tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-88664870416911562272024-02-07T14:52:01.249+05:30My Wall.... and My GraffitiThe blog is a medium of self-expression, on topics relevant to the times.Parasuramhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01538739682961597784noreply@blogger.comBlogger41125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8866487041691156227.post-62148651457538181852010-04-17T12:26:00.001+05:302010-04-17T13:04:59.737+05:3010 things I miss from TV in the 90s<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">This discussion actually started off as a minor chatter on the balcony of our hostel a couple of weeks back. As our academic calendar draws to a close and every body is reminiscing about the good old days, we decided to <i>really</i> step into the past and pick up 10 things from the 90s television we would love to have in our lives once again. This is the list which we discussed after 2 hours of non-stop, non-utilitarian discussion and does not appear in any order of preference. So here goes:<b> </b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>1. Chitrahaar and Rangoli:</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.hamaraforums.com/uploads/post-8009-1228884165.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="128" src="http://www.hamaraforums.com/uploads/post-8009-1228884165.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><b> </b>Our weekly dose of Bollywood was limited to these to programs. My guess is Chitrahaar was on Wednesdays and then moved to Fridays.. and then again moved back to Wednesday evenings but Rangoli was part of Sunday morning breakfast ritual. <i>Dahi-jalebi</i> with Rangoli... yummy!!! or in winters... watching Rangoli while hiding inside the <i>razai</i>.<br />
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<b>2. Byomkesh Bakshi:</b><br />
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The <i>baap</i> of all "who-dunnit" serials in the world. The serial involved a complicated mix of medicine, chemistry, logical analysis and intuition, all the while keeping the audience on the edge of their seats. While many people might consider it as the Eastern rip-off of Sherlock Holmes.. with the doctor accomplice but to me it is probably one of the best detective series ever made, with a very simple production backing strong stories and some great acting.<br />
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<b>3. Surabhi:</b><br />
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The Sistine Chapel of Indian TV's cultural revolution. Only person who could have rivalled Siddarth Kak in popularity might have been Arun Govil (who played Ram in Ramayan) but Renuka Shahane with her broad grin and emphatic <i>namaskar</i> was miles ahead of any female on Indian TV at that time in popularity. The show brought many cultures, many cuisines, sight and surroundings into the Indian middle class household for the first time, taking us on exotic travels and fuelling dreams of far and wide for many of us. That and of course, the huge number of postcards they used to receive for their TV competition, leading to the launch of the Rs3 special postcard by the Postal department. Some oppurtunism that !!!<br />
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<b>4. Potli Baba Ki, Baloo (Talespin) and Duck Tales:</b><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i37.tinypic.com/2hgwu46.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://i37.tinypic.com/2hgwu46.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><a href="http://e.imagehost.org/0801/Talespin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://e.imagehost.org/0801/Talespin.jpg" width="200" /></a><br />
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</div><i>Bachha</i> time now. Sundays 10 to 11.30 am were reserved for the kids of India, with the dubbed versions of Disney cartoons playing out on the small screen<b>. </b>While Baloooo was serenading his boss, Uncle Scrooge and his 3 nephews were always out on some crazy adventure involving mummies and genies, making our Sundays all the more fun.<br />
This generation was followed by legends like Daanu the Danasur..of chipkali ke nana fame!!!<br />
<b>5. Alif Laila: </b><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://webmallindia.com/img/film/hin/alif_laila.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://webmallindia.com/img/film/hin/alif_laila.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>The pre-cursor to all those special effect serials that we now see on TV. Ramanand Sagar was immortalised by Ramayan, which was said to have brought the whole country to a stand still. But Alif Laila has a charm of its own. Right from its opening soundtrack to all those crazy sounds and special effects. Not to mention the fact that it had some of the more scantily dressed female protagonists for its times. With all the <i>djinns</i>, <i>pari</i> and <i>shaitans</i>, the serial would take us down a never ending path of fantasy and magic, with the good triumphs evil message splattered all across the storyline.<br />
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<b>6. Shanti:</b><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.discusstv.com/gallery/data/media/60/Mandira_Bedi_in__as_Shanti_6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="160" src="http://www.discusstv.com/gallery/data/media/60/Mandira_Bedi_in__as_Shanti_6.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><br />
UTV Pictures presents Shanti...Shantiiii... Shantiiiiiiiii.....<br />
After the baap of who-dunnits, we have the grand momma of all the modern day tear jerkers. In a convoluted plot of an illegitimate child, avenging a rape on a decaying family housing an underworld don as its servant, while the family itself is in self-destruct mode, our country's Lady Cricket Mandy Baby rocked the world with her reporter<i>-giri </i>and <i>badle ki aag</i> for Kamesh Mahadevan and Raj G J Singh. Bhandari with his crazy underworld act and finger-tapping dialogs and Nanu Jasoos were essential props to the Shanti success story.<br />
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<b> </b><b>7. Nukkad/Mr. Yogi/Mungeri Lal ke Haseen Sapne:</b><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmqHMuc75oVqp6EZcVgUPtKt818yXIUq8QJ69myEFd5wlFpisvFXYt6mOOQaMHnNvkp8Si1tWoE1h8S_WlstkxD_E0OooKINUagli1a5XkBKk7Gp0cRjs0tZIMEmXHGL_ix11u7ElTZLI/s1600/scan0002.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="161" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmqHMuc75oVqp6EZcVgUPtKt818yXIUq8QJ69myEFd5wlFpisvFXYt6mOOQaMHnNvkp8Si1tWoE1h8S_WlstkxD_E0OooKINUagli1a5XkBKk7Gp0cRjs0tZIMEmXHGL_ix11u7ElTZLI/s200/scan0002.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><a href="http://www.screenindia.com/old/20020607/grfx/tvc1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="138" src="http://www.screenindia.com/old/20020607/grfx/tvc1.jpg" width="200" /></a><br />
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We hark back to the time when comedy did not mean stand up comedians dishing out corny one liners full of double entendre. Good clean humour, involving Mungeri's day dreaming, day to day happenings at the nukkad or the eteral search for his bride for Mr. Yogi (unsuccessfully ripped off in Wats your Rashee!!) is still a treat for the mind after a taxing days work.<b></b><br />
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<b>8. Archaic ads of Laxman Sylvania, Link Locks and Nirma Detergent:</b><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.superbrandsindia.com/images/superbrands_book_2004/nirma/nirma-girl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.superbrandsindia.com/images/superbrands_book_2004/nirma/nirma-girl.jpg" width="153" /></a></div>Everytime I see a bikini clad woman walking ashore for advertising JK Cement (the seriously WTF ad of the century!!!... if only sex and sleaze could sell everything) I am reminded of the Laxman Sylvania ad .."arre wo Ram Laxman wala bulb dena" or else the legendary Nirma gal or Link locks... featuring never seen before animation..where a filing rod is being used to break the lock and instead the rod breaks with lots of sparks flying around it!!! Simple, almost laughable and yet we are able to atleast relate the ad to the product.. Some times I wonder if we people have progressed o degenerated mentally!!!<br />
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<b>9. Dekh Bhai Dekh/ Sarabhai vs Sarabhai/ Tu Tu Main Main:</b><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.startv.in/images/showimages/large/sarabhai.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="138" src="http://www.startv.in/images/showimages/large/sarabhai.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><a href="http://myagic.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/dekhbhaidekh.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://myagic.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/dekhbhaidekh.jpg" width="200" /></a><br />
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The second generation of comedy serials, featuring up market families and primarily aired on the DD Metro network. DBD was a legend in itself with Deven Bhojani and Shekhar Suman pulling of comedy scenes with aplomb while <i>Rosesh Sarabhai ki sadi hui kavitaon ka kya kehna. </i><b> </b>Sachin created the first ever <i>saas-bahu</i> item on Indian TV and all Indian male population would agree that it was million times better than the stuff being dished out now. Goooooooooooood ollldddddd daysssssss of laughter Momma!!!<br />
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<b>10. Ajnabee:</b><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://img.youtube.com/vi/vUqhNh7Gm4c/0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://img.youtube.com/vi/vUqhNh7Gm4c/0.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><br />
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My favorite army serial, featured Danny and some other leading actors and was about the life in terror stricken Kashmir... one of my favorite characters was a terrorist name Shakoor Rana, who could generate enormous hatred and revulsion through his cool attitude and devilish dialogs. No over hyped, false bearded terrorists as in Sunny <i>paaji's </i>movies. Just plain and simple story.. and yeah the opening sound track was good too.<br />
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So this is my list of 10 things which I hope would come back on TV and I can be happy again. Ofcourse, we discussed many other candidates like Hum Log and Buniyaad ( of which I have no great recollection!!), Vikram Betaal, Shaktimaan and Chandrakanta, Captain Vyom (I am sure this suggestion was more sarcastic than genuine!!) and the legendary Ramayan and Mahabharat. But I am sticking to these ten things... do let me know in case I am missing something else!!!Parasuramhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01538739682961597784noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8866487041691156227.post-67500794350225434072010-02-02T23:02:00.003+05:302010-02-02T23:14:34.257+05:30A case in favor of abolishing Valentine's Day!!!Unlike other posts, I am not wasting any time before coming to the topic. This time of the year is certainly one of the most stressful to me and to many others of my ilk.<br />
As soon as India finishes observing a minute's silence to remember Gandhiji's martyrdom, the next big thing on the agenda for everyone is Valentine's Day. But why so, I must ask??<br />
Yours truly is leading a solitary life and my relationship status is well-publicised among my friends and yet, I have already been bombarded with a substantial set of queries asking about my plans on V-day. Further, what is with these colors and how can a color really be used to indicate "if I am on the market"?? Every time somebody asks me the question ..so what color are you wearing this V-day... I am reminded of a stupid gimmick many ppl carried out on social media to increase awareness about breast cancer. Only I am not sure what is more embarassing.. flashing my underwear color on social media or wearing my relationship status all over my physical existence on V-Day. To an average bachelor residing in a hostel, managing two clean pieces of clothing is tricky enough, without the additional of complexity of colors conveying your love life's deepest secrets.<br />
I googled out this whole color coding phenomenon and I am listing here the most popular connotations of colors:<br />
<ul><li><b><span style="color: royalblue;"> Blue- I’m free</span></b></li>
<li> <b><span style="color: darkolivegreen;">Green- I’m waiting</span></b></li>
<li style="color: #f1c232;"><b>Orange- going to propose</b></li>
<li><b><span style="color: magenta;">Pink- accepted just now!!!</span></b></li>
<li> <b><span style="color: black;">Black- proposal rejected</span></b></li>
<li> <b><span style="color: silver;">White- already booked</span></b></li>
<li> <b><span style="color: yellow;">Yellow- broke up!!!</span></b></li>
<li> <b><span style="color: grey;">Gray- not interested…</span></b></li>
<li><b><span style="color: red;"> Red- leave me</span></b></li>
</ul><span style="color: black;">While I am not contesting these codes, I do have some questions in my mind. Does a deeper shade of RED mean a strong "leave me" as in "dont even think about it!!" or did the people wearing PINK keep it as spare, just in case, and just got lucky?? On the whole this entire coding business is driving us back to racial discrimination in its most sophisticated form, differentiating people on the basis of color. </span><br />
<span style="color: black;"> Imagine the scenario, you enter a pub and see a person wearing BLACK or YELLOW, do you really want to sit near this character and hear their sob story (my gender neutrality begs appreciation here!!).On the other hand, you probably want to sit next to a PINKy person and try to grab to a free drink or two as celebration. Bingo... discrimination on the basis of color!!! (Me thinks, worse would be actually landing up next to an ORANGE and end up as his dress rehearsal partner...take that!!)</span><br />
<span style="color: black;">Now that socially essential arguments have been put forward, let me come down to the more personal/emotional arguments.</span><br />
<span style="color: black;">The two broad lines of argument on this topic are as follows:</span><br />
<ol><li><span style="color: black;">this is a day for all the lovers to celebrate Love (almost as if its Diwali!!)</span></li>
<li><span style="color: black;">this is a day for all the others to find Love</span></li>
</ol><span style="color: black;">Now lets rip them apart systematically.</span><br />
<span style="color: black;">Argument 1 is nonsense. Don't all lovers make/create/manufacture/concoct love for the remaining 364 days of the year. Its not like Diwali when you are bombarded with sweets and crackers for just that one day. We, the single, have been painful witnesses to your public cuddling, kootchi-cooing and what not!!! So don't tell me that you are celebrating Love on that particular day and abstain on the other days of the year. And what the hell.. when did you folks ever need a reason to gift a teddy bear, a chocolate box or watever else is in vogue now!!! Just don't call it the festival of Love...and to think that you are actually celebrating <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentine%27s_Day#Saint_Valentine">somebody's death</a>!!!</span><br />
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<span style="color: black;">Argument 2 is offensive. Nobody, take it from me NOBODY, ever finds love during Valentine's day. Not only does it provide false hope to the usual-suspects of solitary living, it also gives the whole romance thing a marketplace atmosphere, feeding on supply and demand. You are either already in love and the mass hysteria is helping you express it or you are just feeling the peer pressure of not being found alone (screw the subtlety, without arm candy!!). In the first case you get your hindside kicked and in the second case you are in deep $h&t with either a wrong decision or worse, a compromise!!! Anyways, in case any of you thinks that it is possible to find love on Valentine's Day, this is what I have to say on it:</span><br />
<span style="color: black;"> <i>Planning to find love on Valentine's Day is like selling notional <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Futures_contract">futures contract</a> in love. You will most probably end up squaring up your positions in the spot market!!!</i></span><br />
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<span style="color: black;"> </span>Thus, having successfully and single handedly, sounded the alarm bell on Valentine Day celebrations, I request the powers that be to abolish the celebration of V-Day thus, protecting the society from racial hatred and keeping the population on a realistic leash of romanticism.<br />
My Lord, I thereby rest my case!!!<br />
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P.S. Now time for something useful:<br />
Check out this <a href="http://www.blogger.com/%20http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#/group.php?gid=274674424861">new cool Facebook group</a>, as a designer you might be interested. Otherwise just spread the word.<br />
<b></b>Parasuramhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01538739682961597784noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8866487041691156227.post-37854240663269064822010-01-20T02:06:00.000+05:302010-01-20T02:06:56.295+05:30Pareto Principle in B-School Classrooms<style>
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<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i>This is post is continued from an incomplete draft early in September 2008 and it is only apt that this post be published now, with a complete flavor of the Pareto rule in B-Schools!!!</i> <br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">============================================================================= <br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The Pareto Principle, or the alternatively famous 80-20 rule, has been interpreted in the most mundane ways possible. I was oblivious to the greatness and versatility of the rule before I landed on the gates of a B-School. As life at B-school started sinking in, Pareto’s interpretation opened new avenues for conjuring 80-20 relations in many obscure ways. Let me try to put into words, the endless minutes of daydreaming to bring up few of the 80-20s, which I believe make life at B-schools really interesting.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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</div><ol start="1" style="margin-top: 0in;" type="1"><li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">80 percent of the batch is male, generating 20% interest in ice-breaking and the remaining 20%, even if it does not consist of that hot girl you met during your GD-PI, gets 80% attention in ice-breaking activities.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">80% of the gyan comes from 20% of the seniors, while the remaining 80% sit back and enjoy as juniors are mercilessly slaughtered by these zealots, <o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Alternatively, after the first 10 days, 80% of the gyan is taken by only 20% juniors and the remaining 80% are deaf by this time.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">80% doubts in class arise in the minds of 20% of the student, while the remaining students are content with sleeping (or dreaming up such stuff!!!)<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">All the team projects will be split in the 80-20 rule as follows:<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<ol start="1" style="margin-top: 0in;" type="a"><li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">80% of the PPTs are made by a single person<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">80% of the presentations are presented by a single person<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">80% of the data analysis will be done by a single person<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">100% of nothing will be done a very <i>special</i> single person<o:p></o:p></span></li>
</ol>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">80% of your time in a term will be spent on a single subject which ends up contributing only 20% to your CPI<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">As the summer internships come to an end, 20% of the batch has an 80% probability of landing a PPO/PPI while the remaining 80% have a combined 20% of doing so<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Come placement time, only 20% junta has an 80% chance of landing up in their dream job while remaining 80% looks to split the remaining 20% in the best way possible.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">If an interviewer is smiling at your answer then 80% of the times he has found a way to nail your backside on the crucifix the remaining 20% he doesn’t have a clue as to what you are saying</span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12pt;">And finally, 80% of the people who have read till here have no clue what this was about and the remaining 20% are out searching for me!!!</span></li>
</ol>Parasuramhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01538739682961597784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8866487041691156227.post-4923753529342061812010-01-20T00:26:00.002+05:302010-01-20T00:51:59.002+05:30One-tip Cricket and Management FundasThis one originated right this evening.<br />
It was started by my <i>bro</i> GuGu ofcourse, with whom I have the pleasure of sharing many intellectually intense and invigorating debates... and all this while watching a dismal game of cricket. No, I am not refering to the 'ordinary' India-Bangla test match but to a game of cricket commonly known in the balconies, passages and verandahs of India as <i>one-tip, one-hand </i>cricket.<br />
As to the origin of the name, there have hardly been more to-the-point names in the world, which leave you in no doubt as to the game ( I wish human names were as useful!!!). However, the debate did not rest on the mere nomenclature of the game rather hinging on a more intriguing part of the game. How is it that the rules for <b><i>1t1h</i></b> cricket (1-tip 1-hand cricket..inspired by T20) are more or less the same across the country?<br />
As is often the case, I began my answer in all earnest abstraction and hoped to end my monlogue with the famous "Elementary, my dear Watson" look. However, ever since I have been solicited for services by a name sake of the Jaya Prakash Murugan Chettiar Bank, the time on my hands has enabled me to delve deeper on entirely useless things!!! ( You might wish to argue that it was the case earlier too but let save it for later.)<br />
So I took up the development of <b><i>1t1h</i> </b>cricket as a management problem and this is how I guess it must have worked out:<br />
<ul><li> <b>Need Identification:</b> In India everybody wants to play cricket but hey, where is the space!!! So every possible quadrangular (or not so quadrangular space..) is put to good use. Now we Indians are competitive people and no cricket can happen without elaborate scoring systems and even more ritualisitc methods of getting out. Thus, the birth of <b><i>1t1h</i></b> cricket owes itself to the space-strapped cricket maniacs of the country.</li>
<li><b>Early Adopters: </b>Early adopters are the people to whom any product might give reasonable amount of credit for shaping usage patterns and augmenting product features. So while <i><b>1t1h</b></i> started out as a simple variant, the early adopters to the game decided to add rules for hitting on the wall, hitting the tubelight, minimum runs in an over etc etc etc and more... thereby increasing the ability of the game to handle various tricky situations and obstructions.<br />
</li>
<li><b>Critical Mass: </b>Many new product innovations have perished because of their ill-timed launches. While market timing is as much an art as a science, the rise of <i><b>1t1h</b></i> cricket has coincided with the emergence of housing complexes, having more parking space than playing space (infact substitutable spaces... these two!!!). More controlling parents, who figure children are safer playing cricket in the balcony of their 8th floor apartment than on the ground and of course, the simple truth that any playground is hideously anti-social compared to filling the coffers of some builder bloke. Add to this the stereotypical picture of a cricket field in India.... 5 parallel pitches and close to 100 fielders packed into a regular size field. While the batsman's concerns are not limited to the opposition fielders alone but expand to include the pitch invading goons from other teams, the poor fielders have the additional worry of protecting their nether regions from a well directed pull shot. Hardly a pleasing sight you would say!!! Thus, the new baby in the cricketing world couldn't have come at a better time.<br />
</li>
<li><b>Standardisation:</b> While many sports in India have secured an elitist status, its just impossible to keep any form of cricket away from the masses. Though in essence this penetration of the product into new market segments should be a good news for most firms, it also brings in the additional burden of standardisation. And I guess, we have no one to thank more than the kids of Defence personnel & other folks in transferable jobs for bringing about this standardisation of procedures/rules/rituals and other gimmicks in the sport of <i><b>1t1h</b></i> cricket. These people have travelled far and wide, carrying with them the best practices in the sport and spreading it across the various parts of the country. Thus, many of the rules in the sport are now universally (read "nationally") accepted.<br />
</li>
</ul>With this my analysis of the evolution of the sport has been concluded and all I now worry about is the survival of the game. You see there was this game we played as kids, it was called book cricket but with the advent of PDFs, laptops and Kindle the children of today have been deprived of the sheer thrill and adrenaline of playing the great sport of book cricket. I hope <i><b>1t1h</b></i> does not meet such an unceremonious end. Amen!!!<br />
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<i>The above gyan is written without any backing of management studies. It is just a intuitive piece of imagination of how things might have worked out at a micro level, at the same time causing a sea change in the cricketing behavior of an entire nation. Believe it at your own risk!!!</i><i> </i>Parasuramhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01538739682961597784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8866487041691156227.post-67325872906139453432009-12-25T16:30:00.000+05:302009-12-25T16:47:24.432+05:30Looking back on 3 Idiots!!!The entire IIT Bombay campus is getting up from the sleepy hangover of Mood Indigo 2009. An extravaganza in itself, it deserved a fitting finale, a finale as delivered by the awesome trio of Shankar Ehsaan and Loy on the last ProNite show of MoodI last night. The entire OAT was up and rocking for 2 hours as we sang ourselves hoarse and danced till the body could take it no more. At that point I could never have thought that anything else could go one up on that show that evening. But then there was the premiere of Mr. Perfect Khan's "3 Idiots" to contend with!!!<br />
<br />
Well not many Bollywood movies move me enough to write a blog post about them, and those which have done are for all the wrong reasons but "3 Idiots" deserves to written about, talked about and felt good about so here goes....<br />
<br />
To start off, the passage to the movie hall itself was a thriller, what with a hitched ride to the IIT Main Gate and a Bollywood <i>ishtyle</i> sprint to get on to the running bus, all of which enabled me to reach the place about 10 mins in advance. Only one thought ran in my mind ...this movie better be worth all the running around!! But after having read Chetan Bhagat's 5 Point Someone, frankly my expectations weren't very high.<br />
But then if we take one of the finest acting talents in Indian cinema and mix it with the directorial talent of the legendary <i>MunnaBhai</i> series, fireworks are guaranteed.<br />
3 Idiots has masterfully uncovered the dirty underbelly of the Indian education system. Right from unrealistic parental expectations and peer pressure all the way upto some of the drastic steps that students are forced to take, all of them have been dealt with seriously, delicately and passionately.<br />
The storyline is not straight of the novel, which is good and makes it a TRUE 'adaptation', with a few unexpected twists and turns. The screenplay is crisp and the songs make sense ( and will be on your lips, on your way out!!!), and probably the only place where the script falters is towards the end, where the entire childbirth scene is a bit too much to handle. Apart from that I guess there are no gaping flaws in the movie. <br />
Coming to the actors, well.... singing anymore praises to Amir is a waste of time because we have come to expect him as being nothing short of real, fresh and brilliant. To quote Amir aka Rancho from the movie itself... "strive for excellence and success will follow you around." and he has proved himself right. Madhavan as the narrator is restrained and yet full of energy, while Kareena as Pia is a deadly combo of sweet and sexy!!! After seeing him play the dean in <i>Munnabhai</i>, one would have thought that Boman Irani couldn't go one better but he has actually outdone himself with the potrayal of Virus, a hugely competitive and eccentric professor but also a defeated father. The chap who does the role of MadanMohan..or Millimeter is also good.<br />
But for me the best performances came from Raju Rastogi (Sharmaan Joshi) and Chatur Ramalingam. Typical rags-to-riches boy, Raju is torn between his responsibilities towards the family and his loyalty to his friends and this internal conflict is reflected in all his actions in the entire movie. Sharmaan's ability to make those straight faced jokes really brings alive the character even though some of the jokes in the movie are oft-repeated college humor. Chatur Ramalingam is the quintessential <i>padaku</i>, a person who has mastered the current system and is so sure of tiding over any anamolies like the 3 Idiots with supreme arrogance and sheer weight of memory power. However, like all good Hindi movies, the supremacy of our hero is emphatically stamped on this rote-machine and he accepts defeat with a traditional <i>salaam </i>at the end<i>.</i> The <i>balatkar</i> speech delivered by Chatur will surely become part of college folklore for years to come.<br />
The Kareena-Amir chemistry deserves special mention for its vibrance and "chooo-chweeet" factor. So much so that by the end of the movie you are almost rooting for Kareena to slap him and seal it with a kiss ( which she does). And to think that <i>moi</i> was sceptical about the pairing initially!!!<br />
Who should watch the movie?? Well almost everyone, the junta studying in engineering colleges, people passed out of engineering colleges, people who couldn't make it to engineering colleges and of course, all the parents who decide at their child's birth as to what their child should become.<br />
Amir and Raju Hirani have given us a great movie to savour and also maintained their tradition of delivering a strong message underneath a light, fun-filled experience.<br />
As we all agreed last night after the movie... it gets a <b>4 out of 5</b> and is a must watch for everyone in the country!!!<br />
"Ohh Bhaiya.. Aal izzz Well!!!"Parasuramhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01538739682961597784noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8866487041691156227.post-32828665476019170272009-12-23T15:05:00.000+05:302009-12-23T15:08:51.767+05:30Mummy... I want a state!!! Plz can I have one too?<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>The post was written on the day Govt declared creation of the Telangana state. The delay in posting was caused by lack of access to Internet.</i> <br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">This is the third consecutive day when I am posting on my blog. Understandably the amount of time on my hands is worrying for both me and the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saptarshi"><i>Saptarishis</i></a>. Infact in relation to my previous post, I confided to a close friend that becoming a writer is a serious career option. But then that was yesterday.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> Today, of course, India and the world woke up to one of the boldest blackmail heists in the history. As if right out of a Calvin & Hobbes strip, an unruly kid foregoes his meals to get a better Christmas gift and the hapless parents agree. And, of course, that carving out Telangana will motivate other such power-hungry ruffians to go on a fast and demand smaller states from the existing ones, is none of the Central Government's business. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> I guess given the current state of 'bovine excrement' the Centre has landed itself into, is the perfect impetus for all the separatist movements. An the potential outcomes of their 'humble' requests can be quite interesting, coming primarily from some of the most productive lunch table group discussions. Lets have a look at some of them:</span><br />
<ul><li><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> Possibly, we'll end up 545 states, where each constituency is a state in itself. We'll hv a small matter of 500+ state governments, potentially be renamed "The United States of India". Sounds cool, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel's hardwork done to dust!!!<br />
</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">How about a spate of Union Territories, acting as regional headquarters and you can form whatever number states you want. So Mumbai is separate from Maharashtra, Hyderabad is separate from AP (Telangana..go figure this one!!), Bangalore is separate from Karnataka. I am sure the kids in school will hate it.. Imagine the enormous amount of <i>gyan </i>they'll have to memorise because of our politicians, some of whom actually never bothered going to school anyways.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Third, and this I find to be the most plausible, is the case for dual citizenship. I am sure this gives one Mr. Thackeray a smile on his face. People moving between states will have visa interviews and will have to clear exams with fanciful names like Test in Tamil Speech (who's acronym can't be written here!! Imagine if you had a guidebook to the exam saying "Ace your T&^*") or Test of Marathi as Professional Language. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">What if the motivation for creating states changes? Currently states are formed according linguistic, cultural and of course, political considerations!! Imagine what happens if professional considerations are taken into account. What if the huge mass of software engineers strewn across country goes on a hunger strike demanding creation of niche states only for IT professionals? What will be the name of this state ... <i>Soochna Pradesh </i>will be unacceptable to the Madrasi <i>anna </i>while <i>IT Nadu</i> will be indigestible to the <i>bhaiyaji!!!</i> Some problem there. One thing is for sure Mark Zuckerberg will be proud!!!</span></li>
</ul><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Probably we could also pack up all these useless separatists into one state and build huge fences around it so that no one ever escapes from there to more conundrum in India. In the meanwhile I am planning to go on a hunger strike demanding creation of a state for all Priyanka Chopra fans!! Can anybody tell me if this wish will be granted?? Plz Mr. Prime Minister!!!!<br />
</span>Parasuramhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01538739682961597784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8866487041691156227.post-3248874727443666832009-12-09T03:42:00.000+05:302009-12-10T02:37:11.869+05:30The King(s) of the Good or the Bad Times... who cares!!As I mentioned in my previous post, it is indeed disturbing that I have so much time at my disposal. With the approaching placement season, we are all to work our posteriors off figuring out the nitty-gritties of Finance and try our best to untangle the mess of HR (<span style="font-style: italic;">Hamara Rape</span>) questions. And rightly so, I must add.<br />From the interactions I have had with members of the industry and my brethren from the student community, it actually seems that Mr. Porter and his famed 5-forces of bargaining power have undergone a tectonic shift in the recruiter-recruit landscape. Bad timing one would say but as is my wont to take a look at things from unusual (<span style="font-style: italic;">read useless</span>) perspectives, let us try and understand how the fina preparation of a final year MBA student would vary from the Good to the Bad times.<br />Before starting on this rather controversial, and yet soul-searching, quest lets set some benchmarks to demarcate the Gooooood times from the Bad ones:<br /><ul><li> Good times are HR-killers, Bad times are Placecom-killers</li><li>Average packages are cooked up in Good times, they are cooked harder in Bad times</li><li>Good time gossips include packages, locations, profiles, parties, Bad times gossip is just one question "<span style="font-style: italic;">sab place ho jayenge?</span>"</li><li>In Good times entrepreneurship is a fad, in Bad times it is a different perspective of looking at life</li></ul><to>Apart from remonstrating on the various differences that exist between the Good and Bad times, I did get one striking similarity in the two times. The preparation enthu of the students. Yes, come what may the students have distinct apathy towards "placement preparation". The Good times cause this phenomena by virtue of the euphoria surrounding everything in the world while the Bad times bring upon you a depression, almost resembling decay.<br /> Most of the time is spent researching (read Google-ing) the Web in search of some arcane topic, which eventually gives way to "Top 10 ______ movies of all time" where _______ is filled by a particular genre, depending on your mood. In Good times, the genres are comedy, romance while in Bad times the focus is on drama and crime (possibly as an alternative career choice!!). While the students live between meals, new passions like untried sports, photography, poetry (the sad type, especially) are cultivated, which we hope will earn us brownie HR points. Sleep knows no upperbound while all the requisite books are neatly stacked near the bed, untouched.<br /> Come Boom or Bust boss... we are the King of all times... Good or Bad who cares!!!<br /></to>Parasuramhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01538739682961597784noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8866487041691156227.post-91981486870954589832009-12-08T12:06:00.000+05:302009-12-08T12:11:41.611+05:30The Long and Short of a Haircut!!<meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><link style="font-family: georgia;" rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CPARASU%7E1%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><o:smarttagtype style="font-family: georgia;" namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="place"></o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype style="font-family: georgia;" namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="City"></o:smarttagtype><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> <w:usefelayout/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]><object classid="clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D" id="ieooui"></object> <style> st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } </style> <![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:Wingdings; panose-1:5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; mso-font-charset:2; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:0 268435456 0 0 -2147483648 0;} @font-face {font-family:Batang; panose-1:2 3 6 0 0 1 1 1 1 1; mso-font-alt:바탕; mso-font-charset:129; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-format:other; mso-font-pitch:fixed; mso-font-signature:1 151388160 16 0 524288 0;} @font-face {font-family:"\@Batang"; panose-1:0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; mso-font-charset:129; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-format:other; mso-font-pitch:fixed; mso-font-signature:1 151388160 16 0 524288 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:Batang;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} /* List Definitions */ @list l0 {mso-list-id:982732392; mso-list-template-ids:2093363014;} @list l0:level1 {mso-level-number-format:bullet; mso-level-text:; mso-level-tab-stop:.5in; mso-level-number-position:left; text-indent:-.25in; mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt; font-family:Symbol;} ol {margin-bottom:0in;} ul {margin-bottom:0in;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--><p style="font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal">If I remember well, it was Mark Twain who once lamented on the ignominy of sitting helplessly in a dentist's chair. The other day I experienced the same sense of powerless subjugation while sitting in the chair of none other than our campus barber.
<br />Somehow these trivial incidents make me think deeper than usual, a skill that can be disturbingly attributed to the amount of free time at my hands. My chain of thoughts centred on my impatience, helplessness and of course, the implications of a bad haircut on the impending placement season performance (how can that be missed!!!).
<br />Ever since a boy reaches class 3 ( this is a hypotheses i am working hard to prove.. for now u can take my word for it!!), he is taught by his environment to be the alpha male, the uber cool and the person in control. Seldom of course are guys taught the opposite... to put complete trust in somebody else to handle the situation. And yet there are so many situations where the alpha male concept goes for a toss. The surgeons are a case in point. Not only does their hand writing beat you so does their talking. All you understand is that you are gonna be cut up and set alright. But then the alpha male is no less troubled by the barber. And you can see the parallels between a surgeon and a barber. </p> <ul type="disc" style="font-family:georgia;"><li class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size:100%;">You have no clue if they understand your case and are qualified to handle you.</span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size:100%;">You can only pray to God when they wield their instruments</span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size:100%;">You have to bear the brunt of their mistakes</span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size:100%;">Finally, you hear so many horror stories about both professions, doing to something to someone, who was a friend of somebody</span></li></ul> <p style="font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"> Except for the first question, "cutting <i>karna hai?</i>" not many performance guidelines are sought by them and given their destructive nature of work, questions like "<i>zyada chhota ho gaya kya</i>?" are rendered immaterial. Infact delving deeper into the topic (as the barber was closing in on my scalp!!) I started regretting the existence of the barber himself. Our ancients could have certainly done with the advanced surgeons but i hope whoever invented this concept of barb<i>e</i>r-ism (<i>pun intened</i>) is roasting in the deepest furnaces of hell.
<br />Some of my friends might argue the futility of this post, coming from me, a potential heir to lot of real estate on my scalp (read "baldness"). But again, my ample time and imaginative thinking was already creating arguments as to why this helpnessness in the barber's chair is a sign of other potential problems areas for me.
<br />Suddenly a voice broke out.."<i>Saheb ho <st1:place st="on"><st1:city st="on">gaya</st1:city></st1:place>, aapke zyada baal nahi hain na, isliye aur chhota nahi kaat sakte!!!</i>" Great, apart from keeping me in mortal fear of disfiguration, this guy also decides to take potshots at my hair (or the lack of it!!).
<br />"<i>Haan haan theek hai..kitna hua?</i>"
<br />I duly paid him the 30 bucks and vacated the chair, just as thoughts of therapy, herbal oils and wigs engulfed the space vacated by the alpha male, barber-ism and other utopian philosophies.</p> Parasuramhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01538739682961597784noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8866487041691156227.post-32911397498507082522009-11-23T19:10:00.000+05:302009-11-23T19:44:18.639+05:30The future of user experience on Social Networking sitesThe following forms part of the work I did with AB, Sushant and Mandar for the Net.Works competition at Confluence'09 IIM-A. Though the actual paper is more detailed I thought of posting some musings I had while working on the topic..... feedback is welcome
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<br /><meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CPARASU%7E1%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="country-region"></o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="place"></o:smarttagtype><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> <w:usefelayout/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]><object classid="clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D" id="ieooui"></object> <style> st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } </style> <![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:Batang; panose-1:2 3 6 0 0 1 1 1 1 1; mso-font-alt:바탕; mso-font-charset:129; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-format:other; mso-font-pitch:fixed; mso-font-signature:1 151388160 16 0 524288 0;} @font-face {font-family:"\@Batang"; panose-1:0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; mso-font-charset:129; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-format:other; mso-font-pitch:fixed; mso-font-signature:1 151388160 16 0 524288 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:Batang;} span.MsoEndnoteReference {mso-style-noshow:yes; vertical-align:super;} p.MsoEndnoteText, li.MsoEndnoteText, div.MsoEndnoteText {mso-style-noshow:yes; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:Batang;} /* Page Definitions */ @page {mso-footnote-separator:url("file:///C:/DOCUME~1/PARASU~1/LOCALS~1/Temp/msohtml1/01/clip_header.htm") fs; mso-footnote-continuation-separator:url("file:///C:/DOCUME~1/PARASU~1/LOCALS~1/Temp/msohtml1/01/clip_header.htm") fcs; mso-endnote-separator:url("file:///C:/DOCUME~1/PARASU~1/LOCALS~1/Temp/msohtml1/01/clip_header.htm") es; mso-endnote-continuation-separator:url("file:///C:/DOCUME~1/PARASU~1/LOCALS~1/Temp/msohtml1/01/clip_header.htm") ecs;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> <p face="georgia" class="MsoNormal"><i style="">“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic” <o:p></o:p></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: right; font-family: georgia;" align="right">– Arthur C. Clarke</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p face="georgia" class="MsoNormal">Indeed to a person from a few decades back, the idea of connecting with lost contacts, collaborating across geographical boundaries and obtaining expert advice on a universe of topics, all at the mere click of a mouse would have seemed magical. </p> <p style="font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p style="font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal">Today we live in a world of increased connectivity, more computing power and more social networks. Originating as a fad across college campuses in the <st1:place st="on"><st1:country-region st="on">United States</st1:country-region></st1:place>, <a href="http://www.facebook.com/facebook?ref=pf#/press/info.php?statistics">Facebook</a> now has more than 300 million users, using 70 languages, half of which login atleast once in a day. The average user has 130 friends and 2 billion photos are uploaded each month on the site even as more than 70% of its user base resides outside the <st1:place st="on"><st1:country-region st="on">United States</st1:country-region></st1:place>. Mind boggling numbers aren’t they and yet we have just talked about <i style="">only</i> one of the leading social networks of the world<a style="" href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=8866487041691156227#_edn1" name="_ednref1" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size:12pt;"></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> The proliferation of social networking websites in the past three to four years has led to the widespread discussion on the future size and form the <i style="">networked </i>world.</p> <p style="font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p style="font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal">As every individual discovers the power of “communities” and innovative entrepreneurs take notice of latent business opportunities, the question that begs answering is will social networking remain the same, even a few years down the line? Will it become a substitute for the human interaction just as the email has killed the picture postcards? In a culturally diverse country like <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">India</st1:place></st1:country-region>, what will be the look and feel of social network with 500 million users? Are the current channels of delivering the network value sufficient or will see a radical shift in the way social networking happens in the years to come? What about the content offered to social network users, will we be happy updating statuses and sharing photos or do there exist opportunities to create new services, new applications and possibly even, new avenues to network in? How will the government and policy makers respond to this avalanche of information and public opinion? </p> <div style="font-family: georgia;"><!--[if !supportEndnotes]-->
<br /></div><meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><link style="font-family: georgia;" rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CPARASU%7E1%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><o:smarttagtype style="font-family: georgia;" namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="country-region"></o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype style="font-family: georgia;" namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="place"></o:smarttagtype><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> <w:usefelayout/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]><object classid="clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D" id="ieooui"></object> <style> st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } </style> <![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:Batang; panose-1:2 3 6 0 0 1 1 1 1 1; mso-font-alt:바탕; mso-font-charset:129; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-format:other; mso-font-pitch:fixed; mso-font-signature:1 151388160 16 0 524288 0;} @font-face {font-family:"\@Batang"; panose-1:0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; mso-font-charset:129; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-format:other; mso-font-pitch:fixed; mso-font-signature:1 151388160 16 0 524288 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:Batang;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} /* List Definitions */ @list l0 {mso-list-id:185558105; mso-list-type:hybrid; mso-list-template-ids:-649663340 67698713 67698713 67698715 67698703 67698713 67698715 67698703 67698713 67698715;} @list l0:level1 {mso-level-number-format:alpha-lower; mso-level-tab-stop:.5in; mso-level-number-position:left; text-indent:-.25in;} ol {margin-bottom:0in;} ul {margin-bottom:0in;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> <p style="font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal">The user experience on any social networking site will arise from a set of contributing factors. Each user will find his ideal experience from a unique combination of these contributing factors. So while we do try to create a scenario for the ‘ideal’ user experience, our task should be list out the contributing factors and figure out how they interact with each other, how they can be tweaked for each user.</p> <p style="font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p style="font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal">In trying to understand I tried to list down what I feel would be the contributing factors, please feel free to add on or debate upon any of the existing items. The factors are:</p> <ol style="margin-top: 0in;font-family:georgia;" start="1" type="a"><li class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size:100%;">accessibility – how do I get access to the platform</span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size:100%;">UI</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span><span style="font-size:100%;">-- how does it look when I log in and when I am using the platform</span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size:100%;">Applications – okay so I have logged in, what do I do now, how engaged am I in the platform and what it has to offer. </span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size:100%;">Security – How secure is my profile, my data and what control do I have over this exposure</span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size:100%;">Network effect – how many people I know are on the platform, how connected am I with these people </span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size:100%;">Diversity of the content – for 500 million people a plain English medium will not suffice nor will they be content with their preferred language</span></li></ol> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in; font-family: georgia;"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p style="font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal">The accessibility is aspect would come into the picture because imagining a broadband penetration in <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">India</st1:place></st1:country-region> of 500 million is impossible and we are probably talking about mobile access, not only through WAP and GPRS but potentially even through voice and text apps. The medium of usage will heavily impact usage experience.</p> <p style="font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p style="font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal">The apps part will include photo/video sharing, games, quizzes and other forms of content creation. This is an area where I feel lot of futuristic thinking is applicable and our survey findings have revealed insights into the broad fields on which the future apps could/would/should concentrate. </p> <p style="font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p style="font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal">UI will be an important aspect of experience coz while it needs to be crisp and uncluttered it should also bring forth all the functionalities that are present on the platform and there is a potential use of analytics to see what kind of UI should be made available for what kind of user.</p> <p style="font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p style="font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal">In the area of security we might be looking at futuristic account verifications like biometric systems, especially if we are talking about financial transactions happening on the platform.</p> <p style="font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p style="font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal">As mentioned the network effect will involve my interaction with other members of the platform, my friends, family and members of online communities. The concept of collaboration and how futuristic we are in imagining the collaborative levels will determine how we use this factor to create the intended user experience.</p> <p style="font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p style="font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal">Finally, diversity of content is a factor/challenge that is very India-specific because of our cultural diversity. I am looking at multi language support, real time context based translation and other such opportunities.</p> <p style="font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal">Unlike what I had set out to do in the beginning, writing about my ideal user experience, I thought this way of looking at the problem might also provide some insights to what we are trying to do. </p> <p style="font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p style="font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal">What I have been unable to accomplish here is to state the interactions between various factors. For example, the more the modes of access, the greater will be the security risks. Similarly I think we can come up with more offsetting scenarios where some sort of compromise has to be struck. If you guys think this approach might lead some where then that would be a potential candidate for further analysis.</p> <p style="font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <div style="border-style: none none double; border-color: -moz-use-text-color -moz-use-text-color windowtext; border-width: medium medium 2.25pt; padding: 0in 0in 1pt;"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="border: medium none ; padding: 0in; font-family: georgia;">Once we have explicitly (or at least with some level of clarity) expressed the interaction levels of these factors, we might go about discussing how to tweak them to satisfy various user classes (we might have to do some user segmentation in this regard)</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="border: medium none ; padding: 0in; font-family: georgia;">
<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="border: medium none ; padding: 0in; font-family: georgia;"><meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CPARASU%7E1%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><link rel="Edit-Time-Data" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CPARASU%7E1%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_editdata.mso"><!--[if !mso]> <style> v\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} o\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} w\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} .shape {behavior:url(#default#VML);} </style> <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> <w:usefelayout/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:Batang; panose-1:2 3 6 0 0 1 1 1 1 1; mso-font-alt:바탕; mso-font-charset:129; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-format:other; mso-font-pitch:fixed; mso-font-signature:1 151388160 16 0 524288 0;} @font-face {font-family:"\@Batang"; panose-1:0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; mso-font-charset:129; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-format:other; mso-font-pitch:fixed; mso-font-signature:1 151388160 16 0 524288 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:Batang;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} /* List Definitions */ @list l0 {mso-list-id:712197226; mso-list-type:hybrid; mso-list-template-ids:-1141716608 67698713 67698713 67698715 67698703 67698713 67698715 67698703 67698713 67698715;} @list l0:level1 {mso-level-number-format:alpha-lower; mso-level-tab-stop:.25in; mso-level-number-position:left; margin-left:.25in; text-indent:-.25in;} ol {margin-bottom:0in;} ul {margin-bottom:0in;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:shapedefaults ext="edit" spidmax="1052"> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:shapelayout ext="edit"> <o:idmap ext="edit" data="1"> </o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--> </p><p style="font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal">Apart from thinking of more ideas to enhance the social networking experience of the future network, I think it would also be a great value addition if we could provide a theoretical framework for future developers to understand how the network can be enhanced to improve the user experience. </p> <p style="font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p style="font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal">Going back to the six factors which I had mentioned before the ideas, I feel we could land up with some kind of user segmentation on the basis of these factors. Thus, we can club the six factors into two major categories as follows:</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in; text-indent: -0.25in;font-family:georgia;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style=""><span style="">a.<span style="font-size:7pt;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]-->the intangible/aesthetic aspect: consisting of the UI experience, content diversity and the network effect</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in; text-indent: -0.25in;font-family:georgia;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style=""><span style="">b.<span style="font-size:7pt;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]-->functional aspect: consisting of accessibility, availability of apps (easy navigation) and security</p> <p style="font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p style="font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal">Thus the total user experience = aesthetic appeal x functional ability</p><p style="font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3qBftt2GqGSXyNhe_OOaw-q5JU8Rt-WLCOZIvf9LApey_IcOjAmAYFDtPag00_CznCN-8LcNU_7PqFaEVEcMBMS_wQUEsbG8klMhDSwzUS9h8NUIFsXU4lMSYPm72pwIfbcuunXJcc3_K/s1600/matrix.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 498px; height: 283px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3qBftt2GqGSXyNhe_OOaw-q5JU8Rt-WLCOZIvf9LApey_IcOjAmAYFDtPag00_CznCN-8LcNU_7PqFaEVEcMBMS_wQUEsbG8klMhDSwzUS9h8NUIFsXU4lMSYPm72pwIfbcuunXJcc3_K/s320/matrix.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5407298467136435922" border="0" /></a></p><p style="font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8Ig5bnyUSrDvNddzdAsabK5eocCSeRgPsA802xk2i0JBT9XolDfI9O-k9P-5d57ccKkuldd6M9mDAEu9ESM0NGjiP9vB-8fh5vJIzl_0lICrNLZuI3-BgO92lmMFARbS2uA5Z-CJtGv2H/s1600/pyramid.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 422px; height: 268px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8Ig5bnyUSrDvNddzdAsabK5eocCSeRgPsA802xk2i0JBT9XolDfI9O-k9P-5d57ccKkuldd6M9mDAEu9ESM0NGjiP9vB-8fh5vJIzl_0lICrNLZuI3-BgO92lmMFARbS2uA5Z-CJtGv2H/s320/pyramid.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5407299473694703826" border="0" /></a></p><p style="font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CPARASU%7E1%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="country-region"></o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="place"></o:smarttagtype><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> <w:usefelayout/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]><object classid="clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D" id="ieooui"></object> <style> st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } </style> <![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:Batang; panose-1:2 3 6 0 0 1 1 1 1 1; mso-font-alt:바탕; mso-font-charset:129; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-format:other; mso-font-pitch:fixed; mso-font-signature:1 151388160 16 0 524288 0;} @font-face {font-family:"\@Batang"; panose-1:0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; mso-font-charset:129; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-format:other; mso-font-pitch:fixed; mso-font-signature:1 151388160 16 0 524288 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:Batang;} a:link, span.MsoHyperlink {color:blue; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;} a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed {color:purple; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> </p><p style="font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><b style=""><span style="font-size:18pt;">IDEAS<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p style="font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal">Carrying on from the above thoughts, I have few ideas, which can potentially improve the UI experience of the user and also be monetized for financial viability.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;font-family:georgia;"><b style="">Theme based UI:</b> Though theme based UIs are already available and for free, the idea is to link ads for theme related activities and goods with the themes to create a holistic package which will then be available to the user. While the user uses the theme for free, the theme creator gets paid by the advertiser and the platform gets a share of the revenue based on the usage of the particular theme. While the theme creator is free to invite as many advertisers on their themes, they have to balance it with keeping the UI experience simple and unobtrusive to ensure user acceptance.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" face="georgia" style="text-align: justify;"><span style=""> </span>For example, with the growing following of Barclay’s Premier League in <st1:country-region st="on">India</st1:country-region>, suppose the user in <st1:place st="on"><st1:country-region st="on">India</st1:country-region></st1:place> is a fan of the Manchester United football club then he would select from one of the ManUtd themes available on the platform. The theme creators can tie up with advertisers of sports merchandise or agencies which can offer match tickets (with the possibility of these teams traveling to <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">India</st1:place></st1:country-region> in future). Taking this instance forward, it offers scope for the official website <a href="http://www.manutd.com/">www.manutd.com</a> another channel to reach out to its followers by broadcasting messages through widget based broadcast messages. Similar theme based activity can be used for popular artists, political and social causes etc.</p> <p style="font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p style="font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><b style="">Online Partying: </b>While social networking gurus contemplate on the latent potential of the network, the origins of the phenomenon still reside in the fun and bonding aspect. So it is not difficult to imagine the potential of organizing online parties on the social media, with the DJ and related effects. The party can be by invitation, where you might need to authenticate your navigation onto a webpage, or simply walk-in, or click-in, and open for everyone in the network. The monetization model is similar to how it works offline, with a host bearing the expenses. The <i style="">party-page</i> can be visualized as having a <i style="">shoutcast</i> app, another app to post requests to the DJ and apps to create visual effects on the webpage, which will be visible to others in the party.</p> <div style="border-style: none none double; border-color: -moz-use-text-color -moz-use-text-color windowtext; border-width: medium medium 2.25pt; padding: 0in 0in 1pt;"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="border: medium none ; padding: 0in; font-family: georgia;">Similar to the offline scenario, this can give rise to party/event managers specializing in services for this genre of partying. The online party will be especially interesting for <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">India</st1:place></st1:country-region> as it has got a huge expatriate population and this provides them an occasion to join their families in the celebrations in a more personalized manner than just viewing a webcast.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="border: medium none ; padding: 0in; font-family: georgia;">
<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="border: medium none ; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">P.S.>> Sorry for the images.. cdnt do a better job!!!</span>
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The Marketing Continuum at the Shailesh J. Mehta School of Management, IIT Bombay was a grand success with loads of illustrious speakers and many videos impressing upon us the true nature and color of the marketing profession.<br />One of the speakers was Mr. Paritosh Joshi ( follow on Twitter @paritoshZero) and he gave a wonderful seat of pants lecture, w/o the aid of a ppt on New Age Marketing. Apart from witnessing some stunning advertisements and marketing campaigns (yes!!! there is a helluva difference between them), we also witnessed a deluge of mentions and praises for Facebook and Twitter, most notably Burger King's campaign that left many people without friends but with loads of Whoopers and of course, the honorable mention of Twitter in bringing the Iran protests.<br />But amidst all the hosannas sung to social networking and crowdsourcing, I am trying to play Devil's Advocate to the heroes that Facebook and Twitter have become. I am not prophesizing any near term overkill of these phenomena but am wondering whether in the middle of the good these are doing, what is the price we are paying for it.<br />Of course, the most evident is the absolute lack of privacy for the user besides the issues of identity theft and unsavory incidents of accounts being hacked. On a stratospheric level, these interactions are actually replacing real interactions at the local chai<span style="font-style: italic;">walla </span>and not only is that poor guy not making money but we have also lost the personal touch in the middle of the Tweets, RTs, # tags, pokes and quizzes etc etc etc and God knows wat else.<br />Many of my friends have lamented my absence from Facebook but I have strictly limited myself to one general networking (Orkut), one blog, one microblog (Twitter i.e.) and one professional network (LinkedIn) and if you feel that its insufficient connectivity then its your problem.<br /><br />/*<span style="font-style: italic;">i have resumed this post after 2 months and in the meanwhile have opened a Facebook account and am regularly playing games and quizzes on it. */<br /><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span></span><br />So now with egg on my face I resume my crib about social networking overdose. I have developed a permanent fixation for checking updates on Twitterfox as well as FB and am looking for therapy to cure this.<br />I am sure many people need it!!!<br /><br />Posting at 4am is not very good for my health so I'll sign off now!!<br />Tchao!!!<br /><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;"></span></span>Parasuramhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01538739682961597784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8866487041691156227.post-8930924583817091212009-09-09T11:56:00.001+05:302009-09-09T12:04:49.809+05:30people of different flavors..this is gonna be a short one...<br /> created a video abt diversity at SOM... uploading it here. hope u like it!!!<br /><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dzZHfBvI2z7Opvh14cAaMQNK9Yf612mVbFCJPKDZKSHFq3hbRRgiVfNhp0aZsgzOPJGiRePwZeaBf6v1tKYDw' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe>Parasuramhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01538739682961597784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8866487041691156227.post-63643395653352489382009-07-18T23:46:00.000+05:302009-07-19T00:13:55.793+05:30Welcome to Second year of MBA educationHi Junta<br /><br />Despite my prolific presence on Twitter, I had a lingering feeling of neglect towards my primary passion of blogging here. So here I am at the doorstep of second year of management education in a stifling, congested hostel room ( which btw doesnt belong to either of the occupants) and all I want is to write something silly to appease my blogging appettite.<br />We had our <a href="http://continuums.sjmsom.in/">Finance Continuum</a> today and we will be having the Marketing Continuum tomorow to round off a packed weekend and give the junior batch a taste of things to come. The list of speakers was, as usual, illustrious and the experience was enriching. Though I have somewhat become tired of people cribbing about the recession and how everyone's backside is aching because of it, a couple of fresh perspectives did emerge from the day's proceedings.<br />One was that everyone talked about inclusive growth, something the policy makers have talked about since Independence and I have come to appreciate since my internship days. Secondly, a specific thrust on the SME space by the banking industry was also visible throughout the day. Glad to feel that I have worked and learnt some aspects of both these issues during my internship.<br />There was also a huge hue and cry about the budget and to put in my 2 cents to the pandemonium, I guess the FM missed a trick or two by letting the deficit balloon, taking the excuse of the recessionary period. It would have been a good idea to set things rolling on Public-Private partnership, specially in sectors like infrastructure. I think an oppotunity for implementing infrastructure partnerships on the build-operate-transfer model and enhancing the environment for such partnerships to prosper, has been offered and it should not be passed up in favor of the tried and tested, albeit risky proposition of public spending.<br />Thus, the government could have simulated demand and allowed private sector to participate in this effort to bring the country out of this hole.<br />Finally, it was heartening to hear our junior batch asking enthusiastic questions to the speakers. Some of the questions were really wonderful and I am hopeful that it'll be a great experience for us during the next year.<br /><br />Adios!!!<br /><br />P.S: Am working a organisation structure for firms based on technology platforms.. haven't been able to finalise it. Once its done that would be my next post. so keep waiting... Meanwhile started re-reading the book "Arab and Jew" while at home and am going good with it. Lets see if I actually manage to finish it this time.Parasuramhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01538739682961597784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8866487041691156227.post-20575465270398085272009-05-26T22:39:00.000+05:302009-05-27T00:01:06.147+05:30India: The Hindu Nation<span style="font-style: italic;">There has been a sincere effort from my side to keep this blog apolitical and hence, before you read any further, you would be well advised to take the following paragraphs as a comment on the social philosophies prevalent in our times and not link them to any political ideologies</span>.... Thanks in anticipation<br /><br />This weekend really began well for me with a good, albeit long, walk around the fairytale landscape of South Bombay. While my romance with the place might form part of some other post, I was at loss when I quizzed myself on one of the people, after whom a landmark was named in the area. Then interesting enough I encountered the same name in <a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/4554588.cms?TOI_mostcommented">an article</a> I read today. It was then settled that I had to find out more about <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syama_Prasad_Mookerjee">Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee</a>, and subsequently, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vinayak_Damodar_Savarkar">Veer Sawarkar. </a><br />It was intriguing for me read about these people, who had sown the seeds of <span style="font-style: italic;">Hindu </span>nationalism and in the context of the article I had read, I could understand why these people appear to be, or are made out to be, hardline fundamentalists. Of course, these leaders form convenient ideological benchmarks to classify people in to secular and communal citizens of India but viewed without the lens of political manipulations and hippocracy, they also represent a truth that we are unwilling to accept.<br />To say that India is a secular country, will be a gross contortion of ground realities. For a country that is the cradle of 2 major international religions and has a huge following of 2 others, which were brought to it by the rulers of the times, we can not be serious when we say that India doesn't identify itself with any religion or we, as Indians, are ambivalent to all religions. Given the fact that so much of religion is intertwined with our social fabric, it is impossible to keep religion out of daily life, the way we eat, the way we greet each other, the way we celebrate birth, enjoy weddings, mourn deaths or almost anything we think. This obviously goes on to affect our interactions with other members of our society, depending on whether their habits are same or different, or if their actions are guided by the same principles as ours. This eventually gives birth to affiliations to some groups while giving rise to discomfort about certain others.<br /><br />Now that the whole "secularism" rhetoric is out of the picture, let me talk about the Hindu nation. Mind you, a Hindu nation is not a country of Hindus or one practicing Hinduism alone, it'll be completely unethical, and <span style="font-style: italic;">most importantly</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">un</span>Hindu, to deny other sects a rightful place to prosper and rightfully propagate but what it also must, <span style="font-style: italic;">and </span><span style="font-style: italic;">does, </span>emphasise is that India consists of<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India_demographics#Religious_demographics"> 80.5% people following Hinduism</a> as a religion and a recognition for this fact is long overdue. As promised at the beginning at the post, this is a completely unpolitical post but the social scenarios that have resulted because of the political hubris, has left many Hindus bruised and disaffected with the whole concept of <span style="font-style: italic;">Hindustan. </span><br />The concept of a Hindu nation doesn't mean painting the whole country saffron, as has been routinely promoted, nor is it acceptable. A Hindu nation just reinforces the belief of the majority of people of the country that they haven't been converted into eternal sacrificial lambs at the altar of socio-political appeasement in the country. Too long have we been hearing our "secular" social beacons talking of the rise of Hindu nationalism, much in the same vein as the rise of an epidemic and have been warned of religious genocides, that will ensue should the nationalism take hold.<br />I wish to ask these great luminaries, what good has been their pessimistic acknowledgement of Hindu nationalism? If nothing, it has deepened the gulf between the majority and the minorities and the resultant chasm has been taken up by pea-brained "idealogues", willing to exploit every situation for their petty gains. The Hindu nationalism plank has till now only been used to paint a bleak picture for the minorities and present a "you are atleast better off now than in a Hindu state" excuse to cover up the spineless administrative shortcomings. Any possible constructive implications of a Hindu state have never been examined neither advocated and when such voices do rise, they are invariably branded as marauding fascists, whose sole aim is to create another holocaust and "cleanse" the land.<br />My closing statement, if at all there is one to this debate, dwells on the "how" and not on "whether". It has been oft said that <span style="font-style: italic;">Hindutva </span>is a way of life. Thats as good as teaching my mom to operate the Hubble telescope. Its time that the advocates of <span style="font-style: italic;">Hindutva </span>operationalise it, put down every inch of its components in tangible form and freely express the intangible ones. Only by practicing it, can we propagate it and remove apprehensions regarding it, among other members of the society. Lets keep in mind that no model or philosophy of life can sustain itself, if its intolerant and rigid in the face of change and amalgamation, thus Hindutva will evolve, should evolve and accomodate other parallel philosophies.<br />The success of any great nation always hinges on its people... and people means ALL people, not majorities neither minorities alone!!!Parasuramhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01538739682961597784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8866487041691156227.post-66634698420737796972009-05-25T22:38:00.000+05:302009-05-25T23:56:18.054+05:30Summers of 2009: A mid-term review!!!Just to prove that my blog isn't dead, I have comeback from nowhere to post this. Two major reasons for staying away for so long are, one that idiot FakeIPLplayer, because of whom, no other blogs were to be read or followed for the past 40 days and secondly, I began my summer internship at a leading organisation in the financial sector.<br />Ironically enuff, the IPL's over and simultaeneously, my wall of patience has been breached by the rigours of the internship so I am back again to wreak havoc with words and give FIP a run for his shadowy money.<br />Well, frankly, I got nothing against the company... they have been gr8 to me, right to the point of expecting me to deliver on all commitments in one month so that they can give me more learning assignments. Talk about "9-wives-1-month-pregnancy" but I have been humbled by their faith in the bumbling, stumbling buffoon that I am, who's job no. 1 during the internship is to get appointments from the concerned people and then adjust all prior appointments for this latest one. So wat put me really off today was the fact that after 3 weeks, when I want some guidance on the faint gleanings of a solution, I am told that I have been running behind the wrong the target segment. If I felt like a vegetable in my marketing lectures, I really felt like cowdung during this meeting. I cried out all four letter expletives, at the top of my voice, within my mind and eventually, slowly and almost in hushed tones, promised better results next time round, which, by the way, is day after.<br />This event actually opened a barrage of emotions within me and hence, I decided to pour it out on this post. Dude, I mean seriously... the only good things that have happened to me in the last one month have been, number 1, the fact that I have befriended the DJ @ Jugheads, to the extent that he concedes one request per weekend for <span style="font-style: italic;">moi</span> and number 2, I have discovered that weekend trips to Jugheads are also a license to ogle wolfishly at beautiful (read sexy, hot... and all other synonyms for <span style="font-style: italic;">stunners</span>!!!) girls, who are least bothered about a random pack of <span style="font-style: italic;">pariah</span>s salivating, while they down drink after drink.<br />Coming to this point in my post, I suddenly remembered that its the month of May and that this month has historically been unkind to me, so probably its a fitting thing that this May of 2009 be no different. But sorry for the diversion, let me get back to my rantings so that you pervs can get enuff fun off it.<br />So coming back to my work, there is not much of it actually. All I am supposed to do is to gather data and think about the data. I was, of course, dumb enough to ask around for data. It seems we are supposed to get the data but no one has a clue as to who is supposed to give the data. In this intense game of "ricocheting-balls" syndrome, alike pool, I have already been reminded of my limited time here and that I should now start thinking with watever data I have and let the remaining data, rest in peace. And so I start thinking now, which is somehow too big a task for me and all I can think of is the coffee machine, the water cooler, the loo and lunch time (not necessarily in that order).<br />Funnily enuff, I luved the title of the project first up and was already dreaming of all the frameworks I could apply in this particular scenario, similar to our marketing case studies. All my dream of SWOT and Porter's 5 forces vanished eventually when I discovered that applying these would effectively dig my grave because I can never get enough data to defend half of the points that I had written on a sheet on the first day of project discussion. The paper was put to its best use next weekend, when I wiped off 2-3 thick layers of dust from the Bible by Mr. Kotler, thus effectively taking away 1 year of my MBA education with all the slime attached to it.<br />From the dreamy-eyed expectations of becoming <span style="font-style: italic;">Mr. India</span> to the real-life struggle of staying afloat inspite of the <span style="font-style: italic;">teen-guna Lagaan</span> my summer internship has come a full circle in half the period. Of course, this is again in keeping with my company's theory of high expectations.<br />Finally, what keeps me going. I have asked this question myself and the only answer I get for this is a glass of sugarcane juice and <span style="font-style: italic;">malai-wali lassi</span>.<br />===================================================================<br />P.S: All facts, statements, people and feeling are completely fictitious and modified suitably for reading pleasure. Their resemblance to any real fact, statement, person or feeling is impossible. If you still wanna believe this post I hold no obligations regarding setting things right later.<br /><br />P.P.S: If you are wondering that why I have written such a post only to deny its truth, then keep wondering, its your own sweet time. I am off to make my 1baby with my 9 wives .. (all notional creatures)Parasuramhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01538739682961597784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8866487041691156227.post-53249992586204582632009-04-10T11:20:00.000+05:302009-04-10T11:47:36.404+05:30The Hand of Gods!!! ... a first hand accountNothing infamous about this one.<br />We have been having our own football league, which we call SOM Premier League (SPL), in the hostel 1 grounds over the past week. I am part of a team called the Thunderbolts and though we dint start off thunderously in the tournament, we have been able to find our feet after the initial hiccups.<br />And it so happened that due to a manpower crunch, resulting out of corporate internship inductions, I got to play. I had played a total of 20 minutes in the last 3 games and that too in defense, something which I have never done. After much deliberation and strategising, I was asked where I'll be comfortable playing. In a team of 5, with one goalkeeper, you dont get much choices but still I ventured out and said," I'll play forward." Well, that really did change the evening for me.<br />I dont remember the exact timings of all the goals but I do remember how I scored them. Atleast 2 of them were good and 2 were plain dumb luck, while 1 could be put down to a defensive lapse by opponents. As I told everyone present, I was just lucky to be at the right place at the right time. The scoreline at the end of the match read 5-2 for Thunderbolts, with all 5 coming from my boot (OK, one was a header, make that 4+1!!). I felt that if I could just hang up my boots and walk into the sunset of my footballing career I would still be happy (lolzzz!!! nt much of a career actually!!). Anyways, most importantly, I had loads of fun and tons of laughs as I recounted the goals in my mind and probably thats wat counts the most. To borrow a term from my friend Ajit... Joga Bonito!!!!<br /><br />Talking of Ajit, we have discovered our very own combination of Steve McMahon, Paul Masefield and Shebby S<span style="font-family:arial;"></span>ingh in this bloke. I wonder if he should take up sports journalism in all the right earnest... this is wat he had to say about the match...( mind you he was the opponent so the accolades are all the more special!!!)<br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" ><span style="font-family:georgia;"><br />A 5 star Parsu performance</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" ><span style="font-family:georgia;">It was Parsu's day out on the field as an unprecedented 5 goals from him</span> <span style="font-family:georgia;">helped Thunderbolts</span></span> <span style="font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" ><span style="font-family:georgia;">crush Gunners 5-2. The manner in which the goals were </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">scored were noteworthy with each</span></span> <span style="font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" ><span style="font-family:georgia;">one being different from the previous. </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">Although a couple of them were scored as a result of the</span></span> <span style="font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" ><span style="font-family:georgia;">generosity of</span> <span style="font-family:georgia;">Gunners defence, whose performance left a lot to be desired, the first of </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">his five </span></span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" ><span style="font-family:georgia;">stood out for his positioning and deft touch. A goalmouth scramble </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">following a corner led to</span></span> <span style="font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" ><span style="font-family:georgia;">the ball rolling to Parsu who had stationed</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> himself at the farpost, one deft touch and it lobbed</span></span> <span style="font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" ><span style="font-family:georgia;">over Amit into the </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">Gunners' goal. That opened the flood gates as Parsu completed the hat-trick</span></span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" ><span style="font-family:georgia;">in just 18 minutes, a record that will surely stand for many SPL seasons to </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">come.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" ><span style="font-family:georgia;">The Gunners showed signs of a comeback with Ajit pulling a goal back at the </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">start of the </span></span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" ><span style="font-family:georgia;">second half. However, a bad mistake at the goal post led to</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> them conceding a very soft goal</span></span> <span style="font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" ><span style="font-family:georgia;">and the match was all but over. Bala soon </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">made it two for the Gunners but it was all too late.</span></span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" ><span style="font-family:georgia;">The limelight belonged</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> to one man. With this wonderful SPL performance, he has surely </span></span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" ><span style="font-family:georgia;">qualified for</span> <span style="font-family:georgia;">the next GPL session.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" ><span style="font-family:georgia;">Man of the match: Parsu</span></span><br /></div><pre><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Gud going Rocky... just dont sue me IP.</span><br /><br /></pre>Parasuramhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01538739682961597784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8866487041691156227.post-68910929697823260422009-03-23T22:24:00.001+05:302009-03-23T23:06:08.407+05:30Back on Blogger..no bang.. no fizz...Its been a while since I wrote anything. I almost feel like I should consult a doc regarding this writer's block but then nobody is to be blamed but me right!!!<br />A lot has happened since my last post ( which seems like an eternity!!!). I have scrambled like crazy for 4 days during the Admission process of the batch 2009-2011, felt nostalgic while giving presentations to aspirants, got sullied in mud during Holi, drank straight from a bottle of the OLD MONK ( i nvr thought i was cut out for the neat stuff but necessity - to be read as lack of Coke - is the mother of all invention), paced around SOM like an expecting father with the Consulting Continuum around the corner.... huff puff... still more... huff puff... suffered the ignominy of a CD in HR and (finally!!!) am struggling (again!!! as every term!!!) to keep up with the academic rigor.<br /><br /> Now I really hope all that absolves me off not being regular with my blog (one of ma secret New Year resolutions!!). This same time I have also discovered a love for Game Theory and plan to finish a small matter of 400 pages text on it amidst the acads here. And of course, I started with Adam Smith's "Wealth of Nations" online but lost interest in it because I can't hold the book while reading ( yeah am that finicky!!!). Discovered a new coffee shop nearby (only regret..visiting the coffee shop with a guy!!) which i cant afford in near future and revisited Pink Panther before watching Pink Panther2, which is good but nowhere near the first part (more because of the ingenuity.. in PP2 u trust Steve Martin to do something stupid... kills the fun!!)...hmmmmm... hmmmm... nw i cant remember...<br /> yeah !! India won the first test match in New Zealand handsomely and the farewell for the senior batch is up next week (after the minor issue of 3 midterms and 3 cases, that is!!), have to be controlled with the booze as we are paying this tyme ( ha ha ha!!) and thats pretty much about it.<br /><br /> If you are wondering why did I return after so long to make this completely irrelevant post then I would attribute that to my habit of random browsing. While browsing thru blogs, I came across this wonderful term "Just Another Random Post" or JARP so this is my first JARP and i'll tag it so!!!<br /> Besides important time of the year.. need to choose electives so i guess I'll renew my interest in energy, sustainability and Hubbert's peak theory!!!<br /> For now I am sitting on a utterly distasteful piece of reading called "New Product Adoption and Diffusion" and am expecting no gains out of it. To top it all, I have a meet in another 10 mins!!!<br />So for now Adios Amigos....<br />Tata!!!Parasuramhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01538739682961597784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8866487041691156227.post-89079079459582497502009-03-02T18:47:00.000+05:302009-03-02T19:20:16.509+05:30The long and short of Delhi6!!!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwF7U186BefwkX3yIqgC2bl_Tu75TBsAMPUi4U33ceeUAFMVAnN7qO5PnWqvu-IBkkQGO6D_a587CXjM4m8V2n1bcGP_dxDtKvWcROl9aOZcfJybqzocPZWWGnuTYMDX6a2YF7UBTI93HF/s1600-h/Desktop+Background.bmp"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 274px; height: 206px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwF7U186BefwkX3yIqgC2bl_Tu75TBsAMPUi4U33ceeUAFMVAnN7qO5PnWqvu-IBkkQGO6D_a587CXjM4m8V2n1bcGP_dxDtKvWcROl9aOZcfJybqzocPZWWGnuTYMDX6a2YF7UBTI93HF/s320/Desktop+Background.bmp" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5308579828927539394" border="0" /></a><br />It feels so good to be back on Blogosphere. With the exams over and a couple of chill days before I get down to work again, I thought I'll write about this really pathetic pot-pourri of <span style="font-style: italic;">Swades</span>, national intergration, women's liberation, MonkeyMan and <span style="font-style: italic;">Ramleela</span>.<br />That in short is Delhi-6.<br />Some RDB elements are found, crisp camera, realistic locales, amazing picturisation of songs except for one (why did they mete out cruelty to <span style="font-style: italic;">"Genda Phool"</span> song?)... and then there is Sonam Kapoor... but Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra forgot to put in a plausible story line to tie all these together. In short, the movie was technically sound but what good is it without a sensible story.<br />Ofcourse, I did sit through the whole ordeal even though I was itching to run out of the hall during the last 30 minutes, with all the preaching and screaming...yaawwwnnn!!! It was only because of beautiful... nah... beautifullest Sonam Kapoor as Bittu Sharma that I stayed back and who was just about my only inspiration to weather the tirade of cliched dialogs, tearjerking <span style="font-style: italic;">auntijis </span>and <span style="font-style: italic;">jalebis</span> with its various connotations.<br />The pic above is the latest to adorn my desktop and hence, Sonam Kapoor has joined the elite company of Catherine Zeta Jones, Neha Dhupia, Priyanka Chopra and Lara Dutta, who have all been there.<br />Coming back to Delhi6.... Do watch it but do not expect chest pumping nationalism of RDB or the serene realism that was embodied in <span style="font-style: italic;">Swades </span>but because in its own sweet way it makes you fall in love with <span style="font-style: italic;">Dilli</span> and thats just about it. No great harping about it otherwise...<br />Ciao all ... got some non-blogging writing to do!!!<br /><br />As an afterthought... Delhi6 is also a gud lesson for every student of Marketing as to how overkill can damage the efforts of clever product placement in movies... Clue:AB's fone!!!!Parasuramhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01538739682961597784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8866487041691156227.post-51536299540345672912009-02-17T18:28:00.000+05:302009-02-17T19:11:19.449+05:30Lessons from Introduction to Marketing!!!!<span style="font-size:100%;">Today has been a strange day. I got up early for once... rushed to an unscheduled marketing lecture only to watch a <span style="font-style: italic;">garam bhajan </span>on Mitsubishi (DC++ users should get that pun), came back and got fooled into watching <span style="font-style: italic;">Boys in </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;">Telugu. Phew!!!! What a day.<br />A roundup of news informed me that the World Mobile Congress is going on in Barcelona and its difficult to keep track of all the new things they are coming up with... like a James Bond style <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/feb/17/smartphones-mobile-world-congress-barcelona">wrist phone</a>. Another interesting article was <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/pda/2009/feb/17/netmusic-digitalmusic">this</a>.<br />Well another pathbreaking headlines for the day is that today was the last class of our Introduction to Marketing course. Yippee to that!!! Given the amount of cases, readings and surprise quizzes I have faced for the course, I have surprised myself that I haven't ranted (read blogged) about it yet!!!<br />But in hindsight (yeah, the most powerful and useless tool available to mankind) I find that it was the most realistic course in our term, and that's a scary admission. More so after reading the book by Trout and Riese "22 immutable laws of marketing".<br />The power of brand comes to fore every time I flinch at Pepsi, when I have asked for Coke. Valentine's Day is an exercise in positioning by all eligible (this topic by itself merits a post) and what to say about consumer buyer behavior, easily understood. The only issue with studying the course has been to reconcile all these innocuous acts with hair raising frameworks and psychological factors. The huge ocean of terms doesn't help the cause either. Why do I care if someone is an opinion leader or chief opinion dispenser (wow!!! i made that up) .. its just a guy whom i listen to!!! Plain and simple huh!!! now try not losing sleep while remembering painful terminologies!!!!<br />Perhaps the most important piece of truth was revealed in the last class, while discussing channels. The whole concept of buying/ selling value to/from consumers/companies can be laid into 3 statements:<br />1. Your product doesn't deserve to be bought<br />2. The customer doesn't think your product needs to be bought<br />3. Your product is not available to be bought<br /><br />If we look carefully at the first point then it indicates a possible failure of both market research and the quality departments while the second indicates failure of promotions and marketing efforts. The third is a failure of the SCM guys and in management of channels. Neat huh!!<br /><br />Anyways the most important point is that hopefully I'll use some of this <span style="font-style: italic;">gyan <span style="font-style: italic;"></span></span>in my Introduction to Marketing exam as well!!!<br />Signing off... gotta do lotsa project work!!<br /><br /></span>Parasuramhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01538739682961597784noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8866487041691156227.post-46859861285762398492009-02-16T19:13:00.000+05:302009-02-16T19:25:23.244+05:30The Next Generation Boom in Services Industry<div style="text-align: justify;"><meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><link style="font-family: arial;" rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CPARASU%7E1%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:smarttagtype style="font-family: arial;" namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="City"></o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype style="font-family: arial;" namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="country-region"></o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype style="font-family: arial;" namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="place"></o:smarttagtype></span><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]><object classid="clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D" id="ieooui"></object> <style> st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } </style> <![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> </div><p style="text-align: justify;font-family:arial;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:11;">
<br /></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;font-family:arial;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:11;">An article originally intended for L!VE, our student magazine @ SJMSOM:
<br /></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;font-family:arial;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:11;">
<br /></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;font-family:arial;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:11;">Working in one of <st1:place st="on"><st1:country-region st="on">India</st1:country-region></st1:place>’s leading software services exporters, what will be your reaction if you were to be transferred to Belapur? Confused. You shouldn’t be, if these are any indications of the times to come. Welcome to the next generation of expansion in the software service industry. The software industry of <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Bangalore</st1:place></st1:city>, Mumbai and Gurgaon is now moving deeper into the country. The new centers of information technology are no longer the big metros but low cost centers like Jaipur, <st1:city st="on">Trivandrum</st1:city> and <st1:place st="on"><st1:city st="on">Chandigarh</st1:city></st1:place>. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;font-family:arial;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:11;"><span style=""> </span><span style=""> </span>Unsurprisingly, the high cost of operation in the metros coupled with the high rates of attrition prevalent among the leading companies has made them look other places for a better option. The Tier II cities have a distinct advantage in this regard for many companies. The reported cost differential is around 10 percent for non-voice based services and higher for voice based services create a huge margin of operational profits for the firms. Also, thanks to the large population of the country and increasingly effective education system, the number of university graduates coming from these cities is enough to take care of the major manpower requirements for the companies.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in; text-align: justify;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:11;"><span style=""> </span>All major outsourcing companies have scouted out new locations, away from the hustling bustling metropolitans to locales such as <st1:city st="on">Kochi</st1:city>, <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Baroda</st1:place></st1:city> and Coimbatore etc. These include companies like Wipro Spectramind, Infosys Technologies and Cognizant Technology Solutions. Kochi and Coimbatore are coming up as feasible alternatives to Bangalore and Chennai in south, while Pune has already cemented its place in the outsourcing pantheons because of its close proximity to Mumbai and its rich educational system, providing close to 1,00,000 graduates every year, acting as an essential resource pool for the companies.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in; text-align: justify;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:11;"><span style=""> </span>One another reason associated to moving to Tier II cities is the low cost of transportation involved in the cities, because of their small geographical stretches and comparatively low count of vehicles compared to outsourcing hubs. The average employee starting out in the service industry is a college graduate, who mainly relies on public transport for commutation to the workplace. As an unwritten rule, the companies have decided to include transportation costs as part of the compensation packages, providing for company buses and cabs, which again hit the operating margins of the companies. Though the outsourcing industry has funneled in loads of money into the metropolitan cities, the infrastructure development has been unable to maintain pace with the rapid growth and the lack of development in transport facilities are not helping the cause of these cities.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in; text-align: justify;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:11;">An additional impact of the gradual shift towards Tier II cities has been the entry of many smaller service providers, specially the ones catering to niche sectors like high-end data analysis. The Tier II and Tier III cities make the entry level costs of these companies substantially less and are fostering the entrepreneurship ventures of many technology specialists. The presence of sufficient talent pool in these cities helps these firms by reducing their attrition rates and hence, their training and recruitment costs are also going down, further promoting the cause of the Tier II cities.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in; text-align: justify;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:11;">However, all is not well with the migration plans of these companies. The primary concern of all the companies is the infrastructure related issues that generally accompany the Tier II cities. The doubt that whether the smaller cities will be able to rise over the infrastructure handicap and dicey connectivity, to actually make the small city boom happen still looms large in the minds of the senior management of many companies. It is estimated that 30% of the workforce of all leading IT/ITES companies is going to be based in these Tier II and Tier III cities.<span style=""> </span>Hence the onus is on the respective public bodies to develop the amenities in these places to provide for the large workforce. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in; text-align: justify;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:11;">Another area of concern for the companies is bringing quality talent to these cities, especially with respect to the senior management and experience middle management employees, to these smaller cities. Obviously the promise of better work-life balance is not a good enough reason for these executives to relocate to these new situations and hence, companies might be forced to offer relocation bonuses or other such perks to facilitate the shift of work force to the new places. Also, an interesting trend that has been observed in the recent recruits is that, they do not want to leave the glitz and glamour accompanying a metropolitan city for relocation for some nondescript city offering little or no life outside office hours or during weekends.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in; text-align: justify;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:11;">Another major impact of this relocation to smaller centers in the country will be a more symmetric distribution of the outsourcing pie between the large hubs and the fast catching up wannabes. The recent years had seen a skew in favor of the metros, with the retail and real estate booms in the city projecting them as the face of modern <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">India</st1:place></st1:country-region>. These recent developments will enable the smaller players in this field to develop their own identity in this market and present a more representative picture of modern <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">India</st1:place></st1:country-region>. Already signs to this effect are visible with an increase in spending by real estate giants in these centers and the entry of retailing giants like Reliance and Big Bazaar in these cities. The development of these new consumption centers is also good for related sectors of manufacturing and allied services, giving them further impetus for growth. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in; text-align: justify;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:11;">However, none of this is going to happen in near future. The challenges are still clear for all of us to see. Firstly, the infrastructure needs a great impetus from the government. It is heartening to see projects like the Golden Quadrilateral being visualized because they will improve connectivity of the smaller cities with the outsourcing hubs. Also, the telecom revolution in the country should help ensure that the network and data connectivity are maintained at requisite levels for the companies to show confidence in these cities. Finally, the public amenities need to be improved to attract the skilled labor into these cities rather than switching jobs in the major cities themselves. The rise of latent talent and potential in the smaller cities is not under any sort of doubt, it is just the timing of the event that is debatable. The sooner it happens, the better.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> Parasuramhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01538739682961597784noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8866487041691156227.post-65871400217441344952009-02-15T23:19:00.000+05:302009-02-15T23:54:00.216+05:30Diksha session @ SJMSOMSo another weekend just flew by!!!! Tata weekend!!!<br />Just back to the room after collecting few materials for my Marketing project, its about Apollo tyres and currently, rudderless, inspite of the most energetic starts. On my way out i was wondering that some how the number of things you need to carry while moving out seems to be increasing.<br />Earlier it was just the little watch that Dad gifted for birthday, then came the wallet and gush of pride with it... Much later, of course, arrived the cell phone and now, whenever I move out of the room I carry a pendrive along with me, for some unforeseen data exchange. Of course, the tech-savvy will argue that a capable cell phone will make the pendrive redundant but currently such analysis is beyond my <span style="font-style: italic;">(and many others... with the crisis around)</span> financial condition.<br />Another latest of latest developments has been my new-found love for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynyrd_Skynyrd">Lynyrd Skynyrd</a>, which makes them permanent fixtures on my playlist for the next week atleast. Ofcourse, the songs have been generously mixed with Delhi6 and DevD songs.<br /> Saturday morning isn't the best time for any kind of industry interaction, let alone financial but then some people really do make us sit up and listen. So was the case this weekend when Mr A.V.Rajwade, visiting faculty at IIM A and SPJIMR and a practitioner in the financial services industry for more than <span style="font-style: italic;">50 years</span>, <span style="font-style: italic;">dropped by</span> (for lack of better words) for a tete-a-tete with us. He talked about the existing financial crisis and brought out certain new perspectives to the issue, even though I thought there was nothing much left to discuss about the issue.<br /> He started of discussing the various economic philosophies, right from Adam Smith to Keynes through Marx, and walked us through the socio-political transformations associated with the rise and fall of each of these beliefs. There was also a brief discussion on laissez faire capitalism and emergence of state responsibility in purely capitalist economies.<br />Thereafter the discussion moved to the banking business and I guess, the whole industry was summed up succintly when he said that it has moved from "lend and wait for repayment" to "originate and sell" model. He went on to explain certain aspects of the industry, especially risk-reward asymmetry and the disadvantages of complex of financial instruments. He attributed the current crisis to the willingness of most investors to invest in risky assets, even though they couldn't make much sense of the products that were being offered to them. He also initiated a brief discussion on various credit derivatives and their complexities.<br />Finally, and probably most importantly, he touched upon the things that a budding finance manager should learn from the crisis. To summarise in three points:<br />1. understand the risk/return compromise<br />2. Models are no substitute for common sense<br />3. Financial services are only slaves to the real economy and cannot be its master.<br /><br /> I also asked him whether he thinks this is the end of laissez faire capitalism to which he agreed. I, however, do not concur with his view. But more of that later need to publish this before the LAN stops working.<br /><br />And yeah... I gotta know that I stood 4th in the PG cult elocution competition... Kudos to Vishesh for getting that info... he he he!!!<br />Tchao!!!Parasuramhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01538739682961597784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8866487041691156227.post-55413243506941713412009-02-11T18:59:00.000+05:302009-02-11T19:44:23.266+05:30Sustainable Growth: A Few ideas on the future of Business<meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CPARASU%7E1%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--><o:p></o:p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><i style="">Mother asks the son, ‘what use are thee?<o:p></o:p></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><i style="">Slay thy womb for riches, has it been decreed?<o:p></o:p></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><i style="">With knives of steel piercing my bosom,<o:p></o:p></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><i style="">Dipped in the poisons of thy greed.’<o:p></o:p></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">Businesses have been known to operate for the bottom lines. Through centuries of unbridled slaughter of the resources, we have steamed ahead on the path of ever-increasing gains. However, we stand at crossroads today, with a choice between the established path of blissful living, and yet eventual extinction, and a more mellow, conscientious disposition towards our Earth.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">As business leaders of tomorrow, it is imperative not to focus just on the myopic margins of operational profit but to instill a greater, graver sense of sustainability and longevity. And if the purists scorn at this as altruism then let them be aware that this makes solid business sense. With increased awareness amongst the society and a watchful government, no business can succeed unless it conforms to the sustainability framework. Besides this, the positive correlation between financial performance and sustainability has been amplified by the growing energy costs and lack of viable alternatives for current energy sources. These factors make sustainability a completely business driven idea. </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><o:p> </o:p>There are two specific things that can be mentioned in this regard.
<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"> One is that there has been a general rise in the number of engineering students in B-schools of India. This gives the future managers a techninal orientation in their approach of business. The onus therefore lies on us the techo-preneurs and techno-managers to <span style="font-style: italic;">"engineer"</span> a path towards sustainable businesses and reliance on sustainable systems and products. Thus, I hope that India will be at the forefront of the technological and sociological revolution for sustainability. The key to this, however, lies in educating the business leaders towards this goal and making the current crop of practitioners (and students) sensitive to the future eminence of this topic, so that we don't miss the bus this time around.
<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"> Another thing that crossed me in the past week was a term called the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triple_bottom_line">Triple Bottom Line</a>. Its an interesting concept which captures the holistic effects of a company's activities on the society. The method tries to capture the effects of the company's economic activities on the 3Ps, namely, <span style="font-weight: bold;">People</span> (human capital), <span style="font-weight: bold;">Planet</span> (ecological) and <span style="font-weight: bold;">Profit</span> (businees). Though the basic concept may sound similar to the emergence of Corporate Social Responsibility in India, this platform provides a lot more quantitative basis for evaluation of company performances and could act a key determinant of corporate performance in the time to come. I am not sure how many companies in the country are actually aware of this method of cost accounting but a legislation in this regard will go a long way in improving the accountability of corporates towards societal and ecological responses.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">Sustainability has long been contemplated and negotiated, both in business circles and on geo-political forums but unless the tangible effects of these methods are not visible to the corporate world, it would be altruistic to expect overnight transformations into sustainability evangelists. Thus, I see the development of the TBL concept as a major mvoe in that direction. As is widely quoted, “We have not inherited the earth from ancestors, rather we have loaned it from our children”. And we would be wise enough to remember that.
<br /> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CPARASU%7E1%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:MinionPro-Regular; panose-1:0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-format:other; mso-font-pitch:auto; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><i style=""><span style="font-family: MinionPro-Regular;">
<br /></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><i style=""><span style="font-family: MinionPro-Regular;"> “Loathe me not, for I had been blinded,<o:p></o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><i style=""><span style="font-family: MinionPro-Regular;">With lust of gold and greed unknown.”<o:p></o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><i style=""><span style="font-family: MinionPro-Regular;">He spoke of love to “wash away thy pains of yore”,<o:p></o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><i style=""><span style="font-family: MinionPro-Regular;">Oh Mother!! Be resplendent again with glories galore!!!</span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></p> <p></p> Parasuramhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01538739682961597784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8866487041691156227.post-47325594856345701772009-01-31T18:19:00.000+05:302009-01-31T18:27:37.666+05:30Should we put constraints on media for national security?Hi all,
<br />
<br />Been very busy with usual stuff that i have not been able to blog at all. Couple of times it was so bad that i abandoned posts midway.... so here i thought i'll put up something for the sake of continuity, and of course for you to ruminate... this is my speech for the PG Cult'09 elocution competition.
<br />
<br /><meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CPARASU%7E1%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="country-region"></o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="place"></o:smarttagtype><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]><object classid="clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D" id="ieooui"></object> <style> st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } </style> <![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family:Arial;">Our Preamble states that <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">India</st1:place></st1:country-region> is a sovereign, socialist, democratic, republic and as citizens of a free country we are endowed with certain fundamental rights. The most prominent among them is the right to free speech and therein resides the premise of an independent and strengthened media in the country. Of course, it would be inessential to exemplify the virtues of free and fair media in democracy, a debate long settled by Edmund Burke, when he said looking up at the Press Gallery of the House of Commons, said, 'Yonder sits the Fourth Estate, and they are more important than them all.’<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family:Arial;">However, in this cacophony of freedom and fairness, a growing section of the populace has started whispering another word too. That word is: Accountability. The world of media and information has changed dynamically from the good old days of Doordarshan and Akashvani. Predictably, the internet is at the forefront of this revolution but there has been enormous development and repackaging of existing channels, with news channels mushrooming overnight and tabloids raking in readership numbers unheard of. The media has undergone an era of crass commercialization and the emergence of 24x7 journalism has guaranteed that anything and everything under the sun is breaking news in <st1:place st="on"><st1:country-region st="on">India</st1:country-region></st1:place>.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family:Arial;">The recent Mumbai attacks revealed this dirty underbelly of Indian media, with each TV channel, tabloid and news forum competing with each other to bring the latest piece of action, much in the same vein of reporting the live scorecard of an India-Australia cricket match. Of course, it didn’t occur to them that revealing key operational details of the mission, committing diplomatic farces like commenting on the nationality of attackers 2 hours into the attack, would compromise the diplomatic and military actions taking place on the ground. If you have the guts to pompously announce that the attackers are watching your channel to get ground level information then where are your sensibilities in regulating what you reveal on the show? When it comes to national security, free and fair reporting is a flimsy garb for sensationalism and irresponsibility.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family:Arial;">Unfortunately, it seems that the media has entered into a vicious cycle of generating news and creating hype, for sustenance and only external hands can rein them in. If we can have regulators for content on movies then shouldn’t we ensure that the way the sensitive information is presented to the world also be guarded closely and monitored. Lest of course, ladies and gentleman, the next time you want the attackers to have a free and fair chance at fighting back, the media should indeed be constrained when reporting about issues of national security.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<br />Parasuramhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01538739682961597784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8866487041691156227.post-14178928987024844992009-01-18T14:37:00.000+05:302009-01-18T15:12:39.879+05:30Socialist or Selfish<meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CPARASU%7E1%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal">Its 4.30am and I am reporting from my hostel (big deal huh!!!!!). I have nothing to write but it’s the only thing that’s keeping me going and that has saved me from potential unemployment so I turn to it for some succor.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Understandably (or not… I couldn’t care less) I have nothing to write about except the whole set of things that has caused me so much discomfort for some time. I remember one of the passages from my school days. It’s from the book “My Experiments with Truth” and the passage debates upon individualistic and socialistic existence of men. In other words, to exist for oneself or to live for the society. As is becoming of a good book, it extols the greatness of living for the society while stressing on the right to self fulfillment as a basic tenet of democracy. Thus, I am confused as to where should one should draw the line when it comes to making a choice. Be selfish or be socialist in your attitude.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">In this regard, I have a story to relate. Being a student with above average credentials prodded me towards teaching many students in younger classes. One of my students, lets call him Ram, was one of my brightest students. I could never fathom his parents’ obsession of seeking my guidance for their son but I took it up for the money all the same. Ram was like any other 8<sup>th</sup> grader but with a unique disposition of dexterity at Social Studies and Mathematics alike, and everything in between. That is to say that he was good at every subject and though he wasn’t top of class, he was well recognized for his versatility and innovativeness.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Ram was one of my last students for the day. He is one of the students who need least guidance and cause least mental exhaustion. Ideal for the last batch. But that day he was unusually quiet and his actions were more robotic than usual. When initial prodding didn’t get me far, I tried the hostile I-will-tell-your-parents method to get his part of the story.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style="">Ram</b>: <i style="">Bhaiya</i>, in 2 days time we have an inspection in school. Since we are an upcoming government school, <i style="">sirf class 8 tak hi hai na</i>, we need to impress the inspector coming from the department, to improve the stature of the school and to get us more funds for expansion.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style="">Me: </b>Hmmm… that’s good for you and your school. Why are you worried? Don’t worry you’ll do fine.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Ram:</span> <i style="">Nahi nahi</i>. Not afraid of the inspection. Actually, Mr. Jay called me after the class for a discussion. We had a talk on certain issues for considerable time and I am wondering what to do about his proposal.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Me:</span> Proposal?? What kinda proposal does an 8<sup>th</sup> grader get from his class teacher?</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Ram:</span> Well Jay Sir says that this inspection is very critical for our school as there are many schools vying for aid and unless the inspector feels that the whole batch is good, we would not get anything in aid and our school won’t get the necessary permission to scale up to class X with all the facilities.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Me:</span> Good to see that your teacher is so worried about the school and the students. (<i style="">And most importantly, about his increment</i>, I mumbled inside.) But that’s pretty simple isn’t it? Just ensure that your best students are showcased in front of the inspector. That way the impression of the class will also be improved and the teacher’s work is also less in training the students, as they will be talented automatically. Just divide the work amongst the best students. Simple.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Ram:</span> I thought so too <i style="">Bhaiya</i>. Infact when Jay Sir was making the teams for each subject I was worried I would be in atleast 3 teams because he had used the annual exam marks for deciding the composition of each subject’s team. But finally, my name was declared in the list of students, who had to memorize the prayer songs which we sang from our prayer book for our daily assembly. You see, I am one of the few born singers in the class. It seems the inspector might want to hear some prayer songs from us. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Me:</span> Good hai yaar. Now as your tuition teacher, do I teach you prayer songs? And I don’t see any proposal still.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Ram:</span> (Chuckles) <i style="">Nahi Bhaiya</i>. Prayer song <i style="">toh</i> I can sing anytime, no sweat. The proposal actually materialized when Jay sir said he wanted to meet me after class. He started by saying that he was sorry that he couldn’t put me in any teams as the head master had restricted him from placing students under excessive stress and placing me in any one team would be undermining my proficiency in any other.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Me:</span> So, he left you with the prayer songs?</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Ram:</span> <i style="">Shayad. </i>But he promised that I will get to contribute in individual team preparations for their subjects. The teams will make use of my notes for the inspection and take my help in ironing out few additional answers. But I am not supposed to volunteer for giving any answers as I generally do. The answers will be given by students handpicked by Sir. Only they are supposed to raise hands for a particular subject. In lieu, of course, Sir has said he’s going to think of me as a great team player and keep me in mind for his future plans.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Me:</span> Ohh… so you are going to be in all teams, rather coordinating all teams, with a centralized consultant kinda role. That’s cool.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Ram:</span> <i style="">Uff Bhaiya</i>. Nothing like that. I am still part of prayer team. Of course, I will be making significant contributions to the inspection preparation and play a critical role in the development of the school. Isn’t that cool!!! Besides the central coordination roles were already decided while I was away watching “War of the Words: The Great Debacle” last year, which had our school seniors in the finals so <i style="">wo </i>place to <i style="">gayi</i> na.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Me</span> (<i style="">Now it’s going beyond my comprehension</i>): So you are basically <i style="">rattofy</i>ing the prayer songs while slogging your ass off for other teams to do well.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Ram:</span> <i style="">Aisa mat bolo, Bhaiya.</i> Look at my contribution to the school’s expansion. That’s going to be cool right. Tomorrow if the school gets a permission to expand up to high school, I can proudly say that I was part of the team which did it.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Me:</span> But what if he didn’t ask for the prayer songs. Then your contribution is zero isn’t it?</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Ram:</span> But Jay Sir to <i style="">jaante hain na.</i> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Me:</span> <i style="">Haan theek hai. </i>But high school <i style="">ki</i> scholarship <i style="">ke liye</i> headmaster <i style="">hi</i> nominate <i style="">karenge </i>and he’ll give it to some person who answered Mathematics questions brightly or to someone who supervised the preparation of all the subject teams. Not someone who memorized a bunch of prayer songs. <i style="">Hai na</i>?</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Ram:</span> Hmmmm <i style="">wo to hai. </i>Anyways its late now, I need to leave now and I can’t come tomorrow. You see I need to sit with various subject teams and prepare with them, besides the bunch of prayer songs. I hope that’s not a problem. Perhaps we can do an extra Sunday.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Me:</span> <i style="">Theek hai</i>. But just think over what I said. <i style="">School ke liye fight maarna hai ki apne liye scholarship ka scene banana hai.</i></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Ram:</span> Ok <i style="">Bhaiya</i>. (And he left…)</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Two days later, when the inspector asked a question about equations, 5 hands went up in the class. I don’t know if one of them was Ram nor do I know what I would have done if had I been in his place. Even if I had known how would I know that it’s the right decision. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Is it ever possible to know what the right decision is?</p> Parasuramhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01538739682961597784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8866487041691156227.post-71343833890310803252009-01-15T23:25:00.000+05:302009-01-15T23:32:26.685+05:30Ouch!! I can’t write about S….E….X <meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CPARASU%7E1%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Well its 3.30 am and I am writing in my hostel room, simultaneously cursing the LAN-ban in our campus. Another usual B-school day will come to an end for me, in say about an hour. Reading before classes is certainly a first for me, so I have to get accustomed to it pretty fast, besides there is the usual din of totally useless activities in hostels that you get addicted to here. Eating in the night canteen for instance. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Matthew Hayden retired today but I could care less. I never liked him anyways and that has nothing to do with his relationship with Bhajji. He is a typical example of a struggler, who fought his way back in to the Aussie squad after being dropped. He is not a purist’s cricketer and he is big, burly and remorseless, quite unlike the batsmen I like, for example apna Tendlya, small, vulnerable (by the looks… not his cricket. That’s another debate) and emotionally charged. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Of course, it would take a certain degree of ignorance to completely dismiss his contributions to Aussie and world cricket and I, infact, do salute him for his achievements though I’ll still say I am pleased to see the back of him.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">My latest GTalk signature says: “Love is the answer, but while you’re waiting for the answer sex does raise some interesting questions. ” Woody Allen</p> <p class="MsoNormal">As soon as I changed it, I got a few pings about it. Like all normal things, the reaction was mixed and I couldn’t pick any reaction extraordinaire amongst them. What it set me thinking on was why we attach so much attention and connotations to the word “SEX”. I still remember a particular incident from graduation. Final year, when we were learning the art of drafting our resumes, there was a section regarding personal information. This is what our faculty had to say about it, “And finally, kindly use the word GENDER and then write MALE or FEMALE, please do no use the word S….E…X”". Yeah, that’s what she did. She didn’t say “… do use the word SEX” but “… word S…E…X”. Just the individual letters not the word. As if uttering the word would destine her to the deepest and hottest cauldrons of hell. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Final thought, Indian attitude towards SEX is akin to the American attitude towards Outsourcing. We both don’t like to talk about it but we seem to have no hassles in practicing it. With our huge population and their huge cost cuttings, we have proof enough.</p><p class="MsoNormal">Adios!!!
<br /></p> Parasuramhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01538739682961597784noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8866487041691156227.post-67712706881469229002009-01-11T10:34:00.000+05:302009-01-11T15:16:07.234+05:30Hurray... Time for yet another SOM Rocks!!!Reporting from room number 307 of hostel A in SIC campus.<br />Cosy room, cosier blanket and the perfect time for <span style="font-style: italic;">garama-garam chai</span> and <span style="font-style: italic;">pakode</span>. Well, i aint here to enjoy the hospitality though. I came here yesterday, about the same time of the day, for participating in a marketing event Out2B in the business festival of SIIB, Ignisense. Eventful journey to say the least, we worried about missing the event because of the delays caused by the bus<span style="font-style: italic;">-wala.</span> Anyhow we didnt have to face our worst fears and managed the reaching the campus and registering in time.<br />We had a 20 minute presentation and i was supposed to present it. But guess what, I haven't even seen the slides more than 2 times and not one rehearsal. So Sachin made me do a couple of practices with the slides and I guess I really need to be thankful to him for ironing out a few chinks in the armour.<br />We risked being late rather than being shabby at the event and it paid off handsomely as our presentation went off well. We were applauded for our well thought out and prepared presentation and that for me was battle won. However, we still had to answer a few tricky ones from the judges and I think really Sachin did a great job at that. We got off stage with a general feeling that we have done a pretty good job if nothing exceptional.<br />Some of the participants were really good with their product ideas or market strategies, however I felt they missed some major point or the other while making their presentations. These things came back to haunt them during the question and answer round.<br />The results were out shortly after that and we were declared the WINNERS of Out2B!!!!!!!!!!!!! This culminated our continuous slogging over the past 2 days and after a round of congratulations, we moved for lunch.<br />After lunch, with not much to do for the day, I went to meet Neha, my friend from school. Reached her flat around 4.30, nice place I must add. Usual round of <span style="font-style: italic;">gappe-shappe </span>over Frooti and Haldiram's khatta meetha followed by a quick nap for me. I was woken up with some wonderful coffee and another round <span style="font-style: italic;">gappe </span>ensued. I left her place around 8.30 after a dose of some Roadies action and a meal of <span style="font-style: italic;">2 aloo paratha </span>and<span style="font-style: italic;"> anda bhurji</span> with <span style="font-style: italic;">dahi</span>. It took some effort to reach campus, especially because I could not figure out the rationale behind the pricing strategy of the autorickshaw drivers in Pune. But after some time, my body didn't have the patience to stand and argue with them so I just took what seemed to be the least exploitative price and headed back.<br />Reaching campus, I heard there was a fashion show at 10 and I had reached in time. But could my body take any more exhaustion ? Yes Sir, it could. So I went to the show, had a nice time for about an hour and came back to my room for the first proper sleep in 3 days.<br />ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ.........................................<br />That was when I was sleeping. Got up at 9am. The SIIB guy put up with us in the room was supposed to get up at 5 to help with the event but its 11 now and there are no signs of him getting up. Pleasant surprise at breakfast was the meeting with Harsh Maskara (The Mask) of PagalGuy.com. I know Harsh as he had come to campus a few days back to do a writeup on <a href="http://www.pagalguy.com/index.php?categoryid=94&p2_articleid=1653">SJMSOM</a>. Interestingly enough, yours truly has also been mentioned in the article for one of the many wisecracks during our interaction.<br />Thereafter its been boring, so now I am planning to move out of the room.<br />Next post will be from Mumbai...<br />Tata !!!<br />And yeah ... SOM Rocks!!!Parasuramhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01538739682961597784noreply@blogger.com0