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Showing posts from July, 2010

The Decision Flux

Lets do a playback!! Can we run through the last one year or for that one month, and play back the number of decisions we took. Then slot them, to what degree of certainty [relatively firm vs a decent possibility] we thought we would end up sticking to the decisions [probably based on extraneous precedent activities]. Then do a check on actually how things happened really. What % of the firm decisions materialized and what % of the possibilities materialized. Another way of looking at the same conundrum. Lets say we took x no. of stated firm decisions, and we are some maha gentleman or lady and make sure we stick to all our firm decisions over a period of finite time frame. Then at after the decisions are made and a good few weeks later post the time frame – we look back at all our decisions from afar. And assess what % of our firm decisions were correct decisions [based on subsequent info received during the decision time frame]. I somehow have a feeling, - as being the lazy me, I pr

Trust your instincts!! But.... ;)

All the facts or figures that I ll quote, if any, will be purely figments of imagination. Similarly all that I call as instincts, may just be (for you) mere tendencies or inclinations. Whatever it is, I feel like rambling on this topic of instincts – which has been swirling in my head since yesterday afternoon. Lets start with a few questions, • Have you often wanted to avoid an unsolicited phone call?.....as irritated and disdainful as you could be • Do you more than a few times, judge a person by the looks and surroundings?….and put across too confidently your point of view, more strongly than you normally would… • Don’t you have a set of traits, convictions?…that you think they define you and which are the pillars of all the positive things of yours Then the answers: • Guess 4 out of the 5 unsolicited calls [and the wanted ones] were very much worth the miss • Probably 9 out of 10 times, the took a call on whose views to ignore was right • Similarly, am dead sure, what you call are

Need we Promote our Culture's Protectors?...

A small eatery doing brisk business or a flourishing fashion store, don’t just convey the enterprise of the people running the show; but they also convey what their customer yearn for in a demand driven economy. Is holistically happy and healthy life about good food, Hollywood hits, fashion flaunts? In a era that measures money more than anything else, what happens to those ingredients of evolution and good living for which there isn’t always a steady demand. What happens to a passionate coin collector, or a street dancer, the village priest, the benevolent pigeon feeder, the small town magician, the community music teacher, or a provoking movie maker, an exciting athlete or all the various people – who want to passionately pursue a unique or rare talent that they possess as an end itself. Do they also become bean counters – and serve a small exclusive segment, with due manipulation and machinations – or do they live a tough life [and be a bad advertisement for their profession] or wor

Are you from Bhubaneshwar??

Folks, this question is really meant to be tongue in cheek for the 20th century grads of the city. Especially the ones who haven’t stayed in BBSR for many years now; or for the ones who have stayed on but have hardly ventured out and have restricted themselves – figuratively speaking - to only a few watering holes. So many times, I have heard people getting confused about whether they are waiting in CRP Chakka [I mean Square] or Jayadev Vihar signal [thankful not behind the wheel]. With the population percentage growth growing rapidly I am dreadfully waiting for the day, when visitors compare the time spent at traffic signals with those in Haji Ali crossing in my previously amchi Mumbai. That day certainly, I will want to recede further to some other village - aka Koraput or something. Even though there are a few snarling roads / alleys and frustrating crossings now – I hope no one ever compares BBSR to CTC one day [I know this Cuttacki / BBSR fight emerges again – though am not sure i

Looking Through the Glass

As I mulled over this title, during an in-flight meandering amongst the multifariously shaped clouds, I grinned - when it gleamed upon me that this title was too similar with ‘Through the Looking Glass.’ ‘Through the Looking Glass’ is a masterpiece I have never read – even though I have referred to its character [Alice] in few dozen business presentations over the past half a dozen years. This book written by a mathematician!! [can you believe it – for trivia sake Lewis Carroll is the nom-de-plume of Charles Lutwidge Dogdson!!! Who wrote more mathematics books than literary ones I guess] has caught the imagination of the hundreds of millions of people – most of them would not have read the book, like yours truly – over the past 200 years [late 19th century novel]. No wonder the author thought of this name, to title a free wheeling dreamy story. The other day traveling from Kolkotta to BBSR, when I inadvertently let myself be allotted to a window seat [as opposed to the aisle seats –

Wow! Spaniard Stallions - What a delight you were!!

This match the world will remember for a few thousand years. I certainly will. I have been watching world cup football live since Maradona’s epic run against England or Manuel Negrette’s [Mexico’s] bicycle kick in the 1986 world cup – there have been some hugely memorable moments in the past. But nothing to beat the after taste of this wonderful match. For me, it is not just the delightful passes / crosses n ball control, the enterprising recovery tackles, the fluidity in football and the chutzpah of the Spaniards - that wowed me like mad. Today was football at its best – abt 30 men [starting players, subs and officials] performing to their hilt. Njoyed even better without strong favouritism – just mild preferences [well - was that differentiators in yours truly’s mental make-up!!]. The acme of today’s performance was the history. Spain – echoing the words of an ESPN commentator – delivering, after promising for decades. It been almost three decades now, that I have been following wor

Marrakech – The Last Stop of the Quartet

Thanks to our joy of basking in Essaouria, the days at Marrakech [pronounced as ma-ra-kesh] got curtailed to an overnight stay sandwiched by an afternoon and a forenoon. But at the end we were happy to have made it to it, thanks to all that we heard from Abdelhadi – the friend we made during our sojourn to Fez, and take away with us a feeling of having been there and seen it. Marrakech, which was the capital of Morocco during the 11th-12th century AD [or thereabouts], has a distinctive vibe of its own. For that matter every Moroccan place that we had been to has a very distinctive flair of its own. Casablanca – flurry of business activity and certainly more people on the streets; Fez which has two lives of his own anyways – one a relaxed French colony [without Frenchmen] and another medieval city, Essaouria – is more of the rejuvenating hamlet, with the pace of life slow as a turtle’s marathon race. What most strikes oneself, as one steps into Marrakech are the red coloured buildings