Preserve as you Observe...!!!
My day starts authentically with getting pissed at the Alarm Clock. I conventionally do all the morning functionalities which any “Homo sapiens” cannot get away with☺. I go cycling for about an hour… Prepare lunch for myself… Take a bath as it is in the benefit of mankind ☺ and finally I get ready and depart for the office. I do my work at office… Catch a bus back to home… Have dinner and finally buzz off… A typical IT engineer routine isn’t it?? Pardon me for being a bit blunt, but then, even I am writing my first blog and certainly I don’t want to miss out on any of the scribble that would create some reading material value. Anyway, Let me drive your “kind” (?) attention to the title of this blog. Of course, I will try n give full justice for the thought that led me choose “Preserve as you Observe!!” as a title in lines that follow. . I would hereby clarify; I am neither a philosopher, nor am a preacher. I am just sharing my own experiences which do not guarantee any resemblance with any good or bad things that may or may not happen in life. Hope you guys like it!!
Since I have started comprehending things in my life, I have come across a bunch of interesting (?) people who have left a huge impact on the ways I have formed myself from raw to a kind of sharpened sculpture. Usually, the obvious happenings, things, gestures, decisions, conclusions, compromises, sacrifices, behavior, nature, actions, commitment, honesty (list can practically tend to infinity… hence cutting it short)that every human being witnesses in a day to day life can be basically divided into two categories. The first category is termed as WATCHING and the other is termed as OBSERVING. I could experience that nod from many of the buddies reading this line who have already heard this categorization from some elderly persons/counselors earlier in their life. Even I have heard this from many experienced folks while their lectures about philosophy or whatever brainy stuff that I happened to attend some time back in my life. I didn’t understand the meaning of this beautiful categorization back then but later in the journey of life, I could experience the truthfulness of this classification.
Watching is actually a process wherein there is no need of any contribution (so called) from the subject* who is actually carrying it out. Because all that he has to do is to just stare at the stuff☺. Now, I could see those question marks in your mind regarding a contradictory statement made by me here above. Guys, Let me put up the definition of Observing in front of you and then probably it will be easy for you guys to compare and analyze. So, Observing is a process wherein the contributor* watches, analyses, implements and questions the stuff that he is looking at.I hope I have made 2 simple self explanatory statements as definitions of Observing and Watching that would help you sort out the difference easily. If not, let’s see if these examples run their magic… we WATCH movies… Actually all that you can do in a 70mm theatre is staring at that (if available) hot (?) chick who calls herself an actress or a heroine, imagine almost to an extent of having kids with her, till then the movie is authentically wrapped with the happy endings, with your broken dream of having babies with that chick in the movie.. You walk back to your den ☺… Watching… it is ☺… Rest all the stuff wherein you can interact and contribute in watching (which you couldn’t accomplish while mere watching a movie ;)) is called OBSERVING. I hope now I am sense to you buds.
So, when I were a school going kid, may be a class of 9, I was studying in. I had developed this weird Einstein type habit of asking hell lot of questions. The only difference between me and Einstein must have been the relevance of questions and curiosity of discovering/inventing answers for those questions which he possessed and I lacked! I kept on asking hell lot of questions to any person who seemed a bit more knowledgeable than me. During this time, my dad was reading some book and as always I was troubling him after school at home during my leisure time. I happened to read a sentence in the book which stated “Attitude is everything”. I asked my dad a question about what was attitude… My dad answered in a very raw manner that a 9th Std kid would then understand… “Kid, attitude is the way you deal with all the situations around you right from getting up in the morning to going to bed in a RIGHT manner.” As I have described the difference between me and Einstein above, I just gave a nod and recited this sentence with no better understanding on the statement. Later in my college life, I understood the simplicity of the quote.
One thing that I would like to confess through this blog of mine is that I always overlooked academics throughout my Education. I haven’t slogged late study hours. I used to sit late but never did I study. I remember it was HSC board exam of mine in Science stream. PCM combination and thus I was left with a sole option of getting into Engineering after these exams. I remember studying only Mathematics throughout the year. I was very much fond of Mathematics. But rest all the papers I had neglected in 12th. I had a very average score which could fetch me an admission in an Engineering college in the same town. With absolutely no constraints on the college, very happily I took admission and was fully satisfied. While I was in 12th, I observed one thing about myself that whichever field I am interested in, I dedicate myself to it. The learning that I got in the later part of Engineering because of this observation was, “ always get driven by your interest not by the stuff which is dictated to you”. I did the same in Engineering and will continue to do in future too and all my close friends reading this blog would agree with this statement of mine ☺
First Year of Instrumentation Engineering, FE as they call it in Maharashtra was indeed a very vital year in my life. This year taught me so much that I just can’t express that in words. Up till 12th, the yearly pattern of studying for the exam where I used to roam around for 11 months and study for one month (?) and passing the exam was extremely mastered by me. I was in the same mood in FE. I had just started attending some lectures and one fine day I happened to skim through a notice stuck on the notice board of my institute that the first semester is just a month ahead. Believe me 6 subjects, hell lot of submission before actually starting the so called study. I didn’t feel the fire instantaneously. Remember me telling you, Mathematics was a subject I was very much fond of? This yarn that I am narrating will show you the contradiction of the above statement. With the FE first semester appearing before me just after I was getting on a mood that I have actually entered a college which would make me an Engineer, I had this subject to be dealt with “Engg Mathematics 1”. With 12th standard pattern of absolutely not referring anything beyond the book that my tutor taught, not even text books, that fetched me 95/100 in math in HSC ,I had same belief in the lecturer at my institution and he kept on teaching me Partial Differentiation and Jacobian all through the semester and I had absolutely mastered it. I thought with mere 6 months of study, the syllabus would be enough for the test. Engg Mathematics 1 used to be the first subject in the list in FE. I was so perfect in the stuff I studied that I was happy, the first exam is going to be fun for Omkar. I happened to take a ride with a friend of mine to the exam hall and he asked me… just like that, did you go through this Cayley Hamilton problem? I was like stunned and asked him in humor… “Dude, I hope you have studied Engineering Mathematics 1 for the test. He said this question on Cayley Hamilton appears in every exam till date for 10 marks, which is actually 25% of the Engineer’s actual score in the exam ☺40/100. I was like in which section does this problem fall? He said in Matrices. I said … Boss, Matrices was in 12th, now its Partial Differentiation and Jacobian in 1st SEM. And guys, I tell you he burst out with laughter and embarrassed me by saying “Matrices weighed 50 marks in the exam and this duffer doesn’t even know that Matrix is in the syllabus… God save you boy”. I went in the exam figured out the topic that I studied. Attempted all the questions including options and came back with a total of 15 marks☺. The failure begins… I failed in 4 subjects in the 1st SEM and again 4 subjects in the second SEM and was left back in the very first year of Engg. During this phase, I saw many of my friends who partnered me in the failure had a tendency to lie at home saying that they didn’t fail at all. Some of them advised me to do so. But, I somehow recollected this quote “Attitude is everything” and I never kept my parents unaware of the fact that their only son is a failure in the FE. After the results were announced for the FE, some days I always used to crib about some of folks at college who made it to the SE and I used to say… This guy there is dumber than me and even then he is in SE. One of my close friends, one day made me understand what mistakes I was doing by saying the above said sentence. He said “Omkya, you know what? You are upset because those guys made it to SE… Instead you should be upset because of the fact that you could not make it… which you are not… rather you are convinced about your failure”. These were the golden words I heard and later, never in my life faced any grief of comparisons at all. This thing as I said I preserved for the future after observing.
After clearing the backlog of FE, I happened to do a short job at RIPL in Mumbai where I preserved many things after thorough observations. I faced the corporate world for the first time. Split shifts, night shifts, offer letters, recommendation letters, hike, promotion. I started understanding the importance of my education which I was carelessly neglecting due to lack of interest in studies. At the same time, I figured out certain areas in which if I mastered early in the education, I could get a better place in the corporate world. With all these observations, I came back and joined the college again. Now, I had in my mind what exactly I needed to do in the next 3 years due to which I could live my interest at the same time I would not be left behind at academics.
I indulged in various student activities, managing events, participating in the technical andmanagerial events. Cultivating interest in people management, I gradually led a group at college wherein I learnt a lot by sharing and again observing from others. Despite not so good academics, I always believed that I will succeed in my life however worse, the situation be. I am still in the journey of success but the belief is constant. I used to motivate many friends of mine who had better academics and were eligible for many campus placements but lacked confidence. I was not allowed for almost all the companies but the belief in self stayed there. It worked… At last I happened to visit a campus placement of MindTree… was eligible, cleared all the rounds, interviews and stood one amongst 27 selected candidates of 1200 people who attended the drive.
After joining office, I have continued this habit of observing people and preserving what we observe. I am sure some of you may differ from my thoughts in some cases such as what if we observe wrong things, we won’t preserve them. Folks, you got to preserve them too, but in the contradiction, you got to understand how pathetic it is to act wrong and you should preserve that you won’t act like this if you are caught into that situation. I keep on learning lots of things from all the people around me. Be it my colleagues, be it my parents, girl friend, friends or any random person who interacts with me. I aspire to become a person who improves each day by observing and preserving and would like you guys to do the same. I am sure most of you must be swearing at me as to how boring a guy in his blogs can get… but guys, I would be glad if in your life under any situations, even if by mistake you recollect this title “Preserve as you observe” my blog has gained its worth. Do let me know if you happen to experience this.
