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Words. Wisdom. Winners.
Why is advice largely useless?
Answer by Ankur Warikoo:
I once read (and I concur)
Advice is what you seek when you know the answer but wish you didnt!There is a big difference between seeking advice and seeking a path. An advice is mostly sought when you are indecisive – when you have the options generated, but don't know what to pick. And you would think that someone who has taken that decision before will be the best person to see advice from.
Not true! Their experiences are not yours – their advice will be severely "polluted" by the outcome of their decision – which, worst still, could be driven by the advice of someone else they sought it from!
Advice isn't useless because it doesn't tell you what you could do – its useless because it doesn't tell you what you should do!
Follow your gut – if you question yourself truly – you will know the answer – and most likely in a way that is better than anyone else's advice!
Don't take my advice for this – build yours! :)
PS: As mentioned, option generation (which isnt truly advice) is mostly great! Because you didn't even know what you could do! But once you do – don't go to someone asking what you should do!
What is the best thing that happened to you in 2012?
Answer by Ankur Warikoo:
Towards the end of Feb, I began to experience pain while walking. The limp was evident, and the hip joint was the epicenter of the pain. I had started to take my exercise seriously about a week back, so maybe it was a muscle pull.
I ignored it.
A week later – I couldn’t walk! The pain was unbearable. I would lie down to sleep and the first hour would be terrible.
The x-ray suggested a slip disc. Minor though. So exercises were suggested. I adhered.
Nothing changed – the pain just became harder to deal with.
A 4th opinion led me to a hip MRI. And the diagnosis finally came – I had something called Avascular Necrosis (AVN). I was told to stop walking with immediate effect. The right hip bone was going dead and couldn’t take on the weight anymore.
AVN, in 80% of the cases happens because of excessive smoking, drinking or steroids. The rest is usually without identified causes – which is where I lay.
The cure – core decompression. A piece of the calf bone would be taken and crushed into powder. 2 holes will be drilled into the hip bone and the powder inserted. Over the course of 1.5 years, the hip bone would “regenerate”. It was a usual 1.5 hour surgery.
This meant that for 4-8 months I would need to walk on crutches.
Lets do it, I say!
All of this happened within 4 weeks of the first pain. I was operated upon on April 4th. I last walked on crutches Aug 31st and I ran for the first time Dec 17th.
This entire event was the best thing to have happened to me in 2012!
Because it taught me a lot about myself and the world
1. The world’s reaction to your pain is ONLY determined by your perception of that very pain and situation
http://www.ankurwarikoo.c
2. Working from home actually works
3. A 15-min break everyday at 11am, to play with your 1-yr old son is the best thing in the world!
4. There is this unexplained pride you derive, when you do things that people don’t expect you to. Especially around physical incapability.
5. Impossible is nothing!
What are some English phrases and terms commonly heard in India but rarely used elsewhere?
Answer by Ankur Warikoo:
I am an MBA (thats the forth state of matter, for Indians!)
I am caught up in a traffic jam! (oh thats terrible!)
Lets meet today evening (as you say, sir!)
Deude – how are you (I am good, dude, how are you!)
Has the electricity come? (It came, but the door was locked, so it went back!)
Lets sit in the drying room (Sure? Because I really wanted to check out your drawing room instead!)
Can you revert back on email? (Sure? Reverting back would mean the mail will come back to me!)
Have you come by walking? (Sorry, what!?)
Your good self? (Thats 3 words that dont make any sense together)
Myself, Ankur Warikoo (Good to meet yourself)
Is there any quota for SC/OBC candidates in ISB?
Answer by Ankur Warikoo:
Yes.
No one will ever admit it, but ISB has given preferential treatment to SCs (or Superawesome Candidates) and OBCs (Outstanding Business-school Candidates) throughout its existence. That's the only way it has become what it has become.
Are you a nerd?
Answer by Ankur Warikoo:
For 5 years I maintained a daily written log of how I spent my day, hour by hour. Thus calculating the efficiency ratio – percentage of my day spent on "efficient stuff". Aim was to increase that by 10% yoy
Until I met my girlfriend (and current wife) I used to wear cream pants with cream shirts!
I have written my masters thesis on excel! I make presentations on excel as much as I can!
I cried endlessly in high school when I realized that I had got the cube root of 5 wrong, spoiling a 3-mark question completely. I scored 97%!
I also cried when I couldn't (till the last hour) manage a pass to a Stephan Hawking talk in Delhi, when several other lesser mortals (people who wanted to hear a computer talk) had got one!
I have a masters in astrophysics.
I don't think I remain a nerd anymore! :(
What is your best photograph?
I am somehow proud of this answer the most!
Answer by Ankur Warikoo:
Photography, for me, is the perfect way to define life. No matter what the situation, what the lighting, who/what the subject and what the surroundings, there will always be a frame that will be perfect in the eyes of who shoots it!
And thus….
There are shots which are still – they don't move – they just wait to be captured
And then there are shots that invited you for that precise moment, not a second before, not a second later!
And then some that were a little generous and waited for you to capture their magnificence!
There are shots that laughed and cried with you…
And shots that let you draw your own emotions!
Shots that say nothing at all…
And the BEST shot – which says it all!
Tears in Heaven
Nani does yesterday. She was 93. And very pretty. I have fond memories from childhood with her – as the force that kept the entire family together. She suffered a lot in the past month and I am happy she went away peacefully in her sleep.
It was the first time I touched a dead body. It’s the strangest feeling ever. Half expecting “it” to wake up and start talking – you look at the same face that you have for so long. And wonder how it can be so lifeless. The cremation is the toughest part for me, always. The last time – THE LAST TIME – you will see that body ever again. A very hard moment to deal with.
Girl died this morning. Every morning since the day she was raped, I felt this anger reading the news. Wondering what can be done to not let this happen in the future. The answer is not obvious in my head.
I am sure they will meet each other, up there! I am sure they will like each others company.
Beyond the door there’s peace I’m sure
And I know there’ll be no more tears in heaven
Seeking sponsorships
Ever since our TV Campaigns went off, the deluge of sponsorship emails has been uncanny. However, what came in today, caught my attention. I rarely respond to such emails unless they catch my attention in the right manner. This one did too, though not for the right reasons
Original Email
|  7:53 PM (11 minutes ago) | | ||
| ||||
From: edited <edited@gmail.com>
Date: 23 December 2012 19:47
Subject: Fwd: sponsorship proposal
To: sponsorship@edited.com
- Writing an email, is an art. Never forward an email, unless absolutely necessary.
- Make the email personal, especially if you are writing in for the first time. A quick 5 minutes search would have told you who the head of marketing, or the head of the organization is. Address the email to them. Name them in your email. This goes a long way!
- All emails should be 100% accurate in grammar. Else they lose respect, even if they were truly genuine. You are from one of the best colleges at DU and I would expect the highest standards of written vocabulary from such a student
- Last, but not the least – realize that you are asking someone for their money. This money has most likely been earned through a lot of hard work. Establish why this money will be best utilized, when you ask for it. There are 100 other colleges and 100 other avenues, of spending this money. So why you. A document cannot answer that. You can!
What the surgery taught me
I ran yesterday – for the first time in 8 months. It hurt, quite a bit. The leg is clearly weak and reminds you that natural healing doesn’t happen overnight.
However, I didn’t tell anyone that it hurt. Because of which even I forgot about it after a couple of hours. And the day went just fine. As if I had never run!
And that’s been the biggest lesson for me – in the past 8 months. I don’t know if the surgery was a major one or not. I don’t know how many people go through this AVN jazz. In my head, it was something that had happened to me and I had to get it sorted. Just like any other challenge that comes your way.
I didn’t amplify it. I didn’t talk about it a lot. And suddenly, even if it was supposed to be a big deal, it wasn’t! People took it normally. Most forgot about it. Most didn’t even realize that something that happened.
It was as if I altered the truth, through my perception. I changed how the world (and I) would react to a situation – by changing it in my head. And it worked!
No one offers their sympathies. No one says, “sorry to hear about the surgery”. Which they would have perhaps, had I made it a big deal in my head. Had I perceived the situation to be worthy of sympathy in my head.
I have always been impressed by the power of the human mind. This entire experience just reaffirms that belief.
I ran today too. It didn’t hurt one bit!
The 30-Day Acknowledgement
If there is one thing that life after ISB has made me realize, it’s that work will never stop. I am a workaholic, I love my work and work always assumes priority over most other things.
The unfortunate victims of this realisation become friends and family.
Hence this 30-day acknowledgement.
Over the next 30 days, I will pick up one individual everyday and send them an acknowledgement email. The individual will Ofcourse be someone whom I should have stayed in regular touch with, perhaps am already, but I don’t really take out the time to express myself the way I should. And the acknowledgement will be for the good times we have spent together, the things I have learnt from the relationship and the things I miss.
I hope to get a part of myself back through this exercise. And say thanks to people who have had an influence on me.
Starting today….
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