Sparsh

Reading creates capacity for deep, linear concentration. That is one unintended positive outcome of the habit of reading. Books always touch man’s head and heart with a burning/soothing/boring sensation. I read books on cinema, consumer behavior, leadership and culture having various overtones this year. They helped me to fight desperation, myopia and close-mindedness prevailing inside me; I have always tried to pay attention to theories that conflict with common perception, only if those theories are more driven by human behavior than common stereotype assumptions. Books of great authors are the best tools to understand these theories. "Rich people have small TVs and big libraries, and poor people have small libraries and big TVs." Quite an apt statement to start about reading tour of this year. I am enlisting the names of books read by me in 2011 with their background and my feedback. Ratings are highly personal. My Name is Red  by Orhan Pamuk - English - 8/10 A murder...

Continuing from the 1st part of the Development series in RM , I will move towards the 2nd part of the learning in the field of Rural Management. Looking into mine MBA and engineering curriculum, I can easily conclude that it is heavily influenced by American model and lacks novelty. Despite of mine low academic orientation, I have not seen really good books from an Indian author. Most of the books are from western universities. Hence, there is dire need to dejargonise and accept superfluos nature of our education. During this trimester of PGDM-RM (rural management) at XIMB, I asked this question again and again :- why one chooses any course or college ? Whether one prefers a brand or academic learning or mere placement records of the college for routing the career path. Any college should have these aspects for growth : Creation of knowledge through research, Application of knowledge within the industry through commercializaion and Dissemination of knowledge through classroom l...

"It is good to be curious because that is how one starts the journey of inquiry... into existence; but if one simply remains curious, then there will be no intensity in it. One can move from one curiosity to another — one will become a driftwood — from one wave to another wave, never getting anchored anywhere. Curiosity is good as a beginning, but then one has to become more passionate. One has to make life a quest, not only a curiosity." --- Osho  I am now searching the root of mine reading habits and how they have changed my behavior over the span of time. Even though I was attracted towards schoolbooks, I don't remember any interest in the reading at KG level. Only memory I have of reading, it is of nursery rhyme ' Johnny Johnny Yes Papa ' in the classroom. I spent most of the time listening to the old songs of Kishore Kumar and Mahendra Kumar in the cassette player. I had started reading Children stories in Hindi newspaper ' Dainik Jagran ' initially...

Harvard professor Larry Lessig is one of our foremost authorities on copyright issues, with a vision for reconciling creative freedom with marketplace competition. 1- The Indian state of Bihar has long been a byword for bad governance. It was however governed particularly badly between 1990 and 2005, and has since experienced something of a ‘governance miracle’. How can we account for the 1990–2005 deterioration? Through this working paper - State Incapacity by Design: Understanding the Bihar Story , we will understand that the low state capacity is often a political choice . 2- La Grande Revolution, Encore? A comparison between France of 1787 with present USA as both had financed an overseas war with borrowed money. 3- The War Dogma : This article appears in the July issue of Agenda/Infochange for the theme on the ‘Limits of Freedom’. An insight on Dantewada and Operation Green Hunt. 4- Playing fast and loose by Pratap Bhanu Mehta : A overview of tussle on Janlokpal Bill ...

Anton Chekhov once said that you must trust and believe in people or life becomes impossible. There was a vacuum inside despite of huge knowledge in comparison to peers. You can't be thrilled with the life if it is full of knowledge. One who not been able to love, or not been able to receive love. He has not been able to share his being. That’s the misery of one's existence. The worst bit is one does not know where to seek love. People have no idea and nor do they care how a loner live and struggle. Life was rather repulsive once! Anton Chekhov once said that people who lead a lonely existence always have something on their minds that they are eager to talk about. I was alone once yet not lonely. A development of relationship blossomed but was crushed in between. Aren't the most painful stories those where the relations are left broken yet open? Yet, I prefer silence than stories. It takes the darkest hour of your life to find yourself. The more I know who I am an...

Red Hat Linux Commercial: Truth Happens Most of us see this advertisement either as User oriented or expert oriented operating system from marketing point of view. [ The Fedora and Red Hat Projects were merged on September 22, 2003. Fedora 15, codenamed Lovelock, was released on May 24, 2011.] Ideas that spread, win but just because an idea spreads doesn't mean it's good for us. LINUX is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. Since free flow of ideas makes them worth more and LINUX is product of such idealogy, I enjoy this advertisement of Linux more than others. When the willful ignorance and avoidance of the competitor become a litmus test for the applicants, the age of fall of person/company begins with this ! You can be brilliant yet ignorant if you choose to ignore the inevitable. Any market leader will try to keep others from bringing new ideas forward but then truth happens !...

As college brings out all abilities, including incapability. There was one person in my college Rajneesh who didn't want to fit into any specific mold. He has started a website recently : Hi There, You! Hi There, You! is a place where procrastination meets witty anonymous posts composed of choice words. All your need is a bit of dry humor and you are good to go. Go forth, check it out and spill the beans. 'Like' Us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/HiThereU Twitter: www.twitter.com/HiThere_You Why Do I like "Hi There, You!" -Most obvious reason, It is started by my friend. - I love sarcasm, dry humor and wit. - Its a great idea and all great ideas are amplified when others build on them. - Since its anonymous, there is no censorship, ownership, regulation and control of property on our ideas. - But Don't Pay no attention to “fancy advertising” of mine that conflict with your “common sense,” and check these theories that are driven by shear gut...

John Stuart Mill is right here: there is no development, democratic or economic, without an educated citizenry. Hence with this statement, I will shade mine myopic narrative of the last 3 months of the education. Roughly, the things I am doing out here is to fight the common perception between development and management. During this trimester of PGDM-RM (rural management) at XIMB, the question that was constantly asked by me was how much of it is “Development” and how much “management” ? With rural India in the context, this issue becomes a divergent for many budding rural managers. The purpose of nearly all writing is to communicate easily. Here in 10 points is what I learnt in 3 months: 1- The first lesson towards developing an understanding that development is not merely about subsidies, urbanisation and poverty but also about being sensitive to the people. 2- As an aspiring rural managers should have understanding that must encompass history, sociology and th...

26 years of Life completed on 21st August. Yahoo ! Annus mirabilis is a Latin phrase meaning "wonderful year" or "year of wonders". A year where many dreams blossomed and similarly many nightmares ended. So life was never better than previous year (Though just late but not too late for me). Between the end of the illusions and the awakening as a different person. I am missing my friends today. But now, they have all gone into parts of India -- and I remain alone here, with only their memories in my heart, and tears in my eyes. "When the facts change, I change my mind," said Lord Keynes once. I am also doing the same while understanding the tussle, cooperation and competition between development sector and corporate sector in academic life here. The motto of life in the busy schedules of life has changed to न दैन्यं न पलायनम् !

1- Why Zappos Offers New Hires $2,000 to Quit : The policy of providing a let-out after one week has gained worldwide attention. Columnist Keith McFarland explains why it makes sense. 2- Who Was Milton Friedman? : Keynesianism was a great reformation of economic thought. It was followed, inevitably, by a counter-reformation. A number of economists played important roles in the great revival of classical economics between 1950 and 2000, but none was as influential as Milton Friedman. 3- End Financial Control of European Governance : In developing countries and now in Europe, government debt allows creditors to exercise undue power over decision making. The Euro crisis is clear evidence that we need to break out of the economic straitjacket imposed by an over-powerful financial sector, says Susan George in an interview with Nick Buxton. 4- Who needs a bank? : Should we make banks better, or just make them redundant? Peer-to-peer currency schemes like bitcoin.org offer the possi...