Book Review: Don't Sweat The Small Stuff at Work

by : Richard Carlson

Recommended reading for all the guys who get stressed out.

He has some great - absolutely common sensical advice for all of us.

The ones which I really loved were these :

* Don't dramatize the deadlines
* Have some 'no phone' time at work
* Make the best of the corporate travel
* Remember to acknowledge
* Make a list of your personal priorities


There are obviously many more here. Very well written. Very meaningful.

Blogs I love : Third Umpire on Cricket 

by Ramanujam Sridhar, CEO, Brand-Comm


This is a beautifully written blog. The only problem with this blog is that Sridhar is not writing frequently. There is one post on November 10th, another on October 22nd  and before that in March 12th of 2009!! That is too infrequent for such delightful writing.

Take the latest post on "Thank you Steve Davies". It raises questions on why India is so bull headed in not accepting the UDRS. And, I have felt much the same. The argument that the technology is not perfect does not wash. The umpires are far from it. So, why not go with an improved version even if it might still have some flaws?

I completely agree Mr.Sridhar. He thanks the umpire Steve Davies who blundered through the series and  who could have cost India the series against Australia but for some luck going India's way finally.

Take a look at the other post talking about whether BCCI is up to it. Very good post.

So, my dear sir, why don't you write more often? Please do!!

The Language of Cricket

I love cricket. I am in love with the language of cricket even more than the game itself.

When I was a kid, my father used to tell me about the field placements. Though I did not understand a word of it, I liked the sound of all those field placements. I liked 'slip', 'gully', 'point', 'midon', 'midoff' and so on.

As I grew, I fell in love with the game and at the same time, I continuously used to translate these words into my native language - tamil - and fell in love with these words even more!!

See, for example, 'slip' - if you translate it in any language - means that you fall!  Add the interesting twists of 'first-slip,'second-slip, 'third slip' and so on, translate and visualize so many people falling down on top of each other, I am sure you get the feeling! And then that other word : point. Again, in any language, the meaning is the same : it is a singular thing which can be made with a pen or pencil. Then you try translating the other placements such as 'cover', 'extra cover', I can never quite stop laughing!

I have never quite understood why you should have a field placement called thirdman but a reserve called the
twelfth man? On top of it, the bowler can bowl a chinaman. The one who is batting is called the 'batsman' and not just a 'batter'. What is this fascination with 'man' in cricket? I have not really understood this.

It is called a run and yet, the bastsman, for all we know, can walk. Nowadays, even that walk is called 'doing a ranatunga', after the great Srilankan Captain, who used to 'walk' his runs. If you walk, but not run, should it be still called a run? But it is still called one.

Even more bizarre thing is this : it is counted as a 'run' even when somebody else is doing the running. It happens often enough when one batsman is injured and yet is batting on.

The 'wicket keeper' actually does not keep any wickets.

He is in fact, as far away from the wickets as possible. Especially when a fast bowler is bowling. He in fact tries to break down the wicket as he tries to run out the batsman or tries to stump him. Since he is the only person with the gloves on in the fielding team, shouldn't he be called a 'glover'?

Bowling comes first. Catching comes later. And yet, when the bowler catches off his own bowling and the batsman gets out, it is said 'caught and bowled'. Shouldn't it have been 'bowled and caught'?

The bowler bowls the ball and the ball is actually there. And yet, magically, sometimes it becoms a 'no ball'. 

The sign language cricket has is also fascinating. The finger goes up when the wicket goes down and yet the real wicket - the stumps, need not go down.

In recent times, the finger which goes up can even be crooked and it still is out...

Both the hands go up, it is a six.

So, one hand should go up when it is three? But, no, actually, hands don't really go up when somebody scores three. Funnily, just one hand goes up it is called 'bye'. The umpire is not bidding bye here. The captain is sure to bid bye to the wicket keeper if it continues...

It is a 'good bye' for the batting team and not so a good bye for the fielding team.

The 'wide' is something even the lay man can understand from what the umpires shows. He actually extends both hands in their respective directions and you can understand that it is a reasonably logical one and not really a wilde one.

For a long time, I thought that for somebody to get out 'Leg Before the Wicket', the basic requisite is that the ball has to hit the leg first. However, it is not so. Even if the ball hits the helmet of the batsman, as a Sachin Tendulkar would tell you, he can get out 'LBW'.

As if all these crazy languages of cricket is not enough, nowadays you also have this 'Duckworth and Lewis'. The D/L system, as it is called, came into sharp focus in a world cup match when just before the rains the South African team was cruising to a win and suddenly, after the showers, the "best runs scored" system told them that they needed to get a 21 run of one ball. Just before that stoppage, they required 22 off 13 balls. There was plenty of artificial light. There was plenty of time. It was a crucial match. The spectators who had paid for the match were willing to see it through.If the D/L system was there, it would have set a target of four runs to tie the match! But, the D/L is not without its critics and controversies!! Is it applicable for a shorter version as the T20? Is it applicable if we were to have a 25 over a side but two innings one day match? (It would still be only a one day match!!). There are questions.

Well. You can expect nothing less from a game which has taken the name of an insect to start with.

It is full of fun, full of surprises and full of funny language which just adds to the fun quotient!

என் கவிதைகள்  (My Poems)

This is a blog about my poems. I apologise for those who don't know tamil....

என்னுடைய பழைய நோட்டுப் புத்தகங்களை எல்லாம் புரட்டிக் கொண்டு இருந்தேன். ஸ்கூல், மற்றும் காலேஜ் சமயத்தில் எழுதிய சில கவிதைகள் கண்ணில் பட்டன.

யாம் பெற்ற துன்பம் பெருக இவ்வையகம்!! உங்களுடன் 'ஷேர்' செய்யத் துணிந்து விட்டேன்:

கவிதை 1 : 10th படிக்கும்போது எழுதியது. 'அறுவை போட்டி' ஒன்று நடைபெற்றது. அதில் கலந்து கொண்டு, சில 'கடி' ஜோக்ஸ் சொன்னது மட்டுமில்லாது, இந்தக் கவிதையும் சொன்னது ஞாபகம் வருகிறது. பரிசு எதுவும் கிடைக்கவில்லை. அடியும், எதுவும் கிடைக்கவில்லை:

"அறுத்தலும் குழப்பலும், அறுத்துப் பின் குழப்பலும்,

 அறுப்பாரையும்  அறுத்து, அவரையே குழப்பலும், 

 அறுத்து, அறுத்து,  அறு சுவை காணலும், 

 அறுப்பார் அவர்க்கே அழகு"

மற்ற கவிதைகள் பின்னர்!

Book Review : Echo Burning by Lee Child

I have come to like Lee Child's character, 'Reacher'. The lonely guy who wants to be alone is interesting. Somehow he lands into trouble. Somehow he rescues people. He stands upright. He fights crime. He is very passionate about justice...

This story is not different. It is all of that. Jack Reacher gets a lift just when he was looking for one. And, from smebody he would have least expected it. The woman, who gives him a lift expects him to kill her husband. Reacher investigates and lands up in the middle of loads of trouble. And, the husband gets killed. Apparently by the wife herself. Why is the question. Then the story unfolds itself. 

The first half moves very slowly - unlike the other stories I have read before of Lee child's Reacher stories. But, the second half makes up for it. There are some holes in the logic. For example, why should the Walker guy try to cover up the killing? Why kill only the husband? Why not the wife also and make it look like a scuffle? Who is going to suspect him of all people?

But, with all the holes, it makes up for a good night's read. With diverse characters such as Carmen Greer whom you don't know whether to trust or not, the lady attorney who is a gay, the grandmother Rusty, who hates mexicans and rascist to the hilt, the horses and the ranch, it is rich in detail.

My Take (in a lighter vein) on Management

1. Matrix Management Approach

When I first joined the MBA, I had not fully realized it. But, over the years one tends to become a little wiser. Now I know for sure. All that one has to do really well in MBA and in any kind of presentation, however high one goes up in the organization, is to show a 2 X 2 matrix.

If one wanted to come across somebody who is 'cool' and who is somebody intellectually above all others, all one has to do is to show some 2 X 2 matrix with interesting labels stuck in them.

How does one do it? I will teach you:

Step 1 : Take up a 2 X 2 matrix.
Step 2 : Put a variable on the  x axis and another variable on the y axis.
Step 3 : Now, you have got a box of 4 sections. (this is actually not a step...)
Step 4 : You have to ensure that you have a low vs high on the axis from one side to the other.This has to be done on both the axes.
Step 5 : One should label the boxes. But, if you find it very difficult to do,one can actually leave the labelling of the different boxes to the audience.They will toil hard, label it and think that you are a genius!

Let me take a few 2 X 2 matrices and explain the funda to you:

Example one :

Work	High	Desired by company	Ideal condition
	Low	Current condition	Desired by employee
		Low	High
		Wages

Example 2 : Let us take some other words and see whether we can make some meaning out of them :

Let us take Man & Woman. Can you come up with a matrix here? And explain it away? Try it!! My try is given below!


My attempt:

Man	High	Masculine	Human
	Low	Animal	Feminine
		Low	High
		Woman

See? With more and more practice, it takes almost no effort.

You can come up with a 2 by 2 for almost any 2 variables!

I don't mean to be mean to the management Gurus but I have almost always been fascinated by their ability to come up with a limitless supply of the 2 by 2s as much as their ability to think through complex issues. I have also marveled at the ability of people to make this thing even more complicated by adding a twist and making it a 3 by 3 matrix.

For example, we had that simple BCG matrix - which looked at the business growth rate and one's relative position in the market. We had a simple and peaceful 2 X 2 matrix.

Then came the GE matrix with the same kind of axis (though with slightly different terminologies) but with a twist : now you had to navigate through a 3 X 3 matrix and 9 cells instead of a benign 4!!

I have always marveled at this!!

And then I read Covey. What a way to steal the world with a simple urgent vs important matrix!!

Well. I am truly in love with this matrix approach to management. It looks simple. Whether I am able to understand what I am articulating or not, those who listen to me go with a feeling that I am intelligent and that I know!!

What more do you want?!

You should really try this. When you are in the office and when a power point ppt with some 117 slides are being shown by someone out to impress his hard work, and when you are really unable to stifle your yawns, you should take a notebook and doodle and see which are all the words which you can connect as above in a 2 X 2 matrix.

Try it out and let me know!!

Trend Spotting : 2

India is supposed to be a young nation. more than 50% of the population is below 25 years. It is the youngest nation and it is going to stay that for quite some time. In this being young, we can very conveniently ignore the old. The number of people who are old is not small.

The estimates are like this : in the next 10 years, that is by the year 2020, we will be a 133 crore population country. To my mind, this itself is a lower estimate. However, even if we take this estimate, about 7.6 crores of these people are going to be 65+ years. 37 crores are going to be under 15 years old. 88 crores are going to be in the age group 15 to 64 years. By 2050, about 25% of the population will be 60+ years.

Now, let us focus on the 7.6 crore people who are going to be 65+ All of them are currently 55+ years old. A lot of them are looking at retiring in the next 5 years. A lot of them are already bewildered at the rate of change. A lot of these people are clueless about social networking. Though some of them are savvy, a vast majority of these people don't know what facebook is all about. A vast majority of these have not operated internet. For a vast majority of these, even mobile phones are alien.

All of them are going to be 65+ and are going to be very very lonely.

Just look at the number of news items showing dissent of the young people with their parents.

In TN, there is an actress, (Saranya), who goes missing and her mother files a complaint with police. The actor daughter surfaces and clarifies saying that her mother is torturing her.

Another actor's daughter (Vanitha Vijayakumar) accuses her parents of threatening her with life for the past 15 years.

There is enough and more news in the papers of sons and daughters chasing their parents away.

The number of old age homes is increasing.  

What was a 700 odd number in 1998, by now, must have reached 2000+ mark. In the net, no clear stats are available on the status of number of old age homes in the country.

Another reason why these old age homes are flourishing is very interesting. In the previous generations, people used to have 5 to 6 children at least. In their old age, even if they were not happy with one son and the respective daughter in law, they will move to another son. Even if they were happy somewhere, they still kept on moving around.

I remember my grandma, living with us for a few months and then moving onto living with my uncles for a spell of a few months each. This used to happen in almost every family across India. One lived with the eldest son for a couple of months, then with the next son and then a few days with a daughter and then back with the next son for a few months and so on.

This had the effect of lowering the 'burden' on each of the wards and also ensuring that the old people had someplace to go even if at one place they were not entirely happy or some quarrels happened.

This simply does not happen anymore. Already, the current crop of grandparents are having lesser number of children than their previous generations. The current crop of parents have one or at best 2 children only. Which means that the kind of safety valve which was there earlier is not available anymore.

Suddenly, the grandparents become a burden on their sons and daughters. And, worse, they have nowhere else to go.


The old people end up feeling increasingly lonely, bewildered and lack companionship. Increasingly, the computer at home means that even the children, who would otherwise have given them company, don't anymore.

Even the grand children, who, in the previous generation would have listened to stories from their grandparents, now, play video games or are already on facebook with their friends.

It is going to be frightening to be old in this country. The country, where elders were respected and extended family was the norm, is fast becoming full of nuclear families where the old have no place.

So, it is very simple to see the next trend : No place to be old in India...

It is sad...but that seems to be the situation. If you are wealthy old man, you can at least get into a decent old age home. If you are not so wealthy and cannot afford a good old age home, well then...God help you...

Let us see what this means for different set of stakeholders in India. For entrepreneurs and marketers, it means huge opportunity. They can and I am sure will make a difference in this also. There will be corporate sponsored old age homes soon. There will be pension funds which will enable one to get into a decent old age home in his choice of geography. There will be insurance companies which will help people to settle down with endowments for their old age. There will be home and realty builders who will take your house back on lease back arrangements to enable you to live peacefully in your old age. There will be a host of appliances which will target the old people to live by themselves without any help from anyone during this period of loneliness. There will be laws ensuring specific comfort levels for the older people when they travel, when they commute from one place to another and so on.

There may even be awards for youngsters who regularly go and visit their parents or grandparents in the old age homes...sounds cruel but that would be better than such a thing not happening at all...