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What is "Commitment"? Of all the various definitions you can find the one that I am talking about is "The state of being bound emotionally or intellectually to a course of action or to another person or persons". Let’s say for instance, you can be committed to a relationship (person), you can be committed to your health – going to the gym everyday (person and action), or you can be committed towards your house – paying off the loans (object). In its most basic form, you can describe commitment as ‘resolving to do or follow certain thing, no matter what’. But is it a burden? If so, why and how?

Commitment is Paradoxical in its nature. It can either grant you freedom or it can take away your freedom. In most instances it actually takes away your freedom and choices. Now this can be interpreted differently by different people. What is bondage to one, can be liberation to another. Let me give some examples to explain better. You buy a house. And you take a 15-year mortgage. Some may say that getting tied to your income so that installments can be paid every month is a burden. Some others may say that there is freedom to decide what you want and how you want in the house. So there is both restriction and flexibility. You get married. Your freedom to date is gone. But the love and affection you get at home is a luxury. You decide to exercise everyday in the morning. You will be free from aches and pains for a long time but you will lose out on precious moments, time, and money. I hope you understand the different facets of commitment that I am trying to portray here.

So, why is it a burden? Commitment in any form ties you down to certain things. There is a portion of your brain (mind) that gets stuck with the notion and loses any freedom, flexibility and creativity. To put it in better words, life becomes routine, monotonous, and a checklist. Really? Look at the world and the number of different experiences it has to offer. From traveling around the world, to trying different foods, to working in different professions, to living in different places, to undertaking several ventures, so on and so on. If you are committed to be a vegetarian, there is no way you can experience the great sensation of eating the different cuisines they show on the food network (case in point, yours truly). If you are bound by your mortgage forget about spending some relaxing time and enjoyable break working as a Barista. If you have children, forget about traveling to certain destinations as and when you want. Sure you get a house, a well paid job, and cute children, but hey! How long do these things last? A house can become too big or too small or even boring after a while. The well paid job is going to suck the energy out of you and will keep you tied up until you retire. And children, well the jury is open on this one also (just like in the other arguments). If you are unhappy about something today look back and see what decisions you took in the past. You will often see that you committed to something, consciously or unconsciously, that you should not have to.

Don’t get me wrong. I am not saying that commitment is for losers or that commitment should not be made. It is commitment that gives us purpose, a direction, and a chance to make this life more meaningful. Aah, the paradoxical nature of commitment. The answer lies in the very nature of commitment we make. Commitment to all that is mentioned above is fine when made at the right time and in the right spirit. Explaining this aspect provides a challenge. Every human being is a collection of his/her own experiences. What seems evident to one may not be as clear to another. Hence, any argument made towards the aforementioned statements stands to meet a lot of resistance. I will try and then provide my advice to resistors. You are a young man and ready to move into the real world. Explore your mindset. Understand clearly what is it that you want to do. Be honest, be brutally honest. Say you decide to travel the world, work in different countries, learn various languages, and experience different cultures. Please don’t take up a job with a company that does not involve any travel, gives you 2 weeks of vacation, and has a 60 hour work week. Please don’t get married (at least for now).Think! Think! Think! Continue as long as you can go on without feeling any guilt or whatever feeling that shrinks your consciousness. You want to buy a house. Do you have enough savings that can be used to pay off the mortgage when you want to. What if you lose your job? What if you have a divorce? Please don’t buy a house and let the house be your owner.

I would ask my resistors to go over my arguments a few time and then take some time to observe their own life and evaluating their decisions. It is very easy to fall into the trap of "Confirmation Bias". Observe such tendencies. In order to avoid that, challenge yourself. Challenge yourself to listen and read various points of views. Avoid getting frustrated. This line of thinking may not make you feel good but at the same time realize that you now have the knowledge to take further actions judiciously. Read good books such as – Value-Focused Thinking: A Path to Creative Decisionmaking and Thinkertoys: A Handbook of Creative-Thinking Techniques. If you are open to reading scriptures, get a copy of ‘Vasistha’s Yoga’.

I can go on and on about this topic and give numerous examples in order to explain myself further. But unfortunately it is a blog post and I have already exceeded the ideal size limit. So will rest the matter for now.

Many a times I have visited some personal blogs after a long time and observed that the blogger himself had taken some hiatus from writing. He/She then had a customary ‘Yes, I was busy’, ‘I am sorry for being away for so long’, and other such post that announces his/her arrival back on the scene. Yes, this is my ‘getting back’ from a busy busy time back to writing this blog.

But apart from returning, I feel I need to say that the essence of this blog will also change. Earlier, this blog had NO essence whatsoever. I wrote about anything and everything that I found interesting or sharing. But going ahead I will be start focusing on certain things that will provide this blog a certain direction, in the hopes that it will attract certain types of visitors. I may not blog about almost everything – from finance to marketing to operations to god knows what. Now that I have graduated from b-school, I will deal with topics that I am currently involved in. It would center mostly around ‘Analytics’ and related fields.

Hope any returning readers or even new readers will behind the information helpful and join me in exploring this exciting area.

On December 9, 2009 (i.e. today) Indian government agreed to create a new state. It will be called Telangana and will be carved out of the current state of Andhra Pradesh (see right image – Telangana is marked in white). The division had been called on by Telangana supporter for a very long time and most recently activities had become quite volatile. In fact, the leader of the movement has been on an indefinite hunger strike for the past 10 days. Finally the government had to give in and accept the demand.

But what is the reason for this uproar? Why do some people want a separate state and not be a part of the larger whole? Haven’t we read than co-operation is better for all players involved? The answer lies in the fairness principle.

Long before, Telangana used to be a separate state. In 1953 the government of India merged the then Andhra state and Telangana state into one big entity called Andhra Pradesh. The reason it was done was because then Prime Minister Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru wanted to create states based on linguistic lines. Both Andhra and Telangana had predominantly Telugu speaking population. He had also appointed a committee to oversee the matter. Even then Telangana did not want to be a part of Andhra. The issue was resources and revenue sharing. From Wikipedia:

The region had a less developed economy than Andhra, but with a larger revenue base (mostly because it taxed rather than prohibited alcoholic beverages), which Telanganas feared might be diverted for use in Andhra. They also feared that planned dam projects on the Krishna and Godavari rivers would not benefit Telangana proportionately even though Telanganas controlled the headwaters of the rivers. Telanganas feared too that the people of Andhra would have the advantage in jobs, particularly in government and education.

The committee hence, rightfully so, suggested not to merge the two states. The central government decided not to follow the suggestion and combined the states. They additionally negotiated an agreement that provided reassurances to the Telangana people as well to Andhra people in terms of power sharing as well as administrative domicile rules and distribution of expenses of various regions. This agreement is known as Gentlemen’s agreement of Andhra Pradesh (1956).

Well, it seems that the “Gentlemen’s agreement” did not live up to its nature and hence all problems began again. This time though, after careful deliberation and discussions, the government of India has decided to split the states back to their original forms.