May 2012
3 posts
MuSick in my head
Music: It’s in your head, changing your brain - CNN.com
Very interesting article with loads of research insights cited. My own simplistic interpretation of this used to be that this is mind’s “screen saver” program doing its work. Whenever your mind is not involved in any active thinking, the screen saver kicks in.
However, for the past few years, there has been a...
Joshua Project
Brahman, Iyer of India Ethnic People Profile A kickass website with details of every ethnic group in the world (though the purpose for which it is maintained is a bit replusive)
April 2012
1 post
Cross Selling Conundrum
Had recently been to a jewelry shop. Apart from showcasing the piece of jewelry my wife was wanting to buy, the sales lady was continuously trying to sell a ‘monthly plan’ to us [1]. She was openly saying she has a ‘target’ to meet for the month.
Made a phone call to ICICI Bank today to inquire about their interest rates. The phone banking executive was hell bent on...
December 2011
2 posts
Private sector have to work to pay for you in the...
Not really. This insightful article exposes this myth: Tim Harford — Article — You’re wrong – we are all wealth creators In the Indian context, in industries like Banking / Insurance etc, if public sector bank employees are going to compete with the private sector guys, I believe public sector guys would come out winning. May be even Telecom? I wonder.
Dilemma of the day
If you injure a bug, should you kill it or let it live? This happens to me all the time. I accidentally step on a bug and injure it. It sits there struggling and I’m always confused over if I should kill it to relieve it of pain or let it live in hopes that it may survive If you injure a bug, should you kill it or let it live? - Quora Do you also have this dilemma? These days, I leave the...
November 2011
4 posts
Steve Jobs & Brahmin Language
“Maybe there’s a better way, a gentlemen’s club where we all wear ties and speak in this Brahmin language and velvet code words, but I don’t know that way, because I am middle class from California”
says Steve Jobs (Pg. 569 in the biography - yes, I finished reading it)
This photo has nothing to do with the article. Found this when I searched for ‘Steve Jobs Brahmin’,...
The IT Guy
At a recent meeting of residents in my locality, an innocent looking dude sitting next to me asked where I work. Once I answered, he said “Oh so you are not in IT?” with a quizzical expression. He seemed concerned if he will not be able to talk anything to me over the next hour or so for which the meeting was scheduled.
With a few career moves I have made, I get really confused on...
Steve Jobs, MODS, Gyaan & Free Book
MODS (Mobile Developer Summit) happened in Bangalore last week. No, I am not posting something that should go into my mobile news blog here, by mistake.
There was a contest in MODS - To pay tribute to Steve Jobs and pick up a free copy of his biography. I do not know how many people had participated but I was one of the 5 who were picked up to speak & get the biography. So, someone who has...
October 2011
2 posts
Steve Jobs' Genius & a stupid comparison
Steve Jobs’s Genius - NYTimes.comChina and India are likely to produce many rigorous analytical thinkers and knowledgeable technologists. But smart and educated people don’t always spawn innovation. America’s advantage, if it continues to have one, will be that it can produce people who are also more creative and imaginative, those who know how to stand at the intersection of the humanities and...
September 2011
9 posts
Waiting for Verification Code
My favorite IRCTC never ceases to amaze me.
Of all things it makes you wait for, today I was waiting for the verification code for about 5 minutes:
What is the act called?
Most of us do it everyday. But what is it called?
What we know is “bathe”
verb /bāT͟H/
bathed, past participle; bathed, past tense; bathes, 3rd person singular present; bathing, present participle
Wash by immersing one’s body in water
Spend time in the ocean or a lake, river, or swimming pool for pleasure
Soak or wipe gently with liquid to clean or soothe -...
Dr.Edward Srinivasan's Estate
Got this spam mail today, that too, to my official ID.
Dear Srinivasan,
I will like to seek your help in a business proposal , which although is sensitive by nature and not what I should discuss with someone I don’t know and have not met using a medium such as this but I do not have a choice
I am Mr. Jonathan Orengo, personal account manager of late Dr. Edward Srinivasan, who died of...
The (Apple) laggard
I have not owned / used (leaving out brief periods of trying others’) an Apple product so far. Does that make me a laggard?
While I have been an innovator / early adopter in several other cases. Heard of Portable MP3 disk Players, Cordless Headset for TVs / Music players, Portable Media Players with DVB-H capabilities? I have owned all these. Even in products that indeed became mainstream,...
Social Car
After connected car, what I want next is a Social car.
Well, a lot of times, I wish to communicate with the driver ahead of me - mostly to abuse people who do not let me overtake (the idiots) / people who overtake me (the maniacs). However, there could also be several other cases for communication that people would come up with - (Blind) Dating while commute, Playing multi-player racing games...
Google, Dropbox et al should fear ICICI Direct
Received a strange mail from ICICI Direct
Wonder why ICICI Direct would want to launch such a product. What kind of extension is this? Product Line Extension, Category Extension, New Business? Which matrix/framework can explain this? BCG?
Marketing / strategy geniuses please explain.
Connected (Google Reader) Car
There are so many concepts floating about “Connected Car” and this is touted to be the next big thing in Convergence (which itself has been the next big thing for over a decade).
I have been wanting a simple feature in my car. If someone offers just this much, I would be glad.
During the morning commutes, when I stop at red lights, it usually takes 3-4 minutes at every junction...
August 2011
2 posts
Steve Kanth
After reading the 131st article about Steve Jobs’ resignation (singing his praises of course), this thought struck me:
I am never able to avoid reading an article about Steve Jobs - I will at least glance through it. This is similar to the fact that: I am never able to change channels when Rajnikanth is on the screen - I will at least watch for a few minutes.
Is there a commonality...
Unsolicited subconscious for FEE
An unsolicited email I received today reads:
We, XXX are the partners of XXX Institute Pvt. Ltd. We are conducting a FEE SEMINAR on Personality Development - “The Power of Your Subconscious Mind” delivered by successful International Repute Coach & Trainer Dr. XXX at Bangalore on XX / XX at 6.30 PM (Please attend any one seminar). Those who are interested in attending this...
July 2011
2 posts
Indian Railways & Nirvana
Indian Railways Launch Mobile Ticketing: SMS To Be Used As Proof Of Ticket I hope the experience here would be unlike IRCTC. Booking a (particularly tatkal) ticket through IRCTC meant you should have achieved “inner peace” and not really bother even if no ticket is booked but money from your account is gone. I ensure I have a good sound sleep the night before I book a tatkal ticket,...
June 2011
3 posts
Linked Matrimony
BharatMatrimony announces LinkedIn API integration to enhance overall profile credibility Implications: Fooling prospective in-laws about past achievements will become tougher (not impossible) Linked In Recommendations will say “I highly recommend xxx for marriage with a beautiful girl with a dowry of xxx millions” and so on Past flames / girl friends / wives (& the corresponding...
Open Positions in Vodafone
There are a couple of senior-level open positions in the area of Product Management & Marketing at Vodafone. [Not Vodafone India. This is part of Vodafone Group - Center of Excellence for Data Services in Emerging Markets] JDs are as here: Marketing Product Management Send me your resume to carnivas at gmail dot com if interested.
A Tale of 2 PAN Cards
After a 3 month struggle, I received my new PAN Card last week. Phew! Well, it was not that the old one I had had gotten lost or something! It is just that it (the original itself) looked like a photocopy and was not getting accepted as original by even the ticket examiners in Indian Railways or by the policemen in airport entrances. That it had a photo that in no way resembled me did not help....
Burdian's Donkey
Read this a couple of days back. The analogy seems powerful and has stuck with me! Trying to pursue many different directions at once? | Derek Sivers Buridan’s donkey is standing halfway between a pile of hay and a bucket of water. It keeps looking left and right, trying to decide between hay and water. Unable to decide, it eventually falls over and dies of hunger and thirst.
May 2011
1 post
March 2011
1 post
Yes, rich kids already won the career game. Here’s...
Yes, rich kids already won the career game. Here’s why. « Michael O.Church
I tend to agree with the logic here!
In a similar fashion, I have noticed that kids (freshers) from more reputed institutions tend to perform better than the ones from less reputed institutions for the same reason: They do not fear that the job loss will put them in jeopardy. With the confidence of finding another...
January 2011
3 posts
1 tag
Some gyaan for the weekend
If you don’t know, say so. If you don’t know what you’re talking about, stop talking.Whether negotiation is strong or weak depends entirely on your goals.Don’t jump ship before you hit the iceberg.Anger is never about what you think you’re angry about.Confidence comes from success, knowledge comes from failure.A**hole is a subjective noun.If you’re miserable, quit and do something else. If you’re...
Hey, Folks: Here's a Digital Requiem for a Dearly... →
Here is my etiquette (after a brief analysis today):
(1) For friends & family, it is a “Hi” or no-salutation at all. Also, it could be a “Dei”, “Machan/Machi/Maapla”, “Bhailog”, “Dost”, “Kher” etc as the case may be… (and some unintelligible gibberish in the name of being romantic, if the recipient happens to be my...
December 2010
2 posts
Tell me
When someone calls us over phone, the typical conversation goes like this:
“Hello…” (Us)
“Hello… This is xyz…” or “Hello… am I speaking with abc….?”
and we say
“Yeah, Tell me”
What the heck is this TELL ME thing? When we speak in one of our local languages, I guess it is an equivalent of “Bolo /...
November 2010
2 posts
Adobe Hiring or Adobe Laying Off
Saw a hoarding in Koramangala-Airport Inner Ring Road that said:
What do you want to do (as options below):
(1) Work on new features of Photoshop
(2) Prepare your CV.
Adobe is hiring.
To me, that sounded like asking Adobe employees to leave. No?
Random Notes on 19-November
From childhood, I have been cheated by different people (parents, teachers & so many others, let us call them uncles) that man got inspired by birds that he too should fly one day. And that is why there have been consistent efforts/imagination about flying right from Ramayana stories (pushpaka vimanam) to DaVinci modelling an aircraft in his painings to the Wright brothers actually making it....
August 2010
1 post
Currency Symbolism
From the 1980s, I have been hearing about India becoming a super-power and stuff. Then, it used to be “by 2000”. That is, by the year 2000, we will be the super-power because one Mr. Rajiv Gandhi was making plans for that. Later, as 2000 approached and actually went by, it became 2020. Dreams, Abdul Kalam and all that.
From the 1990s there is also talk about some IT Super power...
July 2010
1 post
May 2010
4 posts
5 Ideas to save World Cricket
If India continues to lose in International tournaments, the future of cricket will be in question. Here are some ideas to save world cricket.
(1) All international matches featuring India should be held in India
(2) All international players who play in IPL should be available for selection by the Indian team. Even if they are not selected in the Indian team, they should not play against...
Book Reviews!
Married But Available
I found a few articles in Abhijit Bhaduri’s website funny & interesting so thought his books would be good also (He has a trilogy of sorts on M.B.A). I was proven wrong. The book is interesting only in pieces and kind of gives a perspective of how Indian businesses operated in the 80s and early 90s. Instances like the place where the protagonist yearns for a good...
Reach of technology
I was surprised (shocked) to see this in a LinkedIn Group message. I thought astrologers would be obscure people that get paid a pittance by the mobile content companies - but this guys knows his worth! After all astrology plays a major role in the ABCD of mobile value added services industry in India (the others being, bollywood, cricket & devotion).
See his rates man:
What next?...
Benchmark Philosophy →
Notes from Zinnov Blog on benchmarking practices. Read the link above.
The point is that we need baselines/benchmarks to know how well/bad we are doing and we need this dose frequently. After this conversation I was thrilled about the opportunity. An opportunity which is based on the fundamental premise of existence. Numbers don’t matter, all I know is that there is...
April 2010
3 posts
Sachin & the Delhi Density
(If you came here for some news on Sachin Tendulkar, Delhi Daredevils & IPL, sorry - this is about Sachin Pilot) :-)
There were a lot of discussions in MoMo Bangalore forums about some comment made by Sachin Pilot on mobile services for voice calls becoming free & stuff. At that time itself, I wondered why people were taking a minister’s talk seriously. For example, if Raja says he...
The Linked Post aka The Posted Link
Any post worth its salt is supposed to have a lot of “links” to external parties in it. We have articles with nothing but links in them and articles with only links to other articles by the same author, that when you diligently follow every link, you will find that you would have read every article in that blog/site at least twice.
What irritate me are the articles which have...
March 2010
5 posts
Indian Dilemmas in Afghanistan | Center for the... →
_When Indian External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna underscored the folly of making a distinction “between good Taliban and bad Taliban,” he was completely out of sync with the larger mood at the conference. _
Indeed. What the heck can be “good” Taliban? The West just wants to exit but still claim victory!
_Though problematic for the West, India should also not hesitate...
The Somali Pirates' Business Model | UN Dispatch →
This reminded me of the drug pedlars chapter in Freakanomics - even after making huge sums, they could not afford a home (and were living with parents), it said.
It is the ‘investors’ who make the maximum even in such a high risk business - not the risk of losing money for an investor but of losing life for the worker!
Traffic Irregularities & Cop Behavior!
When there is a continuous case of traffic violation at a point (for example, many people jumping a particular signal so often, many people going through a one-way road etc), logically, there are two things traffic cops can do:
(1) Check if there is actually a real need for the rule there (the traffic signal or the one-way) - many people are violating it but still no major accidents happen - so...
Congress slams China, praises Google!
Congress slams China, praises Google - Mar. 24, 2010
Wait a minute, does human rights violations, freedom of information/speech etc hold good only for the Internet? Is it OK for other companies / industries? More importantly, is it OK for the Government?
First of all, if they are seriously concerned, the Americans should pull out all the links their Government has with China.
Is it even...