Author Archives: Basab Pradhan

Strange Name Discrimination

Posted on February 11, 2012 by Basab Pradhan

Researchers have found that the easier it is to pronounce your name, the better your chances of getting promoted. From The Telegraph The team of American and Australian scientists concluded that the easier a person’s name was to say, the … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture | 10 Comments

Is Simplicity a Winning Strategy?

Posted on February 4, 2012 by Basab Pradhan

If such an award existed, Ron Johnson would be a Hall of Famer retailer. He was instrumental in making Apple Stores what they are today – the biggest sales per sq ft of retail space and a wake up call … Continue reading →

Posted in Business | 1 Comment

Offshore: The Book is Out

Posted on January 28, 2012 by Basab Pradhan

My book on the offshore services industry, co-authored with Gaurav Rastogi, is now out in both print and Kindle versions. In India a print version of the book, published by Penguin, is available in major bookstores and online at Flipkart. … Continue reading →

Posted in Offshore Services | 5 Comments

Aadhaar Under Attack for Specious Reasons

Posted on December 11, 2011 by Basab Pradhan

A parliamentary committee is about to reject the National Identification Authority of India Bill of 2010. Here is an article from The Hindu about it. Here is my post from a few months ago on the UID project. The success … Continue reading →

Posted in India, Technology | 9 Comments

Robert Scoble ko gussa kyon aata hai

Posted on October 27, 2011 by Basab Pradhan

With due apologies to my non-Hindi speaking readers. A Bollywood film with a similar title just fit so nicely. It means “Why is Robert Scoble so angry?” And boy is he angry. A couple of days back, Robert Scoble, who … Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Technology | 3 Comments

What Apple Means to Me

Posted on October 8, 2011 by Basab Pradhan

On Wednesday, as I trudged out of Oracle Open World after Larry Ellison’s keynote, I learnt that Steve Jobs had passed away. It threw a pall of gloom over me and most of the attendees. The world is poorer without … Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Technology | 6 Comments

Password Strength and Security

Posted on September 18, 2011 by Basab Pradhan

xkcd has a cartoon that beautifully explains why strict password rules have brought us to a pass where it remains relatively easy for a computer to hack the password. But very difficult for people to remember them. My company, like … Continue reading →

Posted in Technology | 7 Comments

End of an Era at Infosys

Posted on August 20, 2011 by Basab Pradhan

Yesterday, N R Narayana Murthy retired from Infosys. In a touching farewell in Bangalore, friends and colleagues, present and past, bade him goodbye. There were breaking voices amongst the speakers and moist eyes in the audience. It was a great … Continue reading →

Posted in India, Personal Updates | 17 Comments

Can You Write a Full Sentence of More Than 140 Characters Anymore?

Posted on July 29, 2011 by Basab Pradhan

In the IT Services industry you have to be able to write code. And English. In fact, not being able to write code may be alright. But without English you just can’t function. And yet, it is surprising how little … Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Education, India | 14 Comments

In Which Basab Gets UIDed

Posted on July 7, 2011 by Basab Pradhan

A couple of weeks back, I was in the Infosys Bhubaneswar offices. On Friday, which was my last day at work before my vacation, UID enrollment was going on on campus. SBI, one of the agencies entrusted to enroll people … Continue reading →

Posted in Government, India | 10 Comments