Euphemism, Truth and Diplomacy

Is the world mature? How do we judge it, is there a metric to judge or benchmark the maturity against some thing else ? We do have maturity assessment models in software, quality etc and they are denoted by CMM and ISO models.Guess the world is old enough to start evolving standards to judge the maturity across various dimensions like emotional,mental,physical,spiritual etc. But I guess when things keep changing and there is no absolute benchmark, can there be any meaning behind this excercise ??

Coming back to the original topic, the world does always prefer to hear things
"sugar-coated". That somehow gives me the feeling that the world has not matured enough. Maybe, its a case of always expecting good things to happen and its a sign of a predominantly optimistic spirit that guides most of us in this world. !!

Hence we hear of a person passing away( in reality, he dies), a person is between jobs( in reality, he's jobless).

I guess it would be better to replace optimism with realism in order to avoid heart-burns at any given point of time.

In fact the art of saying things polishedly is a very valued skill and hence gets a lot of respect and admiration around the world. The class of people adept at doing this are called diplomats and enjoy one the most coveted posts in governments.

Read somewhere that a diplomat is one who asks you to " Go to Hell" in such a way that you will look forward to the trip. Indeed a really admirable skill worth cultivating.

Euphemism is a word that denotes the art of saying things in a soft,polished way.

Interesting and strange world...

Motivations for HardWork

Amongst various triggers or motivations for working hard in life, one can attribute vision, energy, enthusiasm, prestige, power, money, fame etc.

Can one also attribute laziness ? Although it might sound a trifle contrarian to the notion of hard-work, yours truly can lay claim to the fact that laziness is the strongest motivation and bedrock for all his hard-work.

As per my earlier blog-posts, if one does not like doing something, I somehow feel that inherently, the person should do that action fast without enjoying the actual joy of doing it !!

Similarly, if the broad contours of doing business is kind of contrarian to your basic value-system, you would like to get out of it as soon as possible. That's precisely what has prompted me to look-out for lucrative assignments so that I can escape out of this Chakravyuh as soon as possible.

Given a choice, I would like to laze around ( Most people would agree to this fact but then, do not want to think how to make this possible and condemn this thought as wishful thinking !!) In order for me do this, what is the prime impediment ? Its "money". If you have that in adequate measure, not a single dog can question you about your actions/inactions.

Hence if you passionately go after money early on in life, it gives you a lot more options later-on to laze and enjoy life at a slightly more manageable,relaxed pace which is a luxury for most people in this world. Its all about priorities..

Elementary, my dear reader !!! Just do it..

Viewing things from a global level

Yours truly is currently on an assignment in a different country(US) and has had the opportunity to interact with fellow citizens from his home country on a regular basis. This gives him a rare opportunity to view the actions/behavior of people at different places and ponder over the consistencies/inconsistencies.

A somewhat frequent incident to which I have been witness to, and one which pains me a lot has prompted me to write a dedicated blog-post.

It starts with understanding of the basic fact that consultants due their inherent working model are forced to move places at frequent intervals. Now a totally unconnected but related fact is Walmart,the world's largest retailer has a " No Questions asked " 90 day return policy. Combine these 2 previous statements and what stems as a rather regular social spending pattern where people resort to buying and using things from Walmart with the ulterior motive of returning them back later.

What is ironical is that consultants normally get paid much higher than market levels owing to their short-term and uncertain nature of work and hence their actions as described above amplifies the shock and pain in "yours truly". Why and how can they imagine returning goods they have bought and used for around 3 months.? Extrapolate this to the winter season and you can visualize the highly paid consultants strutting around in the best of winter clothing, calculating mentally, the days remaining to return their stuff at the end of winter. !!!

I am pained to see this rather recurring behavior in a large number of fellow citizens and what these people do not realise that, this projects a rather pathetic image of India and Indians in general amongst the masses. These people should remind themselves that their actions are judged and observed by people of other countries and hence people abroad are ambassadors of the country they represent.

Exploring ways to a solution to this social issue which is acceptable to all stake-holders.

1) What cannot be avoided is the short term nature of work and hence an often accompanying change of place. Hence as a practice, it pays to be as lean as possible in accumulating stuff so that it becomes easy at the time of packing and moving. Remember that you have taken a conscious choice to become a consultant and moving places is a job-related phenomenon we need to accept and live with.

2) Buy stuff which are cheap and throw-away so that one does hesitate to thrash when you move.

3) Use this opportunity of moving-out to donate used stuff including books,furniture, clothes to the nearest GoodWill/Salavation Army/Red-Cross and enhance the image of you, your family and country.


Arise, my fellow Indian citizens, develop a heart, do not bury your conscience, and please pay heed to my earnest appeal to make a mark in this world in a positive way.

Interpreting the pace of people's actions..

If you really like or relish doing someting, atleast in my case, I tend to do it slow.On the contrary, you don't like something or something is thrust down your throat( for eg: a bitter medicine), you tend to do it faster since you dont want the bad taste or experience to linger for a long time.

Translating this observation to the workplace, I want to second-guess those who love their work and those who do it for money. If someone just does things super-fast and walks out of the office on the dot after office hours, chances are( in my humble opinion) the person just does'nt like what he/she's doing. I may be wrong on this but someone can validate this at their work-place and comment on my views.