Showing posts with label arbit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label arbit. Show all posts

Wednesday, 21 September 2011

Doing a "Weird Al"

It's been a long time since I thought and wrote
Or maybe I didn't have much to make a note
Ooooh, here's my thinking cap, here's my thinking cap, here's my thinking cap,
Gotta find it out who is steering my boat
It's been a long time, been a long time,
Been a long lonely, lonely, lonely, lonely, lonely time.


चाँद तारों की कहानियों में
किसी का हाथ ढूंढ रहा था
मीठी बातों में सूनी रातों में
अनदेखे सपने ढूंढ रहा था

Look at those bozos, that's the way you do it
You smoke some pot and study MBA
That ain't working, so that's the point to do it
Money for nothin' and keep jumping 'cross the bay


दिल आखिर तू क्यूँ रोता है,
दुनिया में यूँ ही होता है, वगैरा वगैरा....
अपने हिस्से की धूप वैसे भी जी लेगा
जोगी अपना ग़म आसानी से पी लेगा

Is this the real life?
Is this just fantasy?
Caught in a routine
No escape from reality
Open your eyes, meaning of liff you see
I'm just moving by, I feel no hunger
Because I'm late-come, early-go, little joy, lot of woe
Any way the work grows, doesn't really matter to me, to me.


सिर रख के सोने के लिए
एक कंधा ढूंढ रहा हूँ
वो समझ और संभाल लेंगे
ये उम्मीद ढूंढ रहा हूँ

Now I fish, now I fish, and have beer
We're just few stuck souls swimming in a wish hole, year after year,
Running over the same old ground.
What have we found? The same old peers.
Fish, and have some beer.




Obligatory links to references - Weird Al, Led Zep, Dire Straits, Queen, Liff, Pink Floyd, Poem, ZNMD

Friday, 4 September 2009

Crude humour

Obama: Who are you?
Hu: Yes.
Obama: English please, and it will be great if you can open your eyes.
Hu: I speak English. China speaks Engrish. Hummer is Chinese now. China makes everything now, including milk in melamine and toys in lead. We will also break India apart and ruin their exports. We will rule the world.
Obama: We can't let you take jobs out of America. Yes, We can, with a 't.
Hu: We are not taking Jobs. (Punches Steve in the eye) He has an iJob.
Steve Jobs: Hu stays hungry. Hu stays foolish.

Posting after quite a while. Will write more later. Currently reading Ayn Rand, Bertrand Russell, J Krishnamurti and other interesting stuff about economics, evolution, science, technology and steel.

PS: No harm intended. I know India is not the perfect place on the earth and I don't hate the dragons but everybody is making too much noise about their esteemed return. And too loudly. Shh! They are listening.

Monday, 2 February 2009

Defining love

The age old question: What is love?
  1. Caring for someone
  2. Not expecting something in exchange
  3. Willingness to give anything up (except your core values/beliefs/system)
  4. Forgiveness/Absence of hatred or indifference
I think the last one is generic and yet elegant. Hatred comes from feeling of merciless revenge. Ability or willingness to forgive someone (sometimes after a punishment/revenge) is absence of unforgiving hatred, is love.

In the vaguest of terms, I have no idea how convincing this argument is. I just scribbled out the train of thought. Don't think too much about it, you need not react to this thought immediately. Take your time.

Monday, 17 November 2008

Realise you're living in the golden years

To IIMB friends:

From the coast of gold across the seven seas
I'm travellin' on far and wide
But now it seems I'm just a stranger to myself
And all the things I sometimes do
It isn't me but someone else

I close my eyes and think of home
Another city goes by in the night
Ain't it funny how it is
You never miss it till it's gone away
And my heart is lying there
And will be till my dying day

So, understand
Don't waste your time always searching for those wasted years
Face up, make your stand
And realise you're living in the golden years

Too much time on my hands I got you on my mind
Cant ease this pain so easily
When you can't find the words to say
It's hard to make it through another day
And it just makes me wanna cry
And throw my hands up to the sky

So, understand
Don't waste your time always searching for those wasted years
Face up, make your stand
And realise you're living in the golden years

- from 'Wasted Years' by Iron Maiden

PS: A cousin asked me on orkut "dada what is that you do that you are paid 9 lakh per year", and I laughed out loud alone.

Friday, 9 May 2008

Would you - III

(Previously: Would you part I and part II)

After the introspection, I find myself inconsistent and irrational. For instance,
  • I would like to donate part of my fortune (II.5). However I am strongly against giving alms to any beggar (I.5).
  • Someone would not give way even when the vehicle behind honks (I.3), but he would connive with colleagues while not accepting bribe himself (II.3).
  • Someone would donate a part of lottery earnings (II.5.1), but she would not accept that extra earnings are also windfall (II.5.4).
  • Someone may hope to elect unpopular candidate (II.9), but may not choose solar energy (II.10) or may not switch foods (II.8). Yet each one of that set is a vote against a convenient choice.
  • I would not require another Rs 100 note (II.4), a beggar will be much better off with it, but I may not pick it up to pass it to him. If I am well off than average person on road, should I let others pick the note lying on road, or should I pick it up and donate it (II.5)?
  • I may want to donate a part of my fortune for social cause. How do I make sure it reaches its intended recipients (II.7)? How do I justify deliberate redistribution of wealth (I.5,6,7,8 II.1,4,5,6,7) in case it reaches wrong recipients?
Won't free markets work better than any deliberate redistribution of wealth? Why should I push my opinion strongly if I believe in free markets, and if I accept that the other person is free to believe otherwise (and both can be correct)?

I don't know. I wish I had answers that didn't prompt more questions. I would like to know whether you have thought on these lines, and if you too are short of answers.

Reasons for this apparent inconsistency, I feel are a combination of the following
  1. The questions described above are not standalone example of single phenomenon. Saving someone, saving a beautiful person, paying from your pocket and not hurting your arch-rival are a package in single question. It will be very difficult to frame such impartial questions and to answer them honestly.
  2. There is inherent limit we set to our deeds. For example - would you kill someone for Rs 100? Rs 1 lac? Rs 100 cr? for survival?
  3. We prioritize among money, sex, relations, ideas, recognition, self-actualization etc differently. Not only we see others' priorities as irrational, we ourselves are guided by different priorities at different situations.
All this effort is not to point inconsistencies in our thinking (there might even not be any and I am no one to do so). It is to make one think about self and his/her choices, to make him/her introspect.

Wednesday, 7 May 2008

Would you - II

Previously: Would you part I)
  1. Would you demand a bribe being a babu?
    • from a poor person who cant pay it?
    • from a rich person who can afford, but is known to be a philanthropist?
    • from a rich person who can afford, and is known to possess lot of black money?

  2. Would you accept bribe even if you don't want to, but because peers pressurize you?
  3. Would you connive with other corrupt people instead, but not accept bribe yourself?

  4. Would you pick up Rs 100 note lying on road
    • when no one is watching?
    • when someone is watching you, but you can act as if it fell from your pocket?
    • when no one is watching but you know that someone is looking for money lost?

  5. Would you donate a part of your fortune
    • if you picked up the above note?
    • if you won a gold coin in packet of chips as part of marketing scheme?
    • if you are earning more than you deserve (in your opinion)?
    • if you are earning more than you require?

  6. Would you live a simple life, reduce your consumption so that you can donate more?
  7. Would you stop donating if you find that your money is being pocketed by uninteded beneficiaries?

  8. Would you switch from non-veg to veg because more people can be fed from veg (or from some food to some less tasty food)?
  9. Would you vote against a popular (set to win) candidate known to be corrupt, just because your vote may matter?
  10. Would you switch to solar power even if it costs more than saving in electricity bill, but saves CO2 emissions?
Next: Part III

Tuesday, 6 May 2008

Would you - I

This is a series of 3 posts. Basically series of questions, of which I myself don't have consistent and fixed answers. In the end what I have is only more questions.

Answer the following questions. All the questions are of the form "Would you ....... (do something)". Be honest to yourself. There are no right or wrong answers. This is not a test, so there are no results, only more questions.

  1. would you skip a signal
    • if the signal just turned red and the next vehicle goes ahead?
    • if the signal just turned red and the next vehicle stops?
    • if the signal just turned red and the next vehicle stops at 3 am?

  2. Would you wait for the red signal timer (at ten) to be zero if person behind you honks continuously?
    • Would you give way to that person?


  3. Would you pick someone else's shoes outside temple if you can't find yours

  4. Would you rush an injured beautiful person, lying on road, to hospital?
    • if s/he is poor and you may need to spend from pocket?
    • if s/he is the person you hate the most?

  5. Would you give a rupee to a beggar who doesnt want to work?
    • if he is handicapped?
    • if he is fully healthy?

  6. Would you stop giving a rupee to healthy beggars because they may start to earn by working?

  7. Would you resist paying to eunuch even facing harassment?
  8. Would you resist paying ransom to an extortionist?

  9. Would you you want to be a terrorist ending up killing someone who believes otherwise?
  10. Would you criticize other religions because their beliefs contradict yours?
  11. Would you you want to be a gangster knowing that you will kill someone just like you?
  12. Would you you want to be a soldier knowing that you will kill someone just like you?
Next: Part II and III.

Thursday, 31 January 2008

so many things so less time

I wonder why I end up with so many things to do simultaneously. Right now all the following activities are going on (not in specific order)
1.All fin electives
2.Music practices for Unmaad - eastern & western
3.Accompaniments for solo/duet events in Unmaad
4.Leadcap walk
5.NGO initiative
6.Seniors' placements

And if possible, I have to attend Shailu's wedding a day before an end-term exam.

They say good managers are good at multitasking. Probably I was a type 2 error in that regard.

Tuesday, 2 October 2007

second term

(credit - Naka , modified to suit local context)

So what does term 2 bring? A colourful marketing text book? A 'god level' finance text book? A heavier load of case studies?

What does term 2 promise? A 3-month marathon of what kind? A summer internship selection process, one too many PPTs, reams of application forms, vault guides, case-books, surprise quizzes, Vista, sleepless L²s, and an indirect rat-race till death with 259 others for a place in the sun- these all and some more.

Rats! I have to begin somewhere to fit myself to companies.


So what does life after IIM bring? Professional nostalgia for the alma mater? 'God level' finances in your bank account?

What does life after IIM promise? Decades long marathon of what kind? A job with huge load of binding responsibilities & expectations, one too many formal PPTs, losing sleep over deadlines and another indirect rat-race with thousands of others for proving the worth of the brands - these and more.

Rats! I have to begin somewhere, to seek the purpose of this life.


Though I keep rationalizing by saying "This too shall pass away", whatever comes next, will also pass away. So will life, universe and everything.....

Sigh....

That is 42.