Saturday, July 29, 2006

divorce culture !

Is accepting divorce culture a One way downward spiral for the society?

A particularly good lifecycle stages paper is here.
I liked the idea of "multiple marriages" with the same spouse ! - its like introducing newer products in technological life cycles.

Interesting report on 10 year marital quality can be checked out here . In summary, this report says that - the moment you are married - the perceived quality lowers in the first 4 years - then plateaus for next 3 years and then nosedives rapidly till year 10.

Thursday, July 27, 2006

...of Strategy and pre-nup....

Prof Lamar put pre-nup as an example for contracts in course of Strategic Corporate Management!

btw, the point is besides that - he also mentioned -

If all the couples had a pre-nup then it would save quite a bit of money for the economy and also, reduce burden on the judicial system.

This reminds me the case of a guy in AT&T who lost more than a 100k in trying to get custody of his kids from his ex-wife ! I had never seen him but all the interactions were over the phone. However, others who had worked with him closely (pun intended) told me that he took advantage of his good looks - hence, fidelity may have been one of the points for divorce by his spouse. She got married soon and this guy couldn't since he had 2 child supports and a 100k debt ! Later, his girlfriend had a kid and is not ready to get married and so, he pays for her kid too !

Coming back to strategy - I asked him a question (which a lady had expressed while having a similar discussion) - the lady partner says - "You dont trust me !" Well, professor didn't want to get into controversy but I knew what he wanted to say - "Given the current social system and the current stats of guys having only 15% chance of winning any divorce case, this is a good balancer"

Now, my take on this from Strategy and game theory perspective:

-Having a pre-nup forces the lady to work and pay less attention to family since the guy can leave her anytime and she might be left helpless if she kept on handling the family and the guy kept on building his career.

- However, if there's no pre-nup the lady is incentivized to misbehave since she would get both allimony (till the time she gets a job or gets married again) and child support (along with the kid). There is no incentive for him not to leave atleast on financial terms.
If there's no pre-nup then he would fear the consequences of divorce (allimony, child support) and hence, behave.

I have simply presented two specific possibilities and they indicate that pre-nups are a must and the lady must also build her career (if she doesn't trust her guy). Developed world has its own set of problems and this is one of them.

The fact remains that divorces have high costs unless they are mutual and silent. The lawyers make a huge chunk of money out of these cases. Also, you would then say - in a relation as sacred as marriage - when do you say - enough is enough? - I would say "Never" [assuming ur original choice was good]

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

...blogging almost after a week

This blog deals with the degree of change in lifestyle in this mini vis-a-vis last mini.

The theme for the current mini is Collaboration - quite a few group projects - for assignments, projects, etc. Reminds me of my Project Management days !

I have been sleeping late - at midnight or later instead of regular 10:30 pm.
Also, I haven't been getting up early.

Am I tired ?
Am I burnt ?
Have I lost interest ?

However, for my personal goal achievement - should it matter ?
I have to spring back - back in action, more organized than I am right now.

I should not let a couple of deadbeat project-mates kill my enthusiasm (- its one of the tenets in "The 8th Habit"). ...The Show must Go On..~!

Last weekend was good on the perspective that I finally talked with a friend I could resonate with !... we talked and talked..... for 2 hours. Intelligent and thinking entity - she is so much enthused with the Indian culture that she has researched on it to an extent that she knows more about Bhangra than I do. She seems to be a voracious reader.

Synchronous to this, I met someone on Sat evening (friend's friend) - right at the time we greeted each other, I felt this wont work and it didn't ! I was trying at every moment to almost end the meeting - probably would not meet again.

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

86,900

Yeah - that's the score I hit on Pac-Man !
I've made it to 67k a couple of times - but never to 86,900 - Level 09 and banana as the fruit - wow - what a game !

Saturday, July 15, 2006

Book: Everything I wanted to know about men, I learnt from my dog

Well, a very verbose title - but catchy and effective.
The author wrote Sex and the City too.

I read the book Blink at the Starbucks on Murray Ave till the time the person I was waiting for could turn up on Friday evening. She was an hour late - but that's fine - since I was reading a book anyways. By the time she came, I had alaready read about 49 pages of the book.

Blink was recommended by Prof Chris Labach, Professional speaking faculty for MISM. Blink had a few good examples such as the statue-authencity and Gottman's ability to predict the strength of marriage for a couple from their interactions. By the time the first piece of readin got over - there she cometh. I went to keep the book back on the shelf while she was browsing through a few cookbooks (she cooks exotic dishes !). Well, by the way, she said, look at this title ! Everything I wanted to know about men, I learnt from my dog- I read the name of the author - Staples, "Sex and the City", I replied. She said - Lets read this.

At the back of my mind, I was processing, what does she mean by "Let us" - this is a book to be read by women without men in their vicinity ! Anyways, we took 2 copies and in one hour - we were both done with it.

The author draws interesting parallels between dogs and men - some meaningful and some ridiculous. Also, socio-cultural background plays a role. That reminded me of Neha - she had once told me that her mom-in-law had explained to her how all men are dogs. I could now understand why she might've said that. Overall- hilarious, insightful, witty, and wise.

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

Fanatics strike again ...

The western suburbs of Mumbai, India - were hit by a series of 8 bomb blasts that unleashed panic and chaos. The same railway line which I travelled for 8 years - one after the other - stations were blasted.

Death toll is 170 and counting.
I would reserve my comments since I am emotion-laden at this stage.

Sunday, July 09, 2006

Women on top ...

Myself and my neighbour were discussing on this topic just last night. [He is a Jew and was grilling steak and hotdogs along with another friend.] - Gurls are evidently beating the guys in the western world !

Today, the same is in the NY Times here.
At college, women are leaving men in dust !

That's exactly what the title reads.

So, are western women more sensible than the guys ?
It is arguable - my professor for Emotional Intelligence and Leadership - Ms. Smith - indicates that women have comparative advantage in certain facets due to the way they are wired genetically and evolutionarily.

Well, from personal experience I have found that women have many a times outshone guys on the academic front.

So, now, the question is - then why are there lesser ladies in engineering schools in India ? Take IITs for example - you would barely see a female there.

First, the answer lies in what Ms. Smith taught once - men use one side of brain intensely than flip-floping whereas ladies flip-flop between the right and the left brain. If a guy is using right then he would keep on using the right side and if the left then he would keep on using the left.

Second, Indian girls are at a disadvantage due to the parents discouraging them from entering such competitions. A few exceptional cases would always argue with me but I am speaking for the majority of Indian females.

Would this trend repeat in India ? Well, once India becomes a developed economy - it may have a similar trend. One can hypothesize a scenario in which more number of ladies take up advanced education and constantly outperform their male peers. It has started happening in software services firms like Infosys already !

For example, an ex-roomie married a girl of his batch- the girl was going to be promoted before him - wow ! She has a higher pay than him already. :) Not that I want to rub in to him but yes, he too made some sacrifices for her and she cannot take complete credit for the same.

Well, I would not like to predict ....and hence, lets watch what happens.
Hail - the gurl power !

Friday, July 07, 2006

random thoughts ....!

Floating in the vacuum...
Searching in the void...
Living in the present,
With emotions devoid.

I dont remember the past
I've forgotten its demise.
I dont worry about the future
I'm not waiting for any surprise.

Taking one moment at a time,
I'm living in the present.
I'm searching for something unknown,
In the hollow of each moment.

I'm just sailing with the time
Counting hours, couting days.
I am unable to comprehend
Destiny's baleful ways.

Thursday, July 06, 2006

What does a woman want ?

The great question... which I have not been able to
answer... is, "What does a woman want?

Sigmund Freud
Disney-MGM Studios 4th of July Fireworks

Well, these were the fireworks for 4th of July.

What an irony - a country which says it cares about the poverty in the world is spending unnecessarily on such fireworks - millions of dollars !

Something to ponder upon !

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

missing Bee

Since Friday, when I was done with my mini 1 - I had been missing my best buddy Bee.
Almost everything reminds me of her - coffee, water, lunches, the place where I live now, the lawn, her guidance, her anger, her sensible nature , head-in-the-lap moments, and almost everything.

Bee, if you are reading this blog - this one's devoted to you.