Indian version of the Ant and Grasshopper story

The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks the ant's a fool and laughs & dances & plays the summer away. Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while others are cold and starving.
NDTV, BBC, CNN show up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food. The World is stunned by the sharp contrast. How can this be that this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so? Arundhati Roy stages a demonstration in front of the ant's house. Medha Patkar goes on a fast along with other grasshoppers demanding that grasshoppers be relocated to warmer climates during winter. Amnesty International and Koffi Annan criticize the Indian Government for not upholding the fundamental rights of the grasshopper. The Internet is flooded with online petitions seeking support to the grasshopper (many promising Heaven and Everlasting Peace for prompt support as against the wrath of God for non-compliance). Opposition MP's stage a walkout. Left parties call for "Bharat Bandh" in West Bengal and Kerala demanding a Judicial Enquiry. CPM in Kerala immediately passes a law preventing Ants from working hard in the heat so as to bring about equality of poverty among ants and grasshoppers. Lalu Prasad allocates one free coach to Grasshoppers on all Indian Railway Trains, aptly named as the 'Grasshopper Rath'. Finally, the Judicial Committee drafts the Prevention of Terrorism Against Grasshoppers Act [POTAGA]", with effect from the beginning of the winter. Arjun Singh makes Special Reservation for Grass Hopper in educational Insititutions & in Govt Services. Chidambaram imposes more taxes. The ant is milked more and more by being fined for failing to comply with POTAGA and, having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home is confiscated by the Government and handed over to the grasshopper in a ceremony covered by NDTV. Arundhati Roy calls it "a triumph of justice". Lalu calls it 'Socialistic Justice'. CPM calls it the 'revolutionary resurgence of the downtrodden' Koffi Annan invites the grasshopper to address the UN General Assembly. Many years later...Meanwhile, the ant has since migrated to the US or UK where talent in recognized and rewarded. 100s of grasshoppers still die of starvation despite reservation somewhere in India. Can you believe that India is the only country where some people take pride in calling themselves the reservation class...As a result losing lot of hard working ants and feeding the grasshoppers India is still a developing country...

A few facts and facets of Warren Buffet...

1) He bought his first share at age 11 and he now regrets that he started too late!
2) He bought a small farm at age 14 with savings from delivering newspapers.
3) He still lives in the same small 3 bedroom house in mid-town Omaha, which he bought after he got married 50 years ago. He says that he has everything he needs in that house. His house does not have a wall or a fence.
4) He drives his own car everywhere and does not have a driver or security people around him.
5) He never travels by private jet, although he owns the world's largest private jet company.
6) His company, Berkshire Hathaway, owns 63 companies. He writes only one letter each year to the CEOs of these companies, giving them
- Goals for the year. He never holds meetings or calls them on a regular basis.
7) He has given his CEO's only two rules.
Rule number 1: Do not lose any of your share holder's money.
Rule number 2: Do not forget rule Number 1.
8) He does not socialize with the high society crowd. His past time after he gets home is to make himself some pop corn and watch television.
9) Bill Gates, the world's richest man met him for the first time only 5 years ago. Bill Gates did not think he had anything in common with Warren Buffet. So he had scheduled his meeting only for half hour. But when Gates met him, the meeting lasted for ten hours and Bill Gates became a devotee of Warren Buffet.
10) Warren Buffet does not carry a cell phone, nor has a computer on his desk.
11) His advice to young people: Stay away from credit cards and invest in yourself.

Tracking the meteoric rise of BSE Sensex by timeline

1000, July 25, 1990
On July 25, 1990, the Sensex touched the magical four-digit figure for the first time and closed at 1,001 in the wake of a good monsoon and excellent corporate results.

2000, January 15, 1992
On January 15, 1992, the Sensex crossed the 2,000-mark and closed at 2,020 followed by the liberal economic policy initiatives undertaken by the then finance minister and current Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh.

3000, February 29, 1992
On February 29, 1992, the Sensex surged past the 3000 mark in the wake of the market-friendly Budget announced by the then Finance Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh.

4000, March 30, 1992
On March 30, 1992, the Sensex crossed the 4,000-mark and closed at 4,091 on the expectations of a liberal export-import policy. It was then that the Harshad Mehta scam hit the markets and Sensex witnessed unabated selling.

5000, October 8, 1999
On October 8, 1999, the Sensex crossed the 5,000-mark as the BJP-led coalition won the majority in the 13th Lok Sabha election.

6000, February 11, 2000
On February 11, 2000, the infotech boom helped the Sensex to cross the 6,000-mark and hit and all time high of 6,006.

7000, June 20, 2005
On June 20, 2005, the news of the settlement between the Ambani brothers boosted investor sentiments and the scrips of RIL, Reliance Energy, Reliance Capital and IPCL made huge gains. This helped the Sensex crossed 7,000 points for the first time.

8000, September 8, 2005
On September 8, 2005, the Bombay Stock Exchange's benchmark 30-share index -- the Sensex -- crossed the 8000 level following brisk buying by foreign and domestic funds in early trading.

9000, November 28, 2005
The Sensex on November 28, 2005 crossed the magical figure of 9000 to touch 9000.32 points during mid-session at the Bombay Stock Exchange on the back of frantic buying spree by foreign institutional investors and well supported by local operators as well as retail investors.

10,000, February 7, 2006
The Sensex on February 6, 2006 touched 10,003 points during mid-session. The Sensex finally closed above the 10K-mark on February 7, 2006.

11,000, March 27, 2006
The Sensex on March 21, 2006 crossed the magical figure of 11,000 and touched a life-time peak of 11,001 points during mid-session at the Bombay Stock Exchange for the first time. However, it was on March 27, 2006 that the Sensex first closed at over 11,000 points.

12,000, April 20, 2006
The Sensex on April 20, 2006 crossed the 12,000-mark and closed at a peak of 12,040 points for the first time.

13,000, October 30, 2006
The Sensex on October 30, 2006 crossed the magical figure of 13,000 and closed at 13,024.26 points, up 117.45 points or 0.9%. It took 135 days for the Sensex to move from 12,000 to 13,000 and 123 days to move from 12,500 to 13,000.

14,000, December 5, 2006

The Sensex on December 5, 2006 crossed the magical figure of 14,000 to touch 14,028 points in early morning trade. It took 36 days for the Sensex to move from 13,000 to the 14,000 mark.

The best of Prof. Ravichandran at Great Lakes

Here’s one Prof. who is worth a million…the sharpest and wittiest person you can ever come across...gives you memories of a lifetime...a standing example of how terrifying a Prof. could also be…a one professor who makes you think at least a hundred times before you try to speak-up…lest you get cold called…

Had the previledge of taking his Optimization models (Term III) and Simulation modeling (Term VI) @ Great Lakes, Chennai…

Here below is a small collection of his master pieces at Great Lakes and a few i've just gone ahead and picked from blogs of a couple of my IIMA friends…Thought I could have it here-in my blog to have a look at 'em during my tough and boring times, just to remind that i've handled even tougher ones...

Here you go...

- You people have a nice way of avoiding me whenever I ask a question...you start looking in your books, as if you are very busy…looking away like newly married brides…

- I am stunned by your intellectual inferiority…

- This is not your contention but confusion and at best you can have confusion coz its your birth right…

- The one in which he explained cycle time: "Cycle time does not mean that you take three women and expect to have a child in three months, it will still take nine months"

- On self: "I am a sadistic monkey and u know that"
" when my son was 3 years old... yes he actually once was even though he thinks he was born at 15" and I've have taken the responsibility of getting 2 sons into this world…not that it takes much of an effort...with some people it might be a problem...but with me…it didn’t take much effort...its not very difficult…provided u get the chance…

- On the projector being out of focus…"This is unfocussed...just like the PGP program"

- RaviC: So what should blitz do to correct its schedule? Student: Sir, it should improve its scheduling policy RaviC: You know, now that’s like going to a doctor and telling him "I'm not well" and asking him what should I do and the joker says "Get well"

- RaviC- what are personal loans Student - Sir, the loans which do not require any collateral RC- Sasural hain kya?? After some arguments... Student - Sir by that logic "every loan is personal to someone" RaviC- You are stupid and on top of that you are arrogant.

- When a student took his analogy too seriuosly, Ravi C fires, "If I compare a woman's face with the moon, it doesn't mean that there would be mountains and valleys on her face!"

- Talking bout branding, he says, "If IIMA, on the strength of its brand, tries to run a circus, it won't work. Even if it tries to convey the fact that the PGP and the circus are one and the same!"

- Student : But why wud high end customers come to Schwab? RaviC: Why not..if u offer peanuts u will get monkey and if u offer sugercane u will get Elephant.

- Student: Sir building on his (another student's) point RaviC: offcourse u can build on it but its a very shaky foundation Student:Sir there is a concept called DoDo marketing RaviC: u actually want me to believe that??

- An organisation's biggest bottleneck is its CEO..its growth is directly proportional to his vision..broader his vision wider the growth..

- Ice fili case..Student: Sir the consumption peaks in 6th and 7th month RaviC: U r not talking abt pregenancy right??

- Part of a case discussion: After some arguments..Student: Sir, ultimately what u r telling is weighted average. Prof : Ultimately rocket science is just arithmetic, so what u r trying to prove.

- the Prof switches over to Hindi in the class and asks, "is everyone okay with Hindi?"One student promptly raises his hand and says " Sir, I dont know Hindi". The Prof looks at him and the entire class for a moment and looks at him and says, " Actually you are supposed to say- I dont know... Hindi ALSO!" with a stress on also...and the class incl me erupts in laughter

- Student (40+ years old) : The key difference here is.. Prof : Look, at the way he talks... refined, like how lotsa big people talk... 10 or 15 mins of talk, with just an iota of data, like interest rates will increase by 0.5% Student : A habit of over 20 years... Prof : Oh yeah ? Bull Shitting has become a habit and my class erupts...

- Talking about comprehensive/evolved mathematical models.. Prof : Yeah, its like this... Human beings are evolved form of monkeys, some are still trying to evolve, and some successfully evolve!

- Ravi sir was in a counter argument mode when another student said " yes sir, i go with you" RaviC: immediately asked him" So what do you want to convey?" the student said" I support your argument sir"....Came the reply from the Prof. in a flash-- " Giving support is when you get emotional and agreeing is when you are rational"...astonishing!

- Student: Sir what's the difference between process time and cycle time? Ravi C (with trademark smile): If a pregnant woman gives birth to twins then 9 month is process time while cycle time is zero!

- RaviC asks a guy to explain the first case of the course...He starts: If we do SWOT analysis....RaviC: What is SWOT? Student: ^%%? RaviC: Strength is your wife, Weakness if neighbor's wife, opportunity is when you neighbor is away, threat is when you are away!

- Case: BarillA SpaTopic in discussion was their inventory. Someone said: Sir, on an average, the inventory looks to be quite fine. RaviC: If u look at averages, the average Indian woman gives birth to 2.4 children. That would mean the average Indian woman is always pregnant.

- RaviC: What is capacity? (Silence- he looks arnd and points to a student) What is the capacity of this room? Student: (hoping to make an impression) Depends upon what kind of capacity u r talking abt- sitting, standing ... RaviC: Ah! (Has that glitter in the eye now) Let us say I decide to pack people into this room - then what do u say is the capacity? Student: (gives a number) but then again the capacity depends upon the ideal distance we want between 2 people. RC: You talking about distances now? Very smart! Did u assume then that I was going to pack them skin-to-skin top to bottom?! (pause) Have u heard of negative distances? Class silent. RC: Anyone married here? (Class still silent n no one gives eye contact) No one! That explains... (His famous smile now!)

- Ravi C's response to a guy who was referring to the Case Mat while Ravi C put down the solution on the blackboard -You are like the idiot who wants to watch a blue movie on his wedding night

- Shakespeare can easily be made... Just have a child and name him Shakespeare!

- On Adding Value!! "I don't know if I added any value to you all through this course but I definitely know that I didn't destroy any value...because it didn't exist previously"

- RaviC - "Your name is manoranjan?? manoranjan means entertainment.. so you entertain or are you a result of entertainment??"

- "If you make a Monkey sit with a typewritter , there is a finite probability that he will reproduce Shakespears work, given enough time"

- RaviC asks a question...our friend with all honesty says.."sir, i don't know".. RaviC - i remember, i had asked you a question in the 3rd sem, and you had said you didn't know...at least now you are predictable.

- On being distracted by a student chewing on his gold chain:"You are the bottleneck of my attention.....You take my attention away from the class....I should really do something about this"
The nervous student dropping things from his/her desk and not daring to move a muscle to avoid attracting attention: “That’s why housekeeping is important in JIT. If your workspace is organized and things are running smoothly you don’t attract any attention..”

- On feeding a bottleneck:
“like a pregnant woman constantly craving for something to eat before having a baby??”

- Student : “The function gradually approaches 0…”RaviC: “that’s like saying that asymptotically we all die…” “Isko koi samjhao bhai”

- On a student missing in class: RaviC: “…What WIP gone missing” “So what should we do now??.. Let’s organise a party with band-baaja and go find him…That’s ok, I’ll lead the party since I have nothing better to do. So who’s coming with me??

- On scheduling conflicts: Student: “It arises because of shared resources.” RaviC: “You mean like Princess Diana or Draupadi?”

- RaviC: "Which is your favorite LP problem?" Student : "Adani Wilmar" RaviC: "Adani Wilmar?! Was it an LP problem or a transportation problem??" Student: "sir there we had to find the optimal route from the ports to the factories by an LP formulation" RaviC: "it's like I ask you for your favorite bird and u say mosquito....it has wings and it can fly...so it's technically correct!!!”

- ”Vishwamitra had zero WIP...he had compressed cycle time a long time back”

- a long discussion in class over a point ... same point gets repeated 20 mins later as if the guy is making a fresh point ... Ravi C says "I thought we had already covered this point some 20 mins earlier... Does sound travel so slowly here? I thought it travelled this distance in a lot less than 20 mins? "

- With increasing globalisation, the Indian students are also becoming world class..."

- Student: Sir, this inventory is stocked in the head office whereas the recommendation is to stock it at the regional offices. Ravi C: " If there are four members in your family and one of them goes abroad, then how many members are there in your family? It doesn't matter where the inventory is stored bhai as long as it is stuck in the system"

- On the idea of debating options for transporting goods from factory to markets: to illustrate the idea of buying low value-add items locally the prof said :"If you are going to transport cowdung, will you transport it by airplane?"

- Student: Whenever I go to the ATM, I expect it to have cash. RaviC: Just because you get admitted into the ICU, doesnt mean, you will come out alive.

- Student: There is something wrong in this model (simulation modelling). RaviC: Just because you are ugly, don't blame the mirror...

- "I am here for a purpose and I pretty well know what it is. And I shall fulfill my duty towards it and anything that comes in my way shall be OBLITERATED."

Supply-Chain Operations Reference (SCOR) Model

Formed in collaboration with 69 members consisting of manufacturers, logistics / distribution service providers and software solutions suppliers, Supply Chain Council introduced Supply Chain Operations Reference-model (SCOR). Numbers of companies have pooled their real-world supply chain experiences to build a flexible framework and a common language that can help companies improve their supply chain internally and externally. The model defines common supply chain management process, matches them against “best practices”. It provides companies with powerful tool in improving supply chain operations. It allows manufacturers, suppliers, distributors and retailers with a framework to evaluate the effectiveness of their supply chain operations and to target and measure specific process operations.

The SCOR model was designed to enable companies to communicate, compare and learn from competitors and companies both within and outside of their industry. It not only measures supply chain performance but also effectiveness of supply chain reengineering. Further it has the ability to test and plan future process improvements. The SCOR is a process reference model. At the core of this model is a “pyramid of four levels” that represents the path a company takes on the road to supply-chain improvement:
Level 1: Provides definition of the Plan, Source, Make, and Deliver process types. This is the point where a company establishes its supply-chain competitive objectives
The basic structure of the reference-model focuses on the four key supply-chain processes: Plan, Source, Make, Deliver.

Plan: Under this process the company should assess supply resources, aggregate and prioritize demand requirements, plan inventory, distribution requirements, production, material and rough-cut capacity of all products and all channels. Make/buy decisions are evaluated under this heading. Decision related to long term capacity and resource planning, product phase in / phase out are undertaken in this phase.

Source: Under this process sourcing infrastructure is managed. Various activities like vendor certification and feedback, sourcing quality monitoring, vendor contracts are conducted. Also activities involved with receiving of material like: obtain, receive, inspect, hold and issue material are under taken here.

Make: This process is concerned with production, execution and managing “make” infrastructure. Specifically under production execution activities like manufacturing, testing, packaging, holding and releasing of product are undertaken here. Under managing “ make” infrastructure, engineering changes, facilities and equipment management, production status, production quality, shop scheduling/sequencing and short-term capacity are planned and managed.

Deliver: This process consists of order management, warehouse management and transportation management. Under order management activities like maintaining and entering orders, generating quotations, configuring product are undertaken. Further create and maintain customer database, maintain product and price database, managing receivables and credit management also fall under this domain.

Warehouse management: Activities like pick up, package, creating customer specific packaging/labeling and shipment of products fall under the gamut of warehouse management.

Transportation and delivery infrastructure management: Under transportation management, activities like traffic management, freight management are undertaken. Delivery infrastructure encompasses of channel management rules, order management rules and managing delivery inventories and managing delivery quality.

Level 2: Level 2 defines 26 core process categories that are possible components of a supply chain. Organizations can configure their ideal or actual operations using these processes.

Level 3: Level 3 provides the information required for successfully planning and setting goals for supply-chain improvements. This includes defining process element, setting target benchmarks, defining best practices, and system software capabilities to enable best practices.

Level 4: Level 4 focuses on implementation, i.e. putting specific supply-chain improvements into action. These are not defined within industry standard model, as implementation can be unique to each company
Please refer to http://www.supply-chain.org/for more information on this model. For overview of SCOR go to the section called "Resources" on the left-hand menu to click on link called "SCOR overview".

Process Reference Model: Process reference model integrate the concepts of business process reengineering, benchmarking, and process measurement into a cross-functional framework. A Process Reference Model helps organizations capture the "as-is" state of a process with the objective to achieve the desired "to-be" future state. Further it allows organization to quantify the operational performance, establish internal targets based on "best-in-class" results in similar companies. It describes standard management processes, exploring relationship among different processes. It defines standard metrics to measure process performance and management practices that produce the best-in-class performance. Finally it characterize the management practices and software solutions that result in "best-in-class" performance
Process reference helps complex management process be captured in standard process reference model. This in turn help organization communicate unambiguously and measure, manage, tune and re-tune specific process

Swear by “The Hindu”

Waking up early in the morning in Chennai is so different from any other city. At home, is an altogether different experience. Just not able to come to terms that my entire house is ready and running full steam as early as 6AM. Inherent laziness is what sets me apart from my folks at home. Have always failed to catch up with the pace of activities. Nevertheless, home is heaven on earth.

A couple of days back, one of friend made an interesting comment on the Chennai climate. He said “It just gets hot, hotter and the hottest by around the end of march”. Hardly a noticeable change in the Chennai climate throughout the year and enough has been said about it. Just that the nights in December and January are a shade better and pleasant.

In these pleasant months of December and January it’s a beautiful sight to watch the first flower of Parijat bloom with their fragrant flowers fallen all over the ground below. A sight worth a million. Mother nature has given us more than we could have asked. It’s an absolute experience to witness things like the faint orange across the horizon in the mornings, the fresh bloom of the flowers, chirping of birds, overnight dew, clean smell of the air and the slow and steady sunrise over the bay of bengal. Not to forget the early morning puja and prayers which people offer at home and in the temples.

Unlike other cities Chennai is devoid of good walking parks. Thanks to the beaches, which make up for it. And now to the topic that I originally wanted to write. Mornings in every city is different and none comparable to Chennai. I can bet on my life to stand by the combination of filter coffee and “The Hindu” newspaper early up in the day. As a matter of fact, that’s the only thing that I seem to miss here in Mumbai. Coffee and that too filter coffee here. Oh! Forget it! And on the top of it I am put off reading the DNA’s and Times of India’s early in the morning. Somebody got to teach them that entertainment is yet another needed in life, however entertainment is not life.

I still am to come to terms, how people donot understand the simple fact of "Substance always prevailing over form in the long run". The Hindu for certain scores head and tail over the rest. The clarity of reporting and authenticity of information is something I’ve witnessed from my childhood. To top it up the headlines and the topic is never ever misleading. Thankfully “The Hindu” has come up with their e-paper, which has bought new life into a couple of Southies out here in Mumbai and around the world. Just trying to wonder, how long can people bull shit or is life all about bull shitting…

Mumbai Marathon...Here I come...

"We are different, in essence, from other men. If you want to win something, run 100 meters. If you want to experience something, run a marathon" - Emil Zatopek (Czech athlete and Olympic gold medalist in long distance running)

Running a marathon is as serious a stuff, as much as it can be a fun-filled activity. Running is a lot like life. Only 10 percent of it is exciting. 90 percent of it is slog and drudge.

I've made up my mind for 'em all...There to push myself to the limits in my half marathon......Am there running for myself and, here's a chance for all you guyz too, to be a part of history...

Rush in your entries for the Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon schedule on the 21st of Jan, 2007...More info on http://www.scmm.indiatimes.com