kinshuk sunilit aint no, dessert if therez no caek

on my flight back home:

And I’m coming home now
It’s been so long now
Gonna get there somehow
Praying you’ll be there

Many of my friends are leaving Delhi to move to their Jobs… so just taken example and done some inspirational creative writing :P (Don’t tell me how crappy it is, if you don’t have any good to say .. muhahahaha.. fear me, i am evil :P)

You only sit quietly,
you maintain the posture,
you are afraid,
any change will betray you,
betray what’s in your heart.
You look up,
you meet the gaze,
but it’s straight in the gut,
you look away.
You try to speak,
but you know she doesn’t want to hear it,
and there is a lump,
and the word’s wont come out.

And it’s so hard to find words to say
‘I will wait’
when you can’t say
‘Don’t Go’
(more…)

I am sharing with you an exchange of emails with someone from the Free Software Foundation, India, while working on the OSSCamp Delhi (September 2007). I am censoring it, snipping out few portions and identities from the email that would hint or disclose the other person’s identity for the sole reason that he never gave me his permission to post this exchange on my blog. Other than the identity-hinting portions, I have not snipped anything else. Let me know, what you think of the discussion.

***

Dear FSF India
My name is Kinshuk Sunil and I am a Student. Me and my friends are trying to organize an Open Source Event on the lines of the world famous Bar Camps (http://www.barcamp.org ). The name of the event is OSS Camp Delhi [Open Source Software Camp, Delhi]. It is scheduled for September 8th-9th 2007. More information about the event is available at [http://www.osscamp.in/OSSCampDelhi]

The event is free for all and all cost will be managed by the sponsors. I am not writing you this mail to request you to sponsor us. The target audience of the event are Open Source Practitioners and Open Source Enthusiasts, alike and we plan to arrange about 300-500 people. I am asking for your help to spread the word for the event so that people interested in Open Source may choose to be present at this event and contribute to its success.
Some of my friends have already organized one such camp OSSBarCampMumbai in Mumbai on 23rd March 2007 [http://www.barcamp.org/OssBarCampMumbai] and so we are confident of successfully organizing this event too.

I am requesting you to help us spread the word about the event so that people interested in Open Source technologies may attend it. This is a free-for-all event and our objective is not to make any money out of it. This is just facilitating the open source community in India by providing it a favorable platform.

And if you find it deserving, you might also help us by sponsoring it.

Thank you for your valuable time.
Kinshuk Sunil

I got the following reply:

(more…)

Hi!

After a lot of experimentation and tidying up, I have finally settled for this theme. It is ‘WP-Polaroid’ by Adii. I like the theme and the whole final graceful look of it. For the first time, I also like how the way my ads are placed (finally yes). I had to do away with a lot of plugins that had extra stuff which I am not using. The Kitty once said, my blog needs to go on diet; I guess this is some diet indeed.

On other fronts, I just finished my GBO course. So Work-life now beckons me. And more soon… A lot of pending projects will soon find life. Just keep watching. And in case you need to know when I update my blog subscribe to it: as email newsletter or as an RSS feed.

Luv

Kinshuk

PS: Amitabh Bachchan writes a good blog at bigAdda.

Johari window is a management concept which describes a person’s personality in terms of two variables: Attributes known to self and Attributes known to others. On the basis of these two, the personality of any individual is defined in terms of four specific windows:

1. Facade: Attributes known to self, not known to any one else
2. Arena: Attributes known to self, also known to others
3. Blind Spot: Attributes not known to self, but known to others
4. Unknown: Attributes known to no one.

It makes an excellent exercise to build one’s own Johari Window; it is also a useful tool for self-discovery and self-improvement. Read more about Johari Window.

During my graduation, we used to conduct a small exercise in class. On any given day, we would select a single student and for the next ten minutes the class would contemplate about him and then on a small chit of paper, write some positive and negative points about the individual. This is a primitive implementation of the Johari Window. Though an interesting exercise, it was not done on a regular basis and hardly beyond a frequency of about five times.

On a particular day, I was made subject to this exercise. Out of a class of 60, I got a total of 43 replies of which I have been able to preserve about 9 chits (it has been over 4 years since this exercise was conducted). It was quite true to what I was then, to an extent it is true for what I am today too. I share these 9 chits with you today (I have added my own remarks in parentheses with every chit):

1. The first chit lists my positive attributes as: “Very helpful during exams, down to earth, and helpful”; while my negative traits are: “shakl achchi nahi hai (does not have a pretty face), chashma bahut bada hai (wears glasses of a big frame), shave nahi karta (does not shave)”… Okay, a bad chit to start with…
2. The second chit does not see any negative in me, it says Kinshuk is “good in studies and hard working”.
3. The next chit also doesn’t see any negative traits in me, strangely it doesn’t see anything positive either. it simply states some of my behaviours. Kinshuk is, it says, a “man of principles and values, always talks of philosophy, and has a different perspective to life”. Hmm….
4. The next chit is a wise one. according to it, I am a “typical bihari, our own joker, and very intelligent”. That means either I have a good sense of humour, or an extremely pathetic sense of humour so as my follies make others laugh; silly me.
5. The next one stays true to the exercise, a bit. It says, my positive traits are: “punctual, intelligent, and helpful” and my negative traits are: “hairless (??), too outspoken, and always raising questions”. Now, outspoken-ness has always been a big problem of mine.
6. The next one again skips my negative traits (I love all my classmates). My positive traits, according to it are: “computer mechanic (must mean skilled in computers), always lives in technical world (trying to be geek), sentimental towards Bihar and —– (knowing my classmates, must be ‘girls’; how and why, escapes me), and motivator (a-ha!)”.
7. The seventh chit is critical of me and also tries to state facts about me. It says: Kinshuk is “argumentative, changes words very oftenly (I am quoting the exact wordings from the chits), is mad for something he himself doesn’t know, is very rational and logical, and wants to be a very true human being”.
8. The next one finds me praiseworthy: Kinshuk is “decent, helpful, soft spoken, good in studies, jolly, and small in size (err…)”.
9. The next one looks like a person who didn’t know me well, for they attempted to copy what the person writing the 8th chit had to say: Kinshuk is “decent, helpful, soft spoken, good in studies, and [some scribbling]“. Perhaps, they ran out of time.

I would recommend such activity to you but with some alterations. An effective Johari exercise should be conducted:

• In small groups. Don’t go for a huge sample of 60 students. Do it with a group of 4-7 friends. Repeat it with a number of such groups.
• Prefer people who know you well, but do not exclude people who have just got to know you. First impression, after all, is the last impression.
• Be honest and sincere. Take all criticism positively.
• Don’t try to suck up to people; Don’t try to impress them or be in their good books; Don’t try to be too harsh or over-critical. You are ruining the exercise.
• Document all results.

I found an online solution that simplifies this process to an extent. There is a web application developed by Kevan Davies (at Kevan.org) that provides you your own Johari Window. In fact, Kevan went a step further and created another application of Johari Window, which he calls Nohari Window. The first application is your Johari Window for your positive traits or Virtues. The Nohari Window is your Johari Window for Negative Traits.

You can find my Johari Window and Nohari Window at these individual locations.

Feel free to share your experiences with Johari Windows, suggested exercise, or anything else for that matter.