KrazyAnand

I've been extremely lazy for the last few months and hiding under the time-tested excuse of being busy. I wonder where the inspiration to share my thoughts with the world (well, whatever part of the world that actually reads my blog!) and pouring my heart out has disappeared.

 

A close friend forwarded this poem and it hit home so I thought I'll indulge in some plagiarism and post it on my blog. If nothing else, hopefully it would inspire me to come back and update this blog with something original. Till then, read this slowly and let it sink in...

 

Silver-Lined Heart

By Taylor Mali

 I’m for reckless abandon
and spontaneous celebrations of nothing at all,
like the twin flutes I kept in the trunk of my car
in a box labeled Emergency Champagne Glasses!

Raise an unexpected glass to long, cold winters
and sweet hot summers and the beautiful confusion of the times in between.
To the unexpected drenching rain that leaves you soaking
wet and smiling breathless;
“We danced in the garden in torn sheets in the rain,”
we were christened in the sanctity of the sprinkler,
can’t you hear it singing out its Hallelujah?

Here’s to the soul-expanding power
of the simply beautiful.

See, things you hate, things you despise,
multinational corporations and lies that politicians tell,
injustices that make you mad as hell,
that’s all well and good.
And as far as writing poems goes,
I guess you should.
It just might be a poem that gets Mumia released,
brings an end to terrorism or peace in the middle east.

But as far as what soothes me, what inspires and moves me,
honesty behooves me to tell you your rage doesn’t move me.
See, like the darkest of clouds my heart has a silver lining,
which does not hearken to the loudest whining,
but beats and stirs and grows ever more
when I learn of the things you’re actually for.

That’s why I’m for best friends, long drives, and smiles,
nothing but the sound of thinking for miles.
For the unconditional love of dogs:
may we learn the lessons of their love by heart.
For therapy when you need it,
and poetry when you need it.
And the wisdom to know the difference.

The solution to every problem usually involves some kind of liquid,
even if it’s only Emergency Champagne
or running through the sprinkler.
Can’t you hear it calling you?

I’m for crushes not acted upon, for admiration from afar,
for the delicate and the resilient and the fragile human heart,
may it always heal stronger than it was before.
For walks in the woods, and for the woods themselves,
by which I mean the trees. Definitely for the trees.
Window seats, and locally brewed beer,
and love letters written by hand with fountain pens:
I’m for all of these.

I’m for evolution more than revolution
unless you’re offering some kind of solution.

I’m for the courage it takes to volunteer, to say “yes,” “I believe,” and “I will.”
For the bright side, the glass half full, the silver lining,
and the optimists who consider darkness just a different kind of shining.

So don’t waste my time and your curses on verses
about what you are against, despise, and abhor.
Tell me what inspires you, what fulfills and fires you,
put your precious pen to paper and tell me what you’re for!

 

 

We had the ship party for the beta release of my product in a train! Spirit of Washington is a dinner train that runs between Renton and Columbia Winery. On a good summer evening, the views are gorgeous ... of course, the wine & company on the train limit the time you can spend staring out of the window.

 

It was a fun evening out with Marc (the other half of my team in Redmond), Kory (marketing), Jon (the do-it-all guy on the team), Sundar (my boss), Hari (his boss ) and the content team (Jamie, Jeanie, Deb & Kathy). The wine was quite good and hence I don't remember much of that evening to blog about it. Luckily the camera didn't get high so I still have some memories to share ... check them out in the photo gallery.

 

i've been slow at updating the blog & uploading the pics ... i finally managed to add some pics from the spain visit last year (most pics are of the gorgeous unfinished church ... sagrada familia) and also from the more recent trip to amsterdam & belgium.

 

i have so much to write about all these places ... i hope i get to it some time soon. till then, i'll let the pictures do the talking.

 

peace!

 

i guess that title doesn't make much sense but that is what i kept thinking about yesterday on my long flight from orlando to seattle ...

 

i just finished reading the book "How Doctors Think" by Jerome Groopman ... a book recommended during my recent course at Kellogg Business school on marketing & strategy (what's the relation? read on...). i would highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to go a few levels deeper in understanding how our thought & response process works. my prof, the Mohanbir Sawhney, recommended this as a reading to understand the complex mysteries of human mind which need to be unravled before creating the messaging & value proposition for our customers (as the perceived value of a good/service can be quite different than the proposed value).

 

the title of the book threw me off 'cos doctors are not really my customers! however, after flipping through 320 pages of intense medical jargon, the overall theme emerged on its own ... our thinking process is modeled over a long period of time and a lot of times at subconcious level without much conscious control or modeling. we develop patterns based on our past experiences and when we encounter a new situation, our brain works at a magical speed to do pattern recognition and come up with the closest matching response. this defines how we react to a new situation.

 

if you've read the book "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell (author of The Tipping Point) - another highly recommended reading, you would relate to this theory. this book doesn't get in to the details of how our mind works as much and malcolm definitely doesn't use the medical profession as an example to explain his theory but the set of examples across the two books converge at the same point - what we call our "gut thinking", "sixth sense", "intuition" is nothing more than our mind relying on existing patterns to decipher a new situation. these patterns are formed over a period of time by reptitive action or examples - folks working in the area of artificial intelligence will understand this as "related data sets" that help form "decision trees" that aid in "pattern matching". it is quite scary to think how simple it might be for machines one day to do something similar ... but i'll leave that discussion for another post.

 

coming back to the two books ... how doctors think and Blink, the key difference is that while Malcolm recommends relying on this process to "think without really thinking", Jerome on the other hand warns against this. Jerome talks about the pitfalls of following this approach (it happens automatically) as it sterotypes patients and doesn't push you to think beyond what appears to be the obvious. in the medical profession, this can have serious implications and hence the argument does hold some water but what about other professions? am i being dangerously smart when i know too much about a topic that i don't need to think much about a problem to come up with an answer? or am i rightfully "blinking" to solve problems in the most intuitive way which gives me an advantage over others who are not experts in my area?

 

i'm not sure if i have an answer but i guess if i keep thinking and discussing about how doctors blink, my mind will form enough patterns that the answer will just come to me :). one thing is for sure though - being aware of how the underlying plumbing of our mind & thought process works definitely helps us consciously decide on whether we are blinking and when we are actually thinking. what we do after that is a choice we have to make.

 

a recent conversation with some friends made me think about the beaten-to-death topic - what is an arranged marriage? how can someone have an arranged marriage? do arranged marriages exist in the 21st century? anyone from India who has discussed the topic of marriage with their friends would know what i'm talking about.

 

it is very difficult for some of my friends & colleagues (especially in US) to understand the concept of arranged marriages - how can you get married to someone your parents introduce you to? how can you get married to someone you haven't been going around with for a while? how can you get married to someone you are not in love with? how can you get introduced to someone to get married???

 

most of my friends have had "love" marriages and then there are some who have had "arranged" marriages - if i didn't tell you who had which, you wouldn't be able to make out just by meeting them. there are cases of happy and not-so-happy marriages, regardless of how the guy n gal met. there are cases when a guy n gal met on their own and "fell in love" and decided to get married in a few weeks/months. then there are those that were introduced by their parents and "fell in love" and decided to get married in a few weeks. does it then matter how you got introduced? can't parents be like any other friends who introduce you to cool (well almost) people to meet and hook up with? i agree that when parents introduce you to someone, there are extra levels of screening much like your good friends would do when they introduce you to new friends ... ok ok i might be pushing it a little too far with this ... but you get the point.

 

gone are the days (at least in urban india) where your parents decide who you get married to and you just show up for your wedding. you get to meet your "would be" better-half and decide if he/she is the "one". the time window to make up your mind is usually smaller than what you would have if you were meeting people on your own without family pressure but apart from that, is the process really all that different? if "love at first sight" is true, then falling in love is time-independent process. and if it is not true, then you really need to spend lot and lots of quality time with someone to "fall" in love anyway. the concept of love is overrated anyway but i'll keep that discussion for my next post...

 

so, the million dollar question is - is there a difference between "love" marriages and "arranged" marriages? have modern-day arranged marriages just morphed in to "arranged-love" marriages with better pre-screening? Remember - Match.com has a paid feature for doing that ... your parents just do it for free ... and arguably do a better job at it. <flame mails can be sent to idontcare@gmail.com>

 

after much contemplation and after long discussions with the wise, the answer appeared to me. the much anticipated answer and one that is contrary to my arguments above, is - yes, there is a difference! confused? read on...

 

at least in the context of indian marriages, there is a big difference between love and arranged marriages - if you can blame your parents for your marriage, it is an arranged marriage. if not, then you had a love marriage and you gotta take the blame for it!  

 

this definition seems to work quite well for most people i know - what do YOU think?

 

 

p.s. as this has become an FAQ - NO, i'm not getting in to a love or an arranged marriage anytime soon.

Some things you appreciate only once you've experienced them yourself. The movie Lost in Translation was one such experience for me ... my recent visit to Japan made me realize the importance of a common language like English!

 

I sometimes get in to arguments of benefits of the British rule in India and usually get beaten up quite bad. However, one thing I still stand by is the penetration of English in to Indian culture because of English colonization of India. To avoid making this post too controversial, I would say that if you plan to visit Japan, do have a translation guide handy! I was lucky to have someone translate for me at work (except that I had to speak really really slow which being Indian is anything but natural!) but I was on my own after work and someone knowledge of Japanese would have definitely helped!

 

Apart from the slight language barrier, Tokyo is a rocking place to be! An amazing & sometimes disturbing juxtaposition of historical culture & techie & ultra-modern lifestyle. During the day, Japan feels super busy, formal, traditional and business like where every second matters. The Tokyo nightlife (Roppongi & Shinjuku) completely resets this image with its all night parties, super modern outlook & activities (you can guess what i'm talking about!).

 

Apart from their deeply mysterious & well preserved culture, one thing I would definitely go back there for is FOOD! From the freshest (& scary) Sushi/Sashimi options to the best tempuras & of course, Sake!

 

As this was mostly a business trip, I didn't get to see places around Tokyo but that gives me another reason to go back there:). I've added a few pics from this trip for you to experience some of this but as I said before, you have to be there to truly appreciate it!

... ok this one is not about people relationships but about my relationship with london... i just love london for all it has to offer and hate it for the price you have to pay for the same!

 

i was down in UK for an offsite with my EMEA sales team and some customer visits. i got a weekend in between the two to spend by myself. in a week i covered Reading, Greater London, Oxford and Witney (close to Oxford)... i loved every moment of it except for the moments i had to sign the credit card slips :-)

 

i also got an opportunity to catch up with Mukta, a friend from undergrad school ... she showed me around oxford with a pretty good narration of the historical tidbits which make oxford what it is. mukta, in case you read this - thank you! i had a great time.

 

i'll let the pictures do the talking instead of boring you with my recap... enjoy!