Sunday, October 26, 2008

Days and events


My birth date is known to very few as I don't like to tell it to everyone. I always try to somehow get around the discussion whenever the topic comes up. I don't know why but I don't like everyone to know about it and wish me.

There are some who do know about it as I have told them. However, in such cases I expect them to wish me. I agree that everybody might not remember or be able to wish. But it is as if, I want a kind of return for the fact that they know the date.

One thing I have lately realized more and more that what personally you like, is many a times a generic wish of many. So, I think that many people would like to be wished by a large number of people on their birthdays. I try to make it a point that if I know someone even a bit, I wish him / her on his / her birthday. Also, I try to send them a personal message to their inbox rather than just adding my wishes at a location where there might be others wishing them.

What I have started doing is to start exchanging places with them and see what kind of things, if occured would have made me happy in this situation. I would definitely have liked many personal messages from the people who know my birth date. And therefore I do the same when others are on the receiving end.

This thing should not be just left at wishing and also not left at just the birthdays.

For any event which I think is important for the other person, I try to put myself in their shoes and see what I would have liked. So, if somebody has won a competition or had some scheduled event on a day, does it hurt to wish them or ask them how it went?

I remember one day a couple of months back. I had to go to some other city for a scholarship interview and come back. Almost the whole day was spent in waiting and travelling. Me and 2 others started early in the morning and reached back home late at night. I wanted to tell someone about what all had happened. More than that, I wanted someone to ask me how was the day and how did the interview go? It was late in the night, else might have called my family (in some other city) and would have told them.

I came back to my hostel / dorm room and most of my dorm mates had either slept or they were there in their rooms and might not have realized that I was back. I went online and thought that at least some people would see me online and would know that I am back and would ask me, but none. I know that I could have gone myself and talked and people would have heard me out. But somehow my ego (or whatever you might say) would have been satisfied had somebody asked me before I told them. In the end, nobody did ask me on their own.

I thought that there would be many who might feel this way many a times. Can I not try to ask some of them about their day when I know that something important is scheduled for that day for these people? I know that many would not expect anyone to ask them as much as I did (and sometimes still do but am trying to be more practical). But I think that at least I owe it to myself to ask them. And I don't do it just for a formality or for the sake of doing it. I actually want to know what happened and how they feel about it. And if anything else they want to tell me.

Also, why should it stop at particular events which are so apparent? Why not see the efforts behind things which get overlooked so easily? So, if someone participates in an event, the day of the event is very important for him / her. But what about those people who had worked so hard before the event and who might not be directly visible at the event. But without whom the event would not have been possible. Don't they feel the need to be spoken to and congratulated on making things happen?

This post is my attempt to try and remember myself what all I have said here. Though I have started doing these things, I know that those are too far and few between as of now. And that there are many who get overlooked. But definitely I would try to improve.

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Less than what you expected

I am not sure if I have mentioned this before, but sometimes it feels that there are much less people, that you can turn to in need, than what you might subconsciously think. When you sit down and start thinking, you realize that one by one you are scrapping the names from the list of potential people you thought you would go to.

Around a year ago, a few of my friends were organizing this party for the other people of my batch. I was peripherally involved in the setup for the party. The main guys in-charge had to go to the market to buy things and it was left on me to take some material from my friend's room in the campus to the party site. The stuff was much to handle myself and would have required multiple trips had I gone alone. I thought about taking help from some other friends. The party was more of my Section thing. Not many people were there in my dorm (and they were not exactly related to the party), so I thought why not ask someone from the S to help. I opened the sheet which had the names of all people in my Section with their extension numbers.

I started from the top of the list and was evaluating each entry on the basis of whether I can ask this person for help or not. We had just been through a inter-section competition and there had supposedly been a lot of bonding among the section mates. To cut a long story short, I realized that there was only one person who felt reachable. Just one person! He was Mr. AV, the person who used to sit besides me in the section. I was amazed then as much as I am now.

A couple of months back, I thought of getting together with people to see if we can discuss some business ideas and evaluate their potential. So, I was confronted with the task of seeing who were the people on the campus that I would like to talk to gauge the level of interest they had in such a thing. I started thinking and writing down names and I was amazed at the names I wrote.

There were many people with whom I had not worked before for any project, assignment etc. But they were still in the list. I might have seen them, their work ethic etc. subconsciously and somehow when I sat down thinking their names came to my mind. At the same time, there were many others who were absent from the list - many of whom I have worked with and I have liked working with. But I don't know why they were not on the list.

Same is the case today. Details some other time.

Sunday, October 12, 2008

One short meeting

I met one of my old colleagues from the company I worked for. We were in the same team though were based out of offices miles apart. The company is no longer in existence though the operations have been taken over by another company.

We met for an hour or two but it was such a nice meeting. We both felt that. I many a times find myself not able to express sufficiently my feelings. My friend on the other hand said the feeling as if he was just expressing exactly what was there is my mind. He is from a different nationality and may be that is the reason. But whatever may be the case, it was nice.

We remembered the old days when we used to chat daily and sometimes for hours talking about work. There was only a particular amount of time for which the time we spent in office matched (because of the large time difference), but still we tried to best utilize that to keep the work going. There was always this enthusiasm about giving the best analysis for our clients, try to be innovative and different, coming up with different products etc. I would write a separate post about my job and work at my company for there is a lot to say there.

There was one instance when a new research product had to come out that weekend. My friend stayed up all night and was in the office and we practically talked for some 7-8 hours on the phone that my day / his night. He spent a total of like 38-40 hours in office at a stretch. I still admire his dedication and hard work and sincerity.

My Prof. SH told the class one day about how he had asked his uncle one day about the story of his life. His uncle told him things from his life which had involved struggle and effort and pain. He did not talk about the holiday he took or the some joyous event he attended. Prof. SH said that you most remember the times when you had put in a lot of hard work, the things which at first instant did not seem achievable or seemed difficult but you did achieve. And when you recollect, it is these things which standout. I experienced this during the meeting. We did not talk about what happened when our first report came out or when our names came out in some press report, but we remembered the time we spent struggling to get a report out or how it was difficult to communicate when you wanted to but realized that the other person won't be available for a few hours etc.

In my excitement I mentioned about my meet in an email I was writing to someone. I wanted to tell this to some person. Later, I realized that its difficult to get excited some other person as much as you were.

Friday, October 10, 2008

AR and KK

Different people like different film personalities, people that act in movies and do cinema etc. I also had my fair share of film exposure and there were people who I found found alright. But there has been mostly two people I admire - Aishwarya Rai (AR) (has been a while now) and Katrina Kaif (KK) (only lately). Infact, there was a post sometime back which should have indicated the latter.

But unlike many others, I don't want to marry them or something (not that if I wished, I could have that wish realized). Infact, if by a large stretch of imagination, I get a chance to marry them, I would remain very unhappy (if I know myself to some extent) and / or they would remain frustrated.

However, I still admire them a lot - ofcourse, for their beauty but thats one aspect. I guess they have exceptional confidence in themselves. They might not be the best in the field of acting. But atleast I can say for AR, that she has done some good work and atleast she is a Director's actress. So, though she might not carry each and every film to a box office success on her own, but if she is directed well, she does a very good job of the acting she is supposed to do. Both of seen some success and I hope that they see more of it.

The confidence is quite clearly visible on-camera as well as off-camera. Both have faced much criticism but they have stuck and did well. AR has faced a lot of it, since she has been there for longer time and also because she has become a poster child of Bollywood and India, in general. KK has practically lived outside the country for practically all her life before she started acting in Bollywood movies. And yet I hear now that she has worked in movies made in languages including Hindi, Telugu and Malayalam.

AR has suffered a lot especially during when she was with one actor (we will call him X). He used to pathetic to her and it was all in the open. At that time, I used to think that why is this happening to her and that somehow it should happen that she should get rid of him. And thankfully it did happen. Now she is married in a respectable family. I remember reading some gossip a few years back about AR and her husband when she was with this other actor. I secretly thought that then that this guy is much much better than X. You never know who is hearing you.

But now KK is with this actor X. And though there are no such news of X torturing KK, but I still hope that she finds someone much better. There was some news / gossip about KK and X breaking up, but am not sure. Somebody hearing me this time?

I am not sure how they are in person and have never met them or seen them. But I like to think that they are good individuals.

Wednesday, October 08, 2008

'Good good'

My view is that we always look for / find a few words or phrase to say for particular things that need to be said repeatedly. We might say something at initial instances of the situation without realizing, but then we either slowly learn what to say at subsequent instances, or we try to find out what others do when faced with similar situations.

When somebody asks, 'how are you?' or something by which he/she wants to ask essentially this, everyone has an answer almost ready. Somebody would say 'I am good'; others 'Doing well'; others 'Good good' (which is my standard answer and something which I have aped from a friend) etc etc. Even if you are not doing well, you obviously would not like to disclose it to everyone. And in fact though somebody is courteously asking, he/she might not actually be too much bothered about it. It has become more of a formality.

I myself sometimes do this formality, but most of the times I do really want to know if a person is really "good" and if there is something which is bothering him/her. I understand that most would not tell me the same for am not too close, but thats how it is. You can't convince anyone that you do really care especially at that instant when you ask. (Same is the case with things like 'Take care'. For I do not usually use it, but when I do, I really mean it. But again given the lavish way it is used these days, it has lost its meaning to some extent.)

Apart from these greetings and the answers to them, there are other instances you might require to come with a few lines / phrases to explain what happened. So, if you are returning from a trip, the people who know would ask you about it and not everyone would be interested in the details. So, you might want to have some kind of word sequence ready like 'weather was good, saw this and this, overall it was a good experience'. Its nice and short and the other person gets to know the gist that things went off well. The amount of subsequent interest shown can tell you how much details you want to give or what is being expected.

Gujarat - The destination of investment


Gujarat has shown it again that it is the place on the top of the list for people who are looking to do investments, set up industries. Mr. Tata has decided to choose Gujarat over the so many other states that were inviting him.

The Chief Minister, Mr. Modi has been criticized a lot for various other issues. But nobody can take away the fact that kind of development we have seen during his tenure, which has now touched 7 years, is phenomenal. Even after so many calamities and untoward incidents happening in the state in the last few years, it is indeed remarkable how he and his team has managed to attract industrialists. I believe that industries are the core of any development that a state looks for. It creates employment which not only provides income to the people, improves their standard of living and increase the GDP of the state but also keeps people busy and away from activities which do not make too much sense.

I have always believed that the people who bring various political parties, politicians to power are very intelligent. They choose the best available, a government which would work the best. Even after so much negative publicity, Mr. Modi and his government came to power in 2002 with 2/3rd majority and similar was the case in 2007 elections.

I have written previously about my views on the other state which pushed away Mr. Tata. It is sad that this thing still happens. People who are leading the protests have not much empathy, though they might display a lot. Some of these people also were trying to show that they care in a project in Gujarat. They tried their best to stall the project but finally the court decided pretty much against them. I am not taking everything away from them for I don't know all the details.

Now, the hope is just that these people do not come back to put their tents in Gujarat and do whatever they have done at the place they were before. The news is that the Gujarat farmers are ready to give away their land for a good price (3-4 times what they would get otherwise). I am sure that they would get this price and the farmers say that they can relocate elsewhere and buy some other fields. There might be some disruptions but the hope is that they would be minimal.

Thursday, October 02, 2008

Some stuff from here and there

www.ted.com/
This site has lot of technological, innovative and other stuff which is quite interesting.
Try this ...
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/hans_rosling_shows_the_best_stats_you_ve_ever_seen.html

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http://www.mapsofwar.com/ind/history-of-religion.html
This is a good site showing, in a chronological fashion, how the various religions proliferated across the world.

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There is no country in the world which is a net lender country. Basically governments owe money to private people.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_external_debt

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The price of gold is now commonly seen as an indicator of geopolitical risk, a role traditionally associated with gold.

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I read this somewhere
“The view that global warming is happening but mitigating it is too expensive to be worthwhile, is rare these days in Europe, but common in America, where it is infused with the belief that, attempts to control greenhouse-gas emissions are part of a European socialist conspiracy to undermine the American way of life.”

I would add that it might also be seen as a way to constrain the developing economies of the world by those who feel threatened.

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Now that the iPhone is launched, everybody wud be well aware of its features and more ... but during the initial time this video gave a close look into it before it was launched ... was quite impressive.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgW7or1TuFk