Sreeram Srinivasan

(wrote this to cheer up my class mate (she) whose d'ter is getting married and leaving home soon) Felt your tiny li'l heart beats, your presence I so well sense, a kick as you swim aside, in the cocoon your life that commence. When you were ready to leave your li'l home, a day so intense, will live within me no more, but bring cheer to this mere existence. Day again dawns to let you go, tiny tears that fill in an instance, seeing you go to get your wings, and knowledge to fill your sense. Then another day to see you fly, to watch you soar over the fence, hard at work, achieving each day, proud to see your perseverance. All the happiness watching you grow mix with a new pretense, a lingering worry takes hold, a mother's duty there to dispense. When comes a day to let go again, that I so wished in all my penance, why then this mind so disturbed, at the thought of your absence....? Oh! Baby... I will so miss you.... Oh! Baby... I will so mi

Why this glorious union of a man and a woman called sex? Why only three li'l letters for what takes one to the apex? Is it just a hormonal sensation, or thing deep within the cortex? Whatever the source or game, an emotion seldom fails to perplex. Call it coitus, call it copulation, or some psychological complex, or intercourse or make whoopee, or a term from a medical index. So many names, so much ado, man's obsession for this reflex, but so limited are the ways of it, still so mystically it infects. Myths, mythology, spirituality gives it a respectable pretext, Phallus n female form, so holy a symbol for Hindus to Aztecs. Is sex a sop nature throws us for the genetic pool that it protects? or is it the eternal bliss that soul seeks, served out in tiny specks? Pleasure, progeny or a fetish that sucks one into this vortex, so consummate a joy, when there's consent and the latex...

"To be with an other woman is French, but to get caught is American.......", prophetic words spoken by French Inspector André in the 1988 comedy flick, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. This wonderful comedy, set in the French Riviera, is about a couple of con-artists aided and abetted by the local Police Inspector André. Here's the irony. What we saw playing out last few weeks is one of biggest names in France, Mr. Dominique Strauss-Kahn (DSK), getting "caught" by the Americans for being with another woman, of all things. Its almost as if the Americans have been smarting over this comment Inspector André made, half in wit, for over 2 decades and have finally seen a chance to get even!! Media's penchant for conspiracy theories was apparent within the few days of the arrest. From Russian mafias to political vendetta to the French Right were blamed for this "entrapment" of DSK. After all, they said, he was a shoo in for the next President of France and so

Women's tennis has always been a thing of beauty and elegance as is the game itself. Several names of yore have adorned the Ladies game of lawn tennis from Maureen Connolly in the 50s to Margaret Court, Virginia Wade and Billie Jean King in the 60s. The 70s belonged to a lovely lady by the name of Chris Evert! The 80s were dominated by a very manly and muscular Martina Navratilova, representing the first winds of change in the Women's game of tennis. Power game was in. The soft touch and finesse gave way to power serves and even powerful returns. Ms. Navratilova faded away in the early 90s giving way to a host of successors that seemed to keep up "softness and elegance" tradition of the Women's tennis in the form of Steffi Graf, Gabriella Sabatini, Monica Seles. Ms. Navratilova seemed, therefore, a one-off aberration. Later part of 90s and the first decade of the new millennium saw the likes of Martina Hingis, Kim Clijsters, Maria Sharapova and the Williams Sister

The Economist, while reporting recently on the 100 years of IBM, said businesses founded on an idea last longer than ones based on a specific product(s) or service. It is common knowledge that only <2% of the Companies that were leaders five decades ago are still surviving. And going forward, only that many will be around in 50 years. Studies show that the average life span of a company is about 12.5 years!! Leading businesses of today will slowly fade away over the next few decades. The reasons for such an evolution are what I will refer by the acronym, OUCH! OUCH! Firstly, Obsolescence (of the product or service), second, Unsustainability due to regulatory changes (Government banning the product for any reason or evidence that such a product causes harm to health, safety and environment), third, Competition (coming up with a better value-proposition or a more innovative product or service) and the final one simply is Hubris that sets in within the company owing to its leaders

Scientists at the Swiss CERN facility have created a few days back, what is known as "anti-matter" and held it stable for over several minutes. For most of us in this world it hardly matters (no pun intended), right? In a way, no! The above finding goes against the grain of conventional wisdom held over many decades that any anti-matter would instantly react with matter (ingredient of everything we perceive in this world) and result in destruction of the matter. Also anti-matter was long believed to be just a concept than reality. This was precisely because Paul Dirac's theories predicted equal amounts of matter and anti-matter in the universe. Such a scenario would ensue that all matter reacts with all anti-matter and annihilate themselves instantly leaving only energy in the form of light and other electromagnetic radiation (alpha, beta, gamma and other rays). Then why do we see the existence of matter all around including ourselves? Based on the successful producti

In August of 2008, I wrote the i4 of Leadership, viz., Intensity, Intelligence, Intuitive, Introspective with Integrity as a given. While these are essential ingredients someone has to possess if one aspires to be a leader in one's own right, it is an all new ball game if she/he has to be seen and accepted as one. We are several times admonished for "not showing enough leadership" or spurred on to "take the lead" for something that cries for attention. And history is full of examples of people who have shown tremendous leadership and taken it upon themselves to make a difference and many thousands even sacrificed everything including their lives for the sake of a worthy cause. Nevertheless, history recognizes only a few hundred truly as leaders over the many millennia. Why is it so? How does one lead in a way that is seen as true leadership and recognized for times immemorial? Is it style? Is it courage or will or the purposiveness in what they did? Is it the

Negotiation is the least spoken about but arguably the most critical part of lives - be it work, personal or daily life. We negotiate all the time in our lives - with our parents, spouses, children, friends, business associates, bosses, and even total strangers. And without even knowing that its negotiation. We would have done it even as babies. Think about that! Why does a baby yell and scream when it wants something. Its negotiating..... tough and hard!! Ever get into a discussion as a kid with your dad or mom about running an errand and you asked (negotiated) for a reward.... maybe a few bucks to go out to the movies with friends or buy yourself a candy bar!! What about spouses? Ever had to talk her out of her "headache" and to get interested in... well.... er... you know what :-) !!! We do this by instinct without quite giving it a name. And when we have to do this at work with our teams or with a customer, we suddenly give it a name and start to worry. We end up going

Negotiation is the least spoken about but arguably the most critical part of life - be it work, personal or daily life. We negotiate all the time in our lives - with our parents, spouses, children, friends, business associates, bosses, and even total strangers. And without even knowing that its negotiation. We would have done it even as babies. Think about that! Why does a baby yell and scream when it wants something. Its negotiating..... tough and hard!! Ever get into a discussion as a kid with your dad or mom about running an errand and you asked (negotiated) for a reward.... maybe a few bucks to go out to the movies with friends or buy yourself a candy bar!! What about spouses? Ever had to talk her out of her "headache" and to get interested in... well.... er... you know what :-) !!! We do this by instinct without quite giving it a name. And when we have to do this at work with our teams or with a customer, we suddenly give it a name and start to worry. We end up going to

IPL or Indian Premier League for 20-over cricket is a timely innovation for the cricket crazies of the sub-continent. Yours truly had a revulsion towards it in the first year as I felt it was too much of a hype or "tamaasha". Eventually, the public and the media have moved on from their obsession with the celebrity owners, skimpily-clad cheerleaders, the who's who of spectators, and the charismatic Lalit "limelight" Modi and started to focus somewhat seriously on the game. This has made it a little more fun to watch as we can see from the tough fight put up for the top 2 (and 4) spots this year. May be the huge controversies that erupted last year over the expansion and eventual exit of Lalit Modi has quietened down the non-cricket extra-curriculars and made everyone keep a low profile and focus on the game. This is great news but with millions of dollars invested and massive viewership and advertising revenues at stake, IPL is in crying need for yet another rei

Operation Geronimo or the now famous "kill Osama" initiative of the US in the early hours of 2nd May 2011 is in all aspects a mind-blowing and unique operation. Shall not bore you on the details as it has already been reported ad nauseum in terms of its planning, execution and the aftermath. What concerns me is the sudden cry from several quarters in India to do something similar to bring to "vigilante” justice the perpetrators of Mumbai blasts of '93 (12/3) or of the 26/11 attacks. Some Defence Department types also exhibited the usual mindless bravado that Indian forces, if allowed, can certainly do as good a job as the Americans. “All we need is political will and the go ahead from our political bosses”, thundered these armchair Generals and Colonels. Some even added that our political leadership is not assertive or strong-willed enough to bring forth such a brave and patriotic decision! And there is Pakistan immediately reacting to all this saying such mispl

On March 17th, India abstained from the UN Security Council resolution imposing a "no-fly" zone and all measures to protect civilians against attack by forces of Col. Muammar Al-Qadafi. It was an opportunity lost for India to stand up and be seen as a strong decisive World power. Even a vote against would have been good because India would have taken a stand on an issue that troubles the World. Abstention was a weak-kneed response for a nation aspiring be recognised among the World's top powers. India's problem has always been that we go all soft far away from home and then try and be a bully or at least seen as one in our own neighborhood. What we have in India's favour is all ingredients for exerting its power and influence on the World stage - soft or if it so wishes, hard. But... we haven't yet found a Druid who could use all of these and make a potent enough potion that we could then imbibe, feel our power and then exert it. In such a scenario, I woul

Numeracy, a term akin to literacy, was coined by Prof. John Allen Paulos, Math professor at Temple University in the US in his excellent book, Innumeracy. Innumeracy meens Math illiteracy. In day to day life, we come across several instances of innumeracy and I am not joking. Let me share my personal experiences over last few years in our own India and in Chennai no less, which claims to have a long tradition of math excellence. Interviewing over the last 8 to 10 years, over 400 well qualified young people between the ages of 21 and 35 years, I have come across several such cases. The qualifications range from Engineering degrees, accountancy (CA, ICWA), MBAs in HR, Purchasing, Sales and Marketing, and so on. You can imagine a vast majority would be engineers considering that I am in the Manufacturing business. One of my favourite questions to them in the early minutes of the interview is ask them to state their height in centimeters and convert that to inches and then to feet. I sim

Go figure.... is a nice american colloquial expression that is difficult to translate. It pretty much means, have no clue why things happen the way things do in this World. And these are events that are too uncanny to explain using only conventional wisdom!! Or is it just me or it happens to everyone? Here goes some such things/events 1. Why is it that you come across a new word for the first time in your life after decades but see it so many more times on the same day? 2. Why when you are running late someday, there is a traffic jam on road that seldom has traffic as a rule? 3. Why does the store assistant tell you that you missed a "30% off sale" on the item you just picked by just one day? 4. Why does someone knock or dent your car or you lose something of value the day you are leaving for a fun vacation? 5. Why one of your lady friends, that hasn't called in months, decides to call precisely when you are having a huge argument with your spouse (and your wife see

Jus' for you these lines, Jus' for you this world, Jus for you this sunrise, and jus for you this told! Jus' for you so many lives, Jus' for you a pot of gold called life, jus' so, for you may cherish, He foretold. Jus' for you these friends, that so so dear they hold, Jus' for you so many care, Isn't so blind not to behold? Jus' for you these lines, Jus' for you this world....

What always makes us feel better... no matter what? asks a friend to a miserable "just-dumped-by-boy-friend" Elle Woods (played by the cute teethy Reese Witherspoon) in the 2001 comedy, Legally Blonde. The answer, of course is Pedicures and Manicures given that these gals are just in their early 20s. Pedicures and Manicures may be part of the popular American culture but Urban India is catching up quickly. And it is but natural, when affluence grows in a country. There is an amazing phenomenon, almost a disruptive innovation, that is sweeping Urban India and it is the morphing of barber shops into the more elegant sounding Salon & Spa places. Obviously, a socio-cultural revolution is afoot with the old lowly "neighbourhood nayee" "movin' on up" and gaining social status and respect as the beautician and therapist par excellence. For a Nation that has struggled with its caste system for so many millenniums but now at the cusp of gaining "d