Imposters

Americans are stressed..

2010-06-01T18:42:00.000+05:30

According to the poll, 46% of Americans say they're suffering from debt related stress.

" About 46% of those surveyed say they're suffering from debt-related stress, and half of that group described their stress as "great deal" or "quite a bit." On the other hand, about 53% say they feel little or no stress at all.

That's in line with findings from last year, even though times seem better today: The economy is growing and generating jobs, and households have made progress in repairing their financial footing, trimming debt, watching spending and saving more.

It's a big turnaround from a year ago — a shrinking economy, jobs jettisoned as businesses struggled to survive the deepest recession since the 1930s.

So why aren't the stressed — and the not-so-stressed — feeling better?

For starters, it just doesn't feel much like a recovery to many people."

Ring a bell?

Source: http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2010-05-30-stress-debt-poll_N.htm?csp=hf

Be Worried..

2010-05-26T10:44:00.001+05:30

http://bit.ly/9cF2Ot

"...one of the best ways to protect against a decline in purchasing power is to buy whatever is "out of favor, loathed and despised." So forget about gold or other trendy hedges. Instead, wait patiently for markets—European stocks, perhaps—to get so cheap that they turn most investors' stomachs. Then you can pounce."

"Sometimes, when you can't figure out a good defense, the best thing to do is to go on offense."

Investing and Happiness...

2010-05-12T22:21:00.002+05:30

Silence speaks much more than words. The best way to win an argument is not by arguing, but by action.

I see people wasting time arguing about how the stock they are investing is much better than another stock. This will not make you wealthy and happy.

We invest not to prove someone right or wrong or for the sake of theories, but to create wealth.

Investing should be silent, with actions.

Over the years, things have become easier for people who believe in – long term value based investments.

Thanks to the wide reach technology, internet forums, blogs and business news channels…more and more people are being deprived of thinking long term.

As we have seen in recent times, this can lead to sharp falls in stock prices of as much as 25% on a single day, that too, just on the basis of some negative news or court cases… which might be of a temporary nature.

Internet trading enables people to take decisions within seconds – and act on temptations.

I believe, because of all this we can take advantages of such situations. :)

When markets are climbing high, most people feel tempted with a sense of desperation to rush in and put money. They feel left out, and can’t resist temptation to buy. You can suddenly see many providing stock recommendations (free or paid) in a bull market.

Money doesn’t come to people who are constantly scared and afraid.

Just be open, happy, large hearted and confident – you will automatically start attracting wealth.

The best investors do the least amount of activity.

Sitting in front of a screen with numbers and watching CNBC, is not really what a fulfilling life is all about. This, again, will not make you wealthy and happy.

And this definitely cannot be a great and recommended way to create wealth.

Every investor today needs to avoid an army of advisors and watching hundreds of news channels. He just needs to have the power of wisdom and knowledge with him.

Cut out the noise around you … and listen to the silence.

Invest silently.. Consistently. Avoid temptations. Don’t waste energy arguing.

Soon, when the world panics again, it will be time for a select few to create extraordinary wealth.

How Markets Work...

2010-05-11T21:25:00.002+05:30

PS: Due credits to the image source.

Simplest Portfolio Idea...

2010-05-10T20:38:00.002+05:30

For most of us (including myself) ... investing is scary. Simply because the world of finance is an ultimate confusopoly.

There are so many options from which to choose that many people are willing to pay perhaps 1-2-3% of their portfolios per year for experts to manage their money. (PMS services. Distributors, etc etc).

And those experts might invest your money in managed mutual funds (managed by yet other experts) that charge you another 1-2% to pick stocks for you.

And all this is despite the fact that on an average, experts can't beat a monkey with a dartboard when it comes to picking stocks…

In theory, no-one can beat markets while being strategic…as far as I know.

Worse yet, actively managed investments will generate more tax liability for investors than necessary…because managers need to churn stocks to maintain the appearance of usefulness.

It’s never that experts would agree, roughly, in how a typical portfolio should be allocated.

If you are young, you should own mostly stocks. If you are nearing retirement, you should have mostly bonds. But lately, even this assumption is being questioned. Some experts now say you need a healthy percentage of stocks even if you're nearing retirement, because you might live another 30 years or so.

Suppose if we could come up with the world's simplest portfolio that is better than what the average money managing expert might suggest. (by better, I mean, it convinces you that it would work).

Let’s try out some ideas here, which can be improved upon later, keeping within some simple guidelines.

1. let's assume the hypothetical money is invested entirely for retirement, so we don't need to worry about keeping any of it liquid for college or buying a house. This assumption is just to keep things simple. Also because retirement planning is one of the most difficult financial planning I would ever do for myself.

2. I will only think about investments that can be made up to 10 years prior to the planned retirement. This is because, when you near retirement, you would typically and gradually want to convert as much of your equity portfolio into bonds as necessary to get the monthly income you need. That's a more complicated scenario, I prefer not to discuss here. It’s easier said than done.

As a starting point, a perfectly adequate simple portfolio for young people might involve putting 70% of your money in an index-equity fund. (say NIFTY), which captures the entire market trend. In other words, you can buy one financial instrument and own a little bit of just about every public company in the market.(though technically might not be correct, as NIFTY is just a representation of some 50 odd companies, but that still is well diversified). That's all the diversification you can get within one country. And because these fund managers don't do much buying and selling within the portfolio, it doesn't generate much overhead costs to pass along to investors.

I picked 70% to allocate to this investment because I contend that no expert has a good reason for picking a different figure. Some experts might tell you 60% is the right allocation, and some might say 80%.

I contend that most allocation recommendations of that sort are no more defensible than horoscopes.

For the remaining 30% of your investments, we can invest in commodities like Gold exchange traded funds. This gives you a play on the commodity side with a hedge against equity, while maintaining growth in the long run.

That too at low cost, with no fund-manager-decisions involved and low taxes.

And remember that this suggested portfolio was supposed to be simple enough for the average person to understand and obtain without expert advice and without excess risk.

Does it sound good?

PS1: This is just a mental exercise I am doing for fun. Not an advice by any means. And if, you were about to believe all this, you should understand that any roadside financial planner would be able to take you for a ride easily. Be cautious!

PS2: If you are serious about retirement planning, read this: http://wealth.moneycontrol.com/authorarticle.php?id=7061

Investment horoscope..aka..Financial Plan

2010-05-07T22:16:00.002+05:30

I believe most Indians believe in astrology, even though there is no scientific evidence to support it. Superstition has been hard-wired in our culture and up-bringing.

I sometimes tend to compare financial experts (Relationship Managers) with jyotishi pundits (fortune tellers, horoscope readers).

Do you believe investors should rebalance their investment portfolio every year?

For instance, lets say, you start investment with a balance of 70% stocks (say all NIFTY) and 30% bonds, which for *some* reason you think is right for you.

God blessed you, and your stocks had a good year. Now you're at 80% stocks and 20% bonds. Should you rebalance?

Ideally, if you witness some fundamental changes that change your overall financial circumstances, such as nearing retirement or winning at kaun-banega-karorepati, you might need to rebalance your portfolio.

But what if the only thing that happened was that you aged from 30 to 31...and your stocks had an unusually good year? Do you rebalance still?

Most financial experts will tell you..there’s a *magical* number that each investor should try to maintain in terms of portfolio balance. (Asset allocation).

First indication that something is fishy is that different experts will come up with different magical numbers.

Second sign of trouble is that same experts will have a naked self-interest in getting you to rebalance more than you might need to.

I, personally am not yet convinced that portfolio rebalancing is really required just because it has aged by an year.

Please try convincing me…

US market plunge...

2010-05-07T21:45:00.001+05:30

Do you believe yesterday's US stock market plunge was a "mistake" as rumored by some?

Or, was it a case of manipulation by someone who made a fortune on it?

Few years ago, I would have said it was a mistake.

Today that sounds naïve to me. No matter what they say.

http://money.cnn.com/video/markets/2010/05/06/mkts_nyse_ceo.cnnmoney/

Insurance and Government...

2010-05-03T17:13:00.001+05:30

The other day we had this interesting discussion and here is the outcome…

Let’s consider a hypothetical model …where we could actually replace our current government tax-collection model with an insurance-based model…

In this new model, the central government would buy every insurance company in the country…and ultimately becomes the formal and official insurance provider for the country. (and perhaps the rest of the world..or poorer world).

The profits from selling insurance would replace taxes…The government would become a “for-profit” enterprise.

In a way, the government is actually already a sort of big insurance company.

When something catastrophic happens, from floods to war, the central government steps-in,(providing relief funds to state governments etc..). All I'm suggesting is…just formalize the arrangement and try to monetize it, with most of the profits coming from international sales (from poorer neighboring countries like Bangladesh maybe).

Consider that an insurance company does more than just premium collections and pay-out for losses. They also do work to reduce risks.

This is similar to what a government tries to do for its people. Governments urge you to quit smoking, and they force you to wear seatbelts, helmets...

Governments form armies to keep the homeland safe..fund schools to keep future generations from needing aid.

For all practical purposes, the government is already a big insurance company. All I'm suggesting is that we become more efficient at it, and make some money in the process.

It would be interesting about this new model to lead to practical laws, especially if law makers had some sort of profit motive.

For example, you might see the legalization of any activity that lowered financial risks. I think you'd find that in most cases, the majority of citizens coincidentally support just about every policy that saves money in the long run.

That's because the best way to save money in the long run is to keep citizens safe and healthy and prosperous.

In this imagined future world, politicians will still be elected by the people. And the big moral issues could still be decided based on cultural preferences over profits. The difference is that the voters would always have an estimate at hand to see how much those preferences might cost them.

Another benefit of this arrangement is that citizens would have just one policy for all sorts of risks, including motor, health, home, etc. etc.

Your premium costs would depend on your specific situation. Just check all of the appropriate boxes on a web page, and enter your bank account number for automatic deductions…and you just paid your taxes and handled all of your insurance needs in ten minutes.

I can imagine..it would make the world safer in the long run. Imagine two smaller countries spoiling for a fight, and one of them is an insurance client. The plodding and ineffective current governments would be irrelevant, but the new Insurance backed government would step in fast to protect its investment.. J

And no one will ever misjudge its intentions…because its motives would obviously be entirely transparent…profits!

PS: I agree that this imagined future can never happen…but it’s fun to imagine stuff.

Do-pahar...

2010-01-19T14:55:00.002+05:30

ये जीत-हार तो इस दौर का मुक्द्दर है

ये दौर जो के पुराना नही...नया भी नहीं

ये दौर जो सज़ा भी नही...जज़ा भी नहीं

ये दौर जिसका बा-जहिर कोइ खुदा भी नहीं

(jazza : rewards; ba-zaahir : evidently)

तुम्हारी जीत अहम है..ना मेरी हार अहम

के इब्तिदा भी नहीं है..ये इन्तेहा भी नहीं

शुरु मारका-ए-जान ..अभी हुआ भी नहीं

शुरु तो ये हंगाम-ए-फ़ैसला भी नहीं

                         (ibtidaa : beginning; ma’arka-e-jaaN :
                   battle for life; hangaam-e-faisila :
                   commotion before the verdict)

पयाम ज़ेर-ए-लब अब तक है सूर-ए-इसराफ़ील

सुना किसी ने किसी ने अभी सुना भी नहीं

किया किसी ने किसी ने यकीं किया भी नहीं

उठा जमीं से कोई, कोई उठा भी नहीं

(zer-e-lab : on the lips;
Suur-e-Israafiil : According to

                  Islamic theology, Israafil is one
                  of the angels who would call the
                 dead to life on the day of judgment

                  by sounding a loud alarm. It is
                 believed that everyone would get
                up from their graves and elsewhere
                after hearing this alarm.)

कदम कदम पर दिया है रहज़नों ने फ़रेब

के अब निगाह मे तौकीर-ए-रहनुमा भी नहीं

उसे समझते है मंजिल जो रास्ता भी नहीं

वहाँ लगाते हैं डेरा जहाँ वफ़ा भी नही

                  (rahzan : Caravan robbers;
                 tauqiir-e-rahnuma : respect for
                 the leader)

ये कारवाँ है तो अनज़ाम-ए-कारवाँ मालूम

के अजनबी भी नहीं कोई आशना भी नहीं

किसी से खुश भी नहीं कोई खफ़ा भी नहीं

किसी का हाल मुड़ कर कोइ पूछता भी नहीं

--Kaifi Azmi

Listen: http://aligarians.com/2006/03/do-pahar/

Mirrors...

2009-12-29T15:31:00.005+05:30

Being Angry...

2009-12-22T11:10:00.001+05:30

Anyone can become angry - that is easy.

But to be angry with the right person, to the right degree, at the right time, for the right reasons, and in the right way - that is not easy.

-Aristotle

Empathy...

2009-11-12T17:32:00.003+05:30

I think, we should always try to see things form other people’s perspective..This allows us to empathize even if we disagree.

Compassion, I believe, gives you room to relate with people because we no longer regard them as a drain/threat.

The alternate path is to be stubborn and adamant idiot…unwilling to consider anyone else’s opinions and needs…living in shear ignorance. I have so many live examples around me..so don’t ask more.

On Money and Happyness...

2009-11-10T17:10:00.003+05:30

“Money and success don’t change people;

They merely amplify what is already there.”

-Will Smith

I believe, money, in itself, is a means to an end and not an end unto itself. (just like success is a journey and not a destination..)

This is an important distinction.

Have you heard of those really..really unhappy and *rich* people ? The ones that get depressed or get crazy and drink their lives away or kill themselves?

They are the people, at the first place, who thought that money would bring them happiness.

This is a myth.

Sure, money can help you buy nice things and open up all kinds of doors. But if you don’t have that happiness already, all money is going to do is...give you more sadness...or boredom.

It is an amplifier, and whatever you already feel(and have) will become more intense as you get more of it. This includes unhappiness.

I think...the pursuit of money is really silly.

Instead, it should be the pursuit of things and ideas that bring you money. And for the things that money can help you do or achieve.

To chase money for money’s sake...? Naah!

Do you believe the same?

Taking Inspirations...

2009-11-10T14:52:00.001+05:30

"It is said that Sartre drank thirty cups of coffee a day in order to function correctly.

It is also said that Philip K. Dick used vast amounts of speed.

Picasso had a lot of sex.

Bandelaire surprisingly relied on routine, whilst Magritte preferred suburbia.

Charles Dickens was spurred on by deadlines.

Mozart liked solitude.

Some artists work late at night, others early in the morning.

Some are quiet, some talk a lot. Many drink a lot.

…

Clearly the whole issue of inspiration is unclear."

-- Storm Thorgerson, art director, Pink Floyd

Work is Important...

2009-11-07T18:42:00.001+05:30

“ One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one’s work is terribly important..”

- Bertrand Russell

Asaflta Ek Chunauti Hain Savikar Karo...

2009-10-16T21:57:00.000+05:30

Koshish Karne Walon Ki Her Nahin Hoti

Lahron Se Dar Kar Nauka Par Nahin Hoti

Koshish Karne Walon Ki Her Nahin Hoti

Nanhi Chiti Jab Dana Lekar Chalti Hai

Chadhti Deewaron Par Sau Bar Phislati Hain
Man Ka Viswas Ragon Mein Sahas Bharta Hain

Chadhkar Girna Girkar Chadhna Na Akharta Hain
Akhir Uski Mehnat Bekar Nahin Hoti

Koshis Karne Walon Ki Her Nahin Hoti

Dubkiyan Sindhu Mein Gotakhor Lagata Hai

Ja Jakar Khali Haath Laut Aata Hai
Milte Nahin Sahaj Hi Moti Gahre Pani Mein

Badhta Duna Utsah Isi Hairani Mein
Muthi Uski Khali Her Bar Nahi Hoti

Koshish Karne Walon Ki Her Nahin Hoti

Asaflta Ek Chunauti Hain Savikar Karo

Kya Kami Rah Gayi Dekho Aur Sudhar Karo
Jab Tak Na Safal Ho Nid Chain Ko Tyago Tum

Sangharshon Ka Maidan Chod Mat Bhago Tum
Kuch Kiye Bina Hi Jayjaykar Nahin Hoti

Koshish Karne Walon Ki Her Nahin Hoti

--Harivansh Rai Bachhan

Nobel Peace Prize Mystery...

2009-10-16T10:06:00.000+05:30

So, finally the Nobel Peace Prize mystery solved.

Need not complain anymore..

Source: http://www.slowpokecomics.com/strips/terminatrix.html

Verbs and Noun...

2009-10-13T17:40:00.001+05:30

We are all verbs. God is the only noun.

-Deepak Chopra

Leaders...

2009-10-07T09:57:00.000+05:30

This is something I cant resist sharing...an old Dilbert classic:

Source: http://dilbert.com/fast/1995-02-05/

Courage...

2009-10-06T21:18:00.000+05:30

Courage does not always roar.

Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying,

“I will try again tomorrow”

- Marry Anne Radmacher

Older...

2009-09-30T15:32:00.004+05:30

You're older than you've ever been
And now you're even older
And now you're even older
And now you're even older
You're older than you've ever been
And now you're even older
And now you're older still

Time is marching on
And time is still marching on

This day will soon be at an end
And now it's even sooner
And now it's even sooner
And now it's even sooner
This day will soon be at an end
And now it's even sooner
And now it's sooner still

You're older than you've ever been
And now you're even older
And now you're even older
And now you're even older
You're older than you've ever been
And now you're even older
And now you're older still

--They Might be Giants

Growth...

2009-09-29T16:16:00.001+05:30

I liked this quote from Robin Sharma today:

“Growth occurs in your DISCOMFORT zone, not in your comfort zone.”

Koi Deewana Kehta Hai..

2009-09-25T11:35:00.004+05:30

This is one of my favorites...

Update: On Popular demand, adding lyrics..

Lyrics:
Koi deewana kehta hai koi pagal samjhta hain,
magar dharti ki bechani ko bas badal samjhta hain,
Main tujhse dur kaisa hu,tu mujhse dur kaisi hain,
Yeh tera dil samjhta hain ya mera dil samjhta hain

Ke mohobbat ek ehsaason ki paawan si kahaani hain,
kabhi kabira deewana tha kabhi meera diwaani hain,
Yahaan sab log kehte hain meri aakho mein aasu hain,
Jo tu samjhe toh moti hain jo na samjhe toh paani hain

Mat poooch ki kya haal hai mera tere aage,
Tu dekh ke kya rang hain tera mere aage

Samandar peer ka andar hain lekin ro nahi sakta,
Yeh aasu pyaar ka moti hain isko kho nahi sakta,
Meri chahat ko dulhan tu bana lena magar sun le,
Jo mera ho nahi paaya woh tera ho nahi sakta

Bhramar koi kumudni par machal baitha toh hungama,
Humare dil mein koi khwaab pal baitha toh hungama,
Abhi tak doob kar sunte the sab kissa mohobbat ka,
Main kisse ko hakikat mein badal baitha toh hungama

Bada Hua to Kya Hua...

2009-09-25T11:28:00.001+05:30

बडा हुआ तो क्या हुआ जैसे पेड़ खजूर।
पंथी को छाया नही फल लागे अति दूर ॥

Bada hua to kya hua, jaise ped khajoor,
Panthi ko chaya nahi, phal laage ati door.Regards,

Sai Itna Deejiye...

2009-09-25T11:23:00.001+05:30

साईं इतना दीजिये, जा मे कुटुम समाय ।
मैं भी भूखा न रहूँ, साधु ना भूखा जाय ॥

Sai itna deejiye, ja mein kutumb samaye,

Main bhi bhooka na rahun, sadhu bhi bhooka jaye.

--Kabir

Happyness..Epicurus Style...

2009-09-16T17:28:00.002+05:30

Here you go again…happiness!

So it turns out that Epicurus was right about Happiness..almost.

http://www.spring.org.uk/2007/12/hedonist-philosopher-epicurus-was-right.php

"If a little is not enough for you, nothing is." –Epicurus

All the more..what’s amusing to me is the fact that philosophers..since ages..have been keen to tell the rest of us.. “how to live” and “how to be happy”.

And..if we go by it…the advice comes to us “with the lustre of intellectual achievement”…WTF?

Isn’t this in itself .. Being happy for them?

So..this is what the dude(err..I mean Epicurus) suggested..

1. Don't fear the gods (or fate, or blind chance)
2. Don't worry about death
3. What is good is easy to get
4. What is terrible is easy to endure

Philosophy: Study of philosophy is central to happiness…can help us deal with both..our fear of death and.. of the gods.

Friendship: Friendship is one of the most important aspects of the good life. Not only does it give us many benefits, it also benefits our friends as well.

Now, this is interesting.. Epicurus advised against getting married. He wasn't that impressed with sex either saying we should count ourselves lucky if sex didn't cause anyone any harm(!).

Prudence: is an excellent way of making decisions. All decisions can be seen as leading to pleasure or pain. Thinking ahead, planning for the future with these possible outcomes in mind will help lead a pleasurable life.

Security: Well you have to agree to it as-is…

And, according to the modern school of thought…

1. Epicurus was wrong about the detached life and commune living

2. Epicurus was wrong about avoiding marriage
3. Pleasure is not the opposite of pain

And this is what our dude got right…

1. Using cognitive strategies to deal with death and pain
2. Friendships matter more than status or money
3. Happiness comes from moderate varied pleasure

Hindi in Courts...

2009-09-16T16:54:00.001+05:30

There's news about India lawyers want to speak in Hindi during the court proceedings.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/south_asia/8255620.stm

But this is only in Delhi High court that they are protesting for. I think it's a positive move which should be supported.

This leaves me wondering what would happen in states like Kerala and Karnataka and Andhra and Tamil Nadu..if it ever gets enforced country wide?

Zen...

2009-09-16T16:45:00.001+05:30

I liked today’s Zen quote…

Spacious and content,

Without confusion from

Inner thoughts of grasping,

Effectively overcome habitual behavior

And realize the self

That is not possessed by emotions.

Be broad-minded,

Whole, without relying on others.

- Hongzhi Zhengjue (1091–1157)

If it's not OKAY, it's not the END...

2009-09-15T20:33:00.000+05:30

They say..
Everything would be OKAY in the END,
If it's not OKAY...it's not the END.

source: I don't know..

Nature and Death...

2009-09-09T23:08:00.000+05:30

I read this interesting quote today...

"Nature is God's way of killing you."

And it occurs that..
"Aging is Nature's way of killing you".

But, you might want to ask..
Why does God want me to die?

SONY VAIO Notebooks..NO! NO!

2009-08-03T09:13:00.003+05:30

We have been searching for a perfect notebook for a while now..

Given the budget we have, Sony VAIO CS36/34 series had all the features we were looking for….

I almost had bought it...until...suddenly I noticed the following two things about VAIO notebooks…(while going through the product demo at Sony Center-Jayanagar, Bangalore):

1. Sony VAIO Notebook does not support Intel VT.

And they never will...PERIOD!

Even if they are shipped with Intel Core two Duo processors, they do not have VT enabled in the BIOS.

BIOS has all the features locked and there is no way you can enable them. (unless you hack your notebook and break support contract). Another how to: link.

I don’t care for the reason why SONY does this (DRM philosophy or saving cost on OEM partnership with Intel)…but I feel cheated even by considering SONY notebooks now.

The reason I am concerned about this is not just because…I will not be able to run 64-bit VMs on this notebook(and no virtualization), but also Windows-7 is around the corner.

Without VT, there is no chance I will be able to run the inbuilt XP mode in Win-7.

On top of that.. The sales guy at SONY Center-Jayanagar told me they are offering a discount for Win-7 for all the VAIO deals made before 10-Aug-09.

SONY, you want me to pay for Win-7 but not expect the full functionality..ha!

This is the SONY's official stance on this: KB C381809

This gets more interesting if you search for VT at SONY KB website. This is what I found.

<---snip---

„…The vPro logo sticker on VAIO computers indicates that the computer meets the requirements for the following vPro features:

Intel Active Management Technology (AMT)
Intel Virtualization Technology (VT)
Intel Trusted Execution Technology (TXT)…“
---snip--->

Well, yes, the CPU does truly support hardware virtualization...but it's disabled.

And..there is no posibility enable it...and this way the notebook really does *NOT* support VT.

There is another interesting thread at Intel's forum: link

2. SONY do not provide you any driver and OS media along with the Laptop.

It’s always assumed that all the drivers and OS media (for which customers have paid) will come along with the laptop. No..not with SONY...I have a lesson learnt…Don’t assume anything!

A notebooks are shipped with pre-installed Windows Vista and other VAIO software.

After probing more on this, the sales guy told me...customers themselves are supposed to take a backup of the notebook (on a 4.5GB DVD media) as soon as they receive it (using VAIO Backup software).

And in case of any issues...they can always re-image the notebook using the backup media.

What If I wish/need to re-configure my notebook (say..want to have different disk partitioning scheme)...or want to try any other OS.. I don’t have the OS media/drivers/licenses to do it myself.

After all I have purchased the hardware and I’m free to do anything with it ..right?

NO!....I’ll lose out on the support contract on trying to do anything on those lines.

And mind you…the above things were obviously not specified anywhere in the product website nor in the product documentation I was provided.

Both the above are true for all SONY VAIO notebooks.

Shame on you SONY and Intel ( if you are responsible or #1 above). !

Bhala kisi ka kar na sako to...

2009-07-16T14:25:00.000+05:30

Yadi bhala kisi ka kar na sako to, bura kisi ka mat karna
Amrit na pilaane ko ghar mein to, zahar pilaate bhi darna.

Yadi satya madhur na bol sako to, jhoot kathin bhi mat bolo,
Yadi maun rakho sabse achha, kam se kam vish to mat gholo,
Bolo to pehle tum tolo, fir mukh-tala khola karna.

Yadi bhala kisi ka kar na sako to, bura kisi ka mat karna..

Yadi ghar na kisi ka baandh sako to, jhopdiyan na jala dena,
Yadi marham-patti kar na sako to, khar namak na laga dena,
Yadi deepak ban kar jal na sako to, andhkar bhi mat karna.

Yadi bhala kisi ka kar na sako to, bura kisi ka mat karna..

Yadi phool nahi ban sakte to, kaante ban kar na bikhar jaana,
Maanav ban kar sahla na sako to, dil bhi kisi ka dukhana na,
Yadi dev nahi ban sakte to, daanav ban kar bhi mat marna.

Yadi bhala kisi ka kar na sako to, bura kisi ka mat karna

Yadi sadaachar apna na sako to, paapo mein mat pag dharna,
Kintu na kabhi shaitaan bano, aur na kabhi haivaan bano,
muni-pushp agar bhagwan nahi to, kam se kam insaan bano.

Yadi bhala kisi ka kar na sako to, bura kisi ka mat karna...

Happiness...

2009-03-10T13:03:00.001+05:30

Nothing new..but since I like talking about happiness...

Nothing is better than a drunken monkey...

2009-03-05T10:39:00.002+05:30

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYuIYNaKynI

This is another pretty old interesting story..

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3580626.stm

“Apparently a black bear broke into a cooler, guzzled 36 cans of beer, and then passed out. The irony is that the bear tried a can of Busch, but rejected it in favor of a local brand.”

'random' v/s 'equally distributed'...

2009-02-25T17:08:00.001+05:30

I do this all the time…mistaking ‘random’ with ‘equally distributed'.

For instance, if you ask someone to select 5 ‘random’ people in a room..they will choose one/two from the middle..one from the front..one from the back..and the last one from some area of the room un-noticed yet.

They will also make the sex distribution as equal as possible…regardless of the proportion of males/females present in the room.

This is not being ‘random’, but actually being ‘equally distributed’.

Btw, can humans generate ‘random’ events?

I think..it’s impossible to come up with a random sequence just by pulling it out of your head. We can’t help stop thinking..

Blogging Makes You Happy...

2009-02-25T16:40:00.002+05:30

Yes...it's proven..

http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2009/02/16/can-blogging-make-you-happier/

This is why i blog (occasionally)..

Nerd?...Well I dont agree any more..

2009-02-15T19:25:00.003+05:30

I just took this test online..which is supposed to compare your nerd'ness with the other people taking the test..and below are the results.
I seem not to agree with the results any more...specially after that I am married now..

http://www.nerdtests.com/ft_nq.php

Your Score Summary

Overall, you scored as follows:

4% scored higher (more nerdy),
1% scored the same, and
95% scored lower (less nerdy).

What does this mean? Your nerdiness is:

All hail the monstrous nerd. You are by far the SUPREME NERD GOD!!!

Sonoluminescence: Sound into Light...

2009-02-13T19:42:00.001+05:30

This is interesting…

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

“Sonoluminescence is the emission of short bursts of light from imploding bubbles in a liquid when excited by sound.”

(Ignorant) Morons Can Save Us..

2009-02-13T16:37:00.005+05:30

Obama government just passed a stimulus package in US.

As I have read, experts say..this package will (in any way) not directly stimulate anything in the short term (and that's when we need it).
But, with some luck...it would probably manage to bamboozle a hundred million morons into thinking that their government did something useful...and...that in turn would cause them to be more confident and spend more...resulting in stimulating the economy.

The funny thing about this scheme is that it just might work.
Another interesting thing is that no one is trying to hide the fact that the entire plan depends on bamboozling the aggressively ignorant mass.
Whole sole aim is...get those bozos spending again, and if it requires a fraudulent stimulus package to get it done..so be it.
Most people seem to be okay with that.

My theory says, smart people are actually(and ironically) incompetent if left to their own devices. They need stupids around to use their intelligence.
This is what is exactly happening here.
Just imagine...if the world was populated only with the smart and well-informed people..we would all sit waiting for someone else to spend money first...delegating risk..being smart.
Eventually..society would obviously crumble and all of us (geniuses) would be eaten by rats.
Now, if you throw a bunch of clueless ignorant morons into the mix...you will find economy is supercharged. Money flows...confidence warranted..and the economy flourishes.

Our past economic booms depended heavily on morons.
Those wonderful stimulators (morons) of the economy have to buy stocks in perpetually unprofitable companies..or invest in real estate when it is clearly overpriced.

Every economic boom is powered by the clueless.
I find no argument against why the next one should be different...except that the government is doing the bamboozling this time.

And...I like the word stimulus.

Story So far...

2009-01-26T20:14:00.001+05:30

The story so far: In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and has been widely regarded as a bad move.

-- Douglas Adams, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe

Bad Jokes...

2009-01-02T15:02:00.002+05:30

GOD play cruel jokes with us..
He might allow you to be anything you can dream of..but there will always be a catch.

For instance, you might become a billionaire, but would end up loosing half of it somehow..or might have to serve jail for two years..

There is (and will) always be a catch.

Just before you read the whole story..consider the following conversation, almighty GOD might have had with still-born-to-be soul..

GOD: Its decided. You will be a billionaire.
Soul: wow!
GOD: But..you'll lose more than half of it... in few months.
Soul: ouch! .. I think it's fine..still a lot of money..I'll be rich anyways.
GOD: And...you'll have to go to jail for two years.
Soul: ??.. I knew it! It's a catch.
(Soul Thinking: It's only two years..so..)
GOD: No. that's not the catch.
Soul: oh!
GOD: And your name will be..Anurag Dikshit.
Soul: He he! Good one. Seriously, what will my name be?
Universe: We're done here, Mr. Dikshit.

Complete story here:
http://www.forbes.com/2008/12/22/billionaires-mitttal-ross-biz-billies-cz_lk_1222billieblowups_slide_7.html?partner=yahoo

Work that is Real...

2008-12-31T19:54:00.003+05:30

This is exceptionally influencing...

To be of use
by Marge Piercy

The people I love the best
jump into work head first
without dallying in the shallows
and swim off with sure strokes almost out of sight.
They seem to become natives of that element,
the black sleek heads of seals
bouncing like half submerged balls.

I love people who harness themselves, an ox to a heavy cart,
who pull like water buffalo, with massive patience,
who strain in the mud and the muck to move things forward,
who do what has to be done, again and again.

I want to be with people who submerge
in the task, who go into the fields to harvest
and work in a row and pass the bags along,
who stand in the line and haul in their places,
who are not parlor generals and field deserters
but move in a common rhythm
when the food must come in or the fire be put out.

The work of the world is common as mud.
Botched, it smears the hands, crumbles to dust.
But the thing worth doing well done
has a shape that satisfies, clean and evident.
Greek amphoras for wine or oil,
Hopi vases that held corn, are put in museums
but you know they were made to be used.
The pitcher cries for water to carry
and a person for work that is real.

Duty Calls...

2008-12-16T09:44:00.001+05:30

Source: http://xkcd.com/386/

Mail to Post test...

2008-11-27T13:43:00.001+05:30

Testing for mail-to-blogger post feature...

The Unemployed...

2008-11-23T17:55:00.000+05:30

Intelligence is an Illusion..

2008-11-18T21:45:00.002+05:30

There can always be only two conditions: Programmed or random.
To clarify...every action is either a simple chain of cause and effects.
Or it is "somehow" immune to cause and effect...i.e. programed.

Obviously you'll agree that intelligence can't be random. (randomness would actually mean opposite of intelligence here).
But, intelligence can't be programmed as well...right? ..Otherwise, your wrist watch would be called intelligent..which it is not.

So if there are only two possible conditions -- programmed or random -- and intelligence cant be either of these...then intelligence must not exist. It must(has to be) be an illusion.

This (wonderful) argument amuses me because...I'm pretty sure it is wrong..but do not know why.

And so you now know that..I'm amused by things that almost make sense(but actually not).
(This in itself is further evidence that intelligence is an illusion...at least my own, if not your's)

Proof of the non-existence of god...

2008-11-16T11:53:00.003+05:30

Having read "Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy" long back, how could I miss this excellent theory proposed by Douglas Adams..

Theory:
God is based on faith, if proof on god's existence exists, the faith is no longer required.
Without faith, god no longer exists.

Proof:
Since this world is such a neat construction... (1)
It couldn't have evolved by random, god must have created it.. (2)
And, therefore, since god proved his existence...god doesn't exist. (3)

Take a note, god proving his existence..means no faith is required anymore..and without faith, ther's no god.

PS: It is amusing to me but I'm not an atheist yet.

Luck Distribution...

2008-09-26T22:05:00.002+05:30

Luck.. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luck)

Probably...each one of us is born with the same amount ...the only difference being..it gets distributed unevenly across our life span.

Some people have their best(lucky) days in childhood.. and eventually run out of good fortune by the time they enter the job market.
Others struggle early on.. and strike it rich later in life.

For example...famous people have their highs are almost perfectly matched by their lows.

It almost like...GOD is trying to smooth out(even out) things.

There are people who have never had a truly great year....nor a truly horrible one. They are the average ones.

Obviously..as usual..there is no science to support this theory of luck distribution...

Fed Borrowing..

2008-08-01T22:17:00.004+05:30

Here is a chart showing the history of borrowing of Financial Inst. from the Fed (US).

It also maps periods of recession onto the timeline. ...

http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/data/BORROW_Max_630_378.png

Banana stand and Money..

2008-08-01T22:02:00.001+05:30

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/07/19/zimbabwe.banknotes/index.html

Zimbabwe introduces $100 billion banknotes, each valued at one US dollar.

Being serious.., I would love to get one or two of these new bills. If anyone can help, I'll pay handsomely.

It's for posterity reasons.

Truth...

2008-04-27T10:43:00.001+05:30

Once, the devil and a friend of his were walking down the street, when they saw ahead of them a man stoop down and pick up something from the ground, look at it, and put it away in his pocket.
The friend said to the devil, "What did that man pick up?"
"He picked up a piece of Truth," said the devil.
"That is a very bad business for you, then," said his friend.
"Oh, not at all," the devil replied, "I am going to let him organize it."

-Anonymous

Perception...

2008-04-24T20:27:00.000+05:30

Perception(by definition) is limited..always.

Do you assume(or believe) everything whatever you clearly see that goes on directly in front of your eyes..? I believe...most of it is simply not true.

It's easy to...not only influence people's thinking...but also influence their very perception.

Magicians/movie makers do it..and so do propagandists.
The primary tool of the propaganda system (also known as "the media/news") is misdirection.. making you pay attention to the wrong things...

So, the challenge should not be to perceive everything..but to perceive what's important.

Inevitable...

2008-04-24T16:23:00.000+05:30

What we call chaos is just patterns we haven't recognized. What we call random is just patterns we cant decipher. What we can't understand we call nonsense. What we can't read we call gibberish. There is no free will. There are no variables. There is only the inevitable.

--Chuck Palahniuk

Test Post with Reena

2008-03-18T20:14:00.001+05:30

This is just a test blog post along with Reena.
Please ignore....

Stats...

2007-11-05T20:50:00.000+05:30

A > Only 60% of Indians are on electoral rolls. Out of Which only 60% voted.
A > ..and the UPA government got 28% of those votes...so actually only 10% of India voted for Manmohan Singh.

B > (smiles)

B > To put things in perspective, The Great Indian laughter Challenge's viewership is 12%.

IQ (Imagination Quotient)...

2007-10-19T08:08:00.000+05:30

Imagination is important.

Arguably, every major problem on earth can be attributed to either lack or excess of imagination. Terrorists/suicide bombers have too much imagination about afterlife.
Politicians have too little of imagination about everything..from nuclear-energy to health, from infrastructure to education.

Imagination is like a talent and can be developed through practice.

Well-traveled people seem to have enhanced imaginations.. they can imagine the world better through other people’s eyes/perspectives. Interior designers who have seen lots of different homes are better at imagining how to furnish your empty house. They can imagine better.

So, I think it’s entirely feasible to change people’s skills at imagining.

I guess, there should be at least one class on imagination in every school. Students would polish upon their imagination skills. The cource should include tools of critical thinking to curb excess imagination, learn to recognize and suppress their own biases so they can imagine things outside their social box. All this helps in out-of-the-box thinking...lateral thinking you know.
This won’t happen, but imagining this makes me imagine more and feel happy.

Researchers, probably could come up with some hypothetical questions to test people’s baseline willingness to imagine things.

So, what's your IQ (Imagination Quotient)?

Update: 19-Oct-2007
As a head start, can you attribute imagination to happiness?
Just imagine..

Life is Beautiful...

2007-10-11T19:03:00.000+05:30

Related: Answers with No Questions

Zonked..

2007-09-16T18:11:00.000+05:30

Weekend.
Turned down friend's invite for a movie.
Turned down party.
Wanted to study for the VCP
...had plans for this since long..
Everything's all set..vouchers..study material..everything but preparation.
Ended up sleeping and net surfing for hours.the whole weekend.
Think I'll study now.

Maybe sleep.

Sleep it is...

The 'P' in Politics..

2007-08-15T19:04:00.000+05:30

Curtsy: Lead.TOI
Looks like India is poised to have the real 'P'(people) in Politics...

No doubts..nice initiative.

"Self Nominated" leaders (link) is the best part here...
And the desperation in people..to be called themselves a leader..its amazing.

As of now, I don't see even a single nomination which is NOT "Self Nominated" there...wow..

Yes, you are right, I'm questioning the very (diluted) spirit of patriotism here..

Related: Right Path, Lead By Example, Choices we Have

---
Edit (18-Aug-2007): s/"patriotism"/"spirit of patriotism"/

Lies et. all..

2007-08-07T21:19:00.000+05:30

It occurs that the other person is talking lies..and I am very much aware of it.
I usually keep myself mum and keep listening(and nodding)..eventually(and finally) the person realizes this. (often after a couple of days..but that's fine with me).

Best part with this arrangement is..he'll never ever behave weired with you again.

I can always easily snap on his face..."dude! I know you are lying so just shut up!.." but that's not what I prefer to do.

You cannot ever convey your message across if you are attacking face to face. I always prefer to keep mum and give them some sort of room to realize what he is doing.

This also help in keeping intact the dignity of the other guy. No egos hurt..no harm done...It's all red pill that I have..take it or leave it.

This has always worked for me..until now.

But now I have this never before classic case...

This creature in question...has constantly been talking all lies to me...since last couple of months this time. I..as usual..have been listening patiently all the way till now...hoping that there will be one fine day with all the required wisdom..

But I seem to be giving up on my patience now...I just hope..the day comes soon...and the the Gods enlighten it with the divine knowledge : no-one around is that stupid.

I wonder what makes people behave all that stupid..what are they trying to prove?

Behavioral report would probably have words like: lack of confidence, low self-esteem, split personality..etc..etc.

oh yes...and that's not the only smart thing about these creatures.. They'll constantly keep checking/spying on you...just to see if you are correct with whatever you claim to be...(or for reasons I'm not yet aware of)

creepy isn't it?

Are you Sure...?

2007-08-02T23:33:00.000+05:30

Can you ever be 100% sure about anything..(in life)?
Does, having a feeling of 99% certainty enough..OR, do you need to feel 99.9..9% sure?

If you 'dream' to be 100% sure, you probably don’t understand how human brains work.

It’s pretty common for us to be certain about things that later turn out to be completely false. It happens all the time..with everyone. (to me..YES it happens).
If it has ever happened to you, then, you know you can’t always trust your powers of being certain.

That also means that you also listen to/rely on your instincts. (which, btw, are never 100% certain).
(Read Blink and you'll get more of what I'm saying.)

Our brains are not 100% reliable. A human can’t be 100% certain about anything. We are just not designed that way.

You might argue that being 99.9..9% certain is as good as being 100% certain.

Well, that is bad mathematics. Let me skew your thoughts a bit more..:)

For example, you might agree to take..lets say, 5% risk of stock market crash, but you wont accept the same ammount(5%) of risk of for a nuclear war.

Larger the problem, less is risk you are willing to take ..right?

Someone said, even a small chance(0.0..1%) of spending eternity in hell has to be taken seriously.
Eternity is a long time. An eternity in hell could be the largest possible penalty.
So while you might not worry about 0.0..1% chance of ending up in Hell(of which, I have my own doubts), you can’t deny the mathematics. 0.0.1% of eternity is a lot longer than your entire mortal life. Probably..infinitely longer.

It might even turn out that even GOD lacks the ability to be 100% sure. As interesting as it is...all that God really wants from his followers is faith/belief.
Well, how could someone as self-assured as God, (who obviously must be aware of his own existence), would want something else as their priority among followers - such as their quest to lead a good life, or accept others openly. And not just faith..

You can only be as sure as humanly as possible...

Introspection...

2007-06-23T12:57:00.000+05:30

Source: http://onlinedarshan.com/doha/doha6.htm

Right Path...

2007-05-27T18:06:00.000+05:30

Consider this...

You are all set to go for a long journey..and all the (so called) experts tell(ask/advise/instruct) you to take path-A..but you decide to take path-B ..
(may be...Seagull in you sparked...and you ended up following path-B).

You’re probably stupid.

But if you get lucky, and discover (for instance) a pot of gold along the *stupid* path..people will call you a leader.
You’ll still be stupid...but fewer people will feel the need to point that out...

When you’re in charge..there can not be much of rewards in following the expert's path. The best you'll achieve is the label “competent”.
The faintest of praise for you could be...“XYZ is competent”.
To me it sounds like...barely better than being incompetent.

Fortunately (or unfortunately, as the case may be)..life is too complex to know for sure if taking path-A (or path-B) would work out best. Even the experts often get it wrong.

Having said that, this guarantees that a fair number of stupid people would be judged great leaders. They will take the wrong path and things will turn out right for them...

oh..btw, how are we defining stupidity (and who is doing this for us) anyways?
(thinking..)

Imagination...

2007-05-17T22:10:00.000+05:30

I have a feedback that every other day I come up with a hypothesis that sounds correct(to me) and that ends up having an added advantage of being totally impossible to verify(for others).

That’s almost as good as knowledge for me…(yet another hypothesis it is..)

New hypothesis I have is.. a person’s need for social interaction is inversely related(or proportional) to the quality of his imagination...(special emphasis on the word need)..

What I mean to say is…if you happen to have an excellent imagination…you might enjoy people, but..at the same time.. you’ll be equally happy being alone with your thoughts for long stretches..

In other words…(and to keep it blunt) *you fascinate yourself*.

All this being said with the assumption that…people have widely different powers(or levels) of imagination.

To me, this seems to be a possibility. People are all over the world…with every possible mental ability…

Whatever is happening inside the mind of a person with the worst possible imagination on earth is clearly very different from what’s happening in the mind of the most creative…Just in case…if you happen to have no imagination (of whatsoever kind)..you’ll need to get all of your stimulations from the environment..mostly from other people, or at least TV shows about other people. You turn out to be one of those talkative ..babbling types.

You wouldn’t want to be left alone with your “thoughts” for more than two minutes…you can’t meditate…etc etc..because your empty-thoughtness would scare you to death…

As a workaround…you have to keep your mind engaged 100% of the times…and not giving it a chance to “think”.

On the other end of the spectrum…if your imagination is extraordinary/creative… interaction with other people will just get in the way of incredible/enjoyable experiences you could otherwise be having entirely in your head…

btw…where do you lie on this imagination-spectrum..?

(I had this post since long.. but couldn't get time to post it..things kept me too busy)
Edited: 18-May-2007.

The Perception of Being Fair..

2007-04-29T15:01:00.000+05:30

The thought occurred to me at the traffic lights..two kids asking for money appeared from no where...both contending to get something from me. I wanted to be fair with them trying to give them both something in equality.

I think being fair is a funny illusion. Yes, it's one of the most useful illusions..but nonetheless..it’s an illusion. [usefulness of illusions is not what I'm trying to make out here..lets leave that for now..]

Just imagine, trying to divide 10 similar toys between two kids. You'll probably end up giving 5 toys to each kid and will suffer from this illusion of being fair. The kids would also probably agree with the arrangement(free will theory you know) and the illusion of fairness would work just fine.

Now the question is...is five toys per each child actually fair?

Dont we wish/need to know how many toys each kid already owns? What if one kid already has hundreds of them and the other has none?
If you have studied economics, u'll conclude that marginal utility of an extra toy is way much higher for the toy-poor kid.

Shouldn't their different level of enthusiasm for toys also come into the picture?
Remember, you're trying to be fair with their happiness ...and not their toys.

Just in case...what if one of the kids loves toys 'n' times higher than the other...How would you be fair in that case?
I'll, probably end up giving most of the toys to the kid who doesn’t enjoy them as much. The theory being...he'll need more toys to obtain the same level of happiness as the toy lover gets with one...:)
[..Of course this solution would cause one of the kids to melt-down..coz it wouldn’t have the illusion of fairness]

Even further...this simplest example of fairness falls apart when you put it under scrutiny.
Luckily, most of the people are morons...so they'll imagine fairness where none exists..otherwise nothing would ever get done :)

"The Happyness Formula" book..

2007-03-24T20:53:00.000+05:30

Every time I see a self-improvement book in the shelves...I fantasize about myself writing a book someday...

And...how about if we could come up with a formal and conclusive *Happiness Formula"..

Basically the idea would be to derive down a simple and precise formula which could *troubleshoot life* and (probably)...improve your happiness.
(now..this could go on back cover..and by using troubleshoot-your-life phrases..I would have already incepted in the readers mind: your life is pathetic and you need to read this book...etc etc..)

On page one I would like to put this top formula:

(F-1)
Happiness = Health + Money (wealth) + Social life (community) + Meaning (for some of you this would mean spirituality..but this is what not I mean).

Rest of the book would contain some nested formulas(with random permutations and combinations of above components).. that would further explain each component of happiness...
For instance...

(F-2)
Health = Sleep + Diet + Exercise

..down another level..

(F-3)
Sleep = Schedule + Technique

..until it starts getting practical...

(F-4)
Sleep Technique = Consistent bedtime and waking time + no reading or TV in bed + no booze or caffeine…

...and so on.

Going further, just to make *The Happiness Formula* extra useful...the highest priority would appear first (leftmost) in the formula.

For example, in the top Happiness Formula (F-1), health is a higher priority than money, which is a higher priority than social life...etc...

I realize you might not agree with my ranking of priorities..and point out all the exceptions...
For example..you might argue..if you have no money..you might not afford to be healthy. But the formula only shows priorities, not absolutes.

Obviously you always need money flowing in...but take it this way...the priority shows that you shouldn’t take a job with high pay that will significantly affect your health. It makes more sense to get healthy and then leverage your health to get the best job.
And, Healthy looking people land better jobs and are more highly paid. Their brains work better too...and they have more energy...

I have ranked money higher than social life (and meaning)..because once you have money..those other things are easier to get. For instance...you cannot have much of a social life...if you can’t afford to do anything. And..obviously..you can’t make money if your health is a mess...

I would further..go on with some rambling about more of further derived confused fundas ...like explaining how could something like “money” can be broken down into a formula so easily that virtually anyone can just follow it to get more...
(I believe: small, simple and precise is always appreciated)

I think it can be done...

(F-5)
Money = Income + Investments

We could further go ahead with a small and precise Investment plan..endorsed by some economists/financial planners..

(F-6)
Investments = Do these steps in the order shown:
1. Make a will
2. Pay off your credit cards and all other short term loans.
3. Get life insurance if you have dependents.
4. Buy a house if you want to live in a house.
5. Put six months worth of expenses in a money-market.
6. Take whatever money is left over and invest 70% in a stock index fund and 30% in a bond fund and never touch it until retirement.
7. If any of the above confuses you..or you have something special going on (nearing retirement, further studies, tax issues), hire a fee-based financial planner, not the usual insurance-cum-investment agents(they'll mess up your finances).

What stops me from converting this *The Happiness Formula* into a book is...it would hardly be about (say) 20 pages long. Its power is in its brevity, and brevity is not rewarded in our economy.(you know what I mean).
If the best book in the world was only 20 pages long, no one would buy it. They would stand on the shelves and read it cover to cover... :(

Maybe a wiki project would do just fine...
Related: Aim of Life

Who's next...?

2007-03-12T20:43:00.000+05:30

This one is on a serious note. CNBC had an excellent talk this Sunday...and here's the pollution:

China's Shanghai stock market had a 9% plunge..and led to a global sell-off on 27th Feb, 2007.
And the question was..who' next?...

I strongly believe(now), it's India next..to me, the country(mostly) looks like it's on the road to a *genuine* economic and political crisis...
(me going pessimist?? NO!...hold on your arguments for a while please...)

Reasons being:

we're as big as China. It's growing just about as fast...
Our economy is in more danger of overheating...
And...we now are more dependent on speculative hot money...
We have already suffered a ~30% drop in May-June, 2006, so similar volatility cannot be ruled out.

To mention the obvious..any short-term blip in a major developing market such as ours *could* set off big ripples across the globe...

In the long term, however, I think India still remains the most attractive of all global stock markets:

Our population is younger than China..
Our education system is expanding and improving..
Our companies are now more focused on creating wealth for shareholders...ha!

All this makes me more inquisitive...

Do the long-term rewards outweigh the short-term risks?
Should I (as investor)..buy in now...determined to weather any storm that may come?
-> or instead, should I simply wait for the rain to fall and the clouds to clear?...and how long?

Myself..not being a finance expert..but I'll have my take :)

Short-term risks:

Asset prices are high...so high that they show all the signs of a classic asset bubble. Property values have soared...value of prime office space in metros are up by double digits (>50%) the last year...these high asset prices depend on a flood of easily withdrawn overseas hot money...and India being very dependent on global cash flows...makes it all the more vulnerable
Bank lending is out of control...RBI trying hard to control it but in vain till now.
Inflation is out of control. Nationally, inflation recently hit a two-year high of 6.7% and is running even higher specially in rural areas where two-thirds of India resides.

RBI recently raised its benchmark interest rate to 7.5% at the end of January...without noticeably slowing neither inflation..nor..the lending boom.

FM has *intelligently* undercut the central bank's efforts...urging banks not to pass on interest rate increase to lenders...kudos!!

Short-term prognosis:

A big domestic credit crunch ahead...caused when lenders stop lending...and..borrowers can't get the cash they need to run their businesses.
Causing India to fall far short of all current forecasts of annual growth...foreign investors start withdrawing money from BSE...resulting in yet another *major* correction...
Consider Congress Party government losing power. After stumbling with politically motivated attempts to reduce food and fuel prices in rural areas...the new government bites the bullet...and raises interest rates, and cuts down bank lending enough to slow inflation...and eventually the economy slows down. On the other hand, this might lead to return of overseas cash back in also.

It won't play out exactly like that, of course :)
It's difficult to predict...how deep any credit crunch might be or how much RBI might have to slow down the economy to reduce inflation to its..so called..5-5.5% comfort zone...

Subduing inflation in India would require big increases in supply...
Indian companies..now operating at full capacity...and with improvements in infrastructure that reduce the costs of moving food and fuel...this seems achieveable.

But, I don't know...
---->how long the Congress government will be able to *cling* to power...
---->how other global markets would react to a big drop in Indian stocks...
---->when all of this *would* happen... :)

The core of the problem (per the talks..):
"The imbalance between urban-areas-quickly-growing-wealthy (in Indian terms..) and rural-areas-left-behind in the boom."

All this mess took a while to create...and it will take a while to correct. Crises could be seen within that 18-24 month window...

Long-term rewards:

There's no going back to the highly-regulated-economy of the past...open-up is the theme.. Even the Congress Party..(clearly not a friend of open economy)..wasn't able to resist the momentum. And with Indian companies increasingly making big bucks from the global economy, there's no reason to put the genie back in the bottle. That means future growth should be pretty decent..(7-10% ?).
We have enough numbers (population) to make a decent consumer economy/market. So, even if we are still poorer than China, growth in consumption should be able to take off the overall economy...
Government realizes the need to catch up...education is getting the attention..and money too. Recent budget has shown the same.
Thanks to the recent population explosion..half of our population in below 25 years of age...This means that we have the required time to fix our problems before the needs of a huge old aged (60 and older) begin to dip into national savings.....younger economy grow faster..
Our companies have a culture of creating value for shareholders. It's subjective..but it's important. Many companies here...and some of the biggest...have family driven culture. I think that culture takes much better care of shareholders!..than that of corporate China..where companies are often run to enrich local officials, managers and elites.
Companies traditionally have shown above-average profitability...inspite of being short of cash flows...so coping up with cash shouldn't be much of a problem.

All in all...India should remain the most attractive stock market in the world in the long term...

Stats: The average return on equity for Indian companies(BSE): 21%.
Average return on equity for the U.S ($INX): 18.7%
-> Middle class population(2005): 200-300 million (approx.)
-> India's Per capita GDP(2005): $3,460
-> China's per capita(2005): $6,660 (We are still poorer than China...)
----> Only 10% of Indians have life insurance.
----> Only 2% have credit cards.
----> Only 15% Indians have refrigerators.

State of affairs...

2007-03-12T17:36:00.000+05:30

"A really efficient totalitarian state would be one in which the all-powerful executive of political bosses and their army of managers control a population of slaves who do not have to be coerced, because they love their servitude. To make them love it is the task assigned,in present-day totalitarian states, to ministries of propaganda,newspaper editors and schoolteachers."

-- Aldous Huxley (1894-1963)
Author Source: Forward to 'Brave New World', 1932

Self Brain Examination...

2007-03-10T11:57:00.000+05:30

Just a parody of... you know what!

Brain irregularities have been found rare among women, probably because brains are rare to that subgroup.
Nonethless...if you'r a woman..and unfortunate enough to have a brain...then it is strongly recommended to conduct a self-examination for brain irregularities once every month...

Rub your fingers gently all over your head to check for any lumps. Some lumps are quite benign and can just be ignored..e.g...the nose.

Remember that..some lumps can actually prove beneficial..the nose being a good example.
No..not just because of some healthy nose'y reasons.
Nose can be also used to emit a snort at unexpected moments...to stun the enemy at a distance...or to divert his attention. Some women have (in fact)..mastered the art till the point that they can paralyze an unwary prey at long distance over a mobile phone.

Women in love are considered a high-risk group.
They are susceptible to large emotional swings...and they cause general upheaval among all concerned. Usually these symptoms can be detected as a lump in the throat.. not in the throat of the afflicted woman...but that of the beloved victim...

Women who are in their shopping period should conduct the examination only after atleast a week has elapsed. This is because their bodies are flooded with *loot-o-throne* hormones...which make their brains naturally lumpy during this period.
Women afflicted with credit-card-syndrome should allow 2 extra days to elapse to let the additional hormones subside.

Studies have found two responsible hormones : *loot-o-throne* and *plunder-o-gen*.
These two are countered by a third hormone called *sense-i-mone*.
Female body strives to maintain a very delicate balance of these opposing forces...at all times..
Please be aware that this fine balance can easily be disturbed by triggers like a TV commercial...or...vicinity of a shopping mall.

In case an irregularity is detected...there is no cause for alarm...as the cure is simple: *brain removal*.
Studies have also proved that most daily activities can be performed without it. Some researchers even argue for female brain being a subsidiary organ.
Evidently...some women with severed brains have even gone on to become successful supermodels..TV anchors and bollywood heroines.
It is even suspected that brain removal might be the reason for their success...

laws of Attraction...

2007-03-06T08:23:00.000+05:30

A girl..in class..thinking:

"Am I so attractive?..why is everyone trying to impress me?..this never happened in my college days..”

She was just wondering why was she getting so much attention from boys around...

Economics teacher's loud voice interrupted her...

"Prices of goods are decided by forces of demand and supply...when demand for goods is significantly more than supply of goods then prices of goods increase... even though there is no change in the intrinsic value of goods..."

She got the answer.

Edit(6-March-07):
A friend is in college again..and finds oneself in similar situation..so..may be this theory is already validated...

Blogger Fido...

2007-03-06T08:08:00.000+05:30

Consider me typing a new blog post, cellphone rings..a friend's call:

Friend: "hey dude..wass..up?...what are you doing..?"

"Writing a blog..expect one of those yet-another-crap-things there in a few moments.." I said.

"Why are you wasting time doing *this* crap?"

"okay...tell me, what should I do?"..suddenly I was inquisitive.

"Study for CAT, GMAT or something...and crack it", he said.

"Then..?"

"You'll get admission...in..may be IIM..(including me, he too had doubts on this)", he continued.

"Then..?"

"You will get placed in a top company with...astronomical salary", he added with an enticing tone..

"What will happen next?"..me going all the more inquisitive..

"Then one day you will become CEO of a big company...then like all modern (read moroon) CEOs you'll want to communicate informally with your customers..employees." he explained...(pretending to be intelligent)

"Then what will I do?"...I asked curiously.

"You will write a blog to communicate with all stakeholders *informally*", he explained..igniting my mind about the word "informally" he used...

"Dude..that's what I'm already doing...writing a blog!"

(remember one of those sprite TV ad?)

Those nostalgic RED walls...

2007-02-24T17:43:00.000+05:30

It's not just about those red walls...
It's about the people who have been there...lived there...

It's about eating together...those first cigs..nanu ki chai...

It's about that craziness...insanity…meaningless loud songs from rooms all day…all nights...
It's about those never-ending rumors...those screaming-voice-incidents from girls hostel...
It's about those white-ghosts-at-the-hostel-terrace stories...and those conspiracies…
The endless gyaan...funde… juniors...
Those fights..strikes..anti-principal'ism…

It's about those classrooms...those sleepless nights...questions with no answers...
It's about that usual chaos..confusion...exam dates......and those new syllabi/pattern cribs...
It’s about those..question-paper leak stories...vivas…practicals..file assignments..submissions...marks ...cut throat competitions...and what not!

It's about those last parting days...

...and everyone was nice..was a friend..then!

Superpower crap...

2007-02-23T09:02:00.000+05:30

There could be many benefits of acquiring some sort of powers over people around...but collectively they form what I'll call them as a MILD superpowers..

REAL superpowers might include the ability to bend steel...fly like superman..shoot fire from your eyes...etc etc.

FULL-STRENGTH superpowers would be the ones that would make it *extra* easy to kill people...or keep you from getting killed. These are the best ones to have.
If you're telling me...you haven't ever concentrated on someone’s head...just to see if you can make it burst into flames...you’re lying!

Unfortunately, I only have MILD superpowers.

A MILD super power would be...for example...the ability to scratch the middle of your own back...but..that's just an example.

My MILD superpower is the ability to make people temporarily nicer....
When people don’t know what I think of them...they tend to treat me the same way that they treat everyone else.
Often..a guy(and rarely a gal) recognizes my face(I might look like those decent/innocent/gentleman/ignorent types...), suddenly becomes a little bit nicer.
I get more smiles...offers to help me in some way or the other.
I think that always makes people happy...and happy people are nice people...
And then...you witness a maroon turning into a *nice* chap...

I have other MILD superpowers too..like I cant remember phone numbers..bug numbers..and even birthdays..believe me that's a MILD superpower.
Oh yes..I cant even remember names..specially if that's a girl .
I could have a best friend for say 5 years..but if he goes away for a month and comes back without a name tag, it's going to be awkward..(for him).
My memory subsystem is simply not optimized for certain data types...
All this makes people treat me special...my cousins call me to remind me of their own birthdays...etc etc.

Oh, btw...I recently had a chance(read MILD superpower) to be able to *shutdown* and *retrieve* a friend of mine...:) (no offenses meant).

(with tongue-in-cheek)

Poised again...

2007-02-16T18:02:00.000+05:30

giving me nuts actually..

link1
..so many ways to look at things...
Who decides ..what's *right* and what's *wrong*...?
Should prostitution be legalized..?
Are you allowed to wear Indian flag on mini skirt..?
What's the right age to order a drink..?
Is it ok to have pre-martial sex..?
Who decides when a party is over..You or the State?
Why should a bride be a virgin...?
Do we need moral policing..?
...
...

link2
Why do you have to lean either this side or that..?
Can we afford to see the world in just black or white..?
If, something is good, does that mean the opposite is bad..?
Can't there be more that just one point of view in the world..?
..
..
The way you see a particular situation depends on which side you see it from... (relativity).

Related: choices

"Gravity" conspiracies..

2007-02-11T21:11:00.000+05:30

"Gravity" :- Not too long ago an apple landed on Newton's head and he loudly announced that there exists a force known as "Gravity"!!!

Now...what's tinkering me are..things like..what if we don't have "Gravity"?...and at the first place why the heck Newton called it "Gravity"?...could'nt he name it something else?...what actually prompted him to name it "Gravity" only..?

Or probably it dose'nt even exist at all..it's just that the apple dropped so hard that Newton lost his mind and invented this whole thing. Things do go up too.. you know... ;)

In that case...it would be an irrelevant thing to ask...the real question I should be bothering then should be: Is it gravity that pulls us or an invisible layer in the clouds that pushes us...???

But, I personally think..."Gravity" is like Matrix...you have to believe it really bad!

whatever it is..but for sure..."Gravity" is an *undue attraction*...and that might explain some of the behaviorals...:
---->I'm feeling an *undue attraction* towards girl A...that's "Gravity"!
---->I'm feeling an *undue attraction* towards girl B...that's "Gravity" again!!
---->And therefore...I'm revolving around both of them in an orbit that is proportional to the force of attraction and the period around each tends to half an year....[We'll call it kepler's law of heartly motion.] :)

Things that occurred..
-> without "Gravity" people would *fall* upwards...
-> jaws would'nt drop at sights of hot chics...
-> and obiously belts would prove to be useless...
-> you would'nt need RED BULL to get wings... ;)
-> without "Gravity" girls won't need a bra!!!
-> if we wont have gravity then guys wont be able to get laid ! and we *do not want that*!...CHEERS! to gravity and whatsoever to everyone else! ]
-> uncles would stop worrying about premature ejaculations [**needs citation**]
-> men would have high-pitched voices as their balls would'nt drop..
-> all the men would have Dali moustaches...
-> Without gravity your shit wont drop...and so if you'r kinda constipated...you might need a lil more of "Gravity"...
-> just imagine oceans without gravity...would be easy for birds to eat fish...
-> might be difficult to cook without "Gravity"...
-> I guess without gravity...marriage would mean getting magnets to stick bride and the groom together for life...or probably binding them with a belt or something. Noone would like that!
-> No "Gravity" might also mean no clothes actually....
Proof:
----->No "Gravity" ---> lot of randomness. (like..no orbits, and all other crap..etc..etc)
----->Lot of randomness ---> lot of freedom.
----->Lot of freedom ---> lot of possibilities.
----->Lot of possibilities --> lot of fun.
----->Lot of fun ---> lot of babes.
----->and there's no fun when babes have clothes... :)
You might argue..why do we see Astronauts wearing spacesuits traveling to the space(no "Gravity" zones)...probably it's not a spacesuit...It's just an enclosure for the pixies...astronauts are really/actually nude inside the spacesuit... :)

Newton actually used many names for gravity, including his preferred nomenclature, "apple-falling-down-thing". But...unfortunately...when Newton later tried to market Apple-Falling-Down-Thing Knives, the rather silly name ...caused them to not sell well owing to the lack of catchy brand name. So... he later referred "Gravity" as "->", which proved difficult to pronounce...and a whistling sound that decreased in pitch followed by a thudding noise made with the lips. This again proved difficult to write....and he ended up calling it "gravy", as in "if I can ever shift these bloody "->" Knives I'll be on the gravy train", which later became known as "Gravity" (as we know in now) due to a problem with the book publishing typesetters....
----> rather..if we didn't have "Gravity"...we wouldn't have "Gravity" knives [or any kind of knife for the matter]...and clearly we need knives to cut up our apples so it's a bit of a circular argument .

In simple words..probably, because after thinking about it gravely he could'nt come up with a grave enough solution..and too much graving led to the word "Gravity".. :P

Whatever it is...apples have been falling down ever since eve ate one of them...so to cover up the whole conspiracy...Newton came up with this "Gravity" thing...

May be there are some more "*grave* conspiracies around...then this stoopid "Gravity" conspiracy ...who knows!

This whole idea occured to me and had to work a bit for this post..(that includes google'ing around a bit, some of the wikipedias)..

And yes you are taking it right..two posts in a day means I have nothing better to do today...

Feel free to comment out your idea for "what if we don't have "Gravity"?" ...

A new approch to nose-picking...

2007-02-11T17:29:00.000+05:30

and you thought nose-picking is a bad habbit? think again..!

There is an Austrian doctor who has gained popularity by advocating the picking-of-one's-nose -and-the-consumption-of-resulting-bounty, particularly in children.
[children being soft targets for new health theories...]

According to the theory...children/people who pick their noses with their fingers are healthier, happier, and *more in tune with their bodies*.

This forks from the notion that...exposing the body to the dried germ corpses helps to reinforce the immune system...

"With the finger you can get to places you just can't reach with a handkerchief, keeping your nose far cleaner. And eating the dry remains of what you pull out is a great way of strengthening the body's immune system."

"Medically it makes great sense and is a perfectly natural thing to do. In terms of the immune system the nose is a filter in which a great deal of bacteria are collected, and when this mixture arrives in the intestines it works just like a medicine."

Further, probably...the society should adopt a new approach to nose-picking, and encourage children to take up the habit...and even the adults should be welcome... :)

If the theory gets accepted..nose-picking could be considered just another humanly act..with no dirty looks attached...

can't stop myself thinking of interesting scenarios in which people would be found nose-picking...
[feel free to leave comments with interesting ones striking your ignited minds...:) ]

So..don't feel guilty if you'r caught picking nose in public...it's all part of one of those our good-health-drives... :)

Wikipedia too has a say.

A bit of google coined the terms like...
rhinotillexis: technical name for using one's finger to extract boogers.
(and doing so compulsively is termed: rhinotillexomania).
The act of eating the resulting harvest is called mucophagy.

Happy nose-picking!

My Goals..(Dilbert today)

2007-02-08T15:57:00.000+05:30

The problem with me is...

2007-01-23T18:24:00.000+05:30

PS: This is a formal explanation for me not being frequent here...

[excuses..excuses..excuses...rock!]

The Impatient me...

2007-01-16T23:12:00.000+05:30

Long back I had a feedback of being *impatient* ...I still wonder what was that supposed to mean. Am I too spontaneous? or am I ....

I wonder what made me turn into all this non-real me...
I used to be (generally) a patient and calm person(yes I think so), especially at work. :) . I used to take my time explaining things properly to new people(whenever I could), and I am always happy for people to ask me questions. But....
But...my usually(and generally) sunny demeanour was challenged...well let’s just call it a.. *situation*.
At best, I was being ignored...and at worst, was intentionally undermined.

Direct requests were not carried out as requested. Simple requests were not understood.

I wondered if I was speaking English(don't forget...I'm a north Indian in Bangalore).

I thought the “situation” was causing unrest in an otherwise happy and functioning me. I took steps to raise my concerns....it was frustrating and turned my friendly smiles into _bitchycowness_.

It just goes to show that someone who is clever on paper can still turn out to be a bit dim....

And that made me impatient....

Choices we have...

2007-01-05T10:40:00.000+05:30

I read this in the newspaper. Trying to recall it (if I can)..

From the Minute your born..
You do not make your own choices..

You do not choose your parents...your family..your sex..your zodiac sign.
Not even the colour of your skin..nor the sound of your name.

As you grow older...the society conditions you further...
You start babbling things others want to hear...
And, you learn to please others without pleasing yourself...

You are conditioned by...
Your first cousin...your teacher..your television..your job..your boss...Everyone!
.
.
.

Buddha at it's best...

2007-01-05T10:37:00.000+05:30

Words....

2007-01-03T14:14:00.000+05:30

Analytics me...

2007-01-03T13:06:00.000+05:30

Behavioral differences could be described (very simply) as : men *oversimplify* and women *overcomplicate*.

Oh yes! I'm aware....this is an _oversimplification_ ...which proves my point anyways.

Thank you anonymous...

2007-01-02T08:56:00.000+05:30

Here I had this packet to be courier'd to a bank containing some documents.
Somehow I lost the packet on road (flew away from my bike while riding).
I also went to the way back..following the same road hoping I'll find it lying on the road..
No luck I had...and so eventually gave up my hopes with that.
Not that the packet had some important documents...were just some xeroxed letters of which I could always make a copy again..and then I almost forgot the incident...

Now, this fine day..I have this office mail guy handing over the same parcel to me.

Someone generous might have found this lying on the road..and did actually posted the parcel back to me back..(obviously I had my address / phone number written at the back)...the parcel was completely intact..un-opened.

Incidents like this make you feel good..isn't it?

Thank You Anonymous.!!

Testify yourself...

2006-12-23T19:30:00.000+05:30

If you have been reading newspapers recently...Santhi Soundarajan, silver medalist from Asian games failed the sex test.
This means she would have to loose the medal. Source

Now..this could be the wired'st of all the tests one could possibly fail..and probably the most embarrassing one too.
The test..I guess would involve..endocrinologist, psychologist, and gynecologist...ahm..ahm..

Lets try to get down to the psychology part and guess what the questions might look like.. :)

1. Are you using a pen or a pencil to write this test...
a. Pencil. I have pens too in my purse...but i prefer pencils..to make corrections..
b. Managed to borrow a pen for a while..

2. Shopping is…
a. A fascinating experience...even better when shared.
b. A method used to extract secrets from terrorists...

3. What does _nothing is wrong_ mean?
a. Start guessing and apologizing or I’ll kill you in your sleep...
b. Oh shit...I knew this would happen.

4. The best time for sex is…
a. When your mood and your schedule is right and weather has to be perfect...
b. Do you mind xxxxxxxxxxxx
<..plz don't ask me...xxxxxxxx...>
[Puneet (24-Dec-06)] Edited due to some requests ...explicit contents ...

5. You go for love or Lust..
a. Love obviously.
b. Is there a difference..?

6. Most people are...
a. Dangerous insane freaks..
b. Lovely creatures..

7. When you observe a man doing a simple task, you think…
a. That freeking bastard is doing it wrong..and ruining everything..
b. Why would I watch a man doing a simple task?

8. When a man doesn’t notice your new lip colour...it means...
a. He no longer loves you..
b. Does a lip colour matter?

9. After a man explains the _undeniable_ logic of his point of view…
a. That's a proof that he just doesn't get it...
b. Case closed..no discussions!

10. Your reaction to this test is…
a. You Bastard!
b. He He!...you’re dead..Dude!

Testify yourself please...

Update (16-Sept-2007): Just learnt about unfortunate even of Santhi attempting a suicide. (link). Would like to re-iterate that I never intended to mock anyone with this post and it was just on a lighter vein. No offenses meant to anyone.

Shortcut to God...

2006-12-23T18:48:00.000+05:30

Just received a SMS from Reliance customer support...exact wordings of the SMS goes like:

1234
Light a candle in Velankanni Church. Just dial 1234 & say LIGHT a CANDLE, & a candle will be lit in your name. (Rs. 6/min) Reliance.

what a crap!!

Lead by Example...

2006-08-21T10:15:00.000+05:30

the idea occured to me...something that I wanted to share...because it speaks to the best way to influence other people...*Leadership by example*

I read...“The greatest sermon in life is the one you see.”... To me,this meant... *make your life your message...live your truth...walk your values...behave your philosophy*....

so easy to talk a great game...far difficult to live it...but the best do....elegantly...consistently..passionately. ..
may be...

Code Monkey...

2006-08-08T09:24:00.000+05:30

"Code Monkey" by Jonathan Coulton..Awsome...

Code Monkey get up get coffee
Code Monkey go to job
Code Monkey have boring meeting
With boring manager Rob
Rob say Code Monkey very dilligent
But his output stink
His code not “functional” or “elegant”
What do Code Monkey think?
Code Monkey think maybe manager want to write god damned login page himself
Code Monkey not say it out loud
Code Monkey not crazy, just proud

Code Monkey like Fritos
Code Monkey like Tab and Mountain Dew
Code Monkey very simple man
With big warm fuzzy secret heart:
Code Monkey like you

Code Monkey hang around at front desk
Tell you sweater look nice
Code Monkey offer buy you soda
Bring you cup, bring you ice
You say no thank you for the soda cause
Soda make you fat
Anyway you busy with the telephone
No time for chat
Code Monkey have long walk back to cubicle he sit down pretend to work
Code Monkey not thinking so straight
Code Monkey not feeling so great

Code Monkey like Fritos
Code Monkey like Tab and Mountain Dew
Code Monkey very simple man
With big warm fuzzy secret heart:
Code Monkey like you
Code Monkey like you a lot

Code Monkey have every reason
To get out this place
Code Monkey just keep on working
See your soft pretty face
Much rather wake up, eat a coffee cake
Take bath, take nap
This job “fulfilling in creative way”
Such a load of crap
Code Monkey think someday he have everything even pretty girl like you
Code Monkey just waiting for now
Code Monkey say someday, somehow

Code Monkey like Fritos
Code Monkey like Tab and Mountain Dew
Code Monkey very simple man
With big warm fuzzy secret heart:
Code Monkey like you

Source: http://www.jonathancoulton.com/lyrics/code-monkey

2006-06-06T20:02:00.000+05:30

Only once have I been made mute. It was when a man asked me, "Who are you?"

-Khalil Gibran

2006-05-12T23:10:00.000+05:30

EMC enlightened me with Citibank.
My experience so far...

-> In addition to the usual debit card, they'll send you all the other scheme cards (Indian Oil, grocery, Shoppers Stop Card) also. Your consent is not required for this.
And will gladly charge you Rs.499 (+taxes) each card.

-> You are also supposed to have a Citibank Gold Cash Back credit card.(they need not ask you for this).
Oh yes, if you deny the card, they'll make it "lifetime free" for you (being an "esteemed customer" with *good track record*).
Your life time is one year. After that they'll charge you Rs.1000 (+taxes) as renewal charges for the card.

-> You are also supposed to take a personal loan from them. Otherwise they'll bug you calling every other day.
Adding yourself to Citibank's DND(do not disturb) list does not help!

-> And, if by any chance, you have visited any of their branches for cash transactions, don't be surprised if you have been charged Rs.100 (+taxes) as personal banking charges.
(you can get this reverted back by placing a request though)...

Relaxed and Perplexed

2006-04-22T16:13:00.000+05:30

Very often someone comes to my desk...I usually raise both my arms...in a relaxed fashion with my hands locked behined my head... leaning backwards on the chair...(dont know what is this supposed to mean in body language terms).
wondering...this should mean something...should propose a theory for this atleast... :)

So...when someone is talking to you...raises one of the arms...showing armpits...you intutively feel one out of the two things...

1-> you raise your arm in order to show your armpits and both feel a plaseant sensation of showing them and sharing their natural *scents* (that means sharing thoughts...cooperation...friendship...equality... and what were you thinking I'm talking of ? :) )

2-> you instinctevely sniff the air...as you were absorbing the scent of the one who has the arms raised. That should be a socially respectful manner to consider the one with arm/s raised as stronger...or wiser...or anything...in that moment.

Now...in an even *more* relaxed (perplexed actually!) moment...one could raise *both* arms and show *both* armpits...that would mean an even more *comfortable* situation..and it is even more relaxing if you raise both of your arms too and continue the conversation...

So...just raise your arm when you feel you like on a conversation and observe the reactions!!!!!!

Answers with No Questions

2006-04-16T04:40:00.000+05:30

I have a feeling that Douglas Adams presently must be just looking down on all of us and grinning at the fact that we are all here still wondering what the meaning is and looking for answers that never had a question....:)

Aim of Life

2006-03-28T22:33:00.000+05:30

These are some random scratches ...on what I think life is all about...
okay.. not my thoughts in entirity, but have given a lot of thought over this...happy??

Life's aim can be well stated in three stages...
1-> Survival
2-> Social
3-> Entertainment/Satisfaction

with the following rules applied:
-> cannot skip these stages...i.e individual cannot(will not) aim of being social until he has survived, or went past through stage one...similarly one cannot think of entertainment withou one and two.
-> it's a cycle which never ends....i.e we'll be going back to survival as soon as we are satisfied with life...this is where *greed* come into picture...the cycle never ends...we hae exceptions here..sucide cases..may be i am wrong here..or just need to think more on this.
-> They are always achieved in the same order...one..two..three...one..two..three..
-> every action is based on achieving one of the above goals...(i have a nice case study of *sex* on this...but restraining myself from quoting here...just to be serious :) )
-> all this applies not only to humans..but to all life forms.

/Puneet
(with tongue in my cheek)

2006-03-28T14:59:00.000+05:30

I literally hate it when people call me *good*...#**%#@* and rely on _me_. What the heck#$%@*#^

2005-12-24T11:44:00.000+05:30

Man I''ll never ever understand women..no matter how much I try I can never understand them...

while(1)

2005-11-27T18:26:00.000+05:30

This is how I felt today while crossing the road...
dono what's gonna happen to this city...

fat chicks that wear hot clothes

2005-11-11T19:28:00.000+05:30

you know what i'm talking about...not just clothes that don't fit.. but clothes that say stuff like "hottie" or "cutie" on them. The only chicks I've seen wearing this sort of crap are somewhere between chunky and disgustingly obese.

and the thongs! ..don't want to see those thong sticking out of pants! they're twice(or may be thrice) as wide as I am!

My words for them: you're not hot, you're not cute, you're in a pathetic state of *denial masked only by your extrinsic cotton narcissism*(what ever that means). get over it!

peace(solace).

* I've seen the same types of chicks wearing shirts that say stuff like "I'm a total bitch" on them, so I could have referred to them as *bitches*. Those items of clothing may be the most honest in their wardrobes. But somehow, my conscience denies..good for them.

Kisses To The World!

2005-11-11T17:59:00.000+05:30

An honest answer is like a kiss on the lips.

--- Proverbs 24:26

What could be more unmannerly than
being deceptive?

--- Peggy Post

Worst Case Analysis...

2005-08-19T00:18:00.000+05:30

Surely my Algorithmics classes dint taught me to aplly Worst Case Analyses to real world life problems.
But, then why is is that I have started applying this to each and every walk of my life...Still wondering!!

2005-08-14T00:38:00.000+05:30

Woke up just....

Woke up just now with a call from home.
Papa said its 11:44am what about breakfast,
now how shlould i tell him i never take bfast
it is not something worth spoiling my sleep.
Only two days i can eat..what ever crap they give..
so why to take risk its better to sleep.
In my terms..sleeping or doing something/reading/studying
is never a timewaste.
I remember in childhood dadaji use to teach,one should take bath ideally
before sunrise.Or atleast should be awake before
time when sun is right on the head say 8-9 am.

But i am sleeping in night at about 4 for last 20 days
so no chance to getup before 8.Irony is that first
thing i do is always to switch on my laptop,i haven't
brushed my teeth yet....:( now on orkut i should
include that i cant live withut my comp also..:D

I waste my all time on this dumb gadget made by
few intelligent humanoids.Last night i was reading
tragic story of "Rizwaan Butt" he was engaged
last month in second week of april but expired
on 1st May in a car accident.He was still replying
for the congratulation notes of his friends.Read all
what i possibly can get on orkut.He was very lively
person according to his friends and the scraps they
had written before and after his death.He was with
his fiancee for last five years,I really cant imagine
what mental states she might be going through.

I really dont know what to say,in such situations
people use to pray to god for you but dont have clue
for that also what should i ask for you from god.

Hope god will give you enough strength to bear
the loss.People start writing in his scrapbook just
after 20 minutes of his death.And then were normal
in their daily routine and enjoyment after few days.
Some said very aptly that people has very short
term memory.

I was cursing one of my mates for the whole day as he just
became extinct after taking my book.:((((

I really hate two words Please and Sorry.People
always use these for their own means.With one they
expect me to do anything for them with other they
can do anything with me..:(((

Its time now to brush my tooth..:D