ENagar

i found this note on the facebook profile of an innocent girl and could not stop laughing

This is what happens when an Nerd applys mehndi at his palms.

As a follow-up on an earlier post, I thought I would elaborate more by analysing a movie clip.

Background:
This clip is based on a real episode which occurred in the Arabian theatre of the World War 1. A young British Lieutenant Lawrence crosses the formidable Nefud desert with a small force of 50 camel riders. Here he teams up with one of the rival tribe of Howeitat. This tribe is currently is being paid by the Turks to protect the port city, but Lawrence armed with his superior negotiation skills is trying persuade him to join the cause.

The tribe was hostile to the proposal and its leader Auda has a huge ego. Hence the organization of the arguments were:
1. Ethos to build credibility.
2. Pathos to stir up the emotions and make the person more susceptible to the proposal
3. Logos to neutralize whatever reservations the tribe has and to reaffirm that the proposal makes rational sense too.

In this reenactment, Lawrence uses a team of 3 negotiators and shows a remarkable knowledge of Arabian tribes and psyche and cultural sensitivity. Their arguments could be summarized under the following 3 headings

Ethos:
1. The very act of crossing the desert on a camel was sufficient to prove that Lawrence and his men are fully committed and serious about the alliance. This statement helped the group to solicit a meeting/feast at the rival camp.
2. The band carried out the negotiation under the banner of Prince Feisal.
3. When accused of being a lowly servant: Auda asserts that he is paid 100 pieces of gold by the Turks, which is no servant wages. He tries to give another weak argument boasting of his fighting skills and how he distributes all his wealth amongst his people. Lawrence counteracts by correcting the fact that the tribe is actually paid 150 pieces of gold. This way the team not only is able to control Auda, but also prove their superior intelligence and connections. Also it provides them with a wonderful ground to introduce the Logos.

Pathos:
To raise the temperament and persuade him two statements were used.
1. The Arabs were portrayed as a tribe of slaves. Only Prince Feisal’s men are free, and are fighting for it.
2. Since the Turks pay the tribe to protect them, the tribal leader was compared with a servant. (Which made him to flare up, at which point Lawrence had to back away)
3. While Auda was talking about his achievements in the past, the 3rd person in the band taunts him by claiming that he seems old and incapable of a fight.
4. If Auda will be fighting the Turks, he will be emancipated. He should fight because it is his will, and he takes pleasure in a fight.

Logos:
1. Turks have a box filled with gold at the port of Aqaba. Hence the surprise attack will make them rich.

Saw a bounce back in suzlon .. bought it at 101.8 with stoploss at 100.5 . the market went down till 100.25 before bouncing
back and triggered the stoploss.
I panicked and put an opposite position to cover the losses when it came back to 101.8, but this time the bounce back really happened and it went upto 106, again hitting the stoploss of 103.3.

So basically even though we had bet rightly about the movement of the stock, the volatility made both the bets sour

We were preparing a short study for conflicts and negotiations using a movie scene as an example. Someone suggested Indecent Proposal, so we took the scene were John actually makes the offer (Better watch the movie if you haven’t). When I had watched it for the first time, it was a five minute scene of a horny and arrogant businessman against a needy and faithful couple.
But now, it was more complex. I was watching it as a proper negotiation. The covert agendas of the characters and the actual conflict now seemed entirely different! John’s real motive was to satisfy his ego by driving home his point(money can buy anything). Sleeping with Diana wasn’t important but just a means to his end. In case of David, more than protecting his wife and their relationship, he was trying to protect his own male chauvinist ego.
Another interesting agenda was how they went about the negotiation.John had complete information on the couple ( as detailed as knowing which dress Diana liked) and he didn’t offer them money, but “A million dollars. A lifetime of security, for one night“. The couple, on the other hand, was instinctive, but David was already thinking about it when Diana replied for him “He’d tell you to go to hell“.
Something tells me that I have taken up really interesting courses in my 2nd year.

For the God could make only a few perfect heads….
Rest he covered with hair.

Shouldn’t there be a community like this somewhere on the planet.

If more than one mouse is mice,
then more than one spouse is Spice

Today morning I realized that I was facing a laundry crisis. Since I was too lazy/busy to wash and iron my clothes, there were none left for me to wear. Also I got inspired by all the lovely ladies who try to shield themselves from the blazing sun by covering themselves from head to toe in garments. So I decided to wear a full sleaves cotton Kurta instead of my usual Tees.

The result was a disaster. I was sweating so profoundly that I think I could see a small trickle of water flowing from me. It might made me feel like Lord Shiva, from whose hair the river ganga origins, but it was not a very comfortable garment.

I wonder how women manage to maintain their calm in all those summer attires they wear. Most of them seem to prefer covering their arms legs and even faces to applying sunscreen creams and lotions.

Recently I had to file an RTI in order to seek some clarifications on the reasons why some of the decisions that my college had made. The trouble and research that I had to go through inspired me to write this post.

RTI act came into force on 12th October 2005 with the aim to introduce transparency. The public authorities need to share all the documentation regarding any decision/indecision and give justification for their actions. Hence it makes them accountable to the public and makes it hard to cover up for any bad governence, corruption or simple carelessness. My experience says that it takes less than 20 minutes to file an RTI and get the ball rolling. Here is how I would recommend you to proceed.

Step 1. Research on your grievances. The more information you have gathered on the topic (formally or informally) the stronger you can make your case. Also it may be possible that your research itself would convince you that there is no need to file and RTI.

Step 2: Draft the RTI: Although you can file the RTI via email, please avoid it. The best way to get the ball rolling in an government office is have things in writing. RTI can be filed on a simple piece of A4 paper in any language (Hindi, english or the regional language). It can be hand written also.

Step 3: Locate the Public Information Officer/PIO. As per law, all government organizations need to have a designated Information officer who would be responsible to handle your RTI. If the department website does not have it, ask someone in the office. If you are still not able to locate him/her you can write to the head of the department.

Step 4: Pay the nominal fees of 10/-. Most departments prefer if you pay via a Postal Order/Demand Draft, however cash is also accepted. Based on the effort required in compiling the response, some additional fees might be charged to you later on, but its nominal.

Step 5: Submit the application
a. In person. Just walk into the office and file it in person. Usually there is hardly any waiting queue and the process should not take long.
b. Speed/registered post: Avoid Couriers because its not recognized by GoI.
c. Electronically: Although it is permitted, there is often a problem in sending the fees etc via this mode.

Step 6: Acknowledgement:
This is the most crucial step. All RTI applications have to be answered in 30 days. Hence please preserve the application number and date of filing.

I will be writing another post soon explaining how to respond to the possible reply/inaction on the RTI.