Vishy is the world champion

Vishwanathan Anand is the world chess champion for the third time. He comprehensively defeated Vladimir Kramnik of Russia.

Vishy Anand is an icon in India and one of the most popular sports person outside of cricket. He inspired millions of kids to play chess. I used to play chess 1-2 hours daily when I was in grade 4-8 and I considered myself to be ‘good’ in this game. In fact, it was the last game that I played with my father before his death in 1991. As expected, I ‘almost’ lost that game but my father allowed me to win in the end!! I still remember that day – Feb 6th 1991.

Who is Joe the Plumber?

I am very eager to meet Joe the Plumber. He is the favorite plumber of John McCain and Barack Obama. Who is this guy? Come out in the open and address the nation.

The next presidential debate will be between Joe the Plumber and Joe the Cook!

Do you think he is Joe the Plumber?

 Barack Obama and John McCain:

Google Blocked Us!

It seems that Google has blocked my office from using Google search. Perfect timing – I bought Google stock yesterday and it is down by 10% and still going south! I really wanted to click on Google ads so that it’s revenue can go up and hence my stock price. Darn! I can’t do that now :)

Prince of Kolkata never quit, he walks away with his head held high

Sourav Ganguly decided to walk away from International Test Cricket with his head held high. After the upcoming series with Australia, the cricket lovers all over the world will see the “God of off-side” only on TV.

I am definitely going to miss him. I still remember his bowling spells in Toronto Cricket Ground in 1998, his fighting 124 in Dhaka, and 183 against Sri Lanka. He is the most successful captain of Indian cricket team. He won 21 out of 49 tests as captain – 42% win rate. His opening partnerships with Sachin in one day matches won many matches for India and in my opinion, this opening pair was way better than the famous duo of Desmond Haynes and Gordon Greenidge.

And who can ever forget the Natwest Final at Lords in 2002. He shocked the world by taking off his shirt (ala football) after India won the finals. In fact, this was the first thought that came to my mind when I visited Lords in December 2006. Look at the photograph below – he was on the balcony on the right side.

Video of that famous match:

It’s the customer, Stupid!

I am trying to find the reason(s) behind the current economic crisis for the last two weeks. I couldn’t understand even the ABCs after reading lot of analysis by all the smart people in the world. However, things became clearer when I read the insightful analysis of Warren Buffet:

“People should always know better. … I mean people — people don’t get — they don’t get smarter about things that get as basic as greed and you can’t stand to see your neighbor getting rich. You know you’re smarter than he is, and he’s doing these things, you know, and he’s getting rich, and your spouse is getting unhappy with you because you aren’t doing — pretty soon you start doing it. And so you get what I call the natural progression, the three I’s: the innovators, the imitators, and the idiots. And that’s what happens. Everybody just kind of goes along. And you look kind of silly if you disagree.”

Basically, it’s the customer, Stupid!

You can read the full interview here.

Do you believe that your future is pre-ordained?

Narayan Murthy asked few questions during his commencement speech at NYU:

• Do you believe that your future is pre-ordained, and is already set?
• Or, do you believe that your future is yet to be written and that it will depend upon the sometimes fortuitous events?
• Do you believe that these events can provide turning points to which you will respond with your energy and enthusiasm?
• Do you believe that you will learn from these events and that you will reflect on your setbacks ?
• Do you believe that you will examine your successes with even greater care?

To be honest, I don’t have answers to any of these questions. These questions are food-for-thought for this long weekend! I am hoping that I will able to answer some of these questions in the next few days :)

Goodbye Randy!

A man who inspired me with his Last Lecture closed his eyes forever today. A man who inspired millions with his pushups is no more. A man who gave a short but touching speech in front of graduating students of Carnegie Mellon University is gone forever.

Randy Pausch died at his home in Virginia surrounded by his wife Jai and their three children: Dylan 6, Logan 4, and Chloe 22 months.

He is always going to live in our hearts.

 

Related Links:

Video of his Last Lecture: Randy Pausch Video

Entrepreneurship = Defiance of Conventional Wisdom

Just came across a wonderful video of one of my favorites business man – Sunil Bharti Mittal.He brought digital telephones to India in early 1980s and then he started mobile revolution in 1990s. In this video, he shares his experiences as an entrepreneur and how he started his first company with $1500.

According to him, entrepreneurship is defiance of conventional wisdom. Small companies can take on big companies if they go for speed as compared to perfection. I truly agree with him on this point. Nobody can reach perfection on day 1. One has to get launch a ‘decent’ version of the production as soon as possible and then customize the product based on the feedback of the users. I am going through this experience currently. I release an ‘imperfect version’ (in my opinion) of the product yesterday and I hope to improve the product daily for the next few months till it reach perfection!