The soapbox in Chennai

Hi,

Another entry on surprises.

I visit a park in my neighborhood whenever I get the time. My mom also accompanies me (again, whenever she finds the time). As this summer has taken perilous proportions, we find that we often "get" the time to visit this park.

It is quite a big park - for Chennai's standards. Last Sunday, I visited the unexplored segments of the park, only to be surprised. In the segment we visited, we found a group of volunteers speaking about issues that disturbed and inspired them. This motley hardly had 10 participants. An altar built for a fountain served as the podium. Each of the volunteers took turns to talk about issues that are on top of their minds. One spoke about meditation and pranayama, followed by another on strengthening one's character.

I was puzzled to see & hear what was happening. As I inquired, I was told that they had been running this (every Sunday) for the last 254 weeks without fail. They have laid of code of ethics - No belittling anyone or anything (people / religion / leaders / etc). They seem to have strictly abided by these codes. It was visible in their child-like enthusiasm - be it preparing for the topic they have chosen or the way they spoke.

As I probed further, I understood that they belong to a broader fabric called Exnora. The founder, Mr. Nirmal, inspired by the Hyde Park soapbox talks, had introduced the concept to localites.

The group invited me to talk. I could not do much but talk about Bharati's works for a while.

More than anything else, the fact that such things have begun in India made me happy. I was pleasantly surprised by the enthusiasm in the eyes of the speakers. I could see the shine of a baby's eyes in some of them who have even crossed their 50s.

As we were returning home, I told my mom that if we had stuck to our normal stretch in the park, we would not have discovered this group.

Vijay

Outgrowing things we were once comfortable with

Hi,

I know some families in this part of the world that provide their kids with amazing stuff. Be it children's literature from foreign lands (Nosov's books) or exotic play things from the west, these families take a no-holds-barred approach to procure them for their kids.

I had a chance to talk to one of the bread-winners of such families. He had these things to share:

1. They are not buying these things which appear to be of material values. But, in essence, he said that it is part of a life-time-enthusiasm creation journey. He said, the best thing he as a dad can provide to his kids is to remain enthusiastic and inherit the same to his kids.

2. Kids outgrow things very fast. He said, he can remain the catalyst for them to outgrow things around them. (As an adult, have you ever experienced the pain of being afford a favorite comics book that was denied when you were a kid?)

So much stuff to do with parenting in this new age!

Ignorance is bliss!!


Vijay

The age of customization

Hi,

Little did anyone know that the world would stay glued in front of a lighted screen. As I visit the browsing centres in India, I see the emergence of a new age.

The power of any revolution is its ability to creep into the society's daily life without making hue and cry about its entry. I would state that it catches the society unaware and establishes its presence even before anyone could bat an eyelid.

The convergence of computing power, entertainment and communications is one such. In the future, the age of customization and personalization is going to rock. Kenichi Ohmae observed: "Customers hate being averaged". I could see the ways things are shaping up towards a personalized world. The age of computing has helped us to make cars custom-built to suit the tastes of end users and shirts made to suit daily habits (those who lean on their elbows can now buy shirts with dirt-free cuffs).

Going forward, do not surprised to see customization of

Courses / schools that are cut out for each need of kids.

Jobs (at least in select sectors) that can feed the creative appetite of the artisans

With the entry of blogs, we have already entered into an age of personalized microsites.

Welcome to the world of WWW.NAME-OF-EACH-CITIZEN-OF-THE-WORLD.COM

More later,

Vijay

We are what we do

Hi,

Every thing we do, has an influence on us. The beauty is we rarely know the things that make us. A friend of mine discovered an infidel act of a loved one. It came as a shock to him. But, he never let it impact his life. He found a brand new meaning in life, after the episode.

When I had a chance to talk to him, he listed the things that consoled him. I was surprised to see the comprehensive range of things he quoted. The list is reproduced below for fellow readers:

1. Viktor Frankl - "There are only two types of people in this world. One - the decent type. 2. The indecent type. It is upto you to choose who you want to be." (My friend said - he chose to be a decent man).

2. Viktor Frankl again - "Live life as though you have been given another chance to live."

3. The Painted Veil - Someset Maugham's masterpiece based on the infidel act of a wife. The thought processes of the husband seems to have influenced my friend.

4. He went ahead and quoted Zen poems of Bankei and some movies that he had seen some years ago.

5. He quoted Shelley "If winter comes, could spring be far behind".

6. Jim collins' work on the list of top 10 CEOs - especially the life of Steve Mockler and Darwin Smith.

I personally think it is the success of the authors (filmakers, poets, etc) to have created their works to salvage my friend.

When I left my friend, I was feeling very light for living in a world that was inhabited by these great souls.

It seemed to me that is true that the works of yesteryears would never go out of vogue.

More later,

Vijay

Kicking boredom out of life

Hi,

I know this blog is slowly becoming more like a weekend notepad. I am glad that I have the time - at least once in a week.

Met with some friends who nurse some grandiose dreams. Dreams such as:

1. Ruling the state he lives in.

2. Becoming a star violinist.

3. Becoming a short story writer

The common thing about them - they are all aged above 35.

To me, they appeared as men who have kicked boredom out of life. I think it is Victor Frankl, who noted that it is life that is asking a question - "what are you going to do with me?".

How true is this with these friends of mine!! They lead a life with a mission to perform. After the meeting, I parted with a deep thought on "what am I going to do with my life?"

The answer that came to my mind was - "To lead a life that is fully experimented".

What experiments are these? For a person who gets excited with things happening around, it is needless to plan these experiments. The chances to experiment keep occuring every day. Once they occur, grabbing them in the very first sight, is the essence of experimentation.

Thanks

Vijay

What to do next?

Hi,

My friend, who runs his own consulting firm, told me that the challenge in his job is to walk in others' moccasins.

"Decision making and doing things happen to put those decisions in action is what businesses are all about. Ironically, a majority of job created in the world are to render a process-driven approach to decision making. It took Sam Walton many bad decisions (not ensuring a water-tight lease agreement the very first time), to create a "Walmart". It is these bad decisions and the resilience required to bounce back that has helped people build big businesses."

I am of the opinion that a process-driven appraoch plus an intuit based appraoch are like the left and right brain combo. One cannot exist without the other. Have your ever experienced anything that is purely logical in nature, without emotions? I have. The experience had been disastrous. Even the most proficient operator, without the basic elements like sense of humor, empathy, et al, is likely to be discarded. I view the process-laden approach to be purely logical. It contributes immensely to move towards a decision. But businesses are people-driven. Hence, a process-laden approach plus a personal approach to it (including things like the history of the business entity, the "gut feel" of the entrepreneur, among others) also matter most.

Going forward, I would not surprised if people start businesses to tell people what they should do next. I happened to read the biography of the Godrej empire. It has an impressive line that goes as "From locks to safes, it was a logical shift" (Have I reproduced it verbatim? I doubt it). But after which the group ventured into soaps and scissors. Are these logical shifts? But, the thought processes that endorsed such moves shall be the crux of these new age businesses. It calls for understanding (a full 360 degrees) of the business and the people running it, to offer these services. I would call such consulting services as "psychographing the business".

Thanks

Vijay

Hanging around

Hi,

I know an acquaintance who runs an advertising agency in India. He has come the hard way in life. Hats off to him, today he runs a business of respectable size. Every time, I see him; I get reminded of his perseverence.

It is now more than 17 years since he started his business. The first few years had been dog days - running pillar to post, seeking businesses. There were frequent phases of dejection. He would spend days away from home, often without proper food. His partners ditched him and that put the clock back again.

When he had to run the show on his own, he felt there was lot more freedom. He could track the money coming-in and the way it went out. He could sense that his business slowly grew. Today, he flaunts an impressive clientele.

When I asked him about the prime-movers behind his success (while, he did add that he has got a long way to go), he listed the following:

1. Hang around

2. Work as though your life depended on it

3. Opportunities are latent only in crappy jobs

Among the above, he mentioned the "Ability to hang around" matters the most.

His logic is simple. To acquire business, you first have to be there in the space. Every thing in the world moves. People change, business priorities change, prices change, budgets change and so is everything. When change happens, it impacts one and all. A large coporation may change a decision maker and this can trigger an avalanche of events. When the avalanche happens, beneficiaries also change. But, capitalization of opportunities can happen only when you are there, having a placard saying that "I am available".

To hold this placard tight and right above your head is the key.

Vijay

The power of "Having ears and eyes open" - 2

Hi,

This issue is on "The mind of the script writer".

One of my friends is a well-read script writers. His mother toungue is Tamil. But he has read the words of Sartre, Dostoevesky, Saki, Albert Camus, Guy de Maupassant and Harper Lee. The unique thing about him is, he would not quote these authors ever.

He works on scripts when he is possessed by a issue. I asked him how does he get possessed. He told me that "Do not work on anything that you think would not make a dent". Dent - in the mind of the viewers. He said that he would have to be first excited by the script. The reason being, it takes time to make the script to take the film form. It might be anything between 2 years to 5 years. His logic is simple: Unless he is truly excited about it, he would not be able to wait that long.

This is extremely serious stuff. When I read articles I wrote 6 months back, I often feel how shallow they are. I have many complaints about the lack of thought and the way it was written. But, when I wrote it, I had thought it to be the best thing that could have happened to mankind. But, a script writer does not have this luxury. What he writes has to keep him excited even after 5 years. Else, he cannot work.

My friend summed up that 75% of the job is to find a theme that excites you. The rest would fall in place. And the period during which he searches for a producer is the most painful. He should be open for plagiarization and copyright threats. But, the catch is, unless he opens up he would not make his script go live. But, the more he opens up, the more he is prone to plagiarization risks. My friend had something to say on this too. He said, if you are excited about a script, it takes the similar level of excitement from the plagiarizer to make it a success. You cannot thrust excitement into another person's throat was his reply.

I remember the zeal with which he said these stuff to me. His eyes had the enthusiasm of a kid that had just spotted a new toy.

Vijay

The power of "Having ears and eyes open"

Hi,

I have a few friends who make their living through their writing skills. One of them is a film script writer, the other a copywriter with an ad company and the third a freelancing writer (primarily short stories and poems).

The common thing about all of them is they have read and still read. One of them said this to me - "My aim in life is to earn enough to buy the books of my choice". I know the way they work. I should say they had been kind enough to reveal their "trade secrets" to me. These secrets vary for each style of writer. In the following sections, I present an insider's view of their minds.

The mind of the copywriter:

My friend's job is to generate copy that changes minds, inspires, changes behavior - in essence, make readers perform an expected action.

As a brief arrives, she sits with the people concerned - the Client and the servicing manager. She listens and asks questions - mainly dumb ones (the dumber, the better - her words), and completely understands the message that needs to be communicated. She takes elobrate notes.

She sits alone with her notes and makes her imagination fly. When it flies, she says there are no boundaries. She has to "become" the experiences she had had - the stuff she had read, the stuff she had heard and the stuff she had seen. She brings back all her memories to toe a single line. As memories are lined-up, she picks a few of them that would suit the brief on hand.

The brief, according to her, is merely the starting point. Her tentacles start from that point. The length of her tentacles are directly proportional to her experiences (both personal and surrogate, cutting across several medium). She had once developed a brilliant message from a casual phrase she heard one of her friends had uttered when she was a kid.

On the softer side, she says the job involves child like memory and the willingness to give the best for a brief.

I do not know I much I understood what she said. But, when she narrated all this, it was late in the evening. She appeared very fresh and I asked her if she had just arrived from home. She said she had been working since morning. When she said you have to work like a child, I would have to believe her as I saw a child's curiosity in her eyes.

I will provide the ring-side view of my other friends' writing styles in the days to come.

Vijay

The "know-why" has arrived

Hi,

The Blooker has arrived. With it, it has brought forth a whole new style of thinking and dissemination.

When we were kids, my sister and I were die-hard fans of Rathnabala (a children's monthly mag in Tamil), Tinkle (a very popular comics publication), the Champak (another one in the same genre) and the Rani comics.

My parents were disturbed with our "experimental" readings, as they felt we did not spend the "required" time on text books. The above books were given to us when they were assured that we have studied "well" and have scored "well" in exams.

But, we had this habit of hiding these books - mainly those borrowed from friends. We hid them in all places at our home and read them when our parents weren't around. The Bombay Dyeing Ltd. (a leading Indian textile company) manufactured thin bed sheets and are still very popular in India. We would read books, getting under these bed sheets - fully covering us. As these sheets were thin, light could easily pass through them, giving us ample visibility to read.

That's a long time now. As I see the growing popularity of e-books and web based contents, I know it marks the age of wisdom. Yes, the age of the know-why has arrived. In this well-knit mode of living, it is not the "know-how", but the "know-why" that is likely to win.

The "know-how" knew things for the sake of knowing it. The "know-why" generation is going to go beyond. The applications that arise out of this "why" has the power to fill the world with innovations.

A warm welcome to you; the refreshing world of "why"!!!

Vijay