Many people may claim many different things, but I think the main motivation for people to watch so many soaps is schadenfreude.

• Why do you think most characters in soaps are shown leading such miserable lives? I mean not miserable in the material sense, but everyone seems to have one problem or the other.
  
• Assuming that people who watch soaps, on ( Read more... )

Some 3-4 days back, I wrote a post in the Indian Economy Blog with a conjecture as to why India never got an overwhelming "gentleman class" in the way that European countries did. I forgot to cross post it here back then, so I'm doing it now.

Actually, when I posted this I wasn't even sure if it would be appropriate for the IEB. I'm not sure even ( Read more... )

This blog post is about a relative of mine, who, for purposes of this blog post, shall be called "Commie Uncle". That name is intentional, for he is surely a commie. Ages back, he managed to land himself a PSU job with the help of a recommendation from his cousin's wife's cousin's girlfriend's cousin's uncle. And no sooner had he got his ( Read more... )

Long ago, Soviet Russia decided that a good way for them to propagate propaganda in India would be to distribute magazines at subsidized rates. My father had taken the bait and subscribed to all such magazines available - Soviet Union, Soviet Woman and Misha. All of them were available at dirt-cheap rates (don't exactly remember them). It was so ( Read more... )

I'm very suspicious about job openings which say "CA/MBA". I get the feeling they are looking for fighters only, with not much requirement for much intelligence on the job.

Left-wing economics is idealistic, and the basic assumption is that everyone is a good guy, and he will work in the best interests of the system ( Read more... )

Yesterday, my gym installed a TV set in front of each treadmill. Nice looking LG flatscreen TVs. One in front of each treadmill. Each treadmill now has a remote control which is supposed to control the TV in front of it. Now, the thing is all TVs are of the same brand, and space constraints mean that the treadmills (and consequently the TVs) are ( Read more... )

i'm suddenly reminded of my interviews during the summer internship selection interview process in IIMB in November 2004. This happened to me at more than one bank's interview.

Interviewer: Do you like math?
Me: Yes
Interviewer: What is your favourite branch of math?
Me: Graph Theory
(interviewer looks confused for a few moments)
Interviewer: Oops. Can ( Read more... )

I was watching Wimbledon last night when I realized there aren't too many pure serve-and-volley types around. Even the 5-time champion Federer plays mostly from the baseline. I don't recall any pure serve-and-volley types after Sampras and Ivanisevic. Anyways, while watching Roddick play Schwank, I came up with the following hypothesis:

When a new ( Read more... )

Here are some pertinent observations made by my mother and I in the last few months.

According to my mother, one of my aunts (father's cousin's wife) looks like Lucas Leiva.


( Read more... )