Author Archives: Ankur

Transit

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I don’t know if airport is the best place to write a fresh blog post. But here I am, with nothing really more interesting than this, using Dubai airport’s phokat internet typing away to glory.

I have always been jealous of these business class passengers, their seats are so awesome in the plane, and they are called in before anyone else…sigh…hope one day my company would also send me on those tickets!

After two weeks of living out of the suitcase with my travel plans delayed, am finally mid-way in my journey. Last few days have been filled with anticipation, nervousness and excitement…

Ah…the boarding call has come…the post has to be stopped now!

Au Revoir

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Yes, Yes I know that change is the only constant, and one must embrace change with aplomb. But after an year of arguing for loose change with rude autowallahs of Kolkata, I know better. Anything with the word ‘change’ in it, is not an easy activity.

Another big change awaits in a week, when I bid adieu to Calcutta for another country. With this change multiple areas of stress have also propped up like moving the house, losing on the deposit, sending all the stuff home, shopping for the visit, not meeting loved ones and so on….

With this change also comes an uncertainity of a new job assignment with limited earlier experience, the anxiety and pressure to perform in a new environment.

Hope this change is good in the long run, but the run up to change is not…

I bid my goodbyes to this city and this house….wondering if the city would ever miss me. Wondering if the next occupant of this house would ever know about me, would he/she ever wonder who was the last person here and sense my essence of having lived here for around 13 months.

I know these are all philosophical questions, but well, thats what I ponder about too!

Here’s to a new  journey of a few thousand of miles and a new destination….cheers!

Imperfect

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Its been just around a week in Geneva, the perfect city in the perfect country of Switzerland. Life seems so systematic, organized, punctual and respectful. In between extra polite Bon jours of ever helpful citizens of this city and the rough brawny and loud existance back home, I seek peace.

Its strange, life seems much more balanced, comfortable and easier here…its simply a perfect place to be. Yet, I am counting days to return, to an imperfect country where I’d start cribbing the moment I reach and start comparing it with good ol’ Geneva.

Why? Simple. Its the place I call home, its not perfect…its far from perfect but it still is home. Its the place where most memories and moments of my life have been, its the place where things can change, there is an opportunity to improve and make it perfect. There is so much to do.

Yes, i have met too many Indians living outside India and cursing it. I do not like it, I respect their decision to move out but with the same decision they forfeit their right to be critical of the place. If you cannot be a part of the journey you have no right to talk of its destination.

I know I’d go back home and crib…but its home, imperfect home.

Power to People

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Am no political observer, neither am I qualified to comment on politics. However, the recent spate of revolutions in the Middle East starting from Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain and now Libya calls for my attention. It is history being written, something which might torture future students of Political Science and history with another chapter in the books!

In roughly every 100 years over the last 2-3 centuries the world has witnessed a new political uprising  and a new philosophy.

The July Revolution and  the French Revolution were targeted at the monarchy and feudal structures in France, they ushered the transformation of a heavily aristocratic and religiously influenced governance structure to a democracy(partial). It was a movement of the working class, and the unemployed people…

A century later the proletariat rose up in Russia in the October Revolution and uprooted the Czar’s rule. The philosophy of socialism and communism was an attempt to distribute the weather equitably to the people, a different political movement, led by Lenin and the likes.

100 years after the 10 days which shook the world, new movements have born in Middle East. The theme is similar, people want development, and self-governance more than ever. But the difference is the absence of central leadership, there is no single face in these uprisings, people lead them. Another difference is, it is no more only the labour/working class but a mixture of people from all walks of life, who want better governance. Its a movement of all classes, its faceless, peaceful and co-ordinated through volunteering!

Yes, each revolution in these centuries is themed on development, and opportunities but the causes and the methods are different. It is unfair to call these revolution as the Social Media uprisings, for it is a medium to an end, not the starting point.

Gandhi couldn’t be more relevant today, peaceful uprisings are indeed making a difference!

Facebook : They will never forget you ’til somebody new comes along

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They will never forget you ’til somebody new comes along – Eagles from the New kid in Town

I am writing this post at the time when Egypt is undergoing a Facebook Revolution, a movement of hundreds of thousands of protesters who have come together after using social media like Twitter, Blogs and Facebook for organize and demand of a regime change in their country. Needless to stay, at this point, Internet is under a clampdown to stop the freedom of expression!

This post is not about the revolution, it is an insight into this Juggernaut of Facebook, a country with over 500 million users. It one of the stickiest websites on the internet, the centerpiece of an Oscar nominated film and probably one of your favorite websites.

Facebook is not the first social network, neither it will be the last, but it has been the most impact-full. It took over from the erstwhile leader MySpace  in 2009 and has exceeded all estimates of its impact. Millions of users share vital information about their preferences on their profile pages, which further helps facebook categorize and provide extremely well segmented advertising opportunities to businesses. Its better than Google, because while google earns its dough by targeted advertisements based on search criteria, Facebook moves ahead by stitching user profiles and their own personal network in the process.

Looking back, there was a time when ICQ was the killer chat program, and Yahoo! was the killer email website. The internet evolved, most of these internet applications committed a few mistakes which coupled with better/newer services brought on the table to give users an opportunity to move.

Orkut might have been trolled by Orkutiyas looking for a hookup and had its own share of donut server errors, MySpace became a playground of over customization of profiles and a haven of pedophiles. At the same time facebook innovated with its interface, and applications like FarmVille. This was their window of opportunity, and the irony of most collaborative internet services is the same as their well publicized strength…they are social.

Users stick to a social network/tool only till the people who matter the most to them are active on the same network. The exodus begins the moment when the important people in your network start moving to a different website(these maybe just 10 out of your 400 friends!). So what would make the users move to a different website from Facebook?Well, I don’t know…and I wish I knew that(would have loved to invent it). But I do know are the threats/risks which Facebook faces today, which could accelerate the exodus whenever it happens:

  • Privacy concerns – A normal user may still not be conscious of the risks which they are exposed to because of Facebook’s questionable privacy policy. However, user awareness on this issue could just turn the tide against Facebook!
  • Rogue apps - Email spammers killed off good web mail services with weak spam filters. Similarly, rogue and unregulated apps on facebook are taking away the sheen of safety and utility of the network. As more and more such unregulated applications continue to flood our walls by posting our first facebook messages or profile views, it poses a bigger challenge to ensure that the user experience is not ruined.

Am not a doomsayer, but every product or service has a life-cycle specially when it is not a need but a want. The only way to beat this curve is by staying ahead of it.