Ikigai - The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life

Ikigai a Japanese concept to define a worthy life. It is explained by a simple venn diagram which involves 4 simple factors:

1) What you love

2) What you are good at

3) What the world needs 

4) What you can be paid for

If one can figure out this one thing that satisfies these 4 factors and continue to practice or do something that fits this "model", then life can be much more meaningful and stress free.

This book "Ikigai - The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life" by Hector Garcia and Francesc Miralles explores this concept in a very interesting and practical way to remind us what is imminent for us to lead a fulfilling life. The book starts off with a school of psychotherapy termed "Logotherapy" developed by a psychiatrist - Viktor Frankl. Logotherapy the way I interpret is all about finding a meaning for our life. Each individual has his/her own meaning for life and if only we can identify the meaning, life can be be a lot more well...simply meaningful.  Friedrich Nietzsche (who coined my favourite Serenity prayer) says "He who has a why to live for can bear with almost any how."

Many of us are in the "corporate" life style chasing targets / objectives that we most often don't have a clue about. A quote from this book, "Executives get lost in the details of obsessive planning , creating strategies to hide the fact that they don't have a clear objective. It's like heading out to the sea with a map but no destination. ". We most often have a very detailed map - to show where things are at or how to achieve / perform a specific task. What we often miss is the "why" or the "how". Only a Why or How will help one or an organization to reach a particular destination in the map.

An important concept of Ikigai is to be in the flow. There are a few books focusing a lot more on that topic, such as "Power of now" by Eckhart Tolle and Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience" by  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. While those books are different topics to be discussed in detail, it is a very liberating experience when you experience the "flow". It most often happens for me when I am behind a camera. To quote Albert Einstein, "A happy man is too satisfied with the present to dwell on future." It is no secret why I am happy behind a camera in spite of all the tricky situations it puts me under.

Talking about happiness, yet another quote from this book from Washington Burnap - "The grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love, and something to hope for." This fundamentally summarizes Ikigai.

Personally, I am glad to have identified photography as my "Ikigai". Whenever I am behind the camera, I find myself in the "flow" with a sincere attempt to capture beautiful moments and memories as they happen. 

What is your Ikigai?

C

Visit to Jenolan Caves

So we had an almost impromptu trip to the Jenolan Caves today. The last few days there were some reports of snow fall in Blue Mountains which is not a usual occasion. While we were contemplating on the idea for the last few days, didn't really plan it - so to speak. This morning we woke up (quite late actually) and decided to leave for the mountains in search of SNOW. The first stop was at Katoomba about an hour's drive from our place - which is the commercial head of the Blue Mountain range. Roamed around the town for a little while to find that patch of snow that we could play with.

Apparently yesterday would've been a great day for snow play since there was not much available in Katoomba today. Hence we decided to go further up the hill in search of the white powder. There were some patches along the way where some families were playing around. I kept going further convincing kids that the snow would be better as we go higher and higher. Lo and behold - the route started going downhill into the valley of Lithgow. I had to face a battery of insults for why I did not stop much earlier where there was at least some snow available.

That's when I made a call to move towards Jenolan caves. Until that point there was no plan to go so far. Fortunately for me we were able to stop in a spot where we could make a few snow balls and throw at each other. In the last 5+ years I've been in Sydney never had a chance to visit the Jenolan caves. For some reason I was not heavily thrilled to look for stalactites and stalagmites

as I have seen a few in USA, plus kids were a bit young then. Thought this would be a great time even though I wasn't sure how Nandha would take it. It turned out to be a pretty cool experience.

We reached there around 3.30 PM, had "lunch" which consisted of a few slices of banana bread and muffins. Thanks to the surprise weather, the cafe there was understaffed and didn't have much of anything to eat. After re-energizing ourselves set out to go on the cave tour. Apparently there are different grades available depending on how fit you are physically. We took the only tour available at that time called the Chifley Cave tour which takes about an hour to complete. Our tour guide has been working there since the last 18 years and was also involved in building some part of the cave as well. Obviously she was quite knowledgeable and explained how these mountains should've been under the sea at some point in time and other stories. A lot of the cave formations were named after the explorers wives. ;-)

The caves are still "alive" as the water keeps dripping through the rocks and we could see fresh calcite formations developing. The formations were very strategically lit up to provide a surreal effect. Was pleasantly surprised that kids made through the trek without having to lift them during any part of the trip. 

So long folks. Until next time...

C

For more photos feel free to visit - Jenolan Caves 2015

The Art of Buying & Selling A Car (In Australia) - Part II

Now that I bought a car, I had to sell my good old Camry, a 2008 model which had just exceeded the 100k mark. That truly was a dramatic experience. I came across a variety of people or should I say amusing "characters". Each to their own agenda I guess. I myself had to transform what can you my stand a few times as the conditions changed from aggressive "take it or leave it" to "what can you really offer". Eventually made the "deal" yesterday without compromising too much on the car's value. Camry being my first car in Australia I had not known or should I say I did not bother to do certain things that will impact the value of the car when it comes to selling it off. 

One huge lesson for me is to maintain "log books" aka service history. I didn't find this as so critical in the US market, but here that seems to be the bible. If the service history is not maintained that brings down the value of the car - regardless of the current running condition. While I did get the car serviced regularly I was not perfect in keeping records. A good time to sell is when you still have a few months left in your car registration and preferably before you have to pay your next insurance payment.

As in most markets, the 2 ways of selling a car was to sell it to a private party or to a dealer. In Sydney I found a 3rd category of car "buyers" who apparently give a "fair" value for your car. I read somewhere on the web that when I was buying a new car not to discuss a trade-in as that will dilute the negotiation / bargaining possibilities on the purchase. Hence I kept that out of the equation during the buying process. The so called commercial buyers tend to bring the value down by almost 60% of what you could get from a private deal. I found it easier to be in a position not to be under pressure of time to sell the car off. Less pressure - more power I guess (and vice versa).

Now that I concluded on selling it off privately, I had to advertise the car's availability. I first started with my immediate group of friends using social media - Facebook and Whatsapp. I posted an ad via my friendly cab driver who shared the photos over their network.  There was some traction through these channels but not much. Then there are paid and free public channels. I didn't go for the paid channels - maybe I would have if I was not lucky by now. I chose the Gumtree site which did attract attention and sometimes in ways more than what I would have wanted. 

Initially I tried posting an "asking price" which was really what I was expecting (maybe slightly more), but human psychology meant that one should always start with a few thousands less. Eventually I started advertising with a much jacked up price (withing reasonable limits of course) and then went low once they started negotiating. My car was not in the best possible shape especially with respect to external features. There were some scratches around and the seat upholstery was a bit soiled (family car eh!!) etc. While I couldn't do much about the paint work, I did get the interiors cleaned to make it more presentable.

One key lesson to remember was to ensure the seriousness of a buyer regardless of who it is. There was this prospect who was a friend of my friend. He was quite keen on buying it, price point agreed upon etc. etc. All I had to do was  send my bank details for him to transfer. Being an acquaintance I did not bother to get any token advance which would sort of "seal the deal". Because this guy "agreed" to buy it I took the car off the market and told other people who were interested that the car was sold. After a few hours the guy got cold feet and wanted an "assessment" made for the car. Long story short...he ended up not wanting to buy.

There were a few interesting conversations where one wanted to know which part of India I was from maybe so he can change his bargaining position accordingly. I made some mistakes too being overly aggressive initially. I had to bring myself down to reality and have realistic expectations of what I could get.

One of the best experiences was from a scammer. It first started with an SMS with the address as "Gumtree" which made it look so legitimate. Then on the conversations happened over email. Someone was trying to buy a car from New Zealand for his son in Australia. The conversations went back and forth and eventually became too good to be true. Thankfully I did a little bit of research and found that to be a scam. Apparently such scams are common when one posts an advertisement in those websites like Gumtree (equivalent of Craigslist).

Facebook has some interesting characters as well. I did get a few interested parties. The best was when someone "Liked" my Ad and asked me what Camry meant when I reached out to him post his "Like".

Eventually one Punjabi guy contacted me after viewing the Ad on Gumtree. 2 guys came over, had a quick look, a short test drive and we agreed upon the amount. This time I took a token of  $50 to seal the deal. Thankfully they turned up next day as promised with cash and took the car. Long Live Gumtree!!

So long folks. Until next time.

C

The Art of Buying & Selling A Car (In Australia) - Part 1

So I bought a car and sold one in the last few weeks. 

It would be an understatement if I call it a daunting exercise. Would I go through this all over again? Probably not. There's a bit of learning which I don't hope to forget. If anything I will come back to this post for a refresher - just in case. Looks like I will have to write this in parts as there's plenty to talk about.

The Art of Buying

It all begins with being clear of what you are after and what you can afford. Easier said than done of course. Thankfully the variables were not many for me. I was clearly after a comfortable 7 seater, preferably a SUV where the 3rd row was not comfortable enough for adults to travel. The budget of course was determined by the banks and you know how much you want to spend in a month. Thanks to all those automobile experts on websites such as www.caradvice.com.au , www.drive.com.au it made it easier to arrive at your choice of brand, make and model. I had almost finalized on Kluger but still wanted to try out a few other models. The first few visits to the car dealer were interesting experiences as well. It was as if I was prey with a label "Eat me - am all yours" when you walk in to a dealer "unprepared". 

The Finances

The first thing to be "prepared" is to get your finances in order. Unless of course you had enough cash reserves you are going to need a financial institution to help. In Australia there are a few options:

a) Direct Auto Loan from a bank

b) Auto Loan from a bank via a broker

c) Auto Loan from the dealer

d) Novated Leases

I very much remember the very first car I bought here and none of the above would suit me due to the visa situation I was in. Now that I am a citizen all options were open and was up to me to decide which one was suitable. Each entity tries to sell the benefits and try to down play the others. At some point I was almost convinced that Novated Leasing was the option for me to gain some pre-tax spending. However that is something like mutual funds - there's a lot of "unknown" costs you will end up with. The best thing that happened to me was me to find a broker who got a pretty good rate compared to the market and banks directly. The brokers do charge a "service fee", but in the long run it evens out with the reduced interest rate that they can get . Sometimes the auto dealer may get a good interest rate depending on the model you were buying. Once you have finalized the model of the car, get your financing option sorted out or decided and THEN go to the car dealer. It was a whole new experience when you walk in to a dealership when you know which model you are after and you have a pre-approved finance in your pocket. You pull the strings....boy that makes a huge difference in your negotiation potential. 

The Buying Process

Once I decided on the brand, make and model, I visited a few Toyota showrooms around where I live usually without any pre fixed appointment. The treatment when I went was typically cold. Unless they know that you have the money in your pocket (or your finances arranged) they wont even come to the table for any negotiation. After a few such visits, did some research online and found a dealer who seemed to be giving a slightly less than market price. Went to a dealer early in the morning (on a rainy day - as someone on the net had suggested) with a pre-fixed appointment. The dealer sales guy has this routine that he has to follow. It almost felt like playing a "Deal or No Deal" game when every time you turn down his offer he goes back to his manager to negotiate further. I had set myself a target of close to 10% discount to the published on road price and tried hard to get close to that. Depending on the model they may be more willing to bring down the price, but for hot selling cars like Kluger the bargaining capacity is rather restricted. Had to use some phrases like "you meet this number and I will put the down deposit right away...". This tells them that you are serious in buying the car and not just wasting their time. Eventually brought down the cost close to my expectation. 

The Closure

HOWEVER, it doesn't end there. We shake hands....agree upon the cost including a few extra accessories etc... and then comes the sucker deal. We get to meet a "Delivery Coordinator" a smartly presented lady has got nothing to do with delivering the car. She convinced us on some "extra protection" for the leather seating and paints. I wish I could've done a little more research on that before I left or asked for more time to decide. They literally tend to ride on the emotional high you are on when you are about to purchase a brand new car which does blind you a bit on some rational decision making. The result being we ended up increasing the spend by 2K. On hindsight when I researched later on about the "protection" options we purchased we got to know that such things could be done at 50% of the cost outside of the dealer. Oh well...yet another lesson. Eventually we came away signing a deal. All Happy!!

So long for just some experiences on buying a car. More to come on the selling experience. A few interesting anecdotes to share for sure.

Until then...

C

Kia Ora Auckland

Kia Ora - Meaning Hi / G'day in Maori the native language of New Zealand (Aotearoa) is the first word you you would come across as you disembark from the flight. New Zealand - one of those countries that has been on my "To Visit" lists got ticked off last week. It was a short 2 day business trip to Auckland. Not much of a chance to look around but still had a good opportunity to soak in the sights of this island nation "across the ditch" as  they call it.

Took a Virgin Australia flight to Auckland from Sydney and was exposed to a different area of Sydney International airport. I understand most of the flights to New Zealand take off via those gates. It looked like a domestic Low Cost Carrier terminal and had to board a bus to get to the aircraft. Thanks to this trip - now I know to check my itinerary if a meal is included in the ticket or not. I just assumed that breakfast would be served being an international (non low-cost) flight. Apparently not. It was served to a select few who had it in their booking. Thankfully it was only a 3 hour journey and I slept through 90% of the time.

Auckland given its proximity to Australia has its similarities to Sydney or should I say Melbourne given the colder weather. However it does have some unique features. For some reason it felt more greener than Sydney. The first striking difference was the existence of pine trees which either does not exist or I haven't seen any in Sydney / Melbourne. New Zealand seemed to have embraced US culture a bit more than their Aussie cousins. I could see a lot of US food chains like Carl's Jr, Dennys, Burger King (not as Hungry Jacks). Tempted to visit Dennys - maybe next time. Stayed in a Park Regis hotel right in the middle of CBD (Central Business District / Downtown). Even though being one of the largest cities in New Zealand the crowd seemed quite minimal even during peak hours. The hotel was very so - so. Wonder how hotels these days can survive without providing WiFi in the room. It was such a pain to place myself in the lobby whenever I had to check anything on my phone.

The planned meetings went on well even though we had to move it ahead by 2 hours and one of my colleagues couldn't make it as a result. Post the meeting we (my boss and I) settled ourselves in one of the "virtual offices" nearby. This is one of the luxuries we enjoy to park ourselves in a business lounge globally rather than limiting ourselves to coffee shops. We spent the rest of the afternoon catching up on work and closed business at around 6 PM.

Ferry Terminal

We decided to go on a ferry ride to be able have a view of the Auckland skyline.

Harbour Bridge with Skyline

We were suggested to get on to a commuter ferry to a nearby island which will take about 20 minutes round trip. We waited at the pier and got on to a ferry without realizing where it was heading towards. Later on we came to know we got into a wrong ferry. It took about an hour for us to get back to our origin.

Harbour Bridge

We somehow negotiated our way to get out and come back in without having to purchase tickets again. Had our dinner at Nandos and went back to wait at the right ferry terminal this time. Got on to the ferry ride with a total of 4 passengers including ourselves. This ferry went through what they call as their Harbour Bridge and back within 20 minutes. Eventually managed to click a few photos along the way of the skyline.


Thus ended my 1st Kiwi adventure. Hope to have many more opportunities to visit in the near future.

Until then.. E noho ra (Good Bye)

C

Easter 2015 - Hunter Valley

So here comes the first story for this year. Since the time we've come to Sydney something worth mentioning happens around Easter. Last year it was the Gold Coast and this year it was Hunter Valley. 

We have been pondering over days and weeks how we wanted to celebrate the Easter long weekend and the decision was made a day before we left on our trip. Of course the next challenge was to find a location within reasonable weather, driving limits and accommodation available. We narrowed down on Hunter Valley - being a 2.5 hour drive from home. After a bit of research we figured out a hotel - more of a glorified motel at a town called Muswellbrook that was affordable and also available for the weekend. What we did not realize was it was actually about an hour's drive longer than where we had expected it to be. 

We left on Saturday evening at around 6.15 after Nandhitha's tuition class got over. We picked her up from her classes and hit the highway straight away. It was raining cats and dogs through most part of the journey and it was not a drive to cherish. For a change we had to rely on 3 GPS systems - one from my good old GPS system - whose maps I had not updated since the time I bought it (about 5 years ago), my mobile using Google Maps and finally of course my own vague memory. The reason I had to move to Google Maps was after a while our traditional GPS started showing that we were driving in the water or forest every once in a while. Not sure if the weather had any impact - but definitely we couldn't rely on it. Google Maps came in handy - but that couldn't be relied upon totally as well as the signal and data connections kept dropping out in some areas. Eventually relied upon my memories of a few towns I have passed through the previous trips and decided to take that exit from the highway. It turned out to be a good choice because we could find something for dinner before it became too late.

We reached the hotel at around 10 PM. Being the Easter long weekend the hotel support was minimal. The front office was not manned (or womanned) and there was a sign to go to an after hours entry. Apparently an SMS was sent to me with instructions on what to do. I did not notice that until I was walking up and down and another desi family saw me and suggested that I check for messages. Thankfully I had the SMS - it had the instructions to pick up the keys from a safe. The hotel was fairly newly built - hence quite clean and well maintained. The kids were very thrilled at the hotel stay. This would probably be Nandha's first hotel room that he explored

once he started talking. He was exploring and showing off every switch and fitting in the room. Thanks to the long drive they all slept for a while during the journey and it took a while to put them to sleep.

Easter Sunday - we had pretty much only ONE thing on the agenda - to take part in the Easter Egg Hunt at the Hunter Valley Gardens. We had done that a few years ago at the same location but not a very enjoyable experience then for multiple reasons. This time we had the entire day to spare without any distractions or hurry. The Hunter Valley Garden is almost like a collection of themed gardens like Italian Grotto, Oriental Garden, Indian Garden etc.

Prize for Egg Hunt

Egg hunting

To keep the visitors (read kids) engaged and also to encourage us to explore the entire garden they had given us a "treasure hunt". Where we had to find answers to certain clues in each section of the garden. For e.g., (What distinct smell can you find at the Indian Garden - the answer was curry leaves). We explored about 70 - 80% of the garden and decided to go on the egg hunt which was at a story book themed garden called - well...Story Book Garden. Plastic eggs were thrown around the area and kids had to collect as much as they can and each of them were given a "prize" at the end. I still remember the first Easter egg hunt in Sydney about 7 years ago when Nandhitha was just over a year old. After the egg hunt, finished lunch in the garden and completed visiting the rest of the garden. Nandhitha had her face painted and Nandha was chasing a few girls while waiting for his sister.

Headed back to the hotel at around 5 PM. Thankfully the rain gods waited until we got back into the car. Being the Easter weekend not many eateries were open in Musellbrook. We ended up ordering Domino's Pizza for dinner. The next day left the hotel at around 10 AM and went to a nearby cheese factory for breakfast. Sampled a few cheese varieties and got home a couple. One interesting variety was a beer flavoured cheddar - and I could actually make out the beery flavour as an after taste. Headed back home after breakfast. The journey back home was almost uneventful except for a traffic jam on the highway which would have slowed us down by about 30 minutes at most. Reached back in time for a good lunch at Anjappar and also finish up some shopping.

Thus ended the Easter holidays for me. Thought I will put this down before the deluge begins tomorrow. So long folks!!  

C

2014 - A Year that Zoomed

Oh what a Year!! While FaceBook and Times helped some of my friends to summarize their year - thought now would be a good time to look back and retrospect. 2014 - it's been a year of progress all around. It is also time to Thank everybody who contributed to it in many many ways. Gracias!! 

The biggest milestone this year has been moving into our home in Sydney. Yes, for those whom I haven't shared this earlier - we have moved into a townhouse in a suburb called South Wentworthville. After moving from Salem and having lived in rental properties (for more than 18 years!!)  this is truly a different experience. It gives a whole new perspective in the place where I live. It truly could not have happened without timely help from family and friends. Can't thank them enough!! I will have to write a separate post on all the drama and experience of buying a house. Am glad it's over - at least for a good while.

Nandha's development has come about as a huge relief. Here again a lot of support and help from multiple sources. A lot of credit goes to Uma of course for pulling it through and taking him to all the necessary support activities.

I had promised Nandhitha to send her to India on vacation this year and am glad we could keep up the word - in spite of few uncertainties. An added bonus was for me to take a short break in India as well. A wonderful, short, hectic trip. 

My frequent visits to Singapore this year must be noted as well. Great bonding time with family and of course many many treats to my taste buds. My camera had a fantastic time as well and has resulted in some decent photos.

A few things didn't go well this year, which I hope to work on next year. That has been Tennis and Blogging. Have been very bad - thanks to multiple factors but mostly work and travel.

On the work front it has been a fantastic year. It had a good start in March with me getting an award for Sales Excellence for the previous year. Something I definitely did not expect being a newbie in the field. There were a few setbacks but still managed to add a few more accounts under my hat. It has been a roller coaster with ups and downs every now and then. I guess it kept me on my toes and a great learning experience - though stressful at times. As many people tease me - Manila has now become my 2nd home with so many trips this year. Work related travel also gave me opportunities to enjoy a grand slam experience and other interesting places in Manila and Singapore. 

2015 is already looking to be quite exciting. Expecting to have many new experiences at home and work.

Until then...

Wishing you A Fantastic New Year 2015!!

C