It's been a decade !!

Dear 'Rest of me':


It's been a long time. Of course I remembered my second birthday- Dec 22nd 2004, but the realization came only now that it's been 10 years. Phew!

I'm sometimes surprised by how there are days where I don't have any feeling that you are missing- at all, and life just goes on. At the cost of immodesty, I do admire the way my training and approach to life doesn't let anything seem amiss. But buddy, there are days when I look at the mirror and ask myself- "Dude, where's the rest of you? Really?"

Earlier tonight, Rishika was playing on the bed and said, "Mamma has 2 hands, I have 2 hands, you have 1 hand." I wasn't wearing my hand. I smiled and was about to give the standard story that I tell kids- how my artificial prosthesis is a stronger hand that I got replaced. They generally touch and agree that it is stronger. But she just continued after a brief pause, in a tone of placating me, "your 2nd hand is in that room. Tomorrow you wear it, then you'll also have 2 hands." The sentences weren't so complete of course :). She gave  a smile of absolute simplicity and peace of mind. I might be over-reading it, but I'm glad that she has the same fighter spirit.

Sorry for digressing, coming back to you buddy. Yes, I miss you very much. I'll always have the regret of not getting to see you one last time (because I was busy dying and getting resuscitated). I fondly reminisce all the good times we spent as "One", especially during Academy and Fauj days. Needless to say, you completed me buddy. Love you, always!

Ciao ppl!
Ciao life!

What is your differentiator??

I found myself asking this question today (what is your differentiator), when I looked at the mirror. Well, a full length mirror always induces the question of- "dude...what happened?" but this wasn't one of those days. Anyway, that's a different thought chain altogether. Many of us might have come across this question- in interviews, competitions, business (from a company's USP perspective) and other spheres of life. As I dwelled on it, the mental discussion became interesting. The initial 'differentiators' that came up, were all tangible ones - data points one puts on a CV. However, my mind then started questioning on every line item one by one- "how many people do you know that can do that or have done that?" Well, not surprisingly enough, I knew hundreds of people (at least thru social media if not personally) on every point.

So, there I was, back to construal mode.

I realized that well, my differentiator wasn't A, B, or R, but how I've used A, B and R to become 9. It's not that no one else can do the same and get A + B + R to become 9, people can. What matters then and what makes me different is- as a 9, how I've impacted events/people/organizations (positively of course), or how (and if) I've enabled others to get to the A, B, or R (the greater good). The quick takeaway- our differentiators are not the historical data points from events in the past (achievements), but how and what we have done with them to get to where/who we are. Potentially, also how we intend to use that to get where we want to go.

Leaving everyone with a thought- I have my answer and will keep building on it further, do you have yours?

P.S: BTW, my 9 is not out of 10 :), it's just a number amongst the many others.

Ciao ppl !

Ciao life !

Quick update on…. My Book

Well, thought of coming back to my blog with a quick update- My 'Book' is done... finally (finished writing/reviewing).
So, as many of you might know, my book is basically…well…my story. It’s a semi-fiction and the name of my character is Siddhant. It starts right from my NDA days with all the experiences, ups and downs, the accident, thru to IIM A. The core theme is inspirational and has elements of adventure, lot of humor and ahem…romance too. Tried to keep it funny, interesting and not preachy at all :), since it’s a real story. Many of my blog posts, which actually went up and down the sine curve as things happened, are part of the book as well.

There were those times of… I’ve taken out 1 hr, let me write the book right now…oh this dialogue was said by Chandler in Friends…which season was it… let me google…that was a good one…let me see the episode… No! No! let me focus… oh! office mail on BB… let me quickly respond… oh! this is also due today… what happened to that office mail, let me follow up… shucks! My 1 hr for book is over… okies some other day maybe… :) .. Well, finally I'm done...

Otherwise life is good, Rishika is growing up fast and becoming naughtier than ever. It was so difficult to take out time…really :). But finally did it, thanks to the support from my better half, Richa.

I’ll be sending it out of my inbox probably in the next 1-2 weeks, and then would be a long waiting period before it gets published. I would like to thank all of you- all of the anonymous and known well-wishers, who kept me motivated to finish the book :).

Ciao ppl!!

Ciao life!!