On Language and Literature

Literature is the writer’s state of mind and feelings, put down in words for others to comprehend, and achieve (almost) the same state. And in few cases impressive literature can act as catalyst to take the imagination forward to a higher state. In so many languages of the world, we have had so many famous writers, igniting the fires of imagination in so many minds.

I was born in a part of India where the focus of education was on Mathematics and Sciences. The reasons were Economic as Engineers and Doctors were in the well-paid jobs of then and near future. My father being an Engineer made me focus more on these, but during the long summer vacation he changed the focus to languages like English, Hindi and Sanskrit. So with practice I started doing well on languages during early 5^th-6^th grades. And by 8^th 9^th and 10^th grades when we were exposed to famous Literature in English and Hindi I was able to grasp the nuances of poetry and prose. And more important I started appreciating Literature.

When I was 18, with an interesting twist of fate, I started my Engineering education in former USSR, and started learning Russian, which was my new medium of education. We (me and other foreign students) picked Russian fast and for next 6 years it was all Russian, spoken and written and heard.

In those years I noticed something interesting. All those foreign students who were good in verbal and written communication in their native languages, proved to be excellent in the new language as well. This boosted their social confidence, and gave them the necessary tools to interact with people and explain their point of view easily. This eventually gave them an edge in education, getting better grades and recognition in the university. It’s not surprising that most of the students with top grades in Languages, were the ones with the most top grades in Computer Science.

And much later in profession I started noticing the importance of Communication skills. And as you grow in profession the need of superior Communication skills increase. Well it’s the other way if you see carefully. If you do not have superior Communication skills you have difficulty in growing and sustaining.

The need eventually is in connecting with the various minds around, learning from them, influencing them and leaving an impression. Language is like the special wire, which connects ignited minds, which can get the energy from outside, create own, and charge many other minds.

So for our kids, it’s wiser to focus early on the Languages and rich global Literature we have access to. Give them the wires to connect to the world, and they will know what’s best for them and the minds around.

Mahtab Syed

Bangalore, 07 Dec 2013

The four pillars of our life

It’s almost the end of 2012, and for many it’s time for retrospection.

I have this thought lingering in mind for many years now, and its time to put it down in black and white. Life for us is getting busier balancing the needs of ever-busy profession, family, ultra active kids, friends, social work, networking, studying, shopping, gazing at all sorts of screens from TV to iPad, etc.…

Its time to re-prioritize our attention to the most important things in our life. I call them the “Four Pillars”. They are for me

1. Health

2. Family

3. Friends

4. Spirituality

1.     Health – No need to mention the importance of Health, which we often ignore. The whole social and professional setup is against it these days. Abundant food causing the Obesity menace; Ubiquitous stress at work, while commuting (especially in developing world) and even at home.

Without good health we cannot be in position to enjoy the fruits of our labor.

How to keep the Health pillar strong?

1. Learn how to cope with stress and take frequent breaks. Read on Stress by Deepak Chopra
2. Keep a regular check on your health parameters, and listen to your body and mind.
3. Give means and happiness to the ones in dire need.

2.     Family – It’s your closest family members, your spouse and kids and parents, who love you selflessly. Their love and support to each other can be the most important thing in our lives. Do you recollect the tears of happiness on seeing your tender newborn baby? Can you compare this happiness to anything else in life?

This machinery needs some maintenance i.e. regular servicing.

How to keep the Family pillar strong?

1. Say you love them, as often as you feel so.
2. Care for them when they need most, and stand behind them in need.
3. Give second priority to your dreams, for making their dreams come true.

3.     Friends – Well I am sure most of us have friends who know all our weaknesses, secrets, and silly things we did in the process of growing up. And if you are still in touch with friends from teenage school and college days, you know the deep bond I am talking about.

It’s interesting that as we grow-up from a teenager to an adult it’s the friends with whom we share all crazy ideas and impossible dreams. And it’s the never-ending talks/discussions with these friends, which is the test-lab of our radical thoughts and ideas, which later make us the person we are today.

Unlike with Family, with Friends there is no obligation to continue bonding… And this no obligation makes this relationship more special. And we need to keep this fire on.

How to keep the Friends pillar strong?

1. Go to outings just with friends, as you used to do before your spouse came in your life.
2. Keep your ego in check. You may be socially and financially stronger than other. But friends are always equal.
3. You might have grown up now, but the fun is to continue sharing your secrets/thoughts as you did when you were a teenager. You need to vent out your emotions unchecked.

 4.     Spirituality – Spirituality is not being religious. It is much superior and is about knowing your Self (Conscience) and being answerable and true to it. 

There will be trying times in life when neither your family nor friends will have belief, or will support in what you are saying, or want to achieve. In those times you have to walk alone. And you will do it because your mind and your Self (God or Universe or Conscience) believes in you. Rather just because you want to achieve it badly, the whole Universe gets ready in preparation and helps and supports you in getting your dreams come true.

How to keep the Spirituality pillar strong?

1. Know your Self (Conscience). Listen to it. And you need silence for that. Not devoid sound but devoid thoughts. Simple meditation with focus on breathing helps.
2. Spend quality time with yourself. Brood, think, write and enjoy being alone.
3. Retrospect your day before you go to sleep. Understand the cause and effect of actions and thoughts today and correct them next day.

These Four Pillars are important for success and a happy and contended life.

Yes your life can stand on three pillars as well. But the foundation will be weaker. And it cannot stand on two pillars. The choice is yours…

You might feel that your Dollar Net Worth might be lesser if you have to focus on all four pillars. I think its better to be worth $1 MN with all 4 pillars strong, than worth $10 MN with only 3 pillars…

What do you say?

Pillars of the "Sagrada Familia" in Barcelona, Spain

Mahtab Syed

25^th Dec 2012

Paris

My lost weekends

There is a saying, “You don’t realize the importance of what you have, unless you lose it !”

In my context this lost thing was my weekends. From last 3 months I voluntarily took up the task of learning French on weekends. It was half day on Sat and half day on Sun.

The first thing sacrificed was the leisure of getting up on weekends at your will. I had to set an alarm and get up dot on time every weekend. If you do this on one weekend or two it’s ok. But doing this for 3 months at a stretch is a real toll.

Another task was revising the French textbook and doing home exercises. (Honestly I did not do much :-) ). But when it was preparing for exams, whole evening of Sat and Sun used to be diligently devoted.

With a 2.5 yrs kid who wanted his attention, to my wife (who never understood the need for learning a new language) I was torn between priorities. I tried to do justice to all the usual activities of a weekend, a bit of house hold chores, welcoming guests at home, visiting friends. And I ended up being as tired on a Sun evening as on Fri evenings after a tough work week.

The worst sacrifice was the dearest think for my soul. I call it “Listening to my Soul”.

On weekend when my wife and son are asleep, I relax in the balcony, sipping my espresso, without any agenda. It’s self-introspection, at a pace, which is the best for my biological clock. I just let myself loose.
When I stop resisting, its then I hear what my Soul wants to tell my mind. In other word it’s the Soul or Universe or God (I believe all there are synonyms) which takes control. And on a peaceful day, realization does beckon on me. It can be a past mistake which I just realized, or I a future plan which starts taking a shape.

Now the French classes are over. And this weekend was a completely free one.

This weekend seemed as if it lasted for many days. I could do so much.

This weekend

- I got up leisurely at (I don’t even know what time) may be 8:30 -9:00 am.

- I had breakfast without any hurry.

- I met my old friends over coffee, in our favorite joint.

- I let loose and automatically “Listened to my Soul.” And in 2 hours on Sat I wrote a high level Business Plan for a future entrepreneurship. (a seed sown for future)

- I watched news multiple times

- I had as many rounds of tea and coffee, relaxing in my balcony

- I updated my linkedin profile

- I went for a walk in the park

- I charged my toy helicopter and did takeoff and landings from dining table to my sofa

- And played with my son

- And the last thing, I am completing this blog.

In past before my French classes, so many full weekends passed by without doing anything relevant. And now that I was deprived for it for 3 months, you see how I enjoy getting my weekend back !

Mahtab Syed

29 May 2011

Two strangers at my door.

It was a typical Sunday morning, and I was listening to some Sufi songs. I heard the door bell ring and I opened the door. There were two strangers; both were men in their late 60s.

One of them was leading the other, as the other was blind. They were from a blind association looking for any kind of donation. They mentioned old clothes, old newspapers (but not money). I looked at the men; they appeared to be having good stature when young, but now in their late 60s they were quite frail. And my first thought was, “Can they lift a load of 5-10 kgs of old newspaper?”

There was an air of self-respect around them which was tattered now, facing the wind of poverty, helplessness and pain in life. Their eyes reflected honesty and genuineness. Even being blind could not hide that. They were very well mannered and the first reaction was to give respect.

In my apartment complex we get lots of other people asking for donation. And they are mostly people with good sales skills. They try to deceive but a moment is enough to decide otherwise.

Such incidents, and many others, we face in life make us hard, emotionally hard like rock. I was going through such a mental turmoil last day. And the appearance of these two strangers changed things in a moment. Their honesty, genuineness, tattered self-respect, helplessness and suffering in life, had so much magnetism and warmth, that my rock like hardened compassion melt like wax in seconds.

I got some money which we had kept aside for donation when my son was born premature. These few hundreds had more value than thousands as they were part of the most important prayer in life. This money was kept untouched since more than a year now. And today I got the best use for it.

I am not sure who was more needy today. The strangers who were seeking donation or me who wanted to donate this money for the best cause…

Mahtab Syed
Sunday, January 17, 2010

These forced breaks

It’s Fri morning and this week has been hectic, with 5-6 hours of official meetings on some days. On an ordinary Friday, I will be working extra hard in office to wind up things, so that I have a cleaner list of TODOs on a Monday. And on top of that I have a piling list of my personal things to do, which I had moved to today.

But The Creator had a different plan for me today. I have a sore throat and slight fever, so there is a forced break for me. :-(

Initially I was a bit upset, as this requires complete re-planning. I dropped a mail to my team and moved all my appointments to Mon. There were some important personal things to be done on Sat. I delegated that to a friend, and I know it will be taken care of.

I took some medicines and I know it will take care of the sore throat. In-spite of the fever, I took a hot shower, had a 10 mins meditation, and had a cup of sugar-less black coffee. All appointments are moved and there is nothing pressing now. I will be alone for 5-6 hours before my wife comes in the evening from her office.

Now, I am free like a bird. Free to fly in the realm of imagination and dreams. Finding such a free time, when you can be in the zero state of mind is priceless. And it’s difficult to plan for it. But The Creator knows when it’s required for a soul to get this break. And here it is ! :-)

I feel happy, and contended, as I understand the plan of The Creator. And this gave me an opportunity to be with myself, think, dream, plan, re-plan and jot down this blog.

Have you had such thoughts ?

Mahtab Syed
11:21am May 16 2008

Abundance kills the desire.

Anything in abundance kills the desire. To enjoy things we need to consume in moderation. Like say sipping Darjeeling Tea slowly and enjoying every bit of the aroma.

The root of this thought is the observation of a wide spread problem these days, which young parents with toddlers are facing. These tiny toddlers don’t show much interest towards food, and I have seen parents trying all the gimmicks to fool them to submission, so that they somehow swallow it.

This problem is faced by new generation parents who are economically well-to-do. Every fruit and all types of chocolates are at their disposal. In fact these toddlers got these food items in abundance before they are actually hungry and before they develop the natural craving. And this abundance has killed the desire.

I remember as a kid, we used to get a Five Star chocolate as a present once in say 3-4 months. And we used to relish it slowly. We were not supposed to open and swallow in public, where we got it, as it was against the manners. So we had to wait to reach home. And that wait was killing… The chocolate used to almost melt in our tight clutch. It was the heat of the craving which was more responsible for the melting… (Exaggerating a bit ! ) And as soon as we got the first chance, we used to swallow the first half quickly, and then the senses of an economic child alerted to save the next half for some later time, may be half a day. And the wait and then the relishing was worth it. :-)

And the matter did not end there. The gold or silver aluminum wrapper was made smooth, and preserved in a favorite book, so that it can remind of the happiness, till we were presented with the next chocolate, God knows when.

Now compare this feeling, with the feeling of our kids who get a chocolate, whenever they want. Sometimes before they want…

And this general philosophy also applies to the other things we get in abundance these days.

As kids, do you remember how we waited to go to a movie ? The whole process was like a celebration. And then the best part was having potato chips, which we had to share with a sibling or a friend during movie interval. Well that was also so much fun. :-)

And we waited for new clothes in festivals, which we used to flaunt shyly, with people appreciating how neat and charming we looked.

We can get back the fun in many things by consuming in moderation.
What do you say ? :-)

Mahtab Syed
5:23 pm Feb 15 2008