Interesting book about former president Late Ronald Regan and his legacy.

Since American society is now going through a mega transformation, no wonder it is of interest to many people to look at what brought us to this state. It is not necessarily a bad state but one that is making people really wonder if all the prosperity and wealth that we enjoyed over last 20 years was real. Whether it was real or not, how did we get here? What we lost in the process? Were the gains worth it compared to societal decline that we fail to see? Who sowed the seeds of the gradual decay? How did their choices and decision started off the decaying process?

A lot of questions. Witch hunting has to begin somewhere.

This book takes a critical look at Regan and his policies. It tries to make a case for how his policies started the process of general rot in the society. How his policies favored the rich and screwed the poor. How Regan and his cronies manipulated American population. Regan is regarded as the person who deregulated many things and gave more free hand to private enterprises. In that process how he let them make tonnes of money at the expense of common people. How he and his cronies engineered the systematic transfer of wealth from tax payers to some favored rich. It goes on and on.

Makes an interesting read. Regan was the president almost 20 years back. It is hard pin all the blame on him but one thing is sure the era of excesses began during that time. When going was good, everyone was happy. When things turned sour in 2008, no wonder we were left asking how we ever got into this stage. So, from that perspective, it does not hurt to ask tough questions of ourselves and our leaders.

Very well written book. Reads fast. Simple and lucid narration. Good book if you are interested in socio-political history over last 30 years.

Cheers!

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Posted by Mahesh at 11:39 AM EDT

Updated: Saturday, 25 July 2009 11:53 AM EDT

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Recently Blue Mountain Center of Meditation (BMCM) (www.easwaran.org) celebrated 50th anniversary of Easwaran's arrival in the US. It was a very simple program. 150 or so close friends of BMCM gathered at the beautiful 'ashram' of BMCM in Tomales, CA to commemorate the event. Very nice event. I was lucky and fortunate to be considered as one of the friends of BMCM. So, I got to attend. Anyone who chooses to get close those great people at BMCM, is welcomed with open arms. There is nothing more to it. All you need is a friendly attitude and some sort of commitment to Easwaran and his teachings. Rest all follows. Good things.

Sri Easwaran was an accomplished English professor at the university of Nagpur. He was a successful writer, teacher and a radio personality. He was an excellent teacher of English literature. His interests were varied. He read widely and wrote widely.

He had a chance to come to the US in 1959 as Fulbright scholar. He was first allotted University of Minnesota. He dazzled academics there. Since he had come to study about Emerson, people at University of Minnesota recommended him to get transferred to University of California at Berkeley after seeing his prowess in the area of Emerson and his works. So, Easwaran landed at UC, Berkeley. What followed is history.

He was already pretty deep into spirituality. He practiced it very diligently. It did not take much time for people to notice something marvelous in him. A set of very devoted and dedicated people started hanging out with him. He was also looking for similar people. He started teaching them about spirituality and how he saw life. Having excellent command over English helped a lot to convey rich Indian spiritualism to western audience. Thus was born Blue Mountain Center for Meditation.

BMCM, which started in an apartment in Berkeley, later moved to a 250 acre ranch in Tomales where it stands now. Easwaran spent 40 odd years writing several best seller books. He wrote excellent books on Hindu classics such as Bhagvadgita, Upanishads, Dhammapada etc. He did not box himself to one school or the other. He read widely and assimilated best from anywhere and everywhere. So, he went on to write about Christian and Islamic mystics also. He also wrote about people like Gandhi and Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan who had impressed him a lot by their activities during Indian freedom struggle.

BMCM put together a very nice program of selected videos which chronicle the master and his accomplishments after he came to the US. You can view them at http://www.easwaran.org/hope. I hope you will enjoy watching them.

If you are interested, you can pick up a book or two of Easwaran and see if he appeals to you. If you like, you can then attend retreats that BMCM conducts all over the US. Retreats are a great place to get started seriously with your 'sadhana'.

Cheers!

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Posted by Mahesh at 11:19 PM EDT

Updated: Tuesday, 14 July 2009 12:32 AM EDT

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"Without passion you can not achieve anything." "Passionate people make all the difference." "Passionate people fire up everyone around them."

We hear a lot of such stuff. Business books and business leaders (such as Jack Welch of GE) go on to say that 'it may not be fair but passionate and energetic people tend to be more successful than genuinely brilliant people.'

I have observed a few things about passion and passionate people.

Some people think they are passionate just because they are attached to their opinion so closely that  their opinions have become their second skin. Do you really call that passion? I doubt it. I call it 'uncalled for stubbornness'. Nothing convinces them to change their opinions. If something other than their opinion is thrust upon them (say from their superiors), they will half heartedly follow it or find every way to sabotage it. Is that passion? I do not think so.

I think real passion is doing whatever it takes to reach the end goal without worrying too much about the means (as long as they are legal and not immoral). That means if you have to put your own opinions aside for the sake of common good and rally behind somebody else's opinion, you just do that. You do that with all energy, enthusiasm giving your very best. That's passion. That's dedication and that's success.

I think it suffices it to say one has to be passionate about his or her goals and not passionate only about his/her opinions. If somebody makes a case to change your way which may help achieve your goals more optimally, you do so. That's passion.

Cheers!

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Posted by Mahesh at 10:38 PM EDT

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A Case of Exploding Mangoes (Vintage) by Mohammed Hanif

Very interesting book. If you are from the Indian sub-continent and if you have any interest in the intriguing political scene of 1980s, you will surely enjoy this book.

What's this book about? It is supposed to be a novel. But, it is based on the real life events that led to the death of dictator Zia Ul Haq who ruled Pakistan from 1977 to 1988.

Except one or two characters, all other characters in this book are real. Zia Ul Haq is real. His ever powerful ISI chief Akthar is real and so are many others. Other two characters may be real too but since they are not known very well, I think they are introduced to make sure the book comes as a novel.

Book reads like fine political thriller. At times it gets comical especially if you know how politics and idiot politicians of the subcontinent operate.

After reading the book, if you still have some lingering doubts, do read more about Haq in Wikipedia at - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zia-ul-Haq.

His assassination, conspiracy theories, who may have played part in his killing etc. are very well discussed again in Wikipedia at - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conspiracy_theories_about_the_death_of_Zia-ul-Haq

Mohammed Hanif, as the BBC head for Urdu service, I am sure, knows far more than what he could comfortably record in his book. But, it is still a good read.

Language of the book at times gets little tedious and takes away the sensational aspect away. That's one are book could have been better. Thrillers are supposed to be page turners without requiring reader to really 'read'  it.

All in all  a great read.

One thing that comes to mind after I finish reading every one of these political thrillers is, what kind of things go on at the highest levels of our society, who really rules us, what are their motives, how they choose between friends and foes, how they pull off daring conspiracies, is this world full of conspiring people who after each other.

Cheers!

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Posted by Mahesh at 1:31 PM EDT

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Kill Khalid: The Failed Mossad Assassination of Khalid Mishal and the Rise of Hamas (Hardcover)

by Paul McGeough

This book makes a very interesting reading if you are in anyway fascinated by middle eastern politics, terrorism, Israel-Palestine conflict etc.

You may have heard about 'Hamas'- Palestinian militant revolutionary organization. However, its leader Khalid Mishal (Mashal) is relatively unknown despite his popularity in the region.

In 1997, Mossad - the famed and much feared Israeli intelligence agency - launched an audacious bid on Mishal's life at Amman, the capital of neighboring country Jordan. Israel has been known for its past liquidations of Arab leaders especially Palestinian leaders which Israel found as threat to its security. If you want to know more about past state-sponsored killings of Israel, watch the movie 'Munich'.

Attempt on Khalid Mishal's life did not go as planned. The plan was to spray a secret poison into his ears and make it look like as a fumble between people walking on the road. A group of Mossad agents went to Amman posing as Canadian tourists, tracked Mishal and sprayed the poison when he was about to enter his office. But, the script did not go well. It did not look like an innocent incident like two people dashing to each other on the street. Mishal's body guard noticed something unusual, chased the assassins and caught some of them. Then Jordanian police caught some more. Overall operation was a disaster. For Mossad, it was big humiliation.

What happened after this incident is the main content of this book. It was an earth shattering incident in the middle eastern diplomatic circles. In order to understand the nature of the problem, you have to understand very delicate political details during 1997 between Israel and its neighbors. Jordan was the only country which was trying its best with utmost sincerity to improve its relationship with Israel. Late King Hussain of Jordan had gone out of his way and much against the wishes of the people of the region to renew peace efforts with Israel. While giving an impression of reciprocity from outside, Israel had taken the risk of sabotaging Jordan's goodwill, that too on Jordanian soil.

There was a flurry of diplomatic activities soon after the incident. Mishal had been sprayed with unknown poison which was going to kill him silently in 48 to 72 hours. Mossad agents had been captured. King Hussain was livid and making calls to all political leaders to put pressure on Israel. People like then president of USA Clinton and important people like many US secretaries, politicians, Canadian politicians etc. get involved and situation becomes really explosive and ugly.

King Hussain makes Israel to deliver antidote for the poison lest he walks out of peace process. He also negotiates the release of many important Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails as the condition to return captured Mossad agents and maintain relationship with Israel. USA is very disappointed with Israel for backstabbing the entire peace process which President Clinton personally oversaw. Canada is livid because Mossad agents used forged Canadian passports to arrive in Jordan as Canadian tourists. Israel is embarrassed beyond belief as people in Israel, after being used to eye popping successes of Mossad in previous operations, are baying for the blood of then prime minister Netanyahu, Mossad chief Yotom. King Hussain is in dilemma because he has to extract maximum mileage from this situation while carefully preserving his power base and maintain delicate equation with another Palestinian stalwart late Yasir Arafat and difficult neighbors such as Syria, Iraq and important Arab allies such Egypt, Iran etc.

Great read. The book written on real facts and incidents reads better than spy thriller.

Cheers!

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Posted by Mahesh at 12:19 PM EDT

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"Love all, trust a few. Do wrong to none." - William Shakespeare

Shakespeare tells us how to treat all in one sentence. All that you need to know how to treat others is right here.

If you do really love yourself, then you ought to be loving everyone else. That goes by default. If you find yourself hating somebody, then you are not loving yourself completely. When we feel something other than love for fellow beings, it just shows that we are not comfortable with some parts of our own selves. When we are not happy with some parts of our own personality, similar traits in others seem to come across as huge drawbacks in others. This follows from the fact that as humans we are all cut from the same fabric. Underlying core is the same. Same divinity exists in all of us.

Trust a few. Despite loving everyone, we still can not reach out to everyone  adequately. So, we need a representative sample of the population to trust and open ourselves completely. Even with trust, it is better start off trusting everyone by default and put the onus of living up to it on others. Try it and you will see that starting off on a right footing of trust makes amazing difference when you have to deal with people. By trusting people, you convey a very subtle but strong expectation that the person better live up to your expectation which in this case a really good one. People normally live up to and if one or two do not live up to, no great harm is done.

If you can not do above two, you can help yourself immensely by doing the third one at the least. That is doing wrong to none. I think this is the hardest. As long as we continue to be normal human beings, we are bound to do wrongs to others from time to time. Our previous 'karma' forces it us on us sometimes and in some cases previous 'karma' of the receipt acts as through us. Only way to minimize this is to feel sorry and repent for the wrongs we have done and do good to others. It is not necessary (not possible) to go back and do the right thing to the same person we have done wrong to. We can find anyone else and help that person and our wrongs are righted. Transitive law of mathematics hold good very well here. As they say ' the best way to pay back the good will is pass it on to somebody else.'

Cheers!

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Posted by Mahesh at 4:40 PM EDT

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For last few years a company called Ooma has been creating a lot of buzz with the promise of unlimited phone calls within US. When it came out first, it turned out to be too good to be true. They were selling an instrument which connected to your high speed Internet connection and home phone and provided unlimited long distance within US. VoIP based system like similar services from companies like Vonage etc. Difference is that you do not pay any ongoing monthly fees. At least per the company you would get free phone service for life.

Few years back price was bit high. Like $400 for the equipment. Company also went through a lot of changes. Recently, I started seeing a lot of buzz again. Price of the equipment also had come down. Like $200 now. Vonage service which I have had for 5 years now was becoming expensive and unreliable. Thought I would check this out this time.

So, ordered Ooma from my favorite web retailer Amazon.Com. Cost around $215. Got the system in a week or so. Setting up was a breeze. First registered the device on Ooma's web site. That is the activation part. Then connected the Ooma hub to the cable modem and home phone and voila, I have a new phone system and was able to start making calls in no time. Call quality has been good so far.

Ooma seems to have gone a step further in VoIP with several enhancements which make it a superior service compared to plethora of other VoIP providers like Vonage. Vonage which was very good when started has consistently fallen down in quality with unreliability. Ooma also has built in QoS system which adjusts the bandwidth consumed by other applications on your network by prioritizing traffic. So, you should not see any drop in quality while downloading or uploading large files like using Torrents etc. This takes away the need to use Hawking broadband booster etc. which I was using to control upstream bandwidth.

Also, it makes sense economically. Vonage's limited plan was costing me like 20 bucks a month. Ooma will be paid off in less than 10 months. After that it is really free. Even if the company goes belly up or something else happens as long as you can use the service for 2-3 years, you will have made more than what you have spent.

Ooma package also comes with a device called Scout which gives another full fledged line without a new number. That's really smart. I have not had to use it but if you have a need for multiple lines, you can use it. By purchasing additional scout devices, you can expand the base system to have additional lines.

Ooma also offers premium features for a price of around $100 per year. I have not bought any yet. At this time, they are allowing Multi-Ring free of cost. This is one feature that is very nice. You can have your cell phone or other phone ring when somebody calls you on your Ooma number. If they take away this feature, that will be somewhat of a problem but with free calling you can not complain.

All in all, a very positive experience so far. I had also liked MagicJack. But, it requires that the device is always connected to a computer which needs to be always on and connected to the net. MagicJack is really useful when you travel. All you need is some broadband connection. Go online, connect your magicjack, put on your headset and you can make free calls to any number in the US. Ultimate test of this was when I was at Seoul airport last year enroute to India. Made a call from Seoul to a calling card number in US to make a call to India using free Internet service offered by the airport.

Hope your experience with Ooma will be as good or better if you choose to try it out.

Cheers!

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Posted by Mahesh at 12:40 PM EDT

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'Rock the boat'- heard of this expression? Used like 'He does not rock the boat. He goes with the flow.' Used in corporate settings like - 'He puts up with a lot of senior management bullshit. He just wants to hang on to his job. He does not rock the boat. Just bidding his time.'

An idle discussion with a friend gave a new perspective on 'rock the boat' recently.

My friend, who I consider as one of the most pragmatic, practical and philosophical persons I have ever known said something on the lines like this. "You see....my job also sucks. I have a lot of good ideas. But, I also know that with all the things going on in my place of work, it just does not make sense to rock the boat. Let me stick it out here for a while. I am outta here after that."

"I do not want to rock the boat. I know that first of all I am in a leaky boat. Leak is getting bigger and bigger day by day. To make things worse, the boat is in a crocodile infested lake. The leak is so big that actually a crocodile's snoot is sticking through it and kissing my bottom. Luckily, the croc is not able to open its mouth and grab me. That's good. To make things even worse, wind gust is picking up and boat is rocking as such. When I am in all these predicaments at the same time, you think I will rock the boat? You must be kidding."

Wow! I thought. How far one can take a simple expression like 'rock the boat' and describe the situation so nicely with a great analogy. Here crocodile infested lake is his company,which like many other companies is going through difficult times. Crocodiles are people around him who are also battling out for survival and his bosses who are eager to cut him or anyone at his level to save a lot of money. Leaky boat is his position. Winds brewing is the economy deteriorating.

He said all this in a few minutes with his inimitable touch of humor which is always so classy. So, next time when somebody challenges you to rock the boat, make sure you are in good condition before you do.

Cheers!

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Posted by Mahesh at 4:02 PM EDT

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"If you can't dazzle with brilliance, baffle with BS."

No additional explanation is necessary. Is there any? :)

Cheers!

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Posted by Mahesh at 11:08 AM EDT

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"The greatest mistake we make is living in constant fear that we will make one." - John Maxwell

They say that the most of the greatest discoveries are 'stumbled upon'. If that is so, we won't stumble upon anything if we do not move at all. So keeping on moving all the time is the source of all good things. Sometimes we may stumble upon on a stone, fall down and skin our knees. Thinking that we will always hurt ourselves, if we refrain from moving, there is no chance that we will stumble upon anything including anything worthwhile.

'Tortoise can move only when it sticks its neck out.' You know, tortoise is fairly immune to all sorts of external attacks when it draws itself in its hard shell. But, it can stay safe and it can not also move at the same time. In order to move forward, it has to stick its neck out. When it has its neck out, it is also vulnerable. But, that does not stop tortoise from sticking its neck out and moving forward.

'Greatest risk is not taking any risk at all.'

As long as we make it a point to factor in for some amount of mistakes, it should be fine. We start dreading mistakes because during planning we tend to think that things will go as planned. That is very naive and stupid. If you have some experience, you always know that things that you desperately want happen always take more time than expected and things you never imagined happen from nowhere. When things that we did not want occur from nowhere, it surely leads to disappointment. The disappointment is more especially if we had not planned for it all. So, the right thing to do is to always make ample allowances for such things and then start off on our mission. With this mind set, all small irritations do not bother us that much. We just need to remind ourselves that we had not thought about this particular thing but we had put a blanket contingency for this sort of things.

Cheers!

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Posted by Mahesh at 7:30 PM EDT

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"Praise by name. But, criticize by category." - Warren Buffet

This works. Praise by name. Sometimes we fail to praise an individual because we may be concerned that praising an individual may affect the team dynamics. As long as we over do it and make our praise gets into the head of that person, that's ok.

Cheers!

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Posted by Mahesh at 12:55 PM EDT

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"It is better to buy a wonderful company at a fair price than buying a fair company at a wonderful price." - Warren Buffet

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Posted by Mahesh at 12:54 PM EDT

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"Stock market is a voting machines in the short term. It is a weighing machine in the long term."- Warren Buffet

Gem of wisdom from one of the best investors of all time. In the short term, some stocks are so hyped that it feels as though it is a popularity contest among stocks than anything else. It's only after a long time, real value rises up to the top after the fancy has faded. This is especially true of so called new age stocks. Go back and see what has happened to many high flying stocks of last dot com boom etc.

Buffet does not get caught up with voting contests. He weighs them. In order to weigh a stock, he would like to understand them. Because weighing a stock here means finding its intrinsic value over a long time. That's why Buffet does not invest in stocks that he does not understand. Look at his holdings. All boring companies. Soft drink company (Coke), a few insurance companies, metals, food etc. Basically bread and butter kind of stocks. Despite this,his holding company has beaten market over and again. He too has had a poor streak over last few years but his performance has not been worse than the market in general.

This is not to mean that you should stay away from new age companies. Important thing is to understand what you are trying to accomplish. If you spot a good opportunity with a fancy stock, go and buy it. But, be sure to know when to sell it as well because popularity wanes as fast as it rises.

By the way. Buffet's new biography 'Snowball' is a great read. I listened to the audio book recently. It is the first book by any author that Buffet has authorized. He has spent several hours with the author and that shows up in the authenticity of the book. Several nuggets of wisdom from this man's life. You may enjoy reading or listening to it.

Cheers!

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Posted by Mahesh at 12:53 PM EDT

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Wrong time, wrong action = Disaster

Wrong time,right action = Resistance

Right time, wrong action = Mistake

Right time, right action = Success

It is just enough to do the right thing. Timing also needs to be right. If either the action is not right or if the timing is not right, desired outcome won't be success. Always examine above set of equations when you see why you are not getting what you want. Most of the time, we pay a lot of attention to action alone and try to refine the action a lot. Even when we execute the best action if the time is not right, at best, we will encounter a lot of resistance. Timing is influenced by a lot of factors. When I thought about this, this seems to apply very aptly to organizational changes. Many organizational changes fail because they are implemented at the wrong time. On the other hand, when timing is good, we should attempt to try several actions because when the timing is right even if the action is not the best, worst thing that can happen is not a disaster but just a mistake from which one can learn and recover.

Cheers!

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Posted by Mahesh at 10:38 AM EDT

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There is a good place to buy Kannada books, CDs etc. online. You can order from - http://shopping.totalkannada.com/shopping/vpasp/. I have bought several books, Kannada movie VCDs etc. from this web site and have been very happy with their service. They have a full fledged store in Bangalore. If their rep in the USA does not have what you want, they can get it from India quickly and send it you. They accept payments by check or by PayPal.Very convenient.

I chose to write about them because some visitor to my blog left comments asking where they can buy some books such as 'Dadagiriya Dinagalu' or Ravi Belegere's recent books.

Hope your buying experience will be nice.

Cheers!

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Posted by Mahesh at 12:40 PM EDT

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"Mere information is not knowledge. Mere knowledge is not wisdom."

Even better- start with ' mere data is not information.'

Data, information, knowledge - easy to obtain if you have right tools, put in enough time and energy. Wisdom - different story. Wisdom is a very rare commodity. One way to check for wisdom is if the person 'walks the walk or merely talks the talk.' Why is wisdom so hard to come by despite we having all the knowledge required? If you refer to our sacred scriptures, they say wisdom is hard to come by because of our conditioning (called 'samskaras'). Our conditioning is so deep that it takes sometimes multiple lives to fill those giant craters. Think it this way. There is a field with variety of channels for water to flow. As soon as you release water to such a field, water follows that channel. How you want water to flow does not matter? Based on your understanding, you may water to flow in certain fashion but unless you change those water ways, water will continue to flow in those pre-defined channels. That's what are 'samskaras'. Our conditioning is similar. Our vital energy continues to flows in the predefined channels. We may read a lot, based on all that reading we may decide to make a few changes to our lives but life may not change much. Unless you gradually close out existing waterways and create new waterways to direct the water in the way you want, water will continue to flow through existing channels.Weds will continue to grow. This is one explanation why we continue to do same things despite knowing very well that we need to change things. When our knowledge and actions do not match, that's the sure sign of lack of wisdom.

Cheers!

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Posted by Mahesh at 1:20 AM EDT

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You probably know how cinema works. If you take reel of cinema and see, you will see a whole series of static pictures. Then, how do we see continuous sequences in cinema? Explanation is probably known to you as well. When those static pictures are shown on a screen at a high speed (using projector), brain tends to interpret them as a continuous sequence rather than standalone still images rolling one by one. You can even simulate slow motion by slowing down the speed of the projector. Same thing with electricity as well. What we call today alternating current goes up and down but at the rate of 60 cycles per second, it is too fast for eyes and brain to notice, adjust and see the difference. Else we would be seeing flickering all across.

Recently while reading one of Easwaran's books, a light bulb went up when Easwaran used this simple analogy to explain the thought process. Thoughts all occur one at a time but our mind is sped up so much so that they rush on our mind's screen like those still pictures being projected from a cinema projector. That angry feeling you get about someone, how does it start? Take a moment to dissect it. First thought, mind goes back 10 years, then second thought, kicked up by memory, comes up. That's when you remember the first part of the incident that is making you angry. That follows with few other memories and so on. All these are independent discrete thoughts are arising in your mind. They are coming at such a high speed that you start developing that anger emotion in you. Within minutes you are full of anger about that person. It does not stop there. Mind is on cruise control, it is going where it likes. You start thinking about all that you could have and should have done to pay him or her back right then and there. It probably takes good 15-20 minutes before you realize what a waste of time it has been to get angry about someone for something he or she did 10 years back. If you regain your composure in 15 minutes or so, congratulate yourself. Sometimes, people can carry such process over very long time. Thus ruining days and weeks at a time one such incident.

So, using the cinema reel analogy Easwaran beautifully explains if you slow down your thinking or the mind which is causing such rapid thinking, you will first start seeing thoughts for what they are. Individual and discrete. Once you start seeing them like that, you can edit the thoughts the way an expert cinema editor edits the movie. He cuts a scene here, add something else there and the result is a master piece. I am sure you have admired razor sharp editing in some movies. At the right time, right scene comes up. When a particular catchy beat of a song is heard, some major scene is shown. Can we do same thing with our thoughts too? Absolutely. First step is to take the reel and using the steady mind start editing the thoughts so that a beautiful masterpiece emerges. This is exactly happens when we have positive emotions. Positive emotions are nothing but a series of same rapid thoughts one after another. If we have that capability, why not use that to edit out negative thoughts?

All this can be done but only when mind slows down. Projector has to slow down to let our eyes see individual still images. Else, we will be seeing continuous sequences all the time.

Another good thing to remember is to think less. It is absolutely possible to think less or think less about things that we know are harmful. After you have made some conscious attempts to slow the mind down, you become aware of your thought process. First negative thought comes, you deliberately ponder over it. That pondering helps because instead letting that thought escape, you are putting it under scrutiny. Despite the scrutiny, that negative thought may still continue but its power has been considerably reduced. You keep on doing this exercise for a very long time and no doubt one day you will be able to think only when you need and think only what you need. That too with full focus and only on things you really need to think about. All other time your mind is free and calm. But, ever ready to engage in important thinking.

Meditation helps. Spiritual reading helps. Selfless work helps. Keeping fully occupied with family helps. Doing what you enjoy helps. All these help to ward off unwanted thoughts. Solitude helps a lot too. Being occupied all the time may help you ward of negative thoughts. But, the moment you have a minute of free time, untrained mind is back to its basics. However, if you allow yourself some solitude from time to time and challenge yourself to steer your thoughts in positive direction, you are exercising your mind to go against conditioning. That is going to pay off a lot.

Cheers to minding your own mind.

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Posted by Mahesh at 3:19 AM EDT

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There are so many banks. They offer so many savings and certificates of deposit accounts with varying rates. How can you find the best deal? Won't it be great if somebody can announce your intention to open a new savings or certificate of deposit account and ask banks to bid for your money? Won't it be super cool if the banks are also FDIC insured so that you can invest without stress? How about if you can also access reviews from other customers? All cool things. OK, no good idea goes unexploited by smart people. As a result, we have MoneyAisle.

MoneyAisle is really cool. All you need to do is to go to their web site and provide some basic information like amount you want invest, duration of certificate deposit etc. and start the bidding process. The system talks to several banks and finds out the highest possible interest available for your amount for the period you specified. Then if you like, you can accept the non-obligatory bid and choose to open an account with the bank that won your bid or just move on. No commitment from you at any stage.

Before you open your account with any of the banks, please do check the rates offered by your own local bank. Since this is a new service not all banks and more importantly credit unions are not participating. For example, in my case, my credit union offered better rates than any bank that bid for my money.

In the era of failing banks, credit unions seem to be fairing better. I have mainly banked with a credit unions for last 10 years so. I had not-so-great experience with one of these large banks in the earlier days. No personal touch to their service. Callous attitude etc. So, I chose a credit union and been banking with them even though I have moved several times in last 10 years. Most of my accounts remain with a credit union in Boston area. With their excellent Internet portal, I have found no reason to bank elsewhere. I was not sure if they were offering best possible rates. Checking on Money Aisle kinda proved it. So, why bank elsewhere? Credit unions are also insured by something similar to FDIC. So, you money is safe up to $250,000.

Savings accounts and CDs are fairly safe investments. Safety also comes at the expense of investment returns. Highest possible rates for say 3 year CD are in like 3% APR which is less than annual inflation. So, your money is earning less than inflation. But, if you want the safety of your principle, bank deposits are better.

For long term investors, stock market is still a better place to invest. Agreed that definition of long term has definitely changed over years now. Earlier they said 5-10 years. Now with stocks close to their 12 year lows, probably horizon now is 20 plus years. But, that's ok. Ask yourself if you believe in the basics of capitalism. If you do, then act like a investor and stay put invested in a diversified portfolio of entire US market plus some exposure to international market. Chances are you will create enormous wealth for yourself and your next generation in next 30-40 years. If you want the safety of retaining your principle, then open certificates of deposit and sleep soundly that your $1000 remains as such although today's $1000 may be less than half after few years of 4% inflation.

Cheers!

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Posted by Mahesh at 12:42 PM EDT

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Have you ever wondered why geese and many other migratory birds fly in V formation?

They have found that flying in inverted V shaped formation accords birds the best aerodynamic configuration reducing air resistance and getting boost from the wing flapping of birds in front of them. Granted that benefits increase from first row to the last row. First row, there is only one bird. It does not get any other help. Flapping of its wings, helps two birds in the row behind it and so on. So, after a while the leader is tend to get tired. That's when some other bird which was coasting along nicely benefited by all the wing flapping of other birds, replaces the leader and the leader takes the most benefited position to rest and fly with maximum aerodynamic benefits. Pretty smart.

Some birds while flying also make honking noise. That is not random either. It is the sound to encourage each other do their best and help themselves as a group.

If a bird is injured mid-flight, two or more birds accompany the injured bird to safety and recommence their journey after the injured bird recovers or dies. Sometimes they join another flock of birds to benefit from aerodynamics.

It is no wonder that only with such smart tactics, these birds are able to cover thousands of miles from one place to another for migration.

Don't you think we can learn a bit from these birds and make our team work more successful?

Cheers!

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Posted by Mahesh at 10:59 PM EST

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"When I am good, I am very good. But, when I am bad, I am even better."

Hard to get the meaning out of this right away. What can this possibly mean?

One thing that comes to my mind is about people who have our best interest in their hearts. When they are good to us, it feels good. But, when they are bad to us, if we set aside our preoccupation with feeling good all the time, we see that they are better when they are bad. Because they are acting out badly just out sheer frustration of not being able to see us delivering our best. Probably you have had this experience with your best teachers, good mentors etc. They sometimes snap at us. Scold us. Scowl at us. What not....It is easy to get hurt by such behaviors from people we have come to admire and consider as our friends and family. When such things happen, always examine the motives. Chances are, when the fog clears, you see that they still harbor best of best intentions for you and your well being. It is just that their best interests for your well being are coming out that way. They do not intend to hurt you anyway. They may be frustrated that you,despite being very talented, are not living up to your full potential. So, do not move away from them just like that. Try to dig a little deep why are they acting the way they are. Always give benefit of doubt to everyone including someone who you consider as your adversaries. Benefit of doubt is one benefit we should learn to shower lavishly on everyone. It is going to be paid back in multitudes when it comes to you. Like everyone else we feel that everyone should give us a benefit of doubt and listen to what we have to say. So, why should it be any different for other? What goes around, comes around. So does benefit of doubt you give to others.

Cheers!

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Posted by Mahesh at 1:04 PM EST

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