Bottling Up

Champagne bottles are aesthetically made; their appearance is great but taste like spoiled pepper water. No wonder in parties people open them not for drinking but to pour it over other people. Indian cricket team followed this ritual after winning world cup, and it perfectly make sense. My favorite drink is vodka, since once upon a time I was a communist and I like to keep some connection with Russia, at least in drinking.

It is good to bottle up alcohol and wine in magnificently prepared bottle, but bottling up emotion is a dangerous habit. If one does not learn to let out irritation and heart burns at regular and appropriate intervals, he may end up exploding at wrong time for any minor reason. This not only embarrasses oneself and creates guilt feeling; it also could harm the innocent bystander who is trying to joke with you.

I am not saying that you need to shout at people every time someone annoys you. But constructively express your disliking. The supreme example is Bertrand Russell.

Once Bertrand Russell entered a club of which he was a member. He kept his umbrella on the stand and joined his friends for the party. When the party was over, as he was leaving, he became aware that someone has taken his umbrella. Immediately he wrote a note saying, “Dear Noble Man, kindly return my umbrella at my house address”. His friend who read the note was surprised and said to Russell, “You are calling a person who has taken your umbrella as a noble man, what is wrong with you?” Russell answered, “Look in this club only gentlemen and noble men are allowed to enter, and a person who takes away other person’s umbrella cannot be a gentleman, that is the reason I addressed him as a noble man”

There is always a way to get things done without exploding and without bottling up your feelings. All you need is something called imagination.

Fair coin

“I have a fair coin. When I tossed it, I got ‘head’ 99 times consistently. What is the probability of getting ‘head’ on the 100^th time when I will toss?”

I asked this question to some of the candidates who came for the interview, invariably everyone answered that the probability of getting 'head' on 100th time is .5

One thing is clear that they did not read the book ‘Black Swan’, because the question was taken from that book. The other thing that is crystal clear is that they are good at statistics but very naive in dealing with the world of grey. They are just blind to the data provided and totally trusting the statement that the coin is fair.

On tossing, if a coin turns up ‘head’ for 99 times consistently then how can that be a fair coin? One has to be a blind believer (another term for a fanatic) to believe that the coin is fair. How can anyone deny the data? Coincidences take place, but to believe that 99 times coincidence has taken place is beyond imagination. Yet not a single one noticed the trap. They took some time and reflected to come up with the answer .5

In the question asked, there are two parts – one is an assumption and the other is the data. Assumption is that the coin is fair, and the data is 99 times it has turned up with ‘head’. We believe the assumption and ignore the data provided. No wonder, any street smart guy is able to take us for a ride time and again, and we too prefer to live in the world of ignorance.

Because questioning assumptions demands not only sharp intelligence but also courage.

Evolution (Effect of Kudankulam visit)

 Long time ago

When a monkey managed

To become a man

        

        ‘Order’ emerged

        ‘Disorder’ multiplied

         Government was formed

         Corruption was glorified

         Gods were created

         Humans were scarified

         Wealth has increased

         Poverty is amplified

Monkeys of the world

Forgive us

For shattering your dreams

Chennai Admission Interview – 2012

Warning: observations are limited only to my experience at Chennai Admission Inerview-2012, scientific conclusion is neither possible nor required.

•  Boys outnumbered girls at an alarming ratio of 9.5 : 0.5. This ratio is much lower than any other previous years. Either girls have seen the meaninglessness (farce) of pursuing MBA studies and they are opting out or boys are becoming smarter and smarter, which is not an encouraging sign from sociological perspective.

•  “I want to be an entrepreneur, not now but eventually, five years down the line” was the readymade answer given by majority of candidates till last year, when they were asked the question, “Why MBA?” This year, for a change they have decided to tell the truth – it is just a career move. When they speak truth they are very charming and convincing.
• 
  
• Almost all candidates have been attending multiple interviews across the country. Considerable amount of money is being spent on travelling alone. Management institutes must come up with a solution to ease their pain. Some were totally exhausted from various interviews and their only concern was – ‘I give a damn whether you select or not, just stop asking questions and let me go.’

Interview 2012 (Fishing from the Fish-Tank)

Admission interview has begun for the management institutes. I went to Bangalore for the same. My preliminary observation is that over 95% of students are from engineering background. And over 95% of engineering graduates were from one of the following branches: Computer Science, Information System / Communication and Electrical/Electronic or both. And the overwhelming number of students is with work experience. Infosys, TCS and Cognizance dominate the list. This is the classical case of fishing from the fish-tank. Looks like either younger generation is very eager to leave these companies or they have the best of talents who could crack entrance examination.

This information is regarding Bangalore only, that too only about the first five days. If the situation is similar in all cities and all centers, then even God can’t help us –homogeneous group lead to one line of thought and action, and engulf itself with one kind of discussion and conclusion. Already engineering students dominate the management institutes, and now it is going to be specific branches of engineering students who are going to rule the circus.

People are already analyzing the data and coming with several interpretations. Following are some of the hypothetical propositions, they can be totally wrong:

1.  Software engineers are very soft and coding for years is driving them crazy and they are cracking, as a result they end up cracking admission tests too.
2. Seven years ago the best of the lot went into to these branches of engineering, so it is a natural outcome.
3. Software engineers have more free times in comparison with others and so they spend more time for the preparation.
4.  XAT and CAT are designed to suit students with engineering background.

Whatever may be the reason, the outcome can’t be changed. Postmortem doe s not give much kick for me. When something is inevitable, we need to celebrate it by embracing it (one more reason to hit the bottle).

When I was a student, it was less than 30% who came with engineering degree for personal management and little more for the business management programs, lot more was with science, art and commerce degrees. As the world being increasingly dominated by machines, engineers started dominating the schools of management.

For an expert with hammer, everything will look like nail, for experts in engineering; everything is going to be either nuts and bolts or zeroes and ones.

Life is going to be boring for sure in the coming years and I am contemplating on taking sabbatical. Where to go? and what to do?  still remain  mysteries