Staring into a mirage…

When one looks at how Middle East is faring at the moment, everything seems so rosy… everyone is making money and everyone is living luxuriously - an absolute win-win situation for all! Economically, the ME countries still reign supreme in terms of recording a fiscal surplus year after year. And then, not that oil is their sole source of power (err… money). Every ME economy has diversified its portfolio and moved into other lucrative sectors - real estate / construction, tourism, services et al.

Taking the example of Dubai where am presently, few years ago there was nothing really great to talk about in Dubai… except for the D(u)bhai - the underworld don!! However, the landscape has changed… and not that the metamorphosis is complete…. it has become a journey. One evening, you see a barren land appear at a place which was earlier the sea and before you blink your eye, a tall skyscraper comes up… and while you are still wondering whether you woke up after a 100yrs like the Rip Van Winkle… you see this once-upon-a-time sea turn into a populated real-estate development.

Now, this reminds me of a hilarious incident narrated by the cab driver I took yesterday from work to the City Centre mall. Zameer is this 65 year old cabbie from Pakistan who has been here in the Middle East for like 27yrs. I can only imagine the change he must have seen in Dubai… a change much more than he has seen in his own personal self since his childhood days. On the way, he was cribbing about the government as also the “rich” people living in Dubai… saying that these people have just created an artificial / unsustainable eco-system here… by being absolutely ruthless to the working class. He was of the opinion that if the desi working population were to abandon this country and walk out… the whole Dubai will come to a standstill. Even knowing this, the people at the top have not been treating them well… his grudge was more @ the desi embassies who care a damn about the working expats here. My heart goes out to the poor labourers who are humans like us… yet have the perseverance to work at a 500mtr height in a temperature above 45 degrees (C). How can we not recognize their efforts…

To top it all, he spoke about an incident involving some European visitors. They landed at the airport and asked Zameer to take them to some new real-estate development. He told them that it is just a proposed development and that right now there is nothing but some excavation going on. This European couple refused to believe and said that they have seen like amazing pictures of the development… including the interiors of the apartments within. On their persistence, Zameer drove them down to that place… and the couple were left open-mouthed knowing that all that they saw on the internet was an architect’s visualization of the development.

Anyways, coming to my point, with whatever economic (concrete) growth we are seeing here in the Middle East, can we safely say that a flower has grown in the desert oasis… or is it just a mirage waiting for us to get closer before it shows the truth. Whatever be it, this whole phenomenon is complicated.

Not that am taking a pessimistic view to things… after all, there has been a spate of fundamental changes happening here… globalization ripple, privatization run, employment bonanza as also a paradigm shift in the local culture. So, for all we know, this could very well be a jackpot oasis we must have struck!!

A messiah for our time

A front-page article by Khushwant Singh in ‘The Telegraph’

“Prejudice is like poison. Unless purged out of one’s mind in early stages, it can spread like cancer and make one incapable of differentiating between right and wrong. Of the many kinds of prejudice, the worst is to believe that one’s own religion is superior to all others, which may be tolerated but never taken seriously or accepted as equally valid as one’s own. The most misunderstood of the major religions today is Islam, which, after Christianity, is the second most widely practised religion in the world. It also gains more converts than any of the other religions. Prejudice against Islam was spread in Christendom from the time Muslims gained dominance in the Middle East, North Africa and Spain. Christian crusaders failed in their missions to crush Islam in its homeland but continued to vilify its founder, Mohammed. The emergence of militant Islamic groups like al-Qaida and taliban gave them reasons to do so. The attack on the World Trade Centre in New York and the Pentagon in Washington on September 11, 2001 provided fresh ammunition to vilifiers of Islam. Since then Islamophobia has been deliberately spread throughout the non-Muslim world. The two principle contentions of the anti-Islamists are that Islam was spread by the sword and that its founder-prophet was not the paragon of virtue that Muslims make him out to be. It can be proved by historical evidence that Islam was not forced upon the people; it was readily accepted by millions because it offered them new values, principally equality of mankind and rights to women that were unheard of in those times. In countries like Indonesia and Malayasia, Islam was not forced on the population by Muslim invaders but by Muslim missionaries.

Tribal Workers…

© Copyright The Financial Times Limited

Today’s generation of high-earning professionals maintain that their personal fulfilment comes from their jobs and the hours they work. They should grow up, says Thomas Barlow.

A friend of mine recently met a young American woman who was studying on a Rhodes Scholarship at Oxford. She already had two degrees from top US universities, had worked as a lawyer and as a social worker in the US, and somewhere along the way had acquired a black belt in kung fu. Now, however, her course at Oxford was coming to an end and she was thoroughly angst-ridden about what to do next.

Her problem was no ordinary one.

She couldn’t decide whether she should make a lot of money as a corporate lawyer/management consultant, devote herself to charity work helping battered wives in disadvantaged Communities, or go to Hollywood to work as a stunt double in kung fu films. What most struck my friend was not the disparity of this woman’s choices, but the earnestness and bad grace with which she ruminated on them. It was almost as though she begrudged her own talents, Opportunities and freedom - as though the world had treated her unkindly by forcing her to make such a hard choice.

Her case is symptomatic of our times. In recent years, there has grown up a culture of discontent among the highly educated young something that seems to flare up, especially, when people reach their late 20s and early 30s. It arises not from frustration caused by lack of opportunity, as may have been true in the past, but from an excess of possibilities.

Putting eggs in the right basket(s)…

When we talk of corporate collapses or failures, the common myth is to attribute it to the chronic illness of the industry sector itself or to the hasty and over-confident decision making of the managers or still to financial dealings not going well on reasonable terms. But, if you look at these companies closely, one realises that most of these failures are in companies with a successful track record and where the management was absolutely methodical with complete business plans in place and the capital availability being an absolutely non-issue.

So, where lies the problem then? When the panic button is pressed, the biggest mistake managers do is to misdirect their efforts… rather than focus on the corporate strategies and get back to the drawing board, every executive takes this failure to be a financial one… and goes about setting the cash flow problem right. This is partly on account of the confidence the executives have in their strategies and an ego battle of revisiting the strategies which they themselves have come up with in the first place. Eventually, the course becomes the same… their intermediate damage control exercise leads to more manifestation of the problem and lo’ the company sees a RED.

Now, it is not that careful cash flow management is not a part of the best damage control exercise… but then the priority has to be on the corporate strategies and business plans. The root cause of such failures is pretty simple… a company does very successfully… turns in huge profits and dividends for the shareholders. Banking on this success wave, the shareholders push management to move ahead even by offering funding… add capacity, enter new markets or acquire competitors. And then, the company goes on without realising that the increased supply is still gonna vouch for the same demand in the market. Incumbency sets in… and the whole extra output doesn’t find a market… and lo’ the slump begins.

Typically, in times of company failures, the most common action is to hire crisis managers for company doctoring. David James, a professional crisis manager for 30years has developed 7 rules for crisis management as a consistent routine:
1. Commission a solvency report
The Board to commission an investigative report by a major accounting firm (not the company’s auditors). One outcome is the information on the extra funds required to keep the company solvent and secondly, the report also provides a comprehensive analysis of the company’s balance sheet, its assets and long-term liabilities.

2. Hide the checkbooks
Make sure that no money goes out the door without the knowledge of the crisis manager and especially the panic spending needs to be checked.

3. Identify the hidden heroes in the organization
These people are rarely from the existing top management and can be identified through continuous interaction (meetings and general visits around the facilities) and through specific tasks like asking the Unit Heads to prepare a business plan on how they can make their units saleable.

4. Sweep out the old leaders, if necessary
Typically, it is good to have the existing managers involve in the rescue process but then unfortunately, it doesn’t work well in a number of cases… since these very people maintain their hope for some miracle solution and resist the crisis managers in an effort to conceal their failures.

5. Make decisions including wrong ones
The penalty on late decisions is more than that on wrong decisions…. so time is of essence. Crisis managers ought to take decisions @ the right time… and then continuously assess the impact and be ready to do mid-term corrections.

6. Always have a Plan B
Although everyone would have the confidence that the rescue will work out just fine and get the company out of bankruptcy, it is always a good practice to have a contingency plan. Again, the logic here is that if plan A fails and there is no alternate plan, the loss is absolutely imminent and quick while a plan B will still offer chances of maintaining solvency although at a lower yield rate.

7. Get more money than you think you need
There is no harm in having more money than is required… since rescue efforts can go either ways on the funding scale. Company rescue efforts have often failed for want of that incremental funds which was not provisioned for earlier.

In all this… the lesson for all business executives is to keep a watch on the company performance and be prepared to handle any eventualities arising out of changes in the internal / external operating environment. That is the only way to keep it in the GREEN.

Testimonial… wow!!

This was a testimonial I received today morning… from Muazzam, a very good frend of mine!! It got me rolling on the floor… Here it is:

There’s been a new addiction to the list of addictions. Based on the latest .net technology by microsoft its been appropriately named Moidomania.net.

The following are its symptoms.
1. You wake up @ 3 a.m and like normal net addicts check for any new email / offline notifications. How ever u don’t find Moid online and start trouble shooting your browser and im messenger settings.
2. renditions.wordpress.com is your home page.
3. you keep checking for the latest comments n updates on the blog.
4. u begin ur day replying to salaam from Moid.
5. you start planning for a back up and alternatives in case Moid’s not online after he ties the knot.
6. you realize that your starting to cross the acceptable limits of sanity about this issue.
7. since you’ve realised this problem is getting critical u email moid for help, requesting him to suggest for possible solutions to the problem

Being a consultant, I can suggest options and the discretion of deciding what option to go with is others’ choice. As for backups and alternatives, the world has advanced a lot to provide us an answer for everything… and so this problem also doesn’t go without solutions… cloning, robots, artificial intelligent chatting machine! Take ur pick

Getting the complete picture…

In this famous parable of the elephant and the six blind men, each of them describes only the part of the elephant that he can touch. The one who feels its tail thinks it to be a rope; to another, the trunk seems like a plough. Their inferences are not wrong, yet none of them perceives the elephant in its entirety. The moral of this is not that parochial views are unreliable but that all reasonable perspectives deserve respect.

Translating the same lesson into the business world, when it comes to matters of growth and risk, it is surprising to see that the corporate honchos around the world are not in agreement on the growth opportunities and the risk factors. However, it isn’t a divergence ‘coz of lack of foreknowledge but a case of different perspectives bothering them.

The problem with this scenario is that in the business executives’ quest to resolve more pressing issues relevant to their business / sector / industry, they are losing out on the big picture…. while business issues like the challenges from emerging markets and the surging energy demand are paramount, even issues like global warming and global geopolitical stability are equally important.

It is important for all business executives to explore the whole elephant with interest in their ongoing quest for growth.

Problem solving made easy

Just today morning when I was glancing thru’ facebook…. I stumbled upon this status msg of my frend - “doing chowkidaari @ North Block”. LOL

Got me into splits… and then I sortta ventured into his profile. This guy is amongst my best buds from schooldays and he’s now an IIM grad himself.  After all, IIM teaches u how to solve problems…

Now, this is what I find in his picture gallery…. an ingenious way to solve problems - which he calls his best takeaway from IIM. Here it is…

© All Rights Reserved. Ramesh Chandra.

Have to do all this copyrights thingie… lest he serves me a notice even before I blink my eye.

BILDERBERG - A world government ruling in secrecy

The Bilderberg Group has been called the most exclusive, and secretive club in the world with its annual conerence being the most important meeting in the world. It is attended annually by more world leaders, more top politicians, more royalty, and business leaders, than any other gathering of any kind. Forums like the WEF and the G8 Summit become mere side-shows in comparison to this. No other meeting is attended by the leaders of all the major international institutions, such as the World Bank, the IMF, the UN, and the EU.

To be admitted, you have to run a multinational bank, a giant corporation or a country. Collectively, these are the men who control the world, and their decisions therefore affect every human being on earth, now and in the future. Yet Bilderberg Group meetings receive no publicity and are not reported in the news.

Their first recorded meeting was at the Bilderberg Hotel in Oosterbeek, Holland, from 29th May to 31st May, 1954. The chairman was H.R.H. Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands. Since then this elite global group, which may be much older, has been called the Bilderberg Group.

The people who are invited to the Bilderberg Group, and the topics discussed, are official secrets which the media is forbidden from reporting. Bilderberg is effectively an elite secret society ruling the world from behind closed doors and outside the democratic framework.

Who organizes the Bilderberg Group? Who pays for it? What are they discussing? What are they deciding - how to fuel anti-democratic conspiracy or how to foster global understanding?

Movie Review: I Am David

“Believe in the power to change your destiny”

This extraordinary movie follows a young lad as he boldly escapes from a Bulgarian prison camp and makes an incredible journey to freedom. Fleeing with only a compass and a sealed, secret letter he must carry across the continent, David cannot foresee the dramatic odyssey that awaits him. From stowing away on a ship bound for Italy, to facing his fears of the dangerous outside world, to the unexpected revelation of his true identity, David discovers for the first time the real meaning of courage, trust, laughter and hope. This movie, adapted from a novel, celebrates the indomitable human spirit and captures the thrill of a child tasting the wonders and excitement of life for the first time.

When the story begins, freedom is just a dream to David, a young boy who has grown up a captive in a 1950s labor camp with almost no knowledge of the outside world or what happened to his family. Everything he knows about life has been taught to him by his fellow prisoner. One night David is helped to make a brave break from the camp and is handed a mysterious letter he is told must reach Denmark, a place David has never heard of, let alone knows how to find. Relying on his wits and courage, David manages to evade the prison commandos, attempt a dangerous border crossing and hide away on a freighter headed for Italy, but his adventure is only just beginning. In Italy, David discovers something beyond his imagination: a country at peace. He has no idea how to get along in this brave new world—the only advice he’s ever been given is to trust no one. He doesn’t understand the most basic aspects of everyday life – doesn’t know what money is, how to use silverware or even how to smile. It’s as if he must learn how to live in the world from scratch, and each day brings both shocking new terrors and exhilarating new pleasures. When David is taken in by a kind aristocratic Italian family, he is so happy to at last have a home, he almost gives up on his quest to reach Denmark. But the journey must go on. Haunted by memories, David crosses into Switzerland, where he meets an artist who goes on to become the woman who will help him find the key to his identity and his destiny at last.

United States of India - unfolding the new nation

Often working with the Indian government, I have realized that there is such a huge disconnect between the different states. Although, we do have a government @ the centre managing the national show, but when it comes down to executing policies or even driving development or any such national priority initiative, the discretion of each of the state sortta defeats the whole purpose. The blame is to go on our DEMOCRACY. As they say, too much of everything is bad.

This is where we need to rein in our excessive dependency on the institution of democracy and move to a much more productive way of managing the country. One thought came to my mind was the presidential form of democracy which is atleast constructive… with no unnecessary discretion given to the states… the idea is not to replicate the US model… but to take just the essence of “united states” concept… wherein all states go with the national policies….

Our basic problem in India has been that we have forgotten the distinction between guidelines and rules… and in that process, states have never taken the central government seriously except when it came to disbursement of funds money rules!!!

The CSF for a more advanced Indian economy is… to have all policies drafted at the national level in consultation with states but essentially bringing in a consistent and uniform approach or outlook to each policy. And then, the discretion of implementation can be given to the states ensuring that the basic fabric of the policy remains intact.

Here is born the new face of India replacing the present Republic of India - the United States of India!!! What do ya say???

Public Sector Productivity - something that was never meant to be!

With the world still reveling in the light of globalization that promises a higher economic growth… the private sector seems to have entrenched its place as the locus of economic activity. However, fundamental to long-term prosperity and stability in the society including the private sector is a robust, productive public sector.

The changing world has put up a new set of challenges in front of every single major government in the world… and how these challenges are resolved will determine both the shape and pace of world economic growth and will fundamentally redefine the role and purpose of public sector.

Some of the potential benefits from public sector productivity on similar lines with private sector productivity gains are improved transparency, effective performance management, higher accountability, improved appreciation of technology and grooming better talent.

Having built the case for the need for public sector productivity, here are the key areas that can be addressed by taking some learning from the private sector experience:
1. Measuring public sector performance
Currently, we talk of measuring output of initiatives undertaken by the public sector but do we rarely extend the same to the public sector personnel. The idea is to take public sector as a typical private sector service organization to develop strong performance measurement mechanisms that are self-evolving.

2. Creating quasi-competition to handle lack of market forces
Again, public sector has always had this unique distinction of not having any competition and yet having no discretion to choose its customers. However, competition is fundamental to strong productive growth and hence it is important to again trace the private sector experience and develop quasi-competition within the government at various levels to drive productivity.

3. Managing resistance to productivity
What public sector offers is an assured job, relaxed work culture, no performance-driven career growth  a natural breeding ground for resistance to any productivity measure. And this results in failure to attract the best talent in the public sector. In the face of the ever-increasing demand from the public sector consumers, it is no longer possible for the public sector to remain immune to the typical challenge of any organization – talent retention.

4. Segregating the political and the reforms process
All through history, the political and the reforms process have always shared a volatile dichotomy. However, one important change that has not been taken into account is the fact that the political process has transformed from a long-term one to a short-term one while the reforms process still continues to be a long-term initiative. This is reason enough to shake the bogus dichotomy. Taxation and other such initiatives might still maintain that link but it is high time the public sector reforms process moves out of the cudgels of the political echelons.

(An abstract from the current Thought Leadership Paper I am authoring)

Facebook… out to beat everyone!

Just as I was talking nicey nicey things about orkut…. I immediately found myself joining facebook (another of orkut’s rivals) bowing to incessant pressure from friends.

And lo’ first thing I find out is “what my birth date means” i.e. April 10?

Independent and free-willed, you tend to be the alpha dog in most situations. Its your confidence which pulls you through the difficult times and take you ultimately to the time. You are not born to carry out life’s mundane tasks, you are meant for the bigger things in life. You are creative. Sometimes people dont understand you, but you take that in your stride.

Your greatest strength is: Your ability to gain respect

Your greatest weakness is: Caring too much what others think

Your lucky color is: Orange-red

Now, it remains to be seen whether everyone gets goody remarks or is it just a few like me? One can never say… but as long as someone talks good about me, he/she/it is my frend!!! 

Befriending orkut…

I have been noticing it since quite sometime that Orkut always comes up with positive thoughts for me… with its “Today’s Fortune” section. And today, it reads:

You are soon going to change your present line of work

Now, is my boss seeing this? With appraisals round the corner, this could be the fear of every manager… risk of losing his/her best performer!!!

Anyways, just exploring a bit further, I was thinking of what possible lines of work… can be my types Consulting literally puts you in a different space altogether…. itz like once in, you are in for life!!!

No wonder, they manage the best retentions…. in this turbulent market with brand value, money and quality of work.

Indeed, orkut is my best friend!!!

Queue kyun?

This is not me playing with homonyms… words sounding the same. However, what am focusing on is the latest menace in the Indian sub-continent.

Right from the time I stepped out of the aircraft… queue never left me till I got back into the aircraft! You might find it exaggerating but here is what I have been thru…. rushing out the aircraft, I land in the queue @ the immigration counter and then once the dreaded thing is taken care of, I flock to the baggage claim belt and there the crowd is so much that I cudn’t get hold of a space in the front of the conveyor belt… and had to stand behind a person waiting for him to take his baggage and move out before I can get in sight of the baggage…

Once this is done, there is queue at the customs waiting to take the immigration receipt… then another line @ the pre-paid taxi counter…. and then wen in the car, queue / line at every traffic junction all thru (I was already choking and was looking to move into the country side only to get off this overdose). Back in the hotel, thankfully, it is not the case (how did this place escape the Q? kyun?) Back in office, a wait at the lift lobby and then another one @ the cafetaria during lunch time…. and wen it is time to get back to traveling…. aawww this nightmare comes with a renewed rigor.

At the entrance to the airport, standing in line to get ur tickets verified, then baggage screening, then ur visa verified, then checking in… all of them have this inherent Q-factor. And then it doesn’t stop there… immigration –> security check. Alas, have got just one more queue to pass (the line to board the flight from the aerobridge). I am almost panting for some fresh air and some personal space… off I run to the Nescafe shop in the waiting lounge to grab a snack…. and lo’ the Q welcomes me yet again (Ohhhh nooooooo).

Then I meet this Canadian gentleman… who asks me…. as to how I have come to live in these queues! I say… the Q-factor is congenial. And to top it all, we have knowledge of every way to break this queue… more on this in some other post!!!

There are a lot more posts waiting in Q to get posted here LOL

In pursuit of “happy”ness

I watched this movie (The Pursuit Of Happyness) a long while ago. However, this movie keeps coming to my mind at fairly regular intervals. Understandably, movies never get down to affecting me emotionally barring a few and this movie is in the latter group. And when I get frustrated at everything around me… right from work to my flight delays, my thought goes for just a few seconds to this guy, Chris Gardner - his pursuit to keep himself and his son happy in the worst of circumstances.

Before I go futher, this movie is highly recommended by me… on the same lines as “Life is Beautiful”!

Now, I wouldn’t delve into the definition of happiness… coz am sure it won’t go down well with 80% of the people no matter what line of thought I take. Nevertheless, something I can say with good confidence is how our actions on various aspects in life translates into happiness.

A. Education
Even though I am not sure how much I benefited from the 18yrs of education, I know that it caused a lot of stress on my family who had dreams for me, caused a lot of anxiety amongst my frends for they wanted me to reach out to their dreams, caused a lot of apprehension to yet another group of people for all my actions were based on this one pillar.

B. Health
I never took and still never take my health seriously… but now in my late 20s, I have realized its worth. With the sedentary job I am in, dieting and exercising should have been on my priority list but alas, I never found time for it until recently. Right now, I feel quite good about my health but I do wonder what it would have been like if I would have taken my health more seriously earlier as well.

C. Religion
I feel like I used to take religion too seriously. Not that, it shouldn’t be… But, the point is that religion should become an inherent part of oneself… and should reflect naturally in one’s actions! I was brought up semi-religious where we thank God for everything we get and all that and all glory goes to God. But I left way too many things up to God when I should have been doing them myself. I mean I actually thought if I prayed hard enough for tests and work stuff I would pass them or not get fired. Religion teaches right discipline, right way of life, right attitude, right character… and all those ingredients that make a good human being.

D. Self-worth
I have always been put in the war-zone by my parents and somewhere it helped me in realizing my own potential and then working towards exercising that. I am sure that had my parents not bothered about my education and my upbringing in terms of deeper evaluation, I would have been just another-average-guy. When I targeted level 2, they pushed me to reach level 4… and that made me stretch myself. It is important for each of us to understand our self-worth and then direct all our energies in demonstrating that to realize our goals.

And coming back to the movie, I found these 5 lessons of life that came out strongly:
1. Never put all of your money in one basket
The character, Chris Gardner, spent all of his money buying a bunch of portable bone scanners that he was convinced would make him rich. He made the mistake of risking everything he had financially in the hopes of becoming rich. There are lots of “bone scanners” in the world offering the lure of riches for a “minor investment”. Don’t bet the whole farm, and do your homework. Remember, most people don’t get rich overnight and if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.
2. Never give up and remain fixed on the goal
Chris Gardner never gave up. He decided what he wanted to do and went for it. Even though his motivations for being in the stock market weren’t the correct ones, it did end up working out for him. Chris’ story proves that if you remain fixed on a goal, and attack it with passion, you can reach that goal. This is true for saving millions, getting out of debt, owning your own company, etc. Remember though, it generally requires a great deal of hard work and can take a long time.
3. Motivation and attitude go a long way
Chris had motivation, he had to feed and care for his child. Having to feed your child is probably about the strongest motivation I can think of. Chris’ son reminded him daily of his need to succeed and get control of his life. Not only did Chris have motivation, he had an incredible attitude and was confident in himself. If not for his confidence and attitude he most likely would have never become the successful stock broker he ended up being, much less even made it into the internship.
4. Sacrifice in the short term to gain in the long run
The movie showed Chris staying up all night fixing broken medical machines, studying and watching over his son. He slept little, but did what he had to do. Chris knew that sacrificing in the short term would lead to a long term reward. It did. The same holds true in our personal finance lives, we must sacrifice in the short term to gain in the long. As Dave Ramsey would say, we must “live like no one else so we can live like no one else”. Live on less than you earn, get out of debt, and begin saving. These are all short term sacrifices for the promise of being wealthy later. Chris knew this.
5. Never think you can’t do something
In one of the most powerful scenes of the movie, Chris tells his son that he can’t do something. After a few moments reflecting, he again looks at his son and says “Don’t ever let anyone tell you that you can’t do something, not even me.” If we think we can’t do something, chances are we won’t; however if we believe that we can, the chances of us succeeding go way up. The more you believe, the higher your chances.

Do you believe you can be wealthy? Retire early? Get out of Debt? Start your own business? Do something you never got the courage to do? Maybe you should.

U don’t need to be 18 to get a “License to Kill”

The first time I heard of the term “license” was when someone spoke about driving license as I started learning how to ride a bike while in my primary school. My parents took adequate measures to restrict my bike-riding to just the home and surrounding bylanes. Only later, when license became a part of my vocabulary did I come across another license - arms license. Little did I know that this saga would extend much beyond… and the world got gifted with the “killing license”.

It would have been acceptable if this license was for sensible people… who are out to do some good to the world. But, then this seems to have gone the other way round… extremists and now children. This is really scary now!!! For me, children have always been as unpredictable as any dog can be… and hence the FEAR FACTOR!

Who is responsible when things go wrong in the children’ world??

From my own life and of children around me, I have realized that children are natural imitators… watching and subconsciously mimicking the elders around them! And one basic step in any action of theirs is - APPROVAL FROM ELDERS. So, when we see the very same “innocent” children being mentioned in the same breath as extremists, the elder generation is entirely to blame.

If one were to examine as to where things went wrong… a number of things come to fore:
1. It is adults who develop computer games aimed at creating that ruthlessness and killing fetish in a virtual scenario
2. It is adults who perpetrate crime around the world in different ways and means
3. It is adults who pressurise children into outperforming their peers - academics, sports, blah blah
4. It is adults who manage the visual media and newspapers that ONLY puts crimes, violence as the headlines
5. It is adults who create social differences which manifest into negative attitude which might translate into aggressive behavior
6. It is adults who pass on values and provide role models which incite children into doing such actions
… the list is endless

But, what necessarily stands out is the failure of the society, failure of the parental values, and failure of adults to distinguish between firmness and inflexibility –> all signs of gradual dehumanization of the civil society itself!

Now, this is what is in front of us… how do we handle this new challenge?

It ain’t a simple quick-fix solution but a time-taking process of the adult generation (hereafter referred to as “ourselves”) transforming and also the coming generations The best way to go about is to question ourselves about the things we profess…
1. Understand the various touch points a child may have during his/her formative years - school (teachers, batchmates), home (parents, close relations, neighbors), others (housekeepers, drivers and the like)
2. Identify the level of the child’s association with each of these touch points
3. Examine how each of these touch points behave (case-by-case evaluation)
4. Decide on whether to continue with that particular touch point or keep the child away
5. Do the balancing act… leave some learning to come from each of the touch points
6. Continuously monitor and take adequate measures to correct the child wherever necessary (e.g. if the teachers teach about competition, performance, results, the parents can teach about camaraderie, compassion and goodwill)

This formula will work… and am sure because I stand not on the side of the adults or of the children… but am on the boundary between them. This gives me a good sense of what each of these stakeholders want and what each of them can do!

Let’s together make this world a better place to live in!

Courage - are we asking for too much?

Over time, people have attributed courage to all manner of actions that may indeed be admirable but very hardly compare to the conscious self-sacrifice on behalf of something greater than one’s own self-interest. In the present overly psychoanalyzed society, sharing one’s secret fears with others takes courage. Is the boxer’s guts in the ring an example of courage? Is suffering illness silently without complaining courageous? Not always. They may be everyday behavior typical of courageous people. They may be evidence of virtuousness. But of themselves, these acts, admirable though they are, are not sufficient proof of courage.

Courage is like stamina. The more we challenge it and exercise it, the stronger it gets. I sometimes worry that our collective courage is growing weaker from disuse. We don’t demand it from our leaders, and our leaders don’t demand it from us. The courage deficit is both our problem and our fault. As a result, too many leaders in the public and private sectors lack the courage necessary to honor their obligations to others and to uphold the essential values of leadership. Often, they display a startling lack of accountability for their mistakes and a desire to put their own self-interest above the common good.

That means trouble for us all, because courage is the enforcing virtue, the one that makes possible all the other virtues common to exceptional leaders: honesty, integrity, confidence, compassion, and humility. Churchill has rightly called courage - the first of human qualities since it guarantees all others - simply courage of our convictions. In short, leaders who lack courage aren’t leaders. Unfortunately, lack of courage is not the exclusive failing of political leaders, but our failings as well.

If we lack the courage to hold on to our beliefs in the moment of their testing then it is nothing but shallow respect for the virtues we profess. We can admire virtue and abhor corruption sincerely, but without courage we are corruptible.

Another way to look @ the whole thing… one thing we can claim definitively with complete confidence is that fear goes hand-in-hand with courage… fear must always be present for courage to exist. You must be afraid to have courage. Suffering is not, by itself, courage; choosing to suffer what we fear is. And yet, too great a distinction is made between moral courage and physical courage. They are in many instances the same. For either to be authentic, it must encounter fear and prove itself superior to that fear. By fear, I mean the kind that entails serious harm to ourselves, physical or otherwise, the kind that wars with our need to take action but which we overcome because we value something or someone more than our own well-being. Courage is not the absence of fear, but the capacity to act despite our fears.

We’re all afraid of something. The one fear we must all guard against is the fear of ourselves. Don’t let the sensation of fear convince you that you’re too weak to have courage. Fear is the opportunity for courage, not proof of cowardice. No one is born a coward. So, are we asking for too much from each other???

Is terrorism about region or religion or none?

With so much talk happening about terrorism… globally and locally, one thing that is painful to see is it being associated with religion.

It would have been understandable had the religion, in question, promulgated such an action. However, the “religion” is open for everyone to see. And yet, knowing fully well that non-violence and tolerance is one of the basis principles, still people with vested interests take liberties to associate terrorism with religion.

And to top it all, its a selective policy… when people from another community are caught doing acts of terrorism, it is taken at a regional level such as the Irish terrorism, Sri Lankan terrorism while when it comes to this one community, the linkage moves to religion… muslim extremism et al.

Absolute hypocrisy… who is to blame?

It’s the people in power - the politicians, the media! High time, we bring in some sense in these empty psychics and make them realize that their hollow words are unearthed and we are educated enough, knowledgeable enough and powerful enough to do the right thing.

One statement I liked from a learned scholar on a Barkha Dutt show was: “We should always follow the middle path… anything that is wrong on the right side should be termed wrong and anything wrong on the left side should also be termed wrong!”

Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding

Does a person need religion for his/her identification?
Is there no space where this is not the norm for interaction?

The “Bush-Mush” Coterie

I’m sure u know what this article is about… the BREAKING NEWS of Emergency in Pakistan!!!

Some of the reactions we see after this new development:

1. India condemning the second coup

2. Indian media making it a breaking news with Barkha Dutt directly talking live to all those against the emergency

3. Life in Pakistan goes off-balance with it resembling a war zone

4. “International” community (sometimes itz the Bush lobby or sometimes the Rest of the World lobby depending on who the mastermind is) speaks against the emergency

5.  People try all means to exaggerate and speak out against it… some prominent people shout atop their vocal chords knowing very well that the next day is gonna be in prison

6. “Advocates” of peace find another avenue to garner publicity

7. Depending on US’ stance, the media turns towards/against the emergency

8. The whole issue dies a silent death with no action taken for or against it

Life is all normal then… and people forget what had happened in that period of time… the arrests, the deaths, the discomfort… and all the unwarranted stuff created by the golden polygon (shape changes with every development depending on the number of parties siding with US).

And so the Bush-Mush sisterhood continues for all to see!!!

La Communiqué™ - the latest blog on the roll

Wow… datz the feeling I had when I saw my family go online with everyone having their own email addresses so now moid becomes moid_hyd, saad becomes slimshady, anas becomes dumbhead….

As if that wasn’t enough, the family invaded the orkutting scene…. whoooosssh! As if that wasn’t enuf, we even have our own family community way to go, Nawabs!!!

Now, the natural extension would be to enter the blogging arena… so here is my cousin, Saad trying his best @ blogging All of 15years and he’s come a long way in terms of his communication skills.

Here is one of the most hilarious posts on his blog: “Actual School Excuse Notes”

1) My son is under a doctor’s care and should not take P.E. today. Please execute him.
2) Please excuse Lisa for being absent. She was sick and I had her shot.
3) Dear School: Please exscuse John being absent on Jan. 28, 29,30, 31, 32, and also 33.
4) Please excuse Gloria from Jim today. She is administrating.
5) Please excuse Roland from P.E. for a few days. Yesterday he fell out of a tree and misplaced his hip.
6) John has been absent because he had two teeth taken out of his face.
7) Carlos was absent yesterday because he was playing football. He was hurt in the growing part. Megan could not come to school today because she has been bothered by very close veins.
9) Chris will not be in school cus he has an acre in his side.
10) Please excuse Ray Friday from school. He has very loose vowels.
11) Please excuse Pedro from being absent yesterday. He had (diahre) (dyrea) (direathe) the runs. [words in ()'s were crossed out.]
12) Please excuse Burma, she has been sick and under the doctor.
13) Irving was absent yesterday because he missed his bust.
14) Please excuse Jimmy for being. It was his father’s fault.
15) I kept Billie home because she had to go Christmas shopping because I don’t know what size she wears.
16) Please excuse Jennifer for missing school yesterday. We forgot to get the Sunday paper off the porch, and when we found it Monday, we thought it was Sunday.
17) Sally won’t be in school a week from Friday. We have to attend her funeral.
1 My daughter was absent yesterday because she was tired. She spent a weekend with the Marines.
19) Please excuse Jason for being absent yesterday. He had a cold and could not breed well.
20) Please excuse Mary for being absent yesterday. She was in bed with gramps.
21) Maryann was absent December 11-16, because she had a fever, sore throat, headache and upset stomach. Her sister was also sick, fever and sore throat, her brother had a low grade fever and ached all over. I wasn’t the best either, sore throat and fever. There must be something going around, her father even got hot last night.
22) Please excuse little Jimmy for not being in school yesterday. His father is gone and I could not get him ready because I was in bed with the doctor.