What is a risk? More importantly, why is it even needed to be taken, if we are perfectly happy the way we are?
The answer could hold roots in the fact that, no life is perfect, no country is safe and no business is ever flourishing. Call of duty, will to survive, just the urge to excel or some unfathomable caprice pushes all of us living beings into inviting that flirtatious temptress(risk) onto our doorsteps.
A ship cannot refute the basic purpose of its existence just because it might have to sail through rough weather. A soldier cannot sit in the safety of home. An industry cannot be stagnant.
On one side there are most of us, who fear risk, and that fact is wholly and truly appreciated by the entire Insurance Industry and a lot inter-related sub-industries. And then there are others, who take outrageous chances and audacious steps.
There are a lot of examples where one small careful step salvaged the entire organisation, and on the other hand when an almost a quixotic deal, became the most important and successful one in the life history of the enterprise. There are ferocious advocates to both sides of the argument as to which one is the wisest way to grow, but what is mutually agreed by both, is the need to understand and manage risk.
World economies, disturbingly interconnected, resemble dominoes, one falls, all fall. In these times, no foolhardy steps are acceptable. So new world peace is risk assessment,mitigation plans, and risk retention to be part of daily business jargon.
I believe, if there is an obvious storm, the shrewdest will hold their precious ship in the harbour, or may by de-tour. The catch is to know, when and where is the storm coming.
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Retail Therapy - To be or Not to be ?
Oct 2007
Mom: "New Shoes?? Once more? But you bought one pair only last week !!? "
Me: "Mom!! I saw these .. and just couldnt stop myself!!"
"True debauchery is liberating because it creates no obligations. In it you possess only yourself; hence it remains the favorite pastime of the great lovers of their own person." Albert Camus (1913-1960). French-Algerian philosopher, author. [The narrator, Jean-Baptiste Clamence] The Fall (1956).
Oct 2008
Mom: "New Shoes !? "
Me: "yeah.. after 1 hour of soul-searching(also for a cheaper pair), I thought I could live with 'em"
In this new age of free falling economies, the dilemma is marked by pandemic post-purchase rationalization by non-chronic self confessed shopoholics (me?).
Post-purchase rationalization is a common phenomenon after people have invested a lot of time, money, or effort in something to convince themselves that it must have been worth it. Many decisions are made emotionally, and so are often rationalized retrospectively in an attempt to justify the choice.
Psychologically, in the phase before purchasing, the prospective buyer (moi) feels the positive emotions associated with the purchase like desire, a sense of heightened possibilities, and an intimation of the enjoyment that will accompany using the product( all these gorgeous things are going to mine mine mine!! wow!! ): afterwards, having made the purchase, he or she (or me) is more fully able to experience the negative aspects: all the opportunity costs of the purchase; and the reduced purchasing power remaining.(shit shit shit!!! why did I have to!.)
Before the act, one has the full array of options, including not purchasing; afterwards, one's options have been reduced to two: a) continuing with the purchase, surrendering all alternatives, or b) renouncing it (never). So that before purchasing, one experiences oneself as acting in a virile way, creating a situation; while afterwards the time of acting has passed: one is deflated and experiences oneself as having been acted on by the former virile self; one feels bound by one's remaining limited choices.
Buyer's remorse can be caused or increased by the knowledge that other people will later question the purchase or claim to know better alternatives.(You bought this in Rs 150?? I got it in Rs30 at Googi's store!)
Extreme shopping activity and any associated remorse is, again, probably a sign of some deeper disquiet and normal "buyer's remorse" should not be confused with the complex emotional dynamics of "shopaholic" behaviour, no more than eating too much on special occasions should be confused with a serious eating disorder such as bulimia.
To all the shopophilic men and women:
As I have already established that "shopping" which we women so gleefully pronounce is not always the most delightful thing we do.
To all the shopoholic men and women:
A purchase, unlike many decisions in life, is invariably either reversible or at least recoverable and should not be a source of enormous anxiety.
:)
Mom: "New Shoes?? Once more? But you bought one pair only last week !!? "
Me: "Mom!! I saw these .. and just couldnt stop myself!!"
"True debauchery is liberating because it creates no obligations. In it you possess only yourself; hence it remains the favorite pastime of the great lovers of their own person." Albert Camus (1913-1960). French-Algerian philosopher, author. [The narrator, Jean-Baptiste Clamence] The Fall (1956).
Oct 2008
Mom: "New Shoes !? "
Me: "yeah.. after 1 hour of soul-searching(also for a cheaper pair), I thought I could live with 'em"
In this new age of free falling economies, the dilemma is marked by pandemic post-purchase rationalization by non-chronic self confessed shopoholics (me?).
Post-purchase rationalization is a common phenomenon after people have invested a lot of time, money, or effort in something to convince themselves that it must have been worth it. Many decisions are made emotionally, and so are often rationalized retrospectively in an attempt to justify the choice.
Psychologically, in the phase before purchasing, the prospective buyer (moi) feels the positive emotions associated with the purchase like desire, a sense of heightened possibilities, and an intimation of the enjoyment that will accompany using the product( all these gorgeous things are going to mine mine mine!! wow!! ): afterwards, having made the purchase, he or she (or me) is more fully able to experience the negative aspects: all the opportunity costs of the purchase; and the reduced purchasing power remaining.(shit shit shit!!! why did I have to!.)
Before the act, one has the full array of options, including not purchasing; afterwards, one's options have been reduced to two: a) continuing with the purchase, surrendering all alternatives, or b) renouncing it (never). So that before purchasing, one experiences oneself as acting in a virile way, creating a situation; while afterwards the time of acting has passed: one is deflated and experiences oneself as having been acted on by the former virile self; one feels bound by one's remaining limited choices.
Buyer's remorse can be caused or increased by the knowledge that other people will later question the purchase or claim to know better alternatives.(You bought this in Rs 150?? I got it in Rs30 at Googi's store!)
Extreme shopping activity and any associated remorse is, again, probably a sign of some deeper disquiet and normal "buyer's remorse" should not be confused with the complex emotional dynamics of "shopaholic" behaviour, no more than eating too much on special occasions should be confused with a serious eating disorder such as bulimia.
To all the shopophilic men and women:
As I have already established that "shopping" which we women so gleefully pronounce is not always the most delightful thing we do.
To all the shopoholic men and women:
A purchase, unlike many decisions in life, is invariably either reversible or at least recoverable and should not be a source of enormous anxiety.
:)
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Who's Blank?
Usually I like to be comfortably blank after a gruelling day at work. Yes. My days of endless monotonous meetings, crazy requirement documents, mundane training sessions DO get tiring. So I like my blank peace after work.
But when I do that, I cannot really tell a day from the other. My last two years at my current job have passed in a whir. Even though my daily activities earn revenue for my company and mealticket for me, it is very difficult to actually write down in bold points about what exactly have I done in all this time.
I had a complete list of things in college about " what I'd like to do when I'll start earning". Two years hence, not much has changed.
From this I have derived that one can be successfully dedicated only to one thing at a time.
In this world of multi-processing and multitasking we try to customize ourselves to this structure of parallelism. But it is very important for us to realize that just like the solar system has only one sun, we should also have only one orientation, and the whole big picture should be according to that orientation. Be it spiritual or country or self or family. Anything!
If that doesnt happen and we keep penduluming between different objectives, our beautiful big picture will resemble more of a molasses rather than a landscape.
As multi-meaning as it can sound, the question of the day is :
Whats your orientation? ;-)
But when I do that, I cannot really tell a day from the other. My last two years at my current job have passed in a whir. Even though my daily activities earn revenue for my company and mealticket for me, it is very difficult to actually write down in bold points about what exactly have I done in all this time.
I had a complete list of things in college about " what I'd like to do when I'll start earning". Two years hence, not much has changed.
From this I have derived that one can be successfully dedicated only to one thing at a time.
In this world of multi-processing and multitasking we try to customize ourselves to this structure of parallelism. But it is very important for us to realize that just like the solar system has only one sun, we should also have only one orientation, and the whole big picture should be according to that orientation. Be it spiritual or country or self or family. Anything!
If that doesnt happen and we keep penduluming between different objectives, our beautiful big picture will resemble more of a molasses rather than a landscape.
As multi-meaning as it can sound, the question of the day is :
Whats your orientation? ;-)
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Mutual Investments
Family, friends, relatives, acquaintances, pets are euphemisms for investments. Our investments in our fellow beings, in order of the returns.
This is not new or even bad.. It has always been like this. From the times of the neanderthal man to the Gucci-clad new-age man.
A whole big bank of favour runs, having branches and outlets everywhere. I dont even want to get down to start explaining how everyone invests in everyone else and how are the returns are encashed.
Some people, very few and rare species are also the philanthropists. Ones who emanate genuine warmth and kindness, without expecting returns. Huh.. they must have a lot stored already.!
The dour effect of inflation has not spared even this face of our already wilted interests. As our daily needs and commodities are getting dearer, so is our capacity to give. Come to think of it...we dont need to GIVE anything. These times have already toughened up people. Inspite of that, everyone has some weak moments. Maybe their only sign of being a human, as most of the times everyone is busy pretending to be the most competent robot of the army or most funny colleague, or most happening teenager, or.. the list goes on.
That weak moment. That little window. So brittle, that one could break.. All that is needed at that time is for people to be kind. And since we cannot trust strangers to be kind to us, we invest in our people to return us with kindness. That is all. All the hodge-podge of all relationships that we have, boils down only and only to this.
My point is that: We dont need to give anything to anyone.
A simple smile or a thank you or a helping hand can make anyone's day. If someone falls.. dont laugh. Help him up. Thats the way it is.
So.. to make a very long sentence short:
Be kind.
Think about it.
This is not new or even bad.. It has always been like this. From the times of the neanderthal man to the Gucci-clad new-age man.
A whole big bank of favour runs, having branches and outlets everywhere. I dont even want to get down to start explaining how everyone invests in everyone else and how are the returns are encashed.
Some people, very few and rare species are also the philanthropists. Ones who emanate genuine warmth and kindness, without expecting returns. Huh.. they must have a lot stored already.!
The dour effect of inflation has not spared even this face of our already wilted interests. As our daily needs and commodities are getting dearer, so is our capacity to give. Come to think of it...we dont need to GIVE anything. These times have already toughened up people. Inspite of that, everyone has some weak moments. Maybe their only sign of being a human, as most of the times everyone is busy pretending to be the most competent robot of the army or most funny colleague, or most happening teenager, or.. the list goes on.
That weak moment. That little window. So brittle, that one could break.. All that is needed at that time is for people to be kind. And since we cannot trust strangers to be kind to us, we invest in our people to return us with kindness. That is all. All the hodge-podge of all relationships that we have, boils down only and only to this.
My point is that: We dont need to give anything to anyone.
A simple smile or a thank you or a helping hand can make anyone's day. If someone falls.. dont laugh. Help him up. Thats the way it is.
So.. to make a very long sentence short:
Be kind.
Think about it.
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Thursday, March 6, 2008
United in Hate
Today I am about to moot a topic, that has been on my mind for a long time now.
Why is it easier to express hate or dislike?
How many times do we actually think before we pass a judgement? Let us chew over this for a little while.
One possible reason can be the urban-race. It is the race of doing more things in least time. Modern day man does not have time to ponder over things, wasting time deciding worth of the effort. Do the fastest thing and get over with it is more like it.
Three steps to sorting.
See. Assess. Reject.
"Reject".
It could also have been other way round. See. Assess. ‘Accept’. But I guess no one has the time to take the risk of the time that will be wasted in liking something. Specially if is actually IS a waste.
Another reason can be the need to belong in a category or a class. This sometimes leads to projection of false standards. Because a thing is generally looked down upon by a certain cosset, you cannot take risk of falling OUT of the clique you have chosen for yourself. Expressing to like something, which not necessarily maintains a good reputation in your 'group', can sometimes do exactly that. Let me illustrate an example:
Imagine yourself vaunting your likes for "Himesh Reshammiya branded music concert" to your posh friends talking about the latest Aerosmith concert. You done even like Aerosmith !! and you love Himesh’s music!
Why? Is this another side effect of the 'urban-race'?
A third reason can be emotional immunity. General belief of emotions are only the 'tender' kinds of emotions. Eg: Love, friendship, liking, nostalgia etc. Few open minded scholars will put anger, dislike and similar emotions first on the list. Now, the point I’m trying to establish is that, in today's age, Public Display of Emotion is allowed only on cricket field. If you do that, it is contretemps and basically the hottest gossip-topic of the day. Any emotion. Especially extreme ones like hate OR love. I also once read somewhere, that every negative word vibrates in your brain about ten thousand times more than a positive word.
Maybe that explains why we believe only the worst reviews. It might also explain why it is so easy to forget good things about a person/place, while the bad thing, (even if only one!) just refuses to leave comforts of memory.
So when you get to know someone who actually hates something you hate too, that is the root of new-age camaraderie. :)
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Rearranging my 'closet'- Title song.
As a lot of new stuff comes in our lives, we have to rearrange our current stuff to make room for the new stuff to fit in.
A relationship comes with its own set of baggage and luggage, which all has to be let in, as you let the person in.There are habits to be readjusted, space to be given and taken, people and time to be shared. A decision box always stays in the flowchart of our process of a relationship.
A lot of energy is invested in .... and we keep doing that.. continuously readjusting to the new baggage, and continuously assessing, is it all worth it? The day/event/moment the balance on the other scale outweighs the weight on the worth is, the relationship is out and in is a whole lot of experience from it, and maybe... a better person(or bitter?).
But sometimes, the scales don't matter, the flowchart that so logically conducts your actions gets unbalanced. Sometimes you do what you want to, while the scales dictate otherwise. All you want to see is a smile, a twinkle and all the world in the space of your heart gets balanced.
That is love.... I don't mind rearranging my closet a little for that :) Do you?
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