Excerpt from "Like a flowing river", Paulo Coelho

A boy was watching his grandmother write a letter. At one point he asked:
‘Are you writing a story about what we’ve done? Is it a story about me?’

His grandmother stopped writing her letter and said to her grandson:
‘I am writing about you, actually, but more important than the words is the pencil I’m using. I hope you will be like this pencil when you grow up.’


Intrigued, the boy looked at the pencil. It didn’t seem very special. ‘But it’s just like any other pencil I’ve ever seen!’

‘That depends on how you look at things. It has five qualities which, if you manage to hang on them, will make you a person who is always at peace with the world.’

‘First quality: you are capable of great things, but you must never forget that there is a hand guiding your steps. We call that hand God, and He always guides us according to His will.’

‘Second quality: now and then, I have to stop writing and use a sharpner. That makes the pencil suffer a little, but afterwards, he’s much sharper. So you, too, must learn to bear certain pains and sorrows, because they will make you a better person.

‘Third quality: the pencil always allows us to use an eraser to rub out any mistakes. This means that correcting something we did is not necessarily a bad thing; it helps to keep us on the road to justice.’

‘Fourth quality: what really matters in a pencil is not its wooden exterior, but the graphite inside. So always pay attention to what is happening inside you.’

‘Finally, the pencil’s fifth quality: it always leaves a mark. in just the same way, you should know that everything you do in life will leave a mark, so try to be conscious of that in your every action’

Sporty May and Sporty summer lined up!

The month of May has been by far a sports heavy month, and different kinds too, which has made my body feel great!

1. My first official run, not a big one though, about 5.5 kms, but still was much tougher than I expected. However, I made it somehow and felt great at my first shot at the run.

Somehow, I got on a snap :), not the best expression, but just shows how committed I was during the last sprint of 100 metres :P


2) Royal Zurich Cricket Club

Bring it on! Finally, joined the club here, early this month. Never played professionally before in India so this is definitely a different sort of challenge. Most of my team members are from Pakistan and about 3 to 4 Indians, and overall a great team of cricketers. I must say it's a battle to keep my place in the playing 11. Nevertheless, I think playing 35 / 40 over games with proper facilities and plus its CRICKET, that too, to play in Switzerland, cannot complain at all :)

The league for this season has started along with a couple of other tournaments and the summer promises to be a cracker!

Played 4 games this season now, won 3, lost 1 - Go ROYALS! :)

You can follow the details and the different teams here - http://www.swisscricket.ch/clubs.html

3) Squash

Squash has slightly taken a back seat, but continue to have about one game a week. But still, since the first game played in Netherlands and the competitive games with Jarda and Gee after the AI office hours, this will continue to be my passion :)

4) Lastly, my trip to Paris last weekend :). Definitely not a sporty one, but more on the artistic side. However, it deserves a mention due to my walking 10 hrs a day there.

5) Besides all of the above, mental sport is also now a crucial component of my life too :). I remember the times on the Indian MC playing chess with Chitgo. Now I have my flatmate, George who is another passionate chess player. With a chess board now that sits in the living table with classic pieces and a chess clock, it is definitely a great mental battle.

Pl meet Ms. Pankha

Pl welcome a new member in my bed room - popularly known as "Ms. Pankha" (for the non-bhartiyas, it is referred to as a "fan")

For a couple of Indians who have been living in Zurich in the past year, namely Sab and Pasu - they know how these 3 piece of blades can bring you the best of sleeps.

Trust me she's a life saver, at least the few months in Europe when the temperature soares to above +30 degree celsius and you do not have fans nor air conditioning, she keeps you nice and cool when you asleep ;)

What will I do without you, my lil pankhu :P

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.......

Some more thoughts - 26th Nov 2008 terrorist attack

The entire terrorist attack probe is now becoming a drag - actually seems like an Ekta Kapoor TV serial (even the main character name starts with K - Kasab).
Jokes apart, this is really becoming ridiculous.

* Last week, I read they were probing into his age to see if he was a minor - well, let me not get started on this. Now once that is proved he is above 20, there is a trial now starting - oh hold on, today is May 8th, more than 5 months since one of the deadliest attacks to hit India.

* Pakistan has been denying the fact that the captured terrorist was from Pakistan, wanting more proof (I think this went on for more than 3 months), I still dont know the official statment on this. It's all going round and round.

The only thing I have heard is everyone saying Pakistan should treat this more seriously and be more proactive in taking more action against terrorism (wow - is that something new? who would not have figured that out?)

* Where are the actions regarding making a special unit accountable to getting this case solved within a certain time frame? How about Investing X m$ in coming up with one of the most sophisticated intelligence bureau?
I wonder why would such simple ideas that come up in almost anyone's mind would not be implemented.

Well, not much you can do now except hope the current candidates during elections have this upfront on the agenda and have better priorities than the current ones, hoping they will do something radical about a grave issue that has been bothering our country.

Yes, actions have happened, but they are far from what would a normal, sane government who cared about peace, democracy and its people would have reacted.

Correct me if I am wrong, but following news everyday virtually - this is what I get out of this.

Support Meera Sanyal

During my AIESEC International term, I remember Meera inducted into the AIESEC alumni hall of fame at AIESEC International Congress, Poland, 2006.

In Dec 2007, she was appointed as Chief Executive of ABN AMRO, India.

A passionate AIESEC alumna, an inspirational leader, down-to-earth human being who has now decided to run as an independent candidate for Loksabha Elections in South Mumbai with a clear master plan to improve Mumbai. Details on the website:

http://www.meerahsanyal.in/

Please spread the word in Mumbai & ensure leaders like these are at the right place.

Efficiency vs Effectiveness

In one of my client projects, we were talking about improving efficiency while the question behind this question was before talking about efficiency whether they were effective. I certainly believe in looking through both these lenses: whether we do the "right things" (effectiveness) and then talk about whether we do "those things right" (efficiency).

I also remember a time where I have gone on a road, and realizing may be this was not the road I should have chosen at the first place. I often get a comment to this which is not to keep on thinking, but to just do it - but I do not see these thoughts as black or white.

The point made here is to think about the right road (which will be an outcome of the experiences you build up in your lives) and then run on that road. The point is to pay attention to what we do, why we do, every day & keep that thought of being effective at a conscious level.

In the same light, I was watching one of the very recent TED talks by Barry Schwartz, an American psychologist. He talks about practical wisdom and doing morally right things while not been bogged down by rules. Rules are often used as a reactive measure to prevent things -and the point is not that "dont have rules", but first focus on morally right things and then have rules or incentives as a support framework.

Also in one of the comments, I read a quote - The difference between a smart person and a wise person is that a smart person can get out of trouble that a wise person wouldn't have gotten into in the first place.

Erin McCarley

Bumped into her songs and music while following Grey Anatomy's season 5 episodes. Had tough time to find her & her music, but eventually got there after some hard core googling. Erin has a melodious voice. I have 2 favourite songs of her - Pitter Pat (the video is above) & Love, Save the Empty, but it seems most of the songs in her new album (Love, Save the Empty) are worth checking out.