8 March 2009

Outside the zone of comfort

This evening I got this email from an old colleague of mine who lost his job. The reason he wrote the email was to tell his old friends that he was able to get a great job – even in these tough times – and he is having a great time – professionally and personally.

That was a great story. Something most of us can relate to. We don’t like to get outside our zone of comfort. And yet, when we get kicked out of it, we often find that we can do even better in the new circumstances.

We build our zones of comfort and like staying there because that is where we can drive most value – or so we perceive. We believe we are an expert and have experience in that area. But above all, we hate change. There is nothing like getting “settled down” that makes us feel that we “know what we are doing”. (BTW, as an aside, we all believe that we personally love change – it is just that everybody else in the world hates changes).

I am sure you can think of a few cases in your life when you got pushed out of that zone – suddenly and definitely not following your calendar. And most of the time you look back and say – Wow, that was the best thing ever happened to me. I learnt lot more. I now understand lot more. No doubt, when the change happened we felt very uncomfortable, to say the least.

Of course, we do not want the environment to create the changes for us always. The trick is how do we incrementally but surely, keep pushing ourselves outside our zone of comfort? So as not to let us settle down. So as to make sure we are learning continuously and adapting to the environment. So as to keep our reflexes and judgment as sharp as ever.

I suspect it is tougher than it sounds. But I guess the best leaders make a practice of pushing themselves beyond their current “boxes” – so to speak.

Rajib

Category: Reflections | LEAVE A COMMENT
15 February 2009

Not Me!!!

This evening I got this email from an old colleague of mine who lost his job. The reason he wrote the email was to tell his old friends that he was able to get a great job – even in these tough times – and he is having a great time – professionally and personally.

That was a great story. Something most of us can relate to. We don’t like to get outside our zone of comfort. And yet, when we get kicked out of it, we often find that we can do even better in the new circumstances.

We build our zones of comfort and like staying there because that is where we can drive most value – or so we perceive. We believe we are an expert and have experience in that area. But above all, we hate change. There is nothing like getting “settled down” that makes us feel that we “know what we are doing”. (BTW, as an aside, we all believe that we personally love change – it is just that everybody else in the world hates changes).

I am sure you can think of a few cases in your life when you got pushed out of that zone – suddenly and definitely not following your calendar. And most of the time you look back and say – Wow, that was the best thing ever happened to me. I learnt lot more. I now understand lot more. No doubt, when the change happened we felt very uncomfortable, to say the least.

Of course, we do not want the environment to create the changes for us always. The trick is how do we incrementally but surely, keep pushing ourselves outside our zone of comfort? So as not to let us settle down. So as to make sure we are learning continuously and adapting to the environment. So as to keep our reflexes and judgment as sharp as ever.

I suspect it is tougher than it sounds. But I guess the best leaders make a practice of pushing themselves beyond their current “boxes” – so to speak.

Rajib

Category: Reflections | LEAVE A COMMENT
9 February 2009

Saraswati Pujo 2009 Dance

Saraswati is the goddess of education and art. It is usually celebrated sometime in MArch or February. This year, Nikita had her maiden performance on the stage with her Indian dance to a Bengali song. Natasha had 2 dances this year. There were 27 kids who put up 5 dances and they ranged from something 3 years to 12 years or so. It was a great show put up by our personal friend – Mayuri Ray

Nikita’s maiden performance – “Aay Re Chhute Aay”

Natasha’s first dance – “O Alor Pathajatri”

Natasha’s second dance – “Dhitang Dhitang Boley”

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27 January 2009

Are you going to finish strong?

This story of an unbelievable “winning against all odds” is an inspiration in our personal lives as well as our professional lives. For many of us who are wincing at the current economic headwinds and trying to figure out how to deal with it, there cannot be a better “pick-me-upper” than this. What a great story!! What a perspective it sets for us!!

Category: Reflections | LEAVE A COMMENT
3 January 2009

Marathon Run

This time, in my hometown Durgapur, there was a Marathon Run that was organized by a local club. I was mildly surprised since running – let alone marathon – is not that popular in India in general, my sleepy hometown in particular. Nevertheless, I decided to participate (I was already running 10 km everyday after I landed for vacation). First let me point out that you should not get fooled by the naming. While called “marathon”, it was really a half-marathon – 21 kms. For the uninitiated, “Bengal” refers to the state that we are from.

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In any case, my decision to participate caused great consternation in my family. Nobody in my family could fathom that a 42 year old would be running for 21 km. My dad took sleeping pills the previous night and went to sleep 🙂

When I arrived at the running place, there were a lot of surprises in store for me. First, unlike here in USA, when they said they will start at 8 AM, they were merely saying that somewhere around that time we will get started. When I enquired, they said they are waiting for the VIP to arrive. Some minister came and started the run – so we had to wait for an hour for him.

The lineup itself was a lot of fun. I was the 42-year old. Next there was a 33 year old (who did not finish) and then a 27-year old. Most everybody else were 17-23 years old. They were getting completely confused by me – most of them mistook me for an organizing official 🙂

It was also a lot of fun watching these kids pushing each other to get their feet on the chalk-mark of starting line. Nobody wanted to stand behind anybody. Everybody wanted to be the first to get started. As if over a stretch of 21 km, starting a foot behind, would unduly pose an insurmountable gap that they could not cover. Most of these kids also bowed out by the 8 km marker. (Out of about 350 participants, 72 or so completed).

Running on the roads was pretty much like here in USA. There were the folks gathered to cheer; kids running out of their houses to see the spectacle; the volunteers and pilot cars and ambulances. In addition we had the stray dogs once in a while getting in our way. A side story to all this is that since I did not go from USA prepared for a long run like this, I did not have my water bottle belts and other such paraphernalia. Most people were impressed that I refused all the water that the volunteers were offering and ran without a single drop of water. What they did not know is that if I did drink any of that water, I would be running at twice the speed looking for the nearest toilet. (I stick to bottled water while in India after a few – let’s just say – “learning experiences” 🙂 )

The real attraction for everybody was to get an award from Sourav Ganguly. India is a cricket crazy country. One of their most successful captains – now retired Sourav Ganguly – hails from Bengal. Bengalis of all age and groups are absolutely nuts about Sourav. He cannot do anything wrong in their eyes. Every failure of his was due to a bigger conspiracy somewhere else. Bengalis usually forget their otherwise lacklustre performance as a state in almost every aspect of life by just bringing up Sourav in any conversation. (btw, before Sourav it was the Nobel prize won by Rabindranath Tagore 🙂 ) That said, Sourav was indeed a very fine cricketer and a very successful captain.

Nonetheless, I did finish the race – nowhere close to getting recognized by Sourav though!! I finished at 2 hour 3 minutes. While that was my career best half marathon, the winner was a 20 year old marathon runner from North Bengal who finished it at 1 hour 11 minutes!!! I was impressed. This year I am determined to increase my speed.

In any case, my whole – extremely worried – family was there was at the finish line. There was more of a sigh of relief that I did not die halfway rather than rejoice. Nonetheless, it was immensely satisfying to finish the race (and watching the twenty-year olds drop out at every mile-marker) 🙂

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In case you are wondering what the security guys were doing around me, they had come there for Sourav Ganguly!!

Rajib

Category: Vacations | LEAVE A COMMENT
29 December 2008

Dallas Memories

Usually, when we mention to friends in Atlanta that we went to Dallas to vacation in summer, the usual response is “But, why?” 🙂 True, it is hot and humid in Texas and really not that many places to go to. But after living in Dallas for 15 years, all our friends who became family in this country for us live there. We went to visit them. I missed taking pictures of my best friends – Madhumita and Basu – but we have captured many other in this video…

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10 December 2008

History of Time

The History of Time

850 B.C. – Britons proclaim Operation Stonehenge a success.  They’ve finally gotten those boulders arranged in a sufficiently meaningless pattern to confuse scientists for centuries.

525 B.C. – The first Olympics are held, and prove similar to the modern games, except that the Russians don’t try to enter a sixfooter with a mustache in the women’s shot put.  However, the Egyptians do.

410 B.C.  Rome ends the practice of throwing debtors into slavery, thus removing the biggest single obstacle to the development of the credit card.

1 B.C.  Calendar manufacturers find themselves in total disagreement over what to call next year.

432 – St. Patrick introduces Christianity to Ireland, thereby giving the natives something interesting to fight about for the rest of their recorded history.

1125 – Arabic numerals are introduced to Europe, enabling peasants to solve the most baffling problem that confronts them:  How much tax do you owe on MMMDCCCLX Lira when you’re in the XXXVI percent bracket?

1233 – The Inquisition is set up to torture and kill anyone who disagrees with the Law of the Church.  However, the practice is so un-Christian that it is permitted  to continue for only 600 years.

1607 – The Indians laugh themselves silly as the first European tourist to visit Virginia tries to register as “John Smith.”

1815 – Post Office policy is established as Andrew Jackson wins the Battle of New Orleans a month after he should have received the letter telling him the War of 1812 is over.

1859 – Charles Darwin writes “Origin of the Species”.  It has the same general plot as “Planet of the Apes”, but fails to gross as much money.

1911 – Roald Amundsen discovers the South Pole and confirms what he’s suspected all along:  It looks a lot like the North Pole…

Category: Humor | LEAVE A COMMENT