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.

extended weekend and some earlier unclaimed leaves tempted me to fly to Leh to feel the sub zero temp. and here am i posting this blog from Leh with temp outside at -15degree celcius.

flight from delhi was 6 hrs due to bad weather at Leh and ful dress republic day celebration. but the wait was worth. himalayas in white coat were at welcome. amazing birds eye view. and not to disappoint the snow enthusiasts both the sides of the runway were shouting 'JULLEY ' welcome to Leh.

to be contd.

I’ve attempted to write a case study which might be of interest to all.
Everyone is invited to share their views and experiences. If the
experiment goes ok more to come.

All
situation and characters are fictitious. Usual disclaimers apply. This
case is written purely for academic discussion and should not be taken
in any other sense.

Case Study 1:

With hindsight things can be so funny.

It
will really be interesting to know who all were in board of satyam,
history of CFO, what all the big dons of the company said in last
AGM/EGM, and what all the auditors had to say on the gala cash holdings
of the company.

Something i found from my old notes. Still valid,
relevent & useful. Check out:

1. I have the right to express my thoughts and opinions,
even though they may be different from those of others.

2. I have the right to express my feelings and to take
responsibilities for them.

3. I have the right to say YES to people.

4. I have the right to change my mind making excuses.

5. I have the right to make mistakes and to be
resposibile for them.

6. I have the right to say, 'I dont know'.