Tryst with my destiny..

Salvation lies within !!

2011-11-11T14:06:00.001-08:00

Did you ever notice a mouse running inside a wheel? Did you ever try to relate that relentless run to nothing but to stay in the wheel and at the same place? Why doesn't the mouse stop and stay there instead of running for a longer time?

It is only the wheel that is moving, not the mouse even by an inch.Irrespective of the others' imaginations, I see a man running through all successes in life but not accepting satisfaction in staying intact anyway.

Success has always been defined by the world around us and is relative among the numerous sects of IQs but incomparable among the IQs in each sect. didn't understand it right? Let me try to explain.

The sects can be two diverse thought groups. For ex, a group celebrating the successful launch of a satellite and another group celebrating the success in a field activity of firemen. The difference of IQs expected between sects is relative and clearly visible but the players among the each sect assume the same IQ. The firemen may not agree the success of the scientists who worked on the satellite as they don't see that activity to be a test of action under emergency.

The same way the scientists may not accept firemen to be as knowledgeable as they themselves are. Thus the success defined in each group is confined only to that group and only to that world. This success can never sound better than that success in that world.

Man runs for this defined success in each world but stays there in the definition itself. A success considered by an individual, in that subject's perspective, is directly proportional to that person's maturity and depth of knowledge in that subject. A disgrace or curtailing the success's crux can make a person offensive. This is where I learn that there's always a greater success or a minor success than that you've achieved.

One's Peace and content within, keep him/her away from this infinite crave for the next success. Undermining or comparing a success to that of others gives nothing but Unrest.

Chain of Thoughts –2 !!

2011-09-13T08:14:00.001-07:00

I see springy shifts of divine luminance from a basket to another while standing among peers unlimited spaced equally to each other. And I feel all this happening in my brain while I'm quenched, may be by felicity or by sorrow. And these beams are our thoughts or memories or hopes, whatever terms of the brain's syntax deciphered by humans. Each of these beams is jumping from one basket to another swiftly with no idea or choice on what the new basket has for it and was chosen as part of the interpretation for it's nomadic nature.

Are these springing beams the bricks for our feelings? Do these constitute the nervous system of our reasons and reflections?

I haven’t zeroed in on a name for the beam that doesn’t know where it goes to, what it can do, and that has no choice but only an appetite for ignition to get actuated. This basic fluidic component is now congealed to plunge your brain on to a bumpy ride through the obscure baskets filled with the flavors of emotions. The deeper the dive in, the higher the luminosity and thereby, greater the intensity of the aroma of an emotion. The longer it stays in that basket, whatever it has one of – Awe, Tolerance, Humor, Thrill, Delight, Compassion, Pride, Love, Peace, Inspiration, Satisfaction…so on, the fewer the switches of the beam and hence larger the life missed.

Now imagine the activity of a multitude of beams similar in constitution, but variant in parameters such as luminance levels, speeds of switch, depth of dive and the period of stability. These properties of the beams determine the chronology of human reactions to an instantaneous or sequence of events that ignite these beams. And the diversity in such reactions is observed across different humans, only because of this activity characterized by randomness conducted in each brain.

May not be this simple, to decode the functioning of emotions in the brain. But certainly, could be a direction to walk through exploring, rather than sitting under the shade of ignorance.

Such an exploration can unearth the rationalities in the traits of human behavior and map a genus of responses and reactions.

All this was the deductive theory off the oozing imagery while listening to music and observing the variations in moods with each change in the genre of song. Here goes the list, (one may like it or not, I like the list)

If tomorrow never comes –> Clocks, ColdPlay -> Tujhe bula diya,Anjaana Anjaani-> Saigal Blues, Delhi Belly -> Duniya, DevD -> Te Amo (reprise),DMD -> Jashn E Bahaara, Jodha Akbar -> Tu Bin Bataye, Rang De Basanti -> Tu Hi Haqeeqat, Tum Mile.

Convergence of Sciences

2011-08-02T02:11:00.001-07:00

Did anyone observe our current manner of using Radio these days? As per my knowledge on the present trend of using Radio, it’s a mere addition to another electronic device such as a mobile, a music player or some other device in vogue. My takeaway off it is just a wide-eyed yet potent line of advancement – “Invention loses exclusivity in time and acquires adaptability”. Radio, once built on massive and cumbersome vacuum tubes, evolved through its own destructive phases of size and now co-exists with another popular gizmo, just as a supplement. It’s not that Radio lost its charm and capture, but the preference of a customer, to have multi utility devices at hand, drives for such contemporariness. This progress in merging of technologies to a single hardware can improve the vividness while envisioning the mental image of futuristic innovation.

One such fictitious direction that struck my mind is the ultimate ability to fight mortality. This thought of mine need not go places, but is intended to take you down on a ride that connects irrelevant internal deductions together in making up a glad stargaze across your imaginative eye.

Did you ever watch the movie ‘Endhiran’ by Shankar (Robot in Hindi, Robo in Telugu) or ‘Artificial Intelligence’ by Steven Spielberg? What’s so special about the AI enabled Robot built based on Bionics? Is it that they have longevity in life, data storage, data processing, learning ability than those of a human?

Did you ever realize the effort and time that Thomas Alva Edison put in inventing a simple bulb for us? Or, Do we know how much such investment is done in inventing a brick? Didn’t it take almost a lifetime of a scientist in devising a basic building block of a massive invention, that’s made after the scientist’s timeline?

Did you ever estimate the time that a scientist can take in mastering all the possible necessitated sciences such as, neural networks, probability, correlation, neuroimaging, Electrical technology, Mechatronics, all traits of Medicine, Bioinformatics, Optics, Image Processing, Metallurgy, Kinetics etc etc? After mastering, will that scientist be in a physical status to apply them all together for a never seen before invention?

Did you ever know that the The atom is a basic unit of matter that makes all the existing masses on this very world?

Take a while after reading the above irrelevant questions. Now let’s start connecting their answers.

(To be continued..)

The Chain of Thoughts..

2011-07-24T16:40:00.001-07:00

A funny, yet illuminating, chain of thoughts that buoyed from tipsiness, is fairly immune to egress from the mezzanine stratum of our temporal memory blocks. Yet, I relish the plethoric quality of the amusement in sticking up to the same page of thought for about a couple of hours under inordinate insobriety. Perhaps, not everyone is entitled to read this. It’s not that one cannot understand the nous here, but that one just didn’t experience in the past. Resemblances and associations from the memoirs of one’s own Buddha times may help envision this trip.

I had a friend of mine, cruising along with me and acknowledging all the intermittent ludicrousness, who started up this new game.

“Run forward along the randomness as well as the purpose of a conversation. Irregularly, halt and traverse back to find a logical relation on the need to talk about something and the data links to that particular something from an already identified something”

Goofy 1 – Usually, the talkative doesn’t realize that he/she’s talking much more beyond the comprehension of the audience. But, in this one-to-one conversation, the specified line of thought prolonged instead of being ended lest we both end up in an incessant search of data links to the particular something.

Goofy 2 - The game started. The best and possibly the worst part of it is to take time or lose a chance to the other to snatch consciousness, where I’ll have to start finding the penultimate link.

Going on a midnight aimless drive on my new ‘Dark Knight’ (that’s how I named my new Thunderbird), along side another friend on another Thunderbird…

Listening to the beauty in the synchronous shunning beat from the silencers while cruising around 60kmph..

Capturing the eternal silence in the darkness well beyond the city’s noise, compassing the idea of relishing the thunderous beat in silence, flavoring the pride of owning a Royal Enfield..

Should I set out for a long enough drive that could be known for and dreamt of? How can I make my mark in such a drive? Should I pick up smaller flags of my dream drive and plant each in a brain at every possible pit-stop of mine? Ignited by the fresh metal chirp heard of a brand new bike, I started loving the moments on my new fantasy,’Dark Knight’.

You know why do we get such a freshness in the thought process then? Perhaps, you start thinking as really you should have? Yes, we wear mask to our thought to become someone else, but not ourselves. Is that all for success, the one someone else benchmarks?

Then how do people drive success to salvation? Does that mean salvation isn’t everything?

Since fewer months, I’ve been confused of whether I am pulling myself up on the wedge of this maturity graph in life or am I sliding down on its hypotenuse, sufficing my inability with the word “tendency” or “It’s fresh” ?

Now let me have a nap, or else, I shall Take The World And Paint it Red

kahe Halke Halke, Yeh Rang Chhalke Chhalke
jo kisse Hai kal ke, Bhula De Tu
koi Haule Haule, Mere Dil Se Bole
kisi ka Toh ho le, Chal jaane de koi jaadu

(to be continued…)

Inspired Creativity

2011-06-26T14:39:00.000-07:00

Have you ever come across a photographer who uses more photoshop than his camera/lens, and uploads those pictures in FB?

Were you ever confused by a simple looking, grey haired, kurta uncle with spectacles standing beside you, holding a magazine, gnarling at and lauding a painting that you were never able to understand?

Didn’t you find a timeless person who plagiarizes content and sometimes ownership (provided the person’s a blusterer), but not the soul of something less creative (easily understood is what I meant here..why would someone steal something’s not understood, after all :))?

A budding director,perhaps, wants to match something from Fellini, Kubrick, Coppola's psyches and wants to prove that by making a futile and desperate attempt to present a meaningless idea as an awakening refund to society, in the form of a film. Ain’t it were a test to the viewer to measure the creativity and hunt for a theme?

If you answer yes to all the four, Welcome to the World !! And if you are honest and happy enough to belong to any of the above four sects, please get off the board right away !! Because, I’m reaching out to those who understands the subtle difference between ‘employed’ and ‘inspired’ creativities.

I try to keep the line pretty easy and simple in my mind. ‘Employed Creativity’ is to dress like Abdul Kalam, where as, ‘Inspired Creativity’ is to become Abdul Kalam. The former becomes laughter, the latter brings following.

(to be continued..)

Freedom Of Expression !!

2010-07-19T13:51:00.000-07:00

I was somewhat displaced after reading the TIME’s so called comic and ridiculing article on the Immigrant Indians in Boston.(Ref: http://tinyurl.com/2bjj8e3) The tone of expression I’ve keyed out of the column, bothers my thoughts on the susceptibleness and immunity in the exercise of language. Perhaps, few readers might opine that I’ve started looking up to such things with a magnifier, but I have few other things as well to be hashed out that we ourselves feel absurd about them.

We’ve seen the instances of media prying too much with the personal life of many celebrities, may they be artists or politicians or sportspersons. They have been considered “public figures” and were taken into account as “inspirational models” and were always expected to be exemplars. Although they were less complimented than were knocked at for their personal activities, nevertheless celebrities aren’t anticipated to retaliate for such levels of intrusion. A remark or statement made by them is interpreted both ways and the holmsie deductive and creative synthesis conducted by the media sometimes can even give the bounce to relationships, thereby ruining liveliness. But the media can never give up on the realism of what is being a humane resides in the people standing behind the mike the same way as it is in the people who give life to that mike. Expanding the spectrum of problems and exploring the unseen domain of a problem adds to the sorrow but nothing else. The kind of freedom are leveraging at times, bringing the common man to consciousness to make the world realize to “Live and Let Live”.

A similar dogmatic attitude is prevailing in the whole large section of people whose invariable round-the-clock efforts to pick apart traditions, beliefs, religions, regions and races have been instigating friction among the beings of the same species. All those incidents happen for organizational or personal mileages need to be exposed as the intent behind conducting such awful syllabus of attacking the same human race within.

There is required the Freedom of Expression. Expressing unbiased views, verified facts, unprejudiced opinions require courage and valor to stand upright for a cause. Curtailing such power as well does an equivalent bad to mankind. This freedom should hurt the feelings of the skeptical approach to the nature but not the blossoms of truthful intent.

I feel – “A righteous indignation is more bearable than an illicit silence”.

About Me !!

2010-06-16T15:27:00.000-07:00

"IQ"uestion everything !! (Use your brain, it was put in your head for a reason)

Too many people like to play judge without even taking the time to UNDERSTAND. I am usually quiet because people usually want to talk instead of listen. And, Once I listen everything, I start complaining once I feel I understood things!!

My mind moves faster than my mouth and I find myself stuttering or saying a random series of words, each representing a thought in my head but seeming gibberish to anyone who isn't in tune with me.

I have a big heart and love many people.

I have been hurt many times but I keep on because to lose your heart is to lose part of your humanity.

I am open minded, open hearted because it is simply how I seek to be treated. So if you are inconsiderate of others, LEAVE ME ALONE because I want no part in your sad existence.

I'm steady n inconsistent.also..I'm a quick hesitant...

I am somewhat of a fighter, you just have to ignite my passions.

Lunatics criticise me..Retards like me..Stupids bracket me...Fools poke me..

Handle Criticism - Take it? OR Ignore it?

2010-04-15T15:30:00.000-07:00

Few people claim that allowing criticism during cogitation improves the sight at alternative options. But at the same time, it is important to define what kind of criticism is worthy enough to have a takeaway from it. As far I look at critiques, they are as good as cakes as they are lollipops.

Always, I try to respect raw opinions and value the dialogue to see someone's point behind his/her making a statement and thereby gauge the pulse of the comment and determine its momentum. Because, the critique gaining some steam can be about either a specific time-sensitive action or a flaw in core thought process. Thus, interacting with the critic in an essential veneration conducts a manner of addressing and even contending a point. Though, "Sarcasm is the currency for much of the world and over-sincerity is often seen as a sign of being an outsider"( if sarcasm were, I would have been a millionare, of course !! :)), as tempting as it might be to go into the comments with anonymity, one must have a feel for the dynamics of the sphere. Any communication has its own jargon and protocols. It requires fact-based information, not actually an opinion.

Yeah, an opinion, sometimes, can be a lighthouse to amend processes to do things right as we are willing to learn from our mistakes almost everyday. But untimely, vague and unwarranted opinions can impair the concrete that holds the foundation of confidence and many negative comments can be just disappointed notes from those who had a single underwhelming experience. Now, I may lose more than a candy !!! For those who can identify such a phase in life, I would suggest - Don’t stroll with those trolls !! That's all. And further, I would like to add my opinion(in fact observation) that, infinite crisis of identity realized in a person, is a possible prequel of sarcastic criticism.

At times, hypothecating themselves to perfection and flying by a moony nimbus, few "mortals" try bumping into your band and try to drift you across the line. Let's try a little cheese at them !! Cast an advice free of fee to them, with blended affection. Do you see some smoke now?? You are ready to take it and the others can't - For those, a sensible statement usually means that you deliberately tread on unfamiliar ground, and you are expected to go with the tricks that work, sing in choir and take the boat that has more sailors on it. Lest, you might be made to put your tongue on an iron heel. Usually, this could be an issue with those people who agnize their self-confidence. So, can you count on such critic?

The only thing you can do in life is to do what you believe is right, what turns you on and what makes you tick. There are really some fantastic people with marvellous ideation and whenever their treatment isn't liked by others, critics become a very bad advertising group for them. Further, any other creative exercise can be dumped. All I could say is, you can't halt at such customers in life. Believe in your principles, work out your ethics, strategize your moves to have a trade-off between the way you respond and the intensity of criticism, progress ahead !!

I Think I Forgot to Write !!

2010-01-24T02:58:00.000-08:00

Anything that takes effort and time !! For the last________, I haven't updated my blog but called up -When you don’t use it you lose it !! So, I just decided to "touch" my blogs once in a while...

My brain mirrors the fog in winter and the words are just not flowing. Maybe my New Year’s resolution should be that I will write every fortnight. How long do most of them last anyway? One month? Two weeks? Why is it that a bad habit can take root in about 2 weeks and yet a good habit takes years to stick? Yes, one is an addiction so it isn’t a fair comparison. How do you get good habits to become addictions? I guess a "good addiction" would be an oxymoron wouldn’t it?

I tend to think if I just had more time in the day then I would… Yet we all have that same 24 hours don’t we? Yet some of us can take those 24 hours and make magic and others of us seem to slowly plough through the day accomplishing very little. It is all in our choices and motivation. SO, What motivates me?

I think the hardest part about writing sometimes is just sitting still long enough to do it and writing even when that brain is foggy !! Here's one such misty blog !! Have a happy new year ahead !! And, Don't forget to regard a new year resolution...choose the sticky ones !!

Lucrative Minds

2009-11-10T15:34:00.000-08:00

“Our university system is, in many parts, in a state of disrepair…In almost half the districts in the country, higher education enrolments are abysmally low, almost two-third of our universities and 90 per cent of our colleges are rated as below average on quality parameters… I am concerned that in many states university appointments, including that of vice-chancellors, have been politicised and have become subject to caste and communal considerations, there are complaints of favouritism and corruption.” Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s address at the 150th Anniversary Function of University of Mumbai, June 22, 2007

Just like many other responsible brothers and sisters of India, I am also bringing forth the deficiencies despite the statistics projecting India to be the 12th richest country in terms of GDP in the world and the predictions that the current GDP would be seen quadrupled by the year 2020..

Hope everyone of us have read in childhood that - "India is a developing nation.." I found a good friend of mine posing a valid question that we should be able to answer for ourselves - "Will we become a developed nation? If so, when?" When I heard this, I was nipped by the love for my motherland to defend it and put forth few areas in which we ascended despite being the largest democracy in the world.

Now it is our duty to relinquish our grip on the growth that finally could place India in the list of developed nations. So, now a few interesting facts :

1) Stats do misguide us at times. The total GDP of India gives us a healthy mentality that we are ranked 12th ,on the other hand when we measure the GDP per Capita...we are ranked at 113 !! So, there is a great economic disparity in the social sections of India. Are we going to live with that to show that we are rich enough?

2) The frames of contribution of each sector like Agriculture, Services, Industry, Natural Resources etc. to the Indian economy are rapidly shifting away from our top priority, Agriculture. Though we are rated the second largest in the farm output, we have a reduced ratio of export to import of the Agriculture products. This can be because of many factors as the rapid population growth, disinclination of the rural workers to work in those conditions of living, improper irrigation facilities, lack of adoption of modern production techniques, environmental and social constraints, decrease in the average size of land holdings,conversion of large chunks of cultivable lands into residential/industrial regions, substandard access facilities provided for the farmers to the markets, illiteracy etc..etc..etc..So, are we migrating slowly from a state of self sufficiency to a state of deficit?

3) In July 2008 Washington Times reported that nearly a fourth of the 540 Indian Parliament members faced criminal charges, "including human trafficking, immigration rackets, embezzlement, rape and even murder". At state levels, this is even worse. So, are we choosing the right leaders who steer the nation's development amidst troubled waters?

4) India's Balance Of Payments( the measure that gives the relative performance of the exports with the imports of services/goods) since Independence has been negative,annually.We are importing more than we are exporting? So, Is the westernization or the improved standards of living in urban areas motivating us to promote the spending capability of a citizen in foreign trade, instead of spending on the national products/establishments? ( of course, I know people say that they are willing to spend for quality which they might not get locally..I apologise if you don't like me pulling in the social responsibility ahead of personal comforts after a certain level).

5) Although schemes like SarvaSikshaAbhiyan, MidDayMeal, Abolition of child labour are existing in India, how many people making up your house or your life in a day are still lacking education and are continuing to be impoverished ? Can we zero upon the reasons for this to be the lack of quality and motivation to improve the same? Do we accept that a civilian's expenditure in various forms of direct and indirect taxes on the primary education of a co-citizen is misused ?

6) Reservation system that was recommended for a stipulated period of time and was intended to uplift the backward and undeveloped sections of public in India, is now responsible for injurious axing on the interpersonal human intimacy as well as responsible in generating a newer section, once the so called higher sections/castes in the society that is approaching pauperism at an alarming rate. The deviation from the central intent is preparing to drive an even larger chunk of population into poverty than it was when the system was adopted.Doesn't the reservation system need amendment/reformation?

So..What should I answer my friend? When is my country going to be called a Developed Nation,really?

What is the core cause for all these lags in our system? Who is responsible for all this drab in the so called growth shown up by Govt? None other WE !! Not just any particular section, nor any politician nor any Govt Employee. WE ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS STATE OF OUR COUNTRY !! As long as there are people who are illiterate and doesn't quantify/understand the return for their vote, we can never prosper except the deadline for developed vision of India is postponed. How many people could be voting considering all the factors - genuineness of candidature, criminal background, social welfare events conducted, Education, agenda, the party he represents and the reasons behind it etc etc.. I think when such voting needs to be done not more than 5-10% of votes would be polled in any general elections of India.

How many grads are really literate to know and realize all this? Are we going to do anything about this except hovering and debating over the concepts we believe in supporting corruption and complacency in some diligent way?

This is just an insight but never a suggestion. I know readers don't like to take suggestions..

Adrenaline Rush

2009-10-29T11:48:00.000-07:00

Aah...I had to confront the imperativeness of a project deadline, this week !!! Running through the eternal maze regardless of a miserable,though realized,state of work where nothing locomotes unless the guests articulate !! And, the guests go on vacation...and I'm seized for having nothing in my control or vicinity !! Sheer Adrenaline running through the brains..thus A bawls out on B and B on C and the lucky C is ME !!! The freaking statement I made at this juncture of heat is - " I accomplished my work and ready to get it integrated and test....I'm waiting on people to respond !!"

Result - Rx for commitment and responsibility !! Skepticism, Proctoring, Reminding the great battles fought together in more worsened environments !! (despite delivering on time !!)

Then I felt that Sportsmen are exempted from such results !! Performing once in a blue moon keeps their strings alive !! But I'm made to simulate the motto - "We are at War !!". In fact, we blame-storm rather than to brain storm in the kick offs !!

When we go hunting for brilliant new ideas under pressure, we roll up our sleeves and say, “It’s time to get to work".My simple advice – for all budding entrepreneurs around me – is “don’t take it personally.” Today, when someone yells at me or acts irrationally, I’m simply entertained. I listen. I try to be constructive. But I don’t take it personally. While I rarely do this in a business context, I do the “business casual equivalent” of it. I believe in - "Haste Makes Waste" !!

You probably feel invigorated, whole, and happy with the way things are going at your end. As you work, you might occasionally think of the fact that the task isn't done, but this is very inconsequential. You're not worrying about not being done, nor are you looking forward to being done because that will be a better time than the present. The important thing is that you're really involved in what you're doing. Consequently,the work might even seem to be effortless in a sense, flowing with a momentum of its own.

Stress, however inevitable, nevertheless is widely misunderstood. No concept dealing with human functioning and health has produced more confusion than this. Costs of stress include Productivity,Creativity,Health and Money. Now that stress is bedded in every possible stage of human life, it is the ability to cope up and rehabilitate in the ascending frequency and severity of stress episodes makes life interesting and adventurous.

Lateral Approach..

2009-09-09T15:19:00.001-07:00

When I chat with few of my colleagues/friends, sometimes,I feel the pain of admitting to his/their formulaic derivation of perceptions on human deeds. I am privileged to live in such a kind of environment that lets me to gain strength in notching my “Karmendriyas” and to behave in diplomacy. Although I betray hundreds of my rebellion voices inadvertently, my longevity in service facilitates me to atomise “Let it go” on behalf of “Never give up” and I hope to run along with it.

The shorter and sweeter expression of the above paragraph– the way I like to do blogging – might stamp me to be an “alienated rascala” in the minds of my trustworthy readers of this blog!! Instead of popping out of my natural psychosis, I will try to put this expression in a more elaborate manner.

I usually talk to people who belong to various age groups on various topics. During discussions with them, I found most of the people, especially youngsters, surrendering to the preconceived notions and to the limited structure of thinking. Few of them admit to the most common prevailing beliefs in the society and go ahead along with them accepting their durability at every stage of life. I saw people who are restricting their ability to think in between the walls of constraints or the well-laid unconnected decrees.

I'm not trying to contradict or debate with anyone's personal impressions on a particular system or mode of living. But my prime pursuit is to believe in freedom of thinking, unlocking creativity and ideas for innovation, despite criticism and skepticism.

Some people may call giving ideas is quite a simple affair. But, Ideas, by nature, are risky. Because the idea is new, one is not sure that it will work or be practicable at the operational level. There may be a need to invest time, money and energy before an idea bears fruit. Most people are reluctant to make this effort so necessary as complexities multiply at the turn of the 21st century. One person who did and became a stupendous success is Dhirubhai Ambani.

This form of thinking, the unconventional and the constructive way, not only can be an inauguration of a never seen or never heard concept to reality, but also can be defined as making new associations of existing ideas or components. In lateral thinking, we have the power to ask - "What could we do if we could do anything".

When I hear people stressing to correlate the ability to "think out of box" with the maturity of a particular person, I opine that kicking ourselves to "think out of box" and lacking the lustre of a thoughtful brain, also can be called being "conventional". There are people in this world who broke the stereotypes they were tagged with and bloomed with vivacity. All that they need is, moral support. A forceful desire can never lead to a fresh thought. All that we need to do is to give ample time, motivation and guidance to meet the best of ideologies of the 21st century !!

Zoozoos !!!!

2009-08-17T15:35:00.000-07:00

The name that earned a fanclub, an applause and a triumph in the marketing arena for the latent innovation and meticulous execution..The Zoozoo !! Little white witty and snoopy characters, making short and whacky modulations of voice, bestow us an awesome exemplar to plan strategic economical model of persuasive direct marketing.

Vodafone India, formerly known as Hutch, has always been creative in conceiving catchy and productive advertisements compared to its fellow companies like Airtel, Tata Indicom, Reliance and many more. People like me, are excited to learn how an animated(in fact a human in a white body suit) character that has got no antecedent existence could magnetize the viewers and gain an enoromous market space. How come an anonymous creature was able to bat well for Vodafone in contrast with the promotion that celeb endorsers like Shahrukh, Rahman, Sachin, Saif, Madhavan, Deepika afford? Were they not so catchy ? Or, were they counted so boring and creepy stuff on the TV screens?? I even heard a few voices claiming - "People don't care for the celebrities when they go to buy either a sambar powder or a Merc".

I opine that the favourable reputation won by Vodafone India over other brands counts on the impact of refreshment in advertisements that the team was able to bring in the viewers better than on the endorsements contributed by celebrities. Hutch was astoundingly successful in presenting a concept of marvel in the form of its advertisement constituting a pretty boy and an even more attractive pug. Hutch did the trick of "branding" the pug(till it was put to death :)), which awarded the animal with a commercial appeal. Even at that time, while Sachin along with Rahman was filmed for an ad for Airtel, Hutch was predominant in its creation of simple and subtle plan of ascension in the service provider market. Now, the Zoozoo befriended the marketing strategy team of Vodafone with its ability to prove big on its launch during a grand event, the IPL.

But, refreshment deserves a pot of laudation when it is really refreshing. So, by now, the pug and the zoozoos are friends of the viewers. Now, Vodafone must be brainstorming on its next "fresh" concept to be launched when the viewers get bored by both the celebs and even the zoozoos !! All the very best to the marketing strategy team of Vodafone India, carrying a lots and lots of excitement unearthed of - "What next !!"

Revolutionary Road..

2009-07-24T15:21:00.000-07:00

First time on my blog, I am talking about a film !! This doesn't mean that I rate that movie on a high scale, but I was touched by the sensibility of the director.The movie is "Revolutionary Road" starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet,surprisingly, pairing up nearly after 10 years for a poetically tearing love story. May be, this also comes under the category of the so called "critically acclaimed" stuff. But this film happened to be dealing in truths,however unwelcome, in contrast to an agreeable euphory induced by films like Notting Hill and Pretty Woman !! Why Leo and Kate haven't given us an ideal representation of romantic love that invites surrender to a ruthlessly beguiling logic? Of course, the path of true love doesn't always lead to calamity. Yet, those navigating the tricky waters of romance need warnings of the rocks and reefs ahead more than intimations of the happy haven in which they hope to lay anchor.Michael Shannon dealt this well in this film. Here it goes -

April(Kate) and Frank(Leo) compose an educated and intelligent couple living in the suburbs of Connecticut. Frank is considered to have intelligence, wit along with a decent job in the city. April is assumed to be a pass out from a theater school. They start living in the "real" world, thinking about important things and making important decisions. Through out the film, an emptiness is clearly felt when the couple appears to be in denial and they haven't come to terms with the fact. The couple engages itself in discussions with the Campbells and expresses its dissatisfaction in living like dead and numb creatures of suburbs. Disillusioned with their friends and their life, the couple cooks up a plan to move to France.Everyone they tell thinks it's a crazy idea, but Frank and April think they have it all figured out and that everyone else is just incapable of comprehending what they're really doing. Infact, they have very few moments of clarity and agreement after marriage. Their plans are disrupted by April's discovery that she is pregnant. She and Frank get locked in a battle over whether to attempt abortion or to cancel the escape move that they needed,despite a few other attempts( primarily through extramarital affairs). Out of every argument that goes between Frank and April, we feel the sting of every insult and we know that this is how it must really be when a marriage implodes. In the end, April realizes that she doesn't love Frank any more and she was unclear with herself, she attempts to abort her pregnancy, too late, and she dies. And this is one scene that was dealt with utmost pertained emotion, which provoked me to write about this movie. I have to appraise Kate for a more matured and masterly performance in this episode. Michael Shannon succeeded in presenting a potential pitfall in relationships by choosing these two artists to perform such characters.

Revolutionary road might taste a surfeit of romantic nonsense to a section of audience, but I opine it is a disappointment - crafted celluloid bliss !!

Adición de impulso !!

2009-05-07T06:21:00.000-07:00

This is my first blog after returning from US. Professionally, it had been a successful tour for me. It helped me in developing the essential rapport at client place, dilating my boundaries in the domain expertise and of course, in winning a minor appreciation for the advancement in my solution design capabilities.

On the last day of my trip, I was talking to my manager about my recompense that I had to consecrate to the offshore team. Strangely,I drove myself into an incessant conversation after a substantial amount of time. All it was about - What do i need to incorporate and how do i do it? We have been discussing about the present levels of allegiance/commitment exhibited by the team members,inducement of the essence of teaming and the technical proficiency degrees those need to be hopped up to. We actually were debating and essaying on how to institute such a plan that could bring the offshore team to a placid and comfortable storey of accountability and technological cognizance.

I was discussing the same plan with another person who empathizes with my views. The verbal note made by him, elucidated me.- " Work and Worth in a person make headway through for him even when the system spoils". Yes !! This is the right circumstance for the team members, back in Offshore to take advantage of their encroachment and enhancement skills in hiking up their technical expertise. When all the world is prorogued by the burthen of recession, I believe this team stands competent to spring up and proliferate leaps and bounds. But, the lethargy and sluggish nature of the team give tongue to a delusive imprint on their attitude towards work. What could have led to this?- This is the question crossing my every possible thought these days. After talking to few of the resources, I heard voices quetching about the lack of motivation from management, the display of opportunistic capitalism where they feel that they are being minted for their work and are salaried beneath their eligible compensations.

This proves to be a tough state of affairs for any interpreter like me, to address such issues. But, I am trying to explore possibilities that could bring a trade-off between the expectations of the onsite team and those of the offshore team. Fundamentally, I could find that there had an enormous amount of communication gap between these two sets of people. The onsite team foresees the offshore team to incubate and hatch more chicken in terms of account expansion and potentiality to accommodate more number of projects. Where as, the offshore team presumes that growth is constitutional and believes that it needs more incentives in terms of verbal as well as monetary rewards for the work they have accomplished so far. This thrusts in a state of mutual exclusion in the willingness to share views/ to bridge gaps in order to work cooperatively for the prosperity on both ends.

I felt more responsible than before and decided to devolve this state by providing a better and enhanced communication bridge from heart to heart which no calls or mails were able to suffice. For this, I voiced out the concerns and made a deliberate attempt in making the onsite team understand the importance of reliance in each other's province. Now it is my turn to inject a sense of enthusiasmand hope in the offshore team by rendering examples of recognition and make them understand the expectations of the onsite team in the regard of performance improvement. I have been constantly putting in my efforts to talk to people individually and present them a cleardraft of exciting things that would exalt their efforts taking shape into a more applauded product. I trust, this would commit them to the feel of - " Our own product " and helps them to put in productive efforts with more passion and endurance. Producing a new momentum towards success in life by eloquently expressing the dream that can make a person happy, is a simple initiative I've considered !! All thisis to improve the good sense of responsiblity and involvement of resources in a more professional way!!

Adición de impulso !! ( Adding momentum !!)

Mysterious genius

2009-04-10T23:44:00.000-07:00

The other day, I had been debating with one of my friends on the nascence of a genius !! After a few hours, I felt that some people still live in romantic ages, including me !! We tend to believe that genius is the cartesian product of a divine spark. We opine that, there have been certain paragons of greatness like Albert Einstein, Amadeus Mozart and Dante Alighieri, with a perpetual gleam, throughout the ages, whose talents far exceeded normal comprehension.

But in naive realism, we are living in a scientific age and modern research that pierces hocus-pocus. In the view that is now dominant in accordance with masses, even Mozart's early abilities were queried or even mistrusted not to be the product of some innate spiritual gift. People arrogated that his early compositions were nothing special and were pastiches of other people's work.

As far as my beliefs let me encroach, What Mozart had was the same thing Tiger Woods had - the ability to focus for long periods of time and an intent to improve his skills. In a more prosaic and even puritanical view of this world, I believe the key factor that separates geniuses from the merely accomplished is not a divine spark. It's not IQ (a generally bad predictor of success, even in realms like chess). Instead, it's the deliberate practice that top performers surrender themselves to, spending many more hours rigorously rehearsing their craft.

A typical genius possesses the ability to process and place information into patterns, vastly improving his/her memory skills and the ability to perceive inner workings. A sense of affinity which could be developed by meeting a person who coincidentally shares similar biographical traits or from the same ethnic background, might fuel a profound ambition for success. By practicing this way, performers tune their minds to turn deliberate and to migrate newly learned skills into unconcious and automatically performed skills. By practicing slowly, by breaking skills down into tiny parts and repeating, a strenuous student forces the brain to internalise a better pattern of performance.

All this hypothesis of mine might sound either stupid or stupendous. After all, I am a nestling, standing lonely on a full moon night in front of the shore, waiting for the turbulent waters to depict peace and not likened to the gaints in this world of learning and comporting. If I speak in apprehension, pls forgive this blog !!

Sic volvere Parcas !!

2009-02-18T14:17:00.000-08:00

Sic volvere Parcas !!

There are no happy endings - an ending cannot be happy... There are only happy MOMENTS, and, because they do not last, they must survive in our memories... but even memories can change...

However, we all feel that these moments are worth living for; even dying for; sometimes, killing for... and so, we do this so we can have our memories, and share them with those we love... even though these memories are not perfect, we enjoy sharing them and reliving them over and over again, because in the end, these are all we really have - our memories, and our friendships...

Even so, sad as it is, friendships change and evolve, as with everything else, life changes.Therefore, resolve to remember what i can, and look forward to spending as many moments as possible with the people i love, even if they cannot or do not return that love and friendship...

In closing, I send this to my live journal,, for even if i have not had opportunity to tell you this, i tell you now... I LOVE YOU

Sic volvere Parcas (so spin the Fates) !!

My first trip to US !!

2009-01-12T23:25:00.000-08:00

It had been a while since i came out with my new post.. I had been in a hurry to pack and to get ready to fly to the US of A !! Whenever i hear that name, one can find me pretty excited about it. Yeah... It was one of my dreams...to see that land !! Just for the heck of it, I've tried a numerous times and in my third attempt, i managed to go on for atleast a short trip. This really doesn't enthrall me as it would have if it were an year ago. But, a dream accomplished is the new buzz word i keep saying to myself, to keep up that excitement!!

It had been more than a month, since i've seen the GMAT stuff. I'm feeling lost now in a noman's GMAT preparation arena. But, i need to buckle up and move on to accomplish my aspiration..

Here i've put up two contradictory terms(atleast to me) - dream and aspiration. Before i was leaving to the US, i was told by one of my friends, who was planning to pursue his MBA this year - "Why do you want to go to the US while you are having a lot of things to be done,sitting back at home? You have to fill in your gaps in GMAT prep and move further to give it a shot as early as possible, you need to look after your profile terms, you need to prepare for your essays...Do you think that you will be able to manage there all these things along with working hard for the client, cooking your own food, making up your apartment and your needs?"
As of now, i want to follow my dream first and then walk my way to aspiration. My dream is something which drives my interests where as my aspiration is some other thing which makes me to fall in line for a prospective career. Dream can be anything..Winning a million overnight at a casino, Lunching with the President of the US,Getting proposed by the girl you love or even a full fat 800 on your GMAT score card !! But, in my belief, aspiration is what drives one's purpose to live,one's passions about achieving a deal,one on path to the pre-rated and presumed success !!
Right now, i am driven by my dream ... And by that, i am here. Now i need an invariant and impeccable dream to give a hard run for my aspiration !!
I know that i am getting late...but always, i believe in "Better Late than Never !!"

Am i aiming too big???

2008-11-25T13:13:00.000-08:00

After my GMAT disaster, i didn't touch any of my GMAT prep material so far. One thing was in my mind. Even though i may give a competitive GMAT score next time,to sell my profile off to a Top MBA school, being a tech savvy, is really a very tough job.How the business school finds me unique from others who all are applying for an MBA in it and what factors in my profile would strike them to induct me? Do I really deserve a seat in a class from where world's best-known entrepreneurs like Mukesh Ambani hailed from? Is my name worthy enough to find a slot beside their names? So, what makes me so unique that i could fetch a seat in a Top MBA school.
** To make it to a top MBA school, I need the following:
a) A valid GMAT score (still struggling upon this)
b) A very good professional profile (I hope i have)
c) Any extra curricular activities which I am engaged in (Donno...i have to introspect !!)
d) Essays (This is at a later stage)
e) Recommendations (Unless and until the global recession acts bad, i hope i could get them)
f) International Exposure (Of course, one is on cards)

Before the school puts a valid set of questions before me,i have to pose them to myself..
1) What is your longterm goal and why?
2) How does a Business school add value to your goal?
3) Is your goal within your risk/responsibility or are you going to involve other stake holders?
4) What are the business aspects in your goal?
5) What is the path you are paving now to reach that goal and where does your pursuing of
MBA with a business school fit in?

Factually,Yeah... i don't have clear answers for these questions except the first one (of course it is confidential). So now, among the ingredients needed, which one would answer all these questions perfectly? My extra curricular activities !!! That should take the anchor role now !!

Other than technical things I am involved with, as part of my professional work, what have I done out of interest?
1) Am I engaged in a social activity? Any revelations of social responsibility which was
recognised?
2) Did I make my mark anywhere in internationally recognised events?
3) Did I do anything to make some technical products(big or small) and try to market them?
4) Are my services in any form recognized as useful contributions, by any govt organization?
5) Any other businesses I am involved in?

As far as i believe, Business schools work more on personal levels than on professional levels. Business school is not a place where a lay man transforms into a business icon, but a place where one is going to build contacts with a diverse set of people who have worked in various fields of business and work along with them. There could be nothing new in practice to learn at a business school. It just facilitates churning out your skills which are already present/acquired.

Absolutely,I have no answer for the above questions :( So what am i going to do to bridge this gap is a million dollar question... And few more unknowns which i might face in the essays or interview:

->Did you ever come out with a business idea among your team and how did your team take it
up?
-> What is the most difficult situation you have come across in your professional career and how
you overcame that?
-> What is the most unethical situation you faced during your professional career? How well you
were able to handle it?

My CAT 2008 experience !!

2008-11-23T01:19:00.000-08:00

A week after my GMAT, i went to Hyderabad to give my CAT, though not much hopeful about it. I was never preparing with the kind oforientation needed to make it to IIMs. So i was not expecting much outof it but just went to give the exam for the heck of it.As usual went to the centre early enough to watch out the serious gameplayers,atleast to buy some inspiration from them. Some of them lookedto be haunted by pressure while another set of people were seriouslyreviewing their books till the last minute. I found some of thecandidates relaxing themselves leisurely, having a smoke, chitchattingwith friends, talking over phone pleasantly and even listening tomusic. I too was relaxing myself, watching all sorts of people aroundme. The time had come and I occupied my seat and was waiting for theOMR and the question paper to be distributed. The announcements beingmade in each room were so horrible and noisy that most of thecandidates detested. Atlast, after so many announcements, we were ableto see the CAT 2008 paper. It had 25 questions in Quant, 25 in DataInterpretation and 40 in verbal sections. I started off with myfavourite Quant section but found it too hard to solve and arrive atthe answer. After answering about 9 questions, i switched over toVerbal. I found my favourite reading comprehensions and started offwith them. GMAT prep had really helped me to cruise along three Rcsand move to the fill in the blanks. I was confident while answeringfew of those fill in the blanks. The reasoning questions seemed to betough to me and was not able to proceed with more than 2. By that timei realised that i am left with another 1 hour. So I jumped on to theData Interpretation section. Except two of the sets of questions inthe DI section, remaining seemed to be simply impossible for me atthat time. So I answered around 8 questions in DI and again switchedto quant to find whether i can answer any of the remaining questions.Towards the end, i made the biggest mistake of my exam. Guessing !! inearly guessed as many as i have answered till then. The onlyconfidence was, if i could make 1 question right, it will nullify 4other mistakes. So going by probability, i finally marked 16 in quant,16 in DI and 30 in verbal. Later when i checked the key with TIME, irepented for guessing. The guesses have eaten up around 1/4th of myscores in each section. So finally landed with 24 in Quant, 20 in DIand 39 in Verbal. Though these scores doesnt seem to be making to IIMsor any other good colleges in India, I felt confident that if i give asincere effort for atleast 3-4 months, i could bell the CAT and standcompetitive to those 90 percentile liners. Better luck next time !!

Down...But Not out !!!!!!

2008-11-14T15:56:00.000-08:00

The Big day of my life arrived !! Its time to perform...Carrying a lot of hopes and aspirations, I woke up in the face of a bright and pleasant day. I was getting ready to take my GMAT on 7th of November and was anticipating a score of 700+. Trying to collect all positive vibes since morning, I answered a few phone calls and later got ready for my exam. It was scheduled in the evening @ 5:30. I was supposed to be a cool player often, so i hadn't had much worry about controlling pressure. I took bath and had a light meal that afternoon. Each and every hour, I could sense pressure creeping up into my brain."You have to perform !! This is a big occassion !! You had a lot of things tied to this !! Prove yourself !! Its time to show a winner to this world !!". These were the words echoing in my brain. "What should I do now to stop all this nonsense?" is something which didn't tickle my brain. I just kept on accumulating these reverberations as long as possible in order to fuel myself with motivation !!

I reached the test center with 45 minutes in hand. Done with all the formalities, I took a long deep breathe before entering the test room. I was logged in by the admin and with in no time, I started looking at the AWA. I felt i should make up time here to relax before Quant section. But I didn't realize that time was running faster than i sensed it to be. Gave two decent passages and came out for a break with my redbull and the administrator told me the time when i should be back to take the test. Though I could have relaxed, my eyes were locked on the watch. I was waiting for that minute to come in. And i went in to take my Quant,keeping in mind - Strike the first 15 questions right. This costed me 35 minutes of the total 75. I was left with 40 mins and 22 questions. I tried to quicken up things but time seemed to be pacing crazily!! For the last 10 questions i was left with 11 minutes. Now its time to guess !! Then I started to see DataSufficiency Questions which were very lengthy to read and make an intelligent guess. i had to guess around 6 questions, which i never did with my practice tests. Atlast completed my quant section and came out like a loser."Why and where did I waste time? Did overcautiousness cost me those minutes? Can i get a score of 50? If I can't, my chances to go beyond 700 will lessen..What should I do? My verbal needs to be set right now? But how far will i succeed in this?" I was drenched with these thoughts and wasted my break, which I should have utilized properly to motivate myself to go ahead. I sat down to give my Verbal section. It looked quite tougher than my previous sample tests. I felt restless, lost concentration and forgot all rules I had been practising all these days. I spent 30 minutes for the first 14 questions and later had to hurry up in order to see all the 41. I was truely out of my mind and the whole 75 minutes of verbal was a blur !! By the time i reached the last 5 questions, i was pretty sure that I gave a very bad GMAT. Submitted the test and waited for the score. Finally fate in the form of pressure had its final say !! I was very much disappointed to see a 610 on the screen. I was speechless for a moment...All my dreams were shattered. All my hopes were ruined....I was totally down....Couldn't talk to anyone except to my closest pal... A few thoughts !!

1) Am i unfit?

2) Is there a mistake in my prep?

3) Did i make any compromise in giving my 100% towards my prep?

4) How to face my people with this failure?

5) What would they feel about my caliber and commitment?

6) Is this a hard blow on my strategy?

But, i had someone with me, who could pull me out of this despair. I was lucky enough to have such a person in my life.

Not only preparation, but also pressure needs to be handled !! This is wat i learnt after the test. And the pathetic thing was...among the five who took the test during the same appointment time, i was scoring next to a 630 and remaining all are below 600.

For the past 2-3 months i felt that i had a decent prep. For Quant, i guess i would have spent hardly around 10-15 hours during the whole prep time. It was verbal which always had been a monster before me. I was going through the below phase during my prep.

1) OG 10th and 11th editions

2) princeton review - verbal workout

3) Manhattan sentence correction notes

4) Spidy GMAT notes

5) For motivation, forums (Huh !!!)

I got an AWA score of 4.5 and a Quant score of 49 and a disgusting verbal score of 24.
Wat I found wrong with my prep was:: The verbal questions which i saw and those i faced are of different difficulty levels and the rules involved for SC in the real GMAT looked to be more complex for me.
Though it had a bad show, i am not going to retire at this point. It would be a mistake on my part if i leave my GMAT like this. Hurt, but fired up to give it a good shot nexxt time !! Chak De !!!