Holi aaee re

Shatru (aside): Khaaamoshhhhhh....... abe o chapad ganju....is taraf kya taank raha hai. Jaanta nahin ki aaj holi hai..HOLI. Aaj to hum us Amit ki tarah Holi khelenge...

Meena: Arre o mere darling Shatru, itne gusse main kyun ho? Why you so angry hoying?

Shatru: Ab kya bataaunn...(slurp -- quick sip of 'wine')...uff, yeh angrezi daaru bahut kadvi hai..(to backstage helper) Oye !! Ek desi daaru ki botal laa...

(to Meena) Arre meri jaan, this Amit gives me a complex. Pata nahin kab se Rekha ke saath ghoom raha hai. Woh bhi Holi ke season mein.

Meena: Arre jaanu, tum kaun se zamaane ki baat kar rahe ho...

Shatru: Is zamaane ki, dekho....



Meena: Uff hoo....kab sudhroge !! Ab na to tum jawan ho, aur na hi Amit.

Shatru: Shut up !! Kiski itni jurrat ke Bihar ke is naujawan ko chunauti de..

Amit (in the background, a drunk voice): Haann.....Range barse....... haaan.....range barse.......

Shatru: Dekha, abhi tak gaa raha hai...

Meena: Arre darling, yeh remix version gaa raha hai, poora to sun lo..

[enter Amitabh]

Amit: Haannn....rang barse when holi kheling raghubeera ....

Shatru: What !!!!!

Amit: Arre haan bhai Shatru. Aaj kal bahut sudhar gaye hain.... ab ham Rekha ke saath nahin, Basanti ke saath Holi khelte hain.

Shatru (shocked): Kya ??!!!!

Amit: Haan yaar...bahut ho gaya yeh naatak-waatak..us Salim aur Javed ki baaton mein aa kar marna pad gaya tha Sholay mein. Tab se thaan li ke bhaad main gayi yaari-dosti...'apni akal lagao'. Yeh dekho...

Amit (continuing): arre holi kheling raghubeera awadh mein, holi kheling raghubeera...!!!

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Sorry for a MAD MAD post, but just had to have fun. :)

For a relatively saner view of Holi, go here.

And, oh yes, HAPPY HOLI

Think about it

Today, I glanced up for the umpteenth time at a poster put up in the institute library. It always puts me into deep thought.

"30 years from now, it won't matter what shoes you wore, how your hair looked, or the jeans you bought. What will matter is what you learned and how you used it."

What do you have to say?

The two factors

The other day, I was having a discussion with two close friends. The following just happened as a result of the conversation. Interesting point.

There are 2 things that a runner must decide.

One, what is the speed at which he must run to outdo the fastest and the best in the group. Only when he strategises at what speed he will run and how he will pace himself can the runner have any chance of winning the competition. He must remember that if he must outdo the best, he must run better than the best; the quality of his running must be absolutely top class.

But, what is even more important is point two.

HE MUST DECIDE WHICH DIRECTION HE MUST RUN IN.

This for him is even more decisive than the first factor, since in whichever direction he looks, he will find different grounds, different competitors running at different speeds. What is important therefore, is not to make a mad dash at the first finish line that the runner spots. He must first decide for himself which direction he wants to run in and which is the race that he wants to win.

LATENT 3: Sam Pitroda

Sam Pitroda, Chairman of the Knowledge Commission of India, addressed an audience of students on the 8th of March, 2006 at the Thakorbhai Desai Hall, Law Garden, Ahmedabad. That is where I found material for this post.

He narrated to us an incident about the time when he was in India and had invited a friend over for dinner. They agreed that the guest would come over at 7:30 in the evening. Sam made an entry into his diary, reminding him of his appointment.

At 7:30, however, two things happened. One, the guest did not arrive. Two, Sam forgot all about the dinner guest and settled down for his meal. At around 8, after Sam had finished his dinner, the guest arrived. Sam, being the good host that he is, settled down for a couple of drinks with the guy. When, after some time passed, the guest refused to budge, Sam inquired why he had come over. "But you invited me for dinner !!", the fellow retorted. Sam, in a fix, had to have his dinner a second time.

But this prompted Sam to think. "Why did this happen, I asked myself," says Sam. "And I realised that the problem was that although I'd made an entry into my diary, there was nothing which REMINDED ME of the fact that at 7:30, someone was due at my place. So, I did a very simple thing. I wrote a program for a circuit where it would check for a scheduled time against the current time, and if the two match, would notify the user. I filed for a patent and the world's first digital diary was born."

After a couple of years, things changed for the worse. Rajiv Gandhi, the then PM with whom Sam had a good understanding, was assassinated and Sam was without a job. In a desperate bid to get his life together, a penniless Sam had to go America, that too on a tourist visa. There, he saw various companies such as Sharp, Sony etc. selling digital diaries.

"'Wait a minute,' I said, 'this is my invention.' So, I wrote to the all the leading electronic firms saying that what they were selling was under patent and that they must pay me royalty. They saw the name, Satyanarayan Gangaram Pitroda, an Indian, and said nothin' doin'. I said 'Fine', went to my lawyer and filed a suit against each one of them. That is when they realised that I meant business and paid me the due amount. And that," Sam pauses for breath, "is how I got my life back on track."

Unbelievable. All the while that we've been using digital diaries, I do not think many of us knew that it came from the mind of an inspired Indian. Wow!

And even today, the guy isn't satisfied. "What is keeping you guys from being active?" he asked us. "Today, I'm 64 years of age, and just about yesterday I've finished filing for another 20-25 patents."

Everything around you is waiting for a change, you just need to look around with a questioning attitude - Sam Pitroda

Kicked in the *****

Know what I mean? Of course you do. It is only human to feel that pain. And every once in a while, life has it's own ways of doing that to you, yes, kicking you right where it hurts you the most. Ouch!!

But what we do as a result is what is more important. Sample this. Today morning, when I felt like I was down and out, it took one phone call and a ten minute nap to knock sense back into my head. "Do you wanna get angry, fret and fume about what happened despite your efforts or do you wanna get up and actually do something about it?"

Get the idea? No? Need further proof of what needs to be done?

Well, here goes. About 2 years ago, when your's truly managed to get himself in a perfect rut by methods best known to himself, this is what his sister's SMS was like: "Winning is about rising each time you fall - Those words have been my inspiration. May they serve as yours too. Be strong and keep the faith. God has strange ways of working things out! I promise. Smile?"

No wonder I still have the SMS sent on 22nd July 2004 in my message inbox.


I PROMISE TO FIGHT BACK !!!

Mad delights

This was the name of the play in which Parnab Da (Parnab Mukherjee) directed us. The whole process actually began when he conducted a theatre workshop at Disha, the youth wing of Bharatiya Bhasha Parishad, Calcutta. Initially, the workshop was a lot about body movements and exercises. Later, the script of the dialogue-less play, "Mad Delights" by Mohan Rakesh, was provided to us.

The best thing about Parnab Da's style was he just let us free. He gave us youngsters (there were about 7 of us) the freedom to experiment. We read the play a couple of times before coming for the workshop, and once more in his presence in the practice room. He asked us for our opinions, our interpretations and then brought in his own. Having given us a framework...sorry, I take back that word, for a 'framework' can be assumed by many to be restrictive. So, having given us a direction in which to proceed, Parnab Da vanished.

He allowed us to script almost the entire play according to our liking. He would just walk in, have a look at what we were doing and make certain suggestions. And mind you, most of these suggestions were extremely powerful. Imagine having a crude piece of paper being torn in front of your eyes, words of riot victims being written in red upon it and then the papers being burnt right in front of you. In your face, shouting to you about the attrocities that took place, yet quiet (much like India?). Somehow, it yet made a point because while one watches the play, one can smell the fire, see the paper burn and the room is filled with smoke.

For the final act, we presented the play to the Calcutta audience in a room and purposely not on a stage. This was street theatre, remember? And we sincerely believed that it was essential to remove the distance between the audience and the actors. Were we really actors? I think not. Most of the audience in the first sitting were our parents. The second time we put up the play at the same venue, most of the people who came belonged to the cultural elite of the city. Yet, we the actors had been transformed from mere children to both, the perpetrators and the receivers of violence.

I am sorry if this post fails in recounting the exact incidents that were depicted in the play. It is impossible to put it down into words. If we communicated without any words then, how shall I communicate with the help of words now?

I still do not know what the reaction of most of the audience was. Most of them went away very very quiet. Mom couldn't come to watch the play as she was ill when we put it up, but Dad did come. His first reaction when he reaches home? "I need to take a bath...I have a headache." Though this might send peals of laughter amongst some, it brought a smile to the lips of those who were a part of the play. The headache and the burning questions that we'd sent everyone back with were more important than the applause that came at the end of the performances.

But was there any applause at all? I don't recall loud applause. What I do recall is a terrifying silence. A silence which only told us that the message had been carried across. That death, in its ugliest form of riots, had affected the next generation.

A Socratic approach

This morning, as I was getting ready to run yet again to the institute, the post that I made day before yesterday, titled "I want to win", suddenly came back to my mind. Even as I was wondering whether I would be late for class or not, I was reminded of a short story that I had read elsewhere. I felt that I must share it with whoever I can.

A man once went to Socrates to ask him what it took for a man to be successful. Socrates dismissed him at first saying that the person was not serious enough. But on being continuously persisted upon, Socrates asked him to come the next morning to the river bank where Socrates used to take his bath.

Although a bit surprised, the man agreed. The next morning, the man met Socrates at the agreed place. Socrates asked him to follow him a few steps into the river to find out the answer. The man did as he was told. When both were in water which reached up till their waists, the powerful Socrates suddenly lunged at the man and dragged him underwater. Caught unprepared, the man was soon fighting for breath. He thrashed about in the water as much as he could, but to no avail. Just when he thought the mad Socrates would drown him, a bit of the pressure was relaxed and his head broke out of the surface.

Even before he could get his breath back, Socrates once again forced the poor fellow's head into the water. The man had had enough and fought with all his might to break free, but to no avail. The strong Socrates just held him in there...long enough to almost drown the seeker of knowledge.

Just when the man thought his time had come, Socrates let his neck go free. The man immediately came out of water and collapsed on the river bank, gasping for every breath of air that his screaming lungs could take in.

"What was that for?" the man cried once he'd gotten his breath back.

"Well," asked Socrates smiling, "how did you feel in there?"

"I could've died there had you not released me!!"

"And what was the one thing that you would have given everything in the world for when you were in there?" asked Socrates, the wise.

"Air. I would do anything for a breath of air when I was down there."

"There is your answer," laughed Socrates. "Untill and unless you do not want success as badly as you wanted air when you were fighting for your life down there, you will never get it."

Earthquake

Ok, you heard it here first.

We experienced an earthquake here around 1/2 an hour back. Waise everything is cool. Nobody is worried or anything and junta is happily chilling out. Allright, most guys (n gals, for good measure) ran out of the hostel buildings and were merrily chatting away. What's even better, they played 'antakshari' to relieve the tension.

*slaps head in frustration

Kya miyaa, yahaan pe logon ko apni jaan se zyada chillout ki fikar hai.

But, I guess their explanation is: Life is short, jaana hai to aise hi chale jayenge. Much rather go singing and laughing.

*Sings

Hone do, dil ko..fanaaaa...!!!

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P.S. It has been a few hours since I made the post. I was just going through the post again when the word 'fanaa' caught my imagination as well as my curiosity. On checking the Net for the meaning of the word, I realised the irony of the word being used in this context. Apparently, 'fanaa' means Annihilation, although in a completely different context.

Uee maaaa !!!

I want to win

At times, I wonder whether it is as simple as that.

No jargons, no mathematics, no statistically proved data...no nonsense.

Just sit down and tell yourself that you want to succeed...AT ANY COST. That's it. There's something that needs to be done and you must do it. End of matter. Decide the 1 or 2 things that define your parameters of success, decide what it is that needs to be done...and then HUNT THOSE DAMN THINGS DOWN !!!!

I do not know why all of a sudden at 6 o' clock on a Monday morning (when I've been awake the whole night), I'm writing this down. All that I am trying to do is capture this moment...the moment that has perhaps let me know, how to achieve that which I want to achieve.

Pardon my inability to express it here in words. This is more of a personal milestone for this traveller. Hope you won't mind. And I of course, also hope, that someday, you too might finally achieve this milestone. Amen.

Me happy

Me happy. And no, this isn't those times when I'm feeling happy after a long, long, time. Aji, main to aise hi thoda pagal (the use of the word 'thoda' as a prefix to 'pagal' with reference to me has led to debates more serious than the ones on nuclear non-proliferation) kisam ka insaan hoon, it doesn't take much to make me cheerful and happy. Beautiful stars pop out in the night sky, noisy children run like mad in the garden, sun shines (no puns intended) brightly in the early morning, I get offered a chilled glass of lassi, Angelina Jolie/Aishwarya Rai sexily stares back at me from my computer desktop....Shekhar is happy. Get the idea?

I just wanted to list down the reasons for why I'm feeling so happy....for future purposes of course. For example, what if in the future, the night sky only reminds me of the few hours left to an exam (!!!), the noisy children turn out to be neighbour's kids who are in the garden even when one's "sar dard se fataa jaa raha hai" ala those Vicks Action 500 tv ads and instead of Angelina Jolie/Aishwarya Rai, I have been threatened into marrying a 89.32 kg, oil-dripping hair braided-into-'do choti' daughter of a Bihar MLA who is a distant relative of Lalloo Prasad Yadav. Honestly, life can get very unfair.

And as it so often happens, one thing reminds you of something else. I was reminded of the anonymous comment to my tag regarding 'Things I don't like'. The anon reader had asked me about the things that make me happy (specifically speaking, "aur tainu achha ki lagta hai?" was the query). And though it originally wasn't my intention to answer the question here, it turns out that the result of the intent to write down what makes me happy currently shall also partially answer the question (Errr...I too am a bit confused, let me read the last sentence again). So, here goes...

1. I've just consumed my 3rd cup of coffee for the day. *Evil grin* This ALWAYS makes me happy. I've often wondered whether I should've taken up engineering instead of B. Com just because of the ease with which I can consume gallons of tea and coffee.

2. I've finally made the "first" proper book review for my new blog 'My reviews'. What gives me more happiness is the fact that the book happens to be the biography of Swami Vivekananda. :) So Cool !! And what gives me EVEN more happiness (now really!!) is that I am looking towards beginning a blog together with friends where we will come together just to write book reviews. Let me see how this plan shapes up, it certainly sounds interesting.

3. Having read Freakonomics by Steven Levitt, my mind is brimming with ideas and is looking at the things around me with a curious and questioning mind. Some thoughts are really interesting. Perhaps, I'll put them down here. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe I'm right and maybe what I say will be controversial, but I'm a little known person, so 'ki farak penda hai yaaron?'

4. I have quite a few ideas for new posts in my mind. I'm not being able to put 'em ideas down here immediately due to lack of time, but I'm certainly going to express myself. Airtel zindabaad !

5. Can you imagine how a 5 year old would feel standing in a candy store with a 500 rupee note? That is what I feel like right now. That is because I have gotten hold of a couple of books which really excite me. Like I said, I've just finished reading 'Freakonomics'. These are the books in the pipeline:

i. Adventures of a Bystander - Peter Drucker (currently reading)
ii. Karma Yoga - Swami Vivekananda (currently reading)
iii. Managing Radical Change - Sumantra Ghoshal, Gita Piramal & Christopher Bartlett
iv. Wings of Fire - APJ Abdul Kalam
v. Life's Mysteries - Osho

Hmmmm.....all in all, a good way to conclude this week. :)

Dreams

Someone dozing off in a lecture ain't anything new. Specially if that someone has a brilliant track record of dozing off during lectures. It is almost like a divine gift. "Thou shalt be asleep during lectures" seems to have become the First Commandment in a b-school. In fact, it is almost like a challenge to the faculty...a constant game of cat and the mouse where we, as students, continuously experiment with new designs of falling asleep during class.

On occasions, however, the cat gets lucky. Yesterday morning's lecture on Strategic Management was one such occasion.

GK was merrily nodding during class, something that is his core competency, the only other core area being playing Counter Strike. The class roared in laughter the moment the prof. spotted the rogue. Fortunately, the prof. is a cool dude who just said "It's all right. One must dream. Only difference between anybody seeing a dream and a student seeing a dream here is that we teach you how to convert it into reality."

*Brief pause*

"So, what does it take to turn dreams into reality?"...and before an excited me could answer, a voice piped up "A Deadline." Pretty similar to what I was about to say, except for the use of word. I would've shouted out "Set a Timeframe to achieve your Dream."

Late last night, free from powerpoint presentations and mid-term review reports, my mind once again went back to the morning's drama. Dreams, huh? So, what does it take to turn them into reality?

Deadlines? Timeframe? Energy? Vision?

A dream will only remain a dream unless you decide to do something about it. Unless you visualise your dream and set a clear path forward, you will never achieve this dream. Psychologists often talk of something about "seeing what you want to be" or some such garbled stuff. For a simpleton like me, it boils down to the following: See your favorite dream, "wake up", realise what needs to be done in order to achieve it and GET GOING!! No point sitting there on your backside, buddy.

There have been many who have seen mighty, gigantic dreams. But what of those? What if they only remained hidden in some dark corner of your mind? Nothing's gained. And what if someone else chances on the same idea and gains that which was rightfully yours? The two words sting for the rest of your life...What if...

"I have a dream" - Martin Luther King Jr.

Even the illiterate shepherd boy in The Alchemist had seen a dream. The difference between him and us? He was crazy enough to follow in the path of his dream. He was crazy enough to trod the unkown path. He was willing to throw away the comfortable life of a shepherd in exchange for the travails of an unknown traveller. Are you crazy enough?

He faced troubles. You too will face troubles. Every path is strewn with pebbles. Every path has its rough moments. Yet, that is the journey that one must undertake in order to realise his dream. And only when one has travelled the path less trodden that they will realise that the pleasure lies in recounting the smiles and the tears that one has shed on the path. You would have experienced these emotions on any other path as well, but here, you've become one with the path.

Cynics may look at this post and grimace. After all, who values the words, the thoughts and the world of a dreamer?

*Smiles

You see things; and you say 'Why?' But I dream things that never were; and I say 'Why not?' - George Bernard Shaw


The dusty path calls....are you listening?

The Ring of Gyges

Ethics in business is the source of a troubled heart. On one hand you have business houses (VERY SUCCESSFUL business houses, may I add) that have a philosophy which says "To hell with everything else, business is all about being a profit making enterprise". To them, nothing should stand in the path of their success. Absolutely NOTHING. In a country which ranked 88th on a Corruption Perceptions Index in 2005, I do not need to tell you twice about the kind of bribes that are paid by companies to get into the favorable books of authorities.

Then again there are the house of Tata's and Infosys. These companies have re-defined the way corporate governance is interpreted in India. Time and again have they been lauded with doing things that were ethically and morally correct. Of course, the drivers of such business practices have been at the top, right from Jamsetji, JRD, to Ratan Tata and to the likes of Narayanmurthy.

You might wonder what caused me to write about business ethics and morals on such a fine Sunday morning.

Well, 2 things.

1. The HR project that my team submitted yesterday, which was titled "Ethical Challenges in HR"; and

2. The book "Freakonomics". I have been reading the bestseller for the Book Club review this Wednesday. An extract:

"There is a tale, “The Ring of Gyges,” that Feldman sometimes tells his economist friends. It comes from Plato’s Republic. A student named Glaucon offered the story in response to a lesson by Socrates—who, like Adam Smith, argued that people are generally good even without enforcement. Glaucon, like Feldman’s economist friends, disagreed. He told of a shepherd named Gyges who stumbled upon a secret cavern with a corpse inside that wore a ring. When Gyges put on the ring, he found that it made him invisible. With no one able to monitor his behavior, Gyges proceeded to do woeful things—seduce the queen, murder the king, and so on. Glaucon’s story posed a moral question: could any man resist the temptation of evil if he knew his acts could not be witnessed? Glaucon seemed to think the answer was no. But Paul Feldman sides with Socrates and Adam Smith—for he knows that the answer, at least 87 percent of the time, is yes."

The 87 per cent idea comes from the meticulous data that Feldman had recorded from his business collections where he would just place bags of bagels in offices and leave a small box with a slit on top for people to pay for the bag. On an average, his collections from the box was 87 per cent.

Just two more points:

1. On one hand, Glaucon uses the Ring of Gyges to prove his point that morality is just a social construction, i.e. we would like to project an idea in society that we are morally correct in our thinking; the moment our actions are invisible to society (like when the ring is put on) we would give in to temptation. Interestingly, this idea was also present in J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, where the One Ring not only made the one who wore it invisible but also corrupt. Umm...Gollum gollum....My precious !!

2. Here is an interesting twist given by Scott Adams. Trust him to come up with something witty; yet true. It was this response from a regular reader that prompted him to put forward his ideas:

"A co-worker of mine is so cheap that he bought one of the portable electric batteries that you can charge up for emergencies, like jumpstarting your car or running appliances off of during camping trips, and brings it to work everyday and lets it charge in his cubicle. He then takes it home and runs his lights or microwave off of it. He says he is forcing the company to pay him a little extra by taking electricity home. He also tries to time all of his bodily eliminations to occur at work so that he uses company water for flushing etc… to further save himself money and cost the company."

What would you do if you would chance upon the Ring of Gyges?

Lag gayi

I mean, Tag lag gayi... Abhinav tagged me. I'm honored. My chest swells up with pride. I float in mid-air. In walks my roomie, moves his hands around in another attempt to outdo the great Rajesh Khanna, successfully impersonates Bruce Lee and pricks a pin in my thought bubble, saying, "Abe saale, neeche aaja...neeche aaja.."

Back to earth, I proceed towards my laptop, with a smack of the lips and a devilish gleam in my eye. I'd been dying to get back to my laptop to punch the keys and come up with another one of 'em posts...but Abhinav bhai gives me the required ammunition as well.

"Will you walk into my parlour?", said Shekhar to the reader...


Mainu ki achha nahin lagta?

1. I HATE eve-teasers with the same intensity that Osama Bin Laden hates America. Harmless flirting, fine. Eve teasing.. NOTHIN' DOING. I hate it when Indian men lustily stare at a woman walking by on the road. It gets even worse when there's a foreigner around. A quick glance? Understandable. Stare at her as if gazing at some poster advertising a free Domino's meal which includes a veg. pizza with extra mozzarella cheese, ginger bread and a bottle of Coke? Unacceptable.

And NO, asking a girl for directions to a courier office is NOT an offence.

2.I don't like violence. I do not mind the scenes prevalent in the hostel at midnight when some poor person is first 'shuddh' karo-fied with bathroom ka paani and then interesting patterns resembling shoeprints mysteriously make their way on to his shorts. What I do mind are the scenes which are regularly seen on TV news channels.

I had the good fortune to be the part of a theatre workshop conducted by Parnab Da (Parnab Mukherjee). As a result of that workshop, we put up a play at the Bharatiya Bhasha Parishad in Calcutta. I was one of the actors who played the role of a victim of the Gujarat riots. It was a 75 minute silent play. Yes...not a single word was uttered right throughout the 75 minutes. We emoted purely through our body language. Life was never the same again.

3. I don't like reaching class late. Yet, it seems I might soon 'run' myself into the Late Class-Entrants Hall of Fame. Running the 10 km marathon at Nirma Champions League was fine; running every day to the classroom as if being chased by the Hound of Nirmaville, thinking of an 'original' excuse to gain the kind permission of the faculty to enter the class, panting helplessly while stumbling over bags and legs in an attempt to reach your seat and sitting through the first lecture of the day on an empty stomach devoid of the 'messy' breakfast pleasures isn't my idea of the beginning of a chapter titled "A Day in the life of Shekhar".

4. Confusion. One word that defines 80% of my time spent thinking. Ever heard of 'em birds who decided to flock ek doosre ke aas-pados mein? Yep, that's my story. A bunch of friends here have organised themselves into a group on IP messenger, calling ourselves "Confu-zone". Being true MBA students, we've even come up with a Mission Statement: To create an atmosphere of true confusion for the benefit of mankind in general and us dear darlings in particular. Group activities include gazing at the starry sky and wondering what the hell we're doing, staring at our laptops and practicing playing minesweeper when there are 2 quizzes and 1 group presentation the next day and (my personal favorite) trying to perfect the line ala Sachin: Main kaun hoon? Main kahaan hoon? (Who am I? Where am I?). Group trivia: I'm the ONLY Libran here, and feeling a bit lonely. Interested in helping out? Fast...hit the comments button!!

5. Memorizing tomes on Management learning. Yikes !! For Christ's sake, aren't we supposed to be managers? Why should we bother becoming a 'popat' (Hindi and especially Gujju talk for 'parrot'). I know, I know. The mid-term exam wounds are still fresh, and hence I type with extra vengeance. However, I eagerly pray to God for some faculty to read this.

Don't ask us in a question paper to reproduce 'such and such' matrix.....ask us instead what strategy A & Co. should use to market product B in country C, and we should be the ones coming up with interesting answers. True, some will quote the BCG matrix, some may photocopy some 12 pages of the text with the precision of a Canon copier, but lurking amongst us is the guy who's going to propose a new way of looking at markets, products, companies and competition. Helloooooo ?? How about giving him the space to voice HIS opinion, and NOT Kotler's ?

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The flame of the tag passes on to Moonwalker, Amit, Sayesha and Arpana (previously mis-spelt here as Arpita). God bless. :D

Daydreaming

Well, it didn't kill anyone, did it?

In the midst of all the tense preparation for the final 2 papers tomorrow, the variations on Yahoo! Avatars offers fun and relaxation. If wishes were horses...




But then, Fido Dido ain't too bad at describing me either. :)

Exams again

You might be wondering about the sudden halt that there has been on the posts. "Yeh kya hua, itna romantic ho gaya ki Aladdin ke pic se aage hi nahi badh raha hai?" [What happened, how come he's turned so romantic as to not proceed beyond Aladdin's pic?]

The answer, my friend, is out there. And by "there" I mean it lies in the T4 room of my institute where I've been going for the last 2 days to face the mid-term examinations. Giving these examinations is a self-study on facing internal demons and fears. One has little time to pause and wonder, one has only just thought up a strategy after a spate of disastrous exams when another one strikes.

The mad dash to the examination hall after having slept for barely 3 1/2 hours, the attempts to try and remember jargons for the Human Resources (HR) and Marketing Research (MR) papers, are all very reminiscent of the college examination days, minus all the 'masti' of course.

Anyway, I have one last set of examinations on Monday after which I must return to my world of 'strategy building' and 'planning' for the end-term examinations. I guess, that is when I shall resume regular blogging.

In the meantime, dear reader, I would request you to browse through my new blog, My reviews, the link to which can also be found just below the 'Quotation of the Day' box on the right column. And oh yes, in the first post of my new blog, I also fulfill my promise of mentioning the reason why I named this blog "Adventures of a Traveller". Enjoy.

Happy Valentine's Day

To whom no words can explain the feelings caught in the magical 3 words, I LOVE YOU

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY ! :D

Happy Valentine's Day everyone. May God bless you and your beloved, wherever they may be.

A diversified portfolio

It was really amusing to find out that a friend here thought that I was a Bengali. The fact that I've been brought up in Kolkata and that I speak Bengali added to the deception. :D

Like I explained to her, she wasn't the first one, and definitely doesn't seem to be the last one, to make that erroneous judgement. And I explained to her why...

I am a Gujarati. My Mom n Dad are pure Gujjus at heart. By that, I mean to say my Mom still prefers reading her Gujarati magazine 'Chitralekha' to, say, a 'Femina' or a 'Filmfare'. Dad still loves to treat us to 'gaathiya' and 'jalebi' rather than to pastries. Gujju dishes are a regular preparation in the kitchen, although the rest of India also finds an able cook and representative in Mommy dearest. I looooove going to 'watch' a raas-garba and dandiya competition, although, I myself am no good at it. However, one particularly beautiful female back in Kolkata has promised me that she'll teach it to me, and I am certainly looking forward to meeting her again...err, the lessons. ;)

I was brought up in Kolkata. One word to sum up that city is 'magic'. It has perhaps the most crowded streets, the narrowest of lanes, the saddest water sewerage system, the Left government... The list is endless. Yet, that place is home. It is in the most crowded of these streets that you bump into old pals and decide to hit the nearest tea stall for a quick cup of steaming hot tea to catch up on old times. It is in the narrowest of lanes that you find your old homes, the places you shifted out from and the memories of your childhood dancing in front of your eyes. Only when the rains come down heavily and there is heavy water-logging do you realise that some things have still not changed, that the Kolkata Municipal Corporation is going to take the blame for yet another year and repeat the mistake the next. Only when you wade through those dirty waters do you remember the time when as a carefree child, you, alongwith your gang of friends, decided to check out how much water has accumulated in the neighbourhood. And when you came back home after being knee-deep in filthy water, it was Mom who used to command (for the loss of a stricter word) you to go have a bath. That, is Kolkata. The city of books, the city of the Coffee House at College street....the City of Joy.

And then again, my schooling was done in La-Martiniere for Boys. A school which started in 1836 with the generosity of a French army general, it taught us the best of Christianity and the best of disciplines. Till date, I repeat the Gayatri Mantra with as much devotion as I repeat the 'Our Father'. I am very much prone to exclaiming 'Oh Jesus !!' or '...for Christ's sake!!'. Some teachers leave a mark on an individual's life. Ms. GH, an Anglo-Indian class teacher in classes 2 and 5, was one such beautiful lady. On a particular occassion, when a few classmates had mocked me because of my dark skin (oh how cruel children can be) and I was really depressed, she came over, and like a doting mother, wiped away my tears to say "You are the son of God. Don't let anything or anyone make you forget that."

My most beloved aunt is a Christian too, and her influence has been tremendous as well. It is from her that I learnt that one must always give willingly to the poor and the needy; the Lord shall ensure that your wallet doesn't remain empty. All this has again led some people to believe that I'm a Christian.

Some of my best friends are Punjabis. A particular langotiya-yaar from school days who has just returned from Warwick after doing his MBA, is a Panju too. And that makes me love the Punjabi life to the hilt. When in Kolkata, I was a regular visitor with some of my friends to the Gurudwara at Elgin Road. Of course, Balwant Singh's Dhaba located right below the Gurudwara obviously helped. *Grin* What could be more enjoyable than cold glasses of thick lassis and hot aloo ka parathas with butter on top!! Yum !! (I've just returned from the mess after a heavy lunch, but I can still hear my stomach leap with joy at the mention of the aloo paratha.) And obviously, the achaar to accompany the parathas.. Aaye haaaye yaar...I can almost smell the garama-garam parathas!! :D And to add to the fun, have you ever realised how 'hot' Punjabi females are? Wow !! No wonder words like "changa", "sat sri akal", and phrases like "Oye ki hoya ?" are part of my active vocabulary.

Gujju, Bengali, Christian, Punjabi ?? Who am I? You decide. As far as I'm concerned, I'm just happy to be labelled an ordinary Indian.

With due respect to Mr. Porter & Co.

Well, here goes...

It was 2 AM. I was working on my Marketing Research project, when, while Googling (oops, I let the worst secret out) I came across an article which said that some French group of political analysts, having studied the works of Chanakya and Machiavelli, had come to the conclusion that had these two men collided on the battlefield of strategy, Machiavelli would have been "torn to shreds" by the former.

I turned to my room mate and we immediately launched into one of our favorite topics of discussion; the ingeniousness of the ancient Indian wisdom. It so happens that both of us had the book "Jwalamukhi ke Phool", a book on how Chandragupta Maurya came to power under the tutelage of Chanakya, during our course at school. Both of us simply LOVED the book, the tense moments, the intense political struggle and the strategic battles (not always on the battlefield; a lot many were fought orally in palaces and dungeons) that were fought and won.

We also discussed 'Chanakya-Niti'. The translated version of the book is easily available on the Net and moreover, a cheap 25-30 rupee impression is available in most Wheeler book stalls across the major railway stations of this country. I have not had the time or the privilege to go through the book in detail, but one of the interesting snippets I read was the manner in which Chanakya had described how even the prostitutes of a land should divide their time. So-and-so time was for their ablutions, at such-and-such time they were to attend to 'customers' and their hidden agenda would be to gather information for their king, for they formed a small cog in the network of spies that Chanakya would have weaved. Goodness!! Talk about detailed analysis of each and every member of the community.

At the same time, you cannot underestimate either the man's economic or his capabilities as a strategist. Not only is his 'Arthashastra' one of the earliest treatises in economics, but very often we tend to forget that the great Alexander, who was thought to be unconquerable, was stopped from further invading the country by the shrewd Brahmin.

But wait, didn't Alexander return since it was his army that rebelled? Weren't they the ones who had had enough of battles and wanted to return home?

Very true, but according to various sources it was Chandragupta himself who'd spread the word of dissent in Alexander's armies. How did he achieve this? Well, Chanakya had instructed him to get himself recruited in Alexander's army. Reason? Two birds with one stone. One, spread the word of dissent among the war-weary soldiers and generals. Two, learn the Greek fighting style which cannot be duplicated easily by the rest of the kingdoms in India; this would later come in handy while setting up their own empire.

I'm sure there are many knowledgeable individuals who would have done a lot of research on Chanakya and would have read tomes about him. But the fact remains, that for an average B-school student like me, Chanakya remains the one 'strategy guru' that I would like to learn the most from.

LATENT: Part 2

Those of you who might be confused by the title of this post may want to check out this previous post which contains an explanation as well as an interesting story about the beginnings of Richard Branson's Virgin Atlantic Airlines.

One finds many ways of motivating oneself....especially after bad scores. I have found mine; reading, watching, listening to people who dreamt and pulled off the impossible.

Our library has a website on the local server of which we can watch a number of educational movies. I went back to the videos listed under "Lessons in Excellence" (remember the program which used to be aired on CNBC TV 18?). I clicked on "Episode 5: The Three Stages of Competition. Companies featured: Reliance, Canon, Xerox".

Hidden within the 20 minute video was this interesting anecdote that the late Sumantra Ghoshal tells a spellbound audience of 2; Raghav Bahl and Gita Piramal.

Sumantra Ghoshal: You know, when we were writing that case on Reliance...the ex-chairman of one of the major public sector infrastructure banks...he told me a story. That bank had financed the very beginning of Reliance starting up. So, he said, "Dhirubhai came to me one day. At that time, Dhirubhai is (just) a polyester trader sitting in Bombay and he is a small little dealer. That's all that he has, his little office. In his diary, he had this little picture. The picture said at the bottom...(indicating a box) 'Textiles', then it goes up, 'Textile Intermediaries', then it goes up, 'Bulk Intermediaries', then it goes up, 'Refining', then it goes up 'Oil Exploration'....(looks up in amazement with a glint in his eye) Remember? He was working with Shell in Aden. Shell was an integrated oil company doing all of these things. Starting a six loom little factory in Naroda, the man had in his mind this whole empire that he wanted to build.

Bad karma shivers

Brr.. why do I feel cold?

Simple, dude! The grades for the second term shall definitely be out by tomorrow morning. And, as is no national secret, me had a nightmare during the last examinations.

So, what is my schedule for the evening?

*Sigh* No blogging, no 'orkut'ing, no reading trivia on wikipedia, no browsing through the latest issues of Businessworld and Business India which are lying on my table (have already gone through about 10 pages in each magazine, though).

Next step, close my media player which is playing 'Paathshala (Be a Rebel)' from Rang De Basanti, and concentrate on my Management Information System (MIS) book for the quiz tomorrow and then prepare the pre-readings for the Operations, Finance and HR classes tomorrow. Boy, at this rate, I'll only finish at 4-5 in the morning. Awwww... there goes my tomorrow morning's breakfast....

A fly on the wall

A couple of years ago, a friend asked me who my dream date would be.

"It definitely would be Arundhati Roy.", was my prompt reply.

"Why ?", she asked.

"Umm..she seems to be a decent writer, having won the Booker prize and all. Then what the hell motivated her into getting involved with social movements alongside Medha Patkar? Surely, she must have seen something dramatic enough for her to commit herself to the cause."

Fact remains, my friends, that no matter who you are, 9 times out of 10 you would want to be around a celebrity. It is not necessary that it has to be someone from the film world, although they would rate highly on anyone's charts. The guys shall surely want to have a 'close' chat with the likes of (ahem) Bipasha Basu, Sameera Reddy and more of their kind (may their tribe increase).

I presume the girls would go ga-ga and giggly over Hrithik Roshan, Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan or even an Abhishek Bachchan (what say Munnu bhaiya?).

Then, you would have the 'oh-so-serious' business school student, with the gelled hair and pin-striped shirt et al, who would personally want an interview with Mukesh Ambani, Anil Ambani, Narayan Murthy, Azim Premji and the other luminaries of the business world.

Me? I would surely want to have a run-in with the damsels (who would say 'No' to that?). I would be over-the-moon if I were spotted in a gym with either Salman or Hrithik giving me tips on improving my physique (God I need those!!) and I'd be overwhelmed if any of the fundoo businessmen/entrepreneurs would give me an opportunity to pick their brains.

But being a fly on the wall here, in another age and another generation, would've made me the happiest.


So, ladies and gentlemen, the question is, which celebrity would you like to have a chat with?

[P.S. Saurav-ko-gussa-kyon-aata-hai, you'd better answer, or else....]

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Umm...Just realised that it would be rather ungrateful towards my brothers and the female audience if I left out the international celebrities. Point noted.

Edited Female Celebrity list: Alicia Silverstone, Angelina Jolie, Drew Barrymore, Cameron Diaz...frankly, folks, the list is endless.

Edited Male Celebrity list: Well, how would I know?

Luka Chuppi

It is 6 in the morning and I'm just about to go off to sleep. Yet, I pause before I get off the chair and finally hit the bed. I click on Windows Music Player and decide to listen to the song "Luka Chuppi" from the movie Rang De Basanti...again.

I do not know what it is about this song, but right from the time I've heard it, it refuses to stop playing over and over again in my mind. The strumming of the guitar, the beats of the tabla and the voices of Lata Mangeshkar and A. R. Rahman make it an unbelievable song to listen to. Hats off to Prasoon Joshi; he has achieved the impossible in expressing in his lyrics the love and care that a mother has for her son.

On hearing the lyrics for the first time, I thought that the song might be talking of the love of the motherland that an expatriate might have. But the beautiful manner in which the song was picturised in the movie, I could not help but smile in the darkened cinema hall. Smile... while there were tears in my eyes. God only knows what powers of self-control made me stop tears streaming down my face when I saw the silent stare of Waheeda Rehman, a shattered mother who has lost her son.


Luka Chuppi bahut huyi saamne aa ja naa
Kahan kahan dhoonda tujhe
thak gayi hai ab teri maa

Aaja saanjh hui mujhe teri fikar
Dhundhla gayi dekh meri aa ja na


(Enough of playing hide-and-seek, come forth now;
I have searched everywhere for you
And I am tired now

It is evening time
And look, my vision is blurred with tears; come forth now)

Summer placement done

My summer placement got finalised today in 'Business Standard', a business daily newspaper.

Check out:

http://www.businessstandard.com/ ; or http://www.businessstandard.com/bsonline/aboutus.php

Marketing project.

:)

Mom, I've grown up naa...

Hi i got engaged today.

The SMS made me stop in my tracks. What? G got engaged? She is a college friend, and just the other day we were roaming the streets of Calcutta; aimlessly wandering in the Presidency College compound during their fest; getting worried about college examinations; getting nervous and excited as Valentine's Day was about to arrive, and now all of a sudden.. "I got engaged today"?

I immediately called her up and conveyed my heartiest congratulations (sheesh!! That sounds so cliched). When did it all happen? Well, in a matter of 2 days flat. Wow! Talk about Indians on the move. How did it happen?

His parents met me yesterday. My parents met him today morning. I met him in the evening. We all agreed. I got engaged. Ring ceremony in a few days, marriage in a months' time.

Zap! If only our politicians could agree in a similar manner to modernise the ancient airports of our country which are in shambles. Consider what the situation would then be like.

Aviation minister: We met the interested investors yesterday. They filed their proposals today morning. We went through them in the afternoon. We announced the results in the evening. We all agreed. So-and-so company starts works in a few days; airport modernised in a few years' time.

However, one realisation has just hit home.

We're quickly getting older. We're supposed to be mature individuals (I consider it as fit to consider myself mature as I consider Atal Behari Vajpeyee to win India a Gold in 100m in the next Olympics). We're no longer kids who could turn towards their parents and ask for help, monetary or otherwise. Apne pairon pe khade hone ka waqt aa gaya hai. We're adults now. (NOT in that sense, stupid! Of course I knew that the moment I turned 18, I had reason to be conscious of the fact. Every year tonnes of us wait to actually become 'eligible' to watch adult movies.) But now, we're expected to take care of ourselves. WOW!!

I don't give a damn.. Now that I've grown up, I'm immediately calling up Mom n Dad to tell them to give me more pocket money for my expenses here. "Mummyyyyyyyyyyyy....."

A few lines

"Main aur meri tanhai, aksar yeh baatein karte hain, tum hoti to kaisa hota?

Tum yeh kehti, tum woh kehti;

Tum is baat pe hairaan hoti, tum us baat pe kitni hasti;

Tum hoti to aisa hota...tum hoti to waisa hota;

Main aur meri tanhai, aksar yeh baatein karte hain......"

- Silsila (1981)

The Marathon

Could've written about this earlier, but decided to wait for a more opportune moment. The long night draws to a close, things are in place for Perspective 2006, our annual academic conference which starts from tomorrow.

I've been working non-stop for Perspective from 8:30 AM onwards, and it is now just past 2 in the morning. The temperature has suddenly decided to take a dip in the last few days, and the guys who were contemplating putting away those quilts have quietly pulled the same quilts over their heads. The media player on my laptop is playing "Rubaroo" from Rang De Basanti; the song can be softly heard 4 feet outside my closed room-door. There is a certain stillness in the air as the hostel takes a breather. After all, Nirma Champions League is over.

I've had a particularly rewarding day. I ran the 10km Marathon.

I'll tell you a secret. I had two objectives when I started preparing for the marathon.

One: I shall build enough stamina to last me 10 kms.

Two: I shall win the race.

I have achieved the first of my two goals. I came in 4th since I was outdone by better atheletes and there's no shame in accepting that. But above all this, this has been a great learning and liberating experience. The spirit mattered and pushing yourself to the edge mattered even more.

Consider this: Prior to this event, I hadn't ever run long distances, although I've walked many a kms at a stretch. So, running such a long distance at one stretch was a new challenge.

From the moment I entered my name for the competition till the time I began running the first lap, I could put in only 6 days of practice. That would boil down to 3 hours of practice at the maximum.

Till yesterday, the longest distance I'd run at a stretch was 5 km in 26 minutes. Today's run of 10 kms at a stretch was the first time that I attempted running such a long distance. To be honest, I'd not thought I'd be able to make it and many a times I'd almost 'seen' myself giving up after the 6th or the 7th lap in my mind's eye. But everytime that happened, I would shake my head and say 'No', I'm not going to let that happen.

Result? A thin, reedy looking guy, who till a fortnight ago was not considered to 'have it in him' to run came in 4th while running a distance of 10 kms in 48 minutes and 56 seconds. Not bad, huh? :)

Of course, at the end of the day, there is a certain bit of disappointment that I didn't even come in 3rd. But then, I was reminded of this picture which was mailed to us a couple of days back by a friend on the intranet.

Happy Republic Day

HAPPY REPUBLIC DAY to all Indians. Jai Hind!!

One of the first important events that this blog saw was the 58th Indian Independence Day on the 15th of August 2005. I remain as hopeful as I was then about the future of our country. I am no great personality, neither a business tycoon today nor the next biggest politician; but yes, I AM an Indian. And as an Indian, I am happy, content and hopeful. Happy about the present economic condition of the country; content about the opportunities present for the youth of this country and hopeful that our collective intelligence and resolve will one day overcome the many challenges that still lie ahead of us.

There was a certain sad incident last night, however, which forced me to think. What relevance does India becoming a republic have today? Why doesn't the average Indian, you and me, relate to India becoming a republic any more? Why has 'Republic Day' become a synonym for 'Sunday'. Have we forgotten the importance of our constitution or have we simply lost faith in it?

The questions disturbed me. I tossed and turned in my bed as many times as I could. If there is a record for T&T (tossing and turning), I certainly can lay claim to having broken it last night.

One idea that struck my mind was that if Sardar Vallabh bhai Patel had not succeeded in painfully threading together this country, all the hullaballoo today about India being a 'great' economic power wouldn't have existed. We would have been as ordinary and as fragmented as modern day Europe is. If Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar had not successfully chaired the Drafting Committee, we would not have had a democracy.

It is a completely different issue that Babasaheb was one of the sharpest critics of our democracy. It is a completely different issue that the existing form of our democracy is more creaky than the oldest decrepit Fiat 800 you can find in a mechanic's garage. At least you have some semblance of normalcy. Be thankful that you do not have a Chinese regimental and almost unconquerable Central Government at the helm of all things, or, even worse, a President who finds it impossible to put together sentences in his mother tongue, has a vocabulary poorer than a class 10 student of our country and who must refer to his cohorts every time he needs to take a strategic decision, either about his country's defence or about bombing another nation.

Perturbed, I woke up to try and find something to read. I went to Rashmi Bansal's blog, and while reading a review of Rang De Basanti, read the following:

In fact, the film creates new definitions of old ideas. What does it mean to be ‘patriotic’? Rang de attempts to answer the old question in a new way. It’s not about Sunny paaji single handedly immobilising the Pakistani army and half its airforce by breaking the sound barrier as he booms “JAI HIND”.

So, what does it mean to be Patriotic? Ask yourself that question... it is the least that you can do for your country on this momentous day.

Lambi race ka ghoda

Like I said, I'm participating in Nirma Champions League (NCL) '06. Yours truly shall be seen in action in 100 and 200 m race. Not only that, I shall also be participating in the 4 x 100 m relay (teams yet to be formed) and the Marathon.

MARATHON

The word inspires respect. I just love the idea of running long distances. It is not enough to be a mute spectator of such events to understand what the runners endure during the event. The breathlessness, the perspiration on your forehead, the pain in your thigh muscles, the constant hitting of the hard ground against your soles... It is all a mind game at its best. When in spite of every sweat, every pore of your skin and every molecule of oxygen in your body shouting for you to stop, you refuse to give up and set yourself to run another km, that is the spirit which makes a marathon what it is. It is difficult to explain in words the feeling of quiet confidence that one gets after having run a sizable distance. You can almost feel the blood rushing through your veins.

There has of course been a surge in national interest in the sport thanks to the Mumbai Marathon which has now become an annual event. The NCL version of the Marathon is of only 10 km, but that too is a great ask. Tell me about it. I've just about started running 2 km at a stretch, and I'm completely out of breath at the end of it. However, I'm confident I'll be able to finish many more than 2 km on the final day.

The participation also brings with it a wave of curiosity, praise and nay-sayers. These days, the moment people get to know that I shall be participating in the marathon, they have one of 3 reactions.

Reaction 1: Marathon?!! Wow!! So, have you started practicing? How many kms can you run at a stretch?

Reaction 2: Marathon?! Amazing yaar. Cool. Aur koi daud bhi raha hai kya? I'm sure you'll win. Haan, theek hai, maybe you don't have the stamina right now, but I'm sure you'll make it by the time D-Day arrives.

It really feels nice when someone shows confidence in you. And so, let me add this that is a TOP OF THE WORLD feeling when you're running, breathing hard and telling yourself not to give up and someone spots you and shouts out "Come on, Shekhar... come on... You can DO it!!" Those were the exact words of a senior as I ran past the badminton courts today, and I think the elated feeling gave me enough energy to run for a quarter of a km more!!

Reaction 3: Abe, you aren't participating in any event worth mentioning, then why this daudne vaudne ka nautanki?

My reaction to the negative comments? Silently indifferent.

I run since I like running. It is one of the simplest things to do. All you need is a decent pair of shoes and an attitude that says "I'm not gonna give up".

Life And Times of ENTrepreneurs (LATENT) Part 1

It is no secret that entrepreneurs excite me and lots of other people. Why? What is it that makes their lifestyle so interesting? Why is it that books written by them ("Direct from Dell" - Michael Dell, "Losing my virginity" - Richard Branson) or dedicated to them are bestsellers?

I have always believed that there is an entrepreneur hidden in all of us; we just need to look that little bit further. The following speech by Richard Branson (at the 4th Madhavrao Scindia Memorial Lecture) proves my point; the situation he found himself in could have been that of ANYONE of us, in fact, there were a number of people who were in the same situation. Only, he decided to look for a solution.

"In '79, when Joan, my fiancee and I were on a holiday in the British Virgin Islands, we were trying to catch a flight to Puerto Rico; but the local Puerto Rican scheduled flight was cancelled. The airport terminal was full of stranded passengers. I made a few calls to charter companies and agreed to charter a plane for $2000 to Puerto Rico. Cheekily leaving out Joan's and my name, I divided the price by the remaining number of passengers, borrowed a blackboard and wrote: VIRGIN AIRWAYS: $39 for a single flight to Puerto Rico. I walked around the airport terminal and soon filled every seat on the charter plane. As we landed at Puerto Rico, a passenger turned to me and said: "Virgin Airways isn't too bad - smarten up the services a little and you could be in business."

That, my friends, is how VIRGIN ATLANTIC began!! Can you believe it? A mad hatter's flight was cancelled, and look what he came up with.


He goes on to add: "When VA was launched in '84, not one person thought it would survive for more than a year. The bosses of these 13 big American airlines, that we competed with, said we'd fail. Now 21 years later, all 13 of them are out of business - proving the number 13 is unlucky for some."

Whew. What a guy!!

Where the mind is without fear

Just read this on Sayesha's blog. The poem she mentions is really beautiful and inspiring. In fact, now that I pause to think, it reminds me of a Hindi poem that I studied in school. I think the title was "Behta paani nirmala".

Anyway, my all time favorite poem is "Where the mind is without fear" by Gurudev Rabindranath Thakur (it is the quintessential Bengali in me that makes me mention 'Thakur' instead of 'Tagore').

Here is the passage from the poem/prayer that I love:

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls;
Where words come out from the depth of truth;
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into dreary desert sand of dead habit;
Where the mind is led forward by Thee into ever widening thought and action --
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.

The original Bengali poem, of which the above is a translation:



I just love the idea of the grand vision that Gurudev had for our country. Surprisingly, this poem continues to hold importance for our country today as much as it did when it was written. And if you carefully observe, the poem asks us to constantly redefine the limits of what we think is 'possible' and go beyond and achieve even more.

"Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake"

Just so beautiful...

I am a Champion

Guess who's back? Well, not the Real Slim Shady, but the Real Slim guy named Shekhar. Yup, I'm back from the Mumbai Rendezvous. It was an awesome feeling meeting up with Mom n Dad. Like I said, haven't ever been away from home or from them for so long.

Thankfully, somethings...no, LOTS of things haven't changed. I STILL am very fussy on the dining table, Mom STILL loves to push roti after steaming-hot roti dripping with ghee onto my 'thali', Mom continues to find my dressing style unacceptable ('the shirt Dad wore to Anil Kaka's house yesterday would look better on you') and Dad, on suddenly waking up late at night, still threatens me that he will not go off to sleep till I've switched off the computer. It is small things like these that make me feel that the planet is still a safe haven to live in. For how long? I don't know, and I hate to even think of the day when the safety net will be gone. Till then, life is beautiful and I want to remind myself to smile. :)

Uee maa, blunder ho gaya!! Mast maze ke mood mein tha, senti ho gaya. So let me get off that worried look and tell you something which is more normal...apun ki to waat lag gayeli hai, mamu! Got a few papers back, and I've performed terribly, true to my style. Abe gadhe, padhega nahin to aur kya hoga? But I knew this would be coming and thought I'd braced myself for this. I was definitely low when I got those marks, and I know somewhere it is still hurting. Good! I wish it hurts even more when I get the other papers, so that I remember to study and perform well in this term. Kasam Ma Bhawani ki, is baar to exams main top ke number lekar aoonga!! In fact, try karunga ki 3 point ko paar kar jaaoon. Best of luck to me.

Hurdles? Well, not exactly hurdles, but time consuming 'other' activities.

One, Perspective 2006 is coming up. B-plan competition, paper presentations, case studies, live games, et al, right here at Nirma. Err...toh problem kya hai? Arre yaar, I'm one of the co-ordinators, and I definitely want the event to be a success. Really need to work a lot to make this event on the 27th and 28th of Jan a fun affair.

Two, Nirma Champions League coming up. Bole to? Bole to apun ke college ka sports week. "You participating?" I can see some eyebrows raised in the audience. "Yes, me running for the 100m and 200m race."

WHAT ?!!! Eyeballs pop out, cups of tea crash to the ground, people leave their mouths open, mid-way into biting their sandwiches, and there is deathly silence in the room. What? The question rings loud and clear again. You'll run? I mean, you're so thin, the only chance you've got is if the wind blows in the correct direction, you can hope to get carried ahead of the competitors.

Arre baba, I was a good runner in school, haven't had the ability to prove my running prowess since then. I know I'm short on stamina, but will prepare...kal se.

Three, Sumantra. I mean, the book club here at our Institute, named eponymously after the management guru Sumantra Ghosal. I am the co-ordinator and I really want more and more people to contribute to the fun world of reading and book reviews.

Hmm. I have my plate full, but I shall manage. Why? Simple, look at the title of the post.

Bombay ko gaya mera dost

Hellu All.

Yes, me in a cheery mood again, finally. Arre baba, no, I hadn't been facing the death penalty or life-long imprisonment and have not been subject to the words 'Shekhar ko ba-izzat bari kiya jaata hai'. I was unwell for a couple of days, some sort of viral fever, which made me take complete bedrest for two days. So there you go, you know what an energetic and fast-paced beginning I've had to the new year.

Not to say that I did not enjoy it! :D As with most things, I enjoyed falling ill too. When else does one have few of the best young minds in the country waiting to serve you? 'Yaar, feeling too unwell, can you get me something from the mess for dinner?', I ask. 'Haan, haan, kyun nahi? Tu bol tere ko kya chahiye, rice, daal, sandwiches or just some 'Maggi' (trust hostel-ites to have turned Maggi into a part of staple diet)', my friends responded.

By the second afternoon, I was thoroughly bored of lying in bed. How much could a guy sleep? Sheesh! So, I thought of another way to keep my mind occupied. Logged on to the Net, went to the Project Gutenberg site, downloaded the audio e-book of Sherlock Holmes' "The Valley of Fear" and heard it to my heart's content. Ha ha. You can't keep a booklover out of action for long.

All this, while all around me there's a flurry of activities going on. It is as if the whole campus has been engulfed in the Richter 10 fever. What's that? Oh, nothing. Just our cultural fest that is going to be held on campus on the 12th and 13th of Jan (coming Thursday and Friday).

But I won't be here. I shall be going to Bombay from 12-15th Jan.

"Why, dude, why?", asks a friend. "You're never there for such stuff. We almost have to drag you out of your rabbit hole everytime there's such an event. Why aren't you gonna be here?", he hollers.

"Give me a good reason I should be here."

"It's gonna be happening...dude !!!" he yells in sheer delight, with his eyes almost popping out with glee and his shirt buttons popping out because of God knows what reason. "There's gonna be C (suppose) no. of colleges coming..."

"So?"

"There's gonna be C multiplied by 15 (estimated average) number of participants coming!!"

"So?"

"There's gonna be dancin' and masti n what not!!"

"So?"

"Ok, there's gonna be dancin' and masti with C x 15 x 40% females who'll be coming too naa..Now get the logic?"

"Lekin, mere paas maa aur baba hai.." I reply in my best Shashi Kapoor impression.

(His turn to reply in mono-syllables) "Eh?"

"Err...what I meant was, Mom n Dad are coming to Bombay for a fortnight, and since I haven't met them ever since I joined Nirma (that's around 6 months now), me better go."

So that, ladies and gentlemen, is the report. This 23 year-old baby, who acts like a 5' 7" management student, who'd never stepped out of the luxury of home, never stayed at a hostel, never been outside the cozy nest called Kolkata and has now been away for a loooong time from home, goes back to meet 'em who made him what he is.

Adios. N to those who are here for Richter 10, Best of Luck and have a fabulous time!!

A boys hostel secret

There's one secret about the boys hostel here at Nirma which I think deserves to be made public. [Note to bhaiyon and bandhuon residing in the boys hostel: PLEASE, PLEASE read the complete post before heading towards my room to celebrate my 'birthday'].

To meherbaan, kadardaan..Suniye suniye suniye...

[ala Kishore Kumar] Ek hasina thi...

Saare (boys hostel waale) deewane the....

Kya umar, kya nasha, kya zamana thaaaaa....

(Seems 'Karz' has had a major effect)

Well, according to what I gather from my discussions with the fairer sex, they seem to be of the opinion that a boys hostel is a dark dungeon where the minds of men, more often than not, turn towards preparing a '20 things I would love to do' list whenever they would spot any of the ladies mentioned below..

1. Aishwarya Rai
2. Priyanka Chopra
3. Bipasha Basu
4. Pamela Anderson
5. Carmen Electra
6. Kirsten Dunst
.
.
.

The list, to be honest with the girls, is actually endless.

There's no disagreeing the fact that we love to watch Ash dance to 'Kajra Re' with both Amitabh and Abhishek panting and puffing and watching her with eager eyes.

Also, there's no disputing the fact why 'Baywatch' was such a big hit. Simple yaar, it had Pamela Anderson, Carmen Electra and God only knows who else (due apologies to the story and screenplay writer of the above program).

But, even today, circa 2006, there are fewer beauty-queens who rule the heart of men more than...


Yes, the truth is finally out. She still rules!! I thought that I was the only poor fellow who hopelessly had a crush on this beauty as soon as she raises her yellow ghunghta, bites her lips, looks up at Salim, and with a naughty smile on her lips, sings "Mohe panghat pe nand laal ched gayo re..".

But I was pleasantly surprised this Sunday evening when I walked unannounced into a friend's room. He was watching Mughal-e-Azam, and what's more, he was watching the song "Pyar kiya to darna kya". Later, the same day, 2 more friends came to my room asking me whether I had Mughal-e-Azam. "Why?" I enquired. "Arre yaar, aur kya wajah ho sakti hai? Gotta watch the blazing beauty of Madhubala stand opposite the stern glare of Prithiviraj Kapoor and the soft, tender glances of Dilip saab".

Final analysis? Go ahead, Pamela/Carmen et al., run all that you want to on the beaches of America, but for a select group of us Indians (dare I mention, and quite a few Pakistanis too?), our hearts will forever leap with joy whenever a certain Anarkali says "Jahaanpanaah...."

HAPPY NEW YEAR

HAPPY NEW YEAR people. May you have a wonderful 2006.

Ok, this isn't one of those times when I sat down in front of my laptop and said "Aha! I'm rested, comforted, almost as good as back from the dry-cleaners, now off to type." No; it certainly isn't one of those occassions. Neither have I been out boozing and partying, well not technically anyway.

The Student's Activity Committee (SAC) here decided to organise a bonfire and dance party on the grounds. Although they'd planned to start at 11, the real celebrations began only at 11:30. A few of us had taken down our laptops to the ground and connected it to the speakers.

Those who know me well enough will vouch for the fact that I have difficulty co-ordinating the movement of my legs for activities more complex than walking and running between the hostel and institute building on mornings when I've woken up late. As a result, I voluntarily became the DJ for a good 10 minutes. Why not longer? Simple. It is impossible to play songs that everybody likes. Every 1/2 a minute I would have people coming to me with different requests.

"What are you playing yaar? Come on, give me some good J. Lo numbers to dance on man." Hmm..I considered. Good looking female from the senior batch. Pata nahin, naseeb kab meherbaan ho jaaye. Action taken: Started playing a remix version of Waiting for Tonight.

Result (13.5 seconds later): "Abe saale, kya lagaaya hai tune? Ek shabd bhi samajh mein nahi aa raha, aisi bhasha sunne ka kya faayda. Abe chal, kuch apni mitti ka laga...Oye yaar, kuch bhangda-vangda ho jaaye yaar!!", came a Sardar-ji's response. The mind quickly drew up an image of a 6 1/2 ft-something Sardarji mercilessly dragging a 5 ft-nothing me into some dark, remote corner of the 110 acre Nirma campus. Nahi bhai, jaan pyaari hai, and I've still only just seen 2006. Action taken: Mundiyan tu bach ke rahi from Boom.

Result: "Yo dude! Where's the trance music folder I forwarded these people earlier today? This stuff is like...ancient dude!!"

No wonder I so quickly and willingly gave my job to someone else. However, I did notice something extremely interesting during the evening's proceedings.

Whoever said 80's music was out of fashion? When almost every other kind of music failed to get all the people on the dance-floor, someone played "Om Shanti Om" from Karz (remember? The 1980 Subhash Ghai directed movie starring Rishi Kapoor, Tina Munim and Simi Garewal). The response was unbelievable!! The way people cheered as soon as they recognised the song from the typical manner in which the drums play at the beginning, the manner in which they shouted "Kiya" when Kishore Kumar asked "Kya tumne kabhi kisi se pyar kiya" , "Kabhi kisi ko dil diya" and the manner in which they danced the entire length of the ORIGINAL, un-REMIXED version of 8 minutes proved that the music of Laxmikant Pyarelal was as 'cool n hip' today as it was almost 2 and a half decades ago.

Came back to the room at around 2. Sat at my neighbour's room for an impromptu meeting with a few friends. We had a really nice chat, considering the range of topics we covered: Partying, the 'dry state' status of Gujarat, boozing, graduation days, films, the pornographic film industry [ahem], prostitution in India and abroad, AIDS, social work done in red-light areas of the country, deplorable condition of prostitutes etc. Fun discussion, which I can safely say kept most of us engrossed, as the discussion lasted for a good 2 1/2 hours.

I finally returned to my room at around 4:30 to find my roomie engrossed in playing Counter Strike on the LAN with another 32 players in the hostel. *Sigh* Some people have all the energy.

Good night, people, or rather, good morning. And yes, a VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR once again.

May God bless you with all the best of luck and successes in 2006.

What a bad exam at a B-school does to your desktop

Disclaimer: This is not a long post.

Reason: I had two exams today, both of which can be (not surprisingly) summed up in one word...DISASTER !!

This is how the scenario changed in a matter of 24 hours...

Pre-Disaster




Post-Disaster

I've been thinking...

“Of late, I’ve been thinking…”, I begin.

“Good habit there, boy”, you might add, even before I finish.

“No, No.”, I reply. “Not that sort of thing. Unlike what people usually think about me, I do exercise my mental faculties once in a while. It is just that I’ve had some free time to think for myself. And I’ve been ruminating over things.”

A deep “Hmmm” escapes you and you begin wondering what sort of a fellow would use the word ‘ruminate’ over ‘think’ in this world of SMS language.

“I’ve observed that ever since I’ve joined this b-school, I haven’t been doing that which I liked doing best..enjoying myself. Reading Jeeves (by PGW), reading business magazines on a regular basis and keeping a track of international sporting events. In short, I’ve not been doing things that I enjoyed doing the most. Hence, I’ve decided to begin with these things again once my end-term exams get over on the 30^th of December.”

“You’ve got your New Resolutions in place already?” you ask with an upturned eyebrow.

“Umm…well, not exactly New Year Resolutions, just planning to do stuff that I’ve wanted to do for a long time."

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE :D

And the winner is...

A collective sharp intake of breath by the audience... roll of drums...."Marketing".

Applause, applause. No, not because I chose Marketing, but because I was finally able to make up my mind. I must admit, however, that I was able to take this decision due to the help of a senior who came up with a very simple formula. He mailed me the complete MBA syllabus for the second year. The document listed all the elective courses that one can take under the different heads of Marketing, Finance, IT, HR, Operations etc.

His advice? "Simply tick all the subjects that interest you; if most of them are under Marketing then Marketing is what you're doing your major specialisation in, the one with the next highest number of ticked courses is your area of minor specialisation."

I downloaded the file and a twenty minute study led me to the conclusion that I must take Marketing and Finance as my major and minor specialisation next year. Hmm. Not very different from what I'd planned when I entered this B-school.

The rise of the Libran

Gosh! Am I confused!! It is said that one of the greatest weaknesses of a Libran is that he cannot make his mind up very easily when confronted with two or more options. In my case this ranges from the simple ("Should I have tea or coffee?"; "Should I travel by a bus or a taxi?") to the very complex ("Should I date the hot blonde or the sweet babe next door?").

Ok ok, I haven't been as lucky to have the latter debate with myself, but I take it for granted that you've understood the general dilemma that I face at times.

Well, here is one decision that will influence my career.

Should I opt for Marketing or Finance as a major specialisation?

Well, I have a good 3-4 months before I enter my second year, but the decision must be taken now since I must accordingly choose the company for summer placements. I have had numerous lengthy discussions with myself and my peers (I'm just returning from a hour long meeting with a senior regarding this very subject). Most tell me that I should opt for Marketing, because that is what suits my personality. And I must admit that I really like Marketing, but I haven't been particularly excited with what I've seen of Marketing thus far in my MBA course.

Now for Finance. Numbers hasn't been a strong point for me since school. All my mathematical competence seemed to vanish once I entered college. I can bet with my eyes closed that this was just due to neglect of studies, and given due dedication, I can easily do well in this too.

Plus, the Financial Management (FM) class today on market securities and portfolio management REALLY REALLY excited me (when I repeat 'really', and that too in caps, please understand that I, a guy who usually falls asleep in an FM class, was not only wide awake in a securities & exchange class but was also predicting correctly what the prof. was about to say next!!).

Another little thing which is tickling my funnybone is the fact that I just so wanna get into McKinsey, the consultancy major. The problem: McKinsey hasn't come on campus...ever. Although it is expected to come next year, the only major consultancy firm that is expected is Ernst & Young. Plus, consultancy firms usually prefer people with Finance majors.

*Sigh* Am I anywhere closer?

The Sound of Music

There is something intriguing about the love for movies that exists in each MBA student's heart. Hitherto the student may not have been a great fan of movies at all. But give him the incredible weapon named the intranet, and lo and behold! you have the great Indian movie fan. And mind you, this love for the movies can be seen even in the most unlikeliest of circumstances.

Whether you have a mid/end term examination the next day or project assignments in 5 different subjects, the way to unwind is to watch a movie rather than going off to sleep, which in any case is in short supply. Beats me how people do it. Because I take the easiest way out, I watch movies AND sleep like a log. :D

Anyway, a friend forwarded "The Sound of Music" to me today. I realised I had 3 huge assignment submissions tomorrow. So, I proceeded that with which was simplest for me: I saw the movie AND went of to sleep promptly. I must confess that this was one of the most peaceful sleep that I've had in a long long time.

The reason is very simple: "Sound of Music" is home. The last time I saw Julie Andrews and the Von Trapp family on screen was when I was barely 12 or 13 years old. I still recall asking my Mom for explanations about some scenes and my Mom trying to simplify the setting of the film. My mother, who has done her schooling from a simple Gujarati medium school, finds the film extremely enchanting, and till date regards the movie as one of her all time favorites. "Sound of Music" is one of the few Hollywood films she really likes and remembers.

"Sound Of Music" to me is like a beautiful dream gone by, a dream I call the "Innocence of Childhood". For any middle-class Indian children of my generation, Hollywood movies were a strict no-no. Reason? They symbolised all that was bad with the outside world, namely, sex, skin-show, violence, men who smoked cigarettes and drank "wine" (at that age, all alcohol could be categorised as "wine". *Sigh* If my parents were to find out today what I know about alcohol , they would be in for a major shock). This used to continue till the day Dad would decide to get a video cassette of movies like "The Sound of Music" or "The Guns of Navarone" from the local video library. Mom would prepare 'bhajias', a staple snack for the entire family and we would all settle down to watch the movie. And if by the end of the movie, I wasn't already asleep, Dad would take me down to the 'paanwaala' either for a drink of Maaza (remember? These were the days when Coca-Cola had still not re-entered India and the mango drink Maaza was still everybody's favorite) or an ice cream.

I do not remember exactly what dreams I had while I slept today, but I'm pretty sure it had something do with home, something to do with Mom lovingly brushing her fingers through my hair and something to do with the flat that we shifted out of almost a decade back; because the old flat is where I saw everything through the eyes of a child.

Hmm..Perhaps I'm getting too nostalgic. But then, what the heck? I enjoyed the movie and I've slept peacefully for a good 6 hours. Plus, it is almost 1 in the morning and I must prepare a Financial Management report, study a Goal Programming case, prepare an Operations Management case and do the pre-reading for the 3 classes that I have tomorrow. That shouldn't be too much of a problem, what with the Innocence of Childhood shining brightly.

:)

Confluence 2005 and "Ambani vs. Ambani"

Well, Confluence 2005 at Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A) was awesome. I missed out on some of the speakers that I really wanted to hear, like Mr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia (Chairman, Indian Planning Commission) and Mr. Mukesh Ambani (Managing Director, Reliance Industries Ltd.). However, the high points for me were the speeches of Mr. Arun Shourie (former Disinvestment Minister) and Mr. Vijay Mallya (CEO, United Breweries).

The speech by Mr. Mallya was particularly interesting. There are plenty of reasons for this. First, he is one of the most exciting entrpreneurs India has seen. Second, he is known as the Richard Branson of India for his high-flying lifestyle. Third, not only is he originally from Calcutta (like me) but also did his schooling in my alma-mater, La Martiniere for Boys. He spoke about the challenges he has faced during his career, and about the number of times people told him that he was done for. On a number of occassions he was told that he'd hammered the final nail in his own coffin, but every time, he proved his detractors wrong. One key learning from the speech was that we should not expect a father-like figure or a 'guru' to come and teach us the tricks of the trade in today's world. "The buck stops with you" was his mantra. You must take decisions on your own in the world of business, try everything to make it succeed, and if it doesn't, learn from your mistakes and move on. Food for thought for the entrepreneur which is rising within me.

"Storms in the Sea Wind: Ambani vs. Ambani" is the name of the book that I have just finished reading. It is authored by Alam Srinivas, the business editor of the Outlook magazine, an extremely popular magazine here in India. In it, the author describes the battle-scene that was fought behind the media curtain in the most powerful business house in the country, that of the Ambanis. "Sea Wind" is the name of the building that the Ambanis occupy in Mumbai, the commercial capital of the country. The Ambanis control Reliance Industries Ltd., India's biggest privately owned company. Of course, the founder of RIL is Shri Dhirubhai Ambani, of whom I am an ardent fan (see my previous post "Am I a maverick or plain silly?"). Love him or hate him, he is responsible for building India's biggest business house, from scratch , under three decades.

The book discusses the fight for the control of Reliance by Mukesh and Anil, the two sons of Dhirubhai. The book is interesting as it not only provides a look at how the war was fought in front of media-persons but also in the boardrooms. The book also highlights how most family-owned business globally break-down during the second or the third generation. The house of Tatas in India is the only example one can see where they've managed to keep the house intact, and yet a huge power in the business community.