Paradox of Brand Immunity

Brand positioning, Brand revival, Brand royalty..... It was almost branding bombardment in the marketing class. The MBA student was fed up with this daily brand staple. Brands followed him even when he was out of class, at home as TV commercials, on road as billboards, while surfing on websites and now also during movies. Brands were not only giving him mental torture but they were also pinching his pocket. He was almost addictive of brands and often ended up spending on unnecessary brands.

MBA decided to get out of this brand addiction. Suddenly an idea of creating a Brand Immunity Vaccine struck him. A vaccine such that whoever uses it won’t be affected by branding campaigns; he’ll buy only what is needed and not what he is persuaded for.

MBA always wanted to start a new venture, so he decided to make a business out of this idea. When he analyzed business proposition for this idea, he found that according to a research, people end up spending around 40 percent more money for buying branded products than non branded products of same quality. So the value proposition for brand immunity vaccine was to save those 40 percent. This vaccine would have large market of almost everyone with good disposable income.

To implement the unique idea he roped in a psychologist to analyze effect of brands on minds of people and a scientist to create the vaccine.

After a thorough research and testing the product was ready.

"Hey, the product, Brand Immunity Vaccine is ready, now we have to sell it", scientist told MBA.

MBA instinctively responded, "Sell immediately, No; first we have to create brand, people don’t buy product they buy brand."

Honest Question

Placement season in the B-School. Pressure, anxiety and tension was palpable in the air. I was just another rat in the race, attending one GD after another and many interviews in between.

In one such interview I was sitting opposite a panel of experienced interviewers who were ready to test me. They asked me all sorts of questions, HR, academics, currents affairs, economics, extracurricular activities and what not. The interview was very long, it lasted for more than half an hour. I managed to answer all questions really well. The panel was very much impressed and almost ready to hire me, I guessed that from their expressions.

At the end of the interview, one of the interviewer asked me, "Would you like to ask something about our company?"

One question I was waiting to ask for half an hour and I couldn't resist the temptation.

I asked, "What is the name of your company?"

-- Disclaimer- This story like all my other posts is fictional.

Cocktail of Indecision

Three friends from a big B-School were facing a difficult question, "Which Specialization?".

From so many specializations, they decided to choose from either Finance or Marketing. To discuss this difficult question they thought of doing brainstorming in Juice parlor.

In Juice Parlor

"This menu is too much confusing, if we look at all options, we cannot decide which juice to choose from."

"I guess we should choose from either Mango juice or Orange juice. Because both are popular and this parlor is famous for both of these juices than any other."

"I believe we should think only in short term while choosing juice. We should choose the one which tastes better."

"No, we should think from a long term perspective. We should choose the one which is better for our health."

"I don't agree with both of you. We should choose the juice which we like."

"Well, I just can't decide which one to choose. I'll choose the one which most people like in this parlor."

"I look at it from a different perspective. If we choose Orange, we risk losing Mango and vice-versa. I believe we should de-risk this."

Discussion, arguments continued between these three friends. Now waiter enters in the scene.
"Sir, Please decide quickly, after ten minutes we'll close this juice parlor."

"We'll go for cocktail !!", all three replied.

Counting Curse

I was eating strawberries with my friend.

After that strawberry feast, I asked her, "How many strawberries you ate?"

She replied, "I didn't count. I was enjoying its taste. Its taste is amazing. Did you like taste of strawberries?"

"Uhh.. I was counting strawberries while eating. I missed out on its taste", I responded.

Next Experiment

New blog for new thoughts!!

Here is my next experiment, Shailesh Speaks . All are invited to be a part my new journey.

"The Ignorant's Blog" for my Soul.
"Shailesh Speaks" for my Brain.

Love
- The-Ignorant

The-Ignorant in B-School

I have got a big break. I couldn't resist the temptation to share this great news with readers of this blog.

I'll be joining JBIMS , one of the best B-School in India, this academic year.

By God's grace, this is reality, not fiction :)

- The-Ignorant

Middle Path

A group of men and a group of women were involved in heated debate.

Men believed - "God is a man."

Women argued - "God is a woman."

'Wise' man thought he was master of negotiations. He believed that solution for every problem can be found by taking a middle path.

Wise man made heroic entry in this fight.

Wise man suggested to the fighting groups, "God is neither man nor woman, God is somewhere in between."

His suggestion had serious conclusion. Both groups were furious. They beat the 'wise' man to death.

The wise man died on middle of the road, on the 'middle path'.

Everything But Work

I was furious, my flat was not ready and builder's reply was "Work in Progress". I decided to check whats happening at construction site.

I reached at construction site. What I saw was really unexpected.

Almost no worker was working. Some were writing letters, some were busy meeting their friends, some were playing football. Even this was not enough. Some people were busy with pundit matching their kundlies and looking photos of possible future life partners.

No one was working.

I decided to contact the supervisor at this construction site. I was shocked again. He was writing diary.

"Why no one is working? Why everyone is busy with 'other' things?" , I asked him.

Supervisor was truly shyless. He didn't answered my question, he asked, "What is your profession?"

"I am an IT professional, a Software Engineer.", I answered.

"You shouldn't be surprised. What you people do with computer and Internet, we are doing same without them. You all are hooked to personal emails, blogging, orkut, computer games and matrimonial sites. We are on the other side of digital divide, so we are just doing same in a different way." the supervisor gave me this biggest shock.

I had nothing to say. I left that place.

Bookish Leadership

I was travelling by train. I was reading a good book sitting on a window seat.

A teenager sitting opposite me was also reading a book, "Swimming Guide". I thought he was the most stupid person on earth. Can art of swimming be learnt by reading book?

I curiously asked that teenager,"Do you believe by reading this book you will learn how to swim?"

Teenager confidently replied, "Yes!! This book is written by a legendary swimmer who has won half a dozen Olympic gold medals."

This confirmed my assumption that this teenager was the most stupid person on earth.

Then I continued reading the book, "Leadership Guide", the book by a legendary CEO.

People ARE System and System IS People

People make System OR System makes People ?
Probably Both.

People make System AND System makes People.

People ARE System and System IS People.
Still People crib about System.

People -> System -> People -> System -> People
Its a Circle, Origin is End and End is Origin.

Sometimes this Circle is Virtuous,
Sometimes this Circle is Vicious.

When it is vicious, someone should break it.
Who should break the vicious circle?
System or People?
Probably People.

Meet My Friends

Friends in Buddy List are people I have interacted with and I admire them (Don't know if its true other way also).

Friends in Blogger's Park are the one's I haven't met yet, but would love to meet some day some time. I came across these people by my blog.

All of you have loved my blog. I am sure I would love to visit my friends' blogs too.

Friend's in Blogger's Park

• Princess


• Anu


• Priya


• Navneet


• Bhushan


• Sayesha

Buddy List

• Paresh


• Jigar


• Rahul


• Sandeep Shetty

Share your thoughts on all these blog with us.

Contemporary Wisdom

A bright engineering student said, "I kept almost 40 percent of syllabus for option (read- I didn't prepared for it), because examiners ask very few questions on that 40 percent part, also these questions are too difficult. I have prepared for the easier part. I am confidant that I'll get good score."

Wise man thought, "Intelligent boy. He studies for marks not knowledge."

Marketing manager of a luxury car said, "We target only rich people as poor and middle class can't afford our car."

Wise man thought, "What an intelligent manager. He knows who are his potential buyers and don't waste his effort on others."

A burly politician said, "I am sure, I'll win this election with help of poor people. I'll give them cheap rice and free color TVs. I can't rely on educated middle class who doesn't vote and treat Election Day as holiday."

Wise man cried, “Shame! Shame!! He is a populist. He is playing Vote Bank Politics"

Life is Beautiful

".. ... .... .. ?"
"Yes."

Lost Nobel

When I was eight years old, teacher taught us about Nobel prize. I learnt that many scientists solved great puzzles of nature and won the coveted Nobel Prize. I thought when I grow up I will solve some big question to win a Nobel. Then I started around looking for the big question. I observed that only married people had children. I zeroed on the question that will give me Nobel, a Biological question, "Is marriage necessary to have a child?"

When I grew up, I learnt that the question was not a Biological question, it was a Social question. And I lost my Nobel.

From that incident I learnt, "No matter how much Information we gather, how much expertise we gain we still live in ignorance. Life, economy, technology and politics unfold in very unexpected way that you cannot have 'long term AND specific' goals. Because as the time changes the goals set long back may become irrelevant in the new context."

Flexible Dreams

A classroom filled with smart, bright kids.

Teacher threw a question, "Whats your dream? What do you want to become when you grow up?"

Different answers came.
"I want to create rockets".
"I'll build most powerful supercomputer."
"I'll build skyscrapers that will almost touch the sky."

Twenty years later at school reunion.

The same teacher asked, "What have you become?"

Different answers came.
"I sell soaps."
"I sell credit cards."
"I sell 'carrots'."

Full Stop !

Blogging has been a great experience for me for last couple of months. I interacted with different people, listened to their views. Everything was perfect, then I came across these questions.

• What differentiates my blog from thousands of other blogs in this blog world ?
• Why should someone read my blog ?

I am trying to find answers to these questions, till that I won't be posting anything.

Please help me to find these answers, by sharing your views.

Those who want to contact me can Mail me.

- The-Ignorant

Challenging Work

A routine meeting with Manager(My Boss).
Manager - "I have some challenging work for you. Are you interested to take it?"
Me (very happily) - "YES!!"

After some days, a followup meeting.
Manager - "How are you doing?"
Me - "Can you give me something else to work on? That work is too boring."
Manager - "I know that".
Me - "But you said that it was challenging. What was the challenge in it?"
Manager - "Not to get bored while working on boring stuff. Buddy, you have lost the challenge."

Same Question, Different Answers

For almost one year I didn't meet two of my close friends. This week fortunately all of us were in town.

I called up both and asked, "Lets meet".

First replied, "When and where?"
Second replied, "Why?"

I wondered whether we need a reason for everything we do in life.

The Eternal Game

I saw some boys playing a game. There was one big circle marked on the ground. Two boys were standing in that circle. Remaining boys were watching them from outside the circle. Each one's role was defined. Out of the two boys in the circle, one was Bully and other was Victim. All other boys were Spectators. Everyone tried that they don't end up as victim. Everyone desired to become Bully, but no one was ready to say it aloud. Hence almost all were doing the easiest thing, to become a spectator and clap, waiting their turn to become Bully.

And The Game continued eternally.

The Email Blunder

This story dates back to Mughal era, when Akbar was the emperor of India. Akbar was an IT savvy guy. One day he got a nice forwarded mail. As usual he forwarded that mail to his two Begums(Queens). This time he also forwarded that mail to his close friend Gabbar who was the ruler of a neighbouring country. As his usual practice he put addresses of all recipients in "To" => "First Begum, Second Begum, Gabbar".

All recipients got the mail. This was just start of Akbar's bad days. Second Begum was furious because Akbar put First begum's name before her. She thought, "In informal mails people always put addresses of recipients in order of priority or closeness". Hence Second begum left Akbar's palace.

This was just beginning. The playboy Gabbar got email address of Akbar's favourite First begum, and then both started emailing each other. Gabbar and First Begum fell in love and First begum eloped with Gabbar.

Akbar was very frustrated. He consulted Birbal (The wisest minister in his cabinet). Akbar narrated the complete story and said , "A silly forward screwed my life. Find some way so that other ignorant people should not fall in misery like me".

Birbal researched for some days and invented a miracle. He narrated his invention to Akbar, "I have invented a new field 'bcc' which should be used while sending all informal mails and stupid forwards. The recipient of bcc mail would not know who else received the mail and addresses of other recipients"

Akbar issued an order to use bcc for all informal mails. All his subjects followed the order and lived happily.

Are you doing the same mistake that Akbar did while sending mails?

Glass, Water and You

I saw two men involved in an "intellectual" debate over a glass filled with water. One was saying. "The glass is half full with water". The other was arguing, "The glass half empty".

I laughed at them, went ahead and drank the water.

Now its your turn to draw morale from this story. You can also add more to this story. Share with us what you interpret from this story.

Poisonous Label

Everyday early morning I used to go in a park for a walk. In that park there was a statue of a pig, on top of a twenty feet pillar. I looked at that pig everyday for some days. Being a lazy guy, I thought "Lets not take any effort to look at this pig each day, it is going to remain a dirty pig". At the bottom of the pillar, at visible height I wrote ,'A dirty little Pig'. I 'labelled' that statue.

From then onwards whenever I came across that pillar I used to read that label and used to scream, "A dirty little pig". I never took effort to look twenty feet above at the pig.

Today, I visited the park with some of my friends. As a routine, when I came across the pillar, I read the label and screamed, "A dirty little pig". All my friends laughed at my ignorance. When I asked why. They said, "Take some effort to look at the statue".

When I looked I saw 'A big elegant Elephant'. I laughed at myself. I had visited that park for many days, but I never noticed when the dirty pig turned it an elegant elephant.

From that incident I learnt, "Never label anyone, take effort to see the real situation, take effort to understand people. You never know when a pig turns into an elephant and offer you a ride".

Fix it or Close it

"If you weren't already in that relationship, would you enter it today? And if the answer is no, what are you going to do about it?"

- "Inspired" by Peter Drucker's Quote

Lost Nobel

When I was eight years old, teacher taught us about Nobel prize. I learnt that many scientists solved great puzzles of nature and won the coveted Nobel Prize. I thought when I grow up I will solve some big question to win a Nobel. Then I started around looking for the big question. I observed that only married people had children. I zeroed on the question that will give me Nobel, a Biological question, "Is marriage necessary to have a child?"

When I grew up, I learnt that the question was not a Biological question, it was a Social question. And I lost my Nobel.

From that incident I learnt, "No matter how much Information we gather, how much expertise we gain we still live in ignorance. Life, economy, technology and politics unfold in very unexpected way that you cannot have 'long term AND specific' goals. Because as the time changes the goals set long back may become irrelevant in the new context."

Lazy Blogger

Lazy weekend morning. I was typing my new blog post, my friend cum well wisher came.

The moment he stepped in and looked at me he said, "Why are you wasting time doing 'this' crap?"
"Tell me, what should I do?", I asked.

"Study for CAT,CET or GMAT and crack it", he said.
"Then..", me.
"You will get admission in top bschool", he continued.
"Then..", me.
"You will get placed in a top company at astronomical salary", he said.
"What will happen next?", now I was also eager to listen.

"Then one day you will become CEO of a big company, then like all modern CEOs you will want to communicate informally with your customers, employees.", he explained.
"Then what will I do?", I asked curiously.
"You will write a blog to communicate with all stakeholders informally", he explained.
"That's what I am doing now, writing a blog. If after doing all this, if I end up doing the same thing(writing a blog), then I am happy where I am".

And I continued writing my blog post.

Praise for The Ignorant's Blog

The metaphor dude.
- Sandeep

The blogs that I read on your home page.They were crisp yet communicative.I simply detest page long blogs .And yours make an interesting read.
I liked your blog on in praise of criticism especially.
- Princess

I saw one thing common in all your posts, you talk tersely and quite sharp. Whatt 10 lines take to convey that you say it in just one..Good one.
- Anu

I came to your blog thru Pagalguy....
I read your HR interveiw post about "The goal in life"
Loved it very much...
Keep up the posts...
and All the very Best!
-Aberrant

Hehe! Guaranteed to bring a smile to anyone's face! Do post stuff like this every once in a while! :-)
- Rahul

Your blog is one of the few blogs I visit almost regularly. I personally like metaphors. I have found that you have made a natural progress as a writer as time has passed. Your first few posts were a bit rusty and a little sloppy. But now I think you do have a central theme to the posts.
- Paresh

All the best for your break....
Well u seem to have quite a fan following :)
Will miss your blog.
- Rushabh

Hahahaha
I love the pic you have posted...
Really funny yet APT.
- Amit

Everything Changed !

With time everything changed,
First our thoughts, then minds and then our hearts changed,

With time everything changed,
First city, then address and then cell number changed,

Only one thing is unchanged,
Our messenger contact,
And I am still waiting for the Buzz !

Slaughterhouse Ethics

In a village, there was a slaughterhouse, its owner, butchers and many goats. As time passed the number of goats increased in the slaughterhouse but number of butchers was same.

The owner thought instead of looking for new butchers, lets make one of the goat a butcher. He had a doubt in his mind that a goat might not fit into butchers role, but then he thought "Lets take a chance and see how it goes. If this experiment succeeds I can make other goats a butcher."

The owner picked one wise goat and told him, "I want to make you a butcher, are you ready for this?".
Wise goat thought this is a good opportunity and said, "Yes."

Next day the Wise goat came dressed like a butcher. As per rotation policy, it was turn of a goat who was the best friend of the wise goat to get slaughtered. The wise goat grabbed his best friend with a knife in hand.

All other goats cried, "Wise goat, you are one of us, how can you do this. Don't you have any ethics?"

"I am a butcher now, and to slaughter goats is my role. When I have a role to play I don't care about ethics and emotions.", wise goat replied and slaughtered his friend.

I believe if you are a faint hearted goat, don't become a butcher. Once you become butcher be ready to slaughter any goat.

If you were in place of the wise goat what would have you done?

Fighting Bytes - Colour of the Creator

With a lot of effort I wrote a computer program. The program was running fine, but today somehow it started giving many errors. I tried to troubleshoot it, but of no use. I was alone in the room, suddenly I heard a voice, someone was talking . Then I looked inside my computer, I was shocked to see two bytes talking. I started listening..

"You are a Kafir, colour of our Creator, God is Green, the Prophet had told us this.", the "First" byte shouted.

"No, you are wrong, colour of our Creator, God is Saffron, I read that from holy scriptures", the "Second" byte replied.

After some time they stopped arguing and started fighting. And because of their fight "The Program", which I created with some much of effort was not working properly.

Initially I laughed at them, I thought, "How these ignorant bytes have created their own version of story, Colour of the Creator. I am colourless. I am their Creator, they are just ordinary bytes. For me both the First and Second bytes are same, there is no difference between them, no one is superior than other, both have just eight bits each."

But now I am furious, if the don't stop fighting, I will destroy them, I will destroy "The Program".

War is Over !

The war is over,
I don't know yet,
I have won or lost,
But I am happy,
The war is over,
I am a free bird now.

A break for the Break

I am taking a short break,
To get the Big Break,
Wish me good luck for the Big Break,
We'll meet after this short break.

Better Sorry than Safe

Once upon a time there lived two bears in a jungle. Like all bears they loved Honey. But getting Honey was not easy, it was risky, honey bees were ready to attack anyone who tried to get Honey.

Out of those two bears the First bear tried for Honey and honey bees attacked him. He failed in first attempt. He was so scared of honey bees that he desired for honey but never dared to try again. He played safe. He lost the opportunity to gain strength and vigour he could have got from Honey. He remained an ordinary bear. He lived safe and died safe.

The Second bear was also in quest for Honey, he failed once. But he derived strength from strong desire for Honey. He made many attempts, was attacked many times by honey bees. The tenacious bear finally got Honey he desired for. He gained enormous strength from Honey. Thereafter the Second bear tried many times for Honey, each time with more strength and more confidence, and most of the times he got that.

Now you decide two things, Whose path you want to follow? The one followed by First bear or the one follwed by Second bear?

Decide what is Honey for you; great job, profitable business, b-school admission, faithful companion, peace of mind or just anything you desire for. Give your best shot for it and Dont give up. Its better to be sorry than to remain safe.

Your Honey is waiting for you. Go Get It !

Coming Soon

So many thoughts, So many themes are running in mind. I'll try to post them as and when I get time. But I can't resist sharing titles of those themes with you.

Here it goes..

- Death of a cow
- To Kill or To Die - Difficult Decision
- Confused ball
- Thank God I am alive !
- Rich Dad, Poor Son
- Fighting Bytes

Keep watching, Keep Commenting.

Toon Tragedy

On my way home I met two little boys from my building indulged in a fight. Christ and Mohammed, both were angry and fighting.

I asked them, "Whats the matter?";

"This bastard, sketched an obscene cartoon of my mom, deliberately to hurt my sentiments.", Mohammed yelled.

"Why have you done this?", I asked Christ.

"In spirit of freedom of expression ! I believe , nothing is sacred. I want to express myself and I don't care if it hurts anyone. Also I am not breaking any law.", adamant Christ replied.

Then they again started to abuse and fight with each other.

I dropped idea of making peace between them. I have seen them fighting from so many years. They are still little boys, I don't know when they will grow up...

Unfair Transaction

Yesterday, I went to market to buy some coconuts. Unfortunately I didn’t had any money with me, but I had a bagful of bananas so I thought of paying using good old barter system.

I went to a kirana store and asked shopkeeper to give me one kg coconuts, and according to exchange rate printed on board I had to pay ten kgs of bananas for one kg of coconut.

The shopkeeper weighed coconut and gave it to me. I gave him bagful of bananas to weigh and take his share in that. To my amazement, the shopkeeper started to remove cover of banana and he weighed only eatable part of banana to keep for him.

I protested, "You weighed coconut, with its shell and now you are removing cover of bananas which I am giving it to you, I am at loss, this is unfair!”

"I don’t care", the shopkeeper yelled.

"When I give coconut to you I am concerned with what I am giving to you, I don’t care what you are receiving, it depends on type of coconut and how you remove its shell",

"Also when I accept bananas from you, I don’t care what you are giving, I am concerned with only the eatable portion I receive, I don’t want its useless covers and I won't give you additional coconut for the useless covers of bananas."

The adamant shopkeeper offered no choice for me. I searched all the shops in the market, but of no use. All shops had this same practice.

What do you think? Isn't this transaction unfair?

If you haven't guessed it, put yourself in my position, shopkeeper is your employer and coconut is CTC, cost to company, and if you remove its shell, eatable part - inhand salary is very less. The banana is TFC, time for company, time you spent for your employer which includes your travel time.

Now, Is THIS a fair transaction? We need to ponder over it. All shopkeeper follow the same rule doesn't mean that it’s fair. I hope some day customer will get better bargain for his bananas.

As a customer, what do you think about this?

In Praise of Criticism

Good blogs receive Comments,
Better blogs receive Appreciations, And
Great blogs receive Criticism.

- The-Ignorant

Why Horse Cart exists?

Why companies exists?

When I read "Built to Last". I was curious to know what a layperson thinks about this question.So I thought of asking this question to my mom, because she is not aware of buzzwords of business.

"Why companies exists?", I asked.

"To give people jobs", she answered promptly.

I was amazed to hear this answer, I guess most people in India have this illusion that compaines exists to create jobs.

Then I asked my mom another simple question,"Why Horse Cart exists?"

"So that the owner can earn money and People can have a ride by paying him money.", She anwered.

"Does the horse cart exist to give the horse job and livelihood?", I asked another question.

"No", She answered. She was ignorant about the business but she understood that horse cart doesn't exist to feed horses.

But many ignorant horses are unaware of this fact. Are you one of them?

Friendship in Blogger's Park

Those who don't read your blog are strangers,
Those who read it are your friends,
Those who read and comment on it are your good friends,
Those who give a link to your blog from their blog are your best friends.

- The-Ignorant :)

Google It You Moron

I approached my boss with some technical problem, expecting some answer. He barked, "GOOGLE IT YOU MORON". I didnt got the answer still I asked shylessly, "Whats the meaning of moron?". Again he screamed, "Google it you moron?". I returned to my desk and first googled the meaning of moron.. Idiot.

Somewhat frustrated I left office to watch a movie. The first half was good, but there were surprises for me in the second half.

The hero was asking heroine, "Darl, Do you love me?", A minute of silence and then the heroine replied, "Google it you moron". Because this new gen heroine writes a blog and she also posts about her love afair.

I thought people have got answer for all questions, just say, "Google it you moron".

The angry young hero went to his home, and asked his mother, "Maa, saari duniya mujhe najayaz kahati hai, Batao kaun hai mera baap?". The modern maa with tears in her eyes replied, "Google it you moron, you will definately get his name."

Now I started to hate google, and left the movie hall. All time on my way to home I was thinking, and wondering. Cant I ask simple questions to anyone now? Do I have to search google for everthing I want to know?

I was talking insanely with myself, I was near to my home, standing at crossroads I forgot which road goes to my home, I asked a man standing nearby, "Which road leads to Highway Signal?", The man replied, "Google it you moron, you will get this information on wesite of Municipal Corporation."

Now I cant hear google's name anymore, I was screaming on the road, "Goooooogle eeeeeeeet uuuuuuuuuuuu moooorooooooooooooooooon"

You must be thinking Is this guy mad?, Well the answer is simple. "Google it you moron". You might find my name in on some mental hospital's website.

Whats your goal in life?

"Whats your goal in life?", the interviewer asked in my HR interview during our campus placement. I was foxed, clueless.I wanted to protest by saying that this is an 'out of syllabus' question, but alas! that wasnt my engineering exam, that was HRinterview, the Dinner with the Devil.

"I dont know", I replied honestly. I was scared with the thought that he will now show me the door.

He looked at me disdainfully and uttered, "When you decide to go for a vacation , first you decide the destination and buy tickets.How will you celebrate the vacation if you dont know the destination, your goal? If this is true for ordinary vacation thenin game of life where stakes are high shouldnt you set goal for your life? Or do you wander aimlessly for your complete life?"(He mugged this from some motivational book, I came to know later)

I was answerless, No one, neither my parents nor my 'learned' teachers had ever told that there should be goal for life.Still I somehow answered shylessly, "Well, I am living this life for the first time and I dont have any past 'life' experience toset any lifetime goal for my this life?"

He was furious but more surprised at my audacity, still he answered, "Young man, you should think now that why do you exist?What you are going to do in your life? How do you want to be remembered when you leave this earth?"

I really didnt understand the need of such long term thinking, I have never thought of my life beyond one semester(as most of engg students do). But still I thought this wise man might be right and I laughed at my ignorance.

To complete the remaining formality he asked the last question, "Do you want to ask anything about me or our company?"

I took this opportunity to turn the tables and asked shylessly "What is YOUR goal in life?"

He threw an brilliant answer at me, "I want to be HR head of of a leading MNC and eventually becomeCEO of the company. Also after my retirement I want to form an NGO and give the society back what I recieved from it, to work for poor and underprivileged. And when I leave this world I want to be known as a true person who lived his life fullest."

What an answer!! But I thought was it well prepared and mugged up answer or did he really meant it. He concludedthe interview and as expected I was shown the door.

After that I am still searching the elusive answer, should we leave life by facing day as it comes or have a lifetime goal and pursue it relentlessly.

I expect thoughts of all of you. Please help me to find the real answer. Please help The ignorant, the curious child....

White Cat-Black Cat

"As long as it catches mice, it does not matter whether the cat is black or white."

- Deng Xiaoping general secretary of the Communist Party,1987

Metamorphosis

“First we were scared of the wolf,
then we wanted to dance with the wolf,
and now we want to be the wolf.”

- Quote of a Chinese Businessman, from World is Flat

The Race of Life

"Every morning in Africa, a gazelle awakens.
He has only one thought on his mind:To be able to run faster than the fastest lion.
If he cannot, then he will be eaten.

Every morning in Africa a lion awakens.
He has only one thought on his mind: To be able to run faster than the slowest gazelle.
If he cannot, he will die of hunger.

Whether you choose to be a gazelle or a lion is of no consequence.
It is enough to know that with the rising of the sun, you must run.
And you must run faster than you did yesterday or you will die.
This is the race of life."

- African Proverb

Mother's dilemma

A mother, who has two kids, one is Stong and other is Weak. The Strong kid can eat very fast and the Weak is very slow to eat. For a long time what the mother used to give food to both kids in one plate. Strong kid ate hurriedly to and finish most of the food and Weak managed to take only a bite or two. This continued for a long time, and Strong is now Stronger and Weak is Weaker.

Now, Weak is almost starving to death, he can no longer live on so less food.

Weak approached Mother and said this (giving food in one plate) is unfair as he is starving to death. Mother listened and now she wanted to hear what Strong has to say.

"Survival of fittest is mantra for me, Let the system be meritocratic, I have the ability(merit) to eat fast so I will do that".

"But you brother, Weak will starve to death then. Dont you care about him?", mother said.

"Let him starve to death, I dont care.", Strong said.

Now, Mother has two options,

One, Continue the "meritocratic" system and let Weak die from hunger.

Second, Protect Weak from Strong. Give him opportunity to satisfy his hunger that was suppressed from long time. "Reserve" a part of food for Weak, so that he can eat and survive.

Imagine yourself at place of the mother. Which option would you choose?

The Dependable and Mr Cool

I have always found very hard to praise people. I must admit that I found criticising easy than praising someone.But during my current job I have interacted with some wonderful people that I was very much impressed that I can only say good things about them.

Let me introduce them.

The Dependable
He joined the company fresh out of college. Eager to learn and contribute to the team, he always performed above expectations.He is a great problem solver and a guy with never say die attitude. But above all there is one thing that i like most in him, his willingness to take responsibilities. "When you take more responsibility, you are giving promotion to yourself", a quote from a self help book.He is the guy I will always want to have in my team.

Mr Cool
He is the manager for the project. I have never seen him loosing control under pressure. I have seen may managers who were somewhere between a dragon and a draculla. But this guy is different. He treats his team members with respect and he knows their strengths and weaknesses.

I hope I can learn a thing or two from these people. Then there will be someone who will be praising me. :)