Installing and running HDDM in python

 Installing and using HDDM

(Mostly from here : with modifications as on Jan 22, 2022.)

I use anaconda for my package management. So the steps will be for a conda installation of python.

1. install anaconda for windows 64bit
2. install the build tools for visual basic (here  - go all the way down and install the build tools. Everything else will just take up too much space)

in Anaconda prompt: 

1. conda create -n hddmEnv python=3.6.10
2. conda activate hddmEnv
3. conda install pandas patsy

The other blog says to downgrade pandas to version 0.20.0, but statsmodels no longer supports that version of pandas. I am just using the latest version and seeing if it  fails somewhere.

EDIT: the hddm code uses the old pandas method of updating rows (uses df.ix instead of df.loc). I have updated pandas to 0.21.0 (the lowest version required by statsmodels) and it works (as in I can run the Go/No-go tutorial on the official HDDM site).

1. pip install pandas==0.21.0
2. conda install pymc=2.3.7
3. conda install -c anaconda statmodels
4. pip install kabuki
5. pip install cython 
6. pip install HDDM==0.7.3

Then go to anaconda navigator, click on the dropdown below and you should see your new environment.

Select the new environment you created (hddmEnv) and install whatever IDE you are comfortable with.

This solution works as of Jan 22, 2022.

 

MNC FMCG in E-Commerce

E-commerce is the next big thing in India. By simply sticking around in the market, booking losses and building consumer habits both Flipkart and Amazon seem to have got the basics of category penetration right. It is exactly what any long term investor would do - play a game of chicken with their competitor and hope that the other folds first. Even if they don't, they hope entrenched habits will give them regular repeat purchases.

While this is good marketing sense, the learning which has happened over the past few years indicates that this makes it difficult for premium MNC brands to be a part of these e-commerce websites.

I think it is just WRONG that premium brands are available at the mandi that is Flipkart/Amazon. So let me explain why I say this and also how we need to go about the entire e-commerce strategy.

How people shop

To understand this let's look at how the e-commerce shopper shops for his/her goods online.
It typically starts at the Google search bar (If you use Bing/Yahoo I apologize for your choice). Let's say I want to buy a book. I go into Google and type in "Sandman Harback Edition"

Pretty soon (in about .48 seconds actually) Google returns with around  62400 results.

Then, it's upto me to select the link I want to go into and purchase the book.

Occasionally I might directly go into the site itself, but I know that I can get results for sure from Google and leave the choosing of the site for later. If I find multiple sites with the book I want, I use the middle mouse click to open each in a different tab and compare prices (and delivery dates - only if it's tantalizingly close to someone's birthday).

Hence, any product available on multiple sites essentially ends up being a commodity that is fighting itself on price - even if it is a brand.

We know this. That is why computer manufacturers are coming up with exclusive partnerships with e-commerce sites or publicly illegitimising the sale of their goods from certain sites altogether.

Using the right channels

Take a look at the comparison between the offline and online channels that I drew up.

A brand is a source of knowledge, reputation, experience, traceability and exclusivity. E-commerce websites thrive on variety, convenience and price - if they do not have exclusive dealerships. Hence they will attempt to leverage the brand attributes to hook the customers in while still competing on the same attributes that form their DNA. This erodes brand equity and the brand ends up being a commodity.

A recent report says FMCG may come to e-commerce in a big way - but one look at product category tells us otherwise. What are the customers buying at these sites? Herbal, ayurvedic - the esoteric products which are not easily available offline, Online is where people go to research these products buying them and the customer says "Lo and behold! Here I have the very same products I was researching available for sale! Let me buy it.".

Then where are the FMCG companies seeing online volumes from? Channel undercutting and leakages may be the answer. Distributors may be using e-commerce to get their volumes. While this is in the interest of the current sales, long term brand equity will take a hit

Why MNC brands should tread carefully

MNC brands are all about globalization which requires homogenization for which price control is important. Unless there is tight execution of channel partnership/control to prevent cross trading, leakages will happen, prices online will fall and brand equity will go for a toss.
The way forward is for MNC brands to build exclusive online dealer partners and ensure no cross channel leakages. the good news is we have done this before. A good way to look at this would be simply as a channel conflict problem without getting carried away by the "digital" tag.

Why Street dogs are a problem on our campus

Street Dogs are territorial

Photo Credit

Street Dogs Bite

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Street Dogs' Poop is unclean

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Street dogs move around in packs

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Encouraging them will only make them worse

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The author wishes to clarify that the views presented here are the personal opinions of the author. They do not reflect the opinions of the campus mentioned in the title. The author also wishes to thank the sources for their photos while reminding the readers that the author may or may not endorse the views presented on those sites but merely used the pictures as a visual aid to express his own views. 

Void's Journal, Jan 23rd 2014.

Slot V is an interesting journey. It’s all around you. You can see it. Hear it. The way people speak in this slot. Maybe it's the course content, maybe it's the accumulated learning, maybe it's the accumulated learning about how to speak about the course content; but suddenly everyone's an expert. We all seem to have read the latest McKinsey quarterly, BCG perspectives and the high browed among us even know the closing stock prices on each day. Until you decide to Google these for yourself. We all know what Kejriwal or (preferably and - what are you? An urchin?)Modi has to say and more importantly have an opinion about it, however half-baked it may be. The suits from the Summers season are gone, but sometimes you can feel the spirit of it in the air. Knowledgeable sounding verdicts, convictions of other people's judgement delivered with the power of hindsight-the “oh-so obvious”-ness of it all seeps into the atmosphere. A tweak of the interest rate here, an optimistic assumption there and soon the success of every successful proposal in the past looks inevitable, as does the doom of all those which were condemned to failure.

Rationality is assumed and then that assumption is broken. There are chants of "goal incongruence" all around you. Reports are made, borrowed and remade as are the facts in them. And then there are the PPTs. Aah.. The road to hell is indeed paved with good intentions. I am sure when the historians look, they would find the kind misguided soul who saw it fit to deliver Powerpoint presentations to his boss to earn a few brownie points. Maybe they would condemn him in the future. But this is little respite for today's MBA graduate for whom this particular monstrosity seems to be the work of the devil himself.  The NPV is negative, you see. But then, I never understood PPTs. I'm more of a listener myself, as Peter Drucker would put it. Oops, sorry. There I go quoting my MBA fundamentals again. It seems to be a bad habit I have picked up.

Back to the ramble. There are surveys and questionnaires filled up by the principle of reciprocal back scratching. Frameworks are learnt and applied with the grace and efficacy of a sieve for separating milk and water. But no matter, the bell curve of the normal grading scheme watches all. It is a kind and benevolent ruler. It understands that there isn't time. That there are trade-offs. There are always trade-offs (But never a compromise, you understand? That's a bad word-except in HR/OB courses where that is the lifeline you hang on to, in order to stay afloat in the class participation component). We all nod knowledgeably and in agreement. The best minds in the country seldom disagree.

Slot V is interesting. 

{Edit Credit : Patient Little Minnu}

On October 31^st 2013, Unilever CEO Paul Polman said that Unilever could grow as much as six times if it were to tap the market potential in rural India. Coming from the CEO of a company which makes 60% of its sales in emerging-market countries, this deserves closer inspection.

With the slowdown of emerging market economies, it becomes essential for corporates to find new markets in these countries. According to the latest available census, around 70% of the Indian population resides in 600000-odd villages, and a large portion of this market is underserved.

According to a Nielson report, a 1% increase in rural incomes could mean an approxiamately ₹10000crore increase in buying power. Hence marketers are rolling up their sleeves and throwing in their gauntlet to battle it out for this consumer space.

The challenges facing marketers are many. But they are discovering that rewards are there to be reaped, if only they change their marketing paradigms.

The Indian rural consumer has traditionally been looked at as a one-dimensional, utilitarian, agrarian consumer. This condescending view may even have been true at some point, but as our economy has opened up and our markets have evolved, so have consumer lifestyles and preferences.

The SEC (Socio-Economic Classification), the market segmenting tool used by most companies in the Indian context, has also been revised to reflect this. The new SEC does not recognise urban and rural markets separately indicating that these markets are coming of age. There are several reasons for this.

Firstly, in the age of free flow of information and communication, the most expensive activity for marketers-that of category development – has been made much easier. Through mass media, and in some cases, innovative marketing schemes, marketers have been able to change the mind-set of the rural consumer to accept the concept of a disposable income and its consumption.

Secondly, disposable incomes have increased in rural India in real terms. This aspect is perhaps the one most ignored by those who sing paeans and dirges about Indian economic liberalisation alike. All official estimates agree that poverty levels in India are declining- the latest figures put it at 22% compared to 37% earlier. This means that wealth creation post liberalisation has permeated to all strata of the economy in some form. Though the quantum of growth is different, an NCAER (National Council for Applied Economic Research) study has shown that rural income growth is keeping pace with urban income growth.

The above two factors synergise and add a third positive dimension- that of the value sensitive rural customer. Rural audiences are now willing to pay higher than the lowest price for gaining tangible and intangible benefits.

The presence of these factors in rural India, though encouraging, does not imply that marketers can blindly apply the same formulae which spelt success in the urban setting and hope to succeed in the rural landscape. In fact, ignoring the unique rural barriers may spell doom not only for the ill-advised marketer but perhaps for the category itself as competitors will tend to stay away from a market which has bred a failure story.

A low disposable income implies that rural consumers will be willing to spend more frequently on smaller SKUs than their urban counterparts. Cadbury, for example, which plans to reach 80% of rural India in the next 2-3 years is aware of this and makes sure that their products are available within the ₹5-₹10 price range that a rural child gets to spend per week.

 The smaller SKUs increase the complexity of the distribution channel for marketers. Firms are looking at innovative ways to reduce their distribution costs. HUL’s (Hindustan Unilever) Project Shakti is just one such example. By encouraging female entrepreneurs, they have gained business partners who in turn help them reduce distribution costs.

Purchase decisions in the rural setting are subjected to greater effects of influencers and buyers than in cities. This is because familial ties are stronger and pooled usage of certain items may occur. However this does not mean that personal care products do not sell in the rural setting. Talcum powder and sachets of shampoo are two cases in point illustrating either extreme of this argument.

Taking the rural customer’s needs for granted will incur a heavy price. Good marketing practice suggests that products and services be introduced only after evaluating their fit to a market and not based on success in other urban or even other rural markets. This is more valid in the rural context because cultural implications are more varied across rural. In contrast, though urban markets are individually cosmopolitan, a fair degree of homogeneity can exist across urban centres.

Marketers must also not be surprised to find new uses of their products in rural markets. The use of Horlicks as a health food for cattle in Bihar and Godrej Hair Dye as a cosmetic to improve the market value of buffalo in North India illustrate this point. Unstated consumer needs are just as likely to occur in rural markets and it is upto the marketers to sharpen their peripheral vision for capitalising on these.

However, all these challenges are outweighed by one compelling argument. In an underserved, underdeveloped market, each brand has the opportunity to define its category. Chik Shampoo and Ghadi detergent did exactly this and have acquired a sizeable customer base. Firms willing to take the risk will reap the benefits in the long run by creating a positioning which will be tough to unsettle.

By the looks of it, firms are willing to take the risk. But sustainable success can be bred only by losing the condescending attitude towards rural markets and accepting that they are a much more complex challenge than earlier envisioned.

I don't know why I feel this anger,
Un-passionate and bleak, it fails its purpose.
No riveting narrative in its bosom it holds,
No sorrow it exudes no reason it proclaims- this melancholy ire.

Not unfettered and wild, just ....dead defeated and mild
It fails to evoke even my own sympathy -this accursed barren excuse of an anger
It has no substance - no character befitting its traditional stature- it falls flat under the weight of its expectations
Just overbearing emptiness-and affair of contemptuous, pitiful despair.

I fail to understand it,
and this furthers feeds my disgust -my inability to comprehend,
Feeds my disgust over defeat at the hands of this unworthy opponent

It is usually I who cage my anger.
Keep her under lock and bolt.
For fear over what she may unleash if left unchained.
Now karma has come back to bite me
And I do not take lightly
To this reversal of roles- it feels my hand is forced
and my anger has caged me inside me.

The recent killing of the Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud by a US drone puts the precarious position our north western neighbour finds itself in.The government has come out and openly condemned the attack and killing of the terrorist leader.
For most Indians this would be an "Ahah!" moment and would confirm their suspicions that Pakistan is breeding terrorists for the sole purpose of attacking India and that somehow the 180 million odd people all agree on this one aim in life. But they would be missing at least one crucial point- that Pakistan- irrespective of whether or not they colluded with the Taliban- has no idea how to control them. The streets of Peshawar after the incident apparently wore a deserted look for fear of backlash.And why not? The Taliban has issued a threat directly to the Pakistani people saying that they "know who their real enemy is" and that their revenge will be "unprecedented".
In the backdrop of an announcement by the Pakistani PM that Pakistan would engage in a peace dialogue with the Taliban, this killing makes the nation a snake in the grass in the eyes of the terrorist organisation. That is not a perception anybody wants to give these guys who are hiding in your own backyard and feel no qualms about killing children.Oh, and the previous line is not a sentimental outburst- these guys actually do NOT care about beating up children. Among the list of leaders being considered for the top post is Mullah Fazlullah - whose henchmen attacked Malala.
And the US -as has been its wont in the western Asia- is shrugging its shoulders. They probably expected accolades for taking out top Taliban henchmen one by one. They are trying to freedom so hard they forget about the people they are freedoming for. The more they refuse to pull out of this region, the more pregnant it becomes with problems.
And in the midst of it all is the Pakistani who is battling a 9% inflation rate and petrol price hikes, unsure of whether or not to step out , and if he does, unsure if he will step back in.

1) News article : http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/iphone-5s-and-iphone-5c-reaction-and-first-impressions-8808622.html

Apple has always known to be an innovator (or at best when it just misses the innovator train- an analyser) in the technology space. Focussing on premium products with enhanced user experience has allowed it to ward off stiff competition from Asian manufacturers. This time round they seem to have gone for a two-way market stretch. Initial reactions were mixed and only sales will tell if they achieved their goal.

With the iPhone 5S Apple has won the innovation badge for this round of the sparring with Samsung which had really taken the fight to its US competitor with the S2,S3,S4 and Galaxy series. The new fingerprint technology and the 64 bit processor have reassured the public that innovation did not die with the death of its founder. Full points for being a prospector(high Customer Centric innovation)

The 5C seems to be targeted to the Chinese market. With plastic bodies, a range of colours and a comparitively cheaper pricing, I believe Apple is testing the waters to take the fight to Samsung's own backyard of competing on cost. They seem to want to position themselves as the Analyser in the Asian market combining trademark innovation focus with a new found vigor towards cost-centric measures.

It will be interesting to see if this strategy works out.

2) Bounded rationality : A thought experiment suggests that complete rationality would in fact lead to death, since the individual would not even be able to get up from his/her bed without first considering the entire infinity of possibilities. Therefore, rationality does not seem to be the natural state of the human mind. This goes very well with the way laws are framed in our country(as a conversation with the "ordinary and reasonable person"). Natural laws also seem to suggest that entropy is preferred over order and hence it would not be erroneous to assume that tackling such entropy requires a fair degree of heuristically determined behaviour. If this is true for an individual, it must be so for an organisation as well.

3) If believing in leadership affecting the culture of a firm is difficult, one need not look very far from the tech giants with leaders well known for their quirky habits which later formed the basis of the organisations they founded or helped shape. First to come to mind of course, is Google with its "Don't be evil" Manifesto.Based on an innate apprehension that sales would kill the culture of pure technology for technology's sake, it is perhaps this motto which consistently keeps Google high on the list of most admired brands.

Then of course there is Zuckerberg's "Code wins arguments" . It tells you facebook has passionate coders, end of story. Rumor has it that Hackathons- a favourite of Zuckerberg- are the way most of the stuff at Facebook is invented.

These companies today stand for the values that their leaders stand for. Their employees are passionate technologists before all else. This is keeping in line with their founders' visions. Their economic success is just incidental to this value fit.

Contrast - Microsoft: Steve Ballmer is an exceptional salesman. Under him Microsoft launched XBox, acquired Nokia, brought out Windows 8 and completely revamped itself. However since he has taken over the share price has remain well below the $50 mark when he took over. (Partly due to changes in dividend policy). This is because it made mistakes- Vista, Zune, completely misreading the mobile market until it was forced to make an acquisition. It took ore than 10 years for them to find a balance under his leadership.

Apple- same story , different names. Headed by a visionary techie founder soon after  his death iOS6 maps happened. Even the recent iPhone 5C has not been met with the same thunderous applause that Apple had grown used to in the past decade.

All of this points to the notion that the continuation of the original story a company stood for is extremely important in its future. Tech companies which have their founding fathers at their head are thriving. But one must wonder- how do they ensure that posterity does not dilute that vision?

Articles: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323665504579030842346520218.html

http://theweek.com/article/index/246045/tk-the-story-behind-5-great-business-mantras

4) Here is an interesting read on a large scale re-branding exercise carried out by Argos. Over 96% of UK's population lives ten mins away from an Argos store is a household name in the UK. The company changed its internal culture in 2003 responding to employee needs. Then in 2010 it embarked on an ambitious marketing mix and re-branding strategy. This seems to have worked. Does this show that any re-branding or external facing change must also be predated by an internal change wherever necessary? The People Expess case study had the company jump into external growth strategy without resolving their internal problems. Argos has handled it differently and the results are starkly different.

Articles:

http://communicatemagazine.co.uk/archive/99-april-2010/1394-brandrebrand-argos

http://businesscasestudies.co.uk/argos/re-focussing-a-companys-culture-and-marketing-mix/changing-the-culture-at-argos.html#axzz2iikdzRdZ

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-24634730

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHuOfdLabCw



5) One little known site making waves on the internet by acting as the photo sharer of choice for the internet's billboard Reddit is imgur.com. Started by Allan Schaaf in 2009, this website has redefined image sharing and commenting on the internet.

The interesting phenomenon to be observed is the way one can see a community evolving on the internet from scratch just as it would in the real world. Overtime the site's members have defined artefacts such as the mascot "imguraffe", rituals such as "giving love for cake day posts". The site itself promotes some of the artefacts by giving medals and trophies based on popularity of submitted content- forming an informal heirarchy of sorts.There are some roles people perform on the site and not all these roles are socially acceptable in the context of the imgur society e.g downvote fairies. There are also invisible aspects of culture - set of underlying beliefs and attitudes (an almost morbid fascination for cats and video games, general abhorence for airing political/religious views, a strong support of democracy and free speech and supporting talent and charities when possible). It's amazing how people who have never met each other, do not track each other(this is not the facebook model of content sharing) come together to form a strong community closest to a meritocracy. Sure, there are geographical biases based on the timezones, but the site's content management system(which the developers often tweak based on inputs form the community) does a pretty good job of giving you options in terms of what you want to see.

Then there is the spillover. There are plenty of cases of people in meeting in the real world and interacting via real world gifts and letters post the online interaction which again makes it into the content submitted.

This clearly goes to show that culture when seen in an organisational perspective is something that humans gravitate towards. The amount of money raised, the number of missing people found and stories of people bringing each other back from the brink bear testimony to that fact. Culture binds communities and it is important for an organisation to view itself primarily as a community of its clients, employees, shareholders and other stakeholders within its sphere of influence.

If this is true in such a flat community as an online sharing site, the power of imposing a culture top down to move the organisation as a cohesive unit should never be underestimated.

http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/imgur.com

http://imgur.com/r/startledcats

imgur study: http://imgur.com/gallery/ah8hZkN

Another song from the pavement

I have a cat.

We tried naming him, my friends and I and pretty soon we had come with a veritable Sahasranaamam of names each extolling one or more of his cat like qualities. the only problem was, the little rascal didn't respond to any of it. The only semblance of a response- and by that I mean, the term which fetches you the highest probability of evoking a cocking of the ears in your general direction by the little bugger- is achieved quite simply by "Cat". so we named him Cat Cat. To increase the probability you see.

Not to say that they aren't responsive to external stimuli-cats.Both, Cat cat and his dominating little sister respond magnificently to the crackling of the food packet prised open five or six times a day.
They are natural hunters and hence more attuned to hearing. So much so , that CatCat can figure our from the steps in the hallway as to who is approaching, and accordingly either hide himself(except the tail- he somehow doesn't realise that it's also a part of him) behind the curtain or meow audaciously for no good reason.

They are pretty gifted in the smell and hearing department as well and would remind you of it, sniffing and licking you(sometimes I wonder if they are going "tsk tsk" in their head) at each nap time.

Touch and sight are extra ordinary as well. So much so that the little devil bawls her lungs out when I pat her, which in itself is rare considering that she scampers away at Boltian speed if she catches sight of me.

Overall - sensible - but pretty dumb all things considered. A solid 3.5 out of 5.

{P.S: LPT and Note to self: Get a dog}

A mindless time..

Lazy Saturday. That's what we decided to name it;
Accentuated intermittently with a slight drizzle, a nice light sloth hanging around , the sun -making, but a guest appearance,and, looking at the peaceful slumber of Bangalore's millions, deciding to call it a day early- a warm kitty to cuddle on my (I must admit, now quite ginormous) belly , nipping away at my fingers, while I lazily watched-no that's the wrong word-was in the presence of - some high scoring football(soccer for the uneducated lot among you) from a quarter away across the globe- making me feel quite like a scheming villain in pursuit of the next dastardly plan to take over the world; the name fit.

As Arya- we decided to name le kitteh (is that French or just bad English) after the GoT character, but she doesn't respond to anything anyway so you might as well call her Michael Jackson- continued her scheme of alternating dozes with nipping sessions peppered with Whiskas treats, it felt good to be in the company of one,who always viewed you objectively. No hearsay information, no reputation among other cats to worry about, just plain objective judgement based on immediate events pertaining to a given set of situations- the purest kind in my opinion. No obtuse line drawing or inferencing  based off of unrelated past events.

Too much of what goes on in this world is based of of image and repute and how many people agree with what they think you said. Second (and higher order) hand information governs way too much of who decides what.What happened to the simpler times when people actually thought for themselves about someone/something and made an informed choice? Or tried something out for the first time with a pristine state of mind unencumbered by the flotsam of everyone's opinion?

You want to see a movie, your journey starts at IMDB and probably ends up at the movie buff in your aisle at work. You take the information of every Tom, Dick,Harry,Mia, Susan and Mary (my new work environment really drives in the diversity aspect of things I guess) before you even decide to ask your friends/family(those who havent seen i t yet and each of whom have made a similar jourey) if they want to see. And based off of whether or not they want to see the movie or not you make a decision. It's the same with restaurants, bookstores.

And this is the way everyhting seems to work. Most importantly that driver of capitalism , that bastion of economic freedom - the stock market.
Abe Mastbaum , who took my course on capital markets in NY said the same thing . I had asked him a question to which he replied -"And here we have an individualist. One who makes the decision on his own. The market doesn't go by the whims of people like you. "
And that is what is so sad about this world.

In a time when we value the freedom to express, the loudest voices are often those of a single person with an army of mindless zombies following the leader.

When enough people say it, the notion of truth itself changes.

Does democracy indeed kill free thought?

The Princess

Minor starlets with star studded bodies stared satirically at the "simpleton"
clad simply in a cotton skirt swirling under a silk shirt. This quickly turned
to jealousy and contempt -the "I am so oomph" factor in their characters
reared its ugliest head at this juncture, betrayed them and had the exact
opposite effect of they intended it to- the men also seemed to be glued to
the new entrant their decisions fortified by the garrulous display of their
partners.
The things that immediately arrested your attention were those bewitching
eyes. They caught you, until suddenly you were too scared to face them
anymore and your vision naturally fell along her perfect cheek bones down
to her luscious lips crafted by the master with all the love due to them.
Her movement caused her hair to be pushed back ever so slightly teasing
everyone with a view of her ears- an almost taboo feeling attached to them
– men who caught a glimpse of them breathed slightly more heavily , and
swallowed hard.
Her slight figure accentuated her soft steps, their delicacy. Dark socks
protected her fine legs from avaricious glances.
She walked swiftly to the centre of the party and the virtual limelight
seemed to follow her. The host grasped the few quick words hurried into
his ear and immediately pasted his trademark grin and put on his warm and
affable coat for the esteemed guest.
"Ladies and gentlemen!!! Lady Diana!!!".
The words had the desired effect. A thunderous applause broke out.
Two hundred faces now craned to glimpse the corpulent figure who
marched in through the ornate doors dressed in lavish extravagance,
smiling as if she had botoxed for the occasion.
Joanne quickly picked up the empty glasses and cleaned the stain she
noticed on the table with the apron embellishing her skirt. No one noticed
her as she left.

The chase

I knew something was off. My gut knew.

The day was too dark and gloomy and the sounds and smells that accompanied it seemed to be coordinating a harmonious cover up, the strings being pulled by a greater, darker force.

The smell that offended , nay attacked my olfactory apparatus was one i could not immediately place as one of freshly rotten juniper berries thriving with the closest equivalent of the undead our planet affords.

Like a thief scurrying for cover, it immediately hid it itself behind a facade of aromas of Indian delicacies.

But it had been noticed.

And it knew. And I knew It knew.

It held its characteristic breath, fearing if and praying that never would its life breath become a tolling knell for its own death rattle.

I smiled. I would enjoy the chase.

Re-take on Tagore

Where your dreams are held high,

Where you can open your heart unashamedly.

Where you can sit in silence in the company of people.... and not feel awkward.

Where you can be crazy and be accepted.

Where you can be accepted even if you are not crazy.

Where you can speak about your worst without fear of being ostracized.

Where you can bring all of "you" to the conversation.

Where you can do the above without having to be drunk or smoked up.

Into that freedom of friendship, my father, let us all be delivered.

treatise on the subject matter of crushes

As social as we human beings consider nay, most of us pride ourselves to be , it has been my observation, that we are, nevertheless quite solitary-almost to the point of being lonesome- and in many cases fiercely possessive and individualistic to the point of being accused as being defensive when it comes to what many consider as the founding stone of many of our inter-gender relationships(Gays and lesbians will have to forgive me here as my limited mind has not performed the following analysis from your perspective for plainly the reason that i cannot imagine myself in your shoes)-the crush.

When it comes to crushes of course the heart seems torn , the mind hapless and our general physical, emotional and mental condition (the distinction here being made between the intellectual facilities we posses and our emotional faculties) seems to take a between, ricocheting between the heights of ecstasy and the abyss of decrepit solitude when our mental faculties entertain the presence of said crusher. If we hold the position of the said crusher, of course there arise two possibilities. One in which we are blissfully unaware of our crushing effect in which case there is really not too much of an analysis required, and the other in which the crush is reciprocated which immediately lends itself as a trivial case to the discussion at hand presently.

In this monograph-I call it that simply out a fancy that i have inherited from the word from reading too much of Sherlock Holmes and puritans must bring themselves to forgive me for my presumptuousness- I shall attempt to dissect the nature of the crush to further help objective minds like mine to grapple with it especially in the face of-god forbid- the danger of their existing relations failing due to the whimsical nature attributed since old to the human mind. If nothing else this will be an amusing exercise for you to investigate yourself so closely and scarily.

The first task that a person has at hand is to identify that he/she is under the influence. this is easily done by most if not all of us. however it has often been the bane of our psyche to confuse this sensation with the wider perception of "love" in the sexual sense of the word.(Not to be confused with lust which only forms a small albeit integral part of the relationship). The distinction must be made by every individual for themselves for it is only we ourselves who know our true nature and deep down identify our emotional, physical and mental "weak spots". These are the very points at which we can be suckered and which usually are the sources of the said crush. If one were to analyse oneself from past experience one would observe that all our crushes-and even some of our "almost" crushes- have a common thread- a singular characteristic feature which functions as our weak spot. It is suggested that the objective mind take some time off during a "non-crushed " state to correctly identify these fault lines in its system. (Point to note: I do not subscribe to the Freudian views and do not believe that all human inter -gender relations must have its roots in an innate Oedipus complex. Psychology majors are advised to exit now.)

Once these are identified, it is quite trivial for us to identify if a given sensation is one that has been brought about by an already acknowledged "crush factor". It is of course possible that our ingenious mind comes up with a set of new seemingly unconnected parameter by which we may be suckered, but any previous soul searching exercise would have rendered us intellectually better off to deal with a repeat of the experiment in field of life with new foundations on which the crush is based. Once thus acknowledged, the first and in many ways vital portion of the work is done. This phase is the sharpening of the axe and the selection of the tree if you will.

Then one must simply ask oneself what it is that one wants-ultimately out of this relationship. is it that the crushed likes the company of the crusher at face value even when theoretically the crush factor has been removed? if so, the transience of the crush must be realised quickly if a longer , highly fruitful friendship is to be realised. Any delays in this regard endangers the loss of what could otherwise have been a high yielding and satisfying relationship for both parties. If thus were not the case, then the trivial solution applies wherein interest will lose itself in the face of the natural flow and order of beings.

This brings us to the vital question. Having known the nature of the crush and realising the potential of a friendship forged how does one forge this beautiful friendship? If it were only our wish to expose the ephemeral nature of the crush the solution is simple and mean- keep identifying the negative qualities in the crusher till they outweigh the positives. however, apart from being unfair to the crusher as a person this method has the greater price that as time goes on, we will find ourselves to have become cynical and unappreciating-to the layman:an all round grumpy person. Hence this method must be avoided at all costs. The most peaceable solution o course would be to accept the existence of the crush to oneself with all the above implications. This will solve the problem of our intellectual and mental clog from which the remaining course of action shall naturally lend itself to us. This way ensures that we remove at once and nip at the bud the feeling of the taboo on which indeed the crush feeds and fends for itself. Once this is done the impermanence and the hilarity of our childish feelings will become apparent to us. This will enable us to smile and laugh in the future- not the smile or laugh which we have seen others give:ones betraying the underlying sense of loss and nostalgia-almost a poignant not ringing to it-but rather one of liberation from our own self imposed mental cages opening new vistas of beauty in other people as well as ourselves.

(The much simpler solution would be to send this link to the object of your crush. It makes you look creepy............-sometimes.)

P.S: The concept of homosexual crushes must be further delved into- at least for scientific purposes. For it seems that in the centuries to come it will gain prominence in in a few millenia may indeed be the only ones to consider. The steady decrease of genes on the human Y chromosome to me points in the direction of a unisexual species- but then the entire concept of sexuality may have undergone a change . It may be defined on the mental faculty rather than plain physical ones.

The Phoenix

It has been quite sometime now that I have put pen to paper- courtesy of a certain monsieur mandaya who had succeeded spectacularly and temporarily in completely demoralizing my efforts to get published, with a stone hearted, systematic, malicious, spiteful and of course needless to say, purely arbitrary decision making as to who should or should not get their names embossed on the two penny burlesque of a magazine that we issue at the taxpayer's cost come festember- and my regular readers- that would encompass me and sni who proof reads every one of my articles (the price he pays for friendship) and proclaims at the end of these reading sessions that the sentences are quite frightfully long but he no likey long sentence so he'll pass- had quite begun to wonder if I had lost the will to wield the pen anymore(I know, I've got the Caesar complex sometimes- at the end of this sentence I suspect Sni is going to kill me for my verbosity and I will probably go down in a saying "Et tu Sni!!").
And so as I was saying…. I’m Back.(And I did say it with a heavy Austrian accent)

An Able leader

Reminiscing about the entire SriLanka-LTTE episode, my entire attention was demanded by the actions of one man. In a time of international pressure and Natinal difficulties, Mahinda Rajapaksha deserves accolades.

Standing tall among the ruins of the wasted efforts over the past twenty years, he did what no one else dared to do before him. He took the initiative and pressed forward wihtout regard to the international damnation to which he and his entire nation would be condemned to in the face of failure.

Today as he stands victorious, many of his country men pat him on the back, but just as easily these could have been the very people who could have publicly condemned him for taking a decision on their behlaf.

His recent interviews to the Hindu and the Times leaves you in awe of the man. You know he speaks the truth- a bitter truth. A political situation is the best option-if both sides are reasonable. When any side of a discussion is dominated by hardliners who will resort to violence, someone must take the responsibility to put things right.That if terrorist organisations are surviving today, it is due to the weakness of the home governments to some extent. It takes nerves of steel and guts of adamantium to pull of what he has in the island nation.

And what leaves the west staring is his outrageous openness and pointed questions at their own campaigns. If the war against the Taliban as a terrorist organisation is justified why not the LTTE which has been identified in many countries, including the largest in the world, as a terrorist organisation? His reply to the threat of sanctions was remarkable in its bravery-some would call it foolishness. "Why do oyu punish the people for the decision of one individual? If they want to punish me they will find ways of doing it. And now that I have said it they will."

where does all of this leave us?

Every so often in our own lives we are faced woth making decisions for others. Against their own wills because you KNOW in your heart that this is the right course of action. You KNOW that this is how things are meant to be. At those points we must take the initiative without fear of failure because we know then that the outcome is assured. Victory becomes an inevitability in such times.

DOTA!!!!

Hey!!! DOta 6.60 released today!!! read the change log, a lot of nerfing has been done and quite a few things have been worked over completely...(i mourn the death of razor though(sniff sniff))..

the tauren' s spells I can make head or tial of.. have to play and get a hold of those..

Medusa's ulti is now what??? You cant gank anymore...Infair!!!

And ya that's right.., Everyone get a n Aghanim's except the ogre.... Thats Racist I tell ya...

But at the end of the day I just really want to play the map... to get a feel of things.. And not suck royally when back in coll....

Check this out....

Hey check out this link... No wonder indian products are looked down upon in the world market....Just click on the blog title....

Guys Cooperate!!!!!

Ok... The heading has got nothing to do with the fact that none of you guys are reading my blog.(Humph)(though it would be very nice if all of us folks followed each other around[in a non gay way of course])

Th heading is actually a reference to Monsieur John Nash(I do believe the movie "A Beautiful Mind" has made him science's new Feynman). game theory has a very interesting if somewhat downright absurd and chilling proposition called Prisoner's dilemma.
The problem statement is this. Two prisoners are caught but the police doesn't have enough for a conviction. They are each offered a deal. If one person "defects" (i.e gives away his partner) he gets to go free while the other person gets 10 years. If both "defect" each gets five years. If both "cooperate"(with each other) they get six months. each does not know the decision of the other before the court room is entered. According to game theory, the best way to play is to defect("Holy Shiiii!!!!" is what i said.) since it offers you a better than the worst solution irrespective of the other player's choice. And guess what.. If this is iterated, with you given the option of changing your decision after you know his, the best way is still to defect(At this point I thought it became plain dumb.)
Whatever happened to the good ole Omerta I ask ya?

Anyway thats not what this blog is about so chill..... All I ask is this. Seeing as our college intends to make murderers out of all our batch students(yup they're "Offering" us Beryl again) and if I may say so myself we'll probably pull off those heinous acts of crimes without planting too much evidence(Heck! in a mob everyone's safe) I only ask that yoll cooperate . Dont rant on your partners.... If everyone cooperates(though by theory no one should) it offers the best possible Nash equilibrium. Yup that s right... the best equilibrium is not by defecting but by not following the the original game theory and cooperating... communism on the rise??

Big Cities Small hearts

The thrill of living in a big city is lost on me. Everytime I visit Chennai, I feel a deep sense of despair, bordering on hate toward the city. Not towards its residents per se, mind you. A lot of nice people I know live in Chennai and their living in the city has not made them any less nicer. But there is a feel.... Like when someone walks into a room and you immediately feel uncomfortable, though you might never have met the person before. Some call it "a gut feeling", some prejudice, but be that as it may, in the past I have trusted it and it has worked for me so I have no reason to stop doing so now.

But please dont get me wrong. Its not the vastness of the city that scares me. A guy from a small town, it is easy to write me off as just not fitting in and quibbling about it. But I think today in the age of the internet and cable TV that would be a crass and pompous statement to make to anyone. Everyone has access to everything. Small towns no longer plead guilty to ignorance.

Enough with the flyovers and the bazaars and the "culture centres" I implore you. whenever I come over,my state is reduced to that of an observer, recording each individual happening to be perused upon by the subconscious at its own leisure, to shape it into a lesson, to mould my "gut" for the future.

The city itslef seems to be a giant machine, involuntarily turning its mechanical cog-like people. As the day dawns, every day brings a hope for me. A hope that somehow, somewhere, magically, it will become a utopia. That when I help a person of my own accord, I will not be looked upon with mistrust or as being downright stupid. But everyday, the hope is broken as I look into the eyes of those around me.

Knit eyebrows,the banging of the head to music heard through the head phones, flustered phone conversations, somehow, they all seem to me to be fronts. All affected personality masks put on by people too scared and scarred to find themselves. no one meets yor eye for to long. Afraid, that they may inadvertently make a human connection? Gone are the days of casual acquaintances made at the bus stops or in the buses, (if there were such days in the past).

As I return home, i hope once more. Hope that when i look up, I can take refuge in God's wonderful display of the constellations. But each day that too is laid to waste as the city's polluted skyline offers no more than a glimpse of a handful of stars which you can count on the fingers of any hand of your choosing(I'm glad at least this much choice is left to me after a tiring day of accepting the "wide"range of choices: a)that food that fills your stomach and food that satisfy you are not necessarily the same, each of which may again either burn a deep hole or an abyss into your pocket. b)The maximum retail price on any product is only for all other cities in India-( you can take it for two more bucks than the listed price or leave it, I dont give a hoot, I got five lakh mindless consumers who can make me happy.)

Thoroughly disgusted, I simply wish to fall off into dream land where i can roam free and gain respite if only fantastical and for a few hours;but of course, I cannot be allowed to do that.. My sleep must be ceremoniously spoiled every few minutes by screaming airliners showing off to everyone how busy and imortant the city is. so important that its 5 million inhabitants simply cannot afford a decent night's sleep.

So from break of dawn to the early hours of the morning(at which point my body simply refuses to be subordinated by the city's will any longer and falls off to a slumber disturbed by the lateness of the hour and the prospect of not getting enough sleep), basically the city SUCKs...your energy.

Hats off and good luck to people sentenced to a life term in this place. See you in Hell... Oh wait you're there already???