In memory of a stranger

I fear death. I avoid the thought of death. The murmurs of death always bring a certain amount of closeness. I want to be with the people I love, I want to spend time with the material things I possess, I want to get away from the things that disturb me, I want to be in tranquility with the basic elements that give me solace.

I know I cannot escape the death of life, the death of relationships, the death of profession, the death of dreams, the death of hope. No amount of literature telling death is God’s touch of honor or the gateway to eternity has ever made me comfortable with the concept of this fatality.

The distress is not one of loss or pain but one of emptiness; it is one of not being able to understand life’s fundamental purpose. Why are we here? Is it material pursuits? Money? Love? Fame?

But, every news of death reminds me that I am living on borrowed time.

Khalil Gibran – Author Profile

Gibran Khalil Gibran, was born in Bsharri in Lebanon in 1883. Being laden with poverty, he did not receive any formal education or learning. He immigrated with his mother to the USA when he was 12 years old. He lived in Boston for two years. In Boston he met the photographer Fred Holland Day who befriended young Khalil and had a significant artistic and intellectual impact of him.

At the age of 14, Khalil returned to Lebanon attending al-Hikmah high school in Beirut, where he pursued a reformist Arabic curriculum. He also studies religion and ethics.

At the age of 19, Khalil Gibran returned to Boston where he met Mary Haskell, an American school headmistress who supported promising young orphans. Having no formal education, he was placed in an ungraded class reserved for immigrant children, who had to learn English from scratch. It is owing to Mary that he was able to devote himself to his painting.

In 1905, at the age of 22, Gibran publishes a slight collection of essays at the al-Muhajir Press, on "Music." Encouraged by the director of the al-Muhajir newspaper, Gibran begins publishing the prose poems that will later be collected into Arabic books such as "A Tear and a Smile" and "Storms".

In 1906, Gibran published “Spirit Brides” in New York in Arabic and two years later Gibran published a second book of short stories in Arabic, "Spirits Rebellious". At 25 years of age, Gibran began his two-year stay in Paris, paid for by Mary Haskell, where he studied painting and was influenced by the reigning school of Symbolism.

In 1914, the Arabic collection of his newspaper prose poems, "A Tear and a Smile," was published in New York. Also his paintings were exhibited at Montross Gallery on Fifth Avenue; a rare success, since most galleries resisted Gibran's work on grounds of its excessive nudity and modernism.

In 1923 appeared his famous "THE PROPHET ", a book of 26 poetic essays, which has been translated into over 20 languages. The Prophet, who has lived in a foreign city for over 12 years, is about to board a ship that will take him home. He is stopped by a group of people, to whom he teaches the mysteries of life.

Here is an excerpt of "THE PROPHET" about children:

Your children are not your children.

They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.

They come through you but not from you,

And though they are with you,

yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts.
For they have their own thoughts.

You may house their bodies but not their souls,

For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,

which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.

In 1931 Khalil Gibran died, at the age of 48, in a New York hospital owing to cancer and liver failure (due to excessive drinking to avoid pain).

Crossing the chasm

The evolution of any technology can be broken down into six distinct stages:

Innovators - This first stage often also referred to as “cutting edge”, meaning new. Any technology that shows high potential but hasn't demonstrated its value or settled down into any kind of consensus fits into this stage which is crowded with innovators, thinkers and venture capitalists.

Early Adopters – This, next stage, is when the technology is identified by business leaders and visionaries. “Early adopters” may win big, or may be stuck with a valuable possession whose upkeep is excessively expensive and may be useless.

Early majority – In “leading edge” a technology that has proven itself in the marketplace but is still new enough that it may be difficult to find knowledgeable personnel to implement or support it.

State of the art - when everyone agrees that a particular technology is the right solution.

Late majority - still useful, still sometimes implemented, but a replacement leading edge technology is readily available. By now this technology has become a tradition.

Laggards - has been superseded by state-of-the-art technology, rarely implemented anymore.

It has been increasingly noticed that the early adopters find it difficult to trust innovators. Initially, innovators may promise services to early adopters; during the course of time, they may run out of steam or may realize that their innovation does not have what it takes. This could leave the early adopter in a catch-22 situation, where he has to pay for a service yet to be rendered by the innovators.

In spite of this situation why are organizations trying to be early adopters? Being an early adopter involves significant risks as well as rewards. For some, it's a necessity rather than a choice, when they find no mature technology to meet their needs. For others, it's a calculated attempt to save gobs of money. For others still, it's a necessary step to leapfrog larger competitors. Since they are the first client the technology develops according to their own requirements rather than tailoring them later.

According to Gordon Moore, the author of the revolutionary management book Crossing the Chasm, the most difficult step is the transition between visionaries (Innovators) and pragmatists (early adopters). This is the chasm that he refers to.

Escrowing source code can be an optimum solution for the software industry to close the chasm described by Moore. Escrow is best known in the context of real estate. Escrow is a legal arrangement; when a home or property changes hands, the seller of the property transfers the property title to the escrow agent. Similarly, the buyer either transfers funds or has a bank transfer mortgage proceeds to the escrow agent. When all conditions of the purchase agreement are met, the escrow agent assigns the property title to the purchaser and distributes the funds to the seller. Nowadays escrow companies are also commonly used in the transfer of higher value properties in relation to person to person auctions (eBay).

On the same lines, the early adopter can deposit money with an escrow agent and the innovators get paid as and when services are released to the early adopter. Since the innovators are hungry and aggressive they would deliver the service. Thus making sure both the vendor and the adopter have a rainbow at end of the horizon.

Promoting Yourself -- a book review

I walked into the library to renew an autobiography of Nelson Mandela. Little did I imagine I would pick up another book. While browsing through the latest arrivals section, the title “Promoting Yourself” did not appeal to me one bit. The preface read: “Welcome to the career guide for people who hate career guides. You know the books I am talking about: How to Get a Raise in 30 minutes; How to Become a CEO in 30 Days or Less“. I immediately exchanged the autobiography for the paperback.

The books punch line is “52 lessons for getting to the top and staying there.” From the first page to the last, the book does not for once sermonize you on what is to be done and what is not to be done. Infact, it enlightens you about the possible situations that might face which you dread facing or never dreamt of facing. The author, Hal Lancaster – who spent more than 30 years at The Wall Street Journal as a reporter, editor, bureau chief and a columnist, explains the situation using case studies and the various options available to him and the implication of the option the subject chose.

Written in simple English, the 52 lessons gives you an insight into today’s workplace. I believe Promoting Yourself makes the reader street smart by making you think what you would do if you faced a situation like that. It may not be as entertaining as Dilbert, the comic strip; but sure gives you the insight and wisdom to handle common dilemmas faced at work with its own tinge of humor.

Finally, is it a worth read? If I said No, I would be lying!

mission accomplished?

The last editorial that i would write for my first magazine i worked for; read on




The chime of a gong.

The taste of an apple.

The smell of camphor.

These may seem natural to us. Nothing out of the ordinary. Something very mundane. In most cases, it is not even mentioned. Overseen and neglected, we have just grown accustomed to them and expect it to be like the way it has been.

But for a child who has bequeathed this world of wonder, these insignificant and insipid details form the source of unlimited amazement, astonishment and joy. Since babies cannot speak early on and we are acclimatized and adjusted to the pure bliss and delight the world around us offers; our literature is lacking, without these excitements and exhilarations.

On the other hand, if a child could express in words everything she witnessed and if we could listen to it; all of us would have had a chance to revisit our childhood in full. The feeling of joy, glee and cheerfulness might have rubbed off on us.

Global Education Center has been a brain child and dream of Narayan Murthy. GEC has just celebrated its first birthday. We, at GURUKUL (metaphorically: still toddlers at Infosys) try to bring to you the failures, the disappointments and the achievements, the victories, the triumphs that GEC stumbles on at every barrier, hurdle and opportunity in its most honest form, with the same excitement, exhilaration, innocence and inquisitiveness of a child; so that all can take pride and pleasure in the joy, glee, pain, sorrow, cheerfulness and every other emotion felt at GEC, the child.

Please do not hesitate in giving us your valuable and much needed feedback, as we at Gurukul and GEC are in our learning and habit forming years.

Thank you and happy reading!