Contemporary Gyan

There Is Only One Thing Stronger Than All Armies In The World;

An Idea Whose Time Has Come.....

- Victor Hugo

And Things Will Never Be The Same Again

I was 'scheduled' to write this post like months back, ohh sorry, I was 'skejuled' to write this post like months back... After all we as Indians have been trying hard to convert ourselves into pseudo Americans from pseudo British, takes a few months you know ;)

And then you may ideally go 'flat' hunting in a new city, but then again, go for 'apartment' hunting instead. ( I hope people don't turn you down because they shall not be able to rent the entire 'Apartment' to you. Dude! You can't like go around asking for an entire hundred flat apartment! )

And then, nobody really wants to make the 'social faux pas' of using the word 'lift' instead of 'elevator' in India today. Another move from British to American. But, they would still use 'telephone tariffs' and not 'telephone call rates'! Why hang on to the British usage here?? Its more and more apparent that we as a race of Indians love complicated words whose usage can be made even more complicated. The cooler is sounds, the better your social standing is, the more you can tongue twist the traditionally taught pronunciations, the more educated and professional you appear to be. The phenomenon hardly appears to be shift of loyalty from one usage of English to another, but the idea that keep the 'most complicated' of both worlds :D

Don't know where this particular usage came from, its an interesting observation nevertheless: I am working in XYZ Co. Ltd.--> I am working with XYZ Co Ltd. :) Increased coolness or the illusion of it? ;)

We prefer standing in a queue (British) than standing in a line (American)

Yet don't wish to use the 'pavement' (British) to using the sidewalk (American)

And the best part of this all is we, as Indians don't know WHY we are doing this, and wouldn't really accept our nature to complicate things as a status symbol

Contemporary Gyan

The Best Day of Your Life Is When You Realise That

Your Life Is Your Own

And You Alone Are Responsible For The Quality of It!

Back then....

Dedicated to all my dear school friends

Back then in school we were so uncomplicated, so simple and silly sometimes, took pleasure in small silly events, little jokes, rainy days, playing in the sand, missing the bus to home, missing the bus to school, losing pencils and erasers, jumping on bus seats, polishing PT shoes with chalk, breaking little rules and taking pride in them, hand fighting, chalk fighting, pellet fighting, thumb fighting, pen fighting, book fighting, class fight..... And then book cricket, pen cricket, dictionary cricket, hand cricket, we have done it all and how.... We loved our days, loved the Sundays, loved the Fridays before the Saturdays, loved the labs and fudging the readings, loved the classes titled 'last period'.... giggled through classes, frantically copied homework, got caught, apologised and repeated the same the next day, ate lunch from friends' lunch boxes, paired people with one another, teased them like hell, carried bags and baskets, skipped the baskets then and stuffed lunch boxes into bags, skipped the water bottle, struggled with the water cooler, escaped teachers outside of school, tried out the cheapest coffee at coffee day, bought Lays packets for the tazoos inside them, exchanged these tazoos and 'traded' the rarest ones.....

And now the only thing we trade is our conscience

The only thing we lose are our friends

The only thing we miss is friends birthdays

The only thing we love is money

The only behaviour we have built our expertise at is manipulation

The only thing we take pleasure in are rewards

The only days we like are dry ones because rainy days disrupt our plans

The things we fight about have become more and more complicated

Our cricket discussion is limited to analysis of tournaments

The only places we eat at the most expensive ones as an image management stint

The only coffee we drink is the over 100 bucks coffee of coffee day

The only thing we collect are contacts

The only things we love are our computers

And we do this as a reflex.........

But we have no time to stand and stare, do we ............

Contemporary Gyan

Winning Is a Habit,

Unfortunately, So Is Losing

- Vince Lombardi

How Consumers' Fancies Can Ruin Markets

The picture is just to catch your attention. :)

But yes, another thing which should catch your attention is the fact that consumers like you and me, who don't particularly have answers to consumer behaviour surveys do actually make or break the market. Lets take simple cases like the car 'Nano' designed, manufactured and marketed by the TATAs.

It was us who created the hype, (OK maybe we were drawn into the hype created by the media and the seller). It was us who went on a spree of advance bookings for the tiny little 1 Lakh car years before the manufacturing operations actually started. It was us who. by word of mouth made our neighbours/ friends/ colleagues believe that it would be the perfect car if we wish to keep the budget low. It was us who were convinced that even as an 'extra' car car in the family for children , wives etc. Nano would be a cute option with low investment. It was us who thought that it would be easy to park a Nano in the midst of cities like Bangalore where your average speed of travel from any point A to any point B at any time of the day, at any location is just about 10 kmph. And yes It was us who made Nano 'the best invention of our times' because it was so consumer friendly.

And then suddenly after the melodramatic manufacturing of the car, we suddenly don't hear ourselves speaking about ' The Nano' anymore!! It doesn't seem to be interesting anymore. We suddenly feel as though buying that car is a negative status symbol! No one is talking about it, no one is planning to buy it either, no one is recommending it to others. Is this hype and disappearance of the same a 'Classic Case of Public Memory Is Short' ??

We sure can go on to analyse the issue, but the fact remains , We as consumers might have caused a Huge Loss to the Company just by waning our interest in an issue we once hyped and which gave incorrect signals to the Company of Public Euphoria!!

Contemporary Gyan

The Only Thing Preventing You From Believing Me,
Is Not The Presumed Lack Of Logic In My Reason
Or The Practical Impossibility Of Its Implementation,
But the Very Resistance Of Your Own Belief....

Contemporary Gyan

I Love Deadlines...

You Don't Have To Work After Them ! :)

Chronicles of a B-school - Volume 2

No I am not talking about the News B-schools tend to generate at the time of CAT/XAT exams and interview process etc. , I am talking about the lack of knowledge of current affairs possessed by the dedicated MBA pursuing junta across B-schools ;) The picture denotes how the newspapers being delivered every morning stack up unread in a lousy corner of the room. It also shows 2 words clearly standing out in the bottommost paper.. 'System' and ' Students' ... Ok let me first start by blaming the system , later we can come onto the internal locus of control and consider holding ourselves accountable, BUT that is in case I fall short of reasons for blaming the System :D

The last paper I remember reading carefully was the TOI copy in the hotel room in Delhi when I had come down for my XLRI interview.. The first and the last ever budget analysis I have ever gone through was the 'Interim Budget' of 2009... I got to know about the news about the AP CM Rajasekhara Reddy 2 days later over the lunch table one afternoon.. I got to know broken pieces of news about the Telangana issue when I saw gtalk status messages such as " I am bored and I want a separate state of my own , hence I shall go on a hunger strike from tomorrow " ! .... I also got to know about Sachin s awesome victory through a group mail inviting batch mates for a 'Sachin Puja' on the day of the match... And I guessed that India defeated Pakistan in Hockey World Cup because there was an uproar in the mess :D

Now , that my dear friends is the condition of a LARGE percentage of MBA junta who have no time to read newspapers or watch TV because they get up at 8.55 am to attend the 9 am lecture , because they have slept over an assignment at 6 am. Also because they shall not read the paper in the half hour break at 10.30 as they missed their breakfast and would love to make up for it. And because they shall not read the paper after lunch because they would consider bathing n rushing for class again or sleeeeeeeeping.... The paper is still lying around in sight though. Now comes the evening schedule , where after a class they would hang out with friends where some earth shattering news about next assignments is revealed, so no one is really bothered with the problems of the world or the country... And then comes the time to while away time which is the time for NO useful work... And soon (er or later) comes the time to sleeeeep again .. And the next morning the paper goes into the dusty corner :D .. And there it is, justified and done , the lack of knowledge about current affairs ;)

Let Your Wards Pursue Whatever They Like...... And Believe Me They Might End Up Doing Nothing At All !!

It is often said, actually it is said again and again and again that children's career must not be forced upon them by their parents aspirations, that they must not be pressurized to pursue the path their parents or society or their peer group or their teachers 'think' appropriate for them. And that their young minds should be allowed to flourish without any bounds and that their interest in any field they are good at must be encouraged instead of forcing them to run the rat race for marks and undergraduate colleges and post graduate colleges that would kill the talent within them....

But, do the proponents of the above theory realise the percentage of the section of society who would actually be benefited by such a culture??? Do they also realise the number of students who DO NOT fall within this category of ' pursuing their interests and making a career out of it' or ' being given the choice to pursue their talent which would do them greater good than the rush for marks' ??? Are the proponents of the above theory living in the real world?? Come on guys, get real, see the conditions around you.. Do you really think that if all the school kids are given absolute freedom to pursue whatever they like, they won't just while away their time pursuing things out of which no 'career' can be made.. That, if no rules of marks or ranks or grades based on syllabus exist, they would still be making constructive use of their time..And that if education does not include making them aware of what the world runs on, sciences, arts, mathematics, computers,biology, law by 'forcing' upon them these subjects through their years in schools and college , they would ever choose to dive into these sensible , lucrative career paths which not only the economy of the country but also personal intellect demands.... Don't get me wrong , I am not talking about the one in a thousand exceptional child who can easily be recognised by his/her parents , teachers, peers and should be allowed to pursue his talent , excel in the same and make an exceptional life out of it. I am talking about the common junta like you and me. I am talking about people like us who have no concrete goal ahead of us ( how much ever we claim to fulfilling so-called goals 10 years down the line in various application forms and interviews :D) . How many youngsters in school and college actually know what to do if not for the everyday tasks that their course demands and How many of them would do ANYHTING useful if given a even a semester off from forced syllabi ?? Come on , Realistically hardly anyone would.. Say whatever about the rat race , it is at least giving a means of livelihood to millions around the world.

The exceptional lot would still be able to do what they've always wanted to because they are exceptional , the rest would only be left behind in the rat race if no guidance is forced upon them, practically , rationally and generally speaking...

Why I Believe That ALL people Are Basically Good Deep Inside

Ever considered looking beyond what is evident from a persons untoward actions... Ever considered what might have triggered someone's rudeness, what might be behind someone's irritable behaviour, behind someone's repeated selfish actions, behind someone's irrational views, behind someone's shrewd ways, behind someone's negative vibes, behind someone's hatred towards society, systems, nature or simply behind someone's repulsive personality.....

No, it is not their character that I have the right to comment upon , nor do I have the right to comment upon what they did in circumstances I was not a witness to... All I shall comment upon is the fragility of the human heart... No person would ever 'love', in the true sense of the word, to behave in ways cited above. It must have been the circumstances surrounding them that made them what they are at this moment... An inherent , maybe irrational insecurity, a rational one to them perhaps, a rude shock in their lifestyles, loss of a loved one, a crumbled ego, financially disrupted childhood, emotional setback..... An appeal to all who read this, believe in the goodness of the human heart, please believe in giving benefit of doubt to all those you encounter, to all those who may have been rude to you, or cheated you if you would still like to put it that way and for God sake do believe in the basic goodness of mankind and the compassion he holds in his heart, a compassion which is often bound by convergent forces of ego and insecurity...

Lawfully Yours

Ever wondered why decisions of one court are often overruled by the other? Or why a same court decides differently on similar case facts of cases appearing before it in different points in time? It isn't merely a question of law that judges presiding over similar cases differ on... Also coming into play are innumerable unstated factors, factors which cannot for obvious reasons be stated. Some of these legislations were intended as 'beneficial' pieces of law like the Workmen's Compensation Act so that the economically weaker section of the society wouldn't suffer in case of accident and being rendered incapacitated for work by the virtue of the very fact that they chose to serve the organization. Take for example a workman cycling to the workplace hit by the company truck dies on spot but is not covered under the Act because his accident wasn't "in the course of employment" ... Another case where a workman was't awarded compensation merely because the judge interpreted the organization wasn't covered by the Act because it had fewer employees than required by the law.. Doesn't seem all that beneficial , does it ?? Plenty of reasons/ explanations are given supporting the judgements, overruling the previous one on the premise of different case facts although on the face value the case fact don't much differ. Sometimes the court behaves too generously,some other times the judgements appear ridiculous to the workers' right activists. What we fail to understand is the ideology of the judge , the circumstances which are not explicitly stated in the law books come into play, for instance if a judge considers ruling in favour of the workman , directing the employer to pay him a sum of 3 lakh INR , what would happen to the small entrepreneur who s running a firm of 8 workers (lesser than reqd. by law) , would he be able to follow the order without going bankrupt , what would the rest of the 7 workers go for a living. It then starts making sense for the court to rule in the favour of the employer giving reasons other than those mentioned above. While giving a generous judgement, the judge could inherently consider the number of dependant the workman has and their standard of living. Such reasons can often never be made public for the basic reason that fingers would be raised on grounds of prejudice , deviating form the rules of Law.. But all the same , it must be understood , all cases depend a lot more than bare case facts or rules of Law , they are more about human compassion in dire circumstances...

You have Lost Your Touch With Nature And You Are Being Controlled... BIG TIME!

Do you even realise the extent to which you are being fooled by the ruling elite. It all seems very democratic doesn't it? Well , that's what they make sure , the ruling elite I mean, that it is YOU who demand your own imprisonment!! You think the media is the saviour of the general public??? Well, You are WRONG.. Real sad, the one off endorsement the media does to take pending cases to the supreme court to get the victims justice , (as Jesicca Lal and the like) , covers up for what It does not Openly endorse.. The ultimate agenda of the rulers. Now that might sound clichéd , but THAT is precisely what you need to understand big time.. The Kashmir issue will never be solved because elections of both Pakistan and India are won based on the issue. The terror infiltration will never stop because the political game changes course for one party or the other at each event. The 9/11 and the likes will never become a thing of the past because wars need to be waged and the weapon market needs to flourish. The Iraq war and attacks on oil rich countries will never stop because oil is a Damn Big money minting business. The Financial Institutions will never seek stability because the International bankers are making loads of money in ridiculous schemes fooling the public in and out. AND while all this is going on we have news flashes over and over and over again showcasing the Danger we have from an 'external' party which the government chooses to call 'terrorist'!! What the janta fails to realise is that the very channels of media are VERY much controlled by the ruling elite and they throw that exact information in the face of the public which will further their territorial and power interests. And the news is thrown in our faces so much so that we believe it to be true, believe the danger to be true and are willing to forego our privacy in lieu of security promised by near unconstitutional pieces of legislation enacted will full public support because WE are too shit scared. They don't want the public to think too much or understand too much , it would be disastrous to their interests if the public could look into the hidden agenda , it is with this in mind the public is bombarded with loads of crap.. ridiculous reality shows, silly soaps, 'sensational' and worthless news, a pursuit of achievement, status , differentiation from their own brethren, silly investment schemes when the common man is so burdened with the income tax he has to pay by virtue of the fact that he earns bread for his family! You , dear common man , must STOP and stare.. You must Question before it gets too late and you are killed( they will call it suicide of course) .. You must get a hang of the awful game of chess they are playing and secure yourself against it, and that will come when you do realise the power you possess by virtue of being a very part of the natural environment which is all you need to be happy and break away from the anxiety they are imposing upon you, shortening your lifetime by your own 'unwilling' choice...

Contemporary Gyan

They Must Find It Difficult....

Those Who Have Taken Authority As The Truth,

Rather Than Truth As The Authority

- G. Massey , Egyptologist, from the Documentary Zeitgeist

The Only Way To Survive In The Management World Is To Play It Like A Game

Don't bother taking life too seriously. It will always consider kicking a ball in your face. And then again don't bother running away from it or dodging it, that's way too boring.. And DON'T for God sake get hit because you were busy looking somewhere else. Let it come head on and kick it back , maybe you won't get the time to decide the direction , kick it somewhere all the same. It is then when you realise that you are out in the filed and having a blast playing the game. Play each situation like a game , play all decisions like a game , play all the emotional drama you encounter on the way like a game , play your wins like a game and more importantly, play the shots in your face like a game.. It is this attitude which is going to get you far in the management world where you ll lose only if you take things too seriously ;)

The New Age Funda : Honesty Is A Fad

Just come to think of it.. We have arrived in an era where honesty is actually becoming an increasingly accepted fashion statement, a fad! We might not like to admit , but we as individuals are appreciating 'honesty' as a fashion when we are damn pleased with the reality shows on TV showcasing actors/ non actors presumably in their most frank form and laud those who are more blatantly honest than the others in their disposition. We also laud those technical/management 'gurus' (with no offence to anyone) who make more frank statements than they ought to be making :-o !! Some being way too honest about their personal lives , some being way to frank about their failures, and some being way too frank about their stupidities.. And the crowd goes all gaga over them. Its kinda easy to be real honest if you come to think of it. You don't even have to cook up stories, you just got to converse :) But what we don't realise is that 'honesty' which was once appreciated as a quality , is now appreciated as a fad.. A trend which is likely to show celebrities/famous souls in the stupidest light possible because rarely does the crowd appreciate a discourse on smart acts a person has done even if he/she is honest , than a silly act done by him in the most conductive of circumstances.

Contemporary Gyan

Courage Is What It Takes To Stand Up And Speak

Courage Is Also What It Takes To Sit Down And Listen !