The War Of Words

Septemberthe11th

911 - the number Americans associate with emergency. 911 - the nuber americans assocate with tragedy.

It was 9112001 when a few men rocked the world and brought America on its feet. The WTC and the Pentagon were attacked and thousands of innocent americans lost their lives.

Today is the third anniversary of the attack and we should take a few lessons from the tragic event and try to make sure that this kinda thing never hapens in the future.

There are so many interesting facets to the September the 11th attack against America and there are so many things I would like to say here but I won't be doing it because one I don't have that much time to write about it and two some people might be offended with the stuff.

I have my deepest sympathies with the friends and families of the victims. I know its difficult but there are somethings that much be accepted and we dont have control over em.

The Game Theory

When 'The Beautiful Mind' was released, everyone saw it, loved the acting of Rusell Crowe, envied at his Oscar, admired the man John Nash and gasped at the intelligence.

When I saw the movie for the first time, I liked a few things... One on those is a sequence where John Nash is standing in the lawn of the campus in winter afternoon and he visualizes a wine glass matching with a neck tie. I don't recall the seqence properly but it was truely an exceptonal art of photography and/or animation. Another good sequence was when he loses the game of checkers to the bullies and says that the game of checkers is flawed. And finally the last one I can recall right now is the sequence where in John Nash and his friends try to patao a girl in the local pub and he applies the Game Theory on them. A brief Autobiography of John Nash can be reached at http://nobelprize.org/economics/laureates/1994/nash-autobio.html.

So Game Theory is relaly Economics or Mathematics, I don't have a clue, may be they are related or may be not but I would like to know about it some day and may be become one of those few who have understood it. Economics classes in a BSchool can be real tough, especially for por souls like me who dont have a lena dena with commerce subjects. I know its very very important and probably he most important but I have to admit I suck at it and by the way things are going, I dont think I would ever be able to improve. So comng back to Economics, we have a fwe Eco studs here. The first n foremost would be Samidha aka *****-Wali. The stars can not be revealed as I am not supposed to call her that name. She is a Eco Hons graduate from LSR (Yes ! Lady Shri Ram - Heaven) and by the way she talks about Eco, one can tell she has spent all her life studying Eco. Next would be Neha Agarwal. She did her Eco Hons from Calcutta (prolly St. Xavires). And now coming on to the BAAP of Economics, we have a professor called Dr. Bappaditya Mukhopadhyay. He is GOD when it comes to Economics. I wish I get to be as good as he is... Before I end this short intro about Eco @ MDI, Samidha deserves a special mention once again, shes helped me pass a few quizes and mid-terms and she is one of those few people who would never refuse you for anything.

Getting back to the Game Theory, here is a very simple straight forward example of the Game Theory given by Prof. Bappaditya in one of the lectures. The game goes like... There is a room full of people and they all are asked one question with only two possible answers. The sample queston can be "Bill Gates is the Richest Man on the planet. True or False?". The question is asked to everyone in the open forum and everyone is told that one by one they would walk out of the room and the person walking out of the room would have to give the answer. The game would be stopped AND I DONT REMEMBER THE REST OF THE GAME !

Tomorrow we are having a special class on Game Theory and it should be interesting. I am looking forward to it and I hope I get some undersanding out of it. I would try not to sleep in the class and try to grasp everything. After all Game Theory can help you make friends ;)

Would edit the post later as soon as find out Prof. Bappas' Game.

Broken !

It was one of those times when I actually promised someone something. I promised Ridhima that I would complete the stuff in PhotoShop before 6 in the morning and I would mail her the thing.

I could'nt complete it :(

Linkxxx

Walk Down The Memory Lanes

That day among one of those lectures me and Saurabh Gupta were talking about stuff we did when we were kids (when Gupta was a kid, am still a kid). Somehow we stated talking about Comic Series and I found out that Gupta also was passionate by them. We discussed about Super Commando Dhruv, BankeLal, Nagraj, Chacha Chaudhary and what not. We even talked about few comics that we were able to recall. That was one awesome hour.

I used to be so passionate about Super Commando Dhruv that I had almost decided to be a con detective when I grow up. Waise I still have an option. I am yet to grow up and as an when, if ever, I DO grow up, I would love to exercise the option.

I have decided that I would tr and get the issues of the comics and see where they have reaced in the Internet Age. That time, when I was a regular reader, there were'nt many other sources of entertainment and kids would loan comics and play games. Now we have everything from computers to pool to go carting to kill time on.

Another one would be that once I actually tried my hands at writing a comic series. I don't remember what exactly it was about but yes it was an action adventure thing and the hero was called 'The Meteor Man'. WOW. Although I never got to complete the thing but yes I planned and I started.

And the last thing to write about today would be the reason why we call them comics. As far as my pea-sized brain says, comics = cpomic+s and comic is supposed to be funny and with adventure stories like that of Dhruv and his sis Natasha and Nagraj, they were far from funny. They were interesting for sure and funny at times. Probably we just called them comics because the publishers called themselves comics, eg beng Diamond Comics with famous cartoonist Pran who created Chacha Chaudhary, Sabu, Pinki, Raman etc and then there was Raj Comics with whole array of stars like Dhruv, Nagraj, Bankelal etc. etc.

Those days were good and I miss them like hell. It also reminds me of time I spent with Monu in his house perfecting the art of VideoGaming and Cricet Fielding and Cycling.

Phew !

Take Me Home ...

When I heard the song by John Denver, I didnt realize that it would applicable to me someday. Applicable in the sense that I would long to get back home to my friends, to my family, to my home, to the place I was brought up and lived virtually all my life.

After the fun time spent at hostel, I do miss the time I spent at home. Although the friends have drifted apart, they have found new accomplices, new crushes, they still wait for me, miss me and so do I.

Someone rightly said that yourealize the true value of something when you don't have it. I never relished the home cooked food, the time wasted walking on that market road, the biking, the game of cricket until I was far from it.

I am sure after two years at my hostel, I would be feeling the same way. I would be leaving my hostel, my friends, my college, my home. Damn it why do we have to be seperated from things we like to be with. Probably that's life. Change.

I know this post is not making any sense and am not getting anywhere by posting this but today probably for the first time, I am really really expressing myself on the BLOG.

Independence Day

Sabhi Bharat Vaasiyon Ko Swatantra Diwas Ki Hardik Shubh Kaamnaain.

British rule officially ended on 15th August 1947 and India became an independent state.

British traders, looking for expanding their trade and raking in money, travelled to far off palces and discovered India. The Golden Bird. With all the money and prosperity, they targeted us and slowly they imposed their rule over us. People did not object to the rule as long as they were just and fair. But they soon started exploiting and filling up the queens banks and lockers. Huge taxes were imposed, fine and duties were levied. People had to sleep hungry to pay in the taxes. Then they started physical abuse and the worst form of abuse - descrimination. They would not let any Indian enter their parks, clubs which were built on the Indian soil and they somehow contended that it was theirs. It was real bad. The britishers looted the country and left us in shackles and when they were leaving, they sowed the seed of racial disharmony.

If the Bristish Rule was bad, there were a few positives out of it too. People actually were united and fought for one cause. The cause of freedom. We developed an identity as fighters and as people who won't give in to any pressure. Even if we have to make the supreme sacrifice of laying down our lives, we won't move. We would go ahead and do anything for our country.

From a humble beginning in 1947, we have came a long way in 2004 and still there is a long road ahead. Today on 15th August, lets all unite and pledge to take our country even further and make it even stronger. We have lessons to learn from the history and we have to make sure that we don't commit the mistakes we did in the past. Let the pas serve as an example and let's move forward with another year of independence behind us.

Vande Mataram

Friday the 13th

Friday the 13th. People say that Friday the 13th happens to be a very unlucky date. As far as am concerned, Friday the 13th has been real good for me.

To start with, I was in my class on time. Although I had to skip my breakfast as usual and I couldn’t take a bath but the still I was in the class and was on time. Secondly today was probably the first day at MDI when I wasn’t sleepy. I actually attended the class and I was attentive. YAY. I understood almost everything taught in the class and I am beginning to believe that speaking less and being serious about stuff is the way to it.

Anyways after the class I hanged around with friends. Although it was freaking hot but I still enjoyed the good company. I had lunch outside. It was a welcome break from the messy mess food. After the lunch, yet another long time wish came true and I was so happy.

Then it was time to remember a few old friends. Called up people in Chandigarh and Chennai. It cost me 80 odd bucks but they were well spent and worth every since paisa I spent.

To wrap things up and end the day, am sitting at home with my family as am writing this entry.

Oh and did I mention that I started my day dancing on the dome terrace in my hostel. I danced till about 3 and then I along with a few friends went out for a ride. So the day started well and is ending very well.

Friday The 13th! Who says Fridays are unlucky and I would like to copy a copyrighted thing here … Thanks God It’s Friday!

04P050

50th post and 04P050 happens to be my Roll # at MDI.

Anyways this post is about 5 of my friends who lost their jobs yesterday/day before. AB, SB, HG, RS and SY worked in the same office and were working there for more than a year now. They were among the very best in terms of interpersonal skills, technical skills, dedication, motivation for the job, repect for the authorty. They made the perfect employees.

As everyone knows it, World Cyber Games are here. These people entered into WCG as a Clan, called themseves TOL and had to leave their office for two days without prior information. This made the management so furious that they decided to sack all five. Of these five, one was a senior in hierarchy and reponsibility.

As far as I know, AB should not have an issue in moving ahead and getting a new job. SY would be joining his dream course in August, HG has to join some college and complete the education, RS and SB I am not sure about them but they are not among those who would break down. I am sure they would be doing good.

Losing your job is one of the worst social and personal traumas for a person. Who would knw it better than me; I also had to leave the same company for no reason what-so-ever.

Is there anything wrong with the way the employee thinks and the way the management thinks. Right now I have almost started my management career and I certainly don't see any major differences. I don't kno the reasons, I don't want to know but what I know is that whatever happpened should not have hapened in the first place and its not good. Not good for both the company and the employees.

Talking of employees, those 5 who were fired have almost no concrete option ahead of them in terms of a job. Those who are left behind in the office, although they have been given a raise of almost 40%, would not be feeling very secure about their own jobs. If an employee is insecure about his job, how can we expect tem to perform to the optimum level?

And company, well the first and the foremost thing, they loose people. Valuable People. Some has rigtly said people is the best assest for any organization. I have worked with these 5 people ans I think they represented the cream of the company. Another thing they loose on is productivity and employee trust.

I don't want to write any further and I hope something like this never happens again and these guys find some or the other alternative.

John Smith

Finally a post after almost a year. So amny things have happened, so much to talk about and yet not time to log them on the BLOG. Things are looking good and I believe I would be able to post on a regular basis from now on (I have my fingers crossed when I say this.. ;))

Today I had an oppurtunity to interact with Mr. Sanjay Verma, JMD @ Cushman and Wakefield India. He is an MDI alumunus and he was invited today for a session on the Real Estate Industry. He specifically asked us (the students at a B School) to read more and more magazines like everyone else. Inspired I went in to library and thought about reading a few magazines. I happened to get my hands on one issue of the Fortune Magazine.

In one of the articles, they talked about a guy called John "Winter" Smith who is 32 years old and is a computer programmer by profession. He is like every other software professional in US of A. Only thing that makes him different and Fortune having a article on him is his love for StarBucks. The article is located here.

Starbucks, the name won't sound very familiar to lot of Indians but as I found out, happens to be a chain of Coffee Bars (if I may take the liberty of calling it a bar). So our hero for the post, Mr. Winter is a huge fan of Starbucks and is on a mission to visit every Starbucks outlet in the World. According to the last update on 19th July made on his website, Winter had visited 4064 North American stores, 114 British stores, and 53 Japanese stores, making it a total of 4231 stores (please ignore the addition errors if any). So this man is really really passionate to Starbucks and hats off to the creative genius.

There are'nt many people around who do something different and are creative, Winter sure is one of them. I would recommend a visit to the website at http://starbuckseverywhere.net and find out more about the man.

Now getting to the Business aspects of the story (since I am a Busniess Student now), the amount of money that Starbucks makes would be huge, a detailed company analysis would be done as and when I get time ;)

I would also want to do something like that some day ... (The Day Dreamer) ;)

The Nidhi Kapoor Story