After 6 days at work on what was "officially" a 4 day week, I decided to treat myself with "The Terminal" after a goooood sunday lunch. What was expected to be a movie watching experience I would appreciate turned out to be an un-forgettable cupla hours...Absolutely brilliant characterization. 20 Minutes into the movie I started to wonder if the movie was a bit too laid back and slow paced...But That's where Spielberg scores...What he sketches with care in the first half hour is the back bone of the next hour and a half of absolute bliss... Most of the great directors use repetition and patterns to haunt and sink in the impact on the viewer... That is one of the high-lights of the movie...The "Napoleon-Josephine" dialogues and the Daily visits to the immigration counter of Viktor are classic examples...
Though I don't go to movies with a note pad in hand to take down the messages the director conveys to the viewer, I appreciate subtle hints at Values and an underlying message, of course, I hate it if the hero utters a 20 min dialog just to deliver the cliched "Message".... Subtlety is yet another hallmark of the great directors..
The importance of the Human Touch to business and the hidden pointers on how in-human today's workforce have become are totally of relevance to working professionals. The power of "Service with a Smile" and how you can win people to your way by just being a true honest helpful guy.....these were stuff I felt I should try and emulate if not in one month atleast over a period of time....
I have added Terminal to my list of all time faves....Strangely enough was reminded of Anbe Sivam Lots while I watched terminal....
ok....on to other stuff/..cant thank god enuf for saving my frnds from death...Oh man....20 mins....what a diff it made.....
Desply wanna see Marina and good ol' bessy in such a mess....How I miss seeing my beloved chennai go through all it has.....
I hope the new year dawns a non calamitous one for India....and the world...
p.s
Tsu-Nami - Hindu tells me is Japanese for Harbour-Wave.....
p.s
Monday, December 27, 2004
Saturday, December 25, 2004
Mahesh Murthy visited this place....And a bit of CAT news
Well, Blogging certainly is "strongly connecting" this already shrunk world....Well a bit of graph theory there...
But point is....my fortnightly source of inspiration, Mahesh posted a comment in my post that showcased his article..Well, need I say more...Thanks...
Also, let me also break my CAT results here officially.
99 percentile...
2 IIM calls. From B and K...dunno what I and L need...
To B or Not To B is the question.....
But point is....my fortnightly source of inspiration, Mahesh posted a comment in my post that showcased his article..Well, need I say more...Thanks...
Also, let me also break my CAT results here officially.
99 percentile...
2 IIM calls. From B and K...dunno what I and L need...
To B or Not To B is the question.....
Tuesday, December 14, 2004
Smart vs Street Smart....
The human mind never ceases to think....Well, one of the things that this non descript has been mulling over in the last few days is, smartness as in acuity or sharp thinking and good problem solving skills, a la the IIT topper or even the Class XII "Bright Student" might infact be a gift that borders on being a luxury than being a "must have"... What really matters in this time and age as the flood gates are opened for a cross cultural collage is Street Smartness....The more I think on this...the more I feel there is to learn from the Battle scarred hawkers and auto rickshaw drivers in the street...
Application and Presence of mind are more at value outside the cozy confines of the examination hall or the cramped class room. Haggling with a cantankerous vegetable seller is something that you will do more often than solving a definite integral that only ten others solved in the history of mankind. But sadly, though the two facets of one's personality are not defined anywhere as being mutually exclusive, finding a student who finishes his graduation who is a street smart smartie is something that's as difficult as it's been for India to find a Kapil Dev.
My little tryst with the corporate war room has made me all the more convinced that tackling real life situations where the complexity is introduced by human interaction , human emotions and egos are much more the key to one's climb up the ladder than being the next Ramanujan....But when one considers the kind of training and conditioning that the grey cells of the human mind undergo, their cousins- the 'presence of mind' cells are hardly given any attention in schools...Well, there is definitely an area of concern to the HRD of India because, India relies so much on its B Schools and empiricism as the sources of its managers. Indian Managers are moulded either in the two year high speed b school factory, or in the 'n-year super slow grinding mill' that the industries are... What I am looking at is the process of becoming a manager starting when the kid reaches middle school. The two Manager churning factories need pre processed inputs rather than 'raw' talents. The Mob psychology that drives Indian graduate and Post graduate education today needs a drastic shake-up. That can happen only if the students are in a position to know what they need to become to optimise their strengths by the time they leave school. This is what is to me 'Street Smartness'. Basically, 'What I need to do so that I do what I can do, well" rather than "I do what I need to do to be well to do" should be the mantra.
Also, we should deter the rat race phenomenon that competitive entrance exams have become in India. Atleast 85% of Entrance exam takers are victims of peer or parental pressure. Again, these exams test how smart you are. If we groom street smart youngsters, firstly the number of aspirants of entrance exams/ job interviews will come down, secondly we will see the job satisfaction index in the industry soar. There are a few other plus points to this...Each of that will merit an article. But that I shall reserve for later.
Kids should be encouraged to score grades in attitude, mental toughness and discretion rather than Maths,Physics and Chemistry. Not saying that these subjects are not to be there...But these other subjects need to be also there.... There has to be a curriculum upheaval. How, Its for the HRD to decide..I am not a qualified authority on this....
Well, A final confession, this article arose out of a realization of how woefully "street dumb" ,yours truly is....
Application and Presence of mind are more at value outside the cozy confines of the examination hall or the cramped class room. Haggling with a cantankerous vegetable seller is something that you will do more often than solving a definite integral that only ten others solved in the history of mankind. But sadly, though the two facets of one's personality are not defined anywhere as being mutually exclusive, finding a student who finishes his graduation who is a street smart smartie is something that's as difficult as it's been for India to find a Kapil Dev.
My little tryst with the corporate war room has made me all the more convinced that tackling real life situations where the complexity is introduced by human interaction , human emotions and egos are much more the key to one's climb up the ladder than being the next Ramanujan....But when one considers the kind of training and conditioning that the grey cells of the human mind undergo, their cousins- the 'presence of mind' cells are hardly given any attention in schools...Well, there is definitely an area of concern to the HRD of India because, India relies so much on its B Schools and empiricism as the sources of its managers. Indian Managers are moulded either in the two year high speed b school factory, or in the 'n-year super slow grinding mill' that the industries are... What I am looking at is the process of becoming a manager starting when the kid reaches middle school. The two Manager churning factories need pre processed inputs rather than 'raw' talents. The Mob psychology that drives Indian graduate and Post graduate education today needs a drastic shake-up. That can happen only if the students are in a position to know what they need to become to optimise their strengths by the time they leave school. This is what is to me 'Street Smartness'. Basically, 'What I need to do so that I do what I can do, well" rather than "I do what I need to do to be well to do" should be the mantra.
Also, we should deter the rat race phenomenon that competitive entrance exams have become in India. Atleast 85% of Entrance exam takers are victims of peer or parental pressure. Again, these exams test how smart you are. If we groom street smart youngsters, firstly the number of aspirants of entrance exams/ job interviews will come down, secondly we will see the job satisfaction index in the industry soar. There are a few other plus points to this...Each of that will merit an article. But that I shall reserve for later.
Kids should be encouraged to score grades in attitude, mental toughness and discretion rather than Maths,Physics and Chemistry. Not saying that these subjects are not to be there...But these other subjects need to be also there.... There has to be a curriculum upheaval. How, Its for the HRD to decide..I am not a qualified authority on this....
Well, A final confession, this article arose out of a realization of how woefully "street dumb" ,yours truly is....
Saturday, December 04, 2004
Unwind...
This one is dedicated to Sab who has been nagging me to write somethin down to earth and not some so called "abstract?" stuff...
Hey...the intent here is never to write abstract for the sake of it...but just to write what I feel..but still...here is something....
Life here has been full of night outs in office and going home if at all at nights in the biting cold...arnd 2 am and food habits have gone for a toss...once in twelve hours is no justice for this hogger...I miss bonda bakodas and fries and sundals...these pizzas and burgers dont quite match up...
and yet, there has been a few good things happening in life...a few good frnds are shaping up here..and there are quite a few moments i savor...not least of all the brilliant time I had wen sab was here last time..
Chennai beckons me now..and no trip has been more hyped than ranga's impending visit..suffices to say..that is on my mind every day...
Well, There is a bit of catching up to do with music here...no tuch at all with music and cricket...leave alone the B mags...have to start that soon..GD PI here i come;)
my mates Ranga and Sab have been discussing the concept of intersect and intercaste marriages...a lot of thinkin is going on in their blogs...Well ppl..visit girish.squarespace.com, whoever has a view on that....
One more thing...the drives to besant nagar beach and the sand
are things that are too inviting now....
well....december is that time of the year when my father catches ayyappa fever...I want to attend one of those poojas...and sing a few bhajans...;)
That much from my side...Gharsana has one song from Srinivas which is mindblowing...My first telugu delightful song...but there are a few other telugu songs i mutter occasionally...
Bye then..post more later...
Hey...the intent here is never to write abstract for the sake of it...but just to write what I feel..but still...here is something....
Life here has been full of night outs in office and going home if at all at nights in the biting cold...arnd 2 am and food habits have gone for a toss...once in twelve hours is no justice for this hogger...I miss bonda bakodas and fries and sundals...these pizzas and burgers dont quite match up...
and yet, there has been a few good things happening in life...a few good frnds are shaping up here..and there are quite a few moments i savor...not least of all the brilliant time I had wen sab was here last time..
Chennai beckons me now..and no trip has been more hyped than ranga's impending visit..suffices to say..that is on my mind every day...
Well, There is a bit of catching up to do with music here...no tuch at all with music and cricket...leave alone the B mags...have to start that soon..GD PI here i come;)
my mates Ranga and Sab have been discussing the concept of intersect and intercaste marriages...a lot of thinkin is going on in their blogs...Well ppl..visit girish.squarespace.com, whoever has a view on that....
One more thing...the drives to besant nagar beach and the sand
are things that are too inviting now....
well....december is that time of the year when my father catches ayyappa fever...I want to attend one of those poojas...and sing a few bhajans...;)
That much from my side...Gharsana has one song from Srinivas which is mindblowing...My first telugu delightful song...but there are a few other telugu songs i mutter occasionally...
Bye then..post more later...
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