December 15, 2010

Collective Decision

When anyone OFTEN talks about securing a "collective or consensual decision" to take an action, understand he is either

  • not sufficiently empowered OR
  • not a risk taker OR
  • a politician by nature OR
  • shies away from responsibilities OR
  • has no guts to take a bold decision
Watchout! Cause he is an ally of collectivism, and not merit. When collectivism heads against merit, he will kill merit for the sake of collectivism. He would rather wait for the collective - which includes the jokers, bums and the wicked - and waste time for them to arrive at a "consensual decision", than take a timely decision.
PS: Guess Ayn Rand would agree to this :)

December 14, 2010

One night at the call center

One night at the call Center: Just an ok book.
One paragraph, which I liked is:
A bad boss is like a disease of the soul. If you have one for long enough, you get convinced something is wrong with you. Even though you know he is the real loser, you start doubting yourself. And that is when your self-confidence goes.

December 11, 2010

My Private Theater

Have you been into a private theater...? I mean, physically stepped into one...? No...?
Have you peeked into one...; just a peek... forget the strolling part...? No...?
Am sure you have an idea on how a private theater would look like - Thanks to our bollywood movies.

I too had an idea about how it would look like.

Ever since I got this idea, I used to day-dream about me watching a movie in a private theater: Yes... Just me in the theater... and no one else. (Well... no harm in having my girl along with me. But that's it... Just two souls, for whom the entire theater is dedicated.)

Can you imagine the sight of the entire front rows being vacant? Just for you?
The whole show playing? Just for you?
Wow! You should be filthy rich to realize that dream. Isn't it?

Last week I realized that "day-dream".

I went on a weekday to a multiplex to watch Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Se. When I strolled into the theater, there was one couple sitting in the backmost row. I settled somewhere in the middle, and had this illusion of the entire theater being dedicated to me.

It cost me just 30 dirhams :) And the size of the theater was far larger than that of a private one :)


March 28, 2010

Succsex

Read Succsex by RVM - A book one should definitely NOT buy to read!! RVM or Ravi Melwani is the Kids Kemp guy from Bangalore. He lacks writing skills.

95% of the book is bull shit - and most of its content a repeat – a copy-paste – of what has been mentioned in different pages of the same book. The 100 page book could have been easily shrunk into a 5 page pamphlet. Alas, the author will not be able to sell his book. So he stretched it and stretched it – just like how a Sales or Business guy would do. Well... after all he is from a business background. What else one should expect?

Transmutation is definitely a rummy topic. I-net is a better source of info on transmutation. The book is not. It is an infinite pointer to a pointer - a circular liked-list - with very little content.



March 22, 2010

Keep Off the Grass; and 2 States

I recently read two books:

1) Keep Off the Grass by Karan Bajaj: I liked it. If you are confused with what is happening in your career-life..., read it. It promises no solution to your woes and confusion. But will tell you that, you are not alone in this rat racing world; that there are lots many confused souls [Peace be with them]. You will lose nothing, but gain, if you step back from the rat race and think for a while; and then enjoy the beauty of your life. I read it while I was on a flight. A sure page turner.

2) 2 States by Chetan Bhagat: Good time-pass book. Chetan's success lies in the fact that many metro Indians can relate to his stories. Besides he leverages the IIT/IIMA brand name quite well.

A few interesting excerpts from the book is listed down. Disclaimer: They are NOT "quotable quotes"; but '"interesting" observations.

Verma: Swaminathan, do you know why they made you deputy GM and sent me to become GM?
Swaminathan: Why?
Verma: Because South Indians are top class number two officers, but horrible in number one position
===
Swaminathan: Maybe Verma is right. We hate the limelight. We believe knowledge is not for showing off. If I do good work, people should notice me. I cannot go sell myself like that shameless Verma. Ten years back I had offers from MNC banks. But I stayed loyal to my bank. And I was patient to get my turn to be GM. Now, I have five years to retire and they send this rascal North Indian.
Chetan: If you don’t have marketing skills, then better admit that than take a moral high ground about knowledge. You have done good work, let the world know. What the hell is cheap or shameless about that? From now on, make sure that people know about the work you do. Look at my boss. He copies the country manager on everything. You definitely have to get noticed, you don’t have to do the work. That’s how corporates work, everyone knows it.

Chetan’s Mom: Don’t take any nonsense from these Madrasis. Give it back to them. They get scared fast.

In an Indian love marriage, by the time everyone gets on board, one wonders if there is any love left.

My mother did not respond. She switched to her favorite soap where a son was throwing his old parents out of his house. She cried along with the TV parents, correlating their situation to hers. Yeah right, she was staying in Park Hyatt and ate four kinds of ice-creams and bread pudding for dessert. But, of course, all sons are villains playing into the hands of their wives.

The world’s most sensible person and the biggest idiot both stay within us. The worst part is, you can’t even tell who is who.

Swaminathan: So why do parents object to love marriage. It is not only about another community. It is the fact your daughter has found a boy for herself. We as parents feel disobeyed, left out and disappointed. We bring our children up from babies to adults, how can they ignore us like this? All our frustration comes out in anger. Actually, the choice is simple. When your child decides to love a new person, you can either see it as a chance to hate some people – the person they choose and their families – Or you can see it as a chance to love some more people. And since when did loving more people become a bad thing.





March 21, 2010

Jack and Jill - 24x7 channel

One of the interesting fwds I have received in recent times...

Here is how the an Indian 24x7 TV news channel would report the Jack and Jill nursery rhyme. All names (except those of Jack and Jill), are fictitious.

Prashant - TV Anchor

Two persons have been injured in a freak climbing accident. Jack and his companion Jill had gone up a hill to fetch a pail of water when Jack fell down and broke his crown. Jill came tumbling after. Live from the hill, our reporter, Amrita Shah, takes up the story.

Amrita Shah

Thank you Prashant. Well, as you say, two persons - Jack and Jill - had gone up a hill to fetch a pail of water. Suddenly, Jack fell down and broke his crown and Jill came tumbling after. Prashant.

Prashant

Thank you Amrita. What do we know about the hill?

Amrita

Not too much. Jack was going up the hill to fetch a pail of water when he fell down and broke his crown. Jill came tumbling after

[Headline appears at the foot of the TV screen: "hill breaks crown of pail-boy Jack"]

Prashant

What news of Jack and Jill?

Amrita

Prashant, it seems that Jack had gone up the hill to fetch a pail of water. We know nothing about the pail, or how heavy it was but it seems that Jack fell down and broke his crown and Jill came tumbling after. I have here with me, an eyewitness to the accident, Mr Shahid Trivedi. Mr Shahid, tell us what you saw.

Shahid Trivedi

Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water. Jack fell down and broke his crown and Jill came tumbling after.

[Headline appears at the foot of the TV screen: "Boy and girl tumble down hill. Water spilled"]

Amrita

Jack and Jill. What do we know about them? Are they brother and sister? Are they married? Just what were they doing on the hill together?

Shahid Trivedi

Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail a water.

Amrita

And what happened next?

Shahid Trivedi

Jack fell down and broke his crown

Amrita

Go on.

Shahid Trivedi

And Jill came tumbling after.

Amrita

Prashant, there you have it. Two people innocently going about their business to fetch a pail of water when one of them falls down, breaks his crown, and the other comes tumbling after. Back to you in the studio Prashant.

[Headline appears at the foot of the TV screen: "Water errand ends in tragedy"]

Prashant

I have with me in the studio now, Professor Chandrashekar Belagare from the Indian Institute of Applied Hill Sciences. Professor: a hill; Jack; Jill; a pail of water. A tragedy waiting to happen?

Professor

Well that depends on the hill, the two persons, the object they were carrying and the conditions underfoot. Let us look at the evidence so far.

Jack and Jill

Went up the hill

To fetch a pail of water.

Jack fell down

And broke his crown

And Jill came tumbling after.

Clearly, one would suspect that if Jack’s fall was severe enough to break his crown then the surface of the hill must have been slippery or unstable. But I think we’re overlooking something quite fundamental here. Who was carrying the pail? Jack fell down and broke his crown and – this is the key – Jill came tumbling after. If Jack and Jill had been carrying the pail together, would they not have fallen at the same time? The fact that Jill came tumbling after suggests that Jack lost his footing first and perhaps knocked Jill over as he slipped.

Prashant

Professor thank you very much. So there we have it, two persons – Jack and Jill – went up the hill to fetch a pail of water. Jack fell down and broke his crown and Jill came tumbling after. Later in the programme, Osama bin Laden captured in Afghanistan, President Bush says rent-boy menage-a-trois was "just a brief lapse of judgement", and Pakistan launches nuclear warheads against key Indian cities. But next up, join us after the break for a studio discussion about hills, boys and girls and whether water-fetching trips should be supervised. We’ll be right back...



Courtesy fwded mail from Ksheama

February 13, 2010

Invictus

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

- William Ernest Henley

January 03, 2010

blogspot.com blocked from China

blogspot.com is blocked from China mainland. Many a times there were interesting experiences - which I wanted to key down. For example,
  • Do you know how frog meat tastes? It tastes between chicken and fish.
  • It is difficult to get snake meat because China govt. has banned eating snake.
  • Eating with chopsticks is just a matter of practice...
  • The catholic prayer hall where I went was quite crowded. (Yes... I'm talking about Communist China)
  • India should get rid of its bastard corrupt bureaucrats and polliticans to catch up with China in growth. China is 20 to 30 yrs ahead of India.
And so goes the list...

It was a wonderful trip. And I really wished to stay back, explore & understand China.

But then... I had promises to keep. :-) So here I am - back in India - wishing you, the whole world and China a very happy 2010.

PS: Question: Can someone read these wishes from China mainland?