Long-distance relationships

Long-distance relationships are a myth! Most couples have to deal with it at one point of time or the other. I am talking about the couples I know… my tech + MBA background should tell you what kind of highly mobile species I am referring to here. With the constant churn in jobs and professional responsibilities and not to forget individual aspirations, it is inevitable that couples today are leading increasingly distinct lives. Pawmee says he is happy to occupy just 15% of his girl’s life. And he expects no “less” in return! But can most other couples say the same about their partners?

Techie couples get caught up with separate projects in 2 remote corners of the world and then go through the emotionally draining stages of prophesying-your-undying-love to why-can’t-you-understand-my-situation to honey-it’s-ok-we-will-be-together-soon to we-are-growing-apart to let’s-try-to work-on-this to I-don’t-want-you-to-work-anymore to I-understand to I-don’t-care-just-quit-your-job-and-come-back to this-is-not-working-for-us-anymore to god-knows-where…

B-school couples are even queerer. They go through the stages of let’s-just-get-to-know-each-other to I-can’t-plan-my-courses-without-you to we-should-both-get-the-highest-paying-job to damn-we-are-in-diff-geographies-now to let’s-postpone-marriage-for-a-year-or-two to let’s-establish-ourselves-in-the-corporate-jungle to both-of-us-wanna-be-CEOs to why-can’t-we-just-live-together to let’s-start-our-own-business and again to god-knows-where…

But then I see my friends, who are beating the odds and successfully tackling the issues involved and who live in the hope and confidence that theirs is not a relationship that will go one of the 2 ways described above. And I smile. I acknowledge the strength it takes to pull it through trying times. Hats off to all of you – Chotu, Pawmee, Meetika, Mandy, Warikoo, Kapil!

Yes, it’s a myth – but one that doesn’t necessarily end on a sad note! Every myth has a hero and a lesson. I think it’s about time I learnt mine and moved on…

What's your type???

Types of bloggers:

The second-handers - these guys desperately need rehab. Can't survive a single day without checking out their own blog at least 10 times a day... for the comments, what else? Their primary motivation for blogging is the comments they inadvertently seek from others.

The pseudo-realists - they create an alternate world through their blog and the community built around it. It's their escape from reality.

The technocrati - they blog with a specific purpose. Every word on their blog is measured and is placed strategically to derive the maximum literary mileage out of it.

The rainmakers - they make rain from their readers' tears! Emotional posts is their specialty and they have a special circle of female admirers.

The I-want-in types - these guys blog just coz every1 else is!

The muddle-heads - their posts are all over the place. No agenda, no structure, no trends in their posts. These are the random walkers who churn out ocassional jewels.

The wannabe critics - they pick up news items from anywhere and try to spin their own yarn around it. Their posts are mostly unoriginal secondary reports like secondary market research.

The artists - the genuine entertainers who make the time spent on their blogs worth the money! These are the quick-wits from your college gang, who can make a joke every other sentence.

I guess the above classification makes me a definite muddle-head! What's your type???

If I missed your type... the shout-box is yours...

Disruptive Innovations and Technologies

We keep talking about disruptive technologies all the time, especially in Competitive Strategy cases. Well, here's a list of what I feel have been the most disruptive innovations and technologies through the ages...

Fire - no doubt on this one. Anyone got a burning objection?
Wheel - it definitely turned the world faster, literally.
Agriculture - we would not be reading about historical civilizations, but for this innovation.
Gun-powder - Forever changed the way conflicts could be solved!
Printing Press - hastened the exchange of social and scientific ideas across Europe, the Arab world and Asia. The renaissance almost never happened without this one!
Electricity - one word for the effects - Shocking!
Aviation - flights of fancy have never been the same since the Wright brothers took their maiden flight!
The Bomb - perhaps, here's a rare one we could have done without.
Bonsai - I know, I know. But think about it, how much has the world benefited from the Jap's fascination for minimizing things to the smallest possible, and then squeeze it some more.
The microprocessor - this one's encroaching more and more personal space. It all started with the PC, then it permeated the ovens and washing machines, then cars, and now cellphones.
TCP/IP and WWW - gave communication a completely new meaning. Changed social, economic and political behaviour of the entire world.
Nanotechnology - not just more miniaturization, but a completely new range of applications.
Genetics - Watson and Crick never knew what they were about to unleash.

So where do you think the next disruptive wave is coming from???

Friends and Acquaintances

It's quite a futile exercise to walk down memory lane and count all my friends and acquaintances. For one, there will be far too many to count. And for another, I don't possibly remember them all.

But what I do remember are those moments that converted some of those acquaintances into friends...

All the evenings spent on terrace flying kites or watching planes take-off or discussing random stuff.
All the evenings spent at her place in perennial fear of her uncle's arrival.
A hot cup of tea at 2:30 in the morning shared with my best pals, followed by random walks around the campus.
The hug of recognition for your competitor's ability after 10 gruelling games of squash.
The innumerable pranks on a silly girl who was an ever-willing bakri and the gang who got never tired of pulling her leg.
All the night-outs and idealistic plans of changing the world - literally. And we weren't even drinking then!

There are innumerable such incidents. However, they invariably culminate in that ONE glance of recognition that tells you that you have crossed the line - from acquaintance to friend. Now I realize what Richard Bach said in Illusions...

Your friends will know you better in the first minute you meet than your acquaintances will know you in a thousand years.

Time to make new acquaintances and friends again... :)