The non-existent reality of admiring humans

Buddha was enlightened. Did the biggest of his followers reach his level, despite analysing and comprehending his teachings? They didn't. Same goes for Jiddu Krishnamurti, Adi Shankracharya, Mahaveer Jain, and all renowned intellectuals of the world. Truth be told, however profound someone is, and however hard they try to educate, their followers will never reach the level of their idols.

That's because the masters are not what their followers think, a significant part of them is perception created by the follower in their minds.

All of us love ourselves immensely since the time we are born. We convince ourselves that what we are doing is right, and we don't want to think that we are leading a terrible life because that will affect our survival on earth. But, there's a problem with liking ourselves.

When a child enjoys itself, it is pure and simple without any comparison. When the child grows up, society makes them think comparisons are cool, so they think they are leading a great life because they are richer than most others, their work is something very few do, and they are leading a better life than their school mates.

So, instead of liking oneself, one starts disliking others in order to boost their ego that they are in a better position than them. Even though all of us are eventually going to die, and are nothing when compared to the scale of the universe.

But then, the universe is not what we feel it is. The universe is a perception we've created in our mind that we support with scientific research done by others.

People are much happier before relationships because they have a certain perception of their companion based on how they themselves are, and as the reality dawns on them then they feel the relationship is a disaster. The disaster is experiencing something that is moulded by society, and having unreasonable justification that what you feel is the reality is the actual reality only, but it is not.

Because reality is just a perception, that we end up taking far too seriously.

A photo posted by Arjun Suri (@arjunsuri) on Jun 28, 2016 at 8:26pm PDT

Travel Notes from Singapore (with photos)

I am back in India from an expedition to Singapore. I recommend you to save money and make a trip to the country that is disciplined as well as progressive. Alongside a professional work environment, there are several opportunities for shopping, entertainment and recreation.

Before the flight I had a brief halt at Hotel Le Seasons, New Delhi

My flight landed Monday morning and then we set off for Hotel Holiday Inn Atrium. After a sumptuous breakfast buffet that had decent vegan options, we had a quick nap and hopped onto a bus. A brief city tour was followed by lunch at an Indian restaurant, Mughal Mahal at Novotel. Then we went to Sentosa island, VivoCity mall, Bugis Street and Mustafa mall. We did a fair amount of shopping from these places, with Mustafa having far too many options in electronics, utensils, chocolates, fruits including Indian mangoes, etc you name it they had it. There is Arya Samaj opposite Mustafa 1 in an area called ‘Little India’ because it has a lot of people of Indian origin. Tamil is one of Singapore's official languages, and I could see signboards in Tamil almost everywhere I went including the metro rail, buses, public spots, etc.

Singapore's Official Languages are English, Chinese, Malay and Tamil. Punjabi can wait.

Story of VC funding, innovation, branding and startups

There is a new Chanakya Neeti for tech startups. The way a mosquito sucks blood, you should extract personal information from your users by giving away your SaaS based solutions for free.

These were the thoughts in Prem’s head, as he sat outside the VC’s chamber in Powai, waiting for them to hear his proposal.

A photo posted by Arjun Suri (@arjunsuri) on May 13, 2016 at 12:22am PDT

Prem was a bit nervous, but he wouldn’t bite his nails. His father Er. Ratan had graduated from the first batch of IIT Kharagpur, and vowed not to get married till he completed his Ph. D, due to which he didn’t marry till he turned 40. People like him might have inspired Jaspal Bhatti Sir’s Flop Show episode on Ph. D.

Coming back to Prem, he wouldn’t bite his nails because his father used to. Growing up Er. Ratan was not affluent, and chewing nails would be his closest contact with protein, albeit a dead one.

To ease his nerves, Prem started looking at the calendar on the receptionist’s desk. It had a baby’s photo that reminded him of his 4 months old nephew.

The moment his nephew was born, a group of transgenders came asking for ‘Dhan’ (Hindi for money). No wonder India is the land of Cash On Delivery.

There was a time when Prem had a full time job, fresh out of his engineering college, getting his first salary at 21. Prem had been earning money for years and his Medical friends were still doing their studies. Can’t blame them because unlike the Software field, most patients want to get themselves treated from a specialist with multiple degrees instead of a general practitioner with MBBS degree alone.

Prem didn’t expect his prospective VC to give him lots of money with which he’ll enjoy the life he couldn’t afford otherwise. Prem just wanted to learn so that he’ll use the experience to create a more beautiful software that would make lives easier for people.

In any case Prem was not a guy of humongous expectations. In his previous job, he never expected overtime from his employer, and would almost always leave late at night. He became so much habitual that he had begun feeling odd whenever he left for home on time, not knowing what to do as he saw the daylight on his way back.

A photo posted by Arjun Suri (@arjunsuri) on Mar 6, 2016 at 8:40am PST

Suddenly, the receptionist’s phone rang. She spoke for few seconds and asked Prem if he had his lunch. Prem hadn’t. The receptionist informed the person on the phone, and then told Prem “Please wait for 4 minutes, Aman will be here and then you’ll have your lunch with him”.

Exactly 4 minutes later, a punctual guy came out of the room. Extending his hand he said

“Hi, I am Aman”

“Hi, I’m Prem.”

“Together our name means Peaceful Love, so come have lunch with me”

“Ha ha… Thank you sir, but I think it is okay”

“Oye Have it!”

Prem started thinking.

Optimism: Check

Positive vibes: Check

Sense of humor: Check

What my sixth sense says: I don’t know

And thus they entered cafeteria. Aman asked Prem if he’d have a Parantha, to which he firmly said yes. They took their meals and sat on a corner seat, not far from a TV screen showing a loud, over the top Punjabi family doing Bhangra.

Watching TV, Aman sighed: "This is so not right - they keep on stereotyping Punjabis, all of us are not the same" - and then proceeded to put Butter on his Parantha.

“So how’s your life at Punjab?” asked Aman

“It’s fine. Before starting travel to Mumbai I attended a Langar hosted by my close family friend at a Gurudwara” replied Prem.

“Must have been delicious” added Aman.

“More than the food I was wondering that the Pareto Principle applies to Langars as well. A small group of people regularly host Langars for majority of the population” said Prem.

“Please don’t do such insightful data analysis now - just enjoy your meal!” instructed Aman.

Then they quietly finished their meals. A character on the cafeteria’s TV screen mouthed dialogue that two Punjabi people can sit together and be quiet only if there is delicious food involved.

A photo posted by Arjun Suri (@arjunsuri) on Sep 11, 2013 at 7:34am PDT

After finishing their meal Aman and Prem got up from their seats and in unison complimented the vendor for a well prepared meal.

Aman: “Would you have something for dessert?”

Prem: “Turmeric Latte”

Aman: “What’s that?”

Prem: “The good ol’ classic Haldi Wala Doodh, it’s now branded with this name in the states and is becoming a rage. Their marketing teams are bombarding the health benefits and the guys selling it are earning decent profit margins”

Aman: “Had you met me before, we’d have launched a nationwide chain of mother’s recipes with fancy Western names. We’d have done really attractive packaging and branded them as something genuinely good for health”

Prem: “Hashtag growth Hashtag healthy Hashtag profits”

Aman: “Interestingly so many ventures are making profits these days due to hashtags, but not the ones who invented hashtags”

Prem: “Maybe they idolized Albert Einstein far more than Steve Jobs and didn’t patent hashtags”

Aman: “So what’s your new venture about?”

Prem: “It’s called PAYO - a new way to pay online without requiring a password because many people in rural areas don’t understand the existing concepts of online payments”

Aman: “Interesting - tell me more”

Prem: “Before I share details of my venture, I wish to say something”

Aman: “Please go ahead”

Prem: “Commuting to your office in a cab, we stopped at traffic lights. My cab just missed crossing as the signal turned red, but I was not worried about waiting. I started observing the things around me. The trees were of different varieties, and few even had flowers on them. I saw a sixty something man on a Vespa with a laptop bag, working hard at this age. I saw a group of cyclists sweating out in the sun who seemed to be ones who could have afforded a car as well. I saw a guy selling copies of The Power Of Now. I saw a car which was the same model as my father’s first car. I saw so many things that were unexpected and I’m happy. I live for the moment. I have food in stomach, good health, and people who keep making me learn new things. And, I’m happy, come whatever may.”

A photo posted by Arjun Suri (@arjunsuri) on Oct 2, 2014 at 2:28am PDT