back to brooding

I don't know WHY February has always been such a bad month for me....It is my birthday month, also Valentine's day month, also the month with the perfect weather(in Kolkata) and also a lazy month because you still have sometime for the financial year to end and to take a chill pill before you start off with Mad March....still February sucks....and am back to brooding....

14th Feb....well, I did receive flowers and cards and chocolates....so what? one dead end...

my birthday....well I just got older....and am just a few years away from 30! That's definitely depressing....though I have never had an age complex....in fact I have always wanted to look older than I am....because it has been quite annoying for me when the bus conductor used to say "bachcha naamche" when it was my turn to get down at my stop during college days...and I can never forget my fight with the examiner who thought I was a minor and wouldnt grant me a driving license....so I really dont mind looking my age or even older...

Home alone....I guess the main reason why feb went bad was because I spent a lot of time being alone....the travelling was a bit killing this time...even food was bad...

"Hope to meet you soon,sunshine..." I re read the message on the valentine card...I felt happy, skeptical and sad....all in that order...

And I recalled the Gita chapter that talks about giving up expectations....and I recalled Dale Carnegie's Law of averages and also 'accepting the worst' theory....

I picked up the latest estimates my ad agent had given me....

"Re build with worn out tools...

And you'll be a man my son!"

Girls are dumb

I have remained quite a feminist in school and college days...and have simply been in love with the age old debate "girls vs boys"....and trust me I was good at it !....I was from an all girls' school...(I have decided not to send my daughter to one of them)....then in college, the boy-girl ratio rose...you would find more girls in Arts stream, few in social sciences and next to nil in pure sciences..."So what? Girls are smarter and must have joined engineering colleges...", I told myself...but sadly the ratio is even sadder in engineering colleges ....and then B school... I admit I simply enjoyed the attention I got there owing to such a poor ratio...

"Women of geniuses are rare".....and I snapped the book shut...It was Madame Curie talking...a woman...a genius....and I recalled my experiences with my girl room mates...I really used to find them dumb...could never hold an intelligent conversation for long....well, I dont reject the possibilty of me being impatient with certain kinds of conversations....but I have enjoyed talking more with guys.....and then the TT room...I would probably be the only girl out there playing( though quite sloppy)....no denying but it's true...I have never had good girl company....I am still quite unwilling to generalise my statement...was I with the wrong company or Madame Curie is right?....and then I recall the case study I read....that had a remarkable observation...70% of IIMA women pass outs stop working after 2 years....

I have always believed that IQ is a function of EQ....and the irony is...women are considered more emotional than men! Now I am getting confused....let's take it step by step...

What does a high EQ mean?....more sensitivity...the ability to love someone easily....caring...etc...

So, ideally women are considered more sensitive....let me make a statement here with the fear of a strong repurcussion from my female readers....I dont think shedding easy tears is an act of sensitivity or being emotional...it is the outcome of not having an easy solution at hand....and to hit the bulls eye....I think 'so called emotional women' are 'conditionally emotional' or 'emotional by words and not action...' A guy will easily give up his own bed for a friend...a girl will cling on to her possessions...a guy hardly remembers the amount of money he has spent on a friend...a girl will make sure to balance it out!....so who has a higher EQ?

I still dont want to believe what I wrote...let me see if I can reverse this write up...dont bark at me ladies till then!

Up the value chain...

Looks like I cant get out of the "jargon mode" that I had picked up during MBA....my favourite word lately..."value"....and today while cracking the last sale, I knew I had to write this down....my customer had already finalised on two of my products....but I wasn't happy...she WANTED 2....I WANTED to sell one more....and a lot of talking did so....
"Value" is a beautiful word...reminds me of Mastercard's ad...."a tour at Dysneyland...100 dollars...the smile on your children's face...priceless..." Moral of the story is...the best way to sell is to COMMUNICATE the VALUE of your product....when the customer tends to negotiate on the price...yes, talking is necessary...Most salesmen in established organizations, I have seen, concentrate more on "showing" skills...or presentation skills....which is absolutely necessary I agree....but something like this works better..."
"This design is priced higher because it is purely a labour based product and one piece requires 3 to 4 months for 3 weavers to weave it together....and sadly these weavers are quite deprived in our country....and then of course highlight on the quality aspects...." Giving your customer the knowledge of your product also inculcates a pride in her when she actually uses it....she KNOWS about the value of what she owns....

To Sir, with love

Dear Sir,

Thank you for everything. I remember reading about Adam Smith's invisible hand...I saw it yesterday...

To address your question on if I am making money, I was wondering the same...And in turn wondered, what does it take to feel rich? Leaving aside philosophy, let me talk in terms of facts. Numbers look better now....Sales have picked up and the best part is, I have doubled my stock in 3 months....I admit I have been a bit aggressive on this front, the risk seemed worth taking and am managing to meet my benchmarks...more or less....except on those days when people simply refuse to spend...well I can handle that...as long as the show goes on...

But am loosing money in the stock market....I had picked up only bluechips....and yesterday in a conversation with a veteran investor , he said..."there is nothing called bluechip...A bluechip is a company that gives you a basic level of return CONSISTENTLY....I dont care if Infosys has the best corporate governance in the country....nor do I care if it is a debt free company...but I do care about the fact that the scrip has been languishing below the 1600 mark for months....it had shamlessly touched the 1300 mark too few days ago....YES, it is an undervalued stock....so why buy it at all...?" My perception about markets has changed. Sir, neither do I have the heart to gamble...I BELIEVED in what I bought...

But I am happy with the overall picture of my finances....it may not be multiplying ambitiously...but I am hopeful...

My meeting with the funding guys went well....I will be presenting my detailed plan to them next week...I am simply hanging on to what you had told me..."There is no dearth of financers for a good idea..."

Venkat was in town...he misses you a lot...he will be in Bangalore next week to meet you...Please accept the "sandesh" that I have packed for you...

Pranaam

&

Regards

Poulami Bhattacharya

Love and me...

Some of my friends who are close to this blog have always asked me...why have I never written anything about love? I really don't know...Maybe I have never been in love....or when I thought I was, I actually wasn't? I was looking at the yellow and red roses that were sent to me....the note that came along with it said...

"If love be compared to snowflakes, let me give you an avalanche...
Try and admire these flowers from my eyes...
And you'll know...."

"I love you P...
Be mine..."

And I was trying to admire the flowers from his eyes...They were not picked up from a florist...they were freshly plucked from a garden...and the thorns were all scraped off...so that when you felt the flowers with your eyes closed you could feel love...It was like the excitement of school days when a secret admirer would send you flowers,cards, chocolates....except for the fact that now I wanted to know my admirer....why play hide and seek? I arranged the flowers in a vase...they looked back at me...lovingly..
"To fall in love is easy.."
"Love is an overrated emotion! Trust me!"
"Love? There is no such thing..."
"To love...means to let go..."

Next day I got another note saying...

"P, I think you are in love with love...

Lots of love,

Love..."