Stay a little hungry .....

Book Review - Brandwashed by Martin Lindstrom

2011-12-20T05:09:00.000-08:00

It has been sometime since I wrote a book review. I was going through a book hiatus .. at least as far as non-fiction was concerned. I found myself picking up books and after reading the blurb finding they did not interest me in the least !!! So back to the shelves they went !!!

In this involuntary moratorium I saw "Brandwashed" .. it looked interesting enough that it funneled through .. after all Behavior Economics is a fascinating area to explore !

As far as this book is concerned I do not think the information is particularly new - much of the material is known. Neither do I think that the marketing techniques are hidden tricks .. save for a few. However it is the specificity of the cases that is interesting.

Some snippets -

1. We do know that music influences us .. but the author shares details of how changing the tempo of the music changed how the customers viewed the time taken to be served in the customer complaints queue.

2. By doubling the size of your shopping cart, you end up buying up to 40 percent more.

3. Malls and certain kinds of stores become the “cool” hangout location — this is engineered by marketers, who often hire sexy, good-looking kids to stand casually in front of the entrance. Miraculously, the area is soon packed with other kids !

4. Ever heard of Listerine and Halitosis ??? Today Pharmaceutical companies do not market only for known terrible conditions like cancer, Alzheimer's but create conditions we never thought of - Restless leg syndrome? Fibromyalgia? Who even knows such things exist?

5. Supermarkets sprinkle select vegetables with dew drops of water — these sprinkler like drops serve
as a symbolic - of freshness and purity ! It may that the vegetables so doused with mist may rot faster due to this treatment !

6. Colas and other beverages have water drops on them - what those little drops signal to us subconsciously is that the beverage is not just cold but ice-cold, making it more tasty and refreshing. And those little drops kick-start the brains’ craving impulses to have a cool drink !

7. Mommy Guilt is a ploy used to sell to new mothers. There are so many ways to make her feel inadequate and of course there is an endless array of products - from LeapFrog computers for young children to organic baby food to postnatal exercise videos to baby gates to child proof cabinet locks to ointments to safety bath-time thermometers to pre-school educational toys and baby video monitors to alleviate all that guilt !

8. The book claims that Apple’s iPhone has become the most effective tool in human history to mollify a fussy toddler - because an Apple store is made to resemble an international day care.

9. That marketers are trying to reach younger and younger children .. is nothing new ."Pester Power" [ refers to children's ability to nag their parents into purchasing items they may not otherwise buy ] is nothing to be sneezed at - it is a very powerful marketing technique !

So marketers want to catch the kids while in the womb itself ! :)

A shopping chain sprayed J&J baby powder in the baby clothing area and added soothing music and a smell of cherries... pregnant women were exposed to this calm atmosphere while browsing. The end result ? After birth when the mothers entered the mall .... if their kids were fractious they became noticeably quieter ..!!

10. Games are designed to be addictive and hard to quit - by literally re-wiring the brain's reward system circuit... and turn people / children who use them into brand ambassadors for a brand or product.
The more points you win, the more levels unlock, keeping you in the never-ending pursuit of higher and higher highs and bigger and better rewards.

Think - Farmville, Mortal Kombat, Mafia Wars, Playstation , Xbox.

Also - Food companies sell junk food using multimedia games, online quizzes, and cell phone apps.

11. One of the earliest ads I remember watching and being fascinated with is the Alka-Seltzer ad where 2 tablets are dropped into crystal clear water in a glass. And what that did - although in reality only one tablet is required , most consumers drop two tablets !!
And guess where this kind of marketing is used - Chocolate. Cheese puffs. Cookies. Chips !

"No one can eat just one !" - Does that ring a bell ?

Of course it was disturbing to read that many of these foods also contain habit-forming substances like MSG, caffeine, corn syrup, and sugar.

12. The author compares royalty to a long term high end brand - "Every single royal family in the world knows that the best—and quickest — way to boost its popularity ratings is to host a royal wedding. [Prince William’s wedding to Kate Middleton :)) ] A close second? The arrival of a royal baby !"

Now this was something I did not know before !! :)

13. Digital footprints - This covers a whole gamut of details that help marketers target the exact loan one is looking for , the kind of products one wants to buy , the general profile of a person and his/her shopping habits - This is nothing new - we know .. every "like" we click is helping form a demographic profile of ourselves that help companies target us with perfectly tailored ads.

In fact just send a mail with a specific topic in gmail and see the "More About" - links .. they will reflect your message content ! Write about baking and links for the same will appear ... write about prep schools and
see how the links change !!!!

14. In what could well be the future of marketing - peer recommendation is where we take the word of our friends in trying out brands. A Hollywood movie The Joneses is about a fake family of stealth marketers who move into an upper-middle-class community and begin to market brands to their neighbors covertly and successfully.

The author did a real life experiment mimicking this concept and the results are very compelling ... !!

All in all a very good read ....... !!!

Take me where the sun is shining ......

2011-10-17T04:23:00.000-07:00

He was the second child in a lower middle class family. Nothing very special... just one of the millions who did not live hand-to-mouth but luxury did not come by easily either. Every penny was definitely stretched as far as it could go. There were celebrations when he was born .. a boy.. after his sister.

He was destined for great things ; so he was told... he was very good at his studies , got into some mischief just as boys tend to do and in general was happy with life.

Everything changed when his Dad died. Not that his Dad had played fast and loose with money .. but some of the investments had sunk when the stock market crashed with the scams ... so he had had no choice but to work.

He had to give up his studies. His dreams of graduation and post graduation in a prestigious college were replaced by getting educated via correspondence. He was now a manager in a small manufacturing unit.

He had taken up the education of his sister and ensured she was married into a good family. She was now settled in US with her husband and one daughter. He was happy for them.

He himself was married with one son. Today morning his sister had come for a visit with her daughter armed with loads of gifts for the family. Then the inevitable comparisons began. He was monetarily in the same place his father had been while his sister was definitely in a better financial position with her double income household.

He tried to understand why they believed he made wrong decisions.

- He had not changed cities to follow a job that would have meant he could have had a better education along with work experience since his mother had balked at change in the cities
- He had laid aside money for his sister's education in good schools / colleges
- He had paid a lot of dowry to get his sister married into a good family
- He himself did not command a good dowry since he was not in very good job. Besides he did not ask for dowry. Was that wrong ?
- He did not expect his sister to share in taking care of his mother's hospital bills ...
... and so on ...

It seemed like his life had been shaped by the expectation that as the man of the family he would shoulder the
responsibilities.

Should he have moved from his hometown regardless of his mother's feelings ? Should he have made his sister sit at home while he finished his education with borrowed money perhaps ? Should he have gotten his sister married into a poorer family and saved money instead ? Should he have insisted on whatever dowry he could have commanded ?

He had never expected gratitude; he did not feel bitter or resentful but he had not expected his contribution to be summarily dismissed. Perhaps that was not the intention but that was the message he got. He realized he had made the mistake of not tempering his duties with his aspirations.

In the end perhaps .. monetary success was more valued than anything else but more importantly ; he had failed himself too. He forgot to add his needs to his list.

May be still there was time ... to change his path. To get out of his self-imposed straight-jacket. May be then he would not feel like a signboard on the path to success ! Perhaps ............... but as he stared pensively at nothing ; he decided he would teach his son to take care of his responsibilities but would add that he should take care of his dreams too ...

That following his heart was not an indulgence but something he owed himself.

Life's like that ... only ............. [2]

2011-08-23T03:47:00.000-07:00

Teenager + Reading/Read "Linda Goodman's Sun signs" = Crazed Insane Giddy Teen :)

A phase of life I always associate with having a very sharp tongue and not minding using it ! :) Ok I will admit it - I don't have many friends from that time and I don't even wonder why !

So .. in this maniacal phase of gobbling up everything about Sun Signs , each and every one of its tenets..... any additional information was eaten up with nothing short of rabid fervor !

My friend [ who is a Scorpio herself ] came to class one day and told me of this new book she had read on Sun Signs and proceeded to give me all the fresh fodder about Scorpio gals. I hung on every word.

She then quote verbatim from the book - "Scorpio women can be first rate bi***** ".
"What???!!!!" I spluttered .... completely taken aback .... then ..... after a moment or two I shrugged and said "Oh what the heck .... it is true I guess ". My friend said she had had exactly the same response ... And since this line had come at the end of the page ... she turned the page over and read ....

"........... and they don't mind being called so !! " :)

Just another statistic

2011-08-08T20:07:00.000-07:00

It started with minor things .... a small mistake while cooking his favorite food , a crease in his otherwise neatly ironed shirt , a missed call from a wrong number viewed with suspicion , a slightly messed up dining table , the house not neat when he returned home , a dissatisfaction with her dress , a loathing of her shyness in social situations .... It seemed like nothing she did pleased him anymore and the more she tried the worse it got until the displeasure was displayed in physical terms and she became what she never thought she would be - a dreaded statistic - just another abused wife.

She did not go out of the house for days , the bruises were too visible. She did not know where to turn or to whom. She felt too ashamed. She had read about such things and knew that she had nothing to be ashamed of - yet a part of her felt she had asked for such treatment with her behavior. That she was not good enough to be loved. That she could not do anything right. She felt herself lacking in every department. She was a failure. The thought of telling anyone about her situation made her cringe. The thought of being pitied seemed more painful to her than her wounds. She knew .... a part of her was responsible for the way things had degenerated and living with that self-disgust made her recoil from herself.

In her more rational moments she realized that she could not be as useless as she was being told. That her worth was not directly proportional to her ability to cook or clean or talk or be glamorous. But none of that seemed to matter when she felt the cutting edge of the biting sarcasm that shredded her confidence to tatters. Or when she faced that rage with nothing but her arms over her face ...... hoping it would just end and she would never feel any pain ever again.

She could not pin point when things had started to change - within her as well as within him. Was it when she quit her work due to the move across cities ? Was it when the years did not bring an addition to the family ? Was it when the business started to keep him more and more away from home ? She suspected perhaps it was more than business. But the beginning did not count. Once he had been her friend ... now .. she just hoped he was in a good mood when he came home and would not bother her.

As she stood at the window looking out into the sky ..... thinking of escape - she tried to understand why she was unable to muster enough courage to walk out. Why did she believe that his remorse after every episode was real and that he would not do it again ? Why asking for help from anyone seemed to hold more trauma than everything that had happened so far. With a humorless laugh - she thought of the story of the frog being slowly boiled alive. It seemed more true to her than anything else.

Why did she behave like that bird whose wings had been clipped for so long... it had not only forgotten how to fly ; it did not want to fly. The exhilaration of rushing wings had been replaced by a trepidation of the unknown dangers lurking in the air.

She wondered ...... when had hope for a better life become more terrifying than a fear for her life itself ?

Life's like that ... only ............. [1]

2011-07-20T02:03:00.000-07:00

There I was sitting and watching the falling snow flakes from the sky through my window ..... thinking this could have been very romantic but for a couple of things - If my hubby were in the same continent as I and if I were not stuck in a Greyhound bus with 3 blown tires smack between Indianapolis and Chicago with no means of informing my friends. ( Various reasons for the incommunicado state ).

The guy in the next seat decided to become loquacious and started to tell me about himself.

He told me how he met his girlfriend and the wonderful person she was. Well .. I thought .. someone was having their romance. :) He went on to expound on her virtues for the next few minutes. And then mentioned that although he was against it when she got with a child ; he was now thankful that she had gone ahead and had had the child. His son was a joy to him and he loved him a lot.

It also made him see how difficult it was for his girlfriend to be single parent. He realized it was time he took up his responsibilities. He described in great detail his understanding of what he now needed to do with his life. That he needed to be with his son. He had to be a good father. He needed to make a stable home for the family.

So towards this he had proposed and was en route to his wedding 4 days later. Wonderful I thought ..
And then asked ... how old is your son ? 5 years came the prompt reply.
????!!!!!! ...... better late than never ??? :)

Princess ... to ?

2011-05-09T03:52:00.000-07:00

She was the princess of the house. Just a few months old and already everybody doted on her ... everything she did was commented on and exclaimed upon in wonder ....

She grew up a bit ... and then the expectations started "You are a girl .. don't run about so much", "Tell her not to shout so much", "She should sit properly", "Don't let her go in the sun .. she will become dark and then who will marry her ? "

The child was puzzled but being a sweet girl by nature did not rebel ..

She grew up some more ... and then her choice of clothes were scrutinized by every member of the family as well the extended family .... and so it went on .. by the time she reached her late teens it seemed like nothing she did pleased anyone !! What a contrast to how it was when she was born ...

Her freedom was curtailed ... she could not go out easily .... for safety reasons ... In time she compromised on her choice of education as well on working ... since they had found a very good groom for her .. and it was a fantastic match ... !! She had to learn cooking so she could keep her future in-laws and husband happy ...

Eventually she had a daughter ... and .. she tried to make every choice for her baby consciously so her baby would not feel burdened by the myriad expectations on her tiny shoulders .. but she wondered why had not the situation changed so much .. that she was still concerned about ... the same things her mother used to be concerned about ...

She was perturbed about her child's safety when going out
A good marriage was still considered more valuable for her girl child than a good job/career
Her child was the censure of so many eyes
Her baby's complexion was a source of more anxiety than her activities in school

And so on ....

To add to her melancholy she learnt that her mother had been told the the same thing she heard ..... "Be thankful your in-laws are happy .. even though it is a girl !! "

She thought pensively ....How had the society/country moved forward if she was still worrying about the same things ... her mother had worried about for her ? Where was the lack ? In her ? In her upbringing ? In her inability to change the expectations of her family ?

She wondered - Shouldn't progress be measured in more than just economical terms ?

How do you .....

2011-04-21T09:09:00.000-07:00

How do you cope when the person you know .. is no longer the person you know ?

How do you reconcile to this person recognizing you in snatches ? Time has no meaning in that world ....

How do you hide a fear of ... something that you don't want and yet ... wonder if that is best outcome that can happen .. but not for you ...

How do you make decisions that hinge on making a person live like a vegetable ?

How do you look at hands that cared for you ... now tugging desperately at the IV line ?

How do you look into eyes that gazed so lovingly at you .. now vacant or looking inquiringly at you ... as if you are a stranger ?

How do you understand a creeping loss ?

How do you say a slow good bye ?

How do you .......

To Remember Me ....

2011-01-25T03:14:00.000-08:00

The best appeal for organ donation in my opinion ... I know I would like to end this way ....

To Remember Me - Robert N. Test

The day will come when my body will lie upon a white sheet neatly tucked under four corners of a mattress located in a hospital; busily occupied with the living and the dying.

At a certain moment a doctor will determine that my brain has ceased to function and that, for all intents and purposes, my life has stopped.

When that happens, do not attempt to instill artificial life into my body by the use of a machine.

And don't call this my deathbed.

Let it be called the bed of life, and let my body be taken from it to help others lead fuller lives.

Give my sight to the man who has never seen a sunrise, a baby's face or love in the eyes of a woman.

Give my heart to a person whose own heart has caused nothing but endless days of pain.

Give my blood to the teenager who was pulled from the wreckage of his car, so that he might live to see his grandchildren play.

Give my kidneys to the one who depends on a machine to exist from week to week.

Take my bones, every muscle, every fiber and nerve in my body and find a way to make a crippled child walk.

Explore every corner of my brain.

Take my cells, if necessary, and let them grow so that, someday a speechless boy will shout at the crack of a bat and a deaf girl will hear the sound of rain against her window.

Burn what is left of me and scatter the ashes to the winds to help the flowers grow.

If you must bury something, let it be my faults, my weakness and all prejudice against my fellow man.

Give my sins to the devil.

Give my soul to God.

If, by chance, you wish to remember me, do it with a kind deed or word to someone who needs you. If you do all I have asked, I will live forever.

6 things that occur to me ..... tongue-in-cheek

2011-01-20T23:19:00.000-08:00

1. Buddha did not honor his family commitments.

2. Aim big - you will never pay for any misdemeanors. [ Bofors, CWG, IPL scams ]. Anything less and you are in trouble.

3. Even the so-called-bravest-of-men find it difficult to stand up for a woman and have feet of clay. Case in point - Bhishma who was very much present in the court that allowed Draupadi to be almost molested.

4. Krishna loved Radha but married Rukmini anywayz [ and others too ] ! :)

5. Gandhi was so rigid in his ideals that he allowed his wife to die instead of allowing modern medicine to help her.

6. An entrepreneur in India is a life-giving being to thousands of leeches who neither work nor earn on their own but come to get "their due" !

And don't get me started on Ram - the so-called-ideal man !!!!

Song of freedom

2011-01-17T03:42:00.000-08:00

She showed me glimpses of freedom , on many winter days beneath dreary skies ...

I was naive, idealistic and green and I wanted her to teach me how to fly ....

Summer days beneath a wide azure sky, the mountains standing at a distance ....

Springtime fields, yellow sunflowers; a vista that caught the eye ....

Rustic splendor, idyllic haze and a bird's cry ...

Clouds of dust from passing cars ... they passed me by ...

The road beyond the distant blue horizon ... gave me longings I couldn't seem to elude...

Yet everything I ever knew of freedom ... was the love in a gaze I never knew I would lose ...

Which Alma Mater .....

2011-01-15T21:34:00.000-08:00

Tis the admission season for 1st std and Junior KG here and the frequent topic of discussion among parents obviously revolves around schools - merits / demerits , admission process , entrance tests [ call it is what you will - assessment, admission test , writing picnic ... :) ] ..

There is the usual name dropping and mentioning of the influence one has in varied schools and the other end of the spectrum with parents forging birth certificates and hauling moolah to get their wards into the school of their choice. And then gloating over the poor souls who have had to go the regular route to get admissions ! Not nice at all !!

All parents have their reasons for seeking schools they like .. but some reasons puzzle me ... Among them the top two I am going to elaborate on.

1. Choosing a school because it is a good school.

Ok ... I have not gone crazy here .... no one wants to choose a bad school for their child and there is nothing overtly wrong in choosing a school because it is good. I would however go one step further and evaluate if the school would be good for the child.

There are many good schools each having their own educational philosophy - some that follow old methodologies of teaching , some that look at newer ways of teaching. Some well established and not in danger of being shut down in a couple of years and some that have an attrition rate of teachers that would give a BPO company a run for their money !!

A school has such an impact on the child's development that one would think that knowing the child's personality and trying to reasonably match it with the school's ideologies would figure somewhere on the list !!!

I am not getting into the other reasons for wanting to get into a particular school - the peer/alumni network, the social pressure , the academic/sports expectations of the parents , the family traditionally going to the same school , age related issues ( too young / too old ), coming in the middle of the year and not having many choices, religious inclinations ... etc ...

2. Choosing a school / board because the parent can handle the syllabus/language.

This almost always stumps me !! Isn't this a disservice to the child ? Shouldn't the child's needs/requirements come first ? And when I look at the curve of learning the past 2 decades ... it seems so apparent that a parent will never be able to handle the syllabus !!! :)

I mean how many of us learnt how to use the internet because our parents taught us ? :))

How many kids tell their parents what latest technology toys/games/mobiles/cameras to buy ? More than one would like to acknowledge !

Children are almost always ahead when it comes to learning something new. Parents - unless they are the uber learning/coping type cannot always hope to keep on top of the curve ... And nobody even knows what tomorrow's wave is going to be !!!

And then languages ... the CBSE board is considering making Mandarin a part of the syllabus. French , German , Spanish already figure in the foreign languages section .. how many parents learn these ? [ Mind you there are parents who do learn and teach their children !! Kudos to them ! :) ].

For that matter how many parents have children who have learnt Sanskrit whereas the parent has not learnt it ? :)

To me it seems self-evident that parents over-estimate their ability to teach ! Or may be I am under-estimating the desire and drive to teach ... But then this is just me .... perhaps marching to the beat of a slightly different ( weird? ) drum on this issue ... :)

But to equip a child for the future I would think the most important thing a school can teach a child would be the ability to learn, unlearn and relearn. [ To quote from Alvin Toffler - "The illiterate of the 21st Century will not be those who cannot read or write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn." ]

And ofcourse use the knowledge. To use another quote which I recently heard and loved [ Its raining quotes here ! :) ]

It is not the deficiency of knowledge that matters; it is the efficiency of its usage !

Joy of an empty nest ....

2010-12-25T23:04:00.000-08:00

It was a lazy Sunday morning and the terrace cleaning was on when I heard the chirping. It was coming from behind the washing machine and a quick look showed it to be a baby sparrow - wet due to the usage of water. A glance upwards showed that it most likely had fallen off a nest that was perched on my neighbour's window.

With a vague idea of putting it back in the nest I tried to get closer to it but of course it squawked dismally as I approached. So I gave up that thought. After sometime my hubby spied the mother sparrow flying down to the baby with food.

So there it remained - chirping intermittently and being fed by its mother. When the pigeons came near, it would hide under one of the legs of our washing machine and at night I think it hid in the same place.

After only one day of this - it seemed to like my hubby enough to sit next to his feet when he was sitting on his chair in the terrace.

My daughter and hubby worried that it perhaps did not have enough to eat and drink , filled a plastic cap with water and spread some grains for it. It seemed to like it ... and there began the routine. When my daughter was off at school it was my turn to check on its water supply and food.

Not knowing the growth cycle and wondering if its wing had broken in the fall and we did not know if the baby sparrow would ever fly. Still it seemed to feel like it was a member of our family - it was comfortable with us - especially my hubby whom it followed inside the house ! It would watch cricket in the living room with us too ... :)

We were not sure it would be good to have it inside the house for too long - what if the mother sparrow looked for it to give lessons in flying or more food ? So as if it could understand what we spoke - we told the baby sparrow to go outside for sometime ! All it did was give us this inquisitive look with a confidence that said - we would not chase it out !

Seeing this our daughter said we did not know how to speak to it and that we should speak to it in bird language. So bending down she "spoke" to it - "Tweet... tweet... tweet ... tweeeeeeeet ... tweeeet .. twit .. tweet ... TWIT !" with a flourish of hands and an emphatic tone ! The baby sparrow apparently understood because it went out !

Sometimes we saw that the sparrow had to compete with a couple of pigeons for the grains that we kept for it. We let it be since it would face similar situations in its life .. it also had enough of a survival instinct to know when to move out and where to go.

So it went ... It became a peripheral part of our lives. We would keep an ear out for its chirping and check on it often. We saw it trying to jump a little and fly with its tiny wings. We were glad that it seemed as if its wings were not damaged.

And then came the cardinal day ... it took flight - it flew to a balcony rail on the next building. I watched it with a fierce joy , it took me sometime to realize the happiness was mixed with heartache. I knew it was the last day I would see it. It spent the afternoon flying short distances between the buildings and looking at the varied views.

My daughter came back from school and looked for it in all corners of the terrace and did not find the baby

sparrow. It was gone. She was highly disappointed. So was my hubby. It never came back after that day and we missed it.

As my daughter snuggled close to me and was telling me it should have at least told her good-bye - it occurred to me that I knew now why it is called "empty-nest syndrome" when our children grow their wings and leave home. And I do not think the luxury of time will lessen the hollow feeling when it finally happens.

Still .... if the price for watching that ethereal flight into the unknown is ... the kind of joy, happiness, and heartache I feel now - I think I am glad to have the privilege of paying it.

Friends indeed .....

2010-10-07T21:14:00.000-07:00

They say a crisis brings out the best in a person ... I believe it brings out the best in one's friends too.

My Mom was taken to ICU in the 3rd week of September and she is now home .. it has been a long 3 weeks where she spent 90% of her time in the ICU. Obviously not the best emotional time for me either !! And it has been a harrowing time ... it seemed like anything that could go wrong ... did go wrong. [ including me getting a viral red eye ....... right in the midst of needing to be in the hospital ... grrrr ].

Thankfully .....I am glad to say .... she is much better now and certainly on the road to complete recovery. Ok .. so why the blog post ? Because ...

Every single friend who came to know of this has stretched out a helping hand and meant it too .... ! [ and no .. I had better things to do than to made an announcement of the rush to the hospital on that ill-fated morning ... ]

A friend took care of my daughter on the day I had to rush to the hospital and would have been happy to be of help for more days too ...
I had friends who wanted to pick up my daughter from school and take care of her .... knowing that this would one big area of concern for me .... [ since we were not sure of the number of days Mom would be in the hospital ... we put my baby into the day home in the same school ]
I got home made food at the hospital [ probably could have got it for every meal .. but I don't like putting others to so much trouble !!! :)) ]
I was relieved of the tense wait with a friend who came to visit me there ... [ not just once !! ]
Logistics of ensuring my home was clean .. was taken care of .. even though I was not at home ...
Many calls of concern .. sympathy ....and support ..
At no point did I feel that I would not have my friends to fall back on .. whenever I needed them ...
And so .. on ....

I am also thankful that within 10 min of my calling the school ... my daughter's day care was arranged ... without any fuss whatsoever. Not only that ... they intimated me ... that she was doing fine ... which was considerate ...

So all in all ... it is a mixed bag of emotions - surprise at the help, sad at the circumstances requiring this and a

gladness that I have so many well wishers ...

If I had not already identified my friends from mere acquaintances .. I definitely would have recognized them after this !!! ;)

Thank you .... !!! :)

Civic sense ?

2010-09-30T23:54:00.000-07:00

Education and Civic sense rarely go hand in hand ..

Recently I was talking with a taxi driver and the conversation veered to civic sense and he made a comment "Ma'am it is the educated people who behave worse than the people who don't know" .... I thought about it ..... I don't think the comment was wrong .....

Education and civic sense ... rarely seem to go hand in hand ..... I remembered some instances of such behavior by the so-called-educated people ... this includes Gen Y too ....

Coming to the ICU ward/waiting room with a bad case of viral conjunctivitis ....
Entering the society premises on a vehicle at 70km / hr ..... especially in the evening .. prime time when small children are playing / running / cycling.
Asking to divert money that has been donated for charity to be used for other sundry activities ...
One person is admitted in the ICU .. 26 people turn up in the ICU waiting room plus they have the gall to wonder if the other people really are relatives and all the 26 people want to enter the ICU ward en masse .... !! Jeez ...
Spitting gutka within hospital premises ...
Leaving plastic bottles and gutka wrappers on pristine mountain sides .....
Throwing water/garbage from the balcony on to the road ..... with no care towards the people walking below
Physically pushing children ..... in a crowd ( mall, after movie rush etc )
Flight announcement is for parents with children and elderly people .. yet everyone rushes and makes a crowd at the gate !!!!
Keeping the lift waiting ..... while busy chatting to someone outside their door .. uncaring of the people within the lift
Of-course loud ring-tones / talking .... in inappropriate places ...
Driving in an inebriated state ....

...... And so on ..... am sure there are many more examples of such uncouth conduct ...

I am not even touching the serious side of what education should bring about in areas of dowry, education of girl children, corruption, bride burning, land grabbing etc ...

I think ... education should also mean refinement and civility .... but is it asking for too much ??? Money, education and class .... rarely go together I guess ...

Book Review - The Argumentative Indian - Amartya Sen

2010-09-26T23:40:00.000-07:00

The Argumentative Indian

I picked up this book from a friend eons ago .. and found it challenging to complete ! :) Not because it is not good but simply because history is something that I don't prefer to read !! Nevertheless I did finish reading this and I am glad I did ...

Having said that I would not suggest this book to someone who has an insular view of a Hindu India that has had absolutely no influence of any other culture on it !!! It would make for a flammable reading if one went with such an attitude. Instead I would think an open mind with an interest to counter-argue with research if one disagrees on the many points made would be a better approach !!

The writing is dry and caustic, well researched and in the form of a series of lectures. It depicts India as a civilization where public debate was not unknown , multiple cultures and religions were part of its vibrant fabric along with atheism and materialistic approach to life , he touches upon the topics of science and maths in ancient India, Indian calendars ( this is an amazing chapter ! ) , relationship with China, the Indian identity , Westerner's views of India .. etc

One of the major themes is that India's greatness lies in its diversity and tolerance of all religions. Although the author is aware that this tolerance has not stopped the social inequalities either.

One can consider the book as an attempt to encapsulate a few thousand years of Indian history that an Indian can take pride in even as the country looks forward to a global future which was not completely unknown before !

I did feel that the leanings on Ashoka and Akbar were a bit more than required. After all there were quite a few other kings but then .. those other kings probably did not suit the point being made !!

The inputs on Rabindranath Tagore whom the author eminently respects made for interesting reading. I don't prefer the deifying biographies that one reads of our previous leaders and the perspective shown by the author of this person is of a reasoning mind.

In our country more often that not - issues are tried emotionally ... the author dissects many topics of the Indian history in an academic manner with a whole wealth of references. It can be read as a book on history or just to learn something more about our country without falling prey to zealotry.

Book Review - The Audacity of Hope - Barack Obama

2010-09-26T23:37:00.000-07:00

Audacity of Hope - Barack Obama

It has been quite some time since I read a book completely ! I have so many books in the half-read stage that I think ... when I finally get back to them .. I will have to start each one from the beginning !!! Anywayz ...

Never underestimate the power of a title !!! :) I was intrigued by the title of this book ... !!! Never thought hope could be audacious ! :) Ended up choosing to buy this book instead of "Dreams from my father" which is supposedly better.

Before I put my thoughts regarding this book , I must say I am handicapped in my review by a couple of things

-- I don't follow American politics so I am not sure exactly how the "timing" of this book's release affected his presidential dreams and hence how calculated / slick the contents of this book are !!! :)

-- It follows from the above that I obviously cannot gauge how his real life veers from the said content of this book ..... on his stands over various problems ....

So ... about the book ... I found the writing lucid in a chatty style and definitely readable. Obviously it focuses entirely on America .... what comes through is the author's love for his country and a sense that he is doing his best in a job that poses myriad challenges especially to one's belief's and morality.

The chapter on the machinations behind American politics is interesting ... especially regarding the hardening of political stances. I feel it is something that happens all too frequently in India .. and the middle path seems more and more obscured .. since it is a path that gives no political gains !!!!

The main theme is that the author comes across as someone who embodies the American middle-class dream and is not too politically correct .... which is refreshing. Yes for most of the issues a neat middle-of-the-road path is taken but the reasoning behind the said stances are nicely portrayed. It is easy to identify with since it feels like the author is just a regular guy ... and so ... the book contents seem eminently believable ..

There is an absence of jingoism and acrid bashing , still he manages to paint the Republicans in a not-so-good light and is candid about his views upfront ... that he leans towards democratic ideals being a democrat himself !! :)

Nevertheless it obviously finds an echo somewhere in America ( and the world ) or I don't think this book would have been so popular so as to find itself even on the Pune streets !!! :)

There was a vague sense of deja vu on some topics and that was because I realized that some challenges that America faces have been highlighted in my recent read - "Hot, Flat and Crowded" by Thomas Friedman including the oil dependency woes and competition for jobs from across the world and US's foreign policy.

My take would be - read only if interested in American political machinations and to learn something about the American president !! Otherwise the other challenges/viewpoints can easily be read in other books or articles on the web.

If I had to pick the best statement in this book it would be - "In the world's greatest deliberative body ..... no one is listening" .. which happens when someone wants to explain / introduce a new bill.

Teenage Angst and hindsight ... :)

2010-09-09T03:39:00.000-07:00

Yesterday my daughter and I spent time singing songs from my High school song book. I never expected that the book I maintained would last so long .. or that it would actually be useful !!!

While retrieving the book I found another set of books - diaries ... ! Maintained when I was a teen ... :) So when I got a chance I skimmed them .... :)

And I think after reading them ... they can be safely chucked in the fire !!! :) Why .... ??

- For one thing I don't even recognize the teen who wrote those entries !!!! :) Was it me who vacillated between those kind of highs and lows and terrible blues ? :)

- WOW .. I had a big sense of paranoia then .... I have names in code and the most mortifying incidents ( I don't remember them ) are not even penned down !!! Just who did I think would be interested in reading about them ? :)

- Did I really think that people cared to plumb the depths of my personality when I said "Nobody will ever understand me because I wear a mask" ? :)

- And who is this person I have sworn to hate forever ? One would think I would be able to at least recall the face and the reason why ? :)

- Why oh why did I not enjoy being more than 15 kgs lighter and younger :) ??

- Seems like the color gray did not exist in my world at that time ... things were black or white !! :)

- Just why did I think it was all-firing important to dissect the incident with my friend and her guy - facial expression by facial expression - with her ??

- Did I really take all those personality tests and read Linda Goodman's books from cover to cover ... and actually use that to glean meaning into my behavior as well as that of others ?

- How did I think that poem that I wrote was a masterpiece ? Ugh ?? :)

- I spent that much time writing about clothes/music/likes and dislikes ? :)

- Feelings towards my crushes ( always long distance ... ) range from ... disbelief .. [ I mooned over that moron ?? Whatever happened to my taste ??? ] to ... just who is this person again ? :) I do recognize couple of them thankfully .... :)

- And just when did I study ? :)

But all in all ... I felt my drivel was very predictable .. typical teenage angst !!! :) Guess not all things nostalgic .. have a value !! :) But wait may be all is not lost ... perhaps this will help me understand ..... when my daughter hits the teens and thinks .. that her feelings are unique .... just like every other teen in the world !!!

Spiti Valley Itenary

2010-08-14T23:36:00.000-07:00

Overview
When we visited Manali in Dec 2009 we found ourselves interested in the different modes to explore Himachal especially the cold desert area of the Spiti Valley, Leh and Ladakh.

One can go trekking to this area (with/without mules to carry baggage), drive through , visit via jeep safari ( where the items for camping are in a separate vehicle ), a camper van .... :) Everything can be arranged provided you have the time and ofcourse the money !!! :)

With a child we decided to go for the drive option with bookings in relevant hotels at the appropriate destinations. Our itenary was for 15 days and we would explore the Kinnaur Valley, Pin Valley and Spiti Valley. Our route was - Delhi - Narkanda - Sangla - Kalpa - Tabo - Kaza - Chandratal - Manali - Sojha - Delhi. [ Full itenary at the end of this post ]

We checked out many tour operators for this but finally we decided to go with Banjara Camp & Retreats. [ http://banjaracamps.com/ ] One was the cost factor, second was the inputs received from friends, third it seemed to make sense since at three prominent halts we would be staying at their properties - Sangla , Kaza and Sojha.

I must say we were very happy with Banjara. We had a problem with the driver they had assigned but when we complained about him they promptly swung into action. Within 30 min of our complaint they arranged for the driver to be changed. I expected them to ask us to adjust for the remaining days .. but they did not do so. Their properties were also very good. Scenic locations of the retreats and very courteous staff.

This drive can also be done in 10 days I have heard. But we took the leisurely route. The other alternate we checked out was travelling from Sangla to Kaza and then onwards to Leh/Ladakh. But it seemed a little rushed to us so we dropped it. The route would have been Shimla - Sangla - Tabo - Kaza - Jispa - Serchu - Leh. Would have included Nubra Valley and Panging Tso lake.

I think this was a great blessing for us. We headed out of the Kaza area just one day before the Leh cloudburst. So may be someone up there ensured we did not do this route !!!!

Observations, Travel Tips

Carry woolens, thermal wear no matter what time of the year. The weather is completely unpredicatble. One spell of rain can mean very chilly nights.
July to August are the best months for Spiti Valley while May - June is the best time for the Kinnaur Valley.
Check how comfortable the driver is driving these dangerous roads. I would consider the road to Chandratal ( very very narrow road jutting out of the mountain side ; just a dirt track ) , the road to Tabo via Maling ( rocky bedstreams and landslide area ) as well as the road to Kunzum pass ( again swift flowing rocky riverstreams ) very treacherous.
Be mentally prepared for delays that span days. Many a times it may entail a complete change of itenary. So have a Plan B, Plan C and sometimes even Plan D in mind.
Be prepared to be cut off from civilzation at any point of time. The roads to Spiti Valley from Kinnaur side or from the Kunzum pass side can get cut off at any time due to landslides, rock slides and streams.
From Nako onwards electricity is a problem. [ Check your camera batteries !!! ]. We did not have electricity till we reached Manali.
Try to cross the Kunzum pass early - the streams formed due to ice melting will be more full as the day passes.
Carry snacks and shawls in case you are stuck somewhere without being able to move forwards or backwards !!!! Keep a first aid kit handy.
We did not face any altitude sickness with our itenary but that may still be something to consider.
BSNL is the only mobile that works after Puh ( enroute Nako ) till Manali. Can consider getting a prepaid card.Still sometimes even BSNL fails in these areas.

Itenary:
Day 1
Jul 24: Delhi- Narkanda- Pick up from airport at 10 am. - 11 hrs drive – halt Narkanda

Day 2
Jul 25: Narkanda- Sangla via Sarahan - 8 hrs drive – halt Sangla

Day 3
Jul 26: Sangla – Chitkul ( Nagasthi ) – halt Sangla

Day 4
Jul 27: Sangla- Rakcham trek– halt Sangla

Day 5
Jul 28: Sangla- Kalpa (Kinner Kailash range views) - halt in Kalpa

Day 6
Jul 29: Kalpa- Tabo Via Nako - 7 hrs – halt Tabo

Day 7
Jul 30: Tabo- Dhankar- Kaza - 5 hrs – halt Kaza

Day 8
Jul 31: Kaza- Ki, Kibber Gete or [ LangKa, Hikim and Comic villages ] – halt Kaza

Day 9
Aug 01: Kaza- Pin Valley National Park drive – till Mudh – halt Kaza

Day 10
Aug 02: Kaza- Kunzum- Chandratal- 4 hrs drive and 4 hrs hike - camping at Chandratal

Day 11
Aug 03: Chandratal- Batal- Manali- 8-9 hrs drive. May be problems at Rohtang pass with traffic jams. – halt Manali

Day 12
Aug 04: Manali- Sojha - 4 hrs drive - Halt Sojha – Jalori Pass

Day 13
Aug 05: Sojha – Raghupur Fort - Halt Sojha

Day 14
Aug 06: Sojha - Relax / Sereoslkar lake - Halt Sojha

Day 15
Aug 07: Sojha- Delhi- 12-13 hrs. Late evening flight out.

Design and Usage ....

2010-07-22T06:09:00.000-07:00

"Everything is designed. Few things are designed well" - Brian Reed

Designing is an ubiquitous activity. Yet in so many instances it almost seems like design is disconnected from usage. In the midst of following fads - the entire purpose of design gets lost !!

We went to a restaurant .... and it seemed like everything that could be wrong ... was wrong !!!!

1. The play area for children was in a dark dim corner ... ?? Could not see the children ... much less the playground artifacts ... what kind of child safe zone is this ?

2. The entire restaurant was mostly dark ... in this dim dark world -- there were pathways ... which had unexpected dips in levels with no visual demarcation .... plus the natural stones had plenty of unevenness to cause stubbing !! An invitation to people and children to fall on their face !!!

3. The low seating was atrocious ... I don't have back pain and yet I found it difficult to keep leaning forward at that angle to reach for my food !!!

4. Candle light dinner ..... aaah .... supposedly romantic .... it seems the designer forgot that candle light dinner does not mean ... we be unable to see the food or the menu !!! :) IMHO candle lit dinner should be just enough that it hides flaws and creates a glow instead .. with adequate dim lighting to ensure you can see what you eat and most importantly the expression on the other person's face ... after all this is why it is supposed to be romantic right ? More often than not this generally this means a smaller table ... most restaurants never get this balance right ... !!!!

And I can go on and on ...For a restaurant of that kind .. food is just one of the things that it is rated on !!! :) The entire design seemed to ignore the people who would come to the restaurant and be served !! :)

If design is intelligence made visible .. I definitely saw no sign of it .... And this is a hep & happening place here ... sometimes I wonder .... :)

We had an architect who was interested in designing our bathroom lighting with expensive lighting and extensive work details .... the point forgotten - the said design would make the bathroom dimly lit !!!

This same person refused to keep the kitchen platform at a comfort level for me ... said the height that was chosen was standard. But this so-called-standard would give me a pain the neck while cutting vegetables and a gas cylinder could not fit underneath it either !!!! What kind of standard was this ? Standards are there for a reason ... but if it does not help towards an easy usage of the object ...... what is the point ... ??

Have you come across a website where what the company is about is buried under so much flash .... that it takes forever to get to the core [ we would rather go elsewhere thank you ]. I would think that if under 5 seconds you don't know what the website is about ... most people would just skip ....

Aesthetics are very important no doubt .. but while designing these aesthetics .... it is important to remember ...designing should always be connected to the purpose of its usage... otherwise after the novelty is gone... it may well find itself out of favor too ....

After all - "Good design keeps the user happy, the manufacturer in the black and the aesthete unoffended" - Raymond Loewy

Grief - Short note

2010-07-19T03:14:00.000-07:00

"There is many a word that causes a tear in the eye .. but the saddest of them all is the simplest word 'goodbye'".

Lately I feel I am getting lots of bad news ... first from a friend involved in an accident that wiped half his family away.

Next from an acquaintance who lost her hubby ... 1 month after their wedding ... just after they came back from their honeymoon. Another teen lost his dad .... and ....... I don't think I need to add more.

In all these instances .. there seems to be a common thread. Insensitivity of the people who come to offer condolences.

One person asks details about the accident
Another person asks - How do you feel about your dad ? Do you miss him ? [ Er .. what kind of question is this ? Really ??? ]
The girl is being consoled with ... "It is ok .. you are young .. you can always marry again " !
I was told - "It is ok .. you have another sister "

I do understand that to a large extent many people feel awkward and helpless knowing that no words can assuage the pain and one can really do nothing .... so I sincerely believe my friend was trying to tell me .. I still had another sibling to hold on to .... and did not mean to sound as if one sister was the same as another .... like interchangeable objects ....

But on the whole .. while people have different ways of handling grief .. I would think some things are common when one approaches them -

If you don't know what to say .. it is better to just say .. you don't know what to say ...

Not many people like to rehash the loss ..... get the clues from the demeanor of the person ... and keep quiet when you get this edict

Last and definitely not the least ... every person is unique so the anguish the departure of that person brings is also unique .... the age, the situation in life .... does not matter ... only how much that person was loved.

So whether it is a still-born child, a 5 month old baby, a 6 yr old boy, a teen girl, a father , a grandmother etc ... the age has nothing to do with acute sense of distress ... and nor can one person be replaced with another !!!!

At most for a person who is old you might be able to face the bereavement with a degree of equanimity because you believe they have lived a long and [ hopefully ] happy life. But that may not really dull the pain ...

So when one visits a person in sorrow it is time to take a step back and make a conscious decision to try and be more perceptive.

Like my friend told me during my difficult time ..... "Letting go has never been easy but holding on can be just as difficult. Yet strength is (sometimes) measured not by holding on but by letting go."

Simple pleasures ... Raindrops and Roses .....

2010-07-15T02:46:00.000-07:00

- Watch sunrise near the sea where there is clarity and the full sun can be seen ... the change from darkness to light is amazing .....

- Watch mists roll down a hill ... these are especially more beautiful when there are tea estates on the hill ....

- Feel snow flakes falling on your upturned face

- Sit for hours in the waters of a natural hot geyser .... :)

- Camp out in a place where you can gaze at the sky with a zillion stars from a spot far away from any light ...

- See the brilliant fall colors ....

- Smell the earth after the first rain ....

- Drive a bike when it is raining ...

- Walk in the rain .... :)

- Take deep breaths in the fresh crisp mountain air ...

- See a complete bow of a rainbow across a field or road ......

- Watch the full moon rise ...

- Smell the intoxicating aroma of sandalwood / jasmine / roses ....

- Sit on the steps of a train and watch the passing scenery [ be careful the door does not close on you !!! ]

- Sit in a quiet spot in a temple and listen to the temple bells ... and feel peace stealing on you ....

- Drive/Walk on a lonely road with flame of the forest [ Gulmohar ] trees in full bloom on either side ...

- Relax with your feet in a cold water stream ....

- Sit under a jacaranda tree in full bloom ... be enveloped in the heady scent of those lovely violet flowers ...

- Drive on a desert road ... with blue skies .. and a handy deep blue lake on one side .... :) ... all those rich browns and blues are beautiful .....

- See the majestic northern lights .... in silent contemplation ....

- Scuba dive in turquoise waters with brilliant corals and bright tropical fishes in various hues ....

- Sky dive .. through a cold cloud ... :)

- Experience the quietness when parachuting ...

- Have hot chocolate in front of a fire [ no other lights in the room ]

and and and .............. these are a few of my favourite things ..... :)

What are you like ??

2010-07-03T23:57:00.000-07:00

"Know Thyself" is considered an universal tenet and a basic step towards spiritual growth. One of the baby steps towards this knowledge I think is questioning one's likes ( and dislikes ).

This may be considered as questioning one's beliefs but I believe it is much more fundamental than that. We all have prejudices ... and they are not easily visible to us.
Unless an effort is made to understand them I believe one cannot really understand oneself.

So lets say we take something as trivial as "Why do I like like mangoes ?" You may like them -

- obviously due to the taste
- simply a health habit wrt to eating seasonal fruits
- or perhaps may be in some part - it evokes the feeling that you felt when you were at your grandparents house !!

So what ?? What is the big deal one may wonder ... but the questioning does not have to stop there.

Say one progresses to wonder why there is a dislike of maths [ or accounts/finance .....:) ].

May be it is not just because you thought you did not get a good teacher / guide ... it may also have been because being in a family of mathematical geniuses [ or something similar in terms of achievers ] you were more scared of failure .... and hence it was easier blaming someone or something ....

It may not inspire you to stop everything and rush off to become a CA now :) .... but your awareness may help you next time you come across maths or a balance sheet and may allow you to take your time to understand it ... or may be you will help someone who is in the same situation that you were in .... :) Perhaps you will manage your finances better ! :)

Take football or cricket .... there is a whole world of physics to be learnt when one sees the spin of the ball changing the course of the trajectory ....
[ I personally think that subjects like physics and maths should be taught more in terms of application ... they are more fun that way ... especially probability theory :) ..... but .. that is another topic altogether ]

Not everything you learn about yourself has to translate itself into an actionable item ... it is sometimes just enough to be aware ..... and ofcourse quite a few insights would be trivial ...

But to think about it .... when you know that you have bought that LIC policy not because you are convinced it is good for your financial goals but because everybody in your group got it [ and claim it is the best thing for you ! :) ] ; you are more likely to understand why your son insists on a Ben 10 watch (because everyone in his group has it) !!! You will more likely be able to empathize with his crumbling under the effects of peer pressure.

When you realize your choice of subjects in college were to conform to what your parents wanted - may be you will go easy on your children and allow them to choose what they want to do.

You may start to wonder on any number of things ....

- Why do you light a diya everyday ? And yet consider reading the Gita in old age only ? :)
- Why doesn't [ or does ] it disturb you when a 5yr old girl child is expected to understand and give in ... whereas her brother who is 10 yr old and throws a tantrum - is indulged .... ?
- Why is bharatnatyam [ or opera ] beautiful to you ?

Questioning your likes may make you realize that some of them are either irrelevant or the emotion [fear/sadness/compulsion] that made you choose is no longer applicable.
Gradually ... you may find yourself thinking on more deeper issues - questioning your faith, beliefs, religious teachings, gender bias, patriotism, caste leanings, work ethics etc.

The more you know why you are doing / liking / disliking something the more aware you become of your persona and .... that ... is the whole point of .... "Know thyself" !
When you know what motivates you , what moves you , what interests you .. you are able to move beyond that knowledge to making choices that more beneficial for yourself , your family, friends and work.

It is said that a 1000 mile journey begins with a step ... so ....may be it is time to ponder on ...
"Why do I like the color _______ ? " :)

Skills update .... ?

2010-05-26T02:41:00.000-07:00

Every once in a while I get a doubt ... did I answer this person correctly ? And this especially happens when I am asked questions regarding the software field.

The latest in the line was a question posed to me by a teen. God knows why he asked me ... he is such a go getter already - a paying blogger website , knows Joomla , his twitter updates ( and no of followers ) leave me astonished ... . This along with him being a student ..... Hmm may be he asked me just to make me feel distinctly uncomfortable and outdated .... now there is a thought !! :)

He asked - What technical skills do you think collegians should invest in ? Uh oh ..... what could I say ?

Seemed to me he was better updated than I am ... nevertheless I considered the question carefully and answered that learning any of the following would be good .... Now I am wondering .. did I get it right ? Is there something I have missed ? And what about suggestion for soft skills ? Shouldn't I have suggested that anyway ? But ... how do I suggest he learn that ?

My answers -

- Java , JSP , Java based frameworks
- .Net technologies - VB .Net, ASP .Net, C#, LINQ
- HTML, CSS , Flash, jQuery
- PHP, MySQL, Ruby on Rails
- Google Web Toolkit, Android apps
- Learning to make apps for 'i' Apple products,
- Animation [ Have no clue of software's in this area )
- Testing area - QTP ?
- SAP
- Linux
- Apache , Weblogic ?
- Photoshop

The reason this list makes me uncomfortable is that - it feels like deja vu. So what have I missed ??

Last day of your life ?

2010-05-13T08:07:00.000-07:00

Live each day as if it were your last ........

This particular instruction is given in so many articles , books , blogs etc and I think .. what is the fuss all about ? I guess I have not reached the "Aha" moment for this yet ...... :) No .. change that to .. I know I have not reached the spiritual awakening required to appreciate that line ! :)

This recommendation is supposed to make you contact people from whom you are estranged , people you want to forgive ( or want to gain forgiveness ) , make your loved one feel extra special etc .... But I think .. would I call any one with whom I have had a falling out with ? No ... they are ex-friends for a reason ! :) Of course not always acrimonious reasons ..

One cannot live in a state raised awareness forever .. so like it or not .. we slide into the regular rhythm of ignoring many important things and getting back to the grind ..... so may be this suggestion is better suited to considering it as as advisement to take a breather ... to stop and smell the roses ... :)

So what runs through my mind if it were my last day is .....

I would do no laundry !!! LOL :)
I would eat only junk food ... probably killing myself in that hour itself .. :)
See if all my loved ones could take a holiday and spend the day with me ... :)

... and many more things which are squarely centered in the material world ... :)))

Although I think ..... I would not call any of my friends either ... it being the last day .. I think I would expect them to understand that I would want to spend every minute with my family ! :) I wonder now .. Am I going to lose any friends for saying this ? :)

Is it really so weird ?

2010-05-12T01:22:00.000-07:00

Many times I am asked how I chose my baby's name. I am told it is a beautiful name ( although many say it is too long too ! :) ). They are weirded out when I mention that I chose this name when I was in my 8th std. It was serendipity. I was just having a fine summer day looking at the blue blue sky and this name popped into my head along with the name Prakurti as good names.

I thought ; if I ever married and had a child and a girl at that, I would name her one of these two names. Along the way I lost interest in the name Prakurti. :) [ No such thing luck with a boy's name !! :) ]

My signature : In high school as an exercise from our school - we were to open a bank account in our names ( a practical lesson ) - so we had to go to the local bank , ask for account opening forms etc ... and for this - my group - a bunch of 4 girls seriously spent one lunch period deciding and then perfecting our signatures for the said bank account.

Our requirements were simple - we would not neatly write our names , it would be individualized and we would not include our surnames since we did not want to change our signature when we got married ! :)

Now this was at an age where most of us thought of marriage as nothing but the most stupid thing to do !! And yet we were practical enough to realize that ... life is life ... we never knew what would happen !! :)

While in my 2nd year Pre-Uty - I had joined NIIT and regardless of my specialization in Engineering I knew I would enter the software field. It seemed so obvious to me ! :)

And yet when I mention incidents like this ... it is considered strange ! What I don't understand is why ? :)

You know you have matured in IT when .....

2010-04-30T22:32:00.000-07:00

You know you have matured in IT when ..... you look at the following picture and move from exclaiming - "How crazy , our project would never be like that !!! " to ... "Sigh ! Sad but so true ..... !! " :)

When this picture was forwarded in my early days... most of my friends and myself felt the scenario depicted was hilarious and clearly wrong !!

Today when I ask my friends what they think .... most just shake their heads !

Am sure this scenario is not the province of the IT industry alone .... !!

Rainy day ... who says blues ? :)

2010-04-29T05:38:00.000-07:00

I know it is summer but for some reason ... thoughts of rainy season are already pouring in .... :)

If I were to have a lazy rainy day .. with hot tea and pakoras ..and popcorn .... and with my daughter next to me ... what movie CD or music video CD would I plug in ??? [ Ok ok what would I play on my comp ?? :) ]

Some of my picks .....

1. Monsters Inc

2. Tinkerbell ( the series ) plus I guess - the Disney series - Bambi, Snow white, Beauty and Beast, Fantasia

3. Wizard of Oz ( The old one )

4. The Sound of music

5. Baby's Day out

6. Home Alone

7. Free Willy

8. Little Mermaid

9. Chak De India

10. Toy Story

11. Earth Song and We are the world - MJ

12. Another day in paradise - Phil Collins

13. Sleeping Child - MLTR

14. Vande Mataram - AR Rehman

15. Ab ke sawan - Shubha Mudgal

16. Lakdi ki kaati - Masoom

17. Ricky Martin - Cup of life [ the one with the football snippets .... ]

18 Hum bhi agar bacche hote ...

19. And ..... and ... suggest some more .... :)

I know this list is heavily tilted toward English movies / videos but then I am not very familiar with classical Hindi movies ( songs yes .. not movies ... ).

My girl was not entranced with Mary Poppins, Finding Nemo , Brother Bear, UP and Gods must be crazy .....!

I have not included video games though ..... hmmmm ....

So ...... any more that you can recommend? :) Don't have to take my daughter's age into consideration .. just think what you would choose for yourself .. and if you have a child .. to view with him/her ... :) Or may be project what you would share in future !!

Time ... changer of seasons ....

2010-04-05T00:04:00.000-07:00

Listening to this Boney M song "Time changer of seasons .. time will see another flower growing" .. I thought ..If I could turn back time in my life - where would I want it to stop ( and stay there forever ) .. [Assuming no change in choices or decisions ... ]

Childhood - the pure irresponsible and very happy days .. but still there was this urge to grow up ! [ What a silly wish it seems like ! :) ]
School days - Loads and loads of fun .. but raring to go to college .....
Pre-University - Lively days ... and yet wanting to get into an engineering college ! :)
Engineering - Some of the best days ever ... but wanting to get a good job and earn some cash ! :)
Job days - Now this is seriously a very good contender .. the euphoria of landing a well paying job lasted quite some time and then there were the friends with whom I had all those bike rides and travelling ... plus met hubby in this duration ... So why would I not want to turn back time to this stage ?? Because now I know what life is like with my baby ..... :)
So my current stage -- I think it says a lot that in spite of all the wonderful by-gone days ... I am in a very very good stage ... after all even if I really could I still would not want to go back ... :)

What do you think ? Where would you want time to stop if you could ?

No new discoveries please .....

2010-04-01T04:34:00.000-07:00

I heard this comment the other day in response to reading the book "Prey" by Michael Crichton. -- "That is why I think there should be no discoveries by mankind. All of them lead to nothing but bad things !!"

Uh-oh, I thought ... here we go again. You see this is the third time I have come across this same comment [ from different people ].... and every time I wonder if the person who says this does not understand what exactly he/she is disclosing.

The conversation excerpt -

V : So all discoveries/inventions are bad ?
O : Yes all of them .. just consider Atom Bomb - they tried to discover something and that killed many people in Japan.
Dynamite -this was supposedly for mining but was used in landmines instead ( this I do not know and have not googled it). Vaccination has lead to biological warfare !!! [ The research into germs is the cause it seems ]. It is the curiosity of humanity that causes problems all the time.

V : [ A sweeping statement so I started with just one e.g. ] But what about the fact that nuclear reactors give power ?
O : Why do we need power ? We should go back to the age of candlelight and kerosene lamps.

V : Vaccination has lead to so many children being saved from crippling diseases. That is not important ?
O : Do you see the problems the world is facing due to a burgeoning population ?

V : If you say all discoveries/inventions are bad - then going back to the very beginning - there should be no fire - so no cooking and hence no farming. In fact there should be no evolution at all ! But nature changes all the time ; plants and animals adapt which can be called change or discovering a new better method of survival or evolution.
O : [ After an uncomfortable silence ] Ofcourse I don't mean that - we should go back to the previous generation where people were happier and things were simpler; when humans did not cause so much destruction !!

V : [ Aha ! I did not continue after hearing that statement. I would have been persona non-grata if I had said what I thought. :) I mean history has always been about bloodshed ... so humans not causing destruction is a non-argument ]

I think the person(s) did not realize the new changes that life wrought were frightening or discomfiting to him/her and hence the nostalgic and vehement wish to go back. How often do we hear this ?

" Internet is the worst thing that could happen to kids" [ previously it was TV .. before that ? No idea ... !! :) ].

And even then it is a kind of prejudice when you think that any generation is the best simply because it falls in one's comfort zone !! So would every generation like change to stop at their generation b'cos they think it is best .... !! :) And yet without change .. they never would have arrived at that point of time ... :)

Be it changes due to petroleum refining and need for electricity ( for kerosene ), factories ( for the candles and lamps ), the industrial revolution - which included many many discoveries and inventions, transportation, guns , guillotines .. all the way to the discovery of fire and the wheel..... In some way or another .. all changes are enmeshed and have brought us here .. for better or worse ...... :)))

Like many things .. the whole point seems to be missed - that Internet or TV or curiosity or discoveries/inventions - nothing is inherently evil by itself. It is the usage that causes all the trouble. And change is a juggernaut that cannot be stopped !! No matter how much we resist it !

I hope that .... I do not end up saying some years later ..... "The Internet was better than ...... " :)

Book Review - Made to Stick by Chip Heath and Dan Heath

2010-03-21T22:58:00.000-07:00

I read this book on Ashwin's recommendation. Thanks Ashwin ! :)

There was a mild sense of deja vu when I read this book and that may have been because of all the literature read on - how to make good presentations / proposals / speeches / ads .... etc. [ Have you seen Steve Job's presentations ? :) Sadly I still lack in this area !!! ]. Principles like - KISS ( which is called "Simple" in this book ) , make an impact ( Unexpectedness ), a picture speaks a thousand words etc . Plus one cannot help remembering all the ads / stories / one-liners that have stuck to one's mind !! :))

Having said that the book puts tangible strategies into a simple usable formula , a kind of handy reference - that can be used like a ready reckoner to help make ideas 'stick' in the minds of the audience. Towards this at the end of every chapter a case study is taken and examined/analyzed against the formula -- and an effort is make to understand why one of idea 'sticks'. Nothing like an example to illustrate practicality.

The formula for stickiness - SUCCESs (Simple, Unexpected, Concrete, Credible, Emotional, and Story). The last 'S' is deliberately left out. Does this make the formula more 'sticky' ? :)

Some things I liked / learned from the book [ This is by no means exhaustive - I liked the book in its entirety ].

1. Curse of Knowledge - Many people who are communicating an idea know so much about a subject that they are unable to put themselves in the shoes of their audience who may know very little about that topic. [ Ever sat through the presentation of an expert and found most of it went over the head ? :) ]. This is the curse of knowledge - “Once we know something, it is hard to imagine what it was like not to know it.”

2. The story of prejudice - A teacher Jane Elliott in Iowa was trying to think of a way to explain to her class of third-graders about prejudice. This was after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. She wanted to convey the idea of why someone would hate enough to kill them.

So she first divided the class into brown-eyed children and blue-eyed children. Then brown-eyed children were told they were superior to blue-eyed children. They were allowed to sit in better seats in the class and given extra time at recess. Blue-eyed children were made to wear a collar so that their superior brown-eyed classmates could identify them anywhere and ignore or taunt them. . The brown-eyed children were vicious in their contempt and hate. The blue-eyed kids began to do poorly in subjects they had previously done well in.

One day later - the teacher reversed her statement - she told that blue-eyed children were superior to the brown-eyed children. Now the brown-eyed children faced the discrimination, poor grades , the physical collar and taunts. With the change the prejudice also turned around.

She ended the experiment on the 3rd day - telling them neither were superior. But the experiment made the idea of prejudice concrete ! Years later - her students still remembered the profound message that differences can generate excessive hate - enough to kill.

3. Business managers seem to believe that, once they've clicked through a PowerPoint presentation showcasing their conclusions, they've successfully communicated their ideas. What they've done is share data.

4. There is a curious disconnect between the amount of time we invest in training people how to arrive at the Answer and the amount of time we invest in training them how to Tell Others !

5. Stripping out information, in order to focus on the core, is not instinctual. There is a tendency to include every single fact as though the quantity of data amassed is more important.

6. Why stories work - If you make an argument, you're implicitly asking the audience to evaluate your argument - judge it, debate it, criticize it - and then argue back, at least in their minds. But with a story, you engage the audience - you are involving people with the idea, asking them to participate with you.

In the last pages - there is a reference guide which are like notes plus there is a section on common communication problems and what to do about them. Definitely useful.

All in all - a fast and easy read , interspersed with many examples and certainly a book that can picked up to improve in communication ( and be remembered ) - be it via presentations / speeches / ads / business proposals .....

Inputs go directly into the Output ...

2010-02-13T23:34:00.000-08:00

Consider a scenario - A group of friends and one rambunctious toddler driving the parents wild ... out comes the threat ...

"If you don't listen .... we will lock you in the bathroom / dark room / terrace " etc ... And for added benefit - the threat is carried out sometime too .. so the child knows exactly what that fear is ....

Cut the scene - a few years later - the parents saying "I have no idea why he/she is afraid of the dark - he/she is old enough now to switch on the light in a dark room by himself/herself".

Is this a rocket science that the result from such constant admonishments is not visible ? The inputs are processed to shape the output !!!

Yet I see this every day and from educated and supposedly mature parents ... the other variations of the same ...

Don't go into the water you will drown ; Later -- I don't understand why he/she is afraid to go to swimming lessons and keeps screaming ?
Don't run/jump/climb etc you will get hurt; Later -- Look at that kid ... he/she is so good at sports and you ....
Don't eat that - it is not the season for it ... ; Later - my child is fussy about food ....
Don't make a mess or keep quiet - I am working and switching on the cartoon channel .... ; Later -- all he/she does is watch TV whole day ...

Admittedly parenting is a tough job [ especially if you think it to death :))) !!! ] We don't have the energy to keep up with kids and trying to maintain discipline when the child is on the tantrum train is a nightmare ....... yet ... some effort at viewing ourselves from the outlook of a child is required I think.

It seems to me very often - kids need a break from parents more than parents needing a break from kids !!! The world is a wonderful place in the child's eyes and in these days when the time for innocence and fun is shortening day by day .... they need a break from the the conflicting instructions ...

This is why I think a child is given extra energy to be naughty and irrepressible ; simply because if it were otherwise kids would become robots performing at the will of parents !!!! And nobody including parents .. would like such kids !!! :))) Contradictory eh ? :))

Book Review - Superfreaknomics by Steven Levitt and Stephen J Dubner

2010-02-01T06:39:00.000-08:00

If I had to use one word to sum up this book I would use "Meandering" and not in a bad way. It is interesting and has lots of statistical data !

Some of the topics covered include -

Global warming ( but ofcourse !! :) ) - Some unconventional methods to reverse the warming.
On People - If we are by nature altruistic or selfish
How to catch a terrorist using data mining techniques ; one of the variables is life insurance
Prostitution - many areas in this topic
Drunken driving vs Drunken walking
Doctors washing their hands ( and yes most don't seem to !!! )
How safe are car seats vs seat Belts for kids and so on ....

There is a vast amount of diverse information packed in a good narrative style. It is more like a fiction book with non-fiction data ! :)

But I must admit the section on being a female in India made me cringe - not that what is written is not the truth because it unfortunately is and the arrow strikes too close to home.

I do not think this book has the impact of their first book "Freakonomics" or perhaps the "freak" of the first book - they seem to have lost some punch and are unconvincing in some of their arguments.

Also some insights seem more common knowledge than something that challenges preconceptions. Like the information on women dying during childbirth due to doctors not washing their hands. Or even people needing incentives to be more altruistic ( may be a cynical knowledge ! :) ).

All in all - an enjoyable but hardly a must read.

Which original version is liked ?

2010-01-29T01:56:00.000-08:00

I can't say I like to play devil's advocate or stir up the nest but the current furore over "Phir Mile Sur" is irrestible.

While quite a few are not enamored with "Phir Mile Sur" ( an underestimation) others are fine with it - they may still prefer the older version but credit the new one with the inclusion of more diversity, technology, children, sign language etc.

And I speculate ... just how much of this commotion is due to "what-we-see-or-hear-first-we-like-better" syndrome !! Ok now what is the technical term for this ? :)))

Consider the following

1. Same songs/movie in different languages

Cheeni Kum and the song from Mouna Raagam [ Tamil ]. It is a straight tune lift !

I prefer the Tamil version but friends here perfer the Cheeni Kum song and I cannot feel the magic in Cheeni Kum !!!

Saathiya songs vs the Alaipayudhe [ Tamil ] songs

I like the Tamil version again and yes I heard it first. My friends from Pune prefer the Hindi version [ yes I did make them listen to the Tamil version ! :) ]

Anjali movie songs as well as the movie - I prefer the Telugu version which I watched and listened to first.

I know my Chennai friends like the Tamil version better ! :)

Ghajini vs the Tamil movie ( forgot the name ) - yep I prefer Ghajini ( although I have not seen the entire movie )

e. The day earth stood still - I can't imagine even wanting to watch the 1951 version ! :)

2. Cricket T-20 vs Test matches

The cricketing world proverbially erupted on this issue and yet see the cash cow that T-20 is now. This clearly shows the demand for cricket in this format never mind the purists' views ! :)

3. Books converted to Movies

Although the mediums are different - if a person has seen the movie first and then reads the book - more often than not he/she prefers the movie and vice versa.

4. Old Hindi songs and the new remixed versions

Yes people like the old versions but there are few kids I know who prefer the new ones. And I did think couple of the remixes were done tastefully so that one could listen to the old and the new with pleasure. Bonus ! :) The videos of these songs though .... are not my cup of tea at all ...

5. Strange but Atlas Shrugged and Fountainhead

Most Ayn Rand lovers seem to like both books but prefer the book read first !!! :)

And so on ..... I do think the in the long run purists lose ground simply because change ( good or bad ) is a juggernaut wheel that is just unstoppable !!!

Having said that; for "Phir Mile Sur" - I think they should have considered making it crisper - 5 - 6 min preferably and included more national icons and gotten off the excessive Bollywood train .... there were Bollywood people in the original but they did not choke you with their number ! :)

Choice , Freedom , Independence - What ?

2010-01-26T21:43:00.000-08:00

Most parents when asked; tell that they want their kids to be independent. I wonder ..... what does independence mean ?

Financial Independence ? Emotional independence , Religious independence ?

When a child emotionally declares he/she prefers to spend more time with say the father - the mother immediately sulking is something I have seen too many times [ "After all I have done" .... is the oft heard wail ]. Isn't this is a barrier to emotional growth ??

A child questions - regarding the job, career or lack thereof [ :) ] - taking offence does not help.

In fact even for routine queries I have been told not to say "I don't know" because it reduces my authority !! I cannot say I understand this - I know I am not a know-it-all .. [ I prefer leaving this job to google !! :) ]. And I would prefer to explore the answer with my baby .... and common there are so many questions that I just cannot answer ..... if I curb this am I not impeding the child's intellectual freedom ??

Our children should earn and stand on their own feet. But if this involves making a lot of credit purchases and falling into a debt spiral - do we think that a child should learn from his/her mistakes or bail out the child again and again ? [ The child here is a legal adult but when is a child not a child to its parents ? Aaah yes .. when paying for our medical bills !!! :)) ]

Independence to decide on a life partner - an acquaintance was askance at the thought that having a girl child in the US who is independent might open the possibility of having a black [ have no idea what the politically correct term is now !! ] son-in-law .... !!!

Imagine a child choosing to change religions ( for any reason ) .. how many parents would like that and can support that ?

And the list goes on

- When a girl decides on the kind of dresses she wears ( for guys too ... but on a lesser level )
- When a guy decides to do some RJing instead of focusing on CET .......
- Choice of geographical area to settle

This is not restricted to a home environment alone ... Ever a submitted a proposal to your boss only to find that all the boss likes are the full stops and commas and sometimes not even that ? :)) Where is the independence here ?

A bird is taught by the parents to fly and yet when it flies the nest why does the resentment come in ? We may find that we cannot live with the choices made .....

So when I hear "I want my child to be independent" I also hear the caveat -

As long as he/she makes choices per my idea of what a a proper choice is .. and that is not independence at all .... it is mere conformity to a parent's ideals ......

While I am not immune to this phenomenon ... for now .... I think perhaps I should allow my child to jump in puddles more often ..... :)) That is also a type of choice right ?

Reading - A complete waste of time ??

2009-12-16T07:05:00.000-08:00

Recently a friend of mine who is not into reading in any form observed - "You like reading books but don't you think it is a complete waste of time ? Especially since your books are not even related to work. In the time you are reading you do nothing productive !!!! "

Of course I bristled at this but she being a friend - I did not shoot off acerbic comments; even though uncharitable observations about her serial-watching-time did occur to me !!! :))) Ha ha ....

Nobody likes to be told they are wasting time !! :)

Still .... I decided to actually think about her observation ... :) I know anyone can go on and on about the benefits (and disadvantages) of reading so I am not getting into that .... :)

I am going to play devil's advocate [ any offense in unintended ! ]

If we are to think of reading books as a waste of time then anytime spent in not foraging for our basic needs is a waste of time.

So letz see -

Time spent in listening to music is a waste of time - unless it is how you earn your bread-and-butter.
It goes without saying that only people involved in movie making should watch movies. [ What about the associate industries of Advertising, Toys, T-shirts, Games ...... :) No idea ! ]
Serials are a complete waste of time of-course - never mind the neighborhood boutiques ... that sell sarees and jewellery inspired by the serials !
Reality shows ? Ha .. toss it out of the window .... :)
You would like to learn the piano ? Why ? Read a trade magazine instead ! :))
Watching cricket / football / tennis by any one other than the players is an absolute no-no ! Never mind if your spouse starts to resemble a grizzly bear on losing his/her relaxation time with a favorite sport. :)

And so on and on ..... :))

To stretch it to a crazy level .....

Your child should decide what he/she wants to be in childhood and based on that should learn / read only skills related to the same !! Ouch ....

How would the world fare in this kind of environment ? I shudder to think .... :))) So next time I am tempted think of any specific recreation as a waste of time I am going to remember that the lateral impact of our recreations are many and varied [ both on self and others :) ] and I should realize each person chooses his/her own brand of poison ! :)

As for my friend - When I showed her this blog post she groaned and said "Blogging is creation of more material to read and ...... wasn't that where all this argument began ?" ! ;)) "

Books to Movies - Gripes ......

2009-11-27T07:36:00.000-08:00

I think it is always dicey when books are converted to movies ....I mean just take the Bourne series .. !!! The movie(s) have not captured the book. They have taken "Bourne Identity" and made it into 3 movies with bits and pieces from the second and third book. The books "Bourne Supremacy" and "Bourne Ultimatum" hardly have anything in common with the movies of the same name. :)

While some adaptation in the storyline is expected; I wonder why glaring mistakes are made while casting .... One would think this area at least can be close to perfection .....

Yet ..... when I think of Lord of the Rings and the role of Galadriel played by Cate Blanchett -

She is supposed to be absolutely beautiful .. in fact so beautiful that the Dwarf and Elf keep arguing on the point - Arwen vs Galadriel. I know beauty is in the eyes of the beholder and all that but she looked terrible in the movie instead of gorgeous. Absolutely disappointing !!! Arwen as Liv Tyler was so much more better and she looks ethereal the way it is in the book. [ For those of you who forgot ; Galadriel is an elf queen and one of the 3 keepers of the rings. She gives Frodo the Star of light ].

Same for Marie in Bourne Movies - I don't think the actress fit the bill for this role ......

Another famous series - Harry Potter just seems to have too many wrongly depicted characters ... think of - Voldemort - He finally completely appears in "Goblet of Fire" and what a disappointment. Honestly as the main villain-of-the-piece in Harry Potter isn't he supposed to be so scary that nobody can mention his name ? Isn't he supposed to look more menacing ? Instead he looks like a caricature of a villain or a comic portrayal gone wrong !! Jeez .. no chills at all... ends up looking silly in fact ..... And then his eyes are supposed to be red slits !!!

Fleur Delacour - She is a Veela and has an ability to entrance and mesmerize men ... well .... she seems to have no appeal at all in the movie !!! :)

And I can go on .... :)

These look like glaring examples to me ... but may be this comparison is something obsessed book-readers observe and like to critique ..... :)

In recent times - the best movie adhering to the book descriptions IMHO is "Twilight". I found no issues with any of the characters - be the main characters or the lesser role characters - they have chosen exceptionally well. Yet how much does this diligence in casting convert to profit for the movie ?

[ Twilight - New Moon - is not very riveting as a book so I think it may not do much at the box office when compared to part one... :) But then that is the storyline .. not the character ..... so I digress .... ]

I did think it was an interesting question as regard casting but I know I do not have enough data to analyze ... :)) May be getting the main characters right is sufficient ....

Mom ? Or just a doubtful indecisive person ?

2009-11-25T19:13:00.000-08:00

With a child every decision is fraught with doubt ....

-- If you quit your job you wonder if you are sending the wrong signal by not working but if you work you bemoan the lack of time with your child ... :)

-- When you send your child to classes on drawing , piano , swimming etc you question if you are not allowing the child free time ... if you lessen the classes you ask yourself if you are not exposing the child enough to new ventures that he/she could learn ....

-- When you prepare food you ponder if you are getting the nutrients right .. if you don't and instead have a cook .. you feel guilty for not cooking every meal and snack yourself ! :)

-- If you scold the child you feel guilty for hurting him/her but if you don't you contemplate whether you not making the child too soft emotionally and tied to your apron strings .... :)

-- If you spend lots of time playing with your child you speculate if you are making him/her dependent on you for entertainment; if you don't you feel like a heel for not spending enough time with the child...

-- If you read many story books to the child you wonder if you not paying enough attention to physical development and motor skills ... if you don't spend enough time reading you feel you are not preparing your child for future study ! :)

-- When you are firm you deliberate if you are being too authoritative and if you are lenient you mull over if you are spoiling the child ! :)

-- When you allow your child to play in the rain you muse if you have lost your senses ( :) ) lieu of the swine flu scare and but if you don't, you feel the child has lost an opportunity of spontaneous fun under the raindrops ...

And the list goes on .... damned if you do and damned if you don't !!! :)

I believe this is not a question of right or wrong .. which I think would be easier to handle ..... it is a question of balance with respect to the individual nature of the child ..... and who knows what the balance is ... ??? :)))

I wonder if this is a common obsession / compulsion that makes me over-think every step I take .......

However even though I cannot help but think that my daughter deserves so much more better than the kind of parent I am .... when she unexpectedly gives me a hug and says "I love you Mama" ... I think may be ... just may be ....I am not doing such a bad job after all .....

Human beings are divisive social animals

2009-11-04T21:12:00.000-08:00

When I consider Aristotle's quote - "Man is by nature a social animal" - it occurs to me it is not completely true. We seem to have come a long way since we killed each other just because we occupied different turfs but the lines of differentiation are always present.

We slice and dice people based on various criteria -

South Indian ?
Indian ?
Language
Caste ( but ofcourse ... )
Economic status
Lineage ( my father's cousin's-cousin's was royalty ! ;) )
History ( my folks came with the Mayflower ! :) )
Religion - More people have died from this cause than all epidemics put together !!! And all religions advocate non-violence ! :)
Geographical teritory
Education

Humans need to be part of a faction and yet be unique

I think the list can go on .... So while we have travelled in the road to equality I cynically think that we will never be able to quell the need to be distinct.

While by nature humans are social animals - I think this bonhomie extends only to the point of feeling part of a group and at the same time being able to feel a cut above others ! :)

And this is not a new observation - Am sure this is a part of some human behavior course material ! :)

Lessons learnt from changing my blogger template .. :)

2009-11-02T23:27:00.000-08:00

I changed my blogger template and it proved to be an exercise in frustration. I keep coming across these wonderful websites and it tempted me to change mine. :) Plus I went an extra step and thought "Hey ...let me make my own blogger template too !" Talk about delusions of grandeur !! :)

The previous look of my blog and the current look.

I have no idea how folks actually make a blogger template a day - but I went from trying to make a flamboyant vector transparency blog template to customizing a template in which I would settle for getting the search button icon aligned with my textbox !! You would think that this would be a no-brainer ! But no the textbox and search button icon don't align themselves horizontally without some tweaks ! :) Ofcourse I was always slow at front-end coding but .... :)

So here are my lessons ....

First if you can get away with not changing your blogger template - do so !!! :) Ha ha ha but yeah this hardly makes sense if you want your blog to look unique
Don't start to create a blogger template from scratch - it is easier(???) to customize an existing one. Unless ofcourse you enjoy CSS and those pixel alignments ! :))
There are hundreds of readily available navigation codes on the net - can use them. ( I have not used any - have kept it simple )
If possible search for a template that you can use without requiring any tweaks other than just adding your widgets
The holy grail of blogger template change - backup your existing template !!!
Just as an additional step - backup your blog posts too
Note any specific HTML scripts that you have put in your blog template that is not part of the widgets

SEO type meta tags
Google Analytics code etc

Contemplate using a test blog if you want to first check how your website will look before making any permanent changes [Create a test blog]. You can use this test blog to even try out new widgets/script that you plan to add.
Can use this link to keep your widgets safe. I found it did the trick
Upload the new template
Reposition the widgets
Add the HTML/javascripts that were not part of the widgets
Add any other new widgets / scripts that you want
Keep your fingers crossed ..... and check how your blog looks after the changes! :)

Enjoy ! :)

The Seven-Day Weekend - Ricardo Semler - Book Review

2009-09-30T21:59:00.000-07:00

When I picked this book from a friend's collection - I thought it was material along the lines of time management. The cover specifics were not very enlightening ! :) I was surprised by the atypical model of management that I ended up reading about ! :)

The main underpinning of this book is employee democracy ( democrazy ?? :) ) in all areas of company management. The ensuing chaos may seem like a recipe for disaster but it is hard to argue with numbers - the Semco company is supposed to have grown from $35 million revenue to $212 million revenue in 6 years .... with virtually no employee turnover.

The conviction the author advocates is that of relinquishing control ... and inherently trusting the employees to behave like adults and not kids requiring supervision. He believes that peer control is effective for both reporting and auditing purposes.

Consider some of the company practices -

Company plans

The company has no vision statement, no 5 or 10 year business plans , no mission statement or corporate strategy. Plans are only made for 6 months in advance !

HR / Organization structure / Motivation

The company has no HR and the organization structure is flat. They have no fixed CEO ( at the time of writing the book ! ) and no standard practices either.

The author believes that an employee who puts himself first will be motivated to perform !! And that it is due to a non-alignment of corporate interests vs personal interests that too many companies end up spending too much time trying to motivate its folks.

Attending meetings are optional

Now this may not sound very unusual - but considering the amount of importance a show of hands by workers has towards - opening a new service, product, vetoing a deal, closing of a factory unit, hiring of new people for a particular function - it assumes considerable importance.

Say not one person turns up for a meeting to discuss a new type of product for the market it is a clear indication that the employees do not consider this important and perhaps this product is not required at all. Same logic extends to everything. Even the CEO is not immune to empty meetings towards any of his ideas ! :)

Salaries

People decide their own pay packets and everyone knows what others are paid ( Ha ha ha - can you imagine the furore this would cause ??? :) ).

People can opt to work less ( phases in life - pregnancy, part time study etc ) and can move some of their work to other people interested in working and earning more. The people who work less thus choose a lower pay packet accordingly.

Individuals can take 3 yrs off for a sabbatical with some help from financial packages ( they should invest towards the same while working obviously ! :) ).

No time constraints

People decide when they come and what they do and this extends even to assembly line workers. These groups decide amongst themselves when to come and hence are better able to monitor themselves and manage themselves ... it is no longer a management vs workers problem !

The author believes that forcing workers to work standard hours may mean losing employee potential on a daily basis. This kind of flexi-timings allows people to make family the first priority and schedule work around it. ( And in Brazil - schedule work around the football matches ! :) )

Choosing their niche

People can move around in the company to find their niche. Trainees for the first one year are not assigned to any unit - they are exposed to various groups and responsibilities. Workers follow their interests and instincts when choosing jobs or projects.

No information hoarding

Board meetings are open to all employees - people can sign for them in advance on a first come and first serve basis and the agenda is made available so persons can prepare themselves. Whoever attends is expected to actively participate and vote responsibly.

The company books are opened to all employees and all unions. To ensure workers understand what exactly is happening - not only classes are provided - the budget is also presented in simplified format where relevant.

Sounds like Utopia ? :) Some of the things mentioned in the book are not new - 360 reviews, profit sharing plans but the underlying collective consensus approach is perhaps what makes the difference.

All in all - an easy and interesting read. And if executed ...... new vistas ...... :)))

Do you identify with .... Treasured Emptiness ?

2009-09-26T22:55:00.000-07:00

Sometimes .... this feeling settles down on me .... "Is this it ??"

Although it may seem that nothing but depression can trigger this ... it is not true .... it can happen subsequent to euphoria; post some cherished accomplishment or when I look at a brilliant sunset too ( sorry to all those nature lovers who believe sunsets are always inspirational ! :) ).

I am confused when I find that this mental frame is not chased away by one's regular daily activities, music, movies, books , shopping ( :) ) , browsing, twitter ( :) ) etc

This is different .... it does not intrude in the normal course of life's events ... what it does is, give a spectator perspective .... it is a part of every activity and yet a bystander ... a strange dichotomy of being ....

It is not sadness, happiness, not anger , not futility, not animation or sentimentality ...... and it dawns on me ( sometimes after a week or so !!!! ) ... it is nothing ...... a very special barrenness .....

A strange emptiness ; an emptiness that resounds with silence .... a thing of desolate beauty .... an emptiness where thoughts are intruders .......

Vedanta Treatise - The Eternities by Swami Parthasarathy - Book Review

2009-09-23T05:31:00.000-07:00

I bought this book quite some time back but each time I picked it up to read, I felt I was not mentally prepared for its tenets :) But now after reading it ......to say it is inspirational and profound sounds very tame !! It is much beyond that.

First of all - don't read this book unless you are ready to have your religious , spiritual beliefs questioned ! :) The author calls a spade a space and how ! :)) Secondly it starts dry - more like a textbook - and includes examples with logic, maths, poems , stories etc.

Some insights in the book -

Vedanta - The author says that Vedanta is to be approached like a science. Vedanta elucidates truth in an analytical manner akin to how math theorems are approached. Its truth is its authority and needs no person to give it credence. It belongs to everybody and in fact needs organized study just like a professional course.

God - The author claims that God is a concept like the unknown quantity in an algebraic equation. One needs to resolve the equation to get to the real value !! Also compares God to fuel in a vehicle ; says while the vehicle cannot move without the fuel - still the vehicle holds responsibility for where it travels and hence the responsibility of our lives lies with us !

Religion - The soul of religion has been killed and people are clinging on to the remains ! A most sagacious statement and so true ! Today - religion seems to mere following of rote conventions / meaningless rites / forced thoughts / inflexible beliefs without any value or emphasis being given to contemplation and reflection on any spiritual maxims or discourses. Religious education seems to have become an acceptance and compliance of past thoughts and actions. Says thinking is a skilled activity !! :) Most consider it a natural ability !

Who are you ? - We do not know who we are because when in dreams we think we are the person in the dreams and it is very real to us , just as the person we become when we wake up is very real to us too !!!!

Bhagvad Gita - Says it is ironical that while the Gita is a actually a book that is a kindle towards action ( after all it galvanized Arjuna to fight !! ) most people in India seem to consider it as a retirement activity and is only for the elderly !!

Renunciation - Renunciation does not mean abstaining from your essential duties. In fact it means that you should perform your duties and yet be a detached witness to all that happens in your life. True renunciation means you should be able to life life even enjoy life and yet know it is but transient and momentary.

Meditation - The author's views on meditation was startling and perhaps contentious too !!! Meditation is the last step of religious procedure and not the first. Says a mind full of desires is an agitating mind and cannot truly meditate. Something like bags of stones weighting a bird down - it just cannot soar. With all the hype surrounding meditation and the blithe assumption that meditation is the first thing to do when needing to be calm - this confounded me !!

The main goal in any-one's life should be self-realization. The world dissolves on attaining this !

Would you hire someone smarter than you ? :))

2009-09-10T05:43:00.000-07:00

One of the oft repeated mantras in management lore that I come across is hiring/surrounding yourself with people smarter than you. My personal experience in this has been somewhat ambivalent and inconclusive.

I have had people with me who climbed the corporate ladder faster than me plus there are others who are languishing more or less where they were when I left. :) I cannot claim to have made any conscious decisions towards encircling myself with brighter people than me.

So ....... let us look at others .....

When I was a relative junior in the organization a valid query from me regarding Database design along with a viable solution was rejected by a senior person .... I was puzzled by it at that time but came to the conclusion that there must be a very valid reason for the dismissal of my inputs. It made the code a little messier in my opinion so I could not help wondering why that individual did not see it fit to tell me the reason. ( And yes I did ask in person too !! :)) Since when have I stopped asking questions ? :)) )

Contrast this to another boss who was also high up in the corporate hierarchy but always found time to answer my queries (plus that of my team mates ); especially those insights gained through experience. We were exposed to quick bytes of wisdom ( and justified rebukes too ! :) ) through out the working relationship. This person collaborated with people who were technically more brilliant and yet did not feel intimidated nor were the inexperienced people in the group treated in a cavalier way for the many "dumb" questions.

Needless to say - working for the second person was much more fun and there was hardly anyone who found it difficult to go the extra mile when deadlines loomed !! :)

So my musing is this - Exactly what kind of person can hire other people around him/her who are more sharp, talented and clever than himself / herself ? Someone --

who is articulate ? ( May be my boss could not tell me why my design was wrong ! It is one thing to know and another to explain ! )
who is secure ? Security not based on position / title alone. ( Think of the number of CEOs sacked so unceremoniously ?? ;) ).
who enjoys learning
who knows he/she is employable ( even if the recession bites ! )
And someone who is office-politics-savvy if he/she is gunning for that promotion while being surrounded by exceptional people and actually wants to keep them happy too !!!! :))

Pace of Life .... :)

2009-08-24T02:44:00.000-07:00

I read this great article by Nandu - Pace of life and this blog is in response to some of the queries he has posted there. ( My answers turned out to be too long !!! )

The main topic .. is pace of life and how we seem to be rats in a spin wheel. Not a new topic ... but .. :))

The psychological/medical explanation of why we are addicted to searching, tweeting etc is given in this article . For those of you who have a short attention span - this is a long read but you can directly read the first para and last 3 paras to get the gist !!

First I must say I don't believe in balanced life. :)) I don't believe any generation ever really had it. We might think looking from a perspective of 15-20 yrs that they were happy - but they faced their own challenges. Plus we were kids !! :) It may make more sense to see what the adults were doing.

If we see; our parents spent a lot of time in physical work ... I don't remember a time when my mom / grand mom really goofed off. May be only when they visited their maternal homes !! :) My grand mom would do patchwork quilts when she was free ... !!!! Otherwise she was cooking, working in the fields, winnowing, running behind us kids , making butter, tidying the house etc etc etc. No cleaned rice, wheat , ready made butter etc off the shelves for her !!! My granddad was busy in the fields or with his photography .... He was engaged most of the day .. and night time was good for his photography work ..... Similar story for my Mom and Dad - Mom worked too ...

Yes the pace of life was slower I think - but then that generation had its own stresses to cope with.

Now for us a quite a few our stresses are self-inflicted. This is not to say that there is no compulsion to be better, faster and more efficient on a daily basis. It is there ... and I don't see it getting less any time in the near future. What we can do is instead is stream-line the areas that we have to focus on and eliminate the chaff.

Here are few of my observations -

First I think - we should forget the 5 day week and 2 day weekend concept. It is a 7 day work / weekend. That means pockets of leisure have to be taken during the week itself. You may think - Not during the working hours ... but I knew people who would go for a jog in the afternoon which worked as a stress buster and helped them get their exercise. It also made them come back to work with a fresh mind !!! Some would go to their patch gardens near the office - to do half an hour of weed pulling !

We have to choose what our stress buster is - be it 2 min meditation, slow deep breathing, going to a comics website , reading a few inspirational thoughts, watching a movie , a walk in nature etc ... It is a fact that there is no longer a clean divide between work and leisure time.

Secondly I think it is easy to get lost in the thick of thin things. ( Borrowing from Stephen Covey's - First things First ). How many times have we found that just googling on one topic leads to another and then another and you have ended up spending 3 hours ... almost doing nothing ? Personally I can be online all day and all night ... and still feel that I can continue ! :)

Yes technologies are addictive no doubt but much of the online experience also comes from
what we decide to look for. Being online itself is not the main thing - it is what we do online that matters. Mere zombie browsing is obviously a time waster.

RSS feeds, Twitter updates, iTunes podcast subscriptions, Online university material, News updates - how many times do we prune this to get only material is important and relevant to us ? Undoubtedly we have some searching to do to get the best out of the net but we forget this involves deleting too ! I personally unsubscribe/unfollow blogs/people that I don't feel are adding value to my online experience. Yes it may mean that I might miss that fantastic article on the perfect way to blog ....but if I have to hunt through 200 articles for that one ... I am better off without it !! :)

Same goes for the need to know the latest news asap. C'mon - current news is old news tomorrow. Lots of days we can live without reading the newspapers / news updates too !! :)) You just have to go and browse for top 10 news of last week / month to get the relevant details when you get back online ! :)

Another thing is ... time taken for a few tasks - especially the mundane ones !! We can limit them - fixing a time may ensure we do not squander time on non-essentials.

On the whole awareness is what will help .... being online cannot make us efficient unless we evaluate what we do - all the time ! :)) There are lots of books and tips on how to be more productive and I will not get into that but the bottom line is that it all fails if we do not tailor it to our needs.

Mind you - these are my inputs and a lot of you may think it is easy for me to say this since I am not working and juggling home life and office life. But the addiction to being online all the time affects me too ! :)

May be though; sometimes nothing but cold turkey works - so get off the net / twitter / facebook etc for a couple of days - the earth will still revolve around the sun !!!! :))

And sadly may be nobody will miss you ! ;)

Thinking about thinking ... :)

2009-08-18T23:59:00.000-07:00

I read in the book "The monk who sold his Ferrari" that for most people, 80% of the thoughts they think are same as that of the day before .... I was astounded ... somehow .... it seemed too fantastic a figure ... and then just the other day I came across this "People don't seem to realize that thinking is skilled work . We believe it is a natural process like breathing and eating."

Made me wonder ... how much do we think about the process of thinking itself ? How original or independent is our thinking ? And what, is original thinking ?

I traced a few random thoughts .... and felt that some of them were biased due to parents/elders/spouse's influence. A good deal of my thinking pattern has been molded in school - so read the impact of my teachers. Outlook on current affairs, technology trends or any other subject for that matter is shaped with the help of newspapers, books, magazines, blogs, ex-office colleagues, peers - and of course the influences mentioned before.

As for religion - although I have not inherited( ?? :-) ) the belief of my parents - I still have enough traces of their impressions. Especially where religion is concerned I speculate - just how much of our opinions are formed due to the result of reflective thinking and just how much is handed down and blindly absorbed ? Distinctly uncomfortable area but definitely something that augurs contemplation .... :)

And then - thoughts that come out of whatever experience I have gained in life are not unusual - mainly lessons learnt which so many in the world would have also learnt. :) I moved on to nostalgia. Is this in any way novel ? Simply because nobody else can view the past events through my eyes. I rejected this - I think while my frame of reference may be unique it is hardly original or independent.

Does my taste in music constitute any creativeness ? I did not think so .... I mean I listen to a good amount of music on the radio and unless I decide to listen to other songs in the album or movie ... how much can I consider my taste in music my own ? Can I not trace quite a few of the songs I like/hate to being assaulted by them day and night ? :) Some songs are remembered and enjoyed simply due to listening to them with friends ... rarely have I heard a snatch of
music completely on my own and liked/hated it instantly .. I will not say it has not happened ..... but ... I muse ... how much have I been predisposed me to like/dislike specific types of music simply due to confluence of influences ?

This understanding can be extrapolated to taste in movies, art, fashion sense, games, food , handling of finances etc.

In a seminar to illustrate just how different people were - a set of 6 people - were given 6 clues and they were all interpreted in myriad ways - and yet when I googled the interpretations - I found others with the same ideas or conclusions !! :)

So through out our lives we pick up so many prejudices we are not always aware of them ...... nor do we realize when and how we pick them up ....

This is not to say - we can live without influences/biases ... it just makes me think that it is amazing in this plethora of material that is bombarded at us - originality does crop up - like Gandhiji's non violence movement, Picasso's cubist drawings ( I honestly don't get them !!! :) ), music composers, Isaac Newton's theory of gravity , Albert Einstein's relativity , Moon walking ( ;) ), The determination of the Benzene ring ... to name very very few ......

But that does take me back to the basic question : Does original and independent thinking mean it has to be startlingly different from whatever is the prevalent culture at that moment ? Does it have to mean something unheard of before ? Or is the amalgamation of biases/prejudices/influences that give me my perspective on all that I think of - fresh ? That still makes me think I am predominantly a second-hander. ( to use Ayn Rand's terminology ! :) ).

Aargh .... Somehow this thought makes me rebel ... but then being rebellious is not original either ! :)

Colors of Friendship .....

2009-08-02T22:33:00.000-07:00

I have been ruminating on this thought for sometime but it may never have made it to the blog but for the serendipity of receiving a perfect friendship message for this post!

Also, I think my sacchariferous post may be more easily tolerated now - post friendship day ! :)

There are numerous odes to lifelong friends and best friends which I need not repeat here and I have no grouse about them. I just wonder why do short-term friends get the short-shrift almost always ?
Reminiscing - There was this friend with whom I concocted schemes to steal unripe and sour mangoes and equally unripe and hard-as-stone guavas from the neighborhood grouch ! :) A roomie who I thought had the weirdest (read worst ! :) ) taste in music and who believed the same of me. And well ...... etc etc etc .... :)
Not all brief friendships were fun either. A painful lesson in self-reliance was learnt because my friend in school dumped me for another girl who was more exciting and glamorous ( sounds crazy right ? :) ) during the summer holidays and I lost my entire crowd of friends ( my school and home friends were the same ... since we all went to the same school ) in one fell swoop. I had to face the sneers and snigger's from being an outcast ! :) Definitely my first heartbreak ! :)

I am sure most would have had different friends at the various stages in life with myriad experiences [ / capers? :) ] shared with them. Some may still be there today ....

Unarguably if were I meet some of these transient friends - I might not ( ok ok most likely not ) remember their names, the meeting might be awkward ( only so much time can be spent reliving old escapades ! ;) ), might not recognize them and some might just ignore me. But this does not diminish what they meant to me at whatever point of life I met them.

I have spent several lifetimes in those moments with them. :) And learnt that it takes all kinds to make the world ! ;)

And that being the case - I think while long term and best friends do have their place .... butterflies, fireworks, shooting stars, aurora borealis and annoying bee stings :) - all make up the kaleidoscope of our lives.

So I would like to say , what my friend said ...... "Friends are like sketch pens. They color our lives. I may not be your favorite color, but you will need me somewhere to complete your picture." :)

Happy Friendship Day ..... Belatedly !!! :)))

Balanced Life is a Myth

2009-07-16T11:16:00.000-07:00

Much has been written about Michael Jackson and more will be written. Already there are umpteen tribute songs, latest rehearsal clips and what not. There will be a whole industry that will cater to ensuring his memory is kept alive and and more importantly ... making dollars !! :) May be it will help clear his debts !! :))

I was thinking of his early debut in the music world. He joined the family band at the age of 5. Under the hands of his father he underwent infinite rehearsals to hone his talent. But is this so unusual ? It does not seem so .. consider the following celebrities...

Venus and Serena Williams - who say they do not remember ever learning to play ... they just knew how to play !!!
Andre Agassi - whose father Mike Agassi is supposed to have hung a tennis ball over Andre's crib and taped a racket to his hand as soon as he could walk !!

I am sure there are others .... but I am not commenting on the parenting styles of the parents of these celebrities.

My question is more basic - would these people have become so great in their fields without the overwhelming and relentless focus in their areas of expertise ? Just think of some other top-notch people -

Michael Phelps - Trains 5-6 hours every day ... 7 days a week ... 365 days a year ... no holidays / Sundays. This hardly leaves him time for anything else.
Tiger Woods - Was a child prodigy who began to play golf at the age of two. He does weight training and of course practises golf daily especially his swings.
Vishwanathan Anand - Daily tunes up anywhere between 4 - 10 hours depending on whether he has a match or not.
Warren Buffett - He was just 6 when he displayed his ability to make money off cola bottles !!
Bill Gates - Was never satisfied to be the best. He always had to push beyond.
It is well known that vocalists, musicians, dancers, circus performers, magicians etc have to practise/rehearse daily. It is not enough to know their trade - they must hone it on a daily basis.

This kind of targeted knuckling down obviously does not leave much time to lead a so-called-balanced life. And what is a balanced life ? Is it really good-to-have ?

When I was working I had attended this workshop called "I can". There was an exercise in which we were supposed to draw 8 spokes of a wheel. Each spoke represented a section of our life - like - spiritual , professional , health, relationships like father/mother/sister/brother etc ....I forget the rest. One had to mark how proficient one was in each section. 0 was the center. 10 was the extreme and represented 100%. And at the end of it .. we were to join all these points on the 8 spokes. Needless to say the joined dots never formed a circle which was supposedly the result to aspire for. But today I believe living a balanced life is a myth. Like it or not unless we invest in our orbit of excellence - we will never be good - forget being the best !

In this process of trying to lead a balanced life ... we do not seem to recognize that it seems to be a path to becoming a "Jack-of-all-trades-and-master-of-none". Perhaps it is time to accept that living a balanced life is not really desirable. It seems to be recipe to make one mediocre .... It is more beneficial to focus on our core strengths in one / two domains and realize that everything else will be at the expense of these ... and rightly so. Being a master in any sphere involves - time, effort, discipline and yes; sacrifice.
More to the point - Natural ability or talent ... will just remain raw potential unless it is exploited. Couple of areas of our life will dominate our waking hours - making time and having time for any other interest is just a bonus. So forget trying to be a 'super-anything' .... just be excessively good in your mainstays and let the rest take care of itself !! :))
This begs the question ..... For some these child prodigies - did their parents do a good thing by helping them harness their abilities or did they do them a disservice by pushing them so early ?
Would the genius have surfaced without the prodding ?

On diets, conflicts and health ! :)

2009-07-02T23:16:00.000-07:00

First of all let me be very clear - I don't diet. :) I don't believe in doing anything drastic with the body especially the diets that talk about surviving on juices alone or eating such miniscule amounts of food that all one would think about all the time is food ! :) Neither do I believe in one-miracle-plant/drug/grain/juice/tonic/exercise etc to make one full of vigor and life. :)

Having said that ... I am a believer in good eating habits ( does that sound like dieting ? Nope .. dieting in general seems to be synonymous with starvation ! :) ) and would love to get the motivation to exercise. The less said about this .. the better !!! I enjoy walking .. brisk walking and that is about it ... I need to get more exercise I know ... I need to just do it ! :)

Having read few ( very few ! ) books on healthy eating habits .... and obviously being no expert in nutrition , diet , exercise et al I have come across conflicting views. And sometimes wonder , what is the middle path. Once again none of these points I will be listing here - are to do with weight loss. Weight loss/gain is a side benefit, salubrious is what I am looking at.
Consider these points -

1 -> Sip warm water with your meal to aid digestion. ( Even within Ayurvedic writings they differ on this view )

Do not drink water with your meal since it will dilute the digestive juices and lead to incomplete/improper digestion.

I actually asked 2 ayurvedic doctors about this ! :) One said - how do you grind atta for idli/dosa ? You put little water to help the process but not so much that you lose the consistency of the atta. So a little water is good.
The other doctor said - what happens when you dilute acid with water ? Its efficacy decreases , same is true for digestive acids. :)

2 -> Minimize raw foods. Cooked foods are easier to digest.

Extensive Salads seem to be the way to go for better health !

3 -> Leave 4-6 hours between meals. Allow time for the the process of digestion to reach completion - including absorbing of nutrients in the small intestine and not just the digestion in the stomach. [ Do I sound gross ? Sorry ]

Eat every two hours to keep the metabolism going.

4-> Eat fruits on an empty stomach as a snack by itself not at the end of a meal.

Eat fruits only in the morning since the high quantity of fructose in fruits gets directly converted into triglycerides at any other time of the day unless you consume it post some exertion ( Whatever happened to the nutrients / fibre part of the fruit ? ) :)

5 -> Eat ghee - 3 to 4 teaspoons a day. This is highly recommended in Ayurveda.

Ghee is laden with calories. Avoid it completely.

6 -> Drink coffee - is a stimulant, it can decrease insulin resistance among other benefits attributed to it. These keep coming in the paper. ( Coffee with no sugar or milk )

Coffee interferes with absorption of minerals like iron and calcium. Increases acidity. So avoid completely.

7 -> Eat dark chocolate for the anti-oxidants. ( 70% or more than 70% cocoa )

Dark chocolates still have some sugar / sweeteners in them. And this miniscule amount renders the anti-oxidants in them useless.

8 -> Taking/Avoiding Vitamin supplements - a controversial topic for sure !!!

These are just a few simple ones that I have come across in my limited reading.
I am glad however to see that now the trend in dieting seems to be to do things in moderation. I am no fan of Atkins / GM / South Beach diet and the like. But then again may be I am speaking without having a complete knowledge of the same and am simply biased ! :)

These days what seems to be consensus is this - [ I say this b'cos these things are like a cycle I think - so what is good today most likely will not be so tomorrow ]

Say "No" to fruit juices. You lose the vitamins due to exposure to air, lose the fibre and get mainly the fructose. Instead eat whole fruits/vegetables.
Don't eat when angry, frustrated, depressed , bored etc. This interferes with good digestion and may also make you eat more.
Eat at home or as much home cooked food as possible. Eat in a quiet place. Avoid eating while walking/standing. If with family / friends avoid talks that can become agitating , negative or quarrelsome.
Give thanks for what you are about to eat. ( Yes this helps in digestion ! :) )
Savor the food - don't want TV while eating , don't talk on the phone or do other activities. Chew each bite thoroughly.
Use fresh, local, seasonal foods as much as possible.
Eat a little good fat before or during a main meal like lunch - e.g. walnuts / peanuts. I guess this where our Indian ghee comes into picture.
Keep regular meal times. Sleep well.
Do not stick to only one type of food - only low carbs , only proteins , only juice etc. It works against the body and robs you of vitality and strength.
Exercise. Stretch. Do weight training - use body for resistance ( e.g - yoga ) or weights it does not matter. These help the joints. And ladies - No, you don't get bulky. You get toned ! :)
Don't walk post a meal. It takes the blood away from the digestive process. According to Indian outlook - Vajrasana is the only asana recommended post a meal since it aids digestion by directing blood towards the stomach.
Avoid sweeteners. They have known side effects.
Low-fat, low-sugar,sugar-free, fat-free, baked food items - check the labels carefully. They might be just 1-2 gms lower than the full-fat items. Plus they might have other ingredients that pose a health risk.
Have lassi/buttermilk post meal. Acidophilus ( live culture ) helps maintain the good bacteria in your intestine.
Avoid Colas. No trans-fat. [ Using of deep fried oil again in cooking ]
Drink plenty of water.
Always eat breakfast.
Wake up at sunrise. :) [ Heard this one before eh ? :) ]
Meditate at least once a day.
Have dinner 2 hours before sleeping or before 8pm. Don't have a heavy dinner.
Your waist size is a better indicator of your health than your weight.
Your body needs fat !
Nutrients are more important than calories - Case in point - Brown rice vs White rice. Brown rice has more calories but is more nutrient rich than white rice.
A little stress is good for the body. It is when it becomes too much or chronic that problems creep in.

Ok this list is getting unwieldy. Am stopping here ! :). But the guidelines here are by no means exhaustive. :)
Let me know what you think ! :)

Who Says Elephants Can't Dance ? by Louis V. Gerstener - Book Review

2009-06-29T10:00:00.000-07:00

I am not surprised this book is one of the top ten business books that are recommended reading for management professionals. It is an amazing story of a turnaround of a behemoth that had all but ossified itself right out of the market place. Written by Loius V Gerstener , who joined as CEO at IBM and was the change agent who brought about the transformation.

Consider some of these statistics/ traits / problems when he joined -

128 CIO's across the company !!! Everyone of them managed their own local architecture & home grown applications.
3 different budgets allocations due to which accountability was difficult to determine.
266 different general ledger systems.
A very rigid HR system - an IBMer actually had to be fired from one division to work in another !!!
Decisions were made by committees, a type of centralized control that led to diluted responsibility and leadership.
Archaic IT systems which could not communicate with each other.
A business model that entailed having to start a fresh relationship with the local IBM office regardless of how big a customer you were anywhere else geographically. [ What a nightmare this would have been for customers !! ]. These were due to the geographical strong-holds or rather strangle-holds ! :)
339 different satisfaction surveys with disparate methodologies.- Scant information on customers and IBM's offerings viz-a-viz that of competitors.
No pan enterprise ad agency, multiple ad agencies employed with differing sometimes conflicting ads.
Loss of customer trust
Business alliances that made no sense
Inability to to bring its scientific inventions to the market place - like the relational database, Network hardware and software, Operating system ( which it sold to Microsoft ), Micro-processor ( to Intel ) , Unix processors ( I did not know this ! )
Sales that were focused on products rather than the customer needs and different IBM sales people disparaged their own products and different divisions would bid against one another with the same company.
Internal Turf wars - an appalling example is where IBM hardware made a deal with Oracle ( its arch rival ) without telling its software division !
A culture where everyone could say "No" and no one would clearly say "Yes" to company wide initiatives. Almost like veto power !! Imagine if you can just decide to ignore what your boss tells you .. simply because you do not concur !! :) Yes - they actually had a "Nonconcur" process and management system ! :)

And so on and on ......

What IBM had though was a sound R&D , Product development , a sense of responsibility , integrity , and a can-do attitude that helped. Ultimately management can only create conditions for transformation and provide incentives. Management does not change the behavior of thousands of people - it invites the employees themselves to change.

Critical decisions to bring around the company included -

Keeping the company together - When the CEO joined the company there was an ongoing clamour to break the company into many small companies with different offerings. Going against the tide - the CEO made the tough decision to keep IBM together. He forecast that the IT industry would be services led and not technology led. He considered the size of IBM a strength that would help IBM in the ability to apply complex end-to-end technologies to solve business challenges and integration issues.
Changing the business model of IBM from a product company to an Integration Services enterprise.
Change of culture - easily the most difficult aspect of the turn-around. IBMer's were internal-focused. Internal processes and politicking took all time and people had settled into a sense of entitlement. IBM's basic beliefs had morphed beyond recognition. For eg. 'Excellence in everything we do' credo had become an obsession with perfection. aided by rigid bureaucracy wherein it was said IBM did not launch products - they escaped !! :) 'Superior customer service' meant servicing IBM machines on customer sites !
Changing management philosophy - so IBM was market driven and customer focused. The apathy towards customer needs was replaced with customer focused quality strategies that were also competitive. Change in the internal processes in almost all areas to shake off the petrification that had settled in.
Change in compensation and incentives to reflect the new philosophies of marketplace driven strategies, business performance and individual contribution. Teamwork was rewarded.
A multi-year effort to re-write all of IBM's critical software to not only be network enabled but to work on HP, Sun , Microsoft and other platforms. This was the step towards embracing of open standards.
Creating a Brand IBM with one ad agency. Re-Positioning of the mainframe value in the PC world.
Integration of the company into a whole and breaking up of the geographical fiefdoms - by shifting the power and measuring the performance.

Other key decisions

Services/Integration unit IBMers - They were instructed to suggest even Sun, HP products if this suited the particular customer problem that IBM had been consulted for ! :)
Strategic acquisitions without getting into the acquisition heat/fever !!! E.g - Lotus Notes, Tivoli , Siebel.
Protecting the R&D budget - Reducing the price of S/390 even though it was their main cash flow generator. They did this by changing the underlying technology from bi-polar to CMOS - even though at that time this task was time consuming plus expensive.
Getting out of the OS/2 vs Microsoft Windows war
Licensing and Patents royalties - this is the custom defined micro-electronics which ensures IBM benefits from growth of business outside the IT industry

Win , Execute , Team - was the new leadership competencies - focus to win, mobilizing resources to execute and sustaining momentum with teamwork to accomplish goals.

After the turn-around when danger was behind them - they decided to focus on e-business.This is a psychological understanding that once the crisis was past , the company needed a new motivator.

Some personal learning's of the CEO mentioned in the book

Chasing revenue at the expense of real earnings ( profit ) is the surest sign of a weak management.
Underpromise and Outperform.
CEO's should tackle problems personally and not delegate or preside over the work of others.- Strategy is quantitative , risky and is actionable - on a day to day basis. Vision is aspirational.
There should be no compromise on corporate principles no matter how highly placed the executive is.
Management has to identify new growth centers and fund them .
Credit should be given to people building arks not those who predicted rain !
Passion is the cornerstone of leadership.

Every single page of this book endorses the fact that it is an eminently penetrating look at the handling of the crisis at IBM. Most of the decisions taken were bold, decisive and futuristic with a high chance of failure. Down-to-earth with an admission that any of the changes could have dove-tailed - it is a lesson in organizational behavior too. Mention of the relevant people who were crucial to the turn around means the CEO gave credit where it was due.

I know this review seems long but I felt there were just too many things to mention and I feel I have not been able to capture the essence of the knowledge in the book. Of course that is why it is a good idea to suggest to read the book ! :)

Infinity Redefined ... :)

2009-06-07T10:03:00.000-07:00

Saturday is the day my daughter keeps her Dad completely at her beck and call. He is her toy, playmate, a cartoon character, punching bag when frustrated .. etc. On this Saturday though, my hubby suddenly found himself at leisure. Reason being – her neighbourhood friends had come home and my daughter was having a fun time with them instead. The non-stop chatter and pitter-patter of feet running across the home ensured hubby dear was relegated to a discarded toy pile !

This sudden windfall of time left my husband at loose ends and in a dilemma on how to fill time. He had been given clear instructions not to leave home for any work outside from the pint-sized dictator. The computer was being hogged by yours truly. He resorted to sorting his in-tray.

Come evening, when our baby was fast asleep after a very eventful day and we were relaxing in the silent aftermath post the cacophony of having 3 kids at home, he said to me “In school we had a teacher who always insisted that infinity was not a very large or a very small number. It was an unknown number.” He went on “You take infinity from infinity – you will be left with infinity. You add infinity to infinity – still you get infinity. Today, I realize what infinity is”.

I perked up at this. In our home – realization is beyond mere knowing and understanding. It is the ultimate pinnacle. Hanging on his words, I wondered what philosophical nugget he would utter. He said “I have been going through my letters the whole day and yet after a complete day of sorting, deleting and organizing – the pile of letters in my in-tray has not diminished at all ! Now THAT is infinity” !! :)

Review of "The Monk who sold his Ferrari" by Robin Sharma

2009-05-31T02:35:00.000-07:00

This book is written in a very simple conversational style that grabs your attention. I think the USP of the book is the fable that the author uses as a mnemonic aid to impart the timeless lessons.

The fable is simple - talks about a beautiful garden with a lighthouse, a heavy-weight wrestler wearing only pink cable wire who comes out of the lighthouse , falls on a watch and goes into unconsciousness. He gets revived by the sweet smell of yellow flowers and then sees a path full of diamonds and proceeds towards it.

That is it ! Sounds simplistic but therein lies the beauty of the book.

The garden exemplifies the mind - which should be tended to without allowing the weed of negative thoughts into it ( He makes the point in a better way of course ! ) , the lighthouse represents the need for distinct goals, the heavy weight-wrestler stands for "Kaizen" - which means continuous , small improvements, the pink cable represents discipline, the watch depicts time and the fact that it should be utilized wisely , the sweet scent of the flowers symbolizes acts of kindness and the path of diamonds is the path to enlightenment.

The only place where I think the book gets a little tedious is when he talks about the 10 Rituals of Radiant living. Not that the points are not relevant but the presentation could have been better I think.

There are numerous nuggets of wisdom throughout the book but to re-iterate , it is the unpretentious depiction of ageless principles that is the clincher. Definitely a good read.

My favorite learning from the book though is this "On an average day the average person runs about 60,000 thought through his/her mind. 95% of these thoughts are the same as the ones you thought the day before" !!! Talk about being stuck in a rut !!!

Some quotes/learning's/inspirational points from the book

-- Worry is a toxic waste into the fertile garden of the mind.

-- A worrisome thought is like an embryo, it starts off small but grows and grows. Soon it takes on a life of its own.

-- "Success like happiness cannot be pursued. It must ensue. And it only does so as the unintended side effect of one's personal dedication to a cause greater than oneself" - Viktor Frankl

-- There is nothing noble about being superior to some other person. Try true nobility lies in being superior to your former self.

-- What lies in front of you and what lies behind you is nothing when compared to what lies within you.

-- The ten minutes period before you sleep and ten minutes period after you wake up are profoundly influential on your subconscious mind. Only the most inspiring and serene thoughts should be programmed in your mind at those times.

-- We don't laugh because we are happy. We are happy because we laugh.

-- You are what you think about all day long.

-- People have liberty but no freedom.

-- It is the busiest people who have time to spare.

-- We are spiritual beings having a human experience.

-- Happiness is a journey not a destination.

-- On an average day the average person runs about 60,000 thought through his/her mind. 95% of these thoughts are the same as the ones you thought the day before.

Delegate to Mom .. :)

2009-05-19T23:51:00.000-07:00

It occurred to me that my child's physical development has come a full circle. She started unable to eat by herself, dress by herself and walk by herself. Then came the messy attempts to eat her food on her own - the amount of food dropped could probably feed an army or two. Trying to walk was littered with numerous falls none of which made her tired or unable to attempt again. As for dressing - the strident cries of "I can wear it" accompanied by the invariable twisted arms and legs made for funny moments. But now my daughter has mastered the art of walking, eating and dressing up herself. ( Or so she thinks - I mean now what she drops while eating can feed just one segment of an army ! : ) ) So what is the best thing to do ? Delegate of course !!

The novelty of walking has long gone ; to be replaced by "Mom carry me ... my legs are paining". She tells me ever-so-sweetly that I should dress her up because - I can dress her up so prettily right ? Which she cannot do by herself ; it is complicated handling those lovely pins / clips , princess gown, glitter shoes , handbag and oh - the nail polish too ... [ if you did not get it ; it means I am to dress her with the items mentioned ... :) ] As for eating .. she gives me a woe begone expression and tells me so soulfully "Mom - you never feed me " .. I more often than not fall for this appeal . Who can resist that tone and those guileless eyes ?
Now I realize - her mobility has come a full circle !!!! :)

Am just wondering when she is going to say she is tired of talking ..... :) May be then I will get a chance to talk to my hubby without interruptions .... :)

Sojourn to Lakshadweep

2009-05-14T03:09:00.000-07:00

To say Lakshadweep is stunning is an understatement ! However one cannot help but rave about the place - the views are fabulous , the water is that wonderful shade of turquoise, the beaches are pristine clean , the beach sand is unbelievably soft, the islands are not commercialised beyond recognition and the water sports are great. Scuba diving off these coasts is a must - the waters are so clear that even snorkerlling will ensure you can view the amazing coral life.

We went on the Coral Reef Package from SPORTS. Went on the 2 island tour - we did Kavaratti and Minicoy. The cruise ship is no cruise though ! :) It is a passenger ship which is the only mode of transportation from the islands to the mainland ( Cochin ) .. you get to see the transportation of goods/materials etc in plenty ! :). However the entire trip is very well organized especially considering it is a govt undertaking. We need a permit to go to the islands. And no souvenir shops ! Amazing that the place is so unspoilt.

Since we went just after Chaitu's Brahmopadesham - we got designer tans :) The henna covered areas remained untanned .. so we are still sporting the mehendi designs albeit differently :)

Learnings from "Don't sweat the small stuff" by Richard Carlson

2009-04-05T10:12:00.000-07:00

Learning's from "Don't sweat the small stuff" .... I was not very keen to read this book .. I thought it was one of those books that gives a one-solution-fits-all-problems kind of book ... but .. it was lying on my bookshelf and I thought it would most likely be an easy read too .. and surely a book that was popular would have some things that I could learn from ? :) So here goes ...

1. Many people live as if life were a dress rehearsal for some later date ! The idea is to be what you want to be NOW ....

2. Imagine everyone in life is here to teach you something .. you are to consider they are more enlightened than you ... so you will be receptive to learning from everyone and not prejudiced to learn only from a select few.

3. Create "patience practice periods" - you can start with as little as 5 minutes and you are on your way to being a more patient person.

4. Realize "Life is not fair" - reminds me of the famous start line "Life is difficult" from the book "The Road less travelled " by Scott Peck. ( Now that book is a must read in my opinion ! :) )

5. Allow yourself to be bored. Feelings of boredom will be replaced with feelings of peace. You'll learn to relax. We seem to be frightened at the thought of not having something to do even for a minute !

6. Lower your tolerance to stress - people seem to be proud of having the ability to cope with more stress ! The author feels that when one lowers one's tolerance to stress , one tries to find different methods to achieve more with less wear and tear on self and without losing what is important in terms of relationships , health , spiritual growth.

7. When you die - your inbox will not be empty ! So don't be hell-bent on completing everything before live life to the fullest at the moment !

8. Set aside quiet time every day. Schedule time for inner work.

9. LISTEN !! We often treat communication as if it were a race.

10. Choose your battles wisely.

11. Expect disapproval from others, then you will not go on defensive when you hear criticism.

12. Proving yourself in a dangerous trap. If you argue for your limitations they will always remain yours.

13. Resist the urge to criticize b'cos it says nothing about that person ; it merely says something about your need to be critical.

14. When someone criticizes you - merely agreeing with them can diffuse the situation and open your eyes to their inputs - so you can improve yourself.

15. Think of what you have instead of what you want.

16. There is no better time to be happy than now.

Learnings from "The Seven Spiritual Laws of Succes"' by Deepak Chopra

2009-04-05T10:05:00.000-07:00

I felt that while the book is not as inspiring as it could be given the title - nevertheless - profound wisdom can come in simple terms. This is what I gleaned from the book. I would not consider it a must read book though.

1. The author differentiates between self-referral and object-referral. Object referral is being defined by and influenced by external things like situations, people, things , seeking of approval from others. In object referral our thinking is in anticipation of a response and is fear based. Self-reference refers to our internal reference which is our spirit and not the objects of our experience.

2. Power based on object referral is a fable ; being ego based it lasts as long as the object of reference is there - be it a title of corporation, money , status etc.

3. Most of our energy goes into upholding our importance.

4. If you observe people around you - 99% spend their time defending themselves.

5. Chasing symbols ( cars, bank notes, clothes etc) is like settling for the map instead of the territory. It creates anxiety , makes you feel hollow and empty inside.

6. The search for security is an attachment to the known.

Quotes/Statistics/Learnings/Points from the book "Hot, Flat and Crowded"

2009-03-30T12:19:00.000-07:00

Some key points that I liked from the book "Hot, Flat and Crowded" by Thomas Friedman

1. A certain connection between work, achievement and accountability has been broken. America thinks it can borrow its way to prosperity.

2. US has been mortgaging its future instead of investing in it.

3. If all Americans could compare Berlin's luxurious central train station today with the grimy overcrowded Penn. st - it looks like US lost World War II

4. De-forestation in Indonesia and Brazil is responsible for more CO2 than all the world's cars, trucks, planes , ships and trains combined. About 20% of the global emissions.

5. Average cow expels 600 litres of methane a day !!! Methane is a deadlier greenhouse gas.

6. Difference between the earth being an ice ball and it being comfortable for living is only 6 degrees. Today our earth has fever.

7. America has invented a system of living on cheap fossil fuel foundation.By 2030 instead of one America and half in Europe there will be 8-9 America's

8. Through oil purchases American is helping strengthen the most intolerant, anti-modern, anti-western, anti women's rights and anti-pluralistic strain of Islam , which is propagated by Saudi Arabia.

9. American oil strategy seems to be - Maximize demand, minimize supply and make up the difference by buying as much as we can from people who hate us the most !

10. 1st Law or Petropolitics - the pace of freedom and price of oil move in different directions.

11. Larry Diamond - Of the 23 nations that derives a clear majority of their export income from oil and gas - not a single one is a democracy.

12. Edward O Wilson - Destroying a tropical forest and other species-rich eco-systems for profit is like burning all the paintings in Louvre to cook dinner

13. We are the only species that no animal or plant in nature depends on for its survival , yet we depend on the whole web of life for our survival.

14. Energy at its most basic is the capacity to do work.

15. The most frequent and difficult question we get from China is "If it is so good, why aren't you doing it?"

16. The green issue particularly the climate change does not pit have-vs-have-nots -it pits present against the future - the unborn grandchildren. The future can't lobby , organize or protest.

17. Oysteins Dahle - Socialism collapsed because it did not allow the market to tell the economic truth. Capitalism may collapse because because it does not allow the market to tell the ecological truth.

Review of "Hot, Flat and Crowded" by Thomas L. Friedman

2009-03-30T12:00:00.000-07:00

I have read both "World is Flat" and now "Hot, Flat and Crowded" and I think this book presents a bleaker future in store for our future generations unless we clean our act. By "we" he means the Americans ofcourse ! :) The book contents can be really summarized in his title "In Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution--and How It Can Renew America". He considers this a watershed moment for both the energy predicament as well as America's vision/moral/leadership crisis.

a. Hot - Refers to the global warming - which apart from climate touches food , fuel as well as forests !

b. Flat - The numerous upheavals in the market that have created a more level playing field for the world to compete and hence join at the same table where US feeds. ( I would recommend reading "World is Flat" by the same author to understand more on this ). This means lot more people living like Americans

c. Crowded - the burgeoning population growth ; and hence more people competing for the same resources on Earth.

He believes today's America is in a defensive position post 9/11 and has lost focus. He uses the phrase "Where birds don't fly" to capture this and says that this is a place where people do not mingle , friendships are not established, ideas are not kindled , trust does not get built and freedom does not exist. Such an America cannot play an important role in the world nor can it use its own potential in ways that would benefit the world and itself.

One of the causes is America's playing of "dumb as we wanna be" game and "we will get to it when we get to it" instead of resolving problems. This has led to a "sub-prime" nation that is incapable of handling a multi-generation problem like the energy crisis.

Where the book takes off is that - it is not a mere rhetoric on global warming by simply expounding the problem , it tries to identify solutions that could work within the framework of business. This is the crux of the book. It is here that he espouses a need for political consensus , collaboration with local government bodies, communities as well as NGOs and help business to earn profit as well.

One thing that he makes clear is that there are no quick fixes to this energy crisis, and only long term solutions can help. A combination of taxes, incentives, regularisation are required to make the energy innovation lift off and reach escape velocity. He stresses the need for the young who need to be taught to use their skills and earn without needing to harm the environment.

Green technology is first an innovation challenge and not a regulation challenge since first and foremost a cheap, easily renewable and transferable energy technology is required. Companies instead of challenging regulations should see them as a way to knock out competitors.

A chilling chapter is on the Petro-dictatorship where the enormous amount of money being pumped into the oil producing countries is strengthening and giving power to rulers who are not democratic and who have not earned their leadership by actually working towards building economies and educating their people. The dependency on oil makes Washington bite its tongue on women's rights and makes China go into partnership with murderous African dictatorship in oil rich Sudan.

He takes head-on the question of countries like India and China feeling unfairly penalized on their carbon emissions ( Kyoto protocol ) especially after decades of carbon emissions by the West , just when these economies are growing. He says that while the sense of unfairness is understandable there is a choice for such countries

a. Continue feeling unfair and build economy on dirty fuels giving America the time it needs to come up with clean energy solution and thereby allow US to sell it to them at a later date [when they are choking in their polluted air !!! ]

b. Or try to beat America towards a greener future and hence be in a position to reap benefits from it in myriad ways - economic growth, cleaner air , continued rich bio-diversity , healthy population

He believes Energy Technology is going to be a big industry as big as or even bigger than the IT pie. He would like America to grab this opportunity but he does not think America is doing enough towards this. He thinks USA needs to set an example to the rest of world to follow towards a clean energy system. For US , it is not just an opportunity but a test. America has a moral responsibility since it consumes more.

Towards the myriad benefits he gives some good examples including one where the US Marines-Corps in Iraq gains in multiple ways when they tries to reduce the large and vulnerable fuel line logistics which were easy targets for bombing with usage of solar panels.

All in a very well researched book which hits the target.

My Review of "Winning" by Jack Welch

2009-03-06T01:50:00.000-08:00

I have not read the other book(s) by Jack Welch so cannot comment on how this fares wrt to the others but as far as "Winning" by Jack Welch is concerned , the book is an easy read. It is very simple , conversational almost. It imparts business wisdom without usage of big terms and complex chapters.It covers a gamut of topics relevant to employees, employers , leaders , managers and businesses/organizations.

The ideas are not new mostly common sense ( which is uncommon ! ) inputs yet delivered/accompanied with anecdotes which drive home the key points he makes. It may seem like the book glosses over a lot of ground and I think it does. In depth coverage is definitely not the goal here. Instead it covers a broad range of topics which include personal values in business, company practices , handling competition and career related questions. Being a book by Jack Welch I did expect more on the Six Sigma success but he gives a 30,000 foot level view which was disappointing. The frank inputs on work-life balance are refreshing although not satisfying.

The book's front cover line "No other management book will ever be needed," by Warren Buffet is surprising and not deserved.

Some learning's from the book

1. About values and mission - Mission is how we intend to win in this mission and values are the 'how' of the mission , the means to the end.

2. Importance of candor - mentions that lack of candor blocks smart ideas , fast action and good people contributing all they can.

3. Differentiation - 20/70/10 Rule to pick out the best people : 20 % are the top performers who should be rewarded and recognized, The middle 70% is the heart of the company who should be encouraged and worked on to improve and the bottom 10% who should be trimmed

4. Leadership - this quote covers the main theme - "Before you became a leader , success is about growing yourself. After you became a leader success is about growing others."

5. Hiring - Mentions a framework for hiring that includes what he calls - 4E's and 1 P - +ve Energy , Ability to energize others, Edge ( Courage to make tough Y/N decisions ) ,Execution ability and Passion.He believes HR in a company should be elevated to a position of power.

6. Emphasises on importance of a clean , simple and powerful evaluation system that is relevant and not an exercise in paper pushing.

7. Crisis Management - Most managers waste a lot of time at the outset of a crisis denying something went wrong ! How true !

8. Strategy - the 5 slide questions

1. What the playing field looks like now

2. What your competitor has been upto

3. What you've been upto

4. What's around the corner

5. What's your winning move

9. Budgeting should not be a negotiated settlement where both sides jostle and agree on a settlement nor a phony smile exercise that head quarters uses to push on people the budget and expected results.

10. On organic growth mentions that companies have a habit of sending expendable people to run new ventures instead of sending the best !

11. Beware of deal heat which in which a merger or acquisition can be seen as the last best deal. For employees - Resisting a deal , no matter how scared , confused or angry one is is suicidal to career as well as emotional well being.

12. Six Sigma is a quality program that improves customers' expectations lowers costs and builds better leaders.

13. Mentions that finding a right job is often an iterative process and there are no perfect jobs. There will always be some trade offs.

14. In any bad boss situation you cannot let yourself be a victim.

Gwalior - Indore - Drive - 1st Dec 2007

2007-12-07T19:03:00.000-08:00

1st December 2007 (Saturday)– Gwalior – Indore Drive

This is a day we would not care to ever repeat …. We were near victims of a fire .. and we are thankful that we escaped lightly with no injuries … just smoke tinged sooty baggage !!! [ Which is currently requiring 2 rounds of washing for each load to get the damn smell and black marks to go …feel like a dhobi ….…still … it is could have been worse ]

We were to leave to Indore in the morning from Central Park Gwalior [supposedly a good hotel !!! ] – since we had heard that this route could be a problem in the night .. we were all set to leave at 6:30 am … when we saw little smoke in the bathroom .. well we called the reception and they told us it was smoke from the near-by marriage which had gotten into the duct ….. and it would be taken care of and it was not serious … This is where frankly we were lied to .. if we had known it was serious .. we would have walked out then and there.

As it is we did the last minute stuff just before we were to leave and only when we saw and inhaled the acrid smoke come of the bathroom plus it coming out of the electrical sockets.. we realized it was more serious than we were told to .. [ The gap between the call and the smoke must have been only around 5-7 minutes ]. To our bad luck the corridor out of the room was already full to smoke and we could not get out from that side … the room soon was smoked out .. we were lucky in that we were able to get onto a 1.5 feet ledge through the window, keep the window open and stand there … for more than an hour … and there were ppl who had been evacuated (looked like ppl least affected were evacuated first !! :) ) and were sitting and sipping tea outside in the garden and wondering what we were doing on narrow 3rd floor ledge of a room. Are educated ppl really this stupid? I mean couple of them actually asked us this !!! What did they think ? That we wanted the morning air and so we chose to stand outside a window that was spewing black acrid smoke like a damn industrial spire and that too with our baby daughter … wow !!! Common sense is really not so common …. !! Anyway … we saw the hotel ppl was having enough foresight to take the gas cylinders out … and hoping that we would soon be able to get out of the place in one piece …. More worried abt smoke getting to our daughter … can’t say I prayed though ! ;)

Ouch … did not panic since well … we were still able to breathe .. no idea what we might have done otherwise …there was this guy in the room next to us … who had no ledge.. could not get to our ledge.. no pipes to help him down ….. so he actually jumped from his window since the smoke was getting to him…..… to the 1st floor …. Poor guy … his leg was sprained ( lucky it did not break) …we were thankful we had this little ledge .. I cannot think what we would have done if we had been in that room … .. esp with a baby in tow ….

So there we were .. no shoes , no wallet ( not mine .. luckily Sudhir had his ) .. baby was fully and warmly dressed thank God … Sudhir’s glasses were in the bathroom … just waiting for the fire to be taken out and hoping there would be a chance that a ladder would made be available … soon … After the smoke lessened we were able to get out of the fire exit from the window of the room near by which was opened to us by the hotel ppl.

Then started another kind of game .. instead of helping us .. they were more interested in keeping the news out of the newspaper … When we went to the room to collect the luggage … phew !!! We could not see the white covers on the bed … it was completely black … so much soot had accumulated on it. Obviously our luggage had the same fate !!! Smelling of soot … we did the best we could with our stuff … and started to Indore a full 3 hours late ….

Like I said .. we were just thankful to have gotten out of a near disaster … with nothing but valuable lessons …

- If there is smoke just get the hell out of that place, take ur child, money , credit cards and scram

- Do not trust hotel ppl too easily … they are mainly trying to avert a publicity disaster. In fact they begrudged us plastic bags to keep some of the sooty clothes in and a waste cloth to wipe off some of the soot off the bags ….. phew !! You would think they were distributing money !!!! Jeez !!

- It is not so easy to get out of top floors … so check out the fire exit …. [ This is so basic we often forget it]

- Do not expect help ….

When we reached Indore … travel fatigue finally caught up with us …. I think by then since we were on the home stretch so to say … we were looking forward to coming home !!! :):)

Gwalior - 29th, 30th Nov

2007-12-07T19:01:00.000-08:00

29th November 2007 (Thursday)– Gwalior
Just near Morena on the way to Gwalior from Agra ....there are the undulations that are a facsimile of the Chambal ravines … they were not extensive in this region which was a very big disappointment to us … we were looking forward to seeing the ravines in all their austere beauty …I guess the ravines are not along the highway …

Gwalior fort is beautiful.. there is the Man Mandir palace inside with sunlight reaching the underground about a 100 ft below the surface …. Very scientifically built …... there are very striking carvings .. very very symmetrical [ On a side note – for carvings/sculptures the Belur Halebidu temples in Karnataka are simply marvelous ] We got a bad guide unfortunately who was more interested than we were in taking snaps ….. we were keen on learning more abt the fort and he was telling us the best points to take the snaps from … The carving in the Sas-Bahu temple are also very intricate and beautiful .. we got a bird’s view of Gwalior too from this point … cannot believe it is so large ! :) Certainly Gwalior is less dusty than Faridabad … Moved on to Teli-ka-Mandir as well as Suraj Kund (6th century)…

Once inside the Gwalior Fort area – one can see the fort itself , Sas Bahu temples, Teli ka Mandir , Suraj Kund, Gujari Mahal and its archaelogical museum plus sculptures by the Jain Tirthankars on the way to the fort .. some of them so old it is unbelievable they are still intact … amazing …. :)

30th November 2007 (Friday)– Gwalior

We first visited Sun Temple here which is supposed to be a replica of the famous Konark Mandir in Orissa. It is known as Sur Mandir in Gwalior – it closes at Sunset ….. very clean gardens although one is not allowed to go anywhere near other than to the temple …
Went to the Tomb of Mohammad Ghaus – nobody seems to understand the historical importance of that place … it is a mosque in use currently and we find ppl staring at the tourists when they take snaps of the lacy screen work in stone ! :):) The work is very delicate and ethereal. Nearby is Tansen’s tomb – austere with plenty of squirrels !! We had a tough time finding this place – nobody seems to know the tomb ( I guess it is known as a mosque ) We asked first for the place Hajira and then for Tansen’s tomb …. And there is no place for parking either !! :) Still it was worth the trouble we took for find the place.

Lastly went to the Scindia Museum – lost of snaps of the marriage of Madhav Rao Scindia .. some old sculptures .. (quite a few of them damaged unfortunately) part of the museum is currently under renovation … so did not have that much to see.

Agra - 28th , 29th

2007-12-07T18:59:00.000-08:00

28th November 2007 (Wednesday)– Agra

We found it beneficial to park and take an auto to the Taj .. we gave 30Rs to go and 20 Rs to come back to our hotel which is in the Tourist Complex Area. A guide offered to take us to the Taj , Lal Qila and backto the hotel for 100 Rs at 3pm in the afternoon. It is also good to plan to visit all places in the North by 4:30 pm during the winter months .. it is dark by 5 pm ….

There are too many touts near the Taj for food, marble articles …

As for the Taj … what is there left to say ??? :):) It is beautiful and mesmerizing … One does not realize how big the edifice really is until one sees it … We spent 3 hours there .. and loved it … Obviously took lots and lots of snaps … I did think it was darker then the pristine white it is supposed to be … I guess the pollution is really getting to it …

We were disappointed there were no moonlight tours , we were told those are held only on full moon days .. Still we saw the Taj by day and twilight … :):) What more can we ask for ? :):)

Faridabad - 25th , 26th , 27th

2007-12-07T18:45:00.000-08:00

25th November 2007 (Sunday)– Jaipur – Faridabad
At Faridabad … ppl with dust allergy are goners … be prepared for a dusty haze that never settles .. call it perpetual smog, fog, mist etc…. it just never goes … Don’t bother cleaning ur car either .. it will look dusty in 3 hrs !! :):)
Layers and layers just settle down on it ….
We had to change the high beam light for our car and we found Nitin from the Classic Honda showroom on the Mathura Agra road very helpful ….There are no hotels on the Mathura Agra Road so don’t bother looking for one there …

26th 27th November 2007 (Monday)– Faridabad- Pankaj’s wedding
Punjabi marriages are certainly an experience worth being part of …. :) We had the time of our lives at the Sangeet, the baraat and of course the wedding… :) The games when the bride groom arrives and the fireworks .. wow !!! Definitely the day to feel like a hero ! :):)
The food was great … so many varieties !! Phew !!! It was nice to sample from the wide range of choices …… yummy umm … ! :):) Definitely a gastronomic delight ! :)
The reception was over by 12 midnight and the actual wedding ceremony began somewhere around 1:30 am .. and went on till 4:30 am … we relaxed on 28th November , a nice lazy day … :)

Jaipur - 21st, 22nd , 23rd , 24th

2007-12-07T18:23:00.000-08:00

The Golden Quadrilateral road to Jaipur is very good !! Can do 90-100 km/hr …. We ate at A1 – Plaza of Reliance and found the food fresh ….

21st November 2007 (Wednesday)– Chittaurgarh
On the way we stopped at Chittaurgarh Fort – It is fabulous .. can easily plan to spend the day there with a picnic basket … !!! We found it gorgeous .. definitely a must see …. We wished we had more time than the 2 hrs we spent there ! :):)

Jaipur Driving/Roads
We thought Pune driving is crazy .. Jaipur opened our eyes … nobody stops at a red light [ Unless the police is present ] !! :):) Since u might be the only one to stop chances of being hit from behind are high .. ! :) If u can, stay away from all vehicles .. they do not mind touching ur vehicle with theirs while passing … it is a common occurrence ! :):)
Driving to sight seeing places is easy in Jaipur .. just take the Tonk Road from any point in the city and you will find offshoots from it to the landmarks … :) Even to the highway out of Jaipur … Easy ! :) And you will easily pass Hawa Mahal 2-3 times in ur rounds ! :):)
Be careful while parking at Jaigad… and ensure u park so u can get out … ppl park left right center … ! :) Roads to Amber fort are winding again and don’t panic in a jam .. 2 buses manage to pass on a cycle track if though they may take 15 minutes to do so …. :)
Ppl are still helpful at Jaipur .. may be not to the extent of Udaipur but still very nice …

22nd November 2007 (Thursday)– Jaipur
Visited the Hawa Mahal first .. ( Jantar Mantar is close by too ) .. heard it was built on a 6.5 inch foundation … scary to climb it ! :):) It looks beautiful in pics … not very imposing in reality but appealing nevertheless .. ( The artisan’s hands were cut off after building this …. ) To capture its front view you have risk a limb literally … it is right in the middle of the Pink city market ! :):) Car parking is tough here …
Guides are polite and don’t keep looking at their watch and their rates are reasonable .. All guides suggest you shop at Rajasthan Shilpa Gram .. they are very good at this and in fact lead u there in their tour so keep ur wallet in ur car if you don’t want to shop !! ;) It is easy to spend on something u may never use … :):) They go to the same school of marketing I think .. their spiel is exactly the same ! :):)
They do say that these places have been opened to provide employment for genuine artisans ( by members of the royal family) and provide visitors genuine articles at reasonable(?) cost … We have not validated this… but it might be worth taking a chance with these goods … We found that within the Pink city it was not easy to bargain at the local shops … :):)
At Jaipur depending on who you speak to – different places become most important to visit … Opinions are multiple (aren’t they always ?? :) ) so u may want to decide on ur places before u get completely confused ! :)

23rd November 2007 (Friday)– Jaipur
Visited Jaigad Fort – it is huge … a palace within the fort opens from an unassuming door and we wrongly thought it was small place … but it just goes on and on !!! :):) Huge ! Might easily lose the way ! :) We saw a small puppet show inside …
There is a cook at Jaigad fort who was once the Maharaj’s cook and while the food that is served in his place is good .. we felt the price was too much for the kind of seating arrangement he had .. again the guides .. try to lead u to a place to shop here … :):) with the same marketing spiel of course ! :):)
Amber fort is beautiful …. the jaali work is very intricate and fine-looking … found it very picturesque …
Sheesh Mahal within it …. is very attractive in its details … Lots of peacocks are easily visible on the way to Amber Fort and back … Amber fort is very strict wrt its timings … 6 pm it closes down … sharp …
Royal family is even now treated with a lot of respect and reverence ..
We feel Jaipur city can be covered in 2 days …. But abt 3 hrs for every fort / palace to be visited… seems required …

24th November 2007 (Saturday)– Jaipur
Went to Jantar Mantar – would definitely suggest a guide here [ See if u can get one from outside .. they are cheaper ] … cannot understand anything otherwise …. The huge sun dial was very impressive …
Parking is expensive here – 50 Rs ! More than MG Road / Camp in Pune …
Lastly went to Chokhi Dani … Good dances , most ppl suggest 8pm -12pm as good time to go .. but we recommend 6pm – 10 pm .. Dinner was yummy … their sweet khichdi was really good … I think it is better to try to get a camel ride outside since here it is only a 2 min affair ! :) Still that did not stop us from taking a camel ride inside ! :):)

Udaipur - 19th , 20th Nov

2007-12-07T18:18:00.000-08:00

19th November 2007 (Monday)- Udaipur

Visited Udaipur City Palace – It is definitely a must see – with the mirror room, another room with blue and white ceramic work , stained glass etc etc etc … The part I liked best was dressing my baby in Rajasthani dress and getting her snap in front of the palace. They do not allow us to take any other snap other than the one they take !! That was disappointing but still the photo of her with the dress was cute !!! She too loved it ! :):) It also distracted her from her crankiness for sometime … :):) There is also a light show in Udaipur City Palace…. We caught a glimpse of it on the way back from Crystal Museum …
We loved the Crystal Museum .. (which is next to the City Palace) the entrance price is steep ( Rs 525) but it was worth it …. The crystal was clean, gleaming and maintained so beautifully … Just sparkling … it is good to know that we can take care of our heritage well given adequate funds …
The Lake palace is a hotel ( can be seen from the City palace ) and booking for dinner there needs to be done around 24 hrs before which we did not know. Jag Mandir is also a restaurant – going to this place is not as difficult. The view of Jag Mandir is better from another point in Udaipur called the sunset point / Dudh Talaya .. especially at twilight …
The people of Udaipur are very very very friendly … no matter how many times I re-iterate that I think it will be less. When we entered the city a youth came to us and asked us if we were looking for directions ….. other ppl got down from their vehicles to give us directions … Another affable soul not only told us where to go for a memory card but also helped us find a parking space plus reverse park there !!! Amazing !!!! At the crystal museum we were not made to feel like we would snatch the pieces (which happens in quite a few places actually !!!! :) ) All in all .. a very good place ppl wise ..

20th November 2007 (Tuesday)- Udaipur
Visited Saheliyon ki Bari – which was a garden for royal ladies … our baby had a nice time there …. So many fountains and open space to run about … :):) The water fountains work on water pressure and not electricity .. There is a small science museum kind of place inside which was fun too … couple of crazy mirrors and its reflections .. brought about gales of laughter from Nakshatra ! :):) There were some interesting puzzles too … :):)
Moved on to Sajjan Niwas Garden and enjoyed the mini train ride … it goes via the zoo – where u can see the bear, tiger, cheetah, peacocks etc ….. the zoo is closed on Tuesdays …. So we could not have a closer look …
Sunset point at Dudh Talaya was good … as mentioned before Jag Mandir looks much nicer from this point .. u can get camel rides here too ..
Rajasthani thalis at Rs 18/- can be found near hotels at the Chetak circle …. a known landmark
It is a good drive around the Fathesagar lake .. just put ur vehicle in 2nd gear and enjoy the scenery … very pleasant ..
Lots of places to take snaps ….!!!! :):)
Our bad experience in Udaipur was at a shop called Regal at Bapu Market … God knows what he tried to do while copying our snaps to a CD .. all he did was corrupt all the snaps …. We would instead suggest take a laptop or sufficient memory card for all ur snaps ….

Udaipur Driving/Roads

The roads in Udaipur are very narrow almost felt like only 2 wheels were touching the ground at any point of time ..!! It is easier to take local transport ( even though they charge quite a bit ) since u can reach your destination faster !! If taking your 4 wheeler definitely learn reverse parking ! :)

Delhi Trip ..... Itenary

2007-12-07T16:23:00.000-08:00

Our itenary for the road travel to Faridabad ( we initially thought Pankaj's wedding would be in Delhi .... ) and back ....

We travelled by car and Sudhir drove the whole way ... He enjoyed the driving ...