Are Indians bigger Sadists than the rest?

Semester exams are on, I have a tough paper to handle(Financial Management, never understood any Finance anyways), have the Fountainhead on my side(Yes, I still haven’t read it, you can mock me now), and spent the most banal Diwali ever[how? By sitting alone in my room and reading stuff). Nevertheless, I have finally(and hopefully) decided to write down a serious article(seems like ages).

Are Indians more sadistic than others? The answer to this is ‘I don’t know’. I do not have any exposure of any foreign country, and my knowledge is entirely based on whatever stuff which I have[which isn’t much], in spite of having a very meaningful course in this semester- Cross Cultural and Global Management. However, if you ask me,personally, I would be inclined to say yes.

Maybe, some of you will just nod your heads and move on, and some will be appalled and some will disagree ruthlessly. Feel free to accept or disagree with my view points. But I shall try to give some examples.

Let us start from two of the most popular Indian festivals. Diwali to begin with. Celebrated in India since a long long time. Mythological reason is return of Lord Rama from Vanvasya. Originally intended to be a festival of light, and triumph of good over evil. Presently reduced to a festival of noise and debauchery. Of course people love exploding crackers. What’s wrong about it you may ask? It’s a time to celebrate with your friends and family, right? Well, for starters, it exponentially increases the amount of air and sound pollution, affecting lot of people with breathing problems and mostly the elderly, or the very young. And there have been several instances of injuries being caused due to mishandling of fireworks. In certain cases, it even leads to death. Is it justified then, even if few cases of deaths are reported every year, to continue using fireworks? What if I just want to do something meaningful, but am unable to do anything over and above the loud noise, and I risk burning myself by just stepping out of my house.

But I have seen numerous people who take pleasure in sending a rocket flying into a neighbours house or exploding bombs on areas where they know elderly people stay. And surprisingly, many people consider it as normal, acceptable behavior.

Lets come to Holi then, another festival which is celebrated with much gust and pomp. Enjoyed by millions of people. Terrifies millions too. Especially women, who feel a high risk of their modesty being violated. Some of them lock themselves in their rooms, others try to avoid any contact. I have personally seen people turn into actual hooligans on this day, when normal criminal acts become perfectly legal, and even the police decide to become mute spectators. Throwing colors, grease, egg yolk, cow dung, cement, and what not, on others, under the pretext of Holi. Perfectly acceptable- ‘Bura na maano, Holi hai’ (Don’t feel bad, its Holi after all).

This was about festivals. What about organizations and behavior in general. Arent we a collectivist society? Supposed to care and encourage one another. Well, we are, partially. When it comes to taking credit, everyone comes forward to get his or her due of the pie and share. And when it comes to accepting responsibility for failure or defeat, everyone suddenly points a finger at everyone else. I have rarely even seen one Indian owning up his mistake, or accepting the fact that he was wrong. It’s always somebody else who gets the blame. Not just that, we simply enjoy and make merry whenever someone else loses and take exceptional delight in the fact. But when it’s our turn to taste defeat, we simply cannot fathom the fact that others are enjoying it. In India, its power,money and status that is valued more than anything else. You need to dominate and surpass above everyone else to succeed. This feeling is inculcated in us from childhood itself, where we are forced to compete, first in studies, then to get into a good educational institute, then a job, and then fight for position/status.

I could give several other examples. Being an ascribed society, we continue to think of ourselves superior to others, based on factors such as caste, religion, background, hierarchy, status, our educational qualification, etc rather than to compete on merit. As a result, conflicts keep on occurring.

For now, I will go back to Hofstede’s framework and stimulus generalization[MBA terms of course]. I could have written a longer article, but time constraints and pure laziness says otherwise.

Closing Down

Okay, I admit it. I have been thinking of closing down my blog now. Maybe because I do not get the time to write as freely as I used to,or maybe cause I just lost inspiration sometime down the way. Nevertheless, here is one more post.

Things I have been doing lately:

Books:
• The Interpretation of Dreams, by Sigmund Freud. Borrowed by Chirag Jain[batchmate].
• The Fountainhead, by Ayn Rand. Borrowed by Aparajita Puri [junior].
• Life of Pi, by Yann Martel[completed]- Borrowed by Mayank.

Anime:
• Sword Art Online: A new anime I started not too long ago. Its pretty good, based on a MMORPG. Has got good reviews.
• One Piece: Started on insistence by Mayank. This anime must have something in it to be that popular
• Fairy Tail: Re-started watching after a gap of almost 3-4 months, I guess
• Naruto Shippuden: Considering the fillers have arrived, I guess it’s a hiatus for this one now

Games:
None, thinking of starting with Elders Scroll Skyrim again

Series:
Game of Thrones: Pretty good one. Based on the Song of Fire and Ice series by G.R.R. Martin

Thoughts:

Well, the summers for the batch of 2014 is done with, and they have performed pretty good as expected. The Latest business today rankings give FMS the 3rd slot. Anyways, lets leave MBA for a while.
I do not get to have many meaningful discussions nowadays. Find it extremely hard to find people who think somewhat similarly as I do, or someone who can think of the larger picture. And the reason to blame, is once again, our great education system. Which teaches the students to kill their creativity, impedes their imagination, and just focuses on rote learning. As a result, most people just have a short term and narrow minded outlook towards things. Even in college, people just tend to think about marks, assignment submissions, and the like, rather than think about learning and adding value to their personality. Often, I inadvertently happen to overhear conversations which are mostly meaningless or pure gossip. Disappointing mostly. Even within MBA, a person becomes so short sighted, that he or she almost totally looses track of things which may not be directly related to his/her domain or specialization. Indians still regard thinking as a waste of time, and disagreeing with the teacher’s viewpoint is considered an act of blasphemy. And then we ask- Why doesn’t India produce any Steve Jobs? Why doesn’t India produce any organization or institution capable of leaving a mark across the world?

Where do I go from Here?

Okay, am sitting in the computer center of South Campus[FMS Block]. Our class on Strategy has been cancelled, and there is still some time left for an HUL session to begin. So I decided to kill time by reading Fooled by Randomness, and by writing this article. Since I do not have any specific stuff to write about, and since I am reading about random events, I decide to write some random stuff here.

Yes, my gmail accounts and Facebook is open. Yes, I am thinking about how I should follow my passions. I see Nikhil Sandhir passing time by playing Temple Run on his mobile. While Raveesh Mayya types away rapidly on his Macbook Air, multi-tasking like a wizard. Dickens is on my right, and is working on some Finance project I have no clue about.

Karthik Junnuri pats me on the back and leaves, unaware that I am typing all this. Suddenly I remember that today an important Naruto manga episode is about to release. Karthik returns and tells me that yesterday was World Anger day. And that he had nobody to vent his anger on except for Satwinder.

Some guys are eating in the canteen. Others are just chattering about. The weather is good, but it has been raining cats and dogs in Delhi for the past few days. The streets are all clogged with water, but on the positive note, weather has become pleasant. I feel optimistic but also confused. Sometimes the same old feeling of-‘Why am I doing what I am doing’, returns.

Aashish Kumar asks me if I am chatting with my girlfriend. Unfortunately or fortunately, I don’t have one. And I wonder whether I should have one or not. Still undecided whether a single life is better than a committed one. What is Love like really?

This semester is a bit hectic, mostly due to college work[outside academics]. But for a change am liking almost all the subjects I have taken[marketing and HR]. Thank God for no Finance or economics. Can finally breathe a sigh of relief.

Am spending my free time by watching Smallville and reading stuff. Music also helps, and so does walking. Superman is one character which has inspired me like nobody else. Don’t get time for gaming nowadays though. Nevertheless, glad to spend the remaining 6 or 7 months in North campus.

Where do I go from here?

Review: Reading, Gaming, Movies

Making this a simple Review post, of the 3 things I love to indulge in: Reading, Movies and Gaming.

Lets start with the serious one, Reading:

1) Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson- Brilliant book. Shows the positive and negative side of Steve Jobs. The charismatic leader, perfectionist, reality-distorter, marketer. Must read. 9/10

2) Losing my Virginity, by Richard Branson- Autobiography. Really well written. Loads of examples. Another must read. 8.5/10

3) The Creation of Wealth, by R.M. Lala- It’s a history of the Tatas from its start till 2003. Includes stuff such as Air India, IISc Bangalore, Taj Hotel, and several Tata industries. Really good book, but not for those who are seeking a fun novel. 8/10

4) Cosmos, by Carl Sagan- It’s a book on the universe. Astronomy, and life. What makes the earth special. Is time travel possible? And many other important mysteries. Based on the popular tv series. 9.5/10.

5) The Bourne Dominion, by Eric Van Lustbader- The only fiction novel I have read recently. Pretty good one for a time pass. Jason Bourne at his best as usual. The ending could have been better though. 7.5/10

Now, lets move on to Movies:

1) The Avengers- Pretty good movie. Showcases some of Marvel’s major superheroes. This was a light movie though. Load of humor, and good special effects. Has been one of the highest grossers in the box office till date. I loved Iron Man’s role the most. 9/10

2) The Amazing Spiderman- Reboot of the Spiderman series. Quite un-necessary according to me. Andrew Garfield looked like a clown[and acted like one] in the movie. The lizard was one of the most bogus villains I have ever seen. Story was incredibly poor. Overall- 4/10

3) The Dark Knight Rises- Good end to the triology. Could have made the ending better. I would have preferred one more villain to be there[like Mr. Freeze, Poison Ivy or the Riddler]. Bane isn’t really that big a villain. And there is very little of Batman in the movie[I guess just 15-20 mins], but then again this film isn’t just about Batman. Action sequences were pretty good though. Overall- 8/10

Finally, its gaming:

1) Metal Gear Solid 3: Action/Strategy, This game, though pretty old[2006] is a part of the epic MGS series. The best part about it is the James Bond like storyline[including the title song], and a range of special characters. I absolutely loved every second of it. Snake at his best once again. The ending scene is one of the best ever I have witnessed for any games. Enough to bring tears of respect to almost any fan. Now the agonizing wait for MGS 4 begins[till I purchase a PS3]. Overall- 9/10.

2) Mass Effect 3: RPG/Action- The end of the Mass Effect triology. Got hugely criticized for its ending. However, the game on a whole is pretty good, with impressive gameplay, graphics and a decent storyline. It does get repetitive in parts though. But who doesn’t want to see Commander Shepard in action though? Overall- 8/10

3) Max Payne 3- Action- A game which was in the making for over 8 years. It was delayed again and again and again, and finally released. Was it worth the wait? Yes, it was. Max Payne is back, and he is badder and meaner than ever. No longer a NYPD cop, but a bodyguard of a businessman in South America, he is in a foreign land where crime and corruption is rampant. Can Max make it? The title music track[Tears by Health] is brilliant. The gameplay is superb. Though one wonders how Max Payne single handedly takes on hundreds and hundreds of villains and still makes it out in one piece. Story is pretty good as well. Overall: 8.5/10

P.S.- I almost feel like playing Batman Arkham Asylum and Arkham City after watching DKR. They were pretty good games too.
Anyways till next time.

Wasting Time?

I have been thinking about this for a while: Maybe a new entrepreneurial idea. I have noticed that in quite a few organizations, bschools,workplaces, etc, we tend to waste a significant portion of our time on insignificant things. These things ultimately end up becoming time killers. This eats away a major portion of our time, which ideally we should dedicate on critical activities.

These time killers are trivial things: i) Formatting an excel sheet or a powerpoint/word document. Believe me, I have seen people spending hours deciding what color should be used, what font, and all that. Of course these things do matter to an extent, but people actually spend more time on formatting than on idea creation/strategy formulation.

ii) Wasting time on online chats/facebooks, etc. Of course social media is a great tool to market yourself and network with people. But more often than not, you just end up wasting majority of your time doing useless stuff which doesn’t benefit you in any way. Come on, go and meet people, chatting can only take you that far.

P.S.- Maybe some software package or similar can be developed which can automatically take care of the formatting, designing,etc and leave the manager to do more important work. Then of course, there are some managers who spend almost all of their time in meetings. I really wonder how constructive these meetings actually are.

Why so Low?

‘Satwinder, please don’t stop writing articles on your blog. They have always inspired us,’ remarked Eshan Sett, my junior, from the batch of 2014, FMS Delhi. The occasion was the freshers party. That left me thinking: Maybe I should really give myself another chance.

I admit it: for the past few months, I don’t feel like blogging, or writing. Opening Microsoft Word and then typing out sentences now feels like a pain. Is it because I am running out of ideas? Or is it because I am occupied with enough work? Or is it just because I am acting lazy? I don’t know, maybe a combination of all of them.

The juniors are here, and they are doing a great job. Am feeling nostalgic, and can remember my first semester, back last year. Time has really flown by like anything, and within the next 8 months, I will be an MBA myself[fingers crossed].

There are many things I Still think about. Why do some people drink so much knowing full well its harmful for them? Maybe cause the things which are the most taboo/restricted are the ones which entice people the most. How come certain guys get a girlfriend that easily and majority of the rest struggle to even get close to a girl? What is love anyways? And how many more years till we make contact with an external civilization?

Okay, I will end here. I think I need some more time before I can go back to continuous blogging. But as my friend Mayank said-‘It will all come back to you. Once a writer, always a writer.’

P.S.- I still haven’t got time to see Dark Knight Rises.

Internship Diaries, Post 2

So continuing from where I left off. Life at Wilson was fun, the Warden was a nice guy, and there were many people from different Bschools including IIM A, B,C,L,XLRI, etc. Met and befriended a cool guy named Mayank, who is a commerce graduate, indeed a rarity in Bschools. [Incidentally, also met another commerce grad from XL who was staying in Wilson- Abhishek Jain. Hope he clears his CFA lv 2]. Basically, Rachit, Twisam and I used to go to office together, it was the same for us. Sometimes we took the bus, other times we hired a cab. Wilson college being close to Marine Drive, we had a gala time out there. Just watching the sea waves strike the shore is a sight which cannot be described in words, but gives you pleasure.

There are several cafes on the opposite end of marine drive, stretching across for kilometers. I liked Sukh Sagar, which offered quality South Indian food. A veg restaurant called Crystal is pretty popular out there. Many times the queue outside these places would be amazingly large. One of my favorite night past time was to roam around the beach, have ice cream and take in the fresh,cool air along with others.

On one weekend, we went on an outing with Twisam and his bong friends[one of them being Shilpa, my classmate at FMS]. We visited quite a few places, including the Bandra band stand, and had a delicious Biryani at Arsalaan.

Met up with Girish as well, who is enjoying his stint with ONGC, being sent off-shore in the middle of the sea for half a month at times. We went and visited the Nehru Art gallery, Planetarium and Science center. Along with a mall which was suffering from load shedding. Had a good time over-all. Ate Paapri chaat without dahi.

But I guess one of the best weekends was at Sentosa Resort, Pune, for the All India Pagalguy Meet [AIPGM], number 9. I went over to the Pagalguy HQ for the first time, where I met up with my batchmates Nikhil Nathani and Mridul, along with some other friends such as Sourjo Mukherjee from IIM Rohtak. Made new friends there as well. From PG HQ, we took a bus to the resort[in Pune], where we spent the weekend. Best part was getting to meet the PG team, and interacting with people whom I had always wanted to meet, such as Pallavi Puri, Varun Saxena, Apurv, Harshal Modi, and of course the Pagalguy himself, Allwin Agnel. The resort was pretty good, and we had great events, best of which was probably Chuck Gopal’s[Deepak’s] stand up comedy act. Of course, there was the famous Puyscar ceremony too. Later, in the night, we all sat on the lush green grass, and played mafia till 5 am in the morning. It was really a fantastic trip, and I thoroughly enjoyed every bit of it. The return bus journey, where I discussed about HR, with Anvesh(from TISS) was also worthwhile.

I should also mention at this point that I made friends in Tata Motors too. Some of the senior professionals out there are really great, and I simply love it how they encourage everyone to participate in all matters. People enjoy and people work. This is something I really loved about the company. During my penultimate week, Amitabha came to Mumbai again. This time, we went to Sanjay Gandhi national park and then onwards to another big mall. I somehow fell sick during that time, and had to leave early. Nevertheless it was a good trip, though we didn’t get to see any wild animals in the park.

Back to office, well Tata Motors got an Award for being the best learning organization in South Asia. To celebrate, we had cut caking sessions and an Official party scheduled. Deboo and I were the only summer interns to be present in that party. Which was held in the last week of my internship. Was lucky that I got to go there. The entire HR team was present, and I really had lot of fun. Even danced for a change[though am a horrible dancer]. The food was scrumptious, and the dessert mouth watering. After a great evening, went back to Wilson.

But then, slowly, it was time to wish adieu. To the TML employees and my co-interns. Some of which I had become close to, and bonded pretty well. It was an emotional time for me, no doubt. These two months in Mumbai were probably the best of my life.

First, it was Rachit, who left early, and I was left without a room-mate for a week. Twisam and Rito da left the week before I did. So I felt a bit lonely at Wilson. Thankfully Mayank was still there, and that guy is a pretty enthusiastic lot.

Finally, Deboo left on Thursday , leaving just the two of us[Megha and I] behind. I actually worked a lot on my last day in office. Had my final review, got many formalities covered. But still managed to take some time out during lunch to visit the Jehangir Art gallery, with Megha during lunch. Had lunch at Samovar café, which is inside the gallery and a pretty good place. The French toast was indeed delicious, and I would recommend that to anyone. The Alu ka parantha was okayish, but I have tasted much better paranthas. Honestly, you don’t get good north Indian food in Delhi. The final lunch chat with Megha was pretty good, and I knew I would miss Mumbai.

Finally it ended. The goodbyes were done, bags packed, and for one last time, I walked across Marine Drive. Glancing over the couples, the joggers, the sleepers, and the wanderers. Maybe I was just one of them, feeling the breeze, the waves rush by. I don’t know why but I could feel a tear drop at that instant. Thank you Mumbai, thank you Tata Motors, thank you all my fellow interns, my friends, my colleagues. It was just a super wonderful, amazing time I had. Till we meet again.