You and I are here for a reason

"I'd imagine the whole world was one big machine. Machines never come with any extra parts, you know.They always come with the exact amount they need. So I figured if the entire world was one big machine... I couldn't be an extra part, I had to be here for some reason. And that means you have to be here for some reason, too." - Hugo, 2011

How can Congress respond to the Anna situation in a win win way

I will keep this short and simple. This is a multi-party win-win solution so let's first define the parties:

1. Dr. Manmohan Singh
2. Mrs. Sonia Gandhi
3. Congress Party
4. Mr. Rahul Gandhi
5. Mr. Anna Hazare and associates
6. Opposition Party
7. General Public at large

Let's quickly review the facts:

1. People in general are frustrated with Dr. Manmohan Singh's silence and inaction. They expected that with a clear mandate, he will do some good things and improve the condition of the country. He has chosen to stay silent and inactive even when he needed to take action. He could've been a great President, watching everything, inspiring people and providing guidance but unfortunately he is sitting in the Prime Minister's seat and that is an executive position and he needs to act in some way - good bad or ugly.

He himself is confused and lost and will be very happy if there is solution to bail him out with minimum damage.

2. Mrs. Sonia Gandhi, it appeared initially, never wanted to have anything to do with politics especially after what happened to Indira and Rajeev. But it became compulsory for her to step in for two reasons - Congress Party men needed a Gandhi name to act in a sensible way else they were becoming mad, secondly she had to ensure that Rajeev's reputation and family fortune are protected and also ensure a good future for Rahul Gandhi

3. Congress Party: Congress Party agreed to Dr. Manmohan Singh becoming Prime Minister only because Sonia Gandhi decided so, else there was no way they would've been so peaceful. They have been watching all the smaller parties take all the juicy portfolios and squeezing away all the money. They are now restless as the "time in power" is ticking away while they are getting nothing with Manmohan conceding to other parties than to Congress Party and with Sonia Gandhi as the head of NAC, they can't really revolt against Manmohan. They have been patiently waiting for either Priyanka or Rahul to take over as Sonia has refused, which suited them earlier. Their only hope lies with Rahul now and they think he has been trained enough in the populist activities/actions

4. Mr. Rahul Gandhi would've happily settled in some foreign country enjoying a normal life had it not been for the Gandhi tag. He would've never asked for this but "luck" has placed him where he is. Unable to enjoy simple pleasures of life and having to do something political forcibly, he has been doing a reasonable job. He is still not ready and is not sure when he would be ready. He would've been happy had Priyanka agreed to lift the mantle but now he has no option. He looks innocent enough and has enough people around him to advise him that he would be able to handle the leadership for the remaining period of the 5 years if it is thrust upon him. He would never say give it to me.

5. Mr. Anna Hazare and his associates have grabbed the attention and curiosity of the frustrated citizens and have successfully got masses behind them. Mud slinging attempts of Congress have created some confusion in people but whenever they hear Satyagraha, people think, something good will happen. For now Mr. Anna Hazare and his associates want to win this battle while we really don't know which war they are actually fighting

6. Opposition Party, which is the BJP, we can say has no agenda. All they want to see is something happening and their leaders being able to make some comments.

7. Finally we have General Public at large, which is dissatisfied with what they are getting. Inflation is rising, interest rates are going up, and to be honest nothing seems to be working at the moment. Whatever good is happening, it is happening at random and they see that the government including the politicians and Bureaucrats are either doing nothing or are making life difficult for common man and are amassing large sums of money. There could be exceptions but this is the general view. They keep seeing big numbers being reported in print and electronic media but can't really figure how exactly it is impacting them but keep feeling the pain nevertheless. They want something good to happen, they want a new leader to come up and they want some affirmative action. They would like to see supply (production) side improvement to tackle inflation and not just simple rate increases by RBI, they would like to see transparency from all those who are in a position of power - politicians and bureaucrats alike, they would like to see education getting reinvigorated in some way, they would like to see how we as a Country are going to tackle increasingly alarming environmental problems and many more.

Now lets move to the solution:

Step 1: Dr. Manmohan Singh announces that he is resigning as Prime Minister as he is unable to do justice to the position and that he is open for all investigations as he has not benefited himself even by a rupee throughout his tenure as PM
Step 2: Mrs. Sonia Gandhi welcomes the bold move of Dr. Manmohan Singh and invites him to be a part of the NAC and continue providing his services to the country in a consultative way
Step 3: Congress elects Rahul Gandhi as the Prime Minister and Rahul Gandhi accepts this while announcing his plan for the remaining tenure
Step 4: Rahul Gandhi as the new PM announces that the suggestions of Anna Hazare and associates would be accepted without any major changes

This solution will satisfy the objectives of all the seven parties for the moment and if all the parties make sincere effort will lead to a win-win future for India

Thanks for your patient reading. Jai Hind

Upcoming blog posts

After a long time I have decided to start blogging again, thanks to my teachers for guiding me to clarity. I have almost stopped blogging due to lack of clarity but this time I expect to do a good job. Two topics I would like to quickly touch are:

How Congress can respond to the Anna situation in a win win way

Why Mba is not mandatory for your success

Looking forward for your feedback

State of Customer Service in India

From what I have noticed in recent times, customer service, in particular, for telecom and DTH, reaching a customer service executive is becoming almost impossible. Instead writing an email to the respective id is bringing better results.

This is a reasonably good development for those who have access to email but it is highly restrictive to those who have limited access to email and highly discriminative to the illiterate.

Cost reduction efforts are great but this is an area service providers need to keep in mind. Explaining a service issue itself was a great challenge and now if one has to articulate, imagine the difficulty. If the issue is hot brought out properly, there is a good chance of getting a standard reply defeating the whole purpose.

I can't even imagine taking someone's help to write such mail in case I'm illiterate and lack of writing email in native language makes it further difficult.

Hope someone is reading and taking note of this feedback

Fwd: HNY 2011

Wish you all a Very Happy New Year. Along with the wishes I am enclosing an excellent message from a good friend, read on ....

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: AK Rao
Date: Sat, Jan 1, 2011 at 11:14 AM
Subject: HNY 2011
To:

My dear friend,

do you realize it is already a decade old in this new millennium? let me take this opportunity to wish you a very happy and prosperous New Year. i came across a very nice article on the new year resolutions and thought i would share it with you. who knows perhaps, you would take time to read it or print it and mull over it and transform eventually.

"Set and Forget"

Isn't that the typical approach to New Year Resolutions?

Before we consider a 7-part solution, lets start with the top 7 reasons why New Year Resolutions fail:

1.     Projection

With past failures comes pessimism, learned helplessness and negative expectation of life desires being little more than hopes and dreams without belief or conviction.

2.     Purpose

Having no greater sense of life direction or meaning to help steer daily choices, resolutions exist as 'floating islands' in the sea of life's distractions.

3.     Process

A lack of a system, no solid plan-of-action, leaves resolutions as nothing more than wishful thinking.

4.     Prioritization

Rational priorities are overpowered by conflicting emotional priorities – such as the instant gratification of overeating delicious ice cream vs. the struggle and hardship of eating sprouts and drinking carrot juice.

5.     Procrastination

Lack of discipline, thought and control. i.e. Plain old-fashioned laziness.

6.     People:

Circle of friends that drag us down discourage us from achievement, maintaining the status quo of mediocrity.

7.     Politics

Economic troubles and political uncertainty with forced-backed regulation acts as an invisible hand that drains success and limits the globe's progress as a whole.

But if we can flip these 7 factors right side up we will have cracked the code to…

 

Keeping New Year Resolutions

1.    1. Projection

A positive attitude that:

"I am capable of learning how to achieve each resolution".

Mind-map showing the top 10 New Year resolutions of both 2009 and 2010 according to Franklin Covey research, and the 5 life categories they can be grouped under:

Turn negative expectation and pessimism into positive expectation and optimism.

Create positive expectation for success by building the confidence to succeed via the following 6 factors…

2.    Purpose

·      This list of resolutions is significant milestones to my greater long-term life direction and purpose.

·      Making resolutions is usually one of the most significant things that people do for their lives, their families, their success and their happiness each year.

·      After all, New Year resolutions signify some of the most critical, irritating, depressing addictions or problems in the majority of people's lives.

·      But to help them stick, they must be integrated with a personal overall life values and greater sense of long-term ambition.

·      This helps provide the emotional fuel needed to make behavioral and lifestyle changes.

·      Writing out thoughts can do this and feelings to capture on paper your views and perspectives on yourself and your life. This can take a long time, but you are worth the time it takes.

3.    Process

·      I have a simple yet comprehensive method for creating a clear plan-of-action for each and every New Year resolution

·      Create a way to break each resolution into a series of logical next steps.

·      Here's the general plan for keeping New Year resolutions:

o   Jot down clear, precise statements of my resolutions.

o   Pre-plan the landmarks to achieve each goal destination.

o   Maintain my enthusiasm and dedication.

o   Set up my efforts with memory joggers and simple next steps.

o   Review progress and adjust the plan accordingly.

·      It isn't brain surgery but it's not so effortless either. Otherwise everybody would always accomplish his or her resolutions.

·      The biggest difference between success and failure comes from what most people carry out which is basic Goal Setting vs. creating a genuine plan of action through something I call Processing.

·      W E Demming – a very influential corporate guru, said: "If you can't describe what you're doing as a process, you don't know what you're doing."

·      Setting goals means identifying something you want. Processing means developing a step-by-step method to attain a goal.

·      If you have a specific procedure for how to complete something, naturally you will be a lot more optimistic, and can go ahead and take steps to achieve the resolution.

Consider it:

o   TRY to maintain minimal confidence about doing something, when doing that something is simply a string of straightforward next-step physical actions visibly laid out for you in writing.

o   You'll find yourself having a lighter mental state, better outlook, and not because of any inspiring peak performance fluff, but due to the fact that you'll own a process of achievement and not merely a list of wishful thinking.

4.    Prioritization

·      I prioritize my entire lifestyle so that the New Year resolutions fit in with the rhythms of my daily life.

·      You don't only need a process for each resolution, but all resolutions must fit neatly enough into your overall lifestyle so that your path of least resistance leads you to success.

·      What in your life must be re-designed to fulfill your aspirations?

5.     Procrastination

·      I work to develop sufficient willpower to maintain any effort or discipline I need for achieving each resolution.

·      Let's be real. New year resolutions are possible with this 7-factor approach, but that doesn't mean they're easy.

·      It's hard to give yourself permission to take enough time to choose your resolutions, plan them out, factor them into your lifestyle, and then make efforts to take the first step, and each next step, until they are all done. But it's the only way.

6.    People

·      My circle of friends are developed or replaced by people that can encourage and support me in the direction I wish my life to take this year.

·      You may have heard that your income probably matches the average income of your 5 closest friends?

·      Likewise: If you want to get fit, get healthy, improve your finances, spend more time with family, and so on, then having friends that are traveling the same positive journey as you will help you stick to yours.

7.    Politics

·      Damn be those politicians bankrupting our economy and I will play my part to vote the bastards out so our civilization can pursue it's great technological rise into prosperity and harmony.

·      Empower yourself with knowledge by reading from liberty and reason oriented info sources such as Cato Institute, Reason Magazine, Twelve Visions Party, Wikileaks, etc.

Keeping New Year Resolutions – The Bottom line:

·      If you want the best opportunity of attaining your New Year resolutions in 2011 be sure to go way beyond the easy first step of listing things you would like manage the 7 factors of projection, purpose, process, prioritization, procrastination, people, and politics.

·      Take the time and trouble to define in maximum detail exactly how you want life to be and the step-by-step details of each resolution this year.

regards,

AK Rao
www.onechildonelight.org

RE: Something that answers one of my questions

Hi Kiran,

I just have a line or two to describe my thoughts on the question you posed below…

It's like someone sitting on the top of a tree branch & hurriedly cutting it – without noticing the abyss underneath him/her… we are too moved the constant need to outperform us vis-à-vis the competition, that it hardly matters as to the means employed..  maybe it's like … "Ends justify means".. and hence, the means that we are using now-a-days, may result in "The End"

Something that answers one of my questions

I have gone through this small article in yesterday's ET that kind of gave an answer to my question. Actually when I started asking this question, I knew the answer but I thought if no one is thinking like me, then I could be wrong, so instead of going with opinion and solutions, I took this questions to many learned people. They give a wide range of answers and none of them satisfied me; may be I was looking for them to match the answer I have (my own bias), but then it doesn't matter. Now that someone published in the paper, I decided to make my opinion public by agreeing with this article and appreciating the article.

My Question was and still is: Is the current hunger for growth really necessary? If every corporation (incorporating the desires of individual) drives for more and more and keep learning from their failures and become more and more efficient and complex, what would it lead to? Can our Blue Planet support this hunger, can it sustain the man-made changes or will make it such changes that man cannot sustain? Now to the article:

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DEEP ECONOMY

Bill McKibben


FOR most of human history,the two birds More and Better roosted on the same branch You could toss one stone and hope to hit both.But the distinguishing feature of our moment is this: Better has flown a few trees over to make her nest.That changes everything.Now,if youve got the stone of your own life,or your own society,gripped in your hand,you have to choose between them.Its More or Better.Given all that we know about topics ranging from the molecular structure of carbon dioxide to the psychology of human satisfaction,we need to move decisively to rebuild our local economies.These may well yield less stuff,but they produce richer relationships;they may grow less quickly,if at all,but they make up for it in durability.
Shifting our focus to local economies will not mean abandoning Adam Smith or doing away with markets.Markets,obviously,work.Building a local economy will mean,however,ceasing to worship markets as infallible and consciously setting limits on their scope.We will need to downplay efficiency and pay attention to other goals.We will have to make the biggest changes to our daily habits in generations and the biggest change,as well,to our worldview,our sense of what constitutes progress.The old realism an endless More is morphing into a dangerous fantasy.In the face of energy shortage,of global warming,and of the vague but growing sense that we are not as alive and connected as we want to be,I think weve started to grope for what might come next.And just in time.


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Let me know what you think about this.