Obuls Daddy Blog

Today I am between jobs. I know for sure because I accepted another offer and will be joining them next week. When people say they are between jobs, my crazy brain wants to ask "How would you know you are *between* jobs unless you have found one?" However, my mouth has been smarter to shut up, and help me stay polite! Especially, it would be rude in this tough economy. Once, I met an ex-GM from my company at a restaurant. Hoping to strike a career opportunity, I asked him where he was these days. His answer, "I am between jobs". Again, my crazy brain goes, "Maybe. You are actually *beyond* jobs", ...

The Ancestor's Tale by Richard Dawkins: This book is a classic on biological evolution from a biologist professor famous among those who don't care about religion, and infamously known to those who do. Since it is reviewed extensively on the web, there is little I can add, so I will keep it short just to entice more readers. The book is about how we all came from, and traces our origins as a pilgrimage to the past, all the way to life's origin on earth - all the way to algae or amoeba, and all the way to when continents were together. Since it is based on the author's almost entire research career

Our Cosmic Origins by Armand Delsemme: I had been wondering if there was a book that tied together all the scientific discoveries related to the origin of our universe and human evolution. This book does exactly that, and I am very happy to have read it. Written by a very distinguished professor, it starts from the big bang, how our galaxy formed, what conditions are necessary for life and how life came about on earth, how dinosaurs came and went, and how plants, animals and human beings came into existence, and how the how we are evolving with the recent population explosion. That

I visited the National Museum in Delhi last week. Once I made my way past the scaffolding put up for construction without any sense for safety, and learned to ignore the din from the hundreds of school students, it was a couple of hours well spent. A few exhibits to mention below:-Indus valley civilization: There were quite a few related to Indus valley civilization dated 2500 BCE or so. They were more advanced than I thought, and surprised things hadn't changed for so long! Kitchen knives, pots in different shapes and decorations, similar to what I have seen in homes when I was young. Beaded

If Rabindranath Tagore was alive today, I think he would have written his poem as below! My little imagination based on India today!Where the mind is without fear of blasts, kidnapping, rape or murderWhere the head doesn't refuse to thinkWhere knowledge is not sold for moneyWhere the world has not been broken upInto fragments by WikiLeaks, regional parties, splittists or MaoistsWhere words come out not just to discuss divorce and depth of scamsWhere tireless striving is not a stretch, let alone striving for perfectionWhere the clear stream of traffic has even a remote chance of finding its waythrough

I found something surprising after breaking my head over a blood test result. It seems labs don't always measure and report LDL numbers. They sometimes use a formula to compute LDL!!If TC is Total Cholesterol and Tri is the triglyceride measurement, TC = LDL + HDL + VLDL and, as an approximation VLDL = Tri/5. That means, LDL = TC - HDL - Tri/5.E.g., if TC is 230, HDL is 36 and Tri is 190, the LDL = 230 -36 -190/5 = 156.Apparently, this is a close approximation in most cases where Tri is less than 400 mg/DL. In some cases, real LDL measurement could be lower. Also, higher LDL could just mean the

We are Like that Only by Rama Bijapurkar: This book is a winning guide to India's consumer market. It brings out the peculiarities in the Indian market with examples, quantitative data, segment analysis and from the author's own experience from Mckinsey and other. It was interesting to read about how "bride viewing" is now being video taped by marriage brokers, how Kellogg cereal should have been marketed as a afternoon snack instead of breakfast, and how India always seems half full and half empty! It also projects views like there are 3 Nigerias within India, while everyone talks about the one

I recently read an article recently from a reputed Guru who said something like -"Gayatri mantra has maximum effect if it is chanted in the mornings". It turns out, there are many such Gayatri (or sing-able) mantras in the Vedas dedicated to different deities, and the one popularly referred to here is towards Savitr (Sunrise or the sun light at dawn). The meaning of the hymn is essentially "...We meditate on that which gave us this morning light, may that illuminate our intellect..."So, its like saying Good Morning has maximum effect if it is said in the morning! It's amazing how Gurus can attract

A Better India A Better World - N. R. Narayana Murthy: This is a collection of lectures or speeches from the founder and former CEO of Infosys, given at university convocations, leadership seminars, or published in business magazines. It is interesting to learn Infosys' early challenges to even import a computer or make a week long foreign trips, when licensing and stifling for-ex and import customs control were in place, as well as how the founders formulated the vision to be the most respected software services company. The book cites the typical challenges in India - corruption, poverty, over

The First 90 Days: Critical Success Strategies for New Leaders at All Levels - Michael Watkins: An easy to read and recommended book with good suggestions for someone taking on a new manager or leadership role. Clearly, the first few days count to establish credibility, authority and the book suggests how to take stock of the situation (turnaround, vs. realignment vs. sustaining etc), how success in prior job may not imply same thing will work in the new role, how to chart out a strategy by negotiating with new boss, setting expectations, building a team, handling politics, past peers etc. Handy

Few things I learned, found surprising and intriguing about the Ayodhya verdict.Ayodhya means "No war" or "Unconquerable"! Neither seems to apply with the legal battle over 60 years old, and the political and religious war started since the 1500s. In those times, it was symbolic for Muslim invaders like Babar to assert political power by replacing a prominent religious structure or renaming cities - Istanbul is an example for both.First, the judges decided the title was not clear based on facts, hence it became a partition decision. Otherwise, the homes you and I own could also end up in dispute