I came across this new thing called the Gender Genie - a website that tells with 80% accuracy whether an article was written by a man or a woman. In fact, I wanted to test it and I tried my last post on it. The result was - the male score dominated the female score by more than 100%. the algorithm is based on the fact that men and women can be categorised under certain styles of using words. women use more personal pronouns whereas men are inclined towards using words that quantify nouns. in fact the whole paper is available on the website.
at work - we have a local version of Toastmasters. There is a meeting every fortnight, late afternoon, and people are invited to talk on prepared topics. there are table topics as well. anyway, i had the chance to attend one. with great expectations i walked into the hall and i found less than 5 people in the audience. out of 5000 plus people in the office, there are just 5 who want to test or work on their communication skills. i wonder if so many are busy with work. im quite sure that its not the case. just that they are too lazy to move their butt from the seat they have been warming for the whole day.
at this juncture, i must also tell you that generally, the communication level inside the organization is extremely poor. people know to code well. they might even enter the limca book of records for maybe coding so many thousand lines in a day but they are extremely bad at writing even two lines for an email. most of the english that people write is verbatim of what they talk over the phone or to their friends. i mean - the thought just falls into words. it doesnt get any flavor of grammar. and i dont understand why people are not bothered. is this a lack of interest from within? i do see organizational initiatives once in a while, but i have a general feeling that in all this struggle, the aim is just to make sure that ends meet ( i mean, to make sure that business happens. like we had this concept called JIT - Just In Time and later when I was doing in-plant training with a renowned manufacturing firm, the production manager told me that there was new term called SHIT - SomeHow In Time).
Food for thought - George Orwell listed four writers' motives: sheer egotism, aesthetic enthusiasm, historical impulse (the desire to record things as they are, for posterity) and political purpose (the desire to push the world in a certain direction).
Friday, August 03, 2007
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Do you know what you are doing?
I suddenly realised that even in an organization like this, people are working in silos. The concept of synergy is lost.
I read this line in an IMD Article - "if your customer knows more about what they buy from you than you do, the true cost of unintegrated IT gets very large"
and its almost the same thing thats happening around me. the customer talks to me and gets something underway. at the same time, he talks to another person who probably sits in another location for the same thing. since there is not one effective communication channel established between the decision makers, sometimes we end up doing the same thing over and again. the customer is extremely smart. he knows that we work in such a model. so all he needs to do is get both of us working and choose the best solution. and what do we get - business at twice the acquisition cost.
very basic concepts that i remember reading from the management of organizations course keep coming into my mind. most of it just happens because it happened before. if you question the fundamental behind whats happening, then there is hardly anyone to answer. but if they need something, then they are constantly behind your back. i remember filling some workbook during work. i was new to it and all i was given is the last month's workbook to see and replicate. there were more than two sheets on that workbook and i was sure that the numbers in the sheets had to match. that was the logical step. so i went on and checked all the sheets a number of times and nothing matched. i was surprised. and we follow this every month like clockwork. do we really have an objective?
and in the next category are team members. in fact, i dont even know the kind of work these people are doing and yet i can figure out that some of them are happily free riding. but some of them are so shameless. they know that they are wasting time and still expect that they have to be promoted after a performance review. i know of one who is quite an experienced fellow - more than me, just in the number of years. but now i know for sure that even years of relevant work experience is definitely a bad criteria to judge a person's abilities. for this guy's work is just instruction based. if you tell him to think on the fly and do it, he will panic and break down or wash his hands and shout back at you.
and on top of all this is the bureaucratic nature of doing work. there is a restricted car park - where only people from certain levels in the organization can use. and then the people in support services keep opening the doors and saluting senior staff. if you are at a certain level and above, work gets done faster. if you are at the lower end of the ladder, then you are at the mercy of whoever that guy he is. he would think that he is doing you a great favor by just doing his job and nothing else. in fact, he is there to do that, but he thinks that he can keep you waiting as long as no one complains. QUASI GOVERNMENT - as one rightly put it.
I read this line in an IMD Article - "if your customer knows more about what they buy from you than you do, the true cost of unintegrated IT gets very large"
and its almost the same thing thats happening around me. the customer talks to me and gets something underway. at the same time, he talks to another person who probably sits in another location for the same thing. since there is not one effective communication channel established between the decision makers, sometimes we end up doing the same thing over and again. the customer is extremely smart. he knows that we work in such a model. so all he needs to do is get both of us working and choose the best solution. and what do we get - business at twice the acquisition cost.
very basic concepts that i remember reading from the management of organizations course keep coming into my mind. most of it just happens because it happened before. if you question the fundamental behind whats happening, then there is hardly anyone to answer. but if they need something, then they are constantly behind your back. i remember filling some workbook during work. i was new to it and all i was given is the last month's workbook to see and replicate. there were more than two sheets on that workbook and i was sure that the numbers in the sheets had to match. that was the logical step. so i went on and checked all the sheets a number of times and nothing matched. i was surprised. and we follow this every month like clockwork. do we really have an objective?
and in the next category are team members. in fact, i dont even know the kind of work these people are doing and yet i can figure out that some of them are happily free riding. but some of them are so shameless. they know that they are wasting time and still expect that they have to be promoted after a performance review. i know of one who is quite an experienced fellow - more than me, just in the number of years. but now i know for sure that even years of relevant work experience is definitely a bad criteria to judge a person's abilities. for this guy's work is just instruction based. if you tell him to think on the fly and do it, he will panic and break down or wash his hands and shout back at you.
and on top of all this is the bureaucratic nature of doing work. there is a restricted car park - where only people from certain levels in the organization can use. and then the people in support services keep opening the doors and saluting senior staff. if you are at a certain level and above, work gets done faster. if you are at the lower end of the ladder, then you are at the mercy of whoever that guy he is. he would think that he is doing you a great favor by just doing his job and nothing else. in fact, he is there to do that, but he thinks that he can keep you waiting as long as no one complains. QUASI GOVERNMENT - as one rightly put it.
Monday, July 30, 2007
Trip to Gingee
So yesterday, we managed to do that trip to Gingee Fort.
Gingee Fort
You can see the photos on this slideshow. All credit goes to Manu for having taken wonderful pics.
Gingee is about 3 hrs drive from Chennai. Take the NH45 to Tindivanam or Dindivanam and then from there take the NH66 that goes to Thiruvannamalai. You will reach Gingee when you drive about 30 kms on that road. You can learn more about Gingee Fort through Google. My post is just to showcase the pictures.
Gingee Fort
You can see the photos on this slideshow. All credit goes to Manu for having taken wonderful pics.
Gingee is about 3 hrs drive from Chennai. Take the NH45 to Tindivanam or Dindivanam and then from there take the NH66 that goes to Thiruvannamalai. You will reach Gingee when you drive about 30 kms on that road. You can learn more about Gingee Fort through Google. My post is just to showcase the pictures.
Friday, July 27, 2007
Bhavan's Nite
This post is dedicated to all my Pilani Friends (year 1997-1998) and its part of my initiative to record certain events in my life - the concept of blogging wasnt even anywhere close to India when this happened.
Bhavan's are like hostels in other colleges. Just that in pilani they were called Bhavans with different prefixes as well - mine was called Budh. One of the oldest I would say.
So at the end of each academic year, the junior batch in the bhavan gave a farewell party to the senior batch. Typically, you get to stay in a bhavan for 2 years. Again, mine was an exception. People in my degree stayed in Budh for a year and then moved to Shankar. There are 6 junior hostels (that house first yearites and second yearites), excluding the girls hostel and 5 other senior hostels.
The farewell that the juniors conduct is called Bhavan's Nite. Its a spectacular event. Its like a war between the bhavans. Each hostel has a theme and its kept a big secret from the others. In fact, I have seen people getting into fights for leaking information. There is also the first mover advantage. Bhavans that open with a bang and conduct the first nite set the benchmark for that year - good or bad. The cultural secretary of the hostel has a fund for the Bhavan's nite which was around 6K during my time. Over and above that each hostel can gather more funds from the juniors based on the level of flamboyance they set.
Negotiation skills started right from undergrad for people like me. When Bhavan's announce their date for the event, it might clash with another. Its like ISB. Most events are held when everyone has time. No Bhavan wants its nite to be attended only by its own people. They want the whole campus to come there and talk about the event the next day. So, when there is a clash, negotiations happen. And yes, the nite is the ONLY EVENT in which you can invite the girls to your hostel premises. So, if you need to get the hot girls from your batch, then you need to negotiate and conclude because then the girls might start choosing. You dont want that - do you?
Preparations - there is a Co-Ord for the event. Rumors run around that whoever stands for Bhavan's Nite Co-Ord runs for the Hostel Rep post the next year, which is part of the Students Union. That is some kind of power. So, right from preparing for the Nite, you are kind of split into groups. Politics begins right there. An events schedule is drawn up. Skill sets are identified. A fund is allocated for people who work - their night time tea and biscuits is sponsored. So, there is scope for a treasurer. Usually there is a back-drop - a huge chart 20 feet by 10 or whatever. And people make a painting on that based on the theme they choose. I still remember that we painted an old greek temple - depicting the state of our hostel and also some relation to revival. Teams for everything - events, back-drop, decoration, lights, sounds, dinner, and yes invites.
Innovation was next on our mind for the invites. Every bhavan worked hard on getting the right invite. Brainstorming sessions happen day and nite to work on the design. People come up with prototypes. Our's was like an old manuscript with burnt edges. I still remember another one - it was like a pot. You open it and fumes come out like the Aladdin Lamp and then you can pull out the invite. Some invites were based on heavy origami work. We had one guy in our batch who was an origami champ. So his hostel leveraged his core competency.
Budget also has an impact on the food. The larger - we get more items in terms of starters, better ice-cream (although cassatta used to be the standard) etc.
Next thing was decoration - from the entrance, the way it is designed. I remember Gandhi Bhavan had an entrance which was like a maze. Size of the stage and height from ground level. We made our own stage - built using wooden cots borrowed from everyone's rooms. Planning the whole stage - length, width, whether we needed a side stage or a ramp, makeing it as flat as possible - everything was done in-house.
Events - as usual there is music performance, couple of dances, a funny skit and then games for the seniors. Of course, we have Mr. Whatever Bhavan and Miss. Whatever Bhavan - for the fun part you see. Ours was called BOY'97 - Budhite of the Year 97. Kinda kool - aint it?
I still remember the Nite we did when we were in our final year. This was one Nite for ourselves. We did just for the enthu factor. And we performed a skit mocking some our friends, seniors and juniors. That night, some of them paraded into our wing and caught the collars of few of my friends who were involved in the drama. It was good fun - yes, at the cost of someone.
Bhavan's are like hostels in other colleges. Just that in pilani they were called Bhavans with different prefixes as well - mine was called Budh. One of the oldest I would say.
So at the end of each academic year, the junior batch in the bhavan gave a farewell party to the senior batch. Typically, you get to stay in a bhavan for 2 years. Again, mine was an exception. People in my degree stayed in Budh for a year and then moved to Shankar. There are 6 junior hostels (that house first yearites and second yearites), excluding the girls hostel and 5 other senior hostels.
The farewell that the juniors conduct is called Bhavan's Nite. Its a spectacular event. Its like a war between the bhavans. Each hostel has a theme and its kept a big secret from the others. In fact, I have seen people getting into fights for leaking information. There is also the first mover advantage. Bhavans that open with a bang and conduct the first nite set the benchmark for that year - good or bad. The cultural secretary of the hostel has a fund for the Bhavan's nite which was around 6K during my time. Over and above that each hostel can gather more funds from the juniors based on the level of flamboyance they set.
Negotiation skills started right from undergrad for people like me. When Bhavan's announce their date for the event, it might clash with another. Its like ISB. Most events are held when everyone has time. No Bhavan wants its nite to be attended only by its own people. They want the whole campus to come there and talk about the event the next day. So, when there is a clash, negotiations happen. And yes, the nite is the ONLY EVENT in which you can invite the girls to your hostel premises. So, if you need to get the hot girls from your batch, then you need to negotiate and conclude because then the girls might start choosing. You dont want that - do you?
Preparations - there is a Co-Ord for the event. Rumors run around that whoever stands for Bhavan's Nite Co-Ord runs for the Hostel Rep post the next year, which is part of the Students Union. That is some kind of power. So, right from preparing for the Nite, you are kind of split into groups. Politics begins right there. An events schedule is drawn up. Skill sets are identified. A fund is allocated for people who work - their night time tea and biscuits is sponsored. So, there is scope for a treasurer. Usually there is a back-drop - a huge chart 20 feet by 10 or whatever. And people make a painting on that based on the theme they choose. I still remember that we painted an old greek temple - depicting the state of our hostel and also some relation to revival. Teams for everything - events, back-drop, decoration, lights, sounds, dinner, and yes invites.
Innovation was next on our mind for the invites. Every bhavan worked hard on getting the right invite. Brainstorming sessions happen day and nite to work on the design. People come up with prototypes. Our's was like an old manuscript with burnt edges. I still remember another one - it was like a pot. You open it and fumes come out like the Aladdin Lamp and then you can pull out the invite. Some invites were based on heavy origami work. We had one guy in our batch who was an origami champ. So his hostel leveraged his core competency.
Budget also has an impact on the food. The larger - we get more items in terms of starters, better ice-cream (although cassatta used to be the standard) etc.
Next thing was decoration - from the entrance, the way it is designed. I remember Gandhi Bhavan had an entrance which was like a maze. Size of the stage and height from ground level. We made our own stage - built using wooden cots borrowed from everyone's rooms. Planning the whole stage - length, width, whether we needed a side stage or a ramp, makeing it as flat as possible - everything was done in-house.
Events - as usual there is music performance, couple of dances, a funny skit and then games for the seniors. Of course, we have Mr. Whatever Bhavan and Miss. Whatever Bhavan - for the fun part you see. Ours was called BOY'97 - Budhite of the Year 97. Kinda kool - aint it?
I still remember the Nite we did when we were in our final year. This was one Nite for ourselves. We did just for the enthu factor. And we performed a skit mocking some our friends, seniors and juniors. That night, some of them paraded into our wing and caught the collars of few of my friends who were involved in the drama. It was good fun - yes, at the cost of someone.
Monday, July 23, 2007
Super Busy Weekend
Ultimate Frisbee was totally ultimate this weekend. We had a good game. Played for more than an hour. The next step by default was to go to Murugan Idli Shop at the end of the road for a sumptuous breakfast.
Then Saturday was suddenly slow. My car was longing for a good wash and wax polish. So I decided not to deny him a good wash (in Spanish, car is masculine and bikes are feminine - did you know that?). Anyway, I decided to go and watch July 4 - the latest Dilip movie from Mallu Land. Nice songs but hopeless storyline. During the movie, I could figure out that the music director had actually borrowed a few notes from other popular music that I know of.
Five Point Someone was the next attraction for the day. I didnt imagine that it would attract so much attention from the chennai theater enthusiasts. well, my friends were telling me that they never got to see the Yo Girls in chennai and they were all there. Pretty teens to Beautiful ladies - all of them. Any spec you came up with, there was atleast one match. Back to the play - it was amazing. All the characters were given equal importance. In fact, there were a few IITians in the play. Neha and Hari pulled it off big time on stage. The way the Prof's daughter looks at the student is just the way it happens in most schools I guess. Vidyuth who was the narrator - i think he is also part of the chennai runners group - was just right in doing his task. Even though the whole play was totally the book, the adaptation was extremely good. The play took a decent dig at commerce students.
On Saturday, we also managed to squeeze in an alumni-current batch meeting. the current batch was back for term 2 break after a rough and tough fight with markstrat. there is another meeting - the official one that ISB is organizing in Chennai. That will be during the first weekend of August.
"1001 ways to find out if she is the right one" - thats the title of the book i am trying to search for in my latest quest for knowledge. and it is a mad mad world. sometimes i feel like a peeled orange in a juicer ready to be crushed or squeezed. do i really want all that i want - that's something i got to discover. i think i have opened a huge pandora box. life's like that.
Then Saturday was suddenly slow. My car was longing for a good wash and wax polish. So I decided not to deny him a good wash (in Spanish, car is masculine and bikes are feminine - did you know that?). Anyway, I decided to go and watch July 4 - the latest Dilip movie from Mallu Land. Nice songs but hopeless storyline. During the movie, I could figure out that the music director had actually borrowed a few notes from other popular music that I know of.
Five Point Someone was the next attraction for the day. I didnt imagine that it would attract so much attention from the chennai theater enthusiasts. well, my friends were telling me that they never got to see the Yo Girls in chennai and they were all there. Pretty teens to Beautiful ladies - all of them. Any spec you came up with, there was atleast one match. Back to the play - it was amazing. All the characters were given equal importance. In fact, there were a few IITians in the play. Neha and Hari pulled it off big time on stage. The way the Prof's daughter looks at the student is just the way it happens in most schools I guess. Vidyuth who was the narrator - i think he is also part of the chennai runners group - was just right in doing his task. Even though the whole play was totally the book, the adaptation was extremely good. The play took a decent dig at commerce students.
On Saturday, we also managed to squeeze in an alumni-current batch meeting. the current batch was back for term 2 break after a rough and tough fight with markstrat. there is another meeting - the official one that ISB is organizing in Chennai. That will be during the first weekend of August.
"1001 ways to find out if she is the right one" - thats the title of the book i am trying to search for in my latest quest for knowledge. and it is a mad mad world. sometimes i feel like a peeled orange in a juicer ready to be crushed or squeezed. do i really want all that i want - that's something i got to discover. i think i have opened a huge pandora box. life's like that.
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
More theater and Myself
I continue my review about the play I saw on Sunday. I realized that I had forgotten a few things. Though the play was highly practical and has a strong yet silent message, there were umpteen number of breaks in the play that disturbed the flow. There was a scene change almost every 2-3 minutes and after a point it was rather annoying. I can understand that whatever was done is perhaps justified but maybe the director could have worked out a better way.
Some Chennai Theater goers, especially the ones that land up to watch Tamil Theater - SUCK. They have no etiquette. Rather, they'd think that etiquette is a new ticket that they could buy. Even after announcements to switch off mobile phones, people were busy answering calls. Some entered the hall after 20 mins and then also walked out in the middle. Then there were few who gave laudatory comments after certain dialogs. WTF is wrong with these people. They just couldn't shut their mouth. I hope more people in chennai read this and a general opinion spreads. People really need to be well mannered and respect the efforts put in by the production team.
Yesterday, I was speaking to my cousin who lives in the UK. Somehow she had heard that something other than the usual was happening with my life. After a while she asked me the million dollar question, rather questions I would say - Are you ready? Do you know that the person is THE right one? I was like Hmmm - It depends (like the typical MBA answer), maybe or maybe not. The situation was really like Shah Rukh Khan in Dil To Pagal Hai, when he asks Dixit - "How will I know? Will she hold a placard and tell me Hi, its me and I am the one". And then Dixit says - "He will tell you" and points to the Sky (what she meant is God or the Spirit of whatever). That time it sounded absolutely funny and it even now does. I think this feedback mechanism works for love at first sight. For people who have been through that first sight thing many times, its does not give a steady state answer. And generally, a question like this is mostly a complex polynomial equation with too many variables and dependencies. There is definitely an objective function, followed by certain assumptions and criteria. Ask me and I will never have a perfect answer. Because thats me.
Some Chennai Theater goers, especially the ones that land up to watch Tamil Theater - SUCK. They have no etiquette. Rather, they'd think that etiquette is a new ticket that they could buy. Even after announcements to switch off mobile phones, people were busy answering calls. Some entered the hall after 20 mins and then also walked out in the middle. Then there were few who gave laudatory comments after certain dialogs. WTF is wrong with these people. They just couldn't shut their mouth. I hope more people in chennai read this and a general opinion spreads. People really need to be well mannered and respect the efforts put in by the production team.
Yesterday, I was speaking to my cousin who lives in the UK. Somehow she had heard that something other than the usual was happening with my life. After a while she asked me the million dollar question, rather questions I would say - Are you ready? Do you know that the person is THE right one? I was like Hmmm - It depends (like the typical MBA answer), maybe or maybe not. The situation was really like Shah Rukh Khan in Dil To Pagal Hai, when he asks Dixit - "How will I know? Will she hold a placard and tell me Hi, its me and I am the one". And then Dixit says - "He will tell you" and points to the Sky (what she meant is God or the Spirit of whatever). That time it sounded absolutely funny and it even now does. I think this feedback mechanism works for love at first sight. For people who have been through that first sight thing many times, its does not give a steady state answer. And generally, a question like this is mostly a complex polynomial equation with too many variables and dependencies. There is definitely an objective function, followed by certain assumptions and criteria. Ask me and I will never have a perfect answer. Because thats me.
Sunday, July 15, 2007
The happy mind
It was time again to watch a play enacted by Dummies Drama. This group has been doing extremely well in the chennai theater circle. After a long time, the city's theater enthusiasts get to see serious tamil drama - apart from the usual SV Sekhar, Crazy and YG comedies that have now become quite a boring affair, mainly because of being repetitive and sarcastic.
Anyway, Vinodaya Chitham was the latest effort by Sreevathson and team. A story about how much contentment you need in your life and whether there is an end to whats happening to any person in this world. The play started off very well - ample opportunity to create comedy strips, very natural and simple, like the ones between the humorous husbands, witty wives, bantering friends and joshing daughters. Comedy that simply blended into the story line without giving the audience a chance to regret.
The protagonist is on the other side of 50 when familial responsibilities are at peak (son's and daughter's wedding planned). Office work is good as well. Suddenly death comes. He cannot take it. He fights the character called death and wants to come back to earth to fulfill his duties. An interesting piece of dialog that I remember. "If I die after a few years, after I finish all that I had thought about, the others will be mature and they will understand it" and then Death says "When will you be mature". This was a turning point in the story and it struck my heart like the sound we hear when a slave who bangs the distress bell in the castle.
He seeks time to do everything and death says OK. All this while no one knows that a strong message is being poked through their minds, because almost every minute there is an exchange of dialogs that evokes a laughter. After seeking time, the protagonist sees that all the events that happen around him are not happening to his satisfaction or favor. He is not happy but he has to take things the way they are. Also, these events would have happened anyway and his presence was unimportant. This gets explained in the latter part of the play during a serious conversation between him and Death.
When things happen on the positive side, then its LUCK. But when things go belly up and totally wrong, its FATE. Its always up to us to decide whether is Luck or Fate. Its the mind. We are so happy some time and then we pray to God that we should just leave this world as we are and when he actually comes to get you, you are afraid and you need more time.
The play ends when the protagonist is upset with what happened with him and he feels that he could have left this world and that's where Death picks him up again. One way, no return. And Bhaja Govindam plays in the background.
The translation of the Sanskrit verses goes like this - " Oh fool! Give up now the thirst to amass wealth; Getting rid of vain desires, fill the mind with good and holy thoughts; Entertain it with the wealth you acquire by fair means. "
Anyway, Vinodaya Chitham was the latest effort by Sreevathson and team. A story about how much contentment you need in your life and whether there is an end to whats happening to any person in this world. The play started off very well - ample opportunity to create comedy strips, very natural and simple, like the ones between the humorous husbands, witty wives, bantering friends and joshing daughters. Comedy that simply blended into the story line without giving the audience a chance to regret.
The protagonist is on the other side of 50 when familial responsibilities are at peak (son's and daughter's wedding planned). Office work is good as well. Suddenly death comes. He cannot take it. He fights the character called death and wants to come back to earth to fulfill his duties. An interesting piece of dialog that I remember. "If I die after a few years, after I finish all that I had thought about, the others will be mature and they will understand it" and then Death says "When will you be mature". This was a turning point in the story and it struck my heart like the sound we hear when a slave who bangs the distress bell in the castle.
He seeks time to do everything and death says OK. All this while no one knows that a strong message is being poked through their minds, because almost every minute there is an exchange of dialogs that evokes a laughter. After seeking time, the protagonist sees that all the events that happen around him are not happening to his satisfaction or favor. He is not happy but he has to take things the way they are. Also, these events would have happened anyway and his presence was unimportant. This gets explained in the latter part of the play during a serious conversation between him and Death.
When things happen on the positive side, then its LUCK. But when things go belly up and totally wrong, its FATE. Its always up to us to decide whether is Luck or Fate. Its the mind. We are so happy some time and then we pray to God that we should just leave this world as we are and when he actually comes to get you, you are afraid and you need more time.
The play ends when the protagonist is upset with what happened with him and he feels that he could have left this world and that's where Death picks him up again. One way, no return. And Bhaja Govindam plays in the background.
The translation of the Sanskrit verses goes like this - " Oh fool! Give up now the thirst to amass wealth; Getting rid of vain desires, fill the mind with good and holy thoughts; Entertain it with the wealth you acquire by fair means. "
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Born two months later??
| Your True Birth Month Is December |
 Logical Patriotic Ambitious Not egoistic Loves praise Loves to joke Fun to be with Not pretending Loves attention Short tempered Hates restrictions Loves to socialize Loves to be loved Loyal and generous Impatient and hasty Changing personality Good sense of humor Honest and trustworthy Influential in organizations Takes high pride in oneself Active in games and interactions |
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Travel Photography awards
Two photographs taken in India made it to the list. Here they are. Can you guess the locations? Beer Treat Assured!!!
This one above should be easy to guess. There arent too many around in the country like this.
This might be a tuffie. This photograph was taken by Mani Puthuran.
This one above should be easy to guess. There arent too many around in the country like this.
This might be a tuffie. This photograph was taken by Mani Puthuran.
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Seven Eleven Remembered
Year 2006 same date - Britain came under a big shock. There was an attack. In train stations and bus stations. I still remember that day. I was on the train in south east london, much farther from where the events had happened. A typical early morning where I walked into the crowded Docklands Light Rail, popularly known as the DLR for Londoners. Unaware of anything that happened, people were busy browsing through newspapers and some fiddling with their ipod, rest with a novel. Within 15 minutes of travel, I reached my station Canary Wharf, where I work and we were informed that the train wouldnt travel past till the Bank Station which was probably another 15 mins away. Surprising that on a busy morning, the train suddenly stopped mid-way. When I get into the office, I learn that there has been a power failure in the station. Still the news isnt out. My parents were visiting me and they were supposed to take a train or a bus to see Tower Bridge. For their luck, the news had trickled down through a few local ears and they walked back to the apartment. Within a few hours the BBC made the official announcement and the country was in SHOCK.
It was just the previous day that London won the bid for the Olympics. The whole country was overjoyed. There was celebration all around Trafalgar Square. And that day was the G8 Summit in Gleneagles, Scotland. For which, there were enough protests.
This event happened and everything came to a standstill. Mobile networks were completely jammed. Transport systems went belly up. Chaos everywhere and while sitting at office with the radio I could sense the agony and pain that family and friends of the injured and dead would go through. I think this was the closest I have gotten to being part of a serious situation and it was very disturbing.
And these events are still happening - people from the same community. Ruthless lunatics they are. Now they are giving another threat for Rushdie's knighthood. They quote the permission of Allah. Did they ever read the Quran in their lifetime? Because it never said anything close to what they are claiming. And they go around killing their own people. I guess, God gave these people too much oil, a new religion but no brains to be protective and productive.
It was just the previous day that London won the bid for the Olympics. The whole country was overjoyed. There was celebration all around Trafalgar Square. And that day was the G8 Summit in Gleneagles, Scotland. For which, there were enough protests.
This event happened and everything came to a standstill. Mobile networks were completely jammed. Transport systems went belly up. Chaos everywhere and while sitting at office with the radio I could sense the agony and pain that family and friends of the injured and dead would go through. I think this was the closest I have gotten to being part of a serious situation and it was very disturbing.
And these events are still happening - people from the same community. Ruthless lunatics they are. Now they are giving another threat for Rushdie's knighthood. They quote the permission of Allah. Did they ever read the Quran in their lifetime? Because it never said anything close to what they are claiming. And they go around killing their own people. I guess, God gave these people too much oil, a new religion but no brains to be protective and productive.
Thursday, July 05, 2007
The death of the cassette tape
I am running out of time to write a post. Hence, I decided to post this stuff I read a few months back. Very interesting - reminds me about product life cycle and markets. For readers from the ISB, might be a very good example for a CP during your elective courses.
THE eject button has been pressed on the audio cassette for the very last time.
Currys, the UK’s biggest electronics retailer, yesterday announced it is to stop selling the tapes.
Woolworths and HMV have already removed them from their shelves.
Currys also predicts this Christmas will be the last time it sells hi-fi systems with tape decks included.
Compact cassettes could be frustrating at times — hissing, stretching or getting chewed up in tape decks — but while MP3s and downloads are all the rage now, tapes played an important role in musical culture for more than 40 years.
The recordable tape was introduced to Europe in 1963 by Philips.
Originally designed for dictation, tapes soon became used for home recording and even data storage for computers.
For younger readers, the compact cassette consisted of two miniature spools between which a magnetic tape was passed and wound. This mechanism was housed in a protective plastic shell.
Cassettes took off in the Seventies, offering a recordable alternative to LPs. Pre-recorded cassettes went on sale in Europe in 1965, and from the Seventies to the Nineties became one of the most common formats on which to buy music.
The appeal of the cassette was boosted by the launch of portable music players such as the Sony Walkman in 1979.
A massive 83million tapes were sold in the UK in 1989. Yet by last year the figure had fallen to a mere 100,000.
In the Nineties sales of pre-recorded tapes were overtaken by CDs and record companies started phasing them out.
And in recent years the digital music revolution has pressed pause on the old-fashioned practice of “home dubbing”.
Even Currys managing director Peter Keenan said he will look back with “fondness” at cassettes.
Indeed, the tapes and the players had their good points.
They were more resistent to dust, heat and shocks than most digital media and fixing cassettes didn’t need hi-tech equipment — any tape which spooled out could be wound back in using a Biro.
Their durability saw them act as catalysts for social change, taking rock and punk music behind the Iron Curtain and creating a foothold for Western culture.
But cassettes were not popular with everyone — especially record companies.
In the Eighties the British Phonographic Institute launched an anti-copyright infringement campaign under the slogan “Home Taping Is Killing Music”.
In 1988 the House of Lords ruled in favour of Sir Alan Sugar’s Amstrad that producing a high-speed twin cassette deck did not infringe copyright laws.
Despite the digital music revolution, it is thought around 500million tapes are still in circulation.
And beware, here are other devices we reckon could be on the way out next:
Answering machines; Fax machines; Portable CD players; Watches
You have been warned . . .
THE eject button has been pressed on the audio cassette for the very last time.
Currys, the UK’s biggest electronics retailer, yesterday announced it is to stop selling the tapes.
Woolworths and HMV have already removed them from their shelves.
Currys also predicts this Christmas will be the last time it sells hi-fi systems with tape decks included.
Compact cassettes could be frustrating at times — hissing, stretching or getting chewed up in tape decks — but while MP3s and downloads are all the rage now, tapes played an important role in musical culture for more than 40 years.
The recordable tape was introduced to Europe in 1963 by Philips.
Originally designed for dictation, tapes soon became used for home recording and even data storage for computers.
For younger readers, the compact cassette consisted of two miniature spools between which a magnetic tape was passed and wound. This mechanism was housed in a protective plastic shell.
Cassettes took off in the Seventies, offering a recordable alternative to LPs. Pre-recorded cassettes went on sale in Europe in 1965, and from the Seventies to the Nineties became one of the most common formats on which to buy music.
The appeal of the cassette was boosted by the launch of portable music players such as the Sony Walkman in 1979.
A massive 83million tapes were sold in the UK in 1989. Yet by last year the figure had fallen to a mere 100,000.
In the Nineties sales of pre-recorded tapes were overtaken by CDs and record companies started phasing them out.
And in recent years the digital music revolution has pressed pause on the old-fashioned practice of “home dubbing”.
Even Currys managing director Peter Keenan said he will look back with “fondness” at cassettes.
Indeed, the tapes and the players had their good points.
They were more resistent to dust, heat and shocks than most digital media and fixing cassettes didn’t need hi-tech equipment — any tape which spooled out could be wound back in using a Biro.
Their durability saw them act as catalysts for social change, taking rock and punk music behind the Iron Curtain and creating a foothold for Western culture.
But cassettes were not popular with everyone — especially record companies.
In the Eighties the British Phonographic Institute launched an anti-copyright infringement campaign under the slogan “Home Taping Is Killing Music”.
In 1988 the House of Lords ruled in favour of Sir Alan Sugar’s Amstrad that producing a high-speed twin cassette deck did not infringe copyright laws.
Despite the digital music revolution, it is thought around 500million tapes are still in circulation.
And beware, here are other devices we reckon could be on the way out next:
Answering machines; Fax machines; Portable CD players; Watches
You have been warned . . .
Sunday, July 01, 2007
Weekly roundup
I didn't realize that its been a week since i wrote something on this space. A friend of mine who reads this space regularly had to remind me of that. He did ask me whether it was because of work. my frank answer is - is definitely because i have been trying hard to find work in the last one week.
ever since Sivaji happened, i have following up quite regularly on the movie. a whopping budget of 90 crore (international readers please excuse me for using crore) indian rupees - can you believe that. and i also heard that the superstar got 17 crore as salary, which is the fixed component and then a variable pay that would come from distribution revenues. mba stuff happening here too.
anyway, during the last week, i hardly went for work. on monday i was in bangalore attending a wedding and catching up with few friends from b-school. then on wednesday, mr.manjeri(the coimby man on my blog's main page) and i left to tirupati to attend another wedding. during this time, my manager decided to get me into a new project. all this while i was supposed to work for a chicago based bank's projects. not that i had started work on that. just that the allocation had been done and the people in that team were doing some knowledge transfer - very much like the gyaan sessions at ISB. too many PPTs and stuff like that. on friday i was introduced to the new project and i said yes. although its 90 percent confirmed that i will start work on this one from monday, anything can happen. bottomline: i still dont have work.
another funny incident happened at office on friday - a friend of mine entered the office lobby wearing sandals and the security guard stopped him. he wanted my friend to get permission from the HR because there was a slight violation of the dress code. i was furious. this is a place where people walk in like a herd of cattle especially between 9 and 10 am. nobody checks a shit you could walk in with a detonator and that silly guy wouldn't know a thing. with such a security lapse uncared for, this guy demands a dress code authorization. extraordinarily funny.
every IT consulting company in india is preparing to start a full fledged technology consulting arm. and we are also seeing whats happening with the dollar. azim premji had once said that it would take 36 yrs for the rupee to be at par with the dollar, but i kinda feel that it might happen in like 10 years. suddenly all firms are aggressively looking at revenues from europe. and i got to hear that Infosys is trying to get something from Cap Gemini. Thats actually a very good strategy. CG is headquartered in Paris and a large portion of its revenues is from Europe. They always say - quicker the better and this is also some kind of first mover advantage. companies want to pay less and thats why a lot of them are moving out of india as well. today, we are in a different game. the cost advantage is no longer with us. we need a new and radical strategy.
ever since Sivaji happened, i have following up quite regularly on the movie. a whopping budget of 90 crore (international readers please excuse me for using crore) indian rupees - can you believe that. and i also heard that the superstar got 17 crore as salary, which is the fixed component and then a variable pay that would come from distribution revenues. mba stuff happening here too.
anyway, during the last week, i hardly went for work. on monday i was in bangalore attending a wedding and catching up with few friends from b-school. then on wednesday, mr.manjeri(the coimby man on my blog's main page) and i left to tirupati to attend another wedding. during this time, my manager decided to get me into a new project. all this while i was supposed to work for a chicago based bank's projects. not that i had started work on that. just that the allocation had been done and the people in that team were doing some knowledge transfer - very much like the gyaan sessions at ISB. too many PPTs and stuff like that. on friday i was introduced to the new project and i said yes. although its 90 percent confirmed that i will start work on this one from monday, anything can happen. bottomline: i still dont have work.
another funny incident happened at office on friday - a friend of mine entered the office lobby wearing sandals and the security guard stopped him. he wanted my friend to get permission from the HR because there was a slight violation of the dress code. i was furious. this is a place where people walk in like a herd of cattle especially between 9 and 10 am. nobody checks a shit you could walk in with a detonator and that silly guy wouldn't know a thing. with such a security lapse uncared for, this guy demands a dress code authorization. extraordinarily funny.
every IT consulting company in india is preparing to start a full fledged technology consulting arm. and we are also seeing whats happening with the dollar. azim premji had once said that it would take 36 yrs for the rupee to be at par with the dollar, but i kinda feel that it might happen in like 10 years. suddenly all firms are aggressively looking at revenues from europe. and i got to hear that Infosys is trying to get something from Cap Gemini. Thats actually a very good strategy. CG is headquartered in Paris and a large portion of its revenues is from Europe. They always say - quicker the better and this is also some kind of first mover advantage. companies want to pay less and thats why a lot of them are moving out of india as well. today, we are in a different game. the cost advantage is no longer with us. we need a new and radical strategy.
Saturday, June 23, 2007
Sivaji - a visual treat
GRANDIOSE - if i could use just one word to describe the movie. Now you can add all the adjectives that describe pomp and show to follow on. Exorbitant song sets, fight settings and many more is what you will feel when you walk out of this entertainer.
For all readers in Chennai, I must tell you that Abhirami theater is one hopeless place to watch this movie. Its such a congested place with no planning. All efforts have been made only to make money and create inconvenience for the public. Abhirami Ramanathan who is supposedly making a killing because of buying the movie rights for this movie is just filling his bank accounts. He seems to be least bothered if the public have so much trouble getting into his establishment. The idea of a wholesome entertainment gets lost when one walks into such a theater. Broken seats, unclean surroundings, uninvited visitors like rats are part of your blockbuster movie.
ARR has surpassed everyone's expectations by giving just the right beats to keep the audience tapping their toes. As it happens in most Superstar movies, Superstar begins his reign embellished with SPB's enchanting voice and we can feel that vibrating in the "Balleilakka" song. Nayantara (seems to have toned up a lot for Superstar) who just appears for the first song has done a neat job. Supporting dancers with painted faces of the Superstar on their body is different. Director Shankar has brought in the flavor of the "Andan Kaakka" song from Anniyan into this too, but obviously is much more extravagant.
"Vaaji Vaaji" that follows next is probably on the Prince of Persia theme. Crores of rupees have been spent in almost every song. This one was phenomenal with an exotic harem. It seemed to me that all efforts have been made to make sure that Shreya wears just the amount of clothes thats required to get the pass certificate from the censor board. If you told me that Shreya is the most beautiful girl you've seen on screen, I wouldn't bother to disagree because thats 100% true. I am just short of words, but This lissome beauty is crazy beautiful and awesome. In this song, Shreya is like an Egyptian Queen. If Cleopatra was alive today, she would be of no comparison to Shreya.
"Oru Koodai sunlight", which I think is also called "Style", reminds you of some music themes from 50 cents. Another wonderful attempt accepted very well. All care has been made to make sure that the music in every song complements Superstar's moves, especially the STYLE sequence in this song keeps you highly enthused.
"Sahana Saral" shot inside glasshouses (location looks like a new ecosystem) with a classical theme is worth mentioning. Singer Udit Narayan's rendition doesn't sound like a north indian's attempt on tamil music. He has worked a lot on the diction part and the result is very good indeed. Again Shreya is a treat to watch with her princess looks.
"Athiradee Kaalam" is another remarkable song by AR Rahman. The song does remind you some beats from Michael Jacksons compositions, but still rocks. Rahman is the singer here and when he sings we get reminded of own style, which just repeats. Shreya looks like a Latino woman here - reminds me of Salma Hayek.
Fight sequences have also been given equal importance although there is not logic when Superstar fights. Everything thats questionable is defied. The sequence in the instrument store is organized, but i wonder why the director chose to break all the instruments. I hate it when someone tampers with the music instrument. Here is someone breaking them. Superstar also reminds you of Agent Smith and Neo is certain places. Towards the end he completes it by also becoming Morpheus.
Comedy is just right. Superstar does not have punch dialogs. Comedy King Vivek does most of the work required. The amount of seriousness that the movie brings along is complemented with an equal amount of comedy that keeps the audience laughing to an extent. Director Shankar has continued with his anti corruption theme - it black money this time.
I'd definitely watch this movie again.
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Intelligence ???
Although I dont totally believe in this particular prediction, its somewhat fun.
| Your Dominant Intelligence is Musical Intelligence |
 Every part of your life has a beat, and you're often tapping your fingers or toes. You enjoy sounds of all types, but you also find sound can distract you at the wrong time. You are probably a gifted musician of some sort - even if you haven't realized it. Also a music lover, you tend to appreciate artists of all kinds. You would make a great musician, disc jockey, singer, or composer. |
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
The temporary status continues
I cant believe that I still dont have an employee id. I have given up now. I have better things to do. Since yesterday, I have been looking up a good number of websites on furniture design, suspended bridges, architects etc. Its good fun to read something new.
Office etiquette has been shown the backdoor at my workplace. Every 5 minutes you can hear someone's phone ringing. The volume level is extremely high. The ringtones are also picked up from the Tamil movies and hence its almost like listening to a radio station. Apart from this, I have a jobless neighbor at office who keeps entertaining me with his activities. He uses the phone (both land and hand) extensively to talk to anyone and everyone about anything other than work. And apart from this, his phone gives this stupid alarm when he gets an SMS - "Excuse me Boss, you have a text message", as if its as important as "Houston, we have a problem". The sounds dont end here. There are some managers, sitting in open cabins, around me who use the speaker phone to talk to their friends, or family or banks.
During the entrepreneurship conference that happened in ISB last year, a professor from one of the IITs told us that his team had come up with a mobile jamming application - one that would stop all the mobiles within a particular area, from ringing loud. I definitely think we need one of that here.
I was listening to Burt Rutan's talk from the TED Conference, where he was mentioning about innovation cycles being reduced to none and how the US had crossed two generations of no innovation in the space exploration area. It was also interesting to listen to his observation of how airplanes became successful only because of the theory of natural selection.
Bill Clinton meets Dick Cheney.
Bill Clinton says - "Nowadays, you Republicans get away with everything you do. When I just took a shot at someone, I got impeached for that."
Office etiquette has been shown the backdoor at my workplace. Every 5 minutes you can hear someone's phone ringing. The volume level is extremely high. The ringtones are also picked up from the Tamil movies and hence its almost like listening to a radio station. Apart from this, I have a jobless neighbor at office who keeps entertaining me with his activities. He uses the phone (both land and hand) extensively to talk to anyone and everyone about anything other than work. And apart from this, his phone gives this stupid alarm when he gets an SMS - "Excuse me Boss, you have a text message", as if its as important as "Houston, we have a problem". The sounds dont end here. There are some managers, sitting in open cabins, around me who use the speaker phone to talk to their friends, or family or banks.
During the entrepreneurship conference that happened in ISB last year, a professor from one of the IITs told us that his team had come up with a mobile jamming application - one that would stop all the mobiles within a particular area, from ringing loud. I definitely think we need one of that here.
I was listening to Burt Rutan's talk from the TED Conference, where he was mentioning about innovation cycles being reduced to none and how the US had crossed two generations of no innovation in the space exploration area. It was also interesting to listen to his observation of how airplanes became successful only because of the theory of natural selection.
Bill Clinton meets Dick Cheney.
Bill Clinton says - "Nowadays, you Republicans get away with everything you do. When I just took a shot at someone, I got impeached for that."
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Chennai 600028
My friend had rightly said about this movie - "The Kollywood answer to Dil Chahtha Hai" and it truly was a movie like that.
The weekend in the Manchester of South India was fabulous. A good reason to get away from the hot and humid madras, although i keep complaining about madras, i never get bored of this place. maybe its because of the 27 year itch.
Chennai 28 was a treat in the form of a movie. Made on a very low budget, hats off to the guy who wrote the screenplay. There wasnt really a story line - its just a year of life along with everyday friends in your community and passion for cricket. With such a simple theme, every shade of a bachelor's life has been touched upon in a vivid fashion with intricate details. Comedy is just apt to prove that laughter is the best medicine. In certain instances, some would just feel that this wasnt a joke at all. But for all those people who have been on the streets during those few years in college, every moment can be related to some way or the other.
Outlook India carries this article - The circle of Frisson, where it talks about the family being a faraway world and friends defining the new relationships. Click on the bold words to read the full article. This movie was yet another reminder to such a theme.
As Dil Chahtha Hai did to a lot of us - you walk out of the movie hall with a feeling that you have been inside the theatre for just the right experience. No message, no evil and no good triumph. Its the same good old feeling here too.
Anyway, after all that good stuff, I am back to simple interest, compound interest and stuff like that. People at work have this feeling that a management programme at one of the best schools in the country is no proof that you are qualified to be on the job. They have given me some hopeless learning modules to read on.
And I still dont have my employee id. Is someone doing the Hewitt Survey or anything of that sort. Please take a note of this.
The weekend in the Manchester of South India was fabulous. A good reason to get away from the hot and humid madras, although i keep complaining about madras, i never get bored of this place. maybe its because of the 27 year itch.
Chennai 28 was a treat in the form of a movie. Made on a very low budget, hats off to the guy who wrote the screenplay. There wasnt really a story line - its just a year of life along with everyday friends in your community and passion for cricket. With such a simple theme, every shade of a bachelor's life has been touched upon in a vivid fashion with intricate details. Comedy is just apt to prove that laughter is the best medicine. In certain instances, some would just feel that this wasnt a joke at all. But for all those people who have been on the streets during those few years in college, every moment can be related to some way or the other.
Outlook India carries this article - The circle of Frisson, where it talks about the family being a faraway world and friends defining the new relationships. Click on the bold words to read the full article. This movie was yet another reminder to such a theme.
As Dil Chahtha Hai did to a lot of us - you walk out of the movie hall with a feeling that you have been inside the theatre for just the right experience. No message, no evil and no good triumph. Its the same good old feeling here too.
Anyway, after all that good stuff, I am back to simple interest, compound interest and stuff like that. People at work have this feeling that a management programme at one of the best schools in the country is no proof that you are qualified to be on the job. They have given me some hopeless learning modules to read on.
And I still dont have my employee id. Is someone doing the Hewitt Survey or anything of that sort. Please take a note of this.
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Its Training Time.. Alleluya
"Icebergs are those things that, on the surface, appear much more trivial than they are. Unlike the Titanic, they don’t always sink your project, but they may knock it way off course."
This is what i read from one of the presentations.
For the funniest part, I still havent got my employee id. Today is the fifth day. The latest reason that the HR has found to tell me is - the server has crashed and it will take more than 2 days to rectify that. I was like(in my mind) - Huh!, do you know where you are working? A company that boasts of being one of the top players in the IT services industry. And you tell me that it would take 2 days to get a server up and running. Would you tell something like that to your client?
So if you dont have your id, you cant do anything. No access to any floor. No coffee or tea or lunch without the help of others. YOU CANT EVEN GO TO THE LOO. Because of the funny way in which things are arranged around the office here (projects are demarcated within a single floor through access points), you cant get to any place without the ID card.
Every morning I keep talking to myself that today would be the day the bus driver would check if I had a valid pass and with that feeling I would try and sneak into the bus with that confident look on my face, that look which says that I am one of those old-timers in the organization and you better be smart enough before you pop up any question to me. But yes, if he got brave enough to do that, then I dont know what to say. I definitely cant tell him that the SERVER CRASHED.
This is what i read from one of the presentations.
For the funniest part, I still havent got my employee id. Today is the fifth day. The latest reason that the HR has found to tell me is - the server has crashed and it will take more than 2 days to rectify that. I was like(in my mind) - Huh!, do you know where you are working? A company that boasts of being one of the top players in the IT services industry. And you tell me that it would take 2 days to get a server up and running. Would you tell something like that to your client?
So if you dont have your id, you cant do anything. No access to any floor. No coffee or tea or lunch without the help of others. YOU CANT EVEN GO TO THE LOO. Because of the funny way in which things are arranged around the office here (projects are demarcated within a single floor through access points), you cant get to any place without the ID card.
Every morning I keep talking to myself that today would be the day the bus driver would check if I had a valid pass and with that feeling I would try and sneak into the bus with that confident look on my face, that look which says that I am one of those old-timers in the organization and you better be smart enough before you pop up any question to me. But yes, if he got brave enough to do that, then I dont know what to say. I definitely cant tell him that the SERVER CRASHED.
Monday, June 11, 2007
Work starts on a cold note
If I could get paid for studying or living in a university campus, that would be absolutely great. Work isnt any interesting. We started off on a not so good note. The so called auditorium was freezing and maintenance was so responsive that they did not bother to turn the temperature up even after frantic calls from us. Thats the beginning i guess. and then we had these boring presentations from the various teams and the people representing the senior management. it was more or less like the PPT we had on campus. i wonder why we had that again. maybe it was a refresher that out me to sleep.
presentations overshot the allocated time by more than an hour. then it was the turn of all the banks and the mobile service providers to make their pitch. out of the four banks that made their offers, citibank was the only one to screw up big time. well, we always know that the second largest bank in the world had to make a big noise and then defame itself knowingly. and then they say that they are not the tom dick and harry of the banks in india. they just want to serve the best customers int he best way. sounds like a good customer value proposition, but never suits a country like india where there are so many people and the only way is volume. anyway, their strategy is best left to them.
i must also mention some things about my friends who joined from tier 2 and tier 3 business schools in india, who were asking a number of questions. they perhaps did not know that there were not being paid extra money for class participation.
the admin group at the office has not been very cooperative till now. they just want to throw some information at us and run off immediately before we ask them questions. with the HR, well, they could have managed this whole day in a much better way. yet another reason for WHY WE HATE HR. but they always want to be hated and hence will be the laggards. in fact, my first day at iflex was 100 times better than this one. i wonder if the joining procedures are different for undergrads and post-grads. forget all the fun. we were not even given a copy of the schedule for the day.
do you really think that the grass is greener on the other side?
i did want to make a mention about the under-underpants and the over-underpants. sounds confusing isnt it. but thats the fun i guess. lets see if i can get to write more about this.
presentations overshot the allocated time by more than an hour. then it was the turn of all the banks and the mobile service providers to make their pitch. out of the four banks that made their offers, citibank was the only one to screw up big time. well, we always know that the second largest bank in the world had to make a big noise and then defame itself knowingly. and then they say that they are not the tom dick and harry of the banks in india. they just want to serve the best customers int he best way. sounds like a good customer value proposition, but never suits a country like india where there are so many people and the only way is volume. anyway, their strategy is best left to them.
i must also mention some things about my friends who joined from tier 2 and tier 3 business schools in india, who were asking a number of questions. they perhaps did not know that there were not being paid extra money for class participation.
the admin group at the office has not been very cooperative till now. they just want to throw some information at us and run off immediately before we ask them questions. with the HR, well, they could have managed this whole day in a much better way. yet another reason for WHY WE HATE HR. but they always want to be hated and hence will be the laggards. in fact, my first day at iflex was 100 times better than this one. i wonder if the joining procedures are different for undergrads and post-grads. forget all the fun. we were not even given a copy of the schedule for the day.
do you really think that the grass is greener on the other side?
i did want to make a mention about the under-underpants and the over-underpants. sounds confusing isnt it. but thats the fun i guess. lets see if i can get to write more about this.
Saturday, June 09, 2007
Thursday, June 07, 2007
Back again with views about bombay
After that last post I did, I made a small trip to Bombay. People in bombay, whom i did not call - please do not get angry. first thing - i did not carry your numbers. i myself had a loaned phone. i was living in a place where the nearest internet cafe could not be located. and i was totally disoriented with the way the city lived.
perhaps bombay is such a nice place for millions of people. not for a person like me who needs some breathing space. in about every place in bombay there are more people per square feet than in any other city in india. you cant to any place soon. if that had to happen then it should be after 12pm and before 5am. a lot of people like the way bombay functions. i personally did not like it at all. everything is so fast. sometimes, the city life can be compared to how it is in New York. Even London is not this fast. although i did not explore the whole city in great depths, i was astonished to see asia's largest slum dharavi, while the aeroplane was descending. its HUGE - in the real sense, its HULK size. from the top i cud see all the small lanes inside the slum. these lanes were just enuff for one person to walk through and houses were placed on the landscape like a collage of matchboxes or maybe just a confetti.
the next funny thing to understand and practice was the suburban train. i stood stationary on the andheri platform for more than 30 minutes to get onto a train. the idea was to get onto the train before someone got off. and to do this, you had to be agile and fast because there were 50 other people trying to do the same thing. nevertheless, the all-ladies compartments were free of any trouble of getting in or out.
public transport as such is quite efficient. the city more or less is totally dependent on the public transport infrastructure. in that way its managed very efficiently. the auto-rickshaws are not allowed in some portions of the city. you can drive only cabs there. this keeps out the rickshaw drivers who keep shifting lanes every 10 mtrs and who do not see the vehicles coming behind before taking a U-Turn.
While I was browsing through some of the other blogs that I visit, I found this interesting picture. Click on it to read what it says
perhaps bombay is such a nice place for millions of people. not for a person like me who needs some breathing space. in about every place in bombay there are more people per square feet than in any other city in india. you cant to any place soon. if that had to happen then it should be after 12pm and before 5am. a lot of people like the way bombay functions. i personally did not like it at all. everything is so fast. sometimes, the city life can be compared to how it is in New York. Even London is not this fast. although i did not explore the whole city in great depths, i was astonished to see asia's largest slum dharavi, while the aeroplane was descending. its HUGE - in the real sense, its HULK size. from the top i cud see all the small lanes inside the slum. these lanes were just enuff for one person to walk through and houses were placed on the landscape like a collage of matchboxes or maybe just a confetti.
the next funny thing to understand and practice was the suburban train. i stood stationary on the andheri platform for more than 30 minutes to get onto a train. the idea was to get onto the train before someone got off. and to do this, you had to be agile and fast because there were 50 other people trying to do the same thing. nevertheless, the all-ladies compartments were free of any trouble of getting in or out.
public transport as such is quite efficient. the city more or less is totally dependent on the public transport infrastructure. in that way its managed very efficiently. the auto-rickshaws are not allowed in some portions of the city. you can drive only cabs there. this keeps out the rickshaw drivers who keep shifting lanes every 10 mtrs and who do not see the vehicles coming behind before taking a U-Turn.
While I was browsing through some of the other blogs that I visit, I found this interesting picture. Click on it to read what it says
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