Mangesh has written on subjects as diverse as conversations with god, to management, finance and even marriage. For a better reading experience this section has been divided into 4 basic categories, alongwith a snippet on each article. Feeling tickled?
Crosswords
Joy Of Crosswords
(Times of India Mumbai; Nov 4 ‘06)
The beauty of a crossword lies in the quality of its clues. A good crossword grid provides clues that strive to tease and challenge the mind to think at a tangent. It demands of you to appreciate different meanings of the same thing — a skill known in management jargon as creativity and innovation
Crossword And Life
(Deccan Herald; Feb 2 ’07)
Each one of us enters this world with a blank crossword grid. The higher being or the Almighty is the creator of the crossword and each one of us has a unique grid to fill
Career
Policing Risky Business
(The Economic Times ; Feb 21 ’05)
Since recent financial disasters have proved the vulnerability of quantitative statements to manipulation, the view on a client’s management has taken main stage. Ratings and limit setting are some of the measures credit analysts use to classify clients as per their credit quality
Economics Of MBA Education
(The Economic Times ; June 13 ’05)
B-school education is beneficial only to the extent of your demands from it. I remember one of my B-school profs saying, “In a B-school, satisfying your hunger (for knowledge) is solely your responsibility. And if you fail to demand, be ready to starve.”
Disaster Management
(The Economic Times; Oct 17 ’05)
“Instead of panicking, a trained person is more confident and quick to wisely respond to the situation.” For example, in case of a leakage of poisonous gas, an untrained person may use a handkerchief to mask his breathing while a trained person will know to use a wet handkerchief as water drops fill the minute pores in the handkerchief
Bye Bye B-school
(The Economic Times ; Feb 13 ’06)
HUNDREDS of lectures, presentations, projects, discussions and interviews later, you have finally earned one of the most popular qualifications going around today – the MBA
From Classroom To Boardroom
(The Hindu Business Line; April 11 ’06)
The reality is that unlike in B-school, where all team members are peers and share equal responsibility, in the corporate world the equation is a bit skewed. Most probably, the MBA finds himself on the lowest rung of the hierarchy in the team
Caste Away
(The Economic Times ; April 24 ’06)
I completely agree with Ratan Tata when he says, “Reservation is not the right way to move forward”. However, many elite academicians, professionals and alumni of various institutes have cried foul saying that at least premier institutes like the IITs and IIMs should be kept away from the backward caste-based reservation system
What’s In A Name?
(The Hindu Business Line; July 31 ’06)
Examples abound of people who fall in love with the management institute rather than what the institute has to offer, that is, management education. And there are enough reasons to argue for either side
Take A Right Turn
(The Times of India; Feb 2 ’07)
To cut a long story short, the opportunity to take risks was never better. Today, one can afford to choose his own rat race. For example, parents today need not restrict their children’s career options to engineering, management, medicine or civil services. In contrast to these largely left-brained professions and risk-averse choices, parents can start encouraging their kids to pursue new professions like art, philosophy, sports, literature and culture studies
It’s The Attitude That Counts
(The Hindu Business Line; April 16 ’07)
In the initial months after joining a company, you usually find yourself dealing with the transformation from student to employee. Having spent almost one's complete life as a student, this process does call for a bit of effort and energy
Mentoring: For The Youth, By The Youth
(www.6bridges.com; Oct 30 ’07)
Moreover, the bigger hurdle faced by students as well as teachers- is the sheer lack of mentors who could guide this ambitious and raring to go tribe. Since most teachers don’t belong to their age group, or even closer, students find it difficult to relate with them
Steering Your Way To Corporate Leadership
(The Hindu Business Line; Jan 28 ’08)
The strongest driving factor which the B-school grad needs to cultivate is expertise in the company’s business areas. Not surprisingly, having a complete grasp on business verticals is rated as one of the top qualities of a successful CEO
Alma Matters
(www.6bridges.com; May 24 ’08)
All those who are sitting back thinking that this has not and will not happen to my institute are actually living in a fool’s paradise. The very fact that the head of a renowned institute has been implicated in corruption cases and shows no signs of stepping down reveals that a dangerous trend of non-accountability and rampant flouting of fiduciary responsibility has seeped in
Teenagers Need Lessons In Human Relationships
(Deccan Herald; Sept 18 ’08)
Strangely though, study of human relationships is one of the most neglected areas in our current primary and secondary educational system. Our academic subjects explain in great detail how a butterfly’s flutter in one hemisphere could be related to a tsunami in another. But, nowhere do we study the effect of making or breaking one relationship or another
Carefree
Why You Lose Money In Stock Markets
(www.rediff.com; Mar 24 ’05)
As the stock prices go up, the more stocks appeal to investors. This leads to investor psychology during a bull run that is detrimental to the investor as well as for the market. No wonder some investors end up making losses
GDP? That's Guru Darshan & Pravachan!
(www.rediff.com; Mar 29 ’05)
India's long-time affair with spirituality has taken a giant leap. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Mata Amritanandamayi, Aniruddha Bapu and Asaram Bapu are few of the many spiritual gurus who draw huge crowds. And it's not only the poor and the middle class who throng these discourses (pravachans or satsangs, as they are usually called). Scaling some of the big corporate names, the fan following climbs right to the top of the economic ladder
Zoology Of Stock Investing
(www.rediff.com; Apr 18 ’05)
Let's start with Dalal Street's most favorite animal -- the bull. The term, referring to the stock market, describes an investor who is optimistic about stock prices rising and thus buys stocks; thereby pushing the stock index up
Greed Is Good
(The Times of India; Sept 29 ’08)
When money falls in the pockets of good people, it will probably be put to a use that is positive for mankind For example, they may deposit it in a bank, which brings the money back into the economic system. If not, they may spend on eating, travelling, entertaining studying, etc, which in turn props up employment and thus reduces poverty
Uncertainty Is Certain
(Deccan Herald; Dec 23 ’08)
Lest we forget, no matter what any astrologer or palmist says, those who have believed more in themselves have never regretted. And that, I guess, no astrologer, palm reader, oracle or prophesier will tell you
Pursuing A New Journey
(Deccan Herald; Mar 9 ’09)
When a child is born, parents share their dreams through the eyes of their child. And when the child eventually gets married, parents open their eyes to see their dreams come true. These married children then go on to continue the virtuous cycle by starting a new dream and a new journey
Try At Your Own Risk!
(The Times of India; Jan 16 ’10)
Whenever my wife and I go shopping for ladies wear, my wife insists that I stand or sit right outside the trial room and give her my feedback about the outfit. "How does this look?" However silly and easy it may sound, males will agree that it gets really edgy during those few minutes which never seem to end without other females giving you a rather awkward look
Careful
When Will Everything Be Fine?
(Life Positive Plus; March ’10)
The tsunami may have caused large-scale destruction, but man is not defeated. It killed thousands of our brethren, leaving women wailing for their children and orphans sobbing out of terror. Nevertheless, mankind will always reiterate that one mantra, which is said, heard and believed in every heart that beats: Everything will be fine
Find Out Who You Are: One Or Zero
(The Times of India ; Jul 8 ’06)
CG: So, religiously speaking, what is the final aim of my life? Guru: Religiosity preaches that the ultimate aim of a human being’s life is to transform from a state of zero to that of one
Colors of Life
(Deccan Herald Mar 10 ’07)
In a way, we try to segregate our lives into good and bad and we wish to think that good and bad are two distinct colours of our life. But we all know that it doesn’t happen that way. Rather, should it happen that way? While the answer need not necessarily be specific or closed-ended, we could certainly take some hints from Mother Nature to understand her way of doing things
Can A Human Become God?
(Deccan Herald; Jun 15 ’07)
To my mind, most human beings (as you confessed) don’t really believe that they have everything inside them to lead their lives. Moreover, they start their search inside them but, more often than not, end up finding it in somebody else. That’s the moment when they start to believe that the “somebody else" must probably be "God" or some "divine form"
God’s Own Garden
(Times of India; Mar 4 ’08)
School-teachers are akin to gardeners. Being the care-takers of the garden, they have to strive towards its well. As they sprinkle water of their knowledge and add the manure of their experience, a tiny sapling develops into a full-grown tree. They also have to remove the “weeds” that can harm growth of the trees and mar the beauty of the garden
Blogger's Thoughts On Divine Communication
(The Times of India; Aug 30 ’08)
Widely regarded as the epitome of freedom of written expression, blogs today are a free-expression forum in the e-world. Just like the 'real' world, the blogosphere too has its share of celebrity bloggers. Does this e-world have its own God? And what if that e-God had His own blog?
In Step With Your DJ's Choice Of Music?
(The Times of India; Jun 22 ’09)
If each one of us could choose the song of the moment, we'd end up as DJs, setting the music to suit the mood or change the mood. If you are in a crabby mood, being your own DJ could become problematic - you might end up making matters worse. Fortunately, we do have a DJ who calls the tunes; the Divine DJ, the Almighty
A Truly Special Rendezvous
(The Times of India; Jan 9 ’10)
I realised that my classmates were my ultimate search engines. I could mine a whole lot of memories, of them, us and me. When a dozen of us met and relived our salad days, small things about me - which I did not remember - were still fresh in their minds