Om Google-aya Namaha

“In search” a collection of ghazals by Jagjit Singh, “In search of Excellence”an excellent book by Tom Peters and others, all searches fascinate me. If there is offering that the internet will always need,that will be “search” period. Song, Book, partner, business, career and many more.

Search for information, call it by another name/names, Search, exploration, pursuit, hunt, quest, investigate, seek, pursue, chase, detect, track down, it boils down to just that. Search has always been the question for which our answer has been progress and development.

In ancient times there have been defined ways to get knowledge, through which you attained the goal of life”Mukti” . The path of knowledge was available through

1. Books/Vedas: Vedas or all forms of writings gave a person the knowledge that was needed to attain his goal. Books advised some practical aspects to say that “I am not enough”, which then opened the vistas of other forms in which knowledge was available to be obtained.

2. Teacher/Guru: The Guru was a human form of delivery of the knowledge along with help and guidance available all the time. The teacher would solve and resolve all the doubts in the minds of the pupil to attain knowledge. The important aspect of the Guru-Shishya relationship was to surrender and seek.

3. Interaction with People: This was another way, knowledge was said to obtained, People will share their experience, wisdom, knowledge and pass on when you interact with them, It is possible to learn by observation, then do and learn, here the power to observe, absorb and learn is very important.

4. Travel: travel/Deshantara is given a lot of importance, people with wisdom are said to be well travelled. Many artists, performers, traders, business people, athletes who travel often benefit from the knowledge of the travel. In travel, your observation is keener and learning is better.

5. Contemplation/Dhyan: This is way to ponder, think through the learnings of all of the above. The power to think, extrapolations accrue as the thinking sets in.

Now go to the internet and open a browser and type http://www.google.com and look at all the possible ways to gain knowledge. Is it another vista of knowledge or is it a combination of all. Recently launched “Google Books” http://books.google.com, Online Gurus are available through http://scholar.google.com, videos through “You Tube” http://www.youtube.com and many other sources. Calender, Docs, GTalk, Q&A sessions, online queries are all possible ways.

Travel, go to Google maps, visit on earth, under water, over sky and where else. Search for a job, travel, leisure, entertainment, partner, business associate, business requirement, vendor, all that “MATTER”s.

Hi Google, what is your idea for contemplation? May there is one, I am not aware or it is in the labs somewhere in the IT parks of Bangalore waiting to be launched.

“Om Google-aya namaha”

Music, Skill, Dance, Colour and Football World Cup-South Africa

All eyes on South Africa, the music, dance, colours all residing in there, Foot Ball world Cup begins today. A wonderful country South Africa put together a great show and the show of skill of the participant countries to follow now. More than calling any country a favorite, the spirit of such event, the country participation makes one's heart swell with pride.

The moment to be there, participate and sing along the National Anthem along, when it is played is a great moment of national pride. How I wish that India is there to participate soon in the coming Foot Ball world cups, one to put the system together with a clear objective to qualify to participate with timeline. Also once qualified have the only commitment that allow the team to be sent to represent the nation and nation only.

India has lost a wonderful opportunity of playing Cricket in Asiad Games taking place in November, 2010 in China. It would be when the national anthem would be played, India had every chance to win a medal. It would also would have been a great experience to participate along with other sports and perhaps feel the national pride, just for the National pride only.

The sport, National pride triumphs.

Hi, South Africa, Celebrate the sports with Music, Skill, Dance and cherish the memories.

DH Headline "Bhopal's Second Disaster"

"Bhopal's Second Disaster", Deccan Herald's headline captured it all, you could not have read, heard anything better as a headline for the injustice that poured and tore the nation through poisonous gas leaked 25 years ago.

The difference between Kasab and Keshab is that, one is with the gun, the other is without, both killed. The tragedy at Bhopal is no less than a the Mumbai attack. It also represents the legal system that we have, where for mass murder, the punishment and the penalty is negligible.

Media coverage of the judgement and analysis is so poor that they seem all doctored and all of the print and broadcast media seem to have a agenda other than serving a cause. Hello TRP are you listening?

I recall a prayer and pray, oh God, "Let my country awake".

BCCI-Not sending Team for Asiad Games in China

The sixteenth Asian Games also known as the XVI Asiad is to be held in Guangzhou in China from November 12 to 27 this year. There are about forty-two events scheduled for this edition of the Asian Games including Cricket. The Board of Cricket Control of India is not sending a team to participate in the Asian Games stating reasons of international commitments. BCCI has done a lot for Cricket in India and also the organized way in which the commercials have been managed, also the way in which they have built spectacle around the sport is worth emulating for any sport.

The fact is that BCCI has benefited itself, the consumer product companies, broadcasters to a large extent, players, state boards, event management companies, a host of administrators and managers. Once in a way there is an opportunity to represent the country in true sense to win a gold medal, a national pride, such an opportunity is given away by BCCI.

1. Firstly does the team represent India or BCCI?
2. The fact is that BCCI is an independent body, not answerable to any direct constitutional authority of India, not under Sports Authority of India but wields more power and has loads of money.
3. BCCI is under ICC, which is headquartered now in Dubai. Why Dubai?
4. BCCI signs up contracts for playing or broadcasting with only profit as the sole motto. Suppose, Cricket is to be represented at Commonwealth games as happened in 1998, BCCI may or not send the team or send a second class team to represent India, now for Asian Games
5. The broadcasting rights of India matches rake huge sums, as the viewership for Cricket is highest in the World.
6. The sports culture in India is driven by Idol worship
7. The idol makes the money and the dependent bodies make money, if the idol has huge crowd pull.
8. The sports persons are pulled by Advertisers, sponsors for monetizing this idol worship.
9. The players, managers, coach are all under BCCI contracts, which pays them the money, obtained through broadcasting, stadia rights etc.
10. When Packer of Australia went on to create what we call as one-day format, the existing bodies of cricket made hue and cry of it.
11. The channel which gets the broadcasting rights will try to maximize revenues through key matches which pull maximum viewership (India,Pakistan, Bangladesh, Srilanka).
12. The channel may find other channels buying coverage in winning countries or extension of footprint in that country, Eg., Sony may soon have maximum footprint advantage in Bangladesh.
13. The other sports channels, who do not get broadcasting rights of the key tournaments, start/create similar tournaments with different sponsors, ICC Trophy, Champions Trophy, 20-20, IPL, Tri-series are all examples of such tournaments.
14. Nearly 80% of the cable and satellite homes would have watched India, Pakistan, if these countries had entered the entered the Super-8 stage. Nearly 4 times of the highest TRP ratings for any programme on television.
15. The premium charged for Super-8 matches if India and Pakistan played would have been 100% by channel.
16. The stakes are very high for the broadcasting channels after buying the rights to maximize the advertisement airtime.
17. The competition who failed to obtain broadcasting rights could be “Spoil-Sport” in many cases, in winning or losing matches of key countries, where viewer ship is high.

News-Views-FFWDs

There were couple of tragedies that took place during the past few months. Not that these tragedies were totally new, unexpected. Of these tragedies, if someone were to plot occurrence, type, people injured, deaths etc, only the place, type, number of people injured/deaths changed. Tragedies did happen.

How do we respond to tragedies, we heard, learnt, we are shocked, we react. Online, we pass it on, at times, we respond online. Our online sharing of news, images are akin to sharing jokes without the humor to our network.

Our sensuousness and responses to human tragedies have to do with awareness, capture, leading the capture, share the creation with network of friends and colleagues. There are also petitioners creating signature malas to be sent to President of America and to the President of India etc. The system grudged ones keep doing this many times, some have caught the fancy of forwarding them all the time to everyone their mailbox has access to. The chain of these email malas, are many many times longer than our queues of people waiting for their turns to vote. I wonder, if any/some of these messages/petitions really reached their addressed and desired destinations (I don't mean the email id collectors).

Have we got into "Online and Not Available for Action" (ONAA) syndrome, Have the mobiles, our screens robbed our actionable selves. Have we misunderstood that being online and spreading message is action.

In corporate, my recent interaction with my colleague and noted that in his "TTD" Things To Do list, most items were about mailing someone, few with work done status. The FFWDs, Fast Forward, button is fast becoming "Action Item".

We will keep getting news about some tragedy like pedestrian loosing his/her life by vehicle accident. The reason is the honking was unheard as the earplugs were on, or the focus was on hearing conversation on the mobile. What changes us, does it? Do we warn our co-passengers/friend to turn off his mobile while driving. Our social caution antenna has better reception than out risk aversion. Some may affect us, some pass on as news item, through newspapers, TV replays/repeat telecasts.

We live, enjoy being a social animal and saying "not my turn yet". I enjoyed a ride one day along side a friend, who had couple of drinks more than permitted by law. He happily said, "I enjoy driving after a drink and am better". Quick to add was another friend in similar state, who agreed and said from back seat, "I am never drunk, so driving is not a problem, Can I".

Another FFWD item in the making.

Recalling Breaks

My career has had a few ups and downs, I started to work for a company in Pune, soon after my MBA, within a year, I had to move towards Karnataka to manage a domestic responsibility. I loved the job, the company, the people around and the challenges I faced during my first few months. the next job was with a small company in Belgaum, started manufacturing few months before I joined. I was the only sales/marketing person, visit the market each day with the hope to close a deal. I soon realised, I learnt a good deal from the customers, their kind appreciations working like a booster. There after I joined Deccan Herald, was with the newspaper group for almost a decade with different responsibilities.

After 20 years of working, I am revisiting the career breaks that I had, the first was soon after my degree, I started tuition classes for PU students teaching Mathematics at Ranibennur. Why did I choose to teach and that too mathematics is a real question. I intended to clear my backlog of maths paper of BSc and also appear for IAS prelims with Maths as my elective. Two extremes targets with single bullet. I was 22 then, Is this why the situation is called catch 22? I would not budge, I had made it clear to my family that I will take one of the three education/career choices. Pursue CA or MBA or IAS, why? because no one in my native place Hirekerur taluk had done these. This information was tracked by me from the time, I was in PUC, when a tahasildar on probation deputed to Hirekerur told me about it. I repeatedly kept asking some of the people and I learnt that BE,MBBS, BSc(Agri) are the most chased streams of study. BCom was evolving as another one, but none at CA, IAS or MBA yet. Few of the good educated people in Hirekerur at that point of time, who were generally considered good counsels advised me to pursue BEd, why, Teaching had already become my family profession, with my mother, 2 sisters and a brother as teachers. They wondered what MBA is all about, Is it BA or MA or something in between, why have anybody not done it till date, then it may not be good and you may not find a job with that degree. I stopped all and any explanation to anyone, I was adamant, arrogant, anyway, I was considered as cynical. I got some GMAT test paper book from Dharwar, when I visited there to appear for IAS prelims. Finally, I was on the moon, when my results of my MBA results were known. I joined MBA at the University of Pune. This break is one that was taken at a time, when I had a good secure income, good respect in town being a teacher and of being in my native place. Was the break required, why did I break the secure zone to pursue MBA, I was possessed to get there.

Sriram Beldona was one strong reason to be there. Sriram Beldona was my classmate in BSc days, very well disciplined, organised, far more mature for his age perhaps 20 at the time, more like an officer amongst the unorganized student community. Walking encyclopedia, Sharp wit, good humor and alas organised with every step of his journey to the classroom from gymakhana stairs, where we played chess. Sriram persued his MBA from Kausali Institute of Management Studies at Karnatak University Dharwar, later did his PhD in the USA, is currently Chair person and Associate Professor of Management at the Brynt University. Sriram has a strong sense of purpose and goal clarity from the time I have known him, which is now 30 years. I am thankful and am proud to be motivated by him amongst many others, whose life he would have changed

Online Silence

It is hard to keep silent, when you are online, yet, at times silence helps. Virtual speakers, virtual audiences, socially averse, publicity shy, people with only participative observational intent participate in the online forums, chatrooms, discussions. Some of the participants have the eagerness to express in words, while some silently observe. The topic of discussion here is about the silence of the vast majority of silent participants, who are participants and do not voice their point of view. My recent survey with people who chat regularly, have mentioned that they enjoy part of the discussion, look forward to certain parts of the conversation, which catches their interest. The rest of the conversation which does no interest them is taken as the bad part that comes with the good. Chatters often find it difficult to answer a query or a question posed online during a chat. Online silence refers to "not saying anything", it could also mean, saying something, which has no meaning, or postponement of the conversation by changing the way in which the conversation is discontinued or anything that could mean there is a response but may not be the desired.

“Blessed is the man who, having nothing to say, abstains from giving in words evidence of the fact.”
George Eliot

Our response mechanism will at its best, as online means there is no confrntation face -to-face, the lack of direct confrontation also encourages the online communication. The concealed identity encourges the flow of communication. Most respondents said, they will go silent, if there is an invasion of privacy, it was evident in case of female respondents.

Respondents used creative ways to keep the conversation going, yet get away from saying some thing. Smileys, other pictorial responses were used to convey rather than saying in words. Some responded by turning of, logging out when they desired to be silent during an online conversation. Some faked ignorance, being dumb to saying something.

In a group forum, the silent majority is observant, tolerant, intelligent, knowledge savvy, as expressive as the other part, just refrains to voice out. The fact that human expectations are much to the appreciation, the vast majority tends to do the positive by appreciating, lauding efforts of another, not usually a shock statement.
The desire to cast their power over, some express as their hard truth, much which belongs to the ego rather than the truth itself. There are witty, thoughtful, wordy, judgmental, responses mostly seeking an identity.