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The Mahatma
Mahatma Gandhi was shot down on this day in 1948 by Nathu Ram Godse. Every history book credits him for standing against aparthied, for getting India her independence, for propagating the path of truth and honesty and preaching non-violence. Mahatma Gandhi, in his 72 years of life did more for his country than anyone else could ever do in 7 lifetimes. Now these are strong words that I am using. And I will have to defend them.
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi could have taken the path trodden by everyone else and could have been a meek spectator to the Indian freedom struggle. He was after all a qualified lawyer and he could practise law at London or at South Africa. But he chose a different stance. When he was kicked out of a railway carriage, he could have cursed the Brit and sat in the third class compartment but he stood his ground. There are numerous incidences like that.
In short, he had this ability to stand for what he thought was correct. Most of us admire him for this very reason. Even when odds were against him, he would make sure he stood his ground. For me, the best thing about Mahatma Gandhi was his ability to connect with the masses when newspapers were limited in reach, television was a privilege and Internet was not even born. His messages and letters could bring the entire nation to its feet. Managers in this era should learn from his methods and way he influenced people. And this influence was not a particular section of people but on everyone. Hindus, Muslim, Educated, Villagers, Men, Kids .. think about a strata and he had reached them.
Many people have blamed him for partition of India and Pakistan. He is also blamed for all the problems we have between Hindus and Muslims. He is known as a bad father. His relationship with his son Haribhai are still as big as a folklore. But all things said an done, he was after all one of the key reason we got our independence. His contribution was no small one and he will always be missed.
For me, he is one of those few people who died too soon. His death anniversary is a time to take stock of the situation. What we could have been and what we are now. And finally the way ahead for future.
Reliance Power IPO Allocation Status
I just checked stats for this blog and I was surprised to see a lot of hits for Reliance Power IPO Allocation status. And since this is what people want, here it is.
Every retail investor who applied for 225 shares of Reliance Power in the IPO at the cut-off price will get 15 shares. People can check the status of apllotment at this link.
Sadly, Investors who did not apply for 225 shares at cut-off price are not getting any.
Share listing is happening sometime in Feb. Obvisouly I dont know the exact date.
Related Posts
Relaince Power IPO Fast Facts
Reliance Power IPO. Power On. India On.
Every retail investor who applied for 225 shares of Reliance Power in the IPO at the cut-off price will get 15 shares. People can check the status of apllotment at this link.
Sadly, Investors who did not apply for 225 shares at cut-off price are not getting any.
Share listing is happening sometime in Feb. Obvisouly I dont know the exact date.
Related Posts
Relaince Power IPO Fast Facts
Reliance Power IPO. Power On. India On.
IBNLive.com > News or Sleaze?
I have wanted to join theatre for quite some time. I entered a query on Google and was directed to homepage of Mumbai Theatre Guide. And right on the top was this ad from Google Adsesne.
The copy read
Is the biggest and the best media house in India trying to sell it website by paddling pictures of Indian Women?
Imagine. IBNLive.com is the internet presence of IBN7 – part of TV18 group and a news channel that goes with the punch line "Khabar har kimat par". I used to think TV18 is an awesome company. I am in awe of Rajdeep Sardesai and Raghav Bhal. I know competition on internet is huge but these small cheap tricks to get more visitors on a website will not take them very far. Are they winning medals for journalism by showing hot pics of Indian Women? Are they creating personal fortunes and big companies by selling soft porn?
Coming on to the other side of the issue, do these women know that their pics are being advertised? That their personal lives are being used by IBN to promote their website? If they don't, isn't this breach of their personal privacy? If they do know, doesn’t this amount to crime? Paddling soft porn? Ms. Sushma Swaraj are you listening/reading?
Can someone forward this to TV18 group? And specifically to Mr. Bhal and Mr. Sardesai?
The copy read
Watch the hot pics of Indian Women in the world on IBNLive.com Now!
Is the biggest and the best media house in India trying to sell it website by paddling pictures of Indian Women?
Imagine. IBNLive.com is the internet presence of IBN7 – part of TV18 group and a news channel that goes with the punch line "Khabar har kimat par". I used to think TV18 is an awesome company. I am in awe of Rajdeep Sardesai and Raghav Bhal. I know competition on internet is huge but these small cheap tricks to get more visitors on a website will not take them very far. Are they winning medals for journalism by showing hot pics of Indian Women? Are they creating personal fortunes and big companies by selling soft porn?
Coming on to the other side of the issue, do these women know that their pics are being advertised? That their personal lives are being used by IBN to promote their website? If they don't, isn't this breach of their personal privacy? If they do know, doesn’t this amount to crime? Paddling soft porn? Ms. Sushma Swaraj are you listening/reading?
Can someone forward this to TV18 group? And specifically to Mr. Bhal and Mr. Sardesai?
The Bus. Stopped.
This bus also did not stop. Third bus in as many hours. AJ can't quite figure out this indifference on part of bus drivers. He is standing in sun, at a crossing in middle of nowhere, trying to wave down that hourly bus that can take him to the next town. Next hint of civilization.
He thinks that world has always been unfair to him. Parents, relatives, friends, teachers, neighbours, even strangers. He left his home in morning. For a journey. A never-ending journey. In pursuit of happiness. Happiness that has always eluded him. A journey to help him discover why world has been so unfair to him. Even the bus drivers seem to be unfair.
He was an average guy by all standards. Average looks. Average brains. Average in everything he ever did. Yet he thought that people hated him because of something that he had. Or maybe something he did not. He knew something was wrong somewhere.
He had only one wish. He wanted to see someone being honest to him. Someone thinking about him. He had decided that moment someone is fair to him, he would stop start looking at the world in a new light. He would ignore previous shortcomings.
He was looking for that one faint glimmer. One small signal that god actually exists. That he can trust people. That people are not out there to get him. That he is average. Very average.
Now, on the horizon, he can see yet another bus. Another ray of hope that he knows will fade away. Another bout of depression coming his way. He has long given up on things. Things like a bus stopping and he boarding it. Ever. He decides to sit and let the bus go.
And, the honking, rickety bus stops.
Note: This is my first attempt at FlashFiction. In short, a fiction in less than or equal to 300 words.
Note: Still editing
He thinks that world has always been unfair to him. Parents, relatives, friends, teachers, neighbours, even strangers. He left his home in morning. For a journey. A never-ending journey. In pursuit of happiness. Happiness that has always eluded him. A journey to help him discover why world has been so unfair to him. Even the bus drivers seem to be unfair.
He was an average guy by all standards. Average looks. Average brains. Average in everything he ever did. Yet he thought that people hated him because of something that he had. Or maybe something he did not. He knew something was wrong somewhere.
He had only one wish. He wanted to see someone being honest to him. Someone thinking about him. He had decided that moment someone is fair to him, he would stop start looking at the world in a new light. He would ignore previous shortcomings.
He was looking for that one faint glimmer. One small signal that god actually exists. That he can trust people. That people are not out there to get him. That he is average. Very average.
Now, on the horizon, he can see yet another bus. Another ray of hope that he knows will fade away. Another bout of depression coming his way. He has long given up on things. Things like a bus stopping and he boarding it. Ever. He decides to sit and let the bus go.
And, the honking, rickety bus stops.
Note: This is my first attempt at FlashFiction. In short, a fiction in less than or equal to 300 words.
Note: Still editing
Perils of Indian Education System
I was reading The Man Who Knew Infinity and I came across this interesting line on the status of education system devised by British when they were ruling India.
Think more on it and you would realize the perils of Indian education system.
Like a lot of other things, we have inherited the education system from the British. They enforced a school, college and university system of education on masses of India.
Indian society always had manpower in abundance. Jobs were hard to find. Money rested with a fraction of a fraction of people. For a commoner, education and degree was the fastest way to economic freedom and stability. People made sure they get that coveted degree and get a stable job. A degree became something revered.
Perhaps, no where in the world you have university examinations where you are made to read Psychology, English, History, Geography and others, if you want to become a computer programmer. There are umpteen more examples like that. All the courses are made mandatory and you have to take them in order to get a university degree. You can not choose, mix and match these courses. You cannot decide what you want t o do in life. You have to live is the way others thing you should.
If we had something called the credit system where you could pick courses that you want to read, India would have lot more evolved people (for example schooling and college in USA). With Indian system, the entire focus of students and teachers and parents is on getting maximum grades. It is very likely that a student crams a text book and tops the examination and gets all the accolades. He might not even know how to reach his home from a remote corner of the country. And, on the other hand, a truly smart student has to bear the brunt of not performing in these text-book examinations. He might be the next Ambani, Bose, Gates or Jobs but he will be discouraged to take the road less travelled.
I used to be an academic topper till about 10th standard. I really believed in and wanted to excel at examinations. I would do everything from cramming text books to fill water bottles for teachers to make notes to cheat and to everything imaginable to get good marks in exams. And it was not only me. All my friends and their friends and their friends wanted to excel. By hook or by crook. If i came second, parents would not congratulate me. They would ask why I wasn’t first. If I got 97, they asked me what happened to other three marks.
This made my knowledge and understanding of the world bookish. I would always go by the book and would never think of an alternate way to do things. My creativity was constrained in a box. Every time I thought of a novel way of doing things, I was stopped by teachers. I was told to adhere to what teacher thinks is the best solution. I could not innovate or improvise. We should take cues from other education systems that are more hands on. Where students are required to innovate and improvise if they have to get grades.
Coming back to the text, this kind of a bookish education is good for developing people who can serve. This system would produce copy-cats. Not innovators. Followers. Not Leaders.
Someone has to change the education system. The onus can come from the industry. Currently if you are to recruit someone, you look for credentials in terms of education and pedigree of the institution. If you start recruiting someone who is good with logic and has no formal degree and encourage that, a lot of fresh ideas can be brewed. Except for my employer, I have never come across a company that prides itself in hiring dropouts. In fact in my case, for recruiting me, they made an exception. They hired me even though I am a MBA from one of the best institutes in the country and had never flunked or dropped out.
With more and more people taking the alternate route now, I am very hopeful that we would break away from the mandatory courses and llot less lives would be wasted because of our education system.
It was designed, after all, to churn out bright, well-rounded young men who could help their British masters run the country, not the “restless and ambitious spirits”
Think more on it and you would realize the perils of Indian education system.
Like a lot of other things, we have inherited the education system from the British. They enforced a school, college and university system of education on masses of India.
Indian society always had manpower in abundance. Jobs were hard to find. Money rested with a fraction of a fraction of people. For a commoner, education and degree was the fastest way to economic freedom and stability. People made sure they get that coveted degree and get a stable job. A degree became something revered.
Perhaps, no where in the world you have university examinations where you are made to read Psychology, English, History, Geography and others, if you want to become a computer programmer. There are umpteen more examples like that. All the courses are made mandatory and you have to take them in order to get a university degree. You can not choose, mix and match these courses. You cannot decide what you want t o do in life. You have to live is the way others thing you should.
If we had something called the credit system where you could pick courses that you want to read, India would have lot more evolved people (for example schooling and college in USA). With Indian system, the entire focus of students and teachers and parents is on getting maximum grades. It is very likely that a student crams a text book and tops the examination and gets all the accolades. He might not even know how to reach his home from a remote corner of the country. And, on the other hand, a truly smart student has to bear the brunt of not performing in these text-book examinations. He might be the next Ambani, Bose, Gates or Jobs but he will be discouraged to take the road less travelled.
I used to be an academic topper till about 10th standard. I really believed in and wanted to excel at examinations. I would do everything from cramming text books to fill water bottles for teachers to make notes to cheat and to everything imaginable to get good marks in exams. And it was not only me. All my friends and their friends and their friends wanted to excel. By hook or by crook. If i came second, parents would not congratulate me. They would ask why I wasn’t first. If I got 97, they asked me what happened to other three marks.
This made my knowledge and understanding of the world bookish. I would always go by the book and would never think of an alternate way to do things. My creativity was constrained in a box. Every time I thought of a novel way of doing things, I was stopped by teachers. I was told to adhere to what teacher thinks is the best solution. I could not innovate or improvise. We should take cues from other education systems that are more hands on. Where students are required to innovate and improvise if they have to get grades.
Coming back to the text, this kind of a bookish education is good for developing people who can serve. This system would produce copy-cats. Not innovators. Followers. Not Leaders.
Someone has to change the education system. The onus can come from the industry. Currently if you are to recruit someone, you look for credentials in terms of education and pedigree of the institution. If you start recruiting someone who is good with logic and has no formal degree and encourage that, a lot of fresh ideas can be brewed. Except for my employer, I have never come across a company that prides itself in hiring dropouts. In fact in my case, for recruiting me, they made an exception. They hired me even though I am a MBA from one of the best institutes in the country and had never flunked or dropped out.
With more and more people taking the alternate route now, I am very hopeful that we would break away from the mandatory courses and llot less lives would be wasted because of our education system.
Dilbert Vs XKCD: Which is more popular and why?
Apurba Sen asked the following question on LinkedIn.
I have been reading both Dilbert and XKCD for quite some time now. Here is my answer.
Why "Dilbert" is becoming less popular comic strip?
During 2007 Alexa trend showed Scott Adam's comic strip "Dilbert" " lost steadily to other comic strips viz XKCD, Explosm & Penny - arcade.
Any reason why ? What makes XKCD more popular than Dilbert?
I have been reading both Dilbert and XKCD for quite some time now. Here is my answer.
Here is an answer from a die-hard Dilbert and a devout XKCD fan. Dont really follow Explosm.Any thoughts?
I think the answer lies in the way you measure popularity.
A lot of people might not go to the websites to read the comics. They subscribe with feed readers and emails. Further Dilbert is syndicated on comics.com and host of other publications. Reach for Dilbert is thus huge without a lot of people logging on to Dilbert.com.
Further, Both comics are for different people.
Most MBAs (including me) can relate to what Dilbert says. Most MBAs are also working in managerial roles and a diverse range of companies. May be they are short of time to logon to the website? I am not implying that managers work ;)
XKCD is about geekdom and its difficult for anyone non-geek to understand what is going on. Geeks love to spend time on the internet and hence more clicks. And geeks are more likely to have all kinds of tool bars (read Alexa) installed on their comps.
In recent years, trend has been moving towards non-conventional careers and more and more people are opting for self-employment and entrepreneurship rather than a MBA. And maybe this is a reason for growing popularity of XKCD?
Regards,
SG
Google and Publicis to share Resources and Talent
Adage.com has this interesting article about Publicis and Google. According to adage, Google and Publicis have agreed on talent sharing to design and develop new product and services. Talent sharing has been done in the past as well but there is more to this sharing than any other partnership.
Publicis is into advertising and communication and Google is in technology and web. How can these two companies benefit from talking to each other?
If you look deeper into the core businesses, Publicis is effectively into communication of benefits of existing brands and still deeper, creating the need for a new brand. Google on the other hand is in the business of providing information to users and enabling transactions between users and brands.
If Publicis was to get into a relted business, they would logically get into Google's domain and if Google integrated backwards, it would go into Publicis' territory.
More and more companies are willing to share information to design new products. Interesting times ahead.
In an interview to adage.com, Publicis CEO Mr. Levy said
1. "For a few months or a year, people from Publicis Groupe will be working at Google, and people from Google will be working at some of our companies"
2. "We're bringing Google our knowledge of advertising communications, consumers and client needs. They're bringing us knowledge of technology and the world of the web."
3. "Google might develop partnerships with other agencies, and Publicis is free to work with other groups, such as Yahoo or MSN."
Publicis is into advertising and communication and Google is in technology and web. How can these two companies benefit from talking to each other?
If you look deeper into the core businesses, Publicis is effectively into communication of benefits of existing brands and still deeper, creating the need for a new brand. Google on the other hand is in the business of providing information to users and enabling transactions between users and brands.
If Publicis was to get into a relted business, they would logically get into Google's domain and if Google integrated backwards, it would go into Publicis' territory.
More and more companies are willing to share information to design new products. Interesting times ahead.
Online Travel Agents in India
TOI has this piece on Online Travel Agents in India.
The survey about locations of users is important. It shows the readiness towards e-commerce in India and where a location specific service (local search, order aggregation, ) might work. More on this later.
There is something even more interesting. The number of tickets that leading OTAs book per day. MakeMyTrip.com books 8000 tickets a day. ClearTrip.com books 6000 tickets a day. This number has been reported by the company themselves. There is no reason to doubt the accuracy. After all they are not like social networking websites where the number of members is the only way to evaluate these companies.
Going by these numbers, Cleartrip.com books approximately 22 lakh tickets per year. I assume this number to be correct (don't know if these many people fly in India per year) and going by earlier post on Cleartip.com earnings, average billing per ticket is 3200 bucks.
And again assuming that they get between 1% and 5% of the ticket as commission, they make anywhere between 50 and 250 bucks per ticket. This is a big range but without data, this is the best number.
Anyone thoughts?
Related Posts
Cleartrip.com earning report
The survey about locations of users is important. It shows the readiness towards e-commerce in India and where a location specific service (local search, order aggregation, ) might work. More on this later.
There is something even more interesting. The number of tickets that leading OTAs book per day. MakeMyTrip.com books 8000 tickets a day. ClearTrip.com books 6000 tickets a day. This number has been reported by the company themselves. There is no reason to doubt the accuracy. After all they are not like social networking websites where the number of members is the only way to evaluate these companies.
Going by these numbers, Cleartrip.com books approximately 22 lakh tickets per year. I assume this number to be correct (don't know if these many people fly in India per year) and going by earlier post on Cleartip.com earnings, average billing per ticket is 3200 bucks.
And again assuming that they get between 1% and 5% of the ticket as commission, they make anywhere between 50 and 250 bucks per ticket. This is a big range but without data, this is the best number.
Anyone thoughts?
Related Posts
Cleartrip.com earning report
2008: There is something in the air
Before the Macworld Expo this year, interesting banners were put up around the site. These banners read "2008: There is something in the air".
Obviously no one knew what those banners were about.
Yesterday Steve Jobs did it again. He unveiled Macbook Air. The slimmest laptop in the world. Aptly called The MacBook Air. And the website is called Thinnovation.
It is not about introducing the thinnest laptop or fastest or latest. These things are trivial. It is about pushing the limits everytime you face challenge or an audience. It is about creating expectations and then living upto them.
And as they say, presentation is as important as the final product, in my humble opinion, no one can deliver better presentations than Steve Jobs. We should learn how to create hype around a product and make them cult.
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