"I Think Therefore I Exist"

Belief system & identity crisis

2006-05-18T08:02:00.000-07:00

Recently, I read somewhere that "we are designed to belief and not to seek truth". After pondering over it for sometime, I agree to a great extant.

In the process of learning we create some fundamentals for ourselves that gives us some identity - approved by others, such as xyz are my parents, my name is abc, I am a boy/girl etc. These fundamentals are important building blocks...and once someone has found firm belief in it, he/she will not agree to facts which does not gel with these fundamentals. A child's response to some questions can reveal his/her fundamental belief system at that age. Thus, we create a network of building blocks - which reinforces/improves itself thru experience.

Now taking a departure, I believe that the concept of religion started to provide some of these fundamentals for society or a group that would approve of and respect each other's belief system and hence help enhance faith in each other. I sincerely believe that it would be almost impossible for a majority of us to think in similar way unless forced thru a system, such as common education or religion.

Now, if some of the fundamentals are threatened by any event, we face a identity crises! This identity crises can lead us to display crazy behaviour - the only explanation to which according to me is that the root fundamental is to defend one's identity in most of the cases.

Perhaps, every coin has two sides - a system which is probably designed to create a common platform for all - in order to reduce noises - can face identity crisis when faced with another system made to achieve similar goals and finally a system would prevail or at best each will co-exist. A good example would be - Allopath, Homeopath, Ayurved, Accupuncture. These system existed continue to exist probably because they were not linked to one's identity. I may use Ayurved sometimes, seek Allopath at other times, or Homeopath at some other time. I do not face an identity crises and hence I'm ok with it.

I can recognise a system which doesn't question my identity. I can even use it and accept it.

How about a system which questions my identity? First, I will ignore it. If forced, I will repel it. Have you experienced such a system?

Some systems are designed in such a way that we may attach our identity to it - such as one may believe in God beacuse God made everything and in turn him. It is very tough to reject some of the fundamentals which explain what is unexplained, because later one creates other beliefs based on this belief. It is easy to reject a belief if it is in isolation - but not the ones which are building blocks for other beliefs.

If the identity crises occurs for a group of people (mostly thru a common system in which they believe or are forced to believe), they repel.

Today, people associate themselves to success. Success gives them identity! People acknowledge us if we achieve something.

How about it, if one is denied means to success which he believes to deserve? or Worse, a group of people are denied which they believe to deserve? One faces identity crises. An identity which one seeks.

If we sincerely think that a system should be removed for some reason, we need to dilute / exterminate the belief on which the system was made.

Random thoughts...

2006-04-03T04:56:00.000-07:00

What am I supposed to do?
Should I think over it?
Recently, I got exposed to advaita and some other philosophies - during discussions with friends. Specifically, the hypothetical link of one with energy and wave theory was striking. However, at this moment, I am stuck with the concept of time itself.

Nostalgia strikes!

2006-03-28T17:20:00.000-08:00

After a long time (more than 7 years), eagerly waiting to contact my old friends, I have given up on Batchmates.com or Alumni.net. I am writing this post in a faith that at least a few of my classmates (12th grade or below) would recognize me. Others would find the following stuff irrelevant.

I spent my childhood at a small place on India-Nepal Border - Birpur (Bihar). I think this place would be far from today's high-tech world, even today. (And I hope it would be as beautiful as it was during my childhood). I did my primary & secondary studies at rather unknown schools - Koshi Bal Vidyalaya (1984-1990) & Koshi high school (1991-1994). After spending about 13 years at Birpur, I had more than 130 friends (10 per year ;)). So, it is impossible for me to name all of them, but I will name a few anyway.
High School: Amaresh, Amit, Sujit, Pranav, Prashant, Raghvendra, Neha, Pallavi
Primary school: Jagannath, Komal, Rimjhim
Home: Suman, Roshan, Raja, Rajesh, Pappu, Bharath, Dharma (if it helps, my nick is Anku)

I left Birpur when I was in 10th grade and joined Railway high school at Chakradharpur in 1994. My stint at Chakradharpur was rather short (one year) and I could make only a few friends - Neeraj Sinha, Neeraj Gupta, Sanjay Jha, Sanjay Srivastava, Prabhakar and Rinki (who used to live on the ground floor).

Then, I left chakradharpur to do my 12th grade at Ram Mohun Roy Seminary, Patna. Unfortunately, this period (1995-1997) was not so good for me due to poor health conditions (I survived my exam on medical grant) and I could not make many friends. I remember only Ashish Gopalika, Chandan and Jyoti. In addition, at my hostel I got some good friends - Ranvir and Payal.

I had a crush on Payal (teen-age!) and so had she (OK! she never admitted) and before our friendship could mature to any other relationship - I finished 12th (Yeah!) and left for Delhi.

Some time later, I lost my diary which had some contact details - and as a consequece, I lost touch with everyone! All of a sudden, I had no friends!

I joined IIT Guwahati in 1998 - and after that, thanks to the evolution of internet & other communication systems in India, I am not lost anymore.

Why this blog? Because, even if my friends visit this page - they might not recognize my face. Of course, I have changed a lot!

Financial Mathematics - I love it!

2006-03-24T19:32:00.000-08:00

It is just intriguing to find that mathematics is appied so much in the field of finance! Yeah... I am spending these days studying stochastic calculus and econometrics :) Why? I think I just love it!

I really like the different (chaotic) ways in which mathematics is applied in the field of finance - with each security and company having its own (many) model(s), which can easily lead to arbitrage opportunities. And the best part of it - many models are developed to ensure non-existance of arbitrage! Can such a world of no-arbitrage exist when people are applying different models to beat the market?

What more? we have a huge following for both stochastic calculus and time series based models, and they may not agree! Especially, time series based models try to predict the future and thus beat the basis of no-arbitrage models (albeit in a risky way).

Further, to complete some of the trasaction you need to have people who have opposite perspective of the market (yeah speculators)!!

Isn't it really chaotic? and a war of models. (it reminds me of Darvin's theory of "survival of the fittest")

Networking = n^2 ?

2006-03-24T19:25:00.000-08:00

I went nuts when I found out that I was connected to most of the people (whom I did not know) thru some path in orkut! That begs the question - does it really follow n^2 rule? I think not!

In memory of Vikram Gulia

2005-09-17T19:06:00.000-07:00

Gulls...mere dost! kya haal hai?

This is how I used to start whenever I called him up or met him. And he would say...
"Jha...mere dost! Main sahi hoon. Tu kaisa hai?"

I would never hear that lively voice again.

He passed away on 14th of September 2005.

I spent about 7 years with him. First 4 years were at IIT Guwahati. He was such a sweet and friendly personality that I liked him from the first day I met him. He was passionate about exercising.

Then, he was with me at L&T for next 3 years. We were together for about one year in Mumbai in the same flat. Those were the best days of my life. I, Gulia, Tandon and Shami used to stay together. Many a times we'd argue, pull each others leg or go to beach and have fun. We'd order for a drink at 2 am in night. Then, I and tandon would listen to Anup Jalota - which he never liked or pretended as such - in his stereo.

He often would sing a song - whenever he was in a good mood - and keep us awake. I remember that for breakfast, we'd always order 4 tea cups and 5 wada/samosa pav: 2 tea cups and 2 wada/samosa pav for him. And then he'd pull my leg about this girl and we'd retreat about another girl whom he'd a crush on. Tandon would always escape this - he never let us know about his affairs - or he never had one (I doubt it).

I can never forget these small incidents. These were the real gists of life.

May his soul rest in peace!

Gulls...mere dost! I miss you!

What would you prefer - Special or General skills?

2005-07-05T15:30:00.000-07:00

This morning in economics class, there was a mild discussion on this topic. It is kind of a dichotomy - Srategy recommends specialization and macroeconomics prefers generalized skills. Both have equally compelling argument to support their view.

Core competency is an advantage that companies enjoy in a competitive environment. Some good examples could be scale economies, low cost technology, technology leadership, patents etc. This sometimes helps create barriers to entry in an industry. However, in case of human capital - the core competency could be the knowledge that they have. If you have highly specialized knowledge - such as after an MS or PhD, your productivity goes up substantially. Hence, one should focus on developing special skills.

On the other hand, macroeconomics suggests that countries should focus on the firms where they have competitive advantage over other countries and get away from businesses where they lack the same. It can be proved theoretically that doing so would increase the benefits accrued to each country. Because competetive advantage may not be sustainable, closing down such a business would result in unemployment. To avoid this unemployment, people should posses general skills so that they can easily shift from an industry to another.

Even in colleges, educational materials are prepared in favor of general skill building. For example, you are taught how a general operating system works (and not a specific operating system).

This economic view; however, warrants that people are immovable. In my opinion, in today's world this assumption may not be valid, atleast for some industries. People in high tech industries do go to other countries and work.

Commanding Heights!

2005-07-02T23:48:00.000-07:00

I am referring to an excellent movie on Global economics I saw today. The ideas conveyed are just awesome and this movie keeps you interested all the time. It brings to you the saga of economics as it has evolved over time. How did macroeconomics came into picture and how it brought back many nations from a traumatic situation to a prospering one? The extreme case I remember is Poland where about 20 million entrepreneurs revived the country from extreme inflation.

I cannot imagine what people in Bolivia would have felt with 23000% inflation. Even Strong economies such as US went through extreme difficult situations on Black monday and other ocassions.

It also talks about Hayek who ardently fought for a free market economy and had almost predicted a second world war.

The movie also talks about the successes and failures of both Keynesian and Classical economics in last century. How difficult it was for Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan to knowingly let the countries go under trauma transform with more stagflation.

Finally, I am not able enough to even properly comment on such a great work. See it for it's worth every second spent on it.

I am planning to buy the CDs.

Inequilibrium - II

2005-06-30T13:20:00.000-07:00

I just couldn't resist myself from jotting down some ideas that crept in. Just read a little bit about macroeconomics and income disparity. Two major reasons are educational disparity and higher marginal product of labor of a technically skilled people. In some countries where the educational disparity is not high, the income disparity is low.

Thus, if everyone is almost equally educated (may be in different fields), the problem of income disparity can be solved. It also solves the problem of inequilibrium in our educational system. Probably, in the long run everyone will pass through this hurdle and the system will reach an equilibrium.

This is terrific! Set a small hurdle (non-linearity) and let everyone pass through it. The system will be marginally stable in between. And Gocha! We'd have evolved a little more!

However, the idea of people having education in different fields gives rise to a different interesting problem. The system can be viewed as having many small closed loop inside, and a big closed loop outside. This kind of system can be stable only if all internal smaller closed loops are stable.

...to be continued.

Inequilibrium

2005-06-30T11:52:00.000-07:00

I can see clouds moving very fast in a specific direction, and suddenly the concept of potential gradient and equilibrium comes to my mind.

The nature is probably shifting towards equilibrium (my assumption) or at least tries to move back to equilibrium after any shock. However, our educational system uses exams as barriers to entry and thus gives rise to Inequilibrium. My knowledge says that Inequilibrium is not sustainable. Therefore, is our educational system unsustainable?

However, Darwinism asserts the idea of survival of fittest. Naturally or unnaturally many species have become extinct as they were not able to suvive (could not cross the barrier!). Is this theory opposite to the theory of natural equilibrium?

At the same time, I remember that natural events are oscillatory, so it cannot be an equilibrium. I think, oscillation is the best way to create agile but controlled systems. Yeah, I remember that even clouds are a part of beautiful natural cycle.

I am a bit confused. All I can say is "Oscillation Rocks!". Any system that doesn't oscillate is either unstable or stable. Stable systems are in equilibrium.

How can our educatonal system oscillate or be stable? Well, first of all we need a closed loop system to control it. First, assume that the educational system does have a feedback. The exam can be treated like a relay (a nonlinear device). Any non-linearity in a closed loop system gives rise to oscillations. But ir doesn't guarantee stability...

...to be continued.

I've a mid term exam tomorrow.

Life of a product manager

2005-06-26T19:59:00.000-07:00

Life is nothing but MarkStrat these days. I think of strategy during lunch, dinner, chit chat. MarkStrat has become the topic of dicsussion! Even in our finance club meeting today, we discussed about MarkStrat for a brief period of time.

In our company, we've decided to work as individual product managers and we'll a CEO as well for our MarkStrat Company "9U Inc.". First period results have been encouraging and we are at rank 3 in terms of market share. The bad news - we couldn't execute all our strategies in entirety. So, the good news - we can definately do far better.

I can partially experience what might happen if there were 3 days in a year!

Unconsciousness and Patterns!

2005-06-25T19:28:00.000-07:00

Today Prof. Jagmohan Raju is throwing a party for all the students. And this reminds me the previous party which led to some chaos in my life. It's amazing to think that when you are too drunk, you lose touch with the current world.

In the last party, I spoke arbitrarily to a few people after I was totally drunk (thanks to the easy availability of mobile). Apparently, I spoke about something abstract! So, this time onwards, I've decided not to take my mobile with me.

Chaos apart, it's really interesting to think why people do what they do when they are drunk! I enjoy music more when I'm drunk. And we like music because it has some pattern. So, do we try to find more pattern when we're drunk and unconscious?

Prof. Stine suggested once that if you start to decifer some pattern in data and you are not sure, just don't see anything (of course, you need to be conscious to be able to think :)).

My day!

2005-06-24T22:58:00.000-07:00

Yeah! I got dunked at midnight in the pool continuing ISB tradition (quite different treatment than getting bumps at IIT that'd put you on bed for next 2 days :D).

But for the first time I couldn't celebrate my birthday...You guessed it right - MarkStrat decision and another assignment due on next morning. The best part of it - I didn't have time to even think that I turned older (felt good), till my sister-in-law told me. Why?

Surprisingly, I've not met any other guy/girl till date who was born on June 24.

IIT Guwahati - Setting new milestones

2005-06-23T20:11:00.000-07:00

It is heartening to see my Alma Mater IIT Guwahati setting new benchmarks for itself. This year the placements have been very good with 44 companies visiting IITG campus in first two months headhunting for 265 students. An article that covers that:
http://www.iitg.ac.in/placement/iitg_placement_news/newsimg/statesman.jpg
In addition, two new departments biotechnology and chemical engineering have been included. By the way, IITG is now 10 years old.

Strategy and MarkStrat

2005-06-22T16:19:00.000-07:00

Today I attended the second lecture by Prof. Jagmohan Raju and now I know why he is among the best profs in the world. His approach to teach strategy is unique! Very aptly, he taught us the key take aways of business research findings in last 50 years and made us aware of common caveats.

A very long day, lectures will go on till dinner. More so, the most awaited EYE in the MarkStrat will start following us from tonight. We have already been assigned our groups. I should start building up inventories for snacks and cigarates to increase my perceived efficiency.

Apparently, MarkStrat demands for an integrated strategic approach (including marketing, R&D, production and peer dynamics) to excel in an oligopolic industry.

The best part of it - learn by first hand experience. Experiment (you have to) with the knowledge you have and get rewarded for the same.

MarkStrat - Not a Video Game!!

2005-06-21T19:37:00.000-07:00

As I gradually read through the MarkStrat manual, it became calerer to me that it is no more a video game. When I first heard of MarkStrat, it reminded me of Age of Emperors that I used to play for hours daily during my IIT days (of course final year).

So, how is MarkStrat different from AOE? I think, I should rephrase the question - how is MarkStrat similar to AOE? And as it seems, both are simulations, both have N numbers of competing teams and Game theory can be used in both. The major difference - you can use cheat codes in AOE if nothing works! But, in MarkStrat you have no panacea!

My goal - learn as much as I can about the market dynamics from the actions of these simulated 60 firms (I'll be a member of one of the firms). And because statistics reminds me: "extrapolate the results at your own risk!", I'll be a bit cautious about extrapolating the take aways.

Strategy or Path Dependency?

2005-06-20T09:39:00.000-07:00

During discussions with Raj (my colleague at ISB) about Intel's strategy to establish a proprietary standard for Microprocessor chips, a very interesting possibility cropped up!! How do we make sure that what seems like a strategy in case studies is not a sheer luck or coincidence or path dependency? If it were so, case studies can be slightly misleading. Nevertheless, I raise no doubt about the quality of learning we get from case studies, even if it were from a hindsight.

What famous leader are you?

2005-06-18T23:58:00.000-07:00

What Famous Leader Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

What classic movie are you?

2005-06-18T23:55:00.000-07:00

What Classic Movie Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

2005-06-18T11:37:00.000-07:00

Tulleeho Certificate

Pre-term or Tip of the Iceberg?

2005-04-27T01:01:00.000-07:00

Last 10 days were full of events and it seems to be just the tip of the iceberg. We had sessions on the PGP course, Ethics, Leadership development program (it will continue till 4th term), various clubs, activities, career, and lot more.

A huge number of Alumni turned up to direct and help us and they delivered many Gyan sessions. These Gyan sessions will continue for this week. Alums are very friendly and keen to share all the pertinent information. They know it very well after spending a year at ISB what to do and what not to do. Indeed the best mentor for people like us are the alums. Thank you Alums!

Our pre-term courses are over and after this we all are supposed to be at the same level of information required for the term courses!

Finally, we had moments of fun, humour, party, dance, beer, alcohol and lot more during this period. Life could not have been more eventful and enjoyable than this!

@ISB

2005-04-15T17:07:00.000-07:00

Finally, after a long period of silence (because of a series of visits at places all around India), I'm back on Blog. I reached ISB today and I must say that the place and the hospitality is too good! Went to meet my cousin Chandan before arriving at ISB.

The loan procedure is under process and I am almost done with that, and so are others. For the time being I am a bit lost as I do not have a good sense of direction (Anirudh is great at that). In addition, I am finding it difficult to remember the names. I'll take some time as usual. Please excuse me my friends!

I met with so many batchmates including Bharani. He seems to be a very soft spoken and matured guy. The diversity here rocks more than as was evident from microsite where many of us didn't show their face. There are people from all sort of crazy backgrounds!! Now, lemme see for an year how does diversity helps?

For the time being, just trying to figure things out such as what to buy and what else have I left at home.

Deja Vu!

2005-03-31T10:51:00.000-08:00

This morning I felt like deja vu! I had a similar feeling on my last day at IIT Guwahati. I woke up late at about 8.30 am and got a bit nostalgic about everything I have at Mysore. It was same some 3 years back, actually it was even more emotional at IIT, because the bond that we develop in four years with everything is unmathced! I know it will last forever.

Last night, I had a blast with my friends. After the bash, to my great surprise, my friends Sonal and Sucheta gave me a parting gift! The best part of it was three Caps (with F3 written on it) for three roommates. We all signed on the cap, and will keep it as a mememnto! Thanks Sonal for the great idea and gift!

I'm looking for a white marker so that we can sign on the top of the Cap as well.

I have almost settled my account with L&T and it should be over by today evening. Anyway, I'll come tomorrow for a few hours. I've already handed over my responsibilities to a colleague. So, with this my stint at L&T has come to an end.

We've settled our long due trilateral account, and I'm plus by about six grands!

MBA or Engineering

2005-03-29T15:39:00.000-08:00

A long raised issue before the engineers (in India?) is whether to continue in the field of engineering or go for an MBA. More so, if the person has just passed out of the IIT and gets into a top MBA school like IIM. The dilemma generally breaks out in favour of IIM.

I have read many blogs on this issue - yeah, they all are IIT graduates doing MBA at IIMs.

To be very frank, even I encountered a similar problem. Well, I had to make a choice between engineering career and managerial career. I got the opportunity to work with L&T as a management trainee - L&T had come up with such a program for the first time - I think on recommendations from BCG. Now, some of my batchmates (to name a few, Rakesh, Nikhil, Ketan and Amit) and professors (especially Prof. Dandapat) were not so happy with this decision. In their opinion, I was game for engineering. But then I chose L&T.

Now, there was not a very compelling reason to do so, All I wanted to know were the reasons for the hype about an MBA/management career. I had had some experience of an engineering career during my summer trainings. So, I decided to work with L&T for an year to get a flavour of management career. However, I encountered a week of frustration in my life during this period. Yeah, the transition was not so easy for me. But then, one week of introspection and discussions with friends (thanks to my friends at Bangalore - Vijay, passing out of IIMA and Deba, passing out of IIML, Sethi, Saket and others) helped me decide in favour of a management career.

And now, if I reassess my decision, I must say that I chose the right path. The conclusion is based on my experience with many projects including some product development projects. However, this is only my viewpoint.

Progresa

2005-03-29T09:36:00.000-08:00

I came to know about Progresa in the book "Making services better for poor people". The book contains details of many exemplary programs that should be replicated to alleviate the malaise of the poor.

Prograsa is a socio-economic program in Mexico with the objective to enhance social welfare by redistributing income. The idea is to alleviate poverty in the long run through investment in Human Capital such as education, health and nutrition. In the short run, it is trying to help the poor through cash transfers. Now, that sounds like a very promising strategy.

The cash transfer is contingent upon the attendence of the student and visits of the family to the health center. This has helped in better targeting the poor and increased efficiency of the system.

Progresa had a positive effect on the school attendence of both boys (8% increase) and girls (14% increase). The visits to health center increased by 8% and illness in children between age 0-5 decreased by 12%. This program rocks! I wish we had a similar program in India.

I read that once it was tried in India to evaluate the teachers by the community people (indeed an excellent idea to improve our education system). However, the teacher's association went on strike and finally the program went for a spin. How does that sound? Democracy? you heard it right!

Finally, there are many programs around the world similar to Progresa such as PETI in Brazil, Famillas en Accion in columbia, PATH in Jamaica, RPS in nicaragua and Food for education in Bangladesh.