free from work(professional) committments. They tend to feel more energetic, happier and free in a similar way as a bird freed from a cage. The weekend becomes a special occasion like an aniversary,new year or birthday.

There surely cant be more Fridays, but in my view if employees consider work as part of personal life and an environment is provided to employees where they feel themselves free, there would be more days when people can find work more fun and intriguing and the organisation can become more efficient and productive.

Faster than the light !!!

Will man ever be able to overtake light in terms of speed ? For a split second , lets assume this is possible, then what would be the impacts ? Will they be positive or negative ? Lets try to analyse.

At a first glance, many would think it would be a boon for the mankind. It would make the world more competitive, quick, lot of work can be done in a day and overall the efficiency of man would increase. Food items would be transported in a flash without getting rotten easily and made accessible to remote areas solving starvation problems.Traffic congestion would probably ease as people would spend less time in commuting. Enterpreuners can attend many international conferences in a day and rapidly connect all their offices or rather have one office serving a larger region. People can spend their vacation on moon or other heavenly bodies. Overall world would become more existing place to live in.

Other critics might argue it may pose a huge threat to human civilization. People would become more stressed as life would be more dynamic, fast, lot of activities would need to be done in a day resulting in a longer day. Depression cases in society would increase expotentially and average life-span of a person might decrease. Additionally, quicker transport might impact communication technology businesses and endanger them in a similar way as faster communication has done to the transport industry in current era. People would prefer to meet personally rather talk on phone, video conference or over email. Furthermore, because of high speed, accidents would be more life threatening and dangerous. Hardly would anyone deny with the fact that air mishaps are more catastrophic compared to their road counterparts. In worst cases, even remains of deceased get destroyed, unidentifiable or lost denying the person final rites and a holy exit from this world.

In primitive days, man hardly needed to move. He used to satisfy all his needs at a single place by adapting to the local environment. But then what is the need for him to move now ? Most speculate it is because of the opstimistic human nature and never ending desires. While researchers are working hard to make such an invention practical, the real benefits of the same on the human society are still under doubt.

Chilled Working Day !!

Thrursday 11th March ( post delayed by a day )

An annoying ascending ringtone went into my ears. I gazed at the wall clock in the hall which struck 6:15AM in twilight , the planned time for me to get up today morning. I switched off the mosquito repellent, felt sorry for my alarm and reset it to 7:00AM determined to respect it the next time. I succeded with a couple of snoozes, which allowed me to get ready for office comfortably by 8:00 AM. I wore a thick checked tight half shirt and brown trowsers.

I started off on my bike and reached office well ahead of time before few hiccups at traffic signals, sometimes giving rude expressions at other vehicles and sometimes feeling others doing the same to me. I parked my bike and saved the landmark in one of the memory registers in my brain from where i can retrieve it easily on my return. I entered my building which was already crowded at this peak time and squeezed myself in one of the lifts in hope of a great day at work.

On the way to my seat, i unsuccessfully passed by my managers cubicle hoping to be noticed on this seldom early workday of mine. I pressed my monitor power button which turned green and hit the enter key a number of times to wake up my PC from dizziness and it prompted me for my credentials. I wished it could automatically authenticate me by recognising my face infront of itself and open up all applications dynamically that i thought in my mind.

Todays breakfast consisted of customized airy fried bread -"puri" with potato curry called "sagu" in local language. I ate merely to clear them off my plate while staring at different people at the foodcourt and having a usual discussion with my colleagues, thereby returning back to work. For a moment in the day, I thought of  writing 1000 lines of code so as to feel satisfied for the day. I spent a while in afternoon trying in vain to search for a photograph in my wallet for the credit card agent who was travelling towards me from the city. I felt a bit embarassed as i had promised the guy, but finally convinced him with my zoomed ID card photocopy.

In the evening, I realised that i needed to study for my certification the next day and opened the pdf file but was unable to concentrate on it. I felt as if i was tied with ropes and asked to study it at gunpoint for my career growth in the organisation. Without progressing much, I finally quit the office while the sun was saying good-bye to this part of the world.

On the way back home, I could not concentrate and cursed my memory for regularly forgetting the driving gear of bike whenever slowing down due to traffic. I decided to free my brain nerves by taking a bottle of chilled beer and entered the famous madhuloka "liquor boutique" on the way. I had long imagined liqour to be sold respectfully in india, and hence was very happy when i came across this chain of boutiques few months back. As expected on a weekday, the boutique cum supermarket was almost empty and i could quickly select a tested brand and approached the lone counter. I found myself in queue next to a lady who was a professional ( i could notice from behind an ID card hanging on her neck). She was in a jeans & t-shirt, with goggles on her head, handbag on her left shoulder and  basket full of coke, snacks, buiscuits and other items in her right hand. I wondered why she chose to come there when none of items she was buying had sign of liqour in them. I went on another round of the market untill i heard the last beep of her items  being billed at the counter. Meanwhile I selected a popular marathi snack which also reminded me of my late evenings in melbourne when we used to have the same from the vending machine. Finallly, with the chilled beer in my bag on the back, I accelerated towards home.

I struggled and finally opened the chilled beer with a plyer and took it with three different types of snacks while watching a comedy drama on television. I bunked the dinner and went to bed with my laptop besides me after connecting chargers for my different mundane electronic gadgets. Meanwhile I finished this blog and slept while thinking of a suitable title for the same but could not still make it.

Unplanned break

For some reason in the morning today, i decided to take a day off. I have thought for this for past few days ( everytime in morning though !!), but without any proper plan/reason it always seemed illogical to me and I used to get ready every time and go to office on my bike as usual.

It was definitely an unpleasant day yesterday, specially because of the series of events that happened - starting from getting up late at 9AM !! because i could not sleep the day before dreaming of something( rather someone ); held up in unusual heavy traffic at sarjapur signal; waiting long in front of gate 7 for parking; spending a few hours unsuccessfully to take a screenshot and put it in a document; and finally irritated of adjusting my bike's left mirror while back to home. My opstimitic part convinced me that this is just my personal view and everything is relative in this world (nothing is good or bad) and because i was negative in the start of the day itself, everything appeared unpleasant to me. I had promised myself a early and lengthy sleep but found myself still on laptop at 12:20 AM.

I had to inform my manager about my absence at office today. I was trying to get the courage to do that, not because an important deadline will get missed, or a meeting would need to be cancelled but merely because of fear ( of what- i dont know !!!!) . I realised if i could have got rid of this, i could have taken this break a lot earlier. My other half of mind reminded me that many times I have thanked this fear for my achievements in life. In between i realised that i had already picked up my phone and dailed the number. The phone call was picked in a flash (as if my manager was eagerly waiting for it) and my brain recieved the message "yes suraj" from my ears connected to the speaker of the phone. I said "I will not be in today" in a feeble voice while my left hand still trembling and some how communicated it . I went to sleep again for an hour with the ceiling fan crying above me.

I found no drinking water in kitchen and went to nearby shop for water but ended in a haircut after withdrawing money from an ATM. This happens with me a lot of time - i think of something else and end up somewhere else because of my theory of optimal utilization of time/energy with less overhead. I recollected the recent movie scene of "3 idiots" where the ambidextrous professor was typing the same restigation letter for two of our 3 idiots with both his hands without using common sense of writing it once and copying it for the other.

I came back home at around 12:30 in afternoon and felt as if it was one of those days of summer holidays when i was at school with intense heat outside during afternoon and my mom advising me not to go out in sun. I can partially re-collect, me slipping out of home when my mom used to be asleep and do strange things with friends. I wish i could get those days and friends back whom i have either lost or currently present as mere photos in my facebook/orkut.

I felt lazy to dress up and go out for lunch. I could see only potatoes in kitchen and made myself feel that i was on moon ( so i can feel 6 times lighter and no longer overweight !!) and decided to go for making aalu paratha which i almost succeded last time. I had deliberately colored the mashed potatoes (slight yellow and red)  so that i can identify them in the parathas and feel happy while having them. Unfortunately I screwed them up while flattening them. Even though I applied patches to fix the holes, it resulted in more and more holes. Finally i settled down to "aalu with paratha" rather than "aalu paratha".

I spent most of the latter time on my laptop browsing and taking a nap in the afternoon. In the evening, i called up home and had tomato fried rice-another experiment because of my laziness to go out for dinner ( or for some vegetables !!). I updated by "about me" section of the orkut profile and started writing this blog before reminding myself to go to bed early and wishing a great tomorrow.