काश तुम यहाँ होते 

काश तुम यहाँ होते 
क्या सोचू में क्या क्या कहू
कैसे जियु कैसे हशु

इन् सब सवालो के जवाब होते
काश तुम यहाँ होते

आँखों में काजल लगाऊ
या बलों में गजरा लगाऊं
चालू बन के नागिन
या बन जाऊ हिरन में

इन् सब सवालो के जवाब होते
काश तुम यहाँ होते

दीपक तिवारी

England discovered Cricket but IPL re discovered the magic

              While watching today's match between Daredevils & Rajsthan Royal's I saw this play card. I find it very interesting. the game was devised during Saxon or Norman times by children living in the Weald, an area of dense woodlands and clearings in south-east England that lies across Kent and Sussex. The first official history of international Test cricket began in 1877. Than came LOI ( Limited Overs Internationals) or ODI,many of the "packaging" innovations, such as coloured clothing, were as a result of World Series Cricket, a "rebel" series set up outside the cricketing establishment by Australian entrepreneur Kerry Packer. Current form of 20-20 was again played in England in 2003.
  While these things were going on Lalit Modi one of the greatest business minds in sports was watching it quietly.

PIIGS

While reading today’s news, I came across this beautiful article about PIIGS economies - Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece and Spain

Markets all over world were down due to the news coming from Greece. Greece is bankrupt. Can you ever think of a country getting bankrupt? Yes it can happen, it’s very simple, Bankruptcy is a legally declared inability or impairment of ability of an individual or organization to pay its creditors. The same happened in the case of Greece. Greece owes $226 billion to other countries, most of it to other countries in Europe. In this case speculation is there that Greece will not able to repay its debt.

Think about it what happens if a country declares itself Bankrupt. It will not able to repay its loan, also its GDP is so low that it can’t meet its current obligation. So think about it if a country can’t pay its obligation it will also not able to pay salaries of government employees. Intern it will again reduce the purchasing power of those employee, this cycle will continue until & unless fresh money is injected into the system.

Difference between Criticism & Contempt

Relationship Counseling expert Dr John Gottman explains four such “poisonous” ways of interacting that prevent resolving marriage problems constructively. In order of least to most dangerous, theses common behavioral problems are:

• criticism
• contempt
• defensiveness
• stonewalling

As per definition given in Wikipedia  Contempt is an intense feeling or attitude of regarding someone or something as inferior, base, or worthless—it is similar to scorn. Contempt is also defined as the state of being despised or dishonored; disgrace, and an open disrespect or willful disobedience of the authority of a court of law or legislative body.

This pattern involves attacking someone’s personality rather than their behaviour. Airing a complaint, though it may not be pleasant, is a healthy marital or relationship activity - much healthier than suppressing the grievance. Criticism, on the other hand, entails making a personal attack or accusation.
Whereas complaints usually begin with the word I, criticisms usually begin with you. As an example, “I wish we travelled more” is a complaint, whereas “you never take me on holiday” is a criticism. Criticism may seem just a hairs breadth beyond complaining, but receiving a criticism really does feel far worse than receiving a complaint

  

This common marriage or relationship problem often follows directly from the first. It is a significant problem for a marriage or coupl because it can poison a relationship. The difference between contempt and criticism, according to Gottman, is that contempt implies the intention to insult and psychologically abuse ones partner. When contempt appears, it can overwhelm the relationship and eclipse positive feelings between partners. Some of the most common expressions of contempt are snide or antagonistic remarks, a mocking attitude and hostile humour. These are all examples of the second common marriage problem, and once a relationship features such interactions, little joy is possible for either partner.

Coughlin's Law

I was watching this movie Cocktail on star movies...I liked the conversation between the main protagonist Brian ( Tom cruise) & his friend Doug..

When Doug wants to give any advice to Brian, he always uses Douglas Coughlin quotes. 'Douglas Coughlin, Logical Negativist. Flourished in the last part of the 20th Century. Propounded a set of laws the world generally ignores, to its detriment.'
'Coughlin's Law; Anything else is always something better.'
'Coughlin's law: never tell tales about a woman. No matter how far away she is, she'll always hear you.'
'Coughlin's Law; Bury the dead, they stink up the place.'
'Coughlin's diet: cocktails and dreams.'
'Coughlin's Law: Never show surprise, never lose your cool.'
'I don't care how liberated this world becomes - a man will always be judged by the amount of alcohol he can consume - and a woman will be impressed, whether she likes it or not.'
'However, falling down the stairs is allowed!'
'As for the rest of Coughlin's Laws, ignore them. The guy was always full of shit.'

The new Normal

It’s forecasting time again. My team is geared up for to forecast as accurately as possible. Definition of forecasting has changed drastically in the current scenario. Earlier we used to work with two or three scenarios. Now for every scenario we have a sub scenario.

I was reading one article on economist about the “new normal”. When things become predictable & you can take it for granted it’s said to be normal. The new normal is uncertain. Uncertainty is the way of life now. For some organizations, near-term survival is the only agenda item. Others are peering through the fog of uncertainty, thinking how to position them once the crisis has passed and the situation is normal again. The question is, “How will the normal look like?” While no one can say how long the crisis will last, what we find on the other side will not look like the normal of recent years. The new normal will be shaped by a confluence of powerful forces—some arising directly from the financial crisis and some that were at work long before it began.

But the good thing about uncertainty is it’s interesting. Nobody can say that their work is monotonous & boring.

A foggy morning in Bangalore

It's a foggy morning in Bangalore . I came out to catch my bus to office. It reminds me of a recent news flashing on my TV screen about Delhi. Delhi is covered with thick fog, Visibility reduced to mere 50 meters. some people even claimed that they are finding it difficult to breath & facing some kind of itching in their eyes.

Well !! Let me welcome everyone to the new world of climate change, this is what we will get if we don’t work towards reducing green house effect. Foggy morning, uneven rains . Nobody knows what stores in future for all of us.

The good news is Indian Govt is finally waked up & it’s finally trying to do something about it. The government has almost halved the acceptable limits for polluting gases like sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and carbon monoxide. The key bits are that residential and industrial areas will have the same limits. Also National Environment Protection Authority (NEPA) is being given more powers to crackdown on polluters.

I really welcome these steps, lets hope that it’s not going to be just another act.

Performing horizontal eye movement exercises can boost your creativity

I was reading a blog on my favorite behavior science website BPS research Digest that Performing horizontal eye movement exercises can boost your creativity . The idea behind this research is the cross talk between both hemispheres of mind. Creativity depends on how both side of your brain work as well as interacts with each other.  This research is done by Elizabeth Shobe. I quote from the BPS summary:

“Shobe's team tested 62 participants on a version of the "Alternative Uses Test", a divergent thinking challenge that involves dreaming up unconventional uses for everyday objects such as bricks and newspapers.

An important factor that the researchers took note of was the participants' handedness. Prior research has suggested that people who have one hand that is particularly dominant, so-called "strong-handers", have less cross-talk between their brain hemispheres compared with people who are more ambidextrous or "mixed handed".

So, any exercise which helps cross talking of both sides of brain can help in improving creativity. Performing horizontal eye movement exercise is on of such exercise. The research also finds that ambidextrous people are better in creativity than others.  

Still in depth analysis is to be done in this area. As always I say “comment please” 

Obama bows down to Japanese King

I don’t know why there is so fuss about it, this is an Asian tradition when you bows down to anyone it does not mean that you are smaller then them. It’s a simple gesture of respect to your elders. I watched on TV that democrats are very unhappy about it. But why, why should they be unhappy about it. It means if you are an American president you should not respect anyone. I don’t see this as an issue, I am very sad to say that this is just political.

Comments pls

Check out these pics.. The Berlin Wall, 20 years gone

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/11/the_berlin_wall_20_years_gone.html