rAnDom PoSts bY a rANdoM ThInKeR

There are days, and no one is spared from those, where everything just seems off track. On some of these days, you are dizzy and overwhelmed by the list of things to do. On others, you are so lost that you don't even know what to put on the list. Existential questions like "Where am I headed?" and "What if I am not good enough?" start making a way into your head, until some youtube video or an Instagram notification comes to the rescue. This post is an epiphany that I had on one such day. A batsman (choose your favorite) comes on the field with the pressure of scoring tons of runs, in limited deliveries, while maintaining his wicket. The first few deliveries he faces are short and inviting. He succumbs to the pull and goes after them, yet misses them all. Time to enter the thoughts in Dravid's mind... "What am I doing missing these easy balls?", "Everything is going wrong, I could've lost my wicket on any of those, haven't scored a run...

Someday I want to give this analogy in some talk somewhere Many people enjoy music but believe that they are tone deaf. I believe that music is at least as intuitive as speaking. Say if I tell you the following. I have the following agenda for today 1. Talk about music. 2 . Make a case that everyone has music   and I stop there. I say the word music with exactly the same pitch in both the points. And then ask people do you think there is going to be a third point ?  Just by keeping the note in which I say the last work people know of this is the end or there is more to come. Interestingly the end note is the same note that you started speaking in. People know that the journey is over only at the home note. This is very intuitive. Another thing which music has naturally is triads so people will always have a tendency to have 3 points. It feels unnatural to stop at 2 points. And then I will go on to show the video by mcferrel about how pentatonic scale is natural to all ...

You earn and save . You save and you invest. The more money you have the safer you feel about the future. Net worth of a person or a company or a country can be seen in various ways. One of the most common assumptions of capitalism is that net worth of a person is equal to the value he/ she has contributed to the society. whether it is true or false or where it is true and where it is false is a different debate. This post is about a second interpretation. Your current net worth is like a buffer or inventory you keep because of the uncertainty of the future demand of money in your life or that of your family. money is a store of value which you can exchange later. Now imagine a factory which keeps a lot of inventory in between its processes. would you call it an efficient factory. of course it is less susciptible to overall breakdown because every machine in the work line has enough inventory in betwwen them so that even if one part breaks down others continue to work on thei...

  While looking at various wikipedia articles day in and day out, I figured it is really difficult to grasp a concept if i start reading from line one. I always scroll through for some examples down there of the concept and then look for the generalisation at the top. similar approach should be followed in teaching. The idea of a school is not to thrust knowledge but to create an environment where students seek learning. Its like recreating the atmosphere again to recreate the eureka moment for the students. So start with a simple example then ask why questions to reach the generalization. because that is how learning happens.

Recently a lot of events that I am thinking about have boiled down to one important lesson for life. On accountability. __ "Tu idhar udhar ki na baat kar ye bata ki kafila kyun luta humein reh zanon se gila nahi teri rehbari ka sawaal hai" __ a huge laid out project at work is flailing and there is no one who is accountable because everyone was true to its incentives and no one had the accountability. __ nitpicking and complaining about what other has done is easy. advising is easy but what is difficult is to hold the pressure of accountability and responsibility on your head and do the deed, accomplish the task. So if you want to get the work done your way you also have to face the stress of accountability or your advise may or maynot be heeded. __ self taken accountability is better than given because when taken it is generally taken with a knowledge that one could do it better than it is done right now. __

I think there is an ideal state for everything; static or dynamic. Some things are better if firm, unmoving and non-volatile, while some others are good when dynamic and ever changing. This thinking model is a special case of the yin yang model. Some examples: Examinations ( any filtering, screening, measuring, interviewing, appraisal... ) A stationery system of measurement is subject to gaming, If the objective is to get the best, and the variables of being best are many, then it makes sense to keep changing the screening patters every time. A stationery system will be gamed and if diamonds are what you are looking for any stone can be shaped to look like it given sufficient time. In the other direction things like fundamental principles or resolutions or the big goal of life need to be firmed up real soon. As harivansh rai bachchan said " rah pakad tu ek chala chal..paa jayega madhushala " There is accomplishment at the end of all roads, but you get to walk on ju...

Everest Base Camp and Kala Patthar Trek, Nepal with Jatin Pasrija and Rohit Singla                              In March 2013, as soon as it was thought that the course was clear, I went for the trek of my life, to enjoy the pristine, untouched snowclad mountains. It was a trek to the first base camp of the revered Mount Everest. If I only show you photos from the trek, they would appear as just another set of wallpapers. If I write about my experience it would feel dramatic. If I just give you numbers like -20 degrees centigrade, 5365 meters, 450 Pascal thin air, etc. you may understand that I am talking extremes here, but I may still not be able to tell you what I experienced. So if you are fascinated by anything that I mention below, stop and allow yourself to be. Lets start the story from Kathmandu as it will be the common sta...