Myself Speaking™

Morning at the London Underground station

2012-01-25T12:28:00.000+05:30

I believed London Underground train services were very sophisticated with the different lines and the interconnections and the fact that the city apparently runs on it.

So, I reached London early morning this Sunday for a business trip for 4 days. I thought let's use the train services to reach the hotel. I had traveled before and found it satisfactory. I went to the Heathrow Underground station and was expecting atleast one ticket counter to be operational (they have 3 counters there). To my disappointment none of the counters had a railway official to issue tickets.

I checked with sole official roaming around only to find that I will need to use one of those machines installed to get an Oyster card (the card you can use for train services). My mind said that I do have cash and a credit card, so the machines should serve the purpose. Sadly, the machines (3 of them) did not accept notes, but only coins. I didn't have enough to give the £5 deposit for the Oyster card, let alone topping it up for my trip to the hotel.

Cash was out of the picture now, and my mind said, use the card. The card charges might be higher (given the exchange rates offered by card companies), but I had no choice. Somehow, my card was not accepted, which was strange, given I have used it many times before in a few countries, including UK.

I had no choice but to head to the taxi terminal. Last thing I thought I should do before going on my way out of the train station was to check the timing mentioned on the ticket counter window. I just wanted to check if assistance was nearby. Timing was immaculately mentioned - (i) Mon - Fri: blah blah (ii) Sat: blah blah and (iii) Sun: 7:15 am to blah. I thought the counter should open anytime now and with that thought I checked by mobile to see the time. It was 7:46am. Again, unclear about how such things are happening in a city like London and within that the Underground services was not clear. Again, I approached the sole rail official to check when can I expect the counter to open. He said in 30 minutes or so. I told him that the board says 7:15am on Sundays. He looked at me as if I said something I should not have. The economic situation of UK was out there in the open. The official said, though the board says the time I mentioned, they don't have enough staff and so nothing can be done.

Just then I was again reminded, about how machines have been made to replace people more and more. And even then governments in the developed world are still not managing to fill positions with people, due to lack of resources.

As I was thinking this, another machine (the 4th one at the station) that seemed to be closed till then, suddenly sprang to life. It was a different looking one as compared to the first three. On top of the machine there was a LED display (this it had common with the other machines). It was reading something that I was looking forward to ... 'Notes Accepted'. I was happy that atleast now I will be able to use the train and not have to go all the way to the taxi terminal. There was a small queue already formed in front of the new machine and I decided to join it.

I was looking forward to getting my Oyster card and head to the hotel. I saw the rail official helping some of the passengers at the machines. Slowly as the queue moved and I reached the station, I asked the official if I can get a new Oyster card. And he said NO.

Back to where I started, I thought I had spent my share of time at the station. But just as I was about to move, I saw 1-2 people gathering at one of the ticket counters. I knew what that meant. Quickly rushed to the queue and got myself my well deserved Oyster card and to the train to the hotel.

Naive

2012-01-16T23:20:00.000+05:30

I thought it was going on fine
With a lot of help from Lord Divine

Wondered why people said it will be hard
Very difficult one would regard

I agree that it required some change
Extent of which was difficult to gauge

I tried to do my best
And left to God the rest

Thought I made good progress
But many things I didn't guess

I was a fool to believe
Just plain simple naïve

The milestone in my rear view mirror
Had 'Start' written all over

Finding great articles to read

2011-06-18T00:49:00.000+05:30

Over the years, I have slowly developed a habit to read. But this has been more related to the online world rather than books / novels etc. May be it comes with the time spent with computers these days.

A challenging part of reading online stuff is to be able to find the right articles to read, ironically because the web has grown so large. It is easy to find a lot of articles (you can regularly visit various websites, read latest news etc.), but one will ideally like all articles to be relevant and interesting. At the same time, you will not like to miss on stuff that is 'good to know', but might not be as interesting.

I find 2 tools very useful for these purposes. One is a RSS reader that you are comfortable with. You can then subscribe to all kinds of websites that serve you the kind of articles that you want. Just subscribe to a website, and see if you have been actually opening up articles from the site once they come as a RSS feed. That will give a good sense of the usefulness of the website over a period of time. You can follow blogs and a range of stuff. You can also track news items, videos etc. about certain topics you want. For that, you can search for the topic on search engines or video sites, and add the RSS feed for that search in your reader.

You can find the complete list of the feeds I follow on the left hand side of this blog.

A very useful way of finding great articles is to subscribe to sites/ blogs of people who share links to things they have been reading. Some of the articles that I most liked have come from this kind of source.

For the sites which do not have RSS feeds, there are other websites that offer to setup feeds, so that it is easy to track them. However, somehow, I have not managed to use them well. In this case, I use our very own browser bookmarks (the 2nd tool), but then have the additional task of regularly going to my bookmarks to see if there are any updates. Hopefully, such bookmarks are not required to a large extent and are manageable.

If I find a great great article/ quote, I share it in 3 ways - 1. share it with your friends who follow you on the Reader which you use for the RSS feeds, 2. Facebook and 3. Twitter. Sometimes, I go back to these shared items and more often that not, feel what a gem it is, even now.

Interesting business opportunity

2011-01-22T18:08:00.000+05:30

Guidance for junior folks in a team

2011-01-22T17:20:00.000+05:30

This is a mail that one of my senior colleagues (whom I admired for his work) sent to guide the junior analysts (working in the Research Division of an I-bank). I believe many of the points can be adapted by junior folks for their specific fields

The most important challenge is to be on top of the mind of your lead analyst. He should think of you as the first person to delegate a task. As long as he keeps on giving you more work, you would enjoy the job and move ahead. If your analyst is senior and has many associates in US/UK, this will be tough to ensure.

- One nice way of keeping in touch is to send a daily news update. If the analyst concerned says "don't send", tell him that this is a nice way for you (not the analyst) to keep in touch with the sector, so keep sending anyways even when asked to not send

- Many teams also publish regular monthly reports. No body wants to work on them (because over time they become repetitive/boring). Try to take charge of that. The US team will be too glad to let you do it and you will immediately get involved in the entire work of the team (Monthly will require you to work on all the important models and key research themes)

- Some times lead analysts (the senior kind) may be too busy marketing and would not stay in touch with you even when you are sending the daily/monthly. There are two tricks to make them notice you.

(A) Search some news items that support the investment thesis of the analyst (there are always some) and try to write a small paragraph which essentially says "this is what we have been saying all along….". The boss will be too glad to use it in his marketing and will also respond with comments like "well said"/exactly....

(B) If approach A does not work: Search some news items that contradict the investment thesis of the analyst (there are always some) and come up with a well reasoned argument, which is against the team's investment thesis, is not offensive and is not directed at the analyst but is casually part of the news. If the argument is valid, you are almost sure to get a response to it.

- Keep on asking for work till your hands are full or the boss says some thing like "climb a tree, get down, climb again and get down,… keep doing till further instructions". The most stupid way to screw up in this job is to allow your boss to not give you work

- If you are given too many dead end and boring tasks, finish them anyways but try to start some other good quality assignments on your own. Do not wait for your boss to give you higher value added work, take your own initiative

- You will gain access to you team's drive. Sniff around. You will often get lots of useful information

- Read the old research of your team

Government of India Ministries, Departments and other Agencies

2011-01-22T17:00:00.000+05:30

Just click and view the Page,
Bookmarks - Government of India Ministries,
Departments and other Agencies

President of India
Vice President
of India

Cabinet Secretariat

Directorate of
Public Grievances

Prime Minister's
Office
Department of Ocean
Development
Department of Atomic
Energy
Department of Development
of North Eastern Region
Directorate
of Atomic Minerals
Central Public Works
Department

Prime
Minister's Councils
Council on
Trade & Industry
Economic
Advisory Council
Group on
Telecommunications

Central Ministries
Agriculture
Department of Agriculture
and Cooperation
Department of Agricultural
Research and Education
Department of Animal Husbandry
and Dairying
Department of Food Processing
Industries

Agro and Rural Industries

Chemicals and Fertilizers
Department of Chemicals
and Petrochemicals
Department of
Fertilizers

Civil
Aviation
Directorate General of Civil
Aviation

Coal

Commerce and Industry

Department of
Commerce
Department of
Explosives
Directorate General of
Anti-dumping & Allied Duties
Directorate General of
Commercial Intelligence & Statistics
Department of Industrial
Development
Controller General of
Patents, Designs and Trade Marks
Trade Marks
Registry
Department of Industrial Policy
& Promotion
Office of Economic
Advisor
Secretariat for Industrial
Assistance
Department of
Supply
Directorate General of
Supplies & Disposals

Communications and
Information Technology
Department of
Telecommunications
Department of Posts

Directorate of Standardisation,
Testing and Quality Control
Electronic Governance
Division
National Informatics
Centre
Indian Computer
Emergency Response Team

Consumer Affairs and Public
Distribution
Department of
Public Distribution
Department of
Sugar and Edible Oils
Department of
Consumer Affairs

Culture, Youth Affairs & Sports

Department of Youth Affairs
& Sports
Department of
Culture

Defence
Integrated Defence
Staff
Indian Armed
Forces
Indian
Airforce
Indian Army
Indian Coast
Guard
Indian Navy
Controller General of Defence
Accounts (CGDA)
Principal Controller of
Defence Accounts (Pension)
Controller of Defence
Accounts (Officers)
Controller of Defence
Accounts (Navy)
Directorate General
Resettlement (DGR)

Environment &
Forests
National River
Conservation Directorate

External Affairs

Consular Passport &
Visa Division

Finance and Company
Affairs
Central Pension Accounting
Office
Controller General of
Accounts
Department of Company
Affairs
Department of Income
Tax
Department of Service
Tax

Food Processing
Industries

Health & Family
Welfare
Dept. of Indian
Systems of Medicines & Homeopathy

Heavy Industries
& Public Enterprises
Department of Heavy Industry

Department of Public
Enterprises

Home Affairs
Department of Official
Language
Directorate General of Civil
Defence
National Crime Records
Bureau
Special Services
Bureau

Human Resource Development
Department of
Education
Department of Women and Child
Development
Central Hindi
Directorate

Information and
Broadcasting
Directorate of Field
Publicity
Directorate of Film
Festivals
Films
Division
Press Information Bureau

Publications Division
Song and Drama
Division

Labour
Director General of Employment
and Training
Directorate General
of
Factory Advice Service and
Labour Institutes
Directorate General of Mine
Safety
Labour
Bureau

Law, Justice and
Company Affairs

Mines and Minerals

Non conventional Energy
Sources

Overseas Indian Affairs

Panchayati Raj

Parliamentary Affairs

Personnel, Public Grievances
& Pensions
Department of Administrative
Reforms and Public Grievances
Department
of Pension and Pensioners' Welfare
Department of
Personnel and Training
Staff Selection
Commission

Petroleum & Natural
Gas
Directorate General of
Hydrocarbons

Power

Railways
Railway
Budget

Road Transport and
Highways

Rural Development

Department of Drinking Water
Supply
Department of Land
Resources
Department of Rural
Development

Science & Technology

Department of
Biotechnology
Department of Science and
Technology
Department of Scientific and
Industrial Research
National Information System
for Science Technology
India Meteorological
Department

Shipping
Directorate General of
Shipping
Mercantile Marine
Department

Small Scale Industries

Social Justice and
Empowerment
Chief
Commissioner for Disabilities

Statistics and Programme
Implementation
Department of
Statistics (n.o)

Steel

Textiles
Development
Commissioner for Handicrafts
Development
Commissioner for Handlooms
Office of Jute
Commissioner
Office of Textile
Commissioner

Tourism

Tribal Affairs

Urban Development and
Poverty Alleviation
Directorate of
Estates

Water Resources

Youth Affairs and Sports

Topics / Databases /Miscellany
Agricultural Marketing
Information Network
Airforce
careers
All India Engineering Entrance
Examination
All India Soil and Land
Survey
Army in Kashmir

Biodiversity Information System
Bio Technology
Information System
Cause Lists
CA Results
CBSE Results
Census- India

Citizen's Charters

Civil
Aviation Policy
Consortium for Educational
Communication
Commonwealth Games
Delhi 2010
Constitution of India
Coral Reef Monitoring
Network
DACNET (Dept. of Agriculture
and Cooperation)
Debate for
Reforms
Disaster
Mitigation & Vulnerability Atlas of India
Discover India
EC/EDI for trade
Education and Research Network
(ERNET)
Economic Survey

Earthquake and
Tsunami Relief Operations in Andaman & Nicobar Islands
Edifar system of SEBI

Eprocurement

Environmental
Information Centre
Environmental Information
System
Environmental
Information System-MOEF
Environmental
clearance process
Examination Results

Exim Policy
Expert Database in
Science and Technology
Exploration Licensing
Policy
Food Safety
India
Fresh Water
Year
Gateway to Indian
Ocean
Farmer Centred
Agricultural Resource Management
FARMNET Asia
Fight against Online
Pornography
General
Information Service Terminal
Government (gov.in) Domain
registration services
Employment News

Gujarat
Earthquake
Government tenders

ICAR Results
ISC/ICSE
Results
Incredibile India

India Code Information
System
India Disaster Resource
Network
Indian
Occupational Safety and Health Information Network
Indian Diaspora

Indian Forest Service
Indian Intellectual
Property Law Resources
Indian Medlars Centre
(Medical Research Data)
Indian Navy
Carreers and Opportunities
Indian Navy Information
Resource Facilitation Centre
Indian Process
Plants
Industrial
Relations Information Service
Information and Library
Network Centre (INFLIBNET)
Information Centre for
Aerospace Science and Technology
Information Technology
and Software Development
Information Technology
for Masses
Information System on
Oral Cancer
Integrated Fisheries
Project
International Film Festival of
India
Investment
Opportunities in Telecom
Judgement Information
System
Konark Sun Temple
Labour
Department Database
Legislative
Bodies in India
National Anti Malaria Programme

National Centre for Science
Information
National Database on
Egovernance Projects
National Disaster
Management
National Family Health
Survey (NFHS)
National
Frequency Allocation Plan
National Health
Information Collaboration
National Information Centres
National Information System for Science and Technology
(NISSAT)
First National
Judicial Pay Commission
National Mission for
Manscripts
National Panchayat Portal

National Natural
Resources Management System
National Population
Policy
Natural Disaster Management
in India
Networking of Social
Scientists
NIC Software Offerings

North East India Data
Bank
Patent Bibliographic
Database
Prime Minister's High
Level Committee on status of Muslims
Project Tiger

Review of Constitution

Right to Information
Portal
Right to
Information Act, India
Rural Bazar
Rural Informatics
Portal
Scholarships
India
Smart Village
Project
Special Economic Zone

Sports Portal
State Innovations in Family
Plamming Services Project
State of Environment

Supreme Court Monitoring
Committee on Hazardous Wastes
Sustainable Development
Gateway
Task Force on
Interlinking of Rivers
Technology
Development for Indian Languages
Technology Development Board

Technology,
Innovation, Management and Enterpreneurship
Udisha (Integrated Child
Development Services)
Union Budget
Water Resources Info

Weather Resource
System
Yamuna Action Plan
Indian
Parliament
Lok Sabha Speaker's
Office
Rajya Sabha
Supreme Court of
India
Indian Courts

Election Commission of
India
Central Information Commission

Finance Commission of
India
Planning
Commission of India
Comptroller and Auditor General
of India
Union Public Service
Commission
Central Administrative
Tribunal
National Portal
Central Government Organisations/Undertakings
Air India
Airports Authority
of India
All India Council for
Technical Education (AICTE)
All India Soil and Land Use
Survey Organisation
Anti-doping Commission of
India
Antrix Corporation

Aquaculture Authority of
India
Archaeological Survey of
India
Atomic Energy Regulatory
Board
Bharat Coking Coal
Ltd.
Bharat Dynamics Ltd.

Bharat Earth Movers
Ltd.
Bharat Electronics
Ltd
Bharat Petroleum
Corporation
Bharat Heavy Electricals
Ltd.
Bharat Heavy Plate and
Vessels Ltd.
Bharatiya Nabhikiya
Vidyut Nigam
Biotech Consortium
India
Board for Industrial and
Financial Reconstruction (BIFR)
Board of Radiation and
Isotope Technology
Border Security Force (BSF)

Broadcasting Engineering
Consultants India
Building Materials and
Technology Promotion Council
Bureau of
Civil Aviation Security
Bureau of Energy
Efficiency
Bureau of
Immigration
Bureau of Indian
Standards
Bureau of Police Research and
Development
Cement Corporation of
India
Central Adoption Resource
Agency
Central Board of Excise andCustoms
Central
Board of Film Certification
Central Board of Secondary
Education (CBSE)
Central Bureau of Investigation
(CBI)
Central Bureau of Narcotics

Central Coalfields

Central Cottage
Industries Corporation (CCIC)
Central Council for
Research in Unani Medicine (CCRUM)
Central Economic
Intelligence Bureau
Central Electricity
Authority
Central Electricity Regulatory
Commission
Central Government Employees
Welfare Housing Organisation
Central Ground Water
Board
Central Ground Water
Board, Eastern Region
Central Industrial Security
Force
Central Insecticides Board and
Registration Committee
Central Passport
Organisation
Central Pollution Control Board

Central Reserve Police
Force
Central Soil and Materials
Research Station (CSMRS)
Central Vigilance Commission

Central Warehousing
Corporation
Central Water and
Power Research Station (CWPRS)
Central Water Commission (CWC)

Central Zoo Authority

Centre for Cultural
Resource and Training
Centre for Development of
Advanced Computing
C-DAC
Centre for DNA
Fingerprinting and Diagnostics
Centre for
Electronics Design and Technology of India
Centre for Liquid
Crystal Research (CLCR)
Centre for Materials for
Electronics Technology (C-MET)
Centre for Wind Energy
Technology (C-MET)
Chennai Petroleum
Corporation
Children`s Film
Society
Coal India Limited

Cochin (Kochi)
Refineries Ltd.
Cochin Shipyard

Commission for
Agricultural Costs and Prices
Commission for Scientific and
Technical Terminology
Computer Maintenance
Corporation (CMC)
Container Corporation
of India
Cotton Corporation Of India
Ltd. (CCI)
Council for Advancement of
People's Action and Rural Technology (CAPART)
Council of
Architechture
Council for Indian School
Certificate Examination
Council of Scientific and
Industrial Research
Damodar Valley
Corporation
Dredging Corporation
of India
DOEACC Society
Educational Consultants India
Limited (ECIL)
Electronic Corporation
of India
Employees Provident
Fund Organisation
Employees' State Insurance
Corporation
Engineering
Projects (India) Ltd.
Engineers India Ltd.

Expenditure
Reforms Commission
Export Credit Guarantee
Corporation of India
ERNET India
Society (Educational & Research Network)
Fertilizers and Chemicals
Travancore Limited (FACT)
FACT Engineering and Design
Organisation (FEDO)
Falta Export Processing
Zone
Food Corporation of India

Garden Reach Ship Builders
& Engineers Ltd
Gas Authority of India limited
(GAIL)
Geological Survey of
India
Goa Shipyard Limited

Government Accounting
Standards Advisory Board (GASAB)
Government Polices

Handicrafts and Handlooms
Export Corporation (HHEC)
Heavy Engieering
Corporation
Heavy Water
Board
Hindustan Aeronautics
Limited (HAL)
Hindustan Copper
Ltd.
Hindusthan Newsprint
Limited
Hindustan Organic
Chemicals
Hindustan Paper
Corporation
Hindusthan Petroleum
Corporation
Hindusthan Zinc
Limited
Hospital Services
Consultancy Corporation
Housing and Urban Development
Corporation(HUDCO)
HTL Ltd.
IBP Co. Ltd.
India Tourism
Development Corporation (ITDC)*
Indian Airlines
(IA)
Indian Bureau of Mines

Indian Council of
Cultural Relations
Indian Council of
Cultural Relations (New)
Indian Defence Service Of
Engineers (IDSE)
Indian Hockey Federation

Indian Institute of Foreign
Trade
Indian Institute of Forest
Management
Indian Institute of
Information Technology and Management
Indian Iron and Steel
Company
Indian Investment Centre
(IIC)
Indian National Centre for
Ocean and Information
Indian Oil Corporation
(IOC)
Indian Ordnance Factories
Board
Indian Rare Earths
Limited (IRE)
Indian Renewable Energy
Development Agency (IREDA)
Indian Telephone
Industries
Indira Gandhi National Centre
for the Arts
Indira Gandhi National Open
University (IGNOU)
Indo Tibetan Border
Police
Inland Waterways Authority of
India
Instrumentation Limited,
Palakkad
Instrumentation Limited,
Kota*
Insurance Regulatory and
Development Authority
IRCON
International
Khadi and Village
Industries Commission (KVIC)
Kendriya Vidhyalaya
Sangathan
Kochi Refineries
Limited
Konkan Railway
Corporation (KRC)
Kudremukh Iron Ore
company
Lal Bahadur
Shastri National Academy of Administration
Law Commission
of India
Life Insurance Corporation
of India (LIC)
LIC Housing Finance Ltd.

Madras Export Processing
Zone
Madras Fertilizers
Ltd.*
Mahanadi Coalfields
Limited
Mahanagar Telephone Nigam
Ltd.(MTNL)
Maruthi Udyog Ltd.

Goa Shipyard Limited

Medical Council of
India.
Mineral Exploration
Corporation*
MSTC Limited
MMTC Limited
Narmada Control
Authority
National
Accreditation Board ( AICTE)
National Agricultural
Technology Project
National AIDS Control
Organisation (NACO)
National Aluminium
Company Limited (NALCO)
National Archives
of India
National
Balbhavan
National Bank for
Agriculture & Rural Development (NABARD)
National Board of
Examinations
National Book Trust of
India
National Buildings
Construction Corporation
National
Bureau of Animal Genetic Resources
National Bureau of Plant
Genetic Resources
National Cadet Corps

National Capital Region
Planning Board
National Centre for
Antartic and Ocean Research
National Centre for Jute
Diversification
National Centre for
Medium Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF)
National Centre for
Software Technology (NCST)
National Civil Defence
College
National Commission for
Backward Classes
National Commission for
Linguistic Minorities
National Commission for
Minorities
National Commission for
Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes
National Commission on
Farmers
National
Commission on Population
National Commission on
Women
National Consumer Disputes
Redressal Commission
National Cooperative
Development Corporation
National Council of
Educational Research and Training (NCERT)
National Council for Hotel
Management and Catering Technology
National Council for
Promotion of Urdu Language
National Council for
Teacher Education
National Council of Science
Museums
National Credit Fund for
Women
National Culture Fund (NCF)

National
Fertilizers Limited
National Film Development
Corporation (NFDC)
National Human Rights
Commission
National Hydroelectric
Power Corporation (NHPC)
National Highways Authority of
India (NHAI)
National Horticulture
Mission
National Insurance
Company
National Knowledge
Commission
National Lierarcy Mission

National Mineral
Development Corporation
National
Museum, New Delhi
National Numbering
Organisation
National Pharmaceutical
Pricing Authority (NPPA)
National Police
Academy
National Productivity
Council
National Remote Sensing
Agency
National SC & ST Finance
and Development Corporation
National Seeds
Corporation limited
National Small Industries
Corporation Limited (NSIC)
National Test House

National Textile Corporation Ltd.(NTC)
National Thermal Power
Corporation (NTPC)
National Water Development
Agency (NWDA)
Navodaya Vidhyalaya
Samithi
Neyveli Lignote
Corporation
North Eastern Council

North Eastern Electric Power
Corporation
Northern Coalfields Limited

Nuclear Power Corporation
of India
Oil and Natural Gas
Corporation(ONGC)
ONGC Videsh Ltd.

Oil India Limited

Ordnance Clothing Factory

Ordnance Factory Board

Overseas Construction
Council of India
Paradeep
Phosphate Limited
Pawan Hans Helicopters
Ltd. (PHHL)
Patent
Facilitating Centre
Patent Info Search

Pharmacy Council of India

Power Finance
Corporation
Powergrid
Corporation of India
Power Trading Corporation
of India
Public Enterprises
Selection Board
Pyrites, Phosphates and Chemicals Limited (PPCL)

Rail India Technical and
Economic Services (RITES)
Rashtriya Chemicals &
Fertilizers Limited
Rastriya Sanskrit
Samsthan
Registrar of Newspapers of
India
Rehabilitation
Council of India
Rehabilitation
Plantations
Research, Designs and
Standards Organisation
Reserve Bank of India
(RBI) (See Banks)

Rural Electrification
Corporation Ltd.
Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan
Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam

Securities and Exchange
Board of India (SEBI)
Semiconductor Complex Ltd.
(Dept. of Space)
Small Industries
Development Organisation(SIDO) (n.o)
Shipping Corporation of
India
Software Technology Parks
of India (STPI)
South Eastern Coalfields
Limited
South Zone Cultural
Centre
Sponge Iron India
Limited
Staff Selection Commission

State Trading Corporation

Steel Authority of India Ltd
(SAIL)
Technology Development
Board
Technology Information,
Forecasting & Assessment Council (TIFAC)
Tehri Hydro Development
Corporation
Telecom Regulatory
Authority of India
Telecommunication
Consultants India
Telecommunication
Engineering Centre
Uranium Corporation
of India
University Grants Commission
(UGC)
Vigyan Prasar

Vizag Steel Plant

Water and Power Consultancy
Services
Western Coalfields
Limited
Western Regional Electricity
Board
Prasar Bharathi Corporation
(Broadcasting
Corporation of India)
All India Radio

Doordarshan
* Disinvestment by Government in
progress.
Commodity
Boards, Export Promotion Councils, Authorities and and other trade
related agencies
State
Government Departments and Agencies
Andhra
Pradesh
Kerala Tamil
Nadu Karnataka
Excise,
Customs, Telecom, Income Tax, Railways and Ports
Public
Sector and Scheduled Banks, Financial Agencies
Research
Institutions
Central/
National Institutes
Deemed Universities
Universities
Districts
in India Offices of UN Agencies in India
UNAIDS
UNDP
UNFPA
UNESCO
UNESCO Knowledge Hub for
Asia Pacific
WHO Regional
Office
World Bank

Map of
India (Political)
Indian
Missions Abroad

Inflation is killing us (kamar tod mehangai)

2011-01-10T00:34:00.002+05:30

Given the high inflation (kamar tod mehangai) prevalent in the country for 2-3 years now, this is an appropriate song depicting the people's situation

Sakhi saiyan toh khoob hi kamaat hai ... Mehngai dayain khaye jaat hai

Inflation numbers can be seen at http://eaindustry.nic.in

Two-by-two for Marriage invitations

2010-12-31T00:13:00.000+05:30

Not sure which disease is actually dangerous

2010-12-05T01:09:00.000+05:30

Along with the admission letter of my B-School, I also received a form that I was supposed to get filled by a doctor. the form asked the doctor to verify if the candidate has had the first injection for Hepatitis B.

Given the importance that the institute was paying to this particular disease - mind you, of all the prevalent diseases - I thought this is important. So, I approached a doctor for the vaccination required. He told me that it is a two stage process - one injection now, and another 6 months later. I thought that I will start the process here and the institute will definitely ensure that I get the second dose 6 months hence, when I will be in a place that care about this particular disease so much.

To my dismay, it was costly affair. The injection was for around Rs. 2,000/- at that time. However, I went ahead and got the injection as well as the form filled from the doctor. I submitted it along with other documents to the institute.

The expectation was that there will be many like me who will have had only the first injection by doctors at their place. The second part will have to happen at the institute for all of them. So, there will be a camp one day to ensure that we fight this dangerous disease and it does not proliferate.

There was not even a single word on this for the 2 years I spent at my B-School. The institute might have just been following government orders around this, and did not seriously care about Hepatitis B as a disease. On some research, I found that this disease suddenly gained prominence in the country and did not seem to be much of a threat for Indians - neither were there cases. But this fear of the disease was suddenly all prevalent. I am sure more of my batchmates would have been affected by diseases like malaria etc.

Some diseases seem to get prominence quickly, even though they might not be too much relevant. Not sure why this happens. Is there some conspiracy behind this? I believe we need to think about these issues more. Have we started taking all these things for granted?

Shri Rajiv Bhai - An Inspiration

2010-12-05T00:41:00.000+05:30

You know how there are a few people that make a strong dent in your life - if not in your actions, but atleast in your thoughts. While some of them are the usual suspects - parents, teachers etc. - some others are a little hard to imagine.

One such person for me has been Swargiya Shri Rajiv Dixitji. I became aware about him and his thoughts, may be around 10 years back. His ideas were something which none of the kids of my age/generation would have come across. It was not something that you can get from your teachers, parents etc - in fact many of them might want to keep you as far from them as possible.

I met him once when he was in Mumbai. I had heard his speeches through cassettes, but wanted to hear him in person. So, me and my brother went to this place in Mumbai where he was supposed to be part of a cultural function. Though he did not get much time to speak on that occasion, as always he influenced the audience, even within the short span of time.

Whoever knew Rajiv bhai said one thing for sure - His life followed exactly what his preachings were. He was one of the greatest patriots that I have known of in the last few decades.

What made Rajiv bhai's lectures appeal to everyone was the extensive background research that he used to do and at the same time, the simplicity in the way he used to explain these things to the audience. His knowledge was unmatched and he was inquisitive enough to get to the reason for why things happened, before he can form an opinion.

I do not follow most of his teachings, but hope to bring atleast some of the things in my life and thoughts.

I will encourage you to listed to the thoughts of Rajiv Bhai by downloading his speeches. If you have time to listen to just one of them, then this is something which is highly recommended.

He always preached (and followed) to use one's native language as much as possible. I try to do that on a daily basis for verbal communication, but I have been too lazy to make it an important part of my written communication. I should have ideally written atleast this post in Hindi, my mother tongue. Rajiv bhai, mujhe shama kar dena.

Of Healthcare, And Insurance

2010-11-20T19:59:00.001+05:30

The last month has been somewhat of a challenge for our family. There were some medical emergencies that had to be tackled. It not only involved dealing with doctors, hospitals, but following that it meant dealing with the insurance agents, TPAs etc.

Here are some observations about the experience:
1. There is a general sense of arrogance that one can perceive in the medical community. Be it the person who does the admission in the hospital to the highest personnel. I somehow was reminded of 'MunnaBhai M.B.B.S' many times during these interactions.

2. Either the medical practitioners really do not have enough time to give to their patients, or they create this perception. You do not get enough time to talk satisfactorily with a doctor. They just come and swoop by as soon as they can. May be it is required to not disclose everything to the relatives of patients. But I am not sure at the point where the line has been drawn currently. And maybe, if we consider the number of patients (and their relatives) vying for their attention, it is probably not their fault.

3. It has become so difficult to diagnose diseases these days. I am certain that it is of primary importance. But though, the number of tests that get conducted before and after patients are treated, have increased substantially over recent times, diagnosis continues to remain a challenge.

4. Speaking with doctors / nurses is an art. One is dependent on them to take care of the patient, and so has to be very careful about how to deal with them

5. One word of caution while buying mediclaim / health insurance - Be proactive, and ask your agent details about the policy. Some of the things that are conveniently left to be fetched by the policy holder are:
- The agent should be strong enough to explain the policy intricacies, guide you through the entire claims process, and have a "will-do" attitude. He/She should ideally lead the claims process, for it is his/her duty - otherwise, what is their use as an agent. Else for what reason is this person earning from your premiums that get paid to the insurers
- It is extremely important to intimate the TPA or the insurance company of any medical emergency / hospitalization that will lead to a potential claim ASAP. That ways there is no chance for them to use that as an excuse to reject your claim
- When taking a policy, one needs to check what the cooling-off period is. Cooling-off period is the duration from the start of the policy, during which time, pre-existing diseases are not covered in the policy. Now, the definition of the pre-existing diseases is very wide. It is not limited to diseases that you have been diagnosed or treated for before taking the policy. It includes even those that you have but might not be aware of. The insurance companies and TPAs have a long list of such diseases. If you suffer from any of these, during the cooling-off period, there is no convincing that will work, to claim that this was not something that you already had while taking the policy
- Ensure that all originals (prescriptions, bills, test reports etc.) are with you. These will have to be submitted in original to the insurers.
- Ensure that everything in the medical process gets recorded. For e.g. due to emergency conditions, if you have to be shifted to a bigger hospital, ensure that proper reasons are written in the discharge card of the first hospital

The entire thing reminded me of Michael Moore's Sicko.

I Like it

2010-09-06T23:24:00.000+05:30

A Facebook application involving a Virtual Rakhi

I was in Delhi (on account of work) on the day of Rakhi. The good part was that most of my relatives are in and around Delhi and so there was a gathering planned. I do not have a real sister and my cousin sisters send me Rakhis every year. This year I got a chance to have them tie Rakhis, in person. Many of my relatives gathered at one location, though only for a few hours.

One of the things that was surprising for me was the amount of discussion that happened on the topic of Facebook. And the biggest participants of this discussion were not people of my age group or younger to me. But my uncles and aunts. Some were inquisitive about the whole concept / site, others wanted to know what was the utility.

People discussed each others' status updates and inquired about who all among other relatives / former-batchmates were registered on the site.They exchanged stories about how their children and acquaintances used it to stay in touch and gather information about some person.

No wonder Facebook has reached 500 million registrations. There is also a movie coming about the website, The Social Network. I like it's (intentional use!) tagline
"You don't get to 500 million friends without making a few enemies"

I have seen usage of Facebook in determination of people's fates lately. There is another interesting view about Facebook (via anshumans). And another.

Thanks for doing this

2010-08-03T23:10:00.000+05:30

Dear Friend,

Thanks for taking up drinking, social as it may be. I know how hard it is to keep away from it for long. And with all the pressures from friends / colleagues and the tension in office, this was bound to happen.

I am sure you would have resisted it to the best of your capabilities. But now that you have started, why keep it to the realm of office gatherings / occasional meets with friends? You should plan in a way that every other night, you get an opportunity to have atleast some of it. I am sure you have enough acquaintances that will give you company, and would encourage this behaviour.

I was extremely happy to have heard of this new habit of yours from someone. I see that you have changed, and we all know that change is good. As they say, this is something not to be missed in life.

In case you care, I can't say if our friendship has strengthened now, but I will hope and try that the status quo remains.

Your friend.

Last evening

2010-07-03T19:01:00.000+05:30

Me and one of my friends from office went to TGIF last evening. I was about to write about the happenings, when I realized he has already done so. And in a way that precisely conveys what I wanted to say. So, instead of writing about the same, I am just posting the link to his post.

Here it is: Friday encounters ...

Quotes

2010-05-08T22:34:00.000+05:30

In your day-to-day life, you come across various quotes / statements / phrases etc. that you want to remember / save somewhere. Previously, I used to save those in a text file on my computer, and when there were sufficient of them, I would post them on this blog. Sometimes, if by coincidence, I am writing a post on some topic, and am able to fit in the quote in the post, I would do that. Sometimes, I used to write entire posts around few phrases.

But now, with twitter, all it requires is one tweet. No more accumulating statements for future and no more pains of halfheartedly threading a story around phrases. (My tweets can be seen in the left sidebar of this page as well)

There is this interesting link about the statements that have been most highlighted by Kindle users. One of them is from The Last Lecture, by Randy Pausch. It goes like this

"When you’re screwing up and nobody says anything to you anymore, that means they’ve given up on you"

I have been one person, who keeps telling friends (just the close ones), what they should / shouldn't do. So, this resonated very well with me. And hence the post. Well, another one of those posts around one statement. May be the last one (?).

PS: Though I am still following the 3G auctions (though not as closely), I am very surprised at the kind of valuations the spectrum is seeking for itself. It has also led me, being somewhat less sure about my circle-wise analysis, and so have kept that on the back burner.

3G Auctions - Rationalization as expected

2010-04-21T00:59:00.001+05:30

As I had speculated in my previous post, the auctions are past their inflection point. We have seen more sane bidding on an overall basis, and mostly the serious players for each circle are in the fray.

My understanding of circle wise bidding, at end of day 9 is as below:

Please click on the image to see it in larger size.
1 - Player is bidding for the circle
0 - Player is not bidding for the circle

3G Auctions - Who is bidding for what?

2010-04-17T21:42:00.000+05:30

A lot has changed in the last 2 days of bidding for 3G spectrum. Bidders have moved their hands deeper into their pockets and are using most of the ammunition they brought from their base camp. As per the auction rules, as rounds progress, the minimum bid points to be placed by each bidder (from its share) goes up. So, the greater bids are partially because of that. Also, the serious bidders in each circle will want to get rid of the not-so-sure ones.

I believe this day was the inflection point in the bidding process. From the next round of bidding (and going forward), one will see, players moving from circles they don't necessarily are adamant on, to other circles that are still relatively easily available.

Here is my guess, of which players are bidding for each circle at end of day 7.

Please click on the image to see it in larger size.
1 - Player is bidding for the circle
0 - Player is not bidding for the circle

For a similar table on day 5, click here.

3G auctions - End of day 5

2010-04-15T23:18:00.002+05:30

As many of you will know, 3G auctions are going on in India. It is a long drawn process and is expected to continue for 2-3 weeks. At end of each bidding day, the standing for the various circles are released as of the end of the day (after accounting for all rounds that took place on the day).

I went through the releases for the first few days and wanted to see if someone is speculating on who has bid for which circles. I failed to find any such analysis and so decided to do some of it on my own. I understand that this is mostly speculation, for even the bidders only have information of the consolidated bidding situation (and not that of other other individual bidders). Am posting my understanding of the bidding situation as of end of day 5. I will be keep a watch on how this shapes out. Various players will have different strategies, but it will be good to see, how close / far the final outcome is to what I have on my sheet.

Below is the circlewise, playerwise bidding situation as of end of day 5 (as per what I think).

Please click on the image to see it in larger size.
1 - Player is bidding for the circle
0 - Player is not bidding for the circle

Above analysis is based on my interpretation of the standing of each player in different circles. I have also tried to think and incorporate what strategy / thought process each of them will have in various circles. I will tweak and modify these as the auction progresses, and the updates get announced. Intermittently, I might post it here as well.

Who will be the first beneficiary / victim of the telecom consolidation?

2010-03-31T00:56:00.000+05:30

Disclaimer: All views expressed in this post are my personal views, and do not necessarily reflect the views of any entities, that I may be associated with. I have no financial investments in any of the companies mentioned. Use all information at your own risk.

On this day, when the Bharti-Zain deal has been finally sealed, I will like to propose a hypothesis related to the much-talked-about and inevitable consolidation in the Indian telecom industry. I am of the view, that, given the current scenario, among the bigger players, Idea Cellular will be the first one to cash out or merge with another player within the Indian market.

I believe, an Indian telecom player, needs to satisfy either of these 3 conditions, to sustain for medium-long term:

1. Be (comfortably) amongst the top 3 players, in terms of total subscribers
The latest (Feb '10) wireless subscriber figures available show the market share of the various players:

Vodafone	17.2%
Loop	0.5%
Idea / Spice	11.0%
Bharti	22.1%
Reliance	17.6%
HFCL	0.1%
Sistema	0.6%
Tata	11.2%
Aircel / Dishnet	6.2%
Stel	0.1%
Unitech	0.6%
MTNL	0.9%
BSNL	11.8%

Bharti, Vodafone and Reliance satisfy this particular condition.

2. Be consistently amongst the top 3 players, in terms of absolute market share growth
Comparing Feb '10 figures to Mar '09 figures shows the following growth in market share for the various players

Vodafone	-0.3%
Loop	-0.1%
Idea / Spice	0.0%
Bharti	-1.9%
Reliance	-0.9%
HFCL	0.0%
Sistema	0.4%
Tata	2.2%
Aircel / Dishnet	1.5%
Stel	0.1%
Unitech	0.6%
MTNL	-0.3%
BSNL	-1.5%

Tata (Docomo and other operations), Aircel and Unitech (Uninor) satisfy this condition.

3. Be amongst the top 3 players, in terms of percentage increase in market share
Comparing Feb '10 figures to Mar '09 figures shows the following percentage increase in market share for the various players (percentage increase = market share by end-Feb '10 / market share by end-Mar '09)

Vodafone	98%
Loop	89%
Idea / Spice	100%
Bharti	92%
Reliance	95%
HFCL	59%
Sistema	368%
Tata	125%
Aircel / Dishnet	131%
Stel	infinity
Unitech	infinity
MTNL	77%
BSNL	89%

Stel and Unitech are new players and had not started operations in Mar '09 (hence, the 'infinity' in the table against their names). Leaving these, the players that satisfy this condition are Sistema, Aircel and Tata.

So, as per my view, if any of these conditions are not being satisfied, it makes little sense for the player to remain in the industry. This is especially true when there are 13 players (and more entering as we speak) in a sector that is globally seen to have 4-6 players, on an average.

So, the top contenders for any kind of consolidation are Idea Cellular & BSNL (among the bigger players) and Loop, HFCL & MTNL (among the smaller players). I have kept Stel out of the consideration, since it is a very new player and many of my conditions might not exactly be applicable to it.

Among these 5 firms, BSNL and MTNL are government-owned entities, and given by what we have seen in the Indian context, the maximum that will happen with these companies is - merger of MTNL & BSNL and / or IPO of BSNL.

So, Idea Cellular looks to be the top contender that will be involved in a major consolidation event. Loop and HFCL might get gobbled up by some player on the way.

If one looks at Idea's performance in various circles in the period under consideration (Mar '09 - Feb '10), it's subscriber base has grown by 44% in the 11 months, same as the overall market growth rate. I would have expected it to grow at something above market growth rate, given it is the fifth largest player and someone like Vodafone (having 55% more subscribers than Idea) has grown at 41% in the same period.

Even this growth for Idea has come partly because of entry into newer circles (it was operating in 15 out of the 22 circles in Mar '09 and has since entered the remaining 7 circles).

A look at the market shares and the growth / decline in various circles shows some challenges that the company is facing

	Market share (Feb '10)	Market share change from Mar '09
Andhra Pradesh	13.9%	-2.7%
Assam	0.8%	0.8%
Bihar	8.5%	4.4%
Delhi	9.2%	-1.8%
Gujarat	17.4%	1.2%
Himachal Pradesh	5.2%	1.0%
Haryana	15.3%	-0.6%
J & K	0.7%	0.7%
Karnataka	7.1%	0.1%
Kerala	22.2%	-4.4%
Kolkata	2.9%	2.9%
Madhya Pradesh	23.2%	-1.2%
Maharashtra	21.7%	-2.2%
Mumbai	5.5%	1.6%
North East	0.3%	0.3%
Orissa	3.9%	3.9%
Punjab	16.4%	-0.3%
Rajasthan	7.0%	1.6%
Tamil Nadu	1.4%	1.4%
U.P.(E)	8.6%	1.2%
U.P.(W)	19.3%	-1.7%
West Bengal	2.5%	2.5%

1. The company has lost ground in most circles that used to be its major strongholds (e.g. Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, U.P. (W))
2. A lot of the major gains have been in circles where operations have recently been launched (e.g. Kolkata, Orissa, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal). It is to be seen how much of this can be sustained going forward.

It has done well in some circles, such as Bihar, Gujarat, Mumbai, Rajasthan, U.P. (E). The growth, though, has mostly come on a much smaller base (except in Gujarat). This has enabled it to sustain it's overall market share in the country at 11.0% in the period under consideration. However, it is not clear how this share will be defended from hereon.

I understand that my analysis has entirely been based on the subscriber numbers and I have not looked at a lot of aspects that are internal. I have started from the assumption that consolidation is inevitable and the pricing pressures, number of subscribers gives a strong first-cut indication about the player conditions and potential future outlook.

I also want to propose, the different scenarios that might become the characteristic of the landmark consolidation event:
Scenario 1: One of the major foreign telecom companies acquiring significant shareholding from promoters (structure will become similar to Uninor). One possibility can also be Telekom Malaysia increasing it's stake.
Scenario 2: A major Indian industry group entering the telecom space through acquisition of a controlling stake
2.1 may be some one who gets a lot of money through selling an existing group company and wants to enter a different sector (e.g. recent diversification by the former Ranbaxy promoters)
OR
2.2 existing groups with diversification / ambitious growth plans (Mahindra? ITC?)
Scenario 3: A player like Tata, after increasing it's market share through organic route, wanting to catapult in the Top 3 through Idea's acquistion
Scenario 4: Idea merging with a smaller player (Aircel?) to retain / enhance it's falling market position.

I will keep an eye on this sector to see how things emerge. It will also be interesting to see, how much of the above was just my imagination, hard at work.

Warren Buffett's letter

2010-03-29T23:13:00.000+05:30

Warren Buffett writes these famous annual letters to the shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway. Some interesting excerpts from his recent letter

"Our metrics for evaluating our managerial performance are displayed on the facing page. From the start, Charlie and I have believed in having a rational and unbending standard for measuring what we have – or havenot – accomplished. That keeps us from the temptation of seeing where the arrow of performance lands and then painting the bull’s eye around it.

I have been in dozens of board meetings in which acquisitions have been deliberated, often with the directors being instructed by high-priced investment bankers (are there any other kind?). Invariably, the bankers give the board a detailed assessment of the value of the company being purchased, with emphasis on why it is worth far more than its market price. In more than fifty years of board memberships, however, never have I heard the investment bankers (or management!) discuss the true value of what is being given. When a deal involved the issuance of the acquirer’s stock, they simply used market value to measure the cost. They did this even though they would have argued that the acquirer’s stock price was woefully inadequate – absolutely no indicator of its real value – had a takeover bid for the acquirer instead been the subject up for discussion.

When stock is the currency being contemplated in an acquisition and when directors are hearing from an advisor, it appears to me that there is only one way to get a rational and balanced discussion. Directors should hire a second advisor to make the case against the proposed acquisition, with its fee contingent on the deal not going through. Absent this drastic remedy, our recommendation in respect to the use of advisors remains: 'Don’t ask the barber whether you need a haircut.' "

M.B.A.

2010-03-22T10:04:00.002+05:30

Interesting view from Matthew Stewart

"For companies, M.B.A. programs can be a way to outsource recruiting. Marvin Bower, McKinsey’s managing director from 1950 to 1967, was the first to understand this fact, and he built a legendary company around it. Through careful cultivation of the deans and judicious philanthropy, Bower secured a quasi-monopoly on Baker Scholars (the handful of top students at the Harvard Business School). Bower was not so foolish as to imagine that these scholars were of interest on account of the education they received. Rather, they were valuable because they were among the smartest, most ambitious, and best-connected individuals of their generation.Harvard had done him the favor of scouring the landscape, attracting and screening vast numbers of applicants, further testing those who matriculated, and then serving up the best and the brightest for Bower’s delectation. "

Addendum: I guess the chain continues, and to some level, various private equity firms and corporate houses (for senior management positions) have outsourced their recruiting to firms like McKinsey.

I don't know if, I should stay

2010-03-20T23:36:00.000+05:30

One of the better email forwards I received ...

-------------------
The name is good, the brand is big
But, the work I do is that of a pig.
My Future, or the Brand; what is my way?
I don't know if, I should stay.

To work, they have set their own way
Nobody will care to hear what I say.
My will be NULL, they wont change their way
I don't know if, I should stay.

The project is in a critical stage,
To do good work, this is the age.
This dilemma is worsening day by day
I don't know if, I should stay.

The money is not good, the place isn’t as great
And the decline is at a very rapid rate.
Should I go for the opportunity, or wait for loyalty pay
I don't know if, I should stay!

The managers don't know what they talk,
The team doesn't know where they walk.
That's a bad situation, what say?
I don't know if I should stay.

I can go to any other place
But, what if, I get the same disgrace?
I can't keep switching day by day
I don't know if, I should stay.

The -ves are more, the +ves are less
Then why have this unnecessary mess?
No more will I walk their way,
It's all done, I won't stay.

To err by over-communicating

2010-02-28T13:26:00.000+05:30

It is amazing how much we talk about communication, and how little we actually follow, what we preach.

I, along with a few others at work, had some things to be done. We required help from a lot of our colleagues and most of them were willing to help. It involved taking out time from their busy schedules and may be putting in some hours during the weekend.

The work got done and I conveniently forgot about these people who had helped us so much. There was no communication that was sent to them about how everything went and what was the result of the work that was put in by them.

When one of these people mailed me inquiring about the result, it was too embarrassing. They deserved to be part of the result - given that they were part of the process. I drafted a mail with the details w.r.t the results - and mailed it to everyone that was involved.

I understand that not everyone will be interested to the same extent in the results. But let's leave that to their discretion. They can always delete that mail as soon as they receive it. But let's give them that option. In my opinion, it is better to err on the side of over communication than not communicating enough.

Tomorrow is a new day

2010-02-08T00:08:00.000+05:30

I keep saying to myself every once in a while ... that from tomorrow / from this instant, I would be a different person. I don't want to change everything that I am ... but only some of the things ... and mostly how I am internally. Even though most others might unanimously recommend a few things that I should change, they might not be agreeable to me. Sometimes, I am proud of a few of these things.

Anyways, the point of this post is that I have not been entirely successful in my above endeavour. You would have guessed that, given I have to revisit the thought so many time. I am hoping that writing it here might give the though another chance to get implemented in my life.

The motivations for such thoughts are pretty varied. Sometimes they come due things that happen with / at home, family, friends, work, colleagues etc. Sometimes, for no reason, you are faced with some existential questions in life and you start wondering where life is going.

I can list a lot of instances when such thoughts arise
... when someone you helped so much, starts pretending that you don't exist from the next day the work got over
... when a friend has time for everyone else, except you, and you give so much importance to this person
... when your time is not valued and everything has to happen as per the schedules of everyone else
... when things are not going exactly as plans in your work and you though its is not entirely your fault, you are being blamed for everything
... even after all this, you have no right to be angry with anyone for you would be fooling yourself if you are
... etc

The list can go on and on. But I guess, you get the point.

The idea is not to blabber all such things at this forum. The idea is to get your thoughts together and make a resolution to be different from tomorrow. It is almost 12 midnight and a new day is about to begin. From the time I wake up in the morning, I will be a different person, though you might not see much difference from the outside.

P.S. I know some of my acquaintances might mock at this post, if and when they read this. But I don't care (see I have started changing already :) ).

Consultant ke haath main Laalten

2010-02-07T23:55:00.001+05:30

I know you are in a bank
Which is higher in the preference rank
To kya hua agar main ban gaya Consultant
Ab bhi Fin hi karta hain mujhe asal main exultant

Tumhara bank though hain well performing
Abhi nahin maana jaata hain, among the top ranking
Mujh Consultant ko apne bank ka de do ek engagement
Bana doonga tumhare bank ko best co. for asset management

Tumhara kaam hain Excel aur Number
Kuch logo ko daal sakta hain in deep slumber
Par main un main se nahin hoon, you can be sure
Mujhe to acha lagta hain Valuation - Ratios ya DCF pure

Tum bhi PPT banati ho aadha time
And PPT se hum earn karte hain apna nickel aur dime
Aoo kissi din milke, synergy-strategy pe discussion ho jaaye
Thoda Excel tum mujhe sikhaon, thoda think-cell main kho jaayein

Apna saath sahi jamega
Portfolio diversified nahin thamega
Agar market down ho jaaye, to meri Consulting kaam aa jayegi
Aur agar Consulting na chali meri, to tumhare bank se funding raise ho jaayegi

Tumhara Consultant haath main Laalten liye shaam tak tumhara intezaar karega

There is no room for cutbacks!

2009-10-20T14:14:00.000+05:30

I sometimes wonder, where is the line between non-discretionary and discretionary expenses these days? Slowly, but surely, more items are crossing the line to the non-discretionary side. No wonder it gets harder to find expenses that could be done away with during a recession.

Food, telephone, electricity have been necessary items from long.
People get bored eating the same food – so, a visit to the restaurant once in a while cannot be done away with. And how can I resist the idea of a visit to a mall / shopping complex before the dinner in the restaurant? Oh! I almost forgot the movie before or after the dinner. This is the minimum one has to do to get replenished after a long hard working week. Also, no one can blame me for not spending time with family.

And just landline telephone is too old fashioned these days. Imagine what would happen if someone asks me my number, and I have no cell number to share. How can one live with that trauma for the rest of one’s life? Value added services are the soul of any mobile service. Do you think that I have bought this phone only for sending and receiving calls? Are you out of your mind? And now that I have a cell phone, whenever I have to pass some time, all my contact list is at my fingertips. No longer do I have to sit in a public transport vehicle just looking outside the window and waiting for my stop to come. There is so less time to catch up with all the friends, family – forget the recharge that I have to do every 10 days or so – it is worth it. Moreover, it does not look good if one does not wish others on their birthdays, anniversaries etc.

Electricity has been a boon to mankind. Now, I have a whole range of ‘essential’ electronic items that I can buy. Television has become a part of everyday life. And is it possible to live without air conditioners and heaters given the climate change? I refuse to argue on the essentials such as refrigerator, toasters, juicers, iron, washing machine, audio player etc. Add to these things like DVD player, exercise machine and so on, and you get things without which a home cannot be complete.

I have not even mentioned two modern day essentials – personal vehicles and a laptop – and the set of accessories which are (you got it right) ‘essential’ to the core.

Walking is so passé that unless my doctor / physical trainer tells me to do so, my first step outside my home would be in my car. And not any car – one which is the highest model available within that particular species. Even if it is not the most fuel efficient and our home could have done with a cheaper car, this is a matter of status and that has to be carefully built. Don’t you know how difficult it is to travel by public transport these days? I know that thousands travel that way, but also thousands travel by cars. Are the car owners mad to buy these vehicles? When they can, why can’e we?

Laptop with the best configuration, graphics card, speakers etc. is something important for the kids these days. They need to start getting exposure to such modern technology from the time they are a foetus. Have you heard of the 16Mbps connection that is available in the market? So, what if the only work I do on the internet is checking my mails (and most of it is spam) – anything below 16Mbps is just too slow. I don’t like to be restricted when it comes to the amount of downloads I can do in a month. So, the unlimited plan looks the ideal for me.

Given all this, it is but natural that recession hits poor souls like me, the most. As you can understand from above, I am just living hand to mouth and there is practically no scope for cutbacks. I am so careful about my expenses, that there is hardly any discretionary expense that I can enjoy or have some savings for the future.

Service

2009-09-21T18:53:00.000+05:30

Jaise sansar 'par' hain, aise hi sharir, indriyan, mann aur buddhi bhi 'par' yaani doosre hi hain. Isliye karmyogi inko bhi apna na maankar, inki bhi seva karta hain.
(You should serve the body, sensory organs, the heart and the mind for they are separate from you.)

Sharirko nidralu, aalsi, pramaadi, nikamma aur bhogi na banne dena, sharir ki seva hain. (To avoid letting the body become lethargic is the service to the body.)
Indriyon ko saansarik bhogo main na lagne dena, indriyon ki seva hain. (To avoid letting the sensory organs become craving for worldly pleasures is the service to the sensory organs.)
Mann ko kissika ahit sochne main, vishayon ke chintan main aur vyarth chintan main na lagne dena, mann ki seva hain. (To avoid letting the heart - think ill for others, think about worldly pleasures and take wasteful tensions - is the service to the heart.)
Buddhi ko doosro ke kartavya par vichaar na karne dena, doosra kya karta hain, kya nahin - yeh na sochne dena, buddhi ki seva hain. (To avoid letting the mind think - about the responsibilities of others, about what others do and don't - is the service to the mind.)

Vaastav main sharir, indriyan, mann aur buddhi main mamta-aasakti na rakhna he inki sabse badi seva hain.
(Actually speaking, to not get attached / fond of the body, sensory organs, the heart and the mind is the greatest service to them.)

Excerpt from Sadhak Sanjivani - Swami Ramsukhdasji Maharaj

The Four Factor Reloaded

2009-09-06T23:43:00.003+05:30

I have told you before how the Four Factor has played an important role in my career. My apprehensions in that post was not baseless and I was offered admission at IIML. I declined the offer (after much thought) and chose to start my professional career. And the company I had an offer from was (you guessed it right) another in the 'Four' series. It was the Fourth largest investment bank in the U.S. at that time. I worked there for a year and then left the job to study further.

Initially, I had not particularly thought about starting my career (after MBA) from the field of Consulting. But slowly and surely, I got convinced about the whole field. I have already mentioned about my placement preparations before.

The preparations came in handy at the time of interviews. The first half of the interview day went rather well, and I thought my interviews had gone well. When results started coming out in the latter half, the future did not look as bright. Luckily, I had enough time to squeeze in a few more interviews and get a chance to get selected by one of the good firms on campus that day.

The day ended with me getting selected in a Consulting firm, that is considered to be the Fourth best on campus. And so, it happened again. I will be joining the firm soon and would be able to get a better sense of that rating (will want to see if it is just a campus rating or is it actually the case in the market). I am not at all complaining. I am happy to be joining that firm and very much looking forward to starting work.

Template for Objectives for any Team Analyst / Associate

2009-08-02T20:07:00.002+05:30

This is a sample template to guide one through the task of developing a self-objective sheet that is required by some companies / managers. It could be useful for people working in investment banks, consulting companies etc. Some tweaking would obviously be required. This has been written keeping in mind an Equity Research analyst in an investment bank.

Industry Knowledge
Continue to develop industry knowledge.
[detail specific areas of focus and specific tasks or actions to be taken to develop that knowledge]

Technical Skills
Continue to develop technical analytical skills
[detail key areas of development around modelling, valuation knowledge, accounting, excel etc and how you intend to develop these]

Presenting Skills
Develop written and verbal communication skills

[Specific targets in terms of written contribution (news reportage, maintenance morning notes, proactive research), Morning Meeting appearances]

Understanding our Business
Develop your understanding of the Firm’s product offering and revenue generation potential and how you can impact it.

[Specific actions to spend time and build up a network with parts of the business outside of Equity Research – specific targets around Cash trading, Sector Specialist, Sales Trading, Flow Derivatives, Structured Derivatives, Fixed Income Research etc]

Idea Generation
Increase contribution to the team’s development of actionable ideas

[e.g. reference RETINA usage, day-to-day interaction with coverage analysts, non-maintenance publication targets on lead coverage stocks, interaction with Sector Specialists, Cash Traders, Flow Traders]

Profile Development
Build profile with internal and/or external clients

[Targets to spend specific time sat with sales/trading/derivatives desk, regular interaction levels with those groups, client interaction targets – ad hoc basis / regular coverage list etc, Sales/Trading survey targets, feedback from other groups]

Contribution to the Firm
Detail any targets for contribution outside your team

[Diversity, recruitment, etc]

To my Bank: When will you ...

2009-07-23T23:17:00.002+05:30

Stop charging me for those demand drafts (or atleast lower the charges)? When I make a demand draft, I either give you hard cash or the amount gets immediately deducted from my account. Till the time the draft is encashed, you can use this money and earn interest on it. I cannot claim anything on the money for that period (which is fair enough). I do not believe that it takes a lot of effort to make that demand draft. I have thought a lot, but am unable to find why I have to pay that amount over the draft value. The benefit of the draft is that the other party (getting the draft) is assured that it would receive the money. But it is not that you have trusted me or are doing a favour (given that the money is already with you).

Stop charging me for ATM withdrawals from ATMs of other banks? Oh! I guess I am a little late on this. You have already done this. Or you have been forced into doing that (Thank you, RBI). Just because I had no other choice but withdraw from other ATMs (given the dearth of your ATMs), does it gave you the right to reduce my balance?

Increase the amount I can withdraw daily from an ATM? I thought that the ATMs were also meant for emergency. The current withdrawal limit does not justify this idea. The amount that you are allowing me today does not cover most kinds of emergency that I might face. I agree that you would have to manage your ATMs more efficiently (in terms of making cash available), but is that too much to ask?

Make it possible for any of your branches to dynamically become my local branch? These days when I travel (or even when I am in the same city as my local branch), I cannot be sure that I can go to any of your branches and do all the transactions I want to. Many of your branches are not connected to the central computing facility and so cannot even check my account balance. I do not have so much time as to travel to my local branch each time I feel like banking (irrespective of my location). The branches which are centrally connected charge me as soon as I step into the branch office. What is with that? I was of the view that technology usage is getting cheaper by the day, isn't that so?

Increase the interest I get on my savings balance? Let's leave everything I have requested upto now. Just think about this request. Don't you think it is high time that you do something about those meager interest rates that you proudly distribute to me for my savings? I have trusted you with my money and I know that you earn thick interest on that money by lending them to various individuals and institutions. I think you deserve that for all the hard work you do in managing this wealth. But I also deserve to get a somewhat better portion of those proceeds.

Consider the correct savings balance amount while calculating the interest? I see that your profits have increased very rapidly in the last few years. Still you have not left your old habit of squeezing every single Rupee from your customers. If I understand, I do not get interest on my balance on a daily basis. It is calculated on a monthly basis. The amount is taken to be the minimum of the balance between the 10th of the month and the end of the month. Is such behaviour really necessary? (Again the RBI has come to the rescue and has accepted my request. This will be applicable from the beginning of next financial year)

I will wait for your reply and until then would have to operate in the system that you have already set in.

Your loyal customer.

P.S. I have not spoken anything about your phone banking or internet banking offerings. The reason is that, only when I see substantial progress on these basic requests, can I see myself commenting on those. It is not that I have nothing nice to say about you. The ease with which I can get loans from you these days is unprecedented.

My grandfather

2009-07-21T19:05:00.003+05:30

My grandfather died about one and a half months back because of a heart attack. If I have to choose one person whose behaviour, habits etc etc (pretty much everything) that I would want to adopt, it would be his.

He was 76 years old but was more fit than me. He lived a life full of sensory control and with a divine aim. From the time I remember, he had been a very religious person. The unique thing about him was that he did not limit himself to reading or listening to religious things, he had fully imbibed everything divine he came across. Many people came to offer condolences to my grandmother, and the one thing that everybody said was - If there was one person they knew who saw God in everyone and everything, it would be him.

I fail to remember a time when he spoke to me and did not talk about God or some religious thing - even if the conversation was for a few seconds. I was with my grandmother for over a month and witnessed the conversations that happened as people came to offer condolences. I was just amazed at the number of people he touched. There were strangers (to us) who came and just started crying (and these tears were not made up). They could not believe that such a thing has happened and they said that their loss was irreparable.

I was pretty close to him and it is definitely a great loss to me. But at the same time, I firmly believe that he has not gone anywhere, for such people's blessings are always present. I have always believed that whatever little I have managed to do in life, it is because of the life my grandparents have lived.

Before the British came ...

2009-06-04T17:19:00.002+05:30

Source: Friend's blog

Seize the opportunity

2009-06-03T22:32:00.003+05:30

Just as one has to look for opportunities in various fields, so is the case with donations and social work. It is very easy to give money / things to the next person / organization / effort. But to find a "better" alternative is more difficult.

First, lets look at the opportunity part. This is a case when - you think and find a good way of giving. For example, in our area, there is a planned water cut which started yesterday. Usually, we get enough water in our homes and so there is not much need of storage. As it became clear that water might not be available for the next 2 days, everyone had all containers water-filled in their homes (to the smallest of utensils) yesterday morning. Still, today morning, some homes felt the need to get more water.

I saw a water tanker in our colony in the morning. Many of the people from the colony came with their buckets to get their supplies replenished. I thought that they would be buying water on a per bucket basis or something like that. It turned out that one family had bought the tanker for all and everyone was being encouraged to fill as much as they can / want. I asked, why this generosity? I was told that today is 'Nirjala Ekadashi'. It is believed that donating water today is considered very good. And that family seized the interesting combination of events.

Next, lets look at the cases when we identify things we should give away / donate. Generally, the tendency is that, once such things get identified, they become a sore in one's eye. They might have been with you for years together, without being used. Till they are hidden, it is alright, but not now. So, the result is that the next time the maid comes (if no other worthy candidate comes before that - such as driver, plumber etc.), everything is given to her.

I believe that the distribution of these things among people belonging to the category of helpers is very disproportionate. So, the maid would take away everything (even if it is useless to her), since we see her as the immediate person we can give the stuff to. What about the other helpers?

A couple of months back, as I completed my graduation, all people from my year started emptying their hostel rooms to leave for their homes. People had been living in their rooms for 2 years and in such situations, a lot of things get accumulated. Things that are not worth carrying the weight around start getting distributed. And the obvious choices are the sweepers who come daily to the rooms.

What about the security guards who man the hostels and institute gates? What about the delivery boys of the campus canteen? What about the people who help in the academic departments (for e.g. the guys who take care of the audio visual aids of classrooms - they have to be there whenever there is a class)? and so on. According to me, a more proportionate distribution is required.

Attending marriages

2009-05-26T11:30:00.003+05:30

I have reached an age at which, every now and then, you hear of a friend getting married. Most of these are 1-2 years older than me, but this indicates that most of my friends would be married (say) in the next 2 years or so. As such, there would be a lot of weddings and hopefully many invitations.

The mode of communication for invitations (in general) have changed to mostly being online (atleast for the events directly related to people around my age). Though this is a faster mode of communication and cheaper, I believe it takes out the personal touch. You can add hundreds of people to your 'Cc' or 'Bcc' list in one email, write a generic mail inviting them and attach the invitation card. And that is about it.

Previously, for invitational purposes, the invitation card had to be sent to each address. And when phones became more common, the cards had to be followed by phone calls. The trend became that people who you seriously wanted to invite were given a card + 1-2 phone calls. And others had to take the hint if they just received a card and no phone call. If the latter people came then, they were most welcome and would be treated well.

I think the hard copy of the invitation card has been replaced by the soft copy mentioned above. Whenever I get such a mail, I look at the 'To' field. If my email id is there, it means it has been sent to me only. Generally, that is not the case. So, I look at the 'Cc' field. Generally, that field is empty. So, it must be the case that people would have been Bcced. And even if there had been a few names in the Bcc list, it gives the impression that there would be at at least few tens if not a hundred. The mail usually says that consider this as a personal invitation, but I am not sure how many people on the list do think that way. I would say, it would have been better if the people were Cced, so that the recipients at least knew who all have they been associated with.

Unless there is a personal phone call or some kind of personal invitation (even if it is specially talking on some IM and inviting), it does not become an event that you have to go to. I might go, especially if it is within the city I am in. But traveling to some other place especially for it might not happen.

I understand that there could be time pressures as an event like marriage comes near and everything has to be arranged. I am alright with being in the Cc or Bcc list and knowing the kind of invitation I am getting. But expecting it to be considered a personal invitation might be a little too stretched. I have to remember this when there is an event in my family, for the easier way out could then seem to be relying on these Ccs and Bccs.

All the time in the world

2009-05-25T21:03:00.004+05:30

A lot of time that can be put to good use gets wasted. This has always been the case, but lately I have experienced more of this.

I am in the middle of an atleast 3 month break between end of studies and joining a company. In these 3 months, there is mostly no agenda at hand. There are some important personal things that have to be done, but those cannot start before the professional job begins. So, I have to constantly search for things to do. I am not saying that there should have been no break at all, but for me personally, 1 month break is more than enough for everything. The preparations for starting at the job can be done in that time and the relaxation as well as all other things.

I tried finding an internship, but nothing came across that seemed suitable. I am sure there would have been opportunities for such an internship that would have been mutually agreeable. I also think that there might be atleast a few people like myself who have 2-3 month gaps due to various reasons. And that they would want to put it to some productive use. But I failed to find a forum where mapping of such opportunities and seekers is done. This leads to a lot of time being whiled away when both work is available and people are willing.

Another instance is the story of one of my friends. He was my batchmate at my undergrad. Now, he is working in a job that is far under-utilizing him. He spends only 7 hours or so in the office, 5 days a week and that includes the 1 hour daily use of office gym, in addition to having lunch, snacks etc. He has been working here for a few years and things have gotten from bad to worse, with the time he spends in office decreasing every time I ask him about it.

Here, I guess, there is a combination of lacking on both sides - the company not trying to find the true potential and give work accordingly, and my friend not actively pursuing newer opportunities / assignments and remaining happy with the lifestyle. In my opinion, again a huge waste of precious time.

Logic vs. Religion

2009-04-26T23:19:00.003+05:30

I have liked the English sitcom F.R.I.E.N.D.S for a long time now. I had watched a few episodes of other English sitcoms here and there (on advice of friends), but I never really liked any of them. Then came, HIMYM and the first couple of seasons were really good. But now that has started getting boring. My latest liking is The Big Bang Theory(BBT) which is into its second season currently.

There is this lead character in BBT named Sheldon, who is the ultimate geek. He thinks about all situations logically and is generally devoid of any emotions.

Currently, I am reading Sadhak Sanjivani, a religious text which explains the meaning of the various verses in Gitaji and is written by Swami Ramsukhdasji Maharaj. The clarity and thoroughness of the explanations are fascinating and inspiring.

The two things I have mentioned above seem a world apart. But interestingly, I found that at places they are basically saying the same thing.

In of the episodes, Sheldon asks another character of the sitcom, "Is your body mass somehow tied to your self worth?". This is after he has given a not-so-positive statement about the body mass of the other person which made the latter sad. Sheldon is one fact based person and somehow he feels that things like body mass should not affect the perceived self worth of a person.

Gitaji says that if a wealthy person thinks highly about himself / herself just due to the money, it is the money which is bigger than the person and there should be no such feeling. Similarly, if a beautiful person (based on appearance) thinks highly about himself / herself just because of appearances, it is the visual aspect which is bigger than the person and there should be no such feeling. I see a connect in what Sheldon is trying to imply and what Gitaji says.

Sometimes, it feels that the most logical should be synonymous with the most religious (at least in some areas), though it is always portrayed as opposites (almost in all areas).

Personal Learning Paper

2009-04-23T22:55:00.002+05:30

Wrote this as part of a course in the second term during my grad school

-----------------

I was just awed by the relevance of the case we did ‘Ashok Rajguru’ to my life. As soon as I read that case, the first thing I did was to express this at my blog (http://myselfspeaking.blogspot.com/2007/10/as-relevant-as-you-can-get.html). While reading, it was hard to distinguish whether I was going through what was written or whether those were my thoughts. The only major difference on a conceptual level which I found was that the protagonist does not want to share and I prefer sharing, given that I find someone to share with.

I always aim at being that person to whom everyone wants to share their sorrows with. The discussion in the class about the case led to sharing of some feelings by one of my dorm mates which I had absolutely no idea of. I realized how far I was from my objective that even someone from my dorm itself does not share with me. From that point onwards, I am trying to develop more of a personal relationship with as many as I can. I have started this by making it a point to say ‘Hi’ to any acquaintance (like section mates) who I meet in campus say, while going to the mess in the evenings.

One of the most important things that I felt about the session on Pygmalion in Management was the concept that it was important to have the best managers handling people when they join. At first, I was not able to swallow this idea. But I soon realized that this is how it should be. I have worked for a year and because my boss/manager was as good as him, I actually liked the work which I did at my company. Now that I think of it, I was skeptical about the work towards the beginning and was actually thinking of applying to other companies. But within a couple of months, with the kind of freedom and responsibility I was entrusted with, I did not pursue delving into seeking out other opportunities.

Though I have not been in many situations where I am the boss, I had worked with an intern for two weeks during my job. I involved him in a project and once the base was established, I started giving him some work. But I have this habit of giving details and so everything which he was supposed to deliver was pinpointed by me. Now I think, he may or may not have disliked that (for this was his first job and the duration was small). But, I realize that I have to be careful of this habit of mine. If I like freedom and responsibility, as I described above, I need to realize that the other person would also value that.

Before the scoring was done for the ‘Personality test’, I had categorized myself as an ‘Adapted Child’ (AC) and the result came out to be the same. It kind of enforced my point of view of myself. It also enforced the point of view of others about me (as I see it). Generally, I am on the defensive side of things and try to see why a particular thing which is happening is right. My study group calls me a ‘pro-establishment’ guy for I keep supporting things which are happening at IIMA, be it related to course work, lifestyle etc. I now feel that this comes more from the fact that I have always been told about why the things which happen are for the good. There are rituals being followed by my family and there is always a reason behind each one of them. These reasons try to emphasize the validity of the rituals and I have learnt to accept it on face value. In future, I need to be more towards the ‘Little Professor’ ego state (which by the way is lowest in my case). I believe that innovation aspect is a little deficient in my personality. I need to question things a lot more than I do it now, be it at study or organization.

Here at IIMA, there are a lot of things I need to do in my study group. The group consists of 5 people and so it becomes important to take everyone along. There have been times when a group member is going through some issue in his personal life. At that time he/she have shown some kind of indifference towards the group work. I tend to become annoyed if someone does not contribute, only to repent later when I get to know what the real issue was.

Will Indian economy emerge buoyant after the Global economic slowdown?

2009-04-13T00:10:00.002+05:30

The question in title was answered as part of an application for a scholarship. The answer goes as below:
----------
The first answer that comes to my mind (and that might come to most people) is that India and its economy would definitely emerge buoyant after the Global economic slowdown. The shifting of power to the East along with expanding markets and fast paced globalization would help in this.

However, in my opinion, it is essential to understand what we mean by 'emerging buoyant'.

If we mean to say that India would be able to get back on track with the huge economic growth that it witnessed in the last decade or so, it probably would.

The reasons (both internal and external) which were responsible for the growth in the first place are here to stay. The external reasons such as the need for companies to find new markets, divide tasks in a way that it could be outsourced to someplace in the world where it could be done in the most efficient manner would be felt once again. These reasons are as existent now as they were before, but the risk averesness drift that is being seen currently has led to these getting subdued. However, as and when it becomes clear that Global economy is egressing out of the slowdown, things should catch-up (from where they were left, though with increased caution). There would be even a larger need to rely on globalization to meet the customer needs in the most efficient manner, for the competition would be from across the planet.

Closer scrutiny of the question leads to an implicit point being raised on which a view is being sought. It refers to whether the Indian economy find itself in a better place after the world comes out of the slowdown. This is a more long term question and would be dependent on certain specific tectonic shifts. Yet at the face of it, on a relative basis (as compared to most other economic powers), Indian economy might not be helped too much by the slowdown.

It would definitely be the case that the country's economy would have learnt its lessons and would have come up with measures to make itself more robust and sustainable (with lesser dependance on other economies). However, at the same time, the other countries would have also have derived essential learnings from the turmoil and would themselves have taken steps in the right direction.

So, when one talks about Indian economy's buoyancy, it would be the case on an absolute basis, but less so on a relative basis.

My vision of India in 2025 and my contribution to it

2009-04-13T00:01:00.002+05:30

This was written as part of an application for a scholarship
---------
By 2025, India would decisively be in the forefront of the race to become a global superpower riding on employing its human capital to varied productive uses.

Human capital is one of the most important resources for any country. India has a relatively young population and it is critical for the country to leverage its human capital to join the ranks of the developed nations.

Education sector in India has traditionally operated in a highly regulated environment resulting in a huge demand-supply mismatch. 142 million children (of the 361 million children who should be in school) still remain out of school. High proportions of dropouts are seen at each grade. Adult literacy rate in India is 61% vs. 76.7% among developing countries and 98.5% among developed countries.

The government has realized the need to focus on education and multiple initiatives are being taken in this direction. At the same time, people’s propensity to pay for education has increased tremendously. Emergence of a strong middle class coupled with the perception of educational spend as investment for the future (rather than a expense) will help revive the education system of the nation.

In the coming years, more efficient educational system would lead to better deployment and use of funds. This would also help in reducing the skill shortage being faced by various industries by enhancing the employability of the workforce.

I believe that in a society, the more intellectual minds should service the educational system. As such, more and more people from institutes like IIMA should starting contributing to academia after they graduate.

My long-term career goal is to set-up a school for K-12 education and give a large part of my time towards its development and functioning. I plan to work for a few years to gather the necessary resources for this school. My aim is to research and gather information about various schools from across the globe. This would allow me to have a blue print of the school in terms of the various structural aspects that I want to incorporate and adapt.

Once I have managed to put in place a necessary framework for the school and the resources are at disposal, I plan to devote most of my time to it. By 2025, I see this school 2-3 years into its operations.

I am not sure how much I would have been able to contribute to the vision that has been detailed above. However, I have a strong belief that though the contribution might be small, it is with many such contributions that the vision for the country would come true.

100 common words ... that get misspelled

2009-03-28T02:48:00.000+05:30

all right	coolly	supersede	succeed	proceed
cede, precede	procedure	stationery	stationary	recommend
comparative	ecstasy	analyse	paralyse	repetition
inimitable	absence	superintendent	conscience	anoint
despair	surprise	inoculate	definitely	privilege
predictable	dissipate	discriminate	description	balloon
truly	argument	assistant	grammar	parallel
suddenness	embarrassment	weird	pronunciation	noticeable
vicious	insistent	embarrassing	indispensable	disappear
corroborate	sacrilegious	tranquillity	exhilaration	newsstand
license (v)	irresistible	persistent	dilemma	perseverance
tyrannize	vacillate	oscillate	accommodate	dilettante
accessible	desirable	panicky	seize	leisure
achieve	practise (v)	practice (n)	existence	pursue
possesses	professor	category	rhythmical	vacuum
committee	grievous	conscious	plebeian	tariff
connoisseur	necessary	sergeant	misspelling	exceed
separate	irritable	ridiculous	incidentally	sheriff
occurrence	drunkenness	development	disappoint	licence (n)
until	changeable	receive	pastime	benefited

Placement preparation

2009-03-01T00:47:00.005+05:30

I am sometimes amazed how some people do so much for others.

Our campus placements are currently in process. One of the coveted fields was 'Consulting' and the interviews of firms from this field involve solving Cases. These Cases are basically different situations as faced by various organizations. They usually are real life case studies and one needs to do a lot of practice before going for the real interviews.

The case preparation generally is done in groups, so that the interview environment can be simulated. In a group of 3-5, one person would be the interviewee, 1-2 people might take the interview and the others would be observers. The interviewee seat is occupied by one person at a time and keeps rotating among group members. Similarly for the interviewers and observers.

I think it takes some amount of pushing to be done to start preparing for cases. I started case preparation because of the sustained efforts of one of my friends and my dorm mate, Mr. SK. He thought that I should start practicing so as to get to know the flow of things, the various case formats etc. He started taking my case interviews one on one. I have not seen anyone taking such good interviews and giving such in-depth feedback and suggestions. These proved to be extremely useful.

The best part is that SK was more interested in career options other than Consulting. So, as such there was not too much to gain from these interview sessions for him. He also had to prepare for his own interviews. But all this did not deter him from spending time with me. He also helped me with other HR/personal questions that get asked in the interview. He gave so many useful inputs at every stage that I started checking everything that I did about the placements through him.

Even on the day, I had asked him to be by the phone so as to take inputs while deciding between various things as the day progressed. It was on his guidance that I went ahead with things on that day and landed up in a good job.

I owe a lot to him and am not sure if and what I have done to deserve this.

Best Friend

2009-02-28T21:11:00.003+05:30

I have had my fair share of friends, but somehow there has seldom been someone who I can refer to as my "best friend". I am not sure why is that the case - may be I have unreasonably high expectations from this person.

I am in touch with few of my friends from school, few from junior college, few from the colony in which I spent my childhood, somewhat more friends from my undergrad, few from my place of work etc. Months pass by without us getting in touch. My idea of a best friend is not this. A best friend would be one with whom one would want to talk every week or so, if not daily. One would want to share everything that is happening in life, everything that one is thinking of and so on. One could be oneself and when I said sharing, I meant even if it is silence that one shares, the other person understands and does not mind.

This person stands by you in times when you most need someone. You can ask for inputs, voice your concerns / issues that bother you, allay your apprehensions etc. Any behaviour from your side would be understood.

It is not to say that there is no onus on you. Whatever you expect, you should yourself do that for your 'best friend'.

There have been times (only a small number, may be 1-2) when I thought that I had found my 'best friend'. But somehow I have always managed to lose this person due to fault of my own. The other side goes along for a long time but there should be some response. I don't tell them what I think they should do and then expect them to guess. I don't tell them what I don't like and then expect them to find out. I try to control their lives, probably to a very large extent.

Sometimes, I feel making a 'best friend' is not a good thing for me. For the pain from the loss is huge. And when you have no one else but yourself to blame, it becomes even bigger. Somehow, I also feel that you should be the 'best friend' of your best friend for a lasting 'best friendship'.

Reproducing some awesome content

2009-02-08T05:19:00.002+05:30

I had mentioned about a few links that I really liked. I recently realized that these have been removed by the author. However, thankfully I was able to find them on Google Search through their cached function. So that I don't lose this, am reproducing the same here. These were written by one of my seniors.

Discover the joy of free-riding (originally at http://aishrejoy.blogspot.com/2005/04/top-5-things-to-look-forward-to.html)

Free-riders are the most selfless souls on this planet (NOT to be confused with WIMWI bikers' club). They kill their own ambitions and refrain from doing any work, only so that their fellow group members can enhance their learning. They give others the opportunity to work under pressure and handle difficult situations on their own. Once in a while, a novice free-rider might offer to make the cover page. However, a seasoned free-rider understands the perils of such seemingly altruistic actions and ensures that the group is not dependant on him for anything. In fact, it can very well be said that behind every successful man, there's a free-rider. Would Vindi Banga have been the head honcho of HLL if not for the services of the nameless, faceless free-rider in his study group?? No chance!!
Free-riders have perfected the art of disappearing. Their cellphones mysteriously switch off and their room phone goes off the hook just minutes before a group meeting. Legend has it that there was once a meeting called of the world's greatest free-riders. Nobody turned up. They free-rode on that too!!

Buzzwords!! (originally at http://aishrejoy.blogspot.com/2005/02/buzzwords.html)

Do you want to impress or confuse clients or vice versa? Use the all-new Techno vocabulary. It can be called the "Buzzword" writing method. It is simple and highly effective.

There are three columns of words involved, as follows:

0. balanced _______ 0. management ________ 0. contingency
1. total___________ 1. organization ________ 1. hardware
2. integrated_______2. reciprocal___________ 2. projection
3. compatible ______ 3. monitored __________ 3. time-frame
4. synchronized_____ 4. digital_____________ 4. concept
5. optimal_________ 5. modular___________ 5. programming
6. responsive_______6. transitional_________ 6. mobility
7. functional_______ 7. incremental_________ 7. capability
8. parallel_________ 8. third-generation______ 8. flexibility
9. systemized______ 9. policy _____________ 9. options

Just select any three-digit number; then use the corresponding Buzzwords from the above grid, e.g., 257: "integrated modular capability".

Don't worry if it doesn't make sense to you; it won't mean anything to anyone else either, but they'll think you're just smarter than they are so they won't say anything!!

You can propose "systemized reciprocal options" (929) to achieve "optimal transitional flexibility" (568), so that we can think of an "integrated monitored projection" and your boss will probably promote you or your customer will be blown away with your technological superiority!

Response from Air India

2009-01-13T20:06:00.005+05:30

It was nice to receive a response to my email letter to Air India. It was a personal response to the query, which is good. May be they really could not do much about these things, as they say. I am not sure if I would choose the airline, the next time I have the option of using it. But you never know how this response influences my choice of flight.

I reached Air India through Consumer Online Resource and Empowerment Centre. I am not sure if this would be effective for everything, but I guess for government companies, this forum is useful.

The response went as follows:

Dear Mr. A,

We have your mail dated Sep 03, 08 addressed to the Manager, Dept of Complaint Redressal Cell, CORE Centre.

We sincerely regret the inconvenience faced by you due to the dysfunctional In- flight Entertainment system on our flight from Mumbai to New York.

As you maybe aware, our new state- of- the- art aircraft are fitted with the latest on board facilities that are fully computerised. Electronic failures, you will appreciate are unpredictable and can affect the best of devices. In this case, due to passengers giving multiple commands the system hangs up which results in the impairment of the functioning of the Entertainment system / overhead lights or seat recline functions. Unfortunately, despite the rebooting by the crew if it still remains non operational, these defects can only be corrected by our Engineering department when the aircraft returns to the base station Mumbai or New York. Nonetheless, the same was rectified by our personnel at New York.

We thank you for your understanding and trust you will not deny us the pleasure of being of service to you in the near future.

With kind regards

Yours sincerely,
...

Dowry

2009-01-11T21:29:00.001+05:30

As I reach my 25th birthday, I kind of feel that I am crossing an important threshold. There would be expectations from me that I would have to meet. Not that this wasn’t the case before, but it would be more so now.

The time has also come when your friends start getting married. I have attended a couple of these weddings and had to miss some others due to other commitments. Though I am a little disappointed at having to miss these, I know there are many more to come.

One important question about weddings that gets discussed is the amount of dowry that is involved. There has been news that the demand for MBAs like me has gone down and that the dowry amounts have decreased. The question of dowry is becoming a little irrelevant as the culture of love marriages is increasing. As I understand, there is no concept of demanding a dowry in love marriages though I am not too sure, but that is what I have heard.

I thought that I should write a post about my view since that ways I would be clearer about my thought. I am not saying this just because it is the ‘right’ thing to say. In fact, it might not be the thing which everyone says i.e. “Taking and giving dowry is wrong / a crime”. I am of the view that demanding dowry is a big sin, but taking dowry is not. To my mind there is a subtle difference.

Demanding is when you negotiate with the girl’s family about the amount they would spend in the marriage and what you would get. Taking is to take whatever is given to the girl by her parents. Obviously, if you demand and then take, the taking does not justifying the demanding.

The idea is that one should not demand and neither expect anything as dowry. Even if the parents want to give a large dowry, one should try and convince them to give nothing or as low an amount as possible. One should show that there is nothing that you require and there is ample in your family to take care of all the needs of your to-be-wife. Employ any method to try and lower the dowry.

But still the parents of the girl have a right to give what they want to, to their daughter. Just as parents work hard for their sons, they do so for their daughters. Their love for their daughters might entail the want to give her everything that would make her life comfortable.

When one gives a gift to a friend, does it happen only when the friend cannot afford something? Gifts are a way of showing that you care. It is something you want to do, even though you can get away without doing it. Why can’t a similar case exist in the case of dowry? Giving even though one need not for there are no demands or expectations.

I understand that this is not so black and white. There may be demands or expectations in the mind and the justification given could be that we are just taking what is being offered. The social pressure would automatically lead to an expectation and the case would be that the boy's side does not even have to demand (the girl's side has to fulfill the unsaid expectation). In that case, you are deceiving yourself. And this might be the reason that a blanket ban on giving and taking of dowry is kind of justified.

Abortion and dowry are very connected. Female feticide in India happens mainly because of the huge expenses that are related with the marriage of the daughter. I firmly believe that any sin that is associated with these abortions would have to be shared by the people in the society that demand dowry.

To say or not to say

2008-12-26T03:04:00.001+05:30

I have written before about the reasons for writing blogs. One always has to remember that it could be read by anyone. I have found instances when people write something and delete that post. It might be the case, which the person wanted to write a better post. But sometimes this is because one somehow gets the feeling that it would not be good if the post remains there.

My reading list on the web can be seen in the left sidebar. I use Google Reader to get the posts from these sites as soon as the sites are updated. It happens that sometimes I read the post within the Reader itself and sometimes use the link to go the site to read it where it is written.

Recently, I got a post from one of the blogs that I read in my Reader. It was clear that the writer was in a sorry state of mind and wanted to share his feelings. Though I am not sure if he did find some other outlet for his emotions, he definitely chose to put them on his blog. I thought that the minimum I can do is to leave a comment on the post and so thought of following the link.

My browser showed me a page that said that the post did not exist. I thought that it might be a mistake. I again clicked the link in my Reader and again got to the same page. It became clear that the author chose to remove the post. I am aware that sometimes people write things imagining stuff and it might not portray reality. But the fact that the post was removed confirmed that it was for real.

The dilemma I faced was whether – to send the author an email mentioning the post and writing what I planned to leave as a comment – or just not do anything for clearly the author did not want anyone to read his stuff. I chose the latter.

Hope things become better at the author’s end.

My Dorm

2008-12-07T13:23:00.002+05:30

I wrote about my dorm (where I am spending my 2 years of graduation) as part of something, a while back. Posting here what I wrote ... a bit edited though.

***

Dorm is THE best thing which could have happened to me here. Initially, it felt that the dorm thing is may be over-hyped. But as time passed, the truth was before my eyes. It may sound as if I am not being rational here (or stupid, immature), but I am ready to sacrifice anything within my capacity at IIMA for staying in the dorm.

... I was so looking forward to spending next year with my dorm mates – old and new. With the heavy academic load, I hadn’t had enough time to interact with them (or so I feel).

It was only now that we had started playing cricket. Only now that we had started eating Maggi in the night. Only now that we watched cricket matches together. Only now that we joked around. Only now … only now. My dorm mates always took care of me. They woke me up, otherwise I would have missed so many classes and sometimes quizzes. We went to the classes in the morning together. We always went together for breakfast, lunch, snacks, dinner to the mess. We went for dinner outside together. My dorm mates always took me along. I know if they would have not asked, I would have missed meals so many times, for going alone for meals is pathetic.

So, if you want to make the dorm culture responsible for my good health, for me attending classes, for me having regular meals, for me enjoying my stay at this place and want to punish me for this ...

I will tell you what I did not like about this culture. The fact that people shared my joys and sorrows. The fact that I could depend on them. The fact that I could ask for help (in acads or whatever). The fact that when I felt alone, I was able to go to someone in my dorm and talk to him and get away with all the depressing feelings I had. The aspect that it felt as family. Come on, who requires all this. People are right when they think that this can be done away with.

The PGP-2s (tuchchas) were so helpful, so caring; just cannot describe. Be it acads or any other stuff, they guided us like no one else would do. The best part was that we do not have anything to offer them. And they know that. Still they went out of their way to do things for us. Many a times they thought about us more than we did about ourselves. I will like to mention one event here. Those who went on exchange among the PGP2s called every single of us, PGP1s to say all the best from wherever in the world they were. What was the need for them to do this? What were we offering them that they had to do this?

Whenever seniors from previous batches come to Ahmedabad, they come to their dorms and take every current dorm resident for a meal at some good place. These seniors are meeting all the residents for the first time and probably for the last time in their lives. Why would anyone take spend time, energy, money on such people? They still identify with the residents. What makes them do so?

All my arguments may look as if coming from an emotional state of mind. Partly it is correct. But I sincerely believe that I have never been so rational before as I am now, while writing this. I have kept this anonymous, but I guess it would be pretty revealing (sorry, could not help it).

An Ethical Dilemma

2008-12-07T11:32:00.003+05:30

In my second term during graduation, in one particular course, everyone in the class was asked to write one Ethical Dilemma that each of us had sometime during our lifetimes. We had to mail these to the Professor and could ask him to not disclose / mention it in class. Just sharing mine.

***
I know that the dilemma I am going to write here is sort of cliché. However, this is something I always remember and have learnt from.

During my 10^th standard board exams, some students from my class told me that they would get the board papers a few hours in advance. In short, they said that they had sources through which they can source the papers. Initially, I did not believe them. However, they were somehow able to convince me, though they did not have to try hard for that. They also said that I too can get the paper and we can share the expense of getting the paper among ourselves.

As every family does, my family has taught me to stay as far away from such activities as possible. I have also been told by my parents to tell them everything. They say that even if you do anything that is ‘wrong’, just let them know. I contemplated whether to tell them or not about this offer. Somehow, I came to the conclusion that it is better to tell them rather than they getting to know afterwards.

They were of the opinion that I should not get into such things. It is not about the money. They said that these things more often than not end up wasting a person’s time. Instead of concentrating on studies, one tries hard to get the leaked papers. They also said that there would be distinct copies of so-called leaked papers floating around the day before the exam and so the reliability is also absent.

I was adamant at getting the papers even if that meant spending a few bucks and a few hours. So, I told one of my friends that I was in for the papers and he informed me that I would get the paper at 10p.m. the previous night (a good 13 hours before the exam).

The day before the exam, I found myself relying much on this paper and in the process forgetting to put in my required bit of studies. My parents were concerned about this lack of effort much more than I was. As time progressed, at one hand I was getting impatient about getting the papers, while on the other hand, I started thinking if this is the right thing to do. Why I started thinking in such a fashion is not clear even to myself. I suppose the values imbibed in me came to the fore. As the clock approached 10p.m., I got more and more convinced that this was not the right thing to do. I discussed this with my parents and they said that they had left this on me for they cannot always force their will on me.

So, as my friend called around 10:30 to tell me what the questions were, it became quite clear that I would not be able to do this. I told my friend that I do not require the questions and that the payment I had promised would be honored in any case.

The next day, after the exams, when I met my friends I came to know that only a few of the questions from the apparently leaked paper had come in the actual exam.

Does it not bother you?

2008-11-30T09:56:00.003+05:30

Prof. SH used to tell us in class how Mr. JRD Tata, once while travelling in Air India was being served food using a food trolley (He had the airline company as ‘Tata Airlines’ before). He observed that the trolley was not working properly and that the wheels were not tightened fully. Everybody might have observed that and neglected it. The person carrying the trolley would also be aware about that.

Mr. JRD saw the food trolley being carried towards him. When it came close to him, he pulled out his pen, bent down and tightened the wheels.

Prof. SH used to ask us, why does it not bother you if something is not working properly, especially if you are using it or are in some way affected by / attached to it? So, if there is a tube-light which is blinking in your office, does it not occur to you that it needs to be changed. You might not do it yourself, but at least the facilities people can be informed about it. Or do you wait for them to do their periodic check and find out or wait till some other person brings it to their attention.

I have been guilty of similar things myself and so somehow could relate to it. Many a times, I take the “it’s ok” attitude a little too far.

In my dorm, in the common area, I see things lying around in a not so orderly fashion. I understand that in a dorm, you cannot expect everything to be properly arranged and all, and may be that is the way it should be. But, it sometimes feels a little more out of order than necessary. I try to put in the old newspapers in a stack so that they do not keep lying around. The helper can be asked to keep things clean & proper and a little hard tone would do no harm. I always ask him to sell away the old newspapers scrap merchant once a certain quantity of paper gathers. He also benefits from the little money that he gets by selling these. Infact, when I was last in the dorm, he himself had started asking if he can take away the papers.

I am not boasting or anything. It just feels that the dorm is my home and I would have done this at my home as well. So, I am not obliging anyone.

Even when I was working, we had this small room in which we had business magazines, newspapers etc – kind of a small library room. And again the old magazines used to lie around the room; the stack for one particular magazine had other magazines in between etc. I don’t blame others, for they themselves did not have problems (or did not seem to have problems) with such arrangements.

Prof. SH used to wonder why does this behaviour not come out automatically? Why does one’s heart not get pained on seeing such things? Why does one not start setting things "right" and just ignores such things?

Mumbai and beyond ...

2008-11-30T06:51:00.003+05:30

I had been feeling somewhat guilty of not writing anything about the Mumbai attacks, especially since it is my home city. I thought about writing a number of times but didn’t exactly knew what to write. Should I be angry with everyone from the government to the militants? Or should I sympathize with those civilians who were killed and remove my hat remembering the men who did not care for their lives and wanted to stop the terror?

Being geographically so far from the actual happenings, I was amazed how quick the information / news spread. Within an hour or 2 of the start of the events, I got to know of it and immediately contacted my family back home. They were fine and then I started getting in touch with my friends who were somewhat associated with Mumbai to see how they and their families were doing. I am always remembered about the Delhi blasts where someone I knew was so very affected.

In the last few days, I have heard so much about everything even remotely connected with the happenings – views, comments, opinions etc. Obviously, there is a lot of rage and disappointment and many other emotions surfacing among people.

I would be going back to Mumbai in some time. Somebody asked me if I was scared of going there. I thought how ridiculous the question was. It is my home, and does somebody get scared while going to home?

Some years back, when I used to see regions that were very affected with violence, terrorism etc, I used to think why don’t people just leave these places and get settled elsewhere – not all but there should be a large exodus. I thought that it would be due to the constraints regarding inability to replicate the kind of life somewhere else – difficult to sell home and buy another, finding a new job etc.

Now, I see that though this might be true, the reason is much more than the enlisted constraints. It is your home. How can you leave it? Yes, there are issues – no one is denying that. But you have to deal with them and not leave the place and move away.

My grandparents always tell me this thing – when your house is dirty, you clean your house and not start living in someone else’s (because yours is dirty). I found it so much applicable in different contexts – one of which is this. When there is crisis in Mumbai, should I leave this place and think that it is better if I can find opportunities elsewhere? (Another context when I remember this thought from my grandparents is when somebody says – you should settle outside the country; don’t you think you would be wasting your life in your country?; look at all the opportunities if you go someplace else) I would like to clarify, that I do not consider that the place I live in is dirty. It is just that, we have to do some usual dusting and things would be fine.

I do not know how much, but finally the people are the ones who are responsible – and I am one of those responsible. Paresh Rawal aptly puts it in the film Nayak (the spirit behind the words have larger applicability)

"
Aaj jisse bhi poocho who kahega, main doctor banunga, IAS banunga, vakil banunga
Lekin ek bhi aadmi neta banne ko tayaar nahin hain, pooch lo
Politics ek gutter hain bolke sab log bhaag jaate hain
Lekin koi bhi iss gutter main utar kar isse saaf karne ko tayyar nahin hain
Aur desh ko inn buddhe bhediyon ke haath main chodh kar chale jaate hain
Jinke paas jine ke liye zindagi bhi nahin bachi hain

Tumhare jaise desh ke sabhi nau jawan yehi sochte hain
Ki 15-20 hazaar ki naukri mil jaaye, ek sundar si ladki shaadi karne ko mil jaaye
Aur phir budhape tak rupya rupya jama karke sheher ke bahar adha acre zameen kharid lenge
Wahan 700-800 sq ft. ka ek ghar banayenge aur ghar pe peela paint hoga
Samne garden hoga aur garden main easy chair pe baithke akhbaar padte huye apni biwi se kahenge ki
‘Darling, politics ne iss desh ko khatam kar diya hain’

Arre jaon koi hakk nahin hain kissiko politician ko gaali dene ka”
"

The Economic Meltdown

2008-11-29T11:42:00.002+05:30

Orkut testimonials

2008-11-28T06:10:00.002+05:30

The sole testimonial I received on Orkut from one of my friends, Mr. SS

" Ashutosh .... I feel he is a very different guy ... he reads obscure things and has very very different ideas ... but he is never afraid to share them and that is something which makes him unique .....

A true mumbaite .... A true blogger .... A true mast dude ...."

The sole testimonial that I have written on Orkut (and this was for the same Mr. SS)

"After so many testimonials written, there is no guarantee that everything would be original. But something I have learnt from Funti (Shubham, in slang) is to keep trying (or some might call it, keep fighting). And so, I would write one.

He is a person who thinks a lot and always has some suggestion(s) which could improve someone’s life. To some extent, the points he asked me to concentrate on were responsible for my sole job offer; and so I would like to thank him (which I think I have not done before).

Things he works for always comes his way, due to the sheer effort he puts in. Finally, I expect to hear from him a lot - after IIT - given his networking skills."

If Google Were ...

2008-11-28T03:21:00.001+05:30

I cannot forget ...

2008-11-27T09:45:00.005+05:30

It is amazing how sometimes, things, that some might overlook or consider not that important, makes one feel so good. These stick to your mind for long. I will tell you about 3 such things that happened (there are many more than these 3).

*
In my institute, we have this 4 day event where companies come and interview candidates to select them for a summer internship. The event was to start the next day and the seniors from my dorm prepared us well before that and wished us luck.

Some of the seniors had gone on Exchange to universities around the world and had not been able to spend time with us. On the night before the 1st day, me (and each of my dorm-mates from my batch) received a phone call from one of these seniors on Exchange. He just wanted to know how was our preparation and wish us luck. The gesture of that phone call is unforgettable. Recently, one of my other dorm-mates also recalled receiving that call and I realized how many minds (and hearts) one can find space in (in a good way) by just a phone call.

**
Again, in my institute, each batch selects a few people among ourselves to arrange and co-ordinate all placement related issues, communication and events (including the above mentioned 4 day event). The head of this group is elected by the batch through formal voting and then this person selects the rest of the team. For election of the head of the group, people have to file in nominations, prepare a manifesto and pitch to the batch. I was thinking of whether I should try to become part of the team or not. There are some things you have to miss if you are part of the team (such as going on Exchange). I was not exactly looking to stand for the post of the group head.

And then somebody asked me if I was thinking of become the group head. This person was from my batch but someone with whom I had not spoken much. I was amazed at the fact that someone saw me as the head (or atleast as a potential candidate) when I myself did not. Also, this person seemed sure that I would at least be thinking of standing for that post. Though finally, I did not stand for the post or tried to become part of the team, I somehow am reminded of the fact that at least there was one person who saw me as a worthy candidate.

***
Untoward things happen. One gets concerned about them. But sometimes the most one can do is to ensure that damage has not happened to people we know.

There were some such incidents which happened in my home city yesterday. I tried to get in touch with my family and learnt that they were alright. Then I though about getting in contact with friends who are either themselves in that city or have family there. So, I logged in to one of my Instant Messaging subscriptions, and before I could ask anyone, I got a message from a friend enquiring about how my family was. I told this person that everything is alright and asked about this person's family who lives in the same city. Thankfully, everything was well.

Though this event happened only yesterday, it feels I would remember the fact that somebody was concerned about me, for a while. Again, one message can go a long way.

Go away

2008-11-16T03:58:00.001+05:30

I hate you

Let’s be clear, this is true

Oh! Please go away, boo

View each other as when we didn’t knew

Each day I would try harder to chew

You never gave me a clue

Only stop when I am through

Until I am sure, from my mind you flew

Estrange me from you

Various times, I would coo

Effable but don’t want to get in a stew

Not even, want to start things anew

Thing that I had with you

Have not had with even a few

Ending this below my shoe

Now I have smoked all my due

Can you please stop doing that?

2008-11-15T00:04:00.002+05:30

The one thing I want to have in a close friendship is the ability to ask your friend to stop doing something because you don't like it. Your friend agrees or not; whether the thing is still done or not is a different issue. Just the fact that you can say is something valuable. I am not sure how willing I come across regarding this issue.

Abiding by what one is asking is a different issue since, one is not always 'right' or sometimes there may not be a 'right' or 'wrong'. So, it may not be clear which way should the outcome be.

If I don't like something about a close friend, I have this habit of conveying that. But I try to do it only once and only to those I think are close to me. If they don't agree or don't follow, its upto them. But it still hurts when they do it again and again.

I recently had 2 instances with 2 of my close friends (and I definitely think, they also consider me as a close friend) in the last few months. I would not go into the details but they used particular language which I did not like. They did not use it against me, but infact that was part of the issue. I don't mind they saying anything to me or anything in private. But this was on a public forum. And even then, nobody would have given a damn about it, for it is perfectly common to use that language these days.

I could not talk to both of them face to face about the issue, for somewhere within, I felt guilty of trying to impose my own will. So, I talked to them online over this. I am amazed how things come out so easily when it is not face to face. The great thing was that my friends understood me and atleast listened to what I had to say instead of becoming defensive. They have not repeated that stuff and I am proud of them.

I have not taken any promises for I have experienced the agony of a friend promising and then backing out without even remembering that we had such a pact. So, I have just requested them and I hope that it would work.

I found this interesting

2008-11-13T06:28:00.010+05:30

I read this in a book that Mr. Dave Neeleman who was the CEO of JetBlue airlines used to service as a flight attendant, baggage handler, and maintenance worker while still being the CEO. There are different reasons for why he did this and a lot of advatages as well. How many CEOs would be willing to do such a thing today?

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http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/24/business/24street.html?_r=1&th=&emc=th&pagewanted=all&oref=slogin

An investment banker said:

"The thing about investment banking is it's so grueling that you are always daydreaming about going off and doing something interesting," Mr. Pugliese said. "Your heart is crying out, but your wallet is telling you there's nothing else out there that is going to have this kind of payoff."

Mr. Neff, a former technology industry analyst, said he often thought about taking a year off to study the Talmud and other Jewish texts. But at the end of good years, he would not want to miss the next good year. And at the end of bad years, he felt too nervous about his finances.

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Mr. Narendra Modi's interview excerpt ... On being questioned about he being next in line to Mr. L.K.Advani, "There are two ways to harm a person. One, you can give that person less work than what he is capable of doing. Second, you can show him big dreams which he is not capable of achieving. You fire his ambition so that he ventures out and gets finished."

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"Wal-Mart accounts for 12% of total US imports from China — if Wal-Mart was a country it would be China’s eighth largest trading partner"

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India has the fourth largest number of vehicles running on natural gas among all countries of the World.

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Reverse psychology: Empirical evidence demonstrates that the presence of signs reading "Do Not Write on These Walls Under Any Circumstances" actually increases the incidence of people's violations of the vandalism norm (as compared to signs that say "Please Do Not Write on These Walls" or the complete absence of signs).

Similarly, people take longer to vacate a parking space when they know someone else is waiting for it. People often have a negative reaction whenever they perceive that someone is controlling their behavior or limiting their freedom.

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65% of second-generation family businesses fail and some 90% of third-generation businesses fail.

IMs, Social Networking Friends' list

2008-11-09T21:07:00.004+05:30

I am not sure if I am too choosy in terms of friends or what, but my friend list in any Instant Messaging service or in any Social Networking site is smaller than most of my other colleagues. If somebody asks me about this, I just kid around saying that the bar is very high for reaching my list.

Firstly, I do not like to have someone in these lists who I don't know. I know you would think how that is possible. But I have heard people saying that though a particular person is in his/her list, he/she really don't have much acquaintance with this person. My idea is that I should be able to talk to anyone in the list without having that person or myself to put pressure on the mind about thinking who each of us was. That's like the first filter.

My institute has a separate IM service to connect with people associated with the institute. Batch strength every year is around 250 and in my list I have only 31 people (yeas, I did count) across three batches (mine, my senior batch and my junior batch). I have seen lists that would have atleast thrice that number, and that would not at all be uncommon. Of the 31, 16 are from my dorm and the remaining 15 otherwise - 14 from my batch, the lone guy from my junior batch is someone I knew from before.

Sometimes, people get added for convenience. so, if you are temporarily working with a few people and there is a need to communicate with them frequently, it does make sense to add them (even if it is on a temporary basis).

Another issue is that there are now so many of these services and adding everyone everywhere is just so much redundancy and waste. Why not add people at only those channels where you think you would use these channels to contact them on a priority basis i.e. if you have a choice, you would go for a particular service to contact this person over others.

Sometimes people get added because you don't want to annoy anyone, especially when the particular service has mandated it to be a two-way street and you would not be there in the other person's list if he/she is not in yours. And it does make sense to add for one should give chance to every relationship. I think how would I feel if I sent a friend request to someone and it gets rejected.

I try to get in touch with each of people in all my lists at least once a year. It's not about networking for they can be of use or any such motives behind the thought. But that I like to atleast be in touch. Even if that means sending wishes for Diwali and not speaking for the rest of the year.

I know one might be of the view that this is thinking all too much. And its easier and better to just add people and not spend too much of our mind-time in these issues. I am not sure if I have any thing to oppose that.

What's different?

2008-11-01T10:18:00.005+05:30

I am spending a term outside my institute at another B-School in another country. In many ways, the experience is very different here - both in terms of the academic and the associated non-academic stuff.

One of the methods that is used widely here (which is not the case at my institute) is having guest lectures which go with the course. These guest lecturers are many a times the B-School alums. All are called with a specific purpose in mind - to talk about a particular topic or a specific aspect of the topic. These people have been through a lot with respect to these topics and have their story to share. There are also lectures from eminent personalities not as part of a course but through various other programs which are run at the School.

I have attended lectures from
Vikram Pandit, Citigroup
John Thain, Merrill Lynch
Paul Otellini, Intel
Anne Mulcahy, Xerox
Alan Hassenfeld, Hasbro
Robert Gordon, 21st Securities
Woo Eui Jei, Hynix
Joel Morse, C3i
Bo Burlingham, INC Magazine
Dr. Brown, Hearx
Goryebs, Champion Mortgage
Dr. Hal Teitelbaum, Crystal Run Healthcare
Tarek Sherif, Medidata Solutions
Steve Peltzman, The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)
Jack Mitchell, Mitchell/Richards
Noushir Hasan, Ashford Enterprises
Carley Roney & David Liu, The Knot

I found this method of teaching quite interesting. Listening to all these people and getting to know their stories is quite fascinating. Their learnings can be so useful and these things are so difficult to get, I don't think many would have access to these.

One thing I have realized is that I really like listening to people, hearing their stories etc. I am in a different country and unlike others I am not so much interested in travelling or see places. I know its odd of me and may be unusual (in a negative sense). I have seen a couple of places but it is not the case that every week or two there is an urge to go to a new place. I am more interested in meeting all my acquaintances in the city once, while I am here. I want to utilize this opportunity to listen to as many people who visit the school to give talks as possible. I am not saying I can't do both but the question is of urge.

There are courses in areas that I want to take here because I might not get that level of teaching back home. It does not matter to me much if these courses are not in the area that the School is most known for. I know that my home B-school does a more than decent job of training me in that area, so why not try other areas?

One thing is that when people give importance to other things (to which I don't give as much importance), it feels if I am missing something. But I guess its a personal thing and I try to convince myself that preferences can be different. Am not always successful, though.

Days and events

2008-10-26T10:10:00.003+05:30

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.

Less than what you expected

2008-10-16T10:15:00.005+05:30

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.

One short meeting

2008-10-12T07:29:00.002+05:30

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.

AR and KK

2008-10-10T07:17:00.004+05:30

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.

'Good good'

2008-10-08T22:06:00.003+05:30

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

2008-10-08T05:09:00.003+05:30

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.

Some stuff from here and there

2008-10-02T21:48:00.002+05:30

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

Some random thoughts

2008-09-27T06:44:00.002+05:30

My friend from my dorm today sent me a message saying "hey missing u yaar...BTW we r goin to mount Abu on a bike trip tomorrow...u will be missed " ... aisa laga ki life main aur kya chahiye ... somebody thinking of you and feeling that it wud have been good if u had been there

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There is a tendency which I have and I think many would have of associating songs with particular times / locations / feelings etc. So, when a particular song gets played on T.V. or somewhere else, you remind of that time / place etc. I have this habit of hearing a song again and again (in a loop) till I get bored of it ... some of my friends know of it and many a times get frustrated with this. My idea is that till the time a song has any juice left, it is ok to hear it again and again. One other side effect of this is that I somehow remember the lyrics of many of these songs ... and not just the start but the whole lyrics.
One of my friends (who was in my hostel during undergrad) wrote sometime back that he heard a song (which almost everyone hated and I listened to it in a loop, as usual, while in hostel) and he remembered me ...

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The Indian government is fooling everyone – it keeps revising past weeks’ inflation numbers up. So, when all eyes are on the inflation number for some particular week, I believe that it gets under-reported and then in subsequent weeks when more attention is towards the inflation number for the latest week, those of previous weeks are comfortably raised / revised to their actual values

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When I travelled outside the country for the first time ... the airplane entertainment system showed a map of the route etc. the thing that striked me was that the physical map showed only India in green (depicting the fertility, vegetation) and the surrounding areas were desert like or not that green ... just showed the unique fertility of the soil in this area

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I have always thought ki there is a difference in the way people talk about distances in Mumbai and Delhi. If you ask someone about distance between two places, in Delhi the reply would come in the form of the approx kms between the two points ... while in Mumbai it would be the approx. time it wud take. Generally, the distance thing might like a better measure ... but not sure what the time thing implies. Even in NY the distance is spoken of in the more traditional way ... but in miles

Ideal job

2008-09-17T05:58:00.004+05:30

My idea of an ideal job / company / workplace / colleagues is one where on a Friday I would feel sorry that for the next two days, I won't come to office and work. Don't get me wrong. I like holidays and am fine with having weekends but it should not be the case that from Monday morning onwards, you start waiting for the next Friday. It should not be the case that on Sunday evening you starting feeling sad that the next morning you have to go to work; that on Monday morning you have to push yourself really hard just to get to work. Sunday evening should be such that you become over enthusiastic with the fact that the next day is a working day.

Again, don't get me wrong. I like to spend time with family. But you should also like to spend time with your colleagues in the office. I remember a Career Launcher executive once said that the workplace and your colleagues should be such that every morning when you reach office, you would want to hug your fellow employees. Just think about the amount of time you actually spend with them at the office and may be outside.

When I look at the profiles of the seniors from my institute on a social networking site, typically I don't find even a single photograph of their office, the office building or anything related to the company they are working for. Some of it may be due to security reasons where the company does not allow photographs within the building. But I refuse to believe that even one photograph is not possible which somehow is related to the company. I don't know what to make out of this.

One area which all my Professors emphasize on is to think of a real career and not go to investment banks, consulting companies etc (or the current usual destinations of grads in my institute). They say that you should look at other companies, other industries and that the jobs which have become typical these days are more of a waste of time. They say that you do not require to pass from this institute to these jobs and that you are too dispensable while working at these firms. Anybody above a basic level of education and understanding can do these jobs.

I sometimes think that there would be some truth in these statements. The Professors have no selfish motive when they say that a particular career path is better for me than the other. They are not expecting anything from me for themselves after I graduate. How would they be affected if I did one thing or the other? I guess it is their desire to see me happy and satisfied with my career and job that is at work here. They want me to pursue a path wherein it should not happen that later on I start wondering if I had taken the right decision. Then it might be too late to shift gears.

Two career alternatives after graduation

2008-09-17T05:31:00.003+05:30

An interesting interview appeared in the WSJ a few days back. Mr. David Wei, CEO of Alibaba.com was interviewed and he made two interesting comments / observations which I am sharing.

- What was your first job and what was the biggest lesson you learned from it?
Mr. Wei: My first job was the starting point for the balance in my career. I had a very legendary boss. His name is Mr. Guan [Jinsheng], the founder and CEO of Shanghai International Securities. I started my career as his secretary and then went on to become his assistant and executive assistant. I think that experience made my life so different than if I had joined as a junior clerk in any of the departments of a business. You start to get the vision, the entrepreneurship, the strategic thinking from the first boss. I think his success and failure gave me lessons, good and bad, respectively.[In 1997, a Shanghai court found Mr. Guan guilty on corruption charges and sentenced him to a 17-year prison term.]

- Who gave you the best business advice and what was it?
Mr. Wei: Our customers. That''s the lesson I learned from the first partner I worked with in PricewaterhouseCoopers. Although we were in an advisory business, your customer always knows more than you.

I had taken a course last term called LEM (Laboratory in Entrepreneurial Motivation). I guess I haven't mentioned that upto now. But that was by the best course that I have done during my graduation. The best thing about the course is the Prof. (Prof. SH). As he himself says in the first class, since there are no control measures in the course (attendance, exams etc.), he has to make every session such that people are kept interested and they keep coming. Though I cant say this about every session, but classes are in general interesting.

The Prof. is a very good speaker and also gives general life fundas (which I liked). One kind of develops large amount of respect for the Prof. and people remain in touch with him even many years after graduation (something which is very uncommon).

I guess you will hear a lot about the course and the Prof. henceforth. But the reason I brought this up here is that the first of the above two points is what he used to tell us. That instead of taking a normal finance / consulting etc. job which the grads tends to do in my institute, one has two other options which are far superior and which would allow you to see your full potential and put them to proper use. These two options are

1. Becoming the assistant of a senior executive (like the CEO etc.) of a firm. You being the assistant would be exposed to everything that the CEO does. The CEO does much more than just finance or marketing or HR. It is in some sense the most comprehensive of jobs and you would get a first hand experience of everything.

2. Getting yourself involved in a new project / division / department / business which some company is looking to build. Again, building something from scratch would give very good exposure and a great chance of learning.

Flexibility within a company

2008-09-14T22:03:00.003+05:30

This is what they say about the time period to change various things in a company. Taken from the book "Managing the small to midsized company".

The question is: what should change, and what should be held tight? The answer lies partially in the hierarchy from values to tactics:

Core values Change seldom, if ever.
Purpose Should last for 100 years.
Mission Changes whenever one mission is completed and a new one need be set (usually every five to 15 years).
Strategy Revised annually, then totally recast with each new mission.
Tactics In constant flux, to adjust to changing conditions.

A letter to Air India

2008-09-08T01:17:00.001+05:30

Subject: Non-operational in-flight entertainment system

Hi,

I travelled to the US in your AI ... flight on the .... It was a direct 15-hr flight. For no part of the journey, the in-flight system worked. This problem was also faced by most of the passengers.

The crew could not do much for they only knew that it should start on restarting the entertainment system. When it did not they said they were helpless.

You would understand that this was quite painful. Such a long journey without any in-flight entertainment.

I hope something is done about this so that it is ensured that such a thing is not repeated.

Thanks.

Something to swank

2008-08-22T23:14:00.000+05:30

Came across this newsletter the other day

Found it amazing, the effort and the display

From my current life, it took me away

To my past, it made me sway

And I remembered the beautiful period of my life

When I was an undergrad and there was ample nightlife

With assignments and deadlines, there was constant strife

Codes and breadboards were at that time too rife

Labs were places where a lot of time was spent

Lectures also required you to be present

Did not understand every word that the professor meant

Yet after everything, there was an enriching dent

Those were the days that shaped me well

Comes to my mind, when I sometimes dwell

And there is something that I want to tell

In life, the department and the Profs have made me excel

Many of the learnings are useful for long

Made my thinking sound and strong

Prepared me for whatever may come along

Made me realize where I actually belong

Finally, I would like to thank

Each and everyone across the rank

This is an opinion very frank

You have given me something to swank

haseena-e-kaif

2008-08-14T03:53:00.001+05:30

Aaj ka din beeta
Jaise ho zindagi ka sabse bura
Itna lamba lag raha tha
Ho hi nahin raha tha poora

Pata nahin chal raha tha main kahan hoon
Hosh hi nahin raha poore din
Lag raha tha kya main kar daalu
Khayal aa rahein the bhin bhin

Kuch jyaada khaaya piya nahin subah se
Logo ne poocha ki kya hua hain par nahin bataya
Khud mujhe hi nahin pata tha to kya batata
Kuch dikat hain aisa nahin jataya

Phir jab din dhala
Kuch jaan main jaan aayi
Sone pe suhaga
Mere dost ne achi khabar sunayi

Ms. Kaif ka ho gaya hain break-up
Matlab ab line hain clear
Ab intezaar khatam
Here I come, my dear

Sallu miya to dhoke baaz hain
Main nahin vaisa
Tumhare saare aashiq bhaag jaaye
Ab karein kuch aisa

Some more things which I liked

2008-08-14T01:42:00.002+05:30

'Strange thing about courage is that you become braver for someone else than for yourself'

From the movie 'Pulp Fiction'
A: Don't you hate that?
B: What?
A: Uncomfortable silences. Why do we feel it's necessary to yak about something in order to be comfortable?
B: I don't know. That's a good question.
A: That's when you know you've found somebody special. When you can just shut up for a minute and comfortably enjoy the silence.

'Real friends are the ones who survive transitions between address books'

'...every emotion doesn't need words for expression, you can feel someone's care through their eyes'

Love your love so much that you don't have to ask"With whom you were?" and trust your friend that much that u don't have to tell "Don't tell this to anyone"

Randy Pausch in his Last Lecture http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo
"Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted"
"Wait long enough and people will surprise and impress you"

The Rs 780/- incident

2008-08-13T00:06:00.001+05:30

Travelling through railways can sometimes be a little dangerous and necessary safety precautions should be taken. Your luggage and belongings should be properly taken care of. Generally, the perception is that the A.C. coaches and the A.C. trains are much more safe than the non-A.C. ones. Incidents happening in these coaches are very less as compared to the others.

I was travelling through an A.C. train coach around 2yrs back. I was to start a particular station D and I was to get down at another station M. As the train came on the platform at D, I got into the coach, found my seat and arranged my luggage. I generally carry a chain by which I can tie the luggage to the seats to avoid any chance of losing it due to theft. I was sitting on my seat and waiting for the train to start moving.

After a few minutes, a man who was well dressed and looked decent approached me. He introduced himself as a co-passenger who is travelling with family. He pointed out towards a bunch of people who were in the same coach and claimed that it was his family. He said that he had lost the tickets and so has to buy new ones / pay a penalty for himself and his family members. He took out a bunch of currency notes and said that he had some money, but was short of just Rs 780/- which if I can give him, it would help him at that time. The promise was that some of his relatives were to come and meet him at some station on the journey and he has asked to bring the money, which he would return to me.

His arguments looked convincing and it looked a genuine case that needed help. But somehow, I did not give him money because I did not had so much cash at hand and would have to open my suitcase, which I did not want to do. I also thought that in this A.C. coach there would be someone who would be able to help him and so why bother.

He took off instantaneously as I told him that I did not have that much money. As the train started, I forgot about him and started enjoying the journey. Somewhere down the line, I remembered about what had happened and wanted to check if he was able to get the money. I looked for him at the place where he had shown his family but did not find him. I thought he would be somewhere and would come in a while. I checked again after sometime and did not find him. I didn’t knew if I should ask his family or not.

I did see the person for the rest of my journey and it did not feel as if I would see him again. The family looked cool and I did not sense anything about not having / losing tickets etc. I realized at that time, that even when that man pointed towards them, none of the family members were looking towards us (in anticipation) and did not even looked concerned.

I just wondered how people found ways to trick people and how they learn and change with the environment and the conditions.

Open book

2008-08-12T03:27:00.002+05:30

What I have believed for some time now (some of the posts are examples of that), is that one should be strong enough that sharing of one’s personal issues with people at large should not make you vulnerable. Somebody has said

“Honesty and transparency make you vulnerable. Be honest and transparent anyway”

Just was remembering a few things about my past. Thought I should pen down so that if these memories fade away, some day I have the option to re-live them.

My mother tells me that when I used to go to a nursery school names Veena Nursery, a bus used to take me from my colony gate to the school and back. My mother used to come daily to drop me and picke me up at the gate. One afternoon, she went for a nap thinking she would get up before the specified time and pick me up from the gate. That afternoon she overslept by a few more minutes and as she woke up, she was a bit worried about me. As she prepared to go downstairs, I came to the home on my own and met my mother in the stairs. She says, then she realized that it was not necessary for her to go each time and that I knew the way.

My brother and I were generally of the silent kind from childhood. People in my family often remember that when we both were young and were about to visit some place, the relatives would try to keep things away in such a fashion that the two kids coming would not get their hands on those. However, they soon realized that their effort was futile for we were not among those kind of children who threw and played with anything we can get our hands on.

I was not among the people who used to come first in their class from kindergarten. However, one can say that I was always average or above average (in in terms of the academic performance), I did not much participate in extra-curricular activity but somewhat only in co-curricular activities. I rememeber in 4^th standard or so, I used to stay for extra time in school for some co-curricular thing – I am forgetting the exact term.

I used to be out with my friends for somewhere around 3 hours daily in the evenings (6pm-9pm). We used to play different games within the premises of the colony we stayed, and talk, and walk. The homework was completed in the afternoon to ensure that I did not miss those hours.

An old woman used to take my brother and me to school. Her job was to take various children from their homes to the school. That way the parents were satisfied to an extent that there is someone to take care of their children on the way. But after a while, as we went to higher classes, we neither used to listen to her nor did we need her assistance. But she was a very good person. She also did other school related stuff such as paying of fees so that my parents did not have to go to school. She used to come to our house sometimes after we stopped going with her, but I have not seen her lately and have neither heard of her from my mother. Hope she is doing alright wherever she is.

Some things which I liked

2008-08-02T05:00:00.004+05:30

Jerre Stead, CEO, IHS says
" ... two most important measurements for his company 1. If their clients say to everyone outside that IHS is a company focused totally on the clients' needs 2. Does every person working in IHS say that I want my best friend to work here with me."

Ethan Berman, the founder and CEO of RiskMetrics Group says
" ... their biggest competitors are Google and GS for these companies are attracting the brightest and most talented people ... and not their peers ... for the most important thing is to find, hire, motivate and retain talented people."

Shashi Tharoor at S.P.Jain
"How, because of the strong emergence of Indians in Silicon valley and software creativity, the perception of Indians has changed from being that of snake charmers lying on beds of nails to one that every Indian is a software engineer. I saw instances when at airports Indians were approached by foreigners and being asked to fix their laptops!"

Warren Buffet about one of his company's executive
"Susan came to Borsheims 25 years ago as a $4-an-hour saleswoman. Though she lacked a managerial background, I did not hesitate to make her CEO in 1994. She's smart, she loves the business, and she loves her associates. That beats having an MBA degree any time."

Chinese intellectual libertarian, the founder of Taoism, in a 6th century B.C. quote on leadership
"To lead people, walk beside them ... As for the best leaders, the people do not notice their existence. The next best, the people honor and praise. The next, the people fear; and the next, the people hate and revile... When the best leader's work is done the people say, 'We did it ourselves!"

Bill Watterson at Kenyon College
" ... and I was forced to accept a real job. A REAL job is a job you hate.

But having an enviable career is one thing, and being a happy person is another.

Creating a life that reflects your values and satisfies your soul is a rare achievement. In a culture that relentlessly promotes avarice and excess as the good life, a person happy doing his own work is usually considered an eccentric, if not a subversive. Ambition is only understood if it's to rise to the top of some imaginary ladder of success. Someone who takes an undemanding job because it affords him the time to pursue other interests and activities is considered a flake. A person who abandons a career in order to stay home and raise children is considered not to be living up to his potential-as if a job title and salary are the sole measure of human worth.
You'll be told in a hundred ways, some subtle and some not, to keep climbing, and never be satisfied with where you are, who you are, and what you're doing. There are a million ways to sell yourself out, and I guarantee you'll hear about them."

Not so sad

2008-07-31T13:24:00.001+05:30

Should one be worried of being sad?
If you think about it, it's not that bad
Of all the emotions that I have had
It is something which always remains in fad

It holds you close with the tightest clad
Stays with you even when you are mad
Doesn't matter if it's presence is only a tad
Am thankful for all the things it does add

Ironically, it makes you glad
Will take time before you become a grad
Surely, of all feelings, it's the experienced dad
Making every other, look like limited utility lad

Say something

2008-07-26T22:29:00.001+05:30

Has this happened to you?

For once in your life

As much as you wanted to speak

Words and you were at strife

You wanted them to behave

They did not listen

You wanted to express

They did not glisten

Made you wonder

If you have lost it forever

Silence for so long

What has made this ability sever?

Neither did it flow from up there

Nor did it rise from your left, below

The distance from both ends seemed so small

It turned out to be very large though

From paragraphs you started

Then focused on a single sentence

Then there was the point

It had to be word by word, hence

Though this helped

But upto an extent

The first few words came out

But they were infrequent

And I am sure the effort that went in

For those few

Was more than all put together in my life

That ever went through

Am there

2008-07-17T19:07:00.003+05:30

Hey, my friend
Don't know how to say
I care for you a lot
Though I may not, as much display

Boasting is not my intention
But want to share the fact
That whenever you called for help
I quickly got into the act

And there were times
When you did not give me a shout
Still sensed and tried my best
To leave nothing for you to pout

And there were also times
When it was me behind
The way things got sorted
But you turned an eye blind

I don't complain
But am a little sad
For had expected a little more
In return, than I have till now had

I know it is not good
To expect something in return
But have tried explaining that to myself
Failed each time and so have accepted this yearn

But you be happy
That is what I will always pray
Even if it is not me
Who makes you happy and gay

Just one request
While choosing friends, be a little wise
What one sees with the eyes
May be a disguise

They will laugh at your jokes
And would pursue some amount of coax
The thing to see is
When would you realize that it is all hoax

Just ensure that
Such a situation does not arise
The one making you smile today
Becomes the reason for your cries

Finally, I promise you, my friend
That I will wait and wait
So that when you are in need
There is someone who can fight with fate

Why does this happen?

2008-07-13T19:33:00.003+05:30

This is a long overdue post. I thought about writing this a couple of times but ... lets leave that.

It is sad how things change so quickly. I am in the middle of my second year in my grad school. In the break after the first year i.e. during the summers, I very sad incident happened. One of my seniors died in a road accident.

Firstly, it was difficult for me to even comprehend such a thing. I though it has to got to be a mistake. How can this happen? Though I didn't knew this person well, I had seen him a number of times. I think I had talked to him when I was to decide for whether and where to go on the Exchange program of my institute. And he was so helpful in not only hearing where I stood in deciding, but gave me all the guidance he could.

Like others, he had got himself placed in a good company and must have been waiting for the joining date or may have already started working. As my mother said on hearing the news, he was just about to begin his life for he would have struggled hard for the education he got and for the job as well. As one of my friends said, it is like preparing oneself for an event, putting one's whole self in the preparation - and then being told on the D-day that you are not supposed to participate in the event.

As soon as I heard the news, I checked his name on a social networking site to see if I could find his profile / photo. I did find those and just started wondering why has it to be this guy. What did he do different / wrong? I called some of my other senior to see if they knew more about the incident. Secretly, I was hoping that someone would say that it was a misunderstanding and that either the story is not true or that he is not dead but has injured himself.

To my dismay nothing of that sort was told to me. Those who haven't heard sounded as shocked as myself. One thing everyone said was that he was a very nice person - smart, intelligent and always eager to help. Why he, then?

As I though of writing this post, I thought of checking his profile on the social networking site again. It is kind of naive but again the secret hope in my mind was that there would be some activity against his name and I would not have to write this. I was happy to see that there was activity and for a few seconds my hope started gaining strength.

But soon I realized that it the activity was only incoming and no outgoing activity was getting registered. Some people who did not knew wanted to get in touch and some who did knew still wanted to get in touch or just remember him. It was his birthday last week and people had sent him messages wishing him for the day, knowing well what had happened but believing that the message would reach him, one way or the other.

Some messages

heyyy ...!!!happy birthday!! i wish i could call..

IN GONNA DO WHAT WE PLANNED ON DOING FOR YR BDDAY.... YOU BETTER BE THERE .....

it was a privilege knowing you. birthday wishes from the bottom of my heart... hope it reaches you.

I will never believe it... not and might take forever... I am wishing you Happy Birthday just the way I would have wished you otherwise

God, here is a plea, wish Happy birthday on my behalf.

happy birthday, never got to know you better, and i guess i am out of time now. :( you are an amazing person. I still remember the little time i spent together... Stay happy where ever you are..we miss you.

our frndshp is rowing older n stronger........ u r there........u r around us n i just know dat...just wanna say dat u r very good frnd, someone who is desired by everyone...........n u r not only remembered but thought of very often....u r one of the cool fnds dat i had the priviledge of knowing ...... n u will always remain as spl as u were the day we all met for the first time..!!!!!

I keep on visiting your profile buddy! Take care wherever u r!

abe kuch to indication de diy kar, chal jawaab nahin dega, phone nahin karega to kam se kam ek bar online dikh jaaa, kuch kar yaar... aise chalegaa nahin... is too damn crazy man... dude, its not really easy to get over tis and u aint helping...

Got your camera for the trip ... Couldn't finalize the dates and all, you know me!!! I hope you come by on a friday and force me to drop everything and catch the next bus ... Well i guess you won't, but may be you will!!!

u.. u know m travelling to delhi today...n remember we had planned to meet........ but now.....................................

despite wat i thot.. thrs no acceptance.. it still hurts.. sometimes the hurt is solid and sits in my heart.... and sometimes its warm and oozy ans spills over.. and then are teh questions .. the worst of all..they never go.. and no answers.. miss u..

I told u, u r the biggest RG i hv seen.

i still can't believe it mate..... Grp 12 was the only grp which remained intact throughout the first year..... but we never thought.. we will be separated in this way... :(

The real story of "Sardarji Barah Baj gaye"

2008-07-10T04:17:00.001+05:30

Not written by me…

I was standing at Jalandhar station when my attention went towards a Sikh youth standing near me wearing a Black turban having a long beard and wearing a kirpan over his shirt.

After a while, one local train arrived, which was totally packed. The Sikh youth tried to board the train but failed to do so. Just then a voice was heard from the back coach 'Sardarji Barah Baj gaye' (Sir it's 12 o'clock!)

The Sikh youth looked over at that voice maker and instead of showing any anger smiled at him.

The smile was so enigmatic that it seemed as if some type of truth lies behind it. Not able to resist my temptation, I walked towards him and asked why he smiled at that person who teased him. The Sikh youth replied, 'He was not teasing me but was asking for my help'. I was surprised with these words and he told me that there was a big history behind that which one should know. I was eager to know the History and the Sikh youth narrated:

During 17th Century, when Hindustan was ruled by Mughals, all the Hindu people were humiliated and were treated like animals. Mughals treated the Hindu women as there own property and were forcing all Hindus to accept Islam and even used to kill the people if they were refusing to accept. That time, our ninth Guru, Sri Guru Teg Bahadarji came forward, in response to a request of some Kashmir Pandits, to fight against all these cruel activities. Guruji told the Mughal emperor that if he could succeed in converting him to Islam, all the Hindus would accept the same.

But, if he failed, he should stop all those activities. The Mughal emperor happily agreed to that but even after lots of torture to Guruji and his fellow members he failed to convert him to Islam and Guruji along with his other four fellow members, were tortured and sacrificed their lives in Chandni Chowk. Since the Mughals were unable to convert them to Islam they were assassinated.

Thus Guruji sacrificed his life for the protection of Hindu religion.
Can anybody lay down his life and that too for the protection of another religion? This is the reason he is still remembered as "Hind Ki Chaddar", shield of India. For the sake of whom he had sacrificed his life, none of the them came forward to lift his body, fearing that they would also be assassinated.

Seeing this incident our 10th Guruji, Sri Guru Gobind Singhji (Son of Guru Teg Bahadarji) founder of khalsa made a resolution that he would convert his followers to such human beings who would not be able to hide themselves and could be easily located in thousands. At the start, the Sikhs were very few in numbers as they were fighting against the Mughal emperors. At that time, Nadir Shah raided Delhi in the year 1739 and looted Hindustan and was carrying lot of Hindustan treasures and nearly 2200 Hindu women along with him. The news spread like a fire and was heard by Sardar Jassa Singh who was the Commander of the Sikh army at that time. He decided to attack Nadir Shah's Kafila on the same midnight. He did so and rescued all the Hindu women and they were safely sent to their homes.

It didn't happen only once but thereafter whenever any Abdaalis or Iranis had attacked and looted Hindustan and were trying to carry the treasures and Hindu women along with them for selling them in Abdal markets, the Sikh army although fewer in numbers but were brave hearted and attacked them at midnight,12 O'clock and rescued women.

After that time when there occurred a similar incidence, people started to contact the Sikh army for their help and Sikhs used to attack the raider's at Midnight, 12 O'clock. Nowadays, these "smart people" and some Sikh enemies who are afraid of Sikhs have spread these words that at 12 O'clock, the Sikhs go out of their senses. This historic fact was the reason which made me smile over that person as I thought that his Mother or Sister would be in trouble and wants my help and was reminding me by saying off 'Sardarji Barah Baj Gaye'.

"Its easy to joke on a Sardar, but It's too difficult to be a Sardar".

Delhi Blasts

2008-07-10T04:12:00.001+05:30

Had written this after the Delhi blasts of 2005 ...

Initially, I had planned to write about my reviews of the currents happenings on the Television. But, when I started to write about one such event, I had to change the title to be more specific as other reviews can wait.

With every attack by the terrorists anywhere around the globe, all the countries come together and issue their condemnations for the same. Yet after sometime we have another attack, maybe at some other place, and here we are again listening to condemnations. I do not say that these are not required or are not necessary but wouldn't it be nice if the issuance of these condemnations could follow actions which actually plan to lower the number of such issuances.

I condemn these blasts not because they took place in Delhi, where I stay but because they claimed lives. I used to care little about attacks claiming lives till recently. However, this one shook me. The attacks showed (as many others attacks have also indicated) the intentions of the attackers. They are not fighting for a piece of land or some religion or for their community. They are thirsty of life. They are damn concerned about the religions of the ones dying, they just want lives. Remember the attacks in Kashmir after the earthquake struck. Why did these take place when their so called intention is the welfare of the people of Kashmir. They would go to any extent for claiming lives ... even to the extent of "sacrificing" their own lives. (Sacrifice is used here in the ironic sense)

Now to give you one of the most shocking news that I had ever received. The blasts which took place on the 29th Oct had claimed many lives, two of which were my friend's mother and sister. Though I had met them only once but the news sent panic waves across my body. I began to know how the blasts can affect a person, which till now I had completely ignored. How an event like this can change someone's life forever.

I had been on good terms with this friend from the day I met him and I believe he is of the few who remains on good terms with anyone he meets. And yet such a thing happens to him. I heard the news of his family members being lost on TV and tried to reach him on his cellphone. He gave me the news and told that he was at a hospital collecting their bodies. I did not, or rather could not speak a single word. On hearing such things happen to people so close to you makes one realize how large the impact of an attack could be. I want to confess that God forbidden, if ever I had to go through such a stage then I may not be able to handle the situation at all. The courage shown by my friend is commendable. I would also like to use this platform to tell my friend that I am with him.

Once again I have to change the title as I would end this entry here as I have no guts to continue further

Handwriting analysis

2008-06-30T20:42:00.002+05:30

There is this handwriting analysis tool available online at http://handwritingwizard.com/analysis.php

My handwriting analysis report goes as follows (just for rememebering, am not saying that it is correct):

View Report

Here is your handwriting analysis.

Ashutosh uses judgment to make decisions. He is ruled by his head, not his heart. He is a cool, collected person who is usually unexpressive emotionally. Some may see him as unemotional. He does have emotions but has no need to express them. He is withdrawn into himself and enjoys being alone.

The circumstances when Ashutosh does express emotions include: extreme anger, extreme passion, and tremendous stress. If someone gets him mad enough to tell him off, he will not be sorry about it later. He puts a mark in his mind when someone angers him. He keeps track of these marks and when he hits that last mark he will let them know they have gone too far. He is ruled somewhat by self-interest. All his conclusions are made without outside emotional influence. He is very level-headed and will remain calm in an emergency situation. In a situation where other people might get hysterical, he has poise.

Ashutosh will work more efficiently if given space and time to be alone. He would rather not be surrounded by people constantly. In a relationship, he will show his love by the things he does rather than by the things he says. Saying "I love you" is not a needed routine because he feels his mate should already know. The only exception to this is if he has logically concluded that it is best for his mate to hear him express his love verbally.

Ashutosh is not subject to emotional appeals. If someone is selling a product to him, they will need to present only the facts. They should present them from a standpoint of his sound judgment. He will not be taken in by an emotional story about someone else. He will meet emergencies without getting hysterical and he will always ask "Is this best for me?"

People that write their letters in an average height and average size are moderate in their ability to interact socially. According to the data input, Ashutosh doesn't write too large or too small, indicating a balanced ability to be social and interact with others.

Ashutosh will be candid and direct when expressing his opinion. He will tell them what he thinks if they ask for it, whether they like it or not. So, if they don't really want his opinion, don't ask for it!

In reference to Ashutosh's mental abilities, he has a very investigating and creating mind. He investigates projects rapidly because he is curious about many things. He gets involved in many projects that seem good at the beginning, but he soon must slow down and look at all the angles. He probably gets too many things going at once. When Ashutosh slows down, then he becomes more creative than before. Since it takes time to be creative, he must slow down to do it. He then decides what projects he has time to finish. Thus he finishes at a slower pace than when he started the project.

He has the best of two kinds of minds. One is the quick investigating mind. The other is the creative mind. His mind thinks quick and rapidly in the investigative mode. He can learn quicker, investigate more, and think faster. Ashutosh can then switch into his low gear. When he is in the slower mode, he can be creative, remember longer and stack facts in a logical manner. He is more logical this way and can climb mental mountains with a much better grip.

Ashutosh is a practical person whose goals are planned, practical, and down to earth. This is typical of people with normal healthy self-esteem. He needs to visualize the end of a project before he starts. he finds joy in anticipation and planning. Notice that I said he plans everything he is going to do, that doesn't necessarily mean things go as planned. Ashutosh basically feels good about himself. He has a positive self-esteem which contributes to his success. He feels he has the ability to achieve anything he sets his mind to. However, he sets his goals using practicality-- not too "out of reach". He has enough self-confidence to leave a bad situation, yet, he will not take great risks, as they relate to his goals. A good esteem is one key to a happy life. Although there is room for improvement in the confidence catagery, his self-perception is better than average.

Something is incomplete in Ashutosh's life. He feels frustration relating to his physical needs and desires. Somewhere in his life there is some disappointment, non-fulfillment, and interruption.

For a graphologist, the spacing on the page reflects the writer's attitude toward their own world and relationship to things in his or her own space. If the inputted data was correct Ashutosh has left lots of white space on the left side of the paper. Ashutosh fills up the rest of the page in a normal fashion. If this is true, then Ashutosh has a healthy relationship to the past and is ready to move on. The right side of the page represents the future and Ashutosh is ready and willing to get started living now and planning for the future. Ashutosh would like to leave the past behind and move on.

The so called 2nd year

2008-06-28T00:24:00.000+05:30

Had thought that the year would be chill
Included in it would be all non-academic frill
The start has not been that good
Had more time to vile away, I wish I could

The number of classes are more than last year
Though of quizzes and exams, there is less fear
Yet the classes have been strategically staggered
I want all of them to get gathered

So that half my days are fully free
And I can be all up and glee
But the intentions of the administration seem otherwise
2nd year seems smaller brother of 1st year in disguise

This is when I haven't taken any of those courses
Which to study, the subject forces
And still I don't understand where my time goes
Just hoping that someone lessens the dose