Visiting ISKCON Temple, New Delhi

I and my wife visited ISKCON Temple, New Delhi some time back. While in Mumbai, we used to visit ISKCON Temple at Juhu many times and it was nice to visit one in Delhi too. ISKCON Temple in South Delhi is situated in East of Kailash.

The Temple structure is grand and we need to walk up the stairs to reach the main temple (the height is because the temple is situated on a hill called Hare Krishna Hill). The prime deities Radha and Krishna are so wonderful to visit. The Krishna’s idol here is made of black colored stone. On one side of the main deity are the idols of Sri Sri Gaura Nitai along with Srila Prabhupada and his spiritual master Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati. And on the other side very beautiful deities in the form of Ram Parivaar are installed. The main prayer hall in front of the deities has a very peaceful energy and environment and the devotees sit for some time and soak themselves into the positive energy of the temple.

One door from the main prayer hall takes us towards a gallery which has beautiful and large portraits showing different leelas and life events of Lord Krishna. It also has a series of portraits of Radha and Krishna from many ISKCON Temples from all across the world. It is a matter of pride for us to see such beautiful temples made by ISKCON all across the world. 

When we come out of the main temple, we find some restaurants and also a beautiful shop selling religious literature and music CDs. There is also a museum gallery. We also got to know that the temple conducts Multimedia Shows for the visitors.

Some other useful information:

Name of the temple: Sri Sri Radha Partha-Sarathi ISKCON temple

Address: Iskcon Temple, Hare Krishna Hill, Sant Nagar Main Road, New Delhi, Delhi 110065, India +91 11 2332 0005

Timing: Open on all days. Morning Prayer Time: 4.30 am, 7.15 am, 7.45 am. Evening Prayer Time - 12.30 pm, 7.00 pm, 7.45 pm (Prayer Hall Remains Closed from 12 pm to 4 pm)

Website: http://www.iskcondelhi.com/

Recommended webpage for a very good review: http://www.shubhyatra.com/delhi/isckon-temple.html

Now I am posting some of the pictures we took during our visit: 

(The deities of  Sri Sri Gaura Nitai along with Srila Prabhupada and his spiritual master Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati)

(Lord Krishna had acquired the name Parthasarathi because he had driven Arjuna's chariot duing the great Mahabharata war. It can be seen symbolically as he promises in Bhagavad Gita that he reciprocates as per the devotee's desire.)

(Lord Ram, Sita mata, Lakshman, and bhakt Hanuman)

Management mythos by Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik

I am a big fan of Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik and I wait for his column “Management Mythos” in the Economic Times every Friday. Dr. Pattanaik, a medical doctor by education (MBBS from Grant Medical College, Mumbai) turned to become a renowned mythologist. He works as a leadership consultant and holds the innovative position of Chief Belief Officer at the Future Group. You can check his website at: http://devdutt.com/

I am reproducing his today’s article from ET:

Management mythos: Read situations in all the perspectives

30 Sep, 2011, 05.49AM IST, ET Bureau

The sage Narada wanted to marry a young princess. But she said she wanted to marry only Hari. Hari is the name of Vishnu , who is God and the guardian of earth. Narada went to Vishnu and began singing his praises. So Vishnu offered him a boon.

"Give me the face of Hari," said Narada. Vishnu granted that wish. Narada went to the princess but instead of garlanding him, she turned around in disgust. There behind her stood Vishnu. The overjoyed princess garlanded Vishnu. Narada wondered what was wrong. Then he saw his face reflected on a mirror.

It was that of a monkey! He accused Vishnu of cheating him. Vishnu smiled and replied, "I gave you the face of Hari, which literally means monkey, though it happens to be my name."

Narad can be read the situation in two ways: a strategic narrative or a sincere narrative. In a strategic narrative, Narad can see Vishnu behaving like a lawyer, playing with words to make him feel like a fool. In a sincere narrative, Narada can see Vishnu behave like God, using a play of words to enlighten him not to trick a young girl simply because he can.

In a strategic narrative, Vishnu is the wily trickster who wants the princess for himself. In a sincere narrative, Vishnu stops Narada from being a trickster and grants the princess her wish. In a strategic narrative, Narada feels like a fool. In a sincere narrative, Narada is enlightened.

Every situation can be read strategically or sincerely. When we read a situation strategically, we feel manipulated; we feel we have been reduced to a performing monkey. When we read a situation sincerely , we learn from it; we feel someone cares for us enough to demonstrate to us our shortcomings rather than simply pointing it out.

After completing his course in Australia, Jason returned to India with plans to start a fast food joint. His father, Paul, was a renowned restaurateur, with many small boutique hotels in East and South India , saw the business plan and knew that it would not work. But he gave his son the seeding capital he needed.

The hotel started with much fanfare but was in the red in less than six months. That is why Paul sent his team to help out the son. They made two key changes, in the menu and in the advertising. The same place, which was empty for six months, was now full of customers.

Now Jason has two options, just like Narada. Read his father's actions strategically or sincerely. He can see Paul as a manipulator, a dominant father, who wanted to put him in his place. Or he can see Paul as a teacher, a caring father, who wanted to show him what actually works in the restaurant business. Jason can feel like Hari, the monkey, or thank Hari, the teacher. The choice is very much his.

The author is the Chief Belief Officer of the Future Group. He can be reached at devdutt@devdutt .com

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/features/corporate-dossier/management-mythos-read-situations-in-all-the-perspectives/articleshow/10178045.cms

Perfectionism Vs Being Human

Most of us would have come across someone in our life whom we consider “perfect”. For me, one of our professors was one such with his exceptional academic brilliance, amazing sense of humor and a great strength of character. I will always remember Dr. Narayanan as a “perfectionist”. It is natural for us to strive towards becoming a perfectionist too. Though I am not saying that we would become “perfect” one day because perfection is not a destination but a manner of doing things.

Some days back I read the following paragraphs, which made me think about the same issue again with a different angle.

“Neurologists say that our brains are programmed much more for stories than for PowerPoint slides and abstract data. Stories with a little drama seem to be enjoyed by our feelings and, more importantly, are remembered far longer than any dry slide filled with analytics. Personal stories also create a more intimate atmosphere. Intimacy suggests friends. Friends suggest people who are not trying to take advantage of one another.

Our logical minds worry about awkwardness in a presentation. But up to a point, most people seem to feel more comfortable with less-than-superman speaking qualities. It makes the speaker more human. It makes the speaker look more vulnerable. Vulnerable means he is less likely to aggressively attach our decisions or beliefs, and that makes us more comfortable. A little awkwardness also feels real, not slick or phony. When we feel someone is being slick and phony, we are much more likely to reject the message.”

Ref: P54, John. O. Kotter, A sense of Urgency.

The first paragraph would still sound doable to a student of perfectionism as it tells that at places using the right brain would be more appropriate than the logical left brain. It tells about the learning pattern, which each perfectionist would also understand. Not everyone is blessed with very accurate memory and engagement activities in the form of stories etc. are very effective in achieving higher retention by our brain. But how should we take the second paragraph?

Should we then purposefully make some mistakes in our PPTs or make some fonts appear bad in contrast? Or should we fumble during our delivery or at times fake losses of memory or slips of tongue? If such things happen by mistakes, should we grin and smile? Should we borrow some words from the kids or street children or should we also drop some tea over our neckties? I hope I am making my point clear, though I am a bit exaggerating.

What do you say? While I don’t doubt the second paragraph, I am more worried about the implications. Should we keep it as “comforting” words for those who don’t achieve the “perfect” result, or should we actually look forward to practice it? If we agree with the later, are not we planning to make a mediocre world?

- Rahul

Omar Abdullah on his divorce with Payal Nath

Some time back, the present J&K Chief Minister and son of Farooq Abdullah (I think this is the introduction), Omar Abdullah joined the micro-blogging site Twitter. I am not sure if he took blessings of Shashi Tharoor, the former UPA minister of state (I think this is not his introduction though) who lost his ministry due to his Tweets (his famous ‘holy cow’ address to the reigning dynasty of India). But Omar seems to have made a quick progress. He has now divorced (I am neither saying Twitter-wallas get divorced, nor that divorcing is any progress) and he is making use of Twitter. I don’t say whether he is using right use of it or wrong, because by the time you understand if it was right or wrong you are either sent packing or forgotten, but I am just saying that he is “using” Twitter. That may sound like a useless usage of use, but I hope you would conclude something only funny after following his adventures with the tweeting:

“J&K CM Omar Abdullah and his wife Payal Nath have separated after 17 years of marriage. This was confirmed by the chief minister on Twitter on Thursday.

Reacting to the report, Omar tweeted: "While it's true my wife and I have separated, speculation about the motives and my future actions are unfounded, untrue, I appeal to the media to please allow me and my family privacy. Am sure you will appreciate that I have not let this affect my work."

"Stories about my remarriage are completely false, concocted. It's a pity, while repeating these lies, no effort was made to ask me the truth," Omar tweeted.

He further added: "My family and I will not be issuing any more statements or taking any further questions about any of this."”

Source: TNN, Sep 15 [Link]

There are many inherent issues here.

First of all, he is speaking all this on such a public platform like Twitter and he is speaking all this on indeed a private matter (divorce). Yet he desires to be granted “privacy”. Even people with no interest in his family life would have got to know about his marital affair (not used in conventional sense) due to his own Tweets. Secondly he claims to have kept his work life unaffected by this separation. What kind of a husband would remain immune to such a tragic happening like a divorce with a wife of 17 years? Thirdly, while he is complaining that “no effort was made to ask me the truth”, he adds in the end that he and his family (excluding his now divorced ex-wife I guess) will not be making any more statements. Forget about making statements, they will not even be “taking any further questions about any of this”! Yet, his complaints persist that the media didn’t ask him “the truth”! Well, for any such matter people are not expected to tell the “truth” and would rather be making political statements. And on the top of that, people of India (of which his home-state J&K is a part of) have given up believing on politicians’ words (I hope he remembers that he is one politician) a long time ago!

I don’t really think his statements and Tweets needed such a serious dissection. But blame Twitter, as even I hang out there some times.

- Rahul

Won First Prize in an E&R Kaleidoscope Event

E&R (Education and Research) is the team at Infy which facilitates learning (facilities like library, certifications are all included in that). They have been celebrating a week as E&R Kaleidoscope, every year. Out of the many events (like code writing contest for s/w engineers), they were conducting this time, there was one contest which was a glossary creation contest. We had to create glossaries (under different segments like manufacturing, retail, software engineering etc) – I chose “ES” as the category.

On Friday, I received a mailer informing me that I have won FIRST PRIZE in the contest. The second position is also occupied from Pune DC and the third belongs to an Infoscion based out of Houston, US.

Today from 9.30 to 11.30 AM we had a prize distribution ceremony. The winners from Bangalore DC had the privilege to receive the prize from the hands of Kris himself who gave a closing speech asking us to keep “learning”. Other senior management people gave away the prizes in other DCs. The whole program from all across the DCs was telecasted on V/C. I received a certificate of appreciation and a small gift.

Happy to have won my second "award" at Infy. The first one was a C-LIFE award. Hope to get more such occasions.

- Rahul