Random musings

Today I saw the movie “Saheb, Biwi aur Gangster”. Came out impressed. Very rarely do I get to see such a cerebral handling of a subject. I felt that each and every character, however small was well developed and had a strong reason for being in the movie. So go ahead and watch but be warned that our tastes may not match ;) Just before the movie, when I went to get the tickets, I saw a bunch of three youngsters involved in an animated discussion about phones. The sheer width of facts being thrown around was impressive, but what caught my attention was the energy in the group. The guys were like what I may have been decades ago. I guess even then I may not have had that kind of energy. But somehow I ended butting into the discussion and somewhat enjoyed being part of the group :) In the past few years I have taken small projects for myself and have tried to execute it well. One of the new things that I am trying to do this quarter was to resume my writing. However what happened...

I am going to continue from where I left last time about the talk by Sigrid Grobys on Stress Management techniques. The first thing that caught my attention was her age. She seemed to be in her early twenties. I won’t vouch for the accuracy of my assessment, as I often tend to get the age number wrong ;) But as soon as she started talking I remember feeling a sense of admiration for her diction. I mean not once did I hear a "ah" or any of the fillers that liberally peppers my talks. I really don’t have a word to describe her calm demeanor but there was something interesting.  Well enough of her and let me come to the point of her talk ;) Stress & the Autonomic Nervous System The first thing she did was to give a physiological definition of  stress . She defined it as the body’s response to something that is perceived as demanding. An important component of the body’s response mechanism lies with the so called Autonomic Nervous System or the control system o...

Till recently I was not into meditation. The problem was that I never quite understood what it was all about. The whole idea of doing nothing seemed quite beyond a hyperactive mind’s comprehension. The first time somebody tried to sell meditation was when I was a lowly undergraduate intern. One of my seniors/colleagues at work had apparently done some meditation and he did a hard sell on me. And he did such a good job that my expectations from the whole became rather mystical :D The dampener was when we got down to the nitty gritties. The idea of doing nothing was a far cry from the picture that I had in mind. And my first attempt at meditation lasted for perhaps less than a minute. I guess such was my performance that my friend didn’t attempt another sell on me. Then the next time I encountered the concept in a big way was when I got to know about Jitu. He was my classmate during graduation and we both got placed with the same company. And the last I heard of him he quit his job ...

My impression of Obama is that he would like to believe that you can sweep the world by the power of ideas . . . So when speaks, he often sounds as if he were in the world of ideas alone. When he acts, he is very conscious of reality.  -  Henry Kissinger talking about Obama to Fareed Zakaria ( The quote starts at around 37:00 of the interview) I was fascinated by the quote and the train of thought that emerged can perhaps be described as a conflict between " The power of ideas " Vs " Getting it done ". I mean being called a man of ideas would be a great compliment. However the way Kissinger made the quote, he sorta implied that such a guy is somewhat disconnected with reality. And then he goes to say that Obama is real. Now I am the kind of guy who usually does get carried away by concepts and ideas. But my discipline to execute wasn't very strong. And then thanks to the good fortune of having meet some amazing individuals I became more sensitive for the nee...