Life- my interpretation

"Life is a jest and all things show it, I believed it before but now I know it."
"Don't take life too seriously, no one gets out alive anyway!"
Two quotes which should be how we treat life. Strong statement but then we really make too much out of this accident called life. I am not trying to be frivolous about God's ultimate creation. All I am saying is that we shouldn't get too carried away by our achievements. My reasoning is as follows:
We accomplish anything because of three factors: 1. Intelligence 2. Luck 3. Hardwork & dedication.
Out of these three the first two are definitely God-given or for the more scientifically inclined- gene-inherited. Thus not attributable to our account. But then most people make the argument that hard-work and dedication is completely their doing. I politely disagree. It depends a lot on your disposition to life which is a function of your nature. And a person's nature is again as inherited or God-given as the other two.
Let me try another logic. Even if we assume that your achievements are your own, doesn't everyone have their own achievements? Their own highs and lows etc. So you are just as unique and different as everyone else.
Taking a step back maybe my thoughts have come out in a jumble. But i hope you are able to make some sense out of what i am trying to convey.
Let's not make too much out of what we do cause in Douglas Adams', Encyclopaedia Galactica the entry for Earth as a whole is "Mostly Harmless"

Too good!

"If it seems too good to be true it usually is". You people must have heard of this one but how about this: "If it seems too bad to be true it usually is." Get it?
Let me explain, I have often met people who can be classified as successful by any standards. They hold good posts, are quite rich, well respected etc.. But when someone starts a conversation with them about a topic and I mean any topic, the person feels like he is talking to an absolute idiot! These subjects (of our discussion) will exhibit total cluelessness and you get the feeling that this person isn't going to amount to much. Yet they are usually quite successful as previously mentioned.
Which brings us to this new quote. What I am trying to convey is that if a person acts the way these people do, it could mean only one of two things. 1. This person has had the most amazing run of luck since King Midas..statistically improbable or 2. This person is taking you and the rest of the world for a ride and that is his ticket to success.
These people have developed this as an art and are very good at using this to their advantage. Don't get me wrong, I am not spiteful of these people just envious that they are able to do consistently what is known in Mumbai slang as "Yeda banke Pedha khana. " Translated: Acting stupid and getting the cake (or maybe having your cake and eating it too!)

true wisdom

"True knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance" -the original one-my addendum- "true jargonism is the ability to cover this ignorance with verbal diarrhea."

Ok, so the quote is not all that great but this is what I may have to do to get past interviews!
But its very interesting that jargon can be used both as a defensive and as an offensive weapon. Think about the times that you have done that at your job or even at home. You just throw some important sounding words and that gives you valuable respite. Masters of this art may even get promotions or social status and may never ever be found out.
So lets cut to the chase, is there a counter attack? I think there is. My friend D is quite good at it. You just stop the person in the middle of the sentence and politely tell him that you haven't understood a word! Takes courage ppl but try it and let me know ur feedback.

Note: I think there's more to be written about this so as of now this quote is to be continued....

Integrity

"Don't justify your honesty by the misfortunes of the dishonest."
A line that came to my mind when we were discussing ethics and law today. I don't know how I thought of this one but it does represent to me a pure if somewhat simplistic outlook to life. Maybe the dishonest do justify their 'way' by looking at the trials of the honest but then its because they need a justification! A person with ethics on the other hand needs to only look at his peace of mind.
Note that I am not stating my own bent because though I believe it to be honest, my mere declaration would not make it so for you. And then that also goes back to the original argument right? Why do you even care? My honesty is for my peace of mind and your honesty is for yours!

At ISB we sell..

The Famous Charles Revson (of Revlon fame) once said, "In the factory we manufacture cosmetics, in the store we sell hope." A better understanding of the customer is rare to find!
I thought of modifying this line for my school, the Indian School of Business. "In the classroom we are trained in business management but ISB sells us a culture."
We learn the value of questioning, structured thinking, beating or at least meeting deadlines, of being professional (do not relate to the earlier article) and of surviving and eventually thriving under continuous pressure. That is ISB's promise or to rephrase, that is ISB's 'hope'.
At the end of such a writeup, you are expected to make a normative statement but instead I would like to leave you with this food for thought:
"All of us have a moral obligation to dissent."- McKinsey credo.

Self limitation

I am sure you must have said this, I am not going to do this since I am not good at this. And some people are quite empathic about what all they could NEVER ever do. And of course it ends with "I am like this."
Well honestly I don't think they are! They are just plain lazy. No let me see WE are plain lazy cause even I have indulged in this laziness.
So here's the quote for today: "If only you were half as confident about yourself as you are about your weaknesses you would be a much better person."

Note: I should have said this earlier but I really love a healthy debate about my blog so plz plz disagree and let me know about it.

Professionalism is not selfishness

I have heard this being said many times- I am a professional hence I cannot let petty things like emotions, relationships come in the way of my work! But too often this is done at the cost of other people's emotions.
Professionalism becomes the pseudonym for greed, selfishness and often just plain indifference to people who at some time have made a major difference to your life.
On TV, I heard a woman say "We are programmed to expect something in return for all that we do. That's just the way we are programmed as professionals!" I do hope we all don't get programmed because for me professionalism is not NOT feeling anything but taking on those 'family' responsibilities and sacrificing your own happiness while still accomodating those around you.
So the quote for the day by a great man (don't remember who) "Nobody said on their deathbed, I should have spent more time at the office" (...but a lot of people do say that I should have spent more time with my family!)

Out-of-box thinking

A lot of people seem to think that out-of-the box thinking is essentially cheating or cutting corners. But think about it, how difficult is it to cheat or cut corners. Hence in all probability that route is either blocked or in some cases so over used that its now an accepted system. Either way, it isn't going to be your way to the top.
From what I seen and learnt before and at ISB, the out-of-the-box route is usually an arduous but ultimately rewarding route and most of the people who came up with those innovative ideas really knew their stuff.
So i guess: 'Out of the box thinking involves boxing around with a lot of ideas for a lot of time to finally come up with that knock-out punch.'
(Since the above quote is an original spark of brilliance, as promised, I will trumpet it!!!!LOL ;-))

While we are going strong..

Since I have just started, i thought let me carry on the momentum.
Since the interviews have started, i was wondering about the 'negotiator's curse'. If at the end of the interview, you do negotiate quite hard, does the interviewer feel that he has selected a capable candidate? esp. for procurment roles or does he feel irritated that you are trying to act greedy even though you got a great offer. On the other hand if you don't negotiate, does it mean he has got a loser? Comments?

Opening moves

'Start at the beginning, it is usually a good place to start.'

This I think is essentially going to be the nature of this blog. Some random lines, quotes- usually plagiarised and sometimes my own creations as a means to understand 'Life and other accidents'. Of course if I do come up with original ones, you will definitely know. LOL.