Saving the world
At work, no one bets on world peace. Let me explain. You may want to do the right thing, though at times it is not possible. So as Kafka said, we all want to start with what is right, not what’s possible. The PM or Director will then say, “Let’s not aim for world peace…”, or “In a perfect world, yes. But…” So who else is trying to save the world? Apartment Therapy. Their tagline says it all — saving the world, one room at a time.
Washing Machine
Filed under General
If you are disillusioned with your life/ work, dont aim to be a manager. After each day (or worse, week) looking back on what you *did*, managers tend to draw a blank. Meeting a deadline is a task. It will come and go, to come back again. Another regular task is to resolve issues (read fights). Someone or the other has a problem with another. Or someone had a bad day. Manager’s job: Listen; Resolve; Repeat. Much like a detergent. And tumble around.
Involved vs Committed
Filed under Entertainment, General
If you havent heard of it already: On your breakfast table, having egg and milk make chicken and cow involved in your meal, but when you have ham as well, sure, the chicken is still involved, but the pig is committed. Managers were always the seagulls, now they are chicken as well. No need to guess who the pigs are, right?
Blogger’s Block
Filed under General
(Phrase): Delay in working on one’s blog for a long period and closing the login window every time. Usually occurs to someone who is neither a blogger, not a block. See also, Hello World.
Nailed, finally!
Filed under General
Read in the newspaper couple of weeks ago. The police nabbed a bunch of tyre shop owners operating on a particular road in Pune, for sprinkling nails on the road causing damage to many vehicles. Apparently they have been on it for about an year, and surely their businesses were flourishing. And police also recovered some nails from the suspects! That’s some definite evidence, I say.
Untitled Post
Filed under General
Two months — lots of interesting things happened in the last two months. So many reams of paper were wasted writing about those. From the Oscars to the Cricket World Cup. From Shilpa Shetty (again) to the wedding of the year. From Reawakening of the Sensex to Global warming.
But I didnt write one word about any of these. Oscars were close to heart — Martin finally took one home. Infact, he took a couple home. Little Miss Sunshine, just like Sideways did a few years ago, took the best original screenplay. Lots of movies. As usual we sat down and covered all the movies running for Oscars. Lots of them.
Then India’s flop show in an equally flopped World Cup — goes on to prove that without the unpredictable India or Pakistan, cricket has no charm. Take that, Malcom Speed and the rest of the racisit pretenders that sit on the game.
Ah, racism! Shilpa Shetty’s backyard. She managed to get into the news again, this time planning a detailed hug and kiss scene (it looked like molestation to me) with Richard Gere. Moral police got into the streets, and got some warrants issued against Gere and the Sh*tty girl. And yes, Aaj Tak was there covering every bit of the angle and rerunning the scene assisting Bajarang Bal leaders to tell us what is right and what is not. (The character of a man is what he does when the lights are switched off. I would like to know what these leaders do/did to become leaders in the first place).
But then, luckily (not sure for whom), Ash and Abishek decided to get married. Thank god, some relief from the circus. Did I say that too soon? For, the circus just continued, in another form. As they say energy can neither be created nor destroyed. Janvi or Janki claimed that she is married to the boy but she didnt know his phone number or email address, some press folks who tried to shove their lenses into Bachchan’s gates (no pun intented) got beaten up, all pilgrims were asked to wait in 45C of heat outside the temple when Bachchans decided to visit Tirupati and more protests on that; And yes, Aaj Tak covered that all as well. Every inch of it.
Stock market in the country went to sleep, woke up, only to sleep again. Looks like it is waking up yet again. I shelved my plans of investing in the market. Well I tried earlier, but didnt get a single share in the Mindtree IPO. Damn. But good thing, I put that money into a property. Hopefully that will work out better in the long run. Touchwood.
More news: I quit smoking. Pune temperature hit 42C, highest in a long time. The road works started. Lets see if they survive the rains. I met a very old friend online, where else, Orkut.
But I never got to write. Not that what I write is unputdownable stuff. I guess it will atleast increase my typing speed. LOL. But the truth is, suddenly everything else became trivial. They still are, aint it? When will Shilpa or Janvi not be trivial? As someone said, “Dont sweat the small stuff, coz they are all small stuff”. But for one. But for one.
Girls say no to bearded men!
Filed under General
It seems, in a study done about facial hair on men, the researchers found that beard gives men a improper look which 80% of the girls between 18-25 do not like. They think that bearded men are not reliable and/or nice. There are some measurable terms used in the study, but I dont remember them. And to top of all this, even men think that bearded fellows are not exactly their fellows. The only respite was from women of older age groups (25-35) who thought that men with beard are no less proper than those without.
Reading the report, one might think that many top honchos must be reaching for their old razors, like Steve Jobs did. But I hear that most intelligent men have brushed the study aside. (For the record, I am keeping mine). If you want to know, it has nothing to do with the fact that the study was funded by a company called Gillette.
Automagazine Mafia
Filed under General
Was reading Autocar yesterday. There is a history of Renault in it, and how safe they are. This Renault saga of it being the safest car is so much like the Shilpa Shetty episode. The news is carefully planned and paid for. But if you overdo that wont people get suspicious? Doesnt appear so. The full page launch advts are based on the theme safety. And every story about Logan in any magazine just out of context talk about the history of safe cars from Renault.
But I dont see ONE magazine refering to the EuroNCAP crash test reports on Dacia Logan, where it failed to pass external safety tests, and got average rating for passengers. And it is a known fact that manufacturers shave the extra safety features off the car before selling in India. So imagine the crash test rating of the Logan without the airbag and those impact beams. Pathetic. But no one has said anything about it. Isnt the silence so obvious?
PS: I had great faith and used to promote BS Motoring, till they anounced the 2007 COTY as Chevy U-VA. Most of the mags and awards are backed by auto companies, but I thought BSM was not. It is obvious that GM paid thru their nose to get the U-VA launched just before the COTY deadline and get the best car award. U-VA is not bad car, but if you look at the other finalists you know why I am so upset.
Business and Blessings
Filed under General
Often people think that business is about money. I thought so too. But there are a few that are not just about making money.
We all know that a good restaurant makes 100% profit. But look at the other side: you feed people what they like and when they are hungry, and get paid for it. If you feed a hungry man, you get blessings. So shouldnt restaurant business give you more blessings than say, software business?
There are a few others, jobs mostly– teaching is one. Ever wondered where your school teacher who taught you logic would be right now? You often remember your teachers than the manager who gave you the pay check in your second organization, dont you?
I tell my current manager that if I were to start something, I will teach people to become good designers. I have been dolling out fish for a long time now. “Teach ‘em to fish, aint that the right thing to do?”. But I always come back to the restaurant business. May be I want those blessings. Or may be I just love food.
Creativity & Education
Filed under General
Gordon MacKensie, the former creative director at Hallmark Cards used to visit public schools to talk about art.
When he asks kindergartners, “How many of you are artists?” all the children raise their hands. Among first graders, a third of the hands no longer go up. Half of the second graders raise their hands. By fifth grade, no hands go up.
In six years, school has managed to beat the creativity out of its pupils.
