GOOD TO GREAT

Jim Collins authored this book after his earlier work “Built to Last”, but he advises readers to consider this work as a prequel to his earlier book. While Built to last was about visionary, lasting organizations, “Good to Great” is about mediocre organizations which leaped to greatness.

A typical Jim Collins book…..extremely well researched over years, this book elucidates certain concepts using 11 companies which satisfied a typical pattern – “fifteen-year cumulative stock returns at or below the general stock market, punctuated by a transition point, then cumulative returns at least three times the market over the next fifteen years". As in his earlier book, Jim Collins has also maintained a list of comparative companies.

Jim Collins has beautifully written this book with the information of a business book and the sensitivity of an artistic creation. In this process, he has explored appealing concepts, which he discovered to be the key constituents of each of the Good to Great companies. Some of the findings are –

Leaders and the way they think - (early build up to greatness)
(1) Level five leaders (who build enduring greatness through a mix of personal humility and professional will)
(2) Hedgehog concept (ask - what you are passionate about, what you can be the best in the world at, what drives your economic engine – and then do those things which answer all the three questions)
(3) Stockdale Paradox – (retain faith that you will prevail in the end, regardless of difficulties and at the same time confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be)
(4) First Who, then What (first find the right people, then think what to do)

Breakthrough and leap to greatness
(5) Flywheel building momentum (incremental and cumulative efforts, which help the system to get momentum)
(6) Culture of discipline (culture of discipline as different from tyranny)
(7) Technology accelerators (aligning technology with the strategy of the organization as streamlined by the hedgehog concept)

Jim Collins has consummately merged the concepts of this book with that of his earlier “Built to Last”.

In this book, Jim Collins doesn’t restrict his thoughts to the corporate world but links the concept of greatness with a subtle sensitiveness….greatness is not about being huge…its about discovering excellence and meaningfulness in work….Nor is greatness limited to the corporate…it can be discovered in every aspect of life.

Felt tempted to quote the last paragraph of the book -

“When all these pieces come together, not only your work move towards greatness, but so does your life. For in the end, it is impossible to have a great life unless it is a meaningful life. And it is difficult to have a meaningful life without meaningful work. Perhaps then, you might gain that rare tranquility that comes from knowing that you have had a hand in creating something of intrinsic excellence that makes a contribution. Indeed, you might even gain that deepest of all satisfactions knowing that your short time here on this earth has been well spent and that it mattered.”

TWO MONTHS BACK...

Spring time….lovely weather….wide roads penetrating the deserts…..a three hour long drive from Abu Dhabi to Dubai and finally, I was in the Dubai airport to get back home….

The car stopped not far from the airport entrance and the sixty-something year old, kurta clad wrinkle faced, bearded person, who has been driving this vehicle got down to pick my luggage. Somehow I managed to dissuade him not to pick my luggage. He walked to the trolley section and got one trolley where I loaded my baggage. Then shook hands with him and waved him goodbye…

I still had three hours in the airport….did some minor shopping and then relaxed in the airport….one of my shortest trips…just three days….kept on reminiscing the last three days….

A unique mix….both Indians and Pakistanis form an integral chunk of population of this part of the Arab world…the deserts…the classiest buildings and towers…the Dubai FM…and the even the Karachi Durbar (the popular Pakistani restaurant in Dubai)….and the drives…especially the last one…from Abu Dhabi to Dubai....and the chitchat I had with the driver…

I was tired and would have rather preferred to take a nap during the drive…but then the driver asked me something “Aap Bombay se hain?”….I gave a reflexive nod and asked him if he was a native of one of the Emirates…There was a change in the expression of his face…he looked down…and stammered…nahin, hum Pakistan se hain, 20 saal se yahin pe hain…Do saal mein ek baar Pakistan jaate hain.

Somehow the conversation proceeded and I enjoyed talking with this person…Ahmed was his name and I addressed him as “Ahmad Bhai”. Perhaps I am too young to address him this way, but then I couldn’t think of a better way to address him. He kept on talking and I kept on listening….He talked about India….the British…he talked about India and Pakistan…..the Indo-Pak wars…the politicians of the two countries….the people of the two countries…..his experience in Dubai…languages like Arabic and Urdu….

Hum to ek hi kaum ke log hain…Janat se bhi khoobsurat hai Hindustan aur Pakistan….lekin kya karein….that was how he started his conversation….his hatred for the British and the politicians was evident….

Once he was out of the Indo-Pak issue, he talked about the beautiful Arabic language…the rich Arab world…. about his life in Dubai…his family in Pakistan.
Finally, we entered the Dubai downtown and he concentrated on his driving.

Almost one and half month after, as I sit down to pen down this experience, the wrinkled face of that old Pakistani driver is clearly visible. The three hour long drive from Abu Dhabi to Dubai would have been lost in the memory lane as just another drive but for this Pakistani driver.

MAVERICK

Maverick (by Ricardo Semler) - Was it about doing business in the unreal world of Brazil….or was it about a “quirky laboratory” (read the company Semco) run by a few impudent and iconoclastic managers. Its about both, each intertwined within the other.

It is about a distinct way of running a company, Its neither socialist, nor is it purely capitalist, it’s the third way – “ a more humane, trusting, productive, exhilarating and in every sense rewarding way. As Ricardo closes the book – “ To forget socialism, capitalism, just in time deliveries, salary surveys, and the rest of it, and to concentrate on building organizations that accomplish the most difficult of all challenges: to make people look forward to coming to work in the morning.”

The author claims that this is not a business book, nevertheless, I feel this book should be among the must read lists of all business students. It’s to understand the iconoclastic methods of Ricardo Semler, wherein he creates a system within Semco, where the employees choose their bosses as well as their own salaries. The system was strong enough to successfully survive the volatile Brazilian economy and inflation (which often went as high as 400%).

BLUE OCEAN STRATEGY

"Blue Ocean Strategy" is an exceptional book by W.C.Kim and Renee Mauborgne.

“Giving the people what they want is fundamentally and disastrously wrong. The people don’t know what they want …Give them something better”

Red oceans are all the industries in existence today—the known market space as understood today. Blue oceans, in contrast, denote all the industries not in existence today.

Blue Ocean strategy is nothing new. It has been existent over the ages. Many successful organizations and individuals have followed this strategy in the past. “Creating something new” is the simplest way in which I can sum up the philosophy of this book. In this book, the authors have just formalized the concept in a great way.

According to the authors, there is hardly any attractive or unattractive industry per se.
Blue Ocean can be created by reinventing, thinking out of box, creating new markets, and converting non customers into customers. The authors also stress the importance of consecutive rounds of blue ocean creation. Blue Ocean strategy is not a static achievement but a dynamic process, which can be created both by industry incumbents and new entrants.

“Value addition” is perhaps one of the most powerful phrases used during the business school lectures. This book speaks of something called “Value innovation”. Value innovators achieve a leap in value by creating new wealth rather than at the expense of competitors in the traditional sense. The concept is based on a non-zero sum game.

The authors have elucidated the concept using lot of examples and have suggested frameworks and models. Both conventional cases (like Model T of Ford and NYPD’s legendary chief Bratton) and numerous big and small organizations are explained in detail

The authors have created jargons (like “Placing kingpins in the fish bowl” and “Angels and devils”), which I am sure are quite popular already.

The basic theme of the book can be summed up as follows -

(1) Reconstruct the market boundaries (Look across alternative industries, strategic groups within industries, chain of buyers , complementary products, emotional appeal of buyers and finally time)
(2) Reach beyond the existing demand
(3) Get the strategic sequence right (exceptional utility, strategic pricing and target costing and adoption)

The authors have used the concept of strategy canvas where they study an organization with respect to its competitors. What differentiates a successful organization is its focus and divergence from the competitors well defined by a compelling tagline.

DIGRESSION

Before I move ahead to write on the topics which I had mentioned in my last post, let me take a digression and write something about the latest books I read during the last one month.

Making the Cisco Connection: This book, I felt, is a plain description of the origin of the behemoth named Cisco. David Bunnell has described well the nature of the three eras of the Cisco Management –
The entrepreneurial stint of Sandra Lerner and Leonard Bosack (the birth of Cisco)
The Morgridge years (the period of consolidation)
The era of Chambers (the age of expansion)
David has well described the major strategies and the culture of the organization. This book is indeed informative but something was lacking – something that was so striking in Richard Branson’s “Losing my virginity” or Sam Walton’s “Made in America”. Perhaps if some day, Chambers writes the story himself, the missing excitement can creep in.
I found something different in this book regarding JVs when David writes about Chambers -
“In JVs – no single transaction he’s had, he says has been 50-50. Sometimes CISCO’s partner will get 70% of the benefit, and the next time CISCO might get 80% of the benefit. All in all it adds up to 50-50.

The Age of Discontinuity: This book by Peter Drucker was first published in 1968.
Through this book, Drucker looked into the future and predicted stuff which we have taken for granted today. He mentioned about four sources of discontinuity, which he felt, marked the end of the then existing continuity. These sources are
Origin of new industries, new entrepreneurs and new economic policies
Globalization
Changing society tending towards pluralism and privatization
Knowledge economy
The term “knowledge economy” and “knowledge worker” became almost a sociological jargon after this book.
Drucker foresaw the last decade of the last millennium well in advance. He was indeed two decades ahead of his time. No wonder he is considered the greatest management mind of this era.

Games Indians Play: This is an interesting book by V. Raghunathan. In this book, the author has tried to explain why we (Indians) are the way we are by using Prisoners dilemma. While the author has maintained a simple environment in spite of using complex behavioral economics terms like rationality, systematic chaos etc., I feel he could also have used Prisoner’s Dilemma and other game theory principles to the context of Indian-ness as well. I mean he has used game theory as a tool to explain why Indians are the way they are. Perhaps he could have done a better job had he used the game theory to answer the question “what makes Indians behave the manner they do” in the context of the socio-economic status of India. However, this book is a good read…especially for its simplicity in dealing with complex things.

ABHINAYA LIVE

If you are one of those, whose heart appreciates the mystical dance forms and enigmatic tunes of ancient India, then Abhinaya is indeed the right place for you. This site consists of high quality videos of some of the oldest and rarest of Indian dance forms, apart from the audios of tunes, music and poetry. The catalogue is likely to pick up exponentially within the next few days. If the above videos enchant you, don’t forget to login to http://www.abhinaya.in

http://blip.tv/play/oWkBAA

BACK TO GOOD OLD LIFE

Back to good old life mode after the submission of the longest report of my life….a hundred page report on a power transmission line running across the Arabian Desert. It was a tremendous experience to drive through the deserts….to visit six out of the seven Emirates of U.A.E......Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Umm ul Quain, Ras Al Khaimah, Sharjah, Ajman…

With the submission of the report, I am now back to blogging after a long time.

Will write about the following topics in my next series of posts

(1) Abhinaya
(2) Chit-chat with a Pakistani in a different land
(3) Snapshots from the deserts

IMPACT

With ISB in the venerable list of the top Global schools (FT Ranking), things look quite rosy for other schools also. So...how is it going to affect the local scenario. Some possible outcomes according to me –

The Indian schools will reinvent themselves to fulfill the criteria and the requirements of the most prestigious international rankings. The three most respected rankings are WSJ (Wall Street Journal), FT (Financial Times) and BW (Business Week). Unless a business school finds a place in one of these lists, it better try to reinvent itself.

IIM-A shall the next Indian school to appear in the FT rankings, but not before 2009. According to FT criteria, a program/b school must have been operational for a minimum of 5 years and 3 batches must have passed out. They have to bank on their one year MBA to suit the FT criteria – GMAT, Work ex etc. But once they enter, they will be pretty high in the List. But interestingly, they will be in the ranks (Global MBA) due to the new One Year MBA.

The International rankings will see a host of Indian schools circulating, quite high in the list. Indian schools always had the abilities, but may be due to complacency, they never took serious interest in prestigious international rankings. As a result they never reinvented themselves. They were happy with local Indian rankings. Now with ISB starting the trend of global rankings, things look extremely good for the Indian top schools.

Organizations like AICTE hopefully will get out of the bureaucratic outlook and pay attention to the real issues of education.

The age of international sophisticated accreditations for Indian B-Schools is around the corner – Once again, by all probabilities, ISB will be the 1st Indian school to get the most prestigious international accreditation – AACSB.
International accreditations are a must to maintain international standards.

The narrow minded parochial mindset of the top Indian B-Schools will be replaced by a more competitive global outlook. They will stop reacting to changes. ISB always has a lot of critics, primarily because this six year old school keeps on achieving one laurel after another. But then, I believe that there are two types of critics – a critic, who criticizes to earn money...basically that, his profession; and the other who is jealous. And there is no point in remaining jealous. In fact I have always believed that our schools can benefit a lot by cooperating with each other….the same way as the likes of Harvard, Wharton, MIT and Kellogs cooperate with each other.

The number of international applicants will rise in Indian schools

And last but not the least, the research culture will pick up. And by research, I mean the quality research

India, I believe, is the only country apart from US, which has the potential to have at least 5 colleges in top 20. Let’s hope for the best. And by 2010, it should be possible.

ABHINAYA UNFOLDS

Just 3 more days remain for Abhinaya to unfold...

http://www.abhinaya.in/

THREE BOOKS AND ISB

Read “Made in America” by Sam Walton…the saga of the creation of the Worlds biggest organization….from the voice of Sam Walton himself.

This book is amazing….depicts the heart of Wal-Mart…..its technology, sophisticated distribution system, associates culture…..

Also Sam Walton has depicted himself through this book…as he broke all frontiers of success…His famous Hula dance in the Wall Street…his Saturday mornings with his associates…his fleet of little airplanes which he piloted himself….and all such stories which were instrumental in building the Wal-Mart culture.

The ideas of Sam are as entertaining as it can be…and I will like to include two lines from the book…

This one is about the basic marketing trick, which Sam asks his associates to practice

“From this day forward, I solemnly promise and declare that every time a customer comes within 10 ft of me , I will smile look him in the eye, and greet him”

This one is about having the right person at the right time

“All along the history of Wal-Mart has been marked by having the right people in the right job when we needed them the most. We had Whitaker, straight out of the get-after-it-and stay-after-it old school, to help get us started, Ferold , a methodical hardworking German, to get us organized, Ron Mayer a whiz at computers to get our systems going, Jack Shewmaker, a brilliant shoot-from-the-hip executive with a store managers mentality and David Glass who could step up in a crisis, keep his cool, and eventually get control of a company that became so big that it was hard to comprehend".

Also read “Wise and Otherwise” by Sudha Murthy….a book depicting individual instances….extremely simple book….with powerful messages in the Indian context

The third book was “Teaching the Elephant to Dance” by James Belasco….a book about Change Management….This book is informative…well researched …but somehow I felt it was too textual in nature (may be because I was reading “Made in America” also during the same time...

So that’s about the books….

Ah yes…..now something about ISB….Its official now…..ISB is ranked 20, in the world, by the influential Financial Times (FT)…..once again, my Alma mater has broken all records…..and this time the records are not just in the Indian context….its global….the youngest B-School to make it to these rankings (In fact, TOP 20)…ISB has indeed redefined the concept of Indian B School education….

A SWEET POST

300 posts already posted in this blog…So want my 301st post to have something special…

Let me post something, which I really liked.... This was written by EM six months back.

************************************************************

About twenty yrs back from today a three yrs old kid was sitting along with her grandfather in his lap in an arm chair in the porch of the verandah….JJ (Grandfather in Oriya) chair that is what we used to refer that chair as.It was his favourite chair.

Kid : JJ what does puuo mean??

JJ : It means son

Kid : Why do u call Appa as puuo??Is he ur son??

JJ : Yes, he is my puuo

Kid : Who is my puuo??

JJ : Ha ha, who do u want ur puuo to be??

Kid : Can I choose my Puuo JJ??

JJ : Yes, u can…so whom do u choose then as ur puuo??

Kid : U….u be my puuo from today JJ…will u be??

JJ : Ha ha sure my dear…but then who ll be ur JJ if I be ur puuo!!

Kid : (After some serious thot) we will shorten JJma’s name as JJ….if I need a JJ

JJ : Ha ha ha ok

And so he became my puuo from being my JJ :).He used to feed me when I used to throw tantrums and find excuses for not eating making my mother give up on me in frustration.He wud bribe me with chocolates and toys and make me drink milk and then take all the credit for accomplishing the great task.My puuo and I wud together have bitter gourd curry together…..I eating on his behalf and he on my behalf….. and the bitterness of the curry would get drowned in our laughter and togetherness. He taught me alphabets before joining school.He taught me the difference between multiplication and divison…when I could never differentiate between them.He taught me multiplication tables till 12th table and I could never learn higher than 12th table till date.And today he’s taught me cooking even :)!I wud coax him to tell me the story of his childhood and he wud willingly accept to narrate the incidents of his childhood to me umpteen number of times without getting tired of it.He wud listen to my endless ranting and answer each and every single question that I ask.He wud blackmail me saying that if I had my bath early in the morning he wud allow me to enter the puja room and have Prasad and I wud always manage to sneak in and have the Prasad without bath.And he wud behave as if he could never make out tht I had sneaked in and finished the Prasad.I wud ask him “what do u do with the Prasad when I am not around Puuo”…and he wud reply “feed it to the sparrows so that they take it to u in their beaks”!!And I wud keep searching for sparrows at my place for the Prasad.He wud say “Grow up soon dear I am getting old”…and I wud reply “Don’t worry Puuo I ll grow up soon and we will both get old together”.

Days passed and distances grew.I got tied up with studies and cud manage to meet him only once in a yr.He wud complain “U call me puuo and don’t care for ur puuo.U simply disappear”….I wud reply “No JJ!!Me really tied up.I need to secure a seat JJ.After that I promise I ll always be with u”…..he replied “Fine!!I will get it for u…will u be happy then and not worry”….It sounded like those days in my childhood when I used to cry for toys and he wud say “Fine now don’t cry I will get u toys from my secret trunk…ll u be happy then”……and I wud forget all abt the toys and secretly sit down to ransack the secret trunk when my grandfather was not around. My puuo couldn’t see me worried ever.Whenever I wud get worried abt my results my puuo wud motivate me by narrating his experience and the way he had pursued his dreams by making it to Stanford University and completed his Phd .He had taught me pursuing ur dreams is all that matters ….don’t worry abt the results…just never give up. Tears filled his eyes when I had gifted him a dhoti and kurta with my first salary.He put away the dhoti and kurta in his secret trunk as usual :)!!I wud say “Puuo come and stay with me.Then we can have lot of fun” and his reply wud always be “No my dear just like that is ur house this is my house…ur Puuo is happy in his house…Next I ll go to God’s house from here”….And I wud retort “JJ!!Don’t talk nonsense.You had promised that we ll get old together”….”Yes my dear I remember my promise. We will get old together.U and I togther.That is why I made the prev. statement”.I never understood then what he meant.But today I understand the true meaning of his statement that he had made then.He had meant he wud always be there with me in my memories and we wud together get old.Isn’t that what u meant Puuo?? :)!

Life is so strange really….we are forced to accept the rules of nature.Much as we wud love to hold on to our dear ones we know that if we do so it will only get worse.Although its painful to depart from your loved ones u will have to console urself telling that its better if they are taken care of by God in his house than they withering away infront of ur eyes.U can’t pause time…u can’t stop age.And its also strange that when ur loved ones depart its only then that all the memories of the days that u spent together surfaces and u try clinging on to them like u never did before.U get so tied up with other responsibilities in ur life that although u know u love them dearly and they are there waiting impatiently to just catch a glimpse of u ….u just don’t have the time to be with them…and the memories just lie at the back of ur mind undisturbed….u don’t have the time to re-live them.So, that is what he had meant then that he can always stay in my memories and I will realise and relive the long lost childhood days with him all over again while he watches me do so from God’s abode…..and that’s how he will watch me getting old , sitting in the JJ chair , along with him :) !Hope you are keeping a secret trunk there too in God’s house Puuo.And I am sure this time God will make sure that ur secret trunk is not ransacked by any naughty kid around. And here I will take care of your favourite chair :)!

*************************************************************

BUILT TO LAST

The latest addition to my small collection of business books is “Built to Last” by Jim Collins and Jerry Porras...a relatively old management classic.

This book , though full of jargons, proved to be a good read. Even its content-list is a collection of jargons….Clock building not time telling….No “tyranny of the Or” …more than profits…preserve the core…BHAGs….cult-like cultures….try a lot of stuff and keep what works…home grown management….good enough never is….the end of the beginning…building the vision…core ideologies….core competencies…etc.

The amount of research backing this book is stupendous and evident. The methodology followed is simple… “How are visionary companies different from comparison companies” …the definition of visionary and comparison are defined in the first chapter itself. Lots and lots of companies well-described…from the day one of their birth.

Jim Collins has beautifully described a visionary company as follows...just loved it...

Visionary company…A visionary company is like a great work of Art…Think of Michelangelo’s scenes from Genesis on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel or his statue of David. Think of a great and enduring novel, like Huckleberry Finn or Crime and Punishment. Think of Beethovan’s Ninth Symphony or Shakespeare’s Henry V. Think of a beautifully designed building like the masterpieces of Frank Lloyd Wright or Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. You cannot point to any one single item that makes the whole thing work; it’s the entire work – all the pieces working together to create an overall effect – that leads to enduring greatness. And it’s not just the big pieces, but also the itty-bitty details – the turn of phrase, the change of pace at just the right moment, the perfect offcenter placement of a window, a subtle expression sculpted into the eyes.

TO END THE YEAR

Three books to conclude this year…. thin books but sweet ones…

“Our iceberg is melting” by John Kotter and Holger Rathgeber…a fable, with penguins as characters, that took me back to the lectures I had attended on “Change Management”, reflecting the golden rules that lead to a successful change and a new culture -

Creating sense of urgency
Pull together the team
Develop change vision
Communicate
Empower others to act
Produce short term wins
Don’t let up
Create a new culture

“Is New York Burning” by Dominique Lappiere and Larry Collins…. one of the fastest books (if such a phrase exists) I have ever read…a novel that involves the contemporary political situation and real life characters…. One thing that was particularly striking in this book is the depiction of Condoleeza Rice as a master negotiator.

“Screw it…. Lets do it” …a quick- read of “Losing my Virginity” by Richard Branson… a collection of Richard Branson’s favorite quotes with brief description of the events associated with the respective quotes.

TWO MORE

Read one more book on magical realism – “The Life of Pi” by Yann Martel.

A perusal of this book might give the impression that Yann Martel has described the adventures of a cast-way, who successfully spent 227 days in the Pacific with a Bengal tiger as companion. But this book is not just about survival instinct. It’s about pragmatism, yet it is about philosophy.

A closer look at the book takes the reader through a religious and spiritual journey, which is quite unique and novel. Pi Patel, the teenage protagonist of this novel practices all the three religions – Hinduism, Islam, Christianity. The reaction of the individual self-acclaimed protectors of religion towards Pi is interesting.

Pi, his family and all the animals (Pi’s dad was a zoo keeper) were migrating to Canada when the Tsim-Tsum (the ship which they had boarded) sank…. Pi was the lone human survivor…. he lost his world but he gained another…this book is about his new world.

Its about seeking harmony with the universe…spiritual illumination…. wild adventure…religion and faith…. restless energy and peace… all at the same time

But like any other book on magical realism, this book deserves a slow read.

The other book which I completed is “Losing my Virginity” by Richard Branson. Its about the real life adventures of Richard, while building the Virgin brand. A perfect management book…without all the drab jargons…and with the excitement of a roller coaster ride. An exhilarating experience it was…to get an idea of Richard’s definition of the perfect life…and perfect work.

SNOW

"Every life is like a snowflake: individual existences might look identical from afar, but to understand one’s own eternally mysterious uniqueness one had only to plot the mysteries of one’s own snowflake".

Orhan Pamuk's "Snow" is a complicated book. It’s about a journalist who arrives in the city of Kars in Turkish border. Kars was going through tough times politically, with deep rooted religious impact. Confusing times, religious turmoil, the city of Kars….and within this setting….the life of characters like Ka (the westernized Turkish journalist), Blue (the Islamic fundamental), Ipek (childhood crush of Ka, and …..let me not kill the suspense), Kadife (Ipek’s sister and Blue’s lover) and a myriad of other characters.

Since Orhan Pamuk has deeply portrayed the inner turmoil of each of the characters, I did not find the pace of this book fast enough…a style of writing where the protagonist is not an inspiring hero, but an ordinary human being... with all the sub-conscious happenings.

The distinct element that is pervasive throughout this book is the regular usage of snowflakes to describe any situation or emotion. Its winter time in Kars….with heavy snowfall... and the whole context is submerged within the nature of snowflakes.

IN ANOTHER WORLD

Its as if I am living in a different world….where life is nothing but revenue, profit, Q3 results, Q4 estimations…last one odd week has kept me busy…even more than what ISB managed to make me slog…

But yeah…at the end of the day…after 18 restless hours, when I get to bed, it is a sweet feeling…a mix of tiredness and a realization of a day well spent.

Not been able to read much over the last week...handling three books at a time since the last one month…Mein Kampf, Snow and Losing my virginity….and maybe it will take another month to complete these books.

Somehow could not resist writing about the first half of Mein Kampf…It is about Hitler’s complex thoughts and justifications.

From indifference to interest…. from interest to obsession…. from obsession to hatred…. Hitler’s anti-Semitic tendencies and his hatred for democracy and the then incumbent society traced this path…. Hatred is such a complicated emotion…. it grows within in a strange manner…. it stems from the way one aligns ones thoughts and understanding. This is exactly what this book is all about…unmitigated hatred… that originated from one of the most complicated genius the world has ever seen…

It’s strange to learn that little Hitler always dreamt of pursuing an artistic career – in painting and architecture. But he groomed himself to walk a different path…. and the dreaded complication of his thoughts that he allowed himself to drift into, proved too costly for the entire world.

He hated almost everything, which he thought was weakening the discipline of the German culture. He hated the education system, the attitude of the bourgeoisie, the politicians, their way of doing things…. and the interesting thing is that he got himself convincing reasons for doing so. He has clearly explained why he hated the then German democracy (of the early 20th century), the education system, the selfish politicians…. with cogent facts and convincing reasons. Intense nationalism was all that he could think about those days. He developed his thoughts into defining the ideal education, print media and method of governance and a whole lot of such issues…. and … thus took shape the most dreaded word in the History of mankind – Nazism.

This was my third attempt at this book…. and finally I completed the first half of Mein Kampf

DECEMBER

The sweeping breeze from the hills proving its presence….the red morning sun making its way through the fog…the crackling sound of the fire providing warmth to the people around….the wide, lonely roads guiding its daily commuters….

December is back once again...a month, whose responsibility is to close the year.

A THOUSAND SUNS

The impact of having been through the experience of “City of Joy” tempted me to pick up one more Dominique Lappiere classic, and this book turned out to be one of the most amazing books, I have ever read. “A Thousand Suns” is one of those books, which I will love to preserve in my personal collection forever. It’s a collection of separate documentaries, which Dominique has collected as a result of his experience as a journalist. But Dominique is no ordinary journalist and he captures no ordinary situation and no ordinary people. The real life characters that adorn this magnificent book are as varied as the intense socio-economic and political situations that they live in.

This book is distinct from other journalistic representations. This can be attributed to Dominique’s articulate and soulful exploration of the individual, silhouetted against the complicacy of the situation.

A pirate who dared to topple the dictatorial regime in Portugal by hijacking a cruise liner…. a matador whose reputation rose to elevate him to the status of the most popular Spaniard ever…. a Japanese assassin who used to think about butterflies in his free time…the architects of Israel who crafted immeasurable achievements…a passionate elephant lover who later sacrificed his life for the cause of elephants against poachers in Africa…. the accomplices of Nathuram Godse…a criminal sentenced to capital punishment…and many other heartrending accounts ornate the intensity of this book.

Dominique has also pictured some personal accounts including his love for cars and long excursions all over the globe and his experience when he was suspected of cancer…. the first depicted one of his passions while the second aroused his worst trepidations. Also, his association with Larry Collins is presented time and again, with systematic accounts of the phenomenal books they have written together.

Will try to get hold of some more of such phenomenal DL books…. about History cum Journalism cum inspiration.

READINGS WHILE COMMUTING

Four hours reserved for traveling to and fro everyday seems to be pretty interesting these days. Weekend readings are thus easily transferred to weekday readings… in the trains of Mumbai.

Read a book, which I have always wanted to read earlier… "The City of Joy” by Dominique Lapierre…a book depicting the slums of Calcutta… about people like Stephan Kovalski and Max Loeb…about lives of characters like Hasari Pal and Aloka…about diseases…about the human horses…about floods and droughts…
This book is a tragedy its entire course, yet the element of hope and selflessness is very strong. But I guess Lapierre likes to move in one dimension…I mean when he elevates characters, he elevates them completely to sainthood…. maybe its true as this book is based on real life picture…. but I cannot imagine that someone can be as selfless as Kovalski or Max.
However this book has left an impression…I read this 500-pager in the local trains of Mumbai…and every time I look outside the window of a train…when I see the slums, this storyline of this book gets so easily reflected.

Also read Zig…the autobiography of Zig Ziglar, the successful marketer and public speaker…its always a different feeling to read an autobiography…its as if the person is sitting close to you and speaking his glorious life out. In this book, Zig describes his childhood, each of his family members and their impact on his career and life, about the Redhead, about the early financial constraints, failures and finally super success. But the distinguishing feature is his transformation into a devoted Christian during the journey of his life. At times, the later half of his book sounds slightly Biblical, but his approach to life is different and this book is definitely worth a read.

Autobiographies are like case studies…. they keep on reminding one philosophy and that is
“Isn’t hindsight marvelous for honing wisdom?”

ELEMENTS OF CONFUSION

Options are often associated with confusion. After MBA, this has been a regular feature in life. The scope of my expectations of my career is getting redefined.
May be a more diplomatically correct way of putting it is “widening of scope”.

I started my career in shipbuilding, in various yards, working with steel and machines. I loved it. But somehow I thought that if I continue doing the same thing, I might not get the real flavor of the corporate…. the very word “corporate” was almost synonymous with seduction (even today, it is…)

Decided to pursue MBA with the idea of entering the strategic and financial aspects of shipping…MBA followed…. During MBA also, confusion was rampant …I considered it more sensible to look beyond shipping (expanding the scope), but then decided to fix a limit based on my past experience and aspirations…. My ambitions expanded from shipping sector to the energy sector…mostly into construction business…thought that way it will much more diverse…. Earlier had a decent idea of how ships were constructed…. wanted to explore the nuances of construction in power lines, oil pipelines, oceanic offshore structures. However decided to restrict myself only to the planning and strategic roles…. idea was to work for a few years, witness business closely and then plan for a doctorate….

But, more I stay in the industry, more is this element of confusion…. learning in job is decent…but what I have realized is that learning in one job or in one designation is slow and at times monotonous. Of course one can learn a lot of things…. but working for a huge organization has its own disadvantages. There are lot of advantages as well, but somehow I feel that the disadvantages are getting more pronounced now. A huge organization is very different culturally (especially in India)…. hierarchy levels…. power bases…complicated methods of promotions…. etc. One way to deal with this is to restrict to one huge organization and keep growing within…slowly and steadily…. may be an SBU head by early 40s…. There is more security in life this way…. but then the excitement level gets diminished…the excitement level that is easily available in a small and flat organization…

Somehow feel that the security of being in a huge organization is detrimental to my aspirations…. need more excitement and more challenges in life…

What is the optimum period I should stay in my present organization? What should be the nature of the next organization? Will I be happier in industry or consultancy? When do I apply for univs? Is it a great idea to pursue doctorate after a couple of years, or later in life once I get saturated with the seduction of the corporate? What do I compromise if I choose one option over another? Time to get myself answers to so many questions…need to plan out the next stage of career….

NEW

A new year in life…..
A new place to live in…..
A new set of neighbors around….
A new route to office….

Everything looks so different….

FEYNMAN'S RAINBOW

Feynman’s Rainbow - This book is about the experience of a young Physics post-doctorate Leonard Mlodinow, who had just joined Caltech as a researcher a couple of decades ago. There he came across two ( no, three) legends of the world of atoms, photons and quarks…the legendary Richard Feynman, another Nobel laureate Murray Gell-Mann and the idiosyncratic originator of the string theory, John Schwarz.

The approaches of Feynman as against Murray is nicely described by Leonard- by using the analogies of the Babylonian and the Greek. While Murray believed in description of eternal and immutable patterns in mathematical form, Feynman worshipped nature itself…in his imaginations. The idiosyncrasies of Schwarz are almost perfect.

But what takes this book about photons, quarks and the string theory much beyond mathematical Physics is the confusion of Leonard in his life and Feynman’s answers to his confusions. Then, Feynman was terminally ill with cancer. Leonard had recorded his conversations with Feynman and after twenty years he decided to write this book.

Feynman loved to imagine….he was not religious…he believed more in biology than in God….but in his imaginations….there is an element, which can be no way categorized as just mortal. Here is a piece where he asks Leonard to think about atoms.

“Go look at an electron microscope photograph of an atom. Don’t just glance at it. It is very important that you examine it very closely. Think about what it means. And then answer this question. Does it make your heart flutter?”It’s a yes or no question. No equations allowed.”

Leonard had asked a number of questions and the final question was “Who are you as a person – and how has being a scientist influenced your character?”…. and the two page answer, given by Feynman is worth keeping in your personal diary to read again and again later.

ONCE AGAIN

Almost half a year into my new job…2007 is left with only two more months…. and once again time making me realize its pace….

Life is moving on with all its flavors…and as usual, it’s the books which makes me see deeper into such varied flavors…. these days are reminiscent of days when the most popular places to witness your midnight dreams used to be the crowded airports….

Read some books…. tried to understand a different breed of books including those by M.V.Kamath (on his stories about press, journalism and celebrities). Read some very old classics which, I couldn’t appreciate much…. and finally a simple book by a little known author about physics and life…loved it and will write about it in my next post.

GOLDEN ART

I was thinking about this for quite sometime…and after a long process, I finally managed to come up with the list of my all time favorite movies. It was tough to select these from the long list of movies… here they are…. not on the basis of rank….

Life is Beautiful
The Pursuit of Happiness
Braveheart
Shawshank Redemption
Cast Away
Forrest Gump
The Patriot
Schindler’s List
Seven Samurai
Titanic

MY OLDEST FRIEND

He is my oldest friend. I can address him as my friend as he always likes to call me his friend. But, he is one of those people, whom I genuinely like to address as “Sir”. He is one of the oldest alums of IIT kharagpur and is presently one of the most respected names in the maritime world. I met him for the first time after I graduated from IIT. And after that, he has been my guide and mentor. I love to drop at his office, whenever I get a chance and today morning I got one such chance. And I got this chance after a span of almost four years.

I stayed in his office for little more than an hour. We talked about a number of issues - both professional and personal. And as usual, he stressed the importance of two necessary skills in life – one is “relationship management” and the other is “money management”. Just “money-management” will not be enough to live a happy life. Similarly, it might not be very practical to limit to “relationship management” only.

During this one-hour stay, I also met some other people, who had almost disappeared from my memory lane.

A great Saturday morning….

AN EVENING WITH ENTREPRENEURS

Yesterday evening...until the early hours of today morning, I spent my time with two of the most amazing individuals I have ever met in my life – Sandy and Aky. Aky was in the process of building his stall for the International Maritime Exhibition to be held in Mumbai. It was so nice to realize that he has achieved so much over the last one year. The company, which he formed a year back, is destined for great success.

And when Sandy is around, every individual around, always find himself/herself bursting with laughter. And yesterday was no different. Sandy is all set to start his yard soon...his favorite yachts and boats will be a reality soon.

We kept on talking and discussing so many things. Dil (let me restrict his nick to the first three letters) was there as well, and shared his ideas, though he belongs to a different sector. Coddie joined late night. He had started a company (in the automotive sector) a couple of years back in Chennai and the last one-year has been a real booster for him…

One thing I have noted while being with entrepreneurs…..the atmosphere is always charged up…with excitement, passion, ideas and optimism. I hope I could find myself in the same league as these people….but then my favorite line was there to console me.

“ Patience, my friend, is the biggest virtue”….

BUTTERFLY

I like to read blogs of other people…. the old ones remind me of my past and the new ones introduce me to different people, though it is a kind of one sided introduction…but whatever be the case, this exposes me to the thoughts of other people….

Lately, I was reading a blog, where the writer had written about certain things, which can be easily summed up to one single word…and that is “loneliness”. I doubt if there is any sane soul in this world who has managed to escape this syndrome…. I don’t know if it is right to say that introverts are more lonely than extroverts…In fact, my little experience makes me believe that extroverts get more lonely than introverts…. it is always easier for introverts to recharge themselves back….

There can be different reasons for loneliness…career aspirations, heartbreaks, a sudden loss…. and even at times…no clear reason…. sometimes we just don’t realize why we are lonely, even though we are surrounded by people and activities…. May be the factor is directly related to our inner connection to the exterior world….

Now…. everyone, at times, feels lonely…. and I feel that a person should be smart enough to realize what to do if she faces this feeling…One way is to move deeper into ones own shell…. and I feel that’s not the right thing to do…after all, the days of life are limited…. and each day of individual brooding can lead to loss of such precious moments…which with little effort can turn very beautiful….

Now…the second and perhaps the right thing to do when one realizes that she is getting lonely…is to get out of own shell…. instead look deeper into the exterior world…. reconnect back with long lost friends (just because time did not permit earlier)…. make new friends…world is full of amazing people…try to know as many of these wonderful people as possible…try to be a part of the joy and sorrow of other people…if possible help someone…. learn something different…try something new…enjoy the walk over the sunset…. have a walk to the mountains (or hills) or anything different……if the sea is close, then spend some time in the beach, listening to the breaking waves….enjoy the star studded night sky…..feel the infiniteness in everything…..and then ask yourself…. “Am I still feeling lonely”?

And let me quote something, which I liked a lot “Life is like a butterfly, you can either chase it, or let it come to you”…

ASAP

When I was about to come to Mumbai, I had promised myself a lot many things…. things which are away from the rigmaroles of professional life…things which are likely to provide the simple pleasures of life…

I had promised myself that I would learn music…. my violin is still craving for some care…. one of the greatest desires of my life is to learn play this instrument….

I had promised myself to start a new game…. preferably squash…but no…. not yet started….

But the schedule has not allowed me to stick to my plans…why blame the schedule…i still have a lot of time when I can start these activities…. so let my complacent attitude take the blame for this.

Somehow… feeling an irresistible desire to start all the new activities….as soon as possible.

MAGIC WANDS

Magic wands…. try to implement these in work place … and feel the difference…

…. A warm smile…. how easily it wins people…the most difficult of people…

…. The statement “I need your help”…. which can make life very easy….

…. The statement “I am sorry, the mistake is mine”…which can work out wonders…

…. A friendly chat over a cup of coffee…. and know your colleagues…

TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE

By the time I finished this book, I had started feeling lonely…but this book is not supposed to make someone lonely…it is supposed to be the “life’s greatest lessons”. Perhaps the loneliness was due to the element of “death”, which is used to build the concept….

Thus, the first day of the weekend was spent listening the discussions of an old dying professor with one of his old students….and after reading this I don’t think its possible to sleep tonight….The name of this book can be easily guessed…. “Tuesdays with Morrie”

I normally don’t like mentioning the details of any book in my blog...just to avoid killing the interest of any person to read the book. But this time, please excuse me...yet...let me assure that whatever I write here is no way capable of stealing the suspense and thus the interest of readers (for those who are yet to read this book).

This book is about the fourteen Tuesdays that Mitch had spent with his dying professor Morrie...conversing with him...or rather listening to him...about different stuff.

The first Tuesday was devoted to understand the “world”. Different people view the world differently.But from the eyes of Morrie “Death is a great equalizer, the one big thing that can finally make strangers shed a tear for one another."

The second Tuesday was for discovering the feeling of “being sorry for yourself”. A long discussion which made Mitch wonder “I knew so many people who spent many of their waking hours feeling sorry for themselves. How useful it would be to put a daily limit to self pity”.

“Regrets”…was the topic of discussion for the third Tuesday. From the voice of Morrie “ The culture doesnot encourage to think about certain things until you are about to die. We are so wrapped up with egotistical things, career, family, having enough money, meeting the mortgage, getting a new car, fixing the radiator when it breaks – we are involved in trillions of little acts just to keep going. So we don’t get into the habit of standing back and looking at our lives and saying, Is this all? Is this all I want? Is something missing"?

The fourth Tuesday was devoted to discuss “death”. To be prepared for the death makes one more involved with life. This is how Morrie discusses on “how to prepare for death”.

“Do what the Buddhist do. Every day, have a little bird on your shoulder that asks – Is today the day? Am I ready? Am I doing all I need to do? Am I being the person I want to be? Is today the day I die"?

On the fifth Tuesday, Morrie and Mitch discussed about family.

“The fact is there is no foundation, no secure ground, upon which people may stand today if it isn’t the family. If you don’t have the support and love and caring and concern that you get from a family, you don’t have much at all. Love is so supremely important. As our great poet Auden said – Love each other or perish”.

The sixth Tuesday was meant for “emotions”. Morrie explains – “learn to detach. Don’t cling to things, because everything is impermanent. But detachment doesnot mean you don’t let the experience penetrate you. On the contrary, you let it penetrate you fully. That’s how you are able to leave it”.

On the seventh Tuesday, they talked about the “fear of aging”.

"The truth is part of me is every age. I am three year old, I am five year old, I am thirty seven year old, I am fifty year old. I have been through all of them, and I know what its like. I delight in being a child when it’s appropriate to be a child. I delight in being a wise old man when its appropriate to be a wise old man. Think of all I can be. I can be every age up to my own.”

The eight Tuesday was devoted to discuss the topic of “money”
“Money is not a substitute of tenderness, and power is not a substitute for tenderness. I can tell you, as I am sitting here dying, when you most need it, neither money nor power will give you the feeling you are looking for, no matter how much of them you have.”

The ninth Tuesday was to define the eternity of love. “I believe in being fully present. That means you should be with the person you are with”.

Marriage was the topic of discussion on the tenth Tuesday.

“Things are not simple but still there are a few rules I know to be true about love and marriage. If you don’t respect the other person, you are gonna have a lot of trouble. If you don’t know how to compromise, you are gonna have a lot of trouble. If you cannot talk openly about what goes on between you, you are gonna have a lot of trouble. And if you don’t have a common set of values in life, you are gonna have a lot of trouble. Your value must be alike.”

They talked about “culture” on the eleventh Tuesday.

“Here is what I mean by building your own little subculture. I don’t mean you disregard every rule of your community. The little things I can obey. But the big things – how we think, what we value – those you must choose yourself. You cannot let anyone – or any society – determine those for you.”

The twelfth Tuesday was meant for discussing “forgiveness”. “Forgive yourself before you die. Then forgive others.”

On the thirteenth Tuesday, they talked about the perfect day and on the final Tuesday, Mitch bid goodbye to his beloved Professor….

I understand that what is mentioned in this book is great stuff...practical wisdom which comes, partly due to age and partly due to circumstance...The idea of this book is to follow a different philosophy in life...But is it possible to do so for an average person...may be partly…to some extent…

THIS IS INSPIRATION

An article which made me think....think really hard....

http://www.rediff.com/getahead/2007/sep/20pras.htm

MISSING...

Missing…

The green seas and the blue oceans…
The morning snow and the thick fog…
The cooking sessions and the cultural mix…
The deadly winters and the friendly smiles…
The beautiful spring and the lovely autumn…

THE CHANGING FACE....

It has happened with Citibank, with ICICI bank, with StanChart, and all the similar banks….an unexpected call from a very sweet voice and describing the details of varieties of cards – credit cards, debit cards, oil cards, life time cards, travel cards – the list is unlikely to end….

I have seen people getting impatient when they get such calls, but for some silly reason I always find my time to listen to these voices …from start to end…. nonstop…
But today, something strange happened…. I heard from a sweet voice…. explaining the details of some life-time card…but guess what….this time the voice was not from Citi or Stanchart……It was from SBI…yes….our State Bank of India…..I couldnot believe it…..This is yet another of the numerous evidences that Indian Government/ Public sector is changing……though they are 10 years late….but yet there is a change… a change that is so visible ….Good luck SBI…

SPARK

It has been always some spark that helps me expedite my actions….Not that I don’t plan…but when it comes to the implementation, it has always been a single moment that is very definitive.

I always had plans for my PhD. but I was always looking for the right time…such that I am matured enough to enjoy my PhD and not to enforce it on myself…and I think I am quite matured now to take this decision….I will love to learn deep into what I learnt in ISB and what I am learning at my job…..

And I am glad that I walked the first foot….started the preparation for graduate exams….after some time I will love to start collecting info on the univs and the courses which I will like to get into…this is a fairly long process….to choose the right univs with the right course which will align the path in the right direction…

CLOSED EYES...

I closed my eyes….

I could hear the rhythm of the night….the silent feeling of someone observing me from the top.

I could feel the enigma of simplicity….that exists within the heart of every complex thing.

I could express myself to the unknown….that remains completely invisible

PATHS CROSSING

While reading “Crossings”, I came across a very lovely line…. “Why did not my path cross yours earlier”….What a beautiful statement….expresses so many emotions so easily…

Whenever we know someone today, it’s because at some point of time in the past, our paths crossed…the crossing might not be strictly personal….it can be as simple as an impact of any actions of that person that influenced us.

Sometimes we can do a lot when out paths cross…and sometimes we remain as helpless as a dead man, just expecting time to take the charge….

UNCLEAR

Looked out to see the continuous stretch of the vehicle headlights that are speeding over the flyover…even at this hour…it is almost midnight now…

This city rarely sleeps….trains run even at 2 a.m. and as early as 4 a.m…..buses are slightly less frequent and there is virtually no break for the cars and taxis….this place is such a restless place….abounding with almost infinite energy.

I have come across people who love to stay in Mumbai…I have also met people who hate Mumbai like anything….but I belong to the third bunch…I am one of those, who are still unable to come to a conclusion if they love this place or hate this place….

The richest amongst the rich dwell here….so do the poorest amongst the poors….

Merc, BMWs, Audis flood the streets……yet people lie almost dead on the footpaths that border these streets….

An undecipherable craziness drives every resident of this city…for what purpose…I am still not able to convince myself…..

STOP COUNTING

One more weekend…I have now stopped counting them….and in a way I am happy….with the rate at which time seems to be flying…

This weekend is special for me as I got possession of my new apartment….or rather my new love….but the difficult part is that she will remain the property of the bank for years to come…and a big chunk of my salary will be reserved to pay the loan….will be shifting to the new place after a couple of months...
Last three odd months were exciting…from choosing the location, dealing with numerous builders, clearing the government formalities…and…now suddenly I miss all the excitement….

Read a couple of Danielle Steel novels…Miracle and Crossings…reasonably good books…Female heart is indeed sensitive and female authors do write differently….very sensitive, sweet books….depicting relationship so well.

In spite of having a good time with the two books, I wanted to read something drastically different…and decided to chose “Prince” this time….reading Politics after sensitive romance is definitely going to be interesting.

BS ON THE AIRPORT

Once again...one of my favorite topics in today’s BS…

http://www.business-standard.com/common/storypage_c.php?leftnm=10&bKeyFlag=BO&autono=296408&chkFlg=

I think I am completely obsessed with the New Mumbai Airport.... and when I think about New Mumbai, I think about the Ambanis.... They are indeed the "real visionaries"....

NEW EXPERIENCES...NEW THOUGHTS

Lately, lots of issues are creeping into my mind…in association with professional life…. Being attached to the corporate head office of an organization opens up the complete organization culture so easily. Certain things, which I was never bothered earlier, have started bothering me now….

Let me mention some of them.

(1) The cabins of the senior people …I think it really creates a difference…. Are they closed cabins or glass cabins?
(2) Is the culture MBA-friendly…. are the big guys in the company MBAs….
(3) The support staff…if the support staff is sick, then life can be really harsh…
(4) HR…and its policies
(5) How suave are the senior people…
(6) What is the average age of the office crowd…
(7) How is the sex ratio within the office…
(8) Are the people nice/good or are they ruthless…

I think these things are as important as the salary you are earning…. important in the sense that they play a big role in shaping our personality and business acumen…But unfortunately, we tend to get an idea of all these things only after we join a job…

SUN SHINING

When it rains, I feel so irritated wishing badly for the sun to shine. And when the sun shines, I feel it is better during the rains…at least the scorching heat is absent….

Life is complex…. when something is close to us…we seldom realize how much it matters to us or how important a role it plays in our life. We always feel grass is always greener the other side. And once we reach the other side, we get a good measure of the positive aspects of our old situation or position.

When I was in ISB, I used to miss my professional career a lot. And when I am back into professional life, I miss the sweet package that an academic life offers.

During my earlier job, I always used to feel that I was limiting myself only to technical issues and so had decided for an MBA tag. Now, after MBA, there are so many things to look into that I have developed special longing for anything technical.

At every stage and juncture of life I feel it’s always true. We always desire for things we don’t have…. crave for moments we don’t live…long for people who are not close to us…

FRENCH

An insatiable desire to upgrade my French had once tempted me to start a blog on languages…. but the timing was not the best…and I was not successful in maintaining that blog.

Feel like starting the process once again…

http://sweetlanguages.blogspot.com/

MY NEW LOVE

In spite of the showers and in spite of the slightly more than usual temperature running within my veins, I could not resist the temptation to visit my new love. I love visiting her whenever I get a chance. She looks so cute and fresh…. with the typical fragrance…I have always loved the smell of fresh paint… that adorn her walls…

She is surrounded by the lush green hills all around…though the visibility is fast getting dimmed due to the rising skyscrapers, whose numbers seem to multiply every passing day. In the rainy season, the view of the waterfalls, streaming down these hills looks so enchanting. The landscape that is reserved for one of the biggest parks of Asia (Central Park) is also visible from the balcony. The sea is close…. but not that close….

Roads are huge and wide in this area…. six lane superhighways…where it is possible to drive at a speed which will easily remind me of some of the fastest moments of my life…. Roads are one thing I have always looked with a reasonably high level of seriousness before I decide on a location.

I hope my new love will treat me well enough….

THE DB EFFECT

Finally…. done with ‘Angels and Demons”…. the Dan Brown classic that had evaded me for quite some time. I loved it…even more than DVC.

Reading DVC was an amazing experience. I had never read anything like that, which could so effectively mould spirituality, science and even sensuality into a breathtaking story. But “Digital Fortress” is not amongst my favorites, the reason could be attributed to the fact that I had read DF just after DVC…. and the hangover effect of DVC was so effective that it took me some time to get out of it.

The element of spirituality, religion and science is even more pronounced in A&D. It was as if Spirituality and Science are two paths to the same destination…. each one answering the mythical questions in such a way that they seem to converge at some distant mental horizon. Extra-ordinary faith in the eternal soul (as is evident by the character of Chamarlengo) is well presented as against the logical explanation and extraordinary scientific research as is done in CERN. The speech delivered by Charmalengo was indeed my favorite section.

One thing I like in each of the Dan Brown classics is the unfathomable level of passion that defines each of the characters. It’s not about good or evil…nor about winning and losing…it’s about passion, belief, faith and brilliance of the characters…all wrapped in layers of mystery.

And the typical vivid narration can never be missed. You feel as if you are strolling on the ancient streets of Rome…or closely feeling the enigmatic creations of ancient Europe. You feel as if you are directly listening to the lectures on Symbology and Religion by Langdon. And characters like Vettoria and Sophie with all their beauty and elegance can easily create imaginary fantasies within any man’s heart.

HOW TRUE

"Markets are like women -- always commanding, mysterious, unpredictable and volatile" .....Rakesh Jhunjhunwala

MAGICAL REALISM

The painting was just a wild mix of a hungry man, a lone hand, and a mule like animal. And it adorned the cabin of one of the most important persons in my workplace. Whenever I walked through that cabin, I used to wonder about the pricelessness of such paintings. One fine day, when I was standing at a place which was at an angle to this painting, I was so glad to realize that this painting had been replaced with something that looked more elegant. This is the normal trend. These rare masterpieces normally keep on rotating within the various offices, cabins and staircase walls.

In this new painting, I could see the bearded face of a man laughing, a pair of sad mystique eyes of a woman and a bath-tub. I came close trying to discover something more about the new painting. But only when I reached the cabin, I realized that it was the same painting depicting the hungry man, the lone hand and the mule. From there on, it didn’t take me much time to realize the reason behind the value of this piece. Lately, I have discovered so many things out of this painting…so many things which my eyes could not discover earlier.

I lived through a similar experience through my association with the experience of reading this book “One Hundred Years of Solitude” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I did not even enjoy the first hundred pages of this book and felt like cursing PG, on whose recommendation, I had collected this from the basement library. By the time I had completed the first half, there was a mild excitement creeping into the theme. I read the complete book without enjoying it much. I took the book as a satirical and ironical approach depicting the solitude of each of the Aurelianos, Jose Arcadios and Amarantas who once inhabited the village of Macondo.

The real excitement started when I read some reviews of this book. I was amazed at the fact that what I had interpreted out of the book was perhaps the simplest anyone could have. After reading some of these reviews, I could link every situation of the book with something very serious and intense. The metaphorical approach extended deep into the heart of the book and even seemingly comical expressions appeared quite significant.

This story of a family through six generations which starts and ends in a village-town is good enough to present the reader with extreme political and economic connotations. Growth of nationality, the origin of communism, colonialism, the right and the left political wings, the notion of creativity and progress….and many more such stuff can be discovered within the outer façade.

The fantasies which were too unreal for me (like direct ascension to heaven, talking with spirits, human born with a tail of a pig, and the numerous magical themes associated with the gypsies) looked quite appealing in their secondary meaning. The cyclical nature of time along with the theme of eternity is magnificently presented.

And now when I tried to decipher the inner depths of the novel, I could perceive it with a new found clarity. The solitude which the characters lived with, the solitude with which Macondo was born and the solitude with which it died….and all these under the context of a changing political face in Latin America, is an amazing saga presented in a style which the literal circles like to call “magical realism” (the literary counterpart of surrealism).

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY

As I read the first half of “One hundred years of solitude”, I got exposed to a concept which is as real as it is ironic. But today’s post is not about this classic composition of Gabriel Marquez.

Something on professional life…The new-look HR had hosted an Independence day celebration within the Group head office territories. The intent of such a celebration was of course to remember ourselves that we are living in a much better world, free from the shackles of the colonial era. But behind the obvious intention, there was an ulterior motive which called for the celebration. The idea was to inject some freshness into the otherwise traditional environment of the head-office.

Mostly organizations related to the old economy sectors (like oil/energy/heavy engineering construction/ shipping etc.) carry a more traditional culture while those into relatively new sectors like media, advertising, retail or software are associated with an informal work atmosphere. Respective industry veterans say that the nature of the industry is responsible for the kind of work place culture it is associated with and things might go berserk if cultures interchange. But I still doubt if this is true or just imbibed in the mindset of the people.

Anyway, lets get back into Independence day. On the eve of our 60th Independence day, let me wish the readers of this post a very happy Independence Day.

SLEEPY SUNDAY

An unusually busy week, a tumultuous Saturday and a silent Sunday….this summarizes my experience over the last seven odd days. Waking up at noon is definitely not the best way to start a Sunday, but when the eyes are tired, they seldom listen to will.

Thus, I continued to sleep, mistaking the calls from H for the week day mobile alarm settings, neglecting them until I reflexively picked it up and responded back. Only when I heard her voice that I recollected that she had invited the Mumbai chapter of F-6 (that’s A and myself) to a very special lunch to celebrate the upcoming series of events which are likely to make her happy…very happy. But then, I was still lost within my Sunday morning dreams and H advised me to get back into my sleep again.

Now I am awake…back into my senses and finding it tough to realize that the weekend is left to a few hours before the dreaded Monday starts again. A copy of “One Hundred Years of Solitude”, which I had promised myself to complete this weekend is still lying on my desk…untouched.

WEEKEND READINGS

Weekend was nice and sweet and nostalgic for two lovely reasons…one, I got to meet my quad mates and second I read “Kane & Abel” again. I had fallen in love with this book when I read it for the first time…long back. Brushed myself with the evergreen excitement of this book…. felt like it was not enough…wanted to continue with a copy of Prodigal Daughter, which was not with me then…

The other book which I read was “Disgrace” by J.M.Coetzee…not exactly my kind of book…. but the number of awards this book has won, guarantees a massive fan following.

QUAD REUNION

It was a sweet little re-union of good old ISB days – for the four people who were quadies in the top floor of L-Block SV-1. NA, SC, NM and I happened to be in the same city at the same time….a rare moment in itself.

It was at my place…had a lavish dinner with all our favorite formalities in the nearby restaurant…discussed all the big and small changes happening in our lives…came back home and relived a typical ISB full-night session in my appartment except the fact that there was no late night noodles session....and no ladies quad as our neighbours.

It so happens that the biggest changes have taken place in SC’s life – both professional and personal. He decided to quit his investment banking job and to start something of his own…he will be moving to Dubai to start his project. Amazing guts… this guy has got…and he is only 23. And the personal change is that his official engagement date is out.

NA maintains his reputation as a workaholic…and he loves being one. He is enjoying his work. One of his colleagues, who was incidentally my wing mate in IIT, and later spent two years in IIM has something to say for NA – “This guy, in spite of being a CA, knows more engineering stuff than I do”….now who knows this better than me.

The only change associated with NM’s life is that his love for potatoes is now stretched to all varieties of vegetables…and his love for countryside is well taken care by his job…he is into retail…so he keeps on traveling hundreds of miles everyday.

"THE CITY" OF THE FUTURE

A couple of years back I was in Shanghai. The towers and buildings and flyovers of Shanghai looked great…even more glamorous than those of many other top cities of the world. An as if it was not enough, there were construction sites all over the place. New towers in half constructed stages, new flyovers over the existing ones…..the whole city was the symbol of construction activities. I kept on wondering how Shanghai would be like five years down the line. Will it be able to beat NewYork???

Now in Mumbai…I feel something of that sort happening, though at a much smaller level…especially Navi Mumbai ( the satellite city planned originally to relieve Mumbai of its stress) seems to be abounding with multi billion dollar projects. Just to give an idea, I have collected some of the prestigious projects which will have adorned Navi Mumbai within the next 5-10 years.

Reliance SEZ
Second international airport
New World Trade Centre
Panvel-Karjat railway line
Dhapoli amusement park
Sewri-Nhava Seva sea link
Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust
Goa express highway (reducing the distance to Goa by 215 km).
Mumbai transharbour sea-link
Dozens of huge shopping complexes, malls, towering luxury apartments and seven star hotels
Central Park
Panvel Railway platform – around 20 platforms

And these are just a few of the mega-projects (each of them running into billions) lined up in Navi Mumbai….I keep on wondering how Navi Mumbai will be ten years down the line. Will Navi Mumbai turn out to be the 21st century megapolis of India…can this place look like Hongkong or Singapore or Shanghai ten years down the line….i don’t see any reason why it will not.

INTO PROFESSIONAL LIFE

Professional life seems to have picked up well. Lots and lots of responsibilities have been added to my job profile over the last couple of weeks…. that’s the advantage of a general management profile…its easy to get a grasp of the complete picture of the organization. And especially when this helps to learn about the international markets as well, it is even more interesting. Easy accessibility to top management has been very encouraging.

Power and the energy sector seem to be booming throughout the world.It’s booming in India due to numerous rural electrification projects, railway electrification projects as well as distribution and mega power generation plans. It’s booming in Africa as power is being introduced to numerous African locations. It’s booming in the developed world, as the existing infrastructure is now old and its time for new and modern replacements. A very interesting sector indeed.

LING-SHAN

I don’t think it’s easy to clearly interpret the thoughts of Gao Xingjian in the book “Ling Shan” or “Soul Mountain”. I am not still clear (or rather not smart enough to understand) on what the book is exactly about. With a certain level of haziness in my interpretation of this work, let me try my bit to explain what the book is about. I am not sure if I am correct.

It is presented through the author’s journey to the mountains and in this process, it deals with the multiplicity, divinity and beauty of Chinese culture. It is a story of a man’s quest for inner peace and freedom. And he derives all these through his magnificent journey. He tries to understand the individual’s place in nature. The Buddhist and Daoist institutions, he comes across, helps him to understand all these things better. He admires a myriad range of people whom he visits during the course of his soulful journey – a recluse forest ranger, solitary Buddhist monk and a doctor and others, but still he realizes that he is not meant to be one of those.

While one part of the story is exploring the Chinese culture, a parallel context is drawn to understand the various forms of human relationships and the impact it has on an individual. There is a tone of acute loneliness and intense retrospection. The author engages in intimate conversations with anonymous people who are introduced to the reader as “she”. Perhaps he wants to give a picture of the nature of women as well. And at times, the tone of the novel gets quite bold with very intimate relationship and soulful discussions with “she”. And “she” is not unique. (I am still not very clear on this part)

The tone of the novel is influenced by the fact that the author had a close tryst with death. He was once wrongly diagnosed with lung cancer and had already resigned himself to death. When he realized that it was not his end, he decided to move to Sichuan province and wandered along Yangtze River. (Although there was some political angle, which had influenced his decision to flee Beijing). By the time he returned to Beijing he had already traveled for 10 months over 15000 kilometers of China. Thus the novel also bears a kind of autobiographical approach, painted with the brushes of an archeologist and an historian.This book is extremely rich and pictures Chinese history and culture through the eyes of a traveler. But it takes time to read this book and derive the interpretations. Don’t miss it if you love China

COLLECTING DATA

Collecting data is tough…. even more than interpreting conclusions from available data. One important change in my post-MBA career is the fact that I have to get information (collect data) from various sources, various people and various countries.

During ISB, we always had the luxury of possessing readily available sources of data. Situation looks different now. Collecting information or data from other people is not that easy. Some people don’t like to share their information; some others are too lazy to have any information (when they are supposed to collect reasonable good amount of information); some others just don’t believe in using the past data and information for the betterment of future projects.

Now, in the profile I am in, the first step is to have sufficient information about the past projects, details of future projects as well as the progress of current projects. The role was created for the first time in the company and hence no existing process is there for a systematic data collection process. Its good in the sense that, its exciting to help create a process. But the tough part is that…it’s not easy…hopefully it will turn out to be a great self-learning experience.

JLS

I tried reading a few more pages of the “Soul Mountain”, but finally I spent my last evening with the idyllic charm of the thinnest book, which I had ever read – Jonathan Livingston Seagull. A very sweet book (or short-story)…must have inspired many…

At times I wonder about the practicality of books like JLS, but what I like about these books is that they take you to a different realm at least for the time you spend reading the book. Themes like perfection, forgiveness, love, unlimited freedom, dreams, and higher plane of existence etc. etc. are always fascinating….at least to read.

MARKET

Since the last few days, I have been researching on the Mumbai real estate market…was amazed at what had happened in the past…. and even more amazed at what the predictions are…. people in Mumbai can make millions if they are smart and are aware of the market, provided they have that “risk-taking ability”…. lets say the real estate business…. people, who have hardly gone beyond their graduation or even lower than that (and that too because they just had to) are literally carving out fortunes here…. earning higher than the highest packages offered in the leading B Schools….

Now someone like me… studies hard for IIT JEE…gets through…works for a few years…. manages to get a place in ISB…. manages an around-average package…comes to office every morning and leaves every evening…. in formals…with so-called suave business attire and attitude…. trying hard to understand the business….

…Now I meet this person…. who was often rebuked at his tender age by his parents for not studying hard…. came to Mumbai…joined a real estate consultant (not the typical MBA consultant)…. learned fast…used every opportunity that the market offered…and the market of Mumbai offers rewards to those who can use the opportunities… from a real estate consultant he starts his career as a real estate builder…and today he is a relatively well-known builder in this part of Mumbai…. and this guy is hardly a few years older to me….

At times, it is a nice feeling to realise the ground realities of the market.....market only understands those, who understand market....and those who pay respect to the market.

ONE

“One”. That’s the name of the latest book, which I read. Richard Bach has presented an amazing theme that stretches beyond the levels of simple imaginations. In this psychological thriller (Well, I can definitely call it a thriller), he deals with themes like “alternate self” and “alternate times”.

The story revolves around the metaphysical experience of Richard and his wife Leslie as they board a seaplane and move from one place to another…rather from one experience to another. At times they find their alternate selves in the same time in a different planet…and at other times, they discover their alternate selves in the same planet but in an alternate time period. They also meet their alternate selves in the same time period and in the same planet, but under different alternate situations.

The story talks about the experience of the couple as they discover one mental illumination after another…. an awesome read to supplement your weekend rejuvenation.
Also at the verge of completing “Soul Mountain” by Gao Xingjian…. Incidentally, this will be my first attempt at spinning my head on a Nobel Prize winning creation…. will write about it in one of the subsequent posts.

LATEST EXPERIENCES

My recent experiences are not inconclusive….

At times, we have to admit that some people are born great…. They may be great for various reasons, but the primary reason why they are great is because of their identity. In a way… I believe... it is this identity that paves the path of further glory for these people.

It is painful to hear a NO from someone…But it is much more difficult to say a NO to someone…

IS THIS THE RIGHT DECISION??...WHO KNOWS

You see your batch mates changing jobs even before settling down at one place…. you realize that every change is associated with a decent hike in package…you know it is quite easy to do this…at times it is quite tempting as well…with the alum contacts and HR details of various companies, you even know whom to forward your CVs.

At the same time, you remind yourself of the assignment you accepted when you signed the acceptance letter…The role you are in …is good…. pays decent…. but then as they say “for every good, there is a better…”

You finally decide to stick to what you had decided earlier…you decide to give yourself some time…you realize that your presence has to bring some value to the organization…. and in case you are successful in what you are hired for…its you who will fix your price…but not now…only after proving yourself…and hopefully early enough.

I hope I have made the correct decision…will revisit this post after a couple of years…its only in hindsight, that a decision is good or bad…

IN RANKINGS....

Its a great feeling when you grow with your alma mater....and thats the pleasure... when you are an alum of ISB. I was going through the "alma matters" (the e-magazine) that gives an update about the school to the alums. The initial years are over....minimum requirements are almost fulfilled and ISB is all set to participate in next year's influential Financial Times (FT) rankings....Optimism is high and hopefully an Indian school will earn a distinguished place in the rankings.....

Class of 2004 will be kickstarting a new process (that will give an idea of alum perception and progression three years after graduation)....as these global rankings consider the views of alumni as an important element of ranking.

Its great feeling as an alum of the ISB...as I see the school achieve one laurel after another....at an amazing pace...

ABHINAYA

Those who have been following my blog since its inception may recollect the name “TAS” which I have mentioned a couple of times in my earlier posts. Well…from being a senior in IIT Madras to a senior colleague in my past job…from being a great friend to a great counselor…he has always been an inspiring person.

I remember writing about “Thalir” ….the book, which he compiled out of the stories he inspired amateur authors to write and got published. This book was a great hit is S.Korea, where we were posted those days.

TAS just completed his MBA from INSEAD and will be returning to India shortly, to start his shipyard and design consultancy. During his stay at INSEAD, he decided to come up with an idea to start a kind of website which in its full shape will be a huge collection of art and dance forms, from different parts of the world. So…those who have interest in rare dance and art forms can bookmark the following website. The database is not yet uploaded…but the process is about to start.

http://www.abhinaya.in/

THINGS FALL APART

Weekends are not easy to spend…especially when the rain Gods are busy during this time. I spent the Saturday completely indoors with Chinua Achebe’s “Things Fall Apart”. Sunday was a tough day….no reserve books to read….no nearby trips…no internet surfing (the broadband connection I took at my place is out of order). Spent the whole day gazing outside the balcony….while the eyes reflexively admired the swaying rain…the mind refused to deviate from the African words and phrases which I had just came across a day ago.

“Things Fall Apart” is the first African novel which I read in recent times. Perhaps the close link which my job shares with Africa enticed me to choose this book from the ground floor office library. This book reflects the mental turmoil, hatred and fear which an African named Okonkwo faced during his lifetime….first due to the shadow of his past….and later due to the destruction of the social fabric by the missionaries from Europe. The book ends with a sad note…and am yet unable to figure out why Achebe gave such an ending to the life of Okonkwo. He raised him from rags to riches….from the unfortunate child of a dull villager to a brave warrior….and finally from the stature of one of the greatest clansmen to a timid death.

The theme is based in the background of Christian missionaries entering Nigeria….and the novel very vividly and colorfully describes the customs, traditions and beliefs of various clans, intertwined with the simple emotions of day to day life. Achebe brings into his novel the faith of the tribes….chi…eneke-nti-oba, isa-ifi, iyi-uwa and ogbanje children, nso-ani, nza, tufia, ozo…..and many such words…each of which is associated with some tradition, which might seem really wild and mysterious to us. From the world of spirits to the sources of conventional wisdom, Achebe has covered them all….

An interesting book to read….liked it overall….and this paves way for other popular African novels. May be, during my visits to Africa, I can have a better understanding of the subtlety of the African culture.