WTP

So this thought struck me yesterday. Who are the people I would be willing to die for? I mean in the most gory manner, you know, assuming that in Taliban style, a 12 yr old is going to slit either your throat open or the other person's and you have the chance to decide who it could be. I sat down to make a list and am a little ashamed to report that this list has VERY few names. I was totally sure about giving my life for very, very few people and was a little ambiguous about some others that I otherwise really love. I could include these others into the totally-sure list only if I whipped up some emotional hysteria - but not otherwise...my life seemed so much precious to me if I took a little colder view. Am wondering if its just me who's so selfish? It was a depressing thought so I got back to thinking about WTP.




...Willingness to Pay is a concept that I've loved ever since I first heard it years back in a boring economics class in b-school. Most actions in life are based on evaluating whether you are willing to (happily is the key word here) bear the consequences arising from your actions.

Typically, the higher the WTP, the less stressful your life is since then you dont waste time going around looking for other options which could/would lead you to the same outcome but with significantly more stress/heartburn. And you dont spend time agonizing whether you've paid too much.

For example, if you get into a relationship fully knowing and accepting that you'll be/you should be compromising on some aspects and force yourself to be ok with this, life becomes so much more enjoyable.

Ok, I know real application of WTP is totally different from this but I love how WTP has an effect on one's quality of life. The key is however in keeping your cards close to your chest - thats when you get the biggest bang for your buck, so to say. The other party then also feels happy about having had their way. If one takes the relationship analogy here, agreeing grudgingly to a demand earns you more brownie points (and probably more leeway in the next bone of contention) than conceding without a token show of resistance even if you had decided to agree in the first place.



So anyway, I'm back in Chennai for a few days - this seems to be becoming my 'karambhoomi' for most of April and May. I really want to sleep because of the super early morning flight in but sleeping at 11pm seems to be for squares. I anyway wake up at the same time (20 minutes before leaving for work) so best to keep awake till I can.


From a few years of experience I have seen that colleagues who are especially enthusiastic about flipping open their laptops at the airport, looking busy and important while waiting for the flight to be announced are often the ones who're the least focussed on work. This also applies to colleagues who send official mails much after office hours or early mornings. Somehow productivity increases only after office hours or only at airports/coffee shops. These are also people who refuse to be pinned down to specifics and love to talk 'big-picture' when talking about strategy. Ok I also know genuninely busy people too but then they're consistent about it.




No correlation to the post but these are two eunuchs who had come to our place...the pic was taken after the one in the white sari had banned us from snapping her pics - hence the pissed off look on her face and the giggly look on the other's and the rickshaw-vaala's face:




ps: the joys of a high WTP in its economic sense (and not metaphysical sense) are best explored on an all-inclusive expense account. heh.

pps: if you care about recommendations, DO watch this - it'll leave you rolling - ROFL style: http://endofworld.net/

Midweek - News noone can ews

So Sanjaya Malakar finally got voted off American Idol yesternight. High time! While the guy really had no tone - especially when compared to some others esp Jordin, I think he provides amazing content for a case-study in branding for product managers.

The only time I ever saw American Idol earlier, was if someone switched it on at the gym and I happened to be there. I mean I always thought only the first round of AI was worth watching when they had all those freak shows singing their guts out (I seriously think AI pays some of them to act freaky - America cant be THAT dumb). But after catching the Sanjaya phenomenon a couple of times, I actually stayed back at home to watch the guy (note: not hear him!). I thought he had an endearing quality and while his smile pissed me off to no end, he was definitely nice. Of course, it probably helped that he looked like a cross between Halle Berry and Meg Ryan. And then I joined the brigade of people who read stuff on him online - right from how his sister Shyamali was a Hooters girl to the girl that threatened to starve herself to death unless Sanjaya was voted off the show (of course, she gave up a few weeks back).

In a few weeks, this guy managed to evoke mass hyseria from approximately 38 million people across the US and some more worldwide. Everyone had some strong feelings about him - from rabid hatred to plain screaming love (sample this comment amongst many, on his sister's blog when he was voted out: "I just wanted to say I am SO sorry about the Idol results last night. I've been crying since then"...uhh, dude!).

So what was really amazing that despite very obvious lack of singing talent, this guy had managed to claw his way into the top 7 - and just by his style and charm. And loads of smarts. He used some really eye-catching stuff to pass through the tough rounds and grab eyeballs when there were many contestants.

He already had the Indian diaspora in the US eating out of his hands - not because of his talent, but just because everyone else was making fun of an Indian. And then in my opinion, he did the really, really smart thing - he sang a song in Spanish. And sang it well. So now he had all Latinos rooting for him as well. With the biggest Latina, J Lo herself bowled over, I guess he managed pretty well. So it was a little sad to see him weeping away at his eviction - but seriously, he was the only one remaining who couldnt carry a tone. But I think many people are going to pay to be able to watch him on stage or television - so the guy has his career set out for him - till his voice breaks out, atleast:-D - yeah, he's just a teen - which makes it all the more amazing. If he was in India, he'd have already landed tonnes of advertising contracts.

In other silly news, all news channels went totally ballistic last week when Richard Gere pawed Shilpa Shetty and tried to do a Mika on her at an HIV-AIDS seminar. I really could not understand what the big deal was all about with all channels playing it on a continuous loop for 2 days - but what was more hilarious was how desperate Mr Gere seemed. He really looked like he had'nt been getting any for many many months!!! Mr Gere - please get laid ASAP because this show of desperation really brought you down in our eyes. Take a look at the video for yourself - I think the dude has gone bonkers for lack of sex or something:



Has anyone seen the Serial 30 Rocks on Star World? I think it rocks! And of course, Scrubs is moving fast to beat Simpsons as my favorite serial. Seinfeld (when they're not showing reruns) and Lost are up there too.

I recently filled an online survey for a magazine after 9 women I knew forwarded it across, asking it to be filled (BJ, you rock, man...I dont think I'll ever have so many girls requesting on my behalf!!!:-D). So I tried some stuff and am proud to report that I can do anywhere between 44-52 push-ups in a minute and not so proud that I can do only between 23-29 complete sit ups in 60 seconds.

Bleh. I'll go back to wishing it was Friday already. Although the days after this Friday are going to be a little taxing on the system till May end. I'm SO looking forward to June.

Gabbar and me - I'm on the left, just in case you were wondering;-)...I'll post more pics of Gabbar soon

Randomness inc

For the last couple of weeks, I've had a fly-on-the-wall feeling, observant to a lot of things happening, all ingredients of what we call day-to-day life. All fairly commonplace, but important - and interesting. I've been feeling like writing about it, got down to writing, but felt an inexplicable loss of words.

How do you write something riveting about something as mundane as a liftman trying to catch a few winks of sleep while working the midnight shift or the look of overworked frustration in the eyes of the Barista guy whose coworkers got the axe after the takeover? Or how do you write about what the friendly eunuch at the traffic signal near my house murmurs everytime she's turned away rudely from a car window? You dont. Especially if you're not a writer. Because there are others that do it so well, so much better that you ever could.

I gave up writing reviews after I found myself agreeing with Vij that most of these film/book review-bloggers are people who dont know jacksquat about film-making or even catching the nuances that a filmmaker painstakingly put into her/his film and anyway take themselves (and their reviews - most of which are anyway a banal narration of the movie story...sigh, how stupid can that be?) too seriously for their own good. There is, however, one film critic that I read religiously - just because he's so damn good at it and because he knows what he's talking about. Thanks to his reviews, I think I've started noticing the sublime in the movies and that has made movie-watching a much happier experience.

There are SO many times I wish I had my camera with me. There are also many times where I wish I had the guts to pull out my camera and shoot. I still find myself thinking four times before shooting people on the street without asking for permission - guess I'll have to get over that or else just build up a photographic memory.

Last week was full of travel. 3 relaxing days in Ahmedabad and 2 exciting days in Chennai took up most of it. This was probably the first time I liked Chennai as a place.

This was also probably the first time in three years that I worked with someone my age and it was totally good fun. I suddenly missed being a part of a young team - but having worked with near-fossils for the last three years means that I've also been like a spnge squeezed dry and then dropped in a bucket of water. Lots of stuff learnt without having to watch your back all the time.

And this excites me all the more because I know I'm going to be in the company of many young and really brtilliant people for the next few years. I'm entering intellectual and professional utopia in a few months from now - watch this space.

I am quite amused at how my maidservant just hates throwing away any deodorant can/perfume bottle that I've run through. She diligently takes them out of the garbage bag and squirrels them away in some corner of the house. At first I thought she wanted to take them, but no, it seems she's waiting for me to put them back on their rightful shelves, damn! I'm planning a covert midnight operation to take out these cans and bottles myself.

Among other stupidly random things, I wanted to write about the difference in the national flags shown on the screen at Inox and Regal during the national anthem bit before the movie (I'm still a little amazed that in Bombay they play the national anthem before every movie - why sepcifically movies? Its beyond me but I'm not complaining). Inox has a lovely video of a real flag fluttering in the wind while Regal had a scratched out video of a cheesy cartoon-flag fluttering with digital gusto. Regal has now revamped its flag and has a brand new cartoon flag without the scratches and also remixed the anthem, making it slightly peppier.

BTW, the sound system at New Empire sucks - so dont watch a movie there unless it has gone away from every other place within easy reach.

This weekend saw me catching 4 movies - Provoked (left over from last week - good because Aishwarya didnt get to talk a lot), Perfect Stranger (strictly average with too many holes in the story. Halle Berry looked a LOT like Mallika Sherawat in the movie, btw), Shooter (I quite liked it - but then I enjoy movies of that kind and I've liked Mark Wahlberg since his early days including Fear and hehe....Boogie Nights, immortalized for 'posterity' by Heather Graham) and Bandidas (Link alert - French. ok-ish...one of my trekking friends looks so uncannily similar to Penelope Cruz, its not funny).

These below are a few pictures that I managed to shoot of people without asking - in a village near Mirzapur...yeah I'm working on it:-D

I'm almost finishing 'Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance'. Boy, what a book. I got a little bored in the first few pages but once I focused on what was written, I was totally blown away. This has to be the first time that I've actually written down passages from the book and post-it'ed the book all over.

ps: I'm thrilled with the compound eyes