My Experience with Art of Living Yes+ Course

I recently attended the Art of Living (AOL)’s Yes+ course. YES+ stands for Youth Empowerment and Skills Seminar. I had heard about AOL a long time back when I was in my engineering college. AOL representatives had come to our college and had given a very nice talk. But at that time I had not attended the course because (1) there was a donation involved with it, (2) I thought Yoga and meditation are for old people, and (3) most of my friends had not done it. Now that time has changed and I got to realize my mistake in perceptions, I didn’t miss attending it. This time AOL was conducting sessions very near to my home (as well as our office). At the end of the program, I came out with a rich experience and very useful knowledge.

Yes+ course is designed for the youth (18-30 years). So the program is packed with life-changing thoughts and ideas most applicable for the youth. We had talks on how to make most of life; how to have good relationships; keeping gratitude towards parents; active role in society; and also what kinds of food are the best and why. I liked the scientific manner in which the trainers explained each concept – from why to avoid leather articles, or meat eating, or even tea/coffee. Youth are at very inquisitive stage but the knowledgeable trainers could clearly satisfy all the queries. Along with the talks which were mostly demonstrated with performing some practical exercise or tasks, we learnt many enlightening Yoga techniques. Most of the participants had wonderful experiences with the Yoga session.

The powerful spiritual flow into the content was really amazing. (I am not sharing much of the activities otherwise it may subdue the surprise element in newcomers.) Every day we were given some very interesting home-works. We also had Q&A sessions with the trainers in which we could ask them any doubts in our mind. I also loved the way trainers answered some controversial questions. They were also very much supportive of other Gurus, like Baba Ramdev. It was heartening to realize that the AOL guys practice what they preach. No surprise that when our teacher shared his own life story and his journey to AOL, all of us were touched. On the last day, we also ran through some videos introducing us to the world of Art of Living.

What an enlightening experience it has been. It ran for 6 days – first 4 days for us were in the evenings and then two long sessions ran on the weekends. I found the organization and structure of the training simply brilliant. Given that so many highly qualified and successful guys from top universities are part of AOL, it came as no surprise. Another aspect of the course was that we came to know so many nice individuals (as participants) – who are now good friends.

You can check these websites: http://www.yesplus.org/ and http://www.artofliving.org/yes-plus 

We were informed that advance Yes+ course is being organized soon in Bangalore. Hope to attend it someday. Till then, I have to maintain and improve on the Yogic path shown by AOL. AOL also conducts many other courses for people of all ages. I highly recommend the AOL courses for each one of us…

With heartfelt thanks to AOL and trainers,

Jai Gurudev!

Rahul

 

Good Food - A Bachelor’s Delight and a Nightmare

Though a bachelor’s life has theoretically some fun, for me it became a nightmare because of one factor: food. In those days, it seemed good homemade food was no less than a panacea. This is why one of the nicest and toughest memories of each phase of my single life has been none other than related to food. While I was in Lucknow preparing for IIT-JEE, I would often go to the nearest roadside vendor, eat whatever came in the name of roti/puri and rush back to study a little more. No wonder, health had never been a concern before that time. When in  engg college, one soul cleansing act was to go to the road side again and eat hot doodh-roti in a bowl. If there were no road side vendors, not many students would have become engineers I guess. In Mumbai, I became fan of big size samosas and for the first time got habitual to poha and kachori. When I recall my single life, it seems I was always starving. And good homemade food was such a hard catch!

Given the background, it became clear to me after one or two episodes that if someone offered me good homemade food, s/he was basically buying my soul. There was a lady blogger who posted a blog with some pictures of her delicious dishes. When I complimented her, she promised to offer me a sumptuous lunch if we ever met. The feeling in my heart was of boundless gratitude and humbleness. Anyone who made me have a homemade food was kind of buying a part of me. Then I also grew uncomfortable and shy receiving the kindness; but the luring of good food was always victorious. And at times this luring turned out to be nightmare…

I still remember that day clearly. During my MBA days I had not visited home for many months. I felt homesick each day. One morning, when I opened the door for some visitor, I found a lady, perhaps someone’s housemaid, distributing sweets which had come along with a new bride. Now at home, mother would always be cautious against we eating anything that came from the outside. But here, I was all alone. The sweet was basically bundi, which brought back memories from the childhood. It was years after which I could eat that sweet; so I finished it in 2 minutes… Perhaps I was not meant to be happy that day, so just in a while I suffered from acute diarrhoea. The memory of that day still brings tears to my eyes. Starved of home made food and homesick for anything which could remind me of home, I got some sweets reaching me by chance; but those made me sick… This did repeat many times afterwards also; as bachelorhood was a curse indeed…

I am so grateful to God that I got a wife who loves cooking :) I am not ashamed to say that the nicest memories of we together has some food made by her as inseparable part. This is why I am a strong believer that women should always know how to cook: that may mean a lot to many, but it is lifesaving for people like me. Still, whenever wife is not with me and I have to rely on restaurants, I face some hard time preserving my health. If I find something delicious, it would upset my stomach; and all digestible things seem to be coarse and tasteless. And then I know I am hiding a sin: if I took interest and learnt how to cook, perhaps I won’t have faced this much hardship. But then I won’t have had so many memories to go back into too!

Have a happy dinnertime!

- Rahul

My Wordpress Blog: Rahul Reads

Here is my Wordpress Blog: http://rahulreads.wordpress.com/

It is another micro-blog from this Blogger.com blog, based on my book reviews.

Is new prosperity creating raw deals for some working women?

Rukmini was a girl who grew up under fond encouragement of her parents. She grew up with a dream in her eyes – to be financially independent and to work and make use of her eduction. She saw her dream come true when she got a partner after marriage who allowed her to pursue her career. She cherished her first salary which she donated in total to an old-age home. Within a few years, her businessman husband got it all coming in his ways and achieved a grand success. His business thrived on a web based business model and the influx of high earning young population. And then, he asked his wife to quit her job and “look after the children”.

Rukmini had to quit her job. She had a Hobson’s choice between her family and her job.

This story is a quite real; it is happening behind the walls of 3/4BHK flats in high-rise Indian Metros. And the factor responsible for this trend is: high economic growth and the tremendous opportunities created by it.

I wonder if India’s high GDP growth and the new economic successes are creating raw deals for some women. Just a decade earlier, it was thought that both husband-wife working was a necessity to survive. With salaries for highly educated professionals and profits of successful new-age entrepreneurs going beyond the roof, this is not true anymore. And when it comes to re-prioritizing, it is mostly women who are asked to stay back at home and raise the children.

Indeed, this trend is one flip side to India’s growth story…

- Rahul

Article Published: 10 Reasons Why Airline Industry Is Unique

My article titled “10 Reasons Why Airline Industry Is Unique” is now published on MBASkool.com. Here is the link:

http://www.mbaskool.com/business-articles/marketing/207-ten-reasons-why-airline-industry-is-unique.html

In this article, I have tried to analyze how the airline industry is so unique, covering the business model, government interventions, profitability, safety concerns and a host of other factors. The inspiration for the analysis and report was a quote from Richard Branson. When asked how to become a Millionaire, Richard Branson said, “You start off as a Billionaire and then open an Airline.” I found this funny, but at the same time it was so true!

Read this article to know more…

Regards,

Rahul

Role of Expression in Parent Child Relationship

Have you seen your parents cry?

I guess you may not have seen it many times. But how would be the feeling? I guess that would take the world out of you…

Does it happen the same way when parents see their children cry?

Do they get a sinking feeling when they see their children cry? Do they see the world collapse in front of their stoned eyes; do they feel something as if bursting out in their hearts? I guess we would answer in the negation. They must not feel so deeply every time they see their children cry. After all, they are grownups. They are mature, have seen life and are not easily shaken. But even then there should be times and situations when no matter how much they have seen life, all would seem trivial; when no matter how grownup they are they would feel helpless in front of the situation. I hope you would agree with me. In those situations, what do you think - would their pain and grief be graver than ours? I think it is difficult to answer, though the pointer would be tilted towards “yes”.

I think we take expression too seriously. If we love someone, we are taught that we should express so. If we like someone, we should tell him or her how much they are for us. After some time, we tend to think “seriously” that expression is a necessary indication of what goes inside our heart. It may not always be so! And this is where I find connect with my example of parent-child pain situation.

If parents start expressing all their pains, problems and objections, I think our life would become very depressed. On the other hand, though we would always love to see them express their happiness, pleasure and applause, this knowledge can also make us over confident, relaxed and uncaring in extreme situations. Therefore, I think “trust” is an immensely important ingredient in a parent-child relationship. Though it is important in all other relationships too, it plays a very critical role in parent-child relationship because when children grow up and become laden with responsibilities while parents become old and non-contributing in worldly matters, the dynamics of relationship changes. A “trust” between them makes them perceive, imagine, empathize and feel more than simply react according to the expressions of the other.

I think expression is important, but not always necessary. It is good, but its absence is not always bad. A trustful relationship based on mutual empathy would turn the silence into another language of expression…

- Rahul

Ironing Clothes

I iron my own clothes. It saves lots of time and hassles for me. Today when I was ironing my shirt, I noticed how it worked. The shirt I picked up was clean and dried. But merely being clean didn’t matter – it had to be wrinkle free. When I ironed it, it eliminated all its wrinkles and made it appear perfect. But the process of ironing may not be very pleasant for the cloth. After all, it would heat the fabric, and then rubbed on the surface to give that perfect touch. This made me think: the process to attain perfection is almost always through some unpleasant experiences or challenges. It is also reflected in the oft repeated anecdote: gold attains purity only by getting melted in a furnace…

I kept watching the hot press move, the wrinkles vanish and my shirt becoming wearable… The difficulties and challenges in our life making us and our approach closer towards perfection…

- Rahul

Lessons Learnt - Online

Learnt these lessons:

1) Arrogance is a disqualifier for friendship.

2) We should learn to keep friends who are more intelligent than us, for our own benefit.

3) There is fine line between admiration and flattery and we should not become victim of the later.

4) Expecting flattery from friends means having only weaklings as friends who would not only dump us in critical times but lead us towards mediocrity.

5) Online friendships are often a ‘waste’ of time/energy and can be ‘dangerous’ too.

6) Intelligence breeds more opponents and enviers than friends.

– Rahul

My Article Published: “Role of Software Tools in Supply Chain Optimization”

My Article titled “Role of Software Tools in Supply Chain Optimization” has been published today on MBASkool.com. You can read it here:

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Role of Software Tools in Supply Chain Optimization
By: Kumar Rahul

http://www.mbaskool.com/business-articles/operations/192-role-of-software-tools-in-supply-chain-optimization.html

Here is a small URL for the same: http://lnkd.in/FZ5tkZ

The article builds on my experiences during working on supply chain optimization software packages and in my interactions with many 3PLs (third party logistics services providers) in India. While interacting with many 3PLs and also their clients, I noticed a level of discomfort in using the latest software tools for supply chain design and optimization. They wanted to do the same thing using Excel. And I knew for sure that it was not possible to achieve the same result without using the advance tools enabling them. I have attempted to summarize my thoughts in this article.

Do read and if possible comment/discuss, like, or recommend.

- Rahul

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Infosys in Pune - Shining India!

Infosys Campus in Pune, India. Shining India!

Infosys in Hyderabad - Happy Moments!

Infosys Campus in Hyderabad: Happy Moments!

Acknowledgement: Snaps taken by many people. Sorry for not being able to mention names.

Is India really so Diverse?

It is true that our India is very diverse. It has diverse people, diverse cultures, and diverse places. But at times we tend to take such diversity too far and too seriously. I realised it very recently.

It was raining in Delhi. There had been a snowfall in Kashmir a few days back. Two days afterwards, weather changed in our hometown in the East, there was a cold wave. Back West in Pune, I saw clouds in the sky and also felt cold wind blowing through. When I told mother about change in weather at my place, she said, “How big India is, but see how each part is getting affected by the same change.”

So true… I think we should not get so lost in appreciating diversity that we forget to notice the unity and oneness of India!

- Rahul

Short Listing

I was writing a one-line email to my colleague. I wrote:

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“I had done some shorlisting; sending you those:”
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I was doing a spelling mistake, as the correct word should be “shortlisting / short listing”
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When I tried to correct the mistake, MS Word suggested me this:
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“I had done some shoplifting; sending you those:”
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:)