The city

I was born and brought up in Mumbai. Now, I stay in New York. Both cities make me feel home.  Both are beautiful cities but terrible places to stay(1). 

I think the most contributing factor that makes both of these cities what they are is an ability to make a person with any financial capacity or personal wealth profile feel at home. New York and Mumbai can cater to richest of the rich as well as the poorest of the poor. You have top class restaurants, expensive shopping areas, costliest real estates as well as dirt cheap street food, in-expensive street side shopping vendors and a place you can survive no matter what and how. One can earn, stay, enjoy life as per one's financial capability. Both cities offer good living conditions - parks, education institutes, hospitals, good public transportation and so on. Similarly both has usual other darker side as well - slums, poverty, violence, drugs and so on. But, no matter what, in New york or Mumbai - you are always home! You are always independent yet you feel so connected in the sea of people around.

I think, those who continue to stay, take time and appreciate what these large cities has to offer. They blend into the character of these cities. New York and Mumbai can suck you in, if you let it. I now stay in 'The burbs' and visit 'The city' on the weekends. It's my trade-off between the charm and laziness vs character and fast pace. 

(1) Stated earlier by architect Charles Correa in reference to Mumbai
 

Leading from the emerging future

"..leading an organization to constructive change begins by setting a direction — developing a vision of the future (often the distant future)..." - Written by John P. Kotter in HBR Whitepaper What Leaders Really Do

 

Now, there is ample material on Who, How, What etc. but is there any methodology for developing the vision for future?

 

I was browsing through the courses offered on EDX (http://www.edx.org) and came across an interesting course offered by MIT titled U.Lab: Transforming Business, Society, and Self. The course begins on Sept 24, 2014 and I'm looking forward to learning from this course. In the interim, let's have a quick look at interesting concept that caught my imagination.

 

The theory, termed Theory U,  is based on the premise of letting go of the past in order to learn from emerging future. We are taught to learn from the past, while most of the real leadership challenges in organizations require ability to learn from future possibilites. The theory also supposedly goes deeper towards inner awakening. It would be too premature, of course, to comment further and form any kind of perception without learning the theory.

 

An interesting concept indeed!

 

 

Reference: https://www.presencing.com/theoryu 

Islands in the sea

Substances at base divided,
In their summits are united.
There the holy essence rolls,
One through the seperated souls.
- From Celestial Love by Ralph Waldo Emers

Quantum superposition is an principal of quantum mechanics that implies that any physical entity (such as eletrons) exists partly in all its particular theoretically possible states simultaneously. In a classical world, there are 2 possible and distinct states - True or False, 0 or 1. In a quantum world, for example, an entity can be in a superposition state i.e. it can be be position 0 as well as 1 simultaneously. One more fundamental principle of quantum physics - quantum entanglement implies that a pair or group of entities (such as atoms) interact in a correlated way even if they are distanced from each other. We can not see the common connection, yet they appear to act in unison. This may sound difficult to comprehend. But let's have a look at from a little different angle.

 

An analogy can be given of a large number of islands in the sea. Each of these islands is in fact the top of a mountain which has its base in the seabed. From the surface of the sea the islands or the mountain peaks have individuality. Yet from the view-point of the seabed the islands or the individuals are seen to have their function in a common base. In other words, the islands which appear seperatre are actually connected with each other by the seabed. Yet, because we cannot see this common connection, we automatically assume that the islands are totally seperated and different from each other. 

 

Underlying all this science, theories and material universe is some deeper reality. It is even suggested that our present and assumptions regarding the nature of time and space are incorrect and unrealistic. Yogis, mystics and other wise men throughout the history may have found the answers but until they are available to common man in a commonly understandable way, the quest for knowledge and awareness continues.
 

Computing at the warp speed

Quantom computing promises warp speeds. I don't think or rather I should say, I don't feel it's a hype (I don't have expertise on the subject to think hence I'll go by what I feel). There is a whole lot of science behind Quantum Mechanics and I personally love the concept. The qubits, their superpositions and entanglements may change the way we look at computing speeds. Human inventions and discoveries have always broken the conventional boundaries.

 

(Friends - am I sounding too brainy here? Well, I'm trying to be :) Refer to links mentioned at the end of this post.)

 

Anyway, today's news is not encouraging though. Google's quantum computer - D-Wave 2 system (so called world's first commercially available quantum computer) has failed the test. D-Wave 2 is developed by a Canada based company in collaboration with NASA, Google and the Universities Space Research Association (USRA). A quantum computer can operate at an astonishing speed solving mind-boggling complex problems that may take classical computing systems years to solve. The commercial applications of quantum computer is aplenty and Google's interest and investment into this project is due to it's 'Machine Learning' abilities. The anticipated 'quantum speedup' is not evidenced through today's tests though and results are not encouraging.

 

Nevertheless, hopes are high and as someone has said - Failure is success if we learn from it. I'm looking forward to computing at the warp speed.

 

Links for referred concepts -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_computing

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machine_learning

Simple-Complex-Simple mobile circle

Amazon launched it's first smartphone (Fire) today and entered competitive mobile market dominated by Apple and Samsung. Consumer electronics technology has evolved a long way in last decade or so but no other device has altered our day-to-day life and habits as much as the mobile device in our hands.

The Simple - Things were pretty simple when mobiles came into the market - the sole purpose was to communicate using phone - wirelessly.

The complex - Then phones became smart and started doing many things - complicating the matters. Now, all of have so many choices that we end up switching the devices and the platforms every year or so. It has led to data littering all over the place. For example, a simple task of maintaining an address book takes some googling to learn how to port from one platform to another, in the process duplicating the data. Is there a simple, easy to use platform agnostic solution that will integrate data across multiple systems and can be maintained by a non-technical person?

And simple again? - While we continue to excite ourselves with array of new features - 3D, curved screens and what not, isn't it also time to go simple and back to true basics?
 

Living in the moment

"Someone once told me that time was a predator that stalked us all our lives. But I rather believe that time is a companion who goes with us on the journey and reminds us to cherish every moment because they'll never come again. What we leave behind is not as important as how we've lived. After all, Number One, we're only mortal. " - Quoted by Captain Picard in movie Star Trek Generations (1994)

It's interesting how different cultures or religions have handled the concept of time. Hinduism associates time with theory of creation, time ('Kal' in Sanskrit) is a manifestation of God. Kalchakra (the cycle of time) defines the cycle of birth and death. On the other hand, the wise and brightest minds of ancient Greece could barely device their own calendar. Pretty much every Greek city had its own way of keeping time, and they all refused to accept anyone else's (time calendar).

As per Yogic concepts, the most common manifestation of under-lying mental problems is dissatisfaction with the present time. How often do we actually live in the NOW? We'll easily admit that most of the time, no matter what is being done, we are dreaming or wishing for something else. When we walk to work in the morning, we wish we were still in bed. When we are working, we wish we were on a holiday. Very rarely do we live in the present time. Yet, most certainly, everyone has experienced period, of perhaps short duration, when we completely concentrated on NOW - for example when we concentrated on something of deep absorbing interest. This living in the moment is the essential part of Yoga.

Time is always perceived on the scale of past, present and future. Present is the most current perception of time, yet, almost all of what we perceive as the present is already past. The present is a fleeting moment, whatever is happening NOW (present) is passing by as we acknowledge that tiniest moment. Present, thus, is an illusion.
 
Time remains to be a real phenomenon, a continuous change through which we live. You may choose to call it a companion or a predator (a creator or destroyer).

Kalay Tasmai Namaha!! (means salutations to that great entity called TIME!)
 

Welcome again ...

Welcome to my blog 2.0! Why 2.0?

Well, version 1.0 was during our first US stint between 2004 and 2008. I used to periodically update my LiveJournal with some of the on-going events. The mood was non-commital, casual with no special interests. Version 2.0 also intends to continue the same mood.

What's changed since then is - we went back to India in 2008 and came back to US in 2013. We've an addition in our family now - daughter Kiara! She is the life now! New york is the new home. Life is more focused on worldly responsibilities. Job is more stressful. What remained the same since then - my weight is back to or in fact more than what it was 10 years ago.

10 years! Yeah, it's been almost 10 years since I stepped into US - took the first super shuttle ride from LAX to Pasadena - passing through LA downtown and wondering about tall buildings and freeways. I continue to marvel at NYC skyline from our living and bedroom windows the same way. Let's see where this journey takes us.

Welcome once again and I hope you'll find these pages interesting enough to read through on your devices once in a while. As always, comments/feedback is most welcome.

Stay tuned ...