BookMarks #106: My Journey

Title: My Journey: Transforming Dreams into Actions

Author: APJ Abdul Kalam

Genre: Non-fiction, Autobiography

Published: 2013

BookMarks

Dr. Abdul Kalam’s life story in his own words, covering key moments/incidents in his life from his childhood in Rameswaram, to his scientific work and onto becoming the President of India. In simple words he has narrated his life experiences, his influences and the lessons which we as readers could draw from them.

Here are the passages which I bookmarked from his journey

• On Dreams - Dreams are not those that we see in our sleep; they should be the ones that never let us sleep.
• A summary of his life - love poured to the child…struggle…more struggle…bitter tears… then sweet tears…and finally a life as beautiful and fulfilling as seeing the birth of the full moon.'
• On basic human nature - Whenever human beings find themselves alone, as a natural reaction, they start looking for company. Whenever they are in trouble, they look for someone to help them… Every recurrent anguish, longing and desire finds it own special helper.
• The survival instinct - the only way to survive is to face your troubles and rebuild your life.
• On happiness - Joy is fleeting, whereas true happiness and calm can come to us only after intense pain, when we have confronted ourselves in the mirror of our souls and understood the self.
• On success - The best way to win is not to cover a win but to keep a calm and open mind to new challenges
• On the importance of space studies in a developing country like India - on the relevance of such a programme when a vast majority in the country was battling the demons of hunger and poverty….India could only play a meaningful role in the affairs of the world if the country was self-reliant in every manner, and should be able to apply advanced technologies to alleviate real-life problems. Thus our space programme was never simply a desire to be one among an elite group of nations, neither was it a matter of playing catch-up with other countries. Rather, it was an expression of the need for developing indigenous capabilities in telecommunications, meteorology and education.
• On what brings out the best in people - People like me, who are intrinsically shy, with the added quality of coming from a different background than my city-bred colleagues, tend to remain hidden in the shadows unless something or someone pushes us centre stage.
• On things beyond our control - often there are powers greater than yours who dictate the consequences of your work.
• On success & failure - we don't just build on successes, we also build on failures.
• On Work Ethics - Total commitment is not just hard work, it is total involvement. It is also about setting a goal. It is having a goal in front of you that makes a difference to the final outcome of your hard work.
• Life Mantra - That humaneness, generosity and understanding can never let you down.

Fairly simple but thoughts worth their weight in gold from a fascinating human being! Really liked the simplicity of words, the preciseness in thought and the flow of the narrative. This book is great example of the adage "Write to express and not to impress"

Previously on BookMarks: The Great Gatsby 

Engineer's Day

September 15 - celebrated as Engineer’s Day in India as a tribute to Bharat Ratna Sir M Viswesvaraya – India’s first ever civil engineer and instrumental in developing many projects across the country.

From one in 1884 to more than 15 Lakh engineering graduates every year, it has been quite a journey for the Indian engineering education. However, that has also given rise to another facet - more and more students are acquiring an engineering degree and then deciding their vocation – be it Marketing, Finance, HR, Software, Various Arts fields, Politics – almost every sphere has people with engineering backgrounds in it.

Now on Engineer’s Day, floated in on WhatsApp, a few greetings, and a question about best engineering solutions to problems. While detailed solutions and SOPs are plenty and specific to the instrument/system, there are two basic steps which are almost universal (and they work, most times)

1. Restart/Reset – Off karke On karo, a favorite of the IT world. There may also be an added step off letting the device rest for a while!
2. Percussive Maintenance – any malfunctioning machine can be fixed by smacking it a few times. Often also followed by a restart.

And lo and behold the device is no longer malfunctioning!

Happy Engineer’s Day to all engineers!

P.S. A post on the subject from 2010

BookMarks #105: The Great Gatsby

Title: The Great Gatsby

Author: F Scott Fitzgerald

Genre: Fiction, American

Published: 1925

BookMarks

Had heard about this book a lot, thanks to the eponymous movie which had come out a few years earlier. While I had started, but could never finish the movie, the book got better treatment. Managing to finish it entirely although the start was slow, but the pace picked up later.

The Great Gatsby is considered a classic and one of the “Great American Novels”. Showcasing the life in post-World War I New York. It has the glitz and glamour of super-rich parties contrasted with the more ordinary working-class people. And yet in essence it is just a love story with a tragic ending!

There are lots of references in the book, but the author never gets to detailing them out – the flourishing bond trading (probably a precursor to the Great Depression); the class divide between neighbourhoods; fortunes made during the Great War, Prohibition & bootlegging, fixing of the World Series. The readers get barely a glimpse of the events, although all these may or may not have played a role in building Jay Gatsby’s fortune.

Here are a few lines which stood out for me from the book.

• Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone, just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had – a point to be kept in mind in this social-media triggered world
• There are only the pursued, the pursuing, the busy and the tired – a simple classification for all human beings
• Let us learn to show our friendship for a man when he is alive and not after he is dead – what a simple yet profound statement.

And there were some “General Resolves” in the end. 

“No wasting time…. No more smokeing or chewing….. Bath every other day…. Read one improving book or magazine per week… Save $ 3.00 per week… Be better to parents”

If one follows these simple tips, our lives would certainly be much better!

How usage of words change – holocaust is used to describe the ending tragedy. Yet how its use has evolved post the second World War into a much bigger tragedy!

Previously on BookMarks: Mendelevski’s Box 

Road To Paris: Episode 3

Time for the belated third episode in the Road To Paris series.

Since the last Episode, we have seen quite a bit of activity in the Indian Olympics Sports front with the action not limited just to the field of play.

Starting with the on-field action

We had the Commonwealth Games, where India learnt about a new sport – Lawn Bowls. Unfortunately, its not part of the Olympics roster yet! Here is a short sport-by-sport review of Indian performances in the Olympics disciplines.

1. Athletics: 8 medals, a significant increase from 3 in 2018. Avinash Sable’s steeplechase run was the highlight as he broke open the Kenyan dominance with a stunning 2nd place finish, denying Kenya a clean sweep of the event for the first time in decades! The racewalkers after a decade of promise have now started delivering the medals as well. There was an India 1-2 in Triple Jump, as well as medals in Long Jump, High Jump and women’s Javelin. Things are looking up especially in the field events. Although there are doping cases also coming up. Thankfully all caught before they could make the tournament!
2. Badminton: The Thomas Cup success was carried forward with Golds for Sindhu, Lakshya, Satwik-Chirag, and Bronze medals for Srikkanth and Terasa-Gayatri. Losing the Team Gold to Malaysia would have hurt a bit though.
3. Boxing: Amit Panghal is back after the disappointment at Tokyo. Nikhat Zareen continues to carry the flag for women’s Boxing and there was an impressive start for Nitu Ghanghas. While not the toughest of fields, overall, it was a decent show by the Indian boxers.
4. Cycling: David Beckham and Ronaldo being in the squad created quite a flutter. However, the performances on track did not live up to the names
5. Gymnastics: there was nothing to write home about. The brief spotlight from Dipa Karmakar’s Rio performance has now dimmed.
6. Hockey: Silver for men & Bronze for women – both teams back amongst medals. However, the manner of loss in the Men’s Final to Australia would have certainly hurt. And when will our teams get rid of this habit of conceding last minute goals. Lot of unnecessary heartache for the fans!
7. Judo: 2 silvers & a bronze on Judo’s return to the Commonwealth fold with Sushila Devi replicating her 2014 silver medal.
8. Swimming: Once again no medals, but there was an increase in the number of finals appearances by the Indian swimmers with Srihari Nataraj making two finals.
9. Table Tennis: Achanta Sharath Kamal at the age of 40, just confirmed his status as the greatest Indian TT player. Playing multiple matches daily, he ended the tournament with 3 Golds & a Silver. While the men’s side had great returns, there was disappointment in the women’s side especially for Manika Batra who had been the breakout star of the 2018 edition. Sreeja Akula finished a creditable 4th in Singles and helped Sharath Kamal to his first-ever Mixed Doubles Gold.
10. Triathalon: We are not in the picture yet.
11. Weightlifting: India continued their dominant show at the event 3 Golds, 2 Silvers & 4 Bronze Medals. As expected, Mirabai Chanu dominated her category, while the likes of Jeremy & Achinta Sheuli got their first international success.
12. Wrestling: 12 entries, 12 medals (like 2018) including 6 Golds – another dominant show by India. Not much to be read in the performances, but 2 players – Vinesh Phogat and Sakhsee Malik made quite a comeback to the national ranks.

Outside the Commonwealth Games also there was a lot of action

1. Neeraj Chopra recovered from injury to win his first ever Diamond League event and qualify for the Diamond League Finals.
2. At the Badminton World Championships, the Satwik-Chirag duo became the first Indian pair to win a Men’s doubles medal and continue the trend of a medal for India at every major event (World Championships/Olympics) since 2011. The others could not reach the medal rounds though.
3. Linthoi Chanmabham became the first Indian judoka to win a World Championships gold (senior or junior) at the Cadets Championships.

And now for some off-the-field action (or rather mess)

1. The Anti-Doping Law has been passed by the Indian parliament. There have been too many doping cases, especially in Athletics & Weightlifting with some leading names also involved. To be honest, the number of doping cases involving Indians is a national embarrassment. This is certainly a step towards cleaning up their act.
2. Meanwhile the All India Football Federation got suspended by FIFA. Although the suspension was lifted, it doesn’t show our federations in good light. And there are administrative troubles in various other associations as well. Wonder how these will be cleaned up given the number of political figures involved in all these sports.
3. And its not good to see Courts getting involved in matters of team selections – Tejaswin Shankar and members of TT teams were involved in multiple court battles to ensure their participation at the Commonwealth Games! As it is our Courts have a huge case backlog, no point in adding to them!

That’s it for this episode. More qualifying action is set to commence in the coming weeks.

Till next time!

Links:

• Road To Paris – Episode 2 
• India at Commonwealth Games 2022 
• NADA Bill - Firstpost