Month: April 2008

Solving the wrong problem

Prasad Ajinkya7 Comments

Well its all over the news … just read it in today’s news. There is now going to be an OBC quota for IIMs, question one should be asking really is – Why do you need reservation in a premier post-graduation institute?

So now, they (Arjun Singh and his myopic HRD cronies) have increased the total number of seats, and increased the OBC quota for students. Looks like the decision to hike the fees by A and B was a wise one … lets just say that the higher fees are a premium for excellence and leave it at that!!

At the risk of sounding arrogant, heres a question –
If the holes in a sieve are increased, do you still hope to get the same quality of refinement?

Sometimes I think these news are there in the just for the IIM group discussions and nothing else! In the end, its all foo.

Inertia

Prasad Ajinkya4 Comments

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.

Grey Day

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Ever have one of those days where you keep on getting this strange foreboding sensation … that the sh*t is about to hit the fan?

Today is one of them … nothing remarkable, just another day in the office, but still … when your heart is in your throat in anticipation … do not ask me anticipation of what. If I knew, then I would be a much happier person.

Makes me appreciate the Fear of the Dark – Iron Maiden :-)

Faith

Prasad Ajinkya19 Comments
lights

Me and Amit have been having this debate since the past 2 and a half years now. It’s on the existence of god … I take the side of the theists and Sharma takes the side of the atheists. In fact he has gotten so good at that that by now he is a moderator in one of such inane communities. I just believe in god. I cant prove god’s existence, its a premise for me. And its blind acceptance to that fact.

This weekend, I had been to my family’s guru’s ashram. I was going there after an absence of 12 years (not that I missed not going there). Whilst on the way, I was questioning the many practices followed there … no leather items, lower castes may not enter certain areas, lower castes have to wait for the brahmins to finish their meals, et al. My mother seemed to take this to heart, the next day when we were having a discussion with the high priest over there, she asked him this question about why no leather … and the explanation he gave … or rather the answer he gave set me thinking.

The disciple does not have to look at question or logic for answers, he needs to look at his faith for those answers. The moment we start looking at other sources than our own faith, we have lost our faith in that particular thing. Be it god, be it science, be it the paranormal. Mulder had faith in aliens, Scully had faith in science, I have faith in god … what do you have faith in?

D-Wars

Prasad Ajinkya5 Comments

If you think IMDB is just a collection of people trying to manipulate people into watching movies they want them to watch, then think again.

Yesterday, I bought tickets for D-Wars (Dragon Wars) the movie released today. Just when my tickets were confirmed online, I checked out the IMDB rating .. 3.8 !! No worries, I reassured my friends into thinking that IMDB does not fit into the “Indian context“.

Today, I have seen the worst sfx movie ever. One question to the movie crew … Why?

Highly recommend give this movie a skip. You wont live to regret it.

PS – Check out the user comment on the imdb page of this movie. Its so apt, that I wish to copy paste it here!!

5 years hence

Prasad Ajinkya5 Comments

When I was an engineer, the campus placements were on full swing … well, not so full … it was the Dot Com Bust of 2002, remember?

So a new firm had come to campus – IRIS. And I was intent on getting placed. The interview was going well and I seemed to have the technical part of the interview clinched (whew!). Now the hard part … the HR round. Some weird questions were thrown in, but I got them or dodged them safely … then the head HR (Jayaraman, as I would soon find out) asks me, “Where do you see yourself in 5 years?”

I had not thought of this question (I was green under the gills, cut me some slack here!!). The smart alec inside me wanted to blurt out … “On the other side of the table” … I did not. I gave some simple minded answer and that was that.

5 years hence, I am taking interviews … and I AM on the other side of the table.

Taxes as Perks

Prasad Ajinkya4 Comments

The end of the fiscal year and I am waving goodbye to what the taxman has taken from me. Just another gloomy evening when I came across this link.

Is it not great how companies can twist pain to feel like pleasure? Everybody hates paying taxes, so do CEOs. And now a perk to their job is that the firm will bear the brunt of their taxes.

Suddenly, I feel that I want to be a CEO.