Insight

No one told me that once you cross a threshold in life, you are seemingly left with a lot of time. More often than not, I find myself sitting in a corner looking at the mighty old pine oaks behind my home and wondering what the meaning of all of this is. Unsurprisingly, the trees stand stoically and refuse to even acknowledge the question. As I have gotten older, I have been keen to look to nature for patterns to calm an anxious mind. However absurd it may seem, there is a sense of calm when you look at the towering giants, or when you see the birds go about it on an early morning. I am fascinated by my own thoughts many times. On the outside at times, I would feel serene, yet the thoughts in my head would churn in turmoil. I used to think that this paradoxical narrative was unique to mankind, but then I realized thanks to a discussion with an AI agent that nature is not so different from us in that regard. The AI spoke of dualities, how opposing forces and narratives intertwine to cre...

I came across this research from Pew Center which showed that Asian households, had significant more wealth than other racial groups in America. While the article focuses on the external factors that contribute to the disparity in wealth it does not talk much about intrinsic factors at all. For example, many Asian families living in America live well within their means, many families do not have high debt and look to squeeze out maximum value out of their earnings. This post is a reflection on spending and financial thinking that probably is the single biggest factor in explaining this chart. When I first moved in to America, I realized the importance of Credit History. One needed to have “credit history” that shows the banks how good you are at returning money that you owe to qualify for things such as internet and phones. You are taught to get a credit card as soon as you come to the country so that you can build your record and establish yourself as a trustworthy person in the eyes...

2023: A Year of Highs, Lows, and Everything In Between 2023 has been a weird one. I think I was forced to contend with a little bit of everything this year – some spectacular moments and several underwhelming ones. If you asked me to rate it, I’d probably just say, it’s been alright. The Weight of Time For starters, I feel old. Not in the clichéd "older and wiser" sense, but genuinely tired. Most days, it felt like my battery was draining faster than it could recharge. For the first time, I can admit to experiencing both physical and mental wear. I had to unplug from social media and news more often just to regain a sense of control. I needed help navigating bouts of anxiety and self-doubt. Toxic workplace culture and grappling with solitude took a toll on my mental health. Oh, and a third round of COVID didn’t help. Thankfully, I recovered quickly, but the first half of the year felt overwhelmingly fragile. Small Steps, Big Impact Self-awareness has always been a strength of...

I used to watch a lot of cinema, back in the day. My flat mate had a keen eye for good quality cinema and would somehow find movies that struck a chord. We would watch movies from all over the world, English, Malayalam, Hindi, Tamil, Iranian, Korean, Russian, it did not matter. Every week we would go find a movie to watch. Cinema is extremely popular in my home country. Movie stars enjoy a god like status, and it would be an uphill battle for someone to get a ticket on the first week for a showing if the movie has a top star in it. Names like Rajnikanth, Shah Rukh Khan, Amitabh Bachan, invoke such a passionate response from the audience. When I was younger, I have gone to movies with my friends just because an actor was starring in the film. Nothing else mattered, films had a set template for the most part. It was always a case of good getting the better of evil, some romance and comedy strewn between the scenes to appease the familial crowd and some dance numbers to keep the young men...

I had watched this documentary on Netflix a couple of years ago called Wild Wild Country. For those of you who are not familiar, the show is about Osho and his followers (popularly known as Rajneeshees) and their attempts to transform a remote US town into a haven for themselves. I was extremely intrigued by the blind devotion shown by the members. I wanted to try and understand what drove them to make these choices in their lives. These people seemingly would fit the definition of the word cult like a glove. Oxford dictionary puts the meaning of the word cult as “a small group of people who had an excessive amount of admiration for a particular person and had practices that were regarded by others as strange or sinister”. How many times have we read reports of cult leaders being arrested for criminal behavior? Despite that people refuse to believe that their leader can do anything wrong. I am thinking about the riots in northern India that unfolded after the conviction and ...

Every year as the year draws to a close and I knock off the mandatory learning hours (KRA hours) I go through books, essays and talks around corporate leadership. As I delve into subjects like bias recognition, conflict and trust management, managing effective teams I cannot help draw parallels to what I see in my day-to-day life. Everybody I know always complains about the boss who does not know anything, about the bad team players and corporate talk has sowed a sense of distrust among the workers. If indeed, the answer was as clear as it is made to seem then why do we still have teams that struggle to work together? Work today doesn’t translate into a fixed 9-5 schedule, there is an expectation on employees to be agile, efficient and adapt quickly to ever changing needs. However, they are not given the liberty to do it on their terms. A great example of this phenomenon is the Work from home conundrum. Many managers see remote work as a major cause of drop in productivity, yet ma...

I have always been a logical and practical person. It is not that I am emotional, my ability to compartmentalize and go ahead is something that I am really proud of. But these days, I do find it a lot more difficult to block the emotions out. The news cycle is vicious and can take you on an emotional rollercoaster that never stops. Inflation is at a record high, many cannot afford health care, a global pandemic has taken more than 6 million lives and at the time of writing, the USA still averages 255 deaths a day. People are harassed based on their color, race or caste even today. School children are being massacred by mindless gunmen. Women’s rights are being challenged in several countries across the world. A mindless war is raging on while the rest of the world watches. Should you be concerned with worldly matters, or do you live to fight your problems? I cannot imagine the massive toll this has taken out on families that have been affected by the world events. Sure, I do have ...

I have worked as a professional for almost two decades now. While I have had the opportunity to work and learn from the best, it also has been a mind-numbing, nerve-wracking experience. At times, I feel that I am watching a satirical movie play out in which characters would pop out randomly and do their own thing. Every time I think that it is all going to come crashing down, a strange twist would bring an illusion of order before the show morphs onto something else. Chaos thrives behind the facade of order. The disconnect between the planners and the doers is all for real. The doers are forced to adjust and adapt to the dynamic conditions and deliver flawlessly. More often than not it leaves the ones doing the work worn out and exasperated. While the shining stories of success burn bright, the burning embers of the almost, near misses and failures lie smoldering below. It does raise some questions though. Is this what success look like? Is it the result of a series of planned outcome...

After the untimely death of Nehru in 1964, Lal Bahadur Shastri took over the reins as the prime minister of India. A Soft Spoken and mild mannered person, Shastri carried himself with a strong resolve. As the country teetered towards chaos at the death of Nehru, his leadership inspired a sense of calm. In his first broadcast to the country he implored the citizens to look forward and carry on the legacy of Nehru’s socialist reforms There comes a time in the life of every nation when it stands at the cross-roads of history and must choose which way to go. But for us, there need be no difficulty or hesitation, no looking to right or left. Our way is straight and clear—the building up of a socialist democracy at home with freedom and prosperity for all, and the maintenance of world peace and friendship with all nations. Shastri refused to align with any major power bloc and looked to promote India’s agrarian reforms. He enabled the White Revolution and raised the slogan “...