Gratitude

It is a day away from the end of 2016. And I am thankful for such a great year. Thank you, God.

For once, I understood the importance of having gratitude in life. No matter what we go through- ups or downs. It is important to remember the small things that make our life so worth living. The food we eat, the places we visit, and the folks who make memories for us.

So, I am addressing this post to God directly this time.

Dear God,

Thank you. For the trials you gave me this year - it made me a better person. For trusting me inspite of my constant cribbing :P For the opportunities you gave me. For making me a more positive person. For throwing a few surprises around to light me up when I thought I couldn't take it anymore. For helping me discover myself a tad bit more. For sending angels whenever I needed them. For making me understand some of the many subtleties of life. For the food, shelter and the moral guidance you sent. For the absolutely delightful days, and for the days which made me introspect myself. For the emotional and moral strength needed for the struggles in life. From the bottom of my heart, thank you, God.

I do not know what lies ahead in the years to come. But I just hope to get your guidance to save the day, dear God. Thank you so much :)

The song.

Pretty much the only song I listen to, nowadays.. "Waiting for the end" from Linkin park. Here goes the lyrics:


This is not the end
This is not the beginning,
Just a voice like a riot
Rocking every revision
But you listen to the tone And the violent rhythm
Though the words sound steady Something empty's within 'em

We say Yeah!
With fists flying up in the air
Like we're holding onto something
That's invisible there, 'Cause we're living at the mercy of
The pain and the fear Until we dead it, Forget it, Let it all disappear.

Waiting for the end to come
Wishing I had strength to stand
This is not what I had planned
It's out of my control....

Flying at the speed of light
Thoughts were spinning in my head
So many things were left unsaid
It's hard to let you go...

(Oh!) I know what it takes to move on,
I know how it feels to lie,
All I wanna do
Is trade this life for something new
Holding on to what I haven't got

Sitting in an empty room
Trying to forget the past
This was never meant to last,
I wish it wasn't so...

(Oh!) I know what it takes to move on,
I know how it feels to lie,
All I wanna do
Is trade this life for something new
Holding on to what I haven't got

What was left when that fire was gone?
I thought it felt right but that right was wrong
All caught up in the eye of the storm
And trying to figure out what it's like moving on
And i don't even know what kind of things
I've said My mouth kept moving and my mind went dead
So, picking up the pieces, now where to begin?
The hardest part of ending Is starting again!!

All I wanna do
Is trade this life for something new
Holding on to what i haven't got...

This is not the end
This is not the beginning,
Just a voice like a riot
Rocking every revision

But you listen to the tone
And the violet rhythm
Though the words sound steady
Something empty's within 'em (Holding on to what i haven't got)

We say Yeah!
With fists flying up in the air
Like we're holding onto something
That's invisible there,
'Cause we're living at the mercy of
The pain and the fear
Until we dead it,
Forget it,
Let it all disappear (Holding on to what i haven't got!)

Free will

In the film "Bruce Almighty", God mentions that free will is something He would never mess with. He chooses to give people "choices" and let people make their own decisions. And, come to think of it, this is the biggest bane as well as the biggest gift to mankind. Bane - coz it often leads to so much of confusion in our lives that I am sure, no matter how good we are in decision making, we would be spending nearly half of our lives' time in deciding the "right" things (considering the variety of things we are "blessed" with) . Gift - coz, sometimes, we "feel" we have the power to control our lives, the power to believe in seemingly impossible tasks and come out of them, stronger and happier than what we were.

God is supposed to be our parent, who guides us in making the absolute right decisions in every phase of our lives. He is the one who gives us signs to do things in a certain way. Yet, it is not always that we get things right. Why? How do we know that we have actually followed a path that God indicated to us? Does He always guide us? And if He is wise enough to decide things for us in advance, why give us false illusions of "free will"?

The whole concept of "free will" and "destiny" is so mixed up in my mind right now, that I can't seem to put them together to make some logical meaning. If the concept of "destiny" is that "whatever will happen, will happen, no matter what" then the concept of "free will" seems to be contradicting it. Is "free will" just an illusion that God creates in our mind, coz He already knows our "destiny"?

Is God just another person who has enormous amount of work or, is He really some super natural who can actually do magic whenever He chooses to?

Amazing!

Wishes do come true, afterall.. :-) Sometime back in my blog, I had mentioned about a super power that would help read people's minds. And bingo! here it is.. Just check this link.

Whiff of fresh air.. again?

Another year passes by. A year where there was a lot of drama - politically( blame game due to terrorism), economically(recession,inflation), and also personally ;)

I like new years. Everyone seems so excited about what is going to happen next. Its like being given another opportunity to learn new things, make fresh beginnings, start that new hobby, make new friends, undergo makeovers.. a whole new start! :-)

What about resolutions, you ask? Let me ask you one thing - Have you heard a song from the band "Aasma" which goes like "Apni Har Subah Nayee..." ? Believe in that attitude, and you would not waste any more time asking that question to people.

Well, I guess, as the new year approaches, its all lying in our attitude - whether we wanna make a change or not.

Wish you all a rocking new year! Ugaadiya shubhaashayagaLu!

Confused... :S

I was trying to test the internet connection speed at home today, and I saw so many links online which could do this. Each one giving different results.. :S Anyone out there knows how I can check it? And what all parameters I should check?

Marketing Strategies?

Sometime this week, I was reading the newspaper and saw an ad about a management institute. It covered a whole page and has been seen very consistently in the last few days. Till recently, they had their tag line as "Dare to think beyond the IIMs". It was annoying enough to see a not-so-well-known institute making a statement like that. But the latest ad crossed all limits when it said - "Dare to think beyond the IITs". Then, they also print the photo of the dean of their institute, who had written one best seller loooong ago. Apparently he is a management guru. And they have a note below his picture saying that to know about his skills, we should read his best seller book.

The first thing that struck me when I read this ad was - either the guy who has written this ad is still in 5th Std, or, maybe this institute is one of those which hasn't got enough recognition inspite of good work. Or, maybe I was just totally ignorant about this institute. Hoping that someone would go - "What! You don't know this institute? Its almost as good as the IIM!", I decided to find out about the institute. And, after learning some things about it, what can I say? I haven't been more disappointed about an ad before. Anyway, I go to visit their website to check if they have some rankings put up. I see that they have "Rankings don't matter" in one of their sections, and yet, put up an ad saying that they are ranked so-and-so in a top magazine. Disappointing. Especially considering that the dean of the institute is one of the more successful management guys in India.

Then, I started to wonder, how should an upcoming management institute advertise? Well, I might not be able to give insights on advertising technicalities, but here are my 2 cents -

1. Do not compare yourself to the big competitors you have, esp if you haven't made a lasting impression on the public from a long time. You need to first make a name for yourself.

2. Do not intentionally use a name which *sounds like* your competitor's name. You are out there to make a name for yourself, and have an identity of your own. ( Seriously, I have not understood the motivation to use names like that - do these people think that educated public falls for these kinda things?)

3. You might have the most successful guy in the field as the head of the institute, but you still need people who are NOT connected to the institute and who have NO compulsion for praising the institute, to make statements about how good you are. Just putting up "promises" from the dean would not persuade people to join. )

Well, those are the few things I could think of. But I am sure any MBA guy with a decent advertising experience could think of better strategies.