A Tapestry of Casual Confessions

Asia's non-identical twins -> Emerging or Submerging?

2010-11-22T01:23:00.002+05:30

[overheard at airport transit lounge]

X: India is a big potential market. We should ramp up operations.

Y: But, the market does not seem to have matured. There is no reason to invest so much ahead of its time. It's time has not come.

X: I agree, it will take a while before we can apply the same "global standards" to India.

Y: And, China has other problems. It is so difficult to conduct business there.

At this time, I had to move away. But the conversation stayed with me.

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I am no expert on foreign policy or otherwise, but with the ever growing focus on emerging economies, India and China (or China and India if you like that), makes you sit up and take notice. Economists rave about the staggering growth rates, and marvel at how these economies have seemingly remained insulated from the economic recession. Articles about the success of China/India and the headroom for potential growth, have made it to my daily reading staple. Both economies have taken markedly different approaches (China: planned, govt intervention, export oriented and FDI inviting and India: accidental, still averse to FDI in some sectors, knowledge based and domestic consumption) to economic development. I am not going into that, or which one is better, because enough has already been said about that!

But somehow, I am not completely convinced. I think with these glossy growth campaigns, we sometime fail to see the ugly underbelly of the larger system. And that is needed to make a corrective assessment of the situation on hand.

Do not get me wrong. India and China are growing. And they are very likely to grow in the future. But how much and how fast? And how? are the important questions for me. I think people should take a moment away from this breathless admiration, and look at some of the systemic weaknesses & threats, which could spoil the party.

"Truth Wins? Hardly"

It seems that the amount of illicit money siphoned off India's shores in the years 2004-08 amounted to 89 billion USD. The last couple of months have seen some staggering claims of corruption. ( 2G Spectrum, CWG mess, Karnataka land de-notifications, Adarsh scam...) Can India afford this?

Often, India's vast English speaking, youth population, is cited as a source of future strength which will decisively tilt the balance in India's favor. I am wondering what kind of future they will have if we do not have a simple notion for accountability and corrective behavior in Indian politics. Will the drain on the resources/infrastructure, lack of ample opportunities finally catch up? I think people should take a moment to take a look beyond the ITES sectors, and see where the real growth is happening.

[I know Rama Bijpakur would disagree, but just this once.]

GDP growth, is a much talked about indicator. Given the vast and varied populace of India it is needed that we should take a closer look at the per capita income, which is still currently very low (nearly half of China, which is suprising since they were more or less same as late as 1991, which is also the year of liberalization of Indian economy).

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragons?

China took a very different approach to its economic rise, and its easy to see it has problems of a different kind. China is like a black box to the world. Although it has embraced FDI, most of the industry is govt. controlled. You can be a small entrepreneur in China, but if you want to grow big, you need to associate yourself with government funding/intervention, sooner than later. There are no big Chinese companies of repute. It is a export driven economy which relies on worldwide consumption of the goods it produces.

Is the government intervention a good or bad thing? Well, it has been good so far, but massive amount of bad loans with the state owned banks could spoil the Chinese party. Currency problems have derailed a lot of emerging economies in the past. So far China's inconvertible currency has helped it tide over some crises, but as it loosens its grip on the yuan, it could soon all change. The social inequality as well as burgeoning medical care/ pension costs are some of the things which keeps Beijing on its toes.

So is the future bleak? No, it is not. GS predicts India will be the third largest economy in the world after US, China by 2030. There is ample headroom for each countries ambitions and approach. There is significant time for them to avoid the potential roadblocks. But is contingent on the growth continuing, and it continuing to be fast enough, so that all the social factors do not negate the progress and bring everything to a stalemate.

I take comfort in the words of a noted NCAER economist who has great optimism for India's continued rise. He compares it to,

the walk of a drunken man. You know that he will get home eventually, but it will be 2 steps forward, two steps sideways, one step backwards.

Rama Bijpakur, made a very important point in her book, "We are like that only!".

Given the demographic and the economic growth characteristics of India and China, 2 very interesting questions come to mind. First, "what exactly do we mean when we say global standards?" and secondly, "Where is the centre of gravity of global standards going to be (in the future)?"

If I could intervene in the conversation at the airport, I wish I could tell them that the "global standards" are not going to apply anytime soon to India or China. These countries are going to create a new path, their own path to greater economic prosperity, wading through unique,very real, challenges that each one faces today.

Regardless, they have definitely arrived at the table!

Quarter/Mid life crisis? Clayton saves the day.

2010-11-21T19:34:00.000+05:30

I read it long back, and today something made me come back to it. And I believe I will come back to it again.

(very) Nice Read.

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How Will You Measure Your Life?
by Clayton M. Christensen
Don’t reserve your best business thinking for your career.
Editor’s Note: When the members of the class of 2010 entered business school, the economy was strong and their post-graduation ambitions could be limitless. Just a few weeks later, the economy went into a tailspin. They’ve spent the past two years recalibrating their worldview and their definition of success.
The students seem highly aware of how the world has changed (as the sampling of views in this article shows). In the spring, Harvard Business School’s graduating class asked HBS professor Clay Christensen to address them—but not on how to apply his principles and thinking to their post-HBS careers. The students wanted to know how to apply them to their personal lives. He shared with them a set of guidelines that have helped him find meaning in his own life. Though Christensen’s thinking comes from his deep religious faith, we believe that these are strategies anyone can use. And so we asked him to share them with the readers of HBR.
Before I published The Innovator’s Dilemma, I got a call from Andrew Grove, then the chairman of Intel. He had read one of my early papers about disruptive technology, and he asked if I could talk to his direct reports and explain my research and what it implied for Intel. Excited, I flew to Silicon Valley and showed up at the appointed time, only to have Grove say, “Look, stuff has happened. We have only 10 minutes for you. Tell us what your model of disruption means for Intel.” I said that I couldn’t—that I needed a full 30 minutes to explain the model, because only with it as context would any comments about Intel make sense. Ten minutes into my explanation, Grove interrupted: “Look, I’ve got your model. Just tell us what it means for Intel.”
I insisted that I needed 10 more minutes to describe how the process of disruption had worked its way through a very different industry, steel, so that he and his team could understand how disruption worked. I told the story of how Nucor and other steel minimills had begun by attacking the lowest end of the market—steel reinforcing bars, or rebar—and later moved up toward the high end, undercutting the traditional steel mills.
When I finished the minimill story, Grove said, “OK, I get it. What it means for Intel is...,” and then went on to articulate what would become the company’s strategy for going to the bottom of the market to launch the Celeron processor.
I’ve thought about that a million times since. If I had been suckered into telling Andy Grove what he should think about the microprocessor business, I’d have been killed. But instead of telling him what to think, I taught him how to think—and then he reached what I felt was the correct decision on his own.
That experience had a profound influence on me. When people ask what I think they should do, I rarely answer their question directly. Instead, I run the question aloud through one of my models. I’ll describe how the process in the model worked its way through an industry quite different from their own. And then, more often than not, they’ll say, “OK, I get it.” And they’ll answer their own question more insightfully than I could have.
My class at HBS is structured to help my students understand what good management theory is and how it is built. To that backbone I attach different models or theories that help students think about the various dimensions of a general manager’s job in stimulating innovation and growth. In each session we look at one company through the lenses of those theories—using them to explain how the company got into its situation and to examine what managerial actions will yield the needed results.
On the last day of class, I ask my students to turn those theoretical lenses on themselves, to find cogent answers to three questions: First, how can I be sure that I’ll be happy in my career? Second, how can I be sure that my relationships with my spouse and my family become an enduring source of happiness? Third, how can I be sure I’ll stay out of jail? Though the last question sounds lighthearted, it’s not. Two of the 32 people in my Rhodes scholar class spent time in jail. Jeff Skilling of Enron fame was a classmate of mine at HBS. These were good guys—but something in their lives sent them off in the wrong direction.
The Class of 2010
As the students discuss the answers to these questions, I open my own life to them as a case study of sorts, to illustrate how they can use the theories from our course to guide their life decisions.
One of the theories that gives great insight on the first question—how to be sure we find happiness in our careers—is from Frederick Herzberg, who asserts that the powerful motivator in our lives isn’t money; it’s the opportunity to learn, grow in responsibilities, contribute to others, and be recognized for achievements. I tell the students about a vision of sorts I had while I was running the company I founded before becoming an academic. In my mind’s eye I saw one of my managers leave for work one morning with a relatively strong level of self-esteem. Then I pictured her driving home to her family 10 hours later, feeling unappreciated, frustrated, underutilized, and demeaned. I imagined how profoundly her lowered self-esteem affected the way she interacted with her children. The vision in my mind then fast-forwarded to another day, when she drove home with greater self-esteem—feeling that she had learned a lot, been recognized for achieving valuable things, and played a significant role in the success of some important initiatives. I then imagined how positively that affected her as a spouse and a parent. My conclusion: Management is the most noble of professions if it’s practiced well. No other occupation offers as many ways to help others learn and grow, take responsibility and be recognized for achievement, and contribute to the success of a team. More and more MBA students come to school thinking that a career in business means buying, selling, and investing in companies. That’s unfortunate. Doing deals doesn’t yield the deep rewards that come from building up people.
I want students to leave my classroom knowing that.
Create a Strategy for Your Life
A theory that is helpful in answering the second question—How can I ensure that my relationship with my family proves to be an enduring source of happiness?—concerns how strategy is defined and implemented. Its primary insight is that a company’s strategy is determined by the types of initiatives that management invests in. If a company’s resource allocation process is not managed masterfully, what emerges from it can be very different from what management intended. Because companies’ decision-making systems are designed to steer investments to initiatives that offer the most tangible and immediate returns, companies shortchange investments in initiatives that are crucial to their long-term strategies.
Over the years I’ve watched the fates of my HBS classmates from 1979 unfold; I’ve seen more and more of them come to reunions unhappy, divorced, and alienated from their children. I can guarantee you that not a single one of them graduated with the deliberate strategy of getting divorced and raising children who would become estranged from them. And yet a shocking number of them implemented that strategy. The reason? They didn’t keep the purpose of their lives front and center as they decided how to spend their time, talents, and energy.
It’s quite startling that a significant fraction of the 900 students that HBS draws each year from the world’s best have given little thought to the purpose of their lives. I tell the students that HBS might be one of their last chances to reflect deeply on that question. If they think that they’ll have more time and energy to reflect later, they’re nuts, because life only gets more demanding: You take on a mortgage; you’re working 70 hours a week; you have a spouse and children.
For me, having a clear purpose in my life has been essential. But it was something I had to think long and hard about before I understood it. When I was a Rhodes scholar, I was in a very demanding academic program, trying to cram an extra year’s worth of work into my time at Oxford. I decided to spend an hour every night reading, thinking, and praying about why God put me on this earth. That was a very challenging commitment to keep, because every hour I spent doing that, I wasn’t studying applied econometrics. I was conflicted about whether I could really afford to take that time away from my studies, but I stuck with it—and ultimately figured out the purpose of my life.
Had I instead spent that hour each day learning the latest techniques for mastering the problems of autocorrelation in regression analysis, I would have badly misspent my life. I apply the tools of econometrics a few times a year, but I apply my knowledge of the purpose of my life every day. It’s the single most useful thing I’ve ever learned. I promise my students that if they take the time to figure out their life purpose, they’ll look back on it as the most important thing they discovered at HBS. If they don’t figure it out, they will just sail off without a rudder and get buffeted in the very rough seas of life. Clarity about their purpose will trump knowledge of activity-based costing, balanced scorecards, core competence, disruptive innovation, the four Ps, and the five forces.
My purpose grew out of my religious faith, but faith isn’t the only thing that gives people direction. For example, one of my former students decided that his purpose was to bring honesty and economic prosperity to his country and to raise children who were as capably committed to this cause, and to each other, as he was. His purpose is focused on family and others—as mine is.
The choice and successful pursuit of a profession is but one tool for achieving your purpose. But without a purpose, life can become hollow.
Allocate Your Resources
Your decisions about allocating your personal time, energy, and talent ultimately shape your life’s strategy.
I have a bunch of “businesses” that compete for these resources: I’m trying to have a rewarding relationship with my wife, raise great kids, contribute to my community, succeed in my career, contribute to my church, and so on. And I have exactly the same problem that a corporation does. I have a limited amount of time and energy and talent. How much do I devote to each of these pursuits?
Allocation choices can make your life turn out to be very different from what you intended. Sometimes that’s good: Opportunities that you never planned for emerge. But if you misinvest your resources, the outcome can be bad. As I think about my former classmates who inadvertently invested for lives of hollow unhappiness, I can’t help believing that their troubles relate right back to a short-term perspective.
When people who have a high need for achievement—and that includes all Harvard Business School graduates—have an extra half hour of time or an extra ounce of energy, they’ll unconsciously allocate it to activities that yield the most tangible accomplishments. And our careers provide the most concrete evidence that we’re moving forward. You ship a product, finish a design, complete a presentation, close a sale, teach a class, publish a paper, get paid, get promoted. In contrast, investing time and energy in your relationship with your spouse and children typically doesn’t offer that same immediate sense of achievement. Kids misbehave every day. It’s really not until 20 years down the road that you can put your hands on your hips and say, “I raised a good son or a good daughter.” You can neglect your relationship with your spouse, and on a day-to-day basis, it doesn’t seem as if things are deteriorating. People who are driven to excel have this unconscious propensity to underinvest in their families and overinvest in their careers—even though intimate and loving relationships with their families are the most powerful and enduring source of happiness.
If you study the root causes of business disasters, over and over you’ll find this predisposition toward endeavors that offer immediate gratification. If you look at personal lives through that lens, you’ll see the same stunning and sobering pattern: people allocating fewer and fewer resources to the things they would have once said mattered most.
Create a Culture
There’s an important model in our class called the Tools of Cooperation, which basically says that being a visionary manager isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. It’s one thing to see into the foggy future with acuity and chart the course corrections that the company must make. But it’s quite another to persuade employees who might not see the changes ahead to line up and work cooperatively to take the company in that new direction. Knowing what tools to wield to elicit the needed cooperation is a critical managerial skill.
The theory arrays these tools along two dimensions—the extent to which members of the organization agree on what they want from their participation in the enterprise, and the extent to which they agree on what actions will produce the desired results. When there is little agreement on both axes, you have to use “power tools”—coercion, threats, punishment, and so on—to secure cooperation. Many companies start in this quadrant, which is why the founding executive team must play such an assertive role in defining what must be done and how. If employees’ ways of working together to address those tasks succeed over and over, consensus begins to form. MIT’s Edgar Schein has described this process as the mechanism by which a culture is built. Ultimately, people don’t even think about whether their way of doing things yields success. They embrace priorities and follow procedures by instinct and assumption rather than by explicit decision—which means that they’ve created a culture. Culture, in compelling but unspoken ways, dictates the proven, acceptable methods by which members of the group address recurrent problems. And culture defines the priority given to different types of problems. It can be a powerful management tool.
In using this model to address the question, How can I be sure that my family becomes an enduring source of happiness?, my students quickly see that the simplest tools that parents can wield to elicit cooperation from children are power tools. But there comes a point during the teen years when power tools no longer work. At that point parents start wishing that they had begun working with their children at a very young age to build a culture at home in which children instinctively behave respectfully toward one another, obey their parents, and choose the right thing to do. Families have cultures, just as companies do. Those cultures can be built consciously or evolve inadvertently.
If you want your kids to have strong self-esteem and confidence that they can solve hard problems, those qualities won’t magically materialize in high school. You have to design them into your family’s culture—and you have to think about this very early on. Like employees, children build self-esteem by doing things that are hard and learning what works.
Avoid the “Marginal Costs” Mistake
We’re taught in finance and economics that in evaluating alternative investments, we should ignore sunk and fixed costs, and instead base decisions on the marginal costs and marginal revenues that each alternative entails. We learn in our course that this doctrine biases companies to leverage what they have put in place to succeed in the past, instead of guiding them to create the capabilities they’ll need in the future. If we knew the future would be exactly the same as the past, that approach would be fine. But if the future’s different—and it almost always is—then it’s the wrong thing to do.
This theory addresses the third question I discuss with my students—how to live a life of integrity (stay out of jail). Unconsciously, we often employ the marginal cost doctrine in our personal lives when we choose between right and wrong. A voice in our head says, “Look, I know that as a general rule, most people shouldn’t do this. But in this particular extenuating circumstance, just this once, it’s OK.” The marginal cost of doing something wrong “just this once” always seems alluringly low. It suckers you in, and you don’t ever look at where that path ultimately is headed and at the full costs that the choice entails. Justification for infidelity and dishonesty in all their manifestations lies in the marginal cost economics of “just this once.”
I’d like to share a story about how I came to understand the potential damage of “just this once” in my own life. I played on the Oxford University varsity basketball team. We worked our tails off and finished the season undefeated. The guys on the team were the best friends I’ve ever had in my life. We got to the British equivalent of the NCAA tournament—and made it to the final four. It turned out the championship game was scheduled to be played on a Sunday. I had made a personal commitment to God at age 16 that I would never play ball on Sunday. So I went to the coach and explained my problem. He was incredulous. My teammates were, too, because I was the starting center. Every one of the guys on the team came to me and said, “You’ve got to play. Can’t you break the rule just this one time?”
I’m a deeply religious man, so I went away and prayed about what I should do. I got a very clear feeling that I shouldn’t break my commitment—so I didn’t play in the championship game.
In many ways that was a small decision—involving one of several thousand Sundays in my life. In theory, surely I could have crossed over the line just that one time and then not done it again. But looking back on it, resisting the temptation whose logic was “In this extenuating circumstance, just this once, it’s OK” has proven to be one of the most important decisions of my life. Why? My life has been one unending stream of extenuating circumstances. Had I crossed the line that one time, I would have done it over and over in the years that followed.
The lesson I learned from this is that it’s easier to hold to your principles 100% of the time than it is to hold to them 98% of the time. If you give in to “just this once,” based on a marginal cost analysis, as some of my former classmates have done, you’ll regret where you end up. You’ve got to define for yourself what you stand for and draw the line in a safe place.
Remember the Importance of Humility
I got this insight when I was asked to teach a class on humility at Harvard College. I asked all the students to describe the most humble person they knew. One characteristic of these humble people stood out: They had a high level of self-esteem. They knew who they were, and they felt good about who they were. We also decided that humility was defined not by self-deprecating behavior or attitudes but by the esteem with which you regard others. Good behavior flows naturally from that kind of humility. For example, you would never steal from someone, because you respect that person too much. You’d never lie to someone, either.
It’s crucial to take a sense of humility into the world. By the time you make it to a top graduate school, almost all your learning has come from people who are smarter and more experienced than you: parents, teachers, bosses. But once you’ve finished at Harvard Business School or any other top academic institution, the vast majority of people you’ll interact with on a day-to-day basis may not be smarter than you. And if your attitude is that only smarter people have something to teach you, your learning opportunities will be very limited. But if you have a humble eagerness to learn something from everybody, your learning opportunities will be unlimited. Generally, you can be humble only if you feel really good about yourself—and you want to help those around you feel really good about themselves, too. When we see people acting in an abusive, arrogant, or demeaning manner toward others, their behavior almost always is a symptom of their lack of self-esteem. They need to put someone else down to feel good about themselves.
Choose the Right Yardstick
This past year I was diagnosed with cancer and faced the possibility that my life would end sooner than I’d planned. Thankfully, it now looks as if I’ll be spared. But the experience has given me important insight into my life.
I have a pretty clear idea of how my ideas have generated enormous revenue for companies that have used my research; I know I’ve had a substantial impact. But as I’ve confronted this disease, it’s been interesting to see how unimportant that impact is to me now. I’ve concluded that the metric by which God will assess my life isn’t dollars but the individual people whose lives I’ve touched.
I think that’s the way it will work for us all. Don’t worry about the level of individual prominence you have achieved; worry about the individuals you have helped become better people. This is my final recommendation: Think about the metric by which your life will be judged, and make a resolution to live every day so that in the end, your life will be judged a success.

HBR.org > July–August 2010
Written By
Clayton M. Christensen (cchristensen@hbs.edu) is the Robert and Jane Cizik Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School.

via hbr.org, and Arik Johnson

Personality Check - Which one are you?

2010-11-12T21:10:00.000+05:30

No No, I am not going to play Freud, but after I switched to a BB as a backup (while my trusty phone goes through a open heart surgery --- yes, I am not ready to let go just yet!) I have become increasingly aware of the below!

Waltz with Bashir

2010-08-01T17:49:00.005+05:30

After much delay, just finished, "Waltz with Bashir".

First. A brilliant graphic novel. So personal. Filled with pungent war memories. And the futility of a war. Ari Folman and David Polonsky, take you down their memory lanes.

To me, the brilliance of the novel, is in the fact that it does not try hard to impress upon the reader the nuances of the Lebanon'82 war, and its aftermath. It does not try to tell you something new or choke you with details about the Sabra and Shatila mascare , the facts are all out there. Neither is the book about the rise and fall of Bachir Gemayel ('Bashir'). It is Ari's personal story from the war front-lines. And it is how he saw the war. As an ordinary soldier. Not as a general. Not as a war hero. But one, who was just there, with actually no real reasons to be there.

We were kind of unaware of a lot that was going on. ... it was like a bad Acid Trip.

But yet, it is a very gripping account of what actually happened. The story challenges you to see the war as it happened through young Ari's eyes, who seems to float around, little lost.{almost reminded me of the insomnia induced, time stopping stints of Ben Willis in Cashback}. David's images brilliantly capture the various artifacts in locked away in Ari's memories, and stitch them together in near perfect chronological order.There is no single strong character. A lot of the reconstruction of the war, is done after excavating the scathed memories of his fellow soldiers.

But there is a single strong underlying message: War is terrible.

By the end, David's images leave you feeling slightly overwhelmed.Because they seem so real, they are highly evocative. And the message, jumps at you from the very last page page of the book in a very unexpectedly, graphic fashion.

Historically ignorant that I am, the book sent me scrounging around the web, looking for all the details. After reading a dozen wiki links, and plethora of other websites, I was slightly better at connecting all the dots. Now, I feel an even stronger connect with the books take on the futility and the damaging aftermaths of a war. Any war.

* I also feel the book maybe a little too kind on Israel's alignment with the Christian militia. It is decidedly ambiguous and mild about Israel's participation in order to maintain the theme of neutrality and the main focus for the book/movie.

Cover of Persepolis

[

Yes, there is a movie as well, with an excellent accompanying OST.
I also recommend, Persepolis. A brilliant animated autobiographical account of a young Iranian woman, Marjane Satrapi, during the years Iran was going through a Islamic Metamorphosis.
]

Google Search, recommends that I next read: Art Spiegelman's Maus.

Nexus One -- We will miss you!!

2010-07-26T00:20:00.015+05:30

The Nexus One is DEAD. And there is no Nexus 2 planned. This is so sad. Sometime back, I had blogged about Nexus One being the closest competitor to Apple's iPhone had. Little did I know, I will be writing this post in the same month. Moreover, the recent positive news around Android 2.2 launch, announcements to retail Nexus one with Verizon/Sprint had led me to believe that Google would be making some more serious investments in it's phone business.

But then I found this floating around,

Alas, the Nexus One never lived up to its promise and the expectations set for it. Great software that can also be found on other Android smartphones, combined with weak hardware, a marginal wireless provider, and a weird Web-only sales model doomed the device to failure. <Link>

Before I dissect other things, Weak hardware, really?? Nexus One, with Android 2.2 was lightning fast. The author obviously did not check for facts.

But was nexus was a complete DUD? If Not, why did Google pull the plug on it?

Android emergence as the platform OS of choice for smartphones was a big win. It was not only fast, but designed bottom up to offer the user a great user experience. Then why? Sales are being cited as one reason. That could be true, at least partially. Did mighty Google fail to execute on the field plan for its shiny,shiny phone? Or it was just about showcasing Android supremacy? We will never know.

While, I agree Andriod's ubiquitous presence on the smartphone of today is not the only reason to keep Nexus One alive. There are bigger things at play here.

Just for a moment, if we were to take a step back and analyse Apple's new iPhone 4 offering.

By now the much publicized antennaegate ("death grip") problem, out dated features (Hats off to the marketing whiz kids at Apple for pushing through features of yesterday with so much pomp. A 5 MP camera in version 4 phone? Multi-tasking OS? Who would have thunk?) But still, Apple has built some serious street cred, and the numbers are beyond impressive. The fan boys and fan girls have done their bit in keeping the AAPL stock rocking the NASDAQ charts over last year.

What Apple has done is something everyone should learn from. They do not have the latest and greatest hardware, and they are not the first to the market by far. Yet, they have paid an insane amount of attention to user experience, and all the other things which everyone thought were not important. They took their time. Did not rush it. And they have got it right. The results are there for everyone to see. They have changed the game not by being first to the market, but by being last one of the blocks.

Why is all this important?

It is because, whether you like it or not, smartphones are the converged devices of the future. The place where all your Apps live. And I can't see HTC (with all the goody-ness of Android), Nokia, Sony, Palm or anyone else (Microsoft Kin?? :D) coming close to pushing Apple off the the throne. The only true competitor I saw who could inspire such a paradigm shift and aim for the Apple's pie, was Google.

I might be wrong. (Hopefully, I am!)

World Cup' 2010..

2010-07-19T00:28:00.003+05:30

[I have been an ardent soccer fan, and a player since my childhood. I truly find it a beautiful game. ]

After the 4 years of waiting, the world cup finally arrived, and before you knew it the month was over. :(

Yes, the World Cup is over. And just like any other, it has been an eventful one. A world cup is not without its moments and this one had many. Some come together and some fall apart.

Italy’s shock exit. France’s dressing room brawls and exit. England’s lackluster display and exit. Brazil’s exit [Yes, that one broke my heart]. Anelka sent home after a spat with the coach. I am pretty sure there are people in Africa, sticking needles into Suarez voodoo dolls. Group of Death. Portugal’s slaughter of the “other” Korea. Rooney’s outburst. Cristiano Ronaldo’s showboating and an unnamed baby. Messi’s sparkle of brilliance. Argentina versus Germany. Germany versus Spain. Kaka’s red Card. OctoPaul. Maradona’s theatrics. Magical midfield skills. Never seen before celebrations. And there were some new young stars. Referee Blunders. Amazing goals, even more amazing fighting spirit. Vuvuzelas. Waka Waka. And there were many more..! Check out Big Picture for some stunning snaps, which barely capture the euphoria of the month that’s gone by.

But the most important one, the Spanish Armada lifting the cup, and for the first time. They surely painted the town red.

Watching the televised final was indeed a special affair. I had a special first timer watching it 'with' me.

I intend to watch the next one (2014) in Brazil. Some skeptics are raising questions about Brazil’s capability to host the soccer summit in 4 years time.

[* On a separate note, hosting the soccer world cup is not as easy as you might think. I think South Africa did a fabulous job of hosting it this time. Events like can go a long way to change peoples perception about Africa as a whole. {True, S.A. has always been an African powerhouse, but compared to my last visit there, it has undergone a complete makeover to be able to host an event of this scale and magnitude}. They also staged a very successful edition of IPL-2, followed by T20 Cricket world Cup. More on this later! Also, is there something India could learn here, given we can’t seem to get ready for Commonwealth Games 2010? Fingers Crossed.]

But I intend to go nonetheless, would not miss it for the world. It’s my Woodstock!

And the wait begins,

A Brazil fan since ‘94

The Politics of it all...

2010-07-11T19:16:00.000+05:30

Brevity is overrated. In my world, it is indeed. I am such a sucker for details. Of course, being articulate is an enviable quality to posses. But sometimes those long verbose, unwieldy dialogues are much more revealing than short, succinct responses.

[Don’t get me wrong, I am not asking you trade in lively, incisive discussions for boring speeches, like the ones that some of our politicians make!]

Speaking of which, I watched Rajneeti the other day. Although the movie was not about what I had thought it would be, I came out feeling good. Ranbir Kapoor’s dark side, scheming yet restrained, was definitely something which kept me engrossed. {On a tangential note his character reminded me of how we continuously think how a ‘clean’ man can’t enter and survive mainstream ‘politics’. You have to sell your sell your soul and cross over to the dark side.} Nana Patekar was his usual brilliant self, and it would have been so amazing to have him and Naseeruddin Shah in the same frame. But it was not to be. Manoj Bajpai has always been a draw for me, ever since his Satya days. The movie is largely about dynastic politics and the in-fighting in a powerful family which holds the state ransom to its whims and fancies. While the cast gives the movie much needed impetus, it failed to impress me much. It could have been so much better. The dialogues were uncannily weak and subdued. While this one-time watch is not a complete down, but with contextual similarities to Mahabharata and Godfather, I expected much more from Prakash Jha. Enough said, since my cinematic reviewing skills are very, very limited at best I would encourage Jabberwock’s review of the movie. Brilliant.

On a separate note, the opposition parties called for a nationwide “bandh” on Monday against price rise. They were supposedly doing it only for the common man, the daily wage earner. The spiraling costs due to inflation have hit most sections of the Indian society. The issue warrants concern and should surely be dealt with urgency, but a nationwide bandh?? Grr…. What does that achieve?

[I do not have any political leanings, and no favorites to speak of. But a deep interest in observing our elected representatives compels me to give in to the following rant]

The BJP top brass (Party president Mr. Gadkari, senior leaders like Mr. Jaitley, Rajnath Singh and several others) came out to the streets in protest. Some political leaders courted arrested, while others were more like strategic generals who only cracked the whip from their comfort zones. Sharad Yadav was quick to declare the bandh representative of the people’s verdict on the issue. Mr. Chandrababu Naidu warned of increased agitation if their demands were not met. Mrs. Karat, was quick to declare, and repeatedly asserted later, the CPI (M) was not joining hands with the BJP, and the issue was not a political one but one where people had come out to protest against the unilateral decision making of the government. She seemed extremely concerned with people doubting CPI(M)’s ideological purity since they choose to align with their sworn enemies, BJP. The CPI (M) and other Left parties do not suffer from vacillations and compromises to which the Congress was prone, she claimed in one televised interview.

The Bandh was successful, declared all the parties in unison. But was it? Did people down shutters because they are in agreement with the opposition’s decisions or was it because they feared physical harassment and damage to their properties/shops?

As expected, congress was also extremely quick in terming the bandh a nuisance. It went as far as to call the bandh anti-people and accused the opposition of being irresponsible. Our Finance Minister, Pranab Da, urged the people to look beyond “the cheap and opportunistic politics at the cost of the nation.” He also ruled out a re-visit to his decision to de-regulate the fuel prices.

Sigh.

Personally, my irritation began on Friday itself. When I was writing an email to my US counterparts to inform them that the Indian office would be shut due to a nationwide Bandh, I was kind of ashamed.

[I almost typed in that we too were celebrating the American Independence day!]

In this day and age, it is almost preposterous. It just did not make sense. I get it that people want to protest against certain policies of the government and it is their fundamental right to do so. BUT, it is my fundamental right to NOT be a part of it. I am pretty sure the constitution states that the right to expression should be carried out peacefully. Why enforce the bandh? It will only make me question the validity of such a bandh. Who actually went out and protested? Was it the common man or a bunch of for-hire gundas, or simply misguided party workers? How is burning of 100 buses, interrupting rail and air traffic and disrupting public life of any benefit to the common man? Why did the leaders of the opposition fail to engage the government in a meaningful dialogue over the price rise issue in the regular parliament sessions? Oh wait, they can’t do that. They are to busy interrupting the proceedings, hurling chappals, calling names and staging walk-outs. Are the opposition parties simply there to oppose anything the government (or a particular party in power) says? School and college goers rejoiced as most schools remained shut. Working professionals could not care less as long as they got an extended weekend to enjoy the World Cup madness.

I know of a particular instance, wherein a company {which without being named is part of one of the most trusted and respected industrial groups in India} which was working despite the bandh being announced, was arm twisted into shutting down. A group of hooligans entered the official premises & went from floor to floor, terrorizing the employees till the senior management rued their earlier decision to remain open. Banking operations were disrupted in several states. The daily wage laborers, who this bandh was supposed to protect, lost a day’s wage. Most of us will have to work an extra Saturday in lieu of the forced holiday on Monday. I still remember a particular snap in one of the newspapers, where a bride looked very sullen, as most of the guests could not show up for her wedding. This was supposed to be the happiest day of her life.

These so called elected representatives, messiahs of the comman man, are hardly common men and women. What is common about them? They are in most cases elitist, power drunk and very rich. Are they willing to give up the free fuel, electricity, water and other perks like chauffeured transport, armored security and residences in plush locales? I do not find them stranded in traffic? Neither is any one of them by my side when police turn to harassing general public and refuse to register FIRs.

In all this chaos, few things did not quite catch the limelight. It was originally BJP, who had proposed the de-regulation of fuel prices. Of course, they will plead higher inflation. But our Oil companies have been running into heavy losses, financial prudence dictates that we allow the free market to take over. In every country tax cess on fuel is a variable component of the total fuel price. In US it is 19% of the price, in Japan it is 43%. In India it is 39%. That is steep and while I could definitely use a little deflation, is the correct answer to give in and continue with subsidies? Do subsidies doled out really help? They are designed to help the poor(er) people. But the fact is the benefits of cheaper fuel do not necessarily percolate down to the very poor. The same benefits are enjoyed by people riding a 2 wheeler bajaj scooter as well as the young couple driving in their new Mercedes. While I am not sure if subsidies should be done away with, we should definitely revisit them if and evaluate if they actually achieve their purpose. Is there not a better solution to this problem?

Another thing which emerged, which I did not know of is that the bandh was noticeably worse in the states ruled by the opposition parties. Life was disturbed to a lesser extent in Cong ruled states.

[Is it that people in Cong ruled states do not mind the hike in fuel prices or do you sense something else here?]

Apparently, Congress had proposed to all state governments to reduce the sales tax from the current highs to offset the fuel price hikes. And now to anybody that would be a sensible move, right? After all, all the politicians are concerned about is the strain on our purse strings. And any relief, howsoever little, is going to help. But most of the states ruled by opposition parties declined. Why? Because sales tax collected goes to state ministry coffers as opposed to the central government. Sheesh! My mind is boggling at this point. And I am not sure if I can continue to draw any rational conclusions anymore.

Are these the people we have elected? Do we really have a choice? What kind of message are we sending to the other countries? Is India truly ready for prime-time as everyone believes? I wonder. Regardless, I will always remember that on July 5th India was held hostage by the very custodians of our democratic rights.

Joel's in a soup... no make that a Spicy Indian curry!

2010-07-10T20:16:00.000+05:30

Joel Stein caused nothing short of an internet tidal wave, when T.I.M.E. ran his article, My own Private India. Rarely have I seen an article cause so much acrimony on the web. Facebookdom, Twitterverse and blogosphere erupted with reactions and counter-reactions. I am pretty sure there is a reaction out there echoing your thoughts on the subject, no matter what they are. Kal penn reacted, & so did Sandip roy as well as the Geat Bong. Personally, I re-read the article a week later yesterday and I did not think much of it.

In my several discussions about it, I liked the reaction that came from madame pixiedust.

The sheer amount of attention that Joel Stein’s article is getting is what really disturbs me, and not really the “humor” that he seemed to be projecting in his piece. It was an ostensibly funny article that makes superficial and unimaginative digs at the brown folks taking over Edison, an apparent nostalgic piece of how his hometown was metamorphosing before his own eyes. However, the irreverence of the article is what exactly it deserves to get.

Unfortunately, a lot of humor involves attacking stereotypes – digs at Americans are a case in point. But I am not sure what constitutes crossing a line? Do you not make any such digs at all? Or you do and then issue a footnote explaining the why, how, when of it? Do you only make racist jokes in an explicitly comedic environment (as our beloved stand-up comedians do) to ensure that they are not taken seriously? Or do you also make a joke about yourself to ensure a safety net – after all he who can laugh at himself can laugh at anything right? It is difficult to ascertain such complexities given jokes are often funny when they are being directed at issues that come with some tension, ideas that some people take just too seriously. To a certain extent I concur, that the person making the joke should be mindful of his audience and the climate before cracking something irreverent about something that could be sensitive. But in general, when you are broadcasting a joke, it is difficult to control this. Really, opening your mouth to spew out humor is always risky. Because you are more often than not targeting a topic that could be very serious to someone, anyone else.

In light of this, we probably need to react contextually. Especially for an article like the one that Stein wrote only because it accomplishes nothing. It is neither nostalgic, nor funny, nor imaginative. Nothing that he says has not been said before. Am I the only one who thinks that this article does not deserve the attention it is getting?

+1.

All I want to say is T.I.M.E. should have probably seen this coming.

Apple (iPhone4) versus Google (nexus One)

2010-07-04T20:22:00.001+05:30

Just when you thought Apple could hardly do anything wrong after successfully overtaking Microsoft, as the world’s biggest software company, the by now well publicized iPhone4 fiasco antennae problem exploded. While the die-hard apple fan boys /girls remain devout to Steve Jobs and Co., this could be the foot in the door that Google has been looking for its Nexus One phone. Not that it needs an incident like this but things like this and this hurt... The Nexus One has some amazing specs, and is lighting fast given the release of the new Android OS 2.2. Recently I picked up a Nexus One for a friend and have subsequently been playing with it, and I might just give into it. It’s pretty neat, and Google have definitely added nice finishing touches to the phone. The android app marketplace also seems to be doing really well and has definitely come a long way. Hmmm… The battle for the best smart phone on the market seems to be taking on new hues as Google recently announced that they would cease their online-purchase-only policy for the Nexus One and retail it directly in stores, and Verisign announcing that they would get to retail the iPhone as well..! Let’s wait..

The longest match in Tennis history..

2010-07-04T20:04:00.001+05:30

.. was played at this year’s Wimbeldon between John Isner and Nicholas Mahut. An epic battle which lasted little over than 11 hours. The match also saw a total of 216 aces , a scoreboard failure and finished with a score-line of 6–4, 3–6, 6–7(9–7), 7–6(7–3), 70–68. Phew! It does not matter who won the match, but for those who missed it, would you catch a replay? :)

Update: Someone pointed me to this. This is what you might experience when watching a replay of the day's event!

(Most) Wanted!

2008-11-24T00:06:00.006+05:30

I love Angelina Jolie (So does more than half* of the world’s population; * - yes she has some female fans as well).

Well, like an Angelina fan I watched Wanted.

I do not know what to say. Action Fantasy. Action Pornography.

High Octane “over the top” Car moves.Flying Assasins.Bending Bullets.Inter-Continental Ballistic Snipers.

This movie has it ALL. And I can’t describe it.

For all those who make fun of / like Rajni movies, this is the movie they have been waiting for. This is going to make a (dis)believer out of you. I think Newton is turning in his grave right now.

Teaser:

Spoiler

Must watch: Angelina’s last scene

P.S: no no, It was not good, but you must watch at least once. Lighten up, please do not watch for the story, acting, OST or anything else. Just tune off. This is sexy A(ngelina, errr scratch that)ction!

KA-05 DL:12440/87

2008-11-24T00:01:00.003+05:30

It was a morning like all others. I was running late for work. So I walked briskly down the street from where my house. It is a small street. There is a Shiva temple at one end of it, surrounded by a small marketplace, which is continuously teeming with people getting along with their day.

I needed to find an Auto rickshaw (and autowallah) ready to take me on as a fare. I have to say, I am building some serious reputation with these guys. They know I take a ride to the same place every day. They also know that I am quite a stickler for these guys overcharging me. Yet, everyday they try to rip me off. Rigged meters. One and half fare. Change problems. It would be fair to say my love-hate relationship with them goes a little way back. Love you ask? Well, I need them to get around.

“Boss, JP Nagar?”
“No Boss”

He (autowallah) is a regular, he will not accept me as a fare.

Unfazed (like I am usually), I move on. I see one more auto standing.

“JP Nagar, 4 th Phase?”

Slight nod of the head.

I get in, and slip the new HBR issue out of my backpack.

[Since the traffic moves so slow in Bangalore, I have decided to make use of the gift of the time, everyday]

I have barely read few lines,

“I don’t normally take in North Indians for a fare. They are quite miserly and fight a lot”

1. The above sentence is a verbatim quote.
2. Consequentially, you can see it was spoken in English.
3. I was just accused of being a miserly North Indian (Woody Allen Jew jokes anyone?)

Well, apparently I was taken in because I was recognized from an earlier trip, 9 months ago! (Memory on steroids?)

The driver was a MR. Ranganath (as per the DL information)

What followed was a most interesting conversation. I was surprised primarily by his fluent English. And then by his awareness of things around him. Sample this:

“Kumaraswamy is a farmer, at least SM Krishna, is an Oxford graduate, India needs educated representatives for the democracy to fulfill its purpose”

[At this point I kept the HBR back in the bag]

“Bangalore has almost 30 lakh vehicles, Delhi has 50. But Bangalore will implode.”
“Why are Indian politicos creating communal rifts?”

He also offered me insight into how auto meters are rigged.

[Did you know: you can make the meter go fast, just by using a smaller tire (~smaller circumference), or by deflating it a bit (reducing air pressure)]

Imagine my surprise when he told me that he has a son working in IBM as a Software engineer, his wife works in a bank, and he himself used to work in ITIL ltd. He took VRS (Voluntary Retirement Scheme)

We talked some-more, and soon it was time for me to go.
“50.00”

His meter was absolutely correct!

As I handed him the money, he asked me which “company I work for and if my job was at stake due to currently prevailing economic turmoil”.

[punch me in the face someone]

I walked up to my office. Happy. Amused.
It was a morning like all others. And yet it was not.

Biased Indian State

2008-11-03T00:29:00.004+05:30

E: This is a biased state sheltering terrorists. Look what they are doing to churches in Mangalore.
B: You can’t equate terrorism to this.
E: And why not?
I sat (not so quietly) as the argument got heated up and touched several new fronts, digressed and finally died down over a sumptuous brunch.
* B and E are dating. And yes you guessed it, B is a ‘Hindu’ and E is a…. well yes, ‘Christian’.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
B: Man, that guy looks like a T******** (on seeing a man driving a car wearing a Arab Keffiyah head gear)
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A: Why is this happening? I am scared for my family. This is so unfair to the rest of us.
(He is a dear ‘Muslim’ friend of mine for the last 8 years, He called in, disturbed, after he read somewhere in Yahoo forums where someone wrote, if the terror strikes go on, “Godhra to hona hi hain”)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It’s a topic very close to my heart. And something I feel strongly about at several levels. We live in an increasingly fragmented society. The bias towards certain people/sections of the society is almost inherent and subconscious. As you stand judging people according to the facial hair growth and skull caps, it will almost take you by surprise. Why should you judge?
Today, the Indian state is a mere shadow of its former secular self. I always used to think that India had done a remarkable job surviving given its inherent diversity and the problems that come up with it. This belief was based on the fact that India is surrounded with nation sates which are on the verge of imploding because of civil unrest (Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal, Maynamar, Bangladesh etc.). This thought also had its roots in the fact that while certain subsections of the Indian society might be prejudiced, Indian Netaji(s) were at large was secular due to fear of being labeled communal by the extremely large cross section of society. In this age of vote bank politics, you can’t afford to lose votes. Sadly that argument has turned on its head, and communal politics is bringing in more voters than ever before. Today our society is a more fragmented and fractured than ever before.
Why? Recently publicly available facts show that the police are extremely quick on identifying “masterminds” and suspects they just happen to ‘encounter’. Attacks on the Christian Churches are extremely shameful, and what makes it worse is there is no public apology from the State or any convincing action taken to stem these shameful acts. It all is fairly reminiscent of the state sponsored carnage in Godhra. Although, the Nanavati Commission, gave a clean chit to Mr. Modi, the entire episode reeks of state sponsored communal riots.
Am I being cynical? No. The State has displayed its bias time and again by letting Bajrang Dal run amok with its moral police agenda. This right wing outfit is an offshoot of RSS, and believes that our State is soft and reluctant to come down hard on “terrorists” and “anti-national” elements.

Swapan Dasgupta, a journalist and BJP ideologue,

Rioters cannot be equated to terrorists ….. The Indian State is not a neutral state and has multiple levels of biases; it is also not an efficient state and a source of harassment for all its citizens, regardless of caste and creed.

Huh? Really? Are we extremely myopic in our view of Bajrang Dal activities? I don’t remember much media coverage on a certain blast in Kanpur, in which 2 Bajrang Dal sevaks blew themselves up while making grenades? Or a certain terrorist network of Hindu extremists in Maharashtra planning to target mosques while pretending to be Muslims?
Media is definitely responsible and has been callous in its portrayal of the story thus far. There is extremely unbalanced coverage. And that is why an increasingly large section of the society feels alienated and views state as biased. Media should play a leading role to bring politicians who harbor outfits like Bajrang Dal / SIMI to book. Also people in power who disseminate information based on their personal prejudices should instantly be asked to step down.
Do not get me wrong. I am not supporting anyone here. While I am equally against all terrorist strikes in which innocent civilians suffer. But this post is not about that. I am increasingly disturbed by the perception which calls for all terrorists being labeled as Muslims. All Muslims are not terrorists. A terrorist has NO religious leaning. It’s more of an extremist outlook which is not perpetuated by any religion. And that is why, I will not shy away of equating Bajrang Dal as a terrorist outfit. Yes, planting bombs does not probably measure up to riots is what you will say. India has suffered long and hard at the hands of these outfits and their guerrilla tactics. But what we certainly do not need is communal unrest within the country. If left unchecked we could seriously implode under the weight of our religious biases. Regardless of how things play out (fingers crossed), India’s secular credentials have definitely taken a serious hit!

P.S : A special thanks to Madame Pixiedust, for the numerous enlightening discussions on the subject matter. They definitely helped. : )

Love hurts??

2008-10-13T20:09:00.002+05:30

Came across this, what say you? :)

Bang Bang Bangalore and some randomness!

2008-10-13T20:03:00.003+05:30

It’s been a tiring week. My flat mate is headed to London, courtesy his company for a long duration! We are all happy, wait! That means we have to do the whole house hunting bit all over again! And we did some house hunting.

• Bangalore property rates are completely insulated from subprime crises which is affecting everything world over! Or so it seems with the astronomical amounts some of these guys are quoting.

• You are better off being a vegetarian, cause that increases your chances by 25%

• Being a “hindu” (yes you read that right), adds up for another 5%.

I woke up this Saturday to find some Kannada movie being shot on the roof of my house (not kidding!) Apparently, the producer is childhood chum of my landlord! Let me know if you guys want premiere tickets!

I could not catch the Dramanon play this week (Yeah, work again..!), but I have been hearing good things. And it was yet another whirlwind, humbling week at the stock markets! So for all those who burnt their fingers, hold on for a bit. And for those who think that it’s the right time to enter, do not bottom fish (yet)! If you are a seasoned guy in it for long-term, go for sound fundamentals and business value proposition!

* Yes, by now you must have noticed a new layout. Do not ask! Let me know what you think though(Does it load up right, readable??). I would like to work on the fonts and the Background colors..! Hmm… gah ! I try hard to bring simplicity to my life, but it deserts me! :(

** Update 1: This layout may not work in all display resolutions, Working on a fix. :)

BEST VIEWED IN: 1440 * 990

Singapore F1 Grand Prix 2008

2008-09-30T02:13:00.001+05:30

"must.attempt.to.understand.male.fascination"

This what one of my friends muttered when I was trying in vain to explain to her why F1 was more than a teosterone driven activity, which involved pressing the gas pedal really hard. To any F1 fan, it’s about speed, aggression, skill, engineering, split second pit stops. True metamorphosis of the man and the machine!
The topic of conversation was the upcoming Singapore grand prix, which not only marked the 800th F1 race, but also the first F1 night race. And what a race it was. Though I am a bit disappointed with Massa not being able overtake Hamilton in championship race. But, it ensured that the last three races are going to be tactical wars, with Ferrari pulling out all stops and we can hope to see some great races!
Suprise Suprise! Force India came home with a podium finish, muchos thanks to Giancarlo Fisichella. Mr. Mallya, would be a very drunk and happy man that night. It is quite an achievement surely.
But, this post is not about the race, it’s about the track. And the track was a beauty, not only was it a street circuit, it was a night race. And it lived up to all the expectations that I had from it. For more updates please visit Big Picture.

Massa Pit Stop fiasco :(

A View from the top

Giancarlo Fisichella flying through a bend during practice.

Overview of the illuminated track along the Singapore skyline and Marina Bay Street

Blood on the Wall St.

2008-09-28T19:52:00.000+05:30

Nostradamus and Co. certainly did not warn us of this coming. I might be paranoid comparing this to things like the Holocaust, but financial crises resemble wars in some aspects, they are both based on miscalculations and result in massive losses. But my head is still recovering from the way I have seen some of the biggest names in the financial biz, razed to the ground. It is fairly reminiscent of the LTCM fallout and the great bubble burst. And now I have a story to tell my grand kids (I remember in my time…..). And what a story it is. Before we go any further, there’s a Fools step by step guide to financial ruin (read previous post)

Sub-Prime fallout is passé ! or is it?
With no realistic idea of the how much more pain is left in the system, the market is headed for a tailspin. Skeptics have questioned the $700 Billion proposed bailout. Why? It’s the taxpayer’s money here, we are talking about. They clearly do not want to see that being used to bailout financial companies, who are clearly paying for their greed. Why not use this money to bail out the common man, who can’t pay up his mortgages? I wonder how the presidential candidates react to this. While this will definitely increase the deficit and inflation, what remains to be seen is if it opens floodgates to more companies filing for bankruptcy? And the Fed has already pumped in a lot of money to increase the liquidity in the market. But nothing seems to have helped the markets recover. Clearly it’s not a quick fix solution to the economy.

Another concern here is if the bailout is Okayed, it is pretty much the sole discretion of the treasury secretary, as to who gets rescued. These decisions will remain immune to any legal judgment. This has sparked fears of political lobbying for a piece of the pie, which may not be the best thing right now for America.

Over the last 2-3 weeks, we have seen the demise of some of the biggest names as we know them: Lehman, Bear Stearns. Fed Intervention in Freddie Mac & Fannie Mae, WAMU shotgun sale to JP Morgan Chase, BOA acquisition of Merrill Lynch, Warren Buffet’s $5 Billion bet on Goldman, AIG bailout keeping in mind “national interests”. And heads have rolled. Famed CEO of CitiGroup, ‘stepped down’ earlier this year. Wachovia I hear is looking for potential suitors as well.
I-Banker acquaintance of mine (yes I do have one!), “Nobody knows who it is next, too bad the bailout came late for Lehman. The work is ok. People know things have gotten oversold, but it’s too risky to take a contrarian call at this juncture...”

While the bailout may be a just a temporary shot in the arm, the doomsday sentiment is what is dragging the market downwards. What gives me nightmares is the un-regulated insurance market. If AIG and Co. go under, then it will open doors to Hell, as most of those securitized bonds are over insured and in some cases insured many times over using the same or a different insurance player. I think that’s one of the reasons the Fed, seized WaMu, and sold it to JP Morgan Chase, as they did not want FDIC to be paying out.

Indian Connection:
And no one has been spared. How these bankers work is by creating an element of leverage (Futures & Options). By this speculative trading, we can see due to the massive volumes, a false buying level emerges. When stocks start rising, the common man is lured in hopes of making a quick buck. When the banks have made their money, they pull out, taking the common investor down. And the cycle repeats. It was very well explained by someone “You invest $100, watch it grow to $110 -- you made a 10% profit. But you borrow $100, watch it grow to $110, and return $105 to your lender -- you made a 100% profit.”

Note: I did not use the term investing for the common man, as that is a longer term play and more profitable.

Seems perfect? No. If there are extensive investments in these kinds of financial instruments, then things start getting overvalued. And trading at future valuations and not fundamentals is a very risky ploy. The risk should be known and understood properly. With the India shining story being played out, Indian markets were on a roll, no one saw this coming. I remember very well how somebody told me seven months back, that Indian markets can’t come down. That whatever may be theoretically possible, it’s not applicable. We should have watched out for this when we saw things yen-carry trade happen mid last year. But no, we didn’t. With the markets inflated to 21000 levels everyone was happy. No one was complaining. And why will anybody? People are making money right. And then the collapse. It’s a lesson to those people who think India is immune to happenings in the world economies. Specially, its dependence on US has hit us n face so hard, that’s its almost crippling. With big banks pulling out our markets are down to 13000 levels, a more than 35% fall from the highs.

Dollar has crept up. Much joy for the IT companies who were facing a weak dollar? No. Because with the financial sector facing budget constraints, their customer base is going to take a hit and so are their profits. Many jobs will be lost. 
Personal perspective: My future education in US became nearly 25 % more expensive because of the dollar rising. Crap.

Who is to blame?

While we might need some accountability to effect a reform, unless we have thorough understanding of the crux of the problem, I am afraid we are not going to get far. Wall St. and the Bankers should take the fall? Why? Some say the problem is the competitive landscape, annual bonuses and the incentive system which drives people to lose sight of the fundamental principles and allow them to become more vulnerable to the impending fallout. You can’t run a business without putting a carrot at the end of the stick. That’s how everything works. In this case, it’s a juicier carrot. Also, we tend to ignore how the Wall Street came became so powerful in the first place. It is because they have key information and insight into market dynamics that the common man does not. (Remember Wall Street, the movie?) That’s why they bail out much before everyone else. It might be in their interest, not having a transparent system. But it’s certainly not malicious. However, it tends to give them a false sense of security and belief in the infallible mechanism using which they make money. Clearly they are proven wrong. Every time. There are too many financial instruments and clearly no one can map a perfect model of how the markets should behave. It goes against the basic fundamental unpredictability of the markets.

While they are certainly culpable, I would like to play devil’s advocate here. The greed has percolated down to the common man. I think that the common man would not be complaining if there was no sub-prime. He would not be aware. He would have happily sung his way to the bank, eager to get his piece of the pie. While not everyone wants to make a quick buck, most of us do. I do feel sorry for the people who were genuinely looking for investing options, hard luck!. So we should read the fine print more carefully and clearly understand the risk so that they can manage it. Putting all your eggs in the same basket was never a smart idea. There are banks for Fixed Deposits, who did perfectly well during this crisis. You have to take risk according to your risk appetite. And that’s the number one rule in the game. Yes, there will be skeptics and cynics, who will feel that how is the common man supposed to understand the opaque functioning of the street. He is not. He is supposed to look for safer bets. I am not proposing that trading should be an elitist activity. However, safeguarding the capital is of utmost priority for the common man as that’s his life savings. And that’s why this happens. We need to have people more aware about all their financial investing options. That’s the key to sound financial health. If someone chooses to place a risky bet, he should have worked out the pitfalls.

We did miss the early warning signs. Yen Carry on trading is one such example. Its fault of the regulatory body and the government, because of their oversight the scale of the mess is unimaginable. They are a bunch of incompetent fools. Everyone has suffered. And everyone is to blame.

Panic Selling was never a good thing, and I personally feel that in the Indian context things might be slightly better and we can go for value plays now, if you want. But with withdrawal of all the FII money, it will be a while before we see the highs of the yesteryear. So, yes I will go with the oversold sentiment for India, but only if you have the stomach to hold on for what is going to be a roller coaster ride, before we slowly climb to the highs again. On the global scale, with 4 out of the big 5 IB gone, and merger with banks which have lesser leverage available to them, we should emerge with a cleaner financial system. But for now, there is more pain in the system, before we start building Wall St. again.

Today we stand at an inflection point in our lives, where how (and if) the American Financial System recovers from this crippling blow, is going to determine a lot of how the world economy plays out in the coming year(s).

A step by step guide to Financial Ruin..

2008-09-28T15:52:00.000+05:30

A friend of mine, forwarded me this, so I thought I will share.

FAQ about the U.S. Financial Crisis

If you don’t understand the financial crisis on Wall Street, don’t fret. No one does, least of all the experts. What we do know is that it is an unholy mess, which is about to get worse. Here’s my quick FAQ for those who don’t wish to wade through dense treatises on collateralized debt obligations, asset backed commercial papers, and blah-blah-blah. It’s hardly comprehensive, but it can serve as a starting point for engaging with the issues surrounding the greatest financial debacle since the Great Depression. Let me know if any of this doesn't make sense.

Do the roots of this crisis lie in the housing bubble?
The roots are all over the place (in the absence of regulation and oversight, for instance), but for the sake of simplicity, let’s say yes. After 2001, the Fed kept its interest rates low in order to increase liquidity and encourage spending. Financial institutions offered easy credit to those who wanted to borrow money to buy a house. Many who did not qualify for loans at regular market rates – the subprime borrowers – were persuaded to take out mortgages despite the fact that their income level, ability to make a down payment, and credit history made them high-risk debtors.

Why did so many borrowers take out mortgages?
As the number of buyers increased, the values of homes started going up. And as the values of homes started going up, the number of buyers increased. Everyone wanted to jump on the gravy train. In 2005 and 2006, 40% of homes sold in the U.S. were purchased as either investment or vacation homes. Financial institutions offered subprime borrowers “teaser rates” which were scheduled to go up after a period of time (these were the so-called ARMs – adjustable rate mortgages). Existing homeowners assumed that the value of their principal asset – their home – had increased (when they noticed, for example, what their neighbors’ home was selling for) and refinanced their mortgages, spending the borrowed money.

Why did the financial institutions lend so much money to these “subprime” borrowers? Weren’t they worried about defaults?
Not really. For one, most mortgage brokers do not lend money of their own; they merely collect commissions. Besides, the system is geared towards increasing revenues and profits in the short run. Bonuses are linked to current performance. But more importantly, many of these institutions were not planning to take much of a risk. Because of a lax regulatory system, these loans were allowed to be “securitized”. In other words, the rights to these mortgage payments along with the accompanying credit risks were sold to third-parties.

So the risk passed on to the third parties then?
In some cases, yes. But for the most part, these third parties cut up these securities, mixed them up, repackaged them, and sold them down the line in the form of Mortgage Backed Securities (MBS) or Collateralized Debt Obligations (CDO). There was little, if any, regulatory oversight. At each step, the parties in this chain collected profits, and believed they were handing off the risk.

What was the role of AIG?
AIG offered insurance to those who bought MBSs and CDOs in exchange for a fee. Credit rating agencies such as Moody’s and Standard and Poor’s gave a high grade to these securities, thus reducing the amount of collateral that AIG was required to post in order to demonstrate that it had the ability to make payments in case there were defaults.

I am not sure I understand.
Assume that you bought $1 million worth of securities. You are worried that the assets behind these securities are not a sure bet. So you hedge by buying $1 million insurance from AIG. If there is a default on the payment, AIG pays you your $1 million. These are the so-called “credit-default swaps”. Pay attention to that term. We will hear a lot about it in the near future. There is currently a $62 trillion (yes, that’s a trillion) market for these swaps which is absolutely unregulated.

How much is a trillion anyway? Apart from being a really large sum of money?
As figures keep getting tossed around, one begins to suffer from number fatigue. How does one make sense of these large values? Here’s one way to imagine a trillion dollars. Let’s say you have a magic machine that spits out a $100 bill every second, all day and all night long. In the first minute, you’d have $6,000. In the first hour, $360,000. In the first 24-hour day, you will possess more than $8.6 million. A year later, you’ll have a little more than $3.15 billion. In other words, it will take you and your machine more than 317 years to produce a trillion dollars.

So, back to our story. Wasn’t everyone making money?
Until a certain point in time. But as usually happens with a bubble, the quid came calling for the quo. Subprime borrowers defaulted on their loans when the higher ARM rates kicked in. Foreclosures increased, putting a pressure on the now heavily inflated home prices. Excess inventory created by builders and speculators during the boom started to mount. As prices began to deflate, owners found it increasingly difficult to refinance their homes. The MBSs were not so attractive any more.

So institutions that owned MBSs were in trouble?
Exactly. Bear Sterns was the first to crash. The Feds had to step in and facilitate its “sale” to JP Morgan at the cost of $29 billion to the taxpayers.

And why did AIG stumble?
Credit rating agencies woke up to the fact that they had assigned AAA ratings to relatively worthless securities, so they downgraded the credit of AIG, requiring it to post additional collateral. Since AIG didn’t have the billions it would have taken to do this, it had to be rescued if it was to be prevented from declaring bankruptcy.

Why would that have been such a terrible thing?
If AIG went under, all those who had hedged their bets would have suddenly found themselves in a heap of trouble. They would have most likely gone belly-up too.

So AIG was too important to allow it to fail?
That is the narrative being bandied about. But the bailout wasn’t about AIG. It was done in order to save its “counterparties”, the ones who had bought insurance.

Who were these counterparties?
We are not sure. But most of them (around three-quarters) were probably European banks.

Why wasn’t Lehman bailed out?
We don’t know. Perhaps it was the luck of the draw. It came second in line (after Bear Sterns) and maybe the government wanted to play it tough. Or perhaps its counterparties were not important enough to rescue.

What was the story with Freddie and Fannie?
Mae ‘n Mac owned or guaranteed many of the MBSs and several mortgages that were subsequently bought by foreign banks (China was a big player), who assumed that these government sponsored enterprises (GSEs) would not be allowed to fail. Since foreign funding (those trade surpluses China has with the U.S.) are essential to making up budget (and trade) deficits, the government had to step in and rescue the GSEs, lest foreign capital wander off elsewhere.

Now what?
The U.S. government is planning to bail out the financial institutions whose reckless greed produced the mess in the first place.

What if it doesn’t?
Financial institutions devastated by this crisis have very little capital to lend. Without the credit that they provide, the economy will suffer. How much is unclear, but the impact is likely to be quite severe.

What does the administration want?
The Treasury secretary is asking for unfettered access to $700 billion in order to buy any asset from any institution at any price he thinks is right. Further, the Secretary says that his decisions will be “non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.” The government plans to buy up the MBSs at a price it determines (critics worry that lobbyists of the financial institutions will play a role in this), thus freeing the institutions to infuse credit into the markets.

Who will foot the bill?
Ordinary citizens – the taxpayers – who will see a skyrocketing deficit, and most likely, shrinking investments in public goods, dwindling retirement accounts, and greater inflation.

Is there any alternative?
If it doesn’t want to think outside the box (and it is clear that it doesn’t), the least the government should do, in my opinion, is to demand an ownership stake in the companies it bails out. That way, if they recover, the bailout money can be returned to the treasury. The current plan only rewards those who drove the economy into the ground, and who made a lot of money during the good times.

So one final question. Was the crisis primarily caused by irresponsible borrowers who took on loans that they did not have the ability to repay?
No. It’s true that defaults on mortgage payments, especially in the subprime segment triggered this crisis-in-waiting. It is also true that borrowers, both prime and subprime, failed to read the fine print, took out larger loans than they could afford to repay, and got carried away by the thought of buying property that was supposed to keep increasing in value. But the subprime loans were pushed by an unscrupulous industry, which preyed on a population that did not have the wherewithal to figure out the swindle before it was too late. A lot of educated, middle-class Americans lost out too, but the subprime crisis represents the greatest transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich in recent times, and the greatest loss of wealth for communities of color in the post Civil War period. *

* Here is an explanation from the author: Subprime lending – a fancy term for giving high-interest loans to the poor – was turned from a tiny niche in 1990 into a huge 20% slice of the market by 2006. It would take too long to list the ways in which these loans were predatory, but here are some of them. Seventy percent of these loans came with a pre-payment penalty; in other words, you were stuck with them even when you realized that you’d been duped. You couldn’t pay them off, refinace the loan, or pay on an accelerated basis. The loans were sold with teaser rates that were designed to “balloon” after 2 or 3 years and written in ways that made them appear cheaper than they turned out to be (by hiding taxes, insurance, and delaying interest payments). Worst of all, there was a deliberate effort to target buyers in poor communities through hard-selling and false advertising. Though they are being depicted as irresponsible and reckless, the subprime borrowers were – for the most part – victims of an elaborate scam.
The burden of this crisis is already being disproportionately borne by those who were disadvantaged to begin with. Consider the following. In a population that is 66.4% white and 13.4% black, 54.7% of high-cost loans were given to blacks and 17.2% to whites. These numbers partly reflect the fact that black communities tend to be poorer than white communities. But there is also plenty of evidence to show that black families that could have qualified for a prime loan were steered towards and bamboozled into taking loans at subprime rates. See the report “State of the Dream” put out by United for a Fair Economy for more details.

Beer, pizzas and my favorite Mass Murderer..

2007-03-15T18:11:00.001+05:30

Well, it was a nice weekend that went past…I had an amazing time, And Monday blues hit me hard, harder than before. You may also read about it here, however some of the content is very questionable. Now now, I am not saying anything about the veracity of the statements made in that post but here’s my side of the story…

Friday morning… I enjoy Fridays, they give me a sense that the weekend is almost here. The feeling is something that helps me get through the day. But mornings, they are meant for sleeping.
So I was blissfully asleep in my bed, when I got a kick on my posterior. Huh..?
I opened my eyes, the hazy picture took form, and there stood I-shit-aaaah..!! Was I happy to see her? Well Fucking Yes!! She is only like my fav person on the planet. But kicking me, that to when I am asleep… I requested her that in future if she can’t wake me up by ki-ssing me, ki-cking is totally out of the picture. I mean a man needs to catch up on the sleep whenever he can, you never know whether you will be sleeping in the night..!!

She was dropping by a day earlier than her usual weekend trips because she had to visit the Mindtree office, the company with which she is doing a remote project. After spending the morning catching up it was time to leave. Now, ‘The rhapsodizing queen of the soul peering conglomerate’ is not very good with traveling around the city all by herself. But she did surprise me. I mean I did offer to drop her and the office was far, but she did all by herself. She had my credit card, my phone, my CD’s (the one day I remember to get something to office, she take it with her) and my money. I suddenly felt empty, alone and very ‘naked’. She survived. She amused herself by reading my messages and lying to an unsuspecting overfriendly bloke.

We had planned a movie marathon in the night, {I swear by her taste in books and movies}We proceeded to watch the movies she had got, when it suddenly struck us that the format won’t play in anything else other than VLC player, which we did not have on my laptop. Sigh!! The movie show turned out to be a no-show, but not before the house was filled with resounding wails of “You don’t have VLC, who does not have VLC…!!”
The entire episode was fairly reminiscent of the “Abbe tu PSPO nahin janta” ad that used air on TV some years back.

She does have a mean streak to herself as well. She murdered an entire civilization of insects and mosquitoes while we passed some time on the terrace of the house. I mean she was swift, smooth and ‘death at the clap of the queens hands’ could not have been more appropriate. She might also be indirectly responsible for the water scarcity in state of Karnataka or the Cauvery issue itself, considering she guzzles water at rate of 1000 litres a month.

Several pizzas, beers, an xxxciting Saturday night, the occasional but must disagreements that lead to full blown fights and some time spent at purple haze later, it was time for her to go.

I am sad!!

A Consuming Exxxperience…

2007-03-15T18:03:00.000+05:30

Heads up: Once upon a time there were 4 blokes, who moved into a big apartment. They had got themselves a fairly decent place. They had ambitious plans of setting the place the up like a bachelor pad. The 3 B’s of a bachelor pad: Beer, books, bean bags, everything was there. Now came the tough part, managing the household, keeping the fridge stocked!!

Along came the big S (Satya- the most responsible amongst us all) and delivered us from the ignorance and the confusion:

Everybody will take turns and manage the house straight up from the house rent to shopping for the essentials needed in a month.

Short and sweet. It was nothing like a peaceful sermon, but more like martial law that been imposed upon us, and failure to comply and meet the basic service standards would be dealt with harshly.

It’s my month. Again. You can’t escape it. It reminds me of menstrual pain that women experience monthly. It’s the same just that in my case it comes quarterly. It could not be more similar, I am edgy, irritated, sad, depressed, and lose a lot of my blood when it boils in bouts of sheer exasperation.

Enough! This time I was determined to get it right. I had plans in place based upon past experiences.

My determination and my plans seemed a distant thought, when I actually assumed charge. Its funny how things like this throw even the most meticulously drafted plans out of the window.

Well, after having taken care of the basics (the rent, the electricity bill, paying the maid and the cook, newspaper bill) really swiftly, I am left with mammoth task of getting the food supplies. This is also very difficult task, considering the fact that nothing is enough for our fridge. Everything disappears. And off you go to the market again.

I was determined to beat this trend. I decided to shop in BULK with a capital B-U-L-K.

I lured Bhuvan to come along and bail me out. I promised to return the favor. It was his turn next month. He agreed.

Sunday morning. We armed ourselves with all that is needed and we were off for our encounter with the Big B. Now now, before you shoot me down, this is not Amitabh that I am talking about.

Big Bazaar. For all those who have not been to one, they clearly are missing out on what life has to offer. Also for those missed out on the Maha-Kumbh Mela, don’t be disappointed. This is the perfect opportunity to witness something to same effect. Hell, in all probability you might even get lost in the crowd. With the gutsy display of courage, we went in determined to achieve our mission. You can hardly miss the varied assortment of things that are up for sale. You will be surprised with number of different things that are selling under the same roof. Also through the cacophony, that will give any bus station or fish market a run for its money, it’s hard to miss:

“Laadiessss and Gentlemaann, Welcome to Big bazaar, your neighborhood family store for all your needs…get a Free Nike shirt, for every two garments you buy…”

“50 % off the Persian carpets, offer ends today”

“30% off on Videocon Fridge”

I guess when you have competition with the easily accessible and cheap neighborhood kirana shops, the only way to beat them is beating them at their own game. Hawker like marketing of products, products as cheap as you will find anywhere, Mind boggling number of offers to lure you back is clearly working. Everybody is buying. Indians, and I am talking about the masses here, will buy and continue buying if you can convince them that it is the cheapest deal on the block. Add the word “FREE” in there somewhere and its magic for the retailers. People buy more, just to get that extra container that they may or may not need. It’s Free-conomics at play.

When Mister Kishor Biyani, decided he will enter retail business in India ala WallMart, he really went for it. And its arguably one of the best and most profitable business ideas of the latter half of the last decade. Most of the industry big-wigs are lining up the big bucks for investment in the retail sector, touted to be the next big thing after the IT boom. It pays to be the first off the block.

Anyway, pray forgive for getting carried away, like always. We did get our stuff: 10 kg Annapurna atta, 5 kg Sundrop oil, 2 kg Tide, 6 cheese spreads, 4 breads, 12 cartons of juice, 5 types of pulses, 7cartons of Milk, Choclates, Ice Cream, Handwash, plenty of Lays, Popcorn, Pasta, Strawberries and fruits and a whole lot of other stuff I won’t bore you with. But the question is whether this will be enough. Wait and watch this space.

Billing is another story. While we waited, we finished the strawberries; Bhuvan threw a fit, recovered, I caught up with all my friends that I had not spoken to in a while, made new friends with some chicks standing ahead of me, finished reading the Sunday paper. Finally we checked out. I tried not looking at the bill, having exhausted nearly all of the month’s funds.

It was not over, on the way back, tugging around all the stuff we made the last but critical stop. Liquor. This was refreshing. Bhuvan stopped complaining. Fosters, Kingfishers, Wine, Vodka later, we headed home. Now I am completely broke.

It was almost mid afternoon. We came back and crashed. We could not even stay up to even open and shuffle around the contents of the shopping bags.

Sigh!!

Break on through to the Other Side..!

2006-11-27T18:46:00.001+05:30

“Why don’t you do it..?” asked my manger, looking straight back at me, as I stood in his cabin, which also served as a makeshift meeting room at times like these.

I stood there, very unsure of what to make of my manager’s question. This was a far cry from my expectations, definitely much more from the expected norms with these scenarios.

It had all started with me posing a few innocent queries to S, the lead recruiter at my company, so as to our companies decision, regarding campus placement this year, from my Alma matter. These questions were fueled by the need to get a couple of people in my junior batch the handful, coveted internships with my firm, which undoubtedly pay well.

To tread with caution or take a swipe at it is the question that keeps dogging me whenever it comes to exploring the ‘uncharted terrain’. See my problem is that with my current work profile of a ‘Techie Geek’, I don’t think, that it is positively co-related to my skill sets (at the risk of sounding pompous). Ha!! Then again my skill sets (because of the lack of them) largely remain unknown. So any kind of work, which helps me break from the monotonous mould of software professional’s life, is highly welcome. This was it. This was a big break.

“What will I do in this entire episode..?” I asked with an innocuous smile plastered on my face. This was absolutely necessary to make sure I had comprehended the situation correctly.

“Well, you go in there, and give the presentation about the company. This should come easy to you, I am assuming. However, I would like the presentation to make some sort of ‘impact’ on the student’s mind. It will be step one to VMware Branding in India, and it depends upon this. At the end of the presentation, you swoop in and tell them about your experiences”

At this point, I just about managed to suppress laughter. This was of critical importance as my manager was clearly not finding it funny. I however, could not come to terms with:
• I will actually end up doing the presentation at my Alma matter, just 4 months after graduating from the same institution.
• How terribly un-interested I used to be when it used to come to the point of attending these presentations is just about anybody’s guess. I almost cringed at the thought of sitting through the placement presentation hearing someone ramble on and on about the(ir) company, And I have to be the speaker at one of these... (Bad Karma!!)

Well, it was not much of a question really; my manager as well as I both knew that this was the deal both of us were looking for. He got a person from the college to parade around as an example the tremendous faith the company put in its employees (which is definitely true... Shocking!!) And I get to do something that I yearned for, break out from the conventional mould of a ‘code-monkey’ life! Of course there was an understanding that I will try to do the job to the level best and responsibly, and it was understood I would be given the freedom to run things in Manipal and have fun while at it. It was a Deal!

Well, now the hard part, (as usual I don’t think things through!!). I would have never believed that coming down for placement is going to be this hard. I mean there a ton of things you have to discuss. The Paper, the sections, the cut-offs, the interview process, the magic figure, the interview questions, the give away goodies, and amongst these and several other things, the presentation. It is not easy, and you have to take my word for it. Well, maybe it got a little difficult for us as this was our first time round, and I was the chosen one!

Well, the presentation actually was a tricky bit; I was going to do the technical bit of the presentation before the whole my-experience-at-the-company shit. I could not just bear myself doing a presentation that bored the students to death. I mean there were certain people in the crowd who were definitely going to scream bloody murder (some actually did). But I could not compromise on the technical nature of the presentation as well as I would have taken the fall. Damn..!! As if explaining what Virtualization was easy..? Sigh!!

Well, we flew down from Bangalore to Mangalore, a day before the actual event, from where on we were whisked away in the awaiting cabs. (At this point I must take a break and mention that
• I had a bird’s eye view of the kingfisher reds and jet airways Blue jays, all the way.
• I was beginning to feel the rush, with all the special treatment. Being part of the recruitment entourage
• I was trying to pull another one of my stunts by not telling any body (my juniors) that I was coming down to Manipal for this.)

We stayed in the best address in town, and were really having a good time. I mean expect for the bit when I led the entire team to the placement department.

I could see the old Mr. Kamath sitting there, with his head buried in a stack of papers, just as always.

“Sir, Emc…” I started.

“They are coming tomorrow, come with your resume” He said without even raising his head to acknowledge my presence.

“But Sir, Emc…..” I tried again.

“9 AM PPT, They are coming tomorrow, 70% cut off for writing the test, no arguments regarding that and we don’t know about the pay package” He raised his head finally, and saw me. It still bobbled the same way.

At this juncture, my manager standing behind me decided to take things in his hands.

“We have come from EMC, for Recruitment”, he said with a lot of emphasis on the words ‘from’ and ‘recruitment’.

That got us all the attention I (we) needed. The placement department co-coordinator was pleasantly surprised to see me as a part of the recruitment team. He showered me with accolades, in front of my team, some deserved, and some totally out of the blue. I just stood there, smiled, took everything he said with a pinch of salt. A true professional.

Well, everything did not turn out as planned. I had a hard time convincing people I was in town as they would just simply refused to believe me over the phone. All the efforts for this to turn out as a surprise were going waste. I always land in these ‘backfired’ situations somehow. Yes, and they pulled a fast on me as well. But I will spare you the details. The day ended with friends at DT, the favorite student watering hole!

D-Day

It could not have started worse. Woke up late, and on doing a run through of the presentation I figured some things were out of place. Damn!! This was last minute panic like never before and Microsoft Windows was driving me crazy. My laptop battery was also acting funny and just refused to work.

This could not be happening. Damn you DT…

Finally I got the presentation going.

Hurried to the seminar hall where the students had already gathered. As I hurried past them, I could gather some of them were really surprised to see me there. I preferred not to look back, not really sure why.

Well, after a couple of anxious moments and trial runs with the hardware, we were ready to start. By now the number of students had increased. I scanned the crowd for familiar faces, seeing them made me happy. Deep down after seeing them I also said that extra bit of prayer hoping things go right. Phew!!

Well, the presentation began by one of the seniors from the Recruitment team introducing the company. Well, even though I was up next and was supposed to do the major part of the presentation I could not help laughing and feel terribly bored at the same time. This was scary. Going by the statistics, I would also be laughed at. People would be falling asleep. This was not really my idea of my first big presentation. And my senior was doing a bad job of it as well. Thanks to him setting the stage for me, pulling it up from here was going to be an uphill task.

“And now Salil will take you through the remainder of the presentation…”

Well it almost caught me unawares as I was deeply immersed in my thoughts about what to do when I took the stage.

The next few seconds were special. My head was buzzing. I stood up and went ahead took the collar mike, fiddled around with it trying to buy time. I learnt that no matter how you prepare for such an event, it actually depends on how confident you are when you utter those first few words….

“Well, I really don’t know what to say”

Eh..? These were not the first few words I had prepared for. I am sure my manager must have been shocked; I did not even look at him.

“Well, it’s a funny feeling, standing up in front of you guys, giving a pre-placement talk.

All this considering the fact that just about 4-6 months back I was amongst the crowd on the other side attending these presentations getting thoroughly bored…”

Some people laughed…That felt nice… I saw a familiar face smile… that was immensely re-assuring. I said still had a mountain to climb thanks to the former speaker.

“Watch it Suri”, I said to myself, “don’t slip into the casual mode.”

“Well, let’s see how many people know about virtualization…Any guesses?”

I said trying to involve the people in the crowd.

I had not planned this also. What was wrong? Why could I just not stick to what I had planned? I should know by experience that people don’t answer such questions. We as students mostly plan to just sit through the presentations and stare like zombies while the presenter rambles on.

I was just going to return to the planned presentation…

“It has something to with multiple operating systems…” said a guy seated in third row. I don’t know his name but I will always be thankful to him. Something I must have said must have been right…

Soon couple of people poured in their guesses, and it all changed. I was ready to go at this…. From this point on I could not stop talking. Being melodramatic, being casual. Being serious. I went on and on.

When I finished, I really don’t know how it went. That is not for me to judge anyways. But as somebody else took the stage, I looked around and I could see that the recruitment team was smiling. That was infinitely reassuring. As I looked into the crowd I could see people smiling.

Now they could have been laughing at me as well, but then some people were definitely not. And I guess that’s an okay performance for the first presentation.

Well, to think that it was all over couldn’t be further from the actuality. I mean as the day progressed the written test, the correction, the cut-offs the interview list… and finally the interviews.

One of the things about an interview is you always tend to hear about these incidents with cocky students pulling some stunts. Well, it was my turn to experience one in person.

“So do you have any questions to ask?”

“Is it a chill company to work for..?”

“Huh..?”

“What time do you expect me to come to work?”

“Huh..? What time do you want to come to work?”

“You see I have a problem getting up early, and I tend to miss my first class…”

Laughter……

“It’s okay we have flexible hours…”

Now taking an interview one on one is not that easy as it looks. It’s really taxing and by the end of it my head was swimming. I could not have distinguished between the C and the sea, and the kernel and the Colonel. This was turning out to be more than I had bargained for.

Gosh! I needed alcohol in my system.

We packed up and left the college premises. And I rushed to the hotel. I changed and dashed to join my friends at DT. It had been a long day. We danced, we drank. Felt like I had never passed out of college. Manipal is like Neverland, and I am sure miss pixie dust will agree. It had definitely been 2 very long memorable days, right down to the very last hour.

We flew out the morning next day; it was back to the office grind but not before I caught up on sleep. I reported 4 in the afternoon (We actually have flexible hours)

It felt nice to be on the other side. Any guesses which side I am talking about?

Code Monkey..!

2006-11-27T18:41:00.002+05:30

Code Monkey get up get coffee
Code Monkey go to job
Code Monkey have boring meeting
With boring manager Rob
Rob say Code Monkey very dilligent
But his output stink
His code not ‘functional’ or ‘elegant’
What do Code Monkey think?
Code Monkey think maybe manager want to write god damned login page himself
Code Monkey not say it out loud
Code Monkey not crazy, just proud

Code Monkey like Fritos
Code Monkey like Tab and Mountain Dew
Code Monkey very simple man
With big warm fuzzy secret heart:
Code Monkey like you

Code Monkey hang around at front desk
Tell you sweater look nice
Code Monkey offer buy you soda
Bring you cup, bring you ice
You say no thank you for the soda cause
Soda make you fat
Anyway you busy with the telephone
No time for chat
Code Monkey have long walk back to cubicle he sit down pretend to work
Code Monkey not thinking so straight
Code Monkey not feeling so great

Code Monkey like Fritos
Code Monkey like Tab and Mountain Dew
Code Monkey very simple man
With big warm fuzzy secret heart:
Code Monkey like you
Code Monkey like you a lot

Code Monkey have every reason
To get out this place
Code Monkey just keep on working
See your soft pretty face
Much rather wake up, eat a coffee cake
Take bath, take nap
This job fulfilling in creative way
Such a load of crap
Code Monkey think someday he have everything even pretty girl like you
Code Monkey just waiting for now
Code Monkey say someday, somehow

Code Monkey like Fritos
Code Monkey like Tab and Mountain Dew
Code Monkey very simple man
With big warm fuzzy secret heart:
Code Monkey like you

Well, this is a song by Jonathan Coulton. This was the first to come to my mind when a friend of mine pointed out about the useless existence of a software professional in Bangalore. He raved about other cities, other professions and regurgitated facts, which could only make me believe that we have a doomed existence with exactly nothing to look forward to.

~Get up-Work-Lunch-Work-Work-Dinner-Sleep~

This actually becomes the way of life for most of us. I could not argue with my friend, with the kind of numbers he had on his side. I was forced to think about the hordes of people drifting aimlessly through their life satisfied with their comfy IT job. I felt sad. I felt scared. Some of us have even made peace, with a job they really don't want to do. All this, because without a cushy job, a handsome six-seven figure salary, there is actually no future. I can now probably understand what job-security is all about, and why it was accorded so much importance in my conversations with my Dad.

With 4 years of engineering behind me, I expected life to hold better in store for me. I guess I can't come to terms with the run of the mill stuff that becomes a part of your life. But I believe that the final call on the matter still lies with you. If you can dare to take a stab at the way things work, if you actually want to make a difference. Then there are no chinks in your amour. But then again, it takes more than writing a stinky post from the chair in your cubicle, staring at your computer screen. :)

All around me I can see people getting comfortable with the jobs. When you look at the ATM Slip, with your first salary in the bank. It’s a rush. I guess people really have to experience that. I will not do justice to the emotion(s). The lure of so much money in your A/c after a nearly-always-cash-stricken existence in college is just too strong. The planned CAT/GRE/GMATS... all fade into the background [at this point, I will like to apologize to people, who don't fall under this category]. They are replaced by Take-homes/Appraisals/Blah-Blah.... This change is so subtle that it almost catches you by surprise. Near about almost. It is like 'engineered' precision.

I am surprised that people don't see it coming. I could not. I want to trade my current way of life with my college/school existence. But I don't. And it’s not easy. Actually breaking out of this mould, which just reminds me of a vivid description of quicksand in a marshland, given by my friend, is a whole lot harder than it seems.

Where is the time to enjoy all the small simple things that you used to? To kick back with a book? To party everyday..? It all seems such a distant past.

I guess today I feel like I have just evolved to being a Code Monkey... Sigh!!

..........

2006-11-13T20:25:00.001+05:30

What is the deal with people out there..? Why in the Gods NAME will they go about changing names? First it was Chennai from Madras, then amchi Mumbai from Bombay… Then people start playing around the states, with new ones like Uttranchal, Jharkand… Why..? Does anybody think the impact this can have on 14 year olds trying to cram in for their upcoming geography test? Or how I have to change the name my previous post, making it totally out of context?

And Bengalooru? It sounds like name for a asylum, or maybe I am being too harsh on the ‘Bengal’ part of it! And I think changing the name for a global address, much frequented by the cyber czars, like Bangalore will only not make for a favorable impression. At least, I would not be happy with post addressed to me, Bengalooru in capital letters…

a cONVERSATiON dESIGNED...

2006-11-07T16:39:00.000+05:30

It was all dark. The drapes must have been pulled over by someone. I could hear faint music in background, or maybe it was just my head buzzing a little. I decided it was time to step outside the room. I came out from my room into the hall. It is a little more than a simple hall that any other house has. The BoB Marley, Gorillaz, Doors… posters that adorn our walls, always draw a gasp from a first time visitor to our house. It’s very much bare in nature other than the walls, the library that showcases the plethora of books we have amassed over some time now and the 3 bean bags that are our cherished possessions. The black light shining over the HOLY TRINITY wall hanging accounts for a major chunk in the surreal peaceful environs of the hall. And it all seemed more beautiful today.

I fumbled around in the kitchen, trying to put together an assorted platter from whatever was available. Suddenly X. came out of his room, finally. He looked a little strange, with his eyes narrowed down. He looked near about comical. He looked my way. The gaze was almost as if he had looked right through me. My first guess was that he must have been sleeping or something. I stood there with my plate in my hand. I was experiencing an unexplained pleasure in observing X. His antics were definitely not in line with his normal behavior.

On an impulse, that I yet can’t explain,

“You all right..?”

“I am as fine as I could ever be”, X. said with his trademark lopsided grin.

I was not to be denied,

“You seem funny, what’s the deal..? Why have you been locked up in your room all day long?”

“I was busy…”

“Your phone’s been ringing as always...”

“I know.”

“Have you been smoking weed again…?”

“Something better dude, something better, it’s ACID”

The sound of the 4 letter word spoken aloud was enough to send a shiver down my spine.

“Why…? What..? Where did you get it..?”
I knew these questions were inconsequential. And were hardly even expected to be answered. I shut up. There were no more silly questions.

My Amusement with X. grew. I decided to move in.

“What’s going on in your head now..?”

“It’s all peaceful and serene”

I could hear the ambient sounds, mildly hypnotic coming out of the room. I knew it was getting to him.

“So, you thirsty yet..?”

“No”

“Food..?”

“No”

Both of us sat down on the beanbags, facing each other. X. faced the BoB Marley wall and I faced the wall hanging. For near about ten minutes there was hushed silence. I had lost interest in the food on my plate. We sat there. X. stared right through me with a wry smile on his face. I did not look away, I stared back half amused half intrigued.

“Stop staring at me”

“Where do you think this will take you?”

“Life is a preparation…. For a transition….To another Dimension…”

“What are you thinking..?”

“Aldous Huxley once said, when the doors of perception are cleansed everything will appear as it is… INFINITE”

“Is it worth it?”

“Jim said: Do you believe in the long, prolonged derangement from the senses to achieve the unknown”

“Why are you laughing?”

“What do you think I am tripping on?”

I was amazed at the directness of the question. It was a rebuttal to my question. It was a revelation of sorts. I broke into a smile. I knew the answer.

“Me”

…Laughter….

“Can you type out your trip for me?”

“It’s too fast”

“Let’s play 10 questions!”

I was not sure what kind of response was expected. I was surprised by the answer.

“Ok”

“Can you hurt people?”

“I guess, but I never intend to”

“Can you be disconnected?”

“I prefer a passive state”

“Something important to you?”

“My space, my desires, my goals, my ambitions, my relationships, my conscience”

“Religion or Spirituality?”

“Spirituality”

“You fear…?”

“Stagnation, Aimless drifting through life, Failure…”

“One thing you hate?”

“Mobile Phones, too intrusive”

“What makes the world go around?”

“Oil”

“The Journey?”

“Life”

“The Destination?”

“Death”

The answer was so obvious, too blunt. I should have seen it coming. We exchanged a long stare.

“Ok, one last question. Are you tripping on ACID?”

…Laughter….

I guess I knew the answer; but there were no answers expected for this question. X. stood up and walked towards his room. He turned around just as he approached the door of his room, “William Blake once said, Nothing lasts, But Nothing is Lost…..” He laughed and I could see his trademark lopsided grin, one last time. And with that he shut the door behind him. The music was fading. I relaxed and stretched myself in the bean bag. I smiled; it had been a very interesting conversation. I put my head back, comfortably placed myself for a nice long sleep. Before I closed my eyes I saw;

I saw the HOLY TRINITY dancing to BoB Marley’s tune. One Last Time……………