Confabulations Galore!

Pen & paper are indeed special to me!

2012-02-10T07:14:00.002-05:00

If there is one item that stands out from my childhood, it is the old inland letter/postcard. I was one of the most active users of these instruments offered by the Indian postal department, when I used to regularly write long letters to some of the dearest people in my life. These include the greatest friends I had the fortune of growing up with, as also a bunch of cousins who for me had (still do) iconic statures in my life, given their sheer outlook and attitude towards life.

One of the things that I distinctly remember was the excitement I had on Fridays or Saturdays, when I took the time out to write long letters to my cousins – especially 3 of them in Chennai; and 2 of them in Delhi. I used to write to them about sports (cricket in particular, given the common family interest in the game), friendships, hardships, events, exams, holiday plans, interesting girls and many other things that were at that time routine in my life. My letters were potentially never short, unless I was restricted by the space available in the inland letter or the postcard! And restricted space meant more number of letters! More often than not, I used to write on white pages (with lines, not blank sheets!), and they used to run into several pages (10-15-20 pages, at times).

Many of these letters were freewheeling conversations with all of these dear people and I never thought for a second about what the reactions would be, or how they would feel et al. I guess, being the youngest around also helped, in that I got away with anything that was even remotely controversial!

These letters reflected different moods– at times sombre, at other times supremely hyperactive (usually!). I generally ended up saying things the way I felt or the way I saw it – people refer to this as ‘calling a spade a spade’, these days!

I believe that the biggest trigger for me to write on pen & paper was the need to connect with these people, like no other – that’s how special they were to me. There was no internet, no cellphone, no Skype or web camera and no satellite communication technology whatsoever. It was the sheer desire to write long letters that drove me to write the way I did.

One of the all-time favourite moments of my childhood was my walk to the post office. I distinctly remember the excitement I felt when I used to walk to my neighbourhood post office to deposit the envelope in the right mailbox. At that time, the post office had separate post boxes for the metropolitan cities and for non-metropolitan cities. Every time I placed my hand inside the mail box to send my letter to my cousins in Chennai or Delhi, I almost felt that I had reached the moon or some such zenith! Such was the thrill that the charm of letter writing gave me, all those years back.

My letter writing spree was not restricted to cousins alone. Like I said, I had the fortune of growing up with some immensely wonderful friends in both my school and my college and I was fortunate in that, they seemed to adore the letters I wrote to them. Interestingly, there are three girls and 1 boy that I used to write very long letters to – the boy and 2 girls were from my class and the third girl was from my neighbourhood. There were times, when I used to write 15 page letters to these people, right after coming home from school/college and giving them a long letter the next morning. Wow, that was one kick in life and a supremely happy bunch of moments!

In hindsight, I doubt if there are any other people in the world, apart from my parents, who potentially know me the way these friends do. I used to write essays to them, not letters – 15-20-30 pages at most times. And I still used to have the same excitement when I used to give it to them in person (and not by mail) and used to yearn for their expression/reaction. I was lucky, in that, a couple of them used to write back to me with letters too. That was one big kick in life i.e. not just sending long letters, but potentially receiving a few handwritten letters back. It was an inexplicable feeling!

I recently spoke to this 3rd girl that I refer to above (from my neighbourhood) and we were just reliving the bygone era – we have known each other for 20 years now! And when she casually mentioned that she has stored all of my letters & indeed all the letters that she ever received from her friends, I reached the same high that I did, 20 years back i.e. the same feeling that I used to have when I mailed a letter at the post office, or gave it to her/other friends in person. Felt good to relive that experience again, after so long!

Folks who know me may be wondering why I am writing about letter writing in a blog! Well, that’s the whole point. From that era of taking a pen and paper and writing what my heart used to really feel, to this day of e-mail communication, I am convinced that the art of reaching out to some of my nearest & dearest continues to be in my desire to write. These are indeed old-world charms that I truly have treasured over the years. But, the internet age and this era of instant gratification is something that has taken away my very old hobby/habit, (indeed, life support on a few occasions that I was not in Bangalore), of connecting with such old & dear people. There are times that I have been grossly misunderstood and it is only the pen & paper that have helped me explain my position.

I think I need to get back to my letter writing ways. It gives me peace, and makes a few of my dearest people very happy. It’s worth it!

Key to life is the space between the ears

2012-01-28T09:34:00.000-05:00

For far too long, I have been thinking about the basic attitude to life. And I am convinced that life is a series of steps that is full of challenges every step of the way. Many of these challenges are a combination of circumstances, people's reaction to your behaviour (note, not response), pressure, stress, and just the journey of life itself. I am almost convinced that the supreme power above is out to test the limits of an individual in how much he/she can handle.

At times, there are experiences in life that are not a fault of the individual concerned. He/she may mean the best for others, however, the intention can be totally misread, misunderstood. This tends to result in labelling the individual into the 'not-so-good-person-to-be-with' category. And as much as the individual tries to disprove others that he did not mean any harm to them, the chances of that happening in this day and age are rather remote.

I have even seen cases where the same statement uttered by two individuals are interpreted differently i.e. the 'not-so-preferred' individual is cast in a negative light, whereas the 'preferred' folks, with the same point of view are looked at, positively. The 'not-so-preferred' individual can lose hope, confidence and a general sense of being positive, as a result of these experiences. After all, what crime did he/she do, except that his/her points of view were never accepted (especially when his/her intent behind the statement/action was the SAME as that of the 'preferred' folks).

Many of these things border on the social fabric of society. The so-called privileged few tend to forget their roots pretty easily (not all, though). They tend to forget their past struggles and in some cases, don't think twice in dismissing people who challenge them on their way. For them, their success, name & fame tend to override anything else in their lives. This, to the exclusion of everything else, such as, past friendships, past relationships et al.

There are other types of people too - the imposing variety i.e. their supreme belief that only they know everything on this planet and nobody else does. And if such people end up being in your close circuit, it hurts, quite badly at that. They sometimes tend to do it pretty softly too, when infact, they are giving you the knockout punch. Those are the ones that you really need to be careful about. What is worse is, that such people speak so smoothly, that it is rather tough to differentiate between their nice words and their malicious intent to destroy you. These could be friends, bosses, colleagues, clients, family or just about anyone; especially from the least expected quarters or the ones you have traditionally believed the most in your life.

The key to all this, I have realised, is the space between the ears. There is no need to take any nonsense from anyone, lying down in life. It’s ok to be a nice guy, but it’s NOT ok to let people bulldoze over you. The key, therefore, is that space between the ears. Be smart enough to understand that the world is not exactly a bed of roses and be smarter in identifying the thorns. Keep your balance about you, learn to give it back when people misbehave or try to knock you out in the most professional manner, and maintain your self-respect. For me, that self-respect factor, reigns supreme.

I close this piece by saying that just as people who bulldoze you or ill-treat you, tend to do that without a care in the world, does not mean that you behave in the same way. The key is to maintain your self-dignity and respect, more than anything else. After all, every dog has its day. Keep that space between the ears under control, and most things in life will be in very good control.

The importance of focus/balance

2012-01-07T13:45:00.000-05:00

I met with old college friends this afternoon. Of particular relevance was my meeting with an old friend after 16 years today. It felt great to see him in person after so long. We got busy catching up on each other's lives, and getting updates on what we had been up to over the last decade & a half; and the best thing was that I felt like we were just taking off from where we had left off 16 years ago; as if, it was just last night that we caught up!

During this whole conversation, I realised one major thing i.e. the importance of focus on an individual's career.

For far too long, I have believed that the world has too many distractions that tend to divert the attention of the youth in either tangential or potential wrong tracks. In some cases, these distractions can be unnerving and can even border on irreparable damage. I count distractions such as unnecessary movies, paucity of culture, the lack of importance on values, getting into very attractive but extremely damaging relationships with the opposite gender at an impressionable age, etc. Some are mature enough to handle these distractions, while others are not able to take it. In fact, I have known cases where folks with damaging relationships in college, took a very long time to recover from the mental and psychological impact of such experiences.The only bright thing about such heartbreaks, was that it toughened up the individual due to the bad experience, early in life!

In the course of my conversation with this old friend, I realised how some of us got things early in life; how some others had to struggle to get to where they did; and how many others are still left figuring out their track. .

I am convinced that it is important for us to educate the coming generations to have fun in life, but at the same time, be reasonably measured in their formative years. We cannot let many of the distractions I mentioned above, to take its toll on development.

The key is for the youth to keep focus. Not for a moment am I suggesting not to enjoy life - I am all for it. But, there has got to be a balance in the amount of fun that people at an impressionable age have, and the level of focus that they need to have on their career, in order to build a complete life. Mere fun is temporary; and utter seriousness is not good enough either. I may be asking for too much, but that really is the ask of the day. And,I am specifically referring to folks in the age group of 17-22.

Focus - that's my big new mantra for folks entering college in this era. Make it memorable in terms of fun, relationships, movies,distractions et al; but, not at the cost of losing out on the chance to lay a platform for a great future. No distraction in the world is worth messing up the foundation on which a career is going to be built & on which future families are going to depend on. That is possibly why I see the increasing need for all-rounders and people with a balanced mind and approach to life.

My conversation with my old friend today, just reinforced that one word - balance in life;from the very beginning.

Oh, Nawab!

2011-09-23T08:18:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was undoubtedly a very sad day in Indian cricket. The day marked the departure of one of the most colourful cricketers in Indian sporting history - the Nawab of Pataudi, or fondly called as the Tiger.

I never saw Tiger play, but I have heard about his game from my dad, who has seen him play live at Chennai in test matches (in uncovered pitches!). Of course, the media has gone on & on about his legacy and his contribution to the game, which means, I have learnt that much more about the great man.

I remember seeing an interview of the Tiger with the effervescent Harsha Bhogle in his iconic show, Harsha Online a few years back. Though the Tiger was well past his playing days, he was extremely articulate about the current state of the game, and had his firm opinions on how the BCCI functions, on how the game needs to be revamped at the grassroot level et al. And for as seasoned a cricket commentator as Harsha, even he couldn't stop himself from telling the Nawab that he was a huge fan of the Tiger & was actually a bit scared to do the interview. In his inimitable style, the Tiger responded with his dry humour, 'see me more often; familiarity does, whatever...'.

Thanks to you, Tiger, India found its way in the international arena as one unit. Whenever I see a journalist or a past cricketer say that it was Pataudi who united the Indian cricket team i.e. made the 11 players believe that they were playing for India and not for Karnataka or Bombay or Calcutta or Punjab etc, it just reminded me of the movie, Chak De. That's exactly what Shahrukh Khan did in that movie i.e. assemble a bunch of of rookies who were thoroughly at loggerheads with each other, and got them to play as team, represent the country as one unit and go on to win the hockey world cup! Tiger - I wonder, if you were the inspiration for that award-winning script!

Of course, what we will remember the Tiger best for, will be his incredible credential of having been in the first Indian captain to have led an Indian win overseas in 1967. In that era of non-believers (in Abid Ali's words) i.e. Indian cricket teams never ever believed that they could win abroad, it takes something to not only unite a bunch of disconnected players into 1 team, and to lead them to victory overseas. Hats off, Nawab!

I learnt class, poise, immense style and panache, not to mention thorough courage of conviction from whatever I saw of the Tiger on television. The biggest takeaway that he gave me was, be hard on the field, but be a better person outside of it and of course, enjoy the very good things in life.

Thanks, Tiger. I will miss your incredible class (even if only on TV).

If learning stops, career growth stops

2011-09-23T07:45:00.000-05:00

I always used to wonder about the skills required to have a successful career. All these years, I learnt about things such as domain knowledge, practice hard, network hard, play the game hard on the field & enjoy life outside the field, play to win, never let yourself compromise on your integrity, build respect via performance and doing things and so on.

I still maintain that each of the above attributes are incredibly important and hold true even in this day and age of instant gratification and overnight celebrity status. But what I did not know all these years, is something I have learnt only in the last few months. And that skill is, the skill of learning & learning continuously. This is potentially the most important skill that is needed to have a growth-oriented career.

During 2011, I have learnt that there comes a saturation point in one's career, if there are no new avenues to learn. That is the time when you realise that you don't have too much growth in your current line, as the learning has either dwindled or has stopped. This is also the time that you realise that you have been in a particular stream of activity for a pretty long time & have reached a particular stage in that stream. It is at that stage that you discover that learning is increasingly reducing. It is the first trigger to identify that, something is not right (like it used to be all these years).

I don't have all the answers on how to get out of a situation where there is very marginal level of learning & thereby potential slow/low/nil career growth. But I do know, that where learning stops, career growth stops. It is up to the individual to chart a new course of action, to locate newer ways to reskill and find a way to re-organise a way to grow all over again. What is needed is the ability to identify the skills that are transferrable from the current domain into newer areas and to use the foundation of a particular stream into other areas.

Never knew that the skill of learning is so alive and critical even in the modern era. Glad, that it is still relevant.

Tarun Tejpal in office!

2011-08-14T11:55:00.005-05:00

There are some literary writers which are just in the classics, and then there are others who are more 'in-the-face', here & now. One such character is the famous journalist, Tarun Tejpal of Tehelka fame.

We had the honour of hosting this man in our office on Friday. He came across as a person who is extremely radical in not just his views, but in his general approach to life. I mean, where else will you find a man with a regular middle-class background in his growing years (1980s), to have focused just on reading, bunking college, playing basketball twice a day and trying to woo a girl! Seems like this script is taken out of a movie,but that is exactly what this man did in his growing years.

At the same time, those very formative years lent itself to a man who was able to articulate himself on the national stage. He talked at length about the changing India, about his view that the Mahabharata is the greatest book ever written in the history of mankind, his view of a complex India where distortions live in harmony etc.

Obviously, the crowd was hooked on to his every word, when he talked about how he started a journalistic revolution in the form of Tehelka. But, little did all of us realise the impact that, that movement would have on his life i.e. 24 hours security, death threats, 120 of his 124 member staff quitting Tehelka,no bank loans, no funding from anywhere to keep the ship afloat etc. But to the credit of the man, he hung in there and fought his way through. His single message to us was, if he had given up Tehelka, it would have meant that people cannot voice anything in this country. But, the fact that he managed to revive Tehelka is a lesson to everyone that revolutionary systems for a good cause, irrespective of hardships, are a great thing for the country.

The man was extremely jovial, conversational and had a command over the English language (as you would come to expect from a journalist). It was particularly interesting to learn that he uses his network of the rich & famous, for the betterment of Tehelka and investigative journalism i.e. he uses the money from the rich only to expose every single bit of possible mayhem that the high & mighty could potentially be resorting to. I guess that is called courage of conviction! In his own words,' I take money from the rich, but I tell them, that I am not on their side'. For example, he exposed the corruption in the office of the BJP President in 2000 (Bangaru Laxman), but had Mr.L.K. Advani come over to one of his book launches! I guess, that is what is called managing professional expectations well!

Great session...! I also managed to eke out a complimentary copy of his first book as well, The Alchemy of Desire - with his personal autograph!

15000 kms in my car

2011-08-14T11:52:00.002-05:00

One of the recent highlights in life is that I just finished traversing 15000 kilometers in my Swift car. Feels good to have hit that sort of a landmark, particularly since I use the car for less than 15 days in a month!

Keep going, Swift! I have enjoyed your company for the last 2 years and look forward to more memorable times driving you around magical India!

The art of keeping quiet is actually a science

2011-08-14T11:33:00.006-05:00

I am convinced that there are enough and more nosey-parkers in the world, who are more interested in learning about what you are up to. And this is not necessarily out of concern for you, or any extra affection, as is made out to be. These are characters who are out to glean information from you, on the key happenings that have occurred or even potential events in your life that are may or may not occur, only to use that information to broadcast it to the world at large.

Perhaps, it hits hardest, when you actually want to keep something supremely confidential to yourself. Yet,in the garb of consultative advice, these nosey-parkers get all the information from you and use it to tell the exact folks in the world who need not be informed of such developments in your life. Such nosey-parkers seem to be enthralled by the idea that they were the first to inform everybody else about something that may not yet have even happened in your life.

The big learning from all this is that, one needs to exercise supreme caution while divulging information, even to folks who appear to be the 'regulars' in your life. These nosey-parkers are potentially more dangerous than professional auditors who investigate corporate governance standards or insider-trading in a public company!

At the end of it all, one needs to draw a fine line between sharing information and not letting the 'affectionate party' feel let down. After all, when the 'affectionate party', in the garb of care for you, is out to destroy you with information that should simply not go out, caution is the only thing you can exercise. I am not at all referring to any illegal stuff here, but only talking about regular professional or personal opportunities that appear to be in the offing, but are not yet a reality.

Having had such personal experience from such 'affectionate parties', I am convinced that there are tons of people out there who only want to engage in 'free marketing' for you - especially with regard to information that is not yet a reality in your life. While I am not great believer in bad omens etc, I do believe that one should be wary of such 'free marketers'. It is better to keep quiet about all happenings in your life, rather than believe people who can make a fool of you - in the garb of caring for you.

Like I studied in my Law 101, 'caveat emptor' - which means, let the buyer beware. Similarly, Life 101 has taught me, 'just be beware of free marketers/affectionate parties/reliable ones', in your life. I have begun to appreciate the value of the corporate NDAs (non-disclosure agreements) a lot more in the recent past.

Medical science and taste buds

2011-02-05T06:53:00.005-05:00

The implications of a doctor's advice can be devastating to a human being's taste buds. A well-equipped hospital, with all the medical technologies at its disposal, can run a few machines on your body for 4 hours - across 4-5 tests and ruin the food habits for the rest of your life.

The medical reports, churned out using great templates and designer software, will make you wonder whether you should believe those reports at all. You almost begin to wonder, what are those white paper reports worth after all? The results of such reports are so seemingly damaging - the doctor will take a look at them, consider your age (if you are in the 20s or 30s, you are lucky), and tell you to reduce consumption of all your favourite dishes.

That hits hard. Things that you have loved having in your mouth for so many years, are thrown out of the window in 4 hours. Reduce consumption, be careful, eat items of your liking in lesser frequency, are the stark realities of a goddamn expert doctor's analysis.

Medical science may be advanced, but it has absolutely no clue about the impact it has on people's interests, taste buds etc. Sad, but true. Anyway, that is what it is supposed to do I guess i.e. tell people to focus on the exact areas that is bringing down their health. To that extent, I would give credit to medical science;but, I realised today, what a ridiculously tragic effect such diagnosis can have on taste buds.

10000 kms in my car

2011-01-15T14:19:00.001-05:00

At the turn of the decade (2010), I crossed the 10000 km mark in my lovely Swift car. Been a journey for sure. But, miles to go, in every way!

Met cousin at station & NRN

2011-01-15T14:01:00.006-05:00

One of those things - a passing train in Bangalore on a Saturay night. And my Mumbai cousin and his wife in that train in a tier-2 AC bogie on their way to another place. They had informed us earlier that they would like to meet us at the railway station, as they would only be in transit elsewhere.

Pretty normal, one would think. But, when we reached the station and the train arrived, we learnt from my cousin that Mr. N.R.Narayana Murthy had gotten off the same train in the previous station! Now, NRN travelling in the Indian Railways was news enough. But, the fact that he got into the train in the middle of nowhere (Mantralaya) was even bigger news. I mean, the man could easily fly down in a helicopter to Bangalore; or hire a Merc or a BMW and get back home by road.

But, he chose Indian Railways. I guess that talks about the character of the man - the simplicity, the practical way of looking at his life i.e. Indian Railways has the best transport network in the country & he was able to use the time in the train for himself; as against his regular schedule of being perenially busy and surounded by a slew of people. Apparently (according to my cousin), NRN was clad in white kurta-pyjama and was scheduled to leave to London on Monday.

For my own satisfaction, I saw the ticket chart outside the bogie that my cousin & NRN were travelling in. Sure enough, both their names were there. Only that, the famous scion of the Indian IT industry had his name printed as NARAYANA. Nobody would have guessed - by looking at the chart - that it was the name of the face of the Indian IT industry. I guess, it is pleasant to say, Narayana, Narayana, as in the old epics.

Good experience - for my cousin. And great insight into the practicality of the great man.

Calendars...

2011-01-15T13:59:00.001-05:00

That's the thing with calendars. They are one of the most static items in the world. We probably underestimate the value of a calendar, given the busy schedules in our lives these days. I know so many people just longing for the weekend, or ever so often looking forward to a long weekend.

But 2011 is different. We are not going to get too many long weekends. Worse, we are not going to get too many public holidays as well, given that many holidays this year fall on weekends. Hence, it is going to be tough to club that weekend getaway with a Friday or a Monday and make sure that you cover that many more places than before.

Such scheduling in a calendar year only means that one needs to be extremely well planned in chalking out one's holiday plan. Remember, you plan on the handful of long weekends, are going to be the same periods in which many others would be making similar holiday plans. Hence, you need to be sure that you are smarter in the planning of your holidays, and quicker than the rest.

The other great thing about calendars is that, while one year(like 2011) will make all of us feel miserable at the paucity of public holidays, there will be other years when long weekends will be the norm, rather than the exception. So, bide your time, save money, and plan for those particular years, starting now. After all, inflation and calendars(long weekends) will come and go. But the number of places you want to see is endless. So, plan for the long weekends in maybe 2014, starting now!

Sticking to your roots

2011-01-15T10:29:00.002-05:00

I am increasingly observing a particular pattern i.e. the number of show-offs and folks with attitude that I am encountering seems to be on the increase. And I am not referring to folks I don't know at all. If anything, these are people who I have seen through all my growing years, and infact, elder than me. They were then pretty much from the same background that I was from, but, credit to them, the efforts in their professional lives has yielded them stellar results. Good for them, and credit to them. And glad that they ended up being successful people.

But, that success seems to have gone to their heads for sure, albeit in different ways. Some of them are still in India (and hugely successful), while others have ventured abroad and made it big. Fair enough. However, their success has changed them in ways that I had not fathomed or expected. They have become people who find immense thrill in ridiculing India, while others seem to be living the life of a foreigner, living right here in India.

Imagine this - you are invited to somebody's house and you tell them that you will be there after a particular time on a Sunday evening. Now, given the traffic conditions, almost every Indian I know understands a delay. The least you expect is an sms reminder at the designated time, saying that they are expecting us! How ridiculous is that for an Indian living here in India? Maybe, I cannot blame the person, as the expectation in foreign countries is to be on time, even for social visits. However, our host conveniently forgot the travails of getting through tough traffic that make our best attempts to be on time, rudderless. And this person I am referring to, goes abroad every month on projects etc and hardly lives in India. As far back as I can remember, he was NOT like this before he became the big shot that he is today. But, at what price?

Or, take the example of folks abroad who now hold senior executive positions that I know personally. This person has totally forgotten his roots, in the sense, that, he has the audacity to say, 'some bloody Indian stuff', and has changed his very Indian name to a totally anglicised version, speaks in a tone that makes you wonder whether he has even seen India, and even manages to be nasty with other Indians I know who may not be that successful (YET). Again, a person who made it big, but lost all Indian values (and my respect thereof).

I write this blog in wonderment, at the price many Indians I know are ready to pay, for their success. Is it even worth it? I can only compare a person like Tendulkar (who I don't know personally). But, the great man - based on ALL his stupendous achievements on a cricket field - appears to be humane, and grounded. And, in parallel, these folks I know personally who are not even half way to where Sachin is, have so much attitude.

Just not worth it. The biggest takeaway for me in all this, is to never forget my roots. If & when I become successful, I will make sure that I take extra precaution to be humane, approachable and courteous; rather than being, rude, arrogant and a person full of attitude. To hell with such people and their attitude!

Classical 33rd birthday - with cricket at the fore

2011-01-04T05:10:00.003-05:00

I just turned 33 today. But, as ever, I only feel younger. If anything, I feel like I am only 20 years old today.

One of the last memories of my 19th birthday (in 1997) was a fantastic cricketing gift that I received from Tendulkar and Azharudding. This was on 4th Jan, 1997 at the Newlands ground, in Capetown against South Africa in a test match. It was a Saturday afternoon, when the magic of Sachin and Tendulkar just brought endless smiles to Indians, and specifically to me on my birthday.

On that particular day, the South African fast bowlers were on fire - Allan Donald and Shaun Pollock in particular. But, the customary flicks on the on side by Azhar and the straight drives and cover drives on the off side by the Little Master, were a treat to the eye.

13 years later, at the same venue, one of those 2 gentlemen, Sachin Tendulkar is still playing. He is still taking on the might of Dale Steyn and Morkel on a very good cricket pitch, with India having to bat extremely well to stay in the game and force the issue. The manner in which Gautam Gambhir and Tendulkar handle the pace and fire of Steyn and Morkel, was a lesson in that, if you stick at the wicket and keep trying, you can negotiate the toughest of conditions.

I somehow, get excited if India is playing a test match on my birthday in Capetown. Almost everytime that they have played there, the quality of the sport has been of the highest order. And each time, I have learnt that the toughest conditions bring out the best in you.

Newlands, Capetown, the Indian test match cricket team with the likes of Tendulkar, Azhar, VVS, Rahul, share a unique rapport with me on my birthday. The more they play there on that ground on 4th Jan, the better I feel. It's one rare birthday gift, if they play well there. Thanks guys!

The power of networking in the corporate world

2010-04-08T10:48:00.008-05:00

It is apparent that the corporate world is full of inequalities. And the inequalities are not merely in terms of hierarchies, pay scales, hiring norms et al. There are numerous other things that are supremely unequal. For example, there may be a bunch of people in one company doing the same job in one department. Yet, only 1 or 2 people end up getting the spotlight – this despite, the rest of the team doing no less in terms of contribution or output. And there are just a few individuals who get more opportunities in their careers, than others.

I have often wondered why these things are the way they are. And I am convinced that it is the ability to network within a firm that makes the difference in opportunities.

There are people in a team who are much better at presenting themselves and even better at being perceived, by the choicest people in the firm. These sorts of people tend to be vocal, aggressive, assertive, opinionated, highly flexible to get their things done etc. What they are also good at doing, is project their outputs/deliverables to the target audience in an extremely convincing manner. Plus, the ability to have a general conversation on anything with the power-that-be, always helps.

There are other tricks to this networking as well - one of them being coffee corner conversations or lunch meetings. These are informal settings, which are not regulated by the confines of a cabin or officialdom. And both the networker – and the networkee- tend to be a bit more relaxed. These conversations often lead to opportunities that are never advertised or recommended by anyone. It’s the classic case of keeping your eyes and ears open!

I strongly believe that business schools, higher education should teach students that it is not enough to only good at your job. One of the key skills for career growth – apart from quality deliverables & customer satisfaction – is networking. This is one of the realities of today’s corporate world and there is no harm in education students that this is a skill that is almost necessary to grow in the corporate world.

This is not an essay based on any bad experience. But, a result of observation of how some of the most talented people at work, are also brilliant at networking. Good skill to have!

A Sachin vs a Dravid

2009-11-29T01:14:00.005-05:00

I hate comparisons, but this is one comparison I couldn't stop myself from doing. Both are absolute champions in their own right, and each one of them has a space of his own.

If Tendulkar has amassed 30,000 international test match runs, one can only admire the man and draw inspiration from his stupendous longevity and continuous run of achievements. Contrast that with Rahul Dravid (my senior in college!), and I just cannot stop feeling that had Rahul been playing in an era that was so non-Sachin, he would have reached the iconic status himself. This is not to demean the genius of Sachin; but, it is just to put in perspective that the contribution of Rahul Dravid has just been overshadowed by the Sachin Tendulkar era.

Look at it this way, for all the centuries that Sachin has hit, I can remember a Rahul Dravid's ton in each of those situations. You name it - in adverse conditions of New Zealand in Hamilton; in seaming conditions in Headingley; in tough conditions in Adelaide (a 233!); or in the heavy-weight and war-like game in Pakistan (a 270!). Of course, how will I ever forget that legendary 180 by Rahul at the Eden Gardens, against Australia (just as the world wrote justifiable accolades about that magical genius called VVS Laxman & his 281!). I even remember Rahul hitting a commanding 86 in 52 balls in one of the one-day games in Hyderabad that took the game away from the opposition.

He has done even more than may get noticed. The great Dravid has done wicket-keeping in ODIs, and then balanced that off with a top order batting slot. What does he have to show - more than 10,000 runs in ODIs, to go along with his 11,174+ runs (fourth place in the Test batting league of most runs scored). That is no mean feat. 28 Test hundreds - just one shy away from equalling 29 of Bradman. If that is not great, what else is?!

What is possibly Rahul's greatest personality trait, is that tough ability of not comparing himself with anyone; least of all Tendulkar. That is so tough to do in this sort of a competitive world & Rahul has held his own by doing just that. When the world was praising Sachin for all his achievements & a handful few writing about Rahul's epilogue in the last 2 years, the great Bangalorean did not submit to them. Nor did he react. He did what he knows best - going back to the basics, going back to the local cricket league (Ranji Trophy), going back to his roots, ironing out his game & coming back to Test cricket. What did he do on his return in the series against Sri Lanka ?Well, he did what he knows best i.e. let his bat do the talking - he scored a sublime 177 in Ahmedabad and an even better 144 in Kanpur.

The same critics who were writing his epilogue now talk about his contribution to Indian cricket and how it was important for Rahul to be there at the crease when India were reeling at 30/4 in Ahmedabad. That, is what is called a blue-chip cricketer. And Rahul is certainly a blue-chip that never hit the headlines, but kept contributing as a heavyweight of the Indian cricketing index!

Hats off to you, champion! You are a true inspiration to me - I cannot quite recall the number of times I have thought of a Sachin in various crises in my life; but when the crises has been extreme, I have never looked beyond you Rahul, for inspiration. You are a champion, a genuine champion! And don't let the fact that you played in a Sachin-era bog you down - you have your own individual identity that fans like me notice, admire, and truly get inspired from.

Ray Ban!

2009-11-29T01:06:00.006-05:00

It was a chanceless, quick buy. A brand new Ray Ban! I must say that I never thought I'd buy this particular product, given that I always thought it to be something that would never fit my type of a face/personality. I even had a feeling that one needs to be a supreme extrovert to own this product; simply because the brand is associated with the elite, a league I have never been a part of or have never associated myself with.

But, in the end, it was a pretty nice buy I guess. There was this nice cooler, black in colour, in a reasonable price range (not the super expensive variety) which had good curves and cuts and sat on my face pretty neatly. I thankfully got this opinion endorsed by a good friend of mine, who is a past veteran at buying Ray-Bans and eventually ended up buying it.

This is one of those purchases I never thought I would do. But well, feels good that I did!:) Good to know that these brands are now reaching the masses, so to speak!

1 year in SAP and 1000 kms in my car

2009-09-11T06:53:00.003-05:00

What is funnily coincidental about 28 Aug, 2009 is that I just finished 1 year in SAP. It is also during this particular week that I clocked the first 1000 kilometres in my new Swift car! I can only call it coincidental, because I am pretty happy with both the developments! For the first time in my career, I feel that I have a job that is contributing very heavily to my learning curve and to my future growth; and given that this is my first car, it feels even better to have hit the 1000 km mark at this time!!

As short and sweet as that!

Nothing can beat the feeling of achievement, not even money

2009-08-23T07:14:00.002-05:00

I have been thinking long and hard about this. And also trying to see if I can get any evidence to prove/disprove it. And the more I think about it and the more I try to find evidence about it, I am convinced that there is some merit in the case.

Let me get to the point. My essential thought is, in life, is money the greatest satisfier? Or, is that feeling of achievement, of having done something in one's life more satisfying (most satisfying)?

In order to see the merit of this case (there are de-merits), I have been looking at a cross-section of people from different walks of life. Sports, writers, etc. Now, most of the examples seem to be glamourous. But across disciplines, I notice that the sense of thrill, elation, and happiness of reaching the pinnacle of your discipline, seems to far override any thought of money. Let's take the example of a Wimbledon champion - any champion at the All England Club more often than not breaks into tears on his/her victory. Any cricketing World Cup champion is overcome with emotion of having conquered the world - just think back to 1983, when there was no money.

Think of other streams, the Oscar awards maybe - a chap like A. R. Rahman grabbing 2 Oscars and performing at the top of his mark on the world's biggest stage; or maybe, an author who wins say a Pulitzer or a Booker Prize; a scientist or an economist winning the Nobel Prize; other sportsmen breaking records held for years; historians cracking the code on ancient myths; painters creating that one masterclass item that will put them above others (why do we have only ONE Mona Lisa?); advertising gurus, trying to get that ONE ad right, all their lives.

Simpler things, like a mother seeing her kid reach the top of his/her stream; or, a kid jumping around if he/she wins a prize in a school competition or tops his/her exam; a banker or a consultant getting past tough competition and scoring points with a hard client; a child's dream coming true - whatever it may be (Taare Zameen Par?); a childhood dream coming true; two people, a boy and a girl, growing up together, falling in love and getting married to each other; the birth of a kid; a student getting a rank in his/her university; winning a match or a competition for your school, college, university or country...the list is very long, and actually, endless.

In all this, I really do not see any evidence of the money factor adding to the thrill of the human being. As people, all of us have our dreams and aspirations (yes, monetary included, but not overriding, always). And, when we realise those dreams in real life, I doubt, if, at that moment of glory, one looks at the money. I am guessing that, that moment is for the person alone i.e. to sit back and relish the moment. Simply because he/she knows the amount of struggle that went into scaling that summit (whatever it may be).

Yes, the counter to this can easily be, that money is everything. But, for the truly passionate achievers, I would think, that money is a derivative; not the main thing.

Perhaps, there is no end to this argument. But, I would think, that for the truly passionate achievers, money is only a function or outcome of what they set out to do. Else, I doubt if the world would have progressed the way it has, across time i.e. if everyone wants ONLY money and no specific achievements, we would all be robots chasing currencies.

Like I said, an endless debate. But, I would think, that we need more passionate achievers, than currency-driven human beings. That is the one great way of ensuring progress. Else, money will come and go, people may not achieve enough to transfer a better life for the generations ahead.

Money, is passe. True achievement, makes life worth living.

My first drive on a highway- to Ramanagaram

2009-08-16T09:27:00.008-05:00

I had not imagined that it would turn out that way. Nor did my friend accompanying me. Aravind and I had gone to our gym, like we have always, on any given day of the week. On reaching the gym, we were told that they are closed for the day. We had no prior wind of this and were caught off-guard, as we are generally serious about our workouts.

Given this sudden turn of events, we were wondering what to do. We were not in the mood to go back home immediately. At the same time, we were not exactly well attired to go to any public place like a movie etc - after all, gym wear is not exactly presentable! We trudged out of the gym to my new car and were generally wondering what to do next.

Out of the blue, I suggested to Aravind that it might make sense to go on a long drive. Both of us are recent buyers of our first cars and he completely understood the excitement that I was hinting at! On the spur of the moment, we decided to go past Mysore Road and enjoy some music along the way. That was the start of a very sudden weekend getaway on this lovely Sunday afternoon.

We crossed the city limits in about 30 minutes and hit Mysore Road. I soon realised that this was the first time ever that I was in a car of my own, on a state highway. The road was immaculately laid out and the weather outside was quite magical. I was as excited as a small kid boarding his first flight and being greeted with chocolates by a good-looking air-hostess!

Given that both of us are travel maniacs, we quickly sized up the situation and realised that this could be a fantastic, quick/sudden trip that can be converted to a memorable one if we stretched a bit. While Mysore is a good 130 kilometres from Bangalore city and was a touch impractical to achieve (given that we were well into Sunday afternoon & had a Monday morning coming up!), we decided to go to Ramanagaram - about 25% of the way to Mysore.

Ramanagaram, as the average Indian Bollywood fan would know, is the venue of that giant of a movie shot in the 1970s-Sholay. This is exactly where the characters of Gabbar Singh, Jai, Viru, and Basanti hit national headlines and captured the imagination of the Indian populace. And for us to see those tall hills, big rocks, and the paths that led to the top of the hills was indeed exhilarating. What added to the spice of the afternoon was the beautiful cloudy weather, with a tinge of sunlight peeping through the skies.

I was particularly excited when the speedometer in my car hit 100 km/hour. To do that on Indian roads in my own car, was truly a moment to cherish. I had dreamt of that moment for years. The fact that it happened without any planning and with no hint of a trip coming up, made it particularly thrilling.

We crossed Ramanagaram and reached a place called Janapada Loka - translated in Kannada as the World of Janapada (a folk dance in Karnataka state). It was a lovely, low-key kind of a place run by the Government of Karnataka. The beauty of the place lay in the manner in which the history of the state was captured - it was a place that showcased the state's rich culture & heritage, had a museum full of old artifacts that were used in yesteryear in interior Karnataka, had colourful dolls replicating real-life artistes with great attire in folk dances etc. In particular, the magic of the Yakshagana form of art was brilliantly depicted in all floors of the museum.

Following the visit to Janapada Loka, we proceeded to the neighbouring building - Kamat Yatrinivas, one of the most famous restaurants in the state! There, we had great south Indian dosa, authentic Maddur vada (slurp!) and a coffee that was par excellence. For a non-coffee chap like me (tea -freak!), the coffee here was amazingly crisp and strong.

We finally trudged out of the hotel back onto the highway for our return journey home. The drive back to Bangalore was replete with a couple of rash drivers giving me an opinion or two about my safe driving on a highway + dumb auto-richshaws crippling the fast-moving traffic. Well, they need to understand that I was driving in a new car for the first time ever on a big highway! And in any case, even if I were a veteran highway driver, I don't think I will be a rash one.

I dropped Aravind at his place and came home directly. On reaching home, there was a sense of immense thrill and satisfaction of having driven a car on a highway and clocking very good speeds at that. An old dream, suddenly fulfilled. Like Aravind rightly said, the best thing to do in life is to take it as it comes - who in the wild world knew this morning that we would end up making a round trip of 100 kilometres, on the outskirts of Bangalore between 230 and 630 pm! That's life!!:)

Recession and curves...

2009-08-15T03:44:00.004-05:00

I never knew that curves can make national headlines. I only know of curves being talked of in page 3 columns and by adventurous writers. But, this recession has changed that perception on its head.

We now have economists, policy-makers, bank governors, analysts, financial engineering experts, TV anchors, news reporters, authors, and people from every discernible walk of life talking about how the economic recovery will pan out. Some call it the U-shape curve, othes say its V-shaped, and more creative ones say that it will be a W-shaped curve, driving all of us along the path of recovery!

While that may be technically true (in economics, at least), I find it hard to associate curves with alphabets like U, V, or W. I mean, curves are meant to be naturally admired and not defined into specific alphabets, isn't it? I mean, the last time I ever heard of curves being viewed, but never talked about too much was during Baywatch days!

Ok, I may have stretched it a bit in this piece, but well, I think we lightened our lives a wee bit, given the treachery of this recession around us.

Congratulations, Nandan Nilekani!

2009-07-10T01:13:00.005-05:00

It must be a matter of immense pride for a person like Nandan Nilekani to be called directly by the Prime Minister of India to head the Unique ID Authority in New Delhi. What a rare achievement that really is in Indian conditions! I do not know of too many top businessmen who have been hand-picked like this for a nationwide initiative in our great nation. Yes, we have folks from industry who are members of the Parliament in the Rajya Sabha, particularly. But, I don't think any of those industrialists really have received the kinds of accolades that Nandan recently has.

The media has harped on the fact that it is very common for corporate hotshots to move to roles in Government and public service, in western markets. That may be true, but this really is a different one, in our case. Simply because, it is almost a first that such a thing is happening in India. Secondly, the fitment of the man for the kind of role that the PM has in mind is pretty much unchallenged. Thirdly, it is also a tribute to the class of an Infosys that one of their top executives was handpicked for a national cause.

I am quite sure that the co-founders, employees and many other folks who understand the contribution of an Infosys to India, truly believe that the selection of Nandan is a tribute to the fantastic brand and cause that the firm stands for. Moreover, it is also a credit to this organization that it is indeed perceived to have added tremendous value to the nation in terms of positioning India's technology brand on the world map.

I have never met Nandan or a Narayana Murthy. But, given the publicity that their careers have received, it is only but natural that the National ID programme is given the sort of mileage that it is receiving. It is one thing to select a corporate hotshot with such immense credibility for a national cause. It is altogether another thing to lead a nationwide initiative that will involve problems of illiteracy, poverty, lack of access, unawareness and all the associated issues related to public policy. But, that is exactly where a person like Nandan possibly scores – looking at challenges, as opportunities, a lesson that I definitely plan to reaffirm to myself.

And to Nandan himself, he must be caught between the extremes of emotions and the extremes of 2 worlds. For a man, who walked out of IIT Bombay, learnt the strings of the outsourcing world in his first job, to engaging in the long, arduous and exciting journey of creating India's greatest IT brand, it must be nothing short of a choking throat that he is currently undergoing. The man, to his credit, has brilliantly maintained his poise despite admitting that he will miss his Infosys email id.

But, he has been hailed as a master in handling clients, and people. That will be an extremely critical skill when he negotiates the ways of the Government of India. It will also be a big change for him in terms of lifestyle - imaging an IT czar shifting to a good, old-fashioned Ambassador car with VIP status and a Ministerial berth, after 30 years of corporate life!

Congratulations, Nandan! Hats off to you! You have certainly rejuvenated an old spark from school days, to do something for the country, in whatever shape of form that one can. Quarterly earnings are passe, now!

Archie proposes to Veronica! Betty, hang in there!

2009-05-31T03:18:00.004-05:00

He did it. After years! Archie Andrews, the red head in Riverdale, proposed to Veronica in the latest edition of Archie comics. And I am thrilled to bits, simply because, it means, Betty Cooper is still single!

Betty is the type of girl that I would love to take home and introduce to my mom. She is down-to-earth, seems to have her priorities right & has her range of interests in life intact. So what if she is not as rich as that 'attitude-heavy' Veronica; Betty has character; Veronica has everything only from her dad with nil individuality. Ok, Veronica fans will counter by saying that she lives life king-size, can afford all the goodies in life etc. But, sorry, those things are ephemeral; Betty is the exact type of girl that I would call the most durable option a guy can ever consider.

Archie is someone I am fond of, yes. But, the guy has seriously lost it in terms of being dreamy-eyed about Veronica. It is like saying every single guy in India will not settle for anybody less than Katrina Kaif or the old heartthrob called Madhubhala or Madhuri Dixit.

Well, I think I need to get hold of this 600th edition of Archie comics. Been a while since I read it. But hey, Betty, don't you worry. You have enough number of guys out there that will root for you! Hang in there!

Indian National Congress to cross 272!

2009-05-16T23:26:00.004-05:00

It beat all pre-poll predictions. Every discernible political expert had to swallow hard to digest the election results in India yesterday. For the first time in nearly 2 decades, India voted for a stable government. I last remember this being a foregone conclusion, before Mr. V.P.Singh thought it better to introduce caste-divisions in education (Mandal Commission, 1989).

But, irrespective of the party that has got the mandate, what is good for me to see is that India has voted in stability; a majority government. I was getting the strong feeling that the great Indian growth story that most pundits have been harping about for the last many years, was under severe threat, thanks to the constant bickering in the political class. More than anything else, fractured mandates always gave me the feeling that it was never economics at its best, but political convenience being accommodated into economic policies.

That should change now. And hopefully, the Congress will get a touch smarter and go into the government with some buffer i.e. not stop at the majority mark of 272, but go up to 300. Simply because they need to guard against elements such as Mamta Banerjee in this goverment. (remember the way she booted out the Nano project from Bengal?). I think she has 18 seats in Parliament from election. So if the Congress manages 300 seats, it will not be hurt even if Mamta misbehaves on the UPA's economic policies & threatens to back out- the Congress will still have 282! Am not trying to be pessimisstic, but realistic. Coalition politics has taught all of us in India, as to who is progressive and who is not. And it is better to take those lessons and be better off from such experience, as we enter a new phase of the Indian polity.

Of course, the best news for me is that the Left has been decimated. About time too, I would think. They are seriously not in sync with economic realities of the day. I mean, an average working class citizen cares a damn about regressive policies - he is bothered about his infrastructure, water, taxes, retirement kitty et al. Not some ridiculous trade unionist-led backward policies. Yes, those unions have their place in the economy - but more from a sense of participative & constructive dialogue with management/decision-makers/polity; not like the Left, who are so out of sync with economic realities. The anti-climax for me, is that the same leaders in the Left Front, live a very rich ostentatious life in New Delhi & talk about the lower classes and their lack of benefits in the trade unions. Hypocrisy at its best!

And to the man himself. Dr. Manmohan Singh. I had written a blog article about him a few years back in terms of not discrediting him etc. The man has gone about quietly doing his job, without compromising on his principles. He is also a classic example of a technocrat (NOT a politician) who knows what is good for India's economics. Singh is, indeed, King!

Let's see if this stable mandate translates into economic realities that we have been dreaming of & talking about for so many years. The Congress & the UPA combined cannot get a better platform than this to propel India well & truly into the 21st century. I live in hope now. The basics of the Indian polity has been restored - i.e. a majority mandate for a leading political party. That, I would think, is a good starting point.

The cheerleaders at the IPL

2009-05-03T11:56:00.004-05:00

They are eye-catchers for sure & they get the crowd extremely excited by their wonderful expressions of happiness near the stands. I am talking about the cheerleaders at all the IPL games in the current tournament in South Africa!

Every time a batsman scores a sixer or hits a boundary in the IPL, the crowd erupts. That has always been the case with cricket, right? At least, the one-day international variety of cricket changed the involvement of the crowds immensely at cricket stadiums. But, what we are seeing in the IPL is new. Something, all of us had seen on television while glued to the NBA action every year - those games had extremely colourful cheerleaders with their pom-poms & going berserk every time a three-pointer or an aggressive basket was scored.

We see that translated, adapted & now extended to cricket. Right, into our own game! That has created ripples in our midst, simply because, whenever a four or a six is hit, we now have cheerleaders leading the crowd with the cheers for the respective teams that they are supporting.

I am not too sure if these girls actually understand the game in depth (no offence meant to the fairer sex!), but they have added immense colour to the way the fantastic game of cricket is celebrated. We now have dancing steps, pom-poms, mini skirts, sleeveless tops, songs, fast dance, tap dance, break dance, jumbo smiles and colour of various types to go with every smash hit to the fence by the batsmen, or, wickets taken by the bowler.

There are various types of cheerleaders too - the extremely vivacious, the pretty, the genuine beauties, dance experts, others who are there for sheer flamboyance & looks etc (am not getting into the details in public!). There was a commentator recently in one of the IPL matches who said that the batsmen were incentivised to hit the big shots towards the cheerleaders & getting the momentum in their favour! Now, that's called incentive, for sure!!

The whole thing may be an outcome of successful sports marketing (a field I'd love to be involved in)! And it has changed the way the game is being celebrated. More than anything, the IPL has combined fantastic marketing with the thrills of man's old celebration, dancing. And to get to do that in a global scale, in front of the whole world, in extremely regulated conditions (no obscenity allowed, technically!) has changed the crowd's involvement in the game. I wonder if this can be extended to badminton, hockey, or football...!

Warren Buffet & Bill Gates at Harvard- good CNN show

2009-05-01T13:47:00.003-05:00

I have this back of the mind feeling that CNN is a channel that only cares about stock markets, CEOs, and high profile delegates & journalists reporting from the best places in the world. They sure did live up to their reputation today, on their show Back to School, where they hosted two extremely rich people of our generation - Bill Gates & Warren Buffet.

It was a unique show where these 2 vastly admired gentlemen demonstrated how their temperament and personalities are so diverse, yet, effective towards the things they do. These two guys were at Harvard, that famed institution, giving out tips to current students from various streams, about how they got to where they did in. And not all of what they said was purely related to their work life - there were good jokes, extremely good one-liners, talk about deeper issues affecting mankind, what are some of the mistakes they made, how their average work day looked like, the real story behind the first time they met in 1991(Bill nearly didn't make it as he was busy in office) et al.

I found the show quite freewheeling in nature, where young to-be-graduates asked these two men questions, only to try and learn what worked for them so very well in their lives. I particularly found Warren Buffet to be extremely chirpy.I thought he had a brilliant presence of mind to quip and create some sensational humour on stage that had the students in peals of laughter.

Very nice show, CNN. Well done. The punch line for me was Warren Buffet's answer to the last question by a student, 'how do you measure success?'. The investment banking legend said, when you are old, my age, and have friends & family and business associates still caring for you and loving you and making time for you (though they may not have the time), that is the biggest success possible; 'coz everything else, is passe.

Sanity...after the recession

2009-05-01T13:39:00.002-05:00

A lot has been written about the current downturn being the worst ever seen in the last century (ignore the 1930's Great Depression, for a second). And enough has been said about the credit excesses of the American financial system that had such a wild & cascading negative effect around the world.

I just feel that the lessons learnt from the last 8 months will lead us to a world that will be quite regulated. More than anything else, I am convinced that we will enter a world that will restore some level of sanity in the way business is done. The economic boom for a majority of the time in the last 2 decades, had led to wild business excesses that were never caught in the light of the good times. But, the current recession has taught us that bad things will be found out eventually & people will have to pay a price for continuous excesses.

I therefore think, that in a strange way, this killer recession of 2008-09 was a much needed correction factor for the business world to be given a serious wake up call. I just hope the lessons learnt now are only used to create a saner environment in the future (am convinced, it is required).

Shashi Tharoor - a real hope(sans the Malayalam!)

2009-04-26T01:38:00.004-05:00

I saw him for the first time on NDTV Profit today, joining a youth program.The agenda of the program was to find out what the youth of India care about in Indian politics - what bothers them most, do they care about political ideologies, how does a terror attack impact them, what does recession mean to them etc.

Pretty intriguing choice of panel too - an ex banker turned writer, an RJ, a VJ, a student from a famous Mumbai college and a student from one of the famous Mumbai families. AND, in all this, Shashi Tharoor, joining in remotely via satellite.

While the debate was animated and the young panel was pretty cut & dry in stating their expectations. But Shashi Tharoor held his own in all this - he understood outsourcing and its current backlash, showed enough knowledge about the interiors of India being plagued by unemployment etc. All this was a bit of a surprise to me, as I did not expect this up-market diplomatic veteran to be so well-versed with intricacies in India.

The punchline for me was from Shashi himself. He said, "People claim that I do not know Malayalam and have problems in connecting with my people in Thiruvananthapuram. But, I only have to say that I know enough Malayalam to understand your problems and even more, I know the right English and Hindi that will work for you in the Lok Sabha".

I just hope these are not mere words by a man who has generally been perceived as India's greatest diplomatic success - after all, reaching the position of the under-secretary of the UNO is no joke!

We need more such people. And to see the ABN Amro India Country Manager, the former CEO of Deccan Airways and this former UN diplomat, might just be the right triggers the Indian political system needs. My logic is that when veteran political foxes in India talk about banning English or banning computers etc, hopefully, this new breed of progress-oriented candidates, can keep the old foxes in check.

Government of India...please don't make us shameful

2009-03-22T09:23:00.003-05:00

The government has done it again. They have forced the sporting authorities to rework their strategy and move out a signature event, the IPL, out of the country. While it may make eminent business sense for Lalit Modi & co to swear by the words, 'the show must go on', this move is also a reflection of the appalling state of affairs in Indian security. Now, I am no expert in security, but its truly unjustified to move a truly Indian-based event to a foreign nation and leave the cricketing public gasping for breath on television.

Yes, there are the fair claims of the country's general election being greater than any sporting event. There are also justified claims for prioritising national security over everything else. But what I have serious problems with is the utter arrogance towards the average citizen. Ok, the government may tell Lalit Modi and his franchise owners, that they are rich enough anyway, and don't need the IPL to fill their coffers. But, for the average citizen in the country who generally struggles to make a living, this concept of unadulterated, fantastic, action-packed entertainment (that was such a great marketing success as well), will now only have to be enjoyed on television.

I just wish the government did a little more about security. There are countries I know which make it mandatory for every citizen to work in the army for 2 years, as soon as he turns 16 years old. I wonder if such a system can ever come to India and, even if it does, if it will create that much-needed lift and drive to serve in the Indian armed forces.

Its all load balancing at the end of the day. We need sports; the politicians need their seats. While businessmen are smart enough to find avenues and alternatives to serve their cause, the Indian public is always left with a set of either corrupt,, or inept, or unwilling, or crime-tarnished individual seats, who hold the powerful seats in New Delhi. I just wish we had a better choice of candidates to elect from when we go to vote. Granted, everyone should vote and make their statement; but, if the very choices on the voting table are between corrupt, inept or unwilling folks, then, I wonder what the solution is.

I am disturbed at this ridiculous development today. High time the armed forces were positioned as super-premium careers, rather than a punishment in extreme conditions for the average Indian. Maybe, we should set up a legal or constitutional qualification that ALL ministers in the central and state government should have served for 2 years in the Indian army, that too at the border (near Pakistan), before they qualify to contest an election!

Public sector bank with FM radio in its office!

2009-03-22T03:37:00.004-05:00

When I first heard it, I thought it was the sound emanating from the pocket radio of some high net worth individual who was visiting the bank. But, the audio sound persisted even after I noticed this individual (who I thought had a radio), finished his transactions and left the branch. It turned out to be an FM radio, with one of my favourite radio jockeys in 94.3 on air, that was actually owned and being played by the bank! That's when I realised that I was sitting in a completely revamped model of customer service, in India's most famous public sector bank. And it felt good to see them change with the times so well.

That was the new age of public sector banking right in front of my eyes - swanky office, air conditioned, fantastically user-friendly counters, friendly staff, highly computerized, good interiors, nice ambience and excellent service to boot.

And with FM radio, it sure is a catchy way of getting the generation next to bank with them!

Pink chaddi campaign & freedom

2009-02-24T11:34:00.003-05:00

If Mr.Pramod Muthalik thinks he is the custodian of the cultural fabric of India, he is highly mistaken. He is also highly erroneous in his judgement that people who celebrate V-day, are not as respectful of Indian culture.

I say this simply because, people have found their new freedom in expression, that was absent all these years. The fact that they choose to exercise their freedom has no bearing on any remote allegation of their having forgotten their roots. Granted, some of these celebrations may not be in true Indian taste, but that is part of the transformation that is sweeping the country. We are becoming an increasingly global country. V-day is just one part of that transformation. It does not mean that we have forgotten our roots.

I am very much a part of the youth brigade in this country (defined as folks below 40!) and am eminently aware of my roots. At the same time, I see the reasons for the Pink Chaddi campaign hurled at the likes of Pramod Muthalik - people want to tell such folks not to interfere in the youth's expression and freedom.

This may have been a very crude way of making the Muthaliks of the world to eat humble pie, but I also think that it was a fantastic, peaceful and highly impactful way of putting the point across. Just imagine receiving endless pink panties as a V-day gift....that's exactly what Mr. Muthalik will remember for life - hopefully, as a scar that drives sense into his maniacal stand!:)

Roja to Slumdog - Jai Ho Rahman!

2009-02-23T14:43:00.002-05:00

A man who simply knocked at the deepest corners of my musical compass & interests since that mesmerising music in Roja, back 1992. And the man's genius has echoed on the world's biggest stage in commercial cinema - 2 Oscars for A.R.Rahman! Yahooo!

What a guy - immaculate, perfectionist, hard-working, sincere, committed, down-to-earth (to the point of being boring!) and extremely passionate about his art - almost the perfect recipe to scale the earth

Hats off to you, AR...I cannot tell you how proud I am of your achievement at the Oscars 2009. You are truly India's musical brand ambassador around the world.

May you show the way for more stars in India, in the future. Jai ho! Jai Hind!!

The sitar and the tabla are a great couple!

2009-02-22T03:01:00.008-05:00

They are a great couple. I have admired their companionship and ability to speak to each other for years. They get better with age. The longer they are together, the more mesmerising their togetherness becomes - almost like, old wine in new bottle. I had another reconfirmation to this intriguing couple yesterday evening, when they came together at the Bangalore Habba - courtesy Anoushka Shankar and Tanmay Bose.

I am not referring to a pair of human beings and their love story here, but am talking about the fantastic symbiosis between the sitar and the tabla. They have fascinated me since a tender age, and I have only grown to appreciate them more as I have grown older myself! There is something amazingly soothing about them, operating together - seems to bring a certain peace; a vast reservoir of love, alive; a full expression to latent talents; a fantastic mode of expressing oneself; an uncomplicated, unadulterated kind of companionship, with no malicious intent beneath. They just enjoy each other's company. I find it thoroughly enjoyable!

The strings of the sitar are really one of a kind and that 'tone' of the tabla sends me into a different zone - I almost forget myself & the things around me, when I listen to them together. The variety of the pitch that the strings of the sitar bring out, gel so well with the adjusting beats of the tabla. It is seriously thrilling to note that when the tabla-wadak (player) shakes his head vigourously and pounds with melody on his magical 'drummy' instrument, the crowd just focuses on the phenomenal expression on display. Even the sitar player constantly gazes at the tabla-wadak and appreciates his energy!

And when the sitar hums its different tunes in different types of music, it’s amazing how the tabla can adapt itself to such diversity. Be it classical, carnatic, hindustani, western classical, fusion music or even jazz - the ability of the sitar to hit the highest/lowest pitches and hit you at the deepest corners are brilliantly tied in with the ability of the tabla to keep the beat of the music at a steady/high/low pace. It changes your mood. It makes you feel extremely good. And it just makes you appreciate how versatile these 2 magnificent instruments really are.

Possibly, the best thing I like is the exchange of smiles between the sitar player and the tabla-wadak ever few seconds during a concert. A lot goes on in exchanging those smiles - musical knowledge, indication of a change of tune, pure appreciation for each other's talent, hints to create a variation within the existing tune, you name it. (I am not a sitar player or a tabla-wadak, and am only guessing logically from what I have seen on stage!).

They are a great couple. Just makes your heart dance to their tunes- and it is one of the few things worth listening to, every now & then. The standing ovations are really earned...

Pride of being a defence man

2009-02-15T04:14:00.006-05:00

I am still recovering from the fantastic display of aeroplanes at the Aero Show 2009 yesterday in Yelahanka, Bangalore. It is an annual show that attracts the who's who in the world of aeronautical engineering, not to mention, the flashier movie stars and business tycoons.

I have been to this show a couple of times earlier in the decade, but this was the first time I learnt something concrete. Courtesy, the company of some knowledgeable friends, who are analysts of this wonderful industry called aeronautical engineering! All these years, I used to go to this show just to experience the thrill of skillful pilots rip-rapping the skies and making displays that would make my jaw drop.

Of course, my jaw did drop this time as well; just that I was even more amazed when I learnt about all of the following - the risks that these pilots undertake, the kinds of technologies they handle, the criticality of each of the planes that they operate for national defence, the competition that goes on in securing deals in defence, the incredibly sensitivity of the information that these planes carry and provide to defence intelligence et al. It was an eye-opener.

The greatest moment of the day was not actually on display in the air, but right on ground zero. There were scores of uniformed men patrolling the entire expanse of land that housed the planes and passers-by. As we were walking under the blazing heat, there were a bunch of people who were taking photographs with an armed officer. My defence analyst friend, Brijesh, also went up to him and posed for a couple of photographs with him - only to return stumped! That armed officer had 4500 sorties on his uniform i.e. he had flown a fighter plane 4500 times in his life, successfully i.e. returned alive! That just made all the hair in my body stand erect - out of sheer respect for the man. Just imagine the kinds of situations he would have undergone in his life; the kinds of enemies he may have encountered in his life; the kinds of conditions he would have operated under; and the sheer horizon and level of thinking that he would have. Mind-blowing. Just made me appreciate and respect the uniformed officer of India that much more - as against the bashing that I have seen on TV shows. Hats off to such people!

Of course, on display were some great planes and the antics on display were stuff that one usually sees in Hollywood war movies (Indianised version here, though)! The display of the day for me, was, as always, that magnificent F-16! What a plane! What a sleek, magnificent, classy and incredibly dynamic plane!! The kinds of revolutions it made, the kinds of drones it made, the ease with which it flew at low altitude or rotated 1000's of feet up in th air, were just breathttaking. After a point, I stopped clicking photographs of the F -16; I just wanted to stand there and enjoy the display and internalise it for a long time to come. And both my friends & I thought that the pilot navigating that fine aircraft would possibly be one of the finest aviators in the world. Phenomenal!!

There were other classy performances as well -the MiG, the F -18, EuroTyphoon, and of course that captivating Sukhoi!! There was even a regular aeroplane standing on the ground - LuftWaffe - with people mistaking it to be the Lufthansa!:). But the powerful are some of the greatest 'brands' in the aerospace world, and to see them do the kinds of things they did in mid-air were scintillating. And to think, that these things that were putting up acrobatic after acrobatic, actually have the ability to knock out the world, with their missile powers...

The Indian versions of the planes were a touch more mellow - Saraang, Suryakiran - but powerful in their own right! But, they were more popular with the crowds there, as they let our steam in the form of the national flag!:)

The crowd was colourful too - what with Valentine's Day coinciding with this weekend schedule of the Aero Show!:).

At the end of it all, I saw the reason as to why a place like Singapore has its nationals compulsorily serve the city-state in their defence service. It instils an incredibly amount of pride for the nation, teaches a person a lot about handling extreme situations and I guess makes a person amazingly worldly-wise.

I salute the armed forces!

The i-bankers are gone!

2009-02-03T11:00:00.003-05:00

The credit excesses of Wall Street are only too well documented for us to narrow down to the prime cause of the world's ghastliest recession in the modern era. Not to mention the mounting debts that these credit excesses brought with them to the average denizens.

In all this, we seem to have forgotten the basic theory that world is a lot more global than it ever was in its history. It has taken us this sort of a severe beating to realise that classical economics no longer holds true i.e. supply will find and be matched by demand, purely by market dynamics. That was the old school. The Keynesian rules are far different from that - the market needs regular checks & balances, lest it crashes.

I am not great professor of economics (though it is my all-time favourite subject!). But, this market theory has just been seen in theory and in real life in the last year or so. How many of us envied those pin-striped i-bankers with jet-setting lives and making a few million bucks by selling the most complicated (so-called) equity reports. B-schools harped on i-banking placements, whenever consulting firms took a dip. More often than not, these 2 industries were jostling for space in most top campuses with the aim to grab the 'cream' of the talent. Cream for sure they did - the entire world economy, that is!

Who is to blame? I don't know. Why am I even bothering to write about it, when I am not in Wall Street or never defaulted on a payment? Well, I don't know why I feel it - no facts to back them up - but I feel it. Our globalized world and ambitious currents just made us believe these guys way too much. We swore by them, almost. A Merrill Lynch stamp on an IPO was sacrosanct! These Wall Street guys were 'aspiration' for folks who did not get there. They represented the successes of a corporate life - the types dreams are made of. Jet-setting, five star life, CxO connection, partying, and the millions! The important things in life - or, so they seem from outside, anyway!:)

But, how many of us who interacted with these salaried-millionaires, managed to ask tough questions on each recommendation they made? I don't know, again. Maybe they were asked, maybe they were not. And maybe they were asked and answered to as well. I don't know.

But, I do know, that the shareholder and average citizen never knew anything beyond those flashy reports. And that, I know is where the accountability ended with these flashy i-bankers. They were out to make their buck (good for them, nobody denied it to them); but they lacked accountability; made recommendations in a bull run, that the underlying currents went unnoticed - by everyone: experts, decision-makers, clients, finance whizkids, CFOs, CEOs, stock brokers, economists, students, et al. That, I guess was the biggest mistake.

In a way, it is sad that the i-banking profession has been hit so hard. Who would have ever dreamt that a household name like Lehman Brothers - ah, that dream placement for any MBA - would be history? But then - this is my conjecture again - alumni after alumni from every discernible business school, possibly did not correct the credit excesses of their predecessors?

I am not for once discounting the credibility or capability of these i-bankers. I am only thinking that maybe, nobody, just about nobody on the Street saw anything beyond his/her bonus. After all, the bonus is (rather, used to be), 5 times the salary of an average Wall Streeter!! We paid the price for THAT excess!

Now, the press and everyone else has enough ammunition to hurl at these erstwhile blue-eyed folks in the corporate world. We were possibly waiting for this sort of ammunition to hurl at them in our lifetime, anyway. Not because of the millions alone, but at a deeper level, for the 'gasbag/lack of accountability' they had.

The other day, my friend told me about the kind of rather discomforting reaction she received when she told somebody that her husband was an equity analyst - a once pristine profession! That, is a story in itself.

It's not Obama's problem alone

2009-02-03T10:32:00.003-05:00

Obama has rocked the world. The man, who was an unknown quantity just 4 years ago, is now in the most powerful chair on planet Earth (or, so they claim). Expert parliamentarians, political analysts, economists and psephologists have all been stunned at his stellar growth from a chair on a village ranch in Chicago to the prime chair in the Oval office in D.C. His campaign was all about hope and bringing about the much-needed change. Not just for corporate America, but to the world economy at large.

But, I firmly believe that it is not Obama's solo prerogative to solve things in the world. He alone cannot do it and should not be given the responsibility to do it. After all, what justice is it to overload one man with the problems of the magnitude that are confronting us today? Solving job losses, pay cuts, no hikes, drowning brands and companies that are household names, inflation, high interest rates, declining revenues, taxes, poverty, AIDS eradication, the I's (Iraq, Israel) and the K's (Korean) and the P's (Pakistan, Palestine), are just a few of the things on this man's 'to do' list.

What we need is a collective endeavour to attack the world's problem head on. There needs to be a greater and more actionable role for the UNO (after all, it was created in the height of the mess in the 1940s', right?). We also need greater resolve from top funding agencies like the IMF, World Bank etc, in conjunction with banking institutions - and by that, I mean, exercising basic rules of credit checks while disbursing loans, be it a retail, government or corporate consumer.

I also feel that people around the world should stop saying that their solution is the only solution around. Liberalisation has brought this "know-it-all" attitude amongst a varied many, that can have a ripple effect (negatively) - as sound theory and alternate opinion will dissolve. For good opinions not to dissolve, I think we need a global central agency for policy reforms - not just country level. Some sort of a central authority that takes in inputs from various people around the world and presents the most actionable inputs to the 'powers-that-be' (Obama & his ilk). My reason is that, solutions may emerge even from the unfanciest of places possible and we need not always believe that pin-striped guys travelling in limos are the solutions to the world.

All in all, it is certainly not Obama's sole prerogative. He has a role to play. So do the rest of us.

World Bank and Indian IT - is this professional racism?

2009-01-14T02:42:00.005-05:00

The biggest names in the corporate world have been doing the rounds in the last few days - Enron, Satyam, Wipro, Infosys, World Bank, SEC, NYSE, SEBI, PwC, ICAI, you name it. All this, thanks to the massive INR 7800 crore fraud done by the infamous Mr. Raju, of the even more famous, Satyam Computers.

In all this, I have been seeing the World Bank hurling ban after ban on Indian firms, especially the IT outsourcing folks. Fine, there is eminent reason for the World Bank to slap a ban on Satyam, even before this fraud took place, given that there was so much scrutiny on Maytas Infra and all associated parties with Satyam. But, a couple of days ago, the World Bank pretty much "de-listed" Wipro. God knows who is next.

I am not for a minute suggesting that any firm is above water in its accounting disclosures, be if of their own accord, or as a result of their "hand-in-glove" relationship with their auditors. That is how accounting has been done for a long time and am not too sure if one Satyam will resurrect the way accounting will change overnight. Yes, there will be greater scrutiny and checks & balances. But that is not my point.

The moot point really is, why the World Bank hurling these "bans" on Indian firms, one after the other? What is the World Bank doing about throwing out names of firms from other parts of the world? Are they even trying to suggest that their relations with companies from all other parts of the world, except India, are cordial and above water? More than anything else, is the World Bank so sure that no other firm in any other country engages in financial fraud? What are they trying to prove by picking so hard on Indian companies?

Granted, there is an Enron-like scenario that has catapulted India into the world vision in the last 3 weeks. But, the World Bank seems to be using this as an opportune moment to hit the iron while it is hot, on India. Does it mean that this famous financial institution is going to wait for all the frauds in different parts of the world to crop up, before it de-lists/bans its relationships with different companies?

If the World Bank thinks that it is the custodian of all financial discipline around the world, especially in the case of its relationships with its clients, then, they should not single out one country like this; especially, when its steeped in a crisis, in a recessionary environment. It is actually OK for the World Bank to be calling out the names of these companies where there is so much of nonsense going on. But, it is in sad taste that one country and its most famous industry is being singled out like this (deservingly so, I add!). The World Bank might jolly well call out all the fraudsters that it has any hint on; let's see what happens then and how many more CEO's buckle down and own up their mischief (like Raju did).

Also, in the interest of cleaning up the system, the World Bank should ideally throw out all the names that it wants to de-list around the world, along with adequate proof. These nicely-worded press releases from PR gurus in the World Bank on de-listing companies will do no good. If anything, such press releases will only alert the other companies that are engaged in financial bungling to be wary of the World Bank. Such companies, in the light of such PR exercises by WB, might even end up cutting down on the business volume with this major financial institution and slowly fall out of the radar. That will still not stop fraud around the world.

If what the World Bank is currently doing is not coined as professional racism, what else qualifies?

Golden Globe Awards,Oscar Awards ...A.R.Rahman..and India!

2009-01-12T10:29:00.002-05:00

The man has the humblest of beginnings possible. Not so much of a rags to riches story, but certainly an amazing success story of a man with extremely simple roots, who has reached the epitome of musical success. A.R. Rahman stunned me with his "Kaadal Roja Ve"(Tamil version) or "Roja Jaan-e-man" composition in 1992, that resonated so deeply inside me that I sit static whenever I see/hear that song even now. I guess, it was his way of announcing to the world that there was a supreme musical power from the south of the Vindhyas, ready to dismantle Illayraja from his iconic position; possibly, dismantle is too aggressive a word; take over from the Illayraja genius is more appropriate.

And take over he did. Rahman brought in some incredible sounds mixed in technology that created notes through the times that India liberalized and globalized. He put Indian music on the world map, pretty much by the dint of his own compositions. The man's contribution was so immense that he managed to bring in a Rs. 6 crore musical set from Germany into his troop, that doled out some of the most amazing compositions seen in the last 2 decades.

Golden Globe is one of the many glories that this genius has reached. Deservingly so! It always makes me proud to see an Indian take on the world and come out on trumps. More so, in the case of Dileep Raghavan (that's Rahman's real name, before he converted to a Muslim in 1989), because he beat the tide in an extremely tough era.

Also, I think there are some careers in India that started in the 1989-90 period which have gone on to stump the world in different spheres of life. Think cricket and you have Sachin Tendulkar and Anil Kumble; think chess, and you have the legend of Vishwanathan Anand; think music and I possibly cannot think beyond a Rahman. All these people have done yeoman service to the nation and deserve the accolades that they are getting.

Rahman has gone a notch higher, what with 3 nominations to the Oscars for his own contribution. I just hope, for the sake of billions of ambitious Indians, who are out to take on the world in the 21st century, this genius wins at least one award. It will be a fitting tribute to a man who changed the complexion, role and contribution of Indian music.

Three cheers to A.R.Rahman. Hip hip -hurray! Hip hip-hurray! Hip hip- hurray!

A nonsensical question in a B-school interview

2009-01-11T03:33:00.004-05:00

I was shocked to see a news clipping on CNN-IBN a few minutes earlier. The show was about how to fight the current tough times and how the average citizens are coping with the strenous times.

One of the people interviewed on the show was a 21-year old boy from Delhi - a Muslim from India, aspiring for his MBA in a top business school in India. His dreams are to head the operations of a top multi-national in their Indian operations. So nice & I genuinely wished him luck, because I know the difficulties in getting into a top business school and then scaling the corporate ladder, so to speak. But, there was a problem in his MBA dreams recently.

Apparently, the business school interview panel asked him this question, "What do you feel about all terrorists being Muslims?". The candidate was dumbfounded, stuttered his answer and was really not prepared for that missile. Cannot blame him; nobody in his right senses and in a well-meaning way with dreams of a fine corporate career would expect this sort of a ridiculous question thrown at him, at the point where it all starts - business school admissions interview. It appears, from that news report, that this 21-year old was angry with that, but has slowly learnt to handle this and had the heart to say, "It was Sikhs in the '80s, Soviets before that, who were associated with terror, now its Muslims, so, this will go on". Fantastic maturity for a 21-year old.

I guess this candidate naturally was tested on this question for his temperament, ability to handle a pressure-cooker situation. But this sort of a test, is the MOST ridiculous way to assess a candidate's ability to handle pressure. What did that panelist think he was doing by asking such a racist question? If he was trying to prove a point, I am afraid, he has sent out racist connotations about his business school to the public at large.

I also hope that this candidate does not enrol into such a racist business school, as he deserves better. Nobody has any business to be asking a Muslim candidate or any body from any religion, who has passed the same exam as other candidates, questions about his religion and connection with terrorism. A business school is supposed to be a temple of learning where values, ethics, constructive thoughts of development are built in the formative years. It is certainly not a place to sow seeds of religious factionalism and ridiculous divides like this interview panelist has done to this candidate.

I just hope business school interviews are slightly more mature in their questions; these panelists would do well to remember the struggles they went through before they got to the chair that they hold. They have no business to question candidates in this light. Such panelists might as well be summarily be banned, as one never knows what sort of inputs they will pass on to candidates, once these dreamy-eyed hopefuls enrol into such business schools.

2009 - its all about dreams, isn't it?

2009-01-03T07:27:00.011-05:00

The New Year is here! The one thing that I still feel, despite the economic recession, is that unique ability of human beings to dream and hope. To dream and hope for a better future; to aspire for something that each individual wants to achieve in his/her life. I therefore look at the New Year with that same, strong, basic human emotion of dream and hope.

It is actually all about dreams and hope, simply because we as individual entities do not control many things - market dynamics, global economic policy, government policy, bilateral relations and so on. But, what we do control is our ability to get past all this, within our sphere of reference as Stephen Covey called it, in an ethical and legal manner. Its the fire in the belly that matters.

Each of us hopes for so many different things - some hope for financial freedom, some dream about the most exotic and expensive experiences in life, others aspire for a better standard of living, many others look at getting past just the poverty line and into basic subsistence, few others look at sharing some of their greatest moments in their lives with the MOST special human being that they care about and so on.

I am a firm believer that, this ability for us to hope is not going to disappear, despite any world disorder. Man has seen wars, devastation of many other kinds and has only come out of it much stronger. I do not see any reason not to believe that the current economic rape that we are undergoing will weaken us. If anything, I am only going to get more resilient and look for an even better future.

After all, in despair, lies hope. Happy New Year!!!!

Singapore - a few seconds of discpline

2009-01-03T06:34:00.003-05:00

Of all the moments that I will remember from my Singapore trip, one of the most memorable was on the morning of Jan 1 at around 3 a.m. After the New Year party, when the whole city was jostling for cabs and the streets were extremely populated, I hailed at one of the few cabs that were running empty. Next to me were 2 girls and 1 guy, all waving at the same cab.

But, the minute the cab stopped next to me & they figured that I had waved at that particular cab BEFORE them, they backed out. Infact, it was so evident, because that girl right next to me, just turned right and waved at another cab.

This may seem like a very menial and normal thing to do i.e. backing off when somebody else gets the same cab that you waved at; but, coming from Indian conditions, where public transport is generally a nightmare + the indiscipline of the public here, it was a great moment to see the self-discipline on the part of the Chinese. I could never dream of anybody in India letting go of a chance to get a cab at 3 a.m. in the night, especially when no cabs were available, to somebody else. That too, JUST because, somebody else waved at the same cab BEFORE you did.

This sort of discpline speaks volumes about the culture of a land. It also speaks immensely about the kind of discpline that people in a nation are brought up with. I LOVED it and respected it immensely.

I will remember that level of discipline for life. It can be very well applicable to numerous other streams in life, not just public transport.

I wish Rajiv Gandhi were alive today...

2008-12-21T11:00:00.006-05:00

My lasting memory of one of India's most famous sons, Rajiv Gandhi, was the printed acknowledgement that I received via snail mail in the 1980s from the PMO's office in New Delhi. I had sent a greeting card to Rajiv Gandhi wishing him a very Happy Birthday. I was too young then to understand what it meant to receive a thank you & acknowledgement card from the office of the Prime Minister of India.

But, I realise the character of the man very well today, based on that one card I so treasure. It was not just any other card - but a carefully worded thank you note that was sent out to me to MY mailing address with HIS autograph (even if printed & not his actual signature). It showed that the Prime Minister of India then cared for his citizens.

I just wish Rajiv were alive today. He looked every bit like a Prime Minister, spoke such terrific English in international conferences, had the conduct and personality to handle international affairs and people in the global league. The charisma apart, the man, I believe, had the forward-looking vision for India, that the current crop so sadly doesn't have.

He was the first guy to get computers to India. He understood the value and importance of sports for India, and got so many things approved on the sports front. He represented India in so many international conferences and made commitments that were followed up with some action or the other. He was one of the earliest to understand the meaning of a multi-national, long before liberalization hit India in 1991.

I think he was assassinated because he was good. Too good, for the other politicians who are regressive and not at all forward-looking. He was young too, which meant, he could have served the country for a longer time and done justice to his talent and India's potential. He also appeared to be a person, though foreign educated & a pilot, in tune with the realities of the country. I always recall his famous speeches, where one sentence or the other started off with the words, "humein dekhna hai..." (we have to see...), rather than a staid, "hum dekhenge... " ( we will see..."), that today's politicians chant (with no accountability).

The man was ahead of his times for me. And that one act of sending a citizen an acknowledgement for a birthday greeting, was a sign of his individual connect with the citizens of the country.

I just wish he were alive today. I am quite confident that he would have had some measures to root out corrupt politicians from the system, gotten in infrastructure and accountability within the system, and also done something about the inefficacies of the Home Ministry. We can always get a P.hd from Harvard or Oxford to run the Finance Ministry and provide dream budgets; but, we need a far greater visionary to run the affairs of the country. Rajiv Gandhi might have been that person.

I wonder if this blog will go to Rahul or Priyanka Gandhi now...and if I will get another card!:)

Two days for the vacation to begin

2008-12-21T10:35:00.003-05:00

It will be the second and third country outside India that I will see. Singapore and Kualalumpur. I have been in vacation mood for the last week or so. And given the lean season of work, the mood of not wanting to get up in the morning and going to office, just gets accentuated.

This is one of those goody-goody trips: free tickets, accommodation taken care of, friends to hang out with, places to see, X'mas and New Year season, shopping time, looking at the development in the neighbouring regions of India and checking out a completely new set of people - Chinkis and Malays!!:). From what I hear from my friends, all Chinki babes look alike, and one can never decipher how young or old they are: a 40 years old Chinki woman will look exactly like a 24 year old Chinki hottie!:).

Let's see what the trip has in store. Am looking forward to the cultural nuances of the trip as well - the similarity to Indian food, Tamil being a second language, tons of Indians in these 2 places, a cusp between the West and the East, shopping delights, concrete jungles and a way of life that is unique to these 2 cities.

More on this, once I get back from the trip.

Bumped into an old neighbour

2008-12-21T10:26:00.004-05:00

It felt as if I was transported back in time - a good 15 years, at that. 1989-1993, to be precise, when I bumped into my old neighbour at Sankey Tank today. I was busy on my usual weekend jog and as I made the final lap, I saw this dashing chap with a kid in his hand. I was not sure if he was my neighbour, because the last time I saw him, he was busy with many girlfriends, and I could never have picturised him with a kid in hand! But, that was exactly the situation - the guy is married, runs a music school, and still lives in the same house that we were a part of. And to see him with a kid was a bit amusing and good!

The best part was when he said, "you look just the same; ever since you have grown up, you are still the same". For those of who are wondering or laughing at that statement, he was referring to my height!!:) And in subsequent conversations, I discovered, my frame of mind!:) Not the best thing to be hearing, but well, in the company of an old friend, these things are bound to happen.

Of course, he was not short of advice for me - what with recommendations on how to woo a woman, how never to give up in life and what is life without a girlfriend, et al. All in all, a nice evening with an old pal!:)

Fight for your rights, come what may

2008-12-20T03:58:00.005-05:00

I have learnt in life to respect elders and people with vast experience with life in general. I have also been brought up to respect Indian traditions and values and am personally a big fan of those things, irrespective of how modern I may be. But, there are times in life, when old people need to be told not to mess with the younger generation.

What would one do when a person who is 2.5 times your age accuses you of things that have no basis? Especially when you have extraordinary counter proof to tell them, that they are wrong. The matter gets accentuated when people such as these are arrogant, have a temper of a lion and an attitude of "only I am right; rest of the world is a bunch of fools". In such a scenario, I firmly believe that such people need to be dealt with head on. They need to be told that they are not as perfect as they consider themselves to be. They need to firmly told that others can also be right. More than anything else, such people need to be firmly dealt with.

In fact, the way to handle these types of people who never value other human beings, is to present hard-hitting, indisputable facts that will make all their allegations against the "so-called, weaker folks", fall flat on its face. That is the only language they understand and will understand.

The chances are that such people will still not buckle down and take the stand, "how dare he talk to me like that? You are half my age?", etc. But, one needs to be extremely strong mentally to take on such people. To fight till the finish; especially when one's very existence is challenged, questioned, insulted and rebuked, with absolutely no basis whatsoever.

Nobody has any business to be accusing anyone else personally; that too, without a single fact in hand. And more so, when the person being accused has enough ammunition in the form of facts, to throw at the accuser, that make all such allegations fall flat on their face.

The matter gets gravitated when one's very own tends to leash out at you, for no fault of yours. That's when, I believe, that content, structure and facts need to be used very carefully, to let the person know not to mess around with you. This is because, emotions have no play when one is dealing with a situation of being accused of flawed personality or character.

Fighting for one’s rights is an extremely big test of a person’s temperament, character, will power and ability to prove to “interested” parties, not to mess with them. It becomes even more critical, when the battle is one-on-one i.e. the person hates YOU the most, and gets along famously with most other human beings (for NO fault of yours).

Its better to live a life of dignity and character fighting for your rights, rather than buckling down under the pressure of elements that are out to question your integrity. At the end of the day, one's name and credibility are far more important and lasting than any designation or money power. Fight, especially when you are 500% right, and can prove it to elements that think otherwise.

The 2 sides of Pakistan that I know...

2008-12-07T11:44:00.005-05:00

I have no words to say this. But that feeling of immense sub-continental belonging was at its highest when I went to the Wagah border earlier this year. To see folks from across the border, divided by just a massive gate at the Indian border, was an exhilirating experience.

I will never forget that moment when the gates opened, and soldiers from either country had that regal guard of honour, hoisting flags, singing their respective national anthems, and so on. Most of all, people from either side of the border rose in unision when some famous Bollywood songs were played. There was thus, a classical people-to-people contact that I had only heard about on national television. I will never forget that moment when I saw tall Pakistani pathans, dressed in authentic 'sherwani-types' of attires, with long beards and a smile that was worthy of a model for a toothpaste advertisement!

There is another part of Pakistan I love and admire. That is the set of sporting and political icons that this politically damaged country has churned out over the years. Imran Khan, Javed Miandad, that all-conquering left-handed genius, Wasim Akram who I had the great fortune of seeing up, close & personal in a sports competition in Bangalore. How can I forget the elegant Benazir Bhutto. Hell, she went to Harvard! And had so much grace! And the Pakistan that loves a Shahrukh Khan or produces a Nusraft Fateh Ali that delights and unifies people from both sides of the border. Cultural unification, I guess. Sheer appreciation of art and talent on display. No artificial bifurcations.

But, there is the other side of Pakistan. The Pakistan, that bombs innocent parts of the world. The Pakistan that has no democracy. The Pakistan that has such severe military interference that the average citizen possibly does not know who real Government is - the civilian, 'elected' folks or the men with the guns and uniforms in the military. Not to mention, the famous terrorist training camps that the world keep reiterating as being housed in Pakistan. Of the immense access to underworld dons that these terror outfits enjoy. Or, the unforgettable and sadly, indefatiguable connections with (though unproven, I guess) Al-Qaeda and the likes. Or the Taliban. And so on...

These are the two sides of Pakistan that I know. And given a choice, I would clearly opt for the first one that I have described here. Its a far greater option in this generation of terrorism.

I just hope that we are able to unite in this grief (Mumbai), such that we are able to root out the part of Pakistan that nobody likes (or wants).

Time for introspection, for both countries, as to what future do we want to leave the sub-continent to contend with.

Why India is angry today?

2008-12-07T02:43:00.002-05:00

Most corridor-conversations in recent weeks revolve around the recent Bombay terror attacks. Old-timers talk about the lack of resolve in the political world. The US is putting pressure on Pakistan. World opinion stacks up against the terrorists who arbitrated this henious crime. The whole country is furious. And about time too.

Never before in the history of the country has there been such public outcry against the politicians. These people in positions of power, running policy matters and saving their own fiefdom have never been bombarded by the wrath of public opinion. People hate politicians. People are asking answers from the powers-that-be. People in India are demanding accountability. There are public marches being staged in the heart of Mumbai city with people telling politicians never to come to Bombay city ever again. Indians are questioning politicians about where the tax money eventually goes? People are asking politicians about the merit of their z-security.

Adding fuel to fire, is the ridiculous and insensitive remarks made by the politicians. Some nerds had the nerve to say, "these sorts of bomb attacks happen in big cities". Good thing is, he was fired from his exalted position of Deputy Chief Minister & State Home Minister of Maharashtra, the next day. Another politician, a Chief Minister of a state at that, had the gall to tell the father of a martyr, who laid down his life in the fight against terror, that "even a dog would not come to your house". Good thing is, this Chief Minister faced public wrath and was summarily dismissed from the residence of the martyr's residence; hope he is fired soon, as well.

In all this, people are asking questions and taking things into their own hands. The phenomenal success of www.jaagore.com makes a lot more sense in the current times of terror. There are scores of people-driven initiatives happening in the country, such as assembling people in different localities together, getting things such as car pooling to beat traffic congestion and so on. Things which the politicians are supposed to provide the average citizen of India, is now slowly getting away from them, as poeple are taking things into their own hands.

Jaago India, jaago, indeed. To hell with politicians. I am more than confident that the Indian public is going to summarily screw political careers built over many decades, in the democratic elections in March 2009. What is refreshing in these times is that the new crop of politicians - the educated, well-travelled, forward-looking and extremely global set of intellectuals - are talking about a revolt against their seniors. Maybe, just maybe, these are the kinds of politicians that the youth of India will work for. And throw away the forts built by the 70 and 80 year olds, who can barely make a contribution anymore to the country.

There is hope, in this crisis too.

Oh, Calcutta - day 2

2008-12-02T11:30:00.003-05:00

Day 2 was not so eventful. But, it showed me that part of Calcutta that is cut off from reality. I went to the Ramakrishna Mission (Belur Math), Howrah, Hooghly, and most other parts of the old city.

What struck me the most was the abject poverty there. The utter disconnect that people in this half of the city had with the rest of the world. Old, old, old buildings, that nearly looked like they would fall off any minute. Clothes hanging from balconies. I saw potters, barbers, carpenters, cobblers, and the like. I even saw masons yelling at their workers who were lifting cement bags and other commodities onto carts.

There was a certain silence in these parts. As if, they were asking, "what wrong have we done, to be summarily dismissed and not included in India?" Some of the buildings I saw really scared me - they had flags of a few political parties hanging out of the windows. I was left wondering whether these politicians knew about these citizens and were doing nothing about their upliftment, or had people just given up and had no chance of revolting against these politicians. Sad, sad, sad.

I so desperately wanted to go on a boat ride on the Hooghly river, but lack of time did not allow me to do that. There is a certain melancholy about the Howrah and surrounds that is hard to capture in words. There is dirt on the roads, there is pollution in the locality, there is acute poverty around, there are dilapidated buildings that look close to run-down, people seem to get on with their lives with no great ambition but to ensure that they make their two ends meet. Two square meals a day seemed to be a luxury in this locality. I suffocated in the 2-3 hours that I was there and I can only imagine the health of these citizens in this sort of a very, very unhealthy locality -sure place for an epidemic to break out.

The irony is that, as soon as I came out of the Howrah bridge, I noticed that the main road leads into the Chief Minister's office - the Writer's Buildings, as they are famously called. I was left wondering whether these power centres were even bothered about doing something to provide a basic livelihood for these parts of neglected Calcutta.

I had rented a cab for day 2 of my trip in Calcutta. And I had a Bihari driver for company. His Hindi was so classical and different from the Hindi that the average Bengali spoke. He gathered pretty quickly that I was not from these parts and took me right around the city, showing me famous buildings and other locations of import. Very helpful chap, who validated a lot of the stuff that I had read up on the internet. And it also added to my knowledge of the city.

I spent the afternoon of my second day in Calcutta at the Science Museum. Fantastic place and a must-see for everyone who visits this metropolitan city. It has 3-D shows, a space show that talks about the solar system and how the sun impacts things in life, rockets, information about all the planets in the universe, GSLV, PSLV etc. Big domes that have graphics of science and definitions of scientific terms. Good place for kids too and to expose them to the world of science.

Now to the last bit. The Calcutta cops. These guys essentially adorn a white uniform and a white helmet. What stood out for me was that this uniform and helmet stays white, despite the heat and dust that the city throws up. I could sight cops from a distance, merely because of their attires. Phenomenally maintained! Or, for lack of better explanation, they use detergents well in the Calcutta police force!

The trip was also my first glimpse of a yellow cab in Indian roads. The only other place that I had seen them was in New York city. However, I felt these Calcutta cabs were far more reasonable than their Big Apple counterparts! I remember, that cabbie who asked me for an extra ten rupees, just because it was late at night and he had to drop me to the other end of the city. Forget, New York, any other Indian city would have fleeced me at that time of the night. That, in itself is a measure of the city - simple, uncomplicated, and living life on their own terms to a degree. What with extensive opinion on everything that happens in this country and the interest that people have for art, science, law and other finer nuances of life.

Oh, Calcutta - Day 1!

2008-12-02T10:51:00.005-05:00

I had heard a lot about this city. About how laidback it was. About, how it almost lived in another era, while the rest of the country raced ahead. About the famous sweets and the chaats that the city offered. And how fish is vegetarian in Calcutta!

Well, my recent trip to Calcutta, rounded off the only metropolitan city that I had not been to, in India. And it lived up to its reputation. Staying at Salt Lake City, going in the famous yellow taxis and the underground metro train and into the new and old city, was an experience in itself.

The city is very crowded though. But the difference between the rush in Calcutta and the rush I find in other Indian cities lies in the pressure that people place on themselves to have a life outside of office. People have time here, or, ensure that they create time for themselves and their loved ones. Of course, during winter the sun sets at 5 p.m., so that helps matters, as people get home really early. There did not seem to be a concept of long hours here and extensive high-pressure life. During the day, I found many people sitting along the maidan area and watching club cricket. This form and league of cricket is taken very seriously here, and many a punter is debated, discussed and disputed at these clubs. The grounds are massive too, much bigger than I am accustomed to seeing back home in Bangalore.

Perhaps the star attraction of the city is the Victoria Memorial (VM). A phenomenal architectural wonder that has a museum with flavours of sculpture, paintings, photographs, Indian freedom fighters, evolution of Calcutta. There is a tremendous amount of history in this building too - frames and sculptures of British rulers, kings, viceroys, etc don the ramparts of this museum at different spots. Some names I remember are Lord Curzon, Lord Dalhousie. The highlight of them all, is the fantastic sculpture of Queen Victoria - standing tall, with a bright smile and overlooking the entire museum, right from the centre of the main hall. Great sight. It almost made me wonder, how could such a good-looking woman, be part of such a brutal agenda to rule us for 180 years!

The VM is quite spectacular at dusk, and even better at night. It overlooks the horizon of downtown Calcutta in a manner of royalty, that I have possibly only seen in New Delhi at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. Fantastic! And white marble, well-lit, in the evening, is a great sight!

Of course, my trip had its fair share of drama. I lost my cellphone! As I stood at the main gate of the VM and was busy clicking photographs, I guess my phone fell somewhere. Only after I got to the nearest railway station to get back to my guest house, did I realise that I had lost my 15 day old phone! So much for loving something so dearly in life - more often than not, it goes away from me. Sigh!

The drama didn't end with the lost phone. Given the recent coverage on the Bombay terror attacks, the last thing I ever wanted was my phone getting into the hands of some untoward elements in an alien city. So, I went up to the cops and reported the loss of my phone. They hardly spoke Hindi, and I didn't know a word of Bengali! It was quite amusing for me to speak Hindi slowly and try to get my point across to the cops. I have an observation about the cops, which I will write about later. Finally, I hopped onto the police van and went to the nearest police station and lodged an FIR, about the loss of my phone. It was such an old building, with even older furniture and files. No information technology in the Calcutta police forces, for sure!

In between all this, I must say that I had a good glimpse of modern Calcutta. I went around the maidan region, saw the famous Eden Gardens from the outside, the B.C.Roy Club House, and the Cricket Association of Bengal. Names that I had seen on television for years and which I had associated with the likes of Jagmohan Dalmiya and Saurav Ganguly. It was refreshing to see so many upcoming cricketers playing in the vicinity in the massive maidan region, trying to follow their heroes and make it to the top. I got the sincere feeling that this modern part of Calcutta strongly encouraged sports and had so many facilities for the club cricketers to display their wares, right outside the Eden Gardens. What was disappointing for me was the fact that I was not permitted into the Eden Gardens for the tourist visit. Of course, courtesy, the recent Bombay terror attacks. Anyway, just another one of those long-cherished things in my life, that didn't happen.

This part of Calcutta had corporate offices, five star hotels, small malls, restaurants, lounge bars, and a number of foreigners. My next stop was Park Street, which I felt was a striking replica of some of the main downtown areas in Bombay, like the Fort area. Old historical British buildings, head offices of famous companies, host of people running from pillar to post in the regular rush of their lives, roadside juice bars, famous landmarks such as St. Xaviers' College, Archbishop's Residence and so on. A mix of the old British life and the modern Calcutta, trying to put its best foot forward in a competitive world. I also felt that this was the only part of Calcutta that was possibly not affected so much by the crony socialism that the entire state of West Bengal is famous for. Maybe, I had the forward-looking eyes of the Indian youth, that this struck me. But, I am pretty sure that, this would be the observation that anyone makes about Park Street.

As I finally got back to Salt Lake City, trying to balance the rush on the metro and my need to be on time for a wedding reception at the Lake Club, I was greeted by the Calcutta traffic. Scores and scores of vehicles going from the expensive part of the city (Park Street & the like), to their respective homes. What was good about this traffic though was that it was free-flowing. The roads are quite wide in the main streets of Calcutta. Any average main road could accommodate 3-4 lanes at least.

On my return to the guest house, I quickly changed into my new red kurta and headed out to the Rowing Club, apparently, a famous landmark in the city. Took some time to get there, but, eventually did. Sprawling lake, and a fantastic setting to host a wedding reception. Thankfully, my friend had invited very few people, so it was not very crowded. I ended up being a topic of conversation, as nobody around had come in all the way from Bangalore! That made a few heads (read, Bengali girls!) bob towards me. I wasn't complaining, given that they were all looking so good! Enough number of them came over to me and mentioned that they were particularly appreciative of my trip all the way from Bangalore to Calcutta. I should thank my close friend for inviting me over, I guess!!:)

One thing I must say is that Bengalis are very proud people and their women take pains to look beautiful. The difference between the Calcutta version of beauty and the Delhi type of beauty is the natural flavour of these Bengalis. I never found even a single Bengali girl over-dressed, or smacked with a few litres of lipstick. They just seemed to be adept at carrying themselves very well, and their grace just added to the beauty. Maybe, just maybe, the fact that I found Bengali women more intellectual and possessing a good ability to carry on a conversation well, made them appeal to me a lot more!

Anyway, coming back to the reception, I made a couple of new friends there and we were talking about the recession and the politicians and the Bombay terror attacks. A couple of them were busy marketing the modernity of Calcutta in the form of a few interesting malls in the city, as a close competitor to Bangalore's growth story! Made for interesting conversation though.

I did not forget to have the famous rosagollas and sandesh sweets at the reception. Slurp! Simply terrific!

Move on to day 2 of my trip, in my next piece!

Good suggestion - get some youngsters into the Indian Parliament

2008-12-02T10:34:00.003-05:00

It was refreshing to hear 2 young Bombay politicians admit that the political class in this country is nothing more than a shame. One of them even stuck his neck out and told politicians to "shut up", if they do not have anything constructive to state or do. Perhaps the defining line in this interview with these 2 young Bombay politicians was, "I find it better to be a Mumbaikar, rather than the BJP spokesperson for Maharashtra".

Fantastic words. Refreshing words. And words that echo the thoughts of teeming millions in the country. There has been incredible angst and curses hurled at the senior parliamentarians in New Delhi. The average citizen has become tired of the same old names doing the rounds in the Indian political system for so many years. The worst situation is that these politicians are on the other sie of 60 or 70, and are still power-hungry. They will do anything to get their votes, hold on to their seat and boss around, with nil accountability.

To see these 2 young, vibrant, ambitious, pragmatic and well-educated Bombay politicians this evening prompted a thought on national television. A thought, that perhaps, it would do the country a world of good, if we manage to elect these sorts of forward-looking and constructive youngsters, who are not thawed by the experience of dirty politics, and may yet be our best hope of reconstructing India, from the debris that it finds itself in.

Enough, again, is enough.

Government of India - you don't deserve my taxes

2008-12-01T10:34:00.003-05:00

In all the time that television channels covered the recent Mumbai terror attacks non-stop over the last week, there was one particular opinion by an expert that stuck in my mind. This was by a famous chartered accountant who said in a very matter-of-fact way, "what if we stop paying our advance taxes that are due on Dec 15 of every year?". That statement, which may have been in rhetoric and anger, summarised the sentiment of the people.

There was one more comment - by a veteran Mumbaikar, who frequents the Taj hotel often. She asked all politicians to stay away from Mumbai and went on to add that they should be stripped of their security and that the Government does not deserve the taxes that she pays(and so do millions of others in India).

I couldn't agree more with these extreme suggestions made in the unprecedented times that we find ourselves in. If the politician is stripped of his own security for some time and is exposed to the "normal"situation that all of us face every day, there MIGHT be some hope of the realisation dawning on them. Moreover, if these politicians do not get their money from the public in the form of taxes for a short-term, say, a quarter, it will choke the government machinery. Sure ways of letting these ridiculous powers-that-be are elected by us to know that they are accountable and answerable to the public. If not, like in the private sector, if you don't perform, go home.

The worst of them all was the Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra, R.R. Patil. The man had the insensitive nerve to state that "these sorts of attacks happen in big cities". I silently thought to myself, "how I wish he had lost someone near and dear to him, had his house burgled, not to mention, been denied his security cover". Moron! Thank God, he was asked to leave by his bosses. About time too!

In all this, I am convinced that the Government does not deserve my taxes. I mean, here I am slogging 15-18 hours a day for super demanding clients and then paying taxes every month when my salary comes. So do many companies that produce goods; so do millions of other people like me. And I am sure, that almost all of us in India, expect some basics - roads, lesser traffic jams, a police force that works, security and so on. Just the basics.

Forget about GDP growth of 8% - we as individuals are smart enough to work hard and make our country grow. But, if my taxes do not even give me the basic things in my life, this sort of a government does not deserve my taxes.

Enough is indeed, enough.

Mumbai...I will see the Taj Hotel again.

2008-11-30T08:06:00.004-05:00

Like every other Indian national who is proud to be a citizen of this country, I am also extremely grieved at the recent terror attacks in Mumbai. The last time that I didn't sleep much at night, or did not get sleep, was in 1992, during the World Cup in Australia - had to balance the time zone. But, this time was different; I was unable to sleep; I could not digest what was happening to that magnificent heritage monument, the Taj. No less credit to the towering Oberoi and the residential complex of Nariman House.

Let me put this in perspective, as to why I think the choice of these locations for terror mean so much to me. These are parts of Mumbai that the world sees, when foreigners enter India. The minute someone enters Mumbai through the Gateway of India, one sees the towering structure of this 106 year old building. Like every television journalist has been screaming, this building is not just another building in Bombay. Its a building that makes a difference. Its the sign of how India has transformed itself over the last 100 years. Yes, its an old building, but its majestic, stylish, classy, and immensely loved by every discerning Indian. It attracts the who's who of India and the world - politicians, prices, emperors, heads of state, CEOs, senior managers, investors, journalists and so on. The Taj also accommodates every fabric of Indian society - workers from every class of the society work in this grand monument. It hosts shows that impact decisions on future investments and growth in our nation. There are 5 major financial institutions near the Taj, and many other corporates whose executives spend much of their productive time in this magnificent building, nay, monument. The Taj is not just another five star hotel - it has so much history and is a symbol of national pride.

I had more than just a lump in my throat when I saw the different parts of the Taj going up in blames. I had immense sorrow and grief to see the Oberoi hotel being held to ransom. What's more, I remember going on a long walk behind the Taj and into Colaba; while I am not sure if I crossed the Nariman House, I am pretty sure I would have seen it during my trips to Mumbai. Those long evenings that I used to sit opposite the Gateway of India, digesting the breeze and fresh air from the ocean behind me and looking at the magnificent Taj in front of me, is my lasting memory of this great monument.

But, the good thing is, this great structure is still there. And make no mistake about it, the next time I make a visit to Bombay, I will make my customary visit to the Gateway, and do the same thing that I did last time & every other time in Bombay i.e. eat bhelpuri or grab some groundnuts, and sit on that same stone and look at this great monument, with greater pride. You terrorist, you ain't killing any Indian's passion for a new India (be it a Mumbai-ite or anyone from outside Mumbai like me).

I will be back at the Taj and go on my walk across the Oberoi, next time I get to Bombay. Make no mistake about it!

Before I sign off, hats off to the NSG and all the other security forces who nailed those militants. It may have taken time, but hats off to them. And yes, a vast majority of them were north Indians, Mr. Raj Thackeray!

Should we fly to office?

2008-11-19T11:11:00.002-05:00

How do we beat this traffic nightmare in Bangalore? How does one go about beating a good 4 hours per day, spent in transit? Isn't there a more efficient way to spend time? Just add up 4 hours a day, and on an annualised basis, it translates to almost 960 hours of transit time per annum (assuming a 5-day week). That's obscene!

I have been thinking about how to circumvent this madness and am convinced that we need to find a way to use the Indian skies more efficiently. Why can't we fly to office? Ban all the buses, shuttles, rickshaws and other forms of public transport on the road. Instead, get the government to invest in chopper services that have a point-to-point operation i.e. home to office and back. Need not fly from your doorstep, but a group of surrounding neighbourhoods deciding a central spot from where they could take a flight to office. Make the public pay for this service - try to make it a volume game and keep the pricing affordable.

This might work exceptionally well for folks in our IT industry, who are either concentrated in Whitefield or in ITPL. Or, increasingly concentrated in Hebbal. Three major blocks in Bangalore city. Which means, we can have fixed take-off timings in the morning to these 3 blocks in say 250 seaters, from different parts of the city. Ok, in order to accommodate flexi-timings of various companies and their work timings, try and plan 3 take-off times the morning to these 3 blocks - say, one at 7 a.m, one at 8 a.m and one at 10 a.m. Similarly, for the return journey, 5 p.m., 7 p.m and 9 p.m.

Such a system will eradicate pollution, transit time and also act as an immensely productive and faster mechanism of commute within the city. Not to mention, save the public the ignominy of suffering a Deve Gowda and his public excesses, time and again!

When Deve Gowda said "Sorry"

2008-11-19T10:40:00.003-05:00

It is not very often that one hears Deve Gowda say sorry. That too, in public.In the firing line for the fiasco that his party caused to Bangalore's traffic earlier this week, the "son of the soil" and "farmer's man" (with a few millions in his kitty!), said a polite(read, meek) sorry on national television.

I will never forgive this man. He made me sit in my shuttle for 3.5 hours & made me miss my client calls. Forget me - thanks to the excesses of this man's celebration of his party's program in downtown Bangalore, little kids were left starving in the middle of nowhere for hours on length. I mean, imagine a school kid who would have left his/her school premises at the regular time of 4.30 p.m, still struggling to reach home at 10 p.m. - hungry, crying, tired, and super worried to see his/her parents. Not to mention, the paranoid parents across the city.

I just wish that there is way to curb the excesses of this man. I firmly believe that he has gotten away with his clout around the state and national politics for far too long, without an iota of accountability for his actions. Worse still - he has been booted out of state politics in the last Assembly election, when every discernible Bangalorean that I know of vowed to show him the door. Yet, the man has not learnt his lesson and is far from humble.

Sun TV only adds to depression

2008-11-09T03:40:00.003-05:00

We are Tamilians, and it is but natural for folks at home to watch the action on Sun TV and other regional Tamil channels. We have obviously lived in Bangalore all our lives, and I can therefore understand my parents' need to stay connected with the state where they migrated from all those decades back - Tamil Nadu.

But, I personally hate that channel called Sun TV - thankfully, I never have the time to watch TV, but the audio reaching your ear is not something you can avoid, even if I manage to avoid viewing the visuals on these channels. Sun TV in particular is a disaster -I have never heard anything positive in that channel. It has a perennial cry-baby tone, depressing musical tones, movies that harp on the super emotional high drama (read tears), overdressed anchors, etc. The channel also makes a farce when it tries to be super modern whilst being ultra-traditional - pretty sad, at doing that balancing act.

What I hate the MOST about this channel is its ability to pervade depression - due to the types of things I have mentioned above. Never have I heard anything positive in that channel, and I find that the more the folks on this channel cry, the greater is its "attempt" to entertain.

High time these guys in-charge of programming schedule and choice of programmes, does something to show something more positive. I just hate to hear (am gonna get earplugs, to avoid the audio as well!) such depressing music at such loud decibels that just adds to the "depression" around. As it is we have enough going on in the world, with falling stock markets, eroding networths, recession, depression, Somalia, hunger, poverty, and what have you. I don't think we need this channel that plays on sheer melodrama, and passes it off as entertainment. It is purely depressing. I seriously think that people over the age of 60 need not be dished out this sort of entertainment, that just brings down tears in their eyes and plays on melodrama again and again.

Ok,I am young and will not understand or appreciate that sort of melodrama, because I fundamentally dislike it and disapprove of it. At the same time, I firmly believe that melodrama(replete with sad music and endless tears on TV), is not good for a retired person's frame of mind. Such people have had a long, hard life and the last thing they need is melodrama to reinforce the types of struggles they had in their lives. It kills the psyche at that age, I am sure. What people at that age need light-hearted entertainment. Not an overkill of melodrama, that too with such high decibels of depressing music.

This blog piece may not go down too well with folks who like Sun TV or like that melodrama. But, its just my point of view and I don't think its wrong to look for better avenues for entertainment, than the type that just has so much of depression steeped in it.

A fantastic quote by Abraham Lincoln

2008-11-07T01:15:00.002-05:00

We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave, to every living heart and hearth-stone, all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature."

I can relate this quote to many other realms of life, not just restrict it to the battlefield....

The fine line between a relationship and friendship

2008-11-02T12:19:00.002-05:00

This might be as good as a Catch-22 situation, which I think many people in our current generation would have been exposed to. Of course, at varying degrees, if I may add i.e what is the line that one draws when one gets along so famously with a member of the opposite gender, and is one who is your greatest ever friend? What sort of a line does one draw in defining the space for oneself, and the space for the sublime friendship? And most importantly, how does one react when the line is breached and enters the realm of a relationship?

I am increasingly convinced that the loss of a friendship, especially a sublime,special and ever-lasting one, is a far greater loss than losing the same person in a relationship. Such relationships with one's greatest friend ends up being a double-edged sword, as it promises such a fantastic future together, only to topple not only the relationship, but also the fantastic camaraderie, that exists between 2 people . I am not trying to generalise here, but I am quite convinced that it is never a good idea to lose one's greatest ever friend to a relationship. That can wreck havoc on the psyche, as the aura of companionship that was so much a part of one's life as friends, gets eroded under the ghost of a relationship.

I think the line between friendship and a relationship with one's greatest friend is incredibly fine. And not too many people are good at reading that line. That can have devastating effects on the psyche. This is more damaging as one gets older, and longs for such companionship, only to find that he/she is no longer a part of one's life - neither as a friend/companion, nor as a partner.

It is much better to salvage pride of a friendship and enjoy the incredible camaraderie of such equations between 2 people from the opposite genders. I am convinced that the agony of losing a friendship, especially, a very special one, is far more damaging and leaves a greater void, than does the agony of the relationship going all wrong.

Friendship! Ah, that sublime relationship that teaches you so much about yourself and makes you an enriched human being. Losing it, can mean, losing the sounding board of your life.

American elections on a Tuesday?

2008-11-02T07:19:00.002-05:00

Ha ha ha, the age-old Indian superstition is being put to the sword. I am not for one moment ridiculing Indian history and tradition, just amply amused. We have grown up in an environment when the more momentous occasions, and new beginnings in life are never done on a Tuesday, in India. I have seen people put off decisions on a Tuesday, reconsider paths on other days of the week, delay the joining dates in companies (if the joining date is a Tuesday), look at other days of the week when they book tickets on flights and trains et al. Such is the superstitious adulation that a Tuesday gets. I have never managed to fathom the logical essence behind this superstition, but that's the way it is.

Yet, if we were to take a moment to universally accept that if Tuesday is not a good day for Indians to start something new, the same would be the case for a large part of the world. My logical being, human beings are human beings, and what is not so great in the realm of superstition for human beings in one part of the world, should hold true for human beings in other parts of the world too. But, looks like this superstition is getting summarily questioned now, what with the American President's election happening in a couple of days from now - Nov 4, a Tuesday!

So much for superstition! I just wish, we stick to tradition, history et al, and get rid of these sorts of superstitions, because they have no logical bearing. Every day, is a good day. If you think you are good enough to do something on some day, just do it. I mean, if things are expected to go so horribly wrong if you start something on a Tuesday, then why in the wild world do we need that day in the week? May as well see if we can scrap it, right? Hell, anything could go wrong on any day of the week. What's so special about a Tuesday being a sure recipe for disaster? Beyond me, these superstitions are. I just prefer tradition and history, rather than following these mad superstitions, which have no sensible explanation.

Anil...you inspire confidence,pride and supreme dignity

2008-11-02T06:20:00.006-05:00

I am not the first one talking so highly of Anil Kumble. Nor am I the last Indian to be saying that I am so proud that such a fantastic individual graced the game of cricket at the international level for us, for such a long time. Makes me feel so proud as an Indian.

I consider myself quite fortunate of having spent 30 seconds next to Anil Kumble at the Bangalore cricket stadium in 1993. This was when he was not so famous. But, even then, I could not resist from going up to him and taking his autograph on a plastic cap that I had. Something about that man was inherently inspiring. I felt it even at that time - all of us are wiser in hindsight. But my gut feel told me about this man's greatness even then. I just felt a sense of immense pride getting his autograph on that Saturday afternoon back in 1993.

Another moment was the Titan Cup in 1997 in Bangalore. He and Srinath single-handedly took India to victory, after Mark Taylor hit his first ODI century. And the scenes in the stadium was a sight to behold. Cheering, even a good defensive shot against the impulsive, super-charged Glenn McGrath.

So, the great man has called it quits today. That too, at his favourite ground, the Ferosha Kotla, New Delhi. I dare say, it was simply terrific to see his family next to him, the entire stadium going up in unison cheering him, and on this occasion, seeing the Aussies credit the great man. It was simply terrific to see such unadulterated and sincere appreciation, respect and pride for a man who played international cricket for us, with such character.

I actually thought I'd have tons to write about this man when he retires. But today, as I see the headlines on the news, I am just lost for words for the manner in which this fine individual conducted himself even in his retirement. Simple, uncomplicated announcement, a last declaration and short stint of 4 overs on his favourite ground, greeting his opponents, fellow-players and umpires and heading out of the ground. The moment of Kumble's retirement at the Kotla has to his holding the Indian cap in his hand and waving it around the ground in his final lap of honour.

Hats off, Anil. Hats off. I am too little to be writing anything about you, except being inspired by you, to make a decent contribution in my own life. Hope to see you at the Bangalore stadium, in the future. I will definitely get your autograph again.

Vishy and VVS - simple champions!

2008-10-30T12:40:00.004-05:00

We have a new world champion in chess. And I feel so proud that the title is in the hands of a fantastic champion. Viswanathan Anand has single-handedly put India on the world map of chess. I cannot forget the number of times his name has hogged the headlines for his wins around the globe. He has taken on the best of them in every corner of the globe for 25 years! Imagine, 25 years of concentration!Most people cannot get past 25 months! Hats off to this champion player and making India so proud. Imagine, WORLD CHAMPION. Wow! This great achievement sends inspirational goosebumps down my spine!

Of course, the other genius - VVS Laxman. MY GOD! That's my reaction to the man's displays of genius on a cricket field. Yes, the game of cricket has a far greater fan following in India, compared to chess. But, the number of genius' in the game, is rather small. VVS for me, is sheer genius. He makes the game look so ridiculously easy. I mean, how can somebody be so calm, completely assured, and still play some strokes that are nothing short of magical? It is beyond me as to how this man is able to lift his game to such levels, especially when people have written his epitaph for the millionth time and, when he plays against the Aussies. There must be something about the Aussies that he likes - it just can't be the pace of their bowling or their fear towards him. He just takes them on, in a way, that belies aggression, but is still merciless. I can never forget that 281 that he scored at the Eden Gardens against the Aussies in 2001. That was a seminal innings for me and taught us (not just cricketers, but Indians at large), that we are capable of routing the best in the world.

And today, 200 not out in Delhi by VVS! Same class, same magic, same genius, just getting better with age - something like old wine I guess.

What intrigues me is the similarity between a Viswanathan Anand and a VVS. Both are genius material in their respective spheres. Both hail from normal, middle-class backgrounds in India. Both have nurtured their talents over many years of training and exposure to world arenas. Both have won against the very best in the world, in the most trying of circumstances. Both of them are the best to watch when on song - irrespective of other champions & other people's records, these 2 are sublime to watch. When both of them play their game, I don't feel like doing anything else, simply because, I don't want to miss their magical contributions. It is like sitting on a Saturday afternoon on a hammock, listening to your favourite music, reading your favourite book, and getting merged with nature (assume for a second, that you are on the countryside) - natural, free-flowing, complete & uninhibited talent on song! Classical, too!

Most of all, they are simple south Indians. I am not making any regional statement here (I am all for uniformity); but, at the end of the day, if they get their normal idly or sambar, that is enough for them. But, how many simple south Indians borde such magic?:). That in itself, should be a theme for another blog.

Hats off Vishy! You make me proud as an Indian -world champion! I hope to get your autograph someday in life & a photograph with you, so that I can tell future generations about the first world chess champion that India produced - say it with pride.

And VVS, when you retire, I will get hold of a DVD of all your famous centuries against the Aussies. I just need to relive the word genius, again and again.

Of Diwali and television anchors

2008-10-28T08:54:00.002-05:00

I couldn't stop myself from writing this. It just caught my attention! The television anchors over the last 3 days have been a revelation. The female anchors are usually clad in western clothes, with low cut tops, skirts, coats, long hair, high heeled sandals and so on. And the guys live up to the reputation of the pin-stripe community; you know, coats, ties, trousers, shoes et al!

But the last 3 days have seen Indian dressing at its best on new channels. I have been mesmerised by the choice of fantastic sarees by the female anchors - red, cream, ivory, green, olive green, brown, maroon, orange - every discernible resplendent colour possible. More importantly, I found that these female anchors were able to balance their presence on stage as well as, if not better than, what they normally manage during the rest of the year. Their colourful presence on stage was not at all a distraction, which might be the case at other times!

What I particularly liked was the energy of these anchors. They remained focused on their jobs, spoke with the same level of conviction that they had on other days, and did not make a mess of the paraphernalia that they had brought on to stage - earrings, flowers, nose rings, dupattas, and what have you! The guys were resplendent too - with sherwanis, or kurtas, pyjamas, big red tikas on their foreheads, and so on.

Just reinforced what I have long believed - Indian dressing, is one of the finest fashion statements to make. And increasingly, it is getting blended with some terrific sex appeal! You just need to take a look at Shireen Bahn on CNBC TV 18 on the Diwali night, and you will realise what I mean. Class journalist, who looked astonishingly beautiful, in a red saree. Her smile, just added to the beauty!

Cheers to Indian journalism and Indian anchors, who are seeing value in bringing world news to our doorways, with a very Indian look!

Diwali 2008. Is it really a festival of lights?

2008-10-28T08:32:00.002-05:00

Its that time of the year in India, where every citizen is in a happy frame of mind. All previous harrowing experiences in life are pushed to the backburner and a new beginning is made. In some parts of the country and indeed, some religions, it is actually the start of a New Year - the business new year. New businesses are started on this day, big dreams are conceptualised and laid out on this day, pivotal changes in professional lives are made on Diwali, crackers, lamps and flowers light up the average household. There is a sense of immense cheer and happiness right around the country. The sense of having the biggest Indian festival with its fair share of pomp and show, steeped in genuine happiness, is at its ripest best at this time of the year.

But, this year, I just want to stop and take a reality check on whether it really is a very Happy Diwali. I mean, look at the trials and tribulations that we have been through this year - the Sensex eroded by over half its value, nearly 10 terrorists strikes in every part of India, global slowdown, rupee-dollar equation getting expensive, FIIs selling off billions of dollars and repatriating cash to their motherlands, the big Indo-US nuclear deal was the big headline till it was finally inked, the erosion in sentiment and dollar dreams seen with the demise of the mammoth investment banks on Wall Street thus leading to a revolutionary government intervention in capitalism, etc. There have been just too many bad things happening around.

BUT, I am an optimist and have seen a lot of positives in these trying times as well. India's first individual gold medal at the Olympics and its best ever performance at the great event, Tendulkar scaling the peak of Test match batsmanship, the actual inking of the nuclear deal that will hopefully help India in times to come, Chandrayaan, Aravinda Adiga's Booker Prize putting India again on the world map, Tata -Corus, Reliance and its global plans, HCL - Axon ( 3 M & A deals that laid perspective to Indian corporate ambition!) et al.

I am hopeful on this Diwali day. I have not heard too many crackers near my house this Diwali - but am guessing that it is more a function of people playing their cards of not wanting to pollute the environment. And there is a quiet resilience, even in these trying times, that we will emerge from this fiasco, stronger, bigger and much, much better off than we can possibly imagine

National Anthem and the theatres

2008-10-27T00:48:00.003-05:00

Jana Gana Mana Adhinayaka Jaye He Bharata Bhagya Vidhaata.....lines that make the hair on my wrists stand straight, every time I listen to it. The national anthem - a sign of immense pride of being an Indian. I have sung it in school, college, valedictory functions, inter-school, inter-college cultural competitions, what have you.

But, never did I imagine the same spirit of nationalism run through my system at the start of a movie, inside a theatre. That's been the trend in Bangalore theatres for a few years now. And I see a transformation happening in the manner in which one regales being an Indian - the theatre owners have secured a fantastic music album consisting of very seasoned vocalists to sing the national anthem with a renewed vigour and spirit. SPB, Lata Mangeshkar, Jagjit Singh, Balamurali Krishna, Asha Bhonsle, Pandit Jasraj etc - names that have stood the test of time in Indian classical music; names that have shaped Indian music worldwide. It was a terrific experience to be witness to the national anthem sung with such passion and national spirit by these legends.

As I listened to the national anthem over the last weekend at Lido theatre, just before the movie Road Romeo began, I felt so nice. And I began to appreciate (for the zillionth time!), what a beautiful composion and tune our national anthem has. Terrific lyrics, just add to the fantastic spell that this great attribute of Indian-ness has, covering various states, rivers, regions, religions etc. Pretty much, the diversity of India, enconsced in this terrific form of Indian spirit!

I also think that it is actually not such a bad idea to play the national anthem in such an interesting manner at the start of a movie. We see it on TV when India takes on different countries in various sports. We see it on Republic Day and Independence Day every year. But, given that all of us are so caught up with our busy lives at all other times, it is good once-in-a-while, to recall our Indian-ness, by listening to one of the greatest assertions of Indian nationality, the national anthem.

Jai Hind!

Bangalore cop- with a soft touch

2008-10-21T12:55:00.008-05:00

This happened right near my office today. The red light near my office had rather less traffic this morning, which made it easier to get to the office. As I turned at the junction near my office, there was a cop who put up his hand and indicated STOP to me. It was the usual stuff I thought - you know, cops checking your license and documents and finding an excuse to make some money. But, I was stumped at what I saw a few seconds after that STOP signal.

The cop started moving away from my car towards the middle of the road. Behind him was a lady who was trying to cross the road but was unable to do so (given the chaos at the signal where I was trying to take a right turn). The cop kept stopping different vehicles that were trying to avoid the signal and with a firm hand, helped the lady cross the street. Very impressive!

We are unforgiving in "chargesheeting" the policeman in India, at their inefficiency etc. But, this was a moment for me to cherish. And a moment that taught me that there is a human side to these cops that is quite never noticed.

Good to see such a cop, in the heat and dust of Indian roads and noisy, restless traffic.

India thrash the Aussies by 320 runs at Mohali!

2008-10-21T12:37:00.004-05:00

Yippee!! Celebration time! We thrashed the Aussies at Mohali!!! And this time, pretty much nailed them hard! A record victory by 320 runs at Mohali. Kudos to MS Dhoni for leading a team that provided us with a great all round performance.

For me, this match was not just about the convincing win over the Aussies. It was about the sense of occasion i.e. Tendulkar's 12000 runs (record breaking effort by the genius!), Saurav's milestone of 7000 Test match runs, et al. But, the moment in the match was Amit Mishra's debut match - what a dream come true for the 25 year old leg spinner. A five wicket haul on debut, against the world's toughest and most formidable team! Brilliant effort and I just hope the Indian selectors give him a long haul and help him build a career.

And the other moments - getting Mathew Hayden when he was merciless on the Indian bowling attack; Zaheer Khan's magical spell on the last day of the match; Tendulkar's diving catch at point and showing us what spirit he has even after 20 years of international cricket;Ganguly's expression of punching the air hard and giving his biggest smile possible on reaching a magnificent 102; Dhoni's super aggressive 92; Gambhir's century coupled with his sublime partnership with Sehwag oof 182 runs for the opening wicket in the second innings etc. Not to mention, the spirit of victory with which they marched ahead into the match and gave Australia no chance whatsoever.

I just hope the ICC can be a little less racist, what with its fine on Zaheer Khan for alleged violation of the spirit of the game. Just because he ran around Hayden and fired a salvo or two, in his spirit of celebration? Crappy ICC!

Great day overall- I just hope we bag the Border-Gavaskar trophy in Delhi on the Diwali weekend. Like Harsha Bhogle wrote in his blog today, India has a Diwali one week in advance! Cheers!!!

The Aditi song in Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na

2008-10-21T11:29:00.001-05:00

I love it! Every time I listen to this song, my heart dances. Its a scintillating song. I mean, there have been innumerable songs in Bollywood over the last few decades, where the hero of the movie is in the mode of "Sorry, babe. I will make it up to you", or, in the mode of, "Oops! What happened? What can I do to cheer you up?", etc. These songs have usually been immensely lively, shot in very natural environs such as beaches, gardens, and other public places (yet another option for heroes and heroines to run around trees!). But, this Aditi song is incredibly different.

And I love it! Its got energy; purpose; sense of occasion;fantastic sense of humour;easy on the heart;and it makes me feel so nice at the end of it all. Especially that one line, "Aditi, hans de, hans de.....tu zara" - that is so typical of a guy trying to cheer up his girl, in every discernible way that he can think of. It is also possibly the expression that would account for the fact that a guy will do anything to see his babe happy & even a frown on her face propels him deep into depression!

Infact, I love this song so much, that my tired legs begin to automatically move whenever I listen to this song, irrespective of where I am (which is usually in a car or a shuttle from/to office, when I hear this song). Every time I listen to this song, it energises me and makes my heart dance. I don't know why, but maybe, because it gives me so much happiness that, in this world of materialism, there are some old world charms still alive & kicking. One such divine charm, is to see your babe happy. Or, even any dear friend of the opposite sex who you get along with famously, happy.

Kabhi Aditi....terrific song! I plan to download this into my iPod, rather than wait for only FM radio to play it!

Financial crisis - Economics at its best!

2008-10-19T11:22:00.011-05:00

The world has seen this meltdown happening in front of its eyes. Scores of print and prime time have been consumed, talking about the drama unfolding in Wall Street and Dalal Street. Experts, analyts, commentators, market observers, investors, brokers and numerous other participants in the financial markets have seen their personal portfolios nosedive. Hence, I am not going to write about all that, as it is public knowledge.

But what I definitely feel is that, this market meltdown is a fantastic lesson in the subject of economics. All that I ever studied about markets being imperfect, of artificial prices, of inflation impacting various things, of price elasticity, of stock market movements, of demand and supply et al have seen visual expression for the first time in my life. I always loved economics as a subject - I remember, I turned in the longest answer paper in that subject (10 pages!), back in b-school. And I never ever felt that it was a subject. Every time I studied economics, I felt as if I was reading up on things that happen in day-to-day life (minus the financial crisis, of course).

This meltdown has made me recall all those lessons that I had studied in college. I always used to wonder how a market movement can actually paralyse an economy. In hindsight, I think I was left wondering a bit about the theories (no offence to economists, I admire them!) - in terms of how those big graphs and charts actually panned out in real life. I understood the principle behind the theories very well, but hardly had an idea about the real impact of those intriguing theories. Make no mistake about it - I am talking about folks like Samuelson, Keynes, and the other in economics who I truly admire and respect, and who had penned down some legendary thoughts on economics all those centuries back. The fact that what they wrote all those eons ago hold true, actually seen various cycles - 1929 Depression, 1991 crisis, 2001 recession and many others come to my mind - are testament to the longevity and universal application of this fantastic subject.

I am glad that I studied Economics. It was one of my favourite subjects and I strongly recommend it for students of all streams of academics. I also liked Accounting and Income Tax. But, I found Economics sublime. Almost, a dream subject. I am tempted to do an M.A. in it now and reinforce what I am learning in real life, as it were. I just wish, I had the time!!:(

Rice is fattening!

2008-10-19T10:43:00.004-05:00

I am convinced now. I had no clue about it earlier, I must admit. But, after having lived in the north of India over the last 2 years (before returning home in Bangalore), I see distinct patterns of food habits in the two regions.As different and distinct these 2 parts of India are - north and south - so are their cuisines.

A recent experience highlighted this difference. My uncle in Delhi made a flying visit to Bangalore and stayed over at our place. And his opening line to me was, " looks like home food suits you!". Clear signs of fattening - as against my dad's claim that I am only 'looking' healthier!! Now, this is the uncle whose house I used to frequent on many a weekend whilst n Delhi. We spent many evenings watching some engaging cricket - be it the flamboyant IPL or test match cricket. Of course, the other commonality was our common passion for chapatis and daal, over rice - despite our being authentic south Indians! Even my aunt held the same beliefs - I guess, they have grown to be more north Indian than I ever did, given that they have lived in Delhi for the last 35 years!

But, coming back to the point of this piece. I think the type of food that I had in Delhi and indeed, all over north India ,never made me put on weight (or, LOOK healthy!). Ok, I was living out of a suitcase and hardly had home food. Of course, I wasn't complaining one bit, except for the work timings! But, all the same, with all that ghee and butter and other exotic toppings in even an average meal there (replete with chapatis, more often than not), I never put on weight. Again, I may have been burning it off, what with some obscene work timings and client pressure. But, still the human body has its own "digestive" capabilities and ability to retain fat. And despite my so many different types of food there, I never put on weight. A sublime dinner of hot phulkas, or chapatis with daal and curry was enough to bring a smile to my face and fill my tummy.

Not that I did not miss home food. Of course, I did! But, I never realised that I was actually eating food that suited my structure and body much better than what I was traditionally accustomed to, in all my growing years in Bangalore. I knew that I loved north Indian food, but I never realised that it suited me more than south Indian food. I have learnt that lesson only after getting back home. And it is showing in the fact that I have actually started feeling heavier every time I eat rice now. The thrill of eating a hot chapati with a tasty curry is a compelling thought! Especially, during this time of the year, when the weather is at its best.

Anyway, north or south, food is food. Yet, rice may not be the dish for me!

Radio, and its new lease of life through RJs

2008-10-18T13:52:00.007-05:00

It is amazing how the role of a radio jockey is changing. From what I know, it used to be a hobby for people; or a pastime, at best. But, look at the transformation now. There are folks in Bangalore who do it full-time, or more than part-time at least! That's not all - they are counted amongst the glitterati of the city, get accorded VIP status at major events in the city, get invited to inaugurate various things in the city as a chiefguest et al. It sure has caught on. Which is good - at least a new variety and breed of professionals are getting recognised by the dint of their contributions!

Today was quite special as a major retail store, The Weekender was setting up a new branch in Commercial Street, Bangalore. This is a place where most shopaholics in the city flock on any given day, and more so on a Saturday. And 4 of the most famous and popular RJ's in town - Prithvi, Pallavi, Lakshmi and Anjaan were there for the inauguration. They were busy interviewing people at the store, taking requests for various songs and dedications, playing with kids and giving out goodies and gifts. It was a great thing to see, such a simple and uncomplicated set of people connecting with the larger audience. What appealed even more was the degree of connect that the citizens of the city had with these radio jockeys, whose voices are heard across vehicles in the city every single day. Their humour, sense of occasion, history, ability to call out key events related to national interest, constant updates of scores during cricket matches and other sports of national importance, etc have caught on to people's imagination for sure.

I, for one, enjoy the shows on 94.3 FM. Pallavi, that bubbly and incredibly exuberant and "chatter-boxy" type of individual who keeps me hooked onto the radio during my 1.5 hour drives from office back home! And Prithvi, who with his jest and fine ability to do new things such as crack jokes on birthday boys & girls, play the role of a detective etc, are engaging stuff!

Great to see the radio get this wake up call through these RJs. The last time I was hooked on to the radio was in school and college- that too, on Vividh Bharati, and Man Chahe Geet in the afternoons at 1.30 pm. And before that, Amin Sayani and his legendary voice & sense of humour. The Prithvis, Pallavis, Anjaans and the Lakshmis, are giving radio a new lease of life. And to borrow from McDonald, "I'm loving it"!

The Politics of the Nano

2008-10-14T11:19:00.001-05:00

We have all heard of leveraging market opportunities that will propel India into the next phase of its economic growth. Pundits have opined that India will be one of the superpowers of the world sometime during this century. And I strongly believe, that the Tata Nano project, at the start of this century is one of those key market opportunities that reinforce our presence on the global map. However, the politics of the Nano has ensured that this massive economic opportunity be stunted in its intent even before it takes off.

The likes of Ms. Mamta Banerjee have tried to justify the social stigma that the Nano project would create, in terms of depriving farmers of their land. Nobody is disputing that claim. Her voice alone, not to mention her highly dramatised hunger strike, have been definitive ways of telling Mr. Ratan Tata that the Singur plant will never see the light of the day in the state of Bengal. However, what I fail to understand is, where was this protest when the approvals for the Nano were on? Why is it that no other state in the country has a problem in hosting the Tatas for this prestigious project? Why is it that Bengal digs its own hole by holding up one of India’s most ardent projects? Why are we not able to identify the potential or even catch a glimpse of more forward-looking Bengalis like their current Chief Minister?

If one is to read the context of the Singur project in the light of Bengal’s history with industrialization, there possibly isn’t anything bigger than the Nano project that has crossed the drawing board in the state. However, the conservatives and the socialists of Bengal are far too concerned about the poor farmers (and only them, as it were) who would be deprived of their land, at the cost of the Nano. Fair point. But, what they fail to see is the larger possibility of a Nano being able to accommodate these very deprived souls at a future date. This would provide these farmers far greater economic prosperity than a one-off settlement against their lands would. This politicization of the Nano does not have the larger picture in its view i.e. the Tata is one of India’s largest conglomerates and is one of the most socially affable companies ever seen in the country.

I find it hard to digest that these politicians are so disconnected on the singular theme of a dream car from India, hitting global markets - an future Indian brand that has caught the attention of every discernible automobile consumer, manufacturer and government in the world. It is so tragic to see the Bengal Chief Minister trying to pacify the likes of Mamta Banerjee and Ratan Tata – the former being the root cause of this obstacle to the Nano dream, and the latter, a visionary who has given the country the chance to catapult India on the global automobile map. Not only that, scores of suppliers and other stakeholders related to this project will reap the benefits of this dream. Kinetic Engineering is a case in point and there will be numerous other companies and other establishments that can build strong business plans for their future growth, based on the Nano rollout. There are other benefits too – employment, industrialization of a state that hardly anyone takes seriously, opportunity for exports, development financing and so on.

In all this, I strongly believe that its time that the communist approach of some of the key influencers in Bengal, take a leaf out of their Chief Minister’s book. Mr. Buddhadeb Bhattarcharya. He was fighting a lone battle in balancing Ratan Tata’s vision in Singur and Mamta Banerjee’s firm resolve to boot out the Nano from Bengal. I am not Bengali, but I am an educated Indian. And I strongly feel that the educated folks in Bengal are possibly not able to rake in a collective voice that would drive some wisdom into the politics of the Nano. People opposing the Nano have not been able to gauge the message that future investors in Bengal would have – Bengal has eventually paid the price for its narrow-mindedness. I just hope, as a forward-looking Indian, that this the last time they falter. Else, Bengal will have to reconcile with the fact that the rest of the country will power ahead in the modern era – far beyond what the current Bengalis can even fathom.

The assignment of the project to Gujarat, should have hopefully sent out the message to the conservatives of Bengal, that India is a progressing nation. And the likes of Ratan Tata, have alternatives and will not (and I dare say, need not) succumb to the conservative & antiquated views in Bengal.

Credibility matters

2008-10-12T11:22:00.003-05:00

I have been thinking a lot about this lately. And the more I think about it, the more I am convinced about it. It has got to do with credibility of an individual. I am increasingly beginning to believe that this is the one attribute of a human being's personality that can make or break a large part of his life.

All of us work exceptionally hard to make a career and try and reach out highest aspirations. Dreams are no longer just dreams as people have begun to find ways to realise those dreams. A vast majority of our pursuits in life have tended to become extremely materialistic. That, is more a function of the opportunities that our generation is providing us with, more than anything else.

But, in between all this, I am quite convinced that the few who go far in life are folks who are not only self-driven, but are people with a high sense of self-esteem and credibility. Why is it that a Bjorn Borg, despite going bankrupt after his tennis career, returned to Centre Court Wimbledon and handed out the trophy to Federer (when the latter equalled Borg's record?). Why and how is an Amitabh Bachann revered even in the twilight of his career? Why are folks such as Dr. Singh and the like looked upon so highly? Why is Kotler the last word in marketing? Why is Peter Drucker still the guru of management? How is it that we have only one Warren Buffet? And surprise, surprise, why have we never managed to create more Tendulkars?

Maybe, I am getting biased by the famous people that all of us know. However, if I were to stop for a minute and think of people who would make more sense in the context of my life - I find many such people. You know, people with courage of conviction, sticking their neck out, being respected for their achievements, and people with immense credibility. And I know quite a few senior citizens, who once held positions of power, and are STILL sought after for the expert opinion etc. Their pedigree is not a function of their age or of the Indian tradition of respecting older folks. These are people who genuinely have credibility. I know a chartered accountant with 25 years experience, who still calls up a retired corporate banker from a public sector bank asking for his opinion on valuation, finance. I know a very, very, senior MP who once told this same corporate banker that his word is good enough if the bank cannot give his firm a loan. I also know a GM of a public sector bank who once told the MD of the same bank, that if this gentleman had refused a loan, he would not override that decision. IF that is not credibility, what else is!

Look at the new found respect for Ratan Tata - the Nano is just the ammunition or the tool. The bigger picture is his vision, his credibility, his courage of conviction, his dream for all of us and his dream that might inspire many of us to dream bigger. Also, why is it that people do not ever associate any unethical behaviour by the Tata group? Credibility, is my humble guess!

And the point is, we have many such people - bankers, industrialists, consultants, accountants, lawyers etc. But, not too many of them enjoy credibility. If a person makes a name for himself, that might be the easier part of his journey; the toughest part is to systematically reinforce it to himself & stakeholders concerned, that he did not make it to his position/place, just like that. That needs serious credibility. People do get found out in no time; the one big differentiator and key ingredient that can help a person (even if he is not financially well 0ff - say Borg after his retirement!), is keeping his/her name intact. The value of a person’s credibility and goodwill is beyond measurement. I am happy that I have learnt this so early in my life! Might as well be remembered as a good human being who stood for his/her own values in life (rather than as a poor, middle-class or rich guy or whatever – with all the transient materialistic bliss).

As they say in cricket, take care of the runs; the dollars will take care of themselves. I might just risk saying, take care of your beliefs and self-esteem; everything else follows. Nothing else is more important – losing one’s name is more damaging than going bankrupt.

A visit to the KSCA India vs Australia Day 4

2008-10-12T10:48:00.008-05:00

It was my customary visit to a test match being played at home (Blore!). And for once, it was in the stand right next to the pavilion stand(as against the usual top floor above the Pavilion that I have been going to) - which means, I had a 70-degree view of the proceedings. Good fun though!

What added to the flavour was the nostalgia of going to watch test match cricket at the ground with dad - since he is a die-hard sports fanatic! I felt so happy to have managed 2 tickets in a very good stand with a great view, and bring some serious happiness to him in his retired life! I felt so happy!

Anyway, back to the day at the ground. It was actually a day that had riveting test match cricket - not the usual slam-bang masala of the shorter versions of the game. Possibly, for the first time in my various visits to the KSCA, today was a gripping day of hard fought equations, with no team ready to give the edge to the other.

The day started with Zaheer Khan completing his second test match 50 (much to the delight of the crowds here). And, I for one, was particularly fascinated to see the famous Brett Lee action in person - sure is exciting to see that gigantic structure steam down his run-up, hurl bouncers, fume at batsmen, and add to the drama by bending down on his knees and appealing at the top of his voice!

The Indian team folded up for 360, falling 70 short of the Aussie first innings total, with Zaheer Khan the highest scorer (55 not out). The Aussies came out to face a fiery Zaheer and it wasn't long before Hayden was back in the tent. But the biggest roar was for Ricky Ponting (in terms of booing him out of the ground!). And the time that Ponting was at the crease was possibly the time I enjoyed one of the most beautiful days of test match cricket. Reason -that classical battle between a young rookie (Ishant Sharma) trying to prove his point yet again, against at veteran of 10000 test match runs (Ponting). The seamers, in-dippers, the swingers, the ones going away, the dot balls, the various appeals for LBW - were sights to behold i.e. a famous batsman struggling in the cauldron of test match cricket, against a bowler who is increasingly getting the better of him. The standout was the manner of Punter’s dismissal: well articulated, brilliantly planned and magnificently executed, courtesy, a quick catch by the special VVS at mid-wicket. Ponting's dismissal, brought a thunderous roar in the stadium, and I was out of my seat in a jiffy, cheering the Indian team on!

Things settled down a wee bit after that, with the Aussies scoring runs. But, they lost Clarke (after he hit a cover drive in his first ball - great shot!). And, the Aussie nemesis, Harbhajan Singh, got into his elements - terrific off spin bowling, capitalising on the spite in the pitch, putting pressure on the Aussies with close-in fielders et al. He possibly did not get the adequate returns, in terms of number of wickets, for the brilliance he displayed in his art today.

And then, that proud cricketer - Anil Kumble. It was hard to believe that this gigantic, yet gentle legend is playing his last test match at home. He has become a bit of a role model for me - with his conduct, poise, ability to answer all critics with his performance, and immense dignity and pride of playing for India. I will never forget a moment in this test match, in fact, right at the toss - Ravi Shastri was doing the usual TV stint of covering the toss. Once the toss was done and he had finished speaking to Ponting, it was Kumble's turn. And I distinctly noticed a tremendous amount of respect and regard in Ravi's eyes for Kumble at this particular toss. Maybe I am reading too much into it, but I really sensed a tremendous amount of "Wow, Anil. You are in your last match at home. You have been a great servant for your state and country. All the best for your final game at home". I think, I have watched enough cricket in my life to see that much of regard, even if momentary (at a toss!). Such is the pedigree of Anil. I zoomed my binoculars time and again, to get a final glimpse of this legend in action - be it while he was setting the field, or while he was bowling (albeit with an injury).

Anyway, the match is brilliantly poised. I enjoyed my day at the stadium with daddy. Especially since, it was replete with good, old-fashioned, battle for dominance and with both teams still in the hunt. And, a draw, is still a possibility. I just wish tomorrow were a holiday since it is going to be a fascinating final day at the KSCA.

There were some terrific moments during the day, where I was almost left wondering about the kind of life these sport stars live. The number of times Ganguly, Harbhajan and Tendulkar were cheered every time they took their positions near the boundary lines was something else. I mean, imagine turning around and walking to you position on the field and at least 5000 people roaring your name in unison, and about 200 people clamouring for space near the boundary line to get your autograph. This happened all day. And I dare say, that is just a shade of the lives that these guys live - perennially in the limelight. Possibly, that one comment in the newspapers, where kids were flocking around the Sunny Gavaskar - though he had retired by the time these kids were even born, was testament to the man's contribution to Indian cricket and the fan following that he enjoys, 22 years after he retired.

I guess I will sign off by saying that I saw another member of the 10000 runs club today - Allan Border. And I will just say, wow!

Saurav Ganguly - a lesson in faith!

2008-10-10T05:16:00.013-05:00

I always end up writing something when a famous cricketer retires. I wrote on my blog when Shane Warne hung up his boots and I am doing just that today, right after Ganguly has announced his retirement. I don't know why I do this, but these guys send a non-stop message of inspiration in life to me. I am sure, I will write more when Sachin, VVS, Dravid and Kumble retire as well. If there was blogging in the 1980s' and 1990s, with such high-speed internet, I am pretty sure I would have made my blog an "inspiration blog" on some truly phenomenal sportsmen(not just cricketers).

Anyway, getting back to the moment - its the last month of international cricket for Dada. Gosh, that man is somebody I have just admired ever since I saw him play first in 1996! What a spirited fella! Ever ready to take on the system head on and be so confident than come what may, he is good enough to pound the best in the business. Australia, England, Pakistan, Sri Lanka - all the cricketing nations in the world, who did not fear him so much for his smashing hits as much as they did for his attitude. Very few Indian cricketers have been able to look at their international counterparts in the eye and let them know that they are not there for gardening or just facing chin music! Dada was different for me - he taught me aggression; incredible self-confidence; a deep passion for the game(that was so sadly abused by the powers-that-be). I don't know him personally, but I strongly feel that he only meant business and was not there in the game for just the adulation(he deserved it though!).

And that super-arrogant, straight talking Greg Chappell, unfortunately had the powers; else, I am pretty sure, Dada would have ensure that Chappell never enters our country again. Alright, he may have been a great Aussie cricketer in his heyday; but remember, he was one of the meanest and cheapest players(figuratively), by devising the under-arm bowling option in an ODI against New Zealand. Dada never resorted to such trivial measures - he played the games by the rule, and played it hard(eye to eye with the opposition). Go home, Greg Chappell - we don't need you!

What about the inspiration Dada gave to newcomers? Half of the current talent in the best 16 in the country - Harbhajan, Yuvraj, etc etc, owe it to Dada's unrelenting encouragement for the youth/new players. I strongly feel that Dada's captaincy is a lesson in management - how to lead in the most adverse and severe conditions. Look at the balancing act he had to do i.e. get his career going when the selectors were out to nail him, let the opposition know that he was no pushover, and stand like a man of steel for rookies who had no clue about the pressures of international cricket. That sort of a balancing act, in a situation where Dada's head was always on the line, is not easy. And it comes to great leaders;people with gumption, courage of conviction and immense concentration and passion. Those are my biggest learnings from this great Bengali.

It is not a joke to score nearly 20,000 international runs in an era that had some of India's batting stalwarts - the Fab Four as people call them. And to be counted amongst that elite and inordinately superior crowd is a special thing in itself. Hats off to you, Saurav! You taught Indian sportsman (across genres) and people like me at the start of their professional careers, what it means to win. And win, against all odds!

Wish you a very, very, very happy retired life, Dada! If ever I see you as a commentator, I'd be glued in to listen to the brain behind that aggressive attitude. All the best!

My first month at SAP

2008-10-01T13:00:00.002-05:00

I just finished one month of working life in SAP. And its been something else. I had only heard of software companies being places of immense employee pampering. After having seen traces of this pampering, I now know why people flock into this industry. And absolutely no regrets, I am so happy to be in this truly legendary company!

The people in the office seem to be quite relaxed, without the pressure of finishing things in a hurry. There is always a consensus to everything; everybody's opinion is taken. And I have distinctly noticed that things are questioned in the realm of what works for a customer, rather than sitting and making counterpoints. Quite a constructive environment to work in, and something that challenges the intellectual capacity.

Of course, the free food and the free shuttle service from home to office & back are the added luxuries. I have also seen a bunker room of sorts, where people literally draw up big blankets and go to sleep! And I am told that this room needs advance reservation, as its perennially choc-a-bloc!. Not to mention the salsa dance that happens in the evening, or the table tennis room that is full all the time. Plus, in addressing the needs of the extreme fitness freaks, SAP has a full-fledged gymnasium - what with tread mills, state-of-the-art equipment etc. And people ensure that they make use of it - every time I cross the gym, its full (with some interesting faces around too!).

Talking of interesting faces, there is no dearth of them in the company. The advantage of being a truly great MNC and such a top brand is that it attracts a wide variety of people from all over the world. That can only add to the colour around the office, you see!

Good place, I must say- has a happy feel about it.

New shuttle and food vendor in the office

2008-10-01T12:44:00.002-05:00

Two major changes in life today - one to do with transport to office & back, and the other, related to food. We have two new vendors managing these 2 aspects of our lives in the office today.

It was an interesting debut with the transport vendor this morning. To begin with, he arrived at our regular Malleswaram 18th cross bus stop, 10 minutes late. There were about 7 of us waiting in the early morning, half-sleepy mode; waiting to grab a quick 45 min/1 hour nap on the way to office. But all such dreams were down the drain the minute the bus arrived - we were more people than the number of seats available to sit! So much for planning, estimation of headcount on our route and all other sophisticated systems & procedures of having an RFID etc in the bus, when the basics went wrong. Anyway, I managed to squeeze into the seat right next to the bus driver, only to be greeted by a bright sun staring down the big glass window, and into my face. Groan - all dreams of my quick nap, gone out of the window!:(

Finally, some sense was restored when the 20 people who were standing for part of the route to office hopped onto another mini van mid-way near Ulsoor.

The other highlight of the day was this new food vendor. I reached office and ran up to the canteen for my regular breakfast, only to be greeted by an empty counter at the billing machine. There is usually a billing guy in charge of things, and he was nowhere. Suddenly, a man dressed in a new uniform(not in the attire of the usual vendor) came up to me and pointed to another counter. Only then, did I realise that there was a new vendor in place for food from today, and that there were already new systems in place - so much for lack of communication about this change. Groan, again!

Anyway, the rest of the day went off the usual way- meetings, calls, deliverables et al. The good thing is, tomorrow is a public holiday - I have never loved Mahatma Gandhi more, thanks to him, we definitely have a holiday in the middle of the week; a much needed one!

Of terror strikes, falling i-banks and India

2008-10-01T11:57:00.004-05:00

A number of epitaphs of leading i-banks have been doing the rounds in the press over the last couple of weeks. The US economy and the debacle on Wall Street in particular, are front page headlines for the wrong reasons. Job losses, impending recession, depleting business confidence, lower spend, changes in sales forecasts of various companies/industries, pall of gloom and what have you is all that one gets to see in these times. As if this wasn't enough, the endless terror strikes all over India are yet another area for the media to feast upon.

In all this, I am wondering if there is any room for hope at all for anyone. The more I try to think about it and see if there is anything left to look forward to, the harder I find it to narrow down to. Maybe, I am getting influenced by all this a wee bit too much- after all, I am human! But, no. The fact that I am human means that I am different. It means that the single biggest differentiating factor as a homo sapien is my ability to rationalise, hope and look forward to a better tomorrow.

So what if the financial crisis is eroding my net worth? So what if the terrorists have decided to kill ever discernible Indian in every corner of the country? So what if the government of the day is busy negotiating nuclear deals, and not doing too much to safeguard its people?So what if the stock markets hit new lows at the end of every trading session? So what if every other thing happening around me is negative. I think, there has never been a more opportune time to be positive than now.

If courage of conviction is ever needed in life, I think it is now. The famous Indian resilience of getting out of the house and going to the same spot where a bomb exploded the next day after such an event made headlines is enough cause to celebrate. The fact that Indian banking insitutions and financial systems have not been hit as severely as that of the their global counterparts is yet another reason to be happy about. More than anything else, the vision of our public policy planners of the 1950s need to be commended for coming up with the concept of the public sector in the country- had it not been for that system, we might have yet had a collapse like none other. So, that's another reason to celebrate. And beyond all these tangibles, we are still the biggest hope on this planet - of being the future superpower of this world. Why let up on that dream because of such events, that are bound to happen again and again in our journey to success? Somebody out there (read, terrorist), does not like our growth. I am also quite confident that he does not like the good things happening to us. But, I think the best way to answer him is to be resilient and happy in our minds and look at how we can build a greater nation than what we already have.

Hell, its the spirit of being a human being that is more important than succumbing to these extremely powerful forces that beckon us. I am going to be positive and happy; let me see if there is anybody there who can stop me from being so. Its ONE life, and nobody - be it i-banks or terrorists or anyone else - has a right to damage it.

Karan Thapar is a joke

2008-09-27T14:12:00.000-05:00

That Karan Thapar - what a public disgrace he is! The guy has been in Indian journalism for as far back as I can remember, and the more I see him, the more I wonder how he has even lasted. He is the most disgraceful Indian journalist that I have ever seen.

He does not have the basic decency to let another human being speak. Not only that, he interjects at every opportune moment. To top it off, he brings in his own brainless analysis and over-reaction to any statement made by his interviewee. He loves it when his interviewee fumbles for words. And the one thing I completely hate about this guy is his perennial use of vocabulary, which the average interviewee would not even comprehend.

There have been enough number of times when interviewees have told him point blank, "Karan, let me complete what I have to say", or, "Karan, I think this is an interview and I have a point of view", or, even more disgraceful & direct when they say, "Karan, can I say something?". These statements from people who are invited on national television, time and again, to this so-called famous journalist is beyond me. I sometimes wonder how he even gets a prime time slot to interview all these famous politicians, bureaucrats and what have you.

The man does not have the basic courtesy of a conversation. One of the most unforgettable (in the negative way) interviews was with India's famous lawyer, Ram Jethmalani. That was on CNN-IBN on a Sunday evening, where the lawyer just stopped short of asking Karan to get out of his residence where the interview was being hosted. While I have my own thoughts about Ram Jethmalani's arrogance and airs about being a great lawyer, I think, that Karan Thapar did not ever merit the Asian Television Award in Singapore, based on that one interview. It was disgraceful!

At other times, I have noticed many of this journalist's shows bordering on personal accusation, not to mention, extreme use of words. Yes, politicians have a way with words, but with Karan Thapar around, the situation just gets a wee bit uncomfortable. There is no debate, but only point-counterpoint in the sense of an accusation. The other party ends up feeling," why did I even bother to entertain this interview?".

I am usually very respectful of every profession, as it has its own things to contribute to the Indian economy. I also appreciate the fact that different industries have their own dynamics. And, I am especially a big fan of the media industry & have tremendous respect for the folks who get us the news. But, sadly, like with everything else in life, people like Karan Thapar, are those elements, which make you wonder about how such people even make it in the first place. No sour grapes, the man sucks! Period.

Jogging and its charms

2008-09-21T10:36:00.002-05:00

After having come back home in the last month or so, I have gotten back to a lot of my old ways. Given that I have more time to myself, and given the fact that there is a social structure in place, I guess there is room to navigate around oneself and do things that one genuinely loves(but never had time to do, earlier!).

One of these charming things that I have regularly started doing are my weekend jogs. There is this beautiful, big park cum waterway + sidewalk near home - Sankey Tank. This is usually the haven of numerous walkers and other fitness freaks. But it provides a fantastic stretch to jog right around the 2 km stretch. Three rounds around this massive park cum waterway/lake makes me feel so refreshed.

And there are a variety of people that I get to see during these one hour jogs. People who are very serious about reducing their weight;folks who just want to stroll around this huge park on a weekend;young lovers/boyfriends-girlfriends/couples walking around the park hand-in-hand, oblivious to the outside world and lost in their love;fitness freaks;casual/irregular walkers;older folks/couples catching up with each other and having a laugh together in the twilight of their lives and looking at the sunset together(wow!) and so on. I also think that the quality of the girls around this park is very good and scores very high on the "attractiveness-quotient"! I guess that in itself is a motivator to go around jogging every weekend!

But jokes apart, I just wish I had more time on weekdays to make this lovely experience of jogging and feeling refreshed, a more regular affair. Not only does it keep my ever-increasing midriff in check, but also contributes immensely to my mental framework. There is great sense of satisfaction in the sweat that beats down my body at the end of my jog on weekends - though I am tired, I feel so refreshed and ready to take on the world for the whole of the coming week. Just wish I could do this everyday, so that I feel even more refreshed every single day.

The highlight, of course, is the beautiful and incredibly satisfying hot water bath that I have after returning home and cooling off. Sunday evenings are even better - after I get back from my jog and am waiting for my body to cool off, I get a good 30 minutes or so on the phone to catch up with my old friends, who would generally be free and available for a chat at this time of the week ( given that most of us have no life to speak of during the weekdays!).

I hope to expand this beautiful, new-found(yet, old habit) of jogging to extend the happiness quotient in my life. Exercise sure can be fun - always knew it; have just begun to experience it in full steam.

Rakesh Jhunjhunwala..wow!

2008-09-21T03:27:00.003-05:00

More often than not, he comes as the specialist on prime time TV shows about stock markets. In India, people reach out to him first for an opinion on any minor variation/misbehaviour of the stock market. His word is almost the last authority for many a stock broker starting out on a career in investment management. He goes to business schools and charitable organizations and talks about how wealth creation is not at all a bad idea, as long as it is used for the greater development of the Indian race. He is flamboyant - sporting the latest gadgets in the world etc. But, I think, he has earned it. And from what I make of him (though I don't know him), I think he has earned it the very hard way.

I am talking of Rakesh Jhunjhunwala here- India's very own Warren Buffet!

Are we the instant era?

2008-09-14T04:31:00.004-05:00

All of us in the current generation have grown up hearing about how our ancestors had some harrowing times in building their lives, economies and indeed countries. A large part of their efforts has resulted in the modern generation that we have today.Their sacrifices have significantly contributed to the goodies that all of us enjoy today.

But, I have been wondering for a while, whether that concept of a dream job actually exists? I mean, this whole concept did not even exist in previous eras, when most people were just about finding ways to meet 2 ends meet. They were unable to (completely because of circumstances) look at things beyond the concept of their lives (to a large degree - you have exceptions everywhere). But, look at us now. We are part of the instant generation - instant coffee, instant tea, instant career, instant relationships, instant policies, instant solutions, instant preferences, instant(read impulse) purchases, instant publicity, instant "sporting greatness", instant jobs, and so on. We are obviously a result of the generation that we find ourselves in, where we want everything in the span of time that we find ourselves on this planet.

But, in all this, that concept of building something over a very long-term, seems to be a rare phenomenon these days. Of course, I am equally to blame - as I belong to the modern era. I am however, in awe of people who have managed to do that. I mean, look at that thing called Google - it did NOT exist right up till1997. And how it has transformed our lives - including giving me this chance right here to blog! There are so many other things that have become instant.

I do not expect the long-term horizon too much these days, but that is the core part of what I learnt in my MBA(but never applied it!). Companies want instant results, bosses want instant answers, clients want instant solutions, customers want instant gadgets that does everything & so on. That concept of strategising, building something long-term & sustainable seems so rare these days. And having lived in Bangalore all my life, I can tell you that the IT revolution has its immense ramifications, right up to the matrimony market. What I mean is, if one is a non-IT pro in Bangalore, its considered a cardinal sin! I just don't know why the aunts/uncles, and "downtown/market" conversations revolve around, "Oh, my son is going onsite to the US!". This invariably leads to the cliched response from a passer-by, "oh, where?"..and so on! Its IT, that rules the roost - instant "marketeability" of the prospective candidates, you see!

And when very recently, the one man in India, Dr, Singh(he sure is King in my books!) did something that will sustain India's energy problem for the next 4-5 decades maybe, you have these jokers from CPI-M, with their pre-historic notions calling things the way they want to. And the so called opposition party, trying to score points that it was when they were in power that they had the vision to initiate the process of India going nuclear. Again, instant publicity!Why!

Or, that "honourable" human being called Mamata Banerjee, who will do all she can to stop India from creating the next revolution in the car industry. Poor Ratan Tata, from hero to a nonity, in no time, thanks to the 15 minutes of fame that Ms. Banerjee wants. And she is taking on a man with a Cornell degree, for Christ's sake, and someone who has so much of vision in his life and for the country's auto sector! Again, the instant

Having seen all this and having been a victim of the instant mania myself, I am beginning to think that we are not the modern set of folks in this new century. I think, we should be remembered as the instant era - just like we had the neolithic era et al!

How I beat the Bangalore traffic now!

2008-09-14T03:53:00.006-05:00

I had been hearing of the Bangalore traffic whilst I was away from home in the last 5 years. Of course, I had tastes of this traffic during my vacation trips. But, now that I am back home for good, I have to negotiate this traffic on a war-footing, everyday! Its a mix of a nightmare, test of skill and indeed the ability to stay focused on achieving a goal i.e. reaching office in the morning and returning home in the evening!:)

In the first fortnight of my sojourn from home to office & back, I have learnt the variety of ways to tackle this 24 km stretch. And there are variations to the duration that I spent on the road to office i.e. morning is quite easy to negotiate in a span of 45 minutes, but ht evenings seem to behave in sync with the stock market fluctuations - at times taking 45 minutes and on other days going anywhere between 2-2.5 hours!

Now that I have so much of time on my hands, all to myself - with complete disconnect with the world (save for the wi-fi on my comp & my mobile - bad enough, I guess!), I see a good opportunity to spend things on myself during these trips.

There are a bunch of things that I think I can do during these long drives to the office. Some of the things that readily occur to my mind (and already have been implemented!) include reading books (finished a Jeffrey Archer novel recently & started on a Chetan Bhagat book - light reading you see! Of course, my new iPod is a very handy companion on these rides everyday - listening to songs that transport me to a different zone, prepare me mentally to gear up for a long day at the office, not to mention, make me forget all the worries in the world. So, music and books are a good starting point on these long rides everyday.

And I am getting newer and newer ideas as to how this can be remembered as "time well spent". One option is possibly professional development - you know, registering for yet another professional course and equipping myself to face the future! But, that needs some serious motivation, which, in the honeymoon period of a new job is not very forthcoming!

Other options (which seem more appealing!) include, engaging in an active dialogue with comrades who accompany me on these rides. There are a couple of interesting faces in these shuttles, and maybe, just maybe, they are wondering who is going to make the first move as well. I have however noticed, that these interesting faces have the same interests as I do - reading a book, listening to music!:)So, that's a good starting point maybe i.e. asking them first about what they are reading, what the story in the book is about, before getting on to more interesting stories!:). Who knows, a duet may be right around the bump that our shuttle negotiates!:)

And given that I usually drive down to office on Fridays, rather than using the shuttle, maybe I could administer some “car-pooling”, based on the “negotiations” of these shuttle rides in the rest of the week!

So much for thoughts on using transit time...!:)

My first taste of an IIM education-even if for 3 hours!

2008-09-11T10:50:00.008-05:00

It was sudden, and happened even before I realised it. It started off as a quick conversation between my boss and I, early in the morning. He briefly mentioned about a workshop on organization behaviour by an IIM - B professor, and whether I would be able to join in. It was the first time ever that somebody had offered me anything to do with the IIMs, in terms of the latest management thinking in the premier institute. I automatically said a yes - after all, how can I forget those endless nights when I struggled to bell the CAT, but never made it anywhere close to a tier I school (no regrets, though, but I know I tried way too hard!).

This session was by a leading authority (infact my boss's former prof - wow, howzzat for connections!) on organization behaviour. And this prof in particular had even more impressive credentials - IIT Madras and a Kellogg P.hd! Whoa!!

The audience for this session was the set of Managers & above, in my organization. I expected a good session, but never in my wildest imaginations did I expect an eye-opening session! Yes, it was academic, but it was also replete with practical examples and real-life scenarios. The prof was brilliant in his presentation, not to mention his terrific ability to keep the audience engaged at all times with his quick-wittedness. At times, I felt that the man was a lot younger than he looked - that's the kind of connect he had with all of us (young managers).

There were numerous angles to the session. While organization behaviour was the overall theme, the sense of direction and vision that the session threw up, just made me feel great. I saw, for the first time in my life, why an IIM professor is as good as he is claimed to be - he did not necessarily tell me things that I did not know. But the manner of his presentation, the way in which his slides were constructed, his diction and oratory style, the live examples that were embedded, and last but not the least, the ability to engage with the audience were some of the most appealing things that I saw from an IIM prof for the first time.

If the presentation was terrific, the content in the presentation was exemplary. It had a bit of theory - as is to be expected from folks in the academic world - and, it had some videos. The first video was for 30 minutes, and had a leading global authority on organization behaviour talk about positive frame of mind, vision and the need for it etc in an all-encompassing manner i.e. not restricted to the corporate world alone, but extending to all walks of life. It had shots of beaches, Athens, war fronts, studios, offices, academic layouts, corporate setting et al, to drive home the point of being positive in life. The second video was closer home, and talked about a man, who, after his retirement, pioneered a legendary hospital in the south of India, that was aimed to provide the solution to blindness in the world. This video gripped me and sent me into a tizzy of thoughts, leading me to believe (yet again), that man is limited by his thoughts and ability to visualise. Rest, is a question of fighting all odds. Terrific, terrific video! Made me feel proud as an Indian! Do check out the Aravind Eye Care Hospital in Madurai, when you get the chance - it is one of those places that has put India in the medical world map!

So, that was my first taste of an IIM education. And, I can only thank my boss for inviting me over to this session. I think I will remember those 3 hours of today afternoon for the rest of my life.

Change in office cultures

2008-09-10T10:48:00.002-05:00

Its amazing how life can change. And change with a degree of difference, that it is almost tough to believe that the change has happened to you. I write with reference to the change in the culture of the new organization that I have just joined. This is the first time that I have moved out of the research and consulting world and joined the mainstream industry - the IT industry, to be specific.

The changes are manifold:

- The degree of pressure is different

- The stakeholders are radically different

- The end-user/client needs are different to the extent that it is taking me time to adjust to the new job with a new lens. Every project requires a lens that is something unique and different to what I have used in the past. And that way, its a phenomenal learning experience for me!

- The timings are different - people leave office at a sane hour i.e 530/6 pm - unlike my previous firm where 2 a.m, was more the norm than the exception. Thank GOD, I got out of that rat hole and have some sane timings going for me now. People who have not seen that world of 2 a.m. on a daily basis, will fail to appreciate the essence of leaving office early in the evening/on time/within the stipulations of the official working hours.

- The approach to work is different i.e. there is no quickfix system here. In this industry, (or, may be its in this firm that I am in), people take their time in defining the problem area, identifying possible alternatives to crack the problem, assess what might work best in the given scenario, and then finally go about implementing things(after long rounds of discussion). There is no rush to finish things in a jiffy, like it used to be in my earlier roles. I find this system of measured output - after evaluating different scenarios to be better

- Mode of discussion. This is a striking factor for me. There is so much of collective knowledge in my team & in many other teams, that people sit down to discuss things, analyse various perspectives, learn from each other, cross-question each other in the spirit of discussion & not so much in the spirit of pin-pointing inaccuracies. I have already learnt so much in my first few days here and am excited to be a part of the great learning curve in the years ahead.

- Duration of tenures is so much longer. In my new firm, people stick. There is no rush to change jobs every year; there also seems to be a fairly long-term view of things, in that, careers are shaped over a period of time and there is no quickfix method to jump levels, or change designations, in order to be more marketeable. Things seem to be measured here in terms of the content of work and level of contributions made. That, I think, has shaped many a career in the firm I am in. I have met quite a few people with tenures of 4 -5 years. And some really senior folks have been around for 10 years!Howzatt! And we are actually talking about the IT industry, which is traditionally regarded as one of the most unstable verticals for people's careers!

- Learning curve is steep. Like I mentioned above, in every project that people undertake, there seems to be a lot of thought, discussion and overall evaluation done, in terms of the full context. I have not seen too many half-measures as yet, and from the indications given in the induction programme itself, it appears that we need to do things right, even if it takes time. That is so different from the previous world that I was in, where, "anything" close to what the client needs is ok.And in hindsight, it appears that it was all quickfix! Nothing against what I did in the past - I did learn to work under extreme chaos in my last firm - but, the personal learning in my last job was close to NIL.

Well, that is a snapshot of what I feel about my new firm, and the differences I notice being on the client side of things now, rather than in the side of analyst firms/consulting houses, that I was earlier associated with. Not to disregard my previous stints, as I got my current job purely on the basis of what I built earlier - but I think, real learning happens in an industry. And it need not be the IT industry alone. It could be telecom, automobile, retail, banking or any other industry.Maybe, that is where the reality is - I will know in times to come. And I am hoping that this hypothesis is right!:)

Apple Inc - fascinating!

2008-08-31T05:15:00.012-05:00

I so regret not having learnt more about Apple Inc., in the past. I so regret not having used Apple's products in the past. Man! What a company! What a portfolio! And what class in the way its products look (and feels)!

I have always used the good old Microsoft products - for lack of other options, low awareness and the easy availability of pirated versions of MS products, contributing to my usage. But, Apple is something else. I have been reading a lot about this fantastic Silicon Valley company for the last couple of years and am increasingly in the process of migrating my computer usage with Apple's products - be it an iPod or its web browser, Safari.

More than the products, I am fascinated by the manner in which the Apple folks think about their market, think about their customers, and try to identify newer and newer areas where Apple loyalists can become even more loyal. And, in the process, they have managed to get me more than intrigued by what they have to offer to me as an IT user. Phenomenal thinking!

I just got an iPod, and that possibly triggered my very gradual migration to Apple's products in the last couple of weeks. Simple concepts of using software to meet a human being's day-to-day needs - look at that harmless little gadget called iPod. It sure has become my companion in my drives around town, and has become the source of great entertainment when I am stuck in traffic and need to listen to some old favourites of mine, that will de-stress me in that strenous (and pollution-filled) environment. It looks good too - to be sporting that white cord on my eardrums and drive around town - quite different from the regular noise of the FM radio!! Ok, I love the radio (but have just become an Apple fan, in a big way!).

I came across Safari today, Apple's web browser. And even there, the level of thinking in can be offered to a consumer is mind-blowing. The layout, the functionality, the tabs, the search options, the speed of the browser, the great design, the ease of use, the behaviour of a browser not hanging/misbehaving (I have been suffering that with MSFT for so long now!) etc.

A few months ago, a good friend of mine bought the iMac- that white, classy laptop. The first glance I had at that machine, made my heart skip a beat. And a couple of weeks ago - when my NRI brother-in-law came to India with his Apple laptop- I actually touched it (the laptop, I mean!). I wonder if that's the same feeling (thrill) that one would experience, if one were to touch a girl - I don’t know, am single you see! What a machine! What features! What clarity in operation! What a range of things to do & still be left with so much to do!:)

Man, the Apple is becoming my apple pie (IT darling!), by the day. And given that there is no human darling to write home about in my life (ok, not meaning that in a depressing way at all, but only tongue-in-cheek!), I think the set of Apple products is going to play a greater part in my life, slowly & steadily!

I need to seriously look at the iPhone now - though it costs a bomb!

A sporting revelation for India - Beijing 2008

2008-08-25T12:32:00.016-05:00

Reams and reams of paper have been used to eugolise the achievements of the 1983 World Cup cricket team from India. Over the last 25 years', Kapil's Devils have reaped the rewards of a phenomenal and well-deserved life, for their miraculous deeds at Lords' on June 25, 1983. This date is etched in any Indian's memory ever since he/she was old enough to understand dates/history et al.

What Kapil & his team did on that sunny summer afternoon in London is nothing short of legend. That famous win against the mighty West Indies has often been ranked as the most unparalleled and supreme achievement by Indians in any sporting arena. And this praise, is well-deserved, and has further context to it i.e. India was not the liberalized economy that it is now; in those days, anything foreign or imported was considered superior to anything created within the country;anybody owning a cellphone or even importing a car made a headline;one had to wait for a few months to get hold of a landline connection;studying abroad was nothing more than wishful thinking;there was political turmoil in the country what with the terrorist-hit state of Punjab and the turmoil of a tough political environment. There were many such more complicated situations during the early 80s' in India.

But, Kapil & his team believed in themselves. Their victory tasted sweet, indeed, victory in itself always tasted sweet - but the situation that the country found itself in at that time, only made this victory supremely tasty. And has since been the first course, main course and the dessert on any diary that captures India's sporting ethos. Hats off to Kapil's devils for giving us such a unique, rare and incredibly fulfilling moment in our lives! They made us believe that India can be a world-beater; they made us believe that self-belief is the greatest virtue - we never had infrastructure and capital pumped into any sport during that time(unlike the conditions now!).

It was an achievement in severely adverse conditions- and to this date, the strands of hair on both my elbows, simply straighten as soon as I recall/see/visualise that moment when Kapil ran back 25 yards to take the rare catch that Viv Richard's offered that afternoon in London. For me, it is the moment of that World Cup - passion, desire to win, going after it, killer instinct, a mindset of winning, going against all ods, you name it. And of course, that image of Kapil holding the Prudential World Cup of Cricket on the famous Lord's balcony is part of Indian folklore now. Wow, what a moment!

I want to pause for a moment here and bring in Abhinav Bindra. Here is a man - who is perhaps 2 years older than what Kapil was in 1983, and has single-handedly brought the Indian sporting hopes alive after nearly 2.5 decades. Yes, the conditions are vastly different now in India - we get the latest gizmos in the corner marketplace in any city; we are a liberalized nation;we are able to take on the world;we have a say in corporate policy making;we have a presence in many facets of world affairs; we are counted as one of the most aggressively growing regions of the world; the average Indian owns vehicles of his own now; we are more global than we ever were in our entire lineage. And, we have our very own Olympics Gold Medal this year! Wow, what a moment!

Abhinav Bindra is a phenomenon no less than what we had of our legendary cricket team in 1983. While the win in 1983 opened the floodgates of talent in cricket across the country, Abhinav's Olympic gold has the potential to open innumerable opportunities in various other sports. We have people talking of the potential and talent that subsists many sportspersons in different parts of the country, who are otherwise unable to make progress. Abhinav's achievement has the potential to tap into that talent base, nurture them, train them, provide them the right form of training and build the long-term vision for sporting excellence. What happened in cricket was a natural phenomenon i.e. it was the most televised sport and got all the attention. Nothing wrong with that - the 1983 team were champions, make no mistake about it! But the growth in cricket was not necessarily structured till the various zones, Ranji Trophy and other regional cups got some form or shape to them.

But, Abhinav's victory here has the potential for India to look ahead in a structured format. This victory should alert the officialdom in the Sports Authority of India, the Indian Olympic Committee and numerous other regional, state and national authorities related to various other sports, to take up Sports Policy Making & Vision. Something like a corporate vision & mission. Abhinav's gold medal winning effort has the potential for us to go about our future plans for Olympics gold in an incredibly systematic manner. For that to happen, we need to first chart out what the goals are i.e. which games do we have the greatest talent in right now? How is their current situation?What sort of gaps are crippling the system from progressing?Where is the funding going to come from?How does corporate sponsorship tie in with India's Olympics' dreams for the future?And so on...we need to use this opportunity to be incisive, analytical, critical and incredibly ambitious(with a world-beating levels of killer-instinct), if we are going to reach anywhere close to future gold medals on the world stage for India.

Abhinav has given us the impetus. He will alone not be able to do it. We need a collective effort from various stakeholders.

There are many other people who can be included in this effort - and they are world beaters in their own right. Infact, World Champions! The unassuming Prakash Padukone who came back home in 1979, with the All England Club title under his belt - this is nothing short of sporting excellence on a world stage; Viswanathan Anand, a man who has single-handedly put Indian chess on the world map- again, a World Champion, that too twice! Geet Sethi - an unbelievable 8 world titles in snooker and billiards. These are legends - alive and still available with concrete ideas for India's sporting development. And they are people who came into their own in a generation when there was no sporting ethos in the country. Let's use their expertise and world-beating abilities/insights to drive home the advantage for the country in the future.

I hope that Abhinav Bindra's incredible victory spawns a dedicated Olympian culture in India. Hope we have many more such iconic moments in the future!! Cheers, Abhinav and to all the other champions that I have mentioned in this piece - simply admirable and inspiring human beings!Makes me proud to be an Indian - yet again!

Food-filled Saturday & a mini re-union

2008-08-23T12:42:00.010-05:00

As my lovely vacation reaches its final leg, the momentum in the degree of fun that I am having is picking up. The day started with a wake up call from an old friend - one of 2 people I was going to have breakfast with, at our old, favourite joints around town. Got up, refreshed myself and reached the famous Veena Stores at 8 a.m. sharp, to be greeted by these 2 tall, ex-colleagues turned wonderful friends. It was a mini re-union of sorts for the 3 of us - Sharat, Vijay and I - to be back in Bangalore after such a long time and to be visiting these old, famous and favourite restaurants/food joints.

Kicking off the breakfast menu with the legendary idly/vada-chutney combination, we moved up the "value-chain" with khara baath, sauvige baath and sweet pongal at Veena Stores. My stomach was already full by the time we finished these, but these two pot-bellied, tall guys around me were in their elements & all set to continue the feast at 2 other famous places. Of course, their tongue-in-cheek of why I am so puny and slim(ok, that was my interpretation!), as against their pot-bellies, was one of the many jovial moments of the morning.

As we trudged down the near-empty street, on a a cloudy and lazy Saturday morning in Malleswaram, we caught up on each other's lives and had nice, long conversations of cultures, languages, et al. Typical, re-union chat, but a little more realistic & not the least bit flashy or ornamental. Good, old-fashioned friendship!

We reached CTR (Central Tiffin Room, now renamed as Shri Sagar) and dug into the ultra-famous "benne masala dosai". The only disappointment of the morning came at CTR, what with the Mangalore bajji and Maddur vadai, not available at that time. Sigh! I was choking, by the time I finished eating the full dosai. But, my counterparts were even more enthusiastic! We walked down to Janata Hotel - this place is usually known for its fantastic masala dosai, but not just me, but even my tall, pot-bellied friends were unable to even consider digesting it. We tried a slightly lighter alternative -kesari baath, which was the second sweet of the morning, in less than an hour, across 3 restaurants!:) This was awesome! And the weather and the quality of our conversation was immensely engaging!

By the time we came out of the Janata Hotel, Sharat, Vijay & I were pooped/tired - and tired because of the effort that went into consuming all these delicacies in one go!:) Anyway, we strolled down the street back to a basketball court(called the Beagles Court!) near Veena Stores and had a long, engaging conversation for the next couple of hours. It was actually so nice to be sitting down with 2 old friends, watching kids practice basketball on a Saturday morning, a stiff breeze blowing across our faces occasionally et al.

Finally, at around 10.30 a.m., calls from one of our local headquarters (read home), prompted us to trudge out of Beagles and head back home.

I was so pooped and full that I wanted to just crash into my bed for the rest of the day. But, I had a bunch of errands to finish and also had to watch a set of finals in the Olympics. Did all that, and skipped lunch!

In the middle of the afternoon, I left home for the Forum mall in Koramangala with 2 other folks and came back home by 7 pm. Of course, this was not before I endured 25 kms of driving in nightmarish traffic, literally moving, bumper to bumper! God help the roads in Bangalore, not to mention the traffic sense of people who drive:(. Managed to chip in with a McDonald's burger, french fries and coke in between, in the mall, amidst a maddening crowd on a Saturday evening in this mall.

In the evening, my bro-in-law was feeling rich, and took 2 of us - my cousin and I , to the Windsor Manor! It was the first time ever I had entered this particular star hotel in Bangalore, and lined up a beautiful dinner by the poolside!:) Wow, good place, awesome ambience, and obviously the other extreme of the spectrum compared to a Veena Stores or a Janata Hotel or a CTR!

Am pooped and tired - of eating. Am going to sleep now. I need a break, as this vacation is "tiring", but am not complaining!!:)

Legends and the premium on longevity

2008-08-21T11:56:00.005-05:00

I have long been fascinated by veterans that I have either seen on TV or have met in my life. I used to have this old theory that these people are not necessarily the best people, in tune with the changing times etc - not all, but a few of them. I also used to feel that many of them have been with one organization and may not have necessarily seen the world in other places.

My thoughts on these things have changed over the years as I have myself changed organizations, cities and roles in my 7-year career. And I am now convinced that there is a tremendous amount of premium on durable people, and folks who can last it out – like the ones I have mentioned above. Read on to understand the theory of my case, so to speak!

I personally know of people in industries such as banking, automobile & manufacturing in general, and consulting, who have spent their entire lives in one organization. All of them share a common theme - they now hold/have held extremely senior positions in their respective industries, and are known by their first name by the newest entrants into these industries. These are people who have built such a long innings in their careers in one firm -by the sheer dint of their merit, hard word, sweat, blood and toil.

Yes, there are the biased views that these senior people did not necessarily have the multitude of opportunities that we youngsters are perennially faced with today. But, what these veterans managed to achieve in their environment was truly legendary -. they did not have the various opportunities of today, during their time; yet, they used their careers in building some very core capabilities and skills that make them the legends that they are today. This is so unlike the numerous fly-by-night, short-term, job-hopping careers that many of us in the current generation are possibly guilty of.

These veterans command respect not merely by the titles/designations they hold, or the positions they currently hold/have held in the past. If anything, they command respect for what they are, for what they know, for what they have contributed, not to mention, for their personal credibility. I personally know of one of the senior most banking executives in India, whose word was law in commercial banking i.e. if he refuses a term loan to a company, most executives in many other banks would refuse loans to that company (despite their individual due diligence teams) - such is the credibility of this banking legend that I am talking about. Amazing man! This banking giant is now retired, but enjoys so much credibility that people in his industry still recall his contribution over a 3.5-decade career, as one of the legendary performances seen in Indian banking history.

Similarly, I know of a legend in consulting - in fact my first, big boss - who can literally pick up the phone and speak to the who's who of corporate India today. But the man never misuses his position, is an extremely down-to-earth individual, has his head firmly on his shoulders, and is a person in front of whom, I stand speechless - not because I am scared of him or anything, but purely because I am amazed and inspired at how one individual can achieve so much in a span of 30 very hard-working years. I remember how stunned I was, when he recalled my name and spoke to me for 5 full minutes at Bangalore airport, a year ago, when we crossed each other on our way to our different flights. I mean, a man who consults with people who decide things in corporate India, actually remembered me – possibly, the youngest consultant/trainee he had ever encountered in his life & to remember me by my first name! Stupendous!

At the end of it all, I have decided that it pays to stick it out in the middle, despite the challenges, despite the limitations imposed at various points in time. What is durable is vision, the sense of looking at times to come, the ability to see the larger picture, and to guts it out in the middle. Whether there are bouncers, yorkers, seam-up, spin or full tosses, it takes a combination of all these (if not more), to achieve personal credibility in an industry and be called as the last word in your area of specialisation. Infact, it makes me feel very proud that we have such people in our midst; people, who have proved to me what it means to build an innings and last it out.

The other common thing with all these 3 legendary people is that they are exceptionally committed, sincere and hard working people, who have risen the ranks from being a nobody. All of them were not born with a silver spoon and grew in their careers (and in the eyes of people who know them), by the sheer dint of their individual performance and capabilities. It is actually quite spectacular that they were able to tide over such tough market conditions such as the license raj of the 1980s, adapting well to the changing dynamics of liberalization in India, after 1991 etc. For e.g., these are people who are any day more comfortable making calculations in their native language; or any day more comfortable in writing out a business plan on paper and thinking through the various steps; any day, more comfortable in building systems and processes using good, old-fashioned manuals/process documents etc. That is because their fundamentals were strong and their learning curve was steep. But, they adapted to information technology; to jazzy presentations; to videoconferencing; to conference calls; to jet-setting lives etc. And given a choice, all 3 of them, prefer their simple lives, outside the premises of their respective offices.

And the one final thing in common amongst these 3 veterans is the variety of hats that they donned within the same organization in their careers. They joined at the junior-most levels in their firms and joined with absolutely no backgrounds suited to those industries back in the 60s and 70s. They learnt the very hard way -people may have been there to teach them, but these people had to grind it out. And it was harder than we think it is - no free market economy, highly regulated markets etc. For e.g., I know of one such case, where importing a computer needed permissions from at least a handful of ministries, not to mention the steep customs duty involved. Interestingly, today, all these legends know so much about their industry, that they are called to campuses and internal training centres in their firms, to deliver lectures about their industry at large - not just specific to their company! Of course, all these people worked/are working in gigantic firms within their industry, which in itself, gave them the room to navigate across different roles, functions, departments, locations and types of work.

I am also convinced that their humility and acceptance of the fact that they did not know anything about their industry when they first started, helped them in shaping their careers i.e. learning at every step of their career, in whatever position they may have held, be it a specialist position or a general management position.

Amazing folks, and people who are truly inspirational! After having changed a few jobs in my life, I am more than convinced that its better to don different hats in one large organization and build that personal credibility over the long-term. Not that this is not achievable in a start-up or in a smaller firm - but just that, the certificate of credibility is a bit more over-powering when such a background is built in some of the better known firms.

Hats off to these 3 people I know - the automobile genius, the consulting magician and the banking legend that I have talked about here. They have made me realise the value of durability in its very essence. And having seen it, I can easily say, that it is worth being known as a credible, honest, sincere and good human being. That's the bottom line, rather than flashy designations and quick money.

Thrilled to be back!

2008-08-18T11:09:00.006-05:00

Home sweet home! Back after nearly 4 years! Away from the razzmattazz of the mad world outside, into the sweet and safe confines of home.

Back to life of zipping around in my car all over town listening to my favourite FM radio channels (and sweet voices of the RJs!):). Back to my old friend's circle. Back to my active social life of enacting dramas, watching plays, going to live recitals and shows. Back to the roots of some cultural ethos and reinforcing my old belief that while modern outlook and growth in life is a must, so is the need to retain old values, traditions and ethics.

Back to my favourite food joints in town - especially the ones near home such as the legendary Veena Stores or the CTR or and Janata Hotel, not to mention the evening chaatwala on 8th cross! Back to getting drenched in the rain without having to worry if there are dry sets of clothes at home or not.

Back to times where I can catch up with old friends and just be myself and have some serious quality time together with people who have mattered for a long time in my life! Back to parents and being a support structure for them in the latter phases of their lives - its never hit me harder that they are the 2 greatest individuals I have ever met & the number and quantum of sacrifices they have made in bringing me up is something I genuinely treasure. Time for me to take care of them and be there for them now!

Back to life where there is time to write in my blog and think of newer ways to keep myself engaged. Back to the times when I can stroll down MG Road and Brigade Road on a Saturday evening and enjoy the sights, sounds and colours around!:).

In a nutshell, back home!!!!

Why its important to stay away from home for sometime...

2008-08-18T10:40:00.006-05:00

I never expected to be writing on this theme. But having gone through this phenomenal experience in my life, I couldn't hold back from expressing it.

The context for this particular blog piece is that I have been away from home for over 4 years and just got back to my lovely Garden City a few days ago. Of course, I have been making periodical visits during these last 4 years, but the feeling of being back in the place where I belong is something else. It’s hitting me quite hard and I also see this place so differently now. I mean, the old landmarks are the same, the roadside corner shops are still the same, the tree-lined street near my house is still the same, the sense of familiarity and happiness while cooping up in my old bed is still the same (if not, enhanced due to the home factor!). Yet...there are changes.

The changes are in the way I view my lovely hometown now. Bangalore is not what it used to be. It no longer is the pensioner's paradise that it used to be. Reams of paper have been spent in writing about the growth of this silicon city of India. But for a local like me, the change is apparent - growth has both its pluses and minuses. And more importantly, having been away from home for a while, I view home differently now.

Quite differently, actually. There is a great sense of appreciation for home. There are a few million things that I had to do all on my own in the last 4 years in the different places I stayed in - all of which are just taken care of down here at home. No need to run around in paying bills, no need to hunt for a house, no need to save up extra cash, no need to pay rent, no need to hunt for a reliable servant...the list is endless. And these are the charms of life back home that I have begun to appreciate even more than I did before. Possibly because, I had to not only manage my career, bosses, clients, teams, what have you, in the last 4 years, but also had to manage my own self and things associated with my life outside of a career.

But, those experiences of having struggled through the last 4 years and having been through my own set of unique experiences, has taught me the value of going through that phase. It has convinced me that everybody needs to have a stint outside of his/her home, in order to learn about many things in life. It is not that these things cannot be learnt sitting at home, but the learning curve is steeper and faster, if one moves out of one's comfort zone. There are experiences, which maketh the individual and contributes to the shaping of a personality. Staying away from home has taught me many things - while the list is quite long, the ones I immediately recall are that I have learnt to manage myself better; staying away from home has taught me to manage my finances; it has inculcated the good habit of saving for a rainy day; it has made me learn the meaning of investments; it has made me extremely self-reliant; I have become very, very confident to tackle life; staying away has made me learn that everything in life is not offered on a platter & that one needs to work hard and literally, "earn" one's living; staying away has taught me that the world is full of inequalities and imbalances and imperfections; that situations are circumstantial; that things change at the rate of knots; that there are things one can exercise control over, and there are things that one can do nothing about.

In the course of staying away from home, I have learnt to speak to people from different backgrounds. I have tried to see how different people approach life; how their backgrounds, compulsions and experiences contribute to the way they see the world. The simplest example, I can think of, is the assumption I had of laptops and computers being the ‘common-est’ thing possible. But no, there are places and people, who find it hard to get a phone and manage it. There are people who don't know English (another thing I had thought to be the most common thing possible). There are people who are uneducated. There are people who cannot afford the luxury of even a budget airline in the country...like I said, staying away from home has taught me many, many things - the list is truly endless.

I grew up in the comfort of my parents' abode, where we had all the facilities in the world, thanks to my dad's employment in good positions in India's biggest bank. There were so many things I took for granted - car, driver, servant maid, good houses, great campuses, access to facilities, etc - am not saying that I was a spoilt child, but I did not necessarily understand that there is a world beyond this where there are millions of people who are deprived 2 square meals a day. That is what I have learnt, having stayed alone for the last 4 years - I mean, I always knew it, but having survived and having fended for myself, I now know the meaning of hard work.

Having been through all this, in the first quarter of my life, I am convinced that each individual needs to see life in its elements for himself/herself - and staying away from home is one of the greatest ways to learning all that. Not everybody can do that - some people come from the privileged race and may not necessarily be accommodating of the lesser privileged (am not generalising here, but just stating that such people exist). Others, may not be able to do it i.e. stay away from home, due to compulsions in their lives. But, it is important to see the world. It is important to know that there is a big world out there, full of imperfections and things that many of us just assume to be so normal. For me, at least, staying away from home for 4+ years, was an eye-opener. I am a much improved person now in terms of my ability to understand things and look at alternative opinions and feelings.

I am extremely tempted to join the Teach India initiative that the Times of India has started. I don't think I want to let the hard lessons learnt in the last 4 years, go wasted.

A famous weekend at Kasauni, Uttaranchal - Part I

2008-07-17T01:11:00.017-05:00

It was one of the greatest weekends of my life and most definitely the best weekend trip I have made during my life in north India. We were a gang of 14 - young, vibrant, enthusiastic, self-driven (read, charged) people, who just wanted to scale the world. We almost did - we got to the edge of the Himalayas! This was at the place that Mahatma Gandhi famously called as the Switzerland of India - its called Kasauni in the state of Uttaranchal.

The trip was immensely enjoyable by the sheer fact that the 14 of us gelled like a fantastic unit. The frequency of thought, the wavelength of reactions to each other was something else altogether. The trip started off at a pulsating rate for me, as I barely managed to reach the railway station at Delhi. I was stuck in office on a client deliverable till 8.40 pm, while our train was scheduled to depart at 10.00 p.m. What a life, I thought to myself - that too on a Friday night, when 13 others had banked on me while planning this trip! Nevertheless, I ended up taking things in my own hands and told my boss that things were done and we will continue the effort on Monday. She obliged and I managed to eke out of office at 8.40 pm.

The office cabbie gave me a hard look when I told him that I need to reach Delhi railway station in 45 minutes (the usual duration is 1.5 hours!). He then told me, "We'll do it and you will be there in 30 minutes flat. All you have to do is, sit in the front seat, lower the window (let's not use AC), and leave the rest to me". I knew that I was in for the ride of my life, as it were, in the next 30 minutes. But that cabbie was phenomenal! We missed 3 pedestrians, 2 cyclists, sped past 2 police vans, did not stop at any of the red lights, nearly scraped the vehicle against an autorickshaw, and eventually got to the station in 28 minutes flat! One helluva ride, I must say! But kudos to that cabbie - whatever the risks may have been, the guy had the skill to navigate through the Friday evening traffic in a city like Delhi and get me to the railway station (usually, the most crowded area in any city), in such a short time.

When I got to the station and called up the others who were joining me on the trip, they could barely believe that I was there. One of them said, "Are you serious? We just got here ourselves!". And they had left office at 7.45 p.m.!

Anyway, I finally ambled along to the railway restaurant and met the thriving 13. We had dinner together, and there were a couple of new faces in the gang that I noticed - only to be introduced to them much later by the respective "stakeholders"! Once our tummies were amply full, we got into the railway station - religiously using the, "Do Not Enter" doorway - and headed towards the platform where our train was supposed to depart from.

The platform was choc-a-bloc, what with folks like us with tough clients and bosses to handle during the week, seeking this sort of a weekend getaway to picturersque Kasauni and surrounding areas. However, it was very hot in the platform as we awaited the train, and the sultry weather did not help matters either. I must have gotten my handkerchief damp in less than 5 minutes after we set foot on that particular platform - very oppressive conditions there.

The tempo of things to follow over the next 2 days was set, right on the station platform itself. All 14 of us began to enter a robust sense of ease and pull each other's legs. This was the start of a few memorable moments that were to follow in the next 48 hours.

The train eventually made its way into the station and we hopped onto the bogie. That's when the the power of one of our "leads" came into the picture, with support from a couple of others. The problem in where we were seated was that,the 14 of us were distributed across 2 ends of the same bogie. And in order for us to eventually sit together as a group, we had to shift other passengers in the bogie to our current location. This needed powers of negotiation, incentivisation, cajoling, perseverance and many other man management skills before we achieved our end objective of being seated together. And once we were seated together, the party began in full gusto. People's opinions, freewheeling conversations, card games, leg-pulling, a perennial set of jokes with one following the other, et al,flowed. Junk food came into its own and that marked the start of a variety of cuisine that we would end up consuming over the next 2 days.

In the middle of the night, one of the guys in our troop came up with this brilliant idea of playing a card game called, Killer. The rules of the game were such that each person in the gang is given 1 playing card each. Of the 14 folks around,3 people are marked out - 2 as policemen and 1 as a thief. The "objective" of the game was to deceive the policemen at all costs i.e out of the 14 people in the game, the thief had to outsmart 2 cops by winking at the remaining 11 people in the game (who were neither cops nor thieves). Every time one of the 11 members figured out who the thief was, he/she had to proclaim himself, "I'm dead". This would give hint after hint to the cops as to who the thief might be and they would have to narrow down their search to the actual thief to a handful of people in the end. Of course, there were eminent tricks of the game that were widely used, such as folks who were not thieves winking at each other, in order to fool the cop even more! I had the time of my life in this game, when I was the thief in one such game, and one of the cops happened to be a lovely young girl who kept staring at me. I very automatically remarked, "Its been many years since any girl looked at me non-stop & for so long". That created one of the loudest moments of the trip with all 14 of us in splits for the next few minutes! This was an exciting game that kept a lot of people engaged, and it was one of those rare occasions when girls winked at guys in a train! Whoa! Life couldn't get much better than that, could it?:) . Killer, for sure!

After a few hours of this game, a few dreary eyes started stretching. There was a particular railway station in the middle of the night where the train stopped and most of the 14 got down to take a stroll; a handful of them, stepped out to grab a hot cup of tea in the wee hours of the night. That break tilted the scales for the really tired folks to hit the sack. And before we knew it, the train got moving again, and all 14 of us eventually retired for the day.

Most of us managed no more than a few hours of sleep and before we knew it, daylight struck. The fresh oxygen in the air and the surreal surroundings of a hilly region beckoned. Many of us were awake even before 6 a.m. a feat rarely achieved on a Saturday morning for the best part of the last decade, at the least. The first railway station that the train stopped at,first thing in the morning, got the feet moving for most of us, what with early morning strolls, hot tea, cigarette breaks setting the tone for the day ahead. A couple of them were in an adventurous mood upfront with their cameras in hand and clicking photographs away to glory (they claimed they were enjoying nature, but you never know with photographers, do you?).

The entire sequence of non-stop laughter from the previous night caught on greater momentum from this railway station. People were fresh & awake with renewed energies and an entire weekend beckoning them. The thrill of being in natural environs was an experience by itself - a far cry from the dirt and mudpots of pollution in Delhi.

The train finally reached its destination - Kathgodam station (I ended up calling it the 'station with the godown'). My jaw dropped the minute I alighted from the bogie and got on to the platform. I was awestruck by the fantastic sight in front of my eyes - there were huge mountains right behind the station and it almost seemed that the train had stopped right where the track ended/where the mountains began. It almost felt like the mountains will take care of the entire folks standing at the station, a big motherly facade to it and the sheer greenery of it all just added to the touch. Phenomenal sight - just the start of more mesmerising sights that we would see later.

After the initial photographs on arrival at Kathgodam, we walked out of the station in search of suitable cabs at affordable tariffs, that would accommodate this huge, energetic team of 14. We were lucky in that we were chased by a cabbie who had a huge van that would accommodate exactly 14 people. We took turns examining the vehicle and sizing up the leg space et al, before getting into negotiations with the cabbie on the routes to take, the spots to visit, and the eventual rates that we were willing to pay. Some sort of a middle ground was achieved at the end of this negotiation and we started crawling into the van, one by one. Not before a couple of guys had finished yet another round of puff, puff (read -cigarettes) and others had gulped down bottles of water and eaten a pack of wafers! By the way, the sales of the top 3 brands in the wafers industry last weekend in Uttaranchal state, must have skyrocketed - purely driven by the revenues they generated from the 14 of us!

The fun that we had is way too much for me to capture in this single blog. I am going to break it up into 2 parts - read on for the main part of the trip in Part 2 of this blog, that follows.

When bad times have befallen...

2008-07-07T05:25:00.002-05:00

Its true that good and bad are a part of life. But, when the economic slowdown across the globe comes around to hit you and retards all personal plans that you make, life can get suffocating. Very, very suffocating.

I mean, people make plans - a number of them - in their personal lives, based on some calculated risks, or measurements that they believe will work out for them. But, when none of their risks or when none of their attempts every fructify, despite putting in one's heart & soul into it, life can get way too depressing. The old excuse of, " I did my best, but things did not work out", is exactly that - an excuse.

This phase of endless disappointments is like hitting your head against a hard wall that shows no signs of cracking, let alone breaking down. I just hope that we gather the courage of conviction, build the necessary temperament to tide over this ridiculous recessionary economy. Many of us need to maintain our sense of balance, poise and indeed in many other cases, find ways to recover from downfalls.

Judgement calls - about jobs & references

2008-07-07T02:46:00.005-05:00

There have been times when companies have recruited people for specific positions, purely on the basis of the references that the prospective candidate brings. There are other times, when candidates refuse companies based on the feedback that they receive from their reference - either direct or indirect. In each case, the role of the referee becomes critical for either the candidate or the new company.

But, there are instances, when one should never ever listen to references. And these instances are the toughest to handle i.e. you know the credibility of your referee, you know him/her for a long time, he/she wishes the best for you - but at the end of it all, the choice that you make, could completely backfire. It is not the fault of the referee per se, nor is it the fault of the candidate who makes the move to join the new firm. There are other elements involved - the whole fitment issue, the cultural adjusment, the softer and deeper nuances of the firm, the ruthlessness of the top bosses in the new firm, the ridiculous working hours in the new firm, the bad orientation to bend head over heels to clients etc - which the new candidate may never believe in and find may find hard to adjust to.

The role of the referre becomes even more pronounced, if he/she knows both about the firm where the reference is being made, and, the candidate himself/herself. It is important to present both the pros and the cons of the new firm so that candidates can make informed decisions. This, is something I am going to do whenever I refer somebody to a firm, especially when I know the goings-on within that firm.

The predictability of the American language

2008-06-15T06:09:00.005-05:00

Before I write this, I would like to put in a disclaimer that this article is not an attempt to make a dig at the US or its citizens or its constituents. I have some seriously wonderful friends all over the US and I have tremendous respect for them and indeed folks in that country. This article should be read in its spirit of joy, humour and indeed sensitivity! Just tongue-in-cheek and no more! Here goes:

Over the many years that I have been interacting with US clients, colleagues, bosses etc, I have learnt of their mannerisms, their way of life, their approach to work, their professionalism and indeed about the immense weight they place on work-life balance. But, this article is not about any of that. It is about their way of speaking and the terms they use in normal, day-to-day conversation.

We've all grown up watching a Santa Barbara or a Bold & the Beautiful or have been keyed in to Oprah Winfrey shows. More recently, the fame and popularity of the Friends' series, or Sex & the City and others, have exposed us to a wide array of things about the American way of life. But, in my experience, a casual conversation with an American can actually be pretty predictable and indeed, test the point of being "templatized". Read on!

Let's take the scenario of people from India dialing into a conference bridge number and addressing an American. First things first - the American will call it out upfront and ask you, 'Is it a good time to talk?” This has kept me nonplussed for years now - I mean, the call is a scheduled call; we sent the American on the other side of the planet as it were; there is an advance notification of the call; we set up the bridge numbers and sent him he conference call details via email; and still, he asks us,” Is it a good time to talk?"!! Huh!:). OK, I know they are confirming any last minute changes, but it beats me no end, that EVERY American asks this question - a handful of them asking this question is still understandable, but not every single one of them!

Or, at the start of the call, the customary statement of, "Let's make this call as interactive as we possibly can. As I run through this presentation, feel free to stop me at any point if you have any questions. I'd be happy to address them and draw the best possible outcome from this call".

Of course, the legendary, "sounds good" is the epitome of the American way of professional conversation. If they like your suggestion, or like a particular agenda, or like the hint of a particular scheme of things that look plausible, they will invariably appreciate it with their standard remark, "sounds good".

Another part of the legendary terms that the average American uses is, "Really appreciate it". And I have heard this term used in a wide variety of settings, some serious, some not so serious. Here are a few such scenarios - if you just set up a call and share the bridge numbers, if you chip in with an idea, if you cover for a bad client situation, if you send in regular updates and interim deliverables and so on.

There are set of other predictable terms that you come across while speaking to Americans -
1. Works well for me
2. Do you have a sense of the time it is likely to take to accomplish this? - The keyword, is the term, "sense", and is used in multiple ways i.e " My sense is...", "Do you have a sense of....?", or a more measured version such as, "I get a sense that the client is trying to test our skills...".
3. Am out on vacation - even if it is just a day's leave of half a day's leave! By the way, they do not necessarily understand the word leave in the context of a holiday!
4. I'm good - rarely have I come across an American who has told me that he/she is fine!
5. Thanks for your time. I really appreciate your taking time out to discuss this
6. Let's think through this situation. What is it that we are really trying to achieve here?

One of the most unique phrases that I have heard Americans use is, "I need to do a better job of...”. This is a pretty serious remark actually i.e. they are conscious that they did not do something well and are quite particular about not repeating whatever caused them to make that statement in the first place. As a related point, if they are not particularly happy with somebody's performance, they are extremely polite about it(usually). You will never hear (at least, I haven’t) an American boss tell you, "What the hell is happening?" etc. They get upset if you don't perform, but let you know in very clear and polite terms, "Is there a way you can fix this?", or , "Can you please take another look at this and get back to me?", etc. This should be indication enough that something in what you did or did not do, is not up to their expectation. Of course, they are masters at recording this in feedback sessions and performance appraisal discussions, when it hits the most!

They are also masters of casual conversation. This is true when they speak to you about your country, your culture, your background etc and is also true in situations where they are speaking to prospective clients. I personally know of 2very senior folks in the US, who actually take turns to do the following i.e. one person joins the call 2 minutes late, in order to facilitate idle talk by the first person with the prospective client & set the tone for the meeting. Amazing practice, if you ask me!

The term "great" is something one would have to get accustomed to really fast, when working with Americans. They use the word great at the drop of a hat, in situations that don't even warrant it. Great job, great work, great team, great manager, great analyst or hell, just great guy or 'this is great, thanks'!!

Net-net, I'd say they are fun-loving people who value their lives beyond an office. While there may be outsourcing et al, some of them are cognizant of the work/life imbalance that exists in many parts of India today. But then again, they are the most approachable and informal set of people that I have ever interacted with. These phrases mentioned above are (I repeat), only meant to be tongue-in-cheek, and is not meant to be derogatory.

BJP wins in Karnataka!!

2008-05-26T00:53:00.003-05:00

Finally, a near-majority mandate in an Indian election - even if it was a state election. The fact that the BJP had an overriding presence in the recently concluded Karnataka elections is like a breath of fresh air. I am personally sick and tired of coalition politics, what with each party worker/politician doing all he/she can to "accommodate" his "fellowmen".Development plans remain just that, plans.

Now, with the absence of a fractured mandate and a near-majority in the Vidhana Soudha in Bangalore, the BJP must take this opportunity with both hands. There is a lot of Karnataka that needs to be developed, not just Bangalore.While the lovely state capital (my hometown!), may have catapulted India on the global technology and outsourcing map, there is still the homegrown agrarian economy in the state that needs attention. Go, BJP, go! Just as in corporate life, you will be measured by results/output. This is YOUR opportunity, don't mess it up, please!

Of course, to have seen the total decimation of the Janata Dal (Secular) and the utter silence of a human being called Mr. Deve Gowda since yesterday, is one of the defining moments in this election. For a man who can only think of newer ways to usurp power, and, in the name of "son of the soil", do everything he can to stop the developmental efforts in the state, its good to see him voted out. The frustrated public of this lovely southern state has finally woken up to the reality that they have been dealing with a man who has double-standards, and can only care about ways to hold his fort. After all, what more can you expect from a "fluke Prime Minister" that he was, just sleeping at every public function and being a picture of disgrace to the nation in international eyes.

No longer, Mr. Gowda, no longer! Have a good, retired life in your hut in Hassan - after all, you claim to be a farmer right? So, go back to your hut and live a farmer's life(which is honourable in its own merit, by the way - though not too sure if you will understand the term honourable) and let the rest of the farmers in the state benefit from developmental efforts of the current government!We' ve had ENOUGH of you!

Happy Birthday, Sachin (for the 35th time)

2008-04-24T12:27:00.010-05:00

I do not know of any other living sporting icon from India, who's birthday is a red letter day in the Indian calendar.

April 24 of every year is a day when Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar makes national headlines(just like he does at every other time of the year). But this date is special. It is special because it is a time to salute a man who has offered yeoman service to Indian cricket, and indeed, Indian sport in general. It is a day when the entire nation, cutting across artificial and real differences, unites to celebrate a man who lives a life that millions dream of. Sachin Tendulkar is the aspiration and inspiration of an extremely ambitious nation. This day is a celebration of a real life dream!

What Sachin has done on the sporting arena usually gets overpowered by the things that he has done off-field. The sheer weight of expectations that every Indian sportslover showers on him every time the champion plays cricket, is a pressure that very few on this planet can handle. To expect him to win every match for India on a world stage, for the last 18 years is in itself a part of Indian cricketing legend. I actually recognise the man more for his temperament, his ability to handle such pressure, his mental strength, his poise, and indeed his sense of balance and simplicity that he retains till this day.

For a man who can command things in Indian sport (if he wishes to), Tendulkar remains committed to the country and his team and always puts these two gems ahead of his personal milestones. That is incredible, given that most sportsmen live a short life in their stream and are remembered for their records.

But not Sachin. He will be remembered for his contribution to India as a whole. He will be remembered as a man who taught Indians to prove to the world that we are well and truly capable of being the best in the business. He reminds every Indian that it is possible to dream big and achieve great things in this world. His name echoes the distant possibility that one can realise one's deepest passions, ambitions, dreams, and desires by the sheer dint of courage, hard work, performance and indeed meritocracy. All that one has to do is to constantly reinforce his/her belief that one is good enough, come what may.

I think the greater recognition of the man's stature in international cricket is represented by the immense adulation he enjoys with cricketing audiences worldwide, and the fantastic camaraderie, respect and fear that opponent teams have for him, even as he enters the twilight of his illustrious career.

And I think, to Sachin's credit, he makes every Indian proud. Very, very, very proud!

Happy 35th Birthday, Sachin!

Colourful day at the office

2008-04-24T12:01:00.003-05:00

Its Grail day today - the second anniversary of this start-up, Grail Research, that I am a part of. And it was an exhilarating day at the office, with a lot of fanfare, colour and immense cheer all around (not to mention the complete absence of motivation to work!).

The festivities actually began before everyone got to the office in the morning, when our worldwide CEO sent an enthusiastic email to everybody highlighting the firm’s achievements, and recognizing key milestones in the last 2 years. He also set the tone for the times ahead with future challenges and also acknowledged some key performers since the inception of the firm.

As soon as I entered the office premises, I was greeted with a majestic, yet colourful view of endless workstations decorated, ceilings hooked up with red and white balloons. There was more to come -, flowers and garlands at the office main entrance, wonderful artistic decorations (rangolis) donning different spots in the office, posters with photographs from the past capturing some memorable moments such as the offsite at Dehradun, training sessions and birthday celebrations in office etc.

The mood in the office was extremely cheerful, with people smiling at each other and celebrating the spirit of the day in colourful attires. Of course, the highlight of the day was the theme that each "set of workstations together i.e. bay", came up with. There were diverse themes floating around the office with some bays taking the pains to actually source real ingredients to reflect the authenticity of the theme in question. For example, there was one bay on the 7th floor that came up with the theme of a dhaba (an Indian traditional, countryside food joint); another bay came up with the theme of a jail; another one thought of converting their bay into a bar; yet another bay sold their idea to the intellectuals with their theme of a knowledge centre.

There were a handful of folks who did not participate, but that was more on account of the premium on their time in the recent past(read, client pressure!).However, they did come up with a last minute wisecrack full of hoardings that marked arrows to other bays in the office and suggesting that they would have done a better job than the rest of the pack!

Our bay was full of folks filled with energy and creativity. We came up with the Grail Disco!I almost did not recognise the place that I sit in everyday, what with pictures of dance partners, frilly material, designer cardboard, bartender indications(water bottles depicted as beer bottes!) etc. We coined our theme as Groovy Grail, and also had a disco ball that was affixed to a bulb on top of our bay!(Its a different story that the ball kept falling down, every other hour - but it was a rotating ball, you see!).

As the evening neared, the entire office congregated on the 7th floor and there were announcements on promotions, special awards for people who had made key contributions and a few other formalities. The fun committee(responsible for deciding the best themes in various bays), then made their announcements - and we were the second runner-up! Not a bad effort at all, given that a large number of ideas actually hit us only an hour before everything had to be ready!

After this meeting, there was beer, pizza and garlic bread - on the house, which was just what the doctor ordered for the vibrant set of under-30 folks in the office!

All in all, a red letter day(our logo is red too!) for everyone Grail Research!

ps: It is also the cricketing legend, Sachin Tendukar's birthday today!:)

Old world charm...

2008-04-18T13:18:00.005-05:00

Its been years since I sat back and had a long, engaging and incredibly fulfilling conversation with any friend. The pressures of the professional world have seriously put a premium on such charming pleasures of life. But today was a rare exception. I got to spend a good 2.5 hours with a very good friend of mine at Barista. It was one of those fascinating evenings where we tooks turns in going through time, and through some of the most poignant moments in our lives.

Of course, my version of the story has just scratched the tip of the iceberg - but, it was fascinating to learn of some seriously mixed set of times that my wonderful friend has undergone in her life. Learnt a lesson or two as well, in the course of this long conversation.

This has to rank as one of the finest evenings in a long time. The old world charm of spending quality time with a good friend, at a coffee shop, and engaging in deep, animated dialogues,without ever realising the passage of time - wow! Old charms of life, in its truest essense!

My Friend From France

2008-04-11T07:58:00.002-05:00

She is much taller than me. She has a dazzling smile. She is strong in the fundamentals of finance. She is well-qualified. She has lovely brown eyes. She is incredibly down-to-earth. She eats with her hands more adeptly than any villager in the country would.She is a fascinating human being. And believe it or not, I am talking about somebody who I have grown to admire, respect, love and indeed cherish, even though she is not born in India. She is a special girl!

I am not talking about any girlfriend that I have (wish I did!). But, I am talking about my lovely friend from France, who has been living in India for the last few years. She came to India on an exchange programme in a top business school and has since been working here. I first heard her voice when my boss was recruiting a foreigner into our team. And he said France - obviously, my ears caught that word - I mean, how many guys will get to have a French girl as a team mate in India! Finally, my boss managed to recruit her, get her visa done and then she arrived in our office in Bangalore - back in the summer of 2005.

We worked together, but very quickly became good friends. She knew a lot about India even before she arrived and had seen so much more of the country than my friends and I together had. She was good at her work and picked up the Indian way of working pretty quickly ( meaning, long hours and working on weekends!). I will never forget those lovely Friday afternoons when she used to bring a home baked chocolate cake to the office and share it with the entire team. It was an unseen culture in our office - but she carried it off & brilliantly at that.

I quit that firm and we kept in touch. I saw her transform from the regular European, bland food-eating individual into more and more of an Indian. She started eating spicy Indian food. She learnt the variants of the north Indian and south Indian palette. She picked up the tricks of the trade, so to speak, in eating without a fork and a knife. Of course, she did crazy things along the way - such as mix gulab jamun and curd for dessert, that had us in splits! But, that's the kind of effort she put in, towards understanding the Indian way of life, not just the food. I have seen her take great efforts to be as Indian as possible on Ethnic Day at the office, when she would turn up in a saree and dumbfound the most ardent of Indian male admirers. Her height, her charisma and her poise were exemplary at all times even when she was surrounded by men and women who spoke the local language - poor thing, she never understood Kannada or Hindi! That's something she always told a good friend of mine and me (we were all in the same team) - that both of us, never ever speak the local language in front of her. We understood what she meant - imagine surviving in a country of over a 1000 languages, and knowing only one language i.e. English! Tough life! But my lovely French friend has done it, and done it with style for a long time now. She is even training to learn Hindi nowadays.

There have been some memorable moments with her - like going to a Hindi movie and translating every word for her, so that she gets the context of the movie (she must be one of those rare girls who does not drool over Shahrukh Khan when he is on screen; but instead was all ears to my translation efforts - possibly the only time I scored over King Khan!). There have been other times with her as well, such as long walks in and around her neighbourhood, or catching up on evenings at Coffee Day and having a nice little conversation or two, or going to watch a play, or watching a concert at Rangashankara (a famous Bangalore art centre), or just driving around Bangalore in the car and listening to music and engaging in long conversations, or trying out some new cuisine in town. Interestingly, there have been so many variants to our outings that I have forgotten which is more memorable than the other - they have all been special!

The fact that she has become so much of an Indian is demonstrated by the fact that she is able to fight with rickshaw drivers on the tariff! Another testimonial is her ability to drive in Indian traffic, that too the pathetic Bangalore traffic, which is a nightmare for the most seasoned of drivers. But for my European friend, its no big deal! She will glide through the traffic at ease. Her road sense, her ability to jam on the brakes at the eleventh hour, her sense of navigating around cyclists and buffaloes and what have you are a revelation in the art of learning to live in a new country. Imagine, for someone so used to picture perfect situations back home in Paris, where there is no trace of a bullock cart of a cyclist on the main highway, to driving a four-wheeler in the nightmarish, one-ways of Indian roads! Some transformation and ability to adapt, that!

I have been away from Bangalore for a while now. But every time I go home for a vacation, I ensure that I meet my lovely French friend. She is a delight to hang around with. Just reliving old times, catching up on old office gossip, learning about her trials and tribulations in our country have taught me the lesson that great friendships have no barriers - not of geography, not of language, and definitely not of food etc. She knows that I am a vegetarian and that I am a tee-totaler. And she respects that. All the same, she has taught me many things about how life pans out in France; how people end up going out to restaurants 3 - 4 times in a week; how family dinners are a special place; how people work in one firm for many years, unlike what we find in India, where the average Joe jumps jobs at the drop of a hat and how the French government takes care of people without a job.

All in all, my French friend is one of the finest human beings I have ever met. Incredibly sweet girl and somebody whose friendship I genuinely treasure. I know that she will go back to France eventually, but to have gotten the chance to meet her and get to be such great friends with her while she is in India, is one of the privileges of my life. And one of the truly memorable friendships in my life, which I am confident, she reciprocates!

Cheers to you, girlie!

Summer rains!

2008-04-06T12:21:00.004-05:00

Its been raining here in Noida for the last 4-5 days. And the weather has been nothing short of a spectacle - breezy and nippy in the air, dark, misty clouds in the morning and cloud cover for most of the day, lovely greenery with wet leaves dripping with raindrops - the sights of the north Indian rains in the summer is a rare one indeed. And quite beautiful! Reminds me so much of the weather back home in Bangalore, where its pleasant for most of the year.

The lovely weather here in Noida this week has brought about smiles on people's faces. There is a sense of cheer in the air, in the absence of the hot sun that is the norm here at this time of the year. No wonder people use the word, moody!

Of credit cards, cash and India's growth story...!

2008-02-29T12:31:00.004-05:00

Every thought of how paying telephone bills either in cash or by credit card can actually be a reflection of India's growth story? I never could have imagined the connection between a regular telephone bill payment and India's GDP growth rate, till recently!

My internet connection at home was misbehaving and I had to land up at Airtel's customer service centre in Noida last Tuesday. I reached this centre at around 1.30 p.m. , just after lunch. As I walked into the crowded service centre, the first thing I noticed was the change in the layout since I last went there around 6 months ago. The service centre was cleaner, more spacious and had an air of class about it. I had only 20 minutes to wrap up my conversation about my faulty internet connection at this service centre. I went straight to the enquiry counter and explained that my internet connection at home was not working properly at times and that there were issues with it. The service agent checked up the status on my bill payments and noticed that there was on bank transaction that had not reached the phone company in time- so much for online banking! I told him that it was not my problem, as I had paid the bill on time.

Eventually, I managed to cancel that old bank transaction and asked the service representative to fix the issue with my internet connection immediately. He suggested that I make an on-the-spot payment for my old bill and that he would immediately put in a request for speedy resurrection of my internet connection. I did not have time to argue and agreed.

When I then asked him about the billing counter, he pointed me to the far end of the service centre, where I noticed two queues - one for credit card payment and one for cash payments. And the queue for the credit card payment option was at least 3 times longer than that of the queue atthe cash payment counter. That sight had a message for me, that was loud and clear. And it hit me hard(positively and brought a smile to my face!).

Although it may seem like a mundane billing counter, I thought that the longer queue for credit cards clearly demonstrated the kind of growth India is growing! I am not anywhere close to being grey-haired, but in all my growing years, when there was no internet, no mobile phone, no credit card in the country, it was cash all the way. And to see that the number of people owning credit cards far outscored the number of people lined up for cash payments at a remote customer service centre of a famous telecom company, made me realise how much this country has progressed. Not only was the ownership of mobile phones increasing, but also, the ability to pay bills using hitherto high-end products was a revelation! I don't live in 300 B.C., don't mistake me!

These indices of a larger number of credit card owners than cash payers may never hit the headlines of any newspaper. But for somebody who has seen the upward migration curve of India, the sight of those two queues at that service centre was a huge statement. It was an attestation of the new India that is ready to take on the world and live life, king-size!

Cheerio!!