Patience – an underrated virtue

Patience – Wikipedia defines it as the ’state of endurance under difficult circumstances, which can mean persevering in the face of delay or provocation without becoming annoyed or upset; or exhibiting forbearance when under strain, especially when face with long-term difficulties. It is also used to refer to the character trait of being steadfast.’

Big words, wouldn’t you say, especially given the day and age in which we live in where we are used to so much speed in decision-making, when we have information at our fingertips, when we have access to pretty much the entire world provided we have the necessary phone numbers stored somewhere. At times, when I look at the lives we lead from a detached viewpoint, my mind shudders to think of how our parents, grandparents, and people before them lived without having access to probably even 10-15% of the amount of information we have. Just imagine if we had to wait for a telegram from Mumbai (or Bombay as it was known then) to know if a nephew has come into the world, or an old grand-uncle passed away from it. Today, the ubiquitous mobile phone with its SMSes delivers messages to your entire phonebook in a matter of a few minutes (except for pockets in Malaysian Township, especially if you are using Vodafone services). Today, the concept of having to wait for days or even hours for important information is something that we are simply not used to, and probably at some level, cannot afford to be patient about. However, this article was not about how information technology has changed our lives, it is about how as a species, we are losing our patience with patience as a concept.

Another interesting article on Wikihow goes on to list out steps as to how we can handle impatience -

1- Try to figure out why you are in such a hurry
2- Pinpoint the triggers that often make you lose your patience
3- Overcome bouts of impatience
4- Look for patterns
5- Let go if you can’t do anything about the impatience trigger
6- Remind yourself that things take time
7- Expect the unexpected
8- Give yourself a break
9- Remember what matters
10- Always remember that you will eventually get what you want

All good points given above, all extremely valid points, but extremely difficult to put into practice by most of us. All said and done, even if we follow 5 of the points above, am quite sure that we will all be more patient people.

Another interesting scientific perspective mentioned in the Wikipedia article states that patience is studied as a decision-making problem, involving the choice of either a small reward in a short span of time, or a more valuable reward after a long period of time. Interestingly, I have always believed in the saying ‘short-term gains long-term pains and long-term gains short-term pains‘ with having a decided preference for short-term pains for long-term gains. Somewhere I seem to be having the right approach to being patient.

The article also talks about the various religious perspectives to patience and how Judaism, Christianity and Islam identify it as being one of the most important virtues that humans should possess. I personally am a big fan of the Tamil saying which when loosely translated means “the ones who are patient shall rule the world” (poruthaar bhoomi aalzhwaar). A wonderful emotion to talk about. And before I forget, thank you for patiently reading through this post until this point

Cheers……Mahabore

Suryagrahanam – Solar Eclipse

Today is a partial Solar Eclipse in India and as is the norm with all South Indian (and more so TamBrahm) households, my mother had to call up the Missus and tell her to ensure that I don’t engage in any of the following activities -

1 – Consume any liquid or solid food between 11.00 AM and 3.00 PM
2 – Venture outdoors during this time
3 – Dare to look at the sky or anything that resembles the sun, just in case I broke Rule 2
4 – Think any untrue, unholy or vulgar thoughts
5 – Relieve myself in the rest-room or elsewhere

Ok, ok, I made up the last 2 rules myself, but then you get the drift, don’t you. Anytime either the sun, the moon or the earth get in each other’s way, all Palakkad Iyer Maamis around the world get all hyper and start screaming “Dei kondhai, aathukku velila pogadhe, ummachi kanna kothidum” (loosely translated : Kiddo, don’t go outdoors or God will pluck your eyes out). Wonder when they’ll realize that we don’t buy those stories anymore.

Scientifically, the only danger a solar eclipse poses is to people who are actually foolish enough to see the damn sun when the eclipse is either beginning or ending. And this is primarily because of the severe differences in the brightness, heat, etc on earth during these two instances. Don’t believe me, read this NASA Article on their website.

One nice story related to Solar Eclipse is part of our oldest mega-serial, the Mahabharatha. It involves Jayadrata, Duryodhana’s brother-in-law, who was ‘mottai adichu, karum-pulli‘fied (head shaved and face blackened) by the Pandavas, which obviously mightily pissed him off. He then went and did what all wronged men did in those days, penance. He was then accorded the standard boon under the then prevalent Rewards & Recognition program – a boon of his choice. His boon was that ‘on a day of his choosing, he would stand equal to all the Pandavas (with the exception of Arjuna, who was an ‘icon’ as per the R&R system)’. Given that Krishna was the master manipulator and strategist on the Pandava side, he managed to create the illusion of a Solar Eclipse on ‘that fateful day’ which brings Jayadrata in front of Arjuna, and when the eclipse ends, Arjuna manages to kill him. End of story.

Now given the above story, I seriously don’t see any connection as to why exactly a solar eclipse is harmful to a normal person like you and me (assuming that we don’t have similar boons of being invincible on particular days), but this being said, all Palakkad Maamis and Paatis act like we are the Jayadratas of the world and that we have chosen the same day as the solar eclipse to be invincible. Go figure. Maami, enna manichchu kongo, aana idhu enakku koncham kooda pooriyalai!!! (loose translation :  Maami, forgive me,but I really don’t understand this at all!!!)

Read more interesting solar eclipse related stories here, the Wikipedia entry on solar eclipses here and the NASA Article here, makes for some interesting reading.

Am sure readers of this blog have solar eclipse stories of their own, feel free to share them in the comments section.

Cheers………Mahabore

The truth about lies

Let’s accept it, all of us have lied at some time in our lives or the other, some of us less than others, but for sure all of us have used lies to hide our incompetence, forgetfulness, and inconsistencies or for reasons best known to us. So while I was giving it some serious thought as to why exactly we lie and had some time to kill, I came across this wonderful Wikipedia article on lies (yes, can you believe that, Wikipedia actually has an entire page on lies). And while this article goes on to talk about the various types of lies and lying, the following are a few notable ones which either I have used in the past or have known others to use-

Big lie – This is the toughest one to pull off, and requires more than a bit of practice, patience and the correct circumstances to pull off in life. Would like to think that I have pretty much mastered this art myself.

Bluffing – The act of pretending to have an ability or talent which one really doesn’t possess. Most of us would surely have used this in a job interview or when bragging with friends.

Barefaced lie – A lie which is just out there waiting to be caught. I mostly tend to use this as more of a humor mechanism rather than as a serious technique to lie.

Emergency lie – Most of us use this kind of lie in serious  medical emergencies either with the patient himself/herself, or with friends/relatives of the person in trouble. This is mostly used to avoid sudden panic reactions from the other parties.

Exaggeration – Once again, one of my all time favorites, although I mostly use it for effect more than anything else. To me, “came crashing down like a load of bricks” sounds better than “fell down”, doesn’t it??

Fabrication – A figment of imagination, I don’t think I use this too often, although I wouldn’t completely rule out the possibility

Noble lie – A lie which when told would keep an otherwise chaotic situation completely calm. A stand-out example of this would be when Pt Nehru made a press statement stating that the Mahatma’s assassin was a Hindu without actually confirming whether it was the truth or not. At that point of time, this was probably the most apt usage of a Noble Lie to avoid any untoward incidents in the country.

As I have grown older, I have realized that while small harmless lies are just that small and harmless, it is a fallacy to believe that one could live a life using lies alone. The fact remains that to hide one lie, we all have to resort to a series of inter-related lies and that starts off a vicious cycle of lies. In fact, I have heard of instances where people get so caught up in a deadly web of lies that after a point in time, they start believing in these lies themselves and cannot figure out when and where the truth stopped.

As for me, while most of my lying is limited to stupid lies to hide my small weaknesses and stupid inconsistencies, I would really like to believe that by and large I have avoided the use of lying to get my way done (and no, this statement by itself is not a lie!!!). I guess I believe that if the truth cannot be told, then it’s better to shut up rather than use lies to avoid a situation. In the long run, the truth will always prevail, and that’s just the way it is.

Cheers…………Mahabore

MBA Graduates = Good leaders ??? Not quite

As an MBA Graduate from a IIM, I feel that I am somewhat qualified to be penning down this post regarding what it takes for an MBA Graduate to be a successful leader. Please note that this post is probably not universal in its appeal and probably does not hold good for all organizations or all streams of work, and this post needs to be taken in the context of an MBA Graduate trying to lead teams in an IT organization in India only.

Choice of IT careers by MBA Graduates

In my observation, there are 2-3 primary reasons why MBA Graduates select IT as a career choice out of a B-School. The money offered by IT Companies in India to MBA Grads are probably second only to Strategic Consulting companies and Investment Banks, more so in the Tier II B-Schools where most of the big guns like the McKinseys, BCGs, TISS don’t grace their presence during Placement Weeks. However, in most of these places, you will find Indian IT giants such as Infosys, TCS, Wipro, MPhasis, Cognizant, etc plying their wares. And because these companies want the brightest and the best candidates from the batch, they ‘up’ the stakes by offering reasonably high CTCs.

Utilization of MBA Graduates by IT companies

However, the flipside of most of these companies is that most of them recruit the MBA recruits purely for their ‘marketing’ and ‘presentation’ skills. While these companies are packed to the hilt with technologically sound resources who will take care of deliveries, where they lack is in their ability to market themselves effectively to their current and prospective customers. Therefore, most of these MBA Grads are placed in ‘Business Development’ roles, such as pre-sales, customer relationship management, where a large part of their role involves in understanding the capabilities of their organization, understanding the requirements and the gaps in the current customer IT organization and in creating effective cross-selling opportunities. While some MBA grads are aware of the way they are going to be used by IT companies, most of them fall for the bait of a ‘Business Analyst’ role and the good money that is offered on campus.

The honest truth of the matter is that while doing our MBAs, we all fall for the trap wherein we are led to believe that we are good enough to change the world for good, and add a lot of value to corporate India, however, outside the B School campus most of us don’t realize that corporate India is a big bad jungle and that it takes much much more than just a B School degree and good intentions to try and change the way things are done.

Impatience of MBA Graduates

And yet another tenet of any organization around the world remains that all of us need to ‘fight in the trenches’ before we can become the ‘generals’. And that my MBA Graduate friends, is where almost all of us are found lacking. We fail to understand that it takes us time to understand the grass-root level working of any company before we can start moving up corporate ladders, and reach positions from where we can actually start ‘adding value’ to our companies and the corporate world at large.

Team Dynamics

Coming back to leadership, the biggest drawback that most MBA grads in India have is the ability to handle team dynamics. While most of us are more than willing to push ourselves to the limit to get things done, overachieve and add value to our teams, we fail to carry our teams with us. We fail to appreciate the differences within our teams, we fail to understand the exact requirements that our companies have of us, we fail to see the long-term vision of the organizations that we work for, and more importantly we fail to understand how we need to align our short-term and long-term goals with that of the teams and organizations that we all work for. Instead, all of us are in a hurry to become CIOs, CFOs and CTOs of the companies that we work for, without clearly understanding any of the above.

Individualism vs Collectivism

One of the most famous sayings goes, “A team is only as good as its weakest link”, and this is something that most of us leaders conveniently overlook. We need to clearly identify and tackle these weakest links in our teams to ensure that we carry our teams to greater heights. However, in our quest for individual glory, and given the fact that we live in a country where ‘win-lose’ is the only option (as against ‘win-win’), most of us tend to try and achieve individual glory versus team victories.

Summary

Albeit this post is mostly a rant about some of my observations of MBA Grads in IT companies, some of the points I tried to make are –

• Select IT as a career choice only if you are really interested in technology, don’t do it for the money alone
• Remember, every organization takes time to understand your capabilities, therefore, give the company and yourself time to understand how you fit into the whole scheme of things
• Yes, you are an awesome individual contributor, but leading teams is a completely different ball game, therefore, be patient and learn as much as you can during the first few years
• Remember you are only as good as the weakest member of your teams

Divine Birth – A Short Story by the Missus

Smitha had an appointment with a well known psychiatrist, Dr.Linda that evening. She knew that she should retain control of her mind and try to forget all her fears and hopelessness. After all, failure was the stepping stone to success, or so they said. The doctor’s office was well furnished, with nice wooden cabinets, clean carpets and rosewood chairs. A good-looking receptionist enquired Smitha regarding her appointment. She duly showed her file, and was immediately escorted to the doctor’s room.

Dr. Linda was a tall, thin woman who wore very little makeup except for her light colored lipstick. She had a necklace made of thick blue beads, which reminded Smitha about the gypsy women back in India. She had a pleasant amicable face, and looking at her Smitha was reassured that her problems would be resolved. This was her second visit to the doctor, the first one being an introductory kind of session where the discussion revolved around her childhood, parents and marriage. Each session with the doctor was for two hours and cost a considerable fee. Today the doctor invited Smitha to sit in the black couch opposite to her desk. Smitha was only too eager to talk. Raghav had been a wonderful husband so far, supporting her during this mental crisis. It was high time that all of her fears were put to rest.

The doctor enquired about Smitha’s health. She asked Smitha to talk about her baby. Smitha started off –

“We had planned for this baby some time ago, however it took almost a year for me to get pregnant. When I finally found out that I was pregnant, was overjoyed and started planning for my little one’s life. I used to listen to Classical Music to soothe my mind and started yoga to relax my muscles during that time. We attended birth classes together. I collected short stories which I could recite to him when he’s old enough to listen, knit tiny sweaters for my new born, and also decorated his cot. I used to talk to my little one, and Raghav would always make fun of me. Raghav and me enthusiastically browsed the internet for baby names, the best kind of baby oils and powders. It was like a dream come true, a life growing inside me who would eventually call me “Mom”.

She wiped a tear and continued, “When it was finally time, I started having contractions and got admitted to the hospital. The nurse frequently checked upon me and then after 5 hours of labor, decided that now was the time. Raghav was also allowed into the Delivery Room. The baby did come out, but was born with four hands, holding a conch-shell, a club, a disc and a lotus flower, in each hand. There wasn’t even a drop of blood on him. The Indian nurse in the room, knelt down and started praying. The Doctor looked at the child with awe. Raghav fainted on the spot.” Smitha was fervently crying now. “I had so many dreams, I cannot look at him as my child, instead I have to respect Him and take care of Him, till He leaves me for a higher purpose. Why would God do this to me doctor”?

The doctor said, “Are you talking about Lord Krishna of Hindu mythology, I mean the way he was born? Am afraid am not that familiar with the Hindu Gods.”

Smitha said, “Yes! Yes!  I fear Him, I cannot even look at Him, let alone hold Him. Whenever I try to forget this fact and look and Him with motherly affection, He reminds me of all my sins and how unworthy I am to be His mother.”

Smitha woke up with a start, she had been dreaming. She was sweating profusely all over. She felt her stomach, yes, the baby was still there. She resolved to read less of epics like the Bhagvad Gita and stop watching TV serials like “Sree Krishna Mahatyam (The Greatness of Sri Krishna)” for the time being. After all, “Too much of nectar also becomes poison”.

Rahu Kaalam – Short story by the Missus

Mrs. Dhanalakshmi (Dhanam) was getting ready for her nephew’s wedding. Everyone was involved in their last minute dressing, with glittering gold ornaments, jasmine flowers and sandals. Her husband Natarajan had dressed up in a silk jubba and a pristine white veshti with golden silk border. Her two daughters had also come home for the wedding. Gayathri, the elder one was wearing an ordinary salwar kameez, which stood out compared to the glossy dressing of others. She was staring at something outside the window and seemed like she was thinking about something which Dhanam couldn’t quite understand. It was like she was staring at the deep blue sky, something which seemed like eternity, her eyes not focusing on the object but rather on the nothingness beyond.

She had been quite out of color lately, was always either reading a book or keeping to herself in her room. She wore dull clothes, never took interest in anything other than reading. Dhanam thought perhaps she was still trying to get over the tragic death of her husband Sridhar. Even Dhanam took some time to get over this shocker in Gayathri’s life. He had died four months ago because of a freak accident at the age of 27. However, life had to go on. Her younger daughter Lavanya was also trying to come to terms with this tragedy in the family.

All of them were now dressed and ready to leave for the wedding venue. They decided to while away time for the next half an hour, so that they could go out after the “inauspicious time”, rahu kaalam. Lavanya started the conversation with Gayathri, “I saw Maya who had come to visit my showroom. You never told us that Sridhar had committed suicide, instead you told he had an accident! Why did you hide it from us? Aren’t we family? Aren’t we supposed to know the truth? “. Dhanam couldn’t believe her ears. How come Gayathri could have hidden such a truth? “My God, is that true?”she exclaimed.

Gayathri remained gloom and yet staring at something like she was going to turn it to ashes. She told, “I thought its better if you guys didn’t know the truth”. Both Lavanya and Amma exchanged uneasy looks.

She continued, “Do you remember during ponnu paakkal when we were discussing of how to make him like me? I went to the extent of pretending to be a homely-girl-who-can-be-a-good-wife. We made extensive preparations to make Sridhar’s family like ours. However, Sridhar just wanted to get married. He didn’t care about how the girl looked like or what she did. He was desperate, just like we were, and we fell for the bait. After the wedding, in Singapore I met with his colleagues and friends. They all had a strange consoling expression on their faces. In fact I was told that Sridhar might act as if he’s not interested in me, so I was told to play the same game with him. I started thinking about how Sridhar behaved towards me; he always treated me like a goddess. On our first night together, he told how he doesn’t like making love to women without actually knowing them. I agreed with him immediately. I thought how nice it was of him to consider the predicament of a woman in such a situation. But that was just the beginning. He used to do most of his daily chores all by himself and it was almost like I was a guest in his place. He arranged for a taxi to take me around Singapore, we even did the Big Bus Tour of the city.

It continued for a month. He never used to talk openly to me, never take me outside; never even acted as if I was his wife. I was losing hope with each passing day, every day I would yearn for him to come and talk to me openly about what he feels, even put a lot of effort to make myself look attractive to him, but all my efforts were in vain. Maybe he was in love before? Probably he can’t forget that woman. Maybe he has an affair! These were some of the thoughts running in my mind.

Thankfully after six months of searching I got a job. It was around that time Ashok came to Singapore. Amma, do you remember you calling me and telling me that Ashok is coming to Singapore? I was happy that finally I will have someone to talk to. Ashok came, and Sridhar immediately took a liking to him, I was overjoyed that finally something good is happening in my life. I thought through Ashok I could let Sridhar know about how I feel, maybe Ashok was a key to open Sridhar’s heart to mine. After a few days, Ashok and Sridhar started going out drinking and to the pubs. Ashok used to come home and stay for hours. They used to take leave from office and go for guys-only-biking outings. This happened for eight odd months. By now I was convinced that there was more to this than meets the eye. One of these days I decided to confront them to see what they were up to. The possibilities were endless and there were just too many thoughts going through my mind.

That night believing that I had gone to a friend’s place, Sridhar and Ashok were having dinner at my apartment. At the 50th floor, I decided to confront them. As soon as I opened the terrace door, I got the shock of my life. Sridhar was shocked to see me there, having caught him doing what he was doing; he staggered behind fell off the terrace. I couldn’t see what he looked like from 50 floors above. Ashok and I rushed to the ground floor and there he was lying in a pool of blood.

How could I have been so blind to the fact that Sridhar was gay?”

Everyone was quiet in the room.

It was Ashok whose wedding the whole family was ready to attend. Dhanam’s eyes lingered on the clock and it was then that she noticed that Rahu Kaalam had just then started.

Bhagvad Gita – my take

LEB’s comment asking for my views on the Bhagvad Gita brought my fingers to the keyboard on one of the favorite topics that the Missus and me have been discussing for the past few days now, the Bhagvad Gita and its teachings. To give a little background, I possess a copy of AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada’s (founder of ISKCON) version of the Bhagvad Gita which was sold to me by one of the European ISKCON monks in a train from Bangalore to Hyderabad, and the Missus had just about started reading it.

In my opinion, and based on my limited understanding of the Gita, the message was quite simple and clear, ‘Do your duty without expecting any fruitful results, the results will find a way of presenting themselves to you’ or something to that effect. Some more lines which I remember from the Gita are ‘I am the source of all spiritual and material things, I am the Supreme power from whom everything is created’, but then this second line I remember primarily because of the “Vishwa Swaroopam” (Supreme All-Being incarnation) that Krishna takes somewhere in the middle of his discourse to Arjuna on the battlefield. But somehow this line didn’t quite stick to my mind like the first one regarding selfless devotion to duty did, and that’s probably why to me the Gita always stood as an allegory for selfless performance of duty more than anything else.

The Missus after reading some verses from the version of the book that I had seemed reasonably miffed that it seemed more like ISKCON propoganda more than an honest re-telling of the epic itself. She tells me that it seems more like a recruitment pitch than a true understanding of the epic, and after having a look at some of the interpretations of the verses, I seem to agree.

Now I am not an expert on this subject, nor do I profess even a broad understanding of the epic itself, but the way I see it and considering the circumstances in which the Gita was narrated, I lean more towards the selflessness angle, and the ‘perform your duties in this world without any attachments’ interpretation of the Gita. Any readers with more insights are more than welcome to post your comments, makes for an interesting topic to talk about in my opinion.

Cheers……..Jam

The Missus’ favorites…

Four places I have lived

1) Thrissur

2) Chennai – Our only summer vacation plans used to visit our grandparents, so I used to be pretty excited about going to Chennai. Got my first job there too

3) London – I absolutely love the tube. Lived there for three months

4) Hyderabad

Four TV Shows

1) Friends

2) The wonder years – I remember how my sis and bro used to play Kevin and Jack Arnold at home.

3) Everybody loves Raymond

4) Ripley’s believe it or not

Four places I’ve been on vacation

1) Chennai

2) Kodaikanal

3) London

4) Mysore

Four favorite food items

1) Curd rice and kadu maangai

2) Fish fry

3) Thogayal podi

4) Pappadam

Four websites i visit daily

1) Facebook

2) Orkut

Nothing else

Four places I’d rather be

1) Chennai/Bangalore

2) Singapore

3) Dubai

Cant think of a fourth

Four things that i hope to do before I die

1) Self realization, learn and implement bhagavat gita principles in my life

2) Try not to think too much

3) African safari,and do some more travelling

4) Write a novel

Four novels you wish you were reading for the first time

1) Seventh Secret – Irving Wallace

2) The Day of the Jackal – Fredrick Forsyth

3) The Matarese Circle – Robert Ludlum

4) Harry Potter, the whole series

Four movies that I can watch over and over again

1) Philadelphia

2) New Delhi ( Malayalam)

3) Naaduvazhikal (Malayalam)

4) Jurassic park -the first one

Four people I want to tag

None

A few of my favorite things…

Well, looks like the season of tagging and being tagged is here again on the blogosphere (or did it never end). In any case, picking up the tag from AJCL, here goes my list of favorites in groups of 4 -

Four places I have lived

Bangalore - Was, is and will always remain home for me. Born, brought up and spent the first 24 yrs of my life here, so there’s no way any other city would even come close to it in terms of closeness to my heart.
Indore - Went there as part of my Post Graduation. Another city which really helped me get in touch with the real me, with what I wanted to do with myself in life. The 22 odd months spent there will indelibly be etched into my memory and psyche.
Hyderabad - This city gave me (and continues to give me) more than enough opportunities to prove my professional capabilities. Although I hate what the rest of the city has to offer, will forever remain as the city where I started off proving myself professionally.
Charlotte, North Carolina – Although I have spent only 4 weeks here, this city was yet another place where people respect me for what I bring to the table in terms of Relationship Management and Team Leadership. So this remains another favorite place.

Four TV Shows that I love(d) to watch

FRIENDS - Without an iota of a doubt my all time fave show. I can relate individual traits in myself to each and every character in this show. While I am biased towards Joey, somehow I find myself relating more to Chandler Bing.
Knight Rider and Street Hawk – Back in the Doordarshan days, these serials introduced me to the wonderful world of superheros and secret identities. At times I even wanted to get into crime-fighting because of these shows.
The Amazing Race – This to date remains my all time fave reality show. The tasks designed, the locations chosen, the profiles of the contestants, all of these make this show more and more interesting as the seasons go on.
WWE Shows – The World Wrestling Entertainment to me is what mega serials are to Maamis, and cricket is to Appa. This is my daily dose of nonsense masala which I can enjoy without exercising my brains too much. Shawn Michaels and the Undertaker were, are and will probably remain role models in terms of longevity in public memory.

Four places that I have been on vacation

London - The trip to the Ol’ Blighty during the last week of Dec 2008 will remain etched in my memory for more than one reason. This was the first real trip with the Missus, plus it was during the Christmas Day and Boxing Day weekend, which made it all the more hectic and an experience worth enjoying.
Palakkad - Have been to this place on and off almost once a year for the past 20 odd years. Lots of childhood memories associated with this good ol’ town from where I hail.
Chennai - The presence of my closest cousin here till 2004 almost made it mandatory that I would make a trip to this city every once in a while. Although it’s been more than 5 odd years now, memories of this place still stay with me.
Coorg - Man, that one official trip from office to Coorg is something that still sticks out in my memory. The fun we had, the weather, the gang of guys, the soccer, the drinking, all of this makes Coorg one of my fave holiday destinations.

Four favorite food items

Regular kozhakattais – Or modaks as our Hindi friends would like it to be called. The fact that something so awesome can be made with rice powder, jaggery and coconuts still baffles me. I would gobble down at least 12 kozhakattais right now if I had access to them.
Semia Payasam – There’s no better dessert than well made semia payasam with the correct proportion of vermicelli, sugar and milk in it. Add some cashew nuts (roasted in ghee) and some elaichi powder and you have made my day.
Avial - Now humans still have to come up with a dish which beats the Avial to mix with good ol’ white rice and eat. The fact that this dish has almost all my favorite veggies in it adds the icing on the cake, so to speak.
Filter Kaapi – I simply have to have my one cuppa filter kaapi sometime in the day. This drink has the ability to change my mood, reduce tensions, kill my headaches, all at the same time instantaneously.

Four websites I visit daily

A journey called life – Now this daily dose of mothering incidents and advice from a good friend is what keeps me grounded, and makes me look forward to parenting at some point of time in the future.
Facebook - This social networking tool has moved beyond just a means of keeping in touch with friends from IIM Indore. Some of the apps here, and the groups here can keep me occupied for more than just a few hours. Sigh, I wish I had more time to spend on Facebook than I already do.
Wikipedia - I almost always find something or the other which is interesting enough here. The fact that this is a treasure trove of information apart, this site has the amazing ability to keep pulling people back into its fold almost everyday.
Twitter - Have started tweeting more seriously and more regularly recently. Follow me – jairammohan

Four places I’d rather be

Although I have always maintained that I’d rather be me than anybody or anywhere else, for the purposes of this tag, here goes -
Bangalore - For almost everything associated with this city, good and bad.
London - For the sheer awesomeness of the public transport facilities provided here.
Mumbai - Just to see if I can live a robotic, mechanical life like the people there already do.
Palakkad - Just for the serenity and quiet that this place has to offer even during weekdays.

Four things I hope to do before I die

Appear on the cover of Businessworld or some other Indian business magazine.
Author a novel or a book of short stories.
Get to actually meet Kamal Haasan and spend at least 2-3 hrs with him.
Get to conduct a Quiz which is televised and telecast all over the country.

Four novels I wish I was reading for the first time

The Last Emperor
If God were a banker
Married but arrogant
The House of Blue Mangoes

Four movies that I can watch over and over again

The Dark Knight
Michael Madana Kamarajan (Tamil movie)
Forrest Gump
Terminator 2 : Judgment Day

Four people I want to tag

Sreeram
Bhasky
Kavi
KarSub

Cheers……….Jam

I wanted to be…

Rads in her blogazine has tagged all the readers of this particular post to put up the list of persons or professionals that we all wanted to be at some point in time or the other with the rationale for the same. So here comes my list of ‘wannabe people or professionals’ -

1. A pilot, coz I always thought it was cool to fly around those big commercial airliners.

2. A fighter pilot, coz I absolutely loved Tom Cruise in Top Gun, and thought I would be particularly useful in those ‘dogfight’ situations in air.

3. Rajiv Gandhi, coz he always looked so handsome and composed on television (Black and White BPL TV, mind you).

4. Michael Jackson, coz I could grab my crotch and let out a girlish scream whenever I wanted to, without people minding too much.

5. An Army Officer, coz I absolutely loved the Commando series of comics, and thought that I would have been useful to the Allied Forces during WW-II

6. A cricketer, coz I could bowl a mean outswinger, hit those wonderful long sixes, and hit the stumps when fielding from the boundary.

7. A DJ, coz I had this thing for ‘House Music’, which btw I still love.

8. A software engineer, coz I have a trait for logical and analytical thinking.

9. A HR Manager, coz I think I have what it takes to understand people issues and resolve them without antagonizing either the company or the associate.

10. A nice guy, coz although ‘nice guys finish last’, they end up feeling good about themselves.

So continuing with this tag, if you’ve read this post, it becomes almost mandatory that you put up a similar post on your blog and leave behind the link in the comments to this post.

Cheers………Jam