My Ice-Breaker

When I was young life for me was eat, play and merry; Mr. Toastmaster, fellow Toastmasters and guests; born 47 years ago in downtown Mumbai, I was a happy go lucky guy. However, this lackadaisical attitude proved fatal when I was in VJTI,Mumbai’s premier engineering institution; and I had to give up engineering in 2nd semester only.

I took up Arts and did B. A. In Economics first and then in Psychology; Ten years later I did M.A. in Sociology and Masters in Investment Management followed by M.Phil in Futurology & Environment Management.

In the meantime I worked in Air-India for a brief period and then 5 years in State Bank before I joined Customs as Preventive Officer.

My job in Customs involves meeting a lot of people from all walks of life. But I would always cherish the memories of my selection as a part of Indian delegate for studying Container Scanners in USA & UK. This pilot project of Ministry Of Finance, directly monitored by PMO was a pleasurable experience working along with the US & UK team. The pilot project was successful one and is frequently visited by foreign delegates. This project gave me something intangible: direct contacts with many other Govt. & non-govt. authorities bypassing usual protocol.

Exactly 22 years and a day ago Sandhya, a college lecturer, became my better half. Our marriage probably might have killed her plans to do Ph.D; but this merger & acquisition gave us two concrete products, Pranav and Anupa. Son Pranav is 20 and a final year engineering student in Pune. Anupa is in Std.8th and enjoys painting.My extended family includes my four younger brothers.

Even though I switched over from engineering to arts & finance, my tryst with technology continued in the form of getting associated with by=products now as hobby. Ham Radio, Computers, High-end Audio became my objects of indulgence.

I am a qualified radio amateur operator, popularly known as Ham. Hams have been pursuing their hobby of speaking over a wireless set, even before the advent of the Internet. They also help in emergencies like disasters, earthquakes by providing communication support when normal channels of communication are down.

I like reading non-fiction & general interest books. In music Barbara Streisand & Harry Belafonte are my favourite singers.

This techno buff and gadget freak later on was intrigued by impact of technology on society; with fast changing technologies and ever pouring new gadgets I gave up my fascination for gadgets. I got fascinated by society, its study and took to social research when I realised that I was more interested in ‘human’ aspect of technology than technology itself. Trend watching & networking- social and real F2F (not exactly business) through various forums, groups, organisations, and social media became my new obsession.

Life starts at 40 as they say. It is the time when you start to find the purpose of life. Friends, I believe that by early or mid forties one should take up to societal causes. I can’t forget that my mother was a social worker and rose to become a vice-chairperson of Uran Municipal Corporation in Raigad district. I think the same ‘genes’ in me do not allow me to remain socially inactive either!

In the future I look forward to travelling all over the world ,meeting people from diverse culture, supporting social & ecological, environmental causes, starting various help / support groups e.g. for cancer/diabetes, entering media and above all becoming a catalyst in making India a great nation.

Friends, orality is the base of all human experience; we evolved with speech and not writing. It’s an ancient instinct to communicate and there lies my fascination for real Face to Face communication.

That's how I am here, amongst the toastmasters and I am sure that in your company I will be able to hone my skills in becoming a better speaker & effective leader.

who am I? v.2

In a solitude I question myself, "Why can't I stick to one subject or profession?"

As I said earlier, not a single activity alone I could feel at ease with. I have always experienced void when I have acquired knowledge of a particular subject....I am like that....some authors have labelled person like me as a Scanner, a person with interest in many things...many people have such interest,but Scanner is different in sense that he would like to taste the subject,so he go on acquiring knowledge or he wants to know more about that thing.

However, his interest seems to be limited to knowing that thing and most often once that quest is satisfied, he seems to be no more interested in that subject...and he is back to square one....So what is the next?...that is his quest!

Life is like that....no single thing alone can interest you. I want to experience many things....play many roles, put on many hats. People ask me where this life will lead me to....

I have to pause for a while ...first to listen to you and understand the question...what you wish to know...

It could lead me to public life dealing with society...may be getting associated with an NGO or something similar or getting in to politics....

...or it could lead me on the path of some spiritual duty...

who am I ?

I have studied Economics,Psychology as my undergraduate majors; studied Sociology,Investment Management as my graduate majors; pondered with subjets like Futurology & Environmnet Management for my Post-Graduate study.

However, my heart could not be touched by one of these subjects alone; I have felt that all are part of me and to be practicising one of this subject alone could be feeling of incompleteness. And it is trrue that branding one as an Economist,Psychologist,Sociologist is a frail attept to put him in a narrow confinement , like in a pigeon-hole.

I must admit that for my day to day living I may be playing a part here and there as an investment analyst or investor,when you are evaluating a company or a mutual fund;psychologist and/or Sociologist when you are watching somebody and trying to analyse somebody's behaviour. However, life is not so compartment-tight.

Instead I see myself as a man or human being first and I would not like to categorise myself in any stereo-types. Call me a generalist or better call me a comoner. I am what I am ...sucking honey from beautiful flowers...experiencing many things from life and enjoying good things amongst them.

I am a mortal man having many desires and one of them is to transcend all the desires.

Gmail - Fwd: Software Engineers ..... this is how ....

Gmail - Fwd: Software Engineers ..... this is how ....

The Good Ad,Bad Ad

The Good AD

This is a ad of Toyota, probably!
 
We  see a beautiful, leggy girl bending down beneath a bonnet of a car in a sugarcane field....probably her car is broken....we also see it is a TOYOTA car.
 
You see another car approaching her and seeing that she needs a help the car has slowed down...the car has two occupants a middle aged one (father) driving the car and a younger one (son) sitting next to him...as he was nearing the troubled car, suddenly the car accelerates and sped away crossing the troubled car...the son asks the father, "but why"...father answers," It's a trap! Have you seen a broken down TOYOTA?"...
 
...as the car passes down the troubled car the beautiful lady takes out the mask and we see an ugly looking scoundrel looking at the passing car...
 
I liked this ad as it talks great about a dependable car…that is hard to be found broken…a confidence that people have in the Toyota car....
 
The Bad Ad
As a bad ad I would like to take example of an ad having a  social message that is being broadcast on Big 92.7 FM radio station (Mumbai channel)…. It is called Garv Mumbaise
The message goes like this:
Mumbai, mahanagari…sitaronki nagari…apani nagari…mumbai kiski…apani…
Ravi Shastri kiska ?...Apana….Sachin Tendulkar kiska ? …Apana….aur voh tumhara Amitabh ?….tees saal se apana…..
Have you noticed the words, “Voh tumhara”?....Probably you may also be guessing same as me …..you notice that   when you hear the ad the word “tumhara”…”your” creates distance, difference and denotes not belonging to the same group
How can a bad ad be made a good ad
The message is meant to diffuse a communal, sectarian feelings …Maharashtrians,North Indians etc….that are generated by politicians and largely being spread in this  city by media….. the intent is good….
however, ...well the words has always pinched me…I wrote to  the station…many might have written…they dropped that word “tumhara”…
But still “aur voh Amitabh”…..I believe even the word  ‘voh’ shows some degree of difference/dissimilarity  and if that word “voh” is removed the ad message can be effective one……