India-centricity: A Blog to Express and Not to Impress

Bye 2011! Welcome 2012!

noreply@blogger.com (Robin Samuel) — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 16:37:00 +0000

As another year comes to an end, I can't stop myself from looking at the year gone by and remember the key moments of the year. As the famous quote goes,

We don't remember days, We remember moments

This was an year characterized by change. Also this was an year when everything looks the same as the last year. When i look back, the moments that WOWed are few but the moments that brought a change in me were a lot..

WOW Moment:

2011 will be remembered - for India's World Cup Win. Personally, my WOW moments happened after the matches: quarter-finals (Excited in Tawang Cold that i was going to see India-Pakistan @ Mohali LIVE), semi-finals (No Words can describe the elation, the pure joy of walking & sharing the triumph with fellow cricket fans in the stadium and the people from Mohali) & finals (Spontaneous Outpouring of Delhities on the streets).

In the field, it was not Dhoni's Six in the world cup final that wowed me.. but Gambhir-Kohli innings at the final. Finally, Indian Cricketers did not choke and had the winning mentality. Thank you! Gary Kirsten!. We miss you!!

WOW Moment - 2:

Anna Hazare's Protests caught media and public attention. India Media gots its 'Tahiri Square' Moment. From the perfect timing ('No News' seasons) to well-planned strategy & tactics, ensured that India took a step closer to its Lokpal bill dream. Hope this would be the beginning of much more active participation of civil society in the major policies of the government.

Surprisingly all the major nations had one protest or the other. US - Occupy Wall Street Moment. UK - London Riots, etc..

WOW Moment - 3

By far, this would be my most traveled year. Memories of 2 Wonderful Trip Posts here - Assam & UK

Hope 2012 to have many more memorable moments for all of us. Wishing you all to have a lot more memorable moments in 2012.

Indian Leaders! Where are you?

noreply@blogger.com (Robin Samuel) — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 12:05:00 +0000

As the nation moves to a new year, the lack of leadership especially political leadership is the biggest national problem. As I am back in Tamilnadu, I am able to experience it - better than ever The state today is grappling with multiple political issues

Fight with Kerala regarding Mullai-Periyar Dam
Fight with Central Government regarding KoodanKualam - (while the entire state is grappling with daily 4-hour electric power cuts. )
Srilankan Tamil Issue - Mostly on the Fringes

Thankfully, the rains are good this year. Otherwise, the age-old struggle with Karnataka for Cauvery waters would have started again. None of these issues have easy answers or solutions.

Successful 'Past' Protests:

Protests like Siliguri & Lokpal has given enormous confidence to other protesters that continuous & sustained protests by a minority will bring desired results in today's media covered India. So expecting the protests to die away (like yester-years) is not going to happen.

Compromises & Quick Decisions:

So the government requires to be quick on feet. Need to be quick to

1. Kill Protests - right at the budding stage. Like how Karunanidhi shut off colleges to prevent any pro-Srilankan Tamil protests during the final stages of Srilankan Army - LTTE war. And it involves compromises & quick decisions. And the nation requires have a leader who is trusted by the nation and who brings states/groups to accept compromises.

2. Make Decisions - Prolonging decisions like Telengana State Formation is not going to help both the parties.

3. Create Process to handle fasts & protests: As creating a policy of not negotiating with plane hijackers, the government needs to create a policy of not negotiating with people who pressure by fasting or protesting.

Require 'Connected' Leaders:

And government & political parties can be quick only when they have leaders and not managers on the top. And the recent advances in communications and technology means these leaders can afford to be connected 24*7 with the people.

Why I love this nation?

While Leninist China can bull-doze over people's wishes, India's democracy needs it to take care of the wishes of a small group. But that is exactly the reason i love this nation - even though it is painful.

Amazon entering Indian Markets??

noreply@blogger.com (Robin Samuel) — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 15:34:00 +0000

It does not take much to guess that Amazon would soon enter into Indian e-commerce. But my prediction is that it might be sooner (soon as in middle of 2012) than later.

How I am making this guess?

Because of the recent FREE Super Saver Delivery from www.amazon.co.uk. Though the super saver is currently applicable only to purchase more than 25 USD (Approximate Rs. 1250/-) and only books, music and DVDs are eligible, it surely shows the current interest from Amazon management team on India. The offer is available until January 15, 2012.

I want a free India!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Robin Samuel) — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 19:16:00 +0000

As Indians we are proud about our democracy and hard-fought freedom won from the British. But even after sixty years, India is still not free from corruption, racism, etc.. And the recent incident in Kashmir makes me to add "Freedom of Religion" to that list.

Indian Constitution clearly states that

"all persons are equally entitled to freedom of conscience and the right freely to profess, practice and propagate religion."

So as a Christian, I should not have any fears about

Claiming that I am a Christian
Proclaiming that Jesus is the way and the truth and the life (From the Bible).
My Belief that "Choice of Religion" should be also decided by market forces. And people should have access to all information and have 'real' freedom of choice

But regularly i do fear. And the recent arrest of Pastor Khanna - based on a youtube video of a few baptisms (Video does not have any information about where & who took baptisms), only increases that fear. A lot of times, these incidents are shoved under the carpet and are ignored by the media. Thankfully, this time around - Times of India gives voice in its opinion article today - Break Those Walls -

Worries about conversion pass over the individual's right to religious freedom, guaranteed by the Constitution

This is not the first time that such arrests of Christian ministers happen over "forced conversions". And I am not naive enough to believe this would be the last time. My only hope is that there is an increased awareness among the common man about these incidents.

Sneha-Prasanna Shock Wedding & My Losing Connection with Tamilnadu

noreply@blogger.com (Robin Samuel) — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 20:26:00 +0000

Though i have rarely seen Tamil movies in the last 5 years, I am used to tout my Tamil gossip knowledge as my connection with Tamilnadu & especially with Kollywood. So I was shocked to read about the upcoming marriage (or) affair of Tamil movie stars - Prasanna and Sneha.

It seems that I did not know the rumor that every Chennaite knew. It made me realize that I am becoming a part-Delhite now and losing my touch with Tamilnadu slowly. Sad but true. :(

Anyway my wishes to Prasanna & Sneha for a happy marriage. And hope this does not end up as another famous celebrity divorce - after a few more years.

Escort Services Advertised through OLX.IN - Is it Legal?

noreply@blogger.com (Robin Samuel) — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 14:20:00 +0000

Adult Services & Online Classified:

Like all other industries, even prostitution benefited from the rise of online classified - by cutting the middle man in the process. But in USA, this led to a major controversy. Craiglist - USA's leading online classified player, was forced by law enforcement to pull down its separate section on erotic/adult services.

But considering the taboo around prostitution and the general public image around prostitution, I was not expecting a similar controversy in India. So it was a surprise for me to see adult ads in OLX when I was posting my ad for selling my split ac.The ads were clearly showing the fee for a single night and contact phone number for the services.

Adult Ads in OLX

As per the Indian constitution, organized prostitution is clearly illegal. (Thanks Wikipedia). But the ad clearly shows the existence of organized prostitution. For an ignorant customer, it would seem as if Olx is aiding prostituion by the perpetrators. Hope OLX figures out mechanisms to stop these ads before a similiar controversy erupts in India.

Currently Running Ad on OLX.in

One among Seven Billion People!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Robin Samuel) — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 09:30:00 +0000

Want to know where do you stand among Seven Billion People in the world. Visit http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-15391515 and know the exact number of human births before you. My details are below.

While the world celebrated the birth of symbolic seventh billion child in UP, India, let us not forget the idea about choosing the seventh billion girl as a girl child. Plan India picked seventh billion child as a UP girl child to bring exposure to the "missing children" in India.

According to a recent UNICEF report, around 50 million Indians are missing today because of female infanticide. Here hoping for a day when female infanticide disappears from my country.

P.S: Also read "Are we really seven billion of us" in BBC News.

Thinking about buying Samsung Galaxy SII? Wait

noreply@blogger.com (Robin Samuel) — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 17:48:00 +0000

Are you thinking about buying anAndroid Phone?

And have you zeroed on Samsung Galaxy S2 as the best option available in the market?

If yes, my advice: WAIT.

If you have not heard, Samsung along with Google recently launched "Samsung Galaxy Nexus" @ Hong Kong. Read more about it @ http://www.google.co.in/nexus.

Samsung Galaxy Nexus, uploaded with Android 4.0 - Ice Cream Sandwitch, is the best available Android phone out in the market. Unlike Apple & Unlike last time, when Google launched Samsung Nexus S only in USA, this phone would be available in India. So Indian Android buyers, it is time to wait for Samsung Galaxy Nexus and wow your friends in the party with the new Face Unlock Feature.

No Excuses for Gurgaon Metallica Stage Riot

noreply@blogger.com (Robin Samuel) — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 19:00:00 +0000

Whatever might be the reason

Poor Management
No Security
No Proper Arrangement for Food & Water
Waiting for 2 hours in Queues
Travelling from other places,

We, as Indians, have no right to damage other's property. Hope the police uses the Youtube evidences (1, 2, etc.) to nap the culprits.

P.S: By the way, it is BS to point this as a mistake of Delhities.

My Secret Sauce to Office Popularity

noreply@blogger.com (Robin Samuel) — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 16:40:00 +0000

Want to know my secret sauce of knowing answers to colleague's difficulties ranging from designing the right chart for a set of data points to setting up a collegue's outlook account. My Simple Solution is "Google".

Google Search Result Page

I even figure out how much googling does a person know in an interview. :) And I believe knowing the right words to google is one of the key skill required for a modern day working professional.

If you are not using Google to find answers to your work issues, please start now. Who knows? It might even win you a 1 Million US Dollars.

Steve Jobs - The Master of Presentations

noreply@blogger.com (Robin Samuel) — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 15:36:00 +0000

We have all heard that Steve Jobs as the master of Presentation. See the video below to know why. Nancy Duarte makes a case for why Steve Jobs, the Great Presenter can even rival Steve Jobs, the Great Innovator.

Jobs Sparkline Resonate Workshop from Duarte Design on Vimeo.

In a short summary, Steve Jobs regularly did four things

Passionate about what his company makes
Get a physical response from the audience e.g. Laughs or Claps
Share repeatable sound bites
Use memorable dramatizations

Though I had written an earlier post about Steve Jobs - A Man Who Inspired a Billion, I learnt a lot about public presentations through this video.

P.S: Seeing the iphone launch video, it makes you understand on the mobile revolution brought by iPhone. Thank You Steve!

Social Networks Has arrived in India

noreply@blogger.com (Robin Samuel) — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 11:18:00 +0000

I was surprised today to find out that the recently elected Chennai Mayor has a facebook profile(https://www.facebook.com/saidaiduraisamy) and updates it regularly. But the real surprise was that he also has a Google Plus Profile - https://plus.google.com/101033117702722643248

You will know that social networks are in the advanced technology cycle when a TN politician started using the social network. I believe Facebook has entered to "Late Majority" in Technology Adoption Life cycle. Be sure to see soon all the politicians being using one or the other social network.

Technology Adoption Lifecycle

Paying more for pizzas than for the maid

noreply@blogger.com (Robin Samuel) — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 18:52:00 +0000

Pizzas

In the recent article on New York Times - "Why I left India?" by Sumedh Mungee, he made a interesting point on how he paid more for Pizzas rather than his maid. And all of us are used to the same. In today's India, we pay for our meals than we pay to our maids for their monthly labor.

Thanks to the cheap workforce, we never even give a second thought to these inequalities. In my opinion, Domestic Helps & Maids are a sheer waste of human potential and a drain on the Indian economy. Until India frees this unproductive workforce from domestic duties and convert them to productive workforce, India will never become a economic superpower. Hope the situations change soon in India.

P.S: Though i can understand Sumedh viewpoints on disagreeing to the compromised life in India, I agree with more with Navin Kabra's answer

Photo Image: Courtesy Seth W.

LinkedIn's Classmates Rocks

noreply@blogger.com (Robin Samuel) — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 18:15:00 +0000

We all like to know what our yesteryear classmates are currently doing? - Especially to understand whether we are doing better or worse than them. Personally, I was looking for answers to these questions

Where does IIM Indore students actually settle?
How many actually went to a finance role?
Which is the company that has most of IIM Indore Alumni?

Thanks to the new linkedIn Feature - Classmates, it is possible to know the answers to these questions with a single click of the mouse. Please find below a few details about IIM Indore Alumni. Though Cognizant was not a surprise, it was a surprise to see Business Development being the dominant roles of most of the alumni.

Screenshot of My LinkedIn Classmate Page

Can read a detailed article about the feature @ http://blog.linkedin.com/2011/10/19/linkedin-classmates/

When will India taste true secularism?

noreply@blogger.com (Robin Samuel) — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 16:13:00 +0000

Recent Delhi University Controversy over the inclusion of AK Ramanujan's Ramayana is a proof that we, the Indian people are pseudo-secularists.

Though we pride ourself that we are a secular nation, we allow

Indians to be banned and driven out of nation because of their expressed opinions in a book in a ~~supposedly~~ free country.
Artists/Painters to be driven out because of their work that supposedly offended a particular religion
Schools to use the stories from their religious holy book as a part of their "x minute moral hour"
We never raise an issue when religions & religious rituals are a part of "secular" governments, "secular" firms, "secular" colleges and "secular" schools

Makes me to doubt that I will ever see a truly secular India in my lifetime.

Indian Flag

P.S: Secularism in my mind means absence of religions or religious rituals rather than presence of all possible religions and religious rituals.

IIM Indore's Baffling Move to Undergraduate Segment

noreply@blogger.com (Robin Samuel) — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 18:47:00 +0000

Disclaimer: I am an IIM Indore '08 Alumni.

When IIM Indore decided to offer a five year Integrated Program in Management (BBA+MBA equivalent), I was baffled

5 Year Integrated Program will never attract the best talent. Without the best talent, placement numbers are never going to be good
Handling & Managing a 17 or 18 year old kid out of the school is a skill in itself. And IIM Indore (a post graduate institute) currently does not have this skill.
Not sure whether IIM Indore's currently faculty bandwidth would allow it.

So it was no surprise to read Times of India article on undergraduate students (who were offered a seat for 5 year Integrated Program in Management @ IIM Indore) being baffled by IIM Indore notice to pursue a distance program on the side.

The story underlines that IIMs are not empowered to give degrees to academic institution. As an alumni, this was not a surprise to me. That is why the programs are not called MBAs but rather PGPs.

But suggesting the candidates to pursue a three year distance education program is taking it a little too far. Sad to see IIM Indore going the IIPM way.. :(

Who is Bodhidharman? The Tamil Story Behind Shaolin Monks

noreply@blogger.com (Robin Samuel) — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 19:45:00 +0000

Unlike Hollywood movies, generally Indian history movies generally deal with the known Indian historic heroes rather than the unknown and unheard heroes. So it was surprised when i saw "7aum Arivu" trailer. For the first time in my life, I came to know a great historic Tamil Personality - Bodhidharman.

Who is Bodhidharman?

Wikipedia says,

Bodhidharma

Bodhidharma was a Buddhist monk who lived during the 5th/6th century and is traditionally credited as the leading patriarch and transmitter of Zen to China. According to Chinese legend, he also began the physical training of the Shaolin monks that led to the creation of Shaolinquan. Scholars believe that Bodhidharma was a Tamil born in Kanchipuram, Tamil nadu

Yes you are reading it right. China got its world-famous Shaolin Monks from Tamilnadu.

So the next time, you see a kung-fu action movie, remember that Tamil culture has its unique impact in it.

Shutter Island - Book Review

noreply@blogger.com (Robin Samuel) — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 14:35:00 +0000

Recently, I have started reading a lot of fiction & non-fiction that were converted to popular movies - e.g. The Lincoln Lawyer, The Blind Side and Stardust.

Shutter Island

In that tradition, the recent novel i picked up was "Shutter Island". Extremely well written book that really surprises you at the end. One of the problems with reading a story after seeing a movie is that - you always see the characters shown by the director rather than the character created by the author while writing the book. e.g. I always see Daniel Radcliffe while reading Harry Potter Series. This book was an exception to that case - which is a testament of the thought-out characterization by the author. (I saw only the early few minutes and not the entire movie)

Though this is not a page-turner, it still keeps you interested enough to mull over and come back to the book. But the surprising climax is the highlight of the book.

Rating: 3.5/5

My Comment: Good book to read a little bit everyday. But might not be the right book to pick for a flight trip.

Photo Source: hcplebranch

Meaningless or Meaningful Lives???

noreply@blogger.com (Robin Samuel) — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 13:39:00 +0000

There are some stories that raises questions that are tough to answer. Today's TOI Story on "Satisfied with Life, Couple ends life in Goa" is one of them. In the suicide note, the couple wrote

"We have lived a very eventful and happy life together. We've travelled the world, lived in different countries, made more money than we ever thought possible, and enjoyed spending as much of it as we could on things that brought us joy and satisfaction. We believe in the philosophy that our life belongs to us and only us, and we have the right to choose to die as much as we have the right to live."

On the close heels of an IIM-Bangalore student committing, It shocked me to see people living "meaningless" lives or a life without purpose. Life "for many Indians" today has become just about earning money and spending it in material things - which they believe - is the only source of joy and satisfaction. They fail to understand there is more to life that just material things that ~~supposedly~~ bring joy and satisfaction.

Personally, for me - my purpose is largely derived from my Christian beliefs. It is easier to believe your life has a purpose [:)] when you don't believe that you are created because of a random chance.

P.S: Know this is more an one-off event. But still i fear this may not be the end of these suicides of people who ~~supposedly~~ have "everything" in life..

Dynamic Views in Blogger Rocks

noreply@blogger.com (Robin Samuel) — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 16:15:00 +0000

It was five years back, I set up my first blogger account. I had been just selected to IIM Indore. And all my new classmates were sending their blog details to yahoo groups (Most of them with just 1-5 posts. And that point of time, I did not understand the ulterior motive behind it.. :)). Inspired by them, I started this blog - Titled then as "Tirunelveli--> Chennai-->Indore-->???". Basically to communicate that I don't have any idea whether the heck this is leading me to. Then the blog metamorphed as "A Blog to Express and not to impress" and then as India-centricity. In the meantime, I amassed a good number of page views and my first 100 USD through Google Adsense.

But I had always regretted the decision for choosing blogspot over other blogging platforms - wordpress. Only the fact that I can't enable adsense account in wordpress kept me in the blogger platform. And I was forced to live with the ugly-looking standard templates of blogger.

So it was surprising today, when i accidentally found the existence of newly created templates called "Dynamic Views". And I have to say "DYNAMIC VIEWS ROCKS". You can read more about Dynamic Views @ http://buzz.blogger.com/2011/09/dynamic-views-seven-new-ways-to-share.html

Today, I am proud of my choice of "Blogger Platform". :)

Hope you also like it.

The Man Who Inspired a billion

noreply@blogger.com (Robin Samuel) — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 12:24:00 +0000

It was a shock to hear about the death of Steve Jobs - just a day after the launch of iPhone 4S. Personally I have never owned an Apple product - mostly because they were out of my budget - most of the time. But I have admired this man - for never stopping to push the boundaries of what is possible and for creating the most valuable company in the world from a company that was on its deathbed.

Though he passed away yesterday, his legacy will live on and will continue to inspire countless others..

Steve Jobs,

Even Though I have never used any one of its products, your efforts have given rise to great copy-cats - that have made an enormous difference in life. For that, A BIG THANK YOU.

-Robin

Apple disappointed me! :(

noreply@blogger.com (Robin Samuel) — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 18:59:00 +0000

After a long time, I was really, really looking forward to the new iPhone Release.. (This is important because I am an Android Fan). Main reason for the sudden interest in iPhone was my plan to buy a iPhone for my parents. (In my opinion, Android is still too complex for my parents). And thanks to the persistent rumours of a cheap iPhone (

A 15k iPhone would have really blown away the competition and would have established iOS as the leading mobile operating system in the world. And nobody else other than Apple have the capabilities (supply chain) to launch a good sub-15k smart phone in the next two years. But sadly, Apple choose not to do so. Rather they chose to release an iPhone which just nullifies Android's differentiators. A big fail from Apple - which is always expected to push the envelope w.r.t iPods, iPhones and iPads.

With the speed in which Google iterates on its Android OS, Apple would be forced to a do a lot more catch-up when the next iPhone is launched.

State Education Minister Appears for Class X Exam

noreply@blogger.com (Robin Samuel) — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 18:24:00 +0000

Times of India reports about Puducherry education minister sitting for Class X Exams. When i read this, the questions that come up are

First of all, how did they let a person who has not passed even X Standard to become a education minister. It shows badly how our political situation is screwed.
Even if he has done poorly, will anybody fail the minister?

Yes. It happens only in India.

Get an Additional 10 Hours Each Day

noreply@blogger.com (Robin Samuel) — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 11:12:00 +0000

Seth Godin in an interview published in problogger

I guess you make decisions about how you want to spend your time. What you didn’t mention is that I’m America’s worst watcher of television, cause I don’t spend any time doing that, zero. And I’m America’s worst attender of meetings, cause I don’t do any of that, zero. So I know people who do five hours of each every day. So right there I save myself ten hours a day.

Though ten hours seems too many, not watching TV and avoiding meetings should save at least save 5 hours for each of us.

It happens Only in India

noreply@blogger.com (Robin Samuel) — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 10:53:00 +0000

A toll plaza attendant is shot dead by a car owner since he was ready to pay the toll tax of Rs. 27/- (Around 0.6 USD). You can call it road rage or drunken driving. But this happens only in India. And the culprit is still free after committing such a brazen crime.

Ref: Toll Plaza Attendant shot dead at Gurgaon