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Hearsay

Humans have always gossiped. From time immemorial, we talk about things, that are really not important to us. This is the only way, human beings bond. However in today's context, this gossip turn into factual information, and if one probes leads to pure and fanatical hearsay.

For example, a few days ago, there were riots in Bangalore, due to Dr Rajkumar's death a lot of things said to each other during conversations was hearsay, like "Hey do you know that the riot crowds were brought in truckloads just to create riots","There is defnitely a hand of the opposition party to conduct these riots", "The police have stopped responding to the riot group in fear of their lives, bad policing".

All this got me thinking why hearsay prevails, here are a few reasons why I think, do add in more if you have any

a. Gossip is fun: Just because we can talk on any topic not being based on facts, we take for granted that whatever we say passes by without any factual backing to it.

b. Society of Trust:We are a socitey of blind trust, if an elderly person utters some words, then we accept it as though it must be true. None of us and sit back to think if they are correct. This is especially true in religious and superstitious matters.

c. Laziness:We are lazy to find the actual facts. We never out in efforts to test the waters.

d. Mass mania:Having a greater amount of group orientation than individuality, also to a certain extent attributes to accepting hearsay. This could be more to do so with peer pressure, that we belong to a group and the group thinks/acts in a certain way, so do I have to do it.

To a certain extent all the religious books are written on hearsay too, but I rather not discuss that here.

Hearsay is one of the most dangerous elements, trust in a person does not mean to say you have to believe everything he/she says, "The Waters MUST be tested".

hearsay,life,work

Barcamp history

Barcamp history was given by Chris and Tara, on how it started and where it is going. Interesting stuff, may Orielly rest in peace.Bangalore BarCamp

Pink Go Marketing-Riya.com(Tara)

How do you go marketing your concept of any idea, Tara from Riya dot com, gave in a wonderful idea of Pink GO marketing. An interesting way to look at community/amateurs, rather than just looking at the elite, when you are bootstrapping your company.BangaloreBarcamp

The Art of Scrum: Bangalore Barcamp

Bangalore barcamp started with a bang.Art of scrum was the first session, given by a Project manager in yahoo. An interesting session, can make a whole lot of changes in life...BarcampBangalore

Barcamp Bangalore Countdown Begins

Barcamp bangalore is just a few hours away. It is being held at Yahoo(Inner Ring Road Koramangala) Bangalore between 1000 to 1930 on 22.04.2006

I would be speaking on Mashups in the Enterprise and Sathish would be talking on a surprise topic. Will keep everybody posted on that. Till then.....
barcampbangalore,barcamp,bangalore

Cross-Pollination

I've always been wondering, how my German colleauges are so damn efficient.( By the way if I've not mentioned before I work for a spftware company, and I'm in the field of Forensic Accounting.)

One consistent reason I've seen is that they have a serious hobby, other than software writing. This OTHER is the most important term. Coding, software designing is fun, if you are in that field. Some of us, come back home and hack away at our own projects, that is good, however not tooo good either.

Having a hobby which is different, other than what you do at work really helps to cross-pollinate ideas.

So what is cross-pollinate ideas?

Most of us in India atleast stick to a single profession throughout our lives, you don't wake up one morning and decide that you have to buy a farm outside your city to grow vegetables to sell it off. Or learn/teach music. This kind of an alternate profession, would give insights and ideas, which could always be carried back to your first job, if you ever decide to get back, or the ideas from your earlier profession could be carried into your latest one.

Since not many of us do this, hobbies are the best ways to pollinate ideas from a different world. Pollination in the true sense is within a species of flowers only, however I'm saying think beyond. Learn something new, do something different, and carry that learning, that method, that lifestyle into your current job.

Some people do have hobbies, but never stick to it deep enough, that they can carry the ideas from there.

Trust me to survive in todays world, you have to constantly innovate. You can stay ahead in two ways, either be really fast, or change directions extremely fast. Now consider how many times can you be really fast(take Roger Bannister for eg.. once he broke the mile record, everybody started breaking it). Changing directions is far easier, to change directions, you have to have new ideas, and the best way to have new ideas is to learn from other professions,fields,hobbies ...

So hobby fsat, build models, get to being a photographer, run the marathon, cook something, learn tea/wine tasting( I mean seriously).....
change,innovation,life,philosophy,work,cross-pollination,hobby

The Ancient Roots of Today's Financial Tools : HBS Working Knowledge

From HBS Working Knowledge: The Ancient Roots of Today's Financial Tools: Take a bank check. Most people assume this financial convenience is fairly new, certainly not more than a century or two old.

But according to William Goetzmann, a visiting professor from Yale University who is fascinated by financial instruments as windows on technology and innovation, bankers' checks written in Greek on papyri appeared in ancient Egypt as far back as 250 B.C. Papyri preserved well in Egypt thanks to its arid climate, but Goetzmann thinks it's safe to say such checks changed hands throughout the Mediterranean world.

My Car Stereo was Stolen :-((

Early today morning, the car started to scream, since we live in a small locality, all the cars are parked on street sides.

The thief was extremely smart, he knew he could not force an entry into the car via the doors, as they are secured with the auto lock, he opened the gasket of the rear window and squeezed an entry into the car and ripped the cd player out.

Made a dash through the opened section and escaped.

Well am not too sad, it was an old player, which was virtually dead, was planning to change it anyway.

I wonder if there is any security system against opening the rear glass, if anybody does know, please do let me know about it.

Abhyasa and Vairagya - Part II

I discussed in Part I about the method Patanjali describes to study/learn. However learning is just one wing of the bird, without two, there is no flight. The second wing is Vairagya(Renunciation). Vairagya, here is not about leaving worldly pleasures and going to become an ascetic(this is the extreme for of Vairagya). It is all about leaving, expectations, feelings and any emotions, attached to your work/learning.

A lot has been written by business gurus in the recent years about Emotions and Work. However nobody has dared to define the thin line between the two, Patanjali has explored that. One must be attached to the learning/work, in such a deep way, that Emotions, must not be dettered for a long period of time, when an emotionally disturbing situation occurs. Vairagya is that. It is all about leaving everything else, money,emotions, all worldly things, when one is involved in learning. One must forget everything else for that infinte moment of, What am I going to benefit? What is my salary? What is my next position? How can I make people feel good about me? All one has to do is to direct these questions, towards the learning, rather than expend energy on such .

This has to deepened for deeper learning, if somebody decides to spend their time in the software industry writing business applications, then so it must be, one has to have a deep desire to do only that and nothing else. If something else suits you, then catch hold onto that path, but STICK THERE. Jumping companies, jumping fields, can always give growth money in a short term, but when it comes to life itself, think about what are you going to answer to your kids, programmed in Java/C.... Or you are an expert in writing software for Heart monitors, in financial applications, in search engines..

to get to this stage, you need both the wings, Abhyasa and Vairagya, to reach perffect balance and harmony. It is extremely difficult to manage both of these units, as the vagaries of the human mind, always push you towards materialistic pleasures and the easy paths of life. If one can master this then by what Patanjali says, you are closer to God(ie... your learning/work which becomes Godly to you). I guess that is why he says God is omnipresent and is everywhere in everybody, however only the true souls can see it. Yes only the true souls can see it, the true souls who have learnt and learnt to renounce things in life for a higher meaning and living.

Think about what should be written in your obituary about what you worked in your life, Java/C.... or a creator of a new breed of applications for the human advancement.Yoga,life,learning,work,entrepreneurship