Jas Blog

Today we had CEO of Cognizant Technology Solutions (my current employer) visit us in company campus. The 6k+ employees were all bubbled up to see the one of the youngest CEOs of a company of this scale. Having heard about him from management, followed his internal blog, I was not having much of an image about this guy. Most of the business dailies of today were shouting about Cognizant being a contender for Satyam Computer Services Ltd, especially with Wilbur Ross making statement about a joint bid with Cognizant for Satyam. With only three bidders left in fray (L&T Infotech and Tech Mahindra being other two), the campus is surely abuzz around the coffee machines. And not to forget that Satyam was the one which mentored Cognizant, a joint venture between Dun & Bradstreet (76%) and Satyam (24%), when it was formed. That surely had put more focus on the man with the red button – Francisco D’Souza.

Francisco D'Souza

Now what would be the image of a CEO we would have? A wise old man, silver or white hair elegantly showing the years of experience and an air of formal composure which stamps the authority. Francisco was totally different. Still looking like a homely man in mid thirties as in this picture on right (his actual age is 40), he brought that shine in the eyes of all his associates (and am not dramatizing!). Damn it man! Such a young CEO? I mean we have such CEOs for self styled start ups, but a global giant of almost 3billion USD… this young!

As he answered few questions about his own personal life, the image of a high handed CEO came crashing down. He was such a plain person with simple straight answers, even his accent wasn’t ‘phorein‘ (slang for foreign – as in western). A son of an Indian Foreign Services (IFS) employee, he got a great global exposure as his father kept shifting as per his job cycles. He talked about how when his family moved to Hong Kong, he could find only one English medium university and that too taught only night classes, so he started working in mornings. That is when he taught himself programming to make some money on the side as a contract coder, something which was going to change his life forever. And he says that life’s best moments came to him by chance.

That was teens. At 24, he was already a part of Cognizant Technology Solutions, an American it services company that was created to leverage the India advantage. At 33 he got elected as Chief Operating Officer of the same company and four years later, he was promoted as CEO of it. What stuck me was that he said that when CEO position was offered to him he first thought of his family. He understood what would it mean to take up the CEO role, and for him the family came first (he has a boy and a girl). Only after he was convinced he could juggle both, did he say yes to then CEO – Lakshmi Narayanan. And he lives by that even today, saying , “Children do not need too much time from you, just quality time.”  And he makes sure he spends quality time with them before they go to bed, when he is at home.

What hit me and most of us the most was that when asked what would you advise to your associates, his reply was prompt and precise – “Take risks”. The questioner had to wait for few seconds and ask back, “That is all?”. “Yes!”, Francisco replied with an assurance and smile, the whole auditorium was filled with sounds of claps.

Addendum
This is my third employer, first and only one post MBA and I already have seen three acquisition headlines about my employer! When I was at Adobe Systems, ‘we’ took over Macromedia. Being an ardent user of products of both , I was just gaping at the headliner. Coming to Cognizant in July 2007, it announced the acquisition of Market Rx, a pharma analytics firm, some time later. There was some more acquisition I guess by Cognizant between that and now. And now Cognizant is already in news as one of the three bidders for Satyam Computer Services!

I sure am a good catalyst for inorganic growth!!

Jas People Experiences, My Life

Atlas Shrugged

Recession has had its effect in strangest of places. Economist has posted how in this turbulent time, college students approaching Ayn Rand’s legendary ‘Atlas Shrugged‘ novel. When biggest of the pillars of a highly relied upon system start crumbling, its natural for the new generation to have ideological shifts and their questioning of the earlier established philosophies.

THE ECONOMIST — Reviled in some circles and mocked in others, Rand’s 1957 novel of embattled capitalism is a favorite of libertarians and college students. Lately, though, its appeal has been growing. According to data from TitleZ, a firm that tracks bestseller rankings on Amazon, an online retailer, the book’s 30-day average Amazon rank was 127 on February 21st, well above its average over the past two years of 542. On January 13th the book’s ranking was 33, briefly besting President Barack Obama’s popular tome, “The Audacity of Hope.”

Economic news vs Atlas Shrugged sales

Furthermore, says The Economist, data from TitleZ.com show recent sales spikes of the book coinciding with major political events, such as the passing of the stimulus plan (see image).

The spikes, The Economist surmises, happen when people (including a handful of bloggers, politicians, and economists) notice the eerie similarities between real-life events — like the recent spate of sea pirate attacks — and the scenarios Rand described in her book.

Hmm… interesting! But there is more…

Have a look at the Google trends, we had a first spike in its search when New York Post talk about the rumor that  Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie may team up for ‘Atlas Shrugged’ movie. Even if novel’s sale is rising, it means there has been a rise in information about novel. But am curious to know, how much of it was by word of mouth and that too in context of philosophy and not the movie etc.

And wind up the post here is a surprise – Google trends reports that after US, it was people from India who searched the term most! Howzzat?

Note: I dont know about others but, yes, I myself am reading this very novel these days!

See related Freakonomics post and Carpe Diem post.

Jas Current Affairs Experiences

Obama has become a global symbol for hope and change (for good). And with depressed economy, unfaithful leaders in power, silent but resilient people looking for a change, its but natural for Indian political parties to exploit the “Change” plank of Obama and recycle it in Indian context. For every second mention of “Hope” and “Change” in political speeches, Obama’s name somehow is being shoved into the speech. Lets see how they are doing it.

Politics in Andhra Pradesh, India

Well am in this state right now and somehow it feels that this state’s parties are the one that have been bitten the most by the Obama bug. Congress party is in power and TDP is praying for anti-incumbency swing. A famous south Actor, Chiranjeevi, has seen an opportunity to launch his new party – Praja Rajyam Party (PRP) (while still being undecided about what really his agenda is). He is the one who situationally can use the Change plank the most and he duly tries it.

Obama campaigns for Chiranjeevi

Unknown to the word ‘copyright’, PRP has gone to use what we call as Associative Marketing. Few days back I saw this billboard. Written in local language it means:

“Today, in America it’s Obama”

“Tomorrow, in Andhra Pradesh it’s going to be Chiranjeevi”.

“The only thing people expect is “Change””.

-Praja Rajyam Party (PRP)

Whoa! That is funny! Lets see what happens when prez Obama has a look at this billboard. Am sure if he does, Chiranjeevi would suddenly realise how bad the Rs is faring vs US Dollar!

Immediately following Barack Obama’s historic win in the US, Chiranjeevi had announced that he will do in Andhra Pradesh, India what Obama did in the USA and win in the elections. Now how much he really knows about Obama’s campaign and actions is really going to be interesting and hard not to laught at, only if he would spill the beans of his heart!

Mr. Chandrababu Obama

The second party in waiting (for win), TDP, has already decided to follow the grass roots movement that Obama managed to setup in the USA. And a local newspaper, Eenadu, has given all the support with this (forged) photo graph on left. I mean…   leave it! Here is the link to Eenadu news article.

Both of these campaigns have acually nothing to do with Obama as a person or his ideals or even his startegy for win in elections. Its just another opportunity as seen by the opportunistic regional parties who have no idea what the cyber laws are or how they are making a joke of themselves in educated class. Worst, I dont think they will ever know!

Advani takes a clue from Obama

Coming to the national front, the largest Opposition party of India, BJP, has taken the mantra from Obama – use internet. For months now, the Post reports, a core group of political strategists, computer specialists and management graduates have been poring over Obama’s speeches and web site, his campus of change and, of course, the rhetoric of change, to nail down how Advani’s campaign can be run to inspire India’s untapped potential of young voters.The BJP seeks to project Advani as the harbinger of change who will replace this despair with hope.

‘About 100 million first-time voters will enter the election landscape next year. That is a staggering number of young people. And the Indian youth is impatient for change,’ Sudheendra Kulkarni, former journalist and one of Advani’s key strategists told the Post. ‘We want to project the image of Advani around the idea of change the same way that Obama’s message resonated with people’s hunger for change.’

LK Advani, BJP’s prime ministerial candidate, has not only launched an official website in lkadvani.in targeted at pitching him as the prime minister for the upcoming elections but also launched a blog on the website in order to connect with the internet audience. He is also using aggressive Search engine marketing campaigns to promote the website. Even the ads are being targeted at causing a word of mouth effect as they are being placed at highly used sites like technorati.com. (My older blog itself had been filled with Advani ads!)

You think that very tech savvy? Hear this – Going the Obama way to reach out to millions of people, the BJP has launched Advani TV via IPTV technique to popularize Advani. In the US presidential polls, each and every step, right from Obama’s candidature acceptance speech to his victory speech was watched the world over through this technology.

Within all this mayhem, am really curious to see how these people react to the results once the elections are over!

Sources:

• http://hemanthology.wordpress.com/2009/02/04/obama-in-hyderabad/
• http://blogs.inspions.net/2008/11/15/obama-inspires-chandra-babu-too/
• http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1208950
  

Jas Current Affairs Experiences

Jas Update Experiences, My Life

Young Ruth dancing to “If there is something”

Jas Uncategorized Experiences, Movie Critics, Music

I have seen it all,
from freshness of spring to autumn’s fall,
I have seen the blood diamonds shine,
an amputee telling his family that he is all fine.

Cities being raged by bombs and fires,
the elders being charred by burning tires;
kids being shot and operated without anesthesia,
while their mothers prayed in silence for the panacea.

From the religious hatred to blood drenched rains,
from laughter filled school wagon to blood pouring trains.
An innocuous girl fearing men of her own religion,
a granny crying over her kindergarten grandson’s loss of vision.

In one house I have seen a brother kill brother,
the next one had no one’s son being cared by someone’s mother;
for what we see is that just after a violent strife,
you will see in eyes of people, coming back, the spirit of life.

Cities have bled and nations have been strangled,
Respect has been forgone and humanity wrangled;
Everybody thought they could bear no more and for grim reaper they should send,
but each time, I repeat, each time its the spirit of life that has triumphed in end

We have seen it in Delhi and seen in Mumbai all the time,
every such horror brings humanity to its prime.
people come together and forget small clashes,
the spirit of life makes the beaten to rise from ashes.

An elderly man being helped by a policeman at CST terminal in Mumbai after a terrorist had opened fire in the crowd.

See the irony, people have been killed after saving killer’s life with water,
killer could have paid by leaving that feeder’s life, but he didn’t have faith in that barter.
When a youngster’s mind is trained nothing astute but brainwashed for terror,
they don’t understand humanity but dismiss acts of kindness as a silly error.

So lets hold our hands and stand together against terror,
Gloom has come, but doom shall never…

This photograph was taken in Mumbai after the 7/11 train blasts.

Jas Uncategorized My Life, Philosophy, Places

In the beginning there was neither existence nor non-existance.
There was no atmosphere, no sky and no realm beyond the sky
What power was there? Where was that power?
Who was that power? Was it finite or infinite?


There was neither death nor immortality.
There was nothing to distinguish night from day.
There was no wind or breath, god alone breathed by his own energy.


In the beginning darkness was swathed in darkness, god was clothed in emptiness


Then fire arose within god; and in the fire arose love.
This was the seed of the soul.
Sages have found this seed within their hearts;
They have discovered that it is the bond between existence and non-existence.


Who really knows what happened? Who can describe it?
How were things produced? Where was creation born?
When the universe was created, the one became many.
Who knows how this occurred?
Did creation happen at God’s command, or did it happen without his command.
He looks down upon the creation from the highest heaven.
Only he knows the answer – or perhaps he does not know.

I couldnt agree any more! There are things which we will never know, and can only contemplate…

Jas Uncategorized Experiences, My Life, Philosophy

Bollywood has been rolling out the movies on a common man since big bang, where the image and issues faced by a common man has changed as portrayed in 60s by Balraj Sahni, 70’s by Raj Kapoor, 80’s by Amitabh Bachhan, 90’s by contemporary cinema and theaters, 2000’s by likes of Pankaj Kapoor, Naseeruddin Shah, Shabana Azmi, Anupam Kher – essentially the artists who have come from theaters. (I may have not counted some prominent names, but essentially this kind of gives a picture to grasp what am referring to). But till date when a character associates him/herself with a common man, the public still clap, they still find that connect emotionally overwhelming. ‘Wednesday’ is no different.

Jas Uncategorized Experiences, Movie Critics

When you are in a foreign land, you get introduced to some really fresh traditions and festivals. During my visit to US I got a chance to be part of a ‘Baby Shower’; something which I always thought was a all ladies event. For the incognizants, by convention, a baby shower is intended to help parents get items that they need for their baby, such as baby clothes. It is common for the host to provide baby-themed games during the shower. So as a native was telling me in party that how it was celebrated only for first child earlier but now is a more general event, one of our senior System Analyst came with the games. Everyone was to guess the exact size of the expectant mother’s waist using a string. Then there was another where we had to guess the exact date of birth of child and the weight. Now hold on, this wasnt going any better for me. Had I flirted in my college life (any of the two!), I could have made a worthy guess, but I couldnt be any closer to cutting the string right as of her waist! So I took it that she was married for two years, must have been on cheese diet (as any other Arizonian), and was due for delivery in another two months so she should be one ‘big’ lady! Well the female readers would have guessed it by now – my string was way more than her waist. No doubt she did not appreciate it that how fat I thought she was, given the fact that I work as Sr. Business Analyst. (So accurate an analysis!)

And not to forget the baby’s size, weight and all. I really felt like calling my mom to ask how heavy I was when I was born but then left the idea. I was always told that I was heaviest of the lot that was in hospital in those days and my childhood pics only confirm to my chubbiness in that time. And heck I dont know when will my bread come out of the toaster, how can I tell when a baby will come out! Strange ways life tells you that you still dont know anything!

And the early Sep was spent well in marrige of my best friend who has been more of a brother than a friend. I have never felt so responsible in my life, I had to make sure that all his friends did not feel left out at the function, were catered to well, danced, laughed and aptly farewelled. Marrige, as has been my experience, is the time when your relatives gaguge how valued they are in your life. If you miss them out, you mess yourself in. Anyhow the wedding was good thought I had to miss out on food part due to time constraints, and could come back to Hyderabad with just a box of sweets.

Jas Uncategorized My Life

I’m sitting here in a boring room
It’s just another rainy Sunday afternoon
I’m wasting my time
I got nothing to do
I’m hanging around
I’m waiting for you
But nothing ever happens – and I wonder

I wonder how
I wonder why
Yesterday you told me ’bout the blue blue sky
And all that I can see is just a yellow lemon-tree
I’m turning my head up and down
I’m turning turning turning turning turning around
And all that I can see is just a yellow lemon-tree

Isolation – is not good for me
Isolation – I don’t want to sit on a lemon-tree

Basic idea of movie has been morphed with Kargil angle diluting the base, but still its worth it; my favorite is the first half when Karan (Hrithik) is waiting for the transformation and his individuality is begging for a Lakshya (aim) in life. It conveys how if you can get your random though process to align in one direction of your aim, you have the power of a magnatised iron bar whose randomly aligned molecules are made to align magnetically in one direction giving it its invisible and intangible power.

To wrap up, some quotes which have hit me from movies and which I completely agree with (and which I remember right now!) -

• “Zindagi jeene ka mera tareeka bhi simple hai. Main aise jeeta hoon ki aaine ko dekhkar mujhe sharm na aaye”
  - Siddharth Marathe, Ghulam

• “Love me when I least deserve it, because that’s when I really need it.”
  - Swedish Proverb, have forgotten where was it used
• “Abhi abhi hua yakin… ki aag hai… mujh mein kahin.”
  - Rang De Basanti
• “I don’t know if we each have a destiny, or if we’re all just floating around accidental-like on a breeze. But I, I think maybe it’s both, maybe both happening at the same time.”
  - Forrest Gump, Forrest Gump

• “Saare faisle tum nahi kar sakti Romi.Humein nahi milna hai ye faisla tumne kiya tha.Ab humein dubara milna chahiye ya kabhi nahi ye faisla main karoonga”
  - Karan, Lakshya
• “The best moment in a man’s life is his weakest.”
  - Anonymous
• “I have loved to the point of madness;
  that which is called madness,
  that which to me,
  Is the only sensible way to love.”
  - F. Sagan (Okay! I admit, its not from movies; but then its great, no?

Photo Credit: Torei’s Deviantart

Jas Uncategorized Experiences, Philosophy