clog

Here are some fruits of my multitasking efforts at office while listening intently to conference calls :)

after a month long break from any activity on this blog owing to endless stuff to be taken care off on personal and professional front. Just when the monotony of it all was killing me, I am getting a whiff of the changes (welcome!) to come soon now. I am finishing my longest ever stint with a team and a system and a city at a stretch. Very soon all the three parameters will change at least for a short duration and that is definitely welcome. To make it happen was no mean task and drained me off a lot of energy (which I so value!). While I think of last few months and more specifically, the last month, it was a blur. Apart from other things there was IPL, and all the stuff related to me moving out of my project and then in one insane moment I enrolled for a morning yoga class with a really sincere and demanding trainer who ensured that every absence was well explained. And then one day, suddenly it all ends like the climax of a Godfather movie, where last 10 minutes would see the end of pretty much everyone who ever messed with the Corleone family. So, with this new found emptiness, I decided to get back here. Before I get too optimistic, I should remind myself that this is probably a matter of a week or so, for next few months promise to be at least as relentless if not more.

I have always been a proponent of change, but this time around I am yearning more for constants. I always had the tendency to feel happy when I would struggle with something, once I get a hang of it, I would get bored and restless. However, this time even though I am pretty happy about the changes (at least till the anticipation phase), I would like this one to last longer. Sort of in a steady state and comfortable mode. Perhaps that is my old age catching up with me.

Let's honor Time magazine by having Sachin Tendulkar in its 100 poll :)
Times 100 2010 poll

and/or perhaps they love Virat Kohli. Here is the proof

Social Studies used to be the most difficult subject to score really good marks but the easiest to score average marks. This peculiarity is attributed to a phenomenon known as partial marks. You can study a very limited portion which can most easily be plugged into any question. Irrespective of the question asked, you can put some general stuff and your teacher would willingly give you a few marks helping you get passing marks overall.

This probably gets so entrenched in our minds that I see the application of this principle so often at work. As always, its hard for people to say I don't know. To respond to something they don't know, they would tell whatever they know without really caring about the question. Often times, they would go on explaining that what they are telling is more important than what is being asked. Well, of course, it may be true in some cases, but not when the partial marks guys are the ones explaining.

For the same reason why a lot of attractive girls are not smart or funny or creative. Now this will sound like a gladwell-esque statement but unlike him I have no stats to prove this right or wrong.

But, being attractive sometimes can cause people to not focus on trying to be smart or funny because they don't need to. In case of IITians, they are usually smarter than the average folks and all they need to or want to rely on is their intelligence. In their over reliance, they tend to ignore a lot of other qualities that make up for a successful career. The big bucket of which is Inter-personal skills and soft skills.

Now, I don't mean they fail, but rather underachieve their potential a lot of times. Granted that the entrance exam is meant to test raw intelligence but the students should have the good sense on build on their raw intelligence.

Contrast two people who do similar in their academics, one brighter than the other. The bright one scores without much effort and the other one does the same but as a result of lot of diligence and hard work i.e attending classes, being nice to the professor, participating it the class by asking questions and may be even dressing well in vivas and classroom. Now, assuming the output is usually same for both of them, the latter would be much more successful in a professional setting. The diligent one is used to being nice to professor and can do the same for his/her superiors. They focus on forming relationships, socializing and in extreme cases just plain old sucking up.

Also, doing something easily some times undermines the value of the work done, so again, the diligent ones score better. Overall, there is more sympathy towards them and they have the right 'look' and usually there are more of them as compared to the brighter ones.

On the other hand, the bright guys don't stop at being careless, some times they develop contempt for lesser able folks (sometimes their bosses) and that is a true recipe for disaster in a team setting. Part of it comes from the culture propagated at IITs. Hard working people are not often seen very kindly there even if they do well. Worse is someone trying to suck up to make up for it. If I have to draw a quadrant, this is how it would look.
Now, even though I have generalized it for IITians, I have seen enough non IITians who's over reliance on performance and complete disregard for everything else has been disastrous for them. This argument may not be valid in all the settings. More or less all the jobs need easy to average problems to be solved and hence other things become more relevant.

However, if you can get to a place where the problems are genuinely tough and there is a clear case of some people doing it clearly better than others, the 'non performance' things may become less relevant. So, for someone with this issue, choosing the right environment may be the easiest and most sustainable solution.

Stayed in draft a bit too long


Its highly unlikely that you didn't recognize him, but if you really didn't, two things - 1) Work on your gk. 2) He is Rahul Mahajan

I have been seen a lot of forwards with quotes on Sachin from various greats. Recently came across one after his 200, that I think should get added to the list.

The old Sachin radiated heat. The new Sachin gives light.
But he still remains the sun.

Courtesy: Greatbong

There are people who are easily accessible and then there are those who are not. The ones who are easily accessible are always helping others (foremost condition is they should be capable). Most of the times they get their due, but do they always? They become like pee pots in the corner of a restroom, used most often but not necessarily designed/rewarded for that.

The point is, the pot has hardly anything to gain from being the most popular to be picked up for the dirty job. It happens in an environment where there is no good work. If you are good (like the strategically located pot is for "pee-rs" - pun intended), you will end up doing the dirty work more often than others (for yourself and others) and a lot of times to no end.

Rediscovered my love for photography after I realized my mobile camera could click decent pictures in daylight.

Animals starting their day at a location near Bhopal


Creepers:
Most fearless duck I have ever seen
Coot

In a crazy world where you see 16 hot chicks running after a loser like Rahul Mahajan in front of an audience of a billion, some things always make sense. Today Sachin reasserted his status as God. Glad to be born in an era where I could watch him play since he started.

Tendulkar hits first 200 in ODIs

This cat has been a regular visitor whenever it finds an open window. Never has it been as persistent as this Friday when it just refused to go away. I ended up playing a benign host. Here are some snapshots:

OK, that's a pose for a passport size photo

Getting comfortable, feeling at home

On being dragged out

This blog is about hobbies, so let me start with the first one that caused me to write this blog - Self flagellation. I hate to be part of this brigade, but I will anyway knowing fully well that I am part of what I am criticizing.

In my pretty long life so far, I think 99% of the folks I ever met would have one or more of the following hobbies
- Stamp collection: Seriously, do they really mean it
- Coin collection
- 'Listening' to music
- Watching TV
- Reading books
- Playing: A lot of people claim this but a very few continue to play after a certain age.

Most of the ones that survive are passive hobbies whereas in my travels outside I came across people who would brew their own beer, a guy who had a server 'farm' in his garage and a guy who would select a historical site, read it up and visit it. Now, it may not sound really outstanding till you know that these are three guys out of a 6 member team and the other three were Indians.

This topic came up because one of my friends who is in US right now told me about a guy who designs and builds furniture in his free time. Now that, you are all red and violet with anger, this guy is actually an Indian staying in US for last 8 years. I wonder if he would be doing the same had he been staying in India. For, I don't see too many people here doing such things.

Here you go up to world cup 2011
http://cricket.rediff.com/report/2010/jan/22/world-cricket-calendar-fixtures-schedule.htm

David Blaine: How I held my breath for 17 min