Ambani & Sons by Hamish McDonald

There is an old saying that goes, 'You cannot be fooled unless you allow yourself to be'. The wisdom in this saying is a corollary to Darwin's famous postulate of 'Survival of the fittest'. However, it is also precisely the same wisdom that justifies every action of Dhirubhai Ambani. For anyone who has read Hamish McDonald's Polyester Prince, this book has limited surprises.

The book can be divided into four distinct parts.

The first part deals with the journey of an ambitious young man determined to make it big on a large stage. It talks loud about the young Dhirubhai who impressed everyone around him with his brilliance, and that helped him seek better life opportunities in the port of Aden off Yemen coast in A. Besse & Co. company. As someone who had realised early in life that one should never depend on someone for very long, Dhirubhai was always on the lookout for new opportunities.

The finest example of his genius in discovering untapped opportunities is the fact that as a junior clerk in Aden he found that the silver content in the Rial (Yemen's currency) coin is more than its exchange value in pounds. However the main reasons for his successful entrepreneurial ventures throughout his life lies in his persistence and ability to execute these ideas converting them into money. Dhirubhai made a few lakhs of rupees by collecting these Rials, melting them and selling the silver ingots at their market price, something that not all junior clerks would dare to do!

The second part of the book deals with Dhirubhai's resolve to set up his company, and his maverick ideas in running the business. A friend notes that Dhirubhai does not go against the law. He makes sure that the law is modified to permit something so that his activity does not classify to be going against the law! Also, a friend recalls hs is words 'Everything that I have done is kept under the ground and a first class fountain has been built over it. No one will find out what I have done'. This is truly aligned to Dhirubhai's ideal that ends justify the means. His active involvement of shareholders in the process of building his vast business empire and unique ability to have right friends in the right places especially in the changing governments deserve special mention in this part of the book, and truly serve as a compulsory lesson for aspirant entrepreneurs and managers.

The third part of this book, although very much mixed with the second part, is my favourite. It is the one that deals with the past of many of the people who are today holders of iconic positions in our country. This is the part that tells us how Reliance and its growth under Dhirubhai is an inseparable element in understanding the present India and its growth in the last three decades. It brings out the past of several of today's national leaders like Dr. Manmohan Singh, Pranab Mukherjee, Murli Deora, Arun Jaitley, Sharad Pawar, Arun Shourie, Ram Jethmalani and some yester-year leaders like Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, V.P.Singh, Narasimha Rao and Pramod Mahajan, and their active involvement in the successes and failure of Dhirubhai's business empire. Also important is the role of media baron Ramnath Goenka, his investigative journalist Gurumurthy, Nusli Wadia, Amitabh Bachchan and recently scamster Harshad Mehta. The most notable thing here is the matrix that relates these 'leaders' to the corporate house of Reliance and the mastermind named Dhirubhai Ambani.

The last part of the book, which has potential drama to be dubbed into a Bollywood flick is the one that deals with the last days of Dhirubhai and the feud between his sons Mukesh and Anil after his death. The book clearly indicates Mukesh to be the true Dhirubhai successor, while branding Anil as someone who used emotions to gain his base and has a lot to learn about conducting business successfuly beyond ambitious hopes and false promises.

All in all, the book 'Ambani & Sons' by Hamish McDonald is a definite must-read for anyone who aspires to conduct business in India as it tells the tale of how a young man with no business background managed to build one of the world's biggest corporate houses in a land stricken with neo-socialist policies that undervalues the role of equity and is easily maneuverable by money and power. It also follows the growth of Indian economy amidst license raj, import-export controls and regulations leading to liberalisation in early 1990s. It also talks about the origin and growth of the equity cult and popularity of public stock offerings that is directly attributed to Dhirubhai Ambani. Also it tells us the story of India as a developing nation through the 1980s and 1990s- the dark and bright patches in it, and most importantly about two of the world's richest people today!

Cheers!
Shyam



TO BUY THE BOOK-42bookz
TO BUY THE BOOK- Flipkart

the lazy and the rich

This thought occured to me while I was boarding my flight to Mumbai today. So I thought why not blog about it from my mobile. So here is the attempt!

The two set of people who board the flight last are the lazy and the rich!

The lazy barely manage to reach on time while the rich get privilege treatment. And what happens in course of time?

The lazy manage to find easier methods to multiply money, and tend to become rich fast. And the rich get used to their luxury and turn lazy!

So they exchange roles, but still manage to board their aircrafts last!! :P

Cheers! :)

Merry Christmas!

I wish all my friends across the globe a fantastic Christmas season! :)

May Santa pleasently surprise you. In case he does not do it tonight, just understand that the old man has learnt his economics lesson and has decided to redistribute the distribution of gifts throughout the year!

So wish u all a happy n prosperous newyear as well! Cheers! :) :D

London Dreams

[Written by me in June 2009 when I was traveling in a London underground tube, and posted on my previous blog Now sharing it here. ]

Inspired by this booklet
I just picked up at Moorgate,

On my way to Wembley Park
Wondering how I got this spark

Did I really have the ability
To write a beautiful poetry

About this London city
At the same time being witty?

Three long weeks here I spent
A couple of days in Kent

Two different worlds they are
Although not very far

Buses and tubes are that what make
London to go without a break

Somewhere in this wonderland
I lost my way I understand

Crowds of people here and there
Am I in the middle of a fair?

I am told I am at Bank, a place
Unmistakeably London’s face

Well dressed people come and go
In black and white to and fro

Finance is the game they play with cash
All look tensed after the crash

Far away from the madding crowd
I know I have a different road.

I board a tube, the first I get
Into a paradise I can never forget

I almost get lost in my solitude deeper
Like Wordsworth’s beautiful reaper

All of a sudden the good lady spoke
Train is about to terminate bloke

I jumped out of my seat and wrote
High time to stop this quote.

Margazhi The Chennai Music Festival Season

I am writing this Tamil poem in English to avoid Tamil spelling errors! :P

Background-
Margazhi is the tamil calendar month (December) when the annual music and dance festival happens in Chennai. Like many other things, what began purely as a musical extravaganza has now turned into an exhibiton of social staus and richness. This poetry takes a jibe at those who indulge in these exhibitions and still call themselves 'Rasikas' (Aesthetic/Admirer)

English translations are given in italics.

[1]
Maargazhi Vanthathu
Mazhai Pozhinthathu
Nilam Nanainthathu
Athan Vaasam Paraviyathu.

'Margazhi' has come
It has started raining
Soil is wet
And its smell is spreading

[2]
Mazhayenna thadai
Maranthida Vinai
Aninthida Nagai
Ellorum Selvom Sabhai

Rain is no barrier to
Forget some troubles
Wear gold ornaments
And everyone goes to Sabhas (venues of musical concerts)

[3]
Athu Pattu Selai Kankaatchi
Bhavya Aadambara Pothukaatchi
Ivaimel Thaan Yaar Aatchi
Ithil Isai Entha Katchi?

Its a silk saree exhibition
Lavish ornament display
Who has any control over these
Where does music stand in this?

[4]
Manju Mami Manja Selai
Chitti Mama Pachcha Chattai
Aanandanna Puthu Car
Ivai Anaithayum Nee Paar

Manju Mami's (aunt's) Yellow Saree
Chitti Mama's (uncle's) Green Shirt
Anand brother's new car
You see all these things

[5]
Sudha Raghunathan Paadum Aarabiya?
Madurai Seshagopalan Pallaviya?
Kannayum Kaathayum Moodikondu
Summa Kai Thattuvathu Per Thaan Rasana-ya??

Sudha Raghunathan singing Aarabi raga?
Or Madurai Seshagopalan rendering pallavi?
You close your eyes and ears, and
Simply clap your hands. Is this called Aesthetics?

[6]
Margazhi Vanthathu
'Isai Mazhai' Pozhinthathu
Athil, En Manam Nanainthathu
Sabhayai Nokki Sentrathu!

'Margazhi' has come
It is a music rain
In it, My mind gets wet
And is drawn to the sabhas

Kaash- famous ghazal by Hariharan

My first recorded piece of music. Intended to be a sleep inducer.

Tales From Ambalapuzha

[Inspired from a real-life story. First in a series of stories inspired by the lives of some people from my native place in Kerala. ]
--------------------------------------------------------------------

Time flies. Seems like yesterday, when I left my home and this beautiful countryside to work for the Marwadi in Mattanchery. I was young then, just out of my teens. Matriculation was considered high education in those days. My father, who was a singer in the court of Travancore king, did the best he could to support my education up to that point. With the four younger sisters after me and a toddler brother to support, I could not ask him for the money to pay for further education.

My friend Shastri who lives down the street proceeded with his higher studies and completed his B.Sc. at University of Travancore. He retired few years back as the Head of the Physics Department in the university which was later renamed Kerala University. My cousin Ananthu in Thiruvananthapuram could afford the cost of professional education and is a successful doctor today. But all that I could think of after my matriculation was to start earning and help father in supporting the family.

In those days, the country was going through a post-independence transition. Nehru was going strong in Delhi and Patel was getting the nation stronger across the region. Everything else was in a disarray. The partition had left a deep vaccuum in trade and commerce. Many companies in the Madras presidency were owned and operated by Muslims who fled the place in the fear of communal attacks. Some of them settled in the Kozhikode region seeking refuge under the Sultan of Mysoor, and many travelled further north in search of safer places.

Perhaps due to this politico-economic uncertainity, I could easily get a job as assistant to a Marwadi trader in Mattanchery, near the Jew synagogue. Fifteen rupees a month. To avoid excessive expenditure, I refrained from frequenting home. In six months time, the Marwadi recommended me and Sukumaran to a tea estate supervisor in Munnar. The pay was an unbelievable sum of Fifty five rupees a month! Sukumaran and I had adjacent tables in the otherwise dark dingy office that resembled more of a godown for the tea. The room had unmistakable scent of tea, and a lot many stinks were concealed under this smell. Besides the two of us, we also had an assistant Kuttan.

When it seemed life was settled, I got a letter from home. Mother felt that I must be close to my ailing parents and with the land feud with Govindan mama twisting deeper, they needed my support. I was disturbed. The comfort and good pay of this tea estate job on the one side, my parents and the problems back home on the other. And what about a job even if I decided to move back?

As if she had read my mind, I got a letter (again written by someone else at mother's dictation) saying that a job has been arranged for me at the Ambalapuzha Middle School, at a stone throws distance from home. Now I was definitely in two minds. Sukumaran and others tried to convince me to stay back. I was sure I could not get more than the salary or the luxury of the life I was leading there at the estate. In fact, I would not get a sum anywhere close to this one. But caring for my parents and siblings is not something I could turn a deaf ear to. So I decided to move to Ambalapuzha, the place where I grew up.

I joined the school for a pay of Twenty rupees a month. (Yes, from a lavish Fifty five rupees to Twenty rupees!) Life was difficult. I was working at almost one third of my earlier pay. There was just two earning hands and eight mouths to feed at home. Medical expenses, celebrations, fees for siblings, the list was infinite.

But like they say, even that phase passed by. I got my sisters married off. My brother got a job. Parents were with us for a few years. I got married myself after a couple of years. My son today works in the UGC division of the government in Delhi.

I am sixty five now. Personally, I have not earned much money. I taught at the school for thirty years and retired as its Headmaster. Some of my students have reached very high ranks in the society. The whole town today knows me as' Iyer Sir', an achievement I consider above the monetary benefits of a private job.

Time has changed a lot. Ambalapuzha has changed equally. Three buses a day from Alapuzha has now grown to more than fifteen. People from all over South India come to worship the big temple, which used to be the temple of this town and its people. The beauty of the place remains intact irrespective of all these developments.

I read in the newspaper yesterday that Sukumaran has become Managing Director of the tea company, today Kerala's No.1. Had I continued with him, even I would have become someone. We would have had a lot of money, a bungalow perhaps and my son would have become a doctor or engineer or a lawyer. He would not have had to take commerce simply for getting a job quickly. Yes, things would have been different, very different.

Today, I do not have wealth but I have the satisfaction of having taken care of my parents and supported the family when they needed me the most. As a teacher I have the satisfaction of shaping a few honest and dedicated people who will play significant roles in the future. The honour of being in such a noble profession and the respect I get everywhere I go.

They were two different roads entirely. When I die in a few years from now what I shall be remembered for, will be decided entirely by that bus ride I undertook on a rainy afternoon from the elevated tea estates of Munnar to the low lying plains of Ambalapuzha.

It is the one decision that truly changed my life!

Experiencing The Backwaters Of Kerala On A Houseboat

Life... Must Go On

We are two, me and my life.

While there is a misconception that my life and I are the same, I must admit that I hate my life.

My mind that controls me, can think and act at the speed of light (some times quicker than light) but my life... it travels at a speed that would make even the snail feel look a sprinting champion! My mind tells me that I am the king of the world, master of my choices while my life says, 'Its fate my son! No one change fate and destiny!'

'Oh! Screw you life! '

My mind has taught me to dream big. It has made me feel like the King, but my life has always woken me up from such beautiful dreams to drag me into its monotonousnes. My mind asks me to fly like a free bird, soaring with pride into the sky far far away from the pettiness of the world. My life tells me that it is a race. Doom and disqualification from the world awaits anyone who breaks the track rules.

A few years back, my mind lost its cool. It was mad at my life for not keeping up, and decided to undock itself from the slow coach. But as soon as it had done so, my mind realised that it was also afloat and lost all its control. So before life could drift much farther away, my mind caught it back. Phew! The pain, although for a few moments, was unbearable.

Things have changed a lot since then. My mind, that used to be arrogant with pride has become tolerant. While my life still travels very very slow, it has come a long way since then.

Since that incident, my mind had developed a liking for my life. My mind that is aspiring, arrogant and fast had started liking my life that was passive, slow and shy. As a product of this union, my life bore happiness.

In the years that have gone by, happiness has also grown. Perhaps because of its dynamism and over-exertion, senility has caught up with my mind. It has lost the precision and speed that it once prided in. My life, on the other hand, was still slow but steady. And me? I have stopped being a burden on my ailing mind, and instead given in to the 'realities' of my life. Even happiness seemed to be convinced about my decision. I can see that from her smile. :)

Today, my mind had an attack. It could no longer remember any thing from the past. All that my mind still holds on to is my life. In fact it is unable to even recognise happiness. Drifting to its end, I think. It feels like the day when it tried to undock itself from my life. But this time, I don't feel any pain.

My mind might perish soon, but my life must be immortalised. It must stand testimony for my existence in the world. Today, when my mind quits the race mid-way, my life... must go on... for generations!

Dreams...

Dream, dream and still dream,
Cuz dreams don't come at a price.
Your dreams are the reason to live yet another day,
Cuz living is an art meant not for the dumb, but for the wise!

(This poem might be continued if my brain and heart cooperate! :) )

The war that never ended!

I was riding on our strongest horse Heera, a black thoroghbred gifted to Tipu last month by some foreign visitors who had come to see the kingdom. Tipu was ahead of me by a few metres when we could clearly see the enemy occupying the fort.

They had a fairly impressive army consisting infantry as well as cavalry. This being a totally unannounced attack from their side, we were hardly ready with our full strength! Then Giridhar took out the conch and started blowing it.

The Nokia music sounded clear and loud.

'Dude, where are you?' I heard Mradul (aka Duck) speak.

'Uh? Yea! mm.. well..I guess I am in Bangalore. I can see some big buildings. So would you guys be coming to Majestic?'

'No man. Change in plan. You will be coming over to my place. Shanky is here too! Get down at Indira Nagar'

'Cool. Done! '

We are now almost 300 metres away from their first line of soldiers, and then suddenly someone close by shouts, 'Indira Nagar! Indira Nagar!!'

I open my eyes wide! Spring out of my horse and take my backpack and get to the street. I am suddenly attacked by a buzz of auto drivers speaking in foreign tongue. Must be the enemies spies I think. Fearing a mass attack I call up the military base number. But they surrounded me and from the looks of it, they were arresting me and planning to take me to the enemy camp.

'Yeah dude, got down? Do one thing, hand over the phone to one of the auto drivers. I will talk to them', I heard duck quack loudly into my ears!

'Illa... avadhu... pizza...gothu...murugeshpalaya.. avadhu...' spoke the spy in the code language. Was duck also a part of their spy? How could he speak their secret language? Hmmm...

At the end of the conversation, I was pushed into a vehicle that was powered by engine and in no time I was speeding towards the enemy camp. Duck just now sold off our kingdom to the enemies! I needed to think fast so that I can escape from the enemies and save my kingdom. With Tipu nowhere in sight, all hopes were pinned to me!

Suddenly it occured to me that I must somehow make them feel uncomfortable in the new place that they will leave our kingdom and go off on their own. Lack of time and ideas were falling hard on me as I could literally see the enemy camp where they would chain me to a huge rock and behead me in public.

Me, the bravest warrior in Tipu's army should not end like this. The kingdom looks up to me and the people believe in me. I must do something!

It is winter and the weather was getting very very cold. I am gritting my teeth and my body is shivering. My body is exhausted after the long battle and my brain needs oxygen.

Just then, like a rainbow out of the grey clouds or like a beam of light coming from a tunnel, the idea struck me! Yes, this idea that could save my kingdom, my people and restore Tipu's glory and Mysore's pride back in place. Yes!!!

All of a sudden I felt I was being hit on my shoulders by enemy soldiers. I opened my eyes and it was Duck!

'Kya tu so raha hai! Chal... Ek ghante me mysore ki bus hai. Ab fresh ho ja, baaki us bus me so lena...'

... and there ended my dream, and with it this unwritten episode in the history of Mysore!

Around the temple

Thalaivar Rajni and the HR Dept

Disclaimer: This is not about Rajini nor is it a review of Enthiran/Robot. But it is a must read for everyone who enjoys a good Rajini movie. Read till the end, and ignore the management aspect if you are not interested in it, but the thought will still make sense to you!

Motivation of the employees is an important role played by Human Resource Management and Business Psychology units, and from my experience one of the best tools for motivation are Rajinikanth movies! How? Read on...

Before I go ahead trying to explain this, it is important to clarify why is it just Rajinikanth's movies. If not from others, I expect this question to be popped up by avid Kamalahasan fans at least! Well, to answer this, almost all of the standard Rajini movies are based on the same plot. The movies are all about Rajini (as in the central character) and rarely would you find too many concepts and intricacies ingrained in the storyline. (Robot/Enthiran does not qualify to be a standard Rajini movie. Padayappa, Sivaji, Annamalai, Arunachalam, Muthu, Basha etc. do)

Now lets come to the topic. Imagine a state when you are depressed beyond reason. You don't know why, but you know for sure that you are sad. (I am very sure this situation happens with most of us- Churchill called it black dog, we might just stick to 'bad mood' ) What is most required at this time? Motivation and inspiration, a feel-good reason and the ability to think beyond whatever is the cause for your gloom.

These are precisely the role of the HR team (or the work culture improvement team, as they are known in some firms) when the company is passing through a rough patch, for example the recent subprime crisis and the economic downfall that followed it with job cuts and pay cuts. Generally the HR team go about solving this problem through team building exercises or an offsite visit to curb down the stress on the employees and relax a bit, or may be go for a football game or watch a movie together to chill out!

Yes, the movie. Rajini movies are a genre of films and do not necessarily contain only Rajinikanth's movies. And watching a Rajini movie is not just a corporate solution, also a personal motivation tool. How?

First thing, all Rajini movies are about 'the Rajini', all other characters are facilitators for Rajini to be Rajini. (Wow! Thats four straight Rajinis in a single sentence!) Yeah, and the second thing is that the common plot for all the Rajini movies (and most of the Amitabh starrers during one period of time) would read- Rajini goes into a bad state (poverty, cheated, mental discomfort etc. as the case may be) either at the beginning or as a consequence of something that happens in the movie, and rises up to be successful overpowering all his enemies (physical or spiritual)

Now, this is as much as saying that the plot of almost all Indian movies is that the hero falls in love with the heroine and after lot of struggle, the feeling turns mutual and they live happily ever after! Not really! Rajini has certain elements that make this standard plot inspiring.

1. His acting-
Undoubtedly the most important feature. Rajini looks and make the character look one among us. The way he portrays the characters makes us feel in unison with his character. And the looks, he is not the most handsome actor in the industry. On the contrary, like malayalam actor Sreenivasan says in one of his movies- 'This guy is darker than me, must be shorter than me too..yet he is a superstar!' That is the thing. His not being 'the fair six footer six pack hero 'makes him closer to people's heart and this in addition to his natural portrayal of the role is the only justification for the frenzy fan following he has. His fans, almost all of them, do not assess him. We do not assess God, do we?

2. The style-
Now that we have faith in his role and consider the character one among us, let us move on to the next best thing. The style! The way he wears his glasses, or how he lights a cigarette, or how he pulls down the swing with his shawl- Superb! 'Wow! Wouldn't it be amazing if I could do it too!'- this is the natural amazement that anyone would have! Now this lifts your spirit. Gives you that motivation. The ability to see yourself in his place now defines your mood.

3. The mass appeal-
Rajini never fights alone (I know this contradicts his 'Singam single-a thaan varum' punchline, but what I mean here is the large number of well-wishers the character accumulates over the course of the movie) He always has the backing of friends and well-wishers, the common people from the streets! This makes him a hero- a public hero to be preicse! Now who does not want to be a hero, and make his/her family and friends gleam with pride? And since you are already seeing yourself in his character, you are now going to be a hero too! Would there be any better way to put your problems behind you and feel inspired? 'Now its not 'your' fight Thalaivaa, its OUR FIGHT!'

4. The cause-
You are now fighting a crusade (with Rajini of course). It is important for you, the public hero, to feel motivated to achieve the goal. The goal- it plays a role too. Have you noticed that Rajini movies are all about fighting a public cause. Be it poverty, unemployment, illiteracy, corruption, goondaism, terrorism, black money etc. , these are all issues that we see in day-to-day life and firmly in tune to our conviction (reiterated by the daily chaos in our lives) that life without these social issues, would be much more comfortable and happier. So naturally, when you are fighting the sad state of your life with the right motivation, you feel better. You feel the transformation within you and you are energised to think beyond your present state of mind into a bright future in the better world that you are building for yourself. (notice the 'you' s in the sentence, the feeling of self-importance is the stepping stone to motivation)

5. The victory
The epitome of achievement! 'Vetri kodi and the sikaram! ' The feeling of un-explainable joy and satisfaction of having made a difference. Its a feeling nothing less than bliss! And the stylish way in which Rajini achieves it with all the punch-dialogues and stunts (yeah, they deserve a special mention. The stunts too have an important contribution in making you feel happy with the way things are going). And at the end of the movie, you are there in the winners camp with your own battalion around you in the theatre and what a feeling is that! There would hardly be anyone who would still be sulking after the whole 'Rajini treatment'. The biggest thing that you must not miss in this is that your brain was relaxing all this while, and your heart was driving you, your desires, your ambitions and your thoughts!

The impact of Rajini movies on your mind are something similar to a psychotic hypnotherapy. Have you observed how the person takes you to a world, special to yourself, designed with the most aesthetic creations by YOU! This makes you feel very comfortable and then you dispense your negative thoughts (problems) into the unknown ocean that you created. Some practitioners use the concept of driving up your negative thoughts to a point and feel them being absorbed by the white light.

In all these cases, what you do is create your happy territory, convince yourself that you exist there, and that all your problems are solved. And most importantly gain courage and motivation out of it to fight your physical or spiritual problems in anticipation of being able to reach your personal utopia at the end of this struggle!

In Rajini movies, things are no different. He always ends up building the society you ever wished for. And the placebo effect of the product is mysteriously high, and undoubtedly makes you feel a lot better and more confident to live life the king size! And that is why, the whole experience of a Rajini movie is not just entertaining but also rejuvenating, motivating, inspiring and literally hypnotising!

It Happens Only In India : Weekend Live at IndiTweetMeet

´It happens only in India´ is a topic that any of us could write an entire book on! So when I thought about the topic, I felt that the best way to deal with it is through pictures. They speak way too much about what we are -

A land of mystical diversity where we challenge the biggest of discoveries with our beliefs and faith, yet trying to convince ourselves that Murphy´s Law ever exists! (Be positive!!)

A land where we are on the verge of harnessing nuclear energy while at the same time, we believe that Ganesha Idols drank milk in 1995!

A land where we have uncountable number of Gods and Godesses for every possible incident in life (not to forget the innumerable Sadhus and Godmen), while Cricket remains the religion with maximum devotees and Tendulkar the only God in it!

A land where we still believe that filmstars can do miracles and they are God´s incarnation to reinstate faith in the poor people of the country!

A land once known for its snake charmers and tigers, today used by President Obama as an aid to threaten/warn his youth about securing America´s future in the world!

Whatever they say, we go by our beliefs. We have our conventions and our convictions that drive our instincts, and these instincts tell us that every problem has more than one way to be solved (Remember Jugaad) and tomorrow is always going to be a better day than today! Cheers to the Indian Way!

Shashi Tharoor´s TED talk on India as tomorrow´s superpower. A must watch! The link.

Some pics I found from the net that I felt are uniquely Indian.



Image source: www.forwardedemails.com
The sadhu in his saffron clothing and religious attire also carries a burning cigarette and the mobile phone! The ability to set our own rules drawn from evolution is probably the biggest advantage of the Hindu religion, because there is absolutely no hard and fast rule book!

Some other pics on the website



Image source vijaykiran.com
How much ever we touch the sky, we would still believe that Lord Ganesha is the who stops all kind of ´vighna´ and it would be inauspicious to make the first flight without a Ganapathy pooja!


Image source: flickr.com
Population, the one thing that defines India today. From the compeition in entrance examinations to poverty and hunger, population is the root cause of all evils we have in our country today!

But this growing population is also our strength against world´s superpowers (as President Obama warns American students "At a time when other countries are competing with us like never before, when students around the world in Beijing, China, or Bangalore, India, are working harder than ever, and doing better than ever, your success in school is not just going to determine your success, it's going to determine America's success in the 21st century,")

Whatever we say and however we live today, India is definitely the place to be in tomorrow. And our generation will be the proud architects of this new India!

Jai Hind!
Mera Bhaarat Mahaan!

Image source: smcinvestment.wordpress.com

TedXTrichy and my day at NITT

It is a great feeling to be back to where you belonged! NIT Trichy, the place where I learnt a lot more than Electrical and Electronics Engineering, never feels less than home, and one day would never be enough to meet all the friends I have there! Yet I went on this Sunday for TedXTrichy, completely knowing that.

TedXTrichy had to be attended for two major reasons. First being that Duck, Kushal and GK would be coming and it would be nice to catch up with them in the background of NIT Trichy, and secondly there is a great sense of parental-like-pride in seeing the generation next take over our places in the college lineage. And this is one reason why Festember, Pragyan, Ventura, Currents etc in the next two three years at least will be looked forward to. And I must say it was a thrilling experience to witness TedXTrichy, and the juniors who organized it have made us very proud with the spectacular time keeping and stage setting organizing abilities!

The first seed for TedXTrichy was sown when Kiruba Shankar visited Currents’10 (Thanks to Tinu Cherian for suggesting him as speaker to me on Twitter) as guest speaker. His lecture was a true inspiration for the students of the college (their twitter n linked in presence has increased exponentially since then) and every suggestion he gave was an opportunity for the receptive brains there. Entrepreneurship Cell of NITT expressed interest in conducting TedX as a part of their annual calendar events in 2010, and thus began the journey that saw its first check point last weekend.

The best thing I like about TedXTrichy is the amazing lineup of speakers and the diversity in the list! We got to hear from experts about Psychology and motor racing on one end to entrepreneurship and technology at the other, and a spectacular stand up comedy performance to top it all!

The set of morning lectures included Subramaniam Vincent, R.M.P Jawahar, John Louis and Anshu Gupta. I could not make it Subbu’s lecture. Jauhar, a very popular person among the NITTians heads Tiruchirappali Regional Engineering College Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Park (TREC-STEP) that has been the backbone of support of E-Cell of NITT’s activities for the last few years. He spoke on the opportunities and challenges facing an entrepreneurial journey, a topic that he has dealt with for over the last so many years. John Louis, the grandmaster of memory mesmerized the packed audience of EEE Audi with his ability to remember numbers so well. He stressed on the importance of listener’s reception in retention and recalling of information told to him/her. He also enthralled the audience like me who could hardly solve the daily sudoku puzzle in the newspaper, with a video showing his son Bernett Orlando solving a 5x5x5 Rubik’s cube blindfolded in record time! Anshu Gupta who spoke the last brought the crowd from this super excited state to ground, by baring the unspoken realities in the life of an average Indian and opening our eyes to the need to address these issues before staking claim as a global superpower! I must say that his was the lecture that moved me the most and some of the subjects he covered, although taboo in the society, must be discussed in public and awareness must be generated for these causes. How I wish someone from the health and hygiene department was present among the audience listening to him!

The next session was after lunch. Sunil and Karthik of Evam Entertainment simply never let the crowd their regular post-lunch nap on the Sunday with fun and activities. I was trying to escape the Trichy heat by staying outside the audi for a while but the noise and laughter wouldn’t go without cheering me up too! ‘Spectacular performance’ they said, as I met people after the session. And as the twitter page of TedXTrichy puts it, it was indeed an ‘Explosive Performance’. Vivek Karwa who followed next was full for ‘tips and notes’ for those interested in deeper knowledge of money multiplying, something truly in the spirit of E-Cell of NITT. I couldn’t attend the lectures by Balaji Sampath and Srihari Balakrishnan, but I knew for sure that the stage was set for a spectacular talk stage at NIT Trichy by TedXTrichy.

The third session had some of our alumni whom I have met with during various stages of Pragyan, speaking about their interests in particular Saravanan (Sara) who spoke about neural science and psychology, and J. Balamurugan (JB a.k.a. founder of Octa) who spoke on motor sports. Sara’s lecture that kick started the final session definitely had the audience in the most receptive mode as they heard about their brains and the factors that shape their personalities. Naturally, everyone was all ears trying to find out why they did what they did, and how they could do what they want to do! Following this was JB, who spoke of motor sports. Although not a motor buff personally, I could definitely appreciate the various aspects of the sport that he mentioned. Anyway the crowd was all up for knowing about racing and there was a natural connect with the man who created the best thing that NITT has ever had- Octa! A lot of activity revolves around the computer centre and in fact one of my first blog post was on what we did there (I am not able to find the webpage now! ).

The icing on the cake was presented by stand up comedian (and surprisingly an IITian!) Nitin Gupta. The IITian part felt less surprising once he started talking about engineers and engineering colleges like ours! The crowd that includes me was carried away to a totally different world full of laughter and fun especially sarcastic and satirical! Thanks to the fact that there were not many members of the faculty in the audi, Nitin’s comedy knew absolutely no limits and boy the crowd was definitely enjoying it! Some of his most notable one liners were

‘I heard there is a professor here who SMASHES cell phones!’
‘Why spend 5000 bucks to walk on that road (the Opal girls hostel road, for those who did not get it) when you get better for that amount outside!’
‘While Inception and Matrix are science fiction movies for the arts students, romantic movies like Titanic are fictions and hard to believe for the engineers!’
‘After looking at a resident at its entrance I think the hostel must be renamed OVAL instead of OPAL! ’
‘Much of my school life was spent in trying to find x and y. When I found them, they said FIND Z!!’

Needless to say, the audience at the aesthetically organized event went out not bored to death as they would have normally done after any lecture series, instead enlightened and entertained! That, is itself a major measure of the success of TedXTrichy and its organizers.

And personally, what a day! Caught up with many friends and enjoyed a fantastic lecture series, not to forget the parental-like-pride! At the end of it I am definitely convinced that TedXTrichy is here to stay for the future, and kudos to Bajaj, Neil and the entire team for giving it such a spectacular launch! Great work guys!

photo courtesy : Neil

यह कैसा इंतज़ार है - Hindi poem by yours truly!

न जाने यह कैसा इंतज़ार है
न कोई मंज़िल है, न कोई राह है |
है तो सिर्फ एक उम्मीद है
क्या कोई और तरकीब भी है?

मेरी दुनिया आज अधूरी है
आगे बड़ी दूरी है |
हाय! यह कैसी मजबूरी है
तू अब भी मुझसे रूठी है ||

अपने वादे से मुकरती हो
क्या दुनिया से इतना डरती हो?
सामने आने से शर्माती हो
ख़्वाबों में चली आती हो ||

न जाने कितने लम्हों का यह संचार है
मिट जाने से पहले, मिलने की चाह है |
कई अरसे बीत गए, ऐसा सच्चा प्यार है
फिर भी तुम न जानो यह कैसा इंतज़ार है ||



- श्याम

´You are Book(i)ed!´

Pakistan cricket has never been short of controversies and allegations. Some might not remember allegations of match fixing against the team goes as back as 1979-80. But the loudest of the scams came in 1994 that led to the setting up of the Qayyam commission which indicting the all time greats of Pakistan cricket Salim Malik, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis (who is the coach today) , Inzamam-ul-Haq, Saeed Anwar, Mustaq Ahmed. The story isnt really complete upto here.

It is not very long since we found the Indian cricketers under a match-fixing scanner (mind you, this is a much more serious allegation. And in the particular case of the Indian subcontinent an offence not any less than treason! ) And like this time, it was directly mapped to the then India captain Md. Azharuddin.

And also, the bookies who are revealed by players around the globe seem to be of South Asian origin- in particular Indian or Pakistani!

It is definitely hard to believe that cricket excluding these two countries is pristine with purity of a gentleman´s game! However there is also much to investigate whether the perpetuators of these activities are actually from the same flock!

Ahmer Naqvi, a former journalist from Pakistan says ´Over the past few years, our screens have been awash with images both gruesome and depressing in equal measures. And they have been punctually followed by television anchors and television politicians blaming India, Israel, CIA, NASA and any other bogeyman you can think of – as long as the perpetrators weren’t one of us.... It’s the unfair pay-cheques, the IPL bans, the lack of education, the War on Terror, the colonial prejudices.´

But one thing is certain, in both these countries we do not hold such punishments to the highest order of ethical blackmarking. Clearly evident from the fact that Md.Azharuddin is a Member of the Indian parliament (elected by the people!), Ajay Jadeja is a sports analyst with India´s leading news channel and appears everyday on screen to face the people and Manoj Prabhakar is the coach for Delhi cricket team. In Pakistan also, the life ban on Ata-ur-Rehman and Salim Malik was overturned.

Is it something that is ingrained in our society. Something that flourishes through our chor bazaars, foreign markets and pirated movies and CDs.? Something to do with the ´there is always more than one way to get it done´ philosophy that we embrace in the subcontinent to overcome our development issues on a daily basis? Something to ponder about I guess...

Chennai Callin!

I had lived for seven long years in Bombay, had made a really good set of friends and had started loving the life there when my father got a transfer order to Madras! To be honest, the kind of impression that we were fed with there about Madrasis (and to be occasionally referred to as one! ) was not all that encouraging! So it would not be very correct to say that I was looking forward to my days at Chennai!

But I came to Chennai on 22 Oct 2000. From that day to this, this city has managed to invoke a variety of emotions in me! The city has different faces, different moods and is constantly changing! The Chennai that I live in today is outwardly no where close to the one where I landed in 2000, but inwardly it remains the same that it has been for the last hundreds of years!


So exactly what is it that keeps this city going?


Not one, but many things. Right in the middle of it lies the rich tradition and cultural heritage untampered by any serious war or infiltrations, unlike our Northern cities. This has resulted in an unadulterated evolution over the generations.

Secondly, its the patronage to arts. Historically, patronising arts and developing them was the role of the rulers. Partly because of the cultural inclination of its people and partly because of the non-interference from other kingdom, Madras has always been the centre of excellence for so many art forms. These include music, dance, theatrical art forms and most recently movies! Madras was undoubtedly the centrestage of both Tamil and Malayalam film industry until the recent past. The very fact that most of the Malayalam movie stars and musicians still reside in Chennai bears testimony to this fact. This has definitely contributed to the development and prosperity of Chennai!

Thirdly, it is a kind of learning and knowledge evolution over the last few decades. Chennaites have patronised learning and education as much as arts, and as a result there are so many of its representatives in the Silicon valley and other significant places across the globe as brand ambassadors of Chennai.

Overall, the traditions, culture, arts and learning are the pillars that have held Chennai up over the times and responsible for its growth and prosperity.


Whats unique about Chennaites?


For the last ten years, I have constantly been interacting with Chennaites and there is this one common thing in them that amazes me! The competitive spirit and killing instinct! Here everyone is fed on competition, right from the criss-cross driving commuter stuck on the road in the Anna Salai traffic to the young students at TRS classes aspiring for a seat in IIT!


It is this crave for achievement (and being able envy a few neighbors and cast a ´good impression´ and attain a ´good reputation´ in the society) that drives the people here! However I must clarify here that by no means are they any unfriendly. It is just that these competitive insttincts are ingrained in their DNAs and its the way of life!

Many of my friends from the North say that they find Madrasis not so open and outgoing as their North Indian brethren. I wish to oppose that allegation with an explanation that the definition of ´openness´ and ´outgoing´ is a little tweaked here, probably because of the unadulterated flow of culture that I was mentioning.

Discos and night life are alien to this place (to an extent) because everyone goes home in the night. Its a routine! Not many foreigners frequent here as they do in Goa or Bombay. Not many diplomats or dignitaries visit this place as they do in Delhi! Not many people from outside the state come here in search of jobs as they do in Bombay! So where is there an opportunity for changing the Chennai way of life? And hence it should not be a surprise that Chennaites have different mentality when compared to a person from Bombay or Delhi!


Whats lacking here?


Lack of awareness and illiteracy are two things that are holding back this city from reaching greater heights. While I told about the city´s patronage to learning, I must clearly mention here about the emerging (social-)class struggle in this place.


The affluent middle and upper class that has family links in America, enjoys Carnatic music as much as rock and jazz , and spends an average Rs.1000 on weekends with family in 3 or 4 star restaurants and malls (so many of them coming up in the last few years! ) present a completely different image as that painted by the average and lower class led by auto and taxi drivers who altercate with the upper classes in pucca Chennai Tamizh (copyrighted by the city and its residents, not to be found anywhere else! )for Rs. 50 and 60. These people do not understand IIT, cant differentiate between NIT and NIIT, do not believe India exists beyond Delhi!

The consequence? Hero worship and blind faith! They would burn themselves to death if a political leader of their faith is arrested. They would burn effigies if a hero of their faith is pointed fingers at by someone. They would vote and elect anyone who has shown caliber in show biz to the highest offices in the government because he/she belongs to their faith. In this way, they place their faith in a religion of their own where Rajnikant, Kamal Hasan, Vijaykant, Sachin Tendulkar (not Amitabh Bachchan! ), AR Rahman, SPBalasubramaiam (not Kishore Kumar or Lata Mangeshkar!) etc done the role of Gods!

This has to go! Basic education and exposure to the outside world is utmost necessary for the upliftment of this class. It is required to show them cities like London and Paris, built on similar foundations, and emphasise on the different aspects like cleanliness, civic responsibilites of citizens and embracing outsiders (which Chennai is not particularly known for esp when people concerned are coming beyond Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh) to mix with them like the sugar in milk in building the city!

No wonder theres a long way to go and this city that is now my home, has the capability of going that extra two miles! And I dream of the time when Chennai becomes one of the best cities to live in this world!



WISH YOU A VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY MADRAS!

(I still prefer Madras over Chennai when it comes to a personal level! )

Independence Day 2010!

I wish all fellow Indians a very happy Independence Day!

It is our annual tryst with destiny, to assess our proximity to the dream that our forefathers held high in spirits!

#ID is very much the time when we must script the India we wish to live in, and how we can work towards making it so!

Cheers 2 all Indians! The future belongs to us, and the take over process has already begun!

Jai Hind!

A few ID tweets from twitter:
GabbbarSingh

India's 200 run loss to NZ has eroded my patriotism by 200 basis points. #truth

SrBachchan

T89 -Happy Independence Day ..!! May India no longer be 'the third world country' or a 'developing nation' but FIRST WORLD and DEVELOPED !!

anandmahindra

Happy independence day...independence from the poverty of ideas and solutions...

sachin_rt

I wish everyone a Happy Independence day.All of us in our small way should contribute to make our country a better place. Jai Hind

FestemberX

Awesome publicity video made by my friends in NITT for FestemberX.

A must be place for all lovers of music, dance and arts on 24-26 Sept 2010!

Check out www.festember.in

NITT Global Alumni Meet AND MORE!

The one day I spent with my friends in Bangalore showed me how much I am missing in my life! I had a spectacular weekend in Bangalore which is definitely worth sharing, and my new broadband connection at home is all the more reason for me to blog tonight!

Shanky and Duck have been actively involved in the organisation of GAM, and it is this renewed dedication in them (after Pragyan) that actually drove me to take the pain of going all the way to Bangalore for attending the event! As a matter of fact, it was Shanky who paid for my GAM registration too!

Anyway, I reached Bangalore, early on Saturday morning. One thing with Bangalore that I never learn, despite repeated incidents, is that the place is so damn cold in the mornings! So after another bone chilling taxi ride, I reached the Confident group´s resort which to me seems so far from Banglaore city that its just a stone´s throw away from the Bannarghata National Park.

The place and the atmostphere there brought back to my mind the days of Pragyan and Nittfest that we orgainsed in college! The mornings are filled with anxiety, and fear of any last-minute-goof-ups, while the mind secretly constructs a castle out of every successful moment in the day; each brick in its way trying to reach to that orgasmic satisfaction that one derives at the end of the event!

For the first time, I was a part of the media relations team of any event. It was a wonderful experience, all the more boosted by my friends Vibhu, Siva, Polly and Rohan with whom I worked. I really appreciated the role of media and news channels that day, and the excitement involved in delivering a live incident to audience across the globe as it unfolds!

But when everything goes your way, you know that something is not right. This time it was the rains that spoiled the whole show. All plans were literally ´down the drain!´

In the evening, we set up a video conference with KRSridhar which was possibly the only thing that went right after the rain in the morning.

The next morning, Duck, Shanky, Vibhu and I had breakfast with Arpit, Abhinav and Anurag. It was interesting and exciting to hear about the story behind the origin of Pragyan- something that played a very significant role in our college life, from the same people who were responsible for its start! They spoke to us about their four years in college, and I for one could not help but draw parallels between our batches. We both seem to have had a lot of fun bending and breaking the rules of the college!

Sunday evening was spent in Garuda mall and Leela. I did bowling for the first time in my life! It was great fun!

All in all, it was an amazing weekend, and special thanks to the people who made it special! Looking forward to meeting you all again very soon!

Weekend trip to the Chatsworth house and Heights of Abraham

Hi folks!

I went on a really good weekend trip to Peak District, known to be one of the most beautiful places to be visited in the UK, organised by the Indian YMCA. It was a fantastic tour and we covered the Chatsworth house and Heights of Abraham on Saturday.

Both these places are located in Derbyshire. Chatsworth house is the residence of the Dukes of Devonsire and their families, of whom the most prominent ones are the scientist Henry Cavendish and Deborah Mitford. The family owned a lot of land in the London city including the most famous Portsman Square. The Chatsworth house is as old as sixteenth century but has undergone many modification with changing times. The house is a spectacular display of ornate decorations and has a large collection of artefacts. It also has some of the most beautiful sculptures in addition to the cascade and water fountain. More details about Chatsworth house is available on WIki.

Heights of Abraham is in Mattlock. It is from the Victorian times. There is a cable car service that leads to a beautiful scenic point and to the cavern where miners have mined limestone in the earlier centuries. More information is available on Wiki.

Photos uploaded on Facebook and Picasa. Have a look; these places are simply mind blowing!

Cheers!

The Great Indian Novel of Thuvakudipuram and Garnet Society

Hey folks! This is Captain Shyam Krishnan from Dwarakpur! Today I will be meeting my cousins with whom I spent my childhood. I have five cousins- Dharmashanky, Bheem Nagi, Abhyarjun, Sabanakul and Vijaysahadev. My brother Balrachit and I have spent many of our childhood days in their company and even teamed up with them for a grand fight with the most despised DOTA gang (Sathyo´D´hana, Karnaditya, Kravindan and Somanatham). Today I will tell you about that story.

Dharmashanky was the eldest among us and a natural philanthropist. Naturally he was the leader. Bheem Nagi on the other hand was the gentle giant of the gang. Now the first one thought with his heart and the second with his limbs, who would think with his brain? Abhyarjun; he was the gang´s strategist. A six feet package of shrewd and clever ideas, he was also the most handsome among us. Naturally the only one behind whom the girls of the village flocked! The twins Sabanakul and Vijaysahadev are inseparable individuals with very identical thoughts and opinions. It was speculated that no one had ever seen one of them without the other. Sabanakul had a craze for collecting KPN bus tickets and was an active KayPeeNatelist (something like Philatelist) and Vijaysahadev was crazy about English music! I dont know how much time has changed these people, and I am very excited to see them today! My brother Balarachit is also arriving tonight from the USA!

Coming back to our story... Once for vacation all of us had come over to my place at Thuvakudipuram . Our family owns a house in the Garnet society there and since it was unoccupied we thought it would be the ideal place to spend our vacation. But only after we reached there did we realise that Sathyo´D´hana´s parents had purchased the adjacent house to ours and he had come over with his DoTA gang to spend the vacation there. I really dont understand why, but our gangs never got along well with each other. Some small issue or the other cropped up and Dharmashanky had to act as mediator and settle it every time.

Now in Thuvakudipuram lived a beautiful girl called Pragnya. She was so beautiful that people from around 60 countries fought against each other to win her! Pragnya was a shy girl and never spoke to anyone in the village. She used to spend most of her time in the ´Surya Computer Centre´ at the village junction where Sathyo´D´hana and his DoTA gang used to practise DoTA. While they were there Sathyo´D´hana fell for Pragnya´s beauty and wanted to propose to her. He made KRAravindan write a blog post about her beauty and himself got her a brand new wrist watch from Tux Vendors.

Meanwhile Pragnya happened to see Abhyarjun with us at the Shakthi Tea And Fruit Faloodaa (STAFF) canteen in the village when she was there with her friends. She whispered to her close friend Festy that Abhyarjun looked so much the ´chocolate boy´ types like fimstar Madhavan and that she had fallen for him. In matter of no time she became a good friend of all of us and a very special friend of Abhyarjun. He used to tell us how he fell for her smile. Yes, her smile did win many a hearts! Hmmm...

Anyway, so when Sathyo´D´hana was all set to propose to Pragnya after doing all the preparation, he was shattered to know that Pragnya was already committed to Abhyarjun and he challenged us for a game of DoTA. Though none of us except Vijaysahadev knew anything about the game (and Vij was no better actually!) Dharmashanky and Bheem Nagi felt that it would be cowardly to turn our face away. So we accepted the challenge for Pragnya and Abhyarjun.

Vij tried teaching us the game and told us about the game strategies. Dharmashanky vowed to play the game only if it was linux compatible and the complexity demanded a 32GB computer. He felt anything less than that was below his level. Bheem Nagi wanted to incorporate networking protocol algorithms into our game strategy (and was naturally hushed off! ). Abhyarjun wanted to put to use his Hindu paper memorising talent into the game strategy. He wanted us to follow the pattern established by the Polyester Prince. That was his contribution to the game plan. Sabanakul wanted us to use the KPN hard algorithm for ´traveling sabarish´ problem for deciding the game strategy. My brother wanted to incorporate the patterns of Ragas in music (I still dont understand what he meant, but he used to be obsessed with this Raga thing those days). I had only one opinion, it must be economically efficient!

Well, as u could see we had no idea of DoTA and naturally we lost the game against Sathyo´D´hana and his pro-team. Sathyo´D´hana was a computer wizard. His best friend from ´B section´ in school Karnaditya was a smart and pious chap. He used to help people get employed through his contacts but himself preferred to be a farmer. Somanatham and KRAravindan were twins who got their diplomas in manufacting. Both were smart workers who knew how to put in least effort and yet make maximum profit!

Since Abhyarjun and Pragnya were already in a relation, they did not bother to ask her out now. Instead they asked us to shoo off from the place for 14 days so that they can have the society playground all to themselves for these days. So we (along with Pragnya) went to our uncle Shakunan´s place. He is believed to be the most crooked one in our family having made himself infamous in the most popular Banana scandal that rocked Thuvakudipuram administration.

Uncle Shakunan told us a master plan to get even with these guys and save our reputation in the society. He told us to seek support from his friend´s son Ashwatnami. So we brought Ashwatnami into our group and told him about what all had happened. We had just one day in hand before the commencement of school and we had to settle scores. After our defeat at the game of DoTA Pragnya was also upset. She told Abhyarjun that she would be his girl only if he defeated and humiliated Sathyo´D´hana.

So we decided to use Ashwatnami´s gulti-friendship with Sathyo´D´hana to bring him alongwith his gang to the Garnet society pond where we will launch surprise attacks at them. Since they will be unarmed for the fight, they will be caught by surprise and we will be able to defeat them easily in public.

On the fifteenth day when we got back to Garnet society, we positioned ourselves as planned and sent Ashwatnami to Sathyo´D´hana. When he and his friends reached, we launched water missiles at them and made them lie flat on the ground. Bheen Nagi´s strength, Abhyarjun´s sharpness and Dharmashanky´s wisom were our strengths. But things went out of hands after a while. Sathyo´D´han and his gang were mighty strong compared to ours. They soon got back on their feet and started attacking us with water missiles. It was a closely fought battle with neither team conceding defeat.

At last I thought of an idea. I discussed it with Abhyarjun and he was happy with it. We asked Ahwatnami to stay outside for a while and made Dharmashanky to inform Sathyo´D´hana that his gulti-firend was not feeling well. On hearing it he dropped his missile and Bheem Nagi got him on his knees with one strong one on his legs. His clothes were torn and he was humiliated in public. The happiness on the face of Pragnya who was witnessing all this was shining like a bright sun.

With Sathyo´D´hana out of the battle, the others could easily be brought down by my songs! All I had to do was sing a few lines and the rest of their gang surrendered their weapons and conceded defeat!

And thus we won the great battle of Thuvakudipuram. Abhyarjun proposed to Pragnya and she happily accepted. They were bonded into an everlasting relationship. Dharmashanky and I decided to be the best men on their wedding. Meanwhile my brother had gone off before the fight to continue his research work on Morning Ragas and so he could not be a part of it.

After we parted ways then, there has never been a vacation we were together. And today all of us are going back to Garnet society to spend a week there. And guess what, I just heard from Karnaditya that Sathyo´D´hana and his friends are also going to be there. Lets see what is in store this time!

:-)
Cheers!

(L to R): Bheem Nagi, Somanatham, Vijaysahadev, Shyam Krishnan, KRAravindan, Dharmashanky, Karnaditya, Abhyarjun, Sathyo´D´hana.
Missing : Balarachit and Ashwatnami.

Disclaimer- This is purely a work of fiction. Any resemblance to living or dead beings, or locations is simply coincidence! :P And a special word to conspirators of NITT- please do not try to decipher unintented meaning out of any part of the story. It is entirely meant for fun! So hav fun!!! :-)

Residual Colonialism in the British Media

I have been traveling in and out of the UK for the last two years and one of the first instructions that I received when I arrived here from India was that words like ´Blacks´ etc. are considered highly racist and any use of these words, however unintentional, is considered an insult.

However I was shocked to find the word ´Black´ being used by the most prestigious media corporation in the UK-BBC. During the pre-match discussion (or the news report, I fail to recollect), the reporter said that football in South Africa is considered predominantly to be a sport of the ´Black´ people! Also offending was the way they focused on African teams in the pre-match session.

The BBC reporter remarked how South Africa must try to make it to the best 16 teams in order to avoid becoming the first host team to be eliminated in round one. This would not have been considered offensive had they not followed it up with a special analysis of all the African nations that are playing the tournament and what were their possibilities of making to the next level.

After the match, BBC showed the reaction in a room packed with South African fans for 1. The South African goal, 2. The Mexican goal and 3. The Mphela miss in the 90th minute. All this, while the Mexican fans´ reactions were completely neglected and ignored. To me personally, it looked identical to an experiment where you take footage of the reaction of mice and guinea pigs to certain stimuli.

While it is understandable and justified to encourage new teams into the game and have special coverage of the host country and the enthusiasm there, it must not occur as the Big Brother´s arrogance that says ´See, this is where I am better and you have a long way to catch up kid! ´ or isolation of any ethnic group.

BBC is a leader in world media that sets very high standard for other new channels. As someone who has been a fan of the news channel for the last fifteen years, it was shocking to me that such things were observed in their World Cup coverage. Hope the English World Cup spirit does not take the better over their responsibilities to their global audience!

Tweeting Celebrities

Discussion From Deccan Chronicle.
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The twitterverse is brimming with not just the 'aam aadmi' but with everyone from politicians like Shashi Tharoor to celebrities like Amitabh Bachchan and Sachin Tendulkar. The 140 character update has been the source of not just popularity but scandals too. Do you think it's self-obsession or a need to just expand their popularity online that is making celebs tweet away?

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My comment:

Twitter is the latest medium for communication with large number of people. Its short micro-blogging nature (140 characters only), simple privacy settings and open nature encourage people to follow/ be followed by a large number of people.

As politicians, twitter is a medium by which they can break the red tape-ism in our political setup, The people of the country can be in touch with their elected representatives at all time and this will definitely induce a new confidence in them. All politicians must be encouraged to join twitter and be in touch with the people they represent as it will boost the strength of our democracy.

In India, film stars have a voice that probably no one else has. It is no coincidence that filmstars like NTR, MGR, Jayalalitha have become mass leaders. Twitter is an active medium by which they can contribute to grooming the society. It is a platform where they can address tens of thousands of fans. However it must not become what I would say a medium for mutual competition among celebrities in terms of fans and their support.

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Your comments and opinions are welcome!

Of Trust and Social Value System- An opportunity for India to lead the world

Former Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales Lord Bingham once said that his father never made use of his office phone for making personal phone calls. Today more than a century later, we can hardly differentiate our conversations as official and personal. Our life is a bundle consisting of family, friends, work and leisure, spearheading towards the ultimate objective of survival in this competitive world at a pace unknown in those times! In this transition from one generation to the other, have we left behind our ethics and values?

The society that we live in today is built on the foundation of trust. This trust is present in various stages.

GOVERNMENT AND ADMINISTRATION
At the primary level, it was the trust that we had in our leaders that helped them raise their voice against the oppression of foreign power and ultimately win us the freedom for self governance. The whole constitution and political system is built on the principles of fairness and faith. The faith that- you (the administration consisting politicians, bureaucrats and the defence service that takes care of the security of the people) do your work while I do mine, so that together we can build our nation.

However, with the growing avenues of new media and the irresistible temptation in the public to not just mind their own business, we have had a series of exposes of our politicians, bureaucrats and defence personnels. Beginning from 1990s- Bofors scandal, Hawala scandal, the most popular Tehelka expose; the list is endless. So when our own elected representatives who adorn the highest offices in our society fail to exhibit citizen ethics, what can be done to restore the lost values and ethics in our society? And how important it is to revisit the core principles of citizen ethics and redraft them to suit the modern society?

THE SERVICE SECTOR
At the next level of trust comes service sector like banks, postal department, electricity, water etc. Corruption and poor incentive for employees in these fields (except banks) have resulted in the vanishing of the service element in their business. In the case of banks, what happened due to recession in the west has violated all trust we had in allowing them retain and handle our money. Thankfully due to the strict regulatory system imposed by RBI, the Indian banks were quite safe. Again, risk is a matter of trust. To multiply money, banks must take risks for which they will need the complete trust of their customers.

SPIRITUALITY
When all that we trust fails us, we turn to religious gurus who are in abundance in the society today. That is the next level of trust, when we submit ourselves to these gurus in whom we trust to help us in the process of revival through God´s chosen means. That is what Bhagwan Rajnish (Osho), Sri Aurbindo, Sri RamkrishnaParamahamsa and Sathya Sai Baba did, and they were leaders in bringing out the concepts of meditation and yoga to benefit the common man. It was later taken forward by Sri Sri Ravishankar, Baba Ramdev and others to be tailored to the needs of the stressed man from today´s society. However in this period, opening an ashram has turned into a viable business opportunity thanks to the exponential increase in the number of victims of stress and tension in our country and abroad. To name some of the recently exposed spiritual gurus Swami Nityananda and Swami Amritachaitanya. Again we are at a point when some of the highest order of trust is violated and vulnerable people are exploited.

However I do not wish to conclude that we are living in a society in which the administration, service sector as well as religious gurus are all not worthy of trust and hence we have lost all foundations to uphold our value system and ethics. Its all business and profit making now!

A VALUE SYSTEM FOR THE NEW GENERATION
It is required is to revamp the value system to suit the new generation. For instance the age old principle, ´Love thy neighbour as you love thyself´ has lost all significance in todays world when all concepts of neighbours and space sharing have lost their meaning. Privacy and personal freedom have gained an importance that was never there. Todays value system and ethics should be built on a platform of equality, of mutual inter-dependence and transparency. Accessibility to public information is the first step to building trust and reviving the principles of values and ethics on the lines of trust.

In this information age, it is up to India to set an example and lead the world on building citizen ethics and a moral society, because it will play a key role in determining the global capital for this century. And the time could never be better than now when the west is battered by the financial and social meltdown in the last two years, and is seeking out assistance in rebuilding the society.


Jaago India, for tomorrow is ours!

YOURS TRULY!

This is a poem about me by the great poetess Sharika S. Nair a.k.a kutty, A person worthy of nothing (??)... lesser than the literature nobel!

The great poetess Sharika has taken her valuable time out just to write a poem in honour of me.This speaks volumes of my greatness and fame.

Any resemblance and reference to existing creatures (other than me) is purely coincidental and unintentional.

THE ONE THAT SHAVED

Shyam had a moustache
That troubled him whenever he crashed

He had a thing for laden
Which made abhi to sadden

No wonder he is a london-chick
Mradul likes all his pics

His treasury skills are legendary
Right now he misses trichy's curry

Pragyan is his passion
He shaved his moustache in the name of fashion

Whatever you say he can argue
Everything and anything out of the blue


Poor shyam has to suffer my torture
Whatsoever this made him more mature

Shyam loves the coll's admin
One can make out from that little grin

He keeps fratenizing with trichy cows
He's thinking 'I want my moustache back i don't know how'

H e reminds me of a little teddy
His friends like him cos hes a good buddy

I find him to be a tweet little boy
Full of happiness and joy

He will definitely murder me soon
Am sure he finds me to be a crazy loon!


-composed and compiled by THE GIFTED






For those of you who do not know, Her Highness Kutty is Osama´s neighbour in Saudi Arabia and an upcoming terrorist in the youth wing of Al-Qaeda. She is known to come up with innovate weapons of mass destruction like this one! Wishing her a bright future!

Thillai Nagar 8th Cross Street

The lush green patch of land on either side of the bus is strangely unlike the Trichy that Ramanathan Krishnaswamy (Rama) has lived in for the last four years he spent in NIT. He is so used to the scorching heat of the place that any sight of greenery seems out of place now. Krishnamurthi Ramanujam (Krish) has seen so much grass in the last four years at NIT Trichy that he has begun to identify the place with its grass! Sitting in the same bus as Rama, he is very excited about the shopping he will do in Thillai Nagar today.

¨Anna, where is the Sony shop in Thillai?¨, Rama asked the conductor

¨Enna Tambi... SOny-aa ?... Solren... (Will tell you)¨, the conductor shot back in a high pitched voice to make himself heard above the full blast Tamil songs from latest Sivaji Ganesan hits album.

Before we get there, let me introduce Rama and Krish to you. They have both done their schooling in SBOA School Chennai. Rama wants to become a scientist in biotechnology. He aims to do research in Genetic Engineering in the US and settle there with a green card as soon as possible. Krish, on the other hand, has no particular ambitions. His aims in life are driven by his desires. Krish dreams of a life where he has no shortage of booze, fag and babes!

Although they live in the same room Rama and Krish seldom see each other. Rama is a strict vegetarian and wakes up at six, nearly an hour after Krish goes to bed. His regular day begins with a bath (trust me in a hostel like ours even this is an arduous task), Sandhyavandanam (prayer to Sun God) followed by food at mess. Krish on the other hand gets up briefly at 8:25, rushes to the 8:30 class ten minutes late (only in case he decides to resume the sleep in classroom rather than settle for a proxy), one chicken puff at the Bru coffee shop before returning to his room at 12 for another nap. He would then wake up at six in the evening for a quick round of washing before the daily routine of fag and booze (and sometimes pot). He returns to his room at five in the morning and hits the bed straight into deep sleep.

Today being a Saturday, both of them have to rush back to hostel by five. Rama goes to the BHEL Ayyappa temple every Saturday (no matter what happens!) while Krish goes to BHEL Seakings Ice cream parlor every Saturday with the girl in his life as her reporting time in Opal Girls´ hostel is extended by an hour on Saturdays. Krish has been seeing this girl (name intentionally withheld) two years junior to him in college for a couple of months and they are quite close now. The only thing that comes between their formal relationship is her existing commitment to this guy in her batch. While she prefers to see Krish as a friend and guide, Krish has been making desperate efforts to make her something more than that in his life. Sadly for him, the guy in his life (as he calls her boyfriend) does not seem to abandon them so fast.

The bus is screeching to a halt near Thillai first cross. There has been an accident and the traffic has been blocked.

¨@%£*& b@%&*%$", said Krish looking desperately into his brand new wrist watch. Krish has spent almost four thousand rupees this month and is now running on credit from Rama for the last three days. With examinations round the corner, Krish feels, it is unlikely how Rama will find the time for accounting his daily expenditures as he does everyday and in this irregualrity some of his expenses will get washed away.

The traffic seems to be clearing and the bus starts moving. ¨Thank God!¨, said Rama heaving a sigh of relief. He has made a plan to complete his class notes (he uses four different inks in them) and record work after returning from the temple and the traffic block would have seriously put him off his schedule.

¨SOny yaar kettadu? (Who asked for SOny?)¨, screamed the conductor at the top of his voice.

Rama and Krish got down from the bus. The small board across the road read ´Thillai Nagar 8th Cross Street´.

Rama crossed the road, turned left and entered the residential complex right behind the Sony showroom. It was ´Aravind Apartments´, the place where his uncle lived. He has come to meet his grandparents who have come down to Trichy from Kumbakonam.

Meanwhile Krish crossed the road and turned right. There were two shops opposite to the Sony showroom. One read ´Anand Pharmaceuticals and Druggist´ - known for selling more than just medicines, while the other read ´Tasmac Bar´. Krish took out a thousand rupee note from his purse and walked towards the shops.

What lies between Rama and Krish ... Thillai Nagar 8th Cross Street? Three months of summer? DAAD summer fellowship? or may be ... Nothing!


(Inspired by the true story of one of my friends)