Barriers

I'm facing a major barrier in my life. No, its not any wall. Nor is it any mental or physical block. It's the great language barrier. Most of my friends out here converse in Hindi, supposedly the national language in India. They expect me to know it well enough to converse fluently. Little do they know its dismal penetration down south. We hardly studied anything beyond the alphabets. Hardly saw Hindi movies. Given my poor language capabilities, I've been finding it tough to fluently participate in rapid fire conversations ever since my regional engineering college days. I've had to forsake many many friendships due to this handicap. No matter what, the best jokes, best secrets in any conversation will rarely be clarified or translated. I've tried to change it, occasional efforts to master Hindi. But , it never happens... no concentrated efforts, nor friends totally engrossed in Hindi for continuous company. It seems to happen more when you're away from home.. whether home is defined as the country or the state! Happens all the time when people are in a big group & you're the odd one out. Happened during my YHAI trek to the Himalayas. Wonder when it will stop. Wonder when humans will master the art of telepathy, which by the way I know is true, nothing beyond imagination. Till then, no progress is real progress.

Deepavali again!

Here it is.. that time of the year when you NEED to burst all the crackers you want, throw advice to the wind and just have a ball, without caring for neighbours, environmentalists or child labourers - all in this context only. On their own, these issues merrit enough attention to last a lifetime of course.

I'm much less lucky this year. I can do all the above. But, if I did, I would be in jail for sure. Because, I'm in a country where people follow rules, rules made not by Indians, but by the white man who once reigned superior over our country. Nevertheless, celebration in spirit will not stop. On the cards is an extravagant pot luck dinner, puja and few 'lights' only crackers that go high up into the sky, at a friends place. It will be interesting for sure. Somehow, this place doesn't seem as far removed from 'home' as the US. It is largely due to the high density of population in towns.. some what similar to Indian cities. Plus the huge Asian influence and plenty of Asians all around. 'Curry' is indeed more common here than 'steak' :-)

Wish you all a very merry Deepavali!

May the crackers light up your life,
And the flame turn to cinder all troubles,
Leaving nothing but traces of smoke,
That disappear into nothingness,
Blown away by the winds of the future,
Freshly brewed, in its own moment!

The wise one sayeth...

"When you learn to swim in the deep ocean, you enjoy the shallow pool as well"

This pretty much sums up my personality and how I live.

It's important to note the opposite as well "When you learn to swim in the shallow pool, you will be frightened to death of the deep ocean" which is how most of the people live life...learning to swim in the shallow pool!

The great leveller

I had many friends in school and college who used to really struggle to get through even the simplest of subjects. Today, they're all doing extremely well, which is rather surprising. In college, perhaps not all subjects were easy enough or the students didn't pay enough attention. But in primary and high school, I got to observe some of these people in great detail over a number of years and have to claim my judgement was quite accurate. There were others who were really smart all through, but they're doing equally well in most cases. Not far far better as expected.

So, there is a great leveller that has worked over the period of time, like the storm that flattens everything in its path, big or small, beautiful or ugly. It is attitude, hard work and to some extent fate (don't want to get into that debate about fate vs free will now) that must have brought about this change. I also attribute this to the IT, ITES and other such industries that provide umpteen opportunities without really needing much of creativity or lateral thinking. They need solid workers, dedicated to specialized tasks, like a manufacturing industry robot in the assembly line. I've heard of a few cases that stand out, of people known to us who took 10 yrs to complete their phd. They're the ones now heading Education & research depts. at global IT majors! Phew!

This scenario is a huge contrast to our previous generation. When jobs were limted to Govt. organizations and opportunities abroad and awareness levels were much lower, differentiation between the bright and not so bright would be clearly seen. The smart ones got into Govt. R&D jobs or academic institutions for teaching. The not so fortunate ones got enrolled into more mundane professions.

Today however, most people blindly pursue engineering to come out as zombies and get into run of the mill software jobs. That is where the beginning of the end of differentiation of intellectual levels starts. Other factors work their magic over a long period... things like taking the right decisions, EQ, being opportunistic, knowing the right people, belonging to the right caste/region and so on.

What is the conclusion then? People must evaluate their intellectual level and get into suitable professions. Today nobody needs to despair. Even the dumbest can get to be the CEO of a top company. The smartest might end up writing lines of code all his life, impacting some obsolete legacy system somewhere.

Life... the great leveller :-)