eNamaskar

Lack of customer focus ...

2011-12-30T19:49:00.000+05:30

This is a rant, nothing technical about it, but about my experience of spending money and yet not getting the goods that was promised. In some parts of the world, this is also called pick-pocketing.

1. I work for a IT services company for my livelihood - and we are always on alert to ensure that our customers do not have any issue/trouble because of the code that we give; nor they have any complaint about any bad behaviour of a team member. May be, living in IT Services company in India is not a good idea, as you tend to expect others in India too have similar behaviour like you and have customer focus.

2. Govt. agencies are corrupt to core - even when you pay, things do not work. Now there is a toothless wonder called Anna is making some noise and capturing the imagination of the world. Can he solve the issues of an ordinary person who has to face the traffic cop and lessens his burden for a "maamool"???? NO...

3. Airlines is another story here... you never know when your flight is cancelled or when your next "arranged" flight is... after paying through your nose to fly, you get to be treated like a piece of "you know what"

4. Hospitality and Hotels - a criminal wastage of money... you pay for something called 3-Star and end up living with out hot water or power in night...

5. Roads - a drive is enough to understand the pathetic state ... TOLL is collected - for what?? to wait in traffic jam!!!!

Any way, all in all, Mera bharath mahan!!!

State of Circus in India

2011-06-10T10:23:00.000+05:30

Recently had a chance to visit a circus in Hyderabad, the "Rambo Circus". This was after few decades that I entered the arena with a lot of expectations - as I remembered that every year during summer vacation had a chance to go to "Jumbo" Circus, "Gemini" Circus etc, which I really enjoyed.

However, this "Rambo" lacked the punch that the namesake had! No tigers, lions, monkeys or even the hippo who comes to eat a loaf of bread. Forget the animals part, (PETA, Green Peace might have made some modifications to the nature of circus.) there were no real acrobats, as many of the props fell down often.

Jokers/Buffons were stale, with their outdated jokes.

The only thing that was fine was the air cooling system that was introduced which helped in beating the summer heat.

Seems Circus and "live" performances are losing charm.

Long time, no posts - Why??? Here's why!

2011-06-04T06:30:00.001+05:30

In last few months, was busy with several things happening around me. With too many moving parts, did not get time to check into blogs and social n/w sites.

Open Letter to Hemantha

2010-12-31T11:21:00.000+05:30

Dear Hemantha,

It is something of a great achievement in one's life to be able to give a TED Talk. Am really happy for you and may the new year take you to even more greater heights in your career.

Regards,

Anil Kurnool

10K, the run that was walk!

2010-12-07T20:15:00.002+05:30

At the Start

On 28-Nov, there was a 10K run for all folks... Though not a health freak, wanted to do something different and got on to the bandwagon.

The run was supposed to be at 7:00 AM for all, but the organizers felt that the corporate types would make more of a nonsense factor to the run, so they kicked off the "professionals" race and it was a delight to see the winner breeze past me as he clocked less than 30 minutes for the run.

That guy was real skeleton, with skin and clean shaved his head to counter the air resistance... seems aerodynamics have gone to runs!

Once the professionals were done with their stuff, we the "fun run" types were flagged off!

Half-Way Through!

Then instead of running the distance, we (my friends and I) chose to walk the distance. As usual, our iPods, tweets from phones etc were fully active. {There must be a recharge mechanism for these devices, so that one need not worry about battery drain, while walking, as the energy from the shoes' movement would be continuously charging the same back.}

All along the way, there were kiosks of Glucone-D energiser drink, kingfisher water bottles to rehydrate the dehydrated walkers/runner, while the musicians like folks artists to Jazz players entertaining the junta and participants en route.

Finally

At every 3 Kms, the Infosys team of volunteers took note that we from Infosys were all safe and sound. Good work from the Infy Organizers, in form of transport, snacks and other co-ordinations.

It took me around 100+ minutes to close the circuit. Felt happy that I did it, esp. after 12 sitting of chemo, 40 sittings of radiation and living on steroids, for me completion of the race was paramount.

Thanks to all my well wishers to have given me the support and enthusiasm all along! It is because of you, that I could do this. Thank you God, for sailing with me all through! Thanks to my parents for everything! Thank you Doctor!

It may sound like a Vote-Of-Thanks after winning Olympic Gold medal, for me, this is far more important than any other competition!

Walk down the memory lane...

2010-10-28T00:15:00.000+05:30

Today spoke to a very old friend of mine - rather my schoolmate... feeling happy about the same...

Old habits die hard!

2010-10-13T14:16:00.000+05:30

Being used to use my left hand for heavy duty work like lifting suitcases, using the car jack for tyre replacement etc. recently I was wondering why something was amiss when I was walking back to car from the General store. After a long time, I was using my right hand to carry the carry-bags.

Old habits die really hard!!

Never enter this place

2010-09-18T15:02:00.000+05:30

Recently ordered for some Chinese food from this "Shame" of a place, called Stir-It-Up. Buggers delivered it more than 120 minutes and to top it up, charged for the "Delivery"

Tastes like yesterday's food.

Beware of this dirty place.

Habits

2010-08-24T07:02:00.001+05:30

In 1963, after a prolonged duration, finally the Bhakra Nangal Dam was completed and Pt. Nehru was a very proud man. He called his closest ally and one of the chief funding source for the dam, the then USSR Chief Nikita Krushchev to visit the site.

On the bumpy and pot hole ridden road from Chandigarh to the dam site, the early morning ride was too much for both the dignitaries. Nikita got disoriented when he saw the sight of people easing themselves on the roadsides in the morning and remarked that Indians – despite the funds and technology transfer are still living outside of civilized world. The visit to dam was not a success as thought by Pt. Nehru.

Shortly before his death, Pt. Nehru visited USSR and wanted to see the space research project taking place in Cosmodrome based in Leningrad (St. Petersburg). Again an early morning road ride was taken and Nehru was looking at the straight, 8 tracks and clean roads from Moscow to Leningrad. His aim was to put Krushchev down by pointing one early morning easer and settle the score. Finally Nehru’s prayers were answered and saw one person in his act and promptly pointed it out to his Russian counterpart.

Furious about the insult Krushchev orders police to imprison that “predatel”, but police informs that they cannot do it as the person was claiming diplomatic immunity. The early morning easer was Indian Ambassador to USSR!

The above may sound like a demeaning joke on Indians, but if reflected upon, it shows what Aristotle is always quoted with – We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit!

Either way, let us all get into the habit of doing everything in the excellent fashion!!!

Freedom

2010-08-20T10:41:00.000+05:30

Once in a UN General Meeting, representatives of different countries were discussing about the degree of “Freedom of expression” that their citizens enjoy.

US representative starts out saying,”In our country, any citizen can walk into the White House, sit beside the fire place in oval office, have an espresso coffee with Mr. President and then say ‘Mr. President, you are a fool!’ Then they can discuss the affairs of the country.”

USSR representative, not to be out done says, “In our country too, any citizen can walk into Kremlin, sit beside the fire place, have a shot of vodka with Mr. President and then say, ’American President is a fool!’ and then discuss the affairs of the USA.”

Then it was turn of Indian representative who says, ”In our country, our President can walk into any citizen’s hut, eat whatever little food they have saved for the day, then while walking out will say, ’Citizen, you are a fool!’ and then walks out not to be seen for next 5 years.”

Though this may seem like a grim joke, the reality is India despite the socio-political corruption leading to economic disaster, India ranks 36 in global Gross National Happiness, while Russia is on 46 and US is on 13. Considering the population of the other two countries, we can proudly say that even 36 is a good index.

The reason, why we are what we are – 5000 years of civilization imbibed with grains of philosophical outlook of life, which the other two lack. One is extreme materialism, while the other is extreme atheism. Cultivate that “Nishkama Karma” outlook, half the worries in life will be laid to rest.

Perceptions

2010-08-20T10:39:00.000+05:30

Long time ago, Lenin, Stalin and Gorbachev were travelling in train. The train suddenly stops due to some snag in deep Siberian Ice Desert. The three are informed that the train cannot make it to the next destination and the crew is waiting for their instructions.

Lenin says, “Let the power of People, pull and push the train till Leningrad!”

Stalin says, “Shoot the driver!”

Gorbachev says, “Let us close the windows and pretend that we are moving!”

The above may look like a simple joke to laugh off, but if you look into it a shade deeper, you can find that three of them had tangentially different perceptions about the same event. Likewise, in our own life we come across different perceptions people carry. We cannot satisfy everyone’s perception every time and we need to strike a balance. Be it our customer, spouse, child, parent, colleague, manager etc. Learn to balance perceptions and go on with your life on your own terms – rather than carrying the burden all through the way.

Definition of Joy

2010-08-20T10:37:00.000+05:30

Once a three gentlemen from Britain, France and Russia meet up in a party and topic turns towards – what is meaning of Joy.
The Brit starts out saying, ”You walks home on a frosty evening, to find your slippers being warmed beside a lighted fireplace and aroma of freshly brewed Tea greets your nose. What more can one call this apart from Joy!”

The French not being out done by the Brit says, “You go to your beach château in summer and find that you have a sparkling champagne waiting for you in bucket of ice. Then a femme fatale walks over to be your host. What more can one call this, Bonheur and joie!”

Finally the Russian starts out his version of happiness: “There is a knock on your door in the dead of night and when you open the door you find a KGB agent shouts at you ‘Ivan Ivanovich, you are under arrest!’. Then you say, ‘Ivan Ivanovich stays next door!’ and that is what is called Joy!”

Of course, this sounds like a joke on Communist Russia, but a dig deeper, you can see that Joy is being defined by different people differently. There may be many who might be happy to see the sun raise today morning, there are many who might be happy to just have something in their stomach yesterday night. The only thing that matter is “Count your blessings”, misery is around is too much!

Happy weekend ahead!!! {One more thing, there are many who do not have weekends – Agriculture / Daily laborer, BPL folks et al}

Mera Bharath Mahan!!!

2010-08-15T22:16:00.001+05:30

Thank God, none of these Countries are role models for India. I hope and pray that India will never ever become any where close to these Countries.
God bless and Save Indians..

If you cross the " The North Korean " border illegally, you get .....

12 years hard labour in an isolated prison .....

If you cross the " Iranian " border illegally, you get .....

detained indefinitely .....

If you cross the " Afghan " border illegally, you get .....

shot .....

If you cross the " Saudi Arabian " border illegally, you get .....

jailed .....

If you cross the " Chinese " border illegally, you get .....

kidnapped and may be never heard of - again .....

If you cross the " Venezuelan " border illegally, you get .....

branded as a spy and your fate sealed .....

If you cross the " Cuban " border illegally, you get .....

thrown into a political prison to rot .....

If you cross the " British " border illegally, you get .....

arrested, prosecuted, sent to prison and be deported after serving your sentence .....

Now ..... if you were to cross the " Indian " border illegally, you get
.....

1. A ration card

2. A passport ( even more than one - if you please ! )

3. A driver's licence

4. A voter identity card

5. Credit cards

6. A Haj subsidy

7. Job reservation

8. Special privileges for minorities

9. Government housing on subsidized rent

10. Loan to buy a house

11. Free education

12. Free health care

13. A lobbyist in New Delhi, with a bunch of media morons and a bigger bunch of human rights activists promoting your " cause "

14. The right to talk about secularism, which you have not heard about in your own country !

15. And of-course ..... voting rights to elect corrupt politicians who will promote your community for their selfish interest in securing your votes
!!!

Hats off ..... to the .....

A. Corrupt and communal Indian politicians (...the BIGGEST PROBLEM !!!)

B. The inefficient and corrupt Indian police force & Bureaucrats !!!

C. The silly pseudo-secularists in India, who promote traitors staying here

D. The amazingly lenient Indian courts and legal system. That's why people like Afzal Guru are still alive, same will happen
with Kasab.

E. The selfish Indian citizens, who are not bothered about the dangers to their own country.

F. The illogically brainless human-rights activists, who think that terrorists deserve to be dealt with by archaic laws meant for an era, when human beings were human beings.

G. The most tolerant Indian masses who are allowing all this silently...at their own peril and

H. Lastly, the Classy Indians who are educated,happy serving an MNC, no time to vote, all ways busy in self indulgence, timid to question any wrong, perpetuate all the above for a small personal benefit ...

Of Submaines and B2B security

2010-07-30T09:49:00.000+05:30

Click the link :-) Happy reading!!!!

Symbolism and Mathematics

2010-07-19T10:18:00.000+05:30

In general, Gods and Goddesses of Hindu culture when shown in pictures or in symbols - are shown with the Goddess to the left of the God. In other words, female "power" is shown to the left of the male "power".

Let us take the symbolism a little futher, by showcasing the duality as "1" (One) for Male and "0" (Zero) as Female. Then the representation of Hindu Gods and Goddesses shows that Female forms enhance the power/divinity of the Male Gods.

01 is equal to 1, while 10 (with 0 to the left of 1) is 10 times power of the simple 1.

No wonder, in all prayers, Hindus pray to the Lord and his consort together, than Lord alone. And for long Hindu culture respected women as "aadi parashakthi" or the supreme power.

Just some thoughts...

Neighbours envy, Indians Pride

2010-04-25T19:09:00.000+05:30

Andrew Cohen Quote of the Week - The Greatest Good

2010-04-20T03:00:00.001+05:30

Quote of the Week

The Greatest Good

From an evolutionary perspective or worldview, development—the emergence of that which is new—is seen as the greatest good. So during the limited time that each of us has here on Earth, we all have the opportunity to develop, to make a difference in this world through applying our God-given capacity for free agency, or freedom of choice, to our own conscious evolution. No matter who we are, we all have some measurable, not insignificant degree of free agency. And learning how to activate that gift, so that which is truly higher and new can emerge through us, is what makes all the difference.

Andrew Cohen

On Road Travel in US

2010-04-03T06:24:00.004+05:30

Recently I have had the privilege of travelling on road using the Grey Hound service of US; from Hartford to Washington DC. Contrary to the popular belief in India, that services in US runs on clock and it is always "on time", found that there is no difference between our Red Bus in India and Grey Hounds in US. As a matter of fact Indian Red Bus is a shade better than Grey Hounds. If a service is cancelled at least it is announced in the Public Address System, while for Grey Hound services, no such thing is there... passengers are just left it at that... when you enquire at the service desk, they simply say "I don't know... am trying to reach the driver and am not able to get him online."

That kind of response is never given by Red Bus folks, even if they give, they have the courage to share their manager's telephone number, which was not the case by the Grey Hound jonnies...

Earth Hour and India

2010-03-27T19:33:00.003+05:30

There is a lot of hallaboo happening around, Earth Hour, where folks on this planet switch off all the electric items for one hour!!!

Good idea.. no doubt... But the question here is, "Does India need Earth Hour???"

Nope!!!

We in India, have some (rather majority of) places, where there is no electricity at all, then where is the need to switch off!

Even in the place where there is electric supply, we have power-cuts which are scheduled, like say daily three hours of power-cut. Then with a daily earth hour, do we need another specific "Earth Hour"

This is a fad for the rich and powerful countries; remember they glutton food and then talk of "diet" food and obesity problem. This "Earth Hour" too is a by product of surplus-resources, not for the have-nots.

On/OFF Switch

2010-03-24T01:50:00.002+05:30

On the United Airlines flight yesterday night, the attendant asking all the passengers to switch off the electronic equipment for flight take off, said the following sentance.

"Everything that has the ON/OFF switch needs to be in OFF mode and stowed"

There is nothing wrong with that sentance, only that a quick mind sitting beside me, got into action and made the following deductions and said to me...

"Hey, you know what? She just now said...

1. Only men's brain have swith ON/OFF for $%X
2. Stow away : your "you-know-what" to be stowed away; but where - you decide. "

I couldn't stop laughing and started to wonder if all men, across the world think alike...

Parents Crib

2010-03-17T20:55:00.003+05:30

Was reading a blog post of a friend, where a mention of a quote from Confucius was mentioned as

"In olden times, people studies to improve themselves. Today they only study to impress others"

That reminded me of an anecdote from Readers Digest, that I read a long time ago, that in a letter written on papyrus was found in some excavations. In that letter a Roman senator wrote to his friend about his son this way, "He spends more time with his barber than with his teachers."

So all in all, parents always have the same crib, since ages. My parents were always pissed off with my ways of studies, while am doing the same with my kid...

batter milk labhinchunu

2010-03-14T11:38:00.002+05:30

This is a vinyl poster outside a small kiosk in Hyderabad, where Heritage foods is marketing the availability of butter milk. Nothing is wrong in this photo, but if someone who knows both the languages of English and Telugu reads this will make out that the one on the top which is Telugu is not in proper synch with the intent.

If it were to be translated it should say #majjiga labhinchunu# where #majjiga# means "butter milk" and #labhinchunu# means "available".

However it is a half-translated and half transliterated sentence. It reads "batter milk labhinchunu" where the first part of "batter milk" is transliterated and the second part "labhinchunu" is translated.

Some fun ways of life...

New Age Mathematics

2010-03-12T22:17:00.004+05:30

This is one of the seasons in India, where every parent undergoes tremendous amount of pressure. Called the "Kid's Exam Season".

On my part as a typical Indian parent am spending more time with Her Highness, so that she at least knows the names of her lessons. [My mother says, it is history repeating and shows my past karmic deeds for the current tensions of mine]

The question in mathematics was

Rajesh has 15 coins and he distributes them equally among his three brothers. How many coins each of the brother gets?

"Fifteen divided by Five", pat came the answer - which obviously made me very happy at my teaching capabilities.

My wife came there and asked her, "Why is it fifteen divided by five, not five divided by fifteen?"

for which the response was "I do not know fifteen (multiplication) table, so!!!"

Well, that the life is for you!!

Edits: Thanks to Srini, who pointed out the typo - Fifteen divided by five, it should have been fifteen divided by three and same at all the places. Due to my hurry in writing this post (on a hand held device) the typo.

Soap on the water...

2010-03-06T21:39:00.001+05:30

I was listening to "Smoke on the water" today afternoon... my kid got curious and asked me, why is he (singer) singing about "soap on water"...

At times, perspectives would be different from what they seem to be...

soap on water,

soap on http,
soap on jms...

and finally smoke on water...

The Death Grip...

2010-02-27T07:19:00.002+05:30

It was the time, that I was paying through my nose to Air India and Singapore Airlines to make my bi-weekly visit to Chennai from Singapore. On one such occasion, was about to leave house that my kid caught hold of my leg in a bear-grip and started to cry, "Daddy, do not go! Daddy, do not go!".

For once I felt that my job, work, career are meaningless, when my kid is missing me badly. Why the heck should I slog - when she is crying so badly. Was about to call my boss to say that will be coming back after a week, that my wife used some golden words.... "Evening, let us go to beach and have Ice Cream"

Presto the death grip on my leg got loosened and immediately Kiddo said, "Happy journey, Daddy. TATA..."

Huh! all my dreams of sending my resignation by fax were watered down...

Nataraj and Cosmos

2010-02-24T20:15:00.001+05:30

One day, while on bench, was browsing through our company’s library where most of the books stacked were either that of JAVA or that of .NET, but nothing of real interest. {One need not buy books for knowing how to code, there is a free stuff called Google, yet there they were.}

Like an ancient treasure found in rubble of a modern collapse, my eyes found this book “The Tao of Physics” – which was like a whip of fresh air in the stuffed A/C library room. Then the following days were spent religiously reading that book and refreshing my own concepts of Physics, Life and its meaning. The book starts with defining the different perspectives of physics, the Classical Physics – as defined by Newton, Copernicus et al; Modern or Quantum Physic – as defined by 20^th century physicists.

In the early stages of real science, starting with Copernicus, running through the time of Galileo and culminating with Newton, science revolted against the religious authority of the medieval Church, which had upheld Aristotle. Science conceived of a universe that could be mechanically objectified, a cosmos of ‘sticks and stones’ that could be measured rationally and predictably. Although Newton and others believed in a transcendent God who had created the cosmos, the paradigm of scientific thought that was established by the late seventeenth century and which still lingers today has lead, in one direction, that a scientific reality has nothing spiritual about it. It was a dichotomy, either a materialistic metaphysical view, or that of a traditional religion – where the world was made in an instant.

In the first half of the twentieth century, when physics reached the stage where it tried to look beyond the atom and reveal the quintessential ‘stuff’ that the universe is made of, the world was forced into some astonishing conclusions. Though the universe appears to be solid, measurable, objective and predictable at one level of experience, when physicists tried to study sub-atomic particles and ‘quanta’ they found themselves dealing with a realm that could not be described as material. Instead, the ultimate nature of the universe appeared to be made of complex energy manifestations operating in an unpredictable web of patterns that was inseparable from the subjective perspectives of the individuals doing the studies. Although apparently material and visible at one level, the basic stuff of the universe is immaterial and invisible at the ultimate level.

In this context, it is imperative to look at the image of Lord Shiva as Nataraja – which epitomes the cosmic dance. It is there and then again it is not there; the same dichotomy of universe and the stuff it is made of. Quanta present and then again not present - Heisenberg uncertainty principle, where you cannot determine the momentum and the position of a particle at the same time or instant. The same is shown in the statute of Nataraja.

Suggest all the folks to have at least one reading of the book to understand the very nature of this universe, which in turn will show how transcendent is human life, which can drill down to the levels, where many or most of the things we worry about are out right silly and meaningless in the global scale of things.

Article about Homeopathy and SriMadbhagvatam

2010-01-23T09:59:00.001+05:30

Here is an article about homeopathy...

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2009/12/22/Why-Skeptics-Love-to-Hate-Homeopathy.aspx

From the article mentions that...

Homeopathic practice is based on a single law of therapeutics called the *Law of Similars*. This law states that *a substance that can cause the symptoms of a disease can also cure it*.

There is something similar in SriMadbhagvatam

आमयो यश्च भूतानां जायते येन सुव्रत
तदेव ह्यामयं द्रव्यं न पुनाति चिकित्सितम् |

This is from the fifth chapter of the first cento. And this verse would literally translate as ....

Whichever disease is caused in the living beings, by a given substance --
does that very substance, when therapeutically prepared, not cure that very disease.

IMHO - Isn't is nice to see that our age old traditional sayings or scriptures have a lot of signigicance?

Andaman...

2009-12-13T17:48:00.002+05:30

PICT0008
Originally uploaded by akurnool

At the boat bay of Port Blair... Kiddo was more than happy to have had a boat ride...

Liberty Bell

2009-12-13T17:46:00.002+05:30

Liberty Bell
Originally uploaded by akurnool

For whom does this bell toll!!!

(Quip: There is no tong inside for it to ring)

Columbus Circle

2009-12-13T17:45:00.002+05:30

Columbus Circle
Originally uploaded by akurnool

The Central Railway Station of DC was my regular haunt, while floating on the East Coast.

Kid @ West Coast Park

2009-12-13T17:43:00.002+05:30

PICT0005
Originally uploaded by akurnool

Making herself busy and happy...

At the bird Park

2009-12-13T17:36:00.002+05:30

At the bird Park
Originally uploaded by akurnool

Wish I was also one of the birds... not in a cage, but in open air...

In conference call

2009-12-13T17:35:00.002+05:30

In conference call
Originally uploaded by akurnool

Those days (in Singapore) work was also fun too...

Gone are days, when work used to be fun.

ICICI Online Banking Security Breach...

2009-12-01T12:53:00.001+05:30

Take a look at the image...

Even a novice can say on which AppServer the online banking portal of ICICI is running...

Any perverted geek, who knows any security loop hole in the AppServer (Pramati) can cause the entire portal unsafe....

Seems, we Indians are too technie to leave things as they are...

PS: I blacked out my employer's name... least it causes embarrased moment to them

Validation of SOA - the results...

2009-11-22T22:47:00.003+05:30

My last week was spent in comparing three tools for testing the SOA artifacts, so that we can propose the same to our customers.

The three were

1. HP Quality Center along with QTP (which my current customer owns)
2. iTKO LISA
3. Oracle's CAVS

My understanding and verdict:

If the Enterprieses really want to have their SOA artifacts validated (in simple terms: web-services, BPEL models, etc tested) they need to use iTKO LISA, as it can work on its own, also can compliment the existing testing/validation tools in the landscape. For example, it can provide the results to the test management tools like HP Quality Center, unless, of course, the customer also has HP Service Test.

If the customer is having HP QTP - then getting LISA or Service Test is a must; as QTP is designed and sold only for the purpose of testing the UI, not the internal functioning.

Oracle's CAVS is for testing the "Hello World" programs - provides only black box testing of XMLs, but cannot provide the needed details internal bottlenecks and failure details.

Of course, what I say is a broad outline and the results vary from case to case basis.

Beware of Master, the dog is ok...

2009-11-22T22:39:00.000+05:30

Once I had a pet dog (or should I call him a street dog, that used to come to my place for food?).

It was always around in the compound of my place and ran away the moment he saw a visitor.

One day, it happened that a theif tried coming into the house after jumping the gate, during early hours of the day. He (the dog) barked and woke me up. The theif took a stick and hit him, but he (doggie) stood its ground and continued to bark. When I rushed out with a stick in my hand, that the dog ran away - thinking that I too wanted to hit him, but I went with the stick outside only to hit that theif. The fellow ran away the way he came from, by jumping the gate.

The next day when I told my friends about the incident, they promptly put a board saying "Beware of Master, the dog is ok".

Strange are the ways of life...

Validations for SOA

2009-11-19T13:12:00.000+05:30

In an enterprise with Oracle Fusion as SOA stack enabler, which of the following is better

1. CAVS - Composite Application Validation System (part of AIA) from Oracle itself.

2. HP - Quality

3. iTKO's LISA

In the coming days, will blog about the results...

First Post

2009-11-18T21:50:00.000+05:30

Testing...

Testing...

"Bumper Offer" Telugu Movie :: "Bogus Offer"

2009-10-24T11:12:00.000+05:30

The thing is, our elder have said it correctly – 'Never judge a book by its cover' and similarly today we can amend it to suit the cine-goers – 'Never watch a movie, based on the banner or a hit song'.

In last few days, every radio channel played that "Ravanamma" song ad nasuem. The song is about the plight of jobless software folks due to the recession. Except for that song, there is nothing new in the film.

I watched the movie in Ameerpet's Big Cinema, which was crowded by many software folks – esp there to see the movie. As the banner is "Vaishno Academy", the expectations were very high.

Few minutes after the "Ravanamma" song, the movie becomes a déjà vu. After a while, you can start telling dialogues too, as if you are the writer.

My take:

If you have more money to spend and time to waste, go to that movie. For the serious folks, wait till it is on the TV.

Question to Puri Jagannath:

When can we expect you to give your style of movies at your standards?

Forget the great things – were you drunk when you agreed to produce this movie and when you wrote this dumb story.

[OWSM] Unable to find WSDL

2009-10-14T10:55:00.001+05:30

The common error for anyone using OWSM for the first time (Oracle Web Services Manager – part of the Oracle Fusion Middleware [OFM]) is the WSDL not found.

The gateway error mentions that the WSDL with the SIDxxxxxx was not found.

There are couple of threads in the OTN Forums.

http://forums.oracle.com/forums/thread.jspa?threadID=466774&start=0&tstart=0

http://forums.oracle.com/forums/thread.jspa?messageID=3769247

Here are the steps that I followed to help myself

Go to the OWSM console and check the component_id of the gateway. (say it is C0003016)
Go to the box level and check out the file "gateway-config-installer.properties" at the location ORACLE_HOME/owsm/config/gateway
Ensure that the component_id got from the console is same as the component_id of the gateway (typically the first property in the file.)

gateway.component.id=C0003016

Redeploy the gateway

Run ./wsmadmin.sh deploy gateway
The BUILD FAILS mentioning that the admin password is not provided.
I made the oc4jAdminPassword available in four ways, like in the build file - unencoded, build file encoded (SHA1), then temporary environment variable ($oc4jAdminPassword) encoded and unencoded.
Finally found that it has to be given as a command line parameter like

./wsmadmin deploy gateway –Doc4jAdminPassword=welcome1

Then when you check for the said WSDL SIDxxxxxx it will be found.

Cigarette

2009-10-12T14:23:00.000+05:30

Cigarette: Fire at one end, with fool at the other.

Cigarette: Burns at one end, with bitch at the other.

:-)

AP floods

2009-10-06T23:04:00.000+05:30

In the context of floods in A.P. there are few points that strike our apathy. (Our = Govt. of AP/India or what is generally called the "system").

When CWC executives went to Kurnool collector on Thursday (Oct-1), why did he not act on the information immediately?
When on Friday (2-Oct) 6 choppers were sent to resuce, 4 were grounded in Kurnool - due to lack of adequate fuel!!! Who sent half-baked choppers?
The Sunkesala dam(?) got washed away - what happened to the crores of money spent in "maintenance"?
The iron chains used to lift the dam-doors of Srisailam broke. Again where is the money?
The first rescue worker to reach the locations were - Sai (Baba) Seva Samithi, not any Army/Police/Administrative personnel!
A local MLA who fancies a title Maha-Data (great donar) was no where to be seen/heard. The first one to rush to Jagannatha Katta (a local hillock) for safety.

We (as in "our" defined above) are ill equipped to handle disasters.

"Our" system is built only for happy-day scenarios, no DR sites provided, no proper "testing" done to the system to handle failures, fault tolerance.

Your Truly's notes are based on the accounts of rescue operators and his own experiance of being a volunteer as a help-line operator for the flood victims. (The cries for help still ring in ears.)

The rescue operations are currently in full swing, but it is not enough. Like a candle against Sun light. The workers are less, as the area is unapproachable and can only be approached by air.

The Acron : MUD, not MAD

2009-09-04T08:27:00.000+05:30

http://acorn.nationalinterest.in/2009/08/31/mud-not-mad/

IMHO - we need not worry about any nuclear attacks.... assume one N-warhead would kill one million and Pak drops 100 warheads... we are still left with 90 odd crore hungry stomachs.

Like the Chinese, who gave one rifle to 5 soldiers, during Sino-India war of 1962 - we are way ahead for any gun/bomb to annihilate us.

Even then, our spineless PM would offer "evidence" to Zardari, that the N-bombs are from Pak.

Media conveniently forgot about the Nov-11 attacks and may be they will set up a night-long candle vigil at the border this year on Nov-11.

The curse of IT

2009-08-22T22:26:00.000+05:30

When-ever any powerful bomb explodes, those who die are ordinary citizens or visitors or tourists to those places. Their primary targets are the US citizens visiting that country or US employees working in the consulates.

Any time a journalist is kidnapped and killed, the odds are high that he/she might be an American journalist.

Even when Twin towers fell; it was ordinary, self respecting, tax-paying, simple US citizens who were affected. Neither the Presidents nor their deputies; neither the "secretaries of the state" nor the senators; not even a single congress-member was hurt in any of these incidents.

These deaths were all that of ordinary middle-class US citizens.

Why?

Because the media-hype hungry politicians at the top level made some policies or made statements to the effect that anti-global elements attention was drawn towards US-citizens. They stated to equate any US citizen with that of the politico-types and started to target them.

Similarly, in India, the IT (outsourcing service providers, BPOs et al) created such a Midas-touch kind of hype, that anyone and everyone, who is part of these organizations, are targeted in any form of money-flinching activities.

Be it the vegetable vendor, milk man, police man, garage owner, doctor, cinemas, rents etc. For others, the rates are different, the moment they sense that the customer "might" be an employee of an IT firm, the rates change.

In most cases the services would be worse than the normal, but the rates might be premium.

Why?

Because, the media-hype hungry owners of these firms make obnoxious statements, that world would think that all the folks part of the IT-industry are filthy rich and can be part of the extortion racket.

Agreed – there might be some folks who make such show-offs, but not all.

My message to the anti-global and anti-social elements, please mind your targets. Not all US citizens are bad, not all IT-employees are loaded with money.

“Best Practices” Based East

2009-08-05T21:53:00.000+05:30

There are many consulting firms that I came across, who do not have anything original with them, but make a patch work of everything they can lay their hands on and call it “Best Practices” and an “IP” [Intellectual Property].

Due to this breed of consultants, I started to get cynical views about innovation, best practices etc especially in the area of Enterprise Computing (glorious name for packaged applications).
Let us look at each of the terms from close quarters.

Innovation:
Every I.T. Services company, specifically the ones which have their head quarters in India, go trumpeting about the world that they are having strong “process” orientation for delivery and development etc. How come the maximum numbers of CMM Level – 5 companies are mushroomed in a single city of southern India?
Any sane mind knows that Innovation and Process are antonyms and cannot co-exist in the same plane. How come these companies go about taking the words Innovation and Process in the same breath?

On top of it, the customer who out-sources their work to them, also believe their words or appear to believe their words.

Recently on an assignment, one of my colleagues asked the customer what he meant by a ‘Service’, for which he replied dot on that it was a ‘SOA Service’. With the technical education levels of these (customer) folks being near to zero (if we are lucky), the Indian Software IT firms are milking the cash cows to the glory.

Most of the time, the deliverables, be it code, a model, a document – mostly is a plagiarized. They may not be dot-to-dot copy, but something similar, which ends up confusing the customer.
If there is a sentence like ‘Sun rises in the East’, our good friends will make an entire document (with more than 100 pages in PDF) which may start like, “the space around a person or object is usually said to be 360 degrees. This degree system is called Sexagesimal system – believed to have been invented by Sumerians. Blah… Blah… Blah… After a few pages this way, then talk of Astronomy; touch upon Astrology then upon Archimedes, Pythagoras, Indo-Arabic numerals… Blah… Blah… Blah…

Until one is beaten to death by this technically correct and practically useless information diet the drama goes on. Finally, the client is told somewhere that Sun raises in the EAST. As the customer is totally drained by this time, a good confusion sets in. With orientation lost, the customer now is unable to make out where his “company’s East’ now is. Customer gets into a panic mode and then and would want to buy consulting service for aligning their Company’s East with the Best-Practices-based-East from this consulting company.

Presto – another contract is won; press goes gaga over the multi-million Dollar deal that “Alpha Useless Technologies” has won due to their IP based “East Alignment Process”

Now to “Best Practices”:

All the major Enterprise Software players either have a design that is decades old [SAP, Software AG] or a mash-up of acquired softwares [Oracle].
Any service company which has worked on these tools for a while, would know the tricks, tips and traps of the said software. Company A, when it puts out a list of “Best Practices” (say an arbitrary 10 line items) Company B would put out another list of “Best Practices” (in this case might be the same arbitrary 10 line items with a different order and verbiage).

So – Where is the “Best” of the practice? Essentially, this is a trick that is played by all the players in this field, due to the ignorance or laziness of the CIO/CTO of the client’s company.

Till the time, these CTO/CIO do not educate themselves, hands-on and trust their own team members and stop depending on inputs from these con-artists, this cycle of swindling goes on.

Till then, IT Zindabad!!!

You are a winner and a rebel too....

2009-04-21T19:58:00.000+05:30

The other day someone sent a forward, which said

"You are a winner" - remember that you were the first sperm that reached the egg while you were in your mother's womb.

In the same logic - we can say that

"You are a rebel" - remember you are a direct descendant of the first rebellious monkey that got off the tree - long long ago...

In my deep rooted love for process and innovation, I always want to mention that "The first monkey did not follow the process, so it innovated itself to humans... "

Catbert - in India

2009-04-03T20:35:00.000+05:30

Of late every other IT company in India is firing their over-sized employees (over-sized is not the physical attribute for the employees, but the number of folks working in their company). In last few years, these same folks recruited jonnies, left, right and center; now when the going got tough, the tough (HR) got going…

Catbert – the loved evil-HR-director… is giving tips to Indian IT HR folks…

Here are some stories that are circulating as a word-of-mouth…

In one company, HR called the fellow into their gallows (chamber) and asked the convict to take out a coin and toss it five times. The idea being if he could toss three or more Heads in the five flips, he can stay on.

Somewhere in Bangalore, there was a company, where all the employees were ushered into a wedding hall (around 5000 member size of company). All the employees with odd numbered employee code were asked to raise their left hand. Then the folks who are left handed were asked to lower their hands. Finally, those who were left with their hands raised were fired.

Finally Catbert is having a field day in India… Hope at least this time, the correction stays for good...

As I always - Life is a sinosoidal curve - waves are bound to happen... ;-)

IT in the world of Karl Popper

2008-12-17T07:36:00.000+05:30

We can summarize Karl Poppers critical rationalism in one sentence (my interpretation).

All scientific theories in the world, by default are false or waiting to be falsified.

Let us consider one example – say there is a theory that says "Sun rises in the east". The empirical observation for billions of years would not validate the theory, if for some reason, for just one day, sun raises from South.

The empirical evidence of billions of years would go for toss, with just one proof of counter existence. Or let us say there is no Sun rise at all – in Helio-centric world, there is no Sun rise, as you are on Sun.

Likewise, we can extend this to all other notions in life. Our resumes are all full of the empirical data of our successes, but due to some random cosmic coincidence or conspiracy, there is a chance that one might fail in the next assignment.

Similarly, whenever an IT Architect provides a blue print for a new application, the supporting evidence is always the empirical data from previous projects and the blue print is just waiting for one random event to disprove the "silver bullet" model.

Some past recollections…

1. Robotics was considered to be the next best thing in the world for Automotive industries, till GM spent all their savings and earning for fully automated car manufacturing. (Early 1980s). Till then, 1980, robotics experiments had all empirical data to support that they are cost effective and can never fail.

2. Dotcom bubble (late 1990s) – where pragmatists foretold the disappearance of shopping malls etc and humanity to be pushed into an era of digital life. Once again empirical data cost the investors dearly.

Those of us who understand my blog-process, would have guessed it correctly. I am talking about SOA. Till date we have empirical data to show case that we have our "silver bullet"…

Karl Popper – you may be correct…

Fwd: Ant and a Grasshopper_Indian Version

2008-10-29T20:37:00.000+05:30

..... .Really a class analogy..

An Old Story:

The Ant works hard in the withering heat all summer
building its house and

laying up supplies for the winter.
The Grasshopper thinks the Ant is a fool and laughs &
dances & plays
the summer away.
Come winter, the Ant is warm and well fed.
The Grasshopper has no food or
shelter so he dies out in the cold.

Indian Version:
The Ant works hard in the withering heat all summer
building its house and
laying up supplies for the winter.
The Grasshopper thinks the Ant's a fool and laughs &
dances & plays
the summer away.
Come winter, the shivering Grasshopper calls a press conference and
demands to know why the Ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed
while others are cold and starving.
NDTV, BBC, CNN show up to provide pictures of the shivering Grasshopper
next to a video of the Ant in his comfortable home with a table filled
with food.
The World is stunned by the sharp contrast. How can this be that this poor
Grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?
Arundhati Roy stages a demonstration in front of the Ant's house.
Medha Patkar goes on a fast along with other Grasshoppers demanding that
Grasshoppers be relocated to warmer climates during winter .
Mayawati states this as `injustice' done on Minorities.
Amnesty International and Koffi Annan criticize the Indian Government for
not upholding the fundamental rights of the Grasshopper.
The Internet is flooded with online petitions seeking support to the
Grasshopper (many promising Heaven and Everlasting Peace for prompt
support as against the wrath of God for non-compliance) .
Opposition MPs stage a walkout. Left parties call for 'Bengal Bandh' in
West Bengal and Kerala demanding a Judicial Enquiry.
CPM in Kerala immediately passes a law preventing Ants from working hard in the heat
so as to bring about equality of poverty among Ants and
Grasshoppers.
Lalu Prasad allocates one free coach to Grasshoppers on all Indian Railway Trains, aptly named as the 'Grasshopper Rath'.
Finally, the Judicial Committee drafts the ' Prevention of Terrorism
Against Grasshoppers Act' [POTAGA], with effect from the beginning of the
winter.
Arjun Singh makes 'Special Reservation ' for Grasshoppers in Educational
Institutions & in Government Services.
The Ant is fined for failing to comply with POTAGA and having nothing left
to pay his retroactive taxes, it's home is confiscated by the Government
and handed over to the Grasshopper in a ceremony covered by NDTV.

Arundhati Roy calls it ' A Triumph of Justice'.

Lalu calls it 'Socialistic Justice '.

CPM calls it the ' Revolutionary Resurgence of the Downtrodden '
Koffi Annan invites the Grasshopper to address the UN General Assembly.

Many years later...
The Ant has since migrated to the US and set up a multi-billion dollar company in Silicon Valley,
100s of Grasshoppers still die of starvation despite reservation somewhere
in India,
..AND
As a result of loosing lot of hard working Ants and feeding the
grasshoppers,
.
. India is still a developing country…!!!

--
~~~~ www.anilprasad.com

Great Indian Competitiveness Advantage is wanning...

2008-10-06T23:39:00.000+05:30

http://www.globalservicesmedia.com/Content/general200709172874.asp

Q. Where did the "great Indian competitiveness go?????"

A. To dogs...

- Read for yourself, how many of the great IT Hubs in India are featured in the article...

--
~~~~ www.anilprasad.com

HDFC Bank - can we bank on it?

2008-09-30T22:49:00.000+05:30

Atanu Dey had had his love-hate relation with HDFC Bank ... Imagine an economist getting a royal $cr*w from them... what about a poor nobody like me...

I recently walked into (on invitation) to the HDFC Bank next door to my office, along with the mandatory documents needed to open a saving account

1. PAN card (with a photocopy)

2. A recent photogragh

3. Proof of address

Everything went fine, till the counter-personnel told me that the address proof I presented cannot be accepted.

The reason: HDFC Credit Card statement cannot be accepted as a proof of address, in spite of you being a loyal credit card user for last four years.

Understand this - they trust me with their money (in form of a credit card) but cant accept my check for depositing my money into their bank. Some crap as reason, about Know Your Customer, yada yada ...

Finally I had to give some other bank's account statement to get the account opened.

After 10 days, I get call from someone from the bank that I have a pre-approved HDFC credit card and when would it be possible for me to fill out some "mandatory" forms to collect my credit card.

Question: Do they really not know - who exactly I was, if I was already an account holder or I am some other jerk, before they issue, rather re-issue a credit card to the exisiting card holder.

No wonder, the world economy is in $H1t shape, with more to come... may be India is also in the queue to get it's due.

--
~~~~ www.anilprasad.com

SOA has Indian origins

2008-09-28T13:42:00.003+05:30

Purist would argue that SOA is not a new phenomenon that is taking up the hype-curve of IT, but an age-old principle – since the days of early packaged applications.

I propose a hypothesis that SOA’s origin can be traced to India. Rather, our dear babus of Indian Government were the main motive for SOA to come into lime-light.

After the burst of the dotcom bubble, there was not much of activity in Enterprise IT world. Sales dropped to an all time low, which gave a much needed breather to IT vendors to think of better solutions to the Enterprise world. One can recall that earlier generations of packaged application vendors adopted “silver bullet” approach when addressing the Enterprises.

This slack time gave them enough dope to do some research and provide a better (?) solution.

During the dotcom boom, many vendors opened their own shops (captive centers) in India. Every vendor worth their salt appointed one of their senior executives in India to overlook their Indian operations.

These senior executives when they went back to their homes (mostly in California) they were totally changed people. Their Indian experience gave them new insights into operations and this learning can be credited to be the founding principles for SOA.

Imagine acquiring 200 acres of land in Hyderabad (or any other metro) for setting up “campuses”; roughly the following are the steps that one needs to take, along with the approximate stipulated timelines. (Timelines are estimates – not actual)

Apply for a limited company with the Registrar of Companies. (RoC) {2 days}
Get clearance from RoC for the name. {1 week}
Get clearance from Dept. of Commerce and Trade for FOREX clearance – so as to get money for other operations etc. {3 weeks}
Join the STP or SEZ scheme. {4 weeks}

First to acquire land:

Identify the location – in or around the metro; usually outside the metro. (3 weeks)
Then talk to all the “patta” holders of the earmarked land and negotiate the price. (2 weeks)
Then you need to talk to a solicitor and get legal opinion about the authenticity of the ownership documents. (1 week)
Then get the land surveyed by the Revenue department, so as to map the details give in the ownership document with that of the official records. (1 week)
Register the land in the company’s name. (transfer of ownership) (1 day)
Apply for the conversion of the land type; say from agriculture to industrial or from barren to commercial etc. (1 week)

Start building the structure:

Get the building lay out ready and applies for HUDA approval. (HUDA is equivalent of any Urban Development Authority in Hyderabad) (1 week)
Incorporate the recommended changes. (1 week)

So technically the entire exercise of starting from scratch to getting the new building and to start production in India should not take more than 10 weeks, but in reality this would take at least 6 months. (In Singapore, with/without SOA it takes a mere 72 hrs to get things going.)

There are some unwritten protocols that need to be followed called the goonda-tax, where you need to give 10% of the total valuation of the project need to be paid to the local “political” leader.

Despite all these steps the senior executives could not get their stuff started, due to the underlying babudom.

It was then that they were introduced to the concept of SOA. Just approach the SOA vendor (in case of these senior executive, it was the local power-broker) where you have a single window to get all the things done within a small period of time. The entire “orchestration” of getting approvals from different departments would be easy and fast. The executives need not run between pillar and post to get their things happen, but be assured that the SOA-agent is getting things happen for them.

That senior executives were really amazed at the concept of agents here (India), be it the ROC, or the RTA or the Banks or rather at any other government agency. The simplicity of getting things done without going through the ordeal was something that stuck them with new set of thinking.

They went back to their country and then thought of something similar that can make the tedious tasks in Enterprise IT systems easy and thus started their research in “Indian” angle.

They named their research outcome as SOA (pronounced as SO-aAh!). Origin for that word is a story in itself: that was the first sound they all heard when they went to any Govt. Office in India. “saab soyah” – meaning “sir is asleep”.

Thus proves my theory.

Shameless Indians

2008-09-15T21:35:00.000+05:30

Long time back I wrote this "Shame on me" {Rather sometime in May 2006}

Same drama of shameless Indians and their governing agencies called Govt. of India, Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Home Affairs...

Shameless... absolutely shameless....

(In other words - am ashamed to be part of this failed system : Again Shame on Me)

SOA and Women

2008-09-13T20:57:00.000+05:30

There seems to be many similarities in the life-cycle of a home-maker with that of IT folks in Enterprise. Neither can ever achieve the nirvana, of less work and more output.

Of the many promises of SOA, the prominent one is the reduction of burden on developers, maintenance personnel, engineers et al, who are commonly clubbed under a banner category called IT folks in an Enterprise.

Let us look at this one particular promise from a different perspective, by comparing this SOA fever in today’s IT World with that of electrification of households in early 1900s.

Paraphrasing Nicholas Carr from his latest book, “The Big Switch” which provides a deep insight into the electrification fever of early 1900 and later we will look at the SOA fever of 2000s.

{Page 89}

The Utopian Rhetoric was not just a literary conceit; it proved to be a powerful marketing pitch for the manufacturers of electric appliances. General Electric was particularly adept at playing to people’s native optimism about technology. During the 1920s the decade in which the pace of wiring the American homes peaked, the company increased its yearly promotional expenditures from $2million to $12 million dollars. It devoted much of the money in installing in the public mind what is called “a positive electric consciousness” through a concerted program of magazine advertisements, pamphlets and presentations at schools and women’s clubs. Typical of the campaign was a booklet called ‘the home of a hundred comforts’ which described in flowery prose and futuristic illustrations how electric appliances would eliminate most household work, bestowing a life of peace and leisure on formerly harried home-makers. Having electricity in house the companies marketers proclaimed would be like having 10 home servants.

Whether conjured up for literary or commercial purposes the Utopian future never arrived. Cheap electricity brought great benefits to many people, but its effects purely played out as expected and not all of them were salubrious. Tracing the course of some of the most important of those affects through the first half of the last century reveals the complex interplay between technological and economic systems and their equally complex ways it exerts its influence over society.

Later in the book, he provides some insights which can be anti-thesis to the so called benefits.

{Page 99}

As it turned out, though, the electric iron was not quite the unalloyed blessing it first appeared to be. By making ironing “easier” the new appliance ended up producing a change in the prevailing social expectations about clothing. To appear respectable, men’s and women’s blouses and trousers had to be more frequently and meticulously pressed than was considered necessary before. Wrinkles became sign of sloth. Even children’s school clothes were expected to be neatly ironed. While women didn’t have to work hard to do their ironing they had to do more of it, more often, with more precision.

{Page 100}

A series of studies of the time women devoted to housework back up Cowan’s observation. Research undertaken between 1912 and 1914, before the widespread adoption of electric appliances, found that the average woman spent 56 hours a week on housework. Similar studies undertaken in 1925 and 1931, after electric appliances had become common, found that they were still spending between 50 and 60 hours a week on domestic chores. A 1965 study again found little change – women were spending on average 54.5 hours per week on housework. A more recent study, published in 2006 by National Bureau of Economic Research, also found that the hours housewives devoted to domestic work remained steady, at between 51 and 56 a week, in every decade from 1910s through the 1960s.

There might be many reasons for the no-change state of amount of work, while the primary reason was the push in the levels of cleanliness. An office employee might have been forgiven for crumpled dress before the arrival of electric pressing machine (Electric Iron). It is supposed to be easy to press cloths with the electric appliance hence it is mandatory for one to have pressed his/her cloths. Earlier carpets were cleaned once in a while (hence the term “Spring Cleaning”) as opposed to current once a week routine, if not once a day.

Due to this perceived notion of “ease of work” the workload remained repetitive due to the changes in the social norms; while expectations changed due to these widely canvassed “easy” perceptions.

Here, we can draw a comparison between the frenzy electrification and the todays frenzy SOAfication of Enterprise.

Will SOA not change the perception of Enterprise business folks towards IT folks?

Will not these so called “ease” of development, lesser “time to market” and flexible maintenance, create a new set of business norms? Will this ease not overburden the IT folks, else at least make them do repetitive tasks like cogs in machine working for the Enterprise will?

Before the advent of “packaged” applications, businesses depended on the multicolumn spreadsheets and also were tolerant of certain omissions, due to system limitations; compare the same with a packaged application, where everything is supposed to be out-of-the-box, yet the IT folks are found spending their energies in “customizing” the out-of-box features.

I would like to draw attention of the readers to one particular sentence in the above write-up from Nick Carr.

It devoted much of the money in installing in the public mind what is called “a positive electric consciousness” through a concerted program of magazine advertisements, pamphlets and presentations at schools and women’s clubs.

Doesn’t it sound threateningly similar to what our today’s magic quadrants and analyst reports talk of? The innumerable conferences, summits, road shows, webinars etc trying to instill in Enterprise minds the benefits of SOA and countless dollars spent by businesses in POCs to peek into the SOA world.

Can we draw safe conclusions that like the ease of electricity increased or rather did not affect the workload of homemakers; SOA too will not or cannot affect the burden of the IT, instead may increase the burden?

May be, future may tell…

A Sham called Shamshabad Airport

2008-05-03T07:45:00.000+05:30

After a great euphoria over the "International" airport at a place called Shamshabad in Andhra, I was eager to see how the place looks like, when I accidentally ended up there for a transit flight. Knowing the taste of "hype"-loving AP politicians, I was in my true spirits looking forward to some nonsense there. But what disapointed me the most was the names that got mixed in this thing like Singapore Airlines, Malaysian Airport Authority etc.

Considering all International airports in India, Hyderabad was the only place, where pickpockets masqurade as Customs or Immigration officials.

Imagine someone with an Indian passport at the Immigration counter on his return being asked "Where is your visa?". The simple fundamental right of a citizen is "Right of Entry" into his country, unless of course, he/she is "wanted".
Many times on the same evening, while waiting for ur baggage to appear, a guy in White uniform approaches asking "Yaabhai dollar ivvu" (Give me 50 Dollars).

Anyways, there was a huge fanfare, when the airport was inagurated. Some chaos, some uncertainity, what not...

But the point however is, when all the APites give out a list of all the great things about this airport, my question is - do they really understand what an international airport is all about? (The longest runway, biggest airport of Asia, pride of AP, what not... )

May be, these folks need to really make an international trip to Singapore or KL, to get a first hand feel of an international airport, rather than pay INR 700 to enter this place in Hyderabad.

Where are the signs that take you to restrooms (toilets - the best way to judge any public amenity, there are only two in the entire lounge, but where is the display board???)
Why is it that the rest room smells similar to a restroom in Bihar railway station?
Why no coffee counter in the entire lounge? Unless a person goes through the security check area, there is no way he/she can get something to eat or drink, save the useless coke vending machine.
Why no proper accoustics to inform flight arrival or departure? It sounds as if someone is in a deep well and grumbling.
Where are the directions to the internation aminities??? No cybercafe, no wi-fi, no recliner chairs, no currency converters... (See am not talking of security hold area where one hardly spends time. I am talking of the lounge, where one needs to wait in between two flights, if there is a gap of more than three hours. You cannot check in, as it only starts 3 hrs before scheduled departure time, nor you can go out as it is away from city and has miles of wilderness around)
If this insult is the biggest airport, why only six (6) aprons? Even the most worthless International airport of Charles deGuall in Paris has around 50/60 aero-bridges and can handle around 120 flights per hour!
Why are the ground staff ill-informed of everything and always give a response like "we dont know!"

Anyways, it seems media has done a good job of brainwashing all Andhrities into believing that this airport will make a mark on the world map!!!

The truth is

Many people lost out, due to the bubble in the land prices around this airport - mostly the working class.
Many NRIs (the neo-rich, IT types) bought the shares of the GMR consortium - only to lose out. The price per share was INR 260 before the airport was launched, now it is around INR 160.
No one knows, how many kickbacks, how much of cost projected actually went into this airport.

At the end of the day, I know the stock answer - there is lot more to be done, this is just the begining.

--
~~~~ www.anilprasad.com

A decade since…

2008-04-27T19:39:00.000+05:30

It is exactly a decade since I left that place called a college, with a useless degree. As I look back, it was a criminal waste of four (4) years at that place. The worst part of it was, I was not equipped to make it to the IT world. Can you imagine someone to work in the web 1.0 world, without knowing http protocol?

It is something different that in my mandatory subjects had something to do with a subject called “Computer Networks” where we were exposed to all the protocols, without ever taking a practical look at the way systems operated.

Imagine the sorry state of the laboratory – all 286 machines with some 386s sprinkled here and there – meant for the blue cats (those who suck up to the incompetent lecturers).

The bigger mess was not the laboratory, but the useless fellows who masqueraded like lecturers and worse still calling themselves, professors. The entire industry rejects were in the place – as they could have not made it anywhere. The college was also ready to take these jerks, as they were dime a dozen.

However this “decade since” is not about my college (or the school, as they call it in the US) – but about what I did in these 10 years at my disposal.

Read on…

I am uneducated

2008-04-13T10:57:00.000+05:30

Was reading what Atanu Dey was writing about “Reservations in the Indian educational system” in two parts. The question is, I wanted to understand why he was worried about “Reservations” when there is no such called “Indian Education System”.

Wiki defines “System (from Latin systēma, in turn from Greek ' systēma) is a set of entities, real or abstract, comprising a whole where each component interacts with or is related to at least one other component and they all serve a common objective.”

When there is something then it can comprise into something… it is a myth, the people get educated in India!!!!

As per Education – it is something beyond mere literacy. If someone goes to a school/location regularly and gets to know how to read or write few sentences in any language, he/she doesn’t become educated, but he/she is just literate.

For example – when I was in college we had some useless jerks as lecturers. The fellows who were industry rejects, for sake of some peanuts as salary got into academics. What is the end result – blind leading the blind!?! Most part of the Engineering was just Bunkum - as the fellows did not even understand the proper foundations of Mathematics, leave alone teach us the concepts of basic Computation Theory.

What all I needed for my life – I got in my primary school. The A, B, Cs there were good enough!

Hence, I am just literate and totally UNEDUCATED.

Of course, coming back to the topic::

Reservations - in what ever form, are meant to screw the nation even further. It is not a case of sour grape,
that I do not have any reservation etc, but the very concept of reservation
kills the principle of equality.

Deep SHIT

2008-04-04T04:48:00.000+05:30

It was early December of 1998 I was travelling with a friend from Hyderabad to Kurnool, in the grand Govt. bus (called RTC).

As we were discussing things like careers, IT etc... I simply mentioned that I was into deep Shit... to which I was asked by the conservative fellow, not to use "harsh" words...

In some parts of India, it is a taboo to say "Shit" etc.. So I had to give some definition to save my face... so quickly concocted that SHIT stands for

Software
Hardware
Information
Technology

Today as I look back - a cool decade later...

I was RIGHT - DAMN RIGHT....

SHIT and Deeeeep SHIT :-)

Bhutto and Cargo Cult

2008-01-02T08:38:00.000+05:30

Editor of "India Secular" questions about Bhutto-mania and the rationalism (or lack of it) behind all the furore.

Atanu Dey's wonderful post (circa 2004) is quite apt here. Cargo-Cult-Democracy

Modi to Advani is same as Ram-Temple was to Vijpai

2007-12-31T13:53:00.000+05:30

Now that the dust from the celebrations of Modi's win is done, with some crying out in disbelief [The TV anchors etc of some "stay-cooler" channels], some running around for his head [Karan Thapar - suddently remove him], some using the wave to get a ride to power [Pujya Advani ji].

It was sometime in December of early '90s that a political party promised a Ram Temple, made some acrobatics and claimed the trophy of breaking a disputed structure. While in reality, it were volunteers of a great religion, who did not care for their lives - who did the breaking, while the political folks who were mere bystanders, got (rather stole) the credit.

After that, this political party went out of way, with promises of Ram Temple! The gullible folks of the great religion believed those false promises and lymiricks etc and voted them along with their stooges to power. What was the end result?

5-yrs of corruption, fooling the public etc and only when the election day was near they remembered the original promise. They went out of the way to tell all that they were in an "alliance" so could not do much. A common man would ask -

Why the hell did you go to claim power, if you did not have enough majority?

Why did you fool - all of us?

What is your claim this time?

Then, when the common man realized that this party is very much same as other Khandani-cheats, they were shown the door.

Now, the think-tank (if any?) did not know what to do!!!

The second in command, pujya Advani ji, took the next Bus to Lahore and made some desparate attempts to win the vote bank, akin the Khandani-Cheats. Jinnah became So-Cool(er) and "ji" wanted to play the "Stay-Cooler" card.

After a year or so, he found that due to the real men in his party, there were chances of he coming back to power and immideately ran to his past master and asked them to make him PM-in-waiting, least that the real men start making claims.

Modi (a real man among men) came back to power and like the Khandanis our pujya Advani ji is not tiried singing praise to him.

If the said party comes to power, will they deliver what they have been promising?

Will they put our dear neighbours in their place?

Will they solve the problem of infiltrated Banga Bhandus in old city of Hyd?

Only time will tell - if people are willing to be taken for a ride, time and again!!!!!!

huh.. the same old IT job hunt...

2007-12-30T22:21:00.000+05:30

Folks, on a serious note - does IT matter??

Seems yes, for many [sic] who just want to get into IT and then lead a zombic life....

Below is a mail from someone - who just wants to get into an IT Service company....

anyways, God bless these souls...

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Anil Kurnool
Date: Dec 30, 2007 9:36 PM
Subject: Re: Hi AnilKurnool
To:
Cc:

Hi Vijay,

I am not discouraging him. If he gets a fish today (10K job) when will he learn to do fishing for himself?

My comments about SAP/IT Services etc are in general and I do not want any Indian to waste their energies in IT Services world.

Well, you suggestion is taken on the face value of it. (Don't help but Don't do bad also)

I remember that there was never a bad thing from my side till date - nor I did harm to anyone. Regarding help, I do not want to blow my own trumpet here.

However, thanks for giving me an oppurtunity to spend time in these groups, which today I feel, could have been used for other activities, instead of discouraging folks.

Regards,
Anil Prasad Kurnool
http://www.anilprasad.com/

On 12/30/07, Vijaya Mohan S wrote:

__,_._,___

Hi Anil,

Nice to see your comments.Dheeraj is asking for only 10K job not more than that?? Instead of giving comments it would be nice if we can help him getting a good job so that he can run is life without any problems.we should not hurt anybody on thoughts and achievements.This type of mails will discourage the people.

My Suggestion is Don't help but Don't do bad also???.we shouldn't discourage any one.I saw so many degreee people are also well settled in software fields.DHeeraj is a pg graduate.He can fulfill his dreams.Hardwork and luck can change everyhting in them.

Try to Encourage people.By typing this type of mails you will be not getting anything else dheeraj will loose some confidence.So my Request for you is to Support and Encourage People instead of commenting on them.if not possible try to be silent.

Anil I dont want to Hurt you.

Regards

Vijay

Anil Kurnool wrote:

Hi Dheeraj,
I am not Vijay Mohan - to whom you addressed this mail, but felt I could give you some gyan....
1. It is not your "luck" that is not favoring you - but yourself!!!! From your mail id I can see that you got something to do with Physics; then why did you go and apply for a job in a IT services company?????
2. SAP (ABAP) is not software as many people consider them to be. They are enterprise tools, not for conducting laboratory tests like fibonacii series etc, but to do something really commercial things for an business.
To get into SAP/Enterprise world, first one needs to acquire domain skills then can play around with the Enterprise tools. Just because some Ameerpet Brand training center showcases some non-existant jobs, people rush there, spend their money and join companies... what is the end result...
the day recession starts off, these are the same folks that are thrown out of companies and everyone will start screeming that IT is bad etc... (remember 2000-2 period, when everyone was talking ill of IT)
3. Why are you limiting yourself to 10K per month!!???!! If you realy apply yourself - the money is surplus...
4. why are you asking Vijay Mohan to help you with your job search! Do it yourself, that way you will reach your goals faster and end result is more strong psyche!!
This also applys to others in the group who are just running around with resumes - thinking of getting into some IT services company will solve their problems. This is not true, but it can be begining of new troubles...

On 12/30/07, dheeraj wrote:
Dear
vijay mohan.S

I am Dheeraj ..i have recently received a employee ref of srinivasa
rao of wipro from u ..His response was very nice and gave his ref
also...But my luck didnt favour me..i was shortlisted in written test
and selected for technical interview also..but there i was rejected
because i have no it Skills except SAP ABAP knowledge ...

It was really hurting..But no prob ..life does not end there..can u
show me any job opputunities gor my qualification in any of the
software firms in hyd which can pay me atleast 10k ..so that i can
support myself financially without depending upon my parents ..

once again thank u so much for the support u have given

with best ragards

DHEERAJ MUDUNURI

--
~~~~ http://www.anilprasad.com/

Our problems...

2007-12-23T10:18:00.000+05:30

Most of the problems in this world are similar....

Happy Days - Movie

2007-12-22T11:55:00.000+05:30

There was a kind of furore over the recent film by Kammula Shekar - called "Happy Days". Everyone whom I bumped across asked me, if I had watched that movie. Jeevi gave his review at IdleBrain, which was definitely a shade better than all others movies. (This movie had a 3.5 rating, while other were lingering around 3).

To top it up, a CTO of a telecom product company mentioned that movie was good. Another CEO of a promising startup made a special mention of the movie and asked me to watch it. Of course, this mail is marked to them too :-)

As I stay in places where Telegu movies are shown only for a week or two, I searched for the DVD (pirated, of course) for the same and finally watched it. My take on the movie is here...

1. Why only the "love" angle of collage life was showcased for most part of the movie?
2. The jokes/themes I felt was a bit cliche!
3. Ragging also had a good running time in the movie, but again the cliche ragging... :-(

I also studied in an Engg. college, that too run-of-a-mill, so could relate to the theme - Engg student's college life. But I felt the director was trying to reinforcing the popular beliefs of these Engg. Colleges than showcasing the "other side" of things that happens in colleges.

There are many aspects to college than just flirting, love, seniors, ragging etc.

There is fun - not just chasing chicks, but real fun in decent way.

There are real-teachers whom one can call "Gurus" who give advices worth remembering.

Also there are ar$eh01es who are industry-rejects and join the place and call themselves "Lecturers". (Majority are the second category, while the first breed are very rare and near to extinction.)

There are enterprising students, who strive to achieve things, but are sidelined by the show-off minorities.

All in all, I would give the movie a rating of 1.5 and on the technical side, it looked more like a tele-film rather than a film-film.

Someone may wonder, what was it that was expecting in the movie - then wait for the movie called "T-Bunk!" directed by Kurnool Anil ;-)

--
~~~~ www.anilprasad.com

In the end....

2007-12-06T12:47:00.000+05:30

Ever heard the song "In the end... " by Linkin Park... (lyrics)

I tried so hard
And got so far
But in the end
It doesn't even matter

The sentance is of at most importance... What ever you do, how ever hard you try, in the end, It just doesn't matter...

Be it life, be it a game, be it a match... only the results matter... whether you won the match or not... no one ever cares to know, how hard you fought, how tough the situation was... as in the end, it just doesn't matter...

Re: Journey after death

2007-11-30T11:30:00.000+05:30

Disclaimer: Purely my own fiction, not for serious reading.

Once a person dies, his atma will be lingering around this globe with out direction! So his son, does these "karyalu" just to ensure that the old-man's atma understands that he has really died. Else, the dead fellow will remian in this planet itself and will never ever give account of his punya or paapam to his creator.

Then, they give a gow-daanam (Cow is donated) so that the atma can take the tail of the Cow and cross the vitharini - the most polluted river. The significance of this is - dumbos, the pollution you make on this planet effect your safe passage to hell/heaven, so do not pollute this place.

Then, the 13th day celebration - so that the remaining folks can celebrate the departure of the old man. All along this oldie might have created all sorts of troubles to the people, with his useless advices and rules, so the young will celebrate his death... hence it is called "pandaga". The significance is - dumbos, do not cause unnecessary trouble to others while you are alive, least that they celebrate your death.

Masikam - it is like the monthy money-order that needs to be sent to the hell/heaven, so that the old man gets his food at regular intervals.

Samvarsarikam - it is the annual subscription for registering the dead folks at their abode.

Moral: Why worry about after death - give the old fellows their due respect etc while they are alive. There is no use donating a Cow after someone's death, when you did not share a glass of milk with that person when alive. Why do all these kandas, when you did not give one meal a day to your elders.

My take: I am really awerse to the a$$h01es who do these kind of dramas to their "pithru devulus" - but when they were alive did not even care to give good food or residence.

What ever I have written is what I interpret - based on my limited knowledge of rituals. But one thing - think of yourselves and your nearones, when you are alive - not after death. For Death is unknown and also cannot be known.

On 11/30/07, Sunil Kumar Surabhi <...> wrote:

Hi all,

I would like to know the actual meaning behind the various rituals, we normally perform after the death of some one i.e. from the day one of the death to 13th day and monthly rituals (Maasikams) till the first death ceremony (Edudi/Saamvastarikam), sorry if i mis-spelt.

I would also like to know the stages of journey of the soul to heaven, through out these 12 months.

I guess Athreya garu is the fit person to explain this. I request others also to help me in knowing this.

Thanks and regards
Sunil Surabhi.

.

__,_._,___

--
~~~~ www.anilprasad.com

Resource Management (part 1)

2007-11-19T20:10:00.000+05:30

Resource management is supposed to handle all the resourcing requests for the project execution. Were you thinking the resources in this context meant resources like money, systems, assets, time etc? You are mistaken; resources here mean “humans” – the same folks who are supposed to be working and generating revenue for the company.

The day people are treated as resources, that needs to be managed, that is the day, which gives a sure shot signal that the company is on its way to rot.

The fellows are humans after all, with lots of passion, emotions, what not.

“Human Resources” – I do not know who invented this word or the new version of it “Human Capital” to be make sure it is soft; but the main intention is to bluff the fellows into being money generating machines, whom the sales guys can pitch in wherever needed. Last month I sold 100 washing machines (or cookers or mouse traps etc) this month I need to sell 120 washing machines. Instead, in the IT world, it might translate into man-hours; last month around 30 person-days was sold to customer X, this month let me sell 35 person-days.

Rats!!!

Here are few stories that can demonstrate the “human apathy” in the name of “human resources”

I met Dr. G after a long time, say six months, at a marriage reception. He was
bit disturbed about his work, and then I prodded him to talk out.

Apparently G’s company sent out mails to all its employees about
the approaching dates when the office would be moved to an “up-market” area and
suggested all its employees to make necessary arrangements to start working out
of that location.

This story is around 6 months old and G told me
the last time when we met. As usual, the cynic in me told him wait till the
office really moves to the new location and then make his moves only after one
month of the new premises.

However, as with everyone, G too was
new to this corporate crap and paid heftily to realtors to get him an apartment
in the near-by area. His new apartment is around 1-km from his company’s new
office, which also made a severe dent in his pocket. Rent was double that of the
old house, due to its up-market label, but the trade off was, he can walk to his
place of work.

G moved to his new apartment and his company never
moved to the new location. Next month, on his enquiry it was mentioned that the
plans were cancelled long back. Now, G is left with a baby in middle of nowhere.

No wonder G is now pissed off… unlike the IT consultants in US, people do not shift houses every quarter in India.

N.K.Ramamurthy joined us with promises of onsite trip then his resume was placed
with many customers for their requirements.

An Australian
sales-person was very happy to get NKR’s profile and we even got his Work-Permit
processed so that he is ready to travel once we get a “go” from customer.
Somehow it never worked out.

Next his resume was given to a
European client, NR attended three rounds of interview and his work-permit was
again processed. Once again, customer never gave a go ahead for the project.

Finally a “happening” customer was eager to get him on-board. Once
again our travel desk got his visa readied. There was customer “go”, this fellow
surrendered his system at the local office, removed his bag and baggage from his
rented apartment, visited his native to meet his parents (seems to have had a
farewell party too) and gave a party to all the local office folks (lost around
15K INR). The next day forex was readied, tickets issued, his roomies and he
started to airport in a cab.

A call from account-manager, that the
project was scrapped due to certain budget constraints.

NKR, next
day walked back into office like a headless chicken.

NKR definitely is pissed off that no-one at least cared to explain what happened. He was just shuttled between office and various consulates and finally between airport and his home, with out any proper explanation.

Here is the case of Ms.D

Ms. D was selected for replacement of another Ms.R at onsite. I was the one
handling the customer at that point of time and I made all the arrangement
readied for her first visit abroad.

For her work, customer made
all the arrangements like, system, user-ids, access controls, KT documents etc.

But in the evening of the previous day, customer called me to his
room and informed me that we wont be needed Ms.D as the work she was supposed to
be doing was postponed for another quarter.

I duly relayed the
information to the offshore resource-manager and thought it was end of my duty.
But next day, I got a call from her, that she was starting to airport and wanted
to just to inform me.

This sent me into action and I called the
resource-manager at offshore to know what the situation was. It seems he was
aware of the fact that her travel has been cancelled, but “forgot” to tell her.
I firmly asked him to inform her of cancelled travel, which I believe he
did not do. Finally I called her just 2-hrs before the flight take off, she was
at airport already (poor thing) to tell her that her travel is cancelled.

Later that day, someone called me from offshore that people were cursing me for the cancelled travel.

Mutual Admiration Club

2007-11-19T18:56:00.000+05:30

We usually come across a band-of-brothers who never ever get tired of praising each other. A praises B, B praises C, C praises A. All in all, these folks A, B, C are supposed to be the "holier than thou" of the company, they are supposed to be direct decendants of Einstein or Kholer or God-knows-who and always make it a point to talk jargon, put down other simple folks, ensure that their nonsense goes down as "intellectual" talk.

Let me give you an old story to help digest the concenpt...

Once in a remote village there was a great Guru, who had an ever greater
student. They were so famous that people from far off places used to come to
meet them, to get some gyan.

As was the case, one day a student who was eager for knowledge came all the
way to their school. Being new to that place, he encountered a strange animal,
which he had never seen before. On meeting with the teacher he asked him what
that animal was.

Teacher gave a learned laugh and said it was a "marjhalam" and moved on to
address other topics. Student tried to ask some more about the same animal, but
teacher avoided.

After the first day, teacher assigned this new fellow to the already
mentioned great student, so that he, the great Guru can concentrate on "bigger"
things.

This guy asked the great student, what that animal was, in all due good
intentions. The great student with all the popuousness answered that it was a
"bidalam". This guy was still curious to know what it was and asked few more
questions, for which the great student flew in rage and banished this new guy
from school as he was unfit for education.

Our new student was dejected and while walking out of the school
campus, met the watchman and again enquired him about the animal. Watchman
mentioned that it was a "pilli".

Bidalam, Marjhalam are other names for Pilli, which in Telugu means a
"common cat".

The story just illustrates the concept of MAC superficially. If one looks more closely around, we all can see these personality-types in every company, organization, schools, colleages etc.

Tell tale signs that you are a member of MAC, if you see any one of the following symptom in you

Only X, who is your friend, knows how to do some Y and all your friends agree to it.
In your friend circle, each one of you mapped to one particular vertical and all of you agree that each one is an expert in their respective area.
Even if someone points out to evidence contrary to your belief that your friend has goofed up, you would not agree to it, nor would consider others argument, but you would go all out to defend it.

The point however is, complecence in corporates is due to these MACs, who stick to the system like parasites.

Is it true?

2007-11-11T19:42:00.000+05:30

I was reading this on an desi-site, where the author refers to a "Princeton University" study, which finds that there is a discrimination towards people, while recruiting.

Of course, I am aware of discrimination of recruitment in Govt. sector jobs, where said "quota" of positions and promotions are based on race/color/caste/creed/political-suckup etc.

But this one talks of discrimination in private sector, which is really stunning. I have not come across any discriminations.

May be, some Atlantists/Yankee types are trying to plant seeds in minds of the growing private sector in India, just to break the economy here.

Comments please...

The Article is here : http://desicritics.org/2007/11/10/103914.php

The said study report is here: http://www.epw.org.in/uploads/articles/11135.pdf

New Stuff

2007-09-09T10:17:00.000+05:30

I have decided to blog more regularly and definitely on few topics, in context if India based IT Companies....

1. Resource Management
2. Thought Leadership
3. Technology Innovation

These posts are real stories, with names of persons/companies masked to protect the identities of the unfortunate souls.

Coffee @ IITM & Snack @ Ascendas

2007-09-09T10:15:00.000+05:30

There are times when we all get a time, when "we do not know what to do". Same was the case with me, recently.

So thought of paying visit to the old haunts of mine, which I did not care to visit in recent past.

The food court of Ascendas, ironically called Planet Yumm [sic] was busy with those useless types, who wanted to be there so that they are "in". Some yuppies also were busy checking mails or chating or God-know-what, but I could find at least 25% of tables were with open laptops. If they were that busy, what the hell are they doing there, instead of being in their office? If they were visitors to the city and they were there, it is understood. But they were the colleage going types or fresh job holders...

The point however was the cost of two scoops of Ice-cream that my daughter and I had. Taste and Quality were so-so, but it did burn a decent hole in my pocket.

Of course, that place had "free" wi-fi, so what!!!

Then went to near-by IITM. Met few old friends there and ended up at the Coffee Day. The day was bit cool, due to sudden burst of rain, so a hot cup of cuppacino would add pep. But when it was served, it was an eeeek! Slightly warmer than ice cube.

The bloke who served us mentioned that the coffee was at 80 degree C - lying through his nose and his rear :-). Took his manager's name and called him. Seems managers are always in traffic when it is a negative feedback.

Alex - Coffee day bloke, should know how to lie or market his useless coffee, instead of giving ridiculous temparature numbers...

Rakesh - learn to take feedback, even if negative. Switch on your mobile/s - 9884489389 and 9940449416.

May be, those are the places for those useless types... should make it a point not to get back there again... even by mistake...

I think we as a nation should learn how to "serve" Indian customers, not just those "phorein" types and those Non - Required - Indians (NRI)...

Kaoboys of R&AW - my take

2007-08-22T20:02:00.000+05:30

Dear All,

Just wanted to comment on the book, Kaoboys of R&AW.

For the starters, the book lives upto the expectations of any self respecting Indian. It also acts as a testimony that not all politicians are money hungry, corrupt politicians. Of course, there were some shady details about the life styles of some of the corrupt officials in the system, but we have lived with it.

Observations

1. It was more biased towards the good deeds of Rajiv and Indira, while skillfully ignoring their gaps. May be, like all humans, they were prudent at some places and foolish else where. However, one gets a feeling if it were a propoganda material, esp. after reading so elaborately about the PSYWAR :-)

2. Wish the editor or proof reader did more of his/her job and ensured that some of the paragraphs were not repeated over and over again.

3. A tangent here. The author did not talk of Sonia angle to deaths of Indira and Rajiv, as our dear Subramaniaswamy did, after his "investigations". Nor anywhere mentions KGB/Gestapo links to Sonia.

4. Apart from the usual suspects for Indian troubles like ISI, CIA, FBI, MI series, Lankans, Chinese, et al, there was a mention of Baptists. Did someone just now shout - Didn't I say so!!!

If R&AW is as good and powerful as it was made out to be, my salutes to them!!!

Regards,
Anil Kurnool

--
~~~~ www.anilprasad.com

Who ate my 3.9 Idlies?

2007-07-14T21:45:00.000+05:30

I am back to Blog-o-Sphere after a long time and this time I hope that my stay here will be long enough… unless, aliens again kidnap me.

After I read my P/L statement, i.e. my appraisal letter and revised pay, two questions cropped up in my mind….

1. Why the long cycle?
2. Who ate my 3.9 Idlies?

Let me address each of them

1. Why the long cycle?

When the world is moving towards faster lanes, where an Olympic athlete is measure in fraction of seconds, microprocessors in nanoseconds and fighter planes in Macs; then why we, the coolies, are measured once a calendar year?

IT technology, they say, is obsolete by the time we learn it. Look at the fad-change-rate. In last few years, we have the hypes of SOA, AJAX, EAI, Agile, Lean and Mean, SOX, SOA-Governance, SODA, Whisky, Ice Cubes, Septic Tanks what not….

Every quarter, the poor coolie is asked to learn something he did not know before or worse still asked to unlearn what he had learnt just a quarter ago.

Then why is he measured in one year cycles? Why can’t HR decide his fate every quarter, than make him live through 10 months of slogging and 2 months of suspense?

Well, the standard answer is process? The most dirty word used to say, when you want to avoid something. Process says what you cannot do, but can/will never say, what should be done?

Anyway, I leave this question at that, than getting into another philosophical reasoning, about the very existence of the spices called coolies.

2. Who ate my 3.9 Idlies?

Every employee, whether a coolie or not, always dreams of an inflation immune salary hike. Let us consider an example, so that my question is clear.

In year 2006, one Idly at Murugan Idly shop was priced at Rs. 5 each. (Let us leave the debate of the quality of the goods at Muruguan Idly shop, for a later date and stick to the context.)

So a coolie, when he walks into that shop with Rs. 100 can buy around 20 Idlies.

A year moves on and coolie gets an hike of 30%, moving his salary from Rs 100 to Rs 130, of which 25% is a “variable component”. Here the term “variable component” is the culprit, which is a polished way in which companies con the coolies to think that they are earning more. But in reality, that money is never paid, due to some reason or the other, say Rupee appreciation, Falling Dollar value, Low-Customer Satisfaction (tell me when was any customer ever happy) and Low-Sucking-up-of-manager.

So our coolie, in effects gets a salary of Rs97.50 (Rs.130 – 25%), which is in effect, way less than his inflation adjusted yesteryear’s salary of Rs. 107 (Rs. 100 + 7%). By this time, Murugan blokes have raised the price of Idly from Rs. 5 to Rs. 6.

This time, when our coolie walks into that same shop, he walks out with only 16.1 Idlies. (Rs 97.50 / Rs. 6)

So – who ate my 3.9 Idlies??????

Bottom line – life of our coolie goes on, in his archetypical make-believe world. He is ignorant of the ways, he is conned by everyone, at every mode of life, be it at cinema theaters, at idly shops, on roads, by tax-man, by boss, by customers, by families.

Ultimately, one fine day, when he wakes from his sweet dream, he will understand the truth that was, that the dream was not sweet, but was a nightmare. Till then, IT zindabad.

Update 1: A friend called me after reading this and asked if I was disappointed at my appraisal. The truth is I got 4 on a likert scale of 1-4 and was given out-standing rating by both my level-1 and level-2 supervisors, which resulted in me getting to a coveted fancy designation in my organization.

This rant was on behalf of all the coolies of India.

SofwareAG acquires webMethods

2007-04-05T23:04:00.000+05:30

This is the press report

I said something similar here

Scored 28 in VCAT

2006-11-30T14:51:00.000+05:30

Check out what Guy Kawasaki has to say to all aspiring entrants into the VC-funded world.

I scored 28 : Meaning I should send your resume to 2,000 venture capitalists and pray.

Here I am praying... err blogging...

Tool Wars ??

2006-11-24T15:02:00.000+05:30

TIBCO announces to free up their BPM tool - Business Studio; just days after webMethods showcased their latest Designer™ during the Integration World 2006 event.

The EAI arena seems to be getting heated up with offers and counter offers; adding additional features, freebies etc.

A word about webM's BPM tool (Modeler™/Designer™)- It is now interoperable with Eclipse™ and the models (business processes) can be exported to other BPM tools in form of BPML – which was not the case earlier.

Btw, Savvion was the first one to give BPM tools for free, during Gartner’s summit on BPM sometime back in March.

How true...

2006-11-21T12:44:00.000+05:30

Check the post by Pete Lacey, about S for Simple..

How many of us remember that 'S' in SOAP was really meant for Simple - and in reality how simple it is...

Good one...

SOA - webMethods

2006-11-19T10:00:00.000+05:30

Till recently webMethods Inc provided two classes of integration tools, for B2B and EAI as separate product sets, which were mutually-exclusive. With the release of 6.x, a common platform for all the integration needs was provided.

Trading Networks™ (B2B tool) hosted in the Integration Server™ could directly link itself with Broker™ (message bus), which was not the case as before; thus helping orchestrate Models™ (Business processes) during runtime.

Version 6.x (v6.0.1 to be exact) laid the roots for SOA enablement, with a tool called ServiceNet and by default all the internal FLOW™/JAVA™ services were made available as web services. Of course, there were some issues with stability of v6.01 and v6.1.5 due to “composite” enterprise approach, which were stabilized by v6.5.

During Integration World 2006, hosted by webMethods, it was announced that Beta version of webMethods 7.0 would be released by Dec 15, while the GA is by mid-March. There was a major emphasis on the “Composite Enterprise Approach” with many tools performing focused-enterprise-tasks thrown in to the enterprise Fabric™. Tools like Optimize™ (BAM), Portal™ (B2C), Manager™ (BAM once again, but with heavy client) are all stabilized and rolled in to Fabric™.

The current way the Fabric™ is defined is very interesting -A weaver of all the Processes, Services, and Business Rules via web services into a Fabric for Enterprise. [As different threads when kneaded together gives a cloth (Fabric) of choice.]

The major themes of the event [Integration World 2006] apart from release of v7.x were SOA Governance and BPM.

Recently webMethods acquired Infravio, a SOA Registry and Governance tools company; adding the X-Broker and X-Registry features to its product suite from v7.x. For the starters X-Broker provides the intermediately/mediation services and policy enforcer in run time, while X-Registry provides the design time, change time governance. Obviously, the ServiceNet suite of products is deprecated and customers using the same are now automatically upgraded to Infravio suite.

Talking of SOA, security is always a concern/question. The good news from webMethods product suite is – there is support for WS-Security, SAML and X-509 tokens “out-of-box”. There was an interesting discussion during the focus group meeting as to how much of ‘out-of-box’ is their out-of-box. [Many can recollect that the migration tools for migrating EDI from Gentran/TLE etc were also out-of-box]

The Focus Group Discussion also provided an insight into what CIOs from the customers, SI representatives and Partners had to say about the SOA and Integration issues in webMethods context. Though there was nothing much to write home about, a glimpse at the most widely discussed topic during the discussion is worth mentioning here.

- What do you think of the greatest hindrance to SOA in your organization?

i. A majority of the CIOs felt that the buy-in from business was the most difficult one. Businesses have been spending on IT, only to bridge that “gap” between systems and business dynamics. Now all agreed that business is skeptical about the SOA hype-cycle.

ii. The ownership and governance issues were rated the next biggest hurdle. True. Who is going to own which services? Else again everyone ends up where they started, multiple service providers for same set of services. Governance is definitely an issue, which is not technical, but organizational, which definitely was beyond the CIO’s purview.

iii. The definition or the border lines to demarcate where services should stop being coarse grained, so that the existing infrastructure can be leveraged. The same question was also asked a decade ago, when Object-Oriented approach took the enterprise by storm. How much of logic to abstract, how much to define in code?

iv. Finally it was the tool-enablement. Though the majority of the tools in the enterprise ecosystem were not their respective current versions [meaning not SOA-enabled] everyone was optimistic about a turnaround soon.

In general CIOs were not in a mood to be the first movers and were eager to know if someone else has done something in that space. The group was eager to take back any implementer’s learning, for helping the approval process from business for their own SOA initiatives. Unfortunately there were none in the group, who had any real-time experience.

It was TCS who made some comments in discussion that their SOLAR framework was best for SOA enablement; but they too did not have any live enterprise to showcase, save for a few POCs here and there. There would be interesting times ahead for all industry observers watching how webMethods can live up to the promises made about SOA.

There was an informative tidbit when someone said Integration Server™, itself was an ESB and one need not invest in buying a third party tool.

When all FLOW™ or JAVA™ are by default web-services and these services can internally invoke any business process, business rule or perform data translation/transformation services. As these services are hosted in Integration Server™ - by standard definitions of ESB, IS™ becomes an ESB.

Moving further into composite enterprise, from v7.x there would not be any technical differences between human-dependant business flows and normal business flow. It may be recollected that in v6.x and before, there were two tools to handles these two variants of business flow. The human dependant business processes were called WorkFlow™ with a separate server to help the users to login and work on the staged business process at their levels, while the normal business processes were called Models™ hosted on PRT-module of Integration Server™. This invariably had to be designed in two different design tools called Modeler™ and WorkFlow Designer™.

The distinction would be dissolved with Designer™ 7.x of webMethods. Both these genres of business processes are now hosted in PRT-module for runtime and are designed in a single design time tool Designer™. This design time tool has an Eclipse™ interface. The good news stops here, as one still needs the Developer™ for developing FLOW™/JAVA™ services.

This meager would help development and implementation of the complex business processes in a single view and also to avoid redundancy on the pieces of code used.

One thing that stuck out the most was the fact that told over and over ‘40% of webMethods customers were SAP™ customers’. Also SAP™ was positioned well in the overall event, with a separate technical track session to showcase the way webMethods can blend itself into SAP™ based Enterprise. Someone there murmured that the future Integration World event may be a separate track sessions in Sapphire event.

[Continued…]

Promise to Post

2006-11-15T23:46:00.000+05:30

Wil post the following in the following days...

1. Impressions about the event
2. Latest from webMethods
3. SOA - webM roadmap
4. Uncategorizable

Sorry about the delays - due to time constraints.

Seamless integration

2006-11-03T20:33:00.000+05:30

Did it ever occur that the "straight through" check-in at any internation airport is result of some good guy's integration approach?

Your luggage and you, both will reach at destination with out much ado. No reconfirmation, no transit issues etc...

Wish, we had more of the same in real world integration too.

IW 2006

2006-11-02T13:37:00.000+05:30

Let my first blog under this title start with Integration World 2006, an annual event hosted by webMethods.

Will post some interesting things in following days...

Boston Groups - Top 100 Companies of RDE

2006-06-11T22:55:00.000+05:30

http://www.bcg.com/publications/files/New_Global_Challengers_May06.pdf

Some good pointers from the article....

1. "The Indian Software houses Infosys and Wipro - represent only a
small fraction of larger phenomenon."

2. Bajaj Auto, Bharath Forge, Cipla, Crompton Greaves, Dr. Reddy,
Hindalco, Infosys, L&T, Mahendra & Mahendra, ONGC, Ranbaxy, Reliance,
Satyam, , TCS, Tata Motors, Tata Steel, Tata Tea, TVS, Viedocon, VSNL,
Wipro are listed in the top 100 companies.

3. India has only 21% share while China is having 44%

My Question: When will the time bomb (China) explode and take away that
"English" edge over India to clean sweep the IT markets? (3)

My take: Why all the hype about the IT boom in India, when only 4 of the
21 companies are into IT services.... (1) and (2)

Regards,
Anil Kurnool

--
~~~~ www.anilprasad.com

Interesting community....

2006-06-09T23:13:00.000+05:30

Hi,

Please check this community in Orkut.... Let me know your reaction....

http://www.orkut.com/Community.aspx?cmm=14314003

Regards,

Anil Prasad

PS: This is not a propoanda/marketing mail. Want you to really take a look.

--
~~~~ www.anilprasad.com

Fwd: Re: IMPORTANT -- Please read/circulate ( Apologize for the formatting )

2006-05-31T09:12:00.000+05:30

---------- Forwarded message ----------

From: S. Kalyanaraman
Date: May 31, 2006 3:37 AM

Subject: Re: IMPORTANT -- Please read/circulate ( Apologize for the formatting )

To:

Title: water or gold...?

please read this and pass it...when the last tree is cut and when the last glacier(watershed) is destroyedwe will have to drink gold or sulphuric acid......

Please read about this absolute atrocity that is happening in Chile, thatcould eventually happen in your own home, or maybe already is. Andmay this inspire us to say NO MORE and start changing the world we live in!

In the Valle de San Felix, the purest water in Chile runs from 2rivers, fed by 2 glaciers. Water is a most precious resource, and wars willbe fought for it. Indigenous farmers use the water, there is no unemployment, and they provide the second largest source of income for the area.Under the glaciers has been found a huge deposit of gold, silver and other minerals. To get at these, it would be necessary to break, to destroy the glaciers - something never conceived of in the history of the world - and to make 2 huge holes, each as big as a whole mountain, one for extraction and one for the mine's rubbish tip.The project is called PASCUA LAMA. The company is called Barrick Gold. The operation is planned by a multinational company, one of whose *members is George Bush Senior.*

The Chilean Government has approved the project to start this year, 2006. The only reason it hasn't started yet is because the farmers have got a temporary stay of execution. If they destroy the glaciers, they will not just destroy the source of especially pure water, but they will permanently contaminate the 2 rivers so they will never again be fit for human or animal consumption because of the use of cyanide and sulphuric acid in the extraction process.Every last gram of gold will go abroad to the multinational company and not one will be left with the people whose land it is. They will onlybe left with the poisoned water and the resulting illnesses.

The farmers have been fighting a long time for their land, but have been forbidden to make a TV appeal by a ban from the Ministry of the Interior. Their only hope now of putting brakes on this project is to get help from international justice.
The world must know what is happening in Chile. The only place to start changing the world is from here.We ask you to circulate this message amongst your friends in the following way.Please copy this text, paste it into a new email adding your signature and send it to everyone in your address book.

Please, will the 100th person to receive and sign the petition, send it to noapascualama@yahoo.ca

to be forwarded

To the Chilean Government.

NO to the Pascua Lama Open Cast Mine in the Andean Corillera on the
Chilean-Argentine frontier.We ask the Chilean Government not to authorize
the
Pascua Lama project to protect the whole of 3 glaciers, the purity of
the water
of the San Felix Valley and El Transito, the quality of the
agricultural land of
the region of Atacama, the quality of life of the
Diaguita people and of the
whole population of the region.

Signature, City, Country

and please google the subject to find out more info for yourself....to find out how else
you can get involved.

Here is one link for you to check out:

http://www.tierramerica.net/2005/0618/iarticulo.shtml

1) Katharine Proudfoot, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK

2) Laura Cole, London, UK

3) David Platt, London, UK

4) Diane Platt, Manchester, UK

5) Tanya Corker, Manchester, UK

6) Nicola Hargreaves, UK

7) Nicholas Jones, UK

8) Johann Don-Daniel, Germany

9) Ashley Berger, Germany

10) Sarah Downie, Leeds, UK

11) Paula Delahunty, Bingley, UK

12) John O'Driscoll, Bingley, Uk

13) Jordan-Lee Delahunty, Bingley, UK

14) Claire Mulvey, Bradford, UK

15) Marie Malcolm Bradford, UK

16) Ann Clowes, Halifax UK

17) Jayne McGee, Brighouse UK

18) Jason Barratt Oldham UK

19) Lindsay Torrance, Rochdale UK

20) Maggie Ford, Rochdale, U.K.

21) Barry Cook, Todmorden, U.K.

22) Shelley Burgoyne, Todmorden, U.K.

23) Lisa Stuart, Potes, Spain.

24) Michael Stuart, Potes, Spain.

25) Renee Engl, Byron Bay, Australia

26) Adrian Begg, Brunswick Heads, Australia

27) Riana Begg, Brunswick Heads, Australia

28) Oriel Paterson, Brunswick Heads, Australia

29) Alicia Paterson, Brisbane, Australia

30) Lyneve Robinson, Sydney, Australia

31) Jennifer Moalem, Sydney, Australia

32) Alexandra Pope, Sydney Australia

33) Shushann Movsessian, Sydney Australia

34) Amanda Frost35) Chris Liddell, AUS

36) Jade Deegan, AUS37) Jo Satori, AUS

38) Jennie Gorman, Vic AUS

39) Angelique Queensley, Victoria, Can

40)Chrystyanna Queensley, Victoria, Can

41) Dawna Masters, San Miguel De Allende, Mex.

42) John Gillespie, Canada43. Lynn Askey, Canada

44) Blanche Tanner B.C. Canada

45)Harreson Tanner B.C. Canada

46) peggy johnston B.C. Canada

47)Richard Welmers, Los Angeles, CA

48)Carlos Madrid Mora, Sebastopol, CA.

49) Pamela Schneider, Montreal, QC Canada

50) Jean-Marc Abela, Montreal, Qc, Canada

51) Khrystell E. Burlin, Toronto, ON, Canada

52) Sandy Powlik, Victoria, BC, Canada

53) Chad Unser, San Juan Del Sur, Nicargua

54) Suzanne Kimball, Mexico D.F., Mexico

55) Carol W. Shweder, Chilmark, MA, USA

56) Chitra Raman, Grosse Pointe, MI, USA.

57) S. Kalyanaraman, Chennai, India

58) Anil Kurnool, India

Fwd: Quota row:meritorious students to return medals received for academic excellence

2006-05-29T23:53:00.000+05:30

A novel way to fight quota raj....

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: ARYA <mailto:jiski_lathi_uski_bhains@yahoo.co.in>
Date: May 29, 2006 10:00 PM
Subject:Quota row:meritorious students to return medals received for academic excellence
To:

News for group:

Quota row: meritorious students to return medals received for academic excellence:

New Delhi/Bhopal/Kanpur, May 29 (ANI): Medical and engineering students, who have rejected appeals from Prime Minister, to withdraw their fortnight-long agitation against caste-based quota in higher education institutes, threatened self-immolation, if the Central Government failed to withdraw the controversial move.

Some meritorious students also announced to return medals received for academic excellence to the President.

The striking medical students in New Delhi were joined by their counterparts from across the country.

Anand Rai, general secretary of Madhya Pradesh junior doctors association, who was in the city to express solidarity with medical students sitting on hunger strike, said their medals did not hold any value after the government proposed quota.

"By returning the medals, we just want to show that these medals, which are in fact given as an encouragement for meritorious students, are of no use for us. By introducing quota, they are closing our roads for progress, so what is the purpose of our keeping them?" said Rai.

In Bhopal, protesting medicos staged mock public hanging and threatened to turn it real if government went ahead with the move.

"This is only a symbolic hanging, but if the government goes ahead with its decision to implement the proposed move, we'll commit suicide," said Ashutosh Dikshit, a protesting medical student.

Students at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) also went on a hunger strike to protest the government's decision to go ahead with the reservation plans.

Students said reservation, if at all is implemented, should be along economic lines.

"First of all, we are against any kind of reservation that is done on the basis of caste. If any reservation has to be done that should not be on the basis of caste or religion but on economic inequalities. This bill should be taken back," said Chandrashekhar Sharma, a protesting engineering student.

On Sunday, the Cebtral Government had assured the students that adequate facilities would be made available to the educational institutions before implementing the new move but the medicos said that the government was presenting them the same recommendations that they had rejected earlier.

The Central Government has stood firm by its stand to implement the proposed reservation from the next academic year.

Thousand of students across the country are protesting the government move to hike the number of seats for the socially backward classes in higher educational institutions.

The latest government move plans to increase the quota for lower castes by 27 percentage points, which would mean nearly half the places in state-funded medical, engineering and management colleges and Central universities would be set aside for other backward castes or OBCs.

But the general category students complain that they will have to compete more fiercely for the unfairly low portion of remaining seats if the quota move is implemented as expected by June 2007. (ANI)

Informer:

Arya.

Jai Hind!

Akhilesh Mithal - Reg

2006-05-29T10:11:00.000+05:30

http://www.deccan.com/Sunday%20Chronicle/Sunday%20ChronicleDescription.asp

Dear All,

Yesterday's DC carried "Ithihass" by Sri. Akhilesh Mithal. I object to the following in his article. (Can someone provide me his mail-id.)

"The darkest age of Indian history, British Rule, started in 1757. Sirajuddowlah, betrayed by his Diwan Raja Durlabhram Bose-Som lost the Battle of Plassey to Robert Clive. The Raja subverted the loyalty of Mir Bakhshi (Army commander and paymaster) Mir Ja'afar by offering him the gaddi of Murshidabad. Three out of the four divisions of the Nawab's army did not fight the battle of Plassey."

We all know of Mir Jaffer, where did this Raja come from?? (From a pipe dream???)

"Constructive use should be made of the Netaji heritage instead of wasting time, money and effort on whether or not he died on August 18, 1945."

If truth is not out, then why this Govt? If all heros' die unsung and are relegated to legacy, this nation would go to dogs.

Regards,

Anil Prasad

--
~~~~ www.anilprasad.com

Fwd: Make India a knowledge economy

2006-05-26T00:25:00.000+05:30

A wonderful insight into the real India.... [Courtesy Krishna]

Making INDIA a Knowledge Economy

It is necessary to first understand the entire "Matrix" in education. Even after 59 years of Independence, the following situation remains as far as the Human Capital Development of our country is concerned:-

Drop-out rate in schools from KG to 10+2 is (including those who never attended school) 90% to 94%.
China has about 1.80 million schools, while we have in India about 0.95 million schools!
The "Governance" in Government run schools is very low. In many cases teachers are absent (15% to 40% absenteeism) from schools in rural and urban schools of India and are paid full wages and perks in spite of this! Studies have shown that even the poorest of the poor rather send their children to un-aided schools where fees have to be paid and not to government run free schools. The quality of schooling of such unaided schools is higher than Government schools although the salary of Government teachers is two to three times higher than the teachers of the un-aided schools.
The existing Indian definition of Literacy (if you can write your name you are literate) needs to be amended to International Standards.
As per the Ministry of HRD the present illiteracy is ONLY 37% or 430 million people, while as per UNICEF and UNDP it is nearly 60% or 650 million people. China has a Literacy rate of about 93% literacy.
The first step of making India a knowledge economy is literacy and needs to be given A1 priority.
The total amount spent on education is about Rs. 81,000 crores per year. 10% by the Central Govt. and 90% by the State Governments The Education Cess will collect another Rs. 7000 crores per year. This is about 3.3% of GDP. The MHRD has calculated that another Rs. 40,000 crores per year would be required only for additional requirements for Primary Education!
We estimate that another Rs. 100,000 crores are required per year just to have reasonable quality of Primary and Secondary education, up to Class 10th., which is where the Central and State Governments should concentrate for the next 10 to 20 years, or till we have at least 95% Literacy and at least 80% of the population who are completing the High School stage or Class 10th.
As per our estimates the total expenditure for education is nearly 8% of GDP, about 3.3% from Government and about 4.7% from private participation . This includes funding of unaided schools and colleges+ bribes and capitation fees + payment for students studying abroad + tuition classes +coaching classes +private I.T. & Software training institutes. Most of this private funding is confined to urban areas where only 30% stay.
About 7% to 8% of the youth who finish the 10+2 stage (pre-university) enter the17, 600 colleges of India . 70% of all graduates are B.A. or Arts graduates. Is this relevant today? Most of these so called graduates are not-employable.
Of all new employment taking place nearly 60% are self employed. About New Employment - 1% is with government, 2% with the private 'organized sector' and 97% with the 'unorganized sector'.
Presently there is little connect between education and employment generation & quality of Life
The employers associations, chambers of commerce and other business organizations are fragmented. There is no "National Common Minimum Program" for "education and training of manpower" in India. In most developed and developing countries the Chambers of Commerce (who represent the employers and business) Lead from the front.
About 29 million people are added every year to the existing education system, which is like adding another Australia + Hong Kong + Singapore & UAE per year!
Presently both the Central Government as well as the State Governments are running in Financial Deficits, of about 9% to 11% of GDP, so the question of additional financing for education will strain not only the existing budgets but also put pressure on other sectors, where funds are being presently allocated.
"Licence Raj" runs all Higher & Technical Education in India. Let us Bench-Mark with USA, Germany and Japan, the three largest economies of the World account for nearly 50% of the world's GDP. Do their governments exert similar controls as we have in India? Can we learn from them? There is fierce competition between the institutions in these countries for excellence!
China has about 900 Universities, while we in India have 372 Universities. Japan has 4000!
In India, the fees of the courses, pay-scales to the teachers, appointment of the head of the Institution and the syllabus, are decided by the 58 or more Central and State-Government Boards of Education. Will this create innovation, excellence and world class students?
The Coaching Business is getting bigger than the Education Business, entrance examinations for the IIT's, IIM's and a few prestigious management schools attract about 600,000 applications (who spend nearly Rs.2.00 lac each for pre-coaching, amounting to Rs.12,000 crores per year, for 6000 seats. These institutions spend hardly Rs.800 to Rs.1,100 crores per year, as their teaching budgets!
While 75% to 85% the youth of the developed and developing world learn a skill or competence or trade between the ages of 14 to 35, by Vocational Education & training , in India it is hardly covers 3% to 5% of the population!
India has about 5000 ITI's (Ministry of Labour) and about 7000 Vocational schools (Ministry of HRD), while China has about 500,000 senior secondary vocational schools !
India has 300 million able bodied between the ages of 18 to 50, but they have no skill sets and therefore not employable! Employers in India are facing a huge shortage of skilled manpower. Wages and salaries in India, of skilled manpower are going up too fast. India will not be able to take advantage of the demographic profile of its population, if the youth do not receive relevant and quality Education & Training.
We have not seen any co-ordination between the Ministry of Labour and the Ministry of HRD as far as VET planning on a National level, is concerned
We in India have NOT still appreciated the fact that, world wide, Education is 5 times or 500% bigger than I.T. or software!
India can become an Educational Hub for the world and earn US$ 100 billion per year, after 10 to 20 years! We need to start now, but remove "Licence Raj" first, as was done for business in 1991! India has 7,700 foreign students while Australia has 513,000 foreign students!
Because of the "Licence Raj" in Higher and Technical Education , it is estimated that nearly 70,000 to 90,000 students leave India every year for studying abroad. At any given time these 320,000 students cost the country a foreign exchange out flow of nearly US$9 billion per year or nearly Rs. 40,000 crores per year, enough to build 40 IIM's or 20 IIT's per year.
The present problem of reservation will not solve the needs and aspirations of the youth. India needs a larger number of educational Institutions, seats and higher quality in the area of Higher & Technical education. Rationing, quotas and reservation can never address the actual situation. The Central and State governments are strapped for funds even for Primary and Secondary education. The solution lies in complete decontrol of all forms of Higher & Technical education; the same way as business was delicensed in1991!

If INDIA has to become a Knowledge Economy we need to do the following:

Aim for 95% to 100% Literacy in the next 10 years
Decontrol and involve the management of all primary schools to the local bodies such as Panchayats, Village Groups, Municipalities and local Citizen Groups. Allow the community to manage.
Consider the use and issue of "Education Coupons" for school children, so that they can choose the schools of their choice and funding from the government, which would have been dispersed for the funding of Government run schools in rural and urban India, should be paid out. See www.ccsindia.org
Scrap "Licence Raj" in Higher & Technical Education, after and including class 11^th, to allow innovation, creativity and excellence in Education. See www.epsfi.org
Ensure that 80% to 90% of the population in the age group of 14 years to 50 years goes in for some sort of relevant Vocational Education & Training. See www.wakeupcall.org
Allow starting of Enterprise Skills Education , ESD, from Class 5th to the 12th. This will teach the youth about how the real world works. Only 100 hours per year required. Nearly 60% of the workforce in India is self-employed.
Start Prevocational classes from Class 8th. Have Vocational Counsellors in all Higher Seconadary Schools. Upgrade all Higher Seconadry Schools for Vocational Education & Training.
Have a dynamic interaction between all stake holders, Academia-Industry-Business-R&D-Chambers of Commerce-Student bodies-Parents organizations-Civil society and NGO's. Chambers of Commerce, who represents the employers and business, must lead from the front.
Allow private finance and participation in all sectors of education, till we reach the goals as mentioned under item 8 in section one above.
Allow tax breaks and incentives for private and NRI funding, for the next 20 years or till we achieve bench marks as mentioned under item 8 in section one above.

--
~~~~ www.anilprasad.com

Fwd: Relevant Education (100% Literacy ) vs. Reservation

2006-05-24T07:34:00.000+05:30

To,

Dr. A. P. J. Kalam, The President of India,

Dr. Manmohan Singh, The Prime Minister of India,

Shri Arjun Singh, The Minister of Human Resource Development

Shri Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman , Planning commission

Shri Sam Pitroda,Chairman, Natinal Knowledgeable Commission

Dear Sir,

Holistic development of every child by Relevant Education is a vision of all nations. So I have a request to our visionary leaders, Please Try to look problem as a whole and solve it at level of root cause.

We have a final vision of all visions for all Organization.

May all be happy

May all be free from disease

May all be realized what is good

May none be subject to misery

We are waiting for execution of this shared Vision by robust Strategy [Integrated Goals � Targeted actions plans] for archiving the end result.

So Please Ensure: �Relevant Education� to all children. If we solve it, then automatically lots of interconnected problems are automatically solved.

My concern point is: Please Set it: Priority Number 1 = �Relevant Education� under enduring culture of High level of discipline with sound feedback mechanics.

Please give us, some insight in this direction because we can not wait more because IT superpower release his energy If electricity is available & people support system can be improved If judicial system is active & fast.

My point: Reservation - Need a Balance solution � a 3^rd alternative

url: http://o3.indiatimes.com/social_innovation/

Regards & Love ...

Ajay Singh Niranjan

A citizen of Great nation India [Bharat � a nation who spreads Light (Knowledge) ]

--
~~~~ www.anilprasad.com

Good one on reservations

2006-05-16T08:38:00.000+05:30

Courtesty : Murli

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2006/05/15/stories/2006051500791000.htm

The price of reservation

P. V. Indiresan

For every transaction, there has to be entries on both sides of the ledger. A price has to be paid for the gains made by reservation. What is the price the beneficiaries of reservation pay? One price they have paid is lowered quality of education in state-run schools, inferior opportunities to learn; in consequence, endemic poverty too. Is that price worth paying, wonders P. V. INDIRESAN.

WILL QUOTA affect quality? - M. Govarthan

Usually, media memory is short. Most stories are forgotten at the end of the day; few last a week. Unusually, interest in the reservation controversy has not died down even after two months. Evidently, this controversy touches a raw nerve; people cannot get over their hurt easily.

Considering the degree of interest in the topic, there is surprisingly few hard facts known about the issue. IITs have had reservation for students belonging to the Scheduled Castes and Tribes for over 30 years. There is no public information of how the beneficiaries have fared, or how well they have performed in the profession compared to regular students, or compared to SC/ST students from other less prestigious colleges.

Tamil Nadu experience

Tamil Nadu has the longest experience with reservation. With almost 80 per cent admissions and posts reserved, it has the most extensive application of that device. The Tamil Nadu experience can be described both as a success and as a failure. It is a success because backward castes have wrested the leadership - both in the academic and administrative spheres - apart from acquiring total command of the political space. Not only have the backward castes taken command, they have also made Tamil Nadu one of the most successful States.

Reservation in Tamil Nadu can also be declared as a failure on two counts: Even after three-quarters of a century, the backward castes are unwilling to compete openly. There are third, even fourth generation beneficiaries of reservation who are unable to get over their dependence on the handicaps reservation provides for them. It appears, reservation is a crutch, not a remedy.

The success of backward castes in Tamil Nadu appears to be partly due to emigration of upper castes: There are few Brahmins, Mudaliars, Naidus, Pillais or Chettiars to contend with; quite a few have migrated out of the State. There is no analysis how far the loss of so much human capital has hurt (or helped) the State.

Yet, it would be incorrect to conclude that backward castes can never stand up to competition. Once again, we have no hard data to rely on. However, anecdotal evidence points to the view that competent persons among the backward castes never flaunt their caste badge; they want to be known and respected for what they achieve - they stand tall. On the other hand, weaker but ambitious persons make their caste a fetish. They make noise louder and frequently; they get noticed more often.

Consider the visibility of capable students in the job market. They know what they want. They get selected promptly and vanish from the scene after no more than one or two job interviews. The least competitive ones are unsure of where they can succeed. They try again and again only to be rejected. They are noticeable everywhere. Particularly when they wear the caste badge, they will be shortlisted even when not well qualified.

Fooled by noise

With competent students appearing but few times, the less competent ones appearing frequently, the latter appear to be far larger in numbers than they actually are. Logically, the proportion of competent backward castes must be several times higher than what they appear to be in selection committees. That is like the case of a farmer who ruefully remarked after promising to supply a thousand frogs "the noise sure fooled me!"

There is yet another reason why backward students under-perform. As a natural corollary of the Reservation Principle, teaching posts have been reserved on caste basis. That is a cardinal error. What poor students need most are the best teachers available, not the least qualified. Dr Sowell, a distinguished professor from Stanford, was once asked on his visit to Madras (as it was then) whether he would prefer Black teachers to teach Black students (Prof Sowell is Black.) His answer was, "I do not care whether the teacher is White, Black or Blue; I want the best!"

Quality teaching, the key

Unfortunately, this basic principle has been discarded by our policymakers, who have grossly under-estimated the importance of teaching quality. In the process, they have run down state-run schools. In the past fifty years, the population of Chennai has increased almost ten times. Yet, many schools run by the City Corporation have been closed for "want of students". In truth, it cannot be that the students, but the quality of teachers selected that was found wanting.

It is a recorded fact that discipline among school teachers has come down. Across the country, half the time teachers are not attending to class work at all. It is a fact that most students in Delhi's Corporation schools cannot do simple arithmetic - multiply two-digit numbers - even after five years of education. Yet, as one NIIT experiment has shown, given a chance, they can pick up computer skills on their own.

In the prevailing ethos of reservation, a person can get the benefits of reservation without making any payment in return. That contravenes a natural law that is colloquially described as "there is no free lunch". In engineering, such systems are known as "perpetual-motion" machines, machines that run forever without any input. For every transaction, there has to be entries on both sides of the ledger. A price has to be paid for the gains made by reservation. There is no escape from that law. Then, what is the price the beneficiaries of reservation pay for the benefit they get? One price they have paid is lowered quality of education in state-run schools, inferior opportunities to learn; in consequence, endemic poverty too. Is that price worth paying?

As one correspondent has pointed out, reservation is like declaring a boundary scored in a cricket game as a six if hit by a backward caste player. Such artificial boost appears beneficial. It may not be. As one SC student remarked: "I won a degree in the IIT but lost my self-image." How many students would have done better with their lives if they had been exposed to what they can master, instead of being subjected to a difficult drill for which they were not trained, we do not know.

How far has the Reservation Policy has helped the poor, has reduced the rich-poor gap? The average family income of SC students in IIM Ahmedabad is twice that of the others. Is that an exception, or is it true of other institutions too? That is the problem: We have no data on which to base reasoned decisions. Our political masters are unwilling to generate much needed information on this issue, nor or they willing to consider any alternative. At the same time, they have acquired the power to declare as constitutionally illegal any institution that operates on a caste-free basis.

Friend or foe?

Is everyone who promotes reservation a friend of the backward castes? Is everyone who questions reservation at university level an enemy of backward castes?

Who hurts backward castes more: Those who deny good school education or those who want well-run schools?

A proposal to identify and give special education to talented backward caste students has been before the government for over 25 years, and still finds no support. Strange are the ways of our democracy, of government of some people, by some people for themselves.

(The author is a former Director of IIT Madras. Response may be sent to: indiresan@gmail.com)

--
~~~~ www.anilprasad.com

Good one about AIT

2006-05-11T08:56:00.000+05:30

Just found this article titled 'A search for our lost cities' by a former minister Jagmohan. So sharing it with you all.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1692583,0035.htm

A search for our lost cities

May 7, 2006

Dear Dr Manmohan Singh-ji,

This pertains to a special project, which I had conceived when I was working as Culture and Tourism Minister. The project, I thought, would have enlarged the dimensions of tourism, provided new insight into the origin of our civilisation, and attracted a number of scholars and
archaeologists to study the unexplored layers of our past. Unfortunately, it has since been given up.

Through this letter, I am approaching you with the request to intervene and ensure that the project is viewed in the right perspective and revived. I give below a brief backdrop of the project and the course that it intended to follow.

From the point of view of culture, the project was named as "A search For Lost Cities, A Lost Civilisation and A Lost River", and from the tourism point of view it was titled, "Travels Around Lost Cities, A Lost Civilisation and a Lost River". The river was Sarasvati and the civilisation was the one known as Harappan/Indus-Sarasvati.

There were five major objectives that the project sought to achieve:

1) To undertake extensive excavations of the Harappan settlements in the basin of the now dried-up Sarasvati, and build archaeological museums at the sites.

2) Set up small tourist-centres nearby.

3) Establish documentation-cum-multidisciplinary research units with attached pavilions, showing 5,000 years of Indian civilisation through large panel-photographs, 3-D models etc.

4) Make the newly created complex attractive for residents of the neighbouring towns and villages.

5) Open at each of the centres, a small window to the visitors.

The significance lay in the attempt to provide clear answers to some crucial questions, which I will answer one by one:

*Was there an Aryan invasion?*

It has been propagated by Western scholars and their Indian disciples that between 1,500 to 1,000 BC, there was an invasion of India by light-skinned nomadic tribes, the Aryans, which gave birth to the Vedic civilisation of India. But this hypothesis has no legs to stand upon.
The study of Colin Renfrew, a noted archaeologist at Cambridge University, not only debunks the theory propounded by Mortimer Wheeler but also points at the similarities between the Aryan Vedic civilisation and the Harappan one. Nor can the theory of invasion/migration provide answers to pertinent questions like: How come the 'Aryans', who showed strong attachment to lands, did not carry with them the memories of their previous homeland and nurse no nostalgia about their past? Is it not clear that the Rig-Vedic expressions like 'sabha', 'samiti', 'samrat', 'ranjan', 'rajaka', which indicate the existence of organised assemblies and rulers of different ranks, are relevant not to the nomadic invaders, but to the advanced urban society of the Vedic Aryans who were indigenous inhabitants of Harappan settlements? Was not the evolution of chariot more likely in the flat lands of North India rather than in the uneven terrain of the Central Asia?

The last nail in the coffin of the invasion/migration theory has been hammered in by the recent genetic studies, conducted by scientists in Calcutta with foreign scientists. They analysed the Y-Chromosomes of 936 men and 77 castes, and referred to the work of the international
research teams that found that the earliest modern human arrived in India from Africa, trudging along the Indian Ocean coast about 60,000 years ago. They concluded:

"Our findings suggest that most modern Indians have genetic affinities to the
earlier settlers and subsequent migrants and not to central Asians or 'Aryans',
as they are called".

*Nature of Civilisation*

When, in 1922, the Harappan civilisation was discovered, only two major settlements — Mohenjo-daro and Harappa — had been excavated and that too partially. On this basis, views were formulated about the origin of these advanced urban civilisations. It was given out that its roots lay in Mesopotamia. Subsequent excavations of more Harappan sites have shown
that these views and assertions were made without adequate evidence.

John Reader, a noted scholar of anthropology and geography, has pointed out that emergence of cities and civilisations in six widely separated places around the world — Mesopotamia, India, Egypt, China, Central America and Peru — was spontaneous and none resulted from contact with one another.

Excavations carried out by a French team, headed by Jean-Francois Jarrige, during the last 15 years, at Mehrgarh, Pakistan, have pin-pointed the beginnings of civilisation in India and shown that Indus-Sarasvati civilisation had no moorings in Mesopotamia or any civilisation outside India.

It has been rightly observed: "The people in Mehrgarh tradition are the people of India today". There are similarities between the social and religious practices of the Harappan people and the people of present-day India. For example, the spiralled bangles of the type found around the
figurine of the Harappan dancing girl can still be seen on the arms of women in Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, etc.

Again, as was the case with Harappan women, 'sindoor' is applied by married women of Hindu families. Some other common features of the two periods are: the practice of worshipping trees, putting of Svastika symbol at the entrance of the houses etc.

*Did Sarasvati exist?*

There is ample evidence that supports the view that river Sarasvati once existed.

Literary: The Rig Veda mentions the Sarasvati about 50 times, describing it as "the best mother, the best river, the best goddess". The famous Nadi-stuti hymn mentions a set of rivers, including Ganga, Yamuna, Sarasvati and Sutudori (Sutlej) and places Sarasvati between Yamuna and
Sutlej. Its origin is indicated in the hymn that says: "Purest among all rivers and vibrant, the Sarasvati moves on from the mountains to the ocean, manifesting immense riches of the world…" She is also called the seventh "Indus Mother". Ancient literature also talks of when Sarasvati began to decline. The Mahabharata, the Aitareya and the Satapatha Brahamana refer to its disappearance in the desert.

Archaeological: In 1872, C.F. Oldham and R.D. Oldham undertook a detailed survey of the area where the Sarasvati and its tributaries were said to be flowing in earlier times. They concluded that it was once fed by the Sutlej and the Yamuna, and that it disappeared after the westward
movement of the former and eastward movement of the latter.

Geological: A group of scientists led by V.M.K. Puri and B.C. Verma, made a detailed study of the areas from which Sarasvati could have originated. They observed: "This river was in existence during the upper Pleistocene period as it was fed by glaciers that had descended to much
lower limits in Garhwal Himalaya than the present day level due to the influence of Pleistocene Ice Age."

Hydrological: After the Pokhran nuclear explosion on May 11, 1998, the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre conducted tests to assess the impact of the explosions on the quality of water in the area around. These tests, interalia, revealed that the water in the area was potable, about 8,000 to 14,000 years old, came from the Himalayan glaciers and was being slowly recharged through acquifers from somewhere in the north. Separately, the Central Ground Water Commission dug a number of wells on and along the dry bed. Out of 24 wells dug, 23 yielded potable water.

If all that I have said is viewed in entirety, this is the picture that will emerge: the period 6,500-3,100 BC saw the growth of pre-Harappan/Indus-Sarasvati civilisation, corresponding broadly to the times when the Rig Veda was composed; that during the period 3,100 to 1,900 BC, the Harappan/Indus-Sarasvati civilisation prevailed and these were the times when the hymns of four Vedas were composed; and that 1,900 to 1,000 BC was the time of the late Harappan/Indus-Sarasvati civilisation which saw the decline and ultimate disappearance of the
surface water of the Sarasvati, forcing the people to move eastward towards the Gangetic plain.

While the puzzles of archaeology and ancient Indian history cannot be resolved with certainty, particularly with regard to Harappa where the script has not so far been deciphered, it could be stated with a fair degree of accuracy that the Harappan/Indus-Sarasvati civilisation was born and brought up on the soil of India and its people and Vedic people were one and the same.

A lot of additional work needs to be done to unravel a number of features of one of the most significant civilisations of the ancient world. Hundreds of sites in the basin of now the submerged Sarasvati need to be excavated. It was this need that the special project intended to meet.

This would also be of huge benefit to the tourism sector. I request you to recommence the special project. I am confident that the project, if implemented in the spirit it was conceived, would show new facets of India's past, new initiatives of her present and new visions for her
future.

Yours sincerely,

Jagmohan

IBM out of touch with ground realities.

2006-05-07T12:42:00.000+05:30

In a story dispatched out of Berlin, Reuters is reporting on a joint IBM-Economist Intelligence Unit report that suggests India and China are closing the digital gap. The report cites the fact that Shanghai and Bangalore have similar connectivity to developed nations as proof of the fact.

Good!!!

But, the author went over board, just after seeing Shanghai, B'lore, Beijing, not the interior places in China or India.

Look at the following facts, which can't meet an average US/European village. (I remember going to a 'village' near Colonge in Germany, where braodband hotspot was free in hotel room.)

Less than 9% of China's citizens have regular access to the Internet.
There is one computer in China for every 20 people.
There is one home computer in China for every 50 people.
Less than 1% of China's population can reach the Internet via a mobile phone.

But reality is different, once you go to second rung cities in India or China....

IBM, wake up from your Ivory tower views of world....

The right time for labour market reform is now

2006-05-03T08:43:00.000+05:30

Wonderful piece from 6 AM Pacific

In my first job out of business school with Hindustan Lever, as Area Sales Manager I had a team of over 20 unionized salesmen. I ran a Voluntary Retirement Scheme in my first year and then again in my third year by which time we were down to half the original team size. Yet we introduced new brands in the market, grew our sales and in general did well as a team.

In my third year I took over a small new business of hot beverage vending for Lipton (at that time a division of HLL). The business was small but growing rapidly as we expanded our city coverage. In Sales, Distribution and Service we had about 50 people. Of this the number of direct Hindustan Lever employees was 2. The rest were all outsourced, contract or distributor's employees.

I then moved to Infosys in the US and over my 11 years there, hired scores of employees onto the company's US payrolls. I also had to let go of some people for performance or other reasons. At all times, I was acutely aware that I myself was an 'At Will' employee. I could be fired with two week's wages without giving a reason. As long as the reason was not discriminatory (race, sex, religion etc.) I could not bring legal action upon the company.

My experience with the vastly different labour environment in both India and the US has driven home a very important lesson - a business exists to make money for its investors, not to provide employment. And that is, paradoxically, the best way to generate employment.

Let's take a look at how India's labour laws distort the business environment and harm employment and employees:

1. It discourages capital investment - particularly in service oriented industries. Investing capital means taking risks. Market risk - the risk that the business may not succeed - is a risk that 'comes with the territory'. In most countries, investors know that if their business fails in the market, they close down the business, sell off the assets at knocked-down prices, book the loss and take the remaining capital to some other investment opportunity. However, in India, failure, or a downturn, in the market also means that you are still saddled with the payroll costs because you can't restructure or layoff anybody. You can't exit the business because employees will lose jobs. That's something investors don't have to deal with in most countries. You look at so many rusting factories in every major city in the country where the factory owner has not been able to layoff employees even when the networth of the company has gone down to zero, and you wonder - what a colossal waste of assets. You also wonder - what do future investors think when they see these rust-buckets? More likely than not it's - 'That could be my investment 10 years from now.'

2. It provides no incentive for raising productivity through automation. Look at all the government offices or offices that have unionized staff like banks. To the last one, they opposed computerization. Why? because it could do the job faster and so it would reduce the number of jobs.

Yes it will and that is a good thing. Doing more work with fewer people raises productivity. Productivity raises incomes. The developed world's prosperity is entirely linked to higher productivity. Also higher productivity creates the surplus (or the profit) that can be invested to create more jobs.

3. If you want to produce a quality product or service it needs carrots AND sticks. With an employee who is not performing, you train, you mentor, you put them on Performance Improvement Plans. But in the end, the employee needs to know that if his performance does not improve he can lose his job. Without this freedom for businesses to manage for performance, it may be possible to compete against companies who are similarly hampered, but it is a clear disadvantage in the global market.

4. It pushes employment generation into the informal sector. In my second stint at Levers I would have loved to hire people directly into the company instead of outsourcing critical functions like Sales. With the Levers brand name as an employer we would have got great talent which would have been better for the company. However, Levers would not do that for a new business that could have failed leaving them with employees they wouldn't know what to do with. So all of the hiring was done by outsourced contract firms. Did these employees get the PF and benefits they would have got at Levers? I doubt that very much. I don't think these contract firms even paid any taxes since they were probably classified as Small Scale.

In summary, the current labour laws in India distort the business environment to where it reduces employment generation by discouraging investment, reduces income growth by discouraging productivity increases, reduces quality by taking away the freedom to manage for performance and pushes employment generation into the informal sector.

Whenever I bring this up with people in industry in India, I am given many reasons why this is not a problem. Someone says 'Only 20% of my workforce is unionized, I just work around them'. Another one will say 'If you really want to fire an employee for performance, it can be done.' But most of all the reason I get is 'But the economy is doing so well why do we need to think about redundancies and labour flexibility?' On the contrary, it is because the economy is doing so well that this is the right time for labour reform.

I believe this is the most important reform that government must now address. However, this is also the most difficult. Dismantling industrial licensing was like a walk in the park compared to this. With the government dependent upon the CPI(M) to stay in power makes it almost impossible to do major reforms. But major one-shot reforms aren't the right answer anyway. There should be a 10 year road map on labour reform. But starting now. Let's begin the discussion.

--
~~~~ www.anilprasad.com

Shame on me...

2006-05-01T11:22:00.000+05:30

Everytime someone dies, the same drame is enacted, with no action.

Useless commentories (TV reviews/interview, Letters to editors, Internet Groups) make a furore over the death... People call for action, Govt. promises the same. Some 'compensation' is promised - God knows if it actually reaches the family, some action committe is called for.

Then what.... everyone goes home and starts their lives as if nothing happened.

Afghanisthan is a clear example. During Khandhar plane hijack, a young business man on his honeymoon trip was killed. If you recollect properly, the same drama was enacted. Now once again the same, but artists are different.

Politicians look for more media coverage with their tall claims and sympathysers for their few seconds of fame.

huh... Deja Vu... more Deja Vu....

At times I wonder, if we are all governed by cowards. (This question too was asked by many in recent years, so I am also one among the lot, who make statements. huh, same on me too)

Letter to Mahadevan...

2006-05-01T11:00:00.000+05:30

Dear Mahadevan,

http://www.hindu.com/2006/05/01/stories/2006050112670100.htm

Mr. Mahadevan commented that the latest discovery was very strong evidence that the Neolithic people of Tamil Nadu and the Indus Valley people "shared the same language, which can only be Dravidian and not Indo-Aryan." He added that before this discovery, the southernmost occurrence of the Indus script was at Daimabad, Maharashtra on the Pravara River in the Godavari Valley.

Why is it that it has to be only Dravidian??? Why can't Tamil Nadu guys too be speaking the languages of Indus Valley and then developed their derivative Dravidian????

Please suggest me the logic behind your assertion or comment. (No propoganda statements please)

Isn't Dravidianism another side of the myth called "Aryan Invasion Theory"? If not, please explain.

Thanks and Regards,

Anil Prasad

PS: Reason for mass circulation is because I dont have his mail id. Kindly forward the same to him.

--
~~~~ www.anilprasad.com

Hyderabad engineer kidnapped by Taliban

2006-04-29T18:40:00.000+05:30

Hyderabad engineer kidnapped by Taliban

http://www.newkerala.com/news2.php?action=fullnews&id=50844

New Delhi: The Indian Government on Saturday confirmed that Afganistan's rebel Taliban outfit had kidnapped Hyderbad-based engineer A. Suryanarayana.

Minister of State for External Affairs E Ahamed said that Suryanarayana was working for the Bahraini company 'Al Mayyad'

which is into telecom and construction business in Afghanistan.

He said that the Government is in touch with the Indian Embassy in Afghanistan and the Bahraini company.

Suryanarayana was abducted on Friday evening while traveling from Kalat, the capital of Zabul, to Ghazni.

The Taliban has claimed responsibility for the abduction, but is yet to make its demands known.The kidnapping of Suryanarayana is the third incident in the last four months wherein an Indian has been targeted in Afghanistan.

The Taliban abducted Maniappan R Kutty, a Border Road Organization jawan and engaged in building of Zaranj-Delaram highway, four months ago. Three days after Kutty's kidnapping, his body was found in Kandahar province.

In February this year, Indian engineer Bharath Kunmar, working with a Turkish firm, was killed in a bomb blast in Farah province.

Indian doctors working in various hospitals in Afghanistan have also received threats from the Taliban, ousted from power in 2002.

New Delhi has taken up the issue of security of all Indians working in Afghanistan with Kabul at the highest level. The matter was also discussed when Afghan President Hamid Karzai when he visited Delhi earlier this month.

--
~~~~ www.anilprasad.com

Indian Student dies in Armenia due to Racial Discrimination

2006-04-29T18:39:00.000+05:30

A medical course student from India, Prashant Anchalia Yerevan studying in state medical university in Armenia dies in university campus allegedly due to medical negligence and co-students complain of racial discrimination as well.

While no one knows the facts, the blogosphere coverage of the events clearly show the ham handed attitude of the Armenian academia. In fact if the postings in the blogs covering the events are indeed correct, Indians need to review going there for further studies or doing business with them.

The blog world is taking up the issue quite seriously in a concerted way with posts covering the various protest moves and In fact an Armenian blogger, Onnik Krikorian is taking the lead here. While, I do not know where the events and coverage would progress into, but as I see it, clearly the pressure is building up inside the system to correct things and Blogosphere is playing a very useful & constructive role here.

--
~~~~ www.anilprasad.com

Murthy's view on late office workers

2006-04-29T09:38:00.000+05:30

Narayana Murthy's views on staying late in the office

It's half past 8 in the office but the lights are still on... PCs still running, coffee machines still buzzing... and who's at work? Most of them???

Take a closer look... All or most specimens are 20-something male species of the human race... Look closer... again all or most of them are bachelors... and why are they sitting late? Working hard? No way!!!

Any guesses???

Let's ask one of them... Here's what he says... "What's there 2 do after going home... here we get to surf, AC, phone, food, coffee.. thats is why I am working late... importantly no bossssssss!!!!!!!!!!!

This is the scene in most research centres and software companies and other off-shore offices. Bachelors "time-passing" during late hours in the office just bcoz they say they've nothing else to do...

Now what r the consequences... read on... "Working"(for the record only) late hours soon becomes part of the institute or company culture. With bosses more than eager to provide support to those "working" late in the form of taxi vouchers, food vouchers and of course good feedback,(oh, he's a hard worker... goes home only to change..!!).They aren't helping things too... To hell with bosses who don't understand the difference between "sitting" late and "working" late!!!

Very soon, the boss start expecting all employees to put in extra working hours. So, My dear Bachelors let me tell you, life changes when u get married and start having a family... office is no longer a priority, family is... and that's when the problem starts... becoz u start having commitments at home too.

For your boss, the earlier "hardworking" guy suddenly seems to become a "early leaver" even if u leave an hour after regulartime... after doing the same amount of work. People leaving on time after doing their tasks for the day are labeled
as work-shirkers...

Girls who thankfully always (its changing nowadays... though) leave on time are labeled as "not up to it". All the while, the
bachelors pat their own backs and carry on "working" not realizing that they r spoiling the work culture at their own place and never realize that they wuld have to regret at one point of time .

*So what's the moral of the story?? *
* Very clear, LEAVE ON TIME!!! *

- Never put in extra time " *unless really needed
- Don't stay back un-necessarily and spoil your company work culture which will in turn cause inconvenience to you and your
colleagues. There are hundred other things to do in the evening..

- Learn music...
- Learn a foreign language...
- Try a sport... TT, cricket.........
- Importantly Get a girl friend or gal friend, take him/her around town...

And for heaven's sake net cafe rates have dropped to an all-time low (plus, no fire-walls) and try cooking for a change.
Take a tip from the Smirnoff ad:

*"Life's calling,where are you??"*

Please pass on this message to all those colleagues And please do it before leaving time, don't stay back till midnight to
forward this!!!

--
~~~~ www.anilprasad.com

Damned if you excel, damned if you dont

2006-04-27T23:21:00.000+05:30

This is the annual appraisal time at our place... The buzz words are "hike", "increment" ..

I pity the positive anticipation on part of Code Coolies.

Carrot and Stick at it's best!!!

At the end, it is only the stick for coolies and carrots for managers.

Why??!!! Culprit "The Bell Curve" of Statistics, where things are 'normalised'

Guess what.... the end of the bell curves are either too low performers or too high performers.

But Mediocrity wins....

If you strive to excel, you are at the end of curve, so no great hike. If you don't, then at the other end.

Damned if you excel , damned if you don't!!!

For further reading check, this, this and this. Seth Godin gives his best.....

PS:: Am a mediocre coolie, so waiting for my carrot.

--
~~~~ www.anilprasad.com

Google's China Problem (and China's Google Problem)

2006-04-25T07:56:00.000+05:30

NY Times

-- Can you relate to someone from Google India???

RFID to teach English

2006-04-22T08:39:00.000+05:30

Purdue University students have used RFID for teaching English to non-English speaking children. The computer system has been linked with RFID tags embedded in simple objects such as a plastic banana. When a child would pick up the banana, a computer screen would display 'anana' and ask the child to fill in the missing letter.

The system called Merlin's Magic Castle is being used at the Lafayette Adult Resource Academy. Amicia Elliott and Alexei Czeskis developed this idea and their idea won $8,000 in an entrepreneurial competition.

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060420/BUSINESS/604200408/1003

How to Practise Islam in Space - A serious concern.

2006-04-21T19:40:00.000+05:30

Malaysia Conference : Considers How To Practice Islam In Space

Interesting things to note.... now Islam in space, expecting celestial objects to follow Islamic Cosmic Rules.

Malaysian Govt. is spending money to send few Jihadis .... and want the satellite to follow some rules.....

Yummy!!!....