I was reminded of this episode when I read about the recent finding of dinosaur fossils in Tamil Nadu. True to our tradition I waited for a follow up report that would reflect our national ethos of showing scant regard for priceless treasures. The report came in a day’s time with the following line:

“Barely weeks after scientists unearthed a Jurassic age treasure in the form of hundreds of dinosaur eggs in Ariyalur district of Tamil Nadu, local villagers and students are looting and damaging the precious fossils.”

I can only add that it is not correct to blame ordinary people. Even our netas rush to the site of a terrorist bomb blast accompanied by a few dozen minions in tens of cars and stomp all over the scene of the attack pretending to take stock of the situation, even as the whole country knows that nothing will come out of the ‘investigations.’ The terrorists may well be sipping chai at a nearby tea stall and may even garland the beaming neta.

Most countries around the world would cordon off such sites in minutes and even the Prime Minister is not allowed to inspect the site with gay abandon. But not India!

But I have a funny tale to tell. I sent a script that I had written about dinosaurs in India to Steven Spielberg. This was written long before the recent finds in Tamil Nadu. Spielberg refused to even consider my script so I asked and got an appointment with the iconic film director. Unlike Bollywood big wigs he agreed to meet me seeing my enthusiasm.

I began by telling him about the Indian response to his movie Jurassic Park. He was not aware that this film was dubbed into several Indian languages. He asked me if our languages had an appropriate word for dinosaur and I told him about that thrilling scene in his movie when a kid exults when she first sees a dinosaur. The Hollywood original has her screaming: “Gosh There’s a dinosaur!”

The Hindi version, I told him, has her screaming: “Uima chipkali aa gayee!”

When I translated this into English Spielberg exhibited a range of emotions that could have won him an Oscar! He alternately laughed and cried till he was rolling on the floor out of pain and hilarity. Once he regained poise he said that calling a dinosaur a “chipkali” (a lizard) was……!!! Mercifully he left it unsaid.

When peace descended I told him that I had a script for another India-centric dinosaur movie. This time I told him it was about octogenarian and nonagenarian politicians in Tamilnadu itself, not far from the site where fossils were discovered. The highlight of the movie, I told him, was when the egg bursts and a baby dinosaur emerges. He walks to Chennai and encounters some netas with whom he establishes immediate kinship considering the similarity in antiquity.

The rest of my story is about how other netas in India wished to meet this dinosaur only to be told by DMK that some more of its MPs must be inducted into the Union Cabinet as a pre-condition. The adventures of the dinosaur are well chronicled in my script. Spielberg is actively considering the project.

And both can be diametrically opposite.

Besides, man can use borrowed powers: the powers developed by peaceful intelligent people can be used by destructive, unintelligent people. Creative growth solutions meant for peace and development can be used for destruction, genocide and terror. This combination of delusion and acquired potency brings forth counterfeit leaders and politicians and a hollow or forced governing system.

Every governing system no matter how beneficently conceived eventually tends to exploit the weaker segments of society. History shows us many examples of the worst implementations of benign ideologies. Communism conceived for equality and sanity has been applied by most insane dictators. Equal powers for all is used as all powers for one. Karl Marx and Lenin could never have imagined communism the way it was applied by Stalin.

Albert Einstein considered the theory of relativity that resulted in atom bomb, as his single greatest mistake in life. On the other hand, Harry Truman celebrated the night Hiroshima and Nagasaki were bombed.

Money that was invented as an excellent solution for relative worth has become the root of all evil among humans. A solution designed for active easy flow became an excellent method for passive, concealed hoardings.

Any creative idea comes as a coin: with both positive and negative sides. The owner is free to encash any of its sides. He is free to buy bread or poison from it. Ironically nature has no substitutes for wisdom. And it has no shortcuts to acquiring it either. Hard earned knowledge always carries wisdom within itself whereas book-acquired knowledge doesn’t. A life lived honestly and fearlessly produces knowledgeable and wise men: men with empathy, righteousness and intelligence.

Contrarily, pseudo knowledge earned in degrees, skills and techniques results in egotistical, destructive and rigid men. Men who do not know the worth or effect of power never hesitate to use it for wrong reasons.

It is a paradox that the more knowledgeable a person becomes the less he yearns for power. It seems as if in some warped way, power attracts the corruptible. A wise person will always hesitate to lead masses whereas an immature person will always rush towards it. So much so that he wouldn’t object to crushing others to succeed in his ambitions. Men love to reap where they never sowed.

Acquiring power helps a person ignore or hide his inferiorities or complexes.

But the fact remains that the big shots are only little shots that keep on shooting. Contemporary society which confuses power with greatness, has encouraged this mutation to flourish. Our social system has a tendency to respect the wrong attributes in subtle ways. The human power pyramid is working upside down. Rather than respecting individuals we respect possessions. This is one of the greatest tragedies of life as we know it to be.

Without a doubt….the right power in right hands blended with knowledge, wisdom, love and respect for life is humanity’s most urgent need at this time.

I think a foolish person (fool) is the one who knows, does and views things differently from wise men, as well as other fools. And that’s why neither the wise men nor the other fools comprehend, contemplate or communicate with him. And for the sake of convenience and respect the name given to this living being is “fool.” We always tend to relate foolishness to absence of common sense and knowledge. Fools are unwanted everywhere, because we feel they are just not worth our time and effort to be courteous and tolerant. But if you keep an open mind you may well realise that foolishness is not stupidity. It is thinking way beyond the logical, rational and unimaginative minds of wise people. I say this primarily for the following reasons.

Foolishness is not about a person, but a phase of life or a reaction to a situation.

You will agree that we all have been foolish in some instance, phase or stage of our lives. And we have seen the wisest of the wise men being foolish at times. For instance, scientists and researchers at NASA, had spent years and millions of dollars trying to find the right tool to be able to write in the space, since pens don’t work because of the lack of gravity. They then discovered that their counterpart in the then USSR (Russia), used pencils to solve the same problem. Now would you dare call NASA, foolish?

Even in our daily lives we make a mess sometimes due to our silly logic. But we call them ‘mistakes’, because these slip ups are not frequent or important enough to push us into calling ourselves ‘fools’. So the only matter of difference between the so-called ‘wise’ and ‘fools’ is of the frequency and magnitude of mistakes. Once you have crossed that line between predictable thinking and unpredictable thinking you are likely to be called a ‘fool’ by your contemporaries. To me it only means that you have gone beyond the thinking and imagination of your time and it’s time to move on.

To think fools are useless is foolish. All the real creativity that the world has ever seen came from those perceived as ‘fools’ or men thought to be ‘mad.’ It took some real madness to prove gravity with a falling apple. It took a real fool to assert than the earth was spherical when everyone else claimed it was flat. If Orkut or Facebook were to form a group of fools or mad people, it will surely have the following names registered: Copernicus, Isaac Newton, Archimedes, Aristotle, Galileo, Saint Kabeer, Mirza Ghalib etc. All of them, for most of their lives had been called ‘fools’ or ‘mad’ by contemporary society. It happened because they arrived in the world before their contemporaries were ready for them. So before we judge the ‘fools’ of our times, we need to wait for at least a century to confirm that they didn’t evolve into the geniuses of our era while we were stuck in the status quo wearing blinders.

The concept of a book starts within someone who is restless with a concept. So restless that he cannot keep it to himself. He feels like sharing it with anyone who’s interested. He becomes like a live volcano wanting to erupt and express itself. It takes days, months, years and sometimes a lifetime for a writer to put down all his thoughts in a book. But when it does, he feels spent and fulfilled at the same time.

Most people read books either to be entertained or to seek information. Some also read to find what someone else thinks. But the real worth of reading is when one reads a book to read his own mind.

I am referring to those unexplored, untouched and hidden sparks of wisdom that can be excavated within us only when we resonate with a like minded writer through the medium of a book. I am talking about those “Ahh! I know exactly what you mean…” moments in reading when one comes across statements which you can claim as your own because they have been nestling in your head or at the tip of your tongue, waiting to come out. Sometimes you feel jealous of the writer for having written it before you.

Swami Vivekananda in one of his very intense speeches proclaimed that there’s no knowledge that comes from the outside the mind. My interpretation of this assertion is that all knowledge and wisdom are perennially seeded in the mind. Like with dry wood, the potential of fire is always present, it just needs the spark to light it. The fire in it is “sushupta”, subdued and subconscious. But it’s there. The author through his book tries to ignite the fire in the reader’s mind. But if the wood is wet, then nothing can fire it. This wet wood represents the state of a closed mind when it is heavy and dense with preconceived notions.

There are really only two types of books. One type feeds escapism and entertainment impulses and the other opens up your mind to allows you access to long-seeded ideas that need expression. I lust after the latter because it ignites the fire of self-exploration in me. I am passionate about this kind of book because it has a transformative effect on me as I connect to the writer on a deep level. It feeds my hunger for answers and self-expression. The book becomes an intimately shared bond with the writer and allows me to expand my mind and consciousness which is one of my primary purposes in life. Book lust is a fascinating addiction….don’t you think?

While we all admired the screen villain l begged to disagree with Milind. I asked him if he ever recollected anybody being named Pran even before the villain entered Bollywood? The silence in response to my question told its own tale. ‘Pran’ was a rarest of rare names and the possible fact that few if any had that name may have nothing to do with the actor’s screen deeds. The evidence did not support Milind’s contention.

It may seem obvious but many neglect to remember this simple guideline to good thinking—the need for credible evidence. This form of thinking, called Evidence based Thinking or EBT is now being rigorously being applied in a range of subjects such as medicine, management, sociology etc.

An interesting example of EBT is available in a recent issue of The New York Times where an article sought to discuss what appears to be a curious phenomenon–the trend of reducing crime rates in the USA. The first half of 2009 has seen a sharp fall in crime rates across the country even in cities that have been the hotbeds of crime like New York and Chicago. Even cities hit hard by bank failures and the consequent loss of jobs like Charlotte, are showing reduced crime levels. What is even more surprising is that cities that are known to be traditionally crime free are showing increased crime rates.The writer’s conclusion? Astrologers and tea leaves readers may be better able to predict crime rates than scientists!

Let’s look at the inadequacy of traditional predictors and how EBT proves these to be inadequate:

THE ECONOMY: This seems fundamental but the evidence is stunning–the Depression era had lower crime rate than the Prohibition era!

MORE CONVICTIONS AND IMPRISONMENT: The incarceration rates have been increasing but EBT shows that crime rates have been zigzagging up and down seemingly unconnected to each other.

ABORTION RATES: It is suggested that legalizing abortions has helped in avoiding unwanted births. These unwanted kids go on to become criminals or so the theory suggested. But EBT shows that there are many countries that have legalized abortion but have not seen declines in crime rates.

GUN THEORY: Expanded gun ownership rights have deterred criminals who must now consider whether their victims are armed. Thus, the theory goes, with more and more people possessing guns crime rates can be expected to go down but EBT shows that while New York gun ownership is low, reduction in crime rates is the most significant in that city.

ILLEGAL DRUGS: It is suggested that illegal drug use drives up crime. EBT shows that the percentage of those arrested in New York with illegal drugs in their system has remained more or less flat.

To make a long story short almost all traditional predictors of crime have failed to stand up to careful scrutiny under the rigorous lens of EBT. Even the popular theory that poverty leads to crime, has been belied. Andrew Karmen, a criminologist at the John Lay College of Criminal Justice in New York noted, ‘There are people out there putting up with an awful lot of suffering and they are not complaining all that much’.

In medicine EBT shows that many medicines and surgical procedures including angioplasty and the removal of disk have little or no benefit to a patient and the situation can be managed simply by comparatively inexpensive drugs.

Management gurus who apply EBT say that ESOPs do more harm than good. Wall Street gives enough evidence of this with Merger and Acquisition failures almost 70%.

The summary–we need more rigorous research and must be wary of facile theories.

Two final remarks. When banks in India are the subject of discussion, critics say that government-directed lending is responsible for bad loans. EBT shows that the rate of bad loans is much higher among well-heeled borrowers. Bad loans in microfinance schemes are negligible even though the borrowers are among the poorest of he poor.

EBT also shows that the most attractive cities to live in India are NOT Mumbai, Bangalore, New Delhi. Which are the 3 best cities? Look for evidence on your own please.

The point he was making was that there is no great value addition at Harvard!

I recall writing a letter to a newspaper in response to the boast of a school principal that his college ‘produced’ a particularly renowned cricketer. I argued that my knowledge of that college indicated that that college had contributed precious little to that cricketer’s rise to eminence.

I once met the CEO of a top company as soon as he emerged from the campus of a renowned B-school in eastern India and asked him what was special about the graduates of that B school since he had chosen to ‘place’ a dozen of their students in his organisaion. He replied that the selection process for admissions to that school ensured that the finest youngsters in the country were admitted to the MBA programme. His company wanted some of these fine youngsters who had been ‘pre- selected’ by the B- school. “What they learn at the school has little significance for us because they will have to learn the real world of business after they join us,” he added.

In each of these cases one can see a very insightful form of thinking called ‘counterfactual thinking’. This mode of thinking calls for us to ask the question: what would have happened if the variable under scrutiny did not take place? Thus in the instances cited above a possible conclusion may be (I admit you can have a different viewpoint) that the institutions had little contribution towards the final outcome. Harvard students are already among the best and the brightest and would have reached positions of eminence anyway — Harvard may have little to do with their success in life.

The cricketer who is now a legend would have become a master no matter which college he went to. In recent years boys who never went to college at all have become cricketing heroes.

The B school graduates would have done well in the corporate sector even if they had gone to a humble B school or to no B school at all—barring the status attached to being an alumnus of the well known school. Surveys have shown that graduates from that school are occupying high positions in India’s corporate sector.

A research report from MIT on the working of the much lauded micro-finance concept shows that these institutions may not be making significant contribution to poverty alleviation. Applying counterfactual thinking in a series of ingenious experiments they showed that those who received micro-financing and did well would have prospered in any case, given that they had entrepreneurial qualities anyway and were already on the way out of poverty.

Let me propose a hypothesis:
With a few honorable exceptions the Indian education system fails in imparting even basic skills – both the so called hard and even more so the soft skills. The question arises: If our education is that abysmal how can we account for Indians’ success all over the world in almost any field of human endeavour? Counterfactual thinking suggest that these ‘successful’ Indians would have been successful anyway given their innate intelligence and survival instincts.

Remember the Indian immigrant abroad is — barring exception – -an economic refugee who is running away from an oppressive regime that has stifled his ingenuity and denied him opportunities and actively impeded his growth. Such people do well no matter where they hail from. Education in India may have little to do with their success — that’s the sad news. Where does that leave us as far as education is concerned ? It will be the corporate sector that will have to fill the gap by training their recruits even in the basics. This is happening already — that’s the good news

Focus is a fabulous force. Tho’ sometimes, it’s good to blur the lines and depart from your expertise, your skill set and what you think you know so well. Many a great discovery has come from accidental encounters and seemingly unrelated interests.

Choose three subjects that you have no interest in whatsoever, or that you’re actually slightly adverse to. Do it right now. Google ‘em. Let yourself meander for a bit, not too long – just until you learn something you didn’t know before.

My topic picks: knitting – I respect it dearly, but it’s never going to happen for me; National Rifle Association – a mentality that baffles my sensibilities and values; high-jumping – not in this life time.

Here’s what I learned in under fifteen minutes:
1. From Craftnicity and The Knit A Square Project: It is estimated that there are 11.6 million orphans in sub-saharan Africa. 1.4 million live in South Africa.
2. According to the Washington Post, “visitors to some national parks would be able to start packing heat along with their tents and picnic baskets under a proposal being considered by the Interior Department that would ease restrictions on loaded firearms in the parks.” Just what I want…to go camping in the same vicinity as some yahoos with a Winchester in their cooler.
3. Blanka Vlašić is considered the Best Female Athlete in the World. Her legs go up to my chin. Wowza.

The point of this exercise isn’t to waste time or fill your bean with trivia. It’s to remember what it’s like to actively learn. Feel your brain pulse, your eyes lift, your heart open. Freshness. Power. Perspective – is everything.

The other instance is that of Mayawati who brazenly announced that several hundreds of crores of rupees that could help alleviate the many crises  that her state faces will go to install hundreds of statues of  the Dr. Ambedkar, Sri Kanshi Ram and Mayawati herself!

Let me begin by examining Mayawati’s action. In a larger sense what she is practicing  what sociologist MN Srinivas termed ‘sanskritisation’  in which  people of the ‘lower castes’ attempt to imitate the ‘upper castes’ whenever they move up the socio-economic-political  ladder. Thus Mayawati is doing what is essentially  Brahminical — idolization, in this case  herself.

After all a unique feature of Hinduism is the idolization of God or anyone perceived to have  ‘attained’ God or exhibited exemplary qualities associated with divinity. Thus there are any number of idols to what are essentially human beings in almost any Hindu temple.

My observation about idolatrous thinking is as follows: This line of thinking can and almost always does lead to cult formation, hero worship, personality cult,  to people surrendering their own ability and right to think for themselves. Just look at India’s political parties. In most parties the leader is idolized to such an extent that there is no second line of leadership outside  the ruling family, there is no inner party democracy, no fresh ideas emerge over decades.  The difference between most of these leaders and the ‘Dear Leader’ of North Korea is marginal.

This goes to extreme  lengths when roads, bridges, stations, airports, are named after these cult leaders. I find it difficult to name a single city where there are ONLY three structures named after say Rajeev Gandhi.

In a recent  discussion in a US paper about the prospects of India emerging as a superpower, an analyst pointed out that the hierarchical nature of Indian society and institutions  prevents creativity and no country that merely copies what others have discovered or invented can ever  become a superpower. Our idolatrous thinking in relation to those perceived as ‘higher’ than us  prevents free thinking and therefore stifles creativity.

Those ‘higher’ than us includes parents, teachers, ministers; those ‘higher’ than us in the office hierarchy; those  ‘higher’ in the caste system; those richer than us; those who dress better than us; those who are better looking than us and those whose skin is ‘fairer’ than ours.

In one survey conducted by a Mumbai tabloid it was revealed that people living in the tony localities of south Mumbai  considered people living in modest suburbs to be ‘genetically inferior’! The list of ‘ higher’ people who need to be therefore idolized ensures that most of us end up with an inferiority complex.

I may add that the US also exhibits some form of idolatrous thinking in the tendency to make larger than life heroes of its achievers.  Many readers may know that Thomas Alva Edison is rated the greatest inventor of all time — he has the largest number of patents to  his  credit. But few may know that Edison was more a leader, a motivator than an inventor.  The credit for his inventions ought to go to the many scientists who toiled in his laboratory at New Jersey. That has not happened and in typical Hollywood fashion, it is Edison who emerges as a ‘sole’ hero.

This is also the case with the many corporate heroes one reads about in business books. The CEO gets almost all the credit though it is always  team work that lifts a company to great heights — this is something that American business books will admit in their more sober moments.

The excessive television coverage of US presidents can be disconcerting. Television stations will tell  you which restaurant Obama went to, which dress Michelle Obama  wore, and  even what the White House dog had for breakfast! Not unlike the bad old days in India when Doordarshan, the only TV channel at that time, seemed to have its cameras attached to ministers’ behinds  trailing them everywhere bar the bar and the washroom.

A paradox in all this is that in India  atheists indulge in more of idolization than the devout Hindu. Thus the DMK that officially is a party which upholds atheism and ‘rational’ thinking is among the most idolatrous and irrational of political parties in India. They have set up more statues in Tamilnadu than even the RSS or VHP  would have done if they had come into power! The manner in which their top leadership, the ruling family, is treated with obeisance with people falling at their feet, is more reminiscent of the much reviled (by the DMK)  Brahmin touching the feet of ‘saints’. Jayalalitha carries this idolization to great horizontal lengths  when even her cabinet colleagues (when she was the Chief Minister) were mandated to prostrate at her feet at the start of every cabinet meeting.

It  is no surprise that  in the Tamil film world, we see the worst kind of idolization — after all politics and films are closely intertwined in that state. Bollywood has its own watered down version of idolization. Just Ask Amitabh !

Outside of politics one can see idolatrous  thinking and behaviour in religion and business. I have seen at a Mumbai meeting many people idolizing and literally worshipping Dhirubhai Ambani. The  man would ‘bless’  prostrate people sometimes without  even looking at them. He would talk to someone else perhaps striking a  lucrative deal,  even as he waved his ‘divine’ hands  over the supplicant! I imagined the possibility that that deal may have been at the expense of the man pitifully lying at Dhirubhai’s ‘lotus feet’.

In religion, essentially  in Hinduism, one sees the power wielded by gurujis and matajis. I have seen respected scientists suspending their scientific thinking  when talking about their favourite guruji. One  ‘scientist’ told me that she had seen one of India’s most popular babas make the sun rise in the west! The many miracles attributed to these gurujis and  blindly believed by masses of idolatrous people attest to the dangers that befall us when we allow idolatrous thinking to jettison even common sense. What does Indian society need urgently?
ICONOCLASTS!

This incident brought home to me another lesson on the differences between the East and the West in the way people think; in fact this is the subject of my next book titled, Can Indians Think?

Let me cite some other instances. A Japanese company entered into a contract with an Australian company to buy millions of tonnes of a commodity, let’s say sugar. Within days of the contract the international market and price for sugar fell precipitously. The Japanese called for a re–negotiation of the contract. The Australians refused saying in effect ‘a deal is a deal.’ The Japanese felt this was unfair. The Australians felt it was business after all. What are the chances that the Japanese will do business thereafter with that Australian company?

At a discussion on the violent incidents in connection with the Nano car project at Singur, some people argued that the farmers were being unreasonable – they had been offered financial compensation, their sons were promised a job in the factory but was it logical that the farmers should let their land be acquired? Is logic all there is to life?

I have often written articles and books on thinking skills and have emphasized the importance of logic. Some readers have protested that I seem to be laying too much stress on logic and ignoring emotions. If I have given this impression then I need to improve my communication skills. I believe not only in logic but also in intuition, emotions and more importantly in non-logical creative thinking that I teach to corporate executives. My website tells you more about this. It has been conclusively proven that a person whose emotional centres are damaged due to trauma and only his logic centres are functional, CANNOT TAKE DECISIONS!

Eastern thinking tells us that it is more important to be reasonable than to use logic and reason. In the Singur case my stand is as follows: Try suggesting to a Mumbai-based executive to shift to — say Chennai, in his own company on a promotion with better salary and perks. The executive will leave the company rather than shift to Chennai (until recently at least). When asked for the reason he will shower a torrent of criticisms at Chennai without the benefit of having ever visited the city! I agree this is not universally true but you would be surprised at the response. My point is that even people in cities have their attachments to their city, locality, friends, way of life and will resist if they are asked to move to another location .

In Mumbai people are even attached to the specific train they travel in everyday. My friend Ashok will commit suicide rather than NOT travel by the 8,37 Andheri fast to Churchgate. Why blame the farmer whose family has been attached to the piece of land for thousands of generations. To say that money and a job in the factory ought to be sufficient may sound logical to the urban planner but is not reasonable to the farmer.

There is a story about a school boy who used to walk from home to school every day. One day some illiterate ruffians decide to check if education makes a boy smart. They offered the boy a choice of coins: a fifty paise coin or one rupee coin. The boy selected the fifty paise coin, bought a chocolate and enjoyed himself. This exercise continued for several days to the continuing amusement of the ruffians who firmly concluded that education did not make one smart.

An elderly observer decided to question the boy,”I think you are a smart boy,” he remarked.
“I think so too,” said the boy.
“Then are you not a fool for choosing the coin of lesser value?”
“Not at all. Those guys are fools.”
“How so?”
“The day I chose the one rupee coin the game will stop.”
Western logic would tell the kid to take the one rupee coin. Eastern wisdom tells him otherwise.

Thoughts:
Our thoughts are as intangible as ether. Yet, they make us smile or bring frowns to our brow as they emerge from our mind. We need to learn which thoughts to keep and which ones to eject with immediate effect. Else, we tend mull over the negative, destructive ones and in the bargain, make our life a series of convoluted dramas that could be avoided. Our thoughts and our thinking process as such, make us what we are as: an individual, family, fraternity, society and nation. Thoughts are nurtured, neglected, negated, debated, weighted and abated as we grow.

Growth:
We grow happily or miserably, depending on the combinations of thoughts we nurture, as cited above. Unfortunately thoughts are intangible. We can neither see them nor feel them. A big handicap. We have to learn to live with that handicap and grow up as well. As you journey through life, it would be interesting if you could look back every now and then to see your trail of thoughts and how they influenced your evolution as a human being. But sadly, we do not have that luxury as a privilege.

But thoughts make us act and react. Those very actions are absolute tangibles. Herein lies the solution. We need to learn and master the art of watching! Watch your thoughts! Watch your actions. Do that as a habit! Watch your actions and reactions very actively. As you watch, look for patterns. Note those patterns as you grow. Then navigate your way through life by:

1) Keeping and repeating thoughts that bring you joy happiness.

2) Deleting the thoughts that make you unhappy and miserable.

When you learn to do so, you would have learnt to live a joyful life. Remember, the duration of life is not known to any one on this earth. Actually, the way to live a happy and a joyful life is known to few.
You must control your thoughts if you want to be among those few wise ones.

Easier said than done, but with a conscientious effort one can master it. In a nutshell that is Life. Why then do we have to make it hell? Why invite strife? Why not endeavor to make it pleasing and all loving for one and all. We can, if we learn how to rein in our thoughts as they happen. Consider these two simple ways:

1) Identify, arrest, and negate the harmful thoughts. Delete them instantly and never allow them to be repeated.

2) Identify, nurture and multiply the joyful thoughts. As you nurture them, learn how to replicate them

Thereby you can live life joyously inside of every moment….till the final moment when Death comes to open news doors of discovery.

I was focused on myself. Thinking through my week’s agenda. Stretching. Chance was not a huge interest to me at the time. He couldn’t form recognizable words yet, but his body language and excitement catapulted his little arm up to the sky when he saw a plane fly through the cloud above.

He was thrilled.

Chance caught my attention. My mind stopped whirling and focused on the boy. Then the plane. Back to the boy. I had not heard the plane. I had not seen the plane. I had not even looked up into the sky that day until his little hand guided my eyes up in the air.

Why did it take a one-year-old boy to direct me? I used to find faces in the clouds repeatedly, and I would follow a plane’s trail with my eyes until it disappeared. When did I stop counting planes?

Four. I found four planes in the sky in the next moment. Well, a few were actually helicopters but you get the idea. I was scanning the sky like a meerkat. I started picking up the noise too. I didn’t even need to see the planes to know they were near. How did I not hear those engines zooming by me minutes before?

Maybe it’s the chaos of the city. It could possibly be the massive amount of noise I consume every day. I’m not sure if I’ll hear the planes tomorrow, but either way, Chance brought clarity to my misdirected gaze today.

Recently, when I saw and read about hate crimes and racist attacks, my heart went out to the college kids who bore the brunt of attacks. It must have been traumatic for the parents who saw their kids on television with horrific injuries! Punitive action should be taken against the attackers – no doubt!

But, if you think a little deeper, what we witnessed was just another case of random violence which went terribly wrong, and the ramification was severe because the attacker and victim were of a different skin colour!

Why do people with darker skin need to feel that they are facing “racial” discrimination? Do dark skinned people implicitly admit that fairer skinned people are superior? Are dark skinned people not racist or discriminatory as well?

Consider the following situations…

1. A trader at a tourist location charging more for a bottle of water from a “foreigner” than he would for a fellow country man.

2. Our own Indian government which charges different rates for foreigners and citizens to visit Taj Mahal. I am quoting this as an example because, if our government had built the monument and is collecting a toll to recover the investment, it would be absolutely acceptable to have a two-tier admission fee. But, we invited the tourists and encourage them to travel to India and see the best of it, didn’t we? Why discriminate against them?

3. In India, it’s a common sight to see “chinkis” (someone please sue me for using this word) from the North Eastern states waiting on us or cleaning up in restaurants. Why? Do we secretly believe that this is their core competence?

4. “Sardarji” jokes are the most popular e-mail forwards!

5. We all love making fun of “Madrasi” accents when Indians from the south speak Hindi!

6. Reservations for “SC/ ST / OBC / MBC / BC” – Oh my God! What s blatant admission of our racist or discriminatory behavior!

7. Why on earth is “Fair and Lovely” running ads that encourage people to become fair? Isn’t this the most racist advertisement and product ever? Or are the products catering to a need in some of us who prefer to have lighter toned skin?

8. The so-called representatives of the oppressed class – the political parties, spreading messages like “Tilak, tarazoo aur talwar unko maaro juthe chaar” – which means “Hit the brahmins, businessmen and warrior class with shoes”!

9. Imagine the innumerable situations when we have made fun of foreigners. Think of Incredible India – a campaign run by our Indian government which strives to persuade natives to treat foreigners with respect. Why does the government have to do this if we were not already differentiating people based on color, ethnicity, religion and nationality?

10. After conference calls in IT companies, when we get together to discuss smugly how Americans or whites in general cannot do mathematics and how they are unable to understand a simple concept or design, are we not being racist?

11. How many times have you seen a dark skinned male in a marketing and sales team in our new age IT companies?

12. Let us go a little international.
a. Rwanda – An African country torn apart by civil war between two clans: the Hutus and Tutsis. The only physical feature that separates them is one has a longer nose than the other, nothing more.
b. Sinhalese and Tamils in Sri Lanka. Both are dark skinned but there is bloodshed.
c. I am sure an informed African would be able to make a laundry list (Senegal, Congo, Somalia, Ethiopia etc) of the brutalities committed by his own people against his own people in his own continent!

Given these examples, I believe that dark skinned people are just being hypocrites by calling the fairer skinned ones “racists.”

Come to think of it, I believe the term “racism” is used only in cases where a lighter skinned person is the attacker and dark skinned person is the victim. We as humans, by nature, differentiate ourselves on the basis of skin colour, the language we speak, the religion we follow and and so on. But why do we see such rage and media coverage only when we experience discrimination based on the colour of our skin?

I believe that racial discrimination is no bigger evil than any other form of discrimination!

Furthermore, all forms of discrimination we see, hear, do and experience in our day to day lives, eventually culminate in racial profiling and hence I tend to believe that, probably, there is a racist in all of us. It is simply that most of us don’t go around wielding weapons and attacking people. However, we do certainly hurt people, especially those different from us (socially, economically and in any other way less fortunate than us) in many subtle ways (knowingly or unknowingly) in our day to day lives.

There is only so much one could contain using laws and legislations. Humanity has come a long way on the issues of slavery and human trafficking. Beyond these, there are certain human tendencies, which, cannot be overcome but have to be endured. The best we can do is to strive to avoid confrontations or to level the playing field!

In the recent case in Australia, what could we have done differently to avoid confrontation?

Simple: “Be a Roman in Rome”!

When we travel to a foreign land for any purpose, it is our responsibility to integrate as far as possible with the society. We should respect the local customs, culture, values and belief systems. We should accept that we are an alien in a foreign land and should make an effort to understand and adapt to their way of life.

To understand how we can overcome subtle forms of discrimination at the work place, let us take another example. The world has become a “flat” and a multi-cultural work place. There have been stories in the past where racial discrimination formed a glass ceiling for many talented individuals. Today, an Armani suit, a game of golf and standardized wine and dine etiquette, seem to level cultural disparities and have allowed people from a different ethnic backgrounds to take charge of large multi-national companies. Again, the underlying theme is to be a Roman in Rome and immerse oneself in the corporate culture where ever in the world the company might be located.

Let me clarify one thing. When I say “Be a Roman in Rome”, I am certainly not suggesting that you to compromise on your fundamental value system. All I am suggesting is work towards integrating with the alien system instead of standing out. Take the example of a metal plate. When we fix a fracture with a metal plate, the device is designed to integrate with the human body – or at the least not to be allergic to it!

We humans will continue to have our own perspectives, prejudices and in some way or the other discriminate against others for all kinds of reasons. Think of this world as an ecosystem. There is a certain hierarchy and an inherent flow of energy one level to another. This flow is the essence of life. Ups and downs, highs and lows, good and bad, right and wrong, superior and inferior are the prime movers of material life on this planet. So discrimination or to put it positively, “preferences or preferential treatment” will always exist! The only way to overcome discrimination in any facet of life is by being a “Roman in Rome”.

So, let us not make much ado about nothing! The latest incidents are typical examples of certain natural human tendencies which were blown out of proportion by middlemen like the media and politicians who thrive on sensationalism and cheap publicity. We need to understand that no one is better than the other and that it is natural for humans to differentiate and react.

I am sure that the examples I shared with you might have sparked off a debate in your minds or at least provoked some thoughts. Please feel free to share your thoughts on the same!

Over the years, that desire has led me to develop a system of getting personal with that greater power: we write to each other.

It’s not about multiple personalities or alternate realities. It’s about plugging in and tuning the dial. It’s about the collective subconscious and direct connection to the Source.

It’s worth a try, right?

My reasoning goes something like this: If I assume that I am part of the infinity that’s overseen and coordinated by a beneficent power greater than myself, then I am, in a sense, talking to a part of myself when I enter into conversation. (Stay with me here). In other words, there’s wisdom in me that is also beyond me, and by writing out conversations, I’ve found that something happens between the me that I live with every day (Me) and what I often think of as the Über-Manager, or the Universe. I call It “U” for short.

I am able to locate a rich, deep, astonishing vein of wisdom that invariably causes me to grow in the direction of health and hope. I write these conversations out by hand. The faster I write, the more I learn. The longer I write, the more I learn.

Here’s a short example, culled from my journals:

Me: What will help me today to be easier and more comfortable in my relationship with T?

U: Biggest things: restraint and acceptance. Plus, it’s been a while since you practiced your humour skills. And, as always and above all, focus exclusively on your own joy, even if that means thus choosing not to be around T.

Me: Sum it up, would you, for my easy remembering?

U: Court your own joy. Let him be as he is. Practice humour.
Me: Thank you. Thank you.

I was talking to a friend today (okay, it was my shrink), about my almost, no my definitely insatiable need for the entrepreneurial rush.

“It’s a total high for me.” I explained. “Going from zero to sixty. I mean, the very definition of velocity makes me libidinal (distance over time). I love having an idea when I’m walking the dog late at night and then in about six weeks actually making money from that late night glimmering or seeing it on paper.

And when I can help other people get a rush on it….it’s pure juicy juice. I need that juice.

“So what’s the problem?” my Jew-Bu shrink asks.

“Well, I’m not sure that kind of boldness is meaningful. Truly meaningful. Like, love and closeness and friendship.” I looked out the window, searching for the answer. Then I looked at him, ‘cause I’m paying him for answers.

“Positive addiction,” he diagnosed. “It’s a healthy high, it makes you stronger. As long as the craving for it doesn’t take you over, then it’s cool.”

Dr. William Glasser wrote a book about it (in 1976), aptly named, Positive Addiction. “A positive addict uses his extra strength to gain more love and more worth, more pleasure, more meaning, more zest from life in general.” Sounds about right to me.

He gives positive addiction these six criteria:

1. It is something noncompetitive that you choose to do and you can devote an hour (approximately) a day to it.

2. It is possible for you to do it easily and it doesn’t take a great deal of mental effort to do it well.

3. You can do it alone or rarely with others but it does not depend upon others to do it. (That rules out sex addiction if any of you were thinking that, but it clearly does not rule out masturbation, just in case you were thinking of that).

4. You believe that it has some value (physical, mental, or spiritual) for you.

5. You believe that if you persist at it you will improve, but this is completely subjective – you need to be the only one who measures that improvement. Like Churchill said, “Never, never, never give up.”

6. The activity must have the quality that you can do it without criticizing yourself. (That rules out consuming chocolate, because I still tend to criticize myself for mass consumption of chocolate bars).

Whether my drive for strategic creativity is a positive addiction or not, the very notion of re-framing it is incredibly liberating. I want what I want because it feels good. And it’s taken me a good part of my adult life to fine tune my circuitry of sensation to be clear about those life-affirming desires – the good, the bad and the positively addictive.

What’s your positive addiction? ‘Fess up and be proud.

From the folklore days of Tom Thumb to what I now call “Thumb Types Times” it has been quite a remarkable journey. For a tiny little thumb!

Most of us have been through that journey ourselves since we first read that story as children to now when we are “Thumb Types” as well. We are all adept “Thumb Typists.” Therefore let us show the “Thumbs Up” to that wonderful journey.

The story of Tom Thumb as a child, had us wondering and gaping in disbelief while it left us bewildered too.

As a grown up now, whenever I am on my mobile/PDA, I use my thumb, very often to type/key in information. I am amazed at the thumb’s agility, ability and adaptability.

Right in front of my eyes, as I type, using it to press the keys I see it functioning like a well trained soldier.
The thumb is the most important part of a fighter pilot’s body during combat. You see, the versatile thumb fires most of the weapons, using the buttons on the joy stick to destroy the adversary. It is adept.

Timely Thumbing that usually leads to Thumping Victories!

Today, we are so used to our mobile phones as they are an integral part of our existence. As I type, I relive the story of Tom Thumb with every stroke. Tiny, adventurous, mischievous by design and outstanding too.
Our very own thumb!

Outstanding as a leader. Yes. We use the thumb as an example to coach about leadership qualities too.
Here is how we do that. Look at your own open hand, fingers wide open. Do you know why a thumb is considered to be a leader, amongst all the five fingers? In case you do not, please write me and I shall share a detailed lesson on that with you.

Let us therefore agree that the thumb has found its way back into the limelight in the 21st century. To the centre court, victorious as any resilient leader. Like Tom Thumb did, time and again, in the 17th century folklore.

This time around, the thumb is flying our gadgets, helping us communicate using our hand held “high tech devices”. The thumb is helping us to make communication successful and convenient.

While doing that effectively, it has also morphed the English Language, making it more phonetic, in the bargain. SMS’s get created within the brain, are re-spelt too by it – phonetically, and then are typed by the thumb as tiny, effective communications.

Gr8ness of d thumb demonstr8ed here.

Remember it? In another context? Always defining and setting the rules too? Thumb Rules? Does that ring a bell as well?

To conclude now:
Effective usage of the tiny but mighty Thumb, as a Leader, continues admirably, in the 21st century.
No wonder then, the Thumb still leads and rules. Like it did centuries ago as Tom Thumb!

Which scourge affecting India is a bigger killer – terrorism or kids dying of starvation?

They both replied, “It is obviously terrorism. Look at the way almost 170 people have been killed just last week….and we cannot forget the deaths of innocent people in other acts of terrorism.”

In one of my classes on creativity, a youngster insisted, in the face of my submissions to the contrary, that air travel was the most dangerous form of travel. I explained statistical data to prove my point which included a slide showing that riding a two wheeler was probably the most dangerous form of transport. I repeatedly tried to explain some basics of probability theory and showed the basis for my contention about two wheelers but he refused to budge from his stand that air travel was the most risky form of travel. At the lunch break another trainee took me aside and told me that the ‘recalcitrant’ young man had lost his brother in a recent air disaster.

My Indian friends with an interest in the USA, often speak to me of the horrific incidents of violence in that country that they read about or see on Indian television. One seriously discussed tragedy was the Virginia Tech killings. My friends believe that the US is a dangerous place to live, especially for students from abroad. The Indian media has even speculated that there “will be a drop” in the number of Indian students seeking admission to US colleges.

In each of these incidents we can see a psychological phenomenon in action.
It is called the AVAILABILITY HEURISTIC.

What is happening is that a recent or vivid incident dominates our thinking disproportionately. We tend to ignore the totality of data on a subject simply because a recent piece of information, more readily available to us, has overwhelmed us and skewed our thinking.

In the instance of my political friends, it was apparent that the shocking Mumbai massacre with its gruesome deaths had disproportionately affected their judgment. Statistics will bear me out that more kids in India die from starvation every year than the number of deaths attributable to acts of terrorism. I am not suggesting that terrorism need not concern us. Even in the Mumbai case I observed that although more people died at the CST station than at the south Mumbai five star hotels, most people I know talk about the massacre in terms of what happened at the hotels and the Jewish house, simply because the television images of these incidents are vivid in their minds. Our most recent and vivid images of that incident are the south Mumbai ones.

As far as the our young trainee is concerned, the recent tragic death of a close relative was vividly etched in his mind thus blinding him to cold overall statistics indicating that riding a two wheeler was far more risky than traveling by air.

As for my friends who observe the US, the shocking images of dead students – including one Indian student and an Indian professor, no doubt remained vividly etched in their minds. Television coverage, like Hollywood films, presents slick images of such incidents which serve to create a vivid impression in our minds, thus blinding us to the overview of a situation. It is a fact that more people die of road accidents in Mumbai in a year than the number of students who are murdered on American university campuses. I told my Mumbai friends to watch out as they walk on Mumbai roads chatting with others on their mobile phones about violence in the US!

Incidentally, the number of Indians seeking admissions to US campuses touched record levels in the months after reports of violence. These young students have made allowance for the recency and vividness effects!
I also advise my executive friends to work hard, meet their bosses daily and do a great job in the three months leading up to their appraisals.

The boss as well is vulnerable to the vividness and recency effects. He or she will appraise employees based largely on their performance in the most recent 3 months that remain vivid in his/her memory!
It pays to be aware of this phenomenon. To keep track of the actual facts while thinking or deciding, just take a few moments to look at the overall statistics or data before forming judgments.

Sometimes, it is quite difficult to interpret our actions and conclude if we are right or wrong. One of my professors had an interesting interpretation that is easy to understand and effective to improve the quality of thought.

We all are wired to think differently. Most of the times we think from our brain and so our decisions are based on some logic. The center of such thinking process is “me”. Logical thinking improves outputs such as power, pleasure, money, strength, growth, satisfaction, family welfare, etc., under given circumstances. We invest our money in schemes that provide highest return, buy stuff when they are on discounts and sell our property in high demand market. 

Some think from their stomach. They are driven by basic necessities such as food. Pretty much like animals. Many are compelled to think this way and never wire their thoughts to their brains. Someone below the poverty line will never negotiate for logic. He grabs what he gets. But let’s put it straight, this has nothing to do with poverty. It’s a mentality and many wired to stomach are above the poverty line! For such people, key milestones of the day are breakfast, lunch & dinner.

Yet a few think from a couple of inches below their stomach. Such people really are short circuited. They are driven by a desire for sex and only sex which is a pure play of animal instinct. Scenes in Hindi films of yesteryears with tiger or eagle hunting its prey depict such an instinct. The Nithari serial murders case involving Surender Koli and very recent incident of rape of two year old child in Mumbai are extreme examples of such animal instincts. It’s again a mentality which is beyond any logic or basic needs.

On the other hand, there are also some who think from their heart. Such people are emotionally intelligent. They do what is good (to others) than what is right! To understand this better, think of Mother Teresa.

None of us are ‘hard wired’. So under different circumstances, we think from our brain, stomach or heart. But for a given situation when we wire incorrectly, it short-circuits.

So it’s all about wiring your thoughts right. How do we accomplish this? All you need to do is to get started.

For a given situation, introspect where your thought is wired – the brain, stomach, a couple of inches below that or the heart.  ‘Go’ ahead if it’s wired to the heart and ‘stop’ if it’s a couple of inches below your stomach. If it’s wired to brain and stomach, don’t act in haste, step out of yourself and rethink if necessary. Be firm and try to do what is good than what is right.