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.