Wake Up America

I read an interesting blog about the state of the Congress. I read it in the Washington Post this morning. It echoed the same sentiment that our mode of instant gratification continues to prevent us from doing the right thing. It is funny that the Congress is more worried about their political legacy, redistricting and less about long term health of their constituents and the long term health of the country. I am no authority to challenge or even remotely comprehend the issue of national debt. It is something that is fed to us in ongoing media and news streams. As we know there is lot of public unrest going on in the Middle East at this time, I would wonder if the more aware of US citizens are ready to initiate their protest of this lackadaisical approach to managing the future of our country and actually do something about it. I am sure it does not need to be in the same form as that happening on the other side of the world but in our own Unique way, we should be putting a cyber protest. If the ordinary citizens have been dealing with personal budget challenges and making some tough cuts that have their children not so happy, I think the federal government needs to do the same.

Working through the day with iPAD : Refreshingly positive experience

I have been one of the early adopters of iPAD and as some label me another Apple fanboy. I am sure smitten by the Apple sleek design and polish. Anyhow after the initial excitement had faded, my iPAD was becoming yet another gadget gathering dust other than the occasional desire to read my books on the iBook application. But two days ago, I said let me run with not taking my laptop of my backpack and work through the day with an iPAD. I had this twelve south company compass mobile stand which I neatly placed on my desk and start plugging in. I made sure, I had my read my emails and responded to the ones that needed a follow up or an immediate action. It was a breeze with every minute of my usage improving my typing efficiency. I had to read some RFP documents (typically 100+ page document PDF's) and I was able to open that quickly in the Good Reader application, annotate it and take my notes using the just released multi tasking feature. Out went my follow up email from my notes application. It was a simply a cool feeling. I then plugged on the Pandora online radio and had the music running as I read through an awesome iPAD version of Washington Post. Battery was there throughout the day and I felt my investment in iPAD was not a sunk cost after all. . I have to admit, I did not do a lot of document writing even though I had the Pages and the KeyNote application on my iPAD. Please feel share with your experience of using iPAD in a true productive setting.

Freedom Fight of the Next Decade and the 21st Century

As journalists and historians sit back and write down about the highs and lows of this decade, I sat back and reflected over this long Christmas weekend to come to single most critical aspect of this decade which is suffocating us, making us paranoid and fearful and above all putting us into a death spiral of human societal DNA. It is changing all of us at a subconscious level. We may not sense it and may be totally unaware of it but it is changing the direction of our human society. We need freedom from its shackles and stranglehold. We need freedom from Terrorism. It is in my view the fight of the century rest alone the coming decade. It is more significant than peak oil issue and equally pervasive if not more than the issue of global warming. We are slowly becoming slaves to its dictates. Our lives are being changed to accommodate the perils and the consequences of this phenomenon and we need to fight for our freedom. The whole world is experiencing this in some form or another. Unfortunately our approach to fight and attack this issue in my humble opinion is misplaced. We target nations or organizations but fail to acknowledge that it is a mind game. If the youth of today in different societies is being brain washed, how do you intend to fight that with the latest drone aircrafts. In fact if the education system is being polluted with all the events of today, rest assured the coming generations are going to be less accommodating and less patient. It applies to both the worlds (if there is a bipolar world of west and non-west, since China is going to be facing this challenge in this century). As Thomas Friedman put it in his article that the real challenge is to combat the vastness of internet media reaching out in every home with the same message of hatred, eye for an eye, use of violence for every wrong etc etc. I think the answer does not lie in more troops or for that matter remote controlled deployment of forces to avoid physical causalities since the damage is done mentally and at a subconscious level. Now the next time, we board the plane, everyone who takes a blanket during the flight is going to be stared at, we are going to be subconsciously make our judgments and place people who look different in to typical stereotypes. Responding acts of terrorism with force and violence (where ordinary citizens suffer and the issue is dusted under the term of collateral damage) actually creates a more long term mental damage in the minds of the people which in return comes back in form of terrorism. If we continue down this path( in fact the current events are a result of similar approach for decades) we are sure bound to further erode our basic fabric of human race. We will become another animal type who could do no better but killed each other to survive. Is there an answer? I don't know but all I can say is that success stories like Mahatma Gandhi gives us a hope. In his case acts of aggression were met with a smile and peaceful rebuttal. This could be an antidote to all of this. He gave Indians a way to undo the British where one seemed unlikely. Yes there had been numerous freedom fighters who had individual acts of heroism but he fundamentally altered the rules of the game.

We need to ensure that we have a strategy to address the health of minds of our next generation on both sides of the world. Today, it is being overly influenced my the internet media, the current acts portrayed as righteous and hence create an impression that world is filled with hatred or violence which is very damaging to the long term future of our society. But we as a society are not doing enough for the future since we are too occupied in winning the next battle and as a result we are loosing the war.

PS: I am an Indian, sikh by religion who is settled in USA for the last 10 years. I have had my share of experience when the Sikh community was attacked in 1984 by heinous acts of hate crime by its own fellow citizens

Means vs Individuals: Health Care Debate

This is how I like to think about the crux of this current debate on health care. It may appear strange to associate this kind of parallel to the health debate but it is true. We are having this town hall meetings and discussions with two parties coming from a totally different vantage points. The law makers/decision people are attempting to base their approach, direction on the basis of statistics, data points whereas each of the town hall community set up is challenging them with their individual experiences and stories. Yes critics will challenge the data points being used by the government to promote their legislation since statistics has always been subject to that scrutiny. Similarly the individual stories and folklore ( these are apparently individual stories from other countries (Britain, Canada) which are used to amplify the problems with the health care reform) are also sometimes biased since there is a lot of human emotions involved. But to cut to the chase given the two different vantage points for the two parties the debate becomes loud, unruly and unproductive. Thanks to the media you are streamed that 24*7 to make matters worse.
I am a proponent of the health care reform but cannot provide my preference to the current government proposal since I am not done enough homework (people tend to assume the legislation based on here-say and it is a Chinese whisper at this point of time). However I am pretty sure the current status quo needs to be changed and our healthcare system needs to be fixed. As someone said the devil is in the detail which is true but individual ownership of health is a must to solve the long term health care industry. In the interim, the healthcare system needs to avoid bankrupting the rest of the economy and anything to fix it is better than nothing. Yes the medians and the means will not line up with every individual case but that is what societies have always done. Work for the masses and masses are sure not 100%.

Neil Moore: You will remain in our minds and hearts

Ever since I heard the news of shocking, untimely death of Neil Moore (our Project Manager in South Dakota), on Saturday evening, I have been in a state of disbelief. It was a tragic and an unfortunate day. It has been immensely challenging to come to grip with the fact that Neil is no more with us. Neil was a remarkable individual and a great personality with a lot of composure and self-belief. I developed a deep sense of appreciation for his demeanor and approach to work as I worked directly with him in the last 6 months. His candor and his openness to employees was a refreshing change and his uncanny ability to think through a problem or an issue was indeed commendable. As I reflect on this loss to the CNSI family, I want to extend my sincerest sympathies to Neil’s family and I wish them heart and courage to bear and overcome this huge loss.


I am sure the actual SD project team members will have tons of stories and events that they experienced working closely with Neil on ground in South Dakota. I strongly encourage each of them to share their stories as a remembrance to Neil and his unwavering commitment and dedication to State of South Dakota and SD MMIS project.

Testing Blogger Widget for MAC
This will increase the number of posts that i make.

S2 New Year Resolutions: Personal Accountability and no procrastination

This year I have challenged myself! Challenged not to procrastinate ☺
I do procrastinate. More than I wish and I hope. Of course others who deal and engage with me will say I am even worse. Regardless, the goal this year is to hold myself accountable. And not lapse into a victims thinking mindset. I have reached a conclusion that procrastination is a friend of failure.
Each day as I walk through the unexplored world full of events, I have choices to make and I own full responsibility for those choices. That is personal accountability for me. Personal accountability is not about the other person or holding one other accountable. I believe that I need to focus on my thoughts and actions and use that as a measure since that is more fulfilling and enriching. I think every one (and more so a leader) needs to hold the wagon of personal accountability. As Mahatma Gandhi said “ You must be the change you want to see in the world”. I am planning to start with a small step in that direction by holding myself personally accountable in professional and personal lives and do that both in spirit and letter. I just need to remind myself of this goal every time I lapse into the world of procrastination.