Reaching There

In industrial engineering it is a very common to observe a system to learn about it and suggest ways to improve it.  As an industrial engineer I have spent numerous hours collecting data on machining assembly lines and operator moments on a shop floor. The collection and analysis of data is the heart of any process improvement process. It helps to study the current behavior of a system (a system could be an assembly line, flow of shoppers in a departmental store or your internet searching habits). After all the data has been collected analysts/engineer try and make sense of it. This leads to a baseline formation on which you can base your improvement process. After a certain prescribed time you measure the change due to the improvement and evaluate the progress. It is a long and painstakingly slow process. A major such study is called Time & Motion Study. It is very similar to our lives. Our lifetime is a series of time and motion. A time is our natural progression from being...

The life is a series of lessons we begin to learn from the day our consciousness rises above our own self-existence. It was a giant leap in astronomy when Nicolaus Copernicus came up with a mathematical model which proved that Sun, not Earth, is the center of the universe. Similarly when we realize the significance of nouns (person, place, animal, thing or abstract idea) which are around us, we develop a better understanding of our surroundings. We realize the value or the reason why things are as they are, around us. As the ego melts away we become more receptive to all the positive energy coming in from various sources. Even the minutest form of positive energy can give us a big boost in understanding ourselves. There have been various examples in history of a seemingly weak ideas (energy) resulting in some of the most powerful movements. Mahatma Gandhi was the outcome of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi thrown off a train at Pietermaritzberg in South Africa. Perhaps a legend, but Sir Issa...

My second attempt at writing a poem. I know it's not perfect but hopefully I am able to put across my thoughts. My story if I may, is about ups and downs. But if you ask me, I say, it has been the same. I came and lived, till it was time to die. I loved a few things, but all was just a lie. I need just one, but I tried for many. I looked everywhere, but didn't find any. A war is on, with my mind. I have to tell it, leave all else behind. So if you ask me again, I'll say I give up to Thee. I just hope and have faith, You'll look after me. Pushkar Bajpai

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...