The good thing about getting older is that you have so many memory lanes down which you can walk, and reminisce of old times.
The bad thing is that its so easy to get lost in them!
Monday, December 24, 2007
Go Rajat Nagpal !
The last days of WIMWI second term.. The examinations.. The last straws.. And as I tried to recover from the onslaught of the mighty QM and EEP end-sems (See what exams can do to your grammar, et al), I you-tube my way to some of the finest documentaries and music videos out there - all directed by the one and only Rajat Nagpal. The fact that Rajat was my class-mate at Don Bosco does not in any way bias my opinion of him as one of the most promising director that Bollywood has to offer. You can sample him at:
Sadho Re
Mahamaya
Keiner
Yahin Kahin
Mahamaya not only has a very rich sound-track and video, but also has a very visual and powerful message and philosophy. A perfect blend that compares very well with Nirvana. Sadho Re, visualises the world through a child's eye. Again, lovely music and visuals.
Rajat's Yahin Kahin brings you up close and personal with contemporary India and the climax is just that - climaxical (Repeat: Exam-time and my vocabulary is full of distasteful business lingo which I am sure you don't want to read. So 'climaxical' will have to do for now!) Keiner seems to be revolved around a similar theme but based in Germany.
Well, a very welcome break from all the characteristic muggai of fuchchadom at WIMWI.
Sadho Re
Mahamaya
Keiner
Yahin Kahin
Mahamaya not only has a very rich sound-track and video, but also has a very visual and powerful message and philosophy. A perfect blend that compares very well with Nirvana. Sadho Re, visualises the world through a child's eye. Again, lovely music and visuals.
Rajat's Yahin Kahin brings you up close and personal with contemporary India and the climax is just that - climaxical (Repeat: Exam-time and my vocabulary is full of distasteful business lingo which I am sure you don't want to read. So 'climaxical' will have to do for now!) Keiner seems to be revolved around a similar theme but based in Germany.
Well, a very welcome break from all the characteristic muggai of fuchchadom at WIMWI.
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Take a chill-pill !!
Corporate Finance - Brealey/Myers/Allen. Chapter 20 - Options. End of chapter - Summary:
"If you have managed to reach this point, you are probably in need of a rest and a stiff gin and tonic. So, we will summarize what we have learned so far and take up the subject of options again in the next chapter when you are rested (or drunk)."
The authors are obviously very highly regarded in their field. The text-book is a standard for most finance courses taught in business schools the world over. What is even more striking is that these guys have a sense of humor (Actually, its not so striking if you have ever been to the US, and interacted with the brightest and the best professors - the Gods.) A very common feature amongst most of these professors is their humility and sense of humor - something that I can attest to since I had the honor of being taught by Prof. Deiter Schroder (Semiconductor Characterization) and Prof. Douglas Montgomery (Design of Experiments), both stalwarts in their respective fields. Maybe, one of the reasons why they are what they are is because they truly enjoy what they do, and enjoy laughing at themselves once in a while..
I compare the styles of American authors with the text books written by Indian authors. For the most part, the Indian contemporaries are formal, succinct and BOOORING...
(Important Disclaimer: There are some very refreshing and notable exceptions - Concepts in Physics by Prof. HC Verma. If you are into Physics, you wouldn't be able to have enough of him.)
But the point that I am making is that the norm amongst Indian academic authors is that they rarely ever make you laugh. So, why this lack of humor amongst Indian academia. Is it that the academia would always want to be taken very seriously? Is it that the academia scorn at any attempt to belittle them and/or cannot laugh at themselves? Or is it that Indian academia does not always truly enjoy what it does, that it is frustrated and discontent with the resources given to it and this is what comes out in its publishings?
Well, I don't want to play God here, but I do wish that the Indian academic community would cheer up, laugh a little more often, or in simple words, take a chill-pill.
"If you have managed to reach this point, you are probably in need of a rest and a stiff gin and tonic. So, we will summarize what we have learned so far and take up the subject of options again in the next chapter when you are rested (or drunk)."
The authors are obviously very highly regarded in their field. The text-book is a standard for most finance courses taught in business schools the world over. What is even more striking is that these guys have a sense of humor (Actually, its not so striking if you have ever been to the US, and interacted with the brightest and the best professors - the Gods.) A very common feature amongst most of these professors is their humility and sense of humor - something that I can attest to since I had the honor of being taught by Prof. Deiter Schroder (Semiconductor Characterization) and Prof. Douglas Montgomery (Design of Experiments), both stalwarts in their respective fields. Maybe, one of the reasons why they are what they are is because they truly enjoy what they do, and enjoy laughing at themselves once in a while..
I compare the styles of American authors with the text books written by Indian authors. For the most part, the Indian contemporaries are formal, succinct and BOOORING...
(Important Disclaimer: There are some very refreshing and notable exceptions - Concepts in Physics by Prof. HC Verma. If you are into Physics, you wouldn't be able to have enough of him.)
But the point that I am making is that the norm amongst Indian academic authors is that they rarely ever make you laugh. So, why this lack of humor amongst Indian academia. Is it that the academia would always want to be taken very seriously? Is it that the academia scorn at any attempt to belittle them and/or cannot laugh at themselves? Or is it that Indian academia does not always truly enjoy what it does, that it is frustrated and discontent with the resources given to it and this is what comes out in its publishings?
Well, I don't want to play God here, but I do wish that the Indian academic community would cheer up, laugh a little more often, or in simple words, take a chill-pill.
Sunday, December 9, 2007
Of resolutions.
Before joining IIM-A, I decided to make a resolve. (Before doing anything new in life, you always want to make a resolve, right? Something akin to the poojas and et al that our forefathers did.
I thought that this was my last fling in acad life. So, I better do what I missed out in my earlier acad life. I made a list of all that I did, and what I didn't. Lo behold, try as hard as I could, I could think of only one item that I didn't do, and that was studying... I stared at the list and then chew up the list...
Moral of the story: Make resolutions if you absolutely have to, but never, never, Never try to dissect ur earlier life. It only leads to pain and suffering.
I thought that this was my last fling in acad life. So, I better do what I missed out in my earlier acad life. I made a list of all that I did, and what I didn't. Lo behold, try as hard as I could, I could think of only one item that I didn't do, and that was studying... I stared at the list and then chew up the list...
Moral of the story: Make resolutions if you absolutely have to, but never, never, Never try to dissect ur earlier life. It only leads to pain and suffering.
Everything changes and nothing does..
Change.
People say that the only thing that's constant is change. And while the skylines and the top-lines (ok, five months of intensive accounting, and whether I like it or not, my language is peppered with all that jazzzz.) change every year, the core values and the bottom-lines (there I go again!!) just don't change.
Yes, let's face it, its very difficult for the basics to change. You might get complicated in your expressions, and make life complicated for you and all around you, but the core basics, philosophies of life just don't change. Your garb of sophistication and self-righteousness melt away in times of crisis and you unleash your animal and guttural instincts of survival out into the world.
Don't believe me, well, look what happens around you in the world. When Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans, even the cops feared to enter certain districts..
The physical violence has transformed into the even bitter mental violence. Instead of the battle-ground, in lieu of our precious lives, we prefer to settle our differences in courts. The basics - human conflicts, differences - have not changed, our medium of resolution has.
Which one is worse? Mental or Physical, I'll leave that out to you. (One of the cool T-shirts that I had had this caption - Stop F**king me with your brains.)
Well, as the brook said, "For men may come and men may go, I go on forever."
People say that the only thing that's constant is change. And while the skylines and the top-lines (ok, five months of intensive accounting, and whether I like it or not, my language is peppered with all that jazzzz.) change every year, the core values and the bottom-lines (there I go again!!) just don't change.
Yes, let's face it, its very difficult for the basics to change. You might get complicated in your expressions, and make life complicated for you and all around you, but the core basics, philosophies of life just don't change. Your garb of sophistication and self-righteousness melt away in times of crisis and you unleash your animal and guttural instincts of survival out into the world.
Don't believe me, well, look what happens around you in the world. When Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans, even the cops feared to enter certain districts..
The physical violence has transformed into the even bitter mental violence. Instead of the battle-ground, in lieu of our precious lives, we prefer to settle our differences in courts. The basics - human conflicts, differences - have not changed, our medium of resolution has.
Which one is worse? Mental or Physical, I'll leave that out to you. (One of the cool T-shirts that I had had this caption - Stop F**king me with your brains.)
Well, as the brook said, "For men may come and men may go, I go on forever."
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