Waiting for some result or some response or some event is like having consumed a slow poison! It kills a person part by part!!
One keeps wondering whether everything was done right...the whole event gets rehearsed in mind 100 times...a small doubt can really move one into complete depression...did i answer that question correctly?...oh, i missed that point...did i really write the correct date in that form?...oh, i guess i submitted a statement which was more than 7 days olds...
On top of all this, when there has been string of failures, one gets into a self doubt..
Frankly, the mood can swing quite erratically in this waiting period and others will never know or can never really understand why we are like this...
Also,there are just so many known and unknown factors affecting a decision and this is exactly the reason one tends to believe in luck or in a higher faith.
The only solution is to stop thinking about that and the only time thinking stops is when one sleeps!!
Agreed that we should take things as it comes and we should really be brave enough to face the failures, but still, at the end of day, there is a sense of desperation and restlessness at heart...
The only thing i hate is, this implies that we have tied too much for that result and hence the stakes are high...But, can't help it...sometimes, some things can only be either make or break...there can't be less percentage or more percentage...
Maybe this is why, it's mentioned in Gita as "Do your duty and don't expect rewards"...Frankly, i guess i have realized that i am after all a human being!
Jul 31, 2008
Jul 30, 2008
My future job?
This is amazing...no, not for the technology, but for the travel involved...
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/ragogmakan-google-goes-to-amazon.html
I think i should enquire as how to get into this team...
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/ragogmakan-google-goes-to-amazon.html
I think i should enquire as how to get into this team...
Jul 27, 2008
The Dark Knight
Well, it was worth the money! Watching the technical effects in a Giant screen was amazing...Stunt scenes in Hongkong and the truck rollover scene were simply amazing...ofcourse, the escape from hongkong was quite farfetched, but it can be appreciated for the innovative idea!
One thing that is amazing in Christopher Nolan's direction is the way he inserts comedy in the movie...For instance, In "Batman returns" when the police was asked to describe batman's vehicle, he thinks for a while and comes with "tank"as an answer...
In this movie,when Joker chases the vehicle carrying Harvey dent and starts firing, the cop says,"what, is he firing a bazooka now?" So there are always couple of moments in the movie, when we can really laugh :)
I haven't read batman comics, so not sure to what extent the events are the same as in the book...But the idea of leaving the key of the bombs in alternate ships is a real test to the humankind...not sure whether in reality this will have a happy ending, but it was a great relief to see it did have a happy ending in the movie!!!
Another important thing about the movie is the Power of lost love.(Is this the reason why Shahrukh and Manisha koirala die in "Uyire" (Dilse) at the end together? I always felt that to be the right ending for that movie, much to the upset of many of my friends!)...Loss of Rachel, fuelled by Joker really blocks the rational side of Harvey dent. Is this the reason why the director made sure Harvey dent has one side of burnt face...so that in the last scene Batman turns the good face up to hide the bad one...or is this an incident to show how great batman can be?
One thing i keep wondering is, how Batman would've responded if he had read Rachel's letter and realized that she really didn't plan to wait for him and infact planned to marry Harvey Dent? Would he still have taken the Harveys blame??
Maybe he should've read and still the story should've ended in the same way...then it'll be as if Batman puts society before love...am i expecting too much here? :)
There is one problem with the movie though...It's the length...Somewhere in the middle of the movie, we feel the movie to be a bit draggy...it isn't so gripping from the beginning till the end..
Is this the one difference between a good movie and a great movie? I always have the opinion that a great movie slowly builds up the momentum and ends with a bang!
Take the example of "The Departed"...Movie really builds up momentum and ends perfectly...That is not the case with either of the Batman movies...Ok, there are endings and they are excellent...but it just misses out on the bang part!
Infact this is exactly the observation i had, after watching,"The Prestige".
Maybe, Nolan should keep the length of the movie below 120mins and try to have one real climax.
Another important point about the movie is, this movie really isn't about Batman...it totally belongs to "The Great Joker"...It was quite a sad thing to hear of Heath Ledger's demise. In this movie, it's proved again, that a future, great actor is nomore...
Infact,I thought nothing can beat the scarecrow of "Batman Returns"...but Joker's permanent smile, reason for sporting the same and even the Bank robbery scene, all were quite chilly and do standout for his great acting...Overall, it's a good,must watch movie...but not the one that should be in Top 5 of IMDB...well,it's just my 2 cents :)
On a side note, even the great Batman has a love failure (but isn't aware of it though)... ;)
One thing that is amazing in Christopher Nolan's direction is the way he inserts comedy in the movie...For instance, In "Batman returns" when the police was asked to describe batman's vehicle, he thinks for a while and comes with "tank"as an answer...
In this movie,when Joker chases the vehicle carrying Harvey dent and starts firing, the cop says,"what, is he firing a bazooka now?" So there are always couple of moments in the movie, when we can really laugh :)
I haven't read batman comics, so not sure to what extent the events are the same as in the book...But the idea of leaving the key of the bombs in alternate ships is a real test to the humankind...not sure whether in reality this will have a happy ending, but it was a great relief to see it did have a happy ending in the movie!!!
Another important thing about the movie is the Power of lost love.(Is this the reason why Shahrukh and Manisha koirala die in "Uyire" (Dilse) at the end together? I always felt that to be the right ending for that movie, much to the upset of many of my friends!)...Loss of Rachel, fuelled by Joker really blocks the rational side of Harvey dent. Is this the reason why the director made sure Harvey dent has one side of burnt face...so that in the last scene Batman turns the good face up to hide the bad one...or is this an incident to show how great batman can be?
One thing i keep wondering is, how Batman would've responded if he had read Rachel's letter and realized that she really didn't plan to wait for him and infact planned to marry Harvey Dent? Would he still have taken the Harveys blame??
Maybe he should've read and still the story should've ended in the same way...then it'll be as if Batman puts society before love...am i expecting too much here? :)
There is one problem with the movie though...It's the length...Somewhere in the middle of the movie, we feel the movie to be a bit draggy...it isn't so gripping from the beginning till the end..
Is this the one difference between a good movie and a great movie? I always have the opinion that a great movie slowly builds up the momentum and ends with a bang!
Take the example of "The Departed"...Movie really builds up momentum and ends perfectly...That is not the case with either of the Batman movies...Ok, there are endings and they are excellent...but it just misses out on the bang part!
Infact this is exactly the observation i had, after watching,"The Prestige".
Maybe, Nolan should keep the length of the movie below 120mins and try to have one real climax.
Another important point about the movie is, this movie really isn't about Batman...it totally belongs to "The Great Joker"...It was quite a sad thing to hear of Heath Ledger's demise. In this movie, it's proved again, that a future, great actor is nomore...
Infact,I thought nothing can beat the scarecrow of "Batman Returns"...but Joker's permanent smile, reason for sporting the same and even the Bank robbery scene, all were quite chilly and do standout for his great acting...Overall, it's a good,must watch movie...but not the one that should be in Top 5 of IMDB...well,it's just my 2 cents :)
On a side note, even the great Batman has a love failure (but isn't aware of it though)... ;)
Gone is the teenage!
well, it's not everyday i get upset about not being a teenager! infact, there are quite a lot of times, when i really felt happy that i am no longer a teenager...But 2 instances really made me upset that i am indeed a grownup person :(
First incident happened at home...Thanks to the quite aggressive Gym activity, quite a few inches have been lost successfully...And the one person to whom i really like showing off is my mother...Because she tends to be quite blunt at times in a very subtle manner...so winning her approval really gives a pride for me...so here i was, wearing a pretty new dress and walking in front of her and asking her the usual question,"so, what do u think?"....she replied,"Good...you really lost some weight"...so it continued with so many questions as how is the dress from this side that side and so on...for the next 5 minutes...
After this parade, while sitting for lunch, i asked her,"so, do i look old?". She replied,"No...why do you ask?". I replied,"So, how do i look? Do i look like a final year college student?" And she replied,"No...you look like a person who has finished college and working".
Till this time, all the answers were quite inline with my expectation...This last reply did really upset me...I asked her how she can tell like this...she replied that it's the truth...so the argument was taken up with my stupid brother who was quite political in answering that the look corresponds to a confident, young woman!
Later on, i was telling this incident to my friend here and i was cribbing that as a mother even if it's a lie, she should say that i look young...My friend didn't reply immediately and i asked her,"isn't it right?"...She replied,"How can she say such a blatant lie? You have actually asked her whether you are looking like a teenager when we are no longer in teens"...
Second incident happened in Gym...It is not everyday i notice whether a person sports a beard or long hair....But some change in hairstyles are so obvious that we tend to see the difference...
The incharge person in Gym was a student doing part time activity...quite a good, friendly person,always giving the right advices...
One fine day, as he greeted me, i observed that he looked quite different on that day.I immediately blurted out,"You look different, today...maybe it's the haircut"...And this guy looked so damn embarrassed that i felt very bad and really regretted for my blurted reply.
Later while talking to my friend, she pointed out that this has got to do with age...Maybe thats true...Because as we grow, we just seem to become quite a pachyderm lot.
Not only these, i guess there is just no real innocence left in us, as an individual...probably the side effect of really growing up and facing the world on our own!!!
First incident happened at home...Thanks to the quite aggressive Gym activity, quite a few inches have been lost successfully...And the one person to whom i really like showing off is my mother...Because she tends to be quite blunt at times in a very subtle manner...so winning her approval really gives a pride for me...so here i was, wearing a pretty new dress and walking in front of her and asking her the usual question,"so, what do u think?"....she replied,"Good...you really lost some weight"...so it continued with so many questions as how is the dress from this side that side and so on...for the next 5 minutes...
After this parade, while sitting for lunch, i asked her,"so, do i look old?". She replied,"No...why do you ask?". I replied,"So, how do i look? Do i look like a final year college student?" And she replied,"No...you look like a person who has finished college and working".
Till this time, all the answers were quite inline with my expectation...This last reply did really upset me...I asked her how she can tell like this...she replied that it's the truth...so the argument was taken up with my stupid brother who was quite political in answering that the look corresponds to a confident, young woman!
Later on, i was telling this incident to my friend here and i was cribbing that as a mother even if it's a lie, she should say that i look young...My friend didn't reply immediately and i asked her,"isn't it right?"...She replied,"How can she say such a blatant lie? You have actually asked her whether you are looking like a teenager when we are no longer in teens"...
Second incident happened in Gym...It is not everyday i notice whether a person sports a beard or long hair....But some change in hairstyles are so obvious that we tend to see the difference...
The incharge person in Gym was a student doing part time activity...quite a good, friendly person,always giving the right advices...
One fine day, as he greeted me, i observed that he looked quite different on that day.I immediately blurted out,"You look different, today...maybe it's the haircut"...And this guy looked so damn embarrassed that i felt very bad and really regretted for my blurted reply.
Later while talking to my friend, she pointed out that this has got to do with age...Maybe thats true...Because as we grow, we just seem to become quite a pachyderm lot.
Not only these, i guess there is just no real innocence left in us, as an individual...probably the side effect of really growing up and facing the world on our own!!!
Jul 26, 2008
A Secular act!?
The city where i currently live and work is quite famous for its initiatives on infrastructure front...probably one of the best in India...
Quite a lot of new flyovers come up, that too, ontime.
One such set of flyovers are there on my route to office,.It does help the commuters who take the flyover avoid the intersections (but below the flyover, the intersection does exist, causing traffic jam for those who don't take the flyover.well this is worth a separate post which i always wanted to write about)
Previously the whole traffic on this road used to come to a standstill near this intersection.
Instead, now there are 3 places where the traffic comes to a standstill.
Because in all these 3 places, so called 6 lane road becomes either so called 4 lane or 2 lane. So the free flowing 6 lane traffic tries to squeeze through these lesser lanes points causing the issue on both the sides.
So why is the road not 6 lane at these 3 places?
In the 1st place, there is a cemetery on the left side of the road and there is absolutely no space to widen the road on the right side. So the road hasn't been widened yet...but there is a new wall being constructed inside the cemetery..so i assume that in a few months, this blockage might get removed...also i think(hope) the cemetery is quite an old one...
In the 2nd place, there is a mosque on the left side of the road and there is absolutely no space left on the right side of the road.
In the 3rd place, there is a temple on the right side of the road. So the disruption exists only on the right side of the road here...
Interestingly, neither the mosque nor the temple can be relocated!!! And why?
When i asked my friend he mentioned that the mosque authorities have said a strict no for relocation...and temple authorities have said when a mosque can be a blockade at one location, why not temple that too on only side of the road!
Now, should we be proud that government is trying to be secular or should we think that the government is unnecessarily giving in to the religious authorities?
I think the latter is the case...
ok, this might be a minor instance because traffic jams are supposed to be taken for granted in our great roads ;)
But i really hope this doesn't set a precedence for many other thing or is this a result of some previous event?.
Quite a lot of new flyovers come up, that too, ontime.
One such set of flyovers are there on my route to office,.It does help the commuters who take the flyover avoid the intersections (but below the flyover, the intersection does exist, causing traffic jam for those who don't take the flyover.well this is worth a separate post which i always wanted to write about)
Previously the whole traffic on this road used to come to a standstill near this intersection.
Instead, now there are 3 places where the traffic comes to a standstill.
Because in all these 3 places, so called 6 lane road becomes either so called 4 lane or 2 lane. So the free flowing 6 lane traffic tries to squeeze through these lesser lanes points causing the issue on both the sides.
So why is the road not 6 lane at these 3 places?
In the 1st place, there is a cemetery on the left side of the road and there is absolutely no space to widen the road on the right side. So the road hasn't been widened yet...but there is a new wall being constructed inside the cemetery..so i assume that in a few months, this blockage might get removed...also i think(hope) the cemetery is quite an old one...
In the 2nd place, there is a mosque on the left side of the road and there is absolutely no space left on the right side of the road.
In the 3rd place, there is a temple on the right side of the road. So the disruption exists only on the right side of the road here...
Interestingly, neither the mosque nor the temple can be relocated!!! And why?
When i asked my friend he mentioned that the mosque authorities have said a strict no for relocation...and temple authorities have said when a mosque can be a blockade at one location, why not temple that too on only side of the road!
Now, should we be proud that government is trying to be secular or should we think that the government is unnecessarily giving in to the religious authorities?
I think the latter is the case...
ok, this might be a minor instance because traffic jams are supposed to be taken for granted in our great roads ;)
But i really hope this doesn't set a precedence for many other thing or is this a result of some previous event?.
Jul 25, 2008
Airtel ad
Only few people seem to have not liked the Latest Airtel ad series.
I am one of them...also only one of my friend...
The series was supposed to be based on the romantic events between a couple.(not sure whether the above sentence conveys the meaning :)) Unfortunately, maybe the chemistry is quite too much...or maybe it's just bad direction.
Among all the ads, below is the one to be highlighted...My first thought was that she might have ended up strangling his neck at the end, if the money hasn't been transferred..so maybe, Airtel helped in preventing a murder ;)
Below is one of the best ads from Airtel...even the new ads should really live upto this one to really make an impact...
Also, i think the new series of ads are completely out of sync with the Airtel tagline of "Express yourself".
Maybe,it's time for Airtel to reinvent its tagline to take data services into account!
I am one of them...also only one of my friend...
The series was supposed to be based on the romantic events between a couple.(not sure whether the above sentence conveys the meaning :)) Unfortunately, maybe the chemistry is quite too much...or maybe it's just bad direction.
Among all the ads, below is the one to be highlighted...My first thought was that she might have ended up strangling his neck at the end, if the money hasn't been transferred..so maybe, Airtel helped in preventing a murder ;)
Below is one of the best ads from Airtel...even the new ads should really live upto this one to really make an impact...
Also, i think the new series of ads are completely out of sync with the Airtel tagline of "Express yourself".
Maybe,it's time for Airtel to reinvent its tagline to take data services into account!
Jul 24, 2008
:) ?
well, i think the blogging bug has stuck me...anything i read and everything i think seems to become a blog post or draft or atleast a thought in mind as, "hmm... this is worth noting down in the blog". And this is seriously affecting all my other activities of reading "A Secular Agenda", watching a movie or even listening to music...
On top of all that, did my humour levels just go up suddenly? no...it's quite not possible, with so many frustrations and confusions in life,yes,highly unlikely, how can i be or feel happy, isn't it a crime to be happy today which might lead to be unhappy tomorrow ;)...it's the reverse logic of "if dawn follows dusk, so does the dusk follows the dawn"... ;)
or did i smoke something? :)
see this,
“We believe that the bridge is not a man-made structure but a superman-made structure destroyed by Lord Ram himself.”
so we had a superman in BCs...:)
one more,
RJD leader and Railway Minister Lalu Prasad demanded that a narco test be conducted on the BJP members who alleged that they were offered bribe to remain absent during the trust vote."Yeh sab jali hai. (This is all planted)," Prasad said and demanded
isn't he trying to dig his own grave? ;)
one more,
"There are some people in the country who do not want India to catch up with China. They do not want India to be ahead of China," said Chidambaram without naming anyone.
aren't the 2 statements related to "catchup" and "ahead" quite contradictory to each other? :)
and the last one,
Bond-fund guru Mr. Gross, a founder of Pimco, does yoga five days a week and says some of his best ideas come when he is standing on his head, or sirsasana, supported by the forearms on the floor.
At the end of the hour-and-a-half-long session, Mr. Cortese lay on his back for a few minutes of relaxation, or savasana. He dozed off, snoring lightly. When he awoke, he bounded upstairs to check the market on his computer.
Sujai, probably we should smuggle our Yoga teacher to US or UK :) :)
On top of all that, did my humour levels just go up suddenly? no...it's quite not possible, with so many frustrations and confusions in life,yes,highly unlikely, how can i be or feel happy, isn't it a crime to be happy today which might lead to be unhappy tomorrow ;)...it's the reverse logic of "if dawn follows dusk, so does the dusk follows the dawn"... ;)
or did i smoke something? :)
see this,
“We believe that the bridge is not a man-made structure but a superman-made structure destroyed by Lord Ram himself.”
so we had a superman in BCs...:)
one more,
RJD leader and Railway Minister Lalu Prasad demanded that a narco test be conducted on the BJP members who alleged that they were offered bribe to remain absent during the trust vote."Yeh sab jali hai. (This is all planted)," Prasad said and demanded
isn't he trying to dig his own grave? ;)
one more,
"There are some people in the country who do not want India to catch up with China. They do not want India to be ahead of China," said Chidambaram without naming anyone.
aren't the 2 statements related to "catchup" and "ahead" quite contradictory to each other? :)
and the last one,
Bond-fund guru Mr. Gross, a founder of Pimco, does yoga five days a week and says some of his best ideas come when he is standing on his head, or sirsasana, supported by the forearms on the floor.
At the end of the hour-and-a-half-long session, Mr. Cortese lay on his back for a few minutes of relaxation, or savasana. He dozed off, snoring lightly. When he awoke, he bounded upstairs to check the market on his computer.
Sujai, probably we should smuggle our Yoga teacher to US or UK :) :)
Jul 23, 2008
Has the Empire struck back correctly, atlast?
Last month, i wanted to write a post with the Title,"Empire strikes back".
Never made it...but i did send a mail with the link to friends...
so, now comes a post with the same news but with additional info.
The latest news in search market ranking is,in June, Microsoft gains 0.7% of market share... which is around 9% rise in Microsoft's market share in a month.
I expected or lets say hoped that this will happen in June. All because of the innovative idea introduced by Microsoft.
http://search.live.com/cashback
Many might argue that this is not a real new innovative idea firstly deployed by MS. Agreed :)... but they have tried to do something different in the search space..
The point which i liked the most is, Microsoft might know very well that neither this will help in gaining tremendous market share nor this will impact its revenue bottomline...
But the act is in line with what Google does with its spreadsheets and docs...because even those are not helping Google boost its revenues...it's merely an exploring attempt...
so what's in store for me? :)
quite nothing! ...as i don't own any shares of these companies...
but i am sure this competition will lead to many more innovations which inturn will be beneficial to the end customers and will be interesting to bystanders like me ;)
Never made it...but i did send a mail with the link to friends...
so, now comes a post with the same news but with additional info.
The latest news in search market ranking is,in June, Microsoft gains 0.7% of market share... which is around 9% rise in Microsoft's market share in a month.
I expected or lets say hoped that this will happen in June. All because of the innovative idea introduced by Microsoft.
http://search.live.com/
Many might argue that this is not a real new innovative idea firstly deployed by MS. Agreed :)... but they have tried to do something different in the search space..
The point which i liked the most is, Microsoft might know very well that neither this will help in gaining tremendous market share nor this will impact its revenue bottomline...
But the act is in line with what Google does with its spreadsheets and docs...because even those are not helping Google boost its revenues...it's merely an exploring attempt...
so what's in store for me? :)
quite nothing! ...as i don't own any shares of these companies...
but i am sure this competition will lead to many more innovations which inturn will be beneficial to the end customers and will be interesting to bystanders like me ;)
Random post
There are some questions in mind which never get answered or rather really scared to answer it or maybe simply just don't know where to start and what to take into consideration while answering the same...
When i left my previous company, a wise man gave one piece of advice..."See remember one thing,'Experience always gives one a comb after one has become bald'...so try to learn from others experiences and make sure to get the comb when you have some hair itself :)"
well, it's not as if we don't know this...but even if we know it, when somebody puts it in a such a succinctly nice way, it always sticks with us...
The thing is, in life, we do take decisions...not stupid ones..but a well thought ones...
we take with some parameters and reasoning into consideration...later, situation changes due to some new parameter...does that mean the decision was wrong in the first place? no...does that mean there was no forethought about the new parameter?...no...does that mean one wasn't adept to change as per the situation?...maybe..but is it possible for everybody to be adept to these kind of changes...or everybody does it because there is no other way...or one doesn't make an attempt because there is an alternative way?...not sure...
But the point is, this results in making another decision...so the cycle continues.
so, after so many years in IT industry, got a laptop...spent a considerable amount...
hoping that this is going to be one good investment for many more adventures one is going to experience in the coming months...
now, the adventure can be less intense provided the lot of other factors do play in favour...or it can be worse as well...all one can do is to prepare for the worst and try till there are some chips left...
When i left my previous company, a wise man gave one piece of advice..."See remember one thing,'Experience always gives one a comb after one has become bald'...so try to learn from others experiences and make sure to get the comb when you have some hair itself :)"
well, it's not as if we don't know this...but even if we know it, when somebody puts it in a such a succinctly nice way, it always sticks with us...
The thing is, in life, we do take decisions...not stupid ones..but a well thought ones...
we take with some parameters and reasoning into consideration...later, situation changes due to some new parameter...does that mean the decision was wrong in the first place? no...does that mean there was no forethought about the new parameter?...no...does that mean one wasn't adept to change as per the situation?...maybe..but is it possible for everybody to be adept to these kind of changes...or everybody does it because there is no other way...or one doesn't make an attempt because there is an alternative way?...not sure...
But the point is, this results in making another decision...so the cycle continues.
so, after so many years in IT industry, got a laptop...spent a considerable amount...
hoping that this is going to be one good investment for many more adventures one is going to experience in the coming months...
now, the adventure can be less intense provided the lot of other factors do play in favour...or it can be worse as well...all one can do is to prepare for the worst and try till there are some chips left...
Jul 22, 2008
Understanding 123
What a classic of the day!!!!
" "I have not understood what the deal is all about. Though I listened very attentively to the debate throughout yesterday (Monday), I could not make any head or tail out of it," Ahmed was quoted as saying by the Press Trust of India.
"I will definitely vote against the government. If I, being a member of parliament, could not understand anything about the nuclear deal, then how can the people of the country follow it?" he said. " (LINK)
Now, how many government deals do a member of parliament really understand?!
I am sure even if we ask people whether they know anything about 123, most of them would know only about the "Ek, dho, theen" song with Madhuri dancing in it!
Infact, the only comforting factor of the day is what Churchill pointed out...
"Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time."
" "I have not understood what the deal is all about. Though I listened very attentively to the debate throughout yesterday (Monday), I could not make any head or tail out of it," Ahmed was quoted as saying by the Press Trust of India.
"I will definitely vote against the government. If I, being a member of parliament, could not understand anything about the nuclear deal, then how can the people of the country follow it?" he said. " (LINK)
Now, how many government deals do a member of parliament really understand?!
I am sure even if we ask people whether they know anything about 123, most of them would know only about the "Ek, dho, theen" song with Madhuri dancing in it!
Infact, the only comforting factor of the day is what Churchill pointed out...
"Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time."
Jul 21, 2008
Quotes
During its tenure, BJP Government was famous for the controversies due to its ministers odd, quirky quotes ...
If at all these guys come back to power next year, i really want to track their Quotable quotes in this blog :)
Here is the latest one from L.K.Advani regarding current state of UPA :)
"UPA is like a patient in the ICU room. The first question everyone asks is whether he is going to survive or not," Advani said. (link)
If at all these guys come back to power next year, i really want to track their Quotable quotes in this blog :)
Here is the latest one from L.K.Advani regarding current state of UPA :)
"UPA is like a patient in the ICU room. The first question everyone asks is whether he is going to survive or not," Advani said. (link)
Survival of the Unfittest
Carl Icahn has a blog!...It was announced in Feb-2008...real action begun from June 20th onwards...and all the posts are directly or indirectly related to Yahoo Deal crisis and his potential proxy war against Yahoo Board. Guess, he has really sticked to his plan while blogging.
Today the news is, he's put on Yahoo's Board.
In one way, i really expected this or lets say, wanted this to happen.The latest news might have made Steve Ballmer happy...Because,Carl Icahn would play an important role,if there is any slight chance of Microsoft striking any deal with Yahoo, whether a complete sale or the search business sale, when Jerry Yang isn't able to really deliver on his own. Ofcourse, this is under an assumption that inducting Carl Icahn into the board isn't an act to break his deal with Microsoft.
Here is a good article from Business week regarding the Yahoo's rejection of search business bid. (First comment on the article is simply amazing :))
Now coming to the Title of the post, happened to read a good post about CEOs .
Is this one of the curses of being a real public company?
Every buck should stop at CEO's desk. I think that is exactly the reason why (s)he is paid the maximum.
Unfortunately,this doesn't seem to be the reality in few cases...
Thanks to one such CEO, Ed Zander, 75+ years old Motorola has virtually been pushed to the verge of collapse and now struggling to raise!
Loss is only for the company...Ed Zander has retired to play with his grand children...which is the only thing he could do as no other company in its common sense would recruit him after the mess he left behind in Motorola...
On the other hand, I remember reading this article few months back. This is a real classic problem...i really wonder how this can be fixed...Can all that be done is to put the right guys at the right place and pray that they will do the right things?!
Today the news is, he's put on Yahoo's Board.
In one way, i really expected this or lets say, wanted this to happen.The latest news might have made Steve Ballmer happy...Because,Carl Icahn would play an important role,if there is any slight chance of Microsoft striking any deal with Yahoo, whether a complete sale or the search business sale, when Jerry Yang isn't able to really deliver on his own. Ofcourse, this is under an assumption that inducting Carl Icahn into the board isn't an act to break his deal with Microsoft.
Here is a good article from Business week regarding the Yahoo's rejection of search business bid. (First comment on the article is simply amazing :))
Now coming to the Title of the post, happened to read a good post about CEOs .
Is this one of the curses of being a real public company?
Every buck should stop at CEO's desk. I think that is exactly the reason why (s)he is paid the maximum.
Unfortunately,this doesn't seem to be the reality in few cases...
Thanks to one such CEO, Ed Zander, 75+ years old Motorola has virtually been pushed to the verge of collapse and now struggling to raise!
Loss is only for the company...Ed Zander has retired to play with his grand children...which is the only thing he could do as no other company in its common sense would recruit him after the mess he left behind in Motorola...
On the other hand, I remember reading this article few months back. This is a real classic problem...i really wonder how this can be fixed...Can all that be done is to put the right guys at the right place and pray that they will do the right things?!
Jul 20, 2008
Karan Thapar
It was quite interesting(or rather irritating?) to the read the "Interview with Arun Shourie by Karan Thapar"...it has got nothing to do with Arun Shourie because Mr.Karan Thapar has just not allowed him to talk in this interview...
This is the main reason why i really don't like his programmes, mainly the "Devil's Advocate". No wonder, Jayalalitha's interview became so infamous...
Excerpts from the interview...
JJ: I’m sorry I agreed to do this interview. That’s all I can say.
Probably, he should stick to only writing columns. Atleast, he seem to be good at it to some extent. This is his columns link in Hindustan Times.
This is the main reason why i really don't like his programmes, mainly the "Devil's Advocate". No wonder, Jayalalitha's interview became so infamous...
Excerpts from the interview...
JJ: I’m sorry I agreed to do this interview. That’s all I can say.
KT: So when the press depict you, as I began this interview by saying…
JJ: (Intervenes) You are doing a good job of it again now.
KT: You are a very tough person, Chief Minister.
JJ: People like you have made me so.
KT: Do you think that you are badly treated by the press?
JJ: I do not wish to say anything more on this. Anyway your interview is not doing anything to help matters.
KT: My aim, Chief Minister, was to get to the core of the misunderstanding. You said that the press…
JJ: Your aim seems to have been to put as many unpleasant questions as possible and try to provoke me.
KT: Not to provoke you but to put to you the questions that have been discussed for the last three years and which in many ways may be responsible for the electoral adversity…
JJ: Haven’t you asked all of your questions? Have you got anything more to ask?
KT: I have come very close to the end of this interview, I have only one last question. Are you confident that you can see your electoral low point over with, and that you will win in 2006?
JJ: Wait and see. I told you already I don’t believe in astrology. I can’t predict what will happen in the next elections but you will be around I suppose. Wait and see what happens.
KT: Is that a yes, you will win?
JJ: I said wait and see.
KT: Chief Minister, a pleasure talking to you on HARDtalk India.
JJ: I must say it wasn’t a pleasure talking to you. Namaste
Probably, he should stick to only writing columns. Atleast, he seem to be good at it to some extent. This is his columns link in Hindustan Times.
Jul 19, 2008
blackberry
CF refers to Colleague who is also a Friend!!
----------------------------------------------
CF: (Pointing at the box in the desk) Hey, that box has "Blackberry" written on it?
Me: Yeah. It's blackberry.
CF: Wow. So u have got a blackberry for official purpose.Thats great news.
Me: Yeah.
CF: (Trying to reach the box) It's not opened yet.
Me: Yeah. Please leave it there.
CF: You got it today?
Me: No. Day before yesterday.
(CF paused for a while and looked at me with an expression wondering why i had become a nutcase. Guess she was hesitant to really ask the same)
Colleague: Why are you like this?
(I just looked at her...Whatever i say will never change her opinion...so is there a need to voice my opinion?)
Me: I was planning to check it out over the weekend...Will try it out.
(I am sure she never believed me..but she left it at that point)
The only thing that came to my mind at that point was the scene from movie ,"Into the Wild" where Chris paraphrases Thoreau. This is what he says,
"I'm going to paraphrase Thoreau here... rather than love, than money, than faith, than fame, than fairness... give me truth."
This isn't any stupid influence of that movie..It just seems to fit the current scenario!
----------------------------------------------
CF: (Pointing at the box in the desk) Hey, that box has "Blackberry" written on it?
Me: Yeah. It's blackberry.
CF: Wow. So u have got a blackberry for official purpose.Thats great news.
Me: Yeah.
CF: (Trying to reach the box) It's not opened yet.
Me: Yeah. Please leave it there.
CF: You got it today?
Me: No. Day before yesterday.
(CF paused for a while and looked at me with an expression wondering why i had become a nutcase. Guess she was hesitant to really ask the same)
Colleague: Why are you like this?
(I just looked at her...Whatever i say will never change her opinion...so is there a need to voice my opinion?)
Me: I was planning to check it out over the weekend...Will try it out.
(I am sure she never believed me..but she left it at that point)
The only thing that came to my mind at that point was the scene from movie ,"Into the Wild" where Chris paraphrases Thoreau. This is what he says,
"I'm going to paraphrase Thoreau here... rather than love, than money, than faith, than fame, than fairness... give me truth."
This isn't any stupid influence of that movie..It just seems to fit the current scenario!
Jul 18, 2008
The Dark Knight
With so many thought processes going on in mind, i totally forgot that Christopher Nolan is the director of this movie!
Now,while discussing with a friend about a movie plan over weekend, saw the IMDB rating for this movie... It is a whopping 9.7!!!
After much scrambling over the online tickets, got seats for a sunday night show that too on the 4th row, but luckily on a Giant screen :)
I am sure it's going to be worth the money.
"Following" was the first Christopher Nolan's movie i watched...
It was such an amazing movie that i felt it'll be a crime if i write a stupid post about it...so ended up with only one line for the post ;) It is still one of my Favourite movies...
Next movie, i watched was "The Prestige". This was one of the best directed movies i have ever watched.
Going by Nolan's reputation, I am sure "The Dark Knight" is going to a great thriller... hope i write about it...
Note: Tamil hit movie "Ghajini" is inspired by Nolan's movie, "Memento"!! (Ofcourse, our guys can never remake a good hollywood flick, can they? ;)). Now, Aamir Khan is acting in the Hindi remake of this movie.
Now,while discussing with a friend about a movie plan over weekend, saw the IMDB rating for this movie... It is a whopping 9.7!!!
After much scrambling over the online tickets, got seats for a sunday night show that too on the 4th row, but luckily on a Giant screen :)
I am sure it's going to be worth the money.
"Following" was the first Christopher Nolan's movie i watched...
It was such an amazing movie that i felt it'll be a crime if i write a stupid post about it...so ended up with only one line for the post ;) It is still one of my Favourite movies...
Next movie, i watched was "The Prestige". This was one of the best directed movies i have ever watched.
Going by Nolan's reputation, I am sure "The Dark Knight" is going to a great thriller... hope i write about it...
Note: Tamil hit movie "Ghajini" is inspired by Nolan's movie, "Memento"!! (Ofcourse, our guys can never remake a good hollywood flick, can they? ;)). Now, Aamir Khan is acting in the Hindi remake of this movie.
Jul 17, 2008
VCR
One of the unforgettable moments in college life was writing the 3rd semester first cycle test for "Signals and systems". I think it has had a profound influence on my thinking from then onwards ;)
First day subject was a mathematics paper, "Real Analysis", which did made me analyze about my preparation after the test!!! "Signals and systems" was on the second day.
After ,all the preparation and with real overconfidence went to the exam hall.
The test was for 30 marks. The Question paper had the college name, test details as the top 2-3 lines.
This was followed by 3 questions for 10 marks each.
3 lines of words written in plain english!
But it was equivalent to have been written in some unknown language...first, it felt as if all the three were out of syllabus! Just didn't know whether it was taught...Then i was thinking hard trying to remember which part of the book did i study about that...
Meanwhile, the guy in front of me, who was my previous roll number, the guy with one of the longest names in the class was writing so furiously. Unfortunately, i was not of the copy types! Even he wasn't a friendly one!!
This made me conclude that obviously something was wrong in my preparation and left me with high irritation!
By this time, i was only 10 mins into the exam...nothing had been written in the paper...
After 10 more mins of deep thinking, i decided to write all that i felt to be slightly related to the words mentioned in those 3 questions...(later, i realized that half of the class had done the same thing :))
This became the lunch talk with seniors who advised us that this was just the beginning..still lot more nightmares had to be faced before we graduated!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
After a week or so, when we received the marks, i had scored 14 out of 30 and frankly that was a great relieving score because half of the class had scored in single digit....i think this was the only test in my college life where i was in the top 10 scorers ;)
But the interesting point was, one guy had scored 27! And the next score was 21 or 19! Then a whole bunch of people around 14-16!
I really felt bad because it made me realize that there are lot more intelligent people...
In one way, this was good because it helped me in understanding the fact "It is better to leverage on one's strength than to crib about competition!!"
After so many years of college, this guy who scored 27 has indeed lived up to his score, even after college!!!
He has gone to US, got a Phd, got 2 patents till date (i am sure many more will follow) and now working on the medical solutions in Siemens....
All this is fine...agreed, he is a class apart!
The only thing that isn't fine is this :( How come?!
First day subject was a mathematics paper, "Real Analysis", which did made me analyze about my preparation after the test!!! "Signals and systems" was on the second day.
After ,all the preparation and with real overconfidence went to the exam hall.
The test was for 30 marks. The Question paper had the college name, test details as the top 2-3 lines.
This was followed by 3 questions for 10 marks each.
3 lines of words written in plain english!
But it was equivalent to have been written in some unknown language...first, it felt as if all the three were out of syllabus! Just didn't know whether it was taught...Then i was thinking hard trying to remember which part of the book did i study about that...
Meanwhile, the guy in front of me, who was my previous roll number, the guy with one of the longest names in the class was writing so furiously. Unfortunately, i was not of the copy types! Even he wasn't a friendly one!!
This made me conclude that obviously something was wrong in my preparation and left me with high irritation!
By this time, i was only 10 mins into the exam...nothing had been written in the paper...
After 10 more mins of deep thinking, i decided to write all that i felt to be slightly related to the words mentioned in those 3 questions...(later, i realized that half of the class had done the same thing :))
This became the lunch talk with seniors who advised us that this was just the beginning..still lot more nightmares had to be faced before we graduated!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
After a week or so, when we received the marks, i had scored 14 out of 30 and frankly that was a great relieving score because half of the class had scored in single digit....i think this was the only test in my college life where i was in the top 10 scorers ;)
But the interesting point was, one guy had scored 27! And the next score was 21 or 19! Then a whole bunch of people around 14-16!
I really felt bad because it made me realize that there are lot more intelligent people...
In one way, this was good because it helped me in understanding the fact "It is better to leverage on one's strength than to crib about competition!!"
After so many years of college, this guy who scored 27 has indeed lived up to his score, even after college!!!
He has gone to US, got a Phd, got 2 patents till date (i am sure many more will follow) and now working on the medical solutions in Siemens....
All this is fine...agreed, he is a class apart!
The only thing that isn't fine is this :( How come?!
A right thing from Left
It has always been my opinion that Left leaders are the most academically strong lot.
But the problem is, most of the times, they are more of a critics than real implementors. (hmm...more like me? ;))
It is quite interesting to see that Left has already released the below 3 books.
LEFT STAND ON THE NUCLEAR DEAL
Subordinate Ally
Uncle Sam’s Nuclear Cabin
And the thing is, they always seem to make sure the books are quite affordable so that cost never comes between the books and readers!
But the problem is, most of the times, they are more of a critics than real implementors. (hmm...more like me? ;))
It is quite interesting to see that Left has already released the below 3 books.
LEFT STAND ON THE NUCLEAR DEAL
Subordinate Ally
Uncle Sam’s Nuclear Cabin
And the thing is, they always seem to make sure the books are quite affordable so that cost never comes between the books and readers!
Jul 16, 2008
Oddly enough!
Reuters.com is a great site where news is delivered as news and not as opinions.
Little does anyone know that it also has a section for all the odd news from across the world!
I, once, used to be a voracious reader of reuters.com. That is when i discovered the section "Oddly Enough".
Some news might be disgusting.
But surely few are very interesting and completely odd...
Here is the one that happened last year...
Indian train driver asks passengers to push the train.
This is the one that prompted me to write this post.Thieves stealing leaves. (Something really needs to be done by the government...what will happen if there is a mass scale stealing like this in all agricultural lands, that too when inflation is already in double digits?)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note: Is people singular or plural? As per the search, as usual, the answer is "it depends" ;)
Plural form of 'person' is 'people'...in other cases, it's singular...
Hence confused as which one is correct? "Little does people know" or "Little do people know"?
For now changed it to "Little does anyone know".
Meanwhile, Got to know this oxford site.
Not sure, what GMAC considers "people" as!
Little does anyone know that it also has a section for all the odd news from across the world!
I, once, used to be a voracious reader of reuters.com. That is when i discovered the section "Oddly Enough".
Some news might be disgusting.
But surely few are very interesting and completely odd...
Here is the one that happened last year...
Indian train driver asks passengers to push the train.
This is the one that prompted me to write this post.Thieves stealing leaves. (Something really needs to be done by the government...what will happen if there is a mass scale stealing like this in all agricultural lands, that too when inflation is already in double digits?)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note: Is people singular or plural? As per the search, as usual, the answer is "it depends" ;)
Plural form of 'person' is 'people'...in other cases, it's singular...
Hence confused as which one is correct? "Little does people know" or "Little do people know"?
For now changed it to "Little does anyone know".
Meanwhile, Got to know this oxford site.
Not sure, what GMAC considers "people" as!
Jul 14, 2008
Luck
Not everyone believes in luck. So did I.
I used to be a firm believer of the phrase,"The harder you work, the more luck you have".
But somewhere down the lane in life, we realize, this isn't true always...
There are some people who have the midas touch.
When some struggle so much trying to make all the smart moves in life thinking well ahead in the career, weighing in all the pros and cons, some people just take one move in life without much thought and end up in a better position.
No, i am neither trying to compare apples and oranges nor trying to be jealous. It is just that some people are simply lucky and get what they want, while some always struggle to get what they want or say fight for it ;)
If these are once in a lifetime instances, then we can say, maybe there was some behind the scene actions involved in taking the decision. But if this is the only way things happens for an individual, then i am sure that they are just simply lucky.
hmm...I am reminded of one more thing, while i am in this topic of "luck".
When most of the people see me writing for the first time, in left hand, they tend to stare at my writing for a few extra seconds...probably this might even be because they need alter their head position to be inline with the unusual hand movement while writing or might be because there are very few people who write in left hand! BTW,this was not the case in US though!!
Quite a few tend to ask as whether i am a left hander...when the reply is yes, the next question would be, "how come? Your parents didn't try to change it?"
And the reply used to be,"No, i guess they left to my choice :)"
When few stop with a nod at this point of time, others used to add a line,"Whoever is going to marry you will be a lucky person!"....
First time, when i heard this, it was slightly surprising and couldn't understand the correlation. Still out of politeness, the reply used to be,"oh, is it?"...Then came the phase where friends used to tease,"Oh...that's utterly impossible". After college,nowadays the reply tends to be a question,"hmm...interesting...but the point is, will i be lucky? Probably, a fellow left hander might bring some luck ;)"
Not sure, how this correlation between left handedness and luck had begun. But i am wondering whether Hillary Clinton would've felt lucky because of Bill Clinton!
Infact, thanks to the left handedness, it's quite not possible to properly use an ordinary scissors...why even a simple act of lighting a matchstick in right hand is not an easy one.
Interestingly, my mother has admonished me several times when i try to light a lamp in left hand or serve food/coffee in left hand...
This is all because left hand usage is considered very clumsy. Probably spilling the coffee or food while serving, due to imbalance might be ok, i think :)
I used to be a firm believer of the phrase,"The harder you work, the more luck you have".
But somewhere down the lane in life, we realize, this isn't true always...
There are some people who have the midas touch.
When some struggle so much trying to make all the smart moves in life thinking well ahead in the career, weighing in all the pros and cons, some people just take one move in life without much thought and end up in a better position.
No, i am neither trying to compare apples and oranges nor trying to be jealous. It is just that some people are simply lucky and get what they want, while some always struggle to get what they want or say fight for it ;)
If these are once in a lifetime instances, then we can say, maybe there was some behind the scene actions involved in taking the decision. But if this is the only way things happens for an individual, then i am sure that they are just simply lucky.
hmm...I am reminded of one more thing, while i am in this topic of "luck".
When most of the people see me writing for the first time, in left hand, they tend to stare at my writing for a few extra seconds...probably this might even be because they need alter their head position to be inline with the unusual hand movement while writing or might be because there are very few people who write in left hand! BTW,this was not the case in US though!!
Quite a few tend to ask as whether i am a left hander...when the reply is yes, the next question would be, "how come? Your parents didn't try to change it?"
And the reply used to be,"No, i guess they left to my choice :)"
When few stop with a nod at this point of time, others used to add a line,"Whoever is going to marry you will be a lucky person!"....
First time, when i heard this, it was slightly surprising and couldn't understand the correlation. Still out of politeness, the reply used to be,"oh, is it?"...Then came the phase where friends used to tease,"Oh...that's utterly impossible". After college,nowadays the reply tends to be a question,"hmm...interesting...but the point is, will i be lucky? Probably, a fellow left hander might bring some luck ;)"
Not sure, how this correlation between left handedness and luck had begun. But i am wondering whether Hillary Clinton would've felt lucky because of Bill Clinton!
Infact, thanks to the left handedness, it's quite not possible to properly use an ordinary scissors...why even a simple act of lighting a matchstick in right hand is not an easy one.
Interestingly, my mother has admonished me several times when i try to light a lamp in left hand or serve food/coffee in left hand...
This is all because left hand usage is considered very clumsy. Probably spilling the coffee or food while serving, due to imbalance might be ok, i think :)
Jul 13, 2008
Just For Laughs Gags
I think i am getting addicted to blogging nowadays :)
Suddenly, there just seems to be so many topics to write about...some serious ones and even some silly ones...
hope it continues, because i seem to like it, a good diversion in life :)
While talking about diversion,
one of my favourite TV shows is "Just for Laughs Gags" in POGO TV. Previously, used to watch Takeshi's castle in POGO TV... because at 9.30pm in weekdays, there never used to be any good, lighthearted programmes. (what other adjective can be used here instead of 'lighthearted'?!)
Eventhough, many days go by watching CNBC India Business Hour, watching POGO is a good diversion.
Not many programmes really make us laugh out aloud (or is it just me?! ), let alone make us smile while thinking about it! "Just For Laughs Gags" is a programme which makes me smile even when i think of a few episodes... The only other one which comes close is Seinfeld, mainly with the character, George :)
Interestingly, many of the episodes are available onsite.
Here is the link.
BTW, why can't our channels air something like this instead of the sobbing soap stories?
Or maybe it is a good idea for our channels not to try anything like this... because so far, all the candid camera shows tried by our channels have been quite a stupid ones...i never found them this funny.
Suddenly, there just seems to be so many topics to write about...some serious ones and even some silly ones...
hope it continues, because i seem to like it, a good diversion in life :)
While talking about diversion,
one of my favourite TV shows is "Just for Laughs Gags" in POGO TV. Previously, used to watch Takeshi's castle in POGO TV... because at 9.30pm in weekdays, there never used to be any good, lighthearted programmes. (what other adjective can be used here instead of 'lighthearted'?!)
Eventhough, many days go by watching CNBC India Business Hour, watching POGO is a good diversion.
Not many programmes really make us laugh out aloud (or is it just me?! ), let alone make us smile while thinking about it! "Just For Laughs Gags" is a programme which makes me smile even when i think of a few episodes... The only other one which comes close is Seinfeld, mainly with the character, George :)
Interestingly, many of the episodes are available onsite.
Here is the link.
BTW, why can't our channels air something like this instead of the sobbing soap stories?
Or maybe it is a good idea for our channels not to try anything like this... because so far, all the candid camera shows tried by our channels have been quite a stupid ones...i never found them this funny.
Jul 12, 2008
Population - India's curse
I always wanted to write an elaborate post on the Title mentioned...never did it though...
If there is one point that i disagree with our Former President, Kalam, then it's his thought about Indian Population. He says "Population is not a problem, but an asset to India".
It's perfectly wrong.
Increase in population leads to competition for all resources in the country.
Starting from healthcare expenditure to getting admission in schools to landing a job, competition prevails everywhere...Even owning a house or a piece of land becomes quite expensive.
Infact this is exactly the reason why our productivity is still not upto the developed countries standard and hence the standard of living.
Because in developed countries, things are automated to get work done efficiently...here we have more people and automation means loss of jobs. and also paying for people costs less than automation. But what we don't understand is, humans are prone to make mistakes and hence we never achieve perfection and better productivity.
Infact, this is also the reason why we might not really become a great technology trendsetter...we don't do it because we deserve to do it...we do it because we are the cheaper guys to do it. so a less perfection is highly compensated by a lesser expenditure.
Our increasing population is asset only to companies which perceive us as a huge customer base...
Starting from consumer goods to cars, every company is interested in India as a market, but not as a nation.
This is absolutely normal, because the foremost goal for any business is to make profits. The ones who really supposed to care are the great candidates (s)elected to run the nation...unfortunately, they are the people who seem to be bothered the least. Here is the latest sad news.
If there is one point that i disagree with our Former President, Kalam, then it's his thought about Indian Population. He says "Population is not a problem, but an asset to India".
It's perfectly wrong.
Increase in population leads to competition for all resources in the country.
Starting from healthcare expenditure to getting admission in schools to landing a job, competition prevails everywhere...Even owning a house or a piece of land becomes quite expensive.
Infact this is exactly the reason why our productivity is still not upto the developed countries standard and hence the standard of living.
Because in developed countries, things are automated to get work done efficiently...here we have more people and automation means loss of jobs. and also paying for people costs less than automation. But what we don't understand is, humans are prone to make mistakes and hence we never achieve perfection and better productivity.
Infact, this is also the reason why we might not really become a great technology trendsetter...we don't do it because we deserve to do it...we do it because we are the cheaper guys to do it. so a less perfection is highly compensated by a lesser expenditure.
Our increasing population is asset only to companies which perceive us as a huge customer base...
Starting from consumer goods to cars, every company is interested in India as a market, but not as a nation.
This is absolutely normal, because the foremost goal for any business is to make profits. The ones who really supposed to care are the great candidates (s)elected to run the nation...unfortunately, they are the people who seem to be bothered the least. Here is the latest sad news.
Jul 11, 2008
National Language of India?
In School days,one of the de facto outside school activities used to be "Learning Hindi". This is because Hindi was not mandatory in schools and most of the students would have always opted for Tamil in schools. Thanks to the herd mentality (or is it because of the hindi teacher), almost whole class of students will be going for Hindi tuition after school to the Hindi school teacher.
I was also one of them, not a happy one though.
I am not sure what i hated the most. I hated the teacher thats for sure. Most importantly i hated the fact that it had become one of the must things to be done after school. Moreover, we neither used Hindi on a daily basis nor watched any Hindi programs. (Yes, ramayan was there..but which kid watched it for dialogues!)
And on top of all this, it was quite a difficult task to differentiate the usage of different "cha's" and "gha's", let alone remember the gender of the table !!
Somehow managed to write the first exam and passed in second class. I was the only student who got second class, all others got either first class or distinction something. First day of the class for second exam was a very disappointing day as the teacher advised me to concentrate more on the subject or else i might fail.
That's exactly what i did. I failed in first attempt. Still went ahead,wrote the exam again and passed it in second attempt. Also by this time, all the books for third exam had been purchased. (Yes there are around 8 exams, i think)
I went for couple of classes and just couldn't pull up myself to go through the drudgery of one more hindi exam. I stopped going for the classes. After couple of days, when my mother asked me why i was not going for the classes,i replied,"I don't like hindi. I can't go on writing those exams without interest".
She was completely surprised. Because till that date, neither i had rebelled for anything nor i had lost interest in anything like that.
Infact she advised me to go to a new teacher. I did try that for 3 days and gave up immediately.
Thus ended my Hindi learning saga...
And the thing is, this dislike has only increased as i grew up. Mainly because everybody seems to literally force us indirectly to learn that language.
Infact, i still remember traveling for 1 hour, changing 2 buses, to learn french in higher secondary school days...i was the only diligent student in the class with a new classmate for every 3 classes, provided the teacher comes :) still, i did finish that course.
When it came to Hindi, even when there was a teacher in the next street, i never went.
Infact, there had been heated arguments over my lack of hindi knowledge with a few of my collegemates and even with few colleagues. They all argued with the same point that Hindi is the National language of India and everybody should know it. They also had an opinion that i, as all tamilians, hate hindi.
What nobody understood is, this exact coercion is the reason why i never had any interest towards that language.
Also, it's not as if i am all against hindi usage. There have been moments where i felt like i should know hindi as a language....infact i still remember pestering one of my hostelmates in college days for meaning of songs like afreen afreen ,sawan barse...i did watch "Black" in DVD again, just to understand all the dialogues.
Couple of weeks back, this argument again came up with a colleague of mine. She also mentioned Hindi, the National language.
When i was referring this to my friend over a dinner, she told me that one of her friends did mention that hindi is not a national language as per constitution.
Well, the next thing i did was to search for the Indian Constitution.
Aha, It is true. Hindi is not the National Language of India. It is one of the official languages of India. Infact, there is no word "National Language" mentioned in the constitution itself.
Here are the links,
http://lawmin.nic.in/coi.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_India
http://www.peoplefirstindia.org/free_bharat/summary.htm
I really hope nobody argues again with the mention of National Language. I am sure i will be fully armed to quote the article numbers and amendments by heart!
BTW, why didn't i read the Indian Constitution till date, i would've known this long time ago!
I was also one of them, not a happy one though.
I am not sure what i hated the most. I hated the teacher thats for sure. Most importantly i hated the fact that it had become one of the must things to be done after school. Moreover, we neither used Hindi on a daily basis nor watched any Hindi programs. (Yes, ramayan was there..but which kid watched it for dialogues!)
And on top of all this, it was quite a difficult task to differentiate the usage of different "cha's" and "gha's", let alone remember the gender of the table !!
Somehow managed to write the first exam and passed in second class. I was the only student who got second class, all others got either first class or distinction something. First day of the class for second exam was a very disappointing day as the teacher advised me to concentrate more on the subject or else i might fail.
That's exactly what i did. I failed in first attempt. Still went ahead,wrote the exam again and passed it in second attempt. Also by this time, all the books for third exam had been purchased. (Yes there are around 8 exams, i think)
I went for couple of classes and just couldn't pull up myself to go through the drudgery of one more hindi exam. I stopped going for the classes. After couple of days, when my mother asked me why i was not going for the classes,i replied,"I don't like hindi. I can't go on writing those exams without interest".
She was completely surprised. Because till that date, neither i had rebelled for anything nor i had lost interest in anything like that.
Infact she advised me to go to a new teacher. I did try that for 3 days and gave up immediately.
Thus ended my Hindi learning saga...
And the thing is, this dislike has only increased as i grew up. Mainly because everybody seems to literally force us indirectly to learn that language.
Infact, i still remember traveling for 1 hour, changing 2 buses, to learn french in higher secondary school days...i was the only diligent student in the class with a new classmate for every 3 classes, provided the teacher comes :) still, i did finish that course.
When it came to Hindi, even when there was a teacher in the next street, i never went.
Infact, there had been heated arguments over my lack of hindi knowledge with a few of my collegemates and even with few colleagues. They all argued with the same point that Hindi is the National language of India and everybody should know it. They also had an opinion that i, as all tamilians, hate hindi.
What nobody understood is, this exact coercion is the reason why i never had any interest towards that language.
Also, it's not as if i am all against hindi usage. There have been moments where i felt like i should know hindi as a language....infact i still remember pestering one of my hostelmates in college days for meaning of songs like afreen afreen ,sawan barse...i did watch "Black" in DVD again, just to understand all the dialogues.
Couple of weeks back, this argument again came up with a colleague of mine. She also mentioned Hindi, the National language.
When i was referring this to my friend over a dinner, she told me that one of her friends did mention that hindi is not a national language as per constitution.
Well, the next thing i did was to search for the Indian Constitution.
Aha, It is true. Hindi is not the National Language of India. It is one of the official languages of India. Infact, there is no word "National Language" mentioned in the constitution itself.
Here are the links,
http://lawmin.nic.in/coi.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_India
http://www.peoplefirstindia.org/free_bharat/summary.htm
I really hope nobody argues again with the mention of National Language. I am sure i will be fully armed to quote the article numbers and amendments by heart!
BTW, why didn't i read the Indian Constitution till date, i would've known this long time ago!
Jul 9, 2008
Collective nouns
Monday morning,7.30am.
Phone rang and wondered as who's calling at this time of the day. It was my colleague.
heh..heh...probably she's also going through the monday morning blues and calling me to ask for any reason why she shouldn't be going to office today :) well, she really did ask couple of times before...
colleague: sorry, did i wake you up?
me: no. what's up?
colleague: my kid asked me about collective nouns for few animals. i thought of asking you regarding that. Do you know what is the collective noun for Cats, Mice and earthworms?
me: Is this her weekend assignment, which you are trying to complete on a monday morning?
colleague: Yes, i totally missed out. I didn't know the answer for these. For Lion, i know it's Pride of lions and for ants, it's army of ants.
me: ok...actually i think for Cat we can say group of cats...i am not sure about Mice and earthworms. why don't you check it in Wren&Martin.
colleague: I checked in that book...he hasn't given for these. I thought since you have given CAT, GMAT and all, probably you might know the answer.
(it's really good that they don't ask these questions ...otherwise i never would've had any scope of getting marks or i would've ended up with hundreds of flash cards to mug up the same)
me: ok...this was out of syllabus for those exams! why don't you check in google or in wikipedia.org? I am sure there will be an entry for this.
colleague: ya..will do that.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Later, i was wondering what is the use of knowing collective nouns for earthworms and mice....
btw, what did i do in school? i am sure even i would've gone through these questions... my parents never struggled for my homework at any time...
i vaguely remember roaming with a huge oxford dictionary trying to find the singular and plural forms of animals...but collective nouns, i am not sure...
probably, i would've ended up going early to the school on that day and tried checking out the answers with some fundoos of the class or i would've gone to the class with the same collective noun written for all the animals.
yes,those are the only 2 possibilities :)
btw, wikipedia does have an entry, quite an exhaustive one covering all groups of animal kingdom!!!
Phone rang and wondered as who's calling at this time of the day. It was my colleague.
heh..heh...probably she's also going through the monday morning blues and calling me to ask for any reason why she shouldn't be going to office today :) well, she really did ask couple of times before...
colleague: sorry, did i wake you up?
me: no. what's up?
colleague: my kid asked me about collective nouns for few animals. i thought of asking you regarding that. Do you know what is the collective noun for Cats, Mice and earthworms?
me: Is this her weekend assignment, which you are trying to complete on a monday morning?
colleague: Yes, i totally missed out. I didn't know the answer for these. For Lion, i know it's Pride of lions and for ants, it's army of ants.
me: ok...actually i think for Cat we can say group of cats...i am not sure about Mice and earthworms. why don't you check it in Wren&Martin.
colleague: I checked in that book...he hasn't given for these. I thought since you have given CAT, GMAT and all, probably you might know the answer.
(it's really good that they don't ask these questions ...otherwise i never would've had any scope of getting marks or i would've ended up with hundreds of flash cards to mug up the same)
me: ok...this was out of syllabus for those exams! why don't you check in google or in wikipedia.org? I am sure there will be an entry for this.
colleague: ya..will do that.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Later, i was wondering what is the use of knowing collective nouns for earthworms and mice....
btw, what did i do in school? i am sure even i would've gone through these questions... my parents never struggled for my homework at any time...
i vaguely remember roaming with a huge oxford dictionary trying to find the singular and plural forms of animals...but collective nouns, i am not sure...
probably, i would've ended up going early to the school on that day and tried checking out the answers with some fundoos of the class or i would've gone to the class with the same collective noun written for all the animals.
yes,those are the only 2 possibilities :)
btw, wikipedia does have an entry, quite an exhaustive one covering all groups of animal kingdom!!!
Odd reply?
My friend: You know, it seems X's cousin sister really underwent lot of difficulty in giving birth to her child. She had a kind of diabetes which leads to complications during pregnancy and the doctors asked her to be admitted in hospital for 24 hours monitoring through out the period till she gave birth to the child. She had literally lived in the hospital for all 6 months.
Me : Hmm... and imagine if that kid is not behaving properly, not listening to parents or not studying properly...how frustrated she'll feel...
My friend was quite shocked hearing my reply...!! After the initial shock, she started laughing and asked me why i replied like that...i think she thought that i was joking!
I told her,"Haven't we heard the phrase "Thavamai Thavam irundthu" from our parents? So when compared to our parents, i am sure she has struggled a lot. "
She went into a nodding state (a state where we don't find any words to reply)!
Me : Hmm... and imagine if that kid is not behaving properly, not listening to parents or not studying properly...how frustrated she'll feel...
My friend was quite shocked hearing my reply...!! After the initial shock, she started laughing and asked me why i replied like that...i think she thought that i was joking!
I told her,"Haven't we heard the phrase "Thavamai Thavam irundthu" from our parents? So when compared to our parents, i am sure she has struggled a lot. "
She went into a nodding state (a state where we don't find any words to reply)!
Jul 6, 2008
Applying to ISB - I
Till date, i have never written a post on request! (probably this might show how selfish i am or how nobody really makes a request ;))
ISB application process and interview experience is one thing which i always wanted to write about, but never knew how to go about!
here, at midnight , i make the first attempt, while Suze Orman is advising on steps to avoid creditcard debt, in TV ofcourse ;) ( i think she's too loud, but it's interesting to see the cases in "Can i afford it?"!)
My GMAT date was Nov 7th. I never had any plans for applying to ISB this year because the deadline for Round2 was Nov 15th and i never had any prior experience or time in writing essays.
Gave GMAT on 7th, went home for diwali on 8th, came back to work on monday, ie Nov 12th.
Till that date, nobody in office knew or even had a guess about my tryst with GMAT.
Told one of my good friends in office. He is one of the guys who also has plans to do MBA that too specifically in ISB for various reasons.
He immediately advised me that probably i should make an attempt this year.
This made me thinking.
According to me (after an analysis and discussion with a few relevant people) following is the list of indirect criteria or expectations set by ISB from an applicant. Or lets just say,following points can make a difference in your application.
Disclaimer: This is my interpretation. Some may not agree.
1. Acads.
Having an excellent acads is a major plus.
2. Work Experience
Ideal work ex for an average candidate is 5 years for Class of 2009.(ISB Link)
There are admits with 2 years experience as well. But they are exceptions, he/she might have had a startup or might have been an IIT Grad with MS in US and worked in Google for those 2 years. So lets not take those cases into consideration here.
3. Undergrad university
This matters. If a candidate is from IIT or NIT, it does make a difference. This might also be mainly because lot of alumni of these institutions end up as alumni of ISB as well. Also, at the end of the day, ISB still has Indian nationals in majority.
4. International experience
This is an added advantage. Nowadays, thanks to onsite assignments, quite a few engineers do have international experience.
5. Social work or contributions
This is another added advantage. It really helps to differentiate a candidate.
I had 4 of the above points to my side except the 5th one.
So i realized, if at all i can come up with the essays in the next 3 days, i might actually have a chance to get an interview call.
Also another important point to be verified was, does ISB accept reapplicants? Because if at all i didn't make it this time, there should be an opportunity to try it out next year or so.
Answer is yes. ISB does allow candidates to reapply, once is better.
Now coming to the essays, ISB had 3 essays with 1 optional essay for scholarship.
Following were the 3 essay topics.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ISB MBA Essay 1. The ISB culture stresses on a diverse mix of students; life at the ISB is a unique experience for the students. How will your candidature contribute to this culture at the ISB? (300 words max)
ISB MBA Essay 2. A million dollars or knighthood: what would you choose and why? (300 words max)
ISB MBA Essay 3. You have a new manager who has just joined your organization. As a part of the handover, the outgoing manager is describing each person reporting to him. How do you think the outgoing manager will describe you to the incoming manager? (300 words max)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Regarding the content of an essay, i think it's individual specific and i am sure any applicant should know what to write. I intend to mention here as how to go about writing it. My 2 cents is going to be based on my experience in writing these essays.
1. It is very important to brainstorm on the essay questions first. I started by jotting down the points to be mentioned for each question.
2. Once jotted down, i discussed the list with my friend. This helped a lot because i had left out so many small points which i considered irrelevant, but he helped by giving a new perspective to it. (Infact, i did this discussion with only 1 friend.But i would seriously consider having a predefined set of people for my future essays. For ex, a colleague who is reporting to u, a colleague to whom u reported once, a personal friend, a fellow peer. This whole session might be like a feedback session on ur points. So the more the feedback the better the understanding, but we got to be careful about too much information and confusion as well )
3. After the discussion, things were quite clear. I was able to write sentences now based on the points identified. A first rough draft was achieved.
4. I revisited the drafts next day morning. Taking a break does help. I rewrote a few things. Next came the important activity. How to project the essays in one's own style? This is a very important step and a very time consuming activity. This doesn't lead to any major changes in the essays, but the way how to start, what points to be emphasized in more words, how to have a punching conclusion.
5. Always stick to the word limit. Quite a difficult task, we always feel that we haven't expressed our points to the best that too when the word limit is 300. Probably it's good because we might not end up explaining our blunders to the best :)
6. Once you have a well written essay which you are happy about and quite willing to submit it, go through it with a technical writer or some writer who is good in english writing and whom you are confident about! We are not asking any 3rd person to do any writing for us. This is more like proof reading and also to add a few flairs if possible. Believe me, this does help, we really do not want to end up with any silly grammatical errors in the essay.
These are the main points i followed in writing the essays. It might not have been perfect and i am not sure whether it's enough to write Harvard essays, but it did help me to get an Interview call from ISB.
Will write next about things i intended to do, but never did for ISB Interview prep !!!
ISB application process and interview experience is one thing which i always wanted to write about, but never knew how to go about!
here, at midnight , i make the first attempt, while Suze Orman is advising on steps to avoid creditcard debt, in TV ofcourse ;) ( i think she's too loud, but it's interesting to see the cases in "Can i afford it?"!)
My GMAT date was Nov 7th. I never had any plans for applying to ISB this year because the deadline for Round2 was Nov 15th and i never had any prior experience or time in writing essays.
Gave GMAT on 7th, went home for diwali on 8th, came back to work on monday, ie Nov 12th.
Till that date, nobody in office knew or even had a guess about my tryst with GMAT.
Told one of my good friends in office. He is one of the guys who also has plans to do MBA that too specifically in ISB for various reasons.
He immediately advised me that probably i should make an attempt this year.
This made me thinking.
According to me (after an analysis and discussion with a few relevant people) following is the list of indirect criteria or expectations set by ISB from an applicant. Or lets just say,following points can make a difference in your application.
Disclaimer: This is my interpretation. Some may not agree.
1. Acads.
Having an excellent acads is a major plus.
2. Work Experience
Ideal work ex for an average candidate is 5 years for Class of 2009.(ISB Link)
There are admits with 2 years experience as well. But they are exceptions, he/she might have had a startup or might have been an IIT Grad with MS in US and worked in Google for those 2 years. So lets not take those cases into consideration here.
3. Undergrad university
This matters. If a candidate is from IIT or NIT, it does make a difference. This might also be mainly because lot of alumni of these institutions end up as alumni of ISB as well. Also, at the end of the day, ISB still has Indian nationals in majority.
4. International experience
This is an added advantage. Nowadays, thanks to onsite assignments, quite a few engineers do have international experience.
5. Social work or contributions
This is another added advantage. It really helps to differentiate a candidate.
I had 4 of the above points to my side except the 5th one.
So i realized, if at all i can come up with the essays in the next 3 days, i might actually have a chance to get an interview call.
Also another important point to be verified was, does ISB accept reapplicants? Because if at all i didn't make it this time, there should be an opportunity to try it out next year or so.
Answer is yes. ISB does allow candidates to reapply, once is better.
Now coming to the essays, ISB had 3 essays with 1 optional essay for scholarship.
Following were the 3 essay topics.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ISB MBA Essay 1. The ISB culture stresses on a diverse mix of students; life at the ISB is a unique experience for the students. How will your candidature contribute to this culture at the ISB? (300 words max)
ISB MBA Essay 2. A million dollars or knighthood: what would you choose and why? (300 words max)
ISB MBA Essay 3. You have a new manager who has just joined your organization. As a part of the handover, the outgoing manager is describing each person reporting to him. How do you think the outgoing manager will describe you to the incoming manager? (300 words max)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Regarding the content of an essay, i think it's individual specific and i am sure any applicant should know what to write. I intend to mention here as how to go about writing it. My 2 cents is going to be based on my experience in writing these essays.
1. It is very important to brainstorm on the essay questions first. I started by jotting down the points to be mentioned for each question.
2. Once jotted down, i discussed the list with my friend. This helped a lot because i had left out so many small points which i considered irrelevant, but he helped by giving a new perspective to it. (Infact, i did this discussion with only 1 friend.But i would seriously consider having a predefined set of people for my future essays. For ex, a colleague who is reporting to u, a colleague to whom u reported once, a personal friend, a fellow peer. This whole session might be like a feedback session on ur points. So the more the feedback the better the understanding, but we got to be careful about too much information and confusion as well )
3. After the discussion, things were quite clear. I was able to write sentences now based on the points identified. A first rough draft was achieved.
4. I revisited the drafts next day morning. Taking a break does help. I rewrote a few things. Next came the important activity. How to project the essays in one's own style? This is a very important step and a very time consuming activity. This doesn't lead to any major changes in the essays, but the way how to start, what points to be emphasized in more words, how to have a punching conclusion.
5. Always stick to the word limit. Quite a difficult task, we always feel that we haven't expressed our points to the best that too when the word limit is 300. Probably it's good because we might not end up explaining our blunders to the best :)
6. Once you have a well written essay which you are happy about and quite willing to submit it, go through it with a technical writer or some writer who is good in english writing and whom you are confident about! We are not asking any 3rd person to do any writing for us. This is more like proof reading and also to add a few flairs if possible. Believe me, this does help, we really do not want to end up with any silly grammatical errors in the essay.
These are the main points i followed in writing the essays. It might not have been perfect and i am not sure whether it's enough to write Harvard essays, but it did help me to get an Interview call from ISB.
Will write next about things i intended to do, but never did for ISB Interview prep !!!
Jul 3, 2008
Do it once and do it right
How true it is!
Just because there is an opportunity to do it again and again, no individual should attempt it again and again.
Because not only the precious time is wasted every year, but also the effect it has on an individual is quite something.
Ofcourse, all this applies only if a person is really serious about something and gives (not tries to give) the best in every attempt.
The painful thing is, Doing it again implies or states the fact that the first attempt is not enough which in turn implies that all that effort is waste in it's true sense.
But this is not true because the individual knows how much hardwork has gone in and how serious the preparation was.
Also there is always a belief that Hardwork never goes waste.
Probably does this imply that there is some disconnect with the individual's thinking about hardwork and the expected hardwork?
Or is the individual plainly unlucky when it comes to running the last mile?
Well, whatever maybe the case, when there's an opportunity to improve on something, every attempt should be made to do the same.
After thinking (which inturn might also imply getting confused) for over a month, i have concluded to take GMAT again as that seems to be the only best option available.
Ofcourse 700 is not a bad score, but definitely it's not a good score. Why to have something in the resume which makes no impact, when there is an opportunity to improve on it.
The score is less than average Indian's GMAT score which is 730. Also the nationality and domain is no different from other applicants, thanks to the hundreds of Indian IT Consultants applying to all B-Schools!!!
Atlast in life, being a female does give an edge, but come on, no B-School is going to take me for that only reason ;) ...hmm let me think...probably one can try some video resume like how Reese Witherspoon does in Legally Blonde...well i am no blonde and have no intentions to do something like that :).
also i am completely against any form of reservation for an able individual and i try my level best to stand by it at any cost :)
Moreover, the score is completely skewed, 95 percentile in Quant and 75 percentile in Verbal. Any adcom guy will think that i am all fundoo but very bad in communication. (Probably that's true...but still there is an opportunity to not to paint such picture)
So why not retake again?
If i end up with 760, i have a great edge over other applicants.
If not, then i need to focus more on the essays and never expect any scholarships. This is because getting in itself will be quite a task ;)
Now that it's decided, it does scare me a bit to think about the preparation and the amount of time that will be spent with Sentence correction and Reading Comprehension.
See..how easy it will be to give up or atleast not have any high ambitions!!
Just because there is an opportunity to do it again and again, no individual should attempt it again and again.
Because not only the precious time is wasted every year, but also the effect it has on an individual is quite something.
Ofcourse, all this applies only if a person is really serious about something and gives (not tries to give) the best in every attempt.
The painful thing is, Doing it again implies or states the fact that the first attempt is not enough which in turn implies that all that effort is waste in it's true sense.
But this is not true because the individual knows how much hardwork has gone in and how serious the preparation was.
Also there is always a belief that Hardwork never goes waste.
Probably does this imply that there is some disconnect with the individual's thinking about hardwork and the expected hardwork?
Or is the individual plainly unlucky when it comes to running the last mile?
Well, whatever maybe the case, when there's an opportunity to improve on something, every attempt should be made to do the same.
After thinking (which inturn might also imply getting confused) for over a month, i have concluded to take GMAT again as that seems to be the only best option available.
Ofcourse 700 is not a bad score, but definitely it's not a good score. Why to have something in the resume which makes no impact, when there is an opportunity to improve on it.
The score is less than average Indian's GMAT score which is 730. Also the nationality and domain is no different from other applicants, thanks to the hundreds of Indian IT Consultants applying to all B-Schools!!!
Atlast in life, being a female does give an edge, but come on, no B-School is going to take me for that only reason ;) ...hmm let me think...probably one can try some video resume like how Reese Witherspoon does in Legally Blonde...well i am no blonde and have no intentions to do something like that :).
also i am completely against any form of reservation for an able individual and i try my level best to stand by it at any cost :)
Moreover, the score is completely skewed, 95 percentile in Quant and 75 percentile in Verbal. Any adcom guy will think that i am all fundoo but very bad in communication. (Probably that's true...but still there is an opportunity to not to paint such picture)
So why not retake again?
If i end up with 760, i have a great edge over other applicants.
If not, then i need to focus more on the essays and never expect any scholarships. This is because getting in itself will be quite a task ;)
Now that it's decided, it does scare me a bit to think about the preparation and the amount of time that will be spent with Sentence correction and Reading Comprehension.
See..how easy it will be to give up or atleast not have any high ambitions!!
Why it's not a good idea for French to work!
Couple of years back, one of my colleague went to Toulouse,France for a project related work.
He was full of praise about the center when he returned.
It seems the work environment was very nice, there was free beer during lunch and people leave office early during weekdays and very early on friday. Here "early" implies 4pm and "very early" implies after lunch :)
Hearing all this, i concluded that the company is really wasting money over the employees in France!
Probably that isn't right. I think French are like that for a purpose.
France should never be related to hardworking, slogging people.
France should be a place for Perfumes, Fashion, Arts, Wine, Sports cars and ofcourse Lovely people!
After all, there should be a place to spend all the millionaire's money right !!
So it can be the place where people from all over the world come and spend their hard earned or inherited wealth, like how Swiss is for bank deposits.
And this is the better way to improve french economy instead of getting the french to work, like how a minister is trying to do as the article says.
Infact already, France has all the required qualifications and is also one of the top tourist destinations. There will never be a big competition from other countries.
So probably, the minister should start thinking in this direction instead of trying to improve the entrepreneurial instincts among the people! (Try to maximize upon one's strength than improve on one's weakness!!)
Nevertheless if they still want the work to be done, they can always outsource it to India ;)
Also when people slog,this is what happens :)
He was full of praise about the center when he returned.
It seems the work environment was very nice, there was free beer during lunch and people leave office early during weekdays and very early on friday. Here "early" implies 4pm and "very early" implies after lunch :)
Hearing all this, i concluded that the company is really wasting money over the employees in France!
Probably that isn't right. I think French are like that for a purpose.
France should never be related to hardworking, slogging people.
France should be a place for Perfumes, Fashion, Arts, Wine, Sports cars and ofcourse Lovely people!
After all, there should be a place to spend all the millionaire's money right !!
So it can be the place where people from all over the world come and spend their hard earned or inherited wealth, like how Swiss is for bank deposits.
And this is the better way to improve french economy instead of getting the french to work, like how a minister is trying to do as the article says.
Infact already, France has all the required qualifications and is also one of the top tourist destinations. There will never be a big competition from other countries.
So probably, the minister should start thinking in this direction instead of trying to improve the entrepreneurial instincts among the people! (Try to maximize upon one's strength than improve on one's weakness!!)
Nevertheless if they still want the work to be done, they can always outsource it to India ;)
Also when people slog,this is what happens :)
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