Reaching There

It's difficult to manage personal finance when the goals are fluid. In fact, as a someone in the thirties the financial goals are constantly changing. One day you're looking long term to save for a house or any other big investment and next minute you're trying to balance the credit card debt because a big expense suddenly made its way through.  And as a millennial and someone who appreciates technological assistance; a lot of financial planning is based on phone apps. I think it's the ability to have everything on phone and also having the ability to slice through the data; makes it "cooler" and informative at the same time. As someone working in software field I'm aware of the power of dashboards and various workbenches that helps make complex data 'user-friendly'. But is there a more educated approach to managing finances through apps? As a journey should begin with fundamentals, a simple search reveals that there are multiple areas of...

We love to be with someone, whether it's your friend, wife, partner, love, parent or even an imaginary friend. As an introvert I would like to dispel the misconception that introverts don't like a good company. I love a good company, it's just that the company is generally one or two close ones...that's enough for having a good time.  And there is another partner I think we deserve to have. It's silence in our lives. It's easy to be surrounded with constant buzz of appliances, traffic, emails, Facebook, television and even people that sometimes overwhelm our lives. And it is necessary to drown out that noise and just enjoy a few moments of silence. OMG! Are you trying to say to shun out everyone from my life? Not at all, I'm just saying that sitting next to your companion and having a silent moment is the best moment perhaps you will ever going to share with that person.  Imagine sitting next to the person you love and enjoying a silent moment....

Our world is full of achievements. In a grand scheme of things my existence is a minute ripple in the sea of time. I perhaps don't even reach the shore of winning where all the waves merge one by one after their treacherous journey.  (Well, enough of metaphors!) I just meant that my accomplishments are small compared to inventors, scientists, spiritual teachers, teachers, entrepreneurs, poets, writers and others who brought something new in this world. I am an ordinary man with ordinary abilities and simple desires.  (I am relieved! Fake humility?) As I was watching Carl Sagan, Stephen Hawking and Arthur C. Clarke discuss God, universe and everything else I was amazed at the limited understanding of all these topics (and many more). (Whew! I'm so ordinary!) So what would be my achievement(s) in life? As I wondered I realized probably I wouldn't end up as a prime minister or a president or a CEO or a superstar or a celebrity or a Nobel laurea...

Inspiration for this Post I recently watched a movie called Serpico, starring Al Pacino and directed by Sidney Lumet. It had a very interesting scene where Al Pacino's character, called Serpico meets, a bunch of people in a party. The commonality between all the people he meets is that they are doing something else and they want to be something else. Al Pacino's character says " How come all your friends are  on their way to being somebody else? I'll let you ponder and find a meaning for yourself in these lines (I do recommend the movie if you're a fan of Al Pacino or Sidney Lumet).  However my post isn't about the movie or trying to be somebody else.   It is about the confusion I was in for a long time when I believed - "I wanted to be a .....". I can probably fill in tens (if not hundreds) of words in there. Each and everyone of us can fill words that describe our goals, wishes, desires or simply a random thought that came into...

The number quality that is a favorite among major business leaders , spiritual leaders and women looking for life partners is humility. It is a quality that arms you with overwhelming sense of strength and peace. Or it could leave you completely in shambles because it tends to open up parts of your mind that weren't so receptive to all the bullshit that goes around in the world. It is a tricky emotion to reside in your mind. Like any other emotion, say happiness, sadness, guilt, pride or indifference it shapes your personality and defines the core of your existence. This leaves an interesting question - whether I can fake humility? I can fake happiness, for sure. For example, when I meet an unpleasant person but I have to act as per the societal requirements that dictate that I be pleasant to this person. I act with a smile on my face. There are other examples, when you're in a group and you've to pretend you're enjoying the pleasantries, you fake hap...

Too often we forget that we're living on a pale blue dot. President Obama in his recent remarks on announcing the Clean Power Plan reminded me of the time when I first saw Carl Sagan's episode of Cosmos where the picture has an arrow that points to the blue dot. As Carl Sagan talks about all the memories that have been created on this blue marble, the viewer is left mesmerized and humbled by his words. It was perhaps for the first time the generation of the technological age saw Earth as a big home rather than just cities connected with highways.  And as President Obama too said in his speech "We only get one planet. We only get one home. There is no Plan B." His words echo the famous lines of an ancient Hindu scripture which says "For those who're known as magnanimous, the entire world constitutes but a family." Before writing this post I watched the 'Pale Blue Dot' video again. But as the YouTube asks you to go through thirty sec...