I have been forced to pull out the ‘bloggers not for Advani’ picture. No
BJP (the opposition party) just can’t figure it out. It’s not endearing itself to people by doing this. Burning buses, bringing the Metro to a halt: we all hate price rise but this is not the right way to get yourself heard. Who will pay for all the damaged property? What image are you creating in front of the outside world that is watching?
If the BJP wants to show something to the people – here is challenge for them. Let them improve customer satisfaction at government offices. It’s not impossible, and at least its productive. We visited the MTNL office in Delhi today to buy a simple SIM card. There was a 5 window process, and amidst talking to us, the lady suddenly left – later we realised she had gone for lunch. She needed to sign the form, something that takes 10 seconds – and we had to wait for an hour just for that. She could at least have warned us! They have a one hour lunch – can you imagine such luxury in today’s world – 30 min. is the norm everywhere with most people just using 15 min. That too, leaving exactly at 1 PM she came back after 2.05 PM.
Well, let the BJP handle this and they will have my vote for sure.
Consider a large system S that the government wants to build. The government hires company X to build system S. Say company X has three engineering groups, E1, E2, and E3, that participate in the project. Conway’s law suggests that it is likely that the resultant system will consist of 3 major subsystems (S1, S2, S3), each built by one of the engineering groups. More importantly, the resultant interfaces between the subsystems (S1-S2, S1-S3, etc) will reflect the quality and nature of the real-world interpersonal communications between the respective engineering groups (E1-E2, E1-E3, etc).
Another example: Consider a two-person team of software engineers, A and B. Say A designs and codes a software class X. Later, the team discovers that class X needs some new features. If A adds the features, A is likely to simply expand X to include the new features. If B adds the new features, B may be afraid of breaking X, and so instead will create a new derived class X2 that inherits X’s features, and puts the new features in X2. So, in this example, the final design is a reflection of who implemented the functionality.
Law
A real life example: NASA’s Mars Climate Orbiter crashed because one team used United States customary units (e.g., inches, feet and pounds) while the other used metric units for a key spacecraft operation. This information was critical to the maneuvers required to place the spacecraft in the proper Mars orbit. “People sometimes make errors,” said Dr. Edward Weiler, NASA’s Associate Administrator for Space Science. “The problem here was not the error, it was the failure of NASA’s systems engineering, and the checks and balances in our processes to detect the error. That’s why we lost the spacecraft.”
A few days back I had talked about the importance of reciting the lord’s name even once. Today I want to revisit that with another interesting parable, from Sri Guru Granth Sahib.
Ajaamal was a sinner, and having married a prostitute, he fathered a son. He met a saint and asked him what he should name him. The saint suggested the name Naarayan which in Hindi refers to the Lord.
Throughout his life, he uttered Naarayan referring to his son. When the Messenger of Death came to take Ajaamal, he called out to his son. The Messenger of Death, on hearing Ajaamal say “Narayan” at the time of his death, got frightened and did not take Ajaamal. Thus Ajaamal was saved and reached the Lord’s Lotus Feet.
ਅਜਾਮਲ ਪ੍ਰੀਤਿ ਪੁਤ੍ਰ ਪ੍ਰਤਿ ਕੀਨੀ ਕਰਿ ਨਾਰਾਇਣ ਬੋਲਾਰੇ ॥
Ajaamal loved his son Naaraayan, and called out his name.
And then again, later:
ਅਜਾਮਲੁ ਉਧਰਿਆ ਕਹਿ ਏਕ ਬਾਰ ॥
Ajaamal uttered the Lord’s Name once, and was saved.
Guru Granth Sahib clarifies that Ajaamal’s recitation of the Lord’s Name, though impure (he called out because of attachment to his son, not because of Love for God) – still saved him:
ਪੁਤ੍ਰ ਹੇਤਿ ਨਾਰਾਇਣੁ ਕਹਿਓ ਜਮਕੰਕਰ ਮਾਰਿ ਬਿਦਾਰੇ ॥੧॥
Ajaamal called out “Narayan” for the sake of his love for son. Yet the Lord’s Name killed and sent the Messenger of Death away.||1||
Finally, I was able to release Flimager today. Its a tool to setup your own Flash slideshow, with your own images. If your images are hosted on your own server, rather than on Picassa or Flickr, this is the tool to go for.
I am trying to get off a post from my new Nokia N97 – its wonderful being able to compose anywhere. Everything except the photo editing was done using the phone, including the photography. Since I had to take the photo to the PC for editing I uploaded also using the same. The photo without more ado:
Want to share today the importance of uttering the Lord’s Name even once (as a Gurmukh – follower of the ways of the Guru, with body and mind in unison):
ਨਿਰਬਾਣ ਕੀਰਤਨੁ ਗਾਵਹੁ ਕਰਤੇ ਕਾ ਨਿਮਖ ਸਿਮਰਤ ਜਿਤੁ ਛੂਟੈ ॥੧॥
Cleansing yourself of lust, sing the praise of the Creator; contemplating Him in meditation, even for an instant, one is saved. ||1||
Here, the Guru talks about singing the praise of the Creator – even for a ‘Nimakh‘ (instant). Nimakh is composed of two punjabi words – Nim (falling) and Akh (eye). Hence Nimakh refers to the period of blinking of the eye.
Sukhmani Sahib has the following verse:
ਜਾਪ ਤਾਪ ਗਿਆਨ ਸਭਿ ਧਿਆਨ ॥
Chanting, intense meditation, spiritual wisdom and all meditations;
ਖਟ ਸਾਸਤ੍ਰ ਸਿਮ੍ਰਿਤਿ ਵਖਿਆਨ ॥
the six schools of philosophy and sermons on the scriptures;
ਜੋਗ ਅਭਿਆਸ ਕਰਮ ਧ੍ਰਮ ਕਿਰਿਆ ॥
the practice of Yoga and righteous conduct;
ਸਗਲ ਤਿਆਗਿ ਬਨ ਮਧੇ ਫਿਰਿਆ ॥
the renunciation of everything and wandering around in the wilderness;
ਅਨਿਕ ਪ੍ਰਕਾਰ ਕੀਏ ਬਹੁ ਜਤਨਾ ॥
the performance of all sorts of works;
ਪੁੰਨ ਦਾਨ ਹੋਮੇ ਬਹੁ ਰਤਨਾ ॥
donations to charities and offerings of jewels to fire;
ਸਰੀਰੁ ਕਟਾਇ ਹੋਮੈ ਕਰਿ ਰਾਤੀ ॥
cutting the body apart and making the pieces into ceremonial fire offerings;
ਵਰਤ ਨੇਮ ਕਰੈ ਬਹੁ ਭਾਤੀ ॥
keeping fasts and making vows of all sorts –
ਨਹੀ ਤੁਲਿ ਰਾਮ ਨਾਮ ਬੀਚਾਰ ॥
none of these are equal to the contemplation of the Name of the Lord,
ਨਾਨਕ ਗੁਰਮੁਖਿ ਨਾਮੁ ਜਪੀਐ ਇਕ ਬਾਰ ॥੧॥
O Nanak, if, as Gurmukh, one chants the Naam, even once. ||1||
Guru Gobind Singhji, in Benti Chaupai feels:
ਜੋ ਕਲਿ ਕੌ ਇਕ ਬਾਰ ਧਿਐਹੈ ॥ ਤਾ ਕੇ ਕਾਲ ਨਿਕਟਿ ਨਹਿ ਐਹੈ ॥
Those who meditate even once on the Supreme Destroyer (God), the death cannot approach them;
Once a person visited Kabir’s home, telling his wife about wanting to meet him. She replied that he was away at the moment and sought the reason for the man’s visit. The man informed her that his entire body was painful, and that he was in great agony. Wife told him to recite ‘Ram’ thrice. He did so, and his pain vanished. He happily thanked his wife and went away.
Kabir was returning, when he saw this man leaving his home, merrily. On being asked by Kabir, the man narrated his story. Kabir went inside his house and gave his wife an angry look. The wife was surprised, she asked him the reason. Kabir told her: “By uttering Ram just once, an entire village can be cured, and you have cured one person by having him recite thrice. This is a sacrilege of the sacred Name.”
This same thought is echoed by Kabir in Sri Guru Granth Sahib:
ਕਬੀਰ ਸਈ ਮੁਖੁ ਧੰਨਿ ਹੈ ਜਾ ਮੁਖਿ ਕਹੀਐ ਰਾਮੁ ॥ ਦੇਹੀ ਕਿਸ ਕੀ ਬਾਪੁਰੀ ਪਵਿਤ੍ਰੁ ਹੋਇਗੋ ਗ੍ਰਾਮੁ ॥੧੧੦॥
Kabeer, blessed is that mouth, which utters the Lord’s Name. What to speak of the body, and the whole village as well. ||110||
It may be prudent, to obtain bye-in from the person who will be looking for the needle in the haystack. Especially if this is a boring task you will need to explain to the person why it is necessary to find the needle and how it fits in with the vision/mission.
In case this is a repetitive scenario, you may want to track how many times each resource has failed to find the needle and penalize the one at the top. If this specific scenario is not repetitive you may want to club with similar scenarios where the group overall is repetitive. This can also be subjected to statistical analysis (more on the statistical analysis in another post here).
One way, as I suggested earlier, is to create a verification procedure that is shorter than looking for the needle in the haystack itself. Ask a peer to carry out the verification – call him the “supervisor” (he will be better motivated this way).
Another way to handle this problem is through the usual reward/punishment strategy. Either offer a reward for finding it, or offer a punishment for not finding it. The reward does not have to big, neither does the punishment need to be huge. Token punishments are enough. For example, a task required everyone to fill up a template, and one person to consolidate each Friday. People would need reminders, etc – so we decided that whoever is the defaulter the highest number of times would get the task of consolidating for the next few weeks. Then on to the next defaulter.
Can’t believe I haven’t written about Vaisakhi before – its one of the most important events in Sikh history. Also known as Baisakhi, this is a harvest festival that marks the beginning of a new year as per the local calendar. More important, for Sikhism it also marks the birth of the Khalsa – the pure. In 1699, the Tenth Guru converted Sikhism which so far was just a way of life, into a more disciplined religion with rules and a code of conduct – with a democratic way of functioning.
Like every year, Vaisakhi is being celebrated by large gatherings in the Sikh temples (gurdwara). I want to encourage people to get baptized: the Guru will guide you – it’s not as difficult to follow as it seems initially. For those who have been baptized but do not follow the code of conduct on a daily basis, this is what I suggest: start with a shorter regimen, and build it at your pace. Japuji Sahib in the mornings, and Benti Chaupai in the evenings to begin with for example.
Today the religious world is divided: different religions, each disfavouring the other; various sects etc. If people understood the distinction between Prem (love) and Moh (attachment) there would be less fighting between the various groups.
Moh is temporary, Prem is permanent. Moh is what a father feels for a son – if the son disobeys the father the weak thread of Moh breaks.
Also, Moh is about saying “God belongs to me“. If the God belongs to me, someone else needs to invent a different God for himself. Prem is about saying “I belong to the God“. It is about giving up oneself.
Prem is like a fish in water – Only death can separate them. Indeed, Guru Tegh Bahadur wants us to love God like a fish in water:
ਗੁਨ ਗੋਬਿੰਦ ਗਾਇਓ ਨਹੀ ਜਨਮੁ ਅਕਾਰਥ ਕੀਨੁ ॥
ਕਹੁ ਨਾਨਕ ਹਰਿ ਭਜੁ ਮਨਾ ਜਿਹ ਬਿਧਿ ਜਲ ਕਉ ਮੀਨੁ ॥੧॥
If we do not sing the praises of the Lord, we are wasting our life in vain. Says Nanak, meditate on God, like the way, the fish loves water.
A worshiper goes one step further beautifully talking about Moh and Prem:
ਜਉ ਹਮ ਬਾਂਧੇ ਮੋਹ ਫਾਸ ਹਮ ਪ੍ਰੇਮ ਬਧਨਿ ਤੁਮ ਬਾਧੇ ॥
You (God) sent me to this world, and bound me with attachment to treasures and people. I have, in return, bound you with the bonds of love.
ਅਪਨੇ ਛੂਟਨ ਕੋ ਜਤਨੁ ਕਰਹੁ ਹਮ ਛੂਟੇ ਤੁਮ ਆਰਾਧੇ ॥੧॥
I have broken free from the binds of attachment by meditating on You. How shall you liberate yourself now from the binds of my Love?
One of the problems I have faced repeatedly in not just project management but in a wide variety of scenarios (even at home) is what I call the ‘Needle in Haystack’ problem. Say I am the manager of a project where the task is to find a needle in a haystack. I assign the task to Mr.X. He comes back after three days and tells me there is no needle in there. I am confronted with three possibilities:
He actually spent three days actively looking for the needle and was unable to find it. There is indeed no needle in there.
He actually spent three days actively looking for the needle and was unable to find it. There is a needle there, only he was unable to find it (the methods may be not very efficient for example).
Mr.X went on a movie watching spree 🙂
The real problem here however, is that in order to find out which of the scenario is factual, I will have to find the needle myself – and maybe spend three days myself. There is no benefit obtained through delegation.
One course of action, obviously, is to seek evidence from Mr. X. A bus ticket from office to the haystack for example.
Another is to find a way to verify if there is a needle or not, in say 3 hours. In most cases one of these solutions is possible, but is hard to find. In the next few postings on this topic I will share case studies around this, to give you some ideas around it. There is no magic wand though, everyone needs to invest thought.
The video below is the result of approx. 50 hours of computer time, over a one year period – first five Pauri’s (steps) of Japuji Sahib, explained. Hope you enjoy.
Its really easy to make a magic square: one where the horizontal totals and the vertical totals all add up to the same number. For example, here is a 5×5 magic square:
How to build one such magic square? You could build a 3×3, or a 7×7 one for example. The rules:
1. Start with writing 1 in the middle square
2. Keep moving diagonally upwards, increasing the number by 1 each time
3. If you move out of the square, roll over
4. If you hit a square already filled, move vertically downwards one square and keep moving
All the best!
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