Snapdeal is “Scrapdeal”

I am writing a post after almost one year, and guess what prompted me to do so? An frustrating experience with Snapdeal.com site.

I wanted to gift my friend a book from Jeffrey Archer named “Sons Of Fortune”. So I went online to order it. I compared the prices between Flipkart (my trusted site) and Snapdeal. The book was costing me Rs. 365 on Flipkart and Rs. 280 on Snapdeal. I thought I can save some money as anyway both sites will deliver me a new book (and so I went for Snapdeal). Boy!! I was wrong…The book which was supposed to be delivered on 8th came to me on 14th. And here starts the real story. The book no way looks like a “new” book. Its just a crap.

They say picture is worth 1000 words. So I am saving my energy on typing those 1000 words and allowing you to have a look at it.

I tried to call their customer support on 92126 92126. Its say you have dialed a wrong number.

So bottom line is for me it was not “Snapdeal”, It turned out to be a “SCRAPDEAL”

Message from “The Dolphin – Story of a dreamer.

“Follow your dreams. Listen to your heart. Whatever others might tell you , never forget that you only live once and that your dreams, big or small, are the greatest treasures that will guide your life to a unique and wonderful destiny. Don’t let your fears stand in the way of your dreams”

This excerpt is from a amazing and motivational book named “The Dolphin-Story of a dreamer” by Sergio Bambaren.

A short story of a dolphin who sets on the journey to pursue his dreams…

Back after long time!

Its been more than a year that I posted at my blog. And I would have liked to be more regular at writing posts.

Anyway, one can always start again. That is what I am going to do.

There have been many changes in my career goals which I will be sharing soon.

Its a whole new journey I have set into.  I will be sharing some experiences that I have come across along with the learnings from the same.

Talk you you soon…

Good Bye 2010…

I am sure you must be thinking that how come the title “Good Bye 2010” and not “Happy New Year 2011”.

Well there is a reason for this. This year (2010) has been one of the best years of my life for many reasons. So, I thought I should give it a good farewell 🙂

Wishing  you all a Very Happy New Year, 2011. May this year bring lots of Joy & Happiness to You and your families.

A learning from a sad incident

On last saturday I got a call from my mama that his friend expired due to an heart attack. I was shocked by the news. I had known this guy for a long time now.He was around 47 yrs old. He was one of those “always energetic” guy, who always kept smiling and creating a positive energy wherever he went. He had no habits likes smoking/drinking.In fact he was very particular about his health and fitness.  He was a very cool person, with tensions neither in career nor in office life…and still…he was called back by God to his kingdom.

He was not under any treatment (nor was he having diabetes, BP etc.). There is no way to know now whether he faced any signs of pain prior to the attack. Did he ignored it as just a pain? Does nature gives us any signs of such things coming? Many questions are unanswered.

However what this sad incident has taught me is that no matter how fit you are, no matter if you don’t have any diseases like BP,etc..,no matter if your lifestyle is normal or not. What matters is “do you have a clear idea about your body?” and when I mean body, I don’t mean the externals. I am talking about the internals!. I think the best way is to undergo medical checkups after a particular period (may be once in a year). It is (from my view) the best way to know the “Status” of your body.

At least a “Checkup” will tell you the facts about yourself, which if detected early can be cured too.

My friends, many of us are from IT field, and we know that we do face deadline pressures, long hours hectic schedules etc..But please don’t neglect this one thing.

I know you are wise enough to understand that we should exercise regularly, have a healthy diet etc….BUT I AM NOT TELLING YOU THESE THINGS.

What I am trying to tell you is that please always have regular medical checkups! A timely medical checkup could end up saving your life.

May the soul of that guy rest in peace!

Stop Rushing Through Life

First thing that we all must understand is that there is no reason why we should rush through our life.

Just to have an idea, think about how you spent your day today?. Starts with waking up and rushing through shower, breakfast (if possible exercise – which is good actually),getting the kids ready, then driving to office, checking emails, having meetings, doing actual work, driving back home, watching TV, having dinner and then sleep.

Now your day may not be exactly like this, but it should be somewhat inline with this.

Normally we are going (or i will call it “rushing”) through these days and then suddenly we realize that many years have already passed. We think that not long ago I was in school, and now I am having family with kids and making sure that I work hard to provide my family with all the luxuries that I can give them.

Have you ever (and i mean “ever”) thought that you are just moving very fast through your life?. Did you ever took time to relax a bit and analyse how your life has been? If the answer is “No.” (which i think must be in most of the cases), then I sincerely advise you to do so.

You don’t have to do something big. What you need to do is take some time for yourself. Sit quietly somewhere (in a park, in office, or even in your bed room) with no interactions with anyone and no distractions like music/cell phones/TV etc. And just think about your life in that moment.

1. How has my life been through all these years?

2. Am I satisfied with my overall achievements in life? (Family,Financial,Spiritual)

3. Do I spend enough time with my family? (spouse,kids,parents)

4. Am I missing on any passion that I had earlier? (playing football, reading books)

5. Am I in contact with important people/friends in my life?

6. Am I clear on what are my goals in life?

The above is just a sample list that came to my mind right now. But believe me asking yourself these types of questions and sincerely answering them will give you enough (clear) picture of your life. And once the picture is clear, you may decide to take steps in that direction.

However we don’t take any steps, since we are so tightly bound to the wheel of life that we hardly take time to think about such things.

Do it once, and you will understand what I am saying.

Till next time, Good Luck & God Bless you All.

Its All About Loving Your Parents

Recently I received an email from one of my friend. This friend’s friend had lost his father in that week and also his mother had expired 3 yrs back. This guy was naturally very sad. What he said to my friend was “always take care of your parents…I am feeling very upset..Take care of them when they are with you…else you will have to repent once you lose them”

This lead me to a simple question – Are we taking care of our parents?

Now what do you mean by “taking care”? Some might say, yes I do take care of them. I provide all things that they need. I provide them all the luxury they never had. But does this really mean taking care? I think NO.

This is one part of it. Do we really (I mean REALLY) realize what our parents need? Have we ever asked them? At least in this part of world (India), there is a very less chance that we will ask our parents such a question and they will answer – “All we need is that you spend time with us”. We might never ask this, or even if we ask our parents may not say it, however we need to understand that, that’s what they want –Our time.

They don’t need material things. They need their kids (that is we) to talk to them (which I feel we forget to do, since our life had become so demanding and busy), to spend some time with them. However we should not be busy when it comes to our parents. They don’t want us to spend every evening with them. What they expect is an occasional talk with them, may be getting out that old album (when you were a kid) and recalling those beautiful moments in life, may be going for a small trip with whole family.

Just imagine how important it is for us to raise our own kids. We give them the highest priority in our life. We want all the best things to happen to our kids. Now imagine when your kids grow up and start their own life, and suppose they are not able to spend time with you (now they have their own life), how will you feel? This might be the same feeling your parents are feeling now…

So the point is – never take your parents for granted. They need you the most, specially now when they have become old. They don’t need any fancy items, what they need is just simple love from their kids…

Generally we realize importance of something when we lose it. Make sure this doesn’t happen in case of your parents

Success Vs Failure – A New Perspective

Everything has to come under one of these two. Isn’t it?

Consider everything we do in life. We always measure it in terms of Success or Failure

I don’t think I need to say anything about the word “Success”. (They say nothing succeeds like success)

However I have a point to say about “Failure”. I don’t think this word justifies the efforts we would have put in into something that we wanted to achieve. In fact hearing this word gives a feeling of defeat.

So why not have a new approach for looking at such things?

Here is what I consider to be the actual states

1)      Success (with positive result)

2)      Success (with negative result)

3)      Failure

This basically means that it is important to know that you have given your 100% to achieve something. Now just because you could not achieve it doesn’t mean it is a “failure”. Failure is when you don’t even try. Failure is when there is no attempt from your side to succeed. Whereas even not getting the desired goal could be a success. Why? because you made a great attempt at it. You were completely honest to your efforts.

So bottom line is, in life never consider something as “failure” if you have tried and given your 100%. It is definitely a “Success” however with a negative result.

Now you would say what difference it will make (to say “success with negative result” vs. “failure”, since the result is same.) The difference is that “failure” keyword will give a feel of defeat whereas “success with negative result” will keep you moving on…to try till you achieve “success with positive result”

Mind Map – A Useful Tool

Mind Map is a tool that helps us to write (or rather draw) things in the way we “Think” about them.

Mind Map is a diagram that we draw on a piece of paper with some colorful pencils (to make it attractive, since colors create more effect on brain)

The key part here to understand is that our mind thinks in a “radiant “way. And it becomes difficult for us to remember things in this way. Mind map comes to the rescue here.

Mind map is drawn starting with a central image (the core) and then it evolves around this central image.

There are many sites/books where you can start learning how to go about these mind maps. I read “The Mind Map Book” by inventor of modern mind mapping (Tony Buzan). After reading and understanding the Mind Maps try to use it for your daily activities.

It’s fun at first and then slowly you will start realizing the benefits of this wonderful tool.

Mind Mapping can be used for

1)      Brain-Storming sessions

2)      Notes Taking

3)      Problem Solving

4)      Decision Making

5)      Study

6)      Planning

I am using “Xmind” which is a free software that allows to create mind maps.

Here is an example from my friend Somesh, who seems to have made it as an integral part of his daily thinking.

The 90-10 Principle and Me

Sometime back I came across this principle called as the “90-10 principle” by Stephen Covey.

It states that “10% of life is made up of what happens to you. 90% of life is decided by how you react”

Is it as simple as it sounds?

Well I decided to understand this by starting to implement in my daily life. And believe me it worked wonders.

Every time there was a situation where the “old” me would react in a strong manner, I said to myself “90% is dependent on my reaction” and then my reaction automatically changed. Things went to happen much more positive after that.

So why are we becoming so aggressive in reacting these days. May be, because of stress, work pressures, trying to catch up with the fast paced life. But hey! We need to tackle these.

A simple example: A vehicle in front of me is not moving even though the signal has turned green. I get irritated and start to blow the horn. What happens actually – I am restless, I am more stressed. Because I immediately decided to react in that way….Can I turn this reaction around. Can I think that the reason the person in front of me is not moving could be because he has turned off the engine and needs to start it? Or could be that an old man is driving the car and he needs more time (reflex) to get started. These thoughts will only come to mind if you decide to follow this principle

Believe me this principle is just wonderful. You will understand it if you start implementing it in your daily life.

And how do you implement it? Well it’s simple –

Every time you are about to react strongly (losing your patience), think in mind “90% is dependent on my reaction” (It will take you 5 seconds to say this in mind, and the effect might put you in a winning situation)