Unmuddlings!!

I am the person who believes, that winning is a conditioning and so is losing. In that sense winners are winners and losers and losers. I don’t intend to open a Pandora’s box by changing the dictum. But then there is a winner’s loss as much as there is a winner’s curse. We all know that. Similarly the opposite of winners curse is a losers win. So the point is made. And the piece may end here. But then, it would be more of a tweet and not a blog. And am not twitter yet. So let me go on to explain the re-worded title. This is hardly any universal dictum and to a large extent contextual to the people and place involved. As an example, many times in sports we must of heard of a player cruising through an easy draw and suddenly succumbing in a tight match. Or the opposite, a player sweating out a tough match and then using the grilling to dust out the rust and play to win against tougher opposition. So there it is, my losers gain is the opportunity to reflect and learn from a reversal. And ...

At the outset let me give due credits. This title is a copy of the title of JNU professor Dipankar Gupta’s October 11, 2010 TOI editorial. This article has set-up a chain reaction of thoughts. First it gave a general direction, as where I should look answer to a question that was stumping me for a good while now. Second, it has also set the tone for further questions – ranging from the abstract to the real. First things first. We must have all read, heard, written, uttered the word Middle Class. Sometimes derogatorily and some other times approvingly. What is this Middle Class? – That was the question, which had always irked me. Who can be said be a part of the middle class? How can we identify the same? Is it good, or is it bad to be termed one? It started off in the late 90’s, when I was doing entry strategy studies for different products for different Indian and overseas companies. All were going after this 300 million strong middle class – that was supposedly bigger than the big e...

Around this time last weekend I received an sms…which ran like this.. ‘An interesting fact about October 2010. This has 5 Fridays, 5 Saturdays and 5 Sundays, all in one month. It happens once in 823 years……’…..The message went on, urging people to forward to others…. Normally I press the delete button for such forwards, but this time [probably because of the mathematical wonder in it], I instinctively forwarded the message to a few friends. No sooner that I had pressed the trigger – I suddenly realized there is something potentially amiss. This situation of triple 5s, will happen whenever a 31 days month start on Friday. There are 5 months with 31 days and there is a good chance this will situation will happen more regularly than 823. I checked up the calendar and May 2009 too had ‘5 Fridays, 5 Saturdays and 5 Sundays’. So all these forwards we receive that evoke mercy [1 paisa per sms to cancer patients], fear [forward or else…], greed [forward and get magic] irritate most, maybe give...

The cover story on TOI today [Oct 16, 2010] blunts a part of the punch of this piece. But let me write this anyway. This morn, got to read that the PM had ordered for investigations to the questionable deeds in the run-up to the CWG. I have hardly followed CWG, 2010 but for snatches of golden news vide TOI sports pages – quite unlike 1982 Appu’s Asiad when I was glued to the Rohini TV from 9 AM to 9PM; initially at neighbours’ and towards midway at home [aka D48] - but was sub-consciously awaiting the sort of bouquets that Mr. Kalmadi will claim. Like many I was disappointed with brand India being taken for a ride with all the negative media publicity on corruption and ineptitude. Like a few I also secretly feared a terrorist attack like 1972 Munich Games, and the further erosion of Brand India that might happen. But then everyone’s delight, including mine – there were all smiles at the end. A good haul of 100+ medals, second in the tally. No horror stories from the stadia or the games...

Stewart School, Bhubaneswar. The spark associated with these three words, have yet been and will ever remain, one of the most cherished. When I try to explain and understand the reasons – I realize, that there aren’t any that help to rationalize the feelings and yet there is this inevitable intuitive delight associated with the 10 long years of schooling and almost 24 years alumni status. Glorious indeed! It was an honour to have been a part of the Silver Jubilee Celebrations- comprising pan Indian dance formats, Shakespearean plays, Science Exhibition and much more. I remember my moment of pride of having designed a burglar’s alarm for the Science Exhibition – where time spent over a few weeks to create a palatial cardboard house was memorable. Here we are. In no time are staring at the Golden Jubilee celebrations. The last 25 years have gone by in a jiffy. It is difficult to internalize that we are no longer a part of the school premises involved in multifarious activities including ...

Many times, most of us - either in a bantering mood with a serious facade or plainly in a rebellious mood – would have relished taking a contrarian point of view just as a end in itself. This often associated with an inner delight – a story that might be played and re-played to self and willing ears in the times to come. But then, how about toying with such an approach with ones own-self. In the process, turning on its head the self image, pricking it left, right centre. In one of my earlier blogs, I had implied that I might want to write something on self-image. This is a piece related to that. All of us. Full 100%. Sleep with a certain about of self smugness. A innate satisfaction that we have earned our sleep and our image. We actually sleep well or not or whether we will good or bad is a different issue. But we most certainly are often convinced that we have earned our peace and self satisfaction. That’s what is fuel of self image. That is what, fortunately or unfortunately, the ...