A young mind…

One moment you’re waiting,
Under the sun for a bright start,
The next moment you’re soaking,
In the rain watching your life fall apart

Life’s a gamble, just hope it pays off,
It’s a monster; it makes you feel like a dwarf,
Destiny surely has its own way,
All you can do is be in the game and continue to play.

There’s an enormous surge,
The dreams are riding high,
Aspirations tower coupled with urge,
Broken lies the ceiling of the sky.

The world today is a different place,
Where hundreds eat out of a single pie,
Competition stares at you in the face,
Success becomes illusive, however hard you try

The young today are growing old,
Trying to win the rat race,
The line has grown increasingly bold,
Between eternal glory and absolute disgrace

Let me tread a novel path,
Keeping my conscience and faith intact,
Let me not bathe in this ugly bath,
Of treacherous deals and an unholy pact

I know my time will surely come,
Where my words shall mean & my deeds shall count,
Respect shall find its truthful place,
Honesty over deceit shall surely surmount.

Let me await the glorious day,
Keep the faith and truthfully pray,
My victory would be humble and the celebration mild,
Only when the God says, “Bless You My Child”…

A lifetime of joy....

The Prelude:



"Yesterday I saw a movie Juno,

It was playing at prime time on HBO.

Immediately some thoughts came pouring to my mind,

So I decided to put my pen to the grind...



"Here it goes:"

Let me tell you a story of agony & joy,

the story of me and my little boy.

We were all of 16 & love was all around,

we spent our days on our high school playground.

I was the music band's guitarist rocker,

he led our school to victory, in games of soccer.

Our lives were cruising just perfectly right,

up until that fateful rainy night.

Driven by crazy teenage passion & dare,

we had forgotten to take due care.

Our decision was wrong, and it will always be,

But for now, I had a life within me.

Now, I had some decisions to take,

all of those weren't the one's I'd want to make.

The thought of killing a life was rogue and wild,

nor at 16, could I think of being mom to a child.

The life within me, I could not abort,

how could I cut a divine story short?

What happened then, was probably meant to be,

the Williams couple came and approached me.

Joanna wanted to be a mom so bad,

but Jack could never be her kiddo's dad.

My curse had become their blessing now,

I wondered what a miracle that was, it happened how?

It's difficult to give away what's been your part,

especially something, you've nurtured from start.

My heart smiles, but my eyes weep,

I had never felt so strangely deep.

I was sad because I gave it away,

I was ecstatic for Williams, who had taken it that day,

I had learned my lesson from this little boy,

I was also glad I gifted someone, a lifetime of joy..."

A Nightmare...

It’s supposed to be dawn, I wake up,

I hear no birds, and no sun I see, No sights, no sounds,

Pitch dark is how everything appears to be.

I fold my hands to make my morning prayer,

Astonished, I realize neither is there.

Something’s wrong, I wonder and fear,

When I observe barbed wire everywhere near.

I try to lift my legs from the bed,

I find them tightly shackled instead.

I try to see what’s further ahead,

Scores of bodies lying dead!

What world is this, tell me my Lord,

What sin did I commit which I could not afford?

Why is there darkness and gloom all around?

Why is there not a single pleasing sound?

Just when I was about to weep,

There appears a voice firm and deep,

“C’mon you moron, enough of your sleep

You’re alarm’s long dead trying to beep”

Freedom - A Disturbing Thought!!

“Into the heaven of freedom my father, let my country awake”, wrote Rabindranath Tagore, the Nobel laureate from India. I thought of this today and wondered in amazement. Do I really know what freedom is? What does freedom mean to me? What would it mean to others around me? I just thought of the few people and wondered what freedom would mean to them?

Just began thinking… and believe me, there came a point of time, where I just couldn’t, rather didn’t want to think anymore. I’ll just express my thoughts here and leave it for you to figure out what freedom would mean to these people, what it means to you.

Savita:

The first one I thought was a running, scrambling, struggling lady trying to fight her way into the 6:34 p.m. Virar fast local from Churchgate station after work. All this, to reach home safely in time to be able to cook her drunkard abusive husband, taunting in laws and mischievous ungrateful kids a delicious dinner. What would freedom mean to her?

Raju:

Just when I began feeling a bit uncomfortable with the flow of thoughts, the thought of Raju came to my mind. Yes, Raju, who works from 5:00 am to 11:00 pm at a tea stall at the end of my lane. He has varied hobbies, from cleaning the table to washing the tea cups; he has been made to love all of it. Oh, I forgot to mention, he just celebrated his seventh birthday yesterday amidst great fanfare. The delicacy for the day was a ‘Five Star’ he bought from his weekly savings of a rupee a day. He also had the pleasurable and much sought after company of ‘Moti’ & ‘Seema’, the two beloved pets of Mishraji who also happens to be Raju’s master. ‘Moti’ & ‘Seema’ are lucky, they are often fed a cup of sweet milk, little Raju has never been so lucky yet in his 3 years of dedicated service to Mishraji. What would freedom mean to Raju? Any idea?

Munni:

Just when I was trying to recollect my thoughts around Raju, another great personality struck my mind. “Munni” – the outperformer. Yes, Munni sold orchids, carnations, roses and any other sundry seasonal flowers as handed over to her by her incestuous uncle at the Churchgate Station Signal junction. She was truly an outperformer, better at delivering bottom-line results and meeting her assigned targets better than any other corporate head honcho.

This was her second consecutive week where she had exceeded her target of sales of Rs. 155/- everyday. She got her vada pav for dinner every day that week from her mother who was otherwise busy teaching her younger son the art of persuasive begging at the car windows at the signal junctions. He was underfed for a week too, so that he could look the part when it comes to the real act in a day or two. What do you think freedom would mean to Munni?


Rani:

By now, I was sweating heavily and wanted to go to my building compound for a walk. This was when I banged into an overjoyed Bahadur Singh, my building watchman. This one that Bahadur narrated to me took me a time to fathom. He told me the reason for his delight was ‘Rani’. Bahadur and Rani shared a lot of things in common. For starters they shared a bed last night in Kamathipura and more importantly for Bahadur; Rani also shared his native place in a small village in Nepal. Obvious reason for Bahadur’s excitement was the fact that he had a 16 year old Nepali girl to satiate his wild fantasies. It was dream come true for Bahadur. Something he always wanted! Wonder what freedom would mean to Rani???

A wounded heart....

I loved you so much,
that I can't hate you anymore...
Wish the things we said to each other,
were never said before!

I try to forget and get over it all,
mind you, for me, it was a steep fall...
from the heavens of love, now, hell I see...
why couldn't we make it, what we wanted it to be?

I was childish, possessive, and a moron I agree,
But I'm sure you'd know, it wasn't only me!
I loved the way we made up after a fight,
now there's just noone I'd call to wish good night!

There's a big void, I dont know how to fill...
Jack is here, but where's his Jill?
What went wrong, I have no clue, But,
I'd never be able to love anyone else, the way I loved you!!

Lonely and blue, through nights I've cried...
A little harder, I wish we had tried...
The friend I wanted, was never there...
All I wanted was a little love and a little care!

The smile that usually made my day,
The voice that drove my worries away,
Has now gone and drifted apart,
Leaving behind a wounded heart!!!

Coffee & Cups!!

This was a nice mail sent to me, so thought I'd just put this up here....

A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university lecturer. Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life. Offering his guests coffee, the lecturer went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups: porcelain, plastic, glass, some plain-looking and some expensive and exquisite, telling them to help themselves to hot coffee.

When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the lecturer said "If you noticed, all the nice-looking, expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is but normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress." "What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the better cups and are eyeing each other's cups.

Now, if life is coffee, then the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain Life, but the quality of Life doesn't change. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee in it."

So don't let the cups drive you...enjoy the coffee instead!

The New Year Resolution!!!!!

Hey, its been a while since I put something up here. A lot has changed since the last time I used this form of expression. The calendar on my desk has a new year, my receeding hairline has receeded an inch more. I cracked the CAT with 88%ile and all of that..... Even though we're in a new year, I still dont have a definite New Year Resolution.

Recently an office colleague of mine, forwarded me an e mail which touched my heart. I felt like just putting it up here so that I can get reminded of the important messege that the mail conveys. Perhaps, the underlying messege would prove to be the most important resolution anyone could ever make!!! Here goes the story.....

"A 10-year-old boy decided to study judo despite the fact that he had lost his left arm in a devastating car accident. The boy began lessons with an old Japanese judo master. The boy was doing well, so he couldn't understand why, after three months of training the master had taught him only one move.

"Sensei," the boy finally said, "Shouldn't I be learning more moves?""This is the only move you know, but this is the only move you'll ever need to know," the sensei replied.

Not quite understanding, but believing in his teacher, the boy kepttraining. Several months later, the sensei took the boy to his firsttournament. Surprising himself, the boy easily won his first two matches. The third match proved to be more difficult, but after some time, his opponent became impatient and charged; the boy deftly used his one move to win the match.

Still amazed by his success, the boy was now in the finals. This time, his opponent was bigger, stronger, and more experienced. For a while, the boy appeared to be overmatched. Concerned that the boy might get hurt, the referee called a time-out. He was about to stop
the match when the sensei intervened. "No," the sensei insisted, "Let him continue."
Soon after the match resumed, his opponent made a critical mistake: he dropped his guard. Instantly, the boy used his move to pin him. The boy had won the match and the tournament. He was the champion. On the way home, the boy and sensei reviewed every move in each and every match. Then the boy summoned the courage to ask what was really on his mind.

"Sensei, how did I win the tournament with only one move?" "You won for two reasons," the sensei answered. "First, you've almost mastered one of the most difficult throws in all of judo. And second, the only known defense for that move is for your opponent to grab your left arm."

The boy's biggest weakness had become his biggest strength."Sometimes we feel that we have certain weaknesses and we blame god, the circumstances and ourself for it but we never know that our weakness can become our strength one day. Each of us is special and important, so never think you have any weakness, never think of pride or pain, just live your life to its fullest and extract the best out of it!"

Incredible November and the Pack of Cards!!

November, 2008 will go down in the history of the world as a month which taught mankind how illusionary and transitory size and scale is. November brought with it, one of the biggest hurricane the corporate world had ever witnessed in the financial meltdown and also made us witness to one of the most the horrific terror attacks in India. Somewhere, a common theme between the collapses of very different empires is that of lack of controls, discipline and processes. It is all a result of the games our mind plays with us. The fall of empires is an outcome of allowing the mind to run wild.

Let us connect this with something we do everyday. Crisis management is about creating a simpler and focused regulatory environment which is efficient, quick, consistent and reliable. Be it related to financial or human security regulation. If you look at it objectively keeping emotions aside, I think it is about clearing out all the “Unpredictability & unreliability” that exists in the way we currently tackle our situations of crisis across forms & scale in India. In a model such as this, controls come in without making the whole deal look bureaucratic. Technology takes over the role of controls and doesn’t allow leaks. This is exactly how successful business processes get built too. Responsible organizations control their minds. Or they go down like pack of cards. (Lehman Bros, Merrill Lynch)

That brings me to another performance metric, which is reliability. Reliability is essentially a testimony of inherent strength. Superlative performance one week and down the next doesn’t get us too far. *(Kudos to the clinically consistent approach followed by NSG throughout the rescue operation). If you go to see, every stakeholder wants to see an expected consistency in performance levels, and here the stakeholders are the citizens of the country.

We have hugely challenging times coming up. As I have already said, “The insanity of extremism is over…but the insanity of polity will start now!” and we must collectively suppress it in its attempt to polarize us using their age old disguised sympathetic vote bank politics, especially in times of general elections looking large on the country. Times to come are going to challenge our grit, reliability and determination as a collective dynamic emerging society. Let’s look at this adversity and turn in into a positive opportunity to bring about a lasting change. The youth of our country have enormous power. Let’s give it everything we’ve got and get this period so right – like never before!

Remember we want the systems to be reliable, consistent & effective. Let’s ourselves be that. Let’s not be shooting stars. They sure look good, but they shine for a few seconds and later get relegated to National Geographic episodes. It takes a real sun to rise every morning – tear the clouds apart, chase the darkness away and say, “Sun, good morning, may I shine on you?” and do so every morning. Lets rededicate ourselves to our purpose of life with rejuvenated vigor. Let’s do, what we do best, a little better. Let’s not be terrorized by the losses of money and men. Let’s unshackle ourselves from the misery of cynicism and let’s free ourselves from being called the victims time and again.

C’mon India, It’s time to make that journey towards change. Let’s answer all the difficult questions together, and tell them… “Yes, we can……”

Die young....

Youth is not a time of life,
It is a state of mind.
It is not a matter of rosy cheeks, red lips and supple knees;
It is a matter of the will, a quality of the imagination, vigor of the emotions.
It is a freshness of the deep springs of life.

Youth means a temperamental predominance of courage over timidity,
Of the appetite for adventure over the love of ease,
This often exists in a man of 60 more than a boy of 20
Nobody grows old merely by a number of years,
We grow old by deserting our ideals.

Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm will wrinkle the soul.
Worry, fear and distrust, bows the heart and turns the spirit back to dust.
Whether 60 or 16 there is in every human beings heart, the lure of wonder
The unfailing appetite of what’s next and the joy of the game of living

In the centre of your heart and my heart there is a wireless station,
So long as it receives the messages of beauty, hope, cheer, courage and power
From men and the infinite, so long you are young.

When the aerials are down,
And your spirit is covered with snows of cynicism and the ice of pessimism,
Then you grow old, even at the age of 20,
But if your aerials are up, to catch the waves of optimism,
There is hope that you may die young at 80!!

Lady Luck...

“The lady luck has eluded us again!!” while reading something, I came across this phrase which made me think. Well, why exactly is luck personified as a “Lady”? What’s the premise of calling it a woman? Is it just another gaffe of the English language?


This thought led me to a dangerous investigation spanning over a week!! And finally I discovered the true genius of the person who must have coined this phrase. Whoever he was (Yea, I’m sure it was a “He”) … Was a man with a deep sense of understanding of the womankind (which isn’t so kind after all…)

Well, let me give a little disclaimer to all women who might just read this, before I go onto state my case:

“Dear Lady Reader, I know of the cardinal universal truth that WOMEN are the superior of the 2 genders. They are also smarter, more intelligent and better looking than us men, who apparently are the most fitting descendents of ancient chimps!”

(I’m sure this made all of you happy enough for me to still claim my right to live after you all read this!!!)

Okay, so now, coming back to justifying why Luck is a Lady, and mind you, not an ordinary one at that. Yes, these are only my observations… Read on and decide for yourself…

• We men perennially blame __________ for our blunders?? …. (It’s on since Adam & Eve…)
• While a man is down and needs something to pep him up, he just needs a ________coming his way!
• Men always complaining of not having enough of it!
• The success of every man, is always, invariably attributed to them!
• They are both extremely unpredictable _______ can turn either ways overnight!
• Why do you think, the few religious minded morons go to the temple? What do you think they pray for?
• Who are the only people laughing, while a man cries?
• Whom do they hate the most, us MEN of course!!
• Haven’t you ever seen your best friend have more and better of it than what you’ve got?
• They are the only things that one needs during exams to relieve stress.
• You go crazy, when you have too much of them
• You just cant live without it
• No amount of it is enough for you, there's always room for more of them in your life....

This is the last one, but I think the best one....

It's the only thing that you possibly had last night when you slept, and is missing or gone... when you woke up today morning..........So pray that it doesn't happen to you!!!

Wake Up!!!

"I have a dream..." exclaimed Martin Luther King, a few decades ago, and that sparked off a civil upsurge in the United States of America. Today, several years down the line, we celebrate the accomplishment of that dream!

A black man has claimed the white house!!! The son of a Kenyan father, who until just 4 years ago, was not even a senator, has today risen to stake claim to, arguably the most powerful constitutional position in the world!

How many people would have given this man, whos middle name reads "Hussain" the chance to be called "The President"? This shows that America has risen again, to the call of democracy by electing Barack Hussain Obama as their 44th President. This is a great testimony to the maturity, enthusiasm and great foresight shown by the American electorate. Brushing aside issues like name, caste, colour and religion they have reposed overwhelming faith in a leader who signifies Change!!

It is time India woke up to the qualities of mature use of the right to adult franchise as we too are faced with a General Elections soon. This race for the White House has thrown at us, certain significantly important learnings in operationalising a successful democracy. The most important of these lessons is the need for greater seriousness of the election campaigns. Both Obama and McCain campaigns were extremely praiseworthy, for having put forth the genuinely pressing issues which concern America today.



It is high time we learn from it & start talking "Real" issues. Our fracas for the "Son's of soil" need to be buried deep down the same soil. It is the economy, foreign policy, housing, inflation and the environmental needs of India which need a louder voice. Fiscal deficit, farmer suicides, reservations & quotas, infrastructural development and issues of social security deserve far more public debate and attention over the age old caste based politics which raises its ugly head time and again during the "Great Indian Election Tamasha"
We are poised at the threshold of global dominance. It's our time now, and we must not let this opportunity pass due to our callous approach towards politics and governance. Let us all get together and imbibe our collective wisdom in electing a young new resurgent Lok Sabha in the coming months which will put our nation on a robust path of sustainable growth.



We must also ensure the growth to be socially inclusive. Explore all possible public - private partnership opportunities and venture out bravely into various forms of social entrepreneurship. As I said, it's our time now, let everyone realise it. Today, the world is just emerging from a global financial crisis. We too are faced with some real problems at hand, and we need some real leaders who will help us solve these problems by giving us real solutions.



We do not want false promises or glorious sermons, we've had enough of it! We need action oriented leadership which will help us get things done... It's OUR time India.... WAKE UP!!!