Kids or commodity?

A million-dollar question which many married Indian couples face in recent years is whether to give birth to a child or not? Primarily such thought occurs for a multitude of reasons.

The marriage age is pushed to the late '20s and early 30's. Male/Female both are remain invested in prospering their careers till that time especially when they go for higher education. Therefore, a prime unfulfilled desire in them is to explore the world which supersedes the maternal/paternal instincts of many couples. But this is not the only reason.

Many couples believe in DINK (double income no kids) lifestyle. The new birth is often perceived as a responsibility that can hinder the career growth of some or brings extra financial,  mental pressure on a few others. Exploding education costs, medical expenses, and overall kids' economy cause deed uncertainty in many minds. More so, when you know that kid is not going to stay with you after a certain age. To a financial mind, It becomes like an investment without dividends. Hence people chose to live without kids. 

Cultural changes specifically family structure also play an important role in this. Earlier in joint families, grandparents used to take care of things. But now with nuclear families, the entire process of child upbringing is corporatized that parents hardly devote time to develop emotional connect with kids. As soon as the kid is born, he is admitted to Creche center. A little grown-up, he spends most of the day in playschool. Once out of it, our school education hijacks a kid's life. And soon at the age of 12, kids are shifted to boarding schools so that parents can manage and focus their career properly and the kid can build his own. So a natural question to ask is "why should we procreate kid?"

Even if one reconciles with changing cultural trends, cope up with spiraling financial burden and push aside his own personal ambition, would it be justified to bring kids for in such a polluted, resource-scarce, unsafe environment where air, water, food, and the entire ecosystem is contaminated.

A resounding answer to the question is no or don't know at the best.

In developed countries, we see the total fertility rate runs into negative despite an assured good lifestyle. Given that they are a tad ahead of us in the civilizational developmental lifecycle, we can learn from their wisdom or at least know their perspective about this issue. So the prime question as asked in the introductory paragraph is Why are they not producing kids and why should we Indians with a population of 130 crores should bear kids?

In India, earlier kids were considered a symbol of strength, working hands, a gift of gods and insurance of old age. A general impression was "More the kids, higher the masculinity". There were severe lack of avenues for entertainment. Hence, sex was the biggest source of entertainment. Women of the family were not working outside the house.  There was no awareness of protective devices and medicinal solutions to avoid pregnancy. And most strongly, not having a child was considered a social taboo. The child was seen as a flag bearer of the next generation. Hence people were producing kids.

Now the situation is reversed. Women are working. There is a high awareness of sex, pregnancy and kids. There are multiple avenues of entertainment. Families are nuclear and there is lesser insecurity about old age. Hence the question "why kids?" The only thing is social pressure, especially from parents, remains albeit bit subdued. 

I think the remaining question is of maternal/paternal instincts. Do we feel like procreating a kid so that as a couple one can have some fun or entertainment of parenting? Are we not commodifying kids?  What is so joyful about parenting in such an unsafe, polluted, and hectic environment?  

If it is about taking your generation forward, then are we not acting feudal in parenting the child? If it is about old-age insurance, are we not putting unnecessary expectation or burden on a soul which is yet to enter this world? 

Almost all the lines of thought prompted me to ask a question are we producing kids or a commodity?

Fake world and acceptance

As people move from adolescent to the adult age, one thing which defines their identity is work. Such strong is this identity that whenever you walk into any social gathering, the first question asked is what are you doing or what do you do as if the questioner is immediately offering a deal of 100 crores to the visitor. Why has the work become such a strong factor of identity? Alternatively, the question could be, why should or should not a person's work assume such importance in the social/professional discourse? 

A more general question is why we wish to be seen good. Why do we wish to portray as if everything is perfect with our life? Why can't we accept the thing that we are imperfect and all of us are living an imperfect life. And forget about others, why can't a person accept the fact that he is not living the best life and still be happy with it. Why has society conditioned ourselves in such a manner where we wish to be seen perfect, look perfect, work perfect and joy perfect. Why have we become so tunneled vision? 

Everywhere on social media, everyone is trying to project their best me. Who are we trying to impress? Why are we creating a fake world around ourselves? Why can't we simply accept our life conditions, our imperfections and our weaknesses? 

The start should happen from our talks and the way we define our self in our minds. If we accept things in our mind then we do not need to fake around. We can become more joyful, loving and peaceful and experience the calm of this chaotic real fake world. 

Construct of time

If there is one thing which could be termed root cause of all modern-day anxiety, irritation, frustrations, it is the construct of time.

It is time that creates the whole web of deadlines. What time to sleep, what time to wake up, when to finish a job, when to start a job, all of this directly originates from time. 

One who adheres to deadlines is more valued. One who fails to meet deadlines is considered failure. 

One who does things on time is considered disciplined and organized whereas other is considered indisciplined.

If you finish paper in time then you become IAS or IITian else life is doomed for you.

Time is the root cause of competition. It is the root cause of tension and stress. It is the most divisive tool in our society.

And ironically, life is most enjoyable when you forget the construct of time. Be it studies or sports or anything. 

You achieve self-actualization when you leave behind the construct of time. 

And most good things happen when we keep aside our watch. 

For instance, a sportsman playing for hours and hours without caring about body pain and day-night difference eventually reach perfection. A student who forgets the sense of day and night and keep working as long as it enjoys him eventually become a true master of things. 

So more than time, we need to worry about passion. Time is for disciplining the mediocre souls who find it difficult to set goals and find purpose in life. For those who are passionate, time is just a useless, immaterial construct that often pulls them down into mediocrity rather than excellence. 

Therefore, a civilized developed society should find ways to kill the construct of time and replace it with something better. 

A good teacher

I have had the opportunity to sit on both sides of the study table i.e. as a student as well as a teacher. I have first hand witnessed the impact a good teacher and teacher tort relationship can leave on human minds. Even nowadays I come across many teachers and students. The tendency of Self-observation creates another vantage position for me to do self-assessment and often leads me to compare my tenure as a teacher and student with other peers. It provides me insight into how could I have done a better job both as a student as well as a teacher. So here is the short summary:

1. A good teacher will always follow up with students like why did you not come to the previous class or why are you scoring less in the assignments? Nowadays teachers do not follow up with students on the pretext of giving them space or considering teaching as purely a transactional activity. A good teacher never does it. He persists and pursues students.

2. A good teacher is always considerate. He believes in forgiving. He is never distrusting rather he accepts the student's version. Even when he knows that the student is fooling around, he will always handle things with love, care, and compassion.

3. A good teacher repeats himself in the class i.e. he would say the same thing, punch lines, important concepts in the class again and again. This helps in leaving imprints on the student's minds.

4. A good teacher always starts with basics and focuses on basics. He constructs his lectures meticulously in a piecemeal manner. 

5. A good teacher praises and provides incentives for every small positive action whereas withdraws reinforcement whenever he sees red flags in student's behavior. 

6. A good teacher will always keep the class dialectical. It is never a monologue.

7. There should be a sense of genuineness, humility, and concern in the teacher's tone rather than cynicism, or saracasm. A good positive sense of humor would be the icing on the cake for the students. 

Overall, more than the content of the subject, it is the relationship between the teacher and the tort which defines the quality of the class.

This has been my learning after watching my teachers, and myself teaching a bunch of students. Hopefully I will implement some of these in my own teaching style and learn from this experience.

Handling a vendor: Key tenants

1. Always take commitment in writing.
2. Never give commitment in writing.
3. Keep a daily, weekly and monthly tracker.
4. The vendor will always try to make fool of you.
5. Keep questioning the vendor.
6. The vendor will never share the documents or give access to code. so take that.
7. Always talk to Developers.
8. Estimate your infrastructure as per your needs and not as per vendors' assessment. They definitely inflate it.
9. Keep all the communication on emails.
10. Put systems, tools, etc. in place before beginning the project.
11. Ensure you get access to all the tools.
12. Keep ownership of code with yourself and not the vendor.
13. Document, document, document.
14. Maintain a proper versioning system.
15. The vendor will always give a bigger estimate of the time. The real-time required to solve an issue would be 25% of the estimate given by him.
16. Keep some insiders in the vendor group.
17. Maintain a schedule of build deployment and release.
18. Always write your RFP document in the most comprehensive manner and leave scope for extended interpretations.
19. First work on the HTML/visuals/flow diagram so that you can present your idea independently.
20. Tracking, tracking, tracking. Do clear work allocation among your own team members.
21. Do code as well as functional reviews on a regular basis.

What is Happiness?

For a truly happy person, even if he loses everything suddenly, he should be happy. Even if he is in the company of abhorrent, he must be smiling from within. Ideally, there should not be any concept of good, bad or ugly for him. Everything should be indifferent and nothing else for a person of such demeanor.

How can we develop that kind of mindset?

1. By removing all the ought, must and should from his dictionary.

2. By removing the concept of time. Time induces fear. If we do not finish something before this deadline then this would happen. If we reach late to the office then the Boss will rebuke. 

The basic idea of true happiness has to be "living in the present" and "having no desire".

Now, what is the meaning of "Having no desire"?

Having no desire means being detached from everything around you. 

Being detached means if you get or if you do not get your desired result, maintain equanimity. 

For example, even if I do not get food for 10 days or lose everything I possess in the next moment, I shall not be frustrated, irritated or angered. 

Does this mean there should not be any rules in the way we live? Won't we slip into an animalistic life if we fail to adhere to certain rules and regulations. But isn't discipline, rules, happiness and living in the present are the antagonistic concept? Isn't the definition of happiness contains should/ought/must in itself? Aren't we motivated to act out of our desire and if no desire what would motivate us to act? Even if we act without desire, what will determine our direction of actions? And if we go with the flow, aren't we vulnerable to fall in the trap of negativity, indiscipline, and unhappiness? Can we really achieve zero? Can we really achieve thoughtlessness? or is it all useless? 

Rules are peculiar. If you take an excuse for breaking them once, you develop this as a habit.

Loose talks, discussing individual or material being in the ecosystem is the cheapest way to waste your time. Rather discuss ideas. Work on them. Make them a reality.

Your past experiences are your biggest teacher. Your mistakes are the view of the future. Identify them and draw lessons from them.

There is always a new beginning and a new start. If you are not able to achieve a desirable goal, keep trying. In pursuit of certain objectives, If you give up, or withdraw then contentment but diffidence.

If fight and win over the challenge.

Clearly I am clueless.

Resurge

After more than 100 days and nearly 3-4 failed attempts, here I am again, geared up to compile my thoughts on this blog. So without much ado, first thing first, let me list down some of the interesting events of the last 100 days of my life:

1.  The experience of working with younger kids was very interesting. It pushed my limits of what is possible and what not? There were times when I was totally lost but then I managed the situation by putting some effort. It was the most fruitful novel experience of the last 100 days where my decision to not give up helped me to emerge out with grace. But I must thank Master Prashanth for helping me overcome this challenge. More specifically, three things helped me. First was I dealt with him with patience and love rather than anger and ego. The second was the identification of my role and persistence in solving the problem. The third was my own karma which came to help me in difficult times. 

2. There was a religious family event Siddhachakra Vidhan. The Fun in Siddacharkra Vidhan was fantastic. It was a family gathering where all family members assembled for religious purposes. I remember playing the role in Somasati play where I turned an emotional scene into laughter. There was lot of dance and pooja. However, during most of the prayers/offerings/rituals, I was confused about the relevance of Dravya Pooja. I could not fathom its significance.  

3. In the office, I was fortunate to be part of some new upcoming IT projects in the Income Tax Directorate. These are the projects with cutting edge industry architecture which can change the face of the Indian Taxation and Financial system. At the same time, I picked up the issues at Office and gladly raised my voice against wrongdoings. I had immense learning in how to handle vendors but I think that requires a separate post.

4. During this time, Article 370 was revoked and a lot of prime time News hours and headlines were devoted to this.  A lot of discussion on WhatsApp and other social media was devoted to this which consumed my time as well. 3 years back, I had predicted about article 370 and Kashmir issue in my old blogs. I am glad that some of it came true. Kashmir issue is not yet resolved but at least the wheel have rolled further which is better than being stuck in one place.

5. I Settled down in Kaushambi in government flat and picked up with my new sports which I am finding somewhat challenging yet entertaining. There is some change from JNU/NII. The greenery and serenity is missing but overall it is fun and ok. Ultimately, my destiny ensures I do not stay in one place for more than 12 months.

6. The biggest blessing for me was my attendance in the Yama Samlekhna of "Parampoojya Guruvar 108 Shri Vidya Nand Ji Maharaj". This was one of the most rewarding and memorable moment of my life. My experience with other saints also prompted me to think about "What should be an Uttam Sadhu Vritti"?

7. Staying with Ayush and Ni2 was fun. "Bahut maja aaya". 

8. On the national front, the Indian economy tanked to a new low. Unemployment reached great heights. Maharashtra's political crisis showed the real face of Indian politics and Godi media continued to harm our nation.

While life was becoming routine, there were numerous things that happened which distanced me from my core. Among all the activities, four are most critical for connecting with my core self namely Meditation, Reading books, Writing blogs and Running. I failed on all four counts miserably.

In a way it was depressing. I made multiple efforts to become consistent and become more regular but all of them resulted in vain. Every time I tried to stand up, I lay flat on the floor. But there is always a new beginning. Possibly that was the learning. So here I am writing this blog and eagerly awaiting the start of my next Vipassana course in mid-December. 

I felt irritated many times over many small issues. Even I became loquacious and loud in conversations. The pleasantness, calm and equanimity were missing which concerned me at times. My employees asked me to take care of my business. He pleaded that my job will feed only one stomach but my business will feed 20's of them. My friends giving me unsolicited advice about not to waste my life. And my tendency to look at my palm worsened which in a way indicates that I worry about my future. 

So these were the past 100 days of my life. My failure/disinclination to document my thoughts was my biggest mistake. Every day there were so many unique mention-worthy incidents, startup ideas, political-economic comments on which I wished to write. However, I have no clue why was there so much disinclination for documenting these thoughts.

One prime reason was lack of time. Another was a lack of personal space. And third was lack of silence within. Anyway, there is always a new beginning. and It always feels good to stand up after falling flat. So here I am raising the toast to my new beginning and hoping to draw strength from this experience. 

Importance of discipline

Q. Why should I live a disciplined life?

1. Fitness
2. Managing multiple activities and multiple interest
3. Physical training leading to mental training and vice versa
4. To breed positive thinking
5. Productive lifestyle-->positive thinking--> Resilient attitude
6. The risk of not living a disciplined life are very high
7. My ambitious attitude require me to live in disciplined manner
8. Health and wealth perspective
9. Basic attribute of a leader like life style
10. You will not find a single person who is happy or content or leader in his walk of life without living a disciplined life
11. It gives confidence and belief of ability to push my limits.
12. It makes you less fearful.

Q. What kind of life I wish for myself?

1. Active reading, writing and speaking
2. My expertise in one domain
3. Wish to work on high profile projects
4. Meditation
5. Excel in whatever I do
6. A sense of achievement and fulfillment in life
7. Helping every single person who approaches me in someway or other
8. Making this world a better place to live
9. Bring smile on face of people

Q. What is the importance of work achievement in my life?

1. For most of your adult life and retired phase, your work is your identity
2. Whenever you meet anyone, first thing they ask is What do you do? So whether you like it or not, we are defined by what we do, how do we contribute towards our community.

Q. How to maintain discipline in life?

1. Remind its importance to yourself everyday.
2. Meditate: meditation brings continuity in life. It gives free time, me time when one can sit and draw lessons from life, contemplate and reflect. Thus it helps in reminding us.
3. Keep cheat days.
4. Make friends who motivate you for the same.
5. Feel the leader within you.
6. Visualise the kind of body, mind and life you will develop with and without discipline.
7. Minimise the regrets. Realise that how deep would be the regret if you fail to follow it.
8. Most importantly:
9. Fix your sleep time and wakeup time.
10. Make sure good never become enemy of the best.
11. Keep trying everyday.
12. Make schedule. 
13. It's ok to miss everyday but it is not ok to not draw the lesson from the failure.

Q. Why is it important to be a leader in life?

1. To live as per call of your soul and mind and heart.
2. To enlighten the path of others.
3. To be involved and engrossed with yourself. 
4. To help people who are not as fortunate as you are.
5. And finally the noblest oblige and self actualization.
6. Important thing is here leader does not mean a politician or person with mass appeal. Leadership here means doing the best where ever possible.

Q. Why is it important to set your life as example for others?

1. It is not important.
2. Be an example for yourself first.

Q. Why is it important to have a reflex of positivity and how is this related to discipline and schedule?

1. See the happiness, calmness, love, affection and fearlessness in the behaviour of positive people.
2. Always jolly, loving, trusting others around him. It takes away a lot of tension.
3. Once you start living a disciplined life, it means you can control your mind a bit. So this control can help in shooing away your negative thoughts.
4. For an ecosystem like India, negative thoughts and negativity is natural to occur. You mind generally gets conditioned to think negative. In such a situation, you discipline and spirituality help you in staying positive.

Q. Why is it important to develop a work attitude in life?

1. An empty mind is devil's den. Therefore, keeping oneself busy with small goals, targets and activities is very important.

Q. How to develop a attitude of work orientation?

1. Set small goals 
2. Make schedule
3. Follow meticulously
4. Achieve goals
5. Analyse, draw learnings, assess success and failures
6. Celebrate the process
7. You will develop liking for the same.

Q. Why is it important to maintain a dairy of pending and achieved task?

1. It helps you in tracking your task progress and accordingly regulate your time.

Q. Why is it important to write daily journal and maintain a list of assignments?

1. It helps in going back in time and revisit past experiences more clearly.
2. It enhances your articulation.
3. It captures your state of mind at that very moment.

Q. Why sports are necessary?

1. Physical activity releases endorphins which are key to happiness.
2. Sports give an element of entertainment.
3. It helps you overcome your OCD behaviours.
4. Sports is like meditation at times. You energy, thoughts remained focussed.

Q. Why dwelling deep within your soul is important?

That's the ultimate reality, source of all the good.

Expecting anything from anyone around you is foolish. Every action has some or other interest. Except mother's love, everything seems conditional.

So rather focus on your soul, connect with it. Roam in that world. It helps in soothing the mind, rejuvenate you from within, helps you overcome negativity and allows you to love unconditionally. It helps you understand the course of your destiny, gives you clarity of thoughts, and  calms your mind. It increases our acceptance of events in life. It makes us indifferent but at the same time more positive, loving, joyful and chilled out. In all it helps us in understanding the true nature of things around. It is Brahmacharya.

Improving public service in India

How to improve the operations at the public places like hospitals, Railways and other places.

1. The responsibility to improve the operations lie not on center, state or Panchayat. Instead, this is contingent on institutional leadership. Therefore, institutional chiefs need to work on devising steps for the behavioral dimension of it's customers and employees.

2. Technology: We need to deploy technological means to make this process convenient for the people. Beginning with online appointment for the hospitals, the technological solution must deploy full suit of technology for making life convenient for end users. To this end, it is necessary that we restrict the visitors accompanying the patient/traveller, barcode the people/documents, increase the number of staff members, increase the size of the public place, providing basic amenities to public as well as employees, put more signboards and self guided facility, more patient counters or rail announcement system, a working solution for the appointment systems at institutional as well as operation level etc.

3. Administration: The task of administration should be left to administrators who have received general training in dealing with these aspects rather than putting specialists on this job. The areas of hospital management, railway station management, crowd control techniques etc should be given proper attention.

4. We need to plan for things 15 years ahead of our time. It requires critical evaluation of current state of affair and huge investment for bringing futuristic solutions for solving current day problems.

5. The time management can be improved by employing artificial intelligence, data mining and other solutions. In addition, we should deploy Internet of Things, and Blockchain kind of things to make things work. For example, a patient could be informed about his real time of appointment with doctor as soon as he is over with registration. Similarly, IOT solutions could be deployed in tracking the movement of patients and their documents.

It is a painful sight at public places to see wastage of human, economic and social resources in a huge manner. We need to make the entire process of experiencing public services hassle free, predictive and transparent. New India should not have any place for any mismanagement of resources.

Random blabber

Recently I happen to work alongside few younger mates and it proved to be a worthy experience. One of the noticeable thing about working with them was their methodical approach and focus on the conceptual understanding. So strong was their emphasis on the procedures and methods that it struck me like a hammer. As if it brought me out of my sleep or mediocrity or falling standards. I realised the importance of focussed effort, methods and procedures and reignited my believe of delivering the best.

Most importantly, all of this came as Deja Vu. These learnings were not new, it is just that lethargy and lack of novelty in my thought had shadowed them. That is why I believe it is important to keep the company of right kind of people in life.

Another observation was negativity in my thoughts. Off late, the negativity in my thoughts has spiked. Mainly it is triggered by confusion about what I wish from life and my tendency of singing the same song repetitively. Another trigger and manifestation of this negativity is lack of exercising and inability to follow a disciplined life. And indirectly, it emerged from my misplaced expectation from the ecosystem in which I live.

The only way to overcome this would be to meditate, to sit and work tight, as per a predefined plan. Self control and self absorb is the key to peace, happiness and optimism.

Another thought which struck me was spreading happiness. I thought that I should ensure that whoever comes in my contact, should walk out more happier.

Last 10 days were happening except for last few days. The JATF Udaipur visit was a unique experience but much novel was the experience of viral fever. First time in life I got infected with a fever which increased my temperature on 10 different occasions in short span of 5 days despite taking the medications. It was only 2 days back, I could recover fully and since then I have been wanting my time.

And so now you understand the motivation behind this blog. Hope to write more impersonal things unlike this note. Till then good bye.

A letter from July

One more happening month of my life is over. Many notable things happened in this duration. Some of the significant one are following:
1. Economics class at JATF was highlight of the month. Initially I was little worried and afraid about the classes but once it started rolling, there was no looking back. It was like a rollar coaster ride for me. I am still awaiting the feedback for the same.
2. I shifted to government flat. It is good place to be in. Lot of amenities around but I am yet to get my routine back on schedule.
3. My data mining course has started. There is lot of fear and confusion whether I'll be able to cope with it or not. I need to play extra hard to really fulfill this goal. This is one of the challenging task on which I have set my foot and I really need blessings of everyone around to finish the course.

Many little things also happened like
1. My bicycle ride to Singhu border
2. My rain walk from Ambience mall
3. My participation in faceless e-assessment project and budget proposals framework.

All in all, life is busy and happening as usual. I wish to find more courage and vitality to write about day to day learning and read and exercise more regularly. These three remains the flip points of my journey this month.

Random thoughts

Never keep a problem lingering or pending

Play it on front foot

Remember the kind of frustration you deal with in daily life is much bigger than a unicorn CEO.

Noblest oblidge: If you have a gift from God, if you are blessed with a talent, it is your duty to give it back to the society.

Everyday is a new beginning.

Always begin the day with a smile and blessings of trees, animals, sun, Moon and every other resource around you.

Douse the anger within you and world will become a better place to live.

Give others benefit of doubt. Trust people. Respect every emotion of every individual. We are all the same.

Two epics

When the history of sports will be written, yesterday will find a special mention. The reason being two of the greatest game in the sporting history were played yesterday. One was ODI cricket world cup final between England and Newzealand. Other being Lawn tennis Wimbledon final between Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic.

I could not watch the second one as I was busy with the first one. I don't regret missing the second because the first game was full of thrill, excitement, climax and lot of fun. More specifically three things were very noticeable in the match.

First of it was heroics of Ben Stokes. He played a really courageous inning. As goes the adage: Fortune favours the brave. It definitely favored him vigorously.
Second was cool and calm response of Ken Williamson. It was fabulous. It requires great deal of experience, thought experiments and wisdom to remain that way.
Third was the shot of destiny. If something is not meant for you, whatever you try, it won't fall in place.

The whole game reminded me of Hitler. When Hitler had to choose his army generals,he would call them for a final interview and he used to ask just one question to them, "Are you lucky?". I think this was the difference between the two sides on that day.

Another thing which got stuck in my mind was importance of Hope. It is so powerful a mental state of mind that if it is strong enough, it definitely changes the outcome. It is like whole world conspires for you to succeed.

Anyway enough for the day. Rest will come later.

My 5 learning

A friend recently asked me a question "what are my 3 key learnings after appearing in UPSC exam?".
I could not answer with clarity. There was so much to dig in. There was lot of substance even before appearing in the UPSC. It was hard to distinguish whether a particular leaning is result of UPSC or belonged to pre-UPSC era. So I sat down and tried to remove some mud and here is what I found.

1. Destiny is more powerful than anything else. You try whatever is possible, if it is there you'll get it and if it is not there, you'll never get it. Hard work and all goes for toss in front of it.
2. You have to keep trying, keep walking whatever may be the direction. Destiny will automatically put you on the right path.
3. A routine schedule and disciplined life style is worthy living. In the long term, it is more joyful than anything else.
4. Real happiness is a reflex of mind. Convince yourself about it and you will be happy. Else, life will keep teaching you same lesson again and again.

5. Everyone is fighting a battle in life so be kind, considerate and empathic to people around you. 

Most beautiful blessing

Ability of backing yourself with the belief "If not me then who"
Disposition of enjoying the good and bad hits in everyday life
Tactic of taking life as a game
Courage of taking risk, making moves
Power of living a detached life
Understanding the futility or ephemeral character of everything around yourself
Discipline of following a routine or schedule unwaveringly
Generosity of ignoring and forgiving wrongdoers around you or helping them in rectification in polite yet firm manner
Living with a smiling face every second of your life
Virtue of dreaming big but enjoying every small events in life
Empathy and compassion for other beings specially for those subordinate to you
Attitude of service primarily for parents and for all the needy people,

are the most beautiful blessings which any one can receive from the nature or almighty.

Experiences I wish to write about in detail

1. Decoding the defeat of Rahul Gandhi and future predictions for him
2. Experience of managing the vendor
3. Experience of Writing magazine
4. Experience of DTRTI training
5. Biking/Cycling experience: My first 50 and 100 km tour
6. IIT-Income Tax collaboration
7. The Power of AUM
8. The curse of greed
9.  On and off the track: continuous struggle
10. Father and Grandfather

There are so many thoughts, experiences and learning everyday and time and again I fail to document them properly. So, I am dropping the topic list so that I'll not miss the topics and whenever I get the free time, I should write about them.

10 things for Modi 2.0

My predictions about NDA's second term have come true. BJP under Prime Minister Modi's leadership and Shri Amit Shah's meticulous planning have grown by leaps and bound. However, this victory should neither be seen as public endorsement of Modi's policies nor should it be seen as satisfaction of people with Modi's regime. This is a vote for stability and decisive leadership over corrupt, uncertain and divisive leadership of the likes of Bua and Babua. Therefore, Modi 2.0 has a lot of ground to cover if it really wish to bring real structural and transformative change in India's landscape. Here are listed top 10 policy priority for Modi 2.0 to bring some churning and produce fruitful results for our nation.

1. Financial profiling of each and every individual whether exempted or not. Major reforms in Income Tax necessary. Remove all tax declaration related exemptions rather public should compulsorily declare all the income(even single penny) and then whatever exemption/deduction rules are applicable, they should be put in place.

2. Real time communication and information exchange between all the government department. So for example, if a person is leaving the country then immediately Income tax and police and other ministeries should come to know by transfer of data in real time from customs to Income Tax etc. Similarly, if person buying new vehicle and getting registered with RTO, Income Tax should be informed immediately.

3. Technology wherever possible. For example, why can't we put camera in city and send fine notice after reviewing images on camera in the back office.Computerise wherever possible and focus on usability and data analysis. Punitive and technology intensive policing need to be emphasised.

4. Major emphasis on computer literacy, digitalization and digital linking so that information asymmetry can end in the country.

5. Land reforms like land register so that we can map property related to each and every individual. Similarly crowd control, pollution control and population control strategies should be clearly thought out and implemented.

6. 365 day 24*7 vocational education and business establishment workshops with substantive content.

7. Make  Rehabilitation and resettlement ministry and laws so that in every city, we can start planning things properly. Mandatory trees in every house. Road design. Street vendor management, urban planning. Whatever needs to be changed, should be changed. Take advantage of competitive federalism in this regard.

8. Electoral reforms by way of bringing changes in constitution. 2 times election in every five years. No confidence motion applicable only when we have alternate government formation possible like Germany. All the state and center election at be held at 30th month or 60th month. In between only work and development.

9. Deliver on all the big infra projects in a timely fashion and plan in futuristic sense of things.

10. Start planning now and in 3 years time, reduce the cash usage by 50% atleast. Make PAN declaration necessary for every cash transaction above 1000rs .

My article on Acharya Sushil Muni Ji

जैन धर्म में अहिंसा को सबसे प्रमुख स्थान दिया गया है | यह अहिंसा का सिद्दांत केवल कर्मों तक सीमित नहीं है अपितु इसे भावों एवं आत्मा के स्तर पर समझाया गया है| आज हम में से बहुत लोग जैन कुलनाम का प्रयोग तो करते है परन्तु जैन सिद्दांतों को आत्मिक व वैचारिक स्तर पर धारण नहीं कर पाते | आचार्य सुशील मुनि जी एक ऐसे तपस्वी साधू थे जिन्होंने ना केवल इन नियमों को अपने  कर्मों एवं भावों में उतारा बल्कि बहुत सारे अन्य जीवों को में इस मार्ग पर चलने का रास्ता दिखाया | 

आचार्यश्री के अनुसार अहिंसा नियम का पालन करना मन में प्राणी मात्र के प्रति प्रेम भाव उत्पन्न हुए बिना असंभव है | इसीलिए अहिंसा के मार्ग की पहली व आखिरी  सीढ़ी प्रेम भाव ही है | आज हम सभी किसी ना किसी से प्रेम करते हैं | कोई अपने माता-पिता से तो कोई अपनी पत्नी-बच्चों से या पालतू जानवर से | क्या इसे अहिंसा मार्ग पर चलना मान सकते हैं और क्या ऐसा करने से हमें शांतिपूर्ण ठंग से मुक्ति मिल सकती है ? आचार्य श्री ने इस विषय पर विस्तार से चर्चा करते हुए कहा है कि प्रेम भाव किसी व्यक्ति-विशेष या संप्रदाय-विशेष तक सीमित ना रहकर  प्रत्येक  रंग, भेद, पद्दति, विचार के हर छोटे बड़े जीव के प्रति होना चाहिए | यह प्रेम केवल सगे-सम्बन्धियों तक नहीं बल्कि हर कण-कण से होना चाहिए | जब ऐसा प्रेम हमारे रग-रग में उपस्थित होता है तो हमारे बैरी भी हमारे हितैषी बन जाते है | जब आप किसी भी प्रकार के राग द्वेष ईर्ष्या भय क्रोध मान माया लोभ  से ग्रसित हुए बिना प्राणी मात्र से प्रेम करते हैं तो आप उनके परमाणुओं से आत्मिक स्तर पर जुड़ जाते हैं और आपने भाव-व्यक्तिव्त्व से उस प्राणी को मानसिक एवं शारीरिक रूप से प्रभावित कर पाते हैं | 

प्रेम एक अभूतपूर्व शक्ति होती है|  यह श्राप को भी वरदान में परिवर्तित कर सकती है | आचार्य  श्री ने प्रेम भाव के एक ऐसे ही  उल्लेख भगवान् महावीर के जीवनकाल के एक उदाहरण से दिया|  जब चंडकौशिक नामक क्रोधी विषैले सर्प ने भगवान् को काटा तो भगवान के शरीर से करुणा और दयावश रक्त के स्थान पर दूध निकलने लगा |  ऐसा प्रेम जब हम अपने मन में धारण करे तो अपने आप ही हमारी काय चमत्कारमयि हो जाती है | एक अहिंसा मार्गी के लिए ऐसी करुणा और ऐसा प्रेम भाव अति-आवश्यक है |  

जब किसी शिष्य ने गुरूजी से पुछा की क्या ऐसा प्रेम भाव संभव है तो गुरूजी ने बहुत ही सरल स्वभाव से उत्तर दिया की क्षमादान और तठस्ता विचारों से ऐसा प्रेम संभव है | जब हम ऊंच-नीच, छोटा-बड़ा, गोरा-काला और अच्छा-बुरा की व्याकरण से ऊपर उठकर सभी जीवों से जुड़ते हैं तो अपने आप ही प्रेम भाव की उत्पत्ति होती है | 

शायद इसलिए आचार्य श्री ने सार्वभौमिक प्रेम की दर्शन को आगे बढ़ाते हुए एक नयी संस्था की स्थापना की और उसका नाम विश्व अहिंसा संघ रखा | 

आज मुझे बहुत हर्ष है कि  जो बीज आचार्य श्री ने बोया था अब वो एक बड़े पेड़ के रूप में विकसित हो चूका है | अहिंसा पुस्तकालय, अहिंसा भोजनालय, अहिंसा विकलांग सहायता समिति इसके कुछ उल्लेखनीय कार्य है जिसकी प्रशंसा चहुंओर  हो रही है | इन सभी कार्यों की सफलता का  श्रेय आचार्य श्री के अहिंसा, प्रेम, क्षमा एवं करुणा के सम्बन्धों को आत्मिक एवं वैश्विक स्तर पर  समझाना है | उनके उपदेशों ने संपूर्ण विश्व को एकसूत्र में बाँधने  का पुरजोर प्रयास किया है 

Mid term review

Today is 15th April. A little more than 100 days of year 2019 have passed and my new year resolution of writing 5 blogs every month has gone in the trash. It is little disappointing that despite so many fleeting thoughts, new ideas and worthy experiences, I have failed in penning down my learnings, observations and stories. However, all is not lost. There is always a new beginning and considering that new year day of the Hindu Calendar has passed recently, I think it is time to take a mid term review of my progress on all the targets and restart with a new zeal.

Now that the confession is over, let me list out few task which I have been able to finish in the year.

First was the small booklet on economic survey and budget for IAS aspirants. 

Second was the classes on economics for JATF students.

Third was my schedule for running. It has been mixed experience. March was not a good month but I am glad that I could manage to run or exercise at least 15 days each month till now.

Fourth is my extra-curricular classes which I have managed.

Fifth was finishing two books namely Outlier and economics book by Sanjeev Kumar sir.

Not to mention, I finished at least 4-5 web series along with all this.  

So the year has not been entirely disappointing. The result has been mixed. A large part of year is yet to occur. So with this blog post, I intend to make a fresh beginning and aim to cover my remaining targets of the year. 

     

Officer Like Qualities

You might have heard the acronym OLQ which stands for Officer like quality which officers in the government are expected to possess. Some of the worthy to mention are listed below:

Effective Intelligence, Expression, Self Confidence, Determination, Organizing ability, Courage, Initiative, Sense of responsibility, Stamina, Decision Making etc.  A lot of money is spent on imparting these behavioral traits among the officers however not necessarily they end up learning or developing these attitudes. Instead, what we see as a result of training is something related but different. Few things I observed among most of the officers are following:

1. Clean Shave: They are perfectly clean shaved every day.
2. Dress: They follow a certain dress code which distinguishes them from other employees and subordinates.
3. Silence: They speak as little as possible in front of employees.
4. Distance: They maintain a distance from their employees or subordinates.
5. Cadre: They can even die for their cadre. They cover for their cadre people and develop ingroup-outgroup thinking vis-à-vis other cadres.
6. Turf: They continuously try to expand their turf.
7. Elitism: They consider themselves to be on some other pedestal.
8. Communication: Good in speeches and in some cases good in action.

Having said so, we must admit that their cadre, network, and job security enable them to exhibit autonomous behavior. They do not look for approval and develop a commanding attitude. The power of their position helps them with self confidence and sometimes with punitive authority. But there is nothing special with them. It is the job and the training which made them so. Had it been any one else with same privileges, he could have performed better than the Officer like officers.

Documentation and Project Planning

This post is about importance of project planning. Any big project becomes hundred times easier if we are able to break down the project in small segments.
1. Whenever an employee float a new idea or new substantial suggestion, tell him to document and send the idea across.
2. Go for detailed documentation of all the screens, module in the form of Wireframes.
3. Do a daily stand up meeting and take updates from each employee.
4. If employee is disturbing the team ethics then ask him to update his work status two times in the day.
5. Fix individual responsibility and accountability.
6. Identify the sincere employees and give them appropriate autonomy, freedom and respect.
7. Maintain daily, weekly and monthly tracker of your project.
8. Do not hesitate from conducting marathon meetings once in 15 days.
9. Whenever a new employee joins, set the tone by way of these meetings. Give him the glimpse of project planning and your own nature.
10. Behave like an officer, disciplined, meticulously organized, neat and clean. This sets the benchmark for employees and also define the standards of excellence.
11. Point out even the minutest mistake of the employees and ensure that an standard of excellence is set among the team members.

For all this, the leader himself has to be in high spirit, full of enthusiasm and energy. He should live up to all the expectations of excellence which has from his employees. This is my learning from the Project Insight.

How to break your employee?

Managers or administrator use various tactics to break their employees like
1. Kill his autonomy.
2. Keep the decision making to yourself.
3. Maintain your aura.
4. Act superior to him like dress, manners etc.
5. Use words frugally.
6. Break his network.
7. Do not heed to his basic needs.
8. Be mercurial/unpredictable.
9. Don't give him opportunity.
10. Keep him on the edge.

This is the situation in most of the jobs. These are the tactics deployed by an insecure manager, when he wishes to assert his dominance over his employee who he think can challenge his authority. Be it private sector or government sector.

There are different ways  an employee can respond to this situation?
One way could be avoidance behavior. It could be reflected in following ways.
1. Do not seek satisfaction from job.
2. Diversify your talent or source of Income.
3. Become passive.
4. Build your network.
5. Maintain silence.
6. Live easy.
7. Show no sense of ownership.

Another way is to develop offensive behavior like
1. Be vocal about your rights, speak up.
2. Bypass authority and channels.
3. Work hard to prove your mettle.
4. Be mercurial.
5. Incite others.
6. Backbite your manager.

7. Work on your skills.

However, both behaviors are extremes. It is advisable to choose your strategy depending on the manager's rank in the hierarchy. A possible middle path could be:
1. Diversify your talent or source.
2. Work on your skills but do not make them public.
3. Build your network.
4. Speak up but use your words judiciously.
5. Create your importance in the office.
6. Look for other jobs. 

One can see all sorts of employee-manager relationships in the government as well as  private sector. Such situation demands lot of prudence from the managers. In government jobs, Employee's first reaction develop the avoidance behavior however in private sector employee's first reaction is to develop offensive or middle path.  

Breaking the Inertia

For last two months, I am struggling with the inertia of not writing blogs. The reasons are not many. First could be the fear of spilling too much personal details. Second is lack of substantive and structured thoughts to write. Third but I think the most prominent is my own laziness on this front. Anyway, there is lot of things to write about, lot of thoughts, experiences, frustration, joy, and new developments. 

To begin with, I must apologize to myself for my failure to write anything for January.  The month taught me ways in which the leadership can destroy the zeal and enthusiasm of genuine employees.  Our whole batch (People in Delhi) was put on an unofficial compulsory wait. We were not given the further postings after the "sham training" of two and half months. There was sense of uncertainty and demotivation in me. However, I tried to compensate through other means like exercise and music.  I managed to follow my resolve of not eating after 7 PM. It helped me putting my schedule in practice and I felt much happier. We installed our TV at home and most of my time went in enjoying the TV shows specially the horror ones. 

February was little busy. I wrote a book on Budget and Survey for Vajiram. I was put on the project Insight, one of the most sought after project in the department. I met many interesting people including my project head Mr. Sanjeev Singh. Watching and observing him and others in the department, I understood the importance of documentation, project planning and why is it better to be feared than loved. 

Working along side him, there were numerous small observations day in and day night. The taste of functioning of the government department in the backdrop of my own experience of working in private sector helped in developing the new perspectives. I will list some in the upcoming blogs. 

For now, the breaking news is breaking the internet. Indian air force has hit deep inside Pakistan and destroyed the terrorists hideouts. This could well be beginning of a 5th war between India and Pakistan. Pakistan may target Gujarat next. Let us see how the situation unfolds. Bidding adieu for now.