Mundane Things

Getting Back to Work

2011-09-20T23:01:00.002+05:30

Lately, I have increasingly realised the benefit of working regularly for 8 hours. The gains of efficient work is tremendous. I do have a lot of time at hand.

I do understand that I spend a lot of time reading blogs and on twitter and a bit on facebook. I should not except that I do read a fair number of Economics and Development blogs which is slightly work related.

Obviously the other time waster for me is Sports news sites and course Vibhash. (The dude is so vella).

So, It becomes relevantly imperative that I do become a bit more organized in my time management and wok in a more efficient manner

The Bucket List of Small Things

2011-02-06T22:20:00.002+05:30

Read this insightful piece by Pritish Nandy. Its a small piece but the two resonating sentences are

That’s the problem with success. In fact, that’s the problem with our lives. We are always chasing The Big Dream. It’s only when you fulfil your larger than life ambitions that you realise how hollow they actually were.

and

But then nothing on your bucket list is ever big or small. It’s what you make of them. Life’s about choices. Most of us are so busy chasing our standard template dreams that we never notice the ones on the sideline. It’s only when you get back to your list or update it from time to time that you notice all the stuff you missed out on

I have sort of tried to follow what Mr Nady is saying here. Have not done enough i must say, still it is nice to see that people more experienced than me think the same way after giving it a bit of thought.

For example, i don't really want to spend a lot of time and effort getting the best car or a large house when many other things will be more enjoyable which are not strictly measurable in terms of money or established sense of achievement.

World Cup 2011

2011-01-29T13:34:00.003+05:30

Here is my first XI for India in batting order

1. Sehwag
2. Sachin
3. Gambhir
4. Kohli
5. UV
6. Dhoni
7. Pathan
8. Bhajji
9. PK
10. Zaheer
11. Munaf (Here, depending on Form/ Pitch - Nehra or Ojha)

The teams in terms of least expected to most expected to win (only test teams)

1. NZL
2. WI
3. Bdesh
4. Pak
5. Eng
6. Aus
7. Ind
8. SA
9. SL

So..there you go..we will come back in some time to this post

Crossroads and Fractals

2010-10-18T22:53:00.004+05:30

As you guys maybe aware Mandelbrot died this week. He was best known for "Fractals", a function that is continuous everywhere and differentiable nowhere. Kevin Drum explains it as

It's the fractal image shown on the right. It looks pretty ordinary, but if you zoom in you start to see a lot more detail. Zoom some more, and there's even more detail. You can zoom forever, and you'll keep finding more detail no matter how fine a microscope you use, much of it surprising and unpredictable.

What this all brings is to the fact that, I think this is true model for life in general too apart from the financial instrument pricing model for which it is mostly used. The ability to arrive at crossroads and make decisions is limited only by our consciousness but its upto us to arrive at a working model for our decision making process.

The other side

2010-10-07T02:50:00.001+05:30

As imagined

Random Day 1: The top boss here has no people skills. Can you imagine, he asked me to leave the swanky hotel and move to the guest house. Some other consultants are already in the guest house when I arrive. Hope they are nice

Random Day 2. Guess what, all of these are from IIMs. Two from IIMC and one from IIMA. None of them are particcularly good looking. Seem nice though

Random Day 3. Well, One of the IIMC guy seems cool. The other one is a bit painful. Always on the lookout to make fun of others, especially me

Random Day 4: Well the cool guy is leaving for colombo. Another IIMC guy is replacing him. Would be terrible. The IIMA guy is nice. Plus he likes the same food that I do.

Random Day 5: The new IIMC guy is weird..or as he likes to call himself 'arbit'. The old IIMC guy continues to be a bit of a pain. They are both FAT. Annother person in HR has joined the team. He seems boring.

Random Day 6: The IIMA guy turned to be most obnoxious of all. Had a fight. Am also not on talking terms with the new IIMC guy

Random Day 7: These guys are funny. Have again stopped talking to the new IIMC guy. He is very rude sometimes.

Random Day 8: Thank God,another girl has arrived in the guest house. They dont make as much fun of her as they do of me. I am sure it has nothing to do with my mannerisms.

Random Day 9: These guys are rude. Have again stopped talking to the new IIMC guy. The older one continues to be mildly painful. I guess the other HR guy is nice rather than boring

Philosophy and all that

2010-09-27T12:33:00.001+05:30

Sweet video. Short videos are fun

Fallen from Sascha Geddert on Vimeo.

Right to food

2010-08-09T21:46:00.002+05:30

This NYT article obviously is the kind of article that everybody likes about India. How despite all the bluster about growth and all, India is still a poor country and hunger and malnutrition abounds. Much of it is true however and India will have to literally "outgrow" this tendency.

Coming to many comments on article, I generally thing that Matthew Yglesias has much too simplistic take on many of the things that he discusses. However, in this case i do think that the simplistic take is the right one.

In terms of the empirical details, I’m sure there’s another side to the story. But it’s hard to think of any sound theoretical or ideological reasons to believe it would be better to try to give everyone a 77-pound bag of grain than to try to give everyone stamps or coupons. There’s a place for direct public provision of services in sectors where the private sector doesn’t deliver. But “stores that sell food” is something the private sector is more than capable of delivering. Poor people don’t get enough t eat because they can’t afford to buy the food, not because the private sector doesn’t create places to buy. Give people money and they’ll feed their families

Seems spot on.

Politics as Usual

2010-08-08T20:03:00.003+05:30

I think given the Indian polity, the strong central government and weak opposition was too good to ask for. Right now, we have a weak central government and a weak opposition. There are two dangers here.

The opposition becomes so weak that it becomes rational for them to be bought out rather than wait for actual power
The Government becomes so weak as to try something really populist but bad (eg quota in private sector)

These thoughts are courtesy this article by Swapan Dasgupts

Tribute to Kishore Kumar.

2010-08-04T22:24:00.004+05:30

Kishore Kumar is surely the best playback singer for me.. its astounding...the number of his songs that I like...however, i had no idea about many of his eccentricties. His Wikipedia page is a very good read

Kishore Kumar is said to have been paranoid about not being paid. During recordings, he would begin singing only after his secretary confirmed that the producer had made the payment. Once, when he discovered that his dues hadn't been fully paid, he landed up for shooting with make-up on only one side of his face. When the director questioned him, he replied "Aadha paisa to aadha make-up." (Half make-up for half payment).Once, Kishore Kumar refused to act because the director M V Raman owed him five thousand rupees. His brother Ashok Kumar persuaded him to do the scene. But, when the shooting started, he walked across the floor and, each time he walked a few places, he said, "Paanch Hazzar Rupaiya," (five thousand rupees) and did a somersault. After he reached the end of the floor, he went out of the studio, jumped into his car, and ordered his driver Abdul to drive away. On another occasion, when the producer R. C. Talwar did not pay his dues in spite of repeated reminders, Kishore Kumar turned up at Talwar's residence one morning and started shouting "Hey Talwar, de de mere aath hazaar" ("Hey Talwar, give me my eight thousand"). He did this every morning for a few days, until Talwar paid him.

The film Anand (1971) was originally supposed to star Kishore Kumar and Mehmood in the lead roles.Hrishikesh Mukherjee, the director of the film, was asked to meet Kishore Kumar to discuss the project. However, when he went to Kishore Kumar's house, he was driven away by the gatekeeper due to a misunderstanding. Kishore Kumar (himself a Bengali) hadn't been paid for a stage show organized by another Bengali man, and had instructed his gatekeeper to drive away this "Bengali", if he ever visited the house. When Hrishikesh Mukherjee (also a Bengali) went to Kishore Kumar's house, the gatekeeper drove him away, mistaking him for the "Bengali" that Kishore Kumar had asked him to drive away. Consequently, Mehmood had to leave the film as well, and new actors (Rajesh Khanna and Amitabh Bachchan) were signed up for the film.

In spite of his "no money, no work" principle, sometimes Kishore Kumar recorded for free even when the producers were willing to pay. He recorded for free, for some films produced by Rajesh Khanna and Danny Denzongpa. On one occasion, Kishore Kumar helped actor-turned-producer Bipin Gupta, by giving him Rs. 20,000 for the film Dal Mein Kala (1964). When the little-known actor Arun Kumar Mukherjee died, Kishore Kumar regularly sent money to his family in Bhagalpur. Mukherjee was one of the first persons to appreciate Kishore's singing talent.

Many journalists and writers have written about Kishore Kumar's seemingly eccentric behavior. Kishore Kumar had put a "Beware of Kishore" sign at the door of his Warden Road flat, where he stayed for some time while his bungalow was being done up. Once, the producer-director H. S. Rawail, who owed him some money, visited his flat to pay the dues. Kishore Kumar took the money, and when Rawail offered to shake hands with him, he reportedly put Rawail's hand in his mouth, bit it, and asked "Didn’t you see the sign?". Rawail laughed off the incident and left quickly. Once, when a reporter made a comment about how lonely he must be, Kishore Kumar took her to his garden. He then named some of the trees in his garden, and introduced them to the reporter as his closest friends.

According to another reported incident, once Kishore Kumar was to record a song for the producer-director G. P. Sippy. As Sippy approached his bungalow, he saw Kishore going out in his car. Sippy pleaded him to stop his car, but Kishore only increased the speed of his car. Sippy chased him to Madh Island, where Kishore Kumar finally stopped his car near the ruined Madh Fort. When Sippy questioned his strange behavior, Kishore Kumar refused to recognize or talk to him and threatened to call police. Sippy had to return. Next morning, Kishore Kumar reported for the recording. An angry Sippy questioned him about his behavior on the previous day. However, Kishore Kumar insisted that Sippy must have seen a dream, and claimed that he was in Khandwa on the previous day.
Kishore Kumar was also noted for defying producers and directors. Once, a producer went to court to get a decree that Kishore Kumar must follow the director's orders. As a consequence, Kishore Kumar obeyed the director to the letter. He refused to alight from his car until the director ordered him to do so. Once, after a car scene in Mumbai, he drove on till Khandala because the director forgot to say "Cut".In the 1960s, a financier called Kalidas Batvabbal, patently disgusted with Kishore Kumar's alleged lack of cooperation during the shooting of Half Ticket, gave him away to the income tax authorities. Kishore had to face a raid at his house. Later, Kishore invited Batvabbal home, tricked him by asking him to enter a cupboard for a "chat" and locked him inside. He unlocked Batvabbal after two hours and told him "Don’t ever come to my house again.

Its not explicitly mentioned but you can guess that Kishore Kumar would have been one diificult man to work with. Mr Rama Verma here mentions some other incidents

Tales about his various eccentricities abound. How he married four of the most glamourous women in the film industry despite having sung "Kuven Me Kood Ke Mar Jaana ! Yaar Tum Shaadi Mat Karna !", how he had names for all the trees in his garden (Janardhan, Raghunandan, Gangaram, Jhatpatjhatpat and so on) and would converse with them at length, how he hoarded thousands of video cassettes from all over the world, (With a distinct penchant for horror films), how he would refuse to record a song correctly till he was paid his due in full, how he used to set his dogs on income tax officers and was imprisoned, how his voice was banned from All India Radio because he offended the powers that be at the time by refusing to sing free of cost for one of their shows, how Hrishikesh Mukherjee was denied admission in his house (Because of a sad misunderstanding. Kishore was expecting another man altogether and had asked his Man Friday not to let "That Bengali" in.) because of which the title role of the film Anand…..which was scripted specifically for Kishore Kumar…went to Rajesh Khanna, how he spent hours and hours locked up in his room practicing music and counting money…..there is no end really.

There is so much that one is forced to leave unsaid because of the restriction of the space available. Kishore's ironic and Saigallike laugh in songs like "Yeh Laal Rang," how Kishore would Live each word of the songs he sang rather than consciously give the appropriate inflections with the voice (One subtle example being in the last line of the song "Pal Pal Dil Ke Paas" where there is the slightest hesitation when he croons "Dar Dar Ke Kehta Hoon"), how he sat up all night with his brother Ashok Kumar when the latter's wife passed away and sang "Yeh Jeevan Hai" again and again…..and again….and again at the behest of Ashok Kumar who wept till he had no more tears left, how his version of so many songs became more popular when the same song had been sung by others in the same film, how he took on a morbid song like "Tomar Barir Shamne Diye Amar Maron Jatra Jedin Hobe" ("The day my funeral procession passes by your house") despite having suffered a massive heart attack and despite the song being turned down by Manna Dey and how he took it to great heights, how he effortlessly handled classical Raagas like Bhairavi, Pahadi, Lathangi, Bhopali, Chayanat, Shivranjini, Mishr Khamaj, Mishr Piloo and others, how he would change his voice to suit actors ranging from Amitabh Bachchan to Rajesh Khanna to Dev Anand to Deven Verma, how he could sing the same song with explosive joy and with devastating sadness ("Yeh Dosti" and "Jeevan Ke Safar Me Rahi" for example.), how Sunil Dutt coaxed him to give his very first public concert (When Kishore was so scared that he made Dutt stand in front facing the audience while he stood behind and sang with his eyes closed… like they did in the film Padosan, though for different reasons …..till Dutt quietly moved away and the audience burst out into thunderous applause…. ….an event which gave birth to one of the most entertaining live performers the world has ever seen)….

So, we get the picture of a man who was difficult to work and live with but his immense talent allowed him to marry some of the most beautiful women and being universally liked and spawning a generation of copycats.

Hello!!

2010-08-02T23:18:00.002+05:30

Hi Folks,
Long time no see..Anyways....with new design features....the blog is back from its break.... as you will see in the side bar..i now have twitter account...so lets se eif i can make this a place where i record more thoughts and events..

regards,

Really!

2010-02-24T21:58:00.002+05:30

Its a bit anti climactic. Isn't it? We all knew he can do it and almost everybody agrees he is the most deserving to cross the barrier. Perhaps thats what makes it a bit of "so what"? he IS that good.

Movie Review

2010-01-17T13:47:00.002+05:30

Well, one of the fav blog topics are movie review...so here it is..

just saw 500 days of summer...Good movie but mostly a rip off of Kabhi haa kabhi naa..without the overacting of Shahrukh Khan of course...they even ripped off the ending.

Point of Five Point Someone

2010-01-03T22:23:00.002+05:30

I have been saying this for a while and agree with Mr Sabnis here.

The only "message" I saw in FPS was that, if you can write grammatically correct english and can write a cheesy shallow story, there is a huge market out there composed of people who never read real books, but need some non-sleazy dumb book to mention when asked "which is your favorite book?".

Hear Hear!

Something Original

2009-12-31T19:42:00.000+05:30

Happy New Year! Everyone

Memories Past

2009-11-07T11:27:00.003+05:30

The inning brought a lot of the pain back for me. Like any other Sachin follower, i was happy yo see him back at best..but it also brought one of the pet rancors of mine to the fore. For a person of such ability and class, he should really be on the winning side more often than not. people like Adam and Gilchrist, Mcgrath , Warne etc are lucky in this regard and they would not easily recognize the pain of being one of the greats and not winning even 50% of the games that you play. Course in some respects, Lara's case is even worse.

Abstractural Ineffeciencies

2009-10-22T15:56:00.003+05:30

Sometimes, i feel that the abstract nature of the blog sometimes inhibits my blogginess as the need to maintain standards warrant abstract blogs. And as any abstract blogger will tell you the demand for a certain level of abstractness is sometimes a demand too demanding consequently making the blogginess suffer.

What's the solution you ask? I say, lower the abstractural demands and delve and deliver on the need for blogginess. This kind of behaviour should be a prime example of the need for the modificatgion of standards, ofcourse after proper reprioritization and rationalization. So in future, the blogginess frequency may increase along with the level of abstraction in the ensuing blogposts.

Convergence

2009-09-30T17:59:00.001+05:30

Sometimes, MIS reporting requirements couple with the need of the monthly reporting format help you generate great things.

Bloggers Risk

2009-08-26T14:12:00.003+05:30

When one of my friends experessed his recent inability to blog in recent times, apart from the normal thought that "Dude, this is not 'recent' inability to blog, it is a recent case of self awareness", satirically* enough, i also thought about how it is never a problem for me.

* Ironically i am trying to start the trend of abuse of the term Satiric just like Ironic

Nick Game

2009-07-02T20:18:00.000+05:30

Spiff is a great nick. Course, as it requires a great sense of perspective on the germane issues of the day and the current issues. He can put current issues in perspective in a germane manner. Of course it also matters that the infamy of his fame has been hieratically dissected.

Talking about Germane, Germany has to my mind been one of those countries that guide the vision of the issues pertaining to the ideal form of government. Course this kind of talk though likable takes one away from the issues of the day

All this also suggests to the fact that the palliative use of hieratical adverbs leads to a sort of collusion between the commercialized culture of the proletariat and those at war against the plebian resurgence of the popular rhetoric.

The thing that matters

2009-06-18T14:29:00.006+05:30

A google chat with a friend.

me: mornin
Friend: jai

me: howz u?

Friend: fine

u

me: i am fine. THank you

so

any opinions on the state of Indian cricket

how do you rate

Friend: this was bound to happen

me: MSDs performance in the last press conference

Friend: i think its all dhoni's fault

me: hmm

should dhoni have been more amenable to

Friend: india had a set batting lineup

me: reporters ideas

?

Friend: with sehwag n gambhir

me: hmm

so

you think

Friend: raini at no. 3

rohit sharma

uv

dhoni

pathan etc

me: DHoni should have stuck to his guns and talked rudely to reporters

Friend: he mingled with batting line up

me: hmm

Friend: by promoting himself to no.3

me: that is true

Friend: raina lost confidence

and his form too

to me raina was the key player in this WC

me: hmm

Friend: he was even more imp than uv

becoz of his form in ipl

me: oh

Friend: once he flopped

things were inevitable

and opening with rohit sharma was a blunder

me: hmm

i think

DHoni

Friend: he was the best no. 6

me: should have shown more tact

especially

after times came out

with the rift story abt sehwa

Friend: but that hardly impacted the performance

me: so

i think

tht set the tone for DHoni's performamcne in the whole tournament

almost all the later press conferences got affected

Friend: performance against SA was the worst

did u see hw pathan got out

me: I dont think pathan was called for any press conference

except

for

the tour defining

group walk out

Friend: r u talking abt press conference performance or on field performance

me: :)
Its all same

SUn

if you allow

can i post this exchange in my blog

Friend: hmm

sounds good

me: good

good part...hamne koi gaali nahi di..so we can post it uncensored

Enjoy :)

A Poem

2009-06-13T17:21:00.002+05:30

Over the woods in a snowy evening..

Well its summer here...but anyway..

once upon a time comes a time....and you have to choose among crosswords...which book would you choose...

the one that goes with your personality or the one that doesn't. Or do you go for non fiction..

hmm..its tough..

End of an era!!

2009-05-31T21:20:00.001+05:30

Surely one of these great feats in modern sports leave alone tennis. Is it going to happen. Nadal has just saved on of the 5 match points..you never know.

Moving on

2009-05-16T12:17:00.001+05:30

Go Mumbai Indians

Instant Analysis

2009-05-16T11:35:00.002+05:30

Following comes to mind:

1. I think congress gained cos of NREGA and farmers loan waiver. Its not good economics but its atleast good politics

2. There seems to be a welcome trend of consolidation of National Parties in UP, WB etc

3. At some level, there seems to be a failure of leadership opn Advani's part to motivate his state leaders.

4. I think a very good model for BJP would be to go for Bihar Model. Rebrand themshelves as a centre right economic party but give strong signals that social amity will be maintained and social security for the extremely backward.

Moo Point

2009-05-16T11:09:00.001+05:30

This is what happens when u have shadow communists in ur think tank :)

Practice Management

2009-05-05T18:11:00.001+05:30

"Practice management as a tool is one of the smart tools that all the tools in the practice must manage"

circa 2009

A Riddle

2009-04-30T23:40:00.002+05:30

Once, i was riding on a truck. Open convertible truck that is. Now the truck had to pass under a very low bridge. But the truck with me was a few inches too high. I thought a lot and decide to use my large sharp nails to slice off the top two inches off the truck. But, then a kid suggested to take the air out of the tyres. That's called good lateral thinking....coming to thinking, there was still a problem..my head was too large..and i thought a lot on a possible solution and dint seem to help at all....

and then i stopped thinking.

Bad Calls

2009-03-30T03:53:00.003+05:30

Sometimes, you are in a dilemma. You keep thinking about the call you have to make. Today was like that. After much internal struggle, calculations of my work in office, my energy level in the morning, whether i ll be late again for office etc, i finally decide that let me be awake to see the start of the day 5 of the test match. And what do i see. Gambhir struggling like anything against patel and sachin getting out in the 5th over of the day. i ahve switched off the tele now. Let me wake up in the morning and see the result. Hope we survive the day. And as i say- Recalse.

Update:- It turned out well after all

Post of the Month

2009-02-28T14:15:00.000+05:30

You gotta do what you gotta do

The Republic Day Debate

2009-01-26T19:24:00.000+05:30

I have been partial to the idea of India being a presidential system of democracy since childhood. The notion that generally a presidential system of government will be good for India was more a reflection of the fact that the parliamentary system of government did not yield the proper results. Mark you, those were the days of Gujaral and Devegowda so I was not that far off the mark. However, the more I read about the presidential form of government, the less convinced I am about the merits of the system. For example, for one of the most developed economies, US has one of the most underdeveloped governance mechanism. I think that is because of the transition issues arising primarily out of presidential system of executive appointments for apolitical jobs. West Europe on reasonable parameters of governance seems ahead. I have personally seen the side effects of this kind of practice in Sri Lanka where the governance system is quite weak again political appointees playing a helping hand in the same. One other factoid that we must keep in mind is this. You realize that, while the presidential system may bring additional stability, does India has a civil society which could keep the executive in check. India doesn’t seem to have the wherewithal to handle petty goons of MNS or Ram Sena, let alone withstand the assault the presidential system. So all in all, I say lets stick to the Parliamentary system as of now.

Obama Part Deux

2009-01-23T01:20:00.002+05:30

Sorry to carry on about Obama. For the last few days, more in jest than anything else, i have been asking people around that who is India's Obama. People more often than not, realise that its an arbit question and refuse to answer directly. However, some names do crop up such as Mayawati, Rahul Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi's fellow traveller, Advani, Laloo, Devegowda, Nitish etc. Turns out, all this was nonsense and courtsey HT, i come to know that, we have finally managed to find the answer. Its none other than our own Sanjay Dutt. Course his recent examples of poltical acument has been blogged about by eminent indian bloggers such as Greatbong and Indiauncut

The New US administration and India

2009-01-20T19:23:00.004+05:30

Ideally if you want to read about this, you should just wait for Acorn to write about it, which i am sure he will in due time. Still here are my thoughts.

Overall, while i think Obama would e a better choice, i think a competent (Cos incompetent US presidents make life difficult for many more) republican administration under McCain would have been much better. Primarliy because of the Foregin policy and Outsourcing policy of the democrats. While Obama is explicitly anti outsourcing which should have an adverse effect (marginal but anyway adverse) on the Indian services industry. Also, in terms of foreign policy- Democrats tend to restrict themshelves and thus they will soon start making non proliferation noises, will want to deal china independently (thus no props for India to counter China) and the vague feeling that i get is that the foregn policy of Obama vis a vis India will be Pakistan Centric rather than China centric. So all in all, i am not very optimistic about Indo-US relations given the Indian bureacrats to be overly sensitive about insults and not trying to find out work arounds.

The only saving grace is that the better PR of Obama admin will once again empower the americans to do something good in the neighbourhood which is needed.

Use of Analogies

2009-01-18T20:50:00.000+05:30

I agree with Matt yglesias here that analogies have limitations in a good debate and if you actually want to enter a debate, analogies are best kept away. Use of anlaogies in intense debates lead to people countering the main point by looking in incosnistencies between the analogy and the actual situation. It will be like going into a 20-20 match with dravid and chanderpaul as openers. You know what i mean, this too was a bad analogy with results like what royal challengers got.

Bloggers block is back

2009-01-17T22:12:00.003+05:30

As i wrote in one my earliest posts, its a strange phenomenon all too common on the interwebs. My friend is suffering from it too. He is looking for ideas. I think, blogging is a difficult medium. One needs to find a right balance of taciturnity and story telling. Now the difficulty is that this balance depends upon your mood which varies inter temporally (over time i mean)..so there is also this need for consistency over time.

Here i think having a blogging style like mine helps as much as in its not very easily classifiable. so consistency is not that much of a problem. I am thinking of being more blogtastic in near future..so keep visiting the space.

2009

2008-12-31T21:33:00.002+05:30

Its like looking into the future and seeing a new you and and a new world...its good that i am good at prognostication, otherwise it would have been arbit.

Greetings everyone!

The Meta Narrative of Movie Stars

2008-12-25T20:23:00.000+05:30

I think the meta narrative across SRK's career has been quite strong. I think it had a lot to do with his choice of earlier movies. One of the major reasons of SRKs fame in early 90s was his Deewana charactwer, where basically he did much more than normal heroes to get the girl. The same happened with Darr and Anjaam where his character was insanely in love but couldnt get the girl. THis sort of made SRK a sympathetic character and he got a lot of media mileage out of it. This sort of predisposed SRK towards the advantage of a solid meta narrative for movie actors. He must have learnt from a similar narrative of Akshay Kumar about action hero and how AK gained even though Akshay hardly did stunts better than others.

On the other hand, Aamir it seems has avoided the meta narrative thing and has focussed on each movie as a single entity. And thats why i think Shahrukh is a bigger star evewn tho Aamir is the better star.

A deal is a deal

2008-12-22T23:02:00.001+05:30

Here. Its like this many a times, when the apparent reason is not enough. But if only there was information symmetry, then many of things which remain unsaid, need not be said. :)

Emphemeriality of the Medium

2008-12-07T22:52:00.001+05:30

This is the kind of subject matter that deserves a special blog post. so here it is

The Trumpet Blows

2008-11-05T17:18:00.001+05:30

I guess I overstimated the Indian Foreign policy thinkers response time

The Other Champion

2008-11-02T17:53:00.003+05:30

90s was the decade of Sachin. Frankly, Indians hardly tried to maintain an equivalency between the batting and fielding side of its growing cricket fascination. Kapil was famous in the early part of the decade but everyone understood that the main bowling weapon India had was kumble. I think the years 92-95 kumble was at this peak. I can remember ODIs where batsmen just played out kumble and kumble figures will be something like 10- 2- 29-2. Those were the days when reputed players like Andrew Hudson were afraid of kumble and new players like Richard blake’s reputation was destroyed.

The one bane of Kumble came was the South African players Cronje and Cullinan. They suddenly learned how to play kumble and then the reputation was destroyed by Aravinda, jayasurya, Mahanama etc.

As you must have hear, Anil Kumble has retired from international Cricket. This has sort of more that anything started the drumbeat which should soon drwon out Dravid and Laxman. But all that for later. Lets focus on Kumble

Kumble about 5-6 years to become the bowler he was in 2006 when I thought he was at the peak of his second coming. But this second coming was more the evidence of his grit and cricketing acumen. He fin ally developed a ball which actually spun…his googly which actually deviated from the pitch. This delivery more than anything else kumble to have his golden summer where he is past 600 wickets and captained India to wins, notably against aussies in perth.

From all this, what I want to arrive at is…Kumble was a world beater for around 7-8 years but unfortunately in India he was eclipsed by Batting starts such as Sachin Ganguly, Azhar etc while the world saw two better spinners in warne and murali which sort of made the title of this past “The other champion” rather than “the champion” which may have been the case in some other country or some other era

News for tomorrow

2008-10-24T02:02:00.002+05:30

I believe this is going to create a bit of news tomorrow morning. Here is US presidential candidate (practically president-in-waiting; see 538) talking about Kashmir

Working with Pakistan and India to try to resolve, and Kashmir, crisis in a serious way. Those are all critical tasks for the next administration. Kashmir in particular is an interesting situation where that is obviously a potential tar pit diplomatically. But, for us to devote serious diplomatic resources to get a special envoy in there, to figure out a plausible approach, and essentially make the argument to the Indians, you guys are on the brink of being an economic superpower, why do you want to keep on messing with this? To make the argument to the Pakistanis, look at India and what they are doing, why do you want to keep n being bogged down with this particularly at a time where the biggest threat now is coming from the Afghan boarder?

Now, I am pretty sure, this is a shift from the current US policy. India has in the past strongly objected to the presence of a special envoy for Kashmir. My take here is that Obama is being lazy. He understands that the issue is much more complex, but he thinks he can strengthen his pragmatic image here by trying to showcase some opportunity of movement in Kashmir. I am sure, Obama himself will realize is that his current proposal sounds like giving candy to the nuisance maker so that he may keep quiet. I am sure he will realize that this strategy seldom works.

Meta on Comments

2008-10-20T00:58:00.001+05:30

Hmm..Thought provoking blog post out there. Keep it up guys

Internal Team Meetings

2008-09-18T14:17:00.004+05:30

Internal team meetings are a lot of fun..with a lot of contrasting narratives thrown into the mix. There are people who know, they are not here to contribute anything but they have to be there. Then there are persons who think that the team meetings are useful place to show off their knowledge and grasp of every issue related and unrelated. There is a person who tries too hard to attract attention to one of the pet theories and then there is the smart guy..wondering why is he in this meeting and then wonders...why not write a blog post.

Update: Jabberwock has an interesting take on internal team meetings

The need for police reforms

2008-09-15T00:31:00.003+05:30

I completerly agree with acorn here

Dominate the battle on the ground
3. Connect every thana, every chowki (and in future every policeman) to a national database and network. Neither POTA nor a new anti-terrorism agency is crucial: connect existing intelligence and law-enforcement agencies through a common network.
4. Empower police by implementing police reforms. Use the Supreme Court of India’s judgement in Prakash Singh & Others vs Union of India & Others to generate momentum. Strengthen police-public partnerships.
5. Move internal security to the PMO. The Prime Minister should chair a Cabinet Committee on Internal Security; a dedicated internal security advisor (rank of secretary or higher) should be appointed to act as the point man covering all aspects of internal security.

Also, as i have mentioned before, police reforms can be one of the best things that can be done by the government today. We can definitely take advantage of IT and telecom technological improvements to reform the police system. This will have immense benefits, economic, political and social.

Self awareness and the natural law of conservation

2008-09-13T03:02:00.003+05:30

Not exactly an epiphany but still, i was stuck by this thought

Self Awareness- This is a huge thing if you are intelligent enough, but it may not be very useful if you are too impatient.

On a slightly related but unexplainable note, I do believe, there is some natural law of conservation. I mean not at the micro level, but overall i think, the natural law of conservation would be one of the key ingredients for sustainabiulity and existence of life. Ofcourse this has theological and philosophical connotations. But that's for some other time

Something Tangible

2008-09-12T17:58:00.002+05:30

Well, its a blog post..so i will leave you with a couple of thoughts..

I think the Steve Waughs mental disintegration concept has come full circle. It was obvious from the start that the IPL money will ask the highly paid cricketers to redefine their mental makeup..and Symonds has apparently done so.....For all the arrogance about mental toughness etc from Aussies...this really is a bad sign for them. Course this is good news for indians. Symonds is one of those players who always does well against India.
The Indo-US nuclear deal is not an unmixed blessing...its a blessing nonetheless. I am however optimistic cos the intent will be lost..but the signed paper will remain and the indo us commercial deals will take care about the sustainability of the deal. I am not very sanguine about the nuclear weapons programme though, give the lack of Indias institutional strenght and the ability to take advantage of ambiguous details.
One thing i have learnt about the skills of concentration..persitenece pays..and its a habit rather than talent. I mean..you can develop your skills of concentration with practice or mental laziness can be overcome.

Thats it for the day..catch you all sometime soon

Something Deep

2008-09-12T17:57:00.000+05:30

The grand canyon

Two Days

2008-09-12T17:54:00.001+05:30

It is sometimes difficult to understand the utility of a two day weekend sometimes, not today...

saturday sunday...here i come...and sleep

The one with Influential friends

2008-09-10T16:40:00.002+05:30

This blog is not about the influence of my firends, but the influence of title of the 'F.R.I.E.N.D.S' sitcom on this blog. No i am not talking about the poor cheap jokes, but the generic headlines which i give to my blog posts such as - The testament. the promise etc.

In other news, i am glad you ignored the hadron nonsense. Its already a big waste of public money..we should atleast not waste our time on this

The Promise

2008-09-10T16:35:00.003+05:30

With increased activity on this blog, i promise to gove more thought to what i write and take this blog more seriously. But for now, here is a joke.

"Why was God looking sleepy today- Cos he slept late last night"

catch you in a while

Overtime

2008-09-06T18:43:00.002+05:30

Over time, i have seen this blog discussing many concepts. Today we will discuss overtime and how the concept of overtime has decreased over time.

Overtime has been one of the important sources of some additional income for government employees. but over time the concept of over time has lost some of the attraction and you will find that people have been discussing advantages of overtime less and less over time.

Going Meta

2008-09-05T21:50:00.002+05:30

Now i have been accused recently of not writing more than a couple of lines on my blogposts. I do think that while the criticism is not completely valid but it has some merits. So in this blog post, i am trying to make amends. Ofcourse the other fairly regular criticism about my blog is that the blog lacks substance, but more on that later. Atleast this blog has more than 2 lines. It has, trust me.

Google Chrome

2008-09-05T16:51:00.000+05:30

I am using it

The testament

2008-09-02T19:28:00.003+05:30

How do you feel when you realise you are the smartest person in the room...tell me about it..cos i dont feel any different.. i am so used to it

Gold, Bronze and Counting

2008-08-20T20:41:00.002+05:30

What a lovely headline. This olympic performance by India assures me that India is on a growth trajectory. Let us mark the olympic medals won as one of the indicators along with MDGs, HDI etc as signs of India shining.

Go Vijender go

Another First

2008-08-10T16:39:00.001+05:30

Writing this blog post from inside a flight. Its not very hitech actually. Using my data card while the flight is in transit at raipur airport on my way to bhopal from hyderabad. Still worth a blog post. The connection is slow. Hope i can publish this post

The Way Out

2008-07-22T18:55:00.002+05:30

It is a bit obvious that the BJP and its senior leadership are in a bit of a bind in opposing the nuclear deal given the fact that the deal is popular in the upper middle class of citizenry (and basically thats the only class which will make any political decision based on the deal). And currently, the argument of the BJP - is unequal partnership. I am suggesting that the BJP follows a more n position on this. Here is what i think BJP should argue.

Concede that the deal is overall good in 'letter and spirit', but could have been better. as in specifically the deal is good in 'spirit' but bad in 'letter'. And while with the next govts in both countries, the 'spirit' will be gone, India will be stuck with the 'letter' and thus with a bad deal
The congress should have made a concerted effort to take the mainstream parties (NDA) on board for a foregn policy deal (remind people that foreign policy deals should be consenus based)
The failure of congress to coordinate with NDA also led to a bad deal as in the UPA failed to put in opposition from NDA as a hindrance to score a better deal

The Overreach

2008-07-22T17:13:00.002+05:30

While it has become the established CW among the cognoscenti that this time Prakash karat overplayed his hand and thus lost his considerable influence on the polity. While i mostly agree (Mostly- cause, this close to election, and Manmohan reneging on his word, he hardly had any option). The point i want to make is, the considerable influence of karat was mostly due to the political incompetence of Mr Manmohan Singh and the congress party. In a coalition, if you are small..but vital..you get cabinet berths..but here what congress did was instead of cabinet posts, gave CPM control over the economic agenda. That was never wise as fringe ideology based party can only harm you if you allow them to set up the agenda.

So, overall it was the incompetence rather than anything else that allowed CPM to have so much influence, cause as you can see in the murky world of poltics, for political compulsions, a high brow person like Prakash karat has to anoint Mayawati as a natural PM. (That should lay to rest btw, any concept of intellectual honesty among CPM leaders....just as we have for other parties)

The Obama Model

2008-07-17T18:12:00.003+05:30

It seems from the recent statements of Rahul Gandhi that the congress strategists are trying to use a customised Obama model of attracting votes on demographics (as in youth in this case) rather than identity (Caste or religion) or ideology (Communism etc). Add for all the failures of Rahul Gandhi as a politician, i wish that this strategy of Rahul Gandhi succeeds. I dont think the Indian polity is mature enough to arrive at the long term winning formula (ie a centrist ideology)..but the politicians are sure smart enough to copy a winning formula. So if Rahul Gandhi is successful, even though entrenched identity leaders like Mayawati or Mulayam may not change their strategy, an upstart can probably adopt the new strategy to make gains.

So best of luck Mr Gandhi.

P.S - Maybe calling this strategy ' The Obama Model' is giving Mr Obama too much credit. But i think, the success of Obama has something to do with this new strategy hence the title heading

Boycotting Pepsi

2008-07-15T20:26:00.001+05:30

Given this news item, i think the only option left for me is to boycott pepsi. this will teach the buggers a lesson

The Perils of Outsourcing

2008-07-09T19:23:00.003+05:30

You sort of become overly dependent, the kind of work that you want to do suffers a bit and you lose the sorta high ground that you are on..

Moral of the Story: Be a little less lazy and get to work

The utlity of Madam President

2008-06-30T13:56:00.002+05:30

I was not really happy with the selection of Pratibha Patil as the presidential candidate. The usual reasons, career politician, nothing much achieved with a hint of nepotism..not really the stuff legends are made of, especially given Kalam's CV.

But, i had the opportunity to witness the arrival of the President in Bhopal and i must say that despite the municpal efforts to clean the city, the visit itself was quite underwhelming. Thus, you realise, getting a common person to become the president is probably just what is needed to deglamourise the office which by all accounts is mostly explained as rubber stamping

Sifting Information

2008-05-28T18:40:00.004+05:30

“You see,” he explained, “I consider that a man’s brain originally is like a little empty attic, and you have to stock it with such furniture as you choose. A fool takes in all the lumber of every sort that he comes across, so that the knowledge which might be useful to him gets crowded out, or at best is jumbled up with a lot of other things, so that he has a difficulty in laying his hands upon it. Now the skillful workman is very careful indeed as to what he takes into his brain-attic. He will have nothing but the tools which may help him in doing his work, but of these he has a large assortment, and all in the most perfect order. It is a mistake to think that that little room has elastic walls and can distend to any extent. Depend upon it there comes a time when for every addition of knowledge you forget something that you knew before. It is of the highest importance, therefore, not to have useless facts elbowing out the useful ones.”

I think, this concept may be wrong if we accept the fact that normally the conscious part of the brain utilizes only 10-13% of the neurons. But this theory has its own charms and can explain the focusing ability of a person and the power of deduction. As in you don't know so much that you find loopholes in almost every theory while you know enough to form theories of your own. Given the internets, it becomes even more important to have a mechanism through which one can sift through reams of information among which only few of the data points may be useful.

As Time Goes By

2008-05-24T15:17:00.002+05:30

I have always wondered about this dichotomy, that i remember little of college days as if the time flew by but i also sense that sometimes life was really laid back and i was a bit lazy and read so many books and watched so much TV, so life wouldn't have been so fast paced. So this book review from Tim Harford really made sense.

We do not remember time as a continuum but as a series of events; that is why a fortnight recuperating in bed seems like an eternity (because we have no events to observe) but almost vanishes from the memory (because there are no events to remember). That is also why a wonderful day’s sightseeing can fly by, yet when looking back over an evening drink, that morning’s coffee can seem impossibly distant.

Its really a question of Continuous versus Discrete, where the human behaviour counts Discrete events while our physics lessons have made us to think of time asa continuum which is reinforced by the watches.

The One with the Sting

2008-04-29T17:13:00.000+05:30

I dont think there is any doubt about the fact that Gill and Co have been a disaster for Indian Hockey. At a time when the country as a whole has grown manifold, Indian Hockey kept losing its place in the Indian consciousness.

However, one point must be mentioned. Every time a politician is caught in a sting row, there are all these questions raised about the ethics of stings and all the news channels are basically told to self regulate and the specter of the Orwellian broadcasting bill is raised. Here, no questions about the ethics of Sting. No one raised a doubt on Gill, still this incident was good enough to dissolve the IHF.

How many chief of parliamentary whips were even asked to resign in the Cash for Questions sting. How many indirect parties have resigned over any sting when it comes to politicians

The Current Food "Crisis" or "Opportunity"

2008-04-19T03:10:00.001+05:30

The Economist has a very good chart explaining the causes of the current crisis. While the food prices started rising, the market has started responding with in creasing yield in the last year. The other notable thing to note is how the yield growth has stagnated over the last 45 years.

I guess that the rise in food prices is following the natural rise of commodity prices in the last decade or so following increasing demand from India China etc, and thus food prices thus following commodities like Oil, Metals etc (While you may argue Metal prices are cyclic, i do believe the current upturn is more secular in nature. So, if we agree with the given analysis and assume that the increased food prices are here to stay, we shall come to the important question - What will be the impact on India, and thus How should the Indian policymakers respond.

Regarding the impact, i think there is a clear dichotomy exist(as it should), between the demand side and supply side. While the Indian consumers will suffer, there is tremendous scope for gains to the Indian primary sector. Let us focus on the structural changes due to higher prices which will improve the primary sector*

Government - Government will be unencumbered by the minimum support price (MSP) mechanism and then can fully focus on the market enabling measures to ensure that the gains in trade are diffused enough to prevent backlash of higher prices among general populace. Here the basic logic is that while the MSP does create a floor of prices, the given inefficiencies in the buffer system, means that the gains form trade are not passed on to the farmers in times of high prices. With the high prices, the burden of procurement will be on government and thus will have a fiscal impact, but anyway i don't expect the government to be fiscally efficient in near term.

Market - Higher floor prices means that enough incentives exist for the middlemen and traders to take advantage of India's improving road and rail connectivity to reach the hinterland leading to better price discovery across locations

Farmers- Incentives to improve productivity, and increasing disposable income.

Frankly, rising food prices can be an unmitigated blessing for a country like India with the worlds highest gross acreage and largest population in agriculture. Just imagine Oil Prices doubling for Saudi Arabia and Saudi Arabia on the cusp of finding more oil wells. Well for us, the oil prices have just doubled and the infrastructure and communications improvement are our new oil wells.

* Of course the glaring omission in this analysis is the effect of high prices on inflation thus leading to loss in real income for many of the populace. I still feel that the government should take a fiscal hit rather than limit the upside of the price rise for million of farmers by commodity price targeting which seems to be the current mode of thinking in the current political/bureaucrat regime.

Picture Courtesy The Economist

The Debate Starts

2008-04-19T02:25:00.004+05:30

If you follow English soccer, football rather, you must be aware of the "club vs country" debates that rages every time the English national team under performs, which btw makes it sort of an annual debate. Now i feel Indians are going to have the taste of the debate big time with the start of IPL.
Also on a serious track, some of the celebrations was off putting for me, its alright for Shahrukh to cheer Mccullum hitting Zaheer as he is the owner, but the odd thing was that nobody mentions the of shifting loyalty from country to club and the implicit transition. It is as if the official policy of the event organisers particularly the commentators is to not to comment on the contradiction and just hope that by pretending that strong Club loyalties exist and behaving as such will make the crowd see it that way. Well i am not convinced and find it difficult to accept that i will ever cheer Zaheer getting hit for a six by Mccullum.

Also for a bit of humorous take, see my cricket fanatic friend and perennial commenter Vibhash's post

Beyond Washington Consensus

2008-04-19T01:30:00.001+05:30

Dani Rodrik says

successful policy reform is at its core governance reform

I completely agree with this sentiment. For too long, the multilateral agencies have focussed on policy formulations and seeing it fail and blaming it on governance. While the link has been made many times, mostly in a post facto manner. The right way to go about is i think going for governance reform, enablers (Specifically MIS), and then policy reforms. While this seems self evident on reading, it must be noted that "washington consensus" which was the staple of reforms under development agencies, for long has focussed on policy reforms while treating Governance as an exogenous variable.

The unbearable longing for emptiness of being

2008-04-19T01:14:00.000+05:30

One of the great things about my life is, i really long for these moments of emptiness...when the world sort of stops...you are not supposed to meet any deadlines...you are at peace with yourself...when i can do anything i want.. (which is basically nothing)..I i really go for pop psychoanalysis of myself, its the lazy bugger syndrome..i cant seem to handle stress and so long for escapism....but that will be the cynical approach...the solitude coupled with the belssedness really does makes you feel like nirvan is actually not a bogus concept.

The Linearity of Time in the Space Time Continuum

2008-04-18T23:59:00.004+05:30

The signs were all there. I was being nice to people. I was not abusing my friends nearly enough. I tried to resist thinking about it, i even tried some counter measures e.g Singing frequently, extemporaneously giin dissertations about my innate qualities etc, b ut my friends i cannot ignore it anylonger, for today was the last straw. I failed to eat just half a water melon. I am sad to state that i have grwon up and my bodyt has given up on my will powers ability to turn back the clock. So from now onwards, less antics and more books. prepared to be surprised.

The Moment

2008-04-14T01:48:00.003+05:30

There was this sweet types golf movie called 'Tin Cup' starring Kevin Costner and Rene Russo..and while the movie was the typical run of the mill underdog sports movie..one of the statements really stuck with me..it goes something like.."when the defining moment comes..either you define the moment or the moment defines you".. ..and right now, i feel like one of those defining moment are going to cross by me.. and i really wanna be an active player in this round...and hope my golf is better than roy mcavoy.

P.S - Talkin of defining moments etc- this is my 100th Post. Thanks to all of my readers....(Yes chuchu and malik u both)

The Professional

2008-03-31T00:36:00.002+05:30

Rahul Dravid is not my favourite batsman (Sachin is)...He is not my faovurite indian captain (Dada is)..He is not even my favourite cricketer (Sachin again)..but over the years, Dravid has continually risen in my estimation as the truest professional in the Indian team. I mean Md Kaif is also a gud professional but he had to be one. But given Dravid's talent and approach etc, Dravid could have become a prima donna..but he didnt. He accepted that the team is bigger than him.

So..all in all Not only Dravid is gud enough to score 10k in both the forms of the game, he is good enough to be an example for other players and thats what makes him truly great.

The End of an Era

2008-03-10T19:55:00.004+05:30

I still feel a bit of a sense of Loss on watching the Hockey segment of the movie Golmaal..here was one part of our heritage that we have lost. Hockey had the potential to be part of our national conscience but it failed or rather we failed hockey

Today, was the definitive hammer blow for Indian Hockey. Today it lost its place as one of the premier games of India. Now Hockey has to fight with other sports to fight for a place in our conscience. Playing in all of the olympics till date was one of the best records in Indian Sports..something you can be proud of..It has come to an end though..and to be fair...we extended as long as we can. India certainly is not one of teams that you can claim should be part of the Olympics. We were just not good enough. But this is not the time to recriminate against Gill, He has been doing his job terribly since long. This is the time to remember the past greats..from Dhyan Chand to KD Singh to Pargat singh..And i take this opprtunity to thank all the past hockey olympians..they made history after all.

An Apology

2008-03-06T15:26:00.004+05:30

I must have been in standard 4th or 5th when i crossed my swords with Wordsworth. There was this book "Panorama" a book on poems assigned to my cousins who studied in another school. And i remember reading the poem "Daffodils" by Wordsworth and while there was some pleasant imagery, i was distinctly unimpressed by Wordsworth call to solitude .

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

but right now with nothing to do on a lazy summerish afternoon listening to Hemant Kumar and, I lie in a vacant mood and actually my heart seems filled of pleasure and while i haven't danced with daffodils..i can relate to the feeling..

So Mr William W. Wordsworth..I apologise

Three Things

2008-02-09T01:27:00.000+05:30

Three things i want to read more about

1. Law of unintended consequences - In the context of mainstream India.

2. Free Trade and Societal Structure - What is the relationship. I hope one day i actually read The Great Transformation and also The Bottom Billion by Collier. In the merantime, you can read this by Delong for context.

3. Economic Situation in Bihar - Even articles will do. What is happening in there. The last good article that i read seems to be one by Aditi phadnis in Business standard

Blogging as Procrastination

2008-02-08T14:21:00.000+05:30

How diffuclt it is to procrastinate and blog..i think easy..whatever gets me out of the "Restructuring" mode. Ome hellhole of an assignment. I just hope i get out of it unharmed. My blogginess just hopes that my blessiness works this time too and get me out of all this messiness.

The fear of going Meta

2008-02-04T17:59:00.000+05:30

As i may have mentioned before..i have this great fear of flying..during almost all my journeys..i envision the plain ncrashing down..(the best part is- i always chose the aisle seats so that i dont look at the window and then i will keep looking at the window to see i f the plane is banking too much etc..)...
anyway..in all of these nightmarish scenarios i always feel like i should call home etc etc..i mean the intention is to close out my life in abalnced manner...but lately since i fly around once a month..i have had the thots so many times..i have started going meta..and now one of my worries is..if i m really crashing down..i will think of something arbit and my last thopught will be "you bugger..this is waht you come up with a syour last thought"

Gilly Retires

2008-01-26T16:11:00.000+05:30

One of the most important reasons for the Australian cricket team's phenomenal success has been this man. He was one player..who for a long time was the worlds best wicketkeeper and to top it all one of the real match turners coming at no 7, while batting. I am talking about test cricket here ofcourse. Gilchrist i feel was the element that really made the aussies invincible. Other teams had good bowlers, good batters, better captains, but none had a player of the worth of gilchrist's class coming at 7. A truly great player, and one of my favourite players of all times. Have fun in your retirement man..you deserve it

The Charm of "The Wonder Years" (TWY)

2008-01-22T00:17:00.000+05:30

I really like the show.
What makes the show good?. As mentioned here

"What makes "The Wonder Years" so appealing is that many can identify with what was happening in Kevin's life. Not only could those who lived through the 60's and 70's relate to the historical events, but almost anyone who was a teenager can relate to Kevin's personal adventures. . Most of us ..... experience all these other pivotal stages on our trip through puberty and adolescence into adulthood. These times really are wonder years, the time when we learn how the world and it's people work. "

Mayur says it even more lucidly here

"So many years after the show ended when I saw Kevin Arnold's pic in one of my friends computer screen NOSTALGIA did HURT. I mean it brought back memories of the yesteryears. It was very easy to relate to everything that Kevin was going through although I was from another world in India. His love interest the cute Winnie Cooper made it all the more interesting. Loved his best friend, though he did look like a nerd. I specially remembered a scene when Kevin kissed Winnie in the beach. Saying this might sound like saying a lot but it is just the truth. Sometimes the show seemed to me more important the books that I studied in school. A tutorial. It will always be close to my heart and fondly remembered. I can assume its like this for many of us around the world"

Ofcourse, I also feel that TWY rings the Nostalgia bell so beautifully is the fact that, most of us remember our childhood as a bunch of incidents. But TWY reminds us, that each incident was part of a growing up process. The wonderful voice over by Daniel Stern brings the sentiment to the fore, that each incident made us learn something, feel something, regret something and aloowed us to feel bad, good, sorry or proud of oneself, but all in all those were the years that improved the quality of life itself.

The Perth Story

2008-01-20T13:05:00.000+05:30

Two things about yesterdays victory really make me happy.

1. The 16 match winning streak ended by India - The Aussies press's gloat would have been too much. What makes it doubly sweet is the fact that, India has already done it once before. Also in the cricketing sense, I think Steve Waugh's team was much better than the current Aussie team. The opposing teams then also were of a slightly higher standard i feel.

2. I have always marvelled at the Aussies Bench strength - eg Slater retires- Hayden is there..Hussey, Clark, Kasprowicz etc etc..but in this test..Pathan and Sehwag came from the bench for India and Tait and Rogers from Australian bench..and look who did better.

P.S - Also, do check out my friends amusing take on the win yesterday

The Case for Social Security

2008-01-16T22:33:00.000+05:30

I think the need for a social security problem in India cannot be overstated. A functioning social security system will ofcourse provide direct benefits to the people most in need of it as of now. But as i have often argued..A functional social security will also fulfill the following criteria

Movement away from Caste Based Largesse distribution to Need Based intervention - The slowing down of the identity politics - This is very indirect, but as the State moves from caste based bounty distribution to need based social security..I don't think the upside of identity based politics will be very high

"Abilty to Pay" becomes a non factor in PPP or Community based initiatives - Right now the 'ability to pay' factor means that much of the PPP initiatives can be argued against. A social security system will lessen the need for govt intervention in implementation and maintenance of facilities in the agri and other social sectors eg Irrigation Projects, Water supply etc.

Halt to mass migration to Urban areas - As the social security kicks in, People from the rural areas will be loath to live in sum urban hutments to get a livewlihood. And surely thats good for everyone. Frankly much of the desperation in the society that goes on with earning your livelihood will be removed, making everyone a lot more civilised.

As i mentioned earlier in the blog also, community participation and PPP initiatives is the most potent way in which we can improve the implementation mechanism for government schemes. The other way is ofcourse through use of Information technology. Technology here i think is just a prop to bring about change. Even just information dissemination will do, but that alone will not be allowed to happen. But all this in a separate post.

Disclaimer : Ofcourse the big assumption here is- How to effect a functional Social Security system and do we have adequate resources for the same. I am afraid we have unsatisfactory answers to both the questions. But the point of this post is, while there is need to point out the apparent lacunae in schemes like NREGS, a potent case for a Social Security system should also be made. Lat our governance system outgrow the subsistence mode.

Need Theory Stage 5

2008-01-13T18:01:00.001+05:30

" You know, it’s kinda hard just to get along today
Our subject isn’t cool, but he fakes it anyway
He may not have a clue and he may not have style
But everything he lacks, well, he makes up in denial"

~ Offspring

P.S - Happy new year everyone..

The Mistake

2007-12-11T13:23:00.000+05:30

One of the major lacunae in Pkaistani batters is their approach to batting and failure to play with application. India by batting first and pi,ling this large score in the last two tests has sort of made it easier for pakistanis to apply themshelves, one by showing how easy it is to bat and number two by anyway putting a victory out of the equation for Pakistan, so now their batters know that there is no excuse for them to paly a risk shot and get out. So..maybe Kumble should have bowled first..but still gioven the pitches, i dont think it would have mattered. Also, it feels gopod to see India dominating Pakistan

Blog Reading Level

2007-11-22T16:15:00.001+05:30

Information Assymetry

2007-11-22T12:15:00.000+05:30

The Rama conundrum - Lets talk about the Ill fated 'Agni pariksha Phase of the rama' - (Aside: This moment sort of decided the issue that Krishna will be considered the Omniscient one while Rama's place will be more of a model Ruler, Son etc. Now, Rama asked Sita to take the Agni pariksha because of Information Assymetry. (Rama says that - he believes Sita, but the general public will need verifiable evidence, hence the test). So the basic problem is, as far as i can see is Information assymetry, Just as i mention in the post 'Zero Sum Game', Information assymetry is also one of the underrated factors in decision making. Informatrion Asymmetry gives roise to many issues. Lets take a better example. Suppose you are suddenly face to face with a snake. What will you do - Most prob you ll run away, and more often you will try to kill it, as you simply dont know that the snake is poisonous or not. But you will have no hesitation in wlaking by a stray dog even if it carries rabies. Both are the examples of us acquiring a given set of stereotypes, and in absense of any situation specific information, We use our stereotypes.

What sort of conclusions, you can draw from all this
1. Information asymmetry carries a deadweight loss
2. The first response to many problems should be to see if you can find more about it. Many people seem to discount this conclusion
3. Being in a position of Rama is tough. But i am sure Rama could have handled it better.

The Week Gone By

2007-11-19T18:27:00.000+05:30

Some observations

The banality of Fed winning events is slowly diminishing...good times ahead.
I don't really like Kumble being the Indian captain, but for Dhoni it would have been a case of too much too soon. And even though Dhoni is a smart guy and he would have realised it would be too much of a responsibility and try to mitigate, it would still be too much too soon. Sometimes just the realisation of a problem is not enough. Its like the 'Hopstead's law' or something.. Completing you work takes longer than expected, even when you take Hopstead's law into account.
Om Shanti Om was a disappointing movie. And Kareena failed to spoil 'Jab we met'...its a sweet movie.
Some people just dont own up to their mistakes

And above all

Spending your birthday alone is no fun

One more -

The bullet symbol in this template sucks

Zero Sum Game

2007-11-12T14:19:00.000+05:30

One of the most underrated of the factors being utilised in decision making is the realisation whether the outcomes are zero sum or n0t. Based on this knowledge, the approach to solving the problem should differ markedly, and failure to recognise this phenomenon makes for improper decision making, and people can be persuaded via wrong analogies.

You want examples, let me give you one. Lets take the example of selection of Indian cricket team.
Only 14 can be selected, so if 1 player on the margin is selected, then 1 player for margin needs to be dropped. (Now suppose both the players are of equal caliber). Thus this makes a zero sum game and the selector has to drop someone. So it doesn't makes sense for the selector to be in good books of every player in the squad. But suppose you are a coach of the same team. Then, if you invest in some players and try to build a team spirit, and that player is dropped to bring another person. This is not a zero sum game and the coach actually loses in this scenario.

So we can see that, for a selector and a coach, the rationale for decision making is not same and both have different incentives. So to come to the point, when Greg Chappell and Kiran More sort of ganged up on Ganguly, it weakened their case that they are a doing it for professional and not personal reasons. So all in all, apart from all the base sentiments coming to Dada's rescue, Dada's supporters were right at some level.

Nascent Creativity

2007-11-10T22:34:00.000+05:30

One of my dear friends has started a blog. The first topic is about the movie KHNH, about which we have had many a chats. The movie is good. Shah Rukh Khan seems to like it, my friend seems to like it...many other like it, i kind of liked the movie too. Of course the movie sort of bombed but thats hardly an indicator of the quality of the movie. But some people tend to like the movie very much. You can find such people in numerous orkut communities dedicated to the movie.

Now my point of view is, You like a movie because it was well made, the story surprised you, the music was good etc etc., but what makes you really love a movie, that happens when you really identify yourself with the protagonist or one of the major characters in the movie. For Example, take the case of RHTDM, a big hit in the south of India, but people in the north failed to relate to Madhavan's Character. If you have seen even the clips of South Indian Movies (I have seen only clips), its very evident that the Heroes there sort of revel in being very blunt and sort of irreverent. In the Hindi version however, those things sort off put off the people and ofcourse a good performance by Saif didn't help the movie.

So now, coming back to the actual movie in case, i think one of the reasons many people sort of idolise this movie is because it allows people to revel in mediocrity. Here is a small town boy (Shah Rukh), with bad manners, bad ethics, suffering with inferiority complex, but we are supposed to come out of the movie hall thinking that the heroine should have chosen that boy over a perfectly fine specimen (Deepak Tijori's Character) because he was a very good musician (Remember - Even Tijori'c character is made out to be very much in love with Ana- the then ms krishnamurty). THus, what this movie sort of gave was the vehicle to relate to a similar character not deserving the girl, but should have got her because he wanted her so much..

I dont think so..

Rafael Nadal Redux

2007-11-04T23:05:00.000+05:30

At the start of the match between Nadal and Nalbandian , i got this thought that watching nadal play is like watching a formula 1 car which is ahead of a slightly faster car. The car behind it may be faster , but to overtake it needs to be 2 seconds faster. (Aside: - Not to think that Nadal is not very good, just that Nalbandian is in such a form and Nadal is such a fighter and retriever).
But by the end of the day, it was clear that Nalbandian was 4 seconds a lap faster.

Are Economists Happier

2007-10-29T16:13:00.000+05:30

Its a good question and has been discussed here and there. I am an interested party here as I fulfill the criteria. Nobody can doubt that I am happy, the bone of contention is whether a 3 years degree in the hallowed Patna University makes me an economist. I don't think it does. But keep in mind, i took some eco courses in C, even then I don't think i fulfill the criteria of being an economist just because of that. However in my mind what clinches the fact that i am an economist is that i know enough economics that i can pass off as an economist to laypersons. So now that we have established that i am happy and an economist, let us attack the question, is studying economics in any part responsible for some of my happy demeanour?? definitely yes..is economics more useful in this regard than lets say 'Psychology'..tentatively yes. I think Economists apply some tools and methods which help them simplify the real world, the same principles sometimes help us economists to make sense out of the real world, plus the principle of price discovery sort of removes much of the dissonance that we have in life. eg somebody is performing poor, straightaway think in terms of overall work compensation and you will be content to know that overall that jerk is going to be paid less precisely cos of the tendency that pissed you off.

Kimi Raikkonen - F1 WDC 2007

2007-10-22T00:04:00.000+05:30

The best result on many levels. Lewis surely winning as a rookie would have sort of understated the charm of WDCs, Alonso being upstaged by a rookie for most of the season didn't deserve the title. That leaves Kimi, with the most wins, potentially the fastest of the lot..and none more deserving the title...and i am so happy for that.

On a side note, the most thrilling portion of the race came through the livetiming, where i could see Rosberg and Kubica fighting for 4th and for 2 consecutive laps, the difference was 0.0 secs and i was hoping like hell that those two don't crash and give the title to Hamilton. Must admit, those two are pretty good racers.

Meta on Mundane Things

2007-10-13T17:34:00.000+05:30

I was just wondering, Is writing about "Mundane Things" on a blog titled "Mundane things a mundane activity or not. I think not, it shows my grasp, my awareness of things happening around me in many spheres of life. Also such an observation obviates the conclusion about having the posession of an ability to step one step back and observe things.

But maybe not, as the tags say

Compartmentalization

2007-10-08T00:03:00.000+05:30

Well as you can guess from the title, procrastination is one of the centre pieces of my blogginess. Well, one of the solutions that keeps coming to my inventive mind is - Compartmentalization. One obvious advantage is..you quantify your work work into ordinal compartments...that gives you very visible targets to work on..plus the incentive to reduce the workload....otherwise generally the case is that there will be an unpleasant feeling about all the stuff that you have to do.

The question is..how to compartmentalize...as per my previous experiments..Notepad is no good...ATNotes suck....Google desktop sidebar is quite effective.

So we have arrived at a problem and a solution and dealt with the Hows and Whys. but i still have to put in one disclaimer..Even compartmentalization is work and if you procrastinate in that..ultimately you wont be any better off.

Repetitive Alliterations

2007-10-03T16:06:00.000+05:30

Every once in a while, you finally achieve something which you can be proud of. Something about which you can call your friends and crow about. Something on which you can blog about.

Well!! My friends, today is such an occasion., my bravenet site counter site shows 1000 hits.

There are many persons to thank to, but keeping with tradition, I must thank myself, as i must be the returning visitor atleast 300-400 times thus significantly contributing to this significant momentuous moment.

Thanks to you all too.

World Championship Week

2007-09-30T02:57:00.000+05:30

This just in. I think this result will surely have more weight than the 2000 one. Also it means that Anand is the undisputed number one and the best chess player in the world at the moment, taking over from Kramnik. I just hope he crosses the 2800 mark with this result.
Afetr T20, Chess..Decent sporting week for India

T20

2007-09-15T01:29:00.000+05:30

A great game..loved the novelty of a bowl out..and how bad was the ball that bhajji bowled..the one just after afridi holed out

The Roger Slam

2007-09-10T15:57:00.000+05:30

So its back to a Roger Slam (defined as Losing to Rafa in French and winning the rest).Of course all this brings us back to the 'Roger-Pete' comparisons...while pete numbers dont look as good as rogers..i absolutely remember people complaining about pete dominating the tour thus making it boring...the same is happening with federer here....

If we continue with the comparisons, Two things come to mind after the last game.

Roger is at the peak of his domination,like the 'Pete- Rafter' phase of 97-98, where sampras just managed to hold his own against Rafter.
Roger is learning from Pete the ways to prolong his career,His much improved Serve was the main enabler for Rogers title defense. I think on the basis of groundstrokes alone, Nole and Davy'D seemed better.(It wasn't the case earlier).

So if we continue the analogy, we may see Federer strugglingin the next few years against upcming players like djokovic, ala how Sampras struggled with Safin and hewitt. However Federer will continue to win Slams for the next few years though i think the dominating phase is over.
P.S - Mytake on the Roger Pete debate-

I think, overall Roger has the better game, primarily due to his ability and results on clay. Pete though has the better career as of now. Remember Pete won his first slam when he was about 20 and the last when he was 31. Thats a long time.

1975: The Golden year

2007-09-08T17:24:00.000+05:30

of Hindi Cinema that is....

Was just surfing through the comments on Sholay in IMDB....and came across this sentence..

1975 may have been the best year for Hindi films with the likes of Deewar, Chupke Chupke, Hera Pheri, Khel Khel Mein, Julie, Mausam, Ponga Pandit, Rafoo Chakkar, Uljhan, Dharmatma, Do Jasoos, Faraar, Geet Gaata Chal, Chhoti Si Baat, Aandhi and Milli - all releasing along with Sholay

Surely, as good a collection of movies that you can find as any..for any given year...I havent watched all of them..but just look at the kind of stories they told..Julie..Aandhi ..Faraar..Milli.... Chupke Chupke.....and course some of my alltime fav moies....Deewar, Chhoti Si Baat and Sholay....also what an year it must have been for Amitabh...From Sholay and Deewar..to Faraar, Chupke Chupke..Milli..and Mausam (if i think its the same moovie that i am thinking)......

Truly a golden year for Hindi Cinema....

P.S - I watched 'RGV ki Aag'....But i cudn't find a single publishable adjective about the movie..so i will refrain from blogging about it.

HCR and Poverty Line

2007-08-07T01:48:00.000+05:30

Should poverty measure benchmark be made a relative one ( e.g 25% of Avg Income) rather than a nutritional value based system. Especially as we see that India produces enough and trades enough in food items to make sure that availability of food is not an issue, rather its the purchasing power that is the constraining factor.
This method will be a good benchmark and will address concerns regarding 'Inclusive Growth'

Public Health Policy

2007-08-04T02:02:00.000+05:30

This post has been written as a response to this post. Do check the comments section of that blog too.

We must look to the government on this one. Frankly, the civic community of India as of now is too poor to keep pace with the medical technology and the accompanying costs.

Problems

1) Infrastructure - The Primary health centres barely function, not to talk about Sub Centres
2) Doctors - Too few. The government cannot train enough doctors and cannot pay the trained doctors to come work in CHCs, forget the PHCs.
3) System - For all the guidelines that state govts have for monitoring, the current systems seem not to work (this may be a non problem - ie if decent doctors with good infra available- the community will ensure that the health centres are utilised)

Solutions

1) Investment - A big push like the one in Sarva Siksha Abhiyaan is needed. ICDS is useful, but it doesn't covers the community's overall health
2) Health Workers Training Program- At the SC and PHC level, Health workers may be trained and utilised. - This will be basically an exercise in expectations management - Devise a practical training and education program for producing general physicians- dont call them doctors and expect them to work on contract in lieu of lower pay than the one you have for doctors.
3) As i said, the systems are in place, but since hardly anything works now, you cannot apportion blame to any one stakeholder which allows everyholder to have slack. General awareness and communication of all the facilities and govt schemes available may be one step forward as of now

As you can see, the solutions seem very simplistic, but i dont think we lack in identifying the solutions here. Our basic shortcoming is the lack of capacity - Investment wise, Technolgy wise, and Community sense wise, which has made it such a big problem. I believe that its not that the health spending in India is through Private sector, its just that the govt has failed to fulfill its side of the bargain

PS-
SC- Sub Centres at Village/Mouza Level
PHC- Primary Health Centres - at Block level
CHCs - Community Health Centre - at Sub District Level
ICDS - Integrated Child Development Scheme- Basically- Looking at the health of children, pregnant women and new mothers