Ancestral Bubble - Is Now World's Trouble.

The most awaited event of the year 2011 is obviously neither the next release of Rajnikant nor the IPL (not even the cricket world cup for that matter). The year 2011 will be remembered in the history of humanity for a similar but larger feat than the one in the year 1999. In 1999 the world supposedly witnessed the birth of the 6 billionth living human and in late 2011 we are going to witness the birth of the 7 billionth living human (in fact certain agencies are coming up with precise date and time and one lucky person would be given the honor of being the 7 billionth!!). The planet earth is having to bear the load of 7 billion creatures with 5 senses or more and all the nuisance they come up with day in and day out. We have environmental issues, climate change, inflation, poverty, unemployment, greed, ego, racism and a hundred other issues to be taken care of, and as the worlds population increases these problems are only going to increase manifold.

Could we have avoided this situation through some precautionary measures some time in the history of humanity? I guess the answer is yes, if our ancestors would have been rational and practical mainly. If we have such a huge population base today it’s our ancestors who are to be blamed. You must be wondering why am I so anti ancestral?

 Just try and understand the following argument to realize what led to what and why we are in such an awful situation today. Most of our forefathers and the generations that followed have had 5+ children (There are a lot of them I know of who can form a cricket team) and those children have had their own families and then their children their own families and so on. The family tree kept growing, so did the population, without realizing the fact that their actions will lead to serious issues for the generations to come and it would in fact become a threat to their own family members of the future generation.

Now lets just say that our fore fathers were rational and conservative and had control over their actions by limiting the number of children to 2 or 3, at least 40%(a random guesstimate) of the population that the world has been a host to whether living or dead today might have never been there leading to layers of generations later on. And the number 7 billion that we are talking about today would have been a distant dream. All the troubles that we have to go through today would either have been non existent or we would not have been a part of the human species to witness the same. 

Now that we are talking about restraint and family planning, if some of these things would have been put into the heads of our ancestors, may be the world would have been a far better place to live in today.

The question to which I don't seem to discover an answer while thinking about the whole population explosion thing is the rational or logic behind our ancestors wanting to have too many children, what joy did they get? Most of them were neither well off, nor had sufficient resources to take care of their children and their well being. Then why did they have to burden themselves with more people to take care of leading to more expenses and worries there of? As a result of actions of these ancestors that we are talking about a lot of their children remained uneducated, were subjected to child labor, made multiple sacrifices every now and then, always lived for a share in the pie and in some cases lacked proper care and upbringing leading to not so happy lives (this is strictly my assumption, though if this question is raised to any of the elder generations the answer would be totally opposite). 

Did our forefathers not see the population explosion coming up? Were they so well to do that they assumed their earnings would serve the generations to come? I think the answer to the second question is an affirmative No, while to the first one it might be a no or a may be as our forefathers themselves faced lack of resources, so from where did they get a ray of hope that the situation might improve? I guess if they had a chance to go back in time and rewrite their life's story, it would be a completely different tale and state of affairs all together. Anyways now that our futures are in jeopardize, at least may their souls rest in peace. And the ones who are still breathing – "You Two, Ours One"  is the way forward (as the Chennai auto’s convey) i guess.

P.S. – The trigger for this write up was this article on TOI a few days back. The family trees above were made by the author for the purpose of illustration. Only four generations have been shown in the illustration as the author feels a maximum of four generations may only see the light of the day in a century and its sufficient to consider a century in the context being discussed.

Today's Favorite Line - "Our chief want is someone who will inspire us to be what we know we could be." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Today's Favorite Song - What about now (West Life)

The Gods Must Be Crazy

If you were a conscious middle class consumer or if you have attended a marketing course, you would have realized that we in India have more car brands than say tooth paste brands, though the fact is that there are more people in the country who must be using a tooth paste than the number of people who buy/ travel in a car. Now if this fact has come to you as a surprise, then you'll be astonished to realize the fact that we in India have far more number of GOD brands than any other product or commodity brands and obviously so because the customer base is huge, in fact the largest in this category.

Just start counting the number of gods small or big you pray to, on an average on any given day. I won't be surprised even if you come up with a number that's greater than a dozen. The product god is the most carefully studied, researched and delivered product, or is it? The number of brands of this product must be running in hundreds and in fact certain brands have their own extensions and sub categories. Still there is hardly any cannibalization, actually there is no fear of cannibalization as multiple units/ brands can be used at any point in time, so margins might not really get affected much unless and until there is a huge let down by a brand. And in fact every now and then a lot of new brands are being launched in some part of the country or other. Some reach the masses quickly; others take a little time while certain others prefer to remain in their own territory. Starting a new brand is quite easy as no mega budget is required, just a 2 by 2 feet space and a trick or two would do to get started with. Expansions can be taken care of later as per market conditions and demand, and a large land shall be acquired to open a super center just like Wal-Mart does.

A lot of marketing and business gurus must have been boasting about their discovery of the concepts of segmentation and product family and so on, but they have failed to realize that the gods had (I know that the product god is a man made one, still I would like to stick to god being his own creator in this context) already very consciously done their human study and home work. They had already categorized each one amongst themselves as per their advanced market study, for instance they gave Goddess Lakshmi the money market, and Goddess Saraswati the education industry, lord ram the general welfare and so on. If someone really wants to understand and study supply chain management and channel management, they should take this product as a case study. In India there's no other product which enjoys such kind of a reach, they have multiple centers in every street, in fact they are connected from door to door in every home that too without using social media or a 3G network, not even a discount sale ever! Just some freebies on a regular basis do the trick. Their treasury is the wealthiest one in the world, be it recession or inflation they are always secure, they have hedged all their risk and have no down side loss, they have most prompt payment rate as well, their repayment rate is even higher than that of Grameen Bank.

They get paid in billions on a daily basis for the one and only service rendered by them - HOPE. Quite a price to pay for that four lettered service I guess. We are glad to see the product doing so well, as it can be used for various fund raising and research activities. In fact when the whole world is out of business and unemployed, that's when their demand is at its all time high and the bank balance of all these brands touch new highs. And yet god doesn't give a discount during inflationary periods even after earning extra ordinary returns during other times. I guess like all other products even god is always looking at maximizing their EBITDA and PAT.

Product design and Packaging are key elements of any product or brands success apart from its functionality and other attributes. The product ‘God’ has been designed and packed in a really innovative way across brands that each one stands out for its own specific design. For instance Lord Ganesha has been given a designer nose where as Lord Hanumans mouth does the trick for him. In fact most of these gods have various add ons or applications built in with them in terms of a creature or an instrument, like Lord Krishna has his Chakra that he can spin around as and when he likes, while Jesus has been given a designer cross to rest his back on in a stylish way, and certain goddesses have been given the liberty to use animals as their couch. Each of them have their own customized dress code and accessories specially designed using finest material available. I am just wondering, if they had annual awards ceremony, who would they honor in different categories and who would be in the jury?

The gods must have had a real eureka moment when they thought about entering the human market to provide their services, how would they have known this industry would flourish as much as it is doing in India today? They are a big failure in China, as 90% of the Chinese don't have a religion. The gods must have really gotten crazy while trying to create the blue ocean strategy for the world’s second most populous country and you bet, they have been doing a great job so far, it’s the wealthiest industry in the world today and hopefully will remain so for a long long time. Amen

P.S. - Obviously the title has been inspired by the movie. I do look at the concept of God more firmly as a product than anything else, so most of the things that have been said above are a result of the thought process thereof. Anyways disclaimers are inevitable as usual; this piece was written in a completely fun mood and was to just look at things on a lighter note rather than to make a statement or mockery of these highly followed brands. Hope you understood and enjoyed the attempt at subtle humor. Last but not the least, the names that have been taken were incidental and not deliberate to put some brands above or below some other brands,

Today's Favorite Line - "Better to do something imperfectly than to do nothing flawlessly." - Dr. Robert Schuller

Today's Favorite Song -   Aye Khuda (Paatshaala)

The MBA curse

How would it feel if an MBA which was supposed to make the career prospects of an individual better and boost his esteem becomes a curse for him while trying to move ahead in life post the MBA? It is the last thing one would expect out of an MBA. It’s about how the fact that the person being an MBA (or for that matter a post graduate) is used against him in various scenarios, haunting him every now and then. The MBA that was supposed to act like engine oil making the ride easy for a vehicle, at times seems to work like a nail hit punctured tyre making the ride a lot tougher due to the egoistic and other issues around (the ego & other issues acting as a nail).

The MBA in itself is not the curse, but the way a lot of people treat the ones with an MBA starts making the MBA look like the curse. The expectations and the treatment of an MBA vary widely from place to place and person to person depending on what each ones egoistic value is.

Some commonly known ways/situations in which an MBA pays a price for his keen desire to grow fast in life are listed below:- (The first statement in each set is the kind of crap we have to hear and the next one in italics is my response to it)

What? You wanna do business? Then why did you do an MBA? You are supposed to/ made to work, not own! You were trained to be a manager not a businessman/ entrepreneur.

(Now, what the heck!? MBA is just an additional qualification to learn a few things to understand how businesses run and the allied stuff, it certainly isn't insane for an MBA to dream running his own show. Why restrict his domain just to a JOB?)

What? You don't have a job? No one has taken you yet? What's the use of your MBA? 

(Excuse me, if you may please! MBA's don't fall under the NREGA scheme and yet again it’s an educational qualification not a 'make me your slave' certification.)

You can make 20-25K/month anyhow; you said you are an MBA right? Why bother?

(20-25K your ass!! Those 'I don't know anything, so I shall write codes' engineers make that much today, I deserve better don't you think? At least cos I've spent a fortune to get the additional education)

So, now that you've started working, I think you'll tell me what your package is? What? Its not even 25Lakhs?! Then what’s the use of having spent 2 years & close to a million for that god damn degree?

(First of all, for the love of god, try to understand that the article you read in the newspaper about some geek getting placed at an 8 digit package is only about THAT geek, and not about the entire MBA universe. Another point you must understand is the fact that, the geeks who are getting placed at an extravagant package like the one you expected me to, stop living the moment they get placed and start working, and they stop only after they've either been fired(by themselves or by the employer) or have committed suicide due to depression or fatigue. I haven’t planned for any of those so far.)  

 

MBA - Sir, why is my package less than half of the CA, sitting right next to my cubicle while we do the same work & have the same profile?  We also joined together, remember?

BOSS - You see, the CA brings a lot of value to the table, he is a CA & you are just an mba after all!!!

(Holy Crap!! For the last 6 months, I have been teaching him, how to use excel sheet, how to make a PPT and in fact at times how to operate on the computer. And guess what, all the reports that he has sent to you so far have major inputs from me! And he brings more value to the table? Which one? If I stop helping him from tomorrow you'll realize our values, you bitch.)

You MBA's are very bookish, come out of your case study mode buddy, look at the real picture. Stop acting like a student and understand the problem the right way.

(Weren’t you the one who asked a zillion definitions and formulae during my interview while the other panelists were talking about practical stuff?! You forgot how difficult you made my life for that half hour, you loser! And by the way, you were the one who asked me to stick to the basics and take learning’s out of what I learnt during my MBA in the last meeting! Didn’t know that was being bookish!! And just to remind you, you are yourself a visiting faculty at a bschool appreciating the case study mode of looking at the problem always & recommended us to be the change agents in this aspect.)

What do you think should be done about the inflation in terms of the key policy rates? What? You don’t know for sure? Aren’t you an MBA?

(First of all, I am no Montek Singh Ahuwalia or Pranab Mukherji, how am I expected to know better when there are experts in their teams who are hardly able to do anything about it. Secondly I am an MBA, which does not mean, I should be a master of everything, spare me! I told you what ever I knew.)

The MBA is being used as a double edged sword against people like me who want to make it big ( I am not too sure how to define big) in life, at least in terms of doing something phenomenal if not anything else at least. Our knowledge is used to show us, how we can be used as cheap labor and our ambitions are used to take advantage of our financial compulsions. Our qualification is at times used as a tool to decide our fate and more so against our capabilities and intelligence. Every time we try to make a point or a contribution in our own way, we are being shot down by our artillery (The MBA) as a weapon against us, by either putting us too above in the league or throwing us deep down in the ocean to make us feel beaten. Can the world stop trying to beat us and instead understand our capabilities and ambitions instead of creating a counter productive environment like a capitalist state? I agree there are a lot of instances of a lot of MBA are doing better than they deserve, but does that mean that the complete herd is always better off? Lastly, my understanding says, most of us do an MBA for it to work as an insurance policy which could pay off like a long term investment does while it could secure us our careers and job prospects to an extent, so kindly stop cursing us using our own only real asset.

Today’s Favorite Line – "Believe that life is worth living and your belief will help create the fact." - William James

Today’s Favorite Song – Flying without wings (West Life)

From the womb of recession - Class of 2009

The one thing that is really crucial while selecting a b-school for any aspiring management student is its placement record. But for the children of recession, it hardly mattered. They all joined a premier institute at a time (2007) when the economy of the world was doing really well and they hoped it would be in an even better position when they graduate or at least remain the same worst come worst, but no way could it get go down. ‘How could that happen to me’ would have been the thought on any average wannabe MBA’s mind while he/she had joined the course.

And then the so called recession did not hit the bschool located at Nungambakkam alone, nor did it hit the city of Chennai alone, how about the state of Tamilnadu, no? India? We are not yet done my friend! It hit placements of graduates all over the world and no one was spared. Though some of them must have got jobs, decent profiles, so-so pay packages but then thousands of them hardly had a job for a long time while the next batch was slowly getting placed. And if at all they got placed it was may be at a lower band than they usually would have got, and at a pay scale that in no way was comparable to the preceding batches, but no one could help it, we were not the destiny’s children, we were specially chosen to be the recession’s children.

We were the batch that was tested the most for its patience, skill sets, competitive spirit and above all our faith. Luckily, at least at my bschool everyone was placed, if not on day zero, at least in the months after it. But there were thousands of graduates across the globe, who either dint get a job, lot of whom had quit a job to graduate, others gave promotion a slip and so on. But what made this batch born from the womb of recession special was the fact that, they joined a bschool when the markets were at its best and they graduated right when the markets tanked to an all time low, unemployment rates soared like the sun would in the noon and the number of opportunities available were as high as the number of stars you could count on a sunny day.

One instance that stands out on my mind with regard to the placements during the recessionary period was the episode of a top investment bank that was supposed to visit our campus for recruitment on September 18^th and all my batch mates were excited and were preparing really hard to be able to ace the selection process of one of the best investment banks of the world. They prepared so much so that, it felt as if it was the only thing they ever wanted in life. I would have hardly seen them prepare for any other thing the year or so before that. But how could they have known, the company they were aspiring to work for went bust just a day before it was supposed to visit our campus. Yea, you read it right, September 17^th was the day when the Business Line newspaper that we had started reading for quite sometime then to keep ourselves abreast of the business world read, “Lehman Bros files for bankruptcy” as its top headline on its front page. Lots of dreams were shattered, lots of them more or less lost hope, but then some of us who were still out of the trap of the fantasy world of big brand ‘dream company’ realized that what had happened to us, was may be in our best interest. If Lehman would have filed its chapter 11 on a day after it recruited some of us, it would have been a much much bigger shock, cos then it would have been a case of having a job in a company that had ceased to exist. It was far better that we ‘did not have a job’ rather than ‘have a job but not have it’. In fact this was the case with a dozen or more students from a couple of other premier institutes of the country who were recruited by Lehman before it was supposed to come to our campus, I know how difficult it would have been for those children of bankruptcy.

A lot has been discussed, argued and felt about this class of 2009, but what is it that has transpired with respect to these children of recession should be of further interest to the world, as these are the people who had seen both boom and bust at a very young age, in fact even before the start of their career. And I thought this was the best thing to have happened to us, we learnt some of the lessons we would have learnt much later in life, much earlier than a lot of others do. Though its been a painful period of 20 months since we have started working, but we’ve grown up with a lot of learning’s that would take us a long way in the future when may be such a catastrophe hits the world again, we would be prepared far better than the rest of the crowd.

Though at a psychological level we might have had a few advantages and disadvantages over the rest of the management crowd, we have definitely lost out on the monetary quantum and the sense of security standpoint. Lot of us had got job’s on contractual basis and our fates will be decided really soon, we would stand again on the same point as we did 2 years ago, if these companies don’t make us permanent employees. It would again be a period of anxiety & patience, again trying to get a good job and getting settled down with what we would like to do, but boy! its not going to be easy. Though the markets now are doing far better, destiny isn’t always with the lot that in some sense has been rejected (if I am allowed to use that word) by some other corporate.

When we graduated I used to think that the jobs we got are the jobs that were really crucial, as companies wont really recruit in such times unless they really want people to fill certain vacancies, but for certain companies it was just an easy way out to hire cheap than in years of boom may be, though not true in all the cases. The pie chart below would give you an idea about how the class of 2009 has been doing over the course of 20 months since they started working.

It’s clear that close to 70% of them are still with the same company  they started out with, but the fact is, at least a quarter of them are seriously looking out for other opportunities mostly because they aren’t really fond of what they are doing, as a process of which some of them have already changed one job (20%). The remaining 13% who are not working are the ones who have either quit their jobs as they want to pursue something else, including starting some business of their own or a completely different career or may be got married and settled ( you know what that means). Now the question is, is the story similar with other batches who either passed out before or after, I would say more or less YES, but still there are things that this particular batch is going through which others might not have gone through, things that cant really be expressed, but can only be felt.

One thing I firmly believe in and have understood through this whole experience is, destiny’s child or recessions child, as long as things are good make hay, but remember things won’t remain good or bad for ever. The markets have gotten back on track and companies are recruiting astounding number of people this year, breaking all kinds of previous records. Just be patient and give your best, recession or no recession, there is a billion plus population in the country that has to be fed, transported, taken care of and a lot of other services to be provided to. Someone has to do each of these things, so just stay active and you’ll definitely find something that you really deserve. Last thought (or piece of advice you might call it) for all management’s children would be – Stop measuring your success in life based on your CTC, it hardly matters as long as you find something that you would love to do for a large fraction of your life and a management degree is not just a gateway to a seven digit pay check always, it is a great deal more than that, if all of us realize that, it wont matter even if you were from the womb of recession. Let’s stop looking at management education as a platform ticket for the employment station, it’s rather a first class ticket to some of the best learning’s and experiences in life.

P.S. – This post was inspired by views posted in an article on Times of India recently.

Today’s Favorite Line - A cynic is a man who knows the price of everything, and the value of nothing. - Oscar Wilde

Today’s Favorite Song – Pray for me brother (A.R. Rehman)

The Wall – The Best A Team Can Get

Every home has four walls to protect the people living inside, to give them the feeling of being warm and secure from external environment no matter its summer or winter, calm or chaotic outside. We make sure that our wall is as strong and reliable as possible. But the Indian Cricket Team has been so fortunate, that though it has had a lot of other luxuries, though it has had only one WALL to protect itself, but then they never felt the requirement of anything more as THE WALL that they had made sure, performed the role of more than being a solid structure, by saving the team against all countries and conditions.

Lately there have been long and short battles going on between fans of two camps, ‘The Record Holder Camp’ and ‘The Wall Camp’ and the premise of the battle has more or less been pointless, how can you compare two people who have played two completely different roles in a teams success towards becoming a top team from almost no where. While one’s career has been totally to the team, by the team and for the team and the others has been more of to the record book, by the record book and for the record book, it hardly makes any sense to compare the two. My words might sound supportive towards the wall, but that’s also cos I have been a huge fan of him ever since my childhood, while all the other kids used to admire the short guy with tall records, I felt this lean guy with strength to rescue the team from every calamity was more commendable, not that the short guy never saved the team, but if you look at the lean guy’s record in lieu of corresponding situation of the team on a given match day, you shall realize who gave it all for the country each time.

This debate has primarily popped up just because the Indian media, blatantly ignored the fact that THE WALL of the team has reached a milestone that only two other batsmen in the world have achieved and more importantly it also in the joy of celebrating the records of the little master, forgot the more important aspect of the game, winning/ saving the game, which the little master failed miserably at, though he had some control over the situation. The media frenzy has been totally towards a record that we’ve been waiting for quite some time. Taking individuals over team, where did our post match analysis and cribbing go? As per my knowledge and understanding, on most of the occasions when the little master has played a good knock the team has not won! Take each of his knocks and tabulate it with the match result or situation, and you can judge the result for yourself. What’s the use of hitting a ton, when it can’t make my team win? We won’t see Dr. Manmohan Singh as a nice PM, the moment his government fares badly? (Aren’t we doing this already?)

In order to make a few things clear as to why we respect THE WALL so much, I have compiled a set of pointers (including a few individual records) to show how strong the wall has been and how crucial a role he has played as a team player, rather than being a selfish player( no offense meant). Each of these points below conveys how important his contribution was to the success of the team (not the record books). The following points have been compiled using the Wikipedia page of Rahul Dravid.

He is the first and the only batsman to score a century in all ten Test playing nations (The little master can may be emulate this, but not break this one record!)

Dravid has also been involved in more than 80 century partnerships with 18 different partners and has been involved in 19 century partnerships with Sachin Tendulkar - a world record. (Ever heard? partnerships win you matches, centuries don’t!)

Dravid was top run scorer in the 7th World Cup (1999), scoring 461 runs. He is the only Indian to score two back to back 100's in World Cup's. (He was a contender for Man of the Series award, missed it to Lance Klusner, an all-rounder)

Dravid was involved in two of the largest partnerships in ODIs: a 318-run partnership with Sourav Ganguly, the first pair to combine for a 300-run partnership, and then a 331-run partnership with Sachin Tendulkar, which is the present world record. (Again stood besides these 2 greats of Indian cricket and let them take the lime light in both the occasions, though he was as much a part of the success)

Also, Dravid is the current world record holder for the highest percentage (%) contribution of runs scored in matches won under a single captain, where the captain has won more than 20 Tests. In the 21 Test matches India won under Sourav Ganguly's leadership, Dravid played his part in every single one of those wins, scoring at a record average of 102.84 and piling up an astonishing 2571 runs, with nine hundreds - three of them double-centuries - and ten fifties in 32 innings. He contributed nearly 23% of the total runs scored by India in those 21 matches, which is almost one run out of every four runs the team scored. (I am sure, the little master, could hardly get closer to this, contributing towards teams victory, every time! And we think Sourav Ganguly was a great captain, think of him without THE WALL’s contribution.)

Though primarily a defensive batsman, Dravid has scored 50 not out in 22 balls (Strike Rate-227.27) vs NewZealand in Hydrabad on 15 Nov 2003, second fastest 50 among Indians. Only Ajit Agarkar 67 of 21 balls is faster than Dravid. (Now I heard someone telling me, he is a defensive player. Oh Really?)

After a barren run in Test matches in 2008, Dravid came under increasing media pressure to retire or be dropped. In the Second Test against England in Mohali, he scored 136, putting on a triple-century stand with Gautam Gambhir. (Every player goes through bad patches in his career, but RD responds not by his individual score, but by his contribution to the teams cause. So stop playing god father, let him decide when he wants to retire)

He has been involved in the most century partnerships in Test history – 85, as on 23 Nov 2009. (Now, compare that with the little master’s partnerships, scoring 50 centuries won’t get the team the top slot, staying on in different conditions and making the other player comfortable to play with does!)

Involved in highest partnership made away from home for any wicket for India with vice captain Virender Sehwag of 410 runs vs Pakistan at Lahore in 2006, also, the highest partnership between a captain and the vice captain (Now, that’s a record! Breaking the opposition to pieces)

He is currently 2nd among batsmen who have scored most away runs in Tests (6430 as of April 2009). Only Sachin Tendulkar (7165) has scored more away Test runs. (Obviously the little master is a little ahead, but the difference in the number of innings and years played by both of them is quite significant a reason for the difference.)

He is the fastest batsman in the history of Test cricket to make 9,000 runs. The former Indian captain brought up the landmark in his 176^th innings playing against West Indies in 2006 and broke the earlier record of Brian Lara. (Did someone talk about his consistency?)

Partnering with Tendulkar, has scored more runs than any other pair, excluding opening pairs. They are the 3^rd best in terms of total number of partnership runs scored by a pair in test cricket. (And in majority of these partnerships, his contribution wasn’t acknowledged as much as the media always wanted to talk about the Record Master)

Dravid has faced highest number of deliveries in test cricket, more than Allan Border’s previous record of 27002 deliveries. (Staying there on the crease for the team, saving one side of the wicket when all others fail! If scoring runs is important, in test cricket staying on the crease is even more crucial.)

2nd highest number of fifties in test cricket after Australia's Allan Border (63) and jointly shared with compatriot Sachin Tendulkar (59). (Now, he equals the little master on this record, but again, how many innings of each of them rescued or put the team in a better position? Check!)

Rahul Dravid is the third batsman in the world after compatriot Sachin Tendulkar and Australia's Ricky Ponting to reach the 12000-run milestone in test cricket. (Last but not the least. Personal milestones matter but they don’t make a winner! So we mention it last, no matter whether anyone acknowledges it or not!!)

To conclude, I’d just like to say that, Rahul Wall Dravid is one amongst the BEST TEST PLAYER the World has ever seen. While RD has contributed 20 times towards the teams victory and SRT has contributed 23 times (Courtesy – Mid day Article), look at the ratio of innings played or no. of fifties plus hundreds scored to no. of times it lead to the teams victory and you’ll realize why I put RD above SRT in context of being a better team player, all over the write up. The only reason RD is being compared to SRT is, he is no lesser than SRT if not greater but like I started off, both are a class in themselves, nevertheless team comes over self, always!

P.S – This write up wasn’t intended to compare the two greats, but in the process of compiling facts and thoughts, my mind couldn’t resist answering all those record favoring and ignorant individuals ignoring the security this soldier has given to Indian Cricket for over a decade and a half, always being overshadowed by others and still never expecting acknowledgement. I Salute. I hope this write up would shut a lot of mouths suggesting retirement of RD for ever, its’ his fitness, let him take a call. You Take a Bow!!

Today’s Favorite Line – I'm not offended by what you say. I'm just glad that you're stringing words into sentences now.

Today’s Favorite Song – He could be the one ( Hannah Montana)

Phas Gaya Re Marwadi

It is always perceived to be better to be born in a rich business family, but as a really old saying goes ‘the grass always looks greener on the other side’. I think (out of experience mostly) that it’s a bane in more senses than one to be born in a rich business family (this is not exactly the ‘by experience’ that I am talking about) as it restricts you from being the kind of person you like to be. Though one might argue saying, you have the liberty and the resources that one requires to fulfill his/her aspirations, the reality is generally far from our imagination. How many Marwari’s that you know have gone out of their family’s already existing so called dynastical business empire? And if you are thinking that they dint go beyond cos they dint want to, then may be you are wrong, most of them stick back cos they have to, and they aren’t in a position to question or fight back to fulfill their dreams. Their aspirations get killed just cos they have to keep the family name flying high in the field their fore fathers chose to enter, no matter whether it’s going to work in the future or not.

The family becomes so narrow minded that everything except for what they are involved in seems risky, cos it involves things that they don’t understand, people of the kind whom they have never confronted before and courage that they never had (if they had it, they would have tried their own thing, rather than following their fore fathers just for the sake of it, by killing their own talent), killing genuine talent in other fields generation after generation. It’s known across the country that marwadi’s are known to be businessmen and are known to do well in business, but have we ever given a thought to the fact that how many of them who turned out as these so called good businessmen wanted to be the same? Now just cos they are doing well, we appreciate them and that’s obviously cos of their dedication and hard work, but haven’t they killed their hidden talent in other fields of interest (just in case, this might even mean any other business than the one in which the family is already involved).

At least someone born in a family where the main source of income is from a salary and not from some business, the younger generation always knows that it’s totally in their hands to build a career, to earn a living, to gain some name and respect. An individual can start working on these things with a sense of purpose and direction in mind, though he/ she might have to face a lot of obstacles and lack of resources, but the feeling of fulfillment is always there. But if you take a Marwadi youngster today, more often than not, all the liberties I mentioned above are absent, he/she hardly has a sense of purpose at any point in life, its always filled with if’s and buts (if’s of ‘what if my family wont allow me’, buts of ‘but I really want to do this’) which never get addressed rationally (you can take my word on this one, I can write a book on this subject in fact), there’s never the feeling of fulfillment as the family never lets you do anything on your own, they always want to act like a god father, even if you don’t want one (for hell’s sake, let me get things done for myself, MY WAY!), think of making a name for your self or some respect if at all that’s possible, it always gets over shadowed by the power of money and contacts your family wants to flaunt every now and then, as if you couldn’t do anything without them (now come on, your contacts are not end of the world! I have mine!!).

How does a marwadi youngster make a mark in such an orthodox environment, especially cos he/she has to deal with people who are mostly less educated, past driven, self obsessive, protectionist, conservative and most importantly still doing good in life in their own ways? You can hardly beat them on anything and argue? You better not try if you can’t take irrationality for an answer!

P.S – There are a zillion reasons why it’s a boon to be born in a Marwari business family, I am not ignorant of those luxuries (luxuries always don’t relate to money or status, & I mean it), in fact a lot of these things lead to a better life for a person than in any other community or type of people (FYI, I am not racist, neither do I believe in caste or creed, just making a point). Just wanted to highlight this one bane, that I observe affecting a lot of youngsters including me at this point in time. If you’re wondering why Marwari specific arguments in this one, cos they are the ones whom I represent but hardly seem to understand.

Today’s Favorite Line – Opportunity paged me, tweeted me, linked me, e-mailed me, poked me, faxed me and spammed me... but I was expecting it to knock.

Today’s Favorite Song – So Sick (Ne-Yo)

Stop being scared of the F Word

As humans we live every moment of our life thinking how we could make our life failure free, we always like to ride on success and when we attain success we never see beyond it. We get hungry for more, we stop realizing there could be bumps/ pot holes that could be on our way, we are so confident and over sure that, we think nothing can go wrong anymore and that’s right when we fall in to the pot hole of failure. And now this is the situation that actually decides if we have it in us to make it big from here or will we remain inside the pot hole as we never reflected up on or were prepared enough to get over the road block.

Most of the world had written off ‘The Amitabh Bachchan’ in the late 90’s as he sunk deeply into the sea of debt and the success wave that he was riding on for over 3 decades had all unexpectedly come to an unceremonious end by the bankruptcy of the company he had fielded to make it even bigger in Bollywood. No one ever thought he could ever rebuild a better ship and bounce back as a larger than life person by the kind of success he started getting in early 21^st century especially by his splendid performance as a host of KBC on Star Plus. Now the world just looks at the line graph of Big B’s fall and rise in these 2 decades while the much larger learning’s lie in the kind of things he has been through and how he got back, as they teach us, ‘why failure is important?’, ‘what failure could do to you?’.

If we use some historical data or just some memory of past and take 5 such people whom we’ve observed for years together and who have made it big in life, in what ever field or context, few things would stand out commonly in all of them, these people would have faced more obstacles, would have made more sacrifices, would have faced a lot of criticism, would have been tagged as a loser by a lot of them earlier in their life. Yet these people face all that and make it big, it’s not just about their talent, skill set or knowledge, not even experience. It’s purely about their attitude, their focus and more importantly their faith in their own selves. But for these 3 qualities, they wouldn’t have made it anywhere close to where they got. Now take up another set of 5 people whom you think you thought would make it as big, but they dint, and try to think why they dint make it where you thought they would. After a level of analysis you’ll figure it’s just because of the lack of these 3 qualities in them right when they needed it the most. They would have had these qualities in them for a major part of their life, but if they don’t possess them when they needed it the most, especially when time was testing them, they would have lost it and more often than not, never bounced back or at least back to the earlier level.

Let’s just talk about Vinod Kambli and Sachin Tendulkar, great friends, great cricketers right from a young age, but one made it as a god of the sport but the other turned out to be a sore loser. We could simply see the difference in the attitude of these two from a couple of instances, the semifinal of the ’96 world cup, where Kambli wept like a child would; he couldn’t take failure well and post that match he was dropped from the team for the next series due to other disciplinary issues. The aftermath of that match prompted us about some inherent qualities of Kambli, his attitude, his focus and his self belief.  As a result of his behavior he dug his own grave and we would never see any more of him with respect to a cricketing field except for a few series till 2000/01 when he was dropped for the last time due to his inability to play short pitched balls (he never really tried to rectify or learn) and poor form. He did not know how to overcome that one weakness and his talent wasn’t sufficient in itself to take his career any forward and so he lost the race of making it big in life and now we remember him for the wrong things often than for the right things. That’s what failure precisely does to you, it over shadows all the good that you have done before.

Another interesting case in the context of failure is the apple of the worlds eye (quite literally) – Steve Jobs, someone who was thrown out of his own company, who built something great, could not keep tempo with others and his own men showed their back to him. Where did all the success go? It just couldn’t come to his rescue; he was simply shown the doors! But this man was not someone who’d succumb to such hasty actions, he still possessed self belief, he was still focused on what he wanted and he knew what he was capable of, he had the right attitude and that’s the reason we all see him back to where he belonged with products much more innovative than we could have ever expected of him (his company). That’s the differentiator between a diamond and just any other piece of stone; how the stone takes the heat and other things in the process of becoming a diamond from just being a stone, and now that is Steve Jobs for us today!

Now let’s move from individuals to corporations, what differentiates those on the top to the other thousands of them who never make it? Some of them do well for some time and then aren’t able to sustain and slowly get back to where they originally belonged, to the bottom. Now what have the corporations that are at the top done and how? What differentiates them from the ones not at the top or from the ones who lost the race by some margin? Corporations that have done well over a period of time haven't done so cos of their quality or price alone, they have done well cos competition has kept them on their toes and they have faced the competition head on with the right attitude. Microsoft for instance has been on its toes since ever not just cos of the companies that are in the same line of business but also cos of companies like Google, Apple etc, who are all in the business of technology. The fear of being taken over has always made these companies perform better than the average; they learnt rapidly from every failure and bounced back with better offerings to all their stakeholders. Not once did these companies remain in the pot hole after an accident or failure, every time they faced failure, they took it very seriously and worked back up with focus and right attitude.

On hindsight we realize that failure really plays a crucial role in determining who has a pleasure ride and who remains in the pot holes and today if I had to understand an individual or a corporation I would not ask for its track record of success, I’d rather ask for the track record of its failure, that would be a more authenticate way to assess the capabilities and the heights a person or corporation would reach over a period of time. Failure doesn't necessarily have to be big, to test a person’s capability and attitude, even small set backs every now and then can give an idea about an individual’s character. But let’s agree on one thing, Failure is necessary!!

P.S – This write up was inspired by the talk of Harsha Bhogle at IIM-A a few years ago. 

Click here for the complete talk or Here for just a small bite on failure.

Today’s Favorite Line – Failure is the stepping stone to Success (class 3)

Today’s Favorite Song – Cry Cry (Jhoota hi sahi)

Lessons for Indian Cricket from Aussies

Australians have dominated the world cricket for more than a decade in all the formats of the game. It has produced quality players year after year and has nurtured them and then pushed others out cos there was a lot of talent waiting outside to take up the challenge. There have been times when we have felt that even the second or third team of Aussies could beat any other top team in the world; such was their domination in the world of cricket. They kept adding new talent to their squad as and when they felt someone had got old and had to give space to a new talent who has been waiting for years, just cos everyone was in form most of the times. So the old had to make way for the new, as they were assured that even the new ones will do exceedingly well. And as a process their top players retired one after the other at the peak of their forms, Steve Waugh retired in 2004 with an 88 against India, when he in no way looked like he was old or not fit, he just made way for new talent. This process continued in the latter years as well and they kept losing top cricketers due to age and pressure to give a chance to youngsters, which worked quite well for a long time with introduction of players like Darren Lehman, Simon Katich, Michael Clarke, Michael Hussey, Shaun Tait, Doug Bollinger, Cameron White, Mitchell Johnson and many more such high quality talent.

But today we are in a situation where the Aussies have lost their domination over world cricket; they have been losing, at times miserably and at other times after fighting out hard against different teams. One could never imagine that Aussies could rank as low as 5 in the test rankings, but that’s the fact at the moment, it has slipped down from being the top team to a mediocre one. If one observes keenly most of this has come as a result of the retirement of 5 top players one after the other in a span of 2 years, these 5 are the top players in their own specific role during their time of play – Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne, Mathew Hayden, Adam Gilchrist and Justin Langer. These 5 have been match winners of Australia for more than a decade in some form of the game or other, except for Ricky Ponting who is still playing; these 5 have been the crucial factors of taking the game to Australia’s favor. Be it the dominance of Hayden and Langer in the batting department or the sheer excellence in the mind boggling spells of Glenn McGrath, they have all been the force behind the domination of Australia in world cricket and as a result of their retirement, Australian cricket has seen new lows in their form, that was never imaginable at least for a kid like me who grew up watching cricket in the era of these maestros and every time I watched a match Australia was taking part in, I knew the result more often than not, such was the magic of the team then. But now it seems like history, it’s hard to imagine Australia getting back to where it belonged, no matter it has the talent, but these talented stars lack the magic that the super 5 had along with Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting (at different times).

Indian cricket is having a magical time at the moment, with it being the top test team for quite some time now and it has also shown good form in one day cricket as well as 20-20 in the recent times. Be it due to the Dhoni factor or due to sheer presence of the best batting line up in the world. We’ve always known that India is a major power in world cricket only due to its batting, our bowling has never been impressive for more than a series max at different times and conditions, specially as we play almost different set of pacers in every alternative series, our bowlers either being out of form half of the time or being injured for the rest. The matter that concerns me about Indian cricket at this moment specifically in the context of the Australian downfall is the fact that the pillars of Indian batting line up are all going to retire post the 2011 world cup that might mean the start of downfall of Indian cricket in different forms of the game. Sachin, Rahul, Laxman, Shewag might all retire in the next 2 years for sure, with their retirement Indian batting line up looks gloomy specially as we are talking about the top 5 spots in the batting line up. None of the current youngsters in the Indian squad have shown as much talent and courage to fill the shoes of these maestros.

Gautam Gambhir was in the best form of his life last year but has been a sheer disappointment this year and the less we talk about Yuvraj Singh the better it would be for him, he has just shown attitude and no character on the cricketing field and outside lately and that has led to him being dropped from the test squad already. Suresh Raina is an excellent talent, he might fill in the gap a bit but how far he will be able to do this is still to be seen. Virat Kohli has played well at times and has come to the rescue of the team a few times, but again once in a while knocks are not sufficient to fill the shoes of the fab 4. Dhoni himself has been showing no performance in terms of his batting for quite some time, as a captain he might be doing decently, but if he doesn’t perform as a batsman how far he will be able to remain a motivated captain is a big question. There are a lot of other brilliant names (Dinesh Karthik, Yusuf Pathan, Rohit Sharma, Robin Uthappa, Murali Vijay) that are in and out of the squad at different times, so its not quite reassuring that they would fill the void that would be created as a result of the retirement of the fab 4. So the batting line looks really gloomy, but can the bowling department go a notch up to fill the imbalance in the batting department? Like I said earlier, bowling is always a concern in itself, how can we expect it to compensate for the lackluster batting?! Indian Cricket should take a lesson from Australia’s recent history and do something constructive about it at the earliest else it would just follow the pattern we have observed with the Aussies.

P.S – Let’s not forget Aussies are still the top ODI team, but do you think they’ll be able to hold on to that for long? Lets wait for the outcome of the on going India – Australia series to get some idea. And obviously we have the world cup to look forward to, while teams like Bangladesh and Kenya are doing exceedingly well but teams like Pakistan, West Indies and Newzeland have their own problems in different departments.

Today’s Favorite Line – If being apathetic is wrong, then I don’t care

Today’s Favorite Song – Waka Waka (Shakira)

Kalmadi – The Unsung Hero

Oops!! Is the title right? May be, We’ll find out soon. India so far has conducted a Cricket world cup and a few other sporting events of some scale now and then, nothing great or bigger apart from that. We aren’t surprised on India’s ability to conduct a cricket world cup, but could you have ever imagined or can you still imagine that India could host a mega event as huge as the ‘CWG’? Do we have the expertise, the experience, the support of all the stakeholders? (Now you would say yes, but what would have been your answer before the games started?) No matter what your answer to this question is, we required courage, leadership and faith to be able to even dream of something of this scale and size. And since we showed all of that in some sense or the other, in some people or the other, we pulled it off, don’t you think so?

Every cat, dog and mouse (tom, dick and harry is old) have been abusing and accusing the chair of the OC, the guy who got the CWG to India (agreed, it’s not his individual effort but his role was quite substantial as I understand), who fought the bureaucracy, the system and most importantly the mindset, by making us believe that we can do a mega event like CWG and that will take the sporting arena in the country to a new level by providing our sportspersons excellent infrastructure and world class atmosphere within their home to be able to compete with top sportspersons from across the world at par. If it wasn’t for his courage to take the responsibility and the risk of doing the unthinkable in India that too as a public project (unlike cricket world cup, which is a private entity in more senses than one) to me is commendable!

Talking about the accusations of corruption and delay, give me one concrete proof or example of the same, all the accusations that our beloved media has so far made are nothing but assumptions and hidden camera operations to try and unearth something to make a story! Do we have a single charge of corruption against him that is direct and accurate? Don’t give me stuff like ‘contracts were given to relatives’, ‘the people working in the team are all his aides’ and so on, how does it matter as far as the work is done? Give me one politician in the country who has people in his team that he hasn’t known for decades, why talk so broadly, take the example of how our country is being run, since independence our country has more or less been run by a single family generation after generation, isn’t that true? Then why point this as an issue against this chap? (Now don’t tell me that, the people of India wanted this family to. Crap!) I agree mostly on the accusations on him in terms of the delay as that led to a lot of last minute issues and fears, but is it totally fair to accuse him for this so seriously? Are we not the country where the court of law takes decades together to give a verdict on simple disputes? Are we not the country where Pizza gets delivered before an ambulance? Are we not the country where police always reaches after the criminals have done all they wanted to? Then why suddenly are we trying to act as if we were the second’s hand of a clock? Lets face it, we have never been able to complete projects on time, that’s not an excuse for Kalmadi but does that not remind you of the fact that the whole CWG organizing required  coordination between various bureaucratic ego’s and stakeholders, Do I need say more?

I hate the fact that people keep blaming ‘him’ for India having spent 17000 crores (or whatever the exact figure is) without even spending a single minute thinking about where and how that money was spent. Most of the money was spent on the city of Delhi and not on the sporting related things, and that’s not just for the games, the money spent on infrastructure of Delhi was much required keeping in mind the growing population of the city and the kinds of problems people face in commuting in Delhi. Is CWG responsible for the money spent on such endeavors? It’s the scapegoat cos because of it the projects were taken up much earlier than they ever would have been! Delhi otherwise wouldn’t have had a metro may be for another decade or so. If the money spent on the infrastructure of the games village and other stadiums is a waste of money then we should stop expecting our sports persons to perform and win! If Kalmadi has been a cause of overrun of cost then who does each household hold responsible for the increase in their monthly expenses than budgeted early in the year? Is there no inflation or change in costs/plans when we talk about the CWG related contracts and materials. Can something that was decided years or months ago remain as it was put down on paper? I heard sometime back from someone that a flyover or a road leading to the new airport in Bengaluru was proposed to be made for 67 crores rupees by a panel that included Mr. Narayana Murthy, later that committee was dissolved due to some political intervention and the state PWD went ahead to do it and completed the project for close to 300 crores. So if that is possible with just a road, is it not possible with a games village? Use some mind if not heart!

Everyone is talking about corruption and hanging of Kalmadi, as if he has pocketed the entire 17000 crores, come on, lets stop being silly, may be there are discrepancies here and there, may be he is corrupt, may be he gave all the contracts to his aides, name me one party or politician in the country that hasn’t done any of the above at least a dozen times. I am not trying to support Kalmadi, nor am I trying to say that it’s good that Indian politicians are corrupt or we should leave Kalmadi even if he is guilty cos everyone does this. I am just trying to bring some rationale to the madness that the media has inserted into our head; our accusations seem to be statements made in a hurry. What if the audit committee finds him to be honest and find no wrong doing? I know this is too much optimism but have we not already shown too much distrust on him already! Just take a moment and find answers for these people before you defame or ill treat Kalmadi any more. The names that I am listing down are just a small sample of people who have various criminal cases or so against them, but they still continue to enjoy complete freedom and power in various sectors even though their wrong doing might have been established or proved in ways and times more than one – Lalu Prasad Yadav, Shibhu Soren, A Raja, Madhu Koda, Mayawati and many more!! Now compare these people with Kalmadi if he is really guilty and see the difference in what he has created and what these power houses have! I rest his case here. Hang him if he is guilty, beat him to death by the law, but don’t beat him to death just by defaming him before finding out the facts. And for once, just for once, acknowledge the fact that he has played a gigantic role in the hosting and success of the CWG, no matter he might be corrupt or what so ever that might be proved, but until then respect the courage and the commitment! Stop treating him like Kasab at least, phew! May Kalmadi get what he deserves, post the probe that is!

Today’s Favorite Line – There are a lot of lies going around and half of them are true (Winston Churchill)

Today’s Favorite Song – The Gambler (Kenny Rogers)

P.S – I don’t mind if I sound like a desperate attention seeker by taking a view completely opposite to the rest of the world as if I was trying to support the deeds of Kalmadi, just trying to see things from the other side as well. Let’s not forget, we live in India and this was a public project, not a private one!

Robot Who? Rajni?? Huh!!

(Just an attempt to stay in senses while the rest of the world has gone mad behind the hype; thoughts on why I haven’t really bothered to watch the movie in the near future, at least till I see/hear a few dozen people having suffered from over expecting. So if you are an ardent Rajni fan (like I was in the past) you might not like reading this one)

Why so much hype for a film, that has a 60 year old in the lead opposite a female of his daughters age, where the 60 year old is playing a younger individual that too as a Robot?, you wouldn’t imagine such stuff even with Hollywood.

I have been a big Rajni fan all my life, but for the last 5 years or so, I’ve lost the respect and love I had for his acting (except for Chandramukhi, though I don’t think it was cos of him that the movie was a hit!) as its been quite a while that he has acted himself, the roles that he has been donning lately are all over the sky ones where he isn’t much of an importance either in terms of acting or in terms of his genuine style that we always loved about him, as the character he plays are much larger than life, beyond the reach of a sane humans understanding. It’s just his name which is bringing people to the theatres and later getting back disappointed, be it Sivaji or be it Baba, both were flops! And I don’t think bringing up his appearance in Kuselan helps his case any more, the movie was promoted as if it was a Rajni movie but ended up as a guest appearance which wasn’t worth it also! To sum things up, he’s been quiet a disappointment to me in the last few years and I am no more excited about his films specially when they are over hyped with zillions spent on the movie with less of his acting and more of sci fi stuff, where’s ‘The Rajni’ factor? Where’s his style like in Basha? Padayappa? Arunachalam? I Miss them!!

Even if the Robot was decent enough the credit I think would go to Shankar for the overall work in the movie, how much does it depend on Rajni that there’s so much hype around for it being his movie? The Rajni days are gone, let’s accept it! He is no Kamal Hassan kind of persona who picks and chooses his work and executes it in such a way that the movie speaks for itself than he being the promoter of his movie. Do we remember Dasavatharam? Agreed that it was hyped as a Kamal starrer with Kamal playing ten roles and all those talks on world record, but after watching the movie you really feel the kind of work Kamal has done in the movie, each of the character’s he played in the movie spoke for itself, at times one wouldn’t even realize if one of those characters was Kamal at all, if you previously dint know that Kamal was playing ten roles.

And more or less I guess Shankar having seen Kamal play a scientist in Dasavatharam, would have envisioned even Rajni playing one and being a smash hit, but I guess with  Rajni in the lead everything else takes a back seat, no matter Rajni has something special to offer in it or not, what matters to the producer is his pay back, which is a sure thing with Rajni playing the lead, all the money invested would be back in no time, dint we see that with flops like Baba, Kuselan et al. Why does Rajni have to copy Kamal and be a scientist? Are his artificial stunts (& make up, the white hair.. Grrr!) not already enough for the audience to be able to digest? At the end of the day though everyone makes their own money, right from theatre owners, producers, the entire unit involved in the film making, the audience lose! They pay whatever it takes for them to take a first look at the over hyped stuff with an actor who has just passed an age where he could do something commendable (except for Amitabh & Kamal for their respective ages and charm) and keeps selling just cos of his past and his fans don’t want to disappoint him so they watch the same flop movie n number of times to become visible to their favorite star, how Stupid!

Talking about the ratings so far of the movie, TOI has given it a 3.5 (TOI’s ratings are always exaggerated, think of it, it rated Anjaana Anjaani 3, which a lot of other sources have rated 1 on average!, we all know about TOI’s ratings, don’t we?), a couple of other sources that I checked had given it a 3, just a ‘3’ for so much of artificial hype and money? That too I am sure was given cos they don’t have the courage to rate it down keeping in mind the mass madness for Rajni, fans wouldn’t be able to digest a low rating and if that’s not a valid point, then lets just say, the direction and the screen play of the movie would have worked in its favor. The only question I want to ask is, has Rajni been of any significance in the success of the movie per say?! Leave alone the name and his past! Talk about his performance/ presence in this movie alone. Did his acting add any value to the rating or the entertainment part of the movie? Be Honest!! Then why so much HYPE?!!!

Today’s Favorite Line – Here’s one from the Robot himself – “Buddy if I beat you, even Google wont be able to find you” (huh.. I wonder why I called it a favorite line :x)

Today’s Favorite Song – Waiting on the world to change