2014 will be a special year for many

I wish 2014 to be a special year for many and my hunch is it will be.

2013 for some reason, has been a challenging year not only for me, but for many of my near and dear ones; also to some of my friends of friends. When such a challenge comes, I only see the benefit, that we will all come better off with the experience. I remember the write-up by Clayton Christensen about how to measure life. Please do read this article. (Click here).

I had 4 clear objectives for 2013. 2 of those have been accomplished, other 2 are in-progress. These are not monetary goals and hence not some thing that can be easily quantified. However the accomplished goals are going to deliver through my rest of my life. With that the case, I am signing off 2013 in a strong state of play.

So why I think 2014 will be special to many?

I admire Aandal  for many reasons. An 7-8th Century Woman mystic who occupies a special place in Hinduism and will always be remembered at the end of every year. A lot of Hindu followers in South India, sing her poems during the month of Margazhi. (December - January).

I grew up in Neyveli in quite a religious context with every morning of this season spent in Krishnan Temple. A special memory that forms part of this season goes back to days when i was about 10 or 11 years old. The cook of this temple fell sick and I was called for help to cook Pongal under his guidance and that also became the starting point of my culinary skills. It was a daunting task given the fact the amount of pongal that need to be prepared and also that it was for public consumption. It may have been under the chef's instruction, but preparing in open fire with very minimal prior experience was a huge ask. I still remember the excitement and nervousness when I was called in for the service. I really don't know till date, why I was woken up at around 3:15 AM and summoned for cooking.

Anyway, this season is always remembered with Aandal and to her paeans. I may not be religious today, but I am a lot more spiritual then i ever was and I owe it to her a lot. When people talk about the plight of Woman in India, I think of Aandal and Maitreyi. Once in India, these two women reached the heights that cannot be described. Also, it allows us to reflect on the society's maturity those days.

Aandal is one among the 12 highly acclaimed poets of Hindu tradition. This is unfathomable feat. Also one of the paeans proclaims that her 30 songs is actually the essence of Vedas and in fact anyone who hasn't read these 30 verses are said to be a burden to earth and its existence. If indeed the society was male-dominated those days, then this achievement gains a lot more respect.

Many have written about her 30 songs (known as Thiruppaavai); I am keen to present my interpretation but will reserve it for another day.
As a gist,
the first 5 stanzas describe the 5 earthly elements and its impact,
the next 10 stanzas attempt to wake up the human spirit to recognize,
the next 1 is to open up the heavenly gates for change,
the following 5 stanzas is to wake up the Godliness,
the next 7 stanzas portrays different abilities of Gods
and the last 2 establishes the Oneness.

The tradition is every one of these stanzas are associated with a day in Hindu Calendar. 2013 ends with the 16 stanzas that attempt to wake up the human spirits and the rest 14 will play out in 2014 January. Today 31st Dec coincides the 16th stanza and it is about her request to open the heavenly portal (metaphorical portal for change). It is hard to miss the symbol as the new year dawns to this change. It is a great coincidence and hence my hunch that 2014 will be a great year for betterment. (btw can one actually explain the reason for hunch?)

So I wish a happy new year 2014 and let this year usher welcome changes to you and all leading to fulfillment. In Aandal's words Let us all be together and happy(கூடி இருந்து குளிர்ந்தேலோர் ); Let the light be with all of us. (எங்கும் திருவருள் பெற்று இன்புறுவர்)

Missus and her friends suddenly turned religious?

Back in India, month of Margazhi is an auspicious time and is dedicated to Godliness. Especially in the yester years, girls wake up early in the morning and do rangoli etc.

This afternoon the missus, her friends and their friends were discussing on the phone about an early morning program. I heard them saying - we should get up early in the morning, quickly bathe, dress-up and be ready for queuing up. They also chatted about their pre-marriage times during Margazhi that it was habitual and used to wake up early during Margazhi, bathe in spite of the cold weather (!) and hence this should help for the next day activity. Hmm I thought what happened to these women? Has the Margazhi month finally made an impact on these women that they have suddenly become so pious...

One of them talked about the fact that crowd and queues can be challenging, that husbands take care of the kids. I got a bit queasy... OMG how am I going to manage a 2 and 6 year old the next day morning. I just nodded uneasily without clues.

Then they started talking that it is once in a year activity and benefits the whole family. So they indeed should go early in the morning.  Hmm the women must be keen to participate in the religious activity and seek blessings for the whole family; if so, then I should take care of the kids.

The next topic was that I should probably make the food, so they can come back around 11 have a brunch and head back. Wow I thought, these women are indeed trying their best, may be catching up the missed opportunities for the whole year and earnestly making efforts to touch-base to their religious side. If this is the case, then somehow I should manage the kids and cook as well. Now they are talking about waking about 4AM or 5AM... They even talked about the point that if they over-slept then may be can queue up after 11 as the crowds would have tamed.

I really felt glad that the missus, her friends have suddenly turned a new leaf and planning to participate in the religious events. I said to myself that the next day must be Vaikunta Ekadesi. So I rushed to check the calendars if it was vaikunta ekadesi - the annual 11th day festival when the heavenly portal opens up and people are blessed. But no it is not ekadesi? So where are they all planning to queue-up?

Apparently Boxing Day sale! Aaha withouth realising this, I promised to cook and take care of kids as well. Worse, the wallet is going to go for a toss! 

Mangalyaan - India's Pride, World's Envy; MAVEN - US be accused of extravagance!

Many a views of have been written about India's space mission to Mars. In Astrology this is the planet that symbolises Ambition & Competition and also known to be the God of Wars. India has successfully launched its first mission towards Mars - Everyone knows that it is THE cheapest amongst all Mars missions but I observed that many media outlets haven't highlighted the important subtle fact that an opportunity to launch Mars missions only occur every 2 years. So If India's ISRO had missed this window, it would have had to wait till Jan 2016.

This needs to be seen in  the context, that the project was approved in Aug 2012 (though studies started in 2010), the team had to work hard to a successful launch by 2013 November -  In a record time, the satellite was designed, produced and put to launch, and remember the team need to work out communication aspects etc (for long range comms) in parallel. (for IT folks, I don't need to mention project success rates, especially if it is the first time!) Though India had already done quite a few space missions, this one falls entirely in a different spectrum. Instead of discussing all the pros & cons about India, I look at it in a different perspective.

Undoubtedly the ISRO team should be appreciated, acknowledged and awarded accolades (a lot of 'a's) - Those guys have really aced it. Request not to view it as an Indian mission, but in a non-partisan way, if a team has achieved a success that has got no parallel, in a true sportsmanship spirit, that team needs to be felicitated and they deserve it.

I would like to close my eyes and think for a minute, if life in earth is really endangered- would I/you travel for an year on a space-craft to go to Mars (assuming we set habitable camp in Mars)? I think the answer is Yes of course. Hopefully that situation never arises. But hey with the way things are going one day having a back-up is necessary. A company might be a start-up and/or really short-cashed, but still they would have definitely built a level of redundancy - now I know where I am going with this, but let me park this thought here, as that line of argument has no end to it (as the redundancy requirement is actually hypothetical, unless someone proves Mars can be inhabited)

But this blog is about a different perspective. So I really want to go back to my previous thought - as ISRO team built Mangalyaan, so did NASA build MAVEN in parallel. However Mangalyaan project's cost was 10% of MAVEN's - The ISRO team, sort of a first timer (as far as Mars mission is concerned) built it in 15 months, at 10% cost of a similar project - If you can't call this an achievement, what else would you felicitate? It has been successful up until now and is in its last but second lap towards Mars - Forget poverty and other clichéd arguments  - This team has done something that needs to be commended! So let us set aside those arguments and let us just give them a round of applause. But why do i keep talking about this team's efforts? What is my truly different perspective here?

A lot of articles and blogs have taken different sides on poverty and India's extravagance in building a Mars mission. So I did something different. I compared USA's GDP, Unemployment, Financial spend for NASA in 1950's. The picture looked bleak and comparable to what India is/was. In a way, one could say that India is like the 1960's US. So what US was doing in 1960, India has achieved a similar feat in 2013. Here my base case is the failed Apollo 13 mission (as James Lovell put it - a successful failure), even though Mangalyaan is still successfully continuing its journey. (Fingers crossed)

The flip-side and alternate perspective that I would like to finally present is that recently USA's financial situation has been a lot worse (obviously) but has spent approx $670M on MAVEN - So, shouldn't the media turn its 'guns' (i.e. the criticism) towards US for wasting the money instead of bailing out its economy? In fact one can argue that US has already been successful in its mission, so why not pause it until its deeply troubled economy starts its way up? I think it is a valid poser to US and media should turn the heat on MAVEN's needs. But instead what does the media do? questions India on its Mars mission...

I can now safely say this, even if the mission gets into a muddle after this point, the world will recognise(!) it as a success. In fact I was waiting for Dec 1st and then put my thoughts, because I wanted to make sure the mission successfully kicked off to Mars from earth's orbit.

For a first-timer to jump 200,000 kms and continue to jump a million kms a day, this is extraordinary. I am sure it will fire up many many young growing minds in India and set a new direction akin to the 1980's/1990's IT Industry led growth. It is truly a small step (and may be an unnecessary) as far as the world is concerned, but a GIANT LEAP for India and its fellow nationals. At least that is the feeling I get from my social media interactions.

On a lighter note: Ha, another outsourcing industry and revenue stream for India! May be, Mangalyaan will become the Nano-car in the space travel:)

Alt. Perspective 1: Kudos to the team for its extra-ordinary achievements, you will fire up the imaginations of many as well as set up benchmarks for performance (This is the different perspective) for other space missions across the world. US,EU, China's Space Project Directors, now you have a target! Watch it you will be measured on these criteria from here on. No pressure!

Alt. Perspective 2: US be accused of extravagance on MAVEN.

Good night!

Sama Veda Upakaram - Update for 2013

I am very pleased to see there are a lot of Sama Vedic people who have recently contacted me. To ensure appropriate communications, please send me an email and I will send the links to you and make you as a collaborator on the google docs - these should display as zip files - Step 1,2,3 & 4.

But before you use these pdf documents, some general comments - I humbly and kindly request you to PLEASE READ These before you do.

1. These procedures are for the Sama Veda Followers only
2. Second sub-point is these mantras are followed by Jaiminiya Sutra of Sama Veda only
3. I am told that only three branches of Sama Veda have survived:
1. Jaimini, 
2. Kowthama 
3. Rānāyanīya 
4. In order to find your saka - try slowly saying your "abhivadaye" and you can find the Sutra you belong to.
5. In case you need any help, give me a shout and I can see if I can be of help.

Happy Avani-Avittam for Sama-Vedikas (07-Sep-2013).

Sanskrit equivalent for the year, month, day & star =
Vijaya-nama-Samvatsare (Vijaya named year)
Dhakishna-Ayne (When the earth is is on its southern sojourn)
Varusha-Rithu (Rainy Rithu)
Sraavana-Maase (Month)
Shukla-Paksha (Moon on Waxing State)
Thriuthiyam (Day - three)
Sthira-vasara (Saturday)
Hastha Nakshthra (Star of Hastha)

"Suppli Balla" - A new game on the making!

I am enjoying my time off with my son and in order to up the fun, I decided to 'invent' a new game.

One of my childhood stories is about me making a new dish called 'Kaja-Buja'. I guess my skills were quite on display from the very beginning and I have been a 'creator' always. Kaja-Buja tasted yummy to my family members as this was an innovative dish (please ask recipe through email), even though you need a few ingredients to make the dish, you actually don't need fire to cook it. Well, looks like i have been health conscious all the way.

But today I want to proudly share the new game. (my son improvised it as we went through). I also trialed this game at my friends' place with their two kids (doubles version). I should say it was real fun and especially playing it with kids makes it great. So try it with caution, if you have any doubts - you know how to reach me. Any royalty claims belong to me.

What do you need? a ball and the rules. This game has been inspired by Volleyball, Tennis, football, basketball but very little cricket (How could we have a game without the influence of Cricket?). The objective of the game is to keep your score low. Whoever has the lowest score is the winner. In our game room, we made a net using a few play things. This net actually makes the room into two halves. Now the player is chosen by a special toss. Whoever loses the toss  starts the play. The player can use his/her leg, arm whatever and try to hit it on the opposite wall. The opponent needs to stop it - however the main objective is to tease the opponent and try and make sure the opponent touches your side and btw you should not touch or cross to the other side, else you will start to gain points - if he touches your side, he loses, but gains a point i.e. teasing is the most important aspect in the game. Here comes the basketball rule, you cannot hold on to the ball more than 5 seconds, if you do then you have to tap the ball on the other side and try and take it back again.

When you have more than 2 players, similar to power play the tallest player needs to stand behind and protect against the ball touching the wall but with the aim to catch the ball and this player is equivalent to the goal-keeper except he cannot strike the ball but only protect it (basically this is the role for dads). So the kids play in front and keep teasing the other kids in front. Dads, you should resist getting involved and try not score - the role is purely a blocker role like in volleyball. Every time, a person scores by touching the other side, the ball has to be served by the kid who has crossed the line (else, the kid will start crying - so the service essentially goes to the loser!)

So how do you end if there is a draw/rain? This is where Cricket's D/L method comes into play - since we are in England, the rules often come to play because of rain (?? but i thought the game is to played indoors?) The rain, i am talking about is either moms getting really upset by too much noise or one of the kids starts crying like rains! Now you know the game needs to be closed quickly both these scenarios are dangerous conditions to play - so allow the kid to go for a super bowl and announce individual winners and run away - else they will continue to torture you to announce a clear winner - the super bowl technique is just another distraction, before i call it a day and hurry for a wee - now the whole scenario gets messy with you in the toilet room, 4th umpire (one's wife/kids mom) comes into play - She will say enough is enough and the kids quietly dismiss!!! (Enjoy with your kids and feedback for improvising the game, but please don't try it without elders or don't try to improvise by yourself)

PS: Its time to ask me why is the game named "Suppli Balla"
Suppli means a Kid in tamil (nam thai mozhi சுப்பா/சுப்பி - plural suppli, suppli also means "Surprise" in French); Balla means to spar in Hindi (Hamara Rashtrabasha) - Eppudi?

Fellow Indians, Cricket and CSK Fans: It's the time to decide!

When news about Sri Srinivasan should have been making us proud, the other Srinivasan is shaming us all over. This blog is an urgent appeal to Indian youth and all, in particular to my fellow CSK fans.

We do not have time as the final is tomorrow and I am requesting you to do something that is going to be against what you all hoped for - Request CSK to NOT play tomorrow but more importantly make sure finals happen between MI vs. RR or MI vs. SRH.

Why? 
1. This is so-called 21st century of India belongs to 65% of Indians who belong to <35 under and most of them would follow IPL. So its time to show whether you like to follow rules and will be against corruption and/or  improbity.

The fight against corruption and malpractices start from you.

What is my logic?
Meyyappan was the CSK Principal till they "erased like a kid at school" the evidences all over the internet and that is an admission of guilt - Nobody can deny this.

I have seen some of my CSK friends post that why not arrest owners of MI/KKR for Vindoos' links, but a wrong cannot correct another wrong. So force the IPL governing body to follow the rules.

If you decide to take cover under technicality and let CSK play the finals - you fail a generation of fight against corruption and malpractices in India. History is watching you.

Finally, even if CSK wins, everyone is going to taint the win and do you need such a win? Instead choose the high road to call it off and to make sure cricket wins, force MI vs. RR or MI vs. SRH - by this option Cricket wins.

So its my plea - force the IPL governing body to change the finals.

Do you relish your paydays anymore? ...

It’s about 10 PM and the night has started off with some strong philosophical debate. I was lost in thoughts about the value of IT, automation and how sometimes the ‘real’ value of humane consciousness may be losing after all! Let me forewarn this is a philosophical yet valuable thought-train for technology leaders and an interesting question for fellow bread-winners to take away…

First the question: are you relishing the salary that you draw especially in current macro-and micro-economic period?

In my school days, I remember how the 1^st of month set the expectations rolling and how the family prepared itself to the run up-to an end of month. Planning started at least a fortnight in advance and the joy of being born in a middle class family means – it allows the family members to gain a concept of ‘planning’ – This prepares the younger members of the family to understand the concept of money, planning and more importantly saving. Straightaway as a kid, I got myself the hat of project manager – Planning and Commercial acumen on the mould.

There was a little hum of joy for the first few days, the cash would be counted and the old man would go to a state run bank to deposit… Subsequently this element disappeared as the cheque came through and very soon, the money was directly deposited and cheque as well disappeared, but now there was a payslip.

Fast forward to 1990s when I began to earn. This was a time where IT bloomed in India and I earned much more than my dad would have in a decade – Soon I was in the land of opportunities where the pay cheque was delivered twice a month. The feeling was double and the payslip was a good feel-factor.

Subsequently with good business cases for IT automation and ‘value’ to employee, HR departments have totally done away with the payslips and now it is just a downloadable pdf. The situation is I don’t download the payslip that often. In fact I even forgot the last payday, which is what set these thoughts rolling… I will throw in a piece of info: every month-end, I still review the accounts, debt etc. Anyone who knows me, will surely concur on my management accounting skills and how I apply it on my household finances as well to review my investments and debts… I share this coz’ it’s not that I am at a position where pay-cheques are not important – I give due consideration to finances, but the very fact of automation means that many of you like me, wouldn’t be receiving a pay cheque or a pay slip – so back to my opening question – do you relish your paydays anymore?

How many of you enjoy or carry the feeling of earning money? Have the HR teams made an incorrect decision about doing away with physical payslips – has this concept subconsciously made us the humans lose the very concept about relishing what we earn and would this impact our productivity? According to me, this is quite an interesting concept in the days of ‘everything on social media/cloud’ and ‘smart-computing/tablets’ – How humane are we? How is technology impacting us subconsciously?

PS: If I have money and time, I would be keen to do a research on this topicJ!

Why RR have already won IPL6 and IPL is going to change from here on...

T20 games are designed in a way that’s really unfair to bowlers. Coming up with a strategy(s) to win such a format is no mean task. Hey but the world is unfair in many respects i.e. it’s not a level playing field. So having a few tricks up the sleeve is just not enough, but devising a whole new approach is needed. It’s difficult to ignore the ‘Moneyball’ approach in this context.

The ongoing IPL series is turning out to be a good to learn on strategizing strategies and team management. To select a team for such an event is a challenge. Mr Cricket (Rahul Dravid) and co. just spent 10% of the total cash to source a team that started as underdogs and has been on top form. Just yesterday they won against the tournament favourites, top performing and popular CSK (Chennai). There has been some chatter on twitter and such social-media sites about a defensive strategy – personally nothing wrong as I see it.

A subtle thing that I noticed (not many are discussing this subtlety) is the strategic time-out that Dravid called at the end of 9^th over. Until then, CSK were sitting merrily and hadn’t lost even a wicket. This time-out in my opinion changed things. I also ask the CSK that if they realised Dravid is applying a defensive tactic by delaying Watson, an option could have been to brig Ashwin early. I guess a smart man like Dhoni knew, that there were very few choices and only wait for chances.

There are some thoughts that play in my mind, CSK, MI and RCB have some very good quality and known players – so they winning the matches and climbing to top is not something a feat. It’s the likes of Rajasthan that sourced unknown players and have gone on to be the top 2^nd team. Even if they lose the finals, it doesn’t matter – they have shown ways to tackle an unfair situation to advantage. To show an analogy, currently another unrelated story is doing rounds in local papers in Tamil Nadu – schools select best performing students and coach them to secure state ranks and the criticism is that they should choose average and below average students, coach and make ‘em excel. In a way Dravid & co. have done the exact opposite – they chose a mix of players – some good ones and average ones to go on and win everything that came their way.

These are very valuable lessons that I will apply in future not only in business, but personal choices too.

1.  There is a context for everything and strategy is ongoing, need to be revised continuously – sometimes need to be brave and radical – c’mon it is a huge risk to source a team for 10% of total cash, where the temptation is to go all out and buy top players

2.  Don’t pay too much for the skills – sometimes an over-priced player may not deliver (all that glitters is not gold, also if it’s a tin, you can polish it and sell it as a silver!)

3.  A mixture of skills, with some leadership roles is enough to deliver the magic

4.  Finally – have some secrets up your sleeve!

I think we have a winner for IPL6 - RR... Because the IPL has just got interesting - next year rest of the teams are going to look at their wallets and skills before buying out top players!

Bee for Boss: Don't underline your ignorance

"Don't underline your ignorance" - Those were the golden words from my dad as he was reviewing my test papers. I have mentioned this previously in a post. I remembered this quote again as I read through our "Boss's" speech.
I said to myself: Boss, who is going to call out that the emperor is wearing new clothes?

True to this storyline, no one is calling out that our Boss is not wearing any clothes and parades before the Confederation of Indian Industry, a non-profit body for that works with the government for advancing policies and strategies for all industrial sectors.

In this setting our Boss starts with a storyline that in 1991 people thought we are travelling in elephants and praises the Industry for giving us the advancement, but then goes on to say in 2012 (over 20 years), that a lot of migrants are still travelling in overcrowded trains and shamelessly admits that he, the Boss allowed an empty-pocket entrepreneur to buy him a cup of tea! Please some amateur story writer has penned his speech, apparently he lost it (see above video).

I am shocked how could Congress let loose such a guy on CII? Aren't those CII leaders ashamed? These are top Industrialists and they have lost a few hours. No one has called out and said he is wearing no clothes... How? are you not scared that tomorrow if such a guy leads a government, that your industries may loose out? our Boss will makes us not only empty-pockets but make us buy a chai and say this is the spirit!

Two things to single out from his speech. 1. A man on the white-horse and 2. Bee-hive theory

Re, A Man on the white-horse: Not only in India, but across the world, millions of stories about a single individual in many fields over many years have changed the course of history. We have our own 'Original' MK Gandhi, Narasima Rao (who incidentally started the change in 1991), His great grand-dad, grand-mom all have single handedly influenced the Nation. The point about hearing a billion voices is fine, but even the bee-hive needs one single queen. In the west, there are many such tall leaders like Martin Luther King, Abraham Lincoln, Winston Churchill, Margret Thatcher, etc. who have altered the course of their Nations - in some cases through their teams, in some cases personally leading the charge. Even though Cricket is a team sport, many a times we see and read the Captains knock. - I say Boss don't underline the ignorance. Interestingly towards the end of his speech, our Boss starts mentioning individuals like "Sam Pitroda, Krishnamurthy, Sreedharan, Nandan Nilekani(?! Narayanamurthy?)" - so he is now contradicting his own thought process, where he higlights individuals who have made the change, if instead he had said the organisation names, I would say he believes that no one man can change things...

Re. the Beehive, A writer in the Universal Magazine for May, 1800, has penned:
"Thou art a fool, thou busy, busy bee
Thus for another to toil;
Thy master waits till thy work is done,
Till the latest flowers of the ivy are gone,
And then he will seize the spoil. He, will murder thee, thou poor little bee.”

Does the boss wants India to be like a beehive where the honey is tasted by someone else? In the pursuit to display a fresh and original idea, our Boss has underlined his ignorance about India's complexity and gone with a freemasonary symbolism of beehive - a very old idea. With his mom at the top, using beehive as a symbol is the last thing one would want to choose.

So what is wrong with beehive - this whole concept of colony and society is actually not true in case of bees. Most bees aren't social -- less than 15 percent of bees live in colonies. The rest are solitary. They may exhibit some social tendencies, but they don't build large hives or store lots of extra honey. i.e. 85% of the bees are individualistic and does not work and live together as our Boss thinks! Anyway the idea looks fresh, but the question is does he want all of us to be just workerbees delivering the honey to Queen and her drones? I will leave it to your choice...

Good bye Mr Achebe, Things fell apart - a holiday to remember

Almost the same time last year, I was in Peak district with family and friends. The snow hadn't receded, the peaks were beautiful and it was a nice cottage on a picturesque peak! This time we hadn't planned a lot of sight-seeing or any major activities. I had just submitted my thesis for my MBA dissertation and was in a perfect mood to relax. In the cottage, I found a book "Things Fall Apart" by Chinua Achebe.

Okonkwo, the lead role of the novel and leader of Umuofia, Nigeria just took me through the book and to much chagrin of my family and friends, I was just reading the book without putting it down! I love books, but very rarely I have motored through books like this. Then when I came back home, I started reading about Chinua and was impressed by this gentleman and his contribution to African and World literature.

I came to know Achebe, Chinualumogu ("May God fight on my behalf")'s "Things Fall Apart" was his first  novel, I was pleasantly surprised; in the sense, how could someone's very first book be so powerful, fluent and  heart-rendering? Just a couple of days before I came to know he had passed away (21-Mar) and went through a feeling that I could not explain. I have a weird thing. I often wish, that I could meet some eminent personalities like Achebe, Yogi-Ramsurat Kumar (YRSK) and a couple of others (I prefer not to mention).

I would have a random thought about these people and would feel an urge to meet them. Suddenly from somewhere, I would then recieve the news that these people have passed away. I had planned a couple of times to meet YRSK and those did not materialize. I literally embarked on a journey from chennai on my birthday 20-Feb-2001 to have a darshan of YRSK and called a friend who was ever-ready to take me to the holy town of Tiruvanamalai. That day even before I called him, the telephone booth owner who had a picture of YRSK told me that Yogi had just passed away.

In a similar vein, I thought of Achebe and said to myself, if at all I should somehow try to meet Achebe in Boston during my trip to the states. But a few days later I hear this news. I don't know how to relate to this.  I was always fascinated by Africa and Achebe's novel multiplied my urge to travel through Africa. I vividly remember his description of Okonkwo taking his matchet and delivering the blow on his son, and then goes on to highlight that Okonkwo did not want him to be perceived as weak. Chilling, but true - I see perception plays a big role in our life!

I am going to buy a few more of his books and I am told Arrow of God is a master piece. Have a safe trip Chinualumogu Achebe, you have done well and your name is etched in the literary world!

Tortoise and Hare - The Race Never Ends...

In a FB comment one of fellow FB-ians posted a frustrated note that "Can we outsource our country's governance to some other country ? Will there be takers ?" I read the blog and my view is this another blogger who has done a very basic piece of analysis and concluded that China has won the race and India will be end up second as opposed to Morgan Stanley's view that India will take lead by 2050's.

Surprisingly the blog article is from a regular writer (meant to say not a novice) - Steven Rattner, he led the Obama administration's auto task force, was one of the executives involved with payments under scrutiny in a probe of an alleged kickback scheme at New York state's pension fund, according to a person familiar with the matter. (Link, Link2). But this has got nothing to do with his write-up. I wanted to spice it up and found this allegation.

Anyway I responded to the FB post that The writer misses quite a lot of context and compares a banana and a jack-fruit (!). Like an under-grad student in an analyst intern role, he has blindly compared the statistics.

So why did I say that? Steven himself starts and finishes the blog about the choice of vehicle for development between both countries, In fact to make sure he doesn't get a kick from his elitist club, has dismissed Chinese autocratic regime and puts the disclaimer that he doesn't support it(!)

India has opted for a slow moving, let us call it a "bullock cart" to reach its destination, where as China took a "Maglev". By the very fact that two countries have taken two different mechanisms to deliver its objective, direct comparison is going to give a lopsided view. But still if you insist a comparison, leveling up those mechanisms and reviewing the outputs can help. So how do you level up?

I do these all time in my work when i review IT contracts, procurement, solutions etc. The mechanism can be different, but make sure the inputs to mechanisms that are in comparison are same. i.e. if you are comparing 3 different mechanisms, one should first make sure the inputs to those 3 mechanisms are same, if these are still same and one mechanism provides better result then there is a winner (May be). I would still investigate any hidden assumptions on the winning mechanism to understand why this is different. This basic science lab stuff.

Hence I say Steven's analysis is intern stuff! He is not calling out the inputs before comparing democracy and autocracy. First the context: Did both countries start development at the same time - answer NO! They lag by 15 years. The economic policies and financial management - are the same? i.e. the amount of investment that both countries deploy. Macro-economic situations for both countries may be similar, but by the time China had started its Phase 1 development, Bangladesh war had just finished in India's context, Also China had just screwed up India and not to forget the constant nonsense from the neighbor supported by China. (In fact Chin as it grows, keeps tripping India - bad sportsmanship in a race) The resources as inputs to the mechanism is something that can be contentious i.e. how much raw materials were available to both countries, human power, Industry knowledge, etc. In my view there are lots of lagging factors between the two countries; so with that, comparing these two models are going to be incredibly difficult and most likely are to be subjective. (Same with my blog)

Steven's blog has been reviewed by another blogger - (Fernando Salazar), this guy he adds a simple variant like education. This insight is better and informative in contrast to the bland statistics that Steven has put together. Steven calls himself an economist and God Bless USA. In any field and more particular to economics, when you review macro-models like China and India, it imperative to level the inputs and then get into a study.

But he has just put together measures like GDP, Inflation, Budget deficit etc. and these are current day figures and does not go pack to starting point to show the trace-ability. Reviewing such measures over a time period is a basic requirement to trace the nature of economic levers and this so-called economist has just used a point in time. Also, We all know how % can be misleading. To give an example using his own statistics, the 6% difference in Investment proportion between China and India is roughly $3000/person. That's a whopping big number! i.e China potentially invests $3T more than India. (assumption both countries have a ~1B people). Just as a side note - please look at this study and refer to slide 7. (Link to India start-up report)

Now to the title of this blog, In my view Development is a mirage. I myself have used the word USA is fully developed and i am happy to recall it. Growth always is a cycle of ups and downs. The question I often ask, why do you even need to be in a race? Why shouldn't India take its own time to grow? Another analogy: One could eat well and go to gym and build his/her body alternatively could buy a protein from H&B and pump weights to build quickly - we all know the disadvantages of the artificial growth. Hence I say development is a mirage. In fact Fernando, the Techie sums-up in his blog that "India is a peculiar mix of social democracy" I like his blog better than the so-called economist Steven. I meant to quote in FB that USA has reached its 'developed' country tag and it took them almost 250 years. So the US we say today was not the same as recently as in 1930 i.e. prior to the big depression.

Sometime the path is important for a few, sometimes the results are important for a few but the path is not. I am not suggesting that India has taken a noble path, but India's vehicle of growth is a long drawn one. In such a race, the Hare will always seem to run faster to a set distance, retard for a while, then run faster again, but the Tortoise will keep moving at its own pace, and the Race never Ends!

Post-Script: The writer fails miserably in his writing style as well. First the title that India is losing the race, then ends up saying India will be second... Also he does dilly dally between India's state of affairs in legal, corruption, summary execution and confuses throughout... He is unable to identify a clear state of difference between both countries, but ends up saying India is losing, however doesn't support the autocratic Chinese regime? Sorry Steven a shoddy write-up - change the ghost-blogger, this person is damaging your reputation!

Smartphones in general and especially Iphone5 are stupid...

There are millions of stupid tech-fanatics who support Apple, Android and Microsoft and one of my friends assume I am one of them. I love technology and I used to be a Java fan and then subsequently took to Microsoft but have become technology agnostic. I have now used all the three smart phone OSs and of clear view that officially Apple sucks.

I am really frustrated coz' of the hype that surrounds apple. This friend of mine who talks so much about perfection in apple can't really open his eyes and see that after 6 versions, if keyboard, touch sensitivity and blue-tooth doesn't work to basic standards what's apple doing? really I mean really please...

I had a Nokia 800, I loved it but it had a glorious death after almost 1.5 years. So I replaced it with a 820 - a good model, except blue-tooth and call switching between 3g and LTE was crap. I was fuming the bluetooth in 800 was better, so how come a working feature is let to degrade in an upgraded version? C'mon Nokia and Microsoft just wake up and realise the market is crowded...

Then I chose to go to Iphone 5 (first I-Device) and to my shock the keyboard is crap, Nokia and HTC's keyboard were fantastic - I would personally give it to Nokia.

Bluetooth definitely Samsung and Sony are better i.e. Android, Apple's BT is just crap

Maps - Nokia, Android and Apple - I don't need to mention

Touch sensitivity and swipe - C'mon Apple users need to use Win8 to see how much they are missing, Samsung is also great in this section...

When some basic things don't work after 6 versions why would people be so proud of the device? I have always felt people choose to link themselves with a brand and Apple feeds that.

I can say somethings for sure, the Camera, Web-browsing speed, LTE call-switching are fantastic in Iphone5. But I can compromise on some of those things, however when I travel up and down daily for 2 hours - bluetooth and music are two important things, with no way to control these two issues, I am gutted. I changed the Nokia device just for these two issues, at least in the Nokia device the pause button worked, whereas in Iphone, even that doesn't work!!

This doesn't mean Win 8/Nokia are better - There are no manufacturers yet to take advantage of Win8. In this situation, I should have gone for a safe bet Samsung S3, but hey I thought Iphone was a safe-bet...Now I can't change my phone for another 18 months!

Celebrating a Kerala king's birthday - the one who sang in flowering Tamizh...

Many should have heard the beautiful lullaby rendering by Bombay Jayshree - மன்னு புகழ். Its a lullaby by Kulasekara Azhwar about Lord Rama. 'Kulasekaran' as per history lived approximately 1200 years ago and ruled what is known as Kerala today roughly around the region of Ernakulam. His 105 poems take a special place in the Vaishnava sacred  4000 hymns. An ardent devotee of Lord Rama and Ranganatha has penned most of his poems revolving around Lord Rama, Ranganatha, Venkatachalapthy (Tirupathi), Sowriraja Perumal (Thirukannapuram).

But why mention of this mystic-poet today? Today is his birth-star that appears on a Maasi (Tamil Month) "Punarvasu Star", the two brightest stars (Castor and Pollux) in the constellation of Gemini. Incidentally this is the star of Lord Rama too. I selectively recited few key poems today and was touched. Being a king in the Kerala region which has Malayalam as its lingua, his compostions are in flourishing Tamil.

When I recite such poems, I usually have an eye to notice the contemporary situations embedded in the verses. e.g. In some poems the description of the village and its rice fields, the types of plants, types of insects, people's dispositions etc. can be understood. Interestingly a set of poems about Krishna by PeriyaAzhwar (a) Vishnu-Chithar (1.2-7-4, 1.2-7-6) in first centum portrays two things.

1. He describes how Krishna stands at the street corner and teases girls 
2. He also describes how Krishna picks up fight in the street with the wrestlers...

In a way, is he describing the way guys were in 6th Century AD? Also it sounds very much same even today as how Teenagers behave in streets today!!!

In Kulasekara-Azhwar's composition (1.6-1), he sings that sitting on a sandpit, he awaits Lord Krishna takes me back to my childhood days to Neyveli where on one occassion of a Janmashti (Krishna's birthday), impressed by Krishna's valour, and believing my mom's words, I had sat outside on the doorstep waiting for Krishna's arrival. (Now girls should say choo chweeet!)...

It is also interesting to observe, how Kulasekara Azhwar vividly describes Tirupathi, Chidambaram, Thirukannapuram in his poems. Though these are in the context of a Hindu religion and also in Tamil, I wonder, how a King of such stature notices such subtle things, brings philosophic views and renders in a language that is not his native-tongue? In the same vein he also describes his emotions too.

I have always felt such classics can actually be a lens to know our civilization, about our ancestors and useful especially to understand the thinking and interests in that age. This is one of the reasons, that I wish our future generations learn Tamil to actually understand our history and more importantly cherish it.

This azhwar in my view represents a vibrant, positive, nurturing period of south Indian history where the states, its kings, its people, language and different philosophies were simultaneous and harmonious unlike portrayed  by Modern historians. 

Sonia gandhi - Good in management! We should give it to her - Part 2

What is a role of a manager in a company? I was trying to research and draw a view on this role definition. However in this context of analysing Sonia, i understood it is going to be difficult. However if I try to define a ‘Street-smart’ manager then I could outline a lot of views. I am sure we all have had good and bad managers and I am going to simplify the definition in a Politics context - can be applied broadly too.

If I can simplify, typically our experiences can relate to a manager who supports our development as well his/her development and by the process deliver the shared objective and such a case is “Good management” and “Good Manager”.

I am looking at it from the perspective that if given an amount of wealth or a piece of an asset be it knowledge or process or a new invention, it is up to an individual to put ‘good’ use or ‘bad’ use. I quote the bad and good – coz’ these are relative terms and qualifiers. So with this definition, I am about to see SG. I am about to outline a set of techniques that she may have put to use to deliver the shared objective.

In my opinion, hers' and Congress (I)’s shared objective is to be in Power and govern India. Let me qualify that the actual results of governance may be bad/good, but as far as the objective goes – she has managed to put Congress (I) in power for 10 years! – So is she not a good manager?

How do you uplift and motivate your team?Managers use different techniques, some define a threat or some put forward a Vision, or some inspire using ‘Hope’, some define an economic profit i.e. a monetary goal or a few philosophise for a dream or a few evoke empathy and play victim to rally people around and create a hope.

On 26^th May 1999, “A combative, impassioned Mrs. Gandhi, who quit as president of the Congress Party a week ago after three party leaders had opposed her candidacy for Prime Minister because of her foreign birth, said an outpouring of support from party members had persuaded her to withdraw her resignation. In a voice choked with feeling, Mrs. Gandhi, 52, staked her claim to being an Indian patriot. The country adopted her 31 years ago when she married Rajiv Gandhi, she said.”

She recalled the assassinations of her mother-in-law, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, in 1984 and her husband, a former Prime Minister who was 46 when he was slain in 1991. And she witheringly noted that the same three men who were raising the questions about her origins had a year ago asked her to head the party, then in a slow dance toward oblivion. ''I became a wife here, a mother here, a widow here, too, right before your eyes,'' she said, speaking in Hindi. ''The greatest daughter of this country, Indiraji, breathed her last in my arms. Every drop of blood in me says this country is mine. This country is mine.''

Apologies if it reminded you of Rahul Gandhi’s recent speech. But here Sonia chose to sympathise and create a dramatic entry. (I still wonder if it was stage managed with Sharad Pawar – look they are all one, even though for namesake he calls it NCP)

How do you show you are Strong – Play the victim, but show that you are a fighter?She defiantly said she would not reply to those who questioned her patriotism. She was apparently alluding to critics who have asked why she waited until she had been in India for 15 years before becoming a citizen and suggested that she might not have renounced her Italian citizenship, a contention that her friends say is false. ''The people will give a resounding reply to that,'' she said.

Choose words and attack enemies, de-stabilise and create a negative brand for your enemies.1999 - The Congress president said that ''the people doubting my credentials as an Indian would get a befitting reply in the coming election. All these non issues are being raised by the Bharatiya Janata Party to divert the people's attention from their 13-month misrule,'' she said.  ''The very people who targeted the minorities, made them suspects in the country are asking proof of my nationality,'' she said in a direct attack on the BJP-orchestrated criticism.

2001 - A normally reticent Ms. Sonia Gandhi today blasted the Prime Minister, Mr. A.B. Vajpayee, for ``unfairly attacking the Congress and trying to sermonise to it''. In a rare display of emotion, the Leader of the Opposition launched an onslaught after the Lok Sabha adjourned sine die and the members were leaving the House.

Manager needs to grasp the Situation and Politics1999-2002 Her major emphasis has rightly been on political stability as the country goes into a third election in three years. The Congress party's emerging strategy of contesting the Lok Sabha polls on its own for the most part and making stability the key campaign issue makes complete sense.

Sonia Gandhi has in recent weeks proved how unequal she is to the task of providing leadership; she even needs a written text to say yes or no to a straight question from the Press
Emerging from a 40-minute meeting with the President, Sonia admitted that she had so far mustered the support of only 233 MPs. ``I shall talk again with all the colleagues who voted against the confidence motion. It is for the other secular forces to see that the BJP Government does not come back,'' she told waiting correspondents.

Take full controlThe AICC left it to her to overhaul all the party organisations from top to bottom with people of her choice. Indira Gandhi had the backing of her father, Nehru, and 25 years of their service to the party. Sonia Gandhi has achieved the position without lifting a finger.

Manage your networks and growQ, Hinduja brothers, Ahmad Patel, P.C. Chacko, Datta Meghe, Prafful Patel and Prabha Thakur, MMS, Pranab, Arjun Singh and so on

Managing PerceptionsEven the faces are familiar. Those who saw Jawaharlal Nehru in Narasimha Rao and found Kesri's `home-spun' qualities endearing, are now singing Sonia Gandhi's praises. Not even once did she make any gesture or observation to indicate that she felt embarrassed. The secrecy about her health also goes into this mix.

We all know how the media co-operates and Times listing etc. However recently I read a tit-bit, that she was in UP and a prepared speech given to her had omitted a senior Congress(I) member’s name and in a flash, she picked the miss and reworked the speech. – This was in the news… The incident highlights her individual management style as well as the perception management to ensure this news is published in Media.

New York Times published an article that Sonia Gandhi reclaims congress party and its members’ devotion – did Advani do it? Jayalalitha has done it, Omar is better, Modi is trying hard, Mamta struggles, Yeddy is already becoming a teddy, Stalin is way off in comparison to Karuna, Sena has split, AP’s Reddy is in Jail – so that many people struggling at State level, where as one lady has managed to hold 29% of national votes to Congress (I) – isn’t she a good manager? I have largely focused on her initial days in Congress as these are the crucial days for any manager! But the history as people often say provides a lot of answers! - In fact a quick comparison to RG's recent speech can tell you the template was from SG's initial speech.

However I leave with a parting thought – is she a good leader? Await part - 3

Divine eyes to see the Vishwaroopam...

Who is the cause for this ‘VISWAROOPAM’ (Universe)?

‘Yathornaabhih Srajate granhate cha yatha
Tathaaksharaat sambhavatiha viswam’ - Mundaka Upanishad.

‘As the spider creates the web out of itself and withdraws unto itself’ from the imperishable comes out the universe’. - It means the creation, creator and the created are one and the same.


The Universe-form is banned!? The actor-director-producer Kamal Hassan (ADP K. Hassan from here on) will not lose much money, but in fact will earn more due to the controversy.

I am sorry, ADP K.Hassan created this mess and he has to withdraw into this mess and from this, will come Vishwaroopam. Someone had a comment in vikatan some time back, that Rajini who in spite of his association with MK and other atheists, had a mind of his own and followed things in a way different to ADP K.Hassan who in the same association always struggled and never was able to rest his mind.

This struggle made him to reach out and has landed him in a mess. However now a lot of reports emerging that there is nothing offensive in the movie, but certain scenes create a projection and there is no denying. It may not be offensive to some in fact majority - because the majority believes in pluralism and doesn't mind certain projections., But  are all the five fingers same?

Key questions:

1. If I am docile and bear whatever is thrown at me, doesn't mean others to be and react the same way and manner (all 5 fingers analogy) - Some people albeit minority among minority feel offensive, at least the perception is so and they are acting on it. - Don't they have right to show their protest?

2. If this was caused by Jaya TV license issue, why don't ADP K. Hassan come out open on this? I am sure he would have - wouldn't he?

3. Don't see this as a Cinema/arts - People from a particular sect are making/taking efforts to change the perception - if the majority Hindu population choose not to protest or even lift a finger when someone makes a joke about  their Hindu Gods - does it mean the minority should follow the same attitude? - Don't they have rights (democratic) to protest?

4. Have the violated any laws? They have taken legal means to ban the movie... Unlike those who assault Valentine's day and MF Hussain's Hindu bashing arts, they have only taken legal steps... so is this wrong?

5. If an opinion is freedom of expression, is it not the same freedom of expression to say the movie is trying to portray terrorists in certain way? So why stop that?

6. NASA pictures showed the Sethu bridge as an existing sand bridge, but an elected government created an economic policy and planned to destroy a Hindu-faith associated bridge, was it not only a small section of Majority that made efforts to stop it? So in the same way if a small section of minority try and legally ban a movie - should it become an issue?

I am not necessarily saying it is right or wrong - I am saying it is a chance for India to truly introspect on how  to manage and evolve the multi-faith without damaging the fabric and protect democracy... Crux of the problem is "People will see what they want to see..." Gandhi (not Rahul) - Babuji tried and he did influence a lot of people, he had to sacrifice a lot in order to change perceptions and bring the society closer... The losses he had were huge and he couldn't change everyone (In fact he ended being on enemy camps for both groups), but his efforts have impact even today and I am one of them. Hey Ram!

So if ADP K.Hassan really wants to engage and debate with the society and do seva to arts and humanity, he has to accept this in merit and not be worried about economic failure but continue his debate. Good Luck Sir... Please continue.

Final question - I infer that from his follow-up statements, it is clear to me that he hasn't realized the magnitude of change required and the cost/efforts to change the perception and bring unity - Does he? and If he reads this blog (Oh yeah!) and if my point clicks in his brain, will he still be up for change?

One needs courage, one need to sacrifice many things to make a change at that level. But as a society we need to introspect to create harmony and humanity.

And to the title... According to the legends, Krishna had to provide divine eyes to see Vishwaroopam - But it turns out Arjuna cried for mercy, as he couldn't withstand the sight. Truth is harsh and one needs to open up to reality! Question self...

We should give it to her...

I never thought, I would appreciate Sonia-ji one day. Before I write anything further, I wish to state a few things.

1. The below thoughts are highly recommended to be consumed only in the perspective of 'Management style' and not relate it with Patriotism, Politics or any other viewpoints. 
2. I don't mean to support the Congress (I) party in its agenda or Sonia-ji's politics 
3. I will aim to keep this apolitical and focus on the management, but will challenge other politicians in the due course and relate to some political events, but the main aim is to discuss her Management style.

I have come around to appreciate Sonia in her personal capacity for what she is today. Imagine you get married to a foreigner (and that too a topmost politician of a country) and to add, you have no roots to politics or any upper class lifestyle habits. In this situation, you have got a MIL (Mother-in-law) who is ruthless and comes the history of declaring emergency... Please visualize/imagine (irrespective of your gender) yourself walking to Indira Gandhi to be introduced as Sonia! Take a few minutes, get yourself into that character and tremble in your shoes...

From there you have come all the way to aiding the congress to win 2 elections, even more keep the family in tact as a single mom, in addition got the whole party under control, PM under influence (being gentle on MMS), your sworn enemies like Pawar, Sangma etc. come back to support you, worse the opposition leader LKA arriving at your lawns and accepting your latest position as a supreme leader in India - As people like Subramaniam swamy say it may all be about Money, it could all be for protecting the black money, still a lady, a single mother, a foreign national to take up the mantle of India - She has got it!

Where does this leave the other politicians in the game of chess? What has happened to their strategy? You cannot get a word out of her unnecessarily, she has got veil and a whole layer surrounded and nothing can penetrate her world - so what ever may be the cause, however selfish she may be, without that level of management, how can she be there at the top for so long? In fact so-called Chanakya of TN - Mu.Ka is no where near her stature! Even is she is corrupt and has all sorts of bad intention, she has swept the country's multi-functional system, managers and leaders - If you say money is the reason, may be. But for someone to hang onto the power and stature for this long, it is extra-ordinary... Why hasn't the top parties like BJP, Left got any answers? Are there no leaders to her match? (I will let Modi out of this writing, coz' irrespective of his background and his politics and the godhra, he is proving to be a thorn for his opponents - not to mention both have similar styles of functioning)

So you got to give it to her... Wait for Part 2.