July 26, 2023: Everyone wants equality till equality comes along

In this marvellous era of scrolling through Insta reels and not getting bored doing so, we’ve actually achieved what we had been trying for so long: Persistence! Maybe not in a way we would have liked to, but it’s an achievement nonetheless. I can keeping scrolling through content for hours and still be glued miserably to my mobile. Wish, I could have been glued to a routine like reading, hustling, or working out.

Anyways, I was going through his reel where Ted Cruz bulldozed a woke champion by asking a simple question “Is there a difference between a woman and a man”. She kept trying to dodge it, until there came another question shooting like an arrow “Why do women’s sports exist? If you can’t tell the difference between women and men, just tell little girls to go swim with little boys and see who wins”.

That simplicity hits hard. The ones who champion the cause of equality are often the ones pulling the trigger on it. If you really want equality, stop comparing two different kinds. If you want to do away with racism, stop speaking about black and white. If you really want prosperity, stop with the reservations. Make it an equal playing field without giving the lead to someone you consider being behind. Harmony can truly exist when we stop hunting about who needs upliftment.

Coming back to this woke champion, in order to be so liberally inclusive, she is one of those who has put females in a spot where they can’t complain and can’t win – as they have to be inclusive, liberal, feminist all at once… and whatever little progress women did really make all these years trying to fudge out misogyny will be back again because wokism is really stupid! Well, you kept asking for equality because you never considered yourself as the greater sex. Go teach equality to a lion in the savannah and crocs in the waters. You can’t handle natural selection, and you can’t handle your own definitions of equality. Go figure!

May 8, 2023: Adult Freedom – A double edged sword

Yesterday, it was the last day for my wife in Noida as she travelled to Bangalore to start her new corporate innings. I have all, but 20 days before I join her and I have the entire apartment to myself here. Till a day before I was waiting for this day to come so I could wake up when I wanted to, litter the entire place with none to question and have my besties over to a full night party. Strangely enough, I starter missing my better half – woke up early, had a super early bath (yeah.. I know), and even made myself an omelette for breakfast with black coffee and a 2 time full grain meal. Catch is I hated doing these things when I was told to. Or it might be I just hate to be told around what to do. Nevertheless, it is good that at least I am still in control and can take care of myself. But liking and completing things I don’t want to? Something’s different – maybe I am getting older than I would like to believe. Mid-Life Crisis?

May 5, 2023: Make sense to a 6 year old

Moving between cities has always been a pain in the derriere for me. It’s Friday evening, and I am thinking of all stuffs I need to take care of so I can transition this smoothly. To top it all, I have an upcoming client presentations of prime strategic importance in just about 4 weeks. Sounds really easy, but trust me it’s not. My wife has to move to Bangalore on Sunday, find a house, text the address, and I have to initiate the shifting before I can leave Noida – all this in a span of 2 weeks. Then I have to fly to Bangalore, set up my home, wait for my logistics partner, set up the house and be ready just in time for the client presentation which HAS TO GO GOOD! While telling all of this to my little niece who isn’t very happy I would be going far away, she has this to say “Why don’t you plan and prepare your activities well in advance? It will only be difficult if you just keep worrying about it with no actions”

Wow!! Not so little after all, right? On thinking about it, I have the project plan, no what’s expected – all I have to do is to just beat my deadlines – and that’s way less painful than to worry about all those things going on in my head. This struck me hard – we have complicated our existence to way more than what it ought to be…. and I was a proponent of hopeless optimism at one point. Where has that person gone?

Thought for the day: The most complicated problems in life, often have the most simple solutions.

This reminded me of my boss in previous organization who used to say … if you cannot explain your ppt to a 6 year old – it’s not good enough. Adios! See ya tomorrow.

May 4, 2023: The little joys of the busy life

Yes, I know – I am late. Not because I intended to give today a miss, but I had to complete my 10,000 steps of the day and it’s never easy when you’re far away in India trying to collaborate with your US counterparts. I am still on track… technically it might be May 5th (Oh Shit! It’s Anusmita’s birthday and I just remembered it.. cringe… hope she doesn’t read it) but “May the 4th be with you!” –> Even cringier, if that’s a word.

Anyhoo, wanted to share that I rediscovered how our brain makes anything possible at all by just believing in it. This realization came after a long time when I was taking a siesta this afternoon (hope my boss isn’t reading as well) and saw a really scary dream. Not the one to be easily scared but some random shit was happening which was racing my heartbeat as if I didn’t have to miss cardio. Almost every hormone within us can be easily stimulated by thinking about stuff. Try convincing that to the woke dum(b)heads infesting the world today – makes me think how did the director ever came up with the movie called “Idiocracy” – go watch it if you haven’t already.

Coming back to the topic, our brain is a strong all purpose tool even capable of eliminating diseases. Today, I believe ordeals like anxiety, depression, stress, phobias have the same end points where the begin – in the brain. It is essential, we keep giving brain it’s daily dose of oxygen by at least trying to find the little things that can give us joy, happiness, and relive us from this daily stressful routine. This is where I would segue this to an experience my colleague posted on LinkedIn where he wanted to teach his son some valuable life lessons in a fun way. He found a way most of us would find cumbersome, and with his brilliant project management skills, he made it look like little joys can be found pretty easily in life — just keep the brain healthy. Here it is:

How to save the planet (or just have fun with your son)

We replaced our old fence 2 weeks ago. Instead of throwing away all of the old wood I decided to use some for a project with my son. My advice for the best results are:

1) Be Creative and Original. Don’t use Instagram. I used InstaSteve. Try using Insta(Insert Your Name Here). The results may surprise you.

2) Delegate & Share. Draw out what you envision, but have your son do all the math and measuring. It is always good for them to see practical uses for things, like calculating square feet. Real projects are more fun than the school examples.

3) Contribute Based on Interest & Ability. Do the heavy lifting yourself, like cutting the wood. Let him use the power tools to do all the assembly. Using a hand saw to cut 30 pieces of wood is boring, but inserting 50 screws with a power drill is surprisingly fun!

4) Collaborate and Learn. Ask for their ideas on how to best assemble everything. It can be harder than you think. Make them be creative with the order and discuss pros and cons. Agree with their decisions so they can see the results of their planning – even if you know it is wrong.

5) Always Encourage. Have fun. Say “Thank You”. Compliment their contributions.

6) Don’t Take Credit. Finish by saying “Look what YOU made”.

Bonus Tip: all of these can be applied to your work as well as your home, and daughters as well as sons.

censoring the faces, as I have not taken his permission to post this on my blog. But hope you liked it. See ya tomorrow!

May 3, 2023: Persistence in a loop

It’s been crazy 5 years since I last visited this site. But I guess, we all return to roots when we sought a big change. This change, this time, is more about building a habit and sticking with it. You may say, it is a practice I ought to incorporate to get the discipline I have been longing for all this time. But why now? Till now, I have championed the cases of those high enthusiastic individuals who burn out way too fast after starting with a big bang. I intend to seek longevity because the big bang ain’t working for me anymore.

Just about 9 months back I was in the best shape of my life and I thought I had mastered the art of persistence. Here is what I looked back in August 2022:

Not saying this was the most impressive physique I built over the years, but at 35 years of age I was able to bring my weight from 85 kgs to 77 kgs with no major changes in diet plans – but by just being cautious of what I eat, when I eat, and how much do I work out. Within, a matter of just 4 months, my Body fat percentage dropped from 28% to 18%, and my VO2 max levels increased 2.5 points. I was strong, agile, energetic, and most importantly…. happy! For all my intentions, I wished to continue whatever I was doing till I touched the magic figures of 12% body fat at 70kgs.

Fast forward to May 2023 – I am at 83 kgs and I don’t even want to check the body fat percentage, let alone share a picture. But what happened in these 9 months? Life.. which by the way happens to every one of us. (Is there a rolling eyes emoji that I can use, dear wordpress??) In October 2022, when I was deadlifing (read egolifting), I heard a pop in my lower back – it was a nerve or a muscle I thought I pulled. I came to know it is Sciatica, and the MRIs show I have Spondilolithesis (a name which I can pronounce easily now) compressing the S1 nerve while protruding between L4-L5. For people who don’t know, it causes annoying, radiating pain through the backside of your leg while forward bending. Doctors can’t say how and when it can be treated, and these 3 months have taught me they actually know very little about treating of Sciatica or lower back in general – worst are the ones who straight away advice surgery.

I am starting to believe there is nobody which will be able to treat me other than myself. I have a plan and I have to stick to it. Needless to say I miss working out, but to be back at the gym lifting weights again – I need to sort this out. I fully intend to be the best version of my self, again. I am pretty good at falling off the wagon and getting back up again, and again, and again…. For starters, I just need to keep walking 10,000 steps a day till my weight drops and my core regains strength for some basic movements. Sitting in front of a laptop, consulting clients, and working 14 hours a day doesn’t really help – but I’ll try… one step at a time. And while, Suryakumar Yadav might have brought a glorious victory to Mumbai Indians as I write this – I have to stop giving a shit. The below pictures is what I found on a LinkedIn post today and here’s what they have to say. Now, I gotta go and complete my 10,000 steps for the day before the clock hits midnight.

By the way, where it says writing journal is a good habit, is where I thought is is a good idea to begin with. Gotta go now. See you tomorrow!