Unreal Blog

An unreal look at global warming. Are we a virus on the earth? And is the global warming a bout of fever? Published in the Singaporean newspaper, Today, on 1 Dec 2008.

Read the rest of "Global Warming and the Flu"

Don’t be fooled by the easy access to information on the Internet. It is still difficult to generate knowledge.

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Stressed out at work? Try these stress-reduction techniques. Well, musings, really…

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It is a jungle out there. Do you have what it takes to survive? If not, don’t worry, I’m here to help.

Read the rest of "An Office Survival Guide"

When people use connotations behind words to color your views, you have to go beyond words to hunt down the truth. Here is how, in another one of my old columns.

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Here is an unreal (and perhaps politically incorrect) look at the tricky subject of gender equality. Another repost of a newspaper column of mine from last year.

Read the rest of "Want Equality?"

This column, published about a year ago in a Singaporean newspaper, is my favorite, my pride and joy. For that reason, I may have sent it to some of my readers before. Here is hoping that you would enjoy a repeat read…

Read the rest of "La Sophistication"

It is that time of the year again — the time for the dreaded annual performance appraisals. One friend of mine told me about one of his direct reports who actually started having a heart attack in his office during the APA! Here is a look at the pluses and minuses, originally published as a column in a Singaporean newspaper.

Read the rest of "That Time of the Year"

For corporate success, we may need to hide our technical knowledge at times. When it comes to techie-ness, we should know when to hold, and when to fold. Here is my take on how best to use (or hide) technical knowledge, originally published as a newspaper column.

Read the rest of "Techie’s Dilemma"

Before we can make others listen to us, we have to listen to them. We need to apply this essential communication principle in private conversations with our spouses as well. Or, it may lead to more problems than meet the eye. Here is an a newspaper column of mine from last year.

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I wrote this piece on the World Malayalee Conference 2008 for a Singaporean newspaper. I was away in India during the conference (22-25 August, 2008) and did not see it in print. This post is about my home state of Kerala, its language Malayalam, and those who speak it – the Malayalees. If those words make no sense to you, you may not be interested in this post.

Read the rest of "The Worldly Malayalees"

Newspaper column in Today on 2 Aug 2008.

We Singaporeans have a problem. We are graceless, they say. So we train ourselves to say the right magic words at the right times and to smile at random intervals. We still come across as a bit graceless at times.
We have to bite the bullet and face the music; we may be a bit on the rude side — when judged by the western norms of pasticky grace popularized by the media. But we don’t do too badly when judged by our own mixed bag of Asian cultures [...]

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Pointers in surviving the corporate jungle. Newspaper column in Today on 14 June 2008.

[...] In the unforgiving, dog-eat-dog corporate jungle, you need to be sure of the welcome. More importantly, you need to prove yourself worthy of it. Fear not, I am here to help you through it. And I will gladly accept all credit for your survival, if you care to make it public. But I regret that we (this newspaper, me, our family members, dogs, lawyers and so on) cannot be held responsible for any untoward consequence of applying my suggestions. Come on, you should know better than to base your career on a newspaper column! [...]

Read the rest of "An Office Survival Guide"

Newspaper column in Today on 17 May 2008.

When it comes to news, things are seldom what they seem. The media can colour news events while remaining technically objective and strictly factual. Faced with such insidiously accurate reporting, we have little choice but to read between the lines. [...]

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The rights and wrongs of gender equality. Newspaper column in Today on 5 April 2008.

[...] When such dimensions of equality encompass all aspects of our lives, we will be able to safely say that gender equality has arrived. We should not be looking for equality in testosterone-driven playing fields, which, by the way, may include higher echelons of the corporate pyramid. We should be relegating debates on equality to irrelevance by attributing enough respect and value to natural differences. [...]

Read the rest of "Good and Bad Gender Equality"

Newspaper column in Today on March 1, 2008.

We all want to be the boss. At least some of us want to be the big boss at some, hopefully not-too-distant, future. It is good to be the boss. However, it takes quite a bit to get there. It takes credentials, maturity, technical expertise, people skills, communication and articulation, not to mention charisma and connections. Even with all the superior qualities, being a boss is tough. Being a good boss is even tougher; it is a tricky balancing act. One tricky question is, how friendly can you get with your team? [...]

Read the rest of "How Friendly is too Friendly?"

How to turn around gracefully? Newspaper column in Today on 19 Jan 2008.

Elton John is right, sorry is the hardest word. It is hard to admit that one has been wrong. Harder still is to find a way forward, a way to correct one’s past mistakes. It often involves backtracking. [...]

Read the rest of "When the Going Gets Tough, Turn Around!"

How to market sophistication, a la francaise! Newspaper column in Today on 5 Jan 2008.

Sophistication is a French invention. The French are masters when it comes to nurturing, and more importantly, selling sophistication. Think of some expensive (and therefore classy) brands. Chances are that more than half of the ones that spring to mind would be French. And the other half would be distinctly French sounding wannabes. [...]

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A frank, but strange, look at global warming. Are we a virus on the earth? And is the global warming a bout of fever? Published in the Singaporean newspaper, Today, on 1 Dec 2008.

[...] The end result of a viral infection is always gloomy. Either the host succumbs or the virus gets beaten by the host’s immune systems. If we are the virus, both these eventualities are unpalatable. We don’t want to kill the Earth. And we certainly don’t want to be exterminated by the Earth. But those are the only possible outcomes of our viral-like activity here. It is unlikely that we will get exterminated; we are far too sophisticated for that. In all likelihood, we will make our planet uninhabitable. We may, by then, have our technological means of migrating to other planetary systems. In other words, if we are lucky, we may be contagious! [...]

Read the rest of "Human Virus"

On how to handle rumors at the work place. Newspaper column in Today on 27 Oct. 2007

[...] There is a city underground. Parallel to the world of corporate memos and communication meetings, this rumour city trades information, often generating it as needed. [...]

Read the rest of "Rumour Mills"