Punch the keys

Sports is one of the biggest business areas now in India too. Thanks to IPL(Indian Premier League), the Indian edition of Twenty20 cricket tournament, there is a huge focus on sports. This, along with all the other sporting activities like Team India in F1, Hockey and commonwealth in India, has certainly got the common man into sports. It was a bit difficult to imagine earlier that sports could become such a huge business. IPL, in its third edition, has added 3 more clubs and the tenders drawn were more than the existing 8 teams' bid combined together just 3 years back. You can imagine the amount of money involved. And believe me, this business is indeed profitable. If not now, surely in the near future. Else all these big names would not be putting these huge sums onto the table. The main intention for me to start of this blog was not to talk of money, but what got me thinking on this topic was a conversation dialog from the movie Invincible . I love movies based on sports and...

An year or so back, I had seen a video of " Dying 47-Year-Old Professor Gives Exuberant ‘Last Lecture’ ". The video was an awesome watch. There were so many things that you could learn from the lecture. So many insights, it was great. Last week, I re-read the transcript of the lecture, forwarded by my friend and I was again filled with an urge to take down "notes". Below are a few points that I noted down from the 1 hour 44 min lecture given by Randy Pausch. We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand. Have something to bring to the table , because that will make you more welcome. Be good at something. It makes you valuable The brick walls are there for a reason .  The brick walls are not there to keep us out; the brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. The brick walls are there to stop the people who don't want it badly enough. They are there to stop the other people! Experience is what y...

I am not an ardent follower of cricket, i.e to the extent of remembering statistics or players from bygone eras. So apologies to all those who reacted to the title question with "Duh! Is this guy from earth?" or an equal response. I did not actually hear about Jack Hobbs until I came across this article on cricinfo. A super article by Gideon Haigh I must add. The article also enlightened me on the apparent class divide between the "professionals" and the "amateurs" of that time. To appreciate Hobbs' full significance, however, we must contemplate the class rigidities of his time. The discrimination that placed amateur and professional in separate dressing rooms and hotels, and had them enter the field by different gates and travel in different railway carriages, now seems as remote from our experience of cricket as sectarianism or McCarthyism. Awesome to know about him! Many of the great players are great not just because of their skill but b...

Recently I came across an article ( Can you justify your job title? ). I am quite sure that you would have had this discussion among your friends or collegues on the various titles that seem to be spawning. The comments in the above mentioned article itself gives some very super listing. For example, Global Troubleshooter , Head of Knowledge Creation , Reputation Manager .. etc are quite colorful. But it would really be interesting to meet the guy with the title Rocket Scientist Many of the organizations, at some point in time, need to streamline the roles and responsibilities that are given to their employees. I am sure with time the number of titles that would have spawned out would become un-manageable for various reasons. I have heard from HR managers themselves that they have no clue as to what a particular title was doing in their organization. I would seriously love to have the title of Global Troubleshooter or Rocket Scientist! It sounds so cool, irrespective of what the ...