Bending the curve ....

Best places we have been to 2 ...

2009-01-30T15:24:00.002-07:00

Best places we have been to ...

2009-01-30T14:48:00.003-07:00

Lonely Planet

2008-04-04T11:35:00.003-07:00

I have been in this work for a while now - so much so that I am readily accepted as an old timer. I have seen many come and go and it never bothered me so much as it did today. The guy who I originally started to work for quit, after years of service for the company.
I never thought attrition would bother me. I have seen people quit after a week, months, years. However today was different for me. I felt like I have lost a great supporter, mentor from my professional life. Working will be different, approaches will be different, hell....lunches will be different this point on.

Who needs a coach?

2007-09-27T14:41:00.000-06:00

Whats common between the Indian cricket triumphs in West Indies in 1971, England 1986, England 2007? All of them came without a full time coach!

The T20 win is the second major Indian victory after the Test series in England. Which brings us to the question if we really need a coach. The short answer is YES. The long answer is that we do not need a big name. More precisely we do not need a name that come with a big ego tag. The cricket managers for the England and SA tours were decent cricketers with First Class experience. They were flexible guys, ready to work with the team, ready to go that extra mile without making a fuss. Chandu Borde and Lalchand Rajput were the average cricketers. Yet managed to contribute their bit for the successful campaigns. So rather than going for the Chappelles and the Kings of the coaching world, we need to go with a 'workable' guy who is a better man manager than a teacher.

World Champs!

2007-09-25T14:23:00.001-06:00

Never thought I would see India become world chapms in some team sport in my lifetime. The cricket team came close on two occassions in world cups, they did win a Champions Trophy in 2002 - but agaun that was a shared prize with SriLanka.

Finally the team played the dream game for two weeks to become the world champs - what if it was Twenty20! T20 is what One day cricket was thought of in the 70s - Taking away the skills from the game, too much action, luck plays a role, ya da ya da ya da.... the same was said of the 50 over format in the 70s. The Australian team says that test cricket is the "real" cricket and that they will never warm up to this T20 version. So much for being gracious losers!
The Indian success has again shown that ratings, analysis and expert opinions mean zippo for big tournaments like this. On the other hand the success does not mean that Indian cricket is back to what it used to be during the 2002-04 seasons. Only time will tell if they can stand the test of the Australian tour.

Again not to leave our football and hockey teams who have pitched in with high profile trophies in the last few days. Winning major tournaments in so many sports is a new experience for India. So much so that this has been attributed to the 'Chuk De - India' magic and to the omnipresent SRK. Thank God KANK was a flop!!

Around the states

2007-06-16T14:20:00.000-06:00

May 2007 started what would seem like a endless endavour on the road. More than 5000 miles on the road in 30 days, drive through 15 different states, new places to see, some places revisited, some interesting, some plainly overrated.
The tour started from Chicago. And this is my third time in as many years in Chicago. The city gets interesting everytime. There is always something new, something exciting to do in Chicago. Unlike Houston! Lake front was a different experience than last time.
Niagara Falls was cold and frozen. Still the lights and sights were spectacular. New York is Mumbai minus the sweat. I was a bit worried about adjusting to the trains and schedules but intuitions and habits learned in the past in Mumbai got back to me just in the nick of time. D.C as ever was spectacular. Impressive government buildings. Unfortunately we could not get into the tour of the Capitol. Florida was hot, humid and fun. Five parks in six days!

All the driving does make me not wanting to see the road for a while. But have I any choice where I can say: Rickshaw and be done with it?

Cup-less

2007-04-13T13:30:00.000-06:00

The world cup for India was over even before it started. Or atleast it felt like that. Many be we were looking too far into the Super 8 stage that we forgot about the qualifying round. But I would still say that Bangadesh were something else on that day and that day only. I would not be surprised a bit if India would trash them 2-0 and 3-0 in the series that starts in May.

Dismantelling the loss (euphemism for blame game, scrape goats being named, 'inflamatory' questions) is now over. Many good things are in the pipeline for Team India. Some of them necessary and some of them self inflicted by the players. Anouncements like professional selectors, professional team management and no zonal system are all good news. Where the Board sucessfully duped everyone was that there is no improvement announced in its own functioning. So there will still be ad-hoc series announced, ad-hoc marketing deals signed. The player-borad conflict will still be there.

One of the announcements was of restricting players to doing 3 endorsements at a time. I look upon this a depriving an individual of potential earning opportunities. Many believe that players spend more time doing endorsement commitments than playing cricket. Well believe it or not but the players have less than 7 days of shoots every year. The shoots are arranged according to the players schedule between series. The board has not only put a cap on the number of endorsements but also put a clause of no shoots 15 days before a series, which is btw interesting. When do you remember Team India having more than 15 days between series? Never. Because the board has signed them up for more cricket. So any former player who comes out saying that current players are more interested in endorsements...and compares how they were patriotic during his playing days is basically bitter about having had less opportunities during his time. These are the same players who had to be given a laundry incentive for diving while fielding.

Allegations against Gangully about his playing for himself were also made. Well....should I remind that the current incumbent manager/coach was almost hooted out of cricket for his snail paced scoring, a cartain player decided to walk the team off when he was not given proper treatment onfield, the greatest allrounder India has produced was also alleged to have hung in till be got to a world record. I would say Gangully played per the situation and played well. Plugged one end...to be precise!

You have to accept victory and defeat as a part of the game. A true cricket fan is a fan of the game and follows his team. He likes and appreciates good cricket.

The GE-tization

2007-03-02T08:00:00.000-07:00

I was a bit anxious this week. My work place was getting ge-tized. Meaning we were going to be the latest addition to the brand portfolio of General Electric. Number 2 on the stock markets and the only company to be on the top 30 list since the inception of the stocks. It is said that if you had a $100 share of GE from 1892, its worth $5,000,000 now!

The entire process is really really well managed. The company is so used to acquisitions that it is a 'been there done that' for them. Their process of integrating companies must be one of the best practices in the market. One great thing about this development is that I get to be part of one of the largest employers in the world. I had thought that working at Telco would be as big as it gets in terms of employee strength of the TATA group. Almost everything you every use.... odds are that at some point in manufacture, design, finance or infrastructure GE has been involved. It all started with Edison. So as soon as you walk into a room and switch on the light..its us. The other good thing about this integration is that GE are just begining their journey in our business. So they will have lot more respect for what we do.

Fun Pics

2007-02-06T08:02:00.000-07:00

Fun with Pics

2007-02-05T12:15:00.000-07:00

Champions Trophy

2006-10-14T14:57:00.000-06:00

With the BCCI making a deal with willow tv to stream matches live in the champions trophy, I can now watch live cricket after ages. Little bit pricy but never the less better than nothing. The matches till date have been not upto the mark from a viewers point of view but there is hope in the coming weeks.
The ICC seems to be mad at the Indian board over marketing issues. ICC is like the unemployed son that has to look upto Big Daddy for pocket money but is not ready to play by his rules. Last week a technicality ruled out BCCI from bidding for rights to ICC global events. The Wisden Almanack editor made this comment at the BCCI - This is an organisation that only set up its own website in the last year or so. Not so long ago, frustrated observers would complain that it was incapable of answering a letter. Now it is saying, 'We'll deal with worldwide television for you'. Wisden would like to know that websites are not the be all and end all of everything. Contrast the '99 World Cup with any other in the subcontinent. We had full house for neutral games. And all this was made possible by the marketing strategy and people in the subcontinent. So why is there a question over our potential to market global events.

ICC was also not pleased by the BCCI inviting Azar for a felicitation function at the CCI. Get over it! He has paid enoughfor his alleged involvement in the match fixing scandle. Isn't Mark Waugh and Warne and Gibbs still playing after accepting to take bribes to underperform or share information (which is as good as giving the game plan before hand). Everyone has to have a chance to rebuilt. And the BCCI is right in giving fair treatment to Azhar. After all he is the most sucessful Indian captain after Ganguly. Not even greats like Kapil, Gavaskar and Bedi have matched his record as captain.

Rantlings!

2006-10-06T20:10:00.000-06:00

Lots of different things happening in the last few days. The one bigger than others was about getting a upward shift at office. A bit uncomfortable at the begining. Same as with all new things. But never the less this was one change I wished to happen. I had somehow started feeling stagnated in the previous position. I guess it had reached the 'use by' date. The last few days were fun. I also got to be the stand-in boss for sometime (days actually!).
Other happenings include finding a new place to stay, market hunting for a car, basic furniture and getting ready for the BIG day!

Whats wrong with faulty machines!

2006-09-04T18:30:00.000-06:00

Amilessly surfing the net I came across this article on an Air India flight to LA being cancelled. I never thought that Air India knew anything about customer service and this further confirmed it.
However the highlight to me in this article was not the poor customer service. As a defence of flight cancellation due to faulty equipment the GM Public Relations says this - The aircrafts are 12 years old and problems are natural. Is there a problem with this statement or I am the only one. I had heard stories of poor in-flight service and how the check in luggage followed you with a three day lag. Howver I always thought AI to be an 'India' product and needed to be supported.
This statement howver has helped me make up my mind never to fly Air India ever. Thank You PR officer!!

Bitter Better Years

2006-08-04T12:00:00.000-06:00

August 4, 2003. I began the 8 most difficult months of my life by underestimating the effort. I had quit a well set lifestyle and embarked on a life-changing journey without being sure of what I wanted and expected out of it. I left for College Station, Texas on this day three years ago.
I knew little about College Station and that this small town would bring me out of my comfort zone. The eight months that followed were the test of my patience, a time when I had to prioritize many things, a time when I learned lessons the hard way. So much can be attributed to this small town that even today when I go back and walk down certain streets, certain corridors, the memories send a cold shiver down my spine. I feel nauseous about those places.

Apart from those eight odd months it has been the most rewarding change I have ever had. Learned so many things, experienced different cultures and how they viewed my own, travelled various beautiful places, made friends.

Anxious tuesday

2006-07-12T12:36:00.000-06:00

Terror tuesday or 11/7 bombings in Mumbai were the third occassion I experienced immeasurable fear. It was 10 am when one of my friends called up and asked if I knew about the Mumbai blasts. From that point onwards till I could speak to both my parents at 10.45am I died a thousand times. The level of anxiety increased as I read about the incident. At first I just heard about a blast in Mumbai. Then heard about a blast in the local train. Then heard about serial blasts. And then the most damning news that Borivli was one of the stations where the incidents happened. The fact that the blast happened at 6.30pm, a time when my parents usually commute made matters worst. From that point till the time I heard my mother speak and confirm that both of them were safe, with my father reitterating the same in background, I had a wave of anxiety inside me, eating me.
I was too young in 1993 when the blasts took place. But never the less we were a bunch of kids with working parents then, who continued to play cricket just to distract ourselves from the bitter reality and continued playing in pitch dark till everyones family got back. It was like poking a needle into a numb hand. We were playing, but we were not playing.
The earliest such incident that made me anxious was a train collision at Byculla, Mumbai somewhere around 1986. Little did I know about the incident, but knew that it happened in the evening and my mother travels at that time.

The common most feeling on all three occassions is fear and anxiety. The biggest difference is information flow. The difference can be sumarized in how we used to communicate; Then- such and such thing has happened here and we are safe was the call from your dear ones. Now because of the electronic media I already know that this has happened and so many are missing, but still have to wait to confirm family safety. Typically contributes to building anxiety and stress.

Reverse Apatheid

2006-06-05T16:44:00.000-06:00

South Africa was very greatful to Nelson Mandella for his struggle against the racist policies in the country in the 60s. The entire world boycotted South Africa for 20 years for its racial policies. Imagine loosing 20 years. Sportsmen couldn't be in Olympics for that time, not participation in business sumits, no governmental contracts, no nothing. The impact on social, economic developement is beyond imagination.
But now from what I read there is reverse apartheid in South Africa. Cricket team has to have certain mix of colored and white players. So when one wonders what happened to South Africans after 2000... there lies the answer. There are similar examples in other fields. The have a Kolpak agreement to which SA professionals can go and work unrestricted in some of the European countries. This arrangement coupled with the reverse apertheid saw several of the promising professionals (cricketers for sure) abandon SA. Just for kicks.. Kevin Peterson who now represents England in cricket was born and brought up in SA went to England and got naturalized for better oppurtunity!

Surely India can take leads from whats happning to South Africa! We don't need to be kicked off the train this time....

Think something new!

2006-06-01T16:27:00.000-06:00

When Dravid-Chappel formed their partnership the mantra was new blood, new ideas, new methods, new strategies, new everything. After the disaster in the one-day series it was kind of disappointing to see Dravid come up with old and stale reasons for the defeat. I was expecting the duo to have new excuses for defeats as well!

Read that California was planning of increasing taxes on cigarette sales. So much that a pack of Marlboro Lights that costs $4 in Texas would cost $7 in California. The rationale behind the tax increase on tobacco products all over the world has been that it help making people quit smoking. Now I agree that somking kills, but for me alcohole is an equal, if not bigger killer than cigarette. Just look around for drunk driving related accidents and other crime that happens under the influence of alcohole. Then why do they not increase the taxes on alcohole products as frequently and as high as tobacco. Isn't it in a way supporting social abuse due to alcohole or may be just that the alcohole lobby is stronger!

Also read Wasim Jaffer's interview on cricinfo. It says that he does his namaz everyday. Did we need to know this? That too in an interview about his cricket. Did anybody ever mention about how many times Tendulkar prays or whether he goes to the Siddhi Vinayak temple. Why this obsession with unnecessary details when it comes to minorities? I know only one thing about Jaffer, which many do not know. He once scored 405 runs and remained not out in an inter-school Harries Shield match.

American XYZ

2006-05-16T13:55:00.000-06:00

I did not watch the American Idol last year. But this time I decided to follow the competition and watch the show. We had a amazing show last Tuesday and the results were declared on Wednesday on Fox26. Usually the results run from 8-9pm followed by the news. So it happened this time that as soon as the results are declared and the show ended they started the news. And the first bit on the news was American Idol results. An entire feature on just the results.

Tells me two things. One that the show is very popular. But it also say about the quality of news on these channels. None of the local channels here give national news, leave international happenings. FOX might be a national channel, but they have local divisions who do their own news. So the Houston channel of Fox will do news from Houston and around. While it helps to know whats happening around, it has almost ZERO information value. The news may be from what happened in the Mayor's office, to crimes and sometimes as pathetic as neighbourhood incidents. Same story with the newspapers. 85% local news. I think this greatly clouds the general awareness of the public here.

Upcoming tours

2006-05-01T16:56:00.000-06:00

Meeting long time friends is always exciting. So I have three such oppurtunities coming up. There is Rityas graduation. Then there is the Formula 1 meet. And then hopefully there will be the White house tour. I couldn't care less for anything else that comes up!

Sex and the City

2006-04-30T12:32:00.000-06:00

Some time ago I was hooked on to watching "Sex and the City" on FOX. Very interseting theme. It depicts the life of metropolitian girls looking for a life partner and how they go through the phase a dating (and mating). I can watch beautiful girls on TV and to an extent try to see the westerner way of life (And be thankful that I cannot be a part of that lifestyle!!).
Anyways...talks about finding a suitable lifepartner is history for me. But it is still a challenge for some of my able friends. I was bored to death of hearing the same topic over and over again. But lately I have started to look at it in a very different way. Its the same Sex and the City; only the 'morons' version. I laugh out when I hear them say that the kind of girl they are looking for should be something more than just being beautiful. I laugh because no one can define what things they look for when they say 'more than just beautiful'. None of them can lay down three simple things that they would be on a look out for in a girl. I am more used to the 'metric' thinking.
Off late there has been a fascination for doctor girls. Some say it looks good on the invitation card and also means that there is an annual potential of 150K. The biggest showman (after Subhash Ghai off course) feels that he should not go against the wishes of his parents. Its all for them after all. I think someone should nominate him for a humanitarian award this year for his sacrifices. And then there are others who are pestered by long distance calls at midnight by the girls' brothers in law (who are helpless beacuse they do not want to spent their nights on the couch). So overall its been very entertaining from the day I saw this differently.

The Buck has its revenge

2006-04-12T15:20:00.000-06:00

Recently Sallu man had the Rajasthan HC hand him a 5 years RI for illegal porching of endangered species. A Black Buck.
Something that I found interseting to think about is that this same guy had run over a pedestrain while under the influence of alchole and got through without punishment. Makes me think as to what is the value of human life, the one who is supposedly at the top of the food chain? Is human life negtiable? Or is it more a case of not being able to cover up matters with the black buck cummunity. To me Sallu man should have heard this verdict while in jail.

And then there were reports that the guys mom is not doing too good with her health. Walk it off woman! You should have been concerned with his behavior long back. No reason to loose sleep now. Probably he is more sober and safe where he is than if he were outside.

Outcast

2006-04-07T15:21:00.000-06:00

I have been closely reading about the bill out great politicians have been flaunting for a while now, the one which introduces reservations in IIMs, IITs and central schools. From what was published, the new bill would stipulate a 50% reservations in these premium institutes. Wow! just what a country on the threshold of breakthrough developement needed.

Let me analyse this in short. I am assuming that not everyone getting admitted on the 50% quote would be undersrving. Say 25% of the lot are undesrving. Then ther are reservations in job oppurtunities. So this candidate from the 25% of the 50% gets a job in the 50% of the available jobs. So the probability of this happenig is apx 6.25%. So out of every 100 candidates 7 candidates will be a the helm and will be badly out of league. The real irony of the situation is when one of these 7 candidates sits next to a 99 percentile guy. Why would this good guy not feel wasted. Not only has he paid more to get this education, but he fought with his back against the wall to get to where he is. Talk about brain drain....after this I would feel it is justified. Not only that I feel it would be justified to seek other avenues for education and jobs and giving your taxes. It is not only about giving back, it is also about- whats in it for me.

The other side of the argument is that some sections of society would never develope if not given an oppurtunity. True. But I think our great leaders misinterpreted the word oppurtunity. Oppurtunity is not reserving seats, but creating fair means and good training to develope the ability, skill and confidence to make it to the top. In a country where 1000 students battle it over for 1 seat in the IIMs, the reservations are bound to throw this ratio into the skies. What I hate about my country is that decisions are based on public sentiments and not on facts and figures. So much for democracy!

Cable TV generation

2006-03-20T15:52:00.000-07:00

I called home the other day and it was not for the firt time that I heard....aare in that show on this channel this happened to so and so character this week. To me this was non consequential. But then I thought that this was life coming full circles.
I remember the time was early January 1992. I was in the eight grade. And world cup cricket fever was gripping me like never before. The prospects of cricket under lights and in color clothes was very attractive. It was the first ever world cup that would be played in color clothing. Star Sports was going to broadcast the entire tournament. I was begging my parents to get the cable connection. After lots of pleading and promises of not neglecting studies, they finally agreed on getting the connection just for the world cup tourney. And ever since that day cable TV has been as much part of our family.
As I witness the journey of cable TV from Rs 60 p.m to Rs 250 p.m, from 5 channels to 60 channels, from not-so-good broadcast to digital broadcasting, the most improtant thing was never talked about. It made a smooth translation from my generation to the elder generation. And from being the crazy thing in the late 80's and early 90's to being a household necessity in the new century.

My Black Belt

2006-03-08T18:04:00.000-07:00

No no, this is not the karate belt. I am still in the wierd geek world. And this one is a level of expertize in process improvement skills.
I have been persuring this level for the past one year. I learned things and used statistics that I always thought I had left with the undertakers to bury when I graduated. For the last two months I had slogged fourteen hours a day to prepare for the final hurddle.

That also signals the end of the sabbatical from badminton. Lots of things to catch up on!!

Neck B-R-E-A-K-E-R

2006-02-23T11:17:00.000-07:00

Over the past few days I have come to realise the pain that someone who has problems with his neck goes through. I only had a neck sprain. But that kept me out of day to day business for a couple of days. And it was hard concentrating during those two days.
The moment I realised that I had sprained my necck I had experienced the most jarring of all pains. The feeling could be equalled to hitting the weak spot on the elbow. Only this pain was continuous, unlike the elbow pain. For the next two days I felt like a hog. I had to turn my entire body to see in different directions. The act of walking with the painful neck was like trying to balance vessels on a dicey stick. Even small things like brushing teeth and taking a bath became a challenge because they caused vibrations in the neck muscles.
The only good thing was that Monday was a holiday in office. So I could rest and recover. Like every good process engineer I went back to the reaccess the situation in order to make improvements. I believe the air pillow that I use was the root of evil and had a big part to play in putting me through this pain. So I am going to get rid of it asap!