"The Inconvenient Truth"

Watched "The Inconvenient Truth" last night. What a powerful film. Brings home the urgency of the problem very loud and clear. Getting inspired by the film, I will take public transport wherever and whenever feasible. I wish, they had shown Al Gore riding a bus or the metro instead of driving his car or being driven in a taxi. Private transport is probably a big contributor to global warming. Although everyone complains of traffic snarls and pollution and the other related stuff, the very next day they travel solo in their cars. Unless one sacrifices one's conveniences, the inconvenient truth will loom large.

"The Management Imperative" again. 3 guys run the place.

Quoting from Berg's book ("The Management Imperative").
"There are three kinds of humans on this planet – the ones that make things happen, the ones that see things happen and the ones that wonder what just happened."
Thanks to knowledge of the above principle, nowadays I always ask myself "In the given situation, who am I, leader, doer or just an observer?". I must admit that I was an observer most of the time. But with self questioning, I am becoming more of a doer and sometimes a leader.

Scarier than death

A few hours back I gave a talk before an audience of about fifty. They say that fear of public speaking is bigger than the fear of death. I was reminded of a technique to get rid of this fear. This was taught by my English teacher, Mr. R. S. Rathore, during my schooldays.
I studied in a residential school - Sainik School, Balachadi, Jamnagar. We used to live in dormitories. A dormitory was a big common hall with beds in two rows and cupboards along the wall. Each dormitory used house about 20 boys.
Our day would typically start very early necessitating a break after lunch. Probably an hour. To be a good public speaker, Mr. Rathore gave us a simple exercise. During the break, stand up on the bed and speak on any topic in any language for three minutes. You had to do this for ten consecutive days ignoring the indifference, applause or heckling by the other boys. In case you missed a day, the count would start from one again.
I cannot claim to be a great speaker. I think, I do reasonably well. Mr. Rathore's exercise definitely helped me overcome my fear.
I think the biggest fear while speaking in public is the fear of ridicule. Would the audience jeer at me? Are they getting bored? Why is the gentleman in the left corner smiling? Why is the lady on the right looking at her watch? etc. etc. You need to manage a contradiction. Say what the audience appreciates and at the same time not get very attached to their visible response.

It worked!

Like for many other people, work for me invariably means looking expectantly at the glowing 14 something " computer screen, furiously typing on the keyboard and pushing and clicking the mouse. A few days back my forefinger and thumb started paining. I was scared if this was the dreaded RSI (repetitive stress injury).
Just to try a home remedy I started squeezing a stress ball whenever my hand was free. And voila, the pain reduced significantly within a week. I am able to write and type as before with almost no discomfort.

Why be scared of living

I recently participated in a discussion run by my friend Rajan Parulekar (http://in.linkedin.com/in/rajanparulekar) on "The Road Less Travelled" (M. Scott Peck). This book is about being a realist in life, accepting pain and suffering as a part of life, rather than trying to run away from it.
It occurred to me that the following lyrics by Shailendra from the Hindi movie, "Mera Naam Joker" (मेरा नाम जोकर Translation: My Name is Joker), very appropriately capture the spirit of "The Road Less Travelled".

जीने से डरता है क्यों, मरने से डरता है क्यों
ठोकर न जब तक तू खाएगा
पास किसी गम को न अपने बुलाएगा
जिंदगी क्या चीज है ये नहीं जान पाएगा
रोता हुआ आया है रोता चला जाएगा

(Approximate translation:
Why be scared of living, why be scared of dieing
Unless you get kicked around, unless you invite suffering
You won't comprehend what is life
You came into this world crying and go back the same way)

"The Management Imperative" Anton van den Berg

Recently I got to read "The Management Imperative" authored by my LinkedIn friend Anton van den Berg.
I immensely liked the book. The first part of the book is just superb. The author has talked about some basic principles of living a life. (Sorry, this may sound a bit convoluted, but I could not describe it in different words.) But for this kind of subject, the book does not seem to be preachy at all. The author has described each principle in a page or two with an anecdote and a picture. The best part is that you can open almost any page and read without loss of continuity.
The second part of the book where the author talks of some management theories is not as interesting as the first part.
The third part deals with your action plan using blank templates and charts. I am still trying to get my arms around it.
All in all, I would recommend this book as an easy to read and understand self help book.