Been here done this. I have been away from blogging even before and this time it was a higher degree as I stopped reading them too. But, the reason was not merely my laziness but also the block on accessing blogspot.
Now that I am in Bangalore, err.. Bengaluru, I there is no such block and I would be more regular to writing. If not writing at least reading them.
Let's see when I say more regular what can I come up with.
Monday, July 30, 2007
Monday, July 09, 2007
Blue Ocean Strategy. Book review - III
Authors - W. Chan Kim. Renee Mauborgne.
Publisher - Harvard Business School press
A typical management book it talks about creating a market for your business where you no longer compete with your existing competition. Though it is a bestseller. I did not like it too much for a few reasons like (i) It really does not gives any practical solutions instead it is giving too much of theoretical solutions (ii)It really does not tells anything new.
The book is written by management professors at INSEAD and hence is more like a consultant suggesting something instead of an executioner with task at hand.
The examples cited as reference to the strategy of creating a new market all make sense in hindsight because they succeeded but there would have been so many unique attempts that would have failed as well. Though the book does touches upon how to execute such strategies, convince people to allow changes and move things forward but again it is too much theory. Well I would say my understanding might not have been good enough but if you think you like business then do read the book to realize it is not fun to do business in fact to do business is a serious business and it is very important to do monotonous and not so interesting tasks in business.
The only blue ocean strategy I could learn from the book was how the authors made this book look technical with a complex name and still write not so very complex content (though the authors might have worked very hard to generate this) and make the book a bestseller. One good thing is the book is not very thick like other management books and hence can become a short read on some journey.
Publisher - Harvard Business School press
A typical management book it talks about creating a market for your business where you no longer compete with your existing competition. Though it is a bestseller. I did not like it too much for a few reasons like (i) It really does not gives any practical solutions instead it is giving too much of theoretical solutions (ii)It really does not tells anything new.
The book is written by management professors at INSEAD and hence is more like a consultant suggesting something instead of an executioner with task at hand.
The examples cited as reference to the strategy of creating a new market all make sense in hindsight because they succeeded but there would have been so many unique attempts that would have failed as well. Though the book does touches upon how to execute such strategies, convince people to allow changes and move things forward but again it is too much theory. Well I would say my understanding might not have been good enough but if you think you like business then do read the book to realize it is not fun to do business in fact to do business is a serious business and it is very important to do monotonous and not so interesting tasks in business.
The only blue ocean strategy I could learn from the book was how the authors made this book look technical with a complex name and still write not so very complex content (though the authors might have worked very hard to generate this) and make the book a bestseller. One good thing is the book is not very thick like other management books and hence can become a short read on some journey.
Sunday, July 08, 2007
Languages and their meaning.
I remember a few years back for the first time when I read in some newspaper article that Chinese is a tonal language with every word having 4 tones with every tone having a different meaning. I thought, 'how stupid' and how do people speak such a language. Well I still think its 'weird' but now after having been in China for more than 6 months I have been seeing and hearing only that language.
Now after having worked out my way to speak a little bit to the waiters in the restaurant and to taxi drivers I find it interesting to learn this unique language more everyday. While learning this alien language (I mean Chinese and alien because it is as distant as an alien’s language would be, no disrespect to the Chinese language and people) what I realized is that all languages are as meaningless and meaningful as every other language (including Hindi).
Where as the 4 tones for every word result into 4 meanings, to count up to 100 all u need to know is 0-10 and then you can keep adding and multiplying the numbers to reach 100. e.g 2 is er and 10 is shi, so 12 is shi er and 20 is er shi, isnt that cool.
Just quoting a few examples here for short comparisons.
Most of the people know only one thing about china and it is "nihao" meaning “hello”. But, dissecting it, 'ni hao' means 'you good'. ni = you and hao = good. Co-incidentally I can relate this to Kannada (the language of Bangalore). 'ni' in kannada also means 'you' and in Hyderabdi (the commonly used language in Hyderabad which a sister IT city of Bangalore) 'hao' means 'yes'.
After giving much deeper thought to ni hao, for the first time I thought what do 'hello' and 'namaste' (Hello in Hindi) stand for and realized there was nothing much that could be dissected and understood more about these words. Now if you think its an easy language lets see how different tones result into different meanings and all the sense is lost.
"shou" in four different tones means(the number with each word represents the tone):
shou1 - collect.
shou2 - ripe/mature.
shou3 - hand
shou4 – slim/thing
Though reading about tones cannot help understand what they mean and sound like, most probably one cannot understand them even on listening to them. This is not a one-off example! Every word has four tones and every tone has a different meaning. Words with same tone can have different meanings too.
Now to avoid taking you more through the details, here is one last example;)
English - condom.
Hindi - Nirodhak
Chinese - biyuntao
Well I never learnt languages from scratch before and so I don’t know the origin of the word 'condom' or 'nirodhak' but here it goes for condom in Chinese.
Biyuntao: bi - to avoid, yun - pregnancy, tao - case/cover. ;) Well it does makes some sense. Say thanks to me for not mentioning the tones of each of the three parts.
P.S. The last example was the lesson a Chinese learning website published today (05-July-2007, www.chinesepod.com), which I refer to for learning some Chinese words occasionally.
Now after having worked out my way to speak a little bit to the waiters in the restaurant and to taxi drivers I find it interesting to learn this unique language more everyday. While learning this alien language (I mean Chinese and alien because it is as distant as an alien’s language would be, no disrespect to the Chinese language and people) what I realized is that all languages are as meaningless and meaningful as every other language (including Hindi).
Where as the 4 tones for every word result into 4 meanings, to count up to 100 all u need to know is 0-10 and then you can keep adding and multiplying the numbers to reach 100. e.g 2 is er and 10 is shi, so 12 is shi er and 20 is er shi, isnt that cool.
Just quoting a few examples here for short comparisons.
Most of the people know only one thing about china and it is "nihao" meaning “hello”. But, dissecting it, 'ni hao' means 'you good'. ni = you and hao = good. Co-incidentally I can relate this to Kannada (the language of Bangalore). 'ni' in kannada also means 'you' and in Hyderabdi (the commonly used language in Hyderabad which a sister IT city of Bangalore) 'hao' means 'yes'.
After giving much deeper thought to ni hao, for the first time I thought what do 'hello' and 'namaste' (Hello in Hindi) stand for and realized there was nothing much that could be dissected and understood more about these words. Now if you think its an easy language lets see how different tones result into different meanings and all the sense is lost.
"shou" in four different tones means(the number with each word represents the tone):
shou1 - collect.
shou2 - ripe/mature.
shou3 - hand
shou4 – slim/thing
Though reading about tones cannot help understand what they mean and sound like, most probably one cannot understand them even on listening to them. This is not a one-off example! Every word has four tones and every tone has a different meaning. Words with same tone can have different meanings too.
Now to avoid taking you more through the details, here is one last example;)
English - condom.
Hindi - Nirodhak
Chinese - biyuntao
Well I never learnt languages from scratch before and so I don’t know the origin of the word 'condom' or 'nirodhak' but here it goes for condom in Chinese.
Biyuntao: bi - to avoid, yun - pregnancy, tao - case/cover. ;) Well it does makes some sense. Say thanks to me for not mentioning the tones of each of the three parts.
P.S. The last example was the lesson a Chinese learning website published today (05-July-2007, www.chinesepod.com), which I refer to for learning some Chinese words occasionally.
Friday, June 22, 2007
Blocked
Though I am not one of those regular bloggers who writes everyday or once in every 2 days, but i do visit my blog regularly to visit other blogs on my blogroll. Out of so many times I visit the blog I do write a few times.
Here in China my blog used to get blocked and unblocked every now and then. I knew it was the government which was blocking blogspot.com but this time the block has lasted for more than 2 weeks and after I read this Going global? Prepare to play by local rules yesterday on the fastcompany site, I relaized it might be more official this time. And then this ain't India where the media can shout slogans against the government , go to the streets and demand for freedom of speech. This is china where government(the party) decides and public follows(has to follow).
Interestingly the authoroties seem to have missed something as they have blocked only blogspot.com but not Blogger . So I can still write but not view my blog. Let us see how long this remains open.
Well I am using slimtrust in the meanwhile to view the not accesible links. Which primarily includes blogspot and wikipedia.
Here in China my blog used to get blocked and unblocked every now and then. I knew it was the government which was blocking blogspot.com but this time the block has lasted for more than 2 weeks and after I read this Going global? Prepare to play by local rules yesterday on the fastcompany site, I relaized it might be more official this time. And then this ain't India where the media can shout slogans against the government , go to the streets and demand for freedom of speech. This is china where government(the party) decides and public follows(has to follow).
Interestingly the authoroties seem to have missed something as they have blocked only blogspot.com but not Blogger . So I can still write but not view my blog. Let us see how long this remains open.
Well I am using slimtrust in the meanwhile to view the not accesible links. Which primarily includes blogspot and wikipedia.
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
Finally an Indian
At last after having lived for more than 6 months in this city(Hohhot) in China I finally found an Indian. Ofcourse I just did not find him somewhere here and there. I just got to know, in the hotel where I am staying there is a new staff member who is an Indian. Interestingly he is a chef. I think it will be interesting to visit the exquisite kitchen with him where may be I could take some more food delicacies pictures.
Well it feels great to meet a fellow country man in a place like this where you cannot find a single person like yourself.
Well it feels great to meet a fellow country man in a place like this where you cannot find a single person like yourself.
Sunday, June 03, 2007
It happened in India - Book Review
Book - It happened in India (Autobiography, Kishore Biyani).
Author - Kishore Biyani with Dipayan Baishya
Publisher – Rupa
Kishore Biyani is not a very popular man and neither old enough or idolized enough to have written an autobiography. But, I bought the book for a number of reasons. I had read the name Kishore Biyani some 5 years back in Business World when organized retain was starting to emerge as a massive industry of future. I have been interested in organized retain because of my personal interest in mass customer business i.e. B2C over B2B. The book has a glitzy cover and pulled my attention quickly plus only for Rs 99 (original from Landmark, Bangalore).
Now coming to the contents of the book. It is a good, simply written book with no big words or teachings. One unusual approach in this book is so may reviews about "Kishoreji" from various people who have been with him during his ascent. This includes family members, friends, colleagues and business partners. In an autobiography this is unusual because an autobiography is supposed to be the story of the person from the person. But disappointingly rather I must say ‘as expected’ all the people who reviewed (20% of the book is only made up of other people writing about him), none has mentioned any weakness or shortcomings. This makes the book so very usual since it is only human to have shortcomings and weakness and then he too is a human.
What I liked about the book/kishoreji is the extreme focus on learning, un-learning and re-learning. Though Biyani is also writing about customer as his only focus but I think that is something most of the people say. I offcourse do not intend to say that it might not be the case with him but for me an autobiography is not proof enough. Though I would still agree with him as I myself have been a keen observer of the Big bazaars and Centrals and I had noticed a lot of things that he is mentioning specifically.
An autobiography normally (in fact very often) contains 98% past(history) and 2% future. This one contains almost 60-40. Instead at times Kishoreji is laying so much focus on his projected plans and future strategies that it starts to seem like an investor meet where the idea is to impress about the company and then ask them to invest in it.
It is a good read for those who are part of the retail industry or aspiring to be part of it. I also liked it because it is very much Indian with usage of Hindi words at a number of places, which makes it so very easy to relate to things.
3.75/5
Author - Kishore Biyani with Dipayan Baishya
Publisher – Rupa
Kishore Biyani is not a very popular man and neither old enough or idolized enough to have written an autobiography. But, I bought the book for a number of reasons. I had read the name Kishore Biyani some 5 years back in Business World when organized retain was starting to emerge as a massive industry of future. I have been interested in organized retain because of my personal interest in mass customer business i.e. B2C over B2B. The book has a glitzy cover and pulled my attention quickly plus only for Rs 99 (original from Landmark, Bangalore).
Now coming to the contents of the book. It is a good, simply written book with no big words or teachings. One unusual approach in this book is so may reviews about "Kishoreji" from various people who have been with him during his ascent. This includes family members, friends, colleagues and business partners. In an autobiography this is unusual because an autobiography is supposed to be the story of the person from the person. But disappointingly rather I must say ‘as expected’ all the people who reviewed (20% of the book is only made up of other people writing about him), none has mentioned any weakness or shortcomings. This makes the book so very usual since it is only human to have shortcomings and weakness and then he too is a human.
What I liked about the book/kishoreji is the extreme focus on learning, un-learning and re-learning. Though Biyani is also writing about customer as his only focus but I think that is something most of the people say. I offcourse do not intend to say that it might not be the case with him but for me an autobiography is not proof enough. Though I would still agree with him as I myself have been a keen observer of the Big bazaars and Centrals and I had noticed a lot of things that he is mentioning specifically.
An autobiography normally (in fact very often) contains 98% past(history) and 2% future. This one contains almost 60-40. Instead at times Kishoreji is laying so much focus on his projected plans and future strategies that it starts to seem like an investor meet where the idea is to impress about the company and then ask them to invest in it.
It is a good read for those who are part of the retail industry or aspiring to be part of it. I also liked it because it is very much Indian with usage of Hindi words at a number of places, which makes it so very easy to relate to things.
3.75/5
Saturday, June 02, 2007
Hard work or Intelligence?
While choosing people for a certain task I often tend to think what should matter more? Number of times I see that people are asked tough rigorous questions in interviews. This could prove that the person is intelligent. But does intelligence only make up for all the results that a person can bring out.
What about hard work? The reason for this write-up is a question that popped up in my mind regarding the importance of hard work and intelligence required to produce desired results. The question is, what is more important in attaining certain results. Hard work or Intelligence?
With hard work one can push, stretch and some how try to manage. But, with intelligence one can manage more efficiently and quickly.
Now, If you had an option to choose from 2 people - one with a very hardworking attitude but little intelligence and one with a good intelligence but a very lazy attitude and no hardworking desire then what would you choose?
What about hard work? The reason for this write-up is a question that popped up in my mind regarding the importance of hard work and intelligence required to produce desired results. The question is, what is more important in attaining certain results. Hard work or Intelligence?
With hard work one can push, stretch and some how try to manage. But, with intelligence one can manage more efficiently and quickly.
Now, If you had an option to choose from 2 people - one with a very hardworking attitude but little intelligence and one with a good intelligence but a very lazy attitude and no hardworking desire then what would you choose?
Monday, May 28, 2007
The Good Women of China - Book Review
Book - The good women of China. Hidden Voices
Author - Xinran
Publisher - Vintage
Women are a topic, which has fascinated many from the earliest of times. I picked up this book in Bangalore not because of any similar fascination but since I have been living in china for almost 6 months now so I thought it was a good chance to know more about anything Chinese as it always helps in conversing with people in a foreign country about their things.
The author was a journalist cum radio show presenter presenting a show on women called "words on the night breeze". In her search to understand women better she interviews many women across china. The book contains narration from those interviews and thus comprises of real life stories of Chinese women. It is well written but contains only sad stories about women at different levels of society, in different regions of the country and of different ages. Still most of the stories come from the time of Chinese military revolution.
It would be easier to relate to the book if one has been in touch with China for some time. Through the book I realized my observations about Chinese women were not very incorrect since the book articulated on the same lines as well.
1. Women in China are considered as a mere object of pleasure. Though the same is attributed to women around the world but what makes it interesting in China is the acceptance of this fact by women and thus further encouraging this for personal gains.
2. Though in general it seems women are at par with men in China because they can be found in all professions that men are a part of but this remains true only as long as the jobs are the labour level jobs.
I think stories like this about women might exist in all parts of world. But, the author is trying to correct the illusion anybody might have of women in China having a better life than that of women in other places.
Author - Xinran
Publisher - Vintage
Women are a topic, which has fascinated many from the earliest of times. I picked up this book in Bangalore not because of any similar fascination but since I have been living in china for almost 6 months now so I thought it was a good chance to know more about anything Chinese as it always helps in conversing with people in a foreign country about their things.
The author was a journalist cum radio show presenter presenting a show on women called "words on the night breeze". In her search to understand women better she interviews many women across china. The book contains narration from those interviews and thus comprises of real life stories of Chinese women. It is well written but contains only sad stories about women at different levels of society, in different regions of the country and of different ages. Still most of the stories come from the time of Chinese military revolution.
It would be easier to relate to the book if one has been in touch with China for some time. Through the book I realized my observations about Chinese women were not very incorrect since the book articulated on the same lines as well.
1. Women in China are considered as a mere object of pleasure. Though the same is attributed to women around the world but what makes it interesting in China is the acceptance of this fact by women and thus further encouraging this for personal gains.
2. Though in general it seems women are at par with men in China because they can be found in all professions that men are a part of but this remains true only as long as the jobs are the labour level jobs.
I think stories like this about women might exist in all parts of world. But, the author is trying to correct the illusion anybody might have of women in China having a better life than that of women in other places.
Saturday, May 12, 2007
Thai Airways vs. Singapore Airlines
While traveling from Bangalore to Beijing this time I got Thai airways tickets instead of Singapore airlines from the travel department of my company. Though I love Singapore (I have been on the airport only, bt I still love it), I still thought its good I get to try another airlines and their services. Well here is a small summary from my side comparing the two.
Thai does not starts serving a hot towel to clean hands and face. If you are starting from Bangalore it is a must because of the dust and pollution that you have to fight on the way to the airport.
Now if the flight is 4 or more hours and you are traveling international you expect your personalized TV because it can be boring to travel that long without anything to do and one big LCD some 15 feet away makes no sense.
The Flight was delayed by 1 hour. Well I doubt it was those air traffic jam reason because the Singapore airlines plane standing on my right side scheduled to depart 1 hour after us departed before we even moved. Though it might not be a regular affair but it was in this case.
There is no menu for the meals giving information about what one can choose to eat and know beforehand what all is available onboard. There is no glass holder on the front seat tray.
I did not find the food good enough either (though this could vary from individual to individual).
The airhostess/airhost are a little slow to react to your needs.
The magazine really does not contain good content to go through(and this despite there being no TV to watch your desired movie)
For the connecting passengers Thai airways does not boarding pass for the second flight from the original city as is the case with SQ (Sing air). So one has to stand in the queue again to get the next boarding pass. There were only 8-10 counters for issuing boarding passes. This is a small number for the number of passengers who were transiting even at 4AM. Unfortunately the queue in which I stood was so slow (of course all of them were so long as well that I did not dare to quit my line and join another after I realized mine was much slower than the other). I had to stand for 1 hour 20 minutes in the queue to collect my boarding pass (one can call it as a time pass). This is quite ridiculous that the next boarding pass is not issued despite flying by the same airlines. On top of this the Bangkok airport is not full of shops or any entertainment facilities(like Singapore airport).
Now having cribbed enough about the poor chaps some of the good things that I came across were the better legroom on Thai (both flights, Bangalore - Bangkok and Bangkok - Beijing). One of the onboard music channels offered Hindi music. And the seats were more stretchable.
So if you have a choice between these two on your travel route then my suggestion would be Singapore Airlines. Especially if you have a connecting flight and your break is for more than 4 hours.
There is a possibility that because I have not been disappointed by Singapore airlines' service even once of the 8 times I have boarded it, my expectations have increased.
But then obviously Thai Airways is cheaper than Singapore Airlines.
Thai does not starts serving a hot towel to clean hands and face. If you are starting from Bangalore it is a must because of the dust and pollution that you have to fight on the way to the airport.
Now if the flight is 4 or more hours and you are traveling international you expect your personalized TV because it can be boring to travel that long without anything to do and one big LCD some 15 feet away makes no sense.
The Flight was delayed by 1 hour. Well I doubt it was those air traffic jam reason because the Singapore airlines plane standing on my right side scheduled to depart 1 hour after us departed before we even moved. Though it might not be a regular affair but it was in this case.
There is no menu for the meals giving information about what one can choose to eat and know beforehand what all is available onboard. There is no glass holder on the front seat tray.
I did not find the food good enough either (though this could vary from individual to individual).
The airhostess/airhost are a little slow to react to your needs.
The magazine really does not contain good content to go through(and this despite there being no TV to watch your desired movie)
For the connecting passengers Thai airways does not boarding pass for the second flight from the original city as is the case with SQ (Sing air). So one has to stand in the queue again to get the next boarding pass. There were only 8-10 counters for issuing boarding passes. This is a small number for the number of passengers who were transiting even at 4AM. Unfortunately the queue in which I stood was so slow (of course all of them were so long as well that I did not dare to quit my line and join another after I realized mine was much slower than the other). I had to stand for 1 hour 20 minutes in the queue to collect my boarding pass (one can call it as a time pass). This is quite ridiculous that the next boarding pass is not issued despite flying by the same airlines. On top of this the Bangkok airport is not full of shops or any entertainment facilities(like Singapore airport).
Now having cribbed enough about the poor chaps some of the good things that I came across were the better legroom on Thai (both flights, Bangalore - Bangkok and Bangkok - Beijing). One of the onboard music channels offered Hindi music. And the seats were more stretchable.
So if you have a choice between these two on your travel route then my suggestion would be Singapore Airlines. Especially if you have a connecting flight and your break is for more than 4 hours.
There is a possibility that because I have not been disappointed by Singapore airlines' service even once of the 8 times I have boarded it, my expectations have increased.
But then obviously Thai Airways is cheaper than Singapore Airlines.
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Back to Square 1
The definition of back is kind of loosing its meaning for me as over the last few days I have been saying "I am back" but every time this sentence of mine comes from a different place.
25th April when I reached Jammu after traveling 36 hours nonstop from Huhhot(China)->Beijing->Singapore->Bangalore->Delhi->Jammu and I met my relatives and all of them asked, so when did u come back. I Just said "today". Then I resumed office in Bangalore on 02-May-2007 and all the people in the office asked hey! so when did u return? I said "yesterday night". Now after being back here in China for the last 2 days I still say "I am back". Upon landing on the huhhot airport I said to the Taxi driver "Jiare jodiyan" = Holiday Inn, he said yes. Then I said "do she chian" = how much, and he said "oosher" = 50 and I said "bu" = no. I said "se sher" = 40 and he said "hao de" = ok. I guess I am getting absorbed here.
The burger life has re-started and here and "back" to square 1.
25th April when I reached Jammu after traveling 36 hours nonstop from Huhhot(China)->Beijing->Singapore->Bangalore->Delhi->Jammu and I met my relatives and all of them asked, so when did u come back. I Just said "today". Then I resumed office in Bangalore on 02-May-2007 and all the people in the office asked hey! so when did u return? I said "yesterday night". Now after being back here in China for the last 2 days I still say "I am back". Upon landing on the huhhot airport I said to the Taxi driver "Jiare jodiyan" = Holiday Inn, he said yes. Then I said "do she chian" = how much, and he said "oosher" = 50 and I said "bu" = no. I said "se sher" = 40 and he said "hao de" = ok. I guess I am getting absorbed here.
The burger life has re-started and here and "back" to square 1.
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