ONE PARAGRAPH THAT EXPLAINS LIFE!

Arthur Ashe, the legendary Wimbledon player was dying of AIDS which he got due to infected blood he received during a heart surgery in 1983.

From world over, he received letters from his fans, one of which conveyed: "Why does GOD have to select you for such a bad disease"?

To this Arthur Ashe replied:

"The world over -- 50 million children start playing tennis, 5 million learn to play tennis, 500,000 learn professional tennis, 50,000 come to the circuit, 5000 reach the grand slam, 50 reach Wimbledon, 4 to semi final, 2 to the finals, when I was holding a cup I never asked GOD 'Why me?'. And today in pain I should not be asking GOD 'Why me?' "

"Happiness keeps you Sweet,

Trials keep you Strong,

Sorrow keeps you Human,

Failure keeps you humble and Success keeps you glowing,

but only Faith & Attitude Keeps you going"

The above story has a very beautiful message and I had to post in on my blog.

To Mom...With Love..

have I ever told you mom,
when you wanted to hear it the most,
during the fall of dusk and break of dawn,
it is you that I love the most.

you have always been unconditional,
when it comes to your care and love,
you’re the hand that rocks the cradle,
you have earned it, so take a bow.

i see that look of profanity,
in your eyes when I do something wrong,
but then it also showers fidelity,
and you know why I did it all.

you’re the only one to understand mom,
you’re my light in a dark hall,
i know you’re there to fall back on,
you’re sure to hold me when I fall.

i promise to be there for you mom,
till my breath should ever seize,
you know the umbilical cord has been cut,
but the connection will never cease.

The Pursuit of Happiness

Do we know what the ultimate goal in our life is? Do we even know why we work our ass off each and everyday?

Majority of the people will laugh at this question. Who has the time to give it a thought? On the other hand, the minority will be content with the realization that there is something they know that others do not.

Let me assure you that I am in the majority. It was not until some person persisted me to give an answer to this simple question, that I realised this is something that has never crossed my mind. Our life has become like a ship treading in a violent storm. We never have control over it. It’s the external winds that decide where we are heading.

So leaving aside the entire melodramatic pre-explanation let me go directly into the eye of the storm and explain what started this discussion. I had to fly down to Kerala on sudden notice due to the demise of my uncle. A man who lived his life to the fullest. All our cousins had flown down to pay their last respects.


The cremation was to happen the next day. Therefore, there was a full night we had to stay awake and ensure that the lamp (which is kept besides the body) remains lit. One of my cousins and me decided to sit up the whole night. We were having discussions right from politics to global affairs. We gradually started connecting. This is his description for how we were enraptured in what each of us had to say. He says the connection was between the “I” and “I”, and not the bodies. The “I” is the soul inside you. It was like transcendental meditation. We knew we were transcending into a sphere very surreal and that this conversation had a purpose.

He suddenly popped up the question; “Nishanth, what is your ultimate goal in life?”

My answer was like how any normal person would respond.

I said; “To do well in life.”

He asked; “Why do you want to do well in life?”

That made me think. I had no answer to that. Well, it’s not like everyday a person asks you at midnight about why you want to do well in life. He could see that I was one of those confused lots and decided to ease the torture and started with the explanation.

He said; “The ultimate goal of any person in life is to attain happiness."

I was sitting and reminiscing, how can that be possible. The explanation that he came up with just boggled me out of this universe.

He said; “Our only aim to do anything in life is to attain happiness. We earn money and that gives us happiness. We listen to music and that brings about happiness in us. We get a promotion and that makes us happy. We eat a chocolate and that makes us happy. We buy a car and that makes us happy. In a nutshell, everything we do in life is to be happy.”

That struck me like a bolt of lighting. Why did I not know that? It was the ultimate truth. We live our lives just to be happy. Whatever we do leads us to happiness. For all our relationships, the final variable is happiness.

We spoke until six in the morning about how to do things in life to achieve happiness, which is pretty complex and cannot be penned down. However, suddenly after this conversation my thought process took a complete 180 degrees spin.

We talk about how to be happy when we do not realize that the small things we do in our everyday lives is ultimately leading us there. I had to journalize these thoughts to let everyone know about this.

I hope by reading this conversation, few ships have decided to use the rudder to steer in the direction they want their lives to go. Well, for others who are still confused, I strongly recommend you to connect with a person who inspires you the most and understand these simple but profound facts of life.

Cheers!!

Intent Vs Pre-Conditioning

I know how annoyed we feel when someone hurts us or uses foul language at us.I completely understand how we feel like blasting that person into Stone Age.

However, one of my wise cousins acquainted me with a concept of “Intent Vs Pre-Conditioning”. According to this concept, no human being would intentionally think wrong about someone else. This is known as their intent. I would never feel like hurting a person I meet for the first time. No soul would ever do that. The person is hurting you because you have done something either wrong to him/her or based on his /her pre-conditioning. Something wrong must have happened in that person’s personal life that he/she is venting out the frustration and anger on you.

It sounds very logical when you think of it. However, I know how difficult it is to keep all this in mind when a person is throwing abuses at you. However, have we ever thought about the possibility of converting this pre-conditioning into intent?

I know it sounds absurd. Nevertheless, I am sure there must have been instances in our lives wherein we have been successful in making this happen. What we must realize is that when a person hurts us, he/she is never happy about what they have done. Deep inside, they are as much hurt as you. I know it is easy to read something like this but difficult to absorb. However, what we do not understand is that reacting in a negative way in such situations only hurts us. So it is always a “lose-lose” situation.

So the next time someone does wrong to you, take sometime to grasp the situation and react accordingly. I know this concept may not be applicable to each situation. But who knows, even if we are able to convert 10 percent of such situations from pre-conditioning to intent, this world will be a better place.

Cheers!!!

Hell Freezes over – Adapting the Logan AC system for India

They say we need fire to kill fire, or heat to kill heat. However, in our case it is a cooling system which had to be powerful enough to freeze the sun, specially blended to suit Indian requirements. The cooling system is similar in comparison to the right hand drive Dacia Logan. Only the geometry has been modified to cater to the left hand drive packaging needs. The compressor used is a Sanden “SD7V16”, which is the choice of many OEM’s like Renault, Honda, VW, and BMW. The main advantage of the compressor is its high quality control and competitive pricing. For the AC hoses too we had to modify the geometry to suit the new space constraints imposed by the left hand drive layout of the car.

In the initial development phases, there were hardly any issues since the whole car was being imported, however many problems cropped up as we started manufacturing the cars here and ran them through extensive cross-country tests. They say that in case there are no issues in development, an engineer is not required! However, the issue we faced with the compressor was something quite uncalled for. In the first durability testing vehicle testing in Northern India during the winter months, we observed that for some unknown reason, the AC pressure used to drop and there were functioning problems. After deep study by the engineering team here, we realized that the culprit was ice formation in the evaporator. “Freezing” as it is called in tech speak. For this, there was a lot of discussion taking place, and it was finally decided to change the specification of the compressor. The low pressure side was set to operate at a higher pressure than earlier to counter this. The issue was resolved however, it cost us rework on around 300 cars and a lot of time and labor.

The development of the AC hoses was not smooth sailing either because issues used to pop up more frequently. The hoses are a flexible part and their design is influenced greatly by the shapes of other components in the engine bay. It is rare to get a routing part, first time right. If there is no fouling with some component or the other, you are surely in a dream! It was a great experience to sit down, brainstorm to find the root cause of the issues, and how can it be countered.

We are currently doing some modifications, which are being done as part of cost saving. These are part of an ongoing process throughout the life of the car, aimed at making the car cheaper and more value for money for our customers. Ultimately, it was a great experience being in the hot seat, so that our customers can enjoy the cool!

Kodai Rapture

Have you ever wondered that to re-live a few moments of your life, you would be ready to die a thousand times? I was lucky enough to experience such a moment on my trip to Kodaikannal.

The 67 Km climb up the mountain, at the zenith of which is the town of Kodaikannal, is so exhilarating and taxing at the same time. The grotesque roads and the torturous turns make you dizzy at times. However, when you reach at the top and absorb the complete beauty that is showered on you, it makes you wonder. Did God actually want you to go through this ordeal to assess your worthiness to experience his creation?

The air is so crisp that each wave resembles a note in a symphony. It takes you higher and higher each time you experience it. Your whole body sways to the rhythm and it always ends in an encore. The trees and flowers are soo unique and varied. You remain amazed at the perfection that God intended in all the minute details, that even a small re-shuffling would completely disorient the symmetry.

The beauty is soo intoxicating that even an attempt to define it would be an understatement to the sheer emotions that flow in each and every inch of life present in your body at that moment. For every sight you see, there is a reason. Every reason that you can think of, there is an explanation. In every explanation that is made, there is logic. For in every logic, you see a pattern. And in every pattern you see etched God’s creation.

That’s when you realize that the air you breathe is not just breathing; the sight you see is not the real seeing; the touch you felt was never the real feeling. All your senses culminate into something much more superlative. And that’s when you realize that you have actually started living.

Inspiration and revelations may come in very small packages. So keep your eyes open. For you may realize some day that it was something transient you missed yesterday which could have transcended your tomorrow into something more meaningful.

Emotional Flow

Your eyes speaks,
your heart and soul,
for don't you quiver,
when the whole world knows.

That the sadness in your heart ,
was meant for people to know,
how you crave for empathy,
which is rarely shown.

You are no different,
so have your head held high,
cos in the boat your sailing,
i am standing right beside.

When you see other people,
and the prevalent mediocrity,
i know that you wonder,
is this world meant for me?

Who said your abnormal,
and why even justify,
when you set no boundaries,
for you can even touch the sky.


Why bother of the past,
why awaken in misery,
for tomorrow is a new beginning,
grab the chance and create history.

Fall free in love!!!!

Finding true love is similar to the facade that is created when people talk large about job satisfaction. Both these things are extremely complex. You try looking for it everywhere. When a person is truely in love, he will not go around boasting about it because he knows that it doesn't matter for the whole world to know. It has now become a fashion statement to have girlfriends or boyfriends. People are soo desperately trying to get hooked up with someone or anyone for that matter, that they don't think an iota of whether what they are doing is truely coming from their heart or not. Desperate need to get hooked up has masqueraded true love. When you are in love you don't go around telling people that you are in love. This is done just to convince yourself that others who don't matter, or might, accept what you are doing. Why is this done? When you know you are in love, the feeling comes within. You don't need to hear bells ringing. Your whole body sychronises to the trance and your outlook towards everything in life changes for the better. You dont need a third person to tell you that. So friends, fall " head over heels" in love. But remember that the fall should not happen because someone pushed you from behind. Fall free.