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