The World is Large Enough!

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This is the content of my speech in Toastmaster's Area level International speech contest. I won 2nd in my club level, I could only manage 3rd place in the Area level.

Though I will not be moving to the District Level competition, I thoroughly enjoyed giving the speech, hope you will enjoy this blog and I will be glad if this inspires you!

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No, this is not about the next James Bond movie.

Friends, this is about the inspirations in my life who keep telling me that I shouldn’t get discouraged as this world is large enough for all of us! Though there are many inspirations, in the best interest of time I would like to talk about 2 of my biggest inspirations.

First is Dr. Wayne Dyer

In the world of motivation, Dr. Wayne Dyer is a Rock Star. He helped me realize the power of nature. We can call nature as God, Super Intelligence or Life. If I take a moment to think, from a single cell, I have grown this big. This hand has so much of complexity inside it and yet so simple that I need not know everything inside it to use it. Whether we realize it or not, we are completely surrounded by this super Intelligence and its miracles. Irrespective of the religion we believe in, the culture we are from, the language we speak, this super intelligence unconditionally loves us and is constantly at work to give us the best.

In Jan 2009, when I was working as a consultant for Lowe’s in Wilkesboro, the CEO of my Indian Consulting Company Satyam sent a letter to Security Exchange Board of India and Stock Exchanges that the 8 Billion Dollars that is supposed to be in the bank doesn’t really exist. Yes, another accounting scandal like the Enron Story. I had been with the company for more than 5 years at that time and this news shook my roots. Medical Insurance Company stopped processing our bills for a week, I wasn’t sure if I will get my next paycheck, the company was a black mark in the corporate history of India. Scores of clients were stopping projects and it was bad news after bad news. I didn’t have a visa that allowed me to move to another company in US and the job market in India wasn’t great either. The only option I had was to stick to my company Satyam and get sucked into the abyss if it went that way. When I came back home, I didn’t know how to break the news to my wife; my son was 4 and daughter was 6 months at that time. For the sake of my colleagues & my family, I put on a brave face and did what best I can in the situation. I had to sell off all that I had, give up my faith in the great American Dream and go back to India with family. When I was in India, I was passionately involved in presales activities to bag a new client project and moved back to California within 2 months. After few months, I applied for an open position in Lowe’s. The first interview question (from my manager Muthu) was, when are you going to come back? It was a great refresher. Yes, after 6 years in Satyam and after more than 1 year of the scandal I joined Lowe’s as an Employee. (Contrary to market expectations, Satyam is doing great still)

The journey was tiring but when I reached the next destination, it reinforced my trust in nature. The lesson I learnt are,

• Never burn the bridges. You should leave a mark that people should feel like working with you, not find excuses to avoid you.

• If we can deal with uncertainty, we will become calm and open enough to identify the opportunities and say “yes, the world is large enough”!

Let us talk about my second inspiration

I strongly believe in one concept....life looks at the state we are in and desperately wants to talk to us. It chooses anybody we come across to tell us how to improve. For me, this super intelligence almost all the time chooses my wife to talk to me. She is my most honest critic and my biggest support. My wife always has very high expectations from me. Trust me friends, it is nothing less than being a Super Hero!

Either I can grow to meet the expectation that life poses through my wife or I can give up and let it spiral down.

Dr. Wayne Dyer gives lectures in YouTube and leaves my life, he is a good guy....but life though my wife is my 24/7 performance appraiser. How am I performing?...my scores are not that great, but I have not given up. She is the one who untiringly reminds me that this world is large enough if we make ourselves eligible!

• My perspective changes when I look at my wife’s feedback as the life’s feedback to me.

• Instead of showing resistance this perspective helps me to evolve and say yes the world is large enough.

I have a question for you, “Are you living the dream which you dreamt of when you were a child?”

Let me ask the question differently, “Do you have better resources now than you had during your childhood to achieve what you want in life?”

Let me simplify the question, “Are you alive now?” If you are reading this, Congratulations, you are already a winner! As a kid you never knew for how long you will be alive, you have already outlived your expectations and now you have a solid foundation to start!

We wait for a lottery to change our live. No, don’t wait for a lottery to change your life, YOU are your lottery. Invest in yourself, evolve and you will realize that this world is large enough for all of us!

Listen, life wants to tell you something, “Don’t you worry, don’t you worry child, this world is large enough!”

Sorry, you have to try harder to discourage me!

It was one of those busy mornings and I was trying to grab a coffee from my office café before the 8 AM meeting. As I was mixing the coffee with sugar, a piece of sugar pack I tore fell in my coffee. One of my colleagues standing next to me exclaimed, “oh ooh, not a good way to start the day!”. I smiled and replied, “No Ma’m, it has to try harder. I don’t get discouraged that easily”.

Dare to be upbeat!

In the Seas(Cs) of Succccccccess!

In the Seas(Cs) of Succccccccess!

Here are some Cs to help you swim in the seas of success.

Cs of Success
• Content
• This is the foundation of success.
• If we don't have content, we can only hoodwink for a short term.
• Get yourself clear about your area of interest & take a deep dive!
• Courage
• Small drops create a flood, small atoms make this universe.
• Small steps can take you places; get courageous and be open to fail. As Edison said, "learn one more way it doesn't work" and be courageous to move ahead.
• Commitment
• To protect its home a bee is ready to sting and die.
• The passion needn’t be to that extend, but a COMMITMENT TO GIVE YOUR BEST IN ANY SITUATION can change the course of your life, even the world!
• Charisma
• Charisma is not in the way you look but the way you carry yourself.
• Anybody & everybody will like to be around a person who is always enthusiastic and exuberant.
• Find out what ticks you, what keeps your morale high…use it in all situations!
• Connect
• We are social animals.
• Unless we are comfortable with ourselves, we will never be ready to get out of our comfort zone to connect to somebody new.
• When we connect, we realize that we can achieve more with our potential & that we can achieve more as a team!
• Communicate
• With all respect to our listeners & readers, it is very important that we present our thoughts & ideas clearly.
• If my listeners asks me to repeat again, it doesn’t mean they are stupid; it is because I have not communicated clearly.
• Unless one knows to communicate effectively, we can never let the world know what we want!
• Listen attentively if somebody is talking to you, in hallway or in a meeting (with closed laptop/phones away).
• Join a Toastmaster’s or a Dale Carnegie club near you and improve your communication skills!
• Coflict Management
• Let us accept that no initiatives can be conflict free.
• If viewed with right perspective, conflicts can be source of new ideas if each idea is respected irrespective of the idea source.
• Unless we know to channelize the conflicts, we cannot move us or our organization ahead.
• Collaborate
• To collaborate better we have to have Content, be Courageous, be Committed, be Charismatic, be well Connected to all we work with, Communicate clearly on what we want and manage Conflicts better.

 Make your success sweeter & stronger by adding more Cs! Have a fantastic one!

The Magic Word!

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This is the content of my speech that helped me win 1st place in 2012 Area 23 (NC, USA) Toastmasters International Speech Contest representing my organization (Lowe's Companies Inc.). I will be glad if this inspires you.
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When was the last time your life was magical? Was it few days or a few decades ago?

I recently saw a Jim Carrey Movie. He is single, his job sucks and his life is a mess. Based on advice from his friend he goes to a seminar. In the seminar the Guru goes "Life, we are all living it. Change, is generated from consciousness. Where is consciousness generated? From the external. How do we control the external? With one word and what is that word?" The crowd erupts "YES". Jim Carrey ends up making a covenant that he will say YES, no matter what and his life becomes magical.

Please take a moment to think how many times your life has become magical by saying YES. How many times you have regretted that you said NO without even giving it a try? Probably to your friend or a new opportunity.

Watching this movie "Yes Man", made me reflect on lot of incidents in my life which changed the entire course of my life due to these 2 simple words YES and NO. I would like to recount 2 incidents from my life and connect the dots.

Incident 1:

During my college days in India, I had Windows desktop and a musical keyboard. I used to compose small bits of music. I used to play it to my friends and family. I don’t what others thought about my music, but I loved my composition a lot. I was thinking I was a very good composer. Unfortunately I didn’t really build on this interest in music. After college, I joined the rat race and became a regular guy. 8 to 5 work in a metropolitan city in India and fun with friends in the evening. When I met one of my college mates after 2 years, I got to know that she was working as a marketing executive for a music training company. She jokingly said, “As you compose music I am going to make you my victim, why don’t you take up training in music composition”. What do you think I said? I said “NO”. I thought, “How can somebody teach you to compose music? Music should come from within”. I thought it was a scam.

After a few years I saw an advertisement for Digital Music Composition and Audio Engineering. I went to that facility. The place was like heaven; each student’s desk had a Mac, a musical keyboard and head sets. This was the same place my college mate wanted to me join few years back and the same place where Oscar winning Music Composer A R Rehman’s students were getting their skills built. I was supposed to leave India in a few days. So although I wanted to join, I couldn’t take it up; life didn’t give me a second chance. That remains as one of the biggest regrets of my life! If I had said YES the first time, probably I would have got an Oscar in 2010 with AR Rehman and would be singing “Jai Ho…jai ho”. Alas!

Incident 2:

When I was working in Bangkok, Thailand I wanted to try scuba diving. I was inspired by watching James Bond doing a sky dive from a flight and changing to scuba gear before landing in the ocean. I didn’t want to try the entire part but just the Scuba one. When I was talking to my colleagues, one of them suggested that I should talk to the Program Manager as he goes scuba diving. What do you think I said? I said “YES”. When I asked about it to the Program Manager, what do you think he said? He said “YES”! He mentioned that he was planning to go to Koh Tao Island in Thailand which is supposed to be one of the top 10 most beautiful islands in the world for Scuba Diving and he wanted to know if I would be interested in joining him. What do you think I said? I said “YES”. You see, it requires so many YESes to get things moving.

After training in the island, when I was about to take my first dive I realized the gravity of the situation. From a world of certainty, where human beings have done their best to destroy nature; I was getting into an entire new world of the wilderness and especially unarmed. I couldn’t understand when the instructors said I cannot carry any knives. All the scuba diving I have watched was in James Bond movies where he carries harpoon or some weapon! What do you think I still said for the Dive? I said “YES”. During the training classes at 30 feet below the surface of water, my dive buddy tapped on my shoulder and pointed me to a surprise visitor. I was frozen. It was a medium sized shark swimming around; suddenly it turned and started coming towards us. I felt like it was coming for me. There was no mind, there was no feeling, there was me and the shark. As the water was crystal clear, it made the moment even more intense. Fortunately he was not hungry, he turned around and left. After facing the threat of becoming completely extinct, I lost fear of a lot of things in life.

From then on, my life became magical. I said YES and ran a 12 K Marathon nonstop in Thailand. If I can gain weight, I can lose weight too. I said YES and lost 25 pounds in 2 months. I said YES to food and gained the lost pounds back; that’s a different story. I said YES and tried ice skating and skiing in Belgium. I said YES and tried mountain biking in Wilkesboro and hiking in California.

•Life always wants you to experience the magic.


•Open yourself and keep listening to the cues.


•Be courageous; challenge yourself and dare to get out of your comfort zone.

I am asking each and every one of you the same question, “Every time an opportunity presents itself, no matter what, what will you say?” - YES! This is my gift to you today, use the gift and make your life magical!

It's never late!

Everyone has a dream. Everybody has a purpose to achieve. Everybody has a target in life. Everyone has an 'ideal life', 'ideal relationship', 'ideal career', etc. in mind.

Do we pursue it?! Do we put in efforts to go towards it? Do we take initiatives to do it NOW?

It is very important to check if we are moving towards our destiny. Always we are busy with so many things in life that we don't see the direction in which we are heading. We should stop now and then to check our compass to recalibrate the trajectory. The problem with our modern life style is, we close our eyes and compete in the rat race without knowing were it might lead. If we do not stop to contemplate every now and then, we might not even realize that we might be drifting further and further away from our destiny.


Our distance from our destiny will be directly proportional to the time we have wasted in wrong directions. If we have wasted more time, we will have to spend more efforts and more time to bring us back to track. Lot of things once done will require efforts and additional time to undo, redo or to realign. For e.g., if you do not have a solid educational background or a good relationship, as time goes, your commitments will increase more and more that you will not be able to pursue your educational or the better relationship pursuits.

If you realize now that something is missing in your life, do it NOW or at least take steps to move towards it NOW....IT IS NEVER LATE!

Courtesy: The ‘two lines’ motivation is that of my 12th standard tuition teacher, Mr. Manivanan.

Locus of Control

~ There is an ardeous task at hand, and you are not confident as this is the first time you are tackling the issue.
~ You see some useless guys (according to you) succeed in life.
~ You took up something that you are not sure about and it was a fiasco.
~ There are too many problems in this world that you are not able to succeed.
~ Your career seems to go nowhere.
~ You are having lot of financial troubles.
~ You do not get along with people.

In these situations do you,
1) Get overwhelmed by these situations and get carried away? Do you also react with hatred, ego, anger or frustration?

2) Or, do you remain calm and see how you can set things right and make the parties involved to understand and feel better?

Do you see the difference between the two approaches? Approach 1 is REACTING and Approach 2 is RESPONDING.

Both the words seem to have the same meaning. Do you wonder ‘what the heck is the difference?!!'

Well the explanation given by the philosophers, yogis and gyanis is that, if you are able to be with awareness and let your Consciousness, Virtues and Values guide you then you are RESPONDING. If you get carried away by the negativity of the situation and you also take the same emotional shades of the negative situation, then you are reacting!

Hmm...so you are thinking this is another philosophy funda that is good to talk/hear and not so good to implement. Well, first to give you confidence on this concept, I would like to bring to your notice that, all that the philosophers talk about is actually a MANAGEMENT FUNDA! Yes, it is scientifically classified under LOCUS OF CONTROL in human psychology!! The point of this article is not to argue on who copied from whom, but to help you implement these better in life.

LOCUS OF CONTROL says, there are two kinds of people in this world. The people who have an EXTERNAL locus of control that they get influenced by the external environment and second the people with INTERNAL locus of control, who are mature and strong enough to influence the external environment to make it better. So, concept says that the best personalities are the ones who are ones who are with the INTERNAL LOCUS OF CONTROL. They are able to succeed better as they do not waste their energy by making things worse by reacting and believe that they control their own destiny.

From my experience, I would like to list out the ‘know hows’ and ‘to dos’ to achieve INTERNAL LOCUS OF CONTROL

1) RESPOND, don't react.
2) Understand that ANY human being's core virtues are PEACE, LOVE and HAPPINESS. Either you know it or you are yet to know it, but it always is your core virtue.
3) Stress Management - You might have observed that chances of you REACTING is more when you are enervated/exhausted and you RESPOND better when you feel fresh and energetic. Don't carry any luggage anytime; from office-to-home or home-to-office or office-to-office or home-to-home. Find ways to relieve your stress.
4) Believe in yourself. Have RESPECT for yourself and others as one of your core values. Always react to all with respect and respect yourself by not spoiling your mood.
5) Be aware at all times, keep the balance and respond with consciousness. All situations in life are trying to teach you something. See if you are learning the lesson.
Do you want to know what your locus of control is?! Click on this link to check it out!
Don't choose the best answer, choose the best answer that suits your current personality!

Don't run away!

It was a Sunday morning in 2003. I was in Marina Beach, Chennai, India for a get-together. We formed two groups for a game. Group 1 were to be in the outer most circle and Group 2 inside a circle. The people in the outer circle group have to hit the people in the inner circle with a ball and people in inner circle getting hit are out of the game. After the first round, the groups switch places.

As I was in the outer circle in first round, I was observing to understand the secret as we played. Lot of people were trying to hide in the inner part of the circle. Who do you think is the most vulnerable to get hit?! The ones facing the ball? Yes, I also thought so; but it is the ones who were hiding behind were getting out of the game very fast. That struck me that ones who were facing the ball were able to easily avoid it as they were able to see where the ball is coming. The ones hiding had left it to chance and got hit as soon as the ones facing the ball avoided it.


I was glad that my secret worked when I played in round 2 and I was able to avoid the ball easily. It also increased my focus as I had to respond very fast when the ball was thrown in my direction. Once when I couldn’t manage to face the ball I got hit. Though I was out of the game, I was overjoyed that I had used my awareness to help me have my best game.


As I came out, I was contemplating on what I learnt. It dawned on me that this is how real life is. It was an enlightening moment when I sensed that this might be a secret to success in life!

* FACE challenges in life head on, you'll feel the acceleration of energy and the satisfaction of being courageous.
* As popularly said, "ACTION CURES FEAR"; do what u fear!
* Hiding and escaping only makes the problem big; at the least, in your mind!
* By being aware, even if you lose, you'll be satisfied that you did the best and you'll know where you failed. So success might be just another try away.

I tell this real life incident to the ones who try to avoid problems. Whether they get excited or not, I get excited whenever I get a chance to narrate this.

Don't run away, your best resources are inbuilt. You Can!