Peace of Mind – ‘The’ Key

Just as a needle in the haystack
Or the priceless treasure in the deep sea
I ended up losing my soul in this mayhem
Search I shall, to unlock it with the mystical key

Then came the dreaded dilemma
Should I first find my soul or look for ‘The’ key
Maybe some help, I could seek
But what if they just stand there and see

Even worse, what if I’m imposed by opinions
And feel obliged for assistance which was offered without a fee
Answers were hard to find
But the questions kept buzzing like a bee

As I dived deep to find my answers that were hidden
Like a tool in the most inaccessible corner or a kite perched atop the highest tree
Visually the sight was that of going down
No matter who saw it, she or he

Just as you can’t hide the shining jewels
Efforts of no matter what degree
Rise I shall, like the phoenix from the ashes – For I’ve now found my soul
While I continue my hunt for the transcendent key

Time to mull over!

This morning I woke up with a very sordid analogy. I cursed myself for being so cynical and distasteful.
But that thought was persistent and the more I pondered, the more I saw some sense in it.

The thought was, “Is today’s service industry a sophisticated emulation of slavery?”

Disturbing thought, isn’t it? The first few memories that came to my mind were a few quotes I’ve heard in my professional life. Sample these, “If you can go to the doctor, you can come to the office as well”.
“Even if you’re dying, come to the office and die”. “You can’t leave before doing these XYZ things”.
I’m pretty sure; many of you may have heard similar lines with some degrees of variation. The emotion or intent must have been the same. What’s worse? I’ve been guilty too.

The slaves were at least allowed to sleep to be tormented physically all over the next day. When was the last time we slept without worrying about the report that needs to be sent / high-profile presentation / month-end / year-end targets? I’m not even going anywhere near the blackberry culture.

When I started to pen this down, I thought maybe I should sugar coat this and present it as a satire on today’s work-life or induce dark humor. But the starkness stopped me from indulging in literary celebration of a naked fact staring at our faces.

Expecting productivity and accuracy for the salary paid is normal.
But in the quest of lowering the costs, are we pushing it too far?

Found this intriguing quote by Ayn Rand!


It certainly is food for thought.

Equilibrium

When reality is challenged by Imagination
We witness a bold display of optimism
When reality conquers imagination
We’re lurched in the abyss of pessimism

Polarized with two extreme ends of a spectrum
Events and emotions skirmish to strike a balance
Perennially stuck in between, LIFE an unbeatable Drum
Wisdom over knowledge will wade you through imbalance

Strange are our mind-games that boost confidence
When our thoughts defeat a person and not just ego in guise
Making it personal is not really pretense
Conquering negativity instead of the character always springs a surprise

Opportunities promenade around like loud wedding bands
The façade or disguise is really in our eyes
True ability is in our mind; not, as rumored, in our hands
Essential to focus on the goal, struggling on the path would simply be unwise

Imagination does not discriminate
It propels you for the leap
Excuse of practicality is plain unfortunate
Can't really wake up who pretends to sleep

Artificial Intelligence Found!

As science and robotic engineers fight out to create artificial intelligence, there are a few things we humans have learnt from robots and machines.

If we simply detach the emotions (ours and theirs) and record ONLY data points, what would happen?

Would our decision making be better and crisp? Emotions would be nice if it is used the way it is meant to be. We use “Templates” in 90% of our responses. Invariably our responses are limited to a few emoticons. A smiley, a Thumbs up, a Clap, a Kiss, a hug etc. as the situation demands. Sometimes, even that is botched up. Hey after all, to err is human.

What about the rest 10% of situations?

Just like the computers and the internet, we humans have to deal with lots and lots of information. Brain needs to process it and fetch out the most vital data-points when needed.

But darn, that seldom happens. We are usually over-ridden with emotions.

We for sure, as prescribed, most of the times, live in the present but alas, that is ONLY to REACT.

The way our brain (at least most I've seen, sometimes including mine) processes data is in the following manner:

1)      Event occurs (in front of our eyes OR on the other end of the ‘smart’-phone)

2)      We ‘hear’ the first few words and our brain goes on an over-drive to search the database for any such string of words that we first heard. We don’t listen.

3)      Brain comes up with a search result of a few words. Meanwhile, the other person is still talking and the event is still unfolding. Our eyes and ears are recording, but our brain is not catching up.

4)      The search results are associated with a few ‘characters’ and their certain set of ‘emotions’ along with the time-stamp of our ‘frame of mind’.

5)      Our mind already starts reacting and is busy completely ignoring the intent and the completeness of the message of the current deliverer.

6)      All this IF we are not distracted by our buzzing/vibrating electronic devices stitched to us.

This happens inside at a rapid pace at all times viz., while watching a debate on TV, during a pleasant conversation, when playing agony aunt, at work, going through counselling, etc.

Talk about free-flow of information, there is now a “How-To” guide for everything – right from changing baby diapers to methods of safe and silent odor-free farting. (Don’t go and search for it now).

The trigger for this blog however is a message I received about applying triple filter for all our conversations.

1)      Is it true and verified?

2)      Is it good about the subject?

3)      Is it useful to me?

While this triple-filter is just as effective as millions of other life-altering philosophies, the speed at which we are bombarded with such information, our brain is unable to analyze and triple-filter all of this. We are not manufactured by “Kent”, are we?

We simply choose to out-source that to someone else by “Forwarding”. Maybe it gives us a delusion of delegating that data-processing. The result could be another mind-numbing philosophy.

With all the fake concerns and robotic automated responses for almost all situations, our intelligence has after-all become “Artificial”.

Happy 8th Anniversary

O! Thou month of June
When clouds playeth with the moon

Desires resurrect from the scorching sand dune
Armed with a melody and a crooning tune

Leaves dance with the wind, sprinkling flowers a strewn
Eagerly awaiting the impending monsoon

The treacherous heat during the unbearable noon
Like traveling alone in a hot air balloon

Symbolic thou’ art, testing patience, not arriving too soon
Making a grand entry like a bride at the moment opportune

Heralding of a new era with a silver spoon
Thou finally arrived – O! Ninth of June.