Peggy's Den

Home for Diwali

2007-11-14T15:35:00.000+05:30

This Diwali was a blast!! Home for 5 days..

Ring..
BayLeaf..
Scary Meet, with an anti-climax..
Two super Mass Tamil Movies..
Crackers..4 times at both homes..
A Jeep that could have been..
Random drives..
Pergola debacle..
Rhapsody..
Blackforest on the beach..
20's..
A stupid NAC fight..
2 movies for others..:)
BNB with friends..
Mayajal..
The Vakil incident..

Independence Day

2007-10-02T19:37:00.000+05:30

Totally forgot about this wild night on the 14th of August!!! Documenting it now. ;)
It was an awesome party at the Pasha, Tamil Galatta night, Aishwarya & Danush, Sarika and the entire gang of 600028 along with Lavi and me...
It rocked on and on and the most awesome songs in the world of tamil music were played and played and played till eternity....
I redeemed my dancing status, totally did!!

A New Beginning

2007-08-30T11:45:00.000+05:30

A new beginning was going to start a couple days ago on Avani Attam. Small failures on that day and the day after, but today I think I'm on track.

I've finally decided to move forward, faster and stronger. Leaving everything that hurts, now the focus is work and more of it. Prep needs to be like damn good so that even failure never hurts, used to know what that used to feel like. Working for that feeling once again.

A month more to got till I hot home, so plenty of time to get things back on track. Better now, a lil late, but so much better than never.

Mumbai...

2007-08-28T18:44:00.000+05:30

Mumbai happened for a week for "Corporate Placement Presentations" (as we used to sell it), a practice that has supposedly been followed in IIFT for quite some time.

Interesting events occurred throughout, and the whole exercise was personally a big question mark(?).

But the city totally rocked, a superb place to work in, provided you have the dough of course; but the skyline especially early in the morning and late at night is quite breath taking.

The locals are quite a different experience in itself, my round corners finally came to good use and I literally threw my weight around. A week at home Vs a week in Mumbai, well guess it was gonna be a tough decision either way..Lets see if Mumbai holds the key..[:D]

Back to Delhi..

2007-07-07T11:25:00.000+05:30

Been a week at IIFT now, not all that great as I expected to be. Miss home and L terribly and delhi aint helping that one bit. Emotions running high. Juniors offer a good distraction, and PDP's are going on in full swing. Back home again this week for coach's wedding.
Electives seem to be promising, everything else is so "interesting". GEEP, SSE, IHRM, SCSS, GSBD; five subjects not in even a nearby line with respect to the future..
Waiting for it to get more exciting.. [:D]

What can say!!!

2007-06-18T05:48:00.000+05:30

So waiting for History to repeat itself..The duel today was exhilarating. This has been one of the best seasons yet..

Silver set to rule again

2007-06-17T08:53:00.001+05:30

One of the most exciting weekends ever, a week ago. We were fast and exciting and the race had just about everything. A Champion losing control 4 times and a rookie not making a single mistake. Either way Mercedes was on top and they were unbeatable.
Bloggin this on a Sunday, eagerly awaiting for the next race tonight where Mclaren will reign again, the Champion I hope this time around. This season so proves that its the driver and not the ride that matters and that is jus perfect, almost 10 years after the Flying Finn reigned and bathed in Silver glory. Man, it been that long, a really really long wait..10 years..Patience pays..[:D]..I can never forget getting a kick out of the constant 1-2's of the Silver cars lapping everyone else including 3rd position.

Almost Over..

2007-06-08T15:35:00.000+05:30

The mega UP tour is almost over..Hardoi, Hathras, Chandouli....the list goes on..The long journey is coming to a soft and hopefully fast end..

The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing

2007-04-04T18:53:00.000+05:30

The first few chapters change your perception of Marketing drastically for a person nascent into that field. For a person familiar with the basic marketing functionalities it analyzes and attacks these commonly held practices of marketers. The premise behind this book is that in order for marketing strategies to work, they must be in tune with some quintessential force in the marketplace. Just as the laws of physics define the workings of the universe, so do successful marketing programs conform to the "22 Laws." Each law is presented with illustrations of how it works based on actual companies and their marketing strategies.

In this book, they argue that the market position of a product or service in the perception of the customer is everything, and offer up twenty-two "immutable" laws of marketing that to them demonstrate this fundamental point. Their basic thesis is that "...to cope with the terrifying reality of being alone in the universe, people project themselves on the outside world. They "live" in the arena of books, movies, television, newspapers, and magazines. They "belong" to clubs, organizations, and institutions. These outside representations of the world seem more real than the reality inside their own minds....

People cling firmly to the belief that reality is the world outside of the mind and that the individual is one small speck on a global spaceship.

Actually, it is the opposite. The only reality you can be sure about is in your own perceptions. If the universe exists, it exists inside your own mind and the minds of others. That is the reality that marketing programs must deal with. Most marketing mistakes stem from the assumptions that you are fighting a product battle rooted in reality. All the laws in this book are derived from the exact opposite point of view."

The book challenges almost every major corporation and its decisions with respect to marketing strategies.

The Iron Maiden Concert

2006-09-03T14:52:00.000+05:30

It was a mind blowing experience. It was a semicircular stadium hall, and I was right in the middle with various fellow IIFTians. The rock was way over the decibel limit and it was ear shattering. The band were playing some of their best hits, at least my personal favorites.
Then the stadium started rockin literally and I soon found myself of the floor of Room No:51 thrown off the bed with my friend looking at me in horror.

At that moment my friend was playing "Run to Hills" in full blast and at that moment I knew how real my concert was.
An awesome experience neverthelesses..

All Shook up..

2006-08-05T08:23:00.000+05:30

Well..An Eventful Friday..And the picture signfies a few words, if not a thousand.

Classes..Food..Laptops..Books...

2006-07-31T03:43:00.000+05:30

And much more..Almost to the levels of high academic rigour here...But the fun part is gonna start soon..Everyone's becoming indifferent to the quizzes and tests already.

My thoughts are very disconnected, there is so much to say here.. I am waiting for next week, to see what IIFT truly is, behind the PDP's and more.

If this is what I wanted. Currently a bit of skepticism in every move that is being taken.Well, apprehension is more the word I was looking for.

It feels good sometimes that we're up there..sure hope its a little true..Else the usual continues again and here I come[:D]

PDPzz

2006-07-27T03:36:00.000+05:30

This one was the longest..Yet, I must add.. I am unable to sleep and its almost 4 am..Life's sure has changed since 2 weeks ago. 9 subjects trying to get the better of me.

The day/night is packed. Guys sleep in minutes, and breakfast and lunch is jus almost reaching that chaotic stage..

Looks like Maslow's pyramid has crumbled right onto my head. My needs are a big mess now..

But its good..Well..gettin better..the first party would set things right..

Les Blues falter..

2006-07-10T08:46:00.000+05:30

Never for a minute I thought that Italy would beat France, but I appreciated Italy's first half performance. But after Zizou's horrifying dismissal, I knew France was beaten mentally. Momentum was with Italy, and the blue mountain came down because of a single man's loss of control..

Lets hope they rise again..

An Excellent Display of Tennis

2006-07-09T22:06:00.000+05:30

Its been a while since I watched an entire tennis match, but this one was worth it. Nadal had no chance, but still he is one of the few who can shake the Champ a little bit.

Was worth it, hoped for a fifth set; for tennis' sake.

Another Change..

2006-06-23T03:44:00.000+05:30

Too tough a decision, though people say its a "no-brainer".
But what happens when you get used to a place and then suddenly change hits you..

As always I knew something might hit me like this..Intuition is a great thing (though intuition might not be the correct word); I have never really gone too much by it, but trying to figure it out thesedays to my advantage.

I never did feel or get too comfortable with this place. Dunno why..
This place is excellent; the campus, the faculty, and the best of them all the people..Some real good characters I would have loved to have known better. But it aint gonna happen, and my mind is made up.
The next tough decision has been taken and almost sealed.

A few problems left out here, more than anything the pain of telling my new friends about what's in store.

Let us see how it shapes up, not feeling either too good or too bad right now!

A poem jus for me..

2006-06-16T13:26:00.000+05:30

As I say it..PoeemMM.. here it is..

you said u would call
before the next leaf falls
though there is a lot to tell
there is no telephone bell
waiting for u to get in touch
as to talk thre is much
to call me i beg
cause i miss u too much dear peg!!!

Bangalore Again!!

2006-06-06T01:22:00.000+05:30

Bangalore again was awesome..3 cracking days of total fun..

It had everything..money, style, cops with plenty of thrillers..I guess the little said here is better than nothing..and is is of course more than enough, its enough if the ppl who need to know need to know..right?

Mainly for the record!! [:D]

The Pilgrimage

2006-06-02T16:02:00.000+05:30

This was one journey I guess I would never forget. The right age to visit a place like this my Dad kept saying, and he was right on. The memories that a person gets during these years lives with one forever.

It was an awesome trip, Sabari Malai during the off-season. Two heavily bearded guys scaring the wits out of every train passenger with our crazy financial talk. My dad teaching me Business is funny, I jus keep asking questions so very naive that there sometimes ceases to be an answerable answer.

There you are, the famous 18 steps. Did any of you know that majority of the staircases have 18 steps. I know the answer is just a Google away, but its late and frankly I just don't give a damn. Its interesting. Let's leave it at that.

My Dad right at the top. Imagine these steps being empty; a rare, really rare sight.

And finally the bearded Tamil karan once again-traveling unreserved in the luggage compartment..

A trip I will never forget; plenty of more snaps, but me being Mr.Photogenic, enough is enough for one post.. [:D]

The Two Pills

2006-05-05T17:49:00.000+05:30

As the nonsensical red pill-blue pill bullshit argument, I was in a similar predicament for quite sometime now, say around 2 months. Though the consequences may have of course been different, a pain in the ass the choices were.

Had been longing for choice since January, hell everyone wants a choice. But a difficult choice, I doubt it. Choosing between IIT Delhi and XIMB was such a dilemma. Though for a few this would have been a "no brainer", it was nevertheless a career decision.

A month of trying to find out about both institutes lead me nowhere. It was still a 50-50. I was beginning to wonder that a phase of the year where I should have been at peace was turning out to be a nightmare. There's nothing worse than not knowing what might happen next, but yet knowing it is in your control. But this is what everyone ultimately strives for and accomplishes. But this is my heart speaking out here, not the tiny cerebrum.

My thinking started to make me ponder on if me having the choice in the first place was good at all. Just give me anything, but give me one. All through my life whenever I've had opportunities coming at me they have been in twos. Everything. The list is innumerable.
It would be dry for ever, and suddenly out of the blue two bolts of lightening striking the same dumb ass. All maybe for the good and but I don't wanna belive in all the philosophical crap, except when it is advantageous in any argument of course.

So all my top sources and higher up Managers recommended XIM, but all coaching institutes and students preferred IIT D. My emotions used to run wild. My friends and family got the brunt of it. Wanted to quit work badly, but that's not reason enough to join XIM (since XIM=June, IIT D=July).
The location and cos played a significant role in my final decision ultimately as a few unbiased objective analyses from people in the field pointed towards the Capital.

My choice was clear and was at peace finally. As always "Never get too comfortable" with anything yea? The IIT Delhi waitlist moved only 4. Four!! Could you believe it? That is like unprecedented. Last year it moved till 55. Either this insti is rocketing upwards or plummeting down was the only thought running through my mind.

So I was literally refusing to accept reality and still praying daily for a place at Delhi (Delhi..Did you get that? Not IIT Delhi, was still hoping for IIFT like a brainless idiot in hope-and to think I detest that kind).

Then the day the WL clearence was going to be announced officially the WL had suddenly moved all the way to 30. Jumped from 10 to 30 in a day. I was well placed at 17, a supposed easy walkthrough number.
My first reaction was skeptical, 20 in a day, after It had moved only 4 for the past month?? What the hell? Dal me kuch tho kala hai!!

Then the clarification came in waves from the seniors. They had offered me a course in Telecom Management. I was now rolling in laughter, this is hilarious stuff man. They offered me a course I didn't even apply for. hmm.. And there were seniors asking me to take it up, without a second thought. The problem here was not the course itself; as it turns out it aint too different from their regular program except for a few credits. But what about the "Telecom" tag I repeatedly asked. "What about it? You should be grateful to get into IIT man." That did it.
The course is great but was I willing to go back to a tag on me-"telecom" a field from which I have been running for the past 6 years.

I had finally thought Management was in for me, the domain could be decided later, and then this..

I suddenly realized the choice I had till now had been snatched away. I no more had two institutes at hand, a single lone location stood in front. I don't know whether it was destiny as some morons like to say (I am also in that list sometimes, though no one attacks that line of thought as effectively as I do). Meet the contradiction junta.

As a conclusion would you believe it that when I filled for the XIM application back in December, I knew that I would maybe not perform well enough to get into the elite top 10 and would land up at XIM (this feeling didn't come even when I applied to IIT-D, IIT-Kgp and MICA).

As always I am happy that things don't happen easily. Looking fwd to a different kind of two years finally.

Destiny..What a pile of crap!!

Bangalore and Kumbakonam

2006-04-26T09:27:00.000+05:30

This last week had been really eventful, Thursday and Friday at Bengaluru; Sunday and Monday in and around Kumbakonam with my family.

Missed the first leg of our first ever Semifinal; me being a faithful Gooner. But Arsenal as always comes second in my life, because they perform so much better when I'm with my first choice. [:D]

So met her on Thursday and suthyified like never before. Bengaluru didn't have a hip place that wasn't not touched by us; a lil exaggeration here, but what the hell!!

She showed me her Summers stuff, the Pantaloon biggies. Made me wait too, a full 3 hrs at Big Bazaar; to think that I cannot make her wait even for 5 minutes. If I do, it would turn out into a major fight and I would have to win my girl back for the nth time. No complains there though, winning Lavi back is a pleasure.

Thursday night was at taika, (wish Chennai had a place like this) the place had everything one can want, warm cushioned seats, good music, an excellent menu, a good ‘empty’ dance floor (even blore isn’t hip enough for a Thursday I guess) and the list goes on.

But surprise surprise the place like emptied out completely at 11, except for a few firaangiis.

Friday was a load of shopping along with a movie at PVR. Lavi wanted to see only one of two movies; Ice Age 2 or Zathura. Our last movie was ‘Narnia’, so you can kinda know her tastes in movies. Any movie has to contain cartoon characters that speak and do all other kinds of supposedly “cute” stuff. I can’t complain because I enjoyed every bit of Ice Age 2 myself. A hilarious movie and worth the 300 bucks for two (300 sounds like robbery compared to Satyam here).

I’m leaving a lot of details untold here, but I feel its better that way, a few things should be private yaar.

So came back to Chennai in Satabdi on Saturday morning. Slept through the whole journey and the service man had to wake me up each time for food.

Back in Chennai and was getting ready to leave for Kumbakonam that night; but another appointment came up before that.

An XIMB informal meet at Amethyst. A senior doing his Summers at TCS was present too and there was good insight about the institute. So if I do land up there (which seems highly probable) it won’t be all that bad.

Saturday night from Tambaram reached us early Sunday morning at Mayiladudurai. Kumbakonam was reached by bus from there, it took an hour.

Our plan was the Nine main Navagraha temples. It had been a long time since my family took a trip together. We’ve always had trouble finding time to get away from Chennai for a while. And I too had grown out of my not too mature “don’t wanna be seen with parents-embarrassment” from college (yea it had been around 2 years since we have gone out on a proper vacation). Now I’m cool enough with them. [:P]

So here are the snaps. There are too many details, so I’ll let the snaps speak for themselves. We visited 5 of the nine on the first day and completed the remaining on Monday. We also saw around five extra temples.

Kumbakonam and around is literally filled with temples. Every street has a temple, and not just a small one; each one is humongous.

What drove me this past year?

2006-04-10T16:08:00.000+05:30

Chapter 1: The Training

When I arrived at Infosys, at first I actually really enjoyed myself. A beautiful campus with awesome infrastructure lay in front of me. There was a bit of pride in landing myself here, maybe it was arrogance (A little arrogance is needed in everything I feel).

So many new people, my peers, in the same boat. I had never ever met so many diverse people from so many different states under a single roof. Things started off really well, I had loads of fun. So many firsts’ in my life that week when I joined. My first job, my first search for house to stay in, my first peer competition (engeneering was never about being first, it was just survival), my first rent payment; the list goes on. (Actually I have run out of things here: D)

Training was awesome, I became an instant back bencher, a fully air conditioned classroom with projectors and stuff. My batch was entirely non-Comp sci. So everyone (except few psychos) was new to IT. First week were entirely filled with soft skill trainings. I just love these sessions even though I crib about them along with everyone elseJ.

Our soft skills facilitator was a Mrs. Sushmita Sen (you wish). In such class rooms sessions I completely tranform, and become this highly extroverted character; the very kind of quality I detest in others during technical sessions. The full day sessions filled with interactive small projects and assignments really kept me going. The initial days were great in office, but the evenings became boring and lonely. My parents and Lavi were the only people on my mind. I just couldn’t take anymore of it. I obviously had not made any close enough friends to hangout with yet. And when I start missing people I tend to get into this shell and shun attention towards myself. (A trait I’m hoping to correct this year)

To my luck 2 guys automatically approached me to be their roommates. We in turn got another 3. I was very apprehensive about one character though, he seemed cunning, clever and not to my liking at all. I was again proven that my first instinct about people sucks; this guy is one of my best friends today. So the roomies; Kalyan, Swithin, Sarath, Saurabh, Sajay and I got together in a “great” place called ToliChowki. A three bedroom apartment with two small balconies; the place was great except for the location. Getting food during the initial weeks were a nightmare. There were only fruits and a few small eats from a bakery nearby. Aaahh, the famous dilkush.

If I was suffering, some my non-vegetarian friends were appalled by the lack of “everything” they called food. The only choices were lamb, mutton or beef; all raw. (Listed all 3, as I’m not exactly an expert here, one of these for sure though)

So the group gelled well together. Evenings became much better and my loneliness vanished quickly. Technical training started; and my master plan for CAT 2004 began. Classes, heaps of books, normal study, thirutu study etc. were all doing rounds in my mind. Classes in Infy were from 9 to 12 AM in the mornings. After a “sumptuous” lunch we used to head back to our cubicles to supposedly work on our assignments. I had meanwhile joined IMS Hyderabad, since I had joined IMS back in Chennai just before arriving. Fate it is, that TIME was No: 1, No: 2.etc till infinity in Hyderabad. IMS was virtually non-existent.

The CAT classes were during the weekend, but I was the only one in my batch attending anything close to such coaching. “Believe in yourself even if alone, you can achieve anything”. This is what I had faith in. Considering the mess I made in 2004, I should do some serious re thinking J on this quote.

So I forgo all the wonderful pubs and antiquated locations in Hyderabad for my IMS classes. The instructor was in fact pretty good, but he was deeply pissed in general, as he had been transferred as director Hyderabad from Mumbai as had some trouble with the management there. Hyderabad was like village to him, since TIME had all the numbers.

I incidentally meet another two brilliant minds at IMS, one of them was a Prahlad too. I guess this name sticks to all the right people J. So our classes kept moving on. Exams and tests were a part of the CAT classes as well as in office during training.

Infy exams/tests were objective based. After undergoing the extremely superb training in eliminating choices right from DOTE for Engineering to the various CAT tests, objective tests have always been a breeze. So without much preparation tests in Infy went pretty well.

I cared little about competition at Infy anymore; it was all about the 1.5 Lac people writing on D-day.

Chapter 2: During and after October/November ‘04

So soon it was October and I had got my posting at Chennai; a huge sigh of relief for that again. Apparently they thought that my ECE background with IT was perfect for a Practice Unit in Infy called Product Engineering. Thanks to SVCE for that.

So soon, I was in Chennai; the major blunder I made here were that the months of October and November undid all the CAT preparation from May that year. I got excited easily that I was back home so soon; Hyderabad just felt like a really long field trip. Lacked maturity I guess, I still lack some and I intend to keep it that way. People equate maturity and seriousness these days, and taking too many things too seriously is never going to happen with me.

So this cost me, CAT was a disaster and I the worse part was that I didn’t feel too bad about the whole thing. Soon it started to sink in, that a whole year had gone by. Did I really want to get into a B-school that year, or was I just doing what my friends had done. This was question I had to ask and answer myself. I knew I could be strong in areas of management, as I realized that year during my training in Infy and that I had to get into a job with a profile where strategic decisions needed to be made regularly.

So the introspection started on “why an MBA?” I was 21 and I had done nothing, nothing of what I had dreamt of when in School. I had literally thrown away 4 years of engineering just having fun. My friends had moved on and I was stuck in Infosys doing stuff that I was just interested in as a hobby. I liked IT primarily because of the brainstorming sessions where challenges needed to be addressed regularly. I slowly realized that it was these challenges that I yearned for, and since brainstorming was the only avenue for lateral thinking in IT, I was excited only about it. Getting stuck in a logical problem during coding also intrigued me. I just needed real challenges I felt, where I am accountable for various decisions taken by my team and I.

Chapter 3: The Start for 2005

Meanwhile the MBA hype was going beyond control in the media. I needed to get out of one rat race first; one at a time. So my focus for D-day ’05 stared. Met few people and got some guidance on my future plans, to put in a structure which will be practical yet flexible. So the next goal had been set, I thought. Just get into the top few thousands on Nov 20^th ‘05. It wasn’t that bad, I kept telling myself. Out of 1.5 lacs, a good 50% were just for the heck of it. Another 20% would be like how I was during CAT 2004. So to compete with the top 30%. All these numbers were totally subjective and it was to keep me going, since confidence was at a low during January.

Then, the next big bang. Please report to Bangalore from tomorrow my PM said. “Tomorrow?.. Aarrghh”.

You’ll throw hurdles in my way, ok, ok; do so, let me see how I high I can jump and clear every one of them suckers.

But as usual my excitement almost got the better of me; I was in a way looking forward to Bangalore. I had money and a few friends there. But I didn’t have Lavi with me. Let’s make the maximum use of this even then I thought (fun wiseJ). The first few days showed me to myself, a complete lack of focus while studying. I just couldn’t put myself to the books. The TV, the comp etc. everything won and came first. The month of January ran quickly and I had achieved little.

Soon I was back in Chennai and leading a team of 3. It was good fun, and this was the period I learnt a lot. I completely made a mess of the project, but there were innumerable invaluable lessons. The project was for Finacle and my team was totally out of sync with each other. They had given us 15 days to complete the project, and guess how long it took..just guess..cmon.. May. It took from Feb to May. Hooray to the estimation. I was of course the scapegoat; hell if I were higher up above me I would have too slaughtered the same goat. But I was too young to understand and suffered more. Believe me slogging for something you don’t like makes a person feel really miserable.

Chapter 4: The middle

May suddenly dawned on me. 6 months were gone since I had set my goal; and where was I? I could give myself a big zilch. It was guidance time again, so this time it was TIME (when you keep trying year after year, you would have tried all the coaching institutes). The advice was strong and inspirational and got me going again. I started my classes with renewed vigor. Slowly I made some solid friends. Actually I was helped in forming a study gang with my good old friend from SVCE. Every one of them was performing better in the Aimcats during the period of Jun-July-Aug. This was in a way good for me, I knew by November the “Dark Knight” [:P] would pounce on the cat. Some good motivation from a guy in Mumbai also kept me going. He said the day would come when you would beat one of them, even in verbal. I remember laughing that day about his prediction. Well not anymore J and I’m happy to say that. I did beat them one by one and it gave me that extra surge I needed. (I should also mention here that they still kept beating me regularly, though not too often :D). It was September and all of us were almost in top gear. The pressure was high and good and the tests week in and week out kept us focused.

Chapter 5: Towards D-day and the disaster

Meanwhile the next project had started in office, and it was catching speed. As things always happen, the deadline was November 7^th for my first module and Dec 1^st for the next. The troubles and complexities in the project had just started and we were already in October. The deadline was going to be missed as in every other Finacle project as usual because of the horrifying estimations. My first module got completed just in time and I was saved. But unfortunately or fortunately I had to take leave till the 22^nd of Nov. Let me now come to the 20^th of November. I was all set, the usual pressure was there but I was ready. I have never ever been ready for examination; hence it did feel a little weird. My centre was the Meenakshi College. My Dad dropped me off in the lackluster traffic on a pleasant overcast Sunday morning. Immediately there were plenty of familiar faces. After a little socializing, I was left with my thoughts as I settled in a corner of the college. Soon I was going in full speed from 10 to 12 AM. The paper was different from ’04, but everyone had expected that. So no excuses there. I was indeed confident in the Quant and DI section, but Verbal had totally left me frustrated.

Soon I was out and walking on the Kodambakkam main bridge towards home. A flurry of phone calls poured in from friends and family. I was positive throughout and hoped for the best.

The key was out by evening. It was a disaster, my whole world seemed over. I was felt finished. Verbal had gone entirely negative, and DI was plain slaughter. Quant was pretty good. My friends too had suffered pretty bad blows except a couple of them. I was consoled by my family and Lavi who offered good support from Coimbatore. I was shattered and poured out on the beach in the night alone.

Chapter 6: The others

The next morning I felt like a disappointed child and refused to go to work. Sat at home the whole day, and cribbed. But in the end, I did feel a little better having cried it out. Everyone at home immediately asked “what’s next?” and their attitudes made me feel positive. I started thinking about GMAT and ISB/US (this is the usual shit a person feels after messing up an exam).

I immediately applied to sibm to widen my options. The week then moved on pretty fast with me totally getting involved in work. My new module had started and I had loads to code. Nov 27^th was the entrance to IIFT, and I had lost all hope and seriousness. It was just another exam. So all of us met up at Anna Adarsh and had good fun before, after and of course during the exam.

Exams then kept coming almost every week. I had JMET-for all the IIT’s, SNAP-for sibm. This finished off the year.

New Year was a blast in my friend’s beach house and Lavi had come down to cheer me up. So after some heavy partying it was back to the exams.

I continued working hard with my module throwing all kinds of challenges at me. It was a difficult period and slogging was understood and not questioned. There was no choice.

I was browsing through the time website sometime during the first week of the New Year, when I saw a link for IIFT come up. I was initially a little confused. But it was the result for the exam held in November. I checked it first, and got the expected answer from the server. “Sorry, but you have not been selected”.

I called up Satheesh and told him to check. He called back soon to inform me of bad news from his side too. This was pretty shattering even if we weren’t expecting a call. Satheesh then called me again after a few minutes to tell me that maybe we got our roll numbers wrong. We had initially checked the result with our log-in ID’s not the hall ticket roll number. So I got the number asap and checked it.

The emotions that ran through me were indescribable. I had gotten through the first stage. So had Satheesh. This roller coaster of emotions in 10 mins is something that I would never ever forget my entire life. It was failure at first, and then suddenly success smiling right at me. There were no words.

At least now I could forgive myself for the debacle on Nov 20^th. I had no reason to crib anymore, I had gotten a call, and even if were to remain only one, that would have be enough. A year’s effort at least didn’t go in vain.

It all started happening. The IIT’s released their ranking. I was 213 and was sure to get a call from IIT B, D and Kgp. Four calls, it felt like heaven compared to the shit I went through only months ago.

Meanwhile XAT came along with two exams for FMS. After a year of studies along with incessant talk about CAT I was free from the exam. A new test lay ahead; my strong point-Communication.

Contd:

This is till all my written exams neared completion. The roller coaster ride continues. This is as much as I can write in a day, so the second part will continue soon.

To Kill a Mocking Bird - Part I

2006-04-05T17:41:00.000+05:30

100 pages of the e book over. It's killing me, slow and dragging. Was fun for a while, me along the countryside, shooting birds and tin cans. But let me see wher it takes me; hope it doesn't end up killing something else. [:D]

Light

2006-04-04T16:05:00.000+05:30

Typing away to glory,
killing time like no other;
When will the monitor burn out,
bringing in a new lease of shout.

A chance to move on forward,
the once in a lifetime;
Will it bring new avenues and hope,
if within my scope.

But what is, is it money,
is it power or just plain love?
Maybe I don't know yet,
deep inside everything's still a sweat.

Lets hope the fire burns forever,
I have good support now for long;
Its all again a perception,
but alas may it not be a deception.

Its ultimately in one's thought,
one's destiny, but let me twist it;
Structure it I will,
till a pill golden stands still.

Starting something New

2006-03-28T09:39:00.000+05:30

So here I am on sitting on a eventful and a joyful 23 years. Time to move on finally. It is an irony that my resignation has got postponed to the exact same date as my birthday; but I can live with that. Lavi kept telling me that people start new journeys on their birthdays. I convinced her that my new venture into the world is starting and it's starting because my "era" at Infy is coming to an end. The end is starting on this very day officially.

I have finally sent the letter, it looks smooth and crisp with lotsa professionalism in it; well I atleast I feel so. Till I sent that mail to my PM I had been restless. Let me see how I feel in the coming days. I am going to leave some good friends back here; but I glad this change is coming along.

There will a few things I would miss at Infy; the luxury of having 5 different newspapers to read, reading rooms, super fast computers, the very good Amul food parlor, the coding of course, brainstorming sessions and many many more.

There are also a lot of things I wont miss and I'm damn happy about that.

I am a little nervous now as usual (though as usual I don't show it to anyone). Let the negotiation of my relieving date at Infosys begin.

As usual people here are trying to make it hard for me, but the harder they push the stronger I'm sure I'll become.

I hope I wont be a fucked up manager; I'll make things tough for people for sure but in best interests. I'm glad my work ex has made me interact with some pretty
crazy managers; I'll handle people better for sure.

Yeaaaaa!!!!

An Eventful Sunday

2006-03-27T09:34:00.000+05:30

Yesterday evening was packed with different emotions. It started with an awesome surprise. I was given a very warm surprise b'day party from my dear friends; Anupam, Nisha, Satheesh and Vineet. It was ploy well worked by Satheesh, who coaxed me into it by telling me to come over to Coffee Day to help him for “personal reason” (in detail on this reason soon). The venue got changed to Marrybrown in the due time due to some “logistics” problem. The venue didn’t matter to me, so off I came to MB (late as usual) and Satheesh was waiting outside. He had been calling me every 10 mins and telling me to come over quick.

So in we went, and took a couple of seats, and guess who walks in; the full gang with a huge chocolate cake. I don’t know if anyone has ever thrown me a surprise like this one before, but trust me, it felt good. As you can see from the picture, “the icing on the cake was just perfect” :D

There was gift box; nicely wrapped up which was bigger than the cake. We all enjoyed the cake first, and I moved on to the gift. And lo, it was an original Arsenal cap. Buddies, buddies; thanks a lot, anything Arsenal totally wins me over.

The cap fitted well and was baseball style; grey in color, the red Arsenal logo with a tribute to Highbury. “Perfect”, I said.

So after a couple of intoxicating lemon ice teas (this too is LIT) and some burgers we left for the beach.

Soon I was flying off my bike; due to a misunderstanding between Satheesh and me, our bikes almost hit each other and I skidded and slid away.

I was a little dazed and bruised but nothing too bad. There was blood all over but strangely no pain. I guess you never feel pain when it really hurts too much beyond a point. Everything just goes numb. So picked myself up and washed the wound up (anupam meanwhile had got some stuff from the medic).

My poor bike was contorted pretty badly. I had to adjust the front guard to make it mobile again. I also tried to adjust the rearview mirror back in place, only for it to come off in my hand. Hmmpphh..

So I told my friends to go onto the beach and headed home. My Dad was indifferent and that was in fact reassuring. He helped me clean it up and told me move on. So I picked up the broken pieces and got ready. I treated myself to a brand new T-shirt my parents had got the day before and headed to the beach.

Reached my friends soon; and had a good evening out in the beach. Chatted along with some drags; talked about life, MBA, and life again.

I forgot to mention that I fell right in front of a temple, and thought I should go to one in the evening. But it was too late, 9 PM came too soon. But I was able to go to the temple in the morning today right before catching my bus :D.

All this in a day in which I was able to catch up “Age of Empires”, “Red Alert 2 ”, “Sega Rally 2” and a movie “The Fog” at home.

Bye bye "Son of Moto"

2006-03-25T22:15:00.000+05:30

I've finally moved on, so thought I'll have a fresh template for my blog. This is the best I could find. I like the different colors all complementing each other in this template.

The Moto era is over!

A Political View

2006-03-23T09:46:00.000+05:30

This is the political quiz that is getting pretty famous across bloggers. Gives you a decent idea of the kind of person you are, after filling up a question of popular and controversial issues.

As usual I stand alone in the IV Quadrant.

Crashed!!

2006-03-20T16:54:00.000+05:30

Crash was different, and I like different. I don't know whether it is Oscar material, but I doubt if anyone does know what that "Oscar material" exactly means.

It was movie that put people in difficult situations where they need to take decisions that could alter people's and their own lives. For this single reason I appreciated it. Overall a low budget and simple movie that raised a lot of eyebrows on why it did get an Oscar. But it is fine with as long as they don't end up giving it to some godforsaken piece of film.

One more thing I was happy about was that it actually did not have a sad ending. The last thing I needed yesterday after a good day's fun was something to mess it up. I wasn't in the "appreciate a movie for what is portraied" mood, hence the movie was perfect. Simple & elegant, with good twists.

Working from MCity

2006-03-16T16:13:00.000+05:30

Some pictures of my new workplace. Its coming up really big, New Chennai!!

In Front of Bldg 1:

Food Court:

Bldg 1:

Lets see how long this lasts :)

In Waiting

2006-03-13T09:36:00.000+05:30

Its been a year since my crusade started. Now I have to play the waiting game. It's funny, I am finally lost for what needs to be done in the short term. I hope time just flies by.

Setback

2006-03-03T09:11:00.000+05:30

After my previous post "the only form of revenge is success"; the first step has been a small failure (I'm being modest here). Lets us see how this setback shapes up.
I am pretty disappointed, but things have gone so very wrong these past couple of weeks that I guess I am prepared for anything these days, or atleast I keep telling myself that I am prepared.

My Future..

2006-02-21T13:02:00.000+05:30

"The only form of revenge is success!!"

Saturday at Work..

2006-02-19T16:05:00.000+05:30

Yesterday was a perfect Saturday at work..
I was asked to come and do some testing on Friday, I said "I'll see, if I'm not occupied with better things to do, I might turn up at work.."(not exaclty what I said to my PM, but something similar :))

I turned up at 11:30 AM, started my testing half an hour later, soon my the first bug showed up--solved it asap, and uploaded the code. I let my program run, and went on to play pool.

I had been a fanatic player of snooker/pool during my school days, and in college it was intermittent, but for the past year and a half, I hadn't touched a cue stick. My project mate and I, both of us started the game. I was a little nervous and definitely didn't want to make a fool of myself (always been cool next to pool table, had to maintain it).

My friend took the break, didn't pot any, so I took aim and WHAM!! My first pot in over a year; man that felt good. Brimming with confidence now, I continued the game. After both us exchanged a few shots, I was soon staring at the black ball aiming for top right. I put it in calm and steady, and viola!! I had won; winning does feel good. Then we continued for 2 more games, I won the first one and lost the second (though I was there till the end).

Good, now what next we both pondered. My friend said FC, while I said Gym. Ok then gym it is we decided. Worked out for around 45 mins(mainly to get into shape for the mini marathon coming in 2 weeks). After a good sweaty workout, had a good relaxing steam bath. When I was alone with the mist, I was wondering, this Saturday has been pretty good compared to the one's I've had over the past few months(all cramming up). Can it get better??

Sure, when you're having fun, you always tend to do more, so to the FC we went and had a well deserved "Orange Punch" and a mini-pizza. (workout might have gone down in the drain, but nevertheless..)

On the way back, we found the TT table to be empty, bought a new ball and started playing. TT is good fun in short spells, so we both a ball. Both of us horribly out of touch, hit fours and sixes continuously. We had just registered for a doubles inter-department TT competition and we were supposed to be practicing, though this was anything but that.

Soon it was 4 pm and we rushed back to our cubes. My friend left for the day in the infy bus, and I loitered around with my newspaper and soon left too.

It was a good day overall, considering my past Saturdays this was a screamer. Been a long time since I had good fun which didn't include partying in the night with lavi.(which comes first and is the best, as always :)).

Cheers!!

Haze over Infy

2006-02-08T09:26:00.000+05:30

Normal day, early rise; on the the way to work as usual on the morning of FEB 6th..
But ECR was amazing, fully covered with a light (yet heavy in a way) haze or fog as you may call it..

At work it was even better, technogeeks walking about in conditions surreal to chennai.

Here are a few glimses

INFOSYS Chennai Shols - Today @ 8.00AM

Near Food Court

Near FOOD COURT

Building 5

Building 1

Infront of Building 5

Near Building 7

The National Anthem

2006-01-26T20:50:00.000+05:30

What does are national anthem signify? History? Progress? Glory? Pride?..Well the list goes on...
It means different things to different people. For many of us it signifies our independence, a reminder of our difficult history. Today's Republic day parade was also a statement to the world and to every Indian, that we are indeed coming up economically and socially.
Coming back to the National Anthem; I sometimes wonder, why don't we celebrate it. It is always sung at the end of any event, not at the beginning. People leave the hall silently after it has been sung. There is no sense of mass celebration, "clapping of hands" for example. Why is it so? The reason surely can't be that we have always had it this way for the past 50 years.
Personally I feel it should be celebrated, and sung at the beginning of any event. It should instill that sense of pride in every Indian before starting any new activity.

As always, this is highly debatable because the National Anthem means different things to different people, but as a whole it does make every Indian feel more Indian when he/she listens to it or sings it.

India has one of the largest pool of talented manpower, but few innovations and patented products

2006-01-16T09:45:00.000+05:30

India does indeed have a large and a talented workforce. The question here is; are we harnessing it properly enough. Are we getting the best out of them?
The Indian education system is a gigantic machine churning out millions of capable students year after year. Some might say that a majority of them are not employable because of lack of proper training and exposure; but the core issue here is different.

The main reason for the lack of innovations and patented products is because of the lack of a comprehensive and independent patenting body. There should definitely be present in the system an unprejudiced body that can arbitrate over product patents of different companies across varied sectors. Once this body is in place, MNC's and home grown domestic companies will start setting up R&D facilities in India. R&D facilities are the basic requirement to foster innovation and thus create new products and patents. India's large pool can easily be tapped when such measures are taken by the Government.

The next reason that could lead to this dearth of innovations could be the issue of brain drain. Over the past decade a multitude of students have been leaving abroad to pursue their higher education. They get their graduation done in a decent enough college in India, and go on to specialize in US and across Europe. Though they might in the future contribute to the growth of India's economy, it will definitely be lesser in amount than their contribution if they had stayed at home.

This again leads to my core point that if we have enough R&D facilities in India, then students will automatically stay back in India to finish their studies.
Every student looks for challenges, and if India is able to provide the same over time, brain drain will be a no drainer.

Let us take the example of Pharma. Pharma is budding industry with plenty of new products getting pushed into the market regularly. There is heavy competition and if a company is able to come up with a successful drug, then the profits are limitless. There are major players in the Indian industry who compete globally. But due to the lack of a proper patenting system, each company is vulnerable to copied versions of their drugs. The issue inevitably goes to court and becomes a huge mess.

Finally, I would like to conclude and reiterate my point for an individual body to overlook the entire patenting process. This can be brought about by a consensus among the various major players in the industry in collaboration with the Government.

Your Life, Rated

2006-01-06T12:17:00.000+05:30

This Is My Life, Rated
Life:	6.6
Mind:	5.7
Body:	5.9
Spirit:	7.1
Friends/Family:	5.3
Love:	7.7
Finance:	6.2
Take the Rate My Life Quiz

My Life Rated, put into a mere chart..
Try it out..

Sting Journalism

2006-01-05T09:02:00.000+05:30

This is an opinion on the article "Stop sting journalism, now!" by Arvind Lavakare.

According the author and plenty of other people, sting operations by journalists and normal people are immoral and unethical. Hence this should be restricted to one particular body of the government. This is the way it is handled in the US; where only the FBI has the right to perform sting operations, that too under strict supervision.

The first flaw in his argument is the comparison of Sting operations in India and the US. The US
Our system is definitely more corrupt and the only way people are going to be shown the truth behind a Politician's or an Official's image is through these sting operations that are cropping up all over the place.
I accept that if Sting operations go out of hand; i.e. if Security related or Sensitive issues get out in the open, then there could be chaos and turmoil all around. Even the Media can manipulate pictures and videos in order to increase their coverage and viewer ship.

My solution:
What is required is an individual Commission that particularly looks into Corruption charges that consist of visual images. This will help create an unprejudiced arbitrator that can decide the legitimacy of certain pictures and videos.

This Commission should also be given the power to discipline media bodies abusing information and data that could be detrimental to National interest.

As in every country, there will be sensitive information that if leaked could spark widespread public hate towards the policies of the Government. Everything cannot be done legally, hence it is better that such information is withheld from the public for the better common good.

Straight from the gut : Analysis

2005-12-30T16:09:00.000+05:30

An excellent book. I had posted earlier about how GE the company was taking the drastic changes "inflicted" by JW.
I sometimes feel he was lucky; Six Sigma, e-Business, Globalization all worked for him. GE set the standards. I was inspired enough to start dreaming about working for GE; well, let us see, if I feel it is good enough :-).
Passion is the key word here, plenty of it in his book. The book screams at you to take control of your life. Be a balanced extrovert at all times, seize every opportunity, climb every wall and never hesitate to Fire.
As he fittingly says "If you don't take control of your life's destiny, someone else will" (or some similar quote, I don’t remember the exact words)
Maybe his policies of fire the bottom 10% is not practiced heavily all around, but it worked wonders at GE, and look at them now. They have their hands into everything, and its not peripheral, it goes deep.
GE Capital is the paragon of JW's and GE's core ideology. It's still a little small in India but let us see.
GE was one of the first companies to practice - "Move Businesses to places where they are executed the best". Example: Software is outsourced to India, because of India's growing expertise and cheap labor. Globalization is continuously happening all around us.

"Fire the bottom 10%" - This is never gonna happen in my company for sure. Worst case, they get a CRR 4. Masti karo, enjoy and then move on; not in GE my dear.

"If you don't take control of your life's destiny, someone else will" - Very apt in India's scenario. Clever management can get any person a foothold of the situation and exploit it to one's benefit. I'm not saying its wrong, nothing is (except when it happens to you).
I've seen plenty of examples in My IT Company. I feel like helping them sometimes, not at my own expense. A little selfish maybe, but in Infy, I think it is a must sometimes.

"Boundaryless" - Pretty well practiced in Infy too. I'm going to carry this with me forever. No hierarchy, everyone is equal when at the table. And never expect the table to perform and stop blaming it. It's the people around it, who need to come to a consensus.

"What has the Company done for me?" - This is pretty often asked by millions of the working class. Hell, even I used to crib about with the same statement. Not after I've read this book. "What have I done for the Company?" comes first. It will treat you with the same respect, which you treat it with. This is why I am taking Infy's blows at me currently, silently, but remembering every moment of it.

"E-Business" - E-Business is big now. I read about ING-Vysya today, on how there using blogs to promote their insurance work. This is a first, I thought: but there have plenty of the same. Everything is online these days; the debate "Is the Computer a necessary evil?" is dead.

"Globalization”: I'm including this because of the book that I’m reading currently - "The World is Flat". Imagine a world without boundaries, no barriers to information or data. Actually, one needn't imagine anymore, the globalized world is already here. I'm not going to talk about the flip side of globalization here; lets keep it positive today. Cheers to limitless FDI flowing into India.

So much more to say, will write as it flows through my keyborad.....

Working Late

2005-12-29T12:12:00.000+05:30

My team has been up for almost the entire week.
Long coffee breaks and dosas over the night till 2 AM.
Cribbing abt our client waiting for the long process of checking in the source..
Our team has sure got closer....

The Education System in India

2005-12-15T01:20:00.000+05:30

Our education system is a gigantic conglomeration which educates millions of students daily. Various aspirations of different students are met through our expansive examination oriented routine. This essay is going to discuss the different opinions that are running through my head, fighting over one another to gain precedence.

The way education is practiced in India has many critics. There are also an equal number of proponents to the same. It depends on which facet of education you look at. Currently with India's mass I don't think there could be any other viable solution other than making the system examination oriented. Good Institutions would definitely like the best students and the only fair way they are going to get them in our country are through exams.

Take government Institutions for example; currently they are tackling this issue with the help of reservation. Many backward class people have gotten into good places of study with the help of reservation. I am not a proponent of reservation, since I have on occasions been on the receiving end, but I also have no right to be a critic, since reservation has indeed in a certain ways helped many people.

Now moving on to Private Institutions. These are heavily examination oriented (atleast the majority of them) and supposedly filter out the lower aptitude students through their exams (lower aptitude on that particular day of course :) ). Unless forced by the government these Institutions do not practice reservation. They are mainly money making ventures and the only way they are going to get the best students are through the various exams and aptitude tests.

If our education system is not the solution, then whom do we follow?
Let us ideally take the US for example here. Their neighborhood schooling system is the pride of their nation. Their Universities are world class and are the best in the world. India ideally could adopt such a system, but is it viable?? For a mass so great I do not think this is an easy task. It requires a lot of ground work and implementation of the same. The greatest factor here is time. We are going to need a lot of it, along with patience and perseverance.

Considering our huge pool of students, we must come up with a unique system which combines the examination oriented approach along with the neighborhood schooling and University approach.; thus preventing brain drain.

I have only addressed a small aspect of our education system, looking at it from a highly the Macro level. Going deeper there are so many issues that need resolution, through effective debate continued with action.

My opinion on Manju

2005-12-07T14:20:00.000+05:30

What happened was definitely sad; this is the second time that an incident like this has got widespread media response.
It is absolutely true that the incidents of murders of Manjunath (Indian oil) and Satyendra Dubey (Golden Quad) have created so much noise because they are from the IIT's and the IIM's. Incidents like this do not occur often, when educated people are brutally murdered for believing in what they thought was right.

Opinion 1:
This is similar to BW's case study. We must definitely make a big deal out of this situation and bring awareness among people by bringing to light the atrocities that go on; either in secret or out in the open as in this case.
We should not just be sorry about the situation and the state of affairs in India, and give the naive "Time will heal us" bullshit. It is high time that we woke up to reality and act, instead of think.
As BW says, Indians are great thinkers, but a very few of them have the courage or the determination to act. "They have thought of the idea right?, it's for the Government to implement it now". Like that is going to happen!!
This endless cycle of shifting blame onto the Government should stop. We need to facilitate the country in helping find criminals of the system.
The problem of course occurs when the system itself has an ugly side to it. Though I do not have a concrete solution for this now, I'm hoping it will surface soon.

Opinion 2:
Is this the first time that injustice like this has been meted out. Definitely not, this has been going on for a long time. This time it's an IIM grad, next time it could just be a poor villager. The poor villager incident will never get the recognition even remotely similar to this, even with the media knowing about the same. Why? Because that doesn't sell, murder of an IIM grad, oh hell yea, there is so much noise, people in anguish everywhere on how such incidents occur to the "upper class".
What needs to be changed is our mindset, we are all the same, let it be an IIT/IIM or a remote college form any village.

Reading...

2005-12-05T09:12:00.000+05:30

I've found a new love in my life, and surprise of surprises it's reading.. I've never been the avid reader, swallowing book after book, in a never ending quest for knowledge or let's say entertainment. I more been the TV guy; if my communication is any good, it's because of the myriad of movies that I have watched during my high school and college.
I used to be a solid movie buff, with latest updates on any English movie, let it be action, sci-fi, comedy or romance.
A break from this routine started when I joined infy. I tried to carry and continue my movie routine into the company. Used to stay late in my cubicle and watch movies incessantly. But it was slowly fading. By the end of 2004, it was completely phased out. I had no new updates on any of the latest movies, let alone watch them.
After an unsuccessful swing at both CAT and GRE, I got back to my "workaholic" ways.

Jun 2005 :
Life moved on, with me waiting impatiently for the future to unfold. I new this year was going to make or break it all. And I was determined for it to be the former.
I had a set of interesting friends during my affair with CAT 2005. These guys helped me realize that life is more than just an exam, it's about taking your chances well; and not to get too disappointed when you miss with a big or a small swing.

We used to spend time at Anupam's place, whether we used to study or not, our endless MBA jargon used to keep flowing to make us feel better and to instill some confidence into the hearts for a few of us. (who would have of course flopped the aimcat during the past week)

I've totally veered away from my topic, wanted to make my previous para a separate post, but just couldn't stop.

As for books, I came across a wide variety of books at Anupam's place. I always had an inner voice telling me to go ahead and give priority to reading, but I never took a single step towards it.
Newspapers and magazines were ok, I used to read them a lot; but books which take you into the author's world, seldom.

I borrowed two books from Anupam's that day; "The future of Capitalism" and "Catch 22". I started with Catch 22, grappled through a few pages and ditched it.
Too "whatever" for a start after a long hiatus.
My other friend Satheesh suggested "The Alchemist", a short 200 page book with a good easy to read print. He warned me though about it being a little heavy.
"Perfect!", I told myself.
By this time, I was literally going mad, because my inner voice was screaming, urging me to start with a book asap.

When my friend suggested the Alchemist, I had decided that I would get it from Odyssey in the evening.
By evening, the Chennai showers has started. It was raining elephants and hippopotamuses.
I wasn't goona be shaken by a few drops; I battered along and reached Odyssey on foot. Got the book and headed home.

After dinner, I stared on the book, it was interesting in a way, totally abstract, yet making sense somewhere inside me. I finished the book in about 3-4 days; not bad for starter I thought. I felt refreshed, doing something else other than studying for CAT or sitting in my cubicle, getting wasted away.

Coincidently my Dad got "The Monk who sold his Ferrari" on the same day. My dad had not bought a book for a long time, as far as I can remember. He always used his office library.

This was a sure sign, I was on my way, into this new world. It seemed exciting and surreal.

More books followed; I'm currently reading Jack Welch's Straight from the gut, and boy I have a lot to say about this book. It will be in a separate post I guess.

As for this one, I'm finishing off this one by hoping that this new love would continue forever as my other love, in my life.

Do you sudoku?

2005-12-03T16:30:00.000+05:30

The business of brain teasers

May 21st 2005
From The Economist print edition

A puzzling global phenomenon

TO ITS fans, it is addictive. To the media, it is a promising money-maker. Sudoku, an old puzzle long popular in Japan is fast gaining popularity the world over. In Britain, a sudoku book is a bestseller and national newspapers are competing feverishly to publish the most, and the most fiendish, puzzles. (Last week the Guardian printed a board on every page of one day's features section.) Meanwhile, the puzzle is being published in newspapers from Australia to Croatia to America. The Japanese buy more than 600,000 sudoku magazines a month. Even the New York Times is considering introducing sudoku in its Sunday magazine, alongside its venerated crossword.

The game's appeal is that its rules are as simple as its solution is complex. On a board of nine-by-nine squares, most of them empty, players must fill in each square with a number so that each row (left to right), column (top to bottom) and block (in bold lines) contains 1 to 9. (A sample accompanies this article; the solution appears here.) Advanced versions use bigger boards or add letters from the alphabet.

Sudoku—the Japanese word combines “number” and “single”—seems perfectly suited to modern times, a puzzle for an era when people are more numerate than literate. And like globalism itself, sudoku transcends borders by requiring no translation.

The overall business of puzzles is hard to measure, but revenues in America from magazines, syndicated newspaper sales, books, and online and phone services are almost $200m annually. The New York Times earns millions of dollars a year from its crosswords and hundreds of thousands from a special phone service that provides hints. Over 30,000 people pay $35 a year for the newspaper's e-mail version, says Will Shortz, the crossword-puzzle editor.

For now, sudoku revenues are more modest. The person who supplies most western papers with the puzzle—Wayne Gould, a retired Hong Kong judge—does so for nothing, to promote sales of the sudoku software he developed, initially for fun. He says that if trends continue he may earn $1m this year from software sales and book royalties. Michael Harvey, features editor of the Times of London, which first published the puzzle in November, thereby setting off Britain's sudoku craze, claims that the grids have brought many new readers to the paper.

Puzzles have long been popular. A word square dates from 1st-century Pompeii. The crossword puzzle was launched in the New York World in 1913. After a compilation appeared in 1924—the first book by Simon & Schuster—the genre exploded. It is now a daily staple for millions of people worldwide.

Will sudoku, whose origins lie in an 18th-century Swiss mathematician's game called “Latin squares”, follow suit? Might it even prove to be the disruptive technology that kills the crossword? In the battle between left-brain and right-brain people for puzzle primacy, crossword aficionados defend their squares, noting that word puzzles offer more variety of themes, sizes and skill levels. “It is not obvious how you can vary the [sudoku] puzzle to make it more interesting”, says Mr Shortz. “It is what it is”.

How to Make a Fork and Spoon Appear to Defy Gravity

2005-12-01T17:15:00.000+05:30

This is a basic trick that enables you to defy the laws of physics--or at least fool others into thinking so. You can take common dinner utensils and make them appear to hover in space on the edge of a glass.

Steps

Gather a glass has at least some mass to it, especially if it has a wide mouth with a tapered bottom. Fill it at least half full of liquid since the entire weight of the silverware will be supported on one single point on the outside edge of the glass.
Overlapping first and last tines
Take the fork and spoon and "hook" them together using the first and last tines of the fork overlapping the spoon. The handle ends both need to be pointed in the same direction, making a very crude boomerang shape with the two together.
Place the toothpick in between the tines at the center of the apparatus (basically, stick the toothpick in the centermost position while it is still touching the spoon). Leave as much toothpick sticking towards the center of the "boomerang" shape as possible.
Take the whole kit and (here comes the tricky part) balance the toothpick (the toothpick will be horizontal, mind you) on the edge of the glass with the two handle ends pointing back towards the glass.
Make it balance by moving the toothpick from side to side as well as closer to and farther away from the glass.
Consider burning the ends of the toothpick off after you have balanced everything. Then sit back and collect your bets.

Tips

The toughest part of the trick is getting the balancing done. Some forks and spoons do not want to cooperate, so try it at home with your own silverware or do it at a restaurant you visit often to see if theirs will work as well.
You can set fire to both ends of the toothpick after you've balanced them and they will burn up right to the point where they're touching the glass and the silverware to really drive home the fact that it looks really really cool just hanging there in mid-air.
A square body toothpick is superior to a round one for this trick, as the round one has a tendency to roll a lot when you're trying to balance the apparatus.

Things You'll Need

description

1 Spoon
1 Fork
1 Toothpick
1 Drinking glass (or sturdy cup)

Jack Welch's Straight from the gut

2005-11-30T10:08:00.000+05:30

I'm around a little less than halfway through this book. Around the part were he is criticized heavily for his changes at GE. He is firing people left-right and center, and removing all unproductive businesses from the company.
I'm too a bit skeptical at this stage of the book, since working in Infosys has led me to believe that the Job Security given by a company to its employees is one of the primary reasons for a company doing well.
But Welch staunchly opposes this and iterates the fact that any such company is bound to fail.

It is an interesting book, and i recommend people to read it,esp people who think life is going be in a platter laid out for them..

SOX

2005-11-29T16:43:00.000+05:30

A price worth paying?

May 21st 2005
From The Economist print edition

America's response to Enron and other scandals was the Sarbanes-Oxley law. It is costing plenty—but is it working?

THE Sarbanes-Oxley statute, which the United States enacted in an atmosphere of extraordinary agitation in 2002, is one of the most influential—and controversial—pieces of corporate legislation ever to have hit a statute book. Its original aim, on the face of it, was modest: to improve the accountability of managers to shareholders, and hence to calm the raging crisis of confidence in American capitalism aroused by the scandals at Enron, WorldCom and other companies. The law's methods, however, were anything but modest, and its implications, for good or ill, are going to be far-reaching.

Since the new accounting rules and regulatory infrastructure that goes with them are still bedding in, it is too soon for a definitive judgment. (That time may never come, in fact: academics are still arguing about the pros and cons of the Glass-Steagall act of 1933, a similarly momentous initiative.) It is early days for academic appraisals, but the ones that have been ventured so far tend to the view that costs will exceed benefits. Meanwhile, many of America's businessmen are deeply unhappy, and with reason: the initial costs of the new law have been bigger than expected. And it can be argued that, when it comes to repairing American corporate governance, the law anyway addresses symptoms more than causes.

With time, no doubt, the law's balance of costs and benefits will improve significantly: some of the costs have been once-and-for-all. Right now, though, the balance looks pretty unfavourable.

Alan Greenspan, chairman of the Federal Reserve, spoke up in defence of the statute this week. It was faint praise. He said he was surprised that a law which had been passed so rapidly had worked as well as it has—less of an endorsement than it first seemed, since laws dealing with issues as complex as these and passed as “rapidly” as was Sarbanes-Oxley can normally be expected to fail abjectly.

Mr Greenspan also noted that the law will be fine-tuned as experience accumulates. Quite so. Next day, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), along with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB, created by the law), told accountants that they were being too inflexible, “overly cautious” and “mechanical” in interpreting the statute. They called for the exercise of greater discretion—something which, three years ago, the architects of the statute had seemed to frown on. Whether good or bad, therefore, SOX, as it has become known, is by no means as yet a settled regime, but a work in progress.

Its initial provisions are wide-ranging. As well as establishing the accounting-oversight board, the statute prohibits audit firms from doing a variety of non-audit work for their clients (in order to address some obvious conflicts of interest). It requires companies to establish independent audit committees. It forbids company loans to company executives. It calls on top executives to certify company accounts. And it extends protection for whistleblowers: no company may “discharge, demote, suspend, threaten, harass, or in any other manner discriminate against an employee” because of any lawful provision of information about suspected fraud. (Tip-offs from insiders are by far the most common method of detecting fraud.)

The law's most complained-of provision, however, is its section 404. This makes managers responsible for maintaining an “adequate internal control structure and procedures for financial reporting”; and demands that companies' auditors “attest” to the management's assessment of these controls and disclose any “material weaknesses”. Draconian new criminal penalties await transgressors.

A Master....

2005-11-29T10:28:00.000+05:30

You are a MASTER of the English language!

Huzzah. While your English is not exactly
perfect, you are still more grammatically sound than people in the US
Still, there is always
room for improvement...

How grammatically correct are you? (Revised with answer key)
brought to you by Quizilla

How many people die each year worldwide?

2005-11-28T17:40:00.000+05:30

Some useful, uselessinformation and Data...

According to the CIA World Factbook, as of July, 2005, there were approximately 6,446,131,400 people on the planet, and the death rate was approximately 8.78 deaths per 1,000 people a year. According to our nifty desktop calculator, that works out to roughly 56,597,034 people leaving us every year. That's about a 155,000 a day.

Still, more people are being born than dying. The population growth rate is hovering around 1.14%, which doesn't seem like much, but last year that was (back to the calculator!) 73,485,898 more mouths to feed. As the Factbook succinctly puts it: "For the 21st century, the continued exponential growth in science and technology raises both hopes (e.g., advances in medicine) and fears (e.g., development of even more lethal weapons of war)."

The legal information resource ItsMyLife.com offers some interesting mortality statistics for the United States. Of the 2,400,000-plus Americans who die each year, over 45,000 are killed in transport accidents. The number of homicides, poisonings, and drunk driving fatalities are roughly the same, at around 17,000 each. Perhaps more surprisingly, a stunning 178,000 Americans die from medical or hospital error every year.

For more details, the National Center for Health Statistics offers a free report. The United Nations also offers a 2005 World Health Report. One of its key findings: this year almost 11 million children under the age of five will die from a preventable disease

Collection of quotations

2005-11-28T16:32:00.000+05:30

In mathematics you don't understand things. You just get used to them.
- Johann von Neumann

"When you encounter seemingly good advice that contradicts other seemingly good advice, ignore them both."
- Al Franken

When a man tells you that he got rich through hard work, ask him: 'Whose?'
- Don Marquis

Stoop and you'll be stepped on; stand tall and you'll be shot at.
- Carlos A. Urbizo

A casual stroll through the lunatic asylum shows that faith does not prove anything.

Insanity in individuals is something rare -- but in groups, parties, nations, and epochs it is the rule.

Consumer Power..

2005-11-28T11:35:00.000+05:30

A very interesting article that gives an insight on the power of the internet..

Power at last

From The Economist

Armed with the internet, the customer has finally got on top

“WHEN a customer enters my store, forget me. He is king,” decreed John Wanamaker, who in 1876 turned an abandoned railway depot in Philadelphia into one of the world's first department stores. This revolutionary concept changed the face of retailing and led to the development of advertising and marketing as we know it today.

But compelling as that slogan was, in truth the shopper was cheated of the crown. Although manufacturing efficiency boosted the variety of goods and lowered prices, advertising provided most information about products. Through much of the past century, ads spoke to a captive audience confined to just a few radio or television channels or a limited number of publications. Now media choice has exploded too, and consumers select what they want from a far greater variety of sources—especially with a few clicks of a computer mouse. Thanks to the internet, the consumer is finally seizing power.

As our survey in this issue shows, consumer power has profound implications for companies, because it is changing the way the world shops. Many firms already claim to be “customer-driven” or “consumer-centric”. Now their claims will be tested as never before. Trading on shoppers' ignorance will no longer be possible: people will know—and soon tell others, even those without the internet—that prices in the next town are cheaper or that certain goods are inferior. The internet is working wonders in raising standards. Good and honest firms should benefit most.

But it is also intensifying competition. Today, window shopping takes place online. People can compare products, prices and reputations. They can read what companies say about products in far greater detail, but also how that tallies with the opinions of others, and—most importantly of all—discover what previous buyers have to say. Newsgroups and websites constantly review products and services.

This is changing the nature of consumer decisions. Until recently, consumers usually learned about a product and made their choice at the same time. People would often visit a department store or dealership to seek advice from a salesman, look at his recommendations and then buy. Now, for many, each of these steps is separate. For instance, Ford is finding that eight out of ten of its customers have already used the internet to decide what car they want to buy—and what they are willing to pay—even before they arrive at a showroom.

Know-alls

Of course, the amount of time people spend researching and checking prices tends to rise in proportion to the value of the product—and cars are expensive. But consumers are displaying similar behaviour when they purchase other things, such as digital cameras, mobile phones or fashionable clothes. And while supermarket shoppers may not research in this way all the individual items they drop into their trolley, many suppliers of the packaged goods sold in supermarkets are already acutely aware that their customers, too, are better informed than ever before about the value or health implications of the products they sell.

Reaching these better-informed consumers with a marketing message is not easy, and not only because they are more sceptical. Many people now spend as much time surfing the web as they do with television, magazines or newspapers. The audience for advertising is splintering and its attention is harder to attract. On top of that, many people are arming themselves with technology to avoid marketing messages, such as pop-up ad-blockers for the internet and personal video recorders that make it easy to skip TV commercials.

Despite the flood of product and price information suddenly available, consumers are unlikely ever to become wholly calculating. Tastes and fashion will differ. Brands are likely to remain popular. But brand loyalties are weakening. A slip or delay can cost a firm dearly and hand the advantage to an opportunistic rival. This is how Apple's iPod snatched from Sony the market leadership in portable-music devices.

Virtual shopping

Many firms do not yet seem aware of the revolutionary implications of newly empowered consumers. Too many companies relaxed after the bursting of the dotcom bubble, assuming that the online threat had faded. This was a mistake. It is true that the vast majority of people still go to shops for most purchases (though online sales continue to grow). Before doing that, however, most have used the internet. More than 90% of people aged between 18 and 54 told America's Online Publishers Association in a survey that they would turn to the internet first for product information. The differences between the virtual and the bricks-and-mortar worlds do not worry consumers. But they should worry companies. Many consumers first encounter a firm through its website, and yet for too many firms, their online presence remains a low priority.

By contrast, some businesses have embraced the internet wholeheartedly, and been rewarded for it. Dell has by-passed retailers and used direct sales to become the world's leading supplier of personal computers. The web is also transforming the travel business, giving consumers the power to book flights, hotels and cars directly. And it has allowed hundreds of thousands of small businesses, from mom-and-pop stores to traders of collectibles on eBay, to reach a global market.

The explosion of choice that followed the opening of Mr Wanamaker's store is minuscule compared with the cornucopia already provided by the internet. But the consumer's choice is about to become even greater. Internet search firms such as Google, Yahoo! and MSN are now falling over each other to offer more localised services. These promise to open up a new goldmine in search advertising. And soon this facility will be available not just on PCs at home or work, but on mobile phones. At a touch, consumers will be able to find a local store and then check the offers from nearby outlets even as they browse the aisles, or listen to a salesman. When that happens consumers will truly be kings, and only those firms ready and able to serve these new monarchs will survive.

Started Blogging

2005-11-27T23:35:00.000+05:30

An Indian Express article re-kindled the fire to start blogging again. This time i'm not gonna give up. This is going to be the blog that stays with me for long time to come.

Peggy