Connecting the Dots

De-Stressing (Logically)

2011-08-22T23:29:00.000+05:30

Stress is supposed to be one of the major cause of most ailments across the world. I didn't check up the stats for this for the blog, but I am sure there are quite a few interesting articles on this. Personally I dont think I need to look up those figures as I am already facing a few health problems due to stress. I might be jumping the gun here on the cause and effect relationship, but for the past 6-8 months I have been facing a lot of pressure at work and I have been falling sick almost every other week. The ailments are all different, but usually hit me just prior to after the peak stress periods. Hence the conclusion relating the two. So two cut down on this stress, which I think is a mental phenomenon and hence can be controlled by self control, I have thought up a few steps which am putting down here just for sake for reference-

1. Sorting out stress- Stress comes out of distressing situations we land in and as such could be possibly differentiated into Physical Stress (arising out of actual physical distress) and Logical Stress (to borrow some IT terminologies) that arise more out of our perception of the situation as distressing.(I am not calling it mental as all stress is related to the mind anyway). To give an example, a vehicle speeding towards you will probably be distressing situation for almost all and can be termed as physical. But the 6.00 pm deadline is distressing only if achieving that deadline is of paramount importance to you. Physical stress is a good thing. It keeps you alive. But Logical Stress I believe kills you. Some might disagree with this. The 6.00 pm deadline could probably be so important for your career that it as good as a truck hitting you if you dont meet it. But if that 6.00 pm deadline come every other week or even more frequently then I think you are probably standing in the wrong lane. Logical Stress has a way of slowly taking over our lives and choking it. Deadlines dont stop and emergencies become part of daily life. Its important to stop this Logical Stress, but to do that first it has to be identified. So the first thing i am planning to do is calculate the stress situation i face daily and check how many i can put into the Logical bucket. i should probably do it with a paper and pen, but right the plan is for a mental check (read: laziness). Anyway I think almost all would be logical.

2. Stop carrying work around- Primary reason I believe Logical Stress is harmful is that it doesn't stop at work. On my way to office, while coming back, then while I am watching TV, eating food, before sleeping, and probably 30 mins into waking up in the morning (my brain takes that much time to fully wake up) to again till reaching office, some part of the brain is always on the job at hand. This is not so bad, when I am thinking up some business or technical challenges. But most of the times nowadays its less to do with the job and more to do with mails and calls. What is the next escalation, where is the next round of firing coming from, what additional work comes up on you when you are already neck deep and who's going to call you up next on your mobile/ office phone. Probably after finishing the first exercise i think there would be atleast 10 such situations everyday. My next plan is to limit them to the workplace. Once out of office, be out of office. Exceptions will be made for mails to be sent, which i couldnt do in time. or some small amounts. but the time limit for such extra work is going to be limited to 30 mins at most. Doing it physically I guess would be the easier part, but how do i stop thinking about it. Today after coming from office, i have tried to switch off mentally, but caught myself going back to it atleast 3-4 times. Half the time on the way back was spent on framing and reframing mails, action items and prioritizing deliverables. And now when i conciously think about what I am thinking, i have this eery feeling that some part of my brain in auto mode is still at work. This will probably take lot of time and effort. The itch to check the last mail, is not just for blackberry addicts (although I guess their plight must be much worse). I'll probably need to work the steps for this part more concretely later, but for now the intent is to stop carrying work home- mentally and physically.

3. Be a Superperformer- Ok. That was just a joke. I am no superman who can finish work in 8 hours and keep everyone happy. When i shut my machine for the day with the intention of not carrying it home, there is certainly going to be lot of unfinished work. And lot of unhappy people. So how do i deal with those. Smart guys (read: Stephen Covey Method Training Instructors) would say priortize work. I dont have a grudge with them for sayng it, they are paid for that. But I dont get most of my work by choice. And most often work I would like to do or what I consider important would be lower down the order than some mundane work which is super urgent. So basically my work is already priortized. If I do another priortizing on it, I'll end up spending lot of time on both and still get flaked. Besides the choice is not like between caviar and khichdi. Its usually choice between Alu Matar vs Dal tadka. Either one will be good depending on the mood!.. Right now I dont have any plans for this. Step 2 will certainly lead to more unsatisfied stakeholders. Can i live with that and not have guilt of underperforming is something I'll know only later on.
(To be continued...maybe)

Have Muscle, Will flex…

2011-03-30T11:54:00.000+05:30

George Bush Jr. once famously said “Every nation in every region now has a decision to make. Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists.” George Bush could be faulted for many things, but certainly not for double speak. Obama seems to be the master of that art. The noble peace prize winner is saying a lot of things on the uprisings in the Middle East. But if actions speak louder than words, then they are saying only one thing…”’We decide what’s best for you’ and if won’t listen to us, well we’ll just tomahawk you out of your own country”. For good or bad, Obama seems to have decided that Gaddafi has to go out, and that is the end of it. And for that purpose, if sanctions and bank account freezing’s don’t work out, then he’s quite ready to do it the rough way without even waiting for a consensus by his own congressmen on it.

Obama must feel that his actions are in the larger interest of humanity, democracy and all the other ideals which seem to be missing in these regimes. But self righteousness can be a bigger evil than all of these and some of the greatest tyrants have risen from their blind belief in the rights of their own thoughts and actions. To end it a George Bush Jr quote again “I know what I believe. I will continue to articulate what I believe and what I believe - I believe what I believe is right.”

P.S.-Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign was based on ‘Change’. He certainly has lived up to his promise, atleast as far as other countries are concerned.

Ring-a-ring-a-roses

2011-03-12T18:25:00.003+05:30

Ring-a-ring-a-roses,
A pocket full of posies;
Hush! hush! hush! hush!
We’re all tumbled down...

This nursery rhyme somehow fits whats happening around Raj Rajaratnam and his friends. The players are all falling down one by one with 19 pleading guilty in the case. The lynchpin, Rajaratnam still stands defiant though. The question however is not if he'll give in, but when he'll give in. And when he does that who else will fall with him. Rajat Gupta already seems to be part of the ring, but when the Gallean top man opens his mouth, he might not be the only top shot Indian in the chain.

Needle in a Haystack!

2011-03-07T15:41:00.001+05:30

In a blogging wilderness, where there are millions of blogs (126 Million as per blogpulse) and billions of posts, its hard to find this blog which is already emancipated by lack of nourishing posts. So its surprising to see a google search returning this blog as top ranking for a search term, any search terms in fact, especially so when searching for the term “truly paranoid blog” does not return this address even in the top 50 results.

Telengana- The lull before the storm

2011-01-22T12:25:00.001+05:30

TRS Flag

Its frequently said that one should strike the iron when its hottest. Telengana seperation leader and TRS party president K Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) however seems to have lost that opportunity. With the SriKirshna report favouring a united Andhra, one expected the TRS and other pro Telengana leaders to have intensified the struggle. However save for Osmania, there is hardly any sign of a mass movt. in Hyderabad. Parts of Telengana and adjoining areas seem to have been affected, but that hardly seems to have affected Kiran Reddy's govt as yet. So one wonders why KCR and inc. have taken a backseat, esp now when the movt. had gathered steam and was ready to take off for round 2 or 3 (or whichever). Instead the remarks made by the party leader about non cooperation and asking congress leaders to resign almost seem Gandhian, which is bit hard to digest from todays politician. So that leads to two probable reasons in my mind: A. KCR is bidding his time. A mass movt (read violence) right now would probably mean a lot of news coverage but would be along expected lines only and with the Paramillitary in full deployment, would be limited. The leaders are prob waiting for the army strength to go down, their student leaders to build strength and then launch a big dhamaka. In that case, the scene right now is just the lull before the coming storm. Sounds sinister, but the second probable reason seems even worse...

Germany vs Argentina finals!!!

2010-06-19T13:39:00.003+05:30

A Germany vs Argentina clash would be a dream finals for this WC. There are two of the best teams in the WC so far although Serbia's 1-0 thrashing of Germany was shocking, but then as the critics were saying, Germany seemed to have peaked a bit too early when they beat Aus 4-0. Now with this shock defeat they would have maintained the tradition of struggling in groups stage and then going from strength to strength. Argentina on the other hand started the tournament meekly but then blasted past Korea with a Higuain hattrick. Now with the last game against Greece, Argentina looks all set to top Group B. Now if only Germany can come second in their group D, it would set the stage for them to meet only in the Finals. But for that Ghana will need to top the group by defeating Australia, then drawing with Australia and Australia defeating Serbia... whew lot of permutations and combinations....

The German army is coming!

2010-03-18T23:39:00.004+05:30

The German has seen the cup slipping out of its reach more than its fair share of times in recent past. Reaching 2nd and 3rd spot in the last two WC campaigns and then ending up runners up in the latest Euro cup must have been heartbreaking. All the more reason to up the ante and come out with all guns blazing. Their main players are still there from the last WC and they must be really desperate to get their hands on the Cup. That and the fact that their coach is totally in sync with the team spirit when he said that "Meticulous and painstaking hard work is the only way to succeed" makes the German Team my favourites for this WC. Their only downside- their own consistency comes in the way of their going beyond their limits.

The Gods are crazy

2010-03-18T23:14:00.002+05:30

He is undoubtedly one of the greatest footballer the world has ever seen, but probably the worst coach Argentina could have chosen. Its the mans charisma and godlike status that Diego Aramando Maradona is still leading Argentina into the 2010 WC after barely scraping through the qualifications. Charismatic players rarely make good coaches and the main reason is probably cos they still believe that their superstardom will make miracles happen. After having tried out almost the whole bench strength of Argentina, the coach is still nowhere near with a stable team. The team was my favourite in the last WC, mainly cos of the Messi, who is in even better form and class now. But if Maradona continues to be the coach, it'll truly require the hand of god to guide them past Nigeria, Korea and Greece, none of whom can be taken lightly.

The nub of the snubs

2010-02-07T10:55:00.003+05:30

Last few weeks have been a week of snubs across the country and outside. It all started with the none of the Pakistani players being bid for in the IPL auctions. Likened to a thappad by a few, that was indeed a royal snub for a country en masse. Of course every snub has an if not an equal, atleast an opposite reaction. Which is why SRK fearing it would boomerang on his movie, decided to soothe frayed nerves. However apparently it seems one persons act of soothing, turns out to be a snub for another person. This time it was the Marathi Manoos who was snubbed, or atleast that was what the Shiv Sena Supremo feels. I guess SRK's act of bowing towards our neighboour meant that all the Supremo could see was his posterior, which could explain why he felt offended. However somewhere being the snubs and cross snubs, the issue turned from cricket and our neighbours to the Marathi Manoos vs the Rest of the world. Leave it to SS Supremo to mak international issues personal.

However his position on the issue turned out to be a snub for the Scion, who now felt that the Sena Chief was turning his back to the rest of the country. The vitriol that following would hav probably culminated with a few black flags, ransacked public places and general mayhem (on levels Mumbai is now quite accustomed to) during the Scions visit that was to follow. But then the geriatric forgot the arrogance of the youth (and its associated follies), which was when Indias PM in waiting decided to cock a royal snook to one and all and decided to emphathise with the masses by boarding the local trains. This one however really was more than a snub, a thapad which caught the local chieftains so unaware that they still havent found their tongue or atleast reply back in kind.

Of course while the main course of snubs was being served domestically, an international snub fest was already taking place. Pak managed to convince the "international community" of US and UK to snub out Indias hope for a more strategic presence in Afganistan. Meanwhile the "PM's speech on climate change yesterday came out as a snub on the UN Framework convention. With all this real life drubbing, for once all the reality shows, with all their hue and cry on who snubbed whom, are fast turning out to be tepid affairs. Guess the Scions Namesake whos looking for his better half on telly these days, will need to up his ante and deliver some wholesome snubs to get his viewers back. Like they say "Snub or be Snubbed".

An Award for the awarder!

2009-10-11T20:09:00.005+05:30

Any publicity is good publicity. Ample proof of which was given last week when the Nobel Peace Committee gave the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009 to Obama. While the world debates whether he deserves it or not it certainly did give publicity to the prize. Columns are being written about what the prize stands for (see here) and whether the new nominee can stand up to the previous awardees.

"Nobel officials said their stunning pick was meant to build momentum behind Obama's initiatives to reduce nuclear arms, ease tensions with the Muslim world and stress diplomacy and cooperation rather than unilateralism." Whether it builds omentum or not, it does certainly pitch the award to a new limelight. After all how many us remember last year awardee. Or for that matter how many of them do we remember anyway. A little search threw up the past list of Nobel laureates. All deserving I am sure, but none of them would have kicked up as much dust as this one. So while awarding the prize to Sherin Ebadi or Wangari Mathaai would have brought recognition to the work they have done, giving the prize to Barack Obama bought publicity to the Prize and what it stands for. A sound move by the committee I would say.

One interesting trivia- During much of the second world war (1939-43), the Prize was allotted to a special fund. Red Cross was the first recipient of the prize after the war.

P.S.- Even the taliban has a view - "Taliban touts ‘Nobel violence prize’ for Obama"...ouch.

Homecoming

2009-08-07T09:40:00.005+05:30

Time to bid adieu to Grand rapids... Was lucky to be at the right time here. The weathers perfect and its green all around. Although there seems to be too much pollen in the air. I seemed to be developing some new allergy everyday and by the time my body got used to it, its time to leave. All in all a good trip though. Work was decent and satisfying and was able to get some Indian food, thanks to Ravi. But the best part was the soccer practice. Although I played only 3-4 times, the fact that i could stand up for 45 mins (atleast in the last game) was very satisfying...

Only regret is would have loved to go around and see a few places, if only there was some company. So not much of sight seeing, so very few snaps this time...

And now just hoping that the return flight is all smooth.

Saath Saal ke budhe ya saat saal ke jawaan

2009-07-23T06:05:00.005+05:30

The weatherman says it'll brighten up just around the time of tommorrows soccer match. After 3 weeks of being injured hurt, i am dying to play a match. The last match though almost made me wonder if I should add soccer to my list of "Too old to do things" like Ted does in HIMYM S04E18. Halfway into the game, i was looking for a bench to rest on while everyone else around me just seemed to have just started the match. Trudged on for another 15-20 mins, moving around like an 80 year old, before i decided to put some more vigour into the game. My legs however didnt seem to share the same level of enthusiasm and with seconds to go before the final whistle, I heard a tearing sound in my left leg. It's taken more than 3 weeks for the leg to get back into some shape- whether match fit or not is something i should know tomorrow. That is if the weather doesnt play spoilsport and the other parts of my body dont fail before that...

Is the Frisk worth the risk?

2009-07-23T05:46:00.003+05:30

Continental Airlines apologises for frisking Kalam

Much ado over frisking of APJ by Continental Airlines... lot of hungama in parliament...govt files FIR...alleged breach of protocols....rulebook slammed back by the airlines... and finally an apology by the airlines......but amidst all this, the man himself seems to be mum... Wonder what he has to say about the whole incident....

Meanwhile ex first lady, Hillary Clinton arrives in the capital... and i wonder if she was frisked too!

What Happens in Vegas

2009-07-18T08:28:00.006+05:30

The Hangover...

"What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas..". You get the drift of the movie when you hear that line...4 guys out for a bachelor party in where else but Vegas, get slammed out and do crazy stuff...had the story been narrated in chronological order it would have probably been something very similar to the Harrold and Kumar Go to White Castle... but told in the reverse order with them trying to remember what happened last night, its an absolute riot...

The plot is guessable most of the times, but the story moves at a fast enough pace to keep you engrossed., with some very witty dialogues and funny moves...

best watched with friends...especially if some of them are still bachelors... i watched it alone though...but still couldn't help roll on the floor...

PagalGuy Rankings

2008-02-03T15:00:00.000+05:30

It’s not often that one comes across a B School Ranking without any bias or without any B School being dropped from its list for various reasons. If not for anything else, then for this reason alone PagalGuy needs to be complimented for its first B School Ranking Guide. Although the crowdsourcing methodology used is not new and perception rankings have been done before by various publishing house, it must be the very first time that such a ranking can be said to be above board. The fact that most publishing houses have heavy income flows from some of the very B Schools they are judging, will always lead to the more than sneaking suspicion that the rankings have been manipulated. PG on the other hand doesn’t have an income stream from B Schools and the fact that most of its moderators and administrators have always been above board, gives it a high credibility in terms of the fairness of the rankings. Also as more and more people participate in the coming year, the rankings will certainly prove to be immune to the effects of a few shady manipulators outside the system.
The matter of perception rankings being a fair judge for evaluating a B School is another thing though. There is no consideration for the faculty, facilities, placements or any of the tradition parameters in B School rankings-well atleast not directly. The only thing that matters is what the Junta thinks about the college. So if a college has a heavy ad budget, not too controversial, and administrators who themselves could teach a few things about Branding and Marketing, then there’s a good chance of coming good in the rankings. And that’s where niche colleges and those with specialized courses lose out. Not because they are any the less better, but because they are not marketed enough. The audiences which do matter, like the Corporate Junta, HR, faculty, etc and who do know about these colleges are however unlikely to form a large percentage of voters (which is another thing PG missed out on- The complete demographics of the voters, rather than just their location). Which leads us back to the question- How relevant are perception rankings for selecting a particular B School over another. Well if you are not an ardent follower of the Indian herd mentality then these rankings (like any other) can only form a base for your research before selecting a B School. Ultimately you have to choose a B School for your reasons and not somebody else’s.

P.S.- Meanwhile the latest rankings by Financial Times have ranked ISB at no.20.Probably the first time that any Indian B School has come up so high. What’s surprising is that it has not only upstaged its partner NorthWestern University’s Kellog B School (at No.24) but also that it has the highest Weighted Salary among all B Schools ($169,355)! Now that’s something. The Weighted Salary definition as per ET is that “The average alumni salary today with adjustment for salary variations between industry sectors. This figure includes data for the current year and the one or two preceding years where available”.

It stands slightly lower at No. 5 in Salary Today which is defined as “The average alumni salary three years after graduation. (The 2008 ranking surveyed the MBA class that graduated in 2004). This figure includes alumni salary data for the current year and the one or two preceding years, where available. The figure is NOT used in the ranking.”

There’s no hint about PPP or any other adjustment factor but I guess something of that sort should be there, otherwise its too good to be true, even considering its cost vis a vis other global B School Programmes.

Edit- Apparently it seems PPP adjustment was there, Atleast thats what Rashmi Bansal says in here. Although she hasnt mentioned where she got the info from.

Red Letter Day

2008-01-23T21:43:00.000+05:30

The recent stock market crash has been likened to the Black Swan theory by some market analyst. The black swan theory as propogated by Nassim Nicholas Taleb in his book, Black Swan is a large-impact, hard-to-predict, and rare event beyond the realms of normal expectation. However the last two days events have been anything but a Black Swan event. Large-impact; yes, Hard-to-predict; perhaps not- After all there have been enough warnings in the past two weeks. First there was a large amount of FII withdrawl in the last week. In fact 133 billion USD was withdrawn in the week preceeding the Reliance IPO. Couple that with the US Recession (the decoupling theory is a laugh now) and the fact that worldwide markets were going down. Any astute investor who has greyed his hairs in the ups and downs of the stock market would have known that the huge liquidity shortfall that would happen for a few days post the Reliance and Future Capital IPOs, would certainly catalyse even minor fluctuations in the market. Unfortunately it seems most investors are as clueless as a newbie like myself (which probably is a good thing for me). Anyway it was a golden opportunity to invest- if only the bank balance had been a little better.

Meanwhile there's a conspiracy theory going around that the brokerages were not allowing people to buy by closing down their sites or other means, ostensibly to drive the prices down further. Stupid theory I would say, if you stop people from trading you stop the buying as well as the selling. besides most of the brokerages would be so overleveraged that they would be looking for buyers rather than anything. The carshing of sites or the slow speed had probably to do with the huge traffic than anything else. The Banks and MFs seem to have made a good picking with the extra cash they. Guess that would atleast make the NAVs go up. Like they say what you lose on the swings, you make up on the roundbouts!

The 1 lakh Home

2008-01-20T12:12:00.000+05:30

First it was air travel for the masses, then it became a car for the masses, now I am waiting for the home for the masses. A decent 2bhk not too far from the city for 4-5 lakhs. Is that too difficult? Is anyone listening?

Connecting the dots

2008-01-15T17:30:00.000+05:30

From trulyparanoid to from the Heart and now connecting the dots, this is where I got the latest title of my blog from- a must ad to any podcast collection

This is the text of the Commencement address @ Stanford by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, delivered on June 12, 2005.

I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal. Just three stories.

The first story is about connecting the dots.

I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?
It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: "We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?" They said: "Of course." My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.
And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn't see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.
It wasn't all romantic. I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example:
Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating.
None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, its likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.
Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

My second story is about love and loss.
I was lucky — I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees. We had just released our finest creation — the Macintosh — a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.
I really didn't know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down - that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me — I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.
I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.
During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I returned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.
I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle.
My third story is about death.
When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.
Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.
About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn't even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor's code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you'd have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.
I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I'm fine now.
This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope its the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:
No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.
Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.
When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960's, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.
Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish." It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.
Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Pass the Buck...out

2008-01-12T21:01:00.000+05:30

The latest one in chain mails being fwded these days:

NEW ENGLISH WORDS COINED:

Bucknor: (n) (adj) 1. Temporary blindness leading to missing out on the obvious. 2. To be at the wrong place at the wrong time. 3. Situations leading to grave judgemental errors.
Usage: I feel bucknored by my boss; Life often throws a bucknor at you.

Benson: (n) (adj) 1. Something that legitimises a severe bucknor.
Usage: First they bucknored me and then they bensoned it! I am toast. Also see bucknor

Ponting: (n) (adj) 1. A substance or entity or even a person of unquestionable integrity 2. An act of uncivilised behaviour. [Also, pontingness (n)]

One Indian who must thank his stars for all the drama that took place in the last two weeks must be the Wall. Nobody has time to analyse his last performance now, no way sir, we have graver issues like the nations honor at stake. But as the next tests place under unbiased umpires and intensified scrutiny, the moot question will still remain the same. Will we be able to win even a single match this series. Even in the last test, it was only a draw we could have hoped for. A win in Australia against Australia, remains as elusive as ever….But then the boys are charged, Aussies are on a backfoot for once and we remain as optimistic as ever, who knows, a miracle might just happen.

Spokeo-The RSS feed for social networks

2008-01-02T23:21:00.000+05:30

Spokeo certainly spooked me out when I read about it in Guy Kawasaki’s blog. Here was a tool which could collect info from all your friends networks, blogs, photo albums and whatever else you may have added online using you email id. The information it collects is certainly out there in the public domain but you probably would not have able to collect it to this extent or would not have been link it to the user or would not have taken the trouble to check out in the myriad no of networking sites we have today.

So the first thing I did when I read about it was to login and search about myself. Well just to see if there was something incriminating about me out there. Thankfully nothing much was there, which was a wonder since my blog and the mail id linking it are pretty much in public domain. But I guess the feature linking mail ids and blogs doesn’t work very well in blogger or maybe my mail id was not public on the blog (will try to make it public and try again). But one feature where Spokeo works really well is in collecting pics. From flicker, picassa and wherever else you may have posted it. If it is public and if your mail id is linked to it anyone who knows your mail id can view it.

But apart from the possible use/misuse of this site, the main purpose is that it lets you pull out the updates from linked in, facebook, myspace, hi5 and a host of other sites (sadly not orkut as yet) and of course pull out all your contacts from your gmail and yahoo and check out which all sites your friends/enemies have a profile in, all pics they may have uploaded online and you never knew about. Plus its fast and very easy to use. Check it out

local Girl's day in pictures

2008-01-02T23:14:00.000+05:30

If you are fond of irreverent humour, then you’ll surely like this site…Local Girls’s day in pictures. It’s basically a comic blog by a girl called Caroline Clifford and Local Girl is like her alter ego. The comedy is seriously cheeky and sometimes downright derisive, especially the episode where she fights with another fellow comic blog/autobiography writer. But that’s the appeal of the strip, that and the scrawling handwriting, which is there on purpose no doubt. I saw the link in bloggers of note and then cudnt stop till I had gone through all the posts. Check it out.

Blogging resolutions for year 2008

2008-01-01T00:01:00.000+05:30

I have been ignoring this blog for way too long. So these are my resolutions for the coming year..

one post a week- every year the no of posts have been falling and this past year it was a measly 13 posts including the 5-6 i wrote @ fag end of the year. So i have decided to write one a week in 2008 which roughly translates into 54 posts for 2008. Although giving considerations to my irregularity it'll probably a bunch of 2-3 of them posted together
the 100 $ mark- have been half heartedly trying to make some money from the blog, but now having taken inspiration from steve pavlina blog have decided to go all out for it. So there will be a few Google ad sense stickers here and there. Crass commercialisation eh? well the least you can do is to click on of them every now and then, and if that's too much then at least keep coming back to the blog even if you have read it end to end.
the b school event compendium- Considering that b school events is all that i have done worthwhile in my 2 years of masters, this subject is close to my heart. it'll probably be long, broken into 2-3 posts...now if only i could get started on it.
stay young, stay foolish- thats what steve jobs said. many a time i have stopped myself from posting something thinking it might sound immature, stupid or might be controversial, but now am going to write my mind and damn the world.

Happy New Year

2007-12-31T23:59:00.001+05:30

Dont know whats the worst way to spend 31st night, but lying miserably in bed with fever and chill does certainly come close. Not that it was a particularly good year that went by, and am certainly glad that its over and done with. And damn those astrologers who had said that it would be a great year for me, when i'll travel far and wide and and rapidly ascend the stairs of progress. Travelling 22 kms to office each way and climbing a couple of floors to my seat is not exactly what I had in mind. But then I'm a creature of habit and when the new year dawns i cant help but wonder whats in store for me this coming year. So heres what the soothsayers say-

Chinese: For the chinese 2008 is the Lunar year of Rat and since i was born under the influence of Rooster (ok that explains why am such a chicken sometimes) this is what i can expect : ...Those single Roosters, on the other hand, having nothing to lose. You would just be annoyed by the many potential dates you have and you don’t know how to make a choice. (Having a problem of plenty, well that certainly looks nice)....On top of that, the Roosters have excellent luck of wealth this year. Your luck of relationship also means you get along with everyone well and you would enjoy much popularity on social occasions...(and the party animal in me is already growling)...Thus, the Roosters are likely to get married, conceive a baby, or get promoted...(oh my, now this is a bit too much)...Gossips, arguments and disputes..you are likely to argue with others face-to-face. (can certainly vouch for the first one)

Zodiac: Cancer it is and Cancer Horoscope, 2008 shows that family will continue to be significant in this phase (isnt it always?)...Your work field will grow slowly and subtly. People might mistake you for your low key involvement in the work place. (well it certainly wont be a mistake) But ...There will drastic alterations in your work. Things will change and the change will be for good. New and novel opportunities will help you to grow in the professional ambit. (could mean a new job, a new project or maybe just a new seat- oh ya its the last one i know), The year 2008 will be blessing in disguise. (oh i just love these kinda statements)... Health too might be disturbing at little corners of the year.( right from the start of the year would be more correct)

Vedic: This one is real bad...The year 2008 will be a mixed one with both positivie and negative effects(ok) ....As you are in the last seven and half year saturn period,things may change over a period of time.Nothing will be easy....(it never was)...Though you work hard,you will be unlucky to deserve your share of success (as usual, & then it gets worse)Tensions and pressure from higher officials will bring more stress.(& still worse) Ketu in janma rasi and rahu in 7th house will add more fuel to the burning fire(& if thats not enough)...Lack of peace of mind in the family,stagnant growth in job will be seen during the period. ...(but then things begin to look up by the end of the year)... You might see improvements during this period.You should plan your future during this period...(and finally by Dec...) This period may be the best part in 2008.You can execute all your plans.You will start seeing success in your undertakings.Your hard work will start to give you results.Your career life will get stabilise and marriages might take place in the family(certainly not mine).Unexpected profits are seen in the business. (what business) ...Good time to expand your business.(yes sir!)

I would have liked to go on to tarots and maybe try some numerology too, but the prognosis seems to get gloomier by the minute and suddenly the new year doesnt seem so happy. Maybe i should just crawl back into my bed and go to my sleep. Yup that seems to be the best way to greet the new year. Wish you all a great new year. Keep partying!

I Am Legend

2007-12-29T20:09:00.000+05:30

Nice movie, decent action, good acting by Will Smith and yes the sound effects and direction are great. Even though the theme was oft repeated , esp. reminding one of the resident evil series, but i was happy at the end of the movie that my money had not gone entirely down the drain. Well after having watched horrors like goal, no smoking in recent times I was certainly thankful. Not that there weren't any gaps in the story, but nothing that couldnt be overlooked. But one thing that just didnt fit right was the title. Although it was said that at the end that Robert Neville (Will Smith) saves humanity from its self created chaos in the form of mutants, and hence becomes a legend for generations to come, but it still looked like a lousy title, till a wikipedia search revealed this. Well apparently the name is the title of a book written by Richard Matheson. Now the movie starts with the same premise as in the novel but then goes into an atogether different direction. In the novel, Robert Neville is not the hero but a legend like those of the Vampires for generations to come. The mutants turn out to be the new generation or the new mankind, while the old is wipped out with Robert Neville is the last of the same, a legend or a myth for the ages to come. But then one wonders why the movie has shifted antipodes to the novel. Imagine fr an instance if Will Smith had been trapped and killed and the mutants had been shown to be the new rulers of the earth. Would it have still done as well, would it have been palatable to our sensitive tastes or would we have simply turned up our nose at it and bombed it at the box office. Somehow I feel the last one would have been true. We are no way ready to believe that we can be wiped out or some other species could be better than us. Well so would the dinasours have thought, if they could think.

Tips on House hunting

2007-12-29T18:56:00.000+05:30

Well one learns from mistakes, but apparantly some of us make more than their fair share of mistakes before getting things drilled into their heads. This post is so that next time I can remember what to do and what NOT to do while going house hunting (the present search is not over though)

1. Dont wait for the D Day- Starting work right before deadlines might work in college. It might also work in your company. Its certainly not going to work in house hunting. Most people place ads much before the house is to be occupied and if you are looking for some place to move tommorrow, either dont be too finnicky or be very lucky.

2. Dont do half measures- Waiting for the Sunday Classifieds to start the search certainly wont do. If you have decided to shift, better set your deadline and go out with all guns blazing. Brokers, classifieds, free ads, intra company portals, websites, go for all together. And ya letting your friends & colleagues know that you are looking for a new place helps... immensely. Websites are increasingly becoming the favourite, with more and more people now turning to the internet. Sulekha.com is my favourite. I tried a few others too like Magic Bricks, but didnt find too many ads. Maybe those in other cities might have had a different experience. One thing I still have doubts on is whether placing ads in "looking for house" kind of ads helps. I mean the logic of it sounds a little doubtful. Why would house owners search for tenants, esp. when the demand outstrips supply. But then I wouldnt know for I have never tried it. Maybe next time. Although I mentioned brokers I personally avoid them. Till date I havent seen a broker in Chennai show me a house which has already not been advertised in the paper. Besides of course other problems like having to deal with uncouth ruffians who have no value for your time or your expectations of a house. But again the disclaimer i have dealt with brokers only in certain pockets of chennai. Cant speak for all of them.

3. Share the burden- two heads are better than one, and three are better than two. Ayn Rand may have disagreed but sharing your workload certainly helps here. Its not the searching and calling, but the actual visits that take up a lot of your time. On an average I have found it takes 2-3 hours to go over a single house even if they are close together. And if you got people to help you out it certainly helps. Besides should the situation ever arise as happened to my friend, who was boycotted by all the brokers in Thiruviyanmur in Chennai coz he had blasted all of them at one time or the other, well then another member of the group can certainly take over.

4. Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee- ok you're not boxing, but you have to be nimble and fast anyways. You see the deal of a lifetime, dont wait to discuss with your friends. Book it right there and then. Empty your wallet, pawn your mobile (after making sure you're dealing with the right person) or call your friends to come over pronto with the cash, but never leave without making sure you have booked it for good. Sometimes owners ask you to come over after some time as the house is already occupied or under renovation or something else. Well in that case you can atleast check out the neighbourhood, keep calling every now and then make sure its still available and if you think its gonna be ok, then you can even book for a small amount. Its a jungle out there and if you're not doing it, well then someone else would have snared the liar.

5. Compromise- Its not a wife silly, just a house you are looking for. You are not going to live there forever. So turn up your nose at the gutter at the back, or the slums in front, or the poor taste in furnishings the owner had. Of course this advice is for bachelors, couples would certainly more fastidious I guess. But ultimately like any good one buys, its all about the value for money, so go out with an open mind (and an open purse)

6. Be a socialist- learn to live with others, even if it means there are 6 people in a 2 bhk. One bad habit NITIE taught me was the luxury of a single, bath attached room. But I learning pretty quickly. Well as long as your roommates are like minded...

7. Do you really need a new place- Rents usually increase every year. Or atleast with every new tenant. But some of the people I know are paying 1/3 - 1/5 of the market place by lieu of having stayed there for more than a couple of years and coz their lessor either not being too greedy or market savvy or both. Hitch hiking your wagon with such people can drastically cut down the cost per head. One place to look for such places is the "looking for roommates" section. And of course like said earlier, letting your friends and colleagues know that you are looking for ......

Well thats all I can think of right now, but then its certainly not the end of my mistakes, so will certainly keep updating this post.

Xmas & Calvin

2007-12-25T02:40:00.001+05:30

Sometimes I do wonder if Bill Waterson is a philosopher in the disguise of a cartoonist

Nathar Puthu Varuda Valthukkal

2007-12-25T02:15:00.000+05:30

Thats supposed to be "Merry Xmas and Happy New Year" in Tamil according to this site. Sounds funny coz i've never been wished like that here. But quite understandable when I saw the mallu version for the same as Christumas Mangalangalangal and Puthuvalsara Ashamsakal (wow, cant seem to stop the second word, it seems to go on and on) Of course the Hindi version is just Shubh Naya Baras,Guess our Hindi Bhais dont celebrate Xtumas too much! And to the dear friend in Africa, i'll just say Sinifesela Ukhisimusi Omuhle Nonyaka Omusha Onempumelelo...ouch thats Zulu!!

Roti, Kapda aur....Makaan?

2007-12-16T12:45:00.000+05:30

House searching in Chennai has almost become a second occupation for me. This is probably the fifth time I am on a house hunt in as many years. And each time the going seems to get tougher and tougher. 4 years back it was the older residential areas like Anna Nagar, Nungambakkam which had high rates (although nothing on the level of other metros at that time); while the IT corridor, Adyar, etc were comparitively cheaper. But now with the IT and Banking expansion in Chennai, these areas have not only become the costliest in Chennai, but have probably crossed levels seen in other metros too, save Mumbai & Delhi.

Rates have been rising 30-40% every 6 months, and while it was evident that rising demand was the reason for it, today I was shocked to see by just how much demand was outstripping supply. When I saw the ad for a 2 bhk near Adyar in yesterdays Hindu, I expected the rent to be in the range of 10-12k. When on contacting on phone I was told it was only 6.5k I realised I had to move fast before someone else booked it. So unlike myself I was dot on time at the appointd hour the next day. While walking towards the place itself I saw a few groups with the Hindu in hand trying to locate the place. Outside the apartment there was an assortment of vehicles and there was a huge crowd milling around the place. Trying to be optimistic, I reasoned with myself that there was probably some function going on & proceeded to the second floor flat only to realise that the whole staircase was choked with people who had come to see the flat just like me and the people all around the place were not there for any party either. Well I didnt waste much time after that, after all as a Non Brahmin, Non Vegetarian, Non Tamil, Male Bachelor, I hardly qualified for half the rental ads anyway. What chance did I stand among such competition then.

Anyway the house search continues, but the net has widened. Now I am just not looking at the nearby places, have become less choosy about the condition of the house and more tolerant of the arrogant people who believe they are doing the world a favour by letting out their pace on rent. But still cant help cursing the expats, the Northies, the other Southies, the IT cos, the Banks and the others coz of whom the prospect of spending Jan 1 on the roads seems distinctly posible for me. Of course I am part of the group, but thats beyond the point....

The Real Hero

2007-12-15T12:02:00.000+05:30

After more than 6 years I have started on Ayn Rand's "The Fountainhead" once again. This time however it feels a litte different. The first time I read it (and I read it before "Atlas Shrugged") it was mind blowing. There are many books which leave you gasping with their plots, storylines, twists and turns; the John Grisham types, but very few which bring a completely new idea, something so alien that even after you read from cover to cover you cant just keep the book down. Ayn Rand did that to me. Two prep leaves in my 3rd and 4th sem were dedicated to her two epics.

But this time somehow its not the same feeling. For quite some time after reading it the first time, Howard Roark was an ideal. The kind of a person, who demands nothing and gives nothing, selfless and like he himself says, also the most selfish. An island unto himself, free of any ties and has only one passion, his work. While the idea of such a person seemed incongruous, the ideal itself was real...and fascinating. But reading it now, the feeling of a fanatsy tale comes creeping. Leave alone the existance of such a person, how can even his ideal be real. The quote " No Man is an island" suddenly seems so true. To paraphrase Dominique Francon in one of the passage, we are all tied up by bonds, and even a single attachment, ties us up with everyone else in a way that we can no longer be aloof of the world we live in.

The main villain in the work, or atleast the one who has been made out to be- Peter Keating, looks like the real hero to me. Smart, Successful, A Rags to Riches story, isnt that the kind of icons we worship everyday in real life. Yes, there might be a lot of hypocrisy behind that smile. And he might not be living life by the rulebook. But then as said rightly in the book itself, everybody does it, its only that he does it better than all of them.

But then it probably is a fantasy tale, on the likes of LOTR perhaps. Or maybe its an extremism of the Capitalistic idea, the opposite end of Das Kapital perhaps. Whatever it is, it still does take my breath away.

New Look

2007-07-02T10:36:00.000+05:30

Its a new day..its a new world..
and its a new look to my blog world

Still working on it though..have to add my chat box, map,etc,etc...
Do let me know how it looks though

Google Calendar

2007-06-26T19:58:00.000+05:30

Google Calendar has added two new features and although nothing hyperbolic, they can truly make life simple. The first new feature is the intimation by sms or email of events. So far in India Hutch-Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata & Gujarat; Hutchison Essar & Spice-Karnataka & Punjab are the only carriers supporting teh sms. But when I tried linking my Hutch no in Chennai, it did get validated. So now waiting to see if my test message comes through. Plus its all free. Now I always had the calender in my outlook, but it certainly can't send sms. Hope atleast this helps me in remembering my moms bday on time.

The second feature is that I can access my google calender from my cell phone now. Couldnt check that one though as webaccess on my card was deactivated last month. But with falling download rates it could become a frequent tool.

Its just amazing how google keeps on adding these small nifty features. And with the whole google framework these small additions all add up to a great product. A similar case is the new changes to google analytics. The new interface is so user friendly that I kept going back to it although there were hardly any hits on my blog! Of course not everybody would find it to their liking. Especially my friend Dennis who feels that the new interface is a complication his life can do without[:)]

Aap Ka Suroor

2007-06-22T14:01:00.000+05:30

Would someone ever pray for a Himesh movie to succeed. Apparently yes and not because they love the singer but because they hate the establishment. Read here... This might not convince me to watch the movie but certainly make me think twice before going for a Yash raj films again... although I guess after watching Shivaji last week I shouldn't be so picky after all..

Edit(2/7/07): The film was released last friday and seems to be a hit among the junta... and if reshmi bansal gives it a 4 star then i guess its a must watch[:D]

Deja Vu

2007-05-03T17:25:00.000+05:30

3 unrelated stories on fraudulent practices in higher education came to light this past week… and not all of them were news…

The Dean of admissions at MIT, Marilee Jones was found to have “misinterpreted” her educational qualifications for the past 28 years… Read here

Dukes business school caught 34 graduate students for cheating in an exam and threw out 9 of those students…Read here

And a B School student in India dares to bare it all on the holy grail of B School activities…placements…Read here

It was a déjà vu of sorts when I read each of those reports. Faking outright of course is not a possibility because most institutes & recruiters in our country insist on degrees and certificates. But reporting on your work ex is an altogether different matter of course. Especially on your “interpretation” of it. And if we were to count the ripping apart taking place on assignments and exams I guess almost everyone I know (including urs truly) would have been suspended many times over. As for the last one, I am not saying anything. Last heard the guy who wrote it was being lynched by his batchmates… Is that why passing ethics is so tough in my college… or is there another story there…

F1 in Delhi

2007-05-02T10:18:00.001+05:30

Sounds too good to be true……….

New Delhi has moved another crucial step closer to arriving on the Formula One calendar of the very near future. With a project that is already supported by Bernie Ecclestone and private investors, it is reported that the exclusive designer of Grand Prix circuits recently made a visit to the Indian capital city.

"We'd like to position Delhi as a street circuit," the German is quoted as saying.

The article says that the inaugural Indian GP could be held as early as 2009. That’s only 2 years from now. Imagine F1 cars racing down the street in New Delhi. Driving in Delhi is never going to be the same again!

Check out at the complete article here

Sports Journalism

2007-04-26T19:28:00.001+05:30

This is one of the best sports article I have ever read. Its on the mass national obsession called cricket, based on the latest conspiracy rocking the sport (read Woolmers death). Its dripping with sarcasm and yet doesn’t belittle the game. And lot of intresting trivia too. Interesting read.

Just another rainy Sunday afternoon

2006-10-01T13:38:00.000+05:30

It’s a Sunday afternoon and I have go lots of things to do, but habit makes me laze around and procrastinate. So with that guilty conscious hanging around my neck like an albatross I play around on the net, play my hattrick game, read some blogs, scan thru the papers and LISTEN TO THIS SONG FOR THE Nth TIME IN LOOP.

I'm sitting here in a boring room
It's just another rainy Sunday afternoon
I'm wasting my time,
I got nothing to doI'm hanging around,
I'm waiting for you
But nothing ever happens
-- and I wonder
I'm driving around in my car
I'm driving too fast,
I'm driving too far
I'd like to change my point of view
I feel so lonely,
I'm waiting for you
But nothing ever happens,
and I wonder(Chorus)
I wonder how,
I wonder why
Yesterday you told me 'bout the blue blue sky
And all that I can see is just a yellow lemon tree
I'm turning my head up and down
I'm turning, turning, turning, turning, turning around
And all that I can see is just a yellow (another) lemon tree
La, la da dee da, etc.
I'm sitting here,
I miss the power
I'd like to go out taking a shower
But there's a heavy cloud inside my head
I feel so tired, put myself into bed
Where nothing ever happens
-- and I wonder
Isolation is not good for me
Isolation -- I don't want to sit on a lemon tree
I'm stepping around in a dessert of joy
Baby anyhow I'll get another toy
And everything will happen
-- and you'll wonderRepeat Chorus
I wonder how
I wonder why
Yesterday you told me 'bout the blue, blue sky
And all that I can see
And all that I can see (dit dit dit)
And all that I can see is just a yellow lemon tree

Lemon Tree is probably Fools Garden’s, (a German band) best singles. Hear it and u’ll love it, especially if it’s a lazy lazy Sunday afternoon.

KANK - Reflecting Reality

2006-08-13T20:06:00.000+05:30

Watched KANK yesterday after hearing a lot of negative views on it being a rubbish movie. Surprisingly for the first time felt it wasn’t so for a Karan Johar movie. Oh, there was no dearth of the mushiness or Shahrukh’s overkill but the story wasn’t bad. It was more than anything relavant. A decade back it wouldn’t have made any sense. That was a time when relationship were strictly compartmentalized and anyone going beyond them either kept in well hidden or faced the risk of being socially ostracized. Today one can read reports of 50 year old grandparents filing for divorce and hear stories of all kinds of relationships inside and outside marriage. I am not discussing the right or wrong of it here, but social permissiveness has certainly risen to a level which we couldn’t have thought of a few years back, and in spite of all hypes and hooplas created by the Hindutva fronts.

KANK was a story told at various levels. It was about a perpetual loser who couldn’t come to grips with his own failures and with his wife’s success. About a woman who had compromised with her life by marrying a guy she was indebted to but not in love with. It was also about two successful people who had all the happiness in the world except for their grouchy partners and couldn’t understand their grouse. More than anything it’s a story on relationships transcending boundaries and various shades of grey thrown all around. Somewhere inside the music and the drama touched a cord that life is complex and that’s not a fault. It’s a kind of story you could get to watch in a mallu movie sans all that melodrama. Certainly not the usual fare dished out in Bollywood.

Critics of the movie have said that the story line is weak, SRK aka Dev had no reason to fall in love with Rani aka Maya. I feel they had all the reason in the world. Both were lonely souls who hadn’t anyone to share their joy and sorrows with. Just because your spouse is attractive doesn’t mean you can also emotionally bond with them. Besides love is blind and when you find someone you can empathize with you’ll obviously be attracted to the person. If you don’t believe me, then just look around and you’ll find the oddest of couples in this world. Odd in our eyes but probably not in their eyes and if its not empathy which binds them then I don’t understand what does. But in a way the movies a warning to all married couples. If you’re looking for help from the opposite sex for ur relationship, ur only heading for trouble. After all half the appeal of the forbidden fruit lies in the fact that it’s forbidden.

Long Time No C

2006-07-18T00:25:00.000+05:30

Its been a long time since I posted here. I guess I usually post when I am down in the dumps, that’s probably the only time some introspection kicks in. Life has been fairly normal past few months. Nothing special, just plain and boring. First it was the summers which started with great enthusiasm but then obliviated into plain boredom; a problem I have faced in every project I have handled so far. Then it was a trip back to Kerala after almost a year. Pretty nostalgic but again nothing special. And then the second year of MBA started bringing with it the dreads of what I’ll do once I leave this place. SCM, IT or consultancy, it shud be one of these as marketing and Fin were ruled out long ago. But havnt been able to eliminate from those three. Which one shud I take and why. In the end I am sure my career decision will be made by default. One year of MBA has been unable to solve my confusion.

Meanwhile the juniors arrived in campus a week before us and in twice the no of our batch. One wonders how the admin allows for such vast increase without first building the supporting infrastructure which will take atleast 2-3 years to build. The director seems in a hurry to build some sort of a legacy before his term of 5 year expires. I hope it bodes well for the college although the recent rankings in Business mags do not suggest so. Partly that’s the result of rankings changing from parameter based to perception based. And that has always been NITIE’s weak point. Lack of knowledge amongst aspirants, general public as well as some B school junta. Only a month back I met a girl who had passed out of an MBA from a college much below ours in all rankings and she didn’t what NITIE was. She was an Engineer to boot! And worse I was more familiar with her colleges name than she was with mine. What a pity! It could have been an isolated case but somehow I don’t think. “Buzz” or “Media” or “PR” are words which are not there in NITIE’s dictionary.

Life is meandering along predictable course these days. Eat, sleep, drink, watch movies and do some Prerana work. Pretty soon that movie watching will be replaced by Prerana work. Acads are something that never entered my syllabus here. I always considered myself a fraud mallu and a fraud engineer. Now I’ll have a fraud business degree to boot. Amen.

Mumbai is raining Cats and Dogs

2006-05-31T22:01:00.000+05:30

Mumbai Dejavu

Monsoons are right on track in Mumbai and as usual the city is flooded. First rains of the season and its mayhem all around. Coming from my office in Haji Ali, I had to wade in knee length water to get to the station. The train which takes half an hour to reach Andheri took an agonizing one hour with double the crowd which normally is there. But the worst was yet to come. There were no buses available from Andheri to Vihar or even Powai and even the auto wallahs were refusing to come. Luckily for me I found two guys from my college, Jaya and Bart and managed to get a rick to the college. The only saving grace was that the underbridge which usually gets waterlogged, and in the process making NITIE an island was not so. All thanks to the BMC which cleared the drainage system there after several people lost their lives there last July. Now if only they would be more proactive instead of reactive.

Schumi does it again

2006-05-28T11:55:00.000+05:30

Schumi Schumi…Bad Boy

It’s a pity to see that people we rever as icons sometimes can stoop to such depths for what they consider as their birthright, the right to win. What made schumi the champion all these years, his pride, his confidence, his ego have today turned him into an arrogant, overconfident and egotistic maniac. One who doesn’t stop at anything for a win. Not even caring for the spirit with which sports is followed. For him its no sport, it’s a war. And in his mind probably there is no second place. There’s only the extreme of either a win or loss. Its like u either live to celebrate or u die. I guess that was the spirit that made him break all records. But today that is what making him break all the rules and convents. Not that schumi cared much for them at any time. Those who have been following his career would know that.
Schumi first won the World championship in 94’ a season marked by controversies and deaths. In the last race of the season he did what he does best; crashed his car into Damon Hill taking both of them out and winning the championship. Before the start of the race there was only a one point difference between the two. His car was also found to have illegal software helping him to go faster. But then for his fans these are just mere technical matters. Of course one could go about Schumi and his antics. But that doesn’t serve any good.
To be fair to schumi, he has been one of the greatest driver of all times. One doesn’t become a 7 time world champion without being the best, especially in a highly competitive sport like F1. And the FIA has been no saint either. It has not limited itself to the role of just a governing body but has tried to govern the race results itself. But does that give schumi the excuse for what he has been doing all these years. If he had been born in an earlier era, such tricks would have cost many drivers life, including his itself. Today safety stds thankfully are more stringent. But the greatest ignominy for schumi would be if the future generations remember him not for the records he broke but for the rules he broke. Is that what he wants his legacy to be, I wonder. To be known as not as the Schumi but as the Scum!

Debate with Arjun Singh

2006-05-22T19:28:00.000+05:30

There has been a lot of hue and cry going on over Reservations for past few weeks. But other than anguish and emotions, there were hardly any hard facts about whether reservations were right or wrong. After all who has the time to go through Mandal Reports and stuff. But in a hard hitting debate, Karan thapar has put forward a very strong case against reservations, something which left even the Honble(is he?) minister Arjun Singh on the back foot. No am not gloating, for even I was a fair bit confused with all those % figures being quoted about. But this clears a lot.

Bombay Diaries: Just another day in Sailu's life

2006-05-18T16:20:00.000+05:30

Bombay Diaries: Just another day in Sailu's life

Mumbai is a pathetic city. Its a city of unrelenting crowds, a city of potholed roads, a city which gets washed away every other monsoon (which maybe only helps for its a city full of filth too), a city of jampacked trains and buses moving like snail, a city where skyscrapers look down upon shanties right beside it, a city where you dream of rupiah in the day and the dancebar walli in the night, a city of bhais, and even more dangerous bhens, a city where if u are not smart u are dead. A city which i love to hate.

And yet the city survives, nay flourishes and surprises many critics like me. This link is on one such story. Maybe it should be called Bombay Dreams.

yipee crossed the 1000 mark

2006-05-05T17:07:00.000+05:30

So after a year and one month my blog has crossed the 1000 hit mark. Not bad for such a pathetic writing. of course it includes my hits also. but due blogger word i dont visit my own site these days. Some random hits wud also be there i guess, esp since the map below shows hit from east china! now who wud want to read my blog there. any hoping that the millinieum comes at a much faster rate.

Kuch Meetha Ho Jaye

2006-05-01T12:51:00.000+05:30

It’s been 3 weeks now since my summers started and I haven’t published a single post so far. It’s not really coz of the work load but the strain of traveling around 4 hours everyday which leaves me dead tired by the time I reach back. Any way for starters I am doing my summers in Cadbury India Ltd. in Supply chain planning. The project is something on demand planning, what exactly I am still not sure, I hope I am able to decipher at least by the end of the project.

Anyway here’s a brief peek on what happened the last three weeks.

Day 1: 10/04/06 ; 06 30 IST
Hostel 4, NITIE
First day, first show and I am up at the crack of dawn to unleash my arsenal on Cadbury, arsenal being all the fundoo things I learnt in SCM in class. I was ready to take them on. It was the first time I had felt so confident before doing a project. Maybe ‘twas coz of the learning (which was mostly on how to fart) or maybe my work ex had taught me that all projects are eventually destined for the rack labeled “projects” in the basement of the HO. The speed of this happening is however a function of your PPOiablity (ur chances of a Pre Placement offer in Bschool lingo) within the company.

08 30 IST
Byculla, via Dadar, via Kanjumarg
I am being crushed, minced, squeezed and being made into a pulp. That’s what happens when you travel in Mumbai local trains during peak times without a first class season ticket. At te end of the journey I am fit only to be used as baggase in Bio gas plants!

09 30 IST
Cadbury House, Haji Ali.
Its great to be here. With summer interns from all the top colleges in India in one of the respected FMCG cos. in India and the prospect (atleast at that time) of a great summer project to boot. First session talks with HR talk and then followed by Marketing gurus talking all about the brand equity

12 00 IST
Basement, Den or the Dungeon of Cadbury house (that’s our abode for the next two months)
More marketing gyan, seems to be like a real hardcore mkting company

16 00 IST
Den
Still more mkting gyan, Is mkting the only thing that the company does I wonder. Seems to be like a overload now. But I am not the one to be beaten. I still ask Q, most of them stupid ones, but it’s the first time in my life my colleagues are asking me to shut up my mouth. Hehe I am beginning to like this.

18 00 IST
Still in the den
Finally something on SCM, marketing was beginning to get on my nerves, now finally the subject of my choice. But the guy ran over like a bullet train. Before you could say hulloo he had mouthed a hundred acronymns and equal no of jargons. I pitied my frds there who had hardly any exposure in SCM, they must have felt it was some endless tunnel they were staring at, not that I was any better of , but I didn’t try to change their opinion that I was following every word to the T. This one time I didn’t ask questions. Why did it have to be so dry. Is it the subject or is it the ppl who take up this subject.

2000 IST
On a bus from Haji Ali to Kanjumarg

2100 IST
Still on the bus

2200 IST
Still still on the bus. I have stopped looking at the watch now.

2230 IST
Finally back in room.
And as I drift into a sound sleep all I think of is the alarm clock set up for 5 am tomm. To go the Pune plant. Snore!!!!

Finally...

2006-04-07T15:17:00.000+05:30

Exams over finally, So I have now become the MAN of MANAGER. Not too enthusiastic though. Considering that even after 18 years of studying I am still only mugging up things and forgetting them right after exams there’s not much to cheer about either. I am going on 25 and still studying the same way I used to at the age of 3. whats the use of it all I wonder. ( Anyway(s) there’s a summer project awaiting from Monday itself. Some people got lucky. Their project starts from next month only. So almost a month to enjoy. Gawd it’s so unfair. But I shouldn’t be cribbing tonight. Tonight is the day to NJOI.

Satisfaction Guaranteed

2006-04-05T20:34:00.000+05:30

I have been PUKING for the last three days! Puking words, figure, diagrams, table anything…anything that my tiny little brain, with a woefully short term memory (which decays faster than some of those new elements being found these days) can dredge up from its rabbit hole.

Been mugging up things to get more, more and more marks. Not that I get a lot. What with an excuse for a scrawl that my handwriting is, cant hope for much either. So what do I get by all this retching and throwing up. VALUE addition and knowledge….no way, Hope for enough MARKS to be somewhere in the top half of the pyramid….maybe, SATISFACTION that I did all I could do in whatever time I had………….. Oh ABSOLUTELY YES!!!

Cramming away to glory

2006-03-30T13:59:00.000+05:30

Big Brother Microsoft has developed a very nifty application in Excel by the name of Goal seek. I say nifty coz there’s nothing too fundoo about it. It just helps you avoid rewriting the formulas all over again. Anyway I was using this goal seek for the first time after getting the consolidated marks of 1st and 2nd module. I was wondering what it will take me to get an overall cgpi of 8+ in the third module and the solver tells me that I will have to score above 8.3 in 3rd module to be able to breach that figure, A stupendous task by my standards. So I downgraded my expectations to 7.8 and found that it will take me something around 8 to be near that figure, not impossible but it wud require me to cram a lot, study useless subjects where differentiation matters, and stick to just what Profs tend to ask. Meaning study well from a small area and ignore the rest of the subjects. Maintaining current cgpi of 7.6~7.7 something should be relatively easier task. Plus I can study more in depth and concentrate on subjects I will need for summers and which I like. In short a lot of “learning” at the expense of marks. So which one do I choose.

I guess it’s a catch 22 situation for some people but my simple brain tells me only one thing. Learning is great but scoring marks is even better. The difference of .1 wont get me a better job or a help me in my career and since it’s probably my last morsel of education I don’t need good marks for furthering my degrees either. But around 18 years of education tell me that there’s no bigger ego booster than scoring more marks. So here’s to more of cramming. Cheers!

Be a MAN!!!

2006-03-29T22:22:00.000+05:30

In Engineering we used to celebrate the passing of each semester by toasting to the fact that we are one step nearer to becoming an ENGINEER. The fact that there are exactly 8 letters in ENGINEER meant that each semester used to be denoted by one letter till we became an Engineer.

Its only when someone cracked a joke recently that I realised same funda can be applied to MBA. here u become a MANAGER. And coincidently manager also has the same no of letters as there are modules in a typical B School MBA-7!

So now I am almost a MA and on the way to be a MAN after the third module exams which are breathing down the neck. So till the exams are over- Sayanora to all.

p.s. for coach- Such stupid thoughts are a result exam time hypertension, so please pardon me.

Dead tired

2006-03-28T00:07:00.000+05:30

Seriously tired of life these days, don’t know if its coz of approaching exams or something else that’s eating me within.

Kandys Photo blog

2006-03-25T21:56:00.000+05:30

I have started a new blog to put up my photos. Here’s the link
http://kandysphotoblog.blogspot.com.

Disclaimer

2006-03-23T22:28:00.000+05:30

Disclaimer: This is a request to the HUGE WIDE readership of my blog consisting of Eda Anna and his left breast chicken wing not to read too much into the crap written here. This is especially so for the post “MBA Coupling” which was NOT written with any of our batchmates in mind, but was focussing on the general trends in MBA community which consists of college other than NITIE too!!! You are free to comment though, as long as its in the comment section, which has been accumulating dust for quite some time now.(

The lesson of the moth

2006-03-21T02:58:00.000+05:30

This is what passion is all about…………..

The lesson of the moth

i was talking to a moth
the other evening
he was trying to break into
an electric light bulb
and fry himself on the wires

why do you fellows
pull this stunt i asked him
because it is the conventional
thing for moths or why
if that had been an uncovered
candle instead of an electric
light bulb you would
now be a small unsightly cinder
have you no sense

plenty of it he answered
but at times we get tired
of using it
we get bored with the routine
and crave beauty
and excitement
fire is beautiful
and we know that if we get
too close it will kill us
but what does that matter
it is better to be happy
for a moment
and be burned up with beauty
than to live a long time
and be bored all the while
so we wad all our life up
into one little roll
and then we shoot the roll
that is what life is for
it is better to be a part of beauty
for one instant and then cease to
exist than to exist forever
and never be a part of beauty
our attitude toward life
is come easy go easy
we are like human beings
used to be before they became
too civilized to enjoy themselves

and before i could argue him
out of his philosophy
he went and immolated himself
on a patent cigar lighter
i do not agree with him
myself i would rather have
half the happiness and twice
the longevity

but at the same time i wish
there was something i wanted
as badly as he wanted to fry himself

archy

-- Don Marquis

To IT or not to IT

2006-03-20T00:31:00.000+05:30

In Peter Robinson’s “Snapshots from Hell” he talks about how Quant sounds greek to him. Somehow I feel the same in IT subjects. Students in our class can be divided into 2 species, IT and non IT. Non IT are mainly mechies (not all though) and have somehow evaded IT so far in our lives. Now it somehow doesn’t seem possible, considering the no of IT companies coming to campus.

MBA coupling

2006-03-20T00:26:00.000+05:30

Do MBAs make better couples with each other. This thought has been vexing me for some time now. Wherever I turn to I find more and more MBAs chosing each other as partners. This is used to quite common in Doctors, but then their reason are quite logical (or monetary rather); when u got a Dr for a partner you half the cost of setup your clinic, and this is esp. important for surgeons who have to invest lacs of rs in equipment, so it makes sense to have a partner in the same prof. The same bug caught IT profs in late 90’s when most of them dating and marrying each other. But IT ppl work odd hours and many ended in divorces. But MBAs? What reason cud they have to hitch with each other.

P.S.- Just as I was writing this piece, V Anand comes and tells me that one of his close pal in MDI is having a GF. The guy is from TN, gal from Delhi, family probs abound and yet everything have taken a backstage and they are prob set to marry each other. Me again wondering why? Will discuss more in next post.

How to recogonise an MBA

2006-03-19T23:32:00.000+05:30

How do you differentiate an MBA from an Engineer… No I am not going to narrate some old joke, just an observation which was highlighted during Holi. An MBA student invariably has a pot belly, even the slimmest and fittest of guys ultimately take back one after 2 yrs in an MBA college. Almost like a medallion I guess. And like “chacha” in our batch will testify, no amount of work out or tennis can remove it. (

Happy holi

2006-03-16T19:06:00.000+05:30

I celebrated holi after a long long time, last time i guess i was in class 6th when i was in Delhi. Even in Kurukshetra I used to run back home and avoid getting dunked in muddy pot. This time though there was no escape. Some had to be persuaded....

Others were only too willing...

But none, not even the girls were spared...

And of course the visarjan in the lake after that....

That just about summed up the day...and of course thanks to Arya and Co for the "refreshing drinks" and "herbal medicines" served.:)

air dhakkan again

2006-03-13T20:26:00.000+05:30

And if further proof of Air Dakhans superior customer service was needed, just received an email confirmation of the tickets I booked a month back and the return flight of which I came by last week. If an automated process like that so much time, wonder how much time a manual process would take.

Air Dhakkans Kano Model

2006-03-13T01:57:00.000+05:30

The critique on Deccan Airways in the post below can be explained as per the Kano Model of Quality. The safety features are as everyone knows are “must be requirements”. These are not stated but their absence causes grave dissatisfaction. But what quality features like baggage handling, time discipline and proper service like faster check ins, etc. Are these not “Must be Requirements”. Can they be ignored by terming them as “one dimensional requirements” where customer satisfaction increases linearly with increase in service? Or are they implicit and if not provided up to certain levels cause extreme dissatisfaction. I guess these are the factors which will define Deccan’s success.

Air Deccan or Air Dhakkan

2006-03-12T21:21:00.000+05:30

Air Deccan, India’s first Low cost carrier, had one of its flight crash landing at the Bangalore Airport. Luckily no one was hurt and the papers were quick to state that it had nothing to do with Deccan being a low cost carrier and examples were given of similar incidents in Sahara, etc. But somehow the very fact that they had to underline this point shows that the customer requirements in Airline Industry are vastly different from other sectors. To make it low cost, Deccan has cut corners in its servicing. It states that safety is still its no.1 priority. But safety is not something that is very tangible unless an accident happens and then the lack of it becomes too apparent. On the other hand the poor service of Air Deccan is something which is now quite famous. Last week a frd of mine lost his baggage on a Deccan flight and had to go to the Airport Authority as the Deccan people did not even bother about registering a formal complaint. Talk to any Air Deccan passenger and all he’ll talk to you about is how flights are delayed or cancelled or about the poor in flight quality. Last week while I was coming from Delhi, they asked the passengers to stop using the front toilet as it had run out of water. Air Deccan says it competes with the railways and that truly seems to be. Problems like these were routine for the railways not the airlines industry. In fact when one sees a harassed looking passenger these days the word air Deccan seems to come automatically to the mind and the luggage tag only confirms it.

But if you are getting a return Delhi Mumbai ticket for just 3000 bucks and most times even cheaper do u really have reason to complain. After all look in any Deccan flight and you wont see the well suited executive with his Hidesign baggage but the common man with his VIP suitcase or sometimes cartons of the likes seen in trains too. So does this traveler who is saving hours of travel and gets to do so in class too, complaining. Well maybe not the first time around or even later but as the Indian middle class gets used to air travel its no longer going to benchmark Deccan with the railways but with other airlines. His expectations are already rising. A year back I was glad to travel in Deccan coz it saved me a good 12-14 hrs of travel. But today my viewpoint is different. I look at Jet, KingFisher, spice and other passengers and wonder why I cant get the same service. These still cannot match Deccan’s rock bottom fares but these rates are possible only because there are other passengers who are paying almost as much or slightly lesser than what a KF or spice charge. By clubbing their service requirements with those of other passengers who are paying 999 per flight, Deccan seems to be playing a risky game.

An airlines growth in India today is governed by the reach and network it has. That in turn is a function of the no of terminals and counters it can procure from the AAI. So as long as airport infrastructure is the constraint, Deccan is safe, but once the playing field is leveled and others grow to the same size (& that definitely seems to be the trend considering the no of airlines ordered by KF and others) the situation is going to change overnight. And all these customers won’t be remembering Deccan for being the first to give them wings, but for the shoddy services it offers.

p.s.- While none of the passengers on the flight blamed deccan for the crash landing (maybe they were thankful just to be alive), the others whose flights were delayed or cancelled coz of this were none too pleased. And that included passengers on the lowest fares. After all they do need to reach their destination on time, discounted fares or not.

F1 Season starts on a promising note

2006-03-12T20:35:00.000+05:30

The new F1 season has started with a bang in Bahrain it seems. Schumi was at the pole but Alonso took the flag as he first overtook Jenson and then Massa and finally overtook Schumi on the final pit stop. A very close race made doubly exciting by Kimi’s usual stunt of blazing from the back of the pack to take the last podium position. So the former champion (one of the greatest ever surely), the defending champion and the former challenger to schumi, the ice cool fin are all on the podium. This surely looks to be the all time great seasons on F1 to watch out for. Schumi is out to prove (prob for the last time ever) that he’s still the champ but Alonso has tasted blood last season and wont give up so easily. Kimi cud well turn out to be the surprise package in this 3 way duel and upset the whole apple cart, if only he’d be more consistent and his relations with his team wud improve but that might be asking for too much. Anyway it’s a good start for most teams esp. for Williams as they managed 5 points, with even proper test practice. Toyota however disappointed and the field seems to have leveled a lot with drivers like Ralf, Barrichello and Monterio struggling to keep pace. But then the season is a long one and theres still a long drive to the championship. So who knows! ... and that unpredictability is something that F1 fans have been yearning for a long long time.

No Indian B-school among top 100

2006-02-24T11:27:00.000+05:30

An edit of an article on how poorly, Indian B Schools compare to world standards. And its something all B Schooler’s in our country would (for a change) concur with. Whether it be completely private, money oriented ones like IIPMs or government controlled, heavy handed bureaucratic ones like NITIE, none of the B Schools have student welfare as their aims. Till now the general perception has been that the top 3- A,B and C were the exceptions, but their failure to be even in top 100 worldwide (and that too after all the bullishness shown by the world at large on India at present) shows that all is not hunky dory even there. Like the author says, Indian B school education is stuck in a rut. And its about time some foreign B Schools were allowed in to give all of them a run for their money.

According to a Financial Times survey, no Indian business school figures in the top 100 business schools in the world. One would have thought that the IIMs, established in the 1960s, would have forced their way into the elite group. After all, 45 years of being at the top in India should have created a global brand rubbing shoulders with the best.

Indeed, the timing of the survey is fortuitous since it comes at a time when supply of cross-border education and tuition fees charged by management institutes has been discussed passionately by both sides in this debate. Both steps are retrograde and fortunately neither of them is being pursued with any degree of seriousness. The IIMs have been allowed to go abroad and the Supreme Court has decreed that the fees should be decided by the individual school with the state government's oversight.

That no Indian B-school is internationally competitive is a result of the lack of international and domestic competition. This may be a surprising statement given that 1,200 or more such schools exist in India. The market has settled itself into an equilibrium where there is not much "competition' for students among the various segments.?

Competition is much more effective and severe among the students themselves. The status quo thus established is comfortable and as long as there is an endless supply of domestic students, the equilibrium is unlikely to be disturbed. This is similar to the protected market that was available to Indian automobile companies, for instance, in the 1980s, replete with long waiting lists and a conspicuous absence of innovative activity.??

Allowing B-schools to establish branches abroad is a necessary but not sufficient condition to disturb the existing equilibrium. While such a move can no doubt act as a "window" of learning for the schools going abroad, it will not spur "innovation" in domestic management education.

What is needed is lowering entry barriers for overseas business schools to establish branches in India (a la Singapore) as well as for private domestic players to enter the education market space. Niche players like ISB are unlikely to provide effective competition to the established schools.

Foreign business schools will not pose a threat to domestic schools, given their high establishment costs. Ultimately, it seems that intense domestic competition and the fight for attaining leadership will provide the right incentives for a few Indian business schools to emerge as world class.

The author is Professor of Economics at IMI.

The B School Swear

2006-02-17T13:32:00.000+05:30

So whats the biggest swear word in a B school. If u thought its the f word, u are sadly mistaken. The F word is today is bandied about more as a compliment than anything, almost like BC and MC is used in North India. A B school student is much more sophisticated than those rural folks and that wud require much more spiteful words and more touch of class.

So whats the dirty word in B Schools. Its nothing but the A word. The worst way to humiliate a person is to call him a type A personality. Nothing, nothing believe me beats it. On the face of it, it almost looks like a compliment. After all, A grades are what u aspire for in ur school and college. And A is supposed to be top of the line, even if it denotes PG18 as far as Bollywood goes. But the type A personality is a completely different species altogether.

So whats the type A personality. One site mentions it as follows “There are two cardinal features of type A that we must remember, namely, "time urgency or time- impatience" and "free-floating (all pervasive and ever-present) hostility.” While another one says that “The type A personality is a very flat personality, very strict. Fundamentally this personality grows out of having had to earn acceptance rather than being bestowed with it unconditionally”. All of them however agree that type A have issues with time, money and dirt. They always are afraid of loosing time, not having enough money to be respected and being dirty. Of course everyone has this issue, but its the extent of your paranoia that decides ur personality type.
Now most B school types are supposedly A type guys, but when u are labeled A+ even within this coterie, it means u are a real psycho. So just to make sure that I was not being labeled wrongly it took this test here. Now I am telling anyone my score, but I guess those names I was being called was with some reason. Anyway it doesn’t matter, coz type A syndromes die out early in their mid 50s due to stress and heart attacks. So I guess I might as well be a paranoid and drive the nuts out of people.

Type A syndromes: identify ur type

Do you eat fast and leave the dinner table immediately ? 2. Does your partner or any close friend tell you to slow down, become less tense, or take it easy? 3. Does it bother you a lot to wait in line at cashier's counter or to be seated in a restaurant? 4. Do you usually look at TV or read the paper while eating? 5. Do you examine your mail or do other things while listening to someone on the telephone? 6. Do you often think of other matters while listening to your partners or others? 7. Do you believe that usually you are in a hurry to get things done?

1. Do you often find it difficult to fall asleep or difficult to stay asleep because you are upset about something a person has done? 2. Do you believe that most people are not honest or are not willing to help others? 3. Do you become irritated when driving or swear at others? 4. Does your partner, when riding with you, ever tell you to cool or calm down? 5. Do you often have a feeling that your partner is competing against you or is too critical of your inadequacies? 6. Do you grind your teeth or has your dentist ever told you that you have done so? 7. Does the car-driving errors of other drivers, the indifference of store clerks, or the tardiness of mail delivery upset you significantly?

Some other signs: 1. Presence of impatience or easily induced hostility. 2. Constant apprehension of future disasters (which is not a symptom of an anxiety disorder or depressive disorder). The six physical signs are: 1. Excessive perspiration of the forehead and the upper lip. 2. Teeth grinding. 3. Indentation of the tongue due to its chronic pressure against the top incisor teeth. 4. Tic-like retraction of the upper eye lid. 5. Tic-like retraction of the corners of the mouth. 6. Brown coloring of the skin of the lower eyelid.

A Giant bows down

2006-02-17T12:48:00.000+05:30

http://money.cnn.com/2006/02/14/news/companies/coke_buffett.reut/

Warren Buffet steps down from Cokes Board

So the mighty Goliath has bowed down, although clearly not fallen. A man of iconic stature, Warren Buffet has always created his own path. However recent years have not been too good for him. There were accounting scams between his acquired companies and AIG and then there was his unwillingness to invest in tech stocks, and although he was proved right for a time being when the dot com bubble burst, but companies that have emerged out of that bubble and some newer one like goggle et al are taking the world by storm and clearly the future giants of the economy like Microsoft has been so far. And yet Buffet adamantly refuses to pick them up. However all this would have hardly mattered, what really seems to have battered his image seems to be his role on the board of Coke, where he was instrumental in Coke backing out of acquisition of Quaker Oats and its Gatorade sports drink. These were eventually taken over by Pepsi and today Quaker Oats along with Frito Lays provides 47% of its profits. Of course Coca Cola still sells more cokes, but Pepsi has outflanked it, cornering 80% share in sports drink and market leadership in bottled water, two of the largest growing segments. Pepsi is today a food company with beverage as just one of its arm. If Coke under the watchful eyes of Buffet could fail to read the market shifts, it clearly indicates the old order is failing and coke needs to rejenuvate itself before its too late. No wonder the stock market is cheering buffets stepping down, just as it had cheered his rise earlier.

Life is not beautiful, always.

2006-02-12T21:11:00.000+05:30

Don’t Know who wrote this article, but I’ll source this to Dennis for putting it on Dbab. Its wonderfully cynical, negative and Moribund article, but nevertheless quite true. No wonder they say truth is a bitter pill. Here it goes:

As some of you may know and some of you may not, for the past few months I've been comtemplating voluntarily ending my stint on earth. Here's why. And here's why I have not done it yet.

Why:
They say when you're at the bottom the world is wide open. That's the optimist's version. What they don't say is when you're in a hole, with the opening only a pinpoint above you, the world is no longer wide open but inexorably beyond reach.

When the future seems only a maze of deadends, when all seems futile, when one has nothing to look forward to, what is the point of living any longer?

I will be turning thirty three in two days, and I have to ask myself what I have learned in the thirty three years I've been alive. I've learned many things, but the most important things I've learned are these:

--Life is not unfair. It is plenty fair--as fair as it can be. There are some things which we have power over, and some things which we do not. What life is is uncaring. Life is apathetic. Life does not care what happens to you. Life is not concerned with your well-being. Life is disinterested. Life just is. Our existence is of no concern to life. How can it get any more fair?

--We are all born naked. We learn to hide behind clothing. Then we learn to hide behind lies. Then we learn to hide behind the accomplishments of others. Finally we learn to hide behind our convictions. Then we die alone.

--Most people would rather argue than be productive. People like to talk. They like to say things. They like to let everyone else know what they're thinking. But most talk is empty. Most talk is insincere and disingenuous. Most talk is bullshit. Actions, however, accomplish something--something tangible. Actions, as they say, speak louder than words. The only way to truly know people are through their actions, not their talk.

--Sartre said hell is other people. He was half right. Both heaven and hell are other people. I say life is other people. Life is people, period. There is no life outside other people. Therefore, I say a life without other people is no life at all. Obvious, you say? Think about life without people and you're just beginning to get a hint of a notion of a semblence of a taste of the abyss that is death. (NB: Those of you who would like to argue that hermits live alone, you all can read the previous paragraph; then you can sincerely go fuck yourselves.)

--Hold onto the beautiful things.

Why I have yet to do it:

I'm scared.

I'm tired--tired of hiding, tired of arguing, tired of people--but I want to hold onto the beautiful things. I want to hear the Chopin Ballades. I want to smell the baking cookies. I want to feel the soft caress of another. I want to see freshly fallen snow. I want to laugh. I want to learn. I want to live...but not like this.

"Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies."—Nietzsche
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If I look around me, I see the author is right. But when I look into the mirror I find he’s so much more true.

The Cindrella Man-A review

2006-02-11T20:59:00.000+05:30

Finished the remaining part of the Cinderella man which I started last night. An absolutely lovable heroic biopic of a depression era boxer going by the name of James j Braddock.. Played by Russell Crowe, James fight is just not limited to the ring. He has to fight to keep his kids off the street in the poverty stricken economic depression of early 1930’s. His career had gone down with the economy till he came back on a lease for his career given to him by his manager played by the superb actor Paul Giamatti. Going from fight to fight he finally challenges heavy weight contender Max Baer for the world championship. And on June 13, 1935 on the long island city of New York, he beat the man against odds of 10:1 to clinch the title. The movie is almost perfect in every aspect except that it makes an absolute hero out of James Braddock. Now everybody loves an underdog and that’s why probably the whole country was rooting for him. But this man took up boxing again only to feed his kids. If he loved his family and kids so much why would he go and fight a man who had killed two people in the ring before. Wasn’t it his ego that made him go for the fight. Ron Howard (he director) never gives a satisfactory explanation for this. Ultimately when James wife finds out how the hopes of all those who had suffered in the depression were resting on her husbands shoulder urges him to go and fight. But was that a good enough reason for him I wonder or was he himself so embittered that he wanted to go out and punch out Max who represented the rich socialists of the time by being so flamboyant and sophisticated. Maybe that was the reason but there’s no hint of what’s going on in James mind at that time.

(image placeholder)

Today however times are different and if this story were to occur today people I guess would identify more with Max than with James. After all we call Sania Mirza a confident player, we don’t call her brash or snobby!

Long time no C

2006-02-05T21:30:00.000+05:30

Its been a long time since I posted, first one in this year I guess. No special reason, cant even say I was busy, just plain lazy. My apologies to those who do care to visit my blog off and then, even though it’s a very small number.

I was in IIML recently to participate in their Manfest. ‘twas good enough. Not as impressive as IIMI’s Iris though and certainly could have been better considering their gargantum budget (unconfirmed rumour was twas 3-4 times that of Iris and our Prerana). It made me realise that it was not the money which counts but the effort put in and the level of detail you go into. One reason of course could be the strict acad env in L or Hel(L) as they call it. Certainly students there won’t get much time to organise things, & even outsourcing works to only a certain extent.

L had a few keynote speaker, a concept which is now being followed by most B school fests I guess. That and a few events like Quiz, paper and case studies, a musical night with bands like Parikrama, Euphoria have become quite common. What differentiates a fest is probably the scale and the execution. A, B and C definitely score in scale, while L not far behind. I scores in its execution with unmatched hospitality which all who have been there acknowledge. Also the happening crowd of Indore (which was definitely a surprise) makes the musical night a huge success.

There however is no world class event yet even by IIMA, something which matches say NUS or US B School in terms of worldwide participation. That is still some way off although A and C did manage to get students down from colleges like Yale and LSE. But these are probably students who are more interested in seeing India than participate in competitions. Like the foreign exchange students I met in I and L; when asked why they came down to study in India they first gave some fart like India is soon going to have an advanced economy. Finally they do agree that’s its just cos they have heard so much about India that they had come to explore India. Nothing wrong about that; probably that’s the sole reason for student exchange programs-cultural interaction. No wonder these people have seen more places in India in just 6 months than I have in the last 25 years.

This'll be the day that i die

2005-12-23T19:08:00.000+05:30

Whew....Module 2 exams finally over... am quarter of the way to become an MBA. Well and the song that comes to my lips is Don McLeans American Pie

And they were singing,
"bye-bye, miss american pie."
Drove my chevy to the levee,
But the levee was dry.
And them good old boys were drinkin’ whiskey and rye
Singin’, "this’ll be the day that I die.
"this’ll be the day that I die."

Ya this'll be the day that i die
Ciao
Kandy

Laterals rock NITIE at richter scale of 12+

2005-12-10T22:25:00.000+05:30

Hi all,
Laterals were held at NITIE today for the first time & were a huge sucess. Near about 30 were placed with Cos like ECS, accenture, delloite, Cypress, Intel, CTS, etc. coming in. More deails like top, median and average sals later once the official placement figures come in (maybe the title can help). Till then keep rocking.
ciao
Kandy-man(thats my new psuedoname!!)

The wheel comes full circle

2005-12-10T22:12:00.000+05:30

ET: Friday 9 Dec 2005
"Foreigners cant work in local BPOs"
The minister of state for IT, Mr Shakeel Ahmed today said that requests from foreign nationals for employment visa, for jobs for which large number of Indians qualify will not be considered.
Ten years ago had someone said that foreigners would be coming to India to get jobs the idea would have been preposterous. 2 years back, at a time when many NRIs were coming back to India,a chain mail was circulated saying that some day americans wud be standing in queues outside the indian High commissioners office in was washington to get work visa for India; but it was still considered a bad joke. Today the joke has become a reality. It might not be Americans as yet who want to come to India but then how far off will even that day be.

Lessons in B School- The power of Multi

2005-12-06T19:37:00.000+05:30

Life in B School is funny. It is infact a mirror image of corporate life and i believe if Peter Drucker had studied any Indian B School rather than GM he could have as easily written the "Concept of a Corporation".

Case in point being the recent IP war which happened among my batchmates recently and resulted in a lot of tensions. Now IP for those who dontknow is short for IP messenger, a windows based instant messenger program most B schools still use (although its ancient by computing standards) coz of its effectiveness and efficiency (Ya both as Drucker himself wud have testified). Now what happened is that since there is no moderator for this wonderful program which we can call as Gods gift to B schoolers, a lot of abuse keeps happening. abuse meaning here unsolicitated multis (mess to each and all inthe gp), swearing, calling names, etc. In fact if u ask me the next social revolution will probably start on IP. To give u a more succint idea of its power, on an average 10-30% (& thats an estimate on the lower side) of a B schoolers life is spent in reading, writing, and critically analysing multis. Toppers in class are decided not by who studies more but who spends less time on the IP. Another estimate is that the no of words a B schooler reads in multis is 10 times what he reads in textbooks in his 2 years. But this theory is yet to be proved. But enough on multis, lets not digress!

Now if it had been limited to the multis only it wud have been ok. But what started as harmless fun soon degenerated into a free for all. (as in what wud have happened to a co. without a head at the top) Anyone cud come and abuse anyone (sticks and stones can break my bones, but words cant hurt me- is what some of my batchmates firmly believe in), but just when we were thinking that it cant get worse, it so happened that the fairer sex started getting multis which cud have made even the fairer guys go red in the face. (just who sent them these multis and why is still as big a mystrey for NITIE as UFOs is for americans). This is when things got out of hand,now i admit there are no helens in my class who can launch a thousand ships (or maybe a 1000 rockets in todays world- no pun intended) but still a woman is a woman is a woman(calvin wud vouch for that) and as if one is not enough here were five of them.

Now this is not a diatribe against women (that will come some day later) so lets get back to the topic on hand on how B schools resemble corporates. Now this is a classical situation where one group is pitted against another, the two groups here being pro-females in the batch vs anti-females in the batch. Of course the farce being given was that its an indiscpline problem relating to misuse of IP.(In corporates that would be like saying we are fighting to get the right product for the consumer- which is the biggest bull shit i have ever heard, people fight for their own egos and for nothing else). Now the issue might have originated on IP but the crux lay else where (as explained above), technology was the scapegoat and what happened next was quite logical. A high level comittee (read top mgt.) immediately sat down to solve the problem and considering the sense & sensibilities of both parties(read ego) decided that hence forth there will be two IPs (now thats like an auto co. saying that we'll make a ferrari that gives 30 km/ltr); the plan was announced with much fanfare and the cybercom (read product develpment deppt. (PD) of a company) was asked to come up with a solution.

Now ppl in PD are usually considered genius but even they are not god, so when they were not able to come up with a soln. (or rather one that wud please all) the blame was put on PD for not doing its job (now in most companies that wud have set a few heads rolling) but this being a B school the PD responded so stingingly that all were put in place. So what happened now was a stalemate which continued for a few days while the rest of the class (or co.) was wodering if we were going to the dogs. A face saver was needed out of this dilemma and what happened next was a class meeting (read annual general meeting). A lot of heated debates took place, so did a lot of rabble rousing, and in the end a solution was reached ....that is all will use their restraint in public forums from now on. (or in other words shut up ur egos inside ur closet and dont display it on ur comp). A logical solution to a simple problem, but it had to come through all this to reach here.

But then u cant tell a child to behave and then not punish him when he does not. next time he flouts the rule with even more disregard. what happened is that the multis are back with even more force (got 100 of them in a space of 3 hrs yesterday) & if the female sensibilities have not been hurt so far its coz its only been a week since the ruling (!) was given. So its back to square zero.

Regards
TP
************************************************************************************
The best thing about a blog is that u can write any bullshit and u dont need a disclaimer either.
************************************************************************************

Mahabharata-in the Lord of the rings style

2005-12-06T19:16:00.000+05:30

Now this certainly will be a movie to watch out for in 2006. Aamir and Shahrukh khan together, the same crew as that of the Lord of Rings, a 300 cr budget, a trilogy, what else do we need. what we certainly dont need will be the usual drama which most Bollywood movies end up being, epic or not. If Booby Bedi really wants this to be for the international audience (and not jus for those foreigners who wud want to watch it just for some ethnic Indian fare), he'll have to avoid the usual song and dance fare (which seems unlikely) or the usual in your face dialogues. what we really need is a class action with movie with subtle meanings and subplots (like the matrix). But I dont think even mani ratnam can give such a movie. Mainly cos such kind of movies dont really become a hit in India and ultimately movie making is a business, if you forget your domestic customers your business wont run (been reading too much of macroeconomics i guess).

So what Bedi is making i believing is another hotch potch, which will run in India coz of the khans and run outside coz it will be labelled as prehistoric ethnic Indian fare(wonder when bollywood will learn its STP lessons in markting) If only the director had been Manoj Night Shyamalan, maybe we wud have got one class reiterpretation of the mahabharata.... which indeed is a great epic.

Warren Buffet with Tuck School students

2005-11-27T20:29:00.000+05:30

http://mba.tuck.dartmouth.edu/pages/clubs/investment/WarrenBuffett.html
Students of Tuck school of business, one of the top B schools in the US get to meet the legendary Warren Buffet. There is a transcript of the informal discussion on the page. But two things that very clearly stand out are that even Warren Buffet considers India to be one of the leading countries in the coming years. Now Mr. Buffet surely does a lot of research and reading but it’s very clear that in the end he follows his gut feeling. That’s why the second thing that he keeps repeating is “Do what you are passionate about”. Now the problem is most of us don’t just know what we are passionate about but like steve jobs said in his speech in Stanford, if you don’t know what you love, keep looking and don’t give up. Here are few more pointers from Warren Buffet
• do what you're interested in, have passion
• always act with integrity
• don't follow the crowd
• respect your community
• the best ideas are the obvious ones

Adieu
Truly Paranoid

Bucketfull of Crap!

2005-11-27T01:31:00.000+05:30

The internet is a great tool but at the same time it has also got equal proportion of bullshit sites. Sample this for instance http://www.pentagonstrike.co.uk/flash.htm#Main . It’s a flash documentary about how the plane that crashed at pentagon on 911 is not the boeing 757 it was supposed to be at all but was probably a missile or a fighter jet and a part of a larger campaign. Then there’s this link on the flash http://www.cassiopaea.org/cass/boeing.htm which first explains the 911 conspiracy and then goes on to talk all about govt. conspiracy and how bush was defeated twice in elections and yet was made the president. All I can say is it sounds like an overdose of matrix and men in black. Till recently it was all about how man had never landed on the moon and about aliens and now it’s the turn of 911.

Now the site has a lot of photos and lot of “testimonials” but how does one verify their authenticity. And how is it that all conspiracies happen in the US of A only. Its as if that is the only country in the world.

Now I know I haven’t checked on any of these theories or tried to check their authenticity but even if they are true I would rather have the blue pill (the one Neo never took in Matrix.. (I pity him)) than try to go after imaginary phantoms.

All said and done we are not much better than the Americans either, with our obsession with horoscopes and “janam kundli’s” et al, how can we call ourselves more rational than them. And I am no exception either. But then more on that later!

DEVILs PAGE - My life in NITIE

2005-11-26T04:47:00.000+05:30

the devil here is puneet. The quizophile of our IM12 batch in NITIE. Great company and always likes to go on a tangent especially in debates and GD's. Like the time we were asked to have a GD on WTOs impact on India during our summers and all he wud speak about is the world tourism organisation.

What happens when the back office fails!

2005-11-23T20:30:00.000+05:30

Back office or the operations part of any organisation has always been consigned to the backyards of any organisation till recently. Dark damp offices, grumpy staff, far inadequate infrastructure used to be its hallmark. But now slowly realisation has begun to sink that spending crores on the front end to lure customers is of no use if they are not going to come back to you again and again. Sadly while the large organisations and the very big malls have started taking some steps it’s far from what service should be like.

Sample what happened to us when we went to Imax Multiplex in Mumbai. 14 of us had booked online tickets for a morning show of the recently launched Harry Potter. So after braving the bus, train and taxi journey of more than 2 hours (not to mention waking up at wee hours of the morning at 7 so as not to miss the opening scene)-when we finally reach there at 10.30 the person at the counter refused to give us our tickets for which we had already paid 210 bucks each. But then a gang of 14 B school guys doesn’t get deterred so easily. After 10 minutes of swearing and cursing in the choicest language the guy says he'll try and check in the system!!! And then to make matters worse the computer takes ages to boot (And we blame the govt. for the poor infra). Of course by then the "terrific" opening scene was over.

The movie might have been good and the theatre might have been one of its kind, but the experience was lost. And what is a brand if not an experience in a customers mind. Or a better definition wud be one i heard once in Ashok Leyland-" A brand is a promise of an experience". The promise was great, but the experience was a huge let down. i might not minded if the same thing had occurred in any other theatre. But this brand makes a promise of a great entertainment and I pay additional for that (in fact there was some extra charges on the net ticket) only to be felt cheated. The brand didn’t just lose 14 customers only that day, it also lost out on that word of mouth publicity (& the reverse happens now) which is so essential & still its something that’s never given any thought.

Marketing swears by customer feedback, CRM and what not. Yet who took our feedback here. There was no feedback form or box there, no link on its site and when we went searching for the manager in the morning, even he was not there. And how many customers would even go looking for even one of these.

Today when all products are more or less similar Service is what differentiates. & yet very few companies are able to utilize it. The reason I guess is in the culture of the company. In some this philosophy permeates from the top where the top guys lead the way; while in others its just some bullshit to be hung on the wall and to be passed on to the person below you.

Mamma Mia

2005-11-16T15:28:00.000+05:30

I have been reading Gurcharan Das’s “India Unbound”, a very insightful book on where we failed as a nation. I have only gone through 1/3 of it so far but the ideas which he puts across are amazing. In one passage he says…

“The adult Indian male personality that emerges from various psychologists’ accounts has a weak sense of the self, one that needs the support of authority figures. He is less comfortable on his own. He needs appreciative, older, hierarchical figures, even late in his professional life. His relationships tend to be vertical and “control oriented”, and he is not good at forming horizontal, cooperative relationships with his peers. This translates into poor teamwork.”

Although the author excuses himself by saying that there is not enough literature on the subject, I couldn’t agree with him more. We all tend to look at our teachers, Profs or boss for that one good word and our day is made. Of course there is a period of rebellion in our teens when we care more for peers than for even parents, but even that does not last long.

Earlier in the page he delves into the reason behind this and says “…it begins with the Indian bride, who is not fully accepted in her husband’s home until she produces a male child. She is so grateful when a son is born that she indulges him to excess. As the boy grows up he remains close to the mother and distant from the father. The end result is that the boy grows up narcissist and has a weak ego”. It’s so very true not only in North India where female infanticide is so very common but even in south there is definitely a discrimination. Even in Gods own country, where the females outnumber the men, even there a female child is “desired” after a male has been born to run the family. People would much prefer to boys rather than two girls. And if it’s a boy and a girl the differential treatment is so very visible. And the boy remains in his mother’s care for so long and becomes so lazy that even after marriage he expects his mother to make the decisions. Something very similar to Italy’s Mamma mia syndrome.

Regards
TP

Waiting lists are not all bad

2005-11-10T03:35:00.000+05:30

last week i went home for the diwali holidays and as usual i was too lazy to book my tickets till it was too late and i got only waiting list tickets. even then i was too lazy to try for some alternatives and let myself be comfortable in the false belief that it would get confirmed in some quota. but diwali is a time when even the VIP quotas have a waiting list. eventually i had to board the train from Andheri with a waitlist ticket. But being a fatalist, I left my destiny in the hands of the "humble" Ticket inspector or TT. Of course my belief that TT's were a very benovalent breed when their palms are greased was soon to be shattered. For this is a time when when they carry suitcases with them to carry home the "prasad" the devotees offer. in such a scenario what could a poor student like me offer.

So without even bothering to even listen to my pleas i was shunted out of the AC coach and told to find myself some place in sleeper. Thankfully the lesser gods there were more gentler and didn't shove me out of the train itself.

But then when the TTs proposed to make my life miserable the gods above had planned better things for me. For waiting right outside the AC "dabba" was one georgeous lady who was in the same quandry as I was. Its said that tough times brings people together (one of the reasons why baby booms happen right after a recession as per economists or whoever does these surveys) and then one thing led to another and we were soon in the sleeper compartment on a single seat. But then the crowd there was so much that we were soon parted by the "zaalim zamanaa". But of course not before i got her phone no and all other details. Thats why I always say whatever happens happens for the good.

Regards
TP
p.s.- the night was spent sleeping on the floor before the AC bathroom, but then i didnt mind. I would have hardly had any sleep any way.

Obituary to Ankur Jain

2005-10-27T14:33:00.000+05:30

Never felt so empty in my life. Yesterday I got to know that one of my close friends in Ashok Leyland had passed away. Ankur Jain, IT-BHU 2003 passout - Mech, fondly called Kholu by near and dear ones. Brilliant guy, used to be my roommate during our MDP programme in Hosur. A computer wizard, guess I must have learnt more from him than from any course. He was working in the Engine Sales deptt. in Mumbai before shifting to Tata Motors in July. We had many parties, many fights and many arguments together. Kolu, Sanju, Sherpa, Nawal, Monu and a few others like me were one gang during those 6 months in Hosur.

I had sent a mail to him on last Friday asking him to come to our Rock show during Prerana. He was a big rock fan….But then he never read that mail even I guess. Its surreal almost, that a person u knew so close today is no more. He died in an auto accident at midnight in Delhi, probably caused by some car driver who was drunk.

I cant even bear to think of his parents grief. The eldest son who was supposed to take care of their business, of his younger brother who must have always looked upto his brilliant brother. But then who can say predict life and death. Who knows whether we will see tommorrows sun or not. We can only say we are alive at this moment of time only. when the time comes we all will go.

May his soul rest in peace. Amen

DropletsofLife-sudip chakraborti

2005-10-17T19:37:00.000+05:30

DropletsofLife

Blogger word is cool

2005-10-15T12:05:00.000+05:30

Hey this blogger word software is cool. Now I just need to open word, type in my thoughts and press publish. Viola that’s all. Check out http://buzz.blogger.com/bloggerforword.html
Regards

tRuly ParaNoid

School life, not a bschool one though

2005-10-10T16:08:00.000+05:30

These days i'm too lazy to write some original posts; also too busy considering that Prerana, NITIE's annual B school fest is just a fortnight away. So I thought i might as well do some & and this is one good nostalgic poem sent by V Anand in our class. I guess this wud bring back memories for all of us, irrespective of where we have studied.

Gone are the days
When the school reopened in June,
And we settled in our new desks and benches.
Gone are the days
When we queued up in book depot,
And got our new books and notes.
Gone are the days
When we wanted two Sundays and no Mondays, yet
Managed to line up daily for the morning prayers.
Gone are the days
When we chased one another in the corridors in Intervals,
And returned to the classrooms drenched in sweat.
Gone are the days
When we had lunch in classrooms, corridors,
Playgrounds, under the trees and even in cycle sheds.
Gone are the days
When a single P.T. period in the week's Time Table, Was awaited more
eagerly than the monsoons.
Gone are the days
Of fights but no conspiracies,
Of Competitions but seldom jealousy.
Gone are the days
When we used to watch Live Cricket telecast,
In the opposite house in Intervals and Lunch breaks.
Gone are the days
When few rushed at 5:30 to
"Conquer" window seats in our School bus.
Gone are the days
Of Sports Day, and the annual School Day,
And the one-month long preparations for them.
Gone are the days
Of the stressful Quarterly, Half Yearly and Annual Exams,
And the most enjoyed holidays after them.
Gone are the days
We learnt, we enjoyed, we played, we won, we lost, We laughed, we cried,
we fought, we thought.
Gone are the days
With so much fun in them, so many friends,
So much experience, all this and more.
Gone are the days
But not the memories, which will be
Lingering in our hearts for ever and ever and
Ever and ever and Ever.

Free at last!!!

2005-09-23T18:05:00.000+05:30

Finally at last. after five days of slogging and having fever to boot in the last two days I am free from the torture of studies. till the next module exam of course. But the fever's spoilt all chance of enjoying myself today. the whole junta has gone out to enjoy while i am lying here. Koi nahi. atleast theres relief of finishing wih the exams. meanwhile a lot is happening here. Prerana work has started in full swing. the posters are out. a bit dissapointing. The fonts and colour are not that good as i wanted it to be.

The sports meet with IIM I is there in first week of Oct.. hard to get some decent practice in that time. But kya kare. Izzat ka sawal hai. kuch to karna padega.

But aaj ke liye to eating , sleeping and watching movie.all 3 after a loong loong time. ciao.

yours truly paranoid.

Time out

2005-08-10T00:27:00.000+05:30

What is more important in life...time or money.... no i'm not testing anything here. i know even a 14 yr old wud know it's time...i was just trying to say that if i havn't posted in a while its coz of time or rather the lack of it. We all know the value of time but it's here that one really feels it. 6 months back i was working 9-7 in Ashok Leyland...and still cud find time to write a blog, give the cat, sleep a lot and even make good frds thru missed calls (more on that later). Today all i got is 3.214285714285714285714285714285 hrs of class in a day..(15 classes of 1.5 hrs each in a week) and i dont get time to even open my yahoo mess. So let me c where all that time is flying off to...

Studies: the only time books are being opened here are the day before the test, quiz, assgn, etc... stats i guess is t most imp subject this module...something which i had been planning to study since t day i landed here ...finally it happened t day before the midterm...slogging till 5...of course its a different matter that it turned out to be an open book exam ...but atleast i learned something.

Net/Games: i think net is where most of my time is going ithout even my knowing it....and i havn't even started playing games on t net so far but sadly net is something without which u cant live in a b skool ...t only hope is that i use it proper.

Movies: watched one full movie and lotsa half movies...lotr 1st part...ng33.33 1st part...etc. hope to complete them sometime and delete the 20 Gb its occupying in my hard disk...

Sleep: well sleep starts at 5 and if there's a class have to be up by 9...and since i'm not an insomniac i catch up t lost sleep in class or after class...so an avg. of 5-6 hrs of sleep a day...too much by bskool stds? well i dont think i can survive on less..

So where did the rest of the time go...attending alumni lectures...extra classes...prerana meetings...grp presentation meetings...gd prep...forums..etal..

So finally t conclusion is time = money; except u just cant hoard it...

Cats and dogs

2005-08-01T23:05:00.000+05:30

Its raining cats and dogs in mumbai since last week. And although i have seen lots of rain in kerala there's been nothing like this. It started last monday when it caught all unawares. But even now when all are prepared nothing much is being done. The govt is being blamed but i dunno what even an efficint govt. cud have done when the whole city is reeling under such a crisis. Cherrapunji's record is broken, Mumbai has recieved enough water in one week for 18 months... but these are just statistics. Went down today to watch how much it has flooded and the small nalla already looked like a small river... and with vihar lake about to burst the situation is catastrphic. Luckily we are on a higher plane so there's no chance of flood here as in those slums i saw today . it looked as if someone had built a house in the middle of the river.

But even here all committee programs have been badly hit. We can't even move out as there's 6 ft water on the roads in some area. and the worstpart is there's going to be even more rainfall in next two weeks. Some astologers are calling it the work of the planets or whatever...

Meanwhile other parts of the country are reeling under drought like in Bihar. I only hope Mumbai comes out better for it.

Truly paranoid in a B school

2005-07-26T13:11:00.000+05:30

Now i can truly say i have become a part of a bschool.We hade to make a pres. on Mandi economics in eco class today and we hardly prepared anything yesterday. Our slides were made while other groups were making their presentation. our discussion took place on the spot...and we gave out a lot of global fart...but still we could manage a decent enough show...just goes on to show how much we are already been moulded into the B school psyche in just a month...........
...........Arbit Choudhary would have been proud of us

with luv
Anand

Vertical Limits

2005-07-21T20:56:00.000+05:30

There are many paths to the top. The majority just follow the crowd along the beaten path, some are priviledged enough to take the expressway and then there are some who prefer climbing over the obstacles throwing all caution to the wind. No I am not talking philosophy, I am speaking about the trekking I did in Lonavala. Not that i belong to the third set but then there are times even the most cautious of guys like me also become reckless.

It looked easy enough when we started off on the trecherous route... after all we came for some excitement and so we went looking for it. its said that fools go where angels fear to tread... whatever... once we started off there was no looking back... so we huffed and puffed and grunted as would have put sharapova to shame. Bulging potbellies (future managers indeed), Carbon filled lungs, chappals or too tight jeans.. nothing cud come in the way today....till halfway atleast. thats when i looked back and believe me my heart just stopped still. but then there was no going back. It seemed easier to climb up than go down. there were a few tense moments but then chintu baba was there to show the way.

In the end it was a climb worth more for the effort than for the view on top. And i think the pic says it all................... but there's no way i am doing it again!!!

what the hell!!!

2005-07-20T02:18:00.000+05:30

Its 2:22 as per my clock and the day has just started, there's assgn., presentation, and lots of other crap. 2nights a long night and may the lord help me. Amen!

Mean while here's my pic of the day. taken from tom's camera at khandala. hope the day doesn't bring more monkey business!!!

p.s.- Our mandi trg starts tommorow...oops 2day i mean!

Chintu baba ki jai!!!

2005-07-18T01:18:00.000+05:30

Just back from our first outing of our batch to Khandala & Lonawala. When we first set out at 7 in the morn. the trips had all the looks of a disaster. Out of around 90 ppl in the batch only 30 were coming. Many had dropped out at the last moment 'cos of our return party hangover. And none of the girls were coming either. The mood as we set out was light but there was no sign of the masti that was to come. With no stereo system in the bus it seemed the bus trip wud be a drag. But then obviously there ppl who thought otherwise. what promised to be a dull outing turned out to be one of the most exciting one day trip i had been to. And the pic above says it all.
More on it later...

4hrs 14' past midnight

2005-07-15T04:06:00.000+05:30

Its 4:14 in the morning & I am still awake. Yahhooo! for that. Not that i am doing some great job or even something useful. All i am doing is editing my blog, downloading movies & other such useless stuff. But then what the hell tommorow whole day is free.

But the yahoo was for the fact that i have never been awake so long, for so many days consecutively, not for my engg., not for the world cup or euro cup(& i am a self confessed football freak-ghosh must be laughing on hearing that), not for the cat even. So its quite an achievement & 3 cheers 4 that. hope to get some good cheers in tomm nights party too.

Anyways my bike has come in quite ok condition, although the octroi duty took my breath away. Tommorow will try to get it more functional. But for the moment thats all from here. Adieu.
Signing off
Nandu

life sucks....at least sometimes.

2005-07-13T17:13:00.000+05:30

hi
if there's anything that sucks more than my writing, it must be my net connection. Just when i finish writing a long post on my first week in NITIE, boom goes the connection leaving all my effort waste, and then it happns again when i finish writing about the freshers party and once again when i start writing about life here in general...and that too after trying innumerable times trying to get connected.and my superbly IT ignorant brain cant just figure out if its a problem with the net or my patch cord or something else. So right now i have just decided to crib and hope i am able to post atleast this once.

But otherwise life is rocking and i can't just figure out where the past two weeks have gone by, so i have decided to blog more often, atleast to keep a track of where time is flying by and for the sake of all those hapless visitors who must be visiting this blog.

Ciao

lessons from first job-2

2005-05-24T21:33:00.000+05:30

Knowledge in the workspace can be basically divided into two. one is the business knowledge and the other is product knowledge. At a lower level its always product knowledge thats most essential. Bcos that is what u are mainly dealing with. So if you are joining at a junior level its always best to go into a deptt. where u can get a lot of knowledge on the product. For eg in an auto co it might be the service deptt., quality deptt. or the vehicle testing deptt. functional areas like say finance, audit, or even say technological areas which are too narrowly defined like designing are no good unless u have got a thorough knowledge on the product.

At a higher management level its the business knowledge which dominates.. u will rarely find the senior mgrs of any co gushing over a new product. or trying to understand the finer details of a product. Of course one shud always have a balance between the two. even at a lower level a good business knowledge helps to push your image among the top mgt. and if you are at a top level without a good product knowledge u will only make a laughing stock of yourself.

I am back

2005-05-23T22:27:00.000+05:30

Back after a hectic week in kerala. Went to sabrimala first (more of that later). Then went roaming around here and there. some shopping, some resting those tired! bones. All in all a thoroughly enjoyable week.

These days i think more about what to write on the blog than let my natural thoughts flow. cant say if its good for the long term but for the moment its disciplined my thought process. Of course what i thought out earlier is hardly what i write about, but then thats another matter.

Swaamiye saranamayappa

2005-05-14T22:29:00.000+05:30

Dad and Mom have come today from delhi. Dad and me are gonna go to sabrimala on monday. will be back on next monday only but will try to post in between. meanwhile the structure of the blog is etting right after several attempts. good show for a novice like me even if i say it myself.
So till next time its swaamiye saranamayappa.

Get more details on sabrimala here or there.

Finding Love Online - Is This For Real?

2005-05-13T23:27:00.000+05:30

Finding Love Online - Is This For Real?

Mass hysteria

2005-05-13T22:41:00.000+05:30

If ever a study needs to be conducted on the beginnings of mass hysteria and cult formation well now is the time to do it on PAGALGUY.com. not that PG aka Allwyn agnel aka pagalguy hasnt done a great job. Far from it what he's done is fantastic. Something we mere mortals even dream about and thats been appreciated all along but now with his coming on young turks prog on CNBC he's popularity is at a peak. Odes are beiing sung about him. Man it has to be seen to be believed. Pretty soon i predict he will have a cult following. maybe i should also join in. I might be counted as the earliest ones to join the bandwagon. Maybe it might be a great tale to tell my grandchildren too. what say.

Those were the best days of my life

2005-05-12T20:43:00.000+05:30

It might have been a very short period of time but i can still remember it very vividly(& no i was not i love). that was the winter of 2000(not the summer of 69!). I was In REC Kurukshetra Btech 3rd semester. our classes had finished and exam leave was going on for one month. And since we study only during the PL, heavy prep were going on. Me and Pankan(my roommate at that time, also pop known as Panks Clay!) were there. the third guy Vada had left for his hometown.

But it was the peak of winter and every night at 12 exact we used to troop out , jacket, muffler, gloves, monkey caps all draped over to our Khokha(canteen). there we used to have hot teas with burger, samosa or bread omlette. all simple stuff but i can still feel the taste of it in my mouth. But the cold was biting and it used to come and chill our very bones. And although half the hostel had left we had some great company like Rohra, Bhupesh and others. Boy it was a great time and with Atlas Shrugged(or was it fountain head) for Co. the PL passed before it even began, and yet the taste of that long lost time still lingers on...

... dont remember exactly how much but in spite of all that my scores were still pretty good. And to top it all i had a bout of constipation also at that time.

FairyLand

2005-05-12T20:10:00.000+05:30

We all dream of fairylands as a kid.. i dream of it still, only now it has changed from dreaming of the fairies and orges and sweets and chocolatelands to something more mundane like the perfect job.. but its a fairy tale neverthless.

What would a dream job be like...lets see what it shudn't be like first.. well for one thing it needn't be a high paying job.. for u dont need a huge paypack to live, u need it only to pamper your ego. That's what B schools pamper to...In fact a dream job shudn't be a huge paying one i believe bcos that dilutes the quality of the work. Bcos then your work gets measured in your output... in say your billing hours and although that sounds great for measuring your value its not even a remote measure of its quality. Anyway coming back to the dream job it is not a cushy job either. A dream job is one that challenges you, pushes you further to do things on your accord (and not just there's a pushy boss who wont give you a good rating unless u have proved u have ground your ass... whether it helped the Co or u wasted your time be damned). It definitely shoud be on a learning curve job, cos the moment u have started doing your job wiyhout even thinking about it is the moment u have retired from it.

My present job gives me all this i guess. A steep learning curve (As far as tech matters go), maybe even so steep that i cudn't climb it in the two years i was here, it pays me enough i guess, its not cushy and keeps me on my toes. It even gives me some slight sort of flexiblity in erms of what i really want to be good in, technically, in the systems part of it, or in the marketing part of it. But still the job stinks and i can think of only one reason for it. Its something i found i related t in Football. In football the bet games i remeber today are when my team had performed well and not just me alone. the team spirit was THE thing which made all the effort worthwhile. But is that so in my job. No way, here everyone is trying to score his own goal. I came to my deptt. in feb and fr almost two months i felt neglected. Once the formal intro were over nobody bothered to even come and talk. Not that things are any better after even one year. the only person i had a close rapport with was my ex boss(god bless him). But i am still a stranger to my whole deptt. Not that i am not at fault. Being a very meek and frightened guy i prefferd the easy way out and continued to plod on my screen without trying to interact more with ppl. But even then isnt the system which shud have absorbed me rather than me trying and barge my way into the system.

Consider that to NITIE my future college which has already enthused me so much that i can hardly wait to join. Not that it might be a great 2 years ahead, but already the feeling is there that i have been absorbed by the system. And i am sure 2 years down the line i wud be sorry to leave it. Other colleges are similar i guess and its not that the ppl there are more free or there is less competition, its just that once u join the rat race u really become a rat.

But ya i was talking bout my dream job, well the field doesn't matter, neither the salary nor the vacations. What matters is that the ppl wud form a great team and accomplish great tasks. Cos like Jack Welch himself said( i think) People want to be part of a great team and at the same time be respected for being themselves too. An apparent contardiction, but thats what great cos do i guess. Or i am living a fairy tale...

celebrity stalkers!

2005-05-09T22:01:00.000+05:30

These guys are dangerous... they stalk you worse than any celebrity stalkers...for there's not one or two of them.. but a whole army of them out there. They will catch you on the streets, they will gun for you in your own office, they'll call on u'r unlisted no, they will pop up on your screens, they invade your mailbox, they wont even leave you when yu are skunking outside office looking for some quite place to fag after the Boss's torment. why they will come even then and unleash their attack without mercy or shame. u can shout at them, can plead with them, u can cry and tell them you have already been a victim ... not once but twice... but they wont care or even listen... they will still come after you with all guns roaring and tell u that u just cant miss it. why one wud even think they are offering you a box of candy and u are being a spoilt brat, for throwing a tantrum and refusing them.

And there's no escape except for may be to look right through and act as if they don't just exist and move out as fast as your legs can take you.

....After all it's not that easy to shake of a credit card seller, is it?

Lessons from my first job-1

2005-04-24T19:14:00.000+05:30

This been on my mind for sometime now. Joining the corporate world after engg had been something of a learning experience although i did find myself woefully inadequate for it both technically and in the soft skills. Be that be but still there were some useful lessons from it nevertheless. But what if i were to repeat the whole excercise; what the hell would i do it different this time.

first thing being training i wud 'ave made sure i went through that properly. not that i ditched class but i treated it as i had been told; as a honey moon period. well, now i know there's no such thing as a honeymoon period except after your marriage! Training is a time to build your fundas, know all the people in the org u can, to gain your confidenece and to get noticed.

Fundas in this case being automobile knowledge where i found myself really lacking, not that i was really lacking compared to my peers, but when u join the rat race its not just the peers u are up against. today even your boss is a potential competitor (talk bout fightiong with your guru) and if u cant be the better than him atleast 2 out of 10 times(dont ask where i get these figures) well then u are in trouble. in terms of experience they might be better or rather will be, your task is to be better in the rest. not so easy if u have a future leader (as high achievers in my co are called) as your boss. thats why the first two years are so imp to know all u can about the product of the co., hows it built, what are the systems(quality, erp, etc) that are in place,etcetc. its on the basis of this knwledge that the rest of your career is built. the nitty gritty stuff comes later but the global knowledge of the buss. has to come in the first year.
Knowing all the right people is usually half the job in India, but in a paradox those who get to know all the ppl are usually the ones who work the least(like politicians) and those who work keep to themselves. first two months when u roam around the co without any purpose seemingly is the best time to know all the people. In fact if you can write it down and remeber it later nothing better. here again remembering the top mgt ppl is easy but its the middle level which is going to be more helpful in the near term. look out for enthusaistic and helpful ppl in all deptts. and u will soon have more contacts than your boss.
Gaining confidence is not a crash course, its a process by which u build yourself day by day. During trg u are a kid who doesnt know the real world(thats what ppl presume), so take adavantage of that. Dare yourself to do things u normally wudnt. take risks even if they lead to embarressing mistakes. its a time when u dont have a boss and your stupid acts wud soon be forgotten, but its going to build in you a confidence which will help u later,and like somebody said "fortune favours the brave".
And if u want to get noticed theres not a better time, this comes at a time when your trg is over and u ave just joined your deppt. its a time when ppl are gauging you, evaluating you. never a better time to make a suitable impression.

to be cont...

Om

2005-04-20T22:26:00.000+05:30

Om Hari shree ganapathaye namaha...,
thats the chant i start with before starting anything new, especially something that has got to do with reading or writing. not that this is the first time i have started a blog but then like an old diesel engine that splutters to life after much coaxing and coughing...things take some time for me to settle down into a steady rythm. this time i hope the blog continues beyond the first page before i forget the user id itself.
...avignyaye stuthe.