King Corn - Documentary

Couple of days back, I had a chance to watch the documentary, King Corn thru NetFlix “watch instantly” option. BTW – this worked very well. There was no disturbance/buffering when I watched it; it also “remembers" where I left when I resumed viewing in a different machine.

This movie is produced by 2 college grads – Ian Cheney and Curtis Ellis - alarmed by the obesity epidemic and ubiquitous presence of corn in almost all processed foods, they move from Boston, MA to Greene, Iowa to grow and farm an acre of corn. During this period, they try to trace the corn from fields to the food system and come across many troubling questions about how and what we eat.

Though the farming aspect of the film is slightly boring, the film makers have captured the viewer’s interest by graphically presenting the data on where the “manufactured” corn goes – to sweetener industry for High fructose corn syrup, to feed lots for cows and chickens for fattening etc. America has moved from small farm owners to big corporation thanks to the technology improvement in farming practices. For example, the movie shows/says that an acre of land takes about just 18 minutes to plant corn seeds. Corn yield per acre in 1970 was 86 Bushels whereas in 2007 - 180. Technological improvements in the farm yield, is direct result of farm subsidies (introduced thru the farm bill (1973) by Earl Butz) which makes farming corn a profitable one. This farm bill was instrumental in making the food cheaper and resulting in more disposable income available to amercian families.

If you take McDonald's meal, you don't realize it when you eat it, but you're eating corn. Beef has been corn-fed, Soda is corn. Even the French fries. Half of the calories in the French fries come from the fat they're fried in, which is liable to be either corn or soy oil. Everything in your plate is corn. - Michael Pollan, UC Berkeley, in King Corn

The upside of the farm bill is - food became cheaper and made americans to spend just 10% of their income on food in 2009 (from 22% in 1949) - one of the lowest in the world. Industrialization of food also made food available throughout the year. Politically, a noble and a electorally powerful goal too.

The reductions in cost and year round availability of food - took its toll on human health. All animals (cows, pigs, chickens) are made to eat just corn, because corn is made cheaper thru subsidies. These animals are not evolved to eat grains 100% (including humans, of course, but that is for a different day).

To quote from natural news on the effects of forced grain feeding for animals, "Ruminant cattle, like cows and sheep, possess a special digestive system in which grasses are converted into digestible nutrients. Unlike humans who are unable to properly assimilate grasses and their nutrients, these animals are able to convert the plant cellulose into protein and fats. The result is a meat composition of roughly a 1:1 ratio of omega-3 to omega-6 fatty acids with omega-3 dominating slightly.

Grains, disturbs the cow's digestive system that, unless done gradually, can kill the animal. "Feedlot bloat", a term used to describe the buildup of trapped gas in the rumen of the animal, is the primary reason why feedlot cattle must be fed antibiotics and hormones in order to keep them alive. Their digestive systems are unable to process the immense amounts of starch in their feed, turning their pH from neutral to acid and causing them to contract a myriad of diseases".

The health impact for humans are also discussed in the movie; Whether the corn gets to sweetener industry for High Fructose Corn Syrup or it gets to the cows/chicken/pigs as food – everything comes to us in the form of milk/yogurt/jelly/soda/bread/meat – what we consume. And it changes the human metabolism considerably causing life style diseases including Type II Diabetes and heart disease.

All in all, worth watching documentary and take an informed decision on what to consume.

Pink Floyd

I am not a great fan of Pink Floyd. Yes, like everyone who grew up in the 80s, I have listened to the Another Brick in the Wall and loved the video and applauded what the song and video stood for. Otherwise I go for something that is a bit on the milder side.

Recently, fortunately, came across a couple of songs from Pink Floyd and the lyrics just blew my mind away. The band is known for its great lyrics and like any great art form, the interpretation is usually left to us.

Time

For me, these lines are biographical, my biography! Probably, yours too! When I was young, just wasted all the time waiting for someone to show me the way and now I am always chasing something or the other, in the meanwhile Time is just slipping away.

Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day
You fritter and waste the hours in an offhand way
Kicking around on a piece of ground in your home town
Waiting for someone or something to show you the way
Tired of lying in the sunshine
Staying home to watch the rain
And you are young and life is long
And there is time to kill today
And then one day you find
Ten years have got behind you
No one told you when to run
You missed the starting gun
And you run, and you run to catch up with the sun, but it's sinking
Racing around to come up behind you again
The sun is the same in a relative way, but you're older
Shorter of breath and one day closer to death
Every year is getting shorter
Never seem to find the time
Plans that either come to nought
Or half a page of scribbled lines
Hanging on in quiet desparation is the English way
The time is gone
The song is over

Wish you were here

This song is said to a tribute to Syd Barrett, one of the original members and a genius, who had a mental breakdown possibly due to heavy drug usage. You can, of course, interpret this in many ways and relate it to your relationship with someone. Wonderful guitar solo.

How I wish, how I wish you were here
We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl
Year after year
Running over the same old ground
What have we found?
The same old fears
Wish you were here

Track your Plaque - Book Review

How often do we come across news wherein a friend or a relative suffered a heart attack and had to die all of a sudden?

Do you know that the conventional tests (HDL, LDL, Triglycerides, Total Cholesterol, Treadmill test) for assessing whether a person has a risk for future heart attack are woefully inadequate? Meaning, even after all the above are performed on time (with results are considered normal range) – still that person can experience a fatal/non fatal heart attack?

Very often we hear that an apparently otherwise healthy individual suffering from heart disease had to undergo bypass surgery or had to operate with stents etc.

If you want to find answers for this and to educate how to protect yourself – you have to read Track your Plaque book. Dr. William Davis addresses heart disease and what causes heart attacks, how we can identify the risk one has against heart disease, how we can improve upon those parameters through life style changes, diet and medicines.

Why this book? Don’t we have hospitals for cardiovascular care and incase if someone has heart disease – he/she can get better treatment in the hospital, why read this book and make changes to life style among other things?

From Dr Davis's own words - Cardiac care is big business. As a nation, US spent $59 billion on cardiovascular care per year (American Heart Association, 2002). Annual hospital revenues for bypass surgery total $25 billion. Thirty percent of hospital revenues and 50% of profits are from cardiac care. Heart care to a hospital is like the Accord is to Honda, or Windows is to Microsoft—it’s a hot seller.

We live in an age when hospitals measure their success by the number of coronary bypass surgeries they perform. Incredibly, it is still easier to get a bypass operation than it is to get good information on heart disease prevention. There are even billboards on the highways advertising bypass surgery.

Second – this book explains that plaque take decades to grow (for most people) in the arteries and by taking right steps and actions at the right time (not when taken to ER) – we can successfully regress it. This is not big money to you or for the hospital. You can achieve this at much lesser cost than a bypass or an operation involving stents etc. So hospitals are not going to be advertising preventative things to you and me over TV and media. There is no money for them in this. It is your responsibility to protect yourself.

This book explains that - non-invasive 10 min scanning of the arteries for calcium deposits using an Electron Beam Tomography (EBT) Scanner. Based on the scan results, the cardiologist will assign a risk score to the patient, and will order additional blood tests least of which is LDL, HDL, triglycerides and Total cholesterol. Not that they are not important. There are more “definitive” tests that can/need to be done today and identify our current state of Cardio parameters rather than relying on the same old LDL, HDL and triglycerides. A good result in LDL, HDL test does not mean that one is not going to have heart attack.

Based on those results – the patient can work with the Doctor and identify what needs to be done for improving the odds.

One thing I wanted to mention – in the changes that need to be done to improve health - food/fats – the Dr and the author Dr. William Davis argues against saturated fat. He castigates that saturated fat is unhealthy and is not required for the body. In fact it is just the opposite. Second he also says you can consume Canola oil which I do not agree. Vegetable oils (Corn oil, cottonseed, rapeseed etc) are a menace and humans are not evolved to consume that in industrial quantities, which we do . Third he also mentioned that Oat bran can be consumed – I am against it. Oats raise blood sugar and it cannot be good for anyone’s health including Cardio parameters. Recently William Davis wrote in his blog that he has changed his mind on Oats.

Dr. William Davis also runs a program called Track your Plaque. All of the concepts explained in the book – you can also have it done thru this program.

The key takeaway is - artery plaques can be identified in humans using non-invasive techniques, additional blood tests will need to be done to identify what caused the plaque, adopt life style including medicines, supplements and diet and you can regress the plaque.

A must read for anyone who is interested in staying healthy and not wanting to give a surprise to oneself or family.

The Prestige

Nolan brothers make movies that respect the intelligence of the audience and even challenge the viewers to look beyond the ordinary. I watched 'The Prestige' last week and was thrilled to find that this movie was no exception.

'The Prestige' revolves around the rivalry between two stage magicians during the early 20th century in London. The rivalry turns into obsession for an ultimate illusion and both men pay a heavy price in the bargain. The movie has wonderful twists and turns and will keep the viewer guessing. Even after a week, I am going back to the movie again and again as I recollect the hints the director left here and there.

The movie adopts a typical Nolan brother's non-linear style of story telling and goes back and forth. 'The Prestige' weaves reality in the story, by bringing in the character of Tesla and his legendary struggle with Edison, the rivalry between these two real life giants run parallel (at least for a while), to the rivalry of the reel magicians. (Tesla worked with Edi­son dur­ing his early years as a scientist, but split and worked against him after a bit­ter fight. Edi­son was a mean and manip­u­la­tive sci­en­tist; they were fight­ing for the stan­dard­iza­tion of cur­rent, Edi­son for DC and Tesla for AC; their fights were leg­endary. The pop­u­lar­ity of AC today proves who won the “cur­rent wars”:-))

The cast includes Hugh Jackman and, Christian Bale as Robert Angier and Alfred Borden - the obsessed magicians, and David Bowie as Nikola Tesla. It also stars Michael Caine as Cutter the stage engineer, who designs and manages the illusions from behind the scenes, Scarlett Johansson as the attractive stage assistant, at her seductive best, who falls in love with Borden. Although all the actors have given their best; watch out for Michale Caine as he weaves his magic yet again and proves that he is the master, even at the ripe age of 76.

Watch 'The Prestige' to appreciate the craft of story telling and for Caine's performance and "watch it closely".

Read Toto's review here

Black Swan

I was watching this program on a business channel last week (I rarely commit such a sin, but it was one of those days) the program was on: "How markets will behave in 2010", with great dismay I watch an expert talk (with great authority) that the market will cross 20k in 2010. The market will need a lot of Bull (pun intended) to cross 20k, the man was doing his bit. I am sure you have the same feeling of dismay while you switch to one of those news channels and hear the pundits predict a poll outcome.

I have seen the head of sales and marketing of my company make a series of calls to his contacts at critical client organizations and conclude and report back that we are not going to be severely affected by the slowdown, of course he was wrong, we were not spared and neither were our clients (this was in 2000 - 01). We have seen this happen over and over again, especially in the current globalized economy, Chaos Theory rules. A butterfly flap in New York will crash (or push up) the markets in Tokyo. We have seen many predictions and decisions based on past data/experience going awry in business and in our day to day life. This is the theme of Black Swan, a multimillion copy seller by Nassim Nicholas Taleb.

Nassim Nicholas Taleb is an extremely complex character, he is the grandson and great grandson of former deputy prime ministers of Lebanon (his grandfather and his great grandfather were both deputy prime ministers of Lebanon), he is a mathematician who prefers to call himself a philosopher, had a short career as a trader and investment banker in many leading banks (although, he is very skeptical about the many models used for trading). Later he started Empirica a hedge fund that trades in options and then retired from trading in 2004 (he continues to be an adviser for Empirica) and incidentally Empirica made a few billions during the recent market crash. He is a distinguished professor and of course he is the author of hugely successful books, Fooled by Randomness and later Black Swan. He has sold more than 2.7 million copies in some 31 languages. He never watches television and never reads newspaper! Hope I covered the many facets of Taleb. Here is a write up by Malcolm Gladwell on Taleb (this write up is also a part of the new book by Gladwell titled "What the Dog Saw").

Taleb strongly believes (and I would agree) that we lack the ability to predict events that are rare but have great impact, he states that there is no difference between the person in a position of power ( A deputy prime minister of Lebanon) and his car driver when it comes to knowing the way events are going to play out. Both believed that the Lebanon war would end soon, but it took 15 years when you look at most of our ministers you would readily agree. The difference is that the qualified think that they have some privileged info and the unqualified does not think so and puts the burden on fate/God.

Taleb talks about Inductive Reasoning and why it will fail, the title of the book is a good example of inductive reasoning. Let me explain, since people in Europe had never seen a black swan, they thought all swans were white. In fact there used to be a terms about Black Swans that people used when they wanted to refer something improbable (I would rather see a black swan before I see you coming on time!) and the sighting of a single black swan in Australia blew away the belief held for centuries. Inductive reasoning is generalization, we tend to generalize with specific set of (past) data and when this generalization proves to be wrong, it is often with disastrous results. Mike Gatting had seen many spinners before and Australia is not a country that has produced decent spinners in the past (Rajan to confirm). He would have thought that this is yet another bloke from down under and this first Warne delivery against England (known as the Ball of the Century or the Gatting Ball) was a complete Black Swan, the look on Gatting’s face was priceless.

Black Swans can bring good fortune too; the explosion of IT in India is a Black Swan - at least for the many graduates who passed out after 1991.

Black Swan events are random, hard to predict and rare events that create high-impact (Outliers). Taleb, defines black swans as below:
1. Hard to predict (based on historical information)
2. Has disastrous effect
3. Explained after the occurrence of the event by experts.

This has not been an easy book for me... but it is entertaining never the less and been an information overload and introduced many useful terms for sure : platonicity, narrative fallacy, modernistan, falsifiability; to name a few). I found the style to be contentions, probably a bit too aggressive and egoistic. The (repeated) digs he has at the cost of many economists and statisticians are at times in poor taste, so are his digs at the French.

Taleb also gives 10 points/principles to a Black Swan proof world, can be read here with description. Giving below some that I liked a lot:

• No socialization of losses and privatization of gains.
• People who were driving a school bus blindfolded (and crashed it) should never be given a new bus.
• Counter-balance complexity with simplicity.
• Do not give children sticks of dynamite, even if they come with a warning .
• Only Ponzi schemes should depend on confidence. Governments should never need to “restore confidence”.

In our everyday life we come across many Black Swan events and hence it is important to approach each day with a fresh perspective and leave behind preconceived notions.

Try this (from the book):
All Snoogles are Boogles.
You see a Boogle.
Is that a Snoogle?

Spend a minute and you will get it. I tried this on my daughter and explained here the logic and it was an interesting experience, she thought that I had finally gone crazy completely:-)

The answer is 'may be'.

Rajiv Kolai Vazhakku - NHM's new book

Ordered the book online – “Rajiv Kolai Vazhakku” (Rajiv assassination case) authored by Mr Ragothaman – Chief Investigating officer of Special Investigation Team (SIT). Kizhakku Pathippagam has published this book too. (pages 227, Rs 100).

I was interested in this book for 3 reasons. First, this incident happened right around our graduation years where we can understand and analyze (and discuss endlessly!) the social, political situation that lead to this (unlike Mahatma’s where we have to go by books or hearsay), Second this happened right in Tamil Nadu, third being Rajiv was former Indian Premier and had all chances of bouncing back in that elections to power. Other than that I am not a Cong sympathizer and hence do not believe that Rajiv would have ushered in Raama Raajyam.

So, back to book. I received the book one afternoon and started reading it casually. Could not stop in between and completed it in one shot. Wonderfully written book. The author has narrated the investigation process from the beginning till its end.

The book explains step by step how the SIT started with just Haribabu (photographer) camera, his employer Suba Sundaram’s denial that Haribabu was not employed with him, Haribabu’s Mom’s doubtful behavior before the investigation team, his Dad’s body language – conveying that he wanted to share information but holding back because of his wife’s presence etc. From there, the book travels to Baghyanathan (Nalini’s brother), other LTTE functionaries and by implicating Pottu Ammaan and Prabhakaran and finally also explains why SIT team was waiting outside Sivarasan’s hideout in Bangalore with no meaningful action.

The book details the motive behind - why LTTE wanted to kill Rajiv and cites evidence towards that end. And also implies that this is not the work of any other group(s) or individuals.

3 assassinations have happened in India since Independence. Mahatma, Indira and Rajiv. Time has taught that we (Indians) lost Mahatma due to sheer irresponsibility. The powers that be at that time, felt that no one will kill Mahatma and hence the security was very lax and finally we paid the price. The same thing happened in Indira’s case also. The book says that in the senior Intelligence officers meet it was decided to remove all Sikhs who was employed to provide Indira’s security. One of the affected police guy went and cried before R K Dhawan and he rolled back the order. We know the result.

The book talks of ineffective security and a general lax attitude when Rajiv made his last trip. Rajiv flew in from AP that day and his copter was delayed by 2 hours. None of the policemen involved in providing security at Chennai were aware of the delay whereas Sivarasan was aware that Rajiv is arriving late by 2 hours. When CBI enquired with a Sub Inspector (in charge of recording and allowing who is permitted to garland Rajiv) – Inspector had recorded names in a piece of paper he picked from the floor. It did not carry any additional information about people seeking to garland the leader.

Secondly, the author talks of his anxiety in not allowing CBI to investigate the political leaders. Even when CBI had many reasons to suspect that some of the prominent TN leaders had prior information of the assassination, they were not allowed to enquire any of the politicians. The book details the reasons for suspicion and raises many questions in the readers mind.

Thirdly, the coordination between RAW, IB, CBI and Jain Commission etc. The author has explained that instead of working together, these agencies were at loggerheads helping the common enemy. (Apparently, the then RAW chief kept stating, LTTE did not commit this crime and hence that angle should not be probed at all).

On the whole, I agree with the author that we need to know the truth and what happened during those days. For those inclined to know about the Rajiv assassination case, I would recommend to read this book.

Notes from a School Visit

Like many things in life, I was neither in the front bench nor was I a last bencher in the school, probably because of this; I don't remember an instance when my parents had to come to school to meet the teachers - for good or bad. This being the case, I find it strange to drag myself to my daughter's school every quarter to meet her class teacher and that too on a Saturday. Now, don't get me wrong, I love the overall experience, only find it strange!

The D-day starts with some instructions by my daughter on what to say and what not to say to the teacher. She is not required to be with me during the interview and hence, quite naturally, she is worried. I drive down to the school, and reach a spot a couple of kms before the school. The road gets choked after this point with the many hundred parents and their cars. We are guided to a parking lot and shuttles run from the lot to the school. For someone who has always used the public transport for commute to school, (Running a fleet of buses was never a priority for most of the schools in the 70s and 80s) and hence never traveled in a school bus, I enjoy the short ride despite the inconvenience of fitting into a seat which is obviously not designed for elders. Luckily the distance is short and I walk out with just a couple of cramps.

The most difficult part starts now; there is a long queue outside every classroom, eager parents line up to meet the teachers; with great reluctance I join the line and start to twiddle my fingers and keep shifting my weight from one leg to another. I wonder what these parents have to discuss for so long. My question is answered soon, as I enter the class room and a couple discussing with great eagerness the progress of their kid who is in the 5th standard (my turn is next, hence allowed in the classroom -much like the guy in a wedding dining hall, who wants to occupy your seat for the next round and stands behind you as you are in the last course of your meal, nudging ever so lightly). I could strain a bit and hear the parents talking to the teacher about the kid and I could hear that the teacher suggesting professional help for the kid to help him cope with the class and the social environment it provides and primarily to hold his attention when something remotely related to studies happens at the class – thankfully students are not required at these meetings.

My turn is on and I just breeze in, collect the report, thank the teacher for making my daughter wanting to come to the school every day, sign a couple of sheets and walk out -All in about 2 mins. This stuns many parents who are waiting outside and must think that I am an irresponsible father having scant interest in my daughter’s progress, but I guess the teacher is very pleased to see the back of a parent so fast. My daughter will be happy that I did not mess up.

I look at the grade sheet, and I am amazed, the sheet has some four pages (A4 size) and has close to some 60 line items, this is much more complicated than the appraisal system at my office (believe me, our appraisal system ‘IS’ complicated). For a 10 year old at the 5th standard, first term result -this is too much. My 10th mark sheet had 5 line items for 5 subjects, those were the days.

I wander around the school and this is my favorite part. Even though kids are not required to be in the school, there are still many children running around at about 100 kms per hour and are quite oblivious about the great struggle the elders have to take to guide them to a brave new world. A world of great vanity and make believe. They seem to understand what the grand master Chaplin once said: In the end, everything is a gag.

China - Vilagum Thirai - A Book Review

Recently I read this book – “China – Vilagum Thirai”. This is the translation of the much acclaimed book 'Smoke and Mirrors' by Pallavi Aiyar. This is translated (in Tamil) by Raman Raja and Kizhakku Pathippagam has published this book (Price Rs 200; pages 350).

Pallavi – a journalist, has stayed in China for 5 years and travelled the length and breadth of the country, met different set of people from businessmen to saints, lived in one of the old type settlements (Hudong) in Beijing and mingled with the local people as one among them. This experience gives her the insights normally missed by the standard travellers and their travellogues. This book is more about China in the eyes of an Indian, so it is easy for us to understand about this Marxist Country.

Here are the salient points from this book.

• Though you can see poor people in rural China – they lead a better life compared to similar economically challanged people in India; It is not an exaggeration to say that the Govt of China has made them live a gracious life.
• Govt’s iron hand is visible in all places – people think what Govt wants them to think.
• Apparently Chinese people have a confused sense of patriotism and dissent – they consider dissent is not good – whatsoever and they toe the govt drawn line.
• People cannot settle from villages to cities – they have to obtain inland permit (something like passport called as “Hukou System”) and then move. Else, they will be sent back to their village if caught by the police; this is the reason why they do not have slums in Beijing and in other large cities.
• When a journalist meets a religious head/businessman/professor – a Chinese govt appointed person will follow the journalist. The guest cannot say anything that they think in their mind.
• Any dissent will be viewed seriously by the Govt – they will be arrested and put behind bars
• Ordinary Chinese people are not bothered about the type of work they perform – that is just an avenue to earn a living; they are proud of doing any work.
• Related to this is; there is no caste system in the country – Marxists act tough on religious activities – so no question of caste. This means – a person who is cleaning road/toilet, will not be identified and picked by birth. He may work today cleaning toilets, tomorrow he may be a businessman or something like that. He is not identified by the work he is doing.
• Tibetans resent Chinese interference – but cannot help it – when China sets its eye on Tibet.
• Religious freedom is allowed as long as it does not question/comment/feedback anything the govt does.
• If Govt wants a piece of land – buildings, farm lands will be demolished after issuing notice. Owners will be given a pittance and they cannot go to court.
• Personal productivity of a Chinese labourer is better than Indian labourer.
• Coruption is rampant – but not the type of corruption you see in India but the types you see in the US and other developed countries. If they have to build a bridge – they will build and take some money from that; not like do crappy stuff and swindle all the money.
• Govt encourages businesses big time and people have sort of given up worrying about the govt – they are busy making money. This generation in China is apathetic to politics (like any other country’s younger generation) and they are only bothered about their own growth.
• Lots of foreigners including people from India move there to China and start Yoga schools, work in hotels, buying products wholesale, etc.

The book is an interesting read for anyone who wants to know about China. The book maintains the interest in the reader throughout. One thing is certain – Raman Raja has done a wonderful work translating this book – you do not get a feeling that you are reading a translated book at all.

I recommend this book for anyone who wants to know about China.

Master of the Universe – Carl Sagan

Nov 9, 1934 - Dec 20, 1996

I don’t remember when exactly I got hooked on to Carl Sagan; it was probably in the eighties when I watched his Cosmos for the first time in Doordarshan or probably when I read his book Contact a bit later, I don’t know, but it was an association for life and an association that introduced Science to me (okay, whatever little science I know) and it also introduced skepticism.

Carl Sagan, in many ways is similar to my favorite writer Sujatha, similar in the way they spent a lifetime popularizing science, similar in the way they sowed the seeds of knowledge in a young mind. The difference could be that Sujatha was a writer who was also a man of science; Sagan was a man of science who was also an author. The other difference is, probably Sagan was a skeptic and I guess Sujatha never wavered from his Srirangam upbringing!

Beauty of Sagan’s writings lies not only in the way he simplifies complex theories (which he does very well) but also in the way he inspires and creates a sense of awe in the readers mind, especially the young readers.

I wish we have more science teachers like him (or like Sujatha) in our schools.

Contact is a science fiction by Carl Sagan this was published in 1985 and later made into a movie starring Judy foster and directed by Robert Zemeckis. Given his background as a renowned scientist (astrophysicist), it is not surprising that the book is written with real science as the foundation of the book, unlike many other science fiction books that are full of ‘made up’ science and harbor a gloomy/doomsday outlook.

The protagonist Ellie Arroway (named after Eleanor Roosevelt and Voltaire Arouet) is an Astronomer (the character is very similar to Sagan himself). Ellie is convinced of intelligent life out there in the universe (…I'd say if it is just us... seems like an awful waste of space) and pursues her belief and becomes the director of ‘Project Argus’ that scans (with the help of many Radio Telescopes) the sky for intelligent signals from the cosmos as part of the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI). She does hit the jackpot when the telescopes start picking up a sequence of coded messages coming in from the Vega star system – the first contact from an extraterrestrial intelligence. The message once decoded contains, among other things, a blueprint for building a machine (vehicle). The struggles to building the machine (a multibillion venture) and undertaking the space travel by Ellie are the meat of the book (Ellie travels thru a wormhole to the Vega star some 26 light-years from Earth!).

The culmination of the book indicates a creator of the universe and an intelligent design, which is very surprising (and a bit disappointing) given that Sagan is a confirmed atheist (or at least a skeptic), or is there a different message – honestly I am not so sure. But, I would like to believe that the Creator, Sagan hints at is the collection of many physics and mathematical laws that govern and that are interwoven into the universe and not the Creator as propagated by the many religions. Nevertheless the book is a wonderful read for its scientific accurateness and the awe it can inspire.

The movie by Zemeckis is equally powerful and worth a watch, I will leave the review of the movie to my good friend Toto. Meanwhile you can enjoy the opening sequence of the movie here.

Sagan can make us feel very special (‘we are made of star stuff’')and at the same time make us feel very humble (A vision... of the universe, that tells us, undeniably, how tiny, and insignificant and how... rare, and precious we all are!) But, my all time favorite (and a longish) quote is from

Pale Blue Dot: Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there – on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.
The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves. The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand. It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.

The other book I would recommend is The Demon-Haunted World. This is a great book that advocates Science and fights against the practice of Pseudoscience, right from UFO sightings to religious superstitions. Sagan speaks about the power of reasoning and importance of questioning the many beliefs without bias. The Baloney detection tool kit introduced in this book is a great tool thru which such beliefs are to be passed before accepted. The book does not spare scientist and sets high ethical standards for them. It’s a vast canvas that Sagan paints in this book and what a beauty it turns out to be.

Food Inc - A Review

Though this documentary is more related to the scenario in the US now, since we are opening up to MNCs everywhere, this could be our situation in no time.

Last week I had a chance to watch a documentary titled - Food Inc. The movie is co-produced by Eric Schlosser – author of the book "Fast Food Nation". In many sense, this is a video version of that book.

The documentary’s primary aim is to create awareness among the public and they have traced the food from their plate to its source. The documentary is a journey of the director and the travails he faces in this journey. Today, a curtain is in place between consumers and the “manufactured food”. And certainly, it is not in the interest of the general public.

Never before in the history of mankind, have we had 3 square meals everyday with certainty. Ever since WWII, the administration wanted to keep the food prices down and ensure that food is available in abundance. Favorable government policies on grain farming thru heavy subsidies, technological improvement and questionable practices have ensured year round availability of cheap food. Factory farming concentrates on making every product – faster, fattier and cheaper. Just a handful of companies are controlling our food today – right from seed to supermarket.

There are some unintended consequences of these actions –
1. Healthy calories have become expensive whereas unhealthy calories have become cheaper
2. Manufactured food – “sometimes” have E Coli or Salmonella infection – infecting people.
3. People do not know what they are eating - Genetically modified food does not need labeling
4. Obesity, Type II diabetes have skyrocketed – consume cheap food and pay for the consequences- in effect, the total cost of such food gets higher.

For example – the movie talks of Tomatoes – “plucked when they were green and made to ripen using ethylene gas. So what you see in the supermarket is not a real tomato – it is a notional tomato, an idea of a tomato”.

Since companies do factory farming – problems are being addressed at a micro level without caring about its impact on the health or seeing a big picture. In essence they are not manufacturing a product, they are making food.

For example – Farm subsidies have made grains like wheat, corn, etc very cheap and as a consequence companies that raise (and butcher) hens, cows and pigs, now only feed them corn – only corn. Evolutionarily these animals do not support ONLY grain based diet and hence they become fatter quicker, get infected with bacteria etc. When cows are infected, just feeding grass will make them shed 80% of such bacteria. Instead they are given anti-biotics.

Conventionally, it takes 90 days for a chicken to grow fully, now it takes just 47 days. They have also redesigned the chicken breast and made it larger so that those chickens are not able to withstand their own weight so much so that they do not walk inside the giant smelly barn.

The message is – people should go for organic produce, go buy from regular farmer’s markets and be involved on food access issues etc. Getting people involved can make the food industry change its ways. The tobacco industry was booted decades back like this. What is needed today is awareness about the issues in the food industry and a sentiment among public that is similar to the sentiment towards the tobacco industry.

Bad Science

There are in fact two things, science and opinion; the former begets knowledge, the latter ignorance. - Hippocrates,Greek physician (460 BC - 377 BC)

Last time I went to my doctor (M.B.B.S, M.D, PhD!), he examined me for a while and gave me 2 plastic bottles with green and blue caps and filled with mini white spheres, tasting like sugar (they were sugar globes indeed!). Homeopathy, he said, and gave a set of instructions along with the pills. I dutifully discarded the pills, the instructions and finally the doctor!

In the recent times many forms of alternate medicine has become popular; the most popular of them is probably Homeopathy, so much so that even some general practitioners, like my own doctor, of the so called Allopathy (interestingly the terms Allopathy/ Allopathic medicine were coined by Samuel Hahnemann, the founder of homeopathy and considered derogative!) today prescribe homeopathic pills. In most of the cities, every street has a homeopathic practitioner and a long line of patients waiting outside, not the least worried about the practitioner’s credentials.

I have always wondered about the effectiveness of alternate medicine and this wonder led me to Ben Goldacre. Ben Goldacre is a doctor by profession from the Oxford and a celebrated journalist. He has a master's degree in philosophy. He writes a weekly column in the guardian titled ‘Bad Science’ and blogs here http://www.badscience.net/. His recent (Sep 2008) block buster book is titled; you would have guessed it by now – Bad Science. He is just 34.

His columns are very critical of the many pseudo science practices that are popular today. The book is a follow up to the columns and continues the scathing yet witty style of writing, but a style that is very thorough. The book covers a lot of things from detoxification myths to media’s role in the health fads and even large evil pharma companies. Since it covers a lot of ground it is a bit laborious at times and that can surely be excused.

Bad Science has a long chapter dedicated to Homeopathy and followed immediately by a chapter on placebo effect. Ben Goldacre completely debunks the practice of Homeo and writes: “Homeopathy is perhaps the paradigmatic example of an alternative therapy: it claims the authority of a rich historical heritage, but its history is routinely rewritten for PR needs of a contemporary market; it has an elaborate sciency sounding framework for how it works , without scientific evidence to demonstrate its veracity; and its proponents are quite clear that the pills will make you better, when in fact they have been thoroughly researched, with innumerable trails, and have been found to perform no better that Placebo.”

The other book that has received great reviews is the wonderfully titled “Trick or Treatment”; co authored by the other popular British author/journalist (pseudo patriots can take pride in his Indian origins!) Simon Singh. This book is all about alternate medicines and goes all out at Homeopathy and criticizes the two pillars of Homeopathy 1. Like cures like and 2. Dilution increases potency – for more details watch this video where Simon Singh talks about his book and Homeopathy in detail (you have to tolerate his weird hairstyle ;-)).

Both the books argue based on meta studies based on rigorous trials and the outcome of these trails have been fairly conclusive in terming homeopathy as no better than Placebo.

If Homeopathy is no better than Placebo, then why is Homeo so popular today? It is a good question, and the answer lies in the power of Placebo and the desperation of people when mainstream medicine (still) has no answer to many of today’s ills (we have to remember that mainstream medicine has only taken off in the last 70 odd years after the start of proper clinical trials and advancement in science - otherwise it was no different from the pseudo medicine and followed practices like bloodletting for cures for more than 2000 years).

Placebo is usually a non medicinal substance (like sugar pill, saline water, etc); that will have no effect on the illness, but administered to the patient. The patient believes that the substance has medical value and at times his condition improves, purely based on psychological stimulus.

Many trials have proved the effectiveness of placebo; especially when the Doctor is confident and sounds very honest and caring. Tests have proved that the color, shape (capsules are more powerful than tablets), the brand (Crocin seems to be more effective even though there are hundred other Paracetamol tablets available in the market). In all this, the elobrate ritual and props are very important.

The power of Placebo effect can be seen in the many other beliefs like: astrology, spiritual gurus, good luck gems, etc. and of course, the biggest of them all – God.

People Leave Managers Not Companies. Really?

People Leave Managers Not Companies. This is the statement that Marcus B is making in the book; ‘first, break all the rules’. This is also the philosophy that Gallup is pushing around. This statement is being applauded, quoted and communicated by many HR professionals. This is just another management jargon, one that is very convenient for the HR team in any organization. Bring on any ‘employee friendly’ policy, reorg experiments, compensation confusions and layer upon layer of abstractions in the HR processes and when attrition increases can blame (or at least share the blame) the managers. ‘Managers’ is a faceless entity when it is abstracted at the organization level, so you are blaming a faceless, generic group, rather than being specific and taking the bottom-line for the many failed initiatives -rather convenient isn't it?

This statement could possibly (only ever so slightly) be true if the lower requirements as indicated by the Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs get fulfilled. This maturity can only come in a developed job market where the national GDP is stable and salary for similar roles are fairly equal across organizations. In a developing country; where the needs at the lower levels of the pyramid are unfulfilled, the National GDP keeps fluctuating, salary levels uneven across organizations for similar roles, the reasons for people to leave an organization would be salary, position and location and in an organization of mostly freshers it could be even higher studies. Moreover the culture across these markets are radically different, people needs are very different.

Yes, it is a tough challenge if you get a really bad manager who is unreasonable, bad mouthed or unconcerned about the team and primarily after his own visibility. It is very frustrating to compete with your own manager. The only option would be to quit and move on. But concluding bad managers as the only or primary reason for people quitting organization is pushing the generalization a bit too far. It is sheer desperation and passing on the buck to faceless group of people or merely a matter of convenience.

Truth is, manager is just another cog in the organization wheel; larger the wheel (organization) smaller the cog (manager) becomes. With many standardized and normalization processes the role of a manager is becoming smaller and smaller; one has to just feed in the list and rest taken care by the xls (or an application if your organization has mature people practices :-)).

PS: Abraham Maslow's book ‘Motivation and Personality’, published in 1954 introduced the Hierarchy of Needs, which states that Human motivation moves up a pyramid as each level gets fulfilled and this is a concept that every MBA student is very much familiar with and used for various subjects, like psychology, HR, marketing, etc.

first, break all the rules

Started this book with great hesitation and without much expectation (This book was first recommended by a trainer from our leadership center, any recommendation from the leadership center or from HR has to be approached with caution :-)), "First, Break All The Rules", is written by Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman, both seasoned Gallop employees (I guess Marcus is not with Gallup anymore, but that is not important, atleast not for us ;-)) and hence I expected this book to be in some way a marketing material for Gallup – it is that and a bit more.

That 'bit more' is what is interesting (obviously!). The core of the first part is: "we can’t change basic traits of people by a day’s training” this is something I very strongly believe in and hence I started reading with some genuine interest.

Yes we can’t, we can’t change the basic nature of a person so easily. This concept is something we have seen in the previous posts on “Personality”, A person’s trait is 50% genetic and rest 50% is molded thru early life experiences (‘parents have no role’ – I can’t get over this point!) and it is nearly, as they say, cast in stone. It is Fairly impossible to change; unless the individual takes an extraordinary effort to change (after realizing his basic traits -which, by itself, is a big challenge). So, the book begs managers not to waste time focusing on talents that people don’t possess, but accept and nurture the talents that they possess.

The book says:
People don't change that much.
Don't waste time trying to put in what was left out.
Try to draw out what was left in.
That is hard enough.

I have different team leads, one of them is always in the thick of the things, pretty vocal, an extrovert by nature. The other leader is calm, keeps to himself and communicates in a limited but effective manner. Bottom line is, they get things done and their respective teams are happy to work with them. I admire them both. I cannot search of the absent qualities in them and ignore their strengths. Each one is different and this difference is the strength of my team.
Net-net; Conducting half a day 'Assertiveness' session is not going to make a person any more assertive than what he was before the session.

Okay, we saw the point that i agree with the authors whole heartedly; there is also a point in the book that i am really appalled at; more about it in the next post.

Note: Since 1997, Gallup has polled some 3 million individuals across 80 thousand units. Gallup uses 12 questions to measure the engagement of employees. The result of these surveys is extensively used in this book.

Chapter chat - "Innum Pirakadha thalaimuraikaaga"

Interlinking of rivers - few rivers and many crores.

I'll be sharing about the books or interesting topics that I come across in books [ க‌டைசிப்ப‌க்க‌ம் ?! இது ஒண்ணு தான் குறை.].

I had this relation with the rivers at a level of a school kid running to buy 2 India river maps [ we linked them by making too many mistakes in the paper .. [காவிரிக்கு கீழே எங்க‌டா கோதாவ‌ரி ஓடுது..ஸார்.. காதை விடுங்க‌ ஸார்..வ‌லிக்குது] and 'checked' graph sheets for sheets. The inter-linking of rivers comes in the media limelight on and off. What do we actually know about this issue [ any subject in that case :) ] ?

S.Thedore Bhaskaran [ பாதிரியாரா?! ] - I knew this personality as a film historian with his books on cinema [ Chithiram Pesudhadi, Sivaji Ganesan and Em Thamizhar seidha padam ]. Of late, I came to know that he is an ecologist [ ய‌க்கா ?!] too.

Some points to ponder [ taken majorly from the book ]

* Is it easy to join rivers just like that ? Has it been done anywhere else in the globe ? Was it successful or a failure as introducing new alien water creatures in Andaman islands.

* The Indian rivers flow at different heights, in the first place. The power needed to elevate the water level is more than the power expected to be produced by the inter-linking.

* The cost estimated for this project is.. have some ice water..Rs.560000 crores [ to be precise 559999 and the 1 c from Rajini ].

* Have they joined 2 water resources anywhere else in the world ? Have you come across the effect of South and north Aral sea [ lakes ] in Russia ? One lake is completely drained .

* It's wrong to think that the river water is wasted by ending up in the sea. It's the cycle of biodiversity [ ப‌ல்லுயிரிய‌ல்].

* We do have water treaty with Bangladesh and that will be affected if we really get into this project. Also, we know the status of the treaty between TN and KA on the existing water distribution [ without any alteration in the path ].

* We failed in water channelising methods and the native methods of storing waters. Lakes have turned as Lake view apartments and villas.

* The existed polluted rivers will spoil other river by combining them.

* What happened in Alwar district - Rajasthan ? Few effective NGOs constructed Jathos [ mud check dams for rain harvesting ] and it benefited the most dry district of Rajasthan. Remember the forceful condition of rain water harvesting yielded some good results in TN [ rain ille enga harvest panna ? ].

This is just a drop in the ocean from the book written by Theodre Bhaskaran [ இன்னும் பிற‌க்காத‌ த‌லைமுறைக்காக‌- what a beautiful title ?! ]. In fact he is inspiration for drawing [ அப்ப‌டியும் சொல்லிக்க‌லாம் :) ]about the house sparrows in the competition. He clarified that planting enormous number of trees can't compensate or create a forest because a forest is not just a group of trees and cannot be man-made. You can feel the same when you think about the days you spent in any of those hill stations. Can it be recreated ?

I am not favouring him blindly - at least, he shows the other side of the coin. It's better for us to read more about these topics and know the real things instead of following the speech of Rahul Gandhi or Gnani.

So next time, when a politician or a celebrity talks about interlinking rivers, think before spending time in their speech. Media cherishes as long as the public is kept in the dark - better make our people follow the Vijay TV program "Rajini's pilgrimage to Babaji caves". [ It's like Veerappan is to Nakkeeran and Rajini is to Vikatan group ]

I recommend this book - "Innum pirakkaatha thalaimuraikkaaga" by S. Theodre Baskaran from Uyirmmai padippakam [ Rs.120/- ].

:)

Toto.

Anandham... Sangeetham

Every time I listen to this song (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCmsZbarARE), I always wonder what would have been the reaction of the musicians in the recording studio. Probably, a moment of silence followed by a thundering applause -such is the majestic rendition of Yesudas. This song is from the Malayalam movie ‘His Highness Abdulla’. In fact, every song is a classic in this movie, "Gopika Vasantham" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRuSz-_K4hs) is such a beautiful love song, you can feel this mood in Chitra’s voice; it is mesmerizing. She has kept pace with the great Yesudas in this song and probably (I could be a bit prejudiced here) outshines her master too.

The movie itself is a masterpiece; a very mainstream story of a hired assassin plotting to kill a Thampuran (powerful leader), he gets into the Bhraminical house and captures everyone’s heart thru his golden voice as he plans for the kill. Does he accomplish his mission is the rest of the story. Pretty mainstream indeed, but Ravindran’s music along with Yesudas’ finest performance, pushes this movie beyond the ordinary. Mohanlal as the assassin is as good as ever and Gauthami does a decent job (Only Mallus and Kamal used her properly – Venkat used to say!)

This song (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0a7PI6jXD74 watch from 1:10) is the musical highlight of the movie. In this music duel, between Yesudas and Ravindran Master, you have to listen to the crescendo that Yesudas builds from 8.34, beyond words…will move you to tears. Ironically, the National award for best male singer went to Srinivas for the song 'Naadaroopini', also from this movie

The other movie’s songs I listen very often is from Manichitra Thazhu (the original and the better version of chandramukki and Bhool Bhullaiya – see it, to believe it). It’s a Mohanlal, Yesudas and Chitra combination again.

This great song by Chitra (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIegcBCnWAw) really reflects the eagerness of someone waiting to see a loved one (that is what the song is about)…you can feel the desperation, the loneliness in her voice – Magic. Yesudas has his share too (of course!); his version (a shorter one) of the above song is equally good, you can hear years of pure carnatic training in this small piece (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMXWZJs4uuc - Till 1.06).

This is another soul wrenching (I am running out of superlatives) song by Yesudas (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0dVtMZNE1k). This is the song that leads to the climax of the movie (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZA_90S7q5w); watch Shobhana’s dance performance and you will agree that her national award was well deserved.

Interestingly, over the last 13 years, Manichitrathazu has been screened more than a dozen times in Kerala and every time the TRP keeps increasing! Not sure if this can happen to any other movie in any other language.

I have to say this here; my mother tongue is not Malayalam and I can barely understand Malayalam (at least in the form that is used in these songs), but that does not stop me from enjoying these songs. If you love music, I urge you to hear these songs even if you don’t understand a word of what is being said.

Anandham, Anandanandham, JhagathAnandham Sangeetham – His Highness Abdulla.

In A Hurry

Things are getting shorter by the day… when did you last see a serial story in a magazine? I haven’t seen any for years now. Tamil magazines used to tout many serial stories written by writers, who were nothing short of superstars. Many housewives would remove (tear) those pages and collect them week after week and at the end of the story (which sometimes ran for years together), would bind those pages and add to their library of such collections. Today there is not one such story. The max you will get is a story of one page (oru pakka kathai – one page story, they are called).

Long letters are replaced by shorter emails, which are in turn replaced by the shorter SMSes, which are made shorter still by a vocabulary of its own (C U @ 4). Blogs are losing out to twitters and scraps. Even magazines like India Today have become slimmer (they have become weeklies, to be fair) - have you compared the Reader’s Digest of yesteryears to the recent ones? Marriages, these days, are short lived -I am told. Movies are getting shorter and what used to be a 3+ hr affair are usually around 2hrs today and a few under 2hrs too (which is not such a bad thing). The increasing popularity of Twenty20 cricket and the empty stands of a test match stand testimony to my words. Hair, dress – you name it and you got it – only shorter.

The only thing that seems to be getting longer and longer is my daily office telecon (short for telephone conference!) and yes; the other thing that never seems to end is the serial that my mother watches on TV.

Sometimes it looks like we have developed a societal attention deficiency disorder. We are all in a hurry and everything is in a state of blurr. We are pummeled by so many deviations today that we can hardy focus on one single thing long enough without our thoughts getting deflected by something else – mostly electronic. We are so impatient today that I routinely see people punching the lift close button >< again and again, not wanting to even wait for a few seconds, before the door auto closes. For once, you continue your halt at the traffic signal for a couple of seconds more after the light turns green, and you will know what I mean.

“Slowdown” I want to say; but I have to rush to attend a call and have to keep this blog short :-)

The Human Abstract - William Blake

William Blake's 'Songs of Innocence and of Experience' is a collection of contrasting poems. Songs of Innocence is about childhood and the early stages of innocence and Songs of Experience is the counter to the Songs of Innocence and is about the loss of that innocence in the process of growing up with exposure to the adult world.

A wonder is "The Human Extract" from Songs of Experience:

Pity would be no more
If we did not make somebody Poor;
And Mercy no more could be
If all were as happy as we.

And mutual fear brings peace,
Till the selfish loves increase:
Then Cruelty knits a snare,
And spreads his baits with care.

He sits down with holy fears,
And waters the grounds with tears;
Then Humility takes its root
Underneath his foot.

Soon spreads the dismal shade
Of Mystery over his head;
And the Caterpillar and Fly
Feed on the Mystery.

And it bears the fruit of Deceit,
Ruddy and sweet to eat;
And the Raven his nest has made
In its thickest shade.

The Gods of the earth and sea
Sought thro' Nature to find this Tree;
But their search was all in vain:
There grows one in the Human Brain.

The Human Abstract - William Blake
From - Songs of Experience -1794

Personality - Agreeableness

Around 50% of your personality is heredity- this is the genotype influence *. So, who you are and how you react to different situations are predetermined up to 50%, the other 50% is shaped through the many early life experiences – these are the environmental influences. The famed debate of Nature Vs Nurture (heredity Vs grooming), is split right at the middle. The most disturbing or striking outcome of research is: upbringing has no effect on the personality of a person. Parents do not play a role through their parenting skills (or the lack of it!) – their contribution ends with the donation of genes.

Among the 5 personality traits, people who score high on Agreeableness (Daniel Nettle calls them Empathizers) focus on harmonious interpersonal relationships and will spend considerable amount of time caring for others, to my mind this is probably the most important personality trait (esp., in today’s world) and interestingly it is the least acquired trait through genotype (42%). Agreeableness is explained through the Theory of Mind. Theory of Mind (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_mind) is divided into two related capacities; mentalizing (understanding the mental state of others – e.g., understanding that someone is in a state of hunger) and empathizing (relating/caring to others mental state- sympathizing and providing food for someone who is hungry. Only humans are capable of these two mental states. People who score high on agreeableness are highly capable of this mentalizing and empathizing; especially with empathizing.

The Big 5 questionnaire (available here: http://www.outofservice.com/bigfive/) will shed some light in rating the 5 personalities based on the responses to some standard questions. The realization of ‘Self’ is critical to the process of growing up (wonder if someone is really aware of this Self, generally we either underestimate or are over confident about ourselves and our abilities). Being aware of the strengths and weakness in our personality and will help us enrich our professional and personal life.

If you take the Big 5 test and happen to score high on Agreeableness, drop me a line.

*Effect of Genes on personality:
-wiki
Openness: 57%
Extraversion: 54%
Conscientiousness: 49%
Neuroticism: 48%
Agreeableness: 42%
/wiki-

Who moved my Blackberry – Lucy Kellaway

Who moved my blackberry is an Epistolary novel (written as a series of letters, diary entries, etc – Arvind Adiga’s The White Tiger is one and uses letters). The book has been written by Lucy Kellaway, but the protagonist Martin Lukes is credited as the Author and Lucy’s name appears as co author.
Before this book, Lucy introduced Martin Lukes thru her columns in the Financial Times that and continued for many years (sample: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/6ca3db5e-989e-11dc-8ca7-0000779fd2ac.html?nclick_check=1) . Lucy’s name is never mentioned in the column to maintain authenticity!

Martin Lukes is the Marketing Director of a-b global’s UK Operations (a-b Global is a fortune 100, US company). The story revolves around his struggle to move up the corporate ladder. He manages to climb with very little ability, but a lot of management jargon, super ego, kissing-up to the CEO and finally with some help from a personal life coach. He manages to get to the position of Special Projects Director (heading special projects, is the management’s way of saying that the exit door is nearby).

The book is a wonderful satire of the corporate world and all its Bull (a bit to the extreme at times). It has everything that is wrong it today’s corp world, right from life coach (the jargons used by the life coach (named Pandora Barry) are the best – “strive to thrive, better than your best, etc”), massive egos that are so self obsessed that make people oblivious of the situations they are in, usage of blackberry (or any other e-tool), rebranding, off shoring, downsizing, reorganizing, affairs, you name it. And it all culminates in a scandal (Insider trading).

A great moment in the book is the coining of the word "creovation" by Martin; this is the half creation and half innovation. These two words are the current buzz words in any self-respecting organization. And, Lucy has a good amount of fun by poking around this concept. The second best is the 'Phenomenal Performance - Permanently' by the CEO himself

This books explains how so many people with limited talent/intelligence are way up there – and what hits the nail is that we all know someone who closely resembles Martin Lukes –sometimes, it is a mirror that Lucy Kellaway is holding! And what you see there is frightening!

This is a well written book, considering the constraints of constructing the entire book with a series of blackberry messages. Some of the emails are laugh-out-loud types and many will bring a smile for sure. This is not a serious book, but a wonderful deviation if you are into serious stuff. An enjoyable parody into the world of corporate and its wretched culture. Does it carry a message? Probably.

Personality by Daniel Nettle

Alert: this will probably be a bit dry, but this is a facinating topic for me, hence pls. tolerate and travel with me!

Book Reference: Personality by Daniel Nettle

Each one of us is very different in our own way…is this true? Why are we different? We react to same situations/stimulations differently, why is it?
What drives these differences in our individual personality.

According to Gordon Allport, Personality is, “The dynamic organization within the individual of those psychological systems that determine his unique adjustments to his environment”. Yes, it is complex; but quite simply put- it is the way we react and interact with the environment around us in a consistent manner.

The various dimensions of this personality is known as the traits. Traits is the pattern in our behavior- it is the way we are wired! Although there are many (some count to 80) identified traits the five major traits that are used popularly to measure personality are:

1. Openness (to experiment new things, curious, imaginative)
2. Conscientiousness (being dutiful, dependable, etc)
3. Extraversion (highly social, etc)
4. Agreeableness (good natured, trusting, etc)
5. Neuroticism (nerves, emotional stability)
Collectively these traits are known as the The Big 5.

According to WIKI; The first public mention of the model was in 1933, by L. L. Thurstone in his presidential address to the American Psychological Association. Eversince there has been a large body of research on this framework and we will be focuing on these traits.