The world is flat!!

I am pretty sure many of you may have heard of this book written by Thomas L Friedman. It is book that talks about globalization to great depths, talking about the way business is done by big companies like ebay,walmart,Dell,HP,UPS,Google,Microsoft. It also studies the way many Indian based IT companies like Infosys,Wipro,Mindtree and even small firms like Jadoo works thrive in the flat world. No wonder the book is 570 pages fat excluding the appendix. The size of the book and given the fact that it is a business book may make one think it would be a dull read. But let me tell you with utmost urge that it is not. Friedman has managed to collect facts and present it in the most interesting and gripping manner.

So after couching myself on the sofa for many nights (I am a very slow reader) would I agree whether the world is really flat!! YES it is and I am sure many of my friends would second me without even having to read the book.

Let me explain you how by taking my own life as example. I was born in a small town in Karnataka, India named Chitradurga. I was bought up in Bhadravathi a small steel town in the same state. Studied in a convent school till my tenth. Then moved to the district headquarters to do my pre university in science. Then I was lucky to get a seat in the famous National institute of enginnering, Mysore. This is the same college where co-founder and chief mentor of Infosys, N R Narayanmurthy graduated. Well definitely the WORLD was not flat for me till then.

But then before I entered the final year of my graduation in IT I was recruited by Infosys. That is when I began to see the world. I was trained and later given the confidence to use my engineering skills to build and support applications for clients I had never heard of. The clients were fortune 500 companies and their profits let alone revenues was in billions of dollars.

As my experience grew I was given more responsibilites and the chance to travel to London for one such assignment. Now as many know that British ruled India for more than a century. Many Indians fought and lost lives to make the country free. They looted India of its valuable resources and used bipartisanship as a key approach to rule India. But when it went to extremes India united and fought against the british empire and got the nation free on aug 15, 1947. One thing India benefited by the ruling was the language that the britishers bought. It is the very language I use to exchange my ideas and opinions with clients around the world. Now, here I was using my technical skills doing business with people who treated us like slaves just over 50 years ago.

But in this flat world nobody is your enemy. Everyone is a potential collobarator as the book clearly states time and again. In my current assignment at Melbourne, Australia I am working in a truly multi cultural and geologically diverse team. My team comprises of myself, an Armenian, a Vietnamese and many Australians. I have been deputed/seconded from an Indian based company Infosys technologies Ltd to its subsidiary Infosys Australia. We all work together for supporting business in South Africa. The client is of a british based company. I see the world being flat day in and out. People dial in from cape town,Singapore and Melbourne on every call. We all collaborate with our different accents and sometimes make fun of each others culture at lunch. But we are all players in our own sense in this huge flat world.

The book many a times warns the Americans to wake up before the developing countries like India and China dominate them. One funny quote I would like to pick from the book. Earlier American parents told their kids to finish up the dishes as many kids starve for the same food in India. Now they urge their kids to do the homework else some Indian kid will take his/her job. Indian companies have been able to make profits and grown in huge stature by tagging along with the American companies. Now it is time to move the wheel by a notch. In fact many companies have already started doing that. We have to think ahead into the future. The flat world has given everyone the same opportunity. Notable tool being Internet. We have to make use of this and change the way things happen. We have to start making use of right imaginative brain more and in tandem with our left logical brain. As many famous thinkers have said when a company starts thinking of its memories instead of dreaming it ceases to grow. So instead of being happy and contended with what we have phenomenally achieved we should dream the next big thing and strive to make it a reality. So listen to the famous Aerosmith song “Dream On” on the American [designed in America but made in china] ipod and use your Indian brains to achieve it.

Chetan Bhagat's latest novel!!!

yes you read it right, Chetan bhagat has returned with a new novel. it is titled "The 3 Mistakes of my life" being released on May 8. i am pretty excited about it. will definitely read it as soon as i am able to lay my hands on it. You will find more details about the book here. and by the way his second novel is being made into a movie.

first impression, as also indicated by the cover page is it involves cricket as well. but if i were to write a book the number indicating the mistakes would definitely be a lot higher than on the cover page.

Till my return to india ( which is only when i will be able to read his new book ) i will quench my thirst by re reading his first ( and my most favourite ) book "Five point some one-what not to do at IIT." his second book is titled "one night at the call cener".

let me know which of the first two is your favourite in the comments below. and if you have not read neither, man what have you been busy with till now!!

Venture into the Unknown

Before I begin on the topic I have to apologize for not having blogged this long. Sorry. Don’t expect this to be worth the wait or anything. It hopefully lives to the poor standards of my other posts.

I am sure when people visit different countries for whatever reasons, visiting or work, they see and learn many things. Different people,Culture and place being the obvious ones. I am not going to speak about them. I want to ponder on what changes I discovered in myself. Don’t expect me to say that I have got fit like the many Australians here, but it is my cooking skills. Yes I have started spending more time in the kitchen.Wielding knives, with tears in my eyes i fight many battles with onions. Never in my dreams did I see that I will be cutting vegetables, pouring oil and all the crazy ingredients to prepare my food. But the truth is I have.

In India I and my friends had our own cook who used to come thrice a day to prepare our food and serve it hot at the right time. The only reason I used to switch on the gas stove was for my appetite of coffee at odd hours. Now I rely on the machines for that.
Over here things are a lot different. In my earlier apartment I used to cook food with my friends, discuss the office work and my client with them when cutting vegetables and occasionally slice my own fingers. Now after having moved into a separate apartment I have to handle everything on my own, till my friend joins me after his Indian vacation.

Initially I didn’t like it. Returning home after a tiring day at office you don’t want to wet your hands in doing the cooking chores. But I am surprised to realize that I have started to like it. I wouldn’t dare say that I am ready to serve my food to Gordon ramsay (fame of Kitchen Knightmares and his trademark swearing) and have restricted myself and my friends to be the only rabbits of my kitchen.

I am keen on showing my cookery skills to my family when I return to India. My parents will not be that lucky to wait till then as they will be visiting me here in couple of month’s time. So I am hoping my mom will be able to share a lot of her secrets and hone my skills, before I torture my cousins and others back home.

This part of the house was surely unknown to me until now.So i thought i will pen down history being made in my life that is :). I am curious to know how my friends who are staying away from their parents are coping with their own battles at kitchen, specially boys. Does the onion win or you have the last laugh? So please do share your thoughts,experiences and maybe even recipes in comments below.