InDepth

Last few days have been hectic. Travels, work and duties - they were with me. So, in essence I was not bored, but I could not find time to pen down some thoughts to share with you all. What has happened with me in the past few days? Well, as stated, some travels, I was at the shores of the Baltic Ocean and spent a lot of time to drink the beautiful moist air, to listen to the near-silent waves of the sea and to hum a few lines. Visiting the seashores of southern Scandinavia brings several emotional highpoints - The Baltic Ocean is blue and obedient. It is relatively calm, almost like a river. But a sea cannot be a river. A river meets a sea, and not the other way around. So, the sea is hierarchically higher placed. Therefore, Baltic sometimes shows its higher status - it soars and disturbs its own serenity. This interplay of emotions of a sea is wonderful. The neat and clean surroundings of the Ocean is exemplary. Any beach you visit in Sweden, like, Malmö, Lomma, Simrishamn - there is...

Today, I want to digress to an interesting topic - importance of short vacation. After coming to Sweden and starting to get settled here, I decided to start this experiment. Instead of taking long summer breaks, I wanted to try out short bursts of days. It was 2011 I believe, the elder daughter was only 2 years old. She had started to go to the day care, and was speaking a word or two. I took some days off. Back in those days summer in Sweden was rather unpredictable. The weather had a digital choice - either sunny and warm or dark and rainy. The period was mostly between May end and August end.   I took some days off in May. I still remember one of my colleagues had told me, it was too early. But the good thing about this part of Europe was - it could shift its gears very quickly, from being dry, desolate, lifeless to full of colours, flowers and energy. This particular shift of nature could be compared to a small child getting happy once the father would bring a toy, after he had...

I am a bit cluttered in my head at the moment, and I need sleep as soon as possible. But I have somehow gotten into a daily habit of expressing myself. Hence I must get those words out of my head to feel decluttered again. So let me start with a conversation I had once with my cousin sister. We were talking about stages of life in business and academic fields. While I come from technology and business side of the story, she is a sparkling talent in the field of education and academics. Obviously, the charters of our respective lives are different, we have different pursuits in life and we sometimes see the world differently. But we have one thing in common. Stay curious, stay updated, question the very existence of certain things, have a scientific temperament to things around us and above all, continue on the path of a growth mindset. The last aspect is essential for survival. While taking shower this morning, I was thinking, how my life has unfolded so far. When I look back, I find t...

Today I would like to elaborate on the topic of asking questions. Actually I want to start from where I had left the last post. After coming abroad, among other things, I learnt the art of asking. Especially at my work place. In a rather complex technical project, it was obvious to do this. However, there were always a few things that was hindering me in the beginning - We might be having a strong hierarchical structure, the subordinates should not at all ask questions. I should try to get some documentation to read, learn the stuff alone by myself and get the expertise sorted out. I was at a place of safety and I had earned a reputation for myself. By asking questions, I could end up putting myself in an awkward situation. It might become evident for others, that I had lack of knowledge in certain areas.  Which questions were the ones to ask? Which were the stupid ones? Should I be avoiding the ones that were obvious to ask but it might be the case that it was only me who did not ...

Let me trace today the act of engaging in dialogue, by reflecting on parts of my life. Childhood and pluralistic views I have never been exposed to "otherisation". What does that mean? That means, I had never heard something like - "we" are better, smarter, superior, more civilized and "they", who are the "others", are inferior, uncultured and irrelevant people. I remember I had 3 drawing teachers in my childhood, belonging to different religions, a perfect Amar-Akbar-Anthony scenario. Once it so happened, that I passed a class in the drawing school, with good grade. In utter excitement, I touched the feet of all three of them. Later on, I told my grandma about it - she hugged me and said, a teacher is a God, no matter which religion, caste or creed they belong to. Dad would always say - difference of opinion is never bad, but not listening to any contradicting opinion is terrible! He told me - take a stance, stick to it harder than you can, beli...

Early morning and waking up with sound of breeze, chirping of birds and some screeches of hens. The house that I have rented has some poultry farming downstairs - kind of good when I think that this world is not just meant for humans. There is place for other animals, and it is our responsibility to give them that. As a matter of fact, it is the more powerful that should take care of the less powerful. Here comes the topic of today's discussion. In a society, family, friendship, company, team, in every constellation of people, it is the people in power that should extend the hand and offer help to the people that need help, to the people that are weak. Sounds rather one-sided, or? You are right. I need to finish myself. The power should extend their hand of support and the weak should clutch the hand of the power. It must be a two way game!  Let me brain-dump my thoughts - When we are little child, it is the parents that guide us, teach us and train us. Imagine a situation when a t...