A Match Made in Heaven?

"See we gotta get it right but we always get it wrong 

And it be the same old thing and it be the same old song 

Here we go one more time here we go one more time

Now we Spinnin' yeah we spinnin' 

Yeah we spinnin' now we spun "

- Lyrics from Flipsyde's Spun, the song I am listening to right now

Words out of Sania Mirza's life? Who knows, except the divine matchmaker!?

Today's latest celebrity scoop that the tennis damsel is going to marry Shoaib Malik comes as a bolt out of the blue for many readers. In 2007, she said she is struck by Shoaib Akhtar , later she ends up getting engaged to her childhood sweetheart,  Sohrab Mirza ..and now, she is all set to be married to cricketer Shoaib Malik  . 

Ain't she an ace at being in the news  for everything but tennis!?

But lets, assess for the sake of putting some sense out of this game, will this cross-border marriage work? A marriage where 2 celebrity sports-people from enemy-nations are involved, one serving a sports ban and one recuperating. Both of them have had "hyderabadi heartbreaks" (apparently Malik was engaged to a certain Ayesha Siddiqui from Hyderabad).  Moreover, they are likely to be in the media glare, even on a neutral turf like Dubai (where they plan to settle for now). Former Pak opener Mohsin married actress Reena Roy  in the 1980s but it did not last. 
Or maybe the "external environment" does not matter, what matters is that the families agree and as sports persons they support each other in their careers..a very happy ending to this rocky start. It is a million dollar question but always an interesting when one Sania is involved. Marry she will to anyone in sight, but she is firstly betrothed to controversy!

Quizzing and Competing!

It was a wonderful experience, being one of the teams at the Tata Crucible Quiz's stage! Out of 120 teams that participated in the Mumbai regional rounds , and we girls managed to crack the finals. The questions were all based on lateral thinking and business awareness (a lot of them were about Tatas though!). We got more than 50% of the questions right in the prelims and were confident of qualifying. In the next rounds, we did try our best but lost out with just a question in the buzzer round. Learning: Not only the correct answers get counted but the speediest ones.Only one team moved to the National finals, and indeed they deserved the win. We came back with a renewed vigour for contesting next year and a couple of great prizes!

Quiz master Pickbrain's quizzing is fast paced and witty and I enjoyed the questions thoroughly. Another satisfying thing was that I found an excellent quizzing partner in my class, Chika, she is very bright and is as interested in quizzing as I am. I 've been part of Delhi University quizzing circuit and Brand equity quiz and have continued being part of quizzes since school (used to be the only girl competing in sports quiz then!), but I think 2010-11 is my only good chance of taking on some serious wins. Quest begins, and this is something I would surely enjoy!

Music and Memories

Photo: Long back, Garry and I won 2nd prize at a collage making competition, the nerds that we were (are), finding (some strange?) infinite joy in Trigonometry .. we called it "Dreams Unlimited"

On an afternoon just like the one today..oh no, I don't think I 'd be feeling the same like the one I am talking about. Today I 've got the time and space to think about the many that went by. Then, I was different. Everything around me was well, different. I was in a different space, but somewhere it feels deja vu. I get it, its the track that's playing in the background. Music evokes feelings and I love the emotional experience, the power it has to change your mood, thinking and actions! 

And I think about the days I used to dance to MTV playing in the TV room whenever my favourite track came, and those when I had a walkman, and that felt like the greatest gift from God. I just downloaded some songs of the "era", and I feel I am back there: a teenager, singing about feelings I didn't know then but know now. Maybe I 'll understand some songs better a few years down the line. 

I don't think I' ve spent a single day without listening or singing something. I 've lived in a musically inspired family and that helped alot. I love muzzzzzzaaaaaaaaaaaaaak ! 

Bailout Season

It's everywhere, this word. A concept that was in our psyche since time immemorial but has really caught on in the public space recently. The rationale of having someone look after you  in bad times or in case you default has been extended to companies (US auto industry, Indian banking industry), country governments (Greece), and individuals (doles). It is a policy challenge/dilemma for all. Should you bailout someone? Should you be bailed out? On what conditions should the bailout take place? I think the real question is : is their a REAL bailout? Or is it a mindset that drags you to make mistakes confidently, let someone be responsible for your failings by giving away your freedom temporarily?

Another viewpoint would say that we live in a symbiotic space where even the flapping of a butterfly's wings causes effects, so in view of this bailouts could be seen as a natural process. Sometimes I save you, sometimes you save me.  

Ideally, one should strive to create a system (family, organisation, institution) where accountability is encouraged, where risk taking should be promoted. In such a system, people should be encouraged to reveal problems before they snowball. If they are reluctant to open up, the likelihood that they will hide systemic faults will be detrimental. At the same time, bailouts should not be ad-hoc but rule based. 

Women's Day Musings

I am proud to be a woman, fortunate to have been raised- up to believe in myself, find a meaning in my life and assist others to make meaning. As a woman and foremost, a human being, I  am blessed by god to partake the responsibilities of a higher order. God has designed women to be attractive, more expressive , more tolerant and well they come with certain 'conditions': she has to be protected and cared for.

Best Thing about Being A Woman, and the Worst.......

I love that as women we have many more avenues of self- expression: color, clothes, cosmetics, crying...........

What I dislike about women in general is that they have a tendecy to be openly jealous. I hate sterotyping but these are my generalisations in this short life journey.

Best Woman in my Life

Mother. The first one I have seen. I see her face in Mother Mary, Goddess Durga, Kali and Saraswati. The best thing about my mom is her ability to adapt so well...how she can be strict at one moment and completely cutesy at another one.

When the Mind Is In Sufficient Chaos

I think I've figured out, what life is.
A journey, a test of mettle
Where everything pivots
Around Winning and Losing
Essentially Trying.
We win some and lose some
and the rest of the time
We seek something,
which will make us feel
the same rush of adrenaline,
That we feel when we are winning.

The wise men said we are actors
who play ourselves and someone else
real and illusionary
fair and contradictory
So we play the game
Roll the dice
and feel we are in charge.

I think we are in a giant ocean
Trying to stay afloat
While we take plunges in deep sea oft
Gulp saline, and recover
Only to find that shores are tough to find
But we like the search
We like the ride on the waves
We like the unbridled freedom
and we like it when
We have someone to hold us out in the midst of a storm.
In the end, we are all
               Floating weeds
                         Aimless algae
                                    Weak Anemones.

(Deadfish Photo by gogo, Baga beach)

Guest lecture by Upendra Namburi, GE Money

Bridging the gap between theory and practice, we had Upendra Namburi, and alumnus of our B- school and presently the Vice President - Partnership Cards to address us students. He is an eloquent expert on product development by using consumer and market insights. I feel its best to learn from someone who's been in the helm of affairs. His presentation was not ostentatious with fancy Power point slides (After all, he seemed to be an ardent supporter of cutting the fluff and focusing on good ideas). He made 5 pertinent points about his career's learnings: 

1) Buck stops with me: The attitude while performing any job should be "What all would I have to make this yield the final outcomes". A job done with a sense of ownership yields positive results. 

2 )Keep on eye the ball : It is important to keep a tab on the action and your key result areas ("numbers"). 

3) Walk the Talk: Leaders ought to do what they preach. Those who do, can motivate people to follow them.Set an example before your preach. 

4) Face your Ghosts: It is important and often a painful process to recognize your weaknesses. Once you do, identify work that seems difficult to you and try to do it yourself or seek assistance from those who possess the skills that you lack.   

5) Murphy Rules: It is about the Execution: No, its not about ideas. Its all about who executes, and who executes it well. 

All in all, I think he spoke about what is really a reality in the corporate life and the unwritten rules that guide it. I sought a clarification about the first point: often people in the organisation do not like it when you overstep their authority or so as to say "organisational role" if you are the kinds who takes initiative and "want to do it all'. I liked Namburi's answer, he explained the thin line between THINKING that you own it, and DOING a job as if you own it. The attitude should be such that "I am responsible for the results" though the action may be manifested through a team. That is called being a team player I guess.

Upendra Namburi's blog : Loyalty Redefined

Wisdom from Weimar

“Are you in earnest? Seize this very minute;
What you can do, or dream, you begin it;
Boldness hath genius, power, and magic in it,
Only engage, and then the mind grows heated.
Begin; and then the work will be completed. “

- Johann Wolfgang Goethe

Read at http://robinsamuel.blogspot.com/

"Everyone's doing it"

Summary of an article by Robert M Green published in Business Ethics Quarterly 

("Everyone's doing it" abbreviated as EDI hereon)  

EDI: A Moral Justification 

- EDI is often an excuse to seek a bail out from an repercussions of an action which is widespread but less than ideal (e.g mitigate a punishment of a crime by offering EDI as a justification)

- In business, one often justifies a moral compromise under the garb of "competition is doing it too" 

But, 

1) Moral Conducts are Situational

- There might be situations where if you do not participate in the widespread (though immoral) behavior, you may be penalised for non-conformance (a common example I can think of is ragging) or suffer a personal harm or loss (casting couch)

- In business, these might be situations like offering or accepting a bribe, which may be classified as EDI by the party who commits it 

2) Moral Conducts  are Perceived Differently by Different People

- Some communities may have differing view of what is moral and what is not. 

- When the belief or moral value of majority is offered as a rationale to establish superiority,  EDI !

So, when can you morally justify EDI? (This is quite complex now)

When atleast first 4 out of these 5 conditions stand valid  : 

1) If refraining from the behavior do not cause you or your loved ones harm

2) If indulging in this activity will not harm others 

3) If this act becomes public knowledge, others will not engage in a substantially harmful act 

4) If this becomes public knowledge, your refraining from this behavior will not lead others to refrain from

it

5) Your refraining from this behavior will not unavoidably lead others to engage in it in ways that are substantially more harmful than would have been the case had you chosen to engage in it yourself

(Note: Phew, so my things  we do then will be immoral!) 

So I simplify it for you: 

1) Assess the cost of refraining on yourself (your loved ones a part of your-self)

2) Are you by refraining or doing this act harming others? 

3) Are you setting an example for others? Is it positive? Or detrimental? 

4) Is the act publically permissible? 

An act therefore is morally permissible if it does not harm self or others and the "actor" does not merit punishment or blame for doing so. 

Conclusion : 

Essentially the author is saying that being an ape is not the way to survival in the human civilisation. One has to have a logic in conducting business and self. We must consider the context, repercussions and compassion to analyse the situation to act. 

How do you decide whom to trust?

Photo: By me, at Kalaghoda Arts Festival

Well, what a silly question you may ask. But takes a lot to start trusting people. Trust is a prerequisite to any relationship: momentary or life long, loose ties or strong.  So for example, how do you tell whom to ask the direction while driving? How do you then decide to trust this 'chosen' person. Although it might be random to spot a person to ask the way, there is a lot of activity to finally decide whether to take his word or not. If that person was right and he/she helped you thank your "judgement" or "luck".  

How to you learn to trust your mother? No one remembers, okay but still let me guess. Based on our  experiences with our mother (caring and protecting attributes) we have slowly developed a keen sense to lean on our judgment more than the random factor or luck. Now the trust comes up intuitively. Take any other example, and you will find that after a while, a certain randomness in judging people gives way to a more organised and conceptual (though sub-conscious)  algorithmic process (logic). We have a mental check box, which probably starts from physical manifestation (way they appear, way they behave and way they express) to a meta-physical one (way they think, react and judge). Its intriguing to me, all this. I know that I keenly rely on both my intuition and logic to trust people in my day to day life, though I ll leave it to the psychologists to find out how the intermingling happens. I do go wrong, though like everyone in trusting some people: sometimes because they are good at putting up a facade and at other times, because I missed the fine print. 

What a Waste of A Day Today

I hate whiling away time. Just hate it when I lunge around the house contributing little to what I am supposed to do. But I know that I can go to whatever extent to avoid what I truly hate to do. Of course there are times when things move slowly, and I am okay with it...but I get this feeling there are ladders to climb, and I am just palsying around.

What's the Best Blessing?

How do you wish someone well, truly from the heart? What do you say to them that you wish that no harm come to them, especially if they are really close to you? How to you express them that you truly wish the best, knowing quite well that often in life there are times when they might not quite get what they want. There are blessings that I have heard elders give to the young, traditional Indian ones, which if roughly translated mean "Be blessed and fructify, may you be bathed in milk!". Then there are exclamations like "May you live long!", "Wish you all the luck" or "God bless you". 

Question Question! Then, what is the best blessing? What would I want to really wish if I want to wish them the best? I have come to understand that wishing that nothing should go wrong is idealistic. While blessing, one cannot anticipate that things would go wrong too. How do I wish so that I remain true to it?
So a realistic blessing would be "I wish that God gives you the strength to overcome any setback." To learn to be a phoenix is a blessing. The best blessing that would work in dark times, provide strength when there is none. I have come to know in times when you really need some external motivation, counting such blessings helps you tide over.

Ethics class musings

Somehow, our business ethics classes are very interesting. I swear , only a few other things interest me besides well- presented opinions and a crafty discussion.  The facilitator of our course has a point of view, sometimes rather controversial (she gets ultra- defensive sometimes). A generation gap is evident (she tries hard to connect to our generation, often in vain), and so her context: she is a yoga practitioner, a fan of scriptures, a mother of 3 and half year old daughter. She is rather patriotic and has a soft corner for all things noble and charitable. The delivery of the classes apart,  the content she brings to the course is worth reflecting. These classes are not heavy and sapping, and a refreshing respite for me. I just hope they took place in a garden or a nice picnic spot, where a huge group gathered for a battle of the minds, beliefs and wits. 

Each day is a test, that is what I have realised. Its a test of our ethics and integrity, and our decision making capacity. it is about ethics, and we hardly need classes for that. Yet, its a good idea to thing about "What Ifs" and present your opinion. My mom now thinks such discussions and pondering are a waste of energy, but  I miss times when my mom used to oblige me for long discussions on ethics over long walks and trips. I think now I am too busy for it too, and she is recuperating. Ethics are work in progress, nothing wrong or right, just real. 

Golden Baritones: My Favorite Male Vocalists

Scott Stapp: 


Lead singer of Creed, now gone solo. Love his deep voice, meaningful lyrics and the ability of his songs to powerfully believe in them. He can inspire a calm rebellion in the head.  


Image from: Jordan White's blog 






Eddie Vedder: 


Lead singer of Pearl Jam. The altern-god. Can you imagine "Jeremy", "Green Disease" without him? Recently got introduced to his song "Hard Sun". Love his song's lyrics and the rough yet velvety quality of the voice.

Image from babble.com

            

Bruce Springsteen 

He ain't the Boss for nothing. There is something reassuring and comforting about his voice. Powerfully nostalgic, evoking deep-seated memories. He could be a vocal shaman.

Image from: Friends of Music, wordpress

Chris Martin:

Lead singer of Coldplay. Messiah of anemic rock. He has a mysteriously smooth vocal quality, not a baritone exactly but a versatile and pleasant voice.

Image from zimbio.

                                                     Hariharan
Ever since he sang "Krishna" as part of Colonial Cousins, I have been his fan.       "Ay Hairathe" is made for him. Bless him and AR Rehman!

Chad Kroeger

Lead singer and co-guitarist of Nickelback. True rock-star, Perfect baritone. To die for! Just sing my name once !

Image from: mysticgames.com 

CK Prahalad's lecture on "Sampoorna Azadi for India"

Sixty years of being a republic, sixty three years of being a free nation, but is India really free? Prof.  CK Prahalad, one of the most influential thinkers and strategists of our times, spoke at the Nani Palkhiwala Memorial Lecture in Mumbai on Jan 14, 2010. He spoke about the need for socio-political innovations that would change the landscape of India for good, and help it achieve its potential. The title of his lecture was : 'From Sampurna Swaraj to Sampurna Azadi: The Unfinished Agenda',

I agree with the professor that we miss Gandhiji's leadership in the current times.  His was a unifying leadership but today we lack leaders who can  "reinforce Indianness to the masses with clarity and force". What could be so Indian about us? The vibrancy of our existence, if I may say. 

Prof. Prahlad calculates that corruption costs India 2.5 crore. How he arrived at this number is noteworthy. He also cites key data regarding how wasteful our elections are. The 2009 Lok Sabha elections are reported to have cost the country Rs 10,000 crore. Of this, Rs 1,300 crore was spent by the Election Commission and Rs 700 crore by the Centre and state governments. The remaining Rs 8,000 crore were spent by political parties and individual candidates. So are we a poor nation? We are an unequal nation, we are driven by dirty politics and the we the people have to be responsible for cleaning the system. 

He talked about what we all know: need for education and electoral reforms, but what I found most impressive is that he advocated a shift of focus of policy and decision-making from minorities and special rights to on individual rights and meritocracy. Hence he gave a thumbs up to projects like UID, local governance and e-governance. I met professor after the lecture to congratulate him and he obliged for an autograph as well.

A Landmark Birthday

So, I am 25 today. I enter a new quarter. A phase where I need to take responsibility of people and things, a move from being dependent on others. A move to consolidate and advance achievement, accomplish dreams, be productive and live life with zest. To make a difference, to strive, to love and contribute. So my first birthday  away from home, different in many ways and similar in some. Missed my folks but getting used  to new friends and environs. Glad and contented neverthless with the jouney of life. I 've always got more than I wanted. I planned less, god has given me more, so I am very happy, overwhelmed and hopeful. God, just want peace on earth, grant me my wish.

Coldplay - The Hardest Part / Postcards From Far Away

Current obession

And Mom said "Don't Play with your Food"

Campus Snapshots

Early morning, the lane that leads to my current residence

The residence

And you can tell the girls live here, notice the teddy bear hanging out to dry on the 2nd floor!

Exam Time Musings

My notes

The Most Meticoulous Girl's Notes