Monday Blues and News

Hi everyone,

I'll be travelling for a week from monday (nov. 8) onwards, so that post i promised on "women in gaming" will have to wait for a bit. (collected quite a bit of material for it though ;) )

Gaming
Well nothing much happening rite now other than the BIG Ragnarok Tournament. Grab a copy of this month's Digit magazine to get a free copy of Ragnarok, along with some other goodies. And there's a new version of MAME out there, for those people who like to play classic arcade games.

Management
I'm currently reading a brilliant book called Built To Last. (check out this link - it has reviews, excerpts and a detailed description) It's apparently an old classic in management circles, but i got my hands on it only recently. Not only does it study some of the most visionary comapnies in the world today, it also scientifically dissects the basic principles these companies have kept constant over the decades of their existance, and which have brought them to their current strength. Great reading, especially if you want to know what makes a great company last longer/do better than companies which don't have any vision.

TimePass
I'm sure you've heard of Aesop - the greek writer famous for his little parables filled with wisdom. This is an ebook with a brief history of Aesop, and some of his fables. Download it, it's good reading - most of that wisdom can be applied in everyday life even to this day.

My Life
Pretty normal week, and other than Neeta's new blog, pretty much nothing new. We didn't have any trips last week, though i did manage to see "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" :)

Words of Wisdom from the Dalai Lama

Every once in a while, you come across something profound, some words of wisdom that hit you in the face with their starkness and truth. These pearls are normally found in books, in quotes from celebrities, in people's wisdom handed down the ages and various other resources (blogs? ;)). Not very often, you come across something that makes you want to change your life - the way you think, the way you behave and the way you live. These words below had a profound effect on me, for reasons i still can't fathom. Maybe because cynicism comes easily to me. Maybe because i have a thirst to learn more, in any way i can. Maybe because of the stark truth they represent.

We have bigger houses
and smaller families;
more convenience, but less time.

We have degrees, but less sense;
more knowledge, but less judgement;
more experts, but more problems;
more medicine, but less healthiness.

We have been all the way to
the moon and back, but have trouble
crossing the street to
meet the new neighbour.

We built more computers to hold more information
to produce more copies than ever,
but have less communication.

We have become long on quantity,
but short on quality.

These are times of fast foods,
and slow digestion;
tall man and short character;
steep profits, and shallow relationships.

It is a time when there is much in the window,
and nothing in the room.

- The XIVth Dalai Lama

What do you think?

Tuesday's Rant

Gaming
Gaming in India picking up? Nah, you'd think. What's going to happen to the gaming scene in this place other than a few newbies getting in the game at some gaming cafe? Well, i haven't been on the scene at all lately, and have little to no knowledge on what's happening at Surfsup! or Gamers Anonymous - everybody's favorite hang outs in Pune.

But, I do happen to know that things are picking up on the corporate side of gaming in India. Gaming companies are looking for people desperately (I got 4 requests, [3 directly and 1 indirectly] to join a gaming company) and that got me curious. How come gaming companies are hiring? how did they know of my existence? and better still, how come all those emails mentioned "cutting edge console and PC games"?
Someone needs to get some PR activities done for these companies - if they don't have a clue about how to make their potential audience salivate in anticipation for their upcoming games, then they are already losing the battle to get into an indian gamer's mind. (which has a lot of knowledge about OTHER games coming out from a hundred companies abroad)

Nature
Do your bit for the world's wildlife, and go here http://passport.panda.org/ If you guys haven't signed up here yet, please do so. It's one of the few ways you can make a difference to this world (hey don't belive me, check out the site itself to see how it actually works)

My Life
Well nothing particularly new yet, other than a couple of recent relaxing trips :
1 to Laguna Anjuna (http://www.lagunaanjuna.com)
and 2: a cruise on the Solita. Both Synapse trips, of course.

I'll be back next tuesday, with my first short article on.. umm.. something... send me suggestions/ comments/ requests :)

Zogwha?

After ages of contemplating whether i'll ever get the time to create my own blog, well, i've stolen a little time to finally make this.. :D

Now, coming to the name I chose - I wasn't absolutely sure about what I should name this, considering I'm going to be babbling about everything from project management at Synapse to my thoughts on the current video game industry in India, and of course a little inane rambling on about cognition, thought processes and the blessings and curses of open source software. Which is when it hit me :)

Zubin's thoughts on Cognition, the Universe and Everything in between

Then, to make it a shorter name, and because blogger has limit on it's allowed blog names :-P, Iwent for 'zognition'. Think it's kinda cool - and hey, since i'm Parsi i can be forgiven :-D

I'll be posting here every week, until time permits to me spend more time exercising the creative cells.

cheers!