pseudoforce

When Hope and Vision Won the Nobel

2009-10-10T01:22:00.003+05:30

The Nobel Peace Prize Committee says here that President Obama's extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples has won him the Nobel for Peace in 2009 . The Committee has attached special importance to Obama's vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons.

Further, 'Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future. His diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world's population.' ... 'The vision of a world free from nuclear arms has powerfully stimulated disarmament and arms control negotiations.' ...

All this to a man who is Head of State of a nation involved in two wars, where the defence spend is much larger than some nations. While the US has not got out of Iraq it has ordered more troops into Afghanistan. By that yardstick, an Indian Head of State should have won, since everytime India has suffered a terrorist attack, our leaders have restricted the use of our nuclear weapons. Heck, we constructively restrict our anger to newspapers, cricket matches (at neutral venues, if you wish), pleading before the UN, etc and go about our business. If only we knew that pounding bombs on suspected nations coupled with good oration would have 'captured the imagination' of the Nominations Committee, we would have done that.

The least you guys at the Nobel's could have done was wait for the end of Obama's term to see if his wonderful oration, hope and vision actually translated into world peace.

Incentives

2009-10-01T23:51:00.005+05:30

"The sad truth is that incentives have diluted the importance of investment philosophy. While well intentioned and hard working, corporate executives and money managers too frequently prioritise growing the business over delivering superior results for shareholders. Increasingly, hired managers get paid to play and not to win."

- From Micheal Mauboussin's 'More Than You Know'

Miracles Do Happen

2009-08-19T15:21:00.002+05:30

The taxi I was in was nearing the Kalanagar signal in Bandra East. Three street urchins, boys possibly 7 to 8 years old, on crutches were trying their luck at the vehicles that were waiting for the light to turn green. One would feel sad for these kids, maimed from birth or early in life, thinking of how the world would treat them differently compared to normal kids. Being the rainy season, it started to drizzle.

The boys on crutches continued to knock on closed cars windows while the drizzle became more forceful ...

What happened next was interesting. If you have visited a playschool or watched a play or event put up by kids you will begin to appreciate what I saw. Kids follow the normal course of activity as long as there is nothing that distracts them. If there is something more interesting going on, kids will immediately get distracted and will start to go their own way, following the distraction causing element or staring at it. Something similar happened here.

As the drizzle transitioned to light rain, the boys stopped knocking on windows. One of them shouted something to the other two. To which one of the addressees, balanced himself on his crutches and, with what I thought was his better leg, kicked a puddle which was just getting formed, in the direction of the first guy. To which the first guy replied by using his crutches as a lever to haul himself into another puddle so as to splash water on both the other guys.

The signal turned green. As I waited for my taxi to pull away, the boys were fully engrossed in their newly founded sport. They were now standing on both feet, the cripple that caused them to use crutches visibly gone, playing in the rain. I smiled. They were kids after all, stuck in the Big Bombay Begging Syndicate.

PS: I have always hated to give money to beggars. Have you ever thought of what happens with the change you give beggars? I hear that it makes its way to shady markets where shopkeepers in need of change buy Rs.90-95 worth of change by paying Rs.100. A 5-10% brokerage fee for the Begging Syndicate. The worker-bee-like kids get a vada pav a day and 60ml of tea. So next time you see a begging kid. As him if he is hungry. If he indeed is, buy him some food or give him that spare biscuit pack you have.

The 1/4 life Crisis

2009-06-25T09:57:00.001+05:30

Does any of this sound familiar …

1. Feeling "not good enough" because one can't find a job that is at one's academic/intellectual level
2. Frustration with relationships, the working world, and finding a suitable job or career
3. Confusion of identity
4. Insecurity regarding the near future
5. Insecurity concerning long-term plans, life goals
6. Insecurity regarding present accomplishments
7. Re-evaluation of close interpersonal relationships
8. Disappointment with one's job
9. Nostalgia for university, college, high school or elementary school life 10.
10. Tendency to hold stronger opinions
11. Boredom with social interactions
12. Loss of closeness to high school and college friends
13. Financially-rooted stress (overwhelming college loans, unanticipated high cost of living, etc.)
14. Loneliness
15. Desire to have children
16. A sense that everyone is, somehow, doing better than you

An author somewhere has called this phenomenon (of experiencing the above symptoms) the Quarterlife Crisis and has authored a book about the challenges of living in your twenties.

Though I haven't given most of these much thought, at some point or another some of the above symptoms have clouded my thinking. I could count 13 out of 16 - some more intense than the others … which makes the hit rate 81%. (FYI, I left out 1, 15, 16 - before I get mail asking me about my desire to have children ;))

Damn this! Kiddish before 12, teenager issues till 20, quarterlife crisis till mid 30s, midlife crisis in the 40s, prostrate issues after 50 … when is a brother supposed to be enjoying himself? :)

Development is the bane of our existence

2009-06-23T00:53:00.001+05:30

Some thoughts as I return from a trip where I had a taste of rural life ...

The capitalist system we work in encourages us to do things faster and better with each passing year. Corporates are incentivised to grow faster than the previous year. Profits must be larger than the previous year. Costs must be lower than the previous year. These invariably get passed on to us which makes us humans enter a race, trying to do things faster than what evolution permits ...

… With each passing year, one works harder, runs faster to move ahead because if you do not others will take your place. You try to do things at 30 - that which you are meant to do when 35, achieve things at 40 - that which you were supposed to achieve at 50 … Why? … what do you plan to do in those additional 5-10 years you may possibly gain? (if you don’t kill yourself in the process)

… it all leads to stress and stress related problems … we then spend billions developing drugs that make us live longer with these illnesses …

The race to scale also incentivises man to standardise … agriculture is also standardised ... killing bio-diversity in nature …

Development is the bane of our existence … the more we invent, innovate, develop - the more we substitute our natural instincts and abilities for artificial ones … all to achieve more - the race to beat evolution, which hastens our doom.

Women reservations: Another policy waiting to be misused

2009-06-14T11:47:00.005+05:30

The Government of India seeks to pass the Womens Reservation Bill which will result in 33% reservation of the Parliament seats in the Lok Sabha for women. While I am all for the upliftment of women who have traditionally played second fiddle to men in India (I'm talking of the larger Indian society here), I am not sure reservation is the right way to get there. I say that because reservations in the past have been misused. Deserving persons miss out. I say that from personal experiences, where I have seen people take advantage of their caste status to get benefits. Some of these are people I know well.

One of my friends mentions that this move will only benefit upper class women in urban areas who can contest elections on their own individual credentials. Those for whom this policy is meant - the sparky rural woman who has leadership potential but looses out due to male chauvinism - will find it difficult to get a seat. In all probability, political parties will ration this quota among women who already got elected to Parliament leaving less seats for the ones that need upliftment.

Reservations is curing the symptoms of gender inequality. The malaise is much deeper. Today the average rural woman is mostly dependent on her husband due to economic and social reasons. The only way this can change is if women come together in small communities to work, educate themselves, and have their own support system which can incentivise them to be independent. Empowerment is a long journey. The flipside of the current system is that this will lead to more reservations, where women will ask for representation within the current womens quota for backward castes. It will lead us nowhere

Update: Know they pension plan

2009-06-08T00:31:00.002+05:30

Some time ago, I posted about having adequate knowledge of where investment managers put your money to work. As an update, I managed to get a cash flow plan of the scheme. Imagine my shock when I present valued the 'capital' and the 'fees' (Present valuing means discounting all future cash outgoes to present terms to know what it would mean if everything were to be evaluated on todays terms). The fees were a crazy 18%!!! ... which means that if I invested all monies today, 18% would go to this institution as fees for managing the capital. To give you an idea as to why that is crazy, mutual funds take around 1% (0.5% when one buys and 0.5% when one sells), alternative asset managers take close to 1.5% - 3% to manage wealth. The next time you are sold a plan, inquire about the fees

Heaven and Hell

2009-06-07T23:59:00.002+05:30

Received this interesting one in the mail from Venkatron ... :)

Wall Street Fables: The secret of the Bonus

2009-06-01T00:06:00.001+05:30

Following is a crude con-job. A far away analogy would be the way Wall Street quants (A term used to describe people with more than their share of quantitative skills ... typically guys who can do spreadsheets in their head) have financially engineered returns on dead assets ...

A city boy, Raj, moved to the village and bought a donkey from an oldfarmer for Rs.1000. Thefarmer agreed to deliver the donkey the next day.The next day the farmer drove up and said,

"Sorry Raj, but I have some bad news, the donkey died while I was bringing him here."

"Well then, just give me my money back", replied Raj.

The farmer said, "Can't do that. I wentand spent it already."

To which raj replied, "OK then, just unload the donkey."

The farmer was inquisitive. "What you are going to do with him?"

"I'm going to raffle him off." replied Raj

"You can't raffle off a dead donkey!" exclaimed the farmer.

"Sure I can. Watch me. I just won't tell anybody he's dead." There was a twinkle in Raj's eye.

A month later the farmer met up with Raj and asked, "What happened with that dead donkey?

"I raffled him off", said Raj with a casual look, "I sold 500 tickets at Rs. 10 each and made a profit of Rs 4990 with the donkey worth Rs. 1000 as the prize."

"Didn't anyone complain?", the farmer asked with a look of astonishment.

"Just the guy who won .... So I gave him back his Rs. 10."

And that my friends is a fable on how investment bankers across the world made their hefty bonus'.

Know thy pension plan

2009-03-30T02:00:00.003+05:30

I was the audience. A pitch was being made to buy into a pension plan. The salesperson gave the keeping aside for old age spiel. In short the dynamics were like this - I was to put in a fixed amount for the first five years, say INR x per annum. From thereon, till I was fifty, this cash would grow and after I turned fifty I would get a monthly income from this kitty till my passing into the next world.

She was doing her job well until the point where I asked at what rate my cash would grow between the last installment and me turning fifty.
“15%”, came the reply.
“Will you guarantee that?”
“Well we don’t guarantee it but if you invest the money in an aggressive mutual fund you will see those returns”
“Which mutual fund? I thought this was a pension plan”
She unfolded the literature for the plan. It showed options of allocating my annual contributions towards various asset classes – the most aggressive of which (also took on the most risk) and would, assuming the world didn’t fall apart in the intervening years, assuming that Indian equity markets delivered, assuming the fund manager wasn’t a rogue, assuming the companies in which my pension money was invested didn’t blow up due to fraud, bad management, business cycles or otherwise and assuming a million other risks which my tiny brain couldn’t fathom or whose impact I couldn’t ascertain, would potentially deliver 15%! … It was getting clear now …

“So your literature says 15% return annually if I invest in this scheme and allocate my pension to this asset class (Fancy term 1: ‘asset class’ is money that is exposed to similar risks – bonds, shares, etc are examples of asset classes)
“Well on the letterhead we can mention a maximum of 10%. But you can get 15% if …”
“Why 10%? You just said 15%!”
“Well sir, on the letterhead …”
“OK. No issues, So if your letter mentions 10% I assume my cash grows at 10% in the intervening period.” … PS: whatever you may hear from stock brokers, cash growing 10% assured annually for a long time is a pretty good investment, especially for pension plans
“No sir that again would depend …”
“Then why mention 10% on the letter?”
(Uncomfortable babble) … “Sir you can choose our as your asset class. The current NAV (Fancy Term 2: NAV means Net Asset Value – the price of a mutual fund at any given point in time) is INR 4. The NAV will surely rise (?) and your pension money will grow faster than 15%”
(I smile) … “What was the offering NAV?”
“INR 10 sir”
“Don’t you think it’s a concern that it has fallen from INR 10 to INR 4?”
“It’s a five star scheme sir and they invest in AAA+ corporates” … she doodled AAA+ on the literature, possibly to drive home the point
“Is there a possibility the NAV can drop further?”
(again that uncomfortable silence)
“Never mind … I’ll take this literature and get back to you”

As I was leaving I felt a little sorry for grilling her after I came to know about the asset classes logic. I understood the plan fundamentally then but was exploring the possibility that the pension plan scheme actually had a fixed rate of return. There was none. Instead there was a hell lot of market risk. (It actually seemed a clever way to seek contributions to the company’s mutual fund schemes) It called for taking a call on the capital markets for the next 23 years. (I’m around 27, and it would be 23 years till I turn 50). Ideally I would like my pension money to be risk-free. A large portion, say 95% of it, should grow at a fixed rate and the rest in equity shares of AAA+ corporates and pension funds should see to it that the float (Fancy term 3: Float is the premium on insurance / pension contributions collected by such companies in this business) is managed in a similar way. Unfortunately the fees component from selling these products has become huge income drivers for banks. A cross-sell like this gets fees form the pension plan as well as the mutual fund. Obviously bank executives will not want to sell the safer plans which gets fees for just the pension fund.

Just to give you one example of the impact a decision like this will have, assume someone invests in this scheme (most people will eventually). Their money grows in this mutual fund based pension plan till they are 49. Just before they turn 50, we see a recession the likes of today, there is mayhem in the markets and they are left with the capital they started off with, maybe less, which over 23 years has lost its value due to inflation. Assume that this was their only safety net. Isn’t their retirement royally screwed? Where has all the hard work to support old age gone? What if there was someone with a terminal illness at home? As usual the only beneficiary is the bank manager who collected bonuses every year for growing the capital (maybe completely due to luck) till our friend grew 49 and then who gave up his bonus when the fund went under.

Unfortunately, most people are unaware of what they sign up for in such schemes. One old-timer I know very happily told me that he invested most of his savings in a fixed rate investment which is market determined (?). My attempts to explain that there is no instrument that can pay a fixed rate and at the same time be market-determined was met with a “Do you think the managers at the insurance Co are fools?” Well they were not fools, they met their annual targets and scooted off into the sunset.

Financial innovation may have got people access to investment options they never would have, which is a good thing if they understood it. But financial innovation coupled with ignorance could well be disastrous. Know thy investments!

Machiavellian Infomation Overloads

2009-02-15T01:51:00.002+05:30

I have stopped reading newspapers. Unless of course it’s a lazy afternoon and the options to spend my time in other pursuits are non-existent.

There was a time when I used to read every bit of news that came along. As a student, I read the Economic Times (even though at the time I could not appreciate the significance of most of the news), The Times of India and the Bombay Times (for funsakes). I was told that the middle pages of the newspaper are the ones where the juice is. The Editorials and comments by wise men of industry and society were on these pages. As a young mind, one was supposed to assimilate the oracle-like opinion (no matter that it could be released verbatim later in front of a group of stunned teenagers … man this guy has god-level insights!) All this until one day some few months ago, I saw one of my friends draft a press release. And no my friend is no journalist; we’ll come back to him a bit later.

Noam Chomsky is a Professor of linguistics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and given his background in studying languages and their structures ends up learning a fair bit about society. He says that as part of a democratic setup, people have access to a lot more information than those making decisions for that society would be comfortable with. Making policy and implementing decisions thus becomes a challenging process to the extent that ones reputation hangs on its success; and this is true across the spectrum from industry to state. Hence the need to control, filter, jazz up, seduce. In other words: shape public opinion.

One look at Indian media today and you will know what I mean. Apart from just information dissemination, there is entire other world where the significance of the news is forced down my throat. I as a receiver of communication am not allowed to think. The broadcast of any news in any medium is accompanied by ‘expert opinion’ where there is a well known celebrity-like media friendly character who sagely comments on what has transpired and how it will affect our life.

Who is our ‘expert’? What are his credentials? How has he performed in his line of expertise? – Are questions which immediately come to mind. Now to some slightly uncomfortable questions - Who selects him? Why is he on the show? Does he have vested interests? Who does he represent? More importantly, why is he predicting events? What is his track record in predicting events? These may never be answered.

Coming back to my press release drafting friend – Why was an employee drafting a press release? Isn’t that a job for a journalist? Does this rob the journalist the opportunity to ask important questions? Maybe if he asked, the merit of the release would lose significance. Maybe it would be relegated to the obscure parts of the newspapers which are used for personal packing of dirty linen during a long trip. How much more is there in this release that does not meet the eye? Are journos reduced to selecting what news goes where? Do they get incentivized for selecting what news goes where? Who decides these incentives? Why all this cloak and dagger style?

Don’t get me wrong. I have nothing with the withholding of information. In a competitive world, it is necessary. One can’t publish confidential data in the name of the free press. My issue is more with the unholy nexus of journalists and publicists. News has moved on from reporting to generation and sensationalism. Grand quotes from people who have given up something valuable to be on the front page. Which means we are being misinformed. Which means reading newspapers is a waste of time.

You may ask what does one do to be upto speed with the happenings around you? Scan the headlines of a respectable media org. Mostly it is possible to jazz that up to. But given that you see it for a split second, the ability to be influenced is much less.

There is another non-Machiavellian reason that I have stopped reading. There is just too much information. I once tried to list down the central theme of the previous days news stories. I couldn’t. Rarely did I come across an article I remembered. That too because I relayed it several times in my head and told others – it was interesting. Otherwise, for most of the time it was just too much noise. Filtering the noise to come to matters that concern my work / me is painful. I’d rather scan the headlines of a publication that focuses on it; or wait for somebody who finds it interesting to tell me about it. Either way I am not missing much.

United Holdings of America Capital Partners???

2008-12-10T17:01:00.004+05:30

Came across this interesting copy on the auto bailouts. At the pace at which things are going the US should change its name from 'United States of America' to 'United Holdings of America Capital Partners LLC' or something of that sort

Whats in a name ...

2008-12-10T00:16:00.002+05:30

... A rose by any other name would smell just as sweet. Maybe not. (Scroll to the bottom of the page)

... and politicians across the Board put their foot in their mouth

2008-12-06T01:51:00.011+05:30

One of the positives in the gloom of last week is the mass public outrage at anyone of political ilk. I was at a public rally on Wednesday to show solidarity and for the first time in my life I saw Indian civilians with blood in their eyes. More than 100,000 people thronged the streets of South Mumbai shouting slogans against Pakistan and vilifying politicians.

It has not just been inaction of the government machinery that has stoked public anger but the foot-in-mouth statements made by politicians in the wake of the terror attacks, which spanned from inept to rude and from insensitive to shocking. Some creative minds have channelized this energy into some interesting posters which have been photographed by an anonymous person and which found their way to my inbox.

The Communists fell first. Comrade Achutanandan, the Kerala Chief Minister, was asked by slain soldier Maj. Unnikrishnan’s father to vacate his premises. Clearly not used to such snubs, our Comrade challenged a dog to visit the martyrs house had it not been for his sacrifice. To which our friends at the rally had this to say –

For my non-Hindi speaking / reading / understanding friends reading this blog, the breaking up of some of the syllables in the Comrades name, especially the part in between the two ‘a’s refers to a certain part of the female anatomy. Comrade still refused to apologise despite being criticised from all quarters. Finally Prakash Karat, the CPI supremo did the apologising.

Others (below) indicated that they prefer the canine.

Next caught with his pants down was Maharashtra Chief Minister, the Hon. Vilasrao Deshmukh, who invited Ram Gopal Verma (RGV), a Bollywood film-maker and his actor son, Ritiesh Deshmukh in his official entourage to survey the damage done to the Taj. RGV has in the past made movies like RGV ki Aag which you can review here. (Note - RGV ki Aag flopped at the Box Office). The move surprised even Bollywood. That resulted in this response –

And then from a respectable name, the meaning of which is analogous to ‘landlord’ his name was adapted, with a few nifty changes, and captured in the font of RGV’s previous movie posters, a name that means ‘a national fool!’

Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, the BJP Vice-President, had probably never interacted with the urban, educated and presentable woman before. When he saw some of them in media coverage deriding politicians he ejaculated (pun intended) ‘Some women wearing powder and lipstick have taken to the streets of Mumbai …” No specific interesting poster on this, but the remark drew the ire of women parliamentarians, some even from his own party.

The poster above summaries most of the blunders made by Indian politicians in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks. It includes RR Patil, the Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra saying that such things happen in big cities. In bizarre logic he justified the statement by indirectly saying that he had saved 4,800 people (They came to kill 5,000 we contained the damage to 200).

And this man was conspicuous by his absence – Raj Thakeray of the MNS did not mind as the NSG, which had North Indian representation, including the slain Gajendra Singh - who lost his life in the operation - protected our nation. But then stooping low as their wont, the MNS put up a poster outside Malad railway station clearly mentioning that three ‘Marathi’ top cops, Karkare, Kamte and Salaskar had gave up their life to protect outsiders and foreigners.

All the gentlemen above are however left far behind by the Hon. Shivraj Patil, who has been in stellar form, wearing his incompetence on his sleeve. In what can only be described as shocking, the Home Minister gaily announced the size and time of arrival of the assault team. Later, in an interview after his visit to Mumbai, Mr Patil told the media that the terrorists had left Cama Hospital and the railway station (both terror targets) before he had reached the site. Dear Shivraj, what were you smoking? Did you expect to have tea with the terrorists? Maybe you wanted meaningful intercourse as you indicated when you took charge of the Home Ministry.

Of root causes and a change of perception ...

2008-12-04T02:29:00.004+05:30

It was 10 pm on 26th November. I was at my office, working on the business plan of an opportunity we are currently evaluating. For some reason the financials were not stacking up. Frustrated I decided to call it a day. I was to travel early next morning and had to pack. I plugged my earphones and listening to some of my favorite tracks, made my way to Churchgate station.

Minutes earlier, not too far away CST, Leopold Café and the Taj Hotel were attacked. For a good five minutes I was on one of the two roads that connect these locations to the Oberoi-Trident. A few minutes later the Oberoi was under siege. In hindsight, there was a good probability of the terrorists using the road since it has relatively less traffic. It gives me shivers to think that the walk could have been my last. I was of course, oblivious to the developments.

A lot has changed for me when I reached home and took in the full impact of the attacks. I have never been prejudiced towards Pakistan and have always attributed the misgivings between India and Pakistan to a narrow minded leadership way back in 1947-48. When two men who both wanted to become Prime Minister of a young republic resorted to religion to resolve their issues. Events, however strong, in other parts of the country did not change that. OK, Kargil veered me a bit to the other side but I was optimistic that things could be worked out. But last week was the last straw. The scale and impact of the attack has been horrific. The thought that I could have been a target has been unnerving. And the heap of evidence against Pak has been too hard to ignore.

In a thought that surprised me as well, I don’t think war is a bad option. It is a sad day when the educated and the objective crowd start thinking of war. It means that solutions are extremely limited and that the inevitable is necessary. Apart from just plain evidence, this time a long time Pakistan ally, the US has made statements like ‘India has the sovereign right to protect itself’ and ‘Pakistan is an international migraine’. Strong statements if you look at the past US-Pak relations.

It also makes me wonder why does most of world terror have an Islamic face? What makes Islam a favorite exploitation ground for religious extremists? Why is this religion repeatedly and consistently used out of context compared to other religions? I have Muslim friends and they are good and righteous people. If their faith had conflicting ideas with them being good human beings they would not be Muslim; which says that it’s definitely not the religion. Is it the method of delivery? Are there too many middle men subverting the message of the Prophet and mixing it with economic and political themes? Other causes do not seem to fit in – Education? There are poorly educated nations in South America and Africa as well. Resourcefulness? Prominent sponsors of the Middle East are so wealthy it stinks. Economic well-being? Ditto.

Which brings us back to political agendas. Though it seems the most plausible, it will be interesting to know.

Beauty and the Beast

2008-08-21T01:02:00.002+05:30

For the past week I have been living at Mumbai Airport. In my spare time I am rushing for meetings across the length and breadth of India, drinking coffee to stay awake, rushing back to airports, visiting a place I used to call home for a quick shuteye and meeting the Nose of India.

If things described above aren’t bad enough to screw with your body clock there is nothing more jarring to the senses than a young bald man in a ghoulish wig. The man at security in front of me was puny, short, nondescript and was sulking. Maybe he’s not a morning person and thankfully there wasn’t a mike, cap or vest in sight.

As if to make up for the disturbing imagery earlier, God presented me a seat in the business section with a seat in the same row as Meow! Well I don’t know what you think of Jaane Tu … and frankly I thought the movie sucked. But this young damsel is attractive and I was just warming up to tell her that we shared something deep (We apparently share the same surname) and that such things are obviously indicative of long term synergies. Alas a matronly woman filled the empty seat that separated us – could have been Mommie, Chaperone or bodyguard – I don’t know.

Ms D’Souza, all of 21 years, curled up and slept well whilst I analyzed financial models … my head turning ever so often to check if a different kind of model a seat away would wake up and observe her surroundings with some interest. I toyed with the Handsome-Prince-with-a-kiss-that-brings-back-maidens-from-comatose-states fantasy a bit when the plane hit the tarmac. In minutes we were separated and I found myself at yet another airport.

Things in life balance out. High pitched nasal tones balance pretty upcoming actresses. The beast balances beauty. Maybe I should become a beast.

Genius

2008-08-15T00:11:00.003+05:30

Are we born intelligent or can genius be created? How do people achieve Nirvana? What is that sixth sense? I had a chat with a colleague sometime back and we agreed to the following conclusion - 'THAT genius is Thought that has travelled extensively, created gazillions of permutations, evaluated the results and wired one's brain to think along these terms'

In simpler terms, it's all about pattern recognition. Most people I consider genius' have devoted considerable time to this pursuit. When they spent all their time on stuff they liked to do they were, at some subconcious level, storing patterns and creating natural software to evaluate them. Of course, passion and strong grasping power helps a bit and also limits us - one can't be passionate about multiple things.

So with all this gyaan that I am freely disbursing why am I not a genius? Well efforts are on and progress is slow, but frankly I'm just plain lazy to educate myself. I am too busy working that I am cheating myself of intellectual energy. Aren't we all?

Gloomy May

2008-06-01T00:51:00.005+05:30

May has finally ended. It was a bad month bringing bad news with amazing regularity that at one point I was expecting bad news when the cycle said it was due.
Two tragic accidents and passing away of young people my age ... A middle aged heart attack case ... A little girl losing her mother ... News of a friend with a disease that is in advanced stages ... A celeb classmate who drowned during a picnic ... An old lady who is related in a longish sort of way ... And a freak accident on my way to work when four unfortunate people fell in between bogies while boarding the 8:08 am Malad local ... (Thankfully they were saved in time)

It's a gloomy feeling to know that the same could happen to you. The kind of lives we lead these days - stressing our bodies in the name of competition, eating junk and when we eat healthy food we eat at wrong times; liberally using chemicals and intaking toxins in pesticide 'cleaned' food, pollution and wot not - I won't be surprised if my generation burns out when they reach forty, maybe thirty five.

On a philosophical note, I got a quote which was made by George Costanza of Sienfeld. It goes like this -
"The most unfair thing about life is the way it ends. I mean life is tough , it takes up a lot of your time and what do you get at the end of it ? A death. What's that, A Bonus?!? I think the life cycle is all back wards. You should die first , get it out of the way. Then you go live in an old age home and get kicked out for being too healthy.Go collect your pension, then, when you start work. You get a gold watch on your first day. You work for forty years before you are young enough to enjoy your retirement..You drink alcohol , you party, and get ready for high school. You go to primary school ,you become a kid, you play, you have no responsibilities. You become a little baby, go back ,spend your last 9 months floating with luxuries like central heating, spa, room service on tap, then you finish off as an orgasm!! Amen"

RIP dear friends. I may have not known you very well but I'm sure you enriched the lives of everyone around you. Shine on you crazy diamonds

22nd June 2008:

PS: Systematic Confusion has more time and energy now that his exams are over. He has a much better take on the same subject here

Investing in the IPL: Whom would you go with?

2008-05-06T01:44:00.005+05:30

The IPL is not about cricket, big sixes or cheerleaders. Instead its about more mundane things like TRP ratings, media spends and a big bet on the regulations in the broadcasting sector. But I could be wrong.

Because Mr. Reliable thinks its project execution by one key man with loads of serfs (precisely the way he runs his businesses) Unfortunately his key man was injured and Mumbai looks more confused than sheep without a shepherd. Mr. Raja Fisher thinks its entertainment and ended up selecting the cheerleaders leaving Dravid to select a T(est)20 team. King Khan's Lal Mirch Manoranjan thinks its the movies ... which is why he's paid each of his players deserving (Ishant, Gayle, McCullum) or underserving (Saurav, Ponting, Akhtar, Agarkar) like movie stars. The wage bill of the Knight Riders is the highest of the eight at $6.2 million. The Deccan Chronicle thinks its all about big sixes which is why they packed their side with so many pinchhitters like Gilchrist, Symonds, Afridi, Sharma, Gibbs and Styris that they forgot to select bowlers. To their credit Delhi and Chennai have a well balanced side. But then they have also overpaid for their respective licenses. Given that all the above teams have superstar players they will also have to increase the player fees significantly next year which will put more strain on the team finances.

But the man who has got it all right is the man who understands TRP ratings, media spends and maybe has a sneak preview of what may unfold in Indian broadcasting. That is Lachlan Murdoch of Emerging Media and son of media mogul Rupert Murdoch who owns the Jaipur franchise - A man who understands that break even is more important than glam dolls. He went shopping for decent players with a budget of $3.3 million, half of what Mohali and Kolkata paid; a license that was available cheap since nobody wanted the relatively small Sawai Mansingh Stadium where gate revenues would hardly amount to anything and one star player whom all the boys would look up to as captain, coach and master. The sole blemish being Kaif who I guess would have had a better career in athletics than cricket.

My gut feel, and I again say I may be wrong, is that Murdoch has bet on two things - one that the IPL opens more franchisees - which means more matches to be played but more importantly that broadcasting regulations in India are at an inflection point. Today, 10-15% of subscribers of cable TV networks are reported which means that 85% of people who watch the IPL fund the mafia (which owns the cable networks). If somehow in the future regulations were to change, these monies would flow to the broadcaster, which after Lalit Modi and his BCCI friends take their cut, would flow down equally to all franchisees. There is a performance bonus too! A portion of what flows down to the franchisees (20%) is proportional to the points scored. Now the more matches you play the more people watch (given that we are a cricket crazy country), the more TRP ratings are, the more media spends are (considering that there is 60% less advertising time than a one-day match hence more premium), the more broadcasters make and if Murdoch gets the regulatory call right, he breaks-even faster than anyone in the league irrespective of whether his team wins or loses considering his threadbare budget. Which then allows him to be the first one to make decent transfers since he would have recovered his investment.

There could also be more than just numbers here. My guess is that Murdoch thinks the IPL is a much safer bet to get evening prime-time in Indian households than the content on Star TV. Why go through the hassles of creating content, making directors, producers, actors and spot boys rush through the rigamarole of soap operas and reality shows when you have the biggest reality show all served on a platter. Where people have overpaid (Mumbai and Bangalore licenses were bought for a staggering $111 million. Players fees another $6 million) Murdoch has made a $70 million investment everything included. The synergies he gets far outrival all other teams. The great perfornance of the team is just an icing on the cake - Kicker as is called in the investing world.

Jaipur was the most financially viable side before the tournament started primarily because they didn't play the auction like it was played; rather they made an investment. As my Finance Prof in MDI said, 'The only guy who makes money in an auction is the auctioneer.' My money is firmly behind Jaipur. But don't listen to me. As I have said umpteen times - I could be wrong ;)

PS: I do not doubt Mr. Reliable's and Mr. Raja Fisher's business acumen. However, in an interesting twist to my hypotheses above is the fact that came to light when I was discussing soccer clubs. It seems that businessmen with loads of unaccounted cash indulge themselves in club ownerships. Not to suggest that the two gentlemen above are enagaged in such activity. I do not care if they do or not. But an interesting thought nonetheless.

PPS: Names have been changed on request!

The Coarse Fabric

2008-02-12T22:52:00.001+05:30

This doesn't seem like Mumbai. A city which has always been in a fixed temperature range since as long as I remember, has suddenly become cold in more ways than one. Mercury apart, it has also lost its heart. It's sad to see people in a secular, free country run for their lives, rushing to take the first train North of the Vindhyas. Their only mistake being that they were 30 years late in life. Can you blame them?

Mumbai is what it is because it is the melting pot of India. People come here with dreams in their eyes and with hard work, perseverance and a stubborn belief usually achieve it. The city is entrepreneurial because of migrants who came here many years ago. Gujaratis, Marwaris, South Indians, Punjabis, Sindhis, all of them have shaped Mumbai. My grandfather came here two generations ago and set up a paan-beedi shop at Lower Parel. He stayed above the shop with his wife and five children. He was a migrant. My uncles came here some 50 years ago and worked in kitchens and workshops. My family is just one drop in the ocean of Mumbai. Almost everybody I know has come here and has made Mumbai their home. And Mumbai in return has welcomed them and added different colours to her personality.

Which makes me come to the next point of the rabblerousers that migrants don't enrich Mumbai. Enrichment is a long process. It is not fast food. It took two generations for a betel leaf trader to get the first engineer and consequently the first MBA in his family. What if he was evicted when the Tiger came singing 'Lungi hatao, Pungi bajao'? I guess we would all lose.

Then the entire episode is inconsistent. On one hand unemployed North Indians are forced out. The salaried class against which Maharashtra's New Construction Army actually has an issue with; since they have caused the manoos his job loss; is left alone. Probably because the manoos and the bayka causing the havoc is permanently employed as cook, bai or driver with the Verma, the Singh and the Thakur. If that lacked consistency, then there are expats who are left alone. Well these guys spend dollars at pubs where the manoos is the bouncer or at the gym where the manoos trains him. You Northie. Where do you spend your last rupee? It goes to your village where your family can now have a pukka roof. But since I don't get any of that New Construction pie I'm pissed.

Mumbai creaks under loads it wasn't designed for because the design is outdated. It needs to grow and for that it needs better infrastructure and more planned townships and central business districts. (BKC is a start, I hope Navi Mumbai takes off). Lets leave the betel leaf traders, bhel-puri wallas and the majdoors alone. They make up the coarse fabric that balances the silk. Maybe their grandsons will one day be a part of a team that finances the very infrastructure we need.

Points to ponder

2008-01-24T01:05:00.000+05:30

1.
The man in the pic alongside is smiling. And why not? The first ever IPO from his fold has managed to mobilise $200 bn. If that number makes you shrug, think about it this way - Thats 20% or 1/5th of the value of all the goods and services provided by our nation (in other words the GDP) this year. And all this in 4 working days. Staggering no?

2.
People haggle like crazy when they buy Rs.50 worth of groceries in the market. They will consult experts in person when they buy electronics worth Rs.5,000. They will make sacrifies and carefully calculate monthly budgets when they pay Rs.500,000 for their childrens education. They will save for years to buy a house worth Rs.5,000,000. Yet when it comes to buying a piece of some company worth some Rs.50,000 crore they rely on stock tips, brokers and speculation. Amazing no?

You don't need no graduation

2007-12-30T17:58:00.000+05:30

I got this link from Sidin's blog. Apparently some program goes through your blog in like a few nano-seconds and pops up its impression of what kind of people read the trash you type. For a minute a conspiracy theory floated in my head which suggested that a kutty program somewhere did a random match-the-columns routine. (Entirely possible)

Anyway Pseudoforce did OK. We fall in 'High School' readers category. Which is not bad since the Greatest Common Divisor of education of all my friends who read this is above that level. And those, if any, below that level will not know what a blog is or read it anyway. Which means, to read my thoughts you don't need no graduation.

Celebrating India with cognac

2007-12-23T21:15:00.000+05:30

Some time last month I had the pleasure of being in the private audience of Prof Ramchandra Guha, noted historical commentator (one of the best we have says abyuthvad) and cricket enthusiast. What struck me apart from the fresh smelling straight-off-the-press, duly authographed tome titled 'India after Gandhi' was the passion of the man and the eloquence with which he presented his case to an audience from different nationalities.

I say he was passionate because I was sitting right in the first row (part reason being that I didnt get a seat at the back, but was grateful later to my twist of fate) and I could literally see the twinkle in the eye and feel the energy with which Prof Guha made his points. I say he was eloquent because he made an assortment of foreigners who had come to celebrate India's economic success realise that they should be instead celebrating India's political success.

Reading his book over the weekend I realised why the man was charged up. It's because India is such an antithesis, its baffling to logic to understand its existence today; and once you get to that line of thought even more baffling to realise that almost a billion people get up every morning and go about their business taking it for granted that India still chugs on regardless of its diversity.

Coming back to the talk at the fabulous Lalitha Mahal in Mysore, Prof Guha went on to explain that inspite of these diversities, and given the odds at any given point in time, its nothing short of a miracle that we have continued to exist as a single democratic sovereign entity. There have been attempts to rule India with an iron fist. Fortunately that hasn't been the case and the secret lies in our diversity. A list of reasons were presented, which according to the Professor is the glue that binds us together. I remember just three. One, our Constitution, which empowers every Indian adult with equal electoral rights. Two, the separation of important guardians of the Constitution like the Judiciary and the Election Commission from the Government and finally the game of cricket. Prof Guha's book also throws light on the horrors of Partition; and the cunning and intrigue on either side of the Border. For someone like me who was born long after Independence, the account made for interesting reading.

Looking back, todays economic boom is largely a byproduct of our political success. Had we broken up after Independence into a clutter of princely states there would not be the large market that drives consumption. Had we not integrated, the resources of the East, the technology of the South, the enterprise of the West and the spirituality of the North would not create the unique dynamite that is India.

I left the lecture feeling extremely patriotic and proud to be Indian. At that moment I just celebrated the concept of India with some vintage cognac (and later on with an assortment of liquor shots!) and forgot all those things about India and Indians that sometimes bugged me, even better, I felt that I could understand why we are the way we are. 'India After Gandhi' is a must read.

A $15 billion toy

2007-10-27T23:36:00.001+05:30

In a fit of what seems to me to be utter desparation, Microsoft paid top dollar, $240 million to be precise, for 1.6% of a bit of code which enables jobless people who want to pass their time (not being judgemental here, we need to do it at some point of the day!) fill up gigabytes on the web. The entity in question is Facebook which has become a rage for the range of creative ways to network socially. I spend some time on it every now and then too. But if I knew that what I was fooling around with was a $15 billion toy, I would probably treat every word I typed like I was etching on a diamond. Spoilt brats we all are. Even so the techies at Silicon Valley who think that Moore's law applies to valuations as well.

To get a sense of why I'm so worked up lets do a little analysis here. (by the way $15 billion is Rs.60,000 crore). Bharat Petroleum is a respectable Indian company. Not the one always in the news but still walk the length and breadth of India and you will see petrol pumps, oil storage tanks the sizes of stadiums, refineries, trucks at airports ... in short a huge asset base which you and I can see. The market capitalisation of BPCL at the close of trading yesterday was Rs.13,000 odd crore. Ditto Hindustan Petroleum which at yesterday's close was worth Rs.8,000 odd crore. Siemens India, my previous employer, with concrete orders booked with extremely creditworthy clients over the next few years was worth Rs.29,000 odd crore. My point is that with tangible assets, orders, customers and employees these behemoths of Indian industry are collectively worth Rs.50,000 crore, a wee bit short Rs.10,000 crore or $2.5 billion than Facebook. Something tells me that Facebook might be worth more than the GDP of many
African countries.

My valuations based on yesterdays clsoing market price maybe too simplistic. There is a lot more to cover and account for before I put a number to the companies I have mentioned. But even then you can't pay $240 mn for a wee 1.6% for software you cant see anticipating that an 'x' percentage of the world's population will register, see your ads, click on it and make a purchase. There are too many ifs and buts in Facebooks valuation which if you remember correctly was what caused the tech meltdown 7 years ago.

To be fair to Facebook, it could be the case that the deal is structured. Maybe a significant amount of that equity is mezzanine (which is not the same as the shares traded on the market). Part of it could be a corporate loan and it slipped the Microsoft spokesperson. It could be that the guy typing the Press Release missed the decimal point courtesy some-plants-who-shall-not-be-named. ($1.5 billion is also expensive but given that its the tech industry and they have a history of such fallacies, I'll understand.) Maybe the days to come will throw some more light on the transaction.

I never understood tech. Stood far away from it during my engineering days as well. I guess its an industry I'll never understand and this proves it. I'm much better off funding infrastructure projects, things I can see, touch and feel. I wonder what Warren Buffet would say though? It would be nice to hear him wishing Microsoft all the best!

Corporate Fraud!

2007-10-15T14:36:00.000+05:30

Having spent some time on Marketing in a BSchool and after going through the jargon that marketeers seem to pull out of their hats as frequently as Emran Hashmi's onscreen escapades, I have come to believe that there is no better way to con people into paying more or using more than what they would want than to play some Marketing jazz.

Dilbert feels the same! Marketeers! What do you have to say? ;)

Courtesy: Economic Times

SEZ Update

2007-10-12T09:37:00.000+05:30

43 days after I made a few suggestions (about people displaced by SEZ land sharing the profits with the developer) to resolve the SEZ controversy in India, it looks like someone is listening. The National Policy on Rehabilitation and Resettlement of 2007, provides for structured solutions to help those displaced by SEZs. Relevant portions of text are reproduced here (Source: rediff)

"The new policy seeks to make those entitled for compensation stakeholders in development by allowing them to take up to 20 per cent of the amount in the form of shares if the acquiring entity is authorised to issue these instruments."

"The policy discourages speculative transactions of land acquired for public purposes. As a relief for developers, 30 per cent land can be compulsorily acquired by states for the promoters while the rest has to be bought by them."

"Reliance Industries which is in process of acquiring land for its mega SEZs welcomed the policy. "The policy will boost the industrial development as it clearly defines the land acquisition rules," a Reliance spokesman said."

Which means that the inhabitants of land notified as SEZ land will be able to share in the upside, if any, from the land. That should make them feel much better, and less jealous (refer to the italiced note at the end of this post) of capitalistic developers.

My only concern being will these inhabitants understand the complex finance behind it all? How is this process made to look fair to all parties? How will the rabble-rousers in political circles, who thrive on conflict, look at their golden goose being neutralised, react? Watch this space ... pour in your thoughts if any.

Over Optimism versus Reality

2007-09-26T17:24:00.000+05:30

Are we an overly optimistic people? The Sensex is climbing new peaks like a sprightly mountain goat, gaining 1000 points in a week; the rupee trades at 39 to the dollar as we speak and in these merry times if you have a surname which is an anagram for 'infrastructure' you can raise a billion dollars no questions asked. Travel by the local trains (in the First Class ... the conversations in the Second Class are an assortment of desi rugby jokes) and you will hear the sophisticated executive types waxing eloquent on the Indian economy.

Not so says the Planning Commission. In an article which paints a grim picture by describing
the situation as 'pressing panic buttons' we are told that to keep the bubbly flowing we need lots of moolah, $40 bn to be exact, for the current 11th Five Year Plan. Various agencies have made estimates ranging from $350 bn to $500 bn for our infrastructure growth requirements. And with every passing year, prices going northwards, these estimates grow for every project that hasn't taken off yet.

Well there have been deals like this and almost every fund house worth its name has launched an infrastructure focused fund. Private Equity players across the world have also dedicated billions of dollars to the India story; but the action ends right there with the word 'dedicated'. Dedicated does not mean disbursal and disbursal does not happen because it is difficult to find good assets (read: projects) that will give returns which these money czars expect.

Projects that offer high returns like airport modernisation, supply chain logistics, telecoms, etc have been lapped up. What are left are the low return projects like power and roads and virgin territories like renewable fuels. There are a million projects waiting to be launched but investors are searching for the elusive asset that give returns in line with their expectations. Unfortunately, the money chasing these assets will cause valuations to sky-rocket and those who moved in first will make a quick buck. Those who followed and those who will follow may make money. Small investors, as is their wont, will rush in when the floodgates are about to open and will be blown away in the deluge. (Digression: The commies will then blame capitalism for the pains of the common man)

Does that mean the tragic end to our fairy tale economy. Definitely not. Infrastructure projects can be more attractive if they are not politicised. Power for example is more an election issue than an economy issue. Will politicians and bureaucrats ever realise? If they do then maybe the capital kings will loosen their purse strings. Maybe dedication will realise disbursement. Maybe this rant will be inconsequential.

All about Gordon DSouza you wanted to know but were afraid to ask

2007-08-30T15:42:00.000+05:30

I have been taking arbit quizzes recently. It's a good stress busting / time wasting / see result-snort kinda thing. And its fun too. The culprit for this criminal waste of office time is a certain site called Brainfall. I got it through the news feed on facebook that serruptitiously tells me what my friends are doing.

So here goes ... Probably it might help you know me better ... or better still you'll know what to get me as a birthday present ;)

If I were a character from FRIENDS ... I would be Rachel Greene

"You are Rachel. You're very selfish and pay great attention to image. Spoiled when you were young, you were always the popular and snobbish kid. Although you hang on to your adolescent attributes, you grow more responsible every year."

Don't get me wrong here. I am not into crossdressing and not interested in a sex change. And I wasn't spoiled when I was young. Rather I toiled day and night like 'Opal Mehta' but I didn't get kissed though I got a life. So there ...

And now a look into my future ...

If I were an Action Hero ... I would be Daniel Craig

"You are Daniel Craig. Bond, James Bond. Keep up your suave style but don't forget to remain a bad ass. Money and romance is more your style, so don't get your hands too dirty. "

Now that says something doesn't it ... I confirm that I am completely and totally 101% DC. Except that I don't have fast cars, don't bed women every 10 minutes, hate techie gizmos, don't work for a detective agency, can't run the parkour, am afraid of dangling from overhead cranes, have never handled a gun, ... you get the drift

And speaking of style ...

If I were a drink ... I would be a Fine Glass of Wine

"You are a Fine Glass of Wine. You are sophisticated and refined, but also complicated and hard to deal with. Not everyone loves you, but those who do swear that you're the coolest thing since sliced bread. ..."

Ahem! Yes that I am (said in that sexy baritone voice of mine ... which you will hear if you call me when I'm having a bloody cold) ... Though Scotch on the rocks is my poison ... I'd settle for wine too ... wink wink .. remember the birthday present hint

Now a look into my past.

If I was in Hogwarts ... I would be in Gryffindor

"The Sorting Hat would put you in Gryffindor. You are bold, passionate, and brave. You have a highly-defined sense of right and wrong, and you are not afraid to speak your mind or fight for what you want."

Ok.

Going on ...

If I were a Harry Potter Character ... I would be ... It's a TIE!!! Part Harry and part Hermoine
"You are part Harry. You're a loyal and courageous friend. You'd do anything to protect the people you love, especially if it'll get you a break from class for a little while"
"You are part Hermione. You're a bookworm always in search of answers. When pressed, however, you can always be counted on to put away the books and help your friends"

Sigh. Those were the glorious school / college days.

And continuing to the most accurate guess by Brainfall till now

If I were to major in college ... I would major in Engineering

"Your major should be Engineering. Logic is your friend. With enough work, you can find a solution to anything... Unless it involves dating or parties."

It's true; and I am extremely proud of my engineering days. Grease ki kasam ... I am a true blue mechie boy .. though I did something in management later on I actually studied for my exams and was an exemplary student during VJ days.

For the darker side of me.

If I were a Disney Villain ... I would be Jafar

"You just want to be big and powerful... Is that so much to ask? I mean, you deserve it."

I AM big ... and powerful ... If you know what I mean ;)

And finally .. some kinky stuff ... which you have to live with if I'm around. Brainfall is not responsible for this. It is from another site

My lucky underwear colour is ... BLUE (Cheerio! Bravo bravo!!)

"You are caring and extroverted. You've made relationships your number one focus, and your lucky blue underwear can bring some balance to them.You thrive in one-on-one situations. You are a good listener and a natural born therapist. Sometimes you let the concerns of others become too important in your life, leading to stress and worry.If you want more balance, put on your blue underpants. They'll help you take care of yourself first."

Well Blue is my colour; and yes, ever since I have worn blue undies my life has been on an upswing (no pun intended!)

Hope these very informative metaphors have given you a much more deeper insight into my personality and my reason for being. Take a chance ... see what you actually are ... Its fun, believe me!

Special Economics (of) Zamindari

2007-08-29T17:27:00.000+05:30

WARNING: Long-ish :)

A lot has been said about the SEZ controversy. Some call it a land grabbing scam while others have been proposing it as the panacea to our structural problems.

Why are SEZs arousing so much interest? Well one, it’s a bonanza for the developer. Business margins in real estate construction are close to 90% in the case of commercial projects like SEZs. (In the residential housing market they are 100-200%. It is lower in SEZs because money is recovered through leases over longer period of time). Running an SEZ involves just the Property Tax and normal Admin expenses.

So what does the developer do? He puts up 20% of the money, borrows 70% and collects 10% in advance bookings. Since land acquisition would be a difficult and costly affair he creates a separate company (also called a special purpose vehicle, SPV) in which he and a Govt. body are partners. The Govt. body’s sole purpose is to acquire contiguous tracts of land; and land is acquired for a song.

It is because of this that the ‘SEZ Policy’ has attracted investors from all walks of business, and primarily from the IT sector. As IT companies expand, they require more and more place to seat their ever increasing workforce (since seats is the primary driver to secure those multi-million/billion dollar outsourcing / software maintenance contracts). Today the IT and BPO industry are accounting for 70% of the real estate demand and more than 60%-70% of the SEZs are meant for the IT / ITeS industry. The rest are distributed among sectors like biotechnology, gems & jewellery, automobiles and the like.

But do we really need SEZs for IT? In reality, the IT chaps derive very little benefit in being part of an SEZ since the tax incentives they already enjoy and those in an SEZ do not vary much. The only industries that will benefit immensely are those that can integrate their process inside an SEZ (i.e. have most of their business partners from raw material to end product). The ease of flow of business and the added incentive of customs waivers and tax benefits will accelerate their growth. China has adopted this model. Shenzen is a massive 50,000 hectares and I don’t think IT companies are housed inside. India’s largest on the other hand, the Reliance promoted Navi Mumbai and Maha Mumbai are collectively 14,000 hectares. Most of our other SEZs are in the sub 500 range catering mainly to the IT sector.

So do we really need so many SEZs? The answer is yes. We require SEZs for small and medium enterprises; lots of them. The software industry is mature enough to fund their own buildings. Which brings us to the next question: Why all this brouhaha in the media? A few points follow.

One, current land owners are not compensated enough: True. Govt. vehicles ensure that the SEZ land is acquired cheap
Two, we are losing agricultural land: False. Land has to be put to its best use. If we (India’s GDP) gain more by setting up an SEZ rather than agriculture, it makes more sense to go for the former. In this age of global linkages we better not be thinking micro.
Three, Farmers lose their livelihood: Partly answered by point one. Farmers should be compensated adequately for their land and for their occupation. Options include training them in a new skill, ensuring a certain percentage employment in the SEZ, or even a share in the SEZ profits.
Also these three points have been magnified by political parties for vested interests.

I am sure that if the powers that be have a more humane look at the issues in an SEZ, all parties can share in the economic boom, farmer and developer alike. Till that happens though we will be transforming IT companies into real estate banks.

(Afterthought: IF the sides of the table were interchanged and farmers were developers and vice versa what would the reaction be? Would capitalism or socialism triumph? Me says capitalism since man is inherently selfish and 100% so in the matters of money. Which of the hardened socialists would not want to get his stuff at a lower price? If so then there is nothing emotional about this issue, it’s just power politics at play!)

A blurry topic

2007-08-20T02:12:00.000+05:30

I might be having a case of myopia. Not that I have lost 'strategic thinking for the long term' You can't lose that after 24 months at a B-School and espcially if you happened to take the courses I took. I'm talking of my eyes. I seem to pass all optician tests with flying colours but alas I have noticed a slight blurriness in light colours which are more than 15 metres or so away.

Reaction # 1: Terrible. Was the thing that first came to my mind. I have always hated any foreign objects on my person. My mom gave up trying to get me wear gold chains when I was little, the aunts (who are nuns) gave up adorning the scapulor round my neck. I also abhored a certain silver chain around my waist as a toddler and I absolutely absolutely detest spectacles.

Reaction # 2: Am I getting old? I can see my once thick black hair thinning out. The hairline has gone half a centimeter or so backwards. And this thought about spectacles being inevitable is scaring me. How bad can it get? And to make matters worse I'm still single

However every dark cloud has a silver lining. A quick search on wikipedia (search: myopia, see: education, intelligence and IQ) says that "The prevalence of myopia increases with level of education and many studies have shown a relationship between myopia and IQ." One psycho (okay psychologist) also reports that myopes have 7-8 IQ points higher than non-myopes. Disclaimers warn that correlation does not imply causation. Point taken. And further the article on Arther Jensen, the good chap who quantified the 7-8 points, has its neutrality and factual accuracy disputed. POOF! Mr Silver Lining. It looks like its gonna rain real heavy

Get ready to see a bespectacled me. Ladies, I know you've always loved those big brown eyes :D. All the more reason for you to now come one step closer ;)

The lighter side of work

2007-08-09T09:23:00.000+05:30

Half a day is spent at work. And if you start at the age of say 23, and hang your boots by 58, you will have logged in 25 years of service and that translates to 12.5 years of contiguous work (at 12 hours on an average). So offices take up a substantial part of our waking hours (not counting colleagues who manage to catch forty winks in creative positions to avoid being caught!) and I decided to blog something on office life. Below is the cumulative experience of self and many other friends, most of whom are in investment banking circles ...

Offices are beeping places. From the start of the day to the end the entire friggin place beeps. There are telephone beeps, callback beeps, computers beep, doors beep. Thank goodness that people don't. (Or did I just hear someone beep .. rather buurrp). It rings in my head all the way home. Beep ... Arrrgghhh!

Bankers are a uniform lot. Light plain shirts, dark pinstripe trousers, neatly combed hair parted at the side in an oh-so-immaculate parting. Round rimmed glasses. The sophisticated accent ... Shit! Is this my future?

Microsoft Excel is a gift. The more I court it the more it shows me different things. But life has become complicated after excel showed up. People demand fancy graphs, creative tables, single line logic formulae ... Sometimes I feel more of a programmer than a banker. And the hard part is I had divorced computer logic the first time we met.

PowerPoint's are no longer the 'five points on a slide in font size 20' routine from college. Bankers love to pack data on a slide like sardines in a can. Sometimes using font size 9??!! Damn. Animations (even the subtle professional ones) are a big no-no. Takes the fun outta life.

Lunches and dinners are a quite, serious affair with perfectly co-ordinated hand and mouth movements. If you end up eating with bosses you end up stiff rather than full. I have always eaten with my (clean) hands. The cutlery put up at formal dinners looks like a kit on a post-mortem table. Last time I tried eating chicken with a knife and fork, the chicken resurrected and flew off the table. Whatever happened to good old hands???

I have always squeezed the teabag with my fingers. Now I use an elaborate mechanism which involves using a spoon and wrapping the teabag around it, winding the string and squeezing the teabag in the process! I want freshly brewed piping hot tea. Middle finger to you teabags!!!

Finally, I have a grouse with the air-conditioning. I think they mistook me for an Eskimo during hiring. Or did they think I was cold blooded? Maybe its to chill down the heartbeat racing treasury chaps? I don't know but after encountering Mumbai's rains on the way to office you don't want to sit in an AC. Brrr ...

So this is it, until I come across a fresh set of experiences ...

Disclaimer: None of the above is to suggest that I do not enjoy my work. This was just an attempt to see the lighter side at work.

Poetic Injustice

2007-07-13T09:25:00.000+05:30

So much to say ... but not a moment to spare
The Net connection at home is too dead to care
While I'm in office in a fit of despair
Finding time to post is like fighting with a bear
Lest I end up a lunatic by pulling out my hair
Let me post this crappy poem without much fanfare

MDI in expansion mode

2007-06-12T15:19:00.000+05:30

I got this from Ankur Jain's blog. Apparently my college is planning to double its intake for the flagship PGPM programme. It also plans to expand in the Middle East. As of now they are thinking of Doha, Qatar.

It seems much better than the earlier plan of vertical integration into a full fledged university.

Those interested can read more here.

Dil Dehelani Wali News

2007-06-07T13:45:00.000+05:30

A bearded man with slicked back hair ending in a ponytail stands in front of a screen that looks like a cheap rendition of a Powerpoint template. It has an inset where you will constantly see people beaten up, morchas and chaos. (Given the mans appearance you would have reason to believe that he was part of the chaos going on behind him!). He then paces right to left and proceeds to tell you a 'Dil Dehelani wali khahani' in which a doctor is beaten up by a bunch of local goons for allegedly attempting to flirt with a nurse in a local hospital.

The story drags on. There are numerous repeated shots of the man being beaten up. Then there are stills that are again in powerpoint effect style flown in from every corner of the screen with that dil dehelani wali audio effect. The bearded man throws a few questions to ponder on. The local moral police (read publicity seeker) is bang in the middle of your screen. His henchmen try to peek into the camera to get their 15 seconds of fame.

This happens at prime time when most of the population of working India is back from a tiring day at work and looks forward to entertainment / being well informed. Only in this case, the doctor is from a nondescript suburb of Mumbai, the allegation was not proved true, possibly a hundred such 'flirty' encounters took place everyday and there are more pressing issues facing the nation that its citizens need to be informed about. Welcome to the world of Indian News Reporting

Indian news reporting has hit new lows with the addition of competition. The arrival of the private sector to broadcasting promised a lot but today I stay away from any Indian news channel. The reasons are pretty obvious. Practically everything is 'Breaking News'. I can barely see the broadcasts due to a stock market ticker, a weather ticker, the odd cricket score ticker, the ad marquee, the 'Breaking News' marquee, the logo, etc. As each and every news channel jostles for content it doesnt push up the standards but hits a new low every time. And every time they try to shock my sensibilities by broadcasting shocking content I am indifferent, because I have been repeatedly shocked and my brain has adjusted to the madness of some obscure madman.

Does anybody watch this stupidity? (I can only think of people who are a lil' high and cant reach the remote and so resign themselves to enduring the torture) What happened to the good old days when that Tandon guy (yes! the same bearded chap with the excellent collection of ties) on Doordarshan read the News that people in my family stopped their lives for 10 minutes and sat down in front of the TV to listen to him? Isn't there some form of benchmarking with other international news channels?

Whatever it is I have switched to online media, blogs for my news. The newspaper adds a bit here and there, but Indian TV? sorry boss I cant take it. And I hope for the good of the nation they stop the 'Dil Dehelani wali' stories

Weight can make you unemployed!

2007-06-01T20:44:00.000+05:30

The Delhi HC recently told a group of overweight airhostesses to shape up or ship out

Some of the arguments put forward by Justice Rekha Sharma make no sense, especially something like this -

"Observing that planes nowadays fly at 'very high altitude' and are prone to mid-air technical snags, the court said the safety of passengers depended on the cabin crew’s alacrity and presence of mind."

In the event of a technical snag I doubt anybody will trust an air-hostess to rectify the situation given the high risk involved. Such matters are best left to those who are trained in such work. Secondly there is no relation between a persons weight and the ability to solve a problem. At least I don't think so.

However the cabin crew profession is one where looks and personality matter, both for flight pursers and air-hostesses, it makes sense to see that those attending to you give you that in flight experience. You feel bad when the cabin crew in some airlines (which shall not be named) look like your grandparents, worse still when they huff and puff pushing the trolleys bringing you food, etc. Contrast this with airlines like KF where right from check-in you are greeted by smart looking men and women (mostly women) to the in-flight experience and the post flight baggage claim. You want to travel by KF again and again.

And the counter claim that weight control is an insult to womanhood. Sorry ma'am I think you are in the wrong profession

Behenji Strategy

2007-05-30T20:26:00.000+05:30

When all political parties in India are trying to establish themselves in various capacities as the saviour of the downtrodden, the middleclass, the unemployed, backward classes, etc the Bahujan Samaj Party led by the firebrand Mayawati seems to have cracked the winning formula.

In the last decade or so, most of the leadership in all almost all political parties in India is purely reactive. After winning an election there is desperate clamouring for alliances and coalitions. Then there is the integration time for getting to know each other and accommodating each other. One third of the tenure is now lost. And before long the powers that be go on a drive to recover their election expenses. You will suddenly see grand schemes being launched and it is but obvious that most of the grants to these schemes are channeled through 'friends' who 'helped' them secure their election victory. Soon its time for the next elections and who know whether you will make it again given that nothing was done for the people so there is a period where everyone maximises the investment they made to get to power. End result? Another run after elections to form the government. If the people who 'helped' you were not happy with their returns you are out and a new Charlie is in the drivers seat. And the story goes on ...

However Behenji as Mayawati is called by her supporters has over the past two years being quitely working behind the scenes to exploit the weakness of her competitors and the environment (UP politics) to her advantage. Given the absence of strong leadership in the state from any national party (read INC and BJP) the only person left was Mulayam. Mayawati set out to put her candidates in place well in advance to make sure the people know who represents which party and to avoid confusion at the end. She then threw the BSP's caste agenda aside and positioned it as the 'sarva samaj' party including Brahmins, Muslims and OBCs under one wing. The new mantra seems to be the welfare of the sarva samaj.

Over two years the idea seeped in, took ground and needless to say the people of Uttar Pradesh tired with the soft Hindutva and caste based politics decided to give the BSP a chance. The result? A thumping victory for the BSP on its own steam. As usual parties have 'reacted' in a bid to woo Dalit voters. The national parties are taking special efforts to see that Dalits dont feel alienated.

What does this mean for Indian politics? Will this (termed 'Brahmin-Dalit bhaichara') be the new mantra? Its too early to say. For one, UP politics has in recent years seen the demise of the INC and the BJP and its more a tug of war between the SP and the BSP. Though the model can be replicated in select states where there is a so called power vacuum. However Im pretty sure that the larger parties will not sit quitely. Another important point is that Mayawati seems to have no idea what to do ahead. i.e. with respect to the development of UP, aligning the various interests of the many factions which make the new fabric of the BSP, etc. Was she expecting a victory? or has the result stunned her as well?

Whatever it is, India has got a new formula to pursue. Whether it will work or not only time will tell. If it works, Indian politics will move from caste based politics to the integration of economically backward classes, hopefully without caste, which is a good thing. If it doesnt work we not be worse off. There is no downside. Welcome Mayawati! Hope you change Indian politics for the better.

Power hungry

2007-05-12T23:01:00.000+05:30

The power crisis in the country needs no elaboration. Reams and reams have been written about how to secure funding to bridge the gap between demand and supply. And with investment in the sector people are looking to build more and more plants. After building them they will scurry to ensure that there is a constant supply of fuel to run these plants. NTPC is already to trade its power plant building expertise for a guaranteed supply of fuel from Nigeria. Thus after the mad rush to get investment, there will be another race to get fuel. Then there will be another race to ensure that we are best in the world and it will go on and on.

Rather I'm thinking why nobody has looked at the option to reduce Transmission and Distribution (T&D) Losses which at present hover at 40-50%. Are these because of old equipment? Or are these losses due to pilferage? If the reason is due to the former I would like to see investment going into the upgradation of existing infrastructure which will almost double our current power supply. Even if it is due to pilferage, investments to reduce it will result in transmission companies significantly increasing their revenues and consequently profits which would then enable them to fund new projects themselves.

Either ways there are huge gains to be made by upgrading the current infrastructure rather than diverting investment to new projects. I hope that somebody sees the merit in it.

Updates on the Andamans & Bangalore

2007-04-15T15:56:00.000+05:30

Many friends have been inquiring about my experiences in the Andamans. I apologise for the delay in uploading the pics and posting. But I'm not completely at fault since I am the mercy of those who own the digicams (BTW this is a must-buy gadget for people like me with huge wanderlust)

But take heart me hearties ... Downloads are in progress and I've got the machinery rolling. Hopefully in a few weeks :( I will have all the pics; and the posts will follow. Till then you have to be satisfied with my random ramblings!

Win-win

2007-04-12T17:08:00.000+05:30

Formula One is becoming a win win game for me. Till last year there were very few moments when the race result would leave me satisfied. That was because ever since I started following the sport in 2001 I have had my favorite driver in my favorite team. Mika Hakkinen and later Kimi Raikonnen were both McLaren drivers. This year hence with Schumi finally vacating his Ferrari seat (realising that F1 will br much more exciting without him) to Kimi and Alonso at McLaren the race result always keeps me in good spirits. Past two races have sure been so. Lets hope it continues for the rest of the season.

Another one bites the dust

2007-04-11T15:00:00.000+05:30

As the West Indies crashed out of this edition of the World Cup I once again felt remorse and sad. Many years ago (1994) is was the West Indies that lured me to become their biggest fan. That was the series against India which the Windies levelled in Mumbai after being one down in nagpur. It was the summer and I was at my uncles house and since I had nothing better to do was watching (grudgingly!) a Test match!

They say childhood influences last a lifetime. In that series I saw Walsh, Kenneth Benjamin, Anderson Cummins and a coupla other quicks. Lara, Chanderpaul, Hooper, Keith Artherton and Simmons as batsmen and a wickety called Junior Murray. I fell in love with their style and their flamboyance. I made it a point to learn more about them. Soon I was mesmerised by the bowling of Curtly Ambrose and the batsmanship of Brian Lara. Till today my favorite all time players are Ambrose and Lara. And I really wished that the semifinals against Australia went differently in 1996 when they lost by 4 runs. It would have given these two great players the highest honour due to them.

Over the latter half of the 90s they have gone through their lowest with a poor domestic structure and a lack of unity. The former has seen dirty linen being washed in public and the latter has seen players revolt on salaries and contracts. Combine that with a lack of one person to bring different islands together and you have a recipe for disaster. Clive Loyd was perhaps the last great unifier of West Indian cricket. Viv Richards to some extent but Lara is just not there as a people person.

But I am not completely disheartened because there is potential. The last two editions of the ICC Champions trophy has given proof though its not exactly a revival of fortunes they are capable of coming up with good cricket. It is also a fact that every dog his day. The Aussies were the whipping boys of cricket int he days of Merv Hughes and then came along Border who changed Aussie cricket. Similar is the story of what Cronje did after Kepler Wessels handed him the South African captaincy. What West Indies cricket needs is one person who can see ahead and build a team that will be world class a few years down the line. Till that time we will have to see the Windies whipped around.

Buck up dudes!

That scam called Religion - Part III

2007-04-07T16:28:00.000+05:30

Good or Bad?
They way I have potrayed religion you must be wondering whether anything good has ever come out of it. Well nothing is entirely bad or entirely good. Ditto here. In the example of Christianity (I hope you will forgive my lack of knowledge about other religions!) education has assumed significant importance among those priests with a missionary bent of mind. The large number of centres of excellence in education in India run by the Church is a testimony to that fact. I am not aware about missionary activity in other religions but I am sure something must exist.

Changes
If it had not been for the reforms under the Vatican II in the year 1962-65 Christianity would have been a dying religion. There would have been a mass exodus of its members. It is to the credit of the Church that they were proactive in recognising an era of knowledge and intense inquiry into matters of religion. They plugged most of the holes that had been left by the fighting of their predecessors. More than anything the Church changed its stance from a rigid patriachal system to one which signigficant control was handed down to the people who constitute the Church. Though people are satisfied the scam continues. Christianity is still restricted by symbolism like the Mass, the Cross and certain rituals called sacraments. It will be a long time before the old mindset of blindly accepting something handed down by authority changes.

Application
Not all religious leaders are rabble rousers. While most of them have blindly accepted what has come down the ages as the truth. Few have stopped to inquire and those few have been persecuted, burnt at the stakes, excommunicated and killed. A few have managed to survive though.

Which is why yesterday's Good Friday Homily by Fr Nigel Barett came like a refreshing breeze on a humid summers day. Fr Nigel challenged old concepts like suffering and sacrifice and gave it new meaning. It was a welcome change and for the first time in months I was excited. Suddenly religion looked like an 'applied' theme; from which you can actually do something. God and religion seemed one for a brief fleeting instant.

Convergence will take place the day everyone practices his/her religion in its truest and purest form and we will stop scamming ourselves.

That scam called Religion - Part II

2007-04-07T15:30:00.000+05:30

In my previous post there I have shown how the original message of an extraordinary being gets corrupted over the years into rituals which lose relevance and meaning with respect to the original message.

For me the concepts of 'God' and 'organised religion' are two very different things; the latter being a creation of man to control and exert his power. In the example of Christianity, there were clearly two power centres; that of Constantinople and Rome which subsequently came to be known as the Eastern and Western versions respectively. The Nicene Creed (popularly known as the 'I Believe') is a credo that was the outcome of the Council of Nicea, organised by the Emperor Constantine somewhere around the 4th century AD to unite the Western and Eastern theories. The fallout was that a good many texts which would have been windows to our original doctrines were destroyed by Constantine to ensure success of the Council and the Nicene Creed was made the standard. The common Creed lasted till about 1000 AD when power struggles that ensued between the Bishops of important cities at that time, namely Rome, Alexandria, Constantinople, Jerusalem and Antioch; split the Church in two permanently and have ensured that what we have today is more a result of a patronising Emperor and less of our original doctrines.

Today the Nicene Creed occupies an enviable position in the Catholic Church and is also part of the Holy Mass. Most of what we know about religion is a product of the power struggle between kings, bishops and other rulers and administrators. People who propogated what they wanted to and destroyed evidence that would undermine their authority and status.

Hence religion is all about power. Political, Economical and Social. How does it sustain itself? It builds a culture around itself. People are born into the culture and it becomes a part of their lives. When they grow up and (if) they begin to question their religion they literally have no choice. They will have to renounce a culture that is so much part of them they can't seem to fit outside. Thats the Social ringfence. Economically it collects tithes from its members; those with higher collections getting more attention than others ultimately creating in the minds of such members a feeling of superiority. (Talk to some old parishoners in areas like Orlem, Bandra and IC Colony to get a better understanding) The influence of the Church in Catholic countries / areas like Philipinnes, Spain, Mexico and parts of Latin America are well known. Even in India in the days following the death of missionary Graham Staines the Catholic Church openly encouraged its members to vote for 'secular' parties (read: the Indian National Congress)

I call it a scam because for the most part of it we have allowed rituals and symbolism to rule us. The Christian equivalent of 'jihaad' also known as 'Crusades', killings of women from different cultures in the form of burning at the stakes, selling of Indulgences (absolution in exchange for money), corruption and an attitude of arrogance and superiority characterised the Church. Symbols (eg. the Cross, statues, trinkets and other paraphernalia) are used by religious leaders to rouse public sentiments when these things should not matter. And again the story will not be very different across religions.

That is how Religion and God are vastly different. Two very different concepts often paraded together, sold to us in a packaged deal. Its a pity many of us blindly accept it without question. The Church had a brilliant way of dealing with the problem. A line in the Bible says "Blessed are ye who do not see and yet believe" The line I believe is deliberately inserted to quell any questions and make you feel good. Christ was a man full of wisdom, I doubt He would have said a line like that.

(To be continued)

That scam called Religion - Part I

2007-04-07T13:08:00.000+05:30

I have been thinking about religion since some time. And in the following post I will pen (rather type) my thoughts. I have been looking closely at religion and it looks to be one of the best scams ever. One person or a group of persons have built a set of rules and guiding principles that have to be followed by the multitudes. Mostly these were based on what the founders thought to be right. I don't mean the technical founder but the guys who took over after the new philosophy was propounded. I am not an authority on the various religions of the world but I know a bit about Christianity. Lets start there.

Contrary to popular belief Christ was not the founder of Christianity. His disciples were. Christ did not write the New Testament in the Bible. His disciples (mainly fisherfolk and possibly illiterate with the exception of Matthew who was a tax collector) did. Most of the accounts were also written down when the disciples were old somwehere around 80 AD. Point being that Christianity was shaped by what the First Believers penned, the rules they enforced and the tradition they established. Todays Christian doctrine has also been hugely influenced by famous patrons, most notably Emperor Constantine. Over the years the Christian religious leadership has assimilated what these influences have borne, the Nicene Creed (popularly known as the 'I believe') being the most famous. Are there deviations from Jesus' original philosophy? Were the non-controversial Gospels chosen? Were controversial Gospels discarded? What has been hidden under the carpet? We will never know.

These interventions by power hungry administrators have manisfested themselves in small disparities in our Holy Texts. For all His divineness and humility Christ seems to have been a little vain as chronicled by the line at the last supper, "Do this in memory of Me". Do what? Follow your teaching (i.e. 'Break yourself for others') or just break bread symbolically? The former would make sense, unfortunately the Church has chosen the latter and over the centuries we have forgotten the former giving us a ritual which does not go with the character of a person who has a high degree of moral goodness.

Herein, I feel, lie the first seeds of control as sown by the authors or interveners. The setting up of systems, processes and rituals that the rest should follow. The Church then comes up with a verdict (possibly to get errant Christians on track) saying that missing Sunday Mass (the re-enactment of the Last Supper) is sin. Somewhere along the line they also classify sin as venial (smaller transgressions) and mortal (larger transgressions). Obviously missing Sunday service is classified mortal. Why was Sunday chosen? Apparently that is the day God rested i.e. the Sabbath. Ironically Christ Himself has attacked the concept of the Sabbath in the very same Gospels where His disciples propound it.

Religion is based on fear. Bertrand Russell calls it the fear of the unknown. Over centuries religious leaders have capitalised on this fear by setting the rules. Those who deviate or 'sin' will be punished on a deferred basis i.e. in later life or after death in places called Purgatory (another fancy creation, a tool of fear and power). There is no mention of Purgatory in the Scriptures. Yes there is something mentioned about 'weeping and gnashing of teeth' but then I doubt neither weeping nor gnashing a method of spiritual cleansing. And i am sure Someone who is omniscient will agree. Fear. Thats what it is all built on. And since nobody has come back from the netherworld the fear is all the more credible.

So who decides what is sin? As per the old cathecism pre-Vatican II (A conclave where the Church decided to move with the times) of the Catholic Church there are seven capital sins (Small digression: There is also a movie starring Kevin Spacey called 'Se7en' where he murders people who commit these sins). If God gave us freedom then he surely has no right to punish us. The concept of Hell is also something I do not agree with. Everlasting punishment goes against the very nature of a forgiving God that we learn during Cathecism.

I have taken the example of Christianity since I have been educated about it. Looking at the disillusionment all around me I can sense that a similar malaise exists in other religions. The core of the message / philosophy has been lost over time and has been replaced with rituals which concentrate power in the hands of a few.

(To be continued ... )

And God made woman ... (or did he???)

2007-04-01T15:12:00.000+05:30

An observation: All the women I am interested / attracted to are married, betrothed, about to get married, into a relationship, in cities far away, don't have the time since they are busy with college or professional life, lesbian or have societal & communal constraints ... Where are all the women gone????!!!!

Organisations & Politics

2007-03-02T02:23:00.000+05:30

The power of the press and media got me thinking about corporations and organisations. The more I have been thinking about them, the more they seem like completely political entities; which is something Prof. Subir used to constantly tell us in Organisational Design. Whatever one might think, organisations exist to control resources, people and outputs. During the budget analysis the ideas and opinions of a select few so easily imposed (in a controlled maner) on the public at large who lapped up the verdict without understanding most of the matter. Or for simplicity let us assume that most organisation have a fixed set of values. Even if they are not, the beliefs of the top management are imposed on the lower rung of employees (read: control). Given the diversity I'm sure there are exceptions who do not subscribe to these values or beliefs. Will they blindly accept and follow. Yes they do, almost everytime for management seduces. They twist an apple, call it an orange and get their work done. (Frankly thats most of what I learnt at BSchool apart from the jargon).

You might say that such corporations are doomed. Well they will be if they were non-political. Because there the management was just, fair and moral. Hence they backtracked, withdrew and a new set of people took over. The ones that exist today are those that have been successful in their propaganda, call it by better names like market-share, profits, growth, customers, whatever ... But the fact remains that they have come this far by controlling people, imposing their ideas on them and seducing them to work for their benefit.

What is our role here? MBA's all over the world will be hired to seduce and secure what top management wants. Some years later we'll be doing the 'goal-setting', the 'targets'; brainwashing those below us (fresh MBA's) to seduce while we control. In short, organisations whether you like it or not are political entities.

Now the big question. Why would anyone do it? I'd answer as Nick Naylor does in 'Thank you for smoking' ..."It's for the mortgage!"

Budget Blues

2007-03-01T23:55:00.000+05:30

We need to grow at 100% (mentally)
Over the last few days I have almost shred the newspaper and gobbled up all the news collectively available on any business magazine or media channel. Such has been the level of boredom that I have been reading trash and seeing trash. This is Budget week in India and more than intellectually stimulating it seemed like the Great Indian Laughter Challenge. Lets start with the Rail Budget. I won't delve into the pros and cons since all our mailboxes have had some kind soul filling it with Budget docs, pdfs and in one case an excel too! Anyways what I want to focus on is the sorry state of Parliament that I witnessed on TV. I am not a Congress / UPA supporter but the way in which the opposition disrupted proceedings spoke of a 'bajrangi' attitude; the type that is endorsed by village bumkins. If that was not enough, we had another village bumkin who went on and on amid the chaos. A complete Child-Child transaction if Prof. Kalra of the Organisational Behaviour Dept. at MDI were to analyse it.

We may be growing at 8+% but I wonder when will we grow mentally.

I wannabe ...
Such has been the impact of the budget that even the aam aadmi seems to have an opinion; irrespective of whether he has fully understood it or not. Reminds me of a Prof in MDI who (obviously will not be named) said "When I look at the balance sheet of *** (company which will not be named!) I don't get confidence to think that this deal will go through"The financials of this company were not available on any database; and when questioned about the source, the Prof retreated saying that he had read extensively some analyst reports in the pink press!

People all over the country are reacting to bits and pieces news that they hear when politicians scream hoarse. Again, I'd like to state that I haven't seen the Budget document, the pdf, doc or hard copy, hence I'm on neutral gear right now! But the point I want to make is that this closely resembles the 'Madness of Crowds' that Prof Bakshi used to talk about in his BFBV class. Most of the people out there are wannabes, selective hearing being their weapon of choice. I would love to hear opinions but only after the the new policy is understood, assimilated and analysed. It is just not possible that within minutes of the Finance Minister releasing a policy document some good number of pages thick that you say with passion how grave the situation is, How dissapointed you are, How growth will slow down, etc, etc.

Still there will always be an 'I wannabe heard' ... Tch!

Adios

2007-02-20T07:03:00.000+05:30

Its more or less two years since I jumped up in glee when I received a final admit to MDI; and to be frank they have possibly been the best years of my life. From a confused term one where I just didn't know what was happening around me to the absolutely 'vela' term six, life has been pretty decent, academics stable and fun exponential. But probably the best takeaway from MDI (apart from employment) has been a bunch of wonderful friends in the form of seniors, batchmates, juniors and professors; and this is the reason I leave Gurgaon with a heavy heart. I will miss the morning lectures, the rushed up assignments, the oh-so-wonderful-gyaan cases, the coffee breaks, the bad food, the greens, the red bricks and the cold weather, not to forget the dirty loos of the ground floor. I will also miss the random 'Lets grab a bite / movie' by my friends of SouthEx (I will probably post another time about the denizens of SouthEx), the arbitness of my Corridor, the completely-wasted parties and the stupidity of some officebearers in the Student Council and faculty.

As for the academics n gyaan, management has proved to be complete common sense and considering the cost it has been bloody expensive, the saving grace being the fact since people don't know about it, it helps you climb the corporate ladder much faster and earn even faster. But it seems like a good investment in self. Lets just hope that it pays huge dividends!

At the end of it all, it has been an enjoyable experience, almost like a two year vacation and a great place to build lasting friendships. Thank you MDI! Here's to the ManDevIans!!! You guys rock!!!!!

Gyaan Sessions

2007-01-23T04:10:00.000+05:30

Its that time of the year when you know that any efort will just not matter. It is the sixth term here at MDI and I couldnt have been more callous towards acads in my entire life. The days begin at 10am, sometimes at 12 noon. Lunch, classes (if there are any), eating out, booze, movies and other random assorted crap. I have almost lost the drive to gym, jog, whatever (It doesn't help that the weather is perfect for hibernation) It is in the midst of this that I have been thinking about the past two years over here and all that has come and gone. So this is the perfect time to give gyaan. Over the next few weeks till I get employed, take off on a vacation or do something productive I will rattle on gyaan on various subjects, opinions and philosophies. Mind you this has not come without any cost. It has cost me roughly six lakhs in rents and another six in opportunities. But nonetheless they are things that one is supposed to ponder on. Some may be applicable to you and some may be not. Don't come after me, argue, debate. This is gyan; you read at your own risk!

Session One.

People (including me) come to BSchools with a grand idea of learning business. Let reality bite. You don't learn much here. Don't tell me that an academic bhelpuri for two years makes you that valuable that an organisation throws a million bucks (Average compensation has touched 10L+ levels) at you to 'add value' to their business. At the end of two years an organisation sees a person in the interview room and sees an ability to work crazy hours, meet tight deadlines, follow ridiculous schedules, sweet talk (faff) its customers. This is the pure unadulterated meaning of 'adding value'. A blue collared worker would take 17L in overtime. (Read this - especially the comment section) You my friend are given 10L. Value added indeed!

The only takeways one has from a BSchool are contacts and reputation. You are working with a group of over ambitious, highly competitive people who has been selected from among the cream of India's population. It is but natural that most of them will end up in very very senior management positions within a short span of time. Which is why BSchool gives you a shitload of contacts (read increasing your bargaining power in some tight situation somewhere down the line).Which brings me to my next point; the importance of ones reputation. Granted that people are immature even when they come this far, still things like overcharging foreigners, manhandling women, cost allocation to the second decimal after a group dinner, living off others, etc. should be well avoided. In case one still has to do it, do it with style; atleast you will be remembered positively ;)

People run business. Not models. Not theories. Not fancy ppts. They are derivatives. The underlying in all this is the human factor. The person who ignores 'human behaviour' is doomed in business. I know the HR subjects are filled with flowery terms and jargon everyone loathes but still if you strip away the jazz, you get a somewhat basic understanding of how people behave. My obsession with people skills began at Siemens. It has helped me give a lot of importance to the HR courses here. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that if you dont understand HR you wont be successful. Just learn to strip the jazz and get to the core of the matter.

This is probably the end of the first of a series of gyaan sessions. I'll get back to my movie and rum now (a neccessity if your MBA stretches over winters in North India). Watch this space for more gyaan!

Yuletide beckons!!!

2006-12-22T15:24:00.000+05:30

I'm off to Mumbai for a week. Its nice to get away from the drudgery of Pre Placement Talks, academic rigour :), and the usual hustle and bustle of Change Masters. There are lots of things to look forward too, like:

(1) Making tea and drinking it in my mug
Middle finger to all you dip teas of the world. Welcome to the original brew, simmering on a hot flame
(2) Eating pork and pork derivatives
Damn Gurgaon for its obsession with chicken and mutton. You are not a meat-eater if you haven't tasted pork marinated for three days in traditional Mangalorian curry.
(3) Possibly assist the sweet making activity of home
Kalkals, Marzapans, Newrios, Guava cheese, Jujubs, Cookies, Cake ... my mouth is watering as I write this
(4) Playing Christmas carols full blast
(5) Midnight Mass on St. Anne's grounds
Rather its after Mass thats the happening part ;) Gatecrash a few parties if possible
(6) Catching up with the ol' gang
And their better halves / to-be better halves. I guess I'm the only bachelor in the group :(
(7) Mom Dad's silver jubilee on the 26th
Can't think of anything to get them
(8) Possibly a few weddings since its wedding season

I'm loving it!
Mumbai here I come!!!

Poker and Walker ... a nice combination

2006-12-05T17:02:00.000+05:30

Well this was not inspired by 'Casino Royale', the latest Bond flick. It all happened when I was in Mumbai last month for Avenues at IIT-SOM for Avenues 2006, a business simulation game. On the way back we Mandevians played poker. For me it was the first time. And at the end of two days and countless games I made a profit of Rs.2.00 Obviously the stakes were small with cover charges of 25p and a stop loss at Rs.20. Nonetheless it was a great experience. We didn't have tokens but Harshit Jain made good the absence with his chopdi (notebook)

A few days ago we played poker again in the basement of the hostel. This time it was different. First, it was international. We had participation from Belgium, France, Germany, Morocco and India. Second, there were tokens finally instead of the chopdi toting Harshit Jain. Third, we had Johnie Walker Black Label for company.

The exchange students were good players. Its a different thing that Verghese always ends up winning some. The tokens added to the jazz and the JWBL was superb. I decided to have the Scotch neat. Bloody smooth. Three large ones later I was still feeling good. And mind you, no hangover in the morning.

I was wiped out in the first round and went to play some table tennis. I returned later to play for Verghese and as lady luck would have it I had two aces in my hand and one round later I had another on the table. Undoutedly, I cleaned up a huge pot I dunno how much coz by then the Black Label had had its effect. As for the net winnings, as usual I broke even. No profit no loss!

L-R: Tim, Thibaut (both from Belgium), Slyvia (Italy, onlooker), Moi, Verghese (Indian reps!), Robert and Evaristo (both from Germany)

Hasan (Morocco) had gone to get some stuff hence not in the pic.

Finally ... it is finished!!!

2006-12-01T02:57:00.000+05:30

Ah finally it is over. There has been loads of work in the past few weeks. For starters it was JP Morgan's all India case study on the valuation of a Chinky company. At the end of it all I was haunted by Free Cash Flows and Excel sheets. However my team members Porter and Sanky and me learnt the inside out of valuations. It was a good learning experience.

Then came the autobiography on self for the course on Self Development and Interpersonal Relations. The prof wanted something of a minimum of 20 pages. Poor me. I started typing and along the way I got so carried away and it went to 31 pages. The autobiography looked good at the end of it all and believe it or not it made me relive some of my happiest moments. Yes I also got a bit sentimental in between. Autobiographies are a good way to explore yourself and they actually help you understand yourself better. Everyone should write an autobiography!

Simulataneously, I was working on a course of independant study on 'Corporate Renewal' We have an option here of taking a CIS in lieu of a full credit where we study a subject of our choice for the entire term. Obviously the perks are that there are no classes, no quizzes and that you define your work and your pace. The cons are that since one is free one tends to not work until the advent of deadlines.

So thats what took all my time and kept me away from blogging all this while. Will be coming up with updates soon!

The takeover

2006-11-13T22:42:00.000+05:30

India was taken over by the British after the 1857 revolt. Yep it was a bit crude. Gold (the princes got 'em) instead of cash and slavery instead of share swaps. MDI was taken over yesterday in a 1:1 pure student deal. For every student sent abroad we have now, albiet a lil' late, a French student. ESCP-EAP, Paris has pumped in additional capital to strengthen the 'balance' sheet. Yep the male-female ratio looks somewhat balanced now. Caveat: The additional 'capital' is in the form of venture capital. Our people will be returning in a months time and these people will return then. Has the makings of a sexy takeover (though temporary).

Sample this. I get up early on Sunday morning. BTW 9:30 AM is extremely early for a Sunday. I walk into Change Masters Mess for my masala dosas and I am greeted to a sight of a mess full of firangs! I rubbed my sleepy eyes and thought for a minute that my eyes were playing tricks. Worse I thought it was a hangover of the JP Morgan case competition (which had made me work in the Computer centre for one week straight 24x7). I pinched myself. It hurt. Yep there were 54 guys and gals (hot ones too!) from France for a one month course on 'Management of International Projects'. Whatever it is! I'm not complaining but seriously it feels like we localites are on exchange!

Project Lean (and Mean ;) !)

2006-11-12T11:43:00.000+05:30

It seems that I have 14% body fat. (Calculate) . Though the method is crude and highly subjective, you can take it as a nice approximation. Evaristo, one of my friends from Germany has roughly 8% by the same calculation. And today I have decided to reduce body fat to single digits. For the past few weeks I have been on 'Project Cut-the-tummy'. Apparently fat around the waist doesn't go through ab crunches. It seems you can have a great set of abs hidden under layers of fat. Jogging, sprinting and aerobics will burn that fat away. And of course there is the good food habits that one must cultivate to eradicate fat. In keeping with this I have cut down heavily on the bad habits developed in the past 18 months at MDI:
(1) Insisting that my sandwiches have a 2-3 mm layer of butter
(2) Taking a slab of butter with anything and everything during breakfast
(3) Putting 2-3 tablespoons of refined sugar with my lime juice
(4) Eating all the oily stuff in the world
(5) Eating loads (and I mean huge loads) of rice

One might ask what prompted this change of heart. I happened to chance on one of my old photographs from 4-5 years ago. I had six pack abs then. I immediately stood up straight and looked down. I couldn't see my toes :( *shame-o-shame* It didn't help that friends here in the hostel had started pulling my leg about the portly tummy I had developed.

That was 2 weeks ago. The progress is good. I can see my toes now :) Hopefully in a months time I hope to burn the shit. Cheerio

Dharamsala trip (Chapter 9 - Mundane things & Alls well that ends well)

2006-10-25T16:20:00.000+05:30

The small things that go on to make a great trip. Some bloopers ...

Me asking the receptionist: "Is this Dal lake the same as the one in Kashmir"
Harshit (after some apple cider) sees parallel water pipes between two cottages: "I din't know there was a railway track here"
Pradeep (when being told that Smirnoff was sold at 900 bucks a bottle): "We got it at McLeodganj for 400." We were subsequently driven off by the theka owner. I think word had then spread around that there were three guys who are easy targets for conmen. We bought some shitty liqour from this theka guy at a ridiculous price.

Watch this space for some more witty ones if I remember them.

We got a better deal when coming back. A straight bus to Delhi. 10 hours flat. 2 hours later we were back in the Hostel. It was a great experience. The month looks to be full of travelling. Im off to Mumbai on the 26th to represent MDI in 'Colloseum' at 'Avenues 2006' - The management fest of SJMSOM IIT Mumbai. It seems to be a nice trimester!

Finito

Dharamsala trip (Chapter 8 - Second day at McLeodganj)

2006-10-25T15:49:00.000+05:30

St John of the wilderness is the oldest cathedral in North India. Built in 1853 it is known for its unique gothic style. The church grounds ar filled with coniferous trees and the whole atmosphere is still and calm. Also buried here is Lord Elgen, some Brit bigshot celeb of the 1800s.

Conifers!

St. John of the wilderness

Tibetian Childrens Village - is a school. We were just in time for their annual day celebrations. It was a great experience. When you enter the complex you feel like you are in the Collosuem. The accompanying music was great too!

From here we trekked to Naddi - supposedly the highest point of Dharamsala. On our way back we went through quaint villages.

And finally we visited the most famous landmark at Dharamsala - The Buddist Monastery and the home of the Dalai Lama.

The prayer wheels. Each wheel is filled with some prayers and everytime you roll the wheels, the person is granted the prayers in it. Wierd ... I turned the wheels without knowing whats inside! Just hope it was meant for some good.

The throne of the Dalai Lama. Pity he wasnt there!

Dharamsala trip (Chapter 7 - McLeodganj)

2006-10-25T15:31:00.000+05:30

Well you just can't describe this place with words. You have to see it to believe it. The best part of the trip.

McLeodganj market

On the way to Bhagsur

The Bhagsurnath temple

Behind a cottage ... picture perfect

Trinetra cafe. Stop for refreshments

The trail to the waterfalls

The Bhagsurnath waterfalls

Shiva cafe ... last point for the trek ... about turn!!!

It was Old Monk for company. Kept us warm throughout the trek on a rainy day. Lunch was Tibetain. Tofu, Thuppa (tibetain noodles), Thukpa (clear soup), Tibetian bread and veggies. That was almost the end of day two.

Dharamsala trip (Chapter 6 - Dharamsala)

2006-10-25T15:19:00.000+05:30

Some pics ...

Capturing evening in Dharamsala

What people here do for a living. We demand a course on this topic next term. Entreprenuership will have a new meaning!

The hotel which looted us ... Damn its the other way around here. Private hotels are cheaper!

The view in the morning. The small town on the mountain and the Himalayas in the background.

Dharamsala trip (Chapter 5 - The Gypsy Kings)

2006-10-25T15:09:00.000+05:30

With Harshit at Jalandhar bus stand a.k.a East Berlin

With colourful experiences behind us we continued on our quest. The local vehicle dropped us finally at Jalandhar. The bus stand at Jalandhar looked like East Berlin from the past. Rubble and debris all over the place. Not that it did matter, what was worse was that there is nothing called an enquiry desk, no timetable, nothing. Just conductors shouting destinations. We took a bus to Pathankot. They screened a Punju movie 'Dhee Jatt Di' which mysteriously rewinded every now and then. If that wasn't enough, they started blaring Punju music. Punju music also runs along similar business models explained in the above post. There seems to be one singer (or all of them have a similar tone which seems unlikely!), there are standard beats, standard lyrics too. Most songs revolve around 'Pind' (village), 'mitran' (friends), 'daroo' (alcohol but whiskey in this case), 'gaddi / truck' and similar rustic themes. Such amazing levels of economies of scale. If only Indian manufacturing had taken a leaf out of the Punjabi music industry we would have beaten the Japs at concepts like Lean Manufacturing.

Enjoying 'Dhee Jatt Di' enroute to Pathankot - Cheap entertainment for cheapos ;)

Another striking feature is that Punjus have their personalised metric system to measure time. No two persons gave us a common estimate of reaching Dhramsala. Huge volatility in their estimates, ranging from as low as 2 hours to 8 hours!!! As usual I bow to their brilliance.

Pathakot is a lovely place. Alcohol is available at unbelievably low prices. Possibly because its a cantonment area. (Tip: If you wanna go on a holiday you know where to go!) With Old Monk for company ;) we boarded a bus to Gaggal. From Gaggal we took a bus to Dharamsala. Finally after 24 hours and million bus changing operations when we got down it was heaven. We felt like Gypsies.

After a 24 hour ordeal ... Finally in Dharamsala

We went to a Himachal Pradesh Tourist lodge. 440 bucks later we realised that there were cheaper options. What the hell. We resigned ourselves to Old Monk.

Dharamsala trip (Chapter 4 - The Great Indian Con Trick)

2006-10-25T15:05:00.000+05:30

If you thought that was the last of the studboys you are wrong. Morning brought us to Ludhiana where the bus stopped. LS and HS announce that this is as far as the bus will go and that he will put us on a different bus to Jalandhar! Some of the passengers scooted. Others, around 20 of us stayed behind. To cut a long story short the bus driver was beaten up, the conductor called his henchmen and before we were witness to a bloodbath we also decided that it was in our best interests to hit the road.

Now lets spend some time on the business model of our studboys. First they have a variable charge for all the forty passengers. In this case, the fare ranged between 240 and 400. Expenses like border tax, road tax are dealt with by playing 'Good Cop - Bad Cop'. The driver is the Bad Cop who runs away with the bus stranding the conductor / owner with some passengers. The Good Cop cries in front of the police, it fits in because the anxious passengers are around who have no clue whats going on. Fortunately, the police in this case are Sardars too. They fall for it hook, line and sinker! The bus meanawhile heads on, the others hitch a ride (who cares anyway). Somewhere at a major city along the way comes the coup de grace! The studboys put you on a different vehicle to your destination, Downgrade you from a luxury bus to a local vehicle, Pay a nominal amount to the new guy and scoot off. Wonderful I must say and I was totally impressed by the conceptualisation, planning and implementation. Pity they don't teach strategy at BSchools!

Dharamsala trip (Chapter 3 - The kidnapping ... almost!)

2006-10-25T15:03:00.000+05:30

The bus stops at the border and some of the passengers including Verghese get down for a chai / smoke, etc. After around 2 minutes, the bus driver LS, sudddenly locks the door, jumps into the drivers seat and veers off the road into the wilderness!!!

Me and Harshit startled as we are, rush to the cabin and question LS, telling him about our friend (verghese). LS assures us that all is well and in 5 minutes he will tell us everything. The bus meanawhile jets like crazy in what was a bullock-cart path. It turns sharply at corners wide enough to let two cows pass. All this would have been OK if the bus had its lights on. But LS was apparently playing Chor-Police in realtime with real cops. The bus lights, headlights, etc was all OFF. The bus was rushing through the fields now in the dark without headlights, occasionally turning on the lights to search for firm ground!!!

At the other end, the police who were negotiating with HS were stunned too! How can you leave your passengers behind?! they asked HS. The reply was even better,"My driver is mad. He drives off likes this and leaves me stranded too. I dont know what to do." I have to hand it over to HS. What a looney way to answer the cop. And before one thinks this to be jest guess what, the cop (Sardar that he is!) believes the reason and murmurs something about how he cant catch the bus now that it has disappeared!!! Crazy place!!! Hilarious people these Punjabis!!!

The first thought that went through my mind was that the 40 of us would be sold as slaves to the Pakistanis. Too Drastic!!! I toned the thoughts down to getting robbed at gunpoint and being left in the jungle. Verghese meanawhile was asked to hitch a ride to Jalandhar on a truck. Fortunately, the negotiations (Harshit, me and onearmy guy versus LS) worked and he finally stopped the bus in a quarry. Some phone calls later (obviously it was my phone) LS decided to head back and pick up the others who were left behind.

We pick up the others some distance before the border and again get into the bushes to avoid the police. As luck would have it the police caught us again. This time LS cooly tells the police that he bribed the police some distance down the road and he can collect his share from there!!! Talk about transperancy! After 90 minutes of nerve racking moments we were finally on the road again, towards Jalandhar.

PS: Due to the stress and anxiety of the situation we were not able to take pictures here.

Dharamsala trip (Chapter 2 - The studboys)

2006-10-25T14:57:00.000+05:30

At ISBT, we found that there was no direct bus to Dharamsala due to Diwali. We would have to change buses. The best option was Pathankot. But one dingy agent with an open air office wanted us to tour Punjab. So he convinces us that he has our best interests in mind and tells us to go through Jallandhar. Ahem! we have no choice or as Subir would put it, our BATNA (Best Alternative To a Negotiated Agreement) was low. So we say WTF! How bad can it get! and trudged to the bus where we met the studboys.

Lets call them Laurel and Hardy Singh (LS & HS respectively). The driver, LS was a thin bearded sardar. Along with him was HS the conductor, a fat Sardar in three-quarters and sports shoes. If you heard them speak you would prolly think one (LS) was chanting prayers while the other (HS) was lamenting. HS's voice made him sound like the biggest loser in the world. He was almost crying at times. Little that we knew beneath the loser face and sad voice was a master strategist, logistics expert and a don at negotiation.

The vehicle used by the studboys. I'm sorry I don't have a picture of the studboys. The biggest loss of the trip!

We left ISBT towards Jalandhar at 10:30 odd. After some dozen stops at random petrol pumps where they keep on filling 10 litres of diesel (?) per stop, they realise that the police is following them in a jeep. At the last petrol pump HS gets into the police jeep and negotiates. The bus moves ahead of the jeep and reaches the border. Dunno which state we were crossing coz it was dark. The issue of negotiation was some tax which HS dint want to pay. It was irritating that we were stopping so frequently but I would not have complained only if i knew what was coming ahead.

Dharamsala trip (Chapter 1 - The plan)

2006-10-25T14:51:00.000+05:30

Mid terms behind us, we decide to go on a random trip. Names of places come up like the participants of a beauty contest. The judges Harshit, Verghese and myself look at the only parameter to make the decision - Pranesh, who knows every nook and corner of North India (because thats all that he apparently did during his four years of engineering:))

After considering the budget, logistics and the sightseeing opportunities, we try to rope in some more guys to share the fixed costs :) . C'mon an MBA should help you somewhere! Unfortunately our marketing fails and the shared costs comes down to the taxi that Pranesh was taking to the airport :( So the three random guys that we are, we pack off our bags in the direction of Dharamsala.

Get Set Go! L to R - Harshit, Verghese and me

We reach the Inter State Bus Terminus (ISBT) and there we meet the studboys!

"For the best lessons I learnt in life, I didn't receive any marks"

2006-10-19T10:22:00.000+05:30

It's one of those one liners ... not borrowed, not made up ... but straight from the heart of one of my friends here.

One of the drastic changes in me over the past one year is the utter disregard for meaningless numbers. If you are interested read this and this. I was not like this always. I used to measure myself with grades and marks and feel depressed if I didn't meet the standards which I set for myself (most of which were so high I could never achieve it without losing my sanity!) Extreme ambition basically drives you mad. Somewhere along the line I attained Nirvana (Thanks buddy for your company!). And thats when I decided that some bloody number with two decimal places is not going to decide who I am, what I'm going to do in life and what I'm going to achieve.

Rock on Abyuthvad!!! ... please come up with some more pearls of wisdom, we need more people like you in this world of RG.

Genius vs Opportunity - How I pulled off a coup!

2006-10-19T10:12:00.000+05:30

Yesterday we had our mid term exam on 'Influencing & Negotiation Skills'. It was a unique experience. We were given a case with predefined roles and we had to negotiate to reach a settlement. There were issues in the case which were integrative (where both the actors could see common ground) and distributive (win-lose types). Each issue had a payoff associated with it. Based on the options that the actors agreed upon, they got the respective points for that option. The first 45 minutes were devoted to understanding the case and designing the strategy for negotiation. The next 60 minutes were meant for actual negotiation role play. And in the last 45 minutes we had to detail the process we followed and estimate what the other party's score based on the perceived payoff. The case was that I was a director wishing to make a movie. My partner was the VP of a production house. We has issues like the choice of lead roles, locations, budget, schedules, infrastructure, my pay package, bonus, editing, etc. The cumulative score of both parties had to be higher than other pairs to secure a higher grade while at the same time you had to get a higher score than your partner for a better relative grade. Tough call!!!

We started the exam with draw of lots to select our negotiating partners. I'll call my partner VP. In the 2 minutes before we proceeded for part 1 (strategy) I did a small background check and was told that the guy was extremely good with numbers, will prepare in detail and has work experience of 7 years. Going into the paper I was prepared for being inundated with numbers and analysis.

Numbers have been kind to me in all exams till date. In examinations that matter the guy who set the paper has been kind enough to give us problems without too much of math, the kind that has more letters of the alphabet than numbers. The only way to deal with an analyst style of thinking is to keep him busy. Ask him doubts. Make him calculate. Keep on revising offers to make him working on the payoffs. (Refer to a course called 'Leadership and Managerial Effectiveness' for the gyaan!)

Well I have to say that VP was good. Way beyond good. He played shock and awe. Basically he would link up points, lead to an offer, lead me to a position and then suddenly make a counter offer that I just could not refuse because of the statements that I made in the lead up to me taking a stand. What probably saved my arse was the fact that I saw it coming just before I fell into his trap and instantly set into throwing arbit data, statements and some emotional stuff (They call it the snowballing strategy in theory!). After about 30 minutes I saw we were getting nowhere. Well I was the guy to blame because I was about to fall in his trap twice and both times I had to use the snowballing thingie. It was getting too much because our VP was essentially on a roll, I was stalling and time was running out. And thats when luck turned my way!

Before we go further I should tell you that our course facilitator loves to bluff. One of his bluffs here was to give a zero to the pair that did not reach a settlement. For all the genius at negotiating that he was, VP could not call this bluff. There was no mention of the zero in the question paper and it was a verbal agreement. The facilitator used it as a tactic to get students reach an agreement, because if they did not, it would be extremely difficult for him to judge the candidates. Imagine him giving a zero and the student challenging the decision. How could he substantiate it, especially when he has explicitly stated time and again that a 'no agreement' is better than getting conned.

Coming back to our exercise, the following was the conversation 5 minutes before end time.
Me: "I want to back off from this deal. I can find other production houses"
VP: "I too can find other directors"
Me: "Fine then. Lets sign the settlement sheet saying that we didn't reach an agreement"
VP" "But we both will get a zero"
Me: "I don't mind."

At this time the prof waltzs past, smiling benovelently. VP looks up to him and making a grave face shakes his head. The prof warns 'Zero for both' before disappearing past the door.

VP makes another offer which sounds ridiculous. I flatly refuse.

Me: Please write 'No Agreement' and sign the settlement sheet.
VP: Here you write it. (Maybe he thought I was bluffing)

I take my pen out and ask for the correct phrasing of the sentence. VP seeing that I'm serious makes another offer. It sounds better but not good enough. The invigilator asks us for the sheet, which is still blank. I tell him to collect it on his way back.

With VP in a corner. I start making my offer. I ask for some and concede some. VP makes a few changes. It looks much better. I get what I want in my section 1 report. VP not looking too happy walks off.

I later come to know that we almost ended up with the same number of points, albeit me a lil' higher by 50 points. I am later told that VP is admired for his negotiating skills by faculty and students. Cumulatively we didn't get the highest but we did well and considering that the odds were against me I think I did well to contain him (I am told he said that I drove him nuts!)

And so before I end this long post, something I learnt today: The situation decides the winner ... upto that point in time you can sit back and marvel at genius (Aptly demonstrated by Italy in the World Cup this year)

The greatest overtaking manoeuver ever

2006-10-17T11:45:00.000+05:30

This is one of the best overtaking manoeuvers I have seen in F1. Obviously it involves one of my favorite drivers - Mika Hakkinen (the other is Kimi Raikkonen) and in my favorite team - McLaren.

This was at the SpA Francochamps in Belgium during the 2000 season where Mika overtook Schumi and Ricardo Zonta by zooming past the inside line. I won't say more. Watch the video for yourself.

The next monopoly called Google!

2006-10-14T11:21:00.000+05:30

Google has the Midas touch. Everything it touches turns to gold. The latest is the beta version of Blogger, the blog company it acquired in 2003. Though it has taken 3 years in coming, the beta version rocks!

Apart from the fresh look from staid old templates, its much easier to insert third party code like hit counters from bravenet. The new design is modular. You can fit modules called page elements and drag and drop them to design your own layout.

There are many other features like cutomising your colours, labels and archiving options which were not possible with the previous version. But this post is not about my blog. If you look carefully Google has been doing a lot of integrating in recent times. Will they one day pose a challenge to Microsoft?

With Google docs , mail, social networking and beta blogger it looks to be the next Office Suite. I guess the next development will be a presentation software, database software aka Powerpoint and Access. Just look at the brilliance of it all, Google has eliminated piracy (anyone can access it with a google account), cut down development cost (code changed at Google's labs results in new software worldwide) and has reduced time to market to zilch. It also bought youtube recently

Even entertainment will be online. Just imagine on demand music from youtube. No artist will sell CDs. Instead google will buy the exclusive rights and then you can hear it streaming from the net. No more music piracy! There will be ads running alongside (If you were wondering about the business model!). Also as I have posted earlier this year, it will also give them valuable customer information. Will this mean an online Office in a few years? The last nail in the Microsoft coffin will be a Google OS.

Of course, we are assuming that the internet will be omnipresent. It will take some time (a decade or two maybe) when most of the developed and developing world will be wired to the net. By then Google will pretty much where Microsoft is today, possibly way above it. Unless Microsoft does something spectacular I can see Google serruptitously eating away at Microsoft's market. For a company which began with core competency in Search it has come a long way!

Illuminated yet again?!

2006-10-09T05:17:00.000+05:30

I posted this last year. I still stand by it. Another round of silly games. I wonder how can anyone assume that the public is that stupid to not see through the 'disguised' market research; and worse assume that the corporates who approve budgets for things like this are equally stupid. I dont know of any corporate who has made a corporate decision committing hundreds of crores of rupees in future investments to projects based on a market research conducted on a sample size of 50-100 people.

I admit, HLL did launch Bru sachets last year. Did Illumina play a major role? I have serious doubts. I have explained it in last year's post. Read it. I won't repeat the stuff. The bottomline is that it is plain bullshitting. You bullshit sponsers to fund your fun and frolic. They bullshit by claiming to fund Market Research while in fact they are just trying to maintain relationships or satisfy an alumnus within their organisation who is pushing for the event. It's just a matter of whose shit stinks more! But people tend to get into self confirming biases. Since they put the effort it must be meaningful and good. Has the world moved on? We don't know. We designed the games, we drew and painted it all, the corporate (who since he's committed a few lakhs pretty well approve something!) has approved it. It is good! Ain't we the next big thing in MR?!

I am not here to bash my institute nor am I downplaying the effort put in by my batchmates and juniors. But I am against blatant following of traditions. Could the concept be changed? Can we do some real market research by actually going to different places in and around NCR. Can we actually identify socio-economic-classes and conduct research in villages, towns, cities, etc.? Can't we research different regions and their buying behaviour? Can't we build a repository of information which will become the motherlode of market research? Can't we conduct the research beforehand and then invite corporates to a grand finale cum diwali fair? For all this we have to start much earlier and get proposals atleast 3-4 months before the final event. No, such things won't happen. Radical thoughts are difficult to implement. Following traditions is easier. However, I feel the current trend is unsustainable. Both for learning and for the institute's reputation.

I stand to become unpopular with comments like these and people will raise issues like the 'spirit of Illumina' and the like. But won't the entire exercise become more meaningful? Won't you be actually helping the clients who sponser the event? Wouldn't you be learning more? Won't that make you as a marketeer stand out in the crowd. Yes, it will take out the fun of making props and being awake all night. But won't you have fun actually working as a team and researching different kinds of consumers across regions? Is Illumina just about its spirit? Is it just the fun of making props? I think Illumina means much more than that.

PS: I helped out in drawing and painting of the props too. Not because I'm a hypocrite but because my friends had gotten into it and as a friend I thought it my duty to stand by them when they needed me.

Alternative opinion here

The Alchemist: From chalk to iron in 5 minutes

2006-10-06T20:19:00.000+05:30

We have great people in India. Some of them are potential Nobel laureates. One such character is a guy whom we shall call His Hose (name not disclosed for obvious reasons). He has shaken the walls of academia with revolutionary ideas. Let me tell you a story.

As it transpired, HH was wandering around the lush green MDI Campus on 8th August 2006 thinking of the next big thing in technology. The thought that he had to submit an assignment on Strategic Management in the next one hour meant nothing to him. Not that he could not appreciate the finer points of value chain analysis that had been the subject matter of the last few strategy classes. He was thinking strategically on a much larger scale. He was planning a coup which if executed well, would earn him handsome returns.

HH had been concerned about India's iron ore reserves. Not that we (India) are lacking in any way. But he was looking at making India 'The' place for steel manufacturing. We had the coal, we had the ore - but did we have enough that could make the world sit up and listen? Did we have the bargaining power that could translate into political power.

As he was mulling over these thoughts, he came to the Computer Centre (CC) and saw a fellow classmate take a print on his Analysis of the Cement Industry. And then it hit him! Yes, we were abundant in limestone! If only we could make iron from limestone what a great nation we would be. What a Nobel Prize winning effort! Surely those idiots in Sweden would grant him this honour. It was the time to take over the world! (Psst ... the idiot who worked on the cement industry would be mysteriously crushed in an alley as HH was giving his speech in Stockholm ... at least that was the plan)

The unsuspecting victim took a print of what was 5 hours of effort. Smiled that he had put in his best. This was fresh industry data, the fruit of an internship at one of India's leading cement company. There was also a table at the end of it all that was the icing on the cake. It was the cost structure that detailed the value chain. It was this table that would make all the difference and it actually did.

HH sneaked up to the computer used by the victim. In his exuberance and joy, the victim had forgotten to delete his work from the public domain. This was HH's moment of glory. A few keys and 5 minutes later he had a process to make iron from limestone. The method used was a 'replace all' function, thanks to Microsoft Word. Everywhere 'cement' appeared, it was now 'iron'. The deed done, HH submitted his research.

The dissertation had things that HH considered were the result of out-of-the-box thinking. There were things like blasting chalk and passing it through kilns to get iron clinker, and subsequent processes involved grinding the iron clinker to get Portland Iron. There was a flowchart to prove it all. His point proven, HH took off to the Alps to celebrate.

People may be stupid, but the last thing that they want is that someone tells them about it. For all his ingenous thinking, HH forgot this axiom. His ideas didn't go down well with academia (as I said he shook them with his 5 minute cameo). There was a committee instituted. They looked at his tall claims and rubbished them. A search was called for. The victim unaware that his work was under controversy was called for. He was questioned, grilled and almost rusticated for being the input that caused the mess. The poor guy was bewildered. He argued, laid the facts straight, provided supporting evidence and after four hours of convincing he was finally in the clear.

HH's fate hangs in the balance. He stands to get an F for 'F'uturistic thinking (Which could be revoked under a 'forgive and forget policy'). After verification and cross checking his claims have been thrown out of the window. It has been attributed to delusions of grandeur, hallucinations and wot not. But all will be forgotten when HH returns from the Alps. After all we are Indians and we are a toleratant lot.

The power of dreams

2006-10-03T15:17:00.000+05:30

I found this on a site I used to maintain long ago. I was a budding web designer way back in 1999. Unfortunately web designing is a thing of the past now and I haven't updated the site since last November. Incidentally, all I did was update the home page, that is the first page that loads after you enter the site. There was a section called 'My Inspirations' where I have written two major influences on my life (till that point in 2001). Much of the other data (about McLaren's specs, past relationships, etc.) is obsolete. Other stuff like ambition, goals, etc have got refined. Anyways here is something from there which I put up 5 years ago that I would like to share ...

"Right from my youngest days I had always hated business. Partly because my father was a small time proprietor and things couldn't be worse with small timers. Payment of dues was such a problem, that I swore never to be associated with business. I thought Science was the best thing to do and landed up studying engineering. Simultaneously I was making plans to further my studies in the technical realm of aerodynamics at a foreign university. (Partly because I liked the term, and partly because it sounded so complex it baffled my friends). During the sophomore year, on a sultry afternoon while in the Machine Shop, chatting with my colleagues about their favourite novels Komal suggested that I read "As the crow flies" by Jeffery Archer.

Reading had always been a passion, though I had dropped the habit on the commencement of the engineering course. Now with some time to spare and with renewed vigour I set out to search the novel. Having found it after quite some effort, I read the book not as any other ordinary novel, but stopping at times to reflect on the extraordinary life of the protagonist, Mr. Charlie Trumper.

What particularly caught my attention was Mr. Trumper's entrepreneurial spirit despite his lack of formal training. From a small cart of vegetables, he goes on to build America's first mall. I found his attitude, courage, and vision exemplary.

Almost two months after I had finished the book, when I found myself still thinking of Charlie I knew that business was where I was going to be. That day onwards I started reading business magazines, financial newspapers and God knows what. I dropped my plans of studying aerodynamics and thought that an MBA would give me more leverage in this regard. Now I'm waiting for my time to come as an MBA. Only time will tell!!!"

That small incident in the lathe shop somewhere around this time of the year in 2001 is the reason I will be graduating from MDI in a few months. It has been a journey of dreams and though I thought I would have liked to be realising it through a dream institute I am happy that I landed here. Though the entrepreneurial dream may not be an immediate objective, (I plan to open a restaurant someday!) I still am fascinated with Charlie Trumper's style of influencing and negotiating and his business sense in acquisitions and being close to customers. It was also my first introduction to the stock market (there is a brief mention in the book). I plan to re-read the book to relive those memories.

When I look back and reflect, much of my ambitions and goals in those formative years are still with me today. Along the way, they have got refined to be more focussed. And yes VJTI, Siemens and MDI have given me a lot to be ready to face those lofty goals I have set for myself.

Dare to dream! Like the Alchemist says "When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it"

The Entrepreneurs Paradox

2006-09-27T12:34:00.000+05:30

I haven't seen too many successful entrepreneurs. Maybe thats because they say that 90% of entrepreneurial ventures bite the dust! Many claim success in the short term, but few have that what we in management jargon call 'a sustainable business model' to remain in operation despite the trials and tribulations of business.

To cite a personal example, Dad ran a business which had to be folded in the tech meltdown of the early 2000s. We weren't in tech, but the far reaching effects of the tech bubble and some bad decisions had a double whammy effect on what was an unsustainable business model.

However ever since I took a keen interest in business management somewhere around my second year of engineering, I have come across business which have pulled through tough times and in some cases earned super normal profits in good times! What's the secret of their success?

Before I get into that let me explain the entrepreneurial mind. From what I have observed, their mental makeup is to move fast and nimbly at that. And when you actually ponder about it, you will realise that you can't move fast unless you are nimble! Another striking feature that I have come to appreciate is their concept of opportunity cost. If they can earn a higher percentage elsewhere, successful entrepreneurs have sold businesses that return less. No sentiments, no emotions, nothing. Contrast this with entrepreneurs who try to flog their existing business in the eternal hope that good times are around the corner. Lastly, they like to keep things operationally simple.

So have you got a clue of what I'm talking about? There is one metric that can capture all that is said in the above paragraph, but it is bloody subjective. Return / Effort can be as subjective a metric as you can get. It differs from one entrepreneur to another and thats the beauty of it all. Whether it is Nikunj in Mumbai, Mansur in Bangalore or Ramesh here in MDI, I have found this to be a commonality in their thinking. And last of all, today the master confirmed my thoughts. After the class on 'Behavioural Finance and Business Valuation' (BFBV) I decided to read Warren Buffet's 2004 letter to his shareholders. His commentary on MidAmerican, where Berkshire then owned 80.5%, confirmed my thoughts on entreprenuers. I don't know if it applies to the same extent in the corporate world, where committments are on a much larger scale and the reputation of many people is at stake when radical decisions are made.

Successful Entrepreneurs are a celebrated lot. The press drools over them and others admire them. Ask the entrepreneur and he will cite hard work, courage and perserverance as the inventory of attributes he utilised to be what he is (I will add common sense). However, It is a paradox that Returns / Effort is a metric to get there!

Goodbye Kimi and all the best at Ferrari

2006-09-11T09:24:00.000+05:30

Kimi Raikonnen moves to Ferrari next season. Though emotionally I would have liked him to remain at McLaren, rationally the time is just right for a change. Frankly I don't know whom to support next season. I have been a hardcore McLaren fan right since I started watching Formula One way back in 2000. Mika was the star at the Silver Arrows (It was sponsered by West) then and I took an instant liking to his style. It was a fight to the last race at the Japanese Grand Prix. Unfortunately Schumi won and Mika lost the opportunity to make it a hat trick. But what stood out was a 21 yeat old kid with just 23 race events to his credit in the Sauber car. People wondered what was about him that he had to be woken up from deep slumber 20 minutes before his maiden F1 GP. Nonetheless that kid impressed me with points on debut. Welcome Kimi Raikonnen!

Mika in the meantime had a listless season in 2001 with more engine failures and technical problems. One of those moments that will probably rankle in my mind forever was at the Spanish GP when with just a few hundred metres to go on the final lap, Mika's McLaren stalls! At the end of the season, Mika announced that the next year would be his year off. Though the sabbatical shocked many, since many thought that the Finn has much more racing left in him, Mika thought it best to leave when he was still regarded as a F1 great. And who was to fill in the shoes of the Flying Finn at the McLaren stable. Enter another Flying Finn! And so partly due to friendship and mostly due to talent Kimi replaced Mika.

The next seasons saw Kimi come close to winning the championship crown in 2003 when he and Schumi were separated by 2 points and again in 2005 this time with Alonso. If it were not for the Mercedes screwups, Kimi might have well been Champion in 2005. There were brilliant driving moments in all these seasons. Many times Kimi has started from the back of the grid and landed on the podium; something I consider the hallmark of a great driver.

Readers might wonder why I am not paying tributes to Schumacher, whom almost the entire world considers to be a legend. Well he is a great driver but I have a certain emotional thing for McLaren, my first love. It was the first team I truly enjoyed watching, be it pit-stop strategy, the flair of the drivers Mika and Kimi and also the colours of the car!

Which will make it very difficult for me to support a team next season, since Kimi will move to Ferrari. But then Kimi has a better chance to be World Champion at the RedDevils than at Silver Arrows. All the best Kimi, may you make history in the sport that is F1!

The term that went by ...

2006-09-09T17:55:00.000+05:30

So another term awaits. Officially its the last term, since post this grades will not be counted for placements. Also this term will see all the activity that there is to MDI; Imperium, Illumina, Delphique (if it happens!). Lots of firang chicks and parties too ... But this post is more about the term that went by.

Term four started with a bang at least for me. I was pumped up after the summer experience and put considerable effort into academics. The results of the mid term finally gave me some academic relief. End terms I dunno but whatever happens I hope it pushes the CG in the right direction! Possibly it has also been one of the most hectic trimesters in terms of extra-currics. Unnati & Monetrix both became very demanding; not to mention a sagging Delphique.

There were some very good takeways from the last three months. First and foremost has been the course on 'Leadership and managerial effectiveness' or LME as it is popularly called. LME has helped me identify many areas of self improvement. It has also helped me understand myself in a much better way. There is a lot about it that I can talk about but then I can't compress 33 hours of fun, learning and gyan into a post coz it will not do justice to the course and also I am not that prolific a blogger to spend so much time on it :)

Talking about courses, Strategic Cost Management was one course whose learnings will last for a lifetime. There has been Consumer Behaviour which did not meet my expectations but has given me a structure to think nonetheless. One major grouse against the course is that I can't enjoy ads now. It puts me in a particular analytical framework and I start thinking as to what did the brand manager / advertiser want to convey here. Investment Management has been good enough to convince me to restructure my personal investments! International Corporate Finance was bad. The maximum that I could salvage was the awareness of certain financial terms.

And there have been the forgettable ones. Product and Brand Management was one, where I did nothing of Product Management and only the 'Branding' function of Brand Management. All we saw was ads and since I had better things to do with my time I didn't attend post mid term. The only strategy that I learnt in 'Strategic Management' was how to avoid being thrown out of class. It was utter bad handling of a course that could have been taught much more meaningfully. I guess the mid term and end term feedback submitted by students should be published to show what disgrace has been brought to the word 'Strategy'.

Apart from the courses there was Samaritans that suddenly became the leading light of the extra-curricular activities. Though we initially cribbed about it, now after the presentation week most of the corporates seem to be impressed with the kind of work that goes on. At least the perception is such. Plain and simple marketing! Then there were the usual haggles, scuffles, mud slinging and chaos that you get when you put more than three people together. So with close to 300 people in one hostel, it wasn't anything out of the blue.

And then there was the Induction for the juniors! The interviews for the various clubs committees and the parties thereafter. Good ROI for me since I gave just one party last year and got 2 in return this year he he ...

The new term may start without a bang. This is because half the batch is in Europe on the Exchange programme. Anyways these 3 months will flit by faster than I can possibly imagine. Lets hope everything turns out well.

Identity crisis ....

2006-08-31T19:45:00.000+05:30

There are few things that make me disrupt my well planned schedule and force me to post. Well currently I'm mighty pissed off because my name has been through the muck and into the dung. Not that I have been framed or something, But that each and every son of a motherless goat has decided that it is his / her birthright to spell my name incorrectly.

It all started with the Maharashtra Government when some pighead decided that the Father's name has to be appended to an individuals name. And so, my Christian name of Gordon Maxmillan D'Souza was undone and redone to D'Souza Gordon Gerald. Yeah, the surname has to be written first. Bloody clanish mentality. Even today people are more famous by their surnames. Maharashtrians still refer to each other as Patil, Pawar, Deshmukh, Waghmare, etc.

If that was not enough some smartass in college decided to call me Go-vardhan. I joined in the fun. I did not mind it then. But what I really do mind is people calling me Gordan. (Pronounced: Gor-done). WTF!!!! My name sounds more Isreali rather than Scottish.

I am frustrated with efforts to correct peoples mistakes. I think I should name my kid some simple name which can be easily pronounced in Hindi, Marathi, Gujarathi, Dravidian scripts, European languages, Hispanic, Mohamedean languages, etc.

If this is not enough, word has been going around that I'm a Mallu!!!??? Give me a break guys!

PS: This was posted in utter frustration and the pressure of an end term on 'Investment Management' and 'International Corporate Finance' on my head. Not to mention a Unicorn who insists on honing my presentation skills for 4 hours in between the 24 hours that the above two end terms take place. Under no circumstances is it to be inferred as instability of character or egoistic manifestations. I just lost my temper. That's all.

The Haitus ...

2006-08-28T06:44:00.000+05:30

Have been off blogging for quite some time now ... basically due to lack of sleep. Not that I have been burning the midnight oil or anything like that. But that I have been abused in the name of academic rigour. It has been submission week(s) at MDI for the past fortnight with every professor worth his salt tormenting us poor souls with deadlines ;) Sounds like I'm in a prison camp or something, right?! ... Well not exactly. There have been the drunken nights after the parties. Clarification: The parties were held to commemorate the announcement of deadlines.

Apart from that there have been 'Student Affairs' matters which required resolving matters at 4 AM in the morning after which all sleep vanished due to the senile show on display. Thankfully I'm not part of the beleaguered lot that is forced to listen to psychedelic speeches. As someone put it, "It felt like I was clicking on a hyperlink on every sentence!" So the pain was cut short ... but the post hoc discussions and analysis blew away any chance of catching a few winks.

This place keeps on surprising me ... but that can be the subject of some other post. Right now, I am in the crazy world of end term exams and also considering the fact that we have a term break after the exams, I will be blogging infrequently.

And finally as always exciting thoughts come to me during the exam time. This time I have thought of recording the moments in the short but eventful time that I have been here. This will not be some sort of 'Snapshots from Hell' or a 5 point someone. (For those who dint know, I am actually a 5 pointer!) I am planning a more enriching and juicy mix to entertain me (and others who share similar sentiments) after I leave. I have got a rough idea as to what to include what not too; in fact I have been allocating chapters to 'great' personalities on a temporary arrangement. My co-author is Ramesh , a friend and pretty interesting chap too. Judging from our contrasting writing styles it should be a good read.

So I guess unless the earth rumbles or the Unicorn speaks (the Unicorn is one of the characters in my to-be-book!), its gonna be some time till the next post. Wish me luck for the end terms! ;)

Tough questions!

2006-08-13T11:10:00.000+05:30

Some time back we had a guest lecture by a guy from Saatchi & Saatchi on culture and values in Indian advertising. One of the remarks he made really got my attention. He said," Values are something you are willing to pay a price for" And then he proceeded on to say "Scribble down some values that youa re willing to pay a price for."

The next two minutes were probably one of the most baffling moments I have ever come across. (The 1st place was taken by TP Ghosh for his mid term paper on International Corporate Finance). I thought and thought hard. Have I ever been willing to pay a price for anything in times of crisis, adversity, etc. Even if I had, my mind was not allowing me to remember it. And so at the end of it, I scribbled something that had been true with 80-85% accuracy levels. And that was true with all the things I thought were my values. It was with some accuracy level. Still I wasn't satisfied because I didn't find anything I thought strongly about.

On the negative side, it may sound too rigid to stand by something 100% of the time. All situations are a result of the actions of humans; and most of the time there are a reflection of others actions (exception is if you live in isolation!). Hence the need for flexibility. For eg. If being on time is something you are willing to pay a price for. There will be situations when others will be late. At such times are you willing to pay a price by losing the person or are you willing to be flexible and get on with life?

Great insight to have nonetheless. BTW do you have something you are willing to pay a price for? ;-)

Hence proved!

2006-08-11T23:22:00.000+05:30

Ha Ha ... seems like Bhavishyavani! Just some time ago I wrote a post on meaningless numbers. And in less than a fortnight it got proved. The subject in question this time round is 'Consumer Behaviour' and the culprit is yours truly!

I have no clue what CB is about. Just that each consumer behaves differently and there are clusters of consumers who behave in ways that are common to some of them. So if you have to sell anything to them, you gotta get into their shoes and understand them. Period. I do not know any jargon, have almost been an NPA (Non Performing Asset) for my academic group, and understanding consumers actually baffles me coz I have my own style of buying, selecting, etc which I have observed doesn't fit in the way others (normal people) go about their shopping. Which means that I should be a dud at CB.

Fortunately or Unfortunately (I don't know which!) I seem to be in the very top percentile of the class for the mid-term. Yeah its just the mid terms and things can change significantly for by the time the end term is behind me but for the moment my marks say that I am a person who understands CB better than most of the others in the class. And so my theorem 'Grades are meaningless' seems to hold (a lot of!) water. They can be manipulated. Hence Proved.

PS: I am wondering if there is ever a system which is foolproof enough to mirror a student's skills

Mountain delight ... Part 7 All good things come to an end

2006-08-05T02:39:00.000+05:30

It was a wonderful trip. I guess if one actually spent some time on understanding himself and others he would gain maximum benefit from the course. Some final pics.

Contemplative here ... looking at the mountains when Bhobe decided to use me as a guinea pig to test the finer points of Evaristo's cam!

Pranesh, as usual the stud of the North, seems to know all the Godforsaken places in the world. Here he led us to a steep cleft in the rock face which led to a place he called 'The Rock'. Me with my fear of heights decided not to do any 'chavagiri'. I lay down quietly on the rock with largest surface area. Great pic no doubt!

A jungle path behind the rocks!

Stepped mountain slopes.

Stepped slopes again!

And then it was evening. Time to pack up and head for the aademic rigour of MDI ... :(

Mountain delight ... Part 6 (Cliff capers ... Rock Climbing)

2006-08-05T02:22:00.000+05:30

Rock climbing required a lot of understanding of the rock face to know where to put your foot. It also required more cheering / motivation and a lot of coaching. It tested the aspects of how well your team gelled together, and a leader as a coach. Pranesh led with strategy, Deepa led as a coach. 'Google' Guglani led as a motivator. Others coordinated the effort. I chipped in with my usual 2 cents. It provided us with many insights about ourselves. Above all it was a very physical activity.

We had to scale this

Another view of the same rock. This looks less scary!

My years at the pull-up bar at home came in handy when my turn came. Not too difficult considering the fact that I had an 'A' in Physical Training in School. I slipped once but the rope held me well. Finally I scaled the rock. Would have loved it if someone had actually taken a pic of me when I was climbing! :(

In the pic above, arms raised in victory.

The cheering party.

Other views of the valley below

Mountain delight ... Part 5 (Cliff capers ... Rappelling)

2006-08-05T01:40:00.000+05:30

Rappelling was another exercise where we had two teams with one appointed leader. The idea was to observe how groups behave when the stakes are high, when risk is increased and to observe the transition from group to team. Different aspects of leadership were observed at different parts of the exercise and one had to seamlessly slip into those many roles. It was a good experience, since the feedback from the previous day really helped.

Myself .... shit scared at first, but took to the challenge. Dint follow the instructions of the observer. Got a lot of flak for that.

Got into the groove of things later on. Biggest grouse is that I dint smile for the camera. At this point I swivelled around twice, and banged the rock face. Minor bruises. Anyways I touched base soon. From base, it overlooked the valley below. A stronge breeze was blowing and standing there actually felt like you were lording over the area!

Base. The end point for the rappelling exercise.

Pic taken from base

Other views down the cliff

The surrounding mountainside

And some more of the mountainside

Mountain delight ... Part 4 (The morning after)

2006-08-04T23:38:00.000+05:30

Well ill type less & let you just admire the beauty of the place

View from the resort of the valley below ...

The morning sun as seen through the branches of the trees in the resort.

Another one of those picture perfect moments...

Can you see the Himalayas in the distance? Look carefully. There is a faint hint of the snow capped mountains.

Self indulgence ...

We were here .... the lodge in the background. Foreground we had to use cheap models! Jetwani, Justice, Neta, Sameer Dhar.

Another view from the resort.

Mountain delight ... Part 3 (Rollercoaster)

2006-08-04T23:21:00.000+05:30

For the rollercoaster we were divided into 4 groups and were given some resources. Each team had to build a structure that would trigger a ball in the next structure. The objective was to coordinate efforts and share best practices across teams (which dint happen obviously!).

Well to put things modestly, we had the most robust and economical structure. The mechanical engineer in me to the rescue of the team helped matters. ;) Have a look at the other structures in the above picture. Bloody redundant, wastage of resources and loose as hell. Jus kidding! we dint work as a team so all my great technical inputs were reduced to an insignificant speck. See pic below.

Testing 1 2 3 .... Sameer Dhar scratching his ass as the tension mounts

Mountain delight ... Part 2 (Navigation exercise)

2006-08-04T22:48:00.000+05:30

The Navigation exercise involved 2 teams led by 3 leaders each. The objective was to collect 7 clues and return to base within 90 minutes. The route was through the mountainside, forest and farms. I was one of the leaders for my team. We completed the task in 83 minutes and compromised one clue. The other team took considerably more time and compromised 3 clues.

A lot has been discussed in class about the different behaviours that we observed. The key takeways of the activity were to look at things as a whole and not as disparate parts. It also involved resolving conflicts, taking key decisions with ambigous data when clues were hard to find and finally taking the entire team along; of course learning to have fun along the way!

The terrain ... fun in the mountains...

Searching for clues at the temple. Tough decision! compromised a clue & moved on.

A happy team. After we got on track after searching for a clue for 30 minutes!

Another portion of the trail ... through the farms

Through the farms, cattle. We had some really good apples courtesy some a kind couple.

And finally, some gyan, and Relak Singh (bad one, I know .... for those who dint get it ... relaxing)

Mountain delight ... Part 1 (On the road)

2006-08-04T22:19:00.000+05:30

Bhimtal ... a beautiful lake nested in the Kumaon range of the Himalayas. I have never seen a lake at such heights!

On the road ... in the Shivalik hills. This is a small range that begins when the Great Indian Plains end somewhere near Haldwani.

A great view of the begining ofGreat Indian Plains. Taken from the Shivalik hills

Apple trees. plenty of them. As Bhobe said, "There is a different taste to it when you pluck it off the tree!" The apples of this place truly have a different taste to it. They are much more juicy, have a different aroma, are slighlty green (well almost green in fact) in colour and leave 'that lingering taste' in your mouth...

And not so interesting things (compared to the scenery around!) The bus. A source of unending entertainment; be it boisterous and off tune Bollywood numbers, a negotiating Jis Jose, a few German songs, some antakshari, puke, vodka, inane jokes, dedications, a pretty girl, stop-overs, takeovers, Pranesh 'mapping' traffic routes to optimum flows, blah, blah...

Mukteshwar ... One trip I'll always remember ...

2006-08-04T14:20:00.000+05:30

Last weekend I visited Mukteshwar in Nainital. It's a beautiful place. And I have to say, Uttaranchal is by far one of the most picturesque states that I have seen in India. I have always liked the mountains (though I have got tired of seeing the Sahyadris and the Western Ghats) and the Himalayas are just amazing.

We were a group of 28 students enrolled for the course called 'Leadership and Managerial Effectiveness'. (One of the better courses at MDI, which has helped me understand myself and people around me!). Mukteshwar was part of the course. Outbound Training, is a method of developing the right brain. Over years and years of structured analytical training in school and college, our right brain which senses emotion, feeling, and our subconcious does not develop to the extent that the left brain has. It is very evident today when we see people with excellent analytical skills but severely lack the ability to connect with people, influence them, work in teams, understand the world around them etc. OBT is a step in that direction.

Anyways, here are the pics. Will split it up into different posts ...

Hiring season!

2006-07-28T00:16:00.000+05:30

Yesterday was a long day. Primarily because I had got up really early in my mission to rationalise my waking and sleeping hours. Secondly, because Unnati and Monetrix both had their interviews for the incoming junior teams. However, not all was lost coz at the end of the day I realised that I actually liked interviewing people.

I remember numerous times when I was on the disadvantaged side of the hallowed table; nervous, sweaty and wondering whether the interviewer would devour me. But shifting sides to the advantaged side ;) suddenly brings in a lot of clarity. You can see the trembling hands, the nervous voice, etc; not that I'm sadist or anything, just that you suddenly feel a quantum leap in your observational skills.

I think there are somethings we need to keep in mind when we are evaluating people. One, make the candidate comfortable. A lot more can be discussed and much more fruitfully at that when the candidate is in his natural state. I dislike stress interviews. They put people on the backfoot, make them defensive and in the end nothing is achieved. The use of stress interviews may seem to counter my view, but still i'd like to stick to my point.

Two, treat people with respect. I guess this is plain manners.

Three, make a plan of what you want to test and test those aspects first.

On a personal level, taking an interview gives you a first hand experience of the errors that are most commonly committed. Its a good way to prepare for an interview. Also, very very surprisingly I discovered the need to be well dressed. Shabby dressing sticks out like a sore thumb. Grooming is important too. Uncombed hair, unpolished shoes, etc. definitely make a difference, it builds a positive perception of the candidate; atleast when the differentiating factor between a group is low.

Pretty interesting thought this. As I have mentioned time and again, it reinforces my beliefs about the importance of people and the need to manage relationships. Guess thats the biggest learning that I have got from this place so far.

Meaningless numbers

2006-07-21T14:45:00.000+05:30

The first year verdict has been passed. I have secured a cumulative grade point average which classifies my performance as between 'fair' to 'good'. well it could have been between 'good' and 'very good' had the Operations Management (OM) faculty set his papers in a way befitting a management degree examination. Not that I'm cribbing about my grades. Agreed I didn't put in the effort that merited something better, but that was primarily because I had done the stuff before in engineering. Plus too much of math bugs me. All the questions in the OM paper were based on math. It might as well have been a paper on machine design. No decision taking. No practical application of concepts.

So I received a 'C-' in OM for my lack of interest and apathy towards the kind of learning. It's literally like rubbing salt in open wounds considering the fact that I'm a Mechanical engineer with a year of experience on the Siemens shop floor. Does it in any way undermine my capacities or skills as an Ops guy? I dont think so. Does it in any way say that the guy / gal at the top of the class in OM is a genius at Ops? Again I dont think so. If I present any of the top 10 rankers in OM with a shop floor problem, to be solved in a dusty environment at temperatures of 40+ degrees, with a union rep over his shoulder, workers at his heels and a boss on his head will he get an 'A+'? Having been there and done that, I may or may not get an A+ but will definitely not land at C-.

Grades like these are used to rank students. Many people actually use these numbers as a measure of ones worth. Though not explicitly stated, phrases in employment ads like 'exceptional academic record' make you believe otherwise. End result? You have to prove yourself more than what is required on the job, all because of some meaningless numbers. Crazy world this....

Stud boy Verghese

2006-07-14T07:10:00.000+05:30

Pradeep Verghese (my roomie) is a stud. Let me start by giving you the context.

We have a visiting professor; lets call him TPG; who teaches a course called 'International Corporate Finance'. Since he is a visiting faculty he can take classes only on Saturdays and Sundays. And so, we have back to back classes either on Saturday mornings or Sunday mornings depending on the workload Mr. TPG has the night before.

Now TPG has a funny accent and he rambles on and on. Listening to him for 90 minutes (the normal lecture duration) is acceptable. But even making an effort to sustain the drone for 180 minutes is asking too much. It doesnt help matters that its the weekend and that its 8:30AM, with most probably a hangover from tasting spirits the previous night. (Our lucky friends who do not have lectures on weekends are the culprits who entice us). In short, the weekend lectures are dreaded. We consider the weekend sacred because its the only day on which you have the liberty to get up and walk for lunch.

Now the interesting part. Over the past one and half month Verghese who sleeps for an average of 12 hours a day, has been getting up early on Saturday mornings and attending TPG lectures. Its a different thing that he leaves after roughly 45 minutes and asks the benevolent class representative to mark him present for the day. He 'lost' his reading and study material on the very first day of the term, but that din't stop him. After all currency futures and hedging strategies were his areas of interest once upon a time. He even appeared for a coupla tests.

A few days back, the Dean sent his ritual e-mail reminding students to submit their feedback for the mid-term. Yesterday Verghese submitted his feedback for all courses that he signed up for, except International Corporate Finance (ICF). He was told that he has not signed up for the course.

Realisation then dawned that he forgot which electives he had signed up for and 'thought' that he had registered for ICF. Also, he did not receive any material from the office, but 'thought' that he lost it. Such 'dedication' to the cause of academics will go down in the annals of history of MDI. Pradeep Verghese, tusi great ho! *bow*

The Bald and the beautiful

2006-06-30T00:27:00.000+05:30

UPDATE:
July 4th, 2006
Due to the possibility of a modelling assignment anytime this or the next month, I will be delaying the bald look till further notice. Hell, I forgot to factor in this ritual that the senior batch of MBA students have to undergo every year. I wouldn't want to look like a don to the recruiters who flock this place. Sorry to disappoint you folks!

I am planning to go bald. My sis has given strict warnings against it. But then what do cute 11 year old girls know about the sex appeal of bald men (read about it somewhere!) ... ;)

Jokes apart, just want to try something different. And since there is no girlfriend, wife, mistress who will threaten to leave me if I do take the step, I've decided why not? Just wait till the current crop of hair has reached its threshold length. I'll post the pics of the bald and the beautiful. ;)

Relationships

2006-06-29T13:36:00.000+05:30

No, this is no boyfriend-girlfriend post. I am in the mood for gyaan, especially given the fact that I have some free time today and that I haven't posted regularly for quite some time. So here goes.

Business is driven by relationships. Think about it. Good relationships with customers get you loyal customers. Good relationships with bankers get you better financing options. Good relationships with suppliers eases working capital requirements. Good relationships with employees increases your productivity. You get the drift?

Sadly, almost all B-Schools in India (I dunno about B-Schools abroad) do not have a single input on how to manage relationships. There are tangential courses on Personality Development, and most are electives to the streams of Human Resources or Personnel Management. There is a course on CRM (Customer Relationship Management) but as far as my knowledge, it has been classified as an Information Management elective.

So what does that leave us with? Management graduates who are more attuned to quantitative models and methods rather than relationship builders. It does not help that the large number of MBA's we generate these days are engineers, who love to play around with math. Management unlike math is about ambiguity. As managers you got to make the right decisions from very hazy scenarios. There is no 2+2=4. No exactness. There are many soft issues which need to be taken into account.

But engineers (most of them) hate subjects on the topic of Human Resources or Organisational Behaviour. There are two schools of thought. One, the freshers who cant understand jackshit of how HR / OB concepts are applicable. Two, experienced guys who have cursed their HR Dept. all their working life. At the end of the day, walk into any class on HR / OB and you'll see bored faces. This is compounded by poor faculty in many parts of the country who cannot relate theory to practice.

There is hope though. In my interactions with fellow MBA students over the past one year I have been able to feel a latent opinion that networking is important. How to go about it, and establish strong relationships from nominal contacts is something that has yet to take off. So unless you have it as an internal attribute, you may never develop or hone your relationship management skills in a Bschool. It may take you years of being close to customers, employees, partners before you manage to establish relationships with all of them. And if I can do that over that long a period of time, even after going to a BSchool whats the point in spending time in one.

As I said earlier, think about it.

Summer gyaan

2006-06-28T23:01:00.000+05:30

And after I'm through with it please do not come searching for me with a sawed off double barrel shotgun. Thats the precise reason why I had 'gyaan' factored in the title of this post.

Well it all started off with me getting my posting at Corporate Strategy. After going throught the strategy course in Term III, I was convinced that this was another faff job. Not to question the professors credentials, but more as an expectation gap. Well thats how I started off, with faff, in the first review due April end. Shockingly, the guide shot it down and thankfully, he dint castrate me. We have been so used to the method of strategising in cases without knowning the context of the situation that we have become champions at rattling arbit fundaes on comparitive advantage, co-operative strategies, Porter's five forces, Red & Blue oceans, BCG matrix, etc. What happenend at ABG was different.

After the April review, I was urged to start reading history. Yes, history. So for a week all I did was read the stories of the industry I was working on. After that I had a fair idea of how the industry had moved over the years. In short, I got into the context of my work. The project suddenly came alive when I understood the background of work and the future implications of my work. History provided the base to understand competitor actions, which in turn helped to understand the motivations behind those actions, which finally led to isolation of their strengths and crytalised into the way they evaluate alternatives (which is what strategy is all about). Then of course you got to validate your hypothesis (as to how a competitor evaluates alternatives) by looking at their annual reports, law cases, analyst reports, etc. (The finance part!)

By May end, I was done. Better still, I was able to strategize for the business unit I was working on. I divided the critical factors for alternative evaluation into three main categories and devised a model. The model was short and to the point. It captured everything I wanted to say, each category described by one word that stood for everything within it. I showed the model (just the model, without the background, context and the research) to a friend, a fellow MBA student, and a pretty decent one at that. Guess what he told me? "What gas man! What the hell does this mean?" I presented the same thing to my Dept. Head. This time after updating them on the background, context, and the research analysis. "Excellent" was the reaction.

The point I want to make is this. In B-Schools we are presented with the tip of the iceberg. This may not neccesarily be the fault of the case writer, professor or the student. Companies are wary of revealing much especially in a market as competitive as today. But we can surely do a little better with some background information; and I'm not talking of the little paragraph before the actual case begins. I'm talking of the stories of the industry. What caused the change, why did the industry move the way it did, how did they evaluate their alternatives, and so on. Without it, strategy is and will always be faff.

I'm Back

2006-06-17T23:52:00.000+05:30

Im Back! *Saying it with the syle of Tom Cruise in Jerry Maguire* ;)

Almost been 3 weeks since I made a post. The last days of the month of May were spent making presentations to the top brass at The Aditya Birla Group. From first impressions they seemed to like my work. And I also like the place. The more I think of it, it seems the only place where I can get a profile of my choice, rather than the analytics / MoFS (Marketing of Financial Services) / etc. types of profiles that are on offer here.

We interns had a great time at Gyanodaya making our presentations to HR, enjoying the good food, the fellowship with other interns and last of all the party at COs at Lower Parel. That was the grand way we brought the summers to an end.

A small vacation to Mangalore recharged my batteries. Especially the travelling. The Matsyagandha express chugs through the picturesque Konkan and the advent of the monsoon the week before made the place look even more beautiful. It had been 3 years since I had been to Mangalore and the place surely has changed. For one, many people understand Hindi which is a HUGE improvement from the days when I visited Mangalore as a kid. Roads have improved in many places. And though I didn't visit the city I'm told that much has changed there too.

Come the 11th and it was rush-back-to-college time. Unfortunately, I fell sick. Not one of the best ways to start the new academic year. Travelled by Kingfisher this time. A relief from the Dhakkan days. No waiting at the airport, no delay in takeoff, no hassles, all the women staff smile in this half flirting way that makes you smile back and keep smiling long after you've they've seen you off. A good flight. My first good flight.

Well thats the story so far. Watch this space for more updates!

The innovation that is 'Orkut'

2006-05-27T20:21:00.000+05:30

There was a spam doing the rounds recently of how Mr Orkut Buyukkokten, the coder from Stanford was making money at the speed of light. The mail stated that whenever you send a friend reqest, scrap, add a person as a fan, etc etc Mr. Orkut makes money. The objective of this post is not to quantify the cash that Orkut is making. (Some say he may be the richest man on the planet in a few years. Ironically his office is in the 'Gates' building.) The objective here is to celebrate the innovation that is orkut.

Orkut.com is a website that helps you to get in touch with other people. It is much more effective than other sites since to become a member of the network you need to get an invite from an existing member of the network. Thus making it difficult for bots to enter. The website helps people stay in touch, meet old friends, and last of all make new friends. When one becomes a member, you fill up a e-form that takes a lot of data like hobbies, interests, demographics, etc.

So whats so great? Well since the network is 'trusted' because of the invite barrier, you get more reliable people and hence reliable data. As I write this, orkut has an estimated 20 million strong membership and believe me its addictive. Who would not like to get in touch with old friends. Its one of the most difficult things to let go when you change locations. So its safe to assume that a huge percentage, somewhere around 70-80% will be active. That makes 16 million people chatting up, flirting, and most important giving valuable information about themselves. Which marketer would not give her / his left b00b / b0ll for such information. At the same time the members enjoy, they have come in touch with their long lost friends. Its a win-win situation. Which is what makes orkut such a great innovation. I wouldn't be sursprised if Mr. Buyukkokten becomes the richest man on the planet or is getting those big bucks. He might be selling the data to Market Research firms. (Would have loved to put the mail here too, but sadly I dont have a copy. Anyone reading this please mail it to me at xcesstorque [at] yahoo [dot] com.)

However there is a caveat. Orkut for all its 20 million members is mainly popular in India, Pakistan and Brazil. But considering the way it is spreading it will take little time to expand into emerging markets like South East Asia, Eastern Europe, and the other parts of South America & Latin America. Also, orkut is popular among the age group of 15 - 30. Yes it could take a quite a few years before the current crowd ages and we have representation from all age groups. People might also argue that only the internet savvy are profiled. Ah well yes .. thats a valid point. I guess customer profiling can be done only for this section of society. However in the future almost everything will be online. Almost all middle class kids today have email ids and orkut is growing at a frentic speed. Since I joined orkut (somewhere around October 2005) till date, membership has grown from some 6-8 million to the 20 million odd members in just 6-7 months.

So marketers here lies your potential goldmine. All your fundas of segmenting, targeting, positioning, etc can be got in a jiffy. The worlds largest database of what customers want! Phew and to think it all happened because a geek mixed his interests of social networking and coding.

PS: While researching for this post, I came across a link as to why Google bought orkut. Read it, its interesting!

My orkut profile is here.

Killer Silence - The latest addition to the Strategy toolkit

2006-05-26T14:38:00.000+05:30

Today Man has inched closer to implementing quotas as the means to the upliftment of those belonging to 'Other Backward Classes' (OBC). With the BJP also supporting the move and infact going one step forward to suggest implementation in minority institutions also, my worst fears have been confirmed. Caste politics looks set to win.

Since I'm a Management student and my friend circle includes many management students a lot of talk doing the rounds deals with what imapct will quotas have on the IIMs. The Big 3 IIMs were having plans of going global. WIth the quotas system coming into place, the only way to maintain an equal number of meritious students will be to increase seats. If they do not do so, there will be an erosion of their intellectual capital. Not to suggest that the reserved guys are bad, but that the balance will suddenly shift from current levels. If they increase seats, it puts a huge strain on their infrastructure as they are already bursting at the seams (read this). This seriously hampers their global (or any) expansion plans.

At the same time, private management colleges have been quite. The strategic silence has a lot to do with them significantly becoming big players in the cluttered field of management education dominated by the Big 3 IIMs. So where does that leave us? The 6 IIMs, JBIMS, IIFT, FMS, NITIE look set to take a hit. Others like XIMB (Oriya quota), NMIMS (Gujarati quota) will get their share of the action but how much stands to be debated. The biggest gainers on the face of it look to be MDI, XLRI and SPJIMR. Of the three, MDI with its aggressive growth in the past few years and even aggressive plans for the future seems all set to power its way ahead. It strategically launched the post graduate HR programme two years ago. It has an international MBA programme starting this year. It has links with major BSchools across the world and has very strong European linkages in France (ESCP-EAP, EDHEC, Aix en Province), Germany (Wuppertal, EBS, HHL), Denmark (CBS, Aarhius), Italy (Bocconi), Poland (WSE), Austria(Vienna University), Belgium (Solvay) etc., Lately it has been catering to niches like Energy Management, Public Policy, Armed foces, etc. SPJ has on the other hand been developing strong niches in Entreprenuership, family business, etc. I do not know of their growth plans but I'm pretty sure they are planning big. XLRI have already set up centres in Dubai and Singapore. They have also come up with Satellite programmes. Other players like the IMT Group, the Symbiosis Group, IMI, Somaiya and the others in the Xavier fold will also look to grow in prominence.

Maybe all this is wishful thinking. The IIMs have earlier played masterstrokes at nullifying competition, notably in BSchool rankings, by refusing to be part of them thus making it an IIM versus non-IIM competition. What do they have up their sleeve this time? Are any aces left? Its a wait and watch game.

PS: In no way am I happy that reservations will been enforced. This post is not and should not be seen as sadistic.

'Decoded' ... My take on the DVC

2006-05-23T00:31:00.000+05:30

Many people have been asking me my views on the recent spate of controversial films that have outraged Christians all over the world. From the many movies the one that is in the centre of media attention is 'The Da Vinci Code (DVC)' mainly because it has sold 40 million copies (legally) and almost double the official number illegally. That makes it a billion odd copies which means that somewhere around 16% of the worlds population has read the book.

Now what does the book suggest ...
1) It says that Jesus Christ was 'made' divine by the Emperor Constantine.
2) That Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene and that they had a girl child between them
3) That Jesus Christ has taken the place of worship that essentially belongs to the 'woman' (In this case, Mary Magdalene). An ancient form of worship practiced among early Christians.
4) That Opus Dei is an organisation which is entrusted with the duty of keeping the 'code' secret and exterminating those who come close to revealing the code to the world.

What Dan Brown implies....
1)That the Bible has been manipulated through the ages to its present form
2) That there is a lineage of Christ existing in the world.
3) That an organisation of the Roman Catholic Church spreads terror and kills people if need be to serve their objective

Now my take ...
Christianity was no dount one of the most powerful religions during the Middle Ages primarily because the it spread rapidly in those countries which were colonising the world. So we had Italy become a major centre for Christians because of The Vatican was in Rome. Slowly, the countries around the Mediterranean especially Spain and Portugal becoming countries where the Church ruled supreme and had important links with the rulers of the land. Eventually much of Europe was in the Chriatianity fold. When these countries started colonising, parts of the world like the Americas were introduced to Christianity. Till today places like the countries of Latin & Central America, Spain, Portugal & the Philippines have a strong influence of the Church.

With uncontrolled power comes corruption and the Middle Ages saw the Church playing a part too with the Pope selling indulgences, Galileo and Copernicus and so on so forth ... Yes there could be no denying the fact that there could have been manipulations here. But these might have had to do with the rituals, rites and traditions that have become part of the Christian culture. I am not in a position to judge the extent and magnitude of what manipulations that took place, but I seriously doubt wholescale manipulations like making Christ 'divine'. The Old Testament and the New Testament (the two parts of the Bible) are exclusive. The people writing it were different and the Jews who follow the Old Testament till date are waiting for the Messiah, the Son of God. So the divinity part of it is not in doubt.

Jesus married to Mary Magdalene? My opinion is that its a non-issue. For me the teachings of Christ are what matter and not his personal life. A little background on Mary Magdalene ... she was a prostitute who later gave up the trade to follow Christ. She was very close to Mary, the Mother of Jesus and stood by Him throughout His agonosing last moments before He was crucified.

Did they have a kid? Again a non-issue. What difference does it make if Jesus was married or had a kid? It doesn't change who He was as a person nor does it change His teachings.

Now about Jesus taking the place of the 'woman' ... As mentioned earlier Jesus was the Son of God, and according to the mystery of the Holy Trinity is God Himself. We Christians have chosen this as our channel of belief to satisfy our spiritual and religious needs. Other faiths have other channels and I respect those choices. God is absolute and there is no Man or Woman with Him. Its the incarnation that we believe in.

Lastly, regarding Opus Dei ... the Church may have been corrupt at certain points in time (That may also be reason that all but 2 or 3 of the 350+ Popes in history have been Italian!) but certainly under no conditions has anybody formed an organisation that will kill. Particularly since there is nothing to hide. No secret to keep. Even if there are, it is not worth killing for. The modern Church is today one of the most proactive and liberal organisations in the world today. It has provided for pre-marriage counselling, pre-birth counselling, platforms for healthy exchanges between teenagers, sports, sex-education, cathecism and a whole lot of activities that are not persent in many communities. If there was anything worth telling, it would be out by now, there would be debates, a Papal conclave of Prefects, Bishops, Archbishops & Cardinals would gather to discuss changes and its implications.

Thats my take... thanks for a patient listening ;)

One trip down memory lane .... Reservation with sleeper class, please

2006-05-16T02:02:00.000+05:30

There has been a big outcry against the Reservations Bill that the Honorable HRD Minister has pushed into Parliament. Will it get passed? Looks certain by the way PC and Man are going about it.

It seems like a drive past memory lane for me....

Long before Arjun Singh even dreamed of the welfare of OBCs, engineering students in maharastra were going through similar difficulties. I still remember 27th May 2000 when I held my XII standard result in my hand and exulted at hitting a 95.66% in Physics, Chemistry and Maths combined. I was crazy about Telecom then (attributed to herd mentality), and thought that securing a Merit seat would be easy. In those days we had a system of Merit Seats and Payment Seat. The fees for the Payment seats being almost 5 times the fees of a Merit seat. Also having worked hard over the last one year at the XII standard State Board exam, I wanted to secure admission to a well known college ( ... Since we all know brand names make a huge difference ... )

Imagine my shock when inspite of having a Bombay rank of 561, I could not get a Merit seat in a decent college. Bombay had 131 engineering colleges affiliated to Mumbai university in 2000. There were about 10 decent colleges each having intake of 60 for all streams, Some ministers blessings, made many colleges revise intake to 90 a lil' later. Yet here I was with Telecom being 3rd option after Information Technology and Computer Engineering, still not able to get a Mert Seat. Why? Becasue there were reservation tally ran somewhat as follows:

15% Scheduled Castes
7.5% Scheduled Tribes
2% Nomadic Tribes (1)
1.5% Nomadic Tribes (2)
1.0% Nomadic Tribes (3)
19% Other Backward Classes

1% Displaced Kashmiri Pandits
1% Physically handicapped
2% Some other shitty quota (I think it was displaced people along the Maharastra Belgaum border)

1% Defence personnel
1% Govt of India

To make matters worse, the Govt introduced 30% reservation for girls. So if you were a guy, you had 35% (15% went towards 'Open Category girls and 15% in 'Reserved Girls category") of 48% 'Open Category Seats' only. That made 16 seats for 'Open Category Boys'. In a private college there were 50% Merit and 50% Payment seats. Meaning for a guy like me I would get to choose from 8 seats only! In government colleges there were 16 seats for 'Open' boys

Doing the rounds of the admission process, Dad and me came across one of my college friends who was taking up the issue of reservations in the Bombay HC. We joined a forum of like minded people, spent some cash and hired MP Vashi, a prominent Mumbai lawyer to fight our case. We got a stay on the admissions. We thought it might lead to something fruitful. But the decision got a 'tareek' and the student community was losing out. Finally admissions comenced in September, some 3 months after the whole thing started, just because students were losing out if the term started late.

Through some divine intervention, I decided to take up Mech at VJ. It took me one full year to accept the fact that I was cheated. (Its a different thing that it turned out to be the best decision I took in my life!) I was bloody mad with the system. Went to the extent of lamblasting some guys in my class who had taken the backdoor entry. These guys were well off economically, yet they claimed to be backward. It was the same story in all other institutes. The irony of it all was that in the same class we had a student with 45% PCM. Thanks to the 'Reserved Girls' category. It was crazy. But I was alone.

TIll today nothing has changed. And thats where I say that nothing will change. Because for every guy who is against reservations I have seen 10 guys for it. One of my classmates wants to write to the Prime Minister, Finance Minister (possibly God too!). What a waste of time. Others want to go on a morcha. The morcha is supposed to comprise of a handful of MBA students. Will Delhi fall? I doubt. On the other hand we have a multitude of poor, uneducated people who attend political rallies in villages hoping that 1% of the speeches materialise. They think that such measures will really improve their lot. So they all go out in huge numbers and vote. The first year MBA students will not, I dont think even 10% of them exercise their franchise. Caste politics will win, the morchas, petitions, blah blah notwithstanding. Letters to the PM, FM, God will be used as toilet paper. My Dad wrote files and files of complains to the BMC (Bombay's famed Municipal Corporation) and they had just moved their little finger. Morchas will lose steam when classes begin. The noise will become a whimper when exams begin. The whole movement will be put to sleep. History will repeat itself, just like it did in 2000.

I hope I am proved wrong.

Mera bageecha hai Japani

2006-05-10T02:25:00.000+05:30

Yesterday's Mumbai edition of the 'Times of India' (front page bottom) carried an interesting story. It seems that 14 elected representatives (lil' corporators actually) and a 'Tree Expert' of the Pune Municipal Corporation decided to go to for an all expenses paid trip to the city of Okayama in the Land of the Rising Sun to study preservation of trees and gardens. The greater objective as stated ever so humbly with reverence for public welfare is to build a Japanese style garden on the lines of the Korakuean. (we'll call it the K Gardens)

I would love to visit Pune after K Gardens is built. In fact I'm looking forward to trekking through bad roads, wading through polluted rivers, drinking toxic chemicals and bathing in sewage before I reach the succour of K Gardens. Won't that be wonderful. And for this very luxury, the citizens of Pune will have to pay a small price. i.e. Foot the bill of these 15 clowns. For all I know the trip to K Gardens might actually be like taking part in those reality shows a la 'Survivor' except that on reaching you may be a lung short and toxins in your body for company.

Thankfully two men have decided that they'd rather have both lungs and minimum toxins, hence a petition filed and won, complete with the blessings of the Bombay High Court. In fact, the good ol' HC has not totally dumped the plan of K gardens. Who would not like a stroll down there, after a hard day of making hard decisions like the men with white collars and black coats do. Hence the judges have kept options open for our 15 scholars, albiet at their own cost. "Education is expensive" they might have said with a grave look just before the gavel landed with a thud.

Now comes the best part, and what follows will speak of the ingenuity of the Indian politicians who have as in the past gone down with guns a-blazing. With true soothsayer-isque powers our 15 scholars foresee trouble, and they have made an alternate proposal to visit J&K! Are they trying to convert Pune into another Dal lake? They are not telling

Now thats what I call GUTS

2006-05-06T00:39:00.000+05:30

Ever sent a chill down an ACP's spine? Read this

I used to follow all rules by the book, before I realised that I was at a disadvantage if I did. Its people like Swaroop Srinath who teach me that its not always the case!

Rock on man. Just as you wanted have linked your post.

Thus spake the Lord ...

2006-05-05T23:00:00.000+05:30

"Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child, and children will rise against their parents, and have them put to death"

The Holy Bible, Matthew 10:21

The events of the past few days and ultimately Pramod Mahajan's death have had this verse from the Bible rankling in my head. Ever since I have been hearing it at various Church readings for years, I never understood the meaning nor thought that such a thing is possible. Yes I have heard of fights about property, fistfights, a sexual abuse case, etc and what not. Shooting your brother in broad daylight, intentionally, coolly walking off; all for not being treated well? I don't think so.

Even last year when some middle aged man killed his father and buried him in the wall of his bedroom, a la 100 Days (a decent Bolly flick for its time), I refused to believe. There are psychos who do crazy things. And in a world of over 6 billion, you get all sorts of people. And then there are always the newspapers who dramatise things in such a way that the frontpage has a headline screaming 'Corpse excavated from apartment wall', in such a way you'll never know what actually happened.

Such events have been becoming extremely regular and that's what scares me. Hope that prophecy doesn't become a trend.

Think about it

2006-05-04T18:28:00.000+05:30

"In selling to poor people you have to treat them like producers and not consumers"

Think about it. It has been the reason a particular company has been extremely successful in reaching out to low-income groups and has made them and their families customers (oops!!! ... producers) for life. This statement was made by a person who has been instrumental in driving such schemes. India's rural marketing andlow-income scheme gurus might just have something to chew on here.

Errata: to an earlier post

2006-04-29T01:21:00.000+05:30

First I apologize. Many people have been asking me about the post 'The truth behind BSchool PLacements' and I have come out with revised figures. With the help of the most famous ManDevIan on pagalguy. So here goes

I revise the average post tax in hand to 35-37k (thats a hefty 20% increase). Means pre-tax you will be getting around 52-55k types. (Again as I said, its a lot of money .. but thats beside the point here)
Hence you can count 6-6.5L plus the other heads that pull it up to those numbers that newspaper reporter's love to talk about.

Have fun! and please prospective BSchoolers this was just in response to clarification. I'm not glorifying my institute here. Please do not select a BSchool based on the reported figures. Instead like the Alchemist said 'Follow your dreams! And the whole world will conspire to get you there' ;)

Have fun!