Learning

I was watching a game show called "Kaun Banega Crorepati" which is Indian version of UK game show of “Who wants to be a Millionaire” where a young contestant in his mid 20's had already won Rs. 25 Lakh against his expectation of Rs. 80K. He was asked next question for Rs. 50 Lakh and he was totally clueless about the answer.

Legendary actor Amitabh Bachan who host the show asked the contestant "what would he like to do?" The young chap said “I do not know the answer but I would not quit". Amitabh Bachan emphasized that he started the game show with modest expectation of Rs. 80 K enough to repay his education loan and has already won Rs. 25 Lakh. But the young guy had made up his mind before coming to the show that what so ever happens he would not quit. He then attempted the question and gave a wrong answer and returned home with his Rs. 80K prize money.

Immediately after the result was announced by Amitabh Bachhan for Rs. 50 Lakh question, he said to the young contestant “Along with Knowledge, Wisdom too is important".

Here was a legendary actor in his mid 70's that summarized the whole experience in one line to the young contestant.

I would also relate this experience with IQ (Intelligent Quotient) and EQ (Emotional Quotient). You need to have balance of both to succeed in life.

Art of Giving.

Few days back I was conducting interview for a post with a modest pay enough to start his or her career and living. During interview process I met one candidate who had moved from a village a year back and was somehow managing things in his existing salary in a mega city like Ahmedabad. The guy was humble and down to earth. I asked him few routine questions and then suddenly I stumble upon his hobby mentioned in his resume and one of them was social service. This was the first time I had encountered a hobby as “Social Service”. I tried to probe him and asked what he meant by social service and he replied “To help needy”. 

I was slightly taken back and further asked “How do you help needy?” He replied "Sir I try to help street children by buying them food within my capacity and by giving them my old cloths. There was a sense of satisfaction when he replied and I was like ... “Where do I stand?”  Here was a gentleman struggling with his career, his own needs and family expectation still he manages to help the needy and on the other hand I earn enough to save for my family but always find an excuse when it comes to helping other.

He was short of skills and I guided him on his weakness, gave career guidance and explained him why he is currently not fit for the post. He took it positively and left. He has many other positive points which this corporate world does not acknowledge. Though I asked him questions during interview but one question which he asked me unknowingly was “What I do for others?” It was a thought provoking questions which left an impression in my mind.  He taught me a beautiful lesson that you can always help other immaterial of what you have without making excuses.

I wonder what percentage of your earning do you spend on others. I have made up my mind and have a figure now. I hope this post will help you to make up your mind and find out the figure. It may be in single digit percentage but it will make 100% percent impact on those who are needy. I am going to start now, when are you?

What is being Successful?

We observe people running after success and few being tagged as successful person, I wonder what exactly one feels after being called successful person since I never had this feeling of being successful or have never ever been tagged as successful person. There are many motivational sessions, books and audio/video material available in market who teaches us on "How to become successful person in life?" The term success is very relational. It is like two sides of a coin. I know few who are termed as successful but the cost paid by them to become successful is very high but as I said “It is a relational thing".

Let’s take one example; we have one person working day & night, following all rules of so called becoming successful tools and have achieved great heights in terms of career, money and posses many other materialistic things. He travels most of the time and when at home he is mostly online with his Tab and Smartphone. He hardly finds time to be with his family and friends but mind you “He is successful person” for others but not necessarily in eyes of his family and friends who miss him and look forward to share some time with him.

On the other end we have a person earning enough to have two times meal and provide education to his children. He does not possess materialistic things. He is mostly home after office hours. Have dinner with his family and be with his children and friends on Sundays. He is involved in all small things which needs his attention within his family and is fortunate enough to see his children grow.

Here whom will you term as successful??  The one who has followed all rules of being successful and earned enough to be retired after he reaches age 50 or the one who gave importance to earlier stages of his family life and might not have enough to enjoy in later stage of his life.

I am sure, readers who are reading this post might fall in one of the category and would certainly have something to say by judging themselves and share their views.

Jambughoda Trip Part II - At Vananchal Resort

Traveling through the scenic road of Pavagadh and anticipating much more fun ahead, we reached Jambughoda which is a place untouched and raw. A narrow road took us to our resort called Vananchal Resort. It was exactly the way we thought it to be, surrounded by greenery from all sides. We were all excited and decided to start with trekking followed by rock climbing and rappelling. We walked our way through bushes with a feeling of walking in a jungle. There were rocks, tress, plants, insects and many more specifies which were hard to identify.

After trekking for approximately 3 Kms, we finally reached our spot where we going to have our first hands-on with rock climbing and rappelling. We had to climb a rock of approx. 25 feet in height which seems good enough after 3 Kms. of trekking. We were very well guided and it was fun to be in nature and doing adventurous things within our capacity.

Rock Climbing

We came down quickly to the resort through a shortcut as we had no energy to go back the same way we came from. We were served a very good breakfast and immediately we jumped into the pool. We had a great time in pool and were recharged to have a tasty lunch. Vananchal resort is a great place for 2D/1N trip where you can even plan a night jungle safari along with guide or you can have a one day picnic as we did.

Natural Habitat

Flying Fox Adventure

You can visit a Hathnimata waterfall which is approx. 25 Kms from Vananchal resort. It is better to skip if it is Sunday as no. of visitors is too high. But it is definitely “Yes” on weekdays.

Overall we enjoyed more than expected and it was a memorable trip to cherish in coming years.

Jambughoda Trip Part I - On way to Jambughoda !!

There are certain things which materializes when most unplanned. Few of our colleagues started discussing about one day trip to a place where we can enjoy, after short listing of places, we drilled down to Jambughoda which is 55 kms. east of Baroda, Gujarat and 180 Kms. from Ahmedabad, Gujarat. In next 20 minutes we were 9 of us ready to go on coming weekend.

We started early around 5 AM from Ahmedabad Express highway considering it would take approx. 4 hours to reach the final destination called Vananchal resort in Jambughoda. The way to Jambughoda is a traveler’s paradise especially in rainy season. The view near Pavagadh (a holy place worshipped by pilgrims) was simply awesome with mist in air and cool breeze refreshing throughout our journey.

Let's start the day.

There is a small lake on the way and we were thrilled by the view and decided to halt for few minutes before heading to our destination. We met a group of villagers who had drove 85 Kms. on bicycle from remote area to have a dip in lake and reenergize themselves and seek blessing of Goddess Mahakali in  Pavagadh temple.

Beautiful lake.

Cycle enthusiast. Ready to dip..

We need privacy please

The journey towards our final destination which was Vananchal Resort, Jambughoda was through heart of nature and full of fun.

Road ahead. See you soon!!

With Nature

Nature plays an important role in life of human being. When you are in arms of nature your mind tend to relax and you feel rejuvenated compared to the state of mind when you are in concrete world.

Feelings of freshness runs through your body and soul which in turn energize your mind, these feelings are not to be expressed but are to be experienced. It is important for us to break for couple of days in a year and surrender ourselves to nature.

Give a try and let me know your feelings...… ; I am sure you will have let more to share. Till then enjoy below images clicked when I had an encounter with nature’s simplicity.

Contrast 

Leave me alone

Hope you don't mind

Transformation 

I want to be a child again !!

Every day we strive to be mature, gentleman, mannered, focus, blah blah blah ………to prove ourselves in front of others. Why can't I be myself the way when I was a child?? I never hesitated to express myself and never ever thought for a split of a second to say what I thought. But today we are more thoughtful when we speak and display diplomacy in all relations we maintain (Not necessarily enjoy) in our life.

Back to Childhood

It’s not difficult though to become a child mentally. You need to do things which you enjoyed the most during your childhood. It can be simple things like reading comic, watching cartoons, enjoy few fun rides and more necessarily laugh on every opportunity you find on the way. Start your hobbies like coin and stamp collections. Play with your children, spare some time on Sunday and participate in local sports being played in your residential common and playground.  

There is nothing wrong in being a child again because only these days will be cherished and remembered during our last days of life and will give meaning to our life. 

Pranayama - A must for every individual.

In year 2001-2002, I was suffering from severe back pain and indigestion. I consulted many doctors and few gave medicines which solved my back pain but aggravated my stomach problem which led to severe acidity and indigetion. Fed up of my problem I started looking for Ayurvedic doctor and someone from our family ask me to consult a lady ayurvedic doctor who offered free service in one of the temple in Ahmedabad.

I made up my mind and went there and she checked my nadi (Right hand viens) and immediately diagnosed that I was suffering from stress and I need more of relaxation of mind and meditation. For a moment I though, Is she joking?? What has stress to do with my back and stomach?

 I thought why not give a try to her advice anyways I had spent enough on doctors. She asked me to go through simple Pranayama as demonstrated by Baba Ramdev in one of his CD’s which was available at cost in the temple itself.

For the first time I was going to watch a Baba teaching me how to do Pranayama which meant great courage for me as I am not a believer in any kind of man personified figure. On watching the videos and few Pranayama, my inner voice agreed to give it a try.

Pranayama in a layman term is basically breathing technique which helps in having healthy body and mind. I was stunned by it's result within 7 days of practicing few. It was simple breathing techniques but gave great results.

I never thought that just few inhaling exhaling exercise would play such a vital role on my health. I started of with following Pranayama like Bhrastika, Kapal bhati, Anulom Vilom, Bharamari which did wonders and after doing Pranayama it made my body and mind relaxed to a great extend.

 My back ache and stomach problem vanished. There are few extended yoga asanas which he teaches can be followed but for me the Pranayama works well and I do it every morning for 30 minutes. There are few do's and don't which need to follow.

I will be posting few Pranayama which I practice in detail very soon…. Till then you can watch few you tube video of Baba Ramdev teaching Pranayama.

Note: You can ignore Baba Ramdev's regular act of winking. :-)

Object Photography - Close up

I love taking photographs, that's the only thing which can get me up from my bed at anytime during night. I have been taking normal photographs from digital Sony T77 and have been recently hooked upon exploring it's few close up tools to take pictures of objects. Though my Sony T77 is not a high level DSLR camera but it works well for an amateur like me.

Let me share few of my photographs taken from it. There is few Google Picasa effects added to highlight. Hope you all like it.

Life is like bubble. Handle with care.

It's raining

There are two sides of life. It depends upon which side you choose and live it.

Can human match computers in multitasking?

I was eagerly waiting for a session on "Multitasking" and was wondering how they will train me on "How to do Multitask" jobs. My expectation from the session was that I would be able to do more task at a time with perfection like computers. For example a computer can open another application file while we are browsing internet and at the same time there is some processing going on at the background for expected result. Human too tend to do multitasking jobs like watching a movie and parallel speaking on the phone. The point here was how effectively we do multitask job. I personally cannot do multiple jobs as I am firm believer of doing one job at a time with perfection. I have read that women can handle more multiple jobs than men as they have been handling multiple expectations of family members and trying to fulfill at the same time.

Multitasking

After attending the session my take away from the session was prioritizing rather than multitasking. We cannot perform multiple task effectively hence we need to prioritize our multiple jobs such that you give effective results. Also you while prioritizing you need to drill down the task and compare it with below matrix.  The task which comes to you need to be fitted in one of the quadrant depending upon the nature of task and it’s  weightage in your life.

             Urgent                    Not Urgent

Quadrant  I Deadline Meetings	Quadrant II Preparation Planning Self development
Quadrant  III Interruptions	Quadrant  IV Time waster

 Important

Not Important 

The above quadrant will help you prioritize your task in effective way.

Even when you command the computer to do multiple task it tend to slow down and gives error same way when a human tend to do multiple jobs he might not be able to give best results if he would have done the task one at a time. Hence personally I conclude here that human beings cannot do effective multitasking jobs but can prioritize task to give best results. 

Looking for Solitude

Ahmedabad is one of the most prosperous city of Gujarat. Gujarat is known for it's good state governance by Shri Narendra Modi. It has progressed from a mid level city to a mega city. City is now busy proving itself against other metro city's by building Big Malls, Tall buildings, Townships, Commercial hubs and so on. It's difficult to find a place where you can be yourself but still it's not impossible. If you are ready to travel few kilometers then you will find yourself in midst of nature in a place called Thol, situated approximately 45 Kms. from Ahmedabad railway station. It is a bird sanctuary with fresh water lake and more than 100 species of birds. 

You can catch up early morning sun rise and spend few hours with your camera and the place will rejuvenate your inner soul. 

It's heaven for amateur and professional photographers. Natural habitat of this place is it's uniqueness and hence you need to bring along water, tea and few homemade snacks if you intend to stay for more than two hours. 

Few quick notes, 

1. Make sure you do not drag your car too much inside the area as you can get stuck and may require assistance to pull your car in muddy areas specially in rainy season. There is a parking space available once you enter the sanctuary after paying entry fees. You can park and walk around easily. 

2. Do not make noise as to avoid any noise pollution as you need to remind yourself that it's a bird sanctuary.

3. On the way back to Ahmedabad you can find to refreshment dhabha type hotel at a place called Rancharda village which serves good tea, samosa, gota, khaman etc.. Typical gujju's delight. 

4. Travel by bike or cycle can be a real adventurous trip.

What are you waiting for? Getup early on Sunday and reach the place before sunrise. 

Here are few images which may motive to reach the place.

Prarambh

Hi All, 

   I was desperate to have a blog of my own from a long time but was not able to give shape to it. Sometimes it is important to initiate and realign yourself on the way. The topics may vary as currently there is nothing concrete in mind except this post to be posted.  Looking forward to successful blogging and wishing myself best luck !!