Why we need friends

Why do we need friends? Why indeed. So much has changed in me that it might be surprising to a few that I am even asking this question. See, I used to live for friends. If God were to ever need a person to represent His creation, "the social animal", I would be as good a choice as any.

But so much has changed in the last 5 years. After marriage, and after my son was born I just can't seem to find the time for anything. I see people after months, the same people I met almost daily. No, I'm not saying that my family such that they like to keep me at home all the time. Not at all. However there is just so much stuff going on that either I just don't have the time or I am all spent.

Amongst all this I have lost almost all my friends. To be true, all of them are in this state too. I think of this song by The Who:

No time left for you
On my way to better things
No time left for you
I found myself some wings
No time left for you
Distant roads are calling me
No time left for you

This post is a banner that I'm putting up to remind me that I still need my friends. Sometimes our mind is a blender in puree mode. Everything inside is just like a formless paste. And there is just one release: talking. Yes, one could talk to oneself, or to the ether that the internet is. But why not ring up a friend, pick up a cup coffee and let it all flush itself out. Just remember to be there when your friend needs to do the same.

MBA or not

For some time I have been thinking of where my career should be headed next. I have a B.Tech. in electronics engineering and since 1997 I have been working in the software industry. But I find writing code incredibly boring these days. In fact I don't get much zing from design either. The only thing that does interest me is debugging. But I feel I'm stifling myself in my office. I'm at my best when I am talking to people, out on the turf. I talk to people, get to know them and am able to talk freely in front of a crowd.

A friend recently suggest that I think about a career in sales. Around the same time, actually a bit before, I decided to get an MBA. My argument for an MBA really is that I feel that I am a natural leader, but lack management skills. The MBA will give me the skills and exposure I need to take on business management challenges. I got a lot of clarity in this regard from Prof. John Kotter's book, A Force For Change. I believed that leadership is nothing but management taken to the next level. But that is not the case. Leadership is primarily concerned with getting people to believe. The idea could be a plan, a vision or anything else. Whatever it is, the leader, with his experience and credibility is able to convince the audience of the correctness and feasibility of the vision. A manager on the other hand makes sure that the plans are executed correctly and on time. This involves financial and business analysis. This is the skill set that I want from the MBA.

I started preparing for the GMAT from mid June. I wrote the exam in the first week of August. I got a score of 770 with a score of 45 in verbal, which I am very pleased with. As an applicant in the male/indian/sw engineer applicant pool, I really need all the differentiation I can muster. This score will surely help. Right now I am working on the essays.

A tale of 2 books..

Last night I finished "The curious incident of the dog in the night time", penned by Mark Haddon. It is very nicely written book, a simple story narrated with such ease that it flows smoothly. Over the years I have come to appreciate simplicity. A long time ago I read a number of books by Gabrial Garcia Marquez, and though I read them all from cover to cover, sometimes all I had were words. I could not picture the images painted by those words. And I thought that perhaps I wasn't ready yet for such sophisticated reading. Perhaps that is still true.

This book wasn't like that at all. I could picture Christopher, alone in his world, wanting to be left alone with his math books and simple reasoning. All around him are grown ups, supposedly mature, yet unable to find content and happiness. It is, to me, a tale of this irony. The more sophisticated we get, the more unhappy and alone we are. So I yearn to be simple.

Along with this book, I was also reading "The echo maker" by Richard Powers and this book, like the books by Garcia Marquez, got unbearable towards the end. I do understand the theme of this book, cognitive disorders, is complex per se. But the writing is just exhausting, sullen and sometimes, just plain boring. Fortunately for me a lot of people on Amazon.com seem to agree with me.

If you chance upon this posting, please do suggest some good books. So far all I have is Amazon's listmania!!