Third World No More...

Sometime last year, Gillian Tett, a Financial Times columnist described the (first world) banking system as a fragile third world city built on a fault-line. She meant it's inevitable that it would collapse. I never liked her after reading that line. Of course, her column subsequently moved to the supplement. I don't like anyone using the term Third World to describe my country. It was a poor analogy by Tett any way. Fault lines don't choose poor countries. The countries and cities choose the location without knowing that there is a fault line beneath it.

World bank chief Robert Zoellick said the term 'Third World' should be retired. The financial crisis showed us that the categorization of First and Third worlds no longer fit. Big international issues cannot be solved without the involvement of the developing countries.

I'm happy that someone initiated the retirement of the term I hate. My reason for retiring the word may not be the same as his. The term was coined to describe the countries which didn't align with US or Russia. But later it is used by people like Gillian Tett to call them poor countries. I don't know why I get offended if someone calls a poor country poor.

The English dictionary is getting better already - we added an Indian word yesterday and we are removing an offending word today.

Pre-pone all you want

The first thing I learnt when I started working with native English speakers was that prepone is not a word. It's not a word recognized by any of the English dictionaries.

For a logical mind, if postpone is to put off something to a later date prepone must mean advance the date earlier. I never had any doubt about the validity of the word till the spell-check complained about it.

Every year when dictionary publishers announce the new words added, I eagerly look for pre-pone. millions of IT professionals work in the English speaking world. The word should have seeped into the language by now. But there is a small problem. IT guys postpone delivery dates but never prepone.

Yesterday Sarah Snider used the word on CNN to report that Mirza-Malik wedding is preponed. That could be beginning. Dictionary publishers are going to outsource the survey of new words to India. I hope Indians will take the opportunity to slip in the word. It won't be too long before my spell-check stops complaining about me preponing a release date.

Second day....

I grew up with a lot of superstitions. One of them is - when you start something new and if you don't do it on the second day, there is a very high chance that you are going to drop out. I have to write the blog today even if I don't have anything to say.

Now I know that there are other reasons for me drop out. But just showing up at the game has lot of advantages. There was a case when I dropped out from a learning exercise after three months. I felt lazy one day and took a break. The next day I was reluctant because I missed the previous day. The reluctance increased exponentially every day. After a week it didn't make any sense to continue. My teacher, GSR, used to say that I should just show up at his place even if I didn't have any intention of learning.

I have a new age variation of this superstition, if you want to develop a new (good) habit do it without a break for 21 days. That's a good one. It worked for me for several of my new habits. Exercise and GTD weekly review (more on this later) have been the exceptions. I started 6pack abs in 16 weeks exercises. I did it for 8 weeks and dropped out.

The way you paid for iPod touch to sponsor the development cost of iPhone, you should read this trivial text to pay for the masterpiece that may come out one day. This is an excuse for me to write useless stuff on this blog when I don/t have anything to say just to stop me from dropping out of blogging.

Why now?

Several years ago my friends told me that they were writing blogs. I couldn't figure out how to setup a blogging site for myself. It has been in the list of things to do ever since.
My father started writing serious blogs on biotechnology. He said it connected him to all those who are interested in biotechnology around the world. He writes blogs more often than he smokes.
Sowji did a course in web design two years ago. She wrote blogs for the course.
I heard an interview with Ben Hammersley. I followed his web links and found his blog called 'Ben Hammersley's return to old-fashioned blogging'. When did it become old-fashioned. I'm still trying to figure out the technical side of it where as the rest of the world moved ahead and now it's almost ready to move on from blogging to twitters and one-word blogging.
Two years ago I read an article which said you will never get better time to write than now. It's accessible to everyone. There are no editors to reject your writing. If you lucky you will find some readership. The worst case is you would get some writing practice.
I am afraid of writing anything. Actually, I was afraid till I did my FearOfWriting online course. I suudenly became verbose. My mails are long. I have an opinion on everything and I don't mind expressing it. It's time to write. Even if it's just blogging. The bar can't be any lower.
What about the dangers of law suits and death threats? As long as I stay clear of writing anything about China and Sowji I should be safe.
If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?
Yes, it made a sound as far as the tree is concerned.

Like any new activity I take up, I highly recommend blogging to everyone.