Interviewer: And can you tell me the reason why you help others?
Me: I don't think there must be a reason to help. I think, having a reason for helping others would make it a self-centered act. There shouldn't be a reason why you help someone.
Interviewer: (With a smile) There should be a reason for everything in life.
There are rarely few people in this world who had influenced my thoughts. He was someone who accounts for a major remodeling of the way I perceived reasons.
After the interview disaster last time, today was again my chance to prove myself and work for a company I always aimed at working for. May be because of their smart and professional ad campaign which also had catchy captions. Or may be because of their inspiring brand tag line.
I reached the interview venue after riding my power machine for quite long.as it was a remote location. There were so many who had turned up for this interview. After clearing a round of group discussion, it was my turn to go in for my first round of interview. Though this round was called the technical round, the technicality was so influential that it changed my perception of reasons.
Me: May I come in Sir.
Interviewer: Yes! Abishek?
Me: Yes sir, Good afternoon.
Interviewer: Have a seat.
Then followed a few technical questions. To my surprise, the technicality of those questions were limited to whether I know Java, .Net. There wasn't anything more technical and we started discussing life.
Interviewer: Ok, can you tell me about two good qualities in you?
Me: I'm always positive and I help others a lot.
Interviewer: Sounds good. Can you give me any example of you being positive and that led to success?
Me: Do you mean "any" example Sir?
Interviewer: (After a second thought) Yes.
Me: I proposed to a girl, she didn't accept it at first. I was positive for a year and the long wait paid off and she accepted.
He wouldn't have seen this coming his way.
Interviewer: (Smile)
And then came the question that made me realize a lot in life.
Interviewer: And can you tell me the reason why you help others?
Me: (with an expression that i'm smarter than him) I don't think there must be a reason to help. I think, having a reason for helping others would make it a self-centered act. You shouldn't expect anything back.
Interviewer: (With a smile) There should be a reason for everything in life.
Interviewer: (with true modesty) I don't agree with you on that. There are constructive reasons too that you could have for acts of helping, love etc. For instance, you are at college and you help your fellow classmate in studying. Of course you shouldn't expect anything back from him for your gesture; that would make it a self centered act. But imagine this as a reason why you help him; "By helping him, you will make him more competitive academically; help him score even above you. So with the increase in the level of competition even you get a chance to raise your level and grow even higher." Now isn't that a constructive reason why you must help?
For a person like me, who questions every nuances of life, this was the first time something made me nod my head in the very first go. Though I hadn't got the result of the interview, i was very satisfied by what I got to learn today. Sadly, i do not remember the name of that interviewer, but he is someone i'd always remember throughout my life; Because..
Friday, September 17, 2010
Friday, August 20, 2010
The Science of God; A Matter of Time ! ------------------- Part 1
Today as I'm about to take one more step forward in my career, I decided to travel few steps back to understand the very reason of my today. People say it’s the almighty God who'd been with me, taking me through those most memorable steps of my life. They go way further to say that for how I think and behave, if not for God, I would have lost the battle long back.
20th Sept 2006
__________________________________
Something in the morning made me realize that today is 20th Sept, the day when I had my first interview for a software job.
(tring.......tring.......tring.......tring) (Oh i loved the classic mobile ring those days)
"Hello", I Said.
"Oh you are awake! I thought to wake you up.", well, this was a routine call to wake me up so that I'm not late to the BPO I worked for; My girl friend.
"Sweetheart, I have an interview today. I need to go early."
"Today? I thought you have the interview tomorrow. ", She was surprised!
"No, its today..... Chalo, ill talk to you later, I'm getting late.” I was rushing to get ready.
"Oh sorry, All the best dear. Do well, n call up once you are done.” she was more excited than I was. She had all the reasons to be so. It was my first interview with a software firm after all.
"Sure, thanks! bye", and I rushed into the bathroom.
My bike, the Power Machine - as I call it, was ready to serve me for a very important day of my life. A ride through the Marina beach road through Thiruvanmayur to the IT Highway under the scorching heat was definitely an undesired ride, but considering the excitement I was in, it was all fair.
I parked the bike outside the gate and gazed at the huge building of this company. "This is where I want to be", I thought. Not because of the fame of it or the payment it makes, but because my best friend worked there.
Closing my dream box, I moved ahead to the security house at the gate.
Me: Sir, I'm here for an off campus interview today.
Lady Security (Confused): Interview? We didn't get information about any interview today.
Me: Yes, there is an interview. I got a mail about that.
I took the print out of the email and showed it to her to confirm and make a point to her that I was correct.
Lady Security (Smiling): Sir, the interview is on 20th Sept sir.
Me (keeping my stand): Yes, that's right. So, where shall I go? (Her smile slowly transformed to laughter)
Something struck me then. "Gosh, I haven't seen the calendar from the morning today." I turned around the security room looking for a calendar and realized that, everywhere, I go with a smart phone that is smart enough to tell me the date as well. In no time I took my phone out only to see that today was 19th Sept 2006. As dumb as I could look, I said sorry and started my way back home.
20th Sept 2006(Yeah, the real day!)
__________________________________
Everything was the same today like the virtual today that I had yesterday! The same wake up call, wishes from girl friend (Oh yea, she hadn't recovered from her laughter therapy yesterday!), rush to get ready, power machine, scorching heat. Thankfully, the security weren't the same.
There was a huge queue today. All of us entered the security room to sign and get our temporary tags. Then the queue took us straight to the cafeteria.
No, they didn't arrange any food for us there. This would have been the first ever company conducting their interview in cafeteria.
We were made to sit there in batches. A manager along with an HR walked towards our batch and started explaining the requirements and that they are looking to hire creative talents from this pool. I was happy to know and was listening to everything he said, as I was comfortable with the requirement.
Now was the individual interview time. After quite a long wait, my turn came. With great confidence I went to his table and with great gesture I said, "Good morning Sir."
Interviewer: Morning. Abishek, right?
Me: Yes Sir, that's correct.
Then he started verifying my mark sheets and other documents.
Interviewer: So Abishek, I see that you've had more than a couple of backlogs during your course. And we don't take candidates with more than two.
Me: Sir, but you said you are looking to recruit talents.
This hit him at the right spot and he began to think. But then the written policies are to be followed. The HR person was called and he informed me that even if they take me now, I would have issues during background verification.
I had to accept the loss that I had had. What started as a funny day yesterday ended up in a complete disaster today!
I didn't lose my confidence, as I believed in myself. I believed my TIME hadn't come then. I had to go little more in life before my TIME finally arrived and I got into this high performance firm.
"See, I told you, God had something bigger and better in store for you", was the reaction from most of my friends and relatives.
God? Being an atheist, God, for me, is just a 3 letter word in dictionary which meant any of the following;
–noun
1. The one Supreme Being, the creator and ruler of the universe.
2. The Supreme Being considered with reference to a particular attribute: the God of Islam.
3. (Lowercase) one of several deities, esp. a male deity, presiding over some portion of worldly affairs.
4. (Often lowercase) a Supreme Being according to some particular conception: the god of mercy.
5. Christian Science. The Supreme Being, understood as Life, Truth, Mind, Soul, Spirit, Principle.
6. (Lowercase) an image of a deity; an idol.
7. (Lowercase) any deified person or object.
But then I get to hear all the cliché that God is just a medium to have faith, gain confidence. Or if somebody comes to help you in need, he is God and blah blah blah.
I often wonder why do humans need or believe in God (a word) to 'keep faith', 'gain confidence'? Why don't we believe in ourselves? We need build our confidence ourselves, without depending on any external element like God. Imagine a day when you get up in the morning and realize that the word God has been erased from this world. Can we still survive? If we can, then we can even now!
Why should we think of somebody who helps you in need, is God? Why can't he be so human to have helped you?
Its high time we had moved out of the Godly world and made it as Humanly as possible.
20th Sept 2006
__________________________________
Something in the morning made me realize that today is 20th Sept, the day when I had my first interview for a software job.
(tring.......tring.......tring.......tring) (Oh i loved the classic mobile ring those days)
"Hello", I Said.
"Oh you are awake! I thought to wake you up.", well, this was a routine call to wake me up so that I'm not late to the BPO I worked for; My girl friend.
"Sweetheart, I have an interview today. I need to go early."
"Today? I thought you have the interview tomorrow. ", She was surprised!
"No, its today..... Chalo, ill talk to you later, I'm getting late.” I was rushing to get ready.
"Oh sorry, All the best dear. Do well, n call up once you are done.” she was more excited than I was. She had all the reasons to be so. It was my first interview with a software firm after all.
"Sure, thanks! bye", and I rushed into the bathroom.
My bike, the Power Machine - as I call it, was ready to serve me for a very important day of my life. A ride through the Marina beach road through Thiruvanmayur to the IT Highway under the scorching heat was definitely an undesired ride, but considering the excitement I was in, it was all fair.
I parked the bike outside the gate and gazed at the huge building of this company. "This is where I want to be", I thought. Not because of the fame of it or the payment it makes, but because my best friend worked there.
Closing my dream box, I moved ahead to the security house at the gate.
Me: Sir, I'm here for an off campus interview today.
Lady Security (Confused): Interview? We didn't get information about any interview today.
Me: Yes, there is an interview. I got a mail about that.
I took the print out of the email and showed it to her to confirm and make a point to her that I was correct.
Lady Security (Smiling): Sir, the interview is on 20th Sept sir.
Me (keeping my stand): Yes, that's right. So, where shall I go? (Her smile slowly transformed to laughter)
Something struck me then. "Gosh, I haven't seen the calendar from the morning today." I turned around the security room looking for a calendar and realized that, everywhere, I go with a smart phone that is smart enough to tell me the date as well. In no time I took my phone out only to see that today was 19th Sept 2006. As dumb as I could look, I said sorry and started my way back home.
20th Sept 2006(Yeah, the real day!)
__________________________________
Everything was the same today like the virtual today that I had yesterday! The same wake up call, wishes from girl friend (Oh yea, she hadn't recovered from her laughter therapy yesterday!), rush to get ready, power machine, scorching heat. Thankfully, the security weren't the same.
There was a huge queue today. All of us entered the security room to sign and get our temporary tags. Then the queue took us straight to the cafeteria.
No, they didn't arrange any food for us there. This would have been the first ever company conducting their interview in cafeteria.
We were made to sit there in batches. A manager along with an HR walked towards our batch and started explaining the requirements and that they are looking to hire creative talents from this pool. I was happy to know and was listening to everything he said, as I was comfortable with the requirement.
Now was the individual interview time. After quite a long wait, my turn came. With great confidence I went to his table and with great gesture I said, "Good morning Sir."
Interviewer: Morning. Abishek, right?
Me: Yes Sir, that's correct.
Then he started verifying my mark sheets and other documents.
Interviewer: So Abishek, I see that you've had more than a couple of backlogs during your course. And we don't take candidates with more than two.
Me: Sir, but you said you are looking to recruit talents.
This hit him at the right spot and he began to think. But then the written policies are to be followed. The HR person was called and he informed me that even if they take me now, I would have issues during background verification.
I had to accept the loss that I had had. What started as a funny day yesterday ended up in a complete disaster today!
I didn't lose my confidence, as I believed in myself. I believed my TIME hadn't come then. I had to go little more in life before my TIME finally arrived and I got into this high performance firm.
"See, I told you, God had something bigger and better in store for you", was the reaction from most of my friends and relatives.
God? Being an atheist, God, for me, is just a 3 letter word in dictionary which meant any of the following;
–noun
1. The one Supreme Being, the creator and ruler of the universe.
2. The Supreme Being considered with reference to a particular attribute: the God of Islam.
3. (Lowercase) one of several deities, esp. a male deity, presiding over some portion of worldly affairs.
4. (Often lowercase) a Supreme Being according to some particular conception: the god of mercy.
5. Christian Science. The Supreme Being, understood as Life, Truth, Mind, Soul, Spirit, Principle.
6. (Lowercase) an image of a deity; an idol.
7. (Lowercase) any deified person or object.
But then I get to hear all the cliché that God is just a medium to have faith, gain confidence. Or if somebody comes to help you in need, he is God and blah blah blah.
I often wonder why do humans need or believe in God (a word) to 'keep faith', 'gain confidence'? Why don't we believe in ourselves? We need build our confidence ourselves, without depending on any external element like God. Imagine a day when you get up in the morning and realize that the word God has been erased from this world. Can we still survive? If we can, then we can even now!
Why should we think of somebody who helps you in need, is God? Why can't he be so human to have helped you?
Its high time we had moved out of the Godly world and made it as Humanly as possible.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
The Law of Conservation of Love !
DISCLAIMER
The events depicted in this post are fictitious. Any similarity to any person living or dead is merely coincidental.
----------------------------------------------------------
Girl (03:04:56am): Happy Valentines Day dear!
ME (03:06:42am): Thnks, wud u b my valentine?
Girl (03:08:00am): r u serius? (She expects me to be kidding, 3am at night!)
ME (03:08:45am): m vry serius abt it.
"Love could neither be created nor be destroyed, but it could transform from one form to another.
and sometimes transferred too"
Look around yourself and if you could, look over the whole world; You would hardly find someone on earth who hasn't been a subject to this law. Thats the ubiquity of this law.
I'd have really liked to start with a cliche of the origin of love from a mother's womb and then how it gets transformed over a period to many different forms of love however, my friends demanded that I write about the only INTERESTING love this world has. That wasn't the only demand; Unfairly to me! But what better way to explain The Law of Conservation of Love.
Once upon a time……ah, never mind.
People call it the first love, though its logically wrong considering the cliche i spoke about earlier, this is a major transformation of love that a person has in his life. So, it does make sense to call it the first love. I took sometime to realize the first one. Going against the crisp and instant form of love at first sight (like instant noodles), I took almost 3years of friendship to transform to the next form of love. It broke out at 3am (O yea, i've been nocturnal for long) on 14th feb 2005 and in the most romantic way you could ever imagine; SMS! Short Messaging Service really helps when you want to keep it real short ;-)
Girl (03:04:56am): Happy Valentines Day dear!
ME (03:06:42am): Thnks, wud u b my valentine?
Girl (03:08:00am): r u serius? (She expects me to be kidding, 3am at night!)
ME (03:08:45am): m vry serius abt it.
< censored > (Naah, no romantic scenes.. This is stunts censored)
Yes, its true that the transformation of your love doesn't coincide with transformation of you partner's. It took exactly a year in my case; worth a wait!
This transformation takes you to an entire new world. A world where you find her everywhere and in every girl you see. This is when you realize (even though you knew her through 3years of friendship), that she has the most beautiful eyes in the world. You try to fit her in all the ambitious plans that you had for your future so that she could happily co-exist with you (forever love :)). I, being a human, wasn't an exception. I did find her the right fit in my plans. And if at some places she couldn't fit it; Change the plan! This makes her the reason for what I'am now. And above all is the golden moment thats almost associated with this transformation. Yes, it happened to me once!
Girl (01:14:36pm): Hi dear, i'm so srry but i'm gttng engaged.
ME (01:15:02pm): whtt???
As I'd said earlier, the transformation of your love doesn't coincide with that of your partners. In fact, mine hasn't transformed yet. I'm going through the second phase of this law. Yes, the transfer! But hers was about to get transformed into a new level of love. Not to blame her because we knew this was the fate. This transformation of love is considered the strongest with the social elements supporting it to give strength. This, i believe is after which the cycle starts again. Remember the mom, womb cliche?
On the other hand, after so many painful days (the regular "I can't live without you days!"), the transfer of my love did happen. I realized; rather re-defined what the transform of love, that i'm currently in, means to me! Its just to keep someone happy until she is with me. This eased the route to the next transfer of love. Apparently, another friend of mine had a break up and there was a need to keep her happy. An attempt to achieve this led to the transfer.
Transformations and/or transfers of love is inevitable, if not consciously, it happens within you without you realizing it. Though i've now decided (as always) to go against the nature and cease the transformation and transfer of my love to next level, I hope she gets her transformed soon.
Now, I'm quite happy with the best form of love that I've ever felt. Of that of Friendship. It may not be as interesting as its next level however, it is very important to me!
"I owe a lot to those eyes, because of which I've achieved whatever i have now. Even today, whenever i'm low; whenever i'm depressed, those beautiful pair of eyes motivates me to get up and achieve new heights in life."
The events depicted in this post are fictitious. Any similarity to any person living or dead is merely coincidental.
----------------------------------------------------------
Girl (03:04:56am): Happy Valentines Day dear!
ME (03:06:42am): Thnks, wud u b my valentine?
Girl (03:08:00am): r u serius? (She expects me to be kidding, 3am at night!)
ME (03:08:45am): m vry serius abt it.
"Love could neither be created nor be destroyed, but it could transform from one form to another.
and sometimes transferred too"
Look around yourself and if you could, look over the whole world; You would hardly find someone on earth who hasn't been a subject to this law. Thats the ubiquity of this law.
I'd have really liked to start with a cliche of the origin of love from a mother's womb and then how it gets transformed over a period to many different forms of love however, my friends demanded that I write about the only INTERESTING love this world has. That wasn't the only demand; Unfairly to me! But what better way to explain The Law of Conservation of Love.
Once upon a time……ah, never mind.
People call it the first love, though its logically wrong considering the cliche i spoke about earlier, this is a major transformation of love that a person has in his life. So, it does make sense to call it the first love. I took sometime to realize the first one. Going against the crisp and instant form of love at first sight (like instant noodles), I took almost 3years of friendship to transform to the next form of love. It broke out at 3am (O yea, i've been nocturnal for long) on 14th feb 2005 and in the most romantic way you could ever imagine; SMS! Short Messaging Service really helps when you want to keep it real short ;-)
Girl (03:04:56am): Happy Valentines Day dear!
ME (03:06:42am): Thnks, wud u b my valentine?
Girl (03:08:00am): r u serius? (She expects me to be kidding, 3am at night!)
ME (03:08:45am): m vry serius abt it.
< censored > (Naah, no romantic scenes.. This is stunts censored)
Yes, its true that the transformation of your love doesn't coincide with transformation of you partner's. It took exactly a year in my case; worth a wait!
This transformation takes you to an entire new world. A world where you find her everywhere and in every girl you see. This is when you realize (even though you knew her through 3years of friendship), that she has the most beautiful eyes in the world. You try to fit her in all the ambitious plans that you had for your future so that she could happily co-exist with you (forever love :)). I, being a human, wasn't an exception. I did find her the right fit in my plans. And if at some places she couldn't fit it; Change the plan! This makes her the reason for what I'am now. And above all is the golden moment thats almost associated with this transformation. Yes, it happened to me once!
Girl (01:14:36pm): Hi dear, i'm so srry but i'm gttng engaged.
ME (01:15:02pm): whtt???
As I'd said earlier, the transformation of your love doesn't coincide with that of your partners. In fact, mine hasn't transformed yet. I'm going through the second phase of this law. Yes, the transfer! But hers was about to get transformed into a new level of love. Not to blame her because we knew this was the fate. This transformation of love is considered the strongest with the social elements supporting it to give strength. This, i believe is after which the cycle starts again. Remember the mom, womb cliche?
On the other hand, after so many painful days (the regular "I can't live without you days!"), the transfer of my love did happen. I realized; rather re-defined what the transform of love, that i'm currently in, means to me! Its just to keep someone happy until she is with me. This eased the route to the next transfer of love. Apparently, another friend of mine had a break up and there was a need to keep her happy. An attempt to achieve this led to the transfer.
Transformations and/or transfers of love is inevitable, if not consciously, it happens within you without you realizing it. Though i've now decided (as always) to go against the nature and cease the transformation and transfer of my love to next level, I hope she gets her transformed soon.
Now, I'm quite happy with the best form of love that I've ever felt. Of that of Friendship. It may not be as interesting as its next level however, it is very important to me!
"I owe a lot to those eyes, because of which I've achieved whatever i have now. Even today, whenever i'm low; whenever i'm depressed, those beautiful pair of eyes motivates me to get up and achieve new heights in life."
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Chicken, Baby & Perception!
Look closely at the picture and try to find out a cute little infant lying down. Yes, this is the same image that so many of you would have got in your email at least once. Most of you would have found the baby in it. Others could give it a try now and for those who couldn't even after a try now, there is a reason for it which i would share it at the end.Off late I realized that there is more to this image than just finding a baby in the bends and curves of a tree. Yes, a deeper insight to the human perceptions or mindset.
All right, by now, I think, all of you would have found the baby hidden in this image. For a first look at this image, its very difficult to find the baby. But, here is something which is more difficult. Try to look at the image again. But this time visualize it as just a tree beside a river (Raw image). Try to lose the baby. Almost impossible. isn't it?
Ever imagined why? Before you knew that it had a hidden baby, this was just a simple image and we found it difficult to find the baby. Now, you know where the baby is, but its almost impossible to go back to the previous state of the image.
Yesterday, my friend cooked chicken for dinner and while eating, I was wondering why I eat chicken and not steak and bacon when all of them are legged beings with a heart pumping blood to all the parts of the body. Then why is it that, while I love chicken, I cannot even imagine eating the other stuff? I figured out that this has something to do with what I learned from this image.
The next para may sound very silly and stupid but if perceived the right way says a lot!
I now see chicken as a food (found the baby) and not as a processed living being(Raw image). Now when I try to change my perception to look at chicken as a dead animal(Raw image), and not as a food, I find it very difficult. Almost impossible!
On the other hand, I always see steak and bacon as animals killed and processed (Raw image) and never could find the baby in it. May be if I try hard, I'd be able to find the baby, and then it would be almost impossible to see the raw image again.
I often wonder if the whole world is driven by perceptions, with people who are trying hard to find the baby, people who have found the baby and trying to see the raw image again.
Extremists who kill may have found the baby as killing people. They have visualized the image of the world as spreading extremism. They may keep on killing until they see and perceive the raw image again, which is almost impossible!
And for people who are still finding the baby in the image, they are vegetarians. They couldn't perceive chicken or steak or anything. For them its just the raw image.
Before making any perception, think hard about it. Because once you set your mind, its hard to get back!
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Be Practical!
A phrase I get to hear from everyone associated with me for not following the general norms been laid down for living a life. I often wonder what it means to be practical. Is it synonymous to 'follow others'? Is it a polished way to say hide the creativity and explorer in you and follow the examples what our great leaders and legendary social, biological and scientific gurus have set?
I wonder if those legends came into this world as a legend or were they not blessed with good friends who asked them to be practical for a happy life? Let's imagine where would we have been today if people over the years have been practical.
What if people in NASA would have been practical? They would have followed the path of others and wouldn't have developed the space shuttle as going to space wasn't practical those days. Airplane would have been the highest we could reach.
Imagine if Wright brothers had a friend who would have asked them to be practical. flying was nowhere near being practical. we would have just ended moving in cars, bikes, buses and trains. People flying so high in a metal object? Come on guys, be practical.
The list would go on and on moving backwards in time and we'd finally reach the greatest invention of mankind. The invention of WHEEL. Imagine if the early man who invented wheel was asked by his friends to be practical. well today everything is on wheel but if that man was practical, there wouldn't have been a wheel.
But i believe what made the discovery of wheel was the absence of this phrase in early man ages because of non-emergence of English. The term of 'be Practical'. Because if early man had known of and utilized this phrase then we would have still been in the jungle. I wouldn't be typing this here, you wouldn't be reading. We would have been battling other animals wearing a piece of leaf.
How I wish to strike off this phrase in the present world. So as to discover more and explore the happiness in life rather than being practical and stay in the jungle. Remember, Going to moon wasn't practical earlier!
lets re-invent practical than be practical!
I wonder if those legends came into this world as a legend or were they not blessed with good friends who asked them to be practical for a happy life? Let's imagine where would we have been today if people over the years have been practical.
What if people in NASA would have been practical? They would have followed the path of others and wouldn't have developed the space shuttle as going to space wasn't practical those days. Airplane would have been the highest we could reach.
Imagine if Wright brothers had a friend who would have asked them to be practical. flying was nowhere near being practical. we would have just ended moving in cars, bikes, buses and trains. People flying so high in a metal object? Come on guys, be practical.
The list would go on and on moving backwards in time and we'd finally reach the greatest invention of mankind. The invention of WHEEL. Imagine if the early man who invented wheel was asked by his friends to be practical. well today everything is on wheel but if that man was practical, there wouldn't have been a wheel.
But i believe what made the discovery of wheel was the absence of this phrase in early man ages because of non-emergence of English. The term of 'be Practical'. Because if early man had known of and utilized this phrase then we would have still been in the jungle. I wouldn't be typing this here, you wouldn't be reading. We would have been battling other animals wearing a piece of leaf.
How I wish to strike off this phrase in the present world. So as to discover more and explore the happiness in life rather than being practical and stay in the jungle. Remember, Going to moon wasn't practical earlier!
lets re-invent practical than be practical!
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