tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-85668299886811777732024-02-07T11:32:46.384+05:30Karthik's GraffitiSelf Expression is my birth right and
I shall have it...T.Karthikeyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04108661832956967786noreply@blogger.comBlogger30125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8566829988681177773.post-28853791695561843202011-05-22T20:00:00.001+05:302011-05-22T20:01:33.573+05:30Religion Investment Intersection - Shariah Stock IndicesReligion has been the basis of a lot of things in the past. It has also come upon influencing trade and business. Islamic Banking is a very well known idea in the business world. It is all about doing the business of banking in such a way that it complies with the provisions of Shariah ( a code of conduct which rules most aspects of a Muslim individual's life include marraige, business, charity etc). Since the last two decades a lot of reading and experimenting has happened in the area of Islamic Banking.<br />
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Islamic Investing is a fairly recent innovation. This is all about investing in companies whose operations and products are Shariah compliant. Major fund-houses and index-service providers have exploited this idea and set up hedge-funds, mutual funds, ETFs which are Shariah compliant. In India BSE along with Taqwaa Advisory and Shariah Investment Solutions (TASIS) have come-up with BSE Shariah 50, presently the only thematic index at BSE. NSE has introduced two similar indices namely S&P CNX 500 Shariah and S&P CNX Nifty Shariah.<br />
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BSE-TASIS Shariah 50 consists of stocks of 50 most liquid companies which are Shariah compliant drawn from the broad-based BSE 500. Key highlight of this index is that it has a 8% cap of scrip weights. Thus the portfolio will remain fairly diversified. Major sectors included are Oil&Gas, IT, FMCG, Capital Goods etc. As on 20 May 2011 the 1-year return of Shariah 50 is 14.48% while that BSE 500 is 7.72%.<br />
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TASIS, which is a Shariah advisory firm, plays the role of screening the stock for Shariah compliance. The fact sheet posted on BSE site doesn't clearly spell out the process that TASIS would follow to identify the stocks and decide the continuance of existing constituents of the index. The document states all constituents will be subject to screening at monthly intervals. Any constituents failing to meet the requirements will be dropped at once. But the reconstitution of the index will happen only at quarterly frequency.<br />
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<b>International Experience:</b><br />
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Shariah compliant indices are already in existence in the international arena. FTSE, Dow Jones, Credit Suisse all have similar indices. It is interesting to know how such indices are constructed. FTSE follows the following 'ground' rules to construct their Shariah Global Equity Index. Companies involved in the following activities are rejected outright by default.<br />
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<ul><li>Conventional Finance (non-Islamic Banking, Finance, Insurance etc)</li>
<li>Alcohol</li>
<li>Pork-related and non-Halal food production, processing and packaging</li>
<li>Entertainment (Casino, Theatre, Films)</li>
<li>Tobacco</li>
<li>Weapons, arms and Defence Productions</li>
</ul><div>NSE's Shariah Indices exclude companies involved in Advertising & Media (excluding Newspapers) and Trading in Gold & Silver also. Further the companies that pass the activity test should also pass the financial ratio test.</div><div><div><ul><li>Debt is less than 33% of total assets </li>
<li>Cash and Interest bearing items are less than 33% of total assets </li>
<li>Accounts receivable and cash are less than 50% of total assets </li>
<li>Total interest and non compliant activities income should not exceed 5% of total revenue</li>
</ul><div>Most of the international-level Shariah compliant indices seem to have similar screening tests. May be BSE-TASIS should provide the details of the screening that they perform for this index (while S&P CNX Indices have clearly spelled documents). Further there are some gaps in BSE's offering. </div><div><ul><li>Most of the international Indexing companies invariably maintain a second-line of constituents to fill the gap of any constituent leaving the index. Given the facts that screening happens at monthly frequency and index reconstitution happens at quarterly intervals. </li>
<li>Also how will some corporate actions like mergers, de-mergers, acquisition, carve-outs etc will be treated remain to be discussed. </li>
</ul><div>May be this is a bit too early for BSE to think of these issues for its thematic index.</div></div></div></div><div><br />
</div><div>Most interesting aspect of this offering from BSE is that Shariah 50 is projected as a Socially Responsible Investment (SRI). May be BSE should take out some time and explain how investing in Banks and Insurance Companies will constitute socially irresponsible behaviour. </div><div><br />
</div><div>Though it is not very clear how big the market for Islamic Investing is. Given the fact that major exchanges have shown keen interest in these products suggests that the market could be big and deep enough. Now learning age-old religious codes can be a lucrative business proposition.</div>T.Karthikeyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04108661832956967786noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8566829988681177773.post-2914406661327442682011-02-08T00:34:00.002+05:302011-02-08T12:38:05.524+05:30Valentine's Day Special - A Mathematical Aphrodisiac<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglkEJf5DznqN2CJc_dMfCXLPXLAiIL-p1sw6qOEtMjYDDvF9C_CUrgmL1kyvECMDxiFC2EvNduOV_3N_C1TuZVVx4rUXOEB_vR3B49aK49A9p870f4PqDTzWHkaa4mPRZZkzImCDEXJL00/s1600/heart.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglkEJf5DznqN2CJc_dMfCXLPXLAiIL-p1sw6qOEtMjYDDvF9C_CUrgmL1kyvECMDxiFC2EvNduOV_3N_C1TuZVVx4rUXOEB_vR3B49aK49A9p870f4PqDTzWHkaa4mPRZZkzImCDEXJL00/s200/heart.jpg" width="166" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Come Valentine's Day a lot of things happen around you. On one side one can see young men and women doing really crazy things to express their 'love'. While on the other side self-appointed policemen of culture, tradition etc come out with lathis and unleash terror. This is also the season when business heats up, specially for flower shops, greeting card, gift articles and so on. And the ubiquitous media does a good coverage of all these. When all the world is whirling with activity there is one category of people which doesn't seem to do much - the mathematicians. Mathematics is often perceived as a boring subject and mathematicians are often characterized as lost in their own proofs. Sometimes mathematicians can be interestingly romantic as well.<br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;">I recently read Simon Singh's <i>Fermat's Last Theorem, </i>an engrossing read. A simple adaptation from this book. There are something called friendly numbers. That sounds interesting. What are such numbers? There are some pairs of numbers which share an interesting relationship. When the sum of divisors of one number equals another number and vice versa then such a pair of numbers are called friendly numbers. Consider this example.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Divisors of 220 are 1,2,4,5,10,11, 20, 22, 44, 55 and 110. The sum of all these numbers is 284.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Divisors of 284 are 1, 2, 4, 71, 142. The sum of all these numbers is 220. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZu0_QtJhyphenhyphenCdMnz_KfbT35dp6dQvM24vh9H3JsRph8fw53i3gkD4gOssgMTxuSF9eJgPgmCwP63iiGiOZwlEDX5SOQEfZZs6UIuYmfePsUWu7AB5kyaLJKxG3nVmVHn3fBwo0YBkiu2b5S/s1600/220%2526284.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZu0_QtJhyphenhyphenCdMnz_KfbT35dp6dQvM24vh9H3JsRph8fw53i3gkD4gOssgMTxuSF9eJgPgmCwP63iiGiOZwlEDX5SOQEfZZs6UIuYmfePsUWu7AB5kyaLJKxG3nVmVHn3fBwo0YBkiu2b5S/s200/220%2526284.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;">This is a very special relationship. This kind of relationship doesn't happen with any pair of numbers in this world. This can happen only when a divine reason wants such a thing to happen. This relationship is something which doesn't wane with time but remains intact and even grows stronger. Doesn't this sound the way similar to the babble of a man bitten by some mad love bug? </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: justify;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisMnjRqikbgbhjCpmuA80k3UZER5nRA92J-CDqk-n6fhnMbsSk7FmylTueNREBqG4TAdtvAefa2W0MsarXlBhL-uLBPNVdYroxkxdRjnSHqbbUDsr6W2R1FGlOWeZNbArGXMw7fBV5ATYw/s1600/Jacob+and+Esau.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="143" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisMnjRqikbgbhjCpmuA80k3UZER5nRA92J-CDqk-n6fhnMbsSk7FmylTueNREBqG4TAdtvAefa2W0MsarXlBhL-uLBPNVdYroxkxdRjnSHqbbUDsr6W2R1FGlOWeZNbArGXMw7fBV5ATYw/s200/Jacob+and+Esau.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">When Jacob met his angry <br />
brother Esau, he gave 220 goats to<br />
pacify him. It worked !!</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;">When you ask the number 220, why it shares such a special relationship with 284 it may not babble anything like this. Unfortunately I am not a Number Theorist to hear and understand the romantic poems that 220 and 284 exchange. But this is an interesting mathematical fact.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">With the Valentine's day around the corner, lovers have kick-started a maddening search for newer and more novel ways to express their love. Well this is the aphrodisiac that mathematics has on offer. But how?? Well you may give your beloved 284 roses and he may give you back 220 kisses.. That could be terrible. Anyways that is none of my business. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">For those who think friendly numbers are very small in size here is a brief list of other bigger friends pairs</div><br />
<ul><li style="text-align: justify;">1,184 and 1,210</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">17,296 and 18,416</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">9,363,584 and 9,437,056 </li>
</ul><div style="text-align: justify;">It is a very good thing to find young men and women searching for novel ways of expressing the love they have for one another. But this recent phenomenon of Valentine's Day appears to me more of a marketing trick. Some florists and card makers wanted to increase the sales. Somehow they found some nondescript saint who died many decades back and resurrected him. Hence Valentine's Day was born.</div><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The best way to express one's love is just to love and keep loving through the thick and thin of times. Nothing much will ever be needed.</div>T.Karthikeyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04108661832956967786noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8566829988681177773.post-77637146723972625032011-02-04T16:23:00.001+05:302011-02-04T16:26:51.545+05:30GFCI 8 and a Forgotten Report<div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Global Financial Center Index (GFCI) is a composite index that provides relative competitiveness of 75 financial centers across the world. It is a bi-annual report published by Z/Yen group, based out of London, with the support of the City of London Corporation. First published in 2007 the index covered only 46 centers. Slowly it has increased its ambit to 75 centers. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5tszsEDqG7BNy356uEUyTVp2LGLqTH99u7IIYpe9H9Iwr8CtiRjZeBUITrODQI_lDMVOu9nqyE9-xxKfH3Wg49JSeR7k3vbTkg10F2TD6qRYcWK5FZ7XGsuEGsW6T3Q3yQk3RhT4NmkNi/s1600/GFCI+8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" h5="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5tszsEDqG7BNy356uEUyTVp2LGLqTH99u7IIYpe9H9Iwr8CtiRjZeBUITrODQI_lDMVOu9nqyE9-xxKfH3Wg49JSeR7k3vbTkg10F2TD6qRYcWK5FZ7XGsuEGsW6T3Q3yQk3RhT4NmkNi/s1600/GFCI+8.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The GFCI is computed using both quantitative and qualitative factors. The quantitative factors or the instrumental factors, as the report calls, have their base in secondary data sources. Many reports like that of the World Bank, Transparency International etc are used to cull the instrumental inputs. The qualitative inputs are obtained from international financial executives through an ongoing online questionnaire-based interview. The recent report is based on more than 33,000 responses from more than 1,800 professionals. The rating model has undergone substantial qualitative up-gradation.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The recent report has a few surprises. London is rated as the best IFC this year. Well, this is not the surprise I just said. </div><a name='more'></a><div style="text-align: justify;">It is Asia where all the action is happening. 4 out of top 10 IFCs and 7 out of top 20 IFCs are Asians cities and this is a jaw-dropping record. Hongkong at 3rd rank leads the Asian contingent. More jaw-dropping for you. Hongkong is just 10 points ( on a 1000-point scale) away from London and New York from becoming the world's best IFC. More interestingly 4 of these top 7 Asian centers are Chinese cities. Hongkong was third ever since the GFCI was published. But since the first version of GFCI, Hongkong has steadily narrowed down the difference between the traditional financial centers and itself. It should be a very interesting experience if one sits down to study how Hongkong has been able to unleash this onslaught on the Goliaths of the financial world.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgix1PgUSlJbkD59t54xEXexOG4uVQe72GNx-lQq5Owa7qAaGZsfjxS8ZtZj0qBvbsEq401hyEdY0_-g1LuCbD2PtKvFKtzeiZbPueLxCM7OIxp3VyCarP3eGEx2qJHF61iIXA35ih8YfEn/s1600/Hongkong+SE.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" h5="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgix1PgUSlJbkD59t54xEXexOG4uVQe72GNx-lQq5Owa7qAaGZsfjxS8ZtZj0qBvbsEq401hyEdY0_-g1LuCbD2PtKvFKtzeiZbPueLxCM7OIxp3VyCarP3eGEx2qJHF61iIXA35ih8YfEn/s1600/Hongkong+SE.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hongkong Stock Exchange</td></tr>
</tbody></table></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In this Asian buzz, I really felt impelled to search where is my city, that is Mumbai. Though I do not live in Mumbai, it is the only promising star of our country. Glancing through the rank-list of cities for Mumbai's name reminded me of searching for India's place in medal's tally in some Olympic event. Mumbai stands there at 57. Politico-economic pundits claim that it will be India and China that will drive the whole world in the near future. While China has 4 cities in the top-10 list, India is struggling to hold its fort at 57. This state of affairs means some serious introspection is needed. Now I get reminded of an almost forgotten report titled 'Making Mumbai an International Financial Center'. This study was commissioned by the Ministry of Finance in 2007 and the report was drafted by a group of eminent experts like O.P.Bhatt, K.V.Kamath, C.B.Bhave, Aditya Puri and the likes.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4SZen3COgeftaWopAJQ0xnbCySWTWBtD7XwJ6Sh83enkX0EtSm4IkddyHSAu2rYoYi18MpI26FrwKoGfub52Agr9ob2i9t3PeyESqw0aqgO3IlIipwDuHeyg3-QFCIZplRoe33_EGbLsf/s1600/nse.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" h5="true" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4SZen3COgeftaWopAJQ0xnbCySWTWBtD7XwJ6Sh83enkX0EtSm4IkddyHSAu2rYoYi18MpI26FrwKoGfub52Agr9ob2i9t3PeyESqw0aqgO3IlIipwDuHeyg3-QFCIZplRoe33_EGbLsf/s320/nse.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">NSE with its state-of-art technology holds a key <br />
for the success of Mumbai as IFC</td></tr>
</tbody></table></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Already Mumbai has a place in international finacial services trade. But they are largely BPO kind of services. The report is very ambitious and wants Mumbai (read as India) to cater to the international market with genuine International Financial Services. To render truly international services what we need is something substantial. Human capital, state-of-art IT and telecommunication systems, well-connected financial systems and a favourable politico-legal environment. There are many areas where we need to catch up with international standards. Areas such as banking reforms, capital account convertibility etc require urgent attention. There are certain things which makes us very unbecoming of an IFC. The recent turf war amongst the major financial sector regulators is a point in view. While cleaning dirty linen in public clearly tarnishes our image, it also creates doubts in the minds of international financial entities regarding the regualtory system in our country. May be it is time that we mull over the idea of an unified financial sector regulator.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">When the government wants to make Mumbai as an IFC, there were some voices as to why not Kolkata as an IFC. Gujarat's Chiefminister Mr.Modi even unveiled a plan to make Ahmedabad as an IFC. Well that is very interesting. Competition is a definite welcome, but at this stage when India is not yet an established player in the international market, there is a compelling need for all of us to concenterate our efforts and bet on Mumbai as an IFC. All the parochial, vested interests may be exploited on electioneering planks and not on business platforms. Hope soon this forgotten report is dusted and read by the people who can play a role in realising this momentous dream.</div>T.Karthikeyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04108661832956967786noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8566829988681177773.post-29588494785308736272011-01-06T00:22:00.000+05:302011-01-06T00:22:09.878+05:30A B C D Returns<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6761ioKlmP6AHyWIyZvsLW-gXWQDr88yiEWBmRxBpd8uPGDBPBA2m-w2Yms2mGHr_MVPvt5deVoKy9qjYi9LnlBduroiwp7IbVHv2Xm1N8wJcRjEN2BJ2x9u2KiSIyePIMjOXyyIx1cA2/s1600/abcd.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6761ioKlmP6AHyWIyZvsLW-gXWQDr88yiEWBmRxBpd8uPGDBPBA2m-w2Yms2mGHr_MVPvt5deVoKy9qjYi9LnlBduroiwp7IbVHv2Xm1N8wJcRjEN2BJ2x9u2KiSIyePIMjOXyyIx1cA2/s200/abcd.jpg" width="123" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Today I had a very peculiar but interesting feeling. I found myself seated in a classroom and a teacher standing before me writing down A..B..C..D.. on a writing board. I got enrolled myself in a foreign language course at Vivekananda Institute of Languages, Ramakrishna Math. The language of my choice is German (Deutsch to be more correct). I do not remember the day when I learnt A B C D in English though I remember the alphabets as such :) . So I thought I should not forget this day when I learnt A B C D of German, hence this post.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><a name='more'></a><br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;">So why a foreign language now?? Well, I was brought up in an environment where my parents and teachers never failed to advice me, ' <i>listen kid, mathematics and science are very important.. you better concentrate on that</i>'. Because anything lesser than an Engineering or Medical college admission was not considered decent and acceptable. Arts and Humanities are pariahs in the world of kids and parents of my time (that is a decade back). Languages and literatures were made into untouchables. I think the status is still intact. True to my time I promptly handed out step-motherly treatment to English, Geography, History and a host of not so 'important' papers through out my school days.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Condition worsened further when I joined the Engineering college. There was absolutely no incentive for a student there to read any literary work, leave alone studying it. Though most of the students wanted to hone their spoken English skills not many really wanted to draw inspiration from the language. But much after my graduation I came to realize that a language and the literature where the language lives are some of the best forms of education one can ever aspire for. Technical education like what I had in Engineering college or MBA college can help me set up good career, but to acquire that man-making value-based education the precondition is one reads a language and its literature. Well when I say literature I do not mean only those fantastic poetry and prose but the history and philosophy which are integral parts of any literary work.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Since then I started to secretly harbour a desire to learn a language and its literature. So that was one of the strong motivators for this decision. Now comes the question why a foreign language, but why not an Indian language may be Sanskrit or Tamil. It is here the compulsions of real life come into picture. We live a globalised world. It is not enough for us to be citizens of India. It is time for us to take wings and become global citizens and in the process give wings to our nation. So in my opinion it is essential for me to know at the least a continental tongue and a oriental tongue. May be I will not be satisfied if I am able to transact business in those foreign languages. I honestly want to go further and delve a bit into the literature, history and philosophy of the language.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: justify;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKP0sW0P7kRob8C2VuFEishbOETNhMMvLXyL52UD9O4hyphenhyphenmDiKitFohPcrBotWN98fHBU9by9s33nEcgqZXJU8nje_7rSC8lRU0XZfeX1cPVKuwT6UfwXYYoyk-O1oaRkbfw0pmHfP80NyQ/s1600/Gestalt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKP0sW0P7kRob8C2VuFEishbOETNhMMvLXyL52UD9O4hyphenhyphenmDiKitFohPcrBotWN98fHBU9by9s33nEcgqZXJU8nje_7rSC8lRU0XZfeX1cPVKuwT6UfwXYYoyk-O1oaRkbfw0pmHfP80NyQ/s200/Gestalt.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An example of Gestalt Therapy</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;">So then comes the question why German. In my opinion language and thought process are two sides of the same coin. Language has the ability to influence the thought process and thought process really influences the evolution of a language. It is a virtuous cycle where one reinforces other. German is one such language which is rich enough to influence the thought process. Some time back when I was a student of Psychology, my professor introduced something called Gestalt Psychology. Gestalt is a German word which has no equivalent English translation but roughly could mean the big picture or wholeness. When English does not have such a term the speakers of English also lose all the thought-process that the term could have kick-started. Naturally the Gestalt theory of mind is a part of Berlin school of Psychology. May be this is one of the reasons why I sided with German.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWdtunoO0TYFXysRZEe1-sRWqx2nCelFpiymngm8Guf7dJpVUV2evJhgnA6P4i_Zrubs5j3reXozSQS_j0a2qSLJdDX2_hwzQjRtNxTMZb9rjWjEGDVn2xRz1vz9ekVONQlg6ufUB-dQGw/s1600/Deutsch+Sons.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWdtunoO0TYFXysRZEe1-sRWqx2nCelFpiymngm8Guf7dJpVUV2evJhgnA6P4i_Zrubs5j3reXozSQS_j0a2qSLJdDX2_hwzQjRtNxTMZb9rjWjEGDVn2xRz1vz9ekVONQlg6ufUB-dQGw/s200/Deutsch+Sons.jpg" width="171" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="hps" title="Click for alternate translations">Söhne</span> <span class="hps" title="Click for alternate translations">von</span> <span class="hps" title="Click for alternate translations">Deutschland</span></span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;">There are many people whom I think have made greatest impact on this world. Karl Marx, Max Mueller, Adolf Hitler, Sigmund Freud, Albert Einstein are some of most illustrious sons of Deutschland in my list of impact-makers. I am pretty sure that Deutsch had a lot of impact on these people's thought-processes. Whether their thoughts helped the language to evolve is something that I should research as I go along. If I get a fraction of inspiration these people derived from the language then I should count myself very very lucky. Worst case scenario is that I will at the least learn to pronounce the names of my German heroes in the right way.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div>T.Karthikeyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04108661832956967786noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8566829988681177773.post-30336816064397871112010-08-10T19:31:00.002+05:302010-08-10T22:22:18.524+05:30Convocation Post<div style="text-align: left;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It is a dull afternoon and I am sitting in the office jobless (albeit temporarily ). In spite of the boredom around, some excitement is yelling at me from a distance. It is the convocation ceremony slated for this weekend. Wow, so I am going to receive a degree(actually a PG diploma) this weekend. For most of the people who receive their degrees this would probably be their second convocation ceremony. But for me this is the first such ceremony. This fact adds to the excitement.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1vLtSsyPI-ltryEKiWoeuZQhtxsZV3E1Q9Jq8cE4ez5jl5vNWtQRua3XIzaksaj0jMRr-XNuMI_l5hoe3LGcyXP1zhfHlIpzjEumPZbCdSe5_3Q_mxYQsIr-sa3ULXnhaYZ0MpNuB7ElY/s1600/graduation+ceremony.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1vLtSsyPI-ltryEKiWoeuZQhtxsZV3E1Q9Jq8cE4ez5jl5vNWtQRua3XIzaksaj0jMRr-XNuMI_l5hoe3LGcyXP1zhfHlIpzjEumPZbCdSe5_3Q_mxYQsIr-sa3ULXnhaYZ0MpNuB7ElY/s320/graduation+ceremony.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A Convocation Ceremony</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In MBA college we were made to believe that people who quote famous people are well read and proficient in communication. That thing still refuses to leave me. So I ran a search in Google to find some interesting quotes on the theme of convocation. Google, as usual, did not ditch me and threw some 1.5 million results in 0.17 seconds. I got hold of an 'interesting' quote which I made my Facebook status message. It was a quote from Robert Orben (do not ask me who is he, probably Wikipedia can tell you that). </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">'</span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">A graduation ceremony is an event where the commencement speaker tells thousands of students dressed in identical caps and gowns that "individuality" is the key to success.' </span></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span></i><br />
<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a name='more'></a><br />
</span></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">As I do not have a first hand experience with convocation, I searched for some vicarious experience and I found one. Some times back I got my hands laid on an very impressive and innovative book, '<b>Stay Hungry and Stay Foolish</b>' written by Rashmi Bansal. In the preface to the book she made a reference regarding the significance of the book's title. It was the closing remarks of the commencement speech delivered by Steve Jobs to a graduating class of Stanford University in 2005. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBmQImVInxvLhMz36Scy8CvET0iJrD-Xa8SzB5jujmSk-mTw06dIoeSQ4LKuF_Ih0hcrSizXcIZ2Z7QPJH1sogJEVyweTx_eXwvvUxfqHt1XSzVb2yFdmCjRC_A91n4szF05B_f3WleEA3/s1600/SteveJobs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBmQImVInxvLhMz36Scy8CvET0iJrD-Xa8SzB5jujmSk-mTw06dIoeSQ4LKuF_Ih0hcrSizXcIZ2Z7QPJH1sogJEVyweTx_eXwvvUxfqHt1XSzVb2yFdmCjRC_A91n4szF05B_f3WleEA3/s320/SteveJobs.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Steve Jobs</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">On a lazy Sunday afternoon I googled this speech of Jobs and immediately realized I am reading one of the finest talks of my life. A college drop-out addressing graduates in a talk filled with hardcore realities of life was too good for a commencement speech. For MBA's this kind of talk could be an anathema. (By the way, I am not sure whether he addressed MBA's. ) Universities invariably train us to simplify things. Cliches such as '<i>putting things into perspective</i>', '<i>to make things clear</i>' etc attempt to simplify things. Often they simplify things to the extent of robbing the very life out of the story. Some amount of fuzziness actually spices up the subject. This talk of Jobs has a lot of fuzziness in it. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Probably his philosophy of connecting the dots retrospectively, is one of the most powerful thought-provoking idea. When I realize how I ended up doing this MBA, I was able to connect most of the turning points I had in the past. There were times when I did not know where the road was leading me to. But now, on the eve of convocation, I have an answer to such questions. But the road still extends into some unknown territory. I think this convocation is perhaps a signpost pointing to my destiny, which lies beyond the visible horizon.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIY32bjWhkcnB-ZnPjDGIi6E9EC8jwLgPAB-w-5LlgZVJgvk0IV4yaPmq-DqyVihaGqIyWT6w6ti0uVYgyZUpat8Mj25Zoizhhn363fdVBWd3WrA_TNU4YzBCc6I0oUr3MakjtNIubp4ic/s1600/Rashmi+Bansal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIY32bjWhkcnB-ZnPjDGIi6E9EC8jwLgPAB-w-5LlgZVJgvk0IV4yaPmq-DqyVihaGqIyWT6w6ti0uVYgyZUpat8Mj25Zoizhhn363fdVBWd3WrA_TNU4YzBCc6I0oUr3MakjtNIubp4ic/s320/Rashmi+Bansal.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rashmi and her books</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">On a lighter note a bit of food for thought for my readers. Rashmi Bansal, has so far written two books on entrepreneurship. Both of these had their titles borrowed from this talk of Jobs (<b>'Stay hungry and Stay foolish'</b> and <b>'Connect the Dots'</b>). Now this is the question. What would be the title of her third book (if at all she writes one and tries to coin the title borrowing from Jobs' talk)? </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">My bet is 'Keep looking until you find it' or 'Don't settle'.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Readers can register their bets in the comments. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Prizes are assured for correct bets..</span></div>T.Karthikeyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04108661832956967786noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8566829988681177773.post-82455834717029697542010-07-18T00:14:00.001+05:302010-07-18T00:16:22.537+05:30I Want To Be An Entrepreneur<div style="text-align: justify;">Off late there is a lot of buzz about entrepreneurship. Back in my MBA college I was a member of the entrepreneurship cell where a lot of teachers and industry leaders praised entrepreneurship and in a way exhorted students to take up entrepreneurship. Media reports often put the stories of successful young entrepreneurs and people who give up "comfortable" jobs to pursue entrepreneurship in limelight. All these things had an impact on me and one day I thought I should be an entrepreneur myself. That was great!! But who is an entrepreneur or what is entrepreneurship?</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoY3Nz79y_DLDQ4w9ZH5XZ1h3eYjj2x0wvKaK1Ad8TtGySpnCARzuGI0PYlOcfqQyzogr1FXTnmhifxIMYNw31BmeQD75YivbAiKoC_1WlzojKISJ_6vxuQniGlxoDopQWWBe1AOyz4KIl/s1600/entre1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoY3Nz79y_DLDQ4w9ZH5XZ1h3eYjj2x0wvKaK1Ad8TtGySpnCARzuGI0PYlOcfqQyzogr1FXTnmhifxIMYNw31BmeQD75YivbAiKoC_1WlzojKISJ_6vxuQniGlxoDopQWWBe1AOyz4KIl/s200/entre1.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;">My MBA-trained mind wanted a definition to put things into a perspective. India's National Knowledge Commission (NKC) study report came in handy. ‘<i>Entrepreneurship is the professional application of knowledge, skills and </i><i>competencies and/or of monetizing a new idea, by an individual or a set of people by launching an enterprise de novo or diversifying from an existing one (distinct from seeking self employment as in a profession or </i><i>trade)' </i>says the report, '<i>thus to pursue growth while generating wealth, employment and </i><i>social good'. </i>Pretty long definition isn't it? </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">I thought probably I would speculate my own definition. Snippets read and heard from different sources helped me in this process. So who is an entrepreneur? Any person who runs an enterprise should be an entrepreneur. Isn't it? One story came to my mind. There is a mom and pop shop (kirana as we call it) close to my house. From the day I remember the shop had the same kind of items (stock keeping units) on its racks. Not much changed. Slowly lot of shops cropped up and this kirana's market share was eroded. One day the kirana owner's daughter took up the management of the shop. She invested a good amount of her personal fortune to change the shop. Suddenly things started changing and the shop started doing well again.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Now we have two persons before us. Both of them ran an enterprise. Are both of them entrepreneurs? Not really. An entrepreneur is not a person who just runs an enterprise. But a person who enterprises. Entrepreneurship is a state of mind. In my opinion entrepreneurship doesn't have anything to do with whether one is self-employed or on somebody else's payrolls. It is just enough for one to be enterprising in thoughts and actions to be an entrepreneur. So in my opinion the daughter of the kirana shop owner is an entrepreneur while her father was probably not. She didn't run the shop as her father did. She took some risk, thought different, was bold enough to turn down established traditions of business and finally successfully turned around the business.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb7Xvp9cezS0M6uguPWUphHQ-UUCeEADqxiYe2ZLGn9X76evAwChoEt-ltGXHsVaRmBH8Cx5VLbngdg8LzP-6YidZViaM_dZjZUUA-fwD1dyOGMtWwzoFKWm-vxTn6HflMplYLo8ibTDAH/s1600/entrepreneurs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb7Xvp9cezS0M6uguPWUphHQ-UUCeEADqxiYe2ZLGn9X76evAwChoEt-ltGXHsVaRmBH8Cx5VLbngdg8LzP-6YidZViaM_dZjZUUA-fwD1dyOGMtWwzoFKWm-vxTn6HflMplYLo8ibTDAH/s400/entrepreneurs.jpg" width="390" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">Many of us would have seen people working for public or private companies really enterprising in their jobs. May be a corporation school teacher will go beyond her job requirements to improve the hygiene levels at the school. Such examples are replete in our society. People occupying crucial positions in an organisation play an important role in taking the organisation forward. <b>Vikram Sarabhai</b> was not an owner of any business. He had a vision for Indian space program. He played a pivotal role not only in establishing ISRO but also transferring his vision to his successors. Some of the greatest scientists like<b> C.V.Raman</b> are entrepreneurs of highest quality. I cannot restrain myself from drawing a reference to civil servants. When chief election commissioners used to be a 'harmless' bunch of people, <b>TN Seshan</b> (former CEC) rejected status quo and took risks to achieve his vision of free and fair polls. And what about <b>E.Sreedharan</b> (the man behind Delhi Metro). His project management skills and leadership qualities need no introduction. These people never owned any business or company of their own but are entrepreneurs of first grade.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">All these people are entrepreneurs because when they had the option of leading their lives just like any body else, they turned that down. They took risks, questioned status quo, had the courage to commit mistakes, had the patience to bounce back and last but not least had a vision for themselves and the organisations they represented. Going back to the definition of NKC, these people did apply their knowledge professionally to to pursue growth while generating wealth, employment and social good. They did not launch any enterprise but were enterprising in mind and action. This is the gist of entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship is a state of mind.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Now I have an answer. Being employed in some company will no longer stop me from becoming an entrepreneur. Wherever I am probably I will not satisfy myself by taking the time-tested path. May be I should try to do something new, something that is over and above what is expected of me and have a vision for myself and my organisation. I should assume some risk and more importantly take responsibility for the consequences. Hopefully I do not the jeopardize the comforts of my family in the process !!</div>T.Karthikeyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04108661832956967786noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8566829988681177773.post-63860976513909177252010-06-10T08:52:00.001+05:302010-06-10T22:45:27.461+05:30Did Harappans speak Tamil ??<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvuz-VC6eILR6kEOt-kXSy8S-frMAKshaO-InnfcFxBF2wIsRJ1260feoBJEcP61Rw0ZMcSdL1axa_3XYAu0RzlO-lSu5ve9Vg_p7q1JF0ja69zVcaRGUwY2tfWkmjQYnJ2bqbnJnPpKxP/s1600/seal+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" height="289" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvuz-VC6eILR6kEOt-kXSy8S-frMAKshaO-InnfcFxBF2wIsRJ1260feoBJEcP61Rw0ZMcSdL1axa_3XYAu0RzlO-lSu5ve9Vg_p7q1JF0ja69zVcaRGUwY2tfWkmjQYnJ2bqbnJnPpKxP/s320/seal+1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p><i>It was a fine morning in Harappa in 2398 BCE. Sun was shining brightly when a joyous procession of people proceeded towards a local temple. A lean man appeared out of the temple and people shouted ‘Muruga.. Muruga’. A man and woman wearing ceremonial dress moved towards the lean man standing in front of the crowd. The lean man performed a religious rite and asked the woman to look northwards. She said ‘ Vada Meen Pol Naan Iruppen’ (I shall remain as firm as the northern pole-star).</i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">If the Dravidian hypothesis of Indus script as proposed by <b>Professor Asko Parpola</b> of Helsinki University were to be true, the above scene could have happened in Harappa and Mohenjadaro. <br />
<a name='more'></a>Archaeological surveys have found that the Indus Valley civilization dates back to 3300 BCE and it flourished between 2500 and 1900 BCE. The Indus writing system is one of the oldest and yet-to-be deciphered script systems. Various archaeological excavations have discovered piles of Indus seals and pots that contain text written using the Indus script. Many attempts have been made in interpreting the Indus script. The hypothesis proposed by Asko Parpola has been one of the most logical and holistic attempt at deciphering the script. Recognising his research initiatives the Government of Tamilnadu has chosen him for the prestigious Kalaignar M.Karunanidhi Classical Tamil Award to be awarded in the upcoming World Conference on Classical Tamil 2010. Parpola is also the author of the standard text book on Indus script system titled ‘<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Deciphering the Indus Script’.</i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU34zXu4Pdh6uFSlvksCWVN4NlR9h_28xFbwV-c7ZZmbIyAXkNBJSScSyE253TbJX4g8Ew2krmgF9pE22ptYn7NmMgOj940zL34ZmVByZLKNo-1G1acFrH_o9Hh3AuA0fmqlSay3i6N1CA/s1600/Dr+Asko+Parpola.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" height="183" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU34zXu4Pdh6uFSlvksCWVN4NlR9h_28xFbwV-c7ZZmbIyAXkNBJSScSyE253TbJX4g8Ew2krmgF9pE22ptYn7NmMgOj940zL34ZmVByZLKNo-1G1acFrH_o9Hh3AuA0fmqlSay3i6N1CA/s200/Dr+Asko+Parpola.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;">According to Prof.Parpola the Indus script is a logo-syllabic script where a symbol can denote the thing it represents or (as a rebus) denote a thing which has a phonetic sound similar to it. The rebus is the basis of phonetisation of early writing systems and it operated using homophony ( phonetic similarity between two words). A very common example is ‘Q’. ‘Q’ can denote the English alphabet ‘Q’ or the English word ‘Queue’ which is pronounced as ‘Q’. This is a simple illustration of a rebus. In our daily lives we use several such rebuses. For instances while typing SMS many of us have the habit of coding the English words ‘<i>to</i>’ as ‘<i>2</i>’, ‘<i>for</i>’ as ‘<i>4</i>’ and names like ‘<i>Kesavan</i>’ as ‘<i>K7</i>’. An example of pictorial rebus representation that Parpola presents is, ‘<i>to be or not to be</i>’ can be written with pictures as ‘<i>2 bee oar knot 2 bee</i>’.</div><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">The Indus script has several symbols/logos which are common things like a fish, fig tree, crab, bangles etc. The sequences of such symbols found on seals don’t seem to make any sense when one tries to explain the literal meaning of the symbols. So only the rebuses of the symbols could make any sense. To explore this option one should know the underlying phonetic language and pronunciation of the symbols. It is here the genius of Prof. Parpola and his team should be appreciated. They experimented with many different language systems that existed at the time of creation of Indus script. The earliest texts in Sanskrit appear at about 1000 BCE while Indus valley seals later than 1600 BCE were almost entirely absent. Further the Rig Veda doesn’t mention anything about the Indus valley civilization. For these reasons Prof. Parpola rejected Sanskrit to be the underlying language.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Antiquity of Tamil is very well known. Though the oldest surviving text of Tamil is dated around 300 BCE (much later than the decline of Indus valley civilization), there are sufficient evidences pointing to the existence of Tamil language to much earlier periods. The most interesting revelation in the exploration of Dravidian hypothesis is that when one tried to interpret Indus script with Tamil as the underlying language, suddenly the script made a lot of sense. For instance fish symbol is one of the most common Indus script symbols. The tamil word for fish is <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 28px;">மீன்</span> (pronounced as mean). At the same time this tamil word also denotes a star (celestial body). A fish symbol found on a seal cannot always take a trivial meaning of fish. But it can mean a star (an astrological idea).</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">The fish symbol of often accompanied by six vertical strokes or seven vertical strokes. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">6 strokes + Fish = Pleiades (the Taurus star cluster which has 6 stars)</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">7 strokes + Fish = Ursa Major (the star cluster with seven stars)</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKG3Zm3LeKcuBnrhbizgUYxQ6YkzxrU2hmcjvMg5GjKw1WXOYpqe6GtkDtMBm6Sy3f1BCPMG2iD7dnflbKwee47WhpTOx2j2TgjkbvazStZ1K4IK53vJ_wyoeLQ4SPpqlelnyno3I3f_Si/s1600/seal2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" height="204" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKG3Zm3LeKcuBnrhbizgUYxQ6YkzxrU2hmcjvMg5GjKw1WXOYpqe6GtkDtMBm6Sy3f1BCPMG2iD7dnflbKwee47WhpTOx2j2TgjkbvazStZ1K4IK53vJ_wyoeLQ4SPpqlelnyno3I3f_Si/s320/seal2.JPG" width="320" /></a>Such representations could have had some special meaning in Indus language. Another frequent sequence is “fig tree + fish”. Assuming that fish symbol points to star, as earlier, we move on to find what a fig tree could represent. The fig tree (also called a banyan tree) is a very common tree in Indian subcontinent. The air-roots which look like ropes are characteristic of these trees. In classical Tamil the banyan tree was called <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 28px;">வட மரம் </span>(pronounced as vada-maram) which can be literally translated as rope-tree. The first part of the name, <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 28px;">வட </span>(pronounced as vada) also means north in classical tamil. Thus homonymy connects a banyan fig with north(direction). Now the sequence of fig + fish can mean North Star. In Indian mythology the North Star is called the Arundhathi star and is seen as a symbol of marital fidelity. Pointing to the North Star to a newly married bride is a ritual that is followed till date in many Vedic marriages in India.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Parpola’s team proposed that the famous Hindu war-god Murugan or Skanda could have been worshipped by Harappans. They identified seals with symbols that can point towards this hypothesis. Lord Murugan’s association with Pleiades (6 stars) can be used as key in this respect. According to Hindu mythology, Lord Murugan was raised by six foster-mothers who are believed to be the six stars in the Taurus star cluster. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyMr0uOj5iWsY6HroIznZHtvn3-27JcZQahHW8KXHikIPteK2-8HBwRdbh0sFgvU9C-o58agM-bMsveh_xpb2MGUlEt9POssJOKDgbGqRGOFVmvhTjQSjK7kCqb4vMSsBfyeBasEyFJVJV/s1600/seal+3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyMr0uOj5iWsY6HroIznZHtvn3-27JcZQahHW8KXHikIPteK2-8HBwRdbh0sFgvU9C-o58agM-bMsveh_xpb2MGUlEt9POssJOKDgbGqRGOFVmvhTjQSjK7kCqb4vMSsBfyeBasEyFJVJV/s320/seal+3.JPG" /></a><o:p></o:p></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">In one of the Indus seals the ‘6 strokes + fish’ symbols are followed by two intersecting rings and two long vertical strokes. Here again the Dravidian hypothesis provides some clue. In ancient Tamil a ring is called <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 28px;">முருகு</span> (pronounced as mu-ru-gu). The word also could mean ‘a young man’ or ‘a baby boy’. The name of the war-lord is Murugan which means young and handsome. Even today married women pray towards Lord Murugan for boy babies. As this sequence (of 2 intersecting circles) is very frequently found on seals whose obverse side depicts a sitting god, Prof. Parpola speculates that Harappans worshipped Lord Murugan. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">The above examples are some of the popular interpretations of Prof. Parpola. One point needs to be clarified here. Whenever the term ‘dravidian’ or ‘aryan’ is used in this context, it is not used in racial sense but a linguistic sense. To be frank there are no Aryans or Dravidians in India now, as today’s people have undergone millennia of racial intermixture. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Can the Indus script be decisively deciphered? Have the Harappans left behind any ‘Rosetta Stone’? These are the questions that many scholars of Indus Valley civilization ask. Undoubtedly Prof. Asko Parpola’s contribution to the field of Indus script decipherment has been the most complete and successful till date. But still deciphering Indus script would need finding more seals with longer Indus script or Indus’ Rosetta Stone (a bilingual stone containing Indus script with some other deciphered script). More research into the archaeological findings can help us in deciphering the ancient Indus script and throw light on our ancient history. Prof. Parpola's research is indeed a confidence booster in this field of inquiry.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div>T.Karthikeyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04108661832956967786noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8566829988681177773.post-2650053654946227152010-06-06T13:25:00.002+05:302010-06-10T22:46:18.074+05:30Spelling Bee Champs<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4VkgWTOfOKLBkVH-HBk5zb8H1O-JiDHJf7s2_8hf3JMEjWYaEHgtouWeUpHhsZ9ZbX_ZxSymHAT2ndmOSJKKvvrr7yCsiaUbG9tUinbItvVfB1C9aqz7NSWQLclLjOCwnEfgR0zyHezvO/s1600/Anamika+with+Kaavya.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4VkgWTOfOKLBkVH-HBk5zb8H1O-JiDHJf7s2_8hf3JMEjWYaEHgtouWeUpHhsZ9ZbX_ZxSymHAT2ndmOSJKKvvrr7yCsiaUbG9tUinbItvVfB1C9aqz7NSWQLclLjOCwnEfgR0zyHezvO/s320/Anamika+with+Kaavya.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It is a hat-trick for Indian-Americans in the Scripp's National Spelling Bee Championship. </span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Anamika Veeramani</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> (seen seated in the photo with last year's champ Kaavya Shivashankran) is the winner of the 83rd edition of the event. Anamika (14) finished fifth in the last year event and was the bookers' favourite this year. Anamika, a composed and confident girl, crossed nine rounds of hurdles before clinching the title by spelling '<i>stromuhr</i>' ( </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 5px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 5px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">An instrument for measuring the quantity of blood that flows per unit of time through a blood vessel). The different words she spelled to win this coveted championship are </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>Exacerbate </i>(increase in severity of a disease), <i>Foggara</i> (I couldn't find its meaning), <i>Osteomyelitis</i> ( an infection of bone), <i>Mirin</i> (a japanese condiment), <i>Nahcolite</i> ( a mineral of sodium), <i>Epiphysis</i> (end portion of a long bone), <i>Juvia</i> ( a Brazilian nut).</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a name='more'></a>Spelling Bee, one of the most famous national juvenile events, gets media coverage on par with any other events. The main sponsor for the event is E.W.Scripps Company, a diversified media firm operating out of Cincinnati. The event aims to improve school-going kids’ spelling skills, vocabulary and help them develop proper English usage.</span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The video footages of the event show Anamika displaying herself in a very gracious manner. Though a faint vein of nervousness could be seen on her face just before she started spelling the final word, she delivered the spelling very calmly. She continued to keep her cool even immediately after winning the event. When young girls break into tears or scream in the defining moment which is typical of any beauty pageant it was refreshingly different to see a young girl receiving her most anticipated moment quietly. </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Anamika is the eighth Indian-American kid to win this prestigious title. Indian kids have won the championship eight times in the last 12 years. In an interview to ABC News, Anamika said t</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">he title is the culmination of her seven year labour. She also </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">expressed her desire to grow into a cardiovascular surgeon. Coincidentally the title-clinching word that she spelled has an interesting connection with her professional ambition. Wish her all the success.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Read my post on the </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">last year's Spelling Bee Champion, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Kaavya Shivashankran, </span><a href="http://karthiksgraffiti.blogspot.com/2009/05/guerdon-and-laodicean-indian-spelling.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">here</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.</span></span>T.Karthikeyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04108661832956967786noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8566829988681177773.post-65229227150714734252010-05-19T16:11:00.000+05:302010-05-19T16:11:51.752+05:30A Note on the World Conference on Classical Tamil<div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2WoQKJJy5PZW5Jg1qvDbeGq06QA5h57VT4e1PoKTCK0OKLVi1XWRQTFY_XcLxpyQpsPoYw2RL15-3s6nmdFqbl7oc4SVSs9f-Aqa8zFF73_0kbZ3yURvA5KW4JAJuv_PNswXcT3kyIonR/s1600/Classical+Tamil+Conference.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="58" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2WoQKJJy5PZW5Jg1qvDbeGq06QA5h57VT4e1PoKTCK0OKLVi1XWRQTFY_XcLxpyQpsPoYw2RL15-3s6nmdFqbl7oc4SVSs9f-Aqa8zFF73_0kbZ3yURvA5KW4JAJuv_PNswXcT3kyIonR/s400/Classical+Tamil+Conference.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">I feel very delighted to write this post commemorating the World Conference on Classical Tamil. This article presents the basic idea of a classical language, position of Tamil language and the scholarly research initiatives pursued worldwide.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">A classical language is that language which is the root of whole set of languages and traditions. To quote the University of California at Berkeley (UCB) professor George Hart, ‘<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">a classical language is one which is of considerable antiquity, has an independent literary tradition and has a </i></div><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a name='more'></a>rich body of ancient literature</i>’. There are a few languages in the world that satisfy these stringent and subjective conditions beyond doubt and debate. Greek and Latin are classical languages of Europe. Tamil though is fit to be treated on par with its European cousins, is a late entrant to this elite club. <br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMB7rnwLid_7dzNd9qjNjkGkclc4UwZ4gijn3za_bC7__qx9zn8FlKJ1Bqr3Ikay_clxY8hK3hGTVMacKEWEpQbTYRygUt5FQhg6C0whXzwA9Nv3yXUEGJ0itWYQKyNMI4F7eydEi-AsNe/s1600/george+hart.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="161" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMB7rnwLid_7dzNd9qjNjkGkclc4UwZ4gijn3za_bC7__qx9zn8FlKJ1Bqr3Ikay_clxY8hK3hGTVMacKEWEpQbTYRygUt5FQhg6C0whXzwA9Nv3yXUEGJ0itWYQKyNMI4F7eydEi-AsNe/s200/george+hart.gif" width="200" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Professor Hart in a letter to the Government of India regarding the status of Tamil as a classical language states that Tamil is as old as Latin is and older than Arabic. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Tholkaapiyam</i>, oldest surviving literary work in Tamil is commonly attributed to the 200 BCE. Earlier works in Tamil had literally no influence from other languages especially Sanskrit. But with the passage of time Tamil borrowed from Sanskrit grammar and vocabulary.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Though Indian Government was slow in recognizing the classical nature of the language, scholars across the world have done well to recognize the classical component of this language very early. Indologists and Indian philologists across the world have done some ground-breaking researches in Tamil. The occupation of Europeans in India kick-started modern research in Tamil. Earliest researchers were the missionaries like Bartholomeas Zeigenbalg, J.E. Gruendler, Robert Caldwell and others of the 18<sup>th</sup> century. Rev G.U.Pope who published an English translation of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Thirukural</i> deserves special mention here. His tombstone reads ‘<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">a humble student of Tamil</i>’. Such dedicated enthusiasts paved the path for some serious research overseas. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">In the recent times the role of Indian Diaspora has been significant in promoting research and learning in Tamil. Tamils living in North America initiated the setting up of a Tamil Chair at UCB. With an initial endowment of USD 400,000, the chair was setup in 1996 with Dr. George Hart as the chairman. This organization has created an excellent platform for sharing and building the knowledge of Tamil. The website of this organization displays reports of Annual Tamil Conferences that were held regularly for the past six years. Today this chair supports a good amount of students at graduate and doctoral levels.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">A classical language is one which boasts about its past. For a language to remain classical, it needs to maintain status quo. On the other hand for a language to survive it needs to adapt to the changing environment. This is a classical dilemma for a classical language. In overcoming this ‘<i>do or die</i>’ dilemma many classical languages have ceased to exist as an effort to protect its classical character. There cannot be a second thought about Tamil evolving to serve modern communication needs. Forums like <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Kanini Tamil</i> (Tamil in Computing) are welcome steps in rendering Tamil a suitable language for 21<sup>st</sup> century. Special funds should be established to support writers who generate quality literary works. At the same time there is a need to preserve its ancient roots. Above all modern research should be pursued vigourously to bring out the salience of the language in a more elegant fashion.</div>T.Karthikeyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04108661832956967786noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8566829988681177773.post-46743574600729841582010-05-05T10:14:00.009+05:302010-05-11T23:50:25.913+05:30University's Role in Nation Building -MIT's Study<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3EidW33wJUkap6qZ1fWUkq_yZOfH9JfBdWZH4swuLMkStRD6aW3Fu9F7HnCFKBAxrFFZp9zEgJfsl5NHDnkhx7-M0MgSLAK6NRPwJJj15W35YSOK-x1tTENvTDLWEQQ4fVT_6mPtMHWWY/s1600/MIT+Sloan+School.bmp" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5467772822523947730" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3EidW33wJUkap6qZ1fWUkq_yZOfH9JfBdWZH4swuLMkStRD6aW3Fu9F7HnCFKBAxrFFZp9zEgJfsl5NHDnkhx7-M0MgSLAK6NRPwJJj15W35YSOK-x1tTENvTDLWEQQ4fVT_6mPtMHWWY/s200/MIT+Sloan+School.bmp" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 78px; margin: 0 10px 10px 0; width: 200px;" /></a><br />
<div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';">A country is, often, what it is and what its people are. Human resources play a crucial role in the rise and fall of a nation. An island nation called England ruled over half of the world just because of its strong human resources. Almost all countries realise the importance of human resources. But how many of them have worked to improve and harness the ability of this resource? Not many. A country's educational system plays an important role in developing and harnessing the potential of human resources.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';"></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';"><a name='more'></a>The modern educational as instutionalised during the the British rule is based on the foundation established by Lord McCaulay. The objective of this was to churn out clerks and Subedhars who can play the role of a clog in the massive wheel of British administration. This system pretty much continues even half a century post independence. So what has this system achieved, a tribe of bureaucrats who can work very efficiently as long as they find precedents.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';">What this system has denied the nation is a tribe of entrepreneurs who can think independently and work autonomously. I do not mean to say that we haven't produced any entrepreneurs. But the education system has successfully thwarted the flowering of a whole society of entrepreneurs. When one speaks of education system's role in pruning entrepreneurship, universities cannot go without reference. Universities sitting at the top of education pyramid play an important role in imbibing the requisite skills and instilling confidence in the minds of its young students and help them to take up entrepreneurship. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';">A recent study done by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Sloan School reveals what a technical university can do for a country's economy. 'Research and technology intensive universities through their entrepreneurial spinoffs have a great impact on the economies of a country' says the report. According to the study the total number of companies founded by MIT alumni (at the end of 2003) was 25,800 which employ some 3.3 million people and generate an annual revenue of $2 trillion. On the revenue basis these companies are generating equivalent of eleventh-largest economy in the world.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';">The report has identified several trends and interesting facts about its alumni-entrepreneur-community. The study has found that about 30% of foreign students who studied at MIT have started their own companies at some point in their lives. This rate is found to be much higher than the rate for US nationals. More interesting aspect of this statistics is that half of those companies created by '<i>imported</i>' entrepreneurs are based out of US generating $16 billion annually and employing about 1 million people. This clearly explains the US government's enthusiasm in granting J-visas.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';">Will Indian universities take note of this report of MIT. Entrepreneurship is sine qua non for the speedy development of the nation. It will not be sufficient for our star universities and top professional institutes like IITs and IIMs to just concentrate on preparing world-class professionals. Universities need to become den of budding entrepreneurs. They need to establish and build a culture conducive for entrepreneurship. This task essentially involves motivating calculated risk-taking behaviour among students.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://entrepreneurship.mit.edu/Downloads/Entrepreneurial_Impact_The_Role_of_MIT.pdf"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';">MIT Sloan's report can be downloaded by clicking here</span></a></div>T.Karthikeyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04108661832956967786noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8566829988681177773.post-30318309333039288412010-04-19T11:03:00.005+05:302010-04-20T00:13:57.898+05:30Long Live CKP<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAjUQuBD3ZZKb9XJZocrdbBsWgmVDEdihUtoiyK_KdiD_mG51tQPZs8x1qQD74Z_DPwDdmsIF9W7U4P3R2OCNpaVBUtgKd3fLcUS5xe3xZCoRCuXWJYsbXOSyYWjcHbw2dacnT_bohjfar/s1600/Mother+Terasa+Award+Ceremony.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAjUQuBD3ZZKb9XJZocrdbBsWgmVDEdihUtoiyK_KdiD_mG51tQPZs8x1qQD74Z_DPwDdmsIF9W7U4P3R2OCNpaVBUtgKd3fLcUS5xe3xZCoRCuXWJYsbXOSyYWjcHbw2dacnT_bohjfar/s320/Mother+Terasa+Award+Ceremony.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5461917438520406834" /></a><br />Writing an obituary is always a difficult task. Especially when it is about a person whom one knows only vicariously. CK Prahalad, world-renowned management thinker passed away on 16th April. He was the Paul and Ruth McCracken Distinguished Professor of Corporate Strategy at Ross School of Business, Michigan University.<div><br /></div><div> I share a special relationship with him. He is a distinguished alumnus of Loyola College (Chennai), the same college from where I secured my post graduate diploma in management. As a management student I had an opportunity to read some of the works of this management guru. Although I did not spend sufficient time to understand and reflect his ideas, still some of his ideas provoked a few thoughts in me. One of my earlier posts also talked about that. (<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">See </span><a href="http://karthiksgraffiti.blogspot.com/2009/05/interview-with-ck-prahalad.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">http://karthiksgraffiti.blogspot.com /2009/05/interview-with-ck-prahalad.html</span></a>). <div><br /></div><div>I still remember Prahalad's visit to LIBA early last year to give away the Mother Terasa Award for Corporate Citizen. The picture above shows Mr.Prahalad along with other dignitaries during the ceremony that took place on 23 March 2009. During this occasion he presented a talk on India@75. </div><div><br /></div><div>Although I have been exposed to many ideas of CKP (as a part of my academic exercises), the idea that impressed me a lot was the one where CKP describes the kind of innovation that is needed in the 21st century. N=1 and R=G is the simple one-liner that he proposed. This simply meant, treat the customer as an individual and mobilise resources globally to serve him. This is a radical idea and is the best possible exposition of mass customization. </div><div><br /></div><div>Being a management guru is all about mastering the art of abstraction. CKP is an unreputed master in that. Most of the ideas of CKP sound common-sensical. Some of us may even feel that it is the case with most of the management thinkers. It may be true. But by bringing commonplace knowledge into a framework, this management guru has helped us overcome our mental blocks which hitherto prevented us from looking at things the way we see them with the guru's framework.</div><div><br /></div><div>Management theory, especially business strategy, is a fast evolving field of inquiry. There are many more questions to be answered and dimensions to be unearthed. More and more excellent theoreticians will make their mark in this field. But the vacuum created by CKP's demise will remain a vacuum for a long time to come. Long live CKP.</div><div> </div></div>T.Karthikeyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04108661832956967786noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8566829988681177773.post-20401539651570220782010-04-02T00:21:00.003+05:302010-04-02T00:42:56.762+05:30Forbidden Forbidden<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.rangan-datta.info/images/Tso%20moriri1.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 620px; height: 400px;" src="http://www.rangan-datta.info/images/Tso%20moriri1.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.indianwanderers.com/images/(LADAKH)%20Nubra%20Valley.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 500px; height: 335px;" src="http://www.indianwanderers.com/images/(LADAKH)%20Nubra%20Valley.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.indianwanderers.com/images/(LADAKH)%20Nubra%20Valley.jpg"><br /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1210/851429608_d1c767003b.jpg"></a><br />I have never been a traveler. The last long holiday I had was five day stay at Prot Blair some five years back. Now I am again on a long holiday. This time to Ladakh in Kashmir. The picturesque, adventurous, Buddhist part of Kashmir is the holiday home. <div><br /></div><div>This region's sobriquet is the forbidden land which is how Tibet of China is also known. This may be because of the historical links between Ladakh and Tibet. From preliminary researches I understand that weather may be a bit inclement but should be thrilling. A lot of places are there to be visited. I am sure the geography of the region is going to be splendid. Excited to feel the lunar-like surface of Ladakh.</div><div><br /></div><div>This holiday also presents me a interesting opportunity to write a travelogue. I knew nothing of the basics or essentials of a travelogue. I have never tried one. May be I learn by soiling my hands straight away. I shall publish the travelogue as a multi-part series in this blog. A lot of information that my readers may need to plan their trip to Ladakh will be a part of it. </div><div><br /></div><div>Bye for now. I will back with Ladakh posts soon.</div>T.Karthikeyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04108661832956967786noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8566829988681177773.post-12097204100525277182010-04-01T01:57:00.000+05:302010-04-01T01:58:40.866+05:30Gurubhyo Namaha.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCWl1qFUk4e2NZjh4tGNi1D7nrcY5b2Ts1ivtjyT2GmSHk9kGKFGhJ7R_4eGg1jgBfkb06CaBEWSJoGnYaWj3fr-Ap15ZabIdzN5nFOGNYcAa5aVlNW0BL12Iv6TmCX2JUvcoa0DRn89MS/s1600/Gurubhyo+Namaha.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCWl1qFUk4e2NZjh4tGNi1D7nrcY5b2Ts1ivtjyT2GmSHk9kGKFGhJ7R_4eGg1jgBfkb06CaBEWSJoGnYaWj3fr-Ap15ZabIdzN5nFOGNYcAa5aVlNW0BL12Iv6TmCX2JUvcoa0DRn89MS/s320/Gurubhyo+Namaha.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5454888180345518498" /></a><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">" </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Without inspiration the best powers of the mind remain dormant. There is a fuel in us which needs to be ignited with sparks </span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">" said Johann Herder, an 18th century German philosopher. Being inspired is always a great feeling. I write this post to thank my teachers at LIBA who inspired me a lot. Hence the title </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Gurubhyo Namaha (meaning salutations to the many gurus).</span></span></i><div style="text-align: justify;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">In my two year stay at Loyola Institute of Business Adminstration (LIBA), Chennai, I saw more than thirty teachers. All of them taught me valuable lessons both within the classroom and outside. But four of them made deep impressions in me. In the following I recollect with gratitude some of my memories. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Professor AC Fernando (ACF as we call him) taught me Economics. I had a formal exposure to economics only at LIBA. I always aspired to become a writer. ACF as the editor of LIBA's official magazine, Management Matters, recognised a writer in me and published two of my book reviews in the magazine. Winning an editor's appreciation is always a dream for any aspiring writer. For me the dream came true at the most unexpected moment. Other articles that featured in the same section were from some of the most experienced teachers. That made me feel very humble. I have always admired his thirst and passion for writing. He is one of the very few teachers at LIBA who continually publishes books. Dear professor Fernando thank you for the generous gesture and thank you for inspiring me.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Professor U Srinivasa Raghavan taught me Retail Management and Business Strategy. He is a great teacher. He is a man who believes in simple living and high thinking. Each and every word he uttered in the classroom reverberated with credibility. He had an illustrious career before he took up teaching at LIBA. He retired as Secretary to Government of India. Sometimes back I was a civil services aspirant. I missed to convert a golden opportunity into an IAS job. I have pondered a lot on the possible reasons behind my failure and would conclude everytime saying 'it was tough luck that day'. But during one of his Strategy sessions he presented the 'Vision Statement' that he prepared for India Posts way back in 1994. As he presented the statement slowly I realised the real reason behind my failure. I wanted to cry out but just shed a few tears regretting my failure. Then I thought probably I should have met this man before my IAS interview. Dear professor Raghavan thank you so much for helping me understand something that I never understood before and thank you for inspiring me.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Professor Jayaram K Iyer ( JK as we call him) taught me Marketing Management. In fact he taught me more than that. JK is popular for his characteristic style of interaction with the students both inside and outside classroom. He taught me a course on Research Methods. In his first session he threw a question at us asking 'Can mother's love be measured?'. Almost the entire class said 'nay'. But he slowly proceeded proselytizing students and made them believe that it is indeed possible. But at the end of the session I was still not impressed with the lecture. Slowly it dawned upon me that the true purpose of the session is not to make me believe that mother's love can be measured but it is to drive home the message that anything and everything can be measured. Today I would attribute my interest for research, however rudimentary it is, to that lecture of JK. He also introduced me to different interesting areas of inquiry like Behavioral Finance and Social Media Marketing. Dear professor JK thank you for raising the bar every time I came to you and thank you for inspiring me.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Professor SV Vijayaraghavan taught me a course on Financial Markets. He is a dedicated and energetic teacher with a long corporate career behind him. He added a lot of value to the course by leveraging his practical experience. In my limited interactions with him outside the classroom I understood that he is a self-actualised (Maslow's ideal) person. When many teachers work to maximise their returns by visiting maximum number of campuses and teaching as many sessions as possible, here was one teacher who attached a bit more importance to teaching than to the returns it generated. The initiatives he took out of his way to help some of the slow learners of my class (myself included) spoke volumes about his integrity and passion for teaching. Dear professor Raghavan thank you for teaching me the essentials of Finance and thank you for inspiring me.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">There were a few professors who visited LIBA campus to teach. Among them there were two professors who inspired me a lot. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Professor Ananthraman taught me Inter-personnel Dynamics. He has a very long academic career. His characteristic laid-back approach in the classroom impressed me a lot. He used to remark that 'I consider people who bunk my lectures as geniuses' (though I never bunked his lectures). He is a true genius. One thing that inspired me a lot was the fact that he actively published in leading international journals, a hall-mark of a great teacher. Thank you professor for inspiring me. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Professor Mohan Kuruvilla taught me Business-to-Business Marketing Management. He is popular for his characteristic Bihari-Hindi laced lectures. Most of his students would remember phrases like '</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 29px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">याद है <span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:medium;">वो </span> दिन साहब ', ' Sheela and Shyamsundar' etc. He taught me one of the most important lessons of my life - 'Marketplace will make you humble'. Thank you professor for inspiring me.</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 29px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 29px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Sometimes in the future I aspire to become a teacher. All my teachers whom I remembered here will be my sources of inspiration then. Thank you teachers. <span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">गुरुभ्यो नमः । </span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div>T.Karthikeyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04108661832956967786noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8566829988681177773.post-63996434404776898582010-03-21T10:58:00.011+05:302010-03-23T20:29:17.426+05:30A Suitable Farewell<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggIZRD5MWMgsHldpP-po5NKYr3bCQtlGv4OTi5HDzpsmOSSwNV3dva768yv45nX3NiOTzND4vyqOLcK_o9yDk06C9CmTJIn_2hYpjhf56oq62rRKXEyUWmRMlX3C1m5O4O3quc_Q2u_60J/s1600-h/DSCN1374.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggIZRD5MWMgsHldpP-po5NKYr3bCQtlGv4OTi5HDzpsmOSSwNV3dva768yv45nX3NiOTzND4vyqOLcK_o9yDk06C9CmTJIn_2hYpjhf56oq62rRKXEyUWmRMlX3C1m5O4O3quc_Q2u_60J/s320/DSCN1374.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5450992501943282994" /></a><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; "><span style="color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Bidding adieu has always been a very tough task for most of the people. It is same case with me. But the toughness is differential in nature. There are always three kinds of people. First are those people to whom we can bid goodbye without much difficulty. They are good friends and wishing them goodbye and great future will be an enjoyable moment. Second is the category to which bidding goodbye is indifferent. So far I have seen people in both the categories. But the macro-majority of them belonged to the first category.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; "><span><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">There is a third category of people. To this category of people I have never been able to get my acts together and utter 'goodbye' because I never wanted to do that. With such people I can only exchange silent glances. A farewell party becomes more valuable and memorable only when there are more people to whom one cannot bid goodbye but only silent glances.</span></span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">The farewell at LIBA was a valuable and memorable one because there were a few belonging to the third category. Though I wasn’t there due to ‘some’ reasons, it was a suitable farewell for me. </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">When I joined LIBA I had my fair share of ups and downs of life. I did not expect a lot of metamorphosis to happen here. To my surprise LIBA managed to make deep impressions on me. Most of it came from the most unexpected quarter, my peers. Most of my peers were unique individuals and offered me some unique lessons. I learned a few and missed a few. The collective impact of my peer group helped me to learn a lot about myself. Thank you guys for all those invaluable, timeless lessons.(The picture shows some of the good friends I earned at LIBA.)</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">No farewell will be complete without confessions and apologies. First let me start with general confession and apology. I tried my level best not to hurt anybody here but certain times I failed. I own responsibility for my rude behavior and apologize to all my peers whom I have hurt knowingly or unknowingly.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; "><span style="color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">I</span></span></span><span style="color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">n my opinion the </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><b>m</b></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">o</span></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">s</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">t ab</span></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">o</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">minable sin is hu</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">r</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">ting someone who loves you t</span></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">r</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">uly. I committed that heinous sin too. No apolog</span></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">y</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"> c</span></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">a</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">n be sincere in this case. He</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">n</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">ce I would l</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">i</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">ke to make your apology con</span></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">t</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">ingent upon my not committing t</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">h</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">is sin ag</span></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">a</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">in. I hope this would be a fitting punishment.</span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">‘</span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Time cooks all of us in its cauldron</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">’ said Yudhishtra in Mahabharata. With passing time many of our priorities may change. There may be someday when I see one of my good friends on some road and that friend doesn’t have time to stop by me and say ‘hello’. I am also prone to such behavior. When such a thing happens let us not curse each other. Our priorities are bound to change with passing time – a very natural phenomenon.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Now it is time for us to break our hiatus at LIBA and venture into the real world that keeps throwing surprises at us every moment. Let us try and live a worthy life. Wish you all the very best.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>T.Karthikeyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04108661832956967786noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8566829988681177773.post-62152352199562603412010-03-05T22:56:00.011+05:302010-03-18T02:29:04.724+05:30Transcending the Space<div><u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><br /></span></span></p><p></p><p></p></span></u><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQbFtGtZCuuR2AWrFkIXYYAP3KN4ID-hXAF5tHgY7oakYZ63fOUKwWr5Y-yYgdWu9sCKYrjog1S-CxNV7wneqYIb3smRxGhagQfd1IRVxyd-OgBdZ5uJaYBVctOntEByPBkTl2AqXNLjyy/s1600-h/VTV3.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 234px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQbFtGtZCuuR2AWrFkIXYYAP3KN4ID-hXAF5tHgY7oakYZ63fOUKwWr5Y-yYgdWu9sCKYrjog1S-CxNV7wneqYIb3smRxGhagQfd1IRVxyd-OgBdZ5uJaYBVctOntEByPBkTl2AqXNLjyy/s320/VTV3.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5445209294603438978" /></a><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">I am writing this post after watching a refreshing tragedy. How can a tragedy be refreshing? Then go and watch ‘</span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Vinnaithandi Varuvaaya</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">’. In this movie of Gautam Menon we get to listen to some of the most romantic tunes of AR Rahman. Listening to Rahman has always been special. But this time it is more special because this album comes after Rahman won his Oscar. Thamarai’s love-ladden poetry is light on ears but heavy on the heart.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The hero of this movie, Karthik, is a young energetic and creative person who aspires for a behind-the-screen career in the tinsel world. His lady love, Jessie, is a beautiful voluptuous young woman of good breed. Karthik is of the philosophy that love should approach him and make him mad turning him upside down. Love strikes him quite heavily at the moment when he sees Jessie for the first time. The girl is reticent in expressing her heart. But Karthik, an adamant guy, breaks the ice which Jessie tries to build around her heart. Jessie expresses herself for the first time in a church, moment before her marriage with some other guy. </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Their love has only one villain. As usual it is the society. A Hindu boy and a Christian girl try to join hands against all odds. But destiny has it otherwise. The girl is forced to take a call between her lover working in a far off city and her own father who threatens to kill himself. Jessie chooses to say an abrupt ‘no’ to Karthik hoping that this rudeness will help him in hating her and subsequently in moving on.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Karthik, an adamant guy resists forgetting her. One day he learns that Jessie has married somebody else. This makes his life miserable. It is here that Gautam Menon presents a different lover. Karthik turns his own painful experience with Jessie as a source of inspiration to script his debut success in tinsel world as a film director. He writes his own story with the same character names and circumstances. This script earns him the most coveted entry into the film world which he brilliantly exploits to produce a successful movie. Gautam has made the last half-hour of the movie extremely interesting and lovable by seamlessly interspersing two different sequences of events.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">I have always been a fan of Gautam (since his second movie ‘</span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Kakka Kakka</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">’) and a fanatic of Rahman. This movie is the first production where two of my most favourite creative people come together. My expectation for the movie was a bit high. After watching the trailer a few days back my expectation shot up to the summit. The protagonist’s character name is Karthik! Oh my God, that’s interesting. More interesting is that his lady love’s name is Jessie. The name Jessie has got no special significance for me. But Karthik falling in love with a Christian girl made my heart-beat race for a few moments. This is a theme that has been so close to me in the past. So I kept asking ‘how would the movie be?’</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">To my pleasant surprise the movie was a tragedy. Karthik never holds the hands of Jessie in marriage. More importantly Gautam has portrayed Karthik turning his pain as the fountainhead of his success. I should whole-heartedly appreciate Gautam for dishing out an excellent lesson for me. Many Karthiks like me believe that when love breaks one should drown in sorrow. But one can also use it positively. Gautam has always portrayed such positive energy in his films. </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> ‘Would Gautam show someone like me on the silver screen?’ was the question that lingered in my mind just before I watched the movie. But Gautam’s Karthik was strikingly different from what I am. I have never believed in love at first sight for the simple reason that there is nobody in this world who can fall in love with me at first sight. I am a kind of person who practices ‘untouchability’ with women and more with my lady love. To feel the beauty of a woman one has to consume her in all the five senses. Touching, kissing and hugging are definitely divinely and heavenly. But I would like to win the society’s sanction before I can treat myself with my woman’s satiny skin. But Karthik’s characterization had one striking resemblance with that of mine (or I would like it to be that way).</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> “Gautam thank you for making this movie. With this piece of creative work you are transcending the space in many of your fans’ estimations. Thank you so much for the Jessie and Karthik that you painted on the screen. Thank you so much for portraying Karthik as a person who neither complains nor curses his Jessie. I see myself in this characterisation. I am or at least I expect myself to be someone like this.”</span></span></i></p></div>T.Karthikeyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04108661832956967786noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8566829988681177773.post-70535709560420910562009-07-12T09:40:00.007+05:302010-03-06T12:05:30.251+05:30A Marketer’s Biography of India – India Unbound<p class="MsoNormal" style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span style="Times: "><o:p>There have been umpteen works about how India progressed in the later half of the twentieth century after she won her independence. The present work <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">‘India Unbound : From Independence to the Global Information Age’</i> is unique in the sense it is a marketer’s account of history. Gurucharan Das, a successful marketer who marketed Vicks Vaporub and helped millions of Indians respire easily is the man behind this book. This book is again a kind of ‘Vaporub’ in the sense that it gives succour and a lot of hope to Indian minds. The vantage point he occupied, especially during the heights of License-raj makes him uniquely endowed to present the story.</o:p></span></p><span class="fullpost"><p class="MsoNormal" style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span style="Times: ">The book is more an economic critic of the state policies in the post-independence era. The author has brings out the complete failure of the Fabian Socialistic recipes. In a decisive manner he has showed how the socialistic leanings of the early leaders have failed the people of the country. The hope and enthusiasm in the aftermaths of the independence did not last for too long because the people quickly understood that 15<sup>th</sup> August of 1947 only won them political freedom while social and economic freedom were a far cry. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span style="Times: ">The author quiet rightly points out that Nehru’s economic policies were nothing but the reflection of the collected wisdom of his times. The author could have added more on why Nehru failed us on the economic front. Nehru was more an ideologist than a politician. He always exacted strict adherence to his principles. More importantly he retained the foreign affairs portfolio with him. Consequently he became too much pre-occupied with international affairs. He spent too much time in refuting western world calling India a backward country than in doing constructive work in actually lifting the nation out of its backwardness. The chapter on the contributions of Lal Bahadur Shastri is an interesting one. Author succinctly pointed out that the eighteen month rule of Shastri was more effective than eighteen year rule of Nehru. The author again rightly partitions the blame when he makes Mrs.Gandhi responsible for the economic state of affairs that we found ourselves in the 1980’s. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span style="Times: ">Can there be anything inherently wrong with the philosophy of Socialism per se? The author answers this question in a detailed fashion throughout the book. There have been examples of countries that have excelled with socialism. The Soviet Russia hastened economic development with the socialistic recipes like that of centralized planning. So where have we gone wrong? It is in the implementation of the schemes. The author strikes a chord with most of his readers when he comments that no institution failed the people of this country more than the bureaucracy of the state. Instead of being the growth drivers of the nation, they suffered perennially from administrative myopia. They thought local and acted narrowly. The License-raj ushered in the era of Inspector-raj. The tribe of inspectors occupied an important position in the economic hierarchy of the nation continuously asphyxiating the business organization specially the smaller and middle-sized ones.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span style="Times: ">Mixed Economy is another toy of our socialistic leaders which thoroughly failed us. Mixed economy is jocularly called the mixed-up economy. Author is pretty critical when he describes his own experiences with the bureaucracy when he wanted to introduce a new product sometimes in the 1980’s. The socialistic leaning of the Congress went to such a level that they hated the mere mention of the word ‘profit’. They engendered all sorts of legislative devils like that of the MRTP Act and the FERA to wipe out the endangered species of entrepreneurial Indians and their spirits. Infact the author makes the reader to wonder how really private businesses existed under such a depressing administrative framework.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span style="Times: ">The psychoanalyst in the author comes out magnificently when he makes some of the most interesting analysis of the personalities of individuals, families, people and cities. The attempt to explain the personality of Mrs. Gandhi was quiet imaginative but he contradicts his own characterization of the lady as a bold curt independent leader. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span style="Times: ">The author has done an excellent job in presenting short biographies of important business leaders of the past century. Be it the chapters on Aditya Birla or Dhirubhai Ambani the author has showcased their rise in a balanced manner. The way these entrepreneurs fought against the license-raj and conquered the market as well as the state is an interesting read. There are umpteen lessons buried in these accounts which the budding entrepreneurs can catch hold of.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span style="Times: ">The third part of the book that deals with the economic reforms is the most absorbing section. The dramatic presentation of events makes the section even more interesting. The author rightly pointed out Narasimha Rao as the real person behind the 1991 reforms. Several new things happened during 1991. The Congress Government that was installed as a minority government. No one expected it to last its full-term let alone changing the economic landscape of the nation. Rao set-off the whole process of reform from the moment he chose Manmohan Singh – a professional economist as his man to head the Finance ministry. The Rao-Singh duo set out to change the course of Indian economic history when they decided to dump the decades-old state control of the economy in favour of market-control. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span style="Times: ">The author could have done well to show the role of external forces in this transitional process. Starting with the abolition of License -Raj, exchange-rate management regime, de-reserving industries, de-canalising imports, delinking the interest rates so many things happened one after the other. Over a few months the economic landscape of the country looked completely different. The new enthusiasm that became evident then was akin to something that prevailed in the aftermaths of the independence. The 1991 economic reforms gave a decent burial to the mixed economy philosophy initiated by Nehru.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span style="Times: ">The author has done a good job in describing how successful the Congress leaders were in initiating the reforms. It becomes even more important in understanding how difficult it would be for someone to backtrack the steps taken without self-contradiction. The author rightly credits the ‘reluctant reformer’ Rao for delivering market-based economy in India. The reality of politics did not allow the reformer to stay intact for long. The best of the reformers in Rao and Singh couldn’t withstand the political temptation that votes lie in populist demands.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The bold reformers started losing confidence when they tried to identify with Nehru-Gandhi legacy and tried to establish a sense of continuity. Further they failed to realize that the job done by them was indeed a miracle. This led them to distance themselves from their magnum opus and led to the massive defeat in the 1996 general elections.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span style="Times: ">Author has done an excellent job in this book. In short this book can be summed up as an excellent source of inspiration as well as information for all those budding Indians who are eager to see India as great nation in the twenty-first century. India was a great nation in the past. It is time for us to restore India back to her rightful position in the global arena. Author should be appreciated for coming up with this work. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><b>Note : This review was originally published in Management Matters - LIBA's Official Magazine (September 2008 - February 2009 issue). The review is reproduced above with due permission of the magazine's editor.</b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"></span></p></span>T.Karthikeyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04108661832956967786noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8566829988681177773.post-14938342991431112442009-07-09T14:45:00.008+05:302009-07-10T22:50:43.593+05:30Virtuous Selfishness !<div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">Last evening I had an interesting session on <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">International</span> Business. At point the professor made a statement of value judgement when he said '</span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Anil</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Ambani</span> flies in his private jet while his investors do not</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">'. His intonation conveyed that it was unfair on Mr.<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Ambani's</span> part to fly in private jet using his investors' money. He called Mr.<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Ambani</span> </span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">selfish</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">. <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">Understandably</span> a majority of the class rose their voices against his value judgement and tried to defend Mr.<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Ambani</span> on the ground that he has earned it. <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">Interestingly</span> the same set of students argued he was not selfish. Though I was among that majority I found myself out of sync with the group when they tried to establish Mr.<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">Ambani</span> was not selfish. </span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">I believe that Mr.<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">Ambani</span> is extremely selfish and this factor alone has made him what he is.</span></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><br /></span></div><span class="fullpost"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">For those students who argued <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">Ambani</span> was not selfish, the true problem was with selfishness and not Mr.<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">Ambani</span>. </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">Is selfishness sinful or is it virtuous?</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"> The society around me, my religion, education, culture, history and other components of my social life have somehow lead me to believe that selfishness is inherently sinister and one should shun that and always be </span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">'selfless'</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">. But I think a serious revision of this belief is needed now.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">What do people meditating in cold ranges of Himalayas are actually doing? </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">What do people kneeling in front of a Christ Crucifixion with a rosary in hand are actually doing? </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">What do people living in the Mecca chanting verses from Holy Koran are actually doing?</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">All such people are trying to attain salvation, trying to reach the God or trying to inherit the Kingdom of God.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">Are these people committing sins or virtues? </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">Many would say they are committing virtues of highest quality.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">Are these people selfish or unselfish? </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">I really <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">do not</span> know what others would answer but I will clearly say </span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">they are extremely selfish people on the face of the earth</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">But how can that be? A person who is virtuous as well as selfish. Can these two go together??</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">I think that virtue and selfishness are highly compatible. Probably I might sound a bit blasphemous. In fact I am not. Selfishness is the highest form of virtue. Consider a seer who is meditating on God for salvation. He is selfishness in the sense that he is working for his own salvation and not for anybody else. If anyone aspires to belong to the Kingdom of God, one has to work for that oneself. A proxy cannot do the job for anyone. Again the work that one does cannot be transferred to someone else. In short the virtues one perform for attaining salvation are </span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">non-negotiable</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">Someone defined money as '</span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">money is what money does</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">'. Some concepts sometimes require a self-referencing definition. So, going by this logic, I can define virtue as '</span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">virtue is what virtuous people do</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">'. Virtuous people actually do selfish deeds and hence I can safely conclude that </span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">selfishness is virtuous</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">. A connivance of society, religion and other vested interests have made selfishness an outcast idea and inherently leprous. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">This idea of alienation of selfishness has caused untold damages to the society. "</span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">The magic of (private) property</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">", said Arthur Young, "</span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">turns sand to gold</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">". Selfishness is the <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">psychological</span> equivalent of right to private property. Robbing people of their selfishness or their right to private property are <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14">metaphysical</span> equivalents. When a man is robbed of his right to private property, he loses the motivation to turn sand into gold. When a man is robbed of his ability to adore selfishness, he loses the motivation to act at all. Because <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15">selflessness</span> would need everything to be offered on the altar of the society or God. The performer of the act would get nothing, meaning no right to private property. Even when a man claims the fruits of his actions as his own properties the society <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16">conveniently</span> attaches guilt to it and render the person unable to enjoy his own fruits. <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_17">Consequently</span> men have come to look down on a fellow man's ability and <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_18">productivity</span> thus sowing seeds for a whole genre of inefficient, weak, impotent, incompetent and mediocre men. There were a few honourable exceptions to this genre. To quote Ayn Rand, "</span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">Throughout the centuries there have been men who took first steps down new roads armed with nothing but their own vision</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">". Such men include many starting from Aristotle, Galileo, Darwin down to men like Bill Gates and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_19">Sergey</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_20">Brin</span>. It has been because of such men our species has been able to survive and come thus far. But what has the society done for them. Not only did they survive on their productive <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_21">achievements</span> but also disparaged them as selfish people and hated them. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">Should we not teach people that selfishness is virtuous? Should we not help people to adore selfishness? When a man believes in selfishness he gains the ability to worship his abilities and to pursue productive achievement as the noblest activity. If each and every man can be selfish and achieve <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_22">productivity</span> what would happen to all the miseries shrouding this world. Obviously miseries have to descend into graves and the world would be free of miseries. It might sound a bit Utopian but it would be nice to have the world rapidly tending toward this Utopia. For this to happen we need more and more selfish men who can achieve <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_23">productivity</span>.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">Selfishness is not bad. It is not inherently leprous. It is the <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_24">fountainhead</span> of motivation for the pursuit of productive achievement. It helps a man to enjoy the fruits of one's own actions. And thus reinforces motivation to act more and better. Now the world around me has robbed my selfishness. I need to reinvent selfishness in me and turn into a heroic being who in the words of Ayn Rand ' </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">is a man </span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" line-height: 19px; font-size:13px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute'.</span></i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></span>T.Karthikeyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04108661832956967786noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8566829988681177773.post-55718165459691385882009-06-18T15:08:00.004+05:302009-06-18T16:51:43.368+05:30Twitteronomics : Twitter and Business<div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Dell's Stephanie Nelson</b> blogged on the official blog claiming that Dell had raked in more than $3 million of sales through its Twitter presence over the past couple of years. With more than 6 lakh followers on Twitter, Dell was able to reach out to its customers in better ways and strike attractive deals with its followers. <b>ChubbyBrain</b>, an organisation that brings together start-ups and investors has reported that an estimated $23.3 million has flown into Twitter-based start-ups. Pepsi Co released its <b>Pepsi Raw Can</b> with its Twitter URL on it. Well Twitter has opened up a whole new world of social media whose potentials are still not sufficiently known.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div> <span class="fullpost"><div style="text-align: justify;">Twitter is a micro-blogging site developed by Evan Williams, Jack Dorsey and Biz Stone based on a model of a instant messaging service they used for internal communication in their company. Twitter allows a tweeter to post 140 keystroke long updates which can be followed by his followers. Further it allows access through mobile phone devices. With more than $55 million of venture capital funding and a lot of Twitter-based apps and start-ups hiting the markets, things augur well for the emergence of <b>Twitteronomics</b>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Twitter is a place where brands and corporations can meet customers hear from them and also talk to them. For instance right now Apple has launched a huge promotional campaigne over Twitter for its new iPhone. Corporations like Starbucks, SouthWest Airlines and WholeFoods have been able to boost their toplines by engaging their customers on Twitter. So even before Twitter made any dime for itself it has helped grand corporations earn millions.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">New Media Advisor Andrew Grill said ' <i>Two years ago if a customer faces a problem he can probably tell a few but now with Twitter he can tell to millions of users that too in real time. Many brands I work with aren't aware that people are talking about them on Twitter. Companies need to know what people say about them in such fora</i>'. Thus Twitter is a place where marketers and PR professionals can get access to invaluable customer experience snippets. A good product manager can mobilise his potential and current customers to tweet about a product or feature. This is nothing but a focus group discussion done in real-time. The insights and data pouring in are no longer sample data but real data. Job seekers and head hunters have also taken notice of Twitter as the place talent hunt. The ability to network easily makes Twitter a cool place to hunt both jobs and talent.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But not all are rosy for Twitter. A recent <b>Harvard Survey</b> has found that 90% of the content on Twitter is generated by 10 % of users. Median tweets per day per user is just one while the 75th percentile mark is about four. A whopping 30% users donot have any followers at all. This has made critics to brand Twitter as a one-way one-to-many communication station. Also a survey conducted by <b>Participatory Marketing Networks</b> shows that only about 22% of the gen-Y use Twitter but 99% of the surveyed use one or the other social networking sites. The survey concludes that there are few technical snags in the design that is not conducive for gen-Y embrace.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But in the recent times Twitter has shot to the top popularity which can be seen from its burgeoning user base. But the most important challenge for Twitter is about monetising its business model. A business that doesn't earn would soon be out of business. With growing popularity Twitter has enormous profit potential and whole ripened field for it to reap.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Tweet me <a href="http://twitter.com/T_Karthikeyan">@T_Karthikeyan</a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">References</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Business/Dell-Earns-Million-From-Twitter-Brands-Embrace-Free-Social-Media-To-Drive-Revenue/Article/200906315306227?lpos=Business_First_Buisness_Article_Teaser_Region_3&lid=ARTICLE_15306227_Dell_Earns_Million_From_Twitter:_Brands_Embrace_Free_Social_Media_To_Drive_Revenue">Twitter earns brands millions for free</a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.chubbybrain.com/blog/2009/06/233-million-has-flown-to-twitter-based-startups-%E2%80%93-is-this-just-the-beginning/">ChubbyBrains post regarding Twitter-based startups</a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://blogs.harvardbusiness.org/cs/2009/06/new_twitter_research_men_follo.html">HBR Survey of Twitter users</a></div></span>T.Karthikeyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04108661832956967786noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8566829988681177773.post-33272262873207296392009-06-18T00:32:00.006+05:302009-06-18T12:59:38.935+05:30Social Media : Coming of Age<div style="text-align: justify;">Social Media's <i>WOW moment</i> is just underway for everyone of us to witness. Social media includes Web2.0 portals like blogs, social networking sites, file and photo sharing networks et cetera. Iranian presidential election triggered the present wow moment. When people took to the streets denouncing the incumbent Ahmedinejad's landslide, the Iranian government tried to gag the public protest by switching off mobile phone networks, kicking out journalists and blocking access to sites like Google, Facebook etc. The government sponsored information black-out failed miserably while the world continued to peep at Tehran's streets through the keyhole called <b>Twitter</b>. And how did all this happen..</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div> <span class="fullpost"><div style="text-align: justify;">The government's gag operation failed to take notice of a rather hip-hop microblogging site called the Twitter. Consequently Twitter emerged the epicenter of Iranian Election Reporting. Many of the agitated Iranians accessed their Twitter accounts to update about the events happening in ground zero. The reporting was almost real-time such that even before a reader could finish off one 140 keystroke update another thousand or two turned up for review. Iranian news broadcast on Twitter was simply overwhelming.<b>Trendrr</b>, a social media trend tracker puts that there were between 10000 and 50000 tweets any hour about Iran and this figure reached a peak of 221,774 on June 16, the day when Twitter was supposed go down for maintenance.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In fact blogs moved even quicker than Twitter with a host of Iranian bloggers coming up with excellent blog posts with live and real news snippets from across the streets of Tehran. Trenderr puts the number of blogposts discussing Iran in some fashion at 19 million. About 2.25 million posts are estimated to have been blogged on June 16 alone. Youtube and Flickr did their role to perfection. Thousands of protest videos and pictures were uploaded to these sites which enabled the world to get a glimpse of the democratic vibrancy of Iran. Trendrr estimates around that 184,500 videos have been uploaded on the Youtube. Many of the mainstream print and electronic media were happy to reproduce the citizen journalists' videos and images.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The highpoint in the story came when the US Department of State reportedly asked Twitter to reschedule its scheduled maintenance outage so that tweets from Iran may flow unhindered. Twitter's Biz Stone was quick to distance his company from this news. CNN's blog speculated that Twitter's executives could have themselves postponed the outage just to enable Iranian tweets. Nevertheless it has underscored an important idea that social media have definitely come of age. No longer can anyone dismiss them as frivolous and non-serious websites meant only for chit-chatting.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Social media score the brownie point for impartial reportage over organised mainstream media. Organised media houses always have the editorial control over the news they beam. So there is good chance that they may be cooking up public opinions by choosing or omitting certain news articles. On the otherhand social media have independent users recording their views. Though these bloggers and twitters may be biased and selective, a user would have unbridled access to all such bloggers and twitters. Thus the user can, at least theoretically, get to know all the prespectives of an issue.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">One blogger posted saying <b>' when civil disobedience joins hands with social networking it means death to despotism '</b>. This is particularly true with Iran. The top cleric of Iran has asked the government for a re-count of votes while the runner-up Mr.Mousavi's supporters take out a rally in the national capital. I do believe that democracy will soon see the light of the day in Tehran. When the triumphant day dawns surely Twitter and rest of the social media outfits would carry a sizeable share of credit for victory.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">References</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://mashable.com/2009/06/16/twitter-iran/">US Department of State and Twitter</a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://mashable.com/2009/06/17/iranelection-crisis-numbers/">Discussion on Trendrr's Statistics</a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://mashable.com/2009/06/14/new-media-iran/">How to track Iran Election News on Social Media</a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></span>T.Karthikeyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04108661832956967786noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8566829988681177773.post-23795546265044103622009-06-13T19:41:00.008+05:302009-06-14T00:12:35.218+05:30Being Google Friendly<div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Global Language Monitor recently declared that Web2.0 is the millionth word to join the English lexicon. The </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">significance<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> , apart from linguisitic one, is the fact that Web2.0 which hitherto remained a technology jargon has now found a spot in the mainstream language. This has happened owing to the revolution Web2.0 has unleashed in this information age. Knowing Web2.0 and making one's presence felt in it is as important for survival as survival itself. This should probably apply well to business/non-business organisations/individuals. Just being out there will serve no </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">purpose</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">. One's presence should make some noise so that it grabs attention. It is here that search engines come to the rescue of online publishers. In the process search engines have engendered what is called </span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">search marketing</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">.</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">With exploding </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">web page</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> population, </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Internet</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> is getting more cluttered with every passing day. Search engines are quickly becoming the gateways of information. Web users more often use a search engine to reach a desired page. Thus, he shall be the winner who gets a favourable search engine endorsement - meaning being in the top 20 results in a search engine result page. Being Google-</span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">friendly</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> or search-engine-friendly is extremely </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">crucial</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> for the success of any online offering.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></div><span class="fullpost"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Web2.0</span></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Web2.0 loosely refers to a new generation of online content. Internet has long before ceased to be a plain repository from where people fetched </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">information</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">. Now it has become a place where anybody can generate content. This has been rendered possible by Push-button publishing where online publishing is a quick and easy process. Social networking websites like the Orkut, Twitter etc have made things further simpler. Thus today each and every </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">netizen</span></i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> is a potential publisher. This opens up a unique opportunity for marketing products, ideas and people.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Web2.0 and Marketing</span></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">In a competitive world there is need for each and everyone to market oneself. Be it an individual or an organisation the rule is </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">sell or succumb</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">. One might wonder why should an individual ever market oneself. Let me take an example of a MBA student aspiring to join banking sector. Services sector is a knowledge economy where professionals are hired for the knowledge and expertise they possess. Gone are the days when a person joins a company, works for it the whole life and one fine day retire with social security packages. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">A </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">professional's</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> life has started to move away from a 'settled' lifestyle to a 'corporate nomadic' lifestyle. Every few years the knowledge professional hops from one company to another. When this is the lifestyle there is a need to have something that can reflect a person's personality on a sustained basis. Web2.0 is an excellent tool just for that. A weblog can serve the purpose of establishing an online presence and can be strategically used to build reputation (meaning visitor base). Reputation so built can help the corporate nomad in moving from one lush patch to another. The said MBA student can build a reputation through his blog for interesting and innovative write-ups. Even one article that shows the discernment and innovativeness of the student can help her land-up in her dream job. It is an open secret that HR executives of top companies always research their candidates on the net.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Though a blog or any other social medium offer lucrative opportunities, there is one potential brick wall. The </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Internet</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> is just flooded with web pages. The number of </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">web pages</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> online is in terms of billions. This has made a majority of </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">netizens</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> rely on search engines to help them get to the page they need. Thus if at all one needs a potential visitor to know that one's blog exist then it should pop up on a </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">search</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> engine's result page. That too in top 20 or 30 links. This has opened a new arena in marketing called </span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">search engine marketing</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> or </span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">search engine optimisation</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Search Engine Optimisation (</span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">SEO</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">)</span></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_17"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">SEO</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> might sound like Greek to many professionals and students of marketing. But it is nothing different from the marketing that </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_18"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Kotler</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> taught us. Search Engine Marketing is all about positioning a </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_19"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">web page</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> so that it appears as a favourable choice in the eyes of a search engine. Just like any other positioning strategy, </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_20"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">SEO</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> involves understanding the demographics and behaviour of the target customers ie, search engines.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Search engines typically employ a three step process to offer the search service. Firstly it sends out web-bots or crawlers which crawl over the net and fetch web pages. Secondly the pages are indexed based on the content found on them. Finally when a user types a search string, relevant pages are identified from its massive databases and presented in the form of a result page. So from a marketer's point of view the </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_21"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">task</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> is two-folded. First the page should be accessible to the crawler and secondly when the indexer reads through the page it should be able to index the page just for the desired keywords.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Search Engine Behaviour:</span></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Positioning requires understanding the behaviour of the customer. Google, being the most widely used search engine, is invariably considered as the biggest and often the only customer. The most important aspect of </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_22"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Google's</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> search behaviour is how it identifies the relevance of a particular </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_23"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">web page</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> for a particular keyword. Google states that it follows a complex </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_24"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">proprietary</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> PageRank algorithm to do this job. The algorithm uses more than 500 million variables and 2 billion statement to identify the relevance. One of the most important part of this procedure is the way the indexer treats </span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">'inbound'</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> links. Every inbound links( </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_25"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">ie</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> links in other pages pointing to our page) is considered a vote or a citation for that page. Thus among two pages with 100 and 50 links from pages with identical </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_26"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">page ranks</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">, the former will rank higher than the latter. Further it also uses what is called hyper-text matching procedure. Suppose for a search string like "heart disease", the indexer looks at all pages containing these two terms, the distance between these terms in the page, their font size etc before deciding the relevance of any page.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Thus if a marketer wants his page to be relevant then it has to Google-friendly. </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_27"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">SEO</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> is all about making the content of the page appear more desirable from the eyes of the search engine. Thus it involves a lot of job which a webmaster (website designer) should do. There are elaborate guides that help webmasters in </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">white hat optimisation </span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">techniques. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">But there are more to the idea of </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_28"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">SEO</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> where Web2.0 plays a crucial role. One essential tool for </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_29"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">SEO</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> is </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_30"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">back-links</span></b></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> management</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">. A </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_31"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">back-link</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> is nothing but an inbound link. In the era of Web 1.0 getting </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_32"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">back-links</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> was really tough. But now with the emergence of </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_33"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">weblogs</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> and other social media, it is in fact easier to get b</span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_34"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">ack-links</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">. For instance many Web2.0 users can actually publish posts, comment on them, create profiles etc. These are the opportunities where they can promote their blogs. Emergence of what is called as </span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">vertical search engines</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> and online directories again have made the job of getting </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_35"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">back links</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> a fairly easier job.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">(More about vertical </span></i><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_36"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">search</span></i></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> engines in a later post).</span></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">At the end of the day all search engine optimisation techniques drill down to the idea of creating content that is valuable from the target user point of view and such a content is laid out effectively in the form of </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_37"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">web pages</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> or blogs. </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_38"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">SEO</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> can go a long way in building the traffic for a website/blog. Online advertisement, lead generation, permission-based database marketing are just a few avenues that are thrown open by generating online reputation. With more and more users coming under the clouds of internet, search marketing is all set to boom.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">References :</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">1)<a href="www.google.com/webmasters/docs/search-engine-optimization-starter-guide.pdf"> Google's guide to SEO</a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">2) <a href="http://www.stonetemple.com/blog/">SEO articles can be found here</a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></span>T.Karthikeyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04108661832956967786noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8566829988681177773.post-39382583636343984002009-06-10T19:38:00.010+05:302009-06-10T21:53:01.678+05:30Race to the Bottom in Down Under<div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'trebuchet ms';">It all started with <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Shravan</span>. The Indian student community in Australia was galvanised to direct action when four Indian students were allegedly attacked by Aussie youngsters. The issue quickly picked up racial overtones. Several events like the Aussie PM condemning the attack and the Big B turning down an Aussie university's honour added shrill to the issue. Given Aussie's track record on racial matters, foul play could not be discounted and the Indian students are justifiably outraged. This post tries to sympathise with the student sentiments and comment on what they need to do.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"></span></div><br /><span class="fullpost"><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Racism emanates from a belief that racial differences like colour etc render one race inherently superior to others. While globally the war against racism has come to an end with the fall of <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">apartheid</span>, still its vestiges are found in a few parts of the world. Australia has been home to racism in the past when the aborigines were abused and suppressed. The 1901 Constitution of Australia provides for the obnoxious 'races power' section which permits the government to discriminate against people based on their race. As this provision does not explicitly provide that discrimination could only be positive, negative discrimination is also possible within its meaning. This piece of legislation still remains intact with a few cosmetic amendments.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">In the past 100 years a sea change has happened in the mindset of Australia <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">vis</span>-a-<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">vis</span> racial matters. The country has emerged as the favoured destination for student community. The education export industry in Australia is valued at over <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">USD</span> 15 billion. The Indian student community is more than 1100 strong and is growing with every passing year. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">In the recent times there has been a spate of attacks on Indian students specially in the state of Victoria. Students allege that it is racism that is the driving the series of attacks. In the last week of May a group of four Indian students was attacked by unknown perpetrators. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">Shravan</span>, one among the four victims, got seriously injured. Aussie PM condoned the act of violence and apologised to the student community. This incident happened to be the last straw breaking the patience of Indian student community who took to streets. The student movement was bolstered by a series of events like prominent Indians sympathising with the students and the alleged high-handed behaviour of the police officials.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Now it has reached a stage where the students have started organising vigilante groups and indulging in near-vandalism. Although the student protesters claim that they demonstrate peacefully, things seem to veer in the opposite direction. <i><b>It is clear that the student community is suffering from lack of vision and leadership</b></i>. Their end is valid and noble but the means they seem to deploy appears foul. This can jeopardise their quest for justice.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">There is a need for the student community to exercise restraint and make sure that they do not give way to violence or vandalism. The student community is ill-equipped to face the might of the police or the government. Their strategy should be one that appeals to the better sense of the people and Government of Australia. They need to ensure that the affected are suitably compensated and the safety of the student community is protected. There is an urgent need for the students to demonstrate the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">bonafide</span> of their protests and maintain their actions within the boundaries of law.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">The stake of Aussie government is high in this issue. It is risking a huge source of revenue and its image in the international arena. Good sense shall definitely prevail in Canberra and the issue would be suitably addressed. But this would be possible, if and only if the students conduct themselves in democratically acceptable fashion. If things take turn to violence and vandalism then it is going to be a race to the bottom leaving the student community severely battered.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">References</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">1) <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Section_51(xxvi)_of_the_Australian_Constitution">Australian Constitution and Racism</a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">2) <a href="http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25583278-7583,00.html">Racist attack - Australian Media's Report</a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><br /></span>T.Karthikeyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04108661832956967786noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8566829988681177773.post-65833613001473544902009-05-31T13:36:00.014+05:302009-06-07T18:20:37.282+05:30Interview with CK Prahalad<div style="text-align: justify;">C K Prahalad, a name known for some of the most innovative ideas like bottom of pyramid and co-creation, is widely recognised as the world's leading management guru. He is one of the greatest alumni of Loyola College, Chennai where I am pursuing management education.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Thinkers50.com conducts a biennial survey of worlds leading management thinkers. The 2009 results are expected sometimes later this year. For the first time 2007 ranking saw an Indian, CK Prahald, getting into the top slot pushing Michael Porter down to the third position. Other Indians in the ranking are CEO coach Ram Charan(22), Vijay Govindarajan(23), Tuck Business School, Rakesh Kurana(45), HBS.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Here is the transcript of CK's exclusive interview to guruchannel.com. Here he discusses many issues like indian advantage, co-creation, innovation, strategy, N=1, R=G, democratising commerce and so on. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><span class="fullpost"><div><div style="text-align: justify;">The following text has been created from the video interview. Suitable modifications have been made without any prejudice to the original version to improve readability. 'Int' refers to the interviewer and 'CK' to Professor Prahalad.</div></div><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><i>Int : Can I begin by asking you what it is like being the #1 management thinker in the world?</i></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">CK : First I would say, I am happy to be in that slot. If one is in that list it is better to be #1. But it is a very humbling situation because when one is ranked #1 people think that he knows the answers to everything. One must have the humility to say “No, I don’t”. Therefore I think I have become a lot more humble. And more importantly a lot more cautious on what I say. Therefore I would say it is more a burden.</p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><i>Int: You grew up in </i><st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on"><i>India</i></st1:place></st1:country-region><i> andI understand you were one of nine children. You worked with Union Carbide at the age of nineteen. How do feel that those early experiences have influenced your thinking?</i></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">CK: I think growing up in <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">India</st1:place></st1:country-region> is a very extraordinary preparation for management and thinking about management for three reasons. One, you grow up in large families so you always have to make comprises. You have to learn to accommodate. <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">India</st1:place></st1:country-region> is a very diverse culture, in terms of languages, religions, income levels. So you start adjusting and coping with diversity at a very personal level, even as a child. So you cannot say “I don’t like this” as you might not have had any choice on whom you have to work with in school and whom you want sit next to in school. It is not a monoculture. Therefore if you have to have some interpersonal competence and inter-cultural competence, it (India) is a very good laboratory for doing it. </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">I was also very lucky because my parents were very academically oriented. My father was a judge and he was also a great scholar. So he told us very early in life that there is only one thing which when you give more you would have more. If you have lot of money and you give money away you would have less for yourself. On the other hand knowledge is the only thing which when you share more you get more. So that has stuck with me because I saw him using his scholarship in a very profound personal way. So that has rubbed on for a long time. So the early experiences were great. </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">When I worked in the plant in Union Carbide I had to work with communist unions. I learnt a tremendous amount from the union Stewarts. I had to set rates. I was an young industrial engineer. Negotiating rates with the unions taught me a lot. Contrary to what people think they are very smart people. They are very thoughtful. And if you are fair and honest you could deal with them in an interesting way. So it taught me that don’t think of these groups as adversaries but collaborate, be honest and be fair.</p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><i>Int: In your new book 'The new age of Innovation', you talk about a transformation that is going across industries right across the globe. Can you tell us a little bit about that?</i></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">CK: I think it is based upon two very simple principles. One, treat individuals as unique, allow them to create their personalized experiences. That is the source of value. We just call it N=1. Just look at Netfalkes, Google, Starbox or iPod. You create your own portfolio of music. That is N=1. </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">On the second hand if you look at Apple. Apple doesn’t produce the content, it doesn’t even produce the device. It just designs it. Somebody in <st1:country-region st="on">China</st1:country-region> makes it, the LCD’s come from <st1:country-region st="on">Japan</st1:country-region>, semiconductors from <st1:country-region st="on">Korea</st1:country-region> or <st1:place st="on"><st1:country-region st="on">Taiwan</st1:country-region></st1:place>. It is assembled and sent to us in the <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">US</st1:place></st1:country-region>. And if you actually turn it around, it says that it is proudly designed in <st1:state st="on"><st1:place st="on">California</st1:place></st1:state>. None of the content is produced by Apple. That is you are getting a multi-institutional collaboration to create the resources that I uniquely can access. Therefore we say resources are becoming multi-institutional and that is R=G. </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">N=1 is the shorthand for one person creating his own personalized experience. R=G is the shorthand for saying resources to serve that one person uniquely may have to be accessed from multiple institutions. That is the whole theory behind the book. It is quite simple. Sometimes N=1 and R=G appear to be complicated. It is very simple. Think Apple. Think Google. It is very easy.</p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><i>Int:</i><i> At the heart of last couple of books, has been the idea of co-creation. Can you explain what co-creation is?</i></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">CK: I think co-creation is an important idea. What it say is, we need two joint-problem-solvers and not one. Typically firms perceive a firm-centric world where the firm is the unit of analysis. In innovation, quality, ERP systems firm is the center of the system. What I am arguing is, the firm was the center of the universe in the industrial system, but when you move to a new age the consumers have the opportunity to have dialogue and be active. Therefore they can shape their own personal experiences. </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">You can create systems where the firms and the individuals work together. It is not consumer-orientation, it is not customer-realtionship management where it is still firm-centric view of the consumer. I am saying, let us establish a dialogue so the consumers can personalize their own experiences and the firm can benefit. This is becoming much more common and possible today. Therefore I think the idea is going to take roots. Activist consumers, firms that understand the needs of consumers have to help consumers to co-create their own personal experiences. This is going to be the common practice.</p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><i>Int : So what will be an example of that?</i></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">CK: Let us take Google. It is also an interesting example as everybody googles now. If I look at Google, they don’t tell me how to use the system. I can personalize my own page. I can create iGoogle. I decide what I want. </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">On one hand Google provides a platform. Therefore Google understands that it can have hundred million consumers but each one can do what they want with their platform. That is an extreme case of personalized co-created value. </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">On the other hand Google doesn’t produce the content at all. The content comes from a large number of idividuals and institutions around the world. They aggregate it and make it available to me. This is the spirit of co-creation in the new book which says one consumer co-creates experience at a time, even when you have hundred million consumers. Resources are not contained within the firm and they are accessed from a wide variety of institutions. Therefore resources are global.</p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><i>Int: Now in the book you talk about traditional industries as well as high-tech companies like Google. You apply it to teaching and various other</i><span><i> </i></span><i>industries. Can you give us an example of that?</i></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">CK: Let us take tyres. The rust-belt industry, which has been around for a hundred years selling tyres especially to fleets, is a very well established industry.The channels are known, the product is very clear. So you could think about a company selling tyres to a fleet owner. It is typically called a B2B. You need to see the term business-to-business. Business is the starting point. </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">So instead of selling tyres, if you just ask the question,why can't I just sell the usage. I only charge you for kilometers of usage. Because people drive trucks differently. Some are short-haul trucks, some are long-haul trucks there are wide variations. So I say that 'I accept that you have multiple usages and I will charge you only for kilometers of usage'. All that I have to do is measure how many kilometers. But I can go one step further and put some sensors on the tyres so I know the tyre pressure, I know the breaking speeds, the terrain in which you drive and so on. And with the GPS I can also say what routes you take. </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">So now I have a much better understanding of how you use the tyres. So now I can tell you, please check your tyre pressure, rotate your tyres. Because tyre pressure and rotation can dramatically improve the usage. It reduces the cost for you as the fleet owner. It gives me tremendous amount of knowledge on how people really use the tyres or run their vehicles.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><i>Int : And that is how you co-create value.</i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">CK: We are co-creating value. But I can go one step further and say, fleet owner has five hundred drivers and let me take Joe as a driver and look at his driving habits. I can give him advice on improving safety, usage and make him a better driver. So what used to start with a transaction, arms-length one, mostly based on price, now can be converted into personal relationship with the driver and the company or the fleet owner. You provide extraordinary service and get compensated very well. Because you get compensated for usage and also get tremendous idea for product development. Because now you have real-time data instead of focus groups' coming to you.</p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><i>Int: What about public sector organizations in health service like the National Health Service in the </i><st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on"><i>UK</i></st1:place></st1:country-region><i>. How the ideas of N=1 and R=G apply to the NHS?</i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">CK: Each one of us is unique. We have our own history of good health, bad health, problems etc. So I have the data with me personally. There is nothing that stops the doctors who treat me to take me aside and start discussing about the risks and benefits of following a certain regimen. For example, if people are a little bit obese, to alert them that they are susceptible to diabetes, cardiovascular complications, blood pressure and other issues they have to worry about. That can be done today. That means you and I use the same information like the medical records, my test reports, my episodes of illness and then say to each other, if you follow this regimen you will keep health. That is a co-created regimen.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">You cannot tell me, ‘take a walk everyday for four miles' when I am living in an run-down area. That may not be very wise. On the other hand you can make an arrangement for me to go to a gym where I can go and exercise. So I follow this regimen and you keep track of me. </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Let us assume that I go to the next step. Let us assume that I am a heart patient and I a have a pace-maker. They can say, ‘ alright these are the bandwidth in which your system must operate and we will remotely monitor you with your permission'. But when something goes wrong we will send you a message either through your cell-phone or PC or regular phone or even send somebody to you to say, ‘get to the hospital, we need to treat you or just relax and take rest for two days'.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">So I can become your personal friend. But in order to do that the first step is co-created experience. You can create the N=1 situation quite easily. Health is so important to all of us that it is critical that we get into N=1. Do not treat patients like in an assembly line.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><i>Int: You mentioned the word ‘uniqueness’, a couple of times. How important is that concept in this notion of individualism, not just in the west but on a global level?</i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">CK: There is not a single person I know who thinks he is not unique. And it is important for us to treat them that way. In other words the old idea was efficiency of manufacturing and managing resources. That is the 'model T' world. You can have any colour as long as it is black, organising the factory to make it cheap and available. It is an efficiency orientation. That was perfectly okay when the industrial<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>revolution started. It was okay with Colt Revolver, Single sewing machine or the Model T.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">We still suffer from the legacy of that thinking. Nobody runs a company like the Model T. But the legacy still exists in the form of firm-centric, product-centeric view of the world. But we are moving dramatically to a very different age. I think that there are four key drivers that are doing this. One is connectivity. For the first time in the human history three billion people are connected with wireless or PC or some combination. It will be four billion soon. It has never happened before. </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Second the cost of technology is going down dramatically. I can get an eight gigabyte USB drive for $25. This means that technology is not the differentiator between the rich and the poor. Everybody can have one. One can have a $25 cellphone. So technology is not the unique differentiator any longer. </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Third it is the convergence of the industry boundaries and limits. I can take my cellphone and ask a simple question. Is it a phone or a computer or a radio or a TV or a camera or an atlas? It is all the above. </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Fourth is the social networks. The dramatic increase in social networking. If you put the four together with globalization, it is going to change the fundamental relation between the consumer and the company. That is the spirit. So now today I can have a dialogue with my consumers, my consumers can have an interaction with each other. Therefore the whole dynamic of the relationship between the consumer and the firm has shifted. The consumer is not powerless. The consumer has as much power as the firm. So it is the realignment of the power equation between the consumer and the firm that is going to require serious thinking on the part of the managers.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><i>Int: The new book is called 'The new age of Innovation' and you described a part of that transformation. What is that new age of innovation mean for managers?</i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">CK: I think three very important transitions are taking place in thinking. One, from the firm-centric view to accept the centrality of the individual. That is a very important first transition. </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Second is the inter-dependence of the institutions, that you donot try to do everything by yourself. You cannot. Even when you are IBM or GE or P&G or Unilever, you still have to depend<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>on a large number of people. Therefore eco-systems compete, not individual companies. This second principle is R=G. </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Third transition, an interesting one, is that value is jointly created and not by the company alone. In fact when you look at people using terms like the value-chain it is actually a sequential cost-built. But we simply call it value chain because we assume we create value in the firm and exchanging it with the consumer. On the other hand when the consumer is involved in co-creating value you separate the cost-bill from the value that is created at the point of interaction. That is the third transition. </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">These are not difficult transitions. You must have a point of view if you want to transform your company. That doesn’t mean that you have to go from point A to B in fell swoop. You can migrate systematically by initiating small directionally consistent steps. That is what companies need to take.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><i>Int: We talked about management. What about leadership?</i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">CK: There are several very important distinctions. One, leaders<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>must lead. You cannot lead unless you are future oriented. Leadership is about the future. Leadership is about a point-of-view about that future. And leasdership is about hope. I cannot say I am a great leader but no-change folks. That makes no sense.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Leadership is about change and future. The first thing is we must have a distinct point of view not about our current affairs but about how the world can be ten years from now. That is the first principle of a good leader. I am arguing that strategy and leadership are not about extrapolating the current<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>situation into the future but imagining the future and folding the future in. That means leaders must have a point of view about how our system can operate and what the underlying principles ought to be. That is the critical part of the book. N=1 and R=G are the parts of the fundamental view how the future can be. Not necessarily everybody is there but that is how it should be.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">I call it democratizing commerce. Lok at what we are doing. Every person has the opportunity to have a share of voice in how they consume, what they consume and how much they will pay for it. That doesn’t mean that the company has to give them what they want at the price they want but they have to accept it. So that is the first principle. </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">The second, the metaphor I would like to use is that of a sheep dog. The sheep dog has to follow some rules. One, you are always behind. Two, you can bark a lot but don’t bite and don’t lose any sheep. But you better know where you are going. This seems to be a better metaphor than a shepherd because a shepherd can be anywhere and most of the times ahead of the herd. The reason why I say this is that when talent becomes a critical resource for the company and when the talent is distributed around the world, inter-personnel competence, inter-cultural competence, the capacity to get people from different parts of the world like China, India, Germany, UK, US, Brazil and make all to work together requires the ability of a good sheep dog. </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">How to talk to people constantly, how to motivate them, how to get them to see the tasks on hand and how to reduce the frictional losses in pulling people together from multiple cultures becomes a dominant theme. So it is not the great man view of leadership. It is somebody who can make you as good as you can be.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><i>Int : Your previous book ‘Fortunes at the Bottom of the Pyramid’ discussed how business including large businesses can work in the emerging markets and in doing so alleviate some poverty. How does that fit with your new ideas of innovation?</i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">CK: If you look at the opportunities for the companies, I make three simple points in all the three books. One, look at six billion people as your market and not one. Look at six billion people as the potential micro-producers and micro-consumers and not just a billion people at the top of the pyramid. Today people are starting to say, including the Unilever of UK, that we want to straddle the pyramid not only being at the top or at the bottom. We can take our products like the Dove or Sunsilk all the way from the top to the bottom. Give it in a<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>sachet for people who can afford only a small piece and more frequent users can have large bottles. So straddling the pyramid is becoming a fairly common idea. </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">The second thing is if you want to get a very good way of serving the consumer and therefore retain consumers then you have to understand the uniqueness of each one and create a unique personalized experience. Just don’t give them a product and think of it as a transaction. Build a relationship that is more enduring. That is the whole co-creation idea. In the new age of innovation, I take these forward and show how these things can be done operationally.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Thirdly what is the glue? The glue is information architecture or IT architecture, social values or the social architecture in terms of skill, training, approach to talent and so on. Binding them all together as a glue is resilient adaptive business processes and unique analytics. I believe that we are on the verge of a largest growth opportunity that any firm has ever seen.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><i>Int: What is co-creation for CK? How does that work?</i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">CK: I have been personally very lucky to be able to spot very, very bright and talented people like Yves Doz, Gary Hamel, Venkat Ramaswamy, MS Krishnan. If you notice what I do, I work with them, write several articles, write a book which is a statement of a point-of-view. Then I move on. I go on to the next idea. I leave them alone to pursue whatever they want. So my job has been to work with the most talented people, co-create a piece of work that has an enduring quality. </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">The idea of core competence is still there. Very few people recognize that global integration and local resposiveness are the products of my co-creation with Doz. It has been massaged and managed into ideas like glocal and so on. But fundamentally the tension between global integration and local responsiveness has endured. </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">So my goal is to get enduring set of ideas, co-create with them and then move on to next. So I have maintained the same pattern. It has been very good because it gives my co-authors the opportunity to express themselves in ways that they want. It allows me to refresh myself by not being tied to the same set of ideas and people.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><i>Int: So what is next for CK?</i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">CK: I think the essence of the next wave of managing or looking at the institution of the firm which has been the most dominant institution in our soceity is to say how do we democratize commerce. What does it mean? I think that is an important question for us to ask.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">The last century was about political freedom. This century must be about economic freedom. I recognize that political freedom is just work in process.We haven’t done it. But the core ideas and the aspirations are well set around the world. Even people who are living under dictatorial regimes recognize they need to have political freedom. It is just a matter of time. But we need to ask the next question as to what is the agenda for humanity. It sounds an audacious goal. I don’t see it that way. If you look at co-creation, it is the starting idea of how to democratize commerce, how to get a share of voice for the consumers and the consumer groups not in an adversarial way but in a collaborative way with the firm. If you look at the bottom of the pyramid it is about how to make it inclusive, thoughtful capitalism, profitable for you and profitable for them, improving their quality of life and certainly makes you richer. </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">So when you look at inclusive capitalism, co-creation, respect for the individual and now the uniqueness of N=1 you can realise them as the building blocks to think about how to democratise commerce. I don’t know when will I be able to put all the pieces together. But that is the hidden journey of all the past three books. Now it is no more hidden as I have told you.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><i>Int: We look forward to continue the journey with you. Thank you CK.</i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">CK : Thank you.</p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">References:</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://thinkers50.com/?page=home">Thinkers 50 - Official site</a></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://thinkers50.com/?page=ck_interview">CK's Interview - Video</a></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://thinkers50.com/?page=commentary">Thinkers50.com 2007 Results</a></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></span>T.Karthikeyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04108661832956967786noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8566829988681177773.post-54725236665526994182009-05-30T02:59:00.012+05:302009-06-07T20:15:52.497+05:30Guerdon and Laodicean : The Indian Buzzzz…<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">‘<i>Ergasia diacoele blancmange huisache hydragyrum isagoge phoresy</i>’. Hey people please wait. I am still speaking English. If you cant make sense (I couldn’t )ask Kavya Shivashankran, Speeling Bee champ. Kavya, a 13 year old from Kansas, is a veteran of the sorts in the Scripps National Spelling Bee Championship 2009. The opening line is just a random concatenation of the words that Kavya spelled flawlessly to lift the prestigious championship. The </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="FONT-STYLE: italic"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Jai-Ho</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> word for Kavya was ‘</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">laodicean</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">’ which means indifferent or lukewarm specially in religious affairs. Kavya has strengthened the Indian-origin stranglehold by becoming the 9th Indian-origin champ. This is the third time Indian-origins are wining the title back to back. Last summer it was 13 year old Sameer Mishra and his title-clincher was </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">guerdon</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> (which means a reward).<br /></span></span></div><br /><span class="fullpost"><br /><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"></span></span></div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Spelling Bee, one of the most famous national juvenile events, gets media coverage on par with any other events. The main sponsor for the event is E.W.Scripps Company, a diversified media firm operating out of Cincinnati. The event aims to improve school-going kids’ spelling skills, vocabulary and help them develop proper English usage.<br /></span></span></div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></span></div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">The 82nd edition of the championship had 293 spellers making it to the final showdown in Washington D.C. Of these 32 kids were of Indian-origin. Kavya was one among the 41 who made it to the semi-final round. The words which she successful decoded in her journey to the acme were </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="FONT-STYLE: italic"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"></span></span></span></span></div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><ul><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="FONT-STYLE: italic"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">ergasia - </span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">integrated activity of both mental and physiological components</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="FONT-STYLE: italic"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">kurta</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> - long-sleeved shirt worn by Indian men </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="FONT-STYLE: italic"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">escritoire</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> - writing table of a secretary</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="FONT-STYLE: italic"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">hydragyrum - </span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">mercury</span></span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="FONT-STYLE: italic"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">blancmange -</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> a sweet pudding made of milk</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="FONT-STYLE: italic"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">baignoire</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> - a box of lowest tier in a theatre </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="FONT-STYLE: italic"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">huisache -</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> a tropical shrub with fragrant deep-yellow flowers</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="FONT-STYLE: italic"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">ecossaise -</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> a country-dance in quick duple meter</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="FONT-STYLE: italic"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">diacoele -</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="FONT-STYLE: italic"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">sorry people couldn’t find the meaning</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="FONT-STYLE: italic"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">bouquiniste -</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> used-book seller</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="FONT-STYLE: italic"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">isagoge</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> - a scholarly introduction to a field of study or research</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="FONT-STYLE: italic"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">phoresy -</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> zoological term meaning a non-parasitic relationship in which one species is carried about by the other</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="FONT-STYLE: italic"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">laodicean</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></li></ul></div><br /><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">The tall and composed Kavya was confidence personified during the whole of the on-stage rounds. She is one of the four four-timers in the competition and this was also her last attempt. In all her earlier attempts she finished in the top 10. Not even a trace of pressure was visible on her face as she stood facing the ‘Head Pronouncer ‘ reading out the title-clinching word . When asked later how she felt at that moment, she said ‘ Ya I knew the word and I was excited’. Kavya aspires to become a neuro-surgeon. Wish her all the very best in all her future endeavours.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></span></div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Kavya is the 9th Indian-origin person to lift the championship. Chicago’s Balu Natarajan opened the Indian-origin tally in 1985. In the last ten years Indian-origin kids have won the title six times. The Indian stranglehold on the title is strengthening every year. Afterall what could be the secret behind this pattern. A popular joke says </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="FONT-STYLE: italic"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">‘ if your name is sivaramakrishnamoorthiyengar you can pretty well spell any word’</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">. </span></span></div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">In fact it is the parents’ pressure and peer pressure that are driving the Indian parents and children to come out and prove their mettle in such national events. Many immigrant communities of America have shone well in many endeavours like the Kenyans in a long-range athletics, Dominicians in baseball and so on. This shows that there is a cultural tinge to success. The North-South Foundation, a non-profit organisation based in Illinois, has done tremendous job in supporting the immigrants' children in their academic excellence. They have put in place alter-Spelling-Bee platform with more than 60 chapters across the nation. It conducts this event just like a full-dress rehearsal. This years champ Kavya was the 2004 NSF champ. The NSF also holds such mock competitions for other famous children championships like Mathcounts and National Geographic Bee. </span></span></div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">It is more than just a coincidence or cultural advantage or gene expression. It is sustained and coordinated efforts of an immigrant community. It is immigrant vigour personified. Because an immigrant community always faces the constant pressure to prove its merit in order to gain and sustain the acceptance of a larger soceity. </span></span></div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Spelling Bee has its fair share of criticism. Probably the most glaring one is that this competition compels the children to learn hundreds of words in an artificial way. For instance many medical terms, Spanish and Japanese words are supposedly learnt mostly out of their context. Such learning may not make any constructive contribution to the kids’ vocabulary and usage skills. The undue pressure exerted on the kids during the preparation and competition is something that is potentially damaging. </span></span></div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></span></div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Spelling Bee, nevertheless plays an important role as a showcase of Indian talents. It seems that an Indian age is not too far and the role of diaspora would be crucial.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="FONT-STYLE: italic"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="FONT-STYLE: normal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Mark Twain</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> said, </span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="FONT-STYLE: italic"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">‘I don't give a damn for a man that can only spell </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="FONT-STYLE: italic"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">a word one way’</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">. Think a correction is on the cards.</span></span></span></div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">References : </span></div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><a href="http://www.aol.in/news/gallery/kavya-shivashankar"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Kavya Shivashankran - Spellin Bee Champ</span></a></div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><a href="http://nationalspellingbee.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">National Spelling Bee -Official Site</span></a></div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><a href="http://www.northsouth.org/st/about/about_us.asp">North South Foundation - Official Site</a></span></div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"></span></div><br /><br /></span>T.Karthikeyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04108661832956967786noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8566829988681177773.post-51846909127544016022009-05-24T17:33:00.013+05:302009-05-31T13:34:54.724+05:30SOS... Pediatric HIV...<span style="font-family:times new roman;">Nkosi Johnson said, “<em>Care for us and accept us - we are all human beings. We are normal. We have hands. We have feet. We can walk, we can talk, we have needs just like everyone else - don't be afraid of us - <strong>we are all the same</strong>!" </em></span><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;">The pin drop silence that filled the auditorium was broken by a thundering applause of the International AIDS Conference’s dignitaries at Durban in 2000 [1]. Johnson, a SouthAfrican boy who died at the age of 12, was yet another kid to fall victim to the dreaded and often stigmatized disease called AIDS. Although he died, his legacy lives on and continues to inspire millions of positive people and social workers to unite hands for the children [2]. Pediatric HIV is an issue that is crying for attention.. 1st June being his remembrance day, I dedicate this post in his honour.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span><br /><br /><br /><div align="justify"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIsjhuxdzhI_SQ1yM9wBL61k6HisS6RT7wIHzHpE0bmCKLCMMFsmli1MUXD-tXIfGOeMovScV1lItmOedvg4vMPM_ff2BUkQ1RUQaLPSIFpt2qqqULiJpEolNSxUUEkCDFA9Zp_3pTVd26/s1600-h/nkosi_johnson.jpg"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5339361328938062498" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 180px; TEXT-ALIGN: left" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIsjhuxdzhI_SQ1yM9wBL61k6HisS6RT7wIHzHpE0bmCKLCMMFsmli1MUXD-tXIfGOeMovScV1lItmOedvg4vMPM_ff2BUkQ1RUQaLPSIFpt2qqqULiJpEolNSxUUEkCDFA9Zp_3pTVd26/s320/nkosi_johnson.jpg" border="0" /></span></a><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><br /></span><br /><span class="fullpost"><span class="fullpost"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">Nkosi Johnson was born to a HIV infected mother in South Africa. He got infected with HIV in utero. The boy shot into headlines when a public school in SouthAfrica turned his admission application on medical grounds. Nkosi along with his foster mother Gail Johnson, resolved to fight out the school. In the process they stirred an entire nation’s conscience vis-à-vis pediatric HIV. The mother-son duo went on to found Nkosi’s Haven, a home dedicated to take care of HIV infected mothers and their kids. Nkosi Johnson became the torch-bearer for the cause of pediatric HIV/AIDS. When he died on June 1, 2001 he was the longest surviving person born infected with HIV.<br /><br />The issue of pediatric HIV often receives a little lesser attention than what it deserves. A quick glance at the statistics can explain why it is so. Worldwide there are more than 35 million people living with HIV. This includes about 2.1 million children (aged less than 15 years)[3]. Of these 2.1 million children about 2 million live in the sub-Saharan Africa. The 2008 Epidemiological Factsheet on HIV and AIDS prepared by WHO puts the number of pediatric HIV victims in India at 8867 based on the reports of registrations in government-run health centers. The report also states there could be as many as 64000 pregnant mothers living with HIV. Of these only about 8816 mothers are under treatment to prevent mother-to-child transmission of the virus. Thus the real picture could be more frightening. Of the 6 million people living with HIV, pediatric victims represent only a miniscule proportion.<br /><br />Just because the proportion of pediatric HIV is ‘insignificant’, they cannot be ignored. The issue of pediatric HIV is complicated in itself. The issue is further complicated by the children who are orphaned when their HIV infected parents die. These are the kids who are sentenced to death for no sins of theirs. The worst part of the story is that all these can almost be completely prevented. Although children born with HIV infection can be made a thing of past, we still watching it with our hands folded.<br /><br />The issue has two sides. One is the supply-side. Medical treatments are available to prevent mother to child transmission(MTCT) of the virus. This means that even when a pregnant mother is infected with HIV, she can give birth to a healthy HIV-negative child. The rate of MTCT infection has been brought down to as low as 2%. But this needs constant medical care of the pregnant mother often from the first trimester of pregnancy. After child birth, the new born needs anti-HIV treatment upto 12 weeks or even more till their HIV status is confirmed. When this is done on a massive-scale consistently birth of HIV infected infants can be prevented almost wholly.<br /><br />The demand-side of the problem is more complicated and delicate. Going by WHO statistics we have over 2 million children living with HIV out of which around 10,000 children live in India. Apart from these there are also children who have lost their parents to AIDS and thus have been orphaned. They need protection, medical care, education, nutrition and above all love and affection of the society. The opening words of this blog resonates this idea. Recent medical advancements have enabled people living with HIV to postpone onset of AIDS to as long as 15 years or even more. Thus children born infected can think of living into their 20’s and 30’s. These children need education and other support which any ordinary kid is entitled to. This would go a long way in making their short lives more useful ones.<br /><br />There have been efforts from governments across the globe to address both supply-side and demand-side issues. India is one country where almost 100% of the pregnant mothers are scanned for HIV. Once diagnosed with HIV, they are put under AntiRetroViral(ARV) treatment. Private sector has come up with some solid efforts in this area. Several organizations across the globe have taken interest in pediatric HIV and done constructive work. Nkosi’s Haven and Clinton Foundation are some prominent example. In India, organizations like Hope Foundation, Desire Society, Prathyasha project of Mellow Circle have done some solid work towards this issue[4].<br /><br />Still not all are okay. There is an urgent need to step up efforts in the area of pediatric HIV. One major obstacle has been the cost of ARV treatment. Most of the private initiatives are also solely dependent on the government-sponsored medicines. Like-minded people should unite to form powerful lobbies that can influence governments and pharmaceutical majors to come up with cheaper medicines. Funds need to be raised to support more private initiatives.<br /><br />An AIDS free generation is not far away if ever we shall resolve to fight it.<br /><br />Unite for Children. Unite against AIDS[5].<br /><br />References:<br /><br />[1] Nkosi Johnson’s speech :</span><a href="http://www.nkosishaven.co.za/"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">http://www.nkosishaven.co.za/</span></a><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><br /><br />[2] Nkosi Johnson Page: </span><a href="http://zar.co.za/nkosi.htm"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">http://zar.co.za/nkosi.htm</span></a><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><br /><br />[3] </span><a href="http://www.who.int/hiv/pub/catsr_2008_en.pdf"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">http://www.who.int/hiv/pub/catsr_2008_en.pdf</span></a><span style="font-family:times new roman;"> </span></span></span></div><div align="justify"><span class="fullpost"><span class="fullpost"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"> and </span><a href="http://www.who.int/hiv/topics/paediatric/en/index.html"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">http://www.who.int/hiv/topics/paediatric/en/index.html</span></a><br /><br />[4] <a href="http://www.desiresociety.org/projects.html"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">http://www.desiresociety.org/projects.html</span></a><span style="font-family:times new roman;">, </span><a href="http://www.mellowcircle.com/prathyasha.html"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">http://www.mellowcircle.com/prathyasha.html</span></a><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><br /><br />[5] </span><a href="http://www.uniteforchildren.org/"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">http://www.uniteforchildren.org/</span></a></span></span></div><br /><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span></div>T.Karthikeyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04108661832956967786noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8566829988681177773.post-4769067457504041032009-05-21T00:36:00.007+05:302010-11-05T19:04:06.537+05:30Death Marketing<div align="justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Marketers have not left any stone unturned in their quest to market. It is in fact surprising to find spirited efforts to market products like renaissance urn, x-ray friendly vessels, green burial sites and other death-related products. Marketing death related product may not be a great business idea afterall. Has anyone ever tried to market a person’s death itself? Yes someone has. </span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
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<div align="justify"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiowSdvmdSjCYS8q3f8wbfEp47fMwq0YNTLyaamIYQUx8rxKqS6XthO_-5nLdvkG36TLBvdre6yC9G-lYu9Ag_mGtUZhCn9-onGQTiCUlAS8Tjw-19LvTIVIIGrJlc0w3S-mw-FCz1yyBUo/s1600/Last+Lecture.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiowSdvmdSjCYS8q3f8wbfEp47fMwq0YNTLyaamIYQUx8rxKqS6XthO_-5nLdvkG36TLBvdre6yC9G-lYu9Ag_mGtUZhCn9-onGQTiCUlAS8Tjw-19LvTIVIIGrJlc0w3S-mw-FCz1yyBUo/s1600/Last+Lecture.jpg" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The great marketing idea came from an unexpected quarter. A Carnegie Mellon professor has added a new chapter in the book of marketing by marketing his own death. Randy Pausch’s ‘The Last Lecture ‘ is that piece of marketing. A dying man writing about living was a heady mix and many couldn’t resist that. The blogger himself is one such victim.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Raundy Pausch, was a Computer Science professor at Carnegie Mellon University. He is best known for his pioneering work in Virtual Reality. Sometimes in 2006 he was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer. At the age of 47, he felt death has called upon him a bit too early. Still he realized that death gave him some breathing time to prepare for the inevitable.</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><div align="justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Carnegie Mellon University has a tradition of asking any retiring or severing professor to deliver what is called the ‘<i>Last Lecture</i>’ (b</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">y the time Randy delivered the lecture, the series was renamed to ‘Journeys’)</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">. The title of lecture series unfortunately suited Randy literally. Interestingly he decided to surprise his eager audience by presenting himself in a very healthy shape. The last lecture was presented in September 2007 which he titled ‘<i>Really achieving your childhood dreams</i>’ and that was not at all about dying.</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><div align="justify"><div style="text-align: left;"></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2hFEFdudhnOaJDatVgG-LynY3SI9qhh55n3a3LHhDLUEPKDacYp_uzD7Mi60lDbJYSJtG6j7VAZDTF1Gl8lN_0bs5Pbit7sOIWpCVNZeiafTvrwxplf_Dw3Cvi_v6yQ2ck3teI1x5Kdem/s1600/Randy+Pausch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2hFEFdudhnOaJDatVgG-LynY3SI9qhh55n3a3LHhDLUEPKDacYp_uzD7Mi60lDbJYSJtG6j7VAZDTF1Gl8lN_0bs5Pbit7sOIWpCVNZeiafTvrwxplf_Dw3Cvi_v6yQ2ck3teI1x5Kdem/s1600/Randy+Pausch.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Randy delivering the Lecture</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The presentation’s title swept most of the audience off their feet. From the word ‘go’ professor was in full throttle. There were no traces of self-denial, tears, pity and the likes. In fact he enthralled the audience by showing photographs of his new home and convertible car. Interestingly he put many members of his ‘healthy’ audience to shame by performing half-a-dozen quick push-ups. The professor listed some of his childhood dreams and showed his audience how he realized them. He moved on to describing how enabling others’ dreams was funnier than achieving one’s own dreams. In the third and the final part of the presentation Randy threw a few ideas about how to live.</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><div align="justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The whole lecture was video graphed and found its way to Youtube (</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo</a>)</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">.The 76 minute video became an instant internet sensation with more than 1 million views within the first month. At the time of this post the video was viewed more than 12 million times. This man ceased the opportunity that death threw at him and converted into an awesome business proposition. He didn’t stop there. He went further to raise a nation’s attention towards pancreatic cancer. The disease is slowly becoming a serious threat in his country.</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><div align="justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When he was diagnosed with terminal illness, he had three kids with the eldest son aged just seven. He was sure that his kids might not remember much of him when they grow up. So he wanted to leave something for his children. The lecture and the book are parts of that noble idea. To quote Randy, ‘ I was trying to put myself in a bottle that would one day wash up on the beach for my children’.</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><div align="justify"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOMDCI5CRugv0311oyw4IekFzoNec6OI2gDoporQ9VW9IxfjSl7k-bVLHWyeDLoraYOkcYOi1hjB7xeZcW2l4JKs4GZ3OBspZ1ktjjR6tH7rvoA1TbghnG9opmPqcOLdED9VztZWxhHOXp/s1600/Randy's+Family.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOMDCI5CRugv0311oyw4IekFzoNec6OI2gDoporQ9VW9IxfjSl7k-bVLHWyeDLoraYOkcYOi1hjB7xeZcW2l4JKs4GZ3OBspZ1ktjjR6tH7rvoA1TbghnG9opmPqcOLdED9VztZWxhHOXp/s1600/Randy's+Family.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Randy, his wife Jai and their <br />
three kids</td></tr>
</tbody></table><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The book as such is an engrossing read. Randy not just speaks about his own personal childhood dreams, he splashes lots of insights and lessons that he learned in areas as diverse as football, education, virtual reality programming and relationship management. One of the attractive features of the book is that the author has organized the text as a series of small crisp chapters. Randy shares many of his life’s experiences in a ‘thought for the day’ kind of one-liners. Among many interesting one-liners, my favourite is “Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted".</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><div align="justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Randy lost his battle against pancreatic cancer on July 25 2008. He shot to international fame with his last lecture. He touched the lives of millions with his ever-living words. Randy’s book is acclaimed as one of the best motivational books to be ever published. One should read the book to understand its magic.</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><div align="justify" style="font-family: -webkit-monospace; font-size: 13px;"></div><div align="justify" style="font-family: -webkit-monospace; font-size: 13px;"></div></span></span>T.Karthikeyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04108661832956967786noreply@blogger.com0