New blog

http://backtous.blogspot.com

Shanghai

... needs to be seen to be believed. The infrastructure is mind blowing. A couple of leaps ahead of the US. Up to 16 lane roads... for once it seemed like my vision of a first floor India. Huge sky-scrapers.

The eastern provinces of China are far richer that the rest. An interesting observation made by one of my Chinese friends: In India, even the richest city has poverty. There is a vast disparity in living standards, income etc. within the city. In China, however, the disparity is not as stark within a region. This disparity is visible across regions.

Shanghai was built in the last 10 years. The government spent over $30bn to rebuild the city prior to this; it was a fisherman's enclave (or something to that effect). The five year plans here are region focused, rather than agenda focused. For example, the Government decided to develop the eastern province for this five year plan. And the result is there for all to see.

Some observations about China:

1. all land is owned by the Government. One can only own apartments, or lease land from the Government. Therefore, the Government can ask you to vacate any place on its discretion.

2. I got to try a variety of Chinese cuisines. Interesting to note was that meals are like a group affair, and dishes are common served. People access the dish directly. And there is no concept of tips. Meals are had early… lunch around noon, and dinner by 6.

All in all, China is a different experience.

Getting to China

How does it feel to be thrown out of a plane? For once, I felt like Gandhi... remember, he too was thrown out of a train. Infact mine was worse, he was at least thrown out in a foreign land, but I... in my own country!! Okkkk... that's taking things a bit too far, but it is wierd to be at the check-in counter only to learn that you do not have bookings for the flight.

Next day, my flight connections were such that in case any one of the flights on the way to China got delayed by more than 20 minutes, I was doomed. And as Murphy would have it, the first flight started an hour late!! So I missed a couple of connecting flights only to find myself stranded at the Hong Kong airport, with over 16 hours to kill. Now, for the first time I felt nice about having a 'blue' passport in a foreign land. Indians do not require a visa to enter HK... yipeeeeeee!! So I contacted customer service, picked up a couple of tourist guides and was out exploring HK.

The main attraction of HK is the Hong Kong Island. It reminded me of Manhattan... concrete jungle, and a lot of life. It seemed that the entire city lived on the streets... people moving about, each one in a hurry of her/his own. The only difference being that most of the people looked Asians... unlike Manhattan where one is blown away by the sheer diversity of the people around.

Everyone seemed in a hurry here. It wasn't easy stopping someone to ask for directions. For those that I did manage to stop, it wasn't easy communicating. It gave me a teaser of what to expect in mainland China.

Key attractions of HK include (these are the ones that I could manage)
1. The peak tram: this tram runs right up a hill at an incline of upto 27 degrees... yes, cutting through the mountain. And to think that they have this running since 1888...unbelievable!!

2. View of the city skyline and the Victoria harbor from the peak: One sight, I must say. A very colorful skyline HK has. The mild breeze just adds to the romance of the sight... and to think that I was there all alone (RR... where art thou?) ... one depressing moment that was! I left the place quickly.

3. Ferry ride around the Victoria Harbor: another soothing ride – just like any other ferry ride… it could do with some music.

I reached Hang Zhou at 11 in the morning. The cab driver did not know a word of English. The hotel people could just about make out what I was saying. Language is gonna be a big issue for me here. For starters, in order to get to the TU office, I need to ask the reception to call my contact person in the TU office, who in turn will ask a Chinese person to talk to the receptionist in order to explain to her where I need to go. The receptionist, in turn, will take me to a cab, and give directions to the cab person. In case of any goof-up, I repeat steps 1-4

I am sure I am in for some adventure…

Path to excellence

There are four steps in the path to excellence - Passion ->Science->Luck ->Killer Instinct. And strictly in that order!

Let me dive a little deeper.

Passion

The first step to achieving excellence in any field is being passionate about it. Ask any top performer in any field, they enjoy what they are doing, and are deeply passionate about it.

Its no point doing something that you are not passionate about, because you may start, but would be just another person doing the same thing. I think this is what plagues most people... they do things that they are supposed to do, rather than things they are passionate about. This leads to them not being too excited about going to work in the morning, or cribbing about the day on return in the evening. The reason cited for still doing it is ‘money’, or 'something like it'; we all need to make our living after all, and we all have our reasons!

Another argument could be, ‘if everyone starts doing what they want to do… then who would do the necessary things that nobody wants to do… such as cleaning shit!!’

My answer is, ‘Absolutely right, so please continue to clean shit!!’ J

Science

Passion can take you only that far. Then comes in science - figuring out the technicalities.

Sachin Tendulkar would have been only that good, unless he was taught how to correctly hold the bat. Lance Armstrong would not have stood a chance in hell to win the Tour-de-France if he had used those standard ‘doodhwaali’ bicycles, or went in without thaose fancy gears, or he dint know how to time his effort through the course of the race. Science gives passion a direction… the most optimal direction, which gives maximum leverage for the given input.

In case of academics, science is getting the right teachers, surrounding yourself with the right kind of people, getting the right environment that lets you focus on the task at hand.

Luck

Passion and science take you to the next level. Now you are competing with the best. The journey from here to excellence has a lot of external factors. However, there is some merit in the saying, ‘harder you work, luckier you get’. Of course, you cannot control an earthquake or a Tsunami. Luck includes the fact that you were born with some talent. That talent is a waste if you aren’t passionate about what you do.

There is only one thing that can dilute the effect of luck… killer instinct.

Killer Instinct

Faith can move mountains. Strong killer instinct can make you achieve anything… even if it is flying. Yes, I firmly believe that you can fly if that’s all you want to do…and deeply believe in it. You’ll figure out a way to do it. At IIT we used to call it ‘jehad’. Though never made meaning of it.

Reason, logic, technically speaking etc. are words for those that lack killer instinct… or the desire to excel. Excellence is for those that seek no reason and defy all logic!! That’s the way to excel!!

Trust Recovery

I came across this very interesting piece on some research done by a bunch of Wharton profs on Trust.

Definition of trust: "Willingness to accept vulnerability based upon positive expectations about another’s behavior"

Key Findings:
1. "While trust can recover from a period of untrustworthy actions, deception causes significant and enduring harm"
2. "Promise helps in speeding trust recovery much more than an apology"

Five key components of an apology: a statement of apology (I’m sorry), remorse (I feel badly), an offer of restitution , self castigation (I was an idiot), and a request for forgiveness.

You can read the enire article at: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-1882887,curpg-1.cms

...there is a science to any and everything!

Matters of wisdom

...excerpt from an article written by one of the best profs I learnt from...

'The lessons I learned went beyond the technical to matters of wisdom, many gathered from conversations with Mr Murthy -- how one has to be engaged with the system before one attempted to reform it, how idealism needed to be channelled into action rather than be allowed to succumb to defeatist hand-wringing, and how every small act had to be governed by an overarching commitment to integrity.'

You can see the complete article at: http://inhome.rediff.com/money/2006/aug/01mguest.htm

JK and me

We went to Nagarjuna Sagar for an early dinner today. This is an Andhra style restaurant... I thought it would be a good experience for mom-dad. JK was with us too. Mom mentioned that maybe this is the first time JK is out eating in a restaurant. Then it occurred to me, what is it about me that I am here so well off... and JK still struggling for a miserly salary -an amount he earns in a month more than which I have at times spent in an evening.

JK kind of grew up with me. He came to our house when I was still a kid... and was about my age... maybe a year or two younger. Then he was earning some 1000-2000 rupees per month. I ofcourse wasn’t supposed to earn then. Over the years, JK went his own way, and recently, managed to find his way to work at my place. He was earning just about as much as he did (in his last job) almost a decade back. Even a 4% rate of inflation implies a growth of atleast 50% in income. Clearly, he had not seen that.

WHY?

At a very fundamental level, there is not much of a difference between JK and me. Except for the opportunities I had.

I had the opportunity to explore what I am capable of, and what I am not. I had the platform to build a good career for myself. JK had neither. I had the cushion to invest my energy, and time in education... which is clearly a launch pad for a great future. JK, in the meanwhile, was struggling to make ends meet. It is quite possible that given the opportunity he would have done much better than I did. But he was more involved in feeding his family...clearly his parents thought that he is better off helping the family make that little bit of extra money so that can they all can live to see the tomorrow... the tomorrow I was preparing to build!!

...so what can be done?

I do not have any point of view on the 'reservation' issue. However, I do not subscribe to the meritocracy point of view. Not because I don't believe in merit, but because, I think the current system has an inherent selection bias... as in, we are testing the merit of a bunch of 'privileged' people, and not the 'true' merit of an individual with respect to the society as a whole - a large section of which never got to hear of such thing as 'merit'. Given an opportunity, I am sure that of the 10 JKs, atleast one would do much better than me...if not most of them. And there are millions of JKs in this country.

...so what can be done?

We all know the answer…don’t we?

There are some days...

...when I really can't think of anything to write. Or there are so many things happening that I just don't know where to begin.

work... some good things did happen... but the uncertainity continues to lingers - and at times it is not fun.
life... some good things did happen... but the uncertainity continues to lingers - and at times it is not fun.

the best part is living through all this.

Cheers to life!!

Last day at work

Today was my last day at work. Quite frankly... I din't feel a thing. And the settlement part was so quick... it was over before I could blink. Everyone was very kind to me; for that matter, they were very kind to me when I left evs as well. Never in my life had I imagined that this exit process would be so smooth and quick.

Some thoughts on the time that I left evs, and now:

When I left evs, I was going into a 'new' b-school - not knowing what I had in store for me. Now again, I leave for far greater uncertainty, having no clue what the next day has in store for me. When I left evs, I was getting myself into a financial mess by taking on a huge loan. Now, it is even worse.
When I left evs, I talked to a lot of people, all of who had varied opinion on what I should be doing. Now again, every person had a different opinion.
When I left evs, I took the final decision regardless, and everyone supported me. Now again, I have more support than one can ask for.
When I left evs, I was leaving when I felt there was little else for me to achieve there. Now again, I don't think there is much left for me here.
When I left evs, I left in good terms with all and sundry. Now again, I feel good that I never had to play sneaky.
When I left evs, I felt sad because I really liked those people. Now, I am indifferent. There so few people I actually knew.
When I left evs, I was a little emotional... I guess it happens with the first job. This time I was just going through the motions.
When I left evs, the top guy gave me an open offer to come back anytime. Now again, I have the same offer.
When I left evs, it took them almost 3 months to clear my dues. I was thinking on the same lines here. But this time they had the money transferred even before I had taken up the clearance form!!!!! That gives me some breathing space - at least till the reality dawns.
When I left evs, I just did not get anytime to unwind myself - school started before I realized I had left my job. Now again, I have more in my hands than I can handle. I did not complain then... now I have no reason to complain!!

When I left evs, I was certain that the future has something good in store for me. It seems it did. Now again, I am positively confident that whatever happens, I will come the better of it. And that is all that matters!!

Knowledge: Sharing and Wealth creation

Two interesting anecdotes, on the difference in perspective b/w the East and the West, related to knowledge:

1. Knowledge and Wealth
East: Knowledge is free
Lakshmi (the Goddess of Wealth) and Saraswati (the Goddess of Knowledge) do not coexist in a house. Using knowledge for wealth creation has not been traditionally considered a 'nice thing to do'. India's view on leveraging knowledge for wealth creation is aptly captured in Rabindra Nath Tagore's poem... 'Where the mind is without fear', when he says... 'where knowledge is free... into that land... let my country awake.'

West: leverage knowledge for wealth creation
Capitalism is all about converting knowledge for commercial gains. Education comes for a price... etc.

Contradiction: Open source??? Where does that fit?

2. Sharing of knowledge
East: Keep the last card up your sleeve
Sharing knowledge has never been in Asia. We like to keep those secrets. India, China are filled with idioms around how the 'wise teacher will keep one lesson for himself'.
I am told that the ancient Indian texts have in them hidden some of the greatest forms of science etc. But not everyone was supposed to read them. There are numerous stories around how Chinese martial arts and sword masters believed that for every 10 strokes, only 9 should be taught.

West: 'Two is better than one', 'Team work', Intellectual Property (IP) system...
The West promoted sharing of knowledge. Infact the IP system was a sort of the agreement between the inventor and the society at large to share knowledge. The inventor gets credit for her/his work, while the entire society has access to the knowledge and, therefore, can work on the progress, and development of the society rather than reinventing the wheel.

This notion of sharing knowledge has been instrumental in the development of the West.

okkkk... so what?? 'Knowing' stuff that others don't, is not a virtue, and is a sign of incompetence - as in, you think that someone could do more/better with that knowledge. People whose only claim to fame is proprietary knowledge, or who think they keep others interested in them by being a tad mysterious, sucks, I tell you :-)) [okkk fine... this one was a little random and out of the blue... but my blog ;-)]

Life me thoda transparency maangta hai!!

Gambling is giving your luck a chance!

Today was one mixed day... had a real high... and a bad low.

Anyways, dinner was at Geoffrey's. Two interesting points came up during discussion:

1. Jews: The Jews were a 'not so loved' community for more reasons than one. Some thought that they were out there to take over the world. Clearly, Jews had proven themselves to be smart at trading, and knowledge based stuff. The reason for this, which I learnt today, was that these people were never into the physical stuff, such as farming etc. Therefore, they focused on education, which in turn lead to a more developed mind making them suitable for 'smart' jobs. So the focus of the economy shifting from just producing to trading kind of lead to the dominance of the Jews in the economy and other powers of authority.
Another reason cited is that Jews are related to Judas, who 'betrayed' Jesus. Therefore, they weren't really liked that much. However, the recent discovery of the 'Gospel of Judas' kind of defies that logic as well. http://traveltous.blogspot.com/2006_04_01_traveltous_archive.html

Anyways, the above is just FYI. I do not have a point of view on that.

2. Gambling and luck: I held an assertion that ‘all successful people gamble.’ Followed it up with a corollary: 'in order to be successful, one needs to gamble'. David disagreed to begin with. He gave the example of our current (eh?) organization.

David: ‘I know people in this organization don’t believe in business plans. All companies that failed did not have a ‘good’ b-plan, or one at all to begin with’.

Animesh: ‘B-plans never make a business. A ‘good’ or a ‘bad’ b-plan is always in hindsight. One does not know the merit of the idea or the plan thereof to begin with. All the folks at the senior level in ‘our’ organization are millionaires, if not multi-millionaires. All those b-school grads that make those sexy b-plans, taking into consideration all those scenarios, and hedge etc etc… work on a miserly monthly salary which folks like these give them.’

David: ‘ahhh that is LUCK!’

Animesh: ‘Exactly! Gambling is giving your luck a chance!!! And clearly, breaking even, or making it small time is NOT being lucky. Not for me atleast!’

:-))

So, chuck probability, chuck math, and give your luck a chance!

Nothing as such to write about

... as I begin to write, I have nothing in my mind. Honestly, I can't think of anything to write. Nothing of significance has happened to me of late... ah yes, ofcourse, on second thoughts, lots happened. Let me try and put them in a cryptic note:

1. Risk, Return etc.: in order to share in the upside of something, your downside needs to be just as bad. For example, to feel happy for someone would mean being just as upset on the other being upset. You just cannot be part of one side and not be just as much a part of the other. Now, it’s just not possible to be happy for someone, unless you have some stakes in the game. i.e., you cannot be even remotely as happy as Sachin Tendulkar getting back to the cricket team as let’s say Sachin's wife. This is because you just couldn’t be as upset when he couldn’t make it to the team... ok cryptic as it may sound, this is what I learnt - and realized that if I want the upside to be high, then I need to raise my stakes, and bring in greater involvement in the entire process – in turn, be prepared for a worse downside!!

2. My sense of direction: Unbelievable as it may sound, I found my way to the railway station, without getting lost even once(and I stopped to ask for directions only once). I consider it as no mean achievement, given my realllly poor sense of direction. That I lost my way a little on the way back is a different story altogether :-)

3. Bangalore railway station: this was a revelation. Spotlessly clean, automatic ticket dispensing machine, swipe card parking ticket... for once it seemed I wasn't in India. I mean what happened to the billion people who seemed to be living in railway stations - with a single point agenda of creating a mess, and destroying any and everything that may remotely work. Loved it!!

… so much for nothing!

Investment Philosophy

Last evening, D had come over with his wife. I had been seeking D for some time. He is a stud boy in Network Security and Open Source crap, which I have no clue of. After studying the site for some time, he concluded that it was not easily fixable, and would require a good overhauling - better still, completely redoing it. Atleast he diagnosed the problem. To know the problem, is almost half way through the solution... so I've heard some sane minds say.

I would not go into this... rather something else that came up a little later in the evening when we went for a cup of coffee. So D's wife called over two friends (lets call them Alpha, and Beta :-) - yes they were married to each other) to join us for the coffee. D mentioned that he'd heard from this guy (who has been in the real estate industry for some time) that real estate prices are severly escalated and would fall to the tune of 40% in the near future. Alpha mentioned that they had recently bought property somewhere. Then the discussion got directed to modes of investment and how stock markets have yielded returns for some people, while others have done wonders with real estate.

That set me thinking. While at B-school, I got carried away by the general 'learned finance guy' notion that I could be a smart investor in the market. I thought I would invest in the market, and make big. I started an online trading account... needless to say it expired for want of a single transaction. The idea of investing in real estate never appealed to me. Then I realized that the only thing worth investing in is myself!! I really don't enjoy the idea of studying and following stocks to invest in the market... and I am too averse to the idea of raising a huge debt to buy property in which I will never live. But I do enjoy the idea of making things happen... in traveling, in experimenting with stuff etc. And yes, over time I have built enough confidence in myself to believe that I am worth all the investment I can afford to make. :-)

When I say 'me'... it means people. The best investment I have made in life is in people. When I say investment, it isn't money. Even in financial terms, I would rather invest the 100 thou in a person who can do more with it, than a stock, a fund, or a piece of land (even if the person uses one of these mediums to make the more). I think that is likely to yield the best dividends.

So, I continue to invest all I have in 'myself', and live merrily.

Cheers!!

Intent vs Means?

How important are the means of achieving an end, over the intent of achieving the end, over the end itself. The question of means vs the intent comes in when you don't achieve the end.

How relevant is the saying: 'All's well that ends well'. And for that dont end well?? 'It's better to have tried and failed, than not tried at all'.

If you are truly passionate about something, how relevant is the manner in which you give it a shot, over the fact that you give it the best that you had? You best may not be the 'best' means of achieving the end... but surely the only one! So if there is a particular target, and at a point in time there seems to be only one way to get there (ok... you were limited by your mental capabilities in figuring out alternate paths for achieving that target), should one give that only way a chance, or leave it for one does not know how other people would react to your adopting that means... or because adopting those means would seem too childish, or immature?

For example, in the movie 'Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa', were some of the tricks that SRK played justified?... oops sorry, couldnt think of a better example. But you get the point right??

'Life is a jouney, and not a destination.' So it moves on. I am sure there are better things waiting.

'Cut the rope'

This story was narrated by a professor at ISB on conclusion of the last course of the one-year program. It inspires me! (of course I have taken liberty in tweaking stuff here and there :-))

It was very cold and now was also getting dark. Jack Sandler was climbing down the snow mountain. He would hook the rope to the snow, and slowly take a step down. His waist being tied to the rope... just in case his foot slipped, the rope would hold him, and prevent him form sliding to death.

And then it happened. His foot slipped, and he slided down the length of the rope, clinging onto the rope for dear life. By now, it was very dark. He could not see anything. Jack very well knew that if he stuck onto the rope, he would certainly freeze to death. If he let go of the rope, he din't know what would happen as he had no clue of how far he was from the ground.

Jack did what any other person in distress would do - prayed to God. God, as He always does, showed up!!

On hearing Jack's plight, God asked 'Do you believe in me'?

Jack was like... dude, here I am clinging for dear life, and you are asking me such crappy questions for ego boosting... for heavens sake get on with your job and save me.

'Yes, God. I trust you', said Jack... obviously realizing that this isn't the time for arguing with the only One who could save him.

'then, cut the rope', said God and vanished.

Jack was scandalized. For all His greatness, and people's belief of Him being the savior, He asks me to 'cut the rope'... and die... must have been a fake!!

He stuck onto the rope.

Next morning, there was small news caption in the papers with the headline: 'Man freezes to death clinging onto a rope, when the ground was only six feet below'.

Moral of the Story: If things go bad, don't hang onto the 'rope' just because you don't know what will become of you in case you 'cut the rope'! Move on... there are better things waiting.

Leaving at the peak

I think one must always leave things while at peak. Every peak gives you the sight of the next peak. Leaving something midway does not help - neither the confidence, nor progress. It is easy to find flaws and reasons for not doing something well... but neverthless, anything worth doing is worth doing well.

The question that remains is whether the current state is the peak state or not. This is important to know in order to determine when to leave. The only answer that I have for this is that if you can see another peak, then clearly, it is time to move on.

Anyways, today was a great day - amongst the finest of this lifetime. I promised myself a new white shirt... will do that over the weekend (or maybe sometime later). Went to sell to this guy who seemed a little too keen on funding... :-) loved it!!

48 Hours

The next 48 hours are important. Very important. Lots of ambiguities are likely to get resolved, lots of decisions that need to be taken.

Time is clearly one of those dimensions which just moves on...

Gallows Humor

Gallows humour is humour that makes light of death or other serious matters. It is similar to black comedy but differs in that it is made by the person affected.

That's the kind of humor I indulge in these days.

Logo design

What is it about aesthetics that some people can distinguish one thing from another while others seem to completely miss it?

What is it about communicating that certain things/words/people hold our attention, while others never register?

What builds a relationship with a particular person? What is it about attraction? Is it a physical attribute, i.e., goes by the looks? love at first sight etc.? Is it possible to be attracted to someone you've never seen, leave alone meet?

Finally, is it imperative to have a plan before starting out? business or otherwise.

Get the point... life is more about questions, than answers. And I am not looking for answers!

Am short of interesting stuff to write these days... but need to keep the blog alive; or do I 'cut the rope'? :-)

How hard can it be to name something

Really... just how hard?

Name is clearly one of the most important things that anyone/thing carries with it for the rest of its lifetime... be it a person, place, product... you name it! Imagine if your parents named you something like 'Dick' - no matter how smart you are, you would still be called a dick!