Hit Hit but not Fit

At times I get amazed by how penny wise and pound foolish some of us tend to be. I see a shouting example of this in our general attitude towards health and fitness. I don't need look so far. I have a colleague who is brilliant, well educated and an amazing person. But when it comes to eating habits and fitness I get appalled by his level of awareness. So, he is regular with parathas-malai kofta/butter paneer or some variant for lunch followed by biscuits/pastries for tea. This diet chart is followed day in-day out with little or no exercise. The body is of course sending out SOS signals when he's putting on weight, having BP problems at a fairly young age but who has the time to think about these trivial issues when there's so much work to do and so much to catchup with?

No doubt India is turning into a diabetes and heart disease capital of the world. With our high-carb, high-oil diet and little focus on physical activity we are bound to be in the danger zone.

I don't understand what is more important in life than to live a healthy, happy life. Aren't all our actions supposed to give us the same? Then why not take care of the basics? Why do we have to earn at the cost of getting fat, ill and diseased and then spend the money to get ourselves back to normal? Is a little bit of awareness and discipline too much to ask for in today's lifestyle? I don't think so..especially when I look at top honchos who make it a point to hit the treadmill once in a while. I think it's a matter of time that people start waking up to the consequences of these self adopted dangerous lifestyle choices.

I just hope it's not too late by then.

Sport and Strategy

I recently finished reading ‘I’ve got your back’ from Brad Gilbert (BG). The book is a personal memoir of one of the most successful coaches in world of tennis who has trained top players like Andre Agassi, Andy Roddick and Andy Murray. The focus of the book is to bring out the importance of technique in psychological and technical aspects of the game. Being a business graduate, I always associated words like strategy, techniques etc with the corporate world. I always thought that success in sport world was determined more by in-born talent than anything else but this book changed my view to a large extent. No doubt, Brad Gilbert is known more as a strategist than a coach. When we talk about coaches, the image that normally comes to mind is a motivational, ‘gyan’ dispersing guy. To his credit, BG is not like this and believes more in doing his homework and doing it thoroughly. He believes in what he calls the ‘meats and potatoes’ or the ‘X’s and O’s which basically mean getting your hands dirty and your back very sweaty.

BG has brought out the psychological aspects on coaching in the game very well. The title of the book, ‘I’ve got your back’ conveys it all. He says that coaching is all about making the player feel that someone has got his back. So, the player may be battling it out alone on the field but the coach has to give him the mental comfort so he feels that he is part of a team. Team concept is something new in this individual driven, super competitive sport of tennis but plays a very important part in the player’s psyche. Now, we know why we see parents of players/movie stars hanging around on the sets playing the role of supportive mental guardians.

The working style of BG involves a high level of emotional intelligence. He has to know when to push the envelope and when to hold himself back. He has to know the player very thoroughly to be able to make the maximum possible impact. Remember we are talking about world class players here. These are people who have reached to this level with a lot of hard work and great in-born talent. So, BG has to add significant value to the player’s output to keep himself employed. He does this by collecting information on competitors and by helping the players in their practice. This involves helping the players in improving their technical skills.

In the end it’s interesting to see how BG’s style of play impacted his own performance before he became a coach. Unlike many high ranking professional players, BG did not have a powerful serve, a dangerous forehand, a flashy volley or a lightning smash. But he built his game destroying the opponent’s rhythm. He was one of the sport’s top strategists as a player. Both his style of play and his mental approach brought him wins and he reached a high of World No. 4 in Jan 1990.

The Reluctant Fundamentalist

I just finished reading this book by Mohsin Hamid. It’s a brilliant book, taut and gripping. It has a meditative tone and is written in an introspective manner. Although the central theme of the book is political based on the ongoing episode of distrust between East and West it also touches other facets like love and profession. Here is an excerpt from the book that I found relevant for us:

‘I sensed the vice president was growing increasingly irritated with me; I could hardly blame him: he was working from morning until midnight, poor fellow, with little support from his only team mate. I pretended to be keeping myself busy, but as the days passed and my deadlines began to slip, he lost patience. ....He was a manager of excellent repute, and I might have considered revealing to him the turmoil taking place inside me, but at the level of human beings our connection was nil. So I apologised, saying that his feedback had hit the mark, but that he need not worry because I would redouble my efforts.

For a time this appeared to satisfy him, although it was patently untrue. Yet I knew he had begun to resent me --- and rightly so, after all: by not performing to plan I was making him look bad--- and for my part I was beginning to resent him as well. I could not respect how he functioned so completely immersed in the structures of his professional micro-universe. Yes, I too had previously derived comfort from my firm’s exhortations to focus intensely on work, but now I saw that in this constant striving to realise a financial future, no thought was given to the critical personal and political issues that affect one’s emotional present. In other words, my blinders were coming off, and I was dazzled and rendered immobile by the sudden broadening of my arc of vision.’

Wanted: Single Female Flatmate in Gurgaon

With great hope and optimism I put up an ad
Looking for a single female flatmate it declared
You see the recessionary blues warrant me to share my expense
Plus some company, maybe a friend or a helping hand were driving my sense
So, the ad was put up and I started getting calls from unknown numbers
At work during the day, sometimes in the evening waking me up from my slumbers

‘Hello, is the flat available on rent? Can I come to see it? Says one female voice
And I tell her about the woodwork, the pool view making all the right noise
The doorbell rings and this girl comes in, her perfume fills my house
She takes a look around the kitchen and checks if there’s a mouse
‘How do you live by yourself in this big high place?’
‘Single- don’t you feel scared?’ she says making a face
‘Well and so I’m looking for a flatmate’ I offer with a smile
I add ‘You will like it if you want to live in style’
‘Hmm...the rent is steep’ there she goes
‘You got to share minimum 50%’ I say and curl my toes

And so females come and go
While I keep curling my poor toe
22 year olds who ask if they can have boys over
28 year olds who tell there’s an errant husband who makes them cower
Also a 32 year old who quit her job and shared with me her business plan
Good response but a de-attached toilet influences decisions and bags all the attention span


So, in the meanwhile I hear a male voice who asks me if he can come over and have a look
You are crazy I tell him or are you a crook?
No, I just saw Dostana and was wondering if this can happen in real life
In any case I am safe because I am married and on weekends will have my wife
Hmmm...interesting I think for a moment...at least I will get my rent
And how in today’s world does it matter if it’s a lady or a gent

So I think and ponder what to do – can you pls tell
And I see there’s another unknown number ringing on my cell..

Find a Life Partner and get a DVD Player – Absolutely Free!!

Young Ladies and Gentlemen,
A Suitable Match you will find here for yourself who also fits in your family
Match will be respectful towards elders, loving towards youngsters and will be interested in all things pious and holy

Good Values we use to make the dough that is soft, tender and lasts long
Sprinkling the base with toppings of sense of humour, irreverence and ability to dance and sing a song

Our Sauces are fresh and made in a Engineering or Business School in America
Spices we use are slim, healthy and give high energy to both ladki and ladka

So tell us – Shall We Take Your Order?
We have the highest variants – complete range that will make you look no further
With a search tool so powerful – you can search a partner on 24 variables so why bother?

So, Young Ladies and Gentlemen,
Give us the chance to find your life partner
We promise none of our clients have suffered from post meal gastronomical disorder

Hurry...Now you can find a life partner and get a DVD player absolutely free
Offer valid till stock lasts!

Driving in the Fast Lane with only a Rear View Mirror?

‘If history repeats itself, and the unexpected always happens, how incapable must men be of learning from experience’ – George Bernard Shaw

Sundays are usually days when I take time out to digest and dissect the six days gone by and ruminate over the patterns I see emerging. I think the present recession and sombre mood associated with it has accentuated my ability to contemplate about our weaknesses and shortcomings. Seeing and reading about institutional failures, financial losses, job cuts, pink slips I just ask myself – why and how? Why and how has the most intelligent and capable section of white collar working force landed the whole world in such a messy situation. Is it a stroke of bad luck, a quirk of chance or is there a reason, a pattern or a phenomenon?

I am not an expert in Finance so I am not the best person to delve into all the past recessions and economic cycles to find the answer to this question. What interests me is human nature, the underlying emotions behind bets all gone wrong.

One particular revelation I see surfacing again and again is the inadequacy of some of the cognitive tools we use to take decisions. It is sometimes unbelievable to see the ridiculous theories we use. Theories stemming from rhetoric, prejudices, fears, insecurities, greed and chance. It’s surprising how we fall victims to one or more of these phenomena with amazing regularity. It is equally surprising to see how our current education system accentuates these problems and complicates life further. The tendency to appear in control and the mode of self denial leads to nothing but repetition of the mistakes made by us in the past.

Many people I come across try very hard giving an impression of being very knowledgeable and intelligent. Nothing wrong in that – they are here because they are capable and work hard and they can definitely tom-tom that a bit. The problem arises when they believe that they know 99% - 100% of what is there to be known. Like a person who shows off his big personal library to all people visiting his house. The library itself is considered as an achievement, a symbol of ego and arrogance. It is not taken as a tool to understand the 99% of the world outside the realm of those books. Applying this analogy to us, however well educated and intelligent we may be, the truth is that we can never fully understand, leave alone predict any phenomena in this world. Be it financial markets, industries or marriages and love. There are always, as Nicholas Taleb says Black Swans or unpredictable events. So why do we take ourselves and our knowledge so seriously? Maybe because accepting the fact that we know very little translates into a life-long endeavour to learn, uncover, change and adapt. And this sure sounds like a hard thing! (refer to the Zen story called ‘Empty Your Cup’ at the end of my blog)

I am not simplifying our problems but trying to highlight the fact that the realisation that we are not 100% aware may lead to greater efforts in finding the truth and more exploration. It is not that this approach is 100% problem proof and we will get into a soup but maybe we will be better positioned to come out of it quickly.

Certainly we should learn to ask, to appear foolish than appear intelligent all the time and fully in control. One common thing that I hear when my friends want to praise somebody is – ‘that guy has all his fundas in life clear’. I am not sure if that is such a good thing. Isn’t some confusion a sign of cerebral activity? Isn’t it a sign that you are alive, observing, comprehending things happening around you?

I think the present credit crisis would not have happened or at least maybe the magnitude would have been lower if some of the people in charge in lending institutions in USA risked looking a little lost and confused when there was a bubble forming from a great bull market. Why were questions not asked? Patterns not seen and dissenting voices not heard? Probably because these people were so engrossed basking in the glory of the excesses that it blinded them. They could not see the potholes ahead on the road because they were always looking at the smooth journey past them. Obviously they were driving in the fast lane with only a rear view mirror telling them what the road ahead is like!

Zen Story- Empty Your Cup
One of my favourite stories concerns a Buddhist scholar and a Zen Master. The scholar had an extensive background in Buddhist Studies and was an expert on the Nirvana Sutra. He came to study with the master and after making the customary bows, asked her to teach him Zen. Then, he began to talk about his extensive doctrinal background and rambled on and on about the many sutras he had studied.
The master listened patiently and then began to make tea. When it was ready, she poured the tea into the scholar's cup until it began to overflow and run all over the floor. The scholar saw what was happening and shouted, "Stop, stop! The cup is full; you can't get anymore in."
The master stopped pouring and said: "You are like this cup; you are full of ideas about Buddha's Way. You come and ask for teaching, but your cup is full; I can't put anything in. Before I can teach you, you'll have to empty your cup."

The White Tigress - Anyone?

Couple of days back we read the news of another Indian making us proud on the global literary stage. To be honest, I am not a big fan of these awards and the juries that hand out these awards– whether in movies or books. I feel they are too elitist and the books/movies that win these awards are not always the best in their category if you consider taste of a common mortal like me. I tilt more towards authors who carve a niche of their own but also cater to the masses (Chetan Bhagat comes to mind instantly...ok..I’m not a fan but I don’t detest his English either).
So, with this general attitude towards prize winner books and remembering the un-palatable stuff (for me only of course) for which Ms. Arundhati Roy had won the Booker couple of years back, I thought I’d only check the review out of ‘The White Tiger’ (only to sound updated in morning office chit-chat). I was just glancing my way down the review when words like ‘bottom-up story’, ‘dark side of India’, ‘story of Balram Halwai’ caught my attention. These were not the kind of words I was expecting in a Booker prize winner book review. I was expecting arcane, sedate or obscure stuff...you know the kind of books that make you open the dictionary on every 3rd para or do a Google or Wikipedia check every page. I thought the story of a son of a rikhshaw wallah – a driver living in Gurgaon winning a Booker award can be something I’ll be curious to read. Plus I read a little about the author – Arvind Adiga and somehow developed a liking for this guy who left a cushy job at a leading newspaper and came to India to work on his own book. I always admire people who take risks to follow their own heart (ok...I’m not totally gullible and know that such stories are carefully crafted to boost image...but I’ll give him the benefit of doubt for now). So, this book was at least worth the risk of Rs. 325/- of my hard earned money, I decided.
Now, I think you would have guessed by now (or I would have definitely told you if we have talked in last one week) that I’ve fallen in love with this book. After a long time, I am reading something that is original. After I’ve started reading this book I have thought for the first time about the perspective a driver or my maid or the roadside vendor has. These are people surrounding us most of the times but if you think about it, they are as good as invisible to you. You would have never stopped and thought about what any of these persons is thinking.
In most of the books we hear about India from one lens and that is the lens of someone born privileged, someone born in a city, someone convent-educated. What about the other side? What about people born in villages (which the author calls darkness) and moving to cities in search of better lives? The book is especially appealing because it is written in first person and it is as real to reality as it can possibly be. I think I’ve seen all that is described in the book in my own surroundings but up till now I’ve never cared to look.
I will not divulge more details of what is there in the book and I’ll strongly urge you to get a copy for yourself. Now that I am about to finish this book I am getting my own ideas like the protagonist – Balram Halwai of this book gets at 3.AM looking at his chandelier. How about writing a book about a story of a small-town girl? I’ve not read a single book in this chic-lit category which has talked about travails of someone born and brought up in a male dominated, family protected conservative culture trying to make it big in the big-bad metro world. From confusion on differentiating between a friendly remark and a pass to learning the nuances of socialising with strangers, there’s a long road that is travelled between a small town and a big city.
I think as a step towards that...I will start sharing some of my thoughts on this from my next blog...any ideas..?