People@mindspace

I have decided to pass up jotting down only the major life events that I usually do in my posts for a weekly random update about activities that you may not find as idiotic as you would have earlier. Here, I list down a random profile of some of the people/organization/events who have impacted me this week in some way or the other.In fact, most of 'em have been a part of my Hippocampus for some while now. However, this list is by no means exhaustive.

Tim Berners Lee-the man who invented the World wide web(www) is someone me and everyone who says 'digital' should revere. Its only because of him that Dell computers is able to transact with its customers and build up its competitive advantage,Amazon.com work the way it does , people like me are able to apply online for a job in this deadly downturn,enable me to take pride in my googlability,peep into others' profiles via Facebook and orkut,put to exercise my eyeballs watching evrything from mimicry to songs to funny animal videos on Youtube among other trivial things .

Sachin Tendulkar & Brian Lara-the first one for combining everything the best batsman in the world should have -technique, consistency and records as a token of symbolism to make the commentators yap endlessly on them rather than on his cricketing prowess. The latter because in the 16-17 years I have spent watching and playing the game , I have nt seen any other guy who has the ingenuity to showcase 3-4 spectacular shots for a particular ball. Like almost evry Indian who views himself as an armchair Indian team member, I have contemplated very seriously about who's better, often ending up with never -to-be repaired fights with my friends. Employing subjective methods like Analytical absolutism,(Characteristics - good player) did not in any way alter the result of the slugfest either!!

Nokia-Even though this is an organizational entity, I admire its ability to reap scale economies (thus lessen the prices we pay for a mobile ) and expand to geographies that has helped change the way we communicate.The mobile phone today is more ubiquitous than a bathing soap!! I found that to my amazement when I visited Indian villages as part of my internship project.They unwittingly( to marketers of soap) had more reasons to offer for using a mobile phone than a soap which according to them did nothing to enhance their business and social productivity. I have always been a person with a very low gratitude quotient; so it becomes rather difficult for me to think of all those who have affected my daily life profoundly.

Indian financial sector liberalization (1991-92): Oxymoronic as it may sound, the economic liberalization has made me a captive of the subject of Economics all through my graduation and a bit into my Post grad.An appreciation for the pathbreaking usage of the grey cells displayed by the then government makes me often wonder about the aptness of Dr. Singh as our PM. Blame the General elections and the vitriolic statements by the Opposition party for such a thought entering my otherwise ignorant mind space.

I ve so much more to write!!

Sir Richard Branson-irreverent,outre,unconventional,rebellious,disruptive are not the traits that one would associate with this man but to the various companies he has a stake in. Starting off his business intitiative with what we say is a 'back of the napkin' business model , the man has successfully managed to consume a fair share of time in my Strategy class that was based on Leadership styles. He radically altered the '3-6-3 model' that had till then characterized firms in various sectors.

Deepak Chopra-I admire his ability to transcend from being a specialist in internal medicine (Graduated from the hallowed portals of the AIIMS, Delhi)to becoming a staunch advocate of the connection between the mind and the body.Being quagmire-d in the illusions of the material world and what it has on offer , I like the many other ordinary mortals find it a bit tough to put to test what all the man has to say.But must say that he makes it sound simpler than most others do.



Mark Twain-Samuel Langhorne Clemens is one of my fav humorists. He seemed to have had the immense ability to combine philosophy of life's travails and dealings with a generous and heady mix of humour. The following are the ones that I manage to remember jogging down my quotation storehouse and are unfortunately by no means philosophical and probably not that funny. Sample these: "Get your facts right n then you can distort them as much as you please". "Concerning the difference between man and the jackass : some observers hold that there is nt any. But this wrongs the jackass." " I have never let my schooling interfere with my education."

Arun Jaitley and P.Chidambaram : Two of the very few politicians I admire . Their ability to stand tall amidst the ever penetrating Papparazzi (the Indian Media sure is graduating towards becoming one) and their ability to float statistics liberally to augment their speeches.Their lawyering background certainly does help. Which makes me wonder whether its a logical progression for lawyers to move to being politicians ? I can count at least 7-8 of em among the two major national parties. Oratorical skills do help but not more than working with and for the mass. We see Advani challenge his incumbent counterpart for a debate with the Congress admitting the lack of penchant of the latter to engage in one. Somebody tell them : We'd wish a Obama too!! But that is a different debate altogether !!!The context and the structure as they say is crucial to solving this . Some other day some other time. CHAO!!