The Tea-Master's Column

This is based on an impulsive survey done among PGSEM-2005 batch students in Sep-2007. I wrote the questions in just 15 minutes without thinking much pro and cons or results to achieve. Was amazed by the turnout and response!! Am putting figures as I cannot put the charts here. This was published in PGSEM-Newsletter Issue 2 (Oct -2007). Happy reading! “ I always find that statistics are hard to swallow and impossible to digest.” - Robert A. Taft After covering about 2.25 years of our journey into PGSEM, most of us shall willingly agree to the above quote. Yet people use statistics as they are like lamposts which can be used for support rather than illumination. But can statistics really prove anything? Can these statistical techniques like - simple random or convenience sampling; surveys or interviews; ordinal or nominal scales; null or alternate hypothesis; systematic or random sample error really mean anything? Well after all those Quants courses, AMR and business forecasting am sure...

Excerpts from the speech as emcee in ITMC on its 7th Birthday .. felt really good making a come back on stage after 2 long years. For introducing the speakers I asked three questions - 1). What has been the most significant event/memory in the last 7 years of your life? 2). What is your fondest memory about ITMC? 3). Anything else that you may want me to mention.. It was a revelation on the kind of answers I got: Answer1: The fondest memory for me since the year 2000 would be that of traveling through the north of India from Jabalpur to Sikkim during the semester breaks, passing through the states of UP, Bihar and West Bengal, I used to see the stark diversities. That lonely journey when my reading would increase multifold, the rocking of the train used to put me to sleep, getting down at deserted stations late in the night to have a cup of tea and finally reaching home after nearly 48 hours of train and 5 hours of road journey. It remains ensconced in my mind and I have vivid pictur...

I had just come back from US in 2004 but I was appalled with how things have changed in India in the last 6 months since I left. One of that was mainly in Media - scantily clad women gyrating and dancing. Sort of shock for me. Hence, this piece. Attention: What is the essence of a woman? “ Just being a woman is God's gift” , a husky voice broke over 600 million television viewers way back in 1994.Then came spontaneous reply: " The origin of a child is a mother, a woman. Woman shows a man what sharing, caring, and loving is all about. That is the essence of a woman. " The dusky beauty Sushmita Sen went on to create history with those words. But 10 years later, another Femina Miss India Nafisa Joseph takes her life. Why.. What happened to this woman of substance? Has the make-believe-world created by the media been too harsh on her? Or are we expecting women to call up and say,” Hey Rahul .. am at home alone” and then dance and sing with them, “ Leke Phela Pehla Pyar ”. S...

This is a speech on fantasy which I did as part of my 7th project at Toastmasters in 2003. A bit of drama, a bit of passion and bit of entertainment. Happy reading! I get down from my black limousine. Venue – the Kodak theatre, Hollywood. There she is, the heart-throb of the millions – Sharon Stone. Tom Cruise with his wife. I am walking shoulder to shoulder with the whos and whats of Hollywood – the arc lights, the photographers, the press. I walk into the auditorium, over the red carpet … “ Welcome to the Oscar Awards Night “. There is the award – the golden figure of the Knight standing on a reel of film, the hands gripping a sword, shining. Oh, how I wish I could have it ! Good Evening Fellow Toastmasters and friends ! My topic for today is “ I want an Oscar ..” Just then I spotted her JLo – Jennifer Lopez, looking as gorgeous as ever. She wore a sinuous dress with bright pink and black, and the soft fabric outlined her thighs as she walked. The dress wrapped around her so th...

I was caught unawares when Gopi came and asked me what were the three things that one would look for while buying a men's soap. Well I promptly replied - 1). Aroma 2). Moisturiser and 3). Does not melt quickly in water. However, that made me think what if I were to design a soap, how would I do it and why? 1). One idea is to have it mounted on a long brush like rod. Reason being, one never gets to scrub their back well and with such an arrangement they can lather it well. 2). Secondly, I thought how about having -use and throw soapy paper which can be worn as gloves. So, people can rub their body as they would do normally wearing those gloves and that would produce lather as well. This actually removes the step where people first lather and then scrub. 3). Thirdly, one likes to have variety with soaps. So, how about having a soap that gives different color and smell as you use it. It will be like an onion and have 2 or 3 such shades & smell which peel off as you use it. Toda...

My experience of using the Australian Telecom - calling India, calling within Australia, within the city has been a rather disappointing experience for two reasons - high costs and unfriendly customer interface. If I compare with India, with AUD 3, I can talk for almost 1.5 hours in India wherein I could only talk for about 3 minutes in Australia. The calling booths charged 50 cents just to dial and then use the card. Now even if one failed to make the call, the booth gobbled the coin. The mobile charges are again extraordinarily high - just basic incoming and outgoing cost AUD 30 for 60 minutes of talk time in a month. In India, for the same amount, I could talk for over 20 hours. Of course, one can argue on the economies of scale. But truly speaking, I see lot of inefficiencies in their system. Further, as an isolated country, the competition is less fierce and there are monopolistic tendencies. The companies tries to pass on their overheads to customers without much impact. The cust...

Just within 2 weeks of listening to one Nobel Laureate, I had the good fortune of listening to another - Prof Robert Aumann at IISc at a conference jointly organised by IISc, IBM and IIMB. Prof Aumann was born in Frankfurt in 1930, completed his PhD in Mathematics from MIT and got the nobel prize in 1905 for his contribution to Game Theory. A team of about 15 people including Professors, Research Fellows and students from IIMB made it to IISc. The gathering consisted of elite group of scientists, thinkers, academicians, business leaders listening to a Wise Man. Prof Aumann enthralled us with his views on suicide bombing, altruism, pragmatism, ideology and game engineering. For the benefit pf the audience, he defined the basic assumption of all players in Game Theory as rational beings -" A person's behaviour is RATIONAL if to the best of his knowledge, it promotes HIS goals. " Hence, war is rational and Prof Aumann even extended this to suicide bombers whom he considered ...

Its always a rare opportunity to hear a Nobel Laureate live! Living in India which is at the cusp of transformation, a Fourth Estate - 'The Hindu' through their pioneering journalism is trying to empower citizens with such nobel interactions. Professor Joseph Stiglitz won the Nobel for his analysis of markets with asymmetric information - in short Information Economics. Today, quick and fast information is the key to success. Information is easy to spread but hard to control, easy to create but hard to trust. Hence, today's economic decisions are based on this Enigmatic, Effervescent Element called Information. The question often comes to mind whether globalisation is the result of quick availability of information or vice versa? That may be a topic for another day. But am sure most Indians would thank both Globalisation and Information for the intellectual resurgence in India. However, Dr Stglitz started his lecture stating - Globalisation is not working. Bit taken aback a...

The following is the unpublished first chapter of the Kevin Mitnick (MTN) which is available only on Internet. MTN is famous for ingeniusly hacking his way up: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2003/01/13/chapter_one_kevin_mitnicks_story/ It is a very interesting write-up and after reading it, feel that one needs to take a holistic view of hacking and take actions accordingly. Few facts about Mitnick (MTN) as described in the article ● Stole data, software from Motorola,Sun, Nokia and Univ ● over 10 million damage ● starting firm – help companies prevent attack, being honest and productive ● Adviced govt on computer security ● Book – art of deception ● front page of NYT ● disputed Markoff's book ● refused movie contract ● cyber laws introduced later- hence not illegal ● naive – not unethical ● social engineering ● self- learner ● motivated by curiosity John Markoff (MKF) is the CNN reporter who busted MTN. MTN alleges the following about MKF ● gave untrue information ● defamed MTN ● wi...