Straight to the point...fast!

I happened to attend one of the most inspiring and open & direct presentations a couple of days back. This was by one of our vice presidents in the organization where I work and man am I glad this guy works for us.

He is as straight a shooter as one can get, this person is pretty foul mouth but is just so damn inspiring. He didn't mince his words one bit. He openly shredded some of our internal practices and policies. He took the HR people sitting on the front row on a ride a few times. I am sure they were shivering in their pants as to what he may say next but we didn't mind, we were too stirred up.

He took two sessions, one on Leadership and another on Intellectual Honesty. We came back all fired up from his session. Here are some of the quotes from him (assume a little hyper but serious guy is telling this to you and at a fast pace):

He started with this: "Everyone raise your right hand, up high, put it in your pocket...now take out that bloody cell phone and switch it off"

"Today we will have a exchange of ideas. It means you will come in with yours and leave with mine."

"BKMs suck" (BKMs = best known methods; its an acronym we use almost everywhere in our org)

"Consensus is the source of all evil"

"If you think the meeting is a waste of time then just stand up and say "It's bull $%@#"." (People in my group are itching to use this!)

"I love chaos, I love arguments. I love to participate and see people arguing in meetings." He said with a twinkle in his eye.

"Someone said attack the issue and not the person. So I asked them back "Ummm...then can I say that the issue is a son of a @#$%^?" What do you mean don't attack the person???"

In his presentation he quoted George Bernard Shaw "The resonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man."
Our group came back and on the pretext of being unreasonable decided to be the biggest jerks and pain in the you know what around ;-)

Another thing he said that our organization should do is "Always challenge status quo...without fear." And "Can Do!"

How these threads of life weave us together...

In our trek through life how when we are blindsided but still end up taking the leap of faith and in return find something in someone or with someone that is so unforeseen but yet so meaningful that it is difficult even to fathom, is what the movie Dor is about...

Ok about the movie (other than too much about the story obviously)...

Dor is close to be being almost flawless. Nagesh Kuknoor has struck the ball out of the stadium. The movie is just spectacular in its direction and cinematography. Just when you think that the movie will fall apart by becoming melodramatic or "filmy" the reigns are pulled by the director and the actors. It sticks to its course beautifully. Speaking of beauty, the locations shot in Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan from where the two women around whose "Dor" the movie is based on come from, just take your breath away. Especially the beauty that comes through from the shots of the deserts and life in Rajasthan are incredible.

The acting by everyone (other than by Kuknoor himself in his short role, but he is forgiven :)) is just exact. Apart from the two women who just shine through and through, Shreyas Talpade as a behroopiya, Girish Kannad, the grandmother and others all give great performances.

Gul Panag who plays Zeenat and Ayesha Takia who plays Meera, the women in question in this movie, deliver stunning performances. It is their lives that intertwine. The forces than bring them together and the bonds they form about love, goodness and more importantly freedom liberate them both in their own way. Many scenes will stand out, the scene where Behroopiya drunk goes and "proposes" to Zeenat in his own unique way is pretty funny but I actually found it quite touching. Such scenes will speak to you make sure you make them yours. Another one I really liked is when Meera asks the grandmother "Aap mere saath itna kathor kyon thi."

The songs and music are just right and well suited but "Yeh Honsla" stands out. It is an extremely beautiful poem and song...

You just cannot miss this movie...and make sure you watch it first in a theater.

As good as it gets...

I have been writing this post for some time and had left it as a draft for probably a month now. Anyway just decided to post it today in whatever state it was...

I am sure that if you have had friends who went or go through tough times or a crisis, you have egged them on by saying "look at the bright side, you still have your family or health or job" or whatever else the case might have been. But now what happens if that person goes on to lose someone from their family or lose their health in a really serious way say cancer. What if some of their decisions backfire on them...

This is what someone narrated to me that had happened to them. What do you say to that? Now that you have been made to eat your words how do you comfort them?

…What if this is as good as it gets...

This line is from the movie "As good as it gets" and Jack Nicholson delivers this line in his usual flamboyant style.

What if that this is as good as it'll get. This hopelessness that faces you is as good as it'll get. Forget god, higher force or anybody else coming and saving you, not going to happen. Pick a path, work for yourself with fervor and conviction and definitely live...

Oh I just found that my Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex is probably damaged! :) This I found while reading "Blink" by Malcom Gladwell the author of The Tipping Point. The tag line of this book is "The power of thinking without thinking"...

Anyway in this book there is a mention about the Implicit Association Test (IAT) developed at Harvard. I would encourage you to go and take a few of them. The tests are available at: implicit.harvard.edu/implicit

What these tests measure is our attitude towards things at an unconscious level. Varied subjects like racism, religion, computer operating system preference etc. We are probably not even aware that we have such an attitude. This attitude is the first thing that comes out even before we have had a chance to think when we are faced with a particular situation or circumstance.

The book says "The disturbing thing about the test is that it shows our unconscious attitudes may be utterly incompatible with our stated conscious values". I didn't find too many discrepancies in mine but in case if you do find that, for example you have a racist implicit attitude then there is a way to deal with such things. What you do is to increase familiarization with what you have an negative attitude against. Spend time in the environment in which you have developed a bias against. Learn about the good things of that aspect because it is the bad things that you have absorbed from the evironment around you and hence developed the implicit preference...

There are some tests related to India also at: implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/india/

It is bandh time again here in Bangalore. This time some issue with Belgaum. Cable tv is blacked out including even English/Hindi news channels. So after sending the WFH (working from home) mail there was nothing much to do ;-) other than chat with folks and write a couple of blogs. No! Not this particular post but a couple that I'll post shortly. But for now the pace needs to seriously pick up so gonna toss a coin and choose between two Brad Pitt movies Fight Club or Snatch... ... ... ... ... ...Snatch it is! "Stealin' Stones and Breakin' Bones!!!"

Do you find yourself atrophying? Then try the documentaries posted at PBS Frontline. On this page visit the Previous Reports link, it has archives from previous years.

The first one "The Dark Side" is really good and gives a deep insight on how manipulative the "War on Terror" has been. I watched it one morning when I was preparing a presentation at the absolute last minute but due to my expertise in powerpoint ;-) it got done in the about half the time and I had all this time to spare :-)

One song that helped me through my run last Sunday was Pearl Jam's "Release". It goes:

I'll ride the wave where it takes me
I'll hold the pain...Release me...

I guess if you have heard the way Eddie Vedder sings these lines you may understand why these lines had such an influence...

42.2kms

It took me 6 hours to finish the Bangalore marathon. Not a very great time as I had aimed to finish in five and a half hours but still I managed to overcome my body screaming at me "STOP!" "STOP!" for 42 kilometers...

I had decent pace for the first half, completing 10 kilometers in just over an hour and then getting half way by about two and half hours. But at about 26 kilometers I had run my last for this race. I walked the rest of the way to the finish, taking about three hours to cover the last 16 kilometers.

Almost every part of my body below my waist hurt. The groin area, knees, calfs, ankles, feet (heel and sole) and each one of the 10 toes. Pains in each these areas would come and then dull away giving way to something more painful...
Plus I developed a condition in my upper body which is very common among amateur male long distance runners but a little embarrassing to describe here. I had taken some precaution but it didn't work and the roaming medical team had to help me. I soon forgot about it but I spent some anxious 10 kilometers...

The race was very badly organized but I don't want to go into those things here as I am too busy nursing my sweet and nasty aches and pains...ow! ow! ow! ouch!

Huh?!?!?
...There is a deluge in the deserts of Rajasthan (villagers expect the water to recede only after 3-4 months!)...
...The ice Shiv Lingam in Amarnath didn't form this year (it formed later under some controversy that it was done artificially)...
...Cherrapunji, the place we were mesmerized with in school as the wettest place on earth, has received almost nothing in monsoon rainfall...

Crikey! - You will be missed...

Bush Defends War Strategy

Quoting repeatedly from Osama bin Laden, President Bush said Tuesday that pulling U.S. troops out of Iraq would fulfill the terrorist leader`s wishes and propel him into a more powerful global threat in the mold of Adolf Hitler.

WTF...how?

Adieu to the kid from Las Vegas

Ander Agassi retired yesterday after a stellar career of 21 years. He bid a tearful farewell to tennis after losing in the 3rd round of the US open.

I remember the day when my brother got this huge poster of Agassi to put in his room and I was looking at this guy with long hair and wearing multi coloured neon clothing and now today Agassi at the age of 36, bald and in nearly all white attire retired as one the greatest players of the game. Agassi had the sweetest return of serve ever and his ability to take on the big servers from two feet inside the baseline had never been done and still never has in way he did it.

He won all four Grand Slam singles events during his career plus the Masters, the Davis Cup, and an Olympic gold medal. He is one of the only 5 players to win all the grand slams. One of the things that stand out about his career is in 1997 dropping from being ranked number 1 in the world to number 141 and then coming back. He never quit upon reaching 141. He went and played tournaments where even ball boys were not there and finally was number 1 again in 1999. He will remain one of my favorite players ever even more than Sampras.

On Sunday he was clearly in a lot of pain because of this chronic back problem and many times just stood straight letting the balls whiz by. His back had seized up completely after the match with Baghdatis in the 2nd round but with the help of some non-steroidal injections he managed to show up for this match.

Here is what he had to say at the end...

"The scoreboard said I lost today, but what the scoreboard didn't say is what it is I have found," Agassi said speaking to the crowd "You have pulled for me on the court and also in life. . . . You have willed me to succeed sometimes even in my lowest moments. . . . You have given me your shoulders to stand on, to reach for my dreams -- dreams I could have never reached without you. Over the last 21 years, I have found you, and I will take you, and the memory of you, with me for the rest of my life."

On thinking about quitting while playing through a lot of pain.

"If I wanted to quit, I would have done that a long time ago. I didn't come here to quit."

"I didn't want it to be tainted with a lack of desire or preparation, for me, it was never about winning and stopping. It was always about getting the most out of myself for as long as possible."

Billy Elliot
I watched this movie again over the weekend. It is about a kid living in a poor northern England town and how he takes to dancing ballet. Billy discovers dancing is what interests him rather than boxing which his father wants him to take up. He really doesn't know why and in the process he gets badly beaten by his father and teased by his brothers who are miners and going through tough times themselves but Billy gets support from his teacher and they develop a close bond.

The movie is really funny and has this sharp edge to it. Especially the scenes when Billy just dances free form in the streets of his town to awesome background music and like when Billy figures out his best friend likes to dress up as a girl (Billy’s expression is priceless). Then there is his grandmother always passing loopy statements in middle of serious situations. Also the conversation between Billy and his teacher when Billy asks her “Miss, you don’t fancy me, do you?” and then tells her “All right, don’t blow your blob (head)”.

Lots of touching scenes like when Billy reads his mother's letter and when his father comes around to suport him. The acting by Billy and his father are what stand out in this movie especially near the end by his father. The movie has a great soundtrack with really well placed songs and music. You almost feel like dancing with Billy at times. It is a really nice feel good, kind of simplistic movie about friendship, family and following one’s dreams…

This really funny ad is coming on TV these days. It has this kid brother with curly hair asking his older sister, who is doing yoga, tons and tons of questions…
“Kya kar rahi ho? (Yoga) Isse tum palti ho jaogi? Tu fir chocolate kyon khati ho?”
“Arrey tum ulti kyon ho gayi, khana bahar nikal aaya tu?” "Mai ulta dikh raha hoon" "Isse kya hoga?"
Then when the sis is watching some bearded baba on tv and continuing her Yoga…“Yeh dadi wala kon hai? Isse tumhari dadi nikal aayi tu?”

The thing is that the ad doesn't relate to the life insurance product it is trying to sell but by itself it is quite amusing and cool…

AGASSI AGASSI AGASSI...Fight On!!!