Carcass of a relationship

I am not sure why I wrote this. I guess one of the reasons is that one of my friends is just going through a separation after 4 years of relationship. His reasons are different but somehow when such things happen they do pull you down somewhat. Having said this, I still feel that the best way to overcome such things is to be strong, positive, and not being vindictive. Our mind is funny – at one hand it somewhere leads you on a path to hurt but it can also help you to overcome deepest of wounds as long as we want to. When things fall apart it is good to Smile and just move on.

“Carcass of a relationship”

The scream of the memory and the ashes of his dreams
Haunted his nights and burnt him from inside.

The battle in his mind and the execution of emotions
Defeated his innocence and made his soul cry.

The carcass of a relationship and the treason of promises
Crucified his trust and shook his cores inside.

The mirage of happiness and the reality of betrayal
Pierced his heart and ended his Life

--- Vinny 06.09.07

Breaking the silence of silence

They say, The roar of the lion
Breaks the silence of the wild

They say, The tick of the clock
Breaks the silence of time

They say, The ring of the bell
Breaks the silence of prayer

They say, The wail of a child
Breaks the silence of motherhood

They say, The rise of arrogance
Breaks the silence of wisdom

They say, The fall of trust
Breaks the silence of friendship

They say, The beat of the heart
Breaks the silence of Life

They say, The fall of the tears
Breaks the silence of pain

They say, The sob of a heart
Breaks the silence of happiness

All I say, The rise of love
Breaks the silence of silence

-- Vinny 05.09.07

Am learning to live

Couple of week’s back I went through loads of mixed feelings। Some one who is the reason I exist was going under the cut and I could not be there to hold his hands or even just be there. Loads of reasons which were all futile but all were just eating away my head. These lines are just my way to say. Thanks for being there for me and for forgiving me for not being there for you when you needed me the most.

I held your hands
And learnt to walk

I heard your words
And learnt to speak

I ate from your hands
And learnt to eat

I felt your embrace
And learnt to feel

I saw your smile
And learnt to laugh

I saw your anger
And learnt to apologize

I felt your warmth
And learnt to love

I saw your thoughts
And learnt to think

I saw your pain
And learnt to forgive

I saw your sacrifices
And I learnt to give

I tried to live your life
And I am learning to live

--- Vinny 03.09.07

Makes me wonder

The hatred in their voices
And their wailing for the blood
The wastage of heroics
And the victory of bondage
Makes me wonder
Why do we have to be a slave to our mind?

The void in their hearts
And the death of love
The absence of sanity
And the freedom of evil
Makes me wonder
Why do we have to be a child of a lesser mind?

The abuse of happiness
And sacrilege of purity
The shine of the swords
And the wisdom of anger
Makes me wonder
Why do we have to shun the beauty of life?

The abundance of lust
And the sleep of the shame
The cries of the victims
And the laughter of the law
Makes me wonder
Why do we have to born of a grave?

The serpent of religion
And the venom of caste
The poisoning of our hearts
And the bath of the gun
Makes me wonder
How do we wake out of this slumber?

-- Vinny, 03.09.08

My first article for leading news daily

I have recently finished authoring an article for a leading Indian Newspaper daily. The article tries to capture a snap shot of my understanding on a specific topic in professional domain. However, for reasons quiet obvious and “acceptable” in corporate world, this article would be published in somebody else’s name and to the external world I will have nothing to do with this article. I do expect and would like to imagine that the author under whose name it would be published in would modify it to a certain extent to showcase the contents of the article in a different manner. The article title is “Monetization of Social Networks in Telecom Space”

Irrespective of under whose name does this article gets published under; it has been enjoyable writing this article because I have been a part of this global phenomenon called social networking and do realize the impact this has made to our lives.

Pg 1 / 2
Pg 2 / 2

Wanna Rock the world - All you need is a guitar and a diaper

This is so so hilarious and classy. For all of us who have grown up with rock and are now watching our kids adopting the same, this is something you are bound to love.

And, trust me while watching this all I could remember how my son and I used to watch Jim Morrison songs together. And those were the times when he couldn’t even stand but he would still keep on kicking his legs and shaking his head. And if I ever stopped the song in the middle I used to have it.

Man things like these sometimes make you feel.. God freeze the time .. watching our kids enjoying like this.. there is nothing better than this.

Preeti & Ragi you are two people I would really like to hear from on this.

http://view.break.com/313187 - Watch more free videos

One of my friends and a fellow blogger NRupesh sent this across to Me. Thanks mate

Secrets of Management Consulting

Many times I have seen this to be equally applicable to consulting ..

Smile in a lie

Hopping from one time to another
And, waiting for the darkness to clear
He prayed. She prayed.

Growing amidst the fading memories
And, mesmerized with life’s vagaries
He wondered. She wondered.

Covered in the smoke of love
And, buried under the load of hope
He sighed. She sighed.

Sitting out with a cold beer
And, counting the shivers of the fear
He wept. She wept.

Waking up to the stars of future
And, fighting away the life’s daily demure
He walked. She walked.

Flogging away the life
Together, they found truth in a lie
And Then They Smiled.

----- Vinny, 13.08.07

Are you Prepared to stay married

A friend sent Me this story ... and i felt that this captured the real depth of marriage....
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When I got home that night as my wife served dinner, I held her hand and said, I've got something to tell you. She sat down and ate quietly. Again I observed the hurt in her eyes.

Suddenly I didn't know how to open my mouth. But I had to let her know what I was thinking. I want a divorce. I raised the topic calmly. She didn't seem to be annoyed by my words, instead she asked me softly, why? I avoided her question. This made her angry. She threw away the chopsticks and shouted at me, you are not a man!

That night, we didn't talk to each other. She was weeping. I knew she wanted to find out what had happened to our marriage. But I could hardly give her a satisfactory answer; I had lost my heart to a lovely girl called 'Someone'. I didn't love her anymore. I just pitied her!

With a deep sense of guilt, I drafted a divorce agreement which stated that she this was a divorce by mutual consent. She glanced at it and then tore it into pieces. The woman who had spent almost six year of her life with me had become a stranger. I felt sorry for her wasted time, resources and energy but I could not take back what I had said for I loved 'someone' else dearly.

Finally she cried loudly in front of me, which was what I had expected to see. To me her cry was actually a kind of release. The idea of divorce which had obsessed me for several weeks seemed to be firmer and clearer now.

The next day, I came back home very late and found her writing something at the table. I didn't have supper but went straight to sleep and fell asleep very fast because I was tired after an eventful day with 'someone'. When I woke up, she was still there at the table writing. I just did not care so I turned over and was asleep again.

In the morning she presented her divorce conditions: she didn't want anything from me, but needed a month's notice before the divorce. She requested that in that one month we both struggle to live as normal a life as possible. Her reasons were simple: our son had his exams in a months time and she didn't want to disrupt him with our broken marriage.

This was agreeable to me. But she had something more, she asked me to recall how I had carried her into out bridal room on our wedding day. She requested that everyday for the month's duration I carry her out of our bedroom to the front door ever morning. I thought she was going crazy.

Just to make our last days together bearable I accepted her odd request.

I told 'someone' about my wifes divorce conditions. She laughed loudly and thought it was absurd. No matter what tricks she applies, she has to face the divorce, she said scornfully. My wife and I hadn't had any body contact since my divorce intention was explicitly expressed. So when I carried her out on the first day, we both appeared clumsy. Our son clapped behind us, daddy is holding mummy in his arms. His words brought me a sense of pain. From the bedroom to the sitting room, then to the door, I walked over ten meters with her in my arms. She closed her eyes and said softly; don't tell our son about the divorce. I nodded, feeling somewhat upset.

I put her down outside the door. She went to wait for the bus to work. I drove alone to the office.

On the second day, both of us acted much more easily. She leaned on my chest.. I could smell the fragrance of her blouse. I realized that I hadn't looked at this woman carefully for a long time. I realized she was not young any more. There were fine wrinkles on her face, her hair was graying! Our marriage had taken its toll on her. For a minute I wondered what I had done to her.

On the fourth day, when I lifted her up, I felt a sense of intimacy returning. This was the woman who had given almost six years of her life to me. On the fifth and sixth day, I realized that our sense of intimacy was growing again. I didn't tell 'somone' this. It became easier to carry her as the month slipped by. Perhaps the everyday workout made me stronger.

She was choosing what to wear one morning. She tried on quite a few dresses but could not find a suitable one. Then she sighed, all my dresses have grown bigger. I suddenly realized that she had grown so thin, that was the reason why I could carry her more easily. Suddenly it hit me; she had buried so much pain and bitterness in her heart.

Subconsciously I reached out and touched her head. Our son came in at the moment and said, Dad, it's time to carry mum out. To him, seeing his father carrying his mother out had become an essential part of his life. My wife gestured to our son to come closer and hugged him tightly. I turned my face away because I was afraid I might change my mind at this last minute. I then held her in my arms, walking from the bedroom, through the sitting room, to the hallway. Her hand surrounded my neck softly and naturally. I held her body tightly; it was just like our wedding day.

But her much lighter weight made me sad. On the last day, when I held her in my arms I could hardly move a step. Our son had gone to school. I held her tightly and said, I hadn't noticed that our life lacked intimacy. I drove to office... jumped out of the car swiftly without locking the door. I was afraid any delay would make me change my mind... I walked upstairs. 'Someone' opened the door and I said to her, Sorry, 'someone', I do not want the divorce anymore.

She looked at me, astonished. Then touched my forehead. Do you have a fever? She said. I moved her hand off my head. Sorry, 'someone', I said, I won't divorce. My marriage life was boring probably because she and I didn't value the details of our lives, not because we didn't love each other any more. Now I realize that since I carried her into my home on our wedding day I am supposed to hold her until death does us apart.

'Someone' seemed to suddenly wake up। She gave me a loud slap and then slammed the door and burst into tears. I walked downstairs and drove away. At the floral shop on the way, I ordered a bouquet of flowers for my wife. The salesgirl asked me what to write on the card. I smiled and wrote:

"I'll carry you out every morning until death do us apart"

The small details of our lives are what really matter in a relationship. It is not the mansion, the car, the property, the bank balance that matters. These create an environment conducive for happiness but cannot give happiness in themselves. So find time to be your spouse's friend and do those little things for each other that build intimacy. Do have a real happy marriage!

Mittal, Mukesh Ambani, Google and Yours Truly

Just found this interesting fact about my blog:

If you search for

Mukesh Ambani is scared of mittal

Without quotes on google … then pg 2 i.e. 11^th Link points to my blog.. Hehehe .. And I don’t have any entry any where close to it ..

Life without consequences

Saw this pic on the net .. Just made me remind me of my child hood days .. I though didn’t have much of an opportunity to play like this … but whenever I had the chance .. it was a blast ..

It just shows that no matter what happens to our Team India .. there is a passion for the game in India which remains unmatched ….

Wish I could go back to my child hood for a day and play like there is nothing in the world to worry about ..

Life while growing up was so much fun and freedom …. There could be so many small small things that you would discover and feel excited about it every thing in life was fresh .. and you could do anything you want and not worry about the consequences …

Whenever I meet my old friends .. its like time travel … we just cant stop talking about how much fun it was just to be a kid …

Anyways .. Am not that old now .. but still.. they were good old days

Times are changing

With the way our lives are changing on all dimensions this picture captures a fact of life that we all should remember at all times।

They say change is the only permanent thing .. I totally agree.. And I also agree that with change comes the need to learn new thins and also to unlearn old things..

What we need to unlearn is probably a million times more difficult as compared to what we need to learn. Also, the quantum of what we need to unlearn is also a million times more than what we need to learn.

What we need to unlearn varies from person to person and culture to culture. For some they might need to unlearn big things like how they look at life at large and for some it might be limited to smaller things like how they need to manage their work on a day to day basis. This list I feel can be limitless and keeps on growing for all of us with every passing day. Refraining myself from going into more generic details I am just wondering that maybe I as a person also need to list down what I need to unlearn. The way every night I think about what I have learnt new in the day I should also think about what I need to unlearn today.

Before we walk this long and unending road of shedding unwanted and obsolete thoughts and unlearning things, I feel, that what we need to do foremost is we need to keep ourselves open enough ..

What is that you want to unlearn today????

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BOB DYLAN

"Come gather 'round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You'll be drenched to the bone.
If your time to you
Is worth savin'
Then you better start swimmin'
Or you'll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin'"

Begining of a journey for Sachiel Bhagat

Date: 3^rd July 2007

Event: 1st day at school (Play) for Sachiel Bhagat

I remember that when we were kids we never had to go through things like play school. Thank God for that. But play school or regular school. First day is always a big event. A big big occasion for our lives. But when we grow up we may not remember how we felt on our first day. But as parents we definitely go through a million emotions when we see our kids got to school. It varies from excitement, happiness, joy to being scared. To be scared is one emotion that hits first. My case is no different as of now.

School life opens a million doors to you. At every step you see a new door. Some times you can see them from miles and sometimes you have to search for them. And it is this journey between these doors that decide what and who we are. As a father, I look forward to my son’s journey through all these doors. And, hope that no matter what path he chooses, it should be a journey full of life and events that would help him in becoming a good human being.

In the end - I hope and pray to the almighty above that this is a beginning of a wonderful life for Jr. Bhagat. I hope he goes way beyond what I can and will ever achieve in my life. And as a father, I know that there may be times when he will have to make a certain journey himself (no matter how much I would I want to accompany him). But I also know that if I am not accompanying him on a journey, then I would always be available to him as a guide, friend and a facilitator.

God Bless you my son and best of luck to a life full of life itself.

Moon God, Lord Brahma, My wife and Fosters

This is a disclaimer .. I have written this for laugh value .. not with any intention of hurting anybody's sentiments.. if you feel hurt .. plz move on .. and open up yourself .. this place is a blog and is for me to capture my thoughts the way i want it ..
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I just came across an interesting website (http://www.webonautics.com) which captures various aspects of characters (Read: Gods / Lesser Gods) of the Indian Mythology.

Among the listing of Lesser Gods I came across the details of the Moon GOD. His name is Chandra or SOMA. Just a Few facts about him:

1 - Soma is identified by Amrit (Nector)
2 - His second hand carries Nector (or Soma)
3 - It is said that 6000 dieties feed on SOMA or nector to achieve immortality
4 - His Fan Following was huge .. Lord Indra was one of them
5 - He is associated with the "underworld"
6 - Soma or the nector combines two aspects - a) Gods derive their strength from this drink and b) this drink also makes them wax and wain.
7 - Soma was banished from to the outer spaces by Brahma. (A sign of ban on intoxicants in heaven :) )

It's the fact no 7 that caught my attention. Somehow I found it interesting that as per the Indian mythology Soma is the producer and distributor of intoxicants. He was involved in a highly profitable trade (As would be expected in any monopoly. He had a huge fan following and highly satisfied clientele. The following testimonial by his clients in one of our vedas is a proof of the same:

"This Soma is a god; he cures
The sharpest ills that man endures.
He heals the sick, the sad he cheers,
He nerves the weak, dispels their fears;
The faint with martial ardour fires,
With lofty thoughts the bard inspires;
The soul from earth to heaven he lifts :
So great and wondrous are his gifts,
Men feel the god within their veins
And cry loud in exulting strains :
'We've quaffed the Soma bright
And are immortal grown :
We've entered into light,
And all the gods have known.
What mortal now can harm,
Or foeman vex us more ?
Through thee, beyond alarm,
Immortal god, we soar. '"

But.. coming to the meat of it ... his business had a shadow cast on it .. the shadow came in the form of a regulator (Read: Brahma) who ensured that Soma's monopoly was broken down, or atleast curtailed. The regulator said .. Out you go .. Thy shall not run your business freely in my territory (Probably Lord Soma should have entered a structured revenue sharing model with the regulator)..

Anyways lets not get into what could have been done ...Instead lets look at what has happened after that iron hand of the regulator came into the picture..cut forward a Zillions years:

Lord Soma of yester years has been replaced by beer companies. (My top choice Fosters - hence the coverage in the title). This makes me think that could it be that The moon God SOMA has smartly moved on to earth and started setting up various beer companies like fosters????? I think we should have a re-look at the holding structure of these companies...

I seriously am beginning to think that this might be true. And I have a supporting argument for that.. Where there is Lord Soma there is Lord Brahma .. I feel Lord Brahma has taken the entire "amrit" thing to his heart.. That is why no matter where Lord Soma goes Lord Brahma follows. He follows to bring in regulation. And there is another dimension to it .. the moon god decided to play smart and have many "avatars" simultaneously on earth.. he is all around in form of various Liquor barons.. But then Lord Brahma has also adopted the same strategy.. he has also decided to take many avatars.. He is there as our mother, father, girlfriend, wives etc ... My case is no different.. Its just that there is an ironical twist to it .... My wife is the regulator.. she is the one who has banished "Amrit" from my life. But the twist is that her name is SOMA... What does it mean ??? I think I don't need to answer this .. it is self explanatory . isn't it????

I am just wondering .. that if my hypothesis is right .. and Lord Soma is constantly on a look out for ways to stay two steps ahead of Lord Brahma .. then how do i use my learnings from him to stay a step ahead (for having my fair share of amrit) of the Lord Brahma avatar at my place.

Us – The Real and The Virtual

I have been active online for more than 2 years now. I have been part of and still remain associated with a few of the community sites. Other than that, though I am not very active, I have been trying to do justice to this space that I have leased on the virtual real estate.

I have learnt many things – materialistic and not so materialistic in this world of WWW. And thanks to the community sites like Orkut & Stumbleupon I have gained knowledge about many topics / subjects & understanding of different points of view. The biggest development probably has been on the latter. I have “met” people from diverse cultures, countries, origins, economical strata, professions (both working and home makers) and different ages that it is not difficult to acknowledge the fact that many have left their impression on me. Some have left more than others. Many remain in touch with me on daily or on and off basis. And, for many the connection link has gone of the radar.

But among all these people that I have connected with – one thing remains common – had it not been for this virtual world probably I would have never even known of the existence or vice versa. Yet another that is constantly cropping up in my head right now is that the way I or the person on the other side of this screen has interacted with me is different for every touch point. This is not a “mystery” or something because this is the very nature of human interaction. Even in real life many people have different opinions about us. Some might consider us special, some might find us charming, some might us friendly, warm etc. These opinions about us could also fall on the “not so good” end of the spectrum. But that’s the way it has to be and everybody knows it. So, if I am saying that all our interactions are bound to generate diverse opinions about us and everybody knows it then what is that I am trying to point out over here?. My answer – am not reinventing the wheel, just trying to add a new spoke into it.

Let me raise a few questions both to myself and to you (if you have not only landed on my page by mistake but also have had the patience and time to read this :) )

Have you ever found yourself speaking to a contact or a friend that you think you have found on the “Virtual world” and finding that –

1. You are probably opening up things about yourself to a person (whom you may / surely will never even meet) and sharing your thoughts, emotions etc which you have not even told closest of your people.

2. You are more expressive on virtual world on certain topics or issues you feel about but consciously refrain either in part or completely in the real world.

3. You are more receptive to ideas from the other side of the screen than you would have been to someone face to face.

4. You have been more rude or more patient to someone virtual than you would have been to in real life.

5. The virtual person is sharing his / her thoughts about you and saying words about you as a person which you thought would have never been associated with you. (Some one might say you are cool where in real life you are anything but cool, or someone says that they find you serious in life where as you might be seen as clown of the town by the people you meet on a daily basis)

This list can go on and on. But I think even these would be sufficient to make you think.

I can’t generalize it but I have can say for sure about myself and about few people in both real and virtual world that many of us who are active in virtual world that the answer to many of the aforesaid queries is yes. I remember I was testing my thoughts on this topic with a virtual friend and she said that she thinks I would fall in the category of always focused on career from childhood and always sure of whatever I wanted to do as I grew up. And she is a psychologist. But if one ever meets up with my room mates in college or even glances through my mark sheets they would see the complete opposite side of it. I am not even risking questioning the credibility of that psychologist friend of mine. But what I am trying to drive home over here is that she is accurate on her part because my traces in virtual world would indicate this only. And, am not even saying that I have been leaving false traces on the web. But what I am saying for sure is that the my traces on net have strong flavor of 1) my reason to be active online and 2) Freedom to jump back and from like in a time machine in real time (like in a 4^th dimension).

Lets take these one by one.

1. Reason of your virtual existence: If one is actively into community sites or into blogging they would have reasons behind it (there has to be a reason behind everything). For me the reason to be online is to interact with different people, expand my scope of knowledge base and sharing my “let us think” ideas. The reasons could vary from plain and simple time to kill in office, to fight of loneliness in life, to gain more knowledge, to do crazy things online (many such available online – exhibitionists etc ), or just to connect to people etc. So when we approach something in life with a certain frame of mind we act in a certain manner. And if repeat those steps again and again there will be a similarity in our behavior. And this commonality in your behavior is what are left as traces in the virtual world. And anybody who sees these traces and the commonality in your behavior sees you like that only. But why is this different from the real world? It is different in the sense that in the virtual world the other person doesn’t have the chance to see the other side of you (or the traces of other part of you) because you have not depicted your other behavioral aspects online. Let me make it simpler. You meet some one online and you always end up talking about the beauty of art and artists like Picasso. What does that person see? That you are artistic. Whereas in real life you do nothing related to art. (Why you don’t do it could be because of many reasons and may be my next blog entry).

2. Virtual Time Machine: Most of us in this part of the world have started coming online only now. We are still trying to comprehend\the extent and possible impact of www on our lives. But as times are changing over here, so is our life style. And with life style what is changing are our aspirations and our way of looking at life at large. Thus, as we change our perspective, more often than not, we grow. And when we grow we change more.

Now lets go back in time in our real lives. Few years back, when I was in college I just wanted to go ahead and enjoy college. Career was the least of my worries. Find a partner for a game of pool everyday, finding a sponsor for my next bottle or beer and such things were more important. Few years of all that and growing up from it, all I could think of was grabbing a seat in IIMs. Then after getting that I wanted to crack sales. Post cracking sales I wanted to get into more macro level and do good strategy work. Once into that I wanted to get into giving gyan to people and what better way to do that than through management consulting. These were all different phases of life where different events happened. Now for all those people whom I connected to in real life during those phases see me in a different light. Again, for the virtual world, there is a different spoke in the wheel. This basic that different people in different phases of your life see you in a different light stands true for both real and virtual life. But what is different in the virtual world is that on the planet www I am able to interact with people who could have been a part of my other phases and other events in life at different points in time. This is where internet acts like a time machine. In real life as a management consultant I am definitely not going to hunt for a beer after every client meeting. But in the virtual world, even as a management consultant, I have the freedom to go back in time and connect as a dopey to a Jim Morrison fan. I can discuss “The Lords: Notes on Vision” with James Doughlas Morrison fan while being in office. I can do this over and over again. But the person on the other side sees me as a dopey only which I am not in the real life. Thus, when I have been interacting with the psychologist friend of mine, all I have been discussing is Sigmund Freud, onierology, and actions needed to convert dreams into reality. Maybe if I change my nature of discussions with her probably she will change her analysis :) .

Am exhausted right now. It seriously is tiring jotting down your thoughts on web. If anyone has had the patience to go through all of this than do feel free to leave a comment or share your thoughts with me on the subject.

No Title as of now

To the heavens galore,
We find the seas a blind,
To the glory night
And the heavens abide
For the love of God.

We smile to the hearts alive
& pray to the Angels above
that the doves fly,
There is nothing to say,
there is nothing to pray,
But we worship the dreams alive.

God Bless us all,
And pray to Him
For the dreams unbroken
But not fulfilled to the swollen heart.

Take my hand and walk the blind
For I will take you far away from the world of grind.

Smile, Smile …. Smile
Cause that is worship, Cause that is love
Cause that is the dream of a heart alive,
God Bless us All !!

-- Vinny

The Angels of Love, Life and Hope

When we are born,
God sends His angels to go and visit us.

As they stand near us, our eyelids lie closed.
When our mother holds us in her arms,
The supernatural beings sit and smile.
For they can see what will be ahead of us in our lives.
They see the adversity but they only notice the happiness and triumph.

The angels think for a moment and then
The angel of Hope says to the baby:
You will need to work hard in the many years ahead.
Your dreams will not be easily achieved,
Your goals will not be effortlessly reached.
There will be tears shed in tough times
But there will also be tears when there is joy.
Do not be afraid of achieving
And do not let fear pull you down.

On some days when you are growing up,
You will feel as though you do not want to carry on.
But these days will not last long
For darkness only appears until the light returns.
On those days you will need to work extra hard
And smile even if there is no reason to smile
For society appreciates people more when they have a happy face.

Then the angel of Life says:
Days may go as fast as the speed of light
But may also go as slow as a snail trying to reach its far away destination.
You must learn to love both these days.
The progressive ones and the rapid ones,
For the slow days are the ones on which you will grow and learn
And on fast days you will enjoy life but you will not spiritually gain anything.

Then the angel of love says:
You will inevitably fall in love,
And sometimes there will be rainbows beneath the valleys
And other times there will be storms below the clouds.
There will be times when you agree with your partner,
But also times when you will disagree.
Cherish both of these times as they both assist in the cycle of love.

You will meet people like and unlike yourself.
You will laugh with them and cry with them, too.
Time will seem to go quickly when spent with them.
These people will care for you and love you.
Always remember that the sun will rise at dawn,
That each day is a new day
And that as long as the sun wakes you up in the morning,
you must continue to have faith and hope.

And with that last thought,
The angels wave goodbye
And disappear into the thin air
And the baby opens its eyelids
Ready to begin its life long journey

----- By Benjamin Raymond

Flight in the Wild

Let your dreams flow like the wind
Let your wings take the flight of freedom
Don’t be afraid to go around the bend
Just open yourself to the world of wisdom

Though you may drift miles
But you must not be scared
Cause freedom brings in smiles
And beauty of life lies in the flight in the wild

- Vinny 07.04.07

Will the Mohan in You save another Tenzin????

One of very close friends of mine has just met with a real bad road accident ... He scared the life out of anyone and everyone who saw him... Luckily there is no threat to his life now... Though there is still a long long road for him to recovery ... I will be there with him anytime and every time he requires me ... and so we will be many of our friends...

I have mixed thoughts in my head right now ... On one hand I keep on asking why did this happen to him or for that matter to anyone ??? .. and on other I can't stop thanking God that he is still with us...

My friend's name is Tenzin Thargay .. One gem of a chap.... a poet at heart and a thinker to the core... friend of friends and a born optimist ....

None of us know what happened at that ill fated moment...All we have understood is that .. it was a hit and run case... he was driving his bullet ... and he was hit by a taxi ... the taxi got away ... we are not sure about the time .. he was lying in the middle of the road ... all covered in blood and unconscious ... he was surrounded by the typical Mumbai crowd... all over him ... all around him... eyes would have been all over him... And yes.. like a typical Mumbai crowd.... thats all they did .... no body wasn't even thinking on the lines of rushing him to a hospital and saving a life...I am sure they would all have been playing GOD by saying that he would surely die .. But none of them would ave tried to be what they really should have been- A HUMAN ... A human being there for a fellow human

Sadly... this image .. as I can visualize... has hit me straight in the face ... as an individual ... and as a human .. I have never been a part of such a crowd... standing there and watching a person die ... but yes... I have seen many a similar accident in my life time .. but I didn't even bother to stop and pick them up ... I was too engrossed in my thoughts to come forward and save some body's life... I am guilty of not respecting life.. But now I am prepared to respect life.. never again will I shy away from my responsibility..

And this realization is all due to one gentleman ... a God's man .. who respected life.. This Living example of hope in our lives, Mohan to us, saw our friend lying on the road ... and he did not shy away ... he took this total stranger to the hospital .. and called me up . .. and my friends boss.. thanks to Mohan .. we could take speedy action and save our friends life... Before I reached .. another friend of mine had reached there.. . and Mohan had left .... I couldnt even thank him in person ... I guess this is my way of saying thanks to him and many more Mohans who are out there.. And I feel that if only we can all learn .. and not always the hard way ... but by just looking at other Mohan and realizing that we got to bring out the Mohan inside of us...

I know there are a million problems attached with it ... cops and medical staff acting as irritants .. but still .. one act by you could save some body's life... today it is my friend, tomorrow it could be me .. or YOU .. or YOUR Father, Mother, Brother, Sister, Daughter, Son, Grandchild.. Anyone of us can be where Tenzin is today ... that is something not in our hands .. but probably in hands of our fate .. .But to take Mohan's place is in our hands.. This is one thing not decided by our fate .. But by choosing to be Mohan we Control Fate ...

I just hope that we find the courage in ourselves to become Mohan.....

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Tenzin has a Hairline Fracture on his skull.. His forehead was smashed into his skull .... and his forehead has no skin ... and his face has so many cuts ... that a long and painful plastic surgery is the only way out for him ..... His Left leg is smashed in two pieces.... He is still in the ICU and in a semi conscious state...

Tenzin's blood over me and all inside the ambulance still shakes me and makes me imagine that if Mohan hadn't done what he had ... then a life so full of vigor, energy, potential and optimism would have ended right there on the road...

All his loved ones and us his friends will be with him on every step of his recovery ... I request you to say a silent prayer for his fast and complete recovery ... And for all of us also to find the strength to find the Mohan in us.

God Bless.

The Key to Become a Billionaire in India

The billionaire list for 2007 is out. No exceptions and no surprises for the top 2 positions. Bill Gates ($56 billion) held on to his top slot and Warren Buffet ($52 billion) retained his place next to Gates. Overall, US continues to dominate the list with not less than 415 billionaires. This all is pretty regular.

But, what’s different this year is the India has displaced Japan as the country with the Asian country with the maximum number of billionaires (36 to be precise). All the Indians put together had a net worth of $191 billion. That is $3.6 billion each.

The Indian Battalion is led by Mukesh Ambani (#14, $20.1 billion) closely followed by Anil Ambani (#18, $18.2 billion) and Lakshmi Mittal (#5, $32 billion) takes the bronze pot.

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Ok.. this is a list that comes out every year. This is a list, which for people, other than those who actually feature on the list, is nothing more than a casual chit chat over lunch, fag, tea or coffee. Obviously, no matter how much I would like to be otherwise, I fall under the second category. And any dreams of making to this list are easily swept aside by just one look at my bank balance, my pay slips and my genealogy.

So, like a typical person of my category, my first reaction on reading this list was one of AWE: “Man these people are RICH”.

This was followed by JEALOUSY: “BUGGERS!!!”.

Third reaction was HOPE: “How can I make one of these guys adopt me?”.

Infact, the third reaction held on to me for some time. So much So that I had even started scribbling down a “Adoption Sales Pitch”, to one of these billionaires, in my head. Probably, since I have a wife and a kid, I could use “3 for the cost of 1” tag line to make my sales pitch look more attractive.

But, soon after being given dagger sharp looks by wife on discussing this adoption idea with her, I dropped the idea.

You can say I have a bug in me. It’s a bug which doesn’t let go of thoughts so easily. (The fact that I am working for one of the Billionaires on the list didn’t help either). Hence, in the evening, while my son was busy watching shin chan and wife was busy running after him to feed him dinner, I started thinking about the list again. But this time I thought of it from a more strategic point of view. I used the basics to analyze the situation.

My objective: To figure out what makes these people so rich.

My Tools: very basic - What, When, Why, Where, and How.

After running through the histories of these people I realized that, unlike what I would have wanted to believe, not all their wealth can be accounted to their Genealogy. Ok, few of them did inherit legacies but the inheritance only gave them a good base to stand on. And, they have made it to this elite list purely on what they have done post inheritance.

Another, interesting thing I realized that the actions of these extraordinary gentlemen is purely driven by the state of their national economies. For e.g. Bill Gates, Warren Buffe – they are part of Developed economies. Mukesh Ambani, Anil Ambani, Lakshmi Mittal, Ruia’s, Godrej etc are part of developing economies.

If one looks closely one can see that in the developed economies the people who are in the list are entrepreneurs and are linked with the new business economy drivers like internet, financial markets etc. Whereas in the developing economies like India &, Mexico the one’s who are on the list are old economy men. By old economy here I mean these people control natural wealth components which have supply constraints. Other explanation is people who are not into technology (search engine type) related businesses.

In Mexico, Carlos Slim Helu has his roots in telecom. In India, Mukesh Ambani has Oil & Gas, Anil Ambani has Coal, energy business, telecom, Tata’s have steel, telecom, energy business among many other natural resources, Ruia’s have oil rigs & Telecom, Godrej has real estate, Mittal is the steel baron. Azim Premji is the only one who doesn’t fit this bill.

What does this indicate? No matter how much the new generation businesses may have grown and India may be on the way to become the global outsourcing or IT hub these business have still not broken into the big league. A basic google search will show you that many of the biggest software biggies in India are still much much smaller than the old economy guys.

Thus, the way I see it, if you want to be big in India, forget software look for minerals. I don’t know whether I can reach the billionaire list. But, since I feel I have unlocked the key to become rich in India I am off to my local coal trader and am gonna make a separate room in my house just to stock coal and other mineral resources. You never know, these small chunks of coal bought by me from here on may be bought by these billionaires in future for billions of dollars. (Hoping ofcourse, that my wife doesn’t shoot down this idea also).

Bamboo, Fern and my Batch Mates

I came across this story while I was cleaning up my cabin. This was on a piece of paper left by one of my colleagues who had resigned and left the cabin nearly a year back. This story got my attention immediately. And made me think and forced me to write. But first here is the story
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One day I decided to Quit…I quit my job, my relationships, my spirituality…I wanted to quit my life.

I went to the woods to have one last talk with God.

“God” I said, “Can you give me one good reason not to Quit?”
His answer surprised me …“Look around”, He said. “ Do you see the fern and the bamboo?”
“Yes” I replied.
“When I planted the fern and the bamboo seeds. I took very good care of them.
I gave them light. I gave them water. The fern quickly grew from the earth. Its brilliant green covered the floor. Yet nothing came from the bamboo seed. But I did not quit on the bamboo. In the second year the fern grew more vibrant and plentiful. And again, nothing came from the Bamboo seed. But I did not quit on the bamboo.” He said.

“In year three there was still nothing from the bamboo seed. But I would not quit. In year four again, there was nothing from the Bamboo seed. I would not quit.” He said.

“ Then in the fifth year a tiny sprout emerged from the earth. Compared to the fern it was seemingly small and insignificant.. But just 6 months later the bamboo rose to over 100 feet tall. It had spent the five years growing roots. Those roots made it strong and gave it what needed to survive. I would not give any of my creations a challenge it could not handle. “

He said to me. “Did you know, my child, that all this time you have been struggling, you have actually been growing roots”

“I would not quit on the bamboo. I will never quit on you”
“Don’t compare yourself to others.” He said. “The bamboo had a different purpose than the fern. Yet they both make the forest beautiful”

“Your time will come”, God Said to me. “You will rise high”

“How high should I rise?” I asked.

“How high will the bamboo rise?” He asked in return.

“As high as it can ?” I questioned.

“Yes”. He said “Give me glory by rising as high as you can.”

I came back from the forest having realized that God will never give up on you.

Moral of the Story - Never, Give up.
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This story could mean a million things to million people. For me also this is relevant from many angles. The portion that really caught me was where God says “ Don’t compare yourself with others. The bamboo had a different purpose…..“ the other part of the story that hit me in the face was “I would not give any of my creations a challenge it could not handle.”

Often, when I meet my batch mates, peers etc and after the initial euphoria and the nostalgia subsides, I have seen the discussion move on to doing a comparative. The comparison always seems to have very strong materialistic undertones. These comparatives range from being downright idiotic to hilarious. Few examples I have faced till now are -
“ hey, man what is your designation?”
“What is your CTC?”
“Have you bought a House?”
“Have you bought a car?”
“Nice cell phone”
“Oh, you are on V25 .. I prefer only Lonovo”
“ How often do you travel abroad?”
“Oh. I travel only business class or only Kingfisher”
“ I prefer consulting better than being in the industry” (This is the most hollow one – I feel)
And blah blah blah …

This is just a small sample of various other permutations and combinations. Many a times your replies make the other person feel let down by himself and many times he feels he is a superior being. Am not saying that I have not been a culprit. But, I have made a conscious choice to grow over these comparisons. And, this is where this story connected to me. It connected deep.

Guys, when we will realize that one’s purpose of being might be to be a fern. But, that doesn’t mean that if you are a fern and other is not then your purpose of being is more relevant than the other persons. Being a fern is obviously a reason for delight but then being a bamboo is equally delightful.

I might be faster in the blocks as compared to many .. but then I might be slower as compared to many more. But then it is for us to understand that being faster on the blocks is not the sole purpose of being. Its is important to understand that how successful you are in fulfilling the objectives that you had set for yourself in life.

Imagine when you are ninety you will not be looking back and saying that man I am satisfied in life cause I was the first guy in my batch to buy a merc. But you will definitely be looking back and saying that man I am satisfied with my life cause I have been able to fulfill all that I ever set for myself. You will be satisfied because you were competing with yourself and not competing with others. (If your only aim in life is to be the first one to buy a merc.. then I take back my words.. may be you will be the satisfied one !!! )

I agree that not everyone thinks similar. Some might have already realized the purpose of their being and some might be in the process of discovering theirs. But realizing one's own purpose of life is not the end. It is the start. Also, my purpose of life and your purpose of life go hand in hand. If you have realized that you are a fern it is equally important that you respect bamboo also otherwise .. well.. spring is followed by fall.

Don’t have much to say beyond this other than repeating the fact that it is really important to figure out your purpose of being and also respecting the purpose of being of others.

Last words: “Show me a person who is moving slower than me or you .. and I will show you a million who are faster than me or you”