~~Jokes~~

What makes you a New Yorker?
When you can tell the person next to you is not.


How can you identify a person from New york ?
Just wait they will tell you.

~~Difficult to say goodbye~~

With my classmates leaving NYC its difficult to say good bye ,The last few months were really memorable and I have learnt more things from my classmates . Last week I was attending farewell dinner with most of my classmates  invited me to their home country and assured me I will be given royal welcome. Few gave me some memorable gifts which I will treasure.

With most of my classmates leaving NYC its difficult to say good bye but things should move on, I have taken a break and come to Charlotte for the long weekend.

~~Guess the country~~

  We had our farewell reception last week and we were allowed bring guests to the function. So invited two of my friends for the reception.

So can you guess which country the girls are from? Each one is from a different country.

Clue- They are not from Asia or Africa!

~~Fact I learnt~~

I was having dinner with my French friends and we ordered French fries and I asked the weird question whether French fries are invented in France,she said its never called as French fries but called as Frites and its common throughout in Europe ,just because French cook introduced it to US in early 19th century the recipe got its name.
One suggestion she added was to have French fries in Belgium as they are really good there,

~~Movies I watched~~

As last few months were really busy I didnt have time to catch up with movies. So this weekend I saw two movies,
1) King's speech:
Its was the Oscar winning movie for best film based on the real story between the King George and his speech therapist. The dialogues were well written and acting was really good.

2)Inside Job:
It  was the Oscar winning movie for best documentary based on the 2008 financial crisis, the movie looks into the causes of the crisis and takes a closer look at the academic institutions and the professors who train the students into the business.

~~Post from my friend~~

This was post written my friend Feng Wang from China

Farewell, Columbia!

From May 18th 2010 to May 18th 2011, 365 days and nights at Columbia University of New York City---the greatest university of the greatest city in our time—approached the end. As time flies by, Lehman library gradually emerged to be the focal point of our life, no matter you like or not. Countless papers, homework, quizzes, presentations, and exams, all of these sources of concern once dominated our mind but now suddenly stopped. Although most of these memories will fade away, I decided to not let some of them go.

Cannot let it go is Prof. Jehle’s “fat urban cats” versus “poor village woman”; cannot let it go is some remarkable professors’ expertise on how to bewildering a greenhorn as desperate as possible; cannot let it go is Prof. Calvo’s sobering mind on those plausible benefits of QEII; and cannot let it go is Prof. Mundell and Prof. Calvo’s fleeting but identical chuckle when they were introducing Mundell-Fleming model and Calvo Pricing respectively. There are lots of episodes I would like to revoke but doing so only stirs up more and more.

Needless to say, PEPM 2011 is a unique group. Not only is it formed by a bunch of well-established mid-career professionals from 34 countries around the world, but also the mingling of extremely diversified group of peoples, cultures, beliefs, and sectors provides an ideal platform for observing and solving problems from every possible angle. Had I not attended the PEPM, I guess I would never met a dude from San Tome and Principe or Nicaragua. Now, they are my friends with whom I shared many jokes not only in IAB 410 but also in Havana Central. Ironically, we built our friendship before our country recognized each other! Looking forward and upward, I believe this “mismatch” will be addressed in the not-too-distant-future.

On May 18th, after the official claim of class 2011 graduation, we closed an old chapter and opened a new one, the one which most of us will swear to commit wholeheartedly. So, from now on, we are ready to disperse ourselves to the every corner of the world; from now on, we are ready to try what we learned at home; from now on, we are ready to defend those universal values till our last breath. For better or worse, for rich or poor, for up and down, we will stick together to honor our Alma Mater, we will always remember that we have an intellectual common here.

As that claim is still hovering in my mind, I expect that one day when we are about to summarize our bumpy journey of endeavor, we can proudly murmuring to ourselves that I am a Columbia graduate.

Farewell, Columbia!

~~Trip to White Plains~~

  Today I went to White plains some 20 miles north of New York city to meet one of my family friends. I took a train to uptown and it was  different to be out of the city with greenery all around. Weather was great after a week of rain. Once in white plains I received by my friends. Had a great time talking about various topics and had an awesome dinner at their place. 

~~Cricket Chats~~

 One of my classmate is from St Lucia in Caribbeans , yesterday in the reception I was talking with her son who is in the 4th grade. After the initial formalities the talk turned cricket , he is a crazy cricket fan and as normal West Indies player he prefers pace bowling. The current West Indian captain Darren Sammy who is from St Lucia is his favorite player. He vented out all his frustrations on how difficult it is  explain rules of cricket to his school class mates. "They think cricket is a small bug which flies around our back and I had to tell them it is a game!". So I asked what he does he replied I make sure they find difficult to explain their games to me.

  It was good to know about the cricket coaching they give in their school and his cricket coach used to take them to the international matches when it happens in the country.Finally he asked me to come to St Lucia and play cricket with him in the beach!

~~Commencement~~

 Today we had the university's commencement, the students who will be awarded degrees from all the department where present. There were around 12000 people getting degrees and each department's dean conferred the degrees. The atmosphere was really great with each department had our own props and cheering in the crowd. Since we are from the International Affairs department we carried our country's flag and a globe ball.

To mark this occasion the Empire State Building is glowing in blue today honoring our graduation.

We ended the day singing the NEW YORK NEW YORK song!

~~Graduation day (3)~~

Below is the full video of our graduation ceremony, people having patience can watch it from the beginning it will go for more than two hours.

I have just started the video few seconds before I had the hand shake.

~~Graduation day (2)~~

These were the professional pictures taken by the college!

With my Dean and Kofi Annan

Below is the speech by Kofi Annan

~~Thought for the day~~

   After seeing my graduation pics one of my friends asked me how come you are always happy ?

I replied if you are not happy for one minute you have lost one minute of your life!

~~Graduation day~~

 Its was an awesome feeling to walk on stage get a hand shake from my Dean and Kofi Annan who was chief guest for the graduation day.

Kofi Annan's speech was excellent as stressed importance of democracy ,saying the main threat to democracy is not the politicians but the complacent citizens.

~~TN Election Results~~

  There are many things which can be inferred in the election

• Paying voters will never get back to power
• Alliance arithmetics alone will never win you elections
• Giving freebies will never help you to be in power
• past party's mistakes will be forgiven if the present party's performance is terrible.

Good governance will certainly help you retain the power, Bihar, Gujarat, Delhi and Assam state governments have done it. Hope the upcoming TN government realizes it and tries to give a good government.

~~Good news~~

  It was a great sense of relief when I clicked the send button ,sending the final exam to my professor. Past 11 months is one of the best times I had in my life met many new people from different countries and learnt new stuffs. Now its time to get back to reality and start looking for a job.

  Another goods news is my friend Vivek  has cleared the civil service examination! We joined together in TCS Cochin and from first conversation we had he told his aspirations to become an IAS officer. We used to meet on Friday night and chat, discussing a lot from local to world politics. What I liked is his determination as this was his fourth attempt and he finally made it. I m more happy for him!

PS: This is Vivek and me - a surprise cake for Vikaas on his birthday!

~~Barriers and Strategies to growth~~

The title was my final exam question and below is my answer!

         In the era of increased international economic integration the country which has an export led strategy, attracts foreign direct investment and has a favorable business climate has the advantage of creating employment opportunities within the country, which would ultimately result in achieving sustainable growth. 
      
        In the end of 20th century many countries started liberalizing their economies so that they are not left behind in getting a pie of world’s GDP. Countries have tried reducing the tariffs, reformed their banking system, invested in technology, opened their trade and even allowed foreign companies to set up and run business in their domestic market. These are the basic structural framework to attract investment but investors look beyond that. No investors would be interested to invest in a country when the country has stringent labor laws, high government interference, very bad infrastructure, inefficient judiciary, unfavorable regulations and lack of available skilled labor force. So only when a country implements right policies and at the same time gets it fundamentals right it could sustain growth and achieve development.


Barriers to growth
Tariffs:
High tariffs may fill the government coffers but it hinders the growth of the country. Countries put high tariffs on foreign goods so that the local manufactures are saved, this policy in fact makes the local manufactures inefficient and unfit to compete in the global market. The domestic consumers bear the brunt by paying high cost for the local goods which are also low in quality. So the government should remove the high tariffs gradually make the local companies capable enough to compete in the global market.


Regulations
The World Bank’s doing business report  gives a detailed overview on the regulations the companies have to face, the number of days it needs to start and exit a business in a country. It has found that the countries with heavier regulation of entry have higher corruption and larger unofficial economies, but no better quality of public or private goods. So the regulations are more of a hindrance than a favorable factor for growth. The countries should remove inefficient regulations and try to implement policies which encourage investors to invest in the country.


Infrastructure:
The lack of infrastructure in many developing countries limits the economic growth of a country. In many countries the road network remains dreadful, the railways overloaded, seaports clogged, airports struggling to cope with the huge increase in flights and electricity and water supplies in many places shockingly unreliable. Countries should learn from China which invested a huge portion of GDP in infrastructure and it proved to be one of the major factors in attracting foreign investors. Improving infrastructure should be the important priority of the government. 


Labor laws:
Many countries have restrictive and complex labor laws which are highly protective of labor force and make the labor market inflexible. These laws prevent the companies to scale up the business and even stop investing in the country. Better designed labor regulations can attract more labor- intensive investment and create jobs in the country. Reforming labor is the first step countries should implement if at all they want to attract investors.


Corruption:
Corruption not only reduces the efficiency of the government system but affects the investment the country can attract. When public resources are diverted to benefit private individuals the first thing which gets compromised is the country’s growth. Removing corruption from the system should be the top most priority for the government.


Strategies for growth
Export led strategy:
     The ten countries observed in Durlauf, Johnson & Temple (2005)  which had consistent growth over the last years are mostly the countries which implemented an export led strategy. In the late 60’s East Asian countries started encouraging their manufacturers to export their products in the world market. This ensured the companies had to compete in global market, increase their production and thereby reducing their variable cost. They concentrated on labor intensive manufacturing which boosted the employment opportunities. Governments allowed easy access to credit, implemented sound macroeconomic policies and encouraged foreign direct investment. So countries should identify which products manufactured in the domestic market would have high demand in the global market are target those industries.


Privatization:
In many countries the government owns and controls most of the enterprises. Many of those enterprises are mismanaged, underutilized, running in huge losses and unfit to compete in global market. Studies have shown private run companies are proven to perform more effectively than government owned companies. The government should disinvest from these enterprises and allow private players to compete in the market. This would encourage competition and enterprises would be run efficiently.


Education:
Human capital is the stock of competences, knowledge and personality attributes embodied in the ability to perform labor so as to produce economic value . Investors always look at the available human capital before investing in a country. Higher rates of education are essential for countries to achieve high levels of economic growth. So the countries should invest in qualitative and quantitative education which helps in build a high human capital which helps in attracting investors into the country. 


Technology: 
Investing in education alone won’t foster growth as the country should adapt itself to the latest technology. Initially countries need not be innovative but can borrow from existing technology. Education allows countries to absorb foreign technology productively. In early stage of rapid industrial growth countries such as Japan, Korea, Taiwan have relied on foreign technology, developing their own only after considerable growth had occurred. So countries should be open to accept new technologies and make sure they have good intellectual property right which would attract investors to transfer the use of technology in the country. The faster the technological transfer the quicker the country’s growth.


Free Trade Agreements (FTA):
Any two or more countries can engage in FTA by eliminating tariffs, quotas and preferences on most goods and services traded between them. Countries would get more benefits out of FTA if their exports and imports are complementary. Trade can grow as a result of specialization, division of labor, and most importantly via comparative advantage. FTAs are the basic integrations before the countries get into international economic integration.


Foreign Direct Investment (FDI):
 FDI can be used as the measure of economic globalization of a country. FDI gives the countries the access to capital and technology, spurs up employment and boosts the country’s growth. China has been attracting huge amounts of FDI every year and it is one of the main reasons it could post sustainable growth over the last two decades. The countries could attract FDI by creating a favorable business environment as FDIs are vital for the countries which don’t have capital to develop on their own.


Thus countries needs to improve its infrastructure, reform the labor laws, eliminate the tariffs, have favorable business climate, give quality education, deregulate company laws, encourage private participation and have an export led strategy. If a country gets these things right the growth of the country can be sustainable and would help in achieving country’s economic development.

~~Video link~~

India's World Cup moments well compiled

~~Happy Mother's Day~~

 Dedicating this song to my mum :)

அபிராமி சிவகாமி கருமாரி மகமாயி
திருக்கோவில் தெய்வங்கள் நீதானமா
அன்னைக்கு அன்றாடம் அபிஷேகம் அலங்காரம்
புரிகின்ற சிறு தொண்டன் நாந்தானம்மா
பொருளோடு புகழ் வேண்டும் மகனல்ல தாயே உன்
அருள்வேண்டும் எனக்கென்றும் அது போதுமே
அடுத்திங்கு பிறப்பொன்று அமைந்தாலும் நான் உந்தன்
மகனாகப் பிறக்கின்ற வரம் வேண்டுமே
அதை நீயே தருவாயே!

PS: We had an agreement that instead of சீயக்காய்  I will give her Shampoo bath :)

~~Where life has taken me-memories~~

Before I started this blog I had one before, below was my only blog post in that. I wrote this post 2 months into the job.

*****Where life has taken me*****
Few days back i watched a tamil movie titled kadhanayagan.
(starring Padiyarajan n SV Sekar,
if u have seen the movie you can understand this blog better).
Its about 2 people having dreams of gettin a good job,better life style.
They plan to goto Dubai but end up landing in cochin.
Wait a minute this is similar to what i am experiencing right now!!!
To say few similarities
1) I am right now working in cochin:-
When i got my job in IT field i was told there are wonderfrul opportunities to go differentcountries around the world to see different places but in the end i got an opportunity to work in a different state(kerala) in India,never in my wildest dream i thought i would end up here.
2)Professionalism???
In the movie our 2 heros thinking as if they were in dubai used wear formal dubai sheikh s dress but will be looking like a black sheep in the crowd.When i attended my training i was told to wear formals while working.
Ok i had noproblem with that one, till i was allocated to a project in govt office of kerala.That too it was my first project.When i entered the office on the first day i was in my formal attire, the first person i saw was wearing dhoti and he was looking at me as if i am salesman. I got similar stares with rest of the people working there.Soon after i changed to their way of dressing .(not that i wore a dhoti)
3) &&Languages Learnt&&
In the movie our heros would try to get aquinted with few arabic words so thatit will be helpful when they goto to dubai.When i attended my training i was taught French, the reason given was it will be useful wheni would go to France and work there.
Going to France!!!! who would say no??? I too showed interest in learning that languagemastered few sentences like 'comment allez vous'(how are you).
But now i think it would have been better if we would have taught malayalam.
Anyways i havemastered few sentences in that language
bus evada nikkunu(where bus will stop??)
gnyan oonu kazhinu(i ate food)
Atleast i should feel contended i was not posted to pondycherry as i had known little French.
4)$Etiquettes$
In the film heros will discuss how to behave in dubai like what to do and what not to do there.Coming back to my life when i attended my training i was taught how to speak in phone,send a mail etc but what impressed me most was dining etiquettes where they taught how to eat using a fork n knife.
Now days my breakfast is like
Idiappam and paaya or appam and kadalai curry
wondering how it would be ,to have these stuffs with fork and knife.
5)Respect I get here!!!!
In that movie the villians will have a mis conception that heros are working for CBI and they will dealt with due respect which is not at all needed for them.Working as a software engineer in kerala is something similar to that. If you are a software engineer in bangalore or chennai you will be lost in the crowd but its not the case here. So whenever you say that' I am software engineer 'to the local people you used to get royal respect.
*****************************************
But coming to reality there s one thing which has nt happened to me
which had happened to the hero in that film....
i think you should have guessed it by now, there was a beautiful heroine in the filmwho seemed to be waitin for the hero,encouraging him,helping him and in the end marryinghim
.May be i should come to a conclusion that it will happen only in movies!!!

~~Happy Birthday Mummy~~

Happy Birthday Mummy!!!

Dedicating my dad's poem for her :)))


மாலா முந்நூறு


"பிறந்த நாளுக்கென்ன வேண்டும்?"
பிரிய மனைவியிடம் கேட்டேன்.
"முப்பது வருடங்களுக்கு முன்னே
மாதம் முப்பது எழுதினீரே -
கவிதை என்ற பேரில் கடிதங்கள்!
இப்போ இரண்டு எழுத முடியுமா?" என்றாள்.

இல்லாள் இவள் பெருமை எல்லாம் சொல்ல
இனிய கவிதைகள் இரண்டு போதாதே -
இதோ " மாலா முந்நூறு " காவியம்
எழுதத் தொடங்கிவிட்டேன் -

தினம் ஒன்றாய் துணைவியின்
மணம் வீசும் மங்கள குணங்களை
எண்ணி எண்ணி எழுதிட
எந்தையே என்க்குதவிடுவாய் !

Net practice
அன்புள்ளம் கொண்ட அழகி
ஆசைகள் குறைவு
இன்முகம் இனிய பேச்சு
ஈடில்லா சிரிப்பு
உள்ளம் கவர் கள்ளி
ஊர் போற்றும் உத்தமி
என் விருப்பம் ஏற்று
ஏற்றம் பெற எல்லாருக்கும்
ஐஸ்வர்யம் கிடைத்திட
ஒருநாள் தவறாமல்
ஓய்வின்றி ஊருக்கெல்லாம் மகரிஷி
ஔடதம் அளித்திடுவாள் -
அ..தே மாலாவின் மகத்துவம்!

காப்பு

செவியினிக்க செஞ்சொற்களால் செகத்தீரை சிறந்த
ஓவியங்களாய் தீட்டும் மாலாவை - காவியமாய்
பாடிடத் துணிந்திட்ட பாவியென் மேல்
அடி விழாமல் ஆசி வழங்கு ஆனைமுகனே!

~~Global city~~

I was reading an article on how Global the city is. Importance were given for economic,political,cultural and infrastructural issues.
And they were ranked accordingly. Here are some of the rankings

New York city - Alpha++
Mumbai,Chicago - Alpha
Boston- Beta
Chennai - Gamma+
Philadelphia - Gamma
Doha, San Diego - Gamma-

Good to know many people are living in global cities :)

~~Quote I liked~~

"New York is an ugly city, a dirty city. Its climate is a scandal, its politics are used to frighten children, its traffic is madness, its competition is murderous. But there is one thing about it -- once you have lived in New York and it has become your home, no place else is good enough."
John Steinbeck

Sheila its always easy when somebody rightly puts whats in the heart :))

~~Osama dead -Cost America paid~~

I heard the news Osama Bin Laden was killed by the American troops after 10 long years of witch hunt. It was good to hear Obama giving a wonderful speech uplifting the patriotic spirits of the entire nation.

But at what cost it took to acheive this goal ? Did America paid too much for it ?. In 911 attack around 3000 people died but to kill Osama and destroy Al queda, America started the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq. Around 7000 soldiers have been killed in these two wars and around 50000 have been injured. The cost of running the war in Afganistan is $400,225,824,340 and the cost of running it in Iraq was $787,878,147,208 totaling upto almost 1.2 trillion dollars. It may be heroic to say American troops killed Osama Bin Laden and would surely sealed the chance of Obama winning the reelection in 2012 but the economic burden that this whole operation have put in America will transfer the cost of the war to the next generation. I cant help thinking how mighty Americans were in 2001 compared to China and after a decade things have turned. Anyways its would interesting to see the US strategy in Afghanistan after Osama. Soon they exit the better it is for them.

~~China's progress~~

I was reading the Sunday column in New York Times by Nick Kristof where he talks about how China has progress. The below few lines from the column quotes how the country has progressed in last two decades.


 When I lived in China in the 1980s and ’90s, there was always an awkward economic imbalance between me and my Chinese friends. I had a car, and they had bicycles. I paid for our meals together because I was so much better off.

Now there’s a new imbalance: Some of those same people ride around in chauffeured limousines while I get around in taxis. They take me to fancy restaurants whose prices give me headaches.


China is one fine example what will happen to country's progress if economic reforms were properly implemented. One of my Chinese class mate used to joke its easy to run the country when everybody shuts up does their work. But this decade will be most challenging one for them as they have to fight both the increasing inflation and fixed exchange rate.