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Showing posts from January, 2013

Gandhini

Her wait is over. Gandhini packs the carry bag for her son, Karthy. He is going on a long tour of five cities, having recently finished three performances in three Sabhas - it was a glorious madras music season , at least for him. It has been hectic so far. But this is the final leg of this year. She is getting ready to get some life back. Time passes slowly now. Karthy is going to become a great singer: that is Gandhini's dream and she knows it. She will do whatever it takes to get him there. Not because of what she wants, but because that is what Karthy wants. She found his talents early, when he was five. He was a silent boy and never spoke much. But one day, he started singing along with the radio station, in the "hall"/living room, while she was cooking. This would have been a normal day, had it not been for their neighbour, who came in unannounced, listened, cried in happiness and left him a gift of Amul chocolates - a treasure for a five year old! Sin

The force of capital

Humans value scarcity, but are consumed by abundance. This was a good thing when abundance was ephemeral or seasonal. We were careful with scarce resources and quick to take advantage of the occasional gifts and bonanzas. But when the good things become abundant, we waste away our scarce resources, or worse, effect scarcity in the unlikeliest of places. This seems to have happened to the  producers of quinoa, a vegan alternative to rice and wheat. In this instance, it seems that the scale of quinoa's rise as an important health food has exported abundance to those who merely consume  quinoa , while importing scarcity into the lives of those who do  value the grain. The invisible hand won't just create or honor capital, but force it until it is spent. Sounds familiar.  

Don't forget the process.

There are three ways we forget what really matters: the process. There is only one way to change it: admit no permanent resting places. When we have an IDEA for execution, say a new year's resolution, we spend all the time developing it to completion. However, the process to get there is filled with slow starts, bursts of commitment, and egging along by our trust network. When we DO succeed, we claim victory and explain it with a rationale for our success. We are ready to  make a linear narrative of steady progress that took us to the top. When we reach a COMFORT level at our success, we end up looking out for those who need to follow us - our children, team or students. We create a linear path for them to succeed, and we plan for their life to be as linear as it sounds in our self stories. We mistake our stories for reality. The reason why our idea worked is that we stuck to it long enough, no matter how slow. The reason why we did succeed is because we were ready fo

Reprise - race with the machines II

A friend commented that   the race for the machines  was only addressing half of the truth. Here's the "half filled cup", so to speak :-) The world is rippling with efficient bursts of digital emotions from folks who offer - to billions of us - the chance for gratitude towards the creators' deep springs of contemplation as they serve it up to us and our digital posterity. Technology is working round the clock in supercharging our lives - through the machines that bedazzle us with their unending service - with needs that we never dreamed we could satisfy. Lo! Our minds grapple with their possibilities for re-making us. Hanging on, surfing their surges and waves, working the sensory channels that feed the need for speed and bursts of action, we simply ice that reality cake - the art of enlivening the immortal inside us. But out of the blue moon, when time itself stands still, the silent inner space shines out of our eyes, into our analog world