It is entirely within my discretion !!

Corporate life is full of challenges, adaptation is the key.Constant learning helps, and criticism is the best feedback.My elders advised me that there are three kinda people for you in this world.One who are helpful and interested in seeing you on a progressive path, they will not give you rosy feedback but a one which will keep you on toes, never ever loose them.Second category people will be indifferent to you but third one will be most important and your attitude towards them will decide a lot about you. These type of people are critics, everybody hates them, from artists to writers,director to actor and from individuals to big organizations,they are abhorred universally but I think they play a big role.Sometimes when we are not aware of loopholes they instigate our feelings with their words and actions and definitely pull our attention toward blunders.Our response projects our wisdom, in such scenarios I believe one should behave like a Judge. Similar to a judge one has all the powers to decide whether criticism is constructive or destructive, though its not as easy as it looks, sometimes we get to hear words which could be detrimental for us and may hamper our cognitive ability.Hence we need to develop a shield of protection from such assessments. The most recent one came from "Mike Atherton" who said that-"Claiming that Sachin is the greatest ever is demeaning to others,who stood at the crease with great courage during the times of body line bowling,knowing that next ball could be their last".I urge Mr Atherton to ask those "brave souls" to come to India and play in front of deafening crowd, its mystery to find how much a man can do to become the greatest ever.We get learnings from such incidents that its impossible to keep everyone happy but yes, to win most of the hearts you need hard work and humility.If Sachin Tendulkar had started worrying about such people then he would not have made tonnes of records and probably would not have come this far.Judgement lies within our brain, it is our choices that makes us different from others and not just the ability.

How to save the spark?

I am a fan of Chetan Bhagat's simplicity.But I also believe that it can not be achieved overnight, there has to be an incremental development.It is possible that his formidable vocabulary had got him 9 rejections from publishers, which he always mentions and may be thereafter he realised the power of simplicity. As a blog-writer I too believe that being simple is being intelligent but then I am not targeting the mass yet.Still I like people jotting down their suggestions on my blog and I welcome you all. Today what shimmered me is the excerpts of a speech given by Chetan Bhagat at Symbiosis, Pune.He spoke about the inner spark which we all have and he compared it with flame which sustains with the help of fuel.He was right when he said that with growing age the biggest challenge comes in front of us is, how to keep that spark alive ?We see a small baby and say that he/she is such a bright child and the same baby looses his/her spark with age.Shahid kapoor of Jab we Met had everything but was not able to keep that inner spark alive and when he met someone who was full of energy,he realized that life is not to be taken seriously but work should be. Isolation ,frustration,disappointments,unfairness are the four thunderstorms which he mentioned in his speech and according to him the spark needs to be saved from them.I agree with him. I also believe that to forget something bad you need a change in your mind rest all is going to be same, earth will still take 24 hours to spin on its axis and day will still be followed by night.All we have to do is to create a pseudo world wherein you can keep nurturing the spark.Music helps a lot.Music instigates feelings faster than anything else and thats why we get to listen good music in restaurants and hotels, special events are always supported by good music, without it one can imagine how inanimate a marriage may look like.You take example of Punjabi people they are the most cheerful people in this country without any doubt ! and the reason is that they enjoy life with music and dance to the fullest.One can say that it may act as a counter drug for their impulsive short-tempered behavior but none can deny from the fact that next to God is music and hence we must all love it. Cherish it because it is the only friend which will stay till the end, nothing else is everlasting.Two ear plugs into your ears and you wont even get affected by a twin tower crashing over your head, so preserve your youthfulness by nurturing the spark.

Relentless pursuit of Innovation @ GooGle

It is jabbering if you attempt to be verbose without substance. A jargon is waste of time, I agree,but my pursuit has been to make my articles interesting, I am not jaded due to criticisms but instead I like being under scanner which brings best out of me.I believe in innovation and hence I am inspired by Google ever since I started using its services, perhaps it was never done before which we did successfully in XLRI. Larry Page and Sergey Brin set up a concept of relationships between the websites to produce better results of searches on internet.Google is an amazing place to work, almost every professional on this planet would aspire to be a part of such talented company.The extent of their innovation can be judged with the way they have revolutionized the entire online industry. Never before in the history end user was given free products and services, most of the Google products are free for us and they generate revenue through online advertisements.Now It must be puzzling to most of us that whether they are a marketing company or a technology company? Google's funda is simple they promote innovation and for that they do not hesitate to acquire good companies. Jot-spot, Double-Click,You-tube and Grand-central are some of the acquisitions which helped Google to increase its market share, they work on incremental innovation as well as on radical innovation. Incremental is meant for sustainability of business and radical treads new paths.Denying back-rub technology and coming up with new concept was a radical move from GooGle and later to sustain in the business complimentary products became imperative which helped Google in creating brand awareness.Recently their attempt is to bid for 3G auction which is scheduled in January in India. They are smart to understand that mobile users are far greater than internet users in India and now with 3G it is expected to rise even more hence it makes sense to give it a try.Google's philosophy is to collect information related to user, about his searches on internet and then based upon his likes Google presents relevant advertisements.Later based on number of clicks and number of views client pays to Google, this business model is named as "Bait and Hook".Brainstorming and university like culture adds up to its strength, mannier products of Google have come from the 10 % time alloted for the unrelated projects when as an employee you are free to extend your limits and stretch beyond any possible imagination.They say that there is only one path to heaven and on earth we call it love, who knows it could be Google later.Keep Googling :)

Humor is the ultimate medicine- A panacea

I am privileged and honored to be one among the jokers of my college.I still remember the night when we disturbed our warden in his deep-slumber, that guy was in so much of relief when we left college.Humor is panacea and I am raising this issue to stress upon its importance.Sedentary corporate lifestyle takes a toll on our health, under such ambiance cracking up jokes is a stress -buster exercise.Humor also helps in forming teams. Laughter is the most effective short-cut between the souls. We have been taught that services can not be given until we get customer participation hence we need an audience and a prey.Sometimes it may attract people's outrage so you have to be careful to choose those who can let go and do not hold blind grudges to whoop your ass in future.In college it becomes easier to catch a prey and I suggest that instead of getting into Saas-Bahu kinda discussion take some one on a laughter trip.It does not mean that you have to humiliate that person, instead the symposium should be seductive enough for him also to join the party. I have been fortunate to have many friends with good sense of humor here at XLRI and I owe my creativity to him/her. To me laughing has been strength it helps in recovering from setbacks.I always believed that laughing upon oneself is the most difficult job because it reveals that one has grit and determination to offset the effects of blunders.

Shortcut to sharper brain....

Obviously it requires tremendous amount of absorption to perform this nimble activity. You have to be fast in your response to be a juggler. Recently I found in one of the articles of The Hindu and it was about a research done on human brain. Their purpose was to challenge a common notion according to which once reached adulthood our brain starts degenerating. Result showed that it is possible to develop a sharper and well coordinated brain by juggling. Scientists at Oxford university were trying to find out if changes in white matter of brain could be seen on learning new skills and task.Non jugglers were taught to juggle for a duration of six weeks and change was noticed in their white matter of brain. White matter of brain is a bundle of nerve fibers that connect different parts of the brain- as a result of learning an entirely new skill. No wonder why they stress upon doing yoga since it is also full of different poses and doing continuously is sure to help our brain. Albert einstein said - This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosphy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness. Human brain is enigmatic.

Batting at will, into the zone.....

Cricket lovers and some green-eyed critics from west have often tried to put Lara before Tendulkar. They say that Lara has been more sublime.Somewhat I am also agree with them. But If one believes in greatness then I dont think that there can be a better person than Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar.He can be used as a podium to judge greatness, before him, only Sir Garfield Sobers has played cricket for twenty years. Harsha Bhogle was right when he said that the one factor which justifies his greatness is his longevity in game.People can talk of numbers and can propose numerous lame excuses to downsize his stature but his persistence in the game over shadows all of them.We often crib about the absence of solitude for our low performances. Tendulkar plays in a deafening environment. With bulging aspiration of more than one-billion people, he enters in the colosseum like "Maximus Decimus Meridius" to win the battle with his concentration.His opponents often say that he quarantines himself into a zone where he could think only of the ball.Recently in Mumbai when India played against England in a test match, he confessed that he was so lost in the game that its only when opponents came to shake his hand he realised that India has won. Little wear and tear but his body is still holding up. And since I am insatiable ...Yeh Dil Mange more !!..Bravo !!

Yes Smoking !!

Some are bound to disagree. I pity on those days of soberity when I abhorred smokers but now I confess that I was living within a bounded rationality. Till some time I was untouched by seduction and I always believed upon my inner restraint to stay away from a hedonistic life style. But then somethings are bound to happen. Suddenly I have started respecting the sentiments of the composers of B.C Sutta. Its all in mind. There are so many things in life which thrills but kills, e.g Bunjee Jumping , Sky diving and other adventurous sports.They all have some element of risk involved. Protesters say one year of smoking reduces 10 years of life but why dont we see the other side of the coin? It helps us in cutting down on the amount of pain we go through in those 10 years. World is changing fast, we must not have any expectations from our children that they will keep us safe in our end days so why dont we cut down on the days of agony and forget everything and smoke. Look at the film stars like SRK, they do their work and smoke, forgetting all the ill effects .I think I am absolved from the sins of condemning smoking. Hopefully I will have some more points in support after a while. I dont think smoking kills. It just trims the number of days from our life and we die anyway. :)