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Narasimhan A R
Friday, November 21, 2008
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Sujatha's Influence
1986 that was the year Kamal Hassan’s movie Vikram released. So what? There is something to share and remember. Here it goes.
Saw this movie 3 times on a single day at my neighbor’s house when I was nine year old then - never felt shy / hesitant sitting through out the day at some one’s house. After that 6 times on various occasions. That adds ups to total 9 times - too crazy?!
If not wrong, perhaps this was the first Tamil movie to introduce Tamil audiences to events happening outside of their homeland and deviate from the routine. Like this there are more to stand first in this movie.
1. The title score of the movie was first tried in Tamil movie (Jackie Chan style?)
2. The freak-out style of Sugirtharaja’s missile (Agni Putran) hijack,
3. Amjad Khan’s gigantic appearance,
4. Eli Koil,
5. Illayaraja’s back ground score, initial musical note of meendum meendum va song
6. High Tech story line - during 80's
7. Story of this film written by Sujatha (Rangarajan). This was the first story which he wrote for Kamal.
…….the list goes
Every thing was first tried in this movie.
There is a reason to mention the name of Sujatha, Tamil novelist here.
Never had reading as my habit - any novel or article till my 25th year. Till then , I just used to give focus on movie reviews,jokes and related things. Then,it just started with reading articles and novels written by Sujatha. Since then,buying books and collecting his write ups becomes usual things.
I met him thrice personally when I visited Annual Book Exhibition, where he was a regular and most popular guest.
Got some of his novels autographed by him.
Captured his photo when he was relaxingly sitting in front of one of the stalls.
If I just think back refreshing my memory lane,the influence of Sujatha’s must have gripped when I was at 9 ??!!
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Life in 2050 - Changing Life Pattern
This is the write up I read recently in HBL dt. Nov19th. Thought would place it on blog.
QUOTE
Economics is a social science and, therefore, an inexact one. It can just help us to understand and improve an imperfect world. In the final diagnosis, it appears that it is just a set of tools. If we are to make the best use of these tools, we ought to think about what we are striving to achieve.
We must first define the ‘good life’ before economics can take us there. Here are some unanswered questions about life in 2050 worth pondering about, because the decisions that we make now will affect our future — our pattern of living.
Productivity growth
How many minutes of work will a loaf of bread cost?
It is the productivity question. Almost every aspect of economic life is a means toward this end (and other ends, too). If productivity grows at 1 per cent a year over the next half century, our standard of living will be 50-60 per cent higher by 2050. If productivity grows at 2 per cent a year, then our standard of living will nearly triple in the same time frame — assuming we continue to work hard, save and invest more and take risk.
Economic theory predicts that as our wages go up, we will work longer hours — up to a point, and then we will begin to work less.
Productivity growth gives us choices. We can continue to work the same number of hours while producing more. Or we can produce the same amount by working less. Or we can strike some balance. Let us expect, with cautious optimism, that Indians are going to make up their minds one day and decide how much they will work.
Bridging the inequality
How many people will be active?
Even if the economies of the West are booming, we find a striking dichotomy between the rich and poor.
What are we willing to promise the most disadvantaged? In market economies of the developed world there is a comprehensive social security system (called safety net). General benefits are mandated by law; healthcare is a birth right. This leads to a more compassionate society in more ways than one. Poverty rates and increase in inequality are low.
It also leads to higher unemployment and a slower rate of innovation and job creation. Workers, bundled with several mandatory benefits, are expensive. Since employees cannot be fired easily and quickly, firms are slow to hire them in the first place.
In this context we may compare the American system with that of the European. The American system is a richer, more dynamic, more entrepreneurial economy — and harsher and more unequal. It is conducive to creating a big pie in which the winners get huge slices. The European system is better at guaranteeing at least some pie for everybody. Capitalism comes in different flavours. Which one will be chosen?
Socio-economic issues
Will we use the market in imaginative ways to solve socio-economic problems?
The simplest and perhaps most effective way to get something done is to give the persons involved a reason to want it done. We all nod, as if this were the most obvious point in the world — and then go out and design policies that do just the opposite.
We have a public education system that does not reward teachers and principals when their students do well (or penalise them when their students perform badly). We assess more of our taxes on productive activity, like work, savings, and investment, when we might raise revenue and conserve resources with more “green taxes”.
If economic agents get the right type of incentives, then markets can be used to solve all kinds of problems. In truth, markets do not solve social problems on their own (or else there would be no social problems). But if we design solutions with the proper incentives, we feel a lot more like smooth sailing in a rough sea.
Role of government
Are governments redundant in an age of discontinuity?
Many countries have abandoned the central planning system in the late 1990s and have embraced the market system. Mixed economies have introduced public sector reforms, which led to a fall in the size of the government. But all these do not imply that the government has become less important over the years. Government has as much to do as ever. What keeps world leaders awake at night: Global warming? Drugs? Terrorism? Trade war? Financial crises? None of these problems can be addressed properly without government; indeed, none can be managed successfully without co-operation among governments.
Business cycles
Do we really have monetary policy figured out?
The Japanese economy, one of the largest and most productive in the world, has been stagnant for more than a decade. The Nikkei Index, Japan’s equivalent of the S&P 500, is no higher today than it was in the late 1990s. This should give us pause.
We have not conquered the business cycle (the economic ebb and flow that leads to periodic recessions).
At best, we have managed to tame it. In the 50 years before the Great Depression, the US economy was in recession roughly half the time. Since then, it has been in recession less than 20 per cent of the time. We have gained on better understanding of both fiscal and monetary policy. Consequently, the economic ride has been smoother.
Still there is plenty to worry about.
The ‘dark’ continent?
In fifty years, will ‘African tigers’ refer to wildlife or to development success stories?
There is no silver bullet for economic development. Will the world be significantly less poor in 2050? The answer is not obvious. We can imagine an East Asian scenario, where countries transform themselves in a matter of decades. Or we can imagine a sub-Saharan African scenario, where countries stumble from decade to decade without any significant economic growth at all. The first scenario will lift billions of people out of poverty and misery; the second one will not.
When we raise the question as to whether poor countries will still be poor a half-century from now, the question seems distant and abstract.
But if we provide a more precise specification and raise questions about things that will distinguish poor countries from their rich counterparts, then global poverty seems more traceable. Will governments in developing countries create and sustain the kinds of institutions that support a market economy?
Will they promote export-oriented industries that will enable them to break out of the trap of subsistence agriculture — and will the advanced countries open their huge markets to those products?
Will the rich countries use their technology and resources to fight the diseases that are ravaging the developing world, especially AIDS?
Will the family of a baby girl born tomorrow in rural India have an incentive to invest in her human capital so that Amartya Sen’s ‘missing women hypothesis’ becomes a thing of the past?
UNQUOTE
QUOTE
Economics is a social science and, therefore, an inexact one. It can just help us to understand and improve an imperfect world. In the final diagnosis, it appears that it is just a set of tools. If we are to make the best use of these tools, we ought to think about what we are striving to achieve.
We must first define the ‘good life’ before economics can take us there. Here are some unanswered questions about life in 2050 worth pondering about, because the decisions that we make now will affect our future — our pattern of living.
Productivity growth
How many minutes of work will a loaf of bread cost?
It is the productivity question. Almost every aspect of economic life is a means toward this end (and other ends, too). If productivity grows at 1 per cent a year over the next half century, our standard of living will be 50-60 per cent higher by 2050. If productivity grows at 2 per cent a year, then our standard of living will nearly triple in the same time frame — assuming we continue to work hard, save and invest more and take risk.
Economic theory predicts that as our wages go up, we will work longer hours — up to a point, and then we will begin to work less.
Productivity growth gives us choices. We can continue to work the same number of hours while producing more. Or we can produce the same amount by working less. Or we can strike some balance. Let us expect, with cautious optimism, that Indians are going to make up their minds one day and decide how much they will work.
Bridging the inequality
How many people will be active?
Even if the economies of the West are booming, we find a striking dichotomy between the rich and poor.
What are we willing to promise the most disadvantaged? In market economies of the developed world there is a comprehensive social security system (called safety net). General benefits are mandated by law; healthcare is a birth right. This leads to a more compassionate society in more ways than one. Poverty rates and increase in inequality are low.
It also leads to higher unemployment and a slower rate of innovation and job creation. Workers, bundled with several mandatory benefits, are expensive. Since employees cannot be fired easily and quickly, firms are slow to hire them in the first place.
In this context we may compare the American system with that of the European. The American system is a richer, more dynamic, more entrepreneurial economy — and harsher and more unequal. It is conducive to creating a big pie in which the winners get huge slices. The European system is better at guaranteeing at least some pie for everybody. Capitalism comes in different flavours. Which one will be chosen?
Socio-economic issues
Will we use the market in imaginative ways to solve socio-economic problems?
The simplest and perhaps most effective way to get something done is to give the persons involved a reason to want it done. We all nod, as if this were the most obvious point in the world — and then go out and design policies that do just the opposite.
We have a public education system that does not reward teachers and principals when their students do well (or penalise them when their students perform badly). We assess more of our taxes on productive activity, like work, savings, and investment, when we might raise revenue and conserve resources with more “green taxes”.
If economic agents get the right type of incentives, then markets can be used to solve all kinds of problems. In truth, markets do not solve social problems on their own (or else there would be no social problems). But if we design solutions with the proper incentives, we feel a lot more like smooth sailing in a rough sea.
Role of government
Are governments redundant in an age of discontinuity?
Many countries have abandoned the central planning system in the late 1990s and have embraced the market system. Mixed economies have introduced public sector reforms, which led to a fall in the size of the government. But all these do not imply that the government has become less important over the years. Government has as much to do as ever. What keeps world leaders awake at night: Global warming? Drugs? Terrorism? Trade war? Financial crises? None of these problems can be addressed properly without government; indeed, none can be managed successfully without co-operation among governments.
Business cycles
Do we really have monetary policy figured out?
The Japanese economy, one of the largest and most productive in the world, has been stagnant for more than a decade. The Nikkei Index, Japan’s equivalent of the S&P 500, is no higher today than it was in the late 1990s. This should give us pause.
We have not conquered the business cycle (the economic ebb and flow that leads to periodic recessions).
At best, we have managed to tame it. In the 50 years before the Great Depression, the US economy was in recession roughly half the time. Since then, it has been in recession less than 20 per cent of the time. We have gained on better understanding of both fiscal and monetary policy. Consequently, the economic ride has been smoother.
Still there is plenty to worry about.
The ‘dark’ continent?
In fifty years, will ‘African tigers’ refer to wildlife or to development success stories?
There is no silver bullet for economic development. Will the world be significantly less poor in 2050? The answer is not obvious. We can imagine an East Asian scenario, where countries transform themselves in a matter of decades. Or we can imagine a sub-Saharan African scenario, where countries stumble from decade to decade without any significant economic growth at all. The first scenario will lift billions of people out of poverty and misery; the second one will not.
When we raise the question as to whether poor countries will still be poor a half-century from now, the question seems distant and abstract.
But if we provide a more precise specification and raise questions about things that will distinguish poor countries from their rich counterparts, then global poverty seems more traceable. Will governments in developing countries create and sustain the kinds of institutions that support a market economy?
Will they promote export-oriented industries that will enable them to break out of the trap of subsistence agriculture — and will the advanced countries open their huge markets to those products?
Will the rich countries use their technology and resources to fight the diseases that are ravaging the developing world, especially AIDS?
Will the family of a baby girl born tomorrow in rural India have an incentive to invest in her human capital so that Amartya Sen’s ‘missing women hypothesis’ becomes a thing of the past?
UNQUOTE
Air Travel
Nov 18th 2008 9 p.m. I am back to hotel equatorial after finishing dinner with my overseas colleagues.
Thought would place my experience on blog.
Last two days it was quite tensed, coz it is my first presentation to my boss who sits in US, global headquarters .Finally, my presentation went for just 15 minutes with not much questions - only one .
When I travelled first time to Shangai, it was third day after my baby girl's birth. I was quite restless to leave my wife and just born. Despite that, my first visit was quite enjoying - being first time, it was too crazy .Second time the thrill was not pretty much. When it came to third, I really feel pity about those who travel frequently.To travel to Shangai, Singapore is the best available route considering transit time and other things.You have no choice but to pick up mid night flight. live with lay over time minimum.
During last 4 months, I have travelled thrice to Shangai and once to Singapore. All the trip was invariably in SQ - Singapore Airlines.
Web Check in
Thanks to www. you have now got the option to do web check in 48 hours before you journey schedule time. Doing this, you need not be there well ahead of schedule departure (3 hours reduced to 2 hours / 1. 5 hours) . Anyway, even if you have got with web check in, you have no option but have to get the boarding pass standing in queue at airport terminal.
Immigration Check
If you are travelling abroad, immigration check is inevitable. You will have to fill up immigration form - details like official name, DOB, Nationality, Place of issue of passport, expiry date of passport, intended country of visit,purpose of visit, visa number etc.,
Security Check
Immediately after that, one has to pass thro' security check. You will be asked to put what ever stuffs you got in you pockets including wallets in to your hand luggage. If you have laptop, it will be taken out of bag and put it seperately in a tray. Any liquids will be double cheked for maximum quantities.For secuity reasons, more than certain levels is not permitted in to the aircraft. Any instruments like thing will be viewed / suspected seriously, even if it is just a key. If warrants,you may be even asked to drop in a bin kept at security.
Waiting @ Boarding Gate
After undergoing this, you will have to locate your boarding gate. Invariably, you will be having 1 minimum hour . Unless you have habit of reading, writing your time will be killed royally.
Announcement about barding aircraft will begin indicating the row numbers. Maintaining your patience is is a good challange.
Hospitality
Doll like crew will be waiting at aircrat gate to receive you on board . Will be directed to you seat location. Some usual rituals will start - safety instructions, emergency exits, wet towel, offering foods, drinks - cocktail or juice at your choice etc., (Once more is also allowed in case you want).
Decibel level will be maintained at very low , being service insustry. A choice of music,vedio, games will be there in front of youe seat. You can opt to put "no distrubance" on your seat. You can switch off the light right on top of your head.
If anyone has dream to travel in aircraft, dream for travelling within 2 or 3 hours, not more than that. Dream not to pick up late night departures.
Enjoy your travel!
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Must Read - The monk who sold his Ferrari
Narasimhan A R
I got this book as my birth day gift from my neighbor cum friend - in the year 2005. It was kept in the book shelf, after that I used to take out only to dust. Without much intention to read, I picked this up one day quite early in the morning (around 3 a.m). Much to my surprise it took to me to read till end. Thought of place it on blog the gist
Though the content of the book can be seen in spiritual and motivational books, Robin used a different technique. The book starts with “Julian Mantle, the great lawyer collapses in the courtroom, sweating and shivering……….. It has totally eleven chapters – all are flowing effortlessly from one to another. John, who is a friend as well as co-worker of Julian, narrates the story.
Some of the salient points in the book which would take any one to highest mood
a.When passionate about something, you can do it any time
b.A tragedy could be an opportunity – burnt down house could mean a new house
c.Pain can be a good teacher
d.There are no mistakes only lessons
e.Put mental images of what you want to be (similar to what Vivekananda said)
f.Get out of your circle of comfort
g.Live every day as your last – death bed mentality
Story in Essence
Mental Mastery
a.Just follow the purpose of life
b.Move Forward – If you have not move forward, meaning you are moving backward
c.Discipline is the Mantra
d.Death bed mentality (Time slips thro our hand like grains of sand, never to return again)
e.Service to others – The noble thing you can do is to give others.
f.Live in present
In many places Robin makes references about law of nature. example: when one door closes, another opens . Definitely a must read book.
His CV (in short)
Novelist and businessman, an expert on leadership and personality development
Has had a distinguished career as a litigation lawyer.
CEO of Sharma Leadership International Inc., a global training firm
Year 2008: He was awarded the number two rank on the international Leadership Gurus survey right after John C. Maxwell in the number one spot.
I got this book as my birth day gift from my neighbor cum friend - in the year 2005. It was kept in the book shelf, after that I used to take out only to dust. Without much intention to read, I picked this up one day quite early in the morning (around 3 a.m). Much to my surprise it took to me to read till end. Thought of place it on blog the gist
Though the content of the book can be seen in spiritual and motivational books, Robin used a different technique. The book starts with “Julian Mantle, the great lawyer collapses in the courtroom, sweating and shivering……….. It has totally eleven chapters – all are flowing effortlessly from one to another. John, who is a friend as well as co-worker of Julian, narrates the story.
Some of the salient points in the book which would take any one to highest mood
a.When passionate about something, you can do it any time
b.A tragedy could be an opportunity – burnt down house could mean a new house
c.Pain can be a good teacher
d.There are no mistakes only lessons
e.Put mental images of what you want to be (similar to what Vivekananda said)
f.Get out of your circle of comfort
g.Live every day as your last – death bed mentality
Story in Essence
Mental Mastery
a.Just follow the purpose of life
b.Move Forward – If you have not move forward, meaning you are moving backward
c.Discipline is the Mantra
d.Death bed mentality (Time slips thro our hand like grains of sand, never to return again)
e.Service to others – The noble thing you can do is to give others.
f.Live in present
In many places Robin makes references about law of nature. example: when one door closes, another opens . Definitely a must read book.
His CV (in short)
Novelist and businessman, an expert on leadership and personality development
Has had a distinguished career as a litigation lawyer.
CEO of Sharma Leadership International Inc., a global training firm
Year 2008: He was awarded the number two rank on the international Leadership Gurus survey right after John C. Maxwell in the number one spot.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
7 Must
Narasimhan A R
1. Deep Sleep; Less Sleep
Before going to bed, just practice the habit of brushing teeth and do mediate for at least 10 minutes. Tell yourself that you get up at 5’ o clock tomorrow morning. I bet you will see the whole day to your favor and productive.
2. Things to do card
Begin your day with preparing things to do card for the day. Make a point that you regularly update your calendar, the commitments and dead lines ahead.
3. Physical Fitness
Fix up yourself for running and exercise for a minimum of 30 minutes everyday. This will help you think yourself that your are strong and big - You will see the results coming to your way automatically
4. Diet
Timely food and proper balance in diet, which should include sufficient intake of water should be your priority. Wherever you are and whatever commitments you have - no excuse.
5. Out of Box Thinking
Knowledge and skill sets to execute the knowledge are must in order to do smart work.
Apart from pro-activeness and soft skills, OUT OF BOX THINKING is must in order to win the race.
6. Financial Table
Maintain your financial table - expected income and expenditures for the next 1 year. This will definitely help you know where you are. If you have an element of debt in your portfolio, try working out how to get rid of the same.
7. Monthly Progress Card
Last but not the least, take inventory at the end of every month whether you follow the above.
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