My Creative Journey: Part 4 – Buddha

 Here is a simple sketch of Buddha as I “see” it. Just looking at this sketch brings so many different emotions and thoughts. Sketching Buddha was very peaceful.
This is the fourth sketch in my series of simple “starter” sketches. The other three were Baby Hanuman, Flower Vase and A View from Up Here.

Read Full Post »

The MONK and the MONKey

I read Randy Komisar’s “The Monk and the Riddle“. I just could not stop when I started reading it. By the time I finished reading it, the clock struck 4 AM. I think it was a night well spent.
Randy Komisar is a Venture Capitalist with Kleiner Perkins. This book tells Randy’s evolution (thus the word [...]

Read Full Post »

My Creative Journey: Part 3

Here is the third post in my series of sketches. The first one was the view from my patio and the second one was Baby Hanuman. This one is a flower vase that I sketched just before it was broken by accident. It was good that I captured it in some form before we lost [...]

Read Full Post »

My Evolution As A Sketcher – Part 2

Here is the next sketch that I tried. This is the second one in my series of posted sketches – first one was a view from my patio. This one is a Baby Hauman sketch based on Indian animation film Hanuman. Pardon some of the shade which is because of scanner issues. More sketches to [...]

Read Full Post »

My Evolution As A Sketcher

I recently started sketching again (after 18 years). It had been a great experience.
Here is one of the first sketches that I came up with. It is a view from the patio of my townhouse in the University Village. I know it is far from perfect. It is a beginning (restart actually). I will post [...]

Read Full Post »

Happiness: How To Find It?

HAPPINESS – It is the single most important goal of human life. All our actions could be traced to “seeking happiness”. While happiness is so important and sought after, it is not properly understood. There is a huge element of subjectivity involved and that makes it hard to define, measure, monitor and fix.
 Uncertain Future: Our [...]

Read Full Post »

Harmony in Decision Making and Happiness

We make so many decisions everyday, ranging from as simple as which brand of coffee to drink to as significant decisions as whether to use nuclear weapons against Japan.
How do we make these decisions? What is our personal compass that we use to navigate through this web of decisions? And, Is that compass directing us [...]

Read Full Post »

Khosla’s Pursuit of HappYness

I met and listened to Vinod Khosla, a renowned Venture Capitalist, at a US-India Venture Capital Association meeting. His speech gave a glimpse inside his mind. It was a very personal speech unlike his previous speeches. Khosla talked about some of the decisions he made in life and why he made those decisions.

Move to India [...]

Read Full Post »

Speed: Is fast good?

When we make music we don’t do it in order to reach a certain point, such as the end of the composition. If that were the purpose of music then obviously the fastest players would be the best. Also, when we are dancing we are not aiming to arrive at a particular place on the [...]

Read Full Post »

How to put time on your side?

A good question – “Now that we can be in touch with anyone at any time, do we risk being out of touch with ourselves?”
Read Here …

Read Full Post »

How green is my purchase?

When we ask this question about “How green is this purchase of mine?” – Remember this -
There are no passengers on spaceship earth. We are all crew.

Read Full Post »

Discipline fosters creativity

Popular Belief: Discipline hinders creativity.
Reverse: Discipline fosters creativity.

The most prevalent way to depict creativity is Einstein’s photo with his shabby hairstyle and chaotic looks. Creativity does not always come packaged as this confused picture. The other well-behaved gentleman shown above is C.V. Raman – another physics Nobel Prize winner. It is a different face of [...]

Read Full Post »

HopeLab: Its all in the brain …

Yesterday I attended a class on “Creativity and Innovation”. Our guest speaker Pat Christen (President: HopeLab) described some fascinating insights into how they are working on ReMission, a video game for teens and young adults suffering from cancer.
Creativity is sometimes applying the old concepts. She described how she applied the same old concepts she learnt [...]

Read Full Post »

The Power of NOW

The whole essence of Zen consists in walking along the razor’s edge of Now – to be so utterly, so completely present that no problem, no suffering, nothing that is not who you are in your essence, can survive in you. In the Now, in the absence of time, all your problems dissolve. Suffering [...]

Read Full Post »

Thoughts … by Napolean Hill

All achievement, all earned riches, have their beginning in an idea.
He had nothing to start with, except the capacity to know what he wanted, and the determination to stand by that desire until he realized it.
Seek expert cousel before giving up. “Three feet from Gold” story.
The greatest success comes just one step beyond the point [...]

Read Full Post »

Give away and keep forever …

Read Full Post »

Poverty in Africa vs Povery in Asia

I heard Dr. Theogene Rudasingwa (Former Rwandan Ambassador to the US) speak in the Management of Technology lecture series at Haas School of Business (UC Berkeley). One striking thing he talked about was how African countries did not buzz much during last three decades in terms of the health standards and the per person [...]

Read Full Post »

India’s Growth: Is it helping the poor?

Economic growth may have been spectacular since 1993 — that is, post-economic reforms — but it seems to be trickling down rather slowly.
A soon-to-be-released official report has estimated that poverty declined by a mere 0.74% during the 11-year period ended 2004-05. Although there are signs of things moving a little faster, at 0.79%, between 1999-2000 [...]

Read Full Post »

Yunus from Grameen Bank gets the Nobel Peace prize

A great day for those who aspire to make this world a happier place – one person at a time – with small contributions.
Yunus is an ispiration for many of us. Yunus getting the Nobel peace prize endorses the view that development and peace are both linked to each other.
Here is an inspirational article by [...]

Read Full Post »

Presentation Zen – Simplicity and Complexity

How to make a presentation simple yet powerful in message?

Read Full Post »

A rough guide to a better world!

Get involved, make a difference. Visit – Rough Guide to a Better World http://www.roughguide-betterworld.com/

Read Full Post »

Poverty is all in the brain?

Interesting research by Liz Gould that tries to look at the psychology of poverty and stress.
According to her – “Poverty and stress aren’t just an idea: they are an anatomy. Some brains never even have a chance.”
The subject of stress has been the single continuous thread running through Gould’s research career. From the brain’s perspective, [...]

Read Full Post »

Canadian Index of Happiness

A new Canadian index will gauge how people are faring overall, not just how much they’re spending.
The Canadian Index of Wellbeing will be far more accurate than its economic cousin, the gross domestic product, says Roy Romanow, who was in Toronto last week to present it at the United Way of Canada [...]

Read Full Post »

Seva

The best gift is the gift of your valuable time. Be a volunteer with Seva (www.seva.org).

Read Full Post »

Nipun’s Blog

Here is Nipun – an inspiration for many to bring happiness to innumerable lives.
Nipun’s Blog – http://nipun.charityfocus.org/
“My life is an attempt to bring smiles in the world and silence in my heart. I want to live simply, love purely, and give fearlessly. ” – Nipun

Read Full Post »

Castles in the air …

“If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.”

- Henry David Thoreau, Walden

Read Full Post »

Castles in the air …

“If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.”

- Henry David Thoreau, Walden

Read Full Post »

India’s Enthusiasm

“If you want to know what India feels like today, it’s very simple. Pull out a champagne bottle, shake it for an hour, and take the cork off. You don’t want to get in the way of that cork.”

- Tom Friedman

Read Full Post »

Prahalad’s Article

This article and the book with the same title is one of the key motivations behind this Blog.
http://www.changemakers.net/library/temp/fortunepyramid.cfm

Read Full Post »

ICICI’s Stellar Initiative

This is how ICICI doing it – http://www.icicisocialinitiatives.org/microfinance/microfinance.asp
Having come from India I appreciate this effort and understand what it takes to pull off something like this.

Read Full Post »

WWHappiness = World Wide Happiness

What does WWHappiness stand for? World Wide Happiness.
World Wide Happiness (WWHappiness) is an effort to consolidate the initiatives of all the individuals and groups working for the upliftment of the 4 Billion+ poor people in the world. We believe that the fortune is there at the Bottom of the Pyramid and we could dig and [...]

Read Full Post »

Like the wind

Keep moving. If I stay here attachment will form.
Keep moving like a river … impurities and sediments and filth can never settle there.

Read Full Post »

Task Zones

Have you found yourself in a situation where your “TO-DO” list goes beyond what you can handle? Have you found yourself swamped with things to worry about that go beyond your cerebral limits? You are normal
We get entrenched into our list of things to do and start worrying about them. The “TO-DO” lists [...]

Read Full Post »

Ambidextrous Organization

This is a classic example of the contradiction in the corporate world.
Michael Tushman and Charles O’Reilly describe this strategy in their recent book, “Winning Through Innovation”. They define technology life cycles and innovation in terms of “streams” and explain how a selected few large companies have managed to create two different organizations under one roof [...]

Read Full Post »

Don’t you have a mind of your own

We’re giving you this exquisite position in this company and we want you to know you’ll have a great deal of independent decision-making-power
SURRENDER – What are you giving up? A hollow little trip that is good for another 40 years (at best). You’re giving it up for ETERNAL UNION, PURE ENERGY and PURE [...]

Read Full Post »

Thinking outside the box …

BUT, how do we define the box? It is a cliche to say we should think outside the box. Nobody knows how to limit the box. Remember Einstein’s theory of relativity (http://www2.slac.stanford.edu/vvc/theory/relativity.html). I am trying to redefine my box my new frame of reference.

Read Full Post »