FLABBERGASTED!!!

“

U.S. President Barack Obama’s plan to reconcile with the Taliban in Afghanistan ought to win him a second Nobel, although during the entire period between 1901 and 2009, a Peace Prize was never awarded twice to any of its 97 individual recipients. An exception of course can be made.

”

This is what one of the Article (China challenges Obama’s Taliban plan) in THE HINDU started reading like and went on to explain the new Strategy of the Obama Administration and “the” NATO forces in central Asia. I was absolutely startled and stunned, while my mind went blank with this new revelation by the Super power.

RECONCILIATION WITH TALIBAN??? Did I read it correctly? and I indeed read it correctly. This is ridiculous but logical to people in the west although while doing so they mock and satire the lives of those young nationals (including American) who laid their lives for the incessant American madness in Afghanistan over the years.

It will be a “Bizarre” if Obama goes forward with propounding the reconciliation plan. On what grounds can Obama support the move when they were justifying their military act against Taliban for the last several years? On the contrary this will overtly project to the entire world how U.S plays its card for their most selfish ways. On the furtherance, this reconciliation plan can be primarily attributed to America’s vested interest to contain China of its increasing influence in Central Asia and to thwart their aims of satisfying their energy needs from central Asia. Truly as the article explains India, Russia, and Pakistan are all jesters. The lesson India needs to understand is that today America have to contain China, and once that’s fulfilled then they will turn towards India. In short, at all times the rule is same U.S wants to remain as the Super Power, they just can’t accept any other Dominating Force. They will play the Pakistan card against India, India Card against China and like wise. The Big question is: Why does not our so called ‘Shrewd’ Politicians fail to understand this underlying fact???.

A Special Salute to M.K Bhadrakumar for coming up with such a wonderfully researched and highly sensible Article which projects the so called complicated scenario in “Central Asia” as simple as 6th standard physics so that even our Politicians can understand.

Aquatech Exhibition, truly technical ( part 1)

I was rejoiced when my Head of the Department asked me whether I was interested in attending a technical exhibition which was going on in Pragati Maidaan.What instantly flashed in my mind was the golden opportunity to enjoy outside while still on official duty(hardly happens in Reliance) and I did not have a second thought on it, retorted with a BIG yes. Soon it was decided that I would accompany my senior manager to the exhibition. Now I was more delighted as Manish Gupta, one of senior manger (I have 4 in my department) is the most sensible of the lot was the one who I had to accompany.

Even though Pragati Maidaan(Delhi) was a bit far from my office (at Noida ),the Metro services connected directly the places. We took off from our office in Manish Sir’s Bike to the metro station nearby, which was Noida City Centre Station. As Manish Sir parked his vehicle at the DMRC authorized Parking space (as informed by him) , I took a very critical study of the place and staff involved in the process. To my surprise they did not have any uniform or badge or any thing of that sort to justify that they were DMRC authenticated people. To my shock, I found no Security guards, which I thought was essential and most needed in places like Noida where people steal your valuable in the blink of your eye. So I asked the guy how you can justify a person that you guys are Authentic DMRC people. He put his hands around my shoulder and turned me around to show me a highly rusted DMRC board. And with great difficulty I read the DMRC on it. By the time Manish Sir had find the parking space for his bike and had got the parking ticket as well. When I told this to Manish sir he told me that the rusted board itself is a great satisfaction, and you should be happy about that. Well it implied a lot and a common phenomenon in the city(or may be in the country), one which everyone knew and I had no intention of polluting my maiden official trip with these incessant infested discussions.

Metro has really made the trip to Delhi for the people of Noida very simple and pleasurable.We got ourself ticket for Pragati Maidaan and boarded the Metro train which started from city center(Metro from Noida starts from City Centre).After 3-4 stops the metro became Damn Crowded, well to be very frank I get suffocated with crowds places .Interestingly, Manish Sir did not mind the Crowd(in the metro) as he said you get to see a lot of good girls. Well,it has become commonplace to see people with same mentality and I nodded my head(I don't know in agreement or disagreement) as he looked at me for my views on the same.At the same time, i noticed that there were quite a number of good looking girls on the train. Suddenly, I saw a girl reading a book even though she was finding it hard to stand on two legs.I wondered why she was taking so much pains to read in the most uncomfortable situation, she can always find a better place once she gets off the train. But as I saw the cover page of thebook and I could understand her curiosity. She was reading the famous book “SHANTARAM”. Awesome book to say the least. A very good read and it keeps even a novice reader on his toes to know what happens next and I seriously cannot blame her for reading Shataram in the most irritating crowded Delhi metro. Soon we reached Pragati Maidaan, Metro has made travel so Simple and fast.

Now, we had to find Gate no 7 said Manish Sir.I told him I knew where it is as it was the same entrance through which I had made an entry for the AUTOEXPO-2010, which happened here recently. I took the lead as we walked through the well maintained pavement along the beautiful Delhi streets. As we walked, I told Manish Sir how much I loved Delhi, It is second most desired place for me(obviously the first one is my hometown Cochin) and for him it was Lucknow as he was from there. Then he told me that people in Delhi are not that trustworthy and he continued to tell me that he had good experience in Bombay(Sorry Bal Thackeray)..Mumbai and in Gujarat (he had worked in Jamnagar RIL) as compared to Delhi.I really did not agree with him. The feeling one gets while being in Delhi, cannot be experienced being anywhere for not just one reason but many.Firstly,it is the capital City with all those constitutionally acknowledged Building, it truly brings pride when you see them. As I went on to explain more we reached Gate no 7.

As soon as we moved further towards the gate we could see a big hoardings and it read Delhi book Fair 2010.BINGO!!.I was very happy seeing that because I very well knew that the technical exhibition which we are going for will be definitely boring and tiring and book fair will be a good refreshment .My face lighted up seeing the hoarding and turned back to find Manish Sir a bit surprised and worried. Obviously, we had come here for the Aquatech Exhibition and we could’nt find anything of Aquatech. We started to look around for some stall of Aquatech and Manish Sir was quick enough to spot the registration counter .We were more than happy that we could atleast find one guy sitting in the stall. Well, his sad face told me that he was irritated sitting there and Manish Sir did the formalities to get our self the entry pass. We entered the place and was very crowded again. I had no second thought on the fact that these people might have come here for the book fair which happened in more than one hall than to see technical exhibition was been staged in only one hall.

After a long disgusting time walking all around , in the quest of finding the hall, we finally succeeded and guess what? some more formalities of registration. Reliance name helped a lot as things happened fast for us. We entered the hall, I could see a lot of small stalls put together into one place. But it was not cramped up rather was very tidy and well maintained .There were many things on the Display from Common domestic Water purifiers to Complex Water Treatment technologies for industrial application (something which we are interested in).There were also components displayed, Butterfly valves and all kind of small and big motors and other stuffs were also found . I was surprised to see a submergible vertical motor. We visited GE, Philips, ION Exchange and other some major player's stalls. Well impressive they were but unfortunately we could not study the Control and Instrumentation part of any as they hardly had any specialist in the stall. I was also surprised to see Wipro’s stall there as I never knew they were into water Treatment...Most of the stall were of Chinese, Japanese and Koreans. Very true Chinese badly wants to capture the Indian market with their improved technology and less costly products. We went around and had a good look at all the stalls put up ,only to find that nothing much of our relevance was there. Eventually, it turned highly unpleasing,then a bit irritating and once it became intolerable we decided to quit and have a look at the Book Exhibition as Expected.

...to be Continued.

Dementia of an ordinary Employee

I don’t know where I have landed my self on. Anil Ambani Calls it Reliance Infrastructure Limited and I call it a DRAB place, a epitome of shit hole. They call themselves EPC(Engineering ,procurement and Construction), I fail to understand what real Engineering they do unless I was taught wrong engineering in my College, BIT Mesra. It’s just a spoof of Real Engineering Company where the actors try and strive to enact role of Hard working Engineers like Tushar Kapoor trying to act in his old(well producers are not that daring nowadays ) flop movies. In reality, they do Donkey's Work. Sometimes I feel IT Slavery was better than this but thank god “sometimes” is just sometimes.

Initially the work was unpleasing, then a bit irritating and now it’s intolerable. There is always a tolerance level associated with every individual and when it is crossed some turn to rational way of satisfying themselves by abusing the system or by believing more in fate, a concept propounded by losers. Well others believe that there is plethora of other options at your hand. It’s just that you need to understand and believe that things can be made better.

As they say “if you fail to plan, you plan to fail”, but guess what might be running through the mind of a person who planned well to end up in Reliance Shithole. Did he fail to plan or plan to fail??.It’s harder when you delve into the concept of planning whose premise rest on smart realistic foresights, which by jinx is a commodity of few. Where did I go wrong?? Did I fail to see the widespread discontent vibes of people working for Reliance or did I take a big risk (thinking that taking risk is real Life), whatever may the reason the reality is that I’m in a Big Mess. Tellingly, one thing that Reliance has taught me is that Money is not everything in Life; there is definitely something more, that brings you real happiness and wealth. Interestingly, if you ask me what it is , I’m sorry I’m yet to figure that out.

I know if Anil Ambani happens to read this he won’t talk to me henceforth, well its fine with me as anyways he does not talk to me.

Who is your competitor?

A very good read.This was forwarded by my Friend Varun,this definitely made me ponder for a while on some of the 'not so thinkable' possibilities in the Business front.The credit of the article should be given to IIM B from where these views originated.So I reproduce it to preserve and share such thought provoking immaculate writing.Enjoy.

Who is your competitor? Management Views from IIM Bangalore

Who sells the largest number of cameras in India?
Your guess is likely to be Sony, Canon or Nikon. Answer is none of the above. The winner is Nokia whose main line of business in India is not cameras but cell phones.

Reason being cameras bundled with cellphones are outselling stand alone cameras. Now, what prevents the cellphone from replacing the camera outright? Nothing at all. One can only hope the Sonys and Canons are taking note.

Try this. Who is the biggest in music business in India? You think it is HMV Sa-Re-Ga-Ma? Sorry. The answer is Airtel. By selling caller tunes (that play for 30 seconds) Airtel makes more than what music companies make by selling music albums (that run for hours).
Incidentally Airtel is not in music business. It is the mobile service provider with the largest subscriber base in India. That sort of competitor is difficult to detect, even more difficult to beat (by the time you have identified him he has already gone past you). But if you imagine that Nokia and Bharti (Airtel's parent) are breathing easy you can't be farther from truth.
Nokia confessed that they all but missed the smartphone bus. They admit that Apple's Iphone and Google's Android can make life difficult in future. But you never thought Google was a mobile company, did you? If these illustrations mean anything, there is a bigger game unfolding. It is not so much about mobile or music or camera or emails?

The "Mahabharat" (the great Indian epic battle) is about "what is tomorrow's personal digital device"? Will it be a souped up mobile or a palmtop with a telephone? All these are little wars that add up to that big battle. Hiding behind all these wars is a gem of a question - "who is my competitor?"

Once in a while, to intrigue my students I toss a question at them. It says "What Apple did to Sony, Sony did to Kodak, explain?" The smart ones get the answer almost immediately. Sony defined its market as audio (music from the walkman). They never expected an IT company like Apple to encroach into their audio domain. Come to think of it, is it really surprising? Apple as a computer maker has both audio and video capabilities. So what made Sony think he won't compete on pure audio? "Elementary Watson". So also Kodak defined its business as film cameras, Sony defines its businesses as "digital."

In digital camera the two markets perfectly meshed. Kodak was torn between going digital and sacrificing money on camera film or staying with films and getting left behind in digital technology. Left undecided it lost in both. It had to. It did not ask the question "who is my competitor for tomorrow?" The same was true for IBM whose mainframe revenue prevented it from seeing the PC. The same was true of Bill Gates who declared "internet is a fad!" and then turned around to bundle the browser with windows to bury Netscape. The point is not who is today's competitor. Today's competitor is obvious. Tomorrow's is not.

In 2008, who was the toughest competitor to British Airways in India? Singapore airlines? Better still, Indian airlines? Maybe, but there are better answers. There are competitors that can hurt all these airlines and others not mentioned. The answer is videoconferencing and telepresence services of HP and Cisco. Travel dropped due to recession. Senior IT executives in India and abroad were compelled by their head quarters to use videoconferencing to shrink travel budget. So much so, that the mad scramble for American visas from Indian techies was nowhere in sight in 2008. (India has a quota of something like 65,000 visas to the U.S. They were going a-begging. Blame it on recession!). So far so good. But to think that the airlines will be back in business post recession is something I would not bet on. In short term yes. In long term a resounding no. Remember, if there is one place where Newton's law of gravity is applicable besides physics it is in electronic hardware. Between 1977 and 1991 the prices of the now dead VCR (parent of Blue-Ray disc player) crashed to one-third of its original level in India. PC's price dropped from hundreds of thousands of rupees to tens of thousands. If this trend repeats then telepresence prices will also crash. Imagine the fate of airlines then. As it is not many are making money. Then it will surely be RIP!

India has two passions. Films and cricket. The two markets were distinctly different. So were the icons. The cricket gods were Sachin and Sehwag. The filmi gods were the Khans (Aamir Khan, Shah Rukh Khan and the other Khans who followed suit). That was, when cricket was fundamentally test cricket or at best 50 over cricket. Then came IPL and the two markets collapsed into one. IPL brought cricket down to 20 overs. Suddenly an IPL match was reduced to the length of a 3 hour movie. Cricket became film's competitor. On the eve of IPL matches movie halls ran empty. Desperate multiplex owners requisitioned the rights for screening IPL matches at movie halls to hang on to the audience. If IPL were to become the mainstay of cricket, as it is likely to be, films have to sequence their releases so as not clash with IPL matches. As far as the audience is concerned both are what in India are called 3 hour "tamasha" (entertainment). Cricket season might push films out of the market.

Look at the products that vanished from India in the last 20 years. When did you last see a black and white movie? When did you last use a fountain pen? When did you last type on a typewriter? The answer for all the above is "I don't remember!" For some time there was a mild substitute for the typewriter called electronic typewriter that had limited memory. Then came the computer and mowed them all. Today most technologically challenged guys like me use the computer as an upgraded typewriter. Typewriters per se are nowhere to be seen.

One last illustration. 20 years back what were Indians using to wake them up in the morning? The answer is "alarm clock." The alarm clock was a monster made of mechanical springs. It had to be physically keyed every day to keep it running. It made so much noise by way of alarm, that it woke you up and the rest of the colony. Then came quartz clocks which were sleeker. They were much more gentle though still quaintly called "alarms." What do we use today for waking up in the morning? Cellphone! An entire industry of clocks disappeared without warning thanks to cell phones. Big watch companies like Titan were the losers. You never know in which bush your competitor is hiding!

On a lighter vein, who are the competitors for authors? Joke spewing machines? (Steve Wozniak, the co-founder of Apple, himself a Pole, tagged a Polish joke telling machine to a telephone much to the mirth of Silicon Valley). Or will the competition be story telling robots? Future is scary! The boss of an IT company once said something interesting about the animal called competition. He said "Have breakfast ...or.... be breakfast"! That sums it up rather neatly.

When Scandal Hits Celebs

When Scandal hits Celebrities it keeps the entire world on their toes to know the truth behind it. It’s interesting to know how the scandal wrecked the good image of some well known illustrious person. For some celeb it’s just another day at the office but for some it’s the most embarrassing part of their life. Some take advantage of it at the expense of other’s life and social image while some prefer to be the other way.

In recent times its been all Marital Infidelities that ruled the news arena. Firstly, it was the great Tiger Woods Scandal and then same storm has hit the England National team captain and the top paid EPL player John Terry. Interestingly, scandal hit them at the time when both were at their personal best, but there is world of difference between their personalities.

Tiger wood was considered to the Perfect Husband any women could desire, Perfect father any kid would want and in all a Perfect Man as projected by the news world. He was so often photographed with his wife and children and was the epitome of what many call the “happy family”. This was the status-quo for many years until one day he was stuck by the most unexpected case of infidelity. The news spread like a wild fire. There are also reports that it just infiltrated into the minds of people of all ages and was the most talked subject on the social networking sites resulting in jammed servers.

The fact is that the Perfect Man image of Tiger Woods was annihilated. This Infamous Magnum opus of the illustrious and industrious legendary golfer was introduced into the public by the media with much hoopla.

Initially, the centre of the furore was one lady and later many mushroomed claiming for publicity and fame and rewards. The news media threw cash on them to encash the opportunity for increasing the reader base of the journal.

The outcome was the defamed Tiger wood,who lost his sponsors, his wife, his family, his kids and his golfing career. He has taken a undeclared time break from his golfing life and has disappeared into realm of depression and loneliness. Was he deserved to be treated this was by the Media whereby posing a big question mark on the Freedom of Press.This question needs to be answered if not now but definitely in the future.

Well John Terry too was hit by the same storm. Unlike Tiger Wood, John Terry did not have Perfect Man image. He was often characterized by the media as a Bad boy. He was questioned many times by the press on Infidelities. He was also involved in brawls in Pubs and also other socially criticized abusive behaviour. Fortunately for him, his fame as a successful football player overshadowed his immoral side. He became the captain of England National side soon after Beckham relinquished the role. In 2004, he became the Chelsea Captain and is the top paid Player of EPL. And now again, he under the radar of marital infidelities, he struggles to keep his private life away from his professional football career. In the recent EPL match he was booed by his fans but again he proved himself by heading the winning goal. While the Chelsea coach says he is not interested to know what happens in Terry's private life and pledged to support him as he believes Terry is a true Professional.

Meanwhile, some news channel has offered an undisclosed amount of money to the lady under the spotlight of this scandal. They want her speak in public about their illegal affair and further lurid details of their relationship.

What adds fuel to the fire is that the lady around whom the allegation is revolving is the ex-girlfriend of a Manchester City team player who might make it to the England national team. In such a situation, England coach, the Italian who is widely known for his disciplinarian character would strip off Terry of his Captaincy if he believes Terry’s private life could disturb the harmony and unity of the team. Either ways, John Terry as I Know is a very Professional and a true stalwart of the game football he will overcome these dark patches of his life to be a force to reckon with for both Chelsea and team England in the coming World Cup.

Isn’t it Interesting different people when struck by same events respond in absolutely different manner. For some its just another event and they tackle it the most efficient manner whilst for other it ruins their life completely because they let others control and hurt them,in either case being celebs they attract unprecedented attention of the world.

ManU versus Arsenal

ManU versus Arsenal that took place on 31^st Jan 2010, which was suppose to be the one of the biggest match of the season turned most depressing at least for the Arsenal fans(Ideally I would have preferred a draw). It clearly showed the staggering difference between the two teams ability to Score goals, defend and make play in the midfield.

Undoubtedly before the game , Manchester United was apprehensive about the outcome of the game in the absence of Vidic and Ferdinand. Their fears subsided when they dominated the game in all departments and left arsenal confused (as usual). Even though Arsenal got many chances they missed in the most deplorable manner, thanks to Arshavin, Fabregas and Song. Whereas ManU gained strength as game progressed and with the unexpected brilliance of the Duo Nani and Rooney together they made it spectacular day for the ManU fans.

Well, ManU recent form with Rooney scoring crucial goals and Nani's unprecedented form sends depressing waves to Chelsea, the current league leaders. If the current performance of the both the teams continue then we are on for a treat on April 3 Old Trafford, where Chelsea take on the Ded evils...ooh sorry Red Devils. From a neutral man’s viewpoint, I hope the best team on that day to win but being a Chelsea aficionado for years now and can’t definitely see Chelsea beaten by ManU. It just brings back those memories of champion league final when John terry missed the crucial goal scoring chance in the penalty shootout and undeserved won the champion’s league. Since then when ever Chelsea plays against ManU I badly want Chelsea to trounce and crush them, I hope it will happen this April at Old Trafford.

Intriguing International Relationships

To maintain a good relationship with your neighbours is of paramount importance for the mutual existence of all in any region. If a country tries to attain absolute security, it indirectly leads to the increased insecurity of the neighbouring countries. Therefore, undoubtedly having a good international policy is of high value in the world arena.

As far as India is concerned, it has always been around the tough neighbors may it be Pakistan, Bangladesh or China. Ever since Indian mainland was divided into India and Pakistan, India has experienced unabated military treat from Pakistan. Pakistan claim of Muslim majority Kashmir can be one of the reasons for their vying attempts to acquire that part of India. Amid this commotion China infiltrated whenever possible to grab all they can along the boundary. They still claim a large part of land on the boundary area of eastern J&K, Arunachal Pradesh and recently highly irrational claim of Arunachal Pradesh itself. Well to be very frank it is the most unwarranted and gibberish claim I ever heard in my lifetime.

In Recent times things have not changed much. China becomes more adamant on their claims. Dalai Lama’s visit to Arunachal Pradesh attracted extra attention and serious point of contention. One good outcome was that PM, Manmohan Singh came out all guns blazing to clearly convey to China that the so called claimed land is the Integral Part of India and China Objection to Dalai Lama’s Visit was confronted with strong rational and truly diplomatic Statements.

Meanwhile, Pakistan was trying to conspire with the Taliban to get back what they believe was their land, Kashmir. Unfortunate to say, they were stung by terrorism with America talking the lead to wipe out what they believe is their right since 9/11 attack.. America made it clear to Pakistan that the real treat to Pakistan is not India but the Taliban inside. The fact is that, Pakistan will never agree to that truth but now things have changed a lot. Taliban now has turned against the state Pakistan which along with US is on a mission to eradicate Taliban and all other institutions of terrorism. Needless to say, Pakistan is in a big mess only time can say what it will get crafted into.

Military support given to Pakistan by US as a part of fight against terrorism is of high importance to India as the intelligence report suggests that these aids are more frequently used against India rather than Terrorist groups. US intention to wipe out terrorism from Pakistan and provide absolute security to Pakistan is of grave concern to India as more secure Pakistan with latest weapons in their inventory is utmost danger to India. History speaks volumes on this phenomenon that whenever Pakistan gets a Chance to Poke India it has never refrained from doing so. This means that India should beef up its arsenals to combat this psychology barrier.

Interestingly, China is also encapsulated by the same phenomenon. The recent stand of US to sell military weapons of latest types to Taiwan has created a row of argumentative confabulation between America and China. China contends that the increased military power of Taiwan is of utmost danger to China and has cautioned US of further weakening of relationship with it if US go further on with the sale.

Epitomizing, for harmony and peace to exist in a region, its not absolute or increased security of a every country that will contribute to the cause but a rational consensus among the countries of concern is the only solution.