Goals 2016 revisited !

I intended to write this post on July 2, But looks like I'm going to be full one month late. What's so special about July, Well it was exactly half way in this year. But seems like procrastination is my second name.
But still... better late than never. I need to review the goals I set at the start of this year to see if I'm on right track or completely off the track. So without much ado here the list ...

1) Books - 15 books,
Ha.. I love that this was the first goal I set. The reason being that I have actually crossed more than double of this goals. No kidding. I've actually already read 32 books in this year. So did I committed ultimate cardinal sin of setting a too easy goal.
Well not exactly. The goals was based on how many books I read last year with a resolution that I will read bigger and classics books this year. and in that way the set target was pretty reasonable. So what happened after that.
I changed my job and then transferred to Malaysia for six months. Here my daily routine is much different than back in India. So I found lot of time and hence could finish so many books.  Two of the things standing out in my over-achieving of this goals is
a) Measurable - As done last year too. I update my target and progress on goodsread. This helps me to monitor my progress time-wise and know I'm lagging behind or not.
b) Resource availability - I took kindle unlimited membership which allows me to read unlimited amount of books ( in their special archive off course) without paying anything
c) Time resource - As stated earlier also, My daily routine allows me to devote sufficient time to this activity
The most important thing is that I actually like this and this is my one of the most favorite pastime.
Hence passion to achieve this goal is not at all missing.
Here is the link for my Goodread progress.
https://www.goodreads.com/challenges/3890-2016-reading-challenge

2) Blog - 12 full blog posts.
On goal 2 and we're already on the slippery territory
Well this is my sixth blog post. The initial target translated into one blog post one month . So I'm actually one month behind. And maybe more considering this is the end of this month also.  This goal is not a piece of cake at all because I'm suffering from writers block which is affecting my other goals also.
a) Measurable - Sure this goals is with the number being exact multiple of the number of months in the year, its also very easy to track too.
b) Resource availability - Writing only one blog post is not really much of the work, So non availability of time is not really an excuse. The problem is not able to find any topic to write.

3) Physical fitness
This is a tricky goal. The measuring parameters that I set earlier were participating in Delhi half marathon and join swimming.
Prima facia I could not acheive both. As I'm in Malaysia and not really practicing racing. Nor did I joined swimming.
But still I would not say that I failed in this goal so far because I have made some progress in improving my physical fitness. I have started waking up early and doing some stretching / basic exercise daily. Attaining physical fitness is perhaps one of the most important goals for me and I still have a long way to go.
a) Measurable - My initial parameters are no more valid now so I set a holy grail of measurable target in physical fitness. WEIGHT LOSS. As per my last medical checkup I was 10 kg overweight. Due to my new routine and problem of food I've already reduced 3 kg. Give of take few hundred grams. My target is to roughly reduce 3 kg more. So the measurable target is 75 kg.
I understand weight loss is not everything in weight loss. But this will be starting step
As for swimming, my apartment has a swimming pool. So I'm doing swimming depending on time availability.
b) Resource - About time resource, I've more or less covered in previous step. But resource in this regards  many other thing also. Like joining gym, Foods. Unfortunately I'm not so lucky on those counts. But still I'm trying to do the best I can.

4) Communication - Join toastmaster and complete one stage.
Unfortunately I could not join toastmasters because of time shortage. After - that I though of preparing five speeches and keeping them ready but unfortunately even that too did not happened. Even though the goal of blogging is also someway related to it and the fun activities as watching Hollywood movies also go long way towards improving communication. Still I would considered this goal as part of written and verbal communication and hence other activities cannot replace it wholly.
Good news is still I can catch up on this goals.
STATUS : NO PROGRESS, NEED TO CATCH UP

5) Qualification : Complete my correspondence degree (Optional : check for MBA)
Unfortunately another big failure, for last six months no progress on the same.
PS : Start working on this as soon as I"m back in India

6) Finance : Prepare finance plan, start investing in equity
I don't have a concrete financial plan plus decision to start investing in equity is also on hold due to the prevalent market conditions.
However my finances are better than before, thanks for my new job. Also I'm seriously thinking about buying my own house and hence any decision about investing in equity will need to be put on hold.

7) Recreation : Lean one new hobby
Not able to work on this part as I"m not in India. However I would still lean more about this music.
Another goal on which I need to start acting in however small way possible ASAP

8) Technical : Lean one new software - Solidworks
Another very important goals slipping on
PS : Need to install this as soon as I"m in India or check on google
Achieving this particular skill is really very important for my professional growth.

9) Entrepreneurship : Prepare business plan with road-map
This is one of my long standing dream. But there are many hurdles in the way such as
a) Lack of time (looks like cliche excuse, but there is some element of truth in this)
b) Lack of direction or a business idea : I"m not really sure what exactly I should do
c) Lack of finances : I don't really have any money to invest in this so the business model needs to be the one with almost zero starting capital required.

That all, Phew ! Good that I do-not have a big list. As clear from above, a lot of goals planned at the start of the Year are totally neglected.
I very urgently need to set up a time-table for regular follow up on these goals. Perhaps with each of my blog post, I just need to have a look at the goals to check if I'm missing to workout on anyone.

My reading glasses - Zemindar

After a long time I tried an old Classic. One thing that left me pleasantly surprised was unlike other old classics I have read, the language of this book was easy to comprehend. The overall plot of the book fascinates me as the book recounts experience of an English girl who came to India in 1857 and as the year suggest, gets embroiled in the mutiny or as the Indian historians likes to call it, the first independence struggle of India. At the heart of the book is a bittersweet love story between the girl and an white Indian Zemindaar.
The book chronicles the twists and turns their lives took due to the chaos that follows
The love angle is not like mills and boon but is more about conquering our pre-conceived notions and self deception.
In fact at many places in the book it feels like I'm reading pride and prejudice. There are many similarities between this book and work by Jane Austen.
Also as an Indian I also found Author's narrative pretty well balanced. Without taking sides, She describe the instances of 1857 mutiny through the eyes of British families in India.

At 400 pages, it's a long book but the story and flow holds together

In fact I felt the characters has enough potential for a sequel also

Why to write

Why exactly I want to wrote to book. Isn't it a good topic to write about. Don't know if I'm the only one finding it funny. Writing a blog about wanting to write a book
Anyway compared to my fetish about reading, I was always very reticent about the other two aspects of communication namely speaking and writing.
The best way to describe it is perhaps the remarks written in my report card in fifth grade. " sober but social". I don't even know the meaning of sober. I find out much later.
At a very later stage in my life. I realized two things.
One, how true that remark in my report card was. Even though I'm very reserve in nature. I love to tell stories to people. I'm a very good liar. I use to make the instances in my mundane life interesting by exaggerating them. I use to explain movie stories, comics to my friends. Then someone pointed out that he has also watched that particular movie. And my story is not exactly as per the book. But no doubt it is more exciting than the original book

And second is that I love writing. In the first year of my job (Just after college). I had a brief stint in a socialist youth organisation. One of the role in which I did well was writing pamphlets. Though it was not even close to story or blog writing. But It has the same elements nonetheless.

Coming back to my reserve nature. One of major initiative ever taken by me to overcome this hindrance also involves writing.

I moved to big bad world of Delhi NCR in 2011. My situation as exactly same as that of a dear in headlight. My limitation in interacting with other due to my reserve nature was all the more visible in the cut-throat world of Delhi compare to small town of Chandigarh from where I had come from.
Luckily in 2012 I attended a meeting of toastmaster with a colleague and immedietaly realised what I had to do to improve my public speaking.

So winning a rare victory against procrastination I joined toastmaster. I even managed to clear first stage of toastmasters (10 speeches). Even as last half of this target was a big drag. But this post is not about toastmasters. While in toastmasters I realised that I love writing speeches. Perhaps more than delivering those speeches on the stage. It was a plateform where in a way I delivered my own written stories. In toastmasters I get to know about a definite structure of speech. Consisting of a definite beginning, body and conclusion.
The ultimate irony is that one of the reason of my leaving toastmasters is that I could not come up with ideas interesting enough to write speeches upon.
Perhaps I experienced writers block.
But apart from giving me much needed confidence about public speaking. Toastmasters also gave me confidence about writing speeches.
And perhaps that was the stage from where I seriously contemplate about writing a book.
It is then no co-incidence then that I started this blog at roughly the same time I joined Toastmasters.

Thus I decided to write a book (Add this in bold in my bucket list)....

And where I am right now progress wise.
In the all too familiar flight with self doubts, wondering If I really have it in me to write a book , become an author.

My initial attempts at writing could not progress beyond writing few lines. Then big break in between. All I have written till now is a situation which vagely resembles a plot idea and some interesting anecdotes. How I will manage to transform this into a book. Only time will tell.

All that I know for sure is one thing. Unlike the other seemingly difficult targets that I have managed to achieve somewhat. To achieve this target. Hardwork is not enough. Its not something you can acquire by practicing daily because lets face it. what will you write if nothing comes to you mind.
Staring at the blank sheets or blank pc screen actually can be very depressing. But I'm not ready to give up yet!!!

My reading glasses the bestseller she wrote

Read another book from Ravi Subramanian. The bestseller she wrote.
This is the first book whose title doesn't contains the word bank, I thought the maybe in this story, there will be no reference to the bank as is the case with other books by the same author. But I was proved wrong.
Here again the protagonist as well as all major characters are working in bank.
The only deviation was that the plot is based outside the back. The theme was about personal lives of those people whereas in earlier books the plot was based on professional lives of the characters.
As the last book I read from the same author was Incredible banker which has a major plot twist based on naxalites. And as in this book also there is a major reference to Naxals. I has a feeling of Deja Vu. But at most this incident was a blind turn (Maybe intentionally put by author so that the readers will be surprised at the end to know that there was no naxal connection. 

But on the other end, for readers who have not read his earlier book, This will be come as an unexplained part.

Also the main thorn in the flesh for this week is that the relationship between Aditya and Shreya is not explained in this book. Its an extra-maritial affair alright and I can understand that both were themselves confused about their feelings about each other. But at-least could have given us some sneak peak into the turmoils in their minds, which is invariable when you are confused about your feelings for the other person.
Another sore points is that unlike authors previous books, Here the final twist was more of a case of tying loose ends.
The female protagonist Shreya says that she doesn't reads Indian authors book specially thriller, The only author she has read is the male protagonist itself. It can be interpret as self depreciating humor but dont know why it looks to me like an arrogant statement.
The climax is also too fairy tale - like, Something which is hard to digest in a thriller showing grey shades of everyone.
But there are some things I liked about this books.
First I like the Idea of book about a best-seller author and a wannabe best-seller author.
The idea of possessiveness, ambition, pride and jealousy is also explained very well through its characters, In fact each of its characters is used as metaphor for one this feelings. e.g.
The main protagonist Aditya is all about ego and pride.
Shreya is shown as image of possessiveness and ambition
And Aditya's friend Prakash is driven by Jealousy
The flow is good and narration tight. The professional environment depicted looks beleivable
A good read which can be finished in one long sitting

The narrative moves at a tight pace and the characters of Shreya keeps readers guessing

Happy beginning, clean slate

People are very much obsessed by happy endings (Specially us Indians, you don't find tragic ending so common in Shakespeare's play; in classic Indian plays). We very firmly believe in sayings like all's well if it ends well. We find many examples in our Indian mythology also which reinforce this claim.  

Why I'm saying all this. Because right now I'm right in middle of what can be called as new beginning for my life. Even though it can be defined as a mundane job change only (I mean no big stuff, such things happen every few years or in the cases of some of my friends; every few months too). But for me it's the biggest change in my life in last few years. I worked in my last company for five years.  When you change your job after five long years and come into a company totally different in all respects. The transition will be shocking to say the least. To top it all, I even changed my line.

So for me, it's almost like to start all over again. The beginning. And unlike the typical god fearing Indians; I believe in happy beginnings rather than happy ends. For me it's absolutely imperative to start on the right note. Plan and strategize right at the start.

Also to quote "Homi Mulla". (I have the misery of attending his sessions). Perception is reality. The perception / impression that people makes of you in the beginning of any job sticks. Later on , No matter how hard you try. You just can't shake off that image. Specially for a someone like me; whose introvert nature  can be easily mistaken as arrogance or aloofness.

But the positive thing is that such opportunities presents you with a clean slate. It's an opportunity for you to create the type of image consciously as you wants as you are free of luggage of you past actions.
As you are new to the company. You can start afresh.

For me, Its a big think. Not often in life you get a change to start afresh (In any aspects)

PS :

1) I'm in Malaysia for my induction training. As I'm cut-off from my familiar environment. This thing of starting afresh is even more valid in my case.

2) On a unprecedented book reading spree in Malaysia as not much to do in my free time here.

Goals 2016!

The picture above more or less sums it up. In my case too; I can only start planning for New Year goals now that one month has already passed. Though for different reasons. In fact the reason itself contains a major learning towards achieving these goals.

So here’s the story.

One of my major goals since last year, or rather from last two years has been to change job. On few occasions I came very close to achieving this goal. But could not clear the final hurdle. But as the luck would have it. I managed to change job right at the end of last year. My plan was to join my new job on the first day of New Year itself. But there were some last minute issues. I required my passport to be ready before joining. Had applied for renewal also. Unfortunately this was exactly the time luck chooses to demonstrate how great Indian system works (Or not works at all). My file for police verification was stuck time and again and it took one complete month for it to clear.

Ultimately everything went well and my passport is expected in one – two days. During last month (first month of year) I was actually without job as I have already put in my papers and relieved in last job and yet to join new job. Consciously or unconsciously; I was under so much stress that just could prepare me to plan goals for this year.

Now that everything is sorted out, I can again concentrate on planning / resolutions for 2016.

And therein lays the major learning. In the hindsight I could recall many such instances when I faced similar kind of stress because of which I put all my goals on the back-burner. If only I could deal with such situations without losing focus on bigger goals. I could achieve so much more.

Back to the goals now. As covered in my earlier post also. One of the major goals that I could achieve last year has some salient characteristics. It was measurable as well as track able. So taking the leaf out of that experience. For this year I’m going to try and define all my goals in the same manner as below.

1)      Books –  15 books

2)      Blog – 12 blog post (full article only, not including random quotes, books etc)

3)      Physical fitness – Participate in Delhi half marathon, Join swimming in summer

4)      Communication – Join toastmasters and complete one stage (five speeches)

5)      Qualification – Complete my correspondence degree (Optional : check for MBA)

6)      Financial – Preparing finance plan , start investing in equity

7)      Recreation – learn one new hobby (guitar)

8)      Technical – Learn one new software (Solid works)

9)      Entrepreneurship -  Prepare business plan with roadmap

To be read – Scion of Ikshwaku by Amish Tripathi

After a long hiatus I’m writing about a book. It’s not that I’m not reading any book lately. On the contrary my book reading spree is on an all-time high. It’s just that I’ve built up such a great momentum that most of the books are finished from start to end in a single go. And I don’t feel like writing a review well after the book is finished.

And there is another observation on my part. Most of the book I’ve been reading of late are in form of e-book only (I got comfortable with it at last). I found out that my reading speed is much faster for it.

I could have ordered this book in e-pub format too but for the fact that in this case the hard bound version was economical than e book (Strange!!!)

Now to my take on it.

Once this author (Amish Tripathi) is not a new author for me. In fact I’ve read all his previous three books. (The famous Shiva trilogy)

I had mixed feelings towards this book mainly for two reasons.

One, his previous trilogy started with a bang but ended like a damp squid.

Second, Shiva as deity has an aura of mystique built around it (The destroyer good, creator of dance, an ascetic yogi). Enough grey shades to build a fascinating story around it)

Rama, on the other end seems too simplistic and morally upright to create a good story.

Also the full story of Rama is by heart for every Indian. It can prove to be real challenge for the author as there will be no novelty or suspense here. Readers can always predict the things to come.

I only hope this time the author is able to accomplish what he could do last time (ending the series on the high note)

The positive factor this time is that the end is already confirmed (Everyone knows the climax of Ramayana). He can think about all the time that how all the sequences should lead to that end (My observation is that last time he could not link all the sequences in a linear manner)

The challenge on the other hand is that Ramayana does not have a happy ending at all if you go till the very end (Killing Ravana is a happy part but story goes on after that, And agnipariksha of Sita and other incidents are not so happy at all)

All said and done, I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed.

PS : I’m currently watching Siya Ke Raam on Star plus  Sometimes it gets really confusing as I’m reading, watching two different versions of Ramayana.