NAGA'S SPACE

what is the difference between google.com and google.co.in ?

2010-01-16T16:29:00.006+05:30

google.com

google.co.in

ps : jus a creativity of one of ma friend in his blog :)

certified pagal

2009-09-10T16:12:00.004+05:30

90/10 principle

2009-06-06T10:53:00.001+05:30

Recently i came across one forward which was too good worth sharing. It is about the 90/10 principle. The 90/10 principle states that 10% of life is made up of what happens to you. 90% of life is decided by how you react. And it is our reaction which determines our subsequent attitudes and states in our life.

Let me explain with an example.

You are eating breakfast with your family. Your brother knocks over a cup of coffee onto your shirt. You have no control over what just happened. What happens next will be determined by how you react.

You curse.

You harshly scold your brother for knocking the cup over. He breaks down in tears. After scolding him, you turn to your mother and criticize her for placing the cup too close to the edge of the table. A short verbal battle follows. You storm upstairs and change your shirt. Back downstairs, you find your brother has been too busy crying to finish breakfast and get ready for school. He misses the bus.
Your mother must leave immediately for work. You rush to the bike and drive your brother to school. Because you are late, you drive 40 miles an hour in a 30 mph speed limit.

After a 15-minute delay and throwing $6{Rs.300} traffic fine away, you arrive at school. Your brother runs into the building without saying goodbye. After arriving at the workplace 20 minutes late, you find you forgot your briefcase. Your day has started terrible. As it continues, it seems to get worse and worse. You look forward to coming home.

When you arrive home, you find small wedge in your relationship with your mother and brother.

Why? …. Because of how you reacted in the morning.

Why did you have a bad day?

A) Did the coffee cause it?
B) Did your brother cause it?
C) Did the policeman cause it?
D) Did you cause it?

The answer is “D".

You had no control over what happened with the coffee. How you reacted in those 5 seconds is what caused your bad day.
Here is what could have and should have happened.

Coffee splashes over you. Your brother is about to cry. You gently say, "Its ok man, you just need to be more careful next time". Grabbing a towel you rush upstairs. After grabbing a new shirt and your briefcase, you come back down in time to look through the window and see your brother getting on the bus. He turns and waves. You arrive 5 minutes early and cheerfully greet the staff. Your boss comments on how good the day you are having.

Notice the difference? Two different scenarios. Both started the same. Both ended different.

Why?

Because of how you REACTED.

You really do not have any control over 10% of what happens. The other 90% will be determined by your reaction.

Most of us tend to react to situations like spontaneously reacting to any external stimuli without thinking the consequence of our action. In such cases,what might save the day for us is to respond to situations. Actually both the words "Respond" and "React" sound the same but in reality they are in complete contrast. When we react to situations we are acting without really thinking. We are not being authentic. While when we respond,we are actually sizing things up and acting in such a way so that we are authentic in our actions and as well consciously aware of it. Coming back to our post, no one knows how and when things will happen. But when it happens,we can definitely choose how to respond to it which will later take its own course as desired by us.

P.S: I have stated this in ma own words and the essence of this post has been taken from the forward. The 90/10 principle has been advocated by Motivational speaker and Time management guru,Stephen Covey.

Journey through Puppy Eyes

2009-05-13T13:33:00.001+05:30

photo courtesy : Sudhan..

pictures of cute puppies in ma college sports complex...this post is dedicated to those little puppies..what if these puppies are allowed to talk after they grow old??.. here it goes :) !

Life is sometimes, so very bare
It manages to touch the depths of sorrow
My time is up; no one seems to care
Is there no more I can borrow?

When I was young, you loved me too
Your weakness was I; your darling new,
You bonded with me, and I, with you
Best of my life; those days so few….

And when I saw, as I grew old
Your love for me grew lesser and cold
It finally struck me at my heart
That you had plans to end my start

I howled, “Why do you want to kill me?
Was I not loyal enough?”
Your resolve at best has chilled me…
How have you grown so tough?

I guarded your life Night and day.
I kept the prowlers forever at bay
I loved you more than myself, I can say
And yet you abandon me in such a way?

And now I lie, in this mangy cage
My Heart is broken and my mind is enraged
You left me here with people deranged
To face the death, that you have arranged…

And now, they come to seal my fate
They bring me meat which killed my mates
They have thrown it down, into my cage
They look at me; My death awaits…

Death Awaits

2009-05-13T11:41:00.000+05:30

Your habit was for fun, so cool it seemed.
All your friends did it, so hip was it deemed!
You found yourself at the top of the world
Only when it was between your lips, so curled!

You loved the smoke, envied the spirals,
You paid no heed to the upcoming virals,
Your eyes so glazed, with a mirage of pleasure.
too blind to see your bleeding loss of treasure!
Your good times were soon getting fewer and fewer
Your got dark circles; Your food tasted like sewer,
Your life was controlled by the devil of smoke
your lungs were now screaming, coughing from the choke

Your "Pack-a-day" turned to "Packets-per-hour",
Your filter-paper rolls, now had all your power,
Your life now consisted of only butt ends
Your body, an ashtray; Nothing left to mend

Now you look at me, morose on your deathbed
you flinch at my hard words, at every word I just said,
They say you wont live to see another morning,
Too bad, you missed out on the "STATUTORY WARNING"!

QUIT SMOKING
There are Better Ways To Kill Yourself!!

[p.s] jus ma thought after anti smoking campaign @ SSN...

Dont give up ! ! you can do it ! ! !

2009-05-13T11:18:00.000+05:30

If you think, you can
For there is a day after every night
If hopes are intact then
The chances of goal attainment are all bright

If you think, you can
You can break mountains into stones
It’s in your hands
Do not leave your hopes

If you think, you can
You can overcome your sorrow
And your tears can turn into smiles
You can regain your lost glories tomorrow

If you think, you can
You can carve a stone into a statue
A pain filled soul will work hard
Patience and dedication is a prized value.
But only if you think you can,

If you think you can
then you will,
For “I can’t” is meant for weak,
You are strong, so don’t give up the thrill!

I CANNOT LET MYSELF DIE.

2009-04-27T08:29:00.001+05:30

I cannot let myself die,
Only because you don’t like me.
You are replacable.

I cannot let myself die,
Only because you hurt me.
You can be tamed.

I cannot let myself die,
Only because I pledged to be with you.
Promises can be broken.

I cannot let myself die,
Only because you forsake me.
My world never ended with you.

I cannot let myself die,
Only because we can never be together.
Many people consider me their life.

FALLING LEAVES

2009-04-23T15:13:00.000+05:30

I was thinking of old friends today
And how many of them have slipped away,
Moved, got occupied, or stopped calling so much,
Found new friends, got busy, and lost touch.

It reminded me of falling leaves.

Every autumn the leaves fall from the trees
Some stay longer than the others,
But eventually – each leaf must fall, I am told,
Leaving the tree alone to face the cold

Why is it that in the time of utmost need
The leaves would seek to leave the tree?
And when we need our friends around
We look and they cannot be found?

Of course these friendships come and go

And in the spring new leaves will grow.
But I prefer autumn friends of old
With crackling laughter and color bold.

It saddens me now I must admit
How somehow, someway,
I forgot laughing with old friends of mine
During summers when the sun would shine

And then I thought of you
That one stubborn leaf that won’t let go
That clings despite the winds that blow

Fighting ice, and snow, and winter’s stings
Hanging on right through till spring
So I guess that’s what you are to me now –

The very last leaf to leave the tree.

I know it seems silly, but it’s true.

When I see that last leaf….

I think of you…

ILLUSIONS OF REALITY...

2009-04-23T13:18:00.000+05:30

The more you point out my mistakes,
The more you are drawn towards me.

The more you try to hurt me,
The more you bleed in your heart.

The more you run away from me,
The more my memories haunt you.

The more you want to forget me,
The more you are reminded of my presence.

The more you want to chase me away,
The closer I come to you.

The more you hate me,
The more you end up loving me.

The more you call me an “illusion”
The more I dawn as the reality of your life….

CONFESSION OF A WOMAN...

2009-03-27T18:55:00.000+05:30

When I'm born,I'm jeered at.When I'm a child,I'm made to believe that my reason for existence is somebody else.While I'm growing up,I'm discouraged to question.My brain and heart are numbed.I cannot die too,since it will bring infamity to my family.People would say,"At this age,what could have forced her to terminate herself ? She failed to materialize her fantasy.Such bad morals." I fast for the well-being of my father and brothers.When I outgrow my frocks,I'm let off to another household.There, I work for others, without pay.I have children but they treat me like a door-mat.Here too,I fast for my husband's and childrens' long,peaceful life.When the man of the house,who happens to be my "husband" dies,I shed a part of my soul.I have no right to live then,I just breathe and sit in a corner.Rest of my life is spent in praying-for death.They say, "Woman needs a man.In childhood,its father.In youth,its husband and in old age,its son."All my life,I don't live for myself.I live to make others happy."Live" is a misnomer,I exist.I exist for others.

I try to kill my daughter in my womb.Only because I don't want her to live a life like me.When I finally beget a son,I command my husband's attention and then,slowly influence him to such a degree that he is henpecked for life.I drive out his parents out of "my home".I raise my children in a relatively more liberal environment.When my teenaged son takes to smoking,I don't admonish him.I just tell him to stop it,I say it half-heartedly.I secretly desire to show the society,"See he's my son.My mother-in-law prayed to God for 6 long years for a heir,only then he was born.Such a nasty son!"The mother in me cries her heart out,but the woman in me smiles.Eventually,my son marries a girl.I nag her for hours on end.Only because I think,if I was ill-treated, so must be she.In the process,I train my daughter(sex-determination tests are'nt always reliable) to be a devil(just like me,now). I become a clone of my mother-in-law.Later in life,my husband dies.I'm secretly happy because he never understood me.He needed someone to look after himself and his household,so he had married me.My position was worse than a maid,I didn't get wages!!Still,I cry a lot,all my clothes,jewellery are removed.A coarse,white sari is my constant companion.My greying hair is shorn off.I turn a veggie(Widows are not allowed to eat non-veg food).My life ends in some old-age home.My son performs my last rites .And yes,if I die while my husband is alive,then I'm called "lucky".A mini-band plays on my way to the burial grounds.It symbolizes that I've kept my word,there is a belief that a bride comes to her husband's house and must leave it on her journey to burial grounds.I'm not even allowed to die on my own !I bear a burden of sins which I never meant to do,I learnt it all from life.A bud is nipped and a diabolic tree is nurtured in me.I think I'm born to die.

It happens in India,but in other parts of the world,there are different traditions that bind a woman in chains of "a living hell".You may ask why women are hateful and have hosts of other "villainous" traits.My answer is -As you sow,so shall you reap.When someone is hated,ill-treated and crumpled,she tends to give the same and the cycle goes on.

When and how can it stop?Is it a woman's fault?Or man's?Or of nature?

I CAN'T HELP LOVING YOU...

2009-03-27T18:47:00.000+05:30

I can’t help loving you,
Your harsh tone doesn’t deter me.
May be I’m not quite like the one you dreamt of,
But nevertheless,I can’t help loving you.

Sometimes you shower me with
all affection and care,
And sometimes its pure seething anger I receive.
With reason of course.

The look in your eyes speaks of
immeasurable,fathomless love
That you want to bestow on me
Throughout my life and after.

I dared to dream because you
Reposed your faith in me.
You made me feel special.
Not only did you give me birth
But also a life.
Its all your doing Mom,
Its your life that I’m living today.

THIS WILL MAKE U SMILE :) :) :)

2009-03-20T22:16:00.000+05:30

cheers :)

have a great weekend :) :)

Live to Express and not Impress !!

2009-03-13T19:29:00.000+05:30

Literatively speaking, the difference between 'Express' and 'Impress' is the first 2 letters. But its impact in our life is much beyond our imagination. Its a sad thing to note that most of us are tuned to focus on Impressing rather than Expressing. We have come to believe sub-consciously that outward appearances counts much more coz,the appearance is the first thing we see when we look at someone. So we move around in Best dresses, and fake big smiles(not always), hoping to make a good Impression, leaving our inner selves to isolation. So how does this Express and Impress come to matter..

I am not wise enough to give opinions on what is what, but this is ma understanding of Express and Impress. When we say we are expressing, whatever we are doing, we are doing by being our self. In contrast, When we want to Impress someone, our focus is more on imitating something/someone in order to influence others. In the process, we lose of what we are. Bruce Lee had said once about people imitating the big stars, that when we imitate someone, what we are doing is to imitate the outward appearance forgetting that there is a basis to that person's greatness and we cant achieve that greatness by imitating.

One of the things which the great scholars have said is that the interesting relation between Expressing and Imitating is that as one starts expressing himself , he/she will advertently end up impressing others. As Jim Rohn says,

“It's easy to let life deteriorate into making a living instead of making a life. It's not the hours you put in, but what you out into the hours that count. Learn to express rather than impress. Expressing evokes a ''me too'' attitude while impressing evokes a ''so what'' attitude.”

To be frank, I am myself in the process of discovering how to express myself truly. Yet i hope that as one starts Expressing one self, the adage "The First impression is the Best Impression" will in turn lead to another on these lines.- "Your True Expression will be the Best Impression".

Power of Choices

2009-03-10T19:19:00.000+05:30

In the last post,i had written about Power of Choices and difference the choices would make in one's life .Here is a story to explain the Power of Choices and the difference it could make in a person's life.

To start with, what are Choices in our life. Choices are the our decisions which determine what we do with the situations which we encounter in our daily life. Simply put, the power of choice is the ability to take actions and responsibility for those actions. Its our decision of how we decide to respond to some situations. In one of the Personal development programs which i had attended, i liked one particular learning.

The difference between Action and reaction. When something happens with us, do we tend to act or react. There is a lot of difference between the two. Act is something which you do when you are in control. Reaction is something which happens when you are not in control and you do something just because you feel you have to do something. The way we decide to respond to life will determine how far we get.

Now about the story which i had said. There was once a drunkard who had 2 sons. He always used to come back home, abuse his children and wife. Years passed by. One son went on to become a crook and a petty pedlar. He too was a drunkard. He blamed his father for his current predicament and continued to be so. The other son went on to become a famous tycoon who was all over the newspapers about his achievements. he was asked the secret of his success.He said "his father" was responsible for his current situation. When they found that the tycoon's father was a drunkard and he always used to come home and beat his children and wife, they were surprised and asked him why he thought so.

The tycoon replied "My father was a drunkard. I learnt from my father what all things one shouldnt do. I decided that i would be a good father and that i would live to the best of my potential". In a way his actions have inspired me to live to my best capability and become what i have become now....

I had always found inspiration from this story. Both the sons had the choice to do what they want. One choose to focus on what his father did to him and accordingly he too wasted his life. The other choose to take responsible of his life and lived his life accordingly. Hence, the choice you make will reflect the way you become.

Learnings from Rahman's OSCAR speech

2009-02-25T17:22:00.000+05:30

After reading the above line, if you are tempted to think that I am going to write about some sermon, Iam sorry to disappoint you. The above words were spoken by Mr.Rahman in his acceptance speech while receiving the OSCAR for the much acclaimed movie "SlumDog Millionaire". Other than the fact that the awards has been a great great source of pride and happiness to over a billion Indians,it is also a testimony to Mr.Rahman's talent and humbleness. I can go on listing Rahman's musical wizardry skills, yet since many of my fellowmen have done that, i would like to share 3 things which stood out in his acceptance speech in the OSCARS award ceremony.

Firstly: His words "Mere paas ma hai meaning My mother is here, I have her blessings", is something which definitely would have made his mother very proud. I would like to point out to the extent his mother had an affect on him, the fact that Parents play a very important role in the up bringing of their child. Its a known fact that parents care for their kids. But the caring has to be such that it emphasises more on values and character rather than fulfilling the child fanciful wishes...

Parents who inculcate values and character in their kids ensure that the child grows up to a responsible and a good human being. Contrast it with the sad fact in today's world where parents are too busy with their life's to give enough time to their kids. Some assume that giving a lot of money to satisfy the child wish will keep him happy. This couldnt be farther from truth. The child needs good quality time with his/her parents so as to become a good human being. Not that, exceptions doesnt exist. Yet in the majority, the more the parents care and spend time for/with their children, the child is moulded to a greater precision, and Rahman's words bear testimony to the fact.

Secondly, his words "Ella Pughazhum Eraivanukke, which means "All my success and achievements are dedicated to God, God is great." This not only points out the humble nature of Rahman but also the fact that no matter how high one goes, one must keep in mind that their feet are firmly set in the ground. With lots of publicity, its easy to get into the feeling of incredibleness and to lose one's head. Yet, the people who keep on making/creating new records are the one who never forgot that their achievements is a amalgamation of many people's effort and are always grateful for it. Hats off to the humble nature of Rahman.

Thirdly, his words ""All my life I had two choices - between love and hate and I chose love," reflects the power of choices in one's life. I have an interesting story to relate about how the choices we make determine our destiny. I will share it in my upcoming post. Coming back to Rahman's word, i have no idea about what Rahman choices he had and what he choosed, maybe we have to wait for Rahman to come up with his auto-biography... Yet one thing i have learnt from his above lines was this.

Initially i had a thought that giving OSCAR to Rahman for his music composition for SlumDog Millionaire is like mocking his previous compositions. Any ardent fan of Mr.Rahman will bear testimony to the fact that there are numerous composition of Rahman which are far better than his recent one. Yet we get an OSCAR for this one because this one has been produced and directed by a foreign entity. Our previous nominations "Lagaan","Taare Zameen Par" which should have fetched an OSCAR could have been over looked !! In one way, I was holding a negative perception of the whole incident. As in i have a choice to look at Rahman's OSCAR nomination with pride and i also have an option to criticise the delayed OSCAR award.

But as Rahman had said "Choice between love and hate, and choosing love has brought him where he stood", the same goes with our life. No matter how the circumstances are, choosing love not only spreads harmony but also inspires an individual to go for his highest potential. Its like when you embrace the world,the world embraces you. There is a lot more to the above words than what appears. So my Hats off to Mr.Rahman for making me look at the things at the right perspective.

Finally, my sincere and heartfelt congratulations to Mr.Resul Pookutty for making India proud. Hopefully, this marks a beginning of a new age where Indian cinematic talent will be recognized all over the world.

God Bless all.

A Child's Tender Life - Make it, Dont Break it !!

2009-02-04T16:43:00.000+05:30

I was surfing through some blogs when i came across a blog where in a girl had shared her grief of losing her friend who had committed suicide.,. And why did her friend suicide.,. She suicided because of a failed relationship.... Just because the relationship didnt work out, or because they had to break up,the girl took the liberty of taking her own life, leaving everyone who were there for her in tears.,. Recently there has been a spate of news saying someone committed suicide because of a bad performance in academics, or because of an uncertain future or because of a failed relationship.. I dont want to rant my feelings on how bad the family of the deceased would feel, nor why such a senseless decision to take their life was taken. I want to muse over the reason's why such cases of suicide continues to happen and how to create an awareness and as well as share/get some insights from wise people like you on how these things could be prevented....

DEPRESSION DEPRESSES

I agree that Depression is the number one reason to commit suicide.,. As one of my friend said its due to a huge expectation on someone/something, our attachment to it and to find that we have been cheated or that our expectations wont be met, which prompts people to take the extreme step. I understand how depressed one will be, and its quite natural to be depressed, yet it doesnt guarantee taking the extreme step. I feel one of the reason's for such things happenings is the lack of moral support for the person concerned.. I know it sounds vague, yet take any instance.

The Family members expect the child to perform exceedingly well, to be first and want him/her to be the best. In that case, naturally the child gets bog down by other's expectations. What they need at such stage , is the belief that no matter what happens, the Family is always for them,that there are people who will understand them, empathize with them[not judge them]. I know every family member is always present for each other, yet can i know how many people voice it to their children their love and their belief in them. As far as i know there are some families where the parents are so obsessed and busy with their work, that they don't have any time to see their children, forget talking with them. Its such a pity that some elders think that Money will take care of all the concerns of a child and a posh home, and a good status of living is all that Children need.,.They couldnt have a much wronger notion.

Also pressure on children to perform well in academics has been taken to extreme levels.,. I heard of a case where in a daughter after doing her Board exams felt that she wont be able to match her family expectation. She took the extreme step and when the results came she had stood first in her school. In other cases,where in children who are talented in some other fields, and who are not able to perform exceedingly well in acads, are fed with the notion that if you are not good at Acads, you are not fit for nothing. The amount to which it affects a child's confidence cant be fathomed.,.

Yes, the teaching style of institutions and the belief system shares an equal blame for such things. Yet more than that, it must start with each family. Every parents should tell their kids that its they who matters a lot more than their report sheet. I understand that all parents have their own expectations of their child and its for the child well-being. Yet the child can do wonders if you make him belief that he has the capacity to succeed and give him constant support and encouragement. A real life example of this is none other than the Brainiest person to have lived in the earth -Albert Einstein. I dont know how many of you know that Einstein was a schizophrenic child and his maths teacher had asked him to leave school as she thought that he was not fit to study maths. Yet Albert's Mother believed in her son, and coached him, teaching him herself, and Albert's action speaks for himself,and for his Mom's belief.,.

CHILD EINSTEIN

Second main reason,which i feel people resort to extreme steps is the fear of rejection of society.,. If you have been living under a flashy image and suddenly you feel that you are not able to live up to your image, the fear that people will shun you prompts people to do that. Again in this, its the "Expectation" which comes in.,. Also, its because people tend to forget that it is their image which in turn builds an image rather than their image building themselves. An instance which i can remember now, is about the Icon Steve Jobs,when he was thrown out from his own company, he found everything around him meaningless and he felt that living now is waste. Yet he got over that disappointment , by his belief in his abilities, and he was back again with a bigger bang !!

Same was the case of Lee Iacoca who was fired from the position of CEO by Henry Ford from Ford Motors, which left him in a poor shade in media. Yet he came back stronger by turning the fortunes of Chrysler. The history is full of stories of people who have failed,who have lost, yet they lived to tell their tales and create a legacy. The same legacy can be created by anyone who beliefs in himself. Hence i stress the point again that how the childrens are guided and mentored has an much wider impact on them later on.

PARENTAL LOVE AND CARE

I started this article with the intention of making people know about how their support and care can make a person belief in himself.,. I dont know if iam successful in my attempt,but i believe that proper Parental care and Love will ensure that the Child/individual copes up with any obstacles or disappointments and would in turn be a source of support and hope to others !! What i would like from those who read this article is, please spread the awareness of proper nurturing of children to everyone you know and also inculcate this in your lives too. :)
This will ensure that the future will be in the hands of Confident, Inspired Leaders , as Today's Children are Tomorrow's Citizens.

God Bless Everyone.. cheers :)

A Lover and a Wife !!!

2009-02-04T16:15:00.000+05:30

I had read this one sometime back... Hope its enjoyable...

Once a young man had a confusion about Lover and Wife. How does one decide if a girl is suited for him to be a wife.. He had heard about a wise sage who had come to his village. So he decided to go to him and place his query. When he told the sage his query, the sage told him to go to the nearest wheat field, and get the biggest wheat grain he can get from the field in half an hour.

The man went to the field started his search for the biggest wheat grain. He found one but as soon as he went some more distance,he saw another grain which looked more bigger than the one he had. He discarded the one he had taken and then took the other grain. He went ahead and found another big one.. He took the big one and continued his search. After sometime, he got a doubt, if the grain he had in his hand was the biggest or the one he had got the first was the biggest.

This went on for sometime , and the alloted 30 minute time got over. He went back to the sage and gave the grain which he had.. The sage asked him, "Is this the biggest grain which was present in the field". The man was quite sure that he might have thrown away the biggest grain. So he replied "No , Wise sage, i might have missed the biggest grain".

The Sage told him not to worry, and this time told him to go and collect the biggest grain with the same half an hour duration. This time the man went to the field, looked for some time , saw a grain which looked the biggest and then came back to the sage. The sage asked him. "If the grain he had was the biggest". The man replied he was sure that this was the biggest grain".

The sage said to him "You have got the answer to your question. You look at a girl and feel that she looks great. You become her lover... Then you find another girl who you feel is more suited for you and then you go for her... In case of wife, you find a girl who you think is the best girl available and live with the assumption that she is best for you too...".

Greed to Green...

2009-01-31T14:07:00.000+05:30

A lot is being spoken about the new energy policy of the US. This piece, in particular, is quite exhaustive. The potential of the "Green energy" movement is being compared to the Moon landing and Project Manhattan. If the US manages to achieve this - and I do think it will, it will manage to shake off the recession. For the rest of the world; India in particular, this is a golden opportunity. We used cellphones to bridge the digital divide - now we can use clean and sustainable energy to bridge the energy divide. Overall, India has made good use of bio gas, wind power - and especially to power its villages, there is no better bet.

If capitalism said, Greed is good (as epitomised in Wall street), enviro- capitalism says, Green is good.

Now to translate that potential into reality.

Recession

2009-01-31T13:53:00.000+05:30

I loved this post from TomPeters - This is not a recession...

Don't think of our current economic crisis as a recession. Instead, think of it as a recalibration.

Everything is different now.

If you think of it as a recession, you may be tempted to "hunker down" and wait for the economy to cycle back.

If you think of it as a recalibration, you will be motivated to focus on what you have to do differently, since everything is different now.

The way your business generates results is different, now.

Your customers think differently, now. [Tom Peters]

where are you ?

2009-01-31T13:42:00.000+05:30

A superb graphic - truly worth a thousand words or thoughts...

where r u on this grid my dear friends :) ?

The White Tiger: Aravind Adiga

2009-01-31T13:00:00.000+05:30

This book was on my “to-do” list ever since it was recently awarded the prestigious Man Booker Prize. At a point in time when many refer to India as an “economic miracle”, the novel is an attempt to expose and introduce the other side. The book is actually a series of letters that Balram Halwai, the protagonist, writes to Wen Jiabao, the premier of China, another country often described as an “economic miracle”. He takes on the onus of enlightening the Chinese premiere on “entrepreneurship”

Balram, the White Tiger in the story, hails from a small village in North India, which he describes as “the Darkness”. Over a period of seven nights, he recites his tale of rising from “the darkness” to “the light”.

The novel depicts the true India, where extremes of immense wealth and abject poverty stand in sharp contrast. “India is two countries in one: an India of Light, and an India of Darkness.” Balram writes. “In the old days there were one thousand castes and destinies in India. These days there are just two castes: men with big bellies and men with small bellies and only two destinies: eat or get eaten up.”

The White Tiger is a severely angry yet captivatingly funny story. It is a quick-reading thriller, one you will find hard to put down until you complete it. Adiga’s words (or Balram’s, I should say) totally engage you. The author has created an unforgettable character in Balram, the protagonist, the narrator, the entrepreneur, the murderer.

STOCK MARKET ! ! ! ! !

2008-11-27T19:24:00.000+05:30

Once upon a time in a village, a man appeared and announced to the villagers that he would buy monkeys for Rs. 10/-. The villagers seeing that there were many monkeys around, went out to the forest and started catching them. The man bought thousands at Rs. 10 and as supply started to diminish, the villagers stopped their effort. He further announced that he would now buy at Rs. 20/-. This renewed the efforts of the villagers and they started catching monkeys again.
Soon the supply diminished even further and people started going back to their farms. The offer rate increased to Rs. 25/- and the supply of monkeys became so little that it was an effort to even see a monkey, let alone catch it!

The man now announced that he would buy monkeys at Rs. 50! However, since he had to go to the city on some business, his assistant would now buy on behalf of him. In the absence of the man, the assistant told the villagers. "Look at all these monkeys in the big cage that the man has collected. I will sell them to you at Rs. 35 and when the man returns from the city, you can sell it to him for Rs. 50."

The villagers squeezed up with all their savings and bought all the monkeys.
Then they never saw the man nor his assistant, only monkeys everywhere!!!

Welcome to the "Stock" Market!!!!!

DADA - GOD OF OFFSIDE

2008-11-27T17:53:00.000+05:30

Cut to a day in 1996- I was in Standard 4, and came back from school at 5 and tuned to the sports channel . I was surprised to see 2 new batters playing for India. The commentators were generally awestruck by a particular left hander who was striking the ball crisply through the offside. The name of that batter was S.C. Ganguly and his partner was none other than Rahul Dravid!

In many ways, Lords has been momentous for the man. It was at Lords that DADA hit a 100 on debut. However, it was at Natwest trophy 2002 that was according to me, Dada's finest hour. I don't know if I am going overboard with my praise but the incident was probably symbolic of the 'India Shining' phase - essentially the mindset of Indians of standing up against nonsense. (Flintoff had done something similar at the Wankhede) It said to the world that this Indian team won't ever expose a soft underbelly and get rolled over by any opposition - be it Eng, be it SA or even Aus.

Dada in many ways was one of the most stylish, graceful and elegant player I have ever seen (sachin, lara, punter, yuvi, klusener, gibbs, gower are few others with such traits).There was this shot I can particularly remember in South Africa against Alan Donald (who according to me is the best bowler SA has ever produced) . Donald bowled what would have been a beautiful outswinger to a normal left hander, but Dada caressed it, no infact he creamed it through the offside. Jonty was at Backward point, Gibbs was at cover - both dived, but call it sheer timing or pure brilliance, the ball was past both of them in a flash. Everything must have happened in less than a second. It wasn't much different from a mesmerising goal by Ronaldinho , Federer's free flowing forehand winner , Nadal's topspin backhand crosscourt lob. I was left spellbound!

Note that Dada's life has been full of hurdles. I still remember the Sahara Cup in Toronto. The Indian batting order had 1 slot and it was a toss up between Kambli and Dada. I supported Kambli at that time (who I still feel is India's biggest wasted talent ever) . But Dada came up with an amazing performance - both with bat and ball - to get the Man of the series award. It was particularly noteworthy coz of the circumstances- Kambli was a batter with 2 double hundreds under his belt in tests.

Some of Dada's innings simply stand out. I particularly remember Dada's 183 not out at Taunton! How can any Cricket fan ever forget tht six he hit to Murli where the ball landed in the parking lot? Or that hundred at the Wanderers , or the 144* in the epic series at Brisbane! or even the 238 at Bangalore on his come back last year, or the awesome innings he played against Pakistan in the finals where India chased 316 at dhaka !! It has been a great journey for Dada, who hailed from a state that had never produced even a single cricketer even half as good as Ganguly before.

Dada's life hasnt been all highs though. Its been a roller coaster. He has been called a no-hoper against pace. All bowlers worth their salt have tried to knock dada's head off with their bouncers. I particularly remember Flintoff and harmison on the England tour in tht regard. He has been criticised for being too instinctive. He has probably been written off countless number of times. But yet, he has risen from the ashes like a pheonix and has bitten his critics like a true cancerian.

Today, as Dada was carried on his shoulders by Bhajji- the man who owes his career to Ganguly, all the triumphant moments came before my eyes. There was no drama today though. Dada had chosen the way he wanted to go, and he went in true Bong fashion. Also, he went away on a winning note - something which not many have achieved- eg. Steve waugh, anil kumble, wasim, kapil dev and countless others.

Nagpur will be remembered by all Dada fans- it saw the beginning of the end of dada - the captain in 2005 and now, it saw the great man walking out as he deserved to - like a true winner. All credit to Dhoni for allowing Dada to captain for 5 overs! It was just amazing and indeed I can safely say that Dada may go but his legacy, presense and attitude will live on in the Indian team and in the minds of the Indian psyche for ever!

In all of India, Dada means big brother... and truly Ganguly has been the big brother to the transformation that happened in the Indian team and for that Absolute respects are there to him!

Finally, the statement by Ganguly's biggest admirer and one of his greatest contemporaries - Rahul Dravid, "On the offside, first there is God and then, there is Ganguly!"

6 Unforgettable 'Kumble' Moments

2008-11-27T17:47:00.000+05:30

Enough tributes have been paid to the greatest Indian bowler ever, and many more will be paid as well such as the one by SM, by PP and perhaps the greatest ever tribute byRD himself; and I won't broach into those but what I shall put forth are some of the unforgettable moments in Indian cricket that involved the statesman, the captain, the man who played the 'gentle'man's game, the colossus that was Anil 'Straight' Kumble!

1. 10/74 against Pakistan at the Kotla, which remains, till date, the best figures returned by any bowler ever

2. Getting B C Lara out when playing with a broken jaw, with a bandage around it.

3. The interview after the acrimonious Sydney test of 2008 series when he famously declared," Only one team played in the spirit of the game."

4. Getting 12 wickets in Sydney test of 2004 - where India made a complete mockery of what was supposed to be Steven Waugh's swansong.

5. The famous 6/12 against the WI at that incredible Hero Cup semis against the WI!

6. The day Kumble broke Kapil Dev's record, I think in his 85th test(Not Kapil took some 120+ tests for 434 wickets)

There are many, many more such awesome moments, but these stick out of my memory like Kohinoors among a cluster of very fine diamonds!

Long live Kumble!

BUFFETT ---THE INVESTOR

2008-11-27T17:33:00.000+05:30

Havnen't posted in a long time, but this has to be saved!
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/09/24/business/views25.php

Awesome read! Not to be missed!!

What is so unique about experiences ?

2008-10-10T14:07:00.000+05:30

Most of us have heard in our lives from our parents, " I am more experienced than you". This we hear when we dont agree with our parents about some issue and they only end the chapter with this sentence that we dont have experience about that issue and thats why we can't understand. Similarly when we have a problem at school or college and our parents try to help us, we say that they won't understand because they havn't experienced it all. Then we sure do agree on one thing, that we wont understand each other until we have common experiences.

According to the definition of the dictionary........." experience is the fact or state of having been affected by or gained knowledge through direct observation or participation".

Experiences are strange. It brings together two different people, even total strangers. "Brings together" here means that they can discuss about it, analyze it and above all understand it. Some illustrations will best describe the above sentences. i am preparing for CAT exams. CAT means tensions, anticipations, aspirations, hopes, pitfalls, strengths, weakness and what not. I strategize day in and day out. I make mistakes, rectify, re- learn even. The whole experience is so full of emotions and passion and i need my friends to understand me. I tried but nobody understood. They tried to help, but they couldnt get me or help me. My best friend told me to try to talk about it with a person giving CAT. Presently I can talk about CAT with CAT aspirants and they fully understand me.

A girl once told me that when she had lost her mother she was very lonely. She couldnt talk to anybody about it. Not even her friends. Her grades fell. And then one day her teacher told her to wait after class. She was her most dreaded teacher, very strict she was. She made her sit on a bench and told her how she had lost her mother at a very tender age. She told her how she had felt. How she couldnt cry and that her grades fell. They both cried that day, in the classroom. This girl suddenly said, "Teacher if your grades fell then how have you grown up to be a teacher?". Teacher smiled and said that she too would get better grades again and since then there was no turing back for the girl.

What we see is that even though we are total strangers, arent emotionally attached, share no warmth at all, still experiences bind us.

5 Similarities between a Girl Friend and a Book

2008-10-02T19:41:00.000+05:30

I just got this idea while conversing with my friends. One of my friend was lamenting on the absence of a Girl Friend in his life and he felt as if he was wasting his precious bachelors life for nothing. And he wondered when he will meet his first love. One of my other friend , a kinda book-oholic, always said that Books was his first love.

This contrast between the two , stirred the devil inside me to come up with a new post: Comparing the pros and cons of having a Book/GF for a company. And this been quite a delicate issue, I have tried to my best not to hurt anyone feelings, and if any one still takes it personal, you should know who to point your finger at ;)

Here we go ahead with the comparisons...

1) One Overt similarity will be that both of them give company(companion) to the individual concerned.

2) Over a period of time, you get bored with the 'same' her(the girl) /it(book) and switch over to something else. This is true in both the cases !!
Corollary: (As always, exception exist !!)

3) A good book/girl friend teaches you something, which will change you for the better in your life...

4) A book quality can be directly or inversely proportional to the number of pages. For eg. a small book of 150 pages can contain invaluable information.,. Also, there are books such as Encyclopedias which not only voluminous pages but also the same amount of information.Same goes with the Girls. In case of a girl, the beauty can be directly or inversely proportional to the intellect. Though the 'inverse part' is true in most of the cases.

5) Echoing the above point, Appearances can be deceptive both in the case of Books as well as Girls. An attractive cover neednt necessarily mean a good book. Similarly, an attractive outward appearance might/might not be an indicator of an attractive character.

To sign off, i would like to leave with this thought. Many of us have heard the saying - "Behind a successful man, there is always a Woman". Iam yet to hear a saying:
"Behind a successful Man, there is always a priceless book".

{P.S: I would like to see how many more similarities one can come up with. If any of you can add to the above ones, (in lighter sense of course ), it will be fabulous. Lemme see how many flex their creative muscles...!!!}

Commencement address by J.K.Rowling at Harvard University.

2008-09-13T21:57:00.000+05:30

I came across this beautiful piece, a commencement address by J.K.Rowling at Harvard University. Found it good, so putting it up.,. Thanks To Mr.X, who had forwarded this to me.

The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination Harvard University Commencement Address J.K. Rowling

President Faust, members of the Harvard Corporation and the Board of Overseers, members of the faculty, proud parents, and, above all, graduates,

The first thing I would like to say is 'thank you.' Not only has Harvard given me an extraordinary honour, but the weeks of fear and nausea I've experienced at the thought of giving this commencement address have made me lose weight. A win-win situation! Now all I have to do is take deep breaths, squint at the red banners and fool myself into believing I am at the world's best-educated Harry Potter convention.

Delivering a commencement address is a great responsibility; or so I thought until I cast my mind back to my own graduation. The commencement speaker that day was the distinguished British philosopher Baroness Mary Warnock. Reflecting on her speech has helped me enormously in writing this one, because it turns out that I can't remember a single word she said. This liberating discovery enables me to proceed without any fear that I might inadvertently influence you to abandon promising careers in business, law or politics for the giddy delights of becoming a gay wizard.

You see? If all you remember in years to come is the 'gay wizard' joke, I've still come out ahead of Baroness Mary Warnock. Achievable goals: the first step towards personal improvement.

Actually, I have wracked my mind and heart for what I ought to say to you today. I have asked myself what I wish I had known at my own graduation, and what important lessons I have learned in the 21 years that has expired between that day and this.

I have come up with two answers. On this wonderful day when we are gathered together to celebrate your academic success, I have decided to talk to you about the benefits of failure. And as you stand on the threshold of what is sometimes called 'real life', I want to extol the crucial importance of imagination.

These might seem quixotic or paradoxical choices, but please bear with me.

Looking back at the 21-year-old that I was at graduation, is a slightly uncomfortable experience for the 42-year-old that she has become. Half my lifetime ago, I was striking an uneasy balance between the ambition I had for myself, and what those closest to me
expected of me.

I was convinced that the only thing I wanted to do, ever, was to write novels. However, my parents, both of whom came from impoverished backgrounds and neither of whom had been to college, took the view that my overactive imagination was an amusing personal quirk that could never pay a mortgage, or secure a pension.

They had hoped that I would take a vocational degree; I wanted to study English Literature. A compromise was reached that in retrospect satisfied nobody, and I went up to study Modern Languages. Hardly had my parents' car rounded the corner at the end of the road than I ditched German and scuttled off down the Classics corridor.

I cannot remember telling my parents that I was studying Classics; they might well have found out for the first time on graduation day. Of all subjects on this planet, I think they would have been hard put to name one less useful than Greek mythology when it came to securing the keys to an executive bathroom.

I would like to make it clear, in parenthesis, that I do not blame my parents for their point of view. There is an expiry date on blaming your parents for steering you in the wrong direction; the moment you are old enough to take the wheel, responsibility lies with you. What is more, I cannot criticise my parents for hoping that I would never experience poverty. They had been poor themselves, and I have since been poor, and I quite agree with them that it is not an ennobling experience. Poverty entails fear, and stress, and sometimes depression; it means a thousand petty humiliations and hardships. Climbing out of poverty by your own efforts, that is indeed something on which to pride yourself, but poverty itself is romanticised only by fools.

What I feared most for myself at your age was not poverty, but failure.

At your age, in spite of a distinct lack of motivation at university, where I had spent far too long in the coffee bar writing stories, and far too little time at lectures, I had a knack for passing examinations, and that, for years, had been the measure of success in my life and that of my peers.

I am not dull enough to suppose that because you are young, gifted and well-educated, you have never known hardship or heartbreak. Talent and intelligence never yet inoculated anyone against the caprice of the Fates, and I do not for a moment suppose that everyone here has enjoyed an existence of unruffled privilege and contentment.

However, the fact that you are graduating from Harvard suggests that you are not very well-acquainted with failure. You might be driven by a fear of failure quite as much as a desire for success. Indeed, your conception of failure might not be too far from the average person's idea of success, so high have you already flown academically.

Ultimately, we all have to decide for ourselves what constitutes failure, but the world is quite eager to give you a set of criteria if you let it. So I think it fair to say that by any conventional measure, a mere seven years after my graduation day, I had failed on an epic scale. An exceptionally short-lived marriage had imploded, and I was jobless, a lone parent, and as poor as it is possible to be in modern Britain, without being homeless. The fears my parents had had for me, and that I had had for myself, had both come to pass, and by every usual standard, I was the biggest failure I knew.

Now, I am not going to stand here and tell you that failure is fun. That period of my life was a dark one, and I had no idea that there was going to be what the press has since represented as a kind of fairy tale resolution. I had no idea how far the tunnel extended,
and for a long time, any light at the end of it was a hope rather than a reality.

So why do I talk about the benefits of failure? Simply because failure meant a stripping away of the inessential. I stopped pretending to myself that I was anything other than what I was, and began to direct all my energy into finishing the only work that mattered to me. Had I really succeeded at anything else, I might never have found the determination to succeed in the one arena I believed I truly belonged. I was set free, because my greatest fear had already been realised, and I was still alive, and I still had a daughter whom I adored, and I had an old typewriter and a big idea. And so rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.

You might never fail on the scale I did, but some failure in life is inevitable. It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all – in which case, you fail by default.

Failure gave me an inner security that I had never attained by passing examinations. Failure taught me things about myself that I could have learned no other way. I discovered that I had a strong will, and more discipline than I had suspected; I also found out that I had friends whose value was truly above rubies.

The knowledge that you have emerged wiser and stronger from setbacks means that you are, ever after, secure in your ability to survive. You will never truly know yourself, or the strength of your relationships, until both have been tested by adversity. Such knowledge is a true gift, for all that it is painfully won, and it has been worth more to me than any qualification I ever earned.

Given a time machine or a Time Turner, I would tell my 21-year-old self that personal happiness lies in knowing that life is not a check-list of acquisition or achievement. Your qualifications, your CV, are not your life, though you will meet many people of my age and older who confuse the two. Life is difficult, and complicated, and beyond anyone's total control, and the humility to know that will enable you to survive its vicissitudes.

You might think that I chose my second theme, the importance of imagination, because of the part it played in rebuilding my life, but that is not wholly so. Though I will defend the value of bedtime stories to my last gasp, I have learned to value imagination in a much broader sense. Imagination is not only the uniquely human capacity to envision that which is not, and therefore the fount of all invention and innovation. In its arguably most transformative and revelatory capacity, it is the power that enables us to empathise with humans whose experiences we have never shared.

One of the greatest formative experiences of my life preceded Harry Potter, though it informed much of what I subsequently wrote in those books. This revelation came in the form of one of my earliest day jobs. Though I was sloping off to write stories during my lunch hours, I paid the rent in my early 20s by working in the research department at Amnesty International's headquarters in London.

There in my little office I read hastily scribbled letters smuggled out of totalitarian regimes by men and women who were risking imprisonment to inform the outside world of what was happening to them. I saw photographs of those who had disappeared without trace,
sent to Amnesty by their desperate families and friends. I read the testimony of torture victims and saw pictures of their injuries. I opened handwritten, eye-witness accounts of summary trials and executions, of kidnappings and rapes.

Many of my co-workers were ex-political prisoners, people who had been displaced from their homes, or fled into exile, because they had the temerity to think independently of their government. Visitors to our office included those who had come to give information, or to try and find out what had happened to those they had been forced to leave behind.

I shall never forget the African torture victim, a young man no older than I was at the time, who had become mentally ill after all he had endured in his homeland. He trembled uncontrollably as he spoke into a video camera about the brutality inflicted upon him. He
was a foot taller than I was, and seemed as fragile as a child. I was given the job of escorting him to the Underground Station afterwards, and this man whose life had been shattered by cruelty took my hand with exquisite courtesy, and wished me future happiness.

And as long as I live I shall remember walking along an empty corridor and suddenly hearing, from behind a closed door, a scream of pain and horror such as I have never heard since. The door opened, and the researcher poked out her head and told me to run and make a hot drink for the young man sitting with her. She had just given him the news that in retaliation for his own outspokenness against his country's regime, his mother had been seized and executed.

Every day of my working week in my early 20s I was reminded how incredibly fortunate I was, to live in a country with a democratically elected government, where legal representation and a public trial were the rights of everyone.

Every day, I saw more evidence about the evils humankind will inflict on their fellow humans, to gain or maintain power. I began to have nightmares, literal nightmares, about some of the things I saw, heard and read.

And yet I also learned more about human goodness at Amnesty International than I had ever known before.

Amnesty mobilises thousands of people who have never been tortured or imprisoned for their beliefs to act on behalf of those who have. The power of human empathy, leading to collective action, saves lives, and frees prisoners. Ordinary people, whose personal well- being and security are assured, join together in huge numbers to save people they do not know, and will never meet. My small participation in that process was one of the most humbling and inspiring experiences of my life.

Unlike any other creature on this planet, humans can learn and understand, without having experienced. They can think themselves into other people's minds, imagine themselves into other people's places.

Of course, this is a power, like my brand of fictional magic, that is morally neutral. One might use such an ability to manipulate, or control, just as much as to understand or sympathise.

And many prefer not to exercise their imaginations at all. They choose to remain comfortably within the bounds of their own experience, never troubling to wonder how it would feel to have been born other than they are. They can refuse to hear screams or to peer inside cages; they can close their minds and hearts to any suffering that does not touch them personally; they can refuse to know.

I might be tempted to envy people who can live that way, except that I do not think they have any fewer nightmares than I do. Choosing to live in narrow spaces can lead to a form of mental agoraphobia, and that brings its own terrors. I think the wilfully unimaginative see more monsters. They are often more afraid.

What is more, those who choose not to empathise may enable real monsters. For without ever committing an act of outright evil ourselves, we collude with it, through our own apathy.

One of the many things I learned at the end of that Classics corridor down which I ventured at the age of 18, in search of something I could not then define, was this, written by the Greek author Plutarch: What we achieve inwardly will change outer reality.

That is an astonishing statement and yet proven a thousand times every day of our lives. It expresses, in part, our inescapable connection with the outside world, the fact that we touch other people's lives simply by existing.

But how much more are you, Harvard graduates of 2008, likely to touch other people's lives? Your intelligence, your capacity for hard work, the education you have earned and received, give you unique status, and unique responsibilities. Even your nationality sets you apart. The great majority of you belong to the world's only remaining superpower. The way you vote, the way you live, the way you protest, the pressure you bring to bear on your government, has an impact way beyond your borders. That is your privilege, and your burden.

If you choose to use your status and influence to raise your voice on behalf of those who have no voice; if you choose to identify not only with the powerful, but with the powerless; if you retain the ability to imagine yourself into the lives of those who do not have your advantages, then it will not only be your proud families who celebrate your existence, but thousands and millions of people whose reality you have helped transform for the better. We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better.

I am nearly finished. I have one last hope for you, which is something that I already had at 21. The friends with whom I sat on graduation day have been my friends for life. They are my children's godparents, the people to whom I've been able to turn in times of trouble, friends who have been kind enough not to sue me when I've used their names for Death Eaters. At our graduation we were bound by enormous affection, by our shared experience of a time that could never come again, and, of course, by the knowledge that we held certain photographic evidence that would be exceptionally valuable if any of us ran for Prime Minister.

So today, I can wish you nothing better than similar friendships. And tomorrow, I hope that even if you remember not a single word of mine, you remember those of Seneca, another of those old Romans I met when I fled down the Classics corridor, in retreat from career ladders, in search of ancient wisdom:

As is a tale, so is life: not how long it is, but how good it is, is what matters.

I wish you all very good lives...

Scribblings

2008-09-10T20:55:00.001+05:30

Bidding adieu

Recollecting the day we met
Recalling the moments we shared together
Makes my eyes in tears wet
For we are going to part from one another…….

T’was our company , we rejoiced in those days of sunshine
T’was our amity that lit even a moonless night
Our laughter still echoes in my innermost heart
Haunting my consciousness and my thought………..

It was my fate that brought us together
For I couldn’t have found anyone better
Though I may have spanned the universe
You are the one who rules my thoughts diverse……….

Your presence was a rainbow to my hopeless self
Your words, a nectar for my solace thirsty soul
You are the fragrance no flower would give
You are my heartbeat without which I cannot live……

To say goodbye to you
Is like bidding my senses adieu!
For you, are the insanity that kept me sane…
You are my weakness that exuded my strengths…
Being without you is a hell sent bane !

Shadows of old times lurk by
As I bid you goodbye
With eyes of sorrow, heart of misery…
I hope one day u will come back
And once again kindle my void soul……
Till then , as our moments of joy shall be thine
Memories of our bondage will be mine………

GREAT EXPECTATIONS

2008-09-10T20:24:00.000+05:30

I was having a conversation with one of ma friends when the topic drifted to the upcoming CAT exam and the usual anxiety which accompanies it.,. The intermittent SIMCAT's scores aren't particularly what one can say as encouraging.,. rather they tend to do the opposite.,. pulp your confidence to the barest minimum.,. ;) These exams are like checkpoints for estimating our level of preparedness., A person can get to know which areas he are strong in and in the areas he has to improvise himself. But often what happens is that after each SIMCAT, you become to doubt yourself. You feel as if your preparation isnt enough and that you are getting
worser every exam.

When i shared with a friend who is exceptional in analyzing things, what he had to say was that its because of your level of expectation. We expect things to happen fast. We expect immediate results which if not seen make us a lot unhappy.,. We can apply the same analogy to every other part of our life. May it be career, relationship, every sphere of our life is filled with expectations.,. We expect our peers to be lovable, we expect our society to be good and helpful, we expect complete love from our partner, we expect all happy things from God.

One might ask what is wrong in having expectations, the only catch here is the fact that things turn out to be ideal in very few cases.,. For example in career, though one might expect the company to be good always,give regular promotion etc, it might not be the case always.,. You might miss out your promotion, you might be asked to move into some project which least
interest you. In case of relationships, your partner might have his/her own ambitions and desires, hence expecting him/her to comply with your desires might not be the ideal way.It is in these cases that having expectations hurts and fires back.

Unhappiness is best defined as the difference between our talents and our expectations.

-Edward de Bono

Yes, one less known thing about Expectation is the fact that we are responsible for it. We have been sub-consciously programmed from our childhood, where we are expected to do certain things at certain stages of our life. This starts from the early childhood, from when we are a child, parents expect the child to utter "Mama","Papa" to every other kins name.,. Then you grow up you are expected to excel at your studies.,. Then you are expected to find yourself a good job and then finally get settled.,. This goes on till the end of our life where eventually, every facet of our life is dictated by EXPECTATIONS.

Expectations are the best known stressers of the human society(this is ma assumption !!) You have a fear lurking inside you that oh, what if this doesnt happen.,. What if that ends up like this. What if iam not able to live up to my expectations.,. There are many draw-backs due to this, the 2 prominent ones being, 1) You allow others to dictate your life, 2) You get destroyed/disappointed if things dont turn your way.

Yet there is a beautiful face of expectation, ie. Expectation can be a great motivator.,. It can inspire you to come out of your comfort zone, and live to your potential.,. When Tiger Woods, Steven Gerrard ,Van Nistelrooy, Rafael Nadal ,Roger Federer, Sachin Tendulkar, Usain bolt and other icons took the field, they are aware of the huge expectations of the fans and people round the globe.. Yet they are able to deliver.,. Ever wondered why ??. The reason why they continued to excel is because they didnt allow their expectation to go overhead.

Let me explain.,. Though the world has a huge expectation from them, they dont expect that from themselves.,. They just believe in their ability and their talent. They focus on what they have to do rather than what they should do. Since their focus is on doing things which they are good at, they by default, excel in what they do. Contrast their attitude with the attitude of the populoi, many people tend to focus on what they should do so that someone praises them. They strive to keep other happy and in process lose their own happiness.,.

All said and done, eventually its what we think and what we focus on that eventually determines what and how we will be., To wrap up,

To free us from the expectations of others, to give us back to ourselves--there lies the great, singular power of self-respect.

- Joan Didion

some of ma scribblings

2008-06-17T23:11:00.002+05:30

நாம் காதல் செய்த தருணங்களை விட,
ஊடல் கொண்ட தருணங்களே அதிகம்.
சண்டையிடுவதும் பின் சமாதானம் செய்வதும்
என் வாடிக்கை என்பாய்,
மர‌ண த‌ண்டனையாய்‌ உன் மெளனங்கள் எனை தாக்கும்போது
எப்படி புரிய‌ வைப்பேன் என் உயிர் நீ என்று.

எத்துனை முறை, நீ என்னை நிராக‌ரித்தாலும்,
ஓயாது என் காதல்,
க‌ரை தொடும் அலை போல.

உன் நினைவுக‌ள் இன்றி வாழ்வ‌தே கொடிது,
அதை விடக்கொடிது நீ இன்றி வாழ்வ‌து.

ஊடல் இல்லா காத‌லும்
கூட‌ல் இல்லா காத‌லும் காத‌லன்று,
ந‌ம‌க்கும் இது விதிவில‌க்க‌ன்று.

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அழகான கவிதை எழுத நினைக்கும் போதெல்லாம்,
உன் பெயரை ம்ட்டுமே எழுதுகிறேன்,

அழகான ஓவியம் வரைய நினைக்கும் போதெல்லாம்,
உன் முகத்தை ம்ட்டுமே வரைகிறேன்,

அழகான சிலை வடிக்க நினைக்கும் போதெல்லாம்,
உன் உருவத்தை ம்ட்டுமே செதுக்குகிறேன்,

உணர்ச்சிகள் ஊனமான‌ என் இத‌ய‌த்தில்
எஞ்சி இருப்ப‌து உன் நினைவுக‌ள் ம‌ட்டுமே!

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உன் முகம் பார்க்கா நாட்களும்,
உன் குரல் கேட்கா நொடிகளும்,
உன் அரவணைப்பில்லா அந்திப்பொழுதுகளும்,
நீ இல்லா என் தனிமையும்,
நரகமடி எனக்கு.

my experiences in campus recruitment and lessons learnt from it

2008-06-15T12:31:00.000+05:30

Its still early days to write on this .. but still here goes ma experience... It was 2nd june when i attended ma first company for campus recruitment... i was geared up fully for it and was ready to fire in all cylinders..600 odd students from ma college attended the aptitude test...
About the aptitude test ,quants and reasoning was easy going for me.. verbal appeared to be the lethal weapon to restrict ma chance of going to next round.. but i still managed to attend a decent amount of questions and eagerly waiting for a good results..

results was scheduled to be declared at 1.. jus was relaxing a bit.. time came for the results...the person who declared the result said that 476 of them are shortlisted for next round.. A huge relief in fact.. i was sure to make to the interviews.. names were read.. there were 29 panels.. so tense moment all round..to ma surprise , i wasn't shortlisted... i was really baffled.. even now i don't know where did i falter..god only knows what was the reason?? wished ma friends to do well in interview and left the college soon..

my next motive after that elimination in first aptitude test was to clear the aptitude test in next company.. next company wasn't that far.. it was on the next day... so i prepared well for it and went again with lot of confidence..from ma friends , i got the info that 246 were placed in first company which really fancied ma chances of getting placed this time around.. there were 343 people who took up the aptitude test.. test was much easier than the last aptitude test.. so i was really confident this time around to make it to second round with ease..but God had some other plans i guess.. i was again rejected in the aptitude test..

Failures are not new to me... losing is bit of a habit to me .. so even after two failures in two consecutive days ,i wasn't worried a little.. i was ready to take up the challenge in the upcoming companies...but the sad part of it was that i couldn't clear the aptitude even in the third company.. i could really understand that luck wasn't there for the taking... so jus left this campus stuffs very freely... let ma time come.. hope it come soon..

there are actually two forms of success.. success instantaneously in whatever work u do and second a bit unconventional but i am sure many great people have succeeded in this way.. lot of failures in their lives leading to eventual success..

well i can give a classical eg for explaining success..
take for an example there are two athletes.. one wins 100m heat and other one wins full marathon..one gets succeeded in probably 9.7 seconds where as other one takes 2 hours or more to be succeeded..but in both case , success remains the same... only thing time taken to achieve differs..
i consider myself as a marathon runner to be succeeded after considerable amount of days or even months.. the important point of life is that everyone is destined to be successful in some form or other .. only factor which hinder success is time .. if its favourable time , the rate of succeeding is more , if its vice versa , patience must be there in order to get the crown of success rather than getting panic for the failures..

well i didnt get the first form of success.. let me see to that i get the second one with ease.. though second is very periless path , it gives a huge mental satisfaction after succeeding.. i am awaiting for that day.. i am sure that day is not so far..

ma story so far :

rejected : CTS , INFOSYS , SYNTEL,THOUGHTWORKS, HONEYWELL
not attended and ineligible : KEANE , I FLEX , INAUTIX, HCL, SCOPE, TESCO

the journey continues until i succeed....

preparation for cat

2008-05-25T18:26:00.001+05:30

Hi

The usual dilemma that one faces while preparing for CAT takes the form of a trade off between accuracy and speed. Honestly, one need not trade off one for the other. In fact, to use a combinatorial term, these two are not mutually exclusive events. However, I will not definitely conclude these two events to be independent ones.

Accuracy is important. But you are not launching a space ship. Essentially this means that you should not hesitate to approximate whenever needed and proceed. For instance, if you realize that you have to find the amount of time taken by two pipes A and B to fill a tank. If these two pipes individually take 20 and 30 minutes respectively, do not spend time trying to solve the problem as 1/20 + 1/30 and then find the LCM and then the answer. If a pipe takes 20 minutes to fill a tank, it fills 5% in a minute. Similarly, another pipe takes 30 minutes to fill a tank, it fills 3.33% in a minute. So, together they fill over 8% a minute. This means they will take about 12 minutes to fill the tank. This kind of approximation and switching between % and fractions will help you gain time.
Similarly, one important thing that you need to keep in mind is that as you proceed with each step of solving a question, take a quick glance at the answer choices. This way, in may instances, you will find that you do not have to go to the last step and find the answer. Even if it is only one or two steps saved for each problem, that will give you enough time to crack another 3 or 4 more problems in CAT. That is a huuuuge difference when it comes to getting calls from the IIMs.