Everybody should have heard of Zen - the Japanese art of meditation practiced by Buddist monks who seem to have their body and mind in communion. Zen is glorified by the Hollywood and its popularity in the western world ever increasing. Be it the old Chinese movies of martial arts or the latest "Matrix" the control of mind is always something which fascinates everyone. To be in a world of eternal happiness and not being affected by the everyday good and bad happenings are things which attract many of us.
What surprised me was that Zen had an Indian origin. A guy by the name of Bodhidharma travelled from Kanchipuram in Tamil Nadu to China to spread the word about Buddhism. He taught the Chinese monks the art of meditation (dhyan) which they called "chan". This later went to Japan as "Zazen" and then to the west as Zen.
If not for the Hollywood movies and the western books, I probably would never have heard of Zen. Isnt it ironic, that something that originated from India had to travel all the way around the world (literally!) for me to hear it back in India.
It seems Bodhidharma found that the Chinese monks at the Shaolin temple were totally out of shape (probably eating too much cheese!) and he wanted to set a regimen of exercises for them. These exercises along with the traditional Chinese knowledge of martial arts evolved into the modern day "kung-fu". There have been surmises that Bodhidharma could have transferred some of his knowledge of "Kalaripayattu" - a form of martial arts from Kerala. He seems to be credited for introducing tea in China too!
The last few statements may or may not be true, but what is true is that, we tend to ignore a lot of good things about our own country and try to look abroad for inspiration. India might not be the home of Newtons and Einsteins but we have our own share of "inventors" and philosophers. Its a pity that we were not taught about these things at school, so that we could feel proud of ourselves and act a lot more confident when dealing with the world.
Sunday, August 21, 2005
Tuesday, August 16, 2005
A Virus by any other name
Yesterday was a bad day for many large companies including mine. We were paralysed by the Zotob virus. Ok.. if you are like my friend, who is picky about the usage of terms like "virus", "worm" or "Trojan", let me tell you this.. I dont care...
Call me computer illiterate... But all I know is that I cannot do my work because of this damn thing on the network. No use blaming Microsoft. Blame it on Apple, Sun and all other companies. They were the one's who failed to provide a viable alternative to Microsoft. Monopoly and Capitalism were thought of as antithetic ideas. Now such large corporations are living examples where Capitalism has failed.
Call me computer illiterate... But all I know is that I cannot do my work because of this damn thing on the network. No use blaming Microsoft. Blame it on Apple, Sun and all other companies. They were the one's who failed to provide a viable alternative to Microsoft. Monopoly and Capitalism were thought of as antithetic ideas. Now such large corporations are living examples where Capitalism has failed.
Wednesday, August 10, 2005
Problems in Ford Motor Company
Any talk about complacent people is not complete without the mention of the big American automobile companies - General Motors and Ford. In a country where the love for cars is only second to love for beer, declining auto sales is a very bad sign. Ford and GM are no longer the legendary names that they used to be but huge dinosaurs awaiting their doom. Let me restrain myself to discussing about Ford today.
Ford is a company which changed the way the world travels. It was the first company to mass-produce cars, which were until then a luxury reserved only to the rich. It revolutionized manufacturing and empowered the common man. But now the company is dire straits and is making company wide layoff's in an effort to cut costs. There are departments in Ford where more than 30% of the staff were fired. Things do not look any better for the future since Ford plans on further "trimming" its white-collar staff. Such company wide cuts, if lasts for a long period, would bring down the employee morale and scare away top brains to competitors.
We should analyze the reasons for such a crisis. Firstly, I think Ford Motor Company lost its foot by not making the right calls at the right time. A company which made the legendary Mustang - the most popular muscle car of all times, didnt forsee the need to make fuel efficient cars. Also Ford lost out to the Japanese car manufacturers on reliability and durability issues. The number of recalls are much greater for Ford ( and other American manufacturers) when compared with Japanese manufacturers.
The most outrageous recall I have heard is the recall of 2000 Ford trucks for the replacement of its cruise control switch. Ford has been using the switch on many of its models from 1992 to 2003. It has been found that these switches can catch fire without any warning posing danger to life and property. The CNN website recommends you to "park your vehicle away from your house". You should probably park your vehicle away from all human and animal habitation (or in a junk yard) to prevent causing any damage.
The automobile industry is in a crucial phase now while it is preparing itself for a change in technology. The good old internal combustion engine would soon be replaced by cleaner technologies like fuel cells. To prepare for such a transition a company needs to invest a lot into research and development. The amount of profit you make today will determine the amount you are going to invest in R&D and eventually the amount of profit you are going to make tomorrow. It is possible that a small slip could fast turn into a downward spiral. Ford already lags behind Toyota and Honda in Hybrid Technology. Ford Escape-Hybrid, the so called "world's first hybrid SUV" has technology heavily borrowed from Toyota.
All said, it is possible that Ford sees the bottom of the slope and starts climbing again. After all it is still one of the largest manufacturers of SUVs and pickup trucks. Perhaps the solution for Ford's cost crisis lies outside United States - in countries like India and Mexico, which provide the same cutting edge technological support at a fractional cost. But the true solution out of its current position could come not by cost cutting but by innovation. Ford can regain market share only if it come up with exciting, fresh ideas ahead of its competitors. Only the future will say whether this would happen.
Ford is a company which changed the way the world travels. It was the first company to mass-produce cars, which were until then a luxury reserved only to the rich. It revolutionized manufacturing and empowered the common man. But now the company is dire straits and is making company wide layoff's in an effort to cut costs. There are departments in Ford where more than 30% of the staff were fired. Things do not look any better for the future since Ford plans on further "trimming" its white-collar staff. Such company wide cuts, if lasts for a long period, would bring down the employee morale and scare away top brains to competitors.
We should analyze the reasons for such a crisis. Firstly, I think Ford Motor Company lost its foot by not making the right calls at the right time. A company which made the legendary Mustang - the most popular muscle car of all times, didnt forsee the need to make fuel efficient cars. Also Ford lost out to the Japanese car manufacturers on reliability and durability issues. The number of recalls are much greater for Ford ( and other American manufacturers) when compared with Japanese manufacturers.
The most outrageous recall I have heard is the recall of 2000 Ford trucks for the replacement of its cruise control switch. Ford has been using the switch on many of its models from 1992 to 2003. It has been found that these switches can catch fire without any warning posing danger to life and property. The CNN website recommends you to "park your vehicle away from your house". You should probably park your vehicle away from all human and animal habitation (or in a junk yard) to prevent causing any damage.
The automobile industry is in a crucial phase now while it is preparing itself for a change in technology. The good old internal combustion engine would soon be replaced by cleaner technologies like fuel cells. To prepare for such a transition a company needs to invest a lot into research and development. The amount of profit you make today will determine the amount you are going to invest in R&D and eventually the amount of profit you are going to make tomorrow. It is possible that a small slip could fast turn into a downward spiral. Ford already lags behind Toyota and Honda in Hybrid Technology. Ford Escape-Hybrid, the so called "world's first hybrid SUV" has technology heavily borrowed from Toyota.
All said, it is possible that Ford sees the bottom of the slope and starts climbing again. After all it is still one of the largest manufacturers of SUVs and pickup trucks. Perhaps the solution for Ford's cost crisis lies outside United States - in countries like India and Mexico, which provide the same cutting edge technological support at a fractional cost. But the true solution out of its current position could come not by cost cutting but by innovation. Ford can regain market share only if it come up with exciting, fresh ideas ahead of its competitors. Only the future will say whether this would happen.
Friday, August 05, 2005
Phew..
It has happened to a lot of people. From Michael Jackson to Tiger Woods. When you just keep on doing something, a lot better than any other person in the world, there is a point of time when you would start getting a little complacent and a little sloppy. Probably that is what happened to NASA. An organisation, which is the home of the best technology known to mankind is not something you would expect to fail. But it did happen in 2003 with the Columbia disaster.
So now the world was watching Discovery's reentry into earth with bated breath, especially after NASA annonced that the debris of insulating foam that fell off during the take off could have caused some damage. It is no understatement to say everybody is relieved to hear the news of a clean landing. Hope the insulating foam doesn't become NASA's Achille's heel
So now the world was watching Discovery's reentry into earth with bated breath, especially after NASA annonced that the debris of insulating foam that fell off during the take off could have caused some damage. It is no understatement to say everybody is relieved to hear the news of a clean landing. Hope the insulating foam doesn't become NASA's Achille's heel
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