Perspective on Good and Evil - what is right?

Today is Vijaya Dashmi. It is celebrated by Hindus across the world for various reasons – to celebrate Lord Rama’s victory over the Asura Raavan, and for the victory of Goddess Durga over the demon, Mahishasura. The moral behind all the tales and stories swirling around this day is that it is a day to celebrate victory of good over evil.

So what really is evil and what is good. Why do we really need comparisons or choices like the good and evil?

When we were kids, my paternal grandmother used to tell us that good and evil are two sides of the same coin. She said that what was considered good by one person, could be considered evil by another. Then I recently read a trilogy on life of Shiva, which said the same thing. It is only a matter of one's perspective. The book went on to say that everything must remain in a limited quantity and too much of anything becomes bad. The same applies for good too – too much of good will start to become bad for the society and will start an evil trend. So the right balance has to be maintained. The author of the trilogy goes on to quote the Vedas and says that as long as good and the so called evil are balanced, life continues in harmony. It is only when one side starts dominating the other that the problem starts and if there is no amicable solution, the only way to resolve the conflict is by a dharma war. And as my grandmother said, and as I read in the trilogy mentioned above, there are good people on both sides of the war and even the losers have good people.

Until a few months back, I always thought that Ravana was either an Asura / demon (Rakshasa). I believed that he was a Kshatriya, and Rama was a Brahmin. Then I happened to attend a GITPRO event in 2013, where Dr. Subramanyam Swami was the keynote speaker, and he mentioned that Ravana was actually a Brahmin and Rama was a Kshatriya.  Ravana is often depicted as the evil demon, whereas in reality, he was a very learned man. He was a follower of Shiva, a great scholar, a capable ruler and a maestro of the veena, but someone who wished to overpower the devas. His ten heads represents that his knowledge of the six shastras and the four Vedas.  He was the half brother of Kubera, the god of wealth. His problems started when he let his ego take over his righteous side, and kidnapped the wife of Rama who was roaming in the jungle with his wife and brother. Ravana refused to listen to the advice of his advisers, which included his learned father, ministers, brother and wife. He let the evil get heavier on his good side, and as a result we had the war against Lanka in which Ravana and his army was destroyed.

The same scenario has been repeated several times in history. In my humble opinion, the bottom line is that we need to maintain a balance between good and the so called evil , so that they can co-exist. Live and let live – that my friends, is the way life was meant to be lived and we should all learn that. Look for the good in everything and everyone, and stop trying to force others to live your way. Understand why people do what they are doing, and we could all live happily as was intended to be. Cheers!!

Leadership traits that separate real leaders from ordinary men....

Sometime back, while making a presentation to some young people about leadership traits and what I had done for my career growth, someone asked me what was the sign of a great leader? I know I am nothing like what a great leader should be - I am a very ordinary guy, who can easily be part of a crowd where probably nobody would ever notice me a second time, but this question was very generic, so I thought about it for a few seconds; and gave a very stockpile answer about what the leader does or should do, how he can be a team player and take strategic decisions and not tactical ones, … you get the drift. The attendees took notes, and seemed happy – but I was intrigued.  There had to be more that separated leaders from ordinary men. What did Shackleton do?  What made Sam Manekshaw a great leader? What about Churchill, or Alexander or Gandhi? What makes a real leader? 

Then I remembered a poem that my mother had read to me a long time back – and I thought this would apply to any good leader, irrespective of age or sex of the person. I like to think that I have grown keeping this as my goal, and if I can show even half of these traits, I will consider myself to have been a successful leader.

So here is the Poem If, penned by one of my favorite writers – Rudyard Kipling. 

If you can keep your head when all about you   

    Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,   

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, 

    But make allowance for their doubting too;   

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, 

    Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies, 

Or being hated, don’t give way to hating, 

    And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise: 

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;   

    If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;   

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster 

    And treat those two impostors just the same;   

If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken 

    Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools, 

Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken, 

    And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools: 

If you can make one heap of all your winnings 

    And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss, 

And lose, and start again at your beginnings 

    And never breathe a word about your loss; 

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew 

    To serve your turn long after they are gone,   

And so hold on when there is nothing in you 

    Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’ 

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,   

    Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch, 

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you, 

    If all men count with you, but none too much; 

If you can fill the unforgiving minute 

    With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,   

Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,   

    And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!

2013 – In Hindsight

To say 2013 went by quickly would be the understatement of the year.

With the communication technology so vastly improved, there has been an overdose of social apps. There is little we don’t know about the connected people in our network, and at times we know a bit more than needed. But, as has been my practice over the past few year, here is a summary of what happened in the year around me.

People we lost in 2011

Nelson Mandela was perhaps the biggest news of the year, and though he had been in & out of the hospital with near death experiences, the news still created a feeling of sadness around the world for having lost one of the last great leaders.

Margaret Thatcher was another one that had impressed me with her leadership skills. The Iron Lady, as she was commonly called, had a great stint as the UK PM for nearly 11 years.

I grew up reading the books written by Tom Clancy, and his death in the year was another big loss.

  

Major news events in 2013 that made headlines, and caught my attention:

• Kumbha Mela in Prayag (Allahabad) in India
• Sachin Tendulkar retired from cricket – for me that was probably the last attraction for Indian Cricket.
• Swami Viveknand’s 150^th birth anniversary was celebrated across the globe
• Barrack Obama took the oath to continue as the USA president for the second term.
• Narendra Modi made a lot of headlines in India and emerged as a leading candidate for post of India’s Prime Minister
• Arvind Kejriwal created the AAP (Aam Aadmi Party – Common Man’s party) which swept the ruling Congress Government from power in Delhi. He seems to have a lot of charisma, and if he can remain honest, he will be able to do wonders for the India Politics.
• Obamacare ran into multiple issues – both political and logical (with the launch causing severe performance issues).

 The Kids

Shivangi is now a senior at University of Southern California (USC), majoring in Industrial Systems Engineering. She graduated earlier in 2011 from Mills College with major in Math. In the summers, she interned at Niagara Water bottling company in Ontario, California and wants to pursue a career in Supply Chain Management. She was elected the Vice President of her sorority at USC, and has built a good network for herself.

Neha, turned 21 on the last day of the year. She is now a senior in St. Mary’s college, majoring in Bio-chemistry, and is thinking about a career in medicine, genetics or pharmacology. She has continued to be very involved in the local Hindu chapter of the Hindu Volunteers Group (HSS) and helps in running its daily activities by helping her mother with the efforts in that area. Her 21^st birthday was a fun event – where Nandita had planned a surprise party for her. We had invited some of her friends, Shivangi’s friends and our close family friends over for lunch on the day, while Nandita took her out to get her nails done. It was fun to surprise her. Earlier, over the weekend, Nandita had arranged for a helicopter ride from San Carlos airport to Half Moon Bay – thanks to her friend, Terri Mead.

Both the girls will graduate in May of 2014.

Nandita and I

Nandita and I turned are inching towards our 50s. We have been married for nearly 27 years now, and have known each other a lot longer (since 1981).

We are so pleased and honored to see so many people feel comfortable visiting our humble abode and staying with us. Between April and Dec, I think there was barely a week when there was no friend/family member visiting us or staying at our place. Some of the folks that visited us were Nandita’s Cousin with her family (Rucha’s parents) from Pune; my College Professor Mrs. Sumedha Nashikkar and her husband, Anil (took me nearly 20+ years of convincing to finally get her to come); my college friend Farhan Pettiwala and his wife, Navya; Our childhood friend Sharmila Dey and her daughter; Alicia and Jeff Sandoval; Tanvi Sinha, and my wife’s neice Priyanka and her mother to name a few. It feels like a good to see people feel at home at our place, and we had some fun times with all our visitors. 

Our jobs

I changed my job last year in November, moving from Bank of America to a start up named Tria Beauty. The company makes laser operated bio-medical devices, which are FDA approved to be used for skin care like at-home Laser Hair Removal, Anti-aging and Acne treatments. I had been keen to move into the start-up sector, and this opportunity just happened to come along at the perfect time, just as both the girls were entering their final year of under-grad education. I am currently the head of IT, and am responsible for eCommerce architecture, ERP and IT Infrastructure. When I look back at what I helped the IT team achieve, I can’t help but feel proud of what the team has done this year (we saved the company nearly $1.5M by sheer negotiations and using better & cheaper options).

Nandita has continued to work as a Director in the Clinical and Technical Affairs at Coagusense, the small start-up company based in Fremont. Coagusense continues to do well, and became profitable this year (its 5^th year of existence) – a huge step for it.

The travels

My business trips took me to Palm Springs, in California, Phoenix in Arizona, Indore and Hyderabad in India. I traveled to Los Angeles as well. During my Indore trip, I got to attend the annual events at Daly College, my Alma Mater, after a few decades. It was very nostalgic and brought back some great memories. I also got to meet some very close friends.

Nandita traveled to Seattle on business trips and Indore to help her brother who was ill.

  

Activities

I continued to be very active as the coordinator for the Contra Costa Chapter of Global Indian Technology Professionals (GITPRO). This year, we had 5 monthly events in our chapter that covered various topics like preparing for an interview, planning your career, Financial and Tax Management, Cloud Technology, Innovation, and Legal aspects of starting your own Venture etc. There is a lot planned for this in 2014.

Nandita and Neha continue to spend their weekends with the Shakha work and supporting the Sewa Project, where the volunteers prepare 75 lunch packages to go and feed the homeless in Berkeley’s People’s Park. Nandita also continued to be involved with her writer’s club, where the members (all ladies group) meet once a month on a Friday evening at someone’s home and read the write-ups that they have prepared. She also contributed a weekly column called Diary of NRI to Daink Bhaskar – a local newspaper published from Bhopal in India.

During my recent India trip, I got to spend a week with my mother. It was a good feeling for both of us, especially after her surgical repair of the thigh bone earlier in Jan 2013. She is doing great, by God’s grace and is able to walk about without the walker. I am hoping to be able to bring her to the US soon.

TV shows and Movies we saw

•   Some mentionable English movies we saw – Man of Steel, Star Trek into Darkness, Thor 2, The Wolverine, Hunger Games – catching Fire, Gravity and Oblivion.
• Hindi Movies –some Hindi movies that we saw (and recommend) – Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, Yeh Jawaani hai Diwani, OMG. 
• TV Serials we followed –Covert Affairs, Rizzolli and Isles, Bones, NCIS, Big Bang Theory, The Mentalist, Person Of Interest, Necessary Roughness and Sherlock.

Other happenings – Sachin’s retirement from Cricket and being awarded Bharat Ratna, the highest Civilian award in India. 

Looking forward into 2014 – In the first half of the year, I have plans to travel to San Antonio in Texas, Miami in Florida, Seoul in Korea and London in UK . I am also hoping to take a cruise this year and a vacation to Australia/NewZealand as well as take my daughters for a short vacation trip to India. On my work front, I am getting ready to launch a new eShopping website that we designed and built.  Here is hoping that all these can go very smoothly, as planned. I am looking forward to meeting more of my close friends and family in 2014. Cheers!!