Finished 'Dear Undercover Economist' by Tim Harford (Author of acclaimed 'The Undercover Economist'). The book is compilation of Letters from the 'Dear Economist' column in Financial Times.

'Dear Economist' is Agony Aunt type column where problems are analysed and replied on the basis of economic theory. Letters which have been discussed are categorised on Love and Dating; Work, School and Money; Family Life; Food Drink and Entertainment and Miscellaneous Queries.

It was very interesting and hilarious to read economic aspect of issues which we thought were emotional, psychological and social. So the book starts with Should I fake my orgasm?, How to spend your lottery win, Efficient protocol for the lavatory seat; email scams, odd socks and existence of God.

Few more questions:

Kodak has filed for bankruptcy is the headline of the day. The Economist, Jan 14, 2012 issue has published an interesting article on the Kodak's story and its comparision with its Japanese rival Fujifilm. A good comparative case study.

Article mentions the Fuji's transformation into profitable business with market cap of $12.6bn vis a vis Kodak's $220mn. On one hand where Kodak's diversification into pharmaceutical business flopped, that of Fuji's into line of cosmetics and optical films for LCD screen paid off.

Further it says 'Kodak acted like a stereotypical change-resistant Japanese firm, while Fujifilm acted like a flexible American one'.

An interesting article in Management Today Feb2011 issue 'Is an MBA a waste of money?'

Article says that even among businesspeople, MBA is a source of 'theological division'. Some say its essential while others say it's worthless. 'Which proves nothing about someone's talent for business'. An MBA just helps you in adding on to your friends list and few job interview calls. 'It's a cripplingly expensive form of Linked In.'

Further it talks of the expenses. The vicious circle: borrowing to get a degree which helps you in getting a job so you can pay back. All you learn can be easily done by sitting in a library and self-education at almost no cost.

Maruti Suzuki new advt being telecast during cricket world cup has some confusing message and tag line or may be am unable to comprehend it.

The advertisement shows our(Indian's) habit of keeping old (read useless) things like gift covers and the jingle says 'purana rakh lo' (keep the old stuff) and continues to 'hindustani hai hum' (we are Indian). In the end tag line comes 'Maruti Suzuki Way of Life'.

Peepli [Live] is a refreshing satire on our society and systems we live in today. Story of a family with an old bed ridden mother, two brothers, wife of one of them and their children. Movie moves around the basic theme of indebtedness. Names of the characters are directly taken from Premchand stories. There's Budhiya, Dhaniya, Hori and of course Natha.

It was disheartening to see one sided comments on recent incident involving Mumbai locals.

No doubt the motormen created a lot of problem for the daily commuters but to make remarks like 'mismanaged by railways' shows only one part of story.

Am sure commentators must have visited atleast one of the two divisional control office situated in Mumbai and witnessed first hand the working/planning done in normal and unusual circumstances. Also, they must have met couple of officers directly responsible for the movement of trains and seen the arrangements made by them with the least of the resources available on hand on those eventful days.

After Telengana now UP CM has come in support of smaller states.

Does creation of smaller states leads to speedy development? Is it
that bigger states have become unmanageable because of area or
population size? Or is it that more officers per unit area/per unit
population enhances efficiency of service delivery?

Are there any statistics available to support such assertion? Some
sort of cost benefit analysis? Expenditure on creation of state
(infrastructure, extended bureaucracy, smaller districts etc) and
improving social economic indicators, in a given period?

Some variant of Keynesian economics, huh!

Setting targets, for oneself or for those working with you,
is a tricky business. As the maxim goes ‘Promise less, Deliver more’ has its
advantages. You can always meet the target and awe your bosses. There will be lesser
chance of missing the target. The surprise element of passing the target does
the trick. As the market gurus say achievement of expectations is norm, one has
to go that extra mile to delight the customers. So going that extra mile each
time again and again leads to star performance. But when your sub-ordinates
start following the same premises you are heading for trouble. As your own
target are totally linked to their achievement.

Recently I got a
forwarded sms which goes something like this ‘I work for money if you want
loyalty hire a dog’. Such forwarded messages are just for fun but this one
stuck in my mind. How relevant or realistic this statement can be? In present
context when companies are releasing pink slips at the rate of dozen a dime why
should anyone be loyal to their organization.

As a corollary there are more queries. What is
correct balance of work and personal life?

Longtime back as a student of physics i was taught 'time dimension' to things. But a visit to Varanasi falsify that theory. Time stands still in Varanasi.

People here are in no hurry. Things move at its own pace be on road, at the ghats, in temples... You can find banarasis discussing state politics over pan or lassi. Choicest snack or brunch is kachori, dahi and jalebi to top up with lassi. If you visit any of the ghats galaxy of stairs welcomes you where you can spend hours watching ganga flowing. I am told one can enjoy ganga if one can save oneself from beggers, ox, sadhus and stairs.