Communicating IT's Importance

“You do realize that you are getting out of the field of technology” my friend warned me while calling out to the waiter inadvertently concluding my farewell party. “Yes, I know.” “And you know that it is technology that has penetrated everywhere and will keep penetrating until humans are replaced with machines everywhere.” “Yeah, I am pretty much aware of the flow.” “So you are keen to get out of the most promising field to enter into something like ‘Communications Skills’? Don’t you think that technology someday will replace the need for communication skills?” Sensing the sarcasm in his tone I decided to take the baton in my hand.

“Didn’t you just wave to the waiter before we started on this topic?”

“Yes”

“Isn’t that a form of communication, requesting him to come here?”

“Hmmm”

“Then you will hand over your credit card to him that would communicate that it’s not me but some bank which is going to pay you.”

“Yes”

“Then as the waiter swipes your card, he is communicating to the bank about your expense at his restaurant. Later the bank communicates him back assuring your validity.”

“Yes, but what’s the point?”

“The point is, that every single transaction that we do in this universe is nothing but some or the other form of communication. Our world is filled with the need to communicate.”

“How is it relevant in my world?”

“Programmers learn JAVA – which is essentially a language to communicate to the machine. This program later sends XML to some other application sitting is some other country which is another form of communication. Every single click that we make over the internet is a form of communication to the World Wide Web. When we handover a cheque to the bank, we are communicating that some person owes me money from you. When the movie hall counter gives us ticket, it is a form of communication for the ticket collector to permit our entry in the hall. The teacher signing a report card communicates a student’s performance to his/her parents. When we pray, we communicate to the divine. We communicate in words, in gestures, in every single transaction and we communicate in our silence. Our world is crammed with communication my friend. How can the need to improve in communication ever run out?”

“I see your point.”

“I am pretty sure that our world will have increased dependency over technology. But the sole purpose for that to build, is some or the other form of communication.”

The waiter arrived with the credit card slip that my friend signed on.

“Now here you are communicating to the bank, that ‘this is my expense and I will pay you’”

“Oh shut up now, now get over it!”

posted from Bloggeroid

My Major Take Away From Ashtavakra Gita

Disclaimer1: This blog is meant only for those who have completed Ashtavakra Gita. For those who haven’t, please go through the discourse of H.H. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar on Ashtavakra Gita before reading this blog.

Disclaimer2: Ashtavakra Gita is not Bhagwat Gita.

“Music is harmony in sound” – Sri Sri Ravi Shankar.

When there is no harmony in sound, it simply becomes noise. It is the tune that brings this harmony in sound. The way the sound goes high pitch or low pitch, you can virtually draw a graph in air as your favorite song beats the speaker. This graph basically comes from the fact that the song is jumping up and down over few notes. In Indian classical singing, these notes are Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni Sa. So you take any Indian song, it is basically permutation combination of these 7 notes or Sapta Suur as we call them. The other day after we completed one of the pieces of Ashtavakra Gita, this aspect just struck me very hard. Whether we like a particular song or not, whether the song is comedy, tragedy, romantic, blues, classic or whatever genre it may belong to, it is finally a composition of Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni Sa. At the root, it is nothing but Sapta Suur. 

When I tweeted this piece of realization, Ajay replied, "Nimish, knowledge oozing out?"

For those who couldn't relate well to the above example, here is another realization that dawned on me few days ago.

Remember the birthday song we sing, "Sagar me ek leher oothi tere naam ki"

Let us take a dive in this Sagar. Nice blissful ocean with amazing flora and fauna right within. The flora and fauna in an ocean differs from the flora and fauna in the river. Reason being, the water differs from the ocean to river. We generate tons and tons of salt every day from the great ocean and yet it generously produces salt again and again for our sake.This level of salt differs from ocean to ocean. The salinity in the Bay of Bengal is lower as compared to that of the Arabian Sea. So if you take a bowl of Arabian Sea water in one hand and a bowl of Bay of Bengal water in another hand, you'd agree that the waters are different. What would happen if both of them go through distillation plant? Now try to compare both the bowls, its no rocket science that the distilled water is just the same. So what differs the Arabian Sea water from the Bay of Bengal water is the salt and mineral content or anything which is not water. Let us call this "anything which is not water" as impurities. So if we are able to remove the impurities from both the sea waters, there is no difference in any of these oceans.

I can see few nodding their heads and few smiles by now, as this is something they can relate to.

Now think, why is it necessary to do Sudarshan Kriya daily and advance courses regularly? What sort of distillation we go through when the master says, get back to your source? Why do we feel blissful and pure after every advance course? And what is that purity?

It is the impurities that create distinctions. So imagine, tomorrow a bucket of water from Bay of Bengal flies to the Arctic Ocean and says, "The water there is very hard in nature. It is very stubborn." A bucket of water from Hawaii flies to the coastline of Mumbai and says, "The water there is brown in colour." In all these comments, is it really the water that's being judged? No, water is always H2O. Poor water gets the attributes of its impurities.

"Love is not just an emotion, it is your very nature. Just like this table is made up of wood, our body is made up of flesh, we are made up of a substance called love." - H. H. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

A Moment Before the Send Button …

She paused when she read he is typing,

Words found way on the other end of chat window,

Hear beats raced on both the sides,

But then he hit the backspace key and let the fire mellow.

_______________________________________________

“Let’s meet up buddy for our old time’s sake

Forgetting our recent past.”

A cancel button later that stamped on this initiative,

And the sms lay unnoticed in the inbox draft.

_______________________________________________

“It has been long since we have talked

And I thought an email would be a good start”

A pause after this beginning and he hit the backspace key,

And his dad missed the chance to write his part.

_______________________________________________

He reached his idol’s twitter handle,

To convey his gratitude, poured out his feelings.

Closed the window since the message was too clichéd.

Seldom reached the words that were genuine, that were healing.

_______________________________________________

Dwelling in inhibitions, living on assumptions,

Think ‘grapes are sour’ and join the fleet.

Let’s take our chance to express ourselves,

So that fate declares the status as ‘Connection Complete’.