Why the Bill Clinton Speech worked for me

It was strong, passionate, effective and well-said. His charisma took off from the very first word he uttered. Rather from when he stepped on the stage. He spoke like he meant what he said. He made you believe what he wants you to believe in. He commanded your attention. He was firm.

He just made it work.

I am asking myself, 'How did he do it?'.

Not to mention, his delivery was the highlight of the speech. He supported his facts with numbers. He brought up issues which is the beef to the people of America. He served his argument on a sketch that common man can understand.

The energy in the arena was amazing! It lifted my spirits up so high - given that I am not an American, I have never heard Clinton at a DNC before and I am watching this on record.

I could not help but think about Indian politicians as I was cheering on along with the crowd. I have rarely seen such passion backed up with believable evidence. I have rarely seen such energy and passion.

I understand very little about the American political scene. That said, I do know one thing. This man can inspire. And right now, I just want to be sold.

It was pure magic. I hope to be able to deliver to an audience like this one day! I hope to be able to inspire and take people into my confidence like this man did today.

It was 45 minutes well spent! I think you should too. If not for anything else, just to see greatness!

Bringing a scintilla of unique touch to your customer

I have often spent my evenings wondering what I will do for a living and how I will do it. What will I sell? What will I create? How can I make my ideas different? How do I get to people?

How do I flatter my customer?

With a personal touch. 

I know I want to be in a business around the design of things.

Art, Clothes, Jewels, Things.

In those evenings I think about how I would innovate to stand out. Art, Clothes, Jewels and Things are too wide and too old. People have been selling these things and the design around these things ever since the idea of business and selling dawned on humans.

I read a HBR article that gave a wonderful spark of idea. The author focuses his arguments on one target. To serve people with a personal touch. To make people feel like it was created for them.

You can get treatment like that with a Chanel Limited Edition bag. However Chanel is Chanel. It's not for everybody.

That's where I can see an interesting challenge - How can I provide this experience to every Jane?

I am loving this spark of thought! The challenge is being creative in modifying your idea to suit a specific need.

Do read the article here and try to apply 'bringing a personal touch' experience to your idea! I'll be thinking in the mean time..

#1 - Effective communication to me is..

So that's the first topic for ES2007S.

Early man felt incomplete without a means to communicate to the next person. That’s how language came into existence. In the early days, the next person was probably literally the next person - his family, his tribe. In today's sense the definition of next person is over a large set - your friends from social networks, your peers, your family, your partner and the list can go on.

The human network in everyday life is huge. On an average one talks to about 15-20 people in a day - it is inevitable in the connected world of today. I talk because I want to tell someone what I think, to help someone, to get assistance from someone, to make friends, to help others perceive me, to make others like me.

Whatever the motivation for communication, am I doing it right? I have had times when the person I was in conversation with did not understand me. That demeans the point of communication. What I would love to work towards is bringing the occurrence of these situations to an absolute zero.

To answer the question, effective communication to me is when I make the person see the world through my eyes.

It is interesting to also extend the effectiveness to community oriented communication. I like to think it is truly effective when the communication makes an impact on the receiver.

Well-chosen words.
Complimenting body language.
A purpose.

Effective Communication.

(Edited / 27 August 2012)

Introductions

I have taken up ES2007S - Professional Communication. It is a module that came with strong recommendations from two close friends. I found this semester to be very apt for going for it!

As part of the module we are expected to blog once in two weeks about ideas around communication skills! I thought I might as well continue to blog here. For the new comers from my ES2007S class, hello! Treat this as my first post towards this module.

As for the introductions, I have met most of you already I guess. I am Dhanya, a civil engineering student in my final year. I love anything to do with design and art. I believe it is my mission in life to make the world more colourful, make people more happy and thereby make it a better place to live in.

How exactly do I plan to do it? I will continue to paint and spread some joy. I will teach kids some art and bring questions to their attention. I will design for a the rest of my life. That's the plan for now atleast!

How does engineering fit into this plan? I believe getting trained in engineering is getting trained to think in a certain way. To be more specific, in a certain analytical way. Analytical and Logical. So far so good, I like to think.

Apart from that please read some posts here if you have the time to spare. You might just learn more about me!

Looking forward to an exciting semester guys. I am sure we can learn to overcome our inhibitions - if any and learn to communicate more effectively to the world!

P.James Magic Show

'The weirdest things make you miss home'

A close photographer friend had posted this photo a few months back. If you are from Chennai, you know what this photo means! 

The photo popped up on my Facebook feed and reminded me of home. For the others who are wondering why a dirty wall is up here, the subject is the writing on this wall - 'P.James Magic Show'.

This P James dude, whoever he is has written these exact same things on so many compound walls in Chennai City, you could not have missed it! 

I would like to think of him as the pioneer of publicity by spamming in Chennai. Soon the politicians took lead and pasted their victorious smile bearing faces on all surfaces visible. Now it is harder then before to spot P. James's Ad on the streets in all the hala-bula our leaders have created. 

Well what can I say, he introduced the idea to us. 

One can tell so many things about him from this Ad. He most probably kept a very small budget for publicity. A couple of cans of black paint, one or two men to paint the 'magic' characters. That's about it. Publicity taken care of.

It tells you so much about his Magic Show. Sort of symbolizes the beauty of all things - magic and others, doesn't it.  

Simple, yet strong in its purpose!

A lesson from P. James. I will try to get you hired one day though! For all the joy you have given when I spot an ad, for being one of the plain symbols of Chennai. 

Travelling back and forth

I have taken a couple of transportation modules this semester. Interesting prof who loves entertaining us with his stories. There's something about stories that makes one inquisitive. Same reason why we love gossip and Hollywood and Facebook. We like hearing of 'your' day and 'your' life.

Same reason we love travelling and reading books. We like to find out what we don't know. We like something new. I don't think anywhere except Cranford refused to embrace industrial revolution. Even the people of Cranford gave in at the end anyway.

My prof told us that when we take a form of public transport in Singapore, there are atleast ten people who take the exact same route with us. This means when you have a regular route you take, you would recognize some faces on the way! They are not stalking you, they are just going to the same place as you.

How would it be to know these people? Their stories? How would it be to find out their dreams?

Maybe you share a lot more than a ride in common.

Have you ever met a friend of a friend, spoken about your mutual friend and went 'The world's a small place!'?

I bet you have! That is what we have achieved today with travelling. A web of people who know more of each other, who share more. The potential this tool holds seems very powerful looking ahead! 

Patriotism and Campooter Scanning

It's been 65 years of independence for India. 1947 this day that year, people tasted freedom for the first time in 200-300 odd years. It meant a lot to the India then, being their own nation. We have a long way to go in terms of development. We have a lot of behaviour issues. Like that of a child that's been given too much attention. Yet we are proud to say it is us (or a couple hundred politicians) who decide our own fate. We are a proud democratic family.

I was walking to an admin office in my university looking to submit my loan documents. If it went well, if they took my papers to be clean - it would be my independence day. I wouldn't need dad to pay anything for my final year at college. Having a bunch of friends who are on scholarship and hence being on their own, makes you insecure. Especially when 'you' is me. Being independent is what I consider as the first step towards my self satisfaction. The daughter of a man who is proud of having built his life/business without his dad's help. The daughter of a woman who lost her father at an young age and hence made a lot of critical decisions by herself. It's not very surprising I turned out this way, much to my mother's annoyance though.

Life has a funny way of twisting things you want and playing around with it - dragging your leg a bit, making you think its not what you want and then a while later giving that same thing to you (sometimes).

So while I was thinking how cool it would be to get my loan fixed the same day as India's Independence day, life decides to make a point. To make its stand and say it is the deciding authority of a typical day's coolness - not me.

The woman sitting at the counter looked at my papers and looked at my face. She pauses for two seconds before she continues.

'Where is the passport copy of your guarantor?'

'I need it? I did not know that'

'Yes that and yours as well'

'Oh alright I'll..'

She jumps into my sentence silencing my voice. Like the way water hushes frying onions in a pan.

'Do they have a computer there? Do they know how to use it and scan a passport? Ask them to do that and you can print it here'

She offers her smart campooter usage advice.

My alter-ego just could not take it. Like Rose's bike rider alter-ego chick with wild condescending hair. (Such a perfect alter-ego image, btw)

'Hey *** firstly India is not in the 1400s and secondly, you need a scanner not a computer to scan'

I didn't say anything obviously. I just looked at her, grabbed my papers and completed my sentence.

'..I'll get it tomorrow'

I was raged. It was a very small instance. She probably meant it all in good will. Indian national girl looking to submit loan documents. Must be very poor. Her country is pretty poor and illiterate as well. Let me help her out and give her the most efficient way to send a file over.

I apologize for what some may interpret as false pride. I can't appreciate her kindness. It was judgemental and unnecessary. I might be exaggerating but it is what I truly feel.

Times like these fuel the fire within to inspire change in India. Little gestures like this make me think about my selfishness in having left the country.

We'll make it happen. We'll get there. Every dog has its day.

In the mean time, I have a request to friends and family. Don't destroy the image the world has of your country with your own words. I know a girl who goes around telling her international friends that Indian girls get married when they touch 14. If you really do have to share interesting facts, atleast try putting them under the heritage/culture light. I would be gracious and spared from 'So are you married?' questions.

Happy Independence day folks!

Let's begin at our own homes :) Hope it made you think, about your patriotism for your country!

Fixing it instead of throwing it away

I read one of those cheesy quotes on Facebook just now.

"When asked how they managed to stay together for 65 years, the woman replied 'We were born in a time when something broke you fixed it and not throw it away"

First thoughts, like I said I found it cheesy. But I gave it another seconds thought and realised that it is true isnt it. Some things that were made in the 40s or 50s still work fine. Like my grandmothers gramophone and my granddads telephone. He would sincerely repair it when it went crazy. There was more purity in the air than now. Things were simple.

The advent of science and technology and the wish to make life simple and easy has actually complicated everything in my opinion. Can you repair your mobile set if it got repaired today? No, I have no clue what is wrong with it and the HTC service at Singapore wants me to fly to India to get mine repaired, for instance.

The days of bread and peanut butter have flown away. Its italian/parmesan/wheat/raisin/banana bread with peanutbutterwithstrawberryjelly/blueberryessence/chocolatechip.

This complication has led us to approach everything with a more careless attitude, if I may.

Doesn't work? Throw it away. Not I should try to understand why it went wrong.
Too much food? Waste it. Not I shouldn't buy this much food next time.
Fought with a friend? Forget that bitch. Not Did I do something wrong? What can we do to make it work.

I should adapt the repairing strategy as well.

Do it yourself!

I have already blogged about doing-it-yourself. It's one of those fascinations thats here to stay. Like watching a kid who is giggling. Like watching kodee (Amma's helper at home) sweep the room one stroke at a time. Like watching the barber at work one chop at a time. Like stoping to watch the snail cross the pavement.

Its entertaining, its engaging and its fun. It keeps my hands at work and that makes me smile. I read a piece on HBR about most people receiving satisfaction out of physical work. Think about it. Haven't you always felt like a star after cleaning your room? After going for a run? After watering plants? Its as if physical work is one full shot of happiness and energy boost.

It is a very interesting theory especially in the age of iPhones and banking. As more and more people are moving themselves from physical labour to intellectual labour how can we still keep our bodies useful? How can we create a life that engages all that we possess?


A very intriguing thought process I would think! So think about it and see how you engage your body in your everyday life :) 

Cereal Power!

I dont know if its the huge blob of juicy meat thats starring back at me, but I feel like writing about food again! Its probably just that I love anything yummy.

I managed one thing in the past sem very successfully. I started eating breakfast everyday. It was a huge struggle trying to keep up this habit through the first two years of uni. Finally I can say that its set, its a pattern, its clockwork.

I was never a fan of cereal. Never took a fancy for milk and Kellogg's back in Chennai. Like Bob Dylan said 'The times, they are changing'. I am a HUGE fan of cereal now. I dream of pouring milk into a bowl of crunchy dried up pieces of joy.

Part of figuring out the breakfast menu is running up and down the cereal section in the supermarket and picking a cereal for the week. I was on a search for the perfect cereal for several weeks. One bright sunny sunday, while I was walking the aisles of NTUC Fairprice, I discovered a particular variant of Kellogg's. NutriGrain. That's the name of heaven in my world. A big fat bowl of Meiji and NutriGrain makes my day like none other!

Make no mistake. If you try this out (which you definitely should!) you need to say the following things twice and cross your heart:

1) I will have only Meiji milk in my bowl
2) I will have only NutriGrain
3) I will not substitute the above holy ingredients

Done?

+

=

There. Your happy day is right in front of you (or in the supermarket aisle). Go grab it! Eat it!

A smaller serving

The concept of eating out of small plates not new to me. Mom always practices that and I can't even count the number of times I have thought it did not make sense. I am sorry Amma. Now I completely understand that!

Dan and Chip recommend the same path for controlling your elephant in their book 'Switch'. Two groups of movie-goers were given free but stale popcorn. One group however a bigger bucket than the other. So did these people eat their popcorn at all? Was there a difference in the amount they ate?

Yes to both the questions. Both groups did eat the stale popcorn. More over, the group with the bigger bucket ate more than the group with the smaller bucket. Moral of the story? When your supposed capacity is bigger you eat more.

The authors suggest a learning of 'change the situation to solve the problem' through this analogy. If we were trying to get these people to eat less popcorn, what should we do? We would simply give them a smaller bucket.

I have been trying to take smaller portions for dinner these days. So when I go for the second serving, my head knows that it is the second and hence tries to be content with a smaller portion at the end of the day.

I think this is also a part-reason, gourmet dishes are so fulfilling. Forget that fine dining is usually yummier/ more exquisite than regular dining. They come in such tiny portions! But after three courses you want to be done!

To changing situation and eating lesser! Hopefully this seed of thought will pave way for a flatter tummy..

Keep smiling!

Ever wondered what the woman who past you smiling to herself was thinking/reading/saying?

I ALWAYS did!

I have a fascination for that more-than-human power. I always try to imagine situations for a person I noticed on the road!

Some days I am just really not thinking about anything. Say, when I am walking to work. I am just observing people and dreaming up their life or their day.

It would be a killer power to know what is going on - on their minds would it not? Purely super natural stuff.

Especially when these people are smiling. I can just come up with a million happy things that would have happened to them just then. And somehow it makes me smile.

Powerful and contagious, Smile is!

Annoying Paper Clip Guy and Computer Period

I was reading 'Switch'. Lovely lovely book. So many tiny things and tweaks about life in general. A post is coming soon about all that. In the meanwhile, the authors mention 'The annoying paper clip' guy. I had completely forgotten about this dude!

It took me down a memory of computer labs in school. We were taken to the lab once every week, I think right from when I was 5. It was heaven on earth. Especially if you understand the coolness factor among your friends if you have 'Computer Period' that day! It multiplies by about 100 times than the non-computer-period kids.

Whats so cool about that? Firstly its an hour of aircon! Now if you ever lived in Chennai, India or spent more than 5 hours with 40 sweaty kids in one poorly ventilated classroom (My school was actually not that horrible. I am just blowing the facts out of proportion to intensify the story line!) you'll know the feeling of an hour of aircon.

Secondly you get to use the computer! At home, I was always allowed to use the computer only under adult supervision at that age. Mom/Dad would sit with me a let me learn something. Which is not as cool as, you sitting all by yourself and doing whatever you want with your computer (in an HOUR of aircon)!

Now to the paper clip guy. He was also a very ritualistic part of the learning process. The teachers encouraged us to use his help while navigating through the Office. Partly because they dint know what they were talking about, in my opinion! I used to take his help reluctantly cause sometimes there was no other way to finish the little tasks my tutors gave me.

I remember how he never left the screen. He used to keep unrolling from somewhere. I also remember the day I figured out how to turn that guy off. It was a very very epic moment making that discovery!

2 - On the train

Grace loved her new job!

After years of toiling at law universities and part-time jobs she was here! It was a small law firm. She was the youngest kid on the block with three partners in the firm and 4 other lawyers. It
had been almost a month.

The number of internships she had been through taught her to expect nothing but mundane coffee making and hours with the printer in the first few weeks. And thats exactly how her new job started out too. An emergency case however came up and she had to manage the initial paperwork for the new clients. ‘Exciting times, they were coming!’ she was singing to herself.

She woke up tuesday morning all set to meet her clients later that day. Life was just as she expected. Everything was falling into place like she knew.

She decided to take the metro to work and walked up the long staircase. Meeting the old subway-man, buying her tissue pack for the day from him, greeting the guy behind the counter. A typical day!

She found her favourite seat on the train and thought she'll listen to some music. As she took out her iPhone, she sensed someone looking down on her. The shadow did not move, alarmed she looked up to see a hippy-looking guy. She looked at him not knowing what to say. He asked her if she spoke english. She decided the best answer to give was no. She shook her head. He sat next to her.

She was a little nervous because of his question. She tilted her head towards the window trying to concentrate on her lyrics.

'I met a f*ing girl,
On a f*ing train,
Who dint speak f*ing english..'

He had started to rap!

Who was she kidding.
Nothing was ever going to be the way she expected. Everyday was full of surprises. She smiled thankfully and wondered what he would have done if she had accepted to knowing english!

1 - An old man

The clock struck twelve. It was time to go to bed. He switched off the television reluctantly and sat back.

Chirck chirck chirck chirck. 

He was amused by how the seconds needle in the clock was capable of creating an eerie aura inside the room. And that was how the seconds hand -  time itself, turned eerie. He smiled to himself. 

He took a few minutes to ignore the chircks. He pulled himself up from his chair. He was no longer as fit as he used to be. He used his walking aids and trudged to the bedroom.

Now that the empty words of the television hosts were muted, he felt the air around him turning heavy. Their endless gab made it lighter and more tolerable.

He removed the toothbrush and the paste from the deep blue stand. The blue rings on the holder hypnotised him into the past. He saw her hand pulling off the wraps and placing the holder on the rack. He saw her grace as she put things back into place. Her dancer instincts transformed him into an awesome audience. She sprinkled grace and charm in every corner of their house. The grace and charm - they dance till today. 

Thud. 

The sound of the brush on the floor snapped him out of his trance. 

He was used to times like this by now. Snapping in and out of the 60 years. It was as if someone was playing melody to his ears in excruciating bits. Pausing too long before each snap. All those years of marriage suddenly crumbled to dust when she moved on. She always kept herself busy. Taking care of people was her favourite hobby. She could never sit in one place and take some time off. 

He hoped to join her in her journey forward soon. Earth was no longer his world. It stopped being so the second she left. He walked back to his bed and said a little prayer before retiring to sleep. 

‘Don’t run like you always do. Wait for me. Walk a little slow. Wait for me’

Buddha said so

The picture says it all. I took a few seconds to understand the meaning of the quote.. And then it hit me!

Eternal burning of the soul-dead tongue

Have you ever burnt your tongue? I don’t remember much of tongue burning at home. Maybe because food was always at an appropriate temperature ready for consumption. I always burn my tongue here in uni. There is a tiny stall outside my Lecture theatre. Dilys. The aunties there sell some local snacks and beverages. Every day while running to class, a 3-minute stop at this stall to get some Milo and potato puffs is an essential to-do. These potato puffs are the closest to the heavenly vegetable puffs/samosas from McRennett, by the way.

What follows inside the class, is the eternal burning of the soul-dead tongue. I am quite certain that if my tongue were an independent entity capable of some thought and action, it would tie me up and beat me till I bleed. Thats the amount of torture I have put it through. The stomach kept bothering the mind with its continuous signals of ‘Get-us-some-thing-to-work-on’. What else was the mind supposed to do.

I blame the nosy neighbor of the grumpy bus driver. The neighbor was poking her nose into the bus driver’s yard. The silly wife got pissed and called up the husband. The husband is the bus driver of the bus that was to come at 10.52 am to Temasek Hall bus stop. He didn’t. The grumpy bus driver lost his temper over his wife and her silly problems. He drove slowly because of that and came to the Temasek Hall bus stop only at 11 am. It was a 6-minute ride with the grumpy bus driver till I got off at the Computer Centre bus stop. By then I was stressed and running to class that my system needed some energy. That was right outside Dilys.

And so I stopped. I bought the goodies and continued the run to the theatre. I sat down beside the usual gang and opened my Milo and took a tiny sip and burnt the tongue. Let it be known that I do this every single time the grumpy bus driver drives by late. Sometimes I do not need him and his gala team to evoke my desire for Dilys goodies. Most other times I do need them.

Letters in Tamil

Mom suddenly decided to write me a letter a couple of weeks back. She had written in tamil and dad had added his note in the end. It was an emotional 20 minutes going through that letter! I missed the warmth all of a sudden.

In a couple of days, after re-reading the letter till the gist of it was etched in my mind - I was ready to write back. I decided I would write in Tamil as well.

Now I took Tamil in school for almost ten-ish years. Mom is too awesome with her literary tamil. She writes poems and is quite good in her game. That and some other things always kept me quite well-versed in the written version of the language.

Its been 6 years since. I have not written more than a para on my own in these years. And quite obviously the written part of the language has been dying a slow death.

As I took my pen and paper, I got stuck with the first few words. I was out of sync in every sense. I could not however give up on the mission. So I went all out and wrote whatever spelling came into my head. The contents were reeking of all sorts of emotions, the spelling just one - comedy.

Needless to say my mom had a hearty laugh! Dad says she hasnt laughed so much in a million years.

We are exchanging some memories and thoughts on paper now. It somehow means so much more. I am gearing myself up for the next war. This time I hope I lose a little less soldiers than the last!

Take a moment off

Taking a moment to pause is something I am learning. Before asking a question too soon. Before saying something mean. Before replying to an e-mail. Before putting someone's idea/spirit down. Before getting lost in the rat race.

It does wonders. I was walking back home from the bus stop. Its a 4-5 minute walk to my room. It was pretty late in the night I think. I was enjoying my time off and walking at my leisure. I suddenly realised it had been ages since I had walked barefoot. Its a nice feeling when your feet touches the ground. A silent bond. I think its got to do with the same spin your mind takes when you step into a garden or a lush green area. The bond with the greater power. The feeling of one.

I walked back to my room taking in every step all the way to my heart. It was almost a trance as I concentrated only on my feet and the ground beneath. It made me smile when I got back. It gave me a good night's sleep!

Pride in the victorian age

I enjoy reading victorian drama. Something about the simplicity of things or the lack thereof, draws me into itself.

Pride and Prejudice is a particular favourite. I would not miss a chance to watch the chivalry of Mr Darcy or the elegance of Ms Bennet. I would not miss a chance to read their complex characters. The enchanting language lifts the mood and transports me into a truly supernatural world. The details in clothes and importance given to appearance makes me wonder about the intellectuals of that age - what did they think  about giving so much importance to appearance. The emotions Ms Jane describes plunges me into a sea of awe. How much did she know of human character or how much did she imagine.

Its a magical world, the world of pride and prejudice. The attention to detail to everything that ever existed. The fleeting raptures created by even the smallest curtsy or nod. The letters that bring joy and sorrow in words rich with feelings. The loyalty of household managers. The exorbitant meals. I find every single detail of the victorian age romantic. I would trade anything to be a part of that age if that would ever be possible.

Ofcourse in describing my favourite era, I am consciously forgetting how they did not care about the rest of the world or in fact cared too much to rule most parts of it. How they treated the slaves. How they wasted resources. I am just trying to stay inside the pleasures of literature!