Moving fast towards dullness

The world seems all but praise for speed
Ignoring the never ending need to recede

It's all about giving it, right now and quick,
Whatever happened, to the old times slick

The stress and disease, and the dissatisfaction of doing
Of things when done fast, only brings ruin

Look around to this life, we have come for a reason
And all we are doing, is miss the passing season

A lifetime is gone, with your running around with none
Forgot to sit back,  and speak a little to some

In the race of life, the rabbits we've become
Forgetting it was the steady, tortoises that won

The last good bye

I lay not in wait, for the sun rays to rise
Nor for the call, from the messenger of God

These last breaths my dear, are only in thy name
For a time so we relive, the life we had together

They say you should leave, with no attachments behind
Lo behold do they know, the heart touch of a good-bye

Simplify

Not for him, rimless or half rimmed
Or the colourful, fashionable shades
He just wore the big black glasses
And adjust it when he needed

You wouldn't catch him ever, in cap/hat varieties of those
An umbrella was just fine, for wind, rain and sunshine

And though a shirt whenever, needed to step out of home
This dhoti clad man, had never the need for a pant

Wiping his sweatened brow, with the same towel for bath
Why carry a kerchief in pocket, when a towel perched at shoulder

The long gone simplicity, this man carried for our land
He reminds us why a car, when the walk/cycle suffices

Rest assured are such men,  speak less and touch feet in respect
Will stay few in number, until the dawn of wisdom rises

The foregone point

What use is it, looking back at life
When you don't share, O wise old one

Admitted some don't listen, don't even want to hear
But some seek your words, only shy to ask

History must teach, though the lessons are hard
Each life is a context, those around must learn

Drive home your point, O wise old one
The rather be forgotten, as the forgone point

Scriptures help to a point, as a pole vault does

All this reading can help, but only for you to think
To learn and then apply, else it's all for naught

The scriptures are to imbibe, the teachings of forefathers bygone
They want us to learn and follow, and reach the highest goals

But of what use is all these scriptures, if you read it and sleep
Give not a thought to contemplate, to practice them in life

Irrespective of source, reflects on the same medium..

If one looks above, there are a lot of things to see. The sky, the lights, the birds, the trees.
But if one looks down at a reflecting medium, say a lake or a mirror placed on the ground, all of these get reflected on this single medium.
This is how eyesight functions too. Vice versa, this is why space looks dark despite the sun being there.

Does the source have any meaning without a medium to reflect it?

Optimal management: Track 80%, audit the rest

I was recently watching the documentary "Inside Job" on the 2008 financial crisis. What struck me is that despite all the structures and warning systems in place, crisis cannot be avoided if the intent isn't there. Any number of theories or even proofs can be rubbished under the pretext that "it's too complicated to fire foresee" if there is conflict of interest (read, personal gain).

It made me think that even while the film seemed to suggest due regulation as the medicine, there are merits to the other side of the argument. The very reason socialist countries failed was over-regulation and the resultant systemic corruption. India/Bharat is a classic case study. And there is a movie based on a true story for that too (Ek Doctor Ki Maut). Bharat is learning its lessons and is on the journey of reducing the levels of regulation in order to foster innovation.

The solution, as it usually does in any sphere of life, is in the middle path. It  lies in achieving optimal balance. You can write books and books of regulation but lie stuck unable to achieve pragmatic justice as is shown in Bharat's judicial system. Or you can ignore your duty and leave it to the greedy markets at the peril of humanity as was done by the American financial system.

It's no doubt a tight rope if you get boggled by it. What I think we need instead is an in-principle practice of 80% regulation and 20% audit. Nobody likes to say it this way. People build careers writing regulation or battling and systematically undermining it. What is needed is the acceptance that we need regulation in every sphere, but to come up with the optimal levels for it.

Derivatives should not have been  unregulated (the cause of the financial mess). Nor is there a need for a state owned airline (Bharat's Air India).

In management practice too, have rules along with the purpose/intent and guiding principle be scoped out for each activity. Post that, instead of defining procedural rules to the last dot, keep some room for flexibility and make the audit more accountable and stringent.

Quite often, quality or risk management aspects of management is simply shadowing project teams with pointless meetings, tracking and escalation than focusing or adding any contextual value. Either they should get closer to context and individually contribute, or rather let the project ensure quality/risk management under guiding principles and be audited for those (than say, a specific set of documents existing).

The nature of audit also simultaneously has to change. It can't be the way Arthur Anderson and the credit rating agencies did it (getting away with calling ratings as opinion). Quite often it is seen auditors come with a checklist, have little hands on of the system in question, and rate based on docs submitted. Questionable if the docs amounted to the practices on the ground. Instead they'll have to be on their toes now and cross-check execution outcomes in detail or randomly pick areas to look at in depth, knowing that regulation has left room for flexibility. Again, for the same reason, they should ensure that purpose, not procedure is paramount.

In summary, an 80-20 ratio of regulation-audit balance will reduce cost (of scripting and sticking to regulation beyond the purpose) and increase efficiency (optimal use of talent and time, under the parameters of principles than procedures).

In pursuit of religion we forgot the culture

Let's keep aside the religion, why forget we all are Indians. The most ancient "civilized" nation.

Why in the pursuit of certain religions have we chosen to give up our way of life.

Our food habits, dress code, the way we greet, the languages we speak.
All these did not come from a certain religious aspect. This is us!

The sooner we realise this, the more we will Feel and Be, United!!

JEE

There was not one mind, unkempt, untrained
With concentration ferocious, they all did strain

Yet just hundred, or perhaps a thousand today
Made the cut to top ranks, choice of stream and place

Was mine a dream too, but some best unfulfilled
The important thing being, the dream was that Big!

The revenue country impact on films

The film industry in Bharat no longer makes the big money by focusing on the domestic market alone. Films have to be made by keeping the fan following from international audiences.

Such international appeal money also naturally leads to improvement in the technical aspects of film making: choreography, fights, locations.
It also tends to attract the best talent in music and singing.

This invariably also leads to films being made based out of those locations where the fan (read: the money) is located. This is specifically so for regional audiences who otherwise have just the regional state as their revenue source, versus say the Hindi film industry which can count almost the whole country as their market.

In general, Telugu films thus rely on US, Tamil films on the Singapore, Malaysia markets, Punjabi films in Canada and Malayalam films on the Gulf market. This is just representative to point out the major source of foreign revenue and not to claim that (say) Tamil or Malayalam films don't get released or don't earn much revenue from US.

The risk now in this is that it automatically shows only the glossier, and immediately visible developed side of these countries. The natural effect in 80% of the audiences then is to develop a distaste towards living conditions in Bharat and an aspiration to relocate to those countries.
In some ways this is good because the general population starts pushing their elected representatives asking why conditions can't be better and at least comparable to those shown in the foreign locales. But the downside is losing the talented folks who consider it as a lucky escape once they are able to relocate. Of course which is not the right choice for those reasons, as happiness is subjective and not an objective feeling.

The other point to note is how the revenue source and hence storyline changes when the immigration equations change. For example, Malayalam film industry which traditionally has depended on lower class labour force in the Middle East and was already short on big money, gets further hit when Gulf policies are to send back these laborers.

One more time

One more time, you will play in my lap
One more time, I will give you your bath
One more time, we will play hide and seek
One more time, I will guide what you seek

You are your brother, my one more child
A lifetime's wait has this, life borne fruit

I can't wait your brother, says for all that he wants
I can't wait to love you, One more time all over!

Of Love

For the reason that the rivers moisten the soil
My eyes wet ecstatic for that touch of love

There was never a time when I was not brimming
Oh for the moments I lost, sad and complaining

If there is one feeling we must all touch upon
It is of Love, hopeless, timeless, encompassing!

Our Body, just a Vesham

As a dress that we like to wear
We adorn and wash and throw at will
Thus this body, we carry through life
Why obsess, why crave, the grave is its

I see so many, sweat in gyms
With one sprain of strain, they walk with a limp
Do what's needed, for health of body and prana
Do not overdo, those muscles that you leave back

The impressions are what we carry through lives
Know this, habituate, meditate what's worth
Live life of purpose, this exalted goal
Of truly liberating, both body and soul

Immorality

Immoral is not he, when he sleeps and pays a Veshya
Immoral is the one who, covets his neighbor's wife

Immorality is not when, he burns his life in cigarettes
Immorality is the making, money off the smoke that kills them

Don't lecture others on morality, lessons no one sought for
Just see within and look for, the true intent of mind

Nothing sticks to us

No matter what, the ups and downs
The memories you cherish and even ones regret
Both insults and kisses, and even all you learn
They all will erase, be it in your lives or mine
Nothing oh nothing, sticks to us

So hold back not, this world can laugh
But even they hold back, in secret regret
Go out and live, in this playfield
You got this life, to live simple and full
For you be sure, Nothing sticks to us

Why worry, you are just the witness

When we Realise, there was no one else
Your father, mother, all you loved are You
The one you hate, the one you abhor
Are none else, but only You

This universe, it's creation destruction
Concepts you yourself have created
Why grieve, why fear, when all these too
Emotions you yourself have created

We all are One, My own projection
I stand as witness, and will take you in
Rest assured on creation, as only a dream
And an awakening, a concept of Time

I'm sure it's tasty, but..

The taste of desire is ever lasting
As long as you live on this planet

Engulfed by Maya, there is no escape
The only freedom is to stay apart

It's just like one chooses to keep away
From those that addictively ailing
The cigarettes, the drugs, the alcohol
We know them tempting if you once start

So too stay away from food formed animals
Our bodies were never, built to eat them

So too stay away from stress, anger and lust
Our minds were never, build to bear them

Devi Blessings

Blessings, O Devi, I seek from your feet
My prostrations, My prayers
For your kind eyes to shine upon
This devotee of thee

I am your child, my Mother please see
Caress me as a baby, smiling on thy lap

There be no desires, let me be free
Free me Mahamaye, from this world's retreat

No genius

Come there is no genius
We are all, come here with mental states
Accumulated over lifetimes not years

We come here to exhaust Karma
Not understanding we termed genius
Live and die confused

Think we are special but really not
Only as special as each one is

Recognise and devote in pursuit of the divine
Once you fulfill the grace gifted

Fresh Peace

The grayed out clouds' gloom even while the evening sun shines. The jaundiced shade to the day, while one expects (and prefers) orange.

Just a drip of raindrops enough for the earth to emanate the sweetest scent.

I wonder why we just can't sit together, share and stare..

Why the blood letting and angst, when even sin can be confronted by a stern but happy will!