Before you ask, I do not have any. But, election season is the best time to get a front-row seat for the show on human behavior and psychology. Now that polls are over, it is time for all to draw lessons from the mandate. It is the best time to witness hindsight bias in action. … Continue reading Lessons from Indian elections →

I think the minute you have a backup plan, you’ve admitted you’re not going to succeed. Elon Musk said so. Chew on this for sometime before you read the rest. I was not honest with the above. It was not Musk who made the statement but Elizabeth Holmes, at the peak of her popularity. It … Continue reading The Source →

You have been trying to solve a problem for quite some time; the solution appears to be elusive. As you grapple more with the problem, a seed of a solution germinates which sprouts into an answer. In hindsight, the resolution appears obvious. You kick yourself telling why did I not think of this sooner? How … Continue reading Déjà Vu →

I read an interesting article by Richard Wiseman on luck, which I would highly encourage everyone to read. The gist of the article is that people make their own luck and being lucky is something that can be learned. An excerpt from the article: Lucky people generate their own good fortune via four basic principles. … Continue reading Luck →

In my new workplace, I was assigned a brand new shiny MacBook. My first reaction was to ask for an Ubuntu laptop. My brain justified by giving several reasons, it is developer friendly, software that you run on a server runs as is in Ubuntu, etc. I was almost about to voice this opinion, but … Continue reading Fighting change →

I was sauntering on Church Street and came across a used book store. It had been long since I had been to a physical book store, hence ventured in. I started browsing around. I have been wanting to read Shoe Dog for quite sometime. I asked the proprietor did he have a used copy of … Continue reading A little extra effort →

I happened to read the comic by zenpencil on Jim Henson yesterday while reminiscing on the comic by the same artist on Bill Waterson's advice. Both the comics have the same essence of escaping corporate drudgery and following your dreams. Also yesterday, I watched Inside Llewyn Davis. Inside Llewyn Davis is a melancholic movie that … Continue reading At what cost? →

Rahul Gandhi allegedly made this statement. It is sad that an armchair, untrained economist like me understands the significance of roads while someone who is poised to lead India does not. Check out this vice documentary on truckers in West Africa to get the connection between roads and economy. Jim Rogers, the author of the excellent book … Continue reading Poor Cannot Eat Roads →

In the gym that I go to, there is a guy whose job is to sanitize(spray, clean, rub etc) the equipment after each person uses them. I always pity him and think how boring his job is. How can this person move up the value chain? The other day, people at the gym were opening … Continue reading Moving up the value chain →

Let me lay it out straight in the beginning, we Indians are big time suckers for simplicity in others. It is not that we ourselves aspire to be simple but attribute unnecessary importance to it in others. Just that virtue is enough for us to weave magical stories around a person and see him as … Continue reading Suckers for simplicity →

Recently I read in the newspaper that Karnataka government is planning to regulate multiplex movie ticket prices. This sounds like sweet music to ears right? Why would someone not be happy to pay a lower price for anything? I feel this move smacks of licence raj. First of all, government has absolutely no role in … Continue reading Government regulation of muliplexes →

There have been multitude of blog posts/tweets comparing AAP to a startup. I am not sure about the comparison in general but there are eerie similarities between AAP and the Indian e-commerce(e-com) startups of the yesteryear. 1. A lot of Indian e-com startups where founded by IITians and just this IIT tag was used by … Continue reading AAP, an Indian e-com startup →

Someone posted a mail to a mailing list that I am part of asking us to enroll in the electoral list and vote for Narendra Modi. As expected, there were a deluge of "I am smart ass" replies like "What can one person do", "I voted in the last election, but what has changed" etc. … Continue reading What can one person do? →

Fresh out of college, in my first company GXS, after our training, me and another guy were put into a legacy maintenance project. It was atrociously boring. A couple of weeks into it, I told my colleague that I am going to talk to the manager regarding this.  It was a pretty bold step going by the … Continue reading Be Vocal →

The dark side of perfectionism. Being a perfectionist is all the rage these days. Perfectionism has a dark side to it, which gets glossed over. When you are new to something, perfectionism acts as a hindrance. Many times, you know that you cannot dedicate wholly to something. In this scenario, perfectionism prevents you from starting—your … Continue reading Letting go of perfection →

I just finished reading this and my mind was contemplating over the society's taboo of using your body to advance yourself in life. I do not think Sasha Grey's parents adore their daughter's achievements in the adult film industry but I am sure Nate Silver's parents are proud of his mathematical acumen. The world today is … Continue reading The social taboo – body and mind →

I just finished watching Looper and really loved it. In the beginning, for sometime, my brain was scrambling around like a headless chicken trying to fit things together. After settling into the movie for about half an hour, things started to make sense like a mist evaporating from a glass pane as the sun rises up … Continue reading Programmers and movies →

6th January 1980; young, 20 something artist; supremely gifted with a melodious voice; has no connections in the entertainment industry; zilch sugar daddies who can put her in touch with the right people in the recording business. How can this artist unleash her hidden talent on the unsuspecting world? The same situation forwarded to 6th January 2013.  Records her … Continue reading Gandhians With Keyboards →