Of Dilemmas and Paradoxes...

Was always curious on what "Game-Theory" was all about. And stumbled across these articles, which made mee way too interested in it.

A very basic explaination
www.mid-day.com/news/city/2003/january/41199.htm
A very detailed (and mathematical approach)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nash_equilibrium

Also, throwing in some famous dilemmas/paradoxes which I hope most of you would like to skim through
http://www.wordsmith.demon.co.uk/paradoxes/

Well said: "Some things are just so simple, that it needs a genius to understand them!"

Government to go ahead with 27% reservation

May 23, 2006 22:53 IST - Rediff.com

The United Progressive Alliance government has decided to go ahead with its proposal to provide reservation for Other Backward Castes in central educational institutes.
The proposal seeks to provide 27 percent reservation for OBCs.
The legislation for the same will be introduced in the monsoon session of Parliament.
Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee has said that the number of seats will be increased in universities.

And now just look at how the spark is going to light a fire:
Students of Gilgit-Baltistan in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir have demanded reservation for them in India's elite educational institutions.

My take on Reservations: After all I am open!

Even while global markets topple, this one issue seems to be snowballing each coming day, what with the media, acedemia, students, parents, politicians and 'experts' all involved. And why not, the impact after all is just too huge to ignore.

I too have been trying to keep up with the so many emails, news and discussions surrounding this. Recently a student at IIT was commenting on how it was baseless to have reservations for any category unless they had the full potential to exploit it to their best advantage. Which means they work hard, excel and show the world that they made best of it. Which is almost not the case. Makes so much sense!

Also, in some discussion I heard that some guy, obviously bugged by the fact that he couldnt get through to his dream college, got converted to some 'caste' and succeeded in doing so. He also later managed to convert back to his original status by somehow withdrawing/revoking the certificate. What follows was astonishing. Some person in Chandigarh (I assume that's right) has been issuing all kinds of 'conversion' certificates to people at something like a mere 1000 bucks!

Now IF that is infact correct, then this whole issue is absurd. If politicians know of such fact, or they can trace such people - then they ought to do that first and streamline the certification process before asking for more. ELSE (and I frame it in perfect programmer perspective :-)), we all know how to secure our seats in the elitist of institutes in India.

If all open category students opt for such conversion, how do the politicos and the reserved junta manage to handle that? Doesn't look so bad does it?

Marriage Season: Feeling the heat

Love is truly in the air! And even with temperatures soaring across the country, marriage activity is virtually at its peak. Everything for the simple fact that once monsoons start, the 'shubh' times will come back only next quarter. And hence the hurry.

Just look around you. I have so many in my office and neighbourhood who brave the May heat to go shopping afternoons in air-conditioned shops. And though costs are prohibitive, nothing seems to hinder purchasing. As always, Indians love buying the yellow metal (even if it means 1 grand for 1 gram!). Halls and grounds are booked months in advanced and so are caterers, hotel rooms and decorators.

Ideally, as I see it, if you ask the bride and the groom, they are too tired of it. So are their relatives and friends, wearing heavy silks in summer and taking pains to attend one ceremony after another. So are their parents with all the arrangements. In such times, it looks like the only ones who are truly happy to cash in on these opportunities are professionals who help organise the whole thing and give you all the more ideas to spend on.

The future of consumerism

Someone just asked me to post writings from generic topics. And this is one I could recollect - the future of consumerism. Selling the right products to the right people at the right time and price is going to be a major challenge going forward, and only so because this will make sellers end up interfering peoples personal lives to an extent that can only be imagined!

Imagine you just talk to a friend about having a pizza or SMS someone about shopping gifts. Within minutes, this data will be available at centralized databases - collected when you surf the net, call up people, or simply SMS. Software engines will work incessantly to analyze all this and send out alerts to the nearest shopping outlets which will then bombard you with offers that 'fit-your-pocket' and 'resemble-your-lifestyle'. Before you can think, you would have bought some and your bank account will be electronically debited.

And there is little to imagine, since its something hitting us hard. We are already spending electronically in shops, food malls, petrol pumps and their ilk. And a reason to support is that it's increasingly getting spontaneous. Answer to why chocolates are stored near the billing counter - to trigger your impulsive side and add to their 'top line'.

Now if that sounds harsh, imagine when your wife, kids and parents start doing this to your account. Soaring salaries mean no sense, right? Marketing guys have a tough job ahead! And consumers, even tougher!

Ding...times up!

[BTW: Top line refers to company revenues. Usually the top line of the balance sheet states the company's revenues/sales.]

The very first 15 minutes

I've always enjoyed writing, right through school, college and even some articles for my office magazine. And everytime I read someone's blog, I'd venture out at the thought of owning one - my own place where I can post stuff and people can come and dig into it. Its more like exploring someone else's mind.

With this, I finally hope to do the same. Only that I've noticed a couple of improvement areas in other blogs which I'd like to implement in mine. As the name suggests, its 'the 15 minute blog'. I decided to call it so, since I found that many people with good blogs had not updated them since long. Or, suddenly people ran out of content and shut down blogging operations.

I just hope and wish to keep you'll busy reading this blog almost daily. Although I can't quite guarantee regularity, I'd surely aim at writing for atleast 15 minutes daily, to keep this a short and regular post.