Life is what you say it IS!

This is the 50th post since the birth of "Weekly Whims". It all started off with this post where I resolved to write 50 posts in 2009. This is the 51st post of the year and I can claim that I fulfilled the only resolution of 2009 . Yes, not all the postings were 100% on-time, nevertheless managed to complete a half century! Not all shots were perfect but still not out and kicking.

It wasn't easy for someone like me who is not a professional writer. Yes, definitely not for a lazy bum like me who used his bike to travel distances less than 100 meters. While some posts made sense, some others seemed like fillers. For many weekly posts, I didn't know what to write till I force myself to write, which made me question myself "Why such a resolution? Why such a stupidity?" The answer was always "You said that this is what you will do. Just do it!"  Life is what you say it is!

Sure, we can't control everything that happens to us every time. But with whatever random cards we receive from the shuffled pack, we can use our intelligence, judgement, common-sense, intuition and emotions to make it an enjoyable and meaningful game. Ultimately, it's not just about winning the game.. it's all about how well we play the game with what we are provided and what we receive.

Happy New Year - 2010! Have a great year ahead. :)

PS: 2010 will not have a resolution of 50 posts. But will keep the blog rolling as much as possible.

Mad?! You Or I?

Where are you from?

When I face this question from people outside Tamil Nadu, I have to explain my place with its circumference. So, my answer invariably goes as "Do you know this place called Madurai?" 

In spite of frequent visits, Madurai is one of the most confusing cities to me - Not because of its concentric, lotus-like layout of the central part, but because of its well-convoluted & well-congested roads, and innumerable one-ways! Whatever direction you go, you find temple towers, textile shops, mobs of people and idli kadais! I guess the Idli shops gave the city its stature "Sleepless City".

I think the name "Madurai" should resonate with "shopping". First time visitors of Chennai's T.Nagar are invariably surprised by its crowd and copycat shops - Not the one who is familiar to Madurai! If your town is within a circumference of 100 KM of Madurai and if your family has at least 1 woman, you are dead! In the name of shopping, you would be roasted like the poor little thing that is pierced into the grills of the chicken kababs! Just imagine.. You can't complain much; The grilling is slow, grueling and doesn't have any visibility of completion; You just keep going around the same place again and again! When needed, they scrap a portion of your ass(et) i.e. money. You will not be spared till everything can be completely scrapped out of you.

Historically, the city is associated with its great culture  -especially amazing temples and tamil poetry. Yes, the temples still remain the same. I doubt the "tamil" aspect of the city. The city's slang doesn't have any resemblance to the poetic tamil. Yes, it's not as scr**ed as Madras Tamil - Nevertheless bad enough that one finds it difficult to associate it with "Sanga Thamizh".

From ancient times, the city is also known for its valor and bravery. I think it's true till date. People's weapons speak more  than their mouths - Be it the local thug or the women at home! No wonder, the city has one of the most treacherous political mafias and goondaism. So, given an option, try not to get into any conflict with Madurai-tes. ;)

It's anybody's guess why I like the city irrespective of all its pitfalls. :)

More precious than Gold!

A friend of mine (who happens to be a working-woman) once asked me - 'I am working. How can my prospective mom-in-law ask me 50 savarans of gold as dowry? I like this guy but this is ridiculous. I can't budge to all his mom's demands just because I like him.' 

Fair point. Why should she? But.. till her marriage, she probably can't openly fight with her prospective in-laws. It's a bit ironic that even today, the dowry system hasn't been uprooted in many sections of the society. How can we eradicate it? As the famous dialogue goes - to beat the system, you have to be part of the system. How about showing the greedy in-laws a detailed financial model showing them that the girl is much more precious than the 50 savarans? Here is what the numbers speak.

• Ideally, if you are a working woman earning around 20,000 per month, you should ask your in-laws apporx. 1000 savarans (979 to be precise!). Suppose they say that they want 50 savarans, subtract it out and ask for 929!
• The Net Present Value - NPV of of the working woman (only the salary included)  is Rs. 1.3 Cr while that of 50 Savarans is mere Rs.6.6 lakhs. Nearly 20 times more precious!

• In Year 2040, the girl's Cumulative Future Value is around Rs. 13 Crores, while that of the 50 savarans is just 66 lakhs.

If you need the excel sheet to support these figures, let me know (for guys: to convince your parents not to ask for dowry.. for girls: (a) to make their in-laws feel embarrassed when you tell them your NPV or cumulative future value.. (b) to convince your hubby on why he should let you go to work (i.e. if you prefer to work). And if you are a non-working woman, don't bother - your monetary value could be very high as well considering the insane amount of household work you do - from teaching your kids to cleaning the vessels to managing your in-laws!

Hope the figures keep the greedy people's mouth shut!

Assumptions behind the model:

• Gold price assumed at current market prices. Inflation assumed at 8% based on historic data from 1970 to 2009. If we ignore the 2008-09 boom in gold price, the figures could be still lower.
• Girl's salary per month is Rs. 20,000/- with an increment of 10% per year and every 5 years, she gets a bonus of additional 10%. This is still conservative as wage inflation for Indians is as high as 15-20% these days.
• The girl's NPV calculation is very conservative as well. No retirement or pension benefits assumed. Assumed to work only till the age of 55.

Why should Air India be sold?

Because..

• The flight rarely takes off on-time. When it lands, there shall be guaranteed delay! God save you if it is your connecting flight!
• The captain realizes that the flight is out of reserve oxygen just before the take-off (and tries to fill it in 20 mins but fails even after an hour..)
• The air ghostesses are lazy, completely out of shape (and at times, a rude). Also, they are as oblivious as the passengers on any information about the flight or its timings.
• People running the airlines don't have any intension of making it profitable.. Here is a sample: Only airlines with Non-refundable tickets priced higher than refundable tickets..

You need either the Passion or a Focus on Financials or a Sense of Service (to the society) to run an organization. They killed the Passion of Tatas to nationalize the airlines. Of course, they ensured it's running consistently in loss (who cares? after all, it's tax payers' money!). Forget about the sense of Service as the word doesn't feature in the airlines' dictionary. High time to sell the airlines!

730000000000000000000!

Late in the night, a thief stumbles up on a rich man, takes out his revolver and demands 'Quick.. Get me all your money'.  The man replies 'Do you know who I am? I am the Minister of this country.'  The thief replies, 'Ok then, get all my money'  This may be an old joke, but relevant to this blog.

730000000000000000000. Can you even tell how much rupees this could be? Difficult indeed! According to outlook magazine (source), it's just the portion of Indian public money (in rupees) identified as scam, corruption and other illegal forms since 1992.  I was so surprised and disturbed when I read that the money, swindled by some politician, is equivalent to 1/5th of his state's budget. It hits hard as it is one of the poorest states of the country with significant tribal population.

Last week, happened to watch my all-time favorite movie 'Indian' again. What can we really do about these corrupt guys? Capital punishments as in the movies 'Indian' or 'Anniyan'? Don't think any amount of moral lesson is going to change these people.. How about stripping them and run over by road rollers? Stone to death? Throw into hungry tiger's cage? Burn alive? Peel the skin off like an orange? And spray salt and pepper on it? Let the elephant to beat him to death? Suck the blood till nothing is left? Place innumerable needles all over the body? Hang upside down till he dies of hunger? Treat them like a dry fish? Freeze them to death? Tie the 2 ends of his body with the trucks moving in opposite directions? Use like a door-mat in Mumbai local trains or in crowded stations like Dadar or Andheri during peak hours? Chop them into pieces, prepare special hyderabadi human biriyani and serve it hot to animals in the zoo?

All these may sound very violent or inhumane. But can these beings ever be considered human beings?? Also, it's not as if they don't understand what they are doing.. conscious blunders.. they are very much aware that it's against the welfare of the people and society.. Still they do it to satiate their limitless greed.. Moral science, Justice, Systems, Policing, Karma, God etc won't help! Get the force called fear to drive away this greed!  Even if the killing is cruel, it's justified as it serves a greater purpose of teaching an important lesson to the rest of the country!

No viboothi please..

Long live the short stories..

It was my 22nd birthday. I am usually lazy to visit temples. Up on my mom's insistence, we decided to put a salaam to Lord Shiva. It was half past 6 in the morning. After having the quick dharshan of Mr. Shiva and his wife, we sat in the temple. I was half-asleep. When I had my eyes closed, mom thought I was in deep meditation. For a moment, she found a great saint in her son. (After all, she knew that spiritual Guru is not a bad option for an aimless and jobless maverick!) Her short-lived happiness vanished soon and she whispered to my ears "Dei erumai-maadu, ezhunthiri da" (Wake up, you beautiful buffalo!)

I slowly opened my eyes.. Just blocking the view of Shiva was a beautiful young girl in lemon yellow saree. Wow, what a beauty! She was tall, lean and instantly attractive! Maybe a mix of Nandita das and Katrina Kaif, I thought! I felt like being in heaven. For a moment, I wondered whether Lord Shiva, like my mom, mistook my nap as meditation and gave a free pass to heaven. The confusion was resolved by mom's voice 'Let's go!'.

I told her, 'Ma, Dharshan is not yet over. Please wait for another 5 minutes.' My mom didn't have a clue of the Dharshan I was talking about and replied 'As you say - it's your birthday' The lemon-yellow-saree's eyes were completely closed and her lips murmured something. I was watching her closely like a doctor examining the patient. She was done with the Dharshan and was preparing to go around the temple.

I told my mom, 'Get up, mom! Let's go around the temple.' Mom said 'You forgot or what? We have already completed one.' I replied, 'Ma, that was for Shiva.. let's do one for his wife' Mom got a little angry, 'You can't play with the rules of the Gods.. it has to be either 1 or 21 rounds. I don't have time for 21.' Like an unhappy kid who was refused a toy in a shop, I thought of playing tantrums. Realized I was a grown up and hence told my mom, 'Ok then, wait for a minute - Lemme finish the last part of the dharshan.' The last dharshan was delightful.

After the dharshan, we went back home. I felt "what a way to start the year". In a single day, I would have thought about her more number of times than my family and friends put together. While I know it was pure stupidity, I felt it was God's signal for something. (Human beings have the bad habit of referring to God for all favorable reasons). I wondered how can I meet her again - Maybe in the temple again? Why not?

5.30 AM, the next day. The alarm clock started blaring near my ears. My dad, who was used to hearing my alarm at 7.30 was perplexed. But as usual, he chose to ignore - He thought I would snooze it. But I got ready and was ready to leave the house at 6 AM.

Before leaving, I informed my mom, 'Ma, Shiva opened my eyes yesterday in the temple. Decided to go to temple everyday.' Mom gave a doubtful look but didn't inquire further.

I sat in front of Lord Shiva and nearly waited for 30 mins. 300 questions in those 30 mins - Will she come today? Will she come alone? Will it be lemon yellow again? Should I talk to her today? Should I propose to her today itself? Should I ask her name? Will someone in the temple realize my intentions? Will Mr. Shiva will get angry for misusing his temple?..... Before the 301st question, the beauty entered the scene. Sky blue was the lucky color that day. It was a simple chudidhar but I felt it was extremely pride to be chosen by the beautiful lady.

I completely focused on the job at eyes - noticed all the tiny little things she was doing. She went to the Nandi statue in front of Shiva and told her wishes secretly into its ears. I felt like telling her "why do you whisper all your wishes to the lifeless bull?? I'm standing here.. a real bull, who can fulfill all your wishes"

I followed her when she went around the temple. She halted and noticed me following. She gave a look and asked "what do you want?" I have never become so nervous in my life. I didn't know what to say. Just blabbered "some viboothi please" (viboothi is the ash Tamilians wear in the forehead as symbol of God-knows-what). She cleared off the viboothi in her hand to the small stainless steel bowl kept for collecting the viboothi. She replied with her sweet voice "you can take it from there" I thought of asking her "Will you die if you let me take it from your hand? Or will I die if you apply it on my forehead?"

I applied the viboothi distinctively on my forehead. (Till date, I had eaten more viboothi than applying them on my forehead!) I was wondering whether I should apply it all over the body like the Axe deo spray. Will this new spray help the girl fall for me? I also wondered - would viboothi ever come in different variants like Chocolate, Musk, Lemon, Spicy Black, Sports, Cool Blue etc. Before I was back from my dreams, she wasn't there.

I made it a habit to visit the temple everyday. For the entire next month, I was very regular. The schedule was very simple. I would go at 6 AM, dream about her for 20-30 mins, follow her when she went around the temple and most importantly ask for "viboothi please". She never got tired of it. She always pointed to the near by stainless steel bowl. It was a bit confusing - Had she not liked me, she would have shouted at me. At the same time, things haven't improved at all than point to the bowl. Stupid it may sound, but I had resolved to speak to her only when she gave the viboothi from her hand - a gesture of she accepting me.

It was Dec 10. The 31st day of my visit to the temple. My hunch told me something substantial will happen today. She didn't come till 7 AM. I went berserk and searched her all over the temple. Around 7.30, I returned back to our usual place in the temple. There she was - a bit late, but she was dazzlingly beautiful that day. I felt I should tell her my intentions today as things have gone too far.

My heart started beating faster. I was already sweating. May be tomorrow? No, I remembered what my dad used to say "Do it today as tomorrow never comes". (Though I never used it for studying) I slowly approached her. Idiot, you should have at least brought a rose - my mind was getting upset. It immediately contradicted itself - Ignore me. I am a little bastard - go ahead and show your heart to her.. girls like a loving heart more than the roses.

I was very close to her. A cute little girl came running towards the lady. The little girl had a beautiful rose in her hair - I was in 2 minds to pick it from her hair and give it to the lady. At that instance the unthinkable happened. The little girl asked the lady "Who is this uncle, mommy?" For which the lady gave a fitting reply, "Who knows? Maybe a mental case.. poor fellow.. but very religious. Likes viboothi a lot like you.."

That day, before I asked "Viboothi please", the lady offered viboothi. I was very disappointed and said "No viboothi please" and never ever applied that ash on my forehead.

While coming back home, I liberally used all the bad words I know, at the makers of Olay, Santoor, Lakme, Garnier, Fair & Lovely and zillion other products which make it difficult for guys to differentiate between married and unmarried women.

E-nable or E-ngulf?

Let's think of a common Indian. He can get an entire medical check up done from the click of a mouse; Get an insurance with in 5 mins from online service providers; Can compare the policies to through sites like policy bazaar; Can discover the right rent / price for the house through innumerable tools like Makaan, MagicBricks, 99acres; Find the best loan rates through Bankbazaar; Get the best discounts on books from indiaplaza, flipkart and, best travel options from aggregators like ixigo; Can research about gadgets and gizmos from Naaptol, Compare India and ebay.in; Of course, leading the charts are online banking sites and job portals..

The list keeps growing everyday! Let's call these E-nablers - they simplify the otherwise mundane, tedious tasks. For e.g. to get an overseas travel insurance for my parents, all I had to do was spend 5 mins over internet, which otherwise would have swallowed one day.. If India's E-nablement can be so advanced, no doubt about developed economies.

Ok, let's change gears.. With these E-nablers, people should ideally have more free time than good ol' days.. right?  In reality, we spend less and less time in real world. No doubt, E-net is not just an E-nabler, rather an E-ducator, E-ntertainer and E-connector. But aren't these facebook, secondlife, mails, blogs, videos, online news etc etc taking more share of our life than they should ideally take?

[PS: And you now know why the weekly post got delayed so much ;)]

Small world tossing a coin for Mumbai

It's a small world and we are well connected. Seems like most parts of the world can be reached from the nearest city in less than 48 hours. Very interesting maps here - http://www.newscientist.com/gallery/small-world/. How would the maps look if we include data networks as well such as fibre optic cables, under sea cables, wireless towers etc?

Some tips for M.S. Dhoni here.. Head or Tail? As per the research, you should ask for what's facing up while tossing the coin, 

A coin is more likely to land facing the same side on which it started. If tails is facing up when the coin is perched on your thumb, it is more likely to land tails up.

And, here are 50 reasons why Mumbai is City No. 1!

After all, spams aren't bad always!

Here are some ideas to escape, when you are being asked for Status update by your boss..

• Psychological plays: Exploit the weaknesses of your boss. Few samples of HIS weaknesses..
  • Forgetfulness? Tell it's the same status as 5 mins before - Let him lose his hair trying to figure out the last status.
  • Laziness? Tell you need his feedback on the last update sent. He would never ask where's the status again.
  • Micro-management? Preempt him by giving status updates as frequently as possible. Micro managers are typically interested in the quantum of updates than quality.
  • Perfectionism? Convince him that quality work needs longer time to get updates.
• Technological plays
  • Use the technical ignorance of your boss - Say that the status has been updated in the never-heard-before module of frequently-heard utilities like SAP, BI, SalesForce, SharePoint etc. Your boss will frequently talk about them but never understands the head or tail of using them.
  • Rely on the unreliable. Spam is one. Windows. Hardware. Software. Mobile phones. There are lots to help you!
• Frivolous plays
  • Take Boss's diversion OUT: What's your boss interested in? Katrina Kaif? RajniKant? Big Boss? F1? EPL? Sensex? Real Estate?.. There should be few things that excites him more than the appreciation of your boss's boss.
  • Keep your diversion IN:  "Look" serious at work - It can be GTalk, Facebook, Y! Games or an online Sudoku. After all, status updates are an unproductive usage of one's time!

Crackling Fun-filled Diwali

Around 1 AM. It's the day following Diwali. We were back from the movie Blue. Like heavy fog in hill stations, the Mumbai streets were filled with thick layer of pollution. "Man, crackers and Fireworks dent our environment" was be our initial reaction. And it's natural for people to resolve to not burst crackers quoting reasons such as Pollution (Air, Noise) and Child Labour. I was just wondering whether bursting them is so bad..

As a kid, I used to love bursting crackers. My place is ~25 km from Sivakasi - with my relative running a fireworks factory, we get loads of crackers for free. The crackers are kept not in small bags or boxes, rather in large jute sacks. Then, for a week, it's complete fun with friends and cousins.. To give you a sample..

• Hold the cracker in hand and throw it up in air just before it bursts - You will get chided by the trespassers for doing so
• Burst high intensity crackers (such as atom bomb) inside the coconut shell - The kid whose shell couldn't be found out is the winner!
• Tie a thread between poles and have rocket / train crackers zooming between them
• When you are tired of bursting crackers one by one, take a  pile, light it up, run and hide behind your door. You will have real fun! :P

Obviously, all these seem risky today.  Nevertheless they are complete fun those days.  Even today, while I personally didn't burst crackers, I love watching them sitting on my window. Festivals like Diwali and the associated fun and celebrations like fireworks are the major element of happiness for people, esp. for the middle class which travels in metros and other public mass transit systems.

India's 80% of fireworks production seem to be from Sivakasi. People estimate fireworks industry to be ~Rs 1,500 Cr. (Source: ET, I'm pretty sure some consultant would have done the estimate. Neither can we accept nor deny! Turns out to have a per capita consumption of Rs. 12 in India. If we assume 20% of the population bursting crackers, it would be a reasonable Rs 60/- per head).  This industry is the bread and butter for some 40,000 people in and around Sivakasi. With increasing awareness on environmental issues, this is not going to be a growth industry (This year they have estimated a drop in 20-30% in sales due to awareness programs and poor monsoons). On top of it, it is one of the most difficult businesses to be in - safety and legal issues, constant threat from activists, need for continuous innovation and some levels of copying from Chinese industry.  Life is really tough for these people. While the economical impact from this industry may seem minimal on the country's economy, at the individual family levels, the problem could be intense.

So, to summarize, blindly saying "Don't burst Crackers" (Or increase taxes to reduce consumption) is like saying "Stop traveling in cars" or "Close down thermal power generators".  It's not to downplay the ill-effects on environment. It's just to say that our efforts should be to find out economically viable alternatives than to shun the crackers. How about Eco-friendly crackers, Smoke-less crackers, Noise-less crackers, Fire-less crackers.. but all of them completely Fun-filled! :)

Visualizations

Stumbled upon an interesting site providing interactive graphs.. Just to give you a flavor, few examples:

1. Cumulative Emissions by country in the last 250 years - US alone has contributed to 30% of emission, top 3 countries contributed to nearly half, and top 6 to nearly two-thirds. So today, when the top emission countries preach to developing nations to look after their emissions, it's like a serial rapist advising people to follow celibacy.
2. Shakespeare's Favorite words - Yeah, the word "Love" is the clear winner. Distant competitors are "Beauty", "Mine", "Sweet", "Eyes" etc
3. Alcohol Consumption Worldwide - Do you believe that world-wide per capita consumption is the highest in Uganda? People in Uganda drink 60 times an average Indian drinks. (Poor India ranks 157 out of the 182 countries considered - I'm pretty sure the consumption of our special rural preparations such as toddy, kallu etc are not taken into account. It grossly underestimates the capabilities of people in Rural India - I know of few villages where most men easily drink couple of liters of kallu everyday, whose alcohol content easily outweighs the drinks in developed nations). Most of the European countries rank top in the list.
   

In a second

Life can change in a second. It's the theme of the ads of Tata DoCoMo, which introduced per second billing in India. It is an  immediate success in India.

Hmm.. Life can change in a second. How true it is! Irrespective of how hard / long you think and plan, all it needs to make a life changing decision is a second. :P

Listen to Learn!

Last week had been quite a bit of travel. Talking to people of diverse nature is quite an experience. From a 3rd standard little boy to college friends to the practical cousins to the elderly aunts & uncles, people carry interesting thoughts about world. Of course, they vary quite a bit in their concerns and opinions. Nevertheless, a lot can be learnt by listening to people!

People are paid pico peanuts!

4 AM! Everyday! When you and I would be fast asleep! It is the time when the farmers / vendors from the near by villages reach Dadar Station in Mumbai and try to sell their basket of vegetables. Selling is not an easy job! Irrespective of the freezing cold or the scorching sun or ruthless rains, they just need to sell. Competition is very stiff with a very long queue of people sitting on the floor and selling  - Less to differentiate one from another - everyone competes on the price. And their business risk is no less! They take a huge inventory risk - If you don't sell by end of the day, it's GONE for one and all. For the kind of hard work and the risk, are they reaping enough returns? Single and simple answer is NO!

Look at artisans, people who are skilled at making handicrafts. Or the person who repairs your watches. Or a weaver. Or a factory worker - In chemicals factories. In biscuits companies. They make TANGIBLE things and are SKILLED at making them. You and I can't imagine being skilled like them. Nevertheless they get paid in fractions of what you and I would get paid for.

The last category is the most difficult of the three. People who do the toughest, most risky jobs and the jobs people feel uneasy to do. To give a flavor of what I have in mind: Sweepers / scavengers in a city like Mumbai with large slums like Dharavi and Govandi. Or workers who migrate from villages to cities for the construction of high-rise buildings, [each of which, unfortunately seems to suck the lives of at least few workers during the construction  - nobody cares about them and the death news is never made public]. Or those who work in dangerous environments like mines, fireworks / fuel / power plants. Their lives are more vulnerable than ours. Still they get paid in peanuts. In relative terms.

So, it's not the hard work, the risk taking abilities, the skills or the vulnerable jobs, which decides the level of salaries / returns. Then, what's deciding them?

Intelligence is probably a necessary condition. Today's information age has definitely placed undue weightage to intelligence than others (probably it's supply-demand equation!) Second is Environment (e.g. your family, school, college, friends etc) and the exposure, support and guidance it provides. Third is what they call Luck - the timing and the opportunity. Unfortunately, you don't have too much control over these three.

I am not downplaying the importance of hard work and attitude. Yes, they are necessary and important. Just that they don't play the primary roles, they should ideally be playing. At least, when it comes to Money!

It is very hard to accept it. The only way I put myself to peace is by telling - after all, money is not everything!

Sachin's 25+25.. Shouldn't it be 26 + 26?

Yesterday Sachin suggested a new format for One day cricket - i.e. to have two 25 over innings to ensure fairness and avoid un"due" advantage for toss-winners.  Few more ideas to make cricket a "Fair" game:

• West Indies team should be banned since there are no "fair" players. South Africa can play provided it has all fair players in its squad. India won't have a problem since players who are not fair can use one of the innumerable number of creams available in the market (Yes, fairness guaranteed in 7 hours flat!)
• Current format is unfair to bowlers - i.e. only batsmen have gloves, helmet, pads, in addition to something called "bat". To make it a "fair" game, (a) batsmen have to be made "handsmen" to hit the ball with hand OR  (b) the bowlers have to be given gloves, and an instrument (like a revolver) to shoot the ball.
• Existing format is favorable to big-hitters. When the ball is bowled at 140 Kmph, it's not difficult to hit fast / hard. What's difficult is to hit it slow / light  i.e. "contain" the ball at such high speeds. The ground should have concentric circle. If the ball is contained within the innermost circle, the player gets 10 runs! The farther it goes, lesser the runs!
• 2 Vs 11 players. Bowlers get moral support on the ground while batsmen don't. Unfair to the batsmen indeed! After every ball, batting side captain should be allowed to talk to the batsmen. Better would be to allow all the 11 players from the batting side to be on the field. Similar to how the bowling team is trying to stop the ball from reaching boundary, the batting team will try to send the ball to boundary - it would be a truly team game.
• The current format is unfair to umpires in multiple ways. (a) The elderly umpires with tainted eyesight have to see where the ball lands / travels in such a large ground and that too, 360 degree from the center of the ground! Either  the ball size is to be increased and colour changed to some fluorescent green or flashy orange OR they should be given electronic high resolution binoculars fitted with sensors which can track the balls automatically (b) There is "man of the match", but there is no "umpire of the match" or "man of umpiring" - so, should give an award to the umpire who gives the most number of OUTs and/or boundaries.
• It's called "ODI" - "One Day International" - irrespective of whether it's a day match, night match or day/night match. It's completely unfair for the nights. So, usage of the term ODI should be banned.
• Cricket seems to unfairly rhyme with wicket. Apart from wicket, there are important aspects in the game like score, ball, bat etc.. So, to make it fair, we should have names like Cricore, Criball, Cribat, Critumps etc
• Bowler should be allowed to stand and throw the ball, while batsman has to run and swing the bat in a specific manner to hit the ball - Any player with suspected action in swinging the bat has to go through grueling session by ICC to get cleared for playing in any international matches.
• Instead of ball being thrown, the bat has to be thrown to hit the static ball.
• Last but not the least, why should it be stopped at 25 in Sachin's suggestion? Isn't it unfair to the letter "Z"? We should have 26 big overs (overs can be called "over C", "Over R" etc) and 26 small overs ("over m", "over t" etc)

The list can go on and on... The game can be made fairer by having less of the existing cricket elements and more of elements copied from other games such as foot ball, tennis etc.  Nevertheless, cricket is such a complex game that it can never be made fair to everyone. Btw, who said life and cricket are always fair? That's where the fun lies!

The impressive 50!

Was pretty impressed by the last issue of Outlook Business magazine - it has come up with the stories of 50 social entrepreneurs in India. If you have missed the print version, don't miss it online:

http://business.outlookindia.com/content.aspx?site=2&issue=5021

Quite amazed at the ideas, intelligence, passion, energy and the conviction of these entrepreneurs towards larger social causes. Definitely, a lot to learn from these people.

My favorite picks for the list:

1. A School For Principals: Fixing India’s education system—one principal at a time
2. Rustic Voice: Winds of change are blowing through this Tamil Nadu village, thanks to a rural BPO. The venture has made a big impact both socially and commercially
3. Web Of Development: How one man spawned 20 businesses, 4,618 self-help groups, 75 market committees, 19 cooperatives, two societies and one company
4. The Fair Price Shop: He wants to make Bihar the vegetable capital of India. And give all—farmers, vendors, consumers—a fair deal
5. Building Bridges: LabourNet links informal sector workers and customers seeking their services.
6. A Fab Move: In one stroke, William Bissell solved a supply problem and made proud shareholders out of thousands of artisans
7. King Of Hearts: Dr Devi Shetty’s Narayana Hrudayalaya mends hearts—low-cost and on a large scale
8. Bank At The Doorstep: Fino’s army of 6,000 agents is bringing the unbanked and the underserved into the financial services fold—by going to them
9. Little Mac: He wants to do a McDonald’s with low-cost and clean products for the poor
10. Clothes For Work: Anshu Gupta collects clothes for the needy and gives them a lifeline

Text courtesy: Outlook Magazine

Was just reminded of the 2 gem of the professors at IIMB who introduced us to social entrepreneurship - Should salute them - Prof. Srinivasan R and Prof. Trilochan Sastry.

Kanthasamy - Konnect missing saamy!

Managed to watch the much-awaited Tamil movie 'Kanthasamy' starring Vikram and Shriya. Touted as a stylish flick with a social message, the movie is a good time pass. It is a movie on black economy and how the hero, like Robin Hood, uses his brain and skills, to help bridge the huge disparity between rich and poor.

Ok, this post is not going to be the review of the movie. It is more on the core social problem that the movie is trying to address. In my opinion, the movie takes a myopic view in concluding that "money", "rich people" and "black economy" are the reasons for poverty.

Poverty is the most difficult social problem, in fact, the core of all the social evils. In my opinion, there is poverty / poor people because of 3 major reasons (in descending order of priority):

1. Poor people themselves
   • People don't make an earnest effort to come out of poverty - due to either laziness or accepting it as fact of life. (The 3rd reason could be lack of opportunity, which is more related to #2, #3 below). Just to give an example, many beggars or slum-dwellers do so because they DECIDE to do so.
   • The lack of effort stems from ignorance, which in turn boils down to lack of education. The ultimate culprit of poverty! (By "education", I didn't mean just going to school - I meant a combination of  "Practical knowledge", "Learning", "Exposure", "Skill development", "Removing Ignorance")
2. Government, Social & Political Structure
   • Politicians don't want people to come out of poverty and their ignorance, as people becoming intelligent would endanger their existence. And this could be one of the reasons why many of the governments and politicians don't make any drastic measures to improve the current state of affairs.
   • Second is a structural problem. It's an age long, classic debate on "Socialism" Vs "Capitalism". Some people believe that "Socialism" could be the elixir to solve the problem of poverty. If things have to be distributed equally, there is never going to be wealth in the truest sense. There needs to be incentive for people's hard work, efficiency and constant strive for improvement. At the same time, I don't believe that a pure play capitalism is the right way to go. The right mix, as they say - a "right" regulated free market, will be the life saver. And yeah, it's not easy to get the "right" structure but I feel our governments does a very poor job in getting a reasonable structure.
3. Rich people / Business Organizations
   • This is what Kanthasamy movie is talking about. Illegal hogging of money and resources by few greedy people - They evade tax, exploit human and natural resources. While it's clear that black economy is not good for the overall economic system of the country (and in its worst form could cripple the entire economy of the country), it's a bit debatable that it IS the cause for economic disparity:(a) Significant number of "poor" people are involved in the activities related to black economy (b) With its poor execution capabilities, sometimes you feel a private player could better utilize the resources than as Taxes in Government's hands. (Not here to argue that Taxes are to be evaded / abolished. No debate at all on the existence of "Government" and "Taxes" as its financial means of existence - Just a thought to counter the argument that black economy is the cause for poverty). But yes, fixing this would help reducing poverty given that #2 is fixed.

It's the killer combination of these 3 that makes any practical solution very difficult to implement in our country. Ideally, we 3-way approach is needed to uproot poverty completely.

However, we should appreciate what the movie says in the end - Rich people / organizations should do more social / charity work - An excellent example is adopting villages. Yes, very practical solution! And for that matter, we know lots of socially responsible organizations like Infosys, Wipro, ICICI, Microsoft, Berkshire Hathaway, Ford etc. It's important that more organizations involve actively in CSR activities - not just for the sake of name, but with a real intention.

Search Trends

Hmm.. YouTube is no longer a hotspot only for teens and adults. It's the number one search item by kids too. (For the top 100 keyword search by kids, click here. 5 out of top 100 are searches for YouTube. This list would be useful for parents to understand kids' world). The top categories of search are related to popular TV channel's programs, singers, games, social networking sites. And of course, the kids are quite curious to know about sex & porn. I couldn't find any supposedly education or learning related searches by kids. ;) 

Studying the search trends of people is a good time pass and does give great insights about what people use Internet for. For e.g. today's Google Trends (for India - ALL people, not just kids) lists the following top 20 items

1. charles coventry
2. mdu rohtak
3. english speaking
4. rahul dravid
5. bu bhopal
6. saeed anwar 194
7. aadhavan songs
8. kiran rathod
9. prachi desai
10. bms college of engin...
11. anoushka shankar
12. comedk
13. obili
14. nokia india
15. pokkisham songs
16. barkatullah universi...
17. project igi
18. rrb kolkata
19. kaminey movie free d...
20. icici prudential

Three out of the top 10 is about cricket. At least half a dozen belong to colleges &  admission. Quite interesting that 2 of the searches are related to Tamil movies (Aadhavan, Pokkisham) even at a national level. Seems like people want to download "Kaminey" barely 2 days after the release. Nokia seems to be the hot search term, not just for the day, but in aggregated terms for the last few years

History will repeat if you don't...

This has been a weekend of depression and economic uncertainty. While I (or for that matter, the entire world) had been directly and indirectly affected in many ways due to the economic slow down, I haven't read a full-fledged book on this topic. Yep, finally got to read a couple of books on this. One was by the renowned business advisor, Ram Charan titled Leadership in the era of economic uncertainty. Another by the famous NY Times OP-ED columnist, the last year's Nobel laureate, Paul Krugman -  The Return of Depression Economics and the Crisis of 2008.

While both the books had the tone of what to do and not to do in times of crises, the two looked at the issue in the completely different manner. Charan looks at things at micro level - Less factual, more pin-pointed advices to leaders - More futuristic on what one should do. Krugman's treatment is fully macro, highly factual - More historic on what one should NOT have done. First one is very light and told in plain simple language for a 'Manager' (Read as a person who is intellectually deficient, one who doesn't have patience to understand the intricacies). Latter one is a bit involving, nevertheless not targeted only for economics students. Both are very interesting reads. I would suggest both of them.

One thing came out very clearly out of these 2 books. However painful, the downturn had and has been, be it for a nation, or a business, or even at a personal level, it does have its doses of lessons to be learnt. It's a period which helps identifying who you are and what you truly stand for. It's period in which one has to deeply think and prepare oneself not just to cope up with the current downturn but also to emerge stronger when things resume - The downturn needs not just mental prepared to escape it, rather the courage, the risk-taking ability, unconventionality, innovation and swiftness to emerge stronger. Last but not the least, history will repeat itself till you learn the lesson. Just that it could become harsher each time.

Bhivpuri Trek cum Rappelling

It's a place called Bekare, 2 kms from Bhivpuri station, which is around 80 Km from Mumbai. It's one of the best places to visit during monsoons - Lush but not dense forest, gushing but not violent waterfalls with occasional villages in between.  Nisarga Bhraman made all the arrangements for the trip and there 7 of us from ATK. Rather than writing too much, let the pics do the talk.

Getting ready in the crowded Dadar station..

Reached Bhivpuri station

Wow, what a transformation from a crowded city to this awesome village!

Reached the base camp by auto and now time to trek for 1-2 km by the sides of a stream..

You get occasional glimpses of cattle crossing streams and having a soothing bath!

On the way to the base of the waterfall..

Reached the base of waterfall

Almost on top..

A natural pool to relax at the top.

Time to rappel down!

All friends rappelled down as well..

After the rappelling and sumptuous lunch, we headed for a trek in the rains. Once we reached the top of the hill, we were speechless -the place was completely green with grass, accompanied by mild breeze and drizzle. We lied down in the grass. Yes, one could call it a heaven. (Oops, we didn't take any pictures!)

And by the evening, we were back to base camp and we reached our respective homes by 9 pm! Yes, the Sunday was a real fun day!

அம்பி, நம்பி, தும்பி, தம்பி!

(1) ஆரம்பித்தான் அம்பி..

பிறப்பு முதல் இறப்பு வரை,
குழவி முதல் கிழவி வரை,
நாடு முதல் காடு வரை,
சாலை முதல் சோலை வரை,
அரசன் முதல் ஆண்டி வரை,
அனைத்தும் தேடல் தான்!
தேடி, ஓடி, நாடி, வாடி
முயன்றான்! முடியவில்லை!
முடிந்ததில் மகிழ்ச்சி இல்லை!
பிறப்பு முதல் இறப்பு வரை தேடல் தான்!

(2) நடுவில் நுழைந்தான் நம்பி..

குழந்தைக்கு பொம்மை மீது
குமரனுக்கு பெண்மை மீது

வண்டுக்கு மலர்ச்செண்டு மீது
நண்டுக்கு மாமிசத்துண்டு மீது

நதிக்கு கடல் மீது
பதிக்கு ஊடல் / கூடல் மீது

கலைஞனுக்கு கதை மீது
கவிஞனுக்கு கவிதை மீது

குயிலுக்கு பாடல் மீது
மயிலுக்கு ஆடல் மீது

பிறந்தவனுக்கு பொருள் மீது
துறந்தவனுக்கு அருள் மீது
இறந்தவனுக்கு இருள் மீது

அனைத்தும் காதல் தான்..

அன்பு, ஆசை
நோக்கம், ஏக்கம்
மோகம், தாகம்
பல பரிமாணங்கள்
ஆககல் முதல் அழிதல் வரை
அனைத்திற்கும் அஸ்திவாரம் காதல்!

(3) தூங்கி விழித்தான் தும்பி..

கருவறை நுழைய.. செய்தேன்
எண்ணிலடங்கா விந்துக்களோடு!

அன்னை கவனம் பெற.. செய்தேன்
அன்பு சகோதரனோடு!

விளையாட்டில் வெற்றிபெற.. செய்தேன்
அடுத்த வீட்டு பையனோடு!

தேர்வில் முதல் வர..
தோழமையில் பிடிப்பு வர..

காதலியை கை பிடிக்க
கயவர்களின் கை ஒடுக்க

மக்களை பாதுகாக்க
மாக்களை சாதுவாக்க

தன்னை உயர்த்த
பெண்ணை ஈர்க்க

மண்ணை வெல்ல
விண்ணை வீழ்த்த

செய்தேன் நாளும் பொழுதும்!
மோதல்!

வாழ்க்கை என்பது மோதல்!
மேதை டார்வின் சொன்ன மோதல்!

(4) தடுமாற்றம் இன்றி தலையசைத்தான் தம்பி..

தேடல்
காதல்
மோதல்
சாதல்

இது மட்டுமல்ல வாழ்க்கை..

இவை அனைத்தையும் உட்கொண்டது!

மேலும்..

உத்தமமானது, உயர்வானது!
இயற்கையானது, இனிமையானது!
சொல்ல போனால், எளிதானது!

வாழ்க்கை என்பது "வாழ்தல்"
உனக்காகவும், ஊருக்காகவும்!
உண்மையாக, உயிரோட்டமாக!
விழிப்பாக!
நிகழ்காலத்தில்!

Your ideas for new jobs?

From Lower Parel, my friend S and I asked the taxi-wala to take us to Kamathipura (Near Mumbai Central) - He gave a shocked look but drove us there without speaking much, but he refused to get inside the lane after reaching the entrance. We finally ended up walking through the slums to reach the 13th lane where the Chandramani Municipal school is located. Seems like the 15th lane is one of the most well known red-light areas in Mumbai. Chandramani school houses many social initiatives for the underprivileged children and youth from the near-by areas.

One such initiative is Smile foundation's STeP program (http://smilefoundationindia.org/e_learning.htm ), which is "an effort towards creating a pool of employable youth from the underprivileged section" Through the organization, we met a group of ~20 youth - Many of them were a bit shy and maybe low on confidence, but full of determination in their eyes to learn and get ahead in life. We decided to help in whatever small way possible.  As many of them were in the age group of 18-22 and were doing / have done HSC / Bachelors, their major concern was "How can I get a decent job?"

For any  job, 3 things are needed: Preparation, Provision and Presentation. How can we help those youth in these 3 areas? In our first interaction, we chose the "Presentation" esp. Interview and communications skills - We did a decent job with mock interviews, Dos and Don'ts of interviews etc. (Back at IIMs, when we had insane iterations of writing resumes, we used to crib "what a waste of time" - It's not a waste anymore: we hope that experience helps us develop resumes to make a difference to these youth)

Through future interactions, we are planning to join hands with Smile foundation to help the youth "prepare" for the job and "provide" them with relevant opportunities. These two depend a lot on the kind of job they are keen on taking up. When we asked "what kind of job do you want?", many of them were clueless, while few of them said "Retail management". One of the guys confidently said that he would like to work for the city center mall, which was just a km away from the school. I wasn't sure whether he is exposed to all kind of opportunities.

Just to repeat: the youth under consideration are are 18-22 years old with very basic English / computer skills. Many of them had studied commerce in their HSC. There are more women than men. Our challenge for the next interaction is to figure out the potential list of jobs / careers that these youth can aim for. Some of the ideas that popped up during our return journey were Retail, Restaurants, Malls, Accounting, Automobiles, Textiles etc. But traditional way of thinking is not be good enough! We need simple but smart new ideas.

You got an interesting one? Please share with me.

Reviving Virudhunagar

<<Post delayed due to my mini-vacation at home>>

For people who don't know: I hail from a place called Virudhunagar (VNR), a remote town with less than a lakh population and about 50 KM south of Madurai in Tamil Nadu. Recently visited my home town after a long time - Was wondering how the town has changed over the last 10-20 years.

Let me start with the education in VNR.  A large number of people in the town spent insane amount of time and money to build free schools offering quality education. No wonder the Ex-TN CM Mr. Kamaraj was born here. Do you believe that such a small town had once produced many IIT students and NTSE scholars, all through free local coaching?  While JEE coaching is no longer available in the town for the last 15 years, the town continues to get reasonable success with NTSE.

Today, my school is glimmering with lots of new buildings, new tie and lots of young staff . Also, it's now the proud host of the annual, month-long-exhibition during summers. The pink color half-sarees have vanished from our main rival school. I am sure the rivalry between the 2 schools would continue as long as the human race continues to have men and women. Ok, to put it differently, I feel the town is yet to see a good co-ed school.

Today, the town also has a technology / engineering college.  You may ask which town doesn't have one today! Still, this one is special as it's not  promoted by a cine-actor or a wealthy business man. Am very delighted to know that  the college has established a name for itself within years of commencement.

While it feels nice to bask on the good things of the town, there are areas where it is significantly laid back - conspicuous among them are Infrastructure and Economy.

You see excellent highways till the point you reach the town. Just when you think things have improved, you are in for a rude shock. Be it roads, water, drainage or power, I see least difference from the town 20 years back and now. I know it's not just the bane of my town, but for many towns in India. Nevertheless, I am very disappointed with the mountainous corruption and the lousy job carried out by the politicians and the officials.

It's quite unfortunate that even with a good bunch of smart people, the town hasn't made much economic progress - the real economic growth has been pretty stagnant over the decade or so. The town once had the advantage of being the manufacturing center of edible oil and a trading hub of almost anything tradable. While it still has some dominance over oil production (thanks to companies like Idayam group), the trading business is dwindling at a phenomenal rate. Yes, thanks to the trend of  disintermediation in today's businesses.

Added to the woes are the emerging demographic profile of the people - As one of my old teachers said, "Today's youngsters with decent education no longer prefer to stay in the town."  Decreasing percentage of working population could have following implications:

• On demand side: Consumption shifts predominantly towards essential commodities and healthcare (sounds like the economies of Italy / Japan?). This leaves the town with significantly limited business opportunities (as Government plays a significant role in both of those sectors.)
• On supply side: The town as a whole could become more risk averse - could lead to slowing of innovation, entrepreneurship, pursing new business opportunities and ultimately very low capital investment

These two implications are not independent and once they get into a cycle, they could produce disastrous results.

Oh, enough of cribbing about the problems. Are there ways to get out of this cycle and revive the town. Of course, where there is a will, there will be a way!  Here are some quick ideas which can be explored..

• First and foremost: For anybody in the who town wants to do something good: please forget all your politics, ego and constant complaints and join hands with each other to do something constructive. It's high time you work for the people than your name and fame. [I know there are still many people doing excellent job with good intentions - but a better coordination and a swift action at war pace is required to achieve anything significant!]
• Next, create a master plan for the growth / revival of the town with clear milestones. It needs to take the inputs of, and have plans / benefits for all stakeholders - politicians, public servants, business entities, women, students and children. Everyone cooperates, contributes and benefits.
• Please be ready to develop new skills than preparing & eating "poricha" parotas (i.e. fried Indian Bread) We need to have more skill development programs for students and adults. Create crucibles for generating ideas and businesses. The program should develop real confidence and capabilities for the participants.

And a last one...

With economy being the backbone of the entire issue - Once it's revived, there is a good chance of the overall revival. I feel VNR needs to choose and specialize in a new industry. And it can't rely on its internal consumption to grow further. It needs to get synonymous with an industry - the likes of Tiruppur and Sivakasi or Kanchipuram or Naamakkal. It should use the existing capabilities and resources in the best way possible to create a not-so-easy to replicate idea / industry. It needs to create a niche for itself. Let's explore options..

• Primary sectors? With unfavorable weather, land and poor supply of weather, pure play agriculture would be a distant dream. Nor do we have oil or forest. However agribusiness and food processing (can be categorized as Manufacturing  as well) seem like potential candidates. India with its humongous population and very poor food processing capabilities, it's seen as one of the sunrise sector. The town's history of trading in agricultural products should help in its favor.
• Tertiary sectors?
  • Trading? Retail or Wholesale? Yeah, it had been our bread and butter in the past. But with the changing structure of industries, having a centralized trading hub seems impractical. With the advancement of technology, there is less opportunity which is aligned with existing people's capabilities. So, for now, it is ruled out.
  • Services? How about IT, Hospitality, Finance, Entertainment or Healthcare etc? Sounds interesting and new - But do we have enough skilled labor pool? I doubt it.  Yes, we can create yet another Rural BPO, but creating the likes of Bangalore or Gurgaon for IT doesn't seem feasible. I didn't mean we should shun any opportunities in services. Just that it being a differentiator for VNR in the short to medium term is questionable. Also, the development won't be inclusive of the entire population.
• Secondary sectors?
  • Manufacturing? I think it's good way to go. Its proximity to 3 ports in South India and the well laid out rail and road network should benefit geographically. The existing cost of land and labor are very low as well. I think manufacturing industries such as food / dairy processing, mass electronic / semiconductor products, cement / concrete products (there are some 3-5 cement factories near by), Health / personal care products, Furniture / durables etc are good candidates.

We just need few historians, technological experts, economists and business minds to sit together, brainstorm and identify THE industry. If the right industry is clearly identified and properly planned and executed, it could the revival, the people in the town have been looking for!

The Nomad in a Saree shop

There could be hardly anyone who is not mesmerized by the Tamil song 'Kangal Irandal' from the movie 'Subramaniya Puram'. My friend J said the movie is rocking in Kerela these days. We decided to catch up the movie 'Naadodigal' (Means "Nomad"), starring Sasikumar, who was the director of 'Subramaniya puram'. What an environment! Have never seen such a crowd in Mumbai enjoying the movie to the fullest - It's a different experience to watch it with a crowd that whistles, shouts, claps and creaks for a significant portion of the movie. Beautiful interweaving of comedy, friendship and love - the necessary ingredients of Tamil cinema - but doesn't feel unnatural like the usual masala movies. The movie made me think for a while.. about the friendship as portrayed in the movie. I am sure it would definitely bring back the memories of some good old friends to anyone. It's is a must-watch for its wonderful first half.. second half is overly emotional and doesn't hurt one giving it a miss!

Oh, ok.. Let me come to title of the post. Mom told me over phone "Need to buy sarees for your sisters da. I am bored of the sarees in Tamil Nadu (Truth is that she would exhausted all the categories in TN!) Why can't you get some designer sarees from Bombay? They look very beautiful with Priyanka and Aishwarya." I felt "you didn't get anyone else to get sarees huh?" But decided to get it as my mom rarely asks me to do anything.  Of course, I needed guidance - I asked her "which colour? what type? Give me all spec" Her reply, "Can't decide based on colour da. You look and decide. It should be designer saree. Different from what you are seeing in TN".  I soon realized that either she won't give me the exact spec or her way of giving it won't help me choose. I said "Ok, ok. I will get 2". I thought for a moment whether I should take any of my female colleagues / friends to help me pick the saree. Decided against it as I would end up spending more time in shopping than doing it myself.

We were done with the movie and walking back home. It was a reasonably big shop in Matunga in Mumbai - with its two floors and glass windows, one can clearly see the flashy display of dozen sarees - For a moment, I had a doubt - was it really a saree shop or could it be a curtains shop? I double checked - Yes, it was a saree shop. The word "sarees" was mentioned in the board and I saw the dolls inside the shop wearing sarees. I entered the shop. The sales men were a bit surprised. With a doubtful look, one of them asked "Yes Sir" (To me, he sounded like "No, we don't need any management consulting. We are better today without them!"). I told myself "Act like a customer, man!" - I replied "Yes, I am looking for 'designer' sarees". The term "designer" was the highest technical term I know of in sarees. With his next question, he bumped me off really - "What material sir? zsdfsdfs.. or asdfsdfds.. or asdd.."  All sounded Greek and Latin to me. Didn't want to show him my ignorance. Replied "Well, good to know that you have all these categories! I am pretty flexible - Show me all of them. I will decide."

My reply made the shop keeper a bit doubtful. He continued, "What is your budget?" Again, I didn't want to sound silly by telling arbitrary numbers. Told him, "I am flexible with budget as well. If I like something, I will pick."  My broken hindi with a liberal mix of English words should have revealed my identity to the next sales man. He asked "Sir, Tamil ah neega?" (Are you a Tamil?) I asked "Will the reply get me additional discount?" Nitin (the boy's name) replied "No sir but I can help you select". Thus began our saree selection process.

Within a minute, the first saree was chosen. It matched all the criteria - (a) Yes, it has lots of "designs" - "designer" saree criteria matched (b) Have never noticed that kind of sarees in Tamil Nadu - "it should be different" criteria matched (c) For a couple of seconds, I imagined whether it would look good with my sis - "Yes" was the intuition. Deal was done.  Nitin was pleasantly surprised - he didn't have to put any effort to sell the saree to me. I told Nitin, "I really like this saree. If you manage to get me any other one as good as this, I will pick that as well"

Nitin tried showing a couple of other sarees. I soon realized it won't help. I told him - "Wait, I will have a look at them from the shelf itself." A quick glance - Nothing matched the first saree. I said, "let's pack". He said, "Sir, I will take you to another shop of ours."

The other shop. Packed with ladies. (Before a new sales man was allotted to me, I overhead the chaotic discussions and innumerable requests of ladies like open this, fold this, show it up, show it down, show under white light, show under yellow light, show without lights, show with that border, show with this combination, that design, more sober etc. Man, women are really artistic and selective.) Again, I picked up a new saree in a couple of minutes. This time I wanted to act a little more artistic - I asked him "Can you open it up and show" - He opened and showed. With a surprise, I asked "What is this? You try to cheat huh? Half of the saree doesn't have any designs. It's plain simple inside!" He, with a bit of giggle and an inch of smug, said "no sir, this comes inside like how it was inside when folded". I tried to make up saying "yeah, I know that. But this one seems to have less designs than its peers". He was like "No sir, nothing like that. Do you want to measure it?" I promptly replied, "I trust you, man. Please pack both the sarees!"

The sales owner was stuck in awe. He had a reasonably good sales with least effort - neither his shop's space was occupied nor his sales men were pained. I thought I should add atleast some value  - I told the shop keeper,  "Dude, do you know how much of your operational expenses been saved due to this sales? You should give me some better discount." Owner with his wide smile said, "Sir, we already have the best price. Have given you 20% discount already. Can't reduce further" - I continued, "Hmm.. You should encourage valuable customers like me. If you give me better price, there is a good chance that I would come again."  With a wide grin, he said, "Sure, sir.Please. Definitely come again" Sarees were packed and I was about to move out - the fellow customers in the shop still couldn't believe someone picking up 2 sarees in no matter of time. The owner handed over a voucher worth 1000 bucks. I knew he won't do it but I still asked, "Can I redeem it against the current bill." To which, he promptly replied, "No sir, this is for your next purchase"  I smiled and said "Thanks!" I was telling myself, "Will I come again or not. It all depends on how well the saree is being received!" ;)

Will Google "Square" Off Wolfram Alpha?

Semantic search and structured results are finally becoming reality - from re-search papers to real-search engines!

If you haven't tried Wolfram Alpha, give it a try. It is too good with some certain predetermined set of queries. Like:

• http://www78.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=microsoft+google+amazon
• http://www78.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=tan(x)

But... be ready to accept its "no results" for 90% of your queries. Yes, it would be premature to expect it to be on par with Google when it comes to the results.  We should call it a good analytical tool than a result-fetcher.

Of course, there are other semantic engines - Hakia, SenseBot, PowerSet (now part of Microsoft), DeepDyve, Cognition. But they don't seem to be very impressive (except maybe Hakia), as they are too limited in their capabilities or they have very narrow focus like Health, legal etc.  It could take few more years for them to be more useful.

Google also revealed its baby from its labs called "Google Squared".  It still may not be categorized as full-fledged semantic engine. All it does is present the results in the form of a table and you can define columns. Hmm, seems very exciting and does have very high potential. Suppose you want to get all Bollywood stars along with their personal details like DOB, whom they are going around with now - you can get it in single click. Fastest way to get gossips huh? Or if you want find all the companies in Sensex with their market cap, revenues, profit and P/E ratio, it's again, a single button away! But wait.. "Squared" is still at its infancy - For most of the queries, it does returns results, but the results are completely arbitrary. For. e.g. when you try the following query -
http://www.google.com/squared/search?q=indian+software+companies
the results ("squares" as they call it) don't make much sense at all. Again, it would take some years for Google to be synonymous with "squaring" like "searching".

Let's not become over-ambitious. One step at a time. There are existing engines like Hakia, Yahoo Glue Page and Ask which present the search results in a more engaging and useful manner than the traditional view of Google. The latest sensation, Bing, the 2nd innings of Live, the old lady with the sexier outfit, also has some marginal improvements like categorization and mouse-roll-over-summary of search results . Yes, the undisputed leader of search, Google, still needs to catch up with these new ladies.

But you know what... All these knowledge doesn't make me or most of the common people change their search preference. Google is still the King when it comes to the results, the content. Its simple, clean and fast response has been liked by everyone in the past. Will it still be the case in the age of Semantic search?

Re-Cycle

The first rain of the season. Its smell. The associated cool breeze. Yes, the rains of Mumbai have been pretending, threatening and teasing  their arrival for more than 2 weeks. Finally got some minor drizzles over the weekend. What could be a better way than to experience it by Cycling?

What was started as a small eco-friendly initiative has become a real fun weekend activity for my friend R and me. This weekend, we decided that we would cover some of the best places in Mumbai by cycle -

• Marine Drive: With its pukka road, amazing breeze and the Arabian sea to watch on your sides, this is clearly the best place to cycle in Mumbai. Ideal time to ride is Sunday early mornings (before sun, with literally no traffic, except fellow people who cycle / jog).
• Worli Sea-face: Another good place to cycle by-sea. The stretch is shorter and narrower than Marine Drive. It also gives better residential feel while cycling.
• BKC: You would wonder how such a vast commercial place in the middle of the city could still be peaceful, clean and less crowded. Yes, it was.. thanks to weekend. If you ever decide to cycle in Mumbai, don't miss BKC on a weekend.

With cycling, one gets a different feel for the city. I got present to the environment, the roads, the trees, the beauties, the sad states of the city on a scale more than I had ever done while traveling by car / bus / train. Be it the small incline / bumps in the road, or the innumerable gully cricket matches (happening simultaneously in a small ground which you would think is impossible), or the distressing living conditions of the people in slums (even in the areas considered to be upscale in Mumbai), the intensity of the experience is higher.

And even if you are not the type who goes gung-ho about the "experience" of the city, cycling is best as it burns the extra fat than the hydrocarbon. As a matter of Fact, one should give cycling a big thumbs up for multitudes of reason - Fun, Feel, Fuel and Fat. So, what F does it excite you for?

Nice Vs Nasty

Vikraman, a famous director in Tamil Cinema, known for his movies with feel good factor, makes run of the mill movies appealing to family audience in '90s. The heroes in his movies are so nice to people that you would wonder whether they have any self-respect and why such  impracticality. Being nice is ok, but being nice to a girl who ditches and humiliates him is simply atrocious.  Yes, happened to watch "portions" of his movie ('Unnai Ninaithu') starring Surya. Man, I should accept that I just couldn't appreciate what the hero did in the movie. It's title of the post - Being Nice vs Nasty. The immediate question that popped up was "Can one be nice to a nasty person and vice versa?"  The exploration continued...

Before jumping into the analysis, I feel one should be Natural and Normal before conditioning our responses. However, when we have the option, time and wisdom to think and respond, it does make sense to think which way to respond.

Someone once said "What you give is what you get back" - If not always, it's true in most occasions. Being nice may seem nice as you get back lots of niceties, but in reality, it's a little nasty for 2 reasons: (a) It may not be your "real" response (b) You might spoil the person who should have got it right the first time.  It's stupid of you to be nice to your kid who keeps making the mistake intentionally. Or if someone whips on one side of your ass, doesn't make sense to show the other side. You don't have to be nasty, but it doesn't make sense to be nice either.

The positive aspect of nastiness is that it could be very effective learning tool. It prepares us to face the real world. A kid only exposed to niceties from its parents is sure to face a shock when it enters the real world. A bit of nastiness and challenge could hit us hard - to learn, to understand and to mature as a person. The parathas won't have the yummy taste without the beatings it got, nor does the diamond shine without the abrasiveness it faced. Same story with your muscle and gold.

People always mistake whom to show their niceties and nastiness to. We have this insane habit of constantly judging people and rank them vis-a-vis us - from job, money, power and personality to family and friends. Through this comes the fictitious spectrum of superiority and inferiority in people's mind. You would have seen this in roads: Some auto driver hits a car, the rich guy from the car gets out and smashes the driver. Yes, it happens if the driver is meek and poor. Same doesn't happen for a 100 kg sardar truck driver with his muscles trying to break out of the shirt. Similarly, a drunken man slaps his wife but doesn't have the balls to resist when an employer slaps him. A teacher shouts at a student but becomes an yes-women for all the unethical activities of her higher officials. We show our power to the powerless and resist to show where and when it's required or challenged.

A true leader or a person who commands high respect from others never tries to be unnaturally nice to whom he considers his superiors. Nor does he screws the life of other category of people. He would be nice to the less fortunate group; remain confident, not sweeten the words and not lick the ass of the so called superiors.

To summarize, being natural is more important than the other two "N" cousins. What's is easy, favourable and doable may not be the best of the responses and most importantly, we might have to introspect and swap our current way of responses to people.

From the diary of Mr. Gagan

Jul 20: Today another poor soul joined our security forces. It takes the security personnel count to 5 for this apartment. For an apartment of ~125 houses with 400-500 people, I still believe it's understaffed. For providing round the clock security and maintenance, we people are paid peanuts. Yes, it's not a difficult job to do: opening & closing the gate. Still, we deserve a decent salary. Ok, forget money. At least some respect for the work we are doing!? Hmm.. these bloody residential morons treat us like dogs!

Jul 21: Yesterday was night duty and had a terrible experience with that Saale Sanjay. Rarely does any car come to the apartment after 1 am. It's unfair to expect me to be awake all night! That too, I should open the door at the sound of his car!? Hello, car makers of this world - can you please make some noisy cars than those as silent as hunting tigers? Let me come back to what happened.. He got out of the car, abused me to the core. I couldn't do anything than the apologetic reply of "Sorry saab, won't happen again." I still couldn't forget his last statement 'you sons of b****, you dogs eat like pigs and sleep like buffaloes. From tomorrow onwards, no food before night service.' Yes, I felt like a dog for being dependent on him.. and a buffalo, not for its laziness, but for its thick skin. Oh, God! I hate this job. Will I ever do more than the opening and closing of doors? And than the stupid salutes to these non-deserving people? Will I ever get a decent job?

Jul 22: I think God listened to my prayers. Tomorrow onwards, I will be shifted to Lift operations for wing B. While I am happy to be shifted to a cooler place. But I need to be a little careful, as wing B houses the arrogant auditor and the powerful politician. Our security person Ramu, who was working earlier in Wing B, got slammed every day. He even got slapped couple of times. Let me hope nothing like that happens for me.

Jul 23: I can't do this job. My happiness is very short-lived for a day! This new task, let me tell you, sucks totally. People want the lift to be in their floor the moment they press it. In the morning, every moron invariably shouts "why does it take so much time? you lazy bast***!" This city is impatient, people are impatient. Except may be my lift which is completely patient and takes its own sweet time to move from a floor to another. The universe is against me! City is ruthless full of cruel people. God, save me! Please send me back to my village.

Jul 24: After a long long time, something really nice happened today. For the first ever time, I heard the word "please". While I was stunned and remained speechless at her beauty, she entered the lift and said "Bhayya, 13th floor please". I didn't turn my face and looked at her. But the lift was filled with her brilliant fragrance and an unexplainable cheerfulness. Lift seemed to have reached 13th floor way too faster this time. She smiled and said "thank you bhayya". I replied "welkom madam". For the next 15-20 mins, I was just thinking when the lift would go back to 13th floor. And finally, it went. She entered the lift laughing with a young man. I felt a little dejected. But nevertheless, was happy for seeing her again. The lift started moving down. She asked me "Does the lift operate even during power cuts?". I replied enthusiastically "yes, madam. this is all time work. no rest lift. 24 hours work. security work 24 hours also." She had a mild giggle and said "good good. thanks a lot". I didn't understand why she was giggling, but it was good to watch her that way. For the next couple of seconds, I felt I should have told her "don't worry madam, even if the power back-up doesn't work, I will carry you all the way to floor 13 in my shoulders". She was telling to the man standing next to her, "ok bhayya, i think we should confirm this house for rent. Looks good. Nice location and amenities." I had a sigh of relief.

Sep 24: Nearly two months, since I last wrote my diary. There is a reason why I'm writing this now. Ms. Deepali, who made my heart race when she said "13th floor please", had shifted to the house in 13th floor along with her brother and mom. It's interesting how my life changed after Ms.Deepali shifted here - it has really become a Diwali. It's true that I initially perceived her as a thing of beauty. But soon realized that she's more than that. A person with a beautiful heart. Did I tell you what all she did to me? When I told my sad story to her and that I was in the edge of complete dejection about life, she didn't sympathize with me. She just said 'Who said life is fair and people would be nice to you always? Unless you make an effort, it's never going to change. What's the point in just regretting that you haven't studied? Who is stopping you from studying now? I will sponsor your education through distant learning program. You can use your free time. Will you sincerely make an attempt?' It was the day that changed my life. Still today, I'm pressing the up and down buttons of the lift. But I am doing it happily since it's just a part of my life. My bigger aspiration is to get the bachelors degree in the next 3 years. With the motivation of Ms. Deepali, I am sure to do that as well. After all, the world is not as bad as I thought it to be. There are gems of people. I just need to look around.

For a change..

For a change, this post is in Tamil. Apologies if you can't read it.

ஆழ் கடல் சூழ்ந்த ஆளில்லா அக்னித் தீவு அது!

அமைதி வேண்டுமென்றேன் அன்று,
அது போதுமென்றேன் இன்று..

அன்னத்தை புறக்கணித்தேன் அன்று,
அது புறமுதுகு காட்டியது இன்று..

பாசத்தில் பற்றில்லை அன்று,
பற்றிக்கொள்ள ஏதுமில்லை இன்று..

இயற்கை சூழவேண்டுமேன்றேன் அங்கு,
சூழ்ந்தது போதுமென்றேன் இங்கு..

தனிமை இனிமை என்றேன் அன்று,
அது இனிக்காது என்வாழ்வில் இன்று..

--
எட்டிய தூரத்தில் படகெதுவும் தோன்றவில்லை..
அருகில் தோன்றிய வானமோ எட்டவில்லை..

புரியும் மொழி பேசிக்கழிக்க தோழன் இல்லை..
எதிரே நின்று பேசும் குயிலின் மொழி புரியவில்லை..

தாகம் தணிக்க தேடிய குடிநீர் கிடைக்கவில்லை..
தேடாமல் கிடைத்த கடல்நீர் தாகம் தணிக்கவில்லை..

சற்று நேரம் களைப்பாற ஒரு மர நிழலுமில்லை..
நித்தமும் எனைத் தொடரும் நிழலோ களைப்பாகவில்லை..

கண் மூடி எனை மறக்க நல்ல படுக்கை இல்லை..
கடல் படுக்கைக்கோ மூடிக்கொள்ள கண் இமையுமில்லை..

வேலை செய்து பிழைக்க வேண்டிய அவசியமில்லை..
அவசியமற்ற இப்பிழைப்புக்கோ இனி வேலைஇல்லை..

--
கண்ணை மூடினேன்
கடலில் மூழ்கினேன்
கழுத்தை நெறித்தேன்
கதிரவன் தோன்றினான்
காலை உதித்தது
கதவு திறந்தது
காற்று வந்தது
கனவு கலைந்தது!

Move on

Our house was sober on Saturday - It's the house of 3 die-hard fans of CSK. All were deeply disappointed with the dismal performance of CSK in IPL-2 semi-final.

I tried hard to convince myself saying that it's after all a game, winning & losing are all part of the game and that "the better playing team deserves to win", I just couldn't let it go. I'm sure every die-hard-fan of DD or CSK would have gone through the same. Eager and Enthusiasm to experience every CSK match... Wearing a not-so-sophisticatedly-designed / coloured jersey which when worn, made people in the roads give a weird look at you...  Yes, a month long dream and drama finally ends with disappointment. Not just that - you lose the chance to play in Champions League. You had such a great batting-line-up, you topped in the league table and finally end up nowhere - that's what was frustrating.

Saturday night. As they call it, I told myself "Let me take a step back" - I realized there is a strong correlation between my Happiness Index and the performance of India Cricket team and off late, CSK. Why so? Why so much attachment to a cricket team? Why not such an attachment to let's say MI or RCB teams (I love these cities as well). So, it's not a phenomenon of city. Nor is it completely cricket. All that were needed were inclusion of some players I admire in the team, the team winning some (if not all) matches and some free time to watch and think about the matches.

It become clear that there is no clear-cut-rational why people follow some team over the other. Most people follow some team and keep following it for no reason. People shift their loyalty based on the winning teams. There are people who support teams just to frustrate their friends.  But "attachment" is the stronger and evil cousin of "supporting". It makes you feel the extremes - be it happiness or dejection.

The next day. People at home forgot that CSK lost - life looked normal - Everyone got busy in lazying around. Friend commented "there are bigger problems to face in life". Comes the bliss part of attachment - Unlike commitment, every attachment will eventually get over. Some of them after a day's dream. Others after few weeks or years. Yes, eventually, we all "move on" in life.