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Subscribe“Your website looks great, do you use Dream weaver?”
I get that question sometimes and it always used to bother me. But I don’t get annoyed anymore. Instead, I quote the following story:
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A photographer was invited to a dinner and he took along some photographs to show the hostess. She looked at the photos and commented, “These are very good! You must have a good camera!“
He didn’t make any comment at that time, but as he was leaving to go home he said, “That was a really delicious meal. You must have some very good pots!“
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Lance Armstrong, in his book It’s Not About the Bike, wrote a whole page describing some neat features of his cutting-edge bike. That description alone would make a bike enthusiast like me quiver. But he concluded it saying (paraphrased) - “But at the end, it’s not about the bike!“
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I worked for 3 years as a project planner. People’s standard question was: “Do you need to know Primavera and Microsoft Projects to become a planner?” (those are the two leading project management software.) I wish I could say “Yes”. A planner, like Isaac Asimov’s Hari Seldon, accumulates current data, examines macro/micro factors and uses historical behavior to predict the future. I wish it was as simple as clicking some “Tools > Plan Now!” button.
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I thought of the following people while I was composing this post. They (I think) get lots of comments about their ‘art’. Care to tell me:
° Nita, Prax, Bob - If online research is one mouse click away, why don’t we find blogs that are comprehensively researched as yours? Do you think that research is an art and online resources are mere tools? Taking it one step further, how much do you think have certain tools helped you become a journalist, stock market specialist and an astrophysicist respectively?
° Rambodoc - How much of today’s medical marvel is attributed to the surgeon’s instruments? (I desisted from using the word ‘tool’ - some readily available fodder for your twists that would occur anyway 
)
° Shantanu - About software tools and Dilbert’s talent! You are also welcome to add a story about chefs and foods!
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For a long time, I thought that I needed a brand new Sitar from Kolkata and only then I could play some awesome music. Fortunately, few months back I met some guru who plays the Sarod. He picked up my Sitar and played something beautiful casually.
“Wow! I didn’t know you played the Sitar too!” I said.
“No, ofcourse I don’t…. But I know the basics of music! 
“
I regret not meeting him before. But hey, its never too late
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To end this non-travel post, I leave you with a quote from J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
If you are a wizard you will be able to channel your magic through almost any instrument. The best results, however, must always come where there is a strongest affinity between wizard and wand… An initial attraction, and then a mutual quest for experience, the wand learning from the wizard, the wizard from the wand.
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Question to the reader: I think that it doesn’t really matter what tool you choose to express your talent. If you are not the right person (by birth or by training), the tool won’t make you one. What do you think? Any stories?
