why do we cheer for the underdogs ?

Royal Challengers and Deccan Chargers, placed at the bottom last year, will face each other in the 2009 IPL final tomorrow. I predicted them to meet each other in the grand finale and it's exactly what has happened. But why did I predict(or wish) the bottom ranked teams of last years to reach the finals ? Why are we humans(or atleast me) like this? Whenever there is match involving an outright favourite, why do we want the weaker team to win ? What do we gain by supporting the weaker team ? Is it to feel good that we didn’t support the obvious winner but supported the less obvious one and hence did a good deed? Or is it just because we want to see an upset and hence a hot news to talk about by putting up facebook/gtalk status messages etc etc ? Do I want to discuss/gossip about how the champion was defeated and will that give me some wild pleasure ? Is it because we like change and want the underdogs to win for a change rather the same old favourite ? Or is it because we identify the weaker team with our own weaknesses and would like to see, in some part deep in our heart, our weaknesses winning over the competitor's strengths ?
What’s your reason? Why do you support the weaker player?

A day off from office!

I took a day off from office today...more importantly from the monotonous life. Though I was slighta ill, down with cold and fever; the motivation to take a day off was not solely because of that. I wanted to spend some time with myself, retrospect about my past and contemplate ma future plans. Things have become seriously boring and I would love to change that. May be because of that I was so interested to join the party when some of friends decided to head to Singapore and Malaysia on a summer vacation this july. But I have an important assignment to finish before I leave for THE trip. Hopefully, things work out smoothly for me! Amen!

Back 2 Arena!

This is in contrast to what I wrote in my previous post about taking a break from one's routine life. Yes, It does feel extremely pleasant when one is out on vacation. But at the end of the day, one has to come back to reality i.e resume his same old routine life after the vacation. Similarly, I came back to arena today after a week-long vacation at home. Returning to work can be difficult but I found out some useful strategies on the Internet (during my "research"), employing which one can ease back into work after vacation.

1. Get organized before you go:

Before leaving on vacation, make a list of tasks to complete and tick everything off as you get it finished. Having that reminder helps you leave feeling like everything has been taken care of. Knowing that you’ve left everything in order will reduce anxiety when it’s time to return, taking your mind off of unfinished work, letting you focus on relaxation.

2. Ease back into it:

Keep your schedule light the first few days back. Don’t try to do everything you missed while you were gone all at once. If possible don’t plan any big meetings or set any major deadlines for those first days. Sort through and organize the tasks at hand. Talk to your co-workers to find out what you missed, then set your priorities.

3. Focus on the positive:

Think about your friends/family at work and other reasons you enjoy your job. This will help you feel positive about going back to work. Your state of mind can have a significant effect on your work life. Those who have a positive or optimistic attitude deal with fewer work-related problems, are more energetic and generally feel more peaceful and calm.

Just unwind!

I felt like scribbling something on my blog today, primarily because I'm having a relaxed time at office; for a change! BTW, the frequency of my blog posts have come down to once in a quarter. I wrote my last blog post during last DESIS quarterly party time and we have one today!
Now coming to the blog title, "Just unwind" refers to taking a break from one's hectic work schedule and daily routine life. We generally don't find enough time for relaxation. Our busy lives are an exercise in itself. Two weeks back I had been to a beautiful place - Coorg, along with my close set of friends (Read : DaBombs). It seriously helped me to recharge myself :)
Also, I have switched to 'Facebook' as my online photo storage. "Coorg Pics!"

Party Time!

Y'day, we received yet another 'Party Time!' invitation mail for the next quarterly party scheduled on 16th of April. This will be the 4th time D.E.Shaw India is throwing an extravagant party in less than a year. That makes me think and 'research' why do companies throw parties ? From a company perspective, it shall serve well to show appreciation for its employees' efforts in some merry-making manner (Work Hard >> Party Harder :D ) ; and to celebrate together in a social rather than business atmosphere. This goes a long way towards making employees feel valued and helps them bond with one another, a good step towards team-building and improving morale. Also, Party time with co-workers can be fun, and a great opportunity to network and rub shoulders with those higher up on the career ladder. Company parties are a break from the day-to-day routines of work and can be a welcome relief - or a real stress inducer. Here at D.E.Shaw n Co, we generally have company parties at the beginning of every quarter where they declare results for the previous quarter. Plus the grand annual party, on THE day when they declare promotions and salary hikes and bonus pay outs :) . During my 'research', I stumbled across an article on the net saying "Dancing with D.E.Shaw".

Time does fly!!!

My last post was in the month of November'2007 and it has been around 4 months that I have remained dormant in my blog. This is really bad considering how much I would have loved to write. I surely would have loved to write about our amazing trip to Thailand during the christmas-new year time. But time just flew by. There is the saying that time flies by when you're having fun. Well, it also flies by when you're busy with work and leading your boring routine life.

In the meantime, I discovered that this blog has completed 1 year of existence in the World Wide Web (www). That sounds kewl!!!

The best things in life are free ?!?

One fine day, when I was checking out w3schools.com , i noticed its tagline 'The best things in life are free' ; which turned out to be an interesting as well as an intriguing topic. I put that up as my GTalk status message as well on that day. And I began to do some 'research' on this topic. It took me around a month to complete this blog post. Not that I was doing 'heavy' research on this subject....I wasn't getting much time to write with project deadlines n all around!
One of the global surveys revealed that the best pleasures in life come without a price tag. They rated pleasures derived from a long soak in the bath, an afternoon snoooze (which is my personal favourite :D), spending time with family and loved ones, listening to music, reading a book, enjoying a bottle of wine, spending a laiback day in a relaxed frame of mind ('An entire day to myself') etc gave them unmatched pleasures. BUT I don't completely agree to it. I would rather rephrase it and say 'Some of the best pleasures in life are for free!'. And for most of the pleasures in this modern day world, you need to have money! We Indians are a very emotional lot; being with loved ones, friends and family gives us most pleasure. And the happiness quotient for us lies in the fact that we want to make our near and dear ones happy and take good care of them. If that is done, we are happy. To have those precious moments and to do things that make you feel good, you need money, and I would not be wrong if I say that money buys you the opportunity to get the best things you want for yourself and to make you happy. Another point is that, to spend time with your loved ones you need to have free time, which in itself is an expensive luxury.