The Blues Hat "trick"

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"Those who thought that the magical era ended with the last book of Harry Potter series; Well, for them I can say only one thing. The magic was about to begin then and we do not need any JK Rowling to create a world of magical illusion. "
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Well, when I look back into last 25 years sporting history of India. I could not find any year better than this for the sports in India. This year the Indians resurgence in the arena of sports is stupendous and yes the players are eager to make their mark at topmost level. The killer instinct is flowing like rush of blood in a nihilist. These nihlist are not only vociferous, but also men on mission to prove a point to the world.

First, it started with the win in Nehru cup in football. The known magic of Bhutia and exuberance and skill of Sunil Chetri made it all possible. The win was damn essential for the 2 simple reasons. One, the win will do a whole lot of good to the confidence of Indian football team players and second, the Indian youths will have some Indian footballers to attach themselves with when they see the Beckham's, Ronaldo's pumping their skills out on the bouncing rubber on TV sets. Well, the Indian youth can not only boast of belonging to the same nation (where we have dearth of heroes to belong with), but also who knows that one out of those millions might actually become a footballer himself. So the gap has just started filling.

The eyes were just rolling towards football and the thumping Asia hockey cup victory came along way. The victory was important to regain the popularity of national sport in the country. The goals flurry in the tournament and the not losing a single match made the Indian victory look like the victories of Indian hockey’s golden era. "Though, we didn’t had the stick of Harry Potter to weave the magic, but hockey stick of Prabhjot was good enough to entice the entire nation with its magic. "

Then it was turn of cricket. The First TT world Champs. Unbelievable for those who would have seen the debacle of Indian team in 50 over world cup this year. First, it started at what i call the great Indian summer in England, the team under Dhoni's flagship had the smooth sailing even after the ship was facing constant storms in form of SA, Australia and Pak. This indifferent Indian side overcame all the hiccups to become the world champs beating Pakistan, our neighbors ( I do not want to call them rivals at least in the arena of sports), who also played cricket of highest quality through out the TT.

But though the sports were different but what was common between these victories were nobody gave India a chance to win these tournament and in the end they proved critics wrong. "The Blues hattrick" is a kind of illusion in its own sense. We Indians have never seen it before. We are still new to handle this kind of excitement cheering every goal that is kicked or sticked and six that is hit.

Other then the big hat trick the Indians had their moment to cheer Sania’s run on hard court, Nehwal’s skills in badminton, Indian golfer’s debut in US masters and breaking the top 100 mark, Vishy’s success in chess and many other, which I can not recall now.

"It is a script that is well started. I hope that the plot is not lost somewhere in the middle …."

Innovation, Invention, Creativity and the thin line – Part 1

Well, the school and colleges were already buzzed with these three words and perhaps now a decade after, when the Indian industries have put a giant step forward towards the global economy, these three words are flowing just as the news of Hollywood’s who n who.

Now Indian companies reputation as a service provider is well known across the world. The "atithi devo bhave" cliché has become synonymous to the service providing nation. But the big question is when will the Indian industries will start establishing themselves as a product based companies rather than cheap(in terms of rate) labor service provider. i think the buzz around is quite reflective of call of future for Indian industries.

We talk about these to words a lot but have we ever tried to think what these three words mean. Are they synonymous to each other or there is a thin line between them. I just took the help of Google (meanwhile was wondering whether Google search engine is an innovative product or a example creative par excellence). What amazed me most was 1000's of different definitions that were available on net. It not only reflected different interpretation of different people on these two terms but also that my confusion was not stand out. If we need to so some innovation or creativity we need to damn clear on this or at least we should be aware what we need to do before we proceed on how to do it.

Creativity: Creativity (or creativeness) is a mental process involving the generation of new ideas or concepts, or new associations between existing ideas or concepts. From a scientific point of view, the products of creative thought (sometimes referred to as divergent thought) are usually considered to have both originality and appropriateness. Although popularly associated with art and literature, it is also an essential part of innovation and invention and is important in professions such as business, economics, architecture, industrial design, and science and engineering.

Invention: An invention is an object, process, or technique which displays an element of novelty. An invention may sometimes be based on earlier developments, collaborations or ideas, and the process of invention requires at least the awareness that an existing concept or method that can be modified or transformed into an invention. Although a new or usefulb object or method may be developed to fulfill a specific purpose, the original idea may never be fully realized as a working invention, perhaps because the concept is in some way unrealistic or impractical. A "castle in the air" or a "pie in the sky" (or "castles in Spain") may refer to a creative idea which does not reach fruition due to practical considerations. The history of invention is full of such castles, because inventions are not necessarily invented in the order that is most useful.

Innovation: Innovation has been studied in a variety of contexts, including in relation to technology, commerce, social systems, economic development, and policy construction. There are, therefore, naturally a wide range of approaches to conceptualizing innovation in the scholarly literature. However, a consistent theme that exits is innovation is typically understood as the introduction of something new and useful, for example introducing new methods, techniques, or practices or new or altered products and services. It is also thought to be as "the successful exploitation of new ideas " by Department of Trade and Industry, UK) or “change that creates a new dimension of performance” by Peter Drucker. A more clear and concise definition is a “creative idea that is realized” by HBS. So innovation is not idea, not a new product but it is the implementation or successful exploitation of the inventions.



For simple understating refer to the flow diagram below

Fig: Flow chart for Creativity, invention and innovation

The diagram also states that out of n creative idea's that come across minds only are n-m invented due to technological, human motivation, resource limitations and n-m-x are innovated as many inventions are not for practical or societal usage.

In the next series of the innovation, creativity and invention i will just try to figure out why and what reasons lead to n-m-x innovation from n ideas in detail.

Sometimes I just wonder why !!!!!

The nights and days ,when the memory fades
Erasing what i cherished the most
i just wondered why !!!!

The nights and days, when i was young,
i cherished my train that whistled away
but time erased it all
i just wondered why !!!!

The nights and days, when i cried,
i cherished the way my family cares
but time erased it all
i just wondered why !!!!

The nights and days, when i went to school,
i cherished stamps and coins craze
but time erased it all
i just wonder why !!!!

The nights and day, when i went to temple,
i cherished the girl who used to pray
but time erased it all
i just wonder why !!!!

The nights and day, when i went to high school,
i cherished the teacher who taught me English
but time erased it all
i just wonder why !!!!

The nights and day, when i went to college,
i cherished the the girls whose name started with s and N :)
but time erased it all
i just wonder why !!!!

The nights and day, when i left my college
i cherished the day when we partied till pain
but time erased it all
i just wonder why !!!!


The nights and day, when i joined the office
i cherished the day when first salary came
but time erased it all
i just wonder why !!!!


The nights and days, when i was feeling lonely
i cherished the the hours i talked on phone with my friends
but time erased it all
i just wonder why !!!!


But

The nights and days, when i am left alone
i am trying to recall the moments from the memories cross-roads
which i cherished the most.
i just wonder can i relive them !!!
i just wonder why ?

Big yellow smilling face !!!!!

Some consider it as iconic to expressing your feeling while chatting while the rest consider it as a image synonomus to stress buster. but for me it is the one of the bigggest examples of creativity in the past 50 years. Well, i was talking about what we all know it as smiley the big yellow face which we see it on net, posters, balls, cards , toys and where not.

Just a couple of days back while chatting to a friend i was just wondering who created this Smiley. The first thought was Yahoo, because i first saw it on Y Messenger. while looging we can always see the improvised version of original smilie. i was just trying to join bits and pieces to find answer but then google was there for my rescue. Intrestigly what i found on google was much more baffling. Many people have claimed it their creation and earned huge huge amt of money. But in many web pages i found that they concluded the original inventor was Harvey R. Ball of Worcester, Massachusetts, who drew the smiley in 1963.

The whole story goes like this (picked from a web page)

Harvey got the assignment from the company's promotions director, Joy Young, who wanted a smile button for a morale boosting campaign ordered up by her boss. Harvey, not a man to waste ink, initially drew just the smile. Pondering the result, he realized that if you turned the button upside down, it became ... a frown! To head incipient wise-arsedness off at the pass, he added two eyes, which of course you could also turn upside down, but then it meant ... I'm standing on my head!--a more ambiguous sociopolitical message. He made the thing yellow to give it a sunshiny look, and State Mutual, whom nobody would accuse of rashness, printed up 100. The buttons were a big hit, the company began handing them out by the thousands, and the rest you know. Mr. Ball's total take: his $45 art fee. State Mutual, not very quick on the uptake, didn't make any money

either.

But the first people to have saw the commercial appeal in this smilie were two brothers in Philadelphia, Bernard and Murray Spain. They made different products, posters, shirts, greeting cards, mugs and dozens of other items and made millions of $ then. There are many other who still falcly clam it to be their creation.

Harvey never got his due credit for his creativity, neither in turns of money nor recognition. I just imagine if Patenet laws were present then and Harvey had its creativity patented, his name would have been still alive. not hoping against the hope, Mr. Bill gates might have offered him few million dollars to get those right to use it.

Phew it would have been a different story all together.

3 years old !!!

It would seem to be very elderly when i talk about this but somethings cant be avoided as well. Now i am a working veteran of 3 years and my company made me realize that :) . Yesterday on the completion of 3 years of job in the same company i received a token of appreciation which they call it as "HATS OFF". It was a nice feeling to get such an appreciation when you have struggled a lot :) while trying to survive in IT and its culture. I was just taken a 3 years back when i attended the ILP in hyderabad we all were shown the video on then Hats off ceremony. if i remember correctly it went like this " hats off..hats off to XYZ" in a very hummable tune. But then we used to laugh at it and say "who will stay here for long .. just get the experience and leave this job . Only fools will like to stay here for this. and now i myself was happy to receive that". Me and my ironical ways of doing and handling things never go off.

But 2 thought that are intriguing my mind right now are " am i really a fool to be here after 3 years and yet working of nuts" or "we judged too early about this company in our ILP days" . Frankly speaking it is a mixed feeling as of now. Yes i am fool in the sense people have gone to onsite and shifted the job to get much higher perks. But the other aspect which still keeps me here is getting the opportunity to explore what kind of work suits me best. Also, after 2 years i was given the opportunity to lead. The feeling of being senior made me responsible in many ways in my personal and professional life. I think this comapny has infused a thought of being ethical in what i do, though it is not synonomus with the people those are working there. I think the brand is such which makes you feel that way. I have become more robust, less short tempered and more patient in handling things :).

Not too strech futher .. i will just say to learn and experiment a few things you certainly have to loose some .. i hope next time i do not loose much ..( me and my irony yet again...)

Lord Hanuman and Technology

A decade before the only thing the god had to do was to sit in the temple and give his blessing to the devotees. But this decade which belong to Technology, has added another task on Lord hanuman's hand . This time the task is really on to his hand. The hand, which was then used to lift the mountains and use the hefty "Gadda" his weapon against the evil, now in this mordern era has job to provide the Ladoos to his devotees. A few days back watching "Times Now" it was just amazing to see the ladoo coming out of Hanuman's hand through a vent when a devotee put his hand in front of idol". Must have been driven by some sort of cheap technology but It led to lot of people visiting the temple who otherwise would not have. Alas, technology has added another feather to its cap i.e. Technology and creativity can lead an atheist to temple, maybe for different reason but it indeed can :).

I think technology geeks have a special predilection towards lord Hanuman. First it was Hanuman in its animated avtaar and now they Hanuman idol distributng Laddus on demand (LoD) (how the techno people wil call it .. ha ha ha)... enjoy!!!

"Grandslams" and "Big indian bazaar"

Well, I was just watching the US open last night and I was pressed to look back at a chapter I wrote for my book "The big Indian Bazzar". The bundles of pages just contain my interpretation and experience of IT industry, which I refer to as The Big Indian Bazzar. So I thought why not put a small snippet from that chapter to all.

It goes like this ………………………

The day is going to be long. I was just left alone to be lost in oblivion. I just looked out side the window from my cubicle and realized that the day was over long ago and the moon has started his work shift. I had a company, I realized. I just became aware that the white streak of moon light just about perfectly partitioned the massive breadth of Bay of Bengal so beautifully that it felt like god himself has laid the white milky path, which leads straight to the heaven. I wanted to capture the miraculous moment forever but was soon back to my physical self when realized that I was feeling the sweat. Security people must have switched of the AC. Again the hours were just not passing by and I was not able to make out what to do next. It was 00:00 hrs and was still sitting for my onsite team to bail him out of trouble.


It was a night before the crucial release for the clients. In the meanwhile when nothing was happening, I thought to check if any attention-grabbing forwards are present in my mail box. Just then I clicked the tab which triggered the rush of adrenaline flowing through my arteries. The Danger lied in the “Inbox (9)”. “Fuck” was my instant reaction to it. I was scared enough to open them and read because I knew that I was about to open Pandora’s Box. The most difficult of analysis was just being passed over to us in the mail. Instantly my eye balls rolled to the top of mail to check the cc list and not to my surprise it was CCed to all the demons. It was impossible to solve all the analysis within few hours after such a tiring day at office. Also, my team members are not here. If I take this task up I have to deliver it today and if I fail I will become the bread and butter of the demon’s breakfast tomorrow. Again reaffirming myself, took notice of mail which stated clearly “please finish of the analysis by today end” highlighted in bold. All the slang was getting a spit out after I checked each mail. I remember the similar situation in my previous assignment when I was made a scapegoat. This time I was in conundrum what to do. Either to start work and become scapegoat or to reply back to them and do what my other colleagues do.

I took a split second decision and called the onsite lead to tell him that it was not feasible. Just after my discussion with all the demons in CC I mailed that “as per the discussion these are my queries on the problem and as the concerned person is not available please car ry out the activity at onsite”. The ball was in his court now. Just when I thought he was on the mat by my base line forehand return he replied back with a link of some helpful url’s and documents if they were of any help. He had just dropped the ball if front of nets in my court. I had to run and put the ball back in his court and this time I need to make sure I win this point and game. I replied that these documents and link will not help in further analysis till we get inputs on the queries and is leaving as I will not be able to avail cab after that. Did my cross-court backhand volley worked? I was waiting anxiously and my heart was beating faster.

Watching it from side camera where the reel is rolling at 300 rpm in slow motion I saw the winning applause coming from audience. The opponent just fell on the ground while struggling to reach the winning short. He replied back stating thanks for your inputs we will ask clients for more inputs on the same. I felt like winning the grand slam then. It was my first grand slam victory and the feeling was obviously of a victorious knight.

While returning back to home I felt that today i have mastered the art to survival in IT industry and a thought just crossed my mind - is this is a change for good or for bad? I was again lost self -introspecting; Giving company to me was moon and its light.

I lost again!!!

“Maula mere lele meri jaan” & “Hyderabad blasts”

How some things leave an indelible impression on mind. The NDTV and other news channel were screening the moving pictures of the blasts. And what was more stirring was connection of a Hyderabadi, a fellow Indian in the attack, who was previously a student there.


Days before I had chance to watch the movie “Chak de India”. As people put me as SRK buff I was supposed to watch the movie but this movie really touched my heart for many reasons. The one reason was its song “Maula mere le le meri jaan”. A real melodious, soulful and meaningful song to come after a long time. How beautifully the lyricist conveyed the plight of Indian Muslims in the song depicting it from the eyes of Kabir khan while watching the tricolor being unfurled. He says “teeja tera rang tha main toh” “Referring to all the Indian Muslims by stating I am the third color i.e green of the tricolor Indian flag and have lived the way an Indian lives. I have played the Holi and Diwali with the fellow Indians and I am the shadow of this country. If for some reason India take its eyes away from us but I am sure she will come back to take us her abode. The sand is my own and I get the same food, people and culture as I could find anywhere else. No body can understand the mother-son relationship between us Muslims and India. I am a part of you and will continue to be”. It was the most touching moment and certainly the high point of the movie. The voice of Krishna and Salim merchant made it melt in the heart of if not the millions at least thousands.


Just taking an analogy are we also responsible of turning our own fellow brothers become extremist. What happened in the movie with Kabir khan would the same thing have happened if Dhanraj Pillay would have missed the goal. Some times we as citizen of democratic country become immature to overreact to these situations. I think Kabir Khan took that criticism as a constructive one but how many will take it his way. For the betterment of the country we need to change ourselves a bit so that we do not let our fellow brothers turn hostile. I think our the Muslim community has done India proud in every field whether it is entertainment (Shah Rukh khan, legendary Dileep kumar etc) , Music (Javed akhtar, Zakhir Hussain, Ustad Bsmillah khan), sports ( Zaheer khan and several legendary hockey payers ) or science Dr. APJ Abul Kalam. We should not blame them for wrong reasons which they never commit.

For those who are not able to make out what I wrote, just listen to the song and you will get to know what I was trying to convey.

Last but not the least, Shah Rukh rocks yet again with Chak de India. yipeeee..............

Indian Democracy: Power of 49'0

Use 49'O to express your dislike!

People use 49'O if in a particular constituency a voter has dislike to all of the candidates competing there then he can show his dislike to all of them by registering for 49'O.

Steps for doing this :
1. While registering the name zt the time of voting, convey the booth officials that "youwant to go for 49'O".
2. Register your signature in the 49'O form available there. If not ask for it. that is your right.
3. If the number of 49'O count turns out to be more that the votes of the winning candidate a re-election will have to be called in that area.

We need to choose our representative in the best possible manner.
They represent us, none else.
Next time do not crib.
Wake up and choose the best if availbale ! otherwise use 49'0

Note: 49'O has been available to us since 1960, we can use it for our own good and for the good of our country.

source:http://catscanman.wordpress.com/2006/04/27/rule-49-o/

Grasshopper Indians

In this century Indians have taken a leap forward in the terms of Business development and the reputation building among the contemporary Business houses. Whether it is the acquisition of steel major Corus by Tata or Liquor baron Vijay mallya's recent buy out of F1 car but still most of the Indians are at the grass root level fighting for their survival agaisnt the moghuls of new generation of Indian business. That is why coining these fellow Indians as Grasshoppers is not a bad term at all. Another reason why i Christened them as Grasshopper Indians is that theyare not at all dagenrous to their counterparts just like the Grasshoppers are chosen to be herbivores.

In every nook and corner of Indian street we find this variety of Indians who opens up their small shop everyday thinking that today he will have enough sales so as not to let slip his budget. He sets financial goals to himself daily which is cumulative to his monthly and henceforth yearly budget. In the age of IT revolution he still never lets his first customer go from his shop. He might make a loss in that deal but the he will make a "boni" a start to his business day. Not to answer why many people in India want to shop early in the morning. End of the day he audits his sales from “Bahikhatta” (cash register) so that no discrepancy creeps in his transactions. Though these Grasshopper Indians haven’t gone to any financial or management school to learn the Business fundamentals or techniques but what amazes the most about them is the skill or trade tricks what we call as "Jugaads" they have invented. Modern day managers refer to them as "Management efficacies". Just to quote an example, a normal car mechanic has his contacts to get all the spare parts, car accessories from different auto shops at the lowest cost within minutes. A simple but perfect example of supply chain management at its best. I sometimes wonder that whether these techniques were developed by management gurus sitting in developed countries or did they just articulated them seeing them happening in the streets of India. Not far from my office a small tea shop owner maintains a cricket scoreboard. He adds up spice to it by adding his own reactions to it. This has not only attracted customer for him for over 35 years now but also earned him a reputation of cricket expert. This marketing technique was not only displays how indians love cricket but also suggests about the involvement of a deep thought process as to what topic Indians like discuss the most at the tea break.

We can find such examples everywhere in India, applying diverse and self-innovated management trick but what is common among them is the spirit of survival which leads them to invent these. It is just the scale of their business which is preventing them to grow big; otherwise these Grasshopper Indians in their own league are synonymous to Sir Henry Ford or any other business stalwart.