da email

I can’t get over this. Jasmine sent me a mail from jispad@gmail.com saying that this is Jispa’s email id. Firstly I thought it sucked. I mean what a boring dam id. It should have been something weird. jispasleeps@gmail.com, jispapad, or whatever. But hell she will create her ID based on her own ID later I guess. But I could not reply something as mundane as congrats or welcome to her. It was my first email conversation with her. It had to be inspirational; it had to be something that she would look forward to. It had to be something that she could hang on her wall and sleep in the bask of its security. It had to be something that she could turn to in times of difficulty.
Allow me to tell you a lovely story on inspiration or is it – direction?
(but before you read more, may I urge you to write mails to her. She might enjoy your mails. No forwards, spam or chain mails wishing her luck please.)

When the world was still young and the newly created beings—the Divas, the Asuras and the Manusas—were groping to understand their place in the world, they all meditated for true knowledge from their creator Prajapati, who was Brahma Himself.After a long time had passed, the Divas went to Prajapati and asked for His wisdom. “Lord, please tell us what we should live by.”Prajapati looked kindly at the Divas, who were endowed with great character and who had God-like intentions, but He simply uttered a single letter of the Sanskrit alphabet, “da.”The Divas pondered over what they had heard until Prajapati gently asked them, “Divas, do you understand the meaning of what I said?”The Divas stated, “Yes, Lord, we understand. ‘Da’ stands for Damyata—control. You want us to live a life of restraint.”Prajapati said, “Yes, you have understood it. Be self-controlled.”Next, the Manusas, who were humans, went to Prajapati and reverentially asked for His wisdom. “Lord, please tell us what we should live by.”For a few minutes Prajapati observed the Manusas, who had great intellect and passion but who were weak in body and petty in their dealings with others. He again pronounced the same letter of the alphabet, “da.” Prajapati paused, allowing them time to reflect over His answer. Then he asked them, “Manusas, do you understand what I said?”The humans grasped the meaning quickly. “Yes, Lord, we fully perceive what you said. ‘Da’ symbolizes Datta—give. We should be generous. There is great joy in sharing.”Prajapati was pleased with their answer, “You have understood. Go and live accordingly.”Lastly, the Asuras went to Prajapati and asked him for His wisdom. Although the Asuras were created in darkness, they were still His children. Prajapati looked at them carefully. The Asuras were strong in body and in their determinations. They were the rivals of the Divas. But once again Prajapati stated only “da.”The Asuras mused over what they had heard until Prajapati inquired, “Asuras, do you understand what I said?”The Asuras clearly discerned the message of Prajapati. “Lord, when you said ‘da’ you meant Dayadhyam— compassion. You want us to be compassionate.”Prajapati smiled, “Yes, you have understood it. Live a life of compassion for others.”Prajapati rose up and vanished in the clouds in the midst of a loud thunder—“da,” “da,” “da.” And the three races repeated, “damyata,” “datta,” “dayadham,” and went their separate ways. The divine message is often repeated by the clouds as they thunder, “da,” “da,” “da,” as if to remind all beings of the lesson learned by the three races at the very beginning of their journey—be self-controlled, be generous, be compassionate.Prajapati did not instill wisdom, nor did He offer to show the right path. Prajapati accepted the three different interpretations of His message because the Divas, Manusas, and Asuras recognized their own frailties and interpreted His Message accordingly. One can perceive wisdom only at a level of one’s cognizance and consciousness

Hence I too wanted to send a message to her of equal status and meaning. I am sure this also serve as insipartion to you as well. Here is what I wrote to her.

Dum chik chick bum bum
What a funny bum bum
Why have you bum bum
When there is only one bum
Dum chik chick bum bum

it works

What a tiring weekend. With Jispa’s cousin coming in there was never a dull moment. If there were any hopes of missing a second kid in our lives – those were happily squashed. One is enough. Two multiplies the issue a billion times over. Most of the emotional energy is expended in resolving conflict. Expecting the elder one to behave like an elder one and the younger to also let go.
On the first night they started fighting for using the same bathroom for bath. Believe me, there is nothing in the dam bathroom to fight for. Being the hosts we pushed Jispa to not in demand bathroom. She was upset with us. I then started talking to her. The good thing about Jispa is that at least she listens even when angry. I gave the big shit dialogue of ‘atithi dev bhava’. That got her a bit calmer. What was it? I explained that even in Sanskrit there is a saying that treat your guest like god as they have come to your home. This is also what Gandhi taught us. If he is being silly then we must be good. Only by the power of demonstration can you teach your others to behave better. They will not listen or notice, but slowly they will see what t is to be good. Then they too will respond in kind. That is the only way. You must start by your sacrifice.
As soon as they came out all clean and ready to sleep, the conflict on which bed to sleep on reared its ugly head. Both wanted to sleep on the bed on top. Jispa looked at me and then said ‘Siddhant, you tell where you you want to sleep. Anything is ok. I can sleep down.’ Instantly Siddhant replied ‘anywhere, I am ok down as well’. Jispa looked at me. It was working. It works. The rest of the weekend we saw more such gandhigiri to amazing results.

It did spread peace and harmony. Sometimes we dont realise the futility of conflict, be it between cousins or countries. Here is one amazing statement I really loved.

Reconciliation of Opposites

I work in the wealth management division in an Indian private bank carrying a Chinese Mao bag and reading Nehru.

Reconciliation of Opposites – three opposites?

somebody move

This time I traveled for my holiday in the trains as well. I have romantic associations of the trains from childhood and I still try to relieve them as well. So hence we travel by train. But one small change – I don’t travel sleeper class. I don’t think I can handle that anymore. I travel at least in A/C. Every time jasmine and I see the second sleeper we wonder how people travel and the fact that we used to travel like that as kids. It’s become much dirtier these days than what I remember. The crowd seems to have all upgraded and hence our kind of class status would be in the A/C’s and the unreserved has moved onto sleepers. Whatever our stupid class connotations I don’t think I would want to travel like that with family. Somehow on my own I might be a bit more adventurous.

But I don’t quite know what to make of the Indian railways. The last five years for the railways has been written in gold with the Indian railways making breakthrough turn to windfall profits. This fact got global attention for the Indian railways and it became a case study for B school. Hell, I also saw an expensive book on it. What does mean for the end customer who uses it for transport, both the daily commute as well as the long distance traveler. Answer – zilch. Forward is an anathema for this anachronism.
I have been traveling in the trains for a long time now. I have been commuting since 1991 and have been doing long distance traveling since I was a baby. From where I remember – not much had changed. The only big leap has been the introduction of computers for reservation. Add online to it as an extension and there – you are done.
There is nothing done to augment the user experience. The loos in the stations and on the trains have remained as dirty as they ever were in all these years. The compartments have definitely gotten dirtier to point of being filthy. The AC compartments are getting worse. Dull and dingy due to ugly dark sun film, dirty curtains in the 2nd AC, bed sheets and blankets that have not been washed but merely ironed again. The pillows are awful and bad. Some are completely out of shape and black inside. The stations are dirty crowded and ill designed. Delhi Nizammuddin station at Delhi which caters to long distance travelers will not have slopes at foot over bridges. The coolies will not charge standard agreed upon fares. There will not be any fixed / fair metered taxi stands outside. The food stall will be sad as ever. The pantry will overcharge, delivery short quantity, prepare bad food and maintain no hygiene. The pantry car is an ugly, filthy, hot and pathetic rat hole.
The attendants are unhelpful as ever, the TC is corrupt as ever. Few good things – they upgrade travelers in case of vacancy… It’s true we got upgraded from 3 tier AC to 2 tier AC on one trip! You can use print outs instead of tickets. Wow! And the website actually has adequate bandwidth and server strength. I can’t think anything much beyond. Can you? Oh ya I almost forgot. The new Rajdhani coaches are nicer and some coaches have interesting new hip and useful reading lamps.
And anything that I think of as a solution just somehow feels unimplementable. In Ratlam we saw the carriage being cleaned by some private guys – they too are not up to mark. Its really difficult to think of solutions. The only thing I can think of is allowing for private compartments managed and branded by hospitality chains. So you may have a 5 star Taj coach followed by a budget ginger coach and then a ‘shiv sagar udipi’ coach. The government can continue to keep the same subsidy while allowing the people to pay more for greater comfort. But this is conundrum is very painful to see unsolved.

Here are some images from the trip this time around
Jispa enjoying her herself. Gymnastics is useful!

Inside the loo
Hammer for breaking glass in emergency. But uhhh… how do we get to the hammer. Oh.. break the glass and get the hammer to break the glass.

Wow nice electronic display. Trains coming and trains going. But wait hang on.. did you spot it… go on look again….
The arrival time is after the departure time in the second last row. Oh ya.. I am a hard to please guy. Aint I?

emulate

On yesterday’s ramblings on rebel behavior and breaking norm, here is an email from one of my friends. She is petite French lady, must be around 25, doing her bit to know the world. Now that’s a role model for Jispa.
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“I'm going to try to make it short cause many things happened since the last emails we've exchanged!I left Istanbul after working for the World Water Council who was organizing the World Water forum (one evry 3 years) in Istanbul in March, as a communications consultant and had the greatest time of my life there, because of a crazy life with a group of funny friends from all around the world. And I managed to fall in love 2 weeks before leaving lol. His name is ----, his father is Turkish (but grandparents are Spanish and Russian), his mom Dutch. I flew to Paris and he was flying to Amsterdam 15minutes later, we left at the same time! A few days later I visited him and his family in Holland and he came back to Paris with me, flew to the USA a few days later because he studies ecology and permaculture and has some projects going on.A week later I flew to Monterrey (Mexico) where my brother is a student, it was just after the big story about the swine flu started. He was supposed to meet me in Cancun but given he was in the middle of the Californian desert without phone or difficult access to the internet, I couldn't reach him! And the swine flu was a lot exagerated by the media, they were talking about closing the borders with the US and I didn't know if he could make it and even if he booked a flight ticket, it was not sure it wouldn't get cancelled. But he made it and we met again in Cancun :)Then we travelled the whole Yucatan and Chiapas regions together, he was supposed to stay 2 weeks. But he postponed his return every week and finally stayed 7 weeks with me, until last Monday. We've done all the Central America by bus: Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama, staying on average a week in each country, awesome experience! And on Monday I flew to Colombia where I am now and he flew to the US to get a certification in order to teach permaculture... So we'll see what happens.I'm going to Peru next, then Bolovia, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Easter island, New Zeland, Australia etc etc. I'll be in India in February 2010 after Asia and to be honest I keep talking about my love for the country everyday!”
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Role models are important in our lives. I have firmly believed in the fact that monkey sees monkey does. A lot of what I have been able to shape my life has been thanks to the many role models I see around me. For me there is no concept of a singular role model. We learn multiple things from multiple people. I would have role models for different situations and different actions. There is inspiration from everywhere. From the taxi driver in the earlier blog to the this French lady. There is no dearth of it, only a limitation of our senses.

On inspiration here is one lovely article I read today in the Times Of India (TOI). I am not normally easily inspired by business leaders. I find them shallow, petty and stage managed. But I like the way this man has spoken, the way he is not bitter and his ability to joke on his past. Everyone has gone through tough times. I too have had my share I am sure I would have some to come. But today I can look back, laugh a bit, not be bitter and wish them well. I hope I can do so in the future as well. Normally newspapers and specially the TOI, are pretty crappy in their reporting and would rarely have gems within. Here is one such happy exception.
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‘Will we sleep on the streets now?’
Yesterday, we brought you an interview with JPMorgan chief Jamie Dimon on finance and economics. Today, we bring you a story from his life that’s poignantly funny — and yet inspirational...
Vikas Singh TNN

JPMorgan Chase chairman Jamie Dimon’s life could be straight out of a Jeffrey Archer novel—he was hired out of Harvard B-school by a billionaire who became like a father to him before they parted ways; he went from being heir-apparent at the world’s largest financial services company to working at a smaller, struggling bank; a few years later, he returned from Chicago to New York in a blaze of glory and now heads America’s largest and most influential bank (with assets of about $2.3 trillion). Today, he is arguably the world’s most powerful banker (at least in the private sector). It’s an empowering tale in an era of job losses. Dimon’s dramatic falling out with Sandy Weill has passed into financial folklore. The two men had worked closely together for about 15 years before they took over Citigroup. Dimon was widely seen as Weill’s successor at Citi, but in 1998, Weill fired Dimon (speculation has it that Dimon passed Weill’s daughter over for a promotion). When TOI met Dimon in Mumbai, we couldn’t resist asking him about that episode. ‘‘Sandy told me you have to resign. So, I said ‘OK’. I called my wife and told her, ‘I have to tell you something, it isn’t a joke.’ I was concerned about my three daughters, who were then 12, 10 and 8. I didn’t want them to hear about it in school, or read it in the papers. I sat them down and said, ‘Girls, I want you to know I resigned...I was fired.’ ‘‘The youngest one said, ‘Dad, will we have to sleep on the streets now?’ The middle one asked, ‘Can I still go to college?’ And the eldest said, ‘Can I have your cellphone now, because you won’t be needing it?’’’ After we’d finished laughing, Dimon turned philosophical. ‘‘It was my net worth that was involved there, not my self-worth. I remained the same person that I was the minute before, and I was determined that my values and behaviour wouldn’t change. Of course, there were times when I was depressed. I would walk into a room and people would treat me like a leper. But often, while jogging in Central Park, I’d be asked, ‘Are you Jamie Dimon?’ and when I said yes, they’d pat me on my back and say ‘Yeah!’ as if I was Robin Hood. ‘‘Everyone has their ups and downs. Tell me one person you admire, not just in business, but in life, and you’ll find they had their share. Nelson Mandela walked out of prison after 27 years, magnanimous to his captors. You have to get up, brush yourself and move on.’’ Dimon moved on to Bank One in Chicago, turned it around, and merged it with JPMorgan in a deal that ended with him becoming chairman and CEO of JPMorgan. Then, in October 2006, he decided to pull out of sub-prime loans even as other banks bet huge amounts on them. The result: JPMorgan was the only bank with enough cash to acquire the ailing Bear Stearns and Washington Mutual when they were on the brink of collapse. Today, JPMorgan has surged far ahead of the crisis-ridden Citigroup. So, is revenge sweet? ‘‘No,’’ he said promptly. ‘‘I still have a lot of friends there and what happened was so hard on people. I could play a sport with you and want to beat the hell out of you. But if you break a leg or have a heart attack, I’ll take you to hospital. I truly want Citi to get better. Citi’s problems are bad for Citi, for the people there, for America, and not good for JPMorgan. Also, it’s a terrible mistake to measure yourself by someone else doing badly. I want us to grow for us. Like Mandela said, ‘If you spend your life on revenge, then you are beholden to the prior people.’ You haven’t moved on, you’re still responding to them.’’
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Well, while we are on stories let me give you another one. We stayed at this man’s place in Jilling. His name is Steve Lall. There are very few instances that a vacation can have an impact on your life. This is that one place. Steve has not let a road come up to his estate and has let the hill remain a pristine place, free of evils of development. An absolutely amazing place. With just three four cottages to stay spread across 50 or more acres on a hill in Kumaon, it is as quixotic as can get. Steve is a man who is so full of life and very open and welcoming. We truly felt like we were staying as his personal guest as opposed to plain tourists.
He is one man you would want to meet. A lot of people know him in Nainital region. He is everyone’s friend and everyone’s uncle. He has no hang-ups and a simple uncluttered approach to his life. He even pressed and clicked my back bone into place!
After I came back and raved about it to a few friends one friend sent a link he found about him. I reproduce the content. Source - http://www.flickr.com/photos/markdmartin/3476360167/.
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Squadron Leader Steve P. Lall Ace MiG 21 pilot, Rebel, Environmentalist, mountain biker and Tony Curtiss Look-alike.
Squadron Leader Steve Lall or as we call him in India “Uncle Steve” joined the Indian Air Force along with my old back in 1966. Not only were they course mates, there were entry mates at the time of enlisting and also fought the 1971 war together.Steve was a born pilot, he was amongst the first bunch of guys who took charge of the MiG 21 when our Air force got them and in no time he mastered that aircraft. Steve was a kick-ass pilot and was too good at what he did which was air combat maneuvering or “dog-fighting” during the days when air defence was a critical strategy. Steve always stood for what was right no matter which class, creed, stature, race and caste he backed. While he had admirers, he too had a bunch of guys who despised him because he was good and they tried their best to find an opportunity to screw him. No one could touch Steve when it came to flying, so the only way to get him out of their way was to create situations which made life hard for him.And with this, Steve turned into a rebel, stretching the law, defying rules and every time he broke a law, he made that a milestone as he went along.Steve, sometime in 1974 got into a situation in which he was court martialed from the air force and was made to leave. While the Air Force lost an outstanding pilot, this changed him. He took over his old man’s property called the Jilling Estate which more or less is two whole mountains in the Himalayas’, married a mountain girl and called the hills his home ever since.Steve over the years learnt and realized the meaning of life and that meant finding happiness, peace, solace and serenity in the little that he had and made that his world. The mountains made Steve a whole new man and made him realize what it meant to live. He took up biking, became a nature and wildlife conservationist and got into eco-tourism by subletting cottages in the estate to the adventurous. Today Steve owns 6 bikes, selectively gives his place up in the hills on rent, bikes across the whole of India and derives happiness at every single step of the way, or hairpin turn on the mountains.Steve and my old man were close and some of the stuff they did back in the old days I’d personally never ever think of trying even today.Some of the wacked out stuff that Steve did back in the day were:• Taking his dog Kanchi (a wire haired Dachund) up for a sortie in a Mig 21; he had Air Force Sergeant Unni make a special harness that strapped Kanchi to his G-suit and took her for 1 sortie below 10,000 ft and did a few high speed passes across the tower.• After a binging session in the Air Force Mess and Club, Steve and a few folks decided to drive a steam roller back home and during the way, decided to say a quick ‘hello’ to the station commanding officer. Steve, while being an outstanding pilot, miscalculated the turn ability of the steam roller and flattened the commanding officers front gate, lawn and porch.• Steve and my old man created a band in the air force and in the day, many a damsel swore that Steve looked like Tony Curtiss, my old man looked by Charles Bronson and another lad they had on the drums resembled Dean Martin. Steve was awesome with the Trumpet but being short-tempered, when he did not get the right note he wanted, he threw the German made trumpet on the floor and stamped it on the stage.• The station Steve was posted in came out with a rule that dogs were to be leashed always at the station(!) so Steve to defy the rule, took Kanchi his dog, on top of his Harley Davidson he had, wore his swimming trunks and rode his bike straight into the swimming pool. That pretty much ended the rule.(!!).If there’s anyone who at any age wants to learn and know the true meaning of life and that too with biking maintenance techniques thrown in, and aint that crazy in the mind to take up smoking weed at 35 or joining the sex oozing Osho Ashram, I recommend spending a week with Steve.To know more about an outstanding human being called Steve Lall, visit www.jilling.net
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More stuff about him and his paradise
http://www.hindu.com/mp/2008/01/07/stories/2008010750890400.htm
http://www.jilling.net/articles.html

shoulders of giants - part 2

This is an old one. I was at an event in January where Anil Kumble spoke on captainship. He was India’s Captain for a short period and almost took his Bangalore team to victory in the Finals of the IPL. Here are some of the notes I took from that talk he gave. His clarity and experience are worth adapting for any leadership role I guess. What an awesome guy. What an awesome leader.

The first thing that Anil Kumble did on assuming captaincy was to create a document that gave the players a common team ethic and a common goal. Putting it on paper allowed the seriousness of the process to sink.
Some of the points addressed in that document were as below:

Training
Convert training into a team activity to ensure team bonding
Clearly state what the team and the captain expected of them in their training
Create training leaders who would lead the training on a day with clear training roles assigned

Selection
The playing 11 would always be decided one day prior to the match to enable them to be prepared
Give players a long rope and back them especially when they are down
Share the confidence with the players
Personally call the players who were not picked in the fifteen and give possible reasons for their exclusion

Strategy
Create a winning culture by taking calculated risks
Create a core group of senior players while including younger players to ensure that the next generation of leaders would be ready to take on the mantle

Roles
Communicate precise role expected of the player
Back the player in the media if the role was done effectively
Confidence coming in from the captain is important for the player

Attitude
Have intent to win, not just draw the test
No matter how the situation is, no matter how adverse or what the attitude of the opposition is, demonstrate an attitude that you are HERE TO WIN AT ALL COSTS

Goals
Clear stated goal that in 18 months we want to see ourselves as the number one test ranking team in the world

Recognition
Understand that everyone wants recognition; the top player as well as the newcomer
Each one is different and you have to manage each individual differently

Conformity
Communicate very quickly that a player needs to conform to team goals and strategies
Players pulled up in a team environment if they let the team down

Conflicts
Accept that there will be conflicts with diverse individuals in a team
In conflicts, manage the issues rather than looking at who the individuals are

Media Relations
Clear cut policy on talking to media
Strategize on what to speak to the media and accordingly follow it

Parting Thoughts
“At the end of it we are all humans and we all have our emotions. How you connect to those emotions as a leader (and) as group will be the key, and that’s where in these tough times all of us have to address and connect to that human”

if it ain't broken... break it

Hey hoo hey hoo… I am teaching again. After a bit of intense lobbying and behind the scene action I managed to get back to teaching again. actually it wasn’t so tough but what the hell… teaching is quite an interesting activity for me. It keeps me on my toes, helps me connect to the younger heroes and keeps me level headed. You obliviously need to be well prepared and think quickly. My rules are simple. Have tons of fun, allow for dissent and what the hell – anyone can be right. Some are just more likely to work than others. After all I teach marketing and not a pure empirical science. Logic, research and clear thinking is all that is required. Hopefully I would be able to distill some of it in the students. It pays to be a non conformist when you are teaching the younger guys. The distaste for authority is amazing.
I too have a marked distaste for rigid rules and structures. I have learnt that establishing a few ground rules and letting the rest manage it self within the realms of fuzzy logic works best for the near and the far objectives. Lets take the simple case of these new technologies that are doing the rounds. One guy in my US office got himself a twitter page where he kept putting in updates about the Indian economy and our company. The guys following him (and therefore the reverse as well) were an eclectic bunch of characters right from the straight to the porn pushers. When it did get too popular, the business started looking at it seriously and it got evaluated by the compliance division. The establishment gaped and awed at the following. How could our brand be associated with THIS? Now that page will surely die a young man. New technologies will be disruptive in that they challenge conventional wisdom and may be hard to swallow for most. The younger guys would ignore these aberrations. The word ‘cool’ comes to mind instantly. Ok so you have a gay activist following you – cool. You don’t have anyone following you – cool. As an extension the message for most would be – chill. Relax. Have a cup of coffee. The brand these days would need to be resilient enough to accommodate these outliers as an inevitable part. You cannot avoid bad karma. It might be pointless to fight it. The good karma would need to crowd out the bad karma. The question one needs to ask is how much good karma you are attracting.
A rebel or a non conformist seeks to disregard what it believes is bad karma and embraces good karma. Rebels that catch the imagination of the people are those who redefine by their actions what the fcuk is good or bad karma. I have increasingly felt distaste for suppressive authority. I may not have what it takes to be a Che G but in my own unique way I like to shake things up a bit, rile authority a bit, promote a culture that accepts outliers as agents of change and teach the stiff necks to relax.
Organizations often face the challenge of managing growth and size. Too big to succeed is something I heard my super chief musing around once. Once we become big we out in structures, complex structures, matrix structures, cross reporting structures and the works. What percentage of your time should be reporting versus doing? Accepting it as inevitability is but an ostrich response. Breaking these dogmas is the shivite response. Question and destroy these postulates. This is when strong cultures are important. You don’t need committees and manuals to tell you what to do, you need a peer that’s instills in you the right mindset. When the terrorists attacked the Taj and the Oberoi’s, the staff did not require a manual to tell them to lay down their lives for their duty, they had a culture. Often simpler set of often unwritten beliefs that consistently push the group are more important than any brand / organization manual that you would come across.
The more I read Indian mythology the more I get enamored by it. we have enough Brahmas and Vishnus. People who actively seek to create and more than enough who seek to preserve. They keep their eyes open and take on many avatars and come to the rescue of status quo. They want to be aware. There are too few who keep their eyes shut and are detached from its varied illusions or those who seek to break moulds. The blue skinned and the lotus perched cloud out and silence the ash smeared. We love preserves are fear the destroyers. Should it be the reverse?

seekho

The last post I spoke of how there are a multitude of learnings to be had one one is exposed to as many situations as possible. Take the case of the taxi guy I take when I am in Delhi. Delhi is a notorious city. I distrust every Delhi’ite I meet on the road. Every person is a seen with suspicion for a tourist. In the past I have tried avoiding delhi altogether in my travels. Then I chanced upon one man. Ashok. He runs a private taxi service. He has one Indica. I got him through my office in Delhi. Whenever I am in Delhi I contact him. He is busy most of the time but he ensures that some or the other trusted taxi is at my landing point ready to pick me. Typically in Delhi you would have quite a few hours in between your trains. This is the time to be visiting the monuments that make Delhi the capital of India. The last time he arranged for a taxi to take us around and we got to see Humayun’s tomb and Qutub Minar. This time I had to switch stations between Nizamuddin and Old Delhi. He got me a trusted guy. Since we had 4 hours to kill we took the taxi to Connaught place (now rajiv circle) left the luggage in the car, did some shopping, browsing and eating before proceeding towards our station.
On the way back the train was supposed to come in at 4 am. I called him the day before. This time he said he would be there to pick me. In the morning the train was about an hour late. But on the dot at 4 am, I get a call. It’s him. He is waiting ready at the station. We figure the meeting point at the station. When we do alight and catch him the first thing he asks me is if I am with my family. Then he asks me what time is my connecting train. It’s an 8 am. He doesn’t say anything. We exit old Delhi station and he takes us outside. He shows us Chandini chowk and the various points in Old Delhi. I assumed that was the route, but he suddenly did a u turn and I realized the dam thing was a guided tour. He then went on to Lutyen’s Delhi to show us the parliament etc etc. He asked us if we wanted to have some tea. When we nodded to took us to this special Garhwali guy who is supposedly cleaner. He got special chai made with kum cheeni. He even paid for the chai saying that he is taking us for tea and not the other way around. Then took us further around and onto India gate. “ab time hai saab, gaadi mein ghumon. Station pe kya baithna” why go to the station and wait there. Roam around in the car rather than wait at the station, was his logic. We then roamed around India gate and then he decided that it was time to leave as we wanted to grab a bite at the station restaurant.
All this he did on his own. I had not discussed money or anything with him. I knew the drop was around 400 bucks. All he had to do was drop us off at the station in 15 minutes flat and pocket 400 bucks, but he decided to take us around and show us the place knowing we were wearing our tourist hats. He also had bottled water and biscuits in the car. I looked at jasmine and proudly told her – now you know why I call only this guy, and why I don’t take a dam prepaid taxi.
Needless to add I gave him 500 rupees which meant a 100 buck (25%) tip. I think he expected it.
Ashok is a simple a Himachali man who has understood service. Its common sense. When will we MBA’s see this and get embarrassed.
For those traveling to Delhi and want to use his trusted taxi service here is his cell number – 9971257823. He said he is upgrading to an Indigo in a month’s time.

legacy, eh!

Back after a two week hiatus. It was family time with Jasmine, Jispa and me going to Kumaon. Every year vacation planning becomes very difficult. Where to go, what is the climate, how do we reach, what do we do etc… we wanted to go to Rajasthan for some time and visit Udaipur and Jaipur but somehow the plan never went anywhere. You can go there in July but we realized that if the monsoon is delayed then you could get temperatures of around 40 degrees. Whew.. so we suddenly made a u turn on the plan the finalized this plan within an hour one night and proceeded to make the bookings. So it was us visiting Pangot, Jilling and Naukuchiatal in Kumaon.of all things I missed was – updating my blog. I thought of so much to write. Now I almost feel like buying those pocket PC and fitting the dam thing with a data card. I have this kida to start writing. I would like to write on my blog, write a children’s book, write some travelogues, but sitting here and doing it from Mumbai is almost as impossibility. I would need to get away somewhere and figure.
Once I read an article on people taking up writing. One of the guys was quoted as thus – whenever I say to anyone that I am writing something, they ask me when I am going to publish it. Its like asking someone who likes playing basketball, when are you playing for the NBA. I found that quote quite inspirational. Writing for me is so personal. I write because I want to. I really don’t care who reads it. I would be most happy if my daughter would one day read it. She is probably my one and only target audience. That reminds me that I have to proof check my travelogue. Wonder why I haven’t yet found motivation to do it. Well there is precedence – I never did get around to checking my papers while writing exams and I assume I would not change anytime in the future.
Yesterday was summer solstice. Nothing about it but I had taught Jispa what it was and she had fun experiencing it. she realized it was a loooong day and it wasn’t dark till quite late. It was also a perfect date for her to shed (?) her fourth tooth. Fairy came in again and wrote some message for her. Fairy needs to get a bit creative though I believe the back pain stopped her from thinking too much.

While there is a lot I have to write about the trip – I hope to be writing about it one at a time. Whenever I go out vacationing or anywhere else, I experience new things, new stuff, I come back smarter. I learn from varied sources. It helps me lead a richer fuller life. All this comes back to me in my job. I can think of different elements that could help me do my job better. It is very important to have varied interests and be as exposed as possible. A simple interest in wildlife helped me design some collateral once. Using the right animals helped the design. Example knowing that Indian gharial is different from the average crocodile as in it has special mutations that have helped it survive by catching fish in the rivers, was used in one collateral. Some service example somewhere would have helped something else. When I was in consulting they realized this. They allowed for this. Brand strategy inspiration can come from varied sources. But companies rarely recognize this. They like to straightjacket their work, their thinking and their ideas. That’s why you get shitty slipshod work. People are trained not to get ideas, inspiration and references. One thing I hope is that Jispa leads a richer life and gets her inspirations from a billion sources. One friend of mine got it right when she saw the book collection. Her hubby was wondering what I am going to do with my book collection.
She realized that all I am doing was building a legacy.

fools rush in where...

Mumbai past life therapy. Free from a vedic psychic let her read you past and offer you the truth.
This was the mouse-over ad when I was browsing on Economic Times online edition. The word on which this ad popped up – take a wild guess… equities. I have been looking at the finance market for 9 years as a professional and more as a self respecting gujju. There is no logic to the stuff followed by the mass of people investing and the ad is a testimony to this fact. When the market is going up people are deluded into believing that their analysis is right. Sure it will be right… in a raging bull run all stocks go up! ALL. You can see people’s mood swing to these markets and move accordingly. In bear markets conviction in the best of stocks gets shaken. Every cycle it the same retail investor coming in and getting conned. He always buys high sells low. But you know I don’t pity him. He came in by greed. He thought there is free money here. He thought you could just buy off any stock and make money. He wanted to offload his shares when they are overpriced to some other guy and he got stuck in the process. Why should I have any pity for him. The government should go after the frauds but most of it is purely gambling. Should cry for those who grow broke at Vegas? Only as much as we must believe that a jack pot hits a supremely intelligent person. You gambled not invested, you lost. Sad. Get up and learn. Huge amount of government time and press space gets invested in combating and covering this rubbish.
In similar vein I can’t understand the number of people who see the market channels like CNBC etc. they are uninformative, sensationalize the present and encourage all sorts of rubbish.in fact even financial press is put off. A large part of the data is either from press releases or from wires etc. How much is actual, original analysis with insight and content. Same for magazines. No real reporting. Slowly I have stopped reading them altogether. I don’t think I am much too worse off. And I see people reading more of this. Those steeped in the markets will order and read all these papers, all the magazines and consume enormous amounts of air time. More of shit is just that – more of shit. It’s not going to make you any smarter. Stop it.
The research problem you see elsewhere works here too. Most of the research is done to ratify what you believe in. it becomes something akin to a self fulfilling prophesy. Everything points towards what you yourself are thinking. Very few really listen to the consumer. Understand what he is really saying, observe what is really happening. Compare one from another. Truth is really simple to see.
People will read some trait of someone successful investor and emulate what they want to and conveniently ignore the rest that is uncomfortable. It doesn’t work that way. I am reminded of that English phrase of missing the wood for the trees or something to that effect.
As for me…I am too bored or lazy or incompetent to really invest. I do the simple systematic investment planning and let it rest. Making money was never a high point emotionally or practically. but you know... I have seen a lot of people make money, tons of it. And I always thought I was smarter than them. Then I convince myself that the metrics is wrong... so there, even I have my excuses

lovely tree

Ficus trees such as pipal are important for a forest is what I learnt at one of the nature walks I had been for. They encourage bird life etc etc… I too noticed a lot of birds around such trees, eating fruit, nesting etc.. I loved these trees and I wished for them to be everywhere. But they come with a small caution. What caution? I parked under one of these for around 36 hours. This is what happened. Well it probably is the wrong season, I guess.. must be fruits blossoming, attracting more birds hence more poo… I don’t know.. Not that I mind too much. I just pity the poor guy who washes the car. Though visibility was an issue later.

what say?

Jasmine had a Jispa experience – man evolved from apes – ya – then there was first man and women – ya – and from them all humans evolved – ya – so then why do know so less people. Aaaaaa. Jasmine answers – well .. uhh… that’s because there are so many people and its not possible to know all. Why, you don’t even know my father’s sisters kids, do you?
I was lucky not be around or be at the receiving end of this one. Good thing her train stopped there. God knows where it could have gone. Her mind works 24X7. Constantly working, thinking, inferring. Good for her. She will grow older faster…

This is taken at Marine Drive. One of our favorite haunts. Nice buzz the place has. It is also a source for many of our memories. Our college was nearby and the courtship ritual did involve a walk on this drive way.
Marine drive has undergone a bit of make over. They tiled the place. While I would have loved a bit of color in the tiles I am not complaining too much. Atleast while laying the tiles they managed to put in a pattern which I find quite nice to look at. Thick tiles slowly becoming thin and then back to think again…. and so on…

A lot of pavements in Mumbai have been tiled red with yellow lines. But then they get dug up soon enough and the tiles are replaced haphazardly. You can see the yellow lines pattern on the top disintegrating soon enough. A metaphor for the civic services, perhaps.

After we gujjus put sev on everything we are now ready to cheese everything. If its fat, sinful, fattening and bad for health – give us more!

it's your flame

I am not convinced of the dynastic tendencies that are prevalent everywhere, whether they are in corporates or in politics. Our tendency to eulogize and patronize them leaves me a little unsure. Is our need for predictability and order forcing us to follow and be led by them? I don’t know. I understand the paternal and conservationist instincts of the leaders who promote their kin. But what is our excuse for blindly accepting them? In politics the current heir apparent to the first family of India seems to be taking the right steps to get his party out of the quagmire it finds itself in. In a party that lost its way briefly largely due to the infighting and territorial tendencies of its second rung, it probably required a surname to unite it and talk crucial decisions. Sometimes being decisive in battle is more important that weighty argument that follows turfism. Should the logical heir be a blood line? Who does the organization belong to any ways? Normally the sharply analytical Tarun Tejpal from Tehelka is pretty incisive with his searing insight. But to see him write these lines for the current Congress head was largely disappointing:
“And yes, as I bid you speed and strength, with the extra god by your side, may I make a final plea. You have given us of yourself, and of your son. Now will you kindly also give unto us your luminous daughter.”
Not that I have anything against the daughter joining in. Sure all able hands and heads are welcome. But only if he had read Shoma Chaudhury’s piece in the same issue where she talks about Rahul and the systems he is bringing in, to the once beleaguered party. She writes:
“In an innovative move geared to revive the dead old party root upwards, he hired a firm run by JM Lyngdoh and KJ Rao — former election commissioners and men of impeccable reputation — to run intra-party elections for the Youth Congress and the party’s student body, the NSUI. In the recruitment drives preceding these elections, threeand- a-half lakh new members have been signed on in Punjab; more than six lakhs in Gujarat. Sixty-five thousand new student members in Uttarakhand. Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry are next. Oxygen is coursing through the party.
“You get a true measure of Rahul if you ask the bright young people around him why they have given up brilliant futures to work in his core team,” says Lyngdoh. “As for intra-party elections overseen by an independent body, why has no party tried this before in 62 years? Every party should follow this now. It will strengthen the roots of democracy in India.” Says Rao, “We told Rahul people with criminal records should not be allowed to stand for party posts. He agreed immediately. He has also supported independent audits and complete transparency. What this means is that people doing actual grassroot work now have a chance to get elected into positions of power.”
That’s my point. Work at the grassroots and enable a system that allows, no, pushes able leaders to emerge. Those who have performed under harsh environments and worked for the cause while seeing the real bottom. That is the challenge. I wish Tarun had asked for system for more such leaders to emerge. One lucky dynastic roulette does not make a rule. Surely easier said than done, but running a country is not for the faint hearted.
I would want Jispa to take her own call, do her own thing and follow her own calling. Should she look at us as role models? May be for some traits/ behaviors, but career? I don’t think so. Look out beyond. Sometimes parents want their child to follow in their footsteps or reverse – be what they aimed for but never could be. Among the things that I thought I could have been but never could be was a nuclear physicist. I loved physics and still love it. Why dint I follow it? Too lazy, severely limited ability… hehehe. But that is one career option I would like to see. But when did what I like begin to count in any way!

ortho pra... what was that again?

Orthopraxy is a term derived from Greek (ὀρθοπραξις) meaning "correct action/activity", and is a religion that places emphasis on conduct, both ethical and liturgical, as opposed to faith or grace etc. This contrasts with orthodoxy, emphasizing a correct belief, and ritualism, the use of rituals.
Gandhiism is orthopraxic versus orthodox. Jainism which we followed since our childhood was fed almost as orthodoxic to us. Why? Why do not teach our children the power of correct action over ritual. As kids we really at some point went foul of all these practices and switched off pretty soon. We rebelled soon enough. It’s a wonder we didn’t get atheist. To my mind Jainism is as orthopraxic as can get.
As kids we loved rituals so much that we even copied the rituals of cricketers. So we might wear / use their brand of sports goods but not their sport ethic
Hinduism per say is also orthopraxic but it is sadly too steeped in rituals today and has become the beacon of orthodox practice and dogma. Everything in religion must be questioned. No doctrine can be taken as sacred. It must appeal to your inner core. Whether your core is right brained or left. When you understand your inner core and are able to find a doctrine that matches it, I guess peace will spring? Is that why people are drawn to religion? If that is so then why religion must be given by birth? Should not choosing religion be a rite of passage; to be chosen once you assume greater understanding of your inner core? Shouldn’t the religion as a child be different from that as a teen and then as an adult… I would assume that an inner core does not change significantly but the manifestations it assumes over a period of time vary. At different age cycles different elements of your personality are dominant or dormant, thus shaping your belief system and behavior. They might not be too different but enough I assume to move between religions.
Such a long discourse on religion? From me? I must shot in the brains. Jasmine and I realized one day, that in our house we don’t even have a temple, no matter how small. No small statue / image / sticker of anything that anyway resembles an act of faith or god. Well a Christmas tree in the attic does not actually count, does it? Does that make us less religious.
All this is fine as intellectual conversation. It is important to understand your core and ideal and be true to it at all times. How many of us believe ourselves to be nice and fluffy but are unable to live up to it when the test comes calling. I have let myself down a zillion times. All I hope is that I don’t the commit same let downs over again. Hopefully this will make me a better person.

riddle me ree

Here is Jispa’s reminder list for mom. On one of the Thursdays, she did not have her co curricular activity and hence would have come home by lunch… hence the instructions – no co curricular activity, cook lunch at home, pick her up at 1 pm, and count her while cooking lunch!

Well go on decipher this one:-
"Jispa Pooh Both Doshi". Poor Pooh. Now he is a Gujju! He will start having gathia and sev for breakfast.

Why do railway timetables posted on the platforms need to have ‘signing’ authority names printed on them? Wouldn’t we have believed them either way?


Look at the line for the bus. It was supposed to go straight on the footpath. It mysteriously turned towards the road hindering some of the buses. Why? Blame the commuters… Cant they stand in line?… well the answer will be easy for a common commuter, some drunk guy puked on the footpath and its still there – the puke that is. Hence to avoid it the line turns. Who do you blame now?

adventure is thy name

Jispa learnt swimming and cycling ahead of her contemporaries. And generally she seems to be learning stuff faster. Are we to be praised? While I would take some credit but a lot goes to her. As a child I feel she is more open and adventurous, she is ready to be pushed out of her comfort zone. I do see a sense of adventure. It’s not that apparent but on prodding it does come out. She is not the kid who will happily be in her comfort zone ignoring the fun happing around. She is willing to go in pursuit. She picks these cues of adventure from others and continues on. She learn to not find earth worms yuck thanks to her cousin, she loved dogs and petting them from her kaki, and so on. I keep pushing her. I finally once got her to touch a snake at a zoo and at a snake catchers place. So now smaller insects etc don’t bother her too much as well. The other day we were trying to get an earthworm onto our hands. I would hate to grow up to be an ‘eeeeeee-aieeee-its- a-worm’ type of girl. She is literally named for adventure. I would love her continue that streak. Jasmine hates this animal lover stuff. She can’t touch random insects. I am normally ambivalent about these things but thanks to Jispa I am getting I push myself.
Ability to move out of your comfort zone regularly is a wonderful quality she has that I would like to hone and develop. Keep going.

culture vulture

A squash racquet. A ha…swish it round like the Excalibur! Nice and light. 120 titanium nano from Head. Feels good to buy expensive sports gear. At three and a half k, it’s probably the most expensive gear I have bought. And wonder of wonder it improved my game a lot. Especially the weaker back hand. Nice… good fun.
There is only one squash court at the gymkhana resulting in a bit of waiting every time. Also thanks to this and the coach, the court has a great play ethic. You have to play in line and with whoever is next. This would mean that even beginners play with pros. Sure, an absolute beginner is normally taught to by the coach but soon enough he starts playing on his own. The pros too recognize this and play a low enough level to ensure a game for the rookie. Sometimes the pros get compensated by getting an extra game with someone of his caliber. If you want to play only the pros then you better wait long enough, thus snubbing out all such intent. But largely the ethic remains strong and inclusive, thus allowing for a positive atmosphere. Typically otherwise closed cults are formed and people get anal retentive, close ranks refusing to let outsiders play, creating a hold on resources. I have heard of the badminton guys doing this in the morning. This same stuff used to happen even in galli cricket games. Some teams always wanted to get in new players and used to ask new kids on the block to join them, while the others simply refused to allow others a way in. I have learnt to be inclusive. Culture is a squeeze. Be it in gymkhanas, sports teams, clubs, families or corporates. Strong cultures create pressures that those who conform to, love and those who don’t are ejected. You either fit in and mould yourself to it or, phachak… you get ejected a la soap in a shower. I guess it’s the reason for stickiness and turn over. Understanding a culture is important but creating a powerful culture is also important. Within a set culture you can form your own subset. You have to take pains to create it, eject malignant spoilers and constantly watch it. It is important for the culture to be protected. You create the culture and the culture will take care of the people in the network. If you don’t keep a tight tab on it, it will come to bite you in the bum. I will never allow for infighting and will not tolerate name calling / back biting within the team. It’s a reason why the team can remain apolitical and perform under stress. Honesty in dealings and removal of all pettiness is so dam important as well. This is something that works across all groups. Just because the overall environment might be vile does not allow you the liberty o create a virulent atmosphere yourself amongst your team. Don’t spread the virus, stop it right away.

play the game

The reason I probably played cricket for my office was because I could clear the field to any ball being pitched up to me. The main reason I continue it is because it gives me an amazing insight into team dynamics and situations. It is an amazing game that lends itself to strategy over a longer period of time. I miss that when I play squash. That is a different game. It is an individual skill game pitted against your opponent, with tons of sleight thrown in. And I would assume a game like golf will be at the opposite end of the spectrum. These vary in their need to react with the environment. In cricket you keep yourself open at all points to the environment. The situation of the team, the bowlers you play, the condition of the ground everything while focusing on your own game. It is quite a flip flop when you take in the big picture, make mental notes and immediately almost blank out and focus on next ball and play appropriately. Your metal note shelp you play appropriately. A big shot or a dour defensive. Squash means playing in your zone while keeping track of opponent’s movement and probable shot play. You constantly try to refine your game and make the opponent play to his weakness or take advantage of his position on court. Drop shot, wall shot, low winner, lob… it is a play between what you can play and what will make life difficult for the opponent. Golf is between you, the ball and the course.
Different games do different things. I am glad I played cricket for what it’s worth, I am glad I play squash. No golf yet but might to pick on similar sports like shooting or something that would help me play ‘inside my self’ more than anything else. That should be fun. No leadership, no captainship, nothing. The opponent is incidental. It’s you and your target. I guess if I swim / run with target a target time in mind the mental make up should come close. Trekking would also be similar but not the same. Now rock climbing – yup that would be something. That is also such an internal sport I assume.
All three types of sports are important to help unravel a part of your personality, if you are paying attention and if you reflect. Putting yourself in a myriad variety of situations help you understand you subtexts and help you learn, change and reinforce. Sport has helped me learn a lot. Absorb a lot. I also suspect it has helped my refine my thoughts and helped me shape my personality. For better of for worse :) I wouldn’t want to give it up for anything else in the world.

Bear me out

It’s a long day for bicharo Pooh. Here he is sleeping at night, comforted by Jispa, or is it the other way around… hard to really tell. How can you choose from two peas in a pod? Quite a random quote, wasn’t it?
But here they are…
There he is all set seat belt tied, pillow ahead as a blanket; the air conditioning is a bit cold for him, never mind the fact that he is a bear with polar fleece as skin. He still can feel cold. Even a bear has rights you know.

At breakfast. What? Of course he gets hungry. He has a bear’s appetite. But he is quite content to share Jispa’s plate. The bear necessities of life!

Nothing like a good read, huh! He is a little slow on the reading bit, but I guess with Jispa reading to him he should pick up fast. He likes the stories she reads. Many times he is just content to look at the pictures in the book that Jispa is reading. Sometimes he does get a bit distracted and looks around, at the people, more at their feet I guess.


But one thing is for sure. He likes to move around a bit. He is quite a restless child in the car. Sometimes in the boot in his box. A shoe box for the pint size Pooh.


Jispa is quite a sweet kid; she doesn’t mind sharing her stuff with Pooh. Pooh found the day a bit sunny, to say the least.

He does travel a fair bit. But he is comfortable most of the time. Not too fussy for a bear.

Back to sleep again….
Whew, all in a days work!

paisa yeh paisa

Yesterday the markets went into a tizzy thanks to a stable mandate being voting the Congress to power. It froze trading in 60 seconds by hitting the upper circuit. Not that I disapprove but this is the very stable government that controlled India for many years and created a corrupt and controlled bureaucracy. They kept pouring crores of rupees down schemes and yognas meant for the poor, the farmer, the down trodden and guess what, those poor guys remained there. And they continue to do that. I saw it all the budgets of the last five years. Yognas / schemes / plan and poor. Well ok, at least a notionally secular party with a ‘centerist’ ideology is there. But thanks to the markets overreacting I heard a lovely quote ‘the fear of losing capital has made way to fear of losing gains.’ Trust Shashank to come up with absolutely grounded one liners! Which reminds me of another one – the markets can stay wrong longer than you can remain solvent.
After being associated with equities and the wealth market for 8 years as a professional and over 15 years as a self respecting gujju, I have a slight distaste for making money. I like money but some how I don’t like making money. Gains don’t give me a constant high. I don’t count my net worth daily. I am not too unperturbed on losing opportunities. I don’t spend time hunting over the next money making scheme.
That’s where I thank Jasmine. She never was enamored by it in the first place. And now so far Jispa isn’t asking for it either! I rather spend my time being with family. I rather not be defined by my work.