My blog got even more beautiful ... :)Simone Singh - the most beautiful woman on the planet.
The Most Beautiful Woman on Earth
My blog got even more beautiful ... :)Simone Singh - the most beautiful woman on the planet.
F R U S T A T E D
I just realized that if you have your Yahoo Messenger status as "Frustated", all the friends who have'nt sent you a message in a decade would respond and talk to you.
I was online for an hour with no status message and no one was talking to me. I change it to frustated and suddenly I am flashed with 12 people. And as I am talking to these 12 people (yes its a feat), I am writing this ... :)
I was online for an hour with no status message and no one was talking to me. I change it to frustated and suddenly I am flashed with 12 people. And as I am talking to these 12 people (yes its a feat), I am writing this ... :)
How to advertise women's magazine?
Case
Think (lol !!!) that you are a marketing executive for a women’s only magazine. Like every other magazine your company has advertised everywhere but no results.
The Problem
Try to find out new ways to reach your target segment in this internet age when ladies are more content on watching saas-bahu conspiracies and internet savvy.
The Answer
Place a rack full of your magazines in the waiting rooms at gynecologist (female specialists) and pediatrician (child specialist).
Why this post?
I went to a relative's clinic. She happens to be a gynecologist. She was busy with a lady and I was asked to wait and guess what do I see? A branded company rack full of a women's only magazine with all the issues lined up neatly. I went WOW then and there.
On asking more questions, I was told that they have placed that rack there for free (including 12 issues of the magazine). What more, to drive the sales, they placed a registration form and a drop box for completed forms. I was further told that the company reprentative would come once every two days to put the magazines in order and collect the forms. Everything that a marketing professor would teach. You reach the cusomter. You create a want. You provide a method to fulfill the want.
I also saw one of the numerous Prof. Sanjay Bakshi's mental models at work. The drop box for the filled up forms was transparent and a fairly large cube (2 feet per size) and it had some 15 forms in there. I asked the helper if ladies actually filled in those forms. I was told that yes ladies fill up the forms but all the forms in the box were not genuine. I was told that the company people filled some 20 forms at random and dropped in the box. Social Proofing at work. Other ladies would see these great magazines. They would further see that some women have went ahead and applied for subscription. Here is a product that they like and here is a list of people who also like the product. They are not incorrect in loving the magazine and they would also fill in the forms. Pretty Neat. Another mental model in application.
Links in this post
http://www.sanjbak.com
http://www.uncommon-knowledge.co.uk/social/social-proof.html
Think (lol !!!) that you are a marketing executive for a women’s only magazine. Like every other magazine your company has advertised everywhere but no results.
The Problem
Try to find out new ways to reach your target segment in this internet age when ladies are more content on watching saas-bahu conspiracies and internet savvy.
The Answer
Place a rack full of your magazines in the waiting rooms at gynecologist (female specialists) and pediatrician (child specialist).
Why this post?
I went to a relative's clinic. She happens to be a gynecologist. She was busy with a lady and I was asked to wait and guess what do I see? A branded company rack full of a women's only magazine with all the issues lined up neatly. I went WOW then and there.
On asking more questions, I was told that they have placed that rack there for free (including 12 issues of the magazine). What more, to drive the sales, they placed a registration form and a drop box for completed forms. I was further told that the company reprentative would come once every two days to put the magazines in order and collect the forms. Everything that a marketing professor would teach. You reach the cusomter. You create a want. You provide a method to fulfill the want.
I also saw one of the numerous Prof. Sanjay Bakshi's mental models at work. The drop box for the filled up forms was transparent and a fairly large cube (2 feet per size) and it had some 15 forms in there. I asked the helper if ladies actually filled in those forms. I was told that yes ladies fill up the forms but all the forms in the box were not genuine. I was told that the company people filled some 20 forms at random and dropped in the box. Social Proofing at work. Other ladies would see these great magazines. They would further see that some women have went ahead and applied for subscription. Here is a product that they like and here is a list of people who also like the product. They are not incorrect in loving the magazine and they would also fill in the forms. Pretty Neat. Another mental model in application.
Links in this post
http://www.sanjbak.com
http://www.uncommon-knowledge.co.uk/social/social-proof.html
Million Dollar Home Page vs Crorepati Page
The concept is simple. You register a fancy domain name. Make a 1000 x 1000 grid. Put individual pixels for sale and you get a million. Cool and Easy.
A student [Alex Tew] in UK created the original Million Dollar Home Page and got famous. I have to salute him for the amazing amount of creativity and thought process behind the concept.
As always, since it is an easy way to get rich and famous at the same time, people were bound to copy it and here it is... An indian homemaker has copied it and hosted her own indian thought-about creative concept at Crorepati Page. Well done my friend. I am very tempted to put my very own million rupee page on the internet. I think I would do it on saurabhgarg.com ...
I copied this from the Crorepati Page ...
And here are my honest uncalled for opinion on that ...
1. You do not get creative if you steal the idea. You have not created the concept. You have just copied it from the web. EDITED LATER: She has given due credits to the original Million Dollar Page and I accept my mistake.
2. Growth of internet marketing? I have serious doubts.
3. Benefits companies that advertise on your website? Yet again ... doubts !!!!
I wish people would start thinking originally and stop passing other people's idea as theirs. And if you have to copy it, how about giving the original ones some credit? EDITED LATER: Yet again, I am at mistake. :(
EDITED LATER
Unlike a lot of other people, here someone actually took an initive to reply to the email. My sincert apologies to Sunaina. I was at mistake by being rude.
Here is the reply I sent her ...
A student [Alex Tew] in UK created the original Million Dollar Home Page and got famous. I have to salute him for the amazing amount of creativity and thought process behind the concept.
As always, since it is an easy way to get rich and famous at the same time, people were bound to copy it and here it is... An indian homemaker has copied it and hosted her own indian thought-about creative concept at Crorepati Page. Well done my friend. I am very tempted to put my very own million rupee page on the internet. I think I would do it on saurabhgarg.com ...
I copied this from the Crorepati Page ...
And lastly, who am I?
My name is Sunaina Bansal, and I am married to my loving husband, Karan. I am a homemaker. In addition, I am highly educated and like to think creatively, and be aware of the many milestones that man (and woman!) has achieved today. And it is this awareness and the accompanying confidence that helped me create my concept. I sincerely hope that this influences the online Internet community in India and contributes to the growth of Internet marketing. And that it also influences more women to try the Internet, which also adds to the online community and enormously benefits the companies that advertise on my website. I hope I gain your support."
And here are my honest uncalled for opinion on that ...
1. You do not get creative if you steal the idea. You have not created the concept. You have just copied it from the web. EDITED LATER: She has given due credits to the original Million Dollar Page and I accept my mistake.
2. Growth of internet marketing? I have serious doubts.
3. Benefits companies that advertise on your website? Yet again ... doubts !!!!
I wish people would start thinking originally and stop passing other people's idea as theirs. And if you have to copy it, how about giving the original ones some credit? EDITED LATER: Yet again, I am at mistake. :(
EDITED LATER
Unlike a lot of other people, here someone actually took an initive to reply to the email. My sincert apologies to Sunaina. I was at mistake by being rude.
Here is the reply I sent her ...
Hi Sunaina,
I dont know if this would reach you or not ... (hope this does)
Few things first...
The about us page on your website do NOT say anywhere that it was Alex Tew. Well, now it does (just checked) but the day I posted, it wasn't there. I am not saying that you have added it after I wrote about it but I might have missed it the first time. Hope this clarifies things and reason for my posting it.
I do not call gmail a imitation of hotmail because they do not take credit for being the original email service. They just say that it's yet another email service of course with a change.
Talking about your website and internet marketing, I seriously have my doubts on it. You can have testimonials but I REALLY REALLY think that websites like Alex's and your's do not contribute towards it. Well this is just a personal opinion. I am not convinced.
I agree to the fact that yes internet marketing is growing leaps and bounds; it is the next big thing. If you realized, internet marketing is getting more and more personalized with companies like Google (with their adsense program) targeting people for selected keywords. Your website is opposite. It is in effect is a potpourri of advertisers who think yours is a good website/idea. A website like yours, it's like a classified page on a newspaper (well worse than that - newspapers at least categorize information, your website doesn't even do that. You allocate space based on the preference). So for a person lets say searching for ipod, your website is a bad idea. He can see a list of 1000 advertisers and their services but he hardly can spot an ipod ad. Whereas a website that has a simple page on music is better.
Talking from advertiser's point of view, they would not give you money to place on your page. They would not get their target audience from your website. Please ask them the number of hits they get from google adsense or link exchange and compare with hits from your website. You would be surprised.
Further, I agree that they are getting more than 250 hit per day but once you get more people to advertise on your website, the number of hits is bound to reduce. I might be wrong but these are my personal opinions. I would be glad if you could prove me wrong. I would love to see more stats once your website get that millionth pixel sold.
If you get offended by it, please accept my apologies. I was just trying to say that, like everyone else, all you did was copied an idea and posted in online for reaping quick buck because I don't see it as the answer to cyber marketing.
As far as spreading the mantra is concerned, I am trying to ! I am connected with friends etc just through my blog that hardly attracts about 5 visitors per day. I wanted them to read about your website and I posted it.
I sincerely apologize for being very rude. Trust me it's not in my nature to be rude or negative. I appeared negative but I think you could have guessed the reason. I am real pissed off with a lot of people trying to pass off as genuine inventions. Your case is an exception. You have given Alex credit and I think that is more than enough for me.
In the end, thanks a lot for at least taking time off to reply. I have written to lots of other Indian ideas that are passed off as original without eliciting even acknowledgement for the email. I would edit my post and please accept my apologies yet again.
Regards,
Saurabh
P.S.: Do I get a spot on your website for free ;)?
Star News reports on Dhoni !
Ok so continuing in the series of TV bashing; here is yet another one...
Rupurt Mudroch's Star News was the first to report that Mahendra Singh Dhoni, India’s wicket keeper has clipped his hair.
I mean move over Mr. Bush, leave the bird flu aside and no information about good old politics. Headline today on Star News is Dhoni and his clipped hair.
That was not all. Star news actually went ahead and interviewed the barber at Taj who clipped the hair, compared the earlier look when he had long hair with the new look. They infact got a hair specialist to comment on the hair style.
They did their bit of background research also. They went to Ranchi, Dhoni's hometown and talked to his friends. They found out that Dhoni had long hair since last three years and he always took great care of his hair. They also dug out a picture when he was just one year old. They talked to his mother about his hair.
I agree to the fact Dhoni is on of the best wicket keepers to have served India but I think Star News should realize that they are a news channel with some kind of responsibility attached. They should move beyond these tabloid kind of news lippings just to get a higher TRP rating. And if this was not for higher TRP, I think something is serisouly wrong with Star News.
I thought media industry is growing leaps and bounds in India. I guess I was wrong. If someone out there remotely related to Star is reading this, please do something about a news channel that can make headlines of a the personal life of a cricketer.
Rupurt Mudroch's Star News was the first to report that Mahendra Singh Dhoni, India’s wicket keeper has clipped his hair.
I mean move over Mr. Bush, leave the bird flu aside and no information about good old politics. Headline today on Star News is Dhoni and his clipped hair.
That was not all. Star news actually went ahead and interviewed the barber at Taj who clipped the hair, compared the earlier look when he had long hair with the new look. They infact got a hair specialist to comment on the hair style.
They did their bit of background research also. They went to Ranchi, Dhoni's hometown and talked to his friends. They found out that Dhoni had long hair since last three years and he always took great care of his hair. They also dug out a picture when he was just one year old. They talked to his mother about his hair.
I agree to the fact Dhoni is on of the best wicket keepers to have served India but I think Star News should realize that they are a news channel with some kind of responsibility attached. They should move beyond these tabloid kind of news lippings just to get a higher TRP rating. And if this was not for higher TRP, I think something is serisouly wrong with Star News.
I thought media industry is growing leaps and bounds in India. I guess I was wrong. If someone out there remotely related to Star is reading this, please do something about a news channel that can make headlines of a the personal life of a cricketer.
Windows Live vs Google Reader
Microsoft happens to be my favorite company. Google is a close second. Google a new company, revenues from advertising, Microsoft a behemoth, revenues from software, both trying to get the best of each other.
For a past few days, I have been grappling with that ultimate feedreader. I initially started with FeedReader until one fine day it somehow managed to delete all the feeds without even asking me. I lost all the news clippings etc that I had saved over few months.
Next in line was good old Windows Live. It works fine, is feature rich and easy to work with. Apart from just a normal feed reader, it is host of things bundled together. It would be a messenger, email console, antivirus and what not all in one interface.
And finally I just stumbled across Google Reader. Amazing piece of web based software. However as all the Google initiatives, this is also in Beta stage. One needs to sign in to google with the regular account to have fun with this ultimate feed reader. Google Reader looks a bit buggy as of now. When you add or delete a feed, you need to re-login to see the effects. In due course of time, it might get better with all the research and development happening at Google.
As of now, FeedReader is certainly out of picture. It is very hard to choose between Windows Live and Google Reader.
For a past few days, I have been grappling with that ultimate feedreader. I initially started with FeedReader until one fine day it somehow managed to delete all the feeds without even asking me. I lost all the news clippings etc that I had saved over few months.
Next in line was good old Windows Live. It works fine, is feature rich and easy to work with. Apart from just a normal feed reader, it is host of things bundled together. It would be a messenger, email console, antivirus and what not all in one interface.
And finally I just stumbled across Google Reader. Amazing piece of web based software. However as all the Google initiatives, this is also in Beta stage. One needs to sign in to google with the regular account to have fun with this ultimate feed reader. Google Reader looks a bit buggy as of now. When you add or delete a feed, you need to re-login to see the effects. In due course of time, it might get better with all the research and development happening at Google.
As of now, FeedReader is certainly out of picture. It is very hard to choose between Windows Live and Google Reader.
The "really idiot" Idiot Box
I have always felt that making a good comedy show is very difficult. You can make scary movies, suspense movies, thrillers; just about anything but making a comic show is real hard. This is also proved by n number of shows on TV and m number of movies and just about 1 divided by m multiplied by n actually manage to get a very faint smile.
Ever since I completed my education, I have been confined in my house. Although I am a proven claustrophobic, I can manage in my home without much difficulties. Respite being provided by a huge terrace and few friends who have managed to not work in a call centre. Almost everyone works in some call centre aka BPO aka KPO aka Value Added Service Provider. It is real hard on someone like me who
So because of all the above citied reasons, I am forced to watch television. The very first problem is the sheer number of channels on air. My good old BPL television has all of 32 channels and I have hard time selecting 32 out of about 100 channels that are beamed down to my home.
By the way these 100 channels include at least 40 regional channels with all the languages like Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil, Marathi, Bangla etc thrown in. So much for unity in diversity. I can only understand one channel in a diverse selection.
After those regional channels, there are about 20 odd movie channels that would air movies like Jungle Ki Sherni, Bhoot ka Badla, Basanti ka Baag, Andheri Raat Main .. so on and so forth. Who the hell thought of those names.
Then we would have some news channels. These channels are actually like any other entertainment channel with models clad in business suits acting as newsreaders. The stories are pepped up to touch the audience. Each news channel would have at least one sting operation running in daily and one news item about how they made world a better place to live by exposing someone with the sting operation. Further they would have a four digit number where you could sms your opinion about a certain issue. No offenses meant to him, I am also a huge fan, but today it was Aamir Khan's birth day and every channel had a marquee running with all the messages from people. I sometimes wonder do people actually send in the messages or the channels cook em up?
Not to forget some 10 odd channels where you would have sages and great souls delivering sermons. Some of these people would use an electric guitar, some would sing hindi film songs, some would have a ten year old kid crying and singing praises. And no one ever told them that they would put the worst bathroom singer to shame with their singing skills. The best part about these "religious" channels is the creative names. Aastha, Sanskar etc.
After all this, we have some sports channel and they would have WWF (not the wildlife fund but wrestling) all day long with commentry in Hindi. The kind of language used in that hindi commentry would put any "awara" to shame. And finally there would be a few channels left that you can spend time on (only if they are not showing those numerous saas-bahu sops and shows starting with letter K).
Ok this started out as a post to highlight a few good comedy series on television. I got emotional and got off-topic but here are a few good comedy shows on TV...
1. Lo Kal Lo Baat on Sab TV
2. Sarabhai vs. Sarabhai on Star One
3. The ever classic Dekh Bhai Dekh
4. Office Office on Sab TV
5. Khichdi on Star Plus
Would add more as and when I find more intersting shows or I can recall ...
Ever since I completed my education, I have been confined in my house. Although I am a proven claustrophobic, I can manage in my home without much difficulties. Respite being provided by a huge terrace and few friends who have managed to not work in a call centre. Almost everyone works in some call centre aka BPO aka KPO aka Value Added Service Provider. It is real hard on someone like me who
- hates television,to sit at home and spend time.
- reads the newspaper in one sitting in the morning and
- has an erratic internet connection that can’t work more than 10 minutes on stretch
So because of all the above citied reasons, I am forced to watch television. The very first problem is the sheer number of channels on air. My good old BPL television has all of 32 channels and I have hard time selecting 32 out of about 100 channels that are beamed down to my home.
By the way these 100 channels include at least 40 regional channels with all the languages like Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil, Marathi, Bangla etc thrown in. So much for unity in diversity. I can only understand one channel in a diverse selection.
After those regional channels, there are about 20 odd movie channels that would air movies like Jungle Ki Sherni, Bhoot ka Badla, Basanti ka Baag, Andheri Raat Main .. so on and so forth. Who the hell thought of those names.
Then we would have some news channels. These channels are actually like any other entertainment channel with models clad in business suits acting as newsreaders. The stories are pepped up to touch the audience. Each news channel would have at least one sting operation running in daily and one news item about how they made world a better place to live by exposing someone with the sting operation. Further they would have a four digit number where you could sms your opinion about a certain issue. No offenses meant to him, I am also a huge fan, but today it was Aamir Khan's birth day and every channel had a marquee running with all the messages from people. I sometimes wonder do people actually send in the messages or the channels cook em up?
Not to forget some 10 odd channels where you would have sages and great souls delivering sermons. Some of these people would use an electric guitar, some would sing hindi film songs, some would have a ten year old kid crying and singing praises. And no one ever told them that they would put the worst bathroom singer to shame with their singing skills. The best part about these "religious" channels is the creative names. Aastha, Sanskar etc.
After all this, we have some sports channel and they would have WWF (not the wildlife fund but wrestling) all day long with commentry in Hindi. The kind of language used in that hindi commentry would put any "awara" to shame. And finally there would be a few channels left that you can spend time on (only if they are not showing those numerous saas-bahu sops and shows starting with letter K).
Ok this started out as a post to highlight a few good comedy series on television. I got emotional and got off-topic but here are a few good comedy shows on TV...
1. Lo Kal Lo Baat on Sab TV
2. Sarabhai vs. Sarabhai on Star One
3. The ever classic Dekh Bhai Dekh
4. Office Office on Sab TV
5. Khichdi on Star Plus
Would add more as and when I find more intersting shows or I can recall ...
Secrets to Cyber*** success ... !!!
Well, here is something that would make a lot of people happy. Some people I know and a lot I don't.
Wired.com published an article titled "Secrets to Cybersex Success". Here is a true and comprehensive guide for all those who are "moved" by the very concept.
There was this friend who once told me that a common friend of ours asked her for the "favor". Ofcourse she refused to grant the favor. The friend who asked for the favor can read the above mentioned guide and make sure that he is never embarrassed again in public.
apparently this author has authored a book called "The Sexual Revolution 2.0". WOW !!!! the world has ACTUALLY changed in the two years I wasted with MBA.
As I was typing this, a message on my Yahoo messenger from "neogirlowyah" pops up and she says "Hi there I was looking around yahoo and i saw your ad.. anyway, you seem interesting.". All this when I had never posted any kind of ad on the internet.
When you have lot of time to read everything on the internet, these are the kinds of posts that come on to your blog.
Wired.com published an article titled "Secrets to Cybersex Success". Here is a true and comprehensive guide for all those who are "moved" by the very concept.
There was this friend who once told me that a common friend of ours asked her for the "favor". Ofcourse she refused to grant the favor. The friend who asked for the favor can read the above mentioned guide and make sure that he is never embarrassed again in public.
apparently this author has authored a book called "The Sexual Revolution 2.0". WOW !!!! the world has ACTUALLY changed in the two years I wasted with MBA.
As I was typing this, a message on my Yahoo messenger from "neogirlowyah" pops up and she says "Hi there I was looking around yahoo and i saw your ad.. anyway, you seem interesting.". All this when I had never posted any kind of ad on the internet.
When you have lot of time to read everything on the internet, these are the kinds of posts that come on to your blog.
LibraryThing.com
I very recently came across LibraryThing.com. It is one of the most convenient methods to catalog the books. Fast and Easy.After getting a free account, all you need to do is enter the title of the book in the window. The website would search through the amazon databse and come up with matches. You select the book from the results of the search. And the book gets added in your database.
Another good feature is the cover image. The website would also fetch the image of the cover page of the book and publish in your catalog.
An indicative list of my books is located here.
Long Time No See
Its been long since I posted something on my BLOG. Last time I talked about placements at MDI Gurgaon and it seems like ages since I wrote something.
Just to break the jinx, here is a post, titled Long Time No See ...
There are reasons why I havent been posting stuff.
1. Very busy with placements and placement aftermaths.
2. Trip to Goa.
3. Lack of internet connection at home.
Just to break the jinx, here is a post, titled Long Time No See ...
There are reasons why I havent been posting stuff.
1. Very busy with placements and placement aftermaths.
2. Trip to Goa.
3. Lack of internet connection at home.
Placements and Mental Models
I can think of a few situations that really make placements – placements.
One, Social Proof – if the other guy is applying to 10 companies, I should also apply to atleast 10. If the other guy is getting x amount as salary, I would not settle for anything less than 2 times x.
Two Excessive Self Regard - if the other person does not get this job, may be he wasnt upto the mark, may be I am a better student, may be I shall apply.
Three Availability Bias - this company is offering a better profile, this company is a better recruiter, the package is good here, so on and so forth.
Four Envy/Jealousy - Even if I dont get this job, I shall spoil the chances of the other person getting it. Its either me or no one. I shall not let him get it, I hate him, he wasnt good to me !
One, Social Proof – if the other guy is applying to 10 companies, I should also apply to atleast 10. If the other guy is getting x amount as salary, I would not settle for anything less than 2 times x.
Two Excessive Self Regard - if the other person does not get this job, may be he wasnt upto the mark, may be I am a better student, may be I shall apply.
Three Availability Bias - this company is offering a better profile, this company is a better recruiter, the package is good here, so on and so forth.
Four Envy/Jealousy - Even if I dont get this job, I shall spoil the chances of the other person getting it. Its either me or no one. I shall not let him get it, I hate him, he wasnt good to me !
The Placement Season
Here at MDI, placement season is in. For some people (including me) this is the reason why they joined a business school and why they slogged their behinds for two years. I can see tensed people running around with CVs, books, reading material etc. clenched as if they were the last cigarettes of a person in prison.
People with work experience have already been placed. I cannot divulge the exact number, as this information is classified ;). It feels great to be a part of something classified. I can now understand the excitement in the dull lives of spies.
For the past 5 hours, I have been sitting in the computer center and filling up forms and answering questions on my weaknesses, strengths, creativity, social responsibility, my hobbies, my criminal record and dunno what else. About 5 minutes ago I yelled if someone can tell me my biggest achievement till date. And someone told me a magic answer that would work for just anyone.
Some questions are appropriate - my educational background, projects etc. But most of the questions are totally, utterly obnoxious and could be avoided. A question wants me to talk about my creativity. I want to somehow explain to them that creativity is something that can not be put into words. I want to post some of the actual questions but as I have already told, it’s classified.
I don’t understand why these companies want us to fill 5-page, 6-page forms to evaluate our application? In the end experience tells us that the company with the longest form would use *JUST* our CGPA to shortlist and select people. They would not even read the CVs.
I sometimes think that this is some kind of race between the companies to have the biggest and longest and toughest form. Some companies for the very purpose of making a form complex would put in* INTERESTING* questions. They think that we (applicants) judge a company on the basis of length of the form they get filled from us.
Few questions do indeed come to my mind right now.
Confused, tired and form-ed !
Just when I was packing up this text I realized I have to talk about the great enemies that would surely spring up in placement season. People would give anything to strip you out of your jobs, interviews and discussions even if they don’t want it themselves at all. Experience tells that placements make the best of friends into worst of enemies. Everyone is so incentivized to cheat, stab in the back that no antidote would ever work. Placement offers an interesting study into behavioral decision making.
More on this later ...
People with work experience have already been placed. I cannot divulge the exact number, as this information is classified ;). It feels great to be a part of something classified. I can now understand the excitement in the dull lives of spies.
For the past 5 hours, I have been sitting in the computer center and filling up forms and answering questions on my weaknesses, strengths, creativity, social responsibility, my hobbies, my criminal record and dunno what else. About 5 minutes ago I yelled if someone can tell me my biggest achievement till date. And someone told me a magic answer that would work for just anyone.
Some questions are appropriate - my educational background, projects etc. But most of the questions are totally, utterly obnoxious and could be avoided. A question wants me to talk about my creativity. I want to somehow explain to them that creativity is something that can not be put into words. I want to post some of the actual questions but as I have already told, it’s classified.
I don’t understand why these companies want us to fill 5-page, 6-page forms to evaluate our application? In the end experience tells us that the company with the longest form would use *JUST* our CGPA to shortlist and select people. They would not even read the CVs.
I sometimes think that this is some kind of race between the companies to have the biggest and longest and toughest form. Some companies for the very purpose of making a form complex would put in* INTERESTING* questions. They think that we (applicants) judge a company on the basis of length of the form they get filled from us.
Few questions do indeed come to my mind right now.
1. If you are a company, shouldn’t the selection be based on more than just your CGPA, or your resume or your form for that matter? You aren’t buying a computer according to the specifications but you are trying to select a guy to work with you and each guy HAS to be different. A form does not do any justice at all. What is the guarantee that the chap with the maximum CGPA would be the smartest? I can see that a lot of people with higher CGPA are not exactly the brightest.
2. I see everyone running after the biggest salary. Shouldn’t your first criteria be the kind of work you do rather than how much money you would make? Isn’t this similar to some of the things that you would openly cry out against (something like bar-girl-ing) where you are forced to work against your wishes to make some money?
3. Why do we (applicants) start reading books, articles, newspapers just before the placement season? I can see everyone trying to cram every last word written by the God or Marketing, Mr. Kotler. If they think that knowing what Kotler knows would help them get that dream job, they are in a big trouble. Can’t they think that there would be millions of others would read even better than them? And don’t they realize that Mr.God would not be there in their workplace to help them out? And what’s up with newspapers? Knowing the news for a week would definitely not help anyone. Interviewers are smart enough to realize that people read only a week before the interview. Didn’t we join a business school to *LEARN* rather than *PREPARE*?
Confused, tired and form-ed !
Just when I was packing up this text I realized I have to talk about the great enemies that would surely spring up in placement season. People would give anything to strip you out of your jobs, interviews and discussions even if they don’t want it themselves at all. Experience tells that placements make the best of friends into worst of enemies. Everyone is so incentivized to cheat, stab in the back that no antidote would ever work. Placement offers an interesting study into behavioral decision making.
More on this later ...
The SaurabhGarg weBLOG ! on Movable Type
The SaurabhGarg weBLOG ! goes on Movable Type.
I finally got hold of MT and uplaoded it on my webserver. Thanks to kAgE for uploading the MT setup.
I cant use FTP from my hostel. It sucks but with friends like kAgE, its never an issue. I now have something new to do !!! :D
I finally got hold of MT and uplaoded it on my webserver. Thanks to kAgE for uploading the MT setup.
I cant use FTP from my hostel. It sucks but with friends like kAgE, its never an issue. I now have something new to do !!! :D
Let There Be Light !
Floating candle at a restaurant
2006 January: Sugandha's and Satyajeet's Naukri Party, Gurgaon
The place is called Park Bulachi and they would light a floating candle on the dinner table.
I took about 4 pics and here are the rest of the three...
SaurabhGarg.com > OneHelluva Page
SaurabhGarg.com > OneHelluva Page is my new project. I talk about people who have been struck by lightening and zapped me ... !
Ponder This !
Got these in an email ...
Life is sexually transmitted.
Health is merely the slowest possible rate at which one can die.
Health nuts are going to feel stupid someday, lying in hospitals dying of nothing.
Who was the first person to look at a cow and say, "I think I'll squeeze these dangly things here, and drink whatever comes out?"
Who was the first person to say, "See that chicken there? I'm gonna eat the next thing that comes outta its butt."
Why is there a light in the fridge and not in the freezer?
Why do people point to their wrist when asking for the time, but don't point to their crotch when they ask where the bathroom is?
Why does Goofy stand erect while Pluto remains on all fours? They're both dogs!
If Wile E. Coyote had enough money to buy all that Acme crap, why didn't he just buy dinner?
Did you ever notice that when you blow in a dog's face, he gets mad at you, but when you take him on a car ride, he sticks his head out the window?
Does pushing the elevator button more than once make it arrive faster?
Why doesn't glue stick to the inside of the bottle?
Alt + Tab Replacement
When you press Alt + Tab on a computer running Windows Xp operating syste, you get a list of all the programs running on the computer.
If the number of programs running is large, using Alt + Tab could be cubersome and hard. I recently came across a tool called PowerToys for Windows Xp released by Microsoft that makes the lives pretty cool and esay.
With PowerToys Alt Tabreplacement tool, the Alt + Tab becomes something like this...
The text on the website says...
If the number of programs running is large, using Alt + Tab could be cubersome and hard. I recently came across a tool called PowerToys for Windows Xp released by Microsoft that makes the lives pretty cool and esay.
With PowerToys Alt Tabreplacement tool, the Alt + Tab becomes something like this...
The text on the website says...
Alt-Tab ReplacementPowerToys Alt + Tab Replacement Tool can be downloaded from this link. I have been using this for about a month now and I face no problems at all of any sort.
With this PowerToy, in addition to seeing the icon of the application window you are switching to, you will also see a preview of the page. This helps particularly when multiple sessions of an application are open.
To Design or Not To Design
To design or not to design is the BIG question in front of me right now. I bought saurabhgarg.com about three months ago and I haven’t really made a website.
I have a couple of choices in front of me right now. I can design it from scratch; display all my creativity to the entire world and boast of the excellent design. On the other hand I can use some ready made template, customize it and save on a lot of time.
I would now proceed to do a decision tree analysis. Assuming that I design it myself, following things are bound to happen...
If I decide upon a template, following things would happen
So the decision has been reached, I would create my own design, go the hard way and hopefully try to complete the website soon.
AND BY THE WAY THIS IS MY 150th POST !!!!
I have a couple of choices in front of me right now. I can design it from scratch; display all my creativity to the entire world and boast of the excellent design. On the other hand I can use some ready made template, customize it and save on a lot of time.
I would now proceed to do a decision tree analysis. Assuming that I design it myself, following things are bound to happen...
1. No CMS. I would have lots of static web pages. Updating each of them would be a huge task. But again even if I go for a template, I still don’t have the expertise to make even a simple CMS. The template thing would also have static pages.
2. Time. I right now have nothing to do at all. And with all the travel coming up in the later half of February, I would not get time to design and update it.
3. Effort. I hate to work! and I can’t even imagine putting that much thought into the work. Although working is fun for me, I still hate doing small things such as editing HTML etc. I enjoy working on Photoshop and other editing software but I believe that they lack the power to keep me busy.
If I decide upon a template, following things would happen
1. Plagiarism. Even though I would have a nice, good looking website, it would be work of someone else and I would certainly be using it without giving credits or royalty. I do not want to do this. I guess this reason alone is more than enough punishment to not to use a template.
So the decision has been reached, I would create my own design, go the hard way and hopefully try to complete the website soon.
AND BY THE WAY THIS IS MY 150th POST !!!!
Sarkar - The Movie
Yesterday I went to see a screening of the latest Bollywood movie Sarkar. The star cast included Bachchans - Amitabh and Abhishek in the lead roles.
In the words of Producer and Director of the movie, Ram Gopal Verma, Sarkar is his tribute to Mario Puzo's The Godfather. Indeed many sequences are inspired from the legend of the Godfather. Infact the very name Sarkar is a synonym to Godfather.
The movie is about one Sarkar who believes very strongly in his ideology and distinction between right and wrong. He believes that if he thinks something is right, and then he would act on it irrespectiv of the fact that it may not be legally correct, politically correct, morally correct or ethically correct. The thing to question here would be practicality of such a line of thoughts. Since a man has to live in society - there is no man in isolation, should someone stand out and make his presence and individuality felt or should he tone down himself to be acceptable to the society? The very first day when you start learning, you are taught to conform to the social beliefs and if you deviate, there are a lot of negative reinforcements given out. Are we helping propagating the norm? Since we are making everyone think in the same way, follow the same rules, behave in an expected manner, are we terminating the genesis of newer perspectives and thought processes?
The movie also portrays that people are ready to do anything, ANYTHING to realize their goals of power and money. Although there people were among the most powerful ones as shown in the movie but they seeked more power and the clichéd saying is hence proved that power and greed have no bounds.
However certain things were missing. The most perplexing thing was the fact that the revenge that Sarkar seeks is incomplete. Sarkar eliminates everyone who had betrayed him, tried to kill him/his father, destroy the family except one. The Police Commissioner. May be because the commissioner left him alive, he did not seek revenge but in my humble opinion, one should never ever forgive and forget someone you don’t trust at all.
There were attempts of humour in some dialogues of a certain character but they were totally uncalled for and deviated from the theme of the movie.
One of the biggest positives was excellent photography and art direction. The camera work is amazing and although I do not see a lot of movies, I believe that it had very very innovative and unique camera positioning techniques.
Another thing that I realized after watching movie was the importance of having a cool, composed and a calm brain on the shoulders. I for example am amongst those people who would take decisions in haste and without giving much thought and repent later. I am not sure how many things from a fictitious story could be applicable in real life but yes, patience is something that helps.
Saurabh Garg
In the words of Producer and Director of the movie, Ram Gopal Verma, Sarkar is his tribute to Mario Puzo's The Godfather. Indeed many sequences are inspired from the legend of the Godfather. Infact the very name Sarkar is a synonym to Godfather.
The movie is about one Sarkar who believes very strongly in his ideology and distinction between right and wrong. He believes that if he thinks something is right, and then he would act on it irrespectiv of the fact that it may not be legally correct, politically correct, morally correct or ethically correct. The thing to question here would be practicality of such a line of thoughts. Since a man has to live in society - there is no man in isolation, should someone stand out and make his presence and individuality felt or should he tone down himself to be acceptable to the society? The very first day when you start learning, you are taught to conform to the social beliefs and if you deviate, there are a lot of negative reinforcements given out. Are we helping propagating the norm? Since we are making everyone think in the same way, follow the same rules, behave in an expected manner, are we terminating the genesis of newer perspectives and thought processes?
The movie also portrays that people are ready to do anything, ANYTHING to realize their goals of power and money. Although there people were among the most powerful ones as shown in the movie but they seeked more power and the clichéd saying is hence proved that power and greed have no bounds.
However certain things were missing. The most perplexing thing was the fact that the revenge that Sarkar seeks is incomplete. Sarkar eliminates everyone who had betrayed him, tried to kill him/his father, destroy the family except one. The Police Commissioner. May be because the commissioner left him alive, he did not seek revenge but in my humble opinion, one should never ever forgive and forget someone you don’t trust at all.
There were attempts of humour in some dialogues of a certain character but they were totally uncalled for and deviated from the theme of the movie.
One of the biggest positives was excellent photography and art direction. The camera work is amazing and although I do not see a lot of movies, I believe that it had very very innovative and unique camera positioning techniques.
Another thing that I realized after watching movie was the importance of having a cool, composed and a calm brain on the shoulders. I for example am amongst those people who would take decisions in haste and without giving much thought and repent later. I am not sure how many things from a fictitious story could be applicable in real life but yes, patience is something that helps.
Saurabh Garg
Pearls of Wisdom
24th June 2004. I landed with a couple of bags at MDI. My new home for next two years.
23rd June 2005. One year of the two is over and when I look back, there sure is something that I have been fortunate enough to learn in this year. This post, although is a bit late, has few pearls of wisdom that I could gather in this year at one of the best business schools in India.
As they say, management education is about participating in class and contributing to other people's learning and understanding. There are times when some of us tend to overdo it a bit. Everyone must have seen, heard or experienced some obnoxious people who love to speak up their minds. A component of evaluation is based on the contribution you make to the learning of other people in class. And there are people who want to make a killing with this component. They would keep their loooong arms stretched out all the time. I don’t know if they have something to add, but they would keep their arms as stiff as a scarecrow’s. This phenomenon is called DCP. DCP is an acronym for Desperate Class Participation and is used very conviniently for people who speak without adding anything substantial to the class.
Next thing that I learnt at my BSchool is a word called Arbit. If you try searching for it on Dictionary.com, you would not find it. Why is that? Because this word is used exclusively in management studies. In fact I think that this is the most commonly used word in business schools after the sacred F word. Lets try to learn the meaning and origin of this word. Many enlighted souls say that this word is a short form of the word called arbitrary.
This sounds like a plausible explanation. When people speak up their minds, get creative, determine by whims, forget reason, ignore logic, what comes out is called Arbit !!!!. I can post a few examples here. Lets say the entire class is involved in an intellectual discussion about a car being an HIP (High Involvement Product). A reasonable addition to discussion would be that a HIP is something whose selection involves a lot of thought process and an arbit addition would be that a HIP is something hep. Hip as in hep and happening. Hip as in
Saurabh
ORIGIANALLY POSTED ON July 10, 2005
REPOSTED FROM ABOUT2EVOLVE TO SEPTEMBERTHE22ND
23rd June 2005. One year of the two is over and when I look back, there sure is something that I have been fortunate enough to learn in this year. This post, although is a bit late, has few pearls of wisdom that I could gather in this year at one of the best business schools in India.
As they say, management education is about participating in class and contributing to other people's learning and understanding. There are times when some of us tend to overdo it a bit. Everyone must have seen, heard or experienced some obnoxious people who love to speak up their minds. A component of evaluation is based on the contribution you make to the learning of other people in class. And there are people who want to make a killing with this component. They would keep their loooong arms stretched out all the time. I don’t know if they have something to add, but they would keep their arms as stiff as a scarecrow’s. This phenomenon is called DCP. DCP is an acronym for Desperate Class Participation and is used very conviniently for people who speak without adding anything substantial to the class.
Next thing that I learnt at my BSchool is a word called Arbit. If you try searching for it on Dictionary.com, you would not find it. Why is that? Because this word is used exclusively in management studies. In fact I think that this is the most commonly used word in business schools after the sacred F word. Lets try to learn the meaning and origin of this word. Many enlighted souls say that this word is a short form of the word called arbitrary.
"Determined by chance, whim, or impulse, and not by necessity, reason, or principle" - Source:http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=arbitrary
This sounds like a plausible explanation. When people speak up their minds, get creative, determine by whims, forget reason, ignore logic, what comes out is called Arbit !!!!. I can post a few examples here. Lets say the entire class is involved in an intellectual discussion about a car being an HIP (High Involvement Product). A reasonable addition to discussion would be that a HIP is something whose selection involves a lot of thought process and an arbit addition would be that a HIP is something hep. Hip as in hep and happening. Hip as in
"Very fashionable or stylish." - Source:http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=hepI might not be able to give a very good example of arbitness because am not talented at that and am certainly not the gifted one. By the way a lot of people say that this statement that I just made itself is arbit.
Saurabh
ORIGIANALLY POSTED ON July 10, 2005
REPOSTED FROM ABOUT2EVOLVE TO SEPTEMBERTHE22ND
Interviewing Skills
I was supposed to take interviews of the first year students for the events Delphique and Imperium. I interacted with about 20 odd students of the first year batch. Following were the things that I learnt from the experience...
1. There are better people than you are. There were about three or four people who were excellent in terms of thought clarity, were street smart, could deliver the message effectivly and above all were humble.
2. I learnt that interviews ARE really effective in judging people. I am not among those specialists who would know how to talk to people, judge them but I defintely could find when someone was lying, someone was talking the truth etc.
And finally a few random thoughts ...
Since we take these events very very serisouly, the people who are out there to select other people mkae sure that they take in only the absolute best for these events' and the managing teams. Sounds alright when you first think about it but as far as I understand, the real objective of being at a BSchool is the to learn through these events and enhance your personality (apart from regular things like studying etc). Now lets say someone tried real hard and cracked the selection process for a BSchool and now he wants to groom himself, an excellent way to do it would be through these events and committees. But the paradox is that the people who are in the selection committees wont pick him cos hes not that great. I cant think of another way to help this guy and let him develop himself. Any thoughts?
ORIGIANALLY POSTED ON July 13, 2005
REPOSTED FROM ABOUT2EVOLVE TO SEPTEMBERTHE22ND
1. There are better people than you are. There were about three or four people who were excellent in terms of thought clarity, were street smart, could deliver the message effectivly and above all were humble.
2. I learnt that interviews ARE really effective in judging people. I am not among those specialists who would know how to talk to people, judge them but I defintely could find when someone was lying, someone was talking the truth etc.
And finally a few random thoughts ...
Since we take these events very very serisouly, the people who are out there to select other people mkae sure that they take in only the absolute best for these events' and the managing teams. Sounds alright when you first think about it but as far as I understand, the real objective of being at a BSchool is the to learn through these events and enhance your personality (apart from regular things like studying etc). Now lets say someone tried real hard and cracked the selection process for a BSchool and now he wants to groom himself, an excellent way to do it would be through these events and committees. But the paradox is that the people who are in the selection committees wont pick him cos hes not that great. I cant think of another way to help this guy and let him develop himself. Any thoughts?
ORIGIANALLY POSTED ON July 13, 2005
REPOSTED FROM ABOUT2EVOLVE TO SEPTEMBERTHE22ND
What They Don't Teach You At Harvard Business School - Mark H. McCormack
I never thought highly of the book until I read it. I thought this is yet another book that talks about what management educatoin lacked. The best faculty here at MDI recommended it and I thought if a Prof as good as Prof. Bhushnurmath is recommending it, there has to be something to the book. I got hold of this copy and wow !
The book is an absolute piece of gem and should be read by not just business school graduates or managers but everyone. The book is written by a man that was considered the most powerful person in the sporting arena. Sporting Arena where luck plays absolute ZERO role in your success. Everything is dependent upon the amount of hard work that you can put it. Sporting also puts you into unfamiliar territories and brings out the real person from behind the mask.
Some interesting quotes from this book...
"I once heard someone say that if Thomas Edison had gone to business school we would all be reading by larger candles."
"Companies never function according to their organizational charts. They are made up of people and personalities and politics and power plays..."
I can personally relate to this one...
"... many people in business seem preoccupied by a fear of being left out."
"If you aren't afraid to fail, then you probably don't care enough about success"
I think apart from there interesting quotes, there is more to the book. The book is very practical. The experiences of Mr. McCormack help a lot in understanding the issues.
However there are somethings that I would agree to disagree with. There are many places where Mr. McCormack talks about throwing in the towel even when you know you are right. The thing is that this may be right thing to do to reach higher the corporate ladder but at what cost? Cost of your identity and your self-respect.
Just yesterday I was reading about Mr. McCormack and I found that he passed away in 2003. I wanted to meet this man so dearly ... :( Details about the legend can be found here and here.
This is a 9/10 book and a must read !
ORIGIANALLY POSTED ON July 28, 2005
REPOSTED FROM ABOUT2EVOLVE TO SEPTEMBERTHE22ND
Business School Education - A Farce?
When I landed at my dream institute, I had twinkle in my eyes, high hopes and aspirations about the entire concept of going to a B School, I knew I have arrived.
But it all changed during the time I have spent here. Its been just over an year and I have figured out that B School education is atleast not for people like me.
Most people that I have encountered (not only at my B School but also from other BSchools and I estimate this number to be well above 500) do NOT have even a vauge idea where they want to end in life or a question as simple as why did they decide to pursue management education.
I found out (I don't have any marketing surveys, data and analysis generated using SPSS or Excel) that the single most importnat reason for choosing management career was because of the image attached with B Schools. It is viewed as an extension to education. Its like a transition - complete secondary, move into higher secondary, complete that goto college for graduate and once you are done with graduate educatoin, next in line is - you guessed it right ! post graduate programme in management.
As I understand and infer from a few books that I have been able to read so far, management education is mostly about people skills. The onus is on preparing managers rather than say Chartered Accountants (equivalent to CPA in US) or HR professionals who would go by the books all the time. I think management education should be about only one thing - PEOPLE. Its the single most important thing that can make or break any organization.
The business education atleast in Indian context is a paid vacation. Either you ewre working or fresh out of college, you need a break from dull routines and what do you do? Join a business school.
Trust me, I have seen people dropping like house of cards after those numerous booze parties, hitting each other knowingly what they were doing, copying in examinations, blatantly plagiarising from the web or the library books for not so techies. We have done it all. The only stone we left unturned - management education.
ORIGIANALLY POSTED ON August 1, 2005
REPOSTED FROM ABOUT2EVOLVE TO SEPTEMBERTHE22ND
But it all changed during the time I have spent here. Its been just over an year and I have figured out that B School education is atleast not for people like me.
Most people that I have encountered (not only at my B School but also from other BSchools and I estimate this number to be well above 500) do NOT have even a vauge idea where they want to end in life or a question as simple as why did they decide to pursue management education.
I found out (I don't have any marketing surveys, data and analysis generated using SPSS or Excel) that the single most importnat reason for choosing management career was because of the image attached with B Schools. It is viewed as an extension to education. Its like a transition - complete secondary, move into higher secondary, complete that goto college for graduate and once you are done with graduate educatoin, next in line is - you guessed it right ! post graduate programme in management.
As I understand and infer from a few books that I have been able to read so far, management education is mostly about people skills. The onus is on preparing managers rather than say Chartered Accountants (equivalent to CPA in US) or HR professionals who would go by the books all the time. I think management education should be about only one thing - PEOPLE. Its the single most important thing that can make or break any organization.
The business education atleast in Indian context is a paid vacation. Either you ewre working or fresh out of college, you need a break from dull routines and what do you do? Join a business school.
Trust me, I have seen people dropping like house of cards after those numerous booze parties, hitting each other knowingly what they were doing, copying in examinations, blatantly plagiarising from the web or the library books for not so techies. We have done it all. The only stone we left unturned - management education.
ORIGIANALLY POSTED ON August 1, 2005
REPOSTED FROM ABOUT2EVOLVE TO SEPTEMBERTHE22ND
A Prison Diary: Belmarsh: Hell - FF 8282 aka Jeffery Archer
A Prison Diary: Belmarsh: Hell, is the first of three books written by Jeffery Archer when he was in Jail on charges of Perjury.
I completed the first volume in about 100 sittings. That is expected when you are trying to read six books together.
Some bits were REAL amusing like the joke wherein he predicts that the next sermon would be Honour Among Thieves after his previous two sermons were Cain and Able and The Prodigal Son.
The book gives interesting insights about prisons and the way of life on the other side of the fence. If someone is interested in knowing more about Archer as a person, this can be a fabulous guide. You could read about his daily schedule, his preferences, his choices, his love for the game of cricket and what not.
Apart from these couple of highlights, very ordinary book I should say. Very light read, chapters done as days make it easier to read and follow-up if someone is interested in reading in innumerable sittings (the way I did it).
I know that I may never know if he was infact guilty but as they say History is often skewed and is reported by the winning side, throughout the book, it is literally preached that Mr. Archer is innocent and there was a conspiracy against him. I sincerly hope he is NOT guilty. I absolutely adore some of the books and cant believe that someone like him would do something like that. Anyways, the point is not if he is indeed innocent or not, the point is to realize the fact that how to turn a crisis situation to your advantage. Archer was in jail and he had nnothing to do. What does he do? Write a book !
ORIGIANALLY POSTED ON August 3, 2005
REPOSTED FROM ABOUT2EVOLVE TO SEPTEMBERTHE22ND
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell - David Michaels
Wow !!!!
The writing style is AMAZING. I have read so many books, fiction, non-fiction and what not, never came across something like this.
I would definately like to be like Sam Fisher in lot of ways. Infact I am almost like him in many ways. He hates human civilizations... I hate em too. He is not comfortable with people around, I definately aint comfortable. At one point he says that he appreciates beauty and thats that nothing more nothing less. Dittoo for me. He loves to read on history and speaks 7 languages, I sure want to know whatever there is to know about.
And since I am very passionate about anything remotely related to Computer Gaming, we have an entire game on Splinte Cell. I infact was one of the beta testers of a cell phone adaptaion of the title when I was working.
Great Character, Amazing Storytelling skills, All in all ... a must read.
Ratings: 8/10
ORIGIANALLY POSTED ON August 13, 2005
REPOSTED FROM ABOUT2EVOLVE TO SEPTEMBERTHE22ND
15th August 1947 - Independence Day
Today, 15th August, we Indians celebrate our independence day.
It’s been almost 60 years since we were freed from British control and we became masters of our destinies. We have come a long way from what we were at the time of independence but there are long long way to go.
We are now amongst the top three countries on the watch list of everyone (along with China, Brazil and Russia). Economy has been doing very well. We are a world renowned source of competent and trained manpower. Our say in international political scenario has never been higher.
There are few things that we can improve on. First and foremost being the removal of red-tapism. The accountability is almost absent from all the sectors. If we can work on these and some other pressing issues, we sure would be going ahead in every sense.
Today I was part of the Independence Day celebration at my campus. Our director, Padma Shri Dr. Pritam Singh raised a question and asked us why do we celebrate any festival or for that matter Independence Day? He said that we want to remember the sacrifices made by millions of people to achieve freedom. I partially agree to what he says. I think I celebrate because its close to me. Its close to my heart. I cherish the freedom. Thus I celebrate the functions.
Also I never understand why do people think about and sing patriotic songs only on Independence Day? I think its all propoganda ! If you were truely patriotic, you could sing all the songs all the time. Why wait for a special day to sing your songs?
Talking of Independence at the individual level, even though we might be independent as a nation, there are many people (including me) that are still dependent on others.
Benjamin Franklin says independence is when he is lord of himself and accountable to none. I think no one else talked about independence in a better manner. When I try to define control and its antonym independence, I can come up with things like political control, physical control and thought control. A political control can only influence the actions; the thoughts however are as independent as a bird in free sky. The power of these thoughts converted into action and played a key role in the independence struggle.
I also believe that there are ways to control the thoughts as well. A very simple example from world of marketing: Word of Mouth Advertising. It is more or less a subtle form of thought control. One might say that since a friend liked the product, there is no harm in reducing the risk of trial and going for it, there is no kind of thought control being attempted here. I would like to disagree with this school of thought. When you are influencing other people, selling yourself to people, doing anything, you are trying to control (successfully in some cases) other people and their thoughts.
Another thing that comes to my mind right now is emotional dependence. As has been said many times, man is a social animal. Man can not exist in isolation. Everyone needs someone to fall back on.
There is yet another aspect called the interdependence. Interdependence is when dependence and independence coexist together. The first question that comes to my mind is how the two faces of coin coexist? How can independence be dependent on dependence? Simple answer ... change the very definition of independence to incorporate for necessary dependence. Very basic example is that even to think independent, sustain one self, one needs an elaborate support structure (like dependence on others for food etc.).
I think everything comes down to the definition.
There was this discussion in a class where a Prof and MS got into argument about the effectiveness of team vs. individuals. This is not related to independence and control and thus would be thought about later when I wouldn’t have anything else to do.
More Later !!!!
ORIGIANALLY POSTED ON August 15, 2005
REPOSTED FROM ABOUT2EVOLVE TO SEPTEMBERTHE22ND
Independence Day - Wallpaper
Samit made this wallpaper and gifted to me and told me that I can use it once on my blog and I cant redistribute it. He can be reached at samit_india@yahoo.com for getting the permission ;)
EDITED LATER
============
Actually he din't make the wallpaper from scratch... he edited it from www.aqshar.com. Aqshar has amazing collection of wallpapers and computer generated art. A must visit place.
ORIGIANALLY POSTED ON Friday, August 16, 2005
REPOSTED FROM ABOUT2EVOLVE TO SEPTEMBERTHE22ND
And as I post this, tomorrow is our Republic Day !
Q and A - Vikas Swarup
Ever since emergence of "Indian Writers" on the literary scenes, there has been a rush amongst people to start writing. Some good and some ... not so good.The entire book has a negativity attached towards it. There aren't many pages where you don't read about a bad thing happening to the characters in the book.
I agree to the fact that India as a country lacks few things. We might not have the best of the regulators, honest people and kind hearted people but there ARE a few people who are absolutely wonderful. The book portrays India as the nation having the biggest slums, where train robberies are common-place, where no one can be honest and make his living without any unethical/illegal act, where there are two sides to everything. I know these are very hard words against a book that has been made available in 15 countries and a motion picture is planned around the plot.
A typical masala film end plot where the hero gets the heroine, punishes all the criminals, helps his friends achieve his dreams and live happily ever after. The last act is adopted and as they say, is INSPIRED from one of the biggest bollywood blockbusters of all time - Sholay. There is more to it but I think there is no point putting it in words here but there is a certain character who says he can't reveal the actual thing. He would instead give a hint. Here is my hint. The lead character in the book, whenever in a fix, does whatever his coin tells him to do. He tosses the coin and if it's a head, he takes the right decision and if it's a tails, he would take the wrong decision and somehow it is always heads. Sounds like Sholay?
However there were few things that I certainly liked about Q and A. After reading about half of it, I knew the book is not up to the expectations and I should stop reading it but something kept my interest alive and I completed it. I don't know why, but I kept reading it, enjoying some jokes (since may be I can relate to them).
All in all an interesting read but not upto the expectations.
ORIGIANALLY POSTED ON August 21, 2005
REPOSTED FROM ABOUT2EVOLVE TO SEPTEMBERTHE22ND
Crossword Books
I finally decided to go visit Crossword. It opened some time back and ever since I have been trying to go and have a look.
The place is absolutely stunning. There are other bookstores in and around Delhi (like The Om Book Store) but few things that set this place apart are the number of titles they have, their ambience, the wide open spaces and the people there.
They have these sofas spread here and there among the book shelves where you can sit and read through the books. There would be soft instrumental music in the background. People said you could buy coffee there and sit as long as you want, I however din't see any coffee outlets. May be next time.
The staff there was VERY helpful. I wanted Freedom at Midnight and I could not spot it. I asked the people there and they wasted there time to locate the title even though I had told em that I would not buy it, I just wanted to have a look at it.
I ended up buying two titles, need to gift them to two very special ladies. And I am sure that I would be buying many more titles.
The website can be visited at http://www.crosswordbookstores.com.
And yeah a visit to Crossword added yet another goal in my kitty - Own a bookstore :D
ORIGIANALLY POSTED ON August 22, 2005
REPOSTED FROM ABOUT2EVOLVE TO SEPTEMBERTHE22ND
The place is absolutely stunning. There are other bookstores in and around Delhi (like The Om Book Store) but few things that set this place apart are the number of titles they have, their ambience, the wide open spaces and the people there.
They have these sofas spread here and there among the book shelves where you can sit and read through the books. There would be soft instrumental music in the background. People said you could buy coffee there and sit as long as you want, I however din't see any coffee outlets. May be next time.
The staff there was VERY helpful. I wanted Freedom at Midnight and I could not spot it. I asked the people there and they wasted there time to locate the title even though I had told em that I would not buy it, I just wanted to have a look at it.
I ended up buying two titles, need to gift them to two very special ladies. And I am sure that I would be buying many more titles.
The website can be visited at http://www.crosswordbookstores.com.
And yeah a visit to Crossword added yet another goal in my kitty - Own a bookstore :D
ORIGIANALLY POSTED ON August 22, 2005
REPOSTED FROM ABOUT2EVOLVE TO SEPTEMBERTHE22ND
The House of Bamboo
Stuff hanging from the roof
2005 December: Imperium Farewell Party
There is this place called The House of Bamboo at 32nd Milestone in Gurgaon. We went there for a party ... with my camera and this is what came out ot if.
And by the way, the first post for 2006.
Tuesdays with Morrie - Mitch Albom
Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom is simply put superb. I don't respect things like Good Living, Happy Living, Art of Living and things like that but Tuesdays taught me lots and lots of things. Actually it ain't taught me things but helped me realize. More importantly it gave me few answers to things I was always thinking about. I was always wondering if I should conform to the norms laid down by the society and even if I feel limited in them, shall I try to break out of them. Morrie gives me the answer. I always thought I would end up doing something like Morrie - things that won't exploit other things (quite a change from my previous thoughts where I wanted to be rich at any cost). I started answering the basic premise behind the concept of Marketing. Again Morrie provides the answer.
Few things that I can instantly recall from Morrie are Live in Now, Say things you wanna say, Don’t wait forever to let people what you always want to say, Listen - Listen, Listen and Listen. Nothing is as good as listening to people.
I always knew these things were important and I knew them at the back of my mind but Morrie made me realize them. Will make sure I implement them.
They say Paulo Coelho authors some life changing books, I say NO. I never really appreciated his work. Morrie changed it ! Morrie has the power. MUST READ.
Some people say that Morrie is a real story. I probably would never know but I would sure want to meet a man with such personal strengths. He is staring death in face and still he is as strong as anyone. I always thought one must be independent of others. I always practised it but I realized that what I was doing was following independence in action. My thoughts were very much dependent on others. My very self was, is, will be dependent. Forever.
ORIGIANALLY POSTED ON August 28, 2005
REPOSTED FROM ABOUT2EVOLVE TO SEPTEMBERTHE22ND
The Turning Torso
While reading the newspaper today, I came across The Turning Torso. It is a skyscraper in Sewdan is the second highest residential building in Europe.I found The Turning Torso one of the most goodlooking skyscrapers I have ever seen. The pics that I have seen so far are awesome and I can't imagine the view when I get to see it for real.
The tower is modeled on Santiago Calatrava's design Twisting Tower. They say it is inspired from the human body.
The tower is roughly divided into 9 five story cubes. As the tower rises in height, with each subsequent cube, the tower twists around the axis and the ninth cube is rotated by 90 degrees with respect to the first tower. The first two cubes would have meeting and office spaces and the rest seven cubes would be resedential with 149 deluxe apartments. I sure would want to have an apartment there. The tower officially opened on 27th August 2005 and infact they are offering people a trip to the tower for five days... Wish I was in Sweden...
Detailed information about the architect, design and history is available at the links mentioned
I off late have started taking a lot of interest in large structures, buildings, artefacts and similar stuff.
This started as a post about The Turning Torso and I am afraid it would end with the Calatrava and praises for him. The work he has been able to conceptualize inspire people. Atleast I am having second thoughts about my choice of career and I thought about quitting everything and get into designing and sculpting.
Following are few links about The Turning Torso and Calatrava
http://www.turningtorso.com (Official Turning Tower Website)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turning_Torso
http://www.bizzbook.com/map/turningtorso.html
http://www.pbase.com/mistermattias/torso
Real Time Turning Torso Webcam View
http://www.calatrava.com (Official Calatrava Website)
Calatrava.info (Unofficial Calatrava Website)
Calatrava Designs
ORIGIANALLY POSTED ON August 29, 2005
REPOSTED FROM ABOUT2EVOLVE TO SEPTEMBERTHE22ND
Uncommon Common Sense
In the last 6 hours, I have been told twice that Common Sense although appears very common but in fact, in reality it’s very uncommon. The first person to do that was Prof. Ahluwalia when he came to teach us Advertising Management and the second was Prof. Sanjay Bakshi when he came to teach us BFBV. I talked about him in my other BLOG at http://egyaan.blogspot.com/2004/12/prof-sanjay-bakshi.html
I had been waiting for this cause ever since Term 3 started and today I finally got to see him. As they say, the looks could be deceptive, I expected him to be a funky kinda person, who would have an athletic, lean body type, would be wearing Denims to class. I expected him to be very informal kinds but when I finally saw him, I realized that I shouldn’t make presumptions about people.
I thought I was the biggest techie around until I saw his desktop. He had about 20 icons lined up on QuickLaunch, and I could not recognize most of them. His taskbar was as heavy. He of course had minimal icons on the desktop. Just like any other techie ;)
Coming on to the class, he talked about Mental Models today. Everything was fine and going good until something called Backward Thinking was introduced. Simply put, Backward Thinking is not doing things that are not expected. For example, you want to run a business effectively. You list down things that you should not do to avoid ruining the business. And you make sure that you don't do the things in the list. Sherlock Holmes said
Here is a very simple example to illustrate this further. You are among a batch of 100 students in a school. Assuming that you won’t be expelled until you fail in academics, your objective is to pass through the school, you just need to get passing percentage in the examinations. For passing percentage, you don't have to read the entire text, don't have to attend all the classes etc. You do just the bare minimum. The result: You are not expelled, you pass but you don't perform exceptionally or you don't top the class.
Extending this further, assuming that the objective is not to just pass the course but actually come first in the class. Now not to be the first among the class, you don't have to skip anything (means read everything), not miss any class etc. Two inherent problems here are identifying the right variables (you are never sure that the thing you are not doing is the right thing to not do), interaction of variables (you don't know how other variables that you have not considered affect the outcome). Bottom-line is that you do not do the things that you decided not to do and still might be far from the objective.
I know due to the amazing control over the language, I have made Backward Thinking absolutely gibberish... :( Wish I was better at English.
According to backward thinking, if you want to prove something as correct, assume that it is incorrect and prove that it is not incorrect and hence the original proposition is bound to be correct. Taking an example where Backward Thinking has been applicable (according to Prof. Bakshi) and extending it further to prove it wrong. He says that
Our ultimate objective here is to make the business better. We list things that would ruin it. A list could be ignoring the daily operations, getting the wrong people for the wrong situations, taking decisions without analysis etc. Assume that there are no interactions and the list of variables is complete. Now to achieve the objective (to make the business better), we just have to make sure that we don’t do these things. We do the opposite. We concentrate on day to day operations, get the right people and processes in place, and take decisions rationally (another word and concept I am fond of). The result? We run our business just normally, not exceptionally. We end running the business the way others do. We thus should be able to get the result others are getting. Others are doing well, We also do well, X also does well, the level of average is raised and end of the day everyone is pretty much same. We do not achieve the objective. The preposition is thus wrong. Backward Thinking thus failed.
More Later ...
Comments
chirayu said...
how about thinking "not to be placed below the top 10% in the class" ?
Sunday, September 18, 2005 2:55:17 AM
ORIGIANALLY POSTED ON Tuesday, September 13, 2005
REPOSTED FROM ABOUT2EVOLVE TO SEPTEMBERTHE22ND
I had been waiting for this cause ever since Term 3 started and today I finally got to see him. As they say, the looks could be deceptive, I expected him to be a funky kinda person, who would have an athletic, lean body type, would be wearing Denims to class. I expected him to be very informal kinds but when I finally saw him, I realized that I shouldn’t make presumptions about people.
I thought I was the biggest techie around until I saw his desktop. He had about 20 icons lined up on QuickLaunch, and I could not recognize most of them. His taskbar was as heavy. He of course had minimal icons on the desktop. Just like any other techie ;)
Coming on to the class, he talked about Mental Models today. Everything was fine and going good until something called Backward Thinking was introduced. Simply put, Backward Thinking is not doing things that are not expected. For example, you want to run a business effectively. You list down things that you should not do to avoid ruining the business. And you make sure that you don't do the things in the list. Sherlock Holmes said
It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.So everything is fine, he said it, gave a few supporting arguments and that was that. But when you actually think about it again, you realize that Backward Thinking is just another tool to just be in the rat race, not win it or emerge as a winner.
Here is a very simple example to illustrate this further. You are among a batch of 100 students in a school. Assuming that you won’t be expelled until you fail in academics, your objective is to pass through the school, you just need to get passing percentage in the examinations. For passing percentage, you don't have to read the entire text, don't have to attend all the classes etc. You do just the bare minimum. The result: You are not expelled, you pass but you don't perform exceptionally or you don't top the class.
Extending this further, assuming that the objective is not to just pass the course but actually come first in the class. Now not to be the first among the class, you don't have to skip anything (means read everything), not miss any class etc. Two inherent problems here are identifying the right variables (you are never sure that the thing you are not doing is the right thing to not do), interaction of variables (you don't know how other variables that you have not considered affect the outcome). Bottom-line is that you do not do the things that you decided not to do and still might be far from the objective.
I know due to the amazing control over the language, I have made Backward Thinking absolutely gibberish... :( Wish I was better at English.
According to backward thinking, if you want to prove something as correct, assume that it is incorrect and prove that it is not incorrect and hence the original proposition is bound to be correct. Taking an example where Backward Thinking has been applicable (according to Prof. Bakshi) and extending it further to prove it wrong. He says that
Instead of thinking how to make your business better, think how to ruin it, and then simply avoid those things.is an example of application of Backward Thinking.
Our ultimate objective here is to make the business better. We list things that would ruin it. A list could be ignoring the daily operations, getting the wrong people for the wrong situations, taking decisions without analysis etc. Assume that there are no interactions and the list of variables is complete. Now to achieve the objective (to make the business better), we just have to make sure that we don’t do these things. We do the opposite. We concentrate on day to day operations, get the right people and processes in place, and take decisions rationally (another word and concept I am fond of). The result? We run our business just normally, not exceptionally. We end running the business the way others do. We thus should be able to get the result others are getting. Others are doing well, We also do well, X also does well, the level of average is raised and end of the day everyone is pretty much same. We do not achieve the objective. The preposition is thus wrong. Backward Thinking thus failed.
More Later ...
Comments
chirayu said...
how about thinking "not to be placed below the top 10% in the class" ?
Sunday, September 18, 2005 2:55:17 AM
ORIGIANALLY POSTED ON Tuesday, September 13, 2005
REPOSTED FROM ABOUT2EVOLVE TO SEPTEMBERTHE22ND
Five Point Someone - Chetan Bhagat
Five Point Someone by Chetan Bhagat, is renowned universally as an excellent book. People have been recommending it to people for a long long time. Things were said that you could relate to watever was written in the book, you could understand watever they were saying, you could relate to watever they were doing ...I say CRAP !!!!. This was my second book by an Indian Author and this one also dissappointed me. :( The first one being Q n A by Vikas Swarup.
I probably would not be able to make an effort to read any other book by "young" Indian authors. :(
ORIGIANALLY POSTED ON Monday, September 26, 2005
REPOSTED FROM ABOUT2EVOLVE TO SEPTEMBERTHE22ND
Windows One Care Live
In one of the Information Security class, Prof. V. Sridhar talked about the strategy by Microsoft for Vista. He said that according to him Vista would have bundled Antivirus, Firewall and other security related tools. He added even the current version of Windows XP has an in built firewall but not too many people use it or know about it.
Prof. Sridhar was bang on target. With Windows One Care, Microsoft has officially given away an Antivirus and a complete Firewall. As of now the "service" (not the product) is completely free - it is in the beta stage. However there are chances of it going paid. And I am pretty sure that they would bundle One Care with Vista.
Windows One Care
Windows One Care is an Antivirus, Firewall, Maintenance tool, Backup and Restore Tool, Automatic updater rolled into one. I think this is going to give a very tough time to companies like Symantec, McAfee and other companies with single line of business. It would most probably be bundled with Vista. Logically people buying Vista would not want to buy software additional software from only antivirus companies or firewall companies.
I installed it very recently on my computer. Installation was absolutely hassle free. I had to click on a webpage and it was done. I did not even select the drive, the installation options and other things. There are however a few glitches. If you run a pirated copy of Windows, you would not be able to download and install One Care. It checks for the authenticity of the Windows before everything else.
Service or Product?
I think that One Care would be an online service and it would be based on subscription rather than one time purchase. As a user, you would have an option of paying for the service you want to use instead of paying for all the services even if you don’t want to use other services. This means that if you really like McAfee VirusScan very much and do not want to use One Care antivirus and want to only one One Care firewall, you pay for the firewall and keep using the McAfee VirusScan. All other functions would be disabled. And as and when you need more things, you can pay and use. Simple!
And you never know, One Care could be sold as a stand alone product too. But it would make a lot of sense to sell it online as a service rather than a product.
+ves and -ves
And finally some comments from an early user aka me !
+ Very easy to use interface
+ Does not needs a lot of intervention from the user both in operation and configuration.
- Does not give too many options to a power user. If I want to customize the application and make it work according to my whims and fancies, I can not. But I think this would be provided as and when the final version is out.
- Another problem is the amount of memory it consumes. I was running a virus scan and it made by computer very slow as compared to virus scan with Norton.
- I connect to the internet from behind a http proxy and Windows One Care Live can not update itself automatically. I did not see an option of manual update on the website or in the software. I thus have no clue about updating my copy.
- I had the Windows Blue screen of death occuring very regularly ever since I installed One Care. I do not know if these are related to this software but the frequency funnily increased after installing the software.
Remembering Srimant Madhav Rao Scindhia
He left this world on 30th September 2001...
This brings me to yet another coorelation ... A large number of influential congress leaders did not die their natural death. Starting from Mahatma Gandhi to Bose to Mrs. Gandhi to Rajiv and Sanjay Gandhi to Pilot and Scindia ...
ORIGIANALLY POSTED ON Friday, September 30, 2005
REPOSTED FROM ABOUT2EVOLVE TO SEPTEMBERTHE22ND
S is for Sue, Sue Grafton
Ever since I have started reading books, novels, biographies ... have come across a lot of interesting things and authors.
Sue Grafton is one of the few VERY interesting ones ...
The protagonist is Kinsey Millhone and she is a detective. The series is about some serious issues but there is an added flavour of wit thrown in. Basically my kind of a person and may be thats why I kinda like her ...
I have long long way to go, I have just read the following three books...
#H is for Homicide - Sue Grafton (2005 Nov 12)
#K is for Killer - Sue Grafton
#M is for Malice - Sue Grafton
The website is located here.
ORIGIANALLY POSTED ON Sunday, October 16, 2005
REPOSTED FROM ABOUT2EVOLVE TO SEPTEMBERTHE22ND
Sue Grafton is one of the few VERY interesting ones ...
The protagonist is Kinsey Millhone and she is a detective. The series is about some serious issues but there is an added flavour of wit thrown in. Basically my kind of a person and may be thats why I kinda like her ...
I have long long way to go, I have just read the following three books...
#H is for Homicide - Sue Grafton (2005 Nov 12)
#K is for Killer - Sue Grafton
#M is for Malice - Sue Grafton
The website is located here.
ORIGIANALLY POSTED ON Sunday, October 16, 2005
REPOSTED FROM ABOUT2EVOLVE TO SEPTEMBERTHE22ND
Behind the stage artists !!!!
How many times it has happened that I would listen to the song and praise the singer, the musicians, the composer, the video and everything about the song. I dont recall being curious to the lyricist of the song ever !
My recent favorite is Maine Dil Sey Kaha, from the movie Rog. This song has been performed by KK. One of the things I like about this song is the meaningful lyrics. I could connect to each and every being used. I probably never admitted but I think this song personifies me.
Anyways coming to the track, this song has been penned down by someone called Nilesh Mishra. I got curious and searched for other songs and was I surprised to see his work... He has written almost all my recent favorites. I think Nilesh is second only to Lucky Ali whe it comes to putting emotions to words.
Followig is the list of songs written by Nilesh Mishra ...
Jism - Jaadu Hai Nasha Hai
Krishna Cottage
Rog - Maine Dil Sey Kaha
I hope to see more good work from him in times to come. I now have a reason to try out every new song ;)
ORIGIANALLY POSTED ON Sunday, October 24, 2005
REPOSTED FROM ABOUT2EVOLVE TO SEPTEMBERTHE22ND
My recent favorite is Maine Dil Sey Kaha, from the movie Rog. This song has been performed by KK. One of the things I like about this song is the meaningful lyrics. I could connect to each and every being used. I probably never admitted but I think this song personifies me.
Anyways coming to the track, this song has been penned down by someone called Nilesh Mishra. I got curious and searched for other songs and was I surprised to see his work... He has written almost all my recent favorites. I think Nilesh is second only to Lucky Ali whe it comes to putting emotions to words.
Followig is the list of songs written by Nilesh Mishra ...
Jism - Jaadu Hai Nasha Hai
Krishna Cottage
Rog - Maine Dil Sey Kaha
I hope to see more good work from him in times to come. I now have a reason to try out every new song ;)
ORIGIANALLY POSTED ON Sunday, October 24, 2005
REPOSTED FROM ABOUT2EVOLVE TO SEPTEMBERTHE22ND
Down and Out
One of the rare moments ... when I am down and out.
But hey as I say ...
n'Joy everything !
And since I am reposting this, I realize that I can not remember why did I make this post. !
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON Wednesday, November 09, 2005
REPOSTED FROM ABOUT2EVOLVE TO SEPTEMBERTHE22ND
But hey as I say ...
n'Joy everything !
And since I am reposting this, I realize that I can not remember why did I make this post. !
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON Wednesday, November 09, 2005
REPOSTED FROM ABOUT2EVOLVE TO SEPTEMBERTHE22ND
I wish ...
I wish I had a HUGE bike, specifically an Enfield or the good old Harley. Ofcourse getting a Harley is kinda tough but I don't think Enfield would be a problem once I start working.
On my way back from dinner I saw this guy on a bike, he was arrogant all right, the wa he talked to the ticketing assistant, I absolutely hated it but I liked his bike. He had this Enfield that was as big as a Maruti 800.
He had modified this bike with changed front fenders. The seat was lowered to the level of the speedometers. I can think of kAgE's Bullect Electra. He had'nt done any modifications but his bike looks royal. May be the royal blue color on the bike makes it prefect or may be that he uses this wax daily on his bike... I can also think of WalkinEagle who has this sexy bike whose name I cant recollect right now but it is one of most expensive bikes around in India.
The best part about these bikes is the put-put-put sound they make when they are being driven around. People notice it from atleast a hundred miles. Its a very distinct sound and I don't know about other people but I am full with envy.
ORIGIANALLY POSTED ON Sunday, October 23, 2005
REPOSTED FROM ABOUT2EVOLVE TO SEPTEMBERTHE22ND
On my way back from dinner I saw this guy on a bike, he was arrogant all right, the wa he talked to the ticketing assistant, I absolutely hated it but I liked his bike. He had this Enfield that was as big as a Maruti 800.
He had modified this bike with changed front fenders. The seat was lowered to the level of the speedometers. I can think of kAgE's Bullect Electra. He had'nt done any modifications but his bike looks royal. May be the royal blue color on the bike makes it prefect or may be that he uses this wax daily on his bike... I can also think of WalkinEagle who has this sexy bike whose name I cant recollect right now but it is one of most expensive bikes around in India.
The best part about these bikes is the put-put-put sound they make when they are being driven around. People notice it from atleast a hundred miles. Its a very distinct sound and I don't know about other people but I am full with envy.
ORIGIANALLY POSTED ON Sunday, October 23, 2005
REPOSTED FROM ABOUT2EVOLVE TO SEPTEMBERTHE22ND
10 years of ... a Dream !
It's monday morning and I opened up a newspaper to find the following ads on the very top and very bottom of the very front page...
I as always tried to guess what the product could be ... My best shot was Delhi Times, the supplement with The Times of India (I think this "paper" is as bad as they come; this is another story, would try to cover later).
So the point is that Airtel has completed 10 successful years in the telphony market. They have moved from a cellular service provider to complete telecommunication service providers with specialized services ranging from Landline services to Email on the go.
When they started operations, they were a small comany charging about 16 bucks per minute for an outgoing call and 8 for an incoming call. In 10 years, the call rates have dropped to about 2 bucks on an average for outgoing and free for incoming ! Talk of changing the face of the market...
Airtel obsoleted the fixed line phones and made a telephone a personal item for the first time in India. For the first time with a phone, you could talk to people directly without going through long channels.
Next in line is outsourcing of the network. Management gurus said that your core competency should never be outsourced or given to third parties but no sir, Airtel would do it. In the long run, one may never know what might happen but in the short run, the strategy sounds great with all the benefits flowing into theor books. Infact other operators are also following suit.
O by the way ... Today happens to be Children Day, celebrated on the occasion of Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru's BDay. He was our first Prime Minister. Yet again, I would like to reserve my comments for the gentleman.
Also two week long India International Trade Fair (IITF) starts today. 2005 marks the 25th aniversary of the IITF. I have many many fond memories of IIFT including a job hunt when I was in 11th std.
ORIGIANALLY POSTED ON Monday, November 14, 2005
REPOSTED FROM ABOUT2EVOLVE TO SEPTEMBERTHE22ND
And as I flipped the pages, I found the following10 years of "good you called"
10 years of "I'm 2 mins away"
On the entire back page, they had10 years of "nice tune, yaar"
10 years of "got a charger?"
10 years of "hd a gr8 time, thnk"
10 years of "missing u :-("
And they are Airtel!
10 years of touching lives across India.
I as always tried to guess what the product could be ... My best shot was Delhi Times, the supplement with The Times of India (I think this "paper" is as bad as they come; this is another story, would try to cover later).
So the point is that Airtel has completed 10 successful years in the telphony market. They have moved from a cellular service provider to complete telecommunication service providers with specialized services ranging from Landline services to Email on the go.
When they started operations, they were a small comany charging about 16 bucks per minute for an outgoing call and 8 for an incoming call. In 10 years, the call rates have dropped to about 2 bucks on an average for outgoing and free for incoming ! Talk of changing the face of the market...
Airtel obsoleted the fixed line phones and made a telephone a personal item for the first time in India. For the first time with a phone, you could talk to people directly without going through long channels.
Next in line is outsourcing of the network. Management gurus said that your core competency should never be outsourced or given to third parties but no sir, Airtel would do it. In the long run, one may never know what might happen but in the short run, the strategy sounds great with all the benefits flowing into theor books. Infact other operators are also following suit.
O by the way ... Today happens to be Children Day, celebrated on the occasion of Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru's BDay. He was our first Prime Minister. Yet again, I would like to reserve my comments for the gentleman.
Also two week long India International Trade Fair (IITF) starts today. 2005 marks the 25th aniversary of the IITF. I have many many fond memories of IIFT including a job hunt when I was in 11th std.
ORIGIANALLY POSTED ON Monday, November 14, 2005
REPOSTED FROM ABOUT2EVOLVE TO SEPTEMBERTHE22ND
Update please wait - W32/Nyxem-D
Somehow for the last few days I saw this funny icon in my taskbar that looked like a small computer and when I took my mouse over it, it read "Update please wait". The computer was acting funny and there were few other problems too.
1. Norton Antivirus would not start with Windows even though it was configured like that.
2. My "commmon tasks" were not being displayed in explorer/folders.
Then suddenly I got curious about this "Update please wait" thingy and googled it. Off the few top entries, one of them pointed here. I followed the steps mentioned there to realize that I was infected with W32/Nyxem-D. Some more clicks on the web made me sure that it was indeed a worm.
I was infected by a malware after about two years and I was very angry. Somehow I was also very happy to see a real problem on my computer. I had to spend about an hour doing it all by myself and I was able to get rid of it.
And when I tried to find the reasons for the infection, I found that I was infected because of my open share. I had created that open share to help me copy files quick over the network. Further analysis revealed that it "offers the promise of pornography". I am sure I have never copied anything remotely resembling porn on my laptop.
Removal Instructions and Automated Tool
Apart from making money, the antivirus companies do sometimes act as good samaritans also and Symantec has created an automated tool to remove the worm. They identify this worm as W32.Blackmal.E@mm and the removal tool is located here. I certainly enjoyed working though the registry and restarting the computer 5 times to remove it. Tool was not that much fun.
I think I have been attacked by a virus after about a couple of years and it was huge fun to work on it :D
1. Norton Antivirus would not start with Windows even though it was configured like that.
2. My "commmon tasks" were not being displayed in explorer/folders.
Then suddenly I got curious about this "Update please wait" thingy and googled it. Off the few top entries, one of them pointed here. I followed the steps mentioned there to realize that I was infected with W32/Nyxem-D. Some more clicks on the web made me sure that it was indeed a worm.
I was infected by a malware after about two years and I was very angry. Somehow I was also very happy to see a real problem on my computer. I had to spend about an hour doing it all by myself and I was able to get rid of it.
And when I tried to find the reasons for the infection, I found that I was infected because of my open share. I had created that open share to help me copy files quick over the network. Further analysis revealed that it "offers the promise of pornography". I am sure I have never copied anything remotely resembling porn on my laptop.
Removal Instructions and Automated Tool
Apart from making money, the antivirus companies do sometimes act as good samaritans also and Symantec has created an automated tool to remove the worm. They identify this worm as W32.Blackmal.E@mm and the removal tool is located here. I certainly enjoyed working though the registry and restarting the computer 5 times to remove it. Tool was not that much fun.
I think I have been attacked by a virus after about a couple of years and it was huge fun to work on it :D
Million Dollar Homepage
Being a business school student, I come across a huge number of ideas that promise a lot of potential in terms of getting popular and minting money. http://www.milliondollarhomepage.com/ is one fine example that I atleast could'nt have thought of in years.
Created by Alex Tew, it took 4 months for the Million Dollar Homepage to get to the magical figure of a million.
Created by Alex Tew, it took 4 months for the Million Dollar Homepage to get to the magical figure of a million.
IBM Thinkpad R51 - KQ1 - Reposted
I posted in a previous post about my thinkpad. It islocated here.
I am reposting thisfortwo reaons. One, its beenan year since I bought my laptop. I bought my laptop on 31st oflast to last year. I founda key broken, wanted to get it replaced but IBM peopledurely and courteously refused to do so. Company policy theysaid. So I hadthis new laptop, it was not more than two days old and IBM would not change/replace/repair it because it was their company policy.
Second reasonfor thispost isthe broken keypad thats gotten even worse. Somehow the space bar has started acting funny. Sometimes, I wouldget a perfectly fineandnormalspacing and at other times I wouldnot insert andspaces. I have absolutely no clue how all of a sudden thismight happen.
And now since IBM has sold Thinkpad asa brand to Lenovo, I dont think there is apoint in even calling them up to get some help. Andsince the annual maintenance I had was for a year only and they could not help me when I was covered by their warranty, i cant even imagine to talk to them without the warranty.
And if you are wonderingwhat happened to thispost, thisis becuase of the funny space bar.
This is my last line in this post and I am trying very hard to maintain my typing speeds and hitting space bar ...
I am reposting thisfortwo reaons. One, its beenan year since I bought my laptop. I bought my laptop on 31st oflast to last year. I founda key broken, wanted to get it replaced but IBM peopledurely and courteously refused to do so. Company policy theysaid. So I hadthis new laptop, it was not more than two days old and IBM would not change/replace/repair it because it was their company policy.
Second reasonfor thispost isthe broken keypad thats gotten even worse. Somehow the space bar has started acting funny. Sometimes, I wouldget a perfectly fineandnormalspacing and at other times I wouldnot insert andspaces. I have absolutely no clue how all of a sudden thismight happen.
And now since IBM has sold Thinkpad asa brand to Lenovo, I dont think there is apoint in even calling them up to get some help. Andsince the annual maintenance I had was for a year only and they could not help me when I was covered by their warranty, i cant even imagine to talk to them without the warranty.
And if you are wonderingwhat happened to thispost, thisis becuase of the funny space bar.
This is my last line in this post and I am trying very hard to maintain my typing speeds and hitting space bar ...
My Kind of Books
Some people have this misconception that I read a lot. Here are few inside scoops.
I see you with a new book every ther day? How? Are you amazingly fast reader?
SG: LOL. I do not read a lot, just like to show off with a new book every two days. And if you are asking me this question, I have achieved my goal. I want people to think that I read a lot and atleast some people have started assuming that I read a lot.
What about all those books in your cabinet?
I like to have lots of books in my cabinet. I bought all these books at Nai Sarak for 20 bucks each so that my cabinet looks real cool. I was also thinking of fake book holders to make my cabinet even more stuffy...
But then how do you know about so many different authors and books?
I thought I mentioned before this candid interiew that I would not talk about my trade secrets and things that make me loose my (as Porter would put it) Competitive Advantage. However if you are still adamant, let me know and I just might give you some tips ...
Ok, so what kind of books do you want people to think that you read?
I read everything from fiction to non-fiction. Before coming to MDI, I did not know that reading can be a pleasure and help me get a lot of attention. The day I realized that I have to get poeple's attention, I started showing off with the books.
I see you with a new book every ther day? How? Are you amazingly fast reader?
SG: LOL. I do not read a lot, just like to show off with a new book every two days. And if you are asking me this question, I have achieved my goal. I want people to think that I read a lot and atleast some people have started assuming that I read a lot.
What about all those books in your cabinet?
I like to have lots of books in my cabinet. I bought all these books at Nai Sarak for 20 bucks each so that my cabinet looks real cool. I was also thinking of fake book holders to make my cabinet even more stuffy...
But then how do you know about so many different authors and books?
I thought I mentioned before this candid interiew that I would not talk about my trade secrets and things that make me loose my (as Porter would put it) Competitive Advantage. However if you are still adamant, let me know and I just might give you some tips ...
Ok, so what kind of books do you want people to think that you read?
I read everything from fiction to non-fiction. Before coming to MDI, I did not know that reading can be a pleasure and help me get a lot of attention. The day I realized that I have to get poeple's attention, I started showing off with the books.
Rang De Basanti - Roobaroo
Song: Roobaroo
Artist: A.R. Rahman, Naresh Iyer
Music: A.R. Rehman
Movie: Rang de Basanti
When I sing this song, somehow I sing it soemthing like "aye saala... abhi abhi... kisee more pay ..."
I think I need to write to write this song all again with the same music and different lyrics ... with "kisee more pay"
Here are the original lyrics...
Artist: A.R. Rahman, Naresh Iyer
Music: A.R. Rehman
Movie: Rang de Basanti
When I sing this song, somehow I sing it soemthing like "aye saala... abhi abhi... kisee more pay ..."
I think I need to write to write this song all again with the same music and different lyrics ... with "kisee more pay"
Here are the original lyrics...
aye saala
abhi abhi huaa yaqeen ki aag hai mujh mein kahi
hui subaah main chal gaya
suraj ko main nigal gaya
ruu-ba-ruu roshni heyy - 2
jo gumshuda-sa khwaab tha
voh mil gaya voh khil gaya
uulon hathaa pighal gaya
kichhaa kichhaa machal gaya
sitaar mein badal gaya
ruu-ba-ruu roshni heyy - 2
(dhuaan chhataa khula gagan mera
nayi dagar naya safar mera
jo ban sake tu hamsafar mera
nazar mila zara) - 2
aandhiyon se jaghad rahi hai lau meri
ab mashaalon si bhadak rahi hai lau meri
naamo nishaan rahe na rahe
ye kaaravaan rahe na rahe
ujaale mein pee gaya
roshan huaa jee gaya
kyon sehte rahe
ruu-ba-ruu roshni heyy - 2
dhuaan chhataa khula gagan mera
nayi dagar naya safar mera
jo ban sake tu hamsafar mera
nazar mila zara
ruu-ba-ruu roshni heyy - 2
aye saala - 4
Swatch Internet Time
In as back as 1998, Swatch came up with this concept called Internet Time. I was ignorant till date. I just learnt about Internet Time and I am an instant fan ... !
I think Internet Time as a concept makes a lot of sense. As we are moving towards the global world where physical boundaries between people located in different countries are blurring every second, there is in fact a need for a standard universal time.
So advantages ... ?
1. Swatch can now make, market and sell an entire new range of watches. When you are bored of your regular time, switch to swatch.
2. If people adpot this as a standard in near future, huge huge royalty fees from mere reference to the term (just like CDMA by Qualcomm) would be realized.
3. Swatch gets even more credit for being just more than yet another watch company.
4. People get a standrad reference for time. Although the current time and date system is one of the most beautiful concepts ever and is very hard for Interet Time to replace it, people can still do away with a standard reference for time online.
5. No confusing time zones, conversion charts, sunrises and sunsets, daylight saving formulaes and all that rocket science.
So what exactly is Internet Time....?
Pretty Simple ... instead of having seconds as the basic unit for measurement of time, we have something called .beat as the building block. A .beat is equivalent to 1 minute and 26.4 seconds. A day is now divided into 1000 beats rather than 60X60X24 seconds. A day begins at @000 Swatch .beats and ofcourse ends at @999 Swatch .beats
Posted by Saurabh Garg @893
I think Internet Time as a concept makes a lot of sense. As we are moving towards the global world where physical boundaries between people located in different countries are blurring every second, there is in fact a need for a standard universal time.
So advantages ... ?
1. Swatch can now make, market and sell an entire new range of watches. When you are bored of your regular time, switch to swatch.
2. If people adpot this as a standard in near future, huge huge royalty fees from mere reference to the term (just like CDMA by Qualcomm) would be realized.
3. Swatch gets even more credit for being just more than yet another watch company.
4. People get a standrad reference for time. Although the current time and date system is one of the most beautiful concepts ever and is very hard for Interet Time to replace it, people can still do away with a standard reference for time online.
5. No confusing time zones, conversion charts, sunrises and sunsets, daylight saving formulaes and all that rocket science.
So what exactly is Internet Time....?
Pretty Simple ... instead of having seconds as the basic unit for measurement of time, we have something called .beat as the building block. A .beat is equivalent to 1 minute and 26.4 seconds. A day is now divided into 1000 beats rather than 60X60X24 seconds. A day begins at @000 Swatch .beats and ofcourse ends at @999 Swatch .beats
Posted by Saurabh Garg @893
Interesting Advertisement
Credits: Times Wellness
This is one of the Flash movies released on World Aids Day - 1st Dec. Although this post is a bit too late but as they say better late then never...
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