Written by 
Was going through the Dilbert archives when I came across this two strips. Real example of what happens when management makes uninformed decisions about technology where they are clueless. Seems familiar to you too?
Posts tagged musing
You are what you listen
Do you identify with your genre of music?
What I mean to say is that when you are listening to a particular genre or an artiste, then do you feel the emotion of that song within you?? Sometimes I think that most of the bands which have shot to fame are not simply because they write good melodies or great lyrics … its because their target group can identify with the emotion underneath the song.
Do you not want to listen to a specific genre depending on your emotion?
Think about it in this way … a fan of Marilyn Manson, would most likely be wearing gothic makeup, would have had a troubled teenage life, feels unduly wronged … a fan of DJ Tiesto or Paul Oakenfield would love to dance to a good tune and definitely loves a smooth life … Linkin Park listeners would have a pent up frustration within themselves, occassionally wanting to shout out against the system. Or have I wrongly analysed the situation?
So whats your groove?
Inertia
What do you do when you seem to be cruising on a wide highway … and suddenly out of no-where a sharp corner comes into view? Well, you hit the brakes, slow down and turn with the curve.
Fair enough, you can drive. What would you do when the same analogy applies to your life?
Let me explain, what is a person supposed to do when he realizes that the nice and easy life is going to change (I never said end) … mostly for the better. But the lazy person that he is, is opposing the entire change, just because of its inherent nature … change. The person just like the car, lurches forward out of his rut and into the new direction given to his course. Heading for the unknown.
Nostalgia
It has been 2 years (and 2 days) since I have left the campus on the molehill. All the spirals are lying safely packed in my room, the strategies and ideas have given way to the practicalities of real life. Nonetheless, when I was reading Sumedh’s post on CounterStrike … a stream of memories rushed forth. Those hours of insane midnight gaming, those supercharged competitive section matches, those mid-game strategy sessions and counter-attack theories.
Sat today and played CS with a friend and some bots. It was not that great, but the nostalgic feeling is being rekindled with a fuzzy warm feeling about how we used to play CS in 2004-2006.
Sigh! Heres to days gone by.
Interviews
Have you ever been in an interview thinking “What am I doing here?” … its probably a good thing if you have not been in such a scenario. I have been unfortunate enough to be in such a situation while being on both sides of the table viz., interviewee and interviewer. Being the interviewer is much more fun and a lot more relaxing.
Some of the things to watch out for if you ever are stuck in such a situation -
- Ask yourself this – Are you that desperate that you want to be in such a situation to filter out those maybes from the definitely nots? If yes, then please fire away
- Look at the time, it is a precious commodity. If the person you are interviewing is tryign to mislead the interview, remember you decide when the interview stops, do not feel afraid of being too rude
- Some candidates can really be upto-no-good, drop them at the first sight. Do not entertain such people further … its an injustice to them if they think that they are worthy of showing interest. I once ended up wasting a good hour trying to find out why did the candidate apply for what he did … answer was simple … employment
- Have your HR/Recruitment guys screen them at the start itself, this eliminates all the definitely nots from the list
- If that person has applied for a role in your department, ask a simple question to yourself … would you want to see this face daily? There is a lot more to face value than just the face
Will post more my experiences as soon as I manage to reconcile those resumes.
Juno
Have any of you watched the movie Kya Kehna – its the one in which Preity Zinta gets pregnant while still being an undergraduate. The entire movie is one sob story followed by next, how the society shuns her, how her college shuns her, how Preity’s character simply buckles under all the pressure … well, I have to confess that I could not stand to watch the entire movie. I had to switch the channel, I do not like to watch people roll about in their self-pity.
That is precisely the reason why I loved Juno. The outline of the plot is the same … Juno, the main character of the movie, finds out that she is pregnant. The first 30 minutes go about in how the news has impacted her and all her friends … her parents, and their reaction about the news. The fresh perspective comes now … her parents accept it naturally and extend her the much needed support. Her friend also helps her out in her own inane way … by finding out a surrogate family to whom Juno can donate the child to. Juno meets the loving family, and decides that her baby would be safe with this family. The baby’s father is Juno’s good friend Bleeker (played by Michael Cera from Superbad) who is completely unaware and not there during the entire pregnancy. The movie has its fair share of twists and turns … where we are forced to think about relationships as the plot unfolds.
Juno is shown as the unpredictable, cool chick who is simply not ready for this, and yet she takes this on and goes through it … without victimizing herself. Without feeling sorry for herself at any moment. And thats why I loved it so much. Definitely a 8.2
I for Implementation
I was watching the idiot box when I was at home, when I saw the new IBM ad. Here’s its original one.
And then it struck me. How true is this? Especially for IIM grads 
. When we were at IIM-Indore, we had this urge to name almost all initiatives with the letter I. And all the initiatives would have some words starting from I to connote the message, mantra, dictum, et al.
Always it was something like ideation, incubation, inspiration, innovation, etc. etc. … you got the drift right?
What we did not think was I for Implementation. That word strikes us right in the middle of our eyes the moment we start our work, since up till that point the majority of us are involved in theory and not practice. Hence ideas, innovations, strategies, etc… and not roll-out plans, implementation plans, work schedules. Even as I am typing these words, the earlier ones seem more glamorous than the later. Its not that we made out elaborate plans and never fulfilled them when we were students, we managed to get them done as well. Just, that it amuses me that most of us are geared to do the strategies rather than the execution.
Interesting, huh … sort of like Lions for Lambs , just a 6.2 on IMDB.
Meetings
Its 4pm today (read day-before-yesterday), when I have started doodling this blog post. Yes, I am one of those people who sometimes write their blog post on paper before they digitize it. This is being done in the throes or should I say meanders of a meeting. It had started 2 hours ago, and I am getting shudders remembering it. From the start, all of us knew that it was going to be a monster of a meeting.
Still, we managed to touch base upon pollination of flowers, onion and potato rates and how interesting the commodities market is becoming. We had assembled to finalize SAP process flows. We are a retail merchandising firm. I love meetings.
The ideal number of people in a meeting is 3-4, the moment it goes above that, you are asking for trouble. You will have atleast one person (like moi in this case) who will be doodling on a piece of paper.
Focus Prasad!! Focus!!!
Its 8pm now, and we have managed to cover some ground, but it looks pretty glum from my end. I decided to put together a small list that people like me can do when they end up in meetings such as these -
- Think about the more recent interesting stuff you have read
- Start a screensaver in your mind, I personally like the Hufo’s Smoke on a linux machine
- Butt into the meeting with something that borders between sense and incoherence to make your presence felt
- Try listening for a change and even add “value” to the meeting
- Try playing your favorite tune in your head
- Send stratified SMSes to your loved ones
- Make lists such as these, preferably with a straight face
- Think about new ways to customize your blog and your website
- Order for coffee and biscuits
- Move about the meeting as if people are calling you out for something important or the other
- Drink enough coffee/water that you have to visit the water closet
Got any more? Do drop me in a line then!!
Cheers.
Valentine’s Day
So its that time of the year again. When all the retailers and big brands of the world try to woo the lucky couples off to a romantic time and great gifts!! Fly a couple and get 10 tickets free, buy for two and get 10% off … is it really all just a marketing gimmick? Open any newspaper or surf to any channel, and you will see what I am hinting at.
Abstract from Wikipedia -
Saint Valentine (in Latin, Valentinus) is the name of several martyred saints of ancient Rome. Of the Saint Valentine whose feast is on February 14, nothing is known except his name and that he was buried at the Via Flaminia north of Rome on February 14. It is even uncertain whether the feast of that day celebrates only one saint or two or more saints of the same name. For this reason this liturgical commemoration was not kept in the Roman Catholic calendar of saints for universal liturgical veneration as revised in 1969.[2] Traditional Roman Catholics continue to venerate St. Valentine on his feast day, February 14.
Funny, isnt it? If so little is actually known about the group of saints who gave their life for the masses, still this day is celebrated on such a vast scale.
Aamchi Mumbai
This just in.
Thank god for some good sense!! Saamna was bound to slam one of their own. The moment Raj Thackeray must have said those words, there would have been some minds tracing the eddies those remarks must have caused in the social currents of the city.
Slamming non-mumbaikars to garner the vote of the marathi manus is one thing. This is more like trying to take the cake and eating it too. At any point of time, if you see what is running a huge city like Mumbai, then it is the corporates, the financial markets, bollywood, underworld, politics, et al. How many maharashtrians (I am trying to use the politically correct term here!) do you know in any of these fields?
Take the non-mumbaikars out of Mumbai, and the city does not remain Mumbai!! It looses its proverbial charm! The economy goes down, unemployment goes up … from a T1 city, it might plummet to as low as a T3 city. I am not exaggerating here!! What are you standing to gain after coming to rule in such a city?
Some things are better when shared. Aamchi Mumbai is open to all. It feeds on precisely that.