Is it Stress!

Stress is not new .Now a day’s almost everyone is suffering from it, many unknowingly. You might stressed because you might not getting the due attention or appreciation. You might be stressed because your colleague has been promoted. You might be stressed because you might be carrying other’s monkey on your back. Stress happen when we are unable to handle busy life and day to day problems. Problems create stress and stress increases the problems. Now, it’s a deadlock. Problems keep popping up like unwanted adware. One thing is sure that as long as you are alive, problems will be there. But the question is you going to be stressed life long? You don’t have to. How many time stresses have solved your problems. I guess, never.

The real reason for the stress is that we don’t take life as it comes without complaining. Stress is the difference between our true nature and what we pretend or strive to be. Many times we just take tension without reducing the differences. Suppose you get stressed because you don’t like your job. Complaining about the job and getting stressed is not a solution. Either you can make your job interesting or change your job. Tough it’s easy to say but many times it’s very difficult to reduce the difference. Though many times you might not eradicate the stress completely but you can definitely mitigate it.

If you are conscious that you are stressed then you can mitigate the stress. As the saying goes “Smile is a small curve that straightens lot of things”. Smile is a stress buster. A hearty laugh can rejuvenate you or divert your mind away from stress. When I feel I am stressed and I need a dose of laughter, I catch an episode of ‘FRIENDS’ or ‘Tom and Jerry’. Cartoon strips of ‘Calvin and Hobbes’ bring a mantling smile on my face.  Music by Rahman is like spa to my tired mind. Whenever you are stressed try things which brings smile on your face.

Toastmaster

I am not afraid of darkness. I am not afraid of ghost. I am not even afraid of death. But speaking in front of public, I am scared to death. I don’t know why? Public speaking gives me cold feet. Every time I give a public speech my knees start shacking and my mind goes blank. I can feel butterfly in my stomach. I seriously doubt whether they are butterflies because despite eating so many medicine I failed to kill them. In school I always used to give lame excuses whenever I was asked to give speeches. Due to stage fear I hardly spoke in front public. Later I realized fear is not good for anything. It’s disease. The only way to kill fear is to face it and face it boldly. That’s why I decided to conquer the fear of public speaking and joined Toastmaster Club!

I was introduced to concept of Toastmaster in TCS. No, it is not a wine testing club. Toastmasters International (TI) is a nonprofit educational organization that operates clubs worldwide for the purpose of helping members improve their communication, public speaking and leadership skills. Through its thousands of member clubs, Toastmasters International offers a program of communication and leadership projects designed to help men and women learn the arts of speaking, listening, and thinking. To me Toastmaster is like a boxing arena where you can fight and knock out heavy weights like stage fright in 10 grilling rounds. It is a platform where you can practice public speaking. Currently I am a member of Salt lake Toastmaster Club, Kolkata. It has definitely helped me in reducing my stage fear and improving my public speaking skill.

To know more about Toastmaster, Please visit: http://www.toastmasters.org/

Being Idiot!

According to Oxford dictionary, Idiot means a very stupid person but the movie ‘3 Idiots’ gives a new dimension and meaning to the word Idiot.  Idiot means one who question and break conventionality.  It means one who thinks differently. People make fun of you and call you Idiot when you try new things because majority of people don’t understand your point of view. But when they do understand your point of view, they admire you. Being idiot means following your heart even if it beats faster.

I think that the title of movie ‘3 Idiots’ is bit inappropriate. It should be ‘4 Idiots’. Any guesses who should be 4^th idiot in the movie?  Pia, the character played by Kareena Kapoor, should be 4^th idiots as she follows her heart and marry Rancho. The irony is in real life guys like Suhash and Chatur gets all the beautiful gals. In real life girls are not at all idiot. They are very practical. They only love peoples like Rancho. But they don’t marry him. They definitely like price tags.

If you looked into famous peoples, at one point or other they have been criticized and have been called idiot for their different ideas and approach. For example, Larry page and Sergey Brin, founders of Google, are known for their unconventional way of working. They didn’t found Google with sole purpose of earning money. They don’t run the Google the way conventional company works. They didn’t adopt conventional management framework and policies. That’s why lot of people also criticized them. But that’s reason Google is unique and known as one of most innovative company.

Who is the biggest idiot? I think God must be the biggest Idiot. Only a true idiot like him can create a strange world like ours. The sole mantra of being idiot is not to be afraid of making an    idiot of you. Being Idiot is necessary because the things that are worth knowing can’t be taught. You have to explore them by yourself, sometimes by being idiot.

Movies I like most

I am a movie buff. But that does not mean I watch every movie I came across with. When it comes comes to movie, like everybody, I also have a taste. I don’t stick to any specific genres of movie. I like the movie which has a captivating story, well portrayed characters and some awesome dialogues. Whenever I like some movie, I add them to my will-watch-it-again list. I watch them a lot when I am alone and really want to have a good time. I just enjoy them. With each time I like them more. My list of favorite movies keeps changing. Following are 10 Hollywood movies which are currently at the top of my list. Let me tell you why.

1. The Matrix: – Hats off to Wachowski brothers. It is truly master piece of art. To be honest when I first watch Matrix, I couldn’t understand the story and the concept seems very esoteric. But later when I understood it, I just loved it. It is quite different from traditional save-the-earth sci-fi movies. To many people it is just another high definition action movie but when you go deeper and understand it, you will get its philosophical flavor blended with the concept of reality.
2. The Cinderella Man: – This is a story about human endurance and love. This is a story about courage and integrity. This is the story about a champion boxer, James J. Braddock, badly affected in great depression of 1930 and his struggle to support his family.
3. The Shaw shank Redemption: – This is the story of two murder convicted prisoners, Andy and Red (played by Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman) and their stay in Shaw shank prison. Andy, innocent but convicted for murdering his wife, never gives up hope. At times Life seems irrational and ruthless but still we can’t lose hope. Hope is a good thing, maybe best of things. Hope can set you free.
4. The Godfather: – The Godfather offers a deal you can’t refuse. It is a ware house of business wit and wisdom.  It is a trend setter and undoubtedly best gangster movie ever made. Marlon Brando immortalizes the role of Don Vito Corleone.
5. The pursuit of Happyness: – It’s not “H-A-P-P-Y-N-E-S-S”. Happiness is spelled with an “I” instead of a “Y”. ‘Don’t ever let someone tell you, you can’t do something. Not even me. You got a dream, you got to protect it. People can’t do something themselves, they want to tell you can’t do it. You want something, go get it. Period. All right? ‘This is my favorite dialogue from the movie. Dream is what this movie is all about. If you have a dream, it is you who have to achieve that.
6. Forest Gump: – ‘Life is like a box of chocolates; you never know what you are going to get.’ Life didn’t give Forest Gump high IQ and that makes him unique. Because of his low IQ he doesn’t understand the world fully and doesn’t try to change himself to be like others. He sees the world through his childish innocence and honesty. He does what his heart says and does that like maniac. Tom hanks brilliantly portray the character of Gump.
7. Brave heart: – This is an epic adventure and story about William Wallace. He fought for his freedom and his love. He fought with passion and lead by example. Though there was controversy about movie having historical errors but still I like the screenplay of movie.
8. As good as it gets: – A different love story. Melvin Udall (Jack Nicholson) is a successful novelist but a sarcastic and unpleasant person. He was suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder. He locks the door five times, washes the hand with fresh soap every time, does not walk the on the lines in side walk  or in short, he literally has problem with everything. Nobody likes him. He also strongly dislikes peoples and dogs or he expresses so. Carol Connelly (Helen Hunt) is the only waitress who tolerates his behavior in the restaurant. He falls for her.
9. The Bourne trilogy: – It is the only series where the sequels are better than its previous parts. It is fast paced action-cum-thriller about Bourne, a CIA agent suffering from amnesia, and his quest for his identity.
10. The terminal: – Viktor Navorski (Tom Hanks) is denied entry into US and can’t return to his own country due to war and trapped in JFK international airport. The terminal becomes his home for undefined period of time. He doesn’t know English well and doesn’t have any money. Instead of getting frustrated, Navorski start living there. He starts making friends and finds himself a job. It is cool comedy movie with a simple message that life can be enjoyed.

My take on Life!!

I keep wondering from time to time what is life? Life mean different to different person. It is faceless but yet it comes to us in many faces. When you are in love, it seems life is only to Love. When you are heartbroken, Loneliness becomes your life. When we succeed, we say Life is a miracle. When we lose, we console our self by saying life is Journey. Enjoy it! To somebody Life is a box of chocolate, to some it’s melting ice cream. One of my friends thinks that Life is a party because he believes 2012 is going to happen. Every time I make my mind and settle for a definition, Life through a googly and I am forced to change that definition. After spending 25 yr of my Life, I still ask myself what is Life? I am yet to receive an objective answer to that. I think  it is impossible to objectively define life in single sentence.

During Engineering one of my friends has very strange philosophy about movies. He was a big movie lover.  He used to say if you really want to admire a movie, watch only first day first show. All the reviews kill the true charm of a movie by making you biased. I asked him what if the movie is boring. He used to say do the ‘Paisa wasool’. Paisa wasool means value for money. Try to enjoy as much as you can to maximize your return on the movie ticket. Let say the movie ticket is 50 bucks. If you like actress, you get back 10 bucks. If you like the action sequence, you get back another 10. If story is good, you earn 15. Like this you get value for money and if movie is good you will make a profit. Tough I was not fully convinced with his movie philosophy. But his philosophy definitely applies to Life. Why live life according to other. Live it unbiased and do full ‘paisa wasool’.

Dancing Big and wide!!

No one knows how dance originates. But it is the major form of entertainment since the early civilization of human being. Dance is a medium to express our feeling and emotions. It is a way to express your thoughts without saying anything. According to Martha Graham, American dancer and choreographer, dance is hidden language of the soul.

Since childhood I am a big fan of Michal Jackson. He revolutionized the world of pop music but I enjoy his dance more than his songs. His dances and songs have the energy. Every time I watch his song, I regret that I don’t know dancing.

For the sake of trying something new I enrolled for Shaimak Davar summer funk 2009 dance classes as beginners. Initially I was bit confused whether I should enroll or not as I generally don’t dance. But finally I decided to at least give it a try. So I enrolled for the classes. Next day was my first class. Total 14 people enrolled in my batch. To my surprise I found that people from all age groups (from 4 yr to 60 yr) have enrolled for the dance classes and that too as beginners. In my batch also there is a couple who are in their early 50’s (I guess so, I never ask them) .When I saw them my initial reaction was “At this age, dance. Wow! “Their energy was infectious and their enthusiasm was laudable. They remind me of Socrates. Socrates learned to dance when he was seventy because he felt that an essential part of him had been neglected. The motto of Shaimak’s dance classes is to make everyone dance. That’s why punch line of his institute is ‘Have feet, Will dance’. Age is definitely not a bar in dancing.

The dance class includes body workout and performance in front of live audience. The most important thing I learnt in the class was to smile. My trainers always urge us to smile. He used to say dance will come to you automatically when you enjoy it. If you enjoy dancing you will smile. Smile will bring expression to your face and charm to dance. And you will dance like no one’s watching. That was an awesome and fun filled experience for me. In future whenever I’ll get chance, I’ll definitely learn it.

Finest Quotes

Quotation is the words of another speaker or writer. They are short but precise and convey lot of things. It reflects the attitude of the speaker or writer. Some time you saw a quote and thought “Wow!  What a thought.” Some quotes express precisely what you had experienced or life had taught you and they remain with you forever. I have come across numerous quotes which at one time or another express my feelings. Following are some of the fine quotes I have came across. I will keep adding to list from time to time. If you have any quotes which you admire, please add them in the comment. 

Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they can’t lose. – Bill Gates

Success builds character, failure reveals it. – Dave Checkett

Courage is doing what you are afraid to do.  There can be no courage unless you are scared. – Edward vernon Rickenbacker

Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm. -Winston Churchill

Yesterday I dare to struggle. Today I dare to win. -Bernadette Devlin

Bravery is being the only one who knows you’re afraid.  ~Franklin P. Jones

Give up or Fight like hell. – Lance Armstrong

A smile is a curve that sets everything straight.  ~Phyllis Diller

A smile is a powerful weapon; you can even break ice with it.

Courage doesn’t always roar.  Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says I’ll try again tomorrow.  ~Mary Anne Radmacher

Every man has his own courage, and is betrayed because he seeks in himself the courage of other persons.  ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Judgment comes from the experience   and experience comes from bad judgment. – Walter Wriston

Pain is temporary. Quitting lasts forever. – Lance Armstrong

Winning is about heart, not just legs. It’s got to be in the right place.  – Lance Armstrong

If you think you can do a thing or think you can’t do a thing, you’re right. – Henry Ford

To guarantee success, acts as if it were impossible to fail. – Dorothea Brande

 A business that makes nothing but money is a poor business. – Henry Ford

Business opportunities are like buses, there’s always another one coming. – Sir Richard Branson

Failure is nature’s plan to prepare you for great responsibilities.   – Napoleon Hill

Successful and unsuccessful people do not vary greatly in their abilities. They vary in their desires to reach their potential. – John Maxwell

Always remember to be happy because you never know who’s falling in love with your smile.

Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense. – Buddha

Nobody can make you feel inferior without your consent.  -Eleanor Roosevelt

Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much. – Oscar Wilde

Sometimes our best is simply not enough. We have to do what is required. – Sir Winston Churchill

Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination. – Oscar Wilde

We are all in gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars. – Oscar Wilde

The highest reward for one’s toil is not what one gets for it, but what one becomes by it. – John Ruskin

Before I speak, I have something important to say. – Groucho Marx

Ideas are no one’s monopoly.  – Dhirubhai Ambani

Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life – think of it, dream of it, live on idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of your body, be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success.  – Swami Vivekananda

Cultivate a hobby

 “What are your hobbies?” I can bet you must have come across this question sometimes in your life, at least in interviews. Be sure to face this question if you are going for any interview (job or study). Why the job interviewers want to know about hobby even if it doesn’t have anything to do with the job? If you run out of luck some strange things might happen in interview. Some interviewers have the habits of grilling on the hobby. They want to make sure that you are not lying by asking strange question. If you say your hobby is reading then they might ask about the life of authors (come on!!  Who reads authors biographies, everybody reads their books).If you tell them you like math they might give math Olympiad questions or some unsolvable puzzles (I hope they don’t assume that only MIT or IIT scholars can like math). Why interviewers ask about hobby? Hobby reflects the person’s personality like whether the person is aggressive, passionate, adventurous or creative. It also shows whether the person is outgoing or shy. It helps them to judge how the person handles various situation or deals with people. They ask about hobbies so that they can know you and judge you better.

A hobby is a spare-time recreational pursuit. Hobbies are practiced for interest and enjoyment, rather than financial reward. It can be anything that you really enjoy doing. It can be reading books, playing guitar, riding bike, painting, collecting, gardening, photography, solving puzzles, bird watching or any sports. The list is endless. Engaging in a hobby can lead to acquiring substantial skill, knowledge and experience. However, personal fulfillment is the aim. Hobbies rejuvenate you. It gives you a much needed break from daily routine job. It gives you opportunities to mix with lot of people, to know them and learn from them. Sometimes it also helps you to identify your potential hidden talent. The person who does something for fun, not remuneration, is called an amateur (or hobbyist), as distinct from a professional. Sometimes I feel amateur are better than professional because they do things they enjoy most.

Besides personal fulfillments hobbies have some other benefits. Some good side effects of cultivating a hobby are as below:

1.     It can boast your confidence.

2.     It will keep you engaged

3.     Hobbies like painting, writing,photograpy, dancing etc  increase creativity .

4.     Hobbies like sports  increases your leadership qualities and team building qualities  

5.      Hobbies  like reading books, gardening, collecting etc increase  knowledge.

6.      It gives you a sense of accomplishment and keeps you happy.

7.      It increase your productivity at work place

 

My hobby is reading books. I read any book that I find interesting. Currently I am reading  ‘It’s not about the bike: My journey back to life‘  by Lance Armstrong. I am trying to cultivate some new hobbies. I have enrolled for dance and swimming classes.I will write about my hobbies in my forthcoming posts.

Reinvent yourself. Squeeze out some time from your busy regular routine. Do something which you like most. Cultivate a hobby.

 

My project 2 in Toastmaster

Following is my second speech in Toastmaster club.

                                              AN IDEA CAN CHANGE YOUR LIFE

Few  months back while filling my timesheet, I saw a link in Ultimatix (internal Portal of Tata Consultancy Services, my previous employer)  as TATA NEN HOTTEST START UP- DARE TO TRY.I generally do not read articles in Ultimatix but this particular article caught my attention. My initial idea about the article was that it might be any new venture TATA is going to start. But later I found out that it’s an award to recognize highest potential startup in India and their entrepreneurial spirit. There were nearly 600 nominees which means nearly 600 new company or nearly 600 people loaded with innovative ideas! You might have had this question popped up sometime in your life. If these people wanted they could have decent jobs like we do and live peacefully. Why they took risk and become entrepreneur?

 According to Suboto Bagchi the co-founder of Mind tree “Starting your own enterprise is a little like motherhood. Ask most women and they will tell you that there can never be a rational enough reason to get into problems of bearing a child. It is a very difficult task, full of discomforts and sacrifices. Yet they waive all caution and comfort to embrace the little sign of life deep inside them and they would do everything-everything- to bring it into the world. Similarly entrepreneurs do everything to materialize their ideas or dreams. Entrepreneurship is a creative process and when achieved successfully it can give you the highest sense of accomplishment possible. That sense of accomplishment is next only to having and raising a baby.” Entrepreneurs create jobs. Think for a moment what will happen if there were no entrepreneur like Jamshedji  Tata or Dhirubhai Ambani. No Tata or Reliance which employ millions of people. If there would be no entrepreneur there will be no private companies .It would be impossible for the government to give job to billions of peoples. Right? Entrepreneurs create jobs and wealth for themselves and others. Thus developing entrepreneurship is necessary and should be a global priority.

Can we become successful entrepreneur? YES WE CAN. It is not as easy as I am sounding now but it is not impossible also. Numerous people around us have tried and become successful Entrepreneur. I didn’t see any reason why we can’t. All you need is a great idea that leads to a family of ideas and solid implementation. Every Enterprise start with a great ideas then it evolves into a family of ideas. People like Steve jobs, Richard Brandson and our own Narayan Murthy were also bitten by entrepreneurial bug. We admire these people because they have done something big which people like you and I can only dreamed of. They saw opportunities in which ordinary people saw problem. They had innovative ideas or gave solutions to the problem and converted it to  business solutions. Had they wanted they would have been happy in a 6 digit salary job and lived peacefully like us but they begged to differ. They believed in their ideas and dreamt to create something new and they have done this in spite of all odds. Most started small and keep reinventing themselves from time to time. Let me give you few more examples of successful entrepreneur and their source of ideas.

1.       Mumbai Dabbawala: They noticed that the working class people do not get to eat fresh homemade lunch in the office. They see a source opportunity there. Currently they deliver homemade lunch to nearly 2, 00,000 people in Mumbai. Nearly 5000 people work for Mumbai dabbawala. They are six sigma certified and know for their service. Though they are illiterate they give management lesson to MBAs.

2.       Naukri.com: Sanjeev Bikhchandani the founder of naukri.com saw opportunity in Job Database. The catch is everybody interested in knowing about jobs out there. People who are already in a job also want to know about job opportunity outside.Naukri.commake millions by helping millions finding a job. Post success of Naukri.com, Sanjeev got ideas to add few more websites likejeevansathi.com, 99acres.com, shiksha.com.

3.        Café coffee day: Siddhartha founded CCD in 1993.His family was in the business of growing coffee. Siddhartha found that world grows nearly 120 million bags of coffee which worth $7 billion. When the same coffee is retailed and sold as coffee in cup, its value becomes $100 billion.  He started chasing the S100 billion opportunities. His potential customers were young boys and girls. From this CCD was born with a tagline ‘ A lot can happen over a cup of coffee’

 

Once Dr A.P.J Abdul Kalam said that Dreaming small is a crime. So dare to dream big. Be an entrepreneur. Ideas are nobody’s monopoly.Anybody can have innovative idea and he/she can and should materialize into a venture. A great idea can hit anybody anytime. You can have an innovative idea while you are alone or travelling in a bus or sometime by simply asking why or more often why not. If you have a great idea then you are lucky and you should materialize them and start a venture. I know are you must be thinking why to take unnecessary risk when you are very comfortable in our jobs. To that I will say you have nothing to lose. You can get a good job any time. But starting something of own is an opportunity of lifetime. I am definitely going to give it a try. I am just waiting for right time and opportunity. It worth trying and who knows you might be next billionaire.

Thank you.

Sources: 

1. The High performance Entrepreneur  by Subroto Bagchi

2. Stay Hungry stay Foolish  by Rashmi Bansal

3. website of mumbai Dabbawala

4. http://www.google.com

Welcome to my Blog!!

Hello Everyone!

Welcome to my blog.

Let me break the ice by sharing something about myself and this blog. I am Mukul Mittal. By qualification and profession I am software Engineer. I start my career as software engineer in Tata Consultancy Services. I worked there for 2 yr and 8 months. In TCS I got an opportunity to become a part of Toastmaster Club. It’s an International public speaking club. It provides excellent platform for improving the communication skill and public speaking skill. There you have to write and deliver your speeches (called Project).I joined to improve my public speaking skill but in the way I fall in love with writing. This blog is just an attempt to continue my romance with writing. In this blog I will write about my perceptions, dreams,thoughts and sometimes just opinion. I hope you will like them. The best thing about perception and opinion is that they can be changed. So even if you didn’t like them, Please tell me.

Thank you very much.