Slurp...slurp

Slurping

Don’t know why I never picked up slurping…

Many cultures in Asia slurp and burp as an acceptable practice to show their appreciation of the food.  I was born in India and so one would assume I should be slurping tea and belching after good yummy food.

If you are not accustomed to hearing slurping sounds then it can get a bit uncomfortable when someone besides you slurps and drinks tea, coffee or hot noodles. I remember thinking to myself   “If you love music so much why don’t you turn on the Walkman for god sake or the iPod mini or whatever else that will make some beats”.

Its Yerba Mate !!

Since I left the shores of India post Y2K, I have experienced many cultures from across the mighty oceans and seas. In saying so I must also say, India in itself is a medley of cultures and cuisines.

What amazes me about cultures is the inclusive spirit it instills in people. Indigenous culture is the binding cement that brings about a common sense of destiny to the people as a nation. It helps a nation to overlook minor differences and look at the overarching similarities. The older the tradition the more binding the cultural heritage.

The "Glass Ceiling" starts to crumble

July 23, 2012

 There are all kinds of “glass ceiling” for all the different colours, hues, beliefs, gender, faiths, socio-economic classes etc. It is difficult to escape these biases and some may take generations to overcome.  I am not certain if China will overtake the US and become the biggest economy in the world in the coming decades, but I am certain that in the coming decades centuries of subjugation of the female species will come to an end.

I could never understand why "successful" men in "high positions" never learned to respect women in the workplace when they themselves were nursed to stand on their two feet by women. All along women were the ones running away from pregnancy so they could be successful in corporate careers and it was a male dominated work place that was creating the problem!!

Un Processing the Food Basket

August 10, 2012 at 4:55pm

It was just a couple of years back that I would go to the supermarket and buy a trolley full of things which would be consumed over the week. The food bill would be over the $200.00 dollar mark and worst of all health outcomes were turning for the worse. The community nurse was not happy that my cholesterol levels were rising and looking myself in the mirror naked felt like I was staring at a tissue synthesing factory. 

Anthropologist credit our phenomenal rise as the most powerful species to the uniqueness of our grey matter. This 1.5kg jelly shaped organ gives us strong capacity for memory, analytical skills and ability to project our thoughts into the future. However analysing my shopping basket felt quiet the contrary. It felt like I was paying someone to poison myself into a life of ill-health, bad life style, premature death and poor outcomes for fellow earthlings. In spite of all the education under my belt it felt like a truly dumb thing to do!

Budgeting Energy for Success

Energy energy everywhere, but not a trickle when I need it the most! 

Do you feel like

• You are not productive
• Lack energy when you need it most
• Physically exhausted, mentally exhausted or both

Not being able to achieve our work-life objectives, other than not having any in the first place, could be because of

• Lack of energy
• Poor allocation
• Inefficient processes or
• Trying to outperform our installed capacity (Mental or physical)

All of the above can be tackled except TIME. Time is a constant. It cannot be hastened, slowed, reversed or paused.

Google's growth through disruptive innovation

Google started as an internet search engine site. Today it has expanded into seemingly anything to do with technology. Online videos, mobile operating systems, applications, smart phone and as I write Google has already ventured into EFTPOS options using NFC, which is short for near field communication.

Google's management is seemingly doing what Clayton Christensen coined as 'Disruptive Innovation' ! It describes a process by which a product or  service takes root initially in simple applications at the bottom of a market  and then relentlessly moves ‘up market’, eventually displacing established  competitors.

Green-Economics, Profitability and the case for system based shift in business practices

So many emotions come to mind on a business, societal and personal level, just by thinking about the issue of "Green-Economics" that has now taken center stage in many developed economies and impacting business processes in developing economies/ societies.

In 2001 at the University of Auckland I was formally introduced to the concept of ethics in business. One of the questions being, "can you be ethical and still make good business decisions". I initially ascribed this focus to the fact that NZ figured among the top 2-3 countries that ranked high in the global "Corruption Index" . New Zealand is ranked as a country that is most open and honest about business - are they is a question I still have to ask myself. I shall try to explain my logic through one small example of "displacement" of ethical responsibility!