“One should visit places abroad … It opens you up and will be an interesting experience. We are Argumentative Indians … we like to talk a lot, but when it comes to actions.. .everyone shies away. We are very good in strategy and ideas …. What we lack is execution!” The person who had come to deliver a guest lecture as part of IMC course said this to me over coffee today.
I remarked … true probably.
Yesterday we had an interesting experience. We have to create a commercial for a marketing course as part of our curriculum at SP. It is one of the regular assignments. We decided to take an extra step. Most of the surveys we conduct are of people within our campus or friends we know. So we end up having a view as that of a frog in a well.
This time we decided to shoot a real video and hit the Santosh nagar slums near Goregaon. It was a different experience. Watching people live in those teeny weeny houses .. I peeked into a house and saw a little girl trying to do her homework with book toward the light coming through the door. Her mom was cooking in the same room and her little brother was playing nearby! For quite sometime I got habituated to seeing people in malls, reading about shining India and dreaming of owning a Porsche when I see it in the showroom on WE highway! This was a slight kick in the ass.
We probably do not understand the other communities as well as we think we do.
We met a lady in the slums and proposed our idea of promoting quality food in small sachets … not really a brilliant and new idea.. as the sachet revolution is everywhere around you in India. Our intention was to provide the quality food to people who purchase in small quantities.
She replied that .. “it’s the mindset of the people that if they can buy a low quality for 2 rs less, they would do so and probably buy some masala or vegetables with that money.” How can you consume such customers to buy a product based on promise quality? Here we should get closer to the bottom side of Maslow’s pyramid!
In the end our video ditched us in the last moment .. didn’t work. But nevertheless A drive to realities of life in the rains of Mumbai on my favorite bike with my great friend ….. I felt that it was one evening well spent!
Yesterday when I was walking in Andheri Sports complex, I remarked to my friend that 13 years ago MJ had walked here and cast his spell on the audience… and promised to return which he could not keep. R.I.P M.J - The king of pop ! !
An era has come to an end. As they say … once in many decades are such people born who change the face of the world with their imagination, genius and creativity. When it comes to entertainment the fact that Micheal Joseph Jackson stormed the world and redefined Pop music and dance , goes undebated. Like his illustrious father-in-law his spectacular life was brutally cut short … was it by over dosage or a stupid doctor? The planet was waiting for his epic comeback ‘This is it’ on July 8th and just weeks before it, the tragedy struck. While we were waiting for him to redeem his career, his allegations and then retire in style.
He seemed to defy gravity, perform complex physical manoeuvres which would otherwise seem impossible… He produced music which will live on …long after he is gone! He inspired many generations, and so many of us have atleast secretly tried to mimic his moves… and have failed to do so.
A little known fact is that he also owns a patent on his name. This is regarding a specially designed shoe which allowed him to perform gravity defying steps .... remember Smooth criminal ? He practices devoutly and is a maniac for details .... he even gave up 2 meals a day to regain his dancer physique. Such perfection of course is never attained without sustained hardwork and passion.
Though its sad that while he was alive the entire world especially the media badgered him with mindless allegations and were constantly on him. The moment he is no more … everyone is flocking to pretend they are his true fans. It is sad to see the toll the celebrity takes on the genius of a person. MJ … Curt Kobain…. Elvis .. Lennon … all the good ones seem to go early ... while Madonna still lives!
No tribute is worthy of u MJ … u live on forever in our hearts!
India is a country with a billion problems and a billion possible solutions. Hence even the simplest things are complicated to a great extent. In such conditions it is in the best interests of our country to have a definite government.
Economic recession, Terrorist attacks, acute shortage of infrastructure, frequent natural calamities, increasing energy demands and four neighbouring countries which are in a pretty bad state. …
In face of all these we need a decisive government which can take a firm stand and work in the best interests of the country without a compromise. With due respect to the intellect and stellar academic qualifications of our prime minister, I feel that the post of a ‘Prime’ minister is primarily a role of leadership. He should be able to guide the party and also the coalition in a direction. He also determines the government policies to a large extent. He not only needs to have a command over his cabinet, but also needs to command their respect! Unfortunately this does not seem to be the case.
Gandhian National Congress:
Indian National congress is a party full of typical Indians – constantly bickering among themselves, full of internal coteries and politics, extremely sycophantic ( Who can forget ‘Indira hi India, India hi Indira’ .. and the drama of every leader crying and begging a reluctant foreign lady, who is refusing; to become our prime minister ! ). However as days passed my hatred towards junior Mrs G turned gradually into admiration. She conducted herself quite gracefully, accepted India and its ways and has managed to silence all her critics.
I am still however quite sceptical of the capabilities of Rahul Gandhi. He has not demonstrated any maturity and comes across as a person too dumb and shy to become our premier. His surname can make him say ‘Prime ministership is my birth right and I shall have it!’ He gives out quite confused statements, and has failed to impress us by his intellect.
Left is no more left!
Left parties have shot themselves not only in their foot but all over! They had managed some 50 odd seats by chance in their previous elections. Instead of consolidating their hold, they have displayed horrible political sense. The fiasco over Tata motors put a permanent dent on the image of Bengal, and by opposing the nuclear deal vehemently; they have alienated the urban voters too. Though the communism has collapsed all over the world, they still cling to the ancient ideologies and threaten to push India back to pre- liberalisation era!
‘Haar’tiya Janata party:
This is one party which is an epitomy of brand confusion. In the beginning years the Hindu card had worked to an extent. But in this rapidly changing era how can they focus their agenda on hindutva still!
They should vehemently deny being a communal party and sue anyone who says that again. They should totally focus on development front. They should now also give a rest to the Sonia being a foreigner – We won’t buy it anymore!
Its tough for a person like Advani whose image is firmly in people’s minds as a Hindutva spearhead to become a prime ministerial candidate. It’s a pity however that India’s best administrator and orator is tainted with the paint of Godhra! I hope we will see him as a PM someday. However he too should totally shun the Hindutva agenda and project his developmental activities. To win in Rural areas – Now BJP really needs to do its homework here!!!
I hope congress speeds up the reforms and acts tough on terror, asserts India on international forums well, and provides a stable government for next 5 years. I swear I will vote the next time!
Andhra assembly elections:
There have been two biggest shocks. One is congress winning clear majority and PRP losing horribly. In the beginning of establishing his party Chiranjeevi claimed that he would win 160 + seats by himself and become the chief minister in NTR style. Alas, there were a million problems which led to his downfall:
1.NTR rode on a telugu pride when there was no regional party. He drove home the telugu sentiment due the congress chief ministers acting as puppets to the congress govt at the centre. This was totally missing in Chiranjeevi campaign.
2.There were many internal tussles within the party and the party cadre was not motivated enough.
3.There were no right candidates in PRP to stand for elections.
4.Times have changed and the voters have too, it’s not so easy to con them, and film stars can’t directly become the kings anymore.
Congress will again perpetrate corruption to a level never known before. YSR will write the remaining half of the state onto his son’s name. They will hunt down the remaining few rural cadre of TDP.
But they must now be repenting for burning all the files in the secretariat, as they might not have expected to come back to power and face this situation!
Aquarians they say worry a lot about world and the ways of life .. or to say in better terms about philosophical things in life. Born in the middle of Aquarius i apparently worry a tad more than my fellow aquarians ! (Wondering how all this is connected ... read on ! ) We recently learnt in our Business strategy that a company should have a short and precise but absolutely clear mission or vision statement which will help all the employees decide whenever in a dilemma. I thought why not have one for life itself and stumbled upon the one below: There are 3 kinds of people:
Those who live too much in the Future
Those who live too much in pesent
Rare few who balance both
Future guys: They tend to overslog .. whether it be studies or whether it be in an organisation and are very driven by motives and long term goals and objectives . They end up ignoring the present i.e their families, friends, and miss out on opportunities to enjoy life. They assume that they are havign fun while working .. but at some point there comes a breaking point and they decide ... " I Can't take it anymore .. i should have taken it easier" . By then either they are past their prime ... or their lives to broken to be mended !
This reminds me of a story about a Soldier: The emperor granted a boon to a soldier who fought valiantly in a war. The boon was that the soldier can become the ruler of as much land he can cover on his horse. He bagan riding tirelessly in the greed to cover as much as he could. Suddenly one day he realised that he had crossed his nineties and that he had not even enjoyed a part of what he earned! This shows that sometimes being so driven by ambition .. we lose sight of the present !
Right here Right now guys: Some people feel that they have come into this world to have fun and enjoy !! They have a philosophy of ' Kal kisne dekha hai ! ' They enjoy every moment of life without a care about the future. But after a certain time .. the present passes and we have to step ito the future. That's when the Grasshoppers realise that they should have worked like the ants!
I see an analogy of this in the Rip Van Winkle story. The guy dozes off for 20 years in the mountains after drinking a divine ale made by the dwarfs. He wakes up and tries to find his family and town. Alas .. everything had changed. His wife had passed away .. his kids and friends don't recognise him.
His sleeping can be taken as an analogy to the guy who does what he wants and enjoys his life. Because he lost contact with his world and "wakes up" only after everything is gone ! ( I wonder if its only me who sees this meaning in this old fable)
The Balancers: Thought rare .. but i have seen few people who can balance the act of Present vs Future ! The observations is that they seemed more contented than the other 2 kinds. They lived in a sense of harmony with their own selves. I would like to believe that i am one of them.
However these can also tend to be phases in life rather than types of personalities. For eg: when you are young and reckless .. one can afford to be the first type ... or rather has to be !
We have to invest in the future ( if we are not the ones born with a silver / platinum spoon) and slog it off now . This is also reflected in Malcolm Gladwell's latest book on "The Outliers" One needs to out in 10,000 hours of concentrated and continous efforts to become succesful ! And ... we can also be happy n satisfied .. if we make a concious choice of what we do !
Nothing is a secret these days! The word privacy has taken a new meaning all together.While we are still brooding over the dilemma of whether to give our mobile number for office purposes an entirely new problem has raised its hood. Its omnipresent, its dark and its scary!! Your Virtual life is CRITICAL to your real life!
My manager used to say “International exposure doesn’t necessarily mean going abroad and working there. Dealing with the clients based abroad and interacting with them over phone, teleconferencing, client visits also amounts to exposure “. While I was dealing with them on numerous occasions I had to take their number for communication. None of them were willing to give their mobile numbers. Their plain response was ‘Call me on my extension’.
I was surprised, as giving our mobile numbers was a Sine-qua-non in India! But they were willing to give their mobile numbers only when the issue was critical and they had to receive their calls while at home. A World of difference would you say!
The simple fact I want to emphasise wit this anecdote is how much we value our privacy!
Nowadays every one has their profiles created on Facebook or Orkut. (Though some are saying that Facebook is already outdated !) We all have websites, blogs, and some of us also live a ‘Second Life’ ;)
Though blogs were started with an intention to express one’s opinions and view without any apprehensions. People were hooked onto Orkut and other networking sites to find their old friends and keep in touch with distant ones. There was an air of casualness and it was more fun.
Google began commercialising it by scanning our mails and posting ‘relevant’ ads. Then other marketing companies started using networking sites for their Viral marketing campaigns. Every one started impinging on our personal spaces and everything is commercialised these days!
The most recent development is that Prospective employers and companies started monitoring their employees via Internet. They started tracking their blogs and accounts and what they say and what could their future plans be!!
Two glaring instances:
1.A teenager was fired just for her remark that her work is boring. We tend to say casual things when on net. But imagine being fired because you scrapped your friend saying I am getting bored t my office. People talk to freedom of speech! Does it cover Facebook?? (The report)
2.My friend was a student form a prestigious engineering college in Delhi. His classmate was hired at a plush salary by a manufacturing major. The company HR apparently found his profile on Orkut and saw that he had joined GRE forums and was planning to go abroad for his PG. He was sent a regret letter within a week of his placement !
Go figure!!
One thing we can do is to be exceptionally careful about what we write/ post online. Another simple solution is to use the greatest advantage of internet – Anonymity!
Use different login names and create mail accounts completely unrelated to you. Are we getting closer to living a Second life – It’s time to keep Mr Anderson away from Mr NEO
This was one of the defining moments during the annual Biz fest: OJAS '09 @ SPJIMR. The audi was packed and everyone waited anxiously to be listen to Harsha Bhogle. As he strode in it took few moments to register that its him, due to the drastic change in appearance - he looked leaner, and much younger :)
He took his seat on the stage and instantly struck a chord with the audience, who greeted him with a huge round of applause. What struck me were his manners and calm and composed answers and of course his razor sharp wit and humour. Though some of the points he made were general, they were profound. The manner in which they were delivered, left us all with a happy feeling at the end of the talk.
• Real world vs virtual world: People are getting too attached to their virtual existence. They have presence over the web and are party to thousands of communities. But in real life their only companion is their laptop! When we go to work, we have to deal with real people and they have real problems which can’t be avoided. He quoted a person “Good coaches coach players, Great coaches coach people”.
• Don’t run behind salaries:Since most of the MBA students are early in their career, they should focus more on building their careers and look forward for roles which will help them in getting a great opportunity later.
•There will be sunshine soon: Everyone is worrying about the downturn and are worried day in and day out. It’s more psychological than actual. Though there are few sweeping changes occurring in the world, it’s a necessary change as it acts as a speed breaker and restore normalcy in the world. The salaries may be a little on the lower side, but once things pick up, it will prove that we are actually lucky to have this skill set in such times. It will also harden us going through a downturn early in the career.
• Don’t go looking for shortcuts:If there’s a shortcut and no one’s taking it, we should pause and think why.
• Work your backside off! : Harsha said that every successful person he met had worked very hard at some point of time. Nothing comes on a platter these days. We have to find our passions and go after them. It’s heartening to see some people mention entrepreneurship these days and not looking for a run of the mill jobs. But one thing’s for sure : Hard work is irreplaceable.
•Don’t look for coaches: We tend to look for solutions to our problems. We expect that someone will come and solve our problems. Sadly, that doesn’t happen in real life. We ought to fight our own battle. In Australian cricket there was a common practice that no one was allowed to go to their coach with a problem. They can go to him only when they also have a solution to the problem. We try to blame people / circumstances for our problems, but in the end WE have to look for the solutions.
• Luck by chance?: In response to a query he said that though luck is a part of life. It’s more to do with our efforts and planning. Some people are working while the world is sleeping, so when the opportunity arrives, the person is ready! It reflects a famous quote “It takes 20 years of perseverance to become an overnight success”!
The talk ended with a crisp vote of thanks by Prof Suranjan Das and was met with a resounding applause. He said "when I was in IIM A in 1991, I was jealous of a professor who addressed Harsha on the stage. It took 20 years for me to get on the same platform! “
Since my coming to SPJIMR I have heard a lot of executive, CEO’s and a lot of great people. But his talk was heart warming and left me with a good feeling.
In 2009 I had my Valentine ’s Day dinner with HARSHA BHOGLE. A night to remember ;)
Few radical islamists fire ineffective rockets into Israeli cities and they retaliate by pounding their buildings with 1 ton bombs !! Now whom do we support and whom do we don't ?
Though i am an Indian citizen, i have been following the whole issue of Israel - Palestine. I have neutral views and have no incentive in being biased towards any community. If we look without pre knowledge at the two pics above, we can't distinguish which pic belongs to Israel and which to Gaza. Human suffering knows no boundaries, nor religion.
Palestine problem:
If the poverty levels are high, if people have no incentive to work, or engage in economically productive activities, if they have no food to eat, if they cant secure the lives of their families, if they are dominated and bullied by powerful countries ....
They are bound to retaliate in the means they can, they would risk their lives to inflict maximum damage to their enemies.... simply because they have nothing else to do . Because their lives are worth 100 gms of lead or one explosion. When they know that they are going to die anyway ... why will they not risk their lives . This is the prime reason which drives people to suicide squads!
Israel Problem: The suffering Jews went through in holocaust, their identity crisis and not having a country of their own gives strong enough reason for people to keep fighting. David Ben Gurion had once said " Hang on to Jerusalem with the tip of your teeth ! ". The ideology still persists and will always. When their cities are pounded with enemy rockets, when their very right to existence is denied, when unexpecting citizens waiting for a bus are blown away by a mindless fidayeen , they are bound to use all their military might to secure the lives of their citizens.
It is foolish on Palestine's part to deny the existence of Israel, and to hope tp drive out all the Jews from Palestine. 'They are here to stay ! '.
It is equally foolish on part of Israel to think that they can continue killing palestinians every time there are attacks on their cities. They would simply be re-doing what Adolf Hitler did to them in Holocaust - "Killing innocent people just because he had the power and might to do so"
Solution:
Most of the problems in the world have either religious or political motives. But the solution can be economic.
Israel should help a democratic government setup in Palestine. They should create employment opportunities for the young men and take their attention away from Jihad. They should be able to provide for their families. First signal Israel can send, is by helping food supplies reach Palestine and help reconstruct all the buildings they have blown up.
Go the Gandhi way - answer with peace and respond unilaterally to Hamas i.e with no pre-conditions.
It is said in Ramayana that " The greatness of Lord Rama is not in his strength or prowess in using arms, but in his restraint in not using them". It will take some sacrifice on some one's part, and SOME ONE must make it. For lasting peace. It is always better is the stronger one does it.
Hamas / Fatah / PLO whould respond to these moves with honest motives. This is one historic opportunity and they would be betraying future generations of peaceful life if they don't do so. They should not use this chance to pile up arms but better their economy and pave way for eternal peace.
I will end with a Gandhian quote " An eye for an eye, makes the whole world blind !".
