Commencement Speech by Steve Jobs at Standford

Can't have a better Golden Jubliee Post for my blog. Thanks Anish to enable me copy it :).Here it goes

'You've got to find what you love,' Jobs says

This is the text of the Commencement address by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, delivered on June 12, 2005.
I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal. Just three stories.
The first story is about connecting the dots.
I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?
It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: "We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?" They said: "Of course." My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.
And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn't see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.
It wasn't all romantic. I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example:
Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating.
None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, its likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.
Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.
My second story is about love and loss.
I was lucky — I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees. We had just released our finest creation — the Macintosh — a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.
I really didn't know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down - that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me — I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.
I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.
During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I returned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.
I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle.
My third story is about death.
When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.
Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.
About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn't even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor's code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you'd have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.
I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I'm fine now.
This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope its the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:
No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.
Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.
When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960's, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.
Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish." It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.
Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.
Thank you all very much.

Unlucky Tendulkar in Down Under !!

A series widely anticipated as a close contest between two world champions, India and Australia, is right on cards. Australians have given a thrashing to India in One-Day series and India did return the favours in 20-20 during the recent Australian tour. Essentially, both sides maintained its supermacy in it's own niche domain. Going by that logic, Australia is a huge favorite for Test Series [ Do I need to say this. Ofcourse it would be great achievement if India could draw a couple or Win one of test match]

Sachin Tendulkar continues to be my cynosure during this tour. His return to form in One-Day cricket and increased voraciousness continues to excite me. An another exciting thing to watch for is how Australian tours continue to inflect a bad luck charm on Sachin. In past he has been given shoulder before wicket, LBW out that surprised the bowlers itself. The same string has already started in the practice match - Bowled on a No - Ball !!!

Awaiting to see what next, perhaps something like

Sachin Tendulkar Caught Tendulkar bowled Tendulkar 199 (247) !! :))

ToastMaster Speech - A new Begning

Over the past few years, I have developed a habbit to write. This lovely blog has been my partner in a decision that I took last year to better the Writer in me. It feels great today to be complimented for the blogs and other writes I do. Ofcourse, this is an ongoing journey to improve everyday. However, looking at an email about ToastMaster Club in my office, I thought this is an opportunity to externalize the writer in me to be a good public speaker as well. I have no idea of how good or bad speaker I am and this was an opportunity to discover.

I ventured to attend my first toastmaster session today. It was a wonderful experience. The people there were absolutely fantastic. The moment I entered the room, there was a huge cheer. "Ladies and Gentlemen, Here we have our first and the only Guest for today !!" It was wonderful to see a group 30 people, completely unknown to me, cheering for me. On the back of mind, I thought "Who said Indians are best hosts. I have never received such reception before".

I sat comfortably along with a jovial and fun-loving old lady, only to discover later of her naughty instincts. There was a person speaking on a black pen. He was absolutely fantastic in his speech and incorporated the typical American original sense of humor. I like American's humor a lot now a days. The moment he finished, another person referred as "Table Master" stood up. I noticed from the corner of my eye the old lady making gestures to the "Table Master" pointing towards me. I was confused at first.

"Ladies and Gentlemen,now we welcome our Guest to come and give us all a speech. Would you like to come and speak Mr. Guest" said the Table Master. I froze. Everybody started to look at me and I was the center of everybody's focus. "Now ? Today ?" were the only two words that I uttered. I came to this meeting just to see how it goes and had no idea what would happen inside. Everybody had a fountain laughter and clapped. "Yes, we would love to listen from you" said someone from the audience. What a crowd I thought. I decided to give it a shot. I was nervours but I was equally thrilled.

I went up to the table. The Table Master explained me that I have put my hand inside the Magic Bag and speak on the item that I grab for less than 2 minutes. Hmm less than 2 minutes ..Infront of 30 complete strangers. Anyways, I gathered my breath and begin to believe that my throat has not gone dry and I can make it. Before I put my hand into the bag, I said something like this:

"Before I begin this wonderful practice, I had like to share with you how I feel right now. Ofcourse all of you must have had the same feeling at some point of time when you gave your first speech. I read it somewhere that the number one fear of all human beings is "public speaking" and the number two is "Death". The article intrigued me and I decided I cannot become immortal or may be I already am but I can conciously become a good public speaker. So here I am and I thank you all for giving me this opportunity" -- Cheers and loud clapping and suddenly I thought I belong to the people there.

The item that came out from the bag was a packet of "Mint Choclates". I looked at it for a moment, gathered my thoughts. Suddenly there was nothing there in my head, instead my heart spoke. I spoke for 1 minute and 30 seconds on the piece I had in my hand. I don't think I did well during the whole speech. I could hit some light chords such as "As I generous person, I would love to distribute these choclates to all of you. But since the number of choclates is lesser than audience and I can't see some of you not having even a single piece, I will rather keep all of these for myself :)". The audience laughed and cheered and I was myself. There were numerous things I could have done better. There were numerous thoughts that come to me now but not then. However, I am happy that I took my first step and ofcourse this is an another ongoing journey.

It was very encouraging when the Table Master at the end said that not a single guest till today has come forward and spoke on his first day here. It was a great speech ViniD "Yeah, still have issues in my accent and Americans pick D instead of T in my name Vinit". The "ah" "Ummm" "So" "You know" calculator told me that I had very few such words in my articulation, amazingly high for the first timer. Encouraging again !!

They say "It is always hard to take the first step, the rest just follow". I took my first step in public speaking on a myraid topic today. It is one thing to speak in a meeting or in a presentation or in a town hall to the audience you know on cognitive and creative level and It is completely different to speak in ToastMaster Club. I don't know how directly or indirectly public speaking is conneted to me but I believe in Steve Jobs who said that "Ofcourse it is impossible to see how the dots will connect looking forward. But trust me, they do. Follow your heart. And the confidence and belief that the dots will connect will make all the required difference in your deeds and actions. Believe in something and follow it.". Amazing words of wisdom !!

Thank you ToastMaster for the opportunity to add a new Dot to myself and I definately look forward to associate with this club in Gurgaon. Ah yesss... The Mint Choclates were absolutely fantastic !!!

Ciao

A New Direction — Citizen Journalism

I have followed closely the CNN-IBN impact stories, stories of dairy workers getting their jobs back, stories of people exposing the scams in several universities such as Rai University, and stories of Mumbai guys imploring the nation to shut down lights for one hour in wake of Global warming. How many such initiatives have been taken and gone unnoticed, how many times people’s voices have been ignored in past.

The next big thing, Citizen Journalism makes me think the uses, abuses, and implications of this awakening. Among several things, I think the most important aspect of Citizen journalism is that we get first hand information that many organization and individuals may not reveal via individuals who act as citizen journalist. Also, the news are on the spot and authentic for example a person in Lucknow recorded in his cell phone a burning car left unattended on road for several hours. Essentially, I think this is a new platform for people to connect with people via media such as CNN-IBN, via website such MeriNews.com. Amazing and perhaps, revolutionary. A perfect setting for a democratic and egalitarian society.

However, as every change will find face there are divergent views on the subject. I have read media and individuals questioning the authenticity and the intention of the news. The ability to make an impact on such large scale, close to a billion people, can sometimes lead to vested interests. Granted such accusations cannot be neglected, consider for example large scale sedition in Singapore on blogs. While a journalists are professionals and know how to prepare and present an incident in a sensitive society, citizen journalists and bloggers are amateurs. However, I believe this is where the Media and Website have to be integral and clear for the purpose they represent.

Another argument against this movement is that the quality is getting diluted and people represent individual opinions, I ask can we trust each and every journalist to the core for the reports that they present. Is it always true and can we take each news a writing on the wall ? There were reports of a news channel making superficial scams on a school teacher of late !! Given that the big guns, the successful media professionals who have made an impact in this industry such as Mr. Karan Thapar, Mr. Rajdeep Sardesai are here to stay but the future truly belongs to us, citizen journalists. The new breed of citizen journalists has brought many more ideas, area that may be overlooked by press and reporters are brought on surface. People are becoming more aware and ready to contribute to their surroundings.

I think it is important to capitalize on this enthusiasm and a proper channeling of the growing awareness has to be done and keep the spirit going. I plan to join soon and conrtibute my 2 cents errrr 2 Ruppes !!

American Red Cross Measles Initiative !! Updates !!

I just recieved updates from a American Red Cross co-ordinator on the major measles related initiative the organization has been pursuing. Some fantastic achievements, I found are a drop of 68% in children dying due to improper vacination from year 2000 to 2006.As for numbers, a reductions from 757,000 deaths per year in 2000 to 242,000 in 2006. Furthermore, there has been a reduction of 91% in deaths of children under age of 5 in Africa alone owing to great contributions by American Red Cross. I reflect back, how an idea by a swiss national influeced an American nurse to lead into formulation of such huge organization !! Amazing !!

Way to go though !! Still, 600 Children die every day and a million more at risk. I am glad I did my bit and will continue. I implore you to join, have you ever thought that 1$ can be equal to 1 life?

Click here for video clipings and further information.

Actions Vs Reaction in a journey

It has been a while since I have posted. Life has been a roller-coaster in past few weeks, mixture of nervousness and hope, of eluding dreams and pleasant realities !! I have always strongly believed in my conviction and faith in my journey. Whether I have been able to achieve what I wanted or not is completely different. The fact of the matter is that I have pursued journey with passion beyond my own imaginations. And in pursuit, the learning and maturity has always been gigantic, to say the least.

Also, another matter of fact in life I have realized is how important it is for one to choose the parameters through which we measure success. Often we glean activities in life through lense of success vs failure. I feel there is always something else that happens, in middle of these two things. You know, they say “Almost always we do not have control over the actions that happen in life, It is the reaction that determines the character of a person”. I have been fortunate to be surrounded by some excellent people from whom I have learnt this virtue.

My conviction has always been to put my best forward for a cause and then, leaving things for GOD to make happen. If it does not, it simply is not the right time. There are better things in store or perhaps, the same thing in store in far better manner. !! Okay too much of heavy words, some more please :P !! Another important influence has been the song "Kal Ho na Ho" : A true and revolutionary way to look at life. How often we chase something badly only to realize what we missed in the journey !!

So today I start a new journey towards that eluding “better” thing, while taking a renewed look at what I already have. To reflect this newer phase, I have decided to make some major restructuring to this blog reflecting on my owned and inherited passion in life.

ohh..Will be right back, the door bell is ringing !!! Ah my Dream Girl there !!

A New Color and A New Dimension

I have seen myself changing gears in last week. Of numerous nostalgic activities that I have done in past week, the stand outs in my memory, as enunciated by the subject, are adding a new Color and a new Dimension to me. Ironically, both the things happened on the same day.

On the Thanks Giving holiday, as I woke up I found something unusual. My conscience kept on telling me that I have satiated my sleep and I am awake yet I continued to feel as if I am dreaming. The tree that I see every morning out of my window was looking rejuvenated, the background was extra bright, and the ambience in the room was something unique. What's going on? Overcoming my irresistible procrastination to get out of bed, I glanced out of the window. Awesome it was. Looked as if heavens have descended to earth or I have been given a free ride till there. The grasses and the ground outside were covered with soft snow, as if blessings have been showered on them. Everything looked so bright and fascinating. The houses, with tops complemented by this heavenly blessing, looked glorified. I was ecstatic. I went out to savor my long cherished dream, to play and touch snow. It was softer than anything else I have ever touched. I added another color, Snow White, to my life.

On the same day, the adventurous and inquisitive me woke up. While it was chilling outside, I planned a movie "Beowulf" with my roommate. The adventurous part was a mile long walk in the snow to the theater. I was convinced that I want to watch the movie in 3D theatre, to add another dimension to my movie experiences. Of Course the movie in 3D costs more, around 5 bucks extra. My friend was dichotomous on whether to spend extra 5 bucks on 3D movie, what if it's not worth it. I, however, had a simple logic. I asked him whether he knew exact amount of dollars in his account. He, knew a round figure and not exact, as many of us do not. I then said "If you do not know the exact money, how will you know if you take out 5 bucks extra".A fountain laughter followed and he joined me. We were on our way, in the new color, Snow White, to add a new dimension to ourselves, 3D.

I read it somewhere that one should retrospect once a week to ink learnings and new experiences in that time. In due course, I hope I bring them all here.

You are Special !!!

Ok, I know it has been a while since I wrote here. I start the new innings, perhaps a persistent one, with this interesting read.

A well known speaker started off his seminar by holding up a $20 bill. In the room of 200, he asked. "Who would like this $20 bill?"

Hands started going up. He said, "I am going to give this $20 to one of you - but first, let me do this."

He proceeded to crumple the 20 dollar note up. He then asked. "Who still wants it?" Still the hands were up in the air.

"Well," he replied, "what if I do this?" He dropped it on the ground and started to grind it into the floor with his shoe. He picked it up, now crumpled and dirty. "Now, who still wants it?"

Still the hands went into the air.

"My friends, you have all learned a very valuable lesson. No matter what I did to the money, you still wanted it because it did not decrease in value. It was still worth $20. Many times in our lives, we are dropped, crumpled, and ground into the dirt by the decisions we make and the circumstances that come our way. We feel as though we are worthless; but no matter what happened or what will happen, you will never lose your value.

Dirty or clean, crumpled or finely creased, you are still priceless to those who love you. The worth of our lives comes, not in what we do or who we know, but by ...WHO WE ARE.

You are special - don't ever forget it."

A war is about to begin !!!!

Indo-Pak series. After a period of high voltage clashes of the Indian team, here comes the big one, India Vs Pakistan > They say "Forget about cricket, its a war".

Pakistan, rejuvenated by return of the 'Candid' Akhtar and at the same time, devoid of Glenn's successor Mohd Asif, would be looking for revenge, a revenge for 2 more nails in the coffin launched during the World Cup. India, on the other hand, has a point to prove. Can they life up their intensity to levels of World Cup games in normal games.. we saw they could not against Australia [ Who said, these ones are normal by the way ] !!!

Another hope, a personal one, that I nurture is watching Sachin go beyind the 80's n 90's. Just one century in this whole year, where has the magic of 8-10 centuries per calender year gone. Having said that, I am hopeful [ Yes I am optimistic] for him to reach 16,000 this year !!! Best Wishes and would be even better if he hit something big in the 5th ODI and I will follow :) !!!

Eargely awaiting for the roller coster to commence !!!

Long time no see....

Hmm.. quite a time since I have posted here and I am not going to do so now either. Neverthless, collecting lots n lots of info to post and will do it soon !!!!

Multi-Sourcing in Out-Sourcing

I find my current engagement quite unique. My past experiences have been centric on my employer being the sole solution provider with no dependencies other than the client. But here, TCS, Infosys, Cognizant, IBM..... U name it..its there...., work for various functions. All sit on the same floors, attend the same meetings with similar agenda, participate in similar town halls. Often, I hear a Indian name from the other side of the phone and wonder which company is he from. Furthermore, I find Type 1 Outsourcing a fun. To act as decision makers for the client rather than just doing what they want is encouraging. I recollect, the client often asking us “From your previous experiences in other accounts, how can we handle this”, “In other peoplesoft accounts that TCS handles, what implementation process is used”. The window of opportunity is wide yet narrow. As pro-client, we are expected to provide best recommendations. As pro-TCS, we are expected to keep ourselves better than the competition and provide revenue generating recommendations. The line in between is thin and difficult to adopt.

What this process has resulted in is a two fold sword. We have to keep on engaging with the cross functional teams. This has propelled increased efficiency and communication on one hand and blame game on the other. There have been instances where each party plays pass the buck game. Now is it healthy for the clients and for the vendors?

Evaluating the client side, I would take a personal example. As a customer, the more choices I have the better decision and better deals I will get. For instance, if there are 4-5 different telecom operators, I can expect each one offering a wide range of services and I can conveniently find more than one operator offering a genuine deal. Furthermore, it is quite likely that I can negotiate with one operator since he runs a risk of losing me to his competitor. Extending the same philosophy to clients, they have employed the similar strategy at Corporate Level. If we have multiple vendors serving various part of our applications and infrastructure, we stand a better chance of getting improved services at lesser costs.

On the vendor side, If I have more competitors, I stand a better chance of re-inventing myself. In short term, I might run at a risk of losing a part of my clientele or business but in longer term I will have better processes and efficiency from the constrained margins. As a TCSer, I observe an extra sense of commitment and effort from the senior leadership for a particular project that involves cross functional teams of different vendors than when the other team is from TCS. Even at team member level, there is an hint increased efficiency conforming to preserve the image of the company. Certainly there is an extra effort to synergies the best practices to achieve greater efficiency. In all, the impact is positive though sometimes it feels like dealing with unnecessary roadblocks , multiple status reports, and multiple entries in vendor applications at operational level.

In retrospect, I guess this is going to be the way large corporate house will engage the vendors let alone the software services. Hmm, I thought I should have used the title as -- Competition at the cube level -- :) !!

Measles Initiative [ Humanity binds humans - part 2]

It is disheartening to note the number of children dying just because they did not get proper vaccination, which can be obtained at cost of less than a dollar for a child.I got a chance to Volunteer in the Measles Initiative of American Red Cross's Twin Cities Chapter. I am glad to have made a contribution to save atleast 10 children.

I hail Red Cross’s participation in this resounding initiative that has saved 360 million children globally in 5 years. I feel a part of this process today. I implore you to be a part as well. For more information about the intiative please visit this page:
Measles Initiative Information


Go online, call 800 number or send a check, if nothing at least forward this message to your friends. Check this page for the same:
Measles Promotion

Furthermore, I also recently read about Arun Sarin’s candid gesture to establish $10 million Charity Establishment in India out of which 1 Million pounds is directed towards Measles Initiative in India, a largest corporate initiative in the region. You may want to read the full article here:
Vodafone Charity Establishment

Never before did this thought crossed my mind that $1 = 1 Life !!!

When is the last time you just did something?

I had an interesting realization this morning. How often do we stop for a moment and think what we are crossing by, what moments we are living? How often is it that we realize the importance of present, an anonymous to Gift? Today, traveling to my workplace in a misty and rainy weather, I heard my friends complain about the weather. “It is so difficult to drive in such weather”. “Arey, this is nothing. Come in December and see, it will get worse”. Somehow my ears were passing these comments perfectly through the hollow channel in my mind. [ I know you just wondered whether I have any non-hollow channel !! Please concentrate]. I was feeling heavenly, divine for something was happening to me, giving me sheer bliss. I was living that moment. I was letting my thoughts wander, farther than the realms of logic and analytics, nursed by emotions and imagination proprietary of a 3 year old kid.

Observing the tiny droplets silently force the mighty cars and buses labor to put the wind-shield wipers on, I thought how the tiny droplets would be feeling: proud or miserable? They were operating in tandem, one after the other, persistently and passionately. But I wondered whether there objective is to hit the cars, the buildings, and numerous other structures or to touch life, a unique prospect, on this unique planet. Furthermore, I wondered whether all the blessed living creatures ever realize this. I know Peacocks for one do. But does the most intelligent creatures do? I wanted to go out and help at least droplets touch me, touch life. I wanted to feel the tiny drops, to get wet in rain, by getting out of the car. Just as I was about to design a strategy to do so in such a way that no one sitting in car notices me, the car took a sharp turn and I returned to mortality.

Suddenly, hundreds of ropes tied me. How can I go out and get wet, I have to attend a meeting within next 20 minutes? What will happen to the cell phone in my pocket? The laptop bag is also not water-proof and TCS will owe 3000$ in an event the laptop breaks down. And dude, you cannot just stop and step out on a highway. I was tied, left, right and center. I was tied from top to bottom. I struggled to return to my fantasy world, to my world. I wanted to defy all the logical crap and live my dreams. But, I had a meeting in next 20 minutes.

Is Urbanization good for Villagers / Rural Economy?

One should avoid following the straight jacketed approach followed by our smartest of all political leaders to comment on such issues. A 'Neta' [ Perhaps we need to change the meaning of this word in Hindi dictionaries now] vouching for rural votes will say 'No' and someone vouching for urban votes will say 'Yes'. An interesting and intriguing incident has been the down fall of BJP government, a government riding high on 'India Shinning' campaign. The down fall has been associated with observations that BJP was concentrated on Urban India only. Such was the depth of the analysis that the fact that the campaign was in worded in English was pointed towards BJP's urban India approach. Ahem!!!!



The Congress therefore followed their slogan as 'Aam-Aadmi ki sarkar', worded in Hindi and worded for rural people. They made their huge plans {I have deliberately used the word 'Plans'} to associate with the rural people. Such developments may lead to conclude that "Yes- urbanization has hindered the growth of rural people". Infact, I have also been to an extent convinced with this philosophy though I have thought that why concentrate on one side, why cannot both sides develop in parallel. However, an interesting point that I noticed in my recent read at India Knowledge@Wharton leads to a series of interesting facts based on pure data:

1. A study of consumption in last 26 years reveals that an increase in Urban Household consumption of Rs100 leads to an increase of Rs39 in the rural household income. The driver of such increase is non-farm sector of rural economy such as manufacturing, construction and trade, hotels and restaurants.

2. During the last decade, the rural economy is estimated to have grown by 7.3% as compared to 5.4% of urban economy.

3. The rural economy is nearly as big as the urban. In 2000, the rural economy accounted for 49% of the India's GDP.

4. Share of agriculture in Rural economy has dropped from 72% in 1970s to 64% in 1980s to 51% in 2000

5. The rural-urban migration has fallen from 6.5% in 1981 to 2.8% in 2001.


I love data. The indications pointed by each point noted above leads to refute a number of myths such as rural people are suffering due to urbanization; there is an India – C waiting to shine and many more- an encouraging realization !!!



The major reason for this change, as noted by eminent researcher and economists is the growing and strengthening integration of the rural economy with the urban economy. Granted that logistics and supply chain for the route is no less than a shame for the progress we hope to achieve, yet the hope does exist. Perhaps an integration of the rural supply chains with the urban ones, steered by the boom in organized retail would provide the impetus to pass on the benefits lower down the pyramid. Just one problem though – Who will help Mayawati understand on the recent Reliance Fresh issues? Someone ready to bell the cat? CAT????? !!!

A good "Sher" - A powerful thought

Samet lo haseein ke en nazuk paloin ko
Kya pata yeh lamhain shayad kal ho na hoin - 2
Aur hoin bhi
To kya pata, en lamhoin mein shamil hum hoin na hoin !!!

Brilliant - Just live life to it's fullest !!!

An Event Full 15th September !!!

It was a day that started rattling the heck out of my nerves, scaring me like hell ,a goof up that I had done leaving me blind, deaf, and speechless all at the same time. Yet the recovery was handsome. An activity that has taken center stage in my life since last 2 months was on verge of getting screwed. As always though, I managed to get things done and on time :).Thanks to my colleagues invitation for Ganesha Puja.

A South India, he invited 6 other south Indian families. It was natural for all of them to communicate in Telugu or Tamil [ What’s the difference anyway ] ? I realize how at times I and other Delhi guys naturally communicate in Punjabi / Hindi in our office lunch breaks and we over look that a southi is sitting with us and then ask him “Right Jaggi”. He always says “Ya”. I also said “Ya” today, though taking cues from the persons gestures to make out the conversations. After the Pooja, came time to eat. I thought I will not need to communicate and listen now. I am hungry and I need food. Period.

Serving started with around 15 people sitting on the floor and 2 people serving one dish after other. I saw many food items for the first time but I was hungry. I was second to Vivek to keep the dishes finished for the half of the time. Gradually I realized that the number of dishes are numerous. As I was nearing my fill, I heard someone say [ This time in English ] that the main course of rice dishes is coming. OMG, I had landed in trouble. The mandate was anyone saying no will get twice the food. As rice starting pouring, I swear I ate today more than I would normally do in 6 months !!! A riceey day, I must admit !!

As if, the drama wasn’t enough, I found I have overused my minutes last month and T-Mobile sent me a due amount of 105$ :((, thanks to a 3 hour conference call with 5 friends on a weekday evening. In retrospect, I ,however, felt the conference was worth having !!!

One of the most happening days in my life after a period of hibernation !!!

Excerpts from "The Greatness Guide - Robin Sharma"

Some inspiring quotes from one of the best books I have read

1.You do not need to have the biggest title to do the best Job. Be a rock star at your work. Make sure people ask u for your autograph on day.

2.The real risk lies in riskless living. Do dare and stretch yourself.

3. Be an eternal optimist. Always look for positives. Value people and your friends. Be original and do not follow the crowd. Follow your dreams.

4. Laugh and have fun. There is no point in having success and being sad. Reach for mountains while enjoying the climb. Life is not meant to be an ordeal. It is meant for a celebration. So have big time fun while you chase and catch your most cherished dreams.

5. Focus on any area or skill with relentless devotion to daily improvement and a passion for excellence and within 3 to 5 years you will be operating at a level of competence that people will call you genius. Focus plus daily improvement plus time is equal to genius.

6. Since you have 2 ears and 1 mouth, listen twice as much you speak. Listening intently to someone is one best way to honor that person and forge a deep human connection.

7. Challenges serve beautifully to introduce yourself to your best and brilliant self. So “Burn Your Boats”.

8. Make a list of 101 things that you want to do before u die. Strive to achieve it.

9. Reward yourself with the best things available –Best clothes, best car. It sends a message that you are worth it.

10. Do good and leave behind a virtue that storm of time can never destroy.

11. Give out the most what you want to come back.

12. Identify clearly most important values and dreams of urs on a paper and review if continuously. Make a strategic plan to achieve everything.

13. Invest a lot in learning.

14. Do not take life serious. Chill out. In the end a sweeper and a billionaire are buried next to each other.

15. I just read about a little girl born without a face. Just 2 eyes and a mouth. And we worry about traffic being heavy on way to work. Count your blessings.

16. Be the most positive person around. Be candid and speak truth. Say please and thank you. Under Promise and over deliver. Leave people better than you found. Be a world class listener. Smile a lot. Be passionately interested in People.

17. Delete what needs to be eliminated from your life- feel lighter, happier, peaceful.

"The Book that inspired me most" - An old write !!!

While organizing my lappy over-used D: drive, I found some old writes. Interesting stuff. It's as refreshing to read your old writes when you expressed differently as refreshing it is to see your old pics when you were younger and looked different. I thought to put this "Memo" on my blog. It's an essay on "The Book that insipred me most" for a competition in TCS Essay writing competition in 2005.I notice a significant errors in this essay but I choose to put it here in the original form only. No wonder I did not win. After all experience matters :)

"The Book that inspired me most"

It is chiefly through books that we enjoy association with superior minds. In the best books, great men talk to us, give us their most precious thoughts, and pour their soul into ours. The books nurture novice minds and satiate the learning needs of many.

The book that has left a lasting impression on me is ‘The Great Indian Dream’ by Malay & Arindham Chaudhary. The book meticulously presents the decrepit condition of India in various fields like Food security, Infrastructure, Per capita Income, Human development. It also states the situations at present are more because of mismanagement of resources and fundamental mistakes in our approach for problem solving than being inherited by us.

The book presented lots of cold facts logically like Indian Forex Reserves as high as $82 billion (in 2000, $142 today) as a wastage of precious money at minuscule interest rate even though India would need a maximum of $15 billion in case of emergency. It states it would be better to use the same money for Infrastructure development or better be distributed to poor’s. The list of observations was unending. "India is a sleepy cow" being another one. The book introduced me to the huge pitfalls in strategic approach of India like although 26% of people live below poverty line and cannot afford a full meal everyday; India has enough food stock which if put sack by sack on one another a path till moon can be formed. The food has been left at the mercy of notorious rats and insects while thousands of Indians suffer.

The book also presented the principle ideas to be implemented which can transform India from a developing to a developed country. It put emphasis on raising the living standards of poor people (which would help India to increase its customer base and hence the whole economy) as being the top most priority. It also stated to eradicate unnecessary hierarchy in the system which provides hindrance to proper allocation of Subsidies / Benefits to poor and needy.

After going through the book I was bedazzled at the enormous potential of India. As a teenager I had attributed the poor state of India largely to resource deficiency and British Raj. However the book led me to leverage enough belief in potential of India to be a developed country.

As Thomas Carlyle has said “The best effect of any book is that it excites the reader for self activity”. The book led me to be emphatic for the poor people. I feel it my responsibility to contribute to their well being. I realize the importance of Higher and Middle class to contribute to uplift the poor class and try to be as honest as possible in my contribution for the endeavor.

If through this epitome of the book I am able to inspire any single soul to go through the book and engross the ideas and try to implement the fundamental principles of improvement presented in the book, I will feel being a part of journey for Great India started by Mr. Arindham Chaudhary.

An open letter to Freddie Flintoff

I have never come across a write so eloquent and humorous. Check this one :

http://www.whatay.com/2007/09/20/an-open-letter-to-freddie-flintoff/

njoy !!!!

CHAK DEEEEE !!!!!!

It has been 2 consecutive days of wonderful cricket. Competitive, motivated, spirited, rejuvenated Indian Team did it to make to the semi's. Wonderful display of raw talent, young indian team without the 3 familiar faces. Young guys firing all cylinders.. Awesome !!!

Way 2 go India!! Tame the Aussies. A revenge for 2003 world cup final, in style... Just like Yuvi did to England.. Chak De !!!!

B2B : Back to Blog and Back to Best

I have taken a sabbatical from my Blog. I notice the last write was on August 24. A significant SLA miss of 2-3 blogs a week. However, the activity that took the centerstage in my life has been close to what blogging is : Writing and sharing your experiences.

I have relentlessly shared my story with a group of highly skilled individuals. Perhaps right now my story is getting evaluated from the dimensions I could never imagnie. Once I get corroboration that the story is worth sharing, I will publish it here.

Meanwhile, I missed blogging during this time. I have a number of interesting stories to share; I will come up soon.

To forecast the writes coming up : LA and LV experience, How to win in Casino Gambling, How not to "Loose Control" in a convertible car in California, What to do when you have to eat rice on a single day > equal to your toal intake of a Year, What does 20-20 Cricket mean to me, What is so special about Giza, The Farmer turned Consultant ..... Many more !!!!

A Sachin Day

Ala- Tendulkar Day : I just loved the Six he hit charging, reminding of those nostalgic childhood days when I would practise for hours to imitate his shots expecially the straight six he hit to Kasprowicz.

Neverthless, it is anybody guess when his jinx for three figure marks break !!!

Today's Orkut forecast !!

When winter comes heaven will rain success on you!!!!

---Amen-----

60 Years of Independence !!! Chak De INDIA !!!

The British, lured by the Indian wealth, first arrived in India on 31st December 1600. Thereafter, they manipulated narrow-sighted Indian rulers and gained control of the country by end of 17th Century. We have read in history text books in school, watched BollyWood movies how British ruined us of our immense wealth. From a share of 22.1% in world's GDP, we were reduced to the status of a Third World nation, a symbol across the globe of famine, poverty and deprivation.

However, what British could not ruin us of was our attitude, our attitude to achieve, to relentlessly pursue our dreams, to work harder and harder. We built upon the leftovers but with our hard work. No wonder 60 years later, "India's Miracle" is the subject of a special issue of the British weekly New Statesman.

The speed of the progress that I have seen in 24 years of my life never stops thrilling me. Mobile, from a luxury, has become an integral part of average Indian. People have upgraded from bi-cycles to Cars, Bikes, and Scooters. From days of mass unemployment we face a “Talent Crunch” situation. Everyday one article or the other in National and International newspapers talks about India’s progress. "India Shinning" and "Incredible India" stories have gained faith.

Tata Steel’s acquisition of Corus was a moment of immense pride for Indians as when Tata steel started operation in late 18th century ,during British rule, then Britishers mocked us by saying if the Indian company (Tata) succeeds in even making any steel part of its own then British will eat them. Britishers by now must be suffering from indigestion !!!

Having said that, the journey has just started and there is a lot of achieve. Still, we have 20% people below poverty. Still, hundreds of farmers commit suicide. Still, the growth is not all inclusive. Still, Times of India has to take over NewYork Times, Reliance Retail to Wal Mart, Tata Motors to General Motors, ICICI to HSBC, Infosys to Microsoft and many more !!!!

I hope we celebrate 100 years of Independence with Indian economy overtaking US economy.

Khudos !!!! Chak De India

Fabolous Story !!!!

One day Kuttappan's dad bought a robot.
The robot was special in that it could detect a lie and would slap the person who lied on the face.

Kuttappan returned late from school that day and his dad asked him, " Son why are you late from school?".

Kuttappan answered, "Dad we had extra classes today".

Much to his astonishment the Robot jumped up and slapped Kuttappan on his face.

His dad told him Mone (son) This robot is special in that he can detect a lie and will then slap the person who lied now come on tell me the truth, " Why are you late?"

"Dad I went for a movie", " Which movie?" "The Ten Commandments", Splatt Kuttappan got a tight slap on the face from the robot.

" No dad honest I went for the movie Hot Queen."

Shame on you son when I was your age I never used to do such shameful things."

Splattttttttt, the dad gets a tight slap on the face from the robot.

Hearing all this, Kuttappans mother comes walking out of the kitchen saying, "Athu pinne enginnenaa, ningalude monealle?" ( After all he is your son, he will be like you), to which the robot steps up and gives a resounding slap on Kuttappans mothers face.

:))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

Moral : Jin ke ghar sheeshe ke hote hain woh dusroin pe pathar nahin marte !!!

Decent Services - Improved Business.

This piece comes after experiencing wonderful services at an Indian Restaurant - Bombay Bistro at Minneapolis.

Disclaimer : Please treat the content more to understand the thought rather than day dreaming about the food I list :P. I know its easy to drift.

Three friends went out to rejuvenate the Indian touch in their menu, people almost dreaming of Papri Chat, Allo Tikki, Pani Purrii errrr Gol Gappeee [I like that name. It reminds me how as I kid, I would play gallii cricket matches to best of potential to win 2RS to savour delicious Gal Gappe at "leeloo's raeeriii " with spicy, mouth watering chuntney, crispy gol gappaa's and .....errr I think this blog is not about my childhood...OMG it is so easy to drift to those wonderful days] So where was I.. ah Yes...So we all went to Bombay Bistro, an Indian Restaurant in Downtown Minneapolis. As we sat, Gurpreet was overwhelmed by the ambiance as she hoped to dine at a similar place. Even before I or Amar could look at menu, she proposed or rather unilaterally ordered Pani Purriii.. [Darnnn.. not again the same name..where has the Dhuri, India's fifth metro, touch gone] ...However, to our disappointment, Gol Gappa's were not available. We settled for Papdi Chat and Aloo Tikki as appetizers. As we did chit-chat, we had Papdi Chat.However soon we realized that we have been talking, mostly about Amritsar Food , for about 30 min with no traces of Allo Tikki and a lady almost got us ready for Main Course. Realizing her mistake, she quickly apologized and so did the owner, along with offering us a free Pasta Kulfi at the end of food. His genuine gesture reflected his concern and devotion to serve. I liked that !!!

Though Amar was sceptical that the dish offered would be something BB is not able to generally sell, I had a feeling that Pasta Kulfi should ideally be a dish that is extremely well prepared and that people generally skip, a strategy to generate future Business along with covering today's mistakes. After a very good Main course, finally the "Free Item" came. As we had the Kulfi, my speculation turned true. The ice-cream was really delicious and owner met his objective. Not only will I order the same dish most of times I revisit BB, but also I will suggest the same to my friends. Now that is Strategy. It is perfect example of running a business, whose success relies on customer experience of "WOW" , Vijay Mallaya's term for Kingfisher. The restaurant owner even denied the TIP I offered, though I still feel the waiter did well.Bombay Bistro will now continue on mine as well as on my sphere of influence's top priority for Indian Restaurant in MPLS. Now that is Customer retention.

When we left, we not only forgot that due to BB's goof up we missed out bus, but also we felt like thanking BB for the whole experience.No wonder, earnest services can generate customer satisfaction and significant business.

Indian counterparts listening ?????

So far so Good !!!!

Your Dominant Intelligence is Interpersonal Intelligence

You shine in your ability to realate to and understand others.Good at seeing others' points of view, you get how people think and feel.You have an uncanny ability to sense true feelings, intentions, and motivations.A natural born leader, you are great at teaching and mediating conflict. You would make a good counselor, salesperson, politician, or business person.

http://www.blogthings.com/whatkindofintelligencedoyouhavequiz
Kind of Intelligence Do You Have?

95% Pure Oxygen and $6.40 !!!!

How many of us breathe Oxygen ?
All, unless you are one of Hollywood movie type Tree Man !!!!

How many of us breathe 95% pure oxygen with eucalyptus flavor ?
Only one whom I know -- Your very own Vinit Garg !!!

This piece comes right after visiting a fabulous place in SouthDale Mall, Edina. Just freaking out to do something new, in an experimental mode as usual, I happen to visit Ocean Wave Massage and O2 boutique. Warm and cheerful greetings by the young lady at the counter and I was all her's ....errrrrr I mean a customer for the boutique !!! Checking various options for massage and O2 available, I realized the cost was little high to experiment a massage right away. Earned value analysis ( attending some Project Manager training these days :P ) of the situation prompted me to go for an foot massage. However, the time constraint of 10 min left for boutique to close and busy massager lady left me with just O2 as an option. For the lesser mortals, O2 meant I would lie on a super hunky dunky chair for a virtual massage and would be inhaling 95% eucalyptus flavored ( Y eucalyptus ??? Coz the young Lady liked it ;) ) oxygen for 10 min ,costing 6$ ..ummm with tax 6.40$ !!! Not a big amount for the experience. The experience was fantabulous. Those 10 minutes passed much faster than few seconds used to, when I used to board a DTC bus from PNB, Bikaji ( New Delhi) to Noida in 2004 :)) !!

The whole experience took my thoughts about 15 years back. I used to accompany my father, along with our little doggy, as a kid for morning walk among the woods, yes among eucalyptus trees !!!! Though my participation was not voluntary during those days, yet I remember the distinctive fresh smell of wind blowing through wet eucalyptus wood. Sometime little Jacky, our doggy, would just start running and jumping ,and my father would co-relate the dogs actions to its enjoyment of the morning walk, a correlation I often used to refute. My father would preach that a morning walk gives fresh air to breathe and I would rather dream about being back into bed or about playing cricket. The sheer bliss and freshness I felt today make me realize what I missed then and what I miss now. During those days, I lacked to prospective and now my father’s command to get my up in the morning !!!!! Ahem Peace !!! Hmmmmm, I think spending $6.40 for 10 minutes for enjoying fresh eucalyptus flavored 95% pure Oxygen provides a solution for the both worlds, mine and my father's for me, to co-exist :P !!!!

Humanity binds human.....

.....American Red Cross.....

This post conforms to my induction program with American Red Cross today. I must say the people associated with organization are real gem, very good communicators and exceptionally humble. I wanted to explore more on them such as their remuneration for the job, their motivation to pick up the non-profit center as full time employees etc, but I thought to keep these questions for the later and to observe them induct fresh people, the volunteers, into their program.

The day started when I got up at 7:30 on a Saturday morning to make it to 10:00 induction training of American Red Cross. [Hey, I saw some eye brows raised… it's not always that getting early on Saturday means Cricket]. The place for the presentation was a huge room in a factory close to Downtown Minneapolis. The factory owner had VOLUNTEERED for the cause. He also candidly arranged for Snacks, for locals, Breakfast for me. Hmmm, the people helping for the food were VOLUNTEERS from the factory who choose not to spend their Saturday in a cozy place.Amazing..how humanity binds humans !!

The lead person from American Red Cross, in his beautiful Red Cross Dress, was quite jovial and lively. He shared his story of how he got associated with Red Cross, some interesting experiences such as during the floods in Minneapolis how dilapidated the conditions were and how they distributed food and water etc etc…. Then a lady took over. She showed us, around 100 VOLUNTEERS, a video clipping from the Red Cross. I realized this must be a standard one used across US.

I got to know that American Red Cross is a part of the world wide organization, Red Cross. Historically, Red Cross was started in 1859 by a Swiss Businessman, Henry Dunant, after he observed thousands of solider wounded and killed in a battle with Italy. Any taker of the question: What fetches the Red Cross Organization, its name and its symbol? Please add to the comments. J !! Later, an influential nurse, Clara Barton was impressed with Red Cross and she established American Red Cross in 1881. It was then that an organization so mammoth, so influential was born in America. I wonder how simple ideas by common people pursed with relentless passion can actually change the world.

The video clippings of the malnutrition children, underprovided families living in deep poverty made the environment somber and the people empathic. I could feel, deep inside, a desire to go out and lift at least one person from such deserted places to the comforts of life. I could also observe other VOLUNTEERS feeling the same. I realized so many people have turned up here today, in a small setting of this huge organization to make a difference to humanity. I also felt that though many more people may not have turned up here, given a chance to nourish humanity they too will contribute. click click Humanity binds humans click click..... What American Red Cross has done is that it has provided a platform to such people. I realized how fortunate the person behind this initiative are.. For every Volunteer's contribution, they too are contributors to society, Mr. Henry is still alive, and he is still changing the lives of people. I vouched, I will continue on his path.

A bit emotional…. I know. But it was so.. I wish I could add that clipping to my blog.

Once done with the clippings, we were informed about various opportunities available for the VOLUNTEERS and asked to complete some paper work that I happily completed. Some interesting prospects such as on the presentation delivery on health benefits in schools, Blood Donation camp activist were there but I could not enroll because they required weekday's commitment. I have, however, enrolled into the team of the fund raising for the local chapters..as I hope to explore more on this excellent opportunity !!! Looking forward to my experience with Mr. Henry !!

And I am a Billionaire !!

Yes, my dear friends. I am a billionaire now.

How did I become one ? Well, it was a Monday morning, Memorial Day holiday and I was just surfing across some news website when I see a email popup in my Gtalk. Something in me said that this is something special.I rushed to my Gmail Inbox. And friends, here goes the turning point in my life.


"Attention: Winner,

Congratulations to you as we bring to your notice the result of Euromillion Loteria Espa ol 2007 promotions.We are happy to inform you that your email address have emerged a winner of Five hundred and fifty thousand euro(550, 000.00)Euros.

NOTE: to file for your claim, please contact the claim department below on email or phone

REDBOATH FINANCE AND SECURITIES,S.L
Contact person: Mr Javier Lopez Tell: +34 696 756 270Email: euromillionlots@aim.com

below your promotion date, Reference and Batch numbers. Remember to quote these numbers in your correspondence with your claims agent (MrJ avier Lopez )

PROMOTION DATE: 24th of May 2007.REFERENCE NUMBER: LSLUK/2031/8161/07BATCH NUMBER: 15/051/IPD

Note that you will be required to pay for the legalization of your winning prize.

Congratulations once again from all our staff and thank you for being part of our promotions program.
Sincerely Yours,
Mrs Jennifer Lucia.
(promotion secretary) "

Yes. Yes~~~~~~ Yahoooooooo ~~~~~ !!!!! I got it. Thank you Mrs Jennifer Lucia. Words cannot express how humbled I am with your gratitude. Five hundred and fifty thousand euro(550, 000.00)Euros !!!!!!

You are the one. Neo, in Matrix, was fake. You are the one and the only one.Very soon, sooner than you can imagine, I would send you all my bank account details with passwords, my Social Security Number, my contact number, my address , my everything and anything u need. But Please, please do not withdraw you offer.

Thank you very much for ending all my worries, my plight and my sufferings !!!!!

Apology letter by Jet Blue !!

Excellent Letter. Captured to imitate the style if required. :) !!! Proud to be a copy-cat !! :)

Dear JetBlue Customers,

We are sorry and embarrassed. But most of all, we are deeply sorry.

Last week was the worst operational week in JetBlue's seven year history. Following the severe winter ice storm in the Northeast, we subjected our customers to unacceptable delays, flight cancellations, lost baggage, and other major inconveniences. The storm disrupted the movement of aircraft, and, more importantly, disrupted the movement of JetBlue's pilot and inflight crewmembers who were depending on those planes to get them to the airports where they were scheduled to serve you. With the busy President's Day weekend upon us, rebooking opportunities were scarce and hold times at 1-800-JETBLUE were unacceptably long or not even available, further hindering our recovery efforts.

Words cannot express how truly sorry we are for the anxiety, frustration and inconvenience that we caused. This is especially saddening because JetBlue was founded on the promise of bringing humanity back to air travel and making the experience of flying happier and easier for everyone who chooses to fly with us. We know we failed to deliver on this promise last week.
We are committed to you, our valued customers, and are taking immediate corrective steps to regain your confidence in us. We have begun putting a comprehensive plan in place to provide better and more timely information to you, more tools and resources for our crewmembers and improved procedures for handling operational difficulties in the future. We are confident, as a result of these actions, that JetBlue will emerge as a more reliable and even more customer responsive airline than ever before.

Most importantly, we have published the JetBlue Airways Customer Bill of Rights—our official commitment to you of how we will handle operational interruptions going forward—including details of compensation. I have a video message to share with you about this industry leading action.

You deserved better—a lot better—from us last week. Nothing is more important than regaining your trust and all of us here hope you will give us the opportunity to welcome you onboard again soon and provide you the positive JetBlue Experience you have come to expect from us.

Sincerely,
David Neeleman
Founder and CEO
JetBlue Airways

A tribute to GNDU !!

A retrospective post capturing the succinct of the best association I ever had !!



The picture next, from the Dance Party (DP) at our farewell in GNDU, depicts at its best what my words may not suffice for, exuberance, youth, attitude and sheer bliss. Memories of wonderful 3.5 years spent at GNDU. I remember how grateful i felt towards Rahul, when he gave me this pic. Key persons missing in this pic are Varun and Ravish, who had priorities higher than attending Farewell at that time. I am confident they must have regretted their decision. However, they both are very well part of numerous memories associated with GNDU.

My affiliation with GNDU reminds me of all the fun we had, while unconsciously growing up. It reminds me of infinite events, recalling which put pressure on Corpus Callosum ( Brain part connecting Right and Left hemisphere) to yield all in one go. It reminds of all the fun we had, all the year end tours, trip to Vaishno Devi, all our hangout places ( Different at the start and end of month), all the weird names we put for each other, all the leg pulling sessions, all the places we stayed, things we ate, people whom we fought, all the trains we boarded. It reminds of the attitude we nurtured, maturity we gained, childlike enthusiasm we all carry.

This all can tempt someone to believe we never faced any hardships there and life was a cakewalk there. An illusion, far from truth for we had all the hardships, frustrations, differences and fights. However what stands out is that the group is still stands together. Even 3 years later, with people staying in different geographies, the essence of belonging and fun continues to strengthen.

What the prospective origins here is,our experiences tend to leave an everlasting impression of the activities we enjoyed on our memories, while sidelining the difficulties we had. The hardships faced make in roads for the blissful moments to come.I hope to capture all those wonderful moments in one shot and let the world know about. How far I succeed in this would be testified by time to come, yet the attempt would be nothing less than extra-ordinary, if I am able to put this on priority sometime soon. More in this space.

Perfect Start for the Day

Happy Reading and a good day ahead !!!!!


Read this wonderful and inspirational chapter in RB ( Robin Sharma). It launched ahead for me a perfect day. A day without grudges, frustration, and anxiety. Here are the magic quotes:

“I was frustrated about not having shoes to wear unless I met a person a person with no feet”.

Send a chill deep down, isn’it. How easy is for us to be so engaged in daily routines and to forget to count upon our blessings. Alright one more if the above one was not sufficient.

“The other day, I heard about a girl with no Face. Just 2 eyes and 1 nose and we fret over traffic jam on our way to work. Just yesterday, millions slept hungry. Just yesterday, thousands lost their family member. Just yesterday, hundreds committed suicide owing to frustrations and difficulties in their lives”


So here is the key. The epitome of all this. The most important thing is Prospective. What prospective do we have in our lives. Count your blessings in present and plan for a perfect future.

Wah “Taj Mahal” or Wah “Tejo Mahalaya “

“I want to see Taj Mahal in next 24 hours”…. A statement made at a party on Friday night materialized. Taj Mahal has been long overdue in my wish list of places to visit. Ironically I traveled lot of distances in US to visit several places, while never really pushed myself to go to closer and convenient places back home such as Taj Mahal. The former visit though has provided the required thrust in me to traverse the avenues I have long wished for.

The beauty of Taj Mahal, breathtaking as it is, if depicted, here would be just an epitome of what the monument actually commands. I, therefore, limit my description. I had desired to see Taj Mahal in a single shot. Therefore, I kept my attention wandering at the main entrance, feeling mystical and elated. It was only when I reached the place from where I could see the whole “Monument of Love” at one shot, I looked at it .For couple of seconds, everything around stood still, as does the legendary building.

Equally interesting has been the realization of the controversy that surrounds Taj Mahal, questioning the very basic of its existence. P.N. Oak might have made fortunes out of his books “The Facts” and the supporting evidences for his claims provided here http://home.freeuk.com/tajmahal/index.htm gives a food for thought. The evidences are quite convincing as it takes no hard time to guess, why the 6 floors have been blocked. Shah Jahan would not have built these six floors just to be covered up later. However, I believe there must be some claims dwarfing Oak’s claims, which I could not find one the internet { Dear Reader, if u know a source for that, my blog is waiting for your comments } I would love an opportunity to visit the whole monuments, the whole 7 floors with around 1089 rooms inside it. I just wish, I knew about all this controversy before I visited the place. Who knows, I am the one to find the actual evidences of the claims there: P.

Whatever and whoever be the originator of the building, Shah Jahan, a Muslim king or Param Dev, a Hindu king, I salute the architects. Little yet obvious to mention, that the controversy mentioned here should be used for constructive exploration of truth and intriguing secrets of the old times, than to prove the superiority of one caste over the other. Not to forget the Babri Masjid debacle, something that haunts the Indian history till date. And considering the sensitivity of the matter (Anything involving Hindus and Muslims is so sensitive) I think the government is doing right thing (For a change) by not letting this opinion hold public attention and by introducing this place as a “Monument of Love build by Shah Jahan in memory of Mumtaz Mahal” in school text books.

On a different note, a Bolly Wood movie, though hypothetical, based on the above subject could be interesting prospect for an innovative director :) . Mr. Director, if somehow u happen to read my idea and produce a film, do not forget to pay the royalty :)

Wah Taj !!!!!

Realization of Truth

Such has been the lethargy over the last few days or for that matter few weeks that I am unable to decide upon some specific topic to write, thanks to wonderful TCS Policies to act in watertight compartments and its "systematic" way of allocations of associates to new projects. As always, riding on more than one boat (implies more than 2 as well) I hope to enable each boat to reach its shore safely.

What this patented habit derives out of me is persistent effort making, though sometimes for too much mundane things, and continued exposure to less traversed avenues. At the same time, the anxiety and "fear of unknown" associated with these adventures make the "lesser half" of me better. It, however, sometimes feel like calling it a day, thinking it to be enough and thereafter riding alongside the direction of wing. All these thoughts seems cosy, like warm sunshine in winter, like a smile of naive child, like warmth of mother's food served right on your table.

However, all of a sudden, a thud delivered from a hidden genius, who I believe everyone has one, awakens me afresh committed to the values, dreams and aspirations I have always nurtured. While being ordinary I keep on promising myself not be ordinary. While being normal I keep on convincing myself to be someone special. My time will definitely come. It is just a matter of when, a moment, which will seek the testimony of how persistent my efforts were.

At the same time, I wonder, how many more people believe like I do. Does this state represent confusion or courage to adventure? Does it mean I am not clear or does it mean I always aspire for more? Is it necessary that to achieve something you have to loose something? I do not believe. Why cannot I retain what I have and go on achieving more. After all we all are meant to progress, to achieve. Whoever realizes this justifies his presence. Whoever do not, just continue to exist.

"Meandering Pachyderms"

Indians have long been associated with the disdainful term “meandering pachyderms”. Also, in couple of forums on TV or otherwise, lack of patriotism gets highlighted. Sitting idle, I happen to relate this acquisition to my observations from couple of places I visited in recent times (US and Mumbai). In US, I noticed US flag being displayed at lot of places, in front of hotels, restaurants, adventure clubs etc. I remember how one of my friend, always ridiculous of India, commented to my childlike question, “We do not have our flag in India at some many location”, by saying that “In India if we put our flag on road, it will turn black in couple of days due to dust and pollution and then someone will use the cloth for cleaning its shoes etc”. An answer I felt uncomfortable with, yet something in me counterfeited my feelings. Why do we have people so insensitive about our National flag or for that matter whole nation itself? I do not intend to refer to a particular person; it is just that I meet lot of people with similar thought process. Are people the problem or is it the system? Something which encourages me to think deeper in this.

Yesterday, in an article in TOI about education in China, I read how Chinese students in every school take a 5 minute break for these National Anthem everyday, a practice common across China and followed religiously across all regions of the Great China. On the other hand, citing a similar example of promotion of patriotism and feel for the country, in Mumbai, all the movies I watched had one thing in common. Every movie started with National Anthem with audience standing in respect (I do not remember myself when last time I heard National Anthem before Mumbai). Perfect. We are just there. The only problem is that the practice not being followed across regions. No where else, at least in NCR is this thing followed. There must be some school promoting National Anthem. But not everywhere.

No doubt we are democratic. No doubt we are diverse. No doubt we are liberal. No doubt we have reforms. But can’t we have a system to reinforce the basic values back to the society. Food for thought.

Quit Mumbai Movement !!!!

Finally, finally the day arrived and I left Mumbai. Not that Mumbai is so bad, but tenure of my stay in Mumbai coincided with a lean patch of mine. My return from Mumbai back to Delhi is supposed to trigger a series of interesting negotiations with quite a number of stakeholder and is supposed to put me back to work, which I have longed for.

However there have been some positive out of Mumbai. First and foremost, exposure and taste of the city itself. I have felt a hidden desire somewhere in me to visit Mumbai once and actually feel the way people deliberate about it. A venture on Sunday in Mumbai Local to visit Siddhi Vinayak Temple, Gateway of India, Taj Hotel and Marine drive proved to be an enriching experience. And I can never forget the "massage" I had at Chaupati Beach. Few "massager" can be more cruel :)

Second thing to carry from Mumbai was meeting lot of new people, a whole new Offshore Team and lot of people from TQ. I fairly believe, TCS TQ happens to be "THE" place for networking across TCS. TCS even employ consultants from Manufacturing Domain to provide consulting in Supply Chain, Assembly line etc, this I learnt from one guy. And a funny anecdote from an Andhara guy during a booze party that just struck me goes as " All these Managers have criminal minds" :) Precise, Concise and Perfect. When will I be a Criminal ??

Finally left Mumbai on a "wonderful" Air Sahara flight, which with 2 hours delay managed to screw all my travel plan from Delhi to Dhuri. Sticking to my original plan to reach home the same night, I managed to catch a wonderful bus, by far the best bus I have ever boarded, from Delhi to Ambala. However the grill started at Ambala at 5:00 A:M when I, traveling since 8:00 P:M, discovered that flight delay was not the only tragedy to strike. Even the Express Train I hoped to catch is cancelled. And here I sit in a passenger Train from Ambala to Dhuri (my lovely home town) , estranged by all the people around me staring at me and pouring in my laptop to have a look at this out of place thing. It is irritating and funny as well. The situation in which I sit and write this blog, remind me of Sharukh Khan’s rare good movie, Swades. But seriously these wooden seats of train hurt :(( , yet worth an experience once if you have not .. Someday my experimentation will kill me :P

Budget 2007 - “It’s not a bad budget at all”

No, please do not go by the caption at the Top as my personal opinion. I heard/ read the similar views from lot of corporates honchos. The best one and most ironical from CCD director Naresh Malhotra " We are hit by the increase in commercial property rentals and will lead to increased prices. This will surely hit our profits. All this when commerce ministry is asking us to double to coffee consumption within 5 years" ..Wait a minute Mr Naresh. Who is bothered about your profits. Do you deserve a profit of 10% more with each Union Budget or do malnourished lakhs of children need water to drink, food to eat. How much better would a country be served by offering handful of pleasant gifts to honchos like you to better your profits and convince your top bosses that you are doing a incredible job. Laurels and promotions on your way and you will be out of this country to head CCD Global operations. How does this idea of "growth" compare to providing lakhs of students access to education, more teachers. Increased spending on agriculture, education and health . Sounds like I am forming an opinion here. Well Not really !!!!!

Two compelling yet opposite thought from industry "Gurus" lead to different interpretations of this Budget. Following Arindham Chaudhry’s fine book on India "The Great Indian Dream" this comes as a dream budget in itself. "He says if middle class is increased, it will create more demand and hence more growth". Increased spending on key areas such as Agriculture, education and Health. Industries such as IT, Telecom to be taxed more to collect the revenues and "Incredible India’s" achievements shared with "The other half- Pathetic India". Perfect it sounds. Isn it ? After all, what would a father having resources to distribute to its 2 sons , one an Indian IT Engineer (Smart, Growing, Professional, Well placed , Progressive ) , another one (uneducated, unemployed, incompetent and not able to meet his 2 days meal) do. No prizes for guessing it right. The Father would allocate the resources to the poor son and also would encourage his Engineer son to take care of his brother and to share his success with the poor guy. The finance minister has acted like a Big Daddy. Exemplary isn it.

On the other hand, a study on McKinsey Quarterly (could not find the link) steers my thoughts in a totally different direction. Some of facts stated in the reports were as follows :
1. Indian household saving is among the highest. Yet only 50% of people put there savings in government led financial institutions.

2. Corporate sector, a major growth engine of India gets only 43% of this money while rest goes to dilapidate sectors of agriculture, public sector companies and inefficient education system.

3. While it is important to address social sector of the country, history(Brazil economy) testifies putting money in high growth sectors would create more jobs, prosperity and cyclic growth.

Seems finance ministry has kick assed the guy who analyzed, complied and formed this report. Corporate sector has not been anything aside from the assurance or rather taking granted there growth story. Agriculture, public sector and education spending has been increased by almost 30%. A completely social budget with an "All-inclusive" caption line.

Now where do I, an avid fan of all three - McKinsey Quarterly, Arindham Chaudry and PC, go from here. Who do i believe ???

Whatever the views be "Chance missed to transform the economy" , "It’s a good budget for long term growth" , "It is not a bad budget at all" , "There is nothing significant in this budget" , n the best "it’s a kutta-billi bidget" I earnestly believe growth lies in Action and not in Planning.

I question , why cannot finance ministry form a team to track each and every rupee disbursed by center to state ministry and to local bodies ??? Why cannot they set up an institutions to complete the golden quadrilateral project by working 24/7 with workers working in 3 shifts of 8 hour each?? Why cannot a institution to monitor the irrigation projects going on the round the country be set up ?? Why cannot government develop a website to list the names of 1 lakh scholarships winners?? Why cannot government set up more B-Schools if ISB can set up a successful school in 4-5 years . Indian student go abroad to study due to lack of infrastructure and opportunities and never return back..then you cry for Brain Drain . Why can not an ordinary man know what is happening with his money ?? Does the numbers matter to me ? Does planning matter to an ordinary person ? No, results and an aggressive approach matter. Whatever be the budget 2008,2009 or 2050 as long as an action oriented approach is adopted, it is going to be same story. Year after year, budget after budget!!!!!!!

Time to Relax !!!!

Action do speak and so does the picture next. One of the clip from many wonderful ones clicked by a colleague at recently held TCS Picnic at Pali Resort in Mumbai. First of the all weekends I enjoyed since arriving here in mumbai !!!!!! Played some cool games such as standing Kho-Kho (infact while learning the rules of Kho-Kho it struck me that I am a state level player of Kho-Kho .. Any guesses how !!!!!! :P ) , Encircled "Jithe paindi pain de" though very professional in scope ...... The best attraction was the swimming pool ( get a strong desire in me now to join the swimming club as soon as hit Delhi ) and almost 2 hour rain dance though I really never understood which language the DJ thought we all understand.. Got only one punjabi song to contribute to the wonderful crowd with some Bhangra steps ... Following rain dance was antakshri and Tambola... At last someone in my group won a prize in tambola !!!
Overall it was a wonderful picnic though ofcourse TCS could had picked a better resort where they do not serve "Duck’s Egg" omelette and as someone said "Kutta Mutton Subzi" (:P) !!!!!

Pune visited !!!!

In an on going process to visit and list new places in my blog, latest place comes out to be pune. Again another experience to subject myself to mercy of Mumbai Auto and Bus drivers, I manage to get to Pune to visit a friend, Arpit. Arrived at 2:00 A:M, exactly 3 hours after than scheduled ... I sit with my friend in the night till 5:00 A:M savoring some fine whisky and vodkas out of a proud collection of Arpit. To name a few...Black label, Red Label, Teachers and Shark Shots , a collection he made with a "Inhouse rule" for anyone visiting onsite to bring back liquor from duty free..Nice rule !!!!

Another friend of his arrives at 4:00 A:M coming directly from Belgium and I was amazed by the difference in the general gup-shup which we used to have back in college and what we had yesterday..no no Today morning. The conversation encompassed various countries and culture across the world out of experiences of V-3 and from our friends. Truly globalized world but everywhere the same story for bachelors abroad !!!

Jaded, tired and afraid to stay onsite at expense of quality of our lives just to better our profiles and fat paychecks ... It is worth it ??? A unanimous opinion of "NO" prevailed counterfeited by reality.

Apun Mumbaiya ho gayela

Bhai log..apun aa gayela hai !!! Mumbaiya ho gayela re mammu .... Landed in Mumbai on 7th Feb. And guess what ... Guess what ....
WAS CHEATED BY A MUMBAI TAXI DRIVER !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What a professionalism and commitment these mumbai taxi drivers have to maintain there age old reputation of cheating new comers to amchii mumbai !!.

I tried my best to be safe only to find this guy has over-smarted me !!!Getting in this taxi I told my friend " Do not let this person know you are here for the first time"
Easy said. Difficult to do.
The moment I tell this person to go to Thane, prompt he asks " Where in Thane"
I say "TCS Yanta Park "
"Ohhh is that the one close to that hotel " he asks. Smelling trouble here I say a confident "Yes".
"But sahib yeh east mein hai ya west mein " .... Doomed here...cursing none other myself of not reading the address in advance I say "dekh lenge abhi thane to chalo "

N here he is. He got it !!! I am new and I do not know about mumbai. A fresh bakra for this guy. N he had a feast.

While traveling my sense of direction could not stop making intelligent guesses and though I got convinced that I am getting going round n round somewhere in the same area, I had no ways to prove it !!!! Just sat like an innocent cute little child at helm of a driver dracula !!!

For a normal charge of 400-450 this guy shows me a meter reading of 947 Rs !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Wow ... n the reason :)) :)) while justifying his high meter reading the driver tells me "Sahib AC car hai yeh..pure raste AC ON raha to meter reading to badhega na " ...Thanks Dude ....I wish I knew it earlier !!!! BTW have u ever ..Have u Ever traveled in a Taxi that have mosquitos inside it ... Yes my dear friend Mosquitos .. I think they must have come there for Taxi was an AC one !!

I salute you Mr Driver !!!! I love your consistency !!!!

Somebody suggested to get a prepaid taxi in Mumbai. However this time my experimental nature got better of me. But it is an experience worth having !!

So the moral of the story is, IF you are traveling on your company expense (:P) experiment with Mumbai Taxi wala or else you better of take a prepaid one !!!!

2007 Flying .......

Year 2007 brought one thing quite unique to me with itself. Flying experience. For a person having boarded a flight only once in 23 years, already 4 flights within first 40 days of the year seems like a big change.
First one from Orlando to NewYork , then Newyork to Orlando, then Orlando to Delhi and now Delhi to Mumbai !!! Wow I am everywhere in air this year !!!

Just hope this run continues as I figure I love traveling as long as it is in air... traveling within Indian cities is a pain ..more on that in later blogs