Ah Technology

Ah Technology

Ah technology ....


Today I went to pay the telephone bill.

There are many ways to pay the bill even when you go to the company office itself. You can hand over the cheque , you can hand over the cash , you can deposit the cheque in a drop box or you can put the cheque in cheque accepting machine where you get immediate receipt .

The cheque accepting machine is the latest gadget on the line and so some people were keen on using it . Besides to hand over cheque there was a long long queue .

One person came up and asked the other guy as to how to use the machine . The other person told him to just put the cheque in the slit and the machine would accept it . Our man put the cheque in the slit , and viola , in went the cheque and out came the receipt . Wow , what technology ! The depositor exclaimed as he collected the receipt and turned to go . " Now no need to wait in a queue ! "

I was not very convinced .

I asked him " How did the machine come to know your telephone number ? " Three or four bystanders informed me that it was all latest technology . The machine did it all .

I was still confused .

I asked the person to show me the receipt which he proudly did . I indeed saw a telephone number mentioned on it . I read out the number and asked him if it belonged to him . Our man paled ! It was not his number ! Then he panicked .

Just then a lady came with a telephone technician in tow. The lady was in high spirits and through her gestures and expressions we came to know that the machine had been repeatedly rejecting her cheque . So she had gone and commissioned the technician . I read out the number on the receipt and asked her if the number belonged to her . It did .

The machine had accepted her bill and was awaiting for the cheque to be inserted , when our good samaritan turned up and on advice deposited *his*cheque and paid the lady's bill .

Wow , technology !

Thoughts and Deeds

Thoughts and Deeds
If you are not part of the solution ........

Recently I went to get my bike repaired . As the mechanic diagnosed the trouble and opened up the bike we talked. He lamented that the number of people coming to get their bikes repaired had reduced considerably . People liked newer bikes , they do not want to get their old bikes repaired and use . They want everything new . Etc etc . He lamented .

While servicing he opened up a circuit box. This box did the following things . Horn , lights on and off , lights high beam and low beam ,dipper . He noticed that the spring of the horn button had become weak . He said that the switch would need to be replaced . The switch cost about Rs 100 ( good round sum ) . I asked if he could replace the Rs 2 worth of spring , the switch would be as good as new. He replied that that cannot be done and threw the switch in the dustbin . Replaced it with a new switch .

At one level he is identifying behaviours of which he is a victim , while at other level , he is perpetrating the very same behaviour ....

Thailand , Thaksin and the Coup

Thaksin , Thailand and the Coup - A behavioural perspective

Last week there was yet another military coup in Thailand and the democratically elected government led by Dr. Thaksin Shinawatra was summarily dismissed. Thailand is not new to military coups . Last time when there was a military coup , the people reacted very angrily and there were violent protests all over the place . The coup failed and in time a popular government had to be installed . This time around there was absolutely no reaction from people to the coup that happened . Reaction if any was that life returned to normal after one day .

I believe the reason for this lie in the behavioral area .

Dr. Thaksin has many firsts to his credit . He is the first trader /entrepreneur prime minister of Thailand . Till then all the prime ministers were either lawyers , noblemen, or Army Generals. He is highly educated. He is a billionaire . He tried to run the country like a corporate entity . He was a man in a hurry and would push his agenda through like a juggernaut.

At times he snubbed Prem Tinsulokananda , a one time prime minister of Thailand and currently the chief advisor to H. M . King of Thailand . This was seen as extreme rudeness which did not go down well with the proletariat and the bourgeoisie .In Thai culture showing public dissent and public anger is considered to be signs of weak persona and are also considered to be prime insults . Thaksin overdid this . He virtually stepped on many toes in trying to get his way .

His swift reaction to insurgency in the border areas was seen as being too brutal a reprisal . This did not go down well with the peace loving urban Thais . Again in Thai culture there is a concept of " taking care " , The big brother takes care of the younger brother . It means something like covering up for younger brothers follies . This means avoidance of any kind of punishment . If you give punishment , the younger brother is vindicated and does not any more think of the folly he has committed . If the elder brother takes care of him then by rule the younger is indebted to him for covering up for him . A punishing boss is not respected , a compassionate boss is . Thaksin was not seen as being compassionate.

Lastly H.M. the King would not get drawn into any kind of public debate or dialogue.But indirectly he does give out signals about his displeasures - these signals Thaksin decided to ignore . This did not go down well in the public eye .Thus the public though not against Thaksin per se , would still have liked to see Thaksin punished / reprimanded / shown his place in some way or other . Just the way people are happy to see the wings of a high flier being clipped or he being put into his place .

As result of all these factors , the public reaction to the coup was minimal.I also believe that Thaksin had seen the writing on the wall . Quite some time back he sold all his telecom stake to a Singapore based company , and none of his family members were in Thailand at the time of the coup .

By the way , Thaksin is bang in the midst of his Sadesati .

If elections are to be held in the next year , if Thaksin's party does not win hands down , it will at least manage to be the biggest party in the country .

Glass Half Full or Half Empty ? A different Perspective

Is the Glas half empty or Half full ? a New look at an old adage .....

Is the glass half empty or half full ? Many a times this question is asked to bring out the contrast between the negative way of thinking and the positive way of thinking .

A negative thinker will be sad to see that the glass is half empty so whatever the nourishment that the glass once held , half has ben drained away . He will look at the empty party and shed tears .

His counterpart , the positive thinker will look at the same glass and will be overjoyed to note that it is half full . He will be thankful to get the half glass of nourishment .

Plethora of trainers , motivators , and gurus subtly or bluntly suggest that the latter type of thinking is better than the former and that approach so called as positive approach needs to be followed .

Herein lies the catch !

Neither of the two is holistic thinking . Each one is only looking at a part of the reality and that is why prone to vacillation between joy and sorrow , positive and negative , plus and minus . We are not looking at reality in holistic fashion. Both the fellows are attaching importance only to the liquid in the glass and are not giving any consideration to the air in the other half of the glass . In reality the glass is always full as it cannot remain empty . A glass is empty space and on earth it is filled in with air if nothing else . We are discarding the air , such a important ingredient in our life , from the equation . When we begin to consider it , only then our thinking will tend to become holistic and meaningful in the given circumstances .