'Bomb'galore

Its a wake up call again!! For all that is happening in the city where lives keep running at such a frenzied speed, its sort of a wake up call that stumbles upon and jolts you down. Yes, despite of our state of denial, terror indeed exists!

Yet fortunately, inspite of what the terrorists like us to believe, it is only that, a wake a call. People where tensed, not terrified. Routine rattled, but life move on. Perhaps the best way to tackle terrorists as public is to ignore them. For that is what they need - Public's attention. If you are reading this and you are worried about some one in Bangalore; don't worry. At worst we missed a weekend out. (having said that, I deeply sympathise with those who are injured and dead)

On the positive side, bloggers are really turning the world on. From Katrina to Bangalore serial balsts, bloggers are becoming the fastest and reliable source of information. read more here.
Way to go!!

The Halo effect

I recently came to know few interesting facts about Google. At Google apparently the performance reviews are done based on Peer review. Now, come to think of that. Managers are fast becoming clueless about what the team does and are becoming more and more fragile to people who create a false illusion that they perform(aka Bull shitters). When your performance review is done by your peers, you cannot hide or represent facts about your work and you realise that your team has sudddenly becoming more cooperative now that you know that they are no more a competition but a source of advancement.

In addition to this, there is another interesting phenomenon. It has to do with a cognitive bias termed as 'Halo effect'. Wikipedia says this,
"The halo effect refers to a cognitive bias whereby the perception of a particular trait is influenced by the perception of the former traits in a sequence of interpretations".

To put it simply, its a illusion that is created in your mind that a person who dresses like a rockstar is really a rock star. Also for ex, see the image below,

Notice that the round light behind bush creates a godly illusion to bush while in reality its quite the opposite. This is Halo effect.

A dude called Edward L. Thorndike, discovered this phenomenon by interviewing few army commanding officers to rate their soldiers; where he noted the overall perception of their's over the soldiers actually depends upon the judgement based on only few factors. This phenomenon can also be observed in our perceptions over celebrities.

Now, how can this be different from the appraisals done by the managers? I bet, this is also a typical scenario where Halo effect comes into play. Managers pass a holistic judgement over the employees when in reality the impression is actually created based on knowledge on few factors. If that is the case what can be done about it? Nothing can be done about it. But with a peer performance system, the judgement will atleast be made by people who may know little more about you. What do you think?

In memory of my loyal friend

The pet dog is the most fortunate living being. It is the only being that recieves and reflects instant unconditional love in the world. Most of the people, no matter howmuch they love their parents or siblings or wife or kids, do not go about showing and sharing their love to them all the time. No matter how close the relationship is, it has its own share of tussles , anger or just plain nothing moments. But when it comes to a pet dog, it brings out immediate love and joy from anyone. It's instant gratification. A pet dog can bring the smile out of anyone in the world. Afterall its the only being that does not expect anything from you except for an odd gentle tap on its back.

I had enjoyed my own moments of such unlimited love. I have had pet dogs in the past but nothing stayed longer with us for various reasons. And as a family, we always had a longing to have one. Almost two years ago when we moved to a bigger house, the situation just seemed to be right to grow a dog. We got a pet dog. Its a white, furry breed between pomeranian and 'god-knows-what' variety. And over the two years it grew as massive as its almost even scary to take liberty towards it. It had six fingers which someone said as a sign of cleverness. So I named it Newton.

Newton used to be so alert that even a mosquito could not enter our premises without it's notice. At times we had noticed it sitting erect and alert watching the each and every corner of the outside of our house even at midnight. The love it had towards our family was unwavering. During the times of difficulty it was the source of solace for all of us. And though we never encouraged it to enter inside the house, we got used to the image of looking at its happy face and jumping massive frame everytime we entered in or went out of our home.

It was especially dear to me. Months after we got Newton, I was abroad for almost a year and never got a chance to visit my home during this period. The moment is still fresh in my memory, when I returned home after year and Newton was jumping and crying and hawling from the moment it saw me. During the evenings we used to leave it free and it runs around the house in such a mad pace that there was no tomorrow. Just a sight of it when we enter the house would make us forgot whatever happened outside and a sense of pleasure and pride creeps in our heart.

For all that it has done, I should have done more and spent more time with it. Newton died today. It happened due to some complications arised from food poisoning. I still remember the time, I tried to take a photograph with it, but was unsuccessful due to its repeated protest. I thought I could always take one later, when it was in a better mood. Ironically that moment never happened. It was just 2 years old and still in its infancy which made it even more harder for us to grasp.

This is not an isolated moment. Just before when we bought Newton, we were unfortunate to loose another pet dog (Juno) at a young age too. And with Newton, it has become two in a row. The gigantic frame which is not prevalent for its breed and its child like scowl everytime when it looks at me are sights that can never be forgotten. The thought that I could not be with it at the time of difficulty and sorrow, makes me wonder what I could be missing from the near and dear ones while I toil away from them to make money for a living. But as my family says, this poor being has taken our shelter, carried our karma with it and ceased to live so that it can be born again in a higher state of embodiment.

We owe you, my dear friend, live longer wherever you are born again!!

Love in the Air!

Not for me! Not again.. But occasionally you feel the tickle in your heart when the breeze of love swatter through you apart. I think its Plato who said, " At the touch of love everyone becomes a poet". I had been a poet many times in the past.. not now.. may be I have got too old to be a poet.. or might be too young.. anyway, this poem which I found in http://www.lovepoemsandquotes.com/LovePoem131.html made my day..

When I Saw Your Eyes

When you came to your door tonight,
And your beautiful eyes gazed at me
From the darkness within,
The world around me came to a stop,
For just a few seconds,
As I saw the love from within you.

You looked at me with your warm smile,
Your black hair around your face,
And whispered softly, "hi baby",
And once again,
I was at your mercy.

For when you look into my soul
And I hear the sound of your sweet voice,
My heart opens to you my love,
With all of my dreams now fulfilled.

I never knew that a love like this
Could ever exist,
A love that consumes me,
A love so powerful,
And so overwhelming,
That I fear if I were without it,
My heart would no longer have a meaning
To its existence,
For the love that flows through it now,
Is what keeps me alive,
Keeps me whole.

As I gaze into your eyes my love,
Down into the depths of your very being,
I can see the love you feel for me,
A love as strong as my own,
A love that fills me so full of emotion,
So full of hope for the future,
That I pray I will spend the rest of my days,
Gazing into your eyes.

- Jim Caspary -

What should I do with my life?

Its been a while since I blogged. Life is little dull and depressing at this moment. For months I was planning for my MBA and subsequently GMAT, but then it never materialised. I figured out that no matter where I live, what I do, I never had enough time to do anything constructive for a long term. Life is plagued with instant gratification.

Meanwhile, I have been reading this book, "What should I do with my life". If at all I wanted to write a book in my life, I would have written such a book. Real stories of real people. Its amazingly obvious that the whole world is suffering from identity crisis and struggling to find the real self. Nice one. The whole book is written in interesting and soft way and the character of the author gets reflected in it. Po Bronson (author) seems to be a considerate, compassionate and immaterialistic which is praiseworthy. That too from the part of the world notorious for it materialistic tendencies.

Well done Po! Not so much for the book. But for the intention to bring out a well thought out, judgement less, realistic, deep topic.