Actual Cost_Spending!

Putting A Price On Happiness from Group8A

Hacking The Brain-Part One

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1d6SvTattrj-8pMpT_9qL1sXT6A6biRyvaOVzTEHMUZI/viewform

Hacking the brain sleep exercise from Harsha Doddihal

Unequal Payment-Monkey's Are Smarter!

3 Secrets Of Highly Successful Graduates-Reid Hoffman

3-Secrets-of-Highly-Successful-Graduates from Anthony Huntley

Content Marketing-Improving Your Story Telling

50 Stats You Need to Know About Content Marketing from NewsCred

Pretensions-Musings

I am not what I appear to be
But I do not know
Who or What I am
Since I do not know who I am
I am what I appear to be

When Does Passion Become Work?

We all are passionate about something or the other in our life. The more time we spend in what excites us and keeps us passionate, the more happy and healthy we are.

The saying goes, “Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.” 
― Confucius

There are counter arguments for the same.If what we love becomes work, we do not love it any more. It reminds me of another saying, " When you marry your mistress a vacancy is created!"

Getting back to the main premise. We all should have our work aligned to our passion. Alternative is that the work should pay one sufficiently to engage in passion and allow for that leisure time.

But at times the best of passion can become drudgery or boring work. This especially happens when some one instructs you do what you are passionate about. Being told to do something is one of the ways in which the brain can switch off. The flow of things get hampered and there may be no progress in your passion/work!

This is where leaders and managers who excel bring the difference. The successful leader or manager gets the outcome without explicitly instructing for the same to be done. She/he makes the person own the project and responsible for the difference being made by the outcome. Passion is not allowed to fizzle out and there is purpose attached.

The challenge is the same for parents. How does one channelize the energy and interests of kids to activities which will make them proud in the long run? How do kids continue to enjoy without harming themselves or others?

Will end with a question which i am contemplating about.

What is progress?

The Story of Narcissus By Paulo Coelho

James Agee-Cotton Tenant, And Now Let Us Praise Famous Men

From James Agee...

"And since every possibility human life holds, or may be deprived of, of value, of wholeness, of richness, of joy, of dignity, depends all but entirely upon circumstances, the circumstances are proportionately worthy of the serious attention of anyone who dares to think of himself as a civilized human being. A civilization which for any reason puts a human life at a disadvantage; or a civilization which can exist only by putting human life at a disadvantage; is worthy neither of the name nor of continuance. And a human being whose life is nurtured in an advantage which has accrued from the disadvantage of other human beings, and who prefers that this should remain as it is, is a human being by definition only, having much more in common with the bedbug, the tapeworm, the cancer, and the scavengers of the deep sea."

http://www.bookforum.com/inprint/020_02/11650

http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2013/06/youre-a-parasite-the-stark-morals-of-james-agees-great-depression-essay/277013/

Will have to read both the books!

The Gift Of Doubt-Malcom Gladwell on Albert O Hirschman

1. So is ignorance an impediment to progress or a precondition for it?
2.The entrepreneur takes risks but does not see himself as a risk-taker, because he operates under the useful delusion that what he’s attempting is not risky.
3. Hamlet shouldn’t have been frozen by his doubts; he should have been freed by them.
4.“to come to an understanding of reality in portions, admitting that the angle may be subjective.”
5. “Why are bananas bent?”
6. “Exit, Voice, and Loyalty,”
7. “Proving Hamlet wrong” was about the importance of acting in the face of doubt—but also of acting in the face of fear. Voice was courage.


http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/books/2013/06/24/130624crbo_books_gladwell?currentPage=all

Mindtunes-A Track Created Only By Mind

Progress......

Unpluggd

WTF!

Business Insider

I Own The World

Xbox Kinect One Measuring Heart Rate

Exciting times, exciting research. The end applications can be unlimited. Watch the videos to understand better.

http://youtu.be/mWWjUTYseAM

Surviving Versus Living-Good, Bad & Evil.

Surviving Versus Living

We all strive to survive. The lucky ones get a job, meaningful work, somebody to love and be loved, a family and we carry on. We search for meaning in our activities and are happy when we find it. We have adapted to survive.

When confronted with uncomfortable situations we evaluate the cost to self, family and take a pragmatic decision most of the time. There are times when we flounder but we get back to living the median life. Few recent instances, why recent-instances throughout history make me wonder and question few basic assumptions. Are we born only to achieve our own salvation? This could be either in pursuit of knowledge, wealth, materialistic conquests or nirvana! We use family, friends, and colleagues to facilitate this journey of discovery-whichever path we take. Everyone helps the other in this journey.

The problem arises when we become greedy. But what does greedy mean? Consuming more than what one produces? It is not greed but the route we take to satisfy the greed which becomes dangerous and detrimental to self and others. We have uncanny ability to justify our actions. We may justify it in the name of larger good, good of the family, good of the organization, good of the country, good of the mankind.

To believe in the theory of efficient market is tempting. Market correction comes at a huge cost.  Is this an inevitable price to pay? As humans can’t we change? Can’t we up our ante and reduce the acceptance of collateral damage? Fight the battle of corruption, ineptitude, mediocre living.

Let me give examples for this rambling.

1.       Pharmaceutical industry has done great good to human beings. Many killer diseases are maimed with help of potent drugs. But there is a dark side also. Data manipulation, shoddy research, publication bias, unethical marketing. Ranbaxy-an Indian drug company paid fines for criminal charges to FDA. The list goes deeper. Last year, five pharmaceutical companies agreed to pay nearly $5.5 billion to resolve U.S. Department of Justice allegations of fraudulent marketing practices, including the promotion of medicines for uses that were not approved by the Food and Drug Administration. If you take last 10 years, 30 years, the numbers will be staggering. Do not wish to be a cynic. Basically believe in the goodness of human beings but at individual level we are gullible and malleable. If you want to read more....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_pharmaceutical_settlements

http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikakelton/2012/05/10/more-pharma-companies-to-join-the-dishonor-roll-pay-billions-for-fraud-following-abbotts-settlement/

http://projects.propublica.org/graphics/bigpharma

http://www.wanttoknow.info/pharmaceuticalcorruptionmediaarticles

2.       Banks and innovation in commerce, economics has been the backbone of all development. The emergence of capital and deployment of the same to the entrepreneurs unleashed the unlimited potential of all fields. For good or bad, the financial world and its machinations are intrinsically woven into each and everyone’s life. But again we are at the mercy of unseen, uncontrollable forces. Manipulations, greed and superior sense of belief in finance can create havoc and cause damage to human lives more than spurious drugs, war or any imaginable terror.  Financial terror is the most potent of all. It has the best brains at its disposal for this task. Apologize for the generalization, there are good guys and therefore we exist!!

a.       Bank fines top $10 billion last year. http://money.cnn.com/2012/12/28/news/companies/bank-fines/index.html

b.      10 Biggest Banking Scandals of 2012. http://www.forbes.com/sites/halahtouryalai/2012/12/27/10-biggest-banking-scandals-of-2012/

c.       Everything is Rigged: The Biggest Price Fixing Scandal Ever

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/everything-is-rigged-the-biggest-financial-scandal-yet-20130425

d.      An interesting blog read about banking fraud.

http://criminalbankingmonopoly.wordpress.com/tag/banking-fraud/

3.       We all have to live. To live we need food, water, and other basic amenities. Our ability to survive has improved with aid of all the tools we have created. Organizations –large, medium and small are all required. They employ us, sell goods to us and allow the world to keep moving. We are all happy to be in this age of consumerism. We will find solution to all our problems. But there are some dark corners on which we need to shed light once in a while.

Apple ,Google, Amazon legally did not pay taxes to tune of trillion dollars/Euros exploiting the laws. People may justify saying that they create more employment than government and that there is nothing wrong in them maximizing their skills. They are doing a favor to shareholders and future consumers. Larger good! But there are many who break the rules, disregard the norms and cause damage.

a.       Tech companies which have paid fines. http://www.siliconindia.com/news/technology/9-Tech-Companies-Who-Paid-Biggest-Fines-In-History-nid-144122-cid-2.html

b.      Fines paid by General Electric (GE) for various reasons. http://multinationalmonitor.org/mm2001/01july-august/julyaug01corp4.html

http://www.crocodyl.org/wiki/general_electric

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/05/business/05electric.html?_r=0

c.       Siemens paid a huge fine in 2008 but has reformed after that. http://blogs.wsj.com/riskandcompliance/2013/04/01/qa-peter-solmssen-of-siemens/

d.      Walmart for its own internal problems. http://blogs.wsj.com/riskandcompliance/2013/04/01/qa-peter-solmssen-of-siemens/

The outsourcing problems as the bad manufacturing and living conditions are somewhere else. This can also be justified saying that they at least got employment and there were dollars saved. The tragedy that happened in garment factory located in Bangladesh. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/walmart-bangladesh-factory-fire

e.      We owe a lot to oil companies. From fuel to plastics to pharmaceuticals we are all dependent on them. But….Gulf Of Mexico disaster. http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/feb/21/bp-oil-spill-gulf-mexico-fines

http://www.propublica.org/blog/item/oil-companies-pay-a-pittance-in-penalties-to-offshore-drilling-regulator

Probably I can compile a bigger list. Name even more reputed and collapsed companies, individuals, countries which have broken the trust placed in them. Talk about genocide, mafia, drugs, human trafficking etc.

So what point am I making? Whistleblowers are good. Each one of us needs to start living. Becoming active in areas which we understand and where we can create awareness. Our perceptions and beliefs may be wrong. We may have been fooled by data and information but we need to ask questions. We need to live and just not survive.

 Let us learn to grow meaningfully, sustainably, and cohesively. Growth need not come at a cost which is painful. We need to realign our vision, mission.

The larger good triumphs but it needs soldiers.

Ranbaxy and Greed

Trust a basic essential thing can get eroded and undermine the best of relationship. We function in a society based on the premise of trust.

We trust our government, our doctors, organizations and regulators.

Ranbaxy a pharmaceutical company producing generics has consistently produced drugs with fabricated data and put at risk many lives.

It is still in business under new owner Daiichi Sankyo. The old owners and executives have remained untouched.

When one can get away with fraud, crime, it affects everyone.

Oh! Sorry if i have been ambiguous. Emotions have made me angry and sick! Few things which Ranbaxy has done:

"Last week, Ranbaxy Pharma, which is now owned by Japan's Diiachi Sankyo, pleaded guilty to criminal charges of manufacturing and distributing certain adulterated drugs manufactured at its two Indian facilities of Paonta Sahib and Dewas, while agreeing to a $500-millon settlement."

Disgusting!

If you want to read more...

http://features.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2013/05/15/ranbaxy-fraud-lipitor/

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/healthcare/biotech/pharmaceuticals/ranbaxy-episode-to-hit-drugs-carrying-india-label-tough-to-secure-new-contracts/articleshow/20184181.cms

The Dentist Of Jaipur

Brace yourself!!

Paintings By My Uncle

You Can Influence Life-Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs-Act

A short powerful clip!

I Wish-A Constant Struggle

I wish i listen to you
I wish i lighten your burden
I wish i look into your eyes and make you feel better

I wish my awareness guides me to act the way i want
I wish i act with compassion and love
I wish i  be your friend

I wish there are no tears in your eyes
I wish i do not make you cry
I wish i wipe your tears

I wish i do not give you advice
I wish i keep my heart and brain open for you
I wish i did not judge you

I wish i spoke the words you wanted to hear
I wish i could remain silent when you desired
I wish i agreed with you always

I wish i never feel insulted by whatever you say or do
I wish i see the love in your eyes even when you hate me
I wish i feel the pain and agony which you experience

I wish i do not raise my voice
I wish i do not get angry and look at you the way i look
I wish i am better


I wish i do not think of myself as wise
I wish i do not read much and think that i am intelligent
I wish i do not constantly struggle with myself

I wish i spend the right time with you for you to be happy
I wish i spend/give the right amount of money for you to love me
I wish i depart at the right moment

Thirst That Is Never Quenched

Right from birth I have been thirsty and sweaty
A drink here and a drink there
Quenches the thirst but
Only for a short time

The thirst knew no bound during growing years
They said it is the growth and the play
Play I did, and it quenched the thirst but
Only for a short time

The elixir and honey did give me heavenly sights
And made me forget all about the thirst
But too much sweetness and salt
Made me thirsty more than ever

I thought it is the summer
Dehydrating me and making me bonkers
But the rainy, winter and spring were no better
Making me thirsty more than ever

As i look around I know better
The whole world is thirsty like never before
But it has always been like this
Each age feeling it is thirstier than the other

The dying, wilting tree with no chance of bearing fruits or leaves
Is the thirstiest of all, demanding and sucking even the morning dew
The mocking death is mocked and amazed
At the deep roots nourished by unquenchable thirst

The Plateau Effect

Like the way they are promoting and marketing their book!

Each slide one can ponder, wonder and analyze.

The Plateau Effect: Why People Get Stuck...and How to Break Through from ThePlateauEffect

You Never Know When It Will Rain

There was a time when
The gathering of dense clouds
Used to enhance the anticipation
That it will rain and one will get drenched

Days have changed
Dense clouds gather to misled
When as if it would rain any moment
A clear sky emerges

There are days when the sun is bright and shining
With the least hope of rain
And there is a downpour
Quenching the thirst - only for few hours

There are days when
There is lightning and thunderstorm
You don't know what to expect
And if it rains, it is one of the best

There is fun in playing
Before the rain
During rain and
After rain, which now is unpredictable

There is future  in tilling the soil
Before the rain
And tending after the rain
In hope of a bounty, which now may be a futile effort

Some blame the climate
Calling it climate change and global warming
May be it is just feminism, freedom and ..
Melting the ice

Parallel Universe

Parallel Universe

I know i was losing you
When i looked but could not look into your eyes
I also knew i was losing myself

I started to search and am still searching
Here and there and everywhere
Occasionally to be fooled


You stood before me
While i searched my cell phone, kindle and iPod
And also searched  my "laptop"

I found you on
Facebook, twitter and google
Thought i was happy

I dwell in you
And keep searching for you
Betting reality is virtual

You know the truth
That I am lost here and there
In Parallel Universe.......

A Beautiful Girl Asking-What Am I Doing Wrong?

Post from Criaglist but copied from the blog of Adam Nash!

What am I doing wrong?

Okay, I’m tired of beating around the bush. I’m a beautiful
(spectacularly beautiful) 25 year old girl. I’m articulate and classy.
I’m not from New York. I’m looking to get married to a guy who makes at least half a million a year. I know how that sounds, but keep in mind that a million a year is middle class in New York City, so I don’t think I’m overreaching at all.

Are there any guys who make 500K or more on this board? Any wives? Could you send me some tips? I dated a business man who makes average around 200 – 250. But that’s where I seem to hit a roadblock. 250,000 won’t get me to central park west. I know a woman in my yoga class who was married to an investment banker and lives in Tribeca, and she’s not as pretty as I am, nor is she a great genius. So what is she doing right? How do I get to her level?

Here are my questions specifically:

- Where do you single rich men hang out? Give me specifics- bars, restaurants, gyms

-What are you looking for in a mate? Be honest guys, you won’t hurt my feelings

-Is there an age range I should be targeting (I’m 25)?

- Why are some of the women living lavish lifestyles on the upper east side so plain? I’ve seen really ‘plain jane’ boring types who have nothing to offer married to incredibly wealthy guys. I’ve seen drop dead gorgeous girls in singles bars in the east village. What’s the story there?

- Jobs I should look out for? Everyone knows – lawyer, investment
banker, doctor. How much do those guys really make? And where do they hang out? Where do the hedge fund guys hang out?

- How you decide marriage vs. just a girlfriend? I am looking for
MARRIAGE ONLY

Please hold your insults – I’m putting myself out there in an honest
way. Most beautiful women are superficial; at least I’m being up front about it. I wouldn’t be searching for these kind of guys if I wasn’t able to match them – in looks, culture, sophistication, and keeping a nice home and hearth.

it’s NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests
PostingID: 432279810

Many responded but this reply was.....

THE ANSWER
Dear Pers-431649184:

I read your posting with great interest and have thought meaningfully about your dilemma. I offer the following analysis of your predicament.

Firstly, I’m not wasting your time, I qualify as a guy who fits your
bill; that is I make more than $500K per year. That said here’s how I see it.

Your offer, from the prospective of a guy like me, is plain and simple a crappy business deal. Here’s why. Cutting through all the B.S., what you suggest is a simple trade: you bring your looks to the party and I bring my money. Fine, simple. But here’s the rub, your looks will fade and my money will likely continue into perpetuity…in fact, it is very likely that my income increases but it is an absolute certainty that you won’t be getting any more beautiful!

So, in economic terms you are a depreciating asset and I am an earning asset. Not only are you a depreciating asset, your depreciation accelerates! Let me explain, you’re 25 now and will likely stay pretty hot for the next 5 years, but less so each year. Then the fade begins in earnest. By 35 stick a fork in you!

So in Wall Street terms, we would call you a trading position, not a buy and hold…hence the rub…marriage. It doesn’t make good business sense to “buy you” (which is what you’re asking) so I’d rather lease. In case you think I’m being cruel, I would say the following. If my money were to go away, so would you, so when your beauty fades I need an out. It’s as simple as that. So a deal that makes sense is dating, not marriage.

Separately, I was taught early in my career about efficient markets. So, I wonder why a girl as “articulate, classy and spectacularly beautiful” as you has been unable to find your sugar daddy. I find it hard to believe that if you are as gorgeous as you say you are that the $500K hasn’t found you, if not only for a tryout.

By the way, you could always find a way to make your own money and then we wouldn’t need to have this difficult conversation.

With all that said, I must say you’re going about it the right way. Classic “pump and dump.”

I hope this is helpful, and if you want to enter into some sort of lease, let me know.

To the gentleman who called me a depreciating asset
Date: 2007-10-11, 8:23AM EDT

Dear Sir,

I must confess that I was somewhat taken aback upon reading your email. Indeed, it has taken some time for me to sufficiently recuperate from my surprise. Lest your confidence quickly inflate for little reason (as we know is the predisposition for Wall St. types), allow me to hasten to reassure you that the source of my surprise was neither your candor nor the accuracy of your perception. Indeed, it is your “claimed” success in light of your poor grasp of economics which has me baffled. If the standards required to meet with financial success on Wall St. have sunk so low, perhaps I should indeed “make my own money”, except for the fact that the effort/reward ratio is far too high for my liking – especially when so many of your ilk have displayed a far more cogent grasp of market realities than you have.

By now you are likely scratching your ever-vanishing hairline in confusion, so allow me to elaborate, dear man. To build some credibility I will tell you a bit more about yourself. Though you did not mention the details of your occupation, it is clear that you are an investment banker and not a trader, as any good trader would understand that human courtships are based upon a semi-efficient open market, and not an investment banking cartel. However, your inability to grasp the realities of the dating market is not surprising, given that you have successfully employed the tools of collusion and market manipulation rather that true acumen in your supposed wealth generation.

If your grasp of finance were not a minority partner with your ego, you would realize that the “outflows” associated with my depreciating “assets” are quite certain, and therefore subject to a low discount rate when determining their present value. In addition, though your concept of economics evidentially failed to move past the 1950s, advancement in plastic surgery is not subject to the same limitation. Thus, with some additional capital expenditure, the overall lifetime of “outflows” generated by these assets is greatly increased. Sad that Ashton Kutcher has demonstrated understanding of the female asset class which you, in all of your financial “wisdom”, have not.

You, on the other hand, are, given the uncertainty of the Wall St. job market, more of an inflation-indexed junk bond with an underwater nested call option. Though you may argue that you are more of an equity investment, my monetary minimums required from you do not change, and if you are unable to pay them, I will liquidate you without the benefit of a chapter 11, just as you would me.

Because your outflows are so much more uncertain with respect to mine, I require additional compensation in the form of a underwater nested call option on your future assets. I say underwater because, even taking into account the value of your junk bond coupon payment to me, the value of my “outflow” is in excess of the market price of your equity (which is quite low due to its riskiness associated with your poor grasp of finance and my existing claim upon your junk bond coupon).

I must thank you though for raising the question, despite the reputation cost of subjecting your weak logic to such widespread scrutiny. This took either considerable courage or ignorance on your part- and we’ll give you the benefit of doubt, just this once. My current boyfriend (a trader who lives in Central Park West, of course) and I thoroughly enjoyed discussing your response and we wish you the best of luck in your unhappy pursuit of that elusive market inefficiency.

Don't mix societal norms with market norms!

Link To Adam Nash Post-

http://blog.adamnash.com/2007/10/05/craigslist-what-am-i-doing-wrong/

This insight comes from taking the class of A Beginner's Guide To Irrational Behavior by Dan Ariely

http://danariely.com/

Book-Predictably Irrational-http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002C949KE?ie=UTF8&tag=danari-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B002C949KE.

Getting High-Delusional

I am sitting on a horse
A winning horse
Each time i win
I am high on cocaine
Guess the horse also feeds on it
I crave for it
Day and night
When i don't get it
i am lost and angry
Thinking only of my next dose and kick
Frantically searching ways and means of finding it
All the people around me
Feed me with it
They applaud and cheer for every win i make
I like them around me.
My high, my cocaine
Gets better with parasites around me
What is success if there aren't any
Parasites to suck the blood
Making you feel less guilty
About the selfishness you harbor
Once in a while you do feel remorse and guilt, you desparately want to get rid of it
You wash the cocaine with alcohol
And blow the guilt in flames
You fool yourself into thinking that you love them
Wife, kids, parents and all
You think you have compassion but you know it is only passion-raw, crude, selfish, apologetic
But you know
You are just addicted to the cocaine
Addiction makes me delusional
Delusion of making this world a better place.
Delusion of loving human kind or humans
Delusion of being a good guy.
I need to get high, i need my addiction, i need my delusions
For i live on them.

ATM-Cash Withdrawal

What happens when the ATM machine has counted the notes and is about to dispense and the electricity supply goes of?

I had my lesson today in a hard way. Had gone to my son's school to pay the fees. Outside the school there is a SBI ATM. I waited for my turn, entered my card, punched my pin. After the usual preliminary details entered the amount and as the machine was counting the money the electricity supply went off! Apparently it was running on UPS and the UPS had come to its end. To my luck it shut down at the moment when it was to dispense the amount.

I got the message on my cell phone saying that the amount is debited from my account.Now, I was not sure whether the amount will come out after the electricity supply comes back. I call the SBI ATM help line as it is their ATM. The person at the other end listens to the details. Since I had used my HDFC card he says I need to contact HDFC. I want him to clarify whether the cash will come out of the machine after electricity comes back. He is not sure.

Using the internet on the mobile dig out the HDFC phone banking number. After the IVRS system I finally reach a human voice. It was fast but for me it seemed long as i was frustrated and irritated. This guy is good. He says the amount will not be dispensed. If for any reason more than 3 minutes elapses and the amount is not dispensed, it will not be dispensed. But he adds, since it is a SBI ATM he cannot guarantee. He also suggested that this would not have been the case if i would have accessed HDFC ATM!

During all this tamasha, the guard who is supposed to man the ATM is missing. Both HDFC and SBI persons inquired about him.

Now i am left wondering what to do. I decided to wait for the electricity to come back. Sat there like the security guard and was informing all the people who came there that the ATM is not working.

A new SBI branch is due to get open just oppose the ATM. I thought if there is a responsible person or guard there, I will go and clarify. There was a lady who appeared to be an officer. She was pretty sure that the amount will come out. When I mentioned about the 3 minute rule, she said that it was a previous rule and RBI has reversed that.

I waited outside the ATM for three and half hours. Finally the electricity cam back. The machine turned on. The booting of the computer happened and the screen showed the windows logo. The machine again made the sound of counting. I waited with bated breath.

The money was not dispensed. Only an empty slip cam from the receipt area. I was not sure whether i was happy, angry or sad.

I called the HDFC again and the same person came on call. I thanked him and said that he was right. He asked me further details and also confirmed that the amount was reversed to my account.

A very costly learning. When the electricity goes off when the amount is about to be dispensed, the cash will not be dispensed when the machine restarts.

Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood

Have read the excellent book by Stephen Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. It is a life long art and science of employing this learning. I fail sometimes and succeed very few times! The personal story will involve the struggle between Parkinson suffering dad and my mom who has severe osteoarthritis and pain because of it. They have the epic battle of trying to understand or misunderstand. Will delve on it some other day.

Communication is the most important skill. Unfortunately we are not taught how to listen. We are lucky if we would have done listening on couple of occasions!

We always feel that how easy it would be if near and dear ones would understand me. Typically it goes like this:

Wish my parents understood me...

Wish my husband/wife understood me...

Wish my friends understood me....

Wish my colleagues understood me....

Wish my children understood me...

Solution:

Excerpt: "Because you so often listen autobiographically, you tend to respond in one of four ways:

Evaluating:	You judge and then either agree or disagree.
Probing:	You ask questions from your own frame of reference.
Advising:	You give counsel, advice, and solutions to problems.
Interpreting:	You analyze others' motives and behaviors based on your own experiences." Reference: 1. https://www.stephencovey.com/7habits/7habits-habit5.php                 2. http://www.leaderu.com/cl-institute/habits/habit5.html

Habits #4 & #5 from Alwyn Lau

Coursera Project By Coursera Class Members-Kudos

The Doctor

The Doctor by Sir Luke Fildes.

Photo courtesy-  www.tate.org

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2249807/

Procrastination

This is an essay which i wrote for some assignment.

"I would like to address the universal problem of procrastination  This behavioral problem rooted so deeply in human nature can be credited to human intelligence. Our limited analytically brain cannot comprehend the consequences of procrastination till it has caused enough damage to make us act in a fire fighting mode. We have a local proverb, "When the beard catches fire, one starts digging the well". Let me highlight the impact of procrastination.

1. People decide to quit tobacco or alcohol only to procrastinate it for the next day!

2.Students procrastinate completing their assignments till the last day. This was highlighted by Dan in the lecture.

3. Governments procrastinate investments in basic research or projects which will not yield results in their lifetime. 

4. Individuals procrastinate exercising or eating healthy.

Procrastination is a problem of large magnitude affecting individuals, organizations, nations.

When we try to understand the reasons for procrastination we realize that it is more to do with results in the distant future. Erudition and analysis may make one aware of the fact that smoking/tobacco is bad for health. Not investing in education or for a country in research and development can result in poorer economic growth in future. Not exercising can have detrimental health consequences.

But this realization does not result in change of behavior. People procrastinate to do the right thing.

Why?

One of the main reason is that they cannot completely fathom the consequences. Observation bias tricks them into believing that they can get away by procrastination  Let me explain, you see 70 or 80 year old guy smoking. The brain interprets that smoking is not harmful. All the people ho have died of cancer or COPD are not there to create that visual impression. So the realization which had come from reading takes a backseat. 

Same is true with exercise or nations. The fact that few nations are able to get away with financial bailout will impact the policies of other nations.

Research on procrastination has looked into the psychology behind it. Dan Ariely has also researched the topic.

Few salient features from research:

1. Dan's research focuses on self-imposed deadlines, cost of them, timing or spacing of deadlines and externally imposed deadlines. Externally imposed deadlines work the best followed by self-imposed well spaced deadlines. 

http://people.duke.edu/~dandan/Papers/PI/deadlines.pdf

2. Psychological parameters, avoidance behavior, negative self-image, impulsiveness  loss aversion (Prospect theory, Kahnemann and Tversky) have all been linked to the behavior of procrastination. 

http://www1.fee.uva.nl/pp/bin/refereedjournalpublication2030fulltext.pdf

In future we may understand better about the genetics, dopamine pathway, serotonin pathway involvement in procrastination.

One more aspect of the behavior of procrastination is to accept the consequences of procrastination as the stress of overcoming it is more costlier for brain than accepting the negative consequence of procrastination.

So what solution can be proposed?

We know that our behavior is shaped by incentives and punishments. If the incentives are in distant future which the brain has difficulty in imagining. Also it has difficulty imagining the positive experience of overcoming procrastination.

The other aspect is constantly seeing individuals escaping punishment or adverse consequences of procrastination.

So the concept of positive paternalism steps in!

Organizations, governments can penalize those who smoke by deducting a significant part of their salary and locking it in a investment account. This can either change the behavior or the corpus will be useful for his health crisis!

Positive discrimination, rewarding healthy individuals with financial, vacation rewards. This should be based on outcomes. An employee can have diabetes and there may be hundred diabetics, but the one who exercises and has glucose levels in normal range for three months gets quarterly incentive. 

Peer pressure is a strong force for behavioral changes. Rewarding groups or people with positive behaviors and punishing detrimental behavior has potential to change behavior. 

Multifactorial causative agents can mislead the brain in understanding the importance/contribution of single agent. Videos of patients who have suffered from lung cancer, COPD needs to be displayed in smoking rooms if they still exist! This may sound dictatorial but necessary considering human fallibility in modifying behavior.

Governments which invest in infrastructure, research and development, increase GDP spending on health and education are rewarded by World Bank or G7 nations. A economically stronger, healthy, educated Asia and Africa will revive economy of the world. Penalizing nations which do not spend on education and health will compel them to change behavior. The penalty should hurt the political fortunes of the ruling party thereby inducing change of behavior.

I conclude by stressing that procrastination is a big challenge all around us. It can be tackled by employing means and mechanisms of rewarding individuals who have overcome procrastination openly at home, office, city and national level. Equally important is punishing or dis-incentivizing poor performers."

Plastic And Health

It is the age of plastic. We find and use plastic everywhere. They have made certain things hygienic, for example disposable spoons and plates. They  in innumerable ways touch our life from bags, toys, cellular phones, walls, water bottles and so on....

The chemicals in plastic do get released and have an impact on health. The health of present and future generation is continuously at risk. Judicious and safe use of plastic is need of the hour.

One important tip is do not consume anything stored in plastic which has been exposed to heat for a long time. Plastics leech chemicals when the temperature increases. So water stored in water bottles for a long period are no no. Packing food in plastic bags or containers is hazardous. There may not be any immediate effect but consider that from the time we are in our mother's womb to adulthood we are continuously exposed to chemicals. Prudent to avoid at least in the growing years when our organs are far more susceptible to damage.

Animal models and computational models give us the clue about risk of plastics. Prudence will be to take heed and not wait to take action till concrete evidence of harm is established.
Few highlights:

1. They release estrogenic chemicals. Estrogen is the female hormone. It can have adverse endocrine and other effects.

2. Phthalates in plastic can increase obesity and insulin resistance (promote risk of diabetes).

3. Plastic fumes are injurious to lungs.

Ubiquitous presence of plastics need to challenged by judicious usage.

Reduced usage and better disposal of plastic needs attention from everyone.

Plastic industry should accelerate technology of plastic disposal.

References:

1. Read to understand different types of plastic. http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/04/11/plastic-use.aspx

2. An excellent review
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2873021/

Animal models and computational models give us the clue about risk of plastics. Prudence will be to take heed and not wait to take action till concrete evidence of harm is established.

Missing You

Day or night
There is no respite
From your thought

Moments spent loving
Are not forgiving
Creating new thought

Even when we fought
There was no love lost
Fueling passions sought

This temporary absence
Does not make sense
Creating vacuum to be fought

Waiting for you tonight
As darkness awaits light
To end my drought

Missing you my life
For you are my darling wife
Always filling my thoughts.......

Honesty And Age

5 years back few things which i noticed and reminiscing about the same made me to create a hypothesis.
The hypothesis is that as we age we have tendency to become dishonest.
To be dishonest and corrupt you also need a position of power. So between a young Prime Minister/President and old Prime Minister/President, the elderly person is going to be more dishonest.

When a person is young he has lot to gain by being honest. The returns from being honest diminish as one ages. This can also be influenced by other factors like society, culture, behavior of peers, punishment for being dishonest etc.

But i believe that a strong force is age!! Also risk of cancer increases as we age!!

Police Brutality

In one of my previous post had mentioned about the officers who were killed for doing their job, you can read it here.

Today I look at the other end. I am disturbed, aghast at the misuse of power. Power corrupts. It probably also numbs our empathy. Look at the video below to understand what i am talking about...

Where does such brutality come from? What happens to our brain under pressure? What happens to all the rational thoughts when confronted? 

Have heard and read about more brutal and heinous acts by people in power. There is no justification whatsoever for such brutal acts. 

Empathy gets killed as one tastes power for a long period. 

If i have to feel empathy for the police force what would it take? Are they frustrated to such extent in their job? Do they feel powerless and helpless most of the time as they have to deal with criminals and corrupt politicians? 

Guess they are under great stress for not being able to do their duty. All police officers probably join to help the society. To get rid of the ills and keep crime away. But soon they realize the difference between what they aspired to do and what they can probably do. Few try to be upright and fight the criminalization of the system but end up as martyrs. Few smart ones probably balance the act. I am conjuring all this !!

But the majority are underpaid, frustrated and hate themselves for not being true to their dreams. They loathe themselves for being corrupt. This frustration is let out on the hapless beings like women and children.

Let me reiterate, whatever may be the reason, they do not have the right to trample the rights of another human being. Brutality of any degree is unacceptable from anybody on anybody.

How do we build a society which feels and shows compassion? How do we ensure empathy is converted into concrete actions?

How do we educate ourselves and our children that under pressure, under attack we are not to hurt the helpless, weak. If we have to win battles, it is to be against the strong. 

Tree And Its Virtues-Ah!

There was a television soap opera in Kannada called Mukta Mukta. The title song of this was melodious and very well written. You can watch/hear the song below.

Some part of the lyrics praise the tree for its virtue. The meaning of those few lines is, "The tree which eats mud/soil and gives fruits is liberated, free or has attained moksha".

I seek apologies if my translation do not do justice or match the meaning intended by the poet.

One day when this song was being telecasted, being a believer in selfish evolutionary biology i offered my views to my mother. 

" The tree does not nourish itself or grow big to help others. It does so because it is in its nature. Its roots penetrate deep into the heart of the earth, extract water and nutrients and with help of sunlight grows. It bears fruits because it wants to propagate itself. The seeds of the fruits are its way of ensuring its survival beyond what nature intends for that single tree. The trunk, the branches grow stronger to sustain the vagaries of nature and to bear more fruits in the years to come.

In this thought process I do not want to deny that humans and animals do benefit from tree in multiple ways. But they are purely incidental. We have evolved to take benefits of trees as much as possible. In forests where there may be no human beings, they still grow taller, wider and bear all kinds of fruits. They are not concerned or bothered about who eats them.

The other aspect is grass does not grow under large magnificent trees.This is because sunlight does not reach the earth where there is thick foliage preventing the grass to grow. It is a different matter that the grass is smarter and grows in areas where it can!

A tree which decides not to be selfish and allow grass and other plants to grow will not do justice to itself, its fruits or others. A selfish tree which grows and produces more fruits and wood, does maximum benefit, intended or unintended. The gardener, nature, knows how to prune it.

Different fruits, flowers are all beautiful, wonderful and enticing because they serve nature. They blossom to sustain nature and enhance the beauty of nature."

We need to be true to our nature. We need to be strong to be beautiful. We need to understand our passion and live true to it. We need to know the talent we have and nurture the same. We need an ecosystem which encourages us to give our best. We need an ecosystem which identifies and exploits the best within us. The fruits which are byproducts will automatically liberate!! 

And remember at times the gardener is pruning us for our own good.

You Are Loved. You Are Important !

How important am I? Is this life worth living? Do i make a difference to anybody? Am I loved? What role do i play in this large universe? It will not make a difference whether i exist or not.

Guess such thoughts come to human beings. Feelings of rejection. Actions or words by near and dear ones which make one feel discarded, abandoned, lost. Human contact, acceptance by others is an integral desire and need.

Nature probably does not offer this luxury of thinking to plants, trees, lake, river or ocean.

A friend of mine when passing through a bad phase asked me questions which reflected above thoughts. It is always easy to preach, advice but sometimes still one goes ahead and does that much to the discomfort and pain to the aggrieved person.
I tried to make my point by an analogue.

If each drop of water questions the importance of its existence and ceases to exist will there be a river or ocean. Each drop of water with its uniqueness merges with other drops equally unique to make ocean. There would be no waves kissing earth if each drop protested. The phenomenal strength, relentlessness, depth, mystery, treasure, life of ocean exists because of each drop of water. Even though each drop of water may not realize this significance but each contribute to it.
When they depart from the ocean because of evaporation as individual molecules they may have existential questions. But this journey, the reunion to form clouds is all to sustain and nurture life. If not for this journey there would be no clouds, no rain. Without each drop of rain there would be no life.
The rivers, lakes and ponds embrace each drop of rain water and welcome them to their fold. Each drop which plants and trees drink through their roots makes the journey of each drop a pilgrimage. A journey complete and fulfilling at each step of the journey.

We are all drops of water. We forget but each one of us is special,  important and loved. There are times when we fail to notice this, be aware of this significance.

Celebrate life. You are loved. You are important. You make a tremendous difference.