instinctive fist

Levels 012345...

2012-01-29T07:46:00.000+05:30

This idea springs because I tend to get comfortable with life.

Recently I took an auto from NITIE to IIT. Both are in Bombay a few kilometres apart. The auto-driver asked me. “Aap log andar karte kya ho?”

Having not fully understood his context, I asked him what he meant. He said that he never sees much activity outside the colleges. Students or whoever are inside mostly keep to themselves.

How could I possibly answer a gullible auto-driver what people did inside NITIE and the IIT?

I said, “College me kafi kaam rehta hai, hum ander hi busy rehte hain. Padhai, events, sessions kuch na kuch chalta rehta hai.”

Not convinced, he asked me where we had our food. Now that was a stupid question even though it came from him.

…

And now it’s early morning. A few moments ago, I was looking outside the window. It’s around 6 am and still very much dark here in Mumbai. Up in the sky I saw a continuously moving flicker of light. “It’s an airplane”, I convinced myself.

“But where is it flying to?”

“What is the pilot thinking?”

“Where could the passengers be heading to at such an hour?”

“Is it a cargo plane?”

“What will make of the airline industry?”

Looking back, I feel sympathetic to the auto-driver as I realize that I have no idea now.

And the next thing that comes to my mind is “Get Idea”.

This is bad. I am overwhelmed by the small world that I know of. The only solace is that most people are.

Earlier as a software engineer I had little idea what a supply chain is or what a viral marketing is. Now I do have some inkling. While the information revolution is fast adding dimensions to my common sense, I also need to disconnect. Disconnect from the knowledge and information that I have to explore and learn new things, meet new people and understand new businesses.

It can be very satisfying to sell software to gullible corporates or meet monthly target of selling credit cards. It gives a sense of purpose and a sense of achievement. Yes, I did my job and Yes, I did it well. I can look myself in the mirror and smile.

Wait a minute, but that can be true of the auto-driver or a day labourer at a construction site. Even that person does his work well and goes home happily. Then why did I or so many others strive for better things? Is my mind playing tricks on me? Irrespective of what I do, as long as I do it well, I am happy. But should I be doing it in the first place? Perhaps if I do not meet my monthly target, it will release bandwidth for me to explore more. May be the next thing I stumble upon satisfies me more. But here’s the catch. It is a never ending loop.

How long can I keep experimenting and not do my job well?

I am reminded of a relevant quote by Jack Welch. Let me Google it.

Yea got it:

Look, anyone can manage for the short term just keep squeezing the lemon. And anyone can manage for the long just keep dreaming. You were made leader because someone believed you could squeeze and dream at the same time. They saw in you a person with enough insight, experience, and rigor to balance the conflicting demands of short- and long-term results. Performing balancing acts every day is leadership

So here we are. A tough nut to crack. Doing well what we have to and then, perhaps, relying upon innate energy and passion to explore more. To be humble to listen, be quick to understand, communicate, drop the mediocrity, see the fact as it is, weigh out the opportunities, test the water (with one foot), commit and plunge.

Reading fiction, playing games, arguing, watching plays and chasing girls were not a waste after all. At some point each helped me explore more and balance between desires and resources. It helped me reach the next level!

Levels in a game as the levels in life. Each level is fun and challenge. But what do we play for! Moving to the next level is the Game…

Perhaps the Entrepreneurial Summit that I went to attend at IIT is good!

Of Shoes and Slaps!

2011-11-25T03:19:00.020+05:30

Had to put this into perspective, after all our respected Union Agriculture Minister, Sharad Pawar was slapped in full public view by a common man.

Slaps and slippers are finding their way on the face and dais of our politicians. It’s a recent phenomenon, starting perhaps with the “shoeing” of George Bush in Baghdad by Muntadhar al-Zaidi. The wiki page for the “Shoeing” has ever been increasing in length since then.

The list of people who were shoed at includes such dignitaries as

George W. Bush- ex-president of US

Wen Jiabao-Chinese Premier

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad- Iranian President

Pervez Musharraf- former President, Pakistan

In the Indian context, the list is impressive and includes politicians and criminals alike. While P.Chidambaram, Manmohan Singh, Yeddyurappa have had their tryst with shoeing, this phenomenon found a new dimension with the slapping of Sharad Pawar.

The Gen-Next of India is not ready to accept the business as usual. The inertia and tolerance that were taken for granted do not find any resonance any more. While the youth has found a channel for growth through education, higher income and global perspectives, the politicians and PSU professionals are still old and archaic. Nothing that is printed or heard is taken at the face value. The coming has been slow, but the media of mass communication, especially mobile and internet have empowered people immensely and given them the freedom to question and build a hunger for change.

The old and the mediocre have to change. Now.

The idea of unquestionable respect for the elderly is no more accepted. Age might give experience but that is compensated by lack of energy and enthusiasm. The young see themselves on the same footing as the elderly.

The source of hypocrisy prevalent in the Indian society is apparent from instances and dealings all around.

In a class in a reputed college, the professor came in full one hour late and continued to teach beyond the scheduled time. A student gathers courage to point out that there is another event lined up for the students. This was sufficient reason for the professor to humiliate and scold the poor student for the next half an hour. He was enraged because he was interrupted and someone had dared to question him. He asked the class to get their priority right and decide if the class was more important or something else. And all this for wasting the time of the students!

In the RTO office of Bangalore, a clerk was whiling away his time. He returned to his desk, adjusted his chair, and picked up a file, then another, then another. Then he shouted over for the peon and acted as if he was expecting him any moment. Then the clerk started chatting with his colleague, apparently waiting for the peon. The poor common man said, “Sir, kindly have a look at these papers”. The clerk raised his eyebrows and asked the customer to fill the form properly and resumed his chatting. Another youth next in the line asked the clerk sternly to look at his papers. The clerk got up from his seat and went away. This is haughtiness beyond reason.

At a nationalized bank branch in Mumbai, I came across a man with a strange expression on his face. He had big eyes with a protruding jaw line. He got to my account opening form simultaneously gossiping with his peers, updating his subordinates and signing my papers. His facial expression was peculiar as he effortlessly switched between anger and a smile/laugh with that expression. Within a fraction of seconds, he twitched his facial muscles into gay abandon to chat to his colleague, shout angrily at his subordinate and sign my papers with indifference!

The world has evolved. In the past two decades such jobs have been created that never existed before. People have found new sources of inspiration and global benchmarks. But the older folks seem oblivious to the change around them. A slap here and a shoe there are immediate insulin shots to bring down them to reality.

And there are no excuses. An employee is shown the door if he doesn’t performs; a student fails if he doesn’t studies, the earth rotates and the clock moves. It is simple. No one is ready for excuses. If there is a problem with the system, the people responsible need to fix it. Now

The punishment for such shoeing and slapping are not stringent and cannot be. But they attract enough attention to make the point apparent. Will these acts stop? Certainly not in near future. The question to ask is

Who will be next?

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoeing

The Banking Lust!

2011-11-12T00:14:00.001+05:30

In MBA, you either study finance or you study everything else

High raise offices, beautiful people, free trips, 5 star hotels, smart people, rich people, AC everywhere, free food, hefty- very hefty pay packages- the glamour of banking

I am referring to the roles offered in banking to well-groomed pass outs from top Indian b-schools. For people who never did anything wrong in their life, for the ones with impeccable academic records, love for trading, and brandishing sheer intellect, finance is the ultimate addiction. Man, nothing compares to it. This is what one was born for. All the missing out on school and college fun will be compensated for. Didn’t I never touch a bud or excelled in academics at the cost of party and girls. Of course I did. This will be my salvation now. Yeah, I might not be a glib or persuasive. My eyes are cold. But you know what, I am a Banker. No weed can ever give you the high of multiple Bloomberg panels merged into one. Crores at the click of a button. Yes! We devise products like credit default swap- a stroke of a genius. We do not sleep, we work, and guess what, we love it. You know what, we have to survive one downturn and our career is immortalised. We do not care about the perks or downsizing or the recession. I will tell you a secret, we devise them, when we want a little fun. The smarter ones among us make money in downturn too. Isn’t that so obvious but elusive. You poor run on the mill people, we fund you, finance you. We live in anonymity. You will only find us when you have money. We smell money, we are attached to it. A tip- there is a banker just before money arrives and till it lasts. Fools protest and someone might question our ethics. Hehe..we fund that too. We know we will last. We always do. We are indispensible. It is simple. We make the market. We work the hardest. And the biggest trick- we are the smartest. Yes there are people who come close. Colas make emotional ads and sell 20 paisa caffeine drinks. But that is a lot of physical labour. We sit in AC offices, our wallets flowing with your cash. Do we create anything, no we don’t. Do we service anyone. Yes we do. Would you survive if we don’t give that service. No you wouldn’t. haha..see the power. We never and never lose money; we just transform it from one form to the other- heard of financial debt restructuring.

You can be a Banker or anything else in life

Ever heard of a Banker doing a non-financial work-Never. Levers might have given 450 CEOs to the world. Do we care! Coz it’s never about the money. It’s about brains. We are the best brains. We stick to the most valuable thing in the world. And we don’t even create it. Jobs was a rich man. He had $7 billion dollars. His company is $350 billion dollars, that is 2%. Who has the rest of the money…Hahaha, catching up fast, are you?

End matters, not the Means

2011-11-07T23:26:00.002+05:30

For

Allied Forces won the WW-II, Steve Jobs is the most celebrated contemporary visionary, India and China are the fastest growing nations, India won the cricket world cup’2011, my daughter is a MBA.

It’s only the end that matters. A fight might be closely fought but only the winner is remembered. Irrespective of how they are as humans, Tiger Woods and Bill Gates are immortals for what they have achieved.

Nature rewards the survivors irrespective of the means. Every animal has developed a unique method to survive. An elephant has size on its side while an ant has teamwork; a cheetah relies on speed, a tiger on power and camouflage. Chameleon and insects have camouflage, monkeys and apes are good around trees while a croc is king in the waters. There are even queer methods of survival. There are venomous snakes and thick skinned rhinoceroses, there are flowers that close and suffocate insects and there are bees with stings. There is definitely no one successful strategy of survival. In nature, means are not important but the ends are.

A few years ago the movie Guru was made obscurely hinting at the rise of one of the biggest business houses of India. The premise that the business house was successful can lead to the conclusion that perhaps the rules and regulations were not perfect and there was a need to adapt in that environment. The adaptation may not have been by the book but if the law could not keep up, then it’s the law’s limitation.

From time immemorial, a lot of emphasis is given to means. But aren’t the favoured means only a method to optimize the success of an endeavour. Desirable means might be more suited to achieve the ends but they are not rules.

Means are broadly adopted based on two parameters- suitability and opportunity.

Mahatma Gandhi showed us the path to non-violence and truth. As a strategist, Gandhi adopted the weapons available to him and the masses. The weapons of perseverance, defiance, and non-violence were adopted perhaps because those were the best available. He adopted a means that gave the maximum reward while minimizing the loss of lives when compared to an open armed conflict.

A game of tennis won by foul play or an exam cleared by cheating might not give satisfaction. This becomes a matter of individual choice. The fact remains that there are people who prefer shortcuts and so we have rules and law for the larger good.

I am sure anyone on the path of righteousness will achieve success and it’s a delight to have such a person around. However this in no way undermines the fact that what is being aimed for is the end.

Against

Reminded as I am of Aamir Khan’s words in the classic 3 Idiots – chase excellence, not success – I realise the topic has more overtones than its simplistic assertion suggests. While those in agreement would go gaga about how the end is what the world cares for; as an idealist, I’m tempted to challenge this presumption.

The pro-advocates would disagree but there’s ample proof around that those giving undue importance to the end result have hardly made it big. Successful people have excelled due to the dedication to their craft without the effort having being subsumed by the end. We have a sporting icon in P Usha & a business tycoon in Vijaya Mallaya not as a consequence of their over-emphasis on the result but because of the right approach. Would we still know of a certain Sachin Tendulkar had he focussed only on being the Best Batsman in the world completely disregarding his practice sessions? We would not.

Often those who clamour for ‘End is all that matters’ often do it as a hideous act to conceal the unethical means they’ve adopted. As philosophical as it may sound the fact remains that there would always be certain level of dissatisfaction at an end borne out of corrupt means. The world around could venerate a corrupt politician for the power he holds but deep within he’ll always nurture the fear of being caught. Would a student who’s cleared an exam by indulging in malpractices have the same sense of achievement as someone who’s done it through sustained effort? The answer is an emphatic NO.

Lord Krishna said ‘Worry about the karma and not the fruit’. Given the materialistic world we live in, this holds more relevance than it ever has.

-Co-authored by Ryan George

Cram it up till you have Space

2011-11-04T00:52:00.000+05:30

For

Before information-dissemination is perfectly complete, Cramming as a technique is here to stay.

Assume you get into a meeting with politicians to discuss pollution reduction. Practically an environmentalist from say, California, will not get into an early stage meeting in Delhi. As a bureaucrat it becomes imperative to cram the useful information and express them.

Historical importance of cramming cannot be underestimated.

Before Gutenberg invented printing press, all the experiential learning was passed over to generations by memorising. Then, a bigger memory meant more knowledge to play with. Skills like pottery, hunting, etc. were passed along by cramming.

Ever observed a herd of deer?

The slightest movement in the grass or the smell of a predator and the animal is alert. It stops grazing, looks up, senses alert and is ready to run. Was this behaviour learnt? Perhaps not, else there would be far less left to appreciate the learning. It is crammed up in their genes. It is a survival strategy.

Can a person be omniscient?

The knowledge in the world is infinite and beyond comprehension by a mortal. Is it right then to expect a celebrated heart surgeon to understand and appreciate the qualities like colour, pattern or quality of a Kanjeevaram saree? He should cram these data to please his wife.

What about bowlers Wasim Akram or Richard Hadlee?

Had either of them bothered to revel in aerodynamics, we would have missed out on some action. For them, it was cramming that helped. Hold the ball in a certain way, bowl against the wind for maximum effect, pitch the ball on the right line and nature took care of the rest.

Sachin is not a student of Physics, but his timing, and shots are quintessential of kinematics.

Consider the soldiers.

Here’s a map, a gun and there’s the plan. For a soldier on a mission, crammed up thumb-rules are lifelines.

Man is a social animal.

We thrive because we believe. The restaurant where we eat, the train we travel in, the builder of our house, our friends and God, we believe in them all. When I believe I do not question. I follow. I cram up instructions that I get and cherish the trust that makes my life worthwhile.

Against

During Engineering days, I witnessed that students cram for the exam in all possible ways. I too ardently cherished the hitherto-elusive prospect of topping the exams this way. However, this is a very disturbing trend in education. What works in exams ceases to be an advantage in real world where practical application is the mantra.

Several research papers point out the futility of rote-learning.

A recent NASSCOM study blew the lid – a staggering 90% of Indian graduates are unemployable! What has caused this? Is it a mere weakening of mental faculties over generations or something else? Perhaps, the reason is best captured in the lines of H.E. Gorst- “as long as education is synonymous with cramming on an organized plan, it will continue to produce mediocrity.” Practical learning is what an effective education system demands and critical thinking achieves.

History is replete with examples of achievers who thought out of the box.

Would it have been possible for the great Newton to have thought of gravity or invent Calculus, without thinking inquisitively? Would rote-learning produce inventions like electricity or the telephone? Man’s quest for growth & his curiosity to know, “why” separates him from animals. And no invention would have been possible if the inventor had resorted to rote-learning methods.

Rote-learning examples often quote successful people as those who’ve mastered their art through cramming. It is conveniently forgotten that success isn’t a simple equation in one variable. There’s lot more to Schumacher’s sharp moves on the F1 track or Sachin’s elegant cover drives than a set pattern. It is pure passion and respect for their craft. Besides, if it was possible to produce geniuses by cramming, the world would have had many more Maradonnas & Bachchans. A soccer prodigy in Lionel Messi and a superstar in SRK should be attributed to personal adeptness & charm; not cramming.

Anything in excess is deleterious!

Even man’s unquenchable greed for more can be considered as cramming. How else do you explain man’s immoderate desire for wealth despite his limited needs? ‘Cram it up till you have space’ as a methodology is highly regressive. It should be shied away from.

-Co-authored by Ryan George

Banks Interest Rate on Savings Accounts Deregulated by RBI

2011-10-26T18:41:00.000+05:30

Repercussions:

· Depositors will get more on savings accounts

· Loan rates will come down

On Diwali i.e. 26-Oct-11, the RBI deregulated fixed return on savings accounts for deposits of and above Rs.1, 00,000. This news was covered but overshadowed by the 25 basis points hike in interest rates. However, this piece of information is very strategic for the current Indian banking industry. It is going to cause fundamental shift in how banks operate.

How we take loans?

We compare the interest rates on the loan (which we want) among various banks and shortlist the ones lending at minimum rates. We then, read more about the loan schemes or talk to our bankers to find about any other charges (mostly hidden). Then we apply for the loan in a bank based on trust, convenience and efficiency.

How we deposit funds in banks?

There are various options like savings account, current account and fixed deposits being the most common ones. If we want to open a savings account, we knew that all banks took the deposits at the same fixed rate of interest, i.e. 4%. Since the interest rate was fixed, and there was nothing else to compare, we went to the bank which was nearest to our house or work place. While opening a savings account, the depositor looked only at the distance between his house and the bank as a parameter.

What Banks did to get your deposits?

The banks of course take our deposit at a lower rate and lend it out at a higher rate. Now, the more funds they will have, the more they can lend out. The more they lend out, the more profit they make. To get our funds, the banks want to be near our house so that you open a savings account with them. Since we usually go to the nearest bank, the bank with most no. of branches will have the most no. of customers opening their savings account.

Hence, banks simply want to open as many branches they can.

Why do banks want our savings deposits the most?

There are multiple ways in which a bank can get funds. And then they lend the same at a higher rate of interest. Now bank is a business entity and has to make profits. The difference between the rate at which the bank gets its fund and the rate at which it lends out goes into the bank’s pockets. This difference between the borrowing and lending rates is called Spread. E.g. if the average rate of borrowing is 7% and the average rate of lending is 12%, the Spread is 5. The higher the Spread the higher will be the profit for the banks. The banks, therefore, want your savings account with them as it increases their Spread.

How do the Savings Accounts increase the Spread for the bank?

Simply put, the Savings accounts are the cheapest source of funds for the banks.

Fixed rate of interest on a Loan given by banks is say, 12%
The various Rates of interest the banks pays for its source of funds:
Source of fund	Approximate Rate of interest paid by Bank	Lending rate (assumed fixed at 12%)	Spread
Savings account	4%	12%	8%
Fixed deposits	9%	12%	3%
Recurring deposits	7%	12%	5%
Borrowing from Central Bank (i.e. RBI)	8%	12%	4%
Other sources	More than 4%	12%	Less than 8%

A comparison of source of funds for a big bank and a small bank

A big bank has wide geographical reach, which means that it has many people opening their savings accounts with it. A smaller bank will have lesser amount of its funds coming from the savings account. Let’s take a hypothetical example, showing the breakup of source of funds for the banks.

Source of Fund	Rate of interest paid by Bank	Big Bank, A	Small Bank, B
Savings account	4%	40	20
Fixed deposits	9%	12	18
Recurring deposits	7%	12	15
Borrowing from Central Bank (i.e. RBI)	8%	15	8
Other sources	9%	21	39

So the average interest paid by Bank A to get its funds= (4*40+9*12+7*12+8*15+9*21)/100

= 6.61%

And the average interest paid by Bank B to get its funds= (4*20+9*18+7*15+8*8+9*39)/100 = 7.62%

Hence on every loan given out by the two banks at the same rate of interest, Bank A will have a larger spread and will earn more profit.

What will change now?

While opening a savings deposit, we will now also look at the interest given by various banks. We will not just go to the nearest bank.

There are more than 60 banks in India that fall under the categories of Nationalized Banks, Public sector and private sector banks and Foreign Banks operating in India. A common man can hardly name 10. This is because only a handful of big banks have wide geographical reach.

The smaller banks cannot spread overnight but they can definitely increase the return paid on Savings accounts overnight. The smaller banks will thus offer higher returns on the savings accounts.

Now there will be less incentive for banks to open more and more branches. The equation will now depend on the balance between reach (no. of branches) and the return given on saving accounts.

Why will the Interest Rate on Loans decrease?

It looks logical that the interest rate on loans would increase proportionately. But the opposite just might happen.

The smaller banks will be able get their funds at a cheaper rate now. Since the funds with them are available at a cheaper price, for the same Spread, they will be able to give loans at a lower rate.

For smaller banks		Desired Spread	Rate on Loans
Initial Rate of source of Funds	8%	5	13%
New rate of source of Funds	7%	5	12%

The smaller banks will decrease the interest on Loans and to prevent loss of business, the bigger banks will have to do the same J

Other effects

Less incentive to open more and more branches- Banks will be able to compete based on the savings accounts interest rate too. The depositor will chose his Bank based on this parameter in a big way. This will change the previous equations.

Bottom line (i.e. profits) of large banks will decrease and that of small banks will increase- Effectively, the bigger banks were enjoying a higher profit (higher Spread), and the smaller ones earned less profit (lower Spread). This difference will be minimized. The result will be loss of profit for bigger banks and equal gain of profits for the smaller ones.

Sources:

http://zeenews.india.com/business/finance/rbi-frees-savings-bank-interest-rate_32846.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_banks_in_India

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banking_in_India

http://www.i-save.com/money/DepositResult.aspx

http://www.rediff.com/business/slide-show/slide-show-1-rbi-frees-savings-bank-interest-rate-depositors-may-get-more/20111025.htm

http://www.informationbible.com/article-sources-of-bank-funds-52397.html

There are Rules !

2011-09-18T17:50:00.002+05:30

There are rules.
I hate to say that but that’s what I have learnt, rather the hard way. And I am talking about a basic rule here. The rule regarding the everyday stuff.

Examples of obvious:

Father knows if you deserve the score you got or was it a setting

Time it takes to get ready, eat food, hours of sleep

Etc..

My story- I was in my engineering college. The mention of “engineering” is critical as it epitomizes arguably the harshest survival conditions, after military that is. So I was new in college and I had been the studious type. Not the topper or anything but the studious type who felt it useful to read than to banter. A couple of semesters passed and I was pretty settled with my bunch of friends. But there was one unfulfilled dream.

I wanted to be the topper. Just once.

There were semesters when I really tried to get my act together, attended all classes, made notes, prepared well and then boom. There would be a couple of questions that I could not answer and never get there, to the top.

Giving up hope, I looked around and was amazed. There were many like me who wanted their shot at glory. They dug in their heels more than I could imagine. And you know who took away the cake? Well they were the regular studious guys, topping all their way from nursery, probably. But it is not about them. It is about two weirdos I know. Kush is one of them, the other I won’t name. They studied just a night before and were technically the second toppers. Now what was that!

Kush literally had and has the photo-memory or something. He reads and he gets a photocopy in his memory. Remember Vicky from Small Wonders!

Now he isn’t super intelligent or anything. Girls flock around him and he gets things his way by acting kid, but that isn’t intelligence really.

Ok back to the point. I slowly realised that no matter how hard you try you can never go above a certain point. I tried the reverse (after getting placed) and found that no matter how less you try you cannot go below a certain point.

So that’s the law

No matter how much you study you cannot get more than a certain mark and no matter how less you study you cannot get less than a certain mark.

I have tested this law on many people. It stands.

But does that mean a person is doomed to be a mediocre. Is that fate!

I thought of that.

An example-Just by increasing the no. of salesmen, you can get a proportional rise in sales figure. True the sales would increase but the average sales per salesmen would remain same. What is needed is a paradigm shift. Another case. Want to be a swimmer, the best one. You can practice hard to get at your elasticity level. To improve beyond that, there would be the need to make some tough decisions. E.g. the salesmen need to change their strategy if not the product. For swimming, need to eat healthy food, climb stairs to build stamina, listen to calm music to give mind its peace. It is a combination of these things that might work.

As someone said “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”. Similarly in studies or anything there cannot be success by doing something over and over again. There has to be a change in approach.

All said and done, life is short and one cannot keep hopping or changing strategies to get the results. I guess at these points is when we understand “perseverance” and “faith” and “following one’s heart”.

And to give the rule a generic tone, There has to be substantial change in habit, process and outlook for things to happen as expected, playing with nos. or doing more of what was done doesn’t helps much

Theory X and Theory Y

2011-09-08T00:51:00.000+05:30

Our professor Dr.Mandi introduced us to an interesting concept of “Theory X and Theory Y”. Though I had heard about it before, its true essence is understood only now in context to management.

The theories were created and developed by Douglas McGregor. They describe two different attitudes towards employee motivation.

Theory X managers think that the employees are inherently lazy. They dislike their work. They need to be controlled and coerced to work.

Theory Y management has strong faith in its employees. The management thinks that the employees are self-motivated and enjoy their work.

Both these approaches are two extremes and as human beings, we would be somewhere in between. However the intention is to be closer to Theory Y in real life.

Suppose a manager finds an employee wiling his time in a work station. Instead of reprimanding the person, the manager needs to act as a guardian and have strong conviction that the employee is productive. The manager needs to stand by such employees and believe that they are better than the way they have been acting.

Surprised!

I asked my professor if the manager has to act dumb and ignore the obvious.

My professor explained that the manager doesn’t ignore but believes.

In spite of having the full knowledge about the undesirable behaviour of its employees the management needs to treat them as family.

The idea is to build a congenial and trustworthy environment by acting in that way. As an example, consider a scenario in which you were spotted by your father doing something unwanted, but instead of scolding he ignored and went about being proud of his child. Such an instance shames the person into doing what is right. Theory Y is thus desirable as it intends to change the employees’ outlook into being productive.

Logically, either theory is not completely encompassing. In theory X, active employees would suffer while in theory Y there would be free riders. The difference is that Theory X under tight control by management would create a depressed culture while Theory Y would lead to an open and sanguine atmosphere.

And common sense tells us happy people are more productive!

MahaMandi-NITIE-Mumbai

2011-08-18T02:59:00.002+05:30

What is it?

Mandi is an annual one day event conducted by NITIE. Students from the first year are given a bagful of about Rs.2000 worth of inventory that they have to sell during the day. The products that we sell are mostly educational toys. It is done to give us a taste of real life sales at ground zero. We of course raise money for a NGO Navnirmiti in the process. From last year the event has turned into Mahamandi with substantial participation from various business schools in the likes of NMIMS, SJMSOM and KJSOM among others.

It begins!

There was a formal speech and flag-off by our professors and guests that included Aditi Govitrikar. There were several Best buses lined up in the campus to take us to various points in Mumbai. Typical of student mentality there was no strategy or plan as such. We hopped onto different buses as per our imagination of the beauty of Mumbai. There was one inventory bag for every two persons. My partner and I boarded the bus to Juhu Beach. After about an hour or so of crawling in the traffic of Mumbai, we reached Juhu. What followed was an unforgettable day!

First Sale

The pitch:

“Excuse me Sir, we are first year students of NITIE and we are on a drive called Mahamandi (broadening my chest and running a finger over it pointing to the inscription on the t-shirt). About a 1000 students are on the roads today all over Mumbai from various business schools like NITIE, Narsee Monjee and IIT. We are promoting ‘education by doing’. We have educational toys by a NGO called Navnirmiti. These are made by children of the NGO to help other small children learn using them. These are not conventional toys and are designed by a scientist from IIT Bombay (pulled out and gave them a toy called ‘Jodo’). And of course the proceeds from these sales will go to the children of Navnirmiti”.

If a person doubted our pitch, I turned around to show the sponsors’ logo printed on the back of our t-shirts and showed a permission letter from the commissioner of police of Mumbai. A couple of times people pulled my hanging ID and read it to see if we were not bluffing.

After several false starts, we shed our attitude and talked to a couple on the beach. By talk I mean we narrated our pitch.
Our first customer said, “I am a bachelor and have no children.”
“Boss you can gift it to somebody and it is also for a good cause.”
At that point we pulled out another item called ‘Navrang’.
“This is like a cubic square but quite different. Unlike a cubic square, you can disassemble the individual pieces and have to assemble in such a way that each face has cubes of nine different colours.”
The boy to his girlfriend, “Tumhe ye chahiye kya, waise bhi tum apna time waste hi karti ho.”
The girl to the boy, “Nahi mujhe Jodo chahiye, main Chintu ko gift karungi”
The couple bought both the items.

After the first couple of sales, we could not sell for the next 4 hours. People heard us but did not buy. Some just signalled us away. After a couple of hours the euphoria turned into disappointment while the humid sea wind drained all our energy.

Search for the right third P of marketing

After increasing our operational cost several times in the guise of lunch and cold-drink bottles, it dawned on us that we were stuck in a wrong place. We had to move to another place. We walked looking for the nearest traffic signal. It was very difficult to complete a sale within a couple of minutes at a signal. Right from making a pitch, to answering the customer, to completing the transaction in a short span of time at the traffic signal is no small task. We took an auto to a small mall near Santa Cruz station. Not enough children there- we moved to another mall in Erla Parle. Here we had some ice break. People heard us out but gave rational decision against buying anything- we do not have small children or our children are too small. We did get a hang of the target customer by then. We took an auto to the nearest Shopper Stop. We pitched a lot and made a few sales. We were selling then but people bought only one item based on the cost. We needed a bigger mall as the Place in 4 Ps of marketing. We went to Infinity Mall in Andheri. It was 9PM and we were desperate. But lady luck smiled on us and in the next 1 hour we sold about 800 worth of our inventory!

Authority helps!

There was an incident when a few friends spread their inventory on the road to attract customers. They attracted customers but the shopkeeper behind them came out angrily on them for taking away his customers. Pat came out a copy of the letter that we had signed by the commissioner of Mumbai police allowing us to do sales on the road. The shopkeeper did not bother any further.

And in another scenario, a few of my friends sold to traffic and regular policemen. Taking money from the police has its own charm :)

Credentials are merited

The better way to begin a pitch is to say that you are a MBA student. People then slow down to listen. Speaking in English slows down people further.

Sales doesn’t needs rocket science

At least for the common person, a basic necessity or a connect with a product is enough. There is not much scope for describing the science or logic behind a product. We had an item called ‘Navrang’, and the solution to solving it had its roots in the concepts of Permutation and Combination. There was another product ‘Jodo’. It had plastic pipes of different length and the lengths were in Golden Ratio (1:0.618). This Golden ratio is derived as the ratio of two consecutive large numbers in a Fibonacci Series. This ratio is also found in nature. But the moment we said all this to our customers, most of them thought we were aliens. We learned to change our pitch depending on our customer.

Native language sells

My co-seller is from A.P. and speaks Telugu. While on the road on a lookout for customers, it twice happened that we heard people speaking in Telugu. My friend quickly made a pitch to them in their native language while I waited with a smiling face. In both the cases, the customers did not qualify as target customers but they bought one product each, nevertheless the cheapest ones.

Good cause sells

A visibly tense man comes out of the mall. We make a pessimistic pitch, “Excuse me Sir, we are first year MBA students of NITIE and we are on a drive called Mahamandi to raise money for a NGO Navnirmiti”. He stops in his path and we complete our pitch. To our surprise he offers us marketing cum sales job. “Sir, we are not looking for a job, this is a one day initiative that we are doing. It is to help us understand the market and get first-hand experience. You can buy this toy, here (putting a toy in his hand) for your children at home”. He replies, “I am still unmarried, and but I will buy something as this is for a good cause. Give me the smallest thing you have as I have a flight today and I don’t want to increase my luggage”. Thus we made one sale there.

In another case, an old man was willing to donate but not buy as he had no children at home. We humbly declined the offer.

The Touch Effect

Go ahead and make your customers touch and feel your product. It helps build confidence. Once we mentioned the price of any item, we at once placed it in the hands of our customers. People are willing to touch and feel the product. Once that is done, there is visible inclination from the customer to buy. In fact this ploy is often seen in buses and trains where hawkers give their products to everyone, and later collect it back, not before having made few good sales.

Indulge the non-buyers

Indulge the non-buyers; they act as magnet for other buyers. Haven’t you noticed how a lonely ‘fuchkawala’ gets all crowded over after he gets his first two customers! It’s a mob mentality. If there is a gathering, it swells up as people want to figure out what’s going on.

Teenagers- a great market segment

4 of us boys were pitching to a family. The old man in the lot settled to buy a product after ripping apart its cover to ensure it was functioning. A teenage girl looked curious about the comics we had. We focussed on talking to her only and slowly moved on to cordon her off. We were making hefty promotions about the comic books- its adrenalin pumping, it’s for the youth, it’s for the liberal…

An old voice from behind- Are you done, girl.
The girl (rather sternly) - wait a minute papa.
She glowed in all the adulation we showered on her and bought the most expensive thing with us- a set of 5 comic books for 200.

Quick facts

Wait for the customer- do not go after them
Bore the audience and they disperse- instant feedback
When you are selling, you do a lot of calculation on the fly. The operational cost- transport, food etc. are all calculated as a percentage of the sales made. The decision to walk or board a train becomes a matter of economics alone.
In case someone makes an eye contact, go and pitch to that person.

Mumbai !

People do not bargain
30 seconds and that’s it, it’s a straight no or they pull out the wallet/purse without any bargain.

Respect

It’s an enervating job—salesmen slog and probably fall asleep in all weird possible positions as we did that night.

Image Sources:

http://www.facebook.com/MahaMandi

http://www.google.com/imghp?hl=en&tab=wi
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150351853600649.399038.695690648
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150258842742638.326411.585562637

P.S. The event was exclusively covered by MTV

India Shining?

2011-07-17T02:24:00.010+05:30

Do not be fooled by India shining stories.

The nominal GDP of India is $ 1.5 trillion and that of USA is $ 14.7 trillion. Even if India’s economy grows at 8% consistently, it would take 30 years to match the GDP of US today.

1.5(1+8/100) ^x=14.7 => x=30 years

In the span of 30 years, even if US economy grew at a modest rate of 3.5%, it would be at $ 41.3 trillion, a good 3 times bigger than it is today.

In reality the entire growth story of India and China is a propaganda that makes money for the rich. Every financial product is a tool to make money and a country too can be viewed as an investment option. Developed economies would return a modest 3.5% per annum while India will return a good 8%. For institutions and people with money, they can grow their money faster in India. Hence the growth story of India is in the news because it makes money for some people. The moment FIIs start taking their money out of the stock markets, it goes into a tailspin. The FII inflow and outflow data in past two years is a point in case.

Is it really propaganda?

A trip: Madurai-Rameswaram-Dhanushkodi

2011-06-04T00:28:00.003+05:30

Rameswaram- A place known for its temple and associated religion history is a getaway for the religiously inclined and for the adventurers, bikers and loners alike. Recently I went on a relatively unplanned 2-day trip to Rameswaram from Bangalore. In the process I covered Madurai and Dhanushkodi too.
And Dhanushkodi- It complements the eccentric.

Thursday- 2300 hrs-Nagercoil Express from Majestic, Bangalore

There is another train that runs daily and starts at 9PM. Nagercoil Express is weekly and that too on a Thursday, so easier to get tickets.

Friday- 1000 hrs- Madurai Junction

Rewind a few hours. Since I was in fast-forward mode, I got fresh in the train. Had break-fast at a station on the way. The train reaches an hour late. I am soaked in the heat. The passersby inform that the Meenakshi Temple is just 10 mins walking. Bus Stand too is just 10 mins from the station.

Friday- 1100 hrs- Meenakshi Temple

Walked slowly towards the temple soaking in the aroma of the place. The temple is big. The energy in the visitors is infectious. There are 4 towers or ‘gopurams’ with an entry gate at each. Close to each entrance there is a cloak room. I put my one bag luggage there. Camera is allowed inside with a Rs.50 entry fees. The 'gopurams' are engraved with beautiful sculptures of demons and gods.

There are long queues inside typical of any popular temple. Particular to South Indian temples, there is option of a shorter queue at premiums of Rs.30 and Rs.50.
After standing in a boisterous queue for about an hour, I had my tryst with God. Post that I had a walk around and clicked. The pic shows the 'gopuram' from inside with an empty pond seen in between. Elephants inside the temple is a regular feature.

Elephant in temple

There is a museum inside the temple with sculpture.

Friday- 1330 hrs- Madurai

After the temple,

- burnt my feet walking around as I was bare-foot and had exited from a different gopuram than the one I had entered from.

- Had sugar syrup tea that I liked and explored the various alleys that seem to originate from all around the temple. Imagine streams of water flowing in all directions from a mountain.

- Bought the Hindu and wondered why it was priced Rs.3.75. I paid 4 though. The next day I came across Indian Express newspaper priced Rs.3.20

- Had native lunch on a banana leaf and licked the 'rasam' off my elbow

The Hindu at 3.75

Dr.

2011-05-14T00:41:00.003+05:30

Dr. Joseph Francis enjoys his work. He is a psychologist. He attributes his expertise to common sense and the ability to connect to people. The MRs are crossed with him for prescribing the least amount of medicines. However, the faith that his patients have in him, more than makes up for that.

Like many people, he is a movie buff. So the day his assistant Harish hastily entered his operating room to inform that Namrata Desai is waiting to see him, he literally jump from his chair.

Joseph: “You mean the director Namrata Desai ?”

Harish: “Dr. Sahab, I looked hard at her for 5 minutes. I believed her eventually when she filled this form”. Joseph took the form from Harish and saw for himself in writing “Namrata Desai”.

“Ok, ask her for coffee and wait till I ask for her”.

Joseph assessed the form. “Loss of interest, appetite, inferiority and irregular sleep habits-A clear sign of depression”, Joseph said to himself. He gets all the more curious to see his celebrity patient. For a dynamic woman who recently won the award for “Best Documentary” at the “International Films Festival”, this was a strange mental state.

Joseph dials the intercom asking Harish to send in Miss Namrata Desai. As she enters the room, Joseph cross-checks to see if his diagnosis is correct. Lost eyes, a slow gait and lack of enthusiasm- He decides to take it from there. He gets up and greets his patient.

Namrata is wearing a salwaar kameez with a Jaipuri sandal. Her shawl has a fine work of handicraft. Simple and stoic.

“Hello Miss Desai”, greeted Joseph.

“Hello Doctor”, says Namrata visibly appreciative that she is recognized, “Frankly, I cannot say I am happy to be here”, she looks to see the effect of her words on the doctor. Joseph smiles, “I understand”. Namrata adds, “I am not sure if I need any psychological counseling. My mother, she is old, and insisted that I see you”.

Joseph smiles in his casual demeanor, “I am sure Miss Desai that you require no psychological help. I follow your work quite closely and I have to admit your last work was exemplary. I am sure you have a very healthy mental state. But as you are here, kindly oblige me with a few questions that I have for you. Consider me your curious fan.”

Namrata keeps a straight face, “Sure Doctor, I am involved with the down trodden and it is good to see if I am able to change things for the better”.

“Miss Desai, your work would certainly involve a lot of ground work and meeting with people in distress. Your last documentary on the state of women in the state of Haryana, would have met many social barriers. How do you go about working on such stories?”

Namrata is lost for a moment before she says, “Doctor it’s one thing to see the misery on screen and quite another to live such a life for oneself. Members of my NGO go to villages and meet with women there. It is difficult to explain to the men folk that we are there to help their family. Once in a while, when we do get to talk to women in the house, we start with their living conditions, income, children etc. Slowly we begin to question them on the issues of domestic violence and biasness against them. We live in the village neighborhood for days together before women really open up.”

“How did you come to know about Malti, the lady in your documentary?”

The MBA dream- The week before the exams

2011-05-12T02:52:00.001+05:30

Now that the exams are over and we are all set to go on our MBA journeys, here is my 2 cents for future aspirants to get set and go.

Everyone prepares primarily for CAT. And all the MBA exams happen on consecutive Sundays from November to January. The new exceptions being CAT and NMAT as they are online, with the option to choose the exam dates. The week before each MBA exam involves going through a few last years’ papers to get familiar with the format. Every exam is different and requires a different mindset and a slight tweak in strategy to do well there.
Here is my take on various exams - exam style, focus of each exam, insights.

CAT- Despite any criticism how the exam is conducted; it is one of the best structured test. Movement across questions in the online test is easy. The paper has 3 sections on DI-LR, Quant and English. With the online format, the level of questions went down and is expected to remain so as it is difficult to make a plethora of unique questions. The new online CAT rewards a mix of speed and accuracy.

IIFT- It covers Quant, LR-DI, RC-VA and GK. This paper allots different marks to questions of different sections. Accuracy helps. Reading newspapers regularly for a few months before the exam alleviates the need to fear GK.

FMS- This is more of an English test. 50% of the paper is English. There are 4 sections with equal weight-ages. For a 120 minutes paper with 175-200 questions, the cutoffs are on the higher side. Speed and only speed matters here. The sections are RC, VA, Quant, LR-DI.

JMET- It is a 3 hour exam. 4 sections-English, LR, Quant and DI. It is an exhausting exam and there are hardly any direct answers. Perseverance is the key.
SNAP- It’s an easy, quick paced and high accuracy test. The sections are English, Quant-DI, LR and GK. The clincher is the LR section. It has double the score for each LR question.

The MBA dream- The Journey

2011-04-24T03:02:00.002+05:30

1^st Attempt

I joined TIME mock test series. This was also the time that we were doing our internship in MindTree. It was a tumultuous time. We, the bunch of people working in a company for the first time were very excited. The work load was also great. We all had to make individual Java projects that had to work. Still, it was fun. Looking back, it was probably my best part in MindTree. It was also a time when we installed CS (Counter Strike) on each system. Most of us played it most of the times. Sometimes during a lecture too or during a pep up talk, HR, Fin, Ops talks. Of course the usual suspects were the ones who did most of the work or so they seem to portray. As is the case, studious junta never did any better than we the CS freaks. We played our heart out forming clans and taking up weird names, and our projects did turn up really good too. The best project that I liked was Ruchir’s. Simply put, he had to make a chat application like GTalk. And he made it. Now if Ruchir could do that, then of course we could do ours too. After all MindTree was the first company on campus and they got the opportunity to pick the best, arguably the best. And over this period of mauj-masti and some serious work, I was not even sure if to prepare for M.Tech or MBA. The fact that M.Tech needed some serious study and with MBA I could change jobs easily and the (fake) glamour associated with MBA, tilted the scale in favor of MBA.

To get started I bought a couple of books on Quant and DI. I do not enjoy forming a group and chit-chatting or finding ways to impress every girl, so I had enough time in my hand after I returned home from office every day. Back home, I use to solve a few questions in the slow school style. While Tanmay, Ruchir, Gaurav, S2 gossiped or watched IPL, I joined them only when they were having serious fun or to add fuel to any discussion that would be ensuing. On Sundays, Ruchir and I went for our mock tests with TIME. On our back home, we discussed how we made silly mistakes or shared tricks of the trade- my tricks and his trade. This basically summarizes my preparation in the first year. Between work-load, fun and new money (read first paying job), I squeezed in a few hours of question solving.

The MBA dream- Successful Interviews-2

2011-04-24T01:41:00.003+05:30

After the first convert, I was upbeat. However NITIE was my best call and had to do as well as I could. This college usually conducts technical interviews. I had my plans :P

NITIE GD-PI experience

Topic: Does Imprisonment serve its purpose

It was a decent GD with everyone pitching in. Discussion ranged from imprisonment in traditional sense for conflicts to imprisonment of ideas and freedom (leading to revolution as in Middle East) to imprisonment of animals. People were in consensus that imprisonment is not an option. Imprisonment should be replaced by rehabilitation programs. My points- i) People like Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Syuu Kii have been to prison to motivate people for a cause-added Bhagat Singh too later. ii) If a bureaucrat goes to prison, then that doesn’t serves people against whom he/she did wrong. Such a person should be made to pay back by working for a NGO and give back to society against which the harm has been done.

Added a few more minor points and tried to smoothen proceedings with articulation of ideas discussed, a couple of times.

Signal for summary-begun summary-said we are in consensus that imprisonment should be accompanied by rehabilitation programs and we also talked about imprisonment of ideas. Also there are positive sides to imprisonment like statesman motivating masses and if we look imprisonment as a constraint then there are instances when we have writers and singers from prison because they were able to concentrate their energies.

So that was the GD and I came out feeling I could have done better. The next was interview and it was more technical than I bargained for.

Interview

The MBA dream- Successful Interviews-1

2011-04-23T10:28:00.004+05:30

After failing to clear four consecutive MBA interviews last year, my confidence was low. This had to be the watershed year my interviews. I dug deep. The things I did are:

i) Went extensively through the successful interviews of people in Pagalguy (http://www.pagalguy.com/) trying to figure a common thread. For each college, I formed opinion about what the college looked at.

ii) Most colleges ask the interviewees to fill a questionnaire. The interview may or may not be based on the questionnaire. I thought over for each question for a long time. On an average, I answered about one question each day. But my mind was mostly preoccupied with them.

Eventually, the clinchers did come my way. After each interview, I jotted down my experience, especially the ones with which I was satisfied.

SIBM-P GD-PI experience

I boarded the bus from Symbiosis Scoiety at Senapati Bapat Road in Pune. It took us to the Symbi Lavale campus that houses three colleges including SIBM-P. First there was document verification. It was done by a faculty and a student of the college. Then we were taken to a hall/classroom. There we were seated based on out group ids. There was a group coordinator, another college student. He gave us a friendly advice not to make a fish market in GP process (GP-group process comprising of GD and a case study analysis). This was indeed a very sound advice because I know from my last year’s experience that the group dynamics can literally be the reason between a convert and a reject.

So it all began:

Advertisement Analysis

All the aspirants in the classroom were shown a commercial and we had to write an analysis on it in 5 mins. Our analysis was then sent to our respective PI panels who might or might not ask questions on what we had written. We were shown a TOI commercial. Its link on Youtube is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVjRU-p_mtc

I wrote: The ad shows India in its varied colors. It connects with the target audience well in bringing about the fact that the newspaper covers the entire Indian spectrum. There is focus on details too…

Then our group had PI. I was the third in the queue in the group of 9 (two absentees)

Interview:

Short and Sweet: a take on Indian Airlines

2011-03-26T11:27:00.001+05:30

24-Mar-11

Well am flying, I guess, about 10-11 kms above sea level. I can see traces of land below so certainly not above the sea right now. Travelling in the Jet Airways I am going to Bangalore, this flight left from Kolkata at 6:15AM.
This is my 3rd flight and I am more seasoned at flying. Take-offs and landing still set the adrenalin levels soaring. A quick comparison of the airlines I have been into.

Tanmay

2011-01-06T21:46:00.001+05:30

While in college neither among Ruchir, Gaurav and me, were even regular friends with Tanmay. We mostly had the idea that he is someone cool flocking in some other type of group. When in Bangalore, the need brought us together. We all wanted a house and we decided to stick together. (My side of the reason is that I speculated we are independent and would gel together). In the first few days when we weathered the heat on the streets of Bangalore did we realize that we had fun together. Technically I am referring to the month of Jan, but in Bangalore it’s hard to tell the weather.
It was just our internship but we all were to join the same company thereafter, so we decided to search hard for a perfect house.
Tanmay’s criteria were clean toilets and dark rooms. Mine was a room with a lot of sunshine coming in. Gaurav didn’t care as long as it was cheap and Ruchir didn’t care as long as there was enough space for him to throw around his clothes and the expensive gadgets that he has a taste for.
During the house hunt, many a times we split in pairs and went from one real estate shop to other for rent. In a span of 2 days, we saw approximately 15-16 flats. And guess what, none of them satisfied us all. Then on the fourth night, after another tiring day, we decided to settle for a mediocre place. Ruchir (the Jugaadu), suggested we check out one more place. His father had referred it so we gladly obliged. In an auto, we reached 5th Block, 7th main, Jayanagar. Instantly we liked the stadium sized house. It fulfilled each of our criteria.

Losing the Compass

2010-08-14T01:44:00.001+05:30

It can be a tricky business to lose the compass in your 20s. The compass that served well during the turbulent teens; and looked good to take one forward in the new world of career and the post marriage life. The values of integrity, trust, tradition and protocols that were imbibed through mostly observation and sometimes through punishment, now are to be tested.
The compass will be tested.
I am lucky. I grew up in a co-ed hostel, with freedom to experiment but forced to toe the line, leaving me with a relatively flexible compass in the process. The number of cities and schools/colleges I have been to are handful. But this is not about the mavericks.
This is about the girl next door. The girl, who walks to her house from school, eyes mostly down, lost in thoughts of bantering during the day. White shirts and red skirts, with the loose ties, pass in the lane into the yellow house, turned shabby with time. The house that survives on the laughter and curiosity that shines in the eyes of its little angel occupants.

It rains and it washes away, all light.

2010-04-25T18:27:00.002+05:30

It rains and it washes away,
Leaves, concrete and heart are rinsed alike,
Rush stalls, gait recedes and nerves loosen in my sinews,
Tea delights, biscuit bites and cakes take me to my elements in a sigh,
It rains and it washes away, all light.

It rains and it washes away,
Desires rekindled, dreams flash, drizzles wet all alike,
Open arms, closed eyes and get the wings to fly,
Mother pulls inside, “you will catch a cold, be inside”
It rains and it washes away, all light.

It rains and it washes away,
Sparkle of the subway girl, Seattle sound, the fat grouchy uncle all sound sweet alike,
Mischief, dares and courage all bring bright smile,
Was it bro’s gift of purple cap or the girl who shared fistful sweets calls for a bigger delight,
My father holds my hand and takes me in the rain outside,
It rains and it washes away, all light.

The Tadiandamol Trek

2010-01-15T16:48:00.006+05:30

Tadiandamol is the one of the highest mountains in Karnataka, situated in Kodagu district.

We were out of Madikere in search of Tadiandamol so we could trek there. We left Madikere for Virajpet and were in Virajpet around 11am. We asked for directions, it turned out that we had to go back about 5kms on Makara Road and take a left after a small bridge to find Khadanga Road and head towards Kakabe. We moved that way to treat ourselves with exquisite and pristine natural beauty.

About 2 kms. before Kakabe, we took a left at a 3 way junction on the road. Roads have steadly and significantly narrowed as we moved towards Tadiandamol. There were a few ‘Homestays’ on the way, but mostly the place had a deserted look. We found a tea stall on the way that also sold snacks etc. Being the lone shop, it was lively around it. We packed chips, biscuits and "soots" from there, an Uncle lloking man told us that we need to go till the road exists in our car, from there the trek would start.
There were a few more cars at the ‘boot camp’. A small seasonal stream was beside the road. We clicked pics as we stretched ourselves for the unknown trek. The trek turned out to be about 3 kms one way. The trek view more than made up for the effort. A few of us got leeches on the way but we were ready for them, hence they were easily identified, and removed with hands. 'Dada', our dear friend, after bitter experiences from his last trek was carrying a salt pack with him, but the leeches were small enough to be removed by hand. The trek was uneven, we had stretches of uphill and down hill treks. The trekkers on their way back looked happy and that encouraged even the injured among us, (Karan had a scrap band on his leg), to keep moving. We reached the camping area after trekking for more than 2 kms, however the distance was not felt and the ambience was exhilarating. The trek path at this point had become thin enough to deter novice trekkers from moving ahead.

Energy to Synergy

2009-11-08T23:20:00.003+05:30

Energy level, referring to your passion and enthusiasm on a normal day in your life, greatly depends on:
i) Intention: The most important is your intention behind what you are doing. Take the example of a system consisting of a few members to achieve a particular task, suppose your intention is to do your best to make the system better, then definitely you won’t give much importance to other things like competing with your team members or to taking all the credit. On the other hand if you approach the other way, definitely you won’t put your best or let’s say you won’t be able to put your best because of lack of energy and due to that, along with you, the whole system will collapse or slow down.
ii) Probability concept: It’s a fact that nothing is sure or unsure, everything has some probability, simultaneously there is something called high, low probability. So you can either have a high probability of achieving something or a low probability, which somewhat depends on your priority.

mail to our batch

2009-11-04T13:53:00.005+05:30

Context: Part of our CTC, (Rs. 30,000/- to be exact), was set aside from our package. 2500pm was deducted from salary. We were supposed to get it after we complete 1 year in the company. Heard of people getting trained and leaving IT Company. Recession too is in the back ground. Anyways, we have completed 1 year and its confirmed that we do get our bonus, but what happens to the 2500/- pm from the next month. Does it gets added in regular salary? A mail sent out to friends and co-joiners to align them in case of a push back.

The actual mail:

severed threads...

2009-10-22T11:05:00.004+05:30

I know u will not call. Not talk, and not feel anything amiss.
Am jealous of your gift to remain vivacious always, I will be grateful to nature for that someday but not today
I do for u what I like, not to own u, not to hold u
My criticism, flattery, flowers are no more there , not coz I miss u any less, but coz u do not wish to be pursued
If you feel lonely or need mentoring, you know I am a call away
There r more ways to live and love..so this be mine
I will fail, get up and dust myself clean again and go back to being an optimist
And its ok now if u do not call. Not talk, and not feel anything amiss.

Perception

2009-10-06T17:30:00.001+05:30

Tariffs likely to be reduced to per second pulse for mobile usage. Good news?
If you say yes, u r likely to be a lovelorn or a common man ignorant of the intricacies of biz world. Lovelorn ‘coz you would be happy to chat to your beau or beloved. Have a look at a line below from the article “MATTER OF SECONDS” that appeared on the front page of The Economic Times on 6th Oct’09. “THE Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) plans to ask all mobile service providers to bill customers per seconds of actual usage, in a landmark move that will benefit 450 million customers at the cost of telcos that could face a 15% fall in revenues.” I had bought a few shares of Airtel just a few days ago but in just last two days, its price has depreciated heavily. Wonder why, because the new Tariff plan will reduce revenue for telcos by approx. 15%. Say you are in a private company that is currently not doing well. The management decides to hand over a few pink slips. What will be the employees’ confidence level? It doesn’t matters much to anyone except perhaps those who are laid, but it’s very likely that the share prices of the company’s stocks will increase. Is that irrational? Evidently the investor thinks otherwise. He is happy that his investment is striving to increase its value.
These days, indefatigable human spirit is fast watering the deserts of recession. Say your company goes ahead and acquires another company. Will you as an employee crib or be happy for your company? In ITeS industry, given the high attrition rate, you are more likely to crib because for the current quarter at least, the company’s balance sheet will show lesser profit which eats into your bonus. But from a macro point of view, that’s the right thing to do, especially since the valuation of assets is yet reasonable, and it’s good to buy before economic dynamics increase the prices of all and sundry.
Isn’t it all about perception and about the position from which you see things? Let’s get back to mobiles again. I would be happy about the probable reduction in tariff if I could neutralize my short term losses on the bourse. One way to do that is that I talk to my friend, a girl, who is in other state (other circle for telcos), talk to her on mobile long enough such that the amount that I save per call adds up to equal my losses.
You want another irony of perception. She, a very good friend of mine (well that’s how most of the guys begin), and I used to talk on mobile quite a lot if not always. Obviously she is special. I told her the same, a few days ago. Timing turned out to be wrong. Have to contend with strictly a friend label now. I got pissed and fought with her over a trivial matter. No calls since then.
What now, no way to compensate for my current losses, both in the stocks and love (err… friendship).

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