Lot of bad news is good news - Narada speak

We are always open to listening to good news and avoid bad news. This is perhaps because we like to have pleasant immediate consequences and are not really bothered about consequences of consequences (c-of-c) or the sconsequences of consequences of consequences (c-of-c-of-c)

Sometimes bad news  especially when it is big,  has some wonderful c-of-c or c-of-c-of-c especially when they push any phenomenon to a tipping point which creates real change in society.

For example, the news about the editing of documents by the Law minister is definitely bad news for the country but it has ended up exposing the working of the CBI comprehensively and, perhaps, may pave the way for CBI to become a truly independent body.

Today, I heard another piece of  very bad news.  There are now month/s long coaching classes that are being held to help students "crack" the aptitude tests of companies like Infosys, Persistent etc. At one level, this is bad news but at another level this is good news as the companies are going to be flooded with successful candidates who know how to "crack the exam" but do not have the real skills for which this test was a proxy measure. This is going to create a tipping point for the companies, who are going to be sorely disappointed by their  picks and be forced to come up with a better way to measure students' abilities.

I once read a story in Narada Purana in which a sage asks Sage Narada why he goes on instigating people with an evil bent of mind. Narada's answer was simple "It is only when the cup of evil if filled to the brim that the wicked attract punishment."

I have learnt from personal experience that to look at the good news embedded in bad news requires a training of the mind - to suspend the usual way of looking at immediate consequences and look to downstream consequences. In this state, a lot of bad news begins to look really good and not enough  of it doesn't look good because it causes no change in the system. Paradoxical !

I confess, I too tend to keep falling back into the immediate evaluation state but it takes continuous effort to change the way we look at things.

In these times where there is no shortage of "bad news", I welcome you to try and look at reality in this way to see where  there may be positive change and where the new opportunities  may lie.

Why this blog ? About me.

Why this blog ?

The  modern Western way of making a society fulfill its goals and becoming happy was to increase the amount of economic activity as measured by a figure called the Gross Domestic Product. This is not working - these societies are neither happy nor are they able to increase their GDP ( without resorting to accounting sleight of hand).

Their modes of living also leave much to be desired. Children and elders have a very difficult time. The institution of family is weakened substantially by the social trends since World War 2. The natural resources for  India and China to emulate the West and  be "happy"  are simply not existent on this planet.

We should undoubtedly take what is useful from them but  we cannot follow their model blindly. The world does not have enough resources for countries with out population to aspire for such goals. The environmental and societal damage, we have caused  trying to emulate the West is already becoming very difficult to bear. While, as a society, we have endured much difficulties in the past millenium, I sincerely doubt if our current one has the patience and endurance to go another 50 years in this direction and put up with the difficulties it will entail. It requires a fortitude and a belief in karma and rebirth which is rapidly becoming alien to a society which wants to live in the now.

We need our own model of living - which will blend the best of the East with the best of the West. At the same time there is no point in getting bogged down in negativity.

Undoubtedly, there is too much negativity in speech, though and action in our country today. We need to find ways to convert our negativity into a form of fuel for positive change. So the more negativity in society,  the more fuel we can find for change.

Many times I  have been discussing many ideas  connected with this topic with people.  One of them, Tarun Malaviya , has been telling me for many years to write a blog to release these ideas into the blogosphere so that  these ideas may spread and if found useful ones by others may find its rightful owners and come to life. Today I met another person Amit Paranjpe who managed to convinced to blog within 5 minutes.

So with many thanks to Tarun and Amit, I begin my blog.

The topics I like to blog are related to Virtue/Truth/Honour, Success, Pleasure and Liberation (Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha respectively) - the four aims of life in the Hindu traditional thought. I guess pretty much most topics are covered.

The geographic layout of cities have changed. Your neighbours may have  very little  common with you except a wall !  I am hoping that this blog will help me to reach out to more people and develop these ideas.


About me

I am an alumnus of IIT Madras and IIM Ahmedabad. I have been a professional working in field of finance and investment for two decades.  I was born and brought up in Chennai and now reside in Pune.

I have various interests in topics such as Indian music, Ayurveda,  Astrology, Design, Business, Investing etc.