A few days back me and my friend Prashant had a discussion around Presidential vs Parliamentary forms of government. He thought that India should move to Presidential form to remove the ills that are prevalent in our democracy.
I on the other hand had heard all along that the Parliamentary system is far superior to the Presidential system. However, I did not have a clear idea on the pros and cons of each of them. Both seem to provide a system which could be deemed better. Hence, I decided to read a bit and put my thoughts on it ............
Coming soon......
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Moving away
One day the legendary Mir wrote
'Dilli ke na the kuche, Auraq-e-mussavir the, Jo shakl nazar aayi, tasveer nazar aayi.'
'The lanes of Delhi were not mare lanes, they were paintings from a painter's album, every face seen there, was a picture in itself.'
Now that is some compliment to a city.
Delhi has always been a city of people more than anything else. Some cities are famous because of their architecture, some because of their location but Delhi has always been because of its people.
It's location has played an important role in India's history (and mythology). It's known as Dilli becuase of King Dillu who set up his capital around birth of Christ. It came to be known as Dehleez into India during the Islamic rule. British capital was moved from Calcutta to New Delhi because of it's strategic location to control the whole country.
If mythology has to be believed, Pandava's palace at Indraprastha was a marvel which even lead to the greatest war of all. So was the Old Fort in the medieval times. Shahjahan's capital Shahjahanbad was so beautiful that the Red Fort has a carving on it which reads the famous couplet of Khusro,
'Agar firdaus bar roo-e zameen ast, Hameen ast-o hameen ast-o hameen ast.'
'If there is any paradise on the face of the earth, This is it, this is it, this is it'
The British build their beautiful city here. The concentric circles around Raisena Hill, those tree lined roads, those magnificent buildings which still seat the powerful in India. Today India is building it's modern city here, with the most extensive Metro network, the malls and high rises of Gurgaon. So Delhi never lacked the magnificent architecture of a great city either.
However, its people made it what it is today. From the times of Pandavs, it has been the melting pot of all the culture that the world had to throw at it. From time immemorial when someone ventured into India they came and found their first home to be Delhi. It became the cultural hub during the early muslim rule over north India. Nizamuddin Auliya and Khusro made it their place, Shahjahan and Bahadur Shah turned it into the place where poetry and prose were almost worshipped. This is where Mir Taqi Mir, Mirza Ghalib, Zauk and Bahadurshah wrote there best works. Zuak had once written:
'Hamne maana dakkan mein hain , bahut se kadr-e-sukhan,
par kaun jaye ae zauk, ye dilli ki galiyan chhorh kar'
But unlike Zauk or Ghalib, Mir had left for Lucknow after the invasion of Abdali and like him I left Gurgaon after seven years. I felt sad about it. Probably, last seven years have been the toughest of my life but who said life would be easy and neither did I ever want it to be easy. There is a certain charm in walking on the razor's edge, it sharpens you too. However, I guess that's my life.
When I had moved to Gurgaon, it had potential to be India's IT, Call Center and Mall hub. Now it is. That is what has changed in 8 years. I had moved to Gurgaon when I came back form the US. I guess I never thought I would live this long there. It wasn't always a conscious choice. However I still loved my apartment and loved it's location.
As we were preparing for the departure and packing, IPL kept us sane with no TV at home. TGIF became our destination to watch those matches.
Some pics from my apartment: (A-158, Regency Park 1, DLF Phase 4, Gurgaon)
Looking down from my bathroom window:
Looking west from Bathroom window:
The Building:
The Building:
Looking South East towards the new development (from main hall balcony):
Looking East (wondering how that little little garden changed in last few years):
Looking East towards Phase 1 (from main hall balcony):
Looking North-East (from bedroom balcony):
Looking towards north (from bedroom balcony):
Looking towards north (close up) (from bedroom balcony):
Looking West (from bathroom balcony):
My empty Office & Library:
Empty Main hall:
Siddharth with the packed stuff:
My last pic in this home:
Here are some videos from our train journey back. It was extremely hot through out the journey even in Bhopal.
As we are looking to spread our wings into Sports Academies, I am ready to move back to Delhi.
As the song puts it:
Yeh dilli hai mere yaar
Bas ishq mohabbat pyaar
Basti hai mastano ki dilli dilli
Gali hai deewano ki dilli
Bada kas ke gale lagata hai
Dhadkan ki dhun sunata hai
Iske baanye taraf bhi dil hai
Iske daanye taraf bhi dil hai
Yeh shahar nahi mehfil hai
Yeh shahar nahi mehfil hai
Yeh dilli hai mere yaar
Bas ishq mohabbat pyaar
'Dilli ke na the kuche, Auraq-e-mussavir the, Jo shakl nazar aayi, tasveer nazar aayi.'
'The lanes of Delhi were not mare lanes, they were paintings from a painter's album, every face seen there, was a picture in itself.'
Now that is some compliment to a city.
Delhi has always been a city of people more than anything else. Some cities are famous because of their architecture, some because of their location but Delhi has always been because of its people.
It's location has played an important role in India's history (and mythology). It's known as Dilli becuase of King Dillu who set up his capital around birth of Christ. It came to be known as Dehleez into India during the Islamic rule. British capital was moved from Calcutta to New Delhi because of it's strategic location to control the whole country.
If mythology has to be believed, Pandava's palace at Indraprastha was a marvel which even lead to the greatest war of all. So was the Old Fort in the medieval times. Shahjahan's capital Shahjahanbad was so beautiful that the Red Fort has a carving on it which reads the famous couplet of Khusro,
'Agar firdaus bar roo-e zameen ast, Hameen ast-o hameen ast-o hameen ast.'
'If there is any paradise on the face of the earth, This is it, this is it, this is it'
The British build their beautiful city here. The concentric circles around Raisena Hill, those tree lined roads, those magnificent buildings which still seat the powerful in India. Today India is building it's modern city here, with the most extensive Metro network, the malls and high rises of Gurgaon. So Delhi never lacked the magnificent architecture of a great city either.
However, its people made it what it is today. From the times of Pandavs, it has been the melting pot of all the culture that the world had to throw at it. From time immemorial when someone ventured into India they came and found their first home to be Delhi. It became the cultural hub during the early muslim rule over north India. Nizamuddin Auliya and Khusro made it their place, Shahjahan and Bahadur Shah turned it into the place where poetry and prose were almost worshipped. This is where Mir Taqi Mir, Mirza Ghalib, Zauk and Bahadurshah wrote there best works. Zuak had once written:
'Hamne maana dakkan mein hain , bahut se kadr-e-sukhan,
par kaun jaye ae zauk, ye dilli ki galiyan chhorh kar'
But unlike Zauk or Ghalib, Mir had left for Lucknow after the invasion of Abdali and like him I left Gurgaon after seven years. I felt sad about it. Probably, last seven years have been the toughest of my life but who said life would be easy and neither did I ever want it to be easy. There is a certain charm in walking on the razor's edge, it sharpens you too. However, I guess that's my life.
When I had moved to Gurgaon, it had potential to be India's IT, Call Center and Mall hub. Now it is. That is what has changed in 8 years. I had moved to Gurgaon when I came back form the US. I guess I never thought I would live this long there. It wasn't always a conscious choice. However I still loved my apartment and loved it's location.
As we were preparing for the departure and packing, IPL kept us sane with no TV at home. TGIF became our destination to watch those matches.
Some pics from my apartment: (A-158, Regency Park 1, DLF Phase 4, Gurgaon)
Looking down from my bathroom window:
Looking west from Bathroom window:
The Building:
The Building:
Looking South East towards the new development (from main hall balcony):
Looking East (wondering how that little little garden changed in last few years):
Looking East towards Phase 1 (from main hall balcony):
Looking North-East (from bedroom balcony):
Looking towards north (from bedroom balcony):
Looking towards north (close up) (from bedroom balcony):
Looking West (from bathroom balcony):
My empty Office & Library:
Empty Main hall:
Siddharth with the packed stuff:
My last pic in this home:
Here are some videos from our train journey back. It was extremely hot through out the journey even in Bhopal.
As we are looking to spread our wings into Sports Academies, I am ready to move back to Delhi.
As the song puts it:
Yeh dilli hai mere yaar
Bas ishq mohabbat pyaar
Basti hai mastano ki dilli dilli
Gali hai deewano ki dilli
Bada kas ke gale lagata hai
Dhadkan ki dhun sunata hai
Iske baanye taraf bhi dil hai
Iske daanye taraf bhi dil hai
Yeh shahar nahi mehfil hai
Yeh shahar nahi mehfil hai
Yeh dilli hai mere yaar
Bas ishq mohabbat pyaar
Monday, April 27, 2009
Those random strings of thought
I haven't written anything for a long time and now sitting here in Barista, I just had the urge to put my thoughts down. However most of these thoughts are connected through that invisible string and lots of old memories keep popping up. Now if they are connected through some kind of invisible string then they cannot be called random. However to an
Let me start with something funny, the other day my cousin Monu came to the office and started to play 'Altaf Raja' on his mobile. Why would someone have his songs on their mobile? First that made a lot of people laugh, however, he found Nilesh as his partner in crime. Another guy who was standing said that there must be around 4 people in India who liked Altaf Raja. Nilesh said who are the other 2, now this drew a big laugh. Ofcourse then the discussion went to why did they like Altaf Raja. First thing that they need to decipher was what is the Altaf Raja's philosophy. (LOL). This was funny enough. But at the end the conclusion was people who have been betrayed by women liked him and men who have betrayed girls don't. I thought this was funny and in a certain way very philosophical. I think Altaf Raja's charm was that he was able to appeal to a certain class without any snobbishness. His poetry was common and his singing ordinary. Yet people listened to him and as Nilesh and Monu have shown they still do.
This prompted me to think that a few days ago Geetali Didi had started chain of comments on facebook on who is the best writer in Hindi/Urdu. Most people including me loved Sahir. Sahir was from now what is Pakistan and moved to India after partition, one of those few muslims who moved towards India during the partition.
That reminds me of Pakistan, what the *^*^*& is happening in Pakistan. I really wish for the world's sake that someone takes control of the situation. The real problem there is that no one seems to understand who is in power and what is the level of that control. I am amazed at the Pakistani population (not that I am not amused by Indians, but somehow as Salman Rushdie says, 'In India at the end sense prevails'), how come you come out in masses, hold rallies and feel real happy when a judge (corrupt according many views) is reinstated. But, you do nothing when Taliban takes over a region in your country. That seems so appalling to me.
A few days ago a Pakistani journalist friend on the Facebook posted some lovely pictures of SWAT, the place she had visited a few months ago. I had a long chat with her on the situation. She was saying that on the ground the situation is actually worse and like me she can't understand why people are not doing anything about it. If you live in a democracy you need to take the responsibility of that democracy too. You need to fight for the founding principals of your nation. Pakistan had a great chance when it got independence, it didn't had carry the baggage of history and tradition with it. However, it has squandered that.
This brings me to the greatest exercise of Democracy anywhere in the world. BBC is running an Indian election train, NDTV a bus, millions of international media personalities are hounding over each bit of news. There has been some violence due to Maoist rebels. National leader are scampering all over the country to salvage their votes. The other day Manmohan Singh came to Indore, landed at 4:45, reached the old stadium at 5:00, gave a 30 min speech and and was back in the plane in 5:45 to give another one in Chandigarh. Now that is hectic.
We are 1.1 billion people, with almost 620 million in voting age, out of that even if 50% vote that makes it quivalent to the population of the US. Now that is some exercise.
Overall the thing that I am most proud of is that in last 62 years every transfer of power has been non violent and transitions has been smooth.
Every celebrity from Shahrukh Khan to Sachin Tendulkar is asking Indians to vote in this elections. The campaign has been outstanding but more needs to be done. We should be able to get to at least 90% voting. I think the only way that is possible is, if somehow we create an electronic system for it. Where anyone can vote from anywhere. That would have helped IPL players to vote and also SRK wouldn't have to come back for one from SA where his team is performing abysmally to vote. His logic, how can I not vote when I ask everyone to do it. Now only if every Indian had that respect for their vote.
I have voted in almost all elections barring the 2004 one, when I was in the US. It gives me great pleasure in pressing that button on the machine and seeing the ink tag on my fingernail. Since the days when my dad used to have it on his finger, I was fascinated by it.
IPL-II is the other activity which was affected by election. The security concerns moved it to South Africa. But what an event it has turned out to be. The response that South Africans have given to a purely Indian event is amazing.
So, before I could finish writing this, the election results are out. UPA is back with a bang. The encouraging thing is that it would be able to form the government on its own. Good for the country in these tough recessionary times.
Let me start with something funny, the other day my cousin Monu came to the office and started to play 'Altaf Raja' on his mobile. Why would someone have his songs on their mobile? First that made a lot of people laugh, however, he found Nilesh as his partner in crime. Another guy who was standing said that there must be around 4 people in India who liked Altaf Raja. Nilesh said who are the other 2, now this drew a big laugh. Ofcourse then the discussion went to why did they like Altaf Raja. First thing that they need to decipher was what is the Altaf Raja's philosophy. (LOL). This was funny enough. But at the end the conclusion was people who have been betrayed by women liked him and men who have betrayed girls don't. I thought this was funny and in a certain way very philosophical. I think Altaf Raja's charm was that he was able to appeal to a certain class without any snobbishness. His poetry was common and his singing ordinary. Yet people listened to him and as Nilesh and Monu have shown they still do.
This prompted me to think that a few days ago Geetali Didi had started chain of comments on facebook on who is the best writer in Hindi/Urdu. Most people including me loved Sahir. Sahir was from now what is Pakistan and moved to India after partition, one of those few muslims who moved towards India during the partition.
That reminds me of Pakistan, what the *^*^*& is happening in Pakistan. I really wish for the world's sake that someone takes control of the situation. The real problem there is that no one seems to understand who is in power and what is the level of that control. I am amazed at the Pakistani population (not that I am not amused by Indians, but somehow as Salman Rushdie says, 'In India at the end sense prevails'), how come you come out in masses, hold rallies and feel real happy when a judge (corrupt according many views) is reinstated. But, you do nothing when Taliban takes over a region in your country. That seems so appalling to me.
A few days ago a Pakistani journalist friend on the Facebook posted some lovely pictures of SWAT, the place she had visited a few months ago. I had a long chat with her on the situation. She was saying that on the ground the situation is actually worse and like me she can't understand why people are not doing anything about it. If you live in a democracy you need to take the responsibility of that democracy too. You need to fight for the founding principals of your nation. Pakistan had a great chance when it got independence, it didn't had carry the baggage of history and tradition with it. However, it has squandered that.
This brings me to the greatest exercise of Democracy anywhere in the world. BBC is running an Indian election train, NDTV a bus, millions of international media personalities are hounding over each bit of news. There has been some violence due to Maoist rebels. National leader are scampering all over the country to salvage their votes. The other day Manmohan Singh came to Indore, landed at 4:45, reached the old stadium at 5:00, gave a 30 min speech and and was back in the plane in 5:45 to give another one in Chandigarh. Now that is hectic.
We are 1.1 billion people, with almost 620 million in voting age, out of that even if 50% vote that makes it quivalent to the population of the US. Now that is some exercise.
Overall the thing that I am most proud of is that in last 62 years every transfer of power has been non violent and transitions has been smooth.
Every celebrity from Shahrukh Khan to Sachin Tendulkar is asking Indians to vote in this elections. The campaign has been outstanding but more needs to be done. We should be able to get to at least 90% voting. I think the only way that is possible is, if somehow we create an electronic system for it. Where anyone can vote from anywhere. That would have helped IPL players to vote and also SRK wouldn't have to come back for one from SA where his team is performing abysmally to vote. His logic, how can I not vote when I ask everyone to do it. Now only if every Indian had that respect for their vote.
I have voted in almost all elections barring the 2004 one, when I was in the US. It gives me great pleasure in pressing that button on the machine and seeing the ink tag on my fingernail. Since the days when my dad used to have it on his finger, I was fascinated by it.
IPL-II is the other activity which was affected by election. The security concerns moved it to South Africa. But what an event it has turned out to be. The response that South Africans have given to a purely Indian event is amazing.
So, before I could finish writing this, the election results are out. UPA is back with a bang. The encouraging thing is that it would be able to form the government on its own. Good for the country in these tough recessionary times.
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Taxi Drivers
Taxi Drivers:
I met a gentleman yesterday, he was an Auto driver in Indore. He had picked me up from my home to drop me to office. As I have had the habit to conversing with Auto and Taxi drivers he started to chat with me. I found him to be very knowledgeable. He started to talk to me on all kinds of issues. He spoke about MBA and MCAs. Then suddenly he became very nostalgic about his past. How he had to leave studies and become a truck driver when he was 19. He missed studying. He said that all his energies went into creating a future for his children. He had two daughters and one son. All of them were post graduates and they all were well placed. Last of the daughter was even working in an IT firm.
Talking to him reminded me of another gentleman of almost the same age that I had encountered in Australia. The day I was about to leave for India, I was sitting in the lobby of the hotel where we had spent the night. Waiting for this cab was frustrating because this guy was late by almost half an hour. Everyone would feel the pain of that half an hour. Another funny incident had happened just before this when Aneela accidentally dragged of my bag instead of hers. I didn't even realise. Fortunately she realized and came back in time. It would have been real frustrating if she wouldn't have realized in time.
Coming back to the Taxi driver. He was quite a dilapidated fragile character. One of those who become creeps in scary movies. He looked odd and it was hard to converse with him. However, as I started to chat with him he became friendly.
When he found about me going to India, he was very happy. He told me that his brother used to travel a lot to Pakistan and India on business. He told me a story that once his brother was getting late to reach the airport in India and how a cab driver even with a flat tire drove with full speed to get him there. When they got of the tire was totally in shreds. The txi driver's brother was totally shocked to see that commitment. However, he said that only living in India and Pakistan made you appreciate the life in Australia from his perspective. As we became involved in conversation he told me his life story.
His father was a Jewish migrant from before the war. Around mid 1930s as the persecution of Jews started he was one the first to realise that he needs to get out. His family objected to it but he insisted and ran to Italy. After living here for sometime he boarded a boat not even know where it would take him. On the deck he found two things which would change him forever, One, his destination which was Australia and second the girl who would be with him forever. Like him that girl was also running away and migrating to Australia. They fell in love. Just after landing in Australia, they got married. The guy was 19 and the girl was 16. He was a diligent hard worker and started to work at a grocery shop. Life flourished and with in few years they had two sons. The elder one was the gentleman I was talking to.
Both of them never looked back, never tried to find people back in Germany even in the worst years of Nazi era. I found this a little odd.
How can you forget where you come from, where your past lies. What I have relaised that people with abused childhood try not to look back. Maybe the reason could lie in the pains that are in the past, when someone tries to dig into their heritage or ancestory at some levels they also bring in their recent past to associate with it.
As life would unfold for the couple, they both were very happy, however their elder son was a little learning disabled and second one a little smarter.
Life went on, the elder one became a driver and the second one left Australia for Indonesia, where he lives alone and never married.
My friend got married and had one son very late in life. When I had met him his son was 17 years old. He was given the best possible education and the proudest moment came when he was selected by an English club for their 3rd tier team to play Soccer. Amazing isn't it, playing Football in England for a Austrlasian Poor Jewish boy.
By this time we were at the airport, I knew one day I would write this story and hence I paid him $10 extra to share it with me. Here he did something which made me cringe. He gave me a card which had a list websites of a few religious cults.
I am not sure why I dislike cults however I am a firm believer of following religion in its truest form. I am afraid of any religious organization. Specially once which hide in the form of improving your life. I believe like Osho (now he himself was a cult creator, which I would never join) that anyone who gives you belief system is your biggest enemy and people who join even if they are most learned have one major issue in life and that is their self esteem.
Here I lost interest and threw away the card.
Both stories have two common threads, one they both had given me a ride from one place to another and life's long journey they were story tellers for that blip in time. Second, they both had worked very hard to provide for their families and were so proud of their children.
This made me think, Is it that however hard we try to improve our own lives we end up working for our children. I guess I would only know when I am a father.
I met a gentleman yesterday, he was an Auto driver in Indore. He had picked me up from my home to drop me to office. As I have had the habit to conversing with Auto and Taxi drivers he started to chat with me. I found him to be very knowledgeable. He started to talk to me on all kinds of issues. He spoke about MBA and MCAs. Then suddenly he became very nostalgic about his past. How he had to leave studies and become a truck driver when he was 19. He missed studying. He said that all his energies went into creating a future for his children. He had two daughters and one son. All of them were post graduates and they all were well placed. Last of the daughter was even working in an IT firm.
Talking to him reminded me of another gentleman of almost the same age that I had encountered in Australia. The day I was about to leave for India, I was sitting in the lobby of the hotel where we had spent the night. Waiting for this cab was frustrating because this guy was late by almost half an hour. Everyone would feel the pain of that half an hour. Another funny incident had happened just before this when Aneela accidentally dragged of my bag instead of hers. I didn't even realise. Fortunately she realized and came back in time. It would have been real frustrating if she wouldn't have realized in time.
Coming back to the Taxi driver. He was quite a dilapidated fragile character. One of those who become creeps in scary movies. He looked odd and it was hard to converse with him. However, as I started to chat with him he became friendly.
When he found about me going to India, he was very happy. He told me that his brother used to travel a lot to Pakistan and India on business. He told me a story that once his brother was getting late to reach the airport in India and how a cab driver even with a flat tire drove with full speed to get him there. When they got of the tire was totally in shreds. The txi driver's brother was totally shocked to see that commitment. However, he said that only living in India and Pakistan made you appreciate the life in Australia from his perspective. As we became involved in conversation he told me his life story.
His father was a Jewish migrant from before the war. Around mid 1930s as the persecution of Jews started he was one the first to realise that he needs to get out. His family objected to it but he insisted and ran to Italy. After living here for sometime he boarded a boat not even know where it would take him. On the deck he found two things which would change him forever, One, his destination which was Australia and second the girl who would be with him forever. Like him that girl was also running away and migrating to Australia. They fell in love. Just after landing in Australia, they got married. The guy was 19 and the girl was 16. He was a diligent hard worker and started to work at a grocery shop. Life flourished and with in few years they had two sons. The elder one was the gentleman I was talking to.
Both of them never looked back, never tried to find people back in Germany even in the worst years of Nazi era. I found this a little odd.
How can you forget where you come from, where your past lies. What I have relaised that people with abused childhood try not to look back. Maybe the reason could lie in the pains that are in the past, when someone tries to dig into their heritage or ancestory at some levels they also bring in their recent past to associate with it.
As life would unfold for the couple, they both were very happy, however their elder son was a little learning disabled and second one a little smarter.
Life went on, the elder one became a driver and the second one left Australia for Indonesia, where he lives alone and never married.
My friend got married and had one son very late in life. When I had met him his son was 17 years old. He was given the best possible education and the proudest moment came when he was selected by an English club for their 3rd tier team to play Soccer. Amazing isn't it, playing Football in England for a Austrlasian Poor Jewish boy.
By this time we were at the airport, I knew one day I would write this story and hence I paid him $10 extra to share it with me. Here he did something which made me cringe. He gave me a card which had a list websites of a few religious cults.
I am not sure why I dislike cults however I am a firm believer of following religion in its truest form. I am afraid of any religious organization. Specially once which hide in the form of improving your life. I believe like Osho (now he himself was a cult creator, which I would never join) that anyone who gives you belief system is your biggest enemy and people who join even if they are most learned have one major issue in life and that is their self esteem.
Here I lost interest and threw away the card.
Both stories have two common threads, one they both had given me a ride from one place to another and life's long journey they were story tellers for that blip in time. Second, they both had worked very hard to provide for their families and were so proud of their children.
This made me think, Is it that however hard we try to improve our own lives we end up working for our children. I guess I would only know when I am a father.
Entrepreneurship
Last few months have been very interesting, first I decided to take up a job sadly due to global slow down it did not work out. Now I have been offered a job which was beyond my expectations. The biggest telecom firm in India and world's 3rd largest telecom firm offered me Vice President position to head their Sub-Saharan Africa. They offered me money which I couldn't even imagine. However, I have spent last 7 years learning the traits of being an entrepreneur. It's a totally different thing than working for someone else.
I have spent last few days thinking about my future and contemplating on which is a better decision for me.
On one hand I have an opportunity to lead a major world brand into an almost virgin territory. Earn a lot of money. Make a brand for myself in the corporate world. Providing opportunity to millions to connect and give them better communication.
On the other, I have my own dreams, the feeling of contributing to India's economy, feeling of my 40 employees having a sense of pride in me and the pleasure that you get when you feel that you have made a family better by your work. My own dreams about my own company.
Being an entrepreneur has taught me a lot more than any education or any job could have ever taught me.
The struggles to make money, to learn to cope up with the debts, to learn how to deal with bad news day in and day out.
I had lived alone from the very begining and hence I am not averse to lonliness, being a
To learn to loose is something that I could have never learnt if I hadn't been running my own firm. The struggle for money to pay your employees has its own high. To loose and still keep your head high is a very tough thing.
I am proud of myself to have done it twice.
So now I am totally confused, should I choose money (a job of almost $500K in this market is not a small thing) and simpler life over the more complicated life of starting a successful firm on my own. Should I just leave everything behind that I have built in last seven years.
Lets say where life takes me.
Yesterday a girl who works at my office gave me a compliment which made me feel elated, looking at her smiling face I thought that I should sing :
aaj kaho to mod dun badhkarrr, waqt ke dhaareeee
I am leaning towards entrepreneurship just to feel that elation.
I have spent last few days thinking about my future and contemplating on which is a better decision for me.
On one hand I have an opportunity to lead a major world brand into an almost virgin territory. Earn a lot of money. Make a brand for myself in the corporate world. Providing opportunity to millions to connect and give them better communication.
On the other, I have my own dreams, the feeling of contributing to India's economy, feeling of my 40 employees having a sense of pride in me and the pleasure that you get when you feel that you have made a family better by your work. My own dreams about my own company.
Being an entrepreneur has taught me a lot more than any education or any job could have ever taught me.
The struggles to make money, to learn to cope up with the debts, to learn how to deal with bad news day in and day out.
I had lived alone from the very begining and hence I am not averse to lonliness, being a
To learn to loose is something that I could have never learnt if I hadn't been running my own firm. The struggle for money to pay your employees has its own high. To loose and still keep your head high is a very tough thing.
I am proud of myself to have done it twice.
So now I am totally confused, should I choose money (a job of almost $500K in this market is not a small thing) and simpler life over the more complicated life of starting a successful firm on my own. Should I just leave everything behind that I have built in last seven years.
Lets say where life takes me.
Yesterday a girl who works at my office gave me a compliment which made me feel elated, looking at her smiling face I thought that I should sing :
aaj kaho to mod dun badhkarrr, waqt ke dhaareeee
I am leaning towards entrepreneurship just to feel that elation.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
India
I hate the infrastructure in India.
I dislike our philandering politicians.
I am annoyed at the level of corruption.
I have an aversion to suspended dust and haze in our air.
I hate selfish, ignorant and illiterates who roam our streets.
I feel claustrophobic about our over indulgent media which gets into people's lives.
I can't stand narrow-mindedness based on religion, language, caste and sex is still rampant.
There are a lot of reason to be proud of India, however, the most important one is:
I have freedom to say all these without any fear.
Yesterday, we had guests at our home from China. They were extremely parochial. They even hated the idea that someone can criticize their own country. Our neighbour who got married to this Chinese girl went to China and was very impressed that amongst 200 channel 199 were in Mandarin or Cantonese and 1 was in English. He was telling me that no channel ever reports anything bad about anything in China. He said everything seems to be so perfect. He thought that Indian media is so stupid to keep showing what is wrong with the country.
Me and his sister, who lives in England, had a hard time understanding that how can you praise media which is not telling the truth.
Then the Chinese girl started to criticize US for no reason, she says that freedom in the US has brought guns on the street and a lot of people kill others. By this time I didn't have any courage to argue with her.
At the end I love freedom that my country provides a little too much to give it away for even my own security. I would accept terrorists who use our freedom to kill a few of us but how can we stifle our own people with stringent laws.
I will never accept any law which curtails my thought or my speech and neither can I live country where people do not respect that freedom.
I dislike our philandering politicians.
I am annoyed at the level of corruption.
I have an aversion to suspended dust and haze in our air.
I hate selfish, ignorant and illiterates who roam our streets.
I feel claustrophobic about our over indulgent media which gets into people's lives.
I can't stand narrow-mindedness based on religion, language, caste and sex is still rampant.
There are a lot of reason to be proud of India, however, the most important one is:
I have freedom to say all these without any fear.
Yesterday, we had guests at our home from China. They were extremely parochial. They even hated the idea that someone can criticize their own country. Our neighbour who got married to this Chinese girl went to China and was very impressed that amongst 200 channel 199 were in Mandarin or Cantonese and 1 was in English. He was telling me that no channel ever reports anything bad about anything in China. He said everything seems to be so perfect. He thought that Indian media is so stupid to keep showing what is wrong with the country.
Me and his sister, who lives in England, had a hard time understanding that how can you praise media which is not telling the truth.
Then the Chinese girl started to criticize US for no reason, she says that freedom in the US has brought guns on the street and a lot of people kill others. By this time I didn't have any courage to argue with her.
At the end I love freedom that my country provides a little too much to give it away for even my own security. I would accept terrorists who use our freedom to kill a few of us but how can we stifle our own people with stringent laws.
I will never accept any law which curtails my thought or my speech and neither can I live country where people do not respect that freedom.
Friday, December 12, 2008
Myths, Folks and Legends
I have started a new blog where I would contribute some of the stories that I have grown up with. These are not my own and hence I thought I would keep them in a different blog.
Myths, Folks and Legends
http://mythfolklegends.blogspot.com/
Enjoy
Myths, Folks and Legends
http://mythfolklegends.blogspot.com/
Enjoy
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