RED @ Wall St.

In my numerous walks around the streets of New York, I have been dutifully capturing the Big Apple's charm. Not for a moment, I thought that this picture would tell a story one day i.e. Today - One of the worst days witnessed by Wall St. Its Red all over and its still not over.

Gordon said Greed is Good. And the guys at the Wall St. swore by it. So, now we have a Mr. Lehman falling down with many more to follow.

Author of one of my favorite comic strip Calvin Hobbes,Bill Watterson, said “To make a business decision, you don't need much philosophy; all you need is greed, and maybe a little knowledge of how the game works.” Am sure that this sarcasm was taken a bit too seriously by these folks.

Isn't it easy to understand the immortal words of the great Gandhi - “There is enough in the world for everyone's need, but not enough for everyone's greed.”

Seeing Red,
Neo.

Ten Rules for Being Human

I came across Cherie Carter-Scott’s ‘Ten Rules for Being Human‘. They are absolute truths which we accept or deny but the fact is they will remain as long as we live.Am not sure about other rules but we definately follow rule no. 10 ;)

pensive,

Neo.

1. You will receive a body. You may like it or hate it, but it’s yours to keep for the entire period.

2. You will learn lessons. You are enrolled in a full-time informal school called, “life.”

3. There are no mistakes, only lessons. Growth is a process of trial, error, and experimentation. The “failed” experiments are as much a part of the process as the experiments that ultimately “work.”

4. Lessons are repeated until they are learned. A lesson will be presented to you in various forms until you have learned it. When you have learned it, you can go on to the next lesson.

5. Learning lessons does not end. There’s no part of life that doesn’t contain its lessons. If you’re alive, that means there are still lessons to be learned.

6. “There” is no better a place than “here.” When your “there” has become a “here”, you will simply obtain another “there” that will again look better than “here.”

7. Other people are merely mirrors of you. You cannot love or hate something about another person unless it reflects to you something you love or hate about yourself.

8. What you make of your life is up to you. You have all the tools and resources you need. What you do with them is up to you. The choice is yours.

9. Your answers lie within you. The answers to life’s questions lie within you. All you need to do is look, listen, and trust.

10. You will forget all this.

Four Stages of Life in a Bottle!!!!!!!

Got this pic thru email. A message very succinctly told !!!!

Neo.

The Philosophy of Stock Market

Got this mail - good logic.

smiles,
Viral

Once upon a time, in a village a man appeared who announced to the villagers that he would buy monkeys for Rs. 10. The villagers seeing that there were many monkeys went out in the forest and started catching them.

The man bought thousands at 10 and as supply started to diminish and villagers started to stop their effort he announced that now he would buy at 20 rupees. This renewed the efforts of the villagers and they started catching monkeys again. Soon the supply diminished even further and people started going back to their farms

The offer rate increased to 25 and the supply of monkeys became so that it was an effort to even see a monkey let alone catch it.

The man now announced that he would buy monkeys at 50! However, since he had to go to the city on some business his assistant would now buy on behalf of the man.

In the absence of the man, the assistant told the villagers. Look at all these monkeys in the big cage that the man has collected. I will sell them to you at 35 and when the man comes back, you can sell it to him for 50.

The villager squeezed up with all their saving to buy the monkeys.

Then they never saw the man nor his assistant, only monkeys everywhere!!!!!!!!!

Here's to the Crazy Ones ..................

This one's truly revolutionizing and moving.
inspired,
Neo

(From Apple Computer - courtesy - Jolvin Rodrigues)

Got this email...thgt to share it.
-Neo.

Work to be done
As long as there is work that must be done in this world, there is opportunity. And there is always much work to be done.

As long as there are problems to be solved, there is a clear and accessible pathway to success. And there are always problems to be solved.

As long as there are challenges to be overcome, there is a way for you to create whatever things of value you envision for your life and your world. And there are always challenges to be overcome.

When it seems that there is no end to the work that must be done, stop and consider just what that means. It means that the future can be very bright indeed.

For when there is much work to be done, there is much to be gained by doing it. Wherever there is work to be done, there is buried treasure waiting to be unearthed.

Be the person who rushes quickly in the direction of the work that is to be done. And you'll be the person who tastes life's treasures in abundance.

-- Ralph Marston

Coffee or Cups???????????????

Got this mail piece from an impressive uncle of mine...worth reading and giving it a thought.

contemplating,
Neo.

A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university lecturer. Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life. Offering his guests coffee, the lecturer went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot ofcoffee and an assortment of cups: porcelain, plastic, glass, some plain-looking and some expensive and exquisite, telling them to help themselves to hot coffee.

When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the lecturer said:"If you noticed, all the nice-looking, expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is but normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the better cups and areeyeing each other's cups."

"Now, if Life is coffee, then the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain Life, but the quality of Life doesn't change. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee in it."
So friends, don't let the cups drive you...enjoy the COFFEE instead.

You Are..............

You Are...


You are strong... when you take your grief and teach it to smile.

You are brave... when you overcome your fear and help others to do the same.

You are happy... when you see a flower and are thankful for the blessing.

You are loving... when your own pain does not blind you to the pain of others.

You are wise... when you know the limits of your wisdom.

You are true... when you admit there are times you fool yourself.

You are alive... when tomorrow's hope means more to you than yesterday's mistake.

You are growing... when you know what you are but not what you will become.

You are free... when you are in control of yourself and do not wish to control others.

You are honorable... when you find your honor is to honor others.

You are generous... when you can take as sweetly as you can give.

You are humble... when you do not know how humble you are.

You are thoughtful... when you see me just as I am and treat me just as you are.

You are merciful... when you forgive in others the faults you condemn in yourself.

You are beautiful... when you don't need a mirror to tell you.

You are rich... when you never need more than what you have.

You are you... when you are at peace with who you are not

On Fear

I must say a word about fear. It is life’s only true opponent. Only fear can defeat life. It is a clever, treacherous adversary, how well I know. It has no decency, respects no law or convention, shows no mercy. It goes for your weakest spot, which it finds with unerring ease. It begins in your mind, always. One moment you are feeling calm, self-possessed, happy. Then fear, disguised in the garb of mild-mannered doubt, slips into your mind like a spy. Doubt meets disbelief and disbelief tries to push it out. But disbelief is a poorly armed foot soldier. Doubt does away with it with little trouble. You become anxious. Reason comes to do battle for you. You are reassured. Reason is fully equipped with the latest weapons technology. But, to your amazement, despite superior tactics and a number of undeniable victories, reason is laid low. You feel yourself weakening, wavering. Your anxiety becomes dread.

Fear next turns fully to your body, which is already aware that something terribly wrong is going on. Already your lungs have flown away like a bird and your guts have slithered away like a snake. Now your tongue drops dead like an opossum, while your jaw begins to gallop on the spot. Your ears go deaf. Your muscles begin to shiver as if they had malaria and your knees to shake as though they were dancing. Your heart strains too hard, while your sphincter relaxes too much. And so with the rest of your body. Every part of you, in the manner most suited to it, falls apart. Only your eyes work well. They always pay proper attention to fear.

Quickly you make rash decisions. You dismiss your last allies: hope and trust. There, you’ve defeated yourself. Fear, which is but an impression, has triumphed over you.

The matter is difficult to put into words. For fear, real fear, such as shakes you to your foundation, such as you feel when you are brought face to face with your mortal end, nestles in your memory like a gangrene: it seeks to rot everything, even the words with which to speak of it. So you must fight hard to express it. You must fight hard to shine the light of words upon it. Because if you don’t, if your fear becomes a wordless darkness that you avoid, perhaps even manage to forget, you open yourself to further attacks of fear because you never truly fought the opponent who defeated you.

Extract from the book "Life of Pi " by Yan Martel

The Rules for Being Human

This indeed is very True but the last rule is the most applicable

Neo.

The Rules for Being Human
=========================

1. You will receive a body. You may like it or hate it, but it will be yours
for the entire period.

2. You will learn lessons. You are enrolled in an informal school called
Life. Each day in this
school, you will have the opportunity to learn lessons. You may like the
lessons or think them irrelevant and stupid.

3. There are no mistakes, only lessons. Growth is a process of trial and
error. Experimentation. The "failed" experiments are as much a part of the
process as the experiment that ultimately "works".

4. A lesson is repeated until learned. A lesson will be presented to you in
various forms until you have learned it. You can then go on to the next
lesson.

5. Learning lessons does not end. There is no part of life that does not
contain its lessons. If you are alive, there are lessons to be learned.

6. "There" is no better than "here." When your "there" has become a "here,"
you will simply obtain another "there" that will again look better than
"here."

7. Others are merely mirrors of you. You cannot love or hate something about
another person unless it reflects something you either love or hate about
yourself.

8. What you make of your life is up to you. You have all the tools and
resources you need. What you do with them is up to you. The choice is yours.

9. Your answers lie inside you. The answers to Life's questions lie inside
you. All you need to do is look, listen and trust.

10. You will forget all this.

Quarter-Life Crisis

A very interesting article which all of us can relate to.
Read on

Neo

Being Twenty-Something............


They call it the "Quarter-life Crisis." It is when you stop going along with the crowd and start realizing that there are many things about yourself that you didn't know and may not like.

You start feeling insecure and wonder where you will be in a year or two,but then get scared because you barely know where you are now. You start realizing that people are selfish and that, maybe, those friends that you thought you were so close to aren't exactly the greatest people you have ever met, and the people you have lost touch with are some of the most important ones.

What you don't recognize is that they are realizing that too, and aren't really cold, catty, mean or insincere but that they are as confused as you.

You look at your job... and it is not even close to what you thought you would be doing, or maybe you are looking for a job and realizing that you are going to have to start at the bottom and that scares you.

Your opinions have gotten stronger. You see what others are doing and find yourself judging more than usual because suddenly you realize that you have certain boundaries in your life and are constantly adding things to your list of what is acceptable and what isn't.

One minute, you are insecure and then the next, secure. You laugh and cry with the greatest force of your life.You feel alone and scared and confused. Suddenly, change is the enemy and you try to cling on to the past with dear life, but soon realize that the past is drifting further and further away, and there is nothing to do but
stay where you are or move forward.

You get your heart broken and wonder how someone you loved could do such damage to you. Or you lay in bed and wonder why you can't meet anyone decent enough that you want to get to know better.

Or maybe you love someone but love someone else too and cannot figure out why you are doing this because you know that you aren't a bad person.One-night-stands and random hook-ups start to look cheap. Getting wasted and acting like an idiot starts to look pathetic.

You go through the same emotions and questions over and over, and talk with your friends about the same topics because you cannot seem to make a decision.

You worry about loans, money, the future and making a life for yourself... and while winning the race would be great, right now you'd just like to be a contender! What you may not realize is that everyone reading this relates to it.

We are in our best of times and our worst of times, trying as hard as we can
to figure this whole thing out.

We are making a lot of mistakes, but helping one another learn from them & reaching out to others.

My First Three Days at the Corporate World!!!!!

1st June 2005

Its 3 o'clock in the night and I wake up sweating profusely. With eyes wide open I look at the clock trying to comprehend what the time is. A thought struck my mind and suddenly I realize that it is just an other nightmare. These kinds have become a regular in my life whenever there is an important impending event. Today is 1st June, the day when I will put forth a small step in the corporate (this word is magical) arena. And no prizes for guessing that the nightmare was about reaching late to the office on the first day and having a bad start.

I start off my day by catching the 8:14 train with the blessings of dad & mom. I land up at church gate completely drenched by the humid climate. I reach the office and wait for my colleague who also joins with me. Well as always there’s always some thing weird or amazing happening with me as I go on with my life. The colleague who has done his MBA from dalmiya is also named Viral!!!!!!!!! So the confusion starts from day one. We are taken to our seats and were given some mags and journals to go through. Times goes on and we are then ushered to the cabin of one of our heads. He talks to us very casually and asks us to join him for lunch in about half and hour. So now I am off to my first business lunch (if u may call it). The food is very “international” in flavour (no pun intended).

The lunch goes heavy on my stomach and so I have this lazy afternoon to fight with, as there is no work to be done. Just sit on a chair and read through papers and documents. After 5 pm I get impatient to leave, as I am bored to death.

5:15, 5:30, 5:45, 6:00, 6:15,6:20, 6:25, 6:26, 6:27…. It’s getting difficult to pass the time. At last one of our senior comes across and tells us that few days will be without work and you all can leave. To my much-awaited relief we left the office by 7.

Reached home by 8 and thus come to the end of my first office trip …..Or the start of a journey.

Patience is how u act while you are waiting……………………………

2nd June 2005

So I am back to the office to start the 2nd day of my pro life. The day is not started and I get the feel of “The Routine”. The feel is very discouraging but at the same time encouraging. Discouraging in the sense that it doesn’t motivate me to do the chore but at the same time motivates me to quit and start my own at a point in time.

Today is no different from day 1. We were briefed for about an hour or so and then were given some documents to read. Sitting on my chair I just think infact laugh on myself on having grandiose plans for my job. The job in which I will be launching brands right and left, doing heavy marketing and formulating strategies to checkmate the competition. But I don’t blame my self for the thought, as this is what comes across to any B school rookie.

Afternoon is what seems very difficult to pass. The fleeting mind disrespects the 4 walls of the office and wanders in the world full of imagination and dreams. And why not, we only dream when the reality is not better than the dreams. I get hold of my mind and put it back where it must be. Try to create work for myself but soon the eyes roll to the right bottom corner of my desktop to see the time and do it repeatedly. Doing it so often makes you think that the pc clock is not working and the being so dumb, I really checked it twice.

I have got a corporate (oh man I love this word so much) email id now and was trying to check the way it works and suddenly I get a mail. It’s by someone called chetan. He is resigning and hence wants to bid goodbye to all. In his mail he thanks a lot for understanding and supporting him. I feel good as for the first time I am being thanked for all this without even seeing/talking/meeting/knowing the guy. And I doubt how many from my team know him. So is the corporate (again...I simply love this) world, like a forest in which you can get lost and dead.

3rd June 2005

It’s again a lazy afternoon and I my mind goes on a philosophical drive. I was just wondering the kind of life I want. The kind of life, which will make me happy, or at least satisfy me. I dip in to my mind and the heart for an answer and as always I return empty handed. Just joining the organization, I was thinking if I had made a right decision. Just wondering what my career would be down 3/4/5 yrs.Infact to be honest I was actually worrying.

But then I have realized that what is that I need to worry about at this stage. I have not yet started my job and am actually thinking of switching it!!!!. Thinking about my next break infact the next BIG break. This is what happens to us when we live in the future and not in the present. And I think worrying is the function of how much you stay in your future. The more you stay the more you worry. As I move along this philosophical drive I tend to remember Saunak (mafat). He and I are different as poles but we do meet at ends. I think that we both have this very bad habit of cribbing (although I do it very subconsciously) . We always feel that the grass is greener on the other side and always wish to be “there” and in the process; crib for our present i.e. “here”. I need to get ‘there’. ‘THERE’ is an important place. There is there and here. But then there are so many instances when I have got to “there” just to realize that the “there“, which is my “here“ now, is not so worth it and I readily search for another “there”. The pursuit goes on and suddenly I realise that the voyage between “here” and “there” is nothing but a round circle and on completing the circle what I get in the end is a BIG DAMN ZERO. I have realized with failing over time and again that “There” is here. There is no ‘here and there’, there is only ‘here’. We should enjoy our “here” and the “there” will be automatically taken care off. And that is what I am going to do with my job, enjoy the “here”.

Time passes by and its time to go, with the news that tomorrow is an off being a Saturday. I catch a 8:55 train and with Gods grace I get a seat. I take out a book titled “Jonathan Livingston Seagull” by Richard Bach. Just as I begin reading it, a gentlemen well in his early sixties sitting besides me and asks me what I am reading. He asks me what is the book about and I tell me the same. It’s about overcoming your limitations and excelling in life. He seemed to be a wise fellow and picked up the discussion from the point. He went on talking explaining me the various kinds of limitations we have and the process of overcoming them. He talked non stop for 30 minutes. He explained me the power of being positive and not cynical in life. He goes on touching each and every topic of life in those insightful 30 minutes. He told me how to tackle pressures at your workplace and how to keep your professional life different from your personal life. It seemed to me that God had indeed sent him to have a chat with me and steer me the right direction. He got down at bandra and that was the end of our discussion but he sparked off a new thought in my mind

What is Effective Communication????

Read the below stories for knowing what is Effective Communication????

Story 1
Jack and Max are walking from religious service. Jack wonders whether it would be all right to smoke while praying. Max replies, "Why don't you ask the Priest?" So Jack goes up to the Priest and asks, "Priest, may I smoke while I pray?" But the Priest says, "No, my son, you may not. That's utter disrespect to our religion."

Jack goes back to his friend and tells him what the good Priest told him. Max says, "I'm not surprised. You asked the wrong question. Let me try." And so Max goes up to the Priest and asks, "Priest, may I pray while I smoke?" To which the Priest eagerly replies, "By all means, my son. By all means."

Moral: The reply you get depends on the question you ask.

Story 2

Once a young astrologer visited the house of a rich man. He was received well and asked to predict the future of the rich man. After a few calculations the astrologer told,"All your relatives will die before you". On hearing this ,the rich man got angry ,and sent him out without any rewards.

Later , when the young astrologer met his guru and told him about the incident.Then the guru asked him to accompany him in disguise. They went to the same rich man. The guruji was asked to predict the future .After some calculations he said, " What a lucky man! You will live long longer than all your relatives. The rich man was happy and rewarded the guru.

Moral : Not only the message but how you tell it is equally
important.

An SMS Chat......... that Changed My Life

God: Hello. You called me.

I, Me, Myself: Called you? No, who is this?

God: This is God. I heard your prayers. So I thought I will chat with you.

IMM: Sure, I pray. Just makes me feel good. Actually, am busy now. In the midst of something, you know.

God: What are you busy with? Ants are busy, too.

IMM: Don't know. But I can't find free time. Life has become hectic. It's rush hour all the time.

God: Sure. Activity gets you busy. But productivity gets you results. Activity consumes time. Productivity frees it.

IMM: But I still can't figure it out. By the way, I was not expecting YOU to buzz me on instant messaging chat.

G: Well, I wanted to help you resolve your fight for time by giving you some clarity. I wanted to reach you through the medium you are comfortable with.

IMM: Tell me, why has life become so complicated?

G: Stop analysing life. Just live it. Analysis is what makes it complicated.

IMM: Why are we then constantly unhappy?

G: Your today is the tomorrow that you worried about yesterday. You are worrying because the act of worrying has become a habit. That's why you are not happy.

IMM: But how can we not worry when there is so much uncertainty?

G: Uncertainty is inevitable, but worrying is optional.

IMM: But then, there is so much pain due to uncertainty.

God: Pain is inevitable, but suffering is optional.

IMM: If suffering is optional, why do good people always suffer?

God: Diamonds cannot be polished without friction. Gold cannot be purified without fire. Good people go through trials. With that experience their life becomes better, not bitter.

IMM: You mean to say such experience is useful?

God: Yes. Experience is a hard teacher, though. She gives the test first and the lessons afterwards.

IMM: But still, why should we go through such tests? Why can't we be free from problems?

God: Problems are Purposeful Roadblocks Offering Beneficial Lessons to Enhance Mental Strength. Inner strength comes from struggle and endurance, not when you are free from problems.

IMM: Frankly in the midst of so many problems, we don't know where we are heading.

God: If you look outside you will not know where you are heading. Look inside. Looking outside, you dream. Looking inside, you awaken. Eyes provide sight. Heart provides insight.

I Me Myself: Sometimes I ask, who am I, why am I here? I don't know the answers.

God: Seek not to find who you are, but to determine who you want to be.

IMM: Sometimes not succeeding fast seems to hurt more than moving in the right direction.

God: Success is relative, quantified by others. Satisfaction is absolute, quantified by you. Knowing the road ahead is more satisfying than knowing you rode ahead.

IMM: Sometimes I ask, who am I, why am I here? I don't know the answers.

God: Seek not to find who you are, but to determine who you want to be. Stop looking for a purpose as to why you are here. Create it. Life is not a process of discovery but a process of creation.

IMM: How can I get the best out of life?

God: Face your past without regret. Handle your present with confidence. Prepare for the future without fear.

IMM: Sometimes my prayers are not answered.

God: There are no unanswered prayers. At times the answer is NO.

IMM: Thank you for this wonderful chat. I'll try to be less fearful.

God: Keep the faith and drop the fear. Life is a mystery to solve, not a problem to resolve. Life is wonderful if you know how to live.

Be A Lake

The old Master instructed the unhappy young man to put a handful of salt in
a glass of water and then to drink it. "How does it taste?" the Master
asked. "Awful," spat the apprentice.

The Master chuckled and then asked the young man to take another handful of
salt and put it in the lake. The two walked in silence to the nearby lake
and when the apprentice swirled his handful of salt into the lake, the old
man said, "Now drink from the lake."

As the water dripped down the young man's chin, the Master asked, "How does
it taste?" "Good!" remarked the apprentice. "Do you taste the salt?" asked
the Master. "No," said the young man.

The Master sat beside this troubled young man, took his hands, and said,

"The pain of life is pure salt; no more, no less. The amount of pain in life
remains the same, exactly the same. But the amount we taste the 'pain'
depends on the container we put it into. So when you are in pain, the only
thing you can do is to enlarge your sense of things ..... Stop being a
glass. Become a lake!"

Love or Like????????

Posted By Neo

The Doer

It is not the critic who counts, nor the one who points out how the strong man stumbled or how the doer of deeds might have done them better.The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred with sweat and dust and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who, if he wins, knows the triumph of great achievement; and if he fails, at least fails while daring so greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory or defeat.