Right to freedom of speech/expression! :-)

The title of the blog speaks for itself! It has been sometime since I blogged last, part of the reason being a new job apart from the common consistent never-say-die factor governing the general inertia in life! Having said that, I have realised that the biggest threat to my blogging career is probably my lack of 'ideas'!

I was about to blog last weekend - spent good 15 minutes thinking about a topic, didn't manage to get anywhere! So has been the case today, making me question why I actually wanna blog? More so, in this world of open source (and yeah, my google backed blogger follows much the same logic), where I don't incur any cost to maintaining this blog... advertisers to blogspot make sure that burgeoning young bloggers like me don't find the incremental cost as an excuse!

So, back to square one, what do I blog about? Actually lots of stuff happening around, but nothing is worth a full post. Ahhaaaa... idea, a blog that's like a 5 minute interesting news update sounds like a plan... may be not, but more than anything else, gives me something to type without having to think...!!

Here we go: News correspondent Joseph Khanna reporting with our special guest news reader from Singapore

Politics

India' PM, Dr. Manmohan Singh has stated in his secret autobiography that Laloo Prasad Yadav should be made the next PM of India - "He has got Indian Railways to mind boggling overall profit of Rs. 11k crore and his vision would enable India to wipe out poverty, fiscal deficit, get to growth rate of 12% and overtake China by 2016". When asked to elaborate on how Laloo Prasad could get us to 'India Shining', PM Dr. Manmohan Singh said he was in high level discussions with Laloo's think tank Rabri Devi and in her view, the secret path to success would a involve step increase in India's cow and buffalo population - "Laloo kahaith hai ki bhains ka khayal rakhna chahiye... hum kahaith hain ki jitna sasuri bhainsawan ko badhaya jaye , utna desh ka bhala hoi hai"

Singapore correspondent: Cannot lah, Singapore no buffalo last time, but orredi developed.

Universe

Moving on to bigger issues surrounding us, recent discovery of relatively small objects revolving around sun have made astronomers think about the existing definition of planets. The aftermath of this discovery has made Pluto a non-planet.

This has however resulted in major discussions world around, with President Bush releasing a statement to international community - "The threat of terrorism has to be faced with courage and we stand united in this hour of need. Al Qaeda has managed to launch attacks on Pluto, severely damaging the size and solar path of Pluto. In consultation with Nasa and international community we have therefore decided to bring down the status of Pluto. These are tough and testing times for our solar system, but I request all Americans to take a white marker and change the text books of your 4th grade kids - Solar system now has 8 planets. I declare."

Astrologers world-over have reacted strongly to this change as well, with some of them claiming the relative superiority of astrology over astronomy. The International Union of Pure and Applied Astrology (IUPAA) in an official statement released "We strongly negate the view of disowning and degrading the status of Pluto in our solar system. Pluto has been a strong contributor to Astrology - whenever the bigger planets don't explain the reality, we have always believed that Pluto accounts for the difference between astrology based predictions and the real world observations. We will therefore continue to believe in the importance of Pluto for the years to come"

Singapore correspondent: Noooooo.... nooooo.... Singapore small country laah, United Nations can declare Singapore part of Malaysia orredi... Can or not? Danger laah, very lucky orredi we been till now.


Stock Market

Let's now move to our analysis of BSE Sensex - Despite higher economic growth projections, lower interest rates, Sensex went down by 4.77% points. The sudden unexpected decline has been attributed to withdrawal of FII money that has been pouring in. It is widely believed that FIIs withdraw money from Indian stock markets on Fridays so as to enjoy the weekend with luxuries ranging from a glass of wine to filling their petrol tanks for weekend trips. This was the conclusion of a very detailed behavioral pattern analysis conducted by MBA students.

Singapore correspondent: We Singaporeans invest in Fixed income only. Money lost in stock market then we cannnnoot get back. Risky lah....


Sports

In a stunning revelation to the international community, ICC president Malcom Speed has come out in open about Darrell Hair's one-time settlement offer to quit ICC's elite panel for $500,000. Further speculations surrounding the issue range from allegations of match fixing to bookies betting on Darrell Hair's future. Defending his stance in international cricket body, Darrell Hair said "I have always played the game in true spirit and my umpiring has been in line with true professional standards. I rate myself as the most committed individual to cricketing world - even Sachin Tendulkar has started to lose focus on cricket - he is probably a bit more inclined towards tennis, now that his elbow has accepted and adapted to tennis"

Singapore correspondent: I don't know lah, cable operator charges $25 per month for cricket channel.


Weather

As we move towards winter, Indian cities have started to experience temperature changes. Delhi was at a minimum of 9 degrees, maximum of 38 degrees, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai oscillating between 12 and 42 degrees. Forecast is of clear skies, except when it is cloudy.

Singapore correspondent: Yesterday my aircon thermostat failed lah, therefore temperature dropped from 24 degrees to 22 degrees in my room. Too cold lah, Singapore very costly, cannot buy blanket also... For weather forecast, we divided Singapore into 26 zones with individual temperate and expected rain fall in the next 24 hours. But no time to tell lah in this short news... I orredi told the news agency that I don't like short news.... last time also cannot...

Launching "driving and autoworld" blog!

Announcing the launch of a very special blog for all driving and auto world enthusiasts!:
http://autodrivezerocool.blogspot.com/

As the name suggests, the primary objective of the blog is to discuss and document driving tehniques along with the latest in the auto world.

This primary blog, would however continue to be a bit of "post just about anything in here" kinda stuff!

'Reservation system' - can it ever be reversed?

This post is something about which I have very strong views, but I shall restrict my comments to purely objective statements, as far as possible.

'Reservation' system needs no introduction - be it admission to colleges/univs, jobs, etc, etc, it is something we have learned to live with. The idea behind this 'once upon a time' noble step was to get our caste-based society to some level of equality. In principle, I totally agree with this view and I stand committed to doing my bit to make sure that as a society, we get there.

However, in my view, this now has become a tool to influence vote bank, with little analysis behind what is the 'right level of quota'. Anyways, the objective of this blog is not to criticize, but to find a solution to this issue, given the current situation and constraints acting on the decision makers/society.

My friend, Ranga forwarded this article published on rediff by Prof. T. Pradeep of IIT-Madras:

Click here to view article

My post is greatly influenced by the article above. I totally agree with the view that ‘one opportunity’ in life is sufficient to make a difference. Prof Pradeep has suggested an IT based solution of providing each individual with unique identification number – this is as close as we can get to being practical about this problem.

Zooming out, lets consider another parallel problem faced by Indian society and economy – that of corruption. But somehow, I think, in the years to come, corruption is not going to matter that much. Two factors make me believe that corruption is not the biggest challenge anymore:

1. Privatisation of economy – right from roads, airlines, banks, grocery, etc – influence of public sector in day today life has decreased a lot and this trend is likely to continue in future. So, corruption, in absolute terms might continue to grow, but will mean lesser and lesser for all of us.
2. IT – Data based computer systems have reduced complexities and have increased accountability – this has helped reduce corruption as well in government services.

Now, can a similar logic work with ‘reservation system’? Answer would have been ‘yes’ if reservations were restricted to government colleges, government jobs, etc. Unfortunately, the decision makers in this case happen to benefit the most – vote bank counts and matters the most. Even with the most pure and noble intentions, a good party/prime minister has to remain in his position so as to make a difference. One easy way to influence the vote bank is to give incentives, a perfectly logical and correct way to do things in the world of economics and political science.

Given this background, I think, it is difficult to imagine why government at centre would ever take any step to rectify this problem. This is where, I think, 'judiciary' has to step in. Supreme Court has changed a city as big as ‘Delhi’. 5 years back, I used to get dehydrated in Delhi – not ‘coz of the heat, but the pollution used to leave my eyes with constant irritation and tears!! Now, Delhi is so much better – the CNG enforcement, Euro and Bharat Stage norms have changed the city – credit goes to Supreme Court for the way Delhi is today.

The judiciary needs to step in once again. This time, not to give a verdict, but to lay down a policy on reservation – it can be based on Prof. Pradeep’s suggestions of 25 years horizon with one opportunity per person OR Supreme Court can have its own team/ committee to solve this issue. It might take them months to collect data, put forward a view, debate, but all this is worth in larger long term interest of our nation. Till then, I will continue to sign petitions…

The Road Ahead

I am an hour away from starting my drive down to Mumbai. Chennai-Mumbai, a distance of ~1,450 kms, I look to cover in two days with a night halt in Hyderabad.

It's all set, for once I have packed my stuff well in advance! The fuel tank is full, car serviced, maps ghoted/mugged, etc. But there is more to this drive than pure logistics.

It's my first long drive with Swift. There will be a bit of adjustments required before I feel absolutely 'in the zone' on highway. I am just about to getting used to the gear ratios and engine of Swift - a bit of a difference from Santro that I am used to driving on highways. Will probably take me a couple of hours upfront to get it right.

This drive is also important for my long term driving ambitions. In some vague corner of my dreams, I wanna break the current world record of 'around the world in 42 days by road'. That's a lot of driving and I myself know how difficult that ambition is. This drive to Mumbai and back will help me sort this conundrum to some level of comfort.

If I don't get bored and tired of driving 1450 kms in 2 days, that will be like one step towards the world record ambition. Still would remain a distant dream, but yeah, I will probably feel a bit more confident about it.

The other possible outcome is that I might just understand that World Records are World Records and I probably need to practical about things. I might decide to forget the time factor to the record and keep the aim to 'Round the world' - that would still be 40,000 kms approximately. I might get a bit more realistic and get it further down to Asia trip or a notch lower to sub continent trip. I don't think, covering India would ever be an issue. Anyways, I shall revisit my driving ambitions after this trip.

It's almost time for me to get started. I shall keep the long term goals aside and for now, it's one day, one drive. As I always remind myself about any long drive, it's not speed that matters, it's consistency and ability to drive long hours that the differentiating factor. For I know and remember the 'thought for the day' that my teacher made me say in 4th standard morning assembly:

"A journey of thousand miles, begins with a single step..."

The Unfordriven...

Have been thinking of posting something on this for sometime now. This post is gonna be on diving, rather on drivers - a special dedication to the new Silver Swift :-)

I am a bit out of my creative power (watever!), so will try the old tested technique of 'plagiarism'! This post has been 'inspired' by 'The Unforgiven', by Metallica... here we go:

....

The Unfordriven...

New driver joins this road
and quickly he's subdued
through constant horns disgrace
a young driver learns their rules


with time the driver draws in
these gear shifts have gone wrong
deprived of all his routes
a young driver struggles on and on he's known
a vroooom of his own
that never what they say
try driving the wrong way


what I've braked
what I've steered
never tired of stop and go
never fast
never slow
read what speedometer might show


what I've braked
what I've steered
never tired of stop and go
never 1st
never 5th
so I dub thee unfordriven



cylinders blast their lives
to running all of his
spark plugs fire them all
acceleration is all he needs
throughout his highway drive
he's throttled constantly
this race he cannot win
the better cars out there overtake
the new driver then prepares
to learn it again…
that new driver here is me


what I've braked
what I've steered
never tired of stop and go
never fast
never slow
read what speedometer might show


what I've braked
what I've steered
never tired of stop and go
never 1st
never 5th
so I dub thee unfordriven

repeat above

vroom o vroom...

never fast
never slow
so I dub thee unfordriven
you overtook me
I'll overtake you
so I dub thee unfordriven


never 1st
never 5th
so I dub thee unfordriven
you overtook me
I'll overtake you
so I dub thee unfordriven

….

For complete version of the original song: click here

Strategies to successful... ehhh... career?

At the end of the day, 'Communication', they say is what differentiates good from average, exceptional from just about okay, average from pathetic! The way 'raw facts' or in most cases 'no facts' are 'positioned' can tilt the balance of perception to any of the grades ranging from pathetic to average to good to exceptional!

I am a big believer of 'making this world a better place' and thereby, I wish to make my contribution public today. Please do remember to take a leaf out of this post - trust me, it is useful in every sphere of professional life - for a junior trying to defend his work (or lack of it) at office, someone looking for guidance on presenting to top management or to 'work around' with tough questions from the client! Without any further adieu, ladies and gentlemen, let me present the statements that can make our dull careers successful.

Disclaimer: If you are one of those backed by the relentless desire to be sincere in doing work, then please stay away!! For rest of us, these are very useful statements - in more ways than one, these are 'platform independent' - you can use them in almost any context!

Situation 1: When you have done some work, but it is far from complete

"This piece of analysis is interesting..." take a pause, count 1,2,3 internally and then repeat "it is interesting..." with a nod of head, this time!

"I agree with what Mark has said, my analysis shows similar leading trends..." now, with a look to Mark that conveys "well done mate!"

"I lost all my project files last night. Since then, I have managed to get to this stage of work... I am quick, I know! But the work I had done till yesterday evening had all possible details.. lost it all, Jeeezuz...!"

Situation 2: When you have absolutely no clue to what Mr. Boss is talking about.

"...that, in my view is dot on... I would have guessed the same..."

"...my workstream is so exciting, there are multiple ways of looking at this and I am in process of getting to the answer, looking at different dimensions in a situation that is changing dynamically... let me get back to you by tomorrow afternoon..."

"... the data is inconsistent..."

"I have actually managed to speed up on this... does tomorrow afternoon sound like a plan to discuss this?"

Situation 3: High level client/top management meetings!

"There is a huge potential to create value, unleash synergies and move up the value chain..."

"We did a lot of ground work, this presentation is only to discuss steps that would impact the project most..."

Now, two words that can be like 'wow':

"I think", well it has to be said in a different way "Aaai thiiieenk..." followed by a pause of 3 seconds, look at everyone around and people would react back with "I get that... amazing stuff"

.........

Hope this was useful! Please do experiment and let me know if it works! However, I wish you luck! :-)

To ghot or guss?

This post is special, one that I would probably read a few years down the line as well. Last few months have been a bit rough, at most times crazy, but this post is to register this moment, when finally, I think, it has started to get better. Not by any means any big reason to celebrate, but, on incremental basis, may be it's just about getting better.

As I look back at the recent past - last one year or so - there is a bit of learning that I want to pick up before putting it all behind. I will try having a perspective on most things once I am out of this phase of introspection, but there is one thing that comes to my mind as I look at the big picture.

Two extreme words, denoting two ends of thought structure, have started to make equal sense to me. In the past, I have often used these words in a lighter vein, however I am beginning to understand how inter-related these two otherwise polar opposite words are:

Ghot: Originally used for academics, equivalent being 'mug' or simply 'study hard'. In my own lingo, I have used it for any situation that requires some bit of effort and a bit of 'fight'. In cricketing world, ghot is what denotes the way Dravid bats, more so on pitches where it is seaming and bouncing a bit.

Guss: Near synonym of this word is probably "take it easy" and on the extreme side "give up". More importantly, it denotes a bit of attitude, where as an individual, you don't get bogged down by pressure and take it easy.

Exact definition is not as important as the thought and more importantly, a sense of which way to go in pressing circumstances. I have been a big believer of ghot almost all the way through, as there are very strong advantages of being in this mental state:

1. Success and effort are positively correlated
2. Having tried hard, is sometimes satisfaction enough when results don't meet expectations

Having mentioned the positives, research has shown that two of the biggest driver of high stress levels are 1) Uncertainty of future 2)Expectation mismatch and I totally agree to this. So, while the state of 'ghot' has all the positives mentioned above, it does result in higher stress levels - probably not a factor to worry or ponder over in normal circumstances, but in extreme situations, stress can get to a region of discomfort.

On the other hand, the mental state of 'guss' has little upside - to not put in effort when external factors favor oneself is nearly criminal. However, when the pendulum has swung the other way, when suddenly success has lesser relevance than immediate instincts of 'hanging in there', then probably 'guss' is not that bad a choice. It would in many ways help in reducing stress levels and probably in being patient enough for better times.

As I confess, I have in more ways than one, though 'ghot' is the way to go. However, as I look back, I think I have started to appreciate the relative importance of 'guss'. Being in a state of 'guss', might have helped me to look at things in a better way, see the lighter side to things probably and that would have made a tough phase rather smooth.

So, is a complete shift required? I look to answer this in the time to come. However, my guess is not. Probably, I need to continue with 'ghot', but make sure that at the back of my mind, I know that 'guss' is probably a way to look at things when the things get tough - if not for long duration of time, atleast short time span spent in state of 'guss' might just help to relax and get the composure back. It's so much about having an option that is like:

If externalities > threshold of being good, then 'ghot', else 'guss' for sometime and ghot again!

However, I continue to look for a better solution to this riddle... for now, gusssss... as I get back to the song I have been listening all day - "It's been a while" by Staind