Which generation you belong to ? X,Y or Z ?

Generation X

Born: 1966-1980
Age in 2015: 35 to 50
Current Indian Population: 40 million (Approx)

Gen Xers are arguably the best educated generation with approx 30% obtaining a bachelor’s degree or higher. With that education and a growing maturity they formed families with a higher level of caution and pragmatism than their parents demonstrated. Concerns run high over avoiding broken homes, kids growing up without a parent around and financial planning.
Gen X is more open to diversity and has learnt to embrace differences such as religion, sexual orientation, class, race and ethnicity.

Known as the generation with the lowest voting participation rate of any generation, Gen X is “the generation that dropped out without ever turning on the news or tuning in to the social issues around them.”.Gen X is sometimes referred to as the “lost” generation and is often characterized by high levels of skepticism, “what’s in it for me” attitudes.


Generation Y

Born: 1981-2000
Age in 2015: 15-34
Current Indian Population: 55 million (Approx)

Referred as the Millennial Generation, or simply Millennials. Generation Y has been shaped by the technological revolution that occurred throughout their youth. Gen Y grew up with technology, so being connected and tech savvy is in their DNA. Equipped with latest technology and gadgets, such as smart Phones, laptops and tablets, Generation Y is online and connected 24/7, 365 days a year. Many Millennials grew up seeing their Generation X parents working day and night doing stressful corporate jobs, which has shaped their own views on the workforce and the need for work-life balance. 
Gen Y members are much more racially and ethnically diverse and they are much more segmented as an audience aided by the rapid expansion in Cable TV channels, satellite radio, the Internet,etc.

Gen Y are less brand loyal and the speed of the Internet has led the cohort to be similarly flexible and changing in its fashion, style consciousness and where and how it is communicated with.
Gen Y kids often raised in dual income or single parent families have been more involved in family purchases,everything from groceries to new cars. One in nine Gen Yers has a credit card co-signed by a parent.


Generation Z

Born: 2001-2015
Age in 2013: 0-14
Current Indian Population: 15 million and growing rapidly

While we don’t know much about Gen Z yet.We know a lot about the environment they are growing up in. This highly diverse environment will make the grade schools of the next generation the most diverse ever. Higher levels of technology will make significant inroads in academics allowing for customized instruction.
Gen Z kids will grow up with a highly sophisticated media and computer environment and will be more Internet savvy and expert than their Gen Y forerunners. 

The Smarter Idiot

Recently I heard a seminar in which the speaker mentioned that there is a threat to TV medium, as average time we watch TV is decreasing. My mother, rather all the mothers in India, would have relaxed after this research if this statement would have been made a decade ago. But, the threat comes because of another smarter Idiot.


Traditionally, TV, the idiot box, has long continued to be the largest medium for consumers and hence advertisers. But traditional TV is facing the heat because of smarter devices. Though the size of the screen hung on the walls of family rooms is becoming larger, the average time spent in front of that screen is decreasing.

Marketers think of smartphones and tablets as the “first screen” and TV has been moved to second position. People with access to a smartphone or tablet now spend an average of 2 hours and 57 minutes on them each day and the old first screen on average gets about 2 hours and 48 minutes of attention each day, according to the recent research. The mobile device emerges as an even bigger winner when you filter the data for dedicated users.

An inflection point like this has clearly been coming. The amount of time that people spend watching TV has been flat for several years, while people continue to spend more and more time with apps. Most TV networks have also reported the decrease in subscriptions.

India has been largely immune to this phenomena, but things are changing quite fast here as well. While traditional TV might not have seen the drop in audiences and advertising, but the channels are already feeling the heat. With 4G already here smarter devices will happen here too.

The threat to TV is not only from the apps like Netflix and HotStar, but also from the social networking sites.  Facebook recently announced the launch of its latest video streaming feature called "Live". This will enable celebrities to live stream content about themselves to entire fan base. Moreover, the reach of Facebook is way far than the reach of any single broadcaster.

Imagine Star Plus telecasting the Filmfare,  but Facebook users watching it "Live" from the perspective of their stars.  Imagine IPL on MAX versus IPL through the eyes of Sachin Tendulkar or Shah Rukh khan in stands. With the best quality smartphones available in the market and the phones getting smarter the competition is going to be a revolution in the Media.

The "Thumb" generation wants sharable content at their thumb press rather than long boring format.
So, TV guys may feel completely lost in this battle.

Bank's Assets and Liabilities a very simple and easy explanation

Being very new to the concepts of assets and liabilities in a balance sheet, I have always tried to explore more on this to make it easy. I have come up with a simple explanation of Assets and Liabilities of a commercial bank. It is a brief overview so that a layman can also understand the assets and liabilities that are included in balance sheet of a bank.

Commercial bank's balance sheet has two main sides i.e. the liabilities and the assets. From the study of the balance sheet of a bank we come to know about a system which a bank has followed for raising funds and allocation of these funds in different asset categories. Bank can have others money with it. It can be in terms of shareholders share per capita, or depositors deposits. This money is the bank's liabilities. On the other hand bank's own sources of income leads to generation of assets for bank.

Liabilities: 

a. Share Capital : the contribution which shareholders have contributed for starting the bank.

b. Reserve Funds : The money which bank has accumulated over the years from its undistributed                                        profits

c. Deposits : The money owned by customers

      i. Fixed Deposits

      ii. Saving Deposits

      iii.Current Deposits

      iv. Other Deposits

d. Borrowings : Bank can borrow from central and other commercial banks.

e. Other liabilities

Assets :

a. Cash

      i.  in Hand

      ii.  with the Central Bank (RBI)

      iii. with the other banks

b. Money at short : When a bank makes money available at short notice to other banks and                                financial institutions for a very short period of 1-14 days it is also treated                                 as bank's asset.

c. Bills and securities discounted

d. Investment of bank

e. Loans and Advances given

f. Other Assets

Clarke Vs Sangakara : contrasting carriers with similar numbers

Cricket is a game that has thrived on comparisons. If you call for comparison on numbers these two players will make their way through the top 5 greats of this century.
A total of 20,978 runs from 237 Tests* at an average of 78.15. In 649 ODIs, 22,215 runs at an average of 43.24. These are the combined numbers of Kumar Sangakkara and Michael Clarke. On August 20, 2015, both these players will play their final Test match. When the Tests in P Sara Oval in Colombo and The Oval in London end, the two legends of the game will leave the cricketing world poorer. If you look at the numbers from 2004, then Sanagakkara and Clarke are at the 2nd and 3rd position of highest run getters. 

If one has to look at the way how Sangakkara and Clarke started their cricketing careers, the contrast is evident. In the beginning, Sangakkara did not know whether he belonged to the Sri Lankan dressing room. It took one knock of 98 against South Africa in tough conditions in 2001, one year after he made his debut in 2000, to give him necessary assurance and confidence.

Clarke made a memorable start. On his Test debut against India in 2004, he played a knock that established him as a once in a generation cricketer. He tackled the likes of Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh in such spectacular fashion that his 151 put Australia on the path where they would conquer the final frontier after a gap of 35 years. Clarke’s display in Bangalore had made him the golden boy of Australia.

When it came to run-scoring, both batsmen outclassed each other several times. While Sangakkara amassed big scores, including a magnificent 287 in a record partnership of 624 against South Africa in 2006, Clarke was scoring centuries but they were not big hundreds. While Sangakkara’s big appetite for big runs eased, Clarke responded with four double-tons in one year. When Clarke scored 329 against India in Sydney, it took Sangakkara two years to respond with 319 against Bangladesh. Both players almost outdid each other when it came to guts and determination.

Both players are leaving at interesting times. For Clarke, the fire seems to have burned down due to a combination of injuries and due to the heartbreak surrounding the death of Phillip Hughes. For Sangakkara, he is leaving at a time when Sri Lanka cricket is in transition and when there are whispers that he prefers County over Country. Yet, greatness has come easily for Sangakkara but for Clarke, it has taken years of toil to make people acknowledge his ability.

In a nutshell, these two cricketers have given us cherished memories. One will miss Sangakkara’s trade-mark punch off the back foot and his bent knee cover drive. In the coming summer, one might not see Clarke’s shot-arm pull or his nimble footed advance down the wicket to the spinners. Sangakkara looked assured while Clarke was a nervous starter. One was smooth and classy while the other was determined, dogged and resolute.

The cricketing world will be poorer with the absence of Sangakkara and Clarke. However, for this generation of fans, it has been a treat to see a Sri Lankan and Australian, two contrasting cultures traversing their own diverse yet similar paths to greatness.

Dark Data : an abnormal challenge.

It is no wonder that big data is big news. Organizations are keen to bring right things to right people at right time. It is a promise of speed and specificity.Stores like Wall-mart handle over a million transaction in an hour. Google processes tens of thousands of terabytes of data a day. Analysts work hard to find out the pattern of the digital clues we leave about our whereabouts and our desires.

But, India has a different challenge. Only 16% individuals leave digital footprint. What about the rest? The one billion others ? Their desires and whereabouts are still dark to the world. This is the problem of dark data. Even as we move towards big data for future, we cannot ignore dark data. It represents too enormous population to be ignored.

We can be effective if we are able to understand the dark data ecosystem. The main challenge for analyst to find dark data is to find any data at all. Addressing this issue will require entire different set of mechanisms.

For any organization serving this segment, every data point comes with a cost of time and accuracy.
every organization, before going for this type of data, should ask two questions about the relevance of this type of data. 1. What are the human behaviors that matter ? 2. Is it really worth ?
Dark data is about having to know ahead of time which object you want. This requires deeper perspective and different kind of exploration and research.

Even if you obtain the information about the people in dark zone,obtaining it with useful accuracy is not simple. Let's say you want know something simple as occupation. Establishing a consistent classification that is understood by major part of the population is difficult. Most people in informal economy have multiple occupations. They do daily wage labor by day and sell flowers at a bus stop in the evening. Some of them might work on the farmlands in the morning and sell Papads in the afternoon. Are they in Agriculture or retail ? Some people may check one box and some may check other.

Furthermore, there is the issue of reliability. In any organization, most of the times, filling of forms is often just statutory with no checks. This may be because of lack of sensitivity and little awareness. If there are no checks,people take shortcuts and tick any box.

Without relevance, consistency and accuracy the data cannot be analysed and it is of very little importance to the organizations. The challenge of large data is not trivial. But , its abnormality makes it a challenge. The dark data will soon play  a major role in analysis. Cleverness and technology aid can solve this problem of dark data. Organizations will soon be hunting for the candidates with these two qualities. 

Being Left-Handed...

Recently, I heard the news that researchers have found out that left handed students are mostly the under performers in during schooling. Being a left handed, I wanted to comment on this research.

As a “lefty,” I have always felt a little different at times, I have struggled with trying to fit into a right-handed world.

In school, I had to contort myself so I could write on a right-handed desk. I struggled to keep my hand clean and often ended up with ink smudges on both the paper and my hand; writing in those spiral-bound notebooks is difficult, if not impossible, for lefties. From can openers to scissors,most household items are made for righties. And when eating with groups, I have to fight to sit on the far left side of the table so I don’t bump the person next to me the entire time I’m eating.

I have often wondered if I really am that unique,with an estimated 10 percent of the population being left-handed. it’s not as rare as it feels.

The custom of shaking hands comes from medieval times. When two people met, they would hold each other's right hand. I have always had the difficulty with to get accustomed.

It is takes longer for a left handed person to learn and play guitar. Moreover, in country like India the driving car is a problem too for a left-hander. Left Handed people are always bad at handwriting. It is because we have to write against our natural flow. I have suffered a great deal because of this.

Many power tools, when held with the left hand, can be very harmful. For example, a circular saw blows sawdust to the right, which is very convenient for a right-hander, but when held in the left hand, makes a mess.Many schools use desks with a chair attached. The desktop is shaped so that you get in on the left side and you can rest your right arm while writing. A lefty's left arm has to stick out off the edge of the desk. Left-handed desks, built the opposite way, can be very hard to find.  In a card game, when a lefty fans out his cards left-handed style, the numbers and suits cannot be seen. Lefties have to either read the cards upside-down, fan them out the opposite way, or buy left-handed cards with the number and suit in all corners.

This enmity toward lefties can be seen in many languages. For example, in Latin, the word for "left" is sinister, which has come into English meaning "evil." The French word for "left" is gauche, which in English means "awkward" or "tactless." The English word left comes from the Old English left, meaning "weak."

Nowadays, most societies, religions, and cultures no longer scorn left-handedness like they used to. It's something you should take pride in. I am left-handed (why else would I be writing this page?), and though it can be difficult, I like it. You and I are part of an elite 10 percent of the population, along with the ranks of many great personalities.

It's important to note here that no one is exactly sure how many lefties there are. Estimates range from 2% to 30%, but 10-12% is the most likely range. That puts the number at about 630 million to 750 million lefties worldwide. In addition, there are many advantages to being a left handed like creativity,adaptability,multitasking etc.

So, It's cool to be different.

React vs Respond : A mindful difference

Let’s say you go to a crowded place (a concert, sporting event, a railway station etc.). As you are walking along, you bump into someone. That person looks at you, and before you can say anything, they push you.Why would they do this? They might have the perception that you bumped into them on purpose and that you wanted to start some sort of confrontation. They didn’t even give you a chance to apologize, or to consider that you bumped into them because you were pushed from behind.

They reacted. They pushed you without pausing to think why it happened. It was automatic and thoughtless. It was a reaction.Now, imagine if the other person paused before pushing you. If they had actually paused, they would have heard your apology and likely would have responded peacefully instead of reacting angrily. When we pause and think about our options, we are responding.

Most people always REACT .  It happens something like this:  I have had a day at work, I have a set of experiences and memories of other such days.  I have a lifetime of experiences with people. I have a lifetime of memories of happiness or unhappiness or a mixture of both.  A woman walks up to me and starts yelling at me because her appointment is late. Instantly, a part of my mind  is calling up all the memories of being yelled at.  It is reviewing a series of filing cabinet drawers with “Yelling women” and takes me back to a memory as a child when I was screamed at by my mother, it makes me want to cry.  Quickly then that crying impulse is researched in those filing cabinets and I find the last time I cried and how angry I was.. I vowed never to cry.  That’s it, Damn it!  I hate this woman!!!! A simplified example, but you get the idea.

We have to realize that it is not the shouting of that woman,your father,your boss or your wife that disturbs you, but it’s your inability to handle the disturbances caused by their shouting that disturbs you. It’s not the traffic jams on the road that disturb you, but your inability to handle the disturbance caused by the traffic jam that disturbs you. More than the problem, it’s your reaction to the problem that creates chaos in your life. 

To me, the fundamental difference between a reaction and a response is a conscious choice. A reaction is a reflex born out of habit. A response is a conscious choice born out of being present and aware in the moment.