a joke

The previous post reminds me a joke.

One person is brought to a jail. His companion in jail, asks him why is he here?

First person: I started a business in competition with government and that's why I've been jailed.

Companion: Thats ridiculous!! What kind of business had you started?

First Person: I had established a printing press, to print currency notes.

[:D]

few questions

So the Diwali, Laxmi Poojan has given some upswing to BSE, NSE index and built some good hopes for the upcoming period.

For last few days (or weeks) I had been as curious as many others regarding the subprime crisis, bankruptcy and recession. I read few articles about all this, in newspapers and online. The more I read about it, the more I got confused, and worried too. :-s

I couldn't understand few things. May be my brain is too small to understand these complex topics like economy, finance and so on ;). So thought of sharing my doubts with you. Here it goes...

1. Can a person or financial institution declare bankruptcy even if he (or it) is holding some assets, that may or may not be worth of loan amount (debt)? What are the rules related to declaring bankruptcy?

2. US government considered some bailout package that will help the banks that have gone bankrupt. What I understood is, it is the money that government has collected in the form of tax from all the people. Is it the only way to handle this? This will reduce the money that the government has. I guess thats the same as the net assets of the country? If so, instead of reducing the money that you are holding, isn't it possible to print few more currency notes ;) [ssshhh... don't laugh] What are the rules related to printing new currency notes (or coins)?

btw: I had received a mail couple of months back in which it was mentioned that to handle the inflation some country has printed notes with denomination of 100 mln, 250 mln etc. This has added to my confusion. [I'll find that mail and post it on Aisa-Bhi-Hota-Hai.blogspot.com]

I'll be glad if someone of you can clarify my doubts.

Happy Diwali

Finally, got some free time on the occasion of Diwali. It's been long time since I had posted something on any of my blogs. But now I've got some time and moreover I'm at my home town - MUMBAI. So hoping to jazz up my blog(s) a bit ;).

And yes, Wish you and your family a very HAPPY DIWALI.

forwarding chain mails

Here is an article by Atul Kahate where he has mentioned about the mentality behind the act of forwarding chain mails and underlines our gullibility. It's really a good article and an eye opener for those who forward the chain mails without giving a serious thought to it.


(chain mails = the mails that say something like "forward this mail to ........ ")

original article: http://www.esakal.com/esakal/12162007/SaptarangBB70966409.htm

pdf version: Forward Kashasathi?

IT Survivors - Staying Alive In A Software Job

got this as a forwarded email... but after searching on net, found the original article at:
http://www.indicthreads.com/blogs/316/software_job_india.html

the author, Harshad Oak, talks about bad working conditions in software companies in India, how software industry is exploiting its employees and the consequences of all this.
He has also suggested few solutions to these problems (dated: Nov 03, 2005) ... yet we haven't seen any change in the situation in last 2 years :(


do read this article and think about it....

this 2 page article has got 10 pages of user comments... that might give you the idea, how good the article is.

the email that i received had the following part as well.....
------------

From the person who forwarded this write-up

Hello Friends,
Some from my own experiences!

I am almost at the end of my stay here in Germany and will be returning back to my Motherland in 10 days from now. Some of the things that i noticed here:

1. No work is small or big, everyone is respected for what they are.
2. Here people give time to their Family what come may! 7.30 AM sharp in office and get back home by 5 PM. No extra time or weekend work.
3. Work in the same field for Years together and master the concepts rather that just give a solution to a problem and forget about it. (Or at most document it, thats all).

I too was going to office of Saturdays n sundays earlier, but later on i realised that i was spoiling / Brewing a work culture which on a long run will make us more and more inefficient, not efficient at all. This would compel other colleagues to come to office even if they are want to be free
with their family spending some quality time. Some of the mistakes that we do is to wail off time during breaks, lunch time, forwarding mails, etc. These were done by me too, i am not am exception and i don't say that you should not talk to your friends or colleagues during Office hours or not read mails or forward them or some thing like that. The only thing i would
say is to prioritize things especially during the office hours. Interaction with Colleagues, PLs, PMs, etc is necessary as we all need to work in a team. Take breaks but not too long. This would not compel you to stay back to complete the work that is pending due to the time lag.... Give
sufficient time to you family members as well, after all they were, are and will be there for you. Thinking you'll give then time some other day or after some years wont work out at all.... That time will never come... Forwarding mails is not at all a bad thing... sending essential information
that could help others or even trying to be in touch with personalised mails would help a long way. After all we are social animals too. Jokes, above given kind of write ups, thought inducing stuff, news, etc can also be sent which help ultimately in the growth of a person not hampering
though the fun part if it. Hope you people would have seen the Program in CNN regarding the "Eye on India: The power of Youth". It had too much to say in that very little time. Lots of things to be addressed still.

I would suggest people from our group to post good write ups and debate on the issues that we face, challenges, etc thus sharing knowledge and views to the outside world. Improve ourselves in the process and make India a Developed Nation. This looks too serious a thing but i feel it would be lots of fun along with bringing us together.

90/10 principle

i had read this principle long time back, but didn't remember about it till i received it again as a forward :)

so here it is... 90/10 Principle

it says: 10% of life is made up of what happens to you. 90% of life is decided by how you react.

it's really good

Stronger Ruppe = Stronger India

[don't know who is the author of this article. i got it as a forwarded mail, and really liked it, so sharing it here with you all]

Stronger Rupee = Stronger India

Let me ask a question first.

What type of economic strength is preferable to India?
A) A strong Indian economy fueled by its cheap labor due to a weaker rupee against dollar, where the Indians end up working in shifts, late nights, whole nights and what not? only doing low profile jobs which foreign companies want to offload to India, so that they can concentrate on high end works and become even better. For instance in IT field, providing BPO services, support and maintenance work for products?

OR

B) A strong Indian economy fueled by its strong innovations and products, no matter whether the rupee is strong or weak against dollar.. where Indians work only in regular office hours of 9 to 6, developing cutting edge technologies and solutions, selling our world class products both inside and outside India. For instance in IT field, imagine operating systems, compilers, databases etc all coming out of India..

I do not deny the fact that the IT boom in India came to a large extent because of (A). Well and good, we have had the benefits of our cost being cheap in western markets due to a weak rupee against dollar.. We have had our share because of this advantage in the past 2 decades..

But at the same time doesn't it make sense to move towards (B), instead of crying foul against rupee becoming stronger against dollar?

What a pity! Indian IT companies are feeling bad because rupee is becoming stronger against dollar! Reason, their profits will go down when the value of rupee is stronger, as every single dollar that comes into their account now means lesser rupee than earlier..(if for instance earlier they used to get 47 rupees for every dollar that comes in, but today its about 40!)

But isn't this a matter of celebration? Our rupee is gaining importance internationally and is becoming stronger again .. How many of us know that in 1947 when India got independence 1 Rupee was 1.2 US dollars?

These Indian IT companies instead of relying on a weaker rupee for their profit should now look at coming out with innovative products and technical solutions. What have these companies done in the arena of core system products? Why don?t we have any operating systems, compilers, database systems, development platforms etc coming out of India? Why don?t we develop tools like photoshop or flash? We have talent, but they all are working in American companies on these products.. Cannot our Indian IT companies setup at least small teams to develop such products?

Instead they are planning to make their employees work on saturdays too ! So that their profits can increase due to extra hours the employees put in.. As if India doesn't have any other option other than cheap labour, workaholic labor!! Are there no brains in India who can setup companies developing products and make money just by printing out more serial numbers and burning their product DVDs?

If Indian companies continue to depend on its weak currency, then how would Indian economy survive in a world where all currencies have equal value? Survival of the fittest.. Only greater innovation can help us in that case..

We need to have knowledge and technological advantage if India wants to become a superpower, not low cost based cheap labor advantage! Let the Chinese do it..

I hope that rupee becomes more and more stronger so that Indians are forced to use their brains and come up with innovative products and next generation technologies, than to provide low end services?

We need to create a situation where other countries line up to buy our F-16s, to buy our operating systems, to buy our mobile phones and I-pods, to buy our Boeing, to buy our Mercedes?

A stronger rupee means we can easily afford foreign trips!

? A stronger rupee means Indians can buy things anywhere in the world on par with developed economies! We don't have to spend crores of rupees then to buy a Boeing! We don?t have to pay tens of thousands of rupees for international air travels! A stronger rupee means greater international exposure! There wont be a difference between buying a Maruti and buying a Mercedes! One can go on a trip to the Grand Canyon just like the way one goes to Ladakh or Nepal ! How do you think american citizens are able to tour all over the world? Because they earn more? No. But because their currency USD is stronger.. and this is where a strong rupee will lead us to!? ?

I am not saying providing low end services is wrong .. It gave us a very good start in the 90s. But that should definitely not be the bread and butter fueling our economic boom indefinitely in the future.. For the simple reason that it can?t continue to do so any longer.. other low cost destinations, cheaper than India are already coming up in the world? Let us move ahead? become more innovative.. the journey has just started? This is just the beginning of all the beginnings?