Failure should not be taken into your heart and success should not be taken into your head !

An experience called Paa

noreply@blogger.com (Bharath S) — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 11:35:00 +0000

I watched Paa last week with Arjuun and Lasya. After having watched it, I booked 2 more tickets and asked my parents to see the movie. They came back and told me that after a long time, they enjoyed a neat and clean movie.

1) Its a true Balki’s golden touch straight from his heart.

2) The special thing about this film, is its simplicity. You can see this approach being adopted in many key areas like screenplay, dialogues (simple & pleasing), casting, expressions and the costumes.

3) Hats off to Balki for deviating from the main stream and adopting simplicity in his thoughts, vision, story, characters and the final end product. This simplicity was the greatest asset of Paa and that’s the reason why it was able to achieve such a high penetration rate into the market in such a short span of time.

4) An outstanding performance by Abhishek may be his best so far. Nobody could have played the character of Amol, so well. He lived and breathed as Amol throughout the film. Abhishek ensured that, the audiences see only Amol on screen and not himself. My kudos to him, so getting into the skin of the character so well and he carried himself so well with his simple costumes (white kurta) and powerful expressions.

5) What can you say about Vidya? All credit to her, for playing such a wonderful mother and for projecting her motherly instinct spontaneously. It would not have been easy for her to come through with such feelings & emotions, especially when you know that you are playing the mother of such a 67 year old legend, and not a small boy. But she did it with great ease. Balki also ensured that her costumes also added a lot of colour to Vidya’s character. There we times, when she loses her cool to her mother (Auro’s Granny) and to Amol, she was simply brilliant in those packed performances.

6) Raja Sir’s music is just unparalleled; such is the effect. Re-recording is a special skill and only a genius like Raja sir can create such an impact.

7) With Paa, Raja Sir has proved to himself and his critics that he is NOT a music director; but a TRUE CREATOR of quality music. His tunes just keep ringing and ringing. Raja sir has created such an impact in a lot of films in Tamil(e.g. Many films of Mani Ratnam like Nayagan, Mouna Ragam, Agni Natchathiram, Anjali, Thalapathi, Punnagai Mannan, Aboorva Sagodharargal etc) and I was very happy that he renewed his magic with Paa.

8) All the songs just jelled with the theme of the movie and did not stand out at all. You can never feel that the songs in this film are for commercial reasons. You will be so glued to the movie that you will feel; that the song is part of the movie and never an add on.

9) Picturization of the songs was done in a very lively way and you can see the richness in each song. Great team work by Balki and PC sir, for giving a visual treat.

10) Especially I was disappointed when the songs “Gumm Summ” and “Meri Paa” did not feature in the main film. These were some excellent numbers, but we could hear only a few lines of “ Gumm Summ” in the background(during the hospital scene) and the “ Meri Paa” song by Amitji, came only at the last after the film had finished(when the credits where given after the film).

I really want to know from Balki or Amitji, why these 2 value adding songs were chopped from the main picture!

11) The work of 3 genius Balki, Raja sir and PC sir is very much evident when you see this film. It’s an experience by itself, short, sweet and value adding.

12) Finally the energy and passion with which Amtiji has carried off Auro is simply phenomenal !

4 hrs of make up, waking up at 2:30am, 2hrs to remove the make up, all at the age of 67, can somebody do this! Yes, only Amitji….His energy and passion for this film has created further positive energy into the entire chain and this has given the film such a divine blessing; that it cannot fall back.

With this film Amitji has proved to the entire world that you can still given simple, intelligent and value based films to this society and the people will support it; if you give the message it in the right way. There was absolutely not even 1% of masala element in this film. I sincerely hope that our south Indian leading actors should take a leaf out of this experience and provide such quality films.

To sum it up :

Paa is NOT a movie, but an experience that Balki has shared to this world and has proved that you do not need long lead time, high budget, tech-funda graphics, sexy numbers by the heroines, masala scenes to make it a success. All you need is simplicity in story and thinking; with a belief that the script is the real hero of the film and not vice versa.

It’s a real tribute to a simple human being (with a lot of energy, positive attitude, passion and commitment) named Amitabh Bachchan! It’s a one of those rare film, which will make you feel at the end – why did Balki restrict this movie to 2hr and 10mins! That’s the real success of how well audience has embraced Paa.

2 States

noreply@blogger.com (Bharath S) — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 07:55:00 +0000

Last week, I read ' 2 States' by Chetan Bhagat. I would say it's typical Chetan's expression & he didn't dissapoint. Guess, it's inspired from certain facets of his marriage life. In that way, hats off to Chetan to bring them into this book. I have read all his books(Five Point Someone, 3 Mistakes of My Life & 2 States) except One Night At Call Centre. But Five Point Someone is definitely my pick.

2 States is definitely a very good read. I was especially moved by the father & son relationship that was potrayed in the book. Though Krish & his father never had a good relationship, finally it was his father who played the major role to help him come out of his discomfort & marry Ananya. Especially in the final chapter, when his father expresses his love to Krish and his confession that " Though I am imperfect father, still your father". It was very good of Chetan , to bring out this aspect of father son relationship in this book. This is something, that needs to be nurtured properly by every father & son, to make it beautiful.

Yes, we definitely need to acknowledge the actual importance of Father's Day. It need more awareness & priority,since it plays a vital part in every individual's life.

Love you my Dad! Thanks for being there for me. You are great and I am so small infront of your greatness!

Paa

noreply@blogger.com (Bharath S) — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 04:48:00 +0000

Finally the audio cd of 'paa' is out and I liked it very much. As usual, what can you say about Amitji and Balki combination. An out of box concept, real life role reversals(Amitji plays Abhishek's son), refreshing music, the natural beauty of Vidya Balan and offcourse PC Sriram and Abhishek to add colour to the silver lining. Last but never the least - produced by AB Corp(Abhishek leading it), AA is out to give the world one of the best films that has ever come. This will be one in a century film, it will atleast take another 100 years for such a film to appear again.

I wake up to Amitji's blog on a daily basis; it's been a great source of inspiration for me. Not a single day, passes without reading his view & expressions. It looks as though, he talks to you directly - what a connect !. Even at this age, he wakes up at 2:30am to sit for a 4hr prosthetic session, 2hrs to remove it and do the acting in between. PAA is really a tribute to the dedication,commitment,persistence of this wonderful human being called Amitji.

Hearing the music of PAA it's so refreshing, and it goes again and again to prove why 'Rajaa' sir is such a genius and can never be replaced by the modern music. It takes a genius to keep things simple and that's what 'Rajaa' sir has done to PAA.The tunes will keep hitting you and it will talk to you, especially ' Gumm Summ' and the theme music. In the theme music, 'Rajaa'sir has used a stream of voilins to bring out some break taking score, like he did for Maniratnam in Thalapathy(remember the start of Rakamma song). PAA's music is very soothing and was an experience by itself. The song in which Amitji, renders his voice as a AURO(13 year old boy) has come out very good and the sentences that he read in between looks so natural(e.g Full light on,Just take your head know). Amitji is just breathing as AURO.

So there is no doubt that Amitji & his team hard work had already paid very rich dividends and for sure PAA will rock the world on Dec 4.Waiting to see cute little AURO, also know an Amitji.

· Dr. Kalam: "Waves are my inspiration, not because they rise and fall, but each time they fall, they RISE AGAIN.
· The most beautiful thing is to see a person smiling & even more beautiful is to know that you are the person behind it
· The plus symbols were made with a pair of minus symbols. All negative things can be shaped as positive. So let's be positive in life.
· Life never leaves you empty. It always replaces everything that you have lost. If it asks you to put something down it is because it wants you to pickup something greater.
· Having GOD in our boat doesn't mean that we will not face any storm but it means that no storm can sink our boat.
· Confidence comes naturally with success but success can comes only to those who are confident. So begin every day with great confidence.
· Old friends are gold and new friends are diamonds. If we get diamonds we shouldn't forget the gold because to hold a diamond we always need a base of gold
· Never design your character like a garden where no one walk, But try to design it like the sky where everyone aspire to reach
· What is the basic difference between God and Human? GOD Gives and Forgives but HUMAN Get's and Forgets
· Great people talk about ideas, average people talk about things and small people talk about others. LEGENDS never talk
· Giving up is the easiest thing in the world to do but holding everything together when everything seems to be falling apart is true strength

If Better Is Possible?

noreply@blogger.com (Bharath S) — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 03:51:00 +0000

This weekend, I got the book " If Better Is Possible" from Odyssey. It's written by John Buchanan, the former coach of the Australian Team. Gives immense insight into the leadership, qualities of a leader, what a leader should do, how he should create a vision for his team, motivate his members to take them to a place where they have not been before.

Just started with the 1st chapter and it was very simple to understand. The book is designed in such a way that, you can pick up any chapter, spend some 20mins and take back a lot of learning. It's not that you need to read chapter by chapter to understand this book. In that way, it's a real value add.

In addition to this, spent lots of time with Arjuun and didn't even move an inch away from him. Went out to a couple of good places, that he enjoys and it's good to see him happy,smiling and cheerful. What else do we need in life, other than enjoying a child's happiness!

What's up?

noreply@blogger.com (Bharath S) — Sun, 31 May 2009 15:22:00 +0000

It's been very construcitve and productive week, both professionally and personally.Lot of funfilled activities with Arjuun and learning from Arjuun during the weekend. It went on quite well and satisfing.

Today after a loooooong time, went against my diet protocols and had 2 ice creams at Freez Zone. So need to be up early tomorrow to workout more!

Never Give Up !

noreply@blogger.com (Bharath S) — Thu, 07 May 2009 15:34:00 +0000

I got this wonderful lesson from Amitji's Blog. It's a must read and share.

THE FERN AND THE BAMBOO

ONE DAY I DECIDED TO QUIT… I QUIT MY JOB, MY RELATIONSHIP, MY SPIRITUALITY….

I WANTED TO QUIT MY LIFE. I WENT TO THE WOODS TO HAVE ONE LAST TALK WITH GOD.

“God”, I said. ”Can you give me one good reason not to quit?”

His answer surprised me.

“Look around”, He said. “Do you see the fern and the bamboo?”

“Yes”, I replied.

“When I planted the fern and the bamboo seeds, I took very good care of
them. I gave them light. I gave them water. The fern quickly grew from the earth. Its brilliant green covered the floor.

Yet nothing came from the bamboo seed. But I did NOT quit on the bamboo.

“In the second year the fern grew more vibrant and plentiful. And again,
nothing came from the bamboo seed. But I did NOT quit on the bamboo.

“In year three there was still nothing from the bamboo seed. But I would NOT quit. The same in year four.

“Then in the fifth year, a tiny sprout emerged from the earth.

Compared to the fern, it was seemingly small and insignificant.

“But just six months later, the bamboo rose to over 100 feet tall.

“It had spent the five years growing roots. Those roots made it strong and gave it what it needed to survive.

I would not give any of my creations a challenge it could not handle.

Did you know, my child, that all this time you have been struggling, you

have actually been growing roots? I would NOT quit on the bamboo.. I will NEVER quit on you.

“Don’t compare yourself to others.” He said. “The bamboo had a different
purpose than the fern. Yet they both make the forest beautiful.

“Your time will come”, God said to me.. ”You will rise high”

“How high should I rise?” I asked.
“How high will the bamboo rise?” He asked in return.

“As high as it can?” I questioned

“Yes.” He said,

“Give me glory by rising as high as you can.”

I left the forest, realizing that God will NEVER give up on me.

And He will NEVER give up on you.

NEVER REGRET A DAY IN YOUR LIFE.

GOOD DAYS GIVE YOU HAPPINESS; BAD DAYS GIVE YOU EXPERIENCES.

BOTH ARE ESSENTIAL TO LIFE.

SO ENJOY EVERY MOMENT OF LIFE……………

Being a Good Father !

noreply@blogger.com (Bharath S) — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 07:47:00 +0000

Every day I strive to be a good father. I am not perfect, but at the same time I keeping learning from Arjuun and try to improve. In this sense, Arjuun has been a great source of confidence to me. At times, when he throws tantrums, I have lost my cool - which was a very WRONG attitude of mine. But Arjuun helps me to get over that. I make a very careful attempt to ensure that my reactions should not impact him. At times, I try to be too perfect - which is totally meaningless.

I always keep the communication channels with Arjuun very candid and honest. Whenever I make a mistake, I sincerely get down and apologize to him and tell him that what I did was wrong. In that way, Arjuun accepts me as I am and we both embrace each other's mistake. But we create a colloborative learning space and move forward.

Some lessons that I learnt:

a) Break that " One answer is correct " attitude. There is no ONE correct answer to anything. So allow childern to expand and explore their thinking. If they call a circle as a square, they are 100% correct. They have their own logical ways of interpreting a circle as a square. Listen to them and accept their thinking patterns.

b) Do not enforce conformance at all times. Let them try,experiment different things.Allow them to fail and embrace their failures. This gives them a lot of confidence. Let them know that rules that are held sacred by conventional wisdom needs to broken and you will be there to support and nurture them.

c) Books,Books and Lot of books for them. This helps in the developing the creative and imaginative process within the child.

d) Allow them to draw,paint and scribble anything. Don't restrict them by saying- Please colour inside the square,circle etc. Let them go outside those boundaries.

e) Help them to take risks and allow free play. If they want to play in rain,sand,mud etc - allow them to do so. Just monitor them, so that they don't get hurt. Even if they get hurt, don't tell them - " See I told you, that you will get hurt". Never ever interrogate them.

f) Encourage role plays and be a part of them. Play the role that they ask you to play. This could be their teacher,classmate etc. Play them to the fullest.

g) Allow them to find solutions to the problems, by giving clues. e.g This could be as simple as, hiding some pictures and providing them clues to find it.

h) Explore them to different kinds of music - especially instrumental music and music of their choice and not yours.

i) Take them daily for a walk or a short cycling round near your house.

h) Sit down and listen to what they have to say. This means active listening and not just hearing. Look them straight into their eyes and actively get involved in their speech. Repeat what they told you and validate with them, if you have understood it in the right way. Repeating and validating - gives the children the assurance, that you have been listening them seriously and you value their thoughts,words and emotions.

Do not hear to them, by reading a book or concentrating on other topics.

j) When they throw tantrums, first do not lose your cool. Keep your cool and 1st calm them by stroking their chest,arm,head or back depending on their comfort zone.

k) Listening to the child and giving them eye contact will ease out a lot of problems.Make time to spend time with them. It helps to learn a lot from them.

Finally,understand that they are small children who do not know what they are doing.They are unable to express themselves properly. So keep that in mind and always stay calm and don't shout back when they throw tantrums.

Finally, My dear Arjuun :

I am sorry, if I had hurt your feelings in one way or the other.
It is purely un-intentional and you can be rest assured that everyday,I learn and improve in my journey to be a good father.

Thanks for being such a wonderful son and I love you so much!

Slumdog Millionare - Sucks!

noreply@blogger.com (Bharath S) — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 12:06:00 +0000

Does SlumDog Millionare(SDM) - needs so much celebration? It has shown India in a very poor light and people seems to celebrate the awards that we get for that. Oh my god !

Bollywood has produced far better films than this - Films like Black,Swades,Lagaan...

When we did not celebrate the experience that these films created, I feel that the awards,rewards for SDM is just overrated and blown out of propotion. Are we celebrating for mocking India, showing us in poor light.

Black - What an extradinary performance by Amtiji and Rani. It will touch your heart.

In Swades - you can never see SRK there, only Mohan Bhargav.It creates a long lasting impact on me, every time I see that film.

Lagaan- What a film that engulfs Teamwork,Motivation,Inspiration,Facing the challenge,Perseverance,Leadership etc.

Compared to all these films, SDM just sucks and only sucks! Nothing more and nothing less.

Back 2 My Roots !

noreply@blogger.com (Bharath S) — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 14:24:00 +0000

I was holding this thoughts for quite sometime, but with a definite purpose. Next week, I am joining back my home organization - getting back to my roots! The organization that has had a positive significance on me, The organization where I started my 1st job, The organization that has a long lasting emotional bond on me, The organization where I learnt, The organization where I grew up, The organization that has made me what I am today, The organization that's more like my second home, The organization that gave me some wonderful set of friends,peers and supervisors.

The prime reason for this move; is the kind of emotional bondage that still pulled me back into the organization. Rather I should say that, it was a kind of feeling that I was not able to come out of it. I understood that having spent close to 9yrs in an organization, that too your very first organization - its was extremely difficult for me to come out of that relationship. After changing my job, I realized that the emotional ties within me dominated my actions to a very large extent and I had very minimal control over it. In fact, at the end of the 2nd month I lost my humour,at the end of the 4th, I started getting depressed and then I felt as if I had left one half of me in my previous organization. Think this was the breaking point for me and I got in touch with my well wishers there to see if there are any good opportunities for me. I was just driven by my instinct and purely followed my heart. Nothing more and nothing less!

Finally a good opportunity came in my way and I decided to take it up with an open mind. I also understood that the kind of passion and attachment that you have towards your organization, is the key factor that determines the depth and breadth of your learning and contribution towards your organization. If you miss that attachment towards your organization, then you can only be an outer winner and not an inner winner. You might successful, but not satisfied. Having worked so long with an organization, I missed it very badly.

When I sit back,reflect and contemplate the series of events - I think somewhere I messed it up due to the vulnerability of my age, lack of maturity and certain other support systems I did not have.Emotionally it was very difficult accept the disconnect. Every step I took,every move I made, every method I implemented,- I realized that my home organization has dominated my thoughts,actions,feelings and emotions. It's been hard for me to come in terms with the reality- that I have joined another organization.

Though the time I spent in my new organization helped me to learn and deploy aspects of Agile and Scrum, interact with some high profile customers,doing my bit of presales,but still I was missing something. So, I am now going back to get that satisfaction back into my stream and thoughts.

Couple of people know to me, told me that probably I am making an emotional decision of going back to my previous organization. But to me, I am just following my heart and I just want to learn from my mistakes and keep improving. That's it!
But I definitely enjoyed this process and it's a been a different kind of learning experience for me.

To be or not to be Saurav Ganguly!

noreply@blogger.com (Bharath S) — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 12:01:00 +0000

One of the recent events that has caused me a certain level of discomfort is - Saurav Ganguly's decision to retire from the International Cricket Space. His outbursts and emotions are very much warranted and understandable. Though, I am not a lover of Saurav as a player, I really respect him for all his leadership capabilities. He is a tremendous leader with a sense of vision and an excellent motivator. After Kapil, Saurav is someone who stood for his mates and who gets down with his views upright. He is NOT just a captain, but a true LEADER. He is the one and probably the only one, who brought in that aggresive spirit into the Indian Team. He is the one, who made others to stop for a moment and take a look into the spirit of the Indan team. If the youngsters in the team today are performing well, it definitely has a great bearing on Saurav.

He really backed the youngsters,embraced failures,encouraged them to take risks,stood by them and helped them to evolve as an individual. He continuously helped the team to build their physical and emotional infrastructure. If the youngsters like Shewag,Harbhajan,Yuvraj,Kaif,Zaheer,Nehra etc are dominating the game today - it is ONLY due to the tremendous backing and support they got from Saurav. He was a real leader who gave the sense of freedom and motivation to his mates. He even backed Rahul and Sachin during their difficult times.
Another aspect, that I admire about Saurav - is that he gave back something to the opposition, whenever they rubbed India in the wrong way. Be it Flintoff,Ponting - they had to be given a taste of their own medicine and Saurav had the guts to do it.

But it was disappointing to see him, being treated shabily due to the board politics - starting with the Greg Chappell's episode. What was more disgusting was the fact that - they guys who were there in the team today(due credit to Saurav), didn't come to support his cause. That's the way, people are in today's world(or in today's India?). Definitely Saurav will be remembered as one of the greatest captain's of this era and he also displayed his resilience to the entire world- by making the greatest comeback in the history of cricket. If the other cricketing nations, fear India today - it's largely due to Saurav's leadership abilities and the aggressive spirit that he has instilled into every cell of the Indian Team.

Rise Above The Ashes !!!

noreply@blogger.com (Bharath S) — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 06:05:00 +0000

Sep 6th is a very important day in my life. That was the day, I joined Alcatel and took up my 1st job. But this sep 6th 2008; I was not a part of Alcatel anymore. Yes; definitely feeling nostalgic, but that's how life is. I have understood that I had to move on and raise above my discomfort and uncertanity.

If you are now living in the lowest status of life, a life that always has a storm, great disappointments and failures, don't be discouraged and worry my friend. You can rise, Rise Above the Ashes!

Yes, you can rise above the ashes for you are destined to be a conqueror of this world.The Loving God gave you the power of choice to choose and to live the ideal life that you want. Therefore, stop wasting your time living a mediocre life. Learn to stand once again and prove to the world that you are a "dare to fail" individual who cannot be easily swayed and cannot be easily discouraged by the challenges of life.Beginning today, tag yourself with a higher price. Dream a big dream. Think a big plan for your life and make a firm resolution to dare mighty things to make your plan into reality.To achieve your dreams, always work hard with definite purpose and don't ever think of backsliding because the world cannot be won with a doubtful spirit.So, move on and don't ever give up!Always motivate your mind to have faith and believe in yourself. Remember, the larger your faith, the smaller your fears. The great your trust, the lesser your doubts. The stronger your beliefs, the weaker your worries. Therefore, keep your faith and believe in yourself for it will guide, help and bring you to the door of success!

If the time comes and the sparks tempt you to give up and go back to the life of mediocrity, remind yourself with these words... My Loving God balances my life by giving me enough blessings to keep me happy, enough failures to keep me humble and enough trials to keep me strong in the challenges of life. Therefore, I will face these tests of life with an open-mind, enthusiasm, persistence, and determination that once again, I can rise! Rise Above the Ashes!

Finally, remember my friend, that the Loving God helps those who help themselves! Good Luck to your Journey in Life!
(PS: This message is extracted from www.Motivateus.com)

Friendship Day !

noreply@blogger.com (Bharath S) — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 06:18:00 +0000

August 3rd is celebrated as Friendship day. My thanks to all my friends, I have come across. Thanks for being such a good friend and extending your support,help and wishes. It's been great to have you into my life. Have a great friendship day.
Wishing you and your family lot of good health,happiness and luck in the years to come!

One info that I would like to share at this moment :

August 1st 2008 marked - 100 days of continuous communication(on a daily basis) by Amitabh to his readers via his blog. There was so much to learn from him.

Inspite of his gruelling schedules,illhealth,travelling,shooting,recording,promos,meeting,acting,discussing,time with family...his sense of commitment to reflect his thoughts on a daily basis for 100 days non-stop is something amazing. This is a true reflection of his time management and loads of energy that he has in store. From him - the best lessons that I learnt is : There is always time in a day to do everything; if you are attached to it!

To top all of it; he finds time not to just write his own blog, but also reads the invidual comments from the readers and replies to them. True sense of commitment, isn't it?

Happy Friendship Day!

Enroute to hell !

noreply@blogger.com (Bharath S) — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 06:13:00 +0000

Time and again; I see a very bad sight of leghorn chickens, carried upside down- tied(in a large numbers) to the handlebars of the cycle and the rear parts of the scooter/bike. It's a very sorry sight to see how animals are treated in the most cruel fashion in our country.
It's clear that these chickens are taken to be killed; but let's treat them with some respect on their way to hell!

Most of chickens, get burn from the heat that gets generated from the 2 wheeler silencer and worst, they passively inhale the harmful gases like CO as well. Some of them even hit the ground when the 2 wheeler guy takes a heroic turn and some chicken heads and legs gets damaged in the cycle spokes and tyres.

The only way to stop such cruelty to animals is to practice vegetarianism. Break the deman and supply chain - when there is no demand for these chickens/animals, atleast then will we treat them as a fellow being - with due respect which they deserve?

The Art of Parenting !

noreply@blogger.com (Bharath S) — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 07:58:00 +0000

Today I was at myself, dropping and bringing back Arjuun from his playschool(Seeds at Adyar). Whenever I go to his school to drop him in the morning; I feel a bit uncomfortable to leave him and come back. At times; when I am about to enter the school gate - I feel like taking him back home. Then I shake my head and watch Arjuun for sometime(without his notice, until he gets settled) and then I come back home. Watching the kids play,connect , interact and communicate really provides me a lot of inputs on how develop the art of parenting.

1) As a parent we should help the kids to add life to their years; rather than adding years to life.

2) Adding life to years is Growing ; adding years to your life is Ageing. We should help them to grow and be open to learn new dimensions from them.

3) We should also help the kids to understand - Whenever they make a choice; they also choose the consequences that come with that choice. If we are able to get this message to the kids in the right way - then it will help them to make their independent decision.

4) Every man needs a good female friend and every female needs a good male friend. I am not talking about the spouse here! So often this aspect is missed and neglected. This generation kids should be sensitive to this fact and should build on this.

I havee read in many books that for a female - it is very difficult to get a true friend(male or female) and if they are able to get hold of a true male friend, they are extremely blessed and it helps them to a great extent in their life. Females who have true male friends have achieved a lot in their life and they are extremely satisfied and content.
It makes them a real inner winner.

5) As a parent, another important attribute that we must exhibit to the kids is acceptance. They should be willing to accept the fact that life is always not fair and they will have to face the downs. Once they learn this acceptance - they can generate intelligence and creativity from this acceptance to help them overcome adverse situations.

6) Subroto has stated in his book Go kiss the world that ' The job of real leaders is to continuously build infrastructures - Physical,Intellectual and Emotional '.

I think the job of a parent is to continuously build that emotional infrastructure. What do you think?

Lessons Learnt from Go KISS THE WORLD !

noreply@blogger.com (Bharath S) — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 14:05:00 +0000

Yesterday, I completed the book written by Subroto and today I registered my feedback and wishes to Subroto(in his blog site) for coming out with such a book that adds a lot of value to the life of every professional(IT or non-IT).

Some key take aways for me are the following:

1) Open your mind before you open your mouth - Many times I have never done this in my personal and professional life. Life will be so much better and happy we are able to practice this.
2) When you make a choice; you also choose the consequences that come with the choice.
3) To get; you must first give.
4) Self doubt is positive.
5) Frustration is always a function of your ambition and your capability.

Frustration = f(Ambition - Capability).

High performance achievers set very high standards for themselves and for others. The also expect others to follow that - which will not happen in many cases. Hence they get frustrated easily, because of their inability to change the system. So to reduce our frustration levels, we have only 2 choices - Reduce your ambition or enhance your capability levels.

6) Practice humility and simplicity.
7) Great leaders do not emerge out of brilliance; but out of resilience.
8) Connect with people.
9) Passion always takes you higher.
10) Give importance to small people down the line - Pleasing your boss is not important, but making your team member comfortable and happy is very important.
11) Life is all about constant negotiation in every sphere and there is nothing to feel bad about this.
12) Money is not the source of happiness.
13) Look beyond yourself - try to see the pain of others.
14) Forgive yourself and others for the mistakes.
Finally,
15) It's all in the mind and mind only !

Thank you Subroto for this book and more for the lessons that I learnt from your priceless masterpiece.

Go Kiss the World !

noreply@blogger.com (Bharath S) — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 12:25:00 +0000

The above words are not mine; but I am able to relate to them very easily. These were the last words of Subroto Bagchi's Mother - so motivating and powerful; that it made him to discover a great company called "Mind Tree". Infact I am now reading this book written by Subroto Bagchi. Half way through this book; I find myself at a bit of crossroads. I recently did come out of Alcatel( organization that I was working for the last 8.5yrs) and joined another organization.

But at this point of time; I am finding it very difficult to disconnect from Alcatel.Every step I take, every move I make, every method I implement, every individual I interact - I have realized that Alcatel has dominated my thoughts,actions,feelings and emotions. It's been hard for me to come interms with the reality- that I have now joined another organization. Even when I am exchanging greetings with others; I still tell them I work for Alcatel. Then somewhere my mind rings a bell to ask - " Are you still with Alcatel"?

I don't know why this is going through my mind- May be Alcatel was my 1st job, was with the organization for the last 8.5yrs, was more like a 2nd home,excellent mix of people,great teams to work with,wonderful leaders who had a great vision to see the invisible,great friends,positive culture and motivating environment. I also started my career there and progressively evolved with the organization.

After I started reading the book written by Subroto; the question that comes to my mind is the following :

Did I make a mistake by coming out of Alcatel? May be yes, may be not? Could be due to the vulnerability of my age, my maturity(or the lack of it) and certain other support systems I did not have when I made the decision. Should I have been talked into by somebody?
I really don't know and don't have an answer to these questions that keeps coming back at me in a hard way. But if I had make a mistake - I don't feel bad to accept that and learn from my mistake. Emotionally- it's been a down for me( I wouldn't say an up); I take these lessons as part of my learning curve and move forward.
Do I have a choice? For whatever decision I have made - I can blame nobody else, but me and me only.

When I left Alcatel; I wanted to learn six sigma? This was the core reason. I am very much doing that and infact more learning interms of Agile,Scrum etc. But at the same time, I have very much understood that there is another angle that enhances the breadth of your learning - which is the attachment,respect and passion that you have towards your organization? Did I miss this angle somewhere? Is it a irreversible miss?

Though workwise,I do not see an issue - emotionally yes, I am finding it hard to seperate myself from Alcatel. It's a continuous battle between my mind and heart. I will have to wait and see who wins the battle?

Back after a long time!

noreply@blogger.com (Bharath S) — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 15:17:00 +0000

I am back into this after a long time and this time it's special - bcos Arjuun is just sitting on my lap and giving me instructions on how I shud go thro with this post. Special thanks to Shiva for helping me to come terms with my blog. I very well know that my blog was almost dead for the last couple of months; due to certain variety of reasons. I will be more frequent from now on. Not in a position to complete my write up today;since Arjuun is not allowing me to proceed further.

Want to post some thoughts on change management aspects; will do so tomorrow. Until then take care and have fun. Arjuun says a big HI to all of you !

No Time 2 Blog !

noreply@blogger.com (Bharath S) — Mon, 05 May 2008 13:19:00 +0000

I am back to this space after a very looooooooooong time,more than 2 months infact. Honestly speaking,I was just on my toes for the last couple of months due to a variety of changes. Yes,change - The change so far has been good,tough and has pumped in a lot of learning. Overall it was constructive and has my opened my risk taking abilities.

- Change in my job.
- Change in my work culture.
- Change of environment.
- Change of people.
- Change in work location.
- Change in my mode of travelling.
- Change in the distance that I need to commute(daily).
- Change in my attitude.
- Change in my thinking.
- Change in my daily routines.
- Change in my health patterns.
- Change in my weight.
- Change in my hobbies.
- Change in my work life balance.
- Change in my working methods.
- Change in my learning rate.
- Change in my communication management.
- Change in my blogging patterns.

In my new company, there are certain policies which prevents the individual from blogging using IDs that has extensions like yahoo,gmail etc.Since I also do not have a net connection at home,I really cudn't accomodate a specific time slot for my blog.Hence it just went out off track.
So it's time for me to get a net connection at home.

One aspect that I have realized after changing my job, is that the change process helps an individual to come in terms with new opportunities and challenges. It just enhances an individual's risk taking possibilities and makes him/her more confident,competetive and aggressive in the market. This is what I have experienced.

I still do not know,if the change is good or bad - I am just going through it at the moment. But I should say it is definitely constructive and opens up a new dimension. You now get a feeling that you are no longer swimming inside a tumbler and the whole world is open for you to explore,learn and contribute.

I would say that even if you are contemplating for a challenging change, go for it - it is only a temporary feeling/phase.As an individual it helps you to learn,experience and appreciate the change management process that life has in store for you. At the end it helps you to accept and come out of the challenge with more zeal,enthusiasm and diverse experience/learning.

Love that has broken all the Boundaries !!!

noreply@blogger.com (Bharath S) — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 08:37:00 +0000

Yesterday, in the news paper I read the article about the return of the Indian Prisoner named Kashmir Singh from Pakistan, after a looooong 35yrs in jail. Kashmir Singh was arrested by the pakistan authorities on the charges of spying 35 years back(He was 30yrs at the time of his arrest). His wife Paramjit Kaur, was just 25yrs when he was arrested and until today she is eagerly waiting for him. 35yrs gruelling years has passed away and Paramjit Kaur is now 60 and her husband is 65.

Parmajit Kaur has taken care of her mother-in-law till her last moment, until she passed away in december 2007. Paramjit Kaur is now waiting on the border to have her husband after 35yrs. She has expressed that she is very much apprehensive of the emotions that she will go through since she was just 25yrs and her husband was just 30yrs, when he was arrested.

I was really moved when I read this. What a sense of true sacrifice from Paramjit Kaur. She has lived a life that has broken all the boundary's of true love.

Her love is truely unconditional that was full of hope,patience,optimism,strength,
lonliness,trust,caring,attitude and what not..... I just don't have the words to express.

But definitely she has shown to the world what LOVE is all about.Her love is just spontaneous and
real that is beyond sex,comfort,money,expectations,luxury,property,security,
sharing,togetherness,relationship and opportunities.

I pray to god to give Paramjit Kaur and her husband all the good health,wealth,happiness and prosperity in the years to come. Finally, true love will always create a WIN - WIN !!!

IPL : High Profile Cash Cow !

noreply@blogger.com (Bharath S) — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 10:56:00 +0000

Indian Premier League(IPL) auctions that were held couple of days back, really saw some big names being auctioned for heavy cash. IPL was launched by BCCI, as an opposition to the ICL but I am not sure if it is doing good to the spirit of cricket.

International Cricket League(ICL) was promoted by Kapil Dev to develop and nurture the talent of the players who were not provided opportunities by BCCI. Then it was backed up by many senior players like Sandip Patil,Madan Lal etc whose skills and talents were not utilized by BCCI. ICL atleast provided a good platform for these players and coaches to contribute back something to cricket and at the same time earn some money. But it did not spoil the spirit of cricket and the value of the players.

IPL was then launched with the sole intention of hitting back at the ICL and they found a very good means of making more money by involving the business men and cinema stars. By this way BCCI has made huge sum of profits and has opened a new door for rich people to become richer and richer.

- High profile film stars and business men has used this as a good avenue to invest their black money and buy out the teams.
- They very well know that they can make huge profits here without too many risks from marketing,ads,sponsorships,selling the coverage rights and having some star players in their team.
- Also for the players it's a good money making proposition.

But finally is IPL really helping the spirit of cricket? or is it all out to attack ICL
and confirm it's monopoly in India. This is a huge question mark? But
only the common man and cricket fans are bothered about this -Neither BCCI/IPL nor the players/stars?

It's time for a Change !

noreply@blogger.com (Bharath S) — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 10:41:00 +0000

I was always interested in the dynamics of change management, bcos I firmly believe that any change is always good. It opens you up to a completely different environment, learning,development, perspective,people and thought process. After 8 yrs of my association with Alcatel -Lucent, I have put down my papers inorder to pursue new career opportunities. It was a very difficult decision for me to take, but I had to take it at this point of time inorder to enhance my learning curve. This will take me out of my comfort zone and will expose me to a new positive environment.

- In that way, 2008 has given me a good start to move forward.
- 2007 was a stabilization period for me, with lots of fun and love with Arjuun.
- 2006 was bad, bcos I went through a personal crisis. I came out of it only in the year end and it took yr 2007 to stabilize and come back in control.
- 2005 was the best of all, with my son Arjuun coming into my life.

From my learning, I now believe that we should be able to embrace any change with a lot of positive energy and this will help us to move forward successfully in life.

Five Point Someone !

noreply@blogger.com (Bharath S) — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 11:06:00 +0000

During this weekend, I read this book named 'Five Point Someone' by Chetan Bhagat. It's all about "What NOT to do at IIT". The book depicts how 3 friends - Hari,Ryan and Alok messed it up@IIT.. All the 3 were doing their Mechanical Engg course. This book will not teach you how to get into IIT.

1. They screwed up their surprise quizzes and exams.
2. Ryan and Alot are always head-on with each other.
3. Hari fell in love with Neha, who is the daughter of their HOD.
4. They try to steal the semester question papers and in turn get caught red-handed.
5. They had to face a severe disciplinary action and was banned for 1 semester.
6. Alok attempts a suicide and is in hospital for a month.
7. They end up with some 5 point grades out of 10.
8. Finally, they somehow manage to finish their course on time, via some hard work in the last legs of their semester.

In total, this books also looks into the entire system of IIT. While many people are so mad about getting into IIT, I feel that IIT kills the individual spirit and creativity of the students by applying too much pressure.

It's a good book(with some non-veg here and there) to read !

Show Someone You Care !

noreply@blogger.com (Bharath S) — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 04:29:00 +0000

This story is extracted from Motivate Us.com.

I was sitting at the bar of a local restaurant having lunch and taking a break from the daily grind, sitting there thinking about how tough I had it lately and how I was sick of what I was doing. I own a landscape company and never felt I made a difference in people's lives.

As I sat there feeling sorry for myself, a girl who looked about 25 walked in and sat down in a booth waiting for her friend. She was tall, a bit dark and it didn't take long before I saw she was trying to stay hidden in a way from other people's gazes and my heart sank. You could see her hair was falling out and, at such a young age, she was receiving chemo.

I sat there watching her trying to remain composed and she was having a tough time of it. I ached for her, imagining what it must be like to go through this and yet I know some of her pain.

You see I buried my lover, the love of my life just a few short years ago and watched her slowly go away from me.

I needed to get a message of hope to this girl but how? What could I do?

Then it hit me! I called over her waitress and explained that I wanted to buy the girl and her friend's lunch but I also told her you can't tell her it was me, it had to remain anonymous. In doing so, I handed her a note to give to the girl when she told her that her tab was paid.

The note read as follows:
"Someone today thought you were beautiful, someone today thought your smile glowed with excitement, someone today thought your eyes lit up the world, someone today cared and wanted you to know this. Enjoy the rest of your day, pretty young lady".

About 15 minutes later the young girl asked for her check and I watched as she was told it was paid for. She asked why? Who? What for? The waitress simply handed her the note and informed her that the gentleman who did it left, as to keep me anonymous.

I watched as she slowly read the note. Her eyes teared up, for only a moment, and then came the smile! A huge, beautiful, hopeful smile! She lit up the room and then sat up straight, not caring who saw her. Her friend also beamed, not for what was done but because her friend was feeling beautiful again.

It's not how we look or what we have, it's not our houses or how many cars we have, nor is it how much money we can earn. No, it isn't. You see it's all about how much we care and what we do, even if it's making someone feel pretty only for a moment.

Yes, lunch cost only a few dollars but you see the wonderful part, the magic of making somebody feel happy,beautiful and important was free.

Make a difference today in just one life; it's free.

Passion to Manage and Lead Changes !

noreply@blogger.com (Bharath S) — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 06:12:00 +0000

I attended a workshop on 'Change Management' for 2 days. It was an experience by itself. The trainer Uday(from Core Mind) was just too good. The design of the workshop was such that it was filled with case clinics,experiential learning, role plays and process themes. The focus was clearly on value addition to learning and development on change initiation,implementation and management.

I was very much impressed by the way in which the entire program was designed and executed. The idea of giving the people stickers to reflect their personality created a very informal atmosphere at the start. To top all of it the books were offered(Our Iceberg Is Melting, Tuesdays With Moorie) to all the participants as a gift . This was a clear positive indication that Uday was more focused to add value to the participant's learning and development curve, rather than delivering a training program just for the sake of money. In my view, this optimistic experience was lacking in many of the other training programs that I have attended until now. At the end of 2 days, I really felt energized and motivated.

If any of you are interested, I would request you to attend the repeat workshop, that will held in Bangalore on 7th and 8th of December'07. You will feel the impact of this , only if you attend this. I can assure you of the quality of the workshop and Uday will be there to facilitate it in a unique way.
You can reach Uday @ 99406 11230

Thanks a lot Uday, you and your team were rocking!!!

All Good Deeds have a Natural End!

noreply@blogger.com (Bharath S) — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 05:29:00 +0000

Yesterday, my cousin sister's Father In Law passed away suddenly. He was a good man, know for his good deeds. His only motive in life was to help and serve others. He was quite close to me for the last 6 yrs. Whenever, I was in a state of confusion on making a decision - I always counted on his support. Many a times, when I went out of track - he was always there to pull me on the right course of action. He was a perfect guide and mentor for me and for sure his death was a personal loss to me. For the last few weeks, I wanted to see him and I didn't. Suddenly yesterday when I learnt that he has passed away, I couldn't take it. I still have the guilty feeling of not visiting him during the last few weeks of his life. A lot of people whom he has helped came over to see him and they were unable to take his death. He was such a great man know for his humility. Even his family members do not know how he goes out of the way to understand others problems and help them just in the hour of need.

Yesterday after his cremation, I was able see him reduced to just a box of ashes. That's the real meaning of life! Finally we all fit into a small box of ashes.

In between all this - why are we competing for power,money,wealth,assets,fame,name etc.

Let's all love each other...Love,Love and Love only.

May his soul rest in peace.