In my childhood, most of my friends had nicknames at home (like Chintu, Bablu, Banti etc) while I was always called Nikhil by my Parents. Many times when we 8-10 year olds would discuss about each other’s nicknames I usually felt lost. I had little inkling then that I would end up with as many as 3-4 nicknames. The first nickname was given to me by my Grandfather – I am the third in the trio of elder cousins in our (extended) family. Among the three of us we have a difference of one year between each one of us and the next cousin after me is a little more than two years younger to me. Hence, during those childhood days, I was called ‘Chhotu’ by my Grandfather. But he soon discontinued this name when younger cousins and my real Brother Abhishek were born. That explains why I had no nickname during my childhood days. My brother used to call me Dada (Marathi for elder brother); so during my teens younger children of our street also called me by the same name. When some of my friends fou

Dr Raghunath Mashelkar, quoted in a public gathering: Reading makes you wise, Speaking makes you witty, But, Writing makes you exact. Unless you write, you never know how much you really know and what you really don't know. My own experience of writing has been long ... I have been writing since 12 years of age... and since last year this Blog has provided a new dimension to my thoughts; writing has again become quite regular. I try to write my own posts after considerable research (wherever required) and also try to link up as much links as I can so that readers can travel to other related pages. This way I myself also get to learn or rather complete my understanding of the subject in question. That apart this Blog has also helped me to network far and wide - making friends with so many people across the globe and also revive some lost links with old friends. Some other of my posts on Blog(s) http://the-complete-man.blogspot.com/2005/07/indian-bloggers-are-sure-rocking-net_21.ht

This blog is at its tipping point .... Kindly read Gaurav Sabnis's Blog (Refer to I am disconnecting my cable connection )[ http://gauravsabnis.blogspot.com/ ] and post a support message to Gaurav if you wish so. Also If you own a blog, use it to raise the issue. The whole bloggers and online community should stand by Gaurav at this time. Blogging is one of the most representative forms of Freedom of Speech and human expression – we all need to come together to protect it !!! Update Its 4.00PM around 5 hours after I made this post and by now there are around a 100 blogs who have posted in Gaurav's support (no wonder, 'coz Gaurav happens to be a popular blogger). Check out the first 10 pages on this search: http://blogsearch.google.com/blogsearch?hl=en&q=gaurav+sabnis&btnG=Search+Blogs ON 9th October, Jagan.biz published in support of Gaurav, what, it seems is happening now ... I quote - [ http://jagan.biz/modules/news/article.php?storyid=92 ] "The IIPM execs h

Its been more than 8 months in KPMG and life is going good .. lots to learn .. lots to do ... lots of people to meet. But I feel trapped . . . . life is suddenly so structured! No ideas, no struggles to achieve them, no milestones (except those planned in a structured goal setting exercise) ... life's good but it is unlike the heady days of being a self-motivated individual when there was a constant thought of creating something new, changing things around, doing something unique. Life has suddenly become very planned - your manager would set targets for you to achieve, and project after another would flow in. No more brainstorming for setting your own standards, and strategizing to achieve them, no more discussions for coming up with that unique offering that would lure your audience, no more nightouts just talking about that one-idea only to reject the one you discussed last night. No more MastishK , no more Arbit , no more Khoj , no more Entreplayer , no more Ethics Portal , no

So many of Indian bloggers that I know are cosmopolitans; they have lived in different cities at different points in their life. Their cities include – the home-city where they are born, the place where they are educated (often graduation/post graduation), the city(ies) where they (have) work(ed). Hence when I thought about writing a post on the cities in my life, I though why not spread the germ? (!) So I have decided to make this a ‘tag’. I would prefer people to describe ‘their’ cities in detail including the emotional bonds they share with them. Janmabhoomi: Bhopal Bhopal is one of the most beautiful cities that I have lived in. Rightly known as the city of lakes, Bhopal is situated in the hills with many ponds, lakes and parks dotting the city. Being the capital, the city affords wide and well maintained roads and greenery all around. But unlike public perception Bhopal, is no way a small city. With a population of 14.5 lakhs and an area of 286 square kms (eqvt. to 65% of Mumbai’

Mark Twain once said - "All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence; then success is sure." This statement was very true when we launched MastishK ’04 last year. There was nothing to loose .... and I have always felt that last year's success was limited and not complete. We could never manage to get a single penny of sponsorship - though we got a lot of popularity during and after the event (Some coverage in newspapers and Arbit ). But this year as MastishK '05 unfolded slowly ... there was a big pressure on our team to retain the interest in B-school junta and retain our reputation to be revolutionizers in the B-school event arena. Last year, the very concept of launching a completely online event and that of having multiple simulation games on one platform was a novel concept - and so whatever we gave our audience, it was new. But this year the challenge was much bigger, ironically to beat our own performance; to come up with games much more novel in des

Here is an excerpt from Nandan Nilekani's Interview to Business Week (published on Red i ff ) ".....When the Paris Air Show was held, all the Indian carriers put together ordered 200 planes. This is mind-boggling to anybody from India. We don't know where they'll land. They'll probably just circle in the air. (Laughs) ....." Q: Things are happening much faster in China, where they build infrastructure so rapidly. "It's going to happen, but not the way it happens in China. In China, a bunch of guys get in a room and decide to build a 16-lane highway from Shanghai to Beijing, and it's going to happen. There's no way that will happen in India. It's too chaotic and argumentative. But what's going to happen is these 200 planes will be ordered, they won't land. They'll be circling. Everybody will get [very angry]. Finally, there will be such public outcry that the airports will get built. It's a different model. But it's a mo

I guess almost everyone must have read those forwards like - "You are in the 21st century if...", or "Signs you've been in the Indian IT industry for too long - new ones...". Adding to it I have my own list of incidents/habits that illustrate how intensely our lives have changed and intermingled with the technological environment that we are exposed to nowadays. Following are REAL instances that happened with me or people around me You've been using computers long enough if: You say –“I’ll write it down” and gesture typing it out with your hands You press/tap the right bottom of the page in a book to turn to the next page. You search for the Ctrl-Alt-Del key on your TV remote while you take a loo break from a movie The TV channel you are watching goes blank and you are searching for a mouse to move (to reset the screensaver) You are asked your address and you say ‘.......... @yahoo.com’ You tell your dad that you’ll (e)mail your current resident

For the uninitiated, I am just back from Hyderabad after spending a good 3 weeks in that lake'n'hill city. The flight was delayed by 3 hrs at departure itself and as much as I was eager to catch upon life here ... I was not disappointed by the 'challenges' that emerged - a Highway that is worse than a mud road in a village, exorbitantly charging taxi drivers, jam-packed roads and to compound it all, rain from the above. Mumbai this year has gone to the dogs!! As I came near the Powai lake and saw the new widened road - I felt being guilty of eating into nature. The road widening along the Powai lake has eaten up parts of the lake and thick vegetation that lined it up on all sides. The way we are playing with nature, it is no wonder we are facing its furies like the Floods and Hurricanes It is an irony that I chose to live in Powai to enjoy the vegetation and natural beauty it abounds, but it is because of dwellers like me that the pressure on the area's infrastructu

Shubham and me compiled and created an article during our first year of MBA. It was never published, nevertheless MBA aspirants will find it very useful. Publishing it online for the same purpose. However, Shubham and myself claim a copyright on the text .... and of course very many thanks to all our freinds whose views have helped us compile the article. Experienced vs. Freshers – an MBA perspective By Nikhil Kulkarni, KPMG Shubham Choudhury, Infosys PGDIM- X, NITIE, Mumbai Ashita Mittal was placed during her final year in engineering college with a leading software firm. But she never wanted to be another brick in the wall. She wanted to differentiate herself from other graduates who start their career at the lowest rung of organizational hierarchy. MBA was a natural choice for her. On the other side is Shailesh Dhawla, who worked as a software engineer with a leading software consultancy firm for 3 years. He started his job with some ends in mind, like working with a known company,