Monica describes me as an "enthu intelli curious will be something soon guy".
Wow. Thanks Monica for such kind words.
TED 2008: VizThink
I’ve got a security mindset
Wired has this interesting article today on a new course as University of Washington on thinking like a security personnel.
Reading the article and the course blog, I realized why I always had destructive tendencies. I have always wanted to find a way to pilferage things off the markets, way to steal that large gaming console out of that building, why I always want to look at the about page and login page of a website, and other ways a person can break a system.
Does that mean I have what it takes to be a security professional? No. Does that mean I am a negative person with destructive energies? Certainly No. It means that I am someone who is programmed to think like a security professional and I can use it in other interesting ways.
What could be other interesting ways?
1. Launch a business where you consult people. Consulting is a keyword for all MBAs. All MBAs aspire to be consultants some day irrespective of their level of expertise.
2. Identify a vulnerability and create a business idea around it. Make it social, viral, more importantly feasible. Make money from it and retire.
3. Talk to other people about it. Educate them about a different way to look at things.
What next?
Talk to Prof. Yoshi and see if this course can be taken online.
Are there anymore people who think like that and would want to connect? What could be other ways to use this knack rather than feeling sorry about it?
P.S.: One of my all time favorite fictitious people is Jack Bauer. And more I see 24, more I can relate to way Jack thinks. Or may be every can relate to him and thats why 24 was such a big hit...?
Originally posted on Thoughts @ Work
Reading the article and the course blog, I realized why I always had destructive tendencies. I have always wanted to find a way to pilferage things off the markets, way to steal that large gaming console out of that building, why I always want to look at the about page and login page of a website, and other ways a person can break a system.
Does that mean I have what it takes to be a security professional? No. Does that mean I am a negative person with destructive energies? Certainly No. It means that I am someone who is programmed to think like a security professional and I can use it in other interesting ways.
What could be other interesting ways?
1. Launch a business where you consult people. Consulting is a keyword for all MBAs. All MBAs aspire to be consultants some day irrespective of their level of expertise.
2. Identify a vulnerability and create a business idea around it. Make it social, viral, more importantly feasible. Make money from it and retire.
3. Talk to other people about it. Educate them about a different way to look at things.
What next?
Talk to Prof. Yoshi and see if this course can be taken online.
Are there anymore people who think like that and would want to connect? What could be other ways to use this knack rather than feeling sorry about it?
P.S.: One of my all time favorite fictitious people is Jack Bauer. And more I see 24, more I can relate to way Jack thinks. Or may be every can relate to him and thats why 24 was such a big hit...?
Originally posted on Thoughts @ Work
Mumbai Barcamp 3
Date: 29th March 2008
Loc: SJSOM, IIT Mumbai
Agenda: None :)
And this "none" agenda makes a barcamp an interesting place to go. I was there for Mumbai Barcamp 2 also and I met few good people there. Hope to bump into more people this time. Also, last time, I saw a lot of people and companies walking in herds and trying to create things without even knowing "the why" question. Hope things change this time around.
Register: http://barcampmumbai.org/BCM3_registrants
As of now 200 people have registered already. Keep watching this space for more.
Originally posted at Thoughts @ Work.
Jack Bauer - 24
I have been following the life of Jack Bauer for about a month now.
Jack gives me immense sense of confidence in ones ability. He epitomizes rebel, exceptional talent, hardwork, reflexes and other virtues unheard of in humans.
Respectfully Submitted,
Joe.
P.S.: The above post indicates what life could be like for someone who eats, breathes and thinks television. And Yes, I absolutely love the TV series. Its drama, action, suspense and everything else that you can think of.
Jack gives me immense sense of confidence in ones ability. He epitomizes rebel, exceptional talent, hardwork, reflexes and other virtues unheard of in humans.
Respectfully Submitted,
Joe.
P.S.: The above post indicates what life could be like for someone who eats, breathes and thinks television. And Yes, I absolutely love the TV series. Its drama, action, suspense and everything else that you can think of.
1v1: Excellence vs Mediocrity
Third in series after Popular vs Pertinent, Expert vs Employee.
Excellence vs Mediocrity
You can either pursue excellence or remain a mediocre.
A mediocre by definition is someone engaging in an act where objective is to finish the task rather than to complete it with best of abilities. Often, shortcuts are used and outcomes are ordinary. Borrowed wisdom is put to work and original thought process takes a back seat.
Excellence is where the objective is to compete with oneself. Idea is to create something out of the world even though the objective is well defined. Excellence could be in way you work, in way you opine of things or even the way you execute. People who pursue excellence sleep easy and tight.
Mediocrity vs Excellence in one line: The pursuit of excellence creates original thoughts that a mediocre person would put to use.
Both these are more about an attitude rather than expertise or availability of resources. And once you start the pursuit of excellence, its very easy to fall in the trap and move back to mediocrity. By definition, most of the human population falls in the mediocre category and funny thing is that they dont even realize it.
You can pursue only one at a time. You could be mediocre or you could be excellent. What are you?
Originally posted at Thoughts @ Work
Excellence vs Mediocrity
You can either pursue excellence or remain a mediocre.
A mediocre by definition is someone engaging in an act where objective is to finish the task rather than to complete it with best of abilities. Often, shortcuts are used and outcomes are ordinary. Borrowed wisdom is put to work and original thought process takes a back seat.
Excellence is where the objective is to compete with oneself. Idea is to create something out of the world even though the objective is well defined. Excellence could be in way you work, in way you opine of things or even the way you execute. People who pursue excellence sleep easy and tight.
Mediocrity vs Excellence in one line: The pursuit of excellence creates original thoughts that a mediocre person would put to use.
Both these are more about an attitude rather than expertise or availability of resources. And once you start the pursuit of excellence, its very easy to fall in the trap and move back to mediocrity. By definition, most of the human population falls in the mediocre category and funny thing is that they dont even realize it.
You can pursue only one at a time. You could be mediocre or you could be excellent. What are you?
Originally posted at Thoughts @ Work
Media in an Open Environment
I was talking to a colleague in office and I realized that I need to talk about taking media to a new level. I have been procrastinating it for a while. I am penning down my thoughts on media in India and invite you people to share this with anyone you think can contribute. Please add your opinions also.
In my opinion media is supposed to perform three functions
1. Inform junta about things
2. Bring people together and share opinions
3. Shape public thought
However, currently media as I see it is not really doing any of these three. Media is being operated as a business with profit motives and as my colleague put it, actual function has become the by product. I would not question why or how this happened. I shall talk about what can be done to bring it back on track. And obviously this is where I would need you guys to help me out. Please help me structure my thought process.
I think there are few things that are really critical for having media in true spirit.
1. Objectivity - Obviously we want to take sides, churn out opinions but we should do it with objective bent. We should kill a brand, praise a person but should be objective.
2. Independence - Independence is a huge word by itself and can have many connotations. Independence of thoughts, independence from influence, independence to write. And lots more.
3. Thought leadership - Apart from just publishing happenings and reporting events, media needs to have thought leadership. They should have original opinion on things. Thoughts on how to shape the society and probably a bit of foresight to be able to foresee the future.
4. Reach and feedback - There are two things here. Media could use any platform for delivery - paper, website, twitter, plays, design anything but it should have a certain reach. Atleast in the targeted audience, it should reach everyone and it should be contextual and relevant enough for them to consider it signal, rather than noise. And feedbcak is more critical than everything else. Media needs to know what is happening, how are people reacting to things, what is the audience thinking, is India covering the right things, is the media being a thought leader in the first place?
Now having established things that are critical for media in my opinion, I will talk about how can Internet help us in achieving the goal.
1. Collaboration - This word has been misused more than any other word on the Internet. When it comes to media, collaboration could take shape of co-authoring stories, thinking out loud, accepting defeats and promoting what is better, so on and so forth. Mutiny is a very good example but again we tend to incline towards popular things rather than pertinent things.
2. Reach and Feedback - With Internet as delivery model, both reach and feedback can be much simpler. With Internet, we can real time feedback from people and improvise at the same time. The time gap between conversations is reducing and making us faster.
3. Democratic - Since people on Internet are hidden behind a cloak, they can come forward and talk about things that they want to talk above without any fears of retribution. Although this silver cloak is a bane as well, it gives regular junta lots of power too.
There have to be some issues with the Internet. I foresee following issues with the use of Internet. This is not a problem because of Internet but because it is open.
1. Accountability - Everyone on Internet is hidden behind a silver cloak. If someone wants to misuse media, Internet help him. No one is owner of the content and no one is questionable.
2. Seriousness - Most people still consider Internet as "oh the internet" and think it as a collection of amateurs blogging away to glory. There are so many good authors that I cant even create a list.
3. Numbers - There arent just enough people on Internet in India. And most of people on the Internet don't really care about reading things. I am not sure how many would read this post completely, leave apart shaping opinions and contributing. If you do read , please say "SECRET REVEALED" in the comments, I will be happy to get 10 comments.
In the end, I dont know if this kind of an initiative could ever gain momentum in India or anywhere else or if this can ever replace traditional businesses disguised as media. I am just trying to present a perspective on things.
Please understand that everything I have said could be incorrect. They are just my opinions and want you guys to help me come up with something concrete.
Thanks for a patient hearing.
P.S.: I started this as a personal email to Sanjukta and another good friend (Swagat) but I thought I could share this with a larger audience too.
Originally posted @ saurabhgarg.com
In my opinion media is supposed to perform three functions
1. Inform junta about things
2. Bring people together and share opinions
3. Shape public thought
However, currently media as I see it is not really doing any of these three. Media is being operated as a business with profit motives and as my colleague put it, actual function has become the by product. I would not question why or how this happened. I shall talk about what can be done to bring it back on track. And obviously this is where I would need you guys to help me out. Please help me structure my thought process.
I think there are few things that are really critical for having media in true spirit.
1. Objectivity - Obviously we want to take sides, churn out opinions but we should do it with objective bent. We should kill a brand, praise a person but should be objective.
2. Independence - Independence is a huge word by itself and can have many connotations. Independence of thoughts, independence from influence, independence to write. And lots more.
3. Thought leadership - Apart from just publishing happenings and reporting events, media needs to have thought leadership. They should have original opinion on things. Thoughts on how to shape the society and probably a bit of foresight to be able to foresee the future.
4. Reach and feedback - There are two things here. Media could use any platform for delivery - paper, website, twitter, plays, design anything but it should have a certain reach. Atleast in the targeted audience, it should reach everyone and it should be contextual and relevant enough for them to consider it signal, rather than noise. And feedbcak is more critical than everything else. Media needs to know what is happening, how are people reacting to things, what is the audience thinking, is India covering the right things, is the media being a thought leader in the first place?
Now having established things that are critical for media in my opinion, I will talk about how can Internet help us in achieving the goal.
1. Collaboration - This word has been misused more than any other word on the Internet. When it comes to media, collaboration could take shape of co-authoring stories, thinking out loud, accepting defeats and promoting what is better, so on and so forth. Mutiny is a very good example but again we tend to incline towards popular things rather than pertinent things.
2. Reach and Feedback - With Internet as delivery model, both reach and feedback can be much simpler. With Internet, we can real time feedback from people and improvise at the same time. The time gap between conversations is reducing and making us faster.
3. Democratic - Since people on Internet are hidden behind a cloak, they can come forward and talk about things that they want to talk above without any fears of retribution. Although this silver cloak is a bane as well, it gives regular junta lots of power too.
There have to be some issues with the Internet. I foresee following issues with the use of Internet. This is not a problem because of Internet but because it is open.
1. Accountability - Everyone on Internet is hidden behind a silver cloak. If someone wants to misuse media, Internet help him. No one is owner of the content and no one is questionable.
2. Seriousness - Most people still consider Internet as "oh the internet" and think it as a collection of amateurs blogging away to glory. There are so many good authors that I cant even create a list.
3. Numbers - There arent just enough people on Internet in India. And most of people on the Internet don't really care about reading things. I am not sure how many would read this post completely, leave apart shaping opinions and contributing. If you do read , please say "SECRET REVEALED" in the comments, I will be happy to get 10 comments.
In the end, I dont know if this kind of an initiative could ever gain momentum in India or anywhere else or if this can ever replace traditional businesses disguised as media. I am just trying to present a perspective on things.
Please understand that everything I have said could be incorrect. They are just my opinions and want you guys to help me come up with something concrete.
Thanks for a patient hearing.
P.S.: I started this as a personal email to Sanjukta and another good friend (Swagat) but I thought I could share this with a larger audience too.
Originally posted @ saurabhgarg.com
Lyrics: Chodo Kal Ki Baatein
Posting a song after a long time. Almost brought me to tears. Even after all these years, the song is still pertinent.
Movie: Hum HindustaniNaya Daur (Thanks Millind for pointing out)
Singer: Mukesh
Lyrics: Prem Dhawan (anyone knows more about him?)
Lyrics Credit: HindiLyrix.com
Movie: Hum Hindustani
Singer: Mukesh
Lyrics: Prem Dhawan (anyone knows more about him?)
Chhodo kal ki baatein, kal ki baat puraani
Naye daur mein likhenge milkar nayi kahaani
Hum hindustani, hum hindustani
Aaj puraani zanjeeron ko tod chuke hain
Kya dekhe us manzil ko jo chhod chuke hain
Chaand ke dar pe jaa pahuncha hai aaj zamaana
Naye jagat se hum bhi naata jod chuke hain
Naya khoon hai, nayi umangein, ab hai nayi jawaani
Hum hindustani
Chhodo kal ki baatein, kal ki baat puraani
Naye daur mein likhenge milkar nayi kahaani
Hum hindustani, hum hindustani
Aao mehnat ko apna imaan banaaye
Apne haathon ko apna bhagwaan banaaye
Ram ki is dharti ko gautam ki bhoomi ko
Sapnon se bhi pyaara hindustan banaaye
Naya khoon hai, nayi umangein, ab hai nayi jawaani
Hum hindustani
Chhodo kal ki baatein, kal ki baat puraani
Naye daur mein likhenge milkar nayi kahaani
Hum hindustani, hum hindustani
Har zarra hai moti, aankh uthaakar dekho
Maati mein sona hai, haath badhaakar dekho
Sone ki yeh ganga hai, chaandi ki yamuna
Chaaho to patthar pe dhaan ugaakar dekho
Naya khoon hai, nayi umangein, ab hai nayi jawaani
Hum hindustani, hum hindustani
Chhodo kal ki baatein, kal ki baat puraani
Naye daur mein likhenge milkar nayi kahaani
Hum hindustani, hum hindustani
Lyrics Credit: HindiLyrix.com
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