The Well of Epiphany

“Go ahead, I’ll be right behind…” “Come fast, I’m waiting downstairs…” 

Being already cautious of my ever-increasing weight, I chose not to take the elevator. They say, “While going up, it’s the first step that is the hardest”. Well, it’s also true when you trip down the stairs.  I took my first step on my own, and well… the second, the third and the fourth steps were taken care by the wet floor.  “Did anyone see me?? I hope not!” , I whispered to myself As I gathered myself and rose up to march on this difficult flight of stairs, little did I know that the wet floor was too friendly to me. A loud thud of the fall once again, and I fell at the feet of my crush like the Newton’s apple. Already embarrassed and weak at knees, I gathered all my strength and rose up, only to fall once again. However, this time into a deep well of epiphany. 

Good morning friends...

Remember that unfortunate day of Chauri-Chaura incident after which our beloved Bapu got convinced to call off the Non-cooperation movement!? Alas! such a sad demise of a beautiful movement at the drop of a hat. Bapu was trying to do the right thing. But did he do it the right way? Well, Bapu had 2 choices: doing the right things, OR, doing things right. 

Friends, we often have two choices in life, and, that was the epiphany I had when I slipped on those stairs and then into that well. 

Of course, the Janitor cleaning those stairs was doing the right thing; but perhaps if she would have done it in the right way by also keeping the ‘wet floor’ sign... somewhere….. anywhere….. I would have been cautious and not slipped. Well, the janitor had 2 choices: doing the right things, OR, doing things right. 

It was the first campus interview of my then dream company, Microsoft. There I was sitting in front of the interviewer: 

 I had sweaty PALM,   yet showed CALM... 
 He asked me PALINDROME,   I had KNOW-IT-ALL SYNDROME... 
 I wrote the CODE,   he needed PSEUDO-CODE... 
My code was free from ERROR,    It still showed I wasn’t CLEVER... 

If only I had not boasted about my coding skills in front of the interviewer and stuck to the right way “Pseudo-code first”…Perhaps I would have been selected. Well, I had 2 choices: doing the right things, OR, doing things right. 

Disheartened by the rejection I started my journey back from Hyderabad on the same day, only to be stuck midway due to a transportation strike. And here I was amongst a hundred others who had become PUNCHING BAGS in between the dispute of the workers and the Government. Stuck in this ordeal, I recalled news from Japan and wished if I was there instead. 

 It is a Monday morning here in Japan. Everything worked as usual – The buses moved, people commuted, everything was peaceful, like clockwork – EXCEPT – the bus drivers gave free rides to the passengers… Yes, no tickets - free rides to everybody, from anywhere to everywhere – Because it was strike day. The workers and government were having a feud. Well, the bus drivers had 2 choices: doing the right things, OR, doing things right. 

Friends, “doing right things, OR, doing things right” Prima facie these two sentences look similar – the same number of words, the same number of alphabets and syllables. However, just a small difference in their order can make a big difference in our lives. While doing the right things is vital, it is not just enough.  

Remember one door… THAT ONE DOOR we all hate so much. That innocent looking door which lures us into pushing it, whereas it’s meant to be pulled. We all fall prey to this innocent looks; smashing our face into the door, making our nose flat. EVERY SINGLE TIME. What if the door was designed alright? Well, our noses would have been saved. 

Friends, since I’ve already slipped into this well of epiphany, I can say that it’s too deep. But I can vouch if anybody will slip into it, they’ll come out stronger, smarter, stellar. 

Forget not, we all have 2 choices: doing the right things, OR, doing things right.  

Right in own eyes

A couple of days ago, I visited a salon to get a haircut.  It was 8 in the evening, but the lighting and the hustle inside the salon had camouflaged the dusk. I settled in one of the seats at the extreme corner and a middle-aged hairdresser came to me and gracefully started working on my hair. She cut the ends of my tresses and blow dried it perfectly. Then it was my turn. She asked me to check if it looked okay to me.   I jumped out of my chair, In front of a big wide mirror….

I turned my head to the EAST and my cut looked alright.

I turned my head to WEST and everything was still alright. I turned my head to the MIRROR, and there was no light….

Pitch-Black darkness had covered the room.

Damn!! Load shedding in Bangalore. 

Good afternoon friends!!

Back in my college days, I remember being an agony aunt to my best friend. I would advise her on all the topics ranging from time management, relationships, weight management and what not! At times many of my advice would be utterly unsolicited.

Yet, today as I stand here and struggle to manage my weight; ironically none of my advice seems to work for me.

How is it that we give great advice to our friends and family but when the problem is with us or within us, all those advice are in vain? I’m sure you all would have experienced this. Efficiently giving free advice to everybody but becoming dumb-struck when it comes to us!!??

Well, having done a retrospection and being a protégé to many, I can tell exactly how we can break from this Solomon’s Paradox.

Imagine an iron knife with blunt edges. It cannot be used to cut or slice anything. Now to sharpen this knife, it must meet another piece of iron. Only when the knife is held at a right angle against another rotating iron plate, the rough edges of the knife get sharpened. And then it is ready to use.

We all are like this blunt edge of a knife. Messy, flawed, imperfect, clumsy in some or the other aspect of our lives. We all have moments when we need help and need some sharpening. And there are times when we feel razor sharp and capable of helping the other person. To sharpen our blunt edges, it is vital that we meet the right mentor who’s already polished and sharpened.   

Fortunately, I have had many experienced and polished mentors who’ve helped me grow in every big or small thing.

For instance, back then, I remember whenever my mentor started giving me feedback. I would instantly interrupt him to fill the remainder of what I would expect him to say. Or sometimes, I would respond to his feedback saying, “I know”. And my mentor really had to put tremendous efforts to change my small behavioral response from “I know” to “You’re right”. I'm sure all the mentors would have faced this.

I can also clearly recall how my mentor played a big role in changing my mindset. While it is good to be independent, it’s best to seek help and others’ perspective when needed. If it wasn’t for my mentor, I wouldn’t have been saying this here.

While I was miffed in many instances because my mentor did not give me direct answers to my problems, I’m grateful to him for teaching me ways to get to that answer. Sometimes it's not about the answer but the journey we have to travel to finds the answer.

I realize I was a fool when I was too quick to think that, my haircut looked “Right” just by checking from the left side and right side. Because maybe that cut wasn’t best for me.

As I came back home, my friend held a hand mirror in front of me. At that moment, standing in between the two parallel mirrors, not only could I see my haircut properly, but I noticed, my infinite images that were created. Perhaps the infinite images were nothing but the infinite potential that an individual has when the right mentor helps one see, what otherwise is not visible to him.

Because, the way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to counsel.

A good mentor might let u sleep with painful pangs of hunger but wouldn't let you die of starvation, true that he'll not feed you a fish but he'll teach you how to fish; which you will remember for the rest of the life.

The Power of WHY

Years ago, there was a king who had no children. And with every passing year he was more and more worried to find the right man who would take his place. Then one day, to test a promising candidate, the king summoned all the potential candidates to a countryside place where there was a massive sinkhole. It was an enormous hole in the ground which could fit even a soccer field. Pointing to the hole the king asked, “What should I do with this hole?”.

“Fill it with water!”,

“Build a bridge across the sinkhole”,

“Make it a graveyard”,

“Camouflage the sinkhole to protect from the enemies”.

All the interesting and novel ideas started floating. Every candidate came up with an idea better than the previous one. King was delighted to hear all the ideas.

Then came a young boy’s turn. Without any hesitation, he said, “Why do anything with the hole?”
Silence prevailed. Everyone was shocked by his impudence.

Surprisingly, however, the king congratulated the boy and made him the next heir to the throne of that kingdom.

Hi Friends! Now let me ask you’ll one question.

Put yourself in a leader’s shoe and tell me what is most important for you and for your success – Is it the process, the organization, the timelines, goals or the people?

I bet it is the people. Because people build organizations, processes are meant for people, timelines are adhered by people and goals are achieved by none other but, people. 

And one of the leadership styles that pay close attention to people is Affiliative leadership.

An Affiliative leader is the one that follows the “People First” approach. These leaders show warmth and acceptance to members and create emotional bonds with them. Because of the warmness provided, members feel safe and have a strong sense of belonging to the organization and perform better. This leadership style is most effective when there is a need to mend bad feelings that may have developed in a group, or to motivate others during times of heavy workload and stress. This is one of the most impactful leadership styles. Some of the popular affiliative leaders are Dalai Lama, Joe Torre, etc.

According to a career builder survey, 54% of the employees stayed at their current jobs because they felt good with the bosses who watched out for them. While 32% said that they liked the people they worked with. This information shows that employees greatly value the individuals they work with. Hence a harmonious working environment is one of the important factors for productive results. And Affiliative leaders tap into this desire by facilitating a trusting employee relationship.

On the other side of the coin, affiliative leaders sometimes have a difficult time tackling with underperformers. Since poor performers might go un checked in the team, some employees might get an impression that their mediocre performance is good enough.

Nonetheless, the key to being a great leader is understanding what your people want and expect from you and why they want it. While sharing a shared goal and vision, leaders not only need to know what their followers are doing but they also need to understand why they are doing it. 

And going back to the king’s surprising decision to make the young boy as his heir...

The boy could not answer to the king’s question until he knew the king’s ‘WHY’. Only if he understood the king’s intentions behind dealing with the sinkhole, he could advise him to create the desired outcome. Perhaps, then the proper course of action was to do nothing. The king recognized that the young boy was insightful enough to seek out his intentions and uncover his “WHY”.

Fast forward to several centuries to today. Ask yourself,

“Why do you come to work every day?”

“Why do you as an organization do what you do?” 

And once you can answer these questions for yourself, extend the “WHY” to others. If you want to transform an organization, it begins by transforming the people. And to do so, you need to understand who they are as individuals. 

The return of a Buridan’s Ass

A long time ago I read a story about a guy called Buridan. Buridan had a donkey whom he called “Ass”. Once while carrying a heavy load of salt, Ass was very hungry.  He happened to find two identical and equally delicious stacks of hay. Ass being a donkey, could not decide which one to choose. And he finally starved to death.  

By the way, Buridan was none other than the 13th-century philosopher, John Buridan and the "Ass" was his philosophical creation.

A couple of weeks back, I was shopping online on Myntra. I had multiple tabs opened to select one shirt. At that point in time, I found myself to be a Buridan’s Ass. Because I could not decide which one to choose and I was stumped.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I’m sure I’m not the only Buridan’s Ass here. Numbers suggest that at least 40% of online shoppers are indecisive about what they buy. In fact, I’m sure you also would have been a Buridan’s Ass at some point or the other. But I’ll save you’ll the embarrassment of asking because no one wants to be called as an Ass.

And we are not the only ones at fault. Online retailers today have made us Dumb Asses. Back in the days, outbound shopping was seldom available, and shipping was rarely free; Free returns were unheard of.

As a result, we have become addictive and spendthrift, impatient and carefree, dumb, indolent and self-engrossed.

DO YOU REMEMBER THE MULTIPLE TABS THAT WERE OPENED WHILE SELECTING A SHIRT ON MYNTRA??

Just when I was in a limbo of deciding the shirt colors, I got a call from my mother. And engrossed in online shopping, I missed her call. In the hindsight, I realize that this self-indulgent behavior not severed my bonds with my mother but also … Mother Earth.

It occurs to me that instead of shopping online If I had gone in a brick and mortar store, I would have tried a few shirts and taken few pictures which I might have sent across to my mother. I’m sure things would have been much different then.

Today, E-commerce business has become ubiquitous and they constantly try to improve the customer experience.

They lure us with exciting offers and combo offers making us spendthrift and addictive.

One-day delivery/ one-hour delivery makes us nothing but impatient.

They pamper us by offering generous and hassle-free return policies making us carefree.

They bombard us with innumerable suggestions; shutting our brains and making us dumb ''Asses'.

AND DID I MENTION THAT SHIPPING THESE DAYS ARE FREE??

Well, let me decode the hidden asterisk there. Simply put, nothing in this world comes for free!! Let alone your online purchase.

I realized this when I had to reluctantly add a set of socks in my cart, lest, I would have to shell out extra 150 bucks to get my shirt shipped. This is nothing, but crafty ways employed by online retailers to persuade us to spend a considerable amount before the shipping charges can be waived off.  

REMEMBER THE TARNISHED BONDS WITH MOTHER EARTH…?

Businesses today are aware of our online shopping behaviors. Today, at least 30% of the online orders are returned as compared to 9% of store purchases.  To increase their sales, they overproduce the products. But finally, 80% of the returned orders end up in landfills because it is unable to enter the supply chain. Either because they are damaged on the way or their value is decreased over the period. Hence such over-production only increases the carbon footprint of the industry. And let alone the impact of packaging and transporting the returned products on our Mother Earth.

Come to think of it, I had mentioned that I was a Buridan’s Ass. In fact, It’s not just me or you. Businesses today are also a Buridan’s Ass who are unable to decide how they can manage their carbon footprint and their profits.

Ladies and Gentlemen, the Buridan’s Ass returned from 13^th Century to 21^st Century!! Let’s not be one of them.

While we are free to make a choice, we shall not be free from its consequences.

Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong

It was the last period in Our Lady of Valainkanni High School. As soon as the bell rang, there was a flurry of joy and ebullience inside the classroom as well outside the main gate. Dressed in PT uniforms, they looked like a flock of swans racing towards the main gate. Except that they were a tad too clumsy wobbling their heavy bags and stamping on one another's feet. Amongst them was a little girl donning a white skirt and white canvas shoes. She was oblivious of the latest speck of dirt smudged on her shoe by her fellow classmate. But this certainly didn't go unnoticed with a 5 years toddler waiting agog to see her elder sister.

The little girl was my sister and 5 years old toddler was me. I yanked my hand away from mother's hold and darted towards my sister only to stomp that fellow at least twice who accidentally stamped at her foot. I was an impulsive and impatient kid back then. But my love for my sister was unparallel. And she too returned me the favours...She returned me the favours by constantly reminding me that I was an adopted one picked up from a dustbin. My sister was the first kid in the family and we all know what a first kid is for a family. She was a PROJECT for my family. She received an unprecedented amount of time and parental advice. I, on the contrary, was any way the younger one.

Growing up I used to do things my way which meant if there was any secret way to do the simplest of the things wrong; I would do it. For instance, if I were eating bread butter then the chances of it falling with the buttered side down on the bedspread was directly proportional to the freshness of the bedspread. If my mother would just change it, then I was sure to spoil it. I was an epitome of Murphy's law that is Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong. And definitely will, in my case. My mom used to be dumbstruck at my unique ability to find the wrong way.

I always wanted to pursue a fancy career like Architecture or Fashion Designing. And my creative brain was also quite active then. But in the nick of time, I realized that we only get one chance at some points in time. So I decided to listen to my parents. I decided to listen to my parents and pull up my creative car on my way and go by my parent's way. In standard Xth, they gave me one sage advice "Study now and Party Later". It sounded a fair deal to me and I did the same. In standard XIIth, the came back with the same advice "Study now and Party Later". I again did the same thing. Then came Engineering and they again came back with the same advice...And I again did the same. Now I'm here and I have realized one thing that there is no party. There wasn't going to be one. You need to host your party with the theme of your interest.

On the hindsight, I now know that when my parents were telling me to "Work now and Party Later". They meant "Keep Going". And at this point in time, it sounds pretty reasonable because if you have already reached a stage in life where you only party then perhaps it's not the best path for you.

And checking on my creative car parked on my way, I think it was the best decision then because that car did not have enough fuel then. While my logical brain is totally convinced with the abilities of my creative brain, it keeps giving me a rational advice to hone it a little more. And that's why I'm here today re-fuelling my creative car and enriching my imagination. Going back to my unique ability to find wrong ways, I'm sure if I keep doing it correctly, I will tacitly keep a tab of all the right ways too.

So my friends, Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong. But important is to "Keep Going and Keep Growing"

Simple Home Automation using Arduino Uno

Arduino Board is an interesting piece of hardware which can be used to prototype IOT application with minimally connected modules. The board comes as a part of open-source IOT prototyping platform which Arduino provides. This MCU can easily be connected to HT05 Bluetooth modules, relay boards, HC12 Transceiver module, DC motors, etc.

Arduino makes rapid prototyping so easy that automation becomes a child's play.

A simple example of one such prototyping would be home automation. 

Use case: An android app that controls your electrical devices at home. You connect the android app to Bluetooth module of the home automation system. Once connected, the user can control the high voltage electrical devices using the app.

In order to build this, all we need is Arduino UNO board, HC05 Bluetooth module, 3-channel relay and electrical devices like Bulb, tube light, etc. The number of channels in relay depends upon the no. of devices you need to connect.

We will connect Arduino board to 2 modules:

1. Bluetooth module: Used to connect our android app with Arduino board via serial communication offered by HC05 BT

2. Relay channel: Used to connect high voltage devices to Arduino board. As stated above, the number of channels in the relay to be used is the number of devices you need to control via Arduino board.

There are various detailed tutorials available to learn the above two connections.

This page explains the BT connection with Arduino in a simple and easy manner. Relay connection with Arduino is nicely explained here. Thanks to the author for wonderful tutorials 😊

Now that we essentially have pin related connections, we can go to the next step of setting up the board.

 Arduino UNO board is set up by uploading Arduino program which includes the declaration of variables and pins of the board at the start. In addition to the required declarations, we also need to fill its brain with the program which will control the connected modules, and thereby control the connected devices. Arduino provides software development environment which can be downloaded from https://www.arduino.cc/. It also provides Web IDE.  

Our Android app can either be created using a simple platform MIT App Inventor. Or  Android APIs can be used in traditional Eclipse IDE. The app has to connect with our BT module. BT will receive the data from the app and transmit the same to Arduino, which according to the program loaded in it, control the relay output.

Finally, detailed steps for this prototype can be found here. Just in case you are interested in digging deeper. There could be many such use cases possible with Arduino board. Home Automation System is what I could have a hands-on. Let me know if you have tried anything else.

Happy Prototyping 😃