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Category Archives: Work and Life
A Parker Pen from Singapore
About a fifty-year old Parker pen that held an important lesson for me.
Posted in Life and Death, Malayalam, physics, Work and Life
Tagged Kerala, Malayalam, physics
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How to be a Good Parent
Practical advice to my younger readers. Continue reading
Posted in Life and Death, philosophy, Work and Life
Tagged children, life, parenting, philosophy
2 Comments
Death — Last Words
The sixth and last post on the philosophy of death looks at the paradox or the absurdity of living at all, given that there is a death looming, and tries to find a sliver lining. Continue reading
Does the World Go on?
The fifth post on the philosophy of death looks at another notion of continuity. Even for those who believe in no soul or god of any kind, the physical world is real and continuous. No sane person would think the world comes to an end with his death. Then again, nobody has accused me of sanity. Continue reading
Primal Soul
What is soul, and why do we need one? Philosophy of death is surely incomplete without a discussion of this matter. Here is the fourth post in this series. Continue reading
From Here to Eternity
The severity of a pain is not merely its intensity, but its duration as well. Given that death puts a definitive end to our worldly durations, how does it affect our notion of punishment commensurate with crime? Here is the third post on the philosophy of death.
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Why Should I Be Good?
This second post on my series on the philosophy of death deals with the connection between morality and death. Continue reading
The Taboo Topic
I thought I would write a short piece on the philosophy death, but it turned out to be a fairly big essay. It was to be expected, I guess, for death is not an easy or simple topic. I will post my thoughts here in parts. The first part looks at the taboo nature of the topic of death. Continue reading
In Our Defense
Here is an article defending (to some extent) the insane salary expectations of the elite bankers and traders. And quants. This piece will appear in my regular column in Wilmott Magazine. Continue reading
Graceless Singaporean
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 [...] Continue reading
Posted in Columns, corporate life, The Today Paper
Tagged Asian cultures, magic words, politeness, Singaporean
2 Comments
Food Prices and Terrible Choices
Economists have too many hands. On the one hand, they may declare something good. On the other hand, they may say, “well, not so much.” Some of them may have even a third or fourth hand. My ex-boss, an economist himself, once remarked that he wished he could chop off some of these hands. [...] Continue reading
Posted in Columns, Life and Death, Quantitative Finance, Unpublished
Tagged crude oil prices, food prices, price surge
2 Comments
How Friendly is too Friendly?
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? [...] Continue reading
Posted in Columns, corporate life, The Today Paper, Work and Life
Tagged Columns, work life balance
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When the Going Gets Tough, Turn Around!
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. [...] Continue reading
Posted in Columns, corporate life, The Today Paper
Tagged Columns, work life balance
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Rumour Mills
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. [...] Continue reading
Posted in Columns, corporate life, The Today Paper
Tagged Columns, work life balance
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Stress and a Sense of Proportion
Newspaper column in Today on 20 Oct. 2007.
How can we manage stress, given that it is unavoidable in our corporate existence? Common tactics against stress include exercise, yoga, meditation, breathing techniques, reprioritizing family etc. To add to this list, I have my own secret weapons to battle stress that I would like to share with you. These weapons may be too potent; so use them with care. [...] Continue reading
Posted in Columns, corporate life, The Today Paper, Work and Life
Tagged Columns, work life balance
1 Comment
Knowledge Silos
Newspaper column in Today on 29 Sept. 2007.
[...] Isn’t there a danger lurking behind our habit of demanding super specialized silos of knowledge? One obvious danger is the loss of synergy and potential innovation. A case in point — a particle physicist at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) faces the problem of accessing various files on different computers and networks. Being conversant in computing issues, the physicist devices a nice way of describing the file (or, as it is known now, the resource) and suddenly the first URL (Universal Resource Locator) is born. The rest is history — we have the World Wide Web, the Internet. Fifteen years later, you have e-commerce and YouTube! [...] Continue reading
Posted in Columns, corporate life, The Today Paper
Tagged Columns, work life balance
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Internet Reading
Newspaper column in Today on 15 Sept. 2007.
[...] In high school, I used logarithm tables to work out results in physics and chemistry experiments. Calculators were not allowed. Though inconvenient, this practice honed my arithmetic skills — skills that calculators and spreadsheets have eroded by now. Similar erosion is taking place in our reading skills as well. We don’t read to retain information or knowledge any more. We search, scan, locate keywords, browse and bookmark. The Internet is doing to our reading habits what the calculator did to our arithmetic abilities. [...] Continue reading
Posted in Columns, corporate life, The Today Paper, Work and Life
Tagged Columns, work life balance
1 Comment
To Know or Not To Know
Newspaper column in Today on 8 Aug, 2007.
Technical knowledge is not always a good for you in the modern workplace. Unless you are careful, others will take advantage of your expertise and dump their responsibilities on you. You may not mind it as long as they respect your expertise. But, they often hog the credit for your work and present their ability to evade work as people management skills. [...] Continue reading
Posted in Columns, corporate life, The Today Paper
Tagged management+skills, technical knowledge
1 Comment
Married to the Job — Till Death Do Us Part?
Newspaper column in Today, 8 Aug. 2007.
Stress is as much a part of our corporate careers as death is a fact of life. Still, it is best to keep the two (career and death) separate. This is the message that was lost on some hardworking young souls here who literally worked themselves to death. So do a lot of Japanese, if we are to believe the media. [...] Continue reading
Posted in Columns, corporate life, The Today Paper, Work and Life
Tagged Columns, work life balance
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