Sunday, August 26, 2012

The iPad conundrum

The other day my 15 year niece and nephew (8 year old) were playing with my iPad. And my niece quipped to my nephew, "You must be lucky. I never had anything like this while I was like you".

And i thought, at least 4 generations in my family can get away with a statement like that. The exposure my son receives at 2.5 yrs is way beyond what I received even at thrice his age. The facilities,the gadgets and a whole host of other things that I enjoy now are way beyond what my father had and enjoyed at this age. The same holds true when I compare my father and grand mother.

All this sounds really progressive and great at one level. However at the other end, I feel, life was a lot less complicated in the earlier generations. A lot more simple, a lot more contented and enjoyable. People were happy waiting for a phone connection for 10 years and perfectly fine waiting 15 years for becoming a proud owner of a Bajaj scooter. Sticking to one employer for a lifetime and settling for a 2 BHK at the end of it was probably the norm and not an aberration.

Its not entirely about settling for a lesser quality of life, I think it has a lot more to do with carrying a better attitude. So, the moot question is, are we really progressing? I guess, like may things in life, the answer is neither simple nor universal. It is probably uniquely tied with ones attitude and approach to life itself.

Sunday, August 19, 2012

Sending the right massage



This result was published in today's Business Line. Forget about company's performance or the lack of it, I was appalled by their gross negligence for attention to detail.

Some of the most important numbers (Incl profits) are not part of these published results and have a "#REF!" tag. This is a classic Microsoft Excel error when the formula is wrong or is not referenceable.

The point is how can a listed company not take this basic precaution before publishing their results in a national daily? If indeed this reflects their attitude/ capability, then why should any investor trust their hard earned money with this firm?

Dear Kerala Ayurveda, please get your massage right... (I hope you spotted what damage a misplaced alphabet is capable of creating..)