Just a Commute?

The third Metro Train (intra city commuting mechanism for the common man) came to the platform, got filled up with passengers who were standing in front, behind and beside me, and headed towards the city. The rush of office commuters and price of gold can never abate!

From top of a building it would appear as if the train is sucking heads. The coaches (or bogies) compete for maximum number of heads in the limited duration of time during which the train stops at the platform. In this fierce competition, the bogies try to split out the unwanted heads from its belly. These charged up emanating heads collide with the heads entering the mouth of the coach. The intensity of the forces, produced collectively by the heads in opposite direction, augments the inertia of both ends. Besides the motivation in the individual head to successfully come up against the conflict, the success also depends at the side where the magnitude of the collective force is higher than the other end. Irrespective of this struggle outside, the coaches remain satiated with the head feed, before entering and exiting a platform!
The bogies hate one rule - the feeding unit will be either all inside or left out completely before it closes its mouth. It misses lollipop, but understands that not all wishes could be fulfilled!

During the morning rush hour, the crowd is unmanageable at the platform. The units of this homogenous crowd behaves like a mono-chip robot with the instruction hard coded - you will have to board the train before the fellow robots around you, otherwise you will no longer be a robot. And robots love being robots! It took me four trains before i could unlearn, learn and successfully execute this code. I welcomed myself to this new super-human world!

With space left for a single foot to support my body (other foot placed precariously on top of the first one) , i was stuck like the participant of 'Hole in the Wall' when they just jump through the hole. My neck was inclined at 30 degree to my new center of gravity line. I felt a drop of sweat trickling down my forehead towards the chin. I tried in vain to free either of the hand, stuck somewhere, to wipe the drop of sweat. That drop managed to overcome the friction in its path (thanks to Gillette - the best a man can get), and self-aimed on the satin frock of a very young lady standing at 0 degrees from me. That drop landed on the tip of her left bosom and provoked the thought of dripping milk and a case of teenage motherhood among those who saw the effect and missed the cause. The cause remained a secret confined within myself.

Another lady at 180 degrees to me, sported a web of hair tied in a bun. Even though my rate of breathing augmented after the first 'incident', the exhaled air failed to move a single strand of hair in that bun. It was a case for comb manufacturers to invent a new comb to arrange hair of this type - too hard to be human hair. At every slight movement of the train, my face was greeted personally by this bun. The intimacy between the two grew quick and strong. No sooner the driver applied a strong brake, than a part of the bun went straight inside my nose and helped me to release the tension with a sneeze. The sneeze was a loud and clear message to the owner of the bun that the 5 minute stand is over. In response, she shifted a little to search for a new suitor for her hair-bun. The train driver got reported of this illegitimate intimacy in his train and he brought the train to stop at the next station. 'Auto- Shuffle' is activated when the train stops at a station to suck, churn and vomit its feed.

The bogie and the train reminded of the population growth in India. Irrespective of the measures implemented, the situation would not improve. The attention of the people is diverting from fighting for space to satiating the oxygen requirement! Suddenly, a loud, distinct and relatively longer sound of a fart was heard. The fart was as innocent as that from an infant. That fart increased the existing turbulence surrounding me. People, who heard the fart started reacting differently - by making faces, tilting their heads upward, widening the eyes, smiling and blinking their eye-lids voraciously. The matured ones, or projected as matured, stood as they were. The innocent fart owner must be feeling the guilt of his action, which permeated through the air. I realized that smell travels slower than noise, but if potential, it has the power to coerce its victim to commit suicide by instilling the thought of jumping out of the running train to overcome the trauma. Soon, the effect of holding breath for a long time started to appear on near by faces, followed by the disgusting look, which also challenged the matured ones, when the smell again hit their olfactory sense. There was nothing which could be done !
A temporary worst situation in an ongoing bad phase, reduced the impact of the bad phase. Its like bathing in cold water on a freezing winter morning, to lessen the impact of the existing cold. The arrival of the next station brought relief in the form of fresh air.

Most of the passengers were just commuting. Like an adverb, some were listening to songs, watching a movie, reading a book, working on an excel sheet, SMSing or playing handheld games. Some more interesting ones were enjoying the company of their partners or doing pull-ups using the bar above. An elderly person, in such a crowded environment had his eyes closed and was meditating by controlling his breath. Not only did he made himself immune to the effect of a dis comfortable surrounding but also considered such an environment as a launch pad for inner peace. That is called making hay when it rains heavily!

The passengers who daily board the train at the same time, develop a bond with the faces they see regularly. Its a pristine relationship, without any expectation from either person. They see each other everyday, smile and nod, and continue with their commute. But, a concern is generated, if they do not see a common face for a long time.

Professional and personal networks of the people commuting to work in trains have been strengthened and expanded. Some manage to change jobs while others find the love of their life.

A lot can happen during the daily 'boring' transit to work in the trains, only if you are open for the change!

The framework to architect your own life!

Like all other architectures, the architect of your life should begin by finding the purpose for existence of the architecture. Before constructing a building, the architect is aware of the purpose of the construction - whether it’s a commercial building, residential or SOHO. Similarly, the enterprise architect is aware of the prime objective before starting the detailed assessment – to enable the business achieve its vision and mission, ensuring confidentiality, integrity and availability of data and systems.

Knowing the prime objective of your life’s architecture is the most critical component in the whole equation. This is what which guides you to choose some paths and ignore other. This is what which triggers activation of some components, till the required level, deactivating the redundant active components and ignoring the insignificant components which prompt you for attention.

If you have already figured out the prime objective of your life on this planet, make it visible by writing it below:

I would like to congratulate you if you have written down the objective in bold letters. Most of us are either not confident or not aware of these 2-3 lines which acts like the shining North Star for the lost traveler in the desert. These lines guide us to choose confidently, one out of the several decision points which we come across at life’s crossroads.

The best phase in your life to find out this objective is when your conscious mind is not biased. Usually, by the end of junior college / college this objective should have formed. But, it is never late to formulate the prime objective of your own life!

Since each of us is unique, this objective should be derived from your own self. It cannot be biased against any living or non-living entity on this planet. This should be the purpose for you to live and be happy till the time you are here. Perform a high level assessment of your own self. This assessment should be carried on your strengths, weaknesses, likings, dislikes, dependencies, threats, potential opportunities and drive. Lock yourself in an empty space, free your mind from any disturbing, interfering thoughts and just THINK. Think that what makes you happy, what is that one trigger that drives you and makes you to lose your sleep voluntarily, what will happen if you are to die today. This thinking process should involve just you. Keep meditating on this thought process till the picture gets clear and the purpose of your life is formed explicitly.

The purpose in life is to have a life of purpose. What would be this objective in the life of say, Warren Buffet – to generate maximum profit on the money invested by shareholders. Buffet’s relentless adherence on this consequential purpose made him what he is today and by what he will be remembered tomorrow. Consider the drive in the life of any nobel prize winner or Oscar winner, you will find a similar pattern – identification of the purpose in life and going all length possible to manifest it.

There could be a possibility that achievement of the latest discovered objective in your life is dependent on the current job you are into but this current job has no relation with this objective. For example, you discovered that your drive in life is writing but you are involved in some 9 to 5 job in a bank. This job helps you to earn your daily bread and pay for your EMIs but it has no role to play in giving birth to a new writer. In such cases, one should not lose focus from the objective. Incessant pursuit to realize the dreams into reality should never cease. Classical time management and personal financial management should be followed. Eye should be on the job at hand but vision should be on manifestation of the set objective. A gradual but constant effort should be put to ensure smooth cut-over from the job at hand to a full time writer.

Make sure you fill the lines above before moving ahead!

Now, when you know the purpose of your life, let’s move ahead.

At this stage you should focus on the missions supporting the vision. It is analogous with the vision-mission statement of any world class organization. For example, if the vision of an organization is to be the preferred partner in its area of service, the mission would have a strong focus on customer satisfaction. To determine the mission statements, you need to perform a detailed assessment. Let’s see how to do it!

Start with the high level assessment points which you have discovered and noted in the first phase. Prepare a table as mentioned below for each of the area assessed:

Strength	Categorization	Assessed Strengths	Rating based on the objective to be achieved	Final rating based on inter-related components.	Plans to Improve
	Emotional	A	5
		B	4
		Good Listener	7	6
	Personality	D	1
		E	10		NA
		F	8
	External	G	7
	Internal	Cooking	0		NA
		Exercising	4	NA

In the “Assessed Strengths” column, list all your strengths which you have assessed to meet the purpose of the architecture in progress. The next step is to perform a gap assessment against each of the listed strength.

Consider a scale of 1 to 10. You need to rate your strengths as per this scale. Before assigning the rating, perform a gap assessment of the strength you possess against the optimum level required to meet the purpose. A strength rated 10 will imply the optimum level of that strength you possess to successfully meet the set objective. Strengths rated 1 lie at the farthest end from the optimum level required. The amount of effort which you need to put will be most for the strengths at the lower end of this scale.

A rating of 0 would imply that the strength has no role to play to meet the objective.

For example, you have decided to be a doctor, start your own clinic and spend your life treating diseases and illness which afflict mankind. Great! While assessing your strengths, you found that you are a good listener, but you need improvement. You rated this strength at level of 7. Now, while assessing your weaknesses, you found yourself to be impatient. This trait when combined with your strength as a good listener definitely dilutes the impact! So, till the time you work on this weakness, it will have an impact on the rating of 7 provided. So, based on this evaluation, you re-assign the previous rating of 7 to 6. You also assessed that you cook really well. But for this objective, unless you come up with a way to utilize this quality to sustain the objective till its completion, you can rate this as 0.

Remember that there are some traits, which if possessed, bulwarks any objective set by you. For example, exercising regularly or attending regular yoga classes is conducive to your health and mental well-being. If you possess traits like these, go ahead and include in the list of your strengths and provide a rating as per the frequency and depth of your involvement.

Remember to prioritize and emphasize more on the development plans machinated for the strength rated below 4.

Similarly, assess and populate tables on your weaknesses, likings, dislikes, dependencies, threats, potential opportunities and drive. Phew!

Table on weakness has been provided below for you to populate:

Weakness	Categorization	Assessed Weaknesses	Rating based on the objective to be achieved	Final rating based on inter-related components.	Plans to Improve
	Emotional	A
		B
		C
	Personality	D
		E
		F
	External	G
	Internal	H
		I

Now, you have done a detailed assessment of yourself from all possible angles and based on the ratings provided, you have vowed to generate results on the identified action items. All the best!

Identified Action Items	Rating based on the objective to be achieved	Final rating based on inter-related components.	Plans to Improve
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I

A journey of 5 Kms

“What am I doing?” This question keeps popping in my mind. If I have an answer to this question, “Why am I doing?” can be thought of. There is a fundamental problem, as what is coming before why. You can tackle the why part only when you are sure of what part. Why comes in layer higher than what, in between lies the how. If you are thinking how then you have not transcended to the upper most layer of why. What?
When you have the answer to these 3 questions in any stage of life, you will be blessed with the ability to sustain the fire, which in turn will deliver outstanding performances. The point is, lets come to the point.
I go to office everyday. Why I go, will be a mundane question, right? But then I go to earn money. Period. How I go, well, this parameter is a function of time, environment and mood. Personally I will prefer a bi-cycle. But then, what will you say if a manager rides a bicycle for a distance of 5 Kms to his office? A majority of the people will transcend to the upper why layer when it comes to a spicy topic about other. The minds around me can have these possibilities to think, as thinking is free of cost – He is turning insane, got an attitude man, saving fuel, healthy option, saving money, cannot spend money, to be different, afraid of cars, what the f*** is he proving(for those who cannot move up to the why layer). As I believe in reaching to the work place in a cool, serene mood and I am not selfish, so I do not ride bicycle to my office. But then nobody thanks me for helping them not to think about the why.
I prefer to call myself, homo sapiens, machine waala. In the morning on a working day, this machine prefers to deliver output in range, like waking up 7-7:15 am, reading newspaper 0-20 minutes. These output are all inter-related and they co-ordinate to achieve the goal of reaching office in time. Many times during this process, the mind fails to transcend to the upper why layer. It mostly thinks about how. Like, how to brush quickly, how not to waste too much time in relieving yourself , how to eschew the paternity responsibilities and so on. The self error feed back mechanism is activated mostly at the time of leaving the house, by thinking what have I forgotten. (No time remains to meditate on why ).
The particular day, on which this story is based, I went out of the house after finishing the entire morning activities in time. Whistling merrily I started my car and tuned the radio for the best playing song. Hardly did I cross the neighbor’s parking than the front tyre busted. Be cool, I told myself. After parking the car, I borrowed my dad’s scooter and headed for the office.
I had placed myself in an uncomfortable zone. The temperature was 3 degree Celsius and I had put on clothes to travel inside the car. By the time I shifted to the second gear, the movement control center in the brain lost signals from my palms as they were exposed to extreme cold. The signals get frozen on the way to the brain. So, my palms got shifted to self-administered mechanism. Nobody likes to be controlled by others! The palm inspired other body parts to live independently. They also started taking help from the extreme cold! The palm found the weakness of the controller and in the hope of becoming a hero (and later the controller), communicated the weakness to other fellow parts. The brain is blessed with the virtue of patience and perseverence. It will wait till the external environmental factors become conducive to re-gain the control and it will keep trying under all circumstances to get the work done. I thought that this thought is the effect of my father’s helmet.
At the first red light, I became the first victim of the traffic policeman’s whistle. All other vehicles started lining up beside me. When no space was left, the vehicles started piling behind my scooter. I used to see people on two wheelers observing me inside my car. Now, sitting on the scooter, I am curious to observe the people inside the four-wheelers around me. Perhaps, I could connect better with their thoughts now. These thoughts must have crossed their minds:
Adnam Sami’s line – kaise kaise ko diya hai, mujhko bhi lift kara de (God, you have made the unworthy richer, now it’s my turn, make me a rich man!)
Why is he is in such a small car?
Why is he in a car?
My car, which is bigger and better than yours, is in the service center/punctured/going to be delivered. So, if you think why am I travelling on a two-wheeler then it is by choice, not by compulsion. Wait till you see my car!
The marginal utility of satisfaction of using my two wheeler has not expired. Once I start driving a car, I will get bored in a couple of years. After that I cannot drive a bus. So, let me be saturated riding this two wheeler, before I buy a car better than yours!
It is so cold, why don’t you swap vehicles?
Good that you are inside a car in this cold.
What are you thinking, eh?

There ought to be some thoughts which cannot cross the ‘what’ level. While, there are thoughts like last one which are no thoughts at all. At least people can reach the ‘what’ level of thinking, rather than thinking nothing at all!
A sports bike came zapping trough the traffic behind me, crossed the zebra lines and stood in front of all the vehicles. I turned around to calculate the space through which the bike came cutting the lines of vehicles. Perhaps, the new age bike had a compression mechanism. You press a button and bingo! the bike reduces in size. That will be extreme adjustability and flexibility.
Two – three other bikes also crossed the zebra lines and stood inches before the sports bike. Man, this spirit of competition in youths makes India propel forward. I found all pair of eyes, including those sitting on the bikes, looking towards the pillion rider on the sports bike. Soon, I discovered a babe hugging the rider of the sports bike. She was sitting with her back inclined towards her man so that the upper torso could be completely attached to him. She dared to wear a knee length skirt in this cold and her smooth, shiny legs below the knee were parallel to her back. She was holding the rider with both hands wrapped around, eh, the lower tummy. The scene from the movie Swordfish flashed before me. No sooner the traffic light turned green than the sports bike shot ahead like a bullet. All male eyes which got filled with hope and female eyes which got filled with jealousy came back to reality. Like me, two-three other vehicles which were blinking the right turn light of their vehicles, turned right towards the edge of the road.
Struggling through the fog, stray cattle, racing cycle rickshaw, I got stuck in the next traffic light. A couple of beggars were knocking the window panes of the cars and holding the sleeves of the two-wheeler riders. They were either ignored or shooed away. A lady sitting in a car was busy reading the ‘durga chalisa’, sending an SMS and simultaneously eating an apple. That’s multi tasking of the modern world!
A clock tower stood at the middle of the intersection of the four roads, with the clock displaying the time in each direction. I was not surprised to see the sign board of an accident prone zone, below the tower.
Like many professional aspects, when it comes to punctuality, my boss is my role model. If you see him entering the office in the morning, it ought to be 9:00 am by your watch. If he is not on his seat by 9:10 am, we plan for a morning show at a cinema hall near by. But, I could count such happy chances over the last couple of years. I wished myself luck!
A couple of seconds is kept in buffer before a traffic light turns red and another turns green. This buffer is displayed in yellow. These few seconds test the patience and nerve of the drivers and riders. At the start of the yellow, many motorists accelerate to avoid waiting, while at the end of the yellow and beginning of the red, the motorists in front of the displayed traffic light keep accelerating. Why? People can wait for one more vehicle, my time is precious than others, I am getting late. It all comes to ‘I’. When people are short of time to think about themselves, who cares about others! People think - traffic light is a waste of my time; it’s against my honor to wait for others. Some belong to the wary category; they wait only till the time the road in front gets clear.
Before my traffic light turned green, a car in the front must have shifted to the second gear. At the same instance, a bike came rushing forward from the diagonal end, though some seconds were left for his signal to show green. The bike rider must have realized about the miscalculation but the car driver was too focused on the light turning green ahead. In a jiffy, the bike rider was projected few meters ahead. The air bag of the car activated but it became red. I came to know later that the driver of the car was thrown up and a part of his skull was broken into smithereens by the impact.
Seeing a crowd gathering at the scene, like many others I quickly turned the vehicle to take an alternate route to our destinations. The selfish thoughts overpowered any moral thought arising.
The luck which I had wished myself turned to be a real one. Boss did not arrive at office. Boss will never arrive in the office as his head got broken into smithereens a couple of minutes ago.