Category: Flawsophy

  • One step at a time, still

    have been wondering about the roller coaster ride called life, much like wonderbug, in her post…….yesterday was another ‘gaze at the stars’ night, so there was lucky ali playing in the background, a pepsi in hand and star gazing, although, being a cloudy night, there were hardly any stars, but the sky served the purpose….
    i am generally cautious by nature, but what i was wondering was that there were so many defining moments in my life so far, where one moment’s thought or decision has effectively set my life on a particular track…..now when i think of it, there are a 101 ( in management lingo) opportunity costs…..
    for example what if i had decided that i would focus on only bio and no maths during my +2, i might have lost a year, i might have been still studying medicine or i might have become a good doctor by now……what if i decided i didnt want to go for a pg, i might have been a programmer…and so, with each action/inaction i have changed all things associated with it, and thereby created or destroyed so many manu’s, and i guess, so also altered the people in my life……according to one space/time theory, they are all existing in parallel universes, leading parallel lives….. my guess, they must all be blogging…. 🙂
    all ye budding storywriters, ram gopal varma is on the lookout, so if you wanna get famous post, read this article
    have got a humour board , thanks to wonderbug…..all u bloggers, its free and quite good…..thanks for tuning in, will leave you with
    manuscrypts trivia
    fwdd by a guy working in tcs
    One day, three consultants, one from Wipro, one from Infosys and one from TCS, went out for a walk. They were old buddies from engg college, and they were together for a college reunion..For no apparent reason, they went into this zoo and passed a monkey. Being in the same business and from the same college, there was a little bit of a peer competition going on between themselves – they couldn’t resist testing themselves against each other – especially the Infosys guy. Said he to the others:”Why don’t we prove who is the best among ourselves?”. Why not, said the other two.The Infoscion said “Let’s have a test. Whoever makes this monkey laugh, works for the best firm”.By mutual agreement, the Infoscion took the first turn. Being a pure logical strategist, the Infoscion tried to make the monkey laugh by telling jokes. The monkey stayed still. As a more practical consultant, the Wipro guy tried to make funny gestures… no good, the monkey stayed put… Now, comes the TCSer… being the practical guy he was always trained to be, he whispered something into the monkey’s ear, and it burst out laughing at him.The other two were astonished. How did this TCS guy manage to beat them?No way they were going to accept defeat so easily.So the Wipro guy said “OK, let’s take another test. Let’s make this monkey cry !!”So there they went again, applying the same methods as before. The Infosys guy narrated sad stories, the Wipro guy made sad gestures, and they failed again…Then, the TCSer again whispered something into the monkey’s ear and lo! It started crying, patting the TCSer’s shoulder!The other two just could not believe their eyes!So the Infoscion said “OK, you’ve won twice. If you can win just this one, we will bow to you. Let’s make this monkey run”. And he barked at the monkey and ordered him to run. Of course, it stayed where it was. The Wipro guy, true to his type, pushed and prodded the monkey – still No go. So…here comes our TCS guy, again, and whispers into the monkey’s ear. The monkey just takes off! It runs and runs as fast as it can, as if it was scared to death!The other two surrendered. Said they: “OK, we give up. You’re the best among us, and you work for the Best firm of the three.But please, please tell us your secret,” they begged him. “Well”, said the TCSer,”The first time I made it laugh, I told it I work for TCS. The next time, I told the monkey how much I get paid…so it started crying. And then I told him that I was here for recruitment!!!”

  • Exact vs Abstract

    i will most prob buy a cd today, but am finding it difficult to choose between john denver and the corrs.. i know, the genres are different, i have listened to a couple of songs of both, so….will share the other point that is inspired by a ‘spark’ from ‘india unbound’..unfortunately the author does not give a great deal of space to it in the book…it is to do with exact vs abstract….we pursue the study of exact (science) more than the study of abstract (art)…maybe because it is more difficult to make our mark in the latter, and only when we make a mark do we get some monetary returns on it….but in the former, we dont need to be extra special to make money…but i envy americans coz they somehow manage to pursue their dreams, i am speaking in generalities, but if i sing reasonably well here, i wouldnt try all my best to do that, it is subjective but i am speaking more or less for a majority of indians …. i think it is do with a lot of factors – culture, attitude, conditions…..i hope we can reach that stage one day, coz if our work is based on our passion, we will be successful and happy, right??thats it for today, heres
    manuscrypts trivia
    just a forward i got…TWO TOUGH QUESTIONS Question 1: If you knew a woman who was pregnant, who had 8 kids already, three who were deaf, two who were blind, one mentally retarded, and she had syphilis, would you recommend that she have an abortion? Read the next question before looking at the answer for this one. Question 2: It is time to elect a new world leader, and only your vote counts. Here are the facts about the three leading candidates. Candidate A – Associates with crooked politicians, and consults with astrologists. He’s had two Mistresses. He also chain smokes and drinks 8 to 10 martinis a day. Candidate B – He was kicked out of office twice, sleeps until noon, used opium in college and drinks a quart of whiskey every evening. Candidate C He is a decorated war hero. He’s a vegetarian, doesn’t smoke, drinks an occasional beer and never cheated on his wife. Which of these candidates would be your choice? Decide first, no peeking, then scroll down for the answer. ANSWERS Candidate A is Franklin D. Roosevelt. Candidate B is Winston Churchill. Candidate C is Adolph Hitler. And, by the way, the answer to the abortion question: If you said “YES”, you just killed Beethoven. Pretty interesting isn’t it? Makes a person think before judging someone.

  • Our kinda modern

    first up, a very happy friendship (yester) day to all of you…though to be honest, there shouldnt be a day for this, friends are forever… oh, well, those poor archies guys have to find ways to make money, dont they..hehei have finally finished ‘india unbound’, and am now reading roald dahl’s supposedly best stories, and to be very honest, after 110 pages out of 360 odd, it still hasnt delivered the kind of stuff it promises on the back cover, so it is not on my medialist…!!
    there are some guys outside my office protesting against the government for something, regular stuff in india, but the difference today is that they have stripped down to their undies…hehe, gives a whole new meaning to ‘india unbound’..yeah, speaking of that book, stll a couple of good points to share…one, about our concept of modern….our modern is mostly ‘western’… whatever is accepted there gets accepted here too…. from pizzas to music videos, oit is ironic that there is a jam packed crowd for every performance of indian maestros in the west, but here, its is only a niche audience….i dont think quality is the chief criterion we employ when we choose goods, services or whatever, there is basically a bias towards whatever is western, and thus we tend to kill whatever is homegrown, yes there are brands that survive, but i believe they entered the indian consumer’s brain before the concept of ‘western-modern’ came about……the other point, tomorrow’s post….meanwhile
    manuscrypts trivia
    “If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe.” – Carl Sagan

  • If its ok with them…

    it seems the quest for happiness is dogging everyone, (read wonderbug’s post today)…like i wrote a couple of days back, ‘true happiness’ is so dynamic, that we only have just enough time to experience it, so defining it is way way off….Carrying on from yesterday, with most ‘sparks’ from the book i am reading now…..i doubt if our generation can produce a bhagat singh…..who would die for a cause…. just a thought, who knows what his intentions were, maybe he measured his happiness by his martyr status, and made a gamble….but i doubt.. i am still a fan, and believe in the nobility of his intentions…we have produced individuals who would endure for a cause they believe in, the cause is usually money…the college dropout who is the richest guy in the world, the petro giants whose dad started out as a petrol pump attendant in yemen… only stating the rule, not the exceptions…. not taking anything away from their achievements,but the motive..and so it is that most heroes today are industrial giants, and not gandhis and nehrus…again the rule, not the exception….so , society has changed in terms of aspirations and therefore motives…i am not talking of sailors who went in search of treasures, i am talking of commonfolk…where did it all start, hmm, not here, though we had our tatas and birlas, the industrial revolution really happened in europe and america…is that why we always look for endorsements from there…why we compare our quality of life with them, love the coke, mtv lifestyle…dont mistake me, i am not talking swadeshi here, just wondering….prof. amartya sen lauded kerala yesterday for its high life expectancy, low infant mortality rate etc..but with all that, kerala is on a downhill now, the attitude hasnt undergone much change…kerala does have all the indeces of quality of life in a position, where it compares favorably, even with the west…but…..to be continuedmeanwhile, all you guys interested in a kind of lateral thinking, check out this have a great weekend, everyone, not before you check out
    manuscrypts trivia
    “You can never solve a problem on the level on which it was created.”~ Albert Einstein

  • Its all about money, honey?

    That was borrowed from the tagline of indiainfoline.com, i dont see it much these days, wonder if they still use it…but that also is what i am going to write on today…i am reading ‘india unbound’ by gurcharan das(see my medialist), almost finished it…and i am able to relate yesterday’s post to some of the stuff in the book…so, will continue on the path….but i believe, i will be backtracking by the time i finish the entire series..today’s generation, as compared to the ones earlier, gets a lot of money related happiness, mostly because of rising consumerism, which has almost enveloped the more developed countries and is rapidly aadvancing in india…we like to have things literally at our fingertips, and the mouse is a powerful tool.. we order books, gifts and many other things under the sun online, it definitely is convenient….the mobile is also a powerful tool, most of the restaurants here, have introduced home delivery, again the fingertips can get the job done….result of all this is a decrease in the kind of social interaction we grew up with…and whether it is online purchases or home delivery, there is definitely an extra price we pay for it……the BPOs (call centers, in regular parlance) that are spreading like a virus, not necessarily with the same dire consequences, hehe, they are either making calls or receiving calls,giving customers from far flung corners of the globe, info about a variety of products and services….so we have convenience, better economies coz these call center employees make good money, so more disposable income….but are we losing ourselves in the turn of the merry go round, why do we have waves of nostalgia? why do we turn to our blogs as outlets? a query, can our generation produce a bhagat singh or an aung san suu kyi, who would endure purely for what they believe in …..we have, but in a different mould, more on that tomorrow…. leaving you with
    manuscrypts trivia
    ‘If somebody gives you a free ticket for a tour, you cannot fight with the person because of the troubles you meet while on the journey.’….leena chandavarkar, on life