Warren Buffet
I happened to come across an interesting mail, reporting parts of an interview with one of the richest persons in the world. Obviously, I thought, it is about the ‘how to become rich’ or still better, ‘how to make money’ etc. I was about to dissuade myself from reading any further, but the opening remarks(“…..even if u are not much into investing…”) caught my attention.
As I read further, it occurred to me, that here was evidence that the ancient traditional view holds good too well. Spiritual masters advise that only one part out of sixteen was enough to handle the material aspect of life, and rest of the 15 parts of one’s focus was needed to make the inwards journey! And, they also added, if these 15 parts make some progress, the outside situation is taken care by itself! The questions ‘thrown’ at him brought out those answers, which highlighted his way of doing things, looking at people, looking at life, handling situations, handling investments etc. I can visualize the plight of the audience, while everyone would be wishing that he would part with some ‘mantra’ to become at least modestly rich, what he spoke did not offer anything that they can start off with!
It was with great hesitation that I brought it upon myself to write a few lines about this interview, and instead had thought of just ‘forwarding’ it as everybody else does. But a good friend of mine insisted upon knowing what I thought about it, and I have chosen to just indicate instead of elaborating on the several exact similarities (that I could notice), the similar types of attitudes required for spiritual journey too! I wanted to avoid ‘unsolicited’ burdensome reading of such elaboration. I find myself ‘chuckle’ at the words of the great person, who put those great concepts so simply. It is too much to expect a spiritual Master to waste efforts to amass similar wealth just to convince that the techniques are similar (the intensity required for spirituality being many fold than that required for becoming ‘deity of financial world’s Mt.Olympus!). This wizard tells us how to invest money. Spiritual Giants have been telling us since ages, how to invest ‘life-span’! No wonder, the words of all these achievers and accomplishers towards the end of their life, rhyme the same way as the words of spiritual masters. Perhaps, in a very subdued note they seem to ‘confess’, “had I held on to these concepts and turned inwards, the rewards would have been everlasting ones”.
Regards,
Psn(23rd April, 2010)
Quote:
Read it even if u are not much into investing …it’s a good read..interview with Warren Buffett
He Speaks Now,It was a wonderful experience listening to and learning from the Master Investor- Warren Buffett himself and all I can say is that he stands alone as the reigning deity of financial world’s Mt Olympus!The degree of humility and composure he exhibited, although he is the richest and most well respected human is stunning!I tried to take some notes and would like to share with you some of the best questions and answers which came across during the conversation between we mortals and God.Having read about him, observed him and worshipped him for a few years now, I think it is reasonable to believe that this guy is exactly what he seems: a plain-speaking, tee totaling man of uncrackable integrity who works really, really hard and sticks to his investing and management principles through boom and bust which makes him a freak of nature since he is above normal human tendencies. He is like a comet streaking through the heavens every 75 years or so.The questions the shareholders threw at him for 7 continuous hours ranged from finances, life, religion, career, politics, sports and several other streams. And he answered everything with a Zen like calm and confidence.Even if you are least bothered about investments and finances, I insist, Please read on.
What does it take to become a successful investor? Brilliance or Smartness?
Neither, Success in investing doesn’t correlate with I.Q. Once you have ordinary intelligence, what you need is the temperament to control the urges that gets other people into trouble in investing.
When do you deicide to invest in a firm?
The best thing that happens to us is when a great company gets into temporary trouble. We want to buy them when they’re on the operating table. (Mr. Buffett bought Coke when it had its biggest fiasco after launching New Coke; he bought American Express when it went through a loss making phase in the early 60’s)
What do you look for in people when they come to sell their firms to you?
I don’t look for the usual credentials such as an MBA, a pedigree (Harvard, Wharton), or cash reserves or market cap of their firm. What I look for is just a passion in their eyes; I think that’s the key. A person who is hungry will always do well. I prefer it when people even after selling stay on and work for the firm; they are people who can’t wait to get off their bed to get to work. Passion is everything; there is no replacement for innate interest.
Mr. Buffett, you told us that Berkshire Hathaway has $ 45 Billion in cash. Why aren’t you investing?
Up until a few years back I had more ideas than money. Now I have more money than ideas.
When do you plan to retire?
I love my job; I love it so much that I tap dance to work. Mrs. B, the founder of Nebraska Furniture Mark worked until she was 104, she died within 6 months of her retirement, that’s a lesson to all my managers, don’t retire! I personally am going to work 6-7 years after I die, probably that’s what they mean when they say- “Thinking out of the Box”!!
Why do stock market crashes happen?
Because of human nature for greed and insecurity. The 1970s were unbelievable. The world wasn’t going to end, but businesses were being given away. Human nature has not changed. People will always behave in a manic-depressive way over time. They will offer great values to you.”
What are the things that are taught wrong in Business school and the corporate world?
I like such open ended questions, I think Business schools should refrain from teaching their wards about profit making and profit making alone, it gives a sense of 1 dimensional outlook to the young students that loss is a curse. In reality, in the corporate world, failure and loss making are inevitable. The capital market without loss is like Christianity without hell. I think they should teach the student on how to buy a business, how to value a business? Not just on how to determine the price of a business. Because price is what you pay, value is what you get.
Do you still hate Technology stocks?
With Coke I can come up with a very rational figure for the cash it will generate in the future. But with the top 10 Internet companies, how much cash will they produce over the next 25 years? If you say you don’t know, then you don’t know what it is worth and you are speculating, not investing. All I know is that I don’t know, and if I don’t know, I don’t invest.”
How to think about Investing?
The first investment primer was written by Aesop in 600 B.C. He said, ‘A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.’ Aesop forgot to say when you get the two in the bush and what interest rates are; investing is simply figuring out your cash outlay (the bird in the hand) and comparing it to how many birds are in the bush and when you get them.”
How do you feel after donating $ 40 Billion to the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation? You are a hero to us!
I feel nothing. I haven’t sacrificed anything in life. I have had a good life. I donated after I turned 75. I think I admire those people who sacrifice their time, share their food and home, as the people to be emulated not me. Besides, what is money before a man’s life?
What do you think are the pitfalls in donation?
I have never donated a dime to churches or other such organizations; I need to believe in something before I end up doing that. I have been observing the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation for years now and I am confident they will do a fantastic job of making use of the money. I am a big believer in Outsourcing, others believed in me as an Investor and gave their hard earned money to invest. I believe in Bill Gates, he is a better donor than me.
Why do you work from Omaha and not Wall Street , New York ?
Wall Street is the only place where people alight from Rolls Royce to get advised by people who use the Public transportation system.
You seem to be so well read, tell us how it all started.
My father was a stock broker, so we had all these financial books in our library. He introduced me to those classics and I got into them. I am lucky that my father was not a fan of Playboy! Reading is the best habit you can get. Well, you can learn from teachers too, and have mentors but there are so many constraints attached- they will talk fast, talk slow, they might talk like a pro or they might be terrible communicators. Books are a different animal altogether, I love reading! The beauty about reading and learning is that the more you learn the more you want to learn.
People who join Berkshire Hathaway seldom leave. How do you get along well with all your executives?I try to get quality people.
I always say – Hire someone in your organization who is better than you are. If you do that, you build a company of giants. If you get people worse than yourself, you build a company of dwarfs. And do not try to do everything yourself. Delegate the jobs and look out of the window. The results will come. That’s how you build institutions. It happens only when you empower others, believe in others. I am an investor, I am very secured at that, I have no clue how to make Coca-Cola or how to dole out credit cards (Mr. Buffett owns 8% of Coca-Cola and 13 % of American Express). I understand the wisdom of the aphorism that you cannot please all the people all the time. Of Course, you will always find qualities that you don’t like in people around you, but if you observe carefully the love of the work unites you both. There is no point in being obsessive about a bad quality in a person, whom you otherwise respect.
I am a small time businessman from Dallas , Texas , what do I need to do to hit big time?
Be patient, Achieving your financial goals and dreams will not happen overnight. As much as we would all really love to accomplish our goals in a few years, this is an ongoing process. Defining your financial goals is not a one-time task; you need to keep adding new plans at different stages in your life. We all admire the skills of Olympic ice skaters, pro golfers, and concert pianists. But do we remember that they didn’t acquire their skills overnight? They had to practice hours on end for years to achieve their dreams. The key to success is to continue learning throughout your life with a voracious appetite.
I think it is marvelous that you have had a golden run with investing, how did you do that?
My rule is to be fearful when others are greedy, and be greedy when others are fearful. Besides, I call investing the greatest job in the world because you never have to swing. You stand at the plate; the pitcher throws you General Motors at 47! U.S. Steel at 39! And nobody calls a strike on you. There’s no penalty except opportunity lost. All day you wait for the pitch you like; then when the fielders are asleep, you step up and hit it. Stay dispassionate and be patient. You’re dealing with a lot of silly people in the marketplace; it’s like a great big casino and everyone else is boozing. If you can stick with drinking Coke, you should be OK. First the crowd is boozy on optimism and buying every new issue in sight. The next moment it is boozy on pessimism, buying gold bars and predicting another Great Depression, most people get interested in stocks when everyone else is. The time to get interested is when no one else is. You can’t buy what is popular and do well.
Mr. Buffett you have seen so many crashes and recessions, your take on facing recessions and stock market crashes?
If past history was all there was to the game, the richest people would be librarians. Every scenario is different. But always remember, Tough times do not last. Tough people do.
What is the 1 biggest advice you would impart to a young investor like me?
Think for a moment that you are given a car and told this is the only car you would get for the rest of your life. Then you would make sure that you car is taken care of well, it is oiled and detailed every now and then. You would make sure that it never gets rusted, and you would garage it. Think of yourself as that car. You just get 1 body, 1 mind and 1 soul. Take care of it well. Invest in yourself that would be my advice.
You personally know many of the Financial executives who are engineers of the current turmoil in the financial world, surprisingly even after record losses, those executives receive astronomical salaries and bonuses and arrogantly declare that they deserve it, why dint you advice them from making such decisions and what’s your view on their justification for their pay?
I like sharing my ideas but don’t like imposing my ideas on anybody. It doesn’t make sense and is a waste of time. If somebody has decided that they know everything that is there to know, nobody can help them. The best way to learn and succeed is to know that we know nothing. There is an entire universe out there and still some of us think we can know everything. In the world of investing a few people after making some money tend to imagine they are invincible and great. This is the worst thing that could happen to any investor, because it surely means that the investor will end up taking unnecessary risks and end up losing everything ? arrogance, ego and overconfidence are very lethal. Personally I don’t feel too comfortable with too much extravagance, because I always think like an investor. My thought process doesn’t see a lot of value in a fancy car or a designer suit. Thinking like an investor always is very important to bring in a sense of discipline and focus. Before reading balance sheets and investing you need to make sure your outlook and mindset is that of an investor. Never let ego, arrogance and over-confidence control you – not just as an investor but also as a human being. You will never have internal peace if you are unable to look at everybody around you with love, compassion and understanding. Irrespective of who the person is, he or she can teach you something you don’t know. I have learnt so much from people all around me and I wouldn’t have been able to learn all these wonderful things if I had not spoken to them with a smile. To quote Sir Isaac Newton- If I have seen farther than others, it is because I have stood on the shoulders of giants.
It was a 7 hour conversation and I could just capture some of the best questions and answers.
As 37,000+ dazed, amazed and grateful shareholders trooped out of the stadium after the meeting, I found myself recalling one of my favorite quotes-“A man has to learn that he cannot command things, but that he can command himself; that he cannot coerce the wills of others, but that he can mold and master his own will: and things serve him who serves truth; people seek guidance of him who is master of himself”.
Friday, April 23, 2010
Thursday, April 08, 2010
Positive
I received a request to take up a question.
It was this:
Quote:
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100407034710AAIlWKJ
how do you overcome negativity in your life ? these persistent negative thoughts are ruining my life ,how do?
build a brain full of positive thoughts and keep negativity to minimum
My answer:
Make a humble but very significant beginning by accepting the fact that there is negativity within us. By simply accepting that there is a negative aspect, we are already planting a positive aspect, of accepting the truth. Looking around at people we can see this easily. Initially, when they refuse to accept that they are a bit negative about anything, they actually end up contributing to the already existing small bit of negativity. One cannot also be too overcautious about this! Just due to some false apprehension if somebody tries to buy a ‘safe’ insurance of a false pretense of accepting that there is some negativity (where there is nothing like that), such a person would end up actually planting one!
Life, by itself is a positive aspect. Only our actions or thoughts can be life-negative. When we find that we are full of negativity, all we have to do is go to our roots, our life, and look at the strongest aspect, the most positive aspect, that is ‘life is still happening in us’.
Next obvious, logical, sequential aspect is that we are breathing in and out. Just watch that very intensely, but utterly relaxed. The very quality of watching breath brings certain very significant aspect of ‘positivity’ that can sustain any and every negativity that has crept or can creep in! This suggestion may look too primitive, crude and illogical. But instead of waiting for proof, etc, it makes sense to lean on the experience of several centuries of ancient masters. The proof will occur any way, with sustained efforts. And basically there is no cost or extra efforts involved. We have to breathe anyways. Just that we are keeping its awareness, and in doing so, trying to remain rooted at where life is happening.. here and now!!
Unquote:
Now having answered, I felt persuaded to look at the question in a deeper perspective, its fuzzy aspect. And the following is what I went through, or rather, it went through me.
The fuzzy aspect of ‘Positive’ approach.
There is a saying….. “Fools rush in where angels fear to tread”… We are neither angels, nor do we wish to remain fools, despite the fact that danger lurks at almost all places…. …..now especially, with that wide-spread-terrorism.
We are not unfamiliar with the knotty problem of what to choose, when there is really some choice available. Our choice depends upon how positive we can really afford to be. This again in turn depends upon how resourceful we are!
I have been fortunate to witness a few rare breed of bank officers, who ‘volunteer’ to take charge of problematic branches, when they are due for transfer. I did manage to squeeze out a confession of their ‘secret’ formula, as to why they chose to volunteer taking over problematic branches. ‘Simple’, they said, ‘Banking is typically individualistic-attitude-driven-profession, despite several policies laid down to have a fair control over ‘discretion’ used by local heads, which are likely to jeopardize the bank’s stability. A branch can turn ‘problematic’ only when the head of the family fails to get that magical blend of human aspect, commercial viability, and economic prudence while dealing with customers, and especially the staff. Now, when somebody has already spoiled a place, the next person is found to be a great sigh of relief to all around, whether the next person performs or not, even cessation of giving problems is in itself greatly welcomed. So, the appreciation is almost guaranteed. Any additional performance is bonus! A typical positive approach. What these gentlemen hid from me is an honest reporting of their own latent abilities. But that was what exactly what inspired me to grill them into confessing thus!
There was an old Hindi movie, in which the villain-hero is confronted with ‘dead-end’ like situation. He is surrounded by policemen who have used a girl as‘bait’ to trap him inside a conveniently located hotel room. When this hero points a gun at this girl, having discovered the treachery, she announces that she had already emptied the cartridge chamber, and that he has no escape with the police waiting downstairs. Now, here is the positive approach. Instead of getting rid of a problem, this hero introduces a new problem for the police. He smiles and tells the girl that only they both know that the chamber is empty. So he tapes her lips, ties her hands to the rear, drags her along, pointing the gun at her head. The police are ‘committed’ to avoid killing of an innocent, and helplessly watch as he walks away right through them.
It so happened once that the slow speed of work at a railway ticket reservation counter causes a simmer of irritated people waiting in a long queue. There is nothing unusual about it. But on that day, the supervisor got a hint about a likely visit by some inspection officials, and requested the booking clerk to speed up as a ‘one-time-measure’ to avoid adverse remarks/consequences. The timing was so perfect that the next innocent/ignorant fellow who joined up the queue did not have to wait any longer than any of the people ahead of him. His net waiting time was ridiculously low! We may call it luck, coincidence, or whatever. But we know, some people carry this luck around them all the while, while others reach the scene only when it turns problematic! The fuzzy aspect of positive approach is about sensing this a little ahead! It looks too much, to guess. Well, please see, share brokers keep a keen watch at market sentiments, company’s performance, activities of a company, like watching bulk-recruitment, bulk purchase of precious raw materials, etc to make a guess of future potential performance.
Not to speak of those wizards who outdid the income-tax law makers, when they tapped ‘expenditure’ as a source of income, avoiding the maze of complexities devised by ‘experts’ who laid traps with ‘income’ definitions! And now we have ‘deemed’ income benefits, the fringe benefits tax, etc, a feeble attempt to catch up with super wiz-kids working incessantly with exchange-rate-hedging-benefits in place of simple ‘income’ / ‘expense’ nets of tax. It seems we Indians were saved from severity of recession not by virtue of our prudence, but sheer ignorance about ‘hedging’ concepts in financial management!
Perhaps, no body did it better than Alfred Nobel who made good money when countries were at war. So much that later, it really caused some remorse even! And it is the very same element of “positive” approach in him which fetched good money, led him to convert the ‘negative’ effect on others into a positive one, when he instituted the now famous Nobel Prize, Nobel Foundation, which rewards, inspires and motivates the best and rarest of positive performances globally! Now very few people remember him by the title he had infamously acquired, that of “Merchant of death” !
Spirituality rewards us with this fuzzy approach, that elusive ‘remote-sensing’ of impending or lurking danger or favourable opportunity, to a keen, alert & aware person.
Psn (8th April, 2010)
It was this:
Quote:
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100407034710AAIlWKJ
how do you overcome negativity in your life ? these persistent negative thoughts are ruining my life ,how do?
build a brain full of positive thoughts and keep negativity to minimum
My answer:
Make a humble but very significant beginning by accepting the fact that there is negativity within us. By simply accepting that there is a negative aspect, we are already planting a positive aspect, of accepting the truth. Looking around at people we can see this easily. Initially, when they refuse to accept that they are a bit negative about anything, they actually end up contributing to the already existing small bit of negativity. One cannot also be too overcautious about this! Just due to some false apprehension if somebody tries to buy a ‘safe’ insurance of a false pretense of accepting that there is some negativity (where there is nothing like that), such a person would end up actually planting one!
Life, by itself is a positive aspect. Only our actions or thoughts can be life-negative. When we find that we are full of negativity, all we have to do is go to our roots, our life, and look at the strongest aspect, the most positive aspect, that is ‘life is still happening in us’.
Next obvious, logical, sequential aspect is that we are breathing in and out. Just watch that very intensely, but utterly relaxed. The very quality of watching breath brings certain very significant aspect of ‘positivity’ that can sustain any and every negativity that has crept or can creep in! This suggestion may look too primitive, crude and illogical. But instead of waiting for proof, etc, it makes sense to lean on the experience of several centuries of ancient masters. The proof will occur any way, with sustained efforts. And basically there is no cost or extra efforts involved. We have to breathe anyways. Just that we are keeping its awareness, and in doing so, trying to remain rooted at where life is happening.. here and now!!
Unquote:
Now having answered, I felt persuaded to look at the question in a deeper perspective, its fuzzy aspect. And the following is what I went through, or rather, it went through me.
The fuzzy aspect of ‘Positive’ approach.
There is a saying….. “Fools rush in where angels fear to tread”… We are neither angels, nor do we wish to remain fools, despite the fact that danger lurks at almost all places…. …..now especially, with that wide-spread-terrorism.
We are not unfamiliar with the knotty problem of what to choose, when there is really some choice available. Our choice depends upon how positive we can really afford to be. This again in turn depends upon how resourceful we are!
I have been fortunate to witness a few rare breed of bank officers, who ‘volunteer’ to take charge of problematic branches, when they are due for transfer. I did manage to squeeze out a confession of their ‘secret’ formula, as to why they chose to volunteer taking over problematic branches. ‘Simple’, they said, ‘Banking is typically individualistic-attitude-driven-profession, despite several policies laid down to have a fair control over ‘discretion’ used by local heads, which are likely to jeopardize the bank’s stability. A branch can turn ‘problematic’ only when the head of the family fails to get that magical blend of human aspect, commercial viability, and economic prudence while dealing with customers, and especially the staff. Now, when somebody has already spoiled a place, the next person is found to be a great sigh of relief to all around, whether the next person performs or not, even cessation of giving problems is in itself greatly welcomed. So, the appreciation is almost guaranteed. Any additional performance is bonus! A typical positive approach. What these gentlemen hid from me is an honest reporting of their own latent abilities. But that was what exactly what inspired me to grill them into confessing thus!
There was an old Hindi movie, in which the villain-hero is confronted with ‘dead-end’ like situation. He is surrounded by policemen who have used a girl as‘bait’ to trap him inside a conveniently located hotel room. When this hero points a gun at this girl, having discovered the treachery, she announces that she had already emptied the cartridge chamber, and that he has no escape with the police waiting downstairs. Now, here is the positive approach. Instead of getting rid of a problem, this hero introduces a new problem for the police. He smiles and tells the girl that only they both know that the chamber is empty. So he tapes her lips, ties her hands to the rear, drags her along, pointing the gun at her head. The police are ‘committed’ to avoid killing of an innocent, and helplessly watch as he walks away right through them.
It so happened once that the slow speed of work at a railway ticket reservation counter causes a simmer of irritated people waiting in a long queue. There is nothing unusual about it. But on that day, the supervisor got a hint about a likely visit by some inspection officials, and requested the booking clerk to speed up as a ‘one-time-measure’ to avoid adverse remarks/consequences. The timing was so perfect that the next innocent/ignorant fellow who joined up the queue did not have to wait any longer than any of the people ahead of him. His net waiting time was ridiculously low! We may call it luck, coincidence, or whatever. But we know, some people carry this luck around them all the while, while others reach the scene only when it turns problematic! The fuzzy aspect of positive approach is about sensing this a little ahead! It looks too much, to guess. Well, please see, share brokers keep a keen watch at market sentiments, company’s performance, activities of a company, like watching bulk-recruitment, bulk purchase of precious raw materials, etc to make a guess of future potential performance.
Not to speak of those wizards who outdid the income-tax law makers, when they tapped ‘expenditure’ as a source of income, avoiding the maze of complexities devised by ‘experts’ who laid traps with ‘income’ definitions! And now we have ‘deemed’ income benefits, the fringe benefits tax, etc, a feeble attempt to catch up with super wiz-kids working incessantly with exchange-rate-hedging-benefits in place of simple ‘income’ / ‘expense’ nets of tax. It seems we Indians were saved from severity of recession not by virtue of our prudence, but sheer ignorance about ‘hedging’ concepts in financial management!
Perhaps, no body did it better than Alfred Nobel who made good money when countries were at war. So much that later, it really caused some remorse even! And it is the very same element of “positive” approach in him which fetched good money, led him to convert the ‘negative’ effect on others into a positive one, when he instituted the now famous Nobel Prize, Nobel Foundation, which rewards, inspires and motivates the best and rarest of positive performances globally! Now very few people remember him by the title he had infamously acquired, that of “Merchant of death” !
Spirituality rewards us with this fuzzy approach, that elusive ‘remote-sensing’ of impending or lurking danger or favourable opportunity, to a keen, alert & aware person.
Psn (8th April, 2010)
Computer Games
With enough reasonable respect, reverence and a balanced tone, I summoned up courage to politely interrupt and ask a kid, what he was playing, when I stood beside him, watched the monitor, and the kid, twisting and turning around in that chair, shaking his head in all directions, quite unawares, while all his attention was simply swallowed by that gadget, the mouse, or whatever.
I felt amply rewarded when he chose to give me a very brief reply instead of that stock reply “don’t disturb”. ‘Uncle,’ he sermonized, ‘don’t bother to get to know what it is, your age is never going to allow you to get a feel of these kinds of complex fast games on the computer. I am maneuvering lots of hurdles, challenges and its sorts to reach a goal, and with as many points as possible,,,’
‘Okay, okay,’ I said, and simply attempted to grasp by watching the monitor. True, (I felt with a chuckle within myself) there were many complex choices, hurdles, etc in that game. I soon got lost into my own thoughts… did I miss something in life? Is it too late to have a feel of this type of games? That kid’s parent had gleefully announced that this was prescribed to improve a child’s creative abilities, quick-response-potential etc, and it is therefore that he invested into a PC and rushed to supplement it with choicest varieties of games. This kid was already an expert at hoodwinking the innocent parent about what was ‘syllabus’ , what was project, and what was extra-‘activities’. They all looked alike, and there was no yardstick to keep a measure and check at what the kid did during that precious ‘home-work’ time. That is not the essence of new generation kids. It is simply that we did not bother to keep ourselves updated with technology, whatever the reason.
Now my personal search took me to my childhood days. The hurdles, the tasks, the unexpected ‘turns’ that the ‘road’ displayed in that computer game reminded me of my earliest attempts to deliver a can of milk from my ancestral house to an aunt who resided about 5 kms away. The route was narrow, through lanes bounded by slanting fences made up of thorns from bamboo trees. The one-way-lane was full of boulders, pits, etc which served as storm-drain-cum-walking path. So, the rain water used to create newer hurdles to even regular users. At that age, carrying the milk can, dangling at the hinge held by thin semicircular hook called handle, avoiding spillage was by itself a formidable task. My aunt could very easily make out any spillage exceeding a spoonful, from the mark on the can, up to which milk is measured every time. Now the uneven path, boulders, etc needed my eyes to be focused a few feet ahead of my feet, all the time. But overhanging protruding thorny fence would take me by surprise. As if all this is not enough, there is invariably a sure ‘surprise’ element. The surprise is only about where it happens along my path. A buffalo would come in the opposite direction. I mentally try to pray and appeal “dear buffalo, I am carrying a precious cargo which is yielded by one of your own brethren” (At that age, I even failed to notice my twice-error in gender, where the approaching menace was also a female, as much as the cargo-yielder! Perhaps, brethrens was more appropriate for brotherly-comrades, and had nothing to do when the competition was entirely between women). Anyway, the choice was to run back fast, duck into some narrow crevice, remain out-of-notice-range of that ‘black-bull-dozer’, and maintain the milk-level intact. Rain was for me ‘No Prob’s” at those occasions. Less chances of adversaries from opposite direction.
I had my share of ‘live’ computer games with similar hurdles, probs, etc…
That made me wonder, where we lost that ritual of visiting ‘native’ place, during school-annual-holidays. My parents had belonged to a generation which had migrated to cities to seek more ‘respectable’ white collared jobs. Salary was paltry, but job security, and some terminal benefits formed the early temptations. So, they could not alienate abruptly from their roots, which were invariably in simple countryside villages. We had our share of compare and contrast. We were not spared from ‘observations’ by village folks. They easily made out from the restless-looking kids, as contradistinguished from ‘rest-of-the’ kids and remarked “they are from ‘patnam’ (meaning town), and they find it difficult to pass time”. This remark was made too often and had its severity on me, of a thorough undervaluation about city-bred-kids. They made it sound in a ‘matter-of fact’ tone that for village folks there was no such thing as boredom, or problem of ‘spending’ away the time. I needlessly misconstrued myself to be a representative of the city-kids, burdened with the unenviable task of redeeming the allegation that we are incompetent to deal with excessive-leisure problem of a village life. How I went about it, is a story in itself.
But when I look at today’s kids, they have no connecting cables with villages. Most of the ancestral homes are given up. The linking descendents have been alienated and children have only flats and ‘apart’-‘meant’s as permanent addresses. We are almost into having BT-kids, like that BT-Brinjals. It is a question of time. Country-eggs gave way to table-eggs (with veterinary dozes of antibiotics through the caged birds—their laid eggs), ‘ apple’ tomatoes in place of sour-country-tomatoes, and the likes.
No, I really don’t mind having remained a bit ‘backward’ or cattle-class, compared to computer wiz-kids. I would never exchange those sweet village memories and rich experiences for anything.
Psn(8th April, 2010)
I felt amply rewarded when he chose to give me a very brief reply instead of that stock reply “don’t disturb”. ‘Uncle,’ he sermonized, ‘don’t bother to get to know what it is, your age is never going to allow you to get a feel of these kinds of complex fast games on the computer. I am maneuvering lots of hurdles, challenges and its sorts to reach a goal, and with as many points as possible,,,’
‘Okay, okay,’ I said, and simply attempted to grasp by watching the monitor. True, (I felt with a chuckle within myself) there were many complex choices, hurdles, etc in that game. I soon got lost into my own thoughts… did I miss something in life? Is it too late to have a feel of this type of games? That kid’s parent had gleefully announced that this was prescribed to improve a child’s creative abilities, quick-response-potential etc, and it is therefore that he invested into a PC and rushed to supplement it with choicest varieties of games. This kid was already an expert at hoodwinking the innocent parent about what was ‘syllabus’ , what was project, and what was extra-‘activities’. They all looked alike, and there was no yardstick to keep a measure and check at what the kid did during that precious ‘home-work’ time. That is not the essence of new generation kids. It is simply that we did not bother to keep ourselves updated with technology, whatever the reason.
Now my personal search took me to my childhood days. The hurdles, the tasks, the unexpected ‘turns’ that the ‘road’ displayed in that computer game reminded me of my earliest attempts to deliver a can of milk from my ancestral house to an aunt who resided about 5 kms away. The route was narrow, through lanes bounded by slanting fences made up of thorns from bamboo trees. The one-way-lane was full of boulders, pits, etc which served as storm-drain-cum-walking path. So, the rain water used to create newer hurdles to even regular users. At that age, carrying the milk can, dangling at the hinge held by thin semicircular hook called handle, avoiding spillage was by itself a formidable task. My aunt could very easily make out any spillage exceeding a spoonful, from the mark on the can, up to which milk is measured every time. Now the uneven path, boulders, etc needed my eyes to be focused a few feet ahead of my feet, all the time. But overhanging protruding thorny fence would take me by surprise. As if all this is not enough, there is invariably a sure ‘surprise’ element. The surprise is only about where it happens along my path. A buffalo would come in the opposite direction. I mentally try to pray and appeal “dear buffalo, I am carrying a precious cargo which is yielded by one of your own brethren” (At that age, I even failed to notice my twice-error in gender, where the approaching menace was also a female, as much as the cargo-yielder! Perhaps, brethrens was more appropriate for brotherly-comrades, and had nothing to do when the competition was entirely between women). Anyway, the choice was to run back fast, duck into some narrow crevice, remain out-of-notice-range of that ‘black-bull-dozer’, and maintain the milk-level intact. Rain was for me ‘No Prob’s” at those occasions. Less chances of adversaries from opposite direction.
I had my share of ‘live’ computer games with similar hurdles, probs, etc…
That made me wonder, where we lost that ritual of visiting ‘native’ place, during school-annual-holidays. My parents had belonged to a generation which had migrated to cities to seek more ‘respectable’ white collared jobs. Salary was paltry, but job security, and some terminal benefits formed the early temptations. So, they could not alienate abruptly from their roots, which were invariably in simple countryside villages. We had our share of compare and contrast. We were not spared from ‘observations’ by village folks. They easily made out from the restless-looking kids, as contradistinguished from ‘rest-of-the’ kids and remarked “they are from ‘patnam’ (meaning town), and they find it difficult to pass time”. This remark was made too often and had its severity on me, of a thorough undervaluation about city-bred-kids. They made it sound in a ‘matter-of fact’ tone that for village folks there was no such thing as boredom, or problem of ‘spending’ away the time. I needlessly misconstrued myself to be a representative of the city-kids, burdened with the unenviable task of redeeming the allegation that we are incompetent to deal with excessive-leisure problem of a village life. How I went about it, is a story in itself.
But when I look at today’s kids, they have no connecting cables with villages. Most of the ancestral homes are given up. The linking descendents have been alienated and children have only flats and ‘apart’-‘meant’s as permanent addresses. We are almost into having BT-kids, like that BT-Brinjals. It is a question of time. Country-eggs gave way to table-eggs (with veterinary dozes of antibiotics through the caged birds—their laid eggs), ‘ apple’ tomatoes in place of sour-country-tomatoes, and the likes.
No, I really don’t mind having remained a bit ‘backward’ or cattle-class, compared to computer wiz-kids. I would never exchange those sweet village memories and rich experiences for anything.
Psn(8th April, 2010)
Wednesday, April 07, 2010
Interesting Person
Right from early childhood days, I was not just confined to looking out for interesting persons. I thought it is wise to avoid pitfalls, making use of the experience of others. I was fortunately ‘non-stupid’ enough to know that I cannot make use of the wisdom of others.
So, the aspect of looking out for such ‘out of box’ type of people was already lighted up within me. Instead of revealing the ‘technique’ of spotting out such people, all I was rewarded was with the unfolding of several types of ways in which I can be utterly stupid when I look at people around!
Then someone told me about those ‘mystic’ persons, who prefer to work incognito. Obviously, they go unnoticed, until they choose to reveal themselves. Now I was confronted with a problem. I was too keen about avoidance of even inadvertently annoying them. My solution was very primitive, and down to earth simple. I just copied the idea of that ‘little’ man from the fictional novel ‘Day of the Jackal’. The super cop did not take chances. He simply tapped every one’s phone when confronted with the job of finding out the leak from amidst high ranking ministers!
How I do it is my own private affair, and, very reasonably, it has to remain so.
This question about ‘what makes a person interesting’ reminded me of my search-struggles.
Psn (7th April, 2010)
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100331122003AAnULNq
In your honest humble opinion, What makes a person interesting?
Your opinion.Gracias. Good day!
My humble opinion:
To me, even a mountain goat is very interesting especially 'when watch it standing precariously on the narrow edge of a steep straight drop of a very tall mountain'.... But to the next similar goat standing beside it, perhaps even on a firm ground, this goat is nothing special, uninteresting, and even perhaps stupid looking!Indian soil's greatest gift to people since time immemorial is that many Great Masters pass off quite unnoticed, imperceptibly, right through the midst of a crowd, leaving them quite undisturbed to afford the freedom to do what they like to do with themselves! And if we may call it a miracle, such people when they become 'exquisitely interesting' to a few fortunate people around, these few people in turn pay the highest form of respect by simply leaving them undisturbed, but very consciously, and in full awareness, thus begetting an eligibility of the best of benedictions!Very sorry, and humble apologies if this answer seems totally out of context, but the question was too tempting, with the addition of "honest, humble, YOUR opinion" ... etc.
( Either ways, I stand to gain.... :) !!!)
Thanks.
So, the aspect of looking out for such ‘out of box’ type of people was already lighted up within me. Instead of revealing the ‘technique’ of spotting out such people, all I was rewarded was with the unfolding of several types of ways in which I can be utterly stupid when I look at people around!
Then someone told me about those ‘mystic’ persons, who prefer to work incognito. Obviously, they go unnoticed, until they choose to reveal themselves. Now I was confronted with a problem. I was too keen about avoidance of even inadvertently annoying them. My solution was very primitive, and down to earth simple. I just copied the idea of that ‘little’ man from the fictional novel ‘Day of the Jackal’. The super cop did not take chances. He simply tapped every one’s phone when confronted with the job of finding out the leak from amidst high ranking ministers!
How I do it is my own private affair, and, very reasonably, it has to remain so.
This question about ‘what makes a person interesting’ reminded me of my search-struggles.
Psn (7th April, 2010)
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100331122003AAnULNq
In your honest humble opinion, What makes a person interesting?
Your opinion.Gracias. Good day!
My humble opinion:
To me, even a mountain goat is very interesting especially 'when watch it standing precariously on the narrow edge of a steep straight drop of a very tall mountain'.... But to the next similar goat standing beside it, perhaps even on a firm ground, this goat is nothing special, uninteresting, and even perhaps stupid looking!Indian soil's greatest gift to people since time immemorial is that many Great Masters pass off quite unnoticed, imperceptibly, right through the midst of a crowd, leaving them quite undisturbed to afford the freedom to do what they like to do with themselves! And if we may call it a miracle, such people when they become 'exquisitely interesting' to a few fortunate people around, these few people in turn pay the highest form of respect by simply leaving them undisturbed, but very consciously, and in full awareness, thus begetting an eligibility of the best of benedictions!Very sorry, and humble apologies if this answer seems totally out of context, but the question was too tempting, with the addition of "honest, humble, YOUR opinion" ... etc.
( Either ways, I stand to gain.... :) !!!)
Thanks.
Tuesday, April 06, 2010
Sync
“I sync with him well” When I overheard this for the first time, ‘sinking in the well’ is what I was reminded of, since I was yet to get ‘sync’d’ with the modern syntax of the mobile-conversations-styles (we used to get ‘immobilized’ when we happen to listen to our elders with rapt attention, when they speak). Good, I thought, these children are able to look at that aspect so well, and in time, to be able to get along well, and accomplish great things, soon. But, when at times, they started to emphasize too much on this ‘sinking together well into the same well’, I was wondering about the well’s well-being itself.
Present day youngsters, even when they, as a rare gesture, ‘compromise’ with their parents, and concede for an arranged marriage, first check if they are in ‘sync’ with each other, or whether their ‘chemistry’ is going to match well. When they are ‘dead’ sure that their parents are not capable of cross-verifying this ‘sync’ they refuse ‘dictated’ alliances. What is the point fixing up one bullock cart wheel on a 350 CC motorbike and trying to drive it?
It is now that I wonder more about that childhood memory that reminds me of a neighbourhood ‘Uncle’ who comfortably rode his bicycle, which had developed a twist at its pedal-side sprocket. Every time he pedals, he had to give a mini-pause after one-third of the circling of the pedal, and the sprocket re-aligns with a ‘tug’ sound even, to continue the comfortable transmission of mechanical effort to the wheel sprocket (via-the-loose-chain)! I tried riding it, but had to get down to hoist the chain onto the pedal sprocket every few yards! “This bi-cycle ‘listens’ only to me, ….” He used to sermonize with a broad grin, and an air of superiority. He got himself ‘sync’d’ with that defective pedal, instead of incurring the repair-expense which was definitely burdensome on his small purse! I got my early lessons on the technology of moving towards ‘choicelessness’!
There was an advertisement for some pressure cooker, where the wife asks the hubby to visualize of everybody in the household looked like “Xerox” copies (photo-copies) of each other, the husband, wife, children, parents, cousins, friends etc. The visual-graphics in that ad said it all, about such a concept! That cannot be a good sync. Then how do we decide. What is the yardstick of a good sync? At times, the last bus just left, and it is within the reach if we can sprint up to that just-gaining-speed-bus. The wife is unable to sync with the hubby who manages to catch up despite holding luggage in both hands. Or is it that the high-heels are ‘temporarily-out-of-sync’ with the road, the situation etc?
They can argue squatting on the bare road-side, casting allegations that the wife could never produce a well-synchronized side dish for the main course on a dining table for breakfast, lunch etc. The wife could in turn allege that he could never manage to take leave from work when there was a good movie in that ‘decent’ theatre nearby, and invariably got leave only when there was dull movie. Even if everything ‘seems’ to go too well, the wife would remind in the middle of the movie “did you turn off that water tap, at home?” …. And then, it is the end of the ‘entertainment’ value of that movie.
Ask any child if their parents are well sync’d, and we can be rest assured of wholesome entertainment with humorous incidents.
Even at work place, or when in a queue at public places, we seldom find things ‘well synchronized’. Even those planners of violence have their main worry, that the ‘timers’ are not well-synchronised, and goes off at wrong moment, either before or after the presence of the targeted VIP!
But troubles are well synchronised, of course, by themselves, amongst themselves, and for themselves.
Therefore, it is not surprising when somebody asks about one’s own ambitions, goals, attitudes, achievements etc, whether ‘at least’ they are in tune and synchronised.
A child, who is joyous for no apparent reason, cannot even grasp this question. True, the child is yet to become ‘mature’ enough, or to know well about self. When do we really start bothering about this ‘in-sync’? When things don’t feel okay with us, or when everything seems fine? Please try to look at people, who we find rarely in pleasant mood. We don’t even have to ask them about this sync. Their very conversation is usually about a long list of un-sync’d items.
There was a time, when the ‘head’ of the family surprised the women folk producing a saree or so that was instantly and invariably liked very much. Now, ‘matching’ a garment is more complex than assembling the right-matching-components for a spacecraft designed to reach up to Jupiter.
For my part, I know too well, how difficult it is to ‘sync’ my views with the taste of the readers! So, that is how it is.
Psn(6th April, 2010)
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AhIVWbZLYmneimTJsj3O_3KRHQx.;_ylv=3?qid=20100404091417AA19MZD&show=7#profile-info-kOfnOB6haa
Do you think ambitions , abilities , attitudes and achievements are always in tune and synchronised ?
My answer:
Usually not.A driver's eyes, ears, hands, and then the steering wheel, engine's piston, valves, brake drum, alignment of wheels, speed, the curvature of the road, the surface, the pedestrian crossing, the signals, etc all are seldom in synchrony. That is why, when flying we keep the aircraft at such great distances from each other. There is more of traffic jams in air than on road surface. We did not spare even the immediate outer space, having littered the whole circle with junk of used satellites, making even space travel perilous!
Ancient people realized this deep enough, and did not bother about that "technological" advancement without first bringing the body-mind-breath into perfect synchrony. Now having achieved that the lucky few never felt the need to explore any other advancement! And others around had sufficient reason to trust these few Great Masters. That is how we can find the "accounting" for that mystic lack of technological advancement despite far far superior intelligence of the ancient masters! Even today, the best of people (intelligence wise) have consciously opted for simple life personally. That is evidence good enough, if we are really serious about getting synchronised.
Present day youngsters, even when they, as a rare gesture, ‘compromise’ with their parents, and concede for an arranged marriage, first check if they are in ‘sync’ with each other, or whether their ‘chemistry’ is going to match well. When they are ‘dead’ sure that their parents are not capable of cross-verifying this ‘sync’ they refuse ‘dictated’ alliances. What is the point fixing up one bullock cart wheel on a 350 CC motorbike and trying to drive it?
It is now that I wonder more about that childhood memory that reminds me of a neighbourhood ‘Uncle’ who comfortably rode his bicycle, which had developed a twist at its pedal-side sprocket. Every time he pedals, he had to give a mini-pause after one-third of the circling of the pedal, and the sprocket re-aligns with a ‘tug’ sound even, to continue the comfortable transmission of mechanical effort to the wheel sprocket (via-the-loose-chain)! I tried riding it, but had to get down to hoist the chain onto the pedal sprocket every few yards! “This bi-cycle ‘listens’ only to me, ….” He used to sermonize with a broad grin, and an air of superiority. He got himself ‘sync’d’ with that defective pedal, instead of incurring the repair-expense which was definitely burdensome on his small purse! I got my early lessons on the technology of moving towards ‘choicelessness’!
There was an advertisement for some pressure cooker, where the wife asks the hubby to visualize of everybody in the household looked like “Xerox” copies (photo-copies) of each other, the husband, wife, children, parents, cousins, friends etc. The visual-graphics in that ad said it all, about such a concept! That cannot be a good sync. Then how do we decide. What is the yardstick of a good sync? At times, the last bus just left, and it is within the reach if we can sprint up to that just-gaining-speed-bus. The wife is unable to sync with the hubby who manages to catch up despite holding luggage in both hands. Or is it that the high-heels are ‘temporarily-out-of-sync’ with the road, the situation etc?
They can argue squatting on the bare road-side, casting allegations that the wife could never produce a well-synchronized side dish for the main course on a dining table for breakfast, lunch etc. The wife could in turn allege that he could never manage to take leave from work when there was a good movie in that ‘decent’ theatre nearby, and invariably got leave only when there was dull movie. Even if everything ‘seems’ to go too well, the wife would remind in the middle of the movie “did you turn off that water tap, at home?” …. And then, it is the end of the ‘entertainment’ value of that movie.
Ask any child if their parents are well sync’d, and we can be rest assured of wholesome entertainment with humorous incidents.
Even at work place, or when in a queue at public places, we seldom find things ‘well synchronized’. Even those planners of violence have their main worry, that the ‘timers’ are not well-synchronised, and goes off at wrong moment, either before or after the presence of the targeted VIP!
But troubles are well synchronised, of course, by themselves, amongst themselves, and for themselves.
Therefore, it is not surprising when somebody asks about one’s own ambitions, goals, attitudes, achievements etc, whether ‘at least’ they are in tune and synchronised.
A child, who is joyous for no apparent reason, cannot even grasp this question. True, the child is yet to become ‘mature’ enough, or to know well about self. When do we really start bothering about this ‘in-sync’? When things don’t feel okay with us, or when everything seems fine? Please try to look at people, who we find rarely in pleasant mood. We don’t even have to ask them about this sync. Their very conversation is usually about a long list of un-sync’d items.
There was a time, when the ‘head’ of the family surprised the women folk producing a saree or so that was instantly and invariably liked very much. Now, ‘matching’ a garment is more complex than assembling the right-matching-components for a spacecraft designed to reach up to Jupiter.
For my part, I know too well, how difficult it is to ‘sync’ my views with the taste of the readers! So, that is how it is.
Psn(6th April, 2010)
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AhIVWbZLYmneimTJsj3O_3KRHQx.;_ylv=3?qid=20100404091417AA19MZD&show=7#profile-info-kOfnOB6haa
Do you think ambitions , abilities , attitudes and achievements are always in tune and synchronised ?
My answer:
Usually not.A driver's eyes, ears, hands, and then the steering wheel, engine's piston, valves, brake drum, alignment of wheels, speed, the curvature of the road, the surface, the pedestrian crossing, the signals, etc all are seldom in synchrony. That is why, when flying we keep the aircraft at such great distances from each other. There is more of traffic jams in air than on road surface. We did not spare even the immediate outer space, having littered the whole circle with junk of used satellites, making even space travel perilous!
Ancient people realized this deep enough, and did not bother about that "technological" advancement without first bringing the body-mind-breath into perfect synchrony. Now having achieved that the lucky few never felt the need to explore any other advancement! And others around had sufficient reason to trust these few Great Masters. That is how we can find the "accounting" for that mystic lack of technological advancement despite far far superior intelligence of the ancient masters! Even today, the best of people (intelligence wise) have consciously opted for simple life personally. That is evidence good enough, if we are really serious about getting synchronised.
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