Effort : A Management Lesson

Came across this in a forwarded message - worth sharing.

Effort:
The ship's owners tried one expert after another, but none of them could figure out how to fix the engine. Then they brought in an old man who had been fixing ships since he was a youngster.
He carried a large bag of tools with him, and when he arrived, he immediately went to work. He inspected the engine very carefully, top to bottom. Two of the ship's owners were there, watching this man, hoping he would know what to do.

After looking things over, the old man reached into his bag and pulled out a small hammer. He gently tapped something. Instantly, the engine lurched into life. He carefully put his hammer away. The engine was fixed!

A week later, the owners received a bill from the old man for ten thousand dollars. "What!" the owners exclaimed. "He hardly did anything!" So they wrote the old man a note saying, "Please send us an itemized bill."

The man sent a bill that read:


Tapping with a hammer ............ ......... .. $ 2.00
Knowing where to tap ............ ......... .... $9998.00


Morale of the story:
Effort is important, but knowing where and when to make an effort in your life makes a difference.

Manhattan - Appearances could be deceiving

I recently had to move to Jersey City - I will be staying for 3 more weeks for sure - while during my vacation to India. Since I was kind of jobless thought not to leg the opportunity despite the fact that I hate Jersey City for being crowded with Indians!!

Anyways, I had to run an errand to Sapient office at NYC and it was a thought provoking ride for me. Tall glossy buildings and pied vivid lights of Manhattan are absolutely captivating. Bridges in the NYC are famous of its own strength, traffic and history. Millions of tourists just come and visit the place to ensure completeness of their travel. The place has been a financial hub for the world since centuries. These are a few things which add to the sanguine of the city.

However, the most populated urban area has its own darker side. Probably only the ones who have to face it every day will be the ones who can relate to it. Poverty, dirty streets, puddles on the road, lack of discipline, high crime rate are very common things to be noticed if you just take regular street walks. Human greed is at its peak and material things define the success of an individual's life here. Kinda strange to know that people while passing by fails to acknowledge your presence.

Within 4 days of my arrival I am already dreadful about the risk that mechanical life may run over my suburban routine full of life - not sure how will I will be able to face 3.5 more weeks!!

While taking a walk back home, I clicked this glorious pic - it looks really nice. However... the reality - so deceiving!!

Some promises are better not ketp!

I was watching this movie "Gone Baby Gone" yesterday and the end of the movie made me think if not startled me. You got to watch this movie before you read this further. Else you probably will miss the point where I am coming from

The movie is all about child abduction in Boston area. Having lived here for almost 3 years now - I can relate to the place and hence connect to such movies better. Ben Afflec has directed this movie and Casey Affleck plays married private detective helping investigate a little girl's kidnapping case. The mother of the missing girl is a drug addicted careless b****ch.

During the process of helping solve the case, Patrick Kenzie - the private detective promises the sloppy mother that he will find the child. As it appears the child kidnapping was a set up and a high ranking police officer (Morgan Freeman) was involved in it. The high ranking police officer did have good intentions to give the child a good life but the private detective Patrick Kenzie finds it out - informs the state police of Mass and gets the child back to her mother and the people involved in the girl's rescue (from unwise drug addicted mother) went to jail.

I don't know why all the movies shot around Boston area are kinda ending on a sad note - I remember The Departed also ending in a shoot out leaving Leonardo DiCaprio (Billy Costigan) dead...

What I quite didn't get is why Patrick Patrick Kenzie could not keep shut about the truth about the staged kidnapping of the girl.

1. The child was happy with new foster parents - so to call them.
2. He knew his wife - his fellow detective (Michelle Monaghan) would leave him for doing this...
3. He got two senior detectives killed during the investigation
4. And finally he virtually killed the soul of the girl by sending her back to her mother..

I am still wondering...

1. Was it his ego or that he wanted to take a revenge for a high ranking police officer just fooled him brilliantly
2. Or was it that the promise he made was more important than the ones' lives which revolved around lil girl?
3. Or was it the fact that he couldn't handle the truth

The movie is so well made - I couldn't refrain from getting myself involved into it completely. The obvious lesson I couldn't miss was "there are some promises better not kept."

Cost of miracle - A Short Story...

I have been a little upset due to a couple of back to back rough weeks. Sometimes it was the terrorists attackes, some times how the economy was messed up, sometimes personal finances and sometimes the series of occurances at professional and person front... Amidst all - I bumped into a very nice story, I couldn't refrain from posting. 3 minutes to read would be well spent. :-)

PS: I know the story below is a peiece of fiction - so please do not waste your time in googling out the facts about it. *I already have done that* ;-)

PSS: What is more important is morale of the story - a little faith will keep up going. Don't miss on that. :-)

The story - Cost of miracle

A little girl (Tess) went to her bedroom and pulled a glass jelly jar from its hiding place in the closet. She poured the change out on the floor and counted it carefully. Three times, even. The total had to be exactly perfect. No chance here for mistakes. Carefully placing the coins back in the jar and twisting on the cap, she slipped out the back door and made her way 6 blocks to Rexall's Drug Store with the big red Indian Chief sign above the door.
She waited patiently for the pharmacist to give her some attention but he was too busy at this moment.
Tess twisted her feet to make a scuffing noise.
Nothing.
She cleared her throat with the most disgusting sound she could muster!
No good.
Finally she took a quarter from her jar and banged it on the glass counter.
That did it!
"And what do you want?" the pharmacist asked in an annoyed tone of voice. "I'm talking to my brother from Chicago whom I haven't seen in ages," he said without waiting for a reply to
his question.


"Well, I want to talk to you about my brother," Tess answered back in the same annoyed tone. "He's really, really sick... and I want to buy a miracle."
''I beg your pardon?" said the pharmacist.
"His name is Andrew and he has something bad growing inside his head and my Daddy says only a miracle can save him now. So how much does a miracle cost?"
"We don't sell miracles here, little girl. I'm sorry but I can't help you," the pharmacist said, softening a little.
"Listen, I have the money to pay for it. If it isn't enough, I will get the rest. Just tell me how much it costs." Tess urged her argument one more .
The pharmacist's brother was a well dressed man. He stooped down and asked the little girl, "What kind of a miracle does your brother need?"
I don't know," Tess replied with her eyes welling up. "I just know he's really sick and Mommy says he needs an operation. But my Daddy can't pay for it, so I want to use my money."
"How much do you have?" asked the man from Chicago.
"One dollar and eleven cents," Tess answered barely audibly. "And it's all the money I have, but I can get some more if I need to."
"Well, what a coincidence," smiled the man. "A dollar and eleven cents--- the exact price of a miracle for little brothers."
He took her money in one hand and with the other hand he grasped her mitten and said "Take me to where you live. I want to see your brother and meet your parents. Let's see if I have
the miracle you need."
That well dressed man was Dr. Carlton Armstrong, a surgeon, specializing in neuro-surgery. The operation was completed free of charge and it wasn't long until Andrew was home again and doing well. Mom and Dad were happily talking about the chain of events that had led them to this place.

"That surgery," her Mom whispered. "was a real miracle. I wonder how much it would have cost?"
Tess smiled.. She knew exactly how much a miracle cost...one dollar and eleven cents ..... plus the faith of a little child..

Interesting Quotes

I have been fond of reading quotes. So, here is an attempt to start with a few of the quotes in back of my mind and keep updating the blog as and when I add to the list. . .

1. The sum of human wisdom is not contained in any one language, and no single language is capable of expressing all forms and degrees of human comprehension. ~Ezra Pound
2. It is easier to fight for principles than to live up to them. ~Alfred Adler
3. An eye for an eye, and the whole world would be blind ~Kahlil Gibran
4. Man invented language to satisfy his deep need to complain. ~Lily Tomlin
5. The direct use of force is such a poor solution to any problem, it isgenerally employed only by small children and large nations. ~David Friedman
6. There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so. ~William Shakespeare
7. If you cannot see a brighter side, polish the dull side ~ Unknown
8. Age is an issue of mind over matter, if you don't mind - it doesn't matter ~Mark Twain
9. How can I be substantial if I fail to cast a shadow, I have to have a darker side, if I am to be whole ~Unknown
10. Procrastination is an art of keeping up with yesterday ~Unknown
11. Patience has its limits. Take it too far, and it's cowardice...
12. Furious activity is no substitute for understanding... ~ H. H. Williams

Hope you like it... and stay tuned for more... Cheers... :~)

Terrorist attacks in India - first impression

How did I get to know about the situation?

I am working out of client side just like yet another software developer in US and decided to take off early since it was early closing due to Thanks Giving. I just reached home and a dear friend of mine caught me online to sensitize me about the hostage situation in Mumbai.

First reaction and thoughts…

I was numb for a moment. Didn’t know what / how to respond to my friend? She was equally upset herself!... A set of severe and mixed feelings - helplessness, anger, rage and frustration - took over me in no time. It was a sentimental moment for me while I watched the news on internet (At lack of subscription to Indian channels in the US) For a moment I wanted to book the flight ticket and rush to India / decorate myself in military fashion to kill a few of those terrorist SOBs personally!

I was equally worried (call me selfish – but friends and family DO matter to me a lot) bout my friends and families in Mumbai. I started dialing the numbers and waking people up if they were asleep. I breathed relief when I figured “all well” at my end. It was late evening by the time I could accept the fact!

What kind people were deputed on the scene?

There was an absolute lack of the leadership and experience in handling such situations. It’s mournful and equally foolish to learn that ATC Chief himself decides to enter in the place that too with a few of his best men? Not only had he lost his life, but also of the others who he dragged into the process. That is not it. He missed on the fact that if he is gone – probably there is none to run the show and many lives will be lost when commandos / policemen will be asked to jump into jaws of death – as if asking them rightfully to commit a suicide.

I couldn't resist to notice that p/ commandos entering the building didn't quite know how to hold a rifle - are we ready to fight, forget about hostage situations and tactical warfare. We are still living in a stone age when it comes to dealing with terrorism.

Some rants:

What these Terrorists have done is absolutely humiliating. I wonder how thick skinned our leaders are who fail to buy a few hours of airtime from these many TV channels and address the nation? If the Prime Minister is incapacitated to take a call - why doesn't he have guts to accept / acknowledge the fact and resign? Isn’t it even more humiliating to see the leaders of the nations are devoiding of national security?

I am still struggling to get an answer how can someone turn out to be such a selfish bastard to think of vote bank instead of the sabotage and massacre midst mayhem.

When news channels approached the chief minister of the state asking him to provide an update - he was reading out casualty statistics as if he is illiterate or reading something written in foreign language. I could have spelled out the details in way too better fashion just by watching the news for after 10 minutes.

It’s shameful for us to have taken forever to have recovered couple of Hotels... 30+ commandos killed in gun battle with 5 terrorists. It’s so easy for stone hearted politicians to get away stating that the terrorists were "highly skilled" - I being a loyal tax payer of the country have a right to ask where in the world you are wasting tax payers' money actually when you take it under the name of commando training camp contributions.
What would you attribute this act of banning the news broadcast? Such a royal CYA attitude is rare to find.

Net net…

1. I wished it stronger than ever to serve the nation I belong to. Living a mediocre life as a decorated army officer would be well worth viz. having luxuries in life at the expense of self esteem and painful process of getting over the humiliation
2. My heart goes out to those who lost their lives fighting a war (as good as committing a suicide) on their own - esp. the men in Uniform
3. The leaders of this nation - are giving lack of foresight (“Probably India never anticipated a situation like this”) as an excuse to get away with taking responsibility of what happened and people all over the world witnessed scene to scene?

If I sound upset and frustrated – hell yes, I am. And how can I not feel so? Please grant me for this strong blog – I will re-consider updating the content as someone proves above otherwise!

Jai Hind!!!

PS: Please excuse my lanugage / typo and very strong personal opinion if you have found it offending.

Necessity of looking good

It was like I had started developing an allergy on my skin. Skin of my face grew more and more dry and started to peel off. I was really scared to the death - what happened to me!!... Again, during this time I ended up meeting someone who happened to be a person of strong sense of aesthetics and thought we may be able to get along well!

It was a great dilemma. I wasn't sure of the other person's ability to digest the fact and there was a risk if told the truth; I might put a seemingly great relationship to jeopardy. It was not fair on part to hide the fact either. Another aspect that got me thinking was - how bigger a deal it was for me to look good. Personally speaking, I would always try to look at a "person within" over looking the appearance of an individual but it might not always work like that. I wasn't sure if the other person will be able to accept me on "as is" basis. What if I would never recover! All those unwanted questions bubbled up my mind. It was only then, that I realized that looks did matter to me a bit - and it might equally be important for the other person.

Later I found out - after a couple of visits to my doctor - that the new hand lotion was something I developed an allergy to and with a couple of ointments and new lotion - I recovered pretty quick...

Definitely a learning experience!!