Notes to Myself .. Being ALIVE

Writing after a LONG time

2011-06-30T13:39:00.002+05:30

Yeah Yeah I know I know..

I somehow feel that I am good or best when I am in control or I am leading.

GRIT

2010-05-24T09:41:00.001+05:30

-
The only thing I feel makes sense is

GRIT

--

Product Evangelism

2010-05-04T23:52:00.001+05:30

Lets talk about it more !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

the 19 E

2009-12-14T22:00:00.003+05:30

tompeters.com

wordle

2009-12-14T21:56:00.003+05:30

worldle.net

It was a SUNNY ECLIPSED MORNING

2009-07-22T12:15:00.000+05:30

It was a sunny eclipsed morning for me..... Got up at 430 to catch the moons shadow engulfing the mighty sun....
I was not the priveledged one to be in the Umbra region of the shadow so as to witness the total eclipse and the ring et al...
But yes it was a great experience even to witness the natures drama playing ...

We reached Birla Planetorium in chennai at sharp 530 am only to find a Looooong queue of awaiting people... No one knows what they were waiting for... Only thing the planetorium gave us was a couple of filmed googles....
We collected ours and immediately left and reached the beach where we witnessed the whole event using the goggles...

There were many people trying to capture the event in their cameras but none had the needed filters... Neither did we :)

Here are some of the pics of the experience we had... Dont have any pics of the eclipse since it was NAAT PAASIBLE to click any...

But we had fun....

And yes not to forget the mention of the awesome idlis that followed at murugan idli shop

Nitz

Just loved this so posting here :)

2009-06-30T14:40:00.003+05:30

I just loved this one so posting on my blog too

@hugh is awesome :)

WELCOME TO THE HUNGER.
The Hunger to do something creative.
The Hunger to do something amazing.
The Hunger to change the world.
The Hunger to make a difference.
The Hunger to enjoy one's work.
The Hunger to be able to look back and say, Yeah, cool, I did that.
The Hunger to make the most of this utterly brief blip of time Creation has given us.
The Hunger to dream the good dreams.
The Hunger to have
amazing people in our lives.
The Hunger to have the synapses continually fired up on overdrive.
The Hunger to experience beauty.
The Hunger to tell the truth.
The Hunger to be part of something bigger than yourself.
The Hunger to have good stories to tell.
The Hunger to stay the course, despite of the odds.
The Hunger to feel passion.
The Hunger to know and express Love.
The Hunger to know and express Joy.
The Hunger to channel The Divine.
The Hunger to actually feel alive.
The Hunger will give you everything. And it will take from you, everything. It will cost you your life, and there's not a damn thing you can do about it.
But knowing this, of course, is what ultimately sets you free.

QOOL isnt it - describes the hunger and the thirst in me too :)

An evil plan - Have one for yourself

2009-06-30T14:37:00.001+05:30

EVERYONE NEEDS AN EVIL PLAN

awesome post on having an evil plan.... http://www.gapingvoid.com/Moveable_Type/archives/005023.html

nitz

Now I am in his MIND

2009-05-01T11:16:00.002+05:30

Now I have entered HIS mind.. Now I have a place there.. Now I know how he manages.. Next is I should start playing ... I cannot read his mind completely .. But yes I can understand a lot...

HE tries a lot ... HE checks a lot

A strange thing happened today

2009-04-09T01:10:00.002+05:30

I dont know call it chance or some awesome way to decide and design !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So yesterday I got cheated by a vending machine. -- Ya that's how I would describe it... I take the VTA to office from my place of stay. The cost of one way pass is 1.75 $. Yesterday I had used a 5 $ bill to get the pass and the machine returned me $3 back -- yes it cheated and did not give the 25 cents coin... I guess there were none.. nevertheless.. I was a bid shocked and felt weird..

Today I again went to the same vending machine and took the same pass and gave 2 X 1$ coins and then you know what -- I got back 2 X 25 cents coins back... yes yesterday's coin was also returned...

Now am I being stupid -- as there must be a mechanism -- may be a camera and face recognition system / a finger print detector or something

OR - Its just plain simple lucky by chance ..........

http://www.glassdoor.com/index.htm

2009-04-08T10:40:00.002+05:30

Loved this site .. and its a good model as well http://www.glassdoor.com/index.htm -- called the give and take model ... nice way to build traction ... Nice way to get users to build userbase and content....

business model innovation - a very nice read - and a post to ponder, learn, apply and follow

2009-04-07T20:36:00.002+05:30

http://business-model-design.blogspot.com/

I like this blog. They don't write many posts but give real good insights into how a brainstorming should work and how business innovation should be leveraged and built in the system....

I remember them sharing one of their presentations as well on slideshare. Here is the link (http://www.slideshare.net/Alex.Osterwalder/40-minutes-on-business-model-innovation)

I like their style and the way they operate. Would like to work with them some day :)... I guess these are better than so many top named consultants (with whom I have worked in my past)

Dynamic Meditation

2009-04-06T12:22:00.003+05:30

I only know of some kind of meditations ... I don't even know if these are mutually exclusive or not ...

One is sitting and meditating by just trying to empty your mind and not think anything
Other is transcendental meditation - in which you dont force your mind to do anything but try and concentrate on a word (mantra) given by your instructor / teacher
One is to concentrate on your breathing - inhaling and exhaling
One is dynamic meditation - heard recently - preached and practiced by Osho Rajneesh
I guess art of living et al are also kinds of meditations.. anyways

The aim of meditation is

- relaxation

- releasing stress

- achieving a state of high concentration

- reducing bodily activities and thus relaxing

some more may be which I don't know or don't recall here ...

I guess what should also come is ACTIVE MEDITATION - which you can do all the time.. while doing your normal duties .. which will provide all these effects but also not let you take some specific time out and other things which lead you not to follow these... THINK THINK THINK .. evolve something on these lines.. something that will keep the concentration really high.. something that will keep the stress and anxiety really low.. something that will make the mind body and soul more resilent (tom peters definition of resilience) - something that will bring and inner calm - keeping the agression and the enthusiasm and the willingness to do and achieve at the same level ... something that will bring the inner calm like buddha...

yes design something like that -- and let me know... I will follow for sure...

posted from homestead studio aparments room 219 San Jose, CA, USA

Who or What am I - is what i like reading !!!!

2009-01-15T14:01:00.000+05:30

Yahoo chief

2008-11-20T12:47:00.002+05:30

ok guys....
I have not had any post in Nov ... Why even I don't know. Not that I have not felt strongly about anything this month or I did not get time... I guess it was just like that ..

Anyways Jerry Yang from Yahoo is stepping down... Good bad or what ... But yes the fact is he is out and no one to succeed him yet..

They need someone dynamic someone who should be able to lead the pack of fools towards excellence .. I call them pack of fools as it takes a geek and a fool to be able to give in enough to succeed...

If you are not a geek and just a sophesticated MBA / fin fellow then u end up only becoming a visionary or a consultant with numbers... The drive needs to be there...

One more point comes to my mind here and that is -- You need to prove it to the world by getting it done... You might have a tremendous idea and you may keep selling the preposition to the top notch ( so called budget owners ) of the company ... and they would only dig and delve into the PPTs and Excels... You get lost...

So the crux is just do it and show it to them that it works...

ok coming back to the yahoo story ...

OK WHY NOT ME .. yes thats what I am saying why can't I be next yahoo lead... Least amount of idea about the PnL ( Profit and Loss ) , MnA ( Mergers and Acquisions ) , SnM ( Sales and Marketing ) , SnP ( strategy and planning ) , AnM ( Advertizing and Marketing or call it branding ) but yes I propose myself...

With an enormous amount of enthusiasm, learning ability, drive etc etc etc ... I guess I can give it a shot... May be they would not understand .. They who... yes they would be the decision maker..

They would want some pot bellied, over aged, specy guy with tie and jacket ... MMMmmmm not bad but doesnot the world need to change... Can't we make a difference ....

... Logging off from here ...

Making it flatter

2008-10-30T11:45:00.002+05:30

Ok so another move to make the world flatter....

Fed Opens Swaps With South Korea, Brazil, Mexico

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601086&sid=aUNPTGKAY_bQ&refer=latin_america

In the battle of uncertainity

2008-10-30T11:44:00.002+05:30

In the battle of uncertainity ... The winner is who can hold the ground for longest....
Perseverence is the key ...

So play by sessions.... The way gavaskar used to play in test cricket... Play by sessions...

Have a plan for each session and play for it.... Be sure to account for the variable change

nityn

.

Strongly believe

2008-10-30T10:38:00.002+05:30

Strongly believe...
I very strongly believe that one should be given enough free time in office to be able to bring out some new thing ... i am talking about innovation....
It also comes to SAV concept... Still don't know about then read tompeters.com

Bleeding World economy

2008-10-21T13:11:00.002+05:30

The world economy has started bleeding... From North America to South America .. From UK to Asia to Africa. There has been one or the other significant impact.

This is going in favor for US economy. I guess...

China Participates

2008-10-18T12:11:00.003+05:30

Any successful bailout of the US financial system would likely rely heavily on
China, the largest surplus country which already holds close to $1
trillion in dollar claims, given that the U.S. will likely need to issue more
debt. . Furthermore investing in US financial system might be in China's
interest as it is already suffering from falling U.S. and global demands -
Suggestions are being made that China might invest directly in financial
institutions rather than indirectly through purchases of U.S. debt as it has
done in the past

So it seems CHINA will get involved. Now it is remained to be seen if middle east gets involved. The moment it gets involved we have pushed it. Yes pushed the crisis by few more years and made the world more complex and more FLAT (world is flat :))

We will then just do a tangential miss with the recession and then do a V turn and retrieve the growth path ... This is also called the PARADIGM shift ... or the breakthrough shift

nityn

! -----------X------------

Should or Shouldn't

2008-10-16T22:13:00.003+05:30

Some feel that US govt should not have taken in their hands the reins of large banks by giving them money...
If they hadnot given the same then the effect would have been in many other places and that too uncontrable...

Now when will this be over????

Until middle east participates
Until third world economies understand that ASIA is knocking at the door and their growth will be deoendent on others growth ... So lets grow together

mmmmm.......

---------X---------

V turn

2008-10-14T17:08:00.002+05:30

Its going to be a V turn ....
Its going to be a V shaped recession.... At least this is what I feel... It fell fast and it should recover fast... As per liquidity is concerned, it will come in....

Only that this time middle east is going to participate too..... The money is going to get circulated even more

nityn
------------------------X--------------------------

Dude -- Gear up

2008-10-13T21:31:00.003+05:30

Yes dude gear up.....

You listening .............. gear up..... Its going to be raining men ..............

Loads and loads of work is required to be done in order to redo and clean up the mess created by the SMART folks....

-----------------X----------------

Never have I seen this world Unity

2008-10-13T17:24:00.002+05:30

World seems to be united to fight the oncoming recession (if I may call it so) -- the financial turmoil... It has been a coordinated effort....

Never have I seen such a will and effort in past ......

Doesn't that remind of world becoming more FLAT

--------------x--------------

Buy US / EU

2008-10-13T12:18:00.004+05:30

13th October 2008
The valuations of the companies in US and UK have gone so low that suddenly there will be interest by the cash rich organizations to pick up stake.
If I have got tempted to pick up some shares or some stake, I am sure big corporates would be trying their level best to get some cheap picks (value buying)
This phenomenon will exist for the next 6 months...
RBI gives individual to remit 200,000 $ a year for investing in overseas market.....

Caveat: Be sure that the profits you get should not be lost with currency changes ... :)

Nityn

If you are wrong

2008-09-10T11:30:00.001+05:30

IF you are WRONG then don't be wrong for long.

Learn and MOVE ON

RESILIENT PEOPLE

2008-09-09T20:26:00.001+05:30

Possible Attributes of Resilient People: (TOM PETERS / NASEEM NICHOLAS TALEB - THE BLACK SWAN) (here)

Inner calm (Buddhist-like?); think Tiger Woods

High self-knowledge ("comfortable in own skin")

Breadth of experience - drove a cab, worked construction, ran Alaska tours ... not just a variety of assignments in a traditional career progression.

Sense of, "Ah, my moment" (e.g., Giuliani)

Lover of modestly controlled chaos (bored amidst calm-e.g., FDR)

Reach out effortlessly to a wide variety of people (in general and on the fly)

Bizarrely energetic

Known for integrity, in the sense of "straight shooter"

Hires resilient people per se in key positions! (All senior leadership roles?

Sense of humor

Empathy ("I feel your pain")

"Cruelty" (Must make tough decisions instantaneously, without looking back; not "confident," but overwhelming sense of urgency to press ahead)

Decisive, but not rigid

Strong individual, equally strong team player

Understands the chain of command - and evades it as necessary

Comfortable being challenged by thinkers, but a strong "doer" bias overall

A person of Hope (religious or "religious-like"?)

Not necessarily: ex-college quarterback with a history of comebacks (Why: All within the rules, within the context of that which has been practiced) - Innovator and ability to redefine oneself again and again

Better(??): Ocean sailboat racer; ER doc; public health doc; astronaut; combat experience; hostage negotiator; survived in hopeless circumstances through guile and grit; seeks "independent duty"

Tests: Have the lights "unexpectedly" go out during an employment interview, followed by fire alarm, etc; focus on resilience per se in reference checks

Bizarrely true !!!!!!! -- resonates exactly what I think. It feels as if someone just put words to every inch in which I believed in. I love and believe in each word... I feel as if this is the truth that I have been looking for to be stated and has now been revealed :)

Trading, guns and money

2008-09-09T10:45:00.001+05:30

A true insight in what goes in traders minds

and in what era what was going on and how Greenspan's playing tennis was linked with Bourses and derivatives :)

enjoyed

2008-09-02T23:51:00.001+05:30

I had only myself to please

.

Deeds / Efforts / Endeavors

2008-09-02T07:03:00.000+05:30

Harkat karengein to Barkat milegee .........

.

Panga

2008-08-31T14:22:00.003+05:30

YARON

Main panga le raha hoon. Zindagee ke saath panga le raha hoon.... Is aank micholee mein dekhtein hain kaun see jeet miltee hai ab !!!!!!!

.

Victorious

2008-08-31T14:21:00.002+05:30

The victorious strategist only seeks battle after the victory has been won

Sun TZU - The art of WAR

.

EMOTIONS -- EXPRESSIONS (Olympics)

2008-08-10T23:19:00.001+05:30

NOW :)

This is my favorite topic to think, enjoy and talk about .........

Have you ever looked at the face of the players who win events in current Olympics

Its HAPPINESS

This is CONTENT of EFFORT

This is REJUVILATION

AND ..........................

This is IN ACTION

This is the GRIT

This is the NEVER GIVE UP thing

This is the EFFORT

This is the TRYING

This is the KILLER INSTINCT

This is SUCCESS --> This is EMOTION --> This is THE EXPRESSION

Ad astra per aspera

--------------------X------------------

Irrational is only Rational

2008-07-27T23:05:00.001+05:30

I used to say

"Only if people behaved RATIONALLY"

But -----

"Only RATIONAL thing that people can do is behave IRRATIONALLY"

-----------

Ravan

2008-07-27T23:01:00.001+05:30

Ravan -- Had das DIMAAG also

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Man is an EMOTIONAL fool

2008-07-19T20:40:00.001+05:30

Man is truly a BIG emotional FOOL -- Period

Jo hai usey nahin dekhta, Jo nahin hai usey hee dekhta hai.........

I would also like to remind my earlier post in DOSTI nibhao

--------

Am PROUD OF ............

2008-07-18T22:37:00.001+05:30

What do we (Indians) have more than a RICH CULTURE?

I was seeing some show the other day and there was a Question that needed folks to answer what are you proud about INDIA (Indians)?

And astonishingly there was only one answer and that was RICH CULTURE.

I ask --- What has this culture given you? What have you learnt from this and how do you gain from this? -- How do you become what you are today by this?

Is there nothing else about India or the Indians that you are proud of? Don't you have any other thought about India or Indians....

I ask you -- I ask everyone... LET ME KNOW.. Please answer .....

-------------------------------

Today I want to be ALONE

2008-07-18T11:42:00.001+05:30

Today I want to be ALONE

Sit myself alone ... Have a coffee ... Think about things ... Enjoy my time... Be contemplative ... Reflect upon things ...

I just want to be ALONE and plan for myself ... Put in some efforts and take it from there... LIVE and KICKING

Yep this happens but believe me its good to happen ...

----------------------------

Think NOT Compute

2008-07-11T11:55:00.001+05:30

Think NOT Compute

Believe

2008-07-10T09:52:00.001+05:30

For your CHI (Qi) to work

You must BELIEVE (here too)

---------------------

NOW WHAT

2008-07-09T09:40:00.001+05:30

I wanted to get this written on back of my visiting card.... (here)

This is how I think :) (here)

Changes - Reforms 1991 / 2008

2008-07-09T09:22:00.001+05:30

I don't know how many of us remember 1991 and for what reasons...

I remember 1991 as that was the year with the toughest IIT JEE paper. The questions of which we used to try and solve in years to come....

1991 sent a ray of change for India. When the then finance minister Manmohan Singh stood his ground and announced economic liberalization. The government was anyways hanging in thin air then also :)

This event later marked the growth of Indian economy. The growth that led to the today's image of India in the world. Yes India is known for more than its CULTURE, its elephants or its poverty. These are the only things that come to our mind when we speak of what we are proud about India.

Thanks to Manmohan Singh we can stand up today and say we are proud of the economic growth that we have done and are doing.....

Today again THE MAN stands on the same platform and is trying to do his job. Trying to change the face of India once again. This Nuclear treaty's effects will be seen in years to come....

There may be issues but then there will be more positives and who doesnot want prosperity and growth. Who does not want the increase in standard of living of entire nation

GO MAN GO

and yes Kick some ass too this time

GO MAN GO

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What do I strive to achieve in a discussion

2008-07-08T21:44:00.001+05:30

Wanted to write this for a real long time...

I feel that in any conversation, in any discussion, in any Business initiative or in any problem solving I try to get a grip on the highest order thought.

With this I mean the thought (the intention - the purpose) behind this initiative - this case. When understood the higher order thought or need then the other things are governed by the same thought and thus fall and follow the natural path

This is the thought that I like to first find and then propagate. Once this thought is propagated to the team members then the task is simple. It is only with this thought that you can govern the other things to come.

Hence I always try to ask what is the larger purpose... Get a purpose and spell it out...

Yes it seems as if I am reiterating the thought GET a VISION --> Spell it out and then move forward.

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India -- Politics -- Nuke deal

2008-06-28T23:44:00.001+05:30

Only one thing comes to my mind

In Democracy, even one man makes a difference. You have to KILL him to convince him otherwise.

--------------------

Make FRIENDS

2008-06-28T22:23:00.001+05:30

Make Friends

Have Friends

Friendship NIBHAO (didn't get HINDI of this)

Uncertainty

2008-06-28T22:21:00.001+05:30

Living in Uncertainty is the Greatest Virtue

BUT THAT'S JUST ME

2008-06-27T09:11:00.001+05:30

Victory belongs to those who believe in it the MOST and the LONGEST

There is nothing more strong than the heart or a volunteer

Kick Ass --- BUT THAT'S JUST ME !!!!!!!!!

I like sub commanders

2008-06-26T23:25:00.001+05:30

Pearl Harbor again

I like sub commanders...

.... They don't have time for bull-shit ...

...... Neither do I

Brilliant

2008-06-26T23:14:00.001+05:30

Brilliant is the man who can find a way not to fight the war - Pearl Harbor (movie)

There is no Brilliance in strategizing or in executing the strategy.... Brilliance is only in doing what can't be done by many and is done for the larger good

The Black Swan-Nicholas Nassim Taleb

2008-06-26T09:29:00.001+05:30

Just posting the summary of the book......

More to come when I am done with the book and have formed my own points

Life isn't fair. Many of the most coveted spoils--wealth, fame, links on the Web--are concentrated among the few. If such a distribution doesn't sound like the familiar bell-shaped curve, you're right.

Along the hilly slopes of the bell curve, most values--the data points that track whatever is being measured--are clustered around the middle. The average value is also the most common value. The points along the far extremes of the curve contribute very little statistically.

If 100 random people gather in a room and the world's tallest man walks in, the average height doesn't change much. But if Bill Gates walks in, the average net worth rises dramatically. Height follows the bell curve in its distribution.

Wealth does not: It follows an asymmetric, L-shaped pattern known as a "power law," where most values are below average and a few far above. In the realm of the power law, rare and extreme events dominate the action.

For Nassim Taleb, irrepressible quant-jock and the author of "Fooled by Randomness" (2001), the contrast between the two distributions is not an amusing statistical exercise but something more profound: It highlights the fundamental difference between life as we imagine it and life as it really is.

In "The Black Swan"--a kind of cri de coeur--Mr. Taleb struggles to free us from our misguided allegiance to the bell-curve mindset and awaken us to the dominance of the power law.

The attractiveness of the bell curve resides in its democratic distribution and its mathematical accessibility. Collect enough data and the pattern reveals itself, allowing both robust predictions of future data points (such as the height of the next five people to enter the room) and accurate estimations of the size and frequency of extreme values (anticipating the occasional giant or dwarf.

The power-law distribution, by contrast, would seem to have little to recommend it. Not only does it disproportionately reward the few, but it also turns out to be notoriously difficult to derive with precision. The most important events may occur so rarely that existing data points can never truly assure us that the future won't look very different from the present.

We can be fairly certain that we will never meet anyone 14-feet tall, but it is entirely possible that, over time, we will hear of a man twice as rich as Bill Gates or witness a market crash twice as devastating as that of October 1987.

The problem, insists Mr. Taleb, is that most of the time we are in the land of the power law and don't know it. Our strategies for managing risk, for instance--including Modern Portfolio Theory and the Black-Scholes formula for pricing options--are likely to fail at the worst possible time, Mr. Taleb argues, because they are generally (and mistakenly) based on bell-curve assumptions.

He gleefully cites the example of Long Term Capital Management (LTCM), an early hedge fund that blew up after its Nobel laureate founders "allowed themselves to take a monstrous amount of risk" because "their models ruled out the possibility of large deviations."

Mr. Taleb is fascinated by the rare but pivotal events that characterize life in the power-law world. He calls them Black Swans, after the philosopher Karl Popper's observation that only a single black swan is required to falsify the theory that "all swans are white" even when there are thousands of white swans in evidence.

Provocatively, Mr. Taleb defines Black Swans as events (such as the rise of the Internet or the fall of LTCM) that are not only rare and consequential but also predictable only in retrospect. We never see them coming, but we have no trouble concocting post hoc explanations for why they should have been obvious. Surely, Mr. Taleb taunts, we won't get fooled again. But of course we will.

Writing in a style that owes as much to Stephen Colbert as it does to Michel de Montaigne, Mr. Taleb divides the world into those who "get it" and everyone else, a world partitioned into heroes (Popper, Hayek, Yogi Berra), those on notice (Harold Bloom, necktie wearers, personal-finance advisers) and entities that are dead to him (the bell curve, newspapers, the Nobel Prize in Economics).

A humanist at heart, Mr. Taleb ponders not only the effect of Black Swans but also the reason we have so much trouble acknowledging their existence. And this is where he hits his stride. We eagerly romp with him through the follies of confirmation bias (our tendency to reaffirm our beliefs rather than contradict them), narrative fallacy (our weakness for compelling stories), silent evidence (our failure to account for what we don't see), ludic fallacy (our willingness to oversimplify and take games or models too seriously), and epistemic arrogance (our habit of overestimating our knowledge and underestimating our ignorance).

For anyone who has been compelled to give a long-term vision or read a marketing forecast for the next decade, Mr. Taleb's chapter excoriating "The Scandal of Prediction" will ring painfully true. "What is surprising is not the magnitude of our forecast errors," observes Mr. Taleb, "but our absence of awareness of it." We tend to fail--miserably--at predicting the future, but such failure is little noted nor long remembered. It seems to be of remarkably little professional consequence.

I suspect that part of the explanation for this inconsistency may be found in a study of stock analysts that Mr. Taleb cites. Their predictions, while badly inaccurate, were not random but rather highly correlated with each other. The lesson, evidently, is that it's better to be wrong than alone.

If we accept Mr. Taleb's premise about power-law ascendancy, we are left with a troubling question: How do you function in a world where accurate prediction is rarely possible, where history isn't a reliable guide to the future and where the most important events cannot be anticipated?

Mr. Taleb presents a range of answers--be prepared for various outcomes, he says, and don't rush for buses--but it's clear that he remains slightly vexed by the world he describes so vividly. Then again, beatific serenity may not be the goal here.

As Mr. Taleb warns, certitude is likely to be found only in a fool's (bell-curve) paradise, where we choose the comfort of the "precisely wrong" over the challenge of the "broadly correct." Beneath Mr. Taleb's blustery rhetoric lives a surprisingly humble soul who has chosen to follow a demanding and somewhat lonely path.

I wonder how many of us will have the courage to join him. Very few, I predict--unless, of course, something unexpected happens.

Reinvent yourself

2008-06-25T21:33:00.001+05:30

Constantly reinvent yourself ... again and again and again

No one Knows anything

2008-06-25T18:00:00.001+05:30

No one knows anything

You know as much as I know and as much as the analysts know or as much as the policy makers know....

All are equally clueless....... No one knows what will happen ....... No one knows what to do..........

When this is the case and IT JUST HAPPENS and is As random as randomness.................

Lets sit and enjoy... Lets sit and have fun ....... Lets sit and make EFFORTS

Shit Happens

2008-06-16T16:05:00.001+05:30

Just to add to my repertoire -- SHIT HAPPENS from Forrest Gump

Everything is PERSONAL

2008-06-14T20:47:00.001+05:30

Sab kuchh NIJEE hai.

Everything is personal

NOW What

2008-06-14T20:04:00.001+05:30

After I wrote this I read this and I am proud that I also believe and practice NOW WHAT

The management consultants got their Business cards developed on the philosophy of NOW WHAT too.....

We love patterns ... We love solutions

2008-06-13T11:56:00.001+05:30

Why can't we just understand that things are just random

There is no pattern what so ever in it

Why don't we just understand that everything doesn't need a solution

Leaving the problem as it is, is enough.

My most used "one liner"

2008-06-10T22:36:00.001+05:30

SO WHAT

NOW WHAT

Oil is surging ... Is someone authoring this

2008-06-10T12:12:00.001+05:30

The oil prices are on a HIGH.... Without doubt, without fundamental reason ....

Is it being hyped... Is this the game of some speculators...

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

rising fuel prices --> rising prices --> Reducing demands --> reducing customer spending --> reducing growth in economy --> reducing growth in income --> ???????????

Where does this all lead to ????????

What next

What to be done

Call for a nationwide revolution
    - People to work more
    - Increase supply
    - Increase working hours
    - Lend hands in growth of the economy
    - Corporates to increase initiative to get foreign players to buy stuff
    - foster innovation
    -

क्या मैं ठीक कर रहा हूँ .

2008-06-07T21:24:00.004+05:30

Kya main theek kar raha hoon....

Somebody asked me this -

I said theek kar ke kya kisee ko kuchh mila hai.....
Agar tumhein sahee lage to karey jao... sahee apney aap ho jayage and the jo kiya voh hee theek ban jayega....

Is fuel price hike justified? What more to be done?

2008-06-05T12:20:00.001+05:30

Let me draw a parallel into this....

Suppose in our family, our expenditure on something increases... May be you have to give more in your EMI as you have bought a house or a new member has come into your family.... How do you handle this????

- Reduce your savings and defer your expenses

- Reduce your other expenditures

- Reduce your consumption

- Strive to increase your income

Now lets see in the larger perspective.... in the perspective of oil prices

The oil prices have gone up. Now what you can do

- Reduce your savings and defer your expenses -- Oil bonds in place

- Reduce other expenditures -- Doesn't seem to be realistic but can be thought of

- Reduce your consumption -- Has the government thought on these lines and appealed to the nation to reduce consumption... Can't the government issue an appeal and national emergency situation in which people join in and reduce consumption so as to make the demand less and reduce prices.... Lets at least try it... I know its a BIG OD initiative at the country level.. But with WILL and GRIT it is definitely possible.

- Strive to increase your income -- Lets produce more and let the corporates and the government try to increase the exports .... Each drop counts... Lets do a Japan in India......

I am ready to give my bit... Are your ready?????

Entertainment and Reality

2008-06-05T10:18:00.001+05:30

I don't need much help from fate to get larger-scale entertainment: reality provides such forced revisions of beliefs at quite a high frequency

Wealth Grows

2008-06-05T10:17:00.001+05:30

" we all become stingy and calculating when our wealth grows and we start taking money seriously."

How to be on the EXTREMISTAN side

2008-06-04T14:12:00.001+05:30

I want to put my career on steroids and hence would like to stand on the Extremistan side -- as that seems the only viable option...

I want more !!!!!!!!!!!!

Say it again and again (Shout)

2008-05-29T11:41:00.001+05:30

I was reading Tom Peters blog (yes that's my daily dose)...

I figured out that there are few things that he believes and is passionate about... And these things he says again and again and again... As if he shouts from top of his house at the top of his volume...

I feel that he believes very very strongly in his thoughts and thus just shouts and shouts the same thing... pleading people to understand and to make a difference.......

Is Life / World a Stochastic process

2008-05-29T11:00:00.001+05:30

Is Life / World a Stochastic process....... I think I have been trying to decipher the same.

I have been trying to understand the larger circle of life (which we don't know) and the smaller circle of life which we are destined to getting to know....

In Matrix Oracle says - He will get to know if he is the chosen one or not, when he should know...... The moment Neo gets to know that he is the chosen one, he knows that he can do the impossible and starts dodging the bullets...

I have been trying to figure out if DOTS CONNECT FORWARD ever or not.... In fact I have been trying to connect the dots forward... But till now I only get to know that this was the logical next dot in series only when the next dot has already occurred.... Simply to say that DOTS STILL CONNECT BACKWARDS

Then I come across the theory of BLACK SWAN... and I understand that the outliers (in the bell curve - normal distribution) are the SUCCESSFUL ones which you don't see or understand using the patternized distribution of data points...

Let's now try to get to know what makes OUTLIERS.... Is there a pattern in the randomness of outliers....

One of my motto

2008-05-28T12:50:00.001+05:30

One of my Motto

If you want to keep something in your head -- tell some one about it

Mind likes to be told twice :)

Business of Innovation

2008-05-28T12:43:00.001+05:30

A MUST MUST watch, read, understand and learn (here)

I will try to find my notes on this and post them here.... I am not sure when :)

I am doing

2008-05-28T12:39:00.001+05:30

I am reading

Fooled by randomness (here)

The Black Swan (here)

Also a must read (tompeters resilience)

More to come ........

Life as an ASYMPTOTE

2008-05-20T09:01:00.001+05:30

For many -- Life has become an ASYMPTOTE -- No curves, no ups and downs, no crest trough - no inflexion points and slope seems to be constant :)

U know people stop drawing the curve for an asymptote beyond a point as it becomes all the same and very little variation

Lets vary the slope.......... Lets constantly vary the rate of change of slope

Saw 21

2008-05-13T22:55:00.001+05:30

Today I saw 21. A thrilling movie indeed... Loved each moment of it.. Learnt a lot about Black Jack too...

Some random thoughts / dialogues with /from the movie

What can you tell me that is going to DAZZLE me

Account for variable change

Keep emotions aside --> plain simple maths

Don't give in to your emotions - composed mind

Need to do a JHOL (a wink)

Baap ko baap rehney do ya fir baap ko sathee bana lo

You are going to figure out how to get everything in life coz you are smart

Always account for variable change (also mentioned HERE - Last point)

Only truth in the Business world

2008-05-13T15:35:00.001+05:30

The only truth in the Business world is

" Nothing succeeds like success" - PERIOD

Oil Prices

2008-05-13T13:58:00.001+05:30

Oil Prices rising --> US doing nothing* --> EU /Japan doing nothing* --> India / China doing nothing* --> OPEC doing nothing*

WHY

Oil Prices rising --> US doing nothing* --> EU / Japan doing nothing* --> India / China doing nothing* --> OPEC doing nothing* --> Oil companies bleeding --> Dollar value increasing --> Demand decreasing --> Oil price settling down --> Still no one is doing anything* ?????

Beats me

Is it that they knew this is going to happen?

Is it that they have only fabricated this ( My earlier thought HERE )?

BEATS ME AGAIN

(* nothing means visibly nothing)

Strategy Terms

2008-05-11T21:19:00.001+05:30

Just browsing through the net I found website of Ved (A V Vedpuriswar) -- he was my boss in Satyam. I respect him for many things....

An avid reader and a writer, he writes on financial subjects. He also has compiled some glossaries among them I liked the Strategies one the best.

Be Here Now

2008-05-10T02:47:00.001+05:30

Sometime some people just take away all your dreams. Sometimes some people are just plain lucky and when they have to chose, they chose your dreams and just steal away.....

Just know that your dreams are yours ......

Something I liked listening to today ..... and it made perfect sense .. Saw 27 dresses

Don't let your mind get weary and confused
You will be still, don't try
Don't let your heart get heavy child
Inside you there's a strength that lies
Don't let your soul get lonely child
It's only time, it will go by
Don't look for love in faces, places
It's in you, that's where you'll find kindness
Be here now, here now
Be here now, here now
Don't lose your faith in me
And I will try not to lose faith in you
Don't put your trust in walls
'Cause walls will only crush you when they fall - Be Here Now,

Ray LaMontagne

The Visual Thinking Company

2008-05-10T01:34:00.001+05:30

I like what these people do :) XPLANE

Would like to have an association with these sometime :)

nityn

Blessed are those

2008-05-05T01:03:00.001+05:30

Blessed are those who are given a chance to show their BRAVERY else we all remain JARHEADS.......... We only shine and show that we were brave ....

We all live to get a chance. Remember given a chance give it your best shot. As this may be your only chance. Given a chance to live, to enjoy do that .........

Saarey ghar ke dho dalunga

2008-05-04T13:03:00.002+05:30

After a long battle got a new washing machine...
Yes and it works absoultely fine

So ab Saare Ghar Ke Dho Dalunga :)

Just to remember ( Here )

Networking - Redefined and Skilled Golfer

2008-05-04T00:44:00.001+05:30

This is a thought shared by Kewal Handa (the MD of Pfizer) when he spoke in the convocation ceremony of NMIMS.... (My brother also got his degree there and I also attended the ceremony with my proud parents -- I felt so proud that day witnessing the event .........)

The best part of the speech was that he actually used anecdotes and in some way touched the hearts of the proud parents amidst giving some thoughts to ponder about to the youngsters (though not confined to them). These youngsters were all full of confidence and commitment coupled with the enthusiasm and vigor to take on the world and create a niche for themselves......

Just to keep in memory, I share some thoughts that I liked and remember......

Networking --- Always try and give something when networking. Never have lunch alone... (This resonated what tompeters also says)

Para cognitia - Adam Toffler - This is the state of uncertainty that exists in the world and a successful individual needs to manage this state and thus conquer the Para cognitia

SKILLED GOLFER - carving your way around the 18 hole GOLF COURSE and planning for each move. Life is like a golf coarse hence like a skilled golfer carve your each move around all the 18 holes and in all the terrains and reach your final goal... Enjoy the beauty of the awesome terrain also

Projects are not always viable but they are MADE viable

2008-04-30T12:43:00.001+05:30

I remember when I was doing feasibility studies for projects, the top management used to say that --- get me a project which gives an ROI of 33% (payback period of 3 years) and I will not question to sponsor the project.

Moreover in all this he also never used to let us use the most optimistic approach for projecting growth. He used to insist us to take the conservative approach in forecasting growth and then work out the ratios.

This all used to be weird; as we (engineers) used to be caught from both ends. This used to make the project less viable. The, then managers and strategy group folks (MBAs and Finance guys) used to only give us the realities which we also knew. They never used to give us thoughts on how to convert these projects viable.

Today I can say they lacked INNOVATION in business modeling. Even we did not have the sight enough to challenge the market reports and the financials and break out into INNOVATIVE thinking.

I realize that this needs to be done. This is the thing that needs to be broken into and the projects are not always viable but they are MADE viable.......

nityn

Intuition GUT or FACTS

2008-04-30T09:40:00.002+05:30

Recently I went for an interaction with some senior members of a company. This also included the Heads of the various departments and also the COO for that organization.

During the discussion, one of the senior members asked how I made decisions --- using intuition (gut) or by data and facts. And I truthfully replied that I do listen to gut or intuition and then that feeling is validated by loads of facts and data.

To this he was amazed and rebuked me saying that decisions should always be made on facts and data.

Today when I was reading a book I got reminded what I read in Mckinsey way also :)

Here is an excerpt from Mckinsey Mind

This answers my argument ............. !!!!!!!!!

This is also a smart way to put things.... See where is facts (data, market studies, research) and where is gut (intuition, opinion, rumors)......

Business Model Innovation

2008-04-23T14:40:00.001+05:30

http://www.esnips.com/doc/3ccc5f36-a974-45e4-a830-67ad5a9e8661/business-model-design-and-innovation-for-competitive-advantage-19352

Awesome

Loneliness and People

2008-04-18T10:49:00.001+05:30

I have been trying to understand this phenomenon called FEELING LONELY :)

I guess many people in the world are lonely. Specially in the western countries where people live their lives alone, with themselves and for themselves.

The IRONY of loneliness is when you are lonely you feel like having someone next to you and when you have some one next to you, you want to be alone and enjoy the freedom.

I can see (smell) a change

2008-04-09T16:16:00.001+05:30

I can see a positive change happening. The much needed revolution is happening.

I guess the wheels of fortune is shifting. The stars are moving again and giving way to new reforms.

In cricket - I could see the birth of new genre IPL. And I see here we, Indians will find some thing good to spend time on and cheer about. (rather than only Idiot box with idiot soaps). This will also teach us Indians, that sports is not only international, but also national. This will also increase our habit of WINNING

In Politics - With change in leadership seen in US, there is also change in leadership seen.. Manmohan Singh brings in Young Blood and I guess Rahul Gandhi is also preparing. Only question is this elections or next (which no one knows will be after 5 years or in between)

In Financial Markets - Alan Greenspan, Paulson, Bernanke all tying their own hands by making the financial markets to become more complex. In India the new report by XXXX also states the financial reforms to make things more open and clear and market governed. In fact the control regime to be waved off. This is sync with the 8 year old thought that I shared in one of the GDs.... Which said that don't spoon feed Indian corporates. Let them be self sufficient. Let them Change and survive or get extinct

nityn

Awesome movie

2008-04-07T18:40:00.001+05:30

Just saw a movie and I just loved it. IT's called ACCEPTED. Echoes the true feeling of an challenger. Truly maverick

Paulson again

2008-04-03T10:41:00.001+05:30

Now Paulson in China

What can be expected out of him.

Any path breaking thoughts or any IN - NOVATIVE thoughts (a pun intended)

Will he give the strategy that US wants to follow with China out? Will he give a clue how much US is in trouble and wants China to do something in this regard so as to make the world flatter by importing from the US?

No, he is a diplomat too and will act in diplomacy.

So here he goes in his subtle attempt to share

- the issues that US is facing

- what they want China to do

- what they want China to do regarding energy and oil

- what they want China to do regarding their consumption

- what they want China to do regarding Financial Markets (indirectly complexities)

- what they want China to do regarding Chinese currency

But what I liked is the way Chinese track their energy consumption

To reduce energy consumption as a percentage of gross domestic product

nityn

Few Inspirations (Added)

2008-04-02T19:05:00.001+05:30

My inspirations

- In personal life - Indravadhan Sarabhai

- In management style - Tom Peters (also love reading them)

- In Entrepreneurship ways - Guy Kawasaki (also love reading them)

- Frans Johansson Medici Principal

- Eisenhower

- Nassim Nicholas Taleb

- In my Passion - Ulysses

Have Yous - Tom Peters

2008-04-02T15:39:00.001+05:30

Tom Peters recommends to do these things to Have Yous.

I strongly believe in this. This resonates the thought of MBWA, meet a whaky person every week, Challenge the status quo, Be innovative

Some other reads and implements

- The Professional Service Firm 50

- Free Stuff by TOMPETERS

Here comes Paulson - Continuation

2008-04-02T11:40:00.001+05:30

In continuation to the last post in Henry Paulson's efforts.

Paulson is determined to make the financial markets more and more complex by introducing various agencies and various laws and practices in place.

The complexity will add more IT work to be done. Now it is to be seen who will take the initiative first and who will be smart to grab the same from India

nityn

Here comes Paulson

2008-04-01T21:52:00.001+05:30

Here comes Henry Paulson with his INNOVATIVE overhaul policy.

Many questions --- :) Too many questions - Even Eisenhower would be proud of me

Is it enough?

Is this what we call INNOVATION or path to INNOVATION?

Is this what is the best practice as on date?

Aren't we missing something? - Don't they have a fixation with their own image of being AMERICANS - the largest economy of the world for so long?

Isn't it time to get going and shell all the prejudices to work towards the larger and long term interest of the world as a whole?

I again see lack of innovation in his own methodologies. He still has to shell everything and work innovatively to design reforms.

This is again a time of revolution - a second revolution driven by basics and innovative thinking. Yes it is highly paradoxical - BASICS and INNOVATION :)

Things are moving so fast in financial markets

2008-03-20T12:03:00.001+05:30

Is this the way things move.

Is this the way they make it move.

Aren't things moving really fast.

From Bull Phase >> Bear Phase >> Sub Prime Worries >> Reliance Power Issues >> US Job data >> Foreclosure >> Writing off losses by various banks >> Indian Union Budget >> Writing off losses by ICICI Bank >> IIP numbers >> Carlyle >> Bears and Stearns >> JPM buying BnS >> Fed rate cut and other measures >> Banks results >> Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac announcing new insights >> Next what ?????

And yes this has been dotted by various moves / intervention by Fed backed by US treasury

Sometimes I feel is the time not right or everyone was just waiting for such a phase to write off losses. They were waiting for cleaning their slate as it had been too much under the cover.

One more question that comes to the mind is what were these rating organizations doing and what were the Analysts doing and what what happened to the so called Corporate Governance. Is the world only of the Capitalists, of the cine stars, of the players and of the POLITICIANS???

What is being baked? Never does the common man got an idea.

Culture of HOPE

2008-03-17T10:18:00.001+05:30

Our CULTURE is full of HOPE

We are a nation who lives in HOPE. We are people who believe in eternal optimism and HOPE.

Things will improve and things will be fine and better.

We live in HOPE. Yesterday I saw a TV show which said for Indians even death does not take away HOPE. We continue to believe that it is going to be fine and better for the person who left this world and is on abode to heaven :)

Hope is one thing that drives individuals and keeps us going. We control ourselves and we carry on ON HOPE. We push ourselves and we take the suffering for HOPE.

As long as there is HOPE there is reason to LIVE and a reason to make things better for ourselves :)

nityn

Another way to fight credit crisis

2008-03-14T11:22:00.001+05:30

There is another way to fight credit crisis

Unlock value >> Keep part of your company to be bought over >> Sell it to Asians and get cash >> Use cash to revive first world nations economy

People in Asian countries who still are not under loads of loans and have a potentially better scenario can use credit and consume more.

Basically the large point is rotate the money from thirld world nations, far east, middle east, south east to the west.

Increase consumption and increase demand and thus revive economy

What say?

nityn

Markets tumult - Is someone authoring this?

2008-03-14T11:09:00.001+05:30

These world markets are behaving in a very very strange manner.

Some one must be authoring this.

Things cant change from DEEP PLUS to DEEP MINUS in few days

But who and what is the next step

Is it the

FED
US treasury
Some rating organization like S&P

No I don't think any one of them can do this.

Who else ???????

I believe the one who is authoring this may be someone who is not out in the open. Hence it can't be anyone from the above list. Then who?

Is it political manipulation happening coz of US political scenario? Elections due in Nov 08

What it is? What is the next move? How would Isenhover get to the next step :) ?

Will the dots again connect later and I will say this was Imperative. This will become Elementary my dear Watson later.

Is this giving rise to some CHANGE. Will something as powerful as the INTERNET be invented / discovered again - in order to change the world yet again?

This is the time for INNOVATION. This is the time to have innovative steps taken in the financial industry again. The market and situation is complex. Lets admire and appreciate the problem and get going :)

nityn

Happiness

2008-03-11T11:55:00.001+05:30

Chasing happiness and fighting cycles of emotions I have come to an understanding

Happiness is in HARD WORK

Working hard for making things happen

nityn

Revive US economy

2008-03-06T10:27:00.001+05:30

In order to revive US economy, we all know the following is required

- Increase Consumption --> Increased Spending --> Increased Demand --> Increased Production --> Increased Supply --> Increased Services --> Increased finances (of all sorts) --> Increased jobs / earnings.

My solution to Ben Bernanke and the US government is to increase the number of people or rotate the people from the rest of the world. Get more people to work from Asia and let them spend and earn and earn and spend. Their financial credibility would also be high and hence more loans and hence more consumption.

The other option is to get the Asians buy property in US so as to generate more money and more repayment and increase in prices of property and then increase in economy growth

Get some money from middle east or somewhere else. Well this is also happening

Earn from Asian economies

- Nuclear deal with India

- Fighter pilot deal with India

- Many such deals

Basically make the world more FLAT

Don't create another IRAQ and destroy that and then rebuild that again. As was done earlier. You can postpone the slowdown but you can't stop it

Movie NEXT - Every time you see it you change it

2008-03-06T09:55:00.001+05:30

Will post on this soon :)

MTVROADIES 5.0

2008-03-04T13:30:00.001+05:30

As Raghu says

To survive in life you need to have

- desire to win (make it happen)

- a razor sharp mind

- Luck ( in fact this was redefined by two of us :) as ability to be dynamic - change and adapt yourself according to the uncertainties of the world.

nityn

Entrepreneurship

2008-03-04T09:40:00.001+05:30

I had given anything to HIRE / get someone who can think like me, work with as much passion, as much enthusiasm, as much pride and as much devotion as me

Role of a man

2008-03-02T20:48:00.001+05:30

In personal life - A man has to always put it together again. A woman has to keep it together.

In entrepreneurship / professional life - The CEO has to always put it together again. The employees have to keep it together.

Putting it together and keeping it together are both equally important. In current society these are expected from individuals. In case any of the party is sticky then the other counterpart needs to rise up to the occasion and deliver what has to be delivered in order to SURVIVE respectfully

Startup

2008-02-15T12:40:00.001+05:30

startup

Nitin