Entries Tagged 'Experiences' ↓

It’s been more than two weeks that we are back from Uruli Kanchan Nisargopachar Ashram. I wanted to write a lot about it, but have been so busy with work that I haven’t written anything!

Overall, the experience was great. Taught many things about health and fitness. And rejuvenated the mind and body!

Here are the core principles of Naturopathy!

1. All disease, their cause and their treatment are one.
2. The basic cause of disease is not bacteria. Bacteria develops after the accumulation of morbid matter when a favorable atmosphere for their growth develops in body. Basic cause is morbid matter and not the bacteria.
3. Acute diseases are our friends not he enemies. Chronic diseases are the outcome of wrong treatment and suppression of the acute diseases.
4. Nature is the greatest healer. Body the capacity to prevent itself from diseases and regain health if unhealthy.
5. In Naturopathy patient is treated and not the disease.
6. In Naturopathy diagnosis is easily possible. Ostentation is not required. Long waiting for diagnosis is not required for treatment.
7. Patients suffering from chronic ailments are also treated successfully in comparatively less time in Naturopathy.
8. After emerging, suppressed diseases can be cured by Naturopathy.
9. Nature Cure treats physical, mental, social (moral) and spiritual all four aspects at the same time.
10. Nature Cure treats body as a whole instead of giving treatment to each organ separetely.
11. Naturopathy does not use medicines. According to Naturopathy “Food is Medicine”.
12. According to Gandhi Ji “Rama Nama is the best Natural Treatment”, means doing prayer according to one’s spiritual faith is an important part of treatment.

I am in Ahmedabad for three days, working with Ashok and the sales team here on our Q2 strategy. Found Robin Sharma’s Greatness Guide 2, and just opened a page to get the inspiration for the day!

And found something Robin calls the “Mirror Test”. Stand in front of a mirror in the morning. Ask yourself: What is it that you can do today, that will take you to the next level of greatness? Personally and professionally? Think through the action, go through it in your mind. Then go ahead and do it. Be bold.

It’s the daily small improvements you do that will get you to greatness. Discover a new level of greatness everyday, with the mirror test!

I am going to take myself to the next level of greatness by pushing through the sales game we created and inspiring the Ahmedabad team today.

This Valentine’s Day marked the first decade of the Magnet brand! Ritesh, Murphy and I started MagNet as India’s first electronic magazine in February 1998. We launched with a special Valentine’s issue, and even had an ecards sections on the debut website.

The name MagNet meant “Magazine on the Net” - Mag + Net. The name stuck, and the ezine too! We had a big fan following and large subscriber base. Those were the early days of Internet in India. We wrote on technology, interesting websites, interviewed tech celebrities, and even had fun sections on the ezine and the accompanying website.

MagNet ezine, and the other ezines we launched, ran till 2001. MagNet WebPublishing Pvt. Ltd. was incorporated in May 1999 to support MagNet ezine and do other commercial activities. Part of the team joined the company.

It was completion of a decade, we decided to meet up! Ritesh, Murphy, Sujeet and I met yesterday evening and caught up! Kapil couldn’t join, and Vaishali is in Australia right now. But we had fun!

Ritesh and Murphy continue to lead Indsoft, their hosting and technology company. They have diversified in a lot of other areas - recruitment to hotel and are having a good time. Sujeet is in the US, working on security. Sujeet is a tech genius and finds immense satisfaction hunting down crackers! I continue to lead Magnet, now as Chairman and Chief Mentor of the organization. Kapil is a brand manager in Mudra now, doing what he loves the most - marketing, strategy and creativity. Vaishali is in Australia now, building rich internet apps with Flash and Flex! Not to forget Bhavin, he generously gave us webspace for free, and is now minting money running Indialinks.

(L to R: Ritesh, Sujeet, Murphy, Nirav)

I took some screenshots of the MagNet website and the stuff we did. Have posted them in the Gallery.

We had a great time making the magazine and running the MagNet Interactive website. I believe those were the founding years that shaped our philosophies and principles. Gave us a solid ground in technology and customer service too!

Thanks to all the contributors to MagNet too - all authors, all readers, all tech guys and all critics!

There are numerous stories of the time! If you were a subscriber, or knew MagNet from then, I invite you to share your experiences!

I felt like a child who got his favorite candy, picking up my delegate registration for foss.in this morning! I was the first one in the queue and very excited!

Landed early morning in Bangalore. There was a slight drizzle and the temperature was lower than the usual Mumbai mornings. After passing the auto rickshaw fellows near the airport, negotiated with one fellow down the road and got into the rickshaw. Once I was on, he started asking for more money - above the fare in the meter. Now if you know me, I can’t stand this. If someone gave a word, I expect him to deliver on that. Or at least communicate they can’t - in time. Time to change the vendor, uhh? Took another rickshaw and got on.

Oh.. the chilly morning breeze of Bangalore… I loved it. I saw all those familiar roads, landmarks and turns. Memories of last few years of coming to foss.in came back! All the great people, great talks, great parties and the pure excitement of being part of something big.

Shivering inside the rickshaw, I started thinking why do I come to foss.in? Year after year?

Do I come because I am a speaker? Do I come to meet these wonderful organizers who I’ll meet probably only at this place? Do I come to take a break from work and have fun? Do I come to make new friends?

I come here for all of that. But what really drives me to keep everything aside and come here is the vision of the event and the organizers. This is something that is shaping FOSS contribution from India. This is something that educates and converts wannabe hackers into FOSS contributors. And adding one bit to that grand vision and doing my part is what keeps me calling!

And did I tell you how thrilled I was to be the first delegate to register today? I’ve always walked in easily through the speaker registration desk, and not being a speaker this time, I was expecting to stand in long queue before I could get in. On the way to the hotel in the rickshaw, I changed my mind and landed up directly at the venue.

At 8 in the morning, I didn’t expect much of a gathering at the venue. While I was reading a few more pages from Power of Intention, I realized I could be the first person to register today! And I was excited like a child! Being the first, at an event I love. I started the queue at 8.20 and was the first one. And that was a great feeling!

I am set for the next three days I think!

What do you think?

Ok, I knew choice has a cost. And also that we’ve got too many choices these days. But this was a very interesting video about the Paradox of Choice from Barry Schwartz at TED.

I showed this video in our Monthly Review Meetings today, and was present to the plethora of choices you and I have everyday. Was thinking about the choices I have in making the bedroom furniture. Bed, Wardrobe, Dresser, Flooring, Color, Accessories - and so many choices in all of them. It’s like 20 years ago, you either took a Godrej iron cupboard or got simple shelves and shutters done using wood. Today, I reviewed designs from Ikea catalog and various other online sources, I checked with 4 carpenters, saw more furniture catalogs before coming up with a design. And I still want to get things perfected.

Expectations have increased. Satisfaction has decreased.

It was much better, back when it was worse!

Less is more. The secret to happiness according to Barry are low expectations!

Watch the video!