A Hairy Session

Last weekend, I had been to this swanky hair saloon in Velachery Chennai. Though I have seen a lot of these on TV and movies, I have personally never believed in shelling out huge amounts of money for cutting hair. Gimme the 15 rupee cut anyday.

Anyway so dad, my brother and I went for this joint cutting session. I noticed that there is a very neat menu card (not a shady paper stuck on the wall) with prices starting from Rs.60 for a haircut to something like Rs.600 for a hair spa session. Given the prices, the number of people waiting was quite large. People were also shelling out amounts like Rs.1600 for a session. (didnt know Chennai folk were so extravagant) I almost felt nostalgic for our friendly neighbourhood barber with a shady bench and people sitting and discussing politics like they were actually running the government back home in Kerala.

Now that I have been running all around, let me come to the actual reason for this post. So while studying the menu, I noticed that this was a chain of saloons run by Cavinkare, the company that is giving the headaches to the HLLs and the P&Gs in the south. On paper, at least, it looks like a smart move. By getting into the 'service' part of the cosmetics business, they are now starting to reach the elite public in India who are becoming more and more comfortable with the act of grooming. Also, if they play their cards well, they can actually change their image to that of a classy company. Let's see how this story develops...

Anyway, so while we were waiting, my father makes the comment that even hair cutting is becoming such a sophisticated business (no offence meant to the barber community). So they will now expand rapidly into 10 saloons. Then they will require a corporate office and setup a HQ setup. And then...............they will go recruit the MBAs from IIMB (my alma mater)!!! I couldnt argue with that logic however condescending it might sound, really because that is when the whole MBA thing comes in. This actually goes back to a post of mine where I mentioned that MBAs are being taught to think in such a structured manner that they become so risk-averse.

Cant wait for the day when XXXXXXXX Hair Cutting Saloon gets a Day 1 slot in campus!!

India Ahead

It's been a week since I came back to Bangalore and started logging in. Already I can see the differences. There is so much chaos for everything - the roads, in the office everywhere. I am just wondering when do people live here. We end up spending so much time in just doing the daily things that we have no time for anything else. There is just work, career, loans, bills, petrol prices. I am sure this is quite similar in other societies too but I think we are really up there in terms of paranoia. Not that things dont work here but it is a world away from Europe.

Actually we are becoming very similar to the US society. I think Europe is so much more laid back. They at least consider enjoying their life seriously and spend valuable time on that. We on the other hand take our work and job as the number 1 priority. Of course, the fact is that Europe is probably the one region in the world which is in real danger of being overtaken by the 'Asia' powers.

The US for example, has been going through this consumer frenzy for quite some time now which in some sense is actually causing the 8-9% growths in the Asian economies. Because of this consumerism, the Americans are all neck-deep in credit and therefore they have to put in even more hours to just pay their credit card bills. I fear that, we in India, are going towards that direction. The only thing that is different is that we do not have a social security net from the Government protecting us. Hence if the IT market just tanks one day, I wonder how a lot of us will be able to maintain this lifestyle.

A difficult proposition, indeed. If we want to do better as a economy, we need to spend as consumers. If we spend, we are in debt. If we are in debt, we are not happy anymore. We have to work harder. But then we get the comforts of life by doing all of this. We get more choice as consumers. We can travel to the Alps or to Sydney for holidays. No wonder, governance is so tough!!!

Hiring Peaks

This was a forward that came sometime back to me from a friend...supposedly a quote made by a HR executive.

"Every day for the last four months I have been hiring. I come to office each day, hassle my recruitment team, agencies and consultancies for resumes, perform interviews, negotiate salaries and make offers. It's amazing to see how people negotiate for salaries and perks, no one asks anything anymore about what the job entails, what they can contribute, or how they can grow and realize their dreams here. It's about pay, and people are eagerly willing to display unbridled stupidity in managing their careers by focusing incessantly on money. Heck, the time it takes
to finalize an offer nowadays, I could send out an offer letter, go have several children, watch them grow, put them through school and then head back to office, the candidate is likely to have finished negotiating his pay and ready to join. This is all fine and dandy; it's a hyper-inflationary job market.

What's disturbing is the not-so-new trend of IT jobs flying out of India. I hear an 850-seater call center has decided to move out of India due to attrition and increasing costs. Hell, my own company has pushed out 100 jobs out of India into Eastern Europe, and I was part of that decision. We need to wake up and smell the stink of the decay we are creating all around us in the IT job market. Year-on-year end people here expect nothing less than 30 to 45% salary increases, where as the average salary hike in the US per year is 3% and Eastern Europe is 4%.

I could go on and on about the quality of the flotsam and jetsam that washes on to my desk in response to job ads, but we all know it. Sometimes it takes as many as 40+ interviews to close one position. Sad part? The bozos still think they are worth it.

At this rate IT India better ensure they have transferable skills,
because in a couple of years from now they will not have jobs to feed their money-frenzied lifestyles.

Let's do justice to the lessons the dotcom tried to teach us, what goes up must come down."

I think this is very true. I cant think that this kind of 40% hikes can go on for ever. I guess I can buy property in Bangalore once the dreams come down!!

In Air

At the end of it all, I finally made it to the homeland. My friends had appraised me about how consistently Air India usually screws up but even by that standards, a 48 hour journey for a 24 hr one was a stretch.

The part that worked perfectly was the Air France part from Munich to Paris. After that, it was at the mercy of Air India. They did not deem it important that the passengers should know when they would be taking their flight to India. After all, a 12 hr delay is only incidental.
The only good thing about the flight was the party atmosphere in the flight. Based on my prior Lufthansa flights where we had to sit stiff and be favored by the crew, this was a great one. Everybody talks to everyone else. The air hostess was fun refusing to give me a pillow because 'she was busy' (to quote her words). She says, I have no non-vegetarian but I can give you as much booze as you want. I found all of this so funny. Made me wonder...is this the face of the country?

At the end of it all, we knew most of the other people in the flight and had exchanged business cards. Call it 'networking in the air'.

But then the worst was to come. A long 10 hr wait in Mumbai with the rain gods not in the best of moods. While Mother Nature has her own ways of getting attention, Air India really came up short on making life easier for the passengers. We had no clue as to when the next flight out was. They said 1 am and finally we took off at 4 am the next morning.

There was this French couple along with me. I could actually sense the frustration that was building up in them. They werent sure if they will get their baggage and also as to what the gate was and at what time etc. The whole thing seemed a bit amateurish to me, the way, Air India handles this whole thing. I think we have a long way to go before we can be a good tourist location. I am just suprised that so many tourists are still coming to India even with the amount of complications that they have to go through. There are so many basic things that can be done right without even making major investments for example by just putting enough people to help out the foreign tourists and provide them with information (after all, people are not a scarce commodity here). We can do all the marketing but if we cant follow up this with the basics back here, we can never be a serious contender for the 'share of wallet' in the tourism industry.

India Package

Since this is my last week in Germany, I am in the middle of a frenzied packing and closure of all accounts blah..blah..So I havent had time to really blog (not that I was very regular anyway) but I am telling myself that once I am back in India, I will be a better blogger. So there will be no more updates until probably Aug 10th or so.

One of the pictures that was exhibited at one of the gardens in Paris. I thought the expression on the face of this girl was remarkable. 

An act of Honesty

I think the Germans are one of the most honest and straight forward people I have ever met. Couple of days ago, a colleagues wife had lost her purse in one of the shopping malls with nearly 200 euros in it. The fact was that there was no form of identification in it. The only paper was a video library card.

Believe it or not, this person who found the purse actually took the pain to go to the video store to obtain the address so that he could go and post it to them. For my friends luck, this person recognized them when they went by his store and finally managed to give back the purse to him.

I dont think there are very many chances of this happening in India. Even if we are honest, we just wouldnt take the pains of finding the owner. This country amazes me for its values. It's quite sad that they are not able to adapt to the new fluid environment in the world as much as they would have liked to.

Louvre Collage

Louvre Collage
Originally uploaded by bibinsr.

Views from the Louvre.

Again an amazing museum. By no stretch of imagination am I a connoiseur of art. But Louvre manages to amaze you with the variety of paintings and scultptures. However, I did think that the Mona Lisa was one of the most hyped stories in the world. There were so many paintings which were probably more beautiful than the Mona Lisa and so it seemed strange that people only want to see the Mona Lisa. The room where the Mona Lisa was hung was so crowded while the rest of the museum had so less people. Quite a marketing success!!

Paris City Collage

Paris City Collage
Originally uploaded by bibinsr.

As a last minute effort to remove an entry from my wishlist, I managed to make a weekend trip to Paris - one of the truly great cities of the world.

Definitely a city with 'character'.

When I came back from the trip, one of my friends asked me whether I liked Rome or Paris. To me, both of these were so very different and amazing in their own ways. Rome is all about history whereas Paris offers everything - history, style, class. Rome takes you to an era back. Being an ICSE student, I had to learn Julius Caesar during schooling and it left a deep impression on me (thanks to my english teacher). So when I saw the Roman Forum, I could sense the greatness of the city.

In Paris, you get the feeling that you are in one of the great cities of the world. The Eiffel Tower is again one of the places where you feel that this monument lives up to the reputation. The 3 days that I was over there went by so quickly. I would love to go back to Paris and spend a less hurried vacation and soak in the Parisian ambience.

Emergency ahead?

Cho Ramaswamy is one of the most respected journalists today in the country. In this rediff interview, he says that it is the time for an emergency in India. In a country where we pride ourselves on being the beacon of democracy in the world, this may be a discordant voice. But sometimes, I think this is indeed true.

Yes, we have a vibrant democracy that is now pulling along nicely ahead based on economic principles. We guys however, I think, tend to become smug with our own little successes quickly thereby becoming complacent. At this point of time where we have got this great opportunity to become a great nation of the world, I think we are still being hampered by hidden agendas. Not that the chinese model is the best, but I think some kind of a shock treatment is required for the bureaucrats and the politicians.

Otherwise, there is no reason why a flyover at Airport Road in Bangalore should take close to 2 years now. A 'plan' to build an international airport should not take 7 years. These are the kind of things that are hampering us.

So maybe an emergency of sorts is the need of the hour now. I wouldnt take it as far to call for a dictatorial rule but some sort of a hybrid model is definitely required. That is the only way to ensure that we dont stay happy with a 6.5% growth rate when there are so many countries in the world which are growing faster than us including China.

I am sure there are a lot of good bureaucrats around in different positions who have been sidelined by petty politics of their superiors. A good corporate organization will have a system in place to utilize the best employees in the best possible manner. Likewise, I think there should be a way of bringing these good people to positions where they can be most effective. I know this is a utopian view, but maybe that is what an emergency rule can allow us to do.

Of course, the caveat is 'who will you trust the country with today amongst the political folks available?'

A Fight against Poverty

Everytime I hear some major campaign against poverty, I tend to be very cynical about as it seems to be with every thing now a days. So when I hear about the Live8 concerts, I am kind of sceptical. The difference about this event is the scale of it. I have never seen a concerted action like this before. But will the momentum last or will the action started by a few righteous folks fall by the wayside after a few months.

Let us be realistic. Every natural disaster or crisis in the part of the world other than the developed nations have never got the level of attention it requires. There is always talk about it for a few months but then after a while, the world just moves on. We are just too self-centered to really bother about somebody dying in Mogadishu.

Like in the case of the Tsunami, $7 billion was pledged in aid. The regions havent seen more than 40% of it six months down the line. In fact, CNN regularly reports relief items stuck and perishing in warehouses just because of red tapism. That is ridiculous.

I do not think any such program can be a real success until the respective Governments are involved. Of course, it would be idealistic to think that suddenly one day, the governments would wake up and say hey we actually need to do some work. So I guess this is probably the best way forward.

However I salute those nameless folks who spend so much time on this without expecting to be on prime television. They are the true heroes.

Big Brother

I do not know too many Indians who actually buy original DVDs. So I guess any news of the great companies bringing in new standards of DVD is always interesting. But this news that I saw in Wired about how a research is happening where the consumer is expected to add his/her fingerprint or iris scan as an RFID tag to the DVD while purchasing is the height of crazy use of technology.

I mean, if I need to play my DVD on my DVD player, I might have to put in my fingerprint.
I know this will probably never take off but the thought is scary. They keep talking about 'Big Brother' is watching. There will soon come a time when we cant move a muscle without someone in the world knowing or tracking it. These are the times when I wish we did not have to deal with so much technology. It would have made life more simple.

Northwards 2

In continuation of my property post....

I am wondering if the property cycle in Bangalore is linked by some factor to the job cycle and which cycle comes first. Now the job market is doing really well and hence people are getting more and more money and therefore taking more loans. When the job market starts getting saturated, the property market will probably see the impact but after a lead time. It will take some time before we see the impact actually showing up on the number of loans disbursed and the number of flats taken up.

What to do in India

Now that I am going back to India, I have started thinking like any true returning India (except that I havent been able to save the kind of money I would have wanted to...).

Things to Do:
1. Buy a house in Bangalore (Not rich enough - high entry barriers)
2. Buy a car (Petrol costs Rs.47 in Bangalore - high exit barriers)
3. Change my role in the company (Low cost but high exit barriers)
4. Go back to my Cafe Coffee Day/Barista days (quite possible)
5. Do some travelling in India (depends....)

So at the end of this useful work, it seems like the only thing realistically possible is to go drink coffee....!!

Even more northwards

Not a single day goes by without some conversation about the property prices in Bangalore. Though Kaps has made a comment about the prices in Chennai, I think Bangalore is way ahead of Chennai in the hype.

Now that I have had a respectable run of around 4-5 years of 'corporate experience', I find that most of my peers are now talking more and more about the next level of activities in the cycle of life more so in India - marriage, buy a house, a car blah blah...

But the kind of prices that I hear scares the shit out of me. The basic number that I have been hearing is 35 lakhs min for a 3 Bedroom apartment. That is like a loooot of money and I know for a fact, that almost all apartments get signed up for even before the first stone is laid.

If this is not hype, I dont what is. Many of my friends who have invested in property in Bangalore over the past couple of years have seen close to 100% or even more appreciation which is great for them. To add to this huge hype are the stories of builders cheating naive software professionals.

All this gives me the jitters!! To me, all this is an indicator of an impending correction in the property market at least in Bangalore. I think it is just a matter of when and my gut tells me, it is going to be sooner rather than later.

Finally Tagged

Finally Kaps passed the book tag to me. To tell the truth, I am not a fan of these chain mails. Everytime I see something like this, I usually do not respond to it. It is almost a matter of principle for me that I should not fall under the pressure of spamming more people. Hence I am not going to pass this on.

But I am very bored today. Hence, here goes:

Number of books that I own: 100-200

Last few books that I bought

The Hungry Tide by Amitav Ghosh
A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth
Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
A House for Mr.Biswas by VS Naipaul

Last book that I was gifted
Well almost never looks like...I cant remember when the last time I got a book as a gift.

Last few Books that I read

In addition to the ones I bought recently, I have bought and read:

The Lexus and the Olive Tree by Thomas Friedman
O Jerusalem by Dominique Lapierre and Larry Collins
Toxic by Robin Cook

Currently Reading

Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

Five Books that mean a lot to me

The Goal by Eliyahu Goldratt - I think it is one of the best books ever that explain a concept in the simplest manner possible

Midnights Children by Salman Rushdie - If I was asked to choose one author, I would pick Rusdie. I have never read a work from a more intelligent author.

Atlas Shrugged/The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand - Really excellent. I have always admired the thought process behind these books

Den of Thieves by James B. Stewart - One of the books that was recommended during my B-school days when I still believed that I had it in me to do a finance job. Nevertheless, the book is a fascinating view of the Investment Banking world

Books I mean to read

The Moors Last Sigh by Salman Rushdie
The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie
White Mughals by William Dalrymple

EMail - Less or More

So my mailbox wasnt working for the last couple of days and man it was a tough day. It seemed to me almost that there was no purpose in me being in office. What it says is that the only work that I do is to read and reply to emails. Which brings back to the question asked so many times 'Is Email really productive or counter productive?'

I dont know why the image I get in my mind was of a small island of about 20 sq. m with one single tree right in the middle of a deserted river bank and I am just standing there wondering what to do. If I had any sort of talent in drawing, I might have tried that. Well that was a bit too far..:)

That's what email does to people, I guess. I just am too plugged!!

Reality Catches Up

Now that the aura of Spain has died out, there is now a lot of action happening. The action of uncertainty. I have heard a lot of people talk about they being asked to go back to India due to some cost cutting measure decision taken somewhere else. So it looks like me is going to be the next casualty.

Not that I have too much of a problem working from India, it's just that the effort of relocation is quite something. So now I have started creating checklists for the travel back home. Of course, in Germany, it is doubly more complicated with the language barrier.

Now that I dont even have a home in Bangalore to go back to, I guess it is also going to be a start from scratch for me. I am hoping to make this a good opportunity to evaluate my options. But the most that I want to do for the first 3 months is to chill out.

I guess this is something that will keep coming up. Life takes a turn in the least expected manner at the least expected time. But I guess our greatest strength is to adapt ourselves to the changes thrown at us. However, what I do find amusing is the way different people react to this relocation exercise.

Around me, I can see people who are trying to come to terms with having to live in India after long stints in Germany. I have always been of the attitude...'if I have to go, I go back...what's the big deal?' I guess this is the closest I have come to being laid off. :) It might be worse for these folks who have been here longer. Thankfully I have not been here so long to have a feeling of losing out on something.

Anyway all this has led to 'me' being the only thing of interest in my life now. :) I am not even able to spend enough time to read all the blogs or sites that I like.

Madrid - Bullfight ring view. Seems to me a sadistic pastime where an animal is being challenged by so many men prompted by 10000 or more people 

Barcelona - A city where you find everything - beaches, history, entertainment. A beautiful city 

Toledo - A small but beautiful town on the outskirts of Madrid where the famous Don Quixote was supposed to have lived with its beautiful old streets 

Views from Spain 

A Time to Spain

I know I have not been doing this regularly enough. It's just that Inspiration is becoming a little hard to see in the mist out here.

But also, I am now travelling to Spain for the next 4 days. Hopefully this will be a good trip. I get to see something that I never would have really put on my things to do list - watch a bullfight.
(I dont know why, the only image that comes to my mind was this report on Sun TV I saw a long time ago about this competition of taming the bull somewhere in Madurai)

So am hoping to be back on Monday. Will put a post on the trip.:)

To leave or not to leave

As the Indian IT job market is booming, I can see more and more folks are relocating back to India from all of the developed countries. People who have lived for extensive periods of time abroad make this momentous decision to go back. As we bid farewell to one of our colleagues who was going back after 5 years in Germany, I started thinking about the nature of this decision

While living abroad, you tend to take for granted some conveniences and mode of operations. That train is expected to come in at 8.21 and it will. You go and dump the garbage in the right place (after separating out paper, bottles and other waste in 3 categories) [Sidenote: this is actually done in Germany. I cant think of any other group of people who will have the patience to do that]. You almost never honk your car horn. You give the pedestrians the right of way. You do not cross the road until the pedestrian light turns green. You almost never go to visit families without giving advance notice. The word 'please' is the one which is used the most.

I could go on.....

I wonder how much time it would take for people who go back to India to get used to the way of life there. I am sure the kids will be the first to adapt back to the Indian style of doing things. However, for the grown ups, it is probably a struggle at least for the initial months. People react in different ways to this. As I am seeing in the posts of at least one of the bloggers who seems to be struggling to come to terms with India while on his holiday from the US. (At least in this case, I sometimes feel, the guy either takes himself too seriously or he just doesnt get it)

So then why do people make the move back? I guess social networks would be the primary reason. I am sure that the situation of us vs them I mentioned in my previous post is true (albeit to a lesser extent) even in the US. You finally want to be be amongst your own class of people where you are most comfortable. There comes a stage in the family lifecycle when you need to provide the 'roots' to your kin. I guess that is the time when people really start contemplating a move back. Of course, with the number of opportunities that are now being seen in India, I guess the decision has become a little easier.

Bhai Bhai

Throughout my childhood, I have always heard and imbibed the feeling that 'Pakistan' was the enemy country who wouldnt hesitate to harm our nation at the drop of a hat. Of course, the multiple wars and the hype surrounding Indo-Pak cricket matches alongwith Kashmir and Kargil did not help either.

However, in a world so far away from our own, here in Europe, Pakistan and India go together. If we see a person who may be looking like a desi, the probability is almost 50% that rather than an Indian, he could be a Pakistani too. While I have always felt offended in a strange sort of way to be called a Pakistani, I now realise that for the local people here, there is nothing to differentiate between these 2 countries.

Yesterday, I am waiting at one of the bus stops. This guy comes along with another guy (my first impression is that he is a Turkish guy) and asks me 'aap hindustani ho?' Then he tells the other person...'maine bola na ki ye hindustani hai. Hum sab ek hi hai. Main Afghani, ye Nepali aur aap Hindustani'....I was like..'wow, never have I thought in such a manner'.

I guess in the European world, we would all be classified under 'brown skinned Asians' (if I want to take a racist overtone). In fact I am realizing that not just the South Asians (Pakis, Indians, Sri Lankans, Nepalis) it is also the Middle East folks (Iraqis, Turks etc) who are in some way clubbed together. There seems to be an almost unspoken word of solidarity. Of course the feeling is much stronger between Pakistanis and the other Muslim communities.

To me, it is interesting to note this 'we' vs 'them' undertones..(the 'them' being the whites). But the fact is that these are all unspoken. We can sense them in many places, the fact that we are not 'them'.

So that brings me to the question, if we are so closely linked to the Pakis in the rest of the world, is there any point in the quite explicit hate campaign that happens (or rather used to happen) in India or Pakistan against each other?

The marvels of nature!! I took this shot from my balcony. A beautiful rainbow 

More of the East Meets West

As part of my series of discovering India in a foreign shore, I went to this Prem Joshua concert in Munich. Prem Joshua is quite known in the fusion music scene in India but may not be very mainstream. His music would fall in the genre of Trance/World Music. I love his kind of music and therefore jumped at the opportunity to go listen to him.

The guy is quite talented. He was playing all sorts of instruments - flute, santoor, sax...It's always great to hear his kind of music.
So in this concert, I found that there was quite some interest amongst the Germans. The place was almost packed. But I am not sure if I should find it strange that I was probably the only Indian in the crowd. For the locals, it was more of a different way to spend a Friday with quite a number of people wearing Indian dresses to suit the Indian theme evening.

I wonder why no Indians really go for such events. Maybe because trance is not so big in India where we have so much other music to choose from. There was also this girl (cant be more than 16 or 17) who was dancing to Prem's music for some of the songs somewhat in a traditional Indian dance form. To me, it was clear that there was nothing great about her dancing style as I have seen much more graceful dancers in India. But of course for the locals, it was just good fun.

But then, the thing that struck me was using this as a marketing tool. If the Indian Tourism Department could conduct shows like this in some important cities and generate interest amongst the foreign community to try out India, it would be worth it. This show was organized by some small private organization and also probably because of the singer's German background. Some targetted marketing would, I am sure, reap rich dividends. The kind of clientele that come for these shows are not the college going kids who do not have money to blow on a trip to India. It is the working couples (30 or 40 somethings) who are richer and therefore probably are the best bet to think of a trip to India who come to these kind of shows.

Maybe I should go to work for the Government for sometime. It would be something different to do and who knows, I may be actually able to add value. :) But let's be realistic. I will probably be disillusioned faster than I can say 'Government' & of course the money is not good enough.....
(On a side note, I wonder if anyone would have thought like this about 20 years ago. I know working for the Govt. was such a prestigious thing to do sometime back....& now I say i should try it because I am bored of the corporate brigade...quite ironical..)

Chemistry

I havent blogged for a week now. I guess sometimes you need to earn your living and work. But it was more of having nothing to really say.

Anyway, I saw this movie 'Before Sunrise' which came out in 1995. The sequel 'Before Sunset' has just come out last month. This is about an American guy and a French girl who meet on a train in Europe. The guy is returning to the US the next day morning and he requests her to accompany him in Vienna for his last night in Europe. In the end, they promise to meet at the same platform after six months without exchanging numbers or addresses.

The thing about this movie was the chemistry between the actors. In some sense, this movie is almost like a documentary with most of the movie being dialogues between these 2 and almost no other characters. But the screenplay is so good that you can sense the romance growing as the night goes along.

I think creating such chemistry on screen is so difficult. I think it is becoming rare to see such sensitive movies be it Indian or Hollywood. They used to say that about Amitabh & Rekha.

Most movies today are a reflection of the society as it is today - fast, no time for anything. Even romance has become a fast moving one. The Karan Johar genre of movies reflects what I believe the situation in todays society...(as they say in Kal Ho Na Ho...che dhin mein ladki in....) It's finally SRK's charisma which wins. :)

The beauty of this movie lies in the leisured manner in which these 2 characters get to know each other. They touch upon so many different topics that it is so very believable.

I am now looking forward to see 'Before Sunset' (they are now meeting after 9 years)!! and another thing to my 43 things list - visit Vienna...

Rulers of the world

Ever wondered who decided things in the world? Is it President Bush given his status as head of the world's only superpower? Wrong!!

It is actually 'The Bilderberg Group' that rules the world. The first time I heard about this on CNN, I was amused. This group, I believe has been in existence for the last 50 or more years and they have been meeting every year. Membership to this group is only by 'invitation'. The 120 odd members who meet every year are usually the most powerful people from the US and Europe and has included Alan Greenspan, Henry Kissinger, Pres. Bush, Pres. Clinton, Tony Blair, Melinda Gates . They meet once a year and no one really knows when and where the meetings happen every year. The meeting is 'secured' tightly and no official response is ever made out.

There is already a Wiki entry for this group. This year, the conference is expected to happen in Munich this weekend. But then no one really knows.

It is interesting that such a powerful group of people are part of an organization like this and yet this has been kept down with such a low profile. That says a lot of the clout of the organization. I wouldnt be surprised if a lot of the important decisions impacting the world had their genesis here. By the way, no Asians or Africans allowed. It's only for the Western world.

Some interesting links about the Group are in this page:

Almost sounds like the 'Da Vinci Code' and its secret society...:-)

Energy

Every time we have been in school or college or in the office, we meet with so many different people. Once in a while, we feel that this person is really good. I have personally felt that about many a person, this person will probably go a long way. I have felt that about a few of my batchmates in IIM Bangalore.

So what are the symptoms of such a person? Is it intelligence? Is it self-confidence? I think it is a combination. Earlier I had this empirical formula:

Intelligence x Hard Work x Luck ~ Success

I had always believed if you are not as intelligent, a lot of hard work and some luck should see you through. But now I feel there is a 4th factor which is probably the most important actually. I call that 'Energy'. I am noticing more and more that it is very clearly people who show a lot of 'energy' in whatever thay are doing that finally end up being the 'success' other people aspire to. These people are usually the center of the conversation in most of the sessions and it is not because of their official position. They would rather do something wrong rather than do nothing at all. Also, they tend to transfer part of the energy to the people around them and galvanize them too.

I started off this post as I was watching a concert that was being shown on TV. To me, that was Energy personified. These rockstars really epitomise energy. It must be really something to galvanize thousands of people to a frenzy.

Well, let me wait a few years to see if my impressions of the folks in my batch were true!!

Doors of Wisdom

There are times when you want to kick yourself for doing stupid things. Yesterday was one of those days.

Here I was in a great Sunday leisurely mood going out into the night for taking a walk. I step out of the apartment and then I realize 'I hadnt taken the key'. For sure, I had been extra careful not to leave the balcony door open. Sunday 10pm. In a country where not a single store opens on Sundays, cant speak a word of the language and didnt even know my neighbours really...why wouldnt I want to kick myself?

So I go and wake up the Housekeeper who doesnt speak a word of English(still dont know what she thought of me...). She was a sweet enough lady that she woke up her husband to come and help me out. So we try our door for about 15 min with no luck. Finally my neighbour comes out (thankfully, he speaks English) and he says, why dont you go and sleep at a friend's place and arranges for a locksmith to come at 8 am the next day (Bless him). He also adds 'If you dont find your friend in or something, dont sleep on the streets. Give me a call'. What an exciting thought!

Thankfully my friend was in. It turned out it was not a good night to visit him as he was awake most of the night with a production support issue (didnt know people actually did work at crazy hours like this..well that's a different post altogether).

So finally I come back home at 8 the next day...the locksmith comes in...and he doesnt take more than 4 sec to open the door...that must be the fastest anyone earned 70 euros ever. I felt so foolish....maybe I should have tried fiddling with the door for some more time...maybe I shouldnt have been so stupid enough to put all my keys inside. I dont normally convert to rupees...but this one warranted that...what a way to burn 4000 Rs/-.

So some lessons for people going to a foreign unknown city:
1. Never keep all copies of your keys inside
2. Know thy neighbour
3. Speak the language
4. Always have a backup (a friend's place to crash) :)

3 years and running

Was about 3 years ago that I graduated as a pompous corporate citizen from the hallowed halls of one of the 'premier' B-schools in the country. Like the rest of my 180 batchmates, we were told that we are this great bunch of people who will create a difference wherever we are. To use an expression from a professor when he was ridiculing our resume writing capability, we were 'god's gift to mankind'. (..that sounds so hollow)

Coming May, it would be 3 years of post-MBA experience. So today morning I come in, one of my batchmates puts this question to the group 'what has changed in these 3 years?'. While that question led to a volley of emails mostly making a mockery of the whole corporate setup, I think the question is quite relevant.

I am part of the cynics category who believes that in most cases, people hate their work (or if not hate, are just plain indifferent). They dont probably even like what they are doing. It is only the lucky few and the brave ones who get to work on something they love. The rest of us are all people looking for the comfort of 'security' rather than the satisfaction of doing something interesting.

So did the 'premier' education change anything in any of us? For sure, it did. My view of the world pre-2000 is different from now. In fact, I think rather than prompting me to do something different, it just made me so risk-averse, that I have become so comfortable in this life. The education did provide me with an ability to think in a structured manner which kind of also subdued the most important ability required - to listen to your gut instinct. So I know I will probably do well and probably lead a comfortable enough life but that is about it.

One of my very good friends, made a quote which I am reproducing without his permission:
"Life is a game of snakes and ladders'...
if ur lucky u get the ladder..
else you take the normal route one step at a time..
if ur f****d u get the snake..."
I thought it was pretty good....I am not sure if it was original. Sorry, dude..:)

I am sure there will be people who think that you need to create your own ladders. But sometimes this obsession with creating the ladder and climbing to the top kind of takes away from the 'living' part because you tend to black out the more important things in life - relationships, pursuing interests, maintaining friendships etc. I could think of so many things. There is no wonder that so many people are compiling the 43 things list as mentioned by Kiruba in his post.

Visit India?

Since the time I have come to Europe, I have remarked many times to my colleagues here that India has so much more to offer as a tourist location than probably whole of Europe. However the fact is that Europe is so tourist friendly that they get so many tourists visiting them. I think that is true for Thailand, Malaysia or Singapore.

Supposedly, the 'Incredible India' campaign is creating a few stirs. To me, it is only one of the campaigns amongst Thailand's - the heart of Asia, Malaysia - Truly Asia which are all really good campaigns. TV spots are all good but that is not enough.

In addition to the spots on TV, it is important that the government works offline with the people who matter to get more attention to India. More important than that is to ensure that the problems back home are sorted out. Today, it is a struggle for any tourist in India starting from the 3 hr queues at the Customs (I also have had to stand in these queues and I was thinking at the time what first impression will this make on these tourists?) to taxi-drivers and guides trying to screw them over.

Well, at least there seems to be finally some effort to managing these.
This report talks about how Renuka Chowdhary, the Minister for Tourism is actually driving a campaign for this amongst the people who are Customer-facing.

I must confess, when Renuka was made the Minister for Tourism, I thought, 'What? will a woman who has been this glib spokesperson for Congress really do something worthwhile?' I must say, I am pleased that Tourism is not being thrown to the backburner like every other government does and there is some serious thought given to what we need to do. Renuka, I think, is doing a better job than any other previous minister.

I just hope we manage to maintain the momentum. There is such huge potential in this industry and can really make the lives of so many people in India.

Bollywood calling

Never would I have imagined that Bollywood would be interesting to a country like Germany where their own language is so dominant in every form of communication and are almost perceivably xenophobic. In fact it has become so popular that there is at least one Bollywood movie every month on some of the German channels.

Friday, when I was going home from office in the bus, the driver asks a friend and me "Have you seen 'Sometimes Sad, Sometimes happy'?". We then realized he was refering to Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham. He went on for the rest of the 10 min ride about the movie and how he loved it. Kal Ho Na Ho(Indian Love Story) too was a big success. All the major shops have these DVDs. Based on the success of these 2 movies, a whole bunch of Indian movie DVDs are getting onto the mainstream shopping lines.

I was wondering why these movies are catching the interest of people in Germany. Asked a few people. An interesting comment that I got is the idea that India has managed to hold on to its culture (based on the movies) in the face of globalization [Sidenote: Dont know how much these 2 movies are really about Indian culture].

In fact, I think Germany is going through a difficult time of trying to hold on to their culture but losing out slowly to the American corporate invasion. Given their dilemma at this, they are appreciative of the strength of the Indian culture and tradition.

I just hope that is the case. I think it is just a matter of few years when we will be going through this conflict in India and our generation is the one which will have to really struggle especially when the next generation comes along. It is really important we are clear about our bearing or else in a few years, we will be in the same boat.

Courting India

Yesterday I was at my video library talking to this friendly German owner there. He was remarking how he feels that the Indians in Germany at least seem to be much more confident over the last couple of years. He thought that most of us were this shy, reserved characters and that now things seem to be changing. Well, I unabashedly took that to be a compliment to myself as to how cool I am....

I would think to a large extent, it is true. At least people like me who are in that part of the social pyramid where good things are happening, have had a large personal boost of confidence not just because of the education but also the general confidence levels in the country and the image of the country in the world.

Anyway, he also made this comment that more than China, India would probably be the one to watch in the next few years. Well, I didnt respond at the time. To me, it has always been 'Great! we are on the right path. But are we doing enough?'.

But on the other hand, it really makes me feel proud that we are slowly in the radar of the most of the world as one of the nations to be reckoned with not just a push-over. So when I read this post on
Business Week about how the two aircraft manufacturers are sweetening up to the Indian airline industry, it feels good. And of course, we just had the Chinese warming up to us.

But I think in all, this is a good time for our politicians and bureaucrats to play their card well and negotiate to our advantage. I think Japan, China all grew to what they are today based on some smart negotiation with the US and Europe. Japan had a trade surplus with the US for a long time before the US realized what was happening. With China, it is the same now. Sometimes, I think we dont negotiate hard enough. We always try to be the 'good' guys and be fair and thereby lose out.

In a Sitcom

Have you ever felt that you are part of a comedy sitcom as you sit through some of the meetings in office? I think far from being a drab boring place, the office can be really a funny place sometimes especially when virtual meetings happen.

Me was part of this meeting where about 90 people were joining from all over the world. As it always happens, if not planned well, can quickly turn into a chaotic situation. So anyway, here I was, sitting and listening to people offering suggestions about how to run the meeting so much so that the only thing we could hear being said was 'I cant see the screen' or 'How do I connect?' all after 15 min of the meeting starting...

Then of course, you have the heavy breathing sounds on the phone and the poor presenter trying to maintain some semblance of sanity and asking people to go on mute. I had just watched the original 'Office' series from BBC a few weeks back. I could really get where Ricky Gervais got his inspiration from.

For me, this was the most hilarious meeting I have ever been in. It was so funny that I felt I had to make a post about this.

Flea Markets

Had been to a 'Flea Market' in town today (similar to a Garage Sale in the US). Quite an amusing concept where people sell anything that they dont want to keep at home. But the array of products is just amazing with anything from TVs to clothing getting sold.

I am not sure we have anything of this sort in India. Also will it work? On one hand Baazee (now eBay India) has become so popular selling both new and used products on the web. But Baazee does not require the person to be acting as shopkeeper in person.

On the other hand here, people actually sit the whole day with their 'wares' on display. I am not sure if people will actually do that in India. To some extent, I think the 'dignity of labour' will itself prevent us from doing this exercise. Probably the household help would be enlisted for doing this sale or something.

Changing Quarters

Two corporate earnings reports caught my attention over the last couple of days. Apple reported that their revenues were 70% up Y-o-Y. Infosys reported that their revenues were up 50% Y-o-Y. By any standards, both outstanding results.

Yet Apple shares lost close to 9% value, Infy close to 5%. As a result, both Wall Street and Dalal Street took a beating. The reason:both of these companies gave conservative guidances for the next quarter. It almost seems shareholder expectations are reaching ridiculous levels. Corporates just have no breathing space with every 90 days bringing an hour of reckoning. The 'American' way is so all pervasive now that no public firm can escape this scrutiny.

I guess all of this pressure will finally translate to the employees working in all of these firms. Already I can see most of the tech firms still trying to find innovative ways of cost cutting so that they can still hold on to their margins. Of course, many of these are directly linked to employee benefits.

The question is where will this stop? I guess companies will need to find a balance amongst employee well-being, looking after shareholder interests, finding new growth engines & a whole bunch of other objectives.

Catch 22

I think this is probably one of the cleverest books/movies ever. The pure simplicity of Catch 22 and the way it looks at war satirically is really one of a kind. I thought there were some really cool quotes in the book which I thought I will put here:

"...Let somebody else get killed."
"But suppose everybody on our side felt that way."
"Then I'd certainly be a damned fool to feel any other way. Wouldn't I?"

"'They're trying to kill me,' Yossarian told him calmly.
'No one's trying to kill you.' Clevinger cried.
'Then why are they shooting at me?' Yossarian asked. 'They're shooting at everyone,' Clevinger answered. 'They're trying to kill everyone.'
'And what difference does that make?'"

"How much reverence can you have for a Supreme Being who finds it necessary to include such phenomena as phlegm and tooth decay in His divine system of creation? When you consider the opportunity and power He had to really do a job, and then look at the stupid, ugly little mess He made of it instead, His sheer incompetence is almost staggering."

"'They didn't have to show us Catch-22', the old woman answered. 'The law says they don't have to'
'What law says they don't have to?'
'Catch-22'."

I think the book became the icon that it was just because of the sheer simplicity of the concept and definitely one of the funniest. I guess we could really have these Catch 22 type of situations for every aspect of our life. I am sure people can think up loads of Catch 22 situations in their lives.

For now, whenever I crib about work, invariably somebody will make the comment
'ya, everybody hates work. You are not the only one'...so I guess i should go on 'what difference does it make?' in Yossarian speak

Development at a cost

Yesterday was talking to my sister who has just gone to Kerala to my home town travelling from Mumbai. Supposedly nothing much has changed over there. Karunakaran and Muralidharan are still making a joke of governance over there. The communists are still a major force.

Over the past few years, my visits back to home have reduced so much. But every time, I start to think, when will these guys realize so much more is happening outside? I mean everything remains almost exactly the same everytime I go back.

Anyway, (putting down my nostalgia cap) my sis was saying that she likes it that way that nothing much really happens. The reason "Bombay is cool..lots of things happening always...but when I come home, I want to savour the true 'Keralaness' of the place..and dont want to see another Mumbai with the same sort of restaurants, malls and the like"

Maybe that is what places like Kerala should capitalize on. Develop keeping in mind the true 'character' of the place unlike in places like Bangalore where there is no longer a real 'character'. I think Europe does that quite well. Most of Europe (at least based on the places I have been to) is a tourist haven but things have been done up well enough to maintain and retain what is truly characteristic of the place.
In this article in Indian Express the author, a Pakistani, recounts how it was different in Kochi than in Bangalore.

Germany and Jobs

For the past few months, news from Germany hasnt been good with unemployment figures touching a record high 12% last month. In a country where labour unions hold a lot of clout, a concept such as wage auctioning on the web is bound to rub people the wrong side.

But to me, it shows how the situation is really going from bad to worse. Already, the government has reduced unemployment benefits which has kind of pissed off a lot of people. (Imagine earlier, you could actually refuse jobs that the government offered and continue to live on welfare money). Obviously things had to change. So now the country is on the road to a long and painful process of change.

This has raised concerns amongst the expat community whether the locals would become more antagonistic in the future. To be fair, Munich has definitely not given that impression to me. Maybe it isnt the case in other parts of Germany. Probably something to keep in the back of the mind.

Friendly Neighbours

In the recent past, there have been quite a number of good will gestures that are happening between the neighbours, India, China and Pakistan. I think, in some sense, we are probably moving to a more practical mode.

It's an interesting thing about China. I think there is no other country in the world that really stands up to the US & the EU. Now we have all of these textile imports talks happening where the US and the EU are contemplating putting quotas on the amount of imports from China (expected to have more than 30% of the world market). I think it is a good time for India to leverage this opportunity.

Of course, we never planned for the Jan 1st dismantling of quotas and hence we are not able to capture market share like the Chinese. But in any case, it is a good time to work with the Chinese and try to make up for lost time. I think, we in India, tend to become self-satisfied pretty quickly with our small wins. We do have some of the largest producers of denims etc in the world yet we do not have as large a presence as China has in the textile world market. Yet we are so smug about it but not doing enough.

This article from IHT speaks of a new era in the Indo-Chinese relationships. In fact they go a step further to call it the rising dominance of Asia in the world. Makes good press, but I just hope we act quickly on it.

In fact the thing I really think is true is the speed of action in India. Even though things have changed a lot, there needs to be a much faster response to the changing market scenario. With the state of coalition politics as it is now, it is very difficult with the number of internal agendas floating around. But I think there is a lot of optimism in general about the country which is great.

We need to take some cues from the Chinese for sure!!

Joining the Times brigade

I have been observing from the sidelines the increasing number of critics for the Times of India and the amusing 'Slimes of India' name. But I used to have a little more respect for the Eco Times which at least until last year, I used to be a faithful reader. I guess the Times Group have tampered with ET also so much.

This report is a perfect example of how these guys will write anything to get people to click on them. Other than the first sentence, there is not a single statement in the report which has any sort of relevance to the title of the report.

If it were not for the real lousy interface of The Hindu, I would have been happily reading it.

Why cant we get a better alternative to the Slimes?

Statistically speaking

Of course, the Pope's death is a quite a common discussion topic at the coffee rooms. After all, CNN did manage to cover it 24x7. Have a look at this post by Nilu where he rants about the TV network. Strong words!

I forget why I started off this post.
ah...So I started wondering how many people in the world look up to the Catholic Church. I ended up at the CIA factbook and found these numbers:

Christians 32.71% (of which Roman Catholics 17.28%, Protestants 5.61%, Orthodox 3.49%, Anglicans 1.31%), Muslims 19.67%, Hindus 13.28%, Buddhists 5.84%, Sikhs 0.38%, Jews 0.23%, other religions 13.05%, non-religious 12.43%, atheists 2.41% (2002 est.)

Even if you consider just Catholics, it is nearly about 17% of the world. The Pope really IS a powerful position!!!

Passing Away of a Figurehead

As the news of the passing away of the Pope came out, the reactions have been profound and varied. To me, that shows the power of the Catholic Church and the significance it holds for millions of people in the world. I dont think there is another more powerful figurehead who can unite people from all around the world.

I have always felt that the Church is probably one of the truly global organizations in the world (not in any negative sense). In Kerala, where I come from, there are a large number of Christians. The Church plays an important role in their lives like for the millions of Christians around the world. But I am amazed at how a message from the Vatican percolates to even the small churches in the countrysides in Kerala such as a call for donations to a world cause.

If you compare the Church to a corporate organization, it shows how 'systems' and 'processes' are important in managing a global organization. I dont mean any of this in a condescending manner, but I think there are corporate lessons to be learnt in understanding how this system works.

Coffee breaks

You know, we keep having this discussion about how in India (atleast in the IT industry) people tend to stay late at office every single day. I have always believed it is just because the productivity is so low during the 'official' 8 hrs that people have to stay back to catch up. And the coffee breaks are probably a big contributor to this. But it is actually good that way.

Here, in Germany, I keep finding that a bunch of we Indians are the only ones who really go sit in the coffee room, have a leisurely chat for about 15-20 min (In India, I used to do this for a min 30 min) then slowly walk back to our rooms. The others just come, pick up the coffee and go back to their computers.

I, for one, believe, these breaks are quite healthy on 2 counts. One, we dont spend all the time looking at the monitor all day long and get the blood circulating in our body...:) (that's a real lousy excuse)

The 2nd thing is in the 'team building' area. I think people are becoming much 2 impersonal with all the virtual teams and distributed locations. There is no more 'fun' at the workplace. At least in the coffee room, you will hopefully talk about the more important things in life like 'whether Will Smith's acting in Hitch was good or not...should ganguly be dropped from the team..etc'.

Gone are the days when companies used to sponsor these team bonding lunches or parties. So I believe the next best thing is to find ur buddies over a coffee in office.

So coming back to my initial statement, it is good to go get your coffee and take a long time while doing it. Now move!!!

Back to Work

Oh!! It's so boring to be back at work after a good 4 day weekend. Arent there enough jobs in the world that can pay me for not doing anything?

Today is a bloodbath too with the number of meetings I have been attending and one coming up at 7pm too.

I always have this theory that the more you grow in management hierarchy, the more pointless meetings you attend. In fact, that is probably the only thing you do.

Maybe I am becoming 'management'. Dont know if I really like it.

Berlin - A Travelogue

So finally did manage to go to Berlin for the Easter vacation. I thought a travelogue was very much for the asking.
Berlin is a bundle of contrasts and contradictions. But to be fair, Berlin is a city that has gone through a lot. 2 wars which almost ruined the city, a rule that saw organized murder in the millions and then the worst that could ever happen to a city, being divided as spoils of war to the ‘saviours’. Throughout the Cold War, the city went through the motions of existing as 2 different worlds within the city even though all that separated them was the Wall and Checkpoint Charlie (which was the US side of the border).

I don’t think I can remember any recent event that has so dominated a city as the tearing down of the wall (9/11 was one of those). There is this photograph where the US zone and the USSR zone meet in Berlin showing the tanks of both sides came to a head-on. I think that photo tells volumes of what the city went through. The wall came up as a result of this confrontation. It also tells us how the world was so very bipolar during those days.

Circa 1989 saw the fall of the Wall and along with one of the oldest governance models. By then, the West (read as Allied forces) led by the US had decided that Berlin was to be the demonstration forum for the success of the capitalist model. So today, we see West Berlin as different as East Berlin as they wanted it to be. West Berlin is full of the skyscrapers that are part of any major city all made possible through the billions of dollars pumped in whereas East Berlin has the history spots in different stages of reconstruction starving for funds and in more ways than one, a bundle of confusion.

Berlin is not a beautiful city. In fact it is an ugly one. Half-done constructions in the middle of a lot of beautiful squares are a blot on the eye. As I understand, the Government is still trying to come up with the millions of Euros required to finish all the construction. However, today, the city is still in a transition mode 16 years after the wall came down. Add to it the nearly 20% employment figures. We get an assortment of problems.

The other thing that is unsaid but present all around you is the ‘national guilt’ about the Holocaust. Everything associated with that episode in history has been so subtly maintained in Berlin. It is almost as if the German public is trying to tell the world ‘Get a life. We want to move on!!’. But of course, the millions of tourists are coming there to understand the world as it was between 1933 and 1945. There is not a single sign which says Hitler’s bunkers. It is only due to the tour guide that we came to know of it. I think it is definitely a painful experience for the German public to be reminded of this episode every day of their lives.

I believe the night life in Berlin is arguably one of the best amongst European cities. I think it is a fun place. As our guide was repeating so many times, Bavarians think of the Berliners as a decadent group. Anyway it was good to visit the capital of Germany and see for myself what the Cold War meant. I have heard this word used in so many contexts but to see in actual reality, the way it worked, was definitely an experience.


US & USSR forces meet at Checkpoint Charlie. This confrontation led to the creation of the wall


A sign of Berlin's commercialisation. Note the ad!!

Even more low-cost airlines

We haveYet Another Low Cost Airline coming up. Companies are being started in quick succession with not so much of a thought to the real business model. As on today, the market is booming & large. So it probably still has the bandwidth to accomodate many more players. I wonder how Jet is going to respond to these low-cost guys mushrooming.

Hey, make the money while the sun shines...would like to really see how many of these guys are going to be still there 5 yrs down the line.

But I guess, while the party lasts, the consumer is the winner.

Vicious or Virtuos Cycle?

The Cycle of Competition is such an interesting one especially in the Tech sector. This post is sparked off by 2 events that happened.
Y'day Yahoo bought Flickr. Today HP buys Snapfish both of them online photo sharing business.

But Yahoo & HP are not in this business and were not really true competition to each other until now. But we have got enough names to reckon with.

Kodak is already into this space. Sony has its Imagestation. Kodak is also getting into printing including photo quality paper which is HP turf. HP is going strong on digital cameras which is Sony territory which, by the way, was initially Canon/Nikon zone. Oh!! it's a coincidence Canon makes printers too which brings us back to HP....

I could go on for ever this way....I mean, is there a differentiation between markets, manufacturers, service providers too?
Everybody is trying to be everybody offering everything....It's an exciting time, I think....but I wonder who will come out on tops at the end of it all....the focused or the diversified....

To Visa or Not to Visa

Can't let him in. It seems like the ghost of Godhra will not let Modi in peace. Now in the form of the US government.
No hard feelings, apparently

It seems the world is just getting smaller everyday. There is nothing which escapes the eyes of the Big Brother.

I can remember the times when India was this 3rd world country situated somewhere in Asia (for the US)!!

A satisfying Day's work

Had the most pointless day at work. Chatted with a friend for about 2hrs in the morning. Sent about 14 emails in the space of 1 hr with another friend in the evening & not one word making sense.

Today was the day of the blues with all parties asking questions like 'What am I doing in life?', 'Is this what I want to do?'. I think this is what they call 'mid-life crisis' (albeit a trifle earlier)

Finally made up my mind to travel to Berlin for the Easter weekend and did the bookings. So something to look forward to for this week.

Y'day did manage to watch couple of movies Citizen Kane (probably one of the movies that has been on every 'Greatest Movies of All Time' List) and Nuovo Cinema Paradiso.

Citizen Kane came out in 1941. I am still grappling with it and trying to figure out what made this movie so iconic. Maybe as they say in this comment, it will grow on me.

Cinema Paradiso (ranked only 107th in IMDB)...I have no words for this movie. To me, this is one of the best movies I have ever seen. Brilliant peformances, great music...excellent screenplay. After 'Life is Beautiful', this is the second Italian movie I have seen.

Technology - Too much at times

As I read this post on Camera phones from Kaps another thought comes to my mind.

Can there be something called 'too much technology'?

I mean, today if we are going on a field trip or vacation, we could possibly have a mobile-PDA-media player, laptop, memory sticks, digital cameras, camcorders, gadgets to make all of these talk to each other. It's such a maze. Sometimes I think, why cant life be a little simpler and mind you, I am not a complete techno-ignoramus (for want of a better word)

I am wondering if at some point people will just say 'I have had enough of this'. I am going on a technology-free vacation. Kind of brings to a point I raised some time ago with my colleagues.

Is there a market for resorts which go with the tagline 'We keep you away from technology?' and charge a bomb for these resorts?
I have a feeling that in 5-10 yrs (or maybe sooner), we probably will have such an audience.

Yet another lunch discussion

Today we had this discussion about whether managers should expect their team members to provide their personal mobile numbers and how it is related to the work ethics in India. I, for one, believe, is a matter of principle that your manager does not call you on a Saturday or after office hours unless it is of earth-shaking importance.

Of course there is always that amount of subjectivity involved in deciding what is a Priority 1 issue. I believe, in India, people quickly make the choice and call up out of office hours. So I think it is important to put the message across at a very early stage that you are not available at the beck and call of the company.

BUT it is VERY important that you do your work well while in office.

Got a forward which is related to this in some sense:
"FW: Just a piece of advice

It's half past 8 in the office but the lights are still on..PCs
still runnning, coffee machines still buzzing..and whose at work..Most of them?? Take a closer look.. All or most specimens are 20-something male species of the human race..look closer..again all or most of them are bachelors..and why are they sitting late? Working hard? No way!! Any guesses?? lets ask one of them..Here's what he says.."Arey yaar, whatz there 2 do after goin home..idhar to net hein, AC hein, phone hein, khaana hein, coffee hein.. to jam ke khaao, jam ke piyo(burps), jam se chatting/phone karo aur thak jaane par ghar jaao...aur boss bhi kush that i am working late...(burps) aur khaane ka paisa bhi bachtaa hein."

This is the scene in most software companies and other off-shore offices. Bachelors "time-passing" during late hours in the office just bcoz they say they've nothing else to do..Now what r the consequences.. read on..."working"(for the record only) late hours soon becomes part of the company culture. With bosses more than eager to provide support to those "working" late in the form of taxi vouchers, food vouchers and of course good feedback,(oh, he's a hardworker..goes home only to change..!!) they arent helping things too..To hell with bosses who dont understand the difference between "sitting" late and "working" late!! Very soon, the managers start expecting all employees to put in extra working hours. My dear Bachelor bhaais let me tell you, life changes when u get married and start having a family..office is no longer a prioroty, family is..and thats when the problem starts.bcoz u start having commitments at home too. For your boss, the earlier "hardworking" guy suddenly seems to become a "early leaver" even if u leave an hour after regular time..after doing the same amount of work, People leaving on time after doing ther taks for the day are labelled as work-shirkers..Girls who thankfully always leave on time are labelled as "not up to it". All the while, the bachelors pat their own backs and carry on "working" not realising that they r spoiling the work culture at their own place and never realise that they wuld have to regret at one point of time.

So bhaai log, what's the moral of the story.?? Very clear, LEAVE ON TIME!! Never put in extra time unless really needed. Dont stay back un-necessarily and spoil your company work culture which will in turn cause inconvenience to you and your colleagues. There are hundred other things to do in the evening.. Learn music..Learn a foreign language..Try go-karting... Get a girl friend, take her around town. And for heaven's sake net cafe rates have dropped to an all-time low(plus, no fire-walls) and try cooking for a change.

Take a tip from the Smirnoff ad: "Life's calling, where are you??" Please pass on this message to all those colleagues whom you know stay back in office for everything other than work. And please do it before leaving time, dont stay back till midnight to forward this!! "

So what do people think? Are managers justified in asking for personal mobile numbers of their employees?

Bangalore vs Rest Of India

Today at our lunch table, I had an interesting conversation (rather argument) with a couple of the 'born, bread and buttered' in Bangalore folks. It is always interesting to talk to such people who feel that the 'immigrants' population is increasing at such a pace that the old Bangalore (..with nostalgic eyes) is being lost. One of them actually went on as much to say that the 'outsiders' should be charged a premium so that they dont come in such large hordes. The other mentioned that the Govt. should be happy the 'Wipros' & Infys are going on to other cities

Me, being the eternal capitalist, did not agree completely. I believe that the Govt has absolutely nothing to do in this. If the Govt does not do their job well, the world will just find a better alternative whether they like it or not. That is how the 'market' works. Today, Bangalore has become such an expensive city to live in. At a point, when companies find it too costly to set up shop here, they will just find other alternatives. Now that the other cities (Chennai, Pune, Kolkata etc) are bucking up, I think the trend has begun. A Rediff article on the Real Estate prices in other locations

Well, my Bangalore friends think that the city is so far ahead of time that it will take a long time for a viable alternative. It is almost similar to the way in which the whole Indian IT industry refuses to look at China as a formidable competitor. To me, it seems the other states are getting their acts together and coupled with the problems in Blore, we might really see some momentum outside of Hosur Road, Blore 560100.

There have been quite a number of articles on being 'Bangalored'...but the question is how long before realization dawns?

But on a side note...what is this obsession with 'my' city, my way thing?
Any comments, anybody?

Cribs@Work

I just discovered that I have yet to crib about work. It seems like I am failing my blog. Maybe my next post will be a good crib.

You know what! I have nothing to really crib about. It's not as if I am doing the most exciting job in the world. I guess I just have become too cynical to really care. I read somewhere that a lot of people in the quest for finding the perfect job just forget to enjoy the 'present' trying to carve out a better 'future'. I have gone through that phase when I used to spend a lot of time wondering what was happening. Now I dont really think that much about this.
Am just trying to have a good time...

Of Saravana Bhavans

Now in CNN, there is this whole saga of Lebanon-Syria thing going on with the US or rather Bush making the right noises about how the Middle East is going through this 'reform process' and trudging towards democracy which is the only accepted form of governance in the world today (according to the White House). Of course, the US (& its allies..Bush's words) are determined to push the agenda of democracy. But today I wanted to make a note on a different perspective.

America bashers, by itself, would probably form the largest population in the world given the manner in which Bush is pissing off people all around. But I am wondering on a different line...Why do so many people hate the US? It could be for the simple reason that they are successful and have come up with a system which kills the inefficient and allows the efficient to prosper. The rest of the world is coming with grips with how to manage the growth....and how to ensure that they create a healthy system within their environment. It may have nothing to do with the form of government or even oil.

My fear is that it is not the military power or the economic power of the US that the rest of the world should be paranoid about. I think it is the cultural eclipsing that is happening all around the globe. I mean..think of it...probably more than half the world is eating a Big Mac and the other half is hoping to eat one soon. Of course, the Big Mac is the same everywhere. What is happening is that, you go anywhere in the world, you accost the same Big Mac and Burger King, drive the same Fords or Chevrolets rented from Hertz or Avis, stay at the same Hyatt or Marriott hotels...Oh, I could go on...After a few years, we will probably not even remember what was truly Indian and what was an import.

I was reading this book by Thomas Freidman (NYT journalist) called 'The Lexus and the Olive Tree' where he mentions an anecdote. A Chinese kid goes to the US along with his parents. He see a McD and remarks to his mom 'Hey Mom, they have a McD here also in the US'. That is exactly what is happening. Our next generation will grow seeing the McDs and figure these are so much a part of the Indian culture. That is, I think, the true danger from the US (I am putting them as proxy for globalization which is not completely unfair since the US companies are the ones which are benefiting the most).

So coming back to where I started, I think part of the America bashing comes out of this feeling of helplessness that is being felt in different societies. Each of the societies react differently. We have the Left parties in India crying hoarse, some elements in the Middle East trying out violent means etc. It may have nothing political or economic about it..(although I have a suspicion that the US does try a little too hard for oil).

So then what is the way for us in the 'rest of the world'? I think it is stupid to think that we can stop this phenomenon from happening. So the only way to keep this in check is to believe in the strength of your traditions and culture and try all that is possible to keep it going. And this does not mean, not allowing McD to set up shop. It just means that have the idlis and dosas twice a week if you are going to McD for the rest of the week. Of course ensure our children also get to eat the dosas and the idlis regularly.

That is why I think our generation has an important role to play at least in the case of India since we are the ones spearheading this transformation.

Long live Saravana Bhavan!!!

Movies & Popcorns

So I am trying to figure out new ways of amusing myself in Munich. So the latest is this English Video library. The movie freak that I am, I have missed out watching English movies here. So now I joined this video library. My first 2 movies have been great.

'The Remains of the Day', a Merchant-Ivory production that won Oscars for Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson is the story of an English butler who believes in the dignity of the position of the butler in a traditional English castle. I thought it was brilliant. The movie is based on the book by the same name written by Kazuo Ishiguro, a Booker prize winner. The complexity of the character was brilliant. He is the person who feels attracted to this Emma Thompson character who joins the household as the housekeeper but just cant get himself to really make the next step of conveying it. He seeks protection in the guise of his butler position and retain the 'dignity' of the position. Brilliant acting!!!

The other movie, yet another Oscar winner was 'The Piano' which earned the Best Actress award for Holly Hunter. Somewhere earlier I had mentioned this movie as one of my favorite soundtracks. It truly is. The music is so haunting. The character of Holly, Ada is this dumb lady whose only connection to the world is the piano. I thought this movie was brilliantly directed using the power of silence. I believe it is so much easier to tell a tale through words or visuals. But when you have no words and only the power of expression to tell the tale, that is so powerful and obviously you need a powerful performer to deliver the goods. This movie, I had viewed years ago. But even back then, I felt that this movie was brilliant.

Sometimes, a good movie really makes your day!! But a good movie is as rare as......(well I didn't get a good analogy to go with it...but I guess you get the drift...)

Oh! To be a German

Progressively, I am liking my life here in Germany. Well, I still haven't got closer to being able to communicate in German but I think I am getting better.

Was invited for a birthday party of my German neighbor. I was initially apprehensive because I thought I would be amongst a bunch of Germans who probably would not be able to talk to me because of the language. Then I decided if I wanted to meet people, I had to take the plunge. I am glad I did go over there.

Since they were all University students, I guess a lot of them did know English which was good for me. In fact I had some good conversation with a few of them. I must say, I must have been like this exhibit in a museum coming from this unknown land called India. All the conversation was about how is it in India? But I didnt really mind it. It was good fun. One of the guys actually started asking me about Kashmir and Pakistan. I have never been the one to get offended by such questioning but I did think at the time that I would never ask a German about WWII.

In summary, I think this party was another insight into the German culture. It was different because all of the people over there were the young and probably not adhering to the German stereotype. But to me, it seemed, that these bunch of young people, they did realise the importance of knowing English in today's world. The older generation thought that if a person comes to Germany, he better 'sprachen Deutsche' or else he has no right to be here.

Therefore they are probably more accepting of other cultures and other people which is in effect something atypical of the usually perceived 'xenophobia' of Germans.