Applied Common sense [or] Functional Literacy..

While I was pondering the meanings  common sense and functional literacy .. I recalled an anecdote I had experienced some time back.. 
As a cyber slave of an mnc I happen to put my bum many times in a month on the airline seat !!
It happened when one of my colleague and I were returning from Delhi in a KF airline. My colleague's Seat was hijacked by a neta ( yes you are right, it was a man dressed in the typical dress Indian politican don) He had an argument with my friend and of sheer common sense my friend asked him to show his boarding pass.. He got furious, by then his chela ( personal assistant ) came searching for him and told him that " Sir aap ki seat udhar hai' ( sir your seat is there ).. pointing to the business class.. and winked at my friend and told his boss.. yeh sob hot hai (It all happens)
But them I told my friend..a quote I had read.. 

Politics is the last resort of a scoundrel

and we had  good fun discussing, politics/common sense and functional Literacy !!
Guess what this guy is not aware of what class of Ticket was booked for him !!
But then when we landed we were getting out of the exit gate with big laughter and surprised to find people garlanding this man and some touching his feet..
We just slipped in the narrow gaps found between the people to save our Skin..

Executive Education AND/OR the Rat Race

While much has been talked and read about schooling and Education. I started scribbling this blog for the fact that I would be graduating with twining Masters Program in Business IT in Couple of months!! . This lead to recall a short anecdote, once a Wise Prof told.

This Story is about The Verger By Somerset Maugham, as Usual I don’t use my Brains while I google’d... for this short Story by Somerset Maugham...

Here is the shorter version of the short story...

There once used to be a verger who was happy in job, one fine day He was fired, He set’s up a small shops and scales to five shops with a saving of 30,000 Pounds and the bank calls him and says "Mr. Foreman, Here is the draft of how we can help you manage the savings... Could you please read them and then sign that you have read them?

Mr. Foreman Replied that he doesn’t know to read and write

The manager stared at him as though he were a prehistoric monster.

"And do you mean to say that you've built up this important business and amassed a fortune of thirty Thousand pounds without being able to read or write? Good God, man, what would you be now if you Had been able to?"

"I can tell you that sir," said Mr. Foreman, a little smile on his still aristocratic features.

I'd be verger of St. Peter's, Neville Square

One might Read the full story @ http://www.esnips.com/doc/a6527add-768d-4440-9760-ebe10f099743/The-Verger---W.-Somerset-Maugham

The Wise Professor set the perspective as to how this Twinning Masters (Like/Unlike the ‘Buy one get one offer’) will help most of us become ‘Better/Bigger /Richer .......with/Without this programme!!

Well, will it help me be the same as verger after completion of this programme or make me a Business man had I not done it (Like Mr. Foreman)

While In My view Being Educated and Being Schooled are two different Things... As rightly said by Mark Twain.

I have never let my schooling interfere with my education

While in 2009 the Markets Trembled, The Notional Wealth/s crumbled like a pack of Cards... Call it Recession or Human Stupidity... While Each one of us was having a morbid fear of loosing our corporate slavemanship!!

While there are retrofitting (Cannibalizing the work Force) in Top MNC... Retaining the Workforce in Economies of Scale (Cheap Cyber slaves eh)..

While companies came out stronger (With a Lean Muscle...eh... By retrofitting the Salaries, By Retrofitting the Workforce...)...

Like “All is fair in Love and War" " All is fair in Recession in too"... One can do what ever one wants... 'Man thinks that Man is the Master of his own fate !!

In this day and age of Innovating the Innovation, Challenging the challenge of the market space . All I know of this Quote is ;

To be educated is not to have arrived at a destination; it is to travel with a different view. –R. S. Peters

This is what precisely I would do and I want to carry on while I would receive the Twin Pieces of Scripts!!

Bangalore Ultra 09

If you want to win something, run 100 Meters.
If you want to experience Something, Run a marathon.
- Emil Zatopet, 1952 Olympic Marathon Gold Medalist

Here are the Encouraging words which I recall before scribing this blog. Well I was gearing up for the bangalore Ultra 09 I had registered for a 50 KM the longest ever I would be attempting to run in my life, A lot of my FFF ( Family Member, Friends and Fools) told me about the Fit young CEO of SAP India. Who passed away and the reason yet unknown..
Folks thought that that I had a morbid interest in death,well I recall Rudyard Kipling say " Birth and Death are Twin Forces of Destiny" . If I were to die running so be it.. when on reaching the venue I found that there are plenty of young men in their 50's, 60's who had registered for a 50K & 75K and some Young men who were already running the 100K.
The weather was awesome and Course was bit tough and mere words to describe the Landscape of the country side will not be apt.. Some part of the course was a Lovely green landscape, some with Eucalyptus groove and some with a mix of pathway and road .. That said I could only run+ walk 37.5 KM Finishing Strongly in 5 Hrs 10 Mins .. All I said to my self was I'm here to complete.. and not Compete.. So I could complete the 75% of the Registered Distance.. Well I completed the Ultra patting my own back with out an Injury and finishing strongly..Completing the longest distance ever I had run in my life...
While my FFF ask why I run, I say.. I enjoy so I do.. But personally running to me gave much more than enjoying.. a Kind of Mental Endurance, Perseverance, Patience etc... huh...looks like all English Words, Which have much more meaning beyond the words..

Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe.- Albert Einstien

Murphy's Law and my Sunfeast Running..

Though it was a Good start in the sunfeast.. But yet my Knee had to support my spirits.. All said and done it was a Good start, but had to slow down due to the ACL I had.. As I learnt some where, that "Reason is the most beautiful thing" .. well.. reason doesn't need to have a reason Though.... As Last year the start was not well organized, This year most of the participants had to Jump the fence and rush to the start line.. Though the Chips showed the timings of one's start and end timings..
Looked to me that these Kinda runs going the IPL way,, with the bollywood blonds cheering it's way !! End of the Day some one has to make money some how !!
While my Knee gave away and I could finish with my personal worst of 1.06 hrs.. ( I had done decent 56 Mins last year ) .. On the way I met many of my Colleague's one of whom happened to register for 5K and in one of our practice run he realized that he could do 10Km and had to change his registrations to 10KM.. Appreciate his efforts as he did in 1.04 hrs..
The Amazing part was I met an young man of 72Yrs ..who happened to run in 1.18 hrs, I guess.. What a Spirit... While I was shocked to see his mail to the Runners forum that he was second by 45 Sec, as another Young man in his age group had beaten.. What a spirit Sirji

While the debate goes.. why and why not I could do better.. All I could recall from the poem Invictus..
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate;
I am the captain of my soul.

The trait of lacking discipline and having them

Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishments. - Jim Rohn
Well..I have to confess that I have been extremely unorganised for a year now,, for reasons unknown..
Reason doesn't have a reason,, you see .. Some of my achievements for a year are ...
(i) Gaining Weight ; as you may be running.. too much of some thing is too bad.. and i had a ligament tear and a good reason to catch up with my bed early mornings.. well this helps me to gain a decent 5 Kilos.. Now that with the advise of docs.. got back on the road..
(ii) Becoming lazy; reason Unknown.. guess if some one has a reason for laziness.. ah yeah.. Reasoning is the most beautiful thing on earth
(iii) Get more sympathy from friends and relatives due so Recession..( thanks to recession.. at least people care for Job losers..) Well.. this is an Interesting topic.. Where I go,, Thanks to Recession ..I was/am greeted grief strikingly in most of the social gatherings..
However, Last but not the least get enlightened Intellectually..( Read my other Scribbling ' Audacity of Hope ' )

Murphy's law and my running..

It's been a good year with Lot's of running .. around 8-10 Half marathons and many more 10K/5K's averaging to 30-50 KM/ Week. Either on Road or on a treadmill..
All my Official Marathons this year had to be cancelled due to an ACL and an ITB, the Doc who advised me, that getting back in shape/ life is more important than running.. and I agree that running should be enjoyed for ever till we live and not just event based..
Seems like the Murphy's law is been applied in my Running here,
" If anything can go wrong, it will"
All it happened due to my over enthusiastic running aiming to complete my personal best in the Delhi Marathon, I was running an average of 18Km/ Day till I found that some thing is wrong with my left knee, this is the time I consulted a sports Medico who happens to be runner first and a Doc.. ( or Vice verse)..
Well the Good doc Identified it as an ACL and an ITB.. Though I passionately hated all these biological Jargon's from my school days.. I tend to learn about them by Googling.. Oh Yeah.. I tell people don't use your brains while you google ( and Vice verse)
Well, Though I generated quite a bit of Interest among my colleges and got them addicted to take a bit of running.. Feel nostalgic to miss some of the events happening around Bangalore.. Now that I'm Recovering by doing some strengthening and RICE therapies..
Will stay focused to be back on road i First week of Jan-09 ( God Willing)..

Travel & Living... (January-08)

Well most of my buddies were asking me it's been long time and NO see !!....Well Guys I got married and you have to understand that there will be Shaddi ke side effects as well :) I'm sure most of the married guys will understand, what I'm saying... I mean Busyness syndrome (busy doing nothing... eh)

Well... Had been to Andaman & Nicobar Islands to spend a part of my vacation in January... A& N Islands used to be called as Kala Pani (Black waters) a name derived from the Cellular Jain in Port Blair... This dates back to the history of the Indian Independence days, My History Knowledge is Worst than Bad... hence one may peek in on the reasonable Material on web (either by Blogs/ or on websites about A&N Island) on the commercial Tourist spots.

Though we happened to visit quite a bit on the southern side of Andaman’s and most of the island and coral filled bays... one of them worth mentioning are the sort of unexplored bay called Mahua dora which is around 1.5 Hrs sail from the Vandoor point.. The Bay is not much explored and so is the vegetation mostly filled with Coconut grooves. Can do a bit of snorkeling as the Local Boat operators are not equipped to conduct scuba diving.

One of the spots which was hearth throbbing is the Neil Island A quite place one with a Rich flora and the Aqua Habitat. All it takes in 2 Hours flat to reach by high speed Cruise from Port blair. We happened to visit the sitapur Beach in the morning and an Amazing place I would love to spend a whole day, the Calm scenic beach on one side and the Vegetation on the other side, and with some of the lime stone caves, we happened to the the first visitor for the day and we thought. Thank God at least we feel like owning this island... and there was a person selling tender coconut, who advised us not to go too far in the coast, as it may not be really safe and stay in the line of sight from the Road.. I would not draw a comparative line with the Gold coast but for me this seems to be like Gold coast ... ... if one were an avid trekker and a runner, would love to run along the beach and trek in the woods But alas my better ( lazy) half couldn't walk more than few hundred meters. The Other Beach we visited was the Lakshmanpur Beach. A Lovely sight to watch the sun go down... [The Photographs are taken by me,, I'm not a good photographer though ]

Well on day two we bid adieu to Neil Island which supplies the Maximum vegetables to the Main lands(seems like it is called a vegetable bowl of Andamans ). we happened to talk to couple of Traders who were carrying their trade back to the main land and they advised that one could spot Dolphins on the way but unfortunately we could spot None..

The other Rain forest in Baratang is around 70 Km from Port Blair , passes through a Deep vegetation on around 8-10 KM where once can spot the Adivasis called Jarwas. A Strict no to Photography and interaction with them and No Horns of course. Once reaching the point one can take a ride in the Mangroves to view the lime stone caves and mud volcanoes...

Well there are other Adventurous activities like snorkeling, Scuba diving etc one can do... and of course quite a lot of trekking and running along the coast!!

Adios...