Maverick

I like to play cricket but never get excited about watching cricket match, even if it’s Battle between India and Pakistan. But I don’t hate watching cricket or the hype it creates or the status quo it has established in India.

But I hate IPL. One of the reasons is that whenever I have 10-15 mins and I want to catch up with the news, all I see is the coverage on IPL or news about party evenings after IPL or the special coverage on how Shane Warne experiment with his hair. And I get irritated with this insane and irresponsible behaviour of Media.

Does anyone knows that IPL has tied up with UN Environment programme to become one of the most envionment-friendly major sports event in the world? Before every match, one of the commentrators speaks about environment which reaches to millions of spectators.

Have you ever noticed that!!!

But I am sure you would have noticed the colorful firecracker after every match which obviously looks so beautiful but so harmful for environment.

Also, I actually don’t watch any match in IPL. So can you please help me by letting me know the match schedule. Do matches start in morning? Because if it’s environment friendly game then it must save the power by not playing matches in night.

IPL - So much to Show off though it’s only Cricket, only a game.

And at last, it’s not a billion dollor baby of Lalit Modi, as Media broadcast proudly. It’s not an original idea. It’s and excat carbon copy of EPL (English Premier League). The only difference is, EPL is about Foodball and IPL is about Cricket.

Table Topic session - An event in regular Toastmaster meetings where a topic is given to speaker and the speaker is expected to speak on the topic for at least one minute and maximum 2 minutes 30 seconds.

Sounds easy? it’s not so, because speaker gets no time to think on the topic. He starts speaking immediately after he hears the topic.

I attended Table Topic session in a contest yesterday where 10 people spoke on the same topic. All contestants were out so no one knew what the topic was.

Topic - My life is simple, I expect Change!

All the speakers talked about how pathetic they feel because their life is simple and how desperately they want some change to make life challenging and interesting. And all these time I, sitting among 50 audience, was thinking, isn’t it blessing if your life is simple! Don’t we all feel frustrated sometimes of our mechanical life, career, relationships, bank liabilities, and many other things and we just scream out loud - Oh God! Why can’t I have a simple life.

Obviously we need change in our life, but we can’t go out and seek changes. Change is something we bring to our life, Change is something we feel inside us, in the same job, with the same friends, under same financial crisis and in the same so called ‘mechanical life’, only if our attitude is right towards life.

Someone asked me - Which is your favorite car? I thought for a moment and then replied - The one which I will be able to buy. This one answer made me realize my attitude towards life. Have you discovered yours?

We go to temple, fold our hand and keep it near our heart, close our eyes and pray. After few minutes of prayer we suddenly start feeling confident, we feel that everything is gonna be alright, we say to ourselves - All is well !

I am not very religious person but I think when we pray, we connect to our Inner self, we speak to our mind and keep our hand near to our heart to make it feel stronger. I go to temple before exams and I pray to God - I have worked hard, please help me get through it - I feel that when I pray I declare to my inner self that I have done my work and I am gonna rock in the exams. And all my inner self does is send positive energy to me.

If I am not wrong then people of all the religion keep their hand near to their heart and keep their eyes closed while praying. We also connect to our inner self  while we meditate and while we think in seclusion. Quite amazing! All the ways to connect to our inner self in not biased based on religion.

When do you feel more confident? when you come out of a crowded temple where you struggle and fight with people to pray in front of God, or a small, less crowded temple where you remain calm while praying? I feel much better in the latter case and I really don’t understand why people visit crowded temple where the actual purpose of visiting temple is never accomplished.

Are Customs and Rules different? Not much, Rules are ancestors of all the customs.

All the rules are made based on some reasoning. These rules exist over long time and when the reasoning behind the rules is forgotten, rules become Customs. And because people who are following/bearing Customs (imposed on them by their elders) don’t know the ‘Reason’, they tend to challenge all the customs.

I agree that Rules should be changed according to circumstance, environment, surrounding and time. But there is a very fine line between Rules and Customs. When we challenge a custom, we have to make sure that we know the reasoning behind it or at least know how to tackle the situations which will follow.  Just ignoring customs, because we don’t like it, is foolishness.

Let’s say, after Satyam scandal, government makes few rules to make sure such incident doesn’t happen again. But obviously these rules make accounting/managing finance of company bit lengthy. Over time, rules will remain but the reasons will be forgotten. And the rules will become custom to the new generation Accountant/Financial wizards. They would say - “What the F**K”! These customs are wasting so much effort!

Obviously one can challenge these customs, if one is sure that they have enough capabilities/rules in place to make sure that incident like Satyam will not repeat. In this case, The One knows the reasoning behind the custom and takes wise steps to challenge customs.

There are many customs in our life. And few customs are really important even though we don’t like those. Customs are made for the betterment of human life. We should follow customs but if few customs are not serving their purpose then we should wisely challenge it, not blindly.

My World acknowledge my existence and Whole World just know that I exist.

People who knows me, people who expect from me, people from whom I expect a little, and people  who would probably miss me when I will be gone, are part of My World. All these people who are part of My World are part of Whole World too, but for me these are whole world. These people are  thread around which my life is hemmed.

So wat’s more important. winning My world or Winning whole world. Both is important but it must follow the order. It actually elicit a natural question, how do I know that I have won or achieved something. It’s when the people who acknowledge my existence acknowledge my achievement too. There will be many people in whole world who would be appreciating me, who would be congratulating me but at the deepest level of heart I know that’s fake. That doesn’t make me feel like a winner. I always long to share these moments with someone who is part of my world. And if I haven’t won My World, I will never realized my achievements. Nothing in this world exist without the acknowledgement from people.

Is winning people in My World world easy? A big NO. One of the reasons is because My World is least driven by logics and most driven my emotions. But that’s how the life is. Being a social animals, we have to win Our people or we would feel lonely in this world full of people.

Hey People

Please help me with your ideas.

We are having a team outing on this Friday 18th Dec 2009. The expected number of people in outing is around 300. I am looking for few games/events/activity which can be performed during the outing. Few activities which are fun, creative and keep people involved.

You would have seen such games in your corporate outing or in your college . It would be great if you can think of some creative idea. That would be new and interesting for people. Your ideas will help me a lot as I along with my coordinating team want to make this outing memorable.

One activity which I suggested

Due to budget constraints my seniors were reluctant to hire a professional photographer. So I suggested them to organize a photography contest. Let people from project nominate themselves and choose 5 people who will be capturing the events. Few days after the event these associates will display their pics and the award/prize will be given to the best photographer.

Looking for your quick reply with creative ideas. Thanks

P.S. - If you want to contact me directly, my mail id is vivek.ghiria@gmail.com

Ha Ha! you may think it will be a motivational sermon as the blog title indicate, but it’s not !

Since I bought my Pulser on 22nd nov 2006, I have roamed whooping 30000 kilometer only in Hyderabad in just 3 years. Yes, though I am not ‘Roddie’ I love riding on my bike. So in last 3 years, I have encroached into every corner of so callled new Secunderabad and old Hyderabad.

This year, my bike’s third anniversary and IIFT exam was on same day.  The venue of examination was same as last year and the path to reach there was lucidly clear on my mind. I started at 8:30 AM in the morning for about 8 kilometer ride from my home to the venue. I faced first roadblock on my way when I saw traffic police had closed one of the road to reach there. I immediately took alternate path and after travelling a kilometer saw another main road being closed by traffic police. On inquiring the reason, they pointed towards a billboard which said - ‘Run Hyderabad on 22nd November’ .

I went numb. It was Hyderabad Marathon and the only road to reach to venue (from my place) was completely closed. With frustration I asked traffic police to guide me to reach Hanuman Vyamsala school (my venue). He guided me with many left - right direction and I couldn’t understand any ! Luckily, one uncle in scooter heard me and offered help. He was going on same direction and asked me to follow. While following him, I traveled  many new alleys and mud road which I never crossed in last 3 years. Amidst the mounting tension of exam these dazzling path caused my heart beats beating at higher rate.

That uncle left me somewhere close to the venue and directed me with few left-rights to reach the venue. With the help of many pan-walas and auto-walas I reached the venue exactly on time. You can guess, I was almost exhausted but relieved on reaching venue.

CAT is starting from tomorrow. Make sure your path is clear even though you have traveled on that path many times.

Best wishes to all

Why do people always long for past?  Why do they always think that time that has passed was better than what they are going through now? I was thinking about this few days ago and I did find some reasoning for that. Here it goes -

Think of an event when you were most depressed. When you thought of being completely lonely in this world. When you thought if it would have been my last day on earth. There would be at least one such event in everyone’s life.

Once you recollect those moments, try to feel the pain. Pain which you would have endured that time. Try hard to feel the same pain again. Ask yourself, if you can feel the slightest of the that pain now. I think answer would be ‘NO’.

On the contrary, now think of a moment when you were happy. When the world around looked pouring with colors and sweetness. Once you think about the happy moment, check if you are smiling. I think ‘Yes’, you would be.

I think you got my point. A beautiful gift to human being. We can’t feel the pain of trauma and hardship we felt in past though we can always cherish the happy moments we experienced in past. So when we look back, we can see only happy days, and the present looks gloomy than past.

Keep Smiling

Standing for what you believe in,

regardless of the odds against you,
and the pressure that tears at your resistance,
… means Courage.

Keeping a smile on your face,
when inside you feel like dying,
for the sake of supporting others,
… means Strength.

Stopping at nothing,
and doing what’s in your heart,
you know is right,
… means Determination.

Doing more than is expected,
to make others life a little more bearable,
without uttering a single complaint,
… means Compassion.

Helping a friend in need,
no matter the time or effort,
the best of your ability,
… means Loyalty.

Giving more than you have,
and expecting nothing in return,
… means Selflessness.

Holding your head high,
and being the best you know you can be,
when life seems to fall apart at your feet,
facing each difficulty with the confidence,
that time will bring you better tomorrows,
and never giving up,
… means Confidence.

-Anonymous

Next 60 days seems to be tough. All we need is Courage to face the results, strength to keep our morale high, determination to achieve, Compassion towards friends and family, and Self confidence. I can sense that my aptitude is not at right place but I know that my attitude is. And it’s attitude which takes one to greater altitude… Amen