Of Recession, & Layoffs

Even, just 3 months ago attrition was the key topic of all informal/formal gatherings , general conversations etc. Now, that has been replaced by words like recession - and layoffs. Almost everyone just has to touch on these words because if he does'nt, then he is likely to perceived as out of synch.

Perceptions aside the jury is out whether India stands to gain in the Global Slowdown and there are voices which say that any economic slowdown is an opportunity for Growth - oxymoron? Some of the Greatest Companies like Microsoft( late 70s) & Google(late 90's)  started during periods of recession

The idea for this post came to me while reading a WSJ article on showing a brave face if you do get laid off. Simple & nice article. 

Sir Richard Branson

For Long I have wanted to write a post on Richard Branson. Honestly I feel he doesn'nt need a title.

Came across an intersting quote and a great snap with him on center stage as usual - & I thought why not Now? 

He made a very straight forward analysis of the UK economy , which holds quite well for India Also. What is really endearing about him that he doesnt mince words. You can read the full article here.

Coming to the snap above that is Branson Polishing the shoes of Guy Kawasaki - a kind of expert on Social Media. I dont have the details of why he did so. But, hats off to his attitude. A multi Billionaire Businessman who doesnt mind fooling around in Public. He is Different. 

A couple of other links 

1) A Promo of Virgin Galactic

2) Branson talks about Small Businesses Entrepreneur 

Mumbai related

Pakistan is out with its usual bag of trciks. These guys have started releasing the terror suspects .

That was expected as they did the same last time too after the parliament attack. Now a refusal to allow the terror suspects - interrogation by British agencies  . 

Another twist to Kasabs' story. Apparently he was captured by India over a year ago From Nepal. They Nepali Government has given out a flat denial. 

There seems to be no end to the levels of deception the Pak Government can touch.They are desperate and trying out everything to save their skin.

Meanwhile UK seems to have woken upto the fact that what India has been saying for years has truth . Now they realise that 75% of the terror in UK germinates in Pakistan.

But lest we forget India and Pakistan are Nuclear and the heads that rule Pakistan are not all that sane. The clouds of war that hang , though still at some distance,  cannot be wished away, as Nicholas Kristoff writes - & if such a thing happens we might have an August 1914

The Fragile Global Economy

Reading an article by Krugman titled the Great Illusion. This article was written during the Georgia crisis when Russian Tanks rolled into Georgia. The article talks about How Globalisation can get stalled by nationalistic forces.

He mentions - " our grandfathers lived in a world of largely self-sufficient, inward-looking national economies — but our great-great grandfathers lived, as we do, in a world of large-scale international trade and investment, a world destroyed by nationalism".

This article especially assumes significance in the current time due to tensions between India & Pakistan.The path of Globalisation and Growth followed by India will receive a setback once a war starts off. The fundamentalistic elements stand to gain in mutliple ways from such a war. For India we stand to loose much more even if we win. Unless we manage to extirpate the entire Jihadi & Let machinery on the process.

Even as the seige a happened at Mumbai there was polling happening in Kashmir despite a call for Boycott. That is a clear indicator of an undercurrent of peace. All the steps towards reactivation of trade , business and normalisation of life in this region would have to be suspended once there is war- which will lead to greater unemployment. And unemployed youth an easily fall prey to jihadi elements. Such a situation is avoidable.

Perhaps the Government needs to be appreciated for its restrained approach to tackle the cross border terrorism.

The complete article is available here: The Great Illusion

The Black Hole

Weekend suspense , thriller

U R Awesome

Take some time off to watch this movie.Sure to bring a smile.

R U Web 2 ready ?

As an experienced candidate in search of the right assignment - you cannot overlook the Social Networking sites that are mushrooming everywhere. Though it may sound silly to be a part of group responding to invites from unkowns - one never knows which link might work. 

The truth is that one need not be present in every social Networking site. But , some prescence is a must just to spread the word around. 

If you find your job to be prefect and really dont feel the need for looking out then you can give this whole Networking thing a pass. But, if you are seriously looking at furthering your career or for whatever reason then You cannot miss out on this. 

I have collected some links here that speak about the impact that social networking is having on recruitment. 

Frank Langfitt talks about how professional recruiters are taking to Soc Net sites to reach candidates.

Guest Blogger blogs about Web 2.izing your job search.

Networking Recruiter

Social Networking and Staffing

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: linkedin facebook)

Last week I tried getting in touch with candidate resumes lying passive in our database( some were over 3-4 years ) . The idea was to get in touch with them and invite them to Linkedin that way I felt there is a better chance of my being able to locate a suitable candidate.

Some of the responses were really positive , some filled with angst while some candidates just sent in their resumes.Well, If I had wanted resumes I would have asked for them.

Personally I feel the days of scanning the resume and shortlisting are past - It is the onset of real time Networking thanks to Web2.0 and social Networking sites like Linkedin or Facebook, Hi5 etc. I find the Linkedin Network updates facility really useful. That way with a few trusting relationships you can reach out to almost any candidate profile.

But with so many invites floating around the people are quite justified in viewing my invite with suspicion.

Any suggestions on how I could go about this in a better way?

Some Blogs on SocNet Recruitment

1. Skip Fruit Baskets 
2.HR-Marketer Blog 
3. Ceridian 

Incoherent Thoughts

After an intense week where the only topic was the siege of Mumbai – we are moving back to business as usual. Mr Zardari's volte face is typical of Pakistani Presidents . On the dec 2nd Larry King show says "the killers were not from Pakistan". This Just 3 days after agreeing to help bring the criminals to book.

He might sing a different tune post the Rice visit.

Perhaps it is time to move on. It is Christmas a time to give . Not necassarily forgive.But, perhaps we have to give the leaders time to deliver. Not many would agree with me on this.But a fitting response to what has happened, will take time. We can make the government accountable to some time frame. Just plain ranting wont help.

Many thoughts come to mind regarding the Mumbai seige. The extent of Lashkar's activities

and its reach cannot be underestimated. Wonder, if the Indian government can neutralise their leaders effectively.How long will it take. The way these ( lashkar taiba & al qaeda) guys are achieving success aftersuccess in carrying out their attacks - time isnt far when they will try out a chemical or Nuclear assault. They are like the hydra headed monster and it would require more than one Hercules to finish them off. 

Lets hope our forces are given enough leeway to carry out their operations towards this result. 

 Tejinder singh has a great post on the the general scene post Mumbai . 

Barkha Dutt

This post is a dedication to "Barkha Dutt" or more precisely to the digust she generates from her TV reporting.I can't exactly put a finger on why I tend to shift channels, the moment she appears - but, perhaps the reasons could be - 1. her tone - its always shades higher than what the situation warrants 2. The volume - again refer (1) 3.Her abrasive questioning - it makes me cringe.

During the Coverage of Mumbai Terror she seemed to have completely lost it. Not only she, but her competition to - the likes of Rajdeep & Arnab. I will reserve my angst against them for a seperate post. But, then again she was leagues ahead of them.

So, This post is a "Barkha Special".

While tweeting during the period from Nov 26th to Nov 29th - tweeple( twitter lingo for people on twitter) where subjected to a continuous , live stream of info from the said personas - that was part news - part speculation. Needless to say, some of the Tweeple had had enough, & unable to stand the torture they came out with some stinging tweets about these leading anchors. 

That was the background.

Here is a collection of "Barkha tweets".Some of these are absolute treats (ranked):

suhas08: #mumbai barkha dutt is showing off curtains with the ferocity of a saleswoman.
Friday, November 28, 2008 11:08:33 PM - 1

shekys: Attacks over. Relief. I request the NSG to gun down Barkha Dutt and Arnab Goswami.-2

spicesoup: #mumbailets subject the captured terrorist to 3rd degree torture = a chat with barkha dutt n rajdeep sardesai !!! -3

hemanshukumar: @prempanicker Agreed totally on Barkha and Rajdeep. Shrill shallow morons. #mumbai 4

gvaswani: NDTV should be sanitized of Barkha Dutt 5

hemanshukumar:@sachinkalbag how do shrieky airheads like barkha and rajdeep remain our "top anchor"s ?! 1:50 PM yesterday from web in reply to sachinkalbag 6

naveenks: @puneet #mumbai barkha dutt has always been a drama queen. she always want her interviewees to cry on tv ...lookin 4 that lump in throat.lol 7

jupiterorbit: @leafwarbler haven't turned on the TV all day. Barkha Dutt really put me off. I hope it's all over.... the siege and Dutt! ;-) 8

GDS1: Finally went out today. The sun was shining, the operations in Bombay are over. Barkha Dutt continues to scream down into our living rooms. 9

naveenks: @mksi420 #mumbai y r u spoiling barkha dutt's chances for next round of tv awards now that competition has shot up....
mksi420 - 10

codelust: For the love of god, please take Barkha and Arnab off screen. - 11

If there are some that I missed - please do forward them.
Click here for all Barkha Tweets

Here other blog posts from angst ridden citizens (credits to:http://nharipra.wordpress.com/)

http://ckunte.com/archives/shoddy-journalism

http://ankitvsharma.blogspot.com/2008/11/barkha-dutt.html

http://www.editorsweblog.org/multimedia/2008/11/india_backlash_over_media_coverage_after.php

Its over

Finally it seems over. 3 terrorists killed at the Taj. There might be one or two more biding the time to go with a biG Bang. 

Still, I feel grateful and said a silent prayer of Thanks. 

It seems all so simple. If you have ammunition you can do anything. The other things just fall in place. here the ammo is of two types - the ammo that was used to kill people and the other ammo is in the minds of the terrorists - drilled into their minds to go for such anti social objectives.

Well, one thing it does look like its no more just terror this was plain war.Kill Kill Kill. No hostages. No, hiding bombs and escaping. This was a team that came to wage war. And first round is theirs.

We were unprepared - this scale of attacks has never happened in any other city in India. The battle fields have just shifted.

Mumbai

A particularly damp and dull day in Bangalore - weatherwise. The effects of Nisha have amplified the winter.Even with a sweater on I can feel a cold coming on.

Everywhere one turns to one gets to read about Mumbai.It just keeps pouring in.How much longer will it go. The sequence of events have laid a siege on our senses. I cant seem to focus on the work without having to chk out on twitter about any new developments.It is close to 2 days now since the events started. This is very much like a war. The only difference being that this time it is right in our backyards.

We are in the midst of a movie going in slow motion. Its as if ever since this thing unfolded - I can recollect in crystal clarity what all the things I have done over the past 48 hours. Every moment has been captured. There are some moments in our life which get embedded in our collective consciousness and stay with us even after 20-30 years.The death of Indira Gandhi, Anti Sikh riots of '84, the WTC bombing & now perhaps the Taj Shootout. 

Today the markets reopened and there doesnt seem to be any drop in the prices infact they seem to have risen.

November 27th

Another day that will get etched in the history for all the wrong reasons.

Triumph of Terrorism.

In the past 10-15 years this must be the nth time when security has been breached in such large scale. This is almost a war situation. Bombing was different atleast the whole thing got over and people were left clearing the debris.

This here is something else this is unfolding like a motion picture with its share of thrill, voyeurism and tragedy.

Bob Dylan might have asked - How many more intelligence failures of such magnitude ? before we develop a security infrastructure capable of preventing repeats.

Mumbai will be back on track - the people who lost their dear ones will be left picking up the threads - that got - cut off - midstream.

There is so much at stake that it wont be long before we resume Business as usual.
Atleast 20 of these terrorists would have been involved to execute such an operations.One can only guess at the extent of planning that would have gone into it.Even if these who carried the guns were the foot soldiers - they would have been trained over a period of time.Where? How many more are waiting in the ranks to go for the next attack.

Are these guys so smart that every 1-2 years they are able to come up with a new plan and execute it and then walk away without leaving whiff. Or is it just that each time its a new outfit, a new leader a new gang. One needs to consider this as a wake up call. The audacity is amazing.

Movies

Watching movies over the weekend.Totally unplanned but ended up watching 3 movies.
First off on saturday afternoon wife just zoomed in on guru being shown on zee ithink.
Well ended up watching almost the entire movie as usual because the lights went out at 6:00 and still an hours movie was left. Have watched Guru before but yet to see it completely.Abhishek and Aishwarya lit up the screens.Its on an old movie so I dont want to spend my time reviewing it but suffice to say that the film reflected great chemistry between the pair.

Next up was Koi Mil gaya - seeing it for the first time. Some great performance from Hrithik. The movie went right upto 11:00pm and was good.I need a less cliched adjective for describing "good" things.

Last up was "In pursuit of Happiness" a Will Smith real life version of - Chris Gardner - an Educated Black Man who ended up becoming a Millionaire after going through soe really tough times personally and professionally.Absolutely fantastic.I cried a lot during this one.I generally do but this one was just too good.Plan to read the book if there is one.
Googled and found that there is indeed an autobiography which was on the New York Best Sellers List for 20 weeks. Click here for details

Abusive CEO

Received a call today from a candidate who desperately wanted to leave his job because his CEO was abusive. This gent had the habbit of throwing things at his staff.Whatever came into his hands got converted into missiles.

The candidate who has over 15 years experience in reputed firms mentioned his inability to face the CEO as he was just plain scared. Some of the junior staff has already left the company refusing to face this abuse.

Was just wondering is there any means by which this CEO can be controlled. Can he be sent to jail for such behavior. Is there any legal provision to handle such bosses.
Not many employees would be willing to come forward to register a complaint. It will backfire on their career.

I am not the right person to offer advice on this.Right now my job is to help him move into a different firm.while googling the topic came across this interesting article on tackling abusive bosses.A good read.

More on Cold Calling

(pic taken from pcworld)

I have kept a schedule for myself to do 5 cold calls every day.so between 11:00 AM and 12:00 I spend in cold calling clients in the engineering sector and making a pitch.

Its kind of challenging to call up and hear the phrase that we aren't recruiting and then continue on to the next call. Very early days yet. Hope to continue this for the next month.

Some of my clients actually cant believe when I tell them that some of my other clients are recruiting. There is a definite slowdown but more than the slowdown the market perceptions have taken a big beating.

Cute Kitten

Advertsing

Came across this self explanatory graph

Blogging poor

Read an interesting article from Copy blogger about the Blogging poor.
Blogging helps one to release ones creative juices which otherwise donot find a platform in the respective jobs. But, blogging as a source of income is not allways the case. There are bloggers out there making money. And there are a lot more who aren't.

Writing and writing quality stuff appealing to the audience - enough to hold their attention over other competing and compelling stuff - requires a knack.which some have in abundance , some are able to develop it and some just dont get it.

I might fall somewhere in between the last to categories. Even though my intention is to Blog everyday - I just am not able to write anything on certain days. It doesnt come naturally to me. Once I get in the mode I like to go on for half an hour or so. But, to get into that mode takes time.Call it the writers block or call it whatever.

Nowadays I have restarted the cold calling process to offset some of the effects of the slowdown. That is another process which I cringe from. Sometimes I cold call and ramble ( sputter through) just so that the guy at the other end doesn't interrupt and say that he is not interested. In cold calling I have found that the females are more likely to say a no than a guy. I guess they have perfected they art of rebutting advances. Not that my cold calls have anything to do with the said topic.

Back to Blogging - So there we are for today.

cant argue with this one

Passionately cliched

So what is this passion all about?

I some time wonder if this passion thingy is not being over bandied to totally loose its meaning after sometime.

Every jobsite worth its mandate advices the greenhorns to take up a job they are passionate about.

Questions are thrown to celebrities about their driving passions.CEO's talk about being absolutely passionate about their work,their companies ....

If you don't have passion you are not likely to achieve success in life - some say.

People are passionate about their roles , their jobs , their callings and what not.

Are we over doing things a bit here. What does passion mean? The dictionary.com gives the meaning as - any powerful or compelling emotion or feeling as love or hate.

Come to think about it - does a day today job require such a compelling or powerful emotion? Okay you enjoy your job , you like the steps involved the processes , your colleagues , maybe even your boss , you might feel fulfilled as you do your work but being passionate about your job - is'nt it a kind of overkill.

Or perhaps its a case of word usage having moved beyond its original meanings.

Here are Rod Stewarts views on Passion:

Mixed Positive

Good start to the week. Busy day.Candidates to be lined up for various positions, interviews happening and new positions coming in. What more could one want.

Came across this article about Indian Economy which played its part in lifting the spirits a bit more.

More Cuts

A friend of mine in HR recently moved into a new firm in a till recently booming industry. Now he has the unenviable task of cutting down 20 people. That is his first job target.Which,If he doesn't achieve - he might find his own job on the line.

To go ahead with it(his target) he is bringing out old accounting records to mark instances of Bills fudging. Regrettable. What was the accounting department doing when the Bills got fudged initially.These instances would add some more negative fuel to the doomsday talk.

These are all avoidable instances.Have the profits seen such a sudden drop that the salaries of 20 people would make a difference to the bottomline.Arguments can go back and forth on this.

You might have a different take on this but it is a fad now. Slowly the board room discussions will hover around haw many you cut.The guy who can show more numbers would have achieved a higher ego massage.

Obama Acceptance speech Transcript

Full Transcript at http://tinyurl.com/6bbrg7


Audio : http://twurl.nl/nybmnu

Obama is the President

Obama is the President and for no particular reason I am extremely Happy.
Cheers !! to this Occassion.

Here is a lovely Obama campaign ad forwarded by one of my twittering friends.

Classic television ads are few and far between. And only occasionally do they blend into the politic dialect

this was a classy take



__________________
Here is the original.
__________________

Panchayat

The committee fellas at my flat seem to me to be like a Bunch of old hats at the Village Panchayat. Cant seem to mind there own business or they dont seem to have an own business to mind.

Whatever - if i go on ranting about these things then I would be one amongst them.
Time I moved on.

Change is in the Air. I can feel it.

The Bamboo Tree

Some Background:

I live in the ground floor of an Apartment complex.I own a small plot of land which came along-with the flat.Its all off 300 sqft land on which I have let grow some trees.Silver Oaks and Bamboo to be precise.

These trees have taken 4 years growing and after some efforts have reached a height of around 20 ft.

Now some of my friends in the apartment don't seem to like these and have asked me to cut them, saying , I am not within my rights growing trees in my garden.Others suggest pruning the Trees after a certain height.Other reasons for cutting being that Bamboo aggravates the Asthma of My first floor friend's daughter. Hence - cut them.
So, various other arguments are being thrown around while I stick to my Guns.

I love trees and it pains when I see trees being cut all over the place out here in Bangalore. No one seems to understand that thanks to the trees there is so much more fresh air & For a change you can actually hear birds chirping.

But, since my home maker seems to be facing the brunt of it - the peace at home is getting affected.

Any suggestions?

Indian Railways

Managed a Berth after all. The Tatkal system works. As mentioned in the last post I was handed a Tatkal Waiting List number of 56. And was really unsure how this was going to move. At around 12:00 noon my waiting number had moved to 25.Made me quite glum anticipating the ride in the General compartment.

Just when I was rethinking the pros of the trip - I found I had managed a berth on the train all lawfully. Really Happy.

Going to my S1 compartment - I crossed the General Compartment - and what a crowd - some very decent looking chaps stood glumly-perhaps devising a way to squeeze in - & I just voiced a silent prayer of thanks.

IRCTC - Tatkal

Booked a ticket for Sunday night from Chennai to Bangalore on Tatkal.Its on Waiting list.I am not sure of the logic behind it. What are the chances that a passenger cancels after booking on tatkal.Even if there are cancellations use the normal waiting list. Why create another waiting list for the same births. Just a small way for the Railways to make some additional money.The idea behind Tatkal was guranteed Tickets at the last minute for a price.For one you are opening it up 5 days in advance. And now a waiting list.It is Crazy.

I am in Limbo now whether to go ahead and cancel it or wait another day.

October

Another week closes and its the end of the month.
A month of ups and downs.
Yesterday came across data that the worldwide squeeze may last 2-3 years.The economy contracts for such a long period of time.How is that going to impact the recruitment scenario. Best is to go from day to day.The max time frame I can forecast is 3 months.For Those 3 months We are comfortably placed. Thats a good way to start a bad period.Whats the point in Breaking my head beyond that.

Infact I have reduced our targets drastically.As long as we break-even its fine.Why ask for more at this point in time. Guys have been sent out.Perhaps we could do something for them?

Additionally looking at adding clients from other engineering sectors. Automotive might rebound in 9-12 months time but a few other sector companies in our clientlist might provide a good cushion. Wont be easy adding clients during these times.So that is one more hurdle to jump.

There was this scary article I read today. 40000 Trucks - No takers. No wonder they(VOLVO) are closing plants.

Have decided to go ahead with the office in Pune. The decision has been long coming and I am going to stick with it.

Chaos

Been reading a lot of Stuff relating to the economy & to the markets in general. The underlying faith still holds but is getting peppered with a lot of doubt. Today was reading this article from Steve Levit on Freakonomics - which I actually thought was positive - but as it turns out it gives out another bleak sound out for bad things to come in 3-4 months down the line.

India is expected to do 7+ growth rate which is pretty decent - but I need some more data on the sectors that will grow more and where can we expect a freeze.All said and done one can'y associate ones clients recruiting needs to the countrywide sectoral performance.But, still impacts cannot be discounted.

As I keep telling myself there is going to be a definite slow down - the economy which was going at 60 - may now go at 30 - but go it has to. And we need to be at the right places. Its like being a fruit picker - picking in a dense fog on treacherous hills.We need all the insite possible to keep a firm foothold.

All this macro thinking has to happen on one plane - parallely I am going ahead with targetting the guys who are recruiting - its as simple as that - the eagles dont know whether the economy is growing or sliding they just look out for live food. 

The economic stuff can help me in forecasting 6 months down but for the 3 month stuff I have to just trudge to the market and reach out to candidates.

Get off your ass man.

My Jottings

For You

This

Is for you

Because they told you

You’d never be able to fly without wings

And here you are

Soaring

Without a wing

Or a feather

In sight.

Submitted by Johanna Berliner

Blog Action day - Poverty

Poverty throws up a lot of images of shrunken kids from Ethiopia or Sudan, skeletons with skin, being carried around by their moms, or their slightly less famished elder brothers or sisters. Our own country is not very far off in terms of poverty and the irony is that, though there is visible affluence spreading across towns and cities - there is a section of our society which is just going to miss it.

The other day as I stood in a Road side restaurant having a cup of tea I was pondering over some of the cooks and other workers employed by that joint, sitting nearby. How would they relate to a twitter or a Web2?.Social media,Networking, what does it all come to, for these people who would be making not more than 2000Rs a month. And, statistically they cant be termed poor. 

The real poor are the ones who leave their villages and towns to come in search of jobs & shelter in the larger cities like Bangalore and Chennai.Spending the night on the platform or on the steps of some shuttered shop. The ones begging on the streets. 

Nothing new about that. Poverty exists, has been their all along - like a parallel universe, its there in our conscience, and we are unable to do anything about it, as we have yolked ourselves to our jobs/professions. We have made ourselves secure. And,we dont want to be reminded of this ghastly otherworld which keeps bumping againt us every time we leave our home.

From time to time we appease our conscience by making sundry donations to charitable institutions and trusts who are there to do the dirty work.

Our, conscience clear, we go on to, business as usual, wearing our poverty filters.Just like we have glasses to filter UV radiation - our Brilliant Brain has developed internal poverty filters which allows us to be unaffected by the continuous rays of poverty that emanate from all the roads and streets of cities like Bangalore or Chennai. Somehow, I hope that this small Blogging effort helps me to take some more interest / put some more effort, in actually doing something significant to the life of just one poor person.

Its a Hope.

Girl on Bicycle

Turn up the volume wait

startups

Have always belived that undue importance is being given by the media and the VC's to Technology startups. There are too many of the so called me 2 technology startups that go belly up after the first round of funding.Mind over matter does'nt deliver ( not always) . Came across this intersting article on another successful startup in a low technology product( you cant get lower than this) chk this out.

Its about a chain of outlets called the Jumbo King. Their main product - Vadapav.

Have a good weekend.

Soumya Viswanathan

Another incident of a young woman getting shot and again in Delhi. There seems to be a pattern emerging. Women professionals alone and in the night seem to be extremely vulnerable in the Delhi region. Sometime back it was an Air hostess shot by some bike bourne men late in the night around 10:00pm. This time its a TV News producer being shot at what looks like from very close range while driving.The time 3:00pm.Both women are from Kerala if my memory serves me right.

prakash-francis.blogspot.com

THIRST

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: design crisis)

Dus Ka Dum

Dus ka dum first part has come to a close. Easily an astounding success. Are their any learnings that we can take from this show which has generated viewer interest on levels equal to KBC.

This show came after a string of failures in the Game show front - Right from the Anupam Kher/Monisha combine - i cant recall the name to Govinda's act  another no namer , to our more recent SRK's Kya Aap Panchveen Paas Hain - with its bunch of - precocious 8-10 year olds. 

Then came Salman Khan an eccentric character not having a great track record of good behavior with the public/in public places.And, he manages to just sweep everyone off the floor. The competition - there is no game show anywhere near this kind of popularity- other TV channels might working their brains of trying to gain lost ground. And, well the female population - they can;t seem to get enough of Sallu Bhai. 

The high Prize Money 10 crores seems to be incidental - this coup of sorts. The draw is due to Salman and his spontaneouneity with the audience. Guess he is able to connect a lot more a lot better with a very wide section of society and even the fringe of the society. The Tranvestite Rashmi in the Last show was kind off creepy but our man handled it in style.

This whole post has turned out to be an adoration of Salman rather than any article on Learnings.

Well: 1) Just because all earlier acts have pulled a boner need not mean you should'nt go ahead with yours. Learn from mistakes and move on. 

2) If anything involves direct interaction with unknown faces-prepare, but, leave room for spontaneity.Whether it be presentations , interviews anything.People to people interactions click if the players come up with unprepared spur of the moment remarks.

Typically where this spontaneity takes a hit is when in our persuit of perfection and avaoiding mistakes we try to micro manage- the other game show may have floundered there.

Some Salman Speak on the show :

 ..describing the shooting of a film, where he had to run real hard....

" he kept running and running and suddenly he pulled his hamstring, but he still kept running." The contetant asks , "Who were you running after? Vivek Oberoi?"  Then Salman quips "Oh, let it go.  Let him live his life."

 

More Wordling

Saturday at office wondering what to post. Was going through Blogs of note and this idea happened. Get a peep into the blogs without reading through what each one said.
Wordle!! Voila!!

Check this wordle map about biking in Copenhagen.Cool.

Spicing up the Blog

There are intereting ways to spice up ones Blog - Today I found wordling to be one of them.
Check this out. The result of blogging for a month.

Tomato Festival in Spain

An interesting festival of revelry. One might call it a wastage but also a great way to use up the surplus.
When one travels on the Bangalore Chittoor route one comes across piles of tomatoes along the roadside - left to rot. Place called Mulbagal.
A festival like the - Tomatina of Spain - in Bangalore could make an intersting activity for a great weekend .. plus a great way to use waste. And imagine all the indirect benefits like the good effects of tomatoes on the skin and hair.

Chennai Marathon - Student dies

Ironic that an Anna Univ student died finishing the Marathon.You could blame it on the organizers, the student the weather. Apparently this guy - Santosh Kumar was one of the first to finish. Pushed himself too hard. Since he was close to the finishing line he must have not paid heed to chest pain and continued to run. Sad , an athletic fellow having such an excellent constitution, studying in a great University - had to loose his life.

Frontpage-The Hindu

The Hindu seems to have lost it . Today the frontpage photograph was that of a customer who bought the Apple 3G phone in India. A space that is taken up by Olympic Gold medallists / Premiers of Countries and Chiefs of Organisations is shared by a customer whose only achievement seems to have been the ability to wait till 12 midnight to buy a 31K phone. Some Achievement!! Kudos to The Hindu - for being at the Fore front of redifining Newspaper content.

Sushil Kumar Repechage

Sushil Kumar managed to give India the second Medal in this Olympics - Thanks to Repechage.
Repechage is a French word meaning to rescue or to save. Check out this link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Repechage
Thanks to it Sushil Kumar stayed alive in the games - inspite of loosing to Ukranian - Stadnik in the first round - a far superior opponent.
He later went on to defeat the American - Doug Schwab and clinched the Bronze.

Shrink & Thrive

Came across this heading while driving around in Bangalore - with its many hoardings by the Police Don't Drink & Drive. My mind as usual did some word play to come up with this.

The phrase felt meaningless as the thoughts first went to "Shrink" as in a psychiatrist.Become a Shrink and thrive in Business and Life. More and more people are reaching out to psycho therapy as the demands of Career and Business take their toll on lifes and relationship.

But this was aTopic on which personally I didnt feel much connect and then it sounded too flippant about the whole field of psychotherapy.

Then the thoughts turned to Shrink as in "Honey I Shrunk the Kids". Suddnely it made sense.

In the world of Web 2.0 what are the advantages of having a large setup. When a specialist in any field can reach out to his audience/market/clientele does it make sense to expand-as in adding more people more offices - to offer better service. Or look at it this way - does a large Business necessarily offer better value for money while purchasing services or goods to a smaller more focussed and specialized setup. It could be a one man or a 10 man operation with clear goals and fantastic service and a strong orientation to the customer. In such a scenario being larger does it help - the customer? the company?

Every small setup wants to grow.Add more clients , more branches , more people.There is something unambitious about being small.Why would anyone want to be small?

India Wins Gold

Abhinav Bhindra does it for india. India wins Gold after 25-30 years?

This is just the begining....

Laptop Bust

Yesterday as I turned on the Laptop the screen went white - just like it does every third time I turn on. But this time when I restarted - it just kept rebooting - the sequence being - Acer - Windows with three rolling dots - click -click and then again - Acer..... . This went on for sometime, finally I decided to take it to the service center.

The diagnosis - screen change. I am still in warranty so that doesn'nt bite much.But for the next three days I am going to be without a dedicated system.

Well the upshot is that the Monday morning half was lost - in negotiating the Bangalore traffic-
and locating the center & most of after noon was spent on a nap - to recharge the batteries(mine). The downside of having an office within a km from home - even an hour of driving in the city drains me out.

Well that is ironic - because just a day after the website being up - this had to happen.

The current standby system that I am using is - hold your breath - an HP Vectra. It came with its own free edition of Win 98. While opening pages it gives out a krrrrrrrr..... sound.The tempo varying with the download speed. Makes me nostalgic. Remmeber the days of the dial-up connection-with an external modem. Wow.

Woke-up from the reverie with a call from my client that our candidate has turned up for the interview - in Kurta, jeans and sandals - in that order. I thought it was a prank. Just could,nt believe it. Why Kurta?

Well that was it - no interview.

Reminiscing

The memories of REC are still Fresh. They were good days no doubt. As time passes they become even better. Taking on a kind of hazy sheen. Like those black/white photographs of Madhubala - with hair untied - and lit from behind.

Well there is something about those days which just make you want to latch on to them. Or on a more sarcy note - is it just that the days succeeding REC Rkl did'nt live up to expectations - so in comparison those 4 years seem better.

Its not just that - the 4 years of pure freedom will always be cherished especially by some one like me - coming from very strict backgrounds.

It had its negatives. I guess we can get on to the details later.

Website up

Spent almost the entire day in getting the website up. Have nothing much to show for it - but then I am not exactly a Web Designer.

So, satisfied with the effort.Wanted it to be on the lines of Google and Craigslist. Never quite believe in putting all graphic content and colouring. This is is about finding the right job - so why distract a job seeker.

Will improvise as I pick the nuances.

Load Shedding

Yeddi came out with a statement on TOI today that load shedding is going to stop. Well in a way it is good news for industry; what with all the shedding - productivity was taking a hit.

But, I felt notified load shedding is a good idea in the interest of energy saving, infact people would not mind a couple of hours of shedding if given prior info.

Well to be honest, I was disappointed because just last week we spent a sizeable sum,upgrading the battery backup.

:-(

It happens..

Requiem for the 100cc Bikes

The days of 100cc bike & scooter seem to numbered as electric scooters make inroads into the lower powered two wheeler segment.

YOspeed their new offering has triple the power, can seat two people easily, can easily climb on inclines and drive at comfortable city speed of 45kmph.

Read more at : http://www.webnewswire.com/node/445218

Jaane Tu

A wonderful mix of QSQT and Rang De Basanti - deplete the violence of both by a degree of 10, + add a bit of other world with a dead Rajput - smiling, jumping , dancing , chatting with his wife from out of his Life Sized Portrait Sitting in the Bed Room of an urban middle class Mumbaikar + throw in a bit of the Bizarre with Horse riders in Discotheques - the result is a - wonderfully simple story of good friends not realising they are in love - being told in the manner of a thriller - where one does'nt want to get up and leave till the credits start rolling.

Its a safe bet that this movie will walk away with most of the awards.

Also watched Kismet Connection over the weekend. Good movie. Drags a bit - lots of funda.
Vidya Balan - seems to be trying a bit too hard.

IF

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too,
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream--and not make dreams your master,
If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings--nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much,
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And--which is more--you'll be a Man, my son!


--Rudyard Kipling

Bangalore Bomb Blasts

Three Bombs go off in Madiwala,Adugodi and another little known place.

One person dead.

Friday.

?

Traffic Management

Bangalore has a lot of traffic and a lot of traffic jams.

How about regulating the flow a little better by using the FM. Why not a dedicated Radio-station for the Traffic Police. With some awareness campaigns about the frequency etc we can have a lot of traffic steering away from jams and producing a better flow.

Even better - give it to a private operator - and I bet this Radio Station would easily be the most tuned in among all FM's in quicktime.