cutting edge.............

A Special DOSA

2007-02-15T19:14:00.000-08:00

i made an entry into kitchen as she was not keeping well..thoguht of trying some old, forgotten techniques. doas mavu was there in the pot..i lit the stove and put the frying pan,which was looking very new, on stove..and pour mavu on the pan..it didnt come out well.. the circle which i made with mavu was not in gud shape, so i tried again..and it came out well. thot when was the last time i made a dosa..could not recollect the exact year..may be this was the first time a decade :) milestone achivement..

Creating a Level Playing Field

2006-05-26T06:02:00.000-07:00

Students who are protesting against reservations for back ward classes in premier institutions like IITs/IIMs/AIIMs are mainly from metros, where they had seen only 'empowered' backward people as their neighbors or colleagues. this intolerence or narrow vison is fuelling their angst, they are not in grips with the real picture of rural and semi rural India. the rage of students is hardly making any effect in south india, barring bangalore. Moreover, people who make it to theses institutions will be the best pick among their communities. So, there wont be any kind of dilution of educational standards, as many fear. I still wonder why there is not a single protest against NRI reservations, which is a clear case of money over merit..but government should also build a fool-proof mechanism to asess the progress made by the sections of society,availing reservation.

Pooram fiesta !!!

2006-05-08T04:49:00.000-07:00

Like many, i also havent seen a Thrissur pooram live, though, been there for couple of years. those days, i was quite regular at paramekkavu temple for morning (priya) darshan, on my way to college...

Aam admi ka BUDGET..?

2006-03-15T07:56:00.001-08:00

my interviewr asked, so how do you see the union budget? well..PC has done a great job.. the increased outlay for primary education is a welcome move...the dropout rates will decline..and the increased fund allocation for infrastructure development would boost employment generation and economy...service tax is a big worry...now most of the youngsters can buy a car for themselves.. increased tax on tobbaco products, cigarettes in particular,will be a big blow for many.....interview over..

but yesterday, i understood from pavitrettan's shop that my brand is unaffected, i still can buy a pack of gold filter for Rs.20..thank you Mr. chidambaram..for understanding my world

Aam admi ka BUDGET..?

2006-03-15T07:56:00.000-08:00

Oracle of Omaha offers words of wisdom - News

2006-03-13T00:22:00.000-08:00

Oracle of Omaha offers words of wisdom - News

when will i get rid of this..

2006-03-05T22:12:00.000-08:00

tried to take off today...sent a message... boss screamed..'be in office by 4'...wot to do i need to go.....

EXPORT OF SKILLED JOBS COULD IMPERIL U.S. TECHNOLOGY INDUSTRY ???

2005-12-05T09:38:00.000-08:00

The US technology industry is witnessing a spurt in outsourcing of technology jobs and it is continuously on the rise. Industry experts opinionated that this trend is inevitable as the 1980s off shoring of rust belt manufacturing jobs to South East Asia and Latin America. The year 2000, saw around 27,000 jobs shifting to developing countries like India, China and Russia. No one is able to predict an end to this phenomenal trend in near future. A study by Forrester Research, says that around 472,000 technology jobs would be outsourced to developing countries like India, China and Russia, by 2015. They also predicts that companies in the US and Europe will spend 28 percent of their information technology budgets on outsourcing. The huge investment made by key market players like, Microsoft, Dell, Motorola, and Intel in this segment illustrates this upwardly spiralling trend. Most of these technology jobs vanishing from the US shore are high-end jobs, which require great skills and competence. This is in contrast to the outsourcing of low-level technology jobs like data entry and system support, which is in practice for more than a decade.

Developing countries like India, China and Russia have vast pool of cheap technology work force, this the prime attraction for major US companies. India alone produces 350,000 graduates engineers from it engineering colleges. More than that an average computer programmer in India costs $20 per hour in wages and other benefits compared to $60 per hour for an American with same qualification and experience.

Apart from the lure of highly productive technology work force, developing countries like India, China and Russia are also the fastest growing markets, so a footprint in theses countries will give US companies a strategic advantage in the long run.
But most of the American technology workers are skeptical about outsourcing business and they believe shifting of core technology jobs could pose a big threat to American technological dominance. This high-end technology outsourcing business will help the countries to build their own technology industries. This would be detrimental for Americans in the future. Even though many of the US technology workers welcome the free-trade and Globalization, they are more concerned about their minimal salary growth, which is not in pace with inflation rate and also about the looming unemployment in the offing. A recent study by an independent Economic Policy Institute has highlighted the disparity in salary growth rate and inflation rate for the technology workers. Critics of the technology out sourcing also feel that the technology conundrum along with layoffs from other sectors could further worsen the recession hit US economy. Washington Alliance of Technology Workers, a union of technology workers is persuading US Congress to study and possibly regulate the technology outsourcing business to address the concerns of the US technology workers.

But the business fraternity is bullish over the prospects of technology out sourcing and they refute all the ant-outsourcing charges made by the workers. They believe that out sourcing would liberate valuable monetary and human resources, which could be better utilized for upscaling their performance, and move up in the value chain. American are making great strides in the realms of Nanotechnology and Biotechnology, the learnability and flexibility attributes of the US work force will provide them the needed job security and a sustainable future in theses technological arenas rather than simple software coding jobs.

That Lovable Mother turns 200

2005-08-17T06:21:00.000-07:00

the real beauty of a good movie is the long lasting impact it creates in the minds of audience. achuvinte amma,belongs to that genre of movies. last week i saw this movie for the second time. it may not be a consider as a classic.but the astonshingly simple story telling style makes it a different movie. infact that is the main forte of satyan anthikkad's movies. the story revolvs around the life of a young mother and an equally young daughter!!. the relevence of the theme with respect to the changing indian social millieu is something i liked the most in the movie. there is a growing breed of singles who adopt children in our country. the magnanimous charactor played by urvashi as young mother is in tune with this trend. the film portraits this societial change and projects the universal language of love. the brevity of the character played by urvashi is amazing. when she had to flee from the exploitation of her employer from that textile city(a bonus that the textile city has to offer along with employment,exclusively for underaged girls and young ladies).she boldly takes that weeping kid along with her. her deep commitment and love for that kid gave her a sense of direction and a new meaning to her life.but..

primary laws of life and relationships: when we truely love others without condition, without strings attached, with out imposing our agendas and motives on them, we actually infuse security and safety in their natural growth process. but when we violate this with our own objectives, agendas and motives..like how she/he should behave. whom they shud marry. where they shud work/ live. we are putting them in in a reactive position, they will become more defensive and will prompt them to prove that I MATTER AS AN INIVIDUAL, i am independent of you. this is what is happening in the movie between meera jasmine and uravasi- though urvashiis an orphan she is strongly against her daughters decison to tie-knot with an orphan!!!

really touching story and a moving script..kudos to satyan anthikad and ranjan pramod. the best in class performance of both urvashi and meera is worth watching the film more than once. the camera work is below average, only as good as a tv serial.

the bottom line: i should plant trees under i should not sit.

Shelter on a rainy day..1

2005-07-23T06:18:00.000-07:00

ouuchh.it has started raining in chennai.heavy down pour over the past two days has changed the look and psycology of the city. i did see lot of happy faces when i traveled back from office to my place. my (proactive) purchase of a rain coat,which i did last week will be handy if the rain persists for few more days. if it is raining and that too in night office is not the ideal place one should occupy, but my work load demanded another over night stay at office. but exchange of hot ideas with few smartkids around softened all acrid feelings. surprisingly, in the morning i didnt have to make any fare negotiation with auto driver.the rain and the sight of wet road seemed to have silenced the bad boy in him. on my way back i did see a a new sign board of a major automaker which proudly says,i am a chennai-ite, as different as you. hats off to the brains behind that effort.

yet another miss

2005-07-19T15:35:00.000-07:00

mam, thnkz for your timely mail. i will call perumal and tiruppathy as soon as possible. infact i was planning to come to trichy in the first week of aug. but i have a registerd for a conference on micro-financing and micro enterprises developemnt at ISB(www.isb.edu) and SURPRISINGLY there is no reg.fee its absolutly free, and surley it will be a great opportunity for getting new contacts. but i have somuch of work to complete.(which include a thorough analysis of a marriage proposal, its time to think of marriage market!!!)i think most probably i wont make it to the conference.sad. brought a couple books ZAHIR, the MCKINSEY MIND, THE FOUR POINT SOMEONE.

managing turbulent times

2005-07-17T23:03:00.000-07:00

you know how things change around all of us. surprisingly fast isnt it? what is seen today as adaptable and admirable is getting obselete by tommorow. so does the people thier life styles,agendas and also their dreams and directions in life. change is something inevitable in life and the tranformation phase is the most critical thing. your ability to manage self and surroundings in this turbulance is the key to surge ahead in the bloody battle of life.this holds true for both individuals and corpoartions, infact i dont want to blah blah about change.i want scribble about the plight of my soul mate,friend i was so frozen by the way things have chenged for him. shockinly pathetic.

Serve Somebody

2005-07-11T06:18:00.000-07:00

Bob Dylan

You may be a state trooper, you might be a young Turk,
You may be the head of some big TV network,
You may be rich or poor, you may be blind or lame,
You may be living in another country under another name

You may be a preacher with your spiritual pride,
You may be a city councilman taking bribes on the side,
You may be in a barbershop, you may know how to cut hair,
You may be somebody's mistress, may be somebody's heir

Might like to wear cotton... might like to wear silk,
Might like to drink whiskey, might like to drink milk,
You might like to eat caviar, you might like to eat bread,
You may be sleeping on the floor, or in a king-sized bed

But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You're gonna have to serve somebody.
It may be the devil, or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.

My Contribution............JK

2005-01-27T10:41:00.000-08:00

We are, each one of us, responsible for every war
because of the aggressiveness of our own lives, because of our nationalism, our selfishness, our gods, our prejudices, our ideals, all of which divide us. And only when we realize, not intellect-ually, but actually, as actually as we would recognize that we are hungry or in pain, that you and I are responsible for all this existing chaos, for all the misery throughout the entire world, because we have contributed to it in our daily lives, and as a part of this monstrous society with its wars, divisions, its ugliness, brutality and greed—only then will we act.

Strategies for selection of your life mate-1

2005-01-26T21:40:00.000-08:00

There are times in a person's life when he needs to take crucial decisions on his own. Marriage is one of them.the decision on whom to marry is the most important decision a person will make in his life. After marriage, your wife is the most important person in your life. She can make or break your life. The mere thought of this is very frightening.
Some of the questions that crop up are -

. What sort of a girl do I marry? . Will she adjust in my family? . How can I decide on a girl by just meeting her for a few times? . When should I get married? . This is my life. So, I should choose the girl I marry, but then what if I make a mistake? .... so on and so forth ...

I will try to address these & many more questions in the following sections.

The Nine Rules for how to search a girl in Arranged marriage:

. Rule 1 -- Magic no. 28

In an ideal scenario, a girl goes to college at the age of 18. By the time she graduates, goes for her post graduation and/ or works for 1-2 years, she will be about 23- 24. This means that she has spent about 5 years away from her home. In the 5 years period, she would meet many smart guys at college or during her first few years on job.

So, in all probability it would be difficult to find a suitable girl older than 24 yrs. Secondly, in Indian families there is lot of pressure on the girl's to get married by the time they become 24-25. Statistics says that there is a generation gap after every 5 years. So, in such scenario, one would prefer to marry a girl who is about 3-4 years younger to you. Thus, working backwards, an ideal age for a guy to get married is by 28. Earlier the marriage, the better it is. Well, as we all know, in the current market scenario, there will never be stability in our career. So, I believe there is no such thing as, "I will marry when I settle down".

. Rule 2 -- Subset of marriage-able girls

At times you hear statements like, "I am not getting the right match, I will look after 3 months, and I will find a better match then". Well the truth is otherwise. The subset of unmarried girl looking for a match is fixed. From this subset, there would be girls who would get married & there would be new girls added who would be looking for a match. The net result is that at any given time, the variety & number of marriage-able girls is fixed.

. Rule 3 -- Competition for girls

Like all other facets of life, there is lot of competition for good girls. In my own case, I was rejected by girls. So, if you are looking for a girl who is post graduate, done her Engg, is working, very beautiful, smart, from a good family etc. etc, just think again. There are other guys who are also looking for similar girls & probably they are better off than you in terms of career, looks personality etc. Given a choice every guy would like to marry Aishwarya Rai, but then for all Ashs in the world, there are many Salman Khans who also want to marry them. So, set your expectations accordingly.

. Rule 4 -- Understanding girls

You would have met a lot of people during your life. As we all know, its difficult to judge a person based on a few meetings. I am sure you would agree with me that in case of girls it is even more difficult to understand them in a few meetings... Understanding your spouse is a life long assignment. So, then how do you select a girl based on a few meeting? This is where you need to take the help of your parents/ friends & latest technologies like email/ chat to choose your girl.