=I have problems at office that are not easy to resolve =The society I live in has around 30-40 flats but has a big association which struggles to resolve issues =Look at how badly Lehman, GM and other such companies have been managed, supposedly by some of the most intelligent people =I have seen corruption in corporate sector; People are limited only by opportunity, and now =Imagine the problems and contradictions a Prime Minister has to resolve
It is not easy to manage problems, but given the increasing complexities we need to put more efforts tomorrow than we have put today. Is our government doing it? I am not sure.
Look at the Indian Order of Precedence. Of the top 5 positions, 1 is nominated; 3 are indirectly elected; and 1 a retired position. The President and the Vice President positions are almost nominations by the ruling alliance. Anyone can become a PM without getting elected (but has to get elected within 6 months - it is fine even if elected from Rajya Sabha). And we know about our Governors.
Bharat Ratna awardees rank higher than many elected representatives and key positions like CAG / CEC. The last 3 Bharat Ratna awardees are from performing arts background. Look at the number of politicians in the list. Amartya Sen was given Bharat Ratna a year after he was awarded Nobel Prize.
The Congress spokesperson, Abhishek Singhvi, was proudly announcing on NDTV that the Congress party has indeed taken action; why should people crib if it took 2-3 days to take action. After all, BJP had not done so before.He was referring to removing one Central Minister and one Chief Minister. Barkha Dutt kept nodding!
What did Gandhi do when he felt that an illegitimate government was imposing unreasonable taxes. He refused to pay taxes and courted incarceration.
While our governments are not illegitimate (we elected them; didn't we?), there are issues we all have with our governments (centre and states). Taxes are unreasonable, but what is more unreasonable is the way in which taxes are spent.
Are NCM & CDM the solutions as being discussed by various people / groups
PS: Non-cooperation Movement & Civil Disobedience Movement
I do not support Pakistan, which focusses less on its economy and more on things that will only bleed its economy; but I do not support the view that we attack Pakistan.
We were not able to nab Veerappan for a long long time; we have many naxalites roaming in India, but we are not able to nab them. Not necessarily because we do not want to, but because we cannot.
Can we for a moment pause to think - perhaps, perhaps, Pakistan State is not able to nab these LeT, etc guys, not necessarily not willing to.
War is avoidable, even if we have proof that Pakistan State is sponsoring terrorism. We should let international community know this and work towards putting Pressure on Pakistan through negative sanctions.
Nation born out of non-violence should not resort to violence.
PS: Columbian drug lord, Pablo Escobar, avoided both Columbian Police / Army and the US Delta Force for a long time.
I am actually scared about empowering police in India, without some preparatory work. I will not be surprised if police uses its new powers to pick up people randomly and demand ransom for release. Not that it cannot do it now; but some fear of judiciary and public act as deterrents. Police should be empowered, but only after the recruitment processes are streamlined; training systems are overhauled; and salaries are hiked.
PS:
1. Police is no match for a terrorist, because, as has been pointed out by many, a terrorist has to be right only once; police has to be right every time.
2. The kind and methods of brain-washing of people who convert to terrorism are so thorough that it will be difficult to get the same passion & energy into Police.
told Ayn Rand long ago. We cannot control what others, including the State, will do. All we can do is control our actions and responses to others' actions.
I, for one, would like to spend maximum time in improving my intelligence and financial position (without getting distracted by all the rhetoric around). I therefore get better equipped to handle / respond to others' actions better. This apart from contributing higher taxes, employing more people (cook/maid/driver,etc), buying more things, saving more,etc - all of which contribute to improving economy and someone else's life.
Since I have no control over what others (including terrorists) can do, I will leave what will happen of me because of others' random actions / black swan events to pure chance.
Was talking to a person who worked in the Home department of a state governement. When he began his stint in the Home Department, the department used to action on every intelligence report. Say, an intelligence report stating that a mall in a city could be attacked will be actioned by sending police to all malls in that city, beefing up checks, etc. After 2 months, the department realized that all intelligent reports were vague and almostall times proved to be wrong. In the process of responding to intelligence reports, the State was tiring itself both financially and mentally.
As Swaminathan points out in his column, Al Qaeda wants to weaken US financially before it starts doing serious work. The primary modus operandi is by putting intelligence and state forces on a wrong path.
Most of the intelligence reports get into a file after some 10 government officials sign on it. Not necessarily because they do not care, but because they cannot act on these.
PS:
1. Hopefully, this is one of such attempts by terrorists to fool rather than to act.
2. That our government is quite incapable, I do not have slightest doubts.
3. Not that we cannot take preventive action - say, national ID cards is something that can help. I am sure our IT companies can provide a robust software to start this; we have enough manpower to get this done in 6 months.
4. I somehow tend not to believe these "near-miss" stories.
5. Is one a hero only if he dies? What about the rest who fought but survived (not sure if it was because of just luck or if they were smarter)
Have we ever thought about Pakistan's side of the story about our dividing it into two? Sri Lanka and LTTE's side of the story about our first funding LTTE and later sending IPKF to finish off LTTE? What Godhra victims have to tell? What dalits have to tell about systemic denial of access to education, health, etc for over 2000 years? what J&K people have to tell about Nehru's refusal to conduct Plebiscite, but using the exact opposite argument to annex Gujarat into India?
These are just a few examples. Each experience has a story to tell. It is incorrect to assume that truth is on one side. Budha said this long ago - middle path and that truth lies in between - but then when did we listen to good people?
It always amazed me how consulting firms sold work – they would advise other firms on how to cut costs, improve revenues, reorganize, demerge, acquire, shut down, relocate, launch products, replace CEOs, reconstitute boards, what-not-and-what-more. It amazed me more that not many of the client firms asked these consulting firms of their track record of managing themselves. One look at the consulting industry, we would see that many of these consulting firms have themselves struggled to grow. Now that many of the top banks, which have been advised by consulting firms at one time or the other, have gone down, what does consulting firms have to say? Maybe something like this… we made good money when the going was good!
Advice is fine; execution is king.
PS: Yes. I still remember that I was once, for a short while though, a consultant.
Many people in the world suffer in the current situation and have no choices. But what do you say about those who have many, surely better, choices but continue to be what / where they are?
Al Desco -Describes any meal eaten at your desk (you have our sympathies if it's dinner).
ALAP -As Late As Possible
Blamestorming - Meeting to discuss a failure and find a scapegoat
Deja moo - The nagging feeling that you've heard this B.S. before
Enail - An email sent for the sole purpose of making a point in writing, usually at another person's expense. Most effective when cc'ed to as many senior people as possible Facipulate - An unfortunate mix of 'facilitate' and 'manipulate', this contrived verb refers to influencing the course of a discussion by indirectly promoting particular lines of thought
FUBAR-F***ed Up Beyond All Repair
Head shunting - The secret hiring of a head hunter to persuade an ineffectual employee to take a position at another firm. Nicely eliminates the mess of having to fire someone
These are a few samples from the new / interesting jargon at the office life
Every life has moments - good and bad (as defined by self).
We all long to relive those good moments. As life progresses, why is there a desperation to relive; why is there dwindling hope that good times may be in short supply.
Is it good to try and relive good moments or just to remember them and feel good?
I am always plagued by philosophical questions. These questions seem to have no relevance in the materialistic life that I live, but at the end of the day, when my head strikes the pillow, these questions or rather my answers to these questions make the transition to sleep that much easier.
Are we what others allow us to be as Dilbert's blog says. Or are others (and the entire world) what we imagine them to be? Both appear to be true. Others' expectation of us has a gravity like force on us bending our personality to suit what is expected. Similarly, We influence similar force, albeit not easily noticed, on others to change them meet our expectations.
Further, I also tend to believe, we judge us by our own standards, and others also by our own standards. Whereas, others are judging themselves by their own standards. This difference in perception is what causes difference of opinion and usually a major cause of rift between people living together.
There are many movies / books available online for free. Am I wrong if I downloaded a movie without paying anything? Or is the person who is making them available (for free) wrong?
I am aware of the incentives of those who sell pirated CDs/DVDs and books. I am not sure of what incentives, at least financial/economic, are available for those that make available movies,/books online for download.
PS: apparently, Microsoft is okay with piracy, as it has positive externality.
Capt. Raghu Raman (of Mahindra Special Services) was at ISB during our times at ISB. He had worked at Siachen. He asked us a simple question - why do jawans work so hard at Siachen and such other godforsaken places. Mind you, they get paid peanuts for such work. Many people said patriotism and such like. He said, respect for boss/leader as the principal reason. I would assume, also money, however little it is, as an equally important reason.
Patrotism is not about standing up to national anthem. Nor is it supporting one's cricket team. What are you patriotic to. A country? What is a country? I would like to believe that a country is its people.
I believe that if you are patriotic, one thing that you need to do is work hard. Earn a lot of money. Pay taxes; spend money; employ people- give them salaries; and invest a little bit in the form financial instruments. Don't hoard gold or be stingy.
More people will, thus, be better off. You will be patriotic - to the people and thus to the country.
PS: a lots of money is not necessarily a corollary of hard work; other error factors play a role. but to make money, there is no other consistent alternative.
1. High EMIs, thanks to education loans taken to complete MBA program 2. Giving up job / attending the program makes one realize the consequences of risk taking behavior 3.A good post-MBA job (and career) which makes further risk taking unnecessary 4. One gets to know too much to let gut/intuition takeover decision making 5. Family is not willing to go along
Had an opportunity to attend a 9-day management development program at IIMA. Was keen to go there for two reasons - (1) refresh some management concepts (too early to do that as ISB dean told me- but then, my memory is not as robust) and (2) check what IIMA was all about (needed, since IIMA was like a classic - everyone talks about it but no one has ever read it. For ISBians, that is).
While I was not all gung-ho about going there, many, rather most, of my colleagues were. The brand equity of IIMA is indeed strong. The profs and staff there were not expecting anything less than awe from all of us.
IIMA had both its goods and bads. Some Profs were good; some were as everywhere poor. The accounting prof. was good. Thought cannot compare him with Prof Mark Finn, he had a different way to looking at accounting problems.
The director, with whom we had a short interaction, was brilliant. His way of approaching a subject was great - go straight to the fundamentals that affect the subject, interrelate them, and then we had the understanding of the subject. We discussed inflation, banking sector, oil prices, etc.
The campus was very large (guess free land allotted by the govt.). Cannot compare with ISB campus, which is so very better. IIMA's gym is surely better. Food sucked (and we used to crib about ISB canteen food!).
On the last day, I got an IIMA alumni t-shirt. But I will never wear that. I never belonged there.
I had earlier written about some developments on the career & personal front.
I have been elevated to a Regional Head position. I am also moving my base to Bangalore.
4 cities in less than 2 years. While I am happy about this elevation & relocation, I am also disturbed by the frequent relocation. Surprisingly, I am happy not because I am leaving Chennai. There a few things in Chennai which are pretty good, rather better than any other city in India.
PS:
-Many people have raised objections to ESH which I had written about in my previous post. Will write my views and justification in the next post. - I also need to write about Chennai; this time, positive things. I lived one year of my life here; I owe it to the city.
(1) Current Market Price of a stock includes all information that is relevant to the stock; nothing more can be known to our advantage, says Efficient Market Hypothesis.
Efficient Salary Hypothesis says that the salary (rather CTC) offered to a candidate has all the information. It says everything about the type, quality, size, etc of the job. No point complaining that the salary the other guy got is good, but job description is not so; or the salary I am getting is low but job is good, etc, etc. The higher the salary, the better the job. Period.
(2) Taare Zameen Par - What a movie! I could so much relate to Ishaan. I was punished (corporal punishment was so rampant then) by all the teachers that ever taught me. I still remember those demons, err, teachers - Emmanuel, Anasuya, Bharti, Joseph, Laxmi, Augustine....and many more. No, I do not think I was dyslexic, but I never had any interest in the schools and what was being taught there. The best rank I ever got during the entire schooling was some 13/45.
PS: - Anasuya used to wear watch to her right hand. She always removed her watch before she started beating up someone. I was her favorite when it came to beating up. - Emmanuel had one of the broadest fingers and roughest palms. It used to hurt badly. - Joseph used to pinch till it bled (guess, he was the other type). - Bharti used to bring two heads of students and knock them together. - How about getting hit on the knuckles with the edges of a wood-made measuring scale. Or kneeling on sand for hours.
=New year is here. No resolutions for me. Because, don't see how a random date would be able to suddenly make me resolute. That said, I am not going to take days as they come by. Suffice it to say that there would be some planning.
=Travelling, particularly negotiating the airports, is kinda making me sick. Last year I started travel on Jan 2nd. This year I travelled on Jan 1st itself. Indicative of things to come.
=On the career front, there has been a positive development [ will write about it shortly]. As a corollary, it would lead to some positive development on the personal front.
Ownership is a strange fascination. Usually, the obsession with owning a house is more than being in a rented house. The obsession of owning an independent house is more than owning a flat.
A research proves that, over one's life, one is financially better off being in a rented house than owning one. This is easily verified by the property prices Vs rentals. The capital investment to own a house / flat in a large city is pretty high; whereas the returns (rentals) are hardly inspiring.
Still, we would like to own an independent house; if not, then at least own a flat. Ownership of Land, along with religion and sex, qualifies as the ultimate opium.
PS: As an aside, a lady or a gentleman would, most times than not, give up a lover than the spouse, as spouse represents ownership.
