MJ mark on earth

Jackson's death came as a big shock to me.

If someone can make a mark on earth with his creation
it is MJ. I believe aliens looking at earth should see an
"MJ" written on it.


I liked Micheal for his music and dance.

During my college days (1980-86) I used to perform Micheal's break-dance
(Indian version of it though) in college cultural program's
(not on stage but within the audience).

I once even danced on a street corner in front of tea stall
for a Tamil number in his style...a big crowd gathered around
that...my friends were clapping. I danced for a whole of
5-minutes.


I once danced on stage with some of the moon-walks of
Micheal during 1991 in cultural program in IITK.

I used to practice his moon-walk for years and got it
to some extent but could never reach.

I liked every song of Micheal and loved some of them.

He is a legend of pop and stage performer... inventor
of moon walk, nice human, creator, ...

For me he is Einstein of Music.

The world is really gonna miss him... and i am one of the billions.

Is memory a gift or curse

I had some thing in my mind yesterday night to blog about. I still
remember i was thinking this is what i will blog about tom'row.

Now when i sit in front of my puter i don't remember what i thought of.


Is memory a gift or a curse?

Lucky we don't remember everything that we see, read,hear.

Kids enjoy their days and every bit of their second of
life because of their in-ability to correlate the memory.
They do remember ... but they have not correlated and
categorized their memory. That is why they could
easily forget the consequence of a deed whether good or
bad and carry on with what they are doing.

Is it not amazing to see your kid call you 'stupid' and
get beaten by you and then the next minute comes back to
you like as if nothing happened...does that mean they
have forgotten the instance...no way. My son still remembers
why i beat him when he called my mom 'evil grandMa'.
But when he looks and plays with me he never remembers that
instant...that instant is just another instant and has
not been still categorized as something special event
and he does not remember that event when he looks at me
... but as a old-dude i remember often that when i look
at my son.

Another great thing about kids is that they don't have a
future...they live on at that moment with little influence
from their past. But as a grown-up we live on our past
and fear of future and miss out the present.

Though i can realize this and write about it...i cannot
be like a kid...living for that moment. So I ask again..

Is memory a gift or a curse?

(hundred and one percent.. i did not think of this topic
yesterday NOR until i started writing...).

lingering on the same thought

I could not think of anything more except for what i did
couple of days back...

Did i make a mistake?

I am still waiting and the client did not reply to my
mail. Is he playing a mental game? OR he is so irritated
that he does not even want to write to me.

What i offered is not that bad a proposal... a software
package which needs 2x3 man years of production when
someone wanted to share the code... i just asked for
9-lacs... less than $20K is that something big that
he gets annoyed or he wants me to get down on my
requirements?

I have few installations as well. We sold the software

ranging from 1800$-3000$ at four different places...of course

through a seller and i got only 500$-1500$.


Will wait for a week and then may be i will ping him.

Was it a mistake?

Did i do a mistake?

Yesterday i blogged about doing a transaction with a buyer... i was happy i could close
the day with do it my way or no way.

I have off loaded my concerns to the payer and he is
keeping silent. I donno whether he is evaluating my
proposal or dropped the entire project.

I am worried now... did my decision to go straight
and transparent is (was) a mistake?

Because it is not only my money... it is stake holders
money that is at stake...if the negotiations went well
and even if i settled for 6-lacs as proposed by them
then i could have paid back at least 70% of the investors
money.

Now I have no choice except to wait. Should i called
for help? Should i asked someone to do the negotiation?

At the end of it... i was worried that they will push
all their developmental work on my head. I can't do justice to them and i can't do
justice to the company i am working now. With that fear only i wanted to
push back so that they will come back little mild and acceptable.


Well ... now there is no going back. I have to wait.

Hard Decision

Hard Decision.


Today I was making a negotiation for selling a software code
I have developed over the past 3-4 years (with programmers).

The talk was going on between the buyer and me for the last
1-month and I finally settled on getting 9-lacs for the
code and hand it over to them. When we finally met 3-days
back the buyer just put a googly around saying the payment
will be made as 30-30-30-10% over a period of 300-days.


I was taken aback...could not say anything at the meeting.
This may be the part of negotiating teams effort ...i never
know. One fellow hook you down on the amount payable and
then suddenly one fellow comes and drops the bomb on
payment schedule saying "it is company policy" and all
that crap.

Probably it is a regular practice in sales team's to do the job like
this. But i was unaware because i was never involved in
money transaction.

Earlier i had bitter experience with
a U.S. customer (Indian settled in U.S.). He never paid
me in time... finally i beat him up and got 10% extra
paid...but all together the payment schedule made the
whole development and my company going for a spin.


This time i did not want to give that a chance. I have
just sent him a mail saying what ever he is talking is
non-sense. Because i am giving him the code at one-shot
and why should he pay me in installment? Will he accept
me delivering the code also in installment?

Though this is an important amount of money (the money
i am thinking of paying back the investors). I can't
afford to loose it... but sometimes nothing is
better than non-sense...for the 9-lacs (he is proposing
7-lacs) you end-up spending your time and money
which worth more than that.


So I took the hard decision either my way (transparent) OR no-way.
Let me see how it goes.

What a Beautiful world

What we observe is not nature itself, but nature
exposed to our method of questioning. (Heisenberg,
Physics and Philosophy, 1963).


What a fantastic statement this is. Have you ever
observed this in real life? Did nature present
itself to the way you look at it. For me it is
many a times....

I remember when i rared doves at the age of 12...i always saw the sky
full of doves flying...I could even identify the groups ...
when i left my interest in raring doves i don't remember seeing
doves on the sky...did they vanish? No.

I remember when i wanted to build air driven small toy car...
the wind was blowing the whole day when i had my car getting
repaired...the wind did not show its face when i had
everything ready.


When i was working in GE and getting multi-lac pergs... I used
to wonder how the maid-servant, auto-wallah and low-end workers
are suffering to get 100Rs/day...

when i started working for 2-lac/annum then i saw how
costly the house rent was... then i saw how costly it
is stay back a day in a AC room... I saw how well to do
people spending lavishly on vacation and staying in resorts.
But i did not see autoworkers suffering...i argued why they
are charging extra when the petrol price when down?

When i started the school software making...everywhere i go
i saw schools... i realized there are 20-schools just around
the place i lived...while traveling in train and bus i saw
schools everywhere....never before i saw so many schools.
Schools were there but i never bothered to look at them...



Mind is a wonderful thing and so the world is... it looks
beautiful the way you look at it...it looks pathatic
the way you look at it... it looks ugly the way you
look at it... it is enjoyable the way you perceive it.

Exploitation is not productivity

Exploitation is not productivity...

What a great sentence.

But How do i produce without exploiting the existing resources?
Produce needs ingredients...can't produce something from the
air...ah...that is also a wrong sentence or comment to make...
am i not exploiting air?

Why do geeks like me like that statement?

I believe the sentence is read as "over exploitation" or
"unwanted exploitation" OR "only exploit".

Is outsourcing is a exploitation?
Yes it is. But does it reduce the productivity? would
say NO. It increases productivity of the outsourcing company. Does not it
exploit the brains of the third world country?


Then why this sentence is so popular? It is a philosophical
statement and not a sentence. How do we produce without
exploiting resources....to produce you need resource/ingredients. Once you
produce the ingredients vanishes....exploited.

There are ways to produce without utilization...like
internet search (google)...but it utilizes or exploits the work done
by millions of people over few decades. To an argument google
can be considered as 'no exploitation product' company. Because
it exploits something available for free and the produce does not
deplete the ingredients. But may not be entirely true.

I may be comfortable with the following statement than the
one quoted above.

"minimize exploitation and maximize Productivity".


How do I minimize exploitation? Well, that is a different
topic all together. I will see whether i can put something
on that topic.

Cheers.

Evil Business ...continued

As i blogged before i wanted to write about this evil business...and so it is here.


Amway -a personal experience.


It was in 1997 when i first went to U.S. on my pos-doctoral
fellowship. Just 2-days after landing in the land-of-oppurtunities
... me and my boss were going around a mall for my landing
purchase.

There was this guy looking like me (hard to find many
Indian and Indian looking guys at that time in Philly) came
to and asked "Are you from Bangladesh"...i said no I am
from India and here on a research.

He said "So glad to meet a person from the subcontinent" and gladly
gave me his phone number and introduced me to his wife.
I was totally taken aback...wow what a wonderful world. People
in U.S. from our sub-continent are so freindly and want to
help each other ...

Once i got my phone connection i promptly called him and gave
him my number. He called me once in a week and ask how am i doing
and how is my research going...i was overwhelmed.

Suddenly one-day he said there is a get together on some
business meeting and he wanted me to attend that...i thought
"OK good i will meet more of Indians and there is a chance i
will meet a nice girl"...i said YES.

He picked me up and took me to some hotel i think it was Ramada Inn...
not sure now....had few drinks and was expecting some dancing
and socializing...but these guys started talking about some
serious business...presentations and gyan on what is
business....

There were some special presentations made on how this company
called Amway has revolutionized the way business is done
by personalized marketing... there were presentations on
how to make money and how much money you have put in and
how it will multiply based on how many people you can drag
and how to drag people (like going around the mall with a
note and pen and meet people etc.,etc.,) .

Till the end of 3-hour meeting no-body told what is that
this company Amway is producing. I was wondering what the
heck is that... but did not open my mouth because i donno
how to get back in that odd-hour (11-pm) to
my apartment so kept silent and really could not munch much
on the topic.

some one dropped me back in my apartment and all through the
way this guy was talking about one of the presenter who
made good American accent english and spoke exactly like a
big American orator....he said he wants to be like him...I said
good and was thinking 'oh this company is about talking and
more talking and more talking'

I said thanks to the guy who dropped me back and went back to
my apartment and could not stop drinking another 2-pecks of
Bacardi rum before i sleep.

After a week i got the phone call from my friend and he
asked me how the meeting was ...i said i did not like it
and i could not get what we are selling... he went on
to make sure i have to attend few more meetings to understand
fully... i said i am not that inclined... but he kept on
insisting me to attend by saying 'after all it is free and
food'...i said 'cool'...now i have
learnt some slang in American way...he said he wanted to
meet me...i said ...'my pleasure'...and asked him to come
to my apartment... i wanted to get prepared....took 3-rounds
of bacardi because it is very hard for me to be harsh in
person...i always believe everyone has every right to do what
he does and what he thinks is right for him... but this one
looked like a evil business to me and wanted to stop him by
giving hard words and stop him from coming to me.
I gave him left and right on what this shit about... he
never came back....

After that during my 2-year stay in Philly...i met couple of
more amway guys....i can smell the way they approach and would
stop them before giving my phone number.

Let me put how this Amway works...it is about you become a part
of the company by buying 200$ worth of things and promise to
make purchases for next few years on monthly or quarterly basis.
What you get is a 1$ worth of thing at 10$....then how do you
make money....you bring in your friends and strangers to do the
same...because they are going to buy 1$ worth for 10$ you get
2$ commission...like that if your bring 20-people then you make
money ...if those 20-people could bring in another 20-each...then
you become the boss of 400 people who will spend 10$ for 1$ and your
income keeps pumping in....What an idea sirji.
This is called evil....even though there is no forcing and all are
volunterly done....it is a kind of trap...and it is evil. It
is cheating...but under the cover of business by selling a $ worth
component at 10$...but the buyer does it voluntarily so legally and
business ethically it is not wrong.

But it is evil...because it does not add any value to the buyer. A business which
does not add any value to the buyer is Evil in some sense.

Will BJP survive the next 5-years?

Will BJP survive?


I have a skeptical feeling that BJP may crack into pieces
by the time the next election come. It may be good for
BJP as well. If someone charismatic starts a sub-BJP
with less hindutuva factor... i beleive this new BJP
will make a big wave.

My thinking goes as follows... next few years of managing the
country will be hard for congress because of the current
global crisis on economy and at the end of five years
it will point to the way congress managed the country.

There goes the oppurtunity for an opponent to pitch in
and take away the thunder. As of now there is only one
national party which can do it...that is BJP.

But my fear is that "Will BJP survive until then? ".


For congress... it was always easy to find the charismatic
figure (Nehru family). But in BJP who is that charismatic
figure who can do the wonder? Wonder without turning
that party into a Hindu-party for Hindu-nation. Hindu
party for Hindu nation will never work.

Because by Hindu it means only the upper caste Hindu and not all
of them. This fear of Upper caste dominated Hindu will
not find its place in India...even ignoring the other
religions.

Well this is old-monk's thinking now. Let me see what
happens in the next four-years.

Why to Blog?

Does it worth Blogging.


Yes it is. But is it about

1) self advertisement?
2) just for the high/low you get from followers comments?
3) Net addiction?

Yes...there is a partial truth in all the above.

I think there is much more to blogging...everything may sound old...but as a new blogger i thought i will write :-) .


I believe blogging is a very good habit and can be looked
upon by urself after few years on what state-of-mind you
were few-years back. It will also gives you a habbit of
illustrating and putting things in a readable format.
When you analyze some topic and put it in writing it gives
you a good vision and understanding of the particular topic and remains
longer in your memory than just reading it.

Think of something you always chat/ramble over a cup of tea or drinks
with freinds and strangers. It vanishes there but a blog
created with the same time spent... remains and would worth
reading back. when reading back you could correct course
on the thinking you made on that particular topic.

Good blogging everyone. OldMonk will keep blogging.

Evil Business Model

Past couple of days i have been commenting on Umair's page about Wonga's business model.

http://blogs.harvardbusiness.org/haque/2009/06/wonga_redux.html

To me it sounds nothing like any business model. Model is something which makes people to follow.

In fact models also have been created for evil . Wonga's
business is one such evil model. Another that I can
think of is "Amway" (will write about a peronal instance
with amway in couple of days). I can't understand how such
business exist.

These are business for desperate people with desperate
minds to get money and transact and get more money. Finally
before they realize they end up in trap.
There are hundred business points to justify why this
business exists...but between evil and good... this should
not exist.

Business is about making money... i agree... but business
should not suck money OR make money from desperate needs
of people...My philosophy of business is as follows (probably
it is spelt out everywhere, anyhow)...

Business is about giving value addition to human life
and make money while doing so.

Let me start

I have been thinking of blogging for a while... considering my irregularity even at work I am skeptical how much will I blog.

Hope will blog when something interesting i wish to write.