Anand Nataraj

Archive for October, 2008

Once upon a time a tortoise and a hare had an argument about who was faster. They decided to settle the argument with a race. They agreed on a route and started off the race. The hare shot ahead and ran briskly for some time. Then seeing that he was far ahead of the tortoise, he thought he’d sit under a tree for some time and relax before continuing the race. He sat under the tree and soon fell asleep. The tortoise plodding on overtook him and soon finished the race, emerging as the undisputed champ. The hare woke up and realized that he’d lost the race.

The moral- “Slow and steady wins the race. This is the version of the story that we’ve all grown up with.”

THE STORY DOESN’T END HERE, there are few more interesting things…..it continues as follows….. .

The hare was disappointed at losing the race and he did some soul-searching. He realized that he’d lost the race only because he had been overconfident, careless and lax. If he had not taken things for granted, there’s no way the tortoise could have beaten him. So he challenged the tortoise to another race. The tortoise agreed. This time, the hare went all out and ran without stopping from start to finish. He won by several miles.

The moral – ” Fast and consistent will always beat the slow and steady. It’s good to be slow and steady; but it’s better to be fast and reliable.”

THE STORY DOESN’T END HERE

The tortoise did some thinking this time, and realized that there’s no way it can beat the hare in a race the way it was currently formatted. It thought for a while, and then challenged the hare to another race, but on a slightly different route. The hare agreed. They started off. In keeping with his self-made commitment to be consistently fast, the hare took off and ran at top speed until he came to a broad river. The finishing line was a couple of kilometres on the other side of the river. The hare sat there wondering what to do. In the meantime the tortoise trundled along, got into the river, swam to the opposite bank, continued walking and finished the race.

The moral – ” First identify your core competency and then change the playing field to suit your core competency.”

THE STORY STILL HASN’T ENDED.

The hare and the tortoise, by this time, had become pretty good friends and they did some thinking together. Both realized that the last race could have been run much better. So they decided to do the last race again, but to run as a team this time. They started off, and this time the hare carried the tortoise till the riverbank. There, the tortoise took over and swam across with the hare on his back. On the opposite bank, the hare again carried the tortoise and they reached the finishing line together. They both felt a greater sense of satisfaction than they’d felt earlier.

The moral – “It’s good to be individually brilliant and to have strong core competencies; but unless you’re able to work in a team and harness each other’s core competencies, you’ll always perform below par because there will always be situations at which you’ll do poorly and someone else does well.

Teamwork is mainly about situational leadership, letting the person with the relevant core competency for a situation take leadership.

Note that neither the hare nor the tortoise gave up after failures. The hare decided to work harder and put in more effort after his failure. The tortoise changed his strategy because he was already working as hard as he could.”

In life, when faced with failure, sometimes it is appropriate to work harder and put in more effort. Sometimes it is appropriate to change strategy and try something different. And sometimes it is appropriate to do both. The hare and the tortoise also learnt another vital lesson. When we stop competing against a rival and instead start competing against the situation, we perform far better.

IT’S 7TH GRADE..

I stared at the girl next to me… She was my so called “best friend”… I stared at her… Long, silky hair… And I wished she was mine… But she didn’t notice me like that… I knew it… After class she walked up to me and asked me for the notes she had missed the day before… And I handed them to her… She said “thanks”… And gave me a kiss on the cheek… I wanted to tell her… I want her to know that I don’t want to be “just friends”… I love her but I’m too shy to tell her… And I don’t know why…

IT’S JUNIOR YEAR..

My phone rang… On the other end it was her… She was in tears… Mumbling on and on about how her love had broken her heart… She asked me to come over because she didn’t want to be alone… So I did… As I sat next to her on the sofa… I stared at her soft eyes… Wishing she was mine… After 2 hours… I Drew Barrymore movie… And 3 bags of chips… She decided to go to sleep… She looked at me.. Said “thanks” and gave me a kiss on the cheek… I wanted to tell her… I want her to know… That I don’t want to be “just friends”… I love her but I’m too shy to tell her… And I don’t know why…

IT’S SENIOR YEAR..

The day before prom… She walked to my locker… “My date is sick” she said… He’s not going to go… Well… I didn’t have a date and in 7th grade… We made a promise that if neiter of us had dates… We’d go together just as “best friends”… And so we did…

IT’S PROM NIGHT..

After everything was over with… I was standing at her front door step… I stared at her … She smiled at me… I wanted her to be mine… But she doesn’t think of me like that… And I know it… Then she said “I had the best time… Thanks!”… And she gave me a kiss on the cheek… I wanted to tell her… I wanted her to know that I don’t want to be “just friends”… I love her but I’m just too shy… And I don’t know why…

IT’S GRADUATION DAY..

A day passed… And then a week… And then a month… Before I could blink… It was graduation day… I watched her… Perfect body… Floated like an angel up on stage to get her diploma… I wanted her to be mine… But she doesn’t think of me that way… And I know it… Before everyone went home… She came to me in her smock and hat… And cried as I hugged her… Then she lifted her head from my shoulders and said “you’re my best friend”… “Thanks!”… And gave me a kiss on the cheek… I wanted to tell her.. I wanted to know that I wanted to be more than “just friends”… I love her but I’m too shy… And I don’t know why…

IT’S A FEW YEARS LATER..

Now I sit in the pews of the church… A church that she is getting married in now… I watched her say “I do” an drive off to her new life… Married to another man… I wanted her to be mine… But she didn’t see me like that… And I knew it… But before she drove away… She came to me and said “You came!… Thanks!”… And she kissed me on the cheek… I wanted to tell her… I wantd her to know that I didn’t want to be “just friends”… I love her but I’m just too shy… And I don’t know why…

YEARS PASSED..

I looked down at the coffin of a girl who used to be my “best friend”… At the service they read a diary entry she had wrote in her high school years… This is what it said… “I stare at him… Wishing he was mine… But he doesn’t notice me like that… And I know it… I wanted to tell him… I wanted him to know… That I don’t want to be “just friends”… I love him but I’m just too shy… And I don’t know why… I wish he would tell me he loved me”… I wish I did too… I thought to myself and I cried…
rest in peace my Love

A well-known speaker started off his seminar by holding up a Rupee 500 note.

In the room of 200, he asked, ‘Who would like this Rupee 500 note?’
Hands started going up.

He said, ‘I am going to give this note to one of you but first let me do this.’ He proceeded to crumple the note up.
He then asked, ‘Who still wants it?’
Still the hands were up in the air.

‘Well,’ he replied, ‘What if I do this?’ And he dropped it on the ground and started to grind it into the floor with his shoe. He picked it up, now all crumpled and dirty.
‘Now who still wants it?’
Still the hands went into the air.

‘My friends, you have all learned a very valuable lesson.
No matter what I did to the money, you still wanted it because it did not decrease in value. It was still worth Rupee 500/-.

Many times in our lives, we are dropped, crumpled, and ground into the dirt by the decisions we make and the circumstances that come our way. We feel as though we are worthless.

But no matter what has happened or what will happen, you will never lose your value. You are special. Don’t ever forget it! Never let yesterday’s disappointments overshadow tomorrow’s dreams.
‘VALUE HAS A VALUE ONLY IF ITS VALUE IS VALUED’

This is a true story which happened in the States. A man came out of
his home to admire his new truck. To his puzzlement, his three-year-old son was happily hammering dents into the shiny paint of the truck.

The man ran to his son, knocked him away, hammered the little boy’s hands into pulp as punishment. When the father calmed down, he rushed his son to the hospital.

Although the doctor tried desperately to save the crushed bones, he
finally had to amputate the fingers from both the boy’s hands. When the boy woke up from the surgery & saw his bandaged stubs, he innocently said, ” Daddy,I’m sorry about your truck.” Then he asked, “but when are my fingers going to grow back?” The father went home & committed suicide.

Think about this story the next time someone steps on your feet or u
wish to take revenge. Think first before u lose your patience with
someone u love. Trucks can be repaired.. Broken bones & hurt feelings often can’t. Too often we fail to recognise the difference between the person and the performance. We forget that forgiveness is greater than revenge.

People make mistakes. We are allowed to make mistakes. But the actions we take while in a rage will haunt us forever.

Just checked my friend pjain’s blog explaining todo’s other than business model, revenue model, and team for startups, it is good he has thought about all aspects of a startup and where they fails to think, nice blog…

pjain’s blog http://www.teknatus.com/blog/pjain/things-to-do-when-rolling-your-own-startup

Some how this blog has caught my attention, the Title itself attractive “Starting a company is like landing on the shore of a deserted island”… Even has explained feel factor of an startup entrepreneur and explained with examples on how can it be if one is successful and what happens if one fails… Nice read and highly recommended…

Blog Link : http://evhead.com/2008/10/starting-company-is-like-landing-on.html

Can anyone solve this?

Only skilled people can open this file… Once you succeed to open
this file, you will find names of the people who have managed to open this… Now it is your turn!

http://www.anandnataraj.com/files/Copy_of_Kasoa37.xls

How to open attached file?

A man was traveling to Kasoa

At the bus stop, he met a man with 7 wifes

Each wife has 12 sons and 12 daughters

Each daughter of the man ‘ s wife had 4 sons and 7 daughters

Each son of the man ‘ s wife had 7 sons and 4 daughters

Each grand daughter had 4 friends

How many people got to kasoa?

The number of people who got to kasoa is the password to open attached file. Once you have opened it, add your name and challenge others.

Have a great day…

If you are in India do you remember all the Maruthi Ads “where ever you go you can find a maruthi service station”… In spite of all that finding a road side mechanic is a common site.

Have you ever thought if it would be good if we have a roadside mechanic for all your system and software related issues. Even if you had are they available 24 hours? Are they capable of handling all the issues? Are they qualified and have right testimonial?

If yes your entire wait is over. Understanding this gap there 6 professionals who have left there high paying jobs from IBM, Slash Support, Wipro, Sutherland and started a service to solve all the Technical issues over phone, email and chat.

They ran a beta run for 3 months and got tremendous support and applause for this type of service, thought it is not something unique, they say they were not aware of their competitors when they first discussed about this idea. Also they claim that there is different and unique. It is Pay-per-click model where customers pay only if the issues are solved.

When I questioned them what happens if the client runs away after solving the issue, they claim always clients are very supportive and they in fact reward them by paying a premium than their fee to motivate this service…

Only flaw side of this service is it is only available for US if you want a support over phone & not for other part of their, on contacting their CTO Mr.Bala, he claims people still call to their US no. though it expensive & they are also planning to launch there service to different English speaking nations.

I personally contacted them for frequent internet disconnection issue over char and to my surprise it was sorted in 20 min over chat. All I had to do was to trust them and install remote access software and give access to my system. Also I utilized there free trial run during there beta run.

As a gratitude I think I must write a word of appreciation and pass a message about their service with all my readers and this is definitely a mutually beneficial post…

To know more about there service visit Support1000.com.