As the big army comes together to attack the Deutche castle, knowing full well that, like in that old Sardarji/Blonde joke only one in a million will succeed, I know what is affecting me. What S told me to stay away from. Really, when you have no clue what you want, it's quite easy to know what you want... just ask around! I start with zero passion for anything and within days I am gunning for it too. It works... like a charm.
The herd is on the street, and it has a mind of its own.
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Saturday, October 21, 2006
Day dream night
जागती पलकों पे देखा, सुख स्वपन उस रात मैं
भोर फैली थी नगर में, क्षण हर एक सौगातमय।
तेज ना थी धूप ना सर्द, ओस सूखे को थी व्याकुल
दूभ पर औंधा पडा मैं, सुमिरन किये कल रात के।
I day dreamt that night, that in the warm next morning, lying on the grass which the dew was almost ready to leave, I was dreaming about that night.
कल रात जब तन्हाँ था मै, लम्हे भर को यूँ लगा,
कि दिल ने मेरे ज़ुबाँ पा ली और शिकायताना ये कहा
रहमत तुम वो नहीं रहे जो एक अरस पहले होते थे।
कहा, सुन दिल॑-ए-फरियादी तु भी तो अब वो न रहा।
For a moment there in the dark of yesterday night, the heart found a voice and raised it high saying ' Rahmat, you've changed from the one you were a year ago '. Well, you're not the same either now, complaining heart, are you?
भोर फैली थी नगर में, क्षण हर एक सौगातमय।
तेज ना थी धूप ना सर्द, ओस सूखे को थी व्याकुल
दूभ पर औंधा पडा मैं, सुमिरन किये कल रात के।
I day dreamt that night, that in the warm next morning, lying on the grass which the dew was almost ready to leave, I was dreaming about that night.
कल रात जब तन्हाँ था मै, लम्हे भर को यूँ लगा,
कि दिल ने मेरे ज़ुबाँ पा ली और शिकायताना ये कहा
रहमत तुम वो नहीं रहे जो एक अरस पहले होते थे।
कहा, सुन दिल॑-ए-फरियादी तु भी तो अब वो न रहा।
For a moment there in the dark of yesterday night, the heart found a voice and raised it high saying ' Rahmat, you've changed from the one you were a year ago '. Well, you're not the same either now, complaining heart, are you?
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
Learning, my foot!
An excerpt from a case study in Strategic IT ...
"Learning Organizations are able to capture, share and take action on information better and faster than competition. A learning organization isn't top-down and it isn't bottom-up. It works side to side. It's an organization that gobbles up information and experiences like a sponge and shares learnings throughout the enterprise in minutes, hours and days rather than weeks, months and years".
"Let's learn Strategic IT, people!", the Prof would thunder in his baritone if he were invited to an ISB party like Prof. Bhagwan was, "Let's not jump up and down. Let's groove side to side... yeah, yeah, that's the way you create Value!"
"Learning Organizations are able to capture, share and take action on information better and faster than competition. A learning organization isn't top-down and it isn't bottom-up. It works side to side. It's an organization that gobbles up information and experiences like a sponge and shares learnings throughout the enterprise in minutes, hours and days rather than weeks, months and years".
"Let's learn Strategic IT, people!", the Prof would thunder in his baritone if he were invited to an ISB party like Prof. Bhagwan was, "Let's not jump up and down. Let's groove side to side... yeah, yeah, that's the way you create Value!"
Sunday, October 15, 2006
Resume/Resume
It's not easy to make a striking CV. Well, actually it is... if all you want it to do is to stand out, and not stay in the 'selected' pile. I put in "Created three analytical tools and productivity package, now used across Cisco" and realized soon that a) I had boasted beyond the Conscience tipping point b) using the word analytical doesn't imply I'm good Fin material. Then, I spent five minutes juggling with the same 15-20 words to come up with the right striking sentence, and as I am on the verge of giving up, words take on a life of their own
Created three analytical tools and productivity packages
Produced three creative, analytical tools and packages
Packaged three productivity tools rich in analytical creativity
Analyzed three creative tools and produced packages
Tooled three analytical packages that improved crativity and productivity
... had a threesome with Creativity and Productivity as Analysis watched on.
Time to move to the next sentence "Responsible for resource planning & scheduling besides Test and Automation of 6 individual feature areas". It is beyond important to get the CV right; it is essential. I'm going to spend the next 5 minutes thinking of beautiful thoughts involving chocolate sauce and then... resume.
Saturday, October 07, 2006
Barodian Cobbler - The Alchemist
This is not a Dh'esque entry on socialism, equality and egalitarianism and all that jazz.
With term 4, the core-term courses came to and end which means we are now on supposed to craft our way to graduation ourselves. No more hand holding by the ASA on what we should study. Thrilled, I should have been, but I wasn't. Reason? There was this all important course called Options and Futures that slipped out of my hand in spite of the 600 points bid. Talked to people at ISB, and received heartening gestures from many. Then talked to As, and she said 'It's just a course, isn't it?' and I said to myself and her 'Oh yes, by God it is just a course'. Sometimes it helps to take an external opinion. The outsider is likely not to bring any fresh perspective; all he'll do is clear your mind and make your decision easier.
In Coelho's 'The Alchemist', Santiago, the shepherd hero saw a dream about the Pyramids and some treasure twice, met a king who faffed "When you really want something, the whole universe conspires to make you achieve it" and took away a tenth of his flock for that. Well, actually the king confessed that all he did was to help the boy make his own decision, but that was substantial enough a deed to deserve 6 sheep.
The book, by the way, is a good read. I am at home right now for Diwali (cause I can't be home for Diwali). I asked dad what is the best place to get my smart leather shoes fixed, so that they could serve me at least till placement season. They've lasted the LDP sessions well. There is a cobbler who's been at the same junction of the Golden-Silver Apartments at New Ellora Park in Baroda for the last 22 years. Dad has kind of patronaged him. This cobbler must have fixed my very first school shoes too. I am not nostalgic. I just connect him to the crystal shop owner in The Alchemist, who dreamt of going to Haj but never did go, cause he thought once he had realized his dream, there would be no reason for him to live. The crystal business was certainly not where his heart was but he drudged on doing it to save money for the Haj he was dreaming of but was never planning for. I know there is nothing fantastic about the cobbler; still... if I were a writer and would have attempted a book, this Cobbler would have been in it.
With term 4, the core-term courses came to and end which means we are now on supposed to craft our way to graduation ourselves. No more hand holding by the ASA on what we should study. Thrilled, I should have been, but I wasn't. Reason? There was this all important course called Options and Futures that slipped out of my hand in spite of the 600 points bid. Talked to people at ISB, and received heartening gestures from many. Then talked to As, and she said 'It's just a course, isn't it?' and I said to myself and her 'Oh yes, by God it is just a course'. Sometimes it helps to take an external opinion. The outsider is likely not to bring any fresh perspective; all he'll do is clear your mind and make your decision easier.
In Coelho's 'The Alchemist', Santiago, the shepherd hero saw a dream about the Pyramids and some treasure twice, met a king who faffed "When you really want something, the whole universe conspires to make you achieve it" and took away a tenth of his flock for that. Well, actually the king confessed that all he did was to help the boy make his own decision, but that was substantial enough a deed to deserve 6 sheep.
The book, by the way, is a good read. I am at home right now for Diwali (cause I can't be home for Diwali). I asked dad what is the best place to get my smart leather shoes fixed, so that they could serve me at least till placement season. They've lasted the LDP sessions well. There is a cobbler who's been at the same junction of the Golden-Silver Apartments at New Ellora Park in Baroda for the last 22 years. Dad has kind of patronaged him. This cobbler must have fixed my very first school shoes too. I am not nostalgic. I just connect him to the crystal shop owner in The Alchemist, who dreamt of going to Haj but never did go, cause he thought once he had realized his dream, there would be no reason for him to live. The crystal business was certainly not where his heart was but he drudged on doing it to save money for the Haj he was dreaming of but was never planning for. I know there is nothing fantastic about the cobbler; still... if I were a writer and would have attempted a book, this Cobbler would have been in it.
Sunday, September 24, 2006
and...Thud!
"Investments Analysis tere chacha padhenge?" asks the other me. Mid-term tomorrow and lots pending. Stop dreaming. The subject is to your liking and you need an A after that Border B Neg. Stop airy talk... this one needs intelligence, not intellectuality. Short-supply of both. Optimize resources!
Welcome back to the real world. Let me go! I like it here. No I don't!
Welcome back to the real world. Let me go! I like it here. No I don't!
Wow View
K tells me the two windows in the quad face the two mirror pools of SV-3. I say, wow nice. Sw tells me one window of his quad faces the plush C-lawn with the hang-out rock, and the other one faces a window. I say, wow nice. Sh and other lucky SV2-ites have a balcony to spend an idle evening with hot coffee or, say, Baileys? Nice again.
My window got Dh thinking, but I've ignored the view from it mostly. Today it is pouring outside and the jungle greens have wrested back their multi-shade existence from the dusted mono-shade. (Opinion credit, Ne). I say, not bad! Wish I still had my costly Canon. Help, As!
My window got Dh thinking, but I've ignored the view from it mostly. Today it is pouring outside and the jungle greens have wrested back their multi-shade existence from the dusted mono-shade. (Opinion credit, Ne). I say, not bad! Wish I still had my costly Canon. Help, As!
Trishanku?
It is not always possible to experiment with your outlook. But whenever a touchstone comes by, it is useful to verify or falsify the beliefs you have tenaciously held on to.
I believed that the best good that common citizens can do is to act small, do good in the immediate neighborhood without philosophizing about the society, government and humanity in general. Sen's 'The Argumentative Indian' started to change that, though I haven't even read the whole book. Act Local, think global is good, but why not talk global too? Which one is better - to preach (dharma) or to practice (karma)?
It took a hundred intellectuals to rubble-rouse for decades before the French hoi-polloi took charge and the Revolution came. While the real action would never have come from the polemicists like Voltaire, the masses would never have come together without the Enlightenment ideals. So then, we need both.
An engineering mind seeks quick, tangible results. A philosophical one revels in fuzzy, nebulous ambiguities. A management mind keeps oscillating between the two states. However, we need not be undecided about which path to take to better the world. We are equipped to both give to the society and to... "appropriate value", what?
I believed that the best good that common citizens can do is to act small, do good in the immediate neighborhood without philosophizing about the society, government and humanity in general. Sen's 'The Argumentative Indian' started to change that, though I haven't even read the whole book. Act Local, think global is good, but why not talk global too? Which one is better - to preach (dharma) or to practice (karma)?
It took a hundred intellectuals to rubble-rouse for decades before the French hoi-polloi took charge and the Revolution came. While the real action would never have come from the polemicists like Voltaire, the masses would never have come together without the Enlightenment ideals. So then, we need both.
An engineering mind seeks quick, tangible results. A philosophical one revels in fuzzy, nebulous ambiguities. A management mind keeps oscillating between the two states. However, we need not be undecided about which path to take to better the world. We are equipped to both give to the society and to... "appropriate value", what?
Thursday, September 21, 2006
Ma Night
Night comes to me gently softly enveloping,
The pains and the guilts of the day
And brings with it a present, oh, the wonderful
Gift of hope and heart, tomorrow.
Not mine. Va had written a poem years ago... these four lines stayed in my fickle memory; the essence at least, if not verbatim. Now, in TX and settled in matrimony, wonder if poetry gets its due attention once in a while. I wrote in the resume, October 2002 to Feb 2005.
The pains and the guilts of the day
And brings with it a present, oh, the wonderful
Gift of hope and heart, tomorrow.
Not mine. Va had written a poem years ago... these four lines stayed in my fickle memory; the essence at least, if not verbatim. Now, in TX and settled in matrimony, wonder if poetry gets its due attention once in a while. I wrote in the resume, October 2002 to Feb 2005.
Monday, September 18, 2006
ET
Spotted a big insect, black backed
Six tiny legs, scurrying away
Six yellow spots, ladybird?
Road is not your safest stay.
The pink paper, its wing a while
Six seconds, I’m done for the day
Friday, September 15, 2006
Why worry
When there is much to worry about, I end up thinking about all of it so much that there is little room left to accommodate actions. I remember the last months at work. There was a project to wrap up and another to hand over to the able juniors. There were three universities to extract an admission from, and there was an answer to seek… it was not forty-two. I used to come back home late in the night. Home, the 11x12 penthouse room in Koramangala that I had tastefully left undecorated in spite of Am wanting me to buy some nice drapes and sheets. Who was it going to please anyways? Home, where I spent the last 6 months in
It was one such night, which was happier than others, when I composed Basant. It had vigor, optimism, even playful romance hidden in the lyrics… I had made sure to use only short words, no more than 2 syllables. Words flowed into each other in the way old hindi “Chhands” we learnt at school do. I did worry about the song too when Jay, Ar and I were polishing the tune to make it more Avadhi than Carnatic. However, the difference was that action followed the concern. We managed to create a hit.
Cut to now… there is term 4 to take care of to begin with. With several ‘Border B’s’ in my portfolio of grades, I no more used to believe I can make it to the list. I said to myself - this term is the term when I get over that childish craze to do well in exams. Then friends egged me on. I don’t know if it makes sense to prioritize that over the more important ELP project, the couple of B-school comps, the music that I seriously want to make an honest attempt at. So, I worry, but then I don’t do much else.
Sunday, September 10, 2006
Bleak Black
Is your good hope shining still?
Seek the silver lining still?
They won't let you be until
Self-inflected torture will.
Shoot the gun, it's good in hell
Ring yourself your own death knell
World's black magic, you know too well
So end a life to ... break the spell.
I don't feel all the lines now... Much of it is poetic impersonation to create the right effect. It's not for me or you or anyone in particular... really. So don't call me morose. It's the 2 o clock night that's black.
Seek the silver lining still?
They won't let you be until
Self-inflected torture will.
Shoot the gun, it's good in hell
Ring yourself your own death knell
World's black magic, you know too well
So end a life to ... break the spell.
I don't feel all the lines now... Much of it is poetic impersonation to create the right effect. It's not for me or you or anyone in particular... really. So don't call me morose. It's the 2 o clock night that's black.
Monday, September 04, 2006
Why not?
And then again, why? How, whether, when don't make much sense as such. Even primitve men looked for reasons for everything in the nature, didn't they?
The final month of being with Sec-C begins. We haven't done the chant or the 'war cry' ever after the initial frenzy. Especially for me, Term 4 has started with a bang... and will keep banging? :-) ?
Little Italy in Bangalore. Aah! Little Italy in Banjara. Whoa! Will go there again, hopefully soon?
The final month of being with Sec-C begins. We haven't done the chant or the 'war cry' ever after the initial frenzy. Especially for me, Term 4 has started with a bang... and will keep banging? :-) ?
Little Italy in Bangalore. Aah! Little Italy in Banjara. Whoa! Will go there again, hopefully soon?
Monday, August 28, 2006
Sing out loud
A few have noted that I sing out loud while walking back to my block in Student Village 1. I can't help it; most of the time it's because of the weather and the plush greenery around here. I was never a stage singer. The only 5 songs I have sung on stage are, Neele Neele Ambar Par, Seconds for It's my life - Bon Jovi, Jaan-e-Jaan and Saamne Ye kaun Aaya. (Neele twice... once at Ad's Bhaiya's wedding). Well, I also remember singing Jumma Chumma De De in my 7th standard for the whole class. The class was sitting idle and Patil sir wanted some entertainment. He knew I sing okay... and I had heard this number from Hum a while back. I was a kid... didn't know that it was certainly not a good idea to pick that song. I did the whole thing ... starting with 'Arre O Jumma, Meri Jaan-e-man'. I felt proud after I finished the song that day. I feel embarrassed ever since, when I think about it.
Why am I writing this? I feel like singing out loud right now... No wait, I am singing out loud right now. There is nothing green in my room, though. Can you hear me Pg and Pg?
Sunday, August 27, 2006
Little works
Run for your dear life downhill, ya!
That Little devil is out to kill ya!
But Ere you can run free,
Stay in the queue, says he
And tell me its average I & T, will ya?
That Little devil is out to kill ya!
But Ere you can run free,
Stay in the queue, says he
And tell me its average I & T, will ya?
Friday, August 25, 2006
Four-No
There are four things I should never do while at ISB. 1) Sleep more 2) Talk less 3) Forget ... and well 4) Remember.
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
Jaya He!
Jai Hind. Swatantrata diwas sabko mubarak ho. Yes, I will sleep through the Independence day, mostly. It's a holiday, but it also feels good to be free. Or does it? Oh sure! By the way, Tagore wrote the first English translation of our National Anthem in a small town in AP. Read...
I am going to teach Tanmay the anthem tomorrow! He can now read sheet music... well almost. Can he read (Jana Gana Mana)? Well, can I?
To kill the wrong bird
Watched two movies in quick succession... one got my mind racing backwards and the other got my mores reaching out for the past - Memento and To Kill a Mockingbird. While Atticus (Gregory Peck) fought every front to save innocent Tom Robinson convicted of rape by the judgmental whites of Maycomb, Alabama... Lenny (Guy Pearce) in Memento went around searching and killing John G's, his wife's rapist and murderer.
Great movies... and well, I really have no business trying to find commonality or contrast between two very different genres. But somehow the intellectual tax levied by Memento was diametrically opposite the warm simplicity of To Kill a Mockingbird. However, while I would remember cute Jean Louis 'Scout' more fondly, I may love more to talk about Memento to friends...
'You see there are these two lines of the same story, one in color running backwards and a b&w narration running forwards'. That's enough to draw attention even without mentioning Lenny or Korsakov's syndrome (Short term memory lapse).
'Well, there is this languid little town where lives this real Gentleman of a lawyer with his two little kids' will probably draw a yawn.
Which one did I like better? Memento. Which one will stay with me? To Kill a Mockingbird.
Great movies... and well, I really have no business trying to find commonality or contrast between two very different genres. But somehow the intellectual tax levied by Memento was diametrically opposite the warm simplicity of To Kill a Mockingbird. However, while I would remember cute Jean Louis 'Scout' more fondly, I may love more to talk about Memento to friends...
'You see there are these two lines of the same story, one in color running backwards and a b&w narration running forwards'. That's enough to draw attention even without mentioning Lenny or Korsakov's syndrome (Short term memory lapse).
'Well, there is this languid little town where lives this real Gentleman of a lawyer with his two little kids' will probably draw a yawn.
Which one did I like better? Memento. Which one will stay with me? To Kill a Mockingbird.
Saturday, August 12, 2006
CFIN midterm
As I walk out of the Student Village - 1 for the mid-term exams of Corporate Finance, I remember Dharmendra standing atop the paani-tanki... "Gaanv waalon, main jaa raha hoon, Bhagwan main aa raha hoon".
Good luck to everyone except the IIT'ians.
Thursday, August 10, 2006
EMRI 108 - Dial One Zero Eight
Have to do my little due diligence to popularise the 108 Emergency Response service of Satyam's not-for-profit Emergency Management Research Institute group, launched recently across Andhra Pradesh.
We had a talk at ISB by Mr. Venkat Chengavalli, CEO, EMRI, who has taken the 911 system and improved it to suit hub-and-spoke instead of the US multi-center operation. The topic of the talk was "Transformation of emergency management with comments on entrepreneurship in the Non profit/healthcare sector". The most amazing thing was his expertise in medical emergencies although he was an engineer by education and profession till late. Brilliant ideas presented in simple words and his down-to-earth simplicity reminded me of Mr. K Pandirajan, MD, Ma Foi, who was here at the Career Perspective seminar during Pre-terms.
The goal is to respond withing 2 rings to every call and to ensure medical emergencies are serviced within 30 minutes (the nearest ambulance is tracked using GIS). EMRI has 70 ambulances now. It takes care of paperwork in accident cases too. Police emergencies are relayed to nearest police control room. India has peculiar problems: 1) City road traffic 2) Address complexities 3) Scarcity of good hospitals. "What if the emergency caller is affluent and only wants to go to the Apollo Hospital which is an hour away, while there is another emergency that the van needs to attend to immediately?" asked Mr. Venkat. He went on to relate some life-saving stories and some funny anecdotes from the EMRI call-centre.
The business model has worked quite well. It has saved more than 3000 lives since its start earlier this year. It's free for all. Where will revenues come from then? By becoming Robinhood. Charge the rich emergency callers for the ambulance services, keep it free for the poor.
Some links below ... and for all emergencies in Andhra Pradesh please
DIAL 108
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