Quote of the week!

Something that Adobe's CEO mentioned in his sunday interview in the NY times -

If you already know the path to a goal or you can connect all the dots between what you see today and where you want to go, then its probably not ambitious or aspirational enough.

Love it!

Quote of the week!

MOST PEOPLE WORK HARD AND SPEND THEIR HEALTH TRYING TO ACHIEVE WEALTH. THEN THEY RETIRE AND SPEND THEIR WEALTH TRYING TO GET BACK THEIR HEALTH.Many FAIL'

The best of 811 RV

My Role Models

http://foodnsport.com/blog/articles/801010-Allstar-Kathleen-Leonard.html

http://foodnsport.com/blog/articles/801010-Allstar-Michael-Arnstein.html

History Sucks

Thats right. In my school days, my least favorite subject was History. Oh, why did I have to remember when the Princely states got dissolved, or when Tipu Sultan became king of mysore. Neither Indian or Asian or European or World history interested me. History sucked then!

Now, it sucks me in! I love it now. Maybe because I dont have to write key historical dates on an answer sheet in 3 hours. As I sit back and try to lap up all that the world offered for centuries, I hope that the history text in our school textbooks of today is much more interesting. I also hope that history examinations are not set on asking the students to remember the dates of each occurance and instead focus on the event and the significance of it.

Ved's writings

I have recently taken fancy to Ved Mehta's writings. He has a way of writing 'it'. Did you know that Ved Mehta is blind? Each time I read one of his books, or for that matter any page where he builds his character or narrates the grandiose of a moment, I wonder, how on earth can a blind man met out such penmanship that can only be articulated by people who can not just feel, but see the moment, atleast as per my perception. Ved, in one of his books, (I think its in his first book, Face to Face) goes on to explain how he develops an heightened level of facial vision or human echolocation that helps him 'see'.

My limited research on facial vision makes me understand that it does help a blind person to sometimes identify the location and size of a nearby object and use this information to steer around obstacles and travel from place to place. Definitely a boon and Ved through the portryal of his life through his various writings, seems to have mastered this science or technique. But how on earth does he describe facial demeanours, the mood swings, the decoration of a room, the beauty of a photograph and the subject(s) in it, the narration of physical features of a lady friend when she was alone with him, among other vivid descriptions. Yes, he did employ readers to read his books to him. Mainly study materials and the occasional letters he received. But he definitely didnt have a reader, to his beck and call, to explain every moment of his life, which he captures so well in this books.

I am sure, many who have read his literature, would have similar thoughts. I for one, dont deny the pleasure his writings have given me. I would have read, probably six of his books, and each one of them has been a treat. Its only after reading so much about him, his family, his life, his years at Dadar school for the blind, Arkansas school of the blind, his time at Oxford and Harvard, his complilations and analysis about Mahatma Gandhi and the pre and post emergency era, and his synposis on Rajeev Gandhi and the ram rajya, do I feel that I know him well. And hence, the urge to question. Was he completely blind? Completely blind, all the time? Did he regain some vision, some ray of hope, which he failed to disclose? Remember, Ved, literally completed all his education through one grant or another.At any point of time, did he feel, that acknowledging any partial sight blessings from the almighty, might actually ruin his chances of acquiring the elite erudition that he and his father always seeked? He was not born blind, but at the age of three, to his doctor father's utter dismay, succummed to a severe bout of meningitis, and lost his vision.

Date my Mom and then there is Frasier

I put on the TV today and came across a show called 'Date my mom' on MTV. American TPT (Trailer park trash) at full display!! Moms as sleazy as their daugthers, and fully exhibiting the whore culture.

And then there is a show called Frasier. Off the charts now, but my sanctuary to watch and appreciate some classy television. Whenever I binge on junk TV due to my sheer curiosity (Once I was so curious about the Jerry Springer show, that I watched three back to back episodes to understand what the show was about), I detox, by turning to the Crane brothers.

Thanks to youtube, I dont have to resurrect my Frasier collection from my network drive. Well, now back to Seattle's trademark show...

P

New Year's Eve

Was at NYC, Times Square.
Very Very Cold weather.
Amidst a multiethnic crowd, visiting from different parts of the world.

Cheers!

I look forward to 2009 !!!!

The Job

One desk after another. One kitchen after another. Thats my life for the last four and a half years. The desk, for my laptop, and the kitchen, for refreshments (mostly water) and gossip. I have been doing the rounds of offices, meeting rooms, conference calls, across cities and continents, as a traveling consultant, that I feel, I have simply lost the sense of space and belonging. I meet new clients, make new friends, setup teams, brainstorm, 'solutionize', execute projects, try to remain politically astute without getting political, and among other things get the job done. I then pack my bags, and head on to my next desk. I wonder when will this stop. Or do I even want it to. I dont know.

Am I happy? Am I sad? Am I petrified? Am I jubiliant? Am I beat? Am I lost? Am I sane?

Am I ..........................

Interesting Comments

Few Interesting Comments from family/friends/colleagues/strangers over the past two years of my stay in the States:


East Coast Folks: California, woh! I havent been there. Its like a different country......I wonder how it would be to go there......I am told they have a lot of earthquakes there....

Another East Coast Guy who has been traveling, once in two weeks to SoCal for a project: Now that I am traveling and seeing the world................Response from someone at the table: Traveling the world! Jeez, You first need to get a passport....!!

Dry Cleaning Lady at Virginia: Zip code? Me: 92626. Wow what are you doing here? Dont they have dry cleaners there? !!

Security Personnel at the airport: ID please? Me: Heres my Drivers Licence. Him: Texas, eh? Hows the weather there now? Me: I dont know, I dont live there any more. Him: So where do you live now? Me: Umm, Actually, I dont know! Seattle, Chicago, Orange County or DC. Him: Guard, I need a security check on this Asian Brother!! Me: What????

Whole Foods Clerk: Wow, so many bananas? What do you do with them? Do you go to the zoo to feed monkeys or do you have monkeys at home? Me: Well, I am the monkey!

Somebody in the Elevator talking to his friend: Man, the zoo is awesome. San Diego has the best zoo in the world. Me barging in impolitely: Which other zoos have you been to? Him: None.

My friend Jared (East coast guy, world traveler !!): The baseball World Series this year sucked man. Me who has no clue about Baseball: World Series, wow! How many countries participate? Him: Three

There are so many more, that I am not able to recollect now....will keep adding more....

Spanglish

Some broken/not so broken Spanish sentences/phrases:


Hello, How are you? - Hola, Buenos Dias, Como Esta?

I am fine, Thank you. How about you? - Mwee Bien. Gracias, y usted?

GoodBye, See you tomorrow - Adios, Hasta Manana.

Good Grief! - Que Cosa!

Where do you live? - Donde vive?

I live in USA - Vivo en Los Estados Unidos

Pleased to meet you - Mucho Gusto

Likewise - Igualmente

What is your name? - Como se Yama?

My name is Prakash Holalkere - May Yamo Prakash Holalkere

Your suitcases will arrive tomorrow - Sus maletas Yaagan manana

Old Blog Link

Sometimes I go back to my first blog link to read my old posts, and boy most of them are so funny and remind me of the good old days....

http://kashworld.blogspot.com

Buenos Dias !

Wow, the last time I posted on this blog was in March! Amazing......and sad. I should be blogging more often. I am glad to be back.....

What has happened since March? Well, I came back to Southern California on a project, was there for close to 6 months. My parents visited me then from India and we had a wonderful time together. We visited Seattle, San Francisco, Chicago, St Louis, Columbia, and of course LA and Orange County. They definitely enjoyed their visit, and I felt so blessed to have them here with me.

Last Month, I packed my bags, and came to Washington DC on a new assignment. This is my second trip to the east coast, and I have a feeling I will be here for a while. I am yet to explore this beautiful city and its surroundings. I found a local Art of Living group as well, and Monday evenings is when I need to make time for the weekly kriya.

Frankly, this year has been a great year for me, personally and professionally. I have learnt so much, made new friends, traveled frequently, reached out to my extended family, got promoted, explored the unexplored.....and soon its almost end of the year.

Well, I have signed up for Spanish classes, and this blog post title represents that attempt....one of my last minute catching up on my 2008 resolutions....

Hasta Manana,

P

Sri Sri and one of his antics !

He says, he is a boy who refuses to grow up !

The American President Hopeful

What a change this would be, if an african (kenyan roots) american takes on the mantle.....

Wowwww

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ewc0srSKj78

Seva, Sadhana and Satsang

I am trying to find my Vashistha's Yoga book. It must be here somewhere

(http://www.amazon.com/Vasisthas-Yoga-Venkatesananda/dp/0791413640/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1203817441&sr=8-1)

I believe this is the greatest spiritual work ever written. Of course, I have not traversed the length and breadth of spiritual literature to make this statement, as an authority. Its a strong belief, thats all.

I am yet to complete reading this book though. Every page is a dweller. I read a page and end up spending hours appreciating the obvious stated and fathoming the subtlety. The book is very well translated in simple english.

In the first or the second chapter, the book mentions about the Seva, Sadhana and Satsang. I have diligently been trying to increase the above three S'. Guru Rishi Pragya explains the three S's very well in this link

http://guruvaani.wordpress.com/2008/02/19/talk-on-sadhana-satsang-and-seva-by-rishi-nitya-pragya-ji/

More later...

Variety at the workplace

My immediate client counterpart grew up in the Soviet Union. Part of her growing up in Belarus, was watching bollywood movies in cinema theatres. Well, american movies were banned and bollywood movies were the nonsensical comical dramas, without any political overtones, which the government thought would be safe for its people. Dubbed in russian, along with the song and dance routines, brought people respite from the rigmaroles of the daily struggle. When she enquired what my weekend plans were, and on learning that possibly I would watch a hindi movie, trigerred her curiosity yet again. So are they still the same dance and music routines, she asked? And that is when, I came to know her tryst with bollywood movies, when she was growing up.

Another client colleague from the same project is a german. A young guy, must be the same age as me, very hardworking,. He was with us two weeks ago, but then went back to work from the Frankfurt office, for two reasons. One, that was part of the project plan, so that he could work with his manager there for a while, before heading back (he is coming back next monday) to the project location. And second, he was due for his final exam of the long distance MBA program that he has been diligently pursuing, for the last 4 years ! Apart from learning about the miserable weather patterns of Frankfurt, I got to hear many anecdotes about europe and its denizens. One of them was about a Jan 31st tradition, when women go bersek and start chopping off men's neckties, if one is wearing one. This bizzare tradition is very well practiced. According to the women, thats the day when they symbolically try to subdue men's power ! Men, on that day, wear ties that are very old and haggard, deserving a complete chop.

The next client associate that we work with is a chinese of vietnamese origin! She is again the same age as me, but a bit more crazier, I feel. She mumbles in her work ! Hardworking again, on the job all the time, but keeps talking to herself on every task. I think its the translation thats going on. She must be translating all work processes coded and discussed in english, into vietnamese, decoding it syllable by syllable and then functioning. She doesnt say much about vietnam or china or about other things. And when she is under stress, trying to deliver something on time, she goes on a binging spree. We have some snacks in the corner for hunger pangs (I stay away from them), and she devours them under stress, chatting along to herself at the same time. She is adorable.

My client manager, I am told has her roots from Ukraine. Another client planning manager has greek origins.

As I spend time working on this project, sitting in a conference room, somewhere in a suburb close to chicago, I learn so many facets of life and lifetimes, of other people. I learn about societies, customs, ideologies, notions. I am fascinated, how every day can be so much more....

The daily train journey

Although this blog is for me to post experiences that I have in the US of A, this week, I am kinda reminiscing about Bombay. I couldnt help but write something about an unique trait of the city of Mumbai, and what better or worse, than the Mumbai Local Trains.

Growing up in Mumbai and living mostly in the suburbs, makes you rely heavily on public transport to reach your college or workplace or the bank. Even if you had a car, you wouldnt want to take it out. It would take forever.

Mumbai is a long stretch of land, surrounded by the Arabian Sea. South Mumbai is the area with the fancy spots, whereas the north was the dungeon. Every morning, scores would leave their dungeons to go to work. And the fastest way to reach their goal, was to take the overcrowded local train network.

The train service, one of the most efficient services provided by the government is outdated technology, but yet functional and very much the life line. Each day, traveling on those trains, is a crash course in time management, people handling, health management, 'saving your mind' management, optimization, survival skills, and more. It could also lead to depression, stress, anxiety, cravings, and easy access to suicidal opportunities.

One of my favorite sights on the train, was that of a tall man hanging on to his newspaper neatly folded into many layers, so that the end product is a 15 * 15 cm square piece that he holds skillfully with a strong grip of his left fingers, whereas the right arm dangles, holding the overhead support. He is surrounded by other commuters on all sides, not at a safe distance, but clinging on to him or sticking to him. The shorter ones probably have their heads sticking out under the arm pits of the taller neighbour. Most of them end up breathing air, which is polluted with a generous dosage of body odour. Well, amidst all the chaos, when the train has started moving and is probably about ten mins away from the next station, calmness is restored. The tall man, focuses his attention to his reading material and reads every line on it. The interesting facet is that on the other side, another person too is reading the back side of same square literature. The untold agreement always amazed me. If the bearer of the newspaper finishes his section and wishes to unscramble the newspaper and then fold it back to a different section to read further, he asks the stranger on the other side, if its ok to do so. The stranger might ask the tall man to hold on as he still has the last bit on aishwariya rai to complete. Why would the newspaper owner be curteous enough to check on the other person? Probably because, on the next train journey, he might be on the other side, reading tidbits off another stranger's newspaper and hoping that the favor would be returned.

I want to be a monkey !

Yes, this is what I exactly told my uncle, when I was six. Unlike many other kids, who replied with fancy answers like ' I want to be a pilot ' , I naively and honestly said I wanted to be a monkey when I grow up. The 'grown - ups' found it 'wildly' amusing and since then it has been part of folk-lore, etched in my family's memory. It comes up in most family get togethers. All these years, I used to get embarassed hearing the narration again. I thought of myself, ' couldnt I have gone with the cliche ! ? Couldnt I make a cutie face and say that I wanted to be an engineer (I did graduate in electrical engineering)' .

I also remember the next question from my uncle. He asked ' Why do you want to be a monkey' ?. I had a darn good reason. According to my imaginative mind, built by many wildlife bedtime stories by my dad, a monkey can jump from tree to tree and can eat any fruit it wants. It can eat a banana now and a mango next. Simple pleasures! That was good enough to get the whole house erupt in laughter and comments such as , ' how adorable' ! Although my parents felt it was adorable, they were a bit embarrased then, I think. In a social circle, it doesnt help, if one's kid mentions that it wants to be a primate, when grown up. They would probably want their children to have the same aspirations that a society aspires for their offsprings. An engineer, a doctor, a lawyer....and dad's day at work would have been brighter, the next day.

Today, as I look back, I am glad I have fullfilled my naive ambition. I am like a monkey now. I am a raw vegan. I only eat fruits and vegetables (mostly greens, uncooked). I can proudly say, that I am one of the lucky few who has gone on to fulfill his/her ambition. How many of us, can say this, beamingly? :)

Three bags and no baggage

Recently used this phrase and kinda liked it. Thats how I can summarize my current state of affairs. Well, if you add my bagpack and the laptop and the guitar, its six bags and no baggage(s). No baggage, cause I feel free. The most, I have felt than ever before.

One should travel. Any person who has stayed at a single spot, needs to move. The movement, triggers upliftment. Or else you rot. Same is with the mind. Explore new ideas, listen to what others have to say, you dont have to agree, but atleast have an open mind. Dont be biased.

I want to live in the moment. No past to haunt, and no future to overplan. Patting myself on the back, actually, I am doing a pretty good job. I am happy, I am contented.

I have aspirations, plans and hopes. I have thought about them, and have written them down.

I have suffered pain in the past. I will suffer pain in the present. I know that. But I have forgotten the pain and will forget it again, whenever I am subjected to it.