Ginger & Cardamom

Betty & Veronica

I have recently being giving ears to two of my very close friends, Betty and Veronica (I am not the Archie between them, they have two different Archie for each one of them) Some times the situation is so interesting that I can’t help laughing at the irony of life. The life is so similar to fiction and a stark contrast it provides at times is really interesting.

Betty is always the one who loves, the one who is ready to give in and ready to go that extra mile to make the relationship work. A cute simple bubbly kind of a girl who would remain cheerful and would always be worried that if she would have her Archie or not. The problem with Betty is Archie likes her as a friend, thinks really high of her and he would do anything if she needs help. The only problem here is this is not enough to start a relationship, a relationship requires a lot more than just being there. This is where the problem arises when Betty asks a fundamental question; if there can be someone else then why not me? What is the problem with me? Why someone else over and above me? The only answer to this question is that world is not binary, the relationships and emotions do not work that way. I always say that I execute my relationships very practically. I know what I am into but the truth is that there are times when I have done things which in most of my sanest explanation were insanity. This is not because I am imbalanced or something it is just that the co-existence of Love & Insanity is not a mere chance but a law of nature.

Veronica is a total contrast to what Betty is though similar in a lot of aspects but posing a stark difference also. Veronica is the one who has decided that Archie is her guy, and she owns him. She will make sure that he remains his guy. She is completely laid back and expects Archie to do travel that extra mile for the sake of relationship. Aware of the fact that even if he goes that extra mile there is no end to it, doesn’t find it sane. Veronica on the other hand knowing the end would trade everyday a little just to get the moment of pep with Archie and would stall the relationship to a day further and then a day more and another. The problem here is Archie doesn’t left with much his life is answerable to Veronica. The interesting thing is why he should be able to answerable to her, when there are no long term commitments. Veronica on the other hand would ask questions like how can he be so oblivious to me? How can he think of someone else? The problem here is she is not willing to accept the fact that he does not belongs to her from the moment they disintegrated their future. A relationship is not a day to day trade which you keep on executing but a long term investment which you sow in initial years and reap later. If you start reaping before watering the roots properly the relationship would only be only bark with no solid trunk & roots to support from inside.

When I listen to them, I feel touched by the conviction of emotions be it Betty or Veronica especially when I know they are not heading towards what they want. All I can do is to suggest them the right path, but sometimes I question myself that am I capable enough to do it? Do I really understand the sea of emotions with them? Would I be doing the same thing if I were in there place? The questions can never be answered because I can never be at there place because I am not what they are, the only solace for me is that what I tell them is what I really believe and my honest wish to see them happy all through out their life. Best of luck mates for whatever you do in life, I always wish you get what you want and a bit more.

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My Problems with Strategy

Strategy is a very nice small word defined by Webster dictionary as “1 a (1) : the science and art of employing the political, economic, psychological, and military forces of a nation or group of nations to afford the maximum support to adopted policies in peace or war (2) : the science and art of military command exercised to meet the enemy in combat under advantageous conditions b : a variety of or instance of the use of strategy
2 a : a careful plan or method : a clever stratagem b : the art of devising or employing plans or stratagems toward a goal
3 : an adaptation or complex of adaptations (as of behavior, metabolism, or structure) that serves or appears to serve an important function in achieving evolutionary success”.

I feel in the current scenario it is one of the ill treated and demeaned word, specially where my fellow “HumBheeHain”(read MBA) comrades. Now after seeing the summer project titles of many of my fellow beings I have come to utter dislike for this word. I don’t know why but even my summer project title also includes the word (ps: yes I made the title) and is the most frequently occurring word in my resume as well. Getting back to the point that why I would not want to be associated with anything that has something related to this generic word of “strategy”.

1- It is too easy and non-challenging; almost every B-school student does it in his summer internship after the first year. You know things like “Strategy Formulation”, “Strategy Evolution” and other things of sorts.

2- Every company on the block does it; everyone seems to have it, more or less on the similar line. Everyone talks about customers, service, growth, market leader etc. even the ones who file for the bankruptcy. So why to be involved with one which is not the differentiator.

3- Once can not make their strategy independently without the help of someone. Either they need summer interns from the business schools or the glorified strategic consultants which are flocking our campuses on day to day basis. So it is a job from the lower end of the value chain which can easily be outsourced.

4- It partners us with our own competitors and might lead to risks. For example both Wipro & TCS are a strategic partner to General motors which also make them strategic partner to each other. I assume that strategy would be following the transitive laws of multiplication. After all strategy should be objective in nature.

5- Another thing which really irritates me about this word is it starts with an S (Read : ass) and ends in Y (Read: Why). May be because who starts it is a real donkey in himself and some why’s are always left in the end. Well why do I need an ass to make a plan which in the end would still leave some why? I swear I have no clue.

6- When I search in google the “strategy failure” I get more than 3 times more results from when I search “strategy success”. Now why would I like to spend my time doing something which is more associated with failure than to success.

8- If I rearrange the letters of the word strategy the words I get are grayest, gyrates, & targets all three such depressing words so now you would know how much depressing league this words belong to.

9- Another reason is that strategies are sometimes so stupid and they make you wonder if it is worth it, like some of you are wondering over my attention grabbing strategy to miss seven on the numbering list and cursing my strategy to gain attention

10- The only thing that is good with strategy is sometimes it works for no apparent reason, like some of you are looking up paying close attention to the crap I have written to see if I have really missed out seven.

So now you know why I am not really entertained by the idea of a job at strategic position in a strategic company having strategic clients asking it perform strategic roles for them and in turn giving me strategic growth paths in my career.

The Dame's Love: Professionalism or Emotionalism?

I got one more forwarded mails today, I sometimes wonder that what purpose these forwarded mails serve except for informing that sender is still alive and has at least one of his hands in his place so that he can press the forward button. In some cases it is good to know that while in other it doesn’t matters. Though this one triggered made me write this blog

A cute love story.....!!!!!

Two butterflies were in love. One day, they decided to play Hide n Seek during the play
girl Butterfly - "A small game within us"
boy Butterfly - "OK"
girl Butterfly - "The one who sits in this flower tomorrow early in the morning that one loves the other one more....."
boy Butterfly - "OK"
Next morning, the girl butterfly waits for the flower to open so that he can sit before the boy butterfly does.....
Finally, the flower opened.....
What did she see?
The boy butterfly had died inside the flower he stayed there all night so that early in the morning as soon as he sees her he can fly to her and tell her how much he loved her. This is true LOVE Life is LOVE.

This may sound ridiculous and I may sound like a male chauvinist pig (which I don’t mind being tagged) but the women are not worth the love they are given. All this fiasco about love and everything is an absolute crap when you see what has been happening around you especially in this area. The increased professionalism in the fairer sex can be noticed the way the relationships are becoming more professional than emotional. I understand there might be a lot of exceptions to this but the fact is the male counterpart always suffers the irrecoverable loss. The Bharti Yadav issue is one of the glaring examples of what I am talking about. A person, a real living person, was murdered brutally at a very small age. His only fault was that he loved someone who was a daughter of a politician. His fault was that he never cared for the end and just flowed in emotions. What is the end, someone he gave up his life for denies the entire romance in their relationship, when she is supposed to accept it. She says he was just a friend when there is a 20+ Valentines Day photograph album of him and her. Was the love smaller than blood relationship? If she could not take a stand, then why did she start a relationship in the first place? Why allowed things to get so worse and then quit after some one who trusted you with his life.

MBAs for Sale

With the placement season starting to gear up in the campus, it is time for me to start ranting about the same. The freshly groomed MBAs have been cut, cleaned, polished and now put up for the sale. The prospective bidders have been sent a product catalogue with all the jazzy photographs. Prospective buyers are flocking everyday to enhance the stake of their claims for the young sheep (read students) out for sale. The bet is who will produce more meat. The actual weighing would begin later. The funniest part of this assessing (read interviewing) by the prospective buyers is the reality behind. A typical assessing process happens as follows-

Buyer: Tell me something about yourself?

Sheep: Everything I wanted to tell you is already on the sheet of paper you are holding, it is called a resume. Have you ever seen it before, I guess not. Anyways I will recite whatever I can, hope this will help you to buy me and take me home, please.

Buyer: Tell me something which is not on your CV.

Sheep: Why would I hide anything from you which would enforce your decision to take me or you are interested in how many girlfriends I have had till date or when it was the first time I got drunk in the local bar. No I am not going to tell you any of this I have been prepared for such stupid behavior from you and have left out some points outside that stupid sheet of paper so will recite those. Ps I will recite in such a casual manner, u know I got first prize in acting when I was in class second.

Sheep: You know if you take me on board today tomorrow I will wake up in the bar with a crazy hangover and if you don’t I will spend whole night reading about the buyer coming tomorrow. So you can figure out what I am doing tomorrow morning, isn’t 5 years a bit too long to predict. Oh yeah!!!! for you, it’s a secret do you know career is very important for me, I fixed up a plan last night going through the career patrh given on your website.

Buyer: Tell me why our company?

Sheep: Its fairly simple you are one of the very few people who would buy me on a cost and still spend on me and would expect me to make phone calls and forward emails whole day. I swear I couldn’t find another idiot like you who would pay me for doing this all my life. Eh you know my inherent interest would create synergies with you. Ever heard this line?

Sheep: Well I simply can not resist good food and sexy women. I hope you don’t have sexual harassment laws in place. Ah Weaknesses I believe in constant updation of the self.

Sheep: Do you really believe that I might have a favorite subject in the curriculum. What kind of a nerd are you. But you want an answer let me think, which subject you wouldn’t have ever studied and understood. Yes strategies on success of educational institutes on the placement front. Does it help???

Buyer: Any questions you would like to ask?

Buyer: We like you mr. Sheep would you like to work for us?

Sheep: Obviously, why on earth do you think I am dressed in these stupid ties and blazer. You are not here searching for a groom for your daughter is it? Even if it is then also I am interested.

Buyer: Welcome on board mr. Sheep

Sheep: Righto boss!!! Why don’t you show me the money now? By the way who is my secretary can I ask her to do my fourth semester assignments?

Few Last Words....

I almost killed myself yesterday, not because of the growing trends in MBA crowd to commit suicide. I have no intention to belonging to the elite group of people who had been successful in their great endeavors to be closer to thy almighty. My escapades of yesterday made me realize that though I am not that old to think in these lines, but still something stirs in my stomach, that I might have done with my time. So I think it is a high time that I should tell people that what I felt about this entire gamut around me-

For my mom & dad- mom & dad you people have been the most fabulous people in my life. Irrespective of the time spent with u, it has been the best time. Though I have behaved like an impossible kid sometimes but I never wanted to hurt you. When I will be gone please take care of yourself and try not to remember me much because it will hurt you.

For the woman in my life- I always wanted to be with you at all the crucial moments of life, I am sorry for the things I never told you. I am sorry for leaving you in the mid way. But there are things which you can’t really help.

For my friends- Well you guys, what to say, may be one last joke. Fix your windows and doors, you know I might just decide to comeback. Always remember happy me, I make this request in complete awareness of the sad face that I have and the poor jokes that I used to crack. Please share all my things except my laptop please send it back home and also make sure the things which need to be deleted are deleted from it. You can make a copy if you want to I never objected to do that, pleasure should always be spread. Yes one of you who has the password to my blog please write a post that the author no more exist so that people who visit my blog know of me.

I don’t know why I am writing this but you never know when the lightning strikes.

10 Oxymorons I learnt in Two years

Three year back when I started preparing for the CAT examination, I came across the word called ‘oxymoron’. Initially I thought it would be a word describing a huge aggressive moron, someone like me. The dictionary had some other opinions and it said Conjoining contradictory terms (as in 'deafening silence'). I never could really understand that why do one need to conjoin the contradictory terms. A year and a half into MBA and here are the 10 new oxymorons (for ppl like Irfan and Reens: I know it is a verb, but I don’t know the plural & noun form for oxymoron) I have learned during the “GRIND”.

1- Business School

2- MBA Education

3- Professional Relationship

4- Friendly Group Discussion

5- Cooperative Boss

6- MBA Babes

7- Interesting Subject

8- Great Faculty

9- Dream Company

10- Intelligent Question

11- This one is specially for my SIBM mates- Reena Sharma

For anyone of you who have a doubt or an argument that anyone of these is not an oxymoron may feel free to comment object. If you want to call me because I just remember one more of it, which speaks of me – Receptive Person.

First of all I think I should offer the creators of klueless2 my heart full condolences, because the way the ideas are being produced in their minds their soul would never be at peace. I must admit that never in my life I have worked harder to get a phone number, not even of the hottest chic I have seen and here I slog my butt off for 3 days to eventually to get phone number of Vivek Mishra (FYI: I haven’t turned gay but the goddamn game was so interesting). I am pretty sure the Satan would have been there side, because even god won’t keep me awake for 3 nights. The 3 nights that I have spent balancing my time between the studies and this game in a ratio of 20:80. The last night fighters for the examinations would know how difficult is to do such a feat in days of your exams. Anyways lots of ranting already I will come straight to the point, the 10 things which are something strange

1- Games like this are more of a man’s affair rather than anything else. I know some pretty readers of this blog would love to call me a male chauvinist pig. But the truth is that this game is created by 3 guys and by far majority of the people I came across on the blog were guys and even among the top 25 winners there have been all guys.

2- Sometimes looking upside down can change your world, its good for general health that when nothing works standing upside down with legs dangling in air might solve a lot of your problems. ( I will tell this to Arjun Singh about this, might solve a lot of problems)

3- Sometimes what you think is the most sensible and obvious thing in the world might not be the same for someone else. It matters a lot when the verdict of that “someone else” is deciding factor.

4- One should never leave spelling mistakes in the documents. Spelling mistakes can be quite a pain you all know where. For me the pain lasted for more than 12hrs and was quite a learning experience.

5- Sometimes ignorance is bliss, I would have never tried to solve a Rubik cube if I knew how tough it is, I won’t write further because it might spoil the game for many who are still struggling.

6- Sometimes knowing weird things like Japanese movies being remade and Pink Floyd is not only David Gilmour but Roger Waters too helps

7- Quitting or Failures cannot be options anywhere.

8- There are 19 a#*&s who have beaten me and I have to shoot them to be the best or will have to wait for the next year. And one of them is meeting me for dinner tonight…can someone lend me a pistol J (Ps. For those who don’t know I finished in top 20 in this game)

9- Next time some smart-ass tells you about an interesting game in midst of the exams shoot him there itself don’t leave a chance.

10- Forward the game to all the people in your class as still 3 exams are left….

Well that’s the story of me & klueless2.

DON

DON, has received a lot of media hype and I was ever since wondering that all this hype might be just an overdone publicity which would destroy the movie more than it would help it. Despite all the hype that had been created the movie got extremely varied response from the critics as well as the audience, people liked it very much, people hated it, and some found it just passé.

I believe that Farhan Akhtar this time again has done a brilliant job while (re)making DON. It has been fashion in the Bollywood directors & producers to pick up the themes and stories from Hollywood flicks or old movies, but it was Farhan Akhtar who introduced the innovative idea of remaking DON, taking cues from the old hit flick and present in his own way. The major problem in doing a thing like this is that u have a benchmark, and that too an objective one, every part, every aspect of your film with a film of all together different time. And no matter what you do there would be few cynics round the corner ranting “Beta, Kuch bhi keh lo, Purani DON ki baat hi kuch aur hai. Yeh bhi koi picture hai”. Not only Akhtar but also Shahrukh Khan has shown great guts by acting in the movie. It is really tough to enact a role type-caste and previously enacted by some one who is perceived to be the epitome in terms of acting in the present industry. It brings out him in a straight comparison with the BIG-B scene by scene, expression by expression. Especially in the songs which are again remixed and where Shankar Ehsaan and Loy have done a great job of reinventing the old music of the Bombay smugglers of 1978 theme to fit International mafia operating in south east of 2006. Though Shahrukh Khan has dominated tried to be very stylish and has grossly overacted and in no way compared to Amitabh Bachan’s acting in the older movie. But he has fitted in the movie and gelled with the character in the movie very well, he seems to be an absolute misfit in the context of 1978 DON but in the 2006 he seems to have a very good catch of the character DON, though he keeps saying “DON ko pakadna mushkil hi nahi namumkin hai”. In the end all I would say is that DON is a worthwhile movie, and kudos to Farhan Akhtar for such a bold experiment.

MBA: Mediocre But Arrogant

Since a long time I was wondering about the perception of the rest of the world about us MBAs. After reading the recent post about MBAs being silly shrewd pointless nothings on Rul’s blog I felt that I should also express my views on the same. Yeah you guessed it right this is going to be another long gyaan session.

I have seen a lot of jokes and acronyms expansion about uselessness of the MBAs. What I fail to understand that why people see us as a bunch of buffoons? Is it because most of us scored well on an aptitude test to be a part of this clan? Is it because after passing out most of us get really well paid jobs? Is it because we work really hard for all the moolah we get? I have heard the people complaining that MBAs are grossly overpaid; they are not worth what they cost. What I don’t understand is when in all the private enterprises the wages are set up by free market, there is absolutely no government intervention implementing a minimum wages (until and unless one decides to work as a physical labour) for the MBAs, then why this scorn against these people? Anyone who is actually is not worth the efforts will not be able to survive in the market place, but this doesn’t mean that all the MBAs can be branded as “silly shrewd pointless nothings”.

No matter what people say about us, the truth is that we are one of the major benefactors of the society. Apart from keeping the wheels of economy moving, we are also responsible for numerous things which have changed the face of society as a whole. Today people from rural India are having access to a lot of products which the urban India uses. A kamla bai from a village also has the option of exercising a choice between Ponds or Charmis because MBAs at both Lever’s and Colgate-Palmolive are struggling everyday to ensure the products reach her. A farmer gets additional money to buy seeds because the MBAs at ICICI bank are trying hard to make micro finance loans available. Raman uncle is tension free after he has put his money into a mutual fund, where the MBAs are everyday dealing with markets to give him a return to help him in his old age. A lot of people are being saved from being unemployed, because MBAs in investment banks and consultancies are working hard so that the companies employing so many workers don’t close down just sail through the troubled waters. Yes all this is not for charity, and each on of us is paid and paid well. But it is not that MBAs are getting all this money for free; they do their own bit for the world around.

I would say that it is not justified to look down upon the MBA junta for no real reasons. There is no reason for them to be branded as “silly shrewd pointless nothings”. It is a free world and let them do what they are supposed to do and judge them on the basis of the work they do. Al least do not brand them even before they actually get a chance to show what they are willing to do.

Humanity & Indians Prevail

Gandhigiri has been subject of discussion, in every nook and corner of the country. Lage Raho Munnabhai has revitalized the Gandhian school of thought with a fresh perspective. I have never seen Mahatma Gandhi so visible in India, before this movie except for the currency notes. The real essence of existence of Bapu was not in politics but in his philosophy of life. The movie has brought to the people of this country to understand path for the great Indian dream to evolve. The magic of the Bapu and his school of thought is so phenomenal that one gets overwhelmed by the wonders that can be achieved by simplicity. It is good to read that people actually in my city are giving roses to the signal skippers. But I feel that there is another important part which people have forgotten and need to be reminded. There is a common thread that links the two Munnabhai flicks together. The thread that we realize and feel in our heart. The thread of humanity, the thread of coexistence. Both of these flicks depict of things common man is forgoing; those basic values, the little pleasures of life. The ‘Satya’, ‘Ahimsa’ ‘Jadoo ki Jhappi’ attributes like these are not unknown to the people. It’s just that he is letting them go in the struggle of life, chasing the larger than life kind of dreams and paying for those dreams in reality. Though Gandhigiri rules through out the movie but I believe a fair amount of credit should also go to this little poem which starts the movie at exactly the right note.

Secured Wireless on a Infrastructure Network

I have always feel good when I do something related to technology. It had been a long time for me with a new association with something different in technology. Today was very interesting for me when I changed the networking of my house. Previously four of us friends used to share one internet connection through a peer to peer wireless network with my FRISKY (for those who don't know it is my computer, and the long story behind it, will write it some other time). For those who can not figure it out yet it is the one in the picture. I was the one who was the most tied up with this set up. I could not take Frisky with me to all places and specially to Barista.

So finally I decided to change everything, With the help of my friend I managed to acquire a Netgear WGT624 wireless router. An awesome piece, which I configured today with a friend and I finally managed to establish a secured wireless connection, through an infrastructure point(I know this is nt rocket science, but its good to be doing something related to networking amidst of an MBA it is MORE LOGICAL. The device works fine, my frisky is free of the shackles of being at home at all times. NETGEAR ROCKS!!!! And I am happy that I have a new kind of gadget and some extra set of wires and gadgets right under my bed. Another set of LEDs would be blinking when I would be sleeping in my room. The light in my room would mean a lot of things the outbound bandwidth availability from my house and also the bandwidth and traffic inside my house. Gadgets are soothing, aren't they????

ScRaMbLeS

I was the one who has been long in the city pent,
Life in days years and month it spent.
Over materials and matter there was a reef,
Vacant sometimes, emotions at others the heart plead.
Everyday fighting with my own attic to survive,
Usual days and the struggle to keep the spirits alive.
Pestering the soul with hopes to revive,
Reliving the past kindling the old delight,
Imagining the victory of self over thy might.
Yearning from past filling roars in shambles,
Another meek spectator ready to face world's scramble.

A Passing Thought

Another of a passing thought which came in my mind, just leaving for anyone who would like to say anything about it...

Hum unko yaad to aye, yeh humari kismat hai,
Kisi aur main aap humein dekhen yeh humara asar hai ya uski kudrat hai

Questions of a Senile Mind

It is a usual evening, where I am sitting on my corner seat, ignored as usual. People think I am a bit odd, may be a bit mad also, but why? Because I come everyday and sit on this corner seat, or may be I walk down such a long distance to reach here. They think that I can not understand the tinge of mockery in their eyes for me. I can, but what I fail to understand is, the reason of the mockery. Is it because I don’t have anyone to give me company or because I am a bit too odd to fit in the type of crowd there? They hide their faces behind their hands and laugh at me trying not to make it obvious that I am on the receiving sides of their humor. Yes that’s true that I can not see their giggling faces, but the glitter in the eyes tell me a lot of things, what it doesn’t tell me is that laugh because I don’t live their kind of life or because I am already had my share of fun and they feel that I am begging for more.

All this fun, mockery, humor and biggest of all, insult still I am here every evening to go through the same set of routine. Yes I can feel it, all of it, but what I can not feel is how I manage to tolerate everything and still be at the same place everyday. Has the sense of indulgence grown bigger than the self esteem I carry? If no, then why I allow myself to be treated in this fashion? All these question haunt me day and night, and even at the time when I set my foot out to take my daily trip. Everyday I go through the same torture and everyday I decide to for go my ego.

I have stopped believing in reason and logic long time ago, but still whatever little I am left with I feel that the sense of loneliness has overpowered me to an extent that I go through a daily dosage of humor, mockery and insult just to have some people around me. So what if they hate me, so what if they despise me, they are the only few who have some time to give a thought about me. Life has an uncanny ability to force me to learn lessons which I never wished to. Never in my thoughts I thought that I would search companionship in loathe, disgust and insult. Never believed what gratification people around me were, never thought that the feeling of being alone can be so haunting and scary. I never thought that I would let go my ego for a mere streak of recognition from some strangers. Sometimes this stupid mind thinks that I have traveled ages to be what I am, but I forgot to carry the map which told me who am I!!!!!! May be its too late or may be NOT!!!!!

Horses' Back

Slippers Over Books

Amazon.com has been a success story for all the supporters of IT & web based selling models from all over the world. In my one year of MBA I have heard a lot of about Amazon.com and was very appreciative of this company which is the hallmark of existence of a virtual world. Amazon.com has been a name which fascinated me for all these years and every time I typed the URL of the website I was greeted by a sophisticated interface.

For me Amazon.com was worlds’ biggest and the best online “BOOK STORE”. Recently an article in Washington Post made me realize and accept a change which was gradually happening and I never realized it. Amazon is changing its business model. They are no more a book store, they are aspiring to be a one stop shop. The title bar on my browser says “Amazon.com: Online Shopping for Electronics, Apparel, Computers, Books, DVDs & more”. The interface has changed; it no longer looks like an online bookstore. It is more of a general mart, a variety store or a hypermarket kind of structure.

I had strong inhibitions that this strategy of leveraging the brand, would succeed. As a consumer, Amazon for me does not relate to Online store, but an Online Book Store. The worst part is when I open the site the display greeted me with a display which was not books, stationary, DVDs etc but some pair of Slippers. I can’t believe that a person can have same associations with a place where he buys his slippers and the place where he buys his books. According to me the way Amazon is going it is headed towards doom. Because it contradicts a basic law of branding “The Law of Expansion” which says the power of a brand is inversely proportional to its scope. That is trying to be all things to all the people undermines the power of a brand. The strength of a brand lies in being synonymous with a single category. Amazon is a typical example of an excellent brand violating the law of expansion and losing the brand value. The same can be evident from the earnings and stock prices from past one year which have seen a major drop. It would have been a more practical and beneficial solution for Amazon if they would have made a new brand from scratch. Amazon for customers relates to a category as an online book store and can never be a retail mart.

Even Amazon is now aware of the dropping brand equity and customer response. They have been trying hard to regain their positioning buy organizing online shows of Bob Dylan and now lately it has decided to make his foray into movie business by buying right to make movie on a best seller novel “The Stolen Child”. This comes in the light when Amazon’s stocks have shown a dip of 60% over previous year. I still have strong feelings regarding that will these kind of desperate measures be able to rescue Amazon, from the bear ride it is now on. Will the strategy of diversifying from books to a store of 34 different product categories pay off in a long run. All these questions remained unanswered and probably time can be the only teller to it but as of now the situation doesn’t seem to be in favour of Amazon.

A Passing Thought

I had a passing thought, felt good about it so leaving for people to comment,

Mere dil ne khayalo main afsane bahut likhe hai,
Jinka tamannao main abhi baki namo nisha hai,
Mujhe pyaar karne ki sazaa na de, aie Vayaz,
Sazaa dene ke bahane aur bhi hai.

Of Betrayal in Love, Trust & Relatioships

I feel shocked, there has to be an element of trust in every relationship. I have never been betrayed so badly, my trust has never gone for toss with such scorn, and it hurts. Yes it hurts badly. I was one of the early adopters of the product called “Soft Drinks” or “Aerated Drinks”. They have been a part of my life since past 15 years, they have been as close to me, and had replaced water to quite an extent in my lifestyle. I still remember my order when I used to visit the Dhaba( a small food joint, by the highway side) and my usual order used to be “Special tadke wali Dal, Butter Roti and Pepsi” which used to make my dinner night after night in my days of engineering college. How I used to be a lover of soft drinks, a loyalist to their product and as well as brand.

I stand here now, feeling betrayed, dumped for the most selfish purpose in life, making money. I always trusted them bestowed my love on them, and all they did was to play on my life, my quality of my life. They lied to me about everything, I gave them a place in my life and they made money out of my cost. Last evening the highlights flashing on the TV, told me that how badly Pepsi & Coca-Cola had treated me. What they had been doing to me behind my back. I was always told that I was being provided was a world class product, a quality product. I always believed that I was getting into a relationship with these products as an advocate for their quality. I never believed then 3 years from now, when they told me that I was being fed on pesticide. I never believed but yesterday I knew that I was dumped in love, I was used, and my trust was compromised.

It’s so bad that I was being fed on pesticide that too 24 times what was permissible for keeping my health. It was like you were blinded in love and your lover is out to kill you. I don’t know how much I have lost in this relationship, how much my quality and length of life have been compromised. But I would follow a belief that has always guided me through bad relationships “Relationships are like Investment, Get out of a bad one as soon as possible”. Now that my courtship with aerated drinks is over and the blindfold removed, I could see the things clearly and have a determination in my heart that I am not going to allow them to play with my emotions and my life anymore, they don’t deserve someone as loyal as me and I am not going to be associated with Cyprians like coke and Pepsi anymore!!!!

Of Impersonating Profiles, Obscene Messages and Mysterious Calls

Someone just forwarded me this article about an upcoming wave of crime on the internet (click here to read). How the people of the fairer sex who have been impersonated on an online people networking interface called Orkut. The internet has come of an age in India and people are now becoming savvy, using all these technology in their lifestyle. I feel happy when I see around me people using messenger, reading blogs, and updating their life style with the new technologies as an integral part.of their life.

But when I read articles as the above I feel that this exposure to technology has given us a lot of power, and with great power comes a great responsibility. The perverted use the technology to pelter out there own frustrations. How can a person get pleasure in impersonating someone else in a defamatory way? What kind of sadist approach is this to life and human interactions?

The thing which makes it worst is that generally the people who do this are acquaintances or friends of the people they impersonate. I don’t understand why can’t people understand some following simple concepts especially with regards to the Internet & other technology advances-

1- If u search “Nude Pictures” in google you get already get 32,900,000 results and why on earth you find that you are doing great service to the netiezen’s as a whole by morphing the picture of a friend with vulgar and obscenity. Everyone knows it is morphed and they don’t really care, except for the person who is really getting embarrassed. So please get a life, as there are better things to do in life than morphing pictures.

2- I have yet to come across who has started of a real good relationship with lines of the genre “Can I be your friend”, “Your pic looks cute, want to be my friend”, “Your internet profile seems very interesting, I would like to know u better”. Interestingly I have seen profile of a lots of my female friends flooded with messages similar to these. And any conversations which are followed on these lines generally tend to follow on the lines of sex. Another interesting observation is that these kinds of messages are passed not to a single person but in bulk, as in it is a mass marketing mailer campaign. So if you feel or your only objective behind these mass campaigns is that you might find someone good as a friend, or might get chance to get laid or discuss soft porn. There are better ways of doing it to sending these messages to completely unknown people.

3- Another interesting breed is who are diligent enough that when they see a girl they take the effort to follow her, get hold of her phone number (I don’t know how they manage to maintain extra large phonebooks, I have troubles keeping my small phonebook updated where I have no separate group which is non acquainted with me). Then they would end up giving missed calls, obscene messages and would like to tell these ladies “That how they have fallen in love with them”. These kinds of people often send some strange kind of questions popping in my brain. How they tend to correlate which phonebook entry corresponds to which number (I feel it would be difficult if u tend to fall in love so often and specially if u haven’t seen the person u love except for once when u were following her). Regarding obscene messages all I can say if u think people laugh reading your obscene messages may be yes but if u think they think you are the seventh edition and 66^th reprint of James bond then may be u r in for a surprise. They really think that you are stupid moronic ass, who doesn’t know what and where to talk. The telecom companies have reduced sms rates but that doesn’t means that gives u the leeway to message anyone, anything that u think might be interesting.

This list is not exhaustive and I can keep on adding but the bottom line is, the technology is here to improve life style and the living quotient of the civilization. Not because what one thinks might be fun and interesting. So when next time you are about to play a prank with someone using technology, ask yourself two questions. First, do you have a leeway enough on personal level to play that prank? Second, how much you yourself, or someone else may be your sister or your girlfriend or your wife would be offended if this was done to her? To end all I can say to everyone is Enjoy the technology with a responsibility....

The Road Bend

On this cold morning, the chilly wind brushing apart,
The city is already awake, the sun is red conquering the dark,
On the lush green trees, the larks sing their songs,
Calling all the city, "Do come along".
The empty roads, suddenly appreciate crowd,
The shouting engines roared down with proud.
Everyone is rushing thinking of rest & joy,
On the corner stood all alone, a little boy.
All alone in this mad world he decided to toil,
Felt his home beneath the sky and above the soil.
No one in this world he had, to reach out and go,
The mettle in him, he wanted to show.
But he ever knew what will be the endm
Never realized where in eternity he will land.
Strange mix of courage and lonliness his life was a blend,
His only companion in his journey was the Road Bend.

Nice to hear from you Mr. Shourie

Today was the day after so many days of wait, that I finally got to see one of my Idols Mr. Arun Shourie, live on stage, One of the special days of my life. The lecture was good a lot of orientation, though it was a shock to me, I was expecting a high content based session with lots of facts, figures and numbers. i was expecting an economist, a journalist in action. What came was a pleasant surprise (though it was a shock for me, as I always saw Mr. Shourie as an economist, politician and a journalist. This was what I had conceived when I had read his books). It was neither the economist nor the journalist and nor the politician in action. It was the leader Mr. Arun Shourie in action. It was a small talk laden with a vision, a vision to excellence of individuals and their synergies for the country. A vision which he saw for every youth in the country and all he did was to spark the same vision in our hearts, in a profound an elegant manner that every person in the hall was ears to the voice. It was such a pleasure to see and hear Mr. Shourie, his vision and to add salt to the taste was his excellent articulation. I have yet to come across a speaker who is so concerned about his audiences that even when he quotes random verses from 'Dhampad' he makes an accurate English translation for his audience. It’s been around 12hrs since I have seen Mr. Shourie, but a thought which is still lingers in my mind, "Just take one public issue, just anyone which concerns you and do something about it." the thought some how sticks, may be it is too simple to fade away. He came, spoke and went away all he left for the people in the hall was an idea, an answer to the question asked by many of the youths today "How can we make a difference?"
For me the day would imbibe into my life, with an amazing memorabilia. Autograph of Shri Arun Shourie on one of my books. Thanks Shikha, Rahul, Manan, Shweta, Mahima and the I-CIT for helping me get a souvenir for me.

This Time its 7/11

It is an hour past the midnight and the date has changed, I am still on internet lying flat on my bed looking thorugh the irony of life. Millions of people left there homes like everyday, telling there kids and wives that they will come back on time and how much they loved them. But 146 will never be able to make it back home, all for the 8 serial blasts in Mumbai. The TV, Radio, Sms all spreading the news like a wild fire, striking like a thunderbolt. Mobile phones are out every where people trying to reach their friends, family and relatives to know there where abouts. Ambulances, Hospital numbers, Political figures flashing everywhere but the fact would be that 146 homes would be mourning.
The beauty of life is it never stops all it ever does is to go on at its own pace, Now the date has changed and it would be a new day. Everyone would again come out of their houses in another 6 hours and move back to the life telling their kids and wife that How much they love them and that they will come early and a self confiding thought "There won't be any blasts today!!!".

Just Another Day

Bright rays of light falling on the eyes,
A brand new day with hopes too high,
The first feet to start the day are out of the bed
My face and the sun showing spirits in Red.

The start of the day can not be better, I believe,
A good day ahead is all I can percieve,
The world today would be at my stride,
I will go on a seventh heaven ride.

During the day emotions change, with worldy brash,
Life is unfair, rude and harsh,
The little heart filled with hope slowly slumbers,
Life is long but the days are numbered.

The day is gone, The evening light is dim
Cleared away are all my morning fantacies and whim,
The realities of the world dawn on me,
Today a pawn I was Will King I ever be?

The sun is still there glowing red but my face is white,
Spent the day figuring out how to live it right,
One more day of life some memories amassed
Just Another Day has Passed, Just Another Day has Passed.

GRAFITTI

Some of the lines which have inspired me, some quotes on life, love and attitudes

• Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you criticize them you are a mile away and you have their shoes.

• The reason I talk to myself is that I am the only one whose answers I accept.

• It's not the hours you put in your work that counts, It's the work you put in hours that counts.

• I beleive in nothing short of Perfection.


• Nothing is big enough even a shout can bring on an Avalanche.

• Success is not a result of spontaneous combustion, You have to set yourself on fire.

• You live only once and if you live it right, Once is enough.

• Live your life as an Exclamation!!! not as an Explanation.

• Beleive Everything, Trust Nothing.

• Courage is what it takes to stand up & speak also courage is what it takes down to sit down & listen.

• Glamour has limited power, Power has unlimited glamour.

• Love is timeless, its memory of yesterday, the happiness of today, & the promise of tomorrow.

• If someone betrays you once, it is his fault, If he betarys you twice, It is your fault.

• Love me for a second and I will make that second life time.

And The Traffic Continued...

The chilled December wind blew across her face, letting loose silver strands of hair, now flowing over her face. The tightly closed eyes and the head turned towards the shoulders and the back rested against the wall. The wrinkles on her face talked about the miseries of the years and the years of miseries. As I moved towards her, I could see her lying besides the parapet wall of a huge building. Her dirty clothes tightly wrapped around her giving an insight of her very lean, starved figure. I moved another step forward right in front of the large palace like building, which was often referred as the pride of the city. Located across one of the busiest roads of the country, the road was filled with moving traffic at all hours of the day, and the large cars past through the road slowing down for a while to appreciate the largeness of the building and the surrounding. I stood right across the old woman and could also hear her moans of pains which were caused by the chilly winter winds or may be some ailments she was suffering with. I stood across pitying the old women. I was thinking that how inconsiderate our system and our government is, no one can take care of this old woman. Lots of thought critical about the system and trying to tell myself those things would have been different if I would have been the person in-charge. Perhaps the old woman also sensed my presence and opened her eyes, she tried to move a little, but couldn’t move and the voice from her throat was inaudible. Her eyes begged of some consideration and help, seeing me stopping by her eyes had shimmer of hope when she looked towards me. As those eyes met mine, I took a step forward and moved forwards and perhaps I saw a tear dropped from her eyes and the traffic was still moving....

Nostalgia: Preeti & Me after 8 Years.

It was after 8 years I was going to see her. Time is a great change agent. Has she changed a lot? Will she be the same spoilt kid, as she used to be back in year 1993? 13 years have passed since I have known her. A lot of things have changed since then, Even I have changed, Now I am more than a foot taller than I used to be then. I entered the lobby of the huge multiplex, suddenly my phone rang and she had already reached and was waiting for me. I entered the Barista, and looked for a female sitting alone, there was only one, someone in white shirt. I went ahead trying to guess if it would be Preeti, and she was. She had changed a lot but still there were streaks of resemblance, with Preeti I knew when we were in Class Vth. Sitting across her on the table after 8 long years was an amazing experience. The last time I sat beside her was perhaps in 8-9 years back, when we sat together as seat partners. Long time, the ironies of time are strange, situations occur and then reoccur in different settings leaving you puzzled, but what doesn't fades in the Nostalgia and the feeling of Deja Vu
which leaves one question in your mind- Is it one of the days when i was in studying in class fifth?????

Chennai...Yennala Unna Maraka Mudiyala

My Office on Anand Mount Road, Chennai

Marketing division Tata Indicom, My battle ground...

My Cubicle, I worked from here :-)

My friends inside the office....
With my friends on our Chay ki tapri...

That was an experience...for Now it is TATA TATA INDICOM, TATA CHENNAI

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RESERVATIONS: Unanswered Questions

I was in class XII, and I decided to fill in the form for Joint Entrance Exam for the IIT's, and there was a column called caste and I went up to my father because I didn't know which circle to mark. My father told me about caste system and the reason why the column was there in the first place. Nothing wrong but a young guy knows that something called caste system exists and is something beyond the civics and moral science's books. Then we all gave the exam and when the results came there was a separate lists for some of my friends...again the same question why??? The answer is they belong to a different caste and typically addressed as scheduled castes. So now a person who just knew the people as classmates, friends, learns a new term for some of his friends. So to the extent my experience goes I feel that reservations are creating the gap more than they fill. But this wasn't enough, when I took admission in one of the government college and was staying in the hostel, I wanted to stay with one of my friend and wanted a room change, then I was informed by our warden that according to the rules the room has to be distributed as one general candidate, one scheduled caste/tribe and one OBC sounds damn funny. Since the person I wanted to shift with was also a scheduled caste the change did happened and he is my best friend still not because of his caste but because when he became my friend I was not aware that there is something as caste and there is nothing as good as pure friendship. This was not enough soon another phase started when the ragging started; the people were ill treated by the other caste seniors and all this because of the reservations. Till now even I became so proficient that I could tell people of their castes by their last names. Why all this hatred, I could never understand why??? The width kept on increasing when there were caste meets being attended by teachers themselves and we also got books form seniors based on our castes. I am really sure that this would not have been the intent when the reservation was introduced in our constitution. But the things have changed now and it is doing more harm than good. I am not against any caste or community but I have a few doubts and questions which the present form of reservation fails to answer may be at the time when this was planned it had a very valid existence but right now I find no reasons to support it. Some of the questions which my mind asks are-

1- The objectives of reservation were the up liftment of the people who were neglected by the country and the society and were the part of the country. Now first question is caste the only bases to identify the inequalities. Is there a possibility that someone who is also suffering from similar cause but doesn't belong to a particular caste? If yes then does that person deserve an address to his cause on the similar scales? Is there a possibility that a person who is not suffering from the inequalities gets undue benefit? If yes then the first thing is the system is not perfect and there are flaws and a better system can be brought in place. So the system can’t be assumed sacrosanct.

2- Now it has been more than fifty years since we have been implementing this system. Has it really been removing inequalities and poverty and economic gap at the rate 22.5% year on year? I don’t believe this because I don’t think that our population is growing at this rate and there has to be some visible convergence then. Anyways there is a 22.5% there is often news flashes that someone strips a dalit lady, and makes her roam around the village. How would reservation take care of this I couldn't see an alternative? Then you will tell me that there is dalit utpeedan act (I am not sure about of the act) but why??? I may sound stupid but my question is why??? If this is done to any of the person of this country the accused should be hanged because it violates the fundamental law of equality (why one more act to specify the caste of the victim, may be make him aware that she can blame her origin for whatever has happened to her). Second is poverty and economic gap, which is one thing which is addressed by reservation but to what extent. Does the system has proper checks, whether the benefits are reaching the needful and every needful is getting benefits. I still remember that the fee paid in our engineering college was refunded by the government for the scheduled caste/tribe students. And almost every scheduled caste/tribe student claimed it, though it was meant only for the economically weaker section of the society and the people availing it were mostly the affluent people who spent the money to purchase bikes, mobile phones, digital cameras and things which were distantly not related to the education on the other hand there were students from the so called upper caste but facing economic crisis at their home. They could just curse the system and expect that might be some banks give them loans which they would repay when they will start their lives. Not fair!!! is all I can say.

3- Then the measures are very qualitative, inequality, social, economic all these things are mentioned but there are no quantitative measures to check the real effectiveness. What is social inequality? Every one can stand anywhere, eat and drink anywhere, study anywhere, irrespective of any other thing except that he should be an Indian citizen. But what else can two people be equal socially. How do we found out that we have attained social equality? How??? What is our end result??? How can we be sure that reservation has done its job? Or may be it is not doing its job there are no metrics of these factors. Economic Equality is one of the most talked about factor, what is the economic equality... When every one owns the same amount of money than I can assure you reservation or no reservation this wont be possible. Or may be when the percentage of people below the line of poverty will be same for the every caste? Is that the metrics but do we track is reservation decreasing the people below the poverty line from the scheduled castes and tribe year on year and by how much, if it is reducing at a rate which is less than the growth of the population then it should be abolished as it not an effective way and something else should be tried out. Anything but there should be a clearly defined metrics and that too not it terms of time but in terms of result. So the reservation is not at all GOAL ORIENTED.

there are 100s of other questions in my mind but in the end all the things boil down to some of the few important that we as a nation decide something and take step and it doesn't even relates to our goal and we can't even measure how good or bad we have done for the country. Then I remember an old story of the cocoon which was struggling to become the butterfly and one of the children filled with emotions for the little creature and helped him out but the little creature never had the wings strong enough to fly. Are we doing the same to our fellow brothers by providing them help in their struggle? Especially in the light of the American society where the social and economic inequality between blacks and whites has been addressed very well over the years, also went through a similar situation from which we are going, there was a strong wave to get reservation for blacks during the reign of Abraham Lincoln, but it was turned down...and rest is a history..

So all I can say is that reservation is not the solution to the problems of the people as a matter of fact it is more of a gimmick which was once introduced with most sincere of motives but later turned into gimmick by the corrupt and polluted intentions of the Indian polity....

THE ALGORITHMS

One of the first things which I became associated with when I seriously started pursuing computer programming was algorithms. "Algorithm is the backbone of a computer program", I can still remember the voice of my teacher who was trying to emphasize the importance of an algorithm for writing a piece of code. Yes, she was very correct, but she narrowed the scope of an Algorithm when she restricted it to computer programming. An algorithm is defined as a set of instructions or procedures which are to be followed to achieve the desired outcome. But the scope of Algorithms is not at all related only to the computer programs, there are many algorithms which are being implemented at places which are not distantly related to computers or programming. One of such algorithms affects our daily lives. Remember when u saw a new born baby, he comes out and opens his eyes in the world, following which he learns to speak and then learns to walk. Then with the growing age he starts education formal and informal. Then it turns out that he has become big enough and finds a partner for him/her. Then he gives rise to another new child and the things continue until he/she dies. All this is a complex algorithm, may be we can call it "The Algorithm of Life" and some how even the exceptional cases that happen in the process also resemble the way Algorithms perform. This similarity between a human life and Algorithm forces me to write something on the topic. Think of the time when a person gives birth to his child, a similar thing occurs with algorithms, which is referred to as branching when an algorithm initiates another algorithm. There are times when people pass of without completing all the stages of life, strange though there is a similar phenomenon with algorithms, those related to computer programming would have came cross the term 'Abnormal Termination'. Then there are other interesting similarities, like there are concurrent running algorithms with different parameters, and then there is passing of information between two or more algorithms. All these similarities are amazing which somehow bring to a holistic picture of a world as a huge computer, processing around six billion algorithms simultaneously, the output and processes going on in continuous fashion. All running like a matrix of numbers somewhere in the core. But one thing which haunts me is one terminology which I can't relate to the algorithm of life is the looping algorithms, that is the algorithms who keep looping with their own instances and the lead to....EVER HEARD OF A COMPUTER HANG?????