One short meeting

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

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

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

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

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

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

AR and KK

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

'Good good'

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

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

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

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

Gujarat - The destination of investment

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

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

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

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

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

Some stuff from here and there

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Some random thoughts

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

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

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

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

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

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

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