tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4043545147472263372024-03-12T22:18:33.530-07:00Braga brags...bragadeeshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05516264230057880613noreply@blogger.comBlogger52125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-404354514747226337.post-71291260457007735692018-12-31T11:55:00.000-08:002018-12-31T11:55:26.204-08:002018 A Personal Review<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
It feels like writing a <a href="http://blog.bragboy.com/2017/12/2017-personal-review.html">review for the year 2017</a> yesterday! (the exact lines I used to start the previous years' review!)<br />
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This year has been equally fantastic as well if not better.<br />
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Starting with the coach.me statistics habit wise<br />
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Meditation: Every month is a tower! A streak of perfect 365 days! If counted from the previous year this is a 552-day streak! No misses whatsoever in the meditation practice of 2 hours every day. When I was flying, feeling tired, feeling happy, feeling excited, different places, different countries, I always meditated. It has become a habit and I think one more year if I maintain this sort of discipline I should remove this tracking from my list because it's as effortless as brushing my teeth. I have a target for this year however is to have more sittings in Adhitaana posture - the posture of strong determination. I did a lot in 2018 with few 2-hour Adhitaana sittings and many 2-hour marathon sittings as well. I would want to pump this to 3-4 hours/day to have more returns. I am optimistic and I think this should be achievable in the new year! Last year this was at 278 days.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4hBTxJahC1EfLiA2SwOsNfGKRFZYI921G3rXJXZ8tzh6PSxpQTIHvYrtcSqtzIxbrWaGrWSwcXeQnIONBALw3_zG4IetH9eL12u4sRgvJsYQQYpSNaPtkCSpgxSvmgoa94NaqHzkudgA-/s1600/Adhitaana.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="374" data-original-width="784" height="152" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4hBTxJahC1EfLiA2SwOsNfGKRFZYI921G3rXJXZ8tzh6PSxpQTIHvYrtcSqtzIxbrWaGrWSwcXeQnIONBALw3_zG4IetH9eL12u4sRgvJsYQQYpSNaPtkCSpgxSvmgoa94NaqHzkudgA-/s320/Adhitaana.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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Reading: Compared to 275 days last year, this year it was 333!, which is a clear improvement. Although the velocity was not as much as it was in the year 2016, I still was able to complete a humble 14 books. Some of them were mammoth books like 4-hour workweek, Unscripted. I also re-read Swami Vivekananda's Karma Yoga. Planning to continue the same discipline this year as well!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK_zV7fyUmKGfW4Q3bEj6MGdaxxsJtK5GEpyawTbPoAbken-tAUZxNMohBEsvR-w2MR1gyNx7IZotWEN9N8GzupCO0SPAO88XIqgjtT95KLlr89CIQUdV-vWeXId4GmA1oVzvbK_y3IQb2/s1600/Screenshot+2019-01-01+at+1.09.35+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="380" data-original-width="794" height="153" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK_zV7fyUmKGfW4Q3bEj6MGdaxxsJtK5GEpyawTbPoAbken-tAUZxNMohBEsvR-w2MR1gyNx7IZotWEN9N8GzupCO0SPAO88XIqgjtT95KLlr89CIQUdV-vWeXId4GmA1oVzvbK_y3IQb2/s320/Screenshot+2019-01-01+at+1.09.35+AM.png" width="320" /></a></div>
Yoga/Stretching: This has taken a hit in the year 2018 compared to the year 2017. Only 29 check-ins in the entire year compared to 91, 109 in the previous two years! Yes, I am a bit embarrassed. I will have to see how to bump this to at least 100 this year.<br />
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Sports Activity: Compared to the previous year of 44 and 51, this year saw a total of 30. Ideal for this is to be around 52. At least I know how I did last year, will definitely need some improvement in this new year.<br />
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Waking up on time: 238 Check-ins in the year 2018. Compared to previous years 250. I will definitely have to push this to upwards of 300 or change the wake-up time definition from 9AM to perhaps 8 AM this year. Let's see.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghJl108hW-Pj6oFgwVKO4tN5ljFOAKfqIfsSO7Io19uNF9_b-fxLOmJYxz0f47FkFg3ZXPWAXTEeDVpeDqbo0gaUutPZ_OEFB2csaMqQvSzRDumDofPwwyv__B7LOT4Vae_F7NoJ8Te-69/s1600/Screenshot+2019-01-01+at+1.20.44+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="354" data-original-width="788" height="143" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghJl108hW-Pj6oFgwVKO4tN5ljFOAKfqIfsSO7Io19uNF9_b-fxLOmJYxz0f47FkFg3ZXPWAXTEeDVpeDqbo0gaUutPZ_OEFB2csaMqQvSzRDumDofPwwyv__B7LOT4Vae_F7NoJ8Te-69/s320/Screenshot+2019-01-01+at+1.20.44+AM.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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Compared to the previous year, this year was demanding in terms of workload. From the statistics above, I could see I definitely need some more effort to be put on the sporting and exercise activities as I see them wane from the once healthy state. The meta habit to fix that is to wake up between 5-6 AM and go to bed earlier. That way I can consistently allocate hours to finish the Meditation and Exercise. Also keeping a routine on the sporting activity.<br />
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2019 is going to be extremely challenging since I could be staying outside India with tons of workload. It is extremely important to keep an eye on the health because without the vessel of the body and a healthy mind, achieving things are going to be difficult. I thank God and my family for me being in a healthy state and again this year, I never had to visit a hospital or fall sick, not even once. 2018 clearly was another healthy year, would definitely want to make 2019 a better one.<br />
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Wish you all a happy new year 2019!<br />
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Cheers<br />
Braga<br />
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bragadeeshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05516264230057880613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-404354514747226337.post-25027098585986179002017-12-31T03:43:00.000-08:002017-12-31T04:07:15.769-08:002017 - A personal review<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglbx1f7Fg1bNH7D7pYwxX4176CDpVilPz7-NTc9jGp0X-KZf9eMl4BXPDSvBanhQjKWjcXiGrklUr1IuwXzxc5fZ3WCRIiEXW6ku2V-SPf9pUiidTfqN24vp-9g6oyjzsJEeBRmwQ1IqQD/s1600/francium+tech+year+2018+2017.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="680" data-original-width="1600" height="272" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglbx1f7Fg1bNH7D7pYwxX4176CDpVilPz7-NTc9jGp0X-KZf9eMl4BXPDSvBanhQjKWjcXiGrklUr1IuwXzxc5fZ3WCRIiEXW6ku2V-SPf9pUiidTfqN24vp-9g6oyjzsJEeBRmwQ1IqQD/s640/francium+tech+year+2018+2017.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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It feels like writing a <a href="http://blog.bragboy.com/2016/12/2016-you-were-too-good-to-me-2017-her-i.html">review for the year 2016</a> yesterday which catapulted me towards an ever positive trend towards life, but 2017 was an entirely different beast!<br />
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As usual, let me start with some numbers on the +ve habits taken from <a href="https://www.coach.me/">coach.me</a> I followed every day for the year 2017.<br />
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<b><u>Meditation:</u></b> First thing I followed sincerely this year was Meditation. Yep, I broke my own record of doing it 111 days in 2016 to 278 times this year with an undefeated streak of 187! This is a phenomenal feat because the last 187 streak is not meditating 5 minutes or 20 minutes a day. It is full 2 hours every day, thanks to <a href="https://www.dhamma.org/">Vipasanna</a>. I had to thank two people for introducing that to me - Healer Baskar and my Brother Senthil babu. This is an entirely different level of meditation technique. Glad I learnt it the right way by taking 10-12 days completely cut off from the world and dedicating close to 10 hours every day starting at 4 AM from the morning until 9.30 PM at night. It was so vigorous that a lot of positive things and vibrations were bound to come and they did come! I would talk more about this perhaps in a separate post, but for 2017, this was one of the significant achievements personally.<br />
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<b><u>Reading:</u></b> Although I had started aggressively in 2017 (with an extreme momentum from 2016), it kind of slowed down after mid-year. But still, the number of entries I got were 275 compared to 165 from 2017. This year I completed 27 books which included some mammoth books like Patterns of Enterprise Application Architecture, Awaken the Gaint within by Anthony Robbins, Mastery by Robert Greene. Although the pace was lesser compared to last year, I still kept this habit for 3/4th of the year. From the trend graph, I could see that it has started to decline from September, but hey, I have the power of perseverance so, I can summon this at my will to return to it! I have 3 hours dedicated every day to mental and physical practice, I need to squeeze some more hours to return to this wonderful habit which has taken me to where I am today.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1S1ruQAlnwoZ9vIhVNSpq-GuCFDu0SZeJmz46Ldb4QMPl-bnT_DpIBAL6yzcuWOpXXZ-Wq-GSusdIloRFPlbGfO6IvsBw1pBz4qSZ9peedytHv1UwcR4wkA_F3YYvptyr5AWl-mNs-R4a/s1600/Reading+Activity+coach+me.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="362" data-original-width="794" height="145" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1S1ruQAlnwoZ9vIhVNSpq-GuCFDu0SZeJmz46Ldb4QMPl-bnT_DpIBAL6yzcuWOpXXZ-Wq-GSusdIloRFPlbGfO6IvsBw1pBz4qSZ9peedytHv1UwcR4wkA_F3YYvptyr5AWl-mNs-R4a/s320/Reading+Activity+coach+me.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b><u>Yoga/Stretching:</u></b> This was kind of ON an OFF over the year with only 91 entries compared to 109 from last year, however, towards the end of the year, the steam has really picked up thanks to Hatha Yoga classes - a set of 21 asanas that gives you that extra power and flexibility. One important thing is that I never visited a medical shop or doctor and this could be termed as my healthiest year ever both physically and mentally! Ending this year at a 27-day streak! Yay!<br />
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<u><b>Sports:</b></u> Whatever happens, this is something I am trying to keep it up at least once a week throughout the year. No wonder the number stands at 51 compared to 44 last year. This is also the year I won the Pramati badminton tournament along with my partner Antony.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNTwZS_ozY31HtRBJyYcvGpOUVr47iQUpGNt61qQcOEUsFrBvK26Ri99jb81d5HMbF0XoEJckOJ71a62vottvX9ojf4X9PNCicDSQBOCZYflO57V4OV5jzjn95QiyrmgcnNKEmlRoDIos4/s1600/Sporting+activities+2017+coach+me.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="350" data-original-width="796" height="140" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNTwZS_ozY31HtRBJyYcvGpOUVr47iQUpGNt61qQcOEUsFrBvK26Ri99jb81d5HMbF0XoEJckOJ71a62vottvX9ojf4X9PNCicDSQBOCZYflO57V4OV5jzjn95QiyrmgcnNKEmlRoDIos4/s320/Sporting+activities+2017+coach+me.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<u><b>The habit of waking up on time</b></u><u><b class="">:</b></u> This I feel was the meta habit that is the source of other habits is to wake up before 9 AM. I know "before 9 AM" may seem easy for the most, but for someone like me, who has been waking around/after noon for close to 15 years, this was a real challenge. So I kept the goal a bit liberal in 2017, perhaps this I could harden by half hour to 1 hour earlier in 2018. Seeing numbers go up here was truly amazing. The total check-ins were a thumping 250! Some of those mornings were as early as 4 AM.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk30Hpf-Y9QF-V9GwsllzBgg7ouR49cGuRd1sBR-L9HQg0TvQ4ZkCSgeJDHT9naZlW98YF0RtxZ55X1rl3o6QOE7RSZA4odBSKc5c4Hv6JxGs5TZLRbWttEVErG2H1-iJB2jwcmPWjxeUO/s1600/waking+up+on+time+coach+me.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="351" data-original-width="798" height="140" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk30Hpf-Y9QF-V9GwsllzBgg7ouR49cGuRd1sBR-L9HQg0TvQ4ZkCSgeJDHT9naZlW98YF0RtxZ55X1rl3o6QOE7RSZA4odBSKc5c4Hv6JxGs5TZLRbWttEVErG2H1-iJB2jwcmPWjxeUO/s320/waking+up+on+time+coach+me.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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Because of these positive habits, I was able to<br />
<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li>Improve my productivity leaps and bounds.</li>
<li>Bring down my sleep quota.</li>
<li>Stay at the peak of my health.</li>
<li>Discover myself better</li>
<li>And finally to Start a company!</li>
</ol>
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2017 clearly was one of the best years so far thanks to the lots of seeding I sow in 2016. Hope I could improve upon some of the habits. Maintaining these is more preferred than creating new ones. I would not say it was easy to commit 3-4 hours every day to these habits, but I have to thank my family, especially my wife for helping me achieve all these either directly or indriectly. So, a big thanks to my family for being a rock solid support! </div>
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2018, here I come!<br />
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May all beings be happy!</div>
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-Braga</div>
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bragadeeshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05516264230057880613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-404354514747226337.post-18272540580007586852017-05-31T05:20:00.000-07:002017-05-31T05:20:22.622-07:00The Art of War - Book Review<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Wow!<br />
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Only 13 chapters each roughly between 2-4 pages, but the density of wisdom packed in each line is phenomenal. Sun Tzu would have been the undisputable grandmaster in Chess for ages, because of his extreme farsightedness, only what he dealt was not pieces on the board but real men and women in flesh and blood. No wonder these strategies were used by some of the great personalities and successful leaders like Napoleon Bonaparte to the founders of Oracle and Salesforce. The knowledge here is that War should not be seen as a means to victory or annexure, but something that is to be taken as the very last resort.<br />
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<a href="https://www.amazon.in/Art-War-Sun-Tzu-ebook/dp/B00BB5VSUY/ref=as_li_ss_il?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1496233081&ref_=tmm_kin_swatch_0&sr=8-1&linkCode=li3&tag=bragboycom-21&linkId=7cc6355f41a8d924d70599edc294a519" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="//ws-in.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=B00BB5VSUY&Format=_SL250_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=IN&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=bragboycom-21" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="https://ir-in.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=bragboycom-21&l=li3&o=31&a=B00BB5VSUY" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /></div>
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The following are my three favorite quotes from the book.<br />
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"Solving large, difficult problems may earn you a reputation for skillful negotiation, but Sun Tzu asserts that this supposed achievement is actually a form of failure, and having true wisdom means preventing difficult problems from arising in the first place."<br />
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"Sun Tzu also believed that bravery and greatness involve shunning what other people think of you, both praise and criticism and doing what you believe is the right thing."<br />
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"Those angry will be happy again, and those wrathful will be cheerful again, but a destroyed nation cannot exist again, the dead cannot be brought back to life."</div>
bragadeeshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05516264230057880613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-404354514747226337.post-46689927112603777552017-05-18T12:23:00.002-07:002017-05-18T12:25:59.172-07:00The 50th law - Book Review<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">A Satisfying read</span><br />
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Being a great fan of fictional stories involving meticulous strategy and action, going through historical masterpieces makes them even better to read. Curtis Jackson's early life (50 Cent) was one such story. His life resembled more of HBO's famous series "The Wire" - hustling in the streets, real and violent gangsta lifestyle. Having lost his parents so early due to violence and being completely isolated, he had defied all the odds and obstacles that were thrown at him.<br />
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<a href="https://www.amazon.in/50th-Law-Robert-Greene-Collection/dp/1846680794/ref=as_li_ss_il?ie=UTF8&qid=1495135261&sr=8-1&keywords=50th+law&linkCode=li3&tag=bragboycom-21&linkId=dd998f8211fa4492fbc5714c32a46226" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="//ws-in.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=1846680794&Format=_SL250_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=IN&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=bragboycom-21" /></a></div>
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Greene's obsession with analyzing and dissecting 50's story with historical references is what makes this a fascinating read. This is the third such book I'm reading from the same author and I will definitely finish off his other two as well. As for this one, I don't think everyone may like it because of the brutal facts presented and harsh realities, but I for one definitely loved it!<br />
<br />
Cheers!<br />
Braga</div>
bragadeeshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05516264230057880613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-404354514747226337.post-9010660856231173422017-05-14T11:38:00.000-07:002017-05-14T11:38:32.984-07:00Swami Vivekananda on Himself - Book Review<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">An inspirational life!</span><br />
<br />
Well, I have read the books on Yoga written by Vivekananda, the books he has written on meditation techniques, his lectures on the Bhagavad Gita, even the hardships about his master which was kind of depressing to see the pains he had to go through.<br />
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But this book reveals the real pain and torture Vivekananda went through. India was a wealthy country but the way Vivekananda carried himself was disheartening to read. Begging in the streets with glimpses of food being offered once in three days. He had fainted in the streets so unconscious in a dense rain that he could not realize what happened later. And these things he did not endure in days or weeks but for lots and lots of months. He had immense patience. Anyone who is attached to materialistic lifestyle would have easily jumped on the other side which was always available to him - see he was a learned scholar, he had the entire set of material life in front of him, but then he deeply realized and practiced them being just Maya. All those times he was having the idea and teachings he learned from him Master to stay away from the materialistic pleasures.<br />
"Without himself being free, how can he make others free?" - was his argument. From the outset and with the inclination going towards a lot of material and there are books written in abundance and the community as the whole trying to adopt the occidental at the max would lead us to happiness that comes with the cost of equivalent or more sorrow. I could only understand certain things he says perhaps only in a logical plane (which his Jnana work is all about). However, I could not commit to completely give up everything; what I was before reading this text is different than after I've read it.<br />
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This book again is the perspective of Vivekananda about himself. There are not many insights one could get about the works he has done, for instance, the four major books on Yoga he has written - Raja, Jnana, Karma, and Bhakti. He might have just hinted as if he was done with them, but each of these is deep work when viewed in isolation. The time he spent in the west and all the hundreds of letters written in a chronological order shows how focused he was in his works and the innumerous resistance he had to face from religious leaders of those times.<br />
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The more I reached towards the end of the book, the heavier it felt as this was a man who chose when to exit. Although he could well have attained Mukthi (if you agree with the Advaita Principle), he chose and clearly mentioned that he wanted to be born again. Not just that, he and his master would come again and continue there as forecasted by Shri Ramakrishna. For him, death was simply dropping the body and taking a new one. The best thing I loved about this book was the authenticity and an unadulterated POV as it does not involve a third person penning down his life, but it was all written by himself. If you are a fan of his work, you will find this book very interesting. If you are just going to start with this book, I would recommend reading his 4 books on Yoga.<br />
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Cheers!</div>
<div>
Braga</div>
</div>
bragadeeshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05516264230057880613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-404354514747226337.post-74497622165106471372017-05-12T02:58:00.000-07:002017-05-12T02:58:27.443-07:00How to Become a Straight-A Student - Book Review<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Straight A, guaranteed</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
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<a href="https://www.amazon.in/How-Become-Straight-Student-Unconventional/dp/0767922719/ref=as_li_ss_il?_encoding=UTF8&*Version*=1&*entries*=0&deviceType=desktop&ref_=pdp_new_dp_review&linkCode=li3&tag=bragboycom-21&linkId=1b96c7699fc2f7b1b1be0415e2d41117" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="//ws-in.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=0767922719&Format=_SL250_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=IN&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=bragboycom-21" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
It may be a bit strange to think why I would pick a book like this and read it after so many years of academia. The following were some of the reasons I could come up with,<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Although I was not a straight-A student at college (a decade earlier), I did score a lot of As (more than 80%). Getting to them was not an easy task, I had to follow a series of shortcuts and techniques. I wanted to check whether some of the techniques appeared in the book or not. The answer was both Yes and No.</li>
<li>I am a fan of Cal Newport's work especially his books "Deep Work" and "So good they can't ignore you". So I wanted to finish off his other books. This one apparently he had written around the time I had graduated.</li>
<li>I am already in the process of mentoring a lot of young blood towards altering the way they approach education as I personally feel the education system is royally broke. Newport should definitely have thrown light on that. And I could use some of the points in my mentoring sessions for primary and college students. They are enhanced multi folds after I've read this.</li>
<li>Education should not be stressful. Instead, it should be fun and adventurous. The starting few pages of the book hooked me up in this direction.</li>
<li>I wanted to use some of these techniques in my own work environment as my field (or any field for that matter) requires a good amount of constant learning. Newport's cheat sheets at the end of each chapter are a phenomenal source to fuel one's efficiency!</li>
</ul>
<br />
The core concept of this book is the strategy of "divide and rule". No matter the size of the problem you are trying to solve, the assignment you are trying to submit, the book you are trying to complete - this strategy works out perfectly. Especially in the arena of Academics and in Professional projects as well, the strategies laid out in this book could be applied to rip open any problem. Every student aspiring to get to Straight-A with least effort and maximum efficiency should read this.<br />
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Cheers!<br />
Braga</div>
bragadeeshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05516264230057880613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-404354514747226337.post-41291337972746203222017-05-11T05:15:00.000-07:002017-05-11T05:15:02.198-07:00Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid - Book Review<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">A truly METAllic experience!</span><br />
<br />
What a wonderful book! This is the biggest one I’ve read and I think it will remain so for many years to come. This book is pure genius, it was like watching one of those Christopher Nolan’s movie. No wonder Nolan himself was inspired from some of the Art inspired from Escher. It has taken 5 months for me to complete this book, wondering how long it would have taken Hofstadter to complete this beast. It is not just some random scribbling, it has a detailed structure and the blending on Music, Mathematics, and Art which also happens to be my most favorite subjects.<br />
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<a href="https://www.amazon.in/Godel-Escher-Bach-Eternal-Golden/dp/0465026567/ref=as_li_ss_il?_encoding=UTF8&*Version*=1&*entries*=0&deviceType=desktop&ref_=pdp_new_dp_review&linkCode=li3&tag=bragboycom-21&linkId=eb8eef16ec7cdd97928e22d9a8c9d016" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="//ws-in.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=0465026567&Format=_SL250_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=IN&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=bragboycom-21" /></a></div>
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<br />
Written in the 70s the concepts presented in this book are timeless. There are lots of things I would want to highlight that has stuck with me after reading this.<br />
Formal systems: The concept of formalizing anything into boundaries. This is the heart of any scientific advancement we have seen as a human civilization since our species started to calculate. The beauty of trying to formalize anything is that you cannot formalize anything. The strange paradox keeps looping in again and again in all sorts of subjects and Hofstadter has asked a lot of interesting questions around this area that directly correlates Science and Philosophy.<br />
Artificial Intelligence: Hofstadter lays all the building blocks needed to clone the human intelligence and what it really takes to completely replicate how a human thinks. Obviously, he himself did not find a solution or gathered one. However, the challenges that face straight on for moving the field of AI forward are clearly laid out. Not just laid out, his attempts to “formalize” them and the difficulties that are faced only suggest that Human species and our “life” is one of the rarest things that ever could have happened and makes us think how many of our limited days we are wasting in hatred, guilt, jealousy, greed. That is why this book gets super interesting when you dive deep into ‘formalising’ anything.<br />
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Since the book could get dry at few places, he tells some of the wonderful stories with some fantasical characters that have no least relationships with each other: Achilles, Tortoise, Crab being the main recurring characters. You also get to meet Sloth, Anteater, Author Himself, Charles Babbage, and Alan Turing. A story or a narration takes place between these characters which are highly intriguing in themselves and then is followed by theoretical/mathematical approach towards the subject that was just discussed.<br />
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This review is just an attempt and it is impossible to capture all the meta-nuances that this book covers. One thing guaranteed is that you are bound to enjoy the concepts in this book given you have basics of Music and a decent understanding of Mathematics. Since I am in the Engineering field, this book was an amazing journey. Digest it slowly, you will definitely cherish it!<br />
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Cheers!<br />Braga</div>
bragadeeshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05516264230057880613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-404354514747226337.post-9735757882224327082017-05-09T06:52:00.002-07:002017-05-11T05:17:20.977-07:00Siddhartha - Book Review<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Poetic introspection at its best!</span><br />
<br />
Before picking this book and in the first few chapters, my anticipation was that this is going to be a combination of fiction and history of the great Buddha, the sage. Even the name of the book bore his earlier name Siddhartha. As I read, I later found that this was about the journey of a person going through the various hardships of life. The way the author has set the stage and narration, it did not look as if I was reading a story of the third person, but about myself, silently throwing a lot of insights, encouraging self-introspection on how entrenched we've become quenching only the senses but missing the bigger picture called life. A real eye opener, or rather I would say an eye-widener as I've been trying to open my eyes for quite some time through various techniques and practices.<br />
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<a href="https://www.amazon.in/Siddhartha-Hermann-Hesse/dp/9380914148/ref=as_li_ss_il?_encoding=UTF8&*Version*=1&*entries*=0&deviceType=desktop&ref_=cm_cr-mr-img&linkCode=li3&tag=bragboycom-21&linkId=edc53ee6725ed2fe8961413057224f74" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="//ws-in.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=9380914148&Format=_SL250_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=IN&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=bragboycom-21" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
<img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="https://ir-in.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=bragboycom-21&l=li3&o=31&a=9380914148" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />This book does have mild erotic phases which were both pleasant and well written. Let your full imagination kick in and be committed to this, you will love it. Tragedies do occur here and there and I did not realize that I got myself attached to few characters unconsciously.<br />
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Also, this book was published almost a 100 years ago by the award winning Nobel laureate Herman Hesse. From an absolute relativistic point of view even stepping back a decade or two and imagining the times on how time was moving slow and how peaceful life was back then. With the advent of all sorts of technology with the phone becoming a constant companion, even taking a quite retreat from the clutches of the day-to-day schedules has become a luxury many can't afford. Reading through this story made me realize a lot of these and want me to focus more of my energy towards spiritual exploration through simple and everyday activities. I'm glad I read this masterpiece of work, I enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed the book <a href="http://amzn.to/2pY33wL">"The Alchemist"</a>.<br />
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Cheers!<br />
Braga</div>
bragadeeshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05516264230057880613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-404354514747226337.post-6212908293780792752017-05-05T10:34:00.000-07:002017-05-05T10:34:06.072-07:00Homo Deus - Book Review<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
If Yuval's previous book <a href="http://amzn.to/2pJniOQ">Sapiens</a> was an inconvenient truth about our species' past, <a href="http://amzn.to/2p59SxN">this book</a> is a brave, yet a very calculated attempt forecasting how our future will look like. Unlike history, where multiple disruptive changes could not have been experienced in a single lifespan, the current and future changes are thrusting very fast towards us with a myriad of ideas and improvements which we ourselves may soon start to hate. Yuval's prognostication could be deemed baseless, but most of the revamping are already on - some of them even so bizarre and ridiculous. The definition of consciousness and free will would soon come under questioning which could be interpreted as mere algorithms. Yes, it was hard to think each being as an algorithm and that our brains don't just randomly function letting our choices out of free will but through a predetermined set of neutrons and DNA imprints which are scientifically proved.<br />
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<a href="http://amzn.to/2p59SxN" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="homo deus book review by bragboy" border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYrPvmCaFSsTD7ROcuu-vf8VC7u4Xx1gAfs3JeDMBgezHL2jSwQeMmS3U-p1nu7jBuKa8Aq_sb-BdXOJwvFBOzuaqlm-bsyPem9qTPcB6T_L0HTVTyddlGw4gW4fuoqmSsyaIj5AzEf2Ja/s320/Homo_Deus.jpg" title="homo deus book review by bragboy" width="212" /></a></div>
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Forecasting the job market and analyzing the various forks was not an entertaining read either given how much AI has already started impacting and slowly but surely making us humans redundant. It is not a choice anymore because globalization, competition, and economy will dictate the terms of how the entire market should look like. Even worse, these too will be done by machines for machines. Present day, various organizations are using the word "disruption" as a punch line, but it will soon have its literal meaning realized disrupting the very fundamentals of how we lead our life. When that day comes (which is not far by the way, according to Yuval), we as a species could only wish we had not progressed with the pace we progressed.</div>
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Cheers!</div>
<div>
Braga</div>
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<i><span style="color: #444444;">Image source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homo_Deus:_A_Brief_History_of_Tomorrow</span></i></div>
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bragadeeshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05516264230057880613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-404354514747226337.post-67892644212711862932017-02-13T15:41:00.000-08:002017-02-13T15:41:10.179-08:00Musical Meditation!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I can confidently say that I am moving to the next phase of inner exploration. In my recent travel between Chennai and San Francisco, I had the blissful experience of doing two things at once. Enjoying music and meditating. During the past 4 years of my ON/OFF meditation, I can say that I am able to touch with my Root, my Inner peace, my blissful state at will. Maybe, it is difficult for the reader to relate what I am saying as these words may not be something described literally.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQLfRjhDcmFHJaHv9h4HLg4gDxyjO7jrcywQjcSRU2Y_ljRJeXh0ZWb46B8rVJabvK0yD8blPsqZ_5kAnHdYeLbz9Svu9tQVbYymos-9J50dtr_uUC0txugHdMXdluoD15YZXxKIr_NqHr/s1600/musical+meditation.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="301" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQLfRjhDcmFHJaHv9h4HLg4gDxyjO7jrcywQjcSRU2Y_ljRJeXh0ZWb46B8rVJabvK0yD8blPsqZ_5kAnHdYeLbz9Svu9tQVbYymos-9J50dtr_uUC0txugHdMXdluoD15YZXxKIr_NqHr/s400/musical+meditation.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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Anyways, during my recent flight journey, I stumbled upon one of my favorite songs from AR Rahman through the in-flight entertainment system. I tuned to this one song and wanted to concentrate on the various aspects of it. I put this song in a loop a lot of <br />
times and was at total peace in enjoying both the music and the usual Air Conditioning going from my spine to brain.<br />
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Such a wonderful experience - now I want to do it again and again!<br />
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Cheers!<br />Braga</div>
bragadeeshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05516264230057880613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-404354514747226337.post-3120705820676525672016-12-31T11:16:00.000-08:002017-01-01T00:15:35.934-08:002016 - You were too good to me! 2017 - Here I come with more vigor! <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Although the number of years we as a human species are going to live is very less compared to the cosmic scale, a year in our terms is still a year long! In that sense, 2016 has been a fantastic year both professional and personally for me. Simply because I feel that the past year gave me enough thrust to launch myself in a fully positive direction. I was able to achieve a lot in the year that just ended.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh060Rg8S-EwDJuZcnvMEpJur7p68dtXQqaH7c36S9aGbNtKzcsu2QSV1KhJ0nz8qqzWYEmflI5E2FrztqMtUmk7L5KcGFvUjTZWbV1gTImDJBuogN79skKx0tZyxCKxG2B4XPCcPY4-z5/s1600/new+year+2017+from+2016.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="153" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh060Rg8S-EwDJuZcnvMEpJur7p68dtXQqaH7c36S9aGbNtKzcsu2QSV1KhJ0nz8qqzWYEmflI5E2FrztqMtUmk7L5KcGFvUjTZWbV1gTImDJBuogN79skKx0tZyxCKxG2B4XPCcPY4-z5/s400/new+year+2017+from+2016.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<br />
Picking up stats from coach.me here are the bunch of positive goals and the number of times I hit them in the past year.<br />
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<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Sporting activities - 44 (almost once a week over the year)</li>
<li>Reading - 165 day streak!</li>
<li>Meditation - 111</li>
<li>Yoga/Stretching - 109</li>
</ul>
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<br />
All these are not haphazard things, these are real habits I've been wanting to develop, nay "Sustain" over a long period of time. Perseverance bears a lot of results over Impulsive Resolutions.<br />
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But it is a new year and I too want to take resolutions. Not to develop any new habits. But to sustain the existing ones. Probably improve those numbers above. Yet, those habits above give a lot of positive boost to myself!<br />
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Wish you all a very happy new year 2017!</div>
bragadeeshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05516264230057880613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-404354514747226337.post-51894847563689813382016-11-02T04:04:00.000-07:002016-11-02T04:06:16.338-07:00Boxing ring with my greatest fear<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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This was one of the assignments I received for my writing practice. </div>
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<i>Prompt: You find yourself in a boxing ring with your greatest fear. Describe the scene and detail your plan of attack.</i></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW_qZ_CwQ9L5xcw_6m1ER5cpcL26-lroFX58i3Fjb47jyfgE175FbmZ3TQ_t56oldEYeoJuvc_C6Gcd7ThRDReQxZfqf98Vy006DpQNN6HaZ6ZiZHSTNSuDlN5fZsE2eMGleRS9f2jxDLD/s1600/boxing+arena.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="158" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW_qZ_CwQ9L5xcw_6m1ER5cpcL26-lroFX58i3Fjb47jyfgE175FbmZ3TQ_t56oldEYeoJuvc_C6Gcd7ThRDReQxZfqf98Vy006DpQNN6HaZ6ZiZHSTNSuDlN5fZsE2eMGleRS9f2jxDLD/s400/boxing+arena.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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It was 2 AM early Saturday morning and the streets of Bradley Cross were void of people. The snow had already started to get worse and the only sound one could hear was the accelerating breeze around the neighborhood. I felt I was the only one to be walking in that deserted night. The weather was freezing and I had to use an extra thermal wear to go along with my usual woolen jacket. I was walking towards the Regent towers. I entered the building and walked through the narrow hallway. The lights inside the building were only partially lit and a flickering bulb led me to a large wooden door at the end of the hallway. I went and knocked it exactly three times. A man 6 foot seven opened it and said in a thick Russian accent - 'Come fasther, it is going to starth, we were all waithing for you'<br />
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20 minutes later I was standing at the arena surrounded by a dense crowd waiting to see a fight whose result they all knew. Although the odds were entirely stacked up against me, a good chunk of them came to see the flight hoping I would somehow win and conquer my long-term enemy any my greatest nightmare Mr.Floosing (Fear of Losing)<br />
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My fifteen-minute buzzer beeped.<br />
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Cheers!<br />
Braga</div>
bragadeeshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05516264230057880613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-404354514747226337.post-68868818759624579772016-10-20T12:18:00.001-07:002016-10-20T12:31:15.037-07:00UnFacebooked<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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It has been two full years I've deactivated my facebook account and my life has completely improved from then on. Turns out it was one of the best decisions I've taken till date. There was a point in my life where I use to have a lot of time and don't know how to spend of which Facebook had a lion's share. There were other things besides Facebook where I had wasted (wasting at times) precious time on like the below ones.<br />
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<li>Youtube deadly suggestion cycle</li>
<li>TV Series like Game of Thrones, Sopranos, Suits, The Walking Dead, Better Call Saul, The Wire, Supernatural.</li>
<li>Texas Holdem poker by Zynga</li>
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Not just a few hours, lots and lots of hours even days if you combine in a given week. Not just during off-work hours, but even during work hours - I had developed the habit of casually spending time on Facebook. At times it was very less and at other times, it was so pathetic that I could not control it. I was under its control. There were many addictive pages I used to follow, I had developed the obsession of looking at all the posts they have put - just to keep myself updated. There were lots of pages focussed on trolls and I was voraciously following them just to have giggles all over the period. It felt really good as I was not using my brains at all to learn something, it was just a large amount of information retrieval. I was not reading something useful, but it may be something interesting and funny. It was not adding any sort of value to neither my professional life nor my social life. The lie I use to tell to myself is that I am "in" facebook to be in touch with my close and distant friends whom otherwise I will not be able to contact or spend time with. This virtual connection I thought was a noble reason. Had I used facebook, say, for promoting my product or advertising about something that would yield a return in the long run or say develop an application on top of it that would either give me knowledge on understanding its architecture or would yield some profit, then it would have served as a proper cause. But the cause itself was a stupid one.</div>
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I tried many ways to quit FB. I installed some plugin in Chrome that would limit my time on Facebook - that did not help me for a long time, I tried other techniques on limiting the usage of Facebook, even that I could not maintain the discipline to follow up. I went and read all the bad things that Facebook could do to you assuming that they would give me enough moral incentive to stop using Facebook - nope did not work out. Seems it was a very bad habit that I could not stop.</div>
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So instead of trying to stop something that is resistive, I use a technique of developing something else. Coach.me helped a lot in that aspect. I started to learn piano, started meditating, started doing Asana, started brushing teeth at night, started sporting activities. These commitments did not immediately make me come out of FB, however, I slowly started to feel the reduction in my stress levels as FB not only gave me entertainment - it used to stress me out as well for various reasons from hatred posts about religion, race, politics to my friends/acquaintances brag. It was a bit overstretched. So, one fine day I just stopped using it. The results were phenomenal! I could concentrate more on things that I had long wanted to perform. Some kind of transformation took place within me and I was more attracted towards the positive side of things.<br />
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(I often could stray from what I am trying to convey, but I don't give a damn, this is an exercise I am doing towards improving my writing skills. So I just want to vomit whatever thoughts coming out of my head and trying to curb my inner critic telling to write this article in a structured way. Screw that!)</div>
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Let me change the tone of this article from rant to wisdom. I am not going to ask you to come out Facebook and stop using it altogether - that would be a stupid advice I know. But ask yourself these basic questions. What is the motive behind me using Facebook? What are the things I am gaining by using Facebook - Is it just entertainment or is there any sort of wisdom this gives to me? How long am I using Facebook on weekdays and on weekends? On weekdays, I check during work hours?<br />
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Answer to few of these questions and do a retrospect you should get answers in some time if not immediately.<br />
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Cheers!<br />
Braga<br />
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bragadeeshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05516264230057880613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-404354514747226337.post-61633215227611293182016-10-12T13:04:00.001-07:002016-11-02T03:52:38.781-07:00Breakup letter with Resistance<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Dear Resistance, <br />
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How have you been? I've been longing to write to you for quite some time. Ironically, the only force preventing me from doing that was none but you! I think the time has come and I have to say this now - I am breaking up with you! <br />
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Yes, this may come as a shock to you. However, you did not give me any other choice. You kind of pushed me to a corner and forced me to do things (or rather not do things) that I would later regret in my life. You are that untold aura around me (and everyone perhaps) constantly making me yield to you. You have the knack and potential to masquerade yourself through my own physical self. Even identifying you took a long time for me since you hid and rode yourself through my unconsciousness. Throwing some conscious light over you took close to 30 years! That is a super long time to possess someone. That is why you are being called as the Devil. <br />
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Your true colors got unraveled only after I took the magic potion with ingredients containing definiteness of purpose, courage, dream, belief, luck, perseverance and lots and lots of action. I am pretty sure we may cross paths in future, but I am super happy having learnt to un-summon you at will! <br />
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Goodbye!<br />
-Braga</div>
bragadeeshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05516264230057880613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-404354514747226337.post-5055935920062426692016-10-11T11:55:00.001-07:002016-10-11T11:56:50.359-07:00Coach.me contract!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz1djud6h7ed8dQvpTn0dtkez1KR3mZr_LLhxvxr0ZfoIPIpAPJlvFnjphs7v0QqbrYJbVDRG9aoj6rYLuFundsc6jKArJ95gqtF2dqEsc93GNK1B8_TyMdE9ELkVfmBQk94K2oajE2S6z/s1600/typing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="154" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz1djud6h7ed8dQvpTn0dtkez1KR3mZr_LLhxvxr0ZfoIPIpAPJlvFnjphs7v0QqbrYJbVDRG9aoj6rYLuFundsc6jKArJ95gqtF2dqEsc93GNK1B8_TyMdE9ELkVfmBQk94K2oajE2S6z/s320/typing.jpg" width="320" /></a>I am really excited to have taken a serious stance towards improving my writing habit. As a first step, I wanted someone to help me towards making it a practice rather an "impulsive surge" that is great only for a short period of time. I already have an account with coach.me for a very long time and I just hired a personal coach. The Zeroth assignment given to me was to first write a contract that I should abide by. My coach Jen Anderson, gave a template on how to write one. This is what I came up with<br />
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<i>"Beginning today, October 11, 2016, I, Braga will write every day for a period of minimum 20 minutes for 30 days. Should any obstacles present itself during this period, I would seek expert advice from Jen, my coach. As with other key goals, I track with coach.me, like Meditation, Yoga, and Read - I would include "Write" which I will check-in only if I meet the minimum requirement of writing at least 20 minutes a day; I do not have an upper limit to this period. I pray to the almighty to give me the power and consistency to be on track with this objective."</i><br />
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I am really excited and hope to continue in this direction. I am blogging about this not for the general public, but for myself - more like a journal.<br />
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Cheers!<br />
Braga</div>
bragadeeshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05516264230057880613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-404354514747226337.post-72649850870421057232016-06-11T14:46:00.001-07:002018-03-19T05:49:33.136-07:005 things to avoid during an emotional situation<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Straight from Wikipedia, "Emotion, in everyday speech, is any relatively brief conscious experience characterised by intense mental activity and a high degree of pleasure or displeasure." Emotion - it is INTENSE isn't? All animals feel it and react the way they want to react. Controlling emotion is something that animals can't do. However - humans have that option.<br />
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Consider yourself as two different versions of you. One being a sane, logical, level headed and perhaps a person filled with wisdom who could analyse things clearly and be completely fair in decision making with very less to no bias. The other version of You is this freakish, crazy, emotional being just reacts to things and yields to strong feelings instantly.<br />
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All you've got to understand is that you have these two polarising personalities. Following a simple formula of one talking to another - would help a lot in preventing damage to both your profession and personal life. However insane you go, just remind yourself to avoid these things even though you feel they are right during that time. </div>
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1. <u>Don't send an email</u> - Whenever you are running hot with different thoughts - writing an email is not a very wise decision. For instance, you are very angry at your boss or a subordinate and that you want to vent out that anger - email is clearly not the right choice. You will use words which your own sober version would regret later. Just remember that writing an email is not a great idea and if your sane version agrees to it now - it will 9 out of 10 times be right. Instead of hitting that send button, you may draft and keep it though for your rational self to review later.<br />
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2. <u>Don't commit</u> - This again is important while running frenzy with emotions there are lot times one will tend not to consider and commit to something. Most of the times this will not result as disastrous as an email, your "word" reputation may degrade. If you are too happy or too ambitious, just prefer words like 'I will have to analyse this', 'I'll get back to you on this' instead of words like 'I can do it by tomorrow', 'This is a piece of cake'<br />
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3. <u>Don't swear</u> - With the right ingredients like continued stress, provocative swear words, bashing in public - comes a diabolic ingredient swear words. Swearing, cursing or threatening at someone will not always be a sensible choice. However, a lame, reactive and a weaker one. Your saner you would agree on this. Try to remain calm or even better - avoid putting yourself in such a situation in the first place.<br />
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4. <u>Don't go Social</u> - With the rise in a lot of social channels like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc., it has become quite common to share your strong opinions. However, anything that goes out to the internet is very hard to take back. Even setting a Whatsapp status message could be something you should avoid. </div>
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5. <u>Don't go Gossip</u> - There are times when you hear an extremely sensitive information or anything that pumps the adrenaline in your blood, you may want to instantly share with someone which you would later regret you would not have done. The best thing to do in such a circumstance is to let it pass and not just share or expose to people you would later think you would not. </div>
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It is easier said than done and I hope the sensible part of you is reading this and if you could agree to some of this, then try to stop for a moment and try to recollect during a tense situation that doing any of these could be detrimental to your career and life!</div>
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Cheers!</div>
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Braga</div>
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bragadeeshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05516264230057880613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-404354514747226337.post-53660268286098221852016-03-13T05:29:00.002-07:002016-03-14T05:12:47.427-07:00Sick is Pharma<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Dear Pharma,<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghKJ-YdgTzoUijd5A_Te1Zqq_hLe7w-MsU_8hDF7YHuZD32S8SVnq6VVoP3EL2Ti7xMah4CrHpOwv7zHXtZkUjM37EpyyP024mDWAQZyxeq1V6LNRT9DBU1qFxySI7RqFxCu3x-BgusaYQ/s1600/Pharma.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghKJ-YdgTzoUijd5A_Te1Zqq_hLe7w-MsU_8hDF7YHuZD32S8SVnq6VVoP3EL2Ti7xMah4CrHpOwv7zHXtZkUjM37EpyyP024mDWAQZyxeq1V6LNRT9DBU1qFxySI7RqFxCu3x-BgusaYQ/s320/Pharma.jpg" width="320" /></a>How come you've become so mighty that you precept almost everything in the world? You have the knack of making your appearance so generous and everything you do is seen as an achievement. How do you do that so easily? You are able to dictate what Doctors should study during their extra-prolonged education and you direct what medicines should be sold to where. How come you've become so globalised and united that you are able to fake the entire world in the name of WHO, CDC, FDA? And your relentless marketing for the fight against AIDS and Cancer which are nothing but temporary condition of the immune system (which you make sure gets permanent) deserves an award. You enter our lives right when we were born in the name of "vaccination" and stay with us all through our life. You've made almost everyone believe that you are the cure for all diseases - when in fact its the exact opposite. I want to go on and on about the damages you've done for centuries and the damages you keep on doing - but our time is relatively minuscule in cosmic scale and you will pay for the karma you leave behind.<br />
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-Braga</div>
bragadeeshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05516264230057880613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-404354514747226337.post-66232048806770571282015-12-20T04:56:00.001-08:002015-12-20T04:56:42.603-08:00Cleo's Grill - Avoid at all costs!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVEkpiqJTX_924-Vq6hDy18sN9KhxRheuSSrQ4WiXeGqQ11N2-DonDyIlLxxDTM4UwNmEQSq58VrBA2VG7Odl9gq00UM6tvxxZtHfkh1Garr4EevyXDnbNWPq5LpO46CekqdPt0NZjT24D/s1600/cleo%2527s+grill+cafe+adyar.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="195" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVEkpiqJTX_924-Vq6hDy18sN9KhxRheuSSrQ4WiXeGqQ11N2-DonDyIlLxxDTM4UwNmEQSq58VrBA2VG7Odl9gq00UM6tvxxZtHfkh1Garr4EevyXDnbNWPq5LpO46CekqdPt0NZjT24D/s320/cleo%2527s+grill+cafe+adyar.png" width="320" /></a>It was a miserable experience at Cleo's Grill and there is enough evidence they are tampering review on Zomato to make it look good. That restaurant won't even deserve a 1.0 rating, however they constantly are writing face reviews with stellar 5 stars to make it available via Zomato. Zomato should take a look at detecting fake reviews in favor of improving their own reliability and trust.<br />
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I am writing this review as it happened on Dec 18 2015. We were around 35-40 in count. And we entered the restaurant around 1PM.<br />
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Initially we were served with a colorised juice and a cream of chicken soup. This happened after we took a seat in 15 min. After that there was a long gap. Then came the chicken-only starters. Three of the five varieties were not good tasting and were not hot as well. We asked for few veg starters. The waiter told that non veg and veg sections are separated and we are not entitled for veg starters. With few persuasion, they gave just one plate of veg starter having paneer and baby corn. When demanded more, the northeast waiter was clueless on what we were asking. A good 1.5 hours went during this battle. Unhappily we were looking at each other to make up something in the main course.<br />
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Main course was the main disappointment. A bowl of fried rice, a bowl of noodles and few rotis that were nowhere close to fresh came to our table. We were 8 in our table and we could not even eat 20% of it. And that's it! No more main course. The waiters were all clearly under trained and uncommunicative. They were clueless on what we were asking or to sync to our requests. With few hand motions from them we learnt that this was all there for main course.<br />
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Desserts were even worse. They said there were only two varieties. Vanilla and chocolate. When persuaded more, they said nothing but brought a close-to-liquid mix of vanilla and chocolate ice cream. We were left deserted for our desserts.<br />
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In the ten years I've dined in and around chennai, I am rating this as the worst of the worst experiences. The restaurant was clearly under prepared to serve our capacity. They did not have the skills or the varieties to serve us. In that case, why take the booking at all?!<br />
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It was pretty embarrassing for everyone of us. This kind of rude experience cannot be tolerated. I don't know if this is an exception going by zomato's 3.9 rating or if the rating itself is tampered/fabricated with fake reviews from the restaurant themselves.<br />
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In any case, I cannot neither recommend nor visit this pathetic place ever again to anyone in this life or the next!</div>
bragadeeshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05516264230057880613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-404354514747226337.post-15061626423367594232015-09-27T14:31:00.001-07:002015-11-21T10:45:43.448-08:00Sold off my iPhone 5s!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiYU-VPuU6nOzR36Yu32g8VaDClUzsfM_YHvwdcf3TaC1KqBrZE_1jtuiTETjwDl2I0kEZYveeu6xDOgIByYBzgXut3YKYyiBmhS5qnskN_EdXMcshY9DMdbWfrO8784mROBs6T1GSC5bg/s1600/girl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="140" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiYU-VPuU6nOzR36Yu32g8VaDClUzsfM_YHvwdcf3TaC1KqBrZE_1jtuiTETjwDl2I0kEZYveeu6xDOgIByYBzgXut3YKYyiBmhS5qnskN_EdXMcshY9DMdbWfrO8784mROBs6T1GSC5bg/s200/girl.jpg" width="200" /></a>I am typing from a new iPhone 6 after selling off my iPhone 5s for what I thought was a fair price of 17k! The phone is in relatively good condition and its life has been roughly greater than 2 years. With iPhone 6 and 6s ahead of it, I thought holding it for more time would only have it value reduced. A price of 17k was indeed a surprise to me as I had offered for 16k to one of my co workers who denied the same. Good that he did!<br />
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Anyways the Sunday evening was very productive and I am really happy now that the transaction was smooth and hassle free!!</div>
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Cheers!</div>
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Braga</div>
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bragadeeshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05516264230057880613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-404354514747226337.post-91080470478468821692015-06-05T14:56:00.001-07:002015-06-12T00:40:49.927-07:00Alone is awesome!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I usually never sleep during the night journeys I make to and fro between chennai and my native Thanjavur. Not knowing what to do, I either use to load my iPhone or iPad with lots of movies that would typically run for the entire travel or hear to songs over the entire journey. Hardly do i sleep. Neither in the bus nor in the train. Tired of watching the movie Taken 3 I thought I would not take a rest/sleep. Instead, blabber something in my blog space.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGtZ1fxwox179a0hesWOj8zaINfDj3R2tQNeYF6mMJzL1pZ0iTucazf8xg-BL-cC77YUo08xwn9E9Idg85bticuPmJpxwHTlYv06BTdnjsgDYkjpw_J_lgOz0t4IKob-pXdwsuTTcYGsmx/s1600/aloneisawesome.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGtZ1fxwox179a0hesWOj8zaINfDj3R2tQNeYF6mMJzL1pZ0iTucazf8xg-BL-cC77YUo08xwn9E9Idg85bticuPmJpxwHTlYv06BTdnjsgDYkjpw_J_lgOz0t4IKob-pXdwsuTTcYGsmx/s400/aloneisawesome.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
Being alone was hell few years before. I have felt most difficult when it came to eating. As all my life starting from kid to school to college to even after college, I always use to eat with people around. It was one of the most difficult transitions I had to make and adapt to eat alone. It was very difficult at first, then I found something interesting in being alone. I can totally be myself during this time. No interruptions or conversations although I do speak during phone at times which even slowly vanished away. One of the beautiful things or a life lesson I could put it is that the lesser dependency you have the easier and malleable you are. I have witnessed this concept in one of the famous movie speeches of the 21st century from the movie called "Up in the air" where George clooney talks about the burdens that come along the way when you keep adding stuff to your life.<br />
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Here is What’s In Your Backpack? Speech:<br />
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<i>"How much does your life weigh? Imagine for a second that you’re carrying a backpack. I want you to feel the straps on your shoulders. Feel ’em? Now I want you to pack it with all the stuff that you have in your life. You start with the little things. The things on shelves and in drawers, the knick-knacks, the collectibles. Feel the weight as that adds up. Then you start adding larger stuff, clothes, table-top appliances, lamps, linens, your TV.</i><br />
<i>The backpack should be getting pretty heavy now. And you go bigger. Your couch, bed, your kitchen table. Stuff it all in there. Your car, get it in there. Your home, whether it’s a studio apartment or a two bedroom house. I want you to stuff it all into that backpack. Now try to walk. It’s kind of hard, isn’t it? This is what we do to ourselves on a daily basis. We weigh ourselves down until we can’t even move. And make no mistake, moving is living.</i><br />
<i>Now, I’m gonna set that backpack on fire. What do you want to take out of it? What do you want to take out of it? Photos? Photos are for people who can’t remember. Drink some ginkgo and let the photos burn. In fact, let everything burn and imagine waking up tomorrow with nothing. It’s kind of exhilarating, isn’t it?</i><br />
<i>Now, this is gonna be a little difficult, so stay with me. You have a new backpack. Only this time, I want you to fill it with people. Start with casual acquaintances, friends of friends, folks around the office, and then you move into the people that you trust with your most intimate secrets. Your cousins, your aunts, your uncles, your brothers, your sisters, your parents and finally your husband, your wife, your boyfriend or your girlfriend.</i><br />
<i>You get them into that backpack. And don’t worry. I’m not gonna ask you to light it on fire. Feel the weight of that bag. Make no mistake – your relationships are the heaviest components in your life. Do you feel the straps cutting into your shoulders?</i><br />
<i>All those negotiations and arguments, and secrets and compromises. You don’t need to carry all that weight. Why don’t you set that bag down? Some animals were meant to carry each other, to live symbiotically for a lifetime – star crossed lovers, monogamous swans. We are not those animals. The slower we move, the faster we die. We are not swans. We’re sharks."</i><br />
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Pretty cool isn't it? I did not realise this dialogue to the full extent after I starting adding all those things plus debts in my own backpack. Pretty damn hard to move! Enjoy your alone time as much as possible!<br />
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Cheers!<br />
Braga</div>
bragadeeshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05516264230057880613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-404354514747226337.post-23344144561533184092015-03-20T12:54:00.001-07:002015-06-12T00:27:33.469-07:004 things to do when you switch to a new job<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
There could be multiple reasons why one would be switching his/her job. It could be one or combinations multiple factors like financial stability, career growth, better opportunity, change in roles/responsibilities, personal reasons or just for the heck of it. Switching to a new job is a time consuming process. You will have to serve your notice with your current employer and make sure that you are having a smooth transition. There will always be some excitement on joining a new company. Whatever may be the case, have these 4 thumb rules in mind before you enter your new workplace.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">1. Be Humble</span></b><br />
You may have gotten recruited for a top post or a junior level. The first thing you have to express in any new job is humility. You will have to get up to speed with what is happening in the current job. This at times may be coming from someone lower to your experience/skills. However, you should never let your 'me' get in-between this knowledge gathering process. For instance, all you were asked to do was some mundane/manual work or an errand to run. Remember it is not the time to show resistance or disscontempt. Embrace it.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpsrW4ZBG04RTH11SCxlsU0uF5aheUPaMSc0yznsUOoQmLCVTUUbUgKVrSKVKVAUe_VyWcGsbxeyIEKJ15T1tIwMgffISG4SIk2uvQn2rOWTgG0AV7kpsPhvxlR29w8rDJxphUCuEi6Q5y/s1600/job.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpsrW4ZBG04RTH11SCxlsU0uF5aheUPaMSc0yznsUOoQmLCVTUUbUgKVrSKVKVAUe_VyWcGsbxeyIEKJ15T1tIwMgffISG4SIk2uvQn2rOWTgG0AV7kpsPhvxlR29w8rDJxphUCuEi6Q5y/s1600/job.jpeg" width="320" /></a><br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;">2. Meet and Greet</span></b><br />
As a new joinee, one often tends to hide behind the scenes and try to spend most of the time in front of a monitor reading documents and expect everyone to just come and talk to you. Practically, that is not going to happen. So, be proactive and talk to all the people at least in the team that you are put into. Make sure you remember the names of all the persons in your team and try to join them for lunches and coffee breaks.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">3. Refresh yourself</span></b><br />
It is always a good way to start things fresh given a new environment/job and a new set of people. Try to analyse the types of mistakes you did in the past jobs and the situations where you might have felt bad for some of the things you did. Make sure that you do not repeat these mistakes in the new workplace. Its a very good opportunity to start over with a clean slate.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">4. Put that "extra" effort</span></b><br />
One of the main things most of the new candidates will overlook is the fact that they are under the scanner from day one. Any new job requires a sharp learning curve, may it be the business process, the technology stack, new language to adapt, new jargons to learn and altogether a brand new team. This is the time to make sure that you get all the details about the new environment, even the the nitty gritty ones as soon as possible. This is also the crucial process where you could showcase that you are the right person for the job and that you really care about the team and stakeholders who put you there.<br />
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Cheers!<br />
Braga</div>
bragadeeshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05516264230057880613noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-404354514747226337.post-45082798393523299712015-03-04T21:06:00.001-08:002015-03-04T21:29:55.257-08:00கீதாசாரம் - Geethasaram (Essence of Bhagavat Gita) <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
One of the beautiful messages you would ever hear. This is something that you should constantly ask yourself whenever the "me" part of you kicks in.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiAn7POu6rr7QM1XXS1LgYzRGJN_h-YRABjYrrgmZCYmf8fzZ4wG1SDgV73AbRPc6u9olEUlRS-AiJOudnI3N_Yax2kE7X7-6rO8wy2A3uuLrScwqScX_h8PfnVYkYuJnYioT_OIXvgyP1/s1600/arjun-krishna.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiAn7POu6rr7QM1XXS1LgYzRGJN_h-YRABjYrrgmZCYmf8fzZ4wG1SDgV73AbRPc6u9olEUlRS-AiJOudnI3N_Yax2kE7X7-6rO8wy2A3uuLrScwqScX_h8PfnVYkYuJnYioT_OIXvgyP1/s1600/arjun-krishna.jpg" height="254" width="320" /></a>எது நடந்ததோ, அது நன்றாகவே நடந்தது ,<br />
எது நடக்கிறதோ, அது நன்றாகவே நடக்கிறது ,<br />
எது நடக்க இருக்கிறதோ, அதுவும் நன்றாகவே நடக்கும்,<br />
உண்ணுடுயதை எதை நீ இழந்தாய் ?<br />
எதற்காக நீ அழுகிறாய் ?<br />
எதை நீ கொண்டு வந்தாய் அதை இழப்பதற்கு ?<br />
எதை நீ படைத்திருந்தாய், அது வீணாவதற்கு ?<br />
எதை நீ எடுத்து கொண்டாயோ,<br />
அது இங்கிருந்து எடுக்கப்பட்டது,<br />
எதை கொடுத்தாயோ, அது இங்கிருந்து கொடுக்கப்பட்டது,<br />
எது இன்று உன்னுடையதோ, அது நாளை மற்றவருடையாகுது,<br />
மற்றொரு நாள், அது வேறோருவுடையதாகிறது, இதுவே உலக நியதியும்,<br />
எனது படைப்பின் சாராம்சமாகும்.<br />
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<u>Equivalent English Translation</u><br />
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Whatever happened, happened well.<br />
Whatever is happening, is happening well.<br />
Whatever will happen will also happen well.<br />
What of yours did you lose for you to repent?<br />
What did you bring for it to be lost?<br />
What did you create for it to be destroyed?<br />
Whatever you took, you took from here<br />
Whatever you gave, you have given here.<br />
Whatever is yours today will be someone else's tomorrow.<br />
And someone else's some other day.<br />
This Inevitable change is the law of the universe.<br />
And that is the essence of my creation.<br />
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Cheers!<br />
Bragboy</div>
bragadeeshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05516264230057880613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-404354514747226337.post-12864410245335618582015-01-19T08:50:00.002-08:002015-06-12T00:33:51.498-07:00TCS Layoff<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6LJnqxu-4ljqaQbq1FowfOt-n8Ivz8mXJs0RbudopAF_N0pNEZhDDWK2xwW_-ihQ1Z8D1sO3o90o6VW61lUgmwSTgS1QgTEwYawZEiSqCOccRG5FsN0lgoysNiSq8YF2ktEoScCJVu7gC/s1600/pink+slip.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="232" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6LJnqxu-4ljqaQbq1FowfOt-n8Ivz8mXJs0RbudopAF_N0pNEZhDDWK2xwW_-ihQ1Z8D1sO3o90o6VW61lUgmwSTgS1QgTEwYawZEiSqCOccRG5FsN0lgoysNiSq8YF2ktEoScCJVu7gC/s400/pink+slip.jpg" width="400" /></a>No one was complaining when Information Technology sector folks were receiving hefty pay-checks compared to a Government employee of similar experience and role. No one came forward to standardise the pay structure that falls in line with Indian Labour Laws. Suddenly, there is a heightened sense of merging the private sectors with Government rules and law. The problem does not lie on what TCS is doing. It is a bit deeper. IT Sector has had a huge impact on country's growth - no doubt, but it has also inflated or false projected a lot of other sectors. For a company like TCS, under performers are a nightmare that they have struggled for a long time. Same goes for the Wipros, HCLs, Infys, Accentures, CAP Geminis. If you are a genuine performer and you are skilled enough - why cry out in social media/public and why not find a better job elsewhere - I am sure Information Technology market sector is good enough and adopts performers all over the country and abroad. If you are an under performer and you are scared of losing a job in a low-standard recruitment company like TCS, then it is pretty damn clear that you cannot and should not be complaining.</div>
bragadeeshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05516264230057880613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-404354514747226337.post-42267939434810147732014-12-29T10:44:00.000-08:002015-03-04T21:30:50.751-08:00Work from home - Does it Work?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Work from home. Should I do it or should I not? The tempting answer would be yes if you really want to have such a dream feature. However, there are a lot of negatives on working from home; at least I have faced a lot of them. Let me list them one by one. Before that, lets go through the Pros first<br />
<ol style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ415KON9o0u8OZJB1Ss5CkK717OioNMAGtVCUc8bHlo6jhTImP7wKtZZLK5eMx1Pn0vwF783F0YMBKwqvjvKhrYqx2U0iq4TVws9UFIgwUihCZ9jxN8a_VHzafJWCPO6L49eFMJnT-ovi/s1600/work-from-homw.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ415KON9o0u8OZJB1Ss5CkK717OioNMAGtVCUc8bHlo6jhTImP7wKtZZLK5eMx1Pn0vwF783F0YMBKwqvjvKhrYqx2U0iq4TVws9UFIgwUihCZ9jxN8a_VHzafJWCPO6L49eFMJnT-ovi/s1600/work-from-homw.jpg" height="265" width="400" /></a>
<li>It is a dream come true. This is a very fascinating aspect to have it in your job description. Working from home is almost a dream realised. You have the liberty to relax and still able to deliver on the tasks assigned to you.</li>
<li>You can receive packages/posts being at home. Certain things like cheque book, credit cards, debit cards etc., could be collected at home being in-person</li>
<li>You can over look house hold repairs by third parties. This is a boon where you can be present at home and supervise the repair items and chores like Plumbing, electricity fixes, AC fit etc.,</li>
<li>Hot food, coffee when you like it, even you can cuddle your baby, pep up your wife and even do a quick grocery visit to a nearby store. </li>
<li>Working far away from office. Since work from home does not put any restriction on where you need to be, you can very well be thousands of miles away from your workplace. All you would need is a fast internet connection and a relatively quieter environment. Which means you can take short vacations clubbing few work from home days thus commuting and being with family at your native place a bit longer. </li>
<li>Watch that cricket match or at least take a peek happily</li>
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Now to the cons,</div>
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<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li>Work from home means Distraction from work. Talk about all possible distractions. All the ones said in the Pros are indeed distraction in one way or the other.</li>
<li>Physical presence takes a hit. Since you can achieve a lot of things by running at colleagues desk and do items quickly.</li>
<li>Silent Partner in meetings. Meetings you will miss a lot of items because you will be sitting in a separate room where you will not be able to participate the same way you would have in a meeting</li>
<li>Reduced productivity by subordinates. If you happen to be a lead or manager, there is obvious reduction in productivity of your subordinates since you are absent.</li>
<li>Extension of fights and brawls at home. There is a good chance that you will involve in a quarrel with your wife. This will not only upset your mood, you work will also take a hit.</li>
<li>Careless mistakes. Again this is a result of distraction where the chances of you mistyping an email or only skimming on items which would result in catastrophic failures based on the intensity of the mistake you commit. </li>
<li>Addiction. This will soon become an addiction and you will detach yourself more from your work life thus having a reduced learning curve.</li>
<li>Spoilt subordinates. If you are a lead and you do work from home on a regular basis, your subordinates may follow suit and it will be difficult for you to stop spreading this disease across the team</li>
<li>Detrimental from Company's point of view. Any company gives this option as an emergency/backup for its employees and not something to be abused or over used. This may come back and haunt you at your performance review/ratings.</li>
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Overall, use this option very carefully and avoid it unless and absolutely necessary. That way you would have respected on why this was provided in the first place as well as making the business continuity going smooth which will make your superiors be happy and in peace.<br />
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Cheers!<br />
Braga</div>
bragadeeshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05516264230057880613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-404354514747226337.post-23191268324323649552014-12-24T10:14:00.002-08:002015-06-12T00:32:23.816-07:00Not a very merry christmas<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGBr6GW38v11iwRlxZqgLhwdPlBkKIC6S5wQyJIHOdNMocfvWKmtGjt2YJQXa1ykLuD2eKUe7dWrJ_FTQEcmrJC9Ul5P-YR9TQyJ_etm6glMaodUyM1TA9rFTgxh2APupGsiYT_zy-RVZp/s1600/slide-trust.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="132" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGBr6GW38v11iwRlxZqgLhwdPlBkKIC6S5wQyJIHOdNMocfvWKmtGjt2YJQXa1ykLuD2eKUe7dWrJ_FTQEcmrJC9Ul5P-YR9TQyJ_etm6glMaodUyM1TA9rFTgxh2APupGsiYT_zy-RVZp/s400/slide-trust.jpg" width="400" /></a>2014 Christmas Eve is not a very merry one to begin with. It is all because of trusting my subordinates' word for something and not verifying the validity of the statement. It is indeed upsetting that I had trusted someone and taken the word as a Gospel. However, one thing I learnt here is never to Trust anyone's word for that matter when you become an interface for the outside world or to a set of highly trustable recipients. With my trust broken, I have committed a sin of breaking many other's trust. It is time I stop skimming on items where I am the most responsible person. It is indeed a good lesson for me not to repeat this mistake again in Future. Best lesson to start new year 2015 !</div>
bragadeeshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05516264230057880613noreply@blogger.com0