Mirror

Hypotenuse Calculation - An age old Tamil Method

2011-12-03T13:58:00.001+05:30

Recently I saw in facebook, an old tamil verse on a method to calculate the hypotenuse of a right-angled triangle. The facebook status linked the source to

http://tamizhodu.blogspot.com/2008/03/pythagoras-theorem.html

http://tamizhodu.blogspot.com/2009/02/pythagoras-theorem.html

The verse is given below.

ஓடும் நீளம் தனை ஒரேஎட்டுக்

கூறு ஆக்கி கூறிலே ஒன்றைத்

தள்ளி குன்றத்தில் பாதியாய்ச் சேர்த்தால்

வருவது கர்ணம் தானே.

- போதையனார்

What it tells is that the hypotenuse can be easily calculated using the following formula

Hypotenuse = 7/8 * Longer Side + 1/2 * Shorter side.

The highlight of this formula is that it gives a method to calculate hypotenuse using linear equation instead of the non-linear one given by Pythagoras!

Of course, these two cannot produce the same results. I just did a small calculation for smaller integer Pythagorean triples. It works for (3,4,5) and for (5, 12,13). But for other integer triplets, it produces approx. results closer to the one that can be obtained using Pythagoras theorem! I calculated the hypotenuse values using this equation for the triples from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pythagorean_triple The results can be seen here.

Some facts:

1. The formula gives accuracy above 94% for the triplets in consideration

2. The deviation from actual hypotenuse values is increased as the ratio of longer side to the hypotenuse is increased.

Delicious! - It is, actually!

2011-10-11T18:02:00.001+05:30

Delicious has been around for quite some time - previously it was http://del.icio.us, bought over by Yahoo. Yahoo kept with it for about 2 years and then sold recently to the founders of youtube. After the latest acquisition, delicious has undergone a major change in appearance and features, I shall come to those separately.

Right now, to the basics of Delicious.

There are so many links that are coming in our way (emails, tweets, blogs, facebook, photos, videos etc etc) and we keep reading those jumping from one to another. After a few days we encounter a situation where we want to refer back to a particular web page that we previously visited. Sometimes we forget where we got access to that page and invariably do a google search or a specific search in our emails (multiple), twitter, browser history etc.,

Delicious helps in aggregating the links, so that we can go back and refer to whenever there is a need. One or more "Tags" can be applied to each link that we save which further helps in consolidation. One can mark a particular link private or public (by default). The search feature helps in searching for content as well as tags.

The browser extensions / add-ons help in saving the links quickly. For Chrome there is an extension which helps saving much easier! With the help of applications like twitterfeed, one can auto-tweet when storing in delicious! More options of integrating twitter and delicious can be found here.

Another useful tool that delicious provides is "feeds". It provides a generic syntax for various kinds of feeds which are available in this help page. Using which, one can set his reader to keep abreast of the links of a particular user, in a particular tag, or a combination of both and much more.

An off-the-track application would be using this for people working in small teams. Several team members can share a link with a mutually agreed tag and subscribe to the feed of that particular tag. If anyone finds a link which the team needs to read, he can save it applying that particular tag. Automatically a new item will appear in their corresponding subscription!

Anna Centenary Library

2011-09-24T17:44:00.001+05:30

Today we had a visit to the Anna Centenary Library in Kotturpurm, Chennai - just to see the facilities. It was a long pending action item. Fortunately, was able to allocate time today!

The library was opened on September 15, 2010 and is one of the Asia's largest libraries.

The parking space is enough, at least for the two-wheeler. Though there are some parking slots for cars in the open, I did not check if there was a basement parking. I suppose it should be there.

There is a statue of Mr. C. N. Annadurai, (CM of TN 1967-1969) in a reading-pose at the entrance to the library.

The security does not allow any kind of bags - including ladies' hand-bags to be carried into the library. Photograph is allowed from outside, but prohibited inside. We got to know that on normal week-days, there are about 1000 visitors per day which may go up to 3000 on week-ends and government holidays.

There is no membership offered now, but the plan is in pipe-line. RFID based inventory management and book-issuance will be put in place shortly. Intra-net access catalog is working and it is expected that in the next one month, catalog will be available in internet too.

The library is fully air-conditioned. It consists of 9 floors. Each floor is divided into two wings (A and B). There are 4 lifts, but only one was operational when we went today. There is an escalator which leads you up from the ground floor to first floor - the space above that is left open to get natural light in all the 9 floors. The library is closely monitored using CCTV cameras - there are ample of them to cover each and every shelf of books in all of these floors!

Ground Floor: Reading Material for differently-abled persons, Reading Materials on Competitive Exams and a small hall where one can bring outside books and read.

1st Floor: Periodicals, Magazines (English, Tamil and a very little Hindi) and Newspapers, Children's section - Play Area and Books

2nd Floor: Tamil - Literature, History, Novel, Religion and Rare Books

3rd Floor: English - Spiritual, Social Sciences, Psychology, Humanities, Foreign Relations

4th Floor: English - Economics, Literature, Novels

5th Floor: English - Science and Mathematics

6th Floor: English - Engineering, Accounting, Management, Arts, Sports, Technology

7th Floor: English - History, Geography

8th Floor: Office Space

The ambiance in the children's section and the collection of books are very good - A must visit for parents if their children are in school. There are even computers with nice games and puzzles loaded in them!

There is an Open Air Theatre and a conference room also with limited seating facility. Visitors can carry their laptops to any of these floors and reading rooms. There are very nice sofas / chairs put on each of those sections - So, it is an enjoyable place to read peacefully. Each section has an entry register in which you need to mark your name and sign before proceeding. I suppose they may use this for statistical purposes. I could see as you go up in the floors the number of entries in a single day kept on reducing. Though, was surprised to find that the number in History/Geography section deviated from this trend towards the higher side.

Some features that can be added are

- Audio and Video Collections

- Presentation Halls and Discussion rooms to be use for small groups

- A full-fledged restaurant (There is one snack-bar kind of store in the ground floor)

- An integrated open park / play area, which may also serve as a kind of talk-place

- A wi-fi internet connection (not sure whether it exists as on date)

Also, found that the rest rooms could be maintained a little better.

Ind v SL - CWC 2011 Final

2011-04-01T17:33:00.001+05:30

India Stats:

In 2011: Has played 13 matches from Jan to Mar 2011. Out of these, India has won 8, lost 4 and tied 1. All the matches that India lost are to South Africa. http://goo.gl/55GR3

Against SriLanka: Played 128, Won 67 and Lost 50. 11 are No Result. http://goo.gl/BpoZu

Against SriLanka in India: Played 42, Won 28, Lost 11. 3 are No Result. http://goo.gl/Svvc7

All ODIs against all teams at home: Played 266, Won 150, Lost 106, Tied 2. 8 are no results. http://goo.gl/pNpWi

At Wankhede Stadium: Played 14, Won 8 and Lost 6. http://goo.gl/Iqyyy

SL Stats:

SL @ Wankhede Stadium: Played 4, Won 2, Lost 2

SL @ Wankhede against India: Played 2, Won 1, Lost 1 http://goo.gl/sA9TD

SL against all teams in India: Played 66, Won 23, Lost 40. 3 are No Result. http://goo.gl/MKkXD

SL in 2011: Played 11, Won 8, Lost 1. 2 are No Result. http://goo.gl/HFLZd

After World Cup 2007:

Ind v SL: Played-33, Ind - 18, SL - 13. N/R : 2 http://goo.gl/vlwwc

Last 1 year: 1 Apr 2010 to 31 Mar 2011

Ind v SL: Played-7, Ind - 3, SL - 4. http://goo.gl/vFfB6

Courtesy: Cricinfo

Bangladesh v Neterlands

2011-03-14T14:52:00.001+05:30

Team	Current Chance	Ban v Ned
Team	Current Chance	Ban wins	Ned wins	No Result
Ind	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00
Eng	56.25	43.75	68.75	68.75
WI	96.88	93.75	100.00	93.75
SA	93.75	87.50	100.00	87.50
Ire	9.38	6.25	12.50	6.25
Ban	43.75	68.75	18.75	43.75
Ned	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00

Today, Netherlands win can push WI and SA to QF!!

India v SA Preview

2011-03-13T11:00:00.001+05:30

After Bangladesh's win over England, and just before India-SA encounter, this is how the chance table looks like.

Team	Current Chance	Ind v SA
Team	Current Chance	Ind Wins	SA wins	No Result
Ind	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00
Eng	60.94	65.63	56.25	56.25
WI	98.44	100.00	96.88	96.88
SA	81.25	68.75	93.75	81.25
Ire	12.50	15.63	9.38	15.63
Ban	46.88	50.00	43.75	50.00
Ned	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00

India's win will take WI to the quarter-finals, though a SA will take their QF chances above 90%. The chance of every team except SA gets boosted if India wins.

England v Bangladesh Preview

2011-03-13T10:52:00.001+05:30

After WI win over Ireland, this is how the chance table in Group B looks.

Team	Current Chance	Eng v Ban
Team	Current Chance	Eng wins	Ban wins	No Result
Ind	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00
Eng	80.47	100.00	60.94	90.63
WI	99.22	100.00	98.44	98.44
SA	85.94	90.63	81.25	81.25
Ire	9.38	6.25	12.50	3.13
Ban	25.00	3.13	46.88	26.56
Ned	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00

Today, England's win will take them to QF, with that WI also march into QF almost throwing Bangladesh out of the tournament. But a Bangladesh win will boost their QF chances significantly.

Ireland v WI Preview

2011-03-13T10:10:00.001+05:30

Team	Current Chance	Ire v WI
Team	Current Chance	Ire Wins	WI Wins	No Result
Ind	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00
Eng	78.13	75.78	80.47	80.47
WI	87.11	75.00	99.22	85.94
SA	82.42	78.91	85.94	78.91
Ire	29.30	49.22	9.38	22.66
Ban	23.05	21.09	25.00	32.03
Ned	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00

India are already into the quarter-finals after their win over Netherlands. This match is an important one for Ireland as a win will boost its QF chances significantly. WI, on the other hand, will close in to the QF berth with a win. WI win will also boost Bangladesh, England and SA's chances too!

Path to QF - Group A

2011-03-10T12:09:00.001+05:30

Only 8 matches remain out of 21 matches in the league stage of Group A, including that of today's SL v Zimbabwe encounter.

Just before the start of SL v Zimbabwe match, the points table of Group A given below (Courtesy: www.cricinfo.com)

Group A

Teams	Mat	Won	Lost	N/R	Pts	Net RR	For	Against
New Zealand	4	3	1	0	6	+1.848	746/141.3	630/184.0
Pakistan	4	3	1	0	6	+0.760	970/200.0	818/200.0
Sri Lanka	4	2	1	1	5	+2.663	744/118.4	541/150.0
Australia	3	2	0	1	5	+1.813	469/84.0	377/100.0
Zimbabwe	3	1	2	0	2	+0.079	631/150.0	551/133.3
Canada	4	1	3	0	2	-2.083	582/195.3	1012/200.0
Kenya	4	0	4	0	0	-3.403	521/200.0	734/122.1

I have made a chance table as I did with IPL 2009. This table tells what are the chances for each team to enter into the quarterfinals stage (The top 4 teams at the end of the league stage in each group advance to the QF stage). The chance table has the following assumptions

1. No future matches has no result or will become a tie

2. The relative position of teams with respect to NRR remains the same till the end of the league stage

3. Each match has equally likely outcome of win and loss for both teams. In other words, both teams have 50% chance of winning the match (though that may not be the real case)

As of now, the chance table looks as below

Team	Current Chance(%)
Team	Current Chance(%)
NZ	98.83
Pak	96.88
SL	80.86
Aus	89.84
Zim	28.13
Can	5.47
Ken	0.00

Seems like Canada still has meagre chance of advancing to quarter finals!!

An Interesting 2011

2011-01-03T22:43:00.001+05:30

Wish you a very happy new year 2011!

Let the new year be as interesting as the number 2011 itself!

Some facts about the number 2011:

1. 2011 is a prime number!

2. 2011 is sum of prime numbers!!

3. 2011 is sum of 11 prime numbers!!!

4. 2011 is sum of 11 consecutive prime numbers!!!!

5. The digits of that 11th number in that series ends in 11!

6. The 11th number has all its digits taken from the year 2011!

Interesting? Just find out which are those 11 prime numbers which add to 2011! This link helps you with the list of prime numbers.

And, by the way, the number 11 itself is a prime number!

Courtesy: Nagendra via Gmail Buzz!

Financial Technologies

2010-11-24T15:59:00.001+05:30

I was just browsing in the internet and stuck upon this company called Financial Technologies (India).

This company is in the back ground of many of the known brand names such as National Spot Exchange, MCX, IEX etc. They have their presence in almost every domain of a financial market. They are not into lending and recovering, though! Mostly, they cater to the financial infra structure services like exchanges, financial training, brokerage, capital market information and research, consultancy etc.

It is a listed company and not owned by a single promoter or a business family.

Education

2010-11-08T13:06:00.001+05:30

Came across a good article on education scenario in India, now in Business World.

http://www.businessworld.in/bw/2010_07_24_Case_Study_The_Education_TeeterTotter.html?offset=0&max=1

Some excerpts from the above article:

The numeric is only an eligibility quotient for the job; for doing one of those jobs. But it does not indicate preparedness for life!
Examples abound: a) High scores to enter Wharton but zero EQ to know you do not drive after a drink, or even hit and run away; b) High CAT scores, but low on EQ to know that insider trading is just sophisticated thievery; c) High scores to pass the IPS and become a top-notch police officer, but zero EQ when he chooses to molest a child; d) High scores to enter a top- notch MNC, but no EI to understand that reclassifying your products to get a lower slab of excise is cheating; that paying excise is not a penalty but a means to fund the government's efforts in public administration!

What said about engineers is, in fact, a 'comfort behind the machine' syndrome — a function of either shyness or fear of admitting 'I did not understand'. Those who are comfortable dealing with people and new territories are the best of the crop from the premier institutes where placement is as much a function of background as education qualifications!

Suffice it to say, your CAT, or GMAT or PGDM is not an index of your 'education'! It is a score for passing. Will it prevent rapes, frauds and neglectful governance? No. It simply means that you scored X and you are now a master in administrating businesses. You have been fitted with a software, without an operating system. It is not 'education'.

We are entering the knowledge era and in this era, knowledge of managing money and machines and products will be less important. This era will demand not academic prowess but thinking prowess. This era will demand a values quotient from its participants — skills in giving, sharing, enabling, respecting, taking responsibility, inclusiveness — none of which can be converted into an index! Then the educator will return and the academic will be laid to rest.

Deal or No-Deal

2010-11-07T22:13:00.002+05:30

I happened to watch this program called "Deal aa - No Deal aa" in Sun TV today, for the first time. It is celebrating its 100th show next week, is an extra info!

This is a game show purely based on random numbers. The contestant is given with 26 boxes worth values ranging from Re 1 to Rs 50,00,000. Out of that, the contestant has to select one box and keep it aside, the one marked as his box for him to be taken home. Now he opens the remaining boxes in various rounds in order to know the value of the box that he had selected and kept aside for him. In Round 1, he opens 6 boxes and gets to know what all those 6 values that he cannot take home. In Round 2 - five boxes, Round 3 - four boxes, Round 4 - three boxes and so on. At the end of each round he is offered a particular value which he can choose to take, ditch his marked box and quit the game. Or, he can proceed to next round and get to open more boxes. The offer price at the end of each round increases or decreases based on the values in the hidden boxes (including the one marked for the contestant, and kept aside)

It is a pure fun game, not much knowledge or creativity required on part of contestant, except to answer some very basic GK type questions at the end of each round, to continue the game.

One interesting thing is the offer price at the end of each round. The Offer price is not the expected value of the hidden boxes. It is some percentage (<100) of the expected value. It starts as low as 8% in the episode that I saw today and went up to 74% at the end of round 5. This gives a natural inclination (though, he may be unaware of this fact) for the contestant to go for the further rounds in the initial stages and to restrict himself in the later stages of the game, which is a good design!

This spreadsheet gives a detailed analysis of the same. For any episode, the expected value of the game is Rs 3.95 lacs and the offer value will be lesser than that in the further rounds. Further, the game designer previously knows what is there in the marked box which was chosen first. So, accordingly he can play around with the offer price.

Deal or No Deal? Not-So-Fair Deal!

Peter Principle

2010-11-02T21:32:00.001+05:30

QUOTE

Peter pointed out that a class, or caste (social stratification) system is more efficient at avoiding incompetence. Lower-level competent workers will not be promoted above their level of competence as the higher jobs are reserved for members of a higher class. "The prospect of starting near the top of the pyramid will attract to the hierarchy a group of brilliant [higher class] employees who would never have come there at all if they had been forced to start at the bottom". Thus the hierarchies "are more efficient than those of a classless or egalitarian society".

UNQUOTE

This was taken from the wikipedia page on Peter Principle

I was actually surprised at such a thought! But if one digs a little further, possibly there could be truth behind what was argued by Dr. Peter. May be, that's why they used to have such kind of hierarchies in the olden days. But the problem occurred when someone was confined to the class he was born in irrespective of displaying potential to be worthy of doing higher level work.

I just added the book "Peter Principle: Why Things Always Go Wrong" in my wish list. I shall give an update once I finish reading.

Happy New Year 2010

2010-11-02T16:45:00.001+05:30

I know this is November already! But this is my first post of this year!

I cannot blame anyone else other than my laziness for why it took so long for me write my first post this year. A lot has changed in these 10 months of my blog-dormant state.

In these 10 months, I graduated from IIM Lucknow and took a nice 2 month vacation which I used to set-up and do the interiors for the newly bought house of my parents. Wrote CFA L2 and flunked. Joined a finance company, got new friends and colleagues. Now, I am based in Chennai, working my way to go around in the traffic and pollution. Traffic has increased a lot from the time I left Chennai in December 2004.

Last year, by this time I was touring the European cities and now I am touring the towns and villages in Tamil nadu as a part of my site visits on behalf of the organisation that I am working for! I made first-time visits to some of the cities like Madurai, Tirunelveli, Tuticorin etc.

And most importantly, I found the friend and partner of my life. We got engaged and now, soon to be married!

Hope I blog often!

Youtube download in Chrome

2009-12-31T13:17:00.001+05:30

To download videos from YouTube in Chrome browser, make a bookmark with the following address and click on the bookmark while playing the youtube video.

javascript:window.location.href = 'http://youtube.com/get_video?video_id=' + yt.getConfig('SWF_ARGS')['video_id'] + "&l=" + yt.getConfig('SWF_ARGS')['l'] + "&sk=" + yt.getConfig('SWF_ARGS')['sk'] + '&t=' + yt.getConfig('SWF_ARGS')['t'];

This may not work forever, as YouTube keeps changing the methods to get the parameter values. Stay updated.

Some Change and Some Don't

2009-12-29T20:05:00.001+05:30

A lot of things changed. Hotter Lucknow changed to colder Lucknow (But, folks still prefer to sit and eat in the corridors of the mess instead of sitting inside - reasons being different then and now)

Mobile operators tell even a half paise has a value. Hail the competition! Tatkal system in trains changed. Railways charge only for the journey leg instead of full ticket; and you can book tatkal just 2 days in advance instead of 5 previously. WL e-ticket in trains is considered as ticketless travelling as they are automatically credited back. Bus fares increased in Tamilnadu. Oil, rice, fruits and vegetables (in general most of the food items) increased. A big super-market chain has opened a branch in my home town Rasipuram, pleasantly surprised to see shopping carts and multiple billing counters. NH7 (Kanyakumari-Varanasi) is done four-way in Salem-Namakkal leg - now that it takes only 35 minutes by bus from Namakkal bye-pass to Salem bye-pass. B-TRAC has put directions and new sign-boards in many junctions in Bangalore. The link road to Salem Central bus stand has been laid new.

Some of the things unchanged: Delhi Metro Airport Express line is still under construction, Bangalore traffic is still chaotic, Trichy-Tanjore stretch is still cumbersome. "Dr". Vijay still acts in formula based masala movies, the latest being "Vettiakkaran" which unfortunately I saw in a theater. Government office asks you to come back after two days for the work because the person responsible for keeping the challans is on leave. Bank employees still do not have enough common sense; they refuse to reimburse an authentic payment and suggest alternative non-practical workarounds. Wait in an office for 2 hours only to realise that your presence is not required at all and could have been communicated to you much earlier.

India v Sri Lanka 3rd Test at Mumbai Preview

2009-12-02T02:56:00.001+05:30

It may be a historic test match starting tomorrow if India wins the match and series and get No1 place in the ICC Test Rankings. Cricinfo's preview is available here.

Based on the ICC's test ratings system, I have made a calculation of how the end ratings would look at the end of the series based on the possible 3 scenarios. Sri Lanka may retain their 2nd position only if it wins the match and draws the series. In other cases, it will be pushed to 3rd spot. India can move to the No1 spot only if it wins the series 2-0.

Tobin's Tax

2009-11-28T20:14:00.001+05:30

Paul Krugman is thumbs up for the British Government's proposal to tax the financial transactions. He gives his support arguments in this NYTimes article. But the economist Greg Mankiv and Stern's Prof. Damodaran give their counter arguments as to why such a tax would not work and become is actually a deterrent to the financial markets.

Dubai Financial Crisis

2009-11-28T20:06:00.001+05:30

There is a lot of talks in the past 2 days around the world regarding the recent Dubai financial crisis. Dubai's state-owned Dubai World has asked for a moratorium on its debt scheduled for December. This has triggered reactions around the world with major bank stocks going down by around 3% in European stock exchange; Sensex going down on fear by 500 points on Friday later to be recovered by LICs aggressive buying and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee's statement that India may not be affected by the Dubai crisis. Dubai World has around $59 Billion in debt from various banks all around the world. I read articles in net in which, many opine now that Dubai's projection as financial center itself is a big illusion which has sustained for about 20 years to come out naked in light now.

Some of the links on the same:

Financial Times

Financial Express by Ajay Shah

Process-oriented or Result-oriented

2009-11-26T17:41:00.001+05:30

This page is shared by one of my friends in his Google Reader. Mostly based on Parkinson's law that "Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion". The author says a lot can be accomplished by keeping a fixed time schedule. He cites several examples from others and his own life to prove his claim. I do agree. I personally tend to work better if I am with certain constraints - in this case "the time". Better planning and organising makes the task easy to accomplish within a short time. I know a friend of mine who used to cook with just 2 vessels and a spoon. And he cooks rice, chicken, vegetable side-dish, dosa and what not! Constrained resources makes you use them as optimal as possible.

I still remember the days when I was working on optimizing video processing algorithms to be done in lesser number of cycles.

Over a period of time, you learn and become more creative in utilising the resources effectively.There is always a debate between the process-oriented and result-oriented. For long, people have advocated to be process-oriented and said that results will follow. If you achieve the results, no body questions the process unless it is totally non-agreeable, unethical, unlawful etc. Proponents of process oriented may say that it is the journey not the destination that gives satisfaction. I am of the opinion that the objective is different for different people. Some people get satisfaction in good execution and some people derive satisfaction in better results with minimal efforts.

Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

2009-11-02T03:07:00.001+05:30

I am not a regular follower of F1 racing. But, today happened to see the Abu Dhabi GP in TV. Incidentally this was the inaugural race in Abu Dhabi. I was watching the race by around 3:00 pm. I doubted whether that was a live relay. Because, Abu Dhabi is on the east direction and it must have been at least 5 pm then. Later realized that the race started at 5:00 pm local time and this was the first race with the flood lights on all around the circuit. I am amazed at seeing the circuit. In each and every corner and wherever you see, you could see the richness. The bluish structures across the circuit, waters with boats parked nearby the circuit, artful blue and white painting on the areas nearby the race track - what a view! And with the helicopter following the car through the entire lap, the aerial view was spectacular. Surprisingly, they have a hotel built across the track (that bluish structure!). The residents of the hotel can see the racing at the comfort of their rooms.

See this link too

FRM This November

2009-10-30T20:16:00.001+05:30

For about a week, I stopped going around my visits and started preparing seriously for FRM (Financial Risk Management) exam. I have enrolled in the full exam format. This is the last year in which GARP (Global Association of Risk Professionals) - the organisation which administers FRM) conducts full exam. From next year onwards, FRM is offered in 2 levels with the portion approximately divided into 50% in each. This November though, both formats are available.

FRM is of higher difficulty level in terms of vastness of the content. CFA takes comparably less content in each of its levels and goes deep into the areas in terms of variety of problems offered in each area. The focus though is completely different in the two exams. Both introduces the basic financial aspects and products. But CFA, as the level progresses goes more into portfolio management and management/design of various customized financial products. FRM on the other hand, focuses more on various risks one would expect in an organisation, with more focus on financial institutions and banks. It has detailed reading references to BASEL Regulations, credit, market and operational risks.

CFA has around 18% of marks allocated to ethics and CFA guidelines. FRM also has certain ethical guidelines, but the weight for them is less than 10% (in the full exam). Both reading references point to past financial failures like Enron, Wolrdcom, Bearings etc. and asks the learner to understand what went wrong in those cases.

Let me see how my preparation and the exam goes!

Deception Point

2009-10-23T03:54:00.001+05:30

Just finished reading Deception Point by Dan Brown. Usually I take a few weeks to read a novel of around 500 pages. But, surprisingly this one was over within 10 days. I started this on my visit to Tolouse/Bordeaux and finished next week during the visit to Eastern Europe. Most of my journey time was well spent in reading.

It is a typical Dan Brown novel. NASA finds something path-breaking in Arctic circle. The discovery of this of such a magnitude has huge implications on the image of NASA and on the impending Presidential election contested by the incumbent Zach Herney and Senator Sedgewich Sexton. Rachel Sexton, daughter of Senator Sexton works for NRO (National Reconnaissance Office) and reports to William Pickering, Director of NRO. The relationship between Sexton and his daughter is ailing. On a fine morning, Rachel receives a special request from the President and she is taken to Arctic circle in a special flight. Her task is to ascertain the facts that she finds there (the facts claimed by NASA) and report it to the White House staff.

NASA has been criticized widely for its repeated failure missions and overspending. It is the main pole against which Sexton is holding his campaign. The discovery could be the defining moment for NASA and its director Lawrence Ekstrom. The President employs 4 civilians from various discipline to ascertain the claims made by NASA - Michael Tolland, Norah Mangor, Corky Marlinson and Wailee Ming. The camp of NASA at arctic circle has been closely watched by 3 people belonging to Delta Force. When Wailee Ming finds something fishy about the discovery, he is killed by the Delta Force.

Rachel Sexton goes with Tolland, Mangor and Marlinson to ascertain the facts when they are attacked by the Delta Force. Mangor dies where the remaining there run for their lives. The plot then fastens up with finding about what is fishy about the discovery and who could be behind this. The knots get untied one by one.

With these characters, Gabrielle Ashe (personal assistant to Senator Sexton), Marjorie Tench (Senior Adviser in White House), Xavia (one of the team members of Tolland's oceanography discovery team) all have their important roles to play.

Behind this discovery there is a lot at stake for many people involved directly with it.

The story is well embedded with good amount of information regarding meterorites, oceonography, White House inside information, some elements of psychology etc. I have never heard of the NRO before this which is a space intelligence agency of US supplying classified information to CIA, Defense etc.

But as the story goes, it is kind of easy to predict who could be behind all the crimes. But, still the author maintains suspense in how is going to reveal it and what how he handles after the information is revealed.

The story is properly built up with author revealing the discovery only after 100 pages. After that the murders start, plot and the characters fly in jets.

A good read!

Gmail Trick

2009-10-22T23:24:00.001+05:30

The post that I did before this one was through gmail. You just need to write your blog and send it to an unique "blogger.com" address which you can get from settings on blogger. One of the facts that limited my gmail posting was that I was not able to embed images on to the mail. Simply, you cannot copy and paste an image as you do in the MS Outlook. But there is a work around. You can copy an image from a location on internet and paste it on to the browser. It works! So, I can upload my images on flickr or picasa and copy from it and paste on to my blog post!

In fact the gmail logo you see above is also embedded in the same way!

Post from Milan

2009-10-22T23:15:00.001+05:30

I came to Milan as exchange student in the beginning of Septemeber. From then on, I have been going around places in Europe - Venice, Berlin, Bern, Bordeaux, Austria, Czech, Slovakia, Frankfurt. Had been consumed by the picasa, facebook, twitter in the time I am in Milan with of course a few hours to spare for the classes here in Bocconi Universtiy.

This is one of the pictures taken in Interlaken, Switzerland - unarguably one of the beautiful countries of the world.

This is quite some lull in the blog updates. Hoping to update frequently. Especially, in the tours of the past one and half months, there were so many new experiences which are worth sharing. I shall update as and when I reflect and gather.

Movies This Week

2009-08-21T00:41:00.000+05:30

The Usual Suspects

The plot starts of with a man being murdered. From the conversation that happens just before murder, it appears that the killer is already known to the victim. He dies in a boat which is also the venue of so many other murders on the same night. Only a cripple(Kevin Spacey) and a Hungarian survive. The cripple starts narrating the story to the Customs Special Agent, Kujan, going back by 6 weeks. A group of 5 people gets interrogated in a case involving a missing truck carrying weapons. The cripple narrates how Keaton, Fenster, McManus, Hockney and Verbal (the cripple) - the 5 people then team together and gets involved in the story leading up to the massacre in the boat. Verbal mentions a lawyer named Kobiyashi on his narration, who makes the group to get involved in the task on the boat, on the advice of his boss. Further, the Agent gets to know of a man named Keyser Soze (the boss of Kobiyashi) from the injured Hungarian. Verbal gives the background of Keyser Soze and picturizes him as the ultimate Devil and also tells he is the one who killed Keaton (the first scene). But later he agrees that he saw a man (which he believes to be Keyser Soze) shooting, but he did not actually see Keaton dying. The Agent finds out who is Keyser Soze and convinces Verbal too. Verbal breaks out on finding who is Keyser Soze. Once Verbal leaves the office, the Agent senses something fishy and what gets revealed next is the twist in the tail (tale).

The plus point to the movie is the screen play and the narrating style. Very good performance from Kevin Spacey. The actor who plays the agent, Chazz Palminteri does a wonderful job. Some of the dialogues are very good. One cannot forget this one. "The greatest ever trick that the Devil pulled was convincing the world that he did not exist".

Bheja Fry

This has long been on my movie list; had a chance to see this week. Absolutely no masala stuff! The story is about how a talkative person gets involved in a tussle between a husband and wife. Inspite of his good intentions, he messes up everything. Ranjeet Tadani invites "talent" for his special dinner on every friday and makes mockery. He gets to know of Bharat Bhushan (Vinay Pathak), the talkative character who thinks too high of his singing talents and invites him for his special dinner. But unfortunately he breaks his back and is unable to go to the dinner. In the meantime, Bhushan arrives at Ranjeet's house. Sheetal, wife of Ranjeet leaves giving a message on phone that she will never return. From this point onwards, the story goes about how Ranjeet traces the whereabouts of Sheetal with Bhushan making a mess of every move. Further, an ex-girl-friend, ex-friend of Ranjeet, a tax-inspector - friend of Bhushan enters into the story and makes it humorous to the core. The movie even ends with a typical mess-up by Bhushan.

Cheeni Kum

Another movie which was on my list a while ago, but got missed then. The plot is about a 64 year old man and 34 year old lady falling in love with each other. The story does not put forward a good reason for the 34 year old lady to fall in love with the old man. There are a very few occasions in the story where it deals with this complicated 64-34 relationship. Otherwise, it seems to be an ordinary movie where that 64-34 could have easily been replaced by 25-25 or something. There can be many issues, psychological and social, which could have been brought up. But the movie misses out on those and tries to make a single point - there is no age for love, with no sufficient back-up. The Hyderabadi Zaffrani Pulav and the Umbrella sets up the stage and are the main characters in the first half. The "Sexy" little-girl is nice. Her beyond-age comments and remarks are awesome and interesting, especially the "Happy Sad" and the "Sad Sad" dialogues. In some other scenes also, the dialoges stand out. The background score by Ilayaraja is good. In fact, in most part of the movie, he keeps it silent. Lead roles by Amitabh and Tabu.

An Early Morning Auto

2009-08-06T12:36:00.000+05:30

This story happened a few years before when I was in Bangalore. I just thought it might be an interesting read and also wanted to record it before it goes into oblivion.

A very ordinary day had been turned into an unforgettable experience because of an auto-driver in Bangalore. I was to catch the Intercity Express train to Salem from the Cantonment Station at 6:35 am. Generally, it takes only 15 minutes for me to walk from home to the station. That was not a very special day - as usual an ordinary Saturday. I estimated the time in the ticket-queue to be 10 min. With all these calculations perfect, I came out of the apartments at 6:10 am. I started walking, just then realised an auto-rickshaw passing by. I just thought I could get some extra 10 minutes if I take the auto and save some energy walking to the station. I called him. He stopped. Generally, the autos charge around Rs 20 in the mornings to go to the station. I stepped in and seated and told him to go to Cantonment railway station. By this time, it was 6:11 am. He replied, "Ek Sow, Ek Sow". "What! One Hundered! Not at all possible. I will give you twenty." After that he did not care about what I told. The auto whirred and sped up on the empty roads, but unfortunately in the direction just opposite to the station.

"Where are you going? Turn right on to this road." - "Ek Sow, Ek Sow"
By this time, I realised that the auto driver was totally on a high. Drunken Driving experience!

"I do not want to go anywhere. Stop! Stop! Now!!" - He did not even cared. The auto started speeding up even a little bit more. He had no idea where he was heading to. In the meantime, another auto started following the one that I was in. He tried to overtake us a couple of times and tried to say something to the driver. From his expressions, I got that he was also trying to stop this guy. No way. My driver was already in heavens. He did not give way; did not listen; but never stopped to release the accelerator. By this time it was already 6:15 and auto was going through the streets of Cox Town.

The auto happened to cross the railway bridge. I just got an idea. I told, "See the railway bridge. Stop here. The station has come". I am not sure whether he listened to me or what went into his mind. But he finally stopped. The other auto which was following us also got close by. The moment it stopped, I jumped out and started running. It was 6:17 am by now. I saw a bus which goes close to the Cantonment railway station (it takes a turn 200 metres ahead of the station towards Shivaji Nagar). I got into the bus. It was 6:18 am. I was looking at the watch every now and then. It reached the bus stop at 6:25 am. From there I started running towards the station. Entered @ 6:29 am. Walked up the stair case, reached the other side of the station, joined the ticket queue at 6:31 am. The train had just entered the platform. The ticket queue appeared to be moving very slow for me. There would have been around 15 passengers waiting ahead of me. I look at the watch, it was 6:33 am, still 10 more were there. It was 6:35 am, the train started leaving, still 4 ahead of me. When I reached the counter at 6:37 am, the platform was empty - the train had already gone. Stop here! For those of you who had thought that I could have made it finally - it is an anti-climax.

I requested the ticket issuer, "One Jolarpet" - Idea changed. I planned to take the Lalbagh Express to Jolarpet and catch the Kovai Express coming from Chennai. It would reach Salem by 11:30 am. Had I originally caught the Intercity Express, I would have been in Salem at 10:20 am.

Got the tickets. Lalbagh Express came to the platform at 6:53 am. Unexpectedly, too much of crowd in the unreserved compartments and even in the reserved ones. I thought why all these hassles, why can't I catch the passenger train to salem at 7:45 am. That probably seemed to be a better deal. Came back to the counter and cancelled the superfast ticket and got an ordinary ticket to salem. By the time, the Lalbagh also left, the platform was almost empty. Spotted a comfortable bench and started reading magazines. That continued till I fell asleep in a few minutes after I boarded the 7:45 train. When the train reached Salem, it was 12:45 am.

When I look back, it is enjoyable and I can laugh at it. But definitely not, when I was in that auto!!

Team Building and SBN

2009-08-03T22:16:00.000+05:30

Yesterday, we had a day-long team-building session as a part of our Strategic Business Negotiation course. It started at 7:15 am and went on till 6:30 pm. We had lot of activities in the time in-between. They call it "Experiential Learning". The entire day program was conducted by a team from STEP consulting, Delhi. We were about 175 students separated into 8 teams engaged in various activities at different venues all around the institute. We were 22 in our team. Our team started with rappelling. The task is simple - come down from the top of 3rd floor to the ground using a rope. Some of us had an initial apprehension about the task, but each one of us finally made it to ground. In fact, it was totally safe as it was coordinated and controlled by professional men. Still, you can't do away with the basic instinct - fear! Next task was called "Toxic Waste". It was a team game. There were 4 buckets in an encircled area. One of the buckets contained 15 balls. The objective was to transfer the equal number of balls to all the 3 empty buckets. We were given with a bicycle tyre-tube and a few ropes. The rule was not to touch the balls or buckets with the hand and also not to move the buckets which were initially empty. We figured out a way, though not very much implementable, after a lot of confusion. We managed to transfer 7 balls in one of the buckets and 3 balls in another and spilled 5 balls. We made several attempts. That was the best we could get.

The next one was a blind-folded game. We were given a long rope from which we were asked to make a square. Remember, all of us were blind-folded. Again, it started with lot of commotion, but after a few minutes Arun Moolchandani came forward and guided the way to make a square, though not a perfect one. All of us were giving our own ideas and were also listening to others and accepting the ideas which suited the task at hand. We accomplished the task well ahead of the time given to us. But, we did not use the entire length of the rope. On finishing the square, we were asked "If you are the customer, would you buy this square?" We answered in negative. But given the time constraints, and knowing that the same constraints are with everyone else in the market (read as other teams) that was one of the best that could be possible and customer had no option!

After this was the wonderful activity called "Trust Fall". The task is to fall backwards from a height of about 1 metre. 9 of us would be on ground to catch the person who free falls. I thought this was simple activity, but it was like jumping into the water. We feel very comfortable from a distance, but once we are near to water, we feel really scary. Though I knew that nothing would happen and there were people to catch me, I could not make my free fall elegant. I bent my knees and fell in an awkward position making it difficult for the people to catch. Thank god, nothing happened to any one of us. There is a very good chance of getting hit by the elbow of the person who is falling, if he does not adhere to the rules of the game. The objective of the game is to understand “trust”.

After this, we had carpentry. We were divided into 3 sub teams. Each team was given a set of raw materials consisting of wooden plank, nails, hammer and saw to make a stool out of that. We were also given instruction that we needed to finally sell our product and the customer would buy a stool from one of the teams. We started our task immediately and were able to make a stool in the allotted 30 minutes. After the task, we were stumped with a question, "You know who your customer is. Did you guys ask what kind of stool he actually needs?" Surprisingly, this very basic question did not strike to any of us in the 3 sub teams.

We had a few more games in the afternoon like "pipe-bomb" where we need to transport the bombs (marbles) using bamboo pipes without touching the marbles and dropping them in-between, and "web" where we need to cross through the shapes just about a person to enter, made of ropes tied between two trees. The "Web" was interesting where we lifted persons and passed him or her through to the other side of the web. It required good planning and coordination. In this game, the objective was to pass everyone across the web in the allotted time. But, it was also said, for every member successfully passed through the other side, we scored 10 points and for every member left behind without getting passed through, we scored a -20. Every time, any one touches the rope, the score comes down to -5 and the entire team had to restart. Because of the scoring system, we concentrated on the numbers and missed the objective that everyone had to be passed on to the other side. This was very good example of how certain not-so-important and important things make you miss the focus on the objective.

The next one was an awesome "Valley Crossing". One had to travel via rope between two trees tied at the height of about 3 metres from the ground on one end and about 4 metres from the ground on the other end. The distance between the trees was around 15 meters. The team scored 5 points for every member who did downstream and 10 points for every member who did upstream. As I now believe I have improved my stamina because of regular jogging, I tried the upstream. It was actually easy than what I had initially thought. The thought was based on the stories that a very few people did the upstream in the entire day. Now, I think that either those stories were untrue or the teams did not try to take chances going upstream. In our team, we had a good number of people going upstream.

The final one was an interesting activity, the name of which I forgot now, but we may call it "Lava and Stone". This was played with a huge team of about 40 members, 10 on each side of a square. The objective was that the teams on opposite sides of the square should exchange places. The area inside the square was supposed to be lava and there were a few stones(bricks) inside, only on which a person can step. Further, there was a center stone, on which every person crossing had to necessarily step on. Once a person steps on a brick, the human contact with that brick had to be maintained failing which the brick would disappear. If any one person stepped on the lava or the human contact with the center-brick got missed, the entire process had to be restarted. There was a lot of commotion again initially, also there were fights regarding which team gets on to the process first. Initially one team started, they goofed up, then they wanted to try again, which the other teams refused and another team started again, this time they goofed up. It was a hell lot of fun. Finally, we all managed to accomplish the objective. In the end, a solid support was given by Sreejith (who is also my neighbour in the hostel) who maintained the contact with the center-brick till all of us passed on to other side. He made a triumphant jump to mark the eventful end.

All-in-all, it was a nice Sunday which was well spent.

Solar Eclipse

2009-07-22T06:59:00.000+05:30

Witnessed the Solar Eclipse today.

Very entertaining to see. The lighting the eclipse sets up during the course is amazing. A few photos taken during eclipse.

England's Victory @ Lord's

2009-07-20T17:47:00.001+05:30

England's 1st victory against Australia in 75 years at Lord's. What a match!! Just then, I was interested in looking at the highest 4th innings scores. Bewildered by the 654 in 4th Innings by England against South Africa. That was a 10 day match!! In that stats page, the one placed second - 451 by NZ against Eng is another test match to be remembered for ages when Nathan Astle scored the fastest double century in tests, finishing up 222 in 168 balls.

Gtalk Status Messages - This week

2009-07-17T12:26:00.001+05:30

இந்த காலத்து இளைஞர்கள் பாவம் எவ்வளவோ கஷ்டங்களுக்கு மத்தியில படிக்கறாங்க. அவங்கள safeஆ இவ்வளோதான் கேக்கலாம், இவ்வளோதான் கேக்கணும், இவ்வளவு கேக்கறதுதான் better. - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VC7z6ziXnqU

Econometrics is a mirage. You always think you have understood. But never! :-(

Strategically Manage Econometrics by Banking on Business Negotiations Invested in Valuing International Financial companies!

அடி, உதை, திருட்டுக்கும் Econometrics க்கும் ரொம்ப தூரம். - from மௌன ராகம். http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrRiCWZhXng

Dollar Desam

2009-06-27T18:51:00.000+05:30

I am reading a book - Dollar Desam (Tamil) by Pa. Raghavan (Kizhakku Pathippagam's). The story narrates the American History of the past 400 years. In a sense, the book is written in a antilogarithmic scale - only a first few pages are dedicated to the initial 200 years, around 120 pages to next 70 years, another 150 pages to next 40 years and so on. As the year becomes more recent the number of pages narrating the incidents also grows. It touches upon all major events and persons right from Independence, Abraham Lincoln, World Wars, Martin Luther King Jr., Watergate, Vietnam war, Korea War, Afghan War, Cold War between US and USSR, Gulf wars etc. Each President of US gets an introduction and character analysis. The achievements and blunders are elaborated.

But somehow I feel, the author compromised on the facts by trying to keep the book interesting. There are some very good masala sentences in the book trying to create interest for the readers to look for the next week (the book came as a series in Kumudham, I think).

The chapters about Osama Bin Laden are factually contradictory among themselves. Author says Osama's father expired in 1968 when Osama was already married and had just finished his degree in AbdulAzziz University and enrolled in another university. Taking Osama's birth year of 1957 into picture, the year 1968 does not fit. As per the book, the first meeting between Osama and Dr. Abdullah Azim happened in 81 or 82, but the next chapter says that Washington invited Osama and Dr. Azim to US in 1980 after the duo gained popularity. Further, after a few chapters, the author says Azim's first visit to US happened when Osama had already started his base in Pakistan (1986 as per the book). The author claims that Osama had murdered Dr. Azim because of differences in opinions - a fact which is not authenticated, yet.

Since, so many such contradictions happens in a span of few pages - I doubt the content in the other chapters too. Though, to get a broader picture the book may help - it is definitely lacking in the attention to details. One can read the book to get an overview of the important persons and events, but cannot vouch for anything in particular.

I hope the author and the publishers bring out better stuff next time.

Budget Class Room

2009-06-15T08:18:00.000+05:30

Yesterday, I participated in a pre budget discussion to be aired in Zee Business channel. The program titled "IIML Budget Class Room" will be telecast sometime in the next week. The agenda was to identify the top 5 challenges that our finance minister has to tackle and propose solutions for the same. It was not a free-flow discussion as the anchor co-ordinated and directed the course of the discussion. We put forth many issues right from infrastructure, health, education to energy and security.

Catch it up on TV.

CSK v Punjab Preview

2009-05-20T20:29:00.000+05:30

Chance table updated just after RR v KKR match.

Team	Current Chance	Chennai v Punjab
Team	Current Chance	CSK wins	KXI wins	No Result
DD	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00
CSK	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00
DC	75.00	100.00	50.00	50.00
RCB	75.00	100.00	50.00	50.00
PUN	50.00	0.00	100.00	100.00
MI	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00
RR	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00
KKR	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00

I remember someone (You know who!) quoting, "And that unlucky team will lose out on the semis, purely as God's punishment for losing to the losers."

Quotes apart, see this article from cricinfo; And also mine, regarding the same - posted yesterday.

This is the last post in this series. Let me see whether I will be able to do it for the WorldT20, coming up in June.

Rajasthan v KKR Preview

2009-05-19T23:32:00.000+05:30

Chance table after Bangalore defeated Delhi.

Team	Current Chance	RR v KKR
Team	Current Chance	RR wins	KKR wins	No Result
DD	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00
CSK	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00
DC	62.50	50.00	75.00	75.00
RCB	62.50	50.00	75.00	75.00
PUN	50.00	50.00	50.00	50.00
RR	25.00	50.00	0.00	0.00
MI	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00
KKR	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00

It has become interesting! Now 4 teams are in contention for 2 spots - almost equally chanced, though RR making it to semi-finals is entirely not in its hands. But RR not making it to the semi-finals is in its own hands. i.e. if RR loses to KKR, RR is out. Even if RR wins, if Punjab wins against Chennai, again RR will be out!

So, RR should hope to beat KKR, (who surprisingly is on a good run after a good hit against Deccan and a wonderful chase against Chennai) and also wish for Chennai to win its match against Punjab.

For Punjab, it is very clear - either win or out of semis (that is why you see 50% chance for Punjab). It is almost like a virtual quarter-final for them.

RR loses -> RR out of semis
Punjab loses -> Punjab out of semis
Punjab wins -> Punjab in and RR out & the match between RCB and DC is a virtual quarter final.

If RR wins and Punjab lose -> RR enters semis.
If both Punjab and RR lose, DC and RCB are in!!

Tomorrow we may get to know the third semi-finalist or may be all of them.

Mumbai @ 7:24 pm

2009-05-19T21:52:00.000+05:30

I still remember the Dec-Jan days in Lucknow when it was dark by 5:30 pm itself. Now, in Mumbai, witness light even half hour past 7 pm.

Volume doubled today @ NSE

2009-05-19T20:55:00.000+05:30

Press release from NSE.

Trades in Derivatives segment:

Trade Statistics for 19-May-2009
Product	No. of contracts	Turnover (Rs. cr.) *	Put Call Ratio
Index Futures	1467599	31082.77	-
Stock Futures	641588	32867.31	-
Index Options	1941044	40080.98	1.23
Stock Options	39830	1954.46	0.42
Interest Futures	0	0	-
F&O Total	4090061	105985.51	1.21

* Notional Turnover in case of options

Source: NSE website

Delhi v Bangalore

2009-05-18T23:54:00.000+05:30

Chance table updated after KKR's only win in this season without help from rain, that too against a supposedly strong Chennai.

DD v RCB preview::

Team	Current Chance	DD v RCB
Team	Current Chance	DD wins	RCB wins	No Result
DD	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00
CSK	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00
DC	75.00	87.50	62.50	62.50
PUN	56.25	62.50	50.00	62.50
RCB	37.50	12.50	62.50	50.00
RR	31.25	37.50	25.00	25.00
MI	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00
KKR	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00

All semi contenders except RCB will be hoping for a Delhi win.

Crincinfo quotes... "Chennai look depleted. Hard loss. Kolkata went down in the IPL but are making sure they take a few down with them. Chennai now face the frustrating prospect of having to rely on the outcome of their final league game against Punjab, and possibly net run-rate to see where they finish. The IPL is wide open."

Chennai Enters Semi-finals!!

2009-05-17T23:57:00.000+05:30

As Rajasthan lost its match against Delhi, Chennai entered the semi-finals for sure!

That also means, tomorrow's CSK match against Kolkata is of no consequence!!

Team	Current Chance	CSK v KKR
Team	Current Chance	CSK wins	KKR wins	No Result
DD	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00
CSK	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00
DC	75.00	75.00	75.00	75.00
PUN	56.25	56.25	56.25	56.25
RCB	37.50	37.50	37.50	37.50
RR	31.25	31.25	31.25	31.25
MI	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00
KKR	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00

Delhi v Rajasthan Preview

2009-05-17T20:06:00.000+05:30

The following table is just after DC v Punjab match, which Punjab won and knocked off Mumbai from the Semi-final lists in all probabilities!

Also updated is the possibilities of the next match DD v RR.

Team	Current Chance	DD V RR
Team	Current Chance	DD wins	RR wins	No Result
DD	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00
CSK	95.31	100.00	90.63	90.63
DC	68.75	75.00	62.50	75.00
RR	56.25	31.25	81.25	56.25
PUN	48.44	56.25	40.63	40.63
RCB	31.25	37.50	25.00	37.50
MI	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00
KKR	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00

Winning this match boosts up RR's semi-final chances to a great extent!!

DC v Punjab Preview

2009-05-17T00:22:00.000+05:30

This is a semi-final decider!!

If DC wins, it enters semis. If DC loses, Mumbai gets thrown out of semis.
If washed out, Chennai enters the semi-finals!

Team	Current Chance	DC V Punjab
Team	Current Chance	DC wins	Punjab wins	No Result
DD	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00
CSK	96.88	98.44	95.31	100.00
DC	84.38	100.00	68.75	93.75
RR	60.16	64.06	56.25	64.06
RCB	32.03	32.81	31.25	31.25
PUN	25.78	3.13	48.44	9.38
MI	0.78	1.56	0.00	1.56
KKR	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00

DC v KKR Preview

2009-05-16T23:20:00.000+05:30

KKR has all teams' support for today's match!!!

Every team hoping to get to the semi-finals hopes that KKR wins today! (exception being Deccan, of course)

Team	Current Chance	DC V KKR
Team	Current Chance	DC wins	KKR wins	No Result
DD	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00
CSK	98.05	96.88	99.22	99.22
DC	70.31	84.38	56.25	68.75
RR	66.41	60.16	72.66	60.16
RCB	36.33	32.03	40.63	40.63
PUN	28.13	25.78	30.47	30.47
MI	0.78	0.78	0.78	0.78
KKR	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00

Mumbai v Chennai Preview

2009-05-15T23:53:00.000+05:30

Chance table after Punjab's win over Delhi.

Team	Current Chance	Mumbai v Chennai
Team	Current Chance	Mum wins	Chn wins	No Result
DD	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00
CSK	85.94	73.83	98.05	94.14
DC	68.16	66.02	70.31	62.11
RCB	36.04	35.74	36.33	30.47
MI	19.63	38.48	0.78	17.19
RR	61.13	55.86	66.41	70.31
PUN	29.10	30.08	28.13	25.78
KKR	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00

Who wishes for whom?
For Delhi and Kolkata, it does not matter at all.
CSK, DC and RCB wish Chennai wins, as it increases their chances of getting into semi-final.
MI and Punjab wish Mumbai wins.
Surprisingly, it works out better for Rajasthan Royals if the match is rained out!! DC, RCB's stances are radically different. They wish for Chennai. Even if Chennai does not win, they hope at least Mumbai should win. They need a result in any case! Same is the case with Punjab, except that their first wish is for Mumbai.

Delhi v Punjab Preview

2009-05-15T01:24:00.000+05:30

How are the chances going to change for the teams?

Team	Current Chance	Delhi v Punjab
Team	Current Chance	Delhi wins	Punj wins	No Result
DD	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00
CSK	87.40	88.87	85.94	88.87
DC	71.39	74.61	68.16	68.16
RCB	38.28	40.53	36.04	36.04
MI	21.78	23.93	19.63	23.93
RR	64.45	67.77	61.13	67.77
PUN	16.70	4.30	29.10	15.23
KKR	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00

IPL 2009 - path to semifinals

2009-05-14T22:28:00.000+05:30

The points table reads like this just after the end of CSK v RCB match today.

(please scroll down)

Team	Mat	Won	Lost	N/R	Pts	Net RR	For	Against
Delhi Daredevils	10	8	2	0	16	+0.362	1408/177.5	1394/184.3
Chennai	11	6	4	1	13	+1.070	1631/196.2	1427/197.1
Deccan Chargers	11	6	5	0	12	+0.292	1654/212.4	1633/218.1
Bangalore	12	6	6	0	12	-0.309	1689/237.0	1735/233.2
Mumbai Indians	11	5	5	1	11	+0.543	1442/196.2	1340/197.0
Rajasthan Royals	11	5	5	1	11	-0.373	1306/193.1	1415/198.2
Kings XI Punjab	11	5	6	0	10	-0.570	1438/192.1	1518/188.3
Kolkata	11	1	9	1	3	-1.042	1306/189.2	1412/177.5

Only 12 more matches are remaining including the ongoing MI v RR match which decide who get to the semi-finals. In the mean time, I tried to predict who get to the semi-finals using simulation.

My assumptions:
1. Each match has equally likely outcome of win and loss for both teams. In others words, both teams have 50% chance of winning the match. (though that may not be the real case)
2. The relative position of NRR of all teams remain same at the end of the tournament.
3. No no-result matches.

The 12 matches generate 4096 possibilities and each combination decides 4 teams which enter into semi-finals. In case of a tie between 4th and 5th positions, NRR as on today is used to resolve the same.

This is the result I got.

(please scroll down)

Team	Chance of Entry to Semi-finals
Delhi	100.00
Chennai	86.96
Deccan	71.53
Bangalore	38.96
Mumbai	47.31
Rajasthan	38.28
Punjab	16.94
Kolkata	0.00

Pune Mumbai Express Highway

2009-05-02T02:11:00.000+05:30

Today, I travelled in Pune-Mumbai express highway in a Volvo. Very good experience; I was sitting in the seat which is just next to the driver. So, I had the best view that can be possible. Clicked on arbit stuff all along.

It is really a thrilling experience to sit there with no seat belts on. எப்போ bus நம்மல கீழ சாயக்கும்னு தெரியாம உட்கார வேண்டியதா இருந்துது. Sudden brake அடிச்சான்னா, வடிவேலு மாதிரி முன்னாடி இருக்கற கண்ணாடிய ஒடச்சு கீழ போய், பாக்கிட்ல இருக்கற glass piece எடுத்து ஒதர வேண்டி இருக்கும்.

The surprising thing is that even the driver does not wear the seat belt. Whenever he wants to make a turn, he tends to get shifted from his comfort position and tries to hold the bottom of his seat in one hand and makes the turn. One moment if he misses - God knows what happens!

I asked him why does not he wear a seat belt (there is a provision and I suppose wearing seatbelt is compulsory) - that would make his life comfortable. He replied, "I do not have that habit."

Random clicks are here.

Ponniyin Selvan

2009-04-26T13:37:00.000+05:30

I just finished reading Ponniyin Selvan for the second time. I read it for the first time 6 or 7 years before when I was at my engineering college. Now, once again, amazed at the plot, characterisation and the way the author connects various characters and events. At no point of time, I felt the story is being elongated just for the sake of it. Often there are repetitions, but it helps one to remember what happened and helps to connect with the present.

One should remember that this is a historic novel and cannot take things as granted. Where there is a clear proof of character and incident, the author needs to adhere to it and when the picture is not so clear, he is free to ignite the imagination - this is a tight rope walk. Amarar Kalki says the same sentence in the conclusive part. I guess the conclusive essay must have come a few weeks after the story ended. Author addresses the concerns of the readers and answers their queries.

There are many characters in the novel. Some characters are given good characterisation and some are given only build ups. The brilliance of characters comes out in Vandhiyadevan, Adiyan, Anirudhha Brahmarayar. Poonkuzhali and Manimegalai will stay on in the mind of the readers for ever. Both have many similar qualities, the striking difference being Manimegalai is so innocent whereas Poonkuzhali is not. The greatest built up is given for Kundavai. But there are not enough incidents or decision making circumstances which validate the build-ups. Though Anirudha Bramharayar comes relatively only in a few scenes, the character's intelligence is clearly portrayed in almost all the scenes.

I heard that the original hero of the novel was supposed to be Arul Mozhi Varmar himself, but Vandhiyadevan is so interwoven with the story that the author could not dethrone him from the hero's pedastal even after the introduction of Arul Mozhi Varmar early in the story. The incidents that happen after Arul Mozhi jumps into the sea to save Vandhiyadevan get a supersonic speed. I feel that is the point when Vandhiyadevan becomes the hero of the novel.

One character which gets you stumped is Nandini. One never knows when she speaks the truth and when she does not. She displays cunningness with a "cool attitude". She is very determined and does not get tensed whatever the situation be.

I read the entire story this time on my laptop - the pdfs from Project Madurai. The pdf of the fifth part contained many missing lines. So, I had to go to wikisource for reading whole of the 5th part. While I was reading, I made a pdf of the 5th part and uploaded under GDL.

CFA this June

2009-04-21T20:25:00.000+05:30

It has been a long time since I updated my blog. I am currently posted at Mumbai for my summer internship; will be here for the next two months.

I give CFA Level I, offered by the CFA Institute in June. Because of the legal tussle with ICFAI, the exam center was originally not in India. So, I chose my test center as Kathmandu as did some of my other friends too. I planned to start the internship as early as possible, finish and go home, spend a week and then proceed to Kathmandu for the exam and come back to Lucknow.

On Apr 2nd, Delhi high court ruled that June 2009 CFA exams can be held in India. In one way it is good that I do not need to travel a lot of distance. But, had I known this would happen, I would have joined the internship late so that I can finish the internship and give exam in Mumbai and proceed directly to Lucknow. I need not have incurred loss on cancellation of the flight tickets to Kathmandu. But even with cancellation charges, writing in Mumbai works out to be better both economically and logistically.

More about the legal battle:
Wikipedia on Indian CFA
What ICFAI had to say?
What CFA Institute had to say?

Both of them provide a picture as if they are correct and the other party is outright wrong.

Convocation or Commencement

2009-03-23T01:11:00.000+05:30

This post has been a long overdue- but better late than never.

Our institute’s 23rd Convocation was on this Tuesday.

Coincidentally, on the same day, I read the following short story in The Hindu’s YoungWorld which I thought is worth sharing.

A martial artist, who had spent years mastering karate, was waiting to receive the Black Belt from his master, when he was told that he had to pass one more test. "What’s the significance of the Black Belt", asked the master. "If you can answer this question correctly, I shall give you the Black Belt." The student smiled confidently and replied, "It’s the reward for my hard work!" To his surprise, the master shook his head disapprovingly and said, "You are not ready for the Black Belt. You may return in one year."
A year later, the student went to his master. Once again the master asked him the true meaning of the Black Belt. The student was bewildered and answered, "It’s a symbol of distinction... the highest achievement in our art!" The master once again shook his head in disapproval and told the student to return the next year with the answer.
The following year, the student went to his master, looking very humble. "Have you understood the importance of the Black Belt?" the master asked him. "Yes, Master," relied the student. "I’ve realized that it is not the end but the beginning of a never-ending journey of discipline, work and the pursuit of excellence."
"Here’s your Black Belt," said the master, smiling happily. "You have finally understood its true significance."

Probably, that's why they refer the graduation day as "Commencement" in some universities.

All the best to the IIML class of 2009.

Car Lease

2009-03-23T00:02:00.000+05:30

From many of my co-students here, I learnt that various software companies are following a unique incentive scheme - owning car through company lease. It works something like this. The company leases out to the employee the car of his choice. The car will be in the name of the company and the lease payments are cut from his salary. At the end of say 3 or 4 years, the employee has to pay the salvage value at that point of time and get the car transferred into his name.

As per the tax laws, the company provides conveyance to the employees which can be treated as expenses in the profit-loss account. Instead of charging it to expenses under wages & salaries, the company charges the expenses to the conveyance account. Or if someone wants to treat it differently, the car can be capitalized to fixed assets and can be depreciated every year over its useful life. Now, instead of the wages & salaries, the expenses are under depreciation.

This is just one part of the story. The other part of the story is that the income of the employee is reduced, because the lease payments are not made out of his pocket. So, the employee will be paying less income tax.

We shall come back to the company’s side now. Since the company is providing car with fuel, maintenance etc (that’s what the scenario as per the accounts), the company is liable to pay the FBT at the rate of 20% over 20% of the expenses which works out to be a net of 4% on the total expenses. If this option is not provided by the company, the company would not have needed to pay this 4%. So, logically this has to be passed on to the employee. Also, if this option is not provided, the employee has to take a loan for his car at the market rate or pay out of his pocket. Adding to that, he will not be able to save the income tax. So, naturally the lease rent payable will be greater than the market rate. That is because the company is under no obligation to provide this option. Since it has designed such an exotic option, it wants to have its pie too.

I have made a simple calculation taking car’s price to be INR 400,000 and recurring expenses of INR 2,500. If someone decides to use the car for a 4 year period, one can save around 18% of total expenses under the lease option. The company also earns a 10% in the present value terms. This calculation is based on some assumptions which are also clearly stated in the calculation.

Excel sheet is uploaded.

Money behind IPL

2009-03-11T22:31:00.000+05:30

I stuck upon an interesting and informative article regarding IPL in the BusinessLine. It is quite old (published: May 2008), but worth reading.

The author talks in detail about the financial model of the IPL. Who owns what? Who owes whom what? etc. There is so much of money involved at different levels in the IPL: team franchise, broadcast rights, player contracts, official sponsorship, team and player sponsorships, stadium rents, tickets, to name a few. This is the direct money which is at play when the Kings, Challengers, Riders and the like are at play. Apart from this, IPL creates a lot of indirect money in the form of travel, promotion, advertisements etc.

Understanding IPL’s financial levers

In the previous of IPL (2008), only 2 teams saw profits. We shall see what happens this year and the years to come.

With the busy schedule of the international players participating in the IPL, the timing is the most critical factor. If IPL misses to hold the event due to some externalities, there are several parties waiting to get a hole burnt in their pockets. Let us hope for some good entertainment this season.

Jogging

2009-03-10T00:05:00.001+05:30

I have been jogging / cycling regularly for a while now. This is not a new year resolution, in fact I started jogging 3 days ahead of the new year. No need to have some special day to start something new. It has been around 2 and half months now in which I missed to jog only on 2 days. I started with a small stretch initially with just over 1 km which has now improved to one full round on the ring road of the IIML campus (2.7 km). I have never believed I could run such a distance non-stop. The secret of jogging lies in controlling the breath. If you do not feel that you are making extraordinary efforts to breathe while jogging, you are well in control and can jog comfortably. One of the most important things I realised in this jogging exercise is that, if one believes he can. Remember KungFu Panda? It may sound like a cliched message, but truth sounds like that always.

One of the shots on the course of my track:

More Photos. All of these photos are taken inside the campus.

Intelligent Ad!

2009-03-07T19:13:00.000+05:30

I received an ad from a cinema multiplex. The message is quite interesting!

Don't miss to read the conditions. Very Clever!

The offer is open for children till class 8 only, which means they will most probably be accompanied by parents and contribute to increased sales. Offer is valid only in the weekdays as the cinema house does not want to lose the premium seats on weekends. Offer closes on April 15th which is probably just the start of the vacation - again it does not want to offer free seats during vacation peak time.

Th overall objective is to attract the future potential movie goers, with the side benefit of increased sales on the slump weekdays. (or vice versa)

If you peruse carefully, you know who's ad is this.

ARR wins Oscar

2009-02-23T12:06:00.000+05:30

People say "Slumdog" is definitely not his best for which he should win an Oscar. Agreed, but one should remember that Oscar is not awarded to "the best music or the best song" produced in the given year. There are certain eligibility criteria set by the Academy (AMPAS) and the best score or the song is chosen (or rather voted) from the entries which make it to the eligibility list. Slumdog happened to meet the eligibility criteria and subsequently voted as the best for original background score and the song.

From now on, the tamil film producers would be tempted to put the film credits as "ஆஸ்கார் A. R. ரஹ்மான்"

CAT Result

2009-02-02T18:53:00.000+05:30

Even the big names make some silly mistakes. If the same mistake had been done by a candidate in CAT, he would have lost his marks for the question and attracted penalty too!

(Click on the picture for a better resolution)

Educational Loan

2009-01-26T22:37:00.000+05:30

I am studying a course on Financial Management as a part of our third term here at IIM Lucknow. In that, we get acquainted to concepts like present value, discount rates, cash flows etc. I just thought about applying these principles to an educational loan.

Below, I make a comparison of paying out now v taking an educational loan.

Assume that you have taken an educational of Rs 2,00,000 on 1st Jan 2009. The interest on educational loan is calculated assuming simple interest till the course gets over and after that the interest is compounded. Lets us assume that the course gets over in March 2010. So, the interest accrued at the end of March 2010 is Rs 25,000 (S.I @ 10% for 15 months). From April 2010, the principal and interest = Rs. 225000 has to be repaid in EMI. Suppose, if the tenure of repayment is 5 years, the EMI (compounded monthly) comes to be Rs 4780.59

As per the existing Income Tax rules in India, the interest on educational loan is tax exempted. Taking that into account, the present value of cash outflows from our hand is Rs 184862.6. If it has to be paid out now, one has to pay Rs 200000. This means, one saves a little over Rs 15000 as on today’s value by taking an educational loan of Rs 200000

I have made a simple model of the same in google spreadsheet.

Views, comments and criticisms are invited.

Monster - You need to read news!

2009-01-17T21:54:00.000+05:30

This ad is featured in my homepage of orkut!

Play Safe

2009-01-08T18:18:00.000+05:30

FBI to let India prosecute Mumbai attackers

This is a clear strategy of playing safe and escapism by U. S. It does not want to take the issue head-on with Pakistan. So, it says, "It is a major tragedy for you. So, you take charge of the situation. I will provide you support." It is to be read as "This is your problem, you do whatever you want and we do not want to get our hands dirty on this." Pakistan will interpret the statement as, "U. S. has come out of the issue. Now the deal is only between Pak and India", which is what U. S. also wants to tell to them.

Dead Cat Bounce

2009-01-08T16:50:00.000+05:30

Thought of blogging about some interesting or new words and phrases that I encounter.

I heard of this term "dead cat bounce" from John Authers' Short View on 8th Jan 2008. The actual phrase used is "Even a dead cat will bounce if it is dropped from a great height".

Seems like this phrase is commonly used in market's parlance when some stock or index temporarily rise in the course of its fall. There are examples given by John Authers and he fears rise now could be a deadcat bounce.

One typical example in the recent period would be Satyam's stock decline.

Satyam - Troubled Story

2009-01-08T16:30:00.000+05:30

It is so unfortunate to see a company which commanded high stature till a few weeks ago to go down. It is not a single day aberration, but a series of accounting fraud committed over years which have come to public, just because there is no more opportunities to hide them now. This is clearly evident from Raju’s letter. It is a classic case of broken-window concept.

The fact that is both surprising and shocking is that this fraud has been continued for years now without the notice of the audit firm, PwC and the independent directors. With that being said, either the (un)ethics or the incompetency of these parties would have been the accomplice. Or, Mr. Raju is very clever to keep both of them blind. How can a company survive for years with imaginary cash balance? There are two scenarios here. 1. The cash were not generated at the first place or 2. The cash which got generated suddenly disappeared. With media highly speculating on Raju’s obsession with the real estate, scenario 2 above cannot be eliminated. In fact, the authors in one of the livemint’s columns say that one should take Raju’s letter with a pinch of salt. And, we know the truth only when the results of the investigations are out. Till then, Wait and Watch.

Bad Debts

2009-01-02T16:47:00.000+05:30

This is rather an interesting imagination, but there is a possibility. In the past, I had irritating experiences with some telecom providers and banks during closing of accounts. One of my friends has also shared a similar experience. Even after giving the request for disconnection, the connection or the account has not been closed. In the case of a mobile phone service, the monthly rental and the late charges have been charged every month for a connection which is supposed to have been closed months earlier as per the request.

There might be some customers like me who are bothered about this and keep pestering the company regarding the closing of the account. But, I believe not everyone does so. Once they give instruction they are not further bothered.

I thought this was a sheer lack in the customer service but during one of our discussions, my friend Karthikeyan and I figured out there could be a hidden agenda behind this whole story.

The situation goes like this. The company keeps charging rentals and late charges for a definite period and subsequently closes the account writing off the amount accrued on the same. As per the records, they have provided “service” to a customer who defaults on his payments forcing the company to close the account and write-off the balance on his account. In reality, there is no service provided at all and no loss made by the company.

In curiosity, I just had a look at the annual report of one of the major telecom providers. It had written off an approximate amount of about Rs 2 billion in the FY 2008-09. Well, there could be some real instances where people used up the services and defaulted creating bad debts to be written off. But one cannot eliminate the possibility of intentionally creating bad debts and writing off the same.

Assume that about 10% (some random percentage, as I do not have any basis to come with a closer guess) of the bad debts are created in this fashion which is Rs 200 million. This reduces the taxable income of the company by that amount. For ease of calculation, assume that the income tax is charged at 30%. Let us have a look into what each party gains or losses.

Company: Tax on Rs 200 million = Rs 60 million saved for the company, but has to pay the service tax (say 12%) on Rs 200 million = Rs 24 million. Therefore, a net gain of Rs 36 million.

Government: A tax of Rs 60 million lost, but gains a service tax (say 12%) on Rs 200 million = Rs24 million. Therefore, a net loss of Rs 36 million.

Customers: Lending their names unknowingly in evading the income tax.

Colors of taste

2008-12-31T14:54:00.001+05:30

I was in Rasipuram last week. After having an opportunity to taste home food, now back to the mess where Mr. Potato is very prompt in making his attendance every session in his varied appearances. Mr. Gobi and Mr. Paneer have already strongly cemented their places in the menu.

Adade!

2008-12-11T00:25:00.000+05:30

One specialty that I like about cartoons is the “brevity”. One need not write a lorry full of words to send the message across. Cartoons facilitate the reader to grasp the opinion that the author wants to convey much quickly. In that sense, cartoons are one of the greatest time-savers.

Adade-1 by Mathi is the first of the six volumes of cartoons compiled and published by the NHM. All the cartoons are based on the then current affairs in one of the following forms: conveying the news, mocking at them, offering opinions and reflecting public’s perceptions. The cartoons originally appeared in the first-page of “Dinamani”.

I would not say all the cartoons are excellent. There are some clichés like mocking the books-bag that children carry to school, jokes about robbery etc. Still, there are many other good cartoons which make me rate the book good in an overall level. It would have been an added value if the date on which the cartoon originally published in the newspapers is also given. The cartoons cover various topics including madras–eye, floods, midnight-arrest, coalition politics, Veerappan, drivers’ strike, elephant–camp, Kannagi issue, inflation and unemployment. In all of these, I liked the Kannagi series and the elephant series most.

I was not able to sync well with the cartoons as I had forgotten some of the news. What would have triggered a lot of laughter when read in the context would not do so if you are out of the context. That’s when, a small hint about the news and the date would help. Though the cartoons are arranged based on various categories, the system is not followed strictly as many cartoons are scattered randomly inside which belonged to no particular category. I feel those could have been put under a separate section. I am not sure how the volumes (total of 6) are categorized, but it would be great if it had been categorized based on the years, as it would offer the diversity of cartoons as well as be related to one another.

One disappointment is that out of the 150 cartoons, there are not many cricket-based ones which would be fun to read any day. If I am not wrong, there is only one which is also very old – about the book fixing controversy. More range of news could have been covered if they had gone for chronological arranging rather than the manual compilation based on different categories.

Another thing which does not go well is the “one-page-one-cartoon” concept in the book. It is definitely a huge space dedicated to a single cartoon. In fact, 4 cartoons a page would have been a very good proposition in many ways: get all the cartoons related to a theme within a few pages, less turning-around of pages and of course less pages (eco-friendly! :-)).

Final Word: Add to your library!

Book Link

Banking

2008-11-29T16:40:00.001+05:30

New Videos added on the topic "Banking" by Khan Academy.

Previous post.

Happens everywhere

2008-11-29T16:34:00.000+05:30

See the news from Chennai, 2005
See the news from New York, 2008

I can see a lot of similarities between these two. People started queuing up long before the scheduled opening. Once the commotion started, they showed no concern for anything else. Most importantly, the crowd did not care for the fellow human beings.

What is the motivation behind standing in those long queues?
I could think of the following 3 reasons.
1. Perceived “necessity”.
2. Limited resources and fear of being the last and to be shown the door.
3. Intention to come out of the queue quickly.

One should think about the risk in terms of the cost of time and money involved in standing in the queue and the benefits that they gain from successfully coming out of the queue. Once he is clear that the perceived benefits outweigh the cost in terms of money, unpleasantness associated with standing in the queue, time etc., only then he should proceed to stand in the queue.

The second reason is what it happens once the person is in the queue. This means he has already invested and he does not want to go empty handed and wants to get the maximum out of the investment. This is where he forgets about the ethics and everything else. This has a close association with the third reason. Since, he perceives that standing in the queue is so unpleasant he just wants to come out of it at the earliest possible time.

In this scenario, if the queue breaks up slightly for whatsoever reason, every individual will try to take advantage of it. He does not want anyone who entered the queue to go ahead of him and at the same time, if there is an opportunity he wants to make use of it. The same logic applies to every individual and this creates a chain of chaos and commotion. Remember that, the person who critically analyses point 1 will never stand in this queue, because he knows that the cost outweighs the benefits.

Two ways to overcome this problem:
1. Change the mindset of the people.
2. Better crowd management system.

Point number 1 is easy said than done. Forget it. Lots of investment required and no body will guarantee the output. Point number2 can definitely be implementable. Better queuing system with proper information about when does it start, what is the approximate time of standing in the queue etc will certainly help people make an informed decision. Also, if there are some features in the queue aimed at keeping people in the queue engaged, they may not feel that the time is wasted unproductive. Those features really depend on the context of the queue.

Khan Academy doing a great work!

2008-11-22T19:11:00.001+05:30

Recently one of my friends (Arockia) forwarded a playlist @ youtube about the recent financial crisis, MBS, CDOs etc. Here is the link.

The way the instructor explained the concepts behind all those in simple terms and with apt analogies is really awesome. Not only they talk about this financial crisis, banking etc, but also about various other basic and advanced concepts ranging from algebra, trignometry to physics. One might be interested in going through their site. It is a non-profit initiative by the duo - Salman & Jonathan.

May We Help You

2008-11-20T19:05:00.001+05:30

I noticed that I have not been receiving my airtel bills for about 3 months in a row. Usually, I go directly to their website and pay using my card. Today, when I did, I noticed the link saying "May We Help You?". Yes, Of course. So, I went there and it gave me a screen.

I promptly filled in the relevant fields and gave a detailed description of my problem. Then clicked on the submit button. Then came this screen.

Great!! It had deleted all my text and presented me with the blank box again. And just look at the text-area given for the description field for “150 characters”!!

But still, I went ahead and logged in my complaint only to get a message saying that they would revert back on Dec 1 (11 days from now).

I thought I should not have asked for the “help”.

Matrix Spoof

2008-11-16T18:09:00.001+05:30

Truly hilarious!

The White Tiger

2008-11-16T00:18:00.000+05:30

The book is written as a single long letter by a "self-made entrepreneur" in Bangalore to the Chinese President Wen Jiabao. The entrepreneur Balram Halwai, calls himself as "the white tiger". He takes through his life describing his notorious journey from the Darkness (that’s the name he gives to the Gangetic plain region) to the Light (the likes of Delhi and Bangalore).
The author, Aravind Adiga, portrays a picture of India in its true(!) colour. He touches upon many things: the pathetic condition of the poor people in the rural North, the cunningness and dominance of the rich and the land-lords, irresponsible behavior and actions of the government officials, the plight of the construction workers in big cities like Delhi, meanness of the masters and the unquestionable servility of the workers, corruption at different levels etc.
Balram starts his story from his village Laxmangarh. He then goes on about his experience in the school, how he was stopped schooling, his days at the tea shop, his experiences as a driver of Mr. Ashok in Delhi, his escape to Bangalore and his "entrepreneurship" in Bangalore. The sharp contrast in attitude of Balram from being a driver to being a master is vividly presented.
Author stands out with his sarcastic comedy throughout the book. Some of them are,
Oops! Thirty-six million and five-!
How does the enterprising driver earn a little extra cash?
Balram saying to the Toyota dealer, "I want to drive your cars".
Beating down the entire family of the unfaithful servant, asking the driver to go to prison for the accidental murder by the master, meanness to give driver some money on his marriage, doubting on the driver for a single rupee, comparison with rooster coop - These are some classic extracts from the book trying to bring view-points which may go unnoticed.

Image Courtesy: Wikipedia

CDOs and other 3 letter bad words....

2008-10-15T22:19:00.001+05:30

There is an interesting article in Hindu some days back. This details an "experienced" person's position w.r.t the current financial crisis. You may find it interesting.

The 3 mistakes of my life - Review

2008-10-15T16:03:00.000+05:30

Chetan Bhagat has the knack of appealing to the spirits of the audience, especially youth. That's what the trend in his first two books, the first one about the life of 3 guys @ an IIT and the second book about the nocturnal BPO employed generation. Now comes the third one which combines cricket, love and religious fanatics.

The story takes off with a good momentum, especially supported by the author's (characteristic?) prologue. The story has the background in Gujarat in early 2000s. Immediately, when the protogonist encounters the unfortune in the wake of the earthquake disaster, you know what would come next. But, the author maintains the story interesting till the end. The inhuman incidents which followed the Godhra ruthlessness are captured alongside.

There are some logical glitches, though.
1. A student of 12th standard with a middle class background would not have had a mobile phone in the year 2000.
2. How many years Vidya has been preparing for her entrance exams? She finishes her XII by 2000 and goes on preparing till 2002. Quite possible, but there is no mention to support the fact.
3. Ish praises Hayden like one of the legends. Of course he is, but at least he was not one in the year 2000.
4. Ali's unique ability is his reflex and not his arm power. This logic not fit when he hits the ball inside the bank in the climax scene.

'Grave' error

2008-09-09T16:59:00.001+05:30

Steve Jobs obituary had been mistakenly published by Bloomberg . Of course, it is removed now.

See the news items.

Telegraph

CNET

Check

2008-08-24T01:02:00.001+05:30

Bold move by Tata!

Taste Banana in a Orange!?

2008-08-22T01:18:00.001+05:30

Mind-boggling breakthrough:

Genetically Altered Flavor.

We have started breaking all rules of nature. We accept that as long as it gives benefit in the short term, it is fine for us.

Is it in the right direction? I feel this invention has a potential to turn the ecosystem upside down.

Read here

Mobile Magic

2008-07-22T01:43:00.001+05:30

What have you done in mobile banking till now? Checked balance, booked tikects, paid bill etc., Have you ever withdrawn hot cash using your mobile?

Airtel is on a pilot project for the same. Here it goes...

As per this article, it may serve as a convincing reason for many people to open a bank account to use this facility.

And, another news is about the AdRBT - Ad Ring Back Tone. Instead of the caller tunes, you can set this and whoever calls you will listen to an advertisement instead of the usual ringtone/caller tune till you pick up the call. It is a kind of profile based targeted advertisement. And, I hope the person stands to gain something from the mobile company (as a part of ad revenues that it makes) in return for the curse of his friends and relatives.

Dasavatharam

2008-06-14T22:28:00.001+05:30

I saw Dasavatharam today. After that, I have been reading reviews. One thing I found amazing in the reviews which I have read till now. Either the people praise the movie most or chuck it most. So, before being distracted by the reviews, I want to record my views of the movie.

Overall I found the movie good, except for the theatre which is very clumsy and sultry. I liked some of the shots like the gopuram being shown bottom-up and top-down. Not all the songs are good, but the Mukunda-mukunda and Kallai-mattum are catchy with both music and lyrics. I felt relieved when I found that "Ulaganayagan" song is not in the main story-line.

There is no solid reason why Kamal should do 10 different characters in the movie. But the answer - that is something different and Kamal felt it is worth giving a try. That's good, but not all the 10 characters are characterised well. The "Khan" character and the entire group associated with that character(?) is not at all characterised well and is definitely redundant, except for that without that character the film will not be Dasavatharam. Kamal has taken a lot of pains in doing those characters, but whether the efforts will fetch the desired results is yet to be seen.

KS Ravikumar was being interviewed in CNN-IBN and he told it is definitely not possible for him to redo the film in any other language just because it is a humongous effort and he will be bored if he does it again. That is definitely understandable with a single person playing all the important characters in the movie and the background work associated with taking each and every scene, especially if it involves more than one character.

The special-effects in the climax scene are awesome. The fight between the American and the Japanese is worth watching. It is just on the margin of becoming unrealistic.

Talking about the protagonist, Dr Govind's story line, he's after a virus which he developed which may prove to be extremely dangerous to the mankind. In a mix-up, the vial containing the virus and himself have been couriered to India from US. With him, follows the villain Fletcher and the chase sequence starts from there. In another mix-up, Asin joins Dr. Govind and runs with him till the end. The story is similar to many of the Jackie-Chan movies where the hero runs constantly and the villain chases. With all these, there are other Kamals like the police officer Balram Naidu, Poovarajan and Avtar Singh coming in the middle.

Kamal's dialogue delivery for Balram Naidu and Bush requires a special mention.

Loose ends in the movie are kept loose for us to tie them and make a meaning out of it. So, those who are unable to tie them would find themselves lost. Finally, it is yet another Kamal movie where nothing is said explicitly and most of the things are left for our interpretation.

Klean Kerala

2008-06-09T15:24:00.000+05:30

I was on a trip to Guruvayur last week and happened to stop at Trichur Railway station. I was amazed at the cleanliness at the station. Compared to the Salem, Chennai and Bangalore, Trichur station looked clean and tidy - good chairs at waiting hall, clean rest rooms, neat display systems with LCD TVs and LEDs at various places.
I ordered a cup of tea from one of the local tea vendors at the station. After giving me a cup of tea, he showed me two dust bins in that vicinity to throw the used cup into!!

Splash of colours on the sky

2008-03-29T12:54:00.001+05:30

Last week, it rained in Bangalore!

Shall we tell the President - Review

2008-03-29T12:45:00.000+05:30

This novel written by Jeffrey Archer in 1970s is of suspense genre. On March 3rd, Mark Andrews, the special agent of FBI gets to know about a plot to assasinate the President. But except him, four others who know this plot are murdered the same night. Only thing he knows for sure is that a senator is involved, and the assasination is planned on March 10. The story is about how he and the Director of FBI, Tyson put together the pieces and solve the puzzle. Within the first twenty pages, the story gears up with the top speed which it maintains till the end. Especially as the D-day comes closer, Mark takes the story in the jet. I would recommend the readers to gather the facts as the story goes on and try finding out the culprit even before the author tells who it is.

Animal Farm - Review

2008-03-24T22:50:00.000+05:30

Recently, I read this book by George Orwell. It was written in 1940's. But still the subject seems to be very relevant even today. Not only today, I think it will be as interesting as it was anytime. The story goes on like this. The animals in a farm feel they are extracted maximum work by the human beings and are fed too little. They conspire and successfully overthrow their Master and go on to manage their own business. Slowly, the intelligent animals (pigs, as the author writes) take over the reins and become masters. The not-so-intelligent animals are deceived and extracted to the most, again. Orwell brings out the cunningness of the crooked people through Napolean, a pig who eventually becomes the dictator of the Animal Farm. The character of Squealer was clearly portrayed as a middle man who spreads the dictator's message across in the most persuading way.

Beautiful Bangalore

2008-03-16T12:04:00.000+05:30

Today morning, as I woke up early, I had an opportunity to see Bangalore minimum traffic. I was surprised that I had not even once noticed the fragrance of eucalyptus when passing along the Lalbagh in RV Road all these 3 years. I am not sure whether it was because of my ignorance or the pollution's effect. But certainly today I enjoyed riding on the road in my RX-100, further down to the rose-garden road after crossing the south end circle. With the wind breezing on to the face, enjoying the picturesque parks on either side, it was a wonderful experience.

Tata Nano

2008-01-11T19:39:00.001+05:30

Finally, the one lakh car is out.

This is what Ratan Tata had to say about making of the NANO. It must be a great sense of feeling for him to have achieved a feat which had faced and is still facing a lot of criticism. Here he talks about the inspiration, challenges faced, potential customers, future trend and competitors.

This NANO is all set to revolutionise the Indian roads.

Click on the pics to follow the articles.

Path to the semifinals: Group E

2007-09-21T18:46:00.001+05:30

With England kicked out of the World Twenty20 tournament, now the contest is among SA, NZ and India. NZ has a W/L ticket, SA has an RAC - almost through to semifinals unless it does something haphazardly to kick itself out of the tournament. NZ can just wait and watch. It should hope for India to lose the match or win convincingly against SA, in the first case India will be kicked out and in the second case SA will be kicked out based on NRR.

India will have to go for the tatkal, as a win in today's match will get a conformed berth in the Semis. This is the current scenario. NZ has an NRR of 0.05. SA, even if it loses to India, has to ensure that its NRR after the last match of Super-Eight does not fall below 0.05. Till now it has scored 312 in 39.1 overs and has given 288 in 40 overs. So, it comes down to

If India bats first and wins, and 'x' and 'y' are the scores of SA and India, then SA has to ensure

(312 + x) / 59.166666 - (288 + y) / 60 >= 0.05

Or, if SA bats first and makes 'x' runs, and India finally wins in 'k' overs, it has to ensure,

(312 + x) / 59.166666 - (289 + x) / (40 + k) >= 0.05

And if India loses, SA upgrades the W/L ticket of NZ to a conformed one and books a hassle-free air ticket for India to head home. This post had been written yesterday by this time, and in an eagerness to watch the match, had forgotten to post it.

Sivaji

2007-06-01T16:01:00.001+05:30

Sivaji
Originally uploaded by rectarun.

Sivaji Trailer released!! Have the flash version here.

Got the news yesterday itself from Filbert and Avyukta. At office, when I tried opening the flash and mpg links in megashare as given by Filbert, could not download the entire content. Only some 20 seconds of data got downloaded. The first task coming home was to download the trailers and watch. But there was some problem with the IE, and it could not play the flash format. I did not intend to watch the "mpg" file format as Filbert recommended the flash version is of better quality. So downloaded the flash player, which also did not fix the problem. Lost hopes with IE, went to Mozilla, downloaded the flash plug-ins for that browser. It also failed to play. Finally, I tried the "Brahmastra" -- Restarting the computer. Yes, It worked!

Rajini, as usual, looks young. I would have already watched the trailer some 4 times. Movie seems to be nicely packed with theme, action, stunts and excellent BGMs. There are some awesome scenes: 1. Rajini dodging an attack simultaneouslycatching a chewing-gum. 2. Signing in both the hands 3. The way he brings the revolver from one hand to another around
the neck. Too good!

All I say is get ready for the big-show. Sivaji count-down starts!!

Photo Courtesy : www.galatta.com

Wayanad Pics

2007-05-24T01:54:00.000+05:30

These are some of the scenic pics taken in Wayanad. More pics here

checking

2007-05-24T01:43:00.000+05:30

This is just a check message. Just to see how the photo upload from picasa works. Seems like good!

Wayanad-Bike-Car-Trip

2007-05-24T01:17:00.001+05:30

Marvellous Road

Just like that, 11 of us from our office started on our bikes and car to Wayanad, an adventurous trip. We took 6 bikes and my car. The most unbelievable part was that we planned leave Bangalore on Sat. morning by 4:00 am, and really left at 4:30 am itself. We reached Mysore by 7:15 itself. Most of the way, the speedometer showed over 100 kmph. Had breakfast in mysore and Reached Gundulupet around 10:30 am and reached the initial destination Sultan Battery around 12 noon. Ok, I should not say "destination" as there was none such. We were always on the road travelling from one place to another. While going from Gundulupet to Sultan Battery, the jungle stretch is too good.

In all we visited 5 places in Wayanad
1. Jain temple
2. Edakal caves
3. Another dilapidated temple (on the way from Panamaram to Kuruva islands)
4. Kuruva islands
5. Muthunga wildlife sanctuary.

Edakkal cave is amazing. It is believed to have formed out of earthquake before some 6000 years and inside you will find inscriptions by stone-age people. It is like two big rocks on either sides balancing another one on the top. It is very chill inside the caves. Just to experience that, you wont repent trekking for about 1.5 kms.

One more thing worthy to mention is the road to Kalpetta (the one that you see on the image). On either sides, you see the tea plantations and the road is excellently maintained. It is like you love driving and driving in those roads.

One more experience which had taken me in amazement is when a middle aged lady residing in one of no-so-high-profile houses near the roadside exchanged "welcome" when I said "thank-you" for her voluntary-offering of a bottle of paana-thanni (mud-ka water)

Kodaikanal - Place for Summer

2007-05-24T00:58:00.001+05:30

The Lake

This summer, surprisingly visited the cool location. The most interesting part was my car driving up and down the Kodaikanal hill. Got some expertise in the hill driving too. Actually it is more thrilling to drive down hill than to climb.

There are some good places to visit in Kodaikanal like Pine forest, Guna cave(but it is properly fenced and you will not get the same picture as you saw in Guna movie), Pillar rocks etc. We missed something called cocus walk. Boating would have been a fun, had the rain not played the spoilsport. You get bi-cycle for Rs10/hour and can go around the lake, downhill and enjoy riding. I did feel difficulties in riding a bicycle almost after 3 years. The last time I was regularly using it was when I had Hero Impact in college. Seems like I have become a full time software engineer.

It is an approx 20 km ride around the hills where you can cover all the above places. And near the lake, there is Bryant Park which is full of different colorful flowers. Nice place to spend time. There is Silver Cascade on the way uphill to Kodaikanal

Best strategy would be to reach Kodaikanal in the evening(around 3), go around for boating and Bryant park, have some shopping of spices/oils if you need, towards the night and start the next day early, take a guided tour. You can get more information in the hotels about the tour plan and places to visit.

Before buying anything, it is always better to ask in atleast 4 different shops. In our general experience, we found that the woolen blankets, oils were cheaper in Kodaikanal. But for getting oils and spices, it is better to go to the government outlets.

Potential Yeman

2007-05-07T19:35:00.001+05:30

I was on the National Highway 7 driving my Santro from Bangalore to Rasipuram on Friday night, when the water bottle that I kept on my dashboard slipped suddenly due to some turn or bump on the road. It went under the pedals. I noticed when it fell, but for a minute, I did not actually care. Then I thought what if it goes under the brake pedal and blocks it from pressing against. I decided to take that out, applied brakes, lowered the speed, tried lowering the gears that's when I realized I could not apply clutch. But somehow managed to bring it to neutral and stopped the car on the road-side. If it had got under the brake-pedal instead of clutch, probably I would not have posted this now.

Srirangapatna

2007-05-01T16:52:00.001+05:30

Dhariya Doulat Bagh
Originally uploaded by rectarun.

Planned a visit to Mysore last saturday. Due to time and health constraints, after visiting Srirangapatna, came back home. But, Srirangapatna alone is worth one full-day visit. What you see is Dhariya Doulat Bagh which was Tipu's Summer place now converted to a museum.
First I should say about the road from Bangalore, except for some 5 km stretch scattered in-between, the road is very good. Srirangapatna is on the Bangalore-Mysore highway, roughly 10 km before Mysore. On the way, there is a Kamat hotel at Lokkurichi(at about 50th km from Bangalore) after crossing Bidadi and Ramanagara. A good choice for break-fast. Otherwise, I heard there are some good eating places in Maddur.
Here is a list of places to see in and around Mysore and Srirangapatna.

Srirangapatna Temple
Very similar to our Srirangam temple in Trichy. Infact Srirangapatna itself is an island in Cauvery river just like Srirangam.
Timings : 7:00 am to 1:00 pm and from evening 5:00 pm to 8:00 pm (Car parking : Rs 20)

Dariya Daulat Bagh
Timings : 9:30 am to 5:00 pm (Free car parking). Has lush green fields and shadowy trees.

Tipu's Gumbaz
Timings : 8:30 am to 6:30 pm (Car parking : Rs 20). Again a huge place, nice gardens. The buildings are proofs for excellent Mughal architecture. Built by Tipu himself for his mother, seems he also had deserved and reserved a place for him too.

Sangam
Timings : till 7:30 pm. This is a place Cauvery meets two other rivers, whose names I forgot. Not a great place in the non-season if there is less water.

Ranganthittu
Speciality : Birds. Season : June to October. Boating is also available here. Timings : 8:00 am to 1:00 pm and 2:30 pm to 5:00 pm. This is at a distance of about 5 km from Srirangapatna.

Palmuri falls - 6km from Ranganthittu. Timinsg might be in line with others.

Brindavan Gardens
Everyone knows what it is famous for. But it is closed temporarily due to Kavei-issue. Best time to enter is evening 5:00 o'clock. Entry is not allowed beyond 6:00 pm.

At Mysore, one can visit the Palace and the Zoo, both open between 9:30 am and 5:30 pm. If you get hold of any person in Infosys Mysore, the campus there should be in your must-see list.

Chamundi hills
About 16 km from Mysore in a different route (not the one towards Bangalore or Brindavan gardens). Speciality : Devi Temple, Timings : Morning 8:00 to Evening 8:00

More photos