Creativity Unleashed

Fly on the wall - Corporate Meeting

2012-03-23T14:23:00.000-07:00

Today I had the opportunity to be a fly on the wall of a corporate meeting. Alright alright, I was actually a part of that meeting. This is how it went:

Person 1: Thanks everyone for coming. I called this meeting so that we could get together and get on the same page about this new effort we are starting up called "Specific Customer Reporting for Erroneous Workloads" (SCREW). We will be using this mechanism in future to notify customers about minor errors that might have crept into their portfolios.
Read: (Fellas, regulation requires that we need to let customers know when we have screwed them)

Person 2: SCREW is a great idea. We need someone to drive this idea and take it forward, do the right things that are aligned with the strategy of the company and also ensure that all stakeholders are involved.
Read: (OK, I needed to say something in this meeting, There it is. I am done now)

Person 3: Absolutely! There needs to be positive energy and a momentum behind this thing. It seems Person 4 is the right kind of guy to do something like this. He possesses the correct skills and a passion for this space. He also seems to have time on his hands these days since his current project is wrapping up.
Read: (There is no way in this world I am going to do SCREW. I'll let person 4 get SCREWed and at the same time I will undermine his current work. It's performance review time after all.)

Person 1: That's what I had in mind too. If Person 4 can bring the major decisions to a closure and find cross-group integration and collaboration going on, we would add a lot of customer value with this puppy. It might be challenging but would also be extremely fulfilling and rewarding from a career perspective.
Read: (Yes, we have almost decided that Person 4 will be screwed with SCREW. We just need to make sure that he sees this as a wonderful opportunity and not as a shit-hole it really is)

Person 4: I think that fits nicely with my career goals and ambitions. I'd do it happily.
Read: (You f#$%ing losers. I have already made up my mind to leave this shit-hole company. Give me another new project and I will happily SCREW it before I leave)

Why did you leave your country?

2012-03-18T12:10:00.001-07:00

Yes, it is my style to start with a rhetorical question as a lame attempt to capture the reader’s attention. And once I have it, I try and keep it with a few tidbits about the land I come from; India.

Now, a careful reader can probably discern from the above statement that I am not currently in India. I am one of those “go get education from US, get some experience and come back” people. My going back to India part however, hasn’t yet materialized. And honestly speaking I haven’t even started planning for it yet (despite telling my friends every day that I am not going to settle down in the US). And as some wise woman has said “Failing to plan is planning to fail”. The biggest issue I want to resolve before I head back is the following:

I don’t want a job. I want to make a difference.

Heat, bad roads, bad traffic, lack of civic sense, electricity issues, lack of overall infrastructure, hygiene issues, ostentatiousness etc. etc.: these are just some of the several thousand hurdles people can present if you talk about going back to India. However, none of those reasons are strong enough to overcome my middle-class upbringing in a small north Indian town. I used to change three buses and spend close to 2 hours just to get to college. Some of that may have been lost in the “naturally air-conditioned USA” but none of that has totally deserted my being.

What truly bothers me is the fear of staying mediocre always. I am a mediocre guy. And as I age, I am becoming mediocre by the day. I would be extremely disappointed if I go back and start with a job similar to what I have here in the US (yes it has something to do with technology) even if it is well paid and all that. And no, I am not from a royal family, nor do I have a teenager son who has shown a particular knack for making millions in IPL cricket.

The only way I think I can escape this vicious cycle is through reinventing myself. I am hoping that a move across the continents is big enough to accompany radically different career paths. The career I want to choose is politics. Strange as it may sound, I want to do more than arm-chair commentary on the antics of Didi, Behenji and Rahul baba.

During my last visit to India a few months ago, I felt something I had never felt before: a strong interest in Indian politics and an urge to become a part of the mainstream politics in India. I was never into such stuff growing up, but this time the tamasha around the election in Uttar Pradesh really got me hooked (or maybe it was just to avoid watching the Indian cricket team getting pasted in Australia). During the day, I was following endless election coverage on all the 3 million TV channels and during the night I was scouting YouTube for pieces about Nehru, Patel, and Jinnah etc.

While flying back from Delhi to London, an old British lady sat beside me. Usually, I try to avoid any conversation during flights (I put on my headphones even if I am not listening to anything) because I want to avoid questions about “The Taj Mahal” and the “stray cows on the roads”. But this time no sooner did the conversation start, than I was up and running about things like the impact of British rule on the subcontinent, the thought behind the initial socialist agenda after independence, the green revolution, the reasons for why India missed the industrial revolution and jumped onto become an information economy. I then realized that I was talking really passionately. A couple of folks from the seat in front of ours, also felt the need to contribute to this discussion. For a change, I enjoyed the discourse.

As much as I despise some of our politicians, I have long maintained the belief that sitting in the parliament gives you a greater chance of affecting change in a country, than a NGO or civil activism ever will. The mind is made up: politics it is. In terms of ideologies also, I think I have pretty much decided which way I am going to lean (in order to stay neutral I am not going to mention a party here). The next steps are to figure out the process to go about it. How do I join the party? Who do I contact? How can I help to begin with? And ultimately, how do I define a path for myself while becoming a servant for the country.

Hopefully I will get there someday.

Fly on the wall - Cricket

2012-03-17T13:29:00.000-07:00

Sachin Tendulkar scored his 100th century in international cricket.

Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan announce the name for their newborn.

Shahrukh and Aamir to clash on the box office later this year.

Oprah Winfrey says she was misquoted about India.

And in other news, there was something called budget happening in India.

Oh, and also India lost that match.

That's the order in which the "important" news is presented to the world. I am not at all going to dwell on why the budget news is so low in that order.

Let's talk about Sachin like everyone else is. And why not? India loves Sachin. Sachin sells. You need to write about him, you need to talk about him. Whether you criticize him, garland him, mention his new hairstyle or write about his diet, everyone wants a piece of him. Sachin means big business to anyone who has anything to do with Cricket - administrators, media, team management, TV viewers, spectators, sponsors, you name it.

Anyway enough about Sachin. Let’s see what’s going on with the rest of the Indian “cricket fraternity”. Recently I happened to be a fly on the wall in a room where some current and ex cricketers were mingling. Following is what transpired:

Ravi Shastri: Sachin, the pitch looks good; the crowd is buzzing with anticipation. What are your thoughts about this day?

Sachin: Ravi, why are you talking like we are in a cricket match? Just try to relax and play for the country like I do. Follow your dreams and you will win the world cup.

Ravi Shastri: Uh uh! I was too much in my commentator character.

Sourav Ganguly: Hello boys! What's cooking? Fish and rice? Wanna join me on bangla crorepati show that no one watches?

Sehwag: Hello skipper! How do you do? Want some milk? Btw, I was recently dropped just like you were: 5 years after your expiry date.

MS Dhoni (to himself): I won the T20 world cup, ODI world cup, IPL and every other freaking tournament there is. And they still call him the skipper.

Ravi Shastri: In the air...... and taken. This is a big blow. Tremendous cricket.

Sunil Gavaskar: Sachin, Sachin, Sachin.

Ravindra Jadeja (to himself): What am I doing among all these cricket people? Oh, yes, I keep forgetting. I too am a cricketer. Dhoni told me. I must try to remember especially when they give me those weird looking round things to throw or those long wooden things to hit those round things with. Never got the idea behind that.

Kohli: Tum sabki maa ki #$%^, tum sab ki bahen ki $%^&

Gambhir: Our new vice-captain is full of vice. When I was vice-captain, I just use to swear at Pakistanis.

MS Dhoni: But you couldn’t even score a 100 in the World Cup final. Just scored 90 odd, what a loser!

Kapil Dev: Guys, let’s take it easy. Boost is the secret of my energy. And also... Palmolive da jawaab nahin!

Sachin: No no... It’s Gillette

Azharuddin: Chhote pahle daadi to uga le.

Kumble: I want to learn spin bowling. Maybe, I will go to Venkatesh Prasad. His googlies to Aamir Sohail were really successful.

And so this peaceful and meaningful discourse continued through the night.

Do you have your social on?

2012-03-15T18:35:00.002-07:00

Are you a social person?

Not quite sure what people mean when they ask me that. Are they asking about my inclination to go out and meet people, my behavior when introduced to new people, my tendency to keep up with the social obligations like parties, weddings, birthdays etc. or just the size of my Facebook/Twitter friend list?

If it is the latter then you must sometimes be acting like this guy:

Now that I have provided a somewhat eye-catching (albeit irrelevant) starting paragraph with the mandatory question mark in the end, let me get to the real thing that I want to discuss in this post. If you have been reading this blog, you can probably see that I have decided to be very disciplined about blogging from now on. Not only do I want to write, but I wish to know whether people like it or not.

As a result, I am doing all the usual blogger reach-out things like posting my links on digg, reddit, delicious, stumbleupon etc. However, I am not quite sure how useful all that is. Of course, if you are a very popular writer with an established online presence, then these bookmark/aggregation sites can further help you. However, for an average dude like me, I am not quite sure what I gain. So, this post is an attempt to figure that out. Unlike my last few posts, I am not going to do any "marketing" for this post at all. I will not even post it to my twitter/facebook followers. I should find out in a day or two how it goes.

Anyway, I have a reasonably good hold of technology, web etc. but I don't really understand how this world of social networking actually works. Good content, I hear, is a must. But clearly that alone is not enough. What else do I need to make sure my content is reaching the maximum number of people, and the right people? Any Gurus out there willing to drop me some hints? I will not look for you on Google. Because, I want to know that you understand my dilemma through my website and are yourself confident that you can help me.

Some of the above text may sound cryptic but as I said earlier, I am honest and I will write what comes to my mind. So today what's coming to my mind is this amalgamation of random thoughts.

Later!

Where is my start button?

2012-03-14T15:10:00.000-07:00

Everyone is looking for a start button these days. Some people want to get their day started, some people want to start their life afresh, and a few million people are just wondering how, in the freaking world, are they supposed to access the erstwhile "Start Menu" on their Windows.

Out of all the experimental things Microsoft has done with Windows 8, removing the Start button seems to be getting most passionate negative reviews. People can put up with the fact that this new UI which is better tailored for touch-enabled slates and tablets, doesn't quite thrill them on their desktops and laptops. They can get to terms with the fact that Microsoft has decided to put all their eggs in the Metro basket, despite no credible proof of it's success (Windows Phone 7 with Metro interface continues to be just a "good potential" product and nothing more). However, the thing they are not able to accept is the removal of Start Menu. See this for example:

Saying "just use the Windows key on your keyboard" just seems to annoy people even more. I sincerely hope that Microsoft, for it's own good does think of this blunder as a Beta-only experiment meant to garner feedback (which is the purpose of Beta btw). Guys, listen to the feedback. Even if this sounds like stubborn and admittedly somewhat sentimental attachment of users to something which was not a great design to begin with, the message is loud and clear. People want a start button.

More on Windows 8 soon.

iPad 3, Kahaani and Corruption

2012-03-12T23:23:00.001-07:00

Well it's no longer news that Apple has come up with their latest device, curiously called the iPad (post Steve Jobs Apple is already low on imagination). Soon most of us will line up to hand over a handsome sum of money to our nearest Apple Store (if we have not already wired over that money online to Apple's trusted bank). How long world's fascination with Apple's products will last is any one's guess but it is true that the lack of credible competition is definitely helping them. On one extreme is Google, which is in the habit of throwing half-baked products as beta-testing machines at the wider public. On the other end is Microsoft, which takes several years to come up with a product, which if fails leaves them with no time to respond back or make amends. Till these problems with the Apple wannabes are fixed, AAPL will continue to demonstrate healthy earnings quarter after quarter. And yes, I will buy the new iPad.

Taking a break from work (when do I NOT want to do that?), I went to watch this new movie Kahaani today. Boy, am I impressed? This is quite simply the best Hindi movie I have seen in a long long time. What a great concept, superb story (having a story in a Hindi film is such a refreshing change btw), tight screenplay and clever direction. Add to that good acting and lack of usual bollywood melodrama, and you have an almost perfect movie. I would be seriously disappointed if this movie isn't India's nomination for Oscar. Ladies and Gentlemen, this movie is a must watch.

Anyway back from the movie, I was back onto my anonymous trail for information and usual online media scouring for history, politics, economics, comedy etc. I found that quite a few like-minded people have been doing the same set of things that I enjoy. Not sure they are as random and aimless as I am, but it is good to know that I am not alone in the waywardness of my thoughts. It is also a little disappointing to learn that I am not a unique genius with a special way of thinking. Anyway, I do intend to read up and follow quite a bit of online presence dedicated to rooting out corruption from India. Stay tuned for more thoughts around that topic.

Me and Windows 8

2012-03-11T18:43:00.001-07:00

So I have something to do with technology, especially the software industry. I have always been a power Windows user and have always believed that Mac users are mostly rigid, opinionated people who care more about being perceived as cool than about being productive.

But of course, with the mobile devices like iPod, iPhone and iPad, Apple did manage to significantly change my opinion. These devices were simply the best looking, most user-friendly options available in their respective segments. Moreover, the increasing capabilities and ubiquitous nature of these devices have significantly ruptured the power of Microsoft in the consumer computing arena. Their flagship product Windows (remember "Windows on every table") is now under severe pressure to stay relevant in a world, where smaller devices do whatever PCs (powered by Windows) can do.

With the recent consumer preview of Windows 8 however, Microsoft is trying to buck that trend. Whether they will be able to do that or not, who knows yet? But they look pretty serious about this revamp (at least they want people to perceive this is a revamp). It looks complete with a functioning App-Store and all that jazz.

Windows 8 Store

One interesting thing about Windows 8, is the multiple options for building apps for the platform. HTML along with JavaScript is quite simply the best (at least the most talked about) option. Then there are others like .NET, C++ etc. A look at any popular app-building platform today, and you can see that most popular (and most revenue generating apps) are always games. How many of these games is it possible to create with web technologies like HTML and JavaScript remains to be seen. As of now it does seem that the focus on HTML/JS will allow Microsoft to attract the army of web developers to the Windows platform. But how many of these people will be able to generate apps compelling enough to make Windows relevant, is still debatable.

Interesting times ahead in the technology industry. One of these days, I need to sit down and write an app for Windows 8 to better form my opinion.

Anonymous Honesty

2012-03-10T14:54:00.003-08:00

Complete honesty is difficult to achieve. A person can tell you what he thinks, what he does when no one is watching, how he really feels about other people, what he would want to do if he did not have any responsibilities etc. However he may still conceal a very important piece of information. His identity. Which is very easy to do on the internet.

But why would someone do that? Because anonymity is not exactly honesty. Or is it?

I have been struggling with these thoughts ever since I decided to "go honest". I don't think I can be not anonymous. Having said that I am not going to spend anytime going out of my way to hide my identity. A really zealous person could find out who I am, although I am not really sure what would be gained out of that. So there goes. Mine is going to be an anonymous sort of honesty. I do feel that I can be more fun and open when I don't have to stick to the behavior expected out of me (and my identity).

Always Honest

2012-03-10T14:37:00.000-08:00

I have been planning to do this forever. Either I didn't have the time or I felt that I didn't have anything worthwhile to write. But, I have decided that I am going to write on a regular basis now. The thoughts that come into my mind sometimes surprise even me. If there is going to be one trait about my writing, it's going to be honesty. I will never write anything I don't mean.

In slow motion

2010-07-20T18:16:00.000-07:00

I must admit I have some kind of obsession with super slow motion (slo-mo) videos. I think the capability of slowing down and actually observing what nature has to present, is a remarkable achievement. And off course, Schwarzenegger riding his bike off a junction just appears so much cooler in slow motion.

But about the nature part, search for slomo on YouTube and you'll see some cool videos, some of them slowed down 20-30 times.

Creating nice super slow motion videos is not just about recording a regular video and then playing it at a slower speed. It's about capturing a whole lot more information than what our eyes and brain can comprehend. And then slowing all that information down to play it at a speed which humans can understand.

Humans on an average can perceive moving objects at 30 fps (frames per second). Which is to say that, if we see 30 pictures one after the other within one second then we can perceive these pictures as a smooth motion. Any slower, and we will find the experience jagged. Any faster, and we will miss some pictures in between. So, how does slow motion work? You need advanced cameras which record at say 300 fps (it means they take 300 pictures of a moving object within one second). Now if these 300 pictures are shown to a human at the rate of 30 fps, it's going to take 10 seconds. See that! 10 seconds to play what actually happened in 1 second. So, it appears to us as if it happened in slow motion. And since the speed at which we see them is still 30 fps (ideal for humans), it still appears smooth to our eyes.

Anyway, what fascinates me is that other living beings who are capable of perceiving and interpreting things at a higher rate (let's say 60 fps) would watch us do things in slow motion. "Those dumb humans", they might say.

Are you sure you are not dreaming?

2010-07-18T13:11:00.000-07:00

Another gripping movie from Christopher Nolan, Inception does really well to keep you thinking. The thought I found most interesting from the movie was whether we are all not really dreaming, having hidden our totem some place safe and unreachable?

Anyway, hats off to Nolan. You truly are a master of story telling, Sir. Telling such a complex story in such a short time and having people mesmerized by the ideas presented, is a special quality. I can imagine the amount of thought, research and attention to detail that would have gone into creating this amazing piece of cinema.

The Story of Randomness

2010-07-17T11:49:00.000-07:00

If you have not read the book Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in the Markets and in Life, by Nassim Nicholas Taleb you probably should. Irrespective of whether you are active in the markets or not, randomness plays a big role in life. The amount of their success people attribute to their skill and talent is usually much higher than they should. Randomness (also known as "just pure chance" or the "game of statistics") plays a big role in what happens anywhere at any time.

It is not to say that we should just accept everything as random and stop putting effort into anything. Quite the opposite actually.

I had an interesting discussion with a co-worker on this same topic yesterday. We both came out of the discussion with the conclusion that all efforts of mankind, all steps towards advancement are nothing but an effort to reduce randomness that nature has bestowed upon us. A sportsperson practices and practices just to make sure that he has seen most things that can happen on a sports field and when the big moment comes, he is not surprised by anything. In fact most practise whether for an interview, for a presentation, for an exam is in some way, an effort to reduce the role of chance. We build houses, wear clothes, live in air-codnitioned places to reduce the randomness caused by weather.

Simply speaking: nature is random, whereas us humans want things to be orderly and predictable. So the struggle continues.

Why am I here?

2010-07-16T13:24:00.000-07:00

Why am I here? Other than the feeble possibility of becoming a well read author/blogger who has a huge fan following. I could then monetize this fan following by starting up paid news letters or just by putting some ads on my blog. Ads, that come through Google or others.

But, in reality chances of that happening are pretty low (I earlier said feeble which I think means the same thing..I like to repeat myself).

So, why am I really here? I hope to soon find out. But rest assured, if you are reading this blog, you are not wasting your time. People do craziest and sometimes most creative things when they feel they don't have to be in the spotlight. Blogging is just that for me.

What's in a job

2010-07-12T21:20:00.000-07:00

I like my job but I am not passionate about it. I am sure there are enough people in this world to make me feel comfortable about not being a minority. In the corporate world, "passion" seems to be the top requirement for any job. I have been honest a few times and told people "I am not passionate about my job but I will not let that small detail interfere with putting my best into my job". But if I lull myself into believing that I have found my passion, then I would be cheating myself. The fact that I haven't found my true passion actually forces me to keep looking for it, keep learning about things, hoping to find my real interest someday. Something I can do day in and day out without asking for "work-life balance" or without feeling the need for "compensation for putting in the hours".

The struggle continues.

So it begins

2010-07-11T17:42:00.001-07:00

Watch out for this space because this is where some of the most profound information in this world is going to be shared.