The Age Factor

I was so shocked & upset to see second gray hair on my moustache.

Yeah right, aging is a natural phenomenon and there should be no cribbing about it. But to me, aging doesn't seem to be a progressive thing. I feel like I gained 5 years within last one year. I blame it on my work-life imbalance, food habits and very less physical activities.

Recently my friend Balraj celebrated(?!) his 30th birthday. He is the first one to hit 30 among my close circle of friends from my college. I am not sure how he felt about hitting 30, but I felt awful because I am the next one in line to hit 30 in just less than 2 months from now. Honestly, I don't want to be 30. Looks like there is no escaping. :(

In an effort to fix my gray hair problem, I requested my wife for permission to get rid of my moustache. She coolly said to fix the cause instead of the effect. Man, wives are clever.

Theatre Exp...

Right from my childhood, as early as I could recollect, I have always been a movie lover.

There was a local theatre near my home in my native place. When I was small, going to movie was always a well-ahead preparation with requirement of approvals from long chain of commands. First I would have to propose that to my sister, we both would take that to my mom, then to my dad, then to my grand-ma and at last to my chithappa (a tough one to get the approval). Once everyone approves it, my entire family would go to watch the movie.

On the day of going to theatre almost all day I would be very happy, enthusiastic and brisk. Just before the movie starts, that theatre usually plays some music (same music every time) in loud speaker aloud, that's the indication & final call to the people living around that theatre to rush in to the theatre to catch the movie from the beginning.

When I hear that music, I would feel very very happy that I am going to start watching the movie very shortly. I am not really able to portrait that feeling well in words now. I have watched so many black & white classic movies in that theatre from my childhood. Going to that theatre proportionately reduced with my increasing age, the last I visited was during the year 2004 to watch the movie ‘Gillie’.

I always think that the current state of mind, the theatre ambience and accompanying people each play a crucial role in making you like or dislike the movie. (Movie may be a best one or a bust one that matters a little). I have enjoyed watching many super duper flop movies (like Mafia Gang, Time etc) because of those influencing factors and hated real nice movies as well for the very same reason.

Last week I went to watch a movie in a Drive-in in Chennai (Prarthana). That was my first drive-in theatre experience. I was in a good mood, the ambience was pretty good – I was in my car, my own private place, I was accompanied by my wife, who became a movie lover because of me. I could talk to my wife & discuss the movie while it was playing without disturbing anyone nearby; I could talk over my cell phone; I had my dinner too. Totally, I enjoyed the movie very much.

Questions(?) and Answers(!)

Questions...Questions...Questions...Questions...Questions...Questions...Questions...Questions...

Questions...Questions...Questions...Questions...Questions...Questions...Questions...Questions...

Questions...Questions...Questions...Questions...Questions...Questions...Questions...Questions...

Questions...Questions...Questions...Questions...Questions...Questions...Questions...Questions...

Questions...Questions...Questions...Questions...Questions...Questions...Questions...Questions...

Questions...Questions...Questions...Questions...Questions...Questions...Questions...Questions...

I am tired.

Why is the productivity so low?

Why is the delivery delayed?

Why is the number of defects so high?

Why there is so much of deviation against the planned?

Don't you think you could have done that?

Don't you know you should do this?

It's so easy to ask questions. But answering them...????

I am tired.

Missed Calls

After almost 21 months of my stay in Minneapolis-US, I was just back home at that time. I did not have a cell phone. I had a landline, so I did not feel the real need for a cell phone. This was just before my engagement. People talked about me as if I am a very strange person because I did not have a cell phone. Only then I realized how cell phone had become an integral part of our lives with-in a span of less than 2 years (while I was not in the country...!). Cell phone is okay; a feature in cell phone has become very important in many people's day-to-day lives.

It's been a month now since Apple announced about its product iPhone. While the debates of whether this product will succeed or fail in the market have almost faded away, I had a doubt about a feature in this product. The feature, which has become very important in many people's day-to-day lives. That’s gonna be the deciding factor for many people whether to buy or not.

Apple's portal states that iPhone combines three products — a revolutionary mobile phone, a widescreen iPod with touch controls, and a breakthrough Internet communications device with desktop-class email, web browsing, maps, and searching — into one small and lightweight handheld device. iPhone also introduces an entirely new user interface based on a large multi-touch display and pioneering new software, letting you control everything with just your fingers. So it ushers in an era of software power and sophistication never before seen in a mobile device, completely redefining what you can do on a mobile phone. ...Blah...blah...blah....

All these are okay;

Can I make missed calls using iPhone?

What if iPhone does not have that feature? Say, you dial a number, you can't terminate the call, it has to be answered or rings to the fullest or gets to the voice mail. Would you buy a phone with such feature?

No kidding. I enabled international dialling feature in my phone just to make missed calls. I would leave a missed call to my friends' phone, they would call back (well, most of the time). (You must ask my friend Arasan how much he is spending on phone bill after I enabled ISD in my phone).

This article in Hidustan Times says that Indians are (in)famous for missed calls - communicating without answering the calls. Article lists some points that we Indians communicate effectively through "missed calls".
Points from the article are:
"I'm thinking about you"
"Call me back."
"To let the other person know that someone has reached some place safely"

The article missed out an important point..."To annoy someone" (or read it "To tease your close ones"). Have you ever done that? Are you using 'missed calls' for anything other than this? Please share it, I am sure it would be very helpful to lot of souls.

Article also states that mobile companies are losing money because of 'missed calls' (obviously!). What if mobile companies & phone manufacturers decide to somehow stop this great feature? That's my main worry.

All That Phrase

I have been observing this for quite sometime now. I hope many of you would have also observed this.

Newspapers and magazines have article titles that are inherited from famous phrases from movies or books or songs. Sometimes I think that writers are running short of ideas to christen their article. But honestly, some of these titles really sound very creative in the way they are formed. As a reader I get attracted to read the article if the title sounds familiar (by the way it is inherited) to me. Is that why the writers are going for such titles?

With my very limited knowledge on Hollywood movies and famous books, I have extracted some of such titles that I came across in my very recent readings. A small quiz to the readers of this blog. Try if you can find out the origin of these phrases.

[Example: Title of this blog 'All that phrase' is inherited from 'All that jazz', my favourite song from movie Chicago. In addition there is a movie with the title 'All that jazz'. Like wise – find the origins of phrases below]

Phrases:
1. I have a dream
2. Should it be shaken or stirred?
3. The name's bond, distressed bond
4. Ranbaxy Presents SAD MAX
5. Search me if you can, lazy bones
6. The wrath of grapes
7. For a few thousand crores more
8. India Calling
9. Wings of change
10. Cane Unable

Above phrases were titles of articles in the following magazines & newspapers:
1 to 6 - Business & Economy (dated 25-Jan-07)
7 - Business Today dated (dated 28-Jan-07)
8 & 9 - Business World (dated 01-Jan-07)
10 - Economic Times (dated 20-Jan-07)

Answers will be out on 31-Jan-07. Rush in with your answers before 31st.

Note: I have enabled 'comments moderation' as I don't want the answers to be displayed before 31st Jan as that might spoil the party. :)

Cup over Coffee

What do you drink, a cup or a coffee?

A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university lecturer. Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life.

Offering his guests coffee, the lecturer went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups: porcelain, plastic, glass, some plain-looking and some expensive and exquisite, telling them to help themselves to coffee.

When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the lecturer said: "If you noticed, all the nice-looking, expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is but normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the better cups and are eyeing each other's cups."

"Now, if Life is coffee, then the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain Life, but the quality of Life doesn't change."

"Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee in it."

[So friend, don't let the cups drive you...enjoy the coffee instead.]

Story above is just a copy-paste of what I got by mail.

I felt this was heavy because I lately seem to run behind better cups in search of a good coffee.

Ain't we all?

Serial Killers

Definition (from Wikipedia):

A serial killer is someone who commits three or more murders over an extended period of time with cooling-off periods in between.

Word of caution (from me):

If you are a weak hearted, don't worry about it and read on. This post is not directly related to the serial killers who take away the lives of innocence. This is about the killers who take away the times of innocence.

Now my story begins...

I have been thinking of writing this since my friend siva posted this. I wouldn't get a better time than this. I am in a celebration mood for some reason. The reason is given at the end of this post.

I feel that the definition of serial killers rightly suits the mega-serials. Read the definition given above again...more murders, extended period, cooling-off period (saturday & sundays) all suit mega-serials perfectly. Right?

Couple of months ago Sun TV made a great decision to move all its non-serial related programmes telecasted during the weekdays to weekends. Now all 5 days of the week most of the time you can see only the serials in Sun TV. Ad-money must be pouring in really huge to make sun tv management to take such a great(!) decision. I believe that Sun TV is loosing its viewrship because of some really good shows in Vijay TV and lack of such good shows in Sun TV.

I think 99.999% of serials would fit in the following template: (please add if you think I have missed something)

1. A title song by a female singer with all smiling faces of heroine & other castings of the serial. (but the people in the serial never have situations to smile in the serial)
2. A female who is on the verge of retiring from film industry or who is not getting movie offers or who is retired from the industry is the hero cum heroine
3. Heroine is either divorced (must be a single mom) or being cheated by husband or fighting for right with her husband
4. Heroine is born with a lot of siblings (definitely more than 3) & she does the role of head of the family
5. A female villain and a few more villains to support that female villain
6. Heroine is a lone warrior; only very few other good people would be there in the serial but even they could not help her when in need
7. At least one main character is bigamy
8. When the director dont know how to proceed, there comes a new character and a new side-kick story

A conversation with me & my colleauge just a month ago: (colleague's name is avoided because of confidentiality issues).

Me (reluctantly): By any chance did you watch Selvi, last night?
Colleague (reluctantly): Yeah, why?
Me (with confidence): I missed to watch because of power cut
Colleague (with a great enthusiasm): oh, yesterday GJ went to Selvi's house to get the 'thali'....blah...blah...

I am wasting my precious 1 hr every day watching Kolangal & Selvi. I hate both the serials. You know it's like smoking, most of the smokers don't like to smoke but they can't really quit. These serials are like such addictions.

Can someone please suggest me a best way to quit-watching-serials?

For the best suggestion, I promise to transfer a few shares of Sun TV from my demat a/c to yours. (Worst suggestion gets the entire pack of Chitheeeee DVD, be careful).

Epilogue: Reason for my joy is that Selvi has ended (finally) last week with lots of loose ends. What a relief? 30 mins of productive time is gonna get increased in my life everyday. I am eagerly waiting for Kolangal to get over but there ain’t no trace of ending in a near future.

Where do they go?

Airport is a place where you can see lot love & happiness. People who are travelling for the first time, people who are
travelling on vacation, people who are travelling back after a successful business meet, people who come to see the loved
ones off and people who come to receive the loved ones are the few to quote for love & happiness. Leave out the frustration
that arises because of the flight delays.

I always enjoy my flight journeys. Every trip is a different experience. Sometimes good, sometimes bad and sometimes weird (such as the one that I am gonna talk about).

Couple of weeks ago, I was waiting for my delayed flight at Bangalore Airport almost close to mid night. I was sitting right in front of the booth where the airline staffs announce the status of each flight. I eagerly started observing the representatives (strictly not because that they were girls, please believe me) from each Airlines announcing the delays and departures of their flights.

At the time of departure of almost every delayed flight, representative of the airline was searching for at least a couple of 'missing' passengers. Jet Airway's representative howled over a million times about a missing couple and some Gupta. After a while she was searching for that Gupta guy by visiting each and every row of seating. I was seriously started thinking where do they go? To the rest room? Gone home of frustration after a long wait? To the books shop? I couldn't get the answer myself. While deeply thinking about these people, I dozed off for a while.

At last, my time of boarding arrived. I boarded the plane and sat on a seat next to a man aged in mid forties who was wearing a Gray coloured Italian Suit. He held a blackberry in his hand. I peeped eagerly to see what he was typing. I could only get to see '......close the deal'. Then he received a call. In a few seconds of listening he said

‘…When is the next available date?’

‘....then give appointment in August’

‘…bye’.
I thought he must be a well do to business man. The moment I saw his face I felt that he looked awfully familiar. He looked like my father when he was at that age. I observed that he had a scar on his face exactly like mine. He switched off his blackberry duly responding to the request
over PA by airline staff. He turned to me, smiled and said you look like me when I was at your age. I was surprised to hear that. I started probing about his background. He said he was a CEO of some company that I have never heard of. He originated from the same place as me and studied in the school where I did study. What a weird coincidence? I simply couldn’t believe that. He didn’t seem to be surprised when I said that we both had same background. I humbly asked for his good name. I felt like I was struck by a lightening on his reply. He said that his name was Seenivasan. While I was still in the high voltage shock, a person came to me and shook my shoulder

'…excuse me sir, are you the one travelling in the flight S2-0123 to Chennai?'

I nodded.

His face showed the irritation explicitly and his mouth said, 'Sir the plane is waiting for you as you are the last person to be boarded and we are looking all around for you'.

I came to reality, oh my god...all that was just a dream.

Well, it's not everyday you get to meet "you" after some 15 years, eh?

Now I know where do all those missing people go?

By the way, do you want to share some of your best/worst experience in Airport?

Me, Elvis, Golf and Wine

My grandma started worrying about me when I adopted some habits newly. Her grandy (yeah, that's me) was watching programmes in unknown languages on TV. I heard her whispering to her friend (another oldie in my neighborhood) that I must have gone mad after 4 years of my engineering degree. This happened when I was doing my fourth year engineering.

Originating from a small town (well, my friends still call it a village. But I don't agree) I was not exposed to English pop music & albums at all. One fine day I made a decision that I should start watching MTV and Channel-V to gain my knowledge on English music. I call it as 'knowledge' purposefully because I thought getting such exposure would make me a good schmoozer. In less than a year from then I was supposed to join my first job, which would have people from all over India with different cultural background. That’s the motive behind my decision. I learnt the names such as Bryan Adams, Lou Bega, Backstreet Boys, Shania Twain and etc thru that exposure. I must say that to some extent my newly gained knowledge helped me in making me a schmoozer at various situations.

While I was extending my knowledge horizon on my English music, one fine day (it happened few years after my grandma started worrying about my habit) in Minneapolis, USA, an American was mentioning about someone called Elvis during her conversation about music. I thought Elvis was a new singer whom I missed to notice. So I shrugged my shoulder (just for style) & declared that I never knew who Elvis was. She gave me a satiric smile and asked 'don't you have Elvis in India?’. Then she taught me that Elvis was a very famous singer in the world a few decades ago. I must say that it was one helluva embarrassing moment for me.

Few weeks after that, at my work place a karaoke contest was organized and they gave a list of songs which participants could choose to sing. I saw a few of Elvis's songs in it among hundreds of 'unknown' singers to me. With my friend's motivation I made a brave decision to participate in that contest. I bought a music CD of Elvis with the songs listed in the contest and started practicing.

D-day arrived. I was surrounded with an intimidating crowd of 300 Americans, I saw raising eye brows in the first couple of rows when I went on to the stage, my vision started becoming blurry, I grabbed the mike, my face was brave & legs were shivering (as vadivelu says: building strong, basement weak), I opened my mouth, I started the first line 'You Ain't Nothing But a Hound Dog'. (Just try imagining Elvis singing a song with thick south Indian accent). I must say that I made people around me very happy that day. I saw all of them smiling (or should I say burst out laughing?). Also I gave them a great topic to chat at dinner tables with their family. I finished singing the song and walked with my chins up and real proud like a successful gladiator even though there are heavily bleeding wounds. People (read Americans) cheered and applauded and came congratulating me. Later, it helped me to make some acquaintances at my work place too.

Remember it was a contest. They gave 3 prizes ($100, $75 and $50 cash prizes). I lost it. But the very next day, I got an email declaring that I got an 'honorary prize' of $25 and a T-Shirt. Not bad, eh? So at last, my MTV, Channel-V exposure paid me back.

Mohanbir Sawhney, McCormick Tribune Professor of Technology, Kellogg School of Management says: "While Indian engineers are good at maintaining and testing software, it's about time they also learnt how to hold a glass of wine and swing a golf club. It will go a long way in building a global brand".

When I read the above excerpt in the last edition of Business Today I had the flashback about my decision to get exposed to English songs & how that exposure came in handy many times enabling me to break ice, to make conversation and to make acquaintance.

Conclusion: When India growth story is keenly watched by the world and when many Indian companies are going on M&A spree, it is imperative that Indian companies should produce executives who are not only competitive but also comparative with their counterparts in the foreign companies.

(Well, when my wife is okay with my swinging a golf club, she is strictly prohibitive about my holding a glass of wine. As a future executive and a corporate leader, I am fighting so hard with my wife to improve my soft skill(?).)

Health is Wealth

Insurance is a risky business. I feel that in India awareness of insurance is not that great. The importance people give for medical insurance is far lesser than that for life insurance. While they worry about what happens when they are gone, they fail to give adequate thought about the mishaps that could happen while they are living. The probability of dying in accident is much lower than getting severely injured but not-dying. Many people go out of job for a longer duration due to accidents or some chronic diseases. Just by comparing the number of people (who I know) having life insurance with that of medical insurance, it seems that people are more worried about mortality than the morbidity. I think it is mainly because of the unawareness of what a medical insurance is. Even today in rural areas insurance to them is LIC. That’s it.

To me, medical insurance is more important than a life insurance because it aids me during my life-time. I do not want to spend all my savings on medical expenses. Well, there are some life insurance plans which cover chronic diseases too, let us leave that out for this argument.

A recent news states that Health insurers in India have been paying Rs.125 as claim for every Rs.100 paid as premium. That has resulted in hikes in medical insurance premium. I believe that the main cause for this is that the number of people having medical insurance is far less. To my knowledge, salaried people who are working for some established companies have group health insurance. Apart from that may be people with good awareness would have medical insurance cover. That’s it. There is a huge crowd of people with no sufficient knowledge about medical insurance.

Only when large number of people gets medical insurance the premium will be lower as the claims pay out would be made break-even by the amount paid as premium.

As per a statistics from census bureau of US, the percentage of people without health insurance coverage in US in 2005 is 15.9%. I couldn’t get a similar data for India to compare. But I am sure that it would be somewhere in seventies or eighties. In US there is a constant crib about medical insurance not giving adequate coverage to all kinds of diseases (like the one comes in the movie John Q). Here in India, the case is entirely different.

As a business, I think health insurance companies in India have lot of untapped market. With a proper awareness camps and advertisements they can get a great business. I don’t even remember seeing TV commercials for health insurance.

I used to tell my friend 4 years back that I want to start a medical insurance company in India as it has a very good untapped market. I feel that this holds good even today. But starting an insurance company needs a great capital. Given a chance I would start a health insurance company and my primary market would be rural areas.

By the way, do you have medical insurance for you and your family? Click here to learn about various options you have for health insurance in India.