கவித கவித

எனக்கே
என்னைப்
பிடிக்கிறது

உனக்கு
என்னைப்
பிடிக்காதா?

oOo

நான்
உறங்கிய பின்
உனக்கு மட்டுமென்ன
வேலை

வேறோன்றுமில்லை
உன் கனவில்
வருவதைத் தவிர!

oOo

அவளிடம்
பேசும் போதும்
பழகும் போதும்

இருப்பதில்லை
இலக்கணமும்
இங்கிதமும்!

The Reading List

After posting a review (if you can call that a review) of Polyester Prince, there were more than few mails and questions on suggestion for good books.

It also reminded me of the personal book list shared by a gentle man and reply sent by me as well as a reading list shared by one awesome guy.

So here is the list. Except for the first ten,the reco is from the folks above mentioned. Remember, I havent read all the books or authors mentioned here.Most of the authors are not even my type. Still, their 2 cents are worth it. If you like the list, say thanks to them. :)

My Ten:

Ten just happened to be a number. Again in no particular order. I have included only my non-fiction books.

In fiction, To name a few, Jeffery Archer, Sidney Sheldon, Robert Ludlum, David Baldacci, Tom Clancy and of course Harold Robins ;)

1) Barbarians at the Gate
Though it is a business book, far better than any of the thrillers that one could come across and more especially what the greed for money could do.

2)Straight from the gut
Jack Welch, at least for his competititive spirit

3) Who says Elephants cant dance
How IBM made a turn around

4) Made in Japan -Akio Morita

5) How to get what you want- Kopmeyer [ I have found the techniques mentioned here really works]

6) Think and grow rich- Napolean Hill [I am halfway through it but still i love it so far]

7)Competing for the future -C.K Prahlad [My all time favourite]

8)Future Shock-Alvin Toeffler [I still find this so relevant]

9)World is Flat [Thomas Friedman]

10) 7 Habits of Highly effective people -Stephen Covey [ This is one book i havent crossed more than 100 pages and i would say if you had read this all other self development books are unnecessary :)]

From the awesome guy a.k.a Gary

1. Khaled Hosseini - Till data Kite Runner is the best book I've read
2. Douglas Adams - Hilarious
3. Thomas Kennealy - Vivid images of Schindler's Arc (not seen the movie yet)
4. George Orwell - Could still taste the satire
5. Karan Bajaj - Big fan after Johnny Gone Down
6. Jeffrey Archer - The English wit and a master storyteller
7. Michael Crichton - Philosophy and Technology floored me
8. Simon Winchester - Story telling of true events
9. JRR Tolkein - The master of imagination
10. Joseph Heller - God level in Satire
11. Orhan Pharmuk - Brings words to lives
12. Leon Uris - Recommendation that I liked
13. Vikas Swarup - Indian - more than the others
14. Salman Rushdie - Impeccable but mostly too much work;For the dream scapes & for 'unbelonging'
15. Jhumpa Lahiri - Although namesake was not as good, brings images
16. Albert Camus: For the fall, & prose that hits like splashes of ice cold water
17. Arundhati Roy:For God of Small Things,& the shape shifting hole in the universe that its absence would've left behind
18. John Banville: For that striking mixture of cold, lyrical prose and dark, self conscious wit
19. Jorge Luis borges: For redefining poetry & recreating allusions
20. Gulzar:For those evocative word pictures and haunting 'trivenis'
21. J.K Rowling: For humor and imagination
22. Pico Iyer: For finding beauty in the banal
23. Wodehouse: For incomparable wit & adorable characters
24. Charles Schulz,Bill Waterson: For saying so much in so little words
25. Margaret Atwood: For her subversive & clever word plays
26. Fitzgerald: For the Great Gatsby
27. Jack London: For wonder, wilderness and wonderful winters long ago
28. Graham Greene: For deep dives into faith and doubt, and that stripped down, yet gripping style
29. Ayn Rand: For that incomparably heady conviction (one must rise before one Falls?)

Honorable mentions of Gary :)

1. The Great Indian Novel - Shashi Tharoor  (Mahabharatha of Indian Political History - Satire)
2. The Palace of Illusions - Chitra Bannerjee Divakuruni (Feminist Mahabharat - thru the eyes of Draupadi)
3. Wheels - Arthur Hailey (Heart of Car Industry) Any book of him for that matter :)
4. Hitchhikers guide to Galaxy - Douglas Adams (Pure unadulterated fun)
5. Open - Andre Agassi (Best Sports Autobio possible)
6. Cold Steel - Byron Odyssey (Business Thriller of Mittal Arcelor Deal)
7. Reluctant Fundamentalist - Mohsin Hamid (Brilliance of a narrative)

From the Gentleman :)

1)The McKinsey Way-( Rasiel)  -
Taught me the insider view of Fortune 100 corporate and the MECE way of problem solving

2) What the customer wants you to know - (Ram Charn)
Ram Charn the First Indian to become Harvard Phd, Who served GE for more than 30 years advises the business acumen that every one needs today, this book is an Enabler of my success at Honeywell

3) High -Impact Interview Questions - (AMACOM)-
All these 701 questions are really tough but good enough for one’s life

4)Tony Busan - Study skills handbook –
It is a must one to read for every one in school / college.. I have read it late and enabled me to read faster and grasp quicker

5) Param Vir Our Heroes in Battle - (Maj.Gen.Ian Cardozo) –
This is a biography of 21 people honored with Param Vir Chakra by government of India…It teaches every reader about the great purpose of life

6) Light the Fire in your Heart you can dare to lead - (Debashish Chatterjee) –
This book enlightens the reader to feel rather than think about whatever he or she do. Shares the experiences of Author’s Interaction with personalities such as Lee Kuan Yew, J.R.D.Tata, Mother Therasa, Richard Baranson,Kim Cambell,Anita Roddick, Dee Hock

7) Secretes of self made Millionaires – (Adam Khoo) –
Book Exhibits the mind of Asian millionaires. Learnt the power of compounding interest

8) The Story of Escorts (H.P.Nanda) –
The Most Terrific and inspiring biography I have ever read. It paints the picture of Lahoor, Simla, and Faridabad before and after freedom.

9)100 ways to improve your writing (Gary Provost) –
It seems it works because often people appreciate my mails :)

10)The Thank You Book (Robyn Freedman Spizman) – Saying Thank you to the author is not enough

11) Love Letters in the Sand – (Poems of Khalil Gibran) –
 Love is the language of leadership

12)The Circle of Love - (Debashis Chatterjee) –
It takes us to a dreamy world. If any one want to score top in Literature they must read it

13)Leadership Sutras - (Debashis Chatterjee) - It waves together the many strands of leadership wisdom in to a book that is both timely and timeless.

14)48 Laws of Power – (Robert Greene) - Jewish author explains 48 Political concepts with historical evidences. Though some concepts seem ruthless, the story narration is so nice.

15)INDIA 2039 – An affluent Society (Various Authors )- It is a book by authored by firms that offer financial support to governments.

16) Living the 80/20 Way (Richard Koch) –It is a very positive book exhibits author’s experiences on managing crises and how the 20% masters the skills that the 80% does not follow.

17) The millionaire next door –( Thomas J.Stanley ) - This book is a compilation of research done by the two authors about the saving and spending behaviors of more than 200 self made millionaires

18) The Entrepreneur book of Check Lists –( Robert Ashton ) – It is an excellent book compiling a 1000 over points that an entrepreneur must have a focus

Another recommended reading exclusively for Tamil books :))

Maniratnam, Biographies and Biopics

There are too many good books out there. But, there are very few books which make you mutter Oh My God and Holy Cow every now and then! No, I am not talking about porn or soft porn books.
To me one among them was Barbarians at the Gate, the LBO of RJR Nabisco. I felt it was the mother of all books when it comes to giving the insider view of how the company works.  I also felt, never ever such a book could be written on Indian companies.
Well, only recently I read Polyester Prince, of course not written by an Indian! Though wiki says it is banned, Guha says it is just unavailable!

It is not just the biography of Dhirubai Ambani not the history of Reliance. In a sense, it is very much the history of India itself, its economy, stock market, politics, the mindset of the people.

The contents are much more explosive than any Hollywood and Bollywood movies. (at least for me)

It does explicitly names the people involved and the deeds done by them. At certain places, though author explicitly doesnt names the people, it is pretty obvious where he is pointing his fingers!

Though i was outraged and enraged at the things (allegations) Ambani has did, I do admire the sheer  Geniusness and the capability of Ambani to run the company, stock market and the Government of India itself.

I have heard personally from one of my friend who worked in building one of their plant, it was one of the best in the world. Best of the machinery, best of the technology in the world and No compromises on that. You could also conclude the friend who told me was also the best and he knew what he was telling me.He also did tell me the operating cost[the cost of converstion of one barrel of crude oil to other useful forms] was much more less than Shell by many factors.
I am very sure this was the guiding and founding principle from their early days and all their plants or operations would have adhered to the same standard.

If only Ambani did play the stock market as mentioned in the book all you wallstreet finance whiz kids, who couldnt avert Lehman or any other such crisis, go spend a fortnight on the grave of Ambani!

And for the influence, If only lobbying had been legal and structured in India, would we still consider what Ambani did was wrong?

I also couldnt help thinking if this much could be culled out by an Australian, how much dirt or as Ambani himself says, what else lies under the beautiful fountain he has built over!

Though the author washes much of the dirty linen and brings out the skeletons from the closet, I think he himself admires and applauds Ambani in a back handed manner. Also long back, he has pointed out at the possibility of rivalry among the brothers.

No one can better sum up about the Ambani and be the best jury rather than the concluding pages of the book!

Now to stay true to the title of the post :)
There have been times, I have held Maniratnam at awe. After watching English movies, started thinking, may be Mani doesn't deserves the hype he deserves.

But, after reading this book, Mani has been elevated back to the pedestal.

His Guru and Iruvar had been my all time favourites.
Iruvar, no one else could have actually captured the 40 years of history of Tamilnadu in Celluloid. The same goes with Ambani and his Guru movie. Mani has actually lifted references of Ambani from this book [Salam, Different slippers and Drinking to name a few]
Again as Mani himself as said, his movies are not biographies as he only draws inspirations from real time storis and weaves a story of his own.[Mani himself as admitted even his Agni Natchitram and Alaipayuthe were inspired by real stories of unknown faceless people] or make a few changes here and there for the revieweres to say, this is where it is not true to the reality.
Still kudos and three cheers to Mani.
If you haven't watched either of this two movies, you should, even if you are not a movie watching guy.[yeah i  talking to you :)))]

Full Disclosure: I have the climax of Guru in my lappy and watch it every now and then, whenever i feel low. :) :P :D

N.B
It is a best read to motivate you to acheive towards success rather than any of the other self development books. Remember Ambani says Never break the law :))

Annoying Airtel (Well Nothing new)

Nothing pisses me off like a bad customer service!

I pay money to your service and expect value for each and every paisa that i pay.

I am one among the many who use a touch screen mobile. Yeah that also happens to be the so called smart phone.Hence I also data services.

Along other spam messages i receive[Yeah i have subscribed to DND] there comes a message on 12 Apr-20.48
I have subscribed for GAMES MANIA_5
The reaction of yours truly was WTF! I dont play any games and have never played any games except for the occasional minesweeper and the legendary angry birds. [Yeah i am one of a rare specimen]

I call the customer care,blast at them. They take the request for deactivation[Ref #: F1037597005]
I raise the same same issue in twitter to @airtel_presence. I get a canned response share your contact details we will call back.
I get a call when i was in middle of something so asked him to call back later. Later,I get a call from broadband when the issue is with my mobile and one month goes away and i never get any call from any folks.

When i open my bill to pay, I see am being charged 5 per day from 12-Apr.
I call the customer care, unable to resolve, the agent volunteers to escalate to that the supervisor and i get the below response

1)The service was deactivated
2)But,The service was reactivated [Oh yeah of course by yours truly as he doesn't know how to use a smart phone and more importantly how to finger i mean use his finger]
3)Hence the bill.

He doesn't know how it got activated, he cannot assure that the activation will not happen again.
He doesn't know why i never got a notification, when i reactivated it.

I come back tweet to @airtel_presence praise(sic) them they are the best customer service and after asking them is it because of the lack of the SIM or the lack of network coverage that they are still not able to get back to me even after a month.

Now a person calls from Airtel takes a look at everything, when i ask him, why I am i billed day in day out even after the deactivation, he accepts, though the agent has made a note it has been deactivated, he never deactivated!

Now here are the questions:
1) Why does it gets activated when i havent activated? Why does it just notifies me with out getting a confirmation? How do you even let such a system exist in the first place?
2) If Airtel is just the content provider, why does it allow the vendor[GAMES MANIA] to behave in such a manner? Is the revenue cut from GAMES MANIA much important than a Customer?
3) Why is that in the customer service, no one monitors or tracks things properly?
4) Doesn't Airtel conducts audits or process checks with the customer service vendor now and then?
5) When the Airtel guy can answer me effectively and if a customer service vendor cannot handle me, why to have a third party service vendor?
6) When i will be fined 100/- for a late payment even by a minute, why should i pay my bill promptly and wait for a month to get a refund?  More importantly who will compensate for the time i spend with the customer care for such a long time and more importantly your time by making you read all these!
7) I did ask them, I need the mail id of Vice President for the Customer Service, he said it is confidential. Those folks have my phone number mail id and address and you are a publicly traded company and he cannot reveal the mail id of Vice President of Customer care!

The issues doesnt ends over there. I think they are first (hopefully the only one) to charge the customer for talking to the customer care!

When you pay the bills, online, Whenever i copy paste the number at number field it never accepts it as valid number
It asks for the mail id if it is mobile bill and sends the receipt but it doesnt asks for the mail id when i want to pay my broadband bill
God knows why such discrepancies.

No I am not alone, Please check the https://twitter.com/#!/Airtel_Presence to see how many complaints they receive in an hour?

Now,if only their process/service/systems were proper, what is the need for a customer service? Well if you buy a product and if the product is too good and you dont face too many problems will you worry much about the after sales support or service? Similarly if only Airtel had good systems or process in place, the chance for the customer to complain comes down, so out of that the complaint of bad customer service too obviously comes down. Just dont focus or worry about proper balances and checks ensure there is no need for balance and checks

I really wonder how they design their systems or the senior management folks do or manage the outsourcing but we get to see articles like these.
http://blogs.hbr.org/govindarajan/2012/05/telecoms-competitive-solution-outsourcing.html

Nope I am not against the outsourcing. All i am saying is manage the outsourcing properly.
May be the right question to ask rather than all of this "Why I am i still their customer?"

Sincerely,
Concerned Stockholder

p.s
If Airtel had been in US would it have been possible for me to get all the dissatisfied customers and file a class action suit against them and made lakhs #justasking