Blog Two Dot Zero

Why I liked Rockstar...

2011-11-25T07:42:00.000-08:00

I have already seen this movie twice. I really like it. But I don't know why I like it. I am going to try and figure out why I like it while writing this post...

The line I remember most from the movie is: "To become a Rockstar, you need to have a broken heart". And probably what makes this movie awesome is that it leaves you exactly with an uncomfortable unchangeable feeling, which itself is sort of a heartbreak! Something similar to the Ghajini feeling, where a flourishing relationship is brought to a halt by some external factors, with no possibility of a reversal of the situation.

I like this movie because it shows how someone can so be a subject of 'Life's sadistic pleasure'. From feeling bad that he has never been inflicted with any problems in his life, one by one he loses everything. And even while losing everything, he is able to come out of the situation giving a lot of "hope". This "hope" keeps building throughout the movie, until the entire foundation of hope is completely shattered leaving the protagonist irreversibly heartbroken and the audience uncomfortable from a kind of anticlimax.

Clearly from the beginning of the movie we know that the protagonist does become successful as a Rockstar. But that means he must have had some heartbreak according to the movie.

So what could be the source of the heartbreak?

Being thrown out of his home? Doesn't turn out to be the case, as he finds comfort in a holy spot, and makes his place there before moving on.

Getting rejected by the girl who he proposes to? Again, no, because he was never interested in her at that time.

Getting thrown away from the girl's home by the girl itself? Again no, because she herself calls him back making their relationship stronger than ever.

The fact that the girl gets married to someone else? Probably not, because finally the two make a "World of their own".

Or maybe that the girl's got a bad disease from which she is likely to die? Again, not the case, because in his company she becomes better and is on the course of being completely fine again.

So he has everything, still how does his heart break? And such a heart break that nothing can be reversed?

Awesome story. Worth every penny. Watch it if you haven't already. Not many movies are made like this one.. Great work Imtiaz Ali, Ranbir Kapoor, A R Rahman, Mohit Chauhan and Nargis Fakhri. All of you fit in to your roles like no one else would have!

Who is Fake IPL Player?

2009-05-10T12:08:00.001-07:00

Time to start guessing. Don't know whether FIP (Fake IPL Player) will chicken out. Don't know whether FIP and Lalit Modi will join hands to make the biggest marketing deal of IPL 2.

But some research on the internet and I feel, FIP is Rohan Banerjee.

He's young, he's not got a chance to play international cricket (as he himself says in his very first blog post), he both bats and bowls (another revelation of his first post). He's always respected "dada", Sourav Ganguly, in his posts, which probably means he is from Kolkata (yes Ganguly has supporters all over India but somehow this is my gut feel. In fact I too am a great Ganguly fan). And he's already proven himself to be an Indian.

Anyway, all said and done, the dude knows how to write - it's not just about having the info, it's about the way he projects it, which entertains people (unfortunately at the cost of loss of dignity for quite some respectable people).

PS : Fake IPL Player, I feel bad for you that you cannot use Google Adsense, as that needs you to have an identity. But my gut feeling is you are going to make it big in real life - not through cricket, but because of the word "marketing". I already foresee Fake IPL Player T Shirts coming out. In fact, maybe this might also be the beginning of many similar things to come, where the saying "Diwaron ke bhi kaan hote hain" might come in, and people will start blogging it out. We definitely need it for Indian Politics if nothing else!

PPS : FIP, I know you are a Harry Potter fan - your post "Fights, flights and conspiracies" owes its title to "Fight and Flight" from a Harry Potter book.

Life at IIM Calcutta

2009-05-10T04:26:00.000-07:00

In a sentence, IIMC could be described as 7 lakes, 6 terms, 5 blocks, 4 lecture halls, 3 hostels, 2 years, 1 soul, 0 regrets.

Things you’ll love and remember about IIM Calcutta

It’s the once place where you sleep when daylight is just coming in. You’ll get used to a bright morning at 5:30 am itself, and darkness all around by 5:30 pm.
The friendly nature of Bengalis – in the hostel messes, and in shops around.
The non-RG culture of the batch – when they share Things to Do before exams from across the text books, class notes, and the internet.
Extremely rigorous academics (And please, for the 100^th time, IIMC is NOT chill!).
Loads of clubs – for people with work experience it is a way of ensuring you do not “Rust unburnished”, and it’s a nice experience for freshers as well. With the clubs come loads of responsibilities, and applying loads of what you learn in class.
An extremely strenuous summer and final placement week – trust me it takes a lot out of you! At the same time, this challenge is one of the greatest learning experience you take with you when you move ahead.
The night outs – be it for exams, assignments, group work, or cultural events, or just to talk to friends – these are times you truly miss when you come out of IIMC. I so long for some more of those night outs!
Hostel Life – Old Hostel (aka Ramanujan Hall), New Hostel, White Hall (Tagore Hall and Annexe combined) – all unique in their ways, yet wonderful to be a part of.
Bird Shit – A careless walker can decorate himself with bird shit in some parts of the campus. In fact, at times it is inevitable. I doubt there is a single IIMCian who hasn’t got shit at!
You get to do exactly what you want to do at IIMC. No, I do not mean you can laze. I mean you get to choose your interest, and take it ahead – be it for general studies, or specific sectors. And for each of the best sectors, the best companies line up with the best offers at the highest positions. And of course, IIMC did have the highest average salary this year across B Schools in India.
An awesome campus – people actually lose their way when they come to campus – it’s so big, and really beautiful, with one of the biggest auditoriums (movies are also aired there), and one of the biggest libraries of Asia.
Awesome weather all around the year – You never face the supposed dust / heat of the city – because of an extremely clean campus and the lakes which make the place cooler.
And of course, the simple fact that you get to flaunt your IIMC logo filled T shirts when you go out of campus is a real feel good factor. And that lasts forever.
The entertaining extranet and IP – well, all communications happen completely online at IIMC – be it general student discussions, or official notices from the PGP Office of IIMC – everything is done online. The best part is that the entire process is completely handled by students of the campus (a group called ISG). These days you’d find loads of campuses having started off their own websites – but very few campuses would have their college’s official site being handled by them – and being completely developed on a need basis by students interested in coding – For IIMC it is very beneficial as unlike other B Schools they don't need to pay a 3rd party for development, and for students it is great learning too.
"Point no. 15 I'd like to add to ALL the awesomeness embodied in the points u've mentioned... IIMC has the knack of enveloping you in its warm embrace, and truly becoming a 2nd home for the wandering, searching, questioning selves that we are.
This "knack" is symptomized (and also caused im sure) by the points mentioned in the post, most of which - Minimal RG, Extremely rich culture and inter-batch bonds, and finally, the incredibly awesome pple all around everywhere!", says Justin, a student of the Batch of 2010, IIM Calcutta
"Other schools make make you a better manager, but IIMC makes you a better person.", says Hrishikesh, another student of the Batch of 2010.

Thanks to Justin and Hrishikesh for the last 2 points!

And to end -

A sales pitch for IIM Calcutta, prepared in 1 hour flat - start to finish, for a contest called MarGod at IIM Calcutta.

Ever thought why join IIM Calcutta?

http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=5k3COSEuFRg&feature=channel

BlogTwoDotZero 2.0 = Strat . In

2009-05-05T12:11:00.000-07:00

Blogging is reaching stage 2.0 for me now.

While I would keep writing stuff off and on on this blog, a few of us from IIM Calcutta have also started our common blog - Strat . In

We are going to write about everything under the sun - but more importantly we will talk about the WHY behind what happened.

So do keep reading on!

IPL and TV Advertising

2009-04-25T10:05:00.000-07:00

When IPL had just started, I heard about this new advertising technique where advertising really broke into the game of cricket harder than ever.
At the end of every 10 overs of IPL, there would be a longer break for commercials, of around 8 – 10 minutes. And this information was given out clearly in all the media. The first question that came to my mind was – if the viewers already know this information, then will anyone actually bother watching 10 minutes of commercials waiting for play to resume? Would this not, instead, entice the user to change the channel when he knows exactly how long it is going to take before play resumes? This is fairly obvious. And if it is obvious indeed, can’t the advertisers predict this much? If people are not watching their advertisements for those long breaks, then are they really having any return on investment from putting up their ads during IPL?

On further probing on the topic, I realized where the flaw lay. When you use TV as a medium of advertising, it is very difficult to actually predict how many people saw your advertisement, and whether they actually observed it, or whether they actually made an attempt at analyzing the purpose of the ad, and finally whether that analysis converted to purchase. The only data that an advertiser gets is the popularity of the channel where ads are being shown, and the TRP ratings of the programme in between which the ads are being shown. And it is just on the basis of this that advertisers decide whether to invest in this channel / programme for displaying ads. In fact, it isn’t even the advertiser who looks at it.

Say you are Bru Cappuccino. To make your product famous you want to advertise on TV. So what happens is that you contact one agency for making your ad, and then another agency which acts like an exchange in between advertisers like you and TV channels. So the advertiser never actually “bargains” with the publisher of the ad. It’s all done by this intermediary exchange. Thus, you have no idea when your ad is going to show up, and more often than not, it is not effective. In fact, you might actually see the same Bru Cappuccino ad 3 times during the same programme broadcast on MTV (for example). So you pay for each of those 3 times, whereas you would have probably preferred if it had come 1 time each for 3 programmes. And the whole process is so much of a black box that ultimately what you do is just sign a cheque and give it to the advertising exchange.

So what happened in case of IPL? IPL obviously has better viewer stats than most other running serials on TV. So advertisers must have bid more in the advertising exchange for putting up their ads during IPL. Also, more advertisers would have signed up for putting up their ads on IPL. As a result, a whole lot of ad inventory was built up for IPL. Now, Mr. Lalit Modi must have done this calculation and realized that he cannot satisfy (or rather extract the last penny out) all the advertisers and their total view demands with just 59 matches (breaking it down to approximately 50-60 (20 + 20 over breaks + 20 wickets) advertising opportunities). He had more ad inventory to look at publishing. So what does he do now? He actually introduces a change in the game called “Strategy breakout” where each team can take a break to think back on how they should plan their next 10 overs. Looking at it from the perspective of cricket, this definitely adds a new dimension to the game – making batsmen resettle into their game – making the resettling period quite a wicket taking opportunity for the bowling team (as Sachin Tendulkar figured in his match against Deccan Chargers on 25th April. He was playing beautifully till the break, and when he came, he was completely unsettled, and lost his wicket in no time, and eventually his team lost).

TV advertising is definitely an effective technique of reaching your potential and existing customers. However, the way it is done can be really improved to ensure that advertisers can better calculate their ROI of advertising on TV. No prizes for guessing which form of advertising offers the best estimate for Return on Investment for the advertiser.

Google Profiles

2009-04-19T00:13:00.000-07:00

Yet another product from Google. This time it is Google Profiles. It is a single stop for connecting all your Google Profiles (Gmail, Orkut, Picasa, etc.). So now you need to update stuff at just one place for it to reflect everywhere.

Apart from that, how I see it, for consumers, this is like a mini – Orkut. Mini because you don’t need to write about yourself for that 1 hour which it takes to make an Orkut Profile. This is just a 5 min exercise where you will put in your place of birth, where you have studied, and stayed. A few other details here and there. So if you want to search for people from your school who you haven’t contacted for years, you can use the Google Search Profile option which will take you to all people who are from that place. Orkut of course has a perfect search algorithm, where even if you make as have as an alphabet out of place, the search will not return relevant results. But Google Profiles use the regular Google search algorithm, which significantly corrects your search. A very plain example, if you search for “College of Engg TVM”, it will also return results from College of Engineering Trivandrum.

Now, let’s look at it from Google’s perspective. Why would Google want to do this (apart from the fact that it is useful for people in general :-)). This is to build a huge, structured database of characteristics of people. And why would they do that? To further improve their content advertising. You might have already noticed the ads you get on the right doing your Google searches or in Gmail. These are based on a lot of things like what you search for, what your previous searches have been, and what your IP address is. With the “what you search for”, they match it with keywords that advertisers have bought (called Google Adwords), and if there is a match, then they put up that ad. Similarly in Gmail, the ads you see on the right come up because some of your mail content looks like it matches with what an advertiser is hoping for when he / she is looking for a target customer. And finally, your IP address – that tells Google that you are probably sitting in India, or to be more specific, say Mumbai, and hence Mumbai based ads would be most relevant.

Google has always been trying to improve how they display ads to us. Some examples have been the Google SearchWiki – where if you have logged in to any Google account when you search, the results will be even more relevant to you, and you can customize how you see results. By doing this they were actually collecting what you search, and then improving their ads.

Now have a look at Google Profiles – they take basic data about you. Now with this data, they are going to be able to better make their algorithms to ensure the ads they put up are more relevant on their pages. This way there is a better probability that the ads would get clicked and therefore a greater probability that Google gets the money from ads.

To access your Google Profile, click here.

Blogging Ethics

2009-04-06T22:41:00.000-07:00

In this new world of internet, blogging is slowly but surely taking centre stage. Blogging is not just about writing your thoughts - it is a new dimension in the world for a way of doing things. It is a marketing channel for advertisers to meet the long tail of the audience. It is a way of being acknowledged on the internet. It's a way of finding yourself in Google Search results!

Of course, with every new dimension that is added to the way we do things, there is a good side and a bad side. The good side, as mentioned above, is all about having the freedom to express your thoughts, and free flow of information. The bad side, is of course, abuse of this free service that has been provided. Some supposed bloggers use blogs to vent out their frustrations at being losers by abusing others in their blogs. Some people try and de-market some of their associations, be it their college, their work place, or some more successful peers.

But should such negative posts be punished? Of course, there is a simple way of filing an FIR if people want to do it - but at times, it is better that the immaturity of the negative bloggers be handled differently. Credibility comes not just by posting - but by posting sense. Otherwise it just shows the lack of development of the mind of the blogger.

Thus, while blogging is every person's right, I think it is also the duty of each blogger to exercise certain discretion in the language and comments they write on their blog.

Reducing File Size of Images

2009-04-04T20:18:00.000-07:00

Ever since the inception of the Digital Camera, it has become far easier to secure every moment of our life. However, something that has been completely overlooked is the acute wastage of space that has come in with the improving technology.

With every new advancement, file size has been going up drastically. The average file size of a photo these days is 3 - 4 MB. However, these images are mostly viewed only on the computer, and rarely are they used beyond that. So while all one needs is an image that looks clear, and fits the screen size on their monitors, they end up using these heavy images, which of course take up a lot of space, and are practically not worth the effort.

One simple solution to reduce file size and maintain good quality is by using Picasa. This is a Google product, which lets you view images on your computer, and also lets you upload images onto your Google Picasa account (upto 1 GB). So let me give you an example.

I just collected some of my convocation Pics (93 in number) which had a file size of 236 MB. I then opened this folder in Picasa, and right click on this folder in the Left Menu, and said, Upload to Web Albums. It then gave me the option of making a new folder in my online Photo Account, and then 4 options for file size to upload.

1. Original size (slowest Upload)
2. Recommended: 1600 pixels (for prints, screensavers, and sharing)
3. Medium: 1024 pixels (for sharing)
4. Small: 640 pixels (for blogs and webpages)

Now, since I wanted a decent amount of clarity for the convocation pics, I used the option 3, which is medium file size. I then uploaded this album online. Next, I went to the online web album and went into this particular online folder, and on the top left, clicked Download - Download to Picasa. This again downloaded my conovcation pics back to my hard disc. And this time, the file size was just 10.7 MB. And photos were of good quality too. So basically I reduced the file size by more than 20 times, I also have an online copy of the files, and in all, I have saved loads of space on my computer.

Let's all be responsible people and not waste storage space on our Hard Discs. This is a simple process for reducing file size and sharing it with friends as well. Of course there would be loads of ways of reducing file size - but doing it on a large scale, with no software installation required as such, makes life really easy.

Rankings 2.0 Continued..

2009-03-09T11:42:00.000-07:00

So after writing my previous post, I got a call from some friends at IIT Bombay Shailesh J Mehta School of Management (SJMSOM), saying I missed their name.

Now here's my explanation for leaving them out.

So what makes SJMSOM special? It is a subsidiary of IIT Bombay that deals with MBA. The entrance examination for this is JMET (Joint Management Entrance Test), and out of the 20000 odd people who write this exam, only the top 300 odd people get into this college. A lot of its brand value is associated with the fact that it is part of a premier institute like IIT. This makes it more sought after.

If we check on www.stimator.com, it clearly says that for evaluating sub domains, they measure traffic on the main domain as well. And the SJMSOM site is www.som.iitb.ac.in, which is a sub domain of the site www.iitb.ac.in. If we try and compare on an absolute scale, SOM comes at around 26000 USD, which means it should be ranked 2nd. Of course, the number here is strongly influenced by the fact that it is under IIT Bombay. Therefore, I chose to leave out SJMSOM..

No offence meant to SJMSOM! Just that this rating needed absolute values.

~Thanks to Seksaria of IIT Bombay SJMSOM to make me clarify.

Top B Schools in India : Rankings 2.0, based on the value of their Website

2009-03-08T01:48:00.000-08:00

There have been loads of ways of trying to rank these B Schools. Most of the methods have certain drawbacks or the other. I have tried and used a technique that is independent of human factors to try and come up with the rankings.

This is, the estimated value of the websites, as measured by a new technique. The technique involves the usage of thew website www.stimator.com which analyzes any website whose address is entered. It then does a valuation of your website, and returns its current value in terms of US Dollars.

This is primarily an analysis of their websites. I believe that the amount of traffic on the websites of these colleges, and how popular these websites are to the outside world is one of the ways in which the college can be rated. Greater the popularity of the site, more the reasons linked with it being one of the Best B Schools in perception. And, of course, B Schools are ultimately all about perception!

The estimated value is based on a whole lot of factors like Web Recognition, Web Volume, Popularity, Linking Data, Social Score, etc.

The ranking as seen here is

Some of the Top B Schools in India are

1. IIMA
2. IIMC
3. IIMB
4. SPJain
5. FMS
6. IIML
7. IIMI
8. MDI
9. XLRI
10. IIMK

If we take the Top 4 in this list and do a breakdown of their analysis, The IIMB site scores very low on the Social Score (0.84) as compared to IIM C (1.37), IIM A (1.67) and SP Jain (1.23). The rest of the factors are almost equal or in the approximate order of their overall rankings.

The website I have used to come up with these numbers is called www.stimator.com

I have not included certain schools in this list like IRMA, SJMSOM, etc. The reason for not including SJMSOM is here.

The reason for leaving out IRMA is that I have considered only the general MBA course related B Schools. Otherwise, IRMA would push IIMK out of this list of Top 10.

Also, please note that these details are as of Early February 2009. Some website avlues have slightly increased / decreased in the last 1 month. That probably means that the best way to make a conclusive decision is by taking an average over a period of around 6 months - 1 year.

How to reduce Microsoft Word 2003 File Size

2009-02-07T05:49:00.001-08:00

As you would all know, MS 2007 has far more features than MS 2003. One thing that often gets missed out is file size reduction in MS 2007. However, unfortunately, not everyone still recognizes docx or xlsx as official MS Office stuff, as they are still using doc, xls etc.

Now, in case you are in a situation where you have a MS 2003 word file which has a large size and you want to get it reduced. One way would be to convert this to an MS 2007 file. This way, the size is bound to reduce (Everything apart from image size). If you still have to submit an MS 2003 file only, you can then save this MS 2007 file as an MS 2003 file.

Just to reiterate

1. Take your large size MS 2003 file.
2. Save it as an MS 2007 file.
3. Resave it as an MS 2003 file.

And it's done!

Cricket 2.0

2009-02-06T05:04:00.000-08:00

A news of IPL is just out that talks about the "One Over Eliminator" taking over the "Bowl Out" feature of IPL. Find out about this new feature for tied matches, as you read ahead.

The world of Cricket is no different from any other industry of the world. Even here, we have newer trends coming in everyday, with newer ways of serving the target segment.

At first, there were Test matches - the orthodox, real game of cricket. 5 days in the field, and a battle across 4 innings to have a possible winner.

With time, the spectators got more demanding - they wanted faster results and matches to be more exciting, as Test matches often ended in draws. This brought in the concept of LOIs (Limited Overs International) with a fixed number of overs per side (60). Seeing that this concept was emerging fast, Test matches sort of took second place. And with time, the number of overs became 50 a side.

Superior technology finally brought in the concept of a 3rd umpire, which made run out decisions more acceptable.

After this, things stabilized quite a bit. But everywhere around, new innovations were being tried. The strongest of these innovations was the Twenty20 concept. And with time, it also took part of the centre stage. There was an ICC World Cup for Twenty20 (obviously won by the best team, beating their arch rivals ;-) ) This led to a newer concept - IPL.

IPL has been ICC's baby. They have promoted it extensively, and kept innovating with it as well. With IPL, the focus is clearly shifting from hard core sports to entertainment. The "product" Cricket is now "packaged" for entertainment. This can of course have its own advantages and disadvantages.

Another aspect worth mentioning is the rate of innovation in IPL, like the No-ball rule which now includes a Free Hit. And now they have come up with the latest change in the next version of IPL - they have pushed out the concept of Bowl Out, and introduced the One over Eliminator. This would be like a Tie-Breaker, where each side gets one over to show their worth. They have to select 3 batsmen and 1 bowler form their team. If the team loses 2 wickets, then the team is "All out". Also, if the 2 teams are tied at the end of this contest, then the team that has hit the maximum number of sixes in their innings would win. If that too is same, then it would be the maximum number of fours that decides the winner.

How are they able to bring in such rules? First of all, because it isn't nations fighting against each other, it is just power performers. So, the spectator enjoys watching good shots from both teams, good bowling from both teams, and rarely goes back really disappointed with who has actually won the contest. Though it is difficult to generate that passion as a country against country match would bring in, it is well substituted with entertainment, and it is exactly as long as it should be. For example, if you have 3 hours to spare and nothing to do, you know you can use this as a source of entertainment if it is happening.

And that is why I call this version of Cricket as Cricket 2.0 - it reaches new boundaries at new levels and offers a lot of entertainment, without asking you to invest too much.

Is this the way ahead? Can IPL replace One Day Internationals (ODIs) and test matches? Do you like the packaging that IPL brings to cricket? Do write your comments on the Wall!

Finally Gmail has folders! Find out how to use them

2009-02-04T05:09:00.000-08:00

Google has finally decided to directly compete with Yahoo! in their mail service. In this post, I will explain how you can move mails into a folder, and later in the same post I will explain how you can apply filters in your mail so that a mail can automatically be moved to a specific folder.

Gmail, as you might have noticed has got a different template for its buttons now. What you may not have noticed however, is the "Move to" button in Gmail now.

If you select a mail from your Inbox, and click the Move To Button, it gives you the option of moving this mail out of your Inbox and into any existing folder (something they term as LABEL). You can also create new folders, which are then listed in the Left Menu (under chat) in your Gmail. When you click on the folder names, Gmail will accordingly show you the relevant mails.

What is the difference from earlier? Earlier, Google only allowed you to Label incoming mail with whatever you wanted. Those mails would remain in your Inbox, though you would clearly be able to see their label there itself. This wasn't particularly convenient - especially compared to Yahoo mail, where the design of folders just rocks. This new feature from Google completely changes the equation of competition between Yahoo mail and Gmail.

Now, one feature of Yahoo which is still better than Gmail is Filtering. You can easily make a mail move to a particular folder using filters. However, this feature is not directly there with Gmail. However, there is a small workaround with which you can replicate the Yahoo feature.

Say you want to move all mails you get from xyz@gmail.com into a folder called XYZ. You need to perform the following steps to complete the action.

1. Click on Settings in Gmail at the right Top of the browser screen.
2. Click on Filters in the Top Menu under Settings
3. Click on Create a New Filter
4. At the top of the screen, you would now see various ways of making a filter. In this case, we want to move all mails sent from xyz@gmail.com into a folder called XYZ. So, first enter xyz@gmail.com in the From field at the top. Click on Next Step.
5. Now, you would see multiple options of what can be done with these mails. Here, you will need to select "Skip the Inbox (archive it)", and also select "Apply the Label", and specify the label name or create a new one.
6. You can now apply the filter to existing mails as well as new mails by selecting the checkboxex accordingly.
7. Save your filter, and test run it to confirm.
8. So the next time xyz@gmail.com mails you, the mail would automatically go to that folder, and what's more, it will even be highlighted as XYZ (1) when a mail comes.

In case of any queries, do write them on the wall

Google Products : Google Reader

2009-02-02T22:24:00.000-08:00

Google Reader is a product of Google which still hasn't hit the complete set of consumers. Here's an explanation of what it is all about, and why it is really useful.

Internet is growing fast, and with that, so is the information available on the internet. Google is one company of the world which has been working really hard on collecting and arranging this information. Imagine being in an internet space where you didn't know how to search for relevant information! I remember a time when I would not remember a website address and would spend ages trying to get the address right. That problem doesn't exist today!

Coming specifically to how Google Reader helps now. Let's take an example of the Gmail Blog.

How would you keep track of when it is updated? Should you go to the Gmail blog once in a week? Or once a day? How would you remember whether you have already read this article earlier or not? Further, what if you read multiple blogs / news articles online? Would you go to each website and look for information updates?

Google Reader is a one stop solution for all these problems and many more. All you need to do is, go to Google Reader and click on "Add a Subscription on the Left Top of the window. Here, you could add any blog / news address directly and Google Reader would feed the data from that site directly into this interface.

This way, you never need to go to any of those blogs again. Google Reader is exactly like an inbox of mails, where each mail is an article that has been posted on the blogs you are subscribed to. Another huge advantage is "Search". Google Reader lets you search in the blogs you are subscribed to. This guarantees relevant results, as you are specifically defining which blogs / news articles you want to refer to.

For example, if you subscribe to NDTV news today. Now, you want to search for last 5 years of news on a specific company. You could search this NDTV feed, and it would give you all results of when news was published by NDTV on their online channel.

Do subscribe to the Wall on the right menu on my blog, and ask me any questions you have in mind.

Google - 2 errors in 2 days! And yet they just rock!

2009-01-31T21:30:00.000-08:00

Google has made 2 errors in 2 days!

1. There was an error in their Google Search code, because of which every result that was published by the search was tagged with "This site may harm your computer" for around 40 minutes.

2. Google's spam filter issue : Google sent some non - spam GMail mails into the Spam folder by mistake due to some error in their Spam engine malware filters - which they are now reversing.

Why Google still rocks is, it has come out in the front, clearly explaining that these were human errors, and they have apologized for them on their blog.

Check out the following links to see what they had to say.

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/this-site-may-harm-your-computer-on.html

http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/this-mornings-spam-filter-issue.html

Google has always been close to its users, something that is really outstanding about their culture! Who said a brand cannot make a difference!

Chrome Vs Firefox : What's different in these browsers?

2009-01-31T10:47:00.000-08:00

Google Chrome - a browser that took up 1% of the browser market share within hours of being launched - so clearly speaks volumes about the Google Brand!

Firefox - if you look at it in Bollywood's terms - I would say it is like a star who was made without his / her father being in the Bollywood industry - purely because of its merit, and useful features.

Google Chrome had one feature that really looked good initially - On opening a new tab, it would give a visual display of your most popularly visited sites, so you could just click on that site directly. However, two things that I can say to this are,

1. This feature isn't particularly sought after for normal users, because typing in the address is any day faster.

2. With Google's new toolbar, Firefox automatically gets this feature.

One other feature about Google Chrome that is different is the address bar. Here, if you, for example, start typing in "rediff", it automatically fills in the rest in the address bar itself, so you can directly press enter. In Firefox, the best result of what you have typed comes only in the options below in the drop down that comes up, so you have to press the down arrow key atleast once to make the match. This is extremely comfortable for users. Of course, it is a question of getting used to.

One more difference between Firefox and Chrome is in terms of RAM usage. While Firefox has just one full component of RAM Usage (use Control + Shift + Escape to check this), Chrome divides each tab that is opened in the same browser into different components of RAM Usage. To put an example, if Firefox has 3 tabs open, each taking 30000 K, then the RAM usage would show 90000 K for Firefox. However, in case of Chrome, you would see 3 different lines for processes, each showing 30000 K. This structure has a clear advantage. In case one of your Firefox tab crashes, you have to shut down the entire Firefox system. However, in case a Google Chrome crashes, you only need to close that particular tab. This way your other work can continue without restarting the browser.

The restore session feature : This is automatically enabled in Firefox. However, in Chrome, to enable the restore session feature, you need to go to Settings - Options, and then in the Basics Tab, you need to select "Restore the pages that were open last" under startup. However, the important thing to note here is that the sessions that are restored in Firefox also login the user automatically into any online session he / she might have been part of. For example, if you are logged in to Gmail when you close the browser, Firefox will more often that not log you back in to your mail when you restore the browser. However, in case of Google Chrome, all sessions are expired, and you need to relogin to activate the sessions again. While this definitely makes Chrome more secure, probably for personal computers the Firefox feature of restoring sessions is better.

Finally, the screen size - Chrome doesn't let you install toolbars, hence the entire space at the top is empty, making one feel that there is more browser space. Which is true in a sense, though the same can be achieved in Firefox too, by disabling a whole lot of toolbars.

Overall, I would say both these browsers are quite useful, and in most cases can be used alternatively. And of course, both are miles better than Internet Explorer, which has degraded since IE 7 was launched. Not only did they have that security breach issue, the IE browser is also pathetically slow. In fact, Gmail actually advertises Firefox and Chrome as a Top Link if you login to Gmail through Internet Explorer.

Google's New Toolbar : Google Toolbar 5

2009-01-31T01:42:00.001-08:00

You can download Google's new toolbar from here

This toolbar gives the Google Chrome feel in Mozilla Firefox. For example, when you do a Control T for a new tab, it lists your most recently visited pages, which can directly be clicked and accessed. Installing is quite simple and as always, free!

How can I change the name of my blog in blogspot?

2009-01-31T01:12:00.000-08:00

All you need to do, as I just did, is the following:

1. Login to your Blog, go to Dashboard
2. Click on Settings for the blog
3. Go to the tab (at the top) called Publishing
4. Change the name of your blog (subject to availability)

If you have put stuff like Google Friend Connect on your site, a few reconfigurations will be required. You will get the following error "This gadget is configured incorrectly. Webmaster hint: Please ensure that "Friend Connect Settings - Home URL" matches the URL of this site."

To get rid of this problem, you will have to go to http://www.google.com/friendconnect, and then click on Site Settings in the left menu, and then change the name of the Home URL to the new name, and then save changes.

Similarly, for Google SMS Channels as well, you would have to change the blog name in the SMS Channel under http://labs.google.co.in/smschannels.

Welcome to IIM Calcutta!

2009-01-14T04:48:00.000-08:00

A sales pitch for IIM Calcutta, prepared in 1 hour time - start to finish!

Ever thought why join IIM Calcutta?

http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=5k3COSEuFRg&feature=channel

Happy New Year!

2009-01-02T21:09:00.000-08:00

Like a professor at IIM Calcutta said,

pranaya Kumar Swain
1/1/2009 11:30:00 AM

Happy New Year

Here is wishing you all an extremely prosperous, recession-controlled, financially-stable, job secure, debt-free, investment-profiting, promotion-assured, hike-replete, war-free, air/water/rail/road-safe, earthquake free, tsunami free, terrorist-free, friends-filled, romance-blooming, healthy, joyous and cheerful New Year 2009!

Cheers,
Pranay

Google Friend Connect

2008-12-30T05:55:00.002-08:00

Google Friend Connect is one of the things to look forward to in the future.

Technology is going one step ahead everyday, and changing the very base of how things happen in the world. Each new tool is like a new foundation to how things are to be done. That's what is the most wonderful part about technology. It frames the rules of the games. How the games are played ultimately depends on how well you can build around technology.

Now, coming back to Google Friend Connect. Why is it so useful? Let us take a small example, say that of Google Labs. Google Labs keeps coming up with new features off and on. How would these features be marketed to the world? Through just online news channels? Probably not. It could also be conveyed through blogs, forums, etc.

Let's take another example. Say, follow B School trends, how they are faring this year, and what each B School has done best, and then frame my opinions about them. After that, I write about that the B Schools on my blog, giving some critical comments on the B Schools. I probably also offer tips on how to take a good decision of which school to join. This information might be very useful to some people, who may not be following online forums like for example.

I thus become an influencer for people choosing B Schools, because when people read my blog, they frame opinions about B Schools on reading my blog.

Now, how would a person identify who are the most important influencers for taking decisions on B Schools? They possibly cannot know how many people read the long list of blogs that rate B Schools, can they? Here is where Google Friend Connect becomes very useful. Say I have installed Google Friend Connect on my site. Now, a person visiting my site, has the option to join Google Friend Connect if he / she wants to, and there is a good chance of the person joining my site only if they like the content. Every new person that joins my site thus makes my site more credible.

Say, in the long run, I have 1000 people on my site, and when a new reader sees the friend list, he / she sees the profiles of the people seeing my site, and also the number of people seeing the site as registered users. That is a sort of a confirmation to the reader that this site makes sense - more sense than a site with lesser number of registered friends or irrelevant friends.

Now, wy not just have your own list of registered users, as many sites have? Why not just show that list to the world? Why subscribe to Google Friend Connect on your site?

Many reasons as I see it. First of all, through Google Friend Connect, you have a sort of an external auditor on your site for giving site credibility. The same "auditor" would be used by many sites eventually, and thus, Google Friend Connect would become the fundamental measurement unit, accepted by a whole lot of people. Apart from that Google Friend Connect allows you to use certain features of ORKUT as well, inviting new people, etc. improving your marketing efforts with no extra costs to be incurred. You don't even need to market it yourself, your "friends" do it - both knowingly and unknowingly. And finally, why bother setting up your own registered user list feature, when you could use something readily available? Even from the user's perspective, the user would not need to create separate logins for each new site he goes to. He can just use his email ID on all sites.

So that's why I think Google Friend Connect just rocks!

I see this as some sort of Market Share building by Google. Personally, I feel everyone who puts Google Friend Connect on their site, has been bought over by Google. Given the simplicity of setting up friend connect in Google as compared to Facebook connect, more sites are likely to have GFC as of now.

Which is why I repeat, IT keeps changing the way business is done!

Dil Chahta Hai

2008-12-29T23:11:00.000-08:00

I wrote this a long time back. Am putting up now. It is my analysis of a few people on Dil Chahta Hai..

AKASH (AAMIR KHAN)

Filled with ego and selfishness. Loves making fun of his friends, and to mock at them and others. Always wants to show how he has already experienced things more than others. He is so blinded by his thoughts that he just sets his own rules for everything (There is nothing like long lasting love, and all who are in it are only fooling themselves). Even when he tries flirting with Shalini, he is so unconcerned about whether she has come with someone that he actually pushes away the topic saying that the person she is accompanying is her brother and he knows him. And after misbehaving with her in front of everyone, he actually feels proud of himself thinking he has won the moment. He always thinks extremely short term – if at all. He is not emotional. He only wants to enjoy the moment (Who cares where the hell we land up) – he also says he wants independence – he wants someone who’d live her own life and let him live his own. He is untouched by hard reality.
However, when he does face reality, he is up for it, and takes all the right decisions. He shares a good and open relationship with his parents, who also help him in taking his decisions. That is a drastic change from the old Akash, where his parents would decide things for him and he would just take them up.

SID (AKSHAYE KHANNA)

The mature one of the lot. Always calm – Sameer knows that if Sid tells him something it is the right thing, and he trusts him always, which is why I believe they are in friendship. With respect to Akash – Sid, there is no real reason for friendship between them. They just like hanging out with each other. There are really no confrontations between them, until the first time it happens, and things go bad. Sid even says that he bears with all what Akash does, but there is a limit to everything. This was something inevitable, given their initial natures.
Sid is in search of something in his life, which he still doesn’t know about. It is definitely not his friendship with Akash or Sameer – not that he undervalues that – but that is not his main reason to be. He even tells this to them – that ultimately friends would go in their own directions.
Sid never really shares his feelings regularly with his friends, unlike Sameer and Akash (of course, Akash rarely has feelings to share). And none of his friends really know him. What he shows on the exterior is completely different from who he really is. He keeps things to himself. He never wants anything from the world. He just wants things to be the way they are. And he would make his own meaning to everything in world, even if it is completely unconventional – like his paintings. And for the first time, when someone actually uncovers the real Sid, he falls in love with her – another unconventional act. Another interesting thing about Sid’s character is that he seems to bond best with people in problems. Be it Dimple Kapadia or Deepa (who is rejected by Akash), he always is there for them. He likes supporting them, he likes to advice them, and he likes it when people feel better because of him. This might be because of an inherent insecurity in him since he is clearly not the cool guy from amongst the 3 friends, and looks for other means to make people believe in him.

SAMEER (SAIF ALI KHAN)

Egoless person, always going with the tide. Always keeps his feelings aside with friends, becoming the scapegoat so they all have fun. Even in his personal life, he is very unsure. He wants to believe that he is somebody, who he actually isn’t. He wants to appear like the fashionable dude, and in trying to do so, he always ends up making a fool of himself. Until he goes into a relationship which he doesn’t really intend to go into. Further, he is always a huge supporter of his friends. The only person who is always going to be there for you (When Dimple Kapadia is about to die, Sameer comes immediately to meet Sid – not because he wants to meet her, but because he wants to be with Sid at this time when he really needs support).
He has blind trust in his friends, and assumes they would all be like him. He tells Sid that Akash will be happy to meet you again, and that to him is more important than their past fights. However, that is how Sameer perceives things and not Akash. Sameer values his friendship far more than his long list of girlfriends. And it reflects in his behaviour each time. A clear sign of frustration can be seen in him when he talks to his girlfriends. On the other hand, despite knowing that Akash makes fun of him he doesn’t ever get frustrated with them – showing that he really doesn’t value his relationships with his previous girlfriends well – he sees it more as a status symbol than as a need.

SHALINI (PRIETY ZINTA)

Adaptive child. In fact she is an adopted child. And she shows it in every move of hers. She might actually have wanted to do a lot of things, but she is very reserved in her actions. And when Akash asks her to dance and misbehaves with her, she apologizes to him rather than just give him a tight slap! She is ready to marry Rohit just because her foster parents have taken care of her, and so she thinks she needs to do this to return the favour, Rohit being the foster parents’ actual child.
I relate a lot to this movie primarily because I can relate to most of the people in this movie – at some point in my life, I have been like each one of these people, depending on the situation, and just like the characters in this movie, I have also learnt from each of my life’s incidents, and become a more mature person, just as the film shows.

Ghajini

2008-12-29T13:12:00.000-08:00

This is definitely one of the most intense movies I have ever seen. Aamir Khan proves once again that he is just the God of Bollywood once again, by giving such a powerful performance.

Asin is quite lovable. Her role has been framed really well by the film maker.

Ghajini, the villain, is probably the most hatable, just as was designed. The actor does a good job.

The movie is very depressing, anger rousing, and in all, very gripping. In some senses, it reminds me of Titanic - where you always know Leonardo Dicaprio doesn't survive, and yet throughout you keep hoping that something will be different, and he will get saved. Just in the same way, the complete build up to the murder of Kalpana is just amazing - it has so much of grip, it makes you love Asin, it makes you think of Aamir as such a person you want to be, it makes you shout out to Aamir Khan, "Please answer Asin's call", it makes you shout, "Asin please keep your phone in silent mode", "Asin, run!".

The way the rod moves close to Asin's head, is just way too depressing. It brings out all your emotion, and brings it straight in front of your eyes.

The movie has been so well thought of. The very fact that Asin never even realizes that the person she loves is actually Sanjay Singhania, is very touching. You so wish that Asin and Aamir can go on happily like always. The whole thing is very touching.

The film is not without its logical flaws, but you can easily overlook all of them, because the concept of the movie is a clear winner. It brings out a new spirit of love in you, it strengthens your relationships, it makes you value your relationships more, and realize how much each one means, and how easy it is to lose out.

The happiest moment is of course, when there are tears in Aamir Khan's eyes at the end. You feel like standing up and shouting at the top of your voice that you are really happy. Revenge has never meant so much as it did in this movie.

Please do not think twice about watching this movie. It is an awesome movie, and please don't miss it!

Was it about the people or the company?

2008-11-07T10:28:00.000-08:00

Love is such a subjective feeling. Why love is, at times, strong, when it breaks apart, why it is unconditional, and why sometimes the same love becomes a feeling of nothing.. It's such a complex phenomenon. Really wish there were some scientific laws that governed feelings..

It's something that I have literally possessed for 1.5 years - something which I have evangelized for so long - something that everyone who knows me relates me to - and while these feelings remained undeterred despite the regular doses of bad news that I was getting, this last one has just sealed it - my feelings have been shattered completely - beyond repair.

But I always hoped for too much - why should it have been the way I wanted - when I myself took a decision to leave it in 2007? What right did I have over things? By leaving and choosing to be in IIMC, I showed where my priority was lying - or did I? Wasn't it just a step away for 2 years so that I was more marketable when back? Couldn't people have held on for just 2 years, so that I could enjoy those happy moments again? Obviously not - everyone has their life, and their right to move on when they want to.. So what if I dream everyday of being back there with all of them and work together? So what if I keep planning on how I will make that call to all of them saying let's meet for a party in the evening today like that unforgettable one in my last quarter there? So what if I still strongly respect them all for what they have made me today? None of this actually means they should stick on till I am back. And now I feel - was my passion really for the company? Or was it for those few people who were so close to my heart? I think the latter.

But that won't deter me from trying to go back, and reliving those happy moments imagining they are all there. Nor will that erase these people from my feelings. They are all a part of me now, and that's something even they can't take away from me.

I feel lost in the crowd again today - have to start all over again. Brick by brick. Moment by Moment. Oh how much I miss my team. And to never be with all of them together again is something I will always regret.

Internet Solutions Group, IIM Calcutta - ISG

2008-08-03T01:53:00.000-07:00

There are some who join clubs to get CV points..

There are some who take up positions in the Student Council and end up being in the evil clutches of their entire batch..

There are some who don't just bother, and sit without being heard of in the entire batch..

There are some who sit back and crib about everything that is happening around them..

And then there are some, who take up the task completely to themselves to improve things in their Alma Mater.. These are the ISGians of IIM Calcutta!

Who said that ISG is a group of people who are interested in coding? No one would want to code, given the chance to not do that... But coding is the simplest and yet most effective way of improving things today in this world... And that is why we chose to be in the Internet Solutions Group at IIM Calcutta...

We are passionate about improving things in IIM Calcutta. We don't want to leave a single aspect of IIM Calcutta unfurnished. That is the least we can do for the institute which completely changed our outlook to life.

IIM C rocks...

ISG will ensure they make IIM C rock even more...

Why is life so tough?

2008-05-08T01:48:00.001-07:00

Is this what I had asked for from life? Am I not free to think the way I want to think? Am I not free to like what I feel like liking in this world? Is it necessary for me to like something just because that is the current trend (or even orthodox for that matter)? Can it be offensive to be different?

Isn’t this a free world?

Yes, at times it makes sense to follow the world, as we might be missing something important by not being in the trend. However, I also feel that at times, one should be allowed to be what he / she truly desires to be in life. Not be curbed by things like “trend” and “orthodoxy”.

Yes, life should be lived with a set of rules in mind, to give you direction (short term benefits might be long term losses, which is what happens when you don’t follow rules). However, there needs to be a balance somewhere. Somewhere a line should be drawn. You should be allowed to think for yourself to see what is right. It is tough to decide what part comes on which side of this line – that’s what makes life so tough.

Gurgaon : Needs to improve

2008-04-28T22:24:00.000-07:00

It's been a long time since I logged in. I normally write when I want to share a feeling with the computer. Whenever things go beyond control, when I see no other option, when I am not happy with my surroundings, when I am overpowered with emotion, I write.

Today I want to share with you my latest place of stay : Gurgaon.

Gurgaon is a perfect example of how a government has failed to scale up its resources alongside the tremendous development of MNCs here.

Let me start off with my favourite example : Infosys. A classic example of how to scale up. Starting from a small room in NRN's home, with Rs. 10,000 from Sudha Murthy, to 100000 employees spread over numerous campuses and billions of dollars of revenue and remarkable growth. When TCS sacked people because of recession in US markets, Infy actually gave its employees a 12% hike this year in their salaries : Now that's what you call employee satisfaction!

More importantly, the point I want to make is that Infy has not just done well because there was the oppportunity in the IT segment. Infy has done well because it always ensured that all resources and processes were in place when it tried to take the next big step ahead. Becoming 10 times your employee size in a matter of a few years shows that Infy planned ahead, looking at what all it will need to ensure they can maintain a strong unbreakable balance in their ecosystem.

Starting off with training, to induction into a unit, to project assigment, to onsite, and what not : If one thing goes haywire, Infy can have millions of dollars of losses. Yet, this does not happen. Why? Because they have ensured that everything is planned. When they hire so many people, they still ensure that everyone has a place to sit and a computer to work on. Everyone is part of a team, everyone is given a project. Speaking of other operations, the food courts never fall short of food, there's always room to enjoy even with the increasing numbers.

In short, the coming in of a flood of employees has not in anyway hampered an existing employee.

Now let's take a look at Gurgaon.

A few years ago, Gurgaon was a barren land, until the MNCs hit it. And with DLF puring in the money, buildings were built really fast. Loads of companies have now come in here. Loads of people have moved to Gurgaon from across the country to work here. Today's generation is completely mall crazy, so what did Gurgaon do? They built world class malls in Gurgaon. And trust me, it doesn't get better than this. You go into a mall in Gurgaon, and you actually find heaven.

NOw let's come to the ground reality - what are the basic needs of a human being today?

- Home food
- Shelter
- Water
- Electricity
- Transportation facilties

These, I classify as the fundamental needs, everything else is just on the periphery. The government has doen nothing, NOTHING, to improve this in Gurgaon. Instead, they have let more industries come in, depleting the already finishing resources of this place.

Let me give you an example of a normal day in Gurgaon.

You get up in the morning, in a furnace. Why? The AC does not work in the night without electricity. The electricity is not there because the inverter could not charge the whole of the previous day. The inverter could not charge because there was low voltage throughtout the daytime. So why not open the windows? Because the 15 feet high hot dust storm will enter your home and destroy you. Not to talk of the mosquitoes. What is the next option? Pour water all over your bed, and sleep on top of it, so that you get a relief for one hour. The water takes just that much time to evaporate. But, when I walk in to the bathroom to get water, I realize there's no water - it comes only from 7:30 am to 9:00 am in the morning. So, it's like a countdown from around 1 am in the night upto 7:30 in the morning, as to when I can get some freshness.

And being awake all night doesn't help office work much btw. Especially feeling sleepy in meetings is something which I hate.

The reason for lack of water and electricity is just that the government has not planned his city well. They have not scaled up along with the incoming MNCs. What's worse, there doesn't even seem to be an attempt towards that! Power cuts happen atleast for 6 hours a day, especially in the night, which is what makes it the worst part.

Another big thing that Gurgaon is missing is public transport. You will find alteast 50000 Innovas in Gurgaon, each literally taking 1 person from office to home. This is just a tragedy - so much of this non renewable resource petrol is being used up just because people don't care. There are no buses in Gurgaon; there are no autos in Gurgaon. The only other mode of transport (apart from owning a car) is the Cycle Rickshaw; something which I think should be banned because I feel it amounts to slavery.

If you want to travel from Location X to Location Y in Gurgaon - you don't really have an option. You have to take cycle rickshaws or book a cab for that. And the government has still not given a permit to autos to come into Gurgaon. I really dont' know why the government can't even be reactive (expecting proactiveness from the Indian government is like asking the Sun to rise from the West).

And so it is here. The most disgusting place I have ever been in my life. I always thought Chennai was bad - but frankly you can't blame Chennai for the worst thing about Chennai - the weather. What Chennai has excelled in, is ensuring excellent transport facilities in terms of a good connection of buses, and local trains. Bangalore and Mumbai are being overburdened. We need the Government of Indis to look at smaller places and make them metropolitans - not like they did with Gurgaon, but how Infy brought up ts empire.

Feels good to read this.. It is special..

2007-12-28T03:03:00.000-08:00

From: Namita Grover
Sent: Friday, June 15, 2007 4:38 PM
To: Atul Mathur

Subject: RE: My stay at Infosys

Hi Atul,

It was really nice to have you as part of my team….you have been a real asset.

You have made me real proud by winning the “Stars of Corporate Planning” Award for Bizplan.. and many congratulations for that.

We are all going to miss you a lot, But I am extremely happy for you and I wish you all the very best for your future.

Stay in touch.

Warm Regards,

Namita

Lakshya Deferred Indefinitely : The Beginning of a New Era

2007-08-18T07:20:00.000-07:00

A little of economics...........

NRN thinks low level of technology will be useful for getting more jobs for the illiterate and semi illiterate, for example in the car manufacturing industry, where the ground work does not involve much technicalities.

Ambika Soni, the Union Tourism Minister is aiming 10 million tourist inflow by 2010 (when the Commonwealth games happen in India. Apart from adding 1.5 lakh rooms in each category of hotels, 4 areas are going to be specifically improved to increase tourism - Noida, Shilpagram near Hyderabad, and places near Ajanta Ellora Caves and Bhubaneshwar. Tourism has been on the rise from around 3.5 million in 2005 to 4.4 million in 2006.

Dell screwed up its last 4 years financial results, and are actually down 150 million.... Apparently the BoD did this to keep up with the quarterly numbers expected...

Sony marketing is investing 100 million dollars in their big screen television market to get double digit revenue growth there. 100 million dollars is expected to be used over the next 6 - 8 months.

IBM is going to distribute Solaris OS of Sun Microsystem to IBM's customers in competition with HP.

Lakshya Continued.....

2007-08-13T08:23:00.000-07:00

Before going to Chennai, I requested for a week at Bangalore to "Meet the Team". I was given this opportunity... Working out of Bangalore for 1 week from May 6th - 13th 2006 was a breakthrough for me... .It gave me my first Lakshya..... This was to work in Bangalore... The feel of working in Infosys Bangalore was something special... I felt that I was working in a corporate environment there, as compared to Infosys Mysore which gave a more "College Culture" sort of feeling...

I finally got back to Chennai.... Knowing well that it would be next to impossible to get back to Bangalore as long as I was with Infosys....

MCity life was hectic - the most hectic part being the travel. The thing with me is - if I don't like something about what or where I am, I hate everything about the place. This is called Selective Perception in behaviourial sciences, where you look at only certain factors of a thing and judge the whole thing on those factors..... Well... In my first 1 month in Chennai I did not have much work... Just 4 hours a day atmost.... The feeling of frustration began seeping in... And I decided to give CAT with full swing..... However, the decision remained at that - I did not do much to actually go about cracking CAT.....

Writing mock CATs in Chennai was a pain... I used to walk from my home in interior Tambaram for 1 km before reaching the auto stand, from where I would take an auto for 50 rupees to the railway station, from where I would take a train (1 hour journey) to Nungambakkam, from where I would take a shared auto for ten rupees to a particular location from where I would walk for 10 minutes before reaching Stella Maris College - the centre for IMS exams.. Wasn't particularly useful to be so dead tired before giving the test...

I began going through the motions... Not performing well but still going through the process daily...

And then there was this day when there was a CL mock test..... I walked through a big crowd at Mambalam... There was barely enough space for my feet in the ground...... And standing amongst that crowd of thousands, my second Lakshya came into focus.... It came as suddenly as a flash of light, and it appeared to me as though there was nothing else for me to do... I had to get into a premier B School and get out of the crowd....

Now my 2 Lakshyas were interlinked to an extent - I saw no way by which I could continue to be in Chennai and also get into a top B School.....

And then SharePoint Portal happened..... That was probably one of the two most significant breakthroughs I had in my Infosys career..... I was asked to take up a stagnant project for the Finance team of Infosys on SharePoint Portal Server.... Somehow, I saw myself being in Bangalore at the end of this project, if I could deliver my everything to this... This would probably appear as a joke to anyone who could actually transfer me to Bangalore... But I dreamt of it... And I visualized it happening........

I fought really hard on SPS, exploring every nook and corner of the Internet for information that would help me improve my knowledge on the subject..... And at the same time, I kept pushing for a post in Bangalore.. Though I never directly asked for it, I made it evident that it was more useful to have me in Bangalore.... And I think it was logical - the work I was doing, and the work I was probably better at, could be done better in Bangalore than in Chennai... I felt that I needed a feel of "What the Finance Team really wants" before giving them an application...

I visualized my first Lakshya very often - getting a phone call from Rahul Dokania saying "Come over to Bangalore now".... Slowly my dreams were fading away though, as there was no such response for a long time...

After 1.5 months of struggle and perseverance, I received a phone call from Namita Grover... She was my team leader (now an APM). Though I wasn't working much on BIZPLAN those days, I was still in touch with her... She called and asked me how SPS was going on... It was a casual talk, until I got the DREAM question from her - She asked me whether I would be interested in working in Bangalore..... My answer was instantaneous - give me one evening's notice and I will wrap everything in Chennai and come..... She told me that she would get back to me soon... There was no response whatsoever for the next half month, and when I made a call to Namita Grover she said she could not promise a date, and that it might even take 6 - 8 months more...... Though this was a setback, there was some respite, as my delivery manager called me to Bangalore for 2 weeks for taking client requirements for SPS... So I felt my dream was partially fulfilled..... Maybe I was not destined to get back to Bangalore under the Infosys Banner.....

I had reconciled to being content with 2 weeks in Bangalore, when Rahul Dokania contacted me after a period of around 2 months..... With a ping on Windows Messenger, asking me whether I could take a call from him...... There was a triumphant feeling within me, an inkling of it only, but relatively it meant a lot...... He asked me straight..... "When can you come to Bangalore?" My answer, as I had always imagined it was, "I can come tomorrow!!!". And it happened..... 2 days from the call, I packed everything in Chennai and was off to Bangalore..... My first Lakshya was fulfilled....

I will never in my life forget that warm deep breath I took when I put my first foot down on the platform on Bangalore railway station...... It was the BEST moment of my very personal life...... It probably meant more to me than Ajay Sood, Rahul Dokania, and Namita Grover together could ever imagine..... 24th August 2006.... That day will remain with me even when I breathe my last.....

To be continued...

Lakshya.....

2007-08-12T00:04:00.000-07:00

"From the crowded streets of Mamblam in Chennai, where I suddenly decided that this was it - I have to reach the Top and get out of here.... To actually sitting inside IIM Calcutta and typing on this laptop - I've had a long journey... A memorable one as well.... I will never forget this struggle... "

It was 25th January 2006... I was anxiously sitting on the computer in the Infosys Mysore campus, which had been my official property since November 15th 2005... Awaiting news on where I was going to go next... All to be decided at random by a Computer which only knew how to differentiate between 0 and 1.

There was a cry in the class as the Postings came out... I clicked the link too.... And saw this........

Atul Mathur IS MCity

I sat there looking in despair... This wasn't a shock.... But it was indeed my worst nightmare... I had seen this time and again in my dreams... Being in MCity... And that now came true...

Don seemed to be roaring in laughter - He had got Bangalore, as he wanted... Rushi had already got Pune which he wanted... Naren also got Pune (though his supposed girl friend got Bangalore)... The only solace for me was that I had Bharat coming with me to Chennai...

4 days from there and I packed my bags to go to the Hot and Humid city Chennai...

January 30th 2006 morning - I wore the Blue Check shirt on KIL's instructions... And went on my journey to MCity....

It seemed to be further than any place I had ever been to... It was scary to think of travelling to MCity everyday.....

Though I got a break for 3 months from Chennai almost immediately, life was never the same when I knew I had to get back to Chennai...

Deja Vu

2007-08-09T21:27:00.000-07:00

Yesterday.... 4:40 pm....

November 7th, 2005

July 24th, 2002

The sequence of events on all these days left me with the same feeling at the end of it - loss of morale, being the only person to lose out, and a lack of will to carry on. When things go wrong at the beginning of your new life somewhere it is a major loss of motivation.

The build up to the event was also the same - a sleepless night before the exam, and that feeling in my mind that something is going to go wrong, mixed with a feeling that everyone manages, and that in 24 hours time I will also manage it.....

And Deja Vu once more when I start off the paper - seem to get the toughest paper of the lot... All questions unheard of.... But I still think, it will be fine.....

And then, I press Submit, and the result is against me......

November 7th 2005 however was a special day - though all the events were the same as yesterday's, it ended so differently, with KIL coming up to me and consoling me, and telling me that it really didn't matter. That day was a really special day for me, it was the beginning of a new relationship. Things would have been totally different had KIL not turned around that day to ask me how I fared..... I may not have been sitting where I sit today if KIL hadn't turned around and looked back that day.....

Another strong supporter of mine has been my mother.... Silent and quiet, not letting me know directly about her invisible support, but always being there for me is what makes her so special to me. These days so many times I remember times when I was young and my Mom would never get irritated at the million things I would do, she would only teach me at the end of any stupid thing I did that this was not the way to behave. And she would blast me when I did really stupid things. Conscience is something which I have got straight from my mother..... I love you a lot Mummy. I remember running into her arms on July 24th 2002, which was the only relief I had that whole day.....

I will need to slog and come up with better results than this NCFM test in the future. I will need to match up to the level of people around.... Will need to start immediately........

No time tonight

2007-08-01T12:54:00.000-07:00

There's really no time to blog tonight.. Totally screwed up.... Finacc and BS tomorrow... God Help......

IEPH

2007-07-31T09:09:00.000-07:00

First of all, Stats went really average... Am disappointed with my performance... But can't really help that... Everyone seems to have done better than me... Guess will have to make up for it in IEPH....

IEPH - Indian Economic and Political History... This basically talks about the past, and is portrayed in the sense of economics... Starting from how population has a distinct curve which keeps repeating itself - how it groww, becomes constant, and then falls, mainly due to literacy... It talks about why Calcutta is different from Mumbai - mainly because the British East India Company(EIC) first took control over Calcutta... The Marwaris there had to give up their own factoroes and become agents for the EIC.. Calcutta started producing Jute and Tea and had labour from outside.... Calcutta thus was not even serving for indigenous purposes... Mumbai on the other hand made the short staple cotton and was the nation's pride... By the time the British came to Mumbai the British govt had taken over the EIC, and hence the form there was a Utilitarian capitalistic govt....

Coming back to the crops that were grown, we had cash crops replacing food crops on demand of Lancashire... As a result the farmers, who would normally prepare food crops, use some for their own purpose and then sell the surplus, now had to buy food. Also, their returns on Jute were quite less... And Jute was only used as a RM and not as a finished product.

Next comes the Zamindari stuff.... Now the British auctioned land to zamindars for a period of time, and the profit for zamindars was Yield = Consumption + Tax + Surplus. Since consumption was constant, tax and surplus had the say. Govt increased taxes, and thus surplus reduced. As a result, the next Yield, which depended on the current surplus would be lesser, as this time around lesser land would be bought. Finally there would be poverty leading to famine, which would cause relief measures by the Govt, eating up the extra taxes which they themselves had eaten up. Therefore there was no use of this scheme. Thus came the Permanent Settlement Act, wherein Zamindars would buy land permanently. It was now assumed that things owuld get resolved. However, they didn't. Zamindars employed Naibs to manage these lands, as the former were more interested in naming themselves Nawabs than governing the land. The Naibs were in charge of collecting taxes, paying that to Zamindars. They had a court and police (hathiyaar). Now, no one actually cared if they made more money. But when Zamindars realized this they started giving them fixed salary, and thus permanent settlement failed.
When UK govt came in, they removed monopoly, allowed private players to buy land. THe Marwaris and a few others bought land and started building factories for Indigo, Jute etc. India now became an importer after having been an exporter. Payments for Jute would come in only once the final good was sold. This was the commercialization of Indian Agriculture. Thus the peasants were not interested in cash crops. However, Naibs, seeing the real profit form this. However, since they did not own the land this was not of much use. So Naibs cheated the zamindar by not paying taxes, and the land would go in auction, and some kin of the Naib would buy the land, and thus Naib would gain control over the land. The peasants did not earn much any more, and starting taking debts from money lenders. Since they could never return the money due to fall in prices (competition) of their goods, the money lenders would start collecting only the interest, until the interest + principle became more than the value of the land(causing Debt Trap). Then, the money lenders would approach the court and take ownership of the land, and then bonded labour with the existing peasants.

Land reforms - After Independence, a bill was passed saying one could not own more than a particular amount of land. The land owners then started controlling the land in the names of other family members, pets, and even illiterate servants who would never understand the meaning of that they were encountering. This sort of transfer, called the Benaami transfer, ensured that the govt could not even collect 10 % of the land. Thus the land reforms failed...

Stats

2007-07-30T10:26:00.000-07:00

What is the probability that given I am not well prepared, I will pass tomorrow?

What is the probability that given I wake up in the morning I am able to mug up some formulae?

What is the probability that given my sad state of affairs in terms of preparation, I will be able to clear the 2 exams on Thursday?

Stats - This subject is all about how I always tend to use the wrong formulae at the wrong place. I might know all the formulae - but it's about knowing which one to apply where. What is the expected value of the number of correct applications of formulae in my sheet tomorrow???

That's a question I will be able to answer only tomorrow... So God Help!!!

Talked to Anupriya today... She is feeling quite low... Hope things get resolved for her soon...

KIL is having a lovely time in Mumbai... KIL's a very sweet person... Happy Go Lucky.....

Finally, what is my expected score for tomorrow if I continue to write this blog tonight? Close to zero - therefore I should start studying now..

FinAcc

2007-07-29T11:12:00.000-07:00

Too busy with Financial Accounting.... Trying to get the concepts right... KIL thinks I am one big fool when it comes to concepts but I guess I have to prove that statement wrong.

Having trouble understanding depreciation, otherwise things appear fine... Atleast as of now...

I think it's time to start the next problem now.... Am using my favourite computer tool - Microsoft Excel.

What's happened so far!

2007-07-28T10:30:00.001-07:00

Born in Trivandrum
Studied in St. Thomas Residential School upto 12th Standard with 88% in both 10th and 12th..
Completed Engineering in EEE from College of Engineering, Trivandrum.
Joined Infosys - Changed life completely...
Came out of the SHADOW, started believing in myself, starting bringing in good results....

Went to Chennai, stayed for 8 days till I was brought back to Mysore.
Then went to Bangalore for 1 week and I REALIZED that this is where I wanted to be.
Then sent to Chennai. Came back to Bangalore in 3 months - I was more valuable in Bangalore than in Chennai.... Worked like hell and really understood what work is all about in the next 6 months...

Wrote CAT, got 99.09 percentile, got calls from IIM C, I and K.

The IIM C call was a dream come true - I never ever imagined in my life I would reach there..... And this meant probably the most to me ever!

Worked for a few more months before actually joining IIM C...

Miss All the following people
Papa, Mummy, Vipul Dada, Minakshi Babhi, Rushil, Madhur, Abirami, Sivaram, Anoop, Anuraj, Prakash, Neha, Abishek, Rushi, Karthik, Naren, Don from TVM.
KIL 9823 from Mumbai...
Atul Seksaria, Gaurav Sharma from Infosys training.
Anupriya and Dileep from life in Bangalore...

Namita Grover, for her trust in my abilities.
Rahul Dokania, from whom I wished most to become a manager...

Pradeep Kiran, for helping me countless times.
Vignesh , my first mentor.

And now - Life is like it's never been before.... And not that I hadn't expected it - Welcome to IIM Calcutta... I am just 3 days away from my first big exams here... Haven't studied much so far.... So a long way to go......

So here goes... My daily blog...