Fear!

When Mr Sampath said that fear is society-induced phenomenon, it got me thinking. Was it society that induced fear in our soldiers as they fought in Kargil? Was it society that makes us afraid of standing in front of train tracks? Of course not. But that fear, is not truly fear. It is instinct, and more appropriately, the desire to survive. The desire to live.

That instinct is something found in all animals as well, and is a result of evolution. All animals have a healthy desire to live. From the moment they are born, they will live out their lives with minimum risk, always ensuring that there is as little danger involved. But sometimes the rewards outweigh the risk. A single lion, if hungry enough, may attack a large African buffalo, an animal twice as heavy and much bigger than itself. But that is only in times of desperation and even then, at the first sight of life threatening injuries, the lion will run away. But it will live to see another day.

There are several reports of how babies instinctively know that they have to hold their breath when immersed in water. They are also known to have a crawling reflex. This is substantial proof of how we are born with the same instincts to survive as animals. They are however dulled as we grow up. But society makes up for that by filling us with a hundred new and varied fears, that usually haunts us throughout our lives.

The fear of heights, fear of darkness, fear of failure, fear of public speaking and fear of death are reportedly the most popular phobias.

Fear of heights, some say is natural, because you are afraid of falling to your death and having that fear only aids your survival. However fearing the dark or even public speaking are definitely something artificially injected into the people's minds. I'm convinced that, in trying to ensure that babies don't burn their hands over a flame, or suffer an electric shock, parents pass on their fears into the next generation. So, along with every other characteristic we inherit from our parents (genetically), we also inherit their habits and more importantly, their fears.

Aphobia is described to be that state, when  a mother is not afraid to do anything to save her child. Or when a mother elephant will take on an entire pride of lions to save the baby.

This is definitive proof that we have the capacity to face our fears and overcome difficulties. What it needs though is some dedication and will power. Just like everything in life, we have the potential. Recognizing that potential, and using it to our advantage is the important thing, is Mr Sampath's opinion.  

small things make the BIG DIFFERENCE

It truly takes a celestial event of cosmic proportions to make us realize how small we really are. Every single interaction and emotion of our lives is dwarfed by the scale with which the Universe is used to dealing with. But that does not mean that we are unimportant, however little we may be, and our lives do play a huge rule in shaping the world(s) around us.

There is much to be said about small things. Large items - of high value - often come in small packages. It is the small things that are finally deemed important. We however try to deal with the BIG Difference that small things bring about.

The afore mentioned celestial event that was in the author's mind, was the recent Venus transit of the Sun. Venus - a planet nearly the size of the Earth - traces a path across the face of the sun, like an insect might on your windshield. A highly anticipated event, though visible from most of India, was something Bangaloreans could not witness because of the cover of clouds in the sky. The monsoon was at fault - the Late Monsoon. 

A delayed monsoon, resulting in untold misery to farmers, can be caused by minor variations in the weather. Which in turn are caused by minor variations in the atmosphere. Which again is an effect of our interactions with the atmosphere. Whether you believe in Global Warming or not, it is a bad idea to leave that incandescent bulb on all night. And if you did, the author blames YOU for Bangalore missing out on the last Venus transit of this century.

It is indeed very easy to construct such chains of events linked by causality, and more importantly on the small things that brought about such events. There is even a Science based on studying the effect of such tiny events - called Chaos Theory.

As appealing as the name is, it basically deals with chaos systems, which are systems (fancy scientific term for environment) where long term predictions are impossible. In a normal system, if you started with pushing your car, and continued pushing it, a scientist would be able to predict where the car was. However in a Chaos system, for example the Weather, it is not possible to predict and forecast it over a long period of time. In both the cases, there was a dependency on initial conditions (In the car pushing example - the road quality, the velocity of the car being pushed. Weather had initial conditions like temperature, humidity). However a slight change in these initial conditions bringing about a HUGE difference, and the sensitivity of these initial dependencies is the Butterfly Effect.

The Butterfly Effect phrase derives from the idea that tiny changes in the atmosphere due to the beat of a butterfly's wings, might bring about a great alteration in the path of a tornado thousands of miles away. Might accelerate it, even delay it, or entirely prevent it. The flapping of wings brings out a small change in the initial conditions of the atmosphere which over a long enough period, might make the weather diverge from what it originally would have done. The tornado that might have devastated Indonesia might never take place, or it might rain destruction on the coast next to the Bay of Bengal.

It sounds more like Science Fiction, where a tiny butterfly somewhere might affect the World in such a detrimental way. But it does teach us some things that we can apply closer to home.

The butterfly does not create the tornado, just affects it certain details and possibly the outcome. And it can have both a positive, and a negative effect. These are two important things that we need to keep in mind.

Consider a scenario were a person leaves the Server room door open, causing the Network Server to overheat and fail because the AC couldn't function. He will be fondly remembered by the college students who have their Computer Lab cancelled. But the same thing happening at a company can leave hundreds of stranded employees and customers.

A kidney stone of a 4 mm size can cause pain rivalling that of childbirth. A 0.00001% change in your genes can leave you immune to HIV. An exaggeration of 0.00001% (like the one by the author) can leave a stockbroker losing millions. Or he may be lucky, with that one small hunch he decided to act on and end up with billions (which unfortunately happens only in movies and Monopoly).

Just as the butterfly did not cause the tornado, success does not come without initial effort. You cannot build an entire political system, by just deciding who will be President. You need to lay groundwork, and place a strong foundation. And at each step, pay special attention to miniscule details, which leads to rich dividends.

The simplest way to look at these is to represent the two aspects with two small mundane, yet very essential objects. Linchpins and Keystones.

Linchpin

       

Keystone having a Lion's Head in an arch in Milan

                                                                  

Linchpins are fasteners used to prevent the wheel from sliding of the axle. They have come to be used metaphorically as something small that hold the various complicated components of a structure together. Mostly taken in a negative light, a failure of the linchpin can cause your wheel to come off the axle, and most definitely an accident. An economic linchpin can cause the collapse of an entire nation.

A Keystone on the other hand is a wedge-shaped stone piece placed at the apex of an vault or arch. It is the last stone to be placed, locking all other stones in place. Such a miniscule object allowing the arch to bear the entire weight. This is something we look at as a positive effect.

Both the Linchpin and the Keystone are relatively useless by their own rights, but nothing could be more important for the entire system to function, as a whole.

In a chaotic system, that of a company or an economy, it is necessary to identify both the Linchpins and the Keystones. Because in the end, it is these things that decide the outcome. Small things that make The Big Difference. But even if we forget all the larger aspects dealing with larger sections of the population - the weather, the economy, we will find that this Theory of the Small is applicable to individual lives as well. The ability to put in that last extra 10% in studying will not fail in helping a student succeed. That extra attention that a cook pays in preparing lunch might earn him a raise. The employee ready to put in an extra hours work will not go unnoticed. Because it is these things that separate us from the ordinary, propelling us to greater heights.

Analysing these tiny details in our lives, paying attention in dealing with them, and exerting that required extra effort, might be a secret to unlocking success.

In a world where the Creator might have decided to separate us from chimpanzees - genetically - by a meagre 2%, in this author's opinion, nothing can be more important than a smile on the lips (For more info on this, see Sampath Iyengar's picture at the bottom of the page). After all, it could be small thing to bring about the big change in this chaotic system called life.

                                                                                - Abhineet Deshpande

Travelling Helps you Grow, You Know!

I can still vividly remember my first trip abroad. I was just 6 years old. I was too young to know what was going on, the baggage check-ins, the security checks, the ticket checks were all just a little alien to me. All I cared about was trying to get a reaction out of my baby sister who was trying her best to fall asleep in her stroller. As we entered our flight, the gentle aroma of freshly ground coffee beans enveloped our senses, spreading a fleeting sense of calm throughout our bodies. The calm and repetitive reminders to fasten our seatbelts and keep our seats in the upright position, was a little strange to me. As the aircraft slowly made its way through the tarmac, the little humps and lumps were felt ever so slightly on our seats. In a matter of seconds, the world outside through my window was becoming a huge blur to me. Any second then something big was going to happen. I could just feel it. And then take off! The exhilaration and nauseousness I was feeling, was out of this world - literally. I watched the glowing city lights become smaller and smaller, until all I could see was a small piece of land blanketed with colourful shiny throughout. I was on my way to the Americas!

I will be forever grateful to my parents for their appreciation for the outside world. I count myself very lucky for having innumerable opportunities to venture out into plenty a foreign land thus far. Of course, as the years have gone by, I’ve travelled alone, travelled with close friends and no matter where or with whom, not for one moment have I not thoroughly enjoyed myself. Travelling is a whole lot of fun. So far in my escapades, I’ve skydived from 2000m above ground in Thailand, parasailed over the most gorgeous of landscapes in Malaysia, scuba-dived to witness Mother Nature’s infinite beauty, swam with the dolphins in Singapore, sat amongst chimpanzees and pet a menacingly huge white tiger in Dubai, and sometimes just wandered off into the night, left alone with the stars and the reassuring sounds of nature. The list, believe you me, can be a story of its own. But I’ll stop here.

Most of us, including myself, like travelling for the pure entertainment of it all. And who can blame us? After all, we come back home with a host of new ridiculous stories, fond memories, irreplaceable experiences, and a huge pile of photos as proof of the fun we had had. But there is also a side to travelling that can really influence how a person is shaped. Travelling helps you really mature to a young adult. It makes you grow from a mere pubescent boy, into a young man. This article is just that. I’ll be taking you through how I feel travelling can have a positive impact on a person’s life.

More than anything else, travelling, I feel, helps a person get perspective in life. There is no faster or better way than to travel to a third world country and really try to empathize with other people’s predicaments. It’s a very humbling experience when you visit a place like Africa or Kazakhstan and you see people on the streets that can barely get through 1 square meal a day comfortably. People are worked to the bone in dingy factories, for a little or no pay at all. Seeing the atrocious living conditions, the abysmal education systems in the country and you know you’re blessed. All the small petty things you complain about in the past just don’t seem important anymore. The fact that you’re not getting to watch your favourite show, or the fact that your shower did not spew water at the perfect pressure that morning, or even the fact that you think your math homework is impossible to do. It just does not feel important anymore. This is what people mockingly have termed “first-world problems”. Travelling just makes you reflect on your life, and really re-evaluate what you think is right or wrong, good or bad. It really makes you think. And it makes you appreciate what you took for granted back at home.

Most people stuck in their 9 to 5 jobs get so completely comfortable with their monotonous lives, that they totally forget that there is whole world out there just waiting to be explored. It broadens your horizon like any other educational course. The bottom line is - travelling helps you grow intellectually. It gives you an opportunity to witness first hand, the problems different people with different cultures face. When you’re in a foreign land, simple things like making it back to the hotel after wandering the streets with absolutely no English street signs or conversing with people having a dearth of English speaking skills, or trying to learn a foreign language travelling abroad will definitely put your grey cells to work. Travelling will force you to take on new challenges, no matter the complexity. These new challenges will help you build new skills and free yourself from your former limitations. The premise is, if you are good at doing something in a foreign country, there is no reason you can’t do it on your home ground – a familiar turf.

Travelling helps you figure yourself out. You can really look deep within yourself and self-evaluate various aspects of your personality. What you’re good at, what you’re bad at, what you can try to improve on. Travelling can be your greatest teacher an irreplaceable mentor. Travelling does not only help you dwell into your inner self, but also gives you a greater appreciation for the people who matter the most. When you move away from the world you are familiar with, you’re forced to start with a blank slate. This is when a person will really rediscover what makes him happy.

With all the added benefits already mentioned, a very important one is the experience of travelling often makes you a more interesting person. Imagine starting a couple conversations like “…years ago, while I was backpacking across Europe…” and you begin to get a clearer picture. You’ll have a plethora of interesting insights that you gathered along the way, and a bunch of interesting people that eventually makes your life more multi-dimensional. You would have discovered so many new cultures, so many new stories, so many new jokes and more importantly, many different ways of doing things! 

Traveling helps you realise that the grass is not always greener on the other side...and you'll be grateful for it. 


                                                                                                - Swaraaj Sankar

My First Testimonial since the days of Orkut

I was fifteen when I decided to follow in my Dad's footsteps and become an Engineer. And just like him, be the best Engineer I could possibly be. This decision has lead me to try various ideas and schemes to put myself ahead of the pack, because after all, India does have thousands of qualified Engineers. And I want to be noticed. My Dad gave me only one line of advice when he said "Do the best you can, in everything you do." It was with true experience that he said that, and it has served me well.

I am now a student at RVCE, done with my 4th Semester in Computer Science. Two years into Engineering, I realised that my 'everything' till then had been limited to the field of Science. And it was time to branch out. With the recent urge to try several new things, and the reality that this was my last Summer available for an internship, I decided to take up an Internship in 'Content Writing' at BlueTiger. BlueTiger provides Educational and Consulting solutions.

When I did accept the Internship, I wasn't sure what part I would play in this start up company based in Bangalore. Two weeks on, I have learnt more than I could have hoped to have. Aside from the daily experiences of Corporate life, I have gained some nuggets of 'Life Gyaan'.

The first thing I noticed while interning at BlueTiger is that there are no excuses, only solutions. If you are assigned a task and you fail to do it, nobody will listen to you moan about how your Grandmother was sick, and that's why you didn't do your last assignment. You have to learn to complete the job, find a solution to whatever problem and then get back to work. It is a sudden change from College atmosphere, Here at work, your only choice is to get the job done. This may seem like a burden, but it gives you a fulfilling sense of Responsibility.

That is the major advantage of working at a start-up. Responsibility. And the fact that they also take into account, your views and ideas. For me, there can be no greater feeling of satisfaction.

The fear of genetic baldness that runs in the family, has given me the firm belief in having a head full of hair while you still can. But just one week working with Corporate Professionals has made me realise just how important First Impressions are. Since then I have braved the barber and it has paid off. It is no mean feat when the head of Placements at a large institution tells you how smart you are looking.

Over the last two weeks I have done more than just Content Writing or Designing. I have done so many jobs, and for each of those jobs, I can come up with creative job descriptions. But I shall stick only to my favourite, that of a Market Executive. Or in simpler words, a salesman. In Mr Sampath's (the CEO of BlueTiger) views, if you can be a good salesman, you can be a great anything. I agree with him. The ability to sell something to someone is Art. Even when you know something is good for you, you still won't do it (think of seatbelts - nobody wore them till it was mandatory). Even when you need something, you will be hesitant to buy it. This lethargy is the greatest enemy to a salesman, and only a really good market executive will be able to rectify this problem. I only wish I could add the fact that I can sell things, in my resume.

There is after all no big job, or a small job. Only those you enjoy doing, and those you don't. And you will never know what job you will really enjoy, till you try them all. So it doesn't matter if you are an EC engineer and you are stuck writing restaurant reviews at your internship. This is after all an internship, and it will help you with come up with a decision, and in the least some small life skills.

I have always had the confidence that I can do anything I put my mind to, and these short few weeks with BlueTiger have only re-affirmed that. So I would like to thank Mr Sampath and the entire BlueTiger team.

                                                                                                                   -Abhineet M Deshpande

1st Internship Mela in India!

BlueTiger, is one of India's leading finishing schools, based in Bangalore. It aims to provide practical and innovative solutions and services to the entire Academic and Corporate spheres. It is the brainchild of chief coach, CEO Mr Sampath Iyengar and some of his friends.

And now to put a larger 'pug-mark' on academia and help thousands of students all across India, BlueTiger is organizing India's 1st Internship Mela! It is expected to be a huge milestone, and also a foundation to what is to become a regular event.

To register in 3 easy steps click here

150+ companies are expected and it is a tremendous opportunity.

So come and participate in huge numbers!

Date: 30th June 2012

Venue: Dayanand Sagar College of Engineering, Bangalore

Time: 8 am

Be there!