Snap Judgment!

How much time does it take for an interviewer to judge the appropriateness of a candidate in an Interview?

Just read this incredible book “BLINK” by Melcolm Gladwell. And what he claims is that it takes less than the first 2 seconds for you to get selected or rejected in an interview. The rest of the time is spent on reinforcing the decision already taken. It seems hard to believe this. What he says is even your conscious mind may not be aware of the decision already taken by unconscious mind. He comes up with pulsating arguments about the decisions that we take in real life in a blink of an eye. There are two kinds of decision we normally have to take in our daily life. The simple mundane decisions of daily life, that gives us enough time to work out the pros and cons of our decision. For these kinds of decisions we should use the analytical skills of the conscious mind to reach our decisions. The other types of decision we may have to take are very complicated decisions which have too many variables in it accompanied by the lack of time. For such decisions we should let our unconscious mind make the choice. That is, let your instincts take you to your decisions.

But, this is against conventional wisdom which says, more complicated the problem, more deliberation and critical analysis is required to come to the correct decision. In real life you may not have the time for such deliberations. You have to decide on the spot, in reflex action. This is extensively used by the people in the military or by traders in a stock exchange or even by a batsman while batting on a cricket field. All of them have to take decisions under extreme pressure and lack of time. What they are trained for is through rigorous practice they have imbibed the nuances to their unconscious level. When a situation demands quick split-second decision they let their instinct take over. Our unconscious can process information very quickly without the realization of our conscious mind.

The End Game is: Train your unconscious mind through rigorous practice (day in and day out practice) in the field of your choice and believe in your instincts, it will never let you down!

Relationships: How are they shaped?

Humans are defined by the web of relationships that they form. When we are born, our parents are the first ones with whom we establish relationships which is unique as it has a great influence on the personality we develop later on in life. As we start going to school, as a child our world expands and we get to meet new people in the class room & take first few steps in the relationship called ‘Friendship’. As we move up the class from school to college and then to job, the people with whom we interact gradually become friends and we share mind space with them. But, every Relationship including ‘Friendship’ is dependent on a lot of variables & normally comes with a shelf-life of its own. We can defiantly prolong and in a few cases take the relationship to the next crest before it falls down. Time and distance are two important impediments to any relationship (even in this 21st century connected world).

Just think of how many friends from school you are in touch with.. now. In spite of the social Networking sites which have helped all of us to find long lost friends from our school, the euphoria of having re-discovered those friends dies down within weeks. It is but natural.. we grow as individuals over the years & even though, we do feel nostalgic about the good old days but our priorities change. We look at these friends from the Prism of the Present which may bring about a different set of feelings then what used to be.

Life is like the water of a river, the water has to meet the ocean some day. And relationships are like the river-bed on which the water flows. The water has to leave the riverbed as it moves along & merges with the ocean. As, it moves along, it does carry a very minuscule amount of sand from the river-bed towards the ocean and forms a Delta at the end. So, it is futile to shed tears or have regrets for those relationships that have reached their expiry date. That is what it was meant to be.. if neither of you in a relationship could find the next upswing before it went downhill. So, it’s better to move on then ponder too much.

Get a move on in Life!

P.S: True Love in a relationship makes its shelf life tend to infinity as the two individuals are committed to finding the next high.. no matter what. So, it is Love which binds a couple, parents to their children and vice-versa, devotees to god and even friends together. But, in most cases Love is Lost when we lose faith on the other partner. Most of us still keep the skeleton of the relationship going.. in a futile attempt to re-discover it.. Alas, that never happens and it brings more sorrow upon us.
So, it’s better to let it pass.. Never regret it.. As said ‘Relationships’ are the river-beds on which the water flows.. water can carry that many sand pebbles only.. not all.

Memories of 'The City of Joy'

As I bid adieu to the City of Joy: Kolkata, in a few days time, it is an opportune time to pay tribute to the place where I started earning & where my transition from a rocky Engineering Graduate to a Professional took shape. As I move on in life, Kolkata will always remain special. Your first Job & the place you did your first job is always romanticized later in life by you, irrespective of whether you enjoyed it or not. A lot of intangibles one gets to learn as you become financially independent.

As I look back at these 2 and half years here in Kolkata, I identify myself into two parts :
a) Hell lot work in office which was challenging but left little time for anything else.
b) A lot of opportunity to sock in the Bengali culture though I may not have utilized it to the fullest. Well, Durga Puja, the 10 day festival is a celebration of life here & is unlike any thing else. The week long carnival, you have to experience it to understand how it is a self expression of people here.

I appreciate the way people take life as it comes here. Among all Metros, we can safely assume that this is the least cosmopolitan. It is a kind of complement as bigger cities like Mumbai & Bangalore are finding it difficult to cope up with the growing demand of basic Infrastructure. Some parts of the city is cocooned in a time wrap which makes you wonder if the clock had turned back a hundred year. Every street in Kolkata is named after one of many personalities that have set their feet at these shores.

We are always biased towards the contemporary. The past and its achievements are rarely taken as a bench mark. May be, because it is difficult to visualize the past through the eyes of the present. During my stay here, I became more aware about the heritage & legacy that this place denotes. The Indian Renaissance of the 19th Century had its epicenter here. As the Capital city of British India, it was also the financial hub and all the thought leaders of India resided in the by-lanes of Kolkata. Things have changed in the last 63 years since Independence. Kolkata is no longer the Financial capital, the crown now proudly rests with Mumbai. The mind share of the people is now captured by Mumbai. The view about India starts with Mumbai and fades away by the time it reaches Kolkata in the East. It is similar to the world view which has moved from Europe to USA and may finally come to China in the later half of the 21st century.

I happened to read the book 'The City of Joy' by Dominique Lapierre. It was kind of an eye opener. The destitution of the Rickshaw pullers & the inhuman atrocities brought upon them is insurmountable. It is a tragedy that these Rickshaws pulled by Human Horses can still be seen in the lanes of Kolkata even though officially it has been banned long back in 1949. This legacy of the British Raj still persists. It is an irony of life for these people as they may starve to death if not for these Japanese made Rickshaws.

To end it, I have to quote some thing which epitomizes every Bengali & their homesickness, may be it is bit of a cliché:
“You can take a Bengali out of Bengal but not Bengal out of a Bengali”

I hope to see Bengal attaining glory of the past and as Mamata di is all set to capture power & come to writer's building next year, hopefully she will concentrate more on development & less on politics. My wish is let Bengal make headlines for development projects rather than bandhs and gheraos.

P.S : Will surely miss the jovial & carefree people of this place.

Bidaa-ye Bengal!

Herd Behavior: In the Context of Indian Education System

In the Indian Education context :
Why is it that every one who passes out from school wants to be an Engineer? In most cases, students are forced into doing Engineering as it offers them better chance of landing a job. Though, the real reason is the Herd Mentality which is at play. We as a society are addicted to HITS or Blockbusters. So, in most cases people do not realize what they are good at, rather follow what others are doing. That is the real reason of sky-rocketing applicants of Engineering Entrance Tests.

Now, move-over Engineering, the same story repeats when students complete their B.Tech. Now, everyone going for MBA.. why shouldn't I. Herd Behavior at play yet again.

We may not realize it but herd behavior is strongly built into our DNA, there are very few who can move out and choose a less trodden path like Rancho of 3 Idiots.

Note: Well, this is not to deride people including me who have followed the herd mentality to move into a B-school.. after all if its in your DNA.. you hardly have a chance to override it. Any ways you can always give it a try. Something to ponder about.. Any one Listening?

Behavioral Psychology : Herd Behavior!

Consider these situations:

1) Financial Crisis:

Why did Economists across the world failed to see through the Financial Crisis that hit the world economy in 2008? There have been a whole set of reasons been put forward for the failure of the Financial Economy to withstand the Sub-Prime Crisis & inevitability of the Credit Crunch. Mostly, it has hovered around inadequate regulation.. incorrect Risk assessment of the financial structured products like CDO,CBS,MBS etc (These are derivative products which is understood by a chosen few.. others are clueless of the risks involved)

Well, the aspect of human behavior has been largely ignored. Paul Krugman, the Nobel Prize winner & famous economist, has advocated that the root cause of the Crisis could be the irrational behavioral traits shown by humans in some situations especially when deciding in a group even though individually they may be rational human beings. This is a new and upcoming branch of finance known as Behavioral Finance which explores the herd behavioral traits in people when they make financial decisions.

Btw: Being irrational.. is being human.. just that you have to consider this irrationality when you are developing those complex mathematical models & financial products.

2)Communal violence:
In a Communal or ethnic violence taking place any where in the world.. you ll find perfectly normal humans behaving irrationally like beasts in groups in those moments of raze & madness.. killing fellow humans. The herd mentality allows them to justify their acts to themselves.

That is why, the World Leaders should take care of the irrationality involved in human behavior & have proper checks and balances else it erupts like a volcano with catastrophic results, as in both the above cases.

Sachin : 'The Phenomenon'

Sachin scored the first double hundred in ODIs recently & the media has gone ga-ga over it. But, he doesn't need this knock to affirm his greatness. Its almost like adding a bucket of water into the ocean.. does that increase the height of the ocean? no it does not. Even if he goes on to add more records to his name, it will just be a side show to the phenomenon called 'Sachin'.
His achievement off the field: the way he has carried himself,his modesty, a role model for all generations across the world, outstrip his greatness on the cricket field. If India goes on to win the World cup next year.. it will be the fitting tribute to this phenomenon. The Team India under Dhoni should win it for Sachin. That will be a perfect culmination of his extraordinary cricketing career. But, even if India do not Win the World cup & Sachin has to retire without that world cup medal around his neck still 'Sachin' : The 'phenomenon' will live for ever.. long after he leaves the cricket field.

What is life?

Meaning of life is tough to know. If you look at it from a purely biological perspective, humans or living organisms as we know them have evolved over billion of years since the universe came into being. Is it just the culmination of the Darwin's theory of natural selection? Is it just a coincidence that life came up on earth? Is it no different from the non-living things like rocks & mountains? Or does life has a meaning far greater then the earthly existence? How are living things different then nonliving?

Well, you may come up with answers like we are made of organic matter.. We grow.. we die.. But, how do you infer that life and death is what it is as we know it.. Life may have a completely different meaning for things we may consider as nonliving. For example, virus (not the electronic virus.. think biology) is a weird kind of entity (we are not sure they are living or nonliving). Strictly speaking, they are living when they are inside your body and the moment they leave your body they become nonliving. So, it is difficult to predict how life will be defined may be 1000 years from now. It could turn out that life is not unique to Earth and it may be more common. It may also be that the universe we live in is not unique & there could be millions like these all around. Knowing where we stand is difficult.. it is like staying in a deep well, unable to find what lies beyond..

No definite answer to the puzzle called life!

What makes people Successful?

Well, you may have read a lot about the essential traits of a successful man. Great pioneers in all works of life have been considered successful. They all have the obvious qualities such as dedication, devotion, discipline, passion for their work and many more. But, one thing that stands out is how they all have channelized their emotions & taken care of it.

Most of us don't realize that how much what we think about ourselves impacts positively or negatively to our chances of doing a work successfully. Proper nourishment of your emotions is a prerequisite to having a successful & fulfilling life. People relate this to EQ ( Emotional Quotient) which is defined as " The ability to identify and manage the emotions of one's self or a group".

Success is more than just emotional intelligence or EQ. Our mind is a complex system which still hides a lot of secrets then it reveals. The conscious mind is what helps us do the daily mundane work, recall faces, names etc.The Unconscious mind is what drives us to take critical decisions. How many time has it happened with you that : you are really bad at remembering birthdays or anniversaries and just on 'D' day you somehow recall your friends birthday or Anniversary. Or you slept at night with an alarm to wake you up early morning to catch a flight or a train & you woke up just before your alarm rang. Well, in all these cases your sub-conscious mind is at work. It goes into hyperactive mode when you are fast asleep but even while you are awake it is active, even though you may not realize it.

The unconscious mind is the source of most of our actions. It is this sub-conscious mind which successful people tap into, knowingly or unknowingly & bring about the change they want to see, within themselves and beyond. How did Thomas Edition invent the electric Bulb? : It took him 1000 attempts to get it right. How many people would have tried that many times? Most of us would have left it, after 10 attempts or a few may have gone up to 100. What kept him going was more then just a hunch, he was tapping into his Unconscious mind which kept assimilating each failure & kept motivating him to try again.

So, pay attention to your unconscious which takes cues from the environment we live in. It is connected to the conscious mind. Have a optimistic outlook towards life & most importantly, don't think negatively about successfully completing a work even though it may seem daunting. Stay calm & cheerful and see how things change in life.