Reaching There

The physicist J. J. Thompson discovered electrons, the smallest known elementary particle until the advent of quantum physics, in 1897. He used a cathode ray tube to "detect" the presence of electrons but no microscope exists which can see the subatomic particles like proton, electron or neutron. All these subatomic particles make up an atom. The atom is million times smaller the thickest human hair. Quantum physics has further discovered subatomic particles such as quark, lepton and gauge bosons. Scientists are using a Large Hadron Collider at a cost of $9 billion, with a diameter of twenty seven kilometers; it is a particle accelerator which uses electric fields to propel subatomic particles at very high speeds so as to collide such beams of particles with an intend to study smaller particles formed as a result of the collision. But no scientist would ever see any subatomic particle with his or her naked eye. The scientists consider universe to be very large and of infini...

राधे राधे  “Acting is not being emotional, but being able to express emotion.” Kate Reid. An interesting quote to say the least. Expression is defined as "communication of your beliefs or opinion through various sensory mediums". It is the single most important tool for us, the social animals. It is the way to define who we are, not only to others but to ourselves too. Most of the time our opinion about us is based on the external inputs we get from our parents, peers, friends etc. But we have always lacked the courage to sit down and define ourselves. For in defining ourselves we come across flaws we have so far ignored for our own mental benefit. But like a beautiful building the weakness lies not in the facade we see but in the dark corner of the basement where a beam is slowing rusting. It is the dark corners in ourselves we have always ignored but continuously worked on improving the facade.  Laura Linney in describing a good actor's brains says the ques...

Why is red red? What is an amphibian? What is a right angled triangle? What is a galaxy? What is efficiency? Who was Deming? Who is God? What is spiritualism? Who are we? These are some of the plethora of questions that arise in our minds during our lifetime as we grow from an infant to an adult. Sometimes we struggle a lot before we arrive at an answer. And arriving at an answers through research and struggle brings us joy and increases our wonder.  Well, I am not going to answer any of the above said questions. However the question I am worried about is "Why do we stop asking such innocent questions as we grow up"? Particularly the last three questions which play an important role in our lives. The last three questions came in our mind a lot of times but we never delved into researching and finding answers. The inquisitiveness and sense of bemusement vanished as our age increased by a one every year on our birthday. Although the concept of learning organization is...

राधे राधे  I came across an interesting proverb while watching an interview of Sir Anthony Hopkins "Today is the tomorrow I was so worried about yesterday". It helped me to reinstate in my mind what Shri Krishna says in Gita "karm kar phal ki chinta mat kar". We always finally come to realization that we are helpless. We are a flawed species with far too many complexities going around in our minds. Our mind always races to form an image which is based on our prejudices and experiences. Whether it is forming an image that I am smarter than others or believing I will never be able to do "that" thing. The image make us believe that we have the power to change or not to change circumstances surrounding us. But ultimately we are too flawed to be powerful so He blessed us with uncertainty. Not knowing is the biggest gift we have. We are free to try unknown emotions, unknown fields, unknown feelings knowing that outcome is not known from the start. While wri...

राधे राधे  "Look at the bigger picture".  We have heard this phrase quite a few times in our lives from our parents, teacher, managers, peers etc. I have wondered at times what exactly does it mean! Is it looking at things in a holistic manner or does it mean putting myself out of the equation to observe something? I was never clear about it until a few days ago. But when it hit me I could not stop thinking about it. I have finally figured out what it means to me. To understand the roots of my understanding you will have to bear with another understanding of my own. I have believed for some time that we create a bubble of all things we are comfortable with around us. Whether it is our favorite newspaper or our family. This is the bubble which gives us a feeling of protection and warmth. We don't want to venture out of it. The same goes for our thinking. We have practiced thinking in a particular way that familiarity leads to monotonicity. In a movie called "Proof...

Actors talk about their performances as the best when they were in the moment. Meryl Streep in one of her interviews says she likes to research a lot about the role and when going to act she tries to forget all about it. In this way she is letting her instincts guide her through the process. These instincts were developed partly from the research she did and partly from her own previous experiences. Similarly for us learning about ourselves plays an important role in living our life. Unconsciously we gather a lot of information about us during our daily life. We learn about our tastes, likes, dislikes, allergies, passions, weaknesses etc. But when somebody questions us to list our strengths and weaknesses we draw a blank! Why is that? We believed we knew what we are. But we struggle to describe ourself, our passions, our goals etc. Jagadguru Kripaluji Maharaj in His discourses talks about the real "me". In ancient Hindu scriptures the real "me" is the soul while bo...

The Japanese work " kaizen " means improvement. In more common practice, especially in the world of manufacturing, it is interpreted as "continuous improvement". While going on internet looking for meaning of "kai" and "zen" I came across a myriad of meanings. The following are some of the meanings: Kai: change, effect, use, world, story Zen: good, meditation ( from Sanskrit word  dhyānam,  "meditation") If you search the word "kaizen" on web you'll find hundreds of link related to productivity improvement. But for a moment if I leave my industrial engineer mind and just concentrate on the word itself I get a whole new perspective on "continuous improvement". Let us try and see how can we relate with kaizen. Someone has wisely said "Life is change. Growth is optional. Choose wisely". Everyday we see changes happening around us. The whole universe itself is in a continuous series of motion...