Past 3 weeks…

The last 3 weeks, I must say has been pretty exciting - Exciting because it was a period of confusion, of serious thought indulgence, lots of human insights, emotions crossing all paths.  Not that all these are seldom for me, but this time - there was clarity after all the chaos that had happened.

2 major incidences, which literally took me by a shock -

• Diagnosis of cancer for my very close associate. There has been much noise about cancer cure, but ideally there isn't any till now (atleast for those in the later stage).  Though my association with this friend of mine is around 7 yrs old, we had developed a lot of closeness, and mutual respect for each other. Infact, it is this association which showed a novice engineering student, the real business world for the first-time.   Today, when I look back, those memories are still so alive - the moments when we fought for all the silly reasons, the time when she took me to a paani-puri shop, and made me understand that I had just lost a few thousands, and the days when she guided me about the various people - how politics play around, and how being selfish is not a crime, but necessity. I did later realize that I wasn’t made for such an environment, and kept myself away. But we never lost touch.  When I first got to hear this news, I mocked at her (just preparing myself to face the unwarranted truth), until she uttered a shrill cry. For the first time, she told - "Shravan, please pray for me".

• 2 weeks back, when I was in Chennai, I got a call from one of my school friends, that her marriage is fixed. I casually congratulated her. First few questions in my mind - So what…?? Why is she telling me..?? Should I dance in her marriage…?? After 2-3 min of senseless chit-chatting, she asked me - "Are you happy with this marriage?" and this would be the last question which I would expect from her.

These 2 incidences brings out one main thing about females - They are damn bold, I must say. Its just amazing they face situations, the way they get things out of everything. I actually didn’t know how to react in both the situations. In the first-one, she knew very clearly, where she was heading, and what best can be done at that stage. In the second one, she was sassy. I could never imagine myself, asking such a question, in such situation. It was sheer silence, for the first 10 seconds after she asked that question. Later, I skirted the question, by asking more about the groom n stuff. She got the answer.

These are the trying times for me. I only hope I don’t lose much in coming weeks. 

Of tears n travel..

2 days back, my friend from my previous company, called me up and told that he had finally received the UK visa, and he would be travelling next week. He asked to me to accompany me for shopping, as he was not familiar with the stuff to carry and other overseas travel  nuances. I met him on the next evening and took him for some shoes, and casuals shopping (though I, myself hardly shop).

During dinner, he shared how his parents almost instantly had tears in their eyes, when they heard that he was going abroad. Apparently, he was the first person to go abroad in this whole family. His father being a police head-constable, and mother being a house-wife, I could realize the hardship they would have gone though. With the death of other two children, there couldn’t have been better news  for those parents. Isn't it amazing that there is so much happiness in every thing, it is just relative to what you have and what you aspire to have?

Lets stop being emotional, for sometime.  Now what is so special in my friend, that he is travelling abroad? What is his achievement that he is going abroad? Is he really worth all these comforts and travel? These questions were continuously ringing in my head, all through the night.

Eventually, if we go few decades back to our parent's generation, foreign travel was primarily considered for esoteric people, and for a handful of wealthy guys. But today, foreign travel has been eased out so much, that almost anyone and every one in IT industry goes out.  That’s the magic which this industry has created. It made a common man, an extraordinary one.  This is probably, the biggest contribution, which IT industry has provided to our Indian community.

Today, I also found that only 3% of the world's outsourcing comes to Indian players. I cant imagine the impact, if outsourcing to Indian players increases by even 1 more percent. Not far away, that we would not be exporting HR, but importing them.. !!!

Of Thank you's and Sorry's

If there is one significant observation that I need to make in my MBA is this - The number of times I might have told Thank you and Sorry would exceed more than what I would have uttered those pre-MBA. I haven't been so comfortable in uttering these words as frequently as people usually do.

Recently, I had been to Davangere, a small but considerably developed town in the central part of Karnataka. There, I got an opportunity to meet this watchman who was taking care of our car for almost a fortnight . He might be around 70 yrs of age. I was so impressed by the way he had covered the car and the way he had cared for that vehicle ( I am sure, if it was Bangalore - people would even smell, unless u motivate them with money). After removing the car from the garage, I stopped so that I could pay him some money for taking care - he came running to me and I said Tumba Thanks (Thanks a lot). I pulled out my purse to give him some cash, instantly, he joined his hands together, and said - he took care of the car, not because he would get some money, but for the respect he had for my dad. I was literally taken aback by this incidence.  All through my journey from Davangere to Bangalore, I have been thinking, that something different happened here. I later realized that we both had mutually thanked each other.

Immediately I realized what MBA had done to me - I have been used to saying these works more often than not.  I am not sure, if I need to be happy for that. I have known people in MBA, who utter these words so casually, that they hardly end their conversations without one of these. I also realize that these  developments have been based on the strong influences by the western culture - Nothing wrong unless you are truthful to what you say.

When we say thank you, it means - that I am grateful for whatever you have done, and I would make a honest attempt to respect you for that. When we say sorry, it means - that it actually pains me that I have done this to you, and I promise I would make a sincere attempt not to repeat it.

How many of us have felt pain, when we stamp other's foot??

Good Night!!

Placement Beacons…

Note: This post is dedicated to all my friends of GMBA, who are still in quest for job.

One great man said - "History is written by the winning side".  I do believe that. 

The reason I am writing this primarily because of 2 things

• Just 2 days back, I was on the other side of battle
• One quote which my Prof said (I would be sharing it eventually)

I understand that things are just not happening, for whatever reasons it may be. Having said this, I would like to reiterate that this is not the end, rather the beginning.  The biggest takeaways of me having lost and finally made it (though I don’t consider it as any achievement) is this - LUCK matters, but you can't do much - So forget it!!! 

• Getting placed is no indication of your capacity to survive the job, it is just that your 15-45 min of interview went just as you wanted. So all those who got placed (including myself), don’t think you all are the best!!!
• Not getting a job is just an indication, that you messed up with words, or you didn’t say what he expected. For eg. When one person asked me what is your favorite IT subject, I told all subjects revolve around the same thing, and the interviewer was taken aback, may be felt offended also. I messed it up, even though I meant what I said.
• You make it or lose it in the first few minutes. Trust me, I knew I screwed up my interviews in the first few minutes. I also knew I had impressed the interviewer in another one, within the first few minutes.
• Be yourself - you might have read it many places, but again just be yourself. If you want to change, it      should be only for the better. Lot of people criticized me on being direct and open in interviews, but if a company cant receive openness, can that company even nurture my thought process. I was in such a big dilemma, for some time, if I am selling myself in the interview (as all gyan gurus mentions), then the person who buys me should know what I am. Period!!!
• It is not the company, but the interviewer that matters. You are not pitching for the company, but for the interviewer. So sell to the interviewer, not the company. 

Finally let me quote what, one of my fav professor advised me, after I was placed - "Time to take stock and plan life Shravan as this phase comes to an end ". Friends, just look back and think, for what fun did we all spend so much money, time, family life, and come here - lets not forget it, for whatever it may be.  One might have come for real gyan, another for real money, another for great position - lets make sure, we get what we have had come here for. 

This is the time to pause, look, and go forward. Though, this write-up is a bit impulsive, I am writing this with all the empathies towards my mates.

 Congratulations for all those, who are placed!!!

 But, all those who aren't, you have seen the worse, time to see the better one , you will definitely make it!!! Ours is one of the most versatile and robust batch, it is just a matter of time.. !!! I have loads and loads of confidence on everyone.. ( this is not gas; but from what I have seen working with various people)

 Smile Please Click Click !!!!!

 PS:  Humble request to everyone who are placed; stop putting FB updates, no big deal guys. Wake up!! Hope you all understand (or atleast wait for everyone, lets celebrate together)

A paradigm shift for Engineering...

This 15th September commemorates the 150th birth anniversary of Sir M.Visveswaraya, one of the most  revered engineer across the globe. I have a lot of respect for this individual, not because he was an engineer, but he was a professional who thought about public good, in each of his deeds. I strongly recommend reading about his life and achievements. You wouldn’t get a better day than 15th Sep, to celebrate Engineer's Day.

But somehow, I feel off-late engineering as a degree has been degraded a lot, thanks to easy availability of seats, and selling of seats to people who can afford it, not who deserves it.  But there is always a question of why engineer's degree is not in sync with the work he is doing. And once you have done engineering, why should you do MBA..? Trust me - these are valid questions…

Here is my analysis -

Engineering is not a subject, not a degree; it is paradigm of looking at things, it is the attitude which molds your thinking, and problem solving abilities. It is not about why a diode works in a particular manner, it about if a diode is working in a particular manner, how can you utilize this capability to form a half wave rectifier or full-wave rectifier circuit. It is about how creatively you look at getting the half-wave rectifier or full-wave rectifier with the least number of diodes. It is the way you look at issues as cause v/s effect phenomenon.

Engineering is also not about just finding solutions to problems, it is also about working backwards - have a required solution/ end product in mind and then decide the how things should evolve in order to obtain the solution, or to put it simply - reverse engineering. So what is this?? This is the way you look at things - Management books call it Top-Down (forward engineering) and Bottom-Up (reverse engineering) approach.

In a series resistance structure, if one resistance fails, the whole current flow collapses; this is similar to how a typical hierarchical structure in an organization works, if one level fails to execute, the flow of information may be skewed, leading to wrong decision making. In a parallel resistance structure, even if one resistance fails, the circuit still continues to run, as the current is still passing through the other branches of resistance. Similarly, in an silo mode of management, even if one the branches of the company is not working correctly, the company still continues to thrive, because there are other supporting branches. Now the challenge for management is how best can it use this parallel and series structure of management to enhance optimal performance.  The challenge for engineer is also the same, but with resistors. So engineering is not about resistors, but how best you arrange them - this is the paradigm shift that is required.

This is one of the several examples which I can quote to say that my engineering attitude has helped me develop a totally different outlook towards issues, and ways to solve them.

So if you are a mechanical engineer who worked for a software company, in banking domain, and now with a MBA degree, looking out for a consulting job - there is nothing wrong, as long as you can prove people that engineering is a paradigm and attitude, not (just)a degree.

Happy Engineers Day!!!

Innovation = creativity * implementation

"Innovation is not creativity" - A statement made by Vijay Govindarajan, in one of the recent HBR blog. He has tried to quantify things in terms of a simple formula, which says an organization's capacity to innovate is the product of creativity and execution.

Just as I read this article, I came across an update on Google wave.  This was an update saying that it is withdrawing the Google wave product, by this year-end. When Google wave was first introduced, it literally waved across the user community, but it failed to increase the user-adoption. Does that mean, it was not user friendly - Not at all, it was infact very impressive. Then what failed ..??

One reason which I can recognize, for this failure is lack of a great business model. It just re-instated the perspective, that innovation is not just creativity, but also a strong implementation strategy (or a sustainable business model). One cant expect a mediocre business model to propagate a great product. If you give say 9 points (out of 10) to Google wave product per se, and there exists no business model to sell the product, implementation gets 0 points, the multiplication (9 x 0) of which gives 0. So net innovative quotient of that product is zero, even though it was a creative one. If the business model even propagates by 1 point, the overall score increases by 9. This is the splendor of a great business model.

As I skimmed through the humble submission of Google, my fascination for that company actually increased. We say that people don’t learn from their mistakes, how about organizations like Google?  This is the not the first product failure which the company has faced (some of the previous failures being Dodgeball, Jaiku, etc..  apologies for my bad memory), but still it thrives, and continue to be creative and (sometimes) innovative.  Google chandelled with a innovative search engine concept, and has leveraged that growth in expanding into various products.  But Google has never repudiated any legitimate failures, rather has accepted  them graciously and got motivation from each of the them, to succeed. I remember people saying, learn from your failures - and not every person can do so, only great persons can do so. It takes a lot of courage to accept your mistake and get motivation from the same.

Isn't it amazing to find out how organization and humans are analogous? Any maxim applied on humans almost applies to organizations. One great man said - "If you never failed; you never lived" , I bet Google would be the present Google, had it not failed.

Non-blood brotherhood - Reel or Real ..?

If you are thinking, this is another story of a soul crying brother-sister relationship, sorry to disappoint you!!

South India has not been too keen onraksha bandhanfestival historically. But still it was more of a fashion statement, for people to tie rakhis (or not to tie), primarily at school level. I remember my high school days, where we were 9 boys and 18 girls. It was a very good value proposition for girls to tie rakhis, as they brought only 9 rakhis, but boys had to buy chocolates/sweets for 18 girls. We hardly realized the value of brotherhood, and wore rakhis just like that. Thanks to my huge hands, I escaped from those small sized rakhis, though it hardly mattered to me (as I was pretty much sure, that there weren't any potential sister candidates for me.. haha.. ).

Solving this mystery of building relationships just by tying rakhis, has been a challenge, since my high school days, and it still continues to remain so, especially when I see incidences where, in the first year of engineering, a girl calls one as a bhaiyya and the next year they are in an affair.

In my personal opinion, nothing can beat blood. The brotherhood build out of blood relationship is the strongest raksha bandhan between a boy and girl. The most versatile relationship which I have come across, not bonded by blood is that of good friendship. The most fragile relationship which is again not bonded by blood is that with your spouse. Post my matriculation, I have not rejected any rakhi requests from my friends, but made it a point to say that - it doesn’t matter to me at all, and she better not expect any sort of brotherliness from me, and then she never tied it to me.

I don’t need a title of being a brother, to help / care for people. I don’t need a title of brother to serve my friend. I don’t need a title of brother, to guide a girl on a right path. Friendship has given me all the things that I want, for being a responsible and caring person. At the time, when counselors say that siblings should be like best friends, why should anyone tie a rakhi to his / her best friend and complicate things?

Finally, some food for thought -

How ironical things could become when a girl ties a rakhi and can afford spending a night with him, when people are debating whether brother-sisters really can't marry ?

Good Night!!!

Brand + Luck = Success

There were days when I used to think that luck was the least important thing to be successful. Infact I think the same even today, but with lesser conviction. That’s only because of experience, not just mine but also looking at others' . I have heard there are two types of people - wise people, who learn from their experiences; and wiser guys, who learn from others experience also.  I have tried to be in the later category.

Recently, we had a presentation to do regarding social media implementation for educational institutions in front of the professor & class. Ours was a group of 6. Over a grade of 10, I would rate my group, in terms of capability and talent @ 8/10. I must say, it was a pretty fine balance of pure knowledge, smart workers, hard-workers and hardly workers.  We had prepared considerably, but somehow I think, our power point wasn't really showing the work/ effort which we had put in.

It was presentation time, and ours was the 4th group to present out of the 5 groups. The advantage of having to present at a later part is that we know what is the expectation of the professor, but on the flip side, the class and the Prof would have lost interest, and we should do it really well to catch his/her attention. 

There were 3 people who were supposed to speak, starting with myself, followed by 2 other members, one who was like a lucky mascot ( atleast most of the times in the past; even though his group's presentations were a  bit cheek, somehow Profs were impressed), and the other had made a huge impression on the professor, in the previous course and had a brand image of her own.  But, having me in the group obviates it from being the best, especially in this Prof's class, as I had made a very bad impression, and he was one of those sadists who can punish a whole group, based on an individual.

Finally, I kicked off our presentation, and he seemed to be impressed from the beginning itself. It was carried on well by both my group mates. Overall, for that day, I must say, ours was the best presentation, based of the comments, the Prof passed.  He was very impressed with the flow of our presentation, to be particular.  I was infact surprised, what was it that made it such an instant hit, with him.

Then the wires inside my brain started analyzing all the things, that had happened.  Apart from the fact, that our group had that girl who had already made a great impression on the Prof, and we had a lucky mascot, I couldn’t find any great reason for our group to make it big.

I could clearly see how brands and luck could turns things around. Personal branding is a phenomenon, which I have been seeing a lot of value. The best part is you can have multiple brandings, based on the person with whom you have built it. It is equally dependant of how the other person perceives you and how you portray yourself. But the point of interest is, sometimes your luck builds your brand - something which I can't explain. 

However, I still expect a modicum of worthiness in recognizing the best works, though involuntarily, I want to have both the winning brand and luck in my group…  :)

Boomerang..??

There was a time when I thought, being an atheist was the most rational choice. But, I don't know why, I chose to be agnostic. Having seen deaths within my first blood relatives at regular intervals, starting from my maternal grandma (when I was 12 yrs) to the most recent demise of paternal grandpa, each one has had a different impact on my life. Mom always used to say – "Whatever service you do to these people, we would receive it at one time or another". Even though I disagreed with her statement, I made sure I did my best, only because I considered it as my duty, attaching as less emotion as possible. There were deaths, where my eyes didn't even wet.


Two years ago, around midnight, as I was standing next to my grandfather's bed, he held my hand, and I saw the line straighten in the ECG display. I knew he was no more and I don't know what happened, my eyes suddenly filled, my heart started to beat faster. I had to put some effort to release my hand from my grandpa's fist. I came out of the ward. I, along with my uncle went to home after completing some formalities. My grand-mom was sitting on the chair – I didn't know if I had to go to her or not, but she was a strong lady; she called me and told – "Your work will not go waste, you did your best".


Today, as I stand in the balcony of my hostel room, with the background score of my roomie's snore, I realize the truthfulness of her words. At the time, when I should have been somewhere else, should have been doing better things, here I am, struck up for some formal learnings, at the cost of what life had to teach me. But nothing has stopped, things are happening the way it has to happen, with or without me. Isn't it a paradox that you are present for situations where you could have been optional, and you are not present where ideally you should have been compulsorily? But the show goes with/without me.


I think, this is what the two lady warriors (read mom n grand-mom) meant when they said I receive for what I have rendered. May be, someone else who was optional is fulfilling a compulsory role. Life is truly a boomerang....

The true demeanor...

Yesterday, one of my friend commented - "Thoda to has le” (Atleast Smile). The matter of fact is that, I do realize that I don’t smile during a certain period, even though I make an effort to do so. Sometimes, I feel that it’s obviating for me to smile. I try being jovial, most of the time, infact I have been known for my loud laughter in many of the places I have worked. I try to work out a palatable solution to my problem of intenseness. My brain has been thinking about this thing, until I came across an article, which almost gave me an answer.

The story explained about the “Agni” god, and how Rishis placed fire in a specially prepared altar and made offerings of clarified butter while chanting the hymns in order to invoke the gods and moisten their lips, so that they showered blessings on earth. Going by the story, Agni got tired of having clarified butter, and had to consume something raw and primal, like raw woods. Agni, hence approached the Pandavas (remember Mahabharata) and begged them to let him burn to the ground a dense untamed forest. On Krishna’s advice, the Pandavas offered Agni an inherited forest land. After this, Agni regained his original splendor.

The writer excellently brings a similar analogy between how Goddess Kali (wild and blood thirty) turns to Goddess Gowri (demure and docile), when tamed and domesticated. However, there are times when Goddess wants to break-free, become Kali for a day or two, and regain her original splendor. These are kind of regenerating activities.

This gave me a solid reason, as to why sometimes, I lose my temper so soon, or why I struggle to smile. No doubt, I feel a sense of freeness when I fight an argument without much diplomacy, because that’s me. I have my own original forest and flames. Even though I may not choose to nurture those flames and burn forests, I prefer to be truly myself for a change.

I do realize I have lost a lot of people because of these transitions, but they were friends of “Camouflaged Shravan”. And those who have seen my flames and still chosen to be with me are my true friends and off course the number is small.

Don’t be surprised, after some years, if I am spotted with my friends in the footpath adda where we used to drink 2 rs tea, and not in a posh restaurant…

Means v/s Ends

Caution: This write-up is not intended to find ways to root terrorism or suggest any ways either. This is a sincere attempt to analyze the working of a terrorist organization, and see what best can be derived from it to improve the generic state of legitimacy amongst organizations. 








Terrorism has always been discussed at various levels in any country, depending on the incidences that have happened and affected its operations.



This is the meaning which you find in Wiktionary –

terrorism (usually uncountable; plural terrorisms)

1. The deliberate commission of an act of violence to create an emotional response through the suffering of the victims in the furtherance of a political or social agenda.
   
2. Violence against civilians to achieve military or political objectives.
   
3. A psychological strategy of war for gaining political or religious ends by deliberately creating a climate of fear among the population of a state.
   

But let's see terrorism as a product of a group of people called terrorists. The working of these organizations is no joke, and the brinkmanship involved in managing these organizations is the challenge.




Through this blog-post, I intent to find answers to the 3 below questions –

1. What are the funding requirements and how is it made possible?
2. What are the spending areas?
3. What are the revenue streams?

First, the funding requirements can be classified into 2 areas –

1. Funding specific terrorist operations

   These costs include costs of precursor materials like vehicles, improvised bomb-making components, maps, surveillance, material etc.

2. Organizational costs to develop and maintain the infrastructure and to promote ideology.

   Terrorists organizations involved in geographical conflicts have a constant need of funds to support the organization and their activities in territories they control or act in. These may include things like –

• Salaries/subsistence.
  This includes individual operative's day-to-day expenses and perhaps of their dependants.
• Communication Systems
  This forms the heart of the organization. A cell would be generally present to facilitate communication with its members and perhaps the parent network.
• Travel, Training & Logistics
  Training of operatives continues to be an important investment, both in terms of ideological indoctrination and practical skills. The travel expenses include the procurement of false documentation. These travel expenses includes those which are spent on operatives to receive training or other forms of indoctrination prior to the operational phase of a plot.
• Shared funding
  When two or more organizations share a common ideology and goals, it may be called upon or feel compelled to share few resources like network capacities, etc.

These diverse funding requirements indicate that although individual terrorist's attacks can yield great damage at low financial cost, a significant infrastructure is required to sustain international terrorist networks and promote their goals over time. According to National Commission on Terrorist Attacks on the US, Al Qaeda is believed to have spent some USD 30 million per year prior to the September 11 attacks on funding operations, maintaining its training and military apparatus, contributing to the Taliban n high level officials, and sporadically contributing to the related terrorist organization.


So how do does organizations manage to get these funds? Let's be clear that these people are not dumb heads to get only from easily traceable resources. These organizations get funded through legitimate sources including charities, businesses, and through self-funding by terrorists and their associates. The concept, where legal funds, for example money stemming from collection by charities or governmental subsidies and social benefits, are diverted for purposes of radicalization, recruitment or terrorism is called "black-washing".


Charities are one of the key sources of funding. This is because, they enjoy public trust, have access to considerable sources of funds, and their activities are often cash-intensive. Furthermore, some charities have a global presence that provides a framework for national and international operations and financial transactions. Finally, charities are subject to significantly lighter regulatory requirements than financial institutions or publicly-held corporate entities, depending on the country and legal form of the charity and reflecting their principally non-financial role. Terrorist organizations use sham organizations to pose as legitimate charities to disguise terrorist financing activity and provide apparently legitimate explanations for links with terrorist groups.


Apart from these, there are the mundane ways of getting money through criminal activities like extortion, drug-trafficking and activities like cheque/ credit card frauds, etc.
The next thing which has been haunting me for a considerable time is how does the funds move in the organization. The literature developed on terrorist finance developed since 2001 has emphasized the great adaptability and opportunism that terrorists deploy in meeting their funding requirements. The most impressive part of the document is the answer to the question – "How do terrorists raise and move funds? "is "Anyway they can".


There were many cases which the document highlights that raising, moving and using of funds for terrorism can be especially challenging and almost indistinguishable from the financial activity associated with everyday life. The biggest challenge is that the connections between funds and terrorism can be extremely difficult to determine in the country of origin, when the terrorist-related activity itself takes place elsewhere. The movement of money can be judiciously classified as –

• Use of financial system.

  The speed and ease with which funds can be moved effectively within the international financial system allow terrorists to move funds effectively and often without detection between and within jurisdictions. Combined with other mechanisms such as offshore corporate entities, formal financial institutions can provide terrorists with the cover they need to conduct transactions and launder proceeds of crime when such activity goes undetected.

• Physical movement of money.

  This is one way is one way terrorists can move funds without encountering the AML/CFT safeguards established in financial institutions. The movement of cash across borders is prevalent in countries where the electronic banking system remains embryonic, or is little used in populace.

• Alternative Remittance Systems.

  Use of ARS is basically due to convenience and access. The role of ARS in terrorist financing may be primarily an "end-user" gateway; i.e. ways through which new or stored funds are passed to operational cells.

Now that we know why organizations need money, how organizations get money, spend money and finally how does the money flow in the global environment, let's see what can we derive.



A quick recap of funding requirements -



The funding requirements of modern terrorist groups are not just associated with conducting terrorists' attacks, but also with developing and maintaining a terrorist organization and its ideology are significant. Funds are required to promote a militant ideology (vision), pay operatives (onsite employees) and their families, arrange for their travel (travel request), train new members (fresher's induction program), forge documents, pay bribes(this happens in every corporate), acquire weapons (new development tools – ERP, SAAS, etc.), and stage attacks (projects running live).


If you observe things that are written in parenthesis, one would realize how working of a terrorist organization has similar to that of any other MNC. Infact the efficacy in which the terrorist organizations work has something for every other MNC to learn.


Many people have opined that Means and Ends are equally important. But the question which I pose here is – How we learn to effectively learn the usage of the means (how terrorist operate and perform) to achieve noble ends (what would a legitimate business work towards)?


I think the biggest learning for any legitimate business to from terrorist organizations is – "Come what may" attitude of terrorists. I also see the value behind the money which each terrorist outfit spends on the indoctrination. Do our institutions spend proportionately to spread their vision and values? Not Really!! Putting boards telling the vision n mission wouldn't suffice. Where is the osmosis?


Finally I would like to mention that, in course of finding the information to learn about the working of a terrorist organization, I got to come across several cases, but one thing struck the chord – Usage of orphanage money to kill people – this case study was a very disheartening one and it was an just one of several cases. If we can draw few points like dedication, "come what may" attitude from them – why can't they learn from us about more noble means..? (Well better said than done).

Smile Please.. Click Click..

I have been thinking of writing about this, and here I am doing it when I am supposed to work on my Research Project. Whenever, I swift through the photos, I have always wondered why does it not capture the true moments. The story depicted by the photos most of the time would be a different one than the actual one. I hardly get to see the key people in my photos. I hardly have snaps with the people who made a difference. I hardly have snaps with those who I care for.  I don’t have a single snap of the person who saved me from a disaster. I don’t have a single picture of the person who helped me do my assignment in my school days. I don’t have the picture of my best-friend cum competitor in school. I hardly have snaps with my best buddies in office.

If these were the saddest part, here comes the sadder ones – At the outset, most of the photos are with those people who are not there to stay. I hardly see the friends in the photos today and I hardly see the photos with friends who are still in touch. I hardly have any photos with the family which cares for me.

Here is the sad part - I don’t have  the snap of a friend who resisted celebrating her birthday, just because I wasn’t there. I don’t have a snap of the friend who shared the most idiotic stuff and most irrelevant ones, but literally exploited my patience. I don’t have a snap of the friend who cried more than I laughed. I don’t have the snap of the girl who used to call me and ask why I am not like my dad… Hahaha

I know this is not the usual me, but just that this thing has been eating me from many years.. and I wanted to put it down…. 

Looking Back...

This year 5th of April, it would be 3 years that our project article was published in Deccan Herald. Every year, this day brings mixed feelings in me. As the year passes by, the good news is that we are still great friends – the bad news is we are running in different directions. I may or may not attend any meet of my college - AMC Engineering College for what so ever reasons, but I can never forget the valuable assets that it has given me – Friends for a lifetime.

It was during one of our sixth semester days, when Mohan, Vishnu & I sat on the stoned parapet wall discussing how different or innovative our project should be. At a time, when none of our peers even thought of a project, we were thinking of many things which could be done. While Vishnu n Mohan were telling this idea of traffic signal stuff, I was constantly thinking how big projects could be accomplished at our engineering level. Infact, we almost thought of having a project of 16 members – 4 in each team, each team working on a module and finally integrating each module to get one spectacular thing. Even today, those thoughts invoke weird emotions in me. Today, as I look back, I regret so much that I couldn’t nurture that courage I had in those days. None of us thought of subjects or marks – we knew how to pull through them.  There were teams which people had formed based on their convenience. We had to see how best we could squeeze in some better talents of the class. Then we had Venky coming in, making our team of 4 boys. Now the lookout was for a girls team :)

Having Shravan in a team was definitely a hindrance for any other girls to join (atleast during the engineering days). No point in discussing those reasons. Going ahead, we found a group having Swathi and 3 others (not all were girls) in that group. We started off with a target of 16 members, ended up having atleast 8 members. Our first meet was at my home – I think, mom had prepared Pulav and payasam for lunch and we discussed around 2 major ideas.  After some more rounds of meetings in the next few days, we were all looking for an external mentor, who could assist us in implementing our ideas. One day, it started off with a bad fight, and I almost made up my mind to break-off with the team, and then joined back, followed by a car accident and finally a long session from dad.

Later, we proceeded with the planned stuff. One morning, a team member – calls and tells that her family is not confident of our idea pulling through successfully. This is what I would call a loss of security. It takes guts to think and be different. Anyways, as usual one more meet to decide the future.  We could not let her go alone and she had to be accompanied by someone else. So after a lot of confrontation with everyone in the team, it was decided 3 people would be kicked out.  So from 16 to 8 to 5, here comes the final team – Mohan, Venky, Vishnu, Swathi & Shravan.  Reduction of members didn’t lead to reduction of work, because 5 could not be accommodated in one team, and we had to do 2 projects, but with just 5 members. Effectively, each person had to do extra 3/5th of their normal work.

This is the best filtering process, which any team could have undergone. We, five of us had the end result in mind, and others became secondary. It was like a baby for all of us, but everyone still had his/her style of nurturing it. Great teams are known for great co-ordination and co-operation amongst team members – but I think my team was great, for not having those. There were hardly any meetings which went without a fight or which went without disagreements. And if any meeting went smooth, there is all probability that either Vishnu or I would not be present in the meeting.

Finally we ended up finding a mentor, and our project started full-fledged. We had to travel every weekend for the project work, as our mentor was a bit far-off. Saturdays became very hectic, as we all had to leave by 8 and by the time we reached back, it would be around 10 or sometimes 11 pm. I still remember the day, where we were working on a particular module and it was just not working, and none of us had lunch till the time, it worked – and finally it worked around 5pm, and only then we went for lunch. Venky was literally shouting out of hunger. I think Vishnu was not present on that day. We all ate like hell at the bakery. That was a true team spirit – I don’t think we, ourselves could show that level of commitment if such a situation comes now. This doesn’t mean that people had no vested interests. Every one of us had vested interests, but ultimately this project facilitated those interests.

Ours was one of the first projects to be completed in our college. Finally on 5th of April, 2007 we could make it to one of the reputed newspaper in Bangalore. I don’t consider our project a success or a great one because it was recognized or published. But it was not a joke to pull this off. If I go back and look into my diary, I do recall that each day was an issue by itself. At a personal level, this project has been an eye-opener in many ways. Not every student gets to work in a team like ours. I don’t say this because it is luck – it is just because not everyone can pass the litmus tests which we passed; not everyone can survive the filtering process, which we survived. We all had literally put our relations at stake at many stages of the project. This project had everything – emotions, stress, strains, technicality, relations, love story, separation anxiety, midnight counselling sessions, all types of misunderstandings, EGO clashes, etc...

In every stage of my life, it has been a challenge to choose friends, and I have always failed in doing so. When I look back, as a bystander, I realize that I hardly have friends, but the ones I have are the best I could have ever got.  Henry Kissinger once said – “A diamond is a chunk of coal that is made good under pressure”.  I met my friends as a chunk of coal, the pressure of time and circumstances polished us, and what came out were diamonds. These are the diamonds, which time has gifted to me.

However, there is still one thing which pricks me continuously, we didn’t pursue our dreams, we changed directions, we changed priorities & got trapped in unnecessary things. The dream is still a dream, and I won’t let it die. I still have hopes to re-create the magic on a bigger scale!!!

So,

Mohan - hold on to your land;

Vishnu – hold on with your ideas;

Venky – don’t spend too much on your bike;

Swathi – build your network;

&

Shravan – will continue to sleep more – to dream more. Hahahahahahaha!!!!!!!!!

But wait... Some more diamonds are on the way…!!!!

What’s your problem??

My close friend Charlie spoke to me the other day, regarding his marriage with his long-time girlfriend Rosy. He was seemingly happy and contended. His story has been a tough one, and credit goes to both for pulling this off after such a long time. Being one of his old friends, he used to share some of his feelings with me (the reason for which I have still not recognized). I clearly remember one night, when he spoke for almost 20 min, regarding his day.

That was the day when Charlie had taken his girlfriend out for lunch followed by a movie. Later, these people went to a botanical garden, and the serene skies made it more pleasant for them to spend time. Charlie generally describes such moments as the most dangerous ones, because – these are the times when girls become cozy and you never know what is there at the other end of the tunnel. As expected, Rosy started to share her inane feelings, about some topic which Charlie could hardly connect himself with. However, just running out of choice, he listened to her and started giving some suggestions regarding the issues which she was sharing. After some time, they started to walk down the beautiful lanes of the garden. By that time, Rosy was a bit floundering, and Charlie knew that he had told something wrong and screwed up somewhere. Charlie asked Rosy to walk properly, and the immediate response was – "What's your problem?". Charlie had little choice but to shut his mouth. Later, even the skies lost its serenity and they both went to their respective places.

That night Charlie was a somewhat more upset than normal and called me, to share this experience. As he shared his experience, I hardly found any reason for anyone to get upset. Since Charlie was accessible at that time, I asked him what made him upset. Charlie told - "What's your problem?" is the last thing he would like to hear from Rosy. He mentioned that, almost every alternate meeting, he gets to hear that from Rosy, which turns him off. He is hurt, when the person he cares so much, gets to say – "What's your problem?" without giving heed to the concerns, based on which he would have said something.

As a novice in such sentimental matters, the best I generally do is to give a patient hearing – but my greatest fear is the question he generally asks me – "What do you think I should do?". But this time, I think he was convinced that I am a bit apathetic (thanks to some overly logical analysis, I had given before), and didn't ask me anything.

However, this time, interestingly I was a bit puzzled about the problem of "What's your problem?" with both the guy and the gal. I discussed this with some of my confidants, and tried to understand what makes girls say such things whenever they are upset. I must admit that none could give me a convincing answer. Technically, one of my psychiatrist friend told about the play of hormones in the female's brain, which generally lead to impulsive reactions, during certain times. That was pretty logical ones, but not strong enough.

However, in totality, I tried to connect the dots (brought out by my friends) and draw a considerably clear picture of it. I could make out one thing pretty clear – The culprit is not the gender but the way nature has imposed their respective duties.

The biggest challenge here is when roles created by nature are reversed. I am not sure about the reason, but as days pass by, the events have generally re-instated the belief that nature wins over nurture. Love stories generally have these elements of role reversal and considerable clashes are prone to occur. Thanks to creativity, that nature possesses - the combination of genes for a female or male need not necessarily instill their respective hard-core qualities. This adds to the complex equation.

One of my close friends admitted that when girls share their concern, they require everything, but a solution. And that's where Charlie flunked – he tried to solve, when it is not required to. On the other hand, Charlie hardly shared anything, even in situations where it was expected. He generally used to swallow such things and tried to start afresh, eventually accumulating unwanted stuff in his mind. My friend mentioned this type of mentality is called cave-syndrome.

I am personally not sure, if this is the case in every story or not, but somewhere in some form, most of us would have an analogous encounter with our various partners (may be work/ study/ confidant/ friend etc). This brings about one more important aspect for me again and again – Learn from others experience also... But we all realize that it is a tough task...!!

Let's see how Charlie n Rosy cope with "What's your problem?" syndrome post marriage… Offcourse there isn't much option then... :) 

Hike n Learn!!

Fastest finger – A concept which I saw for the first time in KBC – Kaun Banega Crorepati , the Indian version of Who wants to become a millionaire ?

No doubt – being an ardent fan of Big B, I was always eager to see the way he would introduce the fastest finger to the 10 contestants every episode.

The next time I came across this fastest finger was when I received a mail from Dawn Dekle – Dean, Center for Leadership – back here at Singapore campus. She had indicated that there were 3 tickets for a show (don't remember exactly which one) and who ever replied to the mail first would be getting the free tickets. By the time, I checked this mail, the three people were already selected and that mail was also in my mailbox. It happened similarly for 3 times. Finally I shot out a mail to Dawn indicating my disapproval for the process. However, it was very kind of her to reply stating that she would make sure that everyone would get a chance to go out.

Then on a particular day she again sent out a mail, which told she would take 3 people for hiking to Mac Ritchie. It was already 45 min from the time she had sent the mail. I thought there is no use in replying, thinking that there are far more dynamic people than me. However, I observed there wasn't any selection mail from her – Hence I just replied indicating my interest. After around 20 min, I got a mail which told that Hrishi, Amey and myself would be going with her for the hike on 3^rd Jan – Sunday. Then I felt that – "Good Shravan... You aren't so bad; you can still win a fastest fingerJ"

Later in the evening I found out that our 1^st Term Exams were starting on 4^th Jan. I then realized why many had not replied. This is human psychology – I had mixed feeling – Feeling bad because my assumption that I was good at fastest finger was proved falseL; Feeling better because I wasn't alone, there were 2 moreJ.

On 3^rd Jan, I woke up at 6am for the first time in Singapore. Got ready and we were all down at the reception by 6:45am. Dawn was on time, exactly by 6:45am at the reception. We requested her to cut short the hike, owing to our exams, next day.

We entered the Mac Ritchie Reservoir, and it was like a blend of artificial beauty and natural ambience. We hiked through the forests and there were many people who were jogging and few were doing some kind of Chinese exercise. We came across a big tortoise, few peculiar types of fish and lots of monkeys.

The best part of the hike was Dawn – Her company added so much value to our hike that we hardly realized that we had hiked for 3hrs 15 min and covered almost 9.5 kms. She shared a lot of her experience, it may be teaching in IIMs or working in McKinsey or discussing the critical areas for Management Schools. Albert Einstein once said – "Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school." I am sure even if I forget the statistics/Economics/Quants, I would not forget this trip and the experience.

Thanks a lot Dawn, I am sure everyone would be eager to spend more and more time with you, as we have a lot to share and learn from you. We did take a lot of snaps – thanks to Hrishi and Amey, the slide show of which is embedded.

Finally we came back in Merc, to college by 10:30am. And the story continues – the part which we would forget, Managerial Economics Exam, the next day…….

Perception Matters!!!

Avatar –

One of the most successful movies of all time!

James Cameroon – Next only to God!

Most amazing movie of the year!

Must see – or Die!!



I must say Prof Solomon Asch's work on social pressure is an exceptional one. His did experiments on the how most people succumb to social pressure and might end up accepting the wrong thing even after being known what is right. Well after all human perception is all important.



It was night 11:25 show – I went for Avatar, with a lot of excitement, not because I am going for Avatar, but I am going for a movie, having a break from my regular routine. Well, it was the 3D version. The movie was everything but a feature film. The visual retreat was the best part that I adored about the movie. I went to the movie theater and realized that nothing much was going fast in the first 40-60 min, and as usually dosed off, with the glasses on, atleast let me dreams be 3D . However it was short nap. I realized that the story was going on with amazing cinematography, loved the hanging mountains, and all the nature which was splendidly shown across. Well, but I wanted to watch a movie and not an artificial creative forest.



The movie tested my patience, and the long screenplay made it a more painful. I did rather watch Deewar, Muttinahaara (one of my all time Kannada movies), or any typical South Indian movie where we see the hero fighting for the poor/ saving someone's life/ losing his family and he takes revenge in an anti-climax. The movie was finally over and I came out with my friends, and saw everybody so ecstatic and told profound comments. As I was about to open my mouth, I realized that I would be spoiling the aura around.



Next day I came to class and everyone were using adjectives which I even didn't know till that time. The perception so worked that I literally didn't tell many that I didn't like, but for my close aides. I was seeing amazing reviews popping up through various net sources and strong one-liners in the chat-messages. I almost made up my mind that I had actually missed out some major part during my nap in the 3D movie and decided that I would watch it again. But my exams started and I got busy with them. The day of the last exam, we had our group going to the movie, and I got going with them. This time I made sure I don't dose off, and frankly the pain was a bit more this time. But thanks to my group, it somehow was memorable, as we were mocking at many of the practices and was relating to many of our experiences.



People who have heard me giving light hearted comments about the movie, would consider me a hypocrite, but putting it in white and black, trust me I didn't like the movie the way I liked some of Cameroon's previous work. He deserves a lot of appreciation for putting across a simple concept of saving nature, in a complicated manner. But most of my heartfelt appreciation would go to the creative technocrats (it is not an oxymoron) who have worked behind the scenes for bringing out such magnificent scenery and its 3D effects.

Now what has Prof Solomon Asch got to do with this..?

It's been almost 2 days that I have seen it the second time, and this time with full conviction, I state my reviews, and surprisingly, considerable (not majority) people backed my opinion. Infact with the group when with whom I went the second time, most of them were pragmatic and enjoyed the movie as more of a comic style, than for what the movie was meant for.



I realized the impact of opinions which had sucked me into watching it for the second time, even though I had clearly realized that I didn't like it the first time. This is social pressure. After watching it for the second time, I realized that many were pulled into the majority opinion, the way I was. This realization did cost me an extra ticket & precious time (off course, I would have slept otherwise).



It is worthwhile to have a glimpse of Solomon Asch's psychological experiment –

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solomon_Asch


 

Wake Up !!!

It was around 4:00 am, on a Tuesday. I was reading a case study for the morning session. Let me also confess that I wasn't doing just that - I was checking out some interesting websites for some information about financial crisis, along with chatting, etc. To hit the nail on the head - not all the time till 4:00 am was spent in a fruitful manner. Finally I made up my mind to sleep by 4.15 am. I set the alarm for 8:00 am and slept. I must say my crazy dreams were a bit more berserk, than normal. 


I opened my eyes in trouble and saw that my roomie - Chetan was still asleep, and so I again went back to sleep. Next time, I opened my eyes and out of sheer desperation, I took the mobile to check out the time. And it was 9:07 ................!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


The worst part was Chetan was also still sleeping - even though he had slept by midnight 12. I literally shouted - "Shiiiiittttttttt... 9........ 7......." and within seconds we both had to be in the class. The lift time was utilized in combing and finally for the first time ever in my life - I entered the class in slippers. The attire was mediocre and face was clearly indicating that I was totally sleep -deprived. Adding insult to injury, my program coordinator(This person is responsible for the smooth running of the class - She was also responsible for taking attendance and seldom sits in the class to check if the learning experience is really happening - Infact this is one of the good things that I like here. ) was sitting in the class. This is what I called destiny - She was on leave for the past 2 weeks and I had been punctual all through, but all of a sudden, she is sitting inside the class. Either ways, I didn't have time to talk to her and just ran to my place like a bull in a competition. The class was that of the Business Strategy - and I had actually prepared for the case-study that we would be discussing in  the class.  But what is the point in having prepared, when you are not in a position to know what was happening in the class, and whether your preparation is relevant to the class. 


Having already known for sleeping in the class, it was a bit difficult for me to digest this extra embarrassment.. Anyways, what is study if not for this..??!!!! That too for an engineer...!!


However, if this wasn't sufficient, destiny had a few more surprises lined up for me. During one of the case -study discussions, I had prepared myself for a particular question, and I desperately wanted to complete my turn that day itself, because, I was skeptical if I missed the chance that day, I had to prepare another case for the next day. Thanks to few irritating (pun definitely not intended) characters in the class, the number of nonsense questions were a bit a more and ate up everybody's air-time. Just in the last 5 min, i finally got the mike and I had my answer prepared on my laptop screen, destiny had a different story - Now our dearest professor had to leave a bit early and disbursed the class 5 min before time. The happy part however was that the prof told that he would continue with the same case n with me, the next day. So I didn't have to read another case- relieved :))


One more similar incidence, with my friend - Amey, it was a similar case-study discussion - and the question- answer session was to start with him and he was prepared to present his view on the first question. Now again, few unknown sources wanted a different climax - the professor started to ask from second question - His face was a mixture of emotions, which were waiting to flow out but he was holding on. Now this is what I say engineers, not everyone would find a strategy the way he found out - he said that the mike was not working and asked for another, there by gaining another 3-4 min, through which he could just push-through the question. 


A person's intelligence is actually tested in such situation handling and is more ridiculed in examinations...


Hail Engineers!!!!!!