Hi everyone.... I have now moved a new blog site:
http://nrcharan.wordpress.com/
Thursday, October 09, 2008
Friday, May 23, 2008
Two sides of a coin!
Keep realising from time to time that at almost any moment in our life - we can look at our situation in the most positive light and take pride in all our achievements OR look at the way life has played cruel jokes on us and pity ourselves.
For example, doing poorly in exams or in one's appraisal, can inspire us to push ourselves more and become better persons or give up on it all accepting our limited ability and fate.
In short, I was reminded of this very jarringly obvious fact by suffering heavy losses consistently by burning my fingers in a legalised gambling system called day trading :) And btw, I have chosen the latter and now accepted my fate and ability.
But the positive out of this decision has been the feel good factor that I would be richer by keeping quiet and doing nothing! :D
Extremely sorry for my poor writing skills. Hope I improve with time! :)
For example, doing poorly in exams or in one's appraisal, can inspire us to push ourselves more and become better persons or give up on it all accepting our limited ability and fate.
In short, I was reminded of this very jarringly obvious fact by suffering heavy losses consistently by burning my fingers in a legalised gambling system called day trading :) And btw, I have chosen the latter and now accepted my fate and ability.
But the positive out of this decision has been the feel good factor that I would be richer by keeping quiet and doing nothing! :D
Extremely sorry for my poor writing skills. Hope I improve with time! :)
Monday, July 11, 2005
Money - The Driving Force???
I have always wondered - is money the most important thing in the world?? My mind has always hovered between dreams of being a billionaire to the likes of being Rip Van Winkle.
Why was money invented? So that everyone could share their produce / product in a better manner than the barter system. So that things that are more difficult to make / create get more value, or 'money'. This was a great system. One could, based on the amount of hard work put in, get what they wanted.
But very soon, possession of rare items became very valuable. Rarer an item, costlier it became, irrespective of its purpose. Thus began a village market economy.
With the growth of larger civilisations, man management became more important. With the establishment of kingdoms, the military and the ruling class started controlling it by way of taxes and possession of land.
The worth of physical work became lesser and lesser. And the feudal system meant concentration of wealth in the hands of the few. The actual people working on the fields or in smithies were paid poorly and were at the mercy of the lords. The system differentiated people into different classes (castes in case of India) and it was very difficult for people to move to a higher class as it was pre-destined by virtue of their birth into a family of that class.
With industries and cities getting prominence with the beginning of the Industrial Revolution (occurring in the 18th - 19th century in the West and much much later in the east), traders became the benificiaries of this 'worthlessness' of factory workers. Traders made huge profits and this money pumped back to make more profit.
The division was now made based on money rather than 'class'. The new system still strongly differentiated between the haves and the havenots but gave the have-nots a better chance to move up the class ladder, if they had strong will-power. But the odds were highly skewed against that a person born in a poor family because, it meant he would have lesser money to start with and not much education. But still, the system gave them a chance.
This exploitation continued and prompted many intellectuals to stand up against this. This lead to the Communist movement, the most famous intellectual associated with it being Karl Marx. He foresaw that this discrepancy between the bourgousie and the ploretariat (the working class) would give rise to a situation where the latter will overthrow the former and set up a Communist state, a utopian state where everyone gets everything according to their needs and capability and will reach such a stage that government will cease to exist. To reach this state, initially the state has to be very powerful and shape the society for this change by uplifting the poor and down-trodden (socialism). But, in this process, as the state gets powerful, it also becomes corrupt and anti-progress. It starts to stagnate and autocratic. This has what has happened to all the Communist / Socalist countries in this world. China (post '80s) being the only exception that too because it shunned many Communist ideas and welcomed capitalism. Being a single-party government and people not having the right to protest, it became even easier than in capitalist countries.
Communist policies have had their effect in the western capitalist countries. These very countries which fought tooth-and-nail with communism during the Cold War cannot today have pension funds, social security allowance, strong labour laws, etc. which protect the working class against exploitation.
Wait a minute... what am I doing here? I was thinking of money and i went into history, communism and all.... Why? Well... i think this was some kind of analysis on what money has done to this world. What I have discussed is only a small part of a larger issue. I also helps me think what money means to me.
As you can see, if we were living a few hundred years back, money would not have had the same importance. Pride and family values were more important. This is not to say that money is everything now but has become more important.
But whats the point of money beyond a point? Beyond a point, it becomes a responsibility and just a issue of prestige or 'status'.
Presently, for me, more than money (I still need it to feed and clothe myself!) is job satisfaction and a job which will propel me into a good career.
Also, I think in the long run, I would like to do something for the society. I dont know how i will do it and dont know when start doing it. But if I do get to do it, that will be equivalent to a billion dollars.
The most satiating thing is the fact that I have left a mark on this earth....
--------------------
Thanks a lot for reading this article.
I know I have written a very messy article. Please do give your comments.
Why was money invented? So that everyone could share their produce / product in a better manner than the barter system. So that things that are more difficult to make / create get more value, or 'money'. This was a great system. One could, based on the amount of hard work put in, get what they wanted.
But very soon, possession of rare items became very valuable. Rarer an item, costlier it became, irrespective of its purpose. Thus began a village market economy.
With the growth of larger civilisations, man management became more important. With the establishment of kingdoms, the military and the ruling class started controlling it by way of taxes and possession of land.
The worth of physical work became lesser and lesser. And the feudal system meant concentration of wealth in the hands of the few. The actual people working on the fields or in smithies were paid poorly and were at the mercy of the lords. The system differentiated people into different classes (castes in case of India) and it was very difficult for people to move to a higher class as it was pre-destined by virtue of their birth into a family of that class.
With industries and cities getting prominence with the beginning of the Industrial Revolution (occurring in the 18th - 19th century in the West and much much later in the east), traders became the benificiaries of this 'worthlessness' of factory workers. Traders made huge profits and this money pumped back to make more profit.
The division was now made based on money rather than 'class'. The new system still strongly differentiated between the haves and the havenots but gave the have-nots a better chance to move up the class ladder, if they had strong will-power. But the odds were highly skewed against that a person born in a poor family because, it meant he would have lesser money to start with and not much education. But still, the system gave them a chance.
This exploitation continued and prompted many intellectuals to stand up against this. This lead to the Communist movement, the most famous intellectual associated with it being Karl Marx. He foresaw that this discrepancy between the bourgousie and the ploretariat (the working class) would give rise to a situation where the latter will overthrow the former and set up a Communist state, a utopian state where everyone gets everything according to their needs and capability and will reach such a stage that government will cease to exist. To reach this state, initially the state has to be very powerful and shape the society for this change by uplifting the poor and down-trodden (socialism). But, in this process, as the state gets powerful, it also becomes corrupt and anti-progress. It starts to stagnate and autocratic. This has what has happened to all the Communist / Socalist countries in this world. China (post '80s) being the only exception that too because it shunned many Communist ideas and welcomed capitalism. Being a single-party government and people not having the right to protest, it became even easier than in capitalist countries.
Communist policies have had their effect in the western capitalist countries. These very countries which fought tooth-and-nail with communism during the Cold War cannot today have pension funds, social security allowance, strong labour laws, etc. which protect the working class against exploitation.
Wait a minute... what am I doing here? I was thinking of money and i went into history, communism and all.... Why? Well... i think this was some kind of analysis on what money has done to this world. What I have discussed is only a small part of a larger issue. I also helps me think what money means to me.
As you can see, if we were living a few hundred years back, money would not have had the same importance. Pride and family values were more important. This is not to say that money is everything now but has become more important.
But whats the point of money beyond a point? Beyond a point, it becomes a responsibility and just a issue of prestige or 'status'.
Presently, for me, more than money (I still need it to feed and clothe myself!) is job satisfaction and a job which will propel me into a good career.
Also, I think in the long run, I would like to do something for the society. I dont know how i will do it and dont know when start doing it. But if I do get to do it, that will be equivalent to a billion dollars.
The most satiating thing is the fact that I have left a mark on this earth....
--------------------
Thanks a lot for reading this article.
I know I have written a very messy article. Please do give your comments.
Monday, July 04, 2005
Indian Cinema
Hi guys! In this post, I turn my head to something which has filled a lot of my free time this hols or for that matter any other hols - cinema, cinema-related TV programmes, and news about cinema. I have followed Tamil, Telugu and Hindi cinema most of my life. Started watching Hindi from around the age of 10 and English only after I joined college. So, I have hardly been influenced by Hollywood though I read a lot about it now.
In general, cinema has not just been a medium of entertainment or a pastime. It has influenced me in many ways - educating against social evils, tackling social problems, corruption, to live for society and for others, inspiration from different potrayals of modern-day Rama. All these in perfectly commercial movies! I guess its a lot to do with what one takes from a film.
In general, cinema has not just been a medium of entertainment or a pastime. It has influenced me in many ways - educating against social evils, tackling social problems, corruption, to live for society and for others, inspiration from different potrayals of modern-day Rama. All these in perfectly commercial movies! I guess its a lot to do with what one takes from a film.
Thursday, June 30, 2005
Des Vs Pardes
This is kind of an answer (surely not an exhaustive one) to many people's question why I chose to stay back in India without going for further studies abroad. This 'Des vs. Pardes' conflict has been a recurring thought in my mind since my 9th grade which was the first time i set foot outside India (May '97). Let me share with you some of the thoughts has gone through my mind .
The fact that I studied in Dubai for a couple of years and hence had the experience of staying abroad before actually applying for M.S. has influenced my decision strongly. Initially I was dead against going anywhere abroad for studying or working. (Dubai was different coz I knew I will return in a couple of years.) It was pure patriotic fervour before leaving to Dubai but after living there, it was more of some kind of uneasiness living abroad, better standard of living notwithstanding. Maybe thats because going abroad doesn't mean lessening of problems but rather, leaving behind one set of problems and facing another set. Maybe, its the change in culture or some kind of xenophobia. Maybe, I tend to be more nostalgic. Maybe, being in alien land doesnt make me feel at home. Maybe, a mixture of all these reasons. All these made me feel that I should be in India and nowhere else. But still, I hardly had any fundaes on what kind of education was available in India or abroad (I still dont completely, but know more now). I didn't even know about IIT. (I just knew that my friend's brother was studying there and that it is very difficult to get there. I actually came to know about IIT properly only after I started studying there! JEE was just too different.)
Once I was in IIT, my thoughts about studying abroad changed from one of resistance in my First year to one of lets-apply-and-see in Third year. But I was never seriously interested in it. It never motivated me to study. In a way, I didnt push myself to study hard so that poor academic record would compel me not to app - This is a blunt excuse from a lazy couch-potato for not studying, i guess! Its pretty much laughable i think. But all said and done, my average to below-average academic record meant I wont get admission into the best colleges in the US. So there ended the matter.
Also, I didnt have a great liking for Mechanical Engineering. It didnt know what it was till I was in my second year. And more I studied, less glamourous it became. I then wanted to become a software engineer or more preferably a Manager with an MBA. Maybe, that because pastures are always greener on the other side! Also, the fact that I performed very badly in the design courses (I wanted to go into Design at some point of time) didn't help. I pretty much hated it thanks to the way it was taught.
I wrote GRE and TOEFL so that I can apply to MS in Financial Engineering, which I seemed to like because of a couple of courses in Financial management (which were pretty superficial though!). But I didn't have the guts to spend so much money on something which I didn't have much idea about and may not like because of the stressful nature of the field.
So, as of now, I have totally packed going to study in the US. I have taken a software job in Mahindra British Telecom, Pune. Hope to get an MBA from IIMs or ISB, Hyd within the next five years. Maybe, I will go work abroad, US or otherwise, for a year or so to gain experience.
This in short is my reasoning behind what I am doing right now. You are welcome to write yours comments on the subject.
The fact that I studied in Dubai for a couple of years and hence had the experience of staying abroad before actually applying for M.S. has influenced my decision strongly. Initially I was dead against going anywhere abroad for studying or working. (Dubai was different coz I knew I will return in a couple of years.) It was pure patriotic fervour before leaving to Dubai but after living there, it was more of some kind of uneasiness living abroad, better standard of living notwithstanding. Maybe thats because going abroad doesn't mean lessening of problems but rather, leaving behind one set of problems and facing another set. Maybe, its the change in culture or some kind of xenophobia. Maybe, I tend to be more nostalgic. Maybe, being in alien land doesnt make me feel at home. Maybe, a mixture of all these reasons. All these made me feel that I should be in India and nowhere else. But still, I hardly had any fundaes on what kind of education was available in India or abroad (I still dont completely, but know more now). I didn't even know about IIT. (I just knew that my friend's brother was studying there and that it is very difficult to get there. I actually came to know about IIT properly only after I started studying there! JEE was just too different.)
Once I was in IIT, my thoughts about studying abroad changed from one of resistance in my First year to one of lets-apply-and-see in Third year. But I was never seriously interested in it. It never motivated me to study. In a way, I didnt push myself to study hard so that poor academic record would compel me not to app - This is a blunt excuse from a lazy couch-potato for not studying, i guess! Its pretty much laughable i think. But all said and done, my average to below-average academic record meant I wont get admission into the best colleges in the US. So there ended the matter.
Also, I didnt have a great liking for Mechanical Engineering. It didnt know what it was till I was in my second year. And more I studied, less glamourous it became. I then wanted to become a software engineer or more preferably a Manager with an MBA. Maybe, that because pastures are always greener on the other side! Also, the fact that I performed very badly in the design courses (I wanted to go into Design at some point of time) didn't help. I pretty much hated it thanks to the way it was taught.
I wrote GRE and TOEFL so that I can apply to MS in Financial Engineering, which I seemed to like because of a couple of courses in Financial management (which were pretty superficial though!). But I didn't have the guts to spend so much money on something which I didn't have much idea about and may not like because of the stressful nature of the field.
So, as of now, I have totally packed going to study in the US. I have taken a software job in Mahindra British Telecom, Pune. Hope to get an MBA from IIMs or ISB, Hyd within the next five years. Maybe, I will go work abroad, US or otherwise, for a year or so to gain experience.
This in short is my reasoning behind what I am doing right now. You are welcome to write yours comments on the subject.
Tuesday, June 28, 2005
Welcome
Hi all. Hope I write something good soon.....
This is a place where I would like to share some thoughts of mine...By the way, I am the Foot (Charan, that is).
In the meantime check out my other blog:
http://nrcharan.blogspot.com/
Its about some nostalgic moments.
Charan.
This is a place where I would like to share some thoughts of mine...By the way, I am the Foot (Charan, that is).
In the meantime check out my other blog:
http://nrcharan.blogspot.com/
Its about some nostalgic moments.
Charan.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
