Sreeram Srinivasan

On this eve of the close of another year, a dark cloud, upon this Nation, its child, a braveheart, in a shroud. So many mourners, deep in anguish, cry out aloud, the rulers clueless, think ways to silence the crowd. Why this fate for a li'l gal, to only dream she dared? So many thoughtless, so very mindless the word. Solutions before analysis, bane for a nation so proud, from dress codes to how a gang ought be disavowed. Let's look for the real causes, for years of female foeticide, has left us bereft of sisters, wives n of friends to be loved. A happy New year may yet usher upon this great land, when parents bring to life li'l boys n gals equal in count.. Wishing you a very Happy 2013!

These are not quite the times to be speaking of economies or economics, leave alone that of the World. The weary aftermath of the great downturn of 2008-2010 followed by a series of aftershocks are still being felt across continents. The recent deceleration of the emerging markets, those that arguably bailed out the Globe during the dark days of 2009-2010, is another grim surprise. China, that looked invincible just a couple of years back, is stuck in a low growth phase. All the cockiness that was India just about 20 months ago has gone into quiet introspection. Brazil and Russia never made too much noise and hence are excused for the general slowdown that their economies are going through. Africa is probabaly the only exception. If anything, there is widespread realisation that the World is ever more inter-connected and the developed World needs the emerging one as much as the other. It, therefore, takes great courage or utter foolishness to make a prediction going forward. Yours trul...

(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...