Rs. 5 day!

Yesterday I unknowingly found myself in a midst of a bizarre 'shopping spree'. Whatever I bought in till the day was over amounted to Rs. 5...(nothing more or nothing less). I started my day by buying a Rs. 5 steel ring in the local train, then spent another Rs. 5 for a packet of roasted chana (grams), another fiver for sukkha (dry) bhel-puri, and the last 5 for a small glass of Kokum sherbet. Interesting ... Rs 5 seems the way to snack in Mumbai!

Climate Talk

The Climate Policy Wonks : http://climateprogress.org/
The Science Corner : http://www.realclimate.org
The Advocates : http://www.desmogblog.com

Booklist...

Books I Want To Read:
Attracting Investors by Philip Kotler, Hermawan Kartajaya and S. David Young
Repositioning Asia : From Bubble to Sustainable Economy (Hardcover)by Tim Calkins, Hermawan Kartajaya
Living Buddha, Living Christ by Thich Nhat Hanh
The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies and Nations (Hardcover)by James Surowiecki
Everyday Ethics : Inspired Solutions to Real-Life Dilemmas (Hardcover)by Joshua Halberstam
The Three Ways of Getting Things Done Hierarchy, Heterarchy and Responsible Autonomy in Organisations by Gerard Fairtlough
The Little Kingdom: The Private Story of Apple Computer by Michael Moritz
Spare Room Tycoon : The Seventy Lessons Of Sane Self-Employment by James Chan
Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham
In an Uncertain World by Robert Rubin
Why Smart People Make Big Money Mistakes and How to Correct Them : Lesson from The New Science of Behavioural Economics by Gary Belsky, Thomas Gilovich
The Box : How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger by Marc Levinson
Say It With Presentations: How to Design and Deliver Successful Business Presentations
Please Understand Me II: Temperament, Character, Intelligence (Paperback) by David Keirsey
Moving mountains;: Or, The art and craft of letting others see things your way by Henry M Boettinger
Tested Advertising Methods by John Capes
Personal Financial Planning By Koh, Benedict & Fong Wai Mun

An inspiring evening spent in Mr. E Sreedharan's presence

My dad, one of Mr. E Sreedharan's most trusted lieutenants (then Chief Engineer of Tunnels) in Konkan Railway during (1993-1996), talks about the now famous 'Metro Man' as one who will be remembered like Gandhi in times to come. I had a great opportunity to meet this living legend and listen to an inspiring speech by him at the Konkan Railway founders day on Oct 15th, 2009 and I was moved. Such agility at an advanced age of 77 and such humility! He enquired about everything from children's playground, hospital, ladies club, health etc and asked personally for certain people during this visit. I have had an opportunity to meet Mr. Sreedharan on a few occasions but this is the first time I heard him speak publicly. He spoke slowly and softly and without any written aid and many things stood out from this speech. I have heard many great, successful and famous people speak but none has had such a profound impact on me.

1) He spoke about punctuality and respecting other people's time. He said respect people by respecting their time

2) He spoke about integrity. His integrity led government to invite him to chair Rs. 2500 crore Konkan Railway and Rs. 10000 crore (phase 1) Delhi Metro and Rs. 22000 crore (phase 2) Delhi Metro project. If anything that can win a battle and war for you in all fronts of your life it is this timeless value of integrity - personal as well as professional integrity

3) He spoke about health - sound sleep, good food, exercise, spending time with loved ones, i.e. overall balance, as a key to a happy life and its easy to see how he has practiced this value to its heart. He is 77 and can put a 30-something to shame.

4) He spoke about inculcating spiritual values as a key to achieving happiness, peace and success, i.e. work done with an attitude of service, not money, giving one's best always and leaving the final results to God. He emphasized the value in giving time for personal introspection and getting in touch with the spiritual power within us.

5) He also spoke about excelling in one's job by knowing everything as a key to self-confidence, self-assurance. If one excels one is beyond assail of any kind.

6) Last but not the least he emphasized the value of leading by example. Walking the talk.

God give Mr. Sreedharan a long life so that he can continue to inspire and lead the country and the world!

Words of wisdom from Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam

There is a famous saying in Thirukural by Saint Poet Thiruvalluvar -- Vellathanaythu Malar Neetam Mandartham Ullathanaytu Uyarvu. It means that, just like the height of the water in a pond determines the height to which a lily would grow, it is the heights of thoughts that determines the heights to which you could aspire for. So as human beings they should have great thoughts, great aims, and when thoughts become transformed into actions performed with perseverance and devotion, success has to follow.

Goodbye Anandi Bua

This is the most difficult blog posting of my life but I still want to carry on despite my feelings. This post is dedicated to a woman 'Anandi' who stood for happiness and joy, who brought joy to all and even in her most difficult times never forgot to smile. It is very hard to believe that she is no longer in our midst. She fought till her last breath with cancer and lost the battle on May 20, 2009 at 10.20 AM IST with a smile. It has been a very difficult moment for those who were fortunate enough to love her. However, hard it has been for me to come to terms with her death, I promise to live by the ideals she stood for. She stood for joy and that is what I will be for the rest of my life. That will be my tribute to this brave and courageous soul who lives in my heart now. May God bless her and give her the best He has to offer wherever she is. I love you Anandi Bua and miss you very dearly!

Managers versus Leaders

I have been wondering - what's the difference. I hear about so many B-schools opening in India, about graduates getting salaries equivalent to those they'll be paid if they were to graduate from any of the top schools in the world. But, how many of these managers are actually leaders? Are these schools churning out leaders or managers? Are these schools serving the society by creating leaders or are these schools making money for their trust or owners by creating managers? In truth how many of the graduates of these schools are leaders ? But before I pass an opinion on these schools, how is a leader different from a manager?

I was confused by the difference between managers and leaders. What makes an individual a manager and what makes an individual a leader? In my experience, a manager is a person who can envision, plan and execute. Then what does a leader do and how is the leader different from a manager? While reading the biographies of some great leaders some traits appear to be common to all of them - leadership is taking a step forward when 99.9% of the reasons are against that step. Leaders anyways take that step. Call it faith in themselves, or the invisible and the unknown but leaders rise above the ordinary reality. Managers wait till there is 99.9% certainity and then execute their plans. Does it mean that managers do not have faith in themselves, the unknown and the invisible - well may be or may be not - but certainly most managers accept their own limitations.

Leaders are not stopped by opposition, resistance, discouragement, multiple no etc. Most leaders persist and believe in their vision and their work. The stories of Vinobha Bhave, Ela Bhatt, Aung Sang Suu Kyi, Gandhi are inspiring. Managers persist till they find some workable solution or till the time persistence makes sense.

Leaders put interest of others before their own self interest. I don't know what managers do, but I am certain that true leaders are motivated by much more than their own self-interest.

I am still studying this topic and will keep adding to this post as I find more points.

If bullets in their own backyard can't wake people up, then what will!

26/11 happened in South Mumbai and the public outrage at the post-26/11 demonstrations (the demonstration at the Gateway of India on Dec 6) made me think that people were serious - serious to bring about a change. At-last, people were shaking-off their apathy and waking up. But April 30, 2009 presented a completely different picture. What happened to those promises to bring about a change in those post-26/11 demonstrations, where did that public outrage disappear? Why was the voter turnout a mere 43% in Mumbai. If bullets in our own backyard can't wake us up then what will? I am heartbroken to see this public callousness?

Gandhi said 'Be the change you want to see', change begins with us - but unfortunately many of us chose to use the long weekend to go on a holiday rather than vote. Many of us missed out on the opportunity to be the change we wanted to see. God forbid, if 26/11 repeats, what will we do? Demonstrations, ad-campaigns - I am sure we will do that all, but at that time who will believe us, who will trust our seriousness and our anger? By abstaining from our duty to vote haven't we exposed our vulnerability and haven't we have become an easy prey to politicians who can now use us at their will to meet their vested interests and give us the easy reason; 'you chose us'!

My heart goes out to the activists who campaigned day and night urging people to vote. What a waste of their effort, what a waste of resources but above all what a brutal waste of an opportunity! This act of ours is totally unforgivable.

Sad but true - from Narayana Murthy of Infosya

We are not a nation of doers; we are a nation which believes that our articulation is our accomplishment.

Laws of Life ... funny but true!

Law of queue: If you change queues, the one you have left will start to move faster than the one you are in now.
Law of the Telephone: When you dial a wrong number, you never get an engaged tone.
Law of Mechanical Repair: After your hands become coated with grease, your nose will begin to itch.
Law of the Workshop: Any tool, when dropped, will roll to theLeast accessible corner.
Law of the Alibi: If you tell the boss you were late for work because you had a flat tire, the next morning you will have a flat tire.
Bath THEOREM: When the body is immersed in water, the telephone rings.
LAW OF ENCOUNTERS: The probability of meeting someone you know increases when you are with someone you don't want to be seen with.
LAW of the RESULT: When you try to prove to someone that a machine won't work, it will!
LAW OF BIOMECHANICS: The severity of the itch is inversely proportional to the reach. THEATRE RULE: People with the seats at the furthest from the aisle arrive last.
LAW OF COFFEE: As soon as you sit down for a cup of hot coffee, your boss will ask you to do something which will last until the coffee is cold.

(taken from an anonymous source)