Monday, January 10, 2005

Nothing corrupts like power.....
With great power comes great responsibility ... its a blessing its a curse ....

Two very cliched statements and yet two of the most relevent statements in today's world vis a vis leadership.

I was just thinking about what is leadership and these were the first two thoughts that came to my mind.

In the early days (pre engineering) leadership to me was all about power. The power to hold sway on the proceedings and to be incharge. To impose my views on the formulation of any action in an absolute manner without any discussion. Now my views on leadership are much more muddled than before. Is leadership only about power or are there greater depths that i have not as yet explored. I see lots of leaders around me and the only thing that seems to satisfy them is the power that they hold by virtue of leadership and that is what made me think.....
One important conclusion that i have drawn is leadership has to be taken with a tacit understanding that i am willing to take on the responsibility that comes with it and not just cling on to the power that is part and parcel of it. If i am a leader then i am responsible for the use of my power for the common good and not for just my egotic self appeasement. I guess i am just stating the obvious once again ...but i need to remind myself continuously that i should believe in the fundamental tenets of good leadership that i have inferred from past experiences and this is one of them.

Thoughts on leadership raise lots of issues and questions that could be the topic of many blog entries .... but before anything else i have found an old piece of paper that has as its contents two of the most influential sermons i have heard in my life..... sometime next week i am going to put them down here with my own perspectives on them.

Sleep and a feeling of guilt that precious study ;) time is wasted on this exercise are the only constraints on my flow of thought ................

Friday, January 07, 2005

it works

My previous post was reactionary.....

I reacted to something i felt very strongly about .....

and it yielded results ..... Anish M John 's Letter was published on Jan 5 2005

my reply was published in deccanherald on Jan 6th 2005....

This publish has made me realize that one does not have to compromise on something that he feels very strongly about. If you are partially right and your voice could make a difference and you dont raise it ... u are committing a crime. Being reactive in life is as important i am realizing as being proactive .... but then a true commentry on proactivity and reactivity would require a peaceful night to ponder upon.

Sleep and studies beckon me.

Thursday, January 06, 2005

disgusted

A letter to the editor in DH on Jan 5th 2005 regarding relief work and the tsunami :

IngratitudeSir, Indeed, it was very sad to come across the reality that whilst trying to start life from scrap, those affected by the tsunami have shown no qualms in making demands, thus hurting the sentiments of those who had spent time collecting used clothes and helping others get them distributed. The news reports that surfaced in many newspapers, about people demanding new clothes and not accepting the used ones, were very saddening. When so many have lost their lives, the demands being made by those who have been spared, who are not grateful for the magnanimity being shown by their fellow beings, would make many think twice, in the future, about being Good Samaritans.ANISH M JOHN, Kerala

and my reply :

Sir,
The recent tsunami that hit South Asia has left many homeless and penniless. It is heartening to note that many in our country have ome forward to donate voluntarily for the rehabilitation of the affected. However i was disgusted after reading the letter sent in by Mr. Anish M John (Jan 9th) regarding the ingratitude of the victims.
An old clothes collection drive was undertaken in my locality and the organisers were rueing the fact that the quality of the clothes recieved was pathetic. The victims are human beings who have lived dignified lives, they were not beggars. Is the action of distributing worn out old clothes to dignified people who have lost everything in an undignified manner justified ?
Here I would like to mention the good work done by a mechant and shown on a prominent news chanel. Instead of blindly donating clothes and money in aid of the victims a certain merchant visited the affected areas and found out the real needs of the people. He returned to distribute a truckload of steel utensils. His actions were truly appreciated. True charity is that which is done without any expectation of gratitude.Does Mr. Anish expect the penniless victims of the tsunami to be grateful for the clothes that they dont need ?

Monday, January 03, 2005

GOD upto now ...

I have several questions about my beliefs in what i think is right. Primary among these things is my belief in the rightness of GOD and the morals that he brings about. What is morally right and is what is morally right good or bad ? Are the answers to these questions circumstantial or absolute ? Is there God and if there is GOD what is the meaning of GOD?

Today i want to post some of my earlier thoughts on GOD and the evolution of GOD as a real entity in my life in the early years.


As it is with every other kid I first learnt about GOD through my Parents and Grandparents ... who used to use the term 'Jezu' (konkani Jesus) to refer to the person who was the ultimate creator and judge. For many years i believed that GOD was the reason why man was good. It is because he feared GOD and his parents (who thought him about GOD and what is right and wrong in GOD's sight) that he chose to do right (whatever right was).


Somewhere towards the end of my high school I changed my views based on happenings at that time. To me GOD became the ultimate tool that man fell back on. He (yes to me GOD was male) was the person to whom all fortune and (more often) misfortune could be alluded to. He was a real being having no real existence but a place reserved in every mind (including the agnostic mind). The more predominant view is that of the ultimate person on whom man banked upon in the most hopeless and desperate of all situations. It seems to me that i had come to the dooctrine of "First Cause" indirectly with my line of thought.



That view of God stayed on till recently. One of the first belief of mine that i questioned is that of my belif in GOD(a belief i still hold very firmly as RIGHT) and the church(which has significantly diminished since). I am still reading and pondering on the knowledge that i am assimilating about GOD both from the believing camps of all religions and the camp of men and women who are truly agnostic i.e those who know what GOD is supposed to be and yet do not agree with the concept of GOD.


My quest continues and i will keep adding to this journal of mine thoughts and revelations that i find necessarily important in my final formulation of the role of GOD and the church in my life.
... Sleep takes its toll again...........

Blog Journal ?

This blog is mine. This blog is primarily for me. I think it is like an open journal. It is supposed to be my private journal but i write it online - a place where privacy loses its dictionary meaning.
Then why do i write at a place like this is one of the questions i am bound to ask myself sometime in the future. Why maintain a personal journal in a public domain. I think at this point of time i do have an answer.

I am not big and famous enough to fear the fact that my journal will be read by others. I might tell a few of my friends of this but i honestly dont think that they really will check this place out and read all the stuff that i put up ... that is if they really visit this place. The loss of privacy is something that the famous and infamous have to fear .... not insignificant mortals like me. And if someone does read this they would probably find nothing out of the ordinary.
It has been more than three years since i have done some serious thinking about life and what it holds for me. A statement made by my father changed that. "Right is relative" ..just three words thought me a big lesson.

It made me question my life and whether all i have done upto now is right in the absolute sense.The profound depth of my father's statement struck me.
In the future suppose i lose my way i want to read this and remind myself what it is that i had envisioned for myself I need a place of permenant storage that does not require a password (cause passwords are always forgotten) to store my thoughts.


Late night typing is taking its toll on this entry but I hope it is sufficient enough to convince me in the future that this blog is for me and started with a selfish purpose.