Open Letter to Barack Obama (I am bored sitting looking over Boston Harbor):

I am not a registered voter in the U.S. But, I spent a majority of the last year in the U.S and like many, followed the elections closely.
Here is my message to you (because, there is no button or option on your website saying "send a message to Barack" Sic.)

1. You are losing. I like your campaign and the message, but you are losing steam Hillary is at a tipping point. You are totally on the defensive, not your strong point.
2. Your campaign is slacking. Looks like your campaign strategists think they have already won. Not a good idea.
3. Get down to basics. Go back and use speeches that Barack used at the beginning of the campaign. Fresh, centered around his message not rebutting Hillary's message
4. Ignoring Hillary (by not debating) wont work, nor will going on the offensive. You have to upset her rhythm (and yes, she is onto something)
5. "I will unite people" sounds like a cool message. BUT, it doesnt mean anything. People that I meet dont feel that "unity" is a problem that needs solving. Unity sounds cool for the admen but you cant do squat with it.
6. You have no competitive advantage: You are boringly similar on: Healthcare, war in Iraq, economy, immigration, gas prices, boring shit on TV, little David getting bullied at school. What is this "change" that you keep talking about? Unless you make it perceptible, tangible, fungible, and other gibles. (eligible, exigible and most interesting: Erigible (capable of being erected!). Jokes apart. your core message (or lack of it) is taking a hit.

If I think of you, Obama, these are the terms which come to my head: New, fresh, black, smooth talker, anti-politician, empathetic, courageous and seemingly "above it all". In one word: Messiah!!

Terms which did not come to my mind: "Problem solver", Leader, strategic thinker, fearless, understands my issues. In one word: President!!

Sadly, Messiahs dont need to be voted in.

Claps are not votes. Voice votes work only after you get elected.

Think. Act. Don't just talk

Post from the past: Definition: Clueless Control Freak: Who has a habit of explaning everything with a kind of fatalistic necessity when he'she doesnt know what to say. -- Tolstoy

Familiar? Doesn't that sound very much like a new consultant??? No, that is an under-prepared consultant always.

Man! It has been a long time. Once in a few years somebody asks, "why dont you blog anymore?". My standard response was I was bored blogging and I moved on to other forms of expression.
I have a knack of coming up with an innocuous response and tagging it with a very hopeful "deep statement".
So, does this mean that one (new english usage for you) should come back to check this space often?
I don't know!!
So, to get back in touch, let us do a quick interview:
A (Who is dat? Nobody, just that it is the first letter in the alphabet): So, how has life been in the last few years?
B (Who dat? Me): As usual, nothing new. Blissfully bored.
A: So, what are the high level changes?
B: Hmm... (A few minutes later). Hmm...
A: Do I take that as not too many or as you have grown more pensive or you dont understand the question?
B: :-)
A: Silence
B: Silence

Scratch, scratch.
(End of interview, I need to go shave now.)

See you soon. Hopefully, we will count the hiatus in days or weeks and not in years.

Hutch: S, M and L. Choose your talk size.

Strong ad and everybody loves the ad. The Brand manager is a king. He picks up a few addie awards and he makes more money.

Cut to Dhruv Sagar, subscriber of Hutch. He enjoyed the ad, saw the ad on his billing envelope, read it. It said the same: Hutch: S, M and L. Choose your talk size. It never told him what the heck is it. He read it and moved on.

So Hutch spent tons of money, paid more to the brand manager and result: no more subscriptions, which it realizes a year later.

Cut to the brand manager, working on a different concept, a different idea and more money down the drain.

Think about it, how common is it to remember the ad and not the product?

Moral of the story: Dont make interesting ads. Sell products.

"We are starting a party because the king has ordered us."TSHERING TOBGAY, a former civil servant in Bhutan.

Funny? No. I met a few people from Bhutan and to say the least they are happy. Not ecstatic. Just happy. They need less. They are happy with what they have. They are less ambitious. They trust their rulers. Happy.

People like me (and most of you), living in one of the fastest growing economies, where ambition and drive and initiative and having an unlimited set of desires coupled with the 'right attitude', will never want less and will never be satisfied with anything. We live by a baldies word who said, "Only paranoid survive".

So we love to live unfulfilled, just gives us another avenue to crib. Happy? Never.

May be we should have a sabbatical in Bhutan.




And then, we will screw up Bhutan as well.

"We are starting a party because the king has ordered us."TSHERING TOBGAY, a former civil servant in Bhutan.

Funny? No. I met a few people from Bhutan and to say the least they are happy. Not ecstatic. Just happy. They need less. They are happy with what they have. They are less ambitious. They trust their rulers. Happy.
People like me, living in one of the fastest growing economies, where ambition and drive and initiative and having an unlimited set of desires coupled with the 'right attitude' will never want less and will never be satisfied with anything. We live by a baldies word who said, "Only paranoid survive". So we love to live unfulfilled, just gives us another avenue to crib. Happy? Never.

May be we should have a sabbatical in Bhutan.



And then, we will screw up Bhutan as well.

Banks plan rival to Visa, MasterCard

Banks plan rival to Visa, MasterCard: "Banks plan rival to Visa, MasterCard

Shriya Bubna / Mumbai April 17, 2007

Banks are considering setting up a domestic card payment settlement company, called India Pay, that would rival global payment systems Visa and MasterCard. "

Interesting, I wonder why we paid Visa and Master for domestic transactions.

Another product crib:
Whats with the head rest on the drivers seat?
Have you ever seen anybody driving with his/ her rested on the head rest? The head is always hanging with more than a few inches to spare. And this is not small car or big car specific, everybody is guilty of this.
I am sure if it had been in use, it would be the dhobi's (laundry) most often washed textile, with all the oil that we use. (not me, me ran from oil sometime after I started making money and living on my own, which is by 2050)
I am surprised after millions of cars, the auto manufacturers haven't really made any attempt to either make that little "jutting out thing" useful or take it out completely. I am sure the origin of the head rest is some funky racing car design or a extremely high end bucket seat car, where you actually sink into the bucket and seat almost eats your butt and gets the head rest close enough in the leanable range for your head.

All you automakers, can you please do something about it? Or take the damn thing off?
Actually wanted to take some pics and post em, but the thought of shooting people driving away to spot the gap with the head and rest was a little funny!

Addendum,
(This blog will start looking more like a product innovation focused crib blog in the near term) (Till I get bored of that issue).

Pulpy Orange should seriously consider giving some air space in the bottle, instead of filling it till the brim, the fun of the juice is the pulp and it is usually settled down and I cant shake it up as it filled till the brim, some space would allow a good shake up and the 'pulpy' orange juice from sip 1.

If you are having trouble coming up with the intent to blog interesting thoughts or in general not having ay interesting thoughts, you should consider piggy backing.

Here goes another attempt:
One of my favorite quotes of all time, no clue where I heard it first:
Your eyes cannot see what your mind cannot imagine.

Another one in the same direction:

"Thus, the task is not so much to see what no one yet has seen, but to think what nobody yet has thought about that which everybody sees."
Arthur Schopenhauer, 1788 - 1860

I always wonder the innovation glut that we see in consumer products as opposed to the breakthroughs that we see in technology products. The key difference is that Technology companies sell what the consumers never really missed but post introduction and adoption, you look back and say how the hell did I live without all these years. Ex: Wireless networks in the office.
Compared to that the consumer products that we are sold, leaves much to be desired, companies are keen on jumping on competitor products and making minor changes and using stupis ads in hope that people might buy it, very few products really create their own demand. One of the recent products is Pulpy Orange introduced in India by Pepsi?/Coke? (cant even differentiate them, same values, same colors, same products, same models, same brand ambassadors and same controversies). I would absolutely go to a supermarket and go straight to that shelf and feel like opening the cap and drinking it up right then and there. Now, that is creating demand. I never knew I had a need for that product. The Real or Tropicana based orange juices tasted like medicines and tonics. Pulpy orange in contrast is extremely tasty. You dont even need significant ad spends for this one, just ensure that it is available everywhere and you will see a billion dollars flowing in just out of India.

I was at my uncle's place yest night and inevitably there was a power cut, my uncle brandishes a gadget looking thing and gets starts winding it, i thought, what the heck is he doing in the dark!
He turns on a switch and voila, we have a radio and a torch light, which only works on a few cranks of the dynamo. Nice? Yes. Sad part, these were made in the U.S. and sold for camping. Imagine.
Think about the utility of mass marketing these little things in villages with little or erratic power supply.

So, finally, imagine.

Wow! I dont even remember the last post on this blog!

Did I miss it? Nah.

Will this be Balaji's return to the active world of blogging and continuoulsy looking for bloggable thoughts?

May be not. But lets see, there is no dearth of bloggable thoughts and situations and issues these days!

Here is one:
Researchers develop biotech mosquito to fight malariaU.S. scientists developed a species of mosquito resistant to malaria, and its infection-blocking ability could make it the dominant species if released into the wild. Scientists believe that interbreeding would allow malaria resistance to spread through the mosquito population over several generations so fewer insects carry the disease. The Times (London) (3/20)

Imagine if this new strain of mosquies can carry AIDS or worse can impregnate women (as you can imagine, my sense of humor has gone to the dogs!

Innocence

Innocence, originally uploaded by Atheistbishop.

A little girl who was curious to get her picture taken on Impact Day. Her eyes and the expression had incredible depth.

Honking in hyderabad, and I am sure in many places, has a taxonomy of its own.
Its funny that you never realise that you can honk different honks as well.

Honk 1: Bep (a short burst of the horn) almost like a positioning system, saying I am here, usually used when the car in front you is rolling back on you on an incline

Honk 2: Bep Bep Bep A string of shirt bursts: I am over taking you slowly, so if you have plans to change lanes, chill for a few seconds, till the beps stop

Honk 3: Beeeeeeeep: Get the fuck out of my way. Else, I am going to beep the hell out of you.

Honk 4: Beep Beep Beep Beep: No reason, I just like honking kinda like a preemptive strike

Honk 5: Beep Beep: I know that we are stuck in traffic, let me just release some angst

Honk 6: Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee......: Sorry, fell asleep on the steering

Beep Beep: That was just the Road Runner.

Can I take a movie from my memory? Can I atleast take a picture and make it last?
I can only hold on to the details so long before memory blurs and imagination takes over.

- -

Need to borrow a 'time machine' for a moment.
Can you help me find one?

I hope...

God bless you.

Is this blog dead?
Nah, its author is either too busy to blog or blogging has temporarily left the circle of reference. Not pushed out but just left.
Somebody asked the author, why dont you blog any more?
"But, I do", the author says.
"Well, we haven't seen an update on that site for a few months!"
"True enough, but there is a fine difference between: I did not blog and I do not blog!"
"Semantic pendantic"
"But, what is this circle of reference? You have a penchant for jargon and complicating things. It is apt that you are in Consulting!"
Before defending myself about my penchant, circle of reference is an imaginary bubble that yo live in. As life goes on: various people, activities, memories, hobbies, idiocyncrasies, problems, challenges, hopes... enter and exit this imaginary circle.
A new set of colleagues crowd this circle today and have pushed the older lot out. This is not an active process but just a mirror to the past. Friends that you instinctively are reminded of when you want to share something either due to physical proximity or just because you have spending a lot of time with them lately, these are the people in your current circle of reference.
Activities are the same, I rarely think of writing these days, not because I dont have bloggable thoughts, its just that I dint associate those thoughts with the blog. May be my thoughts are mostly about the work I do and it will be drag to post about re-imbursement issues for providers due to a faulty DRGs.
So did that make sense?" asks the author.
"You wish", says the friend who will remain in the circle of reference till I convince her of its existence in it.

ArigatoGozaimasu.

Most frequently asked question in the consulting world:

What does it mean?

After extensive research, the concept of work-life balance has been renamed to work-sleep balance for those lives where snooze button beats the flat belly button in beauty and utility.

Switch.

It is never easy.

Has to be done sometimes.

Hobbies are careers that I am too scared dive into,
Hobbies are careers that I get bored of every month,

Hobbies are careers which give me respite from my career.

Prixars2005web

prixars2005web, originally uploaded by zigzackly.

I worked on it for a few frenetic days

Can you spot the eclipse?

Unimpressed.

http://markcrispinmiller.blogspot.com/

Read him up.

Thanks, Robert.

It is incredible how much I am going to vent about Katrina in the next few days.

It is incredible to read about the lack of co-ordination and the gusto with which things are being done.

There are no heroes emerging.
Nobody is co-ordinating things
FEMA actually says that first responders from adjoining counties of other states CANNOT come and help out their neighbours a few miles away as they have to follow interstate sharing protocols??

Things will fall into place in a few days,
We will look back and see a few numbers of dead people,
A few people who could have been saved

A few law suits later,
A few press releases later.

Life moves on.
Dead remain dead.

Richest country in the world,
You can send thousands of troops thousands of miles away in hours and you cant rescue 20,000 people stuck in a stadium?
One-third of the men and women of the Louisiana National Guard, and an even higher percentage of the Mississippi National Guard, were 7,000 miles away, fighting in Iraq, these are not just soldiers, these are cops and paramedics who could have been critical "first responders".

But can't take care of 25000 people stuck in a stadium?
Why?

Richest country in the world,
Cannot stop a hurricane which can flood 80% of New Orleans,
But it should bloody well be able to reach people after 3 days?

Why spend hundreds of billions on National Security, when you cant stop mobs controlling a city after a disaster?
The point is not to link everything to Bush's Iraq policy but the point is does he have anything else at all?

How can they be naive enough to expect that the only disasters in the US are Osama-made?? Who the hell are you going to attack now?

Higher Death Toll Seen; Police Ordered to Stop Looters - New York Times: "He called for a 'total evacuation,' adding: 'We have to. The city will not be functional for two or three months.'"

Shoban and Suman, hope you guys are doing ok.

Tumult
Live in the reality
Reality that is yours

Switch
dogma is but a figment of thought
Switch
Reorient
Start afresh

Si le viol, le poison, le poignard, l'incendie,
N'ont pas encore brodé de leurs plaisants dessins
Le canevas banal de nos piteux destins,
C'est que notre âme, hélas! n'est pas assez hardie.

C'est l'Ennui!—l'oeil chargé d'un pleur involontaire,
Il rêve d'échafauds en fumant son houka.
Tu le connais, lecteur, ce monstre délicat,
—Hypocrite lecteur,—mon semblable,—mon frère!

Je m'en fous ce qu'elle veux dire,
Je m'en fous qui l'a ecrit
Je ne me rappelle pas la francais
Mais, Je m'en fous tout de meme

Je t'aime,
Je l'aime,
Je aime la excentricité
Je m'en fous d'ennui.

Intellectual masturbation apart, it is tough to think rationally when you have been dealt with irrationally.
It is tough to think irrationally when you are blissfully bored.

Your eyes cannnot see what your mind cannot imagine.

Oracle in Matrix-reloaded.

Report: "Conventional Arms Transfers to Developing Nations
Published by: Congressional Research Service, a division of the Library of Congress. U.S. Government

Says that:
Over the last four years, China has purchased more weapons than any other nation in the developing world, signing $10.4 billion in deals from 2001 to 2004. Such statistics could be used by those in the United States government who have argued against any decision by the European Union to lift its arms embargo against China.

For that same four-year period, India ranked second, with $7.9 billion in arms purchases, and Egypt was third, with $6.5 billion in deals.

But India surpassed China in total purchases in 2004, agreeing to buy $5.7 billion in arms.

$5.7 billion is the total revenues of the top 10 IT providers which worked their ass off for 10-15 years to get that big.

The world has changed. Warfare has changed. But countries continue to but like idiots.
When was the last time that India used a fighter plane in a war against another country?
When was the last time India used a submarine in a war situation?
When was the last time India used ICBM's?

The power in the world is shifting away from "owning lands" and calling it a nation. It has moved towards people being more bothered about either finding a job or fbuying a Merc.
I am glad they moved on.

As a % of GDP contibution, the public sector had a huge share in the 60's and 70's. Now, its the private (If you are a Kurta-wearing communist read as greedy, blood sucking, anti-socialist, selfish) sector which provides the most jobs. Just becuase we chose these guys to administer 'services' to us, doesnt mean that they have the power to rule and over-rule us.

It is so stupid for a government to spend $5.7 billion on arms when they crib about lack of money for laying roads and primary education? How can you ever choose a gun over a primary school?

Wars for land are things of the past.
Learn and move on.

A few of my recent pics. A hobby revisited. Lets see how long this fad sustains itself.

www.flickr.com/photos/atheistbishop

Collage a bleu (comme elle a commence) et orange (why couldnt they have a different word in French for collage and orange?!!)

Collage a rouge!

I was just reading an article about big an impact United Airlines impending bankruptcy would have on Denver. A biggish city on any parameter. 5,500 employees of Denver contribute millions to the Denver economy.
5,500 citizens and a city seems to be concerned about their jobs and the revenues to the city.

Cut to the chase in Mumbai...

Lets look at some facts:
The BMC (Briham Mumbai Corp, city council managing civic amenities in Mumbai) has a budget of Rs. 6,756 crores ($3.2 billion) for 2004-2005 supporting 18 million inhabitants. Bangalore Mahanagar Palika has a budget of about Rs. 1000 crores (half a billion $) supporting 58 million inhabitants (and may be a million expats).

Mumbai supports some of the richest blokes in India and a lot of the poorest (34% of the 18 million live in slums)

One fine day, it rained a little bit, TV channels show people dancing in the street, frolicking in the rain. The Met Dept tells the government that there is a huge cloud burst on the way. The government plans city-wide rain dance parties.

Then the deluge. 90mm of rain in 2 hours.

Kids who went to school, people working in offices, commuters on trains, buses and cars are stranded where they are.

Sitting far away in Hyderabad, I think... shouldnt the drains just ...drain the water into the sea in an hour or so? Nope, the richest city in India has infrastructure meant for 2 million people.
Of course, not employed in BMC, I ask, Why the fuck? Hmmm... because they kept postponing the new drainage system, apparently since 1990.

Dint the famed Mumbaikars say anything? They got used to wading in knee deep water every monsoon so they thought it was 'natural'.... till the water got neck deep.

Just imagine the plight of a 5 year old school kid who cant get back home for 2 days, where the adults have no clue what to do. I would agree that the government could do little for the 2 hours when it was pouring cats and dogs. But what were they doing for 2 days after the deluge?

Why cant somebody think enough to communicate to people? Why couldnt they use the ubiquitous FM radios in every car and home? Why couldnt they tell them to get to safer areas?

Where were the boats? Where were the choppers? It is understandable the city admin dint have access to these but why dint they ask the army to help out in full force?

It was evident that they never had a disaster management plan in place which should specify in digestible steps to each entity concerned what they should do in case of a disaster. Incessant rains and water logging are not new to Mumbai.

What ensued what nothing less than apathy. 20 people died because of rumours of dam bursts and incoming tsunami. Rumours spread like wild fires but they are not discering as to who gets them, they would reached the authorities as well. But they knew the facts, they dint bother.

The government says that its employees were busy taking care of their families. They are the insiders, they know very well that the government cant and wouldnt do jack shit to take care of his family. Of course they would tend to their families. It is the worst and self implicating excuse that a civic authority can ever provide.

I read an article by Govindaraj Ethitraj, the CNBC dude, who spoke of Mumbai's reaction to the inaction by the government. He warned against callousness. y

The Mumbai spirit lived through serial bomb blasts and communcal violence. I hope the Mumbai spirit refuses to live with lack of organization from the government. I hope that Mumbai works, lives and rebels against this stupidity.

If City of Denver can be concerned about 5,500 people, then BMC should shudder at the thought a 58 million strong exodus.

Insight/ shock oriented writing and the aha oriented logic can only be stretched so far before the marks start showing.
Blogging/ writing/ talk shows/ self help books are becoming so different yet following the same formula that shocking is getting to be boring.

Hyderabad airport!

Some lady puring through a magazine on our return flight

Random image in Dubai.

The dune safari. Was kick ass fun!

Me: 2007, I will be a law student
Wife: 2007, I would need to search for a lawyer

Every indian kid has drawn this picture. Did you do it as well? Is this an indian phenomenon? or does this happen the world over?

Did you draw this image? What were the other elements???

It was interesting that EVERY member of my team has made a similar image and surprisingly from imagination not recreating another picture.

Strange!

Decisions are a pain.

Every decision that you made in your life has shaped what you are and what you have the option to do today.

As Sartre says "Man is but a sum total of all his actions. Not intentions".

I have 3 options. Each with pros and cons (I heard that, Of course!!).

I know each decision will entail a minor regret and a major change in the way I live and work and look at the world.

I have few regrets in life. I dont take myself very seriously.

I love decisions which need but a split second to make.

Decisions with a few months of prep time are the killers.

Equation:
Post decision dissonance is directly proportional to the time available for decision making.

Studies which decipher how the space between the ears works are the most engrossing.
Its incredible when you can relate to the experiments and the outcomes. The aha moment is when you reflect back to your decisions and understand the rationale better than what you convinced yourself of.
This particular study talks about how inconsequential, unrelated, peripheral events can cloud your decision making about important things. We always knew the reverse to be true.
I have to confess that I started reading the article after I saw the magic word starting with P in the headline of the article!
Maurice, Thanks.
Read on:
Looking to Make a Sale or Get Promoted? Emotions Will Help Determine the Outcome - Knowledge@Wharton

Dubai is a country/ emirate of contrasts.
You have guys dressed robin blue white kaftan looking things, trotting around like penguins, with buttoned up chinese collars covered till the toe, trotting hand in hand with a babe in a bikini with cleavage going down till her six pack.
It goes against all the typecasted ideas we ever had about an arabic islamic state.
You can be pardoned to think that you are driving across texas. After a 3 and a half hour flight, you arrive at a left hand drive city, full of land cruisers and hot lanes. A city which never sleeps and is at the mall half the time. Other than trading and oil, there seems to be little business activity but the little city supports more malls than the whole of south india, sports more luxury brands than Vijay Mallya.
And after all this, you still feel as though you are in a famous tourist place in.... India.
All the chatter that you hear in a mall is from Panju's, gults and tams. The locals are the arabs and malayalis.
The famous wildebeast migration in Serengeti looking like a pedestrian crossing after midnight compared to the influx of mallus into Dubai. Every cab driver is a mallu, every sales person is a mallu, every gold seller in the famed gold souk is a mallu.
If there was a better example of offshoring than the hitech city, this would be it.

But Dubai was fun like hell. Walking in and out of air conditioned malls, hotels, restaurants, land cruisers into searing 40 degree desert radiation was kinda fun. The moment I walked out of any mall, my glasses were completely foggy for a few seconds, luckily, I bumped into a few nice russian women leveraging on my temporary blindness!

Review:
War of the Worlds

It was a 200 seater movie theatre in Dubai's famed City Center.
I was one of the three people scattered around the largish hall.

I usually brood for a few minutes and try and come with a few smart comments about the movie.
I was left numb at the end of it. Not because it overwhelmed me. I dont think I was ever involved in the movie. I was just an engrossed by-stander.
Did I like the movie when I was in the theater. Yes.
Did I think about it the moment Steven Speilberg's name flashed at the end? No.

The movie did have its positives (Here we go for the smart ones after the brooding):
Tom Cruise was not a Hero. Tom cruise was a just a charactor who keeps getting lucky all the frigging time. Either the tripod aliens shoot very badly or Tommy boy just keeps missing all the shrapnel and the flying bebris by a whisker.

The babe who acted as his daughter did an awesome job though.
This seems to be a new trend, where inspite of kicking the alien asses, the truimph is only when the protagonist succeeds in personal relationships. Should augur well for the insurance companies.

Me is off for a walk in the old Dubai town.

Review: Mr. and Mrs. Smith.

If Brad Pitt and Angeline Jolie were adam and eve, there wouldn't be any brothers, sisters and friends in the world.

Review:
She is unfair.

Text of Commencement address by Steve Jobs: " I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: 'If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?' And whenever the answer has been 'No' for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something. "

Not a bad idea Steve.

Chetan,
You da dude.

Third Umpire

"As we know, there are known knowns.
There are things we know we know.
We also know there are known unknowns.
That is to say we know there are some things we do not know.
But there are also unknown unknowns,
the ones we don't know we don't know."

- Donald. H. Rumsfeld (U.S. Secretary of Defense)

Geek speak to say,
We know we screwed up because what we thought we knew, we actually dint know.
Now we know that we were cocksure without facts.
Unknown is how we could convince a country that we screwed up but its all for your good!

“Patriots Oath”

I am only one
But I am one
I cannot do everything
But I can do something.
And what I can do;
That I ought to do
And what I ought to do
By the grace of God
I will do.

I am non-nationalist so dont read too much into the 'patriot' part of the post.

“Leadership is helping the Right People, Do the Right Thing, at the Right Time, and for the Right Reason” - Some smart guy in a Peoplesoft pitch to state governments.

Life aint blissfully bored anymore.
And I love it!

There is a little black spot on Sun today,
It was the same old thing as yesterday.

"Reading widely outside of one's discipline has been probably the biggest source of ideas."
- Lawrence Baxter, Wachovia

I like exaggerated people.
Not people who exxagerate.

'Why didn't you invite me earlier?':

Excerpt from an interview with Mark Knopfler:
[...]
...."Do you believe honest plug-in-and-play music can survive technological advancements, software, DJs?
Yes, because creativity will always outpace technology."

Couldn't agree with him more.

My comp tries it often but can never get quirky enough to find creative reasons not to work like I do.

Stevie- Thanks for getting the job in Mumbai dude, I always needed free accomodation at a posh place in Bandra.
I already have a Stan Chart card so don't try to pitch one to me, you can of course try and get my balance cancelled!

Congratulations, hope you have a lot of fun in Standard Chartered.

Oddity

Hope you have a lot of fun at Ranbaxy, I dont know enough of my interactions with the company to crack some sad jokes.

Have fun in Dilli.

A recurring fantasy
To just quit everything
To quit everything that I am ever comfortable with
To quit the job, the relationships, the ambitions, the passion for work

Just quit everything.

Make a little hut on top of a snow capped mountains, with higher peaks around it.
Be happy serving hot tea to the trekkers from world over
Live with small little farm behind the house

I say: What else do I need?
She says: Not much I guess.
I say: Then why the hell is it so tough to do?
She says: How many of your fantasies have you ever lived?
I say: hmm... not many... a few mini-fantasies, I guess
She says: There you have the answer.
I say: So, I am condemened to live the life of the "blissfully bored"
She says: You are condemned to live the life that you chose for yourself.

Vish Kanya

I love the way this babe speaks and rhymes and chimes.

Dreams vs ambitions
Love vs passion
Adventure vs comfort

I am the happiest when the twain meet.

He says: I am not in a good frame of mind.
She says: May be you should change the picture.

She says: I wonder sometimes if it is ok to read someones blog without telling them - it is like infringing thieir personal space.
He says: It is is not my personal space
It is a public facade of my personal space
I will only post stuff which either I dont mind your seeing it or when I want you to see it.
Stuff which I dont want people to hear will be said in a closed room of an empty house at the top of my voice, shouting, with music playing at its highest
A vain attempt to not make me hear what I am saying
A refusal to to accept that I need the release.

So a blog is nothing but an to impress myself.

She says: Do you always talk so much?
He says: You dont like it?
She says: Oh come of it!!

It is unfair.

Polyglut, get well soon.

The New York Times> Opinion > Op-Ed Contributor: How Wall Street Learns to Look the Other Way: "Consider financial theory, the cornerstone of modern business education. The mathematical theory that has developed over the decades has proved extremely valuable in general. But when it comes to individuals, the theory runs into some problems. In effect, it portrays people as nothing more than 'maximizers' of their own 'expected utility.' This means that people are expected to be totally selfish, constantly calculating their own advantage, with no thought of others. If the premise is that everyone would steal the silverware if he knew he could get away with it, and if we spend the entire semester developing the implications of this assumption, then it is hard to know where to begin to talk about ethics. "

-----------------------------------------
True. We are taught or we wanted to learn to become maximizers of expected utility to self. When ensure that the utility increases for the company so that the company maximizes the reward to me.
Is that really bad?
The fact that I am asking the question speaks volumes about how I have been willing co-opted by the maximize-unto-self theory.
I still dont think it is bad.
I need another MBA.
A different one.

Let's say I get a more idealistic MBA. Would it change the fact that when I go to buy a home theatre, I hope I made more than what I make now? I guess not.

Idealism sounds good, Bose sounds better.

A new day
A new week
A new role
Kinda new house
A new car
A new team

And there was...
A good yesterday
A busy week
A role that I enjoyed very much
A 4 month old car
An awesome and interesting team.

She says: How are you doing?
I say: Never been better, having a lot of fun.
I say: Was it ever any different?
She says: ... And you think that is good?

On a sabbatical at www.tsunamihelp.blogspot.com

brb

As we try to find ways in which we can help people in those areas, this is a place where we picked up a lot of directions.

These guys are doing an awesome job:

Please use this resource and get in touch with them:
The South-East Asia Earthquake and Tsunami

Asia quake toll tops 23,000

26th December 2004
1. I had a heavy dinner yesterday, I need to get my tummy tucked-in for the New Year party, lemme go for a walk in the morning. Marina beach is a kewl place for a long and vigorous walk. I still haven't decided where to party on the New Year's. Should I go to Shomu's party or should I just go pub hopping?
2. I love X'mas holidays. I get to come back home from Love dale, I get to play cricket with my school friends on the beach. I want to hit a sixer today, God please help me do this. I have never asked you anything. This is really important to me.
3. It will be so much fun to bunk IIT tuitions and walk on the beach in the morning with my boyfriend.
4. So what is it is Sunday, at this age, you have to walk everyday to keep fit. Get up. Don't you miss the breezy beach?
5. It is a good thing that I stay right on the beach, my plastic sheet thatch seems to be holding for now. I have to find that guy who paid me 25p less yesterday for the tea, I will keep looking for him till 10 in the morning, he has to come here to watch his son play cricket.
6. I hope this works out. This girl is cute and all but I dint know jack about her and now I HAVE to live with her for the rest of my life. But at least spending a few days with her in Phuket might help us get to know each other better.
7. Fuck man, I have to stop thinking about the RFP's, I have to stop thinking about my bitch of a boss and how she is ruining my career. I spend 2000 quid on this vacation and let me feel the sand on the beach even if I cant feel any bums as yet! Hey! the sea seems to be receding, strange! almost like my hairline!
8. I had to use up the LTA for this year, I had to use it by the end of the year and what better place to ger Rama and the kids than to the Andamans. Kiran is 14 now and he takes so many more risks than I ever could, jet skiing, canoeing and what not. We are off, back home tomorrow. The morning after Christmas is so beautful. Let me savour my last morning in Andamans. The sea seems a little rough today. What the hell is that? Was that an Earthquake? Good that I am on the beach and not in a building. I am safe.
9. 200 Rupiah yesterday. If I can get to that school of fish that I missed, I could make a lot more and not fish for a few more days. I left home at 4.00 am, my children were sleeping. I hope to buy them something in the evening.
10. There is a silver lining to every cloud. Retirement is not that bad! Pretty women all around, peaceful and serene sea in front of me.
11. 3000 miles done with another 700 miles to go before we can see some dry land during the day. Thailand has been a revelation for Kayaking, awesome little islands, awesome little lagoons, I dont care if I couldnt see Brooke Shields or that Leornado's little island. Once we are done by the 1st, the 6 of us will down enough beer to fill a mini-sea.
12.
13.
14.

3000 "people" died in India
12000 "people" in Sri Lanka
10000 "people" in Indonesia

Statistics! :-(
Don't think of disputing the numbers. That is not the point.

Mocha- 3 months, getting ready for his bath and hating it.



Mocha- 15 months
We are still waiting for him to grow up!

According to Kasparov "What separates a winner from a loser at the grand-master level is the willingness to do the unthinkable. A brilliant strategy is, certainly, a matter of intelligence, but intelligence without audaciousness is not enough. Given the opportunity, I must have the guts to explode the game, to upend my opponent's thinking and, in so doing, unnerve him.

So it is in business: One does not succeed by sticking to convention. When your opponent can easily anticipate every move you make, your strategy deteriorates and becomes commoditized. So, yes, a sort of courage is paramount. But that courage must be tempered by other less-glamorous qualities.

Me likes.

Am like a horse in a stable
feeling all fit and able
get my meals on time
Can sleep when I want to.

Then I dream about
the horses in the wild
can feel the breeze on my mane
and the tingle on my hide
dream about the absence of shackles
wild grass everywhere
snorting and galloping breezong through the days.

I wake up to see
the fence in my stable
know it can be crosseded being physically able
I think of the security
the meals on time and luxury life
and how I need to be more mentally able...

Anup and I, a few years back in a Linear programming session.

Anoop and Jasmine- Honey mooning in Colombo.
Hope you guys are doing well.

Amen.

Bomb blasts in bali, 9/11, riots in Aceh, riots in gujrat, war in iraq, fatal accidents every minute, tsunami in India, Sri Lanka and Indonesia.
Either I have been lucky to have escaped such cataclysmic events or...
One is waiting for me round the corner.
Hope I din't tap the wrong door.

Englishman with his pipe and a stiff upper lip.

Dinka Man, Sudan

The worst kind of fatigue is the fatigue of boredom.

How do I create an early warning system for the last situation?

.

Silence.
Confusion.
Decision.
Peace.
Silence.

It is strange and interesting how our pseudonyms get stuck to us.
I started using "atheistbishop", when I was looking to create a kewl screen name to play chess, something related to chess.
Atheistbishop got stuck to me since that evening.
It was easy to see how he got perpetuated. I din't have to check if anybody else was already using the id on any site and it was a neat name to have on chat!
Atheistbishop starting having a life of his own when I started blogging, thanks to foolie who co-opted me.
Atheistbishop's blog seemed to have a life of its own. Two avid bloggers meeting in the evening for a coffee, in most cases, don't discuss the content of their blogs. It is almost as though the blog has a life of its own in the cyberspace and interactions with the being called blog should be restricted to that world.
I blog for myself. But, I also play to the galleries. (Even though they are mostly empty :-))
It is this dichotomy between personal content of the blog and it's availabilty to everybody in the world, which makes the content and the thought process of the bloggers interesting.
It is an argument between being true to one's thoughts and Not being comfortable saying "all" that one want's to say.
May be this is when the identity of the pseudonym asserts him/herself, creating somekind of a distinction between the tangible world and the cyberspace.

There would be times when I am measured in what I say, But there would be times when the blog is release for Atheistbishop. Where, he doesn't care about what the gallery might think.

Black Yamaha RX 100, 1989 model.
I bought the bike in December of 1994. 10 years till date.
It was my lifeline till 2002.
It still gets my heart racing. I always feel 18 when racing it, I am on it :-).
There is some kind of visceral bond between me and the bike.
It tends to get a smile whenever I get on it and give it a rev and hear that awesome growl.
It kinda understood that I was a pauper as a student, it dint need service for years together.
I loved it but treated it badly. In all these 10 years, it never stopped once.
Dad asked me to sell it to buy a "different" bike. He din't want to face the ire had he said "better".

Today, I drove it after a few months.
It was fun ripping on the roads leaving saftey to the dogs.

I had such awesome memories on it, of all the friends who loved the bike as much as I did.
It is always parked next to my car.
I get into the car and drive away everyday.
But it is the Black, Yamaha RX 100, which is and will always be my first love.

Do you want to ride mah baby?

gairon ko kab fursat hai dukh dene ki
jab hota hai koi humdum hota hai

sach yeh hai bekaar hume gham hota hai
jo chaha tha duniya mein kam hota hai

hum hongey khud sey ghair
humdum, chahat aur dard key baghair

"OK," She said. She watched him go out of the door, saw him wave before he stepped into the elevator. She had never felt so close to him, never so much in love and if someone told her she would not see Michael again until three years passed, she would not have been able to bear the anguish of it.
- Mario Puzo in The Godfather, just before Michael Corleone goes to the hospital to check on Don Corleone, setting off the series of events culminating into Michael's killing Sollozzo and McCluskey.

Kay doesn't see Michael for another three years. She lives, and does pretty well for herself.

How well we exaggerate the importance of what is in front of us...

gairon jo kab furst hai dukh dene ki
jab hota hai joi hum dum hota hai.

Not plagiarized, a straight lift off.
- Foolie quoting Jagjit Singh.

The Schizophrenic Mind

Why does the mind vacillate so often?
Why can't it stick to a stance?
Why does have to present itself with extremely convincing arguments for and against a situation?

Never mind.

Confessions of an Atheistbishop:

"I analyze every second I exist
Beating on my mind every second with my fist"
-- Limp Bizkit

Revisted.
As true as ever.

Mind has a great ability to exaggerate the importance and the indispensability of the people in front of you.
So much so that the people start exaggerating their importance in your life.
As time passes, the mind moves on.
People don't.

How do citizens communicate their expectations to the governments?
Necessities are easier to communicate as they double up as campaign speeches and vote bank pleasers.
How would the government understand citizen's expectations for developmental needs?
How does the government get to know that the citizens need an better system to pay income tax?
What is the interface?
The elected representatives are too few and far between.
Again, a middle class, 20 something, educated, working in a Consulting company is not a "typical" Indian.
So, if I haven't ever been reached out to by the Government to understand what I "think" rather than what I "need", then it be just that I am not important enough or we aren't sizeable enough.
Every long-term decision made by the government needs to have an implicit understanding that "this is what the people want". How does the government get this idea?
One school of thought says that, "initiating new programs or massive changes to the governance structure is only possible through visionary leadership, by a leader who can think far enough, farther than the citizens. By that logic, citizen's expectations are limiting and short-sighted."
May be it is the size of the population in India, which makes, an outreach to gather public opionion, extremely difficult.
In a few European countries, citizen's participation in decision making is more organized. For example, Switzerland follows a system called "direct democracy", where it is possible to insist, by collecting a modest number of signatures, that any law proposed by the government must be submitted to a vote by the electorate.

The delays in decision-making in this progress would be debilitating in a democracy of India size with highly opinionated populace.

The question still remains, how can an educated, working citizen participate/ contribute to decision making in a democracy after electing a representative or a party to power?
When elected representatives are lambasted about the murkiness of politics, the usual refuge is that not enough educated, working citizens join politics.
They needn't.
Governance system should have points of interface where citizens can contribute to decision-making at various levels.
Other than experiments with electronic voting and using survey tools, the governance structures haven't evolved to incorporate the tools created from the Internet revolution to let citizens reach out to the Government.
How different is the communication
Citizen's expectations, can be looked at from 2 sides of the mirror.
1. How can the government fulfill my expectations of service delivery?
2. How can I communicate my expectations about decisions that the country makes? How can I contribute my knowledge and understanding in providing better service delivery for every body?
Other than the election, what is the other means by which a citizen can communicate with the Government? The Government of course, has the complete media machinery at its disposal to speak to its populace.
Citizens need more avenues and tools to communicate with the government not just once in 5 years but as frequently as possible.
Citizen groups and councils are doing a good job in their limited means. But more needs to be done.

I enjoy uncertainity.
But not when I am staring right into it.
I love to have options.
But not when I want all of them

I guess, I am just being hypocritical.

Korli recently told me that I have a tendency to get very comfy with where I am.
I agree.
I love my thoughts and the way they meander.
I get excited by my thoughts and get impressed by them.

I have to minimize these orgasms out of intellectual masturbation.

Things have to get out of "hand", its more fun the other way!

Don't you agree?

Ohayo Gozaimasu!
I am re-starting Japanese classes from tomorrow morning.
From 6.30 to 8.00 in the morning.
I miss trying to get a hang of that tough script, its like going back to the slate.
Write and repeat.
Write and repeat.
Write and repeat.

Sayonara

Let me get as good at Nihongo as I was at Francais.

IBM-Lenovo deal creates new global PC player - Computer Business Review: "IBM will take an 18.9% stake in Beijing-based Lenovo under the terms of the agreement, which also sees Lenovo become the preferred supplier of PCs to IBM, and IBM becoming the preferred services and customer-financing provider to Lenovo"

Quid pro quo (Without any quid)? You scratch my back, I scratch yours.

I was under the impression that we moved on from "Barter system" of doing business towards a more "Currency" based economy.

Je m'en fous.

I loved to use this phrase when I was learning French a long time back.
It slipped out of my vocabulary.
"I don't care" or "I couldnt care less" or " I don't bother much" didn't replace the term.

Je m'en fous is leading the rally back.
Welcome home.

He said I was in my early forties
with a lot of life before me
when a moment came that stopped me on a dime
and I spent most of the next days
looking at the x-rays
Talking bout the options
and talking bout sweet time
I asked him when it sank in
that this might really be the real end
how's it hit you when you get that kinda news
man what?d you do

and he said
I went sky diving
I went Rocky Mountain climbing
I went 2.7 seconds on a bull named fumanchu
and I loved deeper and I spoke sweeter
and I gave forgiveness I'd been denying
and he said someday I hope you get the chance
to live like you were dying.

He said I was finally the husband
that most the time I wasn't
and I became a friend a friend would like to have
and all the sudden going fishin
wasn?t such an imposition
and I went three times that year I lost my dad
well I finally read the good book
and I took a good long hard look
at what I?d do if I could do it all again

and then
I went sky diving
I went Rocky Mountain climbing
I went 2.7 seconds on a bull named fumanchu
and I loved deeper and I spoke sweeter
and I gave forgiveness I'd been denying
and he said someday I hope you get the chance
to live like you were dying.

Like tomorrow was a gift and you got eternity to think about
what?d you do with it what did you do with it
what did I do with it
what would I do with it?

Sky diving
I went Rocky Mountain climbing
I went 2.7 seconds on a bull named fumanchu
and then I loved deeper and I spoke sweeter
and I watched an eagle as it was flying
and he said someday I hope you get the chance
to live like you were dying.
To live like you were dying
To live like you were dying
To live like you were dying
To live like you were dying


- Tim Mcgraw

The most complicated word in english dictionary: Expectations. Dickens wasnt stupid.

Thanks!

November 6th: Arrive at Philadelphia
November 29th: Leave Houston for London.

23 days.
Revelation.
Bliss.
I.

Rowing

Japanese course

Salsa

Cross country running

Violin

Watch movies at home, the old ones

Get back to listening to music

Darkness aint only for sleeping

Silence is aint only for praying

Solitude aint only when nobody is around

Change in attititude, brings about a change in life.
I used to to see the "if" in Life.
I see the "I" in it a lot more clearly.

There was this beautiful and intelligent bird,
Everybody loved her.
There was this boy, who loved the bird.
He loved to see the bird chirping, flying around, doing exactly as it wants,
The boy wanted to spend more time with the bird and wanted the bird to spend more time with him,
The boy thought the bird needed the love that he could give her,
But, the boy knew that the bird wanted to fly around and do exactly as it wanted without being in any cage with any name.
The bird liked the boy as well, but loved the freedom a lot more,
The boy smiles to the bird and says "Live your life, whenever we meet, lets fly together for that little bit of time"
The bird says "Live your life, the way you want to." "Fly as much as you can, run as much as you can". "Dont expect others to fly with you, dont care when others ask you not to fly." "Life is too short, the journeys too many".
The boy understands that he needs to help himself run or fly. Not to be with the bird, but for himself.
Now, whenever their paths cross, they smile and fly together. The bird in the sky, the boy on the earth.
Split and then fly some more.
The boy thanks the bird and says "I will tell you about my journeys."
Will you tell me yours?

I.

Wait.
Wait till it happens
Wait, keep looking at it to see if it happens
That niggling thing which keeps tugging at your mind every few minutes
...did it?
There is a point in time, where the wait crosses a line...
It is no longer an expectant wait with a heart full of hope
It turns to desperate pacing around
...did it?
A little later...
The wait loses to more mundane and more important things in life.
...did it?
Yes.
Now, it just doesnt matter.

From a Yippeee!!! it goes to a "yea, whatever".
The faster I get to whatever the better it is for me.

"Tipping Point" Defined as a moment in time where minimal increments reach a level where things got to change. Minimal increments become unacceptable.

Each of us have tipping points at many stages in life, the time that you decided you going to propose, you decide you going to quit a job, the point that you said enough is enough.
Its different from a huge cataclysmic event which forces you to react.

This is a moment where small, seemingly important yet inconsequential events suddenly transform into a point of inflection.

I might be at that stage.
The advantage of a tipping point is that you can take time decide the best way in which you can change things.

Balaji, May the force be with you.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11
I miss these.

A normal life.
At 60:
I was an analyst, a consultant, a manager, a director, a VP and a CEO for a long time.
I know I can get there.

But is that all I want to do?
How do I also learn how to do carpentry, run a marathon in a decent time, live in 10 countries, create a tandem bungee jumping record, live as a scuba diving instructor in Lakshadweep, learn astronomy, be a high altitude trekker.

Live life as there was no tomorrow, balance the finances with a neat job.

Can I do all of this by being blissfully bored?

When do I get out of the BOX? When will I do what "I" want to do?

When?

Brimming with life. I am waiting to catch the overflow.
Waiting.
Should I make a run for it?
Should I stand on the beach to catch the surf?

300 miles on I-95 in a Porsche boxster and bliss. Chilled in more ways than one.

Election and its impact on security, election and its impact on health care, election and freedom, election and impact on tunisisan hat makers, election an its impact on afghanistan, iraq, iran, syria, israel, pakistan, UAE, election and media freedom, will the new president stop outsourcing, will the new president speak better english, will the new president be environmental friendly, election and its impact on fasion and golf. global impact on economy. how will the new president affect my marital relations?
Am i exxxagerating the importance of the tumultuous tuesday's election?

October surprise (ok-TOH-buhr suhr-PRYZ) noun

A last minute surprise, especially one orchestrated by a candidate
to influence an election.

"On tuesday night, in one of the rarest sight as yet in the 2004 Presidential election campaign one of the candidates shocked the audience with an "October surprise" displaying a double whammy of intelligence and likeability. Two qualities which have been absent since Bill Clinton left office. These two qualities made Clinton extremely "Broad- minded in International affairs" and also made him "Broads" minded in issue of the... cigar.

Please note the "products in focus" of International Information programs of U.S. state departnment.

Every once in a while, people invent something which kinda masks how stupid, forgetful and diorganized you are with information.

Its their ilk which helps our ilk to put a brave face to the world and march on...

One such thing is the Google Desktop search: http://desktop.google.com/



So will you...?

Two debates old and getting the hang of it now. You can check factcheck.org if I misstate anything and then mail meback the error and you can score 10 brownie points.

Kerry: I have a better plan
Bush: World is a better place now.
Kerry: There are no WMD's in Iraq
Bush: World is a better place now.
Kerry: We lost jobs
Bush: We are safer now with 75% of the Al Qaeda back in Prison
Kerry: Health care cost went up, no child left behind was underfunded... little puppy dint get his bone...
Bush: Saddam was a danger to the world, he had intentions of making a WMD
Kerry: I voted for the war and I voted against funding it after a halo appeared around my head
Bush: Kerry flip flops in his flip flops. Ammmerica needs a strong leader who sticks to his guns and is ready to pull the trigger even if gun is pointed towards thy ass. Consistency is what we require, ass is expendable (Like stallone in Rambo....

Berry: World is a better place with my new plan
Kush: 75% of the Al Qaeda is in prison and we lost jobs
Berry: Saddam is a danger to the world and the health care costs went up
Kush: I voted for war and voted against funding it. My ass is expendable.

This the debate that I have been looking forward to the most. The importance of how much one these "guys" can change the world in the next 5 years. How we live and what we worry about in 2009. Am I exxxagerating? May be...

This the debate that I have been looking forward to the most. The importance of how much one these "guys" can change the world in the next 5 years. How we live and what we worry about in 2009. Am I exxxagerating? May be...

"I felt that the timing was right to plan for my successor, and there is no one more qualified than Conan. Plus, I promised my wife, Mavis, I would take her out for dinner before I turned 60."
JAY LENO, after NBC announced Conan O'Brien would succeed him as host of the "Tonight" show.

Supposedly surveys show that majority of the teenagers get their news from the daily show and the tonight show.

I might just miss the turkey double chin.

The New York Times > Health > Sick of Work: Cracking Under the Pressure? It's Just the Opposite, for Some

This is kind of like me.

A few excerpts from the article so that I dont gloat about myself.
"If I didn't feel like I was part of something important, I wouldn't be able to do this,"
..."They find themselves more involved in their work when it gets tougher and more complicated. They tend to think of stress as a normal part of life, rather than as something that's unfair.''
...Mr. Kuchuck has also seen the opposite: people who crave a frenzied career because they feel their childhoods were not stimulating at all.
"When you feel that you're accomplishing something, it's akin to a sense of control,"

Exclusive! The George Bush Interview: "I am absolutely committed to building an enhanced, comprehensive relationship with the Government of India. The United States and India have common interests and we need to pursue a healthy, long-term, mutually beneficial relationship. I believe there is broad agreement with that point of view in India and the United States"

I can replace "India" with any other "country" and it sounds perfect. So much for platitudes...

The Ladder of Inference, a metaphorical tool developed by Chris Argyris, is a reflective aid that helps us uncover the thinking that led to a conclusion. When we reach a conclusion, we gradually move up this Ladder:
We select from the available pool of data and information.
We interpret and add our own meaning to the data.
We finally reach our conclusion—and the top of the Ladder.

Global Shared Services and Internet Technology: "PeopleSoft CFO Kevin Parker no longer loses sleep wondering how sales forecasts are going in Europe and Asia. But he is still regularly awakened by the nocturnal cries of a toddler." A pleasant comment at the end of a heavy lecture.

Just a nice picture that I flicked from another site.

Kovac's Law - When you dial a wrong number,you never get an engaged one.

O'brien's Variation Law: If you change queues, the one you have left will start to move faster than the one you are in now

Lorenz's Law of Mechanical Repair: After your hands become coated with grease, your nose will begin to itch.

Anthony's Law of the Workshop: Any tool, when dropped, will roll to the least accessible corner

Chandu's law: The forward that you ignored would have better jokes than all the dumb ones you opened and cursed the sender.

One of the many smiles that we helped scuplt. Felt good...
Posted by Hello

Tension, complexity, convoluted, intricacy, detail, web, turf wars, self-preservation, labyrinth, fatigue...

Let me kill this Hello! tool to death, I actually went searching for some pics that I can blog.
Posted by Hello

Google has become almost indispensable and when find Google says there is an "Server error", it is kind of a momentous event :-)
Posted by Hello

These days whenever there is no signal on TV or when there is an extended power cut or when the phone lines are down, I quickly try to see if there is anything wrong, has there been a terrorist attack.

It is not fear psychosis or anything but just an apprehension after being glued to the T.V for 2 days non-stop after 9/11. Does that strike a chord with anybody?

World's biggest punching bag, the United States of America, its suprising as to the number of people, including me at times, find it so fashionable to go on  US bashing binge. It hasn't done much towards endearing itself in the last few years.
The last few weeks provided a glimpse to why the "institution" called America is so strong. I haven't heard of many countries setting up a commission to find out if they screwed up.
I was pleased to see the commission report going deep into the actions taken by CIA, FBI and the state department to avert 9/11. Before that there was the commission which question why (I almost said "we") Americans were in Iraq even there dint seem to be any evidence of complicity of the Iraqi government in 9/11.
We got a glimpse of counteracting buoys which keep it floating and keep it respectable. If a movie even remotely close to Fahrenheit 9/11, it would have been banned as it would incite "violence" in our greatest democracy in the world.

Long live the punching bag.

Dear Bond: I'd b glad to be of help,
A professional is a person who does his best, most when (s)he's not upto it :D (exaggeration).

A colleagues gyan on work.

Amen.

Stupid joke cooked up over a nice conversation:
Make hay while sun shines... make babies when it doesn't.

As part of its de-risking strategy Infosys has put a ceiling on the size of individual deals. The company has drafted a policy stating that no client of the company can account for more than 10 percent of its revenues. Smart move after looking at EDS' problems.

philodox (FIL-uh-doks) noun
Someone who loves his or her own opinion; a dogmatic person.

A common trait, an uncommon word.

ING.com / CFO Cees Maas at Goldman Sachs Financial Services Conference: "Vice-chairman and CFO Cees Maas recently shared his vision on the growth potential of different life insurance markets around the world. "

I thought it was some kind of an acronym. Cees Maas.

In 1973, the average US citizen needed 17.5 weeks of annual family earnings to buy an average-priced car, a figure that rose to 24.0 weeks by 1994. By 2003, the figure had declined to 20.7 weeks.
20.7 weeks is about 4-5 months of salary. U.S. per capita Purchasing Power Parity= $37,800.
Indian per capita purchasing power parity $2,900.

U.S. price= $15000= 6 months of income based on PPP
Indian Price= $15,000= 6 years of income based on PPP

Where are we heading with this economic system?

Australia has one of the biggest gambling industries in the world. Some 330,000 Australians are classified as problem gamblers, losing an average of about A$12,000 ( £5,000) a year each and suffering social difficulties including family break-ups, suicidal tendencies and involvement in crime.

Gambling has been legal since the beginning of European settlement and is more firmly entrenched than in many other societies, says Jan McMillen, head of the Centre for Gambling Research at the Australian National University in Canberra. Australia in 1916 became one of the first countries in the world to institute state lotteries; without them Sydney's Opera House and Harbour Bridge would never have been built. About 85 per cent of people bet at least once a year, half of that number regularly.

Sounds incredulous, never thought of Australia as a gambling haven, but if 330000 are "problem gamblers" then somebody has to make all the money, other than the Casino's. Inanest post of the year. Dint think enough as to why I found it so interesting.

Wistful Goran welcomes the end: "'Never stop believing,' he grins when reminded of those delirious days."

Goran Ivanisevic (I had to copy paste his surname, you never knwo if you got it right). Hero of the underdogs. Even after he won the event, he still remains the underdog. Such single minded objective drives you to acheive your dream but then thats the only thing you end up acheiving ever again.

"If you think getting your teenager out of the mall will keep money in your pocket, think again: dELiA*s has her covered -- or almost covered -- with bare-midriff peasant tops, short shorts, and barely-there sandals, not to mention Feng Shui necklaces and iridescent lipgloss. The company sells trendy clothing and accessories to girls and young women between the ages of 10 to 24 "

What does this sound like?
A copy from an ad campaign about a to-be launched pret line?
A warning about teenage spending habits and the root culprit?
A company description on Hoovers, a financial information provider, touting to be "The Business Information Authority"TM.

But all the same, its make a heavy research job fun sometimes.

Chandu Anniya, there you go :-)

I was just discussing with a colleague in the US about the importance of the issue of offshoring in the U.S and how it might play out in Presidential race, he had this to say "Americans are fickle - they want cheap prices, but when given a choice over supporting a job here, or say one is Hyderabad, they'll say "USA!" but then buy the service offered cheaper thru an outsourced operation. E-Loans is doing that now - gives customers a choice of US loan underwriting or India-based. If you pick India it's either faster or cheaper, and guess what - most pick India. Ah politics and religion -without them we'd have peace :)"

“A man's worst difficulties begin when he is able to do as he likes.”

-- T. H. Huxley, English biologist, was born on May 4, 1825.

From the U.S. Visa application form:
Do you seek to enter the United States to engage in export control violations, subversive or terrorist activities, or any other unlawful purpose? Choose: YES NO
Are you a member or representative of a terrorist organization as currently designated by the U.S. Secretary of State? Choose: YES NO
Have you ever participated in persecutions directed by the Nazi government of Germany; Choose: YES NO
or have you ever participated in genocide? Choose: YES NO
Have you ever violated the terms of a U.S. visa, or been unlawfully present in, or deported from, the United States? Choose: YES NO
Have you ever withheld custody of a U.S. citizen child outside the United States from a person granted legal custody by a U.S. court, voted in the United States in violation of any law or regulation, or renounced U.S. citizenship for the purpose of avoiding taxation?Choose: YES NO

Hmm, Osama Bin laden with intelligence reports would say... May be?
A terrorist who knows his code of conduct and who was taught "Honesty is the best city" and "Truth is the virtue of all terrorists" and "Dont lie even if you face being gagged and blind folded for a few years in Guantanamo Bay, where all the camera's can see you walking around but you can only see a cloth made in Indosesia"

I guess these were asked to be included by CIA as a part of its renewed vigor at intelligence collection and analysis.

Piece de resistance: At the bottom of these questions the document says "While a YES answer does not automatically signify ineligibility for a visa, if you answered YES you may be required to personally appear before consular officer." So if I am terrorist, I would say yes coz my teacher taught me to say yes and then I go to the Consulate so that I can get a free ticket to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. 2 birds (read countries) in one shot (read yes).

"European aircraft manufacturer Airbus SAS has offered to give business worth almost $630 million to Indian firms if the company bags the $2.1 billion order to supply 43 aircraft to Indian Airlines."

You scratch my back, I scratch your neices' and nephews'.

One of the most emotive and expressive words in English dictionary: Glee! Makes you feel childish, doesnt it? Its ok, accept it, just say it a few times and tell me if it doesnt make you smile.

Level 1: 9/11- nobody wants to shop, nobody wants to fly- economic depression- Bush wants to pump money into economy- war on afghanistan, war on iraq- money flows into ecomony from defense purchases worth $74 billion in one year- time passes- people buy, people fly- america tightens screws on ports, airlines- strip search if they suspect you going to fart methane, every container ships searched, every truck coming into US searched- longer lines at the borders- companies cannot predict when the material could come to the shop floor- Just In Time out of the window- piling inventories- greater spend on hiring security guards- somewhere in between terrorists keep attacking randomly- introduce biometrics, look at the passenger and decide whether he is trouble maker- learn from El-Al airlines of Israel- greater stigmatiztion of immigrants- US becomes a slightly tougher place to do business- Dollar falls against Euro- companies offshore and create redundancy in India and china- companies chicken out to India- avoid paying payroll taxes- US fiscal deficit increases- Kerry blames it all on Bush and Bangalore- people continue to lose jobs- CEO's keep saying "wait it will all come back"- CEO loses his job for an accounting scandal- accounting companies become endangered species- consulting companies prosper giving advice to companies and governments-...

This train of thoughts can keep going on- the train has a continuous supply of interesting factual fuel.

Corporate Security Management: Organization and Spending Since 9/11: "1 MB file is ten times as large as a 100 KB file. "

Atlast... the beacon of knowledge has shined (also accepted: shone) on me.

In 2001, the nation's civil litigation system cost every U.S. citizen $722. A year later, the amount was up by $87. In 2002, the system cost all of us $233 billion, up by $27.4 billion over 2001 and representing 2.23 percent of the gross domestic product.

Why dont they just divide this amount all the people who come to the court to have a fight which had a monetary intention (read greed) or an ego problem?

Saves a lot of money...

But, I like watching court room scenes. So lets just let them fight and spend all that money on lawyers.

Once in a while a few things happen in this wide world which are beyond Ripley's- Believe it or not or things which shock you beyond the wildest police videos. Even if you have a Parental Guidance certitificate, a few events still traumatize you and leave a mark on your psyche. One of those happened today:
Blair, Bush nominated for Nobel Peace Prize: "US President George W Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, the architects of the Iraq war, are among the nominees for the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize."

eds.com: IT for America's Homeland Defense: "Freedom is not free
I watched the flag pass by one day,
It fluttered in the breeze
A young sailor he saluted it, and then
He stared at ease.
I looked at him in uniform
So young, so tall, so proud
With hair cut square and eyes alert
He'd stand out in any crowd
I thought how many men like him
Had fallen through the years,
How many died on foreign soil?
How many mothers' tears?
How many pilots' planes shot down?
How many ships now gone?
No freedom, it is not free
I heard the sound of taps one night
When everything was still.
I listened to the bugler play
And felt a sudden chill
I wondered just how many times
The taps had meant 'amen'
When a flag had draped a coffin
Of a brother or a friend
I thought of all the children
Of the mothers and the wives
Of fathers, sons and husbands
With interrupted lives
I thought about a graveyard at the
Bottom of the sea
Of unmarked graves in Arlington
No freedom . . . it is not free!!*"

From a Homeland Security document at EDS. If only all corporate documents were interesting...

Human's wont eolve any more.

The basic tenet of evolution is changing to suit the condition, the situation and the nature.
Human evolution's basic tenet: Change the circumstances to suit yourself.
So we are doomed to be just the way we are.

Do I hear sombedy saying, whats wrong with what we are today?
Nothing. May be thats why we wont evolve.
Our evolution will remain restricted to improving from Intel P3 to P4 (When read after a few years, people say, shit! those guys worked on those) or from Microsoft 2000 to XP, or from 25 inch to 29 inch, from clubs to guns to walking to carts to polluting cars to electric vehicles to nature walks.
From meat to cooked meat to stoves to microwaves to vegans. From caves to thatched huts to bricks to concrete.

After all that how much have we changed in the last 2000 years: Not much (I dont really know how we were 2000 years ago and all that bull archeology about looking at bones and where they lie and "guessing" life styles and mating habits of animals sounds absurd to me)

Do I hear somebody exclaim: 2000 years is but a blip on the time scale. Just look around and see how much has changed around us in the blip and look unto yourself as to how much you have changed under veneer of "Civilization"

Vice President-at-Large
Fred Foulkes, D.B.A.
Professor of Organizational Behavior, School of Management
Boston, MA 02215
ffoulkes@acs.bu.edu

vp@large.com?
He teaches OB as well. Hmm interesting.

Korea Closes Shutters on Public Camera Phones - Computer Business Review: "The Korean government has struck a blow for its citizen's privacy - or at least their right not to be embarrassed. The country's Ministry of Information and Communications has ordered camera phone makers to program their devices to emit a 65 decibel beep whenever they snap a picture or record video. The beep must be setup so that users cannot deactivate it. The ministry said the new rule was voluntary, and that it superseded its earlier plan to ban camera phones from public places such as swimming pools."

Think about it, I want to take a picture of little baby (not that I have one) sleeping peacefully holding on to her favorite soft kangaroo and I I take out my camera and point and adjust the lighting, adjust my position to get little arms and the folded fingers around the kangaroo tail and click. BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP! Followed by BAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW! Thwaaaaaaaaaack from My my wife (now that one I have). Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuccccccccch.
(P.S. I move to Korea sometime in the future)

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Sri Lanka peace talks postponed

Update to a comment on my blog on the Sri Lankan peace process.
Humans have a tendency to make their lives exciting.

"Being president is like a running a cemetery: you’ve got a lot of people
under you, and nobody’s listening" The source claims that its Bill Clinton.

"How many people are employed within your Division? How many of these are Virgin employees and how many are external suppliers/contractors?"

Hmm, Just wondering about the company in question.
This is what happens if you have generic words as names of companies?
Think about going to Richard Branson and asking him "How many Virgin employees work late nights?

Lafz= Words
Beautiful.
There's a dude called Wordsmith called Anu Garg, he coined the word Linguaphile.
I think there should be a word for "beautiful words' which look good and which have a certain lilt to them.
Any Suggestions?
Mail me

: "Small business to cater to aging population " An article in Vancouver Sun talks about A study by "bank" economists where they speak about the opportunties created by the large aging population in North America.
They say and I quote (Distancing myself from the quote in any which way possible)...
"An aging population offers new opportunities for small businesses -- notably in the home-care and funeral industries"

WOW!!!! Smart people. I am sure they have a Gartner type disclaimer at the bottom saying we are not responsible for deaths due to laughter or disgust after reading this report.

Chief Executive - CEO Watch: October 2003 Issue 192: " What do you say? 132 minutes for a burger? and 1320 hours jogging to get rid of the fat?
"

No more flash mobs, say police: "Gupta said Section 37(1) of the Bombay Police Act said prior police permission was required whenever more than five people gathered at a public place"

What Bull Mr.Gupta?

"U.S. Mobile Screensavers, Icons, and Wallpapers Forecast, 2002-2007: Graphics to Go " - IDC study.

WHY? I know there are a few techie guys who might be interested in this but.... why?
Why dont they conduct a study on the number of ring tones market, casings market, sms jokes market, sms rumours market, sms intensity of vibration market (alternate uses) .....

I sometimes have fun working on MS word.
I was looking to type this word: sectoral, I assume that nothing is wrong with the word. BUT MS word red-underlines it and suggests a spelling: "Scrotal"
Now this is final sentence:
Government is relying on various networks of multi-scrotal participants to guard against cyber threats.
I know you need balls to fight cyber terrorism but never knew that MS word was so insightful!

TABLE Trends in age -adjusted death rates for leading causes of death by sex in Japan (1947-1999): "Trends in age-adjusted death rates for leading causes of death by sex in Japan (1947-1999"

What does one understand by reading the above statement?
1. Hmm interesting statistic, lemme read
2. Gender distribution of causes of death

What did you think?

Money frees you from doing things you dislike. Since I dislike doing nearly everything, money is handy.
- Groucho Marx
Great Men think alike... He did a few decades before and I reflect now...

"We all know that life isn't fair because, if life were fair, we'd have:
The finances of Donald Trump
The wit of Woody Allen
The physique of Sylvester Stallone
And, the selfless devotion of Mother Teresa.

But, we all know life isn't fair because most of us have:
The finances of Mother Teresa
The wit of Sylvester Stallone
The physique of Woody Allen
And, the selfless devotion of Donald Trump."

- some smart alec

"Through the years, I have greatly feared and sought to keep at bay the four beasts that inevitably devour their keeper -- Ego, Envy, Avarice, and Ambition. In 1984, I severed all connections with business for a life of isolation and anonymity, convinced I was making a great bargain by trading money for time, position for liberty, and ego for contentment -- that the beasts were securely caged.'"

Not a bad bargain is it. The knack is to get the unit of the trade in as much quantity as possible to buy out the beasts depending on how much each of them is plaguing you.

"'The better an organization is, the less obvious it is,' - Dee Hock

Horror gripped the heart of a World War-I soldier, as he saw his lifelong friend fall in battle. Caught in a trench with continuous gunfire whizzing overhis head, the soldier asked his Lieutenant if he couldgo out into the man's land between the trenches tobring his fallen comrade back. "You can go," said theLieutenant, "but I don't think it will be worth it. Your friend is probably dead and you may throw yourlife away." The Lieutenant's words didn't matter, andthe soldier went anyway. Miraculously, he managed to reach his friend, hoisted him onto his shoulder and broughthim back to their company's trench. As the two of them tumbled in together to the bottom of the trench, the officer checked the wounded soldier, then lookedkindly at his friend. "I told you it wouldn't beworth it," he said. "Your friend is dead and you aremortally wounded." "It was worth it, Sir," said thesoldier. "What do you mean by worth it?" responded theLieutenant. "Your friend is dead." "Yes Sir,” the privateanswered, "but it was worth it because when I gotto him, he was still alive and I had the satisfactionof hearing him say.... "Jim... I knew you'dcome."

Would I die for anybody else? No. Does that make me insensitive? or a Coward? or a tyrant ...
Me thinks doesnt matter. I still wont.

ESPN-Star deny sacking Sidhu: "'It is only after I left cricket that learnt the true meaning of self-belief. I started meditating for long hours. That is when all my ideas strike me,' Sidhu told rediff.com in a telephone interview on Tuesday morning from his home in Patiala. 'I keep a notebook next to me in which I write all the pure and pristine thoughts that I reflect on while meditating. That is what you hear in the commentary.' "

How can he have a fan following? He has as much grace as an drunk octopus doing Salsa with a porcupine.

My highest rated person professionally was typically one who would fill two conditions: someone I would love to work for and some one I would call first, if I ever got into my own business.

I love that statement and there are few I have in mind.

SI.com - Tennis - Sampras: 'I'm done, 100 percent done' - Monday August 25, 2003 10:15PM: "'I'm done'"

Fast Company | 25 Fast Ideas for Slower Times: "'People don't leave companies -- they leave leaders.'"

Dear %%FIRST NAME%%:

On behalf of the International Who's Who of Professionals, I am pleased to inform you that you have been selected as a potential candidate. We congratulate you. Nomination to Who's Who is an honor in itself. Who's Who has over 20,000 members in 154 countries. It is the most elite professional network in the world. The members assist each other daily with business and career opportunities. It is in times like these that such a network is most valuable and we are seeing members help other members expand their businesses, find new positions, even relocate to another country.

If selected into Who's Who, you will also be listed in the 2003-2004 edition of International Who's Who of Professionals. This is the definitive work on the world's leaders in commerce, economics, policy, and trade.

We do require additional information to complete the selection process and ask that you provide our biographical data by accessing the form on our website at: http://12.146.178.233/fax/E159.htm

Our editorial deadline is quickly approaching. I urge you to act today. If you delay, I cannot guarantee the committee will have ample time to review your submission.

Sincerely,

Brooke O. Filger
Membership Director

Am I eligible?
Please Put me in the list?
Can I put it in my resume that I am in the list?
I have a few friends who are excellent candidates, can you include them as well?
Please Please Pretty Please

"A record 38.1 Celcius (100.58F) was recorded at Gravesend in southern England, while a reading of 37.9C (100.22F) set a record at London's Heathrow Airport."

Hmm!
Hehe