And the I-Banks came tumbling after... : The Subprime Mortgage Fiasco Explained

I know this write up is coming in, years after the Funeral is over..something like a posthumous Award..but nevertheless...finally managed to put my thoughts in an objectivity to churn what actually happened in the Sub-prime Fiasco,why are the I-Banks tumbling like a pack of Cards...

Hmm...well, it all began with the sub-prime crisis. If you lost your money in the market crash of January 2008, here's the route to your loss, in chronological order.

2001-2005: House prices in the US begin to rise rapidly. Banks lend aggressively and create a sub prime industry.

Sub-prime lending refers to lending (at slightly higher interest rates) to people who may not be eligible for a loan under normal circumstances. Maybe they don't have a regular job or income, or have defaulted in the past. Banks traditionally did not lend to such people due to high risk of default. But since these loans were mortgaged against property and property prices were rising continuously, banks started doing so. If customers defaulted, they could sell the mortgaged property.

2005: The booming housing market halted abruptly in many parts of the US.

2006: Prices are flat, home sales fall.

February 2007: Sub-prime industry collapses in the US; more than 25 sub-prime lenders declare bankruptcy, announce significant losses, or put themselves up for sale.While they were lending, banks did not factor in the possibility of a fall in property prices. When the Federal Bank (the US equivalent of RBI) started increasing interest rates, the sub-prime borrowers started defaulting and banks started selling off the mortgaged properties. As more and more properties came into the market for selling, the property prices fell.

August 2007: Many leading mortgage lenders in the US filed for bankruptcy

March 2008: Bear Sterns falls.

September 2008: Lehman Brothers file for bankruptcy. Merrill Lynch sells off to Bank of America. Between 2001 and 2006, the US financial markets had developed a new product – a bond securitised against the mortgages.

In simple terms it means that the mortgage banks borrowed money against the mortgages on the condition that they would repay to lenders as soon as they recovered their mortgages. The lenders in this case were financial institutions (like Bear Sterns, Lehman and Merril Lynch) who in turn sold retail bonds to individuals.

Sadly, the repayment never happened.

And institutions like Bear Sterns, Lehman, Merrill Lynch and AIG were the casualties. Since the mortgages were not honoured, the banks could not repay these financial institutions who in turn could not repay retail investors.

That my Friend, is how the Cookie crumbles...

Chronicles of a Non-Smoker !

Dark & Chapped Lips, Roughed-out skin, smelly fingers, bad breath, Yellow Teeth, Stink, Burnt upholstery, High Metabolism, unnecessary Money expenditure, Hatred, indifference, etc etc..is something a smoker goes thru during his tenure as a smoker..

Want to get rid of them all...simple... Quit Smoking :) I know...its easy said than done...

"Well, I managed to take a break from smoking" and as of now, its been 46 days since i kicked the butt.

From 15 Cigs a day to Zero is quite an achievement. The date (Just for the records) was 16th August 2008 @ 9:30 A.M

This was my second attempt at the deed. The first one lasted close to 2 weeks.

2 attempts in the last 10 years of smoking...gosh..i remember every time i thought of quitting smoking, i used to light one to aid me in devising a quit plan strategy :)

How and why now? i m not making this substantiations for the readers but to myself...

How : Took myself to a Certified Hypnotherapist, Mark Beale, underwent the therapy...its a 3 week course...and as i was starting to put the plug on the habit, i went and got 2 of my wisdom tooth extracted...this sealed the deal....and ever since i haven't held a Smoke stick again....

Why Now: Had enough...wanted to give my lungs some breathing space and fresh air other than TAR..I gotta save some money...slow down that metabolism within me...and of course, this is not for any woman in my life...

I feel nice...and i put on 3 Kilos in 3 Weeks...wat more do i need?

All i gotta say is "I m a Non-Smoker, Now and Forever"

Disclaimer : Readers, please donot assume that i m trying to preach to smokers not to smoke..thats not possible...Smokers will quit, when they have to...its only a matter of THAT Moment and situation !

(Note : Forgive me for the Unstructured Flow of thoughts, been out of touch for quite sometime now and writing seems so Difficult...)

Art Of Living Magic

For the last 3 years i have been contemplating taking up a Course that would help transform my life instantly..something with quick actions leading to quicker visible results...over the years, i have read Self-Help books, watched videos and tried putting them into practice but have failed miserably at it...

Well...i guess all good things happen when u least expect them to..one of these days i was grocery shopping and while i was waiting for the bill to be generated i saw this poster which spoke of a Beginners level in Art of living and it co-incidentally(thats at least what i feel) seemed to answer all my questions about a life turn around..

So after a week of thinking and re-thinking thought i d enroll for the course as it was a meagre Rs.1000(Considering it is equal to money spent over a weekend)...and from my previous posts u wud have realised that, Morning for me starts only at 10.00 A.M and i struggle to wake up before that..so just to put myself to test, i enrolled onto the Morning Batch, from 6:00 AM to 9:00 PM...I knew it was quite a challenge for me to even do it...

When i told my folks that i wanted to go for this course, they were supportive but when i said it starts from 6, esp. my dad said, "Son, you just flushed Rs.1000 down the commode, cos u will never ever be able to make it" My confidence and dream of turning around my life took a unhealthy beating !

So instead of dwelling in negative thoughts i told myself, i will take one day at a time and also told myself that i m not out there to prove anyone wrong, the whole step is only for my own good...

Then Arrived evening of Sunday, May 4th, when i forced myself to sleep by 11(thats by all means, early evening for me) but did it cos i had to wake up at 5.30 ! On the first day, crawled out of bed, thanks to dad, who said he d only help me wake up the first day ! "Good Morning Irfan" i told myself as i stepped outside the house !

The First day was disappointing cos the Art Of Living(AOL) instructor proclaimed that you could change your whole life just by breathing ! I told myself, this is crap ! Cos i don't need anyone to tell me how to breathe, i have been doing it pretty well, ever since i was pulled out of my mother's womb.Nevertheless, thought i d give it a Second chance, and told myself not to lose steam. In the meantime, i shredded off people from my life, who constantly hurt me and called it ignorance...i asked then to "Get-Out-Of-My Life"...pretty difficult, but dunno how i managed to do it.

Second Day is when the Craziest Ride of my life started...i was up and awake at 5.30 and the best part is i didn't need anyone to wake me up.was a lil surprised, but shot down my astonishment by saying, i must be excited..This was when the truth was revealed to me...The Sudarshan Kriya.I will not talk about it here as you will have to attend the course to experience it, but this technique alone can transform your life..

The next 4 Days were a breeze, i woke up effortlessly at 5.30, even without the alarm..i actually would open my eyes at 5 and feel i m late for the course..and So my routine was go in for the course at 5.45, come back home at 9.15, munch up some breakfast and head to work, comeback from work at 9.30, finish up dinner and crash by 11.30..

Today marked the end of my course, and i m so happy, elated, excited,kicked about life, that i wanted to share my joy with everyone..This course has helped me

• Relieve Stress : Now i don't get worked up with small things
• Breathe properly and feel Energetic : I so damn needed it
• Wake up early : Now i have more hours in the day and i can do so much more
• Sleep : I suffered from Sleep Apnea for the last 5 years and believe it or not, 1 week of AOL and i have experienced Quality Sleep
• Learn t How to forgive and Move on : People who hurt you, don't do it on intention. Also, understood that you should let yourself be the football of someone's opinions..

I have already made up my mind to take my association with AOL to the next level by enrolling for Sri Sri Yoga and Intermediate level of AOL...

I will keep you updated of more explorations and discoveries i d come across.

If you have any questions about art-of-living, then please do ask me and i will ensure that they are all answered(in consultation with my instructors)

Sri Sri Ravishankar, a message for you, "You converted this Atheist into a Spiritual being, by teaching him How to Breathe" Thanks again !

Note : Art Of Living isn't a Religious Outfit but oen of the world's largest volunteer-based organizations, an endeavor towards Peace thru basic human values. It has touched more than 300 million people spanning over 140 countries.

Importance of Knowledge Management and Outsourcing

Corporate power houses are always associated with changing their mantras to stay abreast with the times. Old timers will tell you of how the funda's moved from Efficient Work allocation techniques to Open Door policies to Six Sigma madness. The focus has primarily oscillated between processes and resources(inclusive of systems). Well, now the spotlight is on a different segment, which is the mixture of Processes and resources, Knowledge management. Though the initiatives may be implicit and not necessarily be known as Knowledge Management in all organizations, it is present in some form or the other.

The reason for the wild oscillation of focus on to KM is basically due to the business and revenue models, which are undergoing a radical change. Concepts unheard of 10 years back are now ruling the roost, like those of outsourcing. There are perils with every business model but the minimal impact on the organizations operations are considered beneficial. Organizations are increasingly focusing on working with the set of activities, which happen to be their core competency, and are outsourcing the rest to other organizations that may or may not be within the boundaries of their own country. However, Outsourcing could help cut costs by a Herculean 85-90% but it surely does open up the Pandora's box of problems.

Problem's like remote operations, knowledge sharing, cultural differences and in-effective communication across levels. Also, the advent of Cost Sensible Outsourcing industry has opened up a busy market for skilled labour, which in turn provides people with more choice, more flexibility. This has led to disappearing loyalty towards employer, poaching of efficient employees and the beginning of a rat-race to make more money as fast as one could, in a nut shell, the phenomenon is called Iteration.

In a time when the iteration rates of organisations are crossing 30% year on year, sending the HR departments into a frenzy re-recruitment drive, there is a prima facia need to ensure that knowledge from experience is trapped within the organization despite the high tides in iteration.

Now, putting a quick scan over the Opportunities and Challenges that Knowledge Management in a BPO Industry springs up. The opening of new markets in South and Southeast Asia has seen the advent of new businesses in the areas of global sourcing of products and services. India has been the germination ground for the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) business and many global organizations have tapped the country’s ample human capital to effectively outsource critical business functions. The variety of processes within each one of the functional domains has triggered of increased interest in capturing best practices, processes and learning from each project that is outsourced. This is aimed at saving time, money and effort while training and setting up similar processes or ramping up an existing process / project. This has led to an increased interest in the Knowledge Management (KM) discipline, which deals with enhancing existing knowledge, capturing tacit elements and preserving knowledge assets for use in the future. It also promotes an organizational culture of sharing processes and learning within the organization.

Trends and surveys indicate that all organizations have begun to realize the importance of KM. However, most of them face the challenge in collating and assimilating all information and experiences, which may, in the case of some organizations, be spread across geographical boundaries. Even if knowledge is captured, getting people to contribute and utilize stored knowledge assets is a challenge. With these come further challenges, which are precipitated either because people are not aware of the involved technology or are not aware of the benefits of such an exercise. However, if these challenges are taken care of a lot of benefits emerge for organizations as a whole.

A robust KM system leads to development of service intensity, better quality of work and culture, globalization and uniformity of processes across the organization and removal of redundant processes. This in turn leads to faster services, employee retention, valuable knowledge asset creation, innovation and idea generation, reduced costs, and effective delivery of organizational goals to employees.

Intellectual capital and the effective use of it will be the trigger for gaining competitive advantage in the rapidly growing global economy. The success of organizations will depend on their ability to attract and retain their best workers. This will be made possible if they have effective performance management systems to enable continuous learning and motivate the employees. The firms would need to encourage knowledge sharing as part of the organization culture, i.e. organizations would need to view KM as an implicit part of daily work and create an environment where knowledge sharing is encouraged. This stands true in the new businesses that organizations are getting into globally. Prime among these business domains are the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) business and lately the Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO) business.

Each process in the BPO industry involves work on a specific functional area, viz. HR, Finance – insurance, collections, payments etc. Each of the business functions or processes which are outsourced to third parties require the use of human capital which has some specialized knowledge and / or experience of working in that particular function. These people would then be qualified to be called knowledge workers for that particular function. For example, a process involving loans and mortgages would require employing personnel who are well acquainted with the concepts or those who have an idea about the concepts and will require extensive training on them. To build a robust process in this area, the organization will therefore be required to leverage the intellectual capital, which is recruited to increase revenue and reduce costs and to justify the business case. To enable this, it will be required to channelize collective learning, capture learning assets, share knowledge while working, innovate on set up processes, integrate appropriate technology and optimize workflow. The process will be successful when the organization is able to leverage, capture, and store what their learning is and share it in consequent phases with a new set of employees without much time and effort in its growth phase.

Therefore, organizations would need to develop a methodology by which they can optimally tap their intangible human assets, explore knowledge which is captive in the mind and in the variety of experiences that can be utilized in the future even if its existing set of personnel float across to other players in the industry. From a BPO perspective, KM also involves harvesting new knowledge for gaining competitive advantage, enabling access to a vast amount of project and process information and sharing best practices evolved in the course of working those processes. Further, it also involves applying management strategies and technology that support all the mentioned functions including groupware and intranets. Having said that, it would be quite a challenge to make KM implementation happen in a diverse work environment, which is a characteristic of the BPO industry.

Creating a "Knowledge – friendly" work culture is difficult if it is not in the genes of the culture because it involves selling an elaborate plan for change management to the organizations’ leadership. Likewise, a few of the other challenges that are faced by organizations can be enumerated as under:

1. Absence of knowledge systems that can capture tacit elements of knowledge from existing set of employees
2. Absence of a continuous learning i.e. a learning organizational culture
3. Lack of sharing of best practices across various departments, and upgradation of best practices with change in processes.
4. Lack of openness and inadequate dissemination of information between different stakeholders in the knowledge capture and storage process.
5. Employee reluctance to share information amongst themselves
6. Lack of avenues for searching knowledge sources and lack of mechanisms for constituting communities of practice.
7. Lack of motivation in the employees to accept and incorporate industry best practices into their operations
8. Loss of knowledge when people move across departments/Organisations as part of changes in job roles.
9. Lack of understanding of the company’s business goals, models , and strategies
10. Lack of understanding of metric measures and the Knowledge Management program

In the context of these challenges, there are many opportunities that Knowledge Organizations have, over other organizations. A few can be enumerated as follows:

1. Provision of the right knowledge at the right time for any user that wants it
2. A repository of all knowledge items where all knowledge assets can be collected and stored.
3. Effortless handling of routine and simple tasks simply by sharing best practices
4. Increased innovation and spread of ideas in process
5. Complex and unexpected tasks will be handled competently making effective use of past experiences in the same kind of tasks
6. Costs of training and building learning assets are lowered after the knowledge repository is in place.
7. Employee retention is enhanced as employees are recognized for their contribution to repositories and recognized in the performance management process
8. Operations get further streamlined by sharing of best practices and redundant processes can be done away with.

In summary, KM is intrinsic to the expectancy period of BPO/KPO's in India. The organizations have proved themselves by cutting costs, but time is now, to take the value addition to a level higher with KM. However, it still remains to be seen how much longer this concept sustains itself, before yet another mantra takes the world by storm.

Advertiser's are you listening ??!!

I visited my blog today and realised that there has been only one blog entry for the month of february...well thats pretty amusing cos Feb has been the month of sorts for me and i havent managed to convert them into written literature..Never mind that....i m now back in flow...

Surprisingly..i got a couple of mails asking me why i was not updating the blog...well "surprising" cos i never thought anyone(other than me!!) actually read my blog :))

One of these days, while i was idling time at home, mom comes up with this BRILLIANT Pestering idea of me getting someone to get the exteriors of the house painted...seem like of late she has developed this unassuming grudge of having me in the house doing nothing, finishing off the ration at home and not getting paying in any form for it...but guess...mom's do assume that role at some point in our life's...

well...about the painting job...ignored it for the first 1 week...then mom made it torturous to ignore it thereafter...So i finally set out on the hunt to find a Painter in my neighborhood..you wont believe it...after having searched for 2 days...couldn't manage to get hold of a Single painter, who was free to do the job...all were booked for the next 2 weeks...its the same Kinna feeling you go through, when u go to PVR or INOX on a weekend and find that all tickets are booked for the weekend and the next available ticket is for Monday...who needs Monday anyways...right??

So i came up with this brilliant idea...why not have advertisers put up their banners on my house's exterior walls? this way, there will be absolute no need to paint them and i will earn some money in this process as well..i would like to have the Axe Ad with all those scantily clad women covering my walls...no one would actually miss my house then :))

Just imagine, if this concept were to catch on...Asian Paints and Nerolac will shut shop and every house will become more and more interesting to look at, and of course my nemesis, The Painters, would be out of jobs, what fun !..

Think about it, When u d b hunting frantically for a friends house on a particular street, it wud become lot more simpler...all he'd have to say is "the House with the LUX Ad on it"...

This concept would have a High remembrance value and no one could simply ignore..unlike how they skip coming in the print media and television..

Ad Companies are you after-all listening? This is Irfan "Ogilvy" Ali Talking !! :))

Self-Victimised by the Credit Mania and Derivation of Pseudo Happiness

When i took my baby steps into the corporate world, everything seemed rosy ! I had a pay package which was 2 Digits + Pocket Money Figures ! if i were to be more mathematically-Correct : My Salary was square times my pocket money ! Boy, that was a time, i saw the whole world unfold in front of my squint eyes ! (No No i m not squint physical-appearance per se, but were squinted with the Bright Sun which came along with the revelation of the unfolding of the whole New BIG world !)

This part of my story is called The AWAKENING !

Then with the money came the aspirations of doing a lot of things, which i only dreamed of my in college years ! Shopping, Dating a lot of Women(Paying for once) & Of course, Partying in the creme de la creme spots ! Damn i could afford it now !

I took my women to the best places & brought the most thought-off gifts ! Wore the best of brands(i still do & but not in degree of the above stated magnanimity).In a nut-shell, ATE-DRANK& MADE MERRY !

This part of my story is called Psuedo Happiness !

It was rosy for the first few months, where i could make ends meet and then i was smitten by a Bug called Credit Cards(which has bitten many of us, i mean most of us)...In efforts to take my Psuedo lifestyle to the next level, i bought in the crap that the Credit Card Salesmen said, Life-Time Free Card, 45 Days Credit Period, Accident Insurance blah blah blah blah....Well, i thought(thought : is the word to note here) i had struck the chord between Financial Independence & Personal Bliss...

But then they came like Bangalore Monsoon Showers, the Credit card Statements ! Week on Week!!! It was so bad, that i dreaded getting back home ! Cos i would see a stack of them, neatly arranged on my table ! i tore all of them, but didnt have the audacity to cut my 3 Credit Cards...they were all overflowing with thier SAID LIMITS. My So-called Bomb of a salary was paid towards paying off interests of these cards, not even the Principal !

This part of my story is called Ignorance is Bliss !

Just in my Sophmore year at Work, thanks to the insightful talk from my fren, Zaid, i finally decided to cut them all (read : with a Heavy Heart). The day i cut them, i had like withdrawal symptoms, which was quite wierd...i didnt know this Credit thing had become a Habit, something like a contraband addiction!

But seriously, i was going thru this Self-Inflicted crap & Friends & Women were out like pub-hoppers walk out of a pub after 11:30....they moved out in Herds !!

Honestly speaking, realised who my true frenz were !!! At various junctures of life, world creates some circumstances that put YOU and PEOPLE around you to a COLD WATER TEST ! There are 3 possibilities to this :

• You & your close ones stay together in the cold water taking the warmthfrom each other to survive
• Close ones touch the cold water with thier toes and just walk back,stating they might catch a Cold
• The Smarter ones, see you way ahead , getting into this Water and theychange thier path completely
  

The ones that form the part of the 1st possibility are the ones who really measure up for your respect.

This part of my story is called Withdrawal symptoms of Credit living.

In this case, i surely have to mention my Ex-Girlfren's help(only one in this case) ! She was quite a Solid Support ! She never ever made me feel that i was Broke and miserable, she always made me look at the brighter side, that i had finally cut my cards ! Damn, i miss her and her optimism!

But like many things in life, people come make a Huge +ve Impact on your life and then walk in thier respective directions ! and its always important that we dont cry over the Empty space created by them in our lives, but the positivities of thier companionships they left !

We, Humans, very often cry about something we lost but how many times have we looked and take count of what we learnt/gained from it !

Well, i learnt my lessons and been off Credit for the last 3 Years now...now i feel lot more Financially stable and yes, when i dont have the money to spend, i stay at HOME ! Its a nice place u know ! :)

The moral of the story is you always learn from your mistakes, but do make it a important part of your life to learn from other's mistakes...

Last piece of advice : Dont go with flow of "Chill-dude-Life-is-to-be-lived-for-the-moment"

Cheers and Let buddha be with you !

Quarter-life Crisis

Being a twenty-something

It is when you stop going along with the crowd and start realizing that there are many things about yourself that you didn’t know and may not like. You start feeling insecure and wonder where you will be in a year or two, but then get scared because you barely know where you are now.

You start realizing that people are selfish and that, maybe, those friends that you thought you were so close to aren’t exactly the greatest people you have ever met, and the people you have lost touch with are some of the most important ones. What you don’t recognize is that they are realizing that too, and aren’t really cold, catty, mean or insincere, but that they are as confused as you.

You look at what you are studying or your job… and it is not even close to what you thought you would be doing, or maybe you are looking for a job and realizing that you are going to have to start at the bottom and that scares you.

Your opinions have gotten stronger. You see what others are doing and find yourself judging more than usual because suddenly you realize that you have certain boundaries in your life and are constantly adding things to your list of what is acceptable and what isn’t. One minute, you are insecure and then the next, secure.

You laugh and cry with the greatest force of your life. You feel alone and scared and confused. Suddenly, change is the enemy and you try and cling on to the past with dear life, but soon realize that the past is drifting further and further away, and there is nothing to do but stay where you are or move forward.

You get your heart broken and wonder how someone you loved could do such damage to you. Or you lie in bed and wonder why you can’t meet anyone decent enough that you want to get to know better. Or maybe you love someone! but love someone else too and cannot figure out why you’re doing this because you know that you aren’t a bad person. Getting wasted and acting like an idiot starts to look pathetic. You go through the same emotions and questions over and over, and talk with your friends about the same topics because you cannot seem to make a decision. You worry about loans, money, the future and making a life for yourself…

And while winning the race would be great, right now you are scared just to be a contender!
What you may not realize is that every one reading this relates to it.

We are in our best of times and our worst of times, trying as hard as we can to figure this whole thing out. Tell everyone about this blog… maybe it will help someone feel like they aren’t alone in their state of confusion…

Its called “Quarter-life Crisis.” nothing is constant……except change.

What’s life without a few risks? Keep playing the game!

Global-Platform-Transit Thoughts

On my way to Nuernberg sometime back, i stumbled upon a delayed flight at the Franfurt Airport and ended up pumping my system with unthinkable dosages of Caffeinne and Nicotine, but nevertheless, managed to type out some thoughts and even better is i was able to dig this master-piece out of my 18 GB PST file… Warning : The Title not necessarily be in-sync with the content spoken about below :))

The Vulcan has finally arrived….after a never-ending wait of 2 months….of all the facades and fiascos Unlimited….despite the Sea-Change in GLOBAL WARMING…and the water level rising by a inch in the last couple of months…I have Survived and landed, where I deserve to be…On arrival, there are many thoughts that spring up into my imagination, is this a Fully-Paid-for Rejuveniation trip or am I on a Project here…???some more question marks make their my already Simplified Life(READ : Nuclear Physics)

Before I left, I was constantly asked over a period of 2 months as to where I d b gng, which countires I d b seein, which cities, ?????but, mates, I hate travelling…yeah I knw I m travelling right now but you know, Leisure Travelling ( or rather I d term it as “Wham-Bham-Damn Monday Ma’am Trips”)…how can you possibly explore a country or city in a day…I have met ppl who have been to Paris, and in the 1 day that they have been there, they have seen the Louvres Museum, Eiffel Tower, Moulin Rogues(Yes, Yes), Disney Land(really don’t knw if they went in there or just did Window-Viewing)…

Now can someone tell me how can you possibly see a city in a day or two…

oh yeah yeah I forgot the typical indian thought process of “Oh my God”, Once I am back home I need to show my Jealous frenz and Proud folks, of where they went and how much they enjoyed..So what they end up shooting on thier newly-brought-Imported cameras are them Smiling, with the back-drop of one of the above mentioned monuments !

What is beauty if not admired at length…unlike those who just want to capture it on thier Shutterbugs !

Well, I tried grilling into the Psyche of a Software Professional, who was in Germany on Deputation for 6 months…and the thoughts contained are quite a counter-replication of HIS way-of-Life!

Anyways that part in my following up Blogs…need to move on with the Transit…Sitting here in the Frankfurt Airport…u see the World…bCos once some great Philosopher(period:Irfan) said, “People make up the World”…There is a untold Mystery about this place…there is urgency-Laziness-Fear-Nervouness in the atmosphere…

People of different Culture, Some Pretty Women and some Ugly…Fashion Fads(Who said, u need to watch the ramp to be Fashion updated, come sit at the Frankfurt Transit Area)…Damn what am I typin….may be I m Lost…Lack of Sleep, Lack of Sex and Lack of Something Unknown….May be Love(but wasn’t the phrase LOVE-LOST and not LOST For LOVE.

Whats your Six Sigma Level Value?

In the corporate World, we have something known as Six Sigma Quality Models…some people know about it and many don’t !

Well in a laymans vocabulary, Six Sigma is all about, doing things right, the very first time u do it ! Simple ain’t it ? It all about reducing the costs by making now errors, cos if you make errors, you have to spend money in correcting it/reworking on it.

Keeping it simple : A Process/Company is termed to be on Six Sigma when it makes less than 3.4 Errors in a million output ! SHOCKED ?? Well there are companies, which do it !
Well its not about the Quality standards of Companies that i m talking about ! The interesting part starts now (as usual late)…if people also were evaluated on the basis of Six Sigma model, wouldn’t that be great ! like the output could be the minutes in a persons life and the errors being errors(DUHHHH!!!)..errors of any type, Silly ones, criminal ones etc etc..
attempting to Draw an utopian reference from Work Standards to Personal Being Standards and evalutaions !

some food for thought….what would the world look like…when
your job interview requires you to input your personal Six Sigma Score
while marriage, your in-laws would insist on your Certified Six Sigma Score sheet than your HOROSCOPES.

Fortune magazine will have its cover donned by the man with the Highest Sigma level in this world! and the top 500 also !

Blowing-your-own-trumpet parents shall boast about how their kids are high up on the Six Sigma Matrix and that their Kids will grow up to be Six Sigma Men/Women !
Now to the Ultimate Question : Is it possible to actually have a Six Sigma Man/Woman ????
Well this is a whole new and different perspective to Values instilled by Gandhigiri and Religions !

Is God Himself on Six Sigma ?????

Weird thoughts but soul-stirring ones !! i think i may be at 1 or 1.2 SIGMA VALUE !

Whats your Six Sigma Level after-all?

8-8-8 Philosophy : Reasons for not working late

Well Have been Pondering for the last couple of weeks, as to what could possible be the Flip-Sides of Working Long hours ! These are the reasons i feel why working for long hours is detrimental

Health Reasons

— Growing fat - Apparently your long enough in the office to have lunch, evening snack and dinner. Office food tend to be oily and not so healthy for the body.(Nothing like nice home cooked healthy food).Apparently this doesnot work me, i get THINNER ! Hmmm thats a health Hazard as well.

— Stomach problems - Reason same as above.

— No time to Exercise - Since your spending at least 12 - 14 hours in the office your can’t exercise, which means bad health again.

— Excess intake of Junk food - You tend to eat more when your stressed and this stress contributes to the revenues of Lay Chips, Haldiram’s samosa’s etc.e.g A good friend of ours eats constantly and is not only measured in Centric circles

— Coffee/ Tea - Since your working that long, coffee/ tea helps you to focus on work. Excess of those/Caffine is also injurious to health.

— Stress - Since you work for 12 - 14 hours a day, you are so stressed. You have headaches, migraines, dizzy feeling, back aches, shoulder aches etc….and this list could go on and on and on.

Productive reasons

—- Efficiency reduced - Have you realised why people are more efficient in the mornings. That is because their mind is well rested. If its your 10th working hour, of course, you are missing something, making errors etc. (non value added process)

—- Error Correction (CAPA)- There are cases where people spend days correcting the error they have committed because of the above reason.Quality gets affected, especially in a company which advocates ‘Being right the first time’.

—- Just cant think - Have you felt this that when your stressed, you ‘just cant think’. Whatever you do you cant find a way out a solution. But the next morning you would probably have an answer so simply that you feel ashamed of yourself.

—- Unhealthy process - All processes are calculated at an FTE of 8 working hours per day, but if your people are expected to stay for longer it just proves that you have an unhealthy process. In cases of a BPO where you have an FTE billing, it actually affects our revenue.

—- People frustrated, iteration - If people are expected to daily stay up late in office, the frustration level goes up. This in turn causes iteration.

—- Cribbing - If you notice people who work long hours feel that they have contributed more than someone who worked for 8 hours a day, which is technically incorrect. The basis of productivity is not hours spent on office. Physiologically speaking, this person feels he is the better performer of the lot, even thou he isn’t. This does cause some amount of frustration, eventually iteration if not handled appropriately.

Corporate Culture

—- Work, Leisure life balancing ( 8,8,8 Philosophy) - Every corporate culture advocated ‘Work life balancing’, by this they mean that you balance work and your personal life. 8,8,8 Philosophy - emphasis on 8 hours of sleep, 8 hours of work and 8 hours with family, perfect balance in life. When was the last time you did this ???

—- Setting a bad example - By being late yourself you are setting a bad example for your subordinates and peers. How can you advocate your ‘Work, leisure life balancing without having your own backyard clean ?

— Setting a bad expectation - Even if there are people in your team who believe in the 8 8 8 Philosophy, they cant advocate it because their managers are not for it.

Personal Reasons

—- Balanced working life - There is absolutely no time. Suddenly paying ones electricity bill sounds like an Herculean task.

—- Family bonding - How can you possibly bond with your family when your not around ? Like the Other day, it was my Mom’s B day. When i woke up at 10 am she wasn’t around, by the time i reach at 11.00 pm she is asleep. I cant even wish her because of my Super-Stringed work life

—- Priority feels changed - You should understand the concept that at every given point in time one does what’s most important to him/her. In the time slot allotted for family, you end up exhausting it in office. Of course your family feels less prioritised. Is work actually thats more important than them ?

—- Most of us work for the money, when we earn we buy a car, a nice house etc. And most of the times its because your family. But what you fail to realize is your family feels you being there for them is more important than the luxuries in life. A family with loads of money and without you is no family at all.

—- Personal time - One should always spend some time alone. Time to introspect, time to just read a book and feel enlightened. Time with a mug of coffee. If your busy working…..then where is the time ?

My Personal favourite reason

We spend all our younger days to earn a lot of money in the mean time to lose our health, which inevitably we end up paying for better health treatments in our older stages in life. Hasn’t it ever occurred that we could possibly just stay healthy throughout.

Not to forget the broken dreams, aspirations, the family bonding, you miss out on. Even something as little as just taking an hour out to just sketch. Its been years since I did something that small,insignificant but quite nice at the end of the day. Just time for the simple pleasures in life.

To conclude, there are reasons here that maybe over stated. Argumentatively speaking, we could debate on these for hours. But the objective is drive home the point of avoiding late working hours. Its not that one should only work 8 hours a day, but on the other hand I feel one shouldn’t work 12 - 14 hours daily.

its just the balancing act in the end. I guess we all are old enough to judge where to draw the line.

ITS TIME THAT WE JUST DID.

Has God Logged onto ORKUT?

8th of May 2006 ; shall go down in the books of my Personal History as the day, I was smitten to the OAS (Orkut Addiction Syndrome)… The Reasons for Joining are Varied so are my Excuses to Stay on ! Inspite of so many other Community Sites coming up like Wildfire namely Gazzag,blah,blah,blah.com……but i still Stuck on !!!

One aspect that struck me like a bolt of Lightning was the fact that i could connect to all my Ex-Girlfrenz notice the Wicked Smile …I Spent sleepless nights trying to search for long lost frenz(Assuming i could increase my Frenz list, who would directly corelate to a spurt in the Fans Count on my Profile…Damn it doesnt work that way)

On a more serious note, i did realise, Orkut was THE PLATFORM, where i could meet my Frens, long lost and also the ones, whom i said “Get Lost”, long time back”…i guess thats the Very IRONY of Life !

And now, ORKUT is like a Mantra Everywhere!! Bangalore times documents how it functions, NDTV does a Documentary on what the Orkut Phenomena is all about…if you really want to see what an epidemic Orkut is, Type “I Love Orkut” in google and be ready to be Shaken & Stirred away with the Results…..

There is a Very Good Fren of Mine, who supposedly did OT every single day until like last month…why only until last month ????? Cos his Company Blocked Orkut !!and he could no Longer give in OT(Orkut Time)….He is currently in “Activity Depression”…he refuses to be indulge in any form of Exercise…other than the Exercise…and that act of Refusal is directing impending Waist Line !!

Documenting the histrionics of yet another Spectacular species, who happens to be a Fren of mine, Shifted Jobs only cos they banned Orkut at her workplace and she couldnt do with out it….This aint a Joke…Just for the Record, she Exists…Funny Aint it??? i mean not abt her Existence but the Phenomena called ORKUT.

I guess 70’s gave us, the Hippie Culture, Well, we the people of this Generation can be proud of ourselves too, cos look what we ended up giving ourselves and the generations to come, the ORKUT Culture..Well will that be a Disgrace/Pride, telling our kids(if i live that long, that is !!)..tryin to imagine what the conversation would go Like :

Son : Papa, Tell me something about your Days??????

Me : Son, those were the days of Glory, when we spent our Days of Summer on the Internet, Scrapped our frenz and when they didnt scrap back, we called them up and asked, what thier problem was in scrapping back ?

Son : That Sounds so Interesting Pa…(Knowing my Son, im quite sure, he would be full of Sarcasm as well)

Son : So how did u meet Ma? ( I was expecting that from my Son, i m quite sure, he is gonna try this one on as well…Remember : Orkut would be an Obsolete Trend, like we find Sex, Drugs and Rock n ROll….Un-do Remember for the Words in Bold Italics, they will never go Outta Fashion)

Me : Your Ma, Came & Checked onto my Profile and I found her in my Visitors list…so in reciprocation, i went and Checked her Profile..I found her Good Looking, so i added her to my Crush List & Frenz List as well…Then for Sometime, nothing Happened..i was too Egoistic to scrap her. and your Mom, the Arrogant Self that she is didnt Bother Scrapping as well….

Son : Then ….!!!????

Me : Then, what !! Some Nonsensical Fren sent her this Spam Mail, which Said “Do this and find out who has added you to thier CRUSH LIST”

Son : So did it work???? !!!
Me : No !!!! Like all the other Spam Chain Mails, this didnt as well(Thank Gos !)…Then one fine day, i let go of all my inhibitions and I Scrapped…and we started Talking and then we Fan’ned each other and then one day we got married and after some days you came in as a “Private Message” in to our Personal eMail Account !

Son : So i came from ORKUT !!!!!!!!! :)) was i delivered in a Mail Box and now by a Stork !

Me : Thats a Story for another day, another Blog Beta!!
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Finally, Before i hit the Sack , a Question for you to Ponder about ::::

Out of 6,574,666,417 People in this world, with 1,093,529,692 using the Internet(Basic Services like email)….That makes it 16% of the World Uses Internet and out which 43,227,179 are on orkut ! That makes it 4 % of the whole population of the Basic to Advanced Internet Users.. So i m quite sure, God would qualify to have an Internet email account atleast..well if he does, then there are 1 isto 25 Probability chances that GOD has logged onto Orkut !!!

Search not within your Hearts but in Orkut and all you know, you may just find him !!

Keep the Search On !

Welcome !!

I know that the Title sounds a little Cliched, but couldnt actually work up something Smart-errrrr!! :)There are always TWO reasons for everythin in our Lives...be it creation of this world to Dysentry pangs you encountered this morning..i mean for everythin...So does my action of having moved from Word-Press to this Blog Website...

- Cos wanted to install Adsense on my Blog to get some Monies Rolling
- It is lot more convenient to manage the plethora of accounts i have with google like Orkut, bla blah..Turned into a Amateur Googlelogist !!Well..i have tried re-creating the old Wordpress Blogs

(I mean the Sensible ones!!) back on here !Thats quite the reason why, you will see the first few blog-posts having identical time-stamps !