Interstellar

Space, Time, Worm Holes, Black Holes, Singularity are all extraordinary concepts and the widest food for an imagination. Combine that with one of the master storytellers of our time and the boundaries of imagination are stretched.

First, the negatives.

The movie Interstellar is almost 3 hours. It is quite lengthy considering Nolan brothers’ reputation to keep screenplay tight and keeping audience continually engaged.

One must not go in with any expectations whatsoever. Especially, Nolan diehard fans. Interstellar cannot be compared with other movies of his like Dark Knight or Inception. Interstellar is a movie of a completely different dimension. And those who have seen this movie, you will agree. J

Few dialogues, mostly while Mathew McConaughey was still on Earth, sounded more like bumper stickers. Not of the usual Nolan quality.

And lastly, few characters were not allowed to essay much scope in this movie, especially, a versatile actor like Casey Affleck.

Now, for the positives.

Plot: The story revolves around a final space mission attempt to find habitable worlds for the future of human kind. Now, although this plot can be attempted by any director and any actor. This could be a Singham 3 script for Bollywood and for Kollywood, Vijaykanth would be the ideal candidate.

But, this is Christopher Nolan.  Naturally, it would be a whole different breed.

The movie is visually superb, just incredible. Top of the mind, would be the visualization of black hole and showcasing time as the further dimension was a superb treat. The second world that they visited was also superb. Although, similarities could be drawn between this and the stunning visuals of Alaska shown in the movie Insomnia. The robot TARS is also definitely worth mentioning.

All the characters in the movie have acted incredibly. And just when I searching for Nolan’s usual stamp of grey, Matt Damon and his role in the second world that the crew visits provided just that. It was really nice to see Matt Damon don a darker role than his usual characters in other movies of his.

And the last but not the least, the concept in itself is definitely worth pondering upon. Gravity cutting across space and time. What would a black hole look like? What would be like to go through it? Powerful stuff indeed.

Summing it up, if you are a dreamer, a thinker and a wanderer, Interstellar is definitely worth it!

Copenhagen Consensus Centre

Just now listened to a Freakonomics podcast titled ‘Fixing the World – Bang for the Buck’. In it, Bjorn Lomborg, a member of the Copenhagen Consensus Centre, when asked what the Centre actually does, started with the following example,

If, $1000 is the cost for curing malaria in one patient, and $10000 is the cost for curing AIDS in one patient, then it can be translated that for the cost of curing AIDS in one patient, 10 cases of malaria can be cured.

He further explained that what the Centre works towards is for cost estimation and doing a cost benefit analysis for any program or initiative. This is done by commissioning top economists and field experts to do studies based on facts and figures and estimating the probable benefits and assigning a figure for the same.

While doing the Cost Benefit Analysis, at the rudimentary level, is assigning a real world value to a vision or a dream. It is definitely worth being part of a discussion than doing a discussion without it. As the speaker illustrated with an example, imagine sitting in a restaurant with all the items listed but with no prices against them. Now, the activity that the Centre does is like assigning a price for each item. Though you may end up ordering the champagne, you will at least understand the balance you may have at the end of the champagne for ordering dessert.

The Millennium Development Goals is an initiative by the UN to list down action items for a 15 year period and then tracking progress. Countries around the world use this as a fulcrum to design their long term initiatives and take them forward. The last set of goals was designed for the period 2000-2015 and they included Eradication of extreme poverty and hunger, reducing child mortality, Improving maternal health and 5 others. With 2015 around the corner, it will be interesting to see the next set of goals for the year 2030. Definitely, sustainability, renewable energy, reducing carbon footprint, climate change will be among the contending topics. 

It will be even more interesting if the aforementioned Copenhagen Consensus Centre is part of this discussion to gravitate the achievability of probable topics that are currently being discussed for finalizing Action 2030.

Quoting from an excerpt from an article in the Tribune on August 8th, 2014, by Dr. Pervez Tahir,
"The selection of goals and targets for 2030 needs to be more focused than they were for 2015, with prioritisation of key areas of weaknesses. An example of this has been provided by the Copenhagen Consensus Centre by prioritising the possible goals on the basis of cost-benefit analysis. It recommends only five goals - nutritional supplements, expanded immunisation, anti-malaria programmes, control of intestinal worms and the prevention of tuberculosis."
Let's wait and see the Millennium Development Goals 2030.

Purattasi Sanikazhamai

Waking up at 4 am, we were dressed and out of the door by 4.45. The roads were totally empty, except for the usual one or two vehicles plying at this hour, and the crescent shaped moon that was shining in the black sky. We entered T.Nagar in a quarter of an hour, and as we entered the Venkatnarayana Road, the whole scene was different than the one we started from and the ones we travelled through. The Venkatachalapathy Temple was beautifully lit with the words “Om Namo Narayana” visible from either of the street end. And so begins the first Saturday.

For those who do not know what the title means, Purattasi is an important Tamil month usually from mid-September to mid-October, the prime deity being Lord Venkatachalapathy (Yes, the Dude in Tirupathi). Temple going on Saturdays (Sanikizhamai) is auspicious during the four weeks in this period. And if, the temple is stamped by TTD (Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam), then it takes the endorsement to a whole new level. But, these Saturdays, are a gold mine for the silent observers, as a whole plethora of characters and idiosyncrasies are always in store.

Anyways, so we reach the temple, and its bustling with activity. Police personnel are everywhere, police cars are parked on either side of the road, with those red and blue lights blinking non-stop to turn a passerby blind. Barricades are lined up, and the people on the side of the barricade, stretched the queue away from the main road, into Ramanujam Street adjoining the Oxford School. My parents hopped off, I parked the car at a point further away and walked back to join them in the queue.

Many types of people can be found here – ardent believers, disheveled souls, charioteers and the crowd in the queue was a healthy mix of them all. Husbands who parked their bikes away were trying to find their wives in the queue with newly bought flowers in plastic bags for offering to the Lord and the wives, adorned with sarees, with washed hair neatly tied up and jasmine flowers pinned, were shouting out to their husbands to make recognition more easily possible. The queue started moving only after a good 15 minutes.

As we reached the main Road, and inched our way ahead, more sights awaited us. People were standing in the middle of the median, putting the elevated platform to good use by getting a darshan of the Lord. This middle standing crowd mostly involved the active morning walkers, who probably were not in a mood for an early morning bath and will probably visit the temple later in the day. And then the bus no. 13 from Triplicane made its way slowly through the Road, promptly stopping in front of the temple for a few good seconds, as the morning travelers peeped through the window for a glimpse and murmur of prayers. And then there were the flower sellers, the slipper safekeepers, and then the guy who sold coffee from his parked bicycle.

As we made our way inside the temple, ‘volunteers’ neatly dressed in pattu veshti and pattu sattai were guiding the crowd towards the exit, who were more interested in getting more of the Darshan, rather than walking towards the Exit.

After the darshan, as we made our way out, the overpowering smell beckoned. The laddus from Tirupati had arrived and were being distributed. Promptly, we bought our packets and moved out. As we were walking towards the car, my mom nodded satisfactorily and said “Very good and satisfying darshan” and my dad, the dutiful husband agreed. The words cheered the charioteer. We got to the car and drove away from the building up traffic and the never ending queue and the Temple.

One Saturday down, Three more to go… Happy Weekend Folks ! 

A Sad Parody

Anish joined a company last year and was assigned to a project which had high visibility. He was part of a very small team and he worked very hard in implementing the project and making the project live. He was thenceforth actively involved in the implementation of new requirements and other modules.

Last month, he was reviewed by his Head as to what his rating should be, on a scale of 5. He said that he expected nothing less than 4. Clearly surprised, the Head asked him why he should get a 4. To which Anish replied that he was there since the beginning of the project, right after the requirement finalisation stage. He went on to explain the role he played in the implementation of the project. The Head nodded his head in defeat and said “I Accept. You have done a lot. I will give you a 4. But lot more has to be done and I am expecting you to do a lot more.”

Elated how the discussion went, Anish went home to his parents and shared the good news and told them that with a minimum of 1,00,000 coming his way, he will be able to contribute significantly to this month’s house expenses.

Time passed, and finally the day of salary credit arrived. After seconds ticked by like hours, Anish finally received an sms that salary has been credited. He opened it and was stunned to find only 40,000 was credited.

Confused as to what could have happened, only one conclusion he drew – that HR had made an error while calculating his incentive. But when he showed his salary slip to his friend & colleague, his friend quickly suggested that Anish’s rating was 3. A one-to-one mail from the Head to Anish stating that his final moderated rating was 3, only confirmed Anish’s worst fears.

Rife with anger and betrayal of how his Head could backstab him like that, he reached office the next day. His immediate supervisor, Sandeep, who had returned after an official trip, received Anish’s grief in full.

Once listening to Anish’s account fully, Sandeep asked if he had paid attention to the word “moderated” in his Head’s email. Looking at the quizzical look on Anish’s face, Sandeep explained that after discussing the ratings with the employees, the final collection of all the ratings is put before the board. And then they decide, depending on the funds available, what the rating of each employee should be. And one of the parts of the “moderation” is where the tenure in the company comes into play.

If it has been less than 6 months since an employee joined, then the maximum rating he/she will get is 2. If its more than 6 months and less than a year then the maximum rating he/she will get is 3.

i.e. what is being implied is even if a guy/lady works their butt off and are eligible for 5 rating (implying Outstanding performance), if he/she has joined just 5 months back, then he will get a rating 2 (implying below Average performance).

Companies & Corporations need to be aware of the message that they are sending out, for their each and every action has dozens of implied interpretations. While I give it that a company has to budget the money it hands out for performance bonuses, it should not be at the cost of lowering performance ratings. Say, for example, a company is a bit tight on financial front; it doesn’t mean that the highest rating that can be awarded can be lowered to 2 instead of 5. This will prove disastrous, as the company is clearly sending out a message that no matter how hard the employees work, they will be rated either average / below average.

Even more heinous model of performance rating is that of a bell curve, where it states that for every employee getting a 5, there has to be an employee getting a 1 rating to balance and form a beautiful bell curve. The messages that are clearly sent out are as follows:

• ·         All employees cannot perform above average, by rule
• ·         Even if all employees do perform above average, the company will lower your rating and declare your performance as below average or unworthy of accomplishment

The above mentioned problems arise from the urge to use a single index/scale to evaluate performance and also to hand out bonuses.

Rather, the two can be separated, and brought together through quantified rules. Say, for example, an employee can be awarded 5 for outstanding performance, but since his vertical is yet to make revenue for the company, bonus rating can be given as 2. Those companies obsessed with time spent with the company can also include the same as a factor to calculate bonus awarded to an employee. Then a combination of the above mentioned factors can be used to calculate bonus. (Example: (5/5 – performance rating)*(2/5 – bonus rating)*(11/12 – time associated with company)*(variable pay allocated in the CTC)

Lot of thought is required while drafting a company’s policies, for every policy clearly stands for a message a company believes in.

Sadly, the companies like the one Anish works for, will beat their chest about the transparency in their company while clearly ignoring the messages that are being sent out for the world to see.

As the year end came near, a questionnaire was sent out by the company to all its employees, along with a mail from CEO. Anish opens the email only to find that it’s a “Great Places to Work” survey with the CEO’s message opening with a one-liner “Let us make our company proud.”

I wonder what the results of the survey will turn out to be.

Auto Finance vs. Banks

Today I read an article mentioning that the banks are going to “approach the Competition Commission of India citing alleged unfair trade practices by car makers” Now, a backdrop of who they want to fight against, is necessary.

The auto makers operating in India like BMW, Audi, Toyota etc. have begun something called “Non Banking Finance Companies (NBFC’s)” to provide customized finance to their customers. Looking at the concept as a whole, it makes sense right? It wouldn’t have taken the automakers long time to figure out their customer’s ire about the banking loan procedures and flexibility, which in turn play a hand in shrinking the auto market, while people may postpone their decision to purchase cars as a luxury symbol they cannot yet afford. The companies extending to help their customers by offering flexible repayment options and minimum hassle free paperwork through NBFCs (set up through their own corporate affiliate companies) just extends the bond between a company and its end consumer.

The article mentions that the Indian car loan market is valued at Rs. 40,000 crore! And instead of banks rolling up their sleeves and getting competitive to fight for their share in the market, it is indeed shocking to read that the banks are approaching a regulatory authority to “regulate” the competition. Why cite “unfair practices”? If the banks wanted to fight for a share in this market, then they should have done so by playing the game.

A sad picture painted by the banks in India, portraying a child running to his Daddy to win a game of pure ability! Will the Daddy play a patron of free market or a bully, is yet to be seen.

Note: The article referred to here is from the Economic Times (25^th Oct 2012 issue), titled “Auto Finance: Banks to Approach CCI)

Tweeting a contradiction

The leading article in today’s Economic Times starts like this “India seeks to arm itself with the power to block Twitter and other social networking sites and regions, but it may find it difficult to do so as telecom companies and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) say this is technologically unfeasible and exorbitantly expensive”

It is clear that the Indian Government and politicians are beautifully orchestrating a contradiction, by using the recent communal tensions in Assam. To use the foul language of non-producers and looters, their speeches will undoubtedly go like this “In these difficult times, the Indian Government has made the difficult decision to block social media in all the important states, for matters of internal security and running a democratic nation.” The underscored meaning of that line will be that the Government knows its power and seeks to expand and use the same.

It is the thought of blocking media that’s absolutely baffling. How can the top Government officials utter such a contradiction without batting an eyelid? No clue indeed!

What the Government should rather do is to get off their bums and actually make an effort to learn and use social media effectively, rather than blocking and condemning a form of expression that they cannot understand.

But the article goes on to say that internet providers and the telecom operators have said they only have the capability to block websites and social networking sites on a national basis. Well, that’s a relief. Because if the Indian Government still goes on to say that they would block, at least they would have expressed outright their intentions to join its Chinese counterpart with open arms. 

Namma Ooru Autokaaran (Chennai’s Own Autowallahs)

Today there was an interesting article in the Times of India front page pointing out just how long auto rickshaws have been running without meter – since 1998! And how a 6km ride in a Chennai auto lightens your pocket by Rs. 100 whereas the same trip will cost around 56 in Bangalore, 72 in Mumbai and 46 in Delhi. All the stats there are point to the grave nature of this situation especially as the article rightly points out that with “the gaps in public transport increasing, the auto rickshaws do ensure the last mile connectivity to offices, homes, schools and colleges.”  The article also mentions the argument of the other stakeholder – the autowallahs’ argument, which mainly centers on the absence of a sound tariff structure and provisions for the transport authority to regularly revise according to the change in the prices of fuel.

I have been to Bangalore many times, and I love the auto rickshaw rides there. So borrowing the basic concept from there, the meters in the Chennai autos should mainly display the distance of commute. A price chart can be issued by the transport authority. A slot in the back of the auto driver’s seat can display the chart along with the driver’s identity, license and vehicle registration details. Any sane person will agree that it is easier to change the charts every year rather than calibrating the meters themselves. But keeping in mind the possibility of the customized charts popping up with way higher prices than the actual, the Transport Authority can issue these price charts with a hologram which will make it a tad difficult to replicate.

The reader will now be wondering why in spite of the tone of this article, I have chosen a title that is the opposite. All said and done, the Chennai city’s description is incomplete without the bright yellow auto rickshaws. I wanted to highlight the steps that can be taken to make Chennaites’ proud of their autowallahs as part and parcel of Chennai.

PS: The source of the stats and statistics used in the first paragraph is from the Times of India news article (4^th September 2012)