Evolution – 922

On Quarter-life Crisis

Gaurav (@gsik) asked me write something on the Quarter-Life Crisis. Wikipedia defines QLC as

period of life immediately following the major changes of adolescence, usually ranging from the ages of 21 – 30

This definition is hardly sufficient to really explain what it really is. If I can take liberties to explain, in my own words, QLC is that phase of life when you have grown out of your college, you find everyone around you doing great with their lives and you are all confused and dont have a clue what to do with your life.

So I have to answer following questions

Why do I think I suffer from Quarter Life Crisis?
How do I deal with it?
And do I see it as positive or negative energy?

So why do I think I am suffering from QLC?
Few hard facts first. I think I have one of the best jobs in the world with a lot of freedom to do things the way I want to do. My boss is as supportive as anyone can be. My employer is a growing company that will be a powerhouse to reckon with in times to come. I am paid enough money to stay comfortably even in a city like Mumbai. Everything looks hunky-dory. On paper.

While advertising is a great place to be amidst the thick of actions, contributing to few of the biggest brands, trying to create new media and brand businesses, there are times when I feel that I am destined to do things larger and grander than just advertising or brain-storming. I have no clue what this grand dream is. I have been running after for all 25 years of my life and I still dont have a clue where to go with it. There are times when I feel as if I am stuck. And this is the exact reason why I think I am suffering from QLC.

I know that I have had a great education and I am ready to take on the world. But the entire exercise of taking on the world is not even starting. Everything I do, however grand it may be from my perspective looks insignificant compared to the entire world.

And then there are my friends. Everyone seems to be making more money than me. Everyone seems to be having an absolute blast in life with global travels, time for themselves, relationships, carer advancements and latest gadgets whereas I am stuck in Mumbai with nothing of this sort happening. And not even remote chances of it in the sight.

I know I am a future rich famous and important guy but I dont know how and when would I reach there. I have opinions on things around me. Rather strong ones at that. I think everyone around me is mediocre and needs improvement. I dont want to spend time with these people and I would rather sit online trying to discover a new new thing rather than meeting people in social settings. I still laugh and cry with them but mentally I am very detached from them.

I am told that all these symptoms (and thousands others that I am not writing about) point to one thing. And one thing only. That I do suffer from Quarter-Life Crisis.

And how do I deal with it?
Since there are no medications available that might help someone suffering from QLC, I have to resort to home grown ideas. I am giving away an entire list of remedies that I use.

Get busy. As simple as that. I have been told zillion times that an idle mind is devil’s workshop. Most of my friends are really happy with what they do because they dont really have time to think. They get up, goto work, come back, have dinner and sleep. The entire long day makes them tired and all they can do at the end of the day is sleep.
Write. Writing is tough. And especially when its me. I am not really known for my writing and literary skills and it makes the task all the more frustrating. You try to write so that you might get an avenue to channel your frustration through (because you dont really have any friends and the ones that you have dont have time to hear you whine and the ones who actually listen to you dont really understand the predicament you are in). And once the words dont come out, you are left with a half written text, that you save on your hard drive to never open again and eventually delete after 5 years (assuming that you would not want to read what you wrote five years ago).
Motivate yourself. You take examples from what everyone is doing around you. You start dreaming that you can also live their lives if you tried. You start buying bling shirts and star studded jeans and start frequenting the “happening” places. You initially get laughed at. Once you get used to it, you start thinking that you are just being unlucky the first time (and everyone else boasts about the luck of the first-timers). Then after the vanity of first timing fades out, you realize that people have moved on from clubbing to mundane activities like lounge bars and coffee conversations. Moment you reach there, they move on further. Its always like trying to catch that train whose driver is like a kid trying to take a revenge for all the beating you gave him in school.
Get more secluded. If none of the above work, its best to confine yourself to isolation. For one simple reason. You would not break more walls and retain the damage to yourself. In fact I am planning to do exactly this in next couple of months.

Finally I was asked if I see this as negative or positive energy.
I think energy is more positive than negative (at least for me). Reasons are very simple. Moment I see someone doing better than me, I would want to better him at his own game. I know I am not meant to do all the things in the world but at least I get to know more things. And this is something that moves me like no other thing. I can spend my entire life chasing that new thing and once accomplished, move on to the next one. And next one and the next one.

Secondly I also realize that end of the day I am human. However large things I may do, I will always remain a mere mortal that cant live beyond a certain comfort zone. My creations will always be lesser than all the mountains, oceans, Mother Nature. But again, can I get bigger than her? Can I beat her at her own game? Time shall tell and all of us shall stand witness to the confrontation.

And to end it all, yes I do suffer from QLC and I am still trying to find out a solution for the same. Prashant has a very interesting take on the entire thing. Please see his perspective also.

P.S.: Although I do suffer from QLC, the text above is a piece of fiction written on @gsik‘s request.

Why I like mountains?

Me @ Yanker Pass

On way to Mumbai, in an Air France flight, flying over mountains.

I have often asked myself if I am a mountain person or a water person. To be honest, I like both the things. There is no better feeling than climbing a mountain, reaching the top and anticipation of the world that lies beyond it. On the other hand, a water body is all I can ask for. I love the concept of swimming, boating, water sports and my idea of fun is actually spending a day with water sports.

If it is not required that I put myself into a category but an introspection on this can be a fruitful exercise. Not that it would help me economically, it would help me frame my thoughts better when I talk about this to someone next time.

So, what is about mountains that I like? I think there are multiple reasons. First would be the sense of achievement that you get when you have climbed to the top of the world. Its like an award for a difficult task done well.

Second could be being at a place where so few people have reached. Not a lot of people think like that. Being able to climb makes you one amongst the few special ones.

Third is obviously the view that you get from the top of the world. There are so many things that you can see from there. The entire world transforms into a giant landscape with miniature objects. All objects are disconnected with each other and yet collectively they are part of something larger at the same time. Suddenly you feel so powerful about the fact that you can see everyone and no one being watched can even imagine that they are being watched. Its like being able to control the destinies of people.

Fourth I think is the curiosity. I want to discover the hidden, create the unthinkable and explore the secret worlds. A mountain is like a symbolic barrier that prevents this movement and exploration. I agree that we now have travel options that are easier and more convenient than sleeping in a luxury bedroom, but still the thought that mountain is a barrier and you can overcome is exciting.

Fifth the sheer size of the mountains makes you feel so insignificant. You can climb on for days and you will still remain as far from the summit as far you were when you started.

Sixth the mountains makes you realize that we the humans are very fragile. We live in our comfort zones and take things for granted. Moment there is a hint of adverse situations, like the ones on mountains; we realize how weak we are. How insignificant are the things that we spend our lives chasing.

Seventh the climb itself could be tiring, taxing and fun at the same time. You invariable come across thousands of species of life including a few human tribes that have been battling the mountains and have survived for ages. These are the people who have fought against and won the evolution battle. If evolution was correct, there people would have migrated to plains, in easier living conditions and would have concentrated on creating better generations. But here they are, living in tough conditions, with old tools, without complaining or leaving their homes. There are times when you wonder how did the very first these men and women reach the mountains and why did they decide to settle there. Still further, how easy or difficult would have lives had been when all they would have had is their courage and few very basic handheld tools. What about the times when they got hurt? When they got sick? And what about the fact that we humans are social animals and anyone devoid of any contacts with other human cant really develop in true sense. Would these people even bother about their development? Before I get on another tangent about existence and meaning of life, need to think of another reasons.

Eight I think climbing a mountain teaches you quite a few things – teamwork, decision-making, crisis management, character development, preparation, adjustability, attitude, fear, courage, strength. I can carry on adding words. Bottom line is that everything starts because of one reason – being in an uncertain and unfamiliar environment. And you develop all these skills because you are trying to be in control of situations. Or should I say trying to cope up.

Ok, now one of my colleagues has wakened up and anyways I am out of my wits on this, better take a break.

A picture is worth 1000 words: Success.

Success.

Please click to enlarge.

1V1: Whether vs When

Next in the 1v1 series. Whether vs When.

Today I will talk about Whether and When. Most of the times when you want to take a decision, there is often a debate between whether and when. You argue on things like “Whether you will do or not”, “When will you do it” etc..

I think the use of these words greatly affects the decision.

The WHETHER questions by its very nature brings along uncertainty and with it a possibility of not doing it. You might do it. You might not. You will ask more people about it. You will seek more approval for the idea. And in the end you might or might not do it.

Moment you start asking WHEN question, the whole paradigm changes. You have already made the decision. You are going to do it. If not now, later. But you will do it. And this decision makes all the difference.

What do you think you will choose when making decisions? Whether or When?

Originally posted at Saurabh Garg @ Thoughts

Bomaby Quiz Club

Bombay has this quizzing club that meets every month and conducts quizzes for its members. Since quizzing happens to be a favorite pass-time, I thought I will try and see if it’s any good. And so I went to Bombay Quiz Club’s first quiz on Sunday.

There were some 35 odd people. The youngest was a student at an engineering college and the oldest was (I think) a retired professional. Most of the people seemed to know each other (probably because they have been meeting over a period of year) and few of them were past winners and finalists at various quizzes (Brand Equity Quiz, Adclub Mumbai Quiz etc).

Their format is also pretty cool. It encourages participation and it rules out good quizzers ganging up to take the fun out of quizzing. They randomly divide all participants in 8 teams and get on with the fun. The n00bs get to learn from the 1337s. Its that simple.

I must say that I was humbled and inspired at the same time by the whole experience. I always thought I was an above average quizzer and there I realized that I don’t even exist in the quizzing circles. The quality of questions and participation was really great. I would recommend any quizzing enthusiast to be a part of the club.

And yes, the place was offered by Pinstorm and its amazing how a small gesture like offering a place for quizzing can become a branding and advertising strategy. More on this later on Thoughts @ Work blog.

More Rational thoughts on the reservation policy in India

The last piece I wrote was an emotional outburst. This is more rational argument on reservations. I shall try to figure out the impact of reservations, thoughts on what could have been done and finally is there any hope?

Ok why reservations in the first place?
Reservation was the card played by the VP Singh govt. when they decreed for the first time that India needs reservations to help the lower castes. Some people credit their win at the centre to this card only. Obviously its a thing of past and no one can say what really happened. After-all history is written by people who win the battles.

I am not saying that reservations is a card that is played when you want to elections. You actually want to help the backward classes. You are motivated by general upliftment of the country.

Is it really going to help?
I have my doubts. These doubts are based on following observations.

I don’t have numbers but I am told that at engineering colleges of repute (not the ones that are opened in small homes on outskirts of Bangalore), the candidates admitted from reserved classes don’t pass at all. Most of them flunk in first and second year and stop studying thereon.

Then a lot of seats for reserved categories are filled with people getting less than 10% marks. End of the day education is about quality of students and maturity of interactions between them. If there are 53% people from general categories and average scores of 80, and 47% of people with average scores of 20, what kind of discussions are we talking about?

There seats remain empty because there aren’t enough applications in the first place to grant admission to people belonging to reserved categories. If an institute can intake 100 students and it has to start a course with 80 students only because we could not find enough people to take reserved seats, aren’t we depriving other students of an opportunity to study?

Obviously I don’t have numbers to prove or reject these claims. Can someone help me with this?

To end this chapter (if I may say), honestly I don’t think that reserving more seats is going to help. They should rather try to find out why do people from these classes perform this bad in the first place. Is there a flaw in the primary education system? Is it because they assume that education for them is going to be easy and hence no need to put in effort?

What will be the impact and what could be possible outcomes?
Impacts would be many-fold. For the students that avail this opportunity, students that are now deprived and the country itself.

Reservations means that only the best from the education system get into quality higher institutions. What happens to people who were average? They would have to settle for below average education. And because of this, they would miss the opportunity that could have transformed them from average to exceptional.

This also means that general quality of education will come down. Not because people from reserved categories cant perform or they lack intelligence. But because they are not equipped to face higher education. Mind you a person can be intelligent and ill-equipped at the same time.

Brain-drain might be back. And with a bang. I can already foresee a lot of talented budding doctors, engineers leaving the country in search of a place where their talent is respected. Not their castes.

All the hoopla about FDI and India’s growth story might be in for a rude shock. If I was Microsoft or Google or Suzuki for that matter, I would not want to set shop in India because I know that finding good people would be tough and costly. It would also mean that business environment is unconducive. And once the growth story stops, then its a debate for another day if the country would grow or not.

Is there a way to help backward classes?
Getting a reservation done at under-graduate level does not guarantee that the life standard would improve. This move might create a large work force that is unemployable. And this would bring in more frustration. You are educated and cant find a job. From personal experience, I know for a fact that there is no feeling worse than that.

So what can we do to change things for people who have been oppressed? To start with I think we need to change the way they live. A child learns as much from his parents as from his surroundings. How about taking a cue from Madarsas and Gurukuls and replicate this in mainstream? These are the places where gurus preach and teach kids about virtues of life. Make them aware of the world around them. If we cant provide quality education to these kids at formative stages of their lives, how about making the system unconventional.

I used to work with an NGO called Pratham and they used this concept really beautifully. They would take a community and teach all the underprivileged children there. Mind you – underprivileged, not the reserved category. And they did it very well. That model runs on a self-sustaining model and is awesome. Can share more details if someone is interested in knowing more about it.

What can be done to mark protest against this move?

How about getting talking to all bloggers to write about it? At least the ones with reach like Mutiny, DesiCritics etc.?

Can this be a topic for blogathon? Anyone from their team listening/reading?

Help YFE and other forums with online propaganda and marketing.

Make an online task force and spam news websites with comments, thoughts and opinions. And make these quality comments so that they have to raise it on their prime-times. Knowing Indian media, they would anyways do anything to hike their TRPs.

I am strongly against any kind of mass agitations that stops the normal functioning of the country. I voiced my opinions on the medico strikes, batti bandhs etc. I think I was wrong when I took that stand and I need to change. Now I am neutral to it. Is there a strong case of a mass agitation?

I am simply out of ideas. Can someone please put forth more thoughts so that we can actually do something constructive rather than just debating? Another peril of Indian education system is that we start debates and never finish things. Lets come forward with solutions rather than talking about things.

To end this on a light note, I was thinking about way forward for people who advocate reservation

Just education is no point. We need to reserve places on the buses also. How about roads? Special clubs for reserved categories. Does someone remember ‘Dogs and Indians not allowed’ posters? How about ‘dogs and unreserved not allowed’ posters? Come to think of it, this could be an awesome article.

Now that we have reservations for SC, ST, OBC, how about talking about reservations on the basis of religion? region? height of a person. Imagine – we only accept applications from people who are 5 feet 7 inches and weight 150 KGs.

How about creating small states for every simgle category that you can identify and then ruling over them? Who wants 29 states. Lets split India into 19043 states all with homogeneous people. There could be a state for people who are bald and have Sharma as their surnames. Oops what about ladies then? Will they marry inter-caste, inter-state? Will these be approved?

Please understand that views submitted are personal only and might be flawed. Please help me see the correct picture.

Crossposted

Evolution of The Future

This link talks about Evolution. No, not the things that have already happened but things that might happen in future.

The new report shows that after they reach their peak around the year 3000 humans will begin to regress

These humans will be between 6ft and 7ft tall and they will live up to 120 years.

Men will have symmetrical facial features, deeper voices and bigger penises.

Women will all have glossy hair, smooth hairless skin, large eyes and pert breasts, according to Curry in a report for men’s satellite TV channel Bravo.

Racial differences will be a thing of the past as interbreeding produces a single coffee-coloured skin tone.

Personally I agree to what Oliver Curry has to say. I am actually seeing the trend in that direction. Most people want good looking brides and grooms. Most people look for socially desirable characteristics – good looking, slim, convent educated, homely in brides and MBA, good looking, working in MNC, 7 figure salary in grooms. What about the people who are not from convents and working with start-ups? They would have to get married to girls who are not slim and fair and homely and they would end up having comparatively inferior kids.

No wonder kids of most doctor couples end up becoming doctor as kids. I am not saying that doctors pass on intelligence in the genes but the kid would be more inclined towards medicine since he has some traits of parents (nature) and he would grow up in a house (nurture) full of medicines and medical books and medical equipment. Most of his parents friends would also be doctors and their kids would also be doctors and hence all the more surrounded by doctors.

Things look scary.

Any comments .. ?