Hand Made !

Jugaad’s tryst with the armchair reformist

Incase you aren’t already familiar with this unique Indian word that’s making the waves, ‘Jugaad’ refers to an improvisational style of innovation that strives to make the best out of scarce resources. It captures how most Indian corporations have gained international stature. The term is India’s contribution to the lexicon of management jargon, mingling with six sigma, total quality, lean, and kaizen.
However, recently with the Commonwealth Games, jugaad was made the chief villain of all the mishaps and controversies surrounding the start of the games. Suresh Kalmadi tried his best to justify jugaad’s miracle prowess after the spectacular opening ceremony. But all he got was boos and jeers.
I am not here to defend jugaad or add to the reams of ink already spent on the CWG. What I want to examine is an alarming trend that I have noticed of recent - this reached its pinnacle with the CWG- the rise in the number of people who love to crib about everything and thrive on seeing others being defamed and castigated. I call them armchair reformists!
And they exist everywhere, at the workplace, among friends, neighbors, everywhere! The success of humiliating reality shows on TV, the headlines of most newspapers, everything reeks of scathing opinions, negativity and self-gratifying interest in another’s misery.
What’s come of us? Are we growing too fast to comprehend and deal with change? Is it a factor or increasing urbanization and the growing economic divide? Is it the result of the burgeoning aspirations of our celebrated middle class? Or have we just turned into a nation where nothing good can happen?
What is it that’s drives us to revel and enjoy in activities that shame another?
Is this the disarray before the final attraversiamo?
I don’t have all the answers, but I do think it certainly is a factor of the break down in values, personal values, simple ones like tolerance, respect for another individual (in a position of power or otherwise), professionalism and ethics.
It’s easy to sit back and comment about matters; what about personal responsibility and accountability? The country is witnessing unprecedented growth, the global spotlight is on us; we are bound to make mistakes and stumble. Is it productive to castigate every mistake? Or is productive to emerge as more supportive and participatory in managing this growth?
Will Jugaad successfully convert these armchair reformists into positive forces of action? Your guess is as good as mine.

… but then it’s a cruel world.

One of the most famous elegies ever written was" Elegy in a Country Churchyard" by the English poet Thomas Gray. Legend says as the poet wandered through a graveyard at twilight, he ruminated on the meaning of life, the toil of those who achieve and those who don't, the mockery of ambition, the struggle of both the poor and the rich to be happy, and, eventually, what difference it all makes for those whose heads rest "upon the lap of Earth". Not much, gray decided: simple joys are forever gone; destiny is obscured, secure notion of morality up in thin air.

Just pondering maybe we should write an elegy for everyday that has slipped through our lives unnoticed and unappreciated. Better still, we should write a song of thanksgiving for all days that remain.

Sometimes we are aware of the poet/artist/lover/philosopher/whoever who dwells within us and registers very precious moment of our lives. More often, however, we move through our days in a fog or a frenzy - until we're startled into consciousness by an unforeseen threat to something that we hold dear and have been taking granted for. Through the mystical alchemy of grace and thanksgiving, what might have become an elegy is transformed into exultation.

Today a new sun has risen for me : everything lives, everything is animated, everything seems to speak to me of my passion, everything invites me to cherish it. that essentially what i look for in very single person I ever get out to meet.

Watching Nature Spin Her Mysteries

The state is interesting with lots of history to walk past. lovey forts built along the beachline, gee they seem so romantic, just imaging all that must have transpired within those walls. We camped one night on the rocks along the beach ... watched silhouettes of dolphins spring in arcs across twilight.... i was almost jumping with joy!! Was a moment to cherish.

While walking back from the beach one day to catch the bus… a good two kilometer walk... the sky is turning a dark blue as dusk prepares to descend. At the far end of the pond, a mother duck is holding swimming lessons for her two little ducklings. it seemed serious business. She paddles along without effort, slowly swanning herself in large arcs. The ducklings paddle furiously behind, trying to keep up with each other and with her. She stops, they stop. She starts, they start. She turns and heads back. They follow and move to the other side of the pond and they are still watching something.

At the other end of the pond was another mama. And this one was on to std ll lessons. She swooped into the water, and disappeared. The water rings into a series of concentric ripples around here; and at the centre is one very puzzled baby duck. After a very long moment, when even I begin to worry about mama duck's need for oxygen, she surfaces. Her baby sights her and zooms up to her with the speed of a rocket. A moment of closeness follows as feathers touch and mama lets her duckling nestle up. Then she moves away and is gone again. Repeat session. Again she emerges and the little rocket zooms in. is she teaching him that the water is safe to go under, or is she fishing for their dinner? It is tooo dark to see. But mama duck number one can see in this light, and thinks the time is right for her advanced course. so, start of lesson number two on the eastern side of the pond. Soon there are two rockets zooming in to mama, as she dives and emerges, dives and emerges.

Nature has its program’s pre-set, and I am sure it won’t be long before the three little ducklings are doing their own bit of diving, and enjoying it too. Oh life is so wonderful indeed!!!

Proud

I look into the window of my mind
Reflections of the fears I know I've left behind
I step out of the ordinary
I can feel my soul ascending
I am on my way
Can't stop me now
And you can do the same

What have you done today to make you feel proud?
It's never too late to try
What have you done today to make you feel proud?
You could be so many people
If you make that break for freedom
What have you done today to make you feel proud?

Still so many answers I don't know
Realise that to question is how we grow
So I step out of the ordinary
I can feel my soul ascending
I am on my way
Can't stop me now
And you can do the same

What have you done today to make you feel proud?
It's never too late to try
What have you done today to make you feel proud?
You could be so many people
If you make that break for freedom
What have you done today to make you feel proud?

We need a change
Do it today
I can feel my spirit rising
We need a change
So do it today
'Cause I can see a clear horizon

What have you done today to make you feel proud?
So what have you done today to make you feel proud?
'Cause you could be so many people
If you make that break for freedom
So what have you done today to make you feel proud?
What have you done today to make you feel proud?
What have you done today
You could be so many people?
Just make that break for freedom
So what have you done today to make you feel proud?

Heather Small

Is mod se jaate hai – Aandhi

Is mod se jaate hain
kuch sust kadam raste, kuch tez kadam raahe
patthar kee hawelee ko, sheeshe ke gharondo me
tinkon ke nasheman tak, is mod se jaate hai…

Sanjeev and Suchitra, just starting their lives together ("mod" refers to a point in life), are thinking about various paths and destinations that lie ahead. "sust kadam" (laid back) and "tez kadam" (go-getter) are the ways that they may take in future. Both are aware that depending on the path that they choose, they may land up at different places -- in a "pathar ki haveli" (relationship with a strong foundation), "sheeshey ka ghronda" (a fragile one) or "tinkon ka nasheman" (nasheman = nest, a temporary fling).

aandhee kee tarah udakar, ek raah gujaratee hai
sharamaatee huyee koi, kadamo se utaratee hai
in reshamee raaho me, ek raah to wo hogee
tum tak jo pahuchatee hai, is mod se jaate hai..

ek door se aatee hai, paas aake palatatee hai
ek raah akelee see, rukatee hain naa chalatee hai
ye soch ke baithhee hoon, yek raah to wo hogee
tum tak jo pahuchatee hai, is mod se jaate hai..

"aandhi ki tarah udkar" (filled with passion), "sharmaate hui koi, kadamo se utarti hai" (shy), "ek door se aati hai, pass aake palatatee hai" (whimsical) , "ek raah akeli se, rukti hai na chalti hai" (slow, steady) -- Having so many ways to approach their nascent relationship, they share with each other the 'pleasant anxiety' that is teasing them and wonder, "There must be some way that leads to you".

Marvellous, isn't it ?

Is Love more complicated than Quantum Physics?

I loved a boy once who loved science. He'd greet me at the end of the college day like a happy puppy, full of ideas and affection and energy. Bounding to my side he'd babble about what he'd learned that day, bringing me lectures and theorems like chewed sticks or spittled rubber balls. As if I understood half of what he brought home. I wanted to, though. Really.

One day he carried home the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, and this is where the real trouble begins. You can discuss an electron with a four-part description: position, momentum, energy, and time. These qualities not only describe the electron, they also describe each other. For example you can't discuss the position of an electron without addressing its momentum; nor can you discuss an electron's energy without factoring in time. Canonical conjugates, they call `em: two properties that have a special relationship. When he told me about these couples, I thought of us, a pair with a special relationship. I liked this Heisenberg. "Tell me more, dearest."

"The more you know about one half of the pair, the less you can be certain about the other. You have to acknowledge that, no matter how precise your tools, there's always an element of inaccuracy in your measurement. And the more you try to increase the accuracy of that measure, the more uncertainty you introduce. The more precisely you measure an electron's position, the more difficult it is to nail down the measurement of its momentum. The same with time and energy."

"So... basically what you're telling me is, "Physics is a bitch."

"Not at all! Heisenberg had made a terrific discovery!" He was using the voice he normally reserved for concerts and poker games. His hands were gesturing wildly. I couldn't help but smile.

"Well how can uncertainty be a terrific discovery? Isn't that bad news?

"Heisenberg discovered that the amount of uncertainty produced by any given conjugate pair couldn't go below a specified constant. He measured inaccuracy! He reasoned that, regardless of the scientist or the precision of their tools, there would always be at least some small amount of uncertainty. It's brilliant."

"So if we know how much uncertainty there is, we can tell how much certainty we have?"

"Precisely," he said. Or would have said, if he hadn't leaned in quickly to kiss me hard. That was the end of Heisenberg, for a while.

My love came home another day with an idea called the Amsterdam, or Copenhagen--something Interpretation. He thought, since I'd been so interested in electrons and their measurement, that I might like to know about superposition. He told me how, when no one's looking, electrons exist in all possible states at the same time. They're more like waves of probability, and they'll take every possible path from point A to point B.

"When we shine a light on them, they choose a path. But by shining the light, we've tampered with them. If we look away again, the electron returns to its superposition." This I didn't grasp so easily at the time, but I think I understand now.

More frequently we avoided discussions about what I knew or what he'd learned. Our conversations began to center around our relationship. Foolishly, I wanted to define "us." I needed the security of a label, I needed to pinpoint where we were. I should've taken a cue from Heisenberg, and focused on where we weren't.

Months went by and the conversations turned bitter. What had once been a relationship with endless possibility had turned into a cramped exercise in dueling. If I loved him, why didn't we make love more often? If he wanted to be with me, why weren't we engaged? I wanted us to last forever, but the tighter we gripped our love the more it slipped between our fingers until eventually it had disappeared. What can I say? Love is a bitch.

Which brings us back to Physics. Without his guidance, I can't be sure I've got this right but every piece of me that misses him says it's so. You see the real trouble with love is that it's the most complex thing out there--more complex than any Superstring Theory or Strong Law of Small Numbers. I can think back to our superposition, the very moment we clicked, that instant rush of "this could be the one." All things are possible in that instant. There were an infinite number of paths that our relationship could take and this... well, this just kills me. I should've observed less and been more. I'm no physicist, no great philosopher or scientist, but I know what possibility is.

You'll never know for sure if your love will last forever, or if your husband will be faithful, or if your girlfriend feels the same way you do. And the more you try to define your relationship by exactly measuring its components, the more you change the relationship.

But here's the catch: just the way the Uncertainty Principle applies even when no one's altering anything, your relationship is changed whether you set out to define it more accurately or not. Because when you don't bring up things like commitment and trust and passion and where-are-we-going, your partner is in some way affected by your lack of question. I had to know what he thought about us together, and when he didn't share that, I took it to mean that he wasn't thinking about us together.

I should've been thinking. I should've done what the scientists do. If we know how much uncertainty there is, we can tell how much certainty we have. Neither of us knew where things were going exactly but that should have been okay. That was a marginal amount of uncertainty in exchange for so much love. I should have seen that the present was certain; that although the future was in the air, I knew he wanted to be with me right then. The certainty is what matters. They couldn't give a Nobel prize for love--it's much too complicated.

...... Laggedly Anne

For Once in My Life

Once in a lifetime you find
Someone to show you the way
Someone you allow to make your decisions
And I let you lead me astray.
Who did you think you were fooling
Said you were missing me , that i made your day
But the truth is I knew you were lying
You were using me time after time.

When the heartache is over
I know I won't be missing you
Won't look over my shoulder
'Cause I know that I can live without you
Oh live without you, Oh I can live without you

Time to move on with my life now
Leaving the past all behind
I can make my own decisions
It was only a matter of time
Sometimes I look back in anger
Thinking about all the pain
But I know that I'm stronger without you
And that I'll never need you again

When the heartache is over
I know I won't be missing you
Won't look over my shoulder
'Cause I know that I can live without you
Oh live without you, Oh I can live without you