Gateway to the Azure

As this decade draws to a close, this blog which started its journey from the very first year of this decennium in 2011, has been my public diary of sorts, ever since. Consequential would be a very mild way to describe these ten red-letter years for me, which saw me move out of my static lifestyle at Pune after a stay of sixteen long years, and cover almost half a dozen odd cities from Varanasi to Mumbai to Bangalore just to name a few, before settling down for the time being here at Panipat, for my career following my higher education, this ledger capturing almost all the undulations along the way.

So, concluding this decennary alongside my family with a trip to Chail followed by Kufri, the second highest peak I’ve ever visited after Rohtang and the first snow-clad terrain my wifey and I have together stepped foot on, during this Christmas, just felt right. Although I am no stranger to ensorcelled views of raw nature, the sheer presence of the Kali Tibba Temple at the highest point near Chail, offering unobstructed views of the valley around and sweeping views of the ice-capped lower Himalayas, forming a gateway to the empyrean, was simply something out of a fairytale. For would-be wayfarers, Chail also has some other interesting sites including the highest cricket ground in the world and the palace of the erstwhile royal family of Patiala.

Kufri, on the other hand, offered us a lot of numero-unos, including our first yak ride and our first tryst shooting arrows instead of air gun pellets, not to mention telescopic views of the Kedarnath and Badrinath peaks, and a sore back as a memento for the days to come, thanks to the slippery melting ice on its surface. Having some extra time on our hands, we thought of taking a detour to Shimla, which I must admit was rather disappointing, with utter hubbub on the streets and an infrastructure utterly inadequate to handle the onslaught of post-lockdown tourists on top of the increasing local population of the city.

Anyhow, I guess it is time to bid this year as well as this decade a final ciao! With a new strain of the Coronavirus, even deadlier than the existing one, emerging in the UK and slowly taking stem in India and other parts of the world, who knows what the coming year has in store for us all... Nonetheless, wishing everyone a healthy, happy and prosperous new year, as we cautiously step into 2021, I would like to end with a catchphrase I had devised for the very first article on this blog, apt against today’s disquieted circumstances.

BE THE FORCE!!!...

3 Years of Betrothal

A milestone event for my landmark 101^st article on this blog... Completing 3 years of espousal with my dearest Priya on the 4^th of December this year has been nothing short of magical but also enlightening. As the corona-virus outbreak has taken a turn for the worse, going from simple numbers to an unfortunate personal toll, claiming one of our own, in the form of my wifey’s paternal granny, I’d like to thank my parents for being here for us through these baffling times. But keeping all the doldrums aside and getting back to our anniversary, I’d like to reflect upon our journey thus far, for any would-be bride or groom who happens to stumble upon these musings.

Like most other couples, we’ve had our highs and lows over the years. Both of us being strongly opinionated, highly professionally capable in our respective fields, having strong likes and dislikes, and hiding mountains of temper beneath an ocean of serenity, it is always a blast... Balloons, sparklers and crackers when times are good and nuclear warheads when times are less peachy! Hahaha... However, our love has always won the day with its purity, helping us stick together through thick and thin no matter what, as we work out the nitty-gritties. There are so many aspects to marriage, which bachelors can hardly guess. Your preference for an aisle or window seat while flying, will probably turn to a middle row seat as your better half occupies one of the other two, the number of leaves you take at your workplace will drastically increase with increased responsibility, your family will replace your friends as compulsory companions on most trips and a majority of your stag parties will turn into family gatherings, just to name a few. It might sometimes seem a bit overwhelming for the uninitiated. But at the end of the day more often than not, those who embrace it will be all the better for it.

As for our celebrations this year, just as we were beginning to lose hope trying to figure out a suitable destination to visit dodging COVID hotspots, we chanced upon Themis Mudhouse, a quaint resort on the outskirts of Rohtak and our knight in shining armour. Starting off the day by feasting on the world’s largest parantha, two and a half feet across, at Tapasya Parantha Junction, Rohtak, followed by a stroll around the Tilyar lake, we finally reached our target resort, spending a spellbinding evening, complete with a night's stay in thatched mud-themed cottages with 5-star interiors and antique telephones, a Multani mud-bath, jacuzzi, pottery, live folkdance and a lot else, other than standard amenities like poolside dining and a wide variety of indoor games. Thank you Themis group!

Last but not the least, with my social media pages flooded with more than a couple of dozen wed locks at the peak of this marriage season, I would like to welcome all the newlywed couples into the fold, wishing them all the very best for their lives ahead!

The Butterfly Effect

The Butterfly Effect... One of Hollywood’s staples for sci-fi flicks! By now most of us already know what it implies, in terms of minor differences in initial conditions resulting in a major change later on, like the flapping of a butterfly’s wings altering the path of a tornado, not directly but by a sequence of inconsiderable perturbations sparked off by the embryonic stimulus, as researched by Edward Lorenz. But the question now is that, does it have any practical significance in our day-to-day lives? I have observed that although it is difficult to predict looking forward, this effect is quite clearly visible glancing backward at the events which led up to a particular occurrence. Here are some examples from my own life observed first hand, where this effect was not as vague as one would expect it to be.

Just for instance, on the official front, while obtaining clearance from the Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation (PESO) for the commissioning of one of our new units, some physical document was urgently required overnight at their headquarters in Nagpur, about 1100 kms. from my current place of posting at Panipat. However, my boss was somehow unable to reach me at the time, and as a result someone else ended up carrying the paperwork to its intended destination. Now, PESO is known to give a hard time even to head honchos of foremost companies, who invariably show up at their doorstep at the eleventh hour to meet MoU targets, following PESO culture. But as it turns out, the person who was sent in my stead, a mid-ranking official at best, was a personal friend of the PESO official in charge of our case. And surely enough, before long the necessary approval for start-up of our unit, was accorded by PESO without too much hassle. So, it can be indirectly said that the chance unavailability of my phone at the moment, was one of the major reasons our firm got the required sanctions on time towards achieving a major target.

Similarly, talking about something a bit more personal, I had to spend two extra years before my recruitment in Indian Oil, one of which was due to the drop I had taken after my 12th std to get a seat in one of the revered IITs, something which at the time felt like the Iron Throne of King’s Landing, that I’m grateful to have achieved eventually though. And the other was due to my course being a 5-year dual degree rather than a simple 4-year bachelor’s programme. As a result, with a compulsory superannuation age of 60, my job life (and pay) was cut two years short, from around 38 years to 36 years. So, with officials lesser qualified than me and with more years of service (and as a result promotion) left, roaming about my workplace, one would naturally question whether my decision to take a drop 11 years back, was justified or not. I have thought long and hard but it is not that easy to answer, due to the various reasons I have listed out below.

Firstly, my education in probably the most elite league of engineering institutes in the country provided me with a solid technical base, which may have been the very reason that I was able to crack the GATE entrance exam for Indian Oil, being an un-reserved candidate, a category which appears to be in the minority these days. Secondly, due to my 5-year course I was forced to give GATE twice as explained in one of my previous articles, thereby enabling me to improve on my score the second time, to the required level for IOCL. So, although the drop may have been the ground for cutting my career a bit short, it may also be the very reason why I have a career of this stature at all in the first place, not to mention the added benefit of a Master's in long term career progression. Besides, my 3-month stint at Flipkart, which was a very unique and rewarding experience in its own right, could have only been facilitated by an IIT, as Flipkart at the time, was recruiting only from the IITs, along with secondary pre-placement offers being given only to a few internees from BITS. However, exclusivity need not necessarily mean money or security, as I can confidently say today, being part of Indian Oil!

Lastly, but most importantly, today I am honoured to be part of a life changing decision for my dear sister-in-law, with regard to her higher education. As options other than MBBS from a Govt. College, were being explored by my in-laws, based on her NEET score and necessary finances, Homeopathy and Ayurveda were mainly being focussed on, which aren't exactly the main stay of medicine these days. However, the idea of pursuing a career in dental sciences popped up in my mind and today as she prepares to get admitted to one of the best private dental colleges in the northern part of our country, following several brainstorming sessions with my wife and the rest of our family, after my initial short-listing, I suddenly realized that her career might as well have gone down a starkly different path had my better half and I not met when we did. Just another example of the incredible Butterfly Effect!

The Equation of Life

35,399,250 and 1,041,824 – These are the staggering figures for worldwide COVID-19 cases and deaths as on date, respectively, with India at 2nd place on the dreaded statistic list of this pandemic, lagging behind only the US. And while I had to undergo the feared test for this vicious virus some time back, which fortunately turned out to be negative, today I’m here to talk about something different...

Yes... The equation of life... And guess what? You don’t need to be a famous cricketer or a movie star with a criminal record to have your own story. Each and every one of us - and by ‘us’ I mean all seven and a half billion of mankind, friend and foe alike, already have our own unique tale, with years as chapters, months as pages and every day being a fresh line of the latest paragraph. The only challenge is to be the best version of ourselves, trying to live in the fullest richest way possible!

Here, we can say that the people in our lives are the variables in this complex expression, and when the variables change, so does the equation... The deletion or introduction of even a single one of these variables can profoundly impact all the other variables in this delicate balance and the way they interact with each other. For example, as on date, many in my age bracket have unfortunately lost their grandparents, amongst whom however many have been lucky to have welcomed their better halves into their lives. This is simply how life progresses.

But these variables are not just restricted to our families. Every single one of us interacts with a variety of different variables daily, in the line of our personal and professional pursuits, which may lead to either a constructive or a destructive interference (terms which I’m sure engineers would be glad to relate to... hahaha). It is like two bubbles colliding... They may merge creating a bigger bubble or bounce off of each other when not compatible. Now, it is up to us to try to enrich our equation by retaining the former in every fibre of our being, as opposed to the latter.

This blog has witnessed numerous articles on the various aspects of life, highlighting its different outlooks, challenges, solutions and much more, but I think this excerpt conveniently sums it all up in the simplest way possible. A recent trip to the Tiger Gate of Rajasthan, Alwar, our first breather since the commencement of the nationwide COVID-19 lockdown, to kick-off what seems like a 3-month year for us, although a far cry from our international plans swindled by the novel Coronavirus, nevertheless helped us rekindle the fire and cherish these very bonds we are blessed to have in our lives. After all, nature knows no political borders and India fortuitously has one of the most diverse geographies of any nation on the planet.

Here's to life...! #Bala Quila / Siliserh Lake, Alwar

Moulding Yourself & Your Surroundings

As the COVID-19 pandemic still rages on globally with more than 20 million cases and close to a million casualties, in stark contrast to the stats presented just a few articles back, with travel restrictions still getting more and more stringent by the day, even after nearly half a year of lockdown, its surreal to think that we are still not out of these apocalyptic woods yet. As educational institutions, movie halls, adventure parks and other public places continue to remain closed here in India, masks and sanitizers have become part of our daily must-haves. A particular section of your brain is dedicated to round-the-clock surveillance, tracking every touch your hand makes and all foreign objects that enter your home. In this new normal, for those of us who have been fortunate enough to evade the virus till now, life is at a complete standstill for most, while others move ahead at a snail's pace at best. However, I am simply thankful for my family's well-being.

In these grim times, when we are all trying to find a glimmer of light in the perpetually darkening skies, I initially took to active blogging to keep myself engaged, penning down more articles in a couple of weeks, than I have in the entirety of the past few years. And while I managed to carve out many innate thoughts I had been having lately, I don't believe in forcing articles. As this blog deals with facts rather than fiction, with every piece having a bearing on reality, I stopped writing when I ran out of anything substantial in my opinion to put forth for the time being. Moreover, I have realized that it is not necessary to always have an opinion on every single aspect of this world. For example, if we talk about preference of a certain political ideology, something I haven't touched upon in this blog till date, democracy has its positives like the all-important free voice of the people, and at the same time some negatives too, including the case where your interests are at odds with those of the majority irrespective of whether the majority is logically just, keeping an overall progressive outlook, or not. Similarly, while communism aims at widespread universal social welfare, it has an absolute rule over the law, without any opposition.

Nonetheless, what one must really keep in mind is that the extent to which one matters, depends to a large extent on the individual himself. Either you mould yourself and your surroundings in line with your needs or else others will surely do it for you in line with theirs. I'm glad that even in these trying times, I was able to go through with one of our family's major financial goals, buying our second car, welcoming our Ciaz's big brother, the MG Hector, into our family a few days back. Booking the SUV on the day the first lot of the French Dassault Rafales arrived in India, and getting it delivered on the historic day of Ram Janmabhumi Pujan, the Hector will truly always hold a special place in our hearts! Extending our gratitude to both our families, my wife and I would like to convey our hearty thanks to all our well-wishers for their blessings. Looking forward to a lot of road trips with this beast, we sincerely hope the good things soon return to the way they were in the pre-COVID 'era'.

A bull amongst cows!...

Seasonal Moods

Is it just me or are there others whose moods are somehow deeply rooted to the various seasons we experience? Absurd question, I know... But a valid one nonetheless... My granny, for one, was always in a sour mood as far as the weather was concerned. Summers were always too hot, winters too cold and monsoons too wet! I, on the other hand, am very opinionated in this regard, with strong favourites.

Although summers are functional and a favourite among beach goers, I never was too fond of the scorching heat, literally draining away all your energy with every drop of perspiration. And while winters can be managed by putting on layers of clothing, there is no practical way of dealing with the hot season when outdoors. You cannot strip away your skin after all! Hahaha...

On the other hand, I've always been a big fan of the chill. And that one famous dialogue from Game of Thrones, which never failed to give me a feel-good, even with the mercury hitting near 50 degC, undoubtedly needless to quote, was 'winter is coming'! With the frost calming your body and mind, it is also a boon for skiiers, ice-skaters, snow-boarders and a myriad of other folks, including those who want to try out heavy winter apparel.

But all said and done, the monsoon surely takes the cake for me. With the rains washing away all your heartburns and confusion, the sound of rainwater punching your roof and pouring on to the streets below, creating music to your ears, I seem to reach an all new philosophical level every time I'm in the midst of a heavy downpour! And what's better than an accompanying gust of droplets carried by the cool breeze, which brings out the essence of the deluge even more? It's funny that when most people would duck and run, my wife and I dash towards the closest balcony door to take on nature's fury at its best, head on. On that note, can you guess what time of day this is...?

It's 11AM... Yeah! You read right... And the 'AM' isn't a typo either. This snap, taken about a week back in our township, with no camera effects whatsoever, is by far the darkest 11AM I've witnessed till date. Isn't it strange to think that the cloud cover here is so thick, that the tropic sun overhead at this very instant, blaring down in all its glory, is nothing but invisible! Bet the only other place you can see a total daytime blackout is Antarctica, where its dark for six months at a time, thanks to the tilt of the Earth's axis.

Here, I don't mention spring or autumn as they really seem like the foster kids amongst seasons, or like the demoted dwarf planet Pluto in our solar system. They are simply a transition phase between the three major seasons. So, what weather guy or gal are you? Feel free to share in the comments below.

Emotional Equilibrium

While terms like emotional intelligence and emotional balance, are thrown around quite often in the professional space nowadays, the truth is that hardly any of us today has the time to mull over such stuff in our daily plow. So, finding some moments of leisure, I thought it would be a good idea to evaluate my own mental equilibrium, by tracking all those years which have had a much more profound emotional impact on me than others. And to my surprise, the plot I came up with, revealed quite a few fascinating details.

Now, in the above graph, remaining true to myself, I have assigned a happiness quotient to each year of my life till now as 1, 0 or -1, representing elation, neutrality and dejection respectively. As it turns out, my life was quite blissful until around the age of 14 when in 2005, rapid fluctuations in my cognitive frame began. And while some of you might simply attribute it to puberty, I find it to be much deeper than that.

2006 was academically one of my most successful school years, wherein I topped my section, winning multiple awards, and also participated in a multitude of extra-curricular activities, following which 2007 was surely one of my bleakest, where I realized for the first time that nothing in life comes free of cost. I was denied my well-deserved school prefecture simply as I did not find it necessary enough to lobby for the position. Although now, after having held countless positions of responsibility earlier in college and of course in my present professional life, it is laughable to think back to those school days, back then it caused me to lose a fraction of my focus on my academics right before my crucial 10th standard board exams. Still disturbed over my grandpa's passing a year back, with whom I was extremely close, it was much later that I realized that many of the most undeserving pupils who were selected, who were nowhere on the map either in acads or in sports or in any other avenue, had families who were in close cahoot with the school's top management. Wow! Politics even at such a young age...

Oh, well... Time passed and I went into my higher secondary all guns blazing! The years that followed witnessed an epic struggle as detailed in the very first article of this blog, and the rest, as they say, is history! But even after making it to my dream engineering college, social conflicts continued for quite some time, until gradually things fell into place as I graduated on a high, after a very successful final year in 2014-15. The roller coaster ride continued with 2017's huge excitement thanks to the start of a new promenade with my eternal love, starkly followed by probably my worst professional year in 2018, ruined by the worst boss anyone could possibly find, a control freak with negligible managerial skill and close to zero technical knowledge, who excelled in unnecessary derogatory remarks on anyone who crossed his path, and thought himself to be king of the world, getting along with neither superior nor subordinate, crossing new levels of hilarity by the obviousness of his backstabbing nature. While most of us are familiar with the story of Midas in Greek mythology, where anything he touched turned to gold, it is a fact that anything my former boss touched, turned to sh*t, with his juniors partially taking the blame for his failures. Naturally no one would like to do anything for this epitome of flaws, other than officially obliged to! And to add to the misery, I had lost my grandma too that year...

But all else apart, it is interesting to note that the times when we're down and out, actually tend to teach us more than the times when things are peachy, and we generally pull through and emerge even stronger than before, as signified by the 1s immediately succeeding the -1s. But while human life is full of systoles and diastoles, is it a healthy experience going through this many consecutive cycles of psychological instability? Doubtless not... As the 3rd extension of the COVID-19 lockdown continues in our country, the lean period of activity causing old memories to resurface, I have realized that while ecstasy is a very positive feeling, with depression at the other end of the spectrum, it is wise to dial down both a notch, rather than wildly swinging between extremes... Enjoy the good times fully but with subtlety, never forgetting the other could-have-beens, while taking on unavoidable hardships with grace rather than despair, until a relatively straight curve is established.

The Vegan Movement: Concern or Fashion?

Today, as we try to avoid non-veg dishes due to the ongoing COVID-19 scare, the tummy of a hardcore foodie like myself, yearns for that smoky roast as my nose recalls that all too familiar smell of spices emanating from chicken curry. But having survived on a strictly vegetarian diet for almost an entire month now, I began thinking that may be being a vegan couldn't be all that bad, could it? For that matter my family is rich in diet variety as it not only has vegetarians and non-vegetarians but eggetarians too somewhere in between. But what's with all the animal rights activism stuff going around these days?? Let's get to the heart of the matter...

Advocates of abolition of non-veg food argue that it is cruel for animals to be killed for consumption. But the same forms the basis of the natural food chain... Would the activists stop lions from killing buffaloes too? Yes, one can argue that wild carnivores don't have an option of going vegan as their digestive tracts are designed to process only meat. Humans like many species of apes on the other hand, are omnivores and can make do without meat. But does that mean we can get all the proteins and nutrients needed to make us strong and fit from plants alone? Although legumes, nuts and grains have varying amounts of protein, they do not contain all the essential amino acids that animal proteins do. Similarly, many studies have highlighted the various downsides of being a strict vegan, including choline crisis which affects brain health, and increased hair loss due to difficulty in absorbing iron from a pure vegetarian diet. So, no... Humans don't have the option to eliminate meat completely from their diet if they want to lead a well-rounded healthy lifestyle.

But all the science apart, in my opinion killing an animal for food, especially when it is specifically poultry bred for consumption, is not at all cruel, but the natural order of things. Everyone and everything has an expiry date and eventual death, whether natural or accidental, is more often than not, a less than pleasant experience. We only wish that no one or nothing goes before their time is due, and in case of poultry animals that time comes when we show up at the meat shop. Another scenario where killing of animals becomes necessary is on account of self-defense when we may be attacked once in a while, or run the risk of infection due to an infestation.

But that said, I do condemn hunting or injuring of animals for sport, like that in bull-fighting, still prevalent in many parts of the world including countries like Spain, Portugal, France and others, which forms the basis of the 2017 flick 'Ferdinand'. Same is the case with skinning of live snakes in the US and shooting of birds for fun in many regions of the globe. Causing unnecessary pain to anything or anyone is surely uncalled for and can form a valid point for protests. Keeping that in mind, I guess it is up to the audience to decide whether the modern day vegan movement is a genuine point for concern or a fashion statement for a certain section of society.

Religion

This is one issue regarding which I've always held a strong opinion, but never got around to fully penning it down, as I thought it to be very personal to each individual indeed. But with increasing extremism and indulgence in untenable practices across the globe, I think the time has come to finally speak up, though only as a one-off... Well, firstly I'd like to clear the air that till date I have not found the praxis of any religion totally acceptable or unacceptable, neither have I gone through the Bhagvat Gita or the Quoran or the Bible or the Guru-Granth-Sahib or any of the other holy scriptures completely, nor do I find it compulsorily necessary to study them fully, leave alone blindly abide by these private works by historically influential albeit supposedly knowledgeable individuals. And the extent to which I have read some of these doctrines, has strictly been to filter out some of the contained information I found useful, purely for the sake of self-development, as knowlegde never ceases to expand. 

Over the years, I have been audience to philosophical lectures, by countless spiritual leaders and self-proclaimed albeit publically recognized gurus of varied religions, some of which I have found agreeable and many of which I haven't. In today's day and age wherein social media religious debates are commonplace, with singletons staunchly siding with different well-known religions, I find that most of them are cut out of the same cloth irrespective of their religious beliefs, in the sense that a very simple patronizing defense is established for many of the irrational proclamations made: "It is beyond you to understand, as you've not reached the level I have, after years of meditation!" Well... In that case I have to say that your meditation went fruitless, if it didn't show you a way to put forth your so-called enlightenment in a human language for others to comprehend.

Just for example, let me refer to a certain statement I heard on a recent television interview of one of these mystics, who said that: "It would be better if women did not enter Shani Temples, as planetary forces might have a negative effect on them." The first thing that came to my mind was: "Ooohhh! Natural forces have gender bias too?! Wow..." But jokes apart, I thought I'd give it a sit down... Although men and women are anatomically different, scientifically any such known force would be too weak to cause any effect on us from that far away, irrespective of our gender. So, may be the great yogis have discovered a new unknown force, other than the mainstream gravitational, electromangenetic, nuclear and such forces, which can traverse lightyears to have a significant impact on human beings. If so, why are we not able to detect or measure it? And if they are undetectable by regular folks like Albert Einstein, then why so?... Damn! That Nobel Prize is alluding all the revered fakirs of this world just by a hair... Oh, sorry! Pretty sure they've ascended that too... But remember, afterall a good teacher is one who can illuminate the dumbest of minds, and not the brightest.

Up a similar alley are palm-reading, astrology, numerology and other such gimics, which I'd dare say if I didn't respect certain people's sentiments, are the biggest scam in the modern era, borne out of fear and superstition of the common man. And lets please not have much in store for the justification sought by these ascetics in their massive followership, which is just another way out of a sticky situation for them, as we well know it doesn't take much to sway the majority fickle-minded lot amongst us. Just have a believable background story, know some basic yoga, and bravo! You are all set for a booming business... And if all goes well you might even expand into the herbal products industry and much more... Another comment I heard from one of these sages rudely answering to a rebuttle in a seminar was: "Don't try to act smart... Many of my followers are much more educated than you." Honestly, I didn't know religion was exclusive and that it required a Ph.D. May be I should have got one instead of wasting my time on a dual degree in engineering, from the Indian Institute of Technology.

Lastly, let me put it out clearly that I do not believe in spitting out baseless generalizations. But... If I said a random word like 'terrorism' out of any specific context, does any particular religion strike you out of the blue? If not, well and good. But if yes, I guess that's upon the religion's practitioners for having earned such a despicable repute! Finally, as far as I'm concerned there should be at least a remotely practical rationale behind even the most absurd of beliefs preached by any religion. If not, then the ideology should at least be harmless to its practitioners and non-practitioners alike, as otherwise it would be an unfortunate crime against humanity. Just for instance, today groups of different faiths are hitting the news channels all over India for religious gatherings defying the laws of social distancing, implemented by the Indian Goverment to combat the growing COVID-19 global pandemic. Have those involved taken leave of their senses or is it a deliberate atrocity? These are just some answers we may never have...

Preview of Things to Come...

Welcome to the ninth day of the twenty-one day countrywide lockdown announced by the Hon'able PM of India, to contain the spread of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic here in our nation. As it turns out, the single-day 'Janta' curfew I had talked about in my last article, was just to give a taste of the events to unfold in coming times. And surely enough with the global body-count piling up in leaps and bounds on a daily basis, the grim reality of the worldwide situation is here at hand. As of this moment, the deadly novel Coronavirus has spread to over two hundred countries and territories, claiming over fifty thousand lives globally, with the number of infected about to reach a million, that too only considering the officially released stats. But if the residents of Wuhan, the Chinese town from where the virus orginally emerged, are to be believed, the figures released by China itself account for less than a tenth of the actual Chinese death toll. So the circumstances might be even worse than what they already appear to be!

Just to give you an idea of the gravity of our present plight, this is the first time in history since World War-II that the Summer Olympic games, to be held in Japan later this year, have been officially postponed. Along with the cancellation or postponement of other prominent sporting, religious and cultural events and science and technology conferences around the world, including the likes of Wimbledon, the IIFA Awards, TED, and many others, schools and universities too have been shut down in over a hundred and fifty nations. With my firm implementing the work-from-home philosophy on alternate days for a day or two, and then following up with the same for all days until further notice, despite a majority of our job definition involving field work, the seriousness of the matter just got real. 

But even in the face of a crisis of this magnitude, not all is bleak and gloomy. On a lighter note, this real life apocalypse does have a lot in common with numerous eerie horror film plots, especially one particular 2011 flick I watched some time back - 'Contagion', to which it bears an uncanny resemblance! The rate at which mankind is falling prey to this mighty virus might as well lead to a new world order for the lucky surviving few... Who knows? As the virus runs rampant through entire neighbourhoods, dropping people like flies, a part of you is forced to think of what will be left of this world as you know it, while the other part contemplates the effect all of this will have on you, if you are left standing that is.

As for me, after helping take all necessary measures to protect family and self, along with surrounding folks to the extent possible, all I am left to think of is the unlikelihood of such a disruption actually happening to someone in their lifetime. Although my generation has already been witness to a lot of change in the way people live, including the advent of modern mobile phones, LCD & LED TVs and access of the common man to commercial aviation amongst a lot else, the present situation is truly something to behold. All the negativity aside, if the spread of the virus is successfully controlled and everything goes back to normalcy, then I dare say that these three weeks will probably have been a miniature version of retired life for most professionals who struggle day in and day out trying to contribute to society and make a living, who have to beg even for a single day's leave, and who can hardly ever imagine a phase as mentally and physically freeing as this. And while boredum is setting in for some folks, I have a sorted outlook. 

Anyone's life nowadays can be broadly divided into three phases of approximately equal durations, like that of a full course meal comprising of starters, main course and desert. The first phase refers to the period till about 30 years of age, in which one needs to get educated and take the first steps towards a career after figuring out the path he or she needs to tread, to help society advance professionally and personally, at the same time earning the means to a good livelihood and gradually settling down with one's family. The second phase extends from about age 30 to age 60, in which one has to execute the plans he or she has made in their first phase. And as you might well have guessed, the third phase of life refers to the stage beyond the ripe age of 60, which is like a bonus over, where one is hopefully content on having achieved almost everything one had planned for, and he or she is free to put on their thinking cap for something creative or catching up to some unfinished business or hobby which was previously left unpursued due to lack of time. 

So, for me this lockdown, which is akin to the summer breaks we used to have in our childhood back in the day, has been a preview to the aforementioned third phase, excluding of course the severe restrictions imposed on one's mobility, where I've invested my time in picking up some new skills like single-handedly preparing my first ever hot cooked dish in the form of chilli bread, albeit drawing a bit on the experience of my wifey's cooking expertise. And, while I'm currently about to cross over from the first phase of my life to the second, I hope I'm on the right track, being grateful to Indian Oil for providing a platform to put my competence to use, to aid in our industry's progress, while also trying to contribute on the personal front, through various means including this online journal as well as my other blog 'The Ultimate Comparo' (http://comparoindia.blogspot.com/) covering varied categories of articles from time to time, which different people may find useful.

But all else aside, I sincerely wish that the world is able to fight off the grip of the COVID-19 epidemic sooner than later, and all of us can get back on our respective tracks... 

ALL THE BEST!!!

Adding to my skill repertoire...

COVID-19: Worst Pandemic of the Century!

As the entire world reels from the sudden shock and awe of the Novel Coronovirus, I sit at home under lockdown due to the only curfew I've ever experienced first hand... During the short time I've been around since the early 1990s, I've already been fortunate enough to have lived through quite a few outbreaks here in India, including the relatively recent swine flu and bird flu, but none of them had taken the entire globe by storm as the COVID-19 pandemic has! And to think that I was upset when my credit card stopped working due to the collapse of the Yes Bank is plain hilarious. This is also the first time in history that the Indian Railway has cancelled all passenger trains across the country, to get a hold on the spread of this highly contagious disease.

Although the Coronavirus had its inception in China, it is cynical to think that as on date Italy is the worst hit nation in the world, with a death toll of nearly five thousand in a couple of short weeks, that too in the very year that we had already obtained our visas to visit the UK and the EU, following my mother's lifelong dream, which is like an MoU target to me. And while some high profile polarizing individuals raise questions regarding the naturality of the virus and try to turn a humanitarian problem into political propaganda, the bottom line remains that people are dying... Not the poor or the rich... Not Asians or Europeans or Americans... But everyone! It is humbling to think that even today, in the age of modern medicine with new advancements being made every day, nature still rules over humanity's arrogance.

On the other hand, it is quite ironical and somewhat heartening to see that after decades of torture, the environment is finally recovering and having its way, with pollution levels in major cities hitting unforeseen lows and translucent water bodies becoming more and more transparent by the day, thanks to everyone staying indoors. With the region on the brink of entering the so-called third stage of COVID-19 spread i.e. community transmission, where the source of infection becomes untraceable and the number of infected exponentially explode in a very short time frame, 'social distancing' has become an actual concept and one of the only effective measures against contracting this virulent virus, other than washing hands and wearing masks that are being played on loop on almost every news channel globally. Even mobile service providers have replaced caller tunes with COVID-19 awareness messages!

As for me, I never thought that I'd ever be penning down an article on an epidemic from the midst of all the action. With people going into panic mode and leaving grocery store aisles empty for the uncertainty of the weeks to come, and no vaccine yet in sight, the whole thing is surreal to say the least. And although the situation is alarming worldwide, it is laughable that today was probably the first day in the last financial year that our firm was forced to give us a holiday at the peak of the BS-VI Project commissioning, on account of the 'Junta' (public) curfew called upon by the Hon'ble PM of India. Just a few minutes back at 5pm, I left this column half done to go to our balcony and appreciate the all out efforts being made by medical personnel, sanitation staff and others across the multitude of nations hit by this disease, along with my wife and the rest of the nation united, by clapping our hands, clinking plates, ringing bells and what not, the air around us resounding with energy! I just realized that self-confinement even for a day, other than the present need of the hour, gives everyone a much needed opportunity to just take a step back from the daily humdrum and reflect on their lives, enjoying its little joys. Maybe such a reset button is required from time to time even in the absence of an epidemic...

WISHING ALL THOSE INFECTED A SPEEDY RECOVERY! STAY SAFE!

Panic buying during COVID-19!...

The Eternal Dilemma: PSU vs. MBA vs. PVT.

Well, facts are facts... And here in India, as the vast majority of degree holders in our country are engineers, with more than one and a half million graduating each year, it is only but natural that lucrative employment opportunities are heavily battled for, even among those passing out from top engineering colleges including IITs, NITs, BITS and others.

Now, broadly speaking there are some few basic career paths that are available for engineering graduates and post-graduates here in India. One is the not so favoured option of a long and tedious Ph.D. obtained either domestically or internationally. But the main catch here is that even after a successful doctorate, one of the only lines that can be pursued without having to settle abroad, is that of teaching with part-time research, which is not the most financially rewarding profession in our country. 

The only other alternatives include a job in a Government or Private sector with or without an MBA or executive MBA along the way, or some combination of the above. Now, having been campus-placed at Flipkart, following my B.Tech.-M.Tech. integrated dual degree from IIT (BHU) Varanasi, then transitioning to Indian Oil after three short months, and finally now in a dilemma whether to apply for an executive MBA after having given GMAT following nearly five years of service, I think I am reasonably placed to provide some statistical economic insight to guide fresh engineering graduates who are facing a similarly tough choice. So, based on first hand experience and feedback along with some data mining from popular studies, I decided to punch in some figures and obtained the graph below, which I think is a good enough representation of the matter's jist.

Now, the post-MBA salaries used for the above plot are the average of the latest placement season from IIMs Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Calcutta, the three topmost management institutes in India. Here, I say average because those with an annual salary in the touted and much hyped 1 crore+ club or thereabouts, are really outliers who have reached their pinnacle of success through sheer personal effort along with some luck, having had the foresight and courage to capitalize on most if not all of the opportunities presented to them throughout their careers. Kudos to leading Indian global CEOs like those of Google and Microsoft, Sundar Pichai and Satya Nadella respectively, who truly are much more than the sum total of their alma mater!

But coming down to planet Earth in the realm of practicality, first of all we must understand the basic difference between the various curves as represented by the different colours. And while the graph is self explanatory, it is to be noted that no matter which payscale one starts at in a decent private firm, usually the renumeration offered initially increases at a much faster rate than that of a public sector owing to rapid early promotions, retention bonus and what not. However, with time a stagnation is reached sooner or later, beyond which one has to do something out of the box to get any kind of increment whatsoever. It may be an MBA or being laterlly hired in another firm with a payhike or something else. Top PSUs on the other hand, will start at a reasonably high scale of pay and give you a fixed percentage annual increment as a minimum, which can only increase with promotions and pay revisions, facilitating constant linear growth irrespective of anything else, for your entire career!

But the parameter which is the financial decision maker in my opinion is not the curve itself but the area under it, which represents your entire career's total earning. While it is very apparent that the green curve covers by far the least area, the top three curves required some number crunching. And as it turns out, contrary to the belief of some, the difference between them is marginal. Post-MBA careers while definitely dynamic and profitable, fall short on an average in the long run, with a highly questionable return on investment for the couple of million spent getting the MBA degree itself, as observed in the sharp dips in the red and violet curves! And as the numbers I calculated stand, the blue curve actually covers the maximum area of the lot, that too not considering the unquantifiable benefits of a top PSU like Indian Oil including job security, unlimited medical reimbursement for self and family and hefty location specific allowances outside of the usual CTC.

Personally, this along with the recent increases in existing benefits offered by my present firm, has forced me to rethink taking up executive MBA altogether. And while my reluctance to switch should not act like a deterrent to other management aspirants, it is ultimately a matter of personal choice and judgement depending on what ones priorities are. As for me, I'd rather keep management as a future backup in case of some unforeseen circumstance, like the ongoing talks for the unlikely privatization of Indian Oil or if I'm faced with unbearable working conditions of some sort... Nevertheless, as of now...

LIFE IS GOOD!!!