~ Reflections on completing 39 ~

Cannot believe that we are already in December of 2019. Thought I shall make an exception on my birthday to put my reflections over a blog post rather than threaded tweets. If you notice this happens to be the second post for this year. Wish I will get back to writing more often in 2020.

2019 probably happened to be my busiest year of my existence. After becoming a parent, in 2017, definitely there has been plenty of changes to my lifestyle as well others in my family. This June we enrolled our daughter to PlayGroup, who now spends 2 hours at the pre-school. Therefore there are plenty of pre and post school tasks that gets added to my daily routine. 

Few reflections on different subjects that matter to me -

Health - One of my objectives in 2019 was to be healthy - mind and body. However, things didn't go as per plan. Was 83 kilos, in April, which was the heaviest that I had ever weighed. Decided to sign up for the Adobe's 5K run that occurs every June, with the aim of loosing weight & also re-start my running. Completed the 5K in 40 mins. With continued elliptical workouts and watching what I ate, by Aug, I weighed 77.5 Kgs. I still would like to shed additional 3 kilos to remain below 75 Kgs. Even though I was a social smoker, I happened to kick the butt for good on 31st Dec 2018 and haven't looked back! Maybe I should write a separate post to share my reading and learning on diet and eating habits, if that helps anyone out there.

Time - The biggest realization of 2019. TIME, is the most valuable currency in life. Prioritize on how you invest it, be it with people or activities that you engross in. Don't waste it, since you can never reclaim it. Some wise men, millenniums ago, had discovered the same and stated watch your breath and stay in the moment. In order to live every moment, one needs to bring full awareness (mindfulness) towards your mundane life activities. Prioritizing tasks, at the beginning of each day, helps in better time management and saving some for yourself i.e. ME-time. Fortunately, everyone in this world is blessed with the same time-scale. Hence, it is left unto oneself on how effectively it is utilized and for a purpose. You can quote me on the below one, if you like it ;)

Time is the best keeper of accounts, of what we do. While Karma is the ultimate settler of scores.

Reading - I love reading books and couldn't read much last year. This year I have set a target of 15 books and let's see how it goes in the next 29 days. If you are interested in knowing what I am reading then hit this twitter thread. Again, the more efficient time slicing shall help in investing for more things one wishes to do.

Environment - Another important aspect for me is, the way we live and utilize the resources during our period of stay on this planet. This has a direct impact on what we pass on to our future generations and also how sustainable the eco-system would be for life itself. Continued with composting for yet another year, the last month hasn't been that effective and should set it right. We planted about 8 trees early this year and hope to improve next year. Discovered water-less cleaning for cars and 2-wheeler in September, which has helped in water conservation. You should give it a try and help conserve water. Another tweet thread ;)

Do watch Carl Sagan's classic - Pale Blue Dot. Lot to soak in and act upon.

Communication - Very essential skill in life and also in my work. Don't try to resolve fundamental conflicts with people, it wouldn't get you anywhere and no one would win. The biggest communication problem is we don't listen to understand. We listen to reply. I think I have improved quite a bit this year and plenty of room to improve.

Save money - For yourself and for your kid(s). I had always known from friends and colleagues, who have had kids, regarding private education being a costly affair in Urban India. Now, am witnessing it when I enrolled my daughter to pre-school. Not sure if anyone else has said it earlier, here's what I think - 

Education is the best contraception

Those who are working should aim for saving at least 25% of your income for their short-term and long-term goals. Have an investment adviser who can help you choose the right investment vehicle based on your risk-appetite. Also having a Chartered Accountant would be a bonus to deal with the IT filings at year end.

Shaping life - The most challenging part of being a parent. As a parent, I feel I shouldn't pass my biases on her and she should explore them as she grows. Even though it's initial years, these are the formative years for my daughter who is curious and exploring things around her. At her age, she will imbibe plenty of habits & patterns based on what she witnesses. Hence, I feel it is very important for myself on what I - say, teach, share - with her. Definitely, she will be influenced by people around and what she watches, as she interacts/spends plenty of time with people during the day & gets approximately an hour of videos in a day. 

Be kind - Mean is easy; kind is hard. Even a teenager can be mean. It takes effort to be kind & hence do the needful. Be grateful. No matter how awful your life seems at the moment, you have something to be grateful for. Gratitude always helps. 

My life now can be viewed as before and after my daughter. "Staying Agile" is the way of life for a parent. No book can ever teach you on how to be a parent, apart from living it. Enjoying my time with the little one! 

Parenting is no easy thing. Hats off to my parents and rest of the parents out there. Also, huge respect to single parents.

Thanks to everyone who has contributed on the above & making me a better person!

~ Killing time in Bangalore traffic ~

I lose (spend) 3 hours of my day in Bangalore traffic. That's significant amount of time for me. Here are some ways I kill (utilise) time while commuting in office shuttle. 

1. Read a book - kindle fits the need
2. Listen to music - if I need to relax
3. Talk to friends - helps me keep connected with friends regularly.
4. Twitter - mostly evenings
5. Sleep - if too tired
6. Youtube Offline - Dev Talks, TED, Documentaries, John Oliver, NewsLaundry, etc
7. News / Blogs - Mostly aggregate content on Pocket. 
1. Pocket - really cool app if you are an avid reader. 
2. Medium, has some great content too.

If you are an urban commuter in Bangalore or elsewhere, who happens to spend gruelling hours travelling in traffic then I would like to know how do you kill your time?

~ Smartphones & dumb people ~

If you haven't yet watched this movie then please do. Technology is a catalyst to make lives easier & simple. As with everything if you end up over doing a specific thing then you become an addict & need rehabilitation. 

So lookup & stare away from the display. Move away from "Always connected" in the virtual world to being with family & friends in the real world. We only have finite time to live, so enjoy it!

'Look Up' - A spoken word film for an online generation

~ Evaluate ~

Most of us have misplaced objectives who value tea-cup more than tea. Seth Godin has a good post "Speedometer confusion" that offers us insight into how we shape our lives with what we have vs what we want.

The number on the speedometer isn't always an indication of how fast you're getting to where you're going.

You might, after all, be driving in circles, really quickly.

Campbell's Law tells us that as soon as a number is used as the measurement for something, someone will get confused and start gaming the number, believing that they're also improving the underlying metric, when, in actuallity, they're merely making the number go up. 

Here are a few measurements that are often the result of speedometer confusion:

• Book sales vs. Impact
• Money vs. Happiness
• Twitter followers vs. Anything
• Money raised vs. Votes earned
• Weight vs. Health
• Income vs. Skill
• Facebook likes vs. Liked
• Tenure vs. Competence
• Length vs. Quality
• Faster? How about better?

~ The Vogelkop Bowerbird: Nature's Great Seducer ~

Is it natural that the male has to woo the female? The male Bowerbird puts an impressive display to attract the female bird.

~ Offline vs Online ~

Paul Miller speaks about his offline experience. There is a lot of paradox of being offline vs online. 

It doesn't matter what it is, finding the balance in everything we do in life is the key. When we overdo something, thats when we get into trouble.

This situation might not hold good to most Indians. Definitely applies to all those who use a lot of social apps & are not connected with real world.

Additional reading: Always Connected | Offline Paul

~ Steve McCurry: Photographer & Storyteller ~

A photographer is also a storyteller. The story doesn't end with a photograph, but extends beyond when they narrate it. Steve McCurry is one such photographer, who doesn't compromise on his vision. 

Here are few untold stories from his 30 years of professional career. 

~ Woody Allen | What I've learned ~

Woody Allen has some good advice in life.

Dad's advice

My dad didn't even teach me how to shave — I learned that from a cabdriver. But the biggest lesson he imparted is that if you don't have your health, you have nothing. No matter how great things are going for you, if you have a toothache, if you have a sore throat, if you're nauseated, or, God forbid, you have some serious thing wrong with you — everything is ruined.

On marriage

It's been said about marriage "You have to know how to fight." And I think there's some wisdom to that. People who live together get into arguments. When you're younger, those arguments tend to escalate, or there's not any wisdom that overrides the argument to keep in perspective. It tends to get out of hand. When you're older, you realize, "Well, this argument will pass. We don't agree, but this is not the end of the world." Experience comes into play.

Final piece

It's just an accident that we happen to be on earth, enjoying our silly little moments, distracting ourselves as often as possible so we don't have to really face up to the fact that, you know, we're just temporary people with a very short time in a universe that will eventually be completely gone. And everything that you value, whether it's Shakespeare, Beethoven, da Vinci, or whatever, will be gone. The earth will be gone. The sun will be gone. There'll be nothing. The best you can do to get through life is distraction. Love works as a distraction. And work works as a distraction. You can distract yourself a billion different ways. But the key is to distract yourself.

We call come with shelf life, so live in the Moments & Enjoy what you do.

~ Seal of approval ~

Last week I saw people sharing an article about an American student's experience in India across Social Media. 

Today another student has expressed her experience during her stay in India.

Am sure anyone on travelling or studying or working in India will have perspectives about the country, culture, people, food, history, et al. Each one goes through different experiences - good, bad & ugly. The perspectives about an experience could be based on various factors - family upbringing, economical status of the individual, knowledge about place, food, people, etc. It varies on many degrees. Its not WYSIWYG.

Am sure, as Indians, we ourselves are highly opinionated about people from different parts of a State. Forget about our perspectives with people / culture from various parts of India. So, our perspective about foreigners would be a very skewed. 

I don't really understand the need of such hype or stereotype the subject. I feel, we don't need Western review to highlight the lows or the highs of the country. Most of us, Indians, are already aware of the circumstances & behaviour. Be it treating women / men / elders / disabled, race, cultures, etc. We do nothing about it to bring any change in self or those around us. 

As M K Gandhi said, "Be the Change you wish to see in the World". We need to drive that change what we wish to see in the world around us. Do your bit, before stereotyping / preaching others.

Over the weekend, while at traffic signal near SadhashivNagar, observed a hoarding which says something like this - "Learn yoga from Internationally certified yoga teacher". Do you figure oxymoron in it? Yoga & International :) 

Yoga, which has its origin in this country, we Indians still look for the seal of approval from elsewhere. 

Such is our obsession with Western approval for the scheme of things in life or otherwise. We need to stop looking elsewhere for doing what is right. Just do it!

*iReport is running on Jive. Jive is a collaborative product. In my previous job, have helped build customized enterprise communities. The technologist in me makes me observe the underlying platform :)

~ Dark is beautiful ~

If you have watched any Indian TV channel then you would have come across the plethora of fairness ads targeting women & these days men too. Even after 66 years after obtaining Independence from the British rule, Indians are fascinated & obsessed with everything white. We haven't really come out of the colonial mindset. 

Finally there has been an initiative called "Dark is beautiful" from the group Women of Worth.

Dark is Beautiful is an awareness campaign that seeks to draw attention to the unjust effects of skin colour bias as well as to celebrate the beauty and diversity of all skin tones.

Good to see Nandita Das giving her voice to the cause. 

~ "I want people to be comfortable in their own skin and realise that there is more to life than skin colour," she says, adding that an Indian paper had written "about my support for the campaign and then lightened the photo of me that went alongside it" ~

"India's obsession with fair skin is well documented: in 1978, Unilever launched Fair & Lovely cream, which has subsequently spawned numerous whitening face cleansers, shower gels and even vaginal washes that claim to lighten the surrounding skin. In 2010, India's whitening-cream market was worth $432m, according to a report by market researchers ACNielsen, and was growing at 18% per year. Last year, Indians reportedly consumed 233 tonnes of skin-whitening products, spending more money on them than on Coca-Cola."

If you are obsessed with fair-skin then you are spending too much time & energy on something which is not worthwhile. There is much to life than sporting fair skin or applying fairness cream to get there.

Stay UNfair and live your life!

Additional Reading: India's unfair obsession with lighter skin | Dark is Beautiful | FB group

~ Offline Paul ~

Also known as Paul Miller. Mr Paul embarked on a year long journey to be disconnected from the digital world. It would be hard for a person like him to go offline for 12 months without internet.

I'd used the internet constantly since I was twelve, and as my livelihood since I was fourteen. I'd gone from paperboy, to web designer, to technology writer in under a decade.

In Information age, it is quite hard & takes a lot of effort to stay in-sync with rest of the world without Internet. At least to those of us who are constantly consuming endless data from various streams. My parents on the other hand  contradict me, they don't use or need internet for any of their daily chores. However, I do require it for my profession. Outside of work it is more or less for social communication, reading, consuming news, occasional shopping, watching videos & nothing beyond.

Here are some of the thoughts which I liked from Paul's first post after coming online - I’m still here: back online after a year without the internet

"Internet is reprogramming our relationships, our emotions, and our sensitivity," said one of the rabbis at the rally. It destroys our patience. It turns kids into "click vegetables."

As my head uncluttered, my attention span expanded.

By pulling away from the echo chamber of internet culture, I found my ideas branching out in new directions.

It turns out paper books are really great. I don't comparison shop to buy plane tickets, I just call Delta and take what they offer.

In fact, most things I was learning could be realized with or without an internet connection — you don't need to go on a yearlong internet fast to realize your sister has feelings.

The moral choices aren't very different without the internet.

There's a lot of "reality" in the virtual, and a lot of "virtual" in our reality - Nathan Jurgenson

What I do know is that I can't blame the internet, or any circumstance, for my problems.

The longest I have remained offline in the last 3 years, the farthest my memory can be stretched, is about 3 days ;) How long have you remained offline?

Here is an interesting poster which I came across recently.

~ Social Engagement ~

Social engagement these days happen through a diverse stream of channels. Some of the common methods of engagement being messaging {Gtalk | Skype | Whatsapp | SMS}, Emails, Social Networks {Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, G+}. 

Facebook has funded an IDC research on how Smartphones have had an impact on our lives. The report 'Always Connected - How Smartphones And Social Keep Us Engaged' throws up some interesting behavioural patterns, stats & how mobile apps are driving those changes. 

• Half of total US population uses Smartphones i.e 155.1 Million people (2012)
• Primary usage: Text/Message, Talk, Message on FB. All of them are direct communication.
• Highest levels of engagement happens during Friday through Sunday, with the peak on Sunday.
• Top 10 Apps: Email, FB, Web browsing, Games, Maps, Photos, Search, Local Search, News/Sports, TV/Video
• Wake up call: Within the first 15 minutes of waking up, 4 out of 5 smartphone owners are checking their phones.
• 79% of respondents have their phone on or near them for all but up to 2 hours of their waking day.
• Social Apps play a very significant role during Social Events.
• Average daily time spent on Facebook: 32 mins 51 secs
• Average daily time spent communicating on smartphone: 131 mins 43 secs
• Who we are most connected to via Smartphone + Facebook - Friends, Spouse/Parnter/GF/BF, Parents, extended family, colleagues/classmates, children, community.

*Note: The report is based on the online survey of iPhone & Android smartphone users in the U.S. 

I do agree that these tools have helped us connect with friends who are separated by time zones or distance. How about those who live in the same city & yet not meet friends. Most of us claim that we do not have time. Rather than lack of time, I feel we lack at effective Time Management & priorities. Time is just an alibi for our own short coming ;)

Go offline! Plan & meet your friend in the city. Surprise them.

Update 31 Mar 13: 

If you have noticed the Facebook profile picture updates among the circle of friends. The campaign is a for the support of future of same-sex marriage in the United States by HRC. Ever wondered how many people have taken part in this online civil rights movement or what the Big Data tells us. Facebook has the insights into the week long campaign. FastCo Design | Facebook 

~ Survival ~

Now that all the fervor over the Maha Kumbh Mela has stopped in the media & social media, a strange thought occurred, what do the Sadhus do in their daily lives. What do they do for survival? How do they earn their food?

I wonder what the sadhus do everyday for daily survival to show up in such large numbers every 12 years. Guess the daily needs for a Naga sadhus are minimal - food, water & weed - when compared to others on the planet.

I would like to read what they do for living to source their food. Assuming that they can get Water & Weed without any cost :)

Photo: Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images

~ Where next? ~

The post is a trigger based on the latest Nvidia offering of Tegra 4 & CES 2013 

While we are creating devices that are getting faster, thinner, smarter. On the contrary we humans aren't evolving at the same pace in our own environment with many aspects of life.

A lot of open questions:

• As humans beings, being more civilized with fellow earthlings and habitats
• Providing drinking water
• Education to the masses
• Preserving natural resources for future sustenance
• Bringing awareness to people towards - *balance* in what you have vs what you want
• Many more to list

I very much agree with what Elon Musk had to say, "Sooner or later, we must expand life beyond this blue mud ball— or go extinct."^

~ Live your life ~

Am sure this year has a lot of changes in store for myself. At the same time have a lot of things to achieve. One amongst the many being travel & hopefully a bike ride to remember.

~ Life your life, to fulfil your dreams ~

Thanks to Dirt Track Productions for sharing this one.

~ Socially Me ~

The life of an technophile living anywhere today, is expressing those moments of emotion as a constant stream of data to various Social Networks - FB, Twitter, Instagram, Path, G+. The power of smartphones & data connectivity has exploded into data bomb. Will not be surprised, if the Governments tomorrow are not elected by tweets :) 

I personally use all of those networks for various means:

1. Instagram: For clicking moments when am travelling & without my DSLR around. 
2. Path: For places  - restaurants, movies, leisure - all for audit trail purpose. 
3. G+: For sharing information w/ co-workers on various news items - tech, political, football.
4. G+Messenger: For 3 months, have been using it mostly to connect with Gooners who are spread across the globe. We share the latest updates, rants, news or anything to do with ArsenalFC. Happened to meet few of them in Bangalore & watched the Arsenal vs Manchester United game with Bangalore Gunners. This week we were amongst the first to have Arsenal FC Fans G+ Community.
5. Twitter: Consuming or sharing instant updates about anything under the sun which I like.
6. FB:  Updates from college friends, (ex)colleagues, travel, interests, etc.
7. Last.fm: For scrobbling songs.
8. Also there are numerous tech blogs which I follow on a daily basis.
9. Using LinkedIn more often over the last 2 weeks. Most of you who are connected would have noticed the activity :P
10. Youtube subscriptions are active, but not regular.

By now you have figured out how much of information over-load I go through in a day from various apps at various point of time. This definitely isn't good when you are working or otherwise. Your attention span takes a BIG hit & distracts from your task. Off-late {for the past 2 months} have made  conscious effort about how & when I use - Twitter & FB. I check them during lunch / tea breaks & post dinner, during weekdays. On weekends, my usage of Twitter & FB is high; considering football games.

The trigger for the post was this article by Roger Cohen - Thanks for not sharing, on NYT. 

Like everything else in life, when it comes to usage, technology too has its share of pros & cons. Instead of blaming - technology, smartphone, social networks, information overload - for not having enough time for loved ones or pursuing your hobby or reading a book or going for walk or run or meeting friends, etc. It boils down to the individuals' approach on maintaing the balance in the eco-system of life. Be it virtual or real, we still have control over ourselves. The day hasn't arrived yet, where machines have taken over & we have limited options. It isn't far, surely gonna happen. But till then, we are the masters of our own lives & we can maintain a healthy balance. Be the judge the next time when you are about to share or like something w/ the rest of the world :)

Take a look at the Socially Awkward Infographic. 

Image source: DigitalQuarters

Update: 26 Jan 13

If you are a developer, then I recommend you read Christian Grobmeier post 'The 10 rules of Zen programming' This should definitely help one focus & achieve more in the age of social distraction {Twitter, FB, Whatsapp, Emails, SMS, et al}

~ Little aren't little ~

I came across this quote about 'Little Things' just now & remembered the post I wrote earlier this week ;)

the little things? the little moments? they aren’t little

 - jon kabat zinn

~ Little things ~

If little things can bring change to someone's life, then continue to do more such deeds. Such an effort in itself is a BIG step in life. 

Few minutes ago my colleague gave an update regarding the boy whom we helped last year.

"Just wanted to let you all know that the boy whom we helped last year has recovered from his ailment. 

Another few more months of treatment and he will be back to normal life. 

He just celebrated his 6th year birthday last week. 

Much appreciated help from all of you and keep up the good work. The boy's parents wanted to express their heartfelt thanks to SourceN."

This news brought smile. Feel I should indulge in such random act of kindness :)

~ Mind at work ~

You know yourself best. So, figure out where you stand & where you want to be.

Make the necessary changes to your daily deeds to reach there.

~ 24 hours ~

' don’t say you don’t have enough time. you have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to helen keller, pasteur, michaelangelo, mother teresea, leonardo da vinci, thomas jefferson, and albert einstein.' - h. jackson brown, jr