Innovation

An Innovation, an idea, could come to you by pure accident, or it could come to you from something that inspires you, or from something that you believe in, either whole heartedly or partially.

The social media platform, aka Facebook, Instagram, etc are in a sense the catalyst to release dopamine – the happiness chemical. Whenever you hear the phone ping, you eagerly reach for your phone, wondering who has messaged, what is the message, a feeling of imperceptible joy pervades. On the other hand when you`re depressed, you can take out your phone and say hi, to several people, and await impatiently for their response. You get morose if they do not respond, or feel even worse, should they unfriend you, or if your dinner post a few hours earlier did not receive many likes.

Whilst the social media is a great element of, “time pass” & up- liftment, it can also conversely be a great accelerator for the loss of self esteem & depression. Take a breather, there is life outside social media, pursue your interests and see where they lead.

It has been said people do not buy what they make, you buy Why they make it. You buy into their belief system. We believe in doing things differently, we believe in making things that will hugely improve your life, we also make computers, would you like to buy one ? A soul searching punch line like this, as opposed to conventional boring adverts, has exponentially pushed the sales of Companies such as Apple, Amazon, & Google way past USD 1 Trillion.

The personal aura of Steve Jobs, the belief system in what he made, his enthusiasm which came across magnetically whenever he came on stage in his trademark blue jeans & black turtle neck T shirt. Every time Apple launched a product, people lined up in freezing weather with their blankets & sleeping bags to be amongst the first to buy Apple products.

The question is why did people do that, when they could have waited a few days, & purchased the same product a few days later, when there were no crowds. The answer to this perplexing question is simple, the people simply bought into Steve Jobs philosophy and belief system, they purchased Apple products because of the, “WHY” Syndrome. You do not purchase what they make, you purchase Why they make it.

Xerox Corp, Palo Alto, was the first Company to develop a Graphical User Interface, way back in 1973, a decade before GUI machines became available.  In 1979, Steve Jobs lead a team of Apple engineers to Xerox, they saw the GUI, Mouse, Windows & Icons that Xerox had developed. Upon seeing the Mouse, Steve Jobs straight away realised the importance of the Mouse, & instructed his engineers to immediately develop the Mouse.

The Apple engineers told Steve Jobs, that spending money on developing a mouse would be futile & disastrous, as they had already spend several million of dollars on the development of Apple products. The engineers said that if Apple spent Millions of Dollars on a GUI – Mouse, they would be killed by the competition. To this Steve Jobs replied, if Apple Does Not develop a GUI – Mouse, Apple would in any case be killed.

Apple developed a GUI – Mouse, and in 1984 introduced the, “Macintosh” Computer,  it took the world by storm, Steve Jobs had truly arrived. It was the belief system of Steve Jobs, that carried the day. The people purchased Apple products because of Steve Jobs belief system, not because What Apple Made, but because WHY Apple made them.

In 1985, Eastman Kodak was the first Company to make a digital camera. Kodak hid the digital camera discovery from the world for a decade. When the rest of the World caught up with Kodak & made digital cameras, Kodak literally folded up.

In the late 1960`s Avis Rental Car, came out with an Advert, “We try harder”. This three letter advert, struck the raw nerve of people, & returned hundreds of million dollars of sales for Avis.

The farmers agitation in North India, specifically Delhi, and of late, in Karnal, Haryana, has picked up momentum, like never before. Suddenly it seems to have caught and fired the imagination of people. The agitation has been ongoing for the last year, initially starting in Punjab, and then at five points at the Delhi border, and now also at Karnal.

The turning point, I believe is that the people have now begun to, “believe” the farmers, “infinite” position of what they want, & where they wish to go. The local people of Karnal, families, kids et all, have begun flocking to the mini secretariat, the farmers agitation site, in large numbers, both in support of the farmers, and also interestingly by way of giving an expression to their feelings and emotions, and seeing what they believe in coming to life.

The infinite, long haul position of the farmers, as opposed to the finite short term political & economic gain of the Govt, has pitted the Govt and the farmers at end to end extremities; poles apart.

The conjunction of the farmers & the local people`s belief system, coming together, resulted in over twenty lacs people getting together at Muzaffarnagar, 5th September for a one day Maha Panchayat. The traffic jam was about 35 Km long.

Literally within a few hours notice in excess of 20,000 people got together at the Anaj Mandi, Karnal, 7th September. How did all this happen ? This happened because the people have begun to, “believe” the farmers – A critical mass turning point…

“Galwan clash: PM Modi says, death not in vain”, read the emblazoned headlines.

My father Major SN Tandan, was injured in the 1965 Indo-Pak War, he succumbed to his injuries on account of a major surgical faux paux in M.H. New Delhi in March 1966.

My father was accorded an Army funeral, his body was taken in a flower bedecked Gun Carriage to the crematorium, three shots were fired in the air to commemorate a life; minutes later it was a life, ‘done’ save the memories.

Fifty four years later I ruminate, did my father`s death go in vain, fifty years of Pak bashing, and now China bashing post Galwan, and the unnecessary loss of twenty soldiers, a close dead repeat of events 1962. Any lessons learnt, heck No.

My mother was given an army pension of around Rs 80 per month in March 1966. When my mother re-married in 1967, her pension was stopped, on Govt order, since my mother had re-married.

In 1973 liberalized family pension kicked in which is given to widows of officers who “die in the face of enemy”, and is even payable to widows who re-marry. Unfortunately my mother had re-married a stranger, and not her brother in law, or my fathers brother or “devar”. My mothers pension was reduced to taxable Ordinary Family Pension, from the non taxable full blown Liberalized Family Pension.

How weird is that, yes it sure is..

 As per Govt order with effect 24.6.2005, MoD letter No.1 (1)/2001lD (Pen-C), Liberalized Family Pension (LFP) was made restorable in re–marriage cases, even for widows such as my mother who had married a stranger.

Unfortunately the Govt order was pronounced, but no one informed my mother, and she continued to receive a paltry taxable pension of Rs 6,020 till April 2013.

It was only when this matter was vigorously taken up and vehemently and stubbornly followed up, was my mothers full liberalized pension restored in 2014. The pension arrears were paid in 2014, which today is grossed up 1:25 (Twenty five) times tax free, of what she was drawing in 2013.

Gross injustice or what..

In the intervening years when the money was required the most, did my mother get her dues, NO. There must be literally hundreds of thousands of Officers and men and women of the Defence forces, In India, wef 1947, who are in desperate need of money and are not drawing their due pension. Is there anywhere they can go to correct this, NO.   

Does anyone care, No, does it matter for the family Yes, does it make a swot of a difference to the authorities aka  Govt, that pensioners are not getting their due pension No.

Does PMCares fund cover this, of course Not.

Did my father die in vain Yes, and even decades later one wonders what the heck was all that about, oh dear he died, finito.

It’s a round World, and round and round we go in a merry go around. What a life…

13th April` 2020

William Shakespeare said about 400 years ago, “There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so” (Hamlet.)

The mind set people easily settle with more often than not, is seen through the prism, and narrative of the mind of others, which at times is completely at odds with the situation and ground reality. Fuelled by social, digital & print media the mind plays truant, and when done collectively across communities, with political twists and intonations it can be very dangerous. Be careful what you think about.

The immediate result of the lockdown, is the burgeoning of new terms one never heard before, such as Islamophobia and Carona Jihad. For goodness sakes what do muslim milk sellers in Punjab or Jharkhand have to do with Carona in India ?

For close to twenty years I lived in Auckland New Zealand. I arrived in Auckland in 1989, for a holiday, with a few hundred dollars, and ended up staying  for almost two decades. Three successful businesses, were set up from scratch, the most interesting and competitive being in Information Technology. I also ended up winning and securing two prime SAP implementation projects at Reliance Industries and TELCO, now Tata Motors, Mumbai.

One thing which I recall vividly is that whenever multiple Indian friends would get together for a drink or a meal, more often than not, the conversation would almost always veer towards an outright comparison of Indian or desis with the Kiwis or Pakehas, a comparison that always went in favor of the Indians. How caring Indians are, how well they look after their aged parents, unlike the Pakehas who put their parents into old age homes, how thoughtful Indians are and how much we love our parents, as opposed to Kiwis who are heartless. The near manic like rants would only increase with the lowering of the whisky levels. Why the heck are you guys New Zealand, you don`t deserve to be here, return to India and stay there, I would say…….no one ever did.

This is an event which routinely plays out in New Zealand, Australia, UK, USA, Canada, Europe, and just about anywhere and everywhere there are Indians who sincerely and devoutly believe that Indians revere their parents more than Anglo Saxons; that as a race Indians have a patent right on, “revere and respect”, period, only we (Indians) know how to look after parents, after all that is our patented birthright !

No no no, we do not have biased double standards, its just our thinking is so. They say that a mere six words can change your life; “you become what you think about”. In November 2001, President George W Bush said, “you are either with us or against us’, and what followed was; a sovereign Country was totally decimated.

Fast forward and about nineteen years later in India, a fiery political community tussle is tearing the secular fabric of the country apart; is gaining alarming propensity, timely ignited by Carona is set to explode.

Over the course of the last year, I have been constructing a Convention Centre in Ranchi, its close to completion. The majority of the skilled workers on the project, are muslims, several of my personal staff are muslims, my driver in Goa is a muslim, would you believe, My aging Jeep mechanic, who has steadfastly maintained my Jeeps for the last 35 years is a muslim.

William Shakespeare was right,  heck thinking can be corrosive….think right.

In God we trust, and the rest strictly cash, seems to be the mantra for the moment, in the midst of Carona – Covid-19.

Strangely, a few years ago, I almost purchased a property at Carona, a small neat village close to Aldona in North Goa, I`m glad I did`nt !

If God is the spine of India, the fervor of the religious and the spiritualist, he/she (God), is also the unifying force for the believers and seekers of religion and spirituality, as both the religious and spiritualists largely and wholly believe in the giver and take of life syndrome.

Some would say that Carona-Covid 19 is driven by Karma, which to me suggestively augurs towards, “collective karma”, pertaining to a multitude of people contracting Carona at the same time. Is there such a phenomena or belief, I wonder. Some would say that, “collective karma” is driven by the constellation of the stars, the rare conjunction of Saturn, Mars, Jupiter and Ketu, in the same house/spot. They say that this is an unusual event, which last occurred some hundred years ago in the early 1900s; a culmination of events leading to large scale upheaval and multiple catastrophic events, which changed the world. Or was this a coincidence, or pure figment of someone`s imagination, I ruminate.

Be it as it may the, “karam” for the moment, seems to have been hijacked by the constant washing of hands, wearing of masks and, courting madame Social Distance, the combination of which will be the giver and taker of life, so we are ominously foretold.

If you can, “furlough” Carona by washing hands and thereby give yourself, a new lease of life, would that suggest that you have wittingly held, “Mr Karam” at bay, I wonder…

For the moment sit tight, rue and contemplate the opportunities that will come everyone`s way, once the lockout is lifted, and believe me they will, perhaps a bit staggered but they surely will come – juggernaut of opportunities` 2020..

Till then in god we trust, & rest strictly cash, as the people in horse racing would say, “break a leg”.

When I was growing up, I always used to tell myself that I would take up golf when I was older, for my belief was that golf is an older person`s game. It was also fixated in my mind that I would veer toward religion and religious practice, as I got older, these were some of the perceptions in my mind as I grew up.

Till about a few years ago, I was convinced that dame luck, played a big part in fashioning my life, today I can say with conviction looking back at my life, that`s not entirely the case, as I had strongly believed earlier. The events that shaped my life were purely based on the opportunities I took, coupled with pure hard gritty work.

Today I will say that with a sense of mindfulness, and hard work, luck will get you, as opposed to, ‘getting lucky’. Mind you, I am not taking about luck as in the Casino, and there again, there are people who are able to fashion that craft to perfection – card sharpies.

Over the last few months, I have been ruminating, wondering, thinking, and exploring the depths of my mind, is there a god, what is Karma, and how does that play out in one`s life.

The karmic theory I have come to believe is the soft cushion for many, for should something go wrong or not work out, it`s resolved in your mind that’s its fate foretold and karma taking hold. Karma to me is the immediate result or a by-product of work done, or in many instances work not done. Thus for instance for a student, if you do not study, and do badly in your exams, you cannot reduce that result to karma from a previous birth. In other words, you are almost always directly answerable to your own actions.

In a nutshell a person`s thinking is encapsulated by their perception or belief, which more often than not is driven by circumstance. When we are born, we are not given the comfort of choosing a religion or faith, as we get older life forges its own path, based at times on biased thinking. There is not a religion in the world which does not consider itself the very best, and by that very definition, “better people” as opposed to others.

In India, the land of Baba`s & gurus, and Spiritualists, the same hold`s true, and here again, its perception which rules, and aligns with your mind, either positively or negatively.  At a point, perception gets converted to, ‘faith’, which is defined as, “belief in God or in a set of religious doctrines”. The merge of perception and faith gets a little tricky, as by definition they are both very different, but the mind plays truant.

The other day, I was thinking whether there is a perfect person, untainted and incorruptible, and by that I also mean someone who does not believe in giving money and jewellery and bullion in furtherance of godly idol worship, for in a sense that could be construed or considered by some as an, “ethereal bribe”. I was asked what I thought of myself, on a honesty scale. After a little consideration I deduced that I was about 80% – 85% honest.

The gods and god people have enough wealth, why then give them hugely abundant additional material wealth, which more often than not, you can ill afford, just for the sake of feeling good. At the end of the day, life can be viewed in the prism of quid pro quo. The karmic theory is 100% driven on quid pro quo, you reap what you sow, and I am not talking about the past life, as that remains a distant and an unknown quantum.

They say to be happy in life, there is only one thing you must do, that is to make other people happy, get into the habit of giving, without thought and consideration. The more you give, the more you will get back, which in time will change your life diametrically and assuredly. There is literally nothing else you need to do, to be content and happy. Here too the quid pro quo principal will kick in over a period of time; it will happen.

Whatever you do, if done mindfully, and with due attention, you will reap dividends. Take human relationships, they fly high emboldened with love and due attention, and totally break asunder when that integral forward driving love spark is missing.

I was reading about a spiritualist healer and sage in South India who got busted recently, he said, “Whenever there is a big crisis the grace steps up enormously.”  In Sanawar we used to say grace before and after meals, but this was/is a different type of grace, far different from being thankful for what we are about to receive, and have just received; is strongly tilted towards, “gods will”, an integral and essential congregation gathering godly ingredient.

Perception = faith = grace = god = positively good for the mind and soul.

As per christianity.com, “Grace is the opposite of karma, which is all about getting what you deserve. Grace is getting what you don’t deserve, and not getting what you do deserve”.

This would be better left to thought, which could be someone`s perception, or faith, or grace, ethereally or otherwise; believe what you will.

Now some forty years later, I have not taken up golf, nor do I partake in religious practice, such is the difference in perception a few decades later, but life is good.

Continue ruminating, and if you fall get up and, Never Give In !

The mysticism of meditation decoded

Ever since I wrote, “Rubies in my Ears” which I truly feel is an inspirational story, my life if you will seems to have taken a different turn. It`s become a lot more introspective, and almost soul searching if you like, taking me to a realm, yet unknown to me. Continue reading →

10^th September` 2017

London:

I met Aditya yesterday at Canary Wharf for lunch, what an eye opener it was…

Continue reading →