Bringing in 2014 with meditation and yoga

Continuing my personal pursuit to live more mindfully and incorporate meditation into my regular routine, I have decided to bring in 2014 in a more serene manner than usual. Instead of a regular New Year's bash in Manhattan, I will be spending the week in upstate New York at the beautiful Menla Center for this New Year's Yoga & Meditation retreat. Excited to be in the company of some of the top spiritual teachers in the world: Sharon Salzberg and Bob Thurman. We will not have Internet or mobile phone reception at this secluded Menla Center. Looking forward to disconnecting with the outside world and connecting with my inner world.

Happy 2014! 

RIP Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela, South Africa's leader who emerged after being in prison for 27 years to lead his country out of decades of apartheid, died yesterday. He was 95.

It's a great loss to humanity. He was one of my heroes. One of his biggest contributions to the world was his message of reconciliation, instead of vengeance. He was wrongfully imprisoned for 27 years by South Africa's minority white government. However, when he was freed and then got elected to lead the country, he urged forgiveness for the white government that oppressed blacks and caused them unimaginable suffering for decades. 

Here is the poem, Invictus, by William Ernest Henley. Mandela used this poem to derive strength and maintain hope during his long years of imprisonment on the Robben Island.

Out of the night that covers me,

Black as the Pit from pole to pole,

I thank whatever gods may be

For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance

I have not winced nor cried aloud

Under the bludgeonings of chance

My head is bloody, but unbowed. 

Beyond this place of wrath and tears

Looms but the Horror of the shade,

And yet the menace of the years

Finds, and shall find, me unafraid. 

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll.

I am the master of my fate:

I am the captain of my soul. 

Attending the Global Innovation Roundtable in New Delhi

I'm honored to be invited as an industry expert to attend the Global Innovation Roundtable in New Delhi, India on November 18-19, 2013. The Roundtable is organized by the National Innovation Council, Government of India. The Council is headed by Sam Pitroda, an internationally respected development thinker, policy maker, telecom inventor and entrepreneur.

The purpose of the Global Innovation Roundtable is to create a global platform for sharing experiences, best practices and enabling collaboration around the theme of inclusive innovation for addressing the challenges of access, equity, excellence and inclusion.

The invitation-only event includes heads of innovation policy from governments across the world and leading global innovation experts.

Internet Trends 2013 - Mary Meeker

A must read for everyone in the digital industry, and anyone interested in how the Internet is transforming our lives.

KPCB Internet Trends 2013 from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers

We are only 10 percent human

Over the past year, I've been doing a lot of reading to learn about the role of bacteria and microbes in our body. The more I read about them, more intrigued I become.  The recent article in The New York Times by Michael Pollan, America's "liberal foodie intellectual," literally blew my mind away.

Here is a para from the article titled "Some of My Best Friends are Germs:"

"It turns out that we are only 10 percent human: for every human cell that is intrinsic to our body, there are about 10 resident microbes — including commensals (generally harmless freeloaders) and mutualists (favor traders) and, in only a tiny number of cases, pathogens. To the extent that we are bearers of genetic information, more than 99 percent of it is microbial. And it appears increasingly likely that this “second genome,” as it is sometimes called, exerts an influence on our health as great and possibly even greater than the genes we inherit from our parents. But while your inherited genes are more or less fixed, it may be possible to reshape, even cultivate, your second genome."

I encourage you to read the full article. It is a bit long, but extremely informative.