My GMAT Experience

For all the help and encouragement I received from the web in my GMAT preparation, here is my contribution to the pool of knowledge and experience out there.

Firstly, my score: Quant: 50, Verbal 44, Overall 770, AWA 5.5. The high overall score meant that I secured a 99 %ile. A caveat - I've had all my schooling in English and I have an IT/Engineering background. So if something sounds too condescending, I do not intend it to be so.

Well, I gave my GMAT in June in Montreal, Canada. I had decided a year before that I wanted to give the GMAT. So I had ample time to mentally prepare myself for the exam. I believe this is a crucial aspect. In order to go beyond the usual 720, you need to set yourself up to imagine the ideal score. The more time you have to imagine it, the better it will be. This approach allows you to focus and gives you a target that you can then work towards in quantitative terms. I had set myself a target of 780/6.0.

I started my preparation in earnest in Feb 2008, thereby giving me 4 months of solid preparation time. Throughout the period, I had a dedicated time slot of 1.5 - 2.0 hours each day, irrespective of work pressure. Since I was staying alone at the time, I was able to completely disengage myself from all social activities. No partying, no socializing for 4 months. In short - I became a monk.

When I took the first diagnostic test on GMAT Prep in Feb, I got a 720 with zero preparation. When I investigated the breakdown, my Quant scores was 48 but Verbal was less than 40. So, I knew that the focus had to be on sharpening my verbal skills. I bought the usual material - OG and Kaplan. I also started preparing from the LSAT questions. Even though these questions are really really tough, they will make GMAT seem like cakewalk later. I think the Kaplan 800 series is also excellent, since they really make you understand the difference between a good score and a great one.

I didn't give any test other than GMAT Prep. Mainly because the Kaplan CD I had bought didn't work. I believe this was a mistake on my part and I encourage others to take as many tests as possible. However, I solved several SCs and Quant questions from my CAT material as well as LSAT CRs and RCs. Needless to say, all this was in addition to OG and Kaplan.

When I had done everything, I solved them again and again, until I didn't have to think in order to realize which answer was right - It came to me almost instinctively. I believe this played a crucial part in helping me beat the time on the actual test. For those suffering from sever verbal deficiency, I have only 1 suggestion - Read, Read and Read. In those 4 months, read anything and everything you can get your hands on. It will help you understand the correct grammar and identify the gaps in your abilities.

To prepare for the AWA, I started this blog :) and prepared answers for around 10-15 questions that are provided by GMAC. There's not much you can do about AWA and personally I doubt if it helps; TOEFL gives a much better picture anyway.

The second GMAT Prep test I took netted me 750, with verbal improving to 41. However, I realized that I had messed up my first 10 questions. Irrespective of what books say, if you answer the 1st 10 questions correctly, it does help - mainly because the questions towards the end become easier. That way, you are not faced with time pressure in the last few critical minutes.

On D-Day, I arrived almost 1.5 hrs early. Thankfully, they allowed me to take the test immediately. Carry an energry drink and some snacks for the breaks. You need to keep the sugar levels up for optimal performance. Take all the breaks. It helps you refocus. I had decided that I wanted to get rid of the AWA as quickly as possible. I believe that typing out essays fatigues the mind and I wanted to remain fresh. So instead of the usual 1 hr, I finished mine in 40 minutes and went into the break.

During the Quant and verbal sections, I paid closer attention to the 1st 10 questions and I was fairly confident that I'd gotten them right. Also, I felt the overall level was pretty close to what I had on the sample tests. No surprises. I was able to save considerable time on middle questions and finished each of the sections almost 10 minutes ahead of schedule. I would like to stress that do not put yourself under too much pressure for each question. Also, do not make it an ego issue. If you don't know the answer, it's unlikely that you will know it after staring at it for 5 minutes. Eliminate 2 choices, guess and move on.

Before clicking on the final submit button, I was expecting around 740. I was pleasantly surprised at the 770. The AWA I got was 5.5, a tad disappointing but I guess in proportion with the effort I had put in.

And remember, GMAT is not the be-all and end-all of the MBA application. Your employment, profile, academic acheivements and other interest play an equally important role. The GMAT will only serve to highlight your application from within the pile that is received by the Ad Com every year.

Well, that's about it, I guess. If you have any questions, please leave a comment.

Why Foss-ing is good for health

No – that's not a typo !! I'm referring to the Free Open-Source Software and not the practice of dental hygine. I began my journey into this strange world a month back, after starting to try out Ubuntu's Hardy Heron Linux distro on my laptop.

Well, so far, my experience has been positive. While I admit that mine is not a full blown Linux installation since it is running as a loop-mounted device, it did offer me ample scope to get a feel of the new OS before taking the plunge into a full-blown installation. Overall, I feel Linux is a worthy alternative to users who are looking to break away from Windows and cannot afford, or do not prefer, the Mac OS X.

The first and foremost thing I noticed is how much a linux installation has improved. When I had last attempted to install Linux around 4 years back, I was so frustrated at making things work that I had to finally abandon the attempt. With Linux distros floating around today, you get Live Cds, Wubi, USB installation and what not. I feel this will go a long way towards easing newbie worries. Further, the installation went off remarkably smoothly. Everything on my machine was detected out of the box. There was some minor tweaking required to get the OS to run like I wanted, but it didn't amount to more than a couple of hours.

As regards the stability of the system, I have not expirienced any major crashes with Gnome, although KDE (the Kubuntu version) did cause me some headaches. Further, it follows the repeatibility rule – every operation if repeated in the same circumstance yields the same result. Always. This is not the case with Windows. For example, for no apparent reason, Vista sometimes refuses to connect to my router.

Linux security is not even comparable with Windows. Running without any explicit firewall or anti-virus protection, my system has been doing fine – no hacks encountered. Further, because of the lack of these resource-intensive programs, my mid-range laptop positively flies !! From what I have read, viruses on Linux only exist as proof-of-concept, since the user-access-based security makes it really difficult to gain control of the vital resources of the system via a virus.

As a developer, I feel it is of the utmost importance that Linux ships with almost all the necessary compilers for C++, Java etc. This is one of the pillars of FOSS, since it allows the user to look at what lies beneath the hood and make changes if required. It allows a developer like me to be productive. Given the tools, most people will put them to use. I feel this is one of the major drawbacks with Windows – users are assumed to be too lame to take matters into their own hands.

The eye-candy is amazing as well. The effects available with Compiz and emerald far outstrip the default ones provided by Windows Vista – all at a much lower hardware cost. While I use Gnome, I've seen KDE offer even more eye-candy. Besides, there are different types of desktop managers – Xfce, KDE, Gnome, etc, which allow the user to choose the desktop as per the hardware configuration and their preference.

I've heard complaints that Linux doesn't offer the same variety of programs that Windows does. I think that's a load of hogwash. Linux doesn't offer the same programs – what it does is offer the user a much larger variety of open source programs which are more elegant and get the tasks done in a better manner than the windows programs that people are used to. Sure, there is a learning curve, but believe me, it's worth it.

Linux makes people think. It makes people use the command line, edit hitherto unheard of configuration files and understand almost all the principles of computer science. It teaches the user to be unafraid of crashing the system and returns control of the relationship between a user and the computer to the user.

Finally, Linux is free. Free as in beer and free as in freedom. I believe this is a HUGE motivation to most users. Imagine a system which is better than everything Mr Gates has to offer, at zero cost to the user. I agree that there might be many who may not like Linux. However, what nobody can deny is that Linux has given the user a choice where none existed before. Ultimately, the user can decide what OS to use. To quote HP, it has made the computer personal again.

Affirmative Action

The Indian Supreme Court recently upheald the government's decision to reserve 27% of the seats in educational institutions for sections of society that are termed backward. Needless to say, a few heckles have been raised by this decision. However, if analyzed dispassionately, it appears to be an interesting verdict. I would like to present my view of backwardness and affirmative action and compare it with the current attitude.

Backwardness in our times can essentially be divided into two:

1. Economic backwardness – where the individual (or group of individuals) is not part of the natural progression of society due to a lack of disposable funds. This may, or may not, result due to social backwardness

2. Social backwardness – where an individual or a group is not part of the natural progression of society due to the prevalent attitudes, traditions and mores. This may, or may not, result due to economic backwardness.

In most cases, both these types are related, one occassionally feeding the other, resulting in a vicious cycle of sorts. For the purpose of this discussion, let us assume that there is at least a section of society, say 50%, which is not backward. The lower this number is, the more acute the problem.

Affirmative action refers to the series of steps that might be taken by the progressive group of society to reduce the backwardness of other sections of society and make social progress an inclusive concept. These actions might involve uplifting the economic and social status of certain backward sections. The term was first used in America, as part of the Civil Rights movement by African Americans. Similar questions face India now, not in terms of race, but in terms of caste.

Historically, affirmative action has involved tackling economic backwardness. It is assumed that once economic backwardness has been tackled, social backwardness solves itself. The makers of the Indian constitution had guaged that due to the inherent discriminatory nature of the traditional Hindu caste system, not all sections of the population were being given equal opportunity. Steps were then built into the constitution to remedy this situation.

It is assumed that economic backwardness arises not due to a lack of talent on part of the group as a whole, but due to a lack of opportunities to exploit the talent. It is also reasonable to assume that other factors such as location, resources etc have no bearing on the backwardness since other sections of society at the same location would not have this problem. The solution to the question of economic backwardness, therefore, is to allow the backward sections of society to take advantage of opportunities. The first step towards this goal is to insert equality into the constitution. Once this has been achieved, however, there still remains the question of eradicating centuries of conditioning and encouraging people to take advantage of opportunities.

One way to do this was been to reserve a certain percentage of seats for backward sections of society in institutes of learning. It was hoped that a quality education would enable the students under the reservation to take advantage of the opportunities that were available. Naturally, this reservation would be at the cost of other sections of society and is likely to be opposed. The actual number decided upon is actually a balancing act driven by politics. It is the efficacy of this reservation that I question.

Experience of the American policy as well as results of the Indian policy over the past 50 years or so have shown that this does not solve the problem. Even though the education is imparted, the students in question have been unable to take advantage of the opportunities. Primary reason for this is the lack of a sound primary education which results in the students often failing or not completing higher courses. Chances for a lucrative job naturally take a hit since employers are not willing to take students with questionable academic records since other candidates with sound records are available at the same salary level.

The statement above should also suggest the solution itself: make it economically attractive for private sector organizations to employ the students and provide additional training or mentoring. Radical sections of the government have proposed a reservation in private companies as well. This would be going too far, in my opinion, and against the spirit of private enterprise.

Instead, it would be worthwhile for all three parties involved, the students, the employers and the government to consider tax rebates to compensate the private sector for additional risks and costs associated with emplying and training students of the backward sections that have not performed well academically. Ideally, the tax break should be broken down into 2 parts:

1. One slab for actually considering and implementing such a program – a fixed rate

2. A variable rate depending on the industry and the student intake in such a program

It might also be advisable for the companies to set up additional training for students which are deemed to have insufficient academic credentials. During this training period, the student might be paid a stipend instead of a regular salary. This would reduce costs during this period and also provide a more relevant education and training, making the students better prepared for the job ahead.

Since this approach does not require a fixed quota, a company may choose whichever and as many students it desires, thereby preserving the spirit of private enterprise. Of course, a lower intake from the backward sections would directly affect tax liability, thereby allowing the government to collect increased revenue to supplement its own schemes. It is, therefore, in the interest of the company to calculate an optimum number of students required and plan the intake accordingly. In addition, it would not be governed by restrictive government quotas.

Further, it should be made mandatory that any progeny of the persons in this program automatically become ineligible for further benefits. This is to avoid abusing the system even after economic upliftment to compensate for poor academic performance. Since private companies are involved, corruption from government agencies is likely to be minimized.

Over a period of time, the academic performance in higher institutions will cease to be a stumbling block for these students, since they would have a safety net. However, at the same time, they could not afford to be lax, since they are subject to the same competition as others. Other students would also not feel cheated since they would have a chance to impress prospective employers with their talent.

As time progresses, the economic status should rise gradually. However, a concerted media campaign should accompany any attempts at economic upliftment to combat existing social attitudes. The government should also set a time frame for this policy, ranging between 30-50 years, with periodic alterations to the tax rates to account for unforeseen economic forces. Failure to set a time frame would result in situations where economically poor “upper castes” feel discriminated again, a sort of reverse-discrimation.

While this may not heal centuries of mistrust, it will go a long way in making sections of the population more productive and increasing the comfort level among various part of society.

Home Happiness

Everyone feels the need for a home - A place where one can leave their troubles outside the door and find comfort and shelter. But to a person who has been on the road ever since consciousness took hold, a home is a dream. And with time, that dream is embellished even more, till finally, it becomes a mythical, abstract concept that prompts an essay such as this one !!

Contrary to popular opinion, a home is not a house. The word "house" usually embodies the physical part of the word "home". It will not however, capture the soul of the block of cement. A home is neither dependent on the size of the house, nor its opulence. To an extent, it is even independent of the people who inhabit it.

A home, therefore, is a purely a purview of the individual. It's the individual's choice as to what does or does not constitute a home. Below is a poem by John Clare:

Like a thing of the desert, alone in its glee,
I make a small home seem an empire to me;
Like a bird in the forest, whose world is its nest,
My home is my all, and the centre of rest.
Let Ambition stretch over the world at a stride,
Let the restless go rolling away with the tide,
I look on life's pleasures as follies at best,
And, like sunset, feel calm when I'm going to rest.

I sit by the fire, in the dark winter's night,
While the cat cleans her face with her foot in delight,
And the winds all a-cold, with rude clatter and din
Shake the windows, like robbers who want to come in;
Or else, from the cold to be hid and away,
By the bright burning fire see my children at play,
Making houses of cards, or a coach of a chair,
While I sit enjoying their happiness there.

I walk round the orchard on sweet summer eves,
And rub the perfume from the black-currant leaves,
Which, like the geranium, when touched, leave a smell
That lad's-love and sweet-briar can hardly excel.
I watch the plants grow, all begemmed with the shower,
That glitters like pearls in a sun-shiny hour;
And hear the pert robin just whistle a tune,
To cheer the lone hedger when labour is done.

Joys come like the grass in the fields springing there,
Without the mere toil of attention or care;
They come of themselves, like a star in the sky,
And the brighter they shine when the cloud passes by.
I wish but for little, and find it all there,
Where peace gives its faith to the home of the hare,
Who would else, overcome by her fears, run away
From the shade of the flower and the breeze of the day.

0 the out-of-door blessings of leisure for me!
Health, riches, and joy! — it includes them all three.
There Peace comes to me — I have faith in her smile —
She's my playmate in leisure, my comfort in toil;
There the short pasture-grass hides the lark on its nest,
Though scarcely so high as the grasshopper's breast;
And there its moss-ball hides the wild honey-bee,
And there joy in plenty grows riches for me.

Far away from the world, its delusions and snares —
Whose words are but breath, and its breathing but cares, —
Where trouble's sown thick as the dews of the morn,
One can scarce set a foot without meeting a thorn —
There are some view the world as a lightly thrown ball,
There are some look on cities like stones in a wall —
Nothing more. There are others, Ambition's proud heirs,
Of whom I have neither the courage nor cares.

So I sit on my bench, or enjoy in the shade
My toil as a pasture, while using the spade;
My fancy is free in her pleasure to stray,
Making voyages round the whole world in a day.
I gather home-comforts where cares never grew,
Like manna, the heavens rain down with the dew,
Till I see the tired hedger bend wearily by,
Then like a tired bird to my corner I fly.

This poem is quite representative of the expectation that I have placed on our new apartment under construction. As you might observe, the individual also feels that the home represents a culmination of achievements throughout his/her life, a place which grants him "immunity from further prosecution".

How IBM's values translate into an ethics platform

The following is an excerpt from an essay I wrote to highlight IBM values and cultural moorings:

IBM, for long, had a very short motto – THINK – that it tried to apply to its daily practices. Coined by Thomas Watson, the motto served IBM well through its foundational years. With this single word in mind, IBM prided itself in being at the cutting edge of industrial innovation.

However, as with thought itself, IBM was often criticized for “thinking” but not “doing” enough. Most of this criticism was external, but some of it was internal, coming from well meaning employees, often frustrated with dysfunctional processes and systems. With new market trends and IBM’s emergence from a period of difficulty, it made sense to heed the criticism and devise a new value system to support the internal restructuring. With this in mind, a jam session was organized to discover the core “culture” of IBM and what it means to be an IBMer. The output of that session was three separate values:

§ Dedication to every Client’s success

§ Innovation that matters – for our company and for the world

§ Trust and personal responsibility in all relationships

Upon further analysis, it is clear that these values represent something more than the professional standards to be followed. What emerged from the jam session was, therefore, even more symbolic – a way of life, with each of the values having direct links to everyday life. All IBMers who are guided by these values also share a common bond – a world view that is based on these values.

Dedication to every Client’s success

Dedication to a client’s success demands passion, focus, determination and true empathy. An IBMer is expected to use all available means to ensure client success. “Dedication” is not an empty word which is measured in terms of overtime hours. Instead, it is usually the result of an empathetic understanding of the client’s requirements and issues. Such empathy also helps us to build trust, a fact discussed in detail later.

These values cannot be applied during the course of a workday unless the IBMer is willing to extend them to all facets of external life as well. It is, for example, highly unlikely that a person is dedicated to the client’s cause but oblivious to the needs of his or her family, friends and community. Our professional life is but an extension of our personal life and people who exhibit this dichotomy of character will be unable to keep the façade from crumbling, leading eventually to the client suffering the consequences. It would be easy for peers to spot such anomalous cases and take appropriate corrective action.

Another important word in the phrase is “every”. An IBMer cannot be selective about which client to help to succeed and which to ignore. The success of one client cannot be at the cost of another. In other words, client success becomes an egalitarian, organization-wide, all-inclusive goal.

Equality, then, has to be one of the bases for an IBMer’s outlook on other world matters as well. An IBMer cannot discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color or caste. This has helped foster a warm and cozy work environment within IBM where fellow employees are judged not by the color of their skin, but by the “content of their character and deeds”. This facet is reflected in every policy within IBM – from compensation to career opportunities. This non-discriminatory attitude also bodes well for the community to which the IBMer belongs. It serves as one of the pillars of a secular democracy like India. An IBMer, insulated from discrimination of any kind at the workplace, is unlikely to be biased in personal life either.

On the basis of this value, an IBMer can be expected to become an important contributor to not only client’s success, but also the success of family, friends, colleagues and the community at large.

Innovation that matters – for our company and for the world

Innovation has become a buzzword in the recent times. However, innovation for the sake of innovation is pointless. Any innovation has to have a goal, which is usually the betterment of prevailing circumstances.

IBM’s value system tells us that any innovation should also take into consideration its wider implications. It has to have an inclusive basis, which improves the status of all the parties involved – the individual, the client, the organization, and the global community. The invention of the nuclear bomb, for example, even though it was an innovation of great technical achievement, cannot fit into IBM’s value system due to its adverse implications for humanity.

Further, innovations do not occur overnight. Any innovative IBMer will concede that innovations begin in small steps. It might, for example, start with a small code snippet to do everyday tasks. Over a period of time, the code snippet results in a reusable asset, then a product, and then an industry standard. An IBMer has to be open-minded and recognize opportunities for innovation in all walks of life – from smoother traffic control to decoding the human genome.

This is one aspect that IBM has always excelled in, as reflected in the large number of patents that are filed by IBMers everyday. However, to rest on our laurels would be foolish. New technologies are evolving everyday and IBMers are at the forefront of these innovations. An ideal example of this would be Service Oriented Architecture. As it gained prominence in the past decade, IBM has striven to master and develop the concept in order to be able to offer cutting edge solutions to its clients.

Trust and personal responsibility in all relationships

The recent scams in the corporate world such as Enron, Worldcom etc have raised serious doubts about the ethics followed by today’s professionals. This has necessitated IBM’s value system to integrate a strict set of ethics and moral standards.

It is reflected in the trust and personal responsibility that is expected from every IBMer in all their activities. An IBMer strives to build a relationship with the client and with fellow workers that is based on mutual trust. Trust can only be established over a period of time by the IBMer’s deeds and actions. Further, an IBMer focuses on maintaining that trust once it has been established. This trust, once established, can be easily extended to one’s deeds and actions towards the community, resulting in a conditioning of the conscience over a period of time – in other words, gaining trust becomes a habit.

Personal responsibility is one of the key components of building and maintaining trust. Shirking responsibility can never truly accomplish something substantial. Instead, an IBMer focuses on going beyond what is expected to ensure that a personal touch is retained in all interactions. Each undertaking should be treated with respect, as if it’s “personal”. Such an attitude would also help the IBMer to become involved in the surrounding community and work towards its betterment. IBM actively encourages this involvement by creating opportunities which allow IBMers to support school children, contribute to charities, assist in times of emergencies etc.

It is clear from the illustrations above that the value system inculcated in IBM holds relevance for not just this organization but also for other organizations and the community. In these troubled and ever-changing times, it serves to guide us and redirect our moral compass in times of doubt and uncertainty.

Mainframe - The forgotten workhorse

In today's age of the internet, people seem to have forgotten IBM's mainframe systems. I wonder how people can ignore the fact that the mainframes still drive the commercial projects and that they will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.

The scalability, security and performance offered by this platform is unrivaled. I've been working on this platform for over 4 years now and the production environment has not crashed once on my project. There has been no incident of a security breach and no issues with performance. That's a far cry from Windows and/or Linux based systems.

Sure, MVS is not as snazzy as Vista or Leopard, but, it does what it is intended to do faultlessly - processing of files, database transactions and storage. Mainframes were expected to be consigned to the dinosaur heap when the Internet exploded. However, unlike the dinos, they evolved and at the same time retained their key benefits. CICS transaction gateways now connect the 8-color Mainframe to the 65-million-color world of the net. Meanwhile, Mainframes continue to house most of the operational database needs of large projects.

There has been a rather disturbing trend recently to shift business logic out of the mainframe and onto open systems. Clients claim that this reduces cost and removes the dependency on IBM and its hardware. However, this might not be entirely true. Instead of maintaining a single machine, clients often end up maintaining multiple servers to handle the same amount of traffic. As the volumes grow, this results in a nightmare for the admin staff. I also find that the experience with the "legacy" systems has given rise to more mature processes for development, testing and implementation. Is it worth it to re-invent the wheel ?

So where do mainframes go from here ? As I write this, IBM has announced its latest model in the z-series. With India and China growing at a zippy rate, demand for the mainframe will be strong in the short term. The choice of OS will also be varied, with IBM also announcing z-Linux on some of its machines.

Are Indian IT companies prepared ?

The appreciating rupee and anticipated US recession has claimed its first victim. IT major IBM recently offloaded about 700 trainee programmers to offset the dollar . It came close on the heels of Indian giant TCS reducing the variable component of salaries by 1.5%. Does this signal the end of the era of India's IT dominance ?

Probably not. However, the explosion of ITeS is likely to be revised to a mere surge. Fools die and only the Strong survive, said Puzo. This will be tested in the current market. Startups and niche companies will face the brunt of the shockwaves. Organizations which have spent effort and time to increase functional and technical resources, expand into new technologies and avoid a bloated organizational structure will survive. In short, free lunch has ended - the guests who saved and invested can pay for the meal, the moochers will be out on the street.

This applies not just to organizations, but also to individuals. Performance will now be scrutinized under a microscope. The other professionals will heave a sigh of relief as IT salaries are right-sized to more manageable proportions. While this may hurt in the short run, it will ensure the long-term survival of the sector and help maintain its cost advantage.

But it is time that Indian companies gradually grow out of their cost-center mentality. Indian IT professionals have given ample evidence of talent and motivation while working as a backend for American innovation. Why do Indian companies not recognize the value of product innovation and use the same cost-pressure tactics in the product development domain ? As realization dawns, Indian will be suitably poised to take advantage of other emerging cost centers while at the same time retaining its strategic position.

We are in for some exciting times ahead. Just hope that the knee-jerk reactions can be avoided and cold reason applied.

Beautiful game gets a bad name

Consider this - A picturesque open field in the English countryside. An athletic young man runs in about 20 yards and hurls a red sphere at about 90 mph. At the receiving end, another young man puts his left foot out and guides the ball past the fieldsman to the edge of the field, his wooden bat making a pleasant "thwack!!". All players applaud the quality of the shot while the batsman winks at the bowler, "Maybe next time," is what he seems to be saying.

This was what cricket was all about. The "undefinable" spirit of the game. There was competition, sure, but not without that precious word - perspective. There used to always be time for a shared joke, a common appreciation of the beauty and joy the game bestowed on all of us. It originated as a gentleman's game, a game of the previliged elite (even it's HQ is called "Lords'") and remained so until recently.

Sadly, in this era of so-called professionalism, it has gone to the dogs. It seems to have descended into frentic chaos. Teams engage in mental disintegration of the opponent. Taunts are fired from all corners of the field. Tremendous pressure is exerted on umpires already rendered redundant by technology. Batsmen refuse to walk when out, and, those that do are criticized. The picturesque field has been replaced by floodlights and cheerleaders. Where then is the spirit ?

One team seems to have led the world in the descent of cricket. The Australian team was always known for its tough-as-nails approach. However, they seem to have taken the concept too far. For a long time, they were the only proponents of the "mental disintegration" methodology. Unfortunately, this co-incided with the arrival of almost stupendous talent which led them to record-breaking success. Confusing the effect with its cause, other teams decided to "give it back". However, ignoring the cricketing aspect, they focussed instead on the mental aspect.

The Aussies, when faced with aggressive opponents, did not seem to know how to react. Instead of understanding why other teams adopted this approach, they decided to up the ante and even viler methods of torture were devised. On occassion, this has made for obnoxious scenes witnessed live by millions of viewers - McGrath v Sarwan, Symonds v Harbhajan are illustrative. Nothing has been done by the sport's governing body.

The ICC needs to be careful. A new power is rising - the Indian subcontinent. Flushed with cash and buoyed by new-found optimism, they are willing to fight it out with the Aussies, on and off the field. It's like the teenage years - the influences on this new powerhouse will determine the shape of things to come. There will come a time when talent in Australia is reduced and a new team ascends to the the numero uno position. The legacy of its teachers will be important - does it take "mental disintegration" to the next level or does it return to the halcyon days of the West Indian greats ? Time will tell.

Until then, expect cricket matches to carry a "Viewer discretion is advised" warning.

Hello World !!

Tilt 23.5 is born on the 29th of January 2008.

Allow me to explain why I chose such an odd name for the blog. 23.5 degrees is the amount the earth's axis of rotation is tilted from the vertical.

"So what ? " you might ask. While this tilt may cause us to think of it as an "imperfection", it does lend a variety to the planet - seasons, solstices, equinoxes et al.

I wanted to convey the same thoughts. There is always a mix of imperfections and beauty in our lives. We have greed, poverty, irrationality on one hand. On the other, we have art, literature, sciences. A curious mix of failures and achievements of our race.

I plan to examine topics of interest which cover both categories, on these pages. Till then, mind the tilt !!