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The 5 Heores of My Life -- Part 4

2012-01-06T23:37:00.000-08:00

I spoke at the National Conference in Cochin in Dec 2011. Here is Part 4

You must become good at communicating. You must become good at public speaking.

History remembers people for what they say and what they do. Pandit Nehru is remembered today for his “Tryst with Destiny” speech; not for setting up what he called the temples of modern India, the public sector. Abe Lincoln is remembered today as much as for his immortal “Gettysburg address” as much for being a civil liberty proponent.

My personal favourite is of-course the man who spoke about the audacity of hope, the magic of dreams and the sheer breath of possibilities, America’s Barack Obama. From being someone who in 2004 wasn’t even given an entry ticket to his party’s national convention, to becoming the president of the world’s original democracy calls for chutzpah of an extra-ordinary variety. History will remember him not for his health care reforms or for gunning down Bin-Laden; it will remember him for his Yes We Can speech and the sheer magic of his oratory.

I would be ready to walk any distance to hear him speak.

To those who do travel by train

2012-01-06T23:12:00.000-08:00

I received this forward from someone who I know. I can’t vouch whether the incidents are true. I would like to believe they are.

Incident 1
It happened few months back.

We were travelling. My family and I were waiting in the A/C waiting room at the Secunderabad Station. The bathroom was not clean and was smelling. Added to this discomfiture, the bathroom door was not closing tight. Neither was the shutter due to the faulty door closer. I complained to the attendant. I also sent a SMS "The bathroom in the A/C waiting room on Platform No 1 of Secunderbad Station is dirty and stinking. Please arrange cleaning. Also the door is not closing properly". After few minutes we left the waiting room as our train arrival was announced. Within a few minutes I received a text reply from the Railways, giving an ID No and saying that action will be taken. After few hours I received a message that the bathroom has been cleaned.

After ten days, I received another message; that the faulty door has been repaired and thanking me.

Incident 2
Recently on 24th October my wife and I were travelling by Hyderabad-Ajmeer Express on our Rajasthan trip. Next day morning, I noticed that there was no water in the bathroom and that the taps were all dry, whereas our journey would continue and we would be reaching our destination (Bhilwara near Ajmeer) after another 18 hours. I was worried that it is going to be a miserable time to travel without water. Water or No water, people will continue to use the bathrooms and the stink will become unbearable.

I complained to the Conductor. I also sent a SMS "Travelling in the A1 compartment of Hyderabad Ajmeer Express train No 12720. No water in the bathrooms. Please arrange. Also replace leaking valves; else problem repeats." Pat came the reply "Your reference ID is 1110250019. For status visitwww.scr.indianrailways.in or SMS as STATUS TO 8121281212. Thanks for registering complaint".

After about 20 minutes I received A message that water will be filled at the nearest Railway station having water filling facility. At Itarsi water was filled and we had no problems. After a week I received another message that the faulty valves have been replaced.

It was amazing.

I am thankful to the Railway authorities for introducing a system where one can complain from a running train and doubly grateful that they have acknowledged the complaint and attended to it. I collected this help line number from the Railway waiting room! Several times while travelling by train we are put to unexpected inconvenience. We react by cursing and criticizing. No other response. Of-course once we reach our destination we just forget. There is no use in cursing the darkness around you, do light a candle, however small it be. It gives an inspiration and ten more candles will be lit.

The Railway Number to which you can SMS is 8121281212.

The 5 Heroes of My Life -- Part 3

2012-01-06T22:59:00.000-08:00

I spoke at SICASA Cochin in Dec 2011. Part 3 of the talk
My next hero is the man they all call ‘the God of cricket’, the man who has gone where no one has ever gone; Sachin Tendulkar.

Your generation may find it hard to understand why I or my generation look at Sachin as a hero. I will tell you why. It has nothing to do with his 99 hundreds in international cricket. It has nothing to do with his scoring 30,000 plus runs. It has nothing to do with his playing 600 plus matches for India. Yes, not his longevity not his records. It’s got to do with his mental strength. He has been doing it day after day, year after year, for 22 long years. He has been non-controversial, has never demanded special favours and has shown incredible passion for a game that is religion in India.

Most importantly for 13 long years (1989-2002) he was India’s one man army; India’s hopes rising and falling with the entry and exit of Sachin into and from the crease. Luckily in the last many years the weight of that expectation has come down making it that much easier for the little master. He may no longer be the cricketer of yore; a man like Sehwag may be a greater sight to watch but Sachin will forever be my man.

My generation did not grow in a market economy. We grew up in a chalta-hai environment. He is my favourite because he has been a first class winner in a nation that for a long time didn’t believe in itself. He is my favourite because he became incredibly successful at an incredibly young age and more importantly for never having let that success get into his head. Not many are known to have that attribute; success has a way of getting into people’s head.

Kohli fingers the Aussies

2012-01-05T20:15:00.000-08:00

V Pattabhi Ram
The Aussie crowd allegedly called Virat Kohli names, and the Indian showed them the finger. Everybody and his uncle, including in India, went up in chorus against the Indian batsman. Now, what were his options?

(a) He could have simply kept quiet.
(b) He could have told them, “Hey I have others at home as well. Name them.” But you see everyone isn't Gandhi or a Christ.
(c) He could have called them monkeys. But you see, the Indians had famously told the Aussies that phonetically it represented a certain choice epithet.
(d) He could have called them b……. That’s a perfectly acceptable word in Australia. That’s what Clarke and Co., informed us the last time around
(e) He could have showed them with the bat. But you see his bat’s width is only as large as his finger.

Oh, don’t get me wrong. I am not supporting what Kohli did. I would believe he should have simply smiled and kept quiet. But you see Kohli is not me. And we have no business to show righteous indignation about his act when what we see around us is acts similar to his. After all, he learns from what Indian and Indian icons do. Consider these:

(a) Our Parliamentarians scream and shout instead of discussing issues in cool deliberation. Today when kids yell, parents tell, “This is not the Parliament.”
(b) On the roads we use swear words at the drop of a hat; oops at the sound of a horn.
(c) Our newest icon says, “Only one slap?”
(d) We post raw abuses on FB and send in seriously sick mails to celebrities.

Yes, it would have been great had Kohli showed statesmanship. But you see, he would have then been dismissed as a softie.

Who won, who lost and who got away

2011-12-29T23:23:00.000-08:00

V Pattabhi Ram
This is my last post for the year. And it’s a post that mirrors my disappointment at several angles. I am referring to the Lokpal Bill.

When Hazare hit the national scene in March-April, I was both glad and sad. Glad, that someone was trying to push a national agenda. Sad that in an over-legislated but under-implemented nation where the crusade should have been against the slow pace in which the wheels of justice move, it was actually focussing on adding to legislation. I wrote as much in a few forums but because it was politically right to be seen pro-Hazare I guess nothing much was heard of it.

As the year closes out it’s clear that “Hamam mein sab nange hain”. The Congress, because it could have worked out a consensus with other political parties instead of being besmirched by what we have seen in the Parliament. The Congress, because it was seen to give too much importance to a group-of-five or a gang-of-five depending on your diction without knowing when to put its foot down, saying, “thus far and no further”. The Congress because in the end its action spoke louder than its words.

The Allies because in the garb of federalism, which itself is debatable, they have precious little interest in implementing the anti-corruption law. The Allies because of their endless desire to have the cake and eat it too. The BJP for converting everything into a joke. The BJP for playing a double game in not letting the Lokpal bill become a separate constitutional body. Assuming the present bill was weak, it was better to have one weak and then introduce strength into it than to have none at all. But one can understand. After all, in India, it’s always a game of political one-upmanship. After all, we aren’t exactly a mature nation, if the Parliamentary proceedings were anything to go by.

And finally Hazare. At every effort by the government, whether meek or strong, his group would say “No” almost instantaneously. For reducing discourse to new lows using language that could hardly be called civil but who would rise up at the first signs of being hit back. Hazare’s language itself on many occasions was less than civil. It needed a ticking off from the courts to be shown their place when they demanded concession in using facilities. If a lakh were to congregate each had to pay only Rs 10 to settle the rental due. I was disappointed with Hazare’s team for quickly calling off the fast (I don’t understand why the others in the group don’t fast) after seeing that crowd support was waning.

I have always felt that the crowd would support a reasonable man. You cannot want people to be hung; their hands cut off; wear a political colour that was beginning to show and yet try to walk the path of the Mahatma. It was sad, because in Hazare we had a person who could have helped make a difference with shades of give and take.

In the end the ones who won was the media with its non-stop coverage and the associated TRP rating.

The 5 Heroes of My life - Part 2

2011-12-26T04:13:00.000-08:00

I spoke at the SICASA National Conference in Cochin on Dec 23. Part 2 of my talk

Back in your CA classes, or may be in your Class XII or perhaps in the first year of your college your teachers must have told you remarkable stories of courage of army-men as war heroes. But nothing, I repeat, nothing compares with the exceptional courage shown by this civilian on the night of 26/11, India’s worst day in modern times.

That night as the Maximum City was under siege and the Mumbai police froze, one man stood like Casablanca atop the burning deck. Karambir Kang; General Manager, Taj Hotel. For me, he is an all time hero. And this is why.

When terrorists took over the Taj, he was 40 kms away at Bandra. When he heard it he rushed to the hotel, terrorist fire notwithstanding; when he could have simply stayed back. During the 60 hour siege he worked non-stop, saving guest after guests. And he did it while he knew that his wife and children who lived in the 6th floor had lost out to the terrorists. He is reported to have spoken to his father in Bahrain at midnight and when asked to be brave reportedly told him, “How can you think I can leave? If it goes down, I will the last man there.”

He led from the front directing his team, the champion captain. The Front Office of the Hotel took the unprecedented step of calling up guests who were staying in the hotel but had gone out for work, telling them that the hotel was under attack and that they should not come back. These faceless men showed unmatched courage in a moment of extra-ordinary crisis at a time when others like some of our television journalists failed us. That a business group can nurture such extra-ordinary people is why I hold the Tata Group in high regard. I doff my hat at Karambir Khan.

The 5 heroes of My Life - Part 1

2011-12-24T00:28:00.000-08:00

I spoke at SICASA National Conference at Cochin in Dec 23. Part 1 of the speech

I am delighted to be here this afternoon at your National Convention. I am delighted because it gives me an opportunity to talk to a gathering of future chartered accountants. I hold your profession as being one amongst the four most useful professions in the world. The pride of place of-course goes to the profession of medicine which comes closest to being the profession of God. Therefore the expectations from you are that much more than expectations from anyone else.

The session is titled Academic Motivation. But I have no desire to talk to you about how to excel in the CA examination because in my scheme of things it is just another examination. What is far more important is to do well in the bigger examination; the examination of life. I will instead talk to you about the 5 heroes of my life. My five heroes represent various shades of determination, commitment, humility, honest and hard work; attributes that are very relevant if you want to go far in and if you want to, as I will later tell you, leave footprints on the sands of time.

My listing is in no particular order.

Back in your CA classes or perhaps in the first year of college or may be in Class XII your teachers might have told you stories of men and women who have risen from obscurity to fame. They must have possibly told you about the sensational rise of a young lady who lived on UK’s unemployment allowance but who in the space of the next 10 years went on to become richer than the Queen of England. Or they must have told you of the remarkable story of a newspaper boy and his journey from Rameswaram to Raisina Hills; the story of our people’s president, Dr. Kalam. I am not going to talk about them because everyone is born obscure and some go on to attain stardom. I am instead going to first talk to you about an incredible man and his extra-ordinary determination to succeed.

I am talking of Karoly Tackas, a Hungarian army officer. The story begins in 1938, a year when perhaps your grandfather wasn’t as yet born. That year Karoly had turned 27 and this year we commemorate his 100th birth anniversary. Tackas was an ace pistol shooter and had won a number of national and international contests and was the hot favourite to win the 1940 Olympic Games. But it was not to be

That year, 1938, while at work, a hand-grenade that Tackas was holding in his right hand, his shooting hand, went off destroying that hand forever. The army-man took a year off work. The following year, 1939, he turned up at the Hungary National Shooting championship. His colleagues were all praise for him; for having come there to cheer them. But Tackas said he was not there to cheer them but to compete them. They were aghast. How could he shoot when he did not have his shooting hand? Well, he shot with his left hand. And as you must have guessed it, he won the nationals that year.

But his dreams of winning the 1940 Olympics Games was not to be because both the 1940 and the 1944 Games were cancelled due to World War II. When the Games were held in 1948 he was back there shooting with his left hand. He won the gold not only that year but four years later in 1952 as well. A remarkable story of dedication that should tell us it isn’t over until it is actually finally over. That it isn’t over until the fat lady sings.

A few questions to Mrs. Bedi

2011-11-13T02:58:00.000-08:00

Dear Dr. Kiran Bedi

For a long time you were our role model. I doubt whether you would still be.

When you came to the ICAI for a memorial talk and I was asked to do a MC, I accepted the role with alacrity. You wouldn’t remember now, but you turned around to see who it was when I, introducing you in a three liner, said you were a former All-India National Lawn Tennis champion.

You being the first woman IPS, you having the gall to tow away Mrs. Gandhi’s car, your role as IG Prisons Tihar were all stuff of which legends were made. And when you became a part of a national campaign, now come to be known as Team Anna (though I dislike the phrase) things apparently changed.

In the aftermath of the of the Travel-bill scandal, I have a few questions to ask of you. I trust you will favour me with a reply.

1. Did you use the gallantry award discount to buy your tickets and then charge your client the full fare? If so did you give them those tickets in original and charge them a higher fare?

2. Did the tickets if surrendered to client show the full fare or the concession fare?

3. Did you buy economy class ticket and then charge your client business fare? If so did you give them those tickets in original and yet charge them a higher fare?

4. You had said that the clients knew what you did and they appreciated it. Yet media reports suggest that your clients were not aware of it. How do we reconcile these two statements?

5. You said the trustees of your NGO have now indicated that you don’t have to save money this way. Can you confirm whether the trustees knew that you inflated your claims?

6. You have said that the trustees of your NGO have asked the travel agent to return the excess charge. Does it refer to the travel agent in his capacity as agent or in his capacity as trustee?

7. Why should the travel agent make the payment? Is it because the account with the agent is in the form of a current account? Did the travel agent buy tickets at a lower price and invoice it to you/your client at a higher price?

8. The agent has now put in his papers. Looks like he feels that he has been made a convenient scapegoat. What’s your view

9. You said you have no regret about all this and even wondered since when is saving regretful. Do you honestly believe that this is the definition of saving?

10. Does the end use of the money or returning the money absolve a person of the original sin? If the corrupt return the money either before or after being caught are they absolved of what happened?

11. Would it not have been better to have asked the client to reimburse the actual fare incurred and ask them to pay the difference as speaker’s fee? Or is there a tax issue to it?

12. You spoke about politicians wearing a mask. Are you now wearing a mask in still claiming innocence? Would it not be a lot better to have just indicated that this was an error of judgement?

13. What kind of message does this send to the young Indians who can tweak for themselves what they think is “eligibility”, “saving” and “noble cause”?

14. I had held this back but you constantly seem taunting people saying what you did was right. You have now said that if Kejriwal had known the full facts he would not have disapproved of what you said. Can we know the full facts then please?

And finally let your team not mix matters up by throwing innuendos on others saying they are character assassinating your team. Most charges by others on your team seem factual; though the conclusion that someone may draw based on those charges can be different.

Remember this letter comes to you from someone who has held you in high esteem

Regards
Pattabhi Ram
patbram@gmail.com

Who is the moral man

2011-10-23T06:18:00.000-07:00

V Pattabhi Ram
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This article was one which I wrote some five years ago as part of my column Racy Cases in the Hindu Business Line. It assumes importance in the aftermath of India's first woman IPS officer, Kiran Bedi, being in the midst of an travel-expense-inflate scandal.

The known facts are: Bedi claims air travel reimbursement for her speaking engagement at full fare. But she pays out only 25% because she is entitled to a 75% discount from the Airlines for her gallantry. One could argue that the 75% belongs to her and there is no reason why she should pass it on to the organisation that engaged her. But her act of claiming business class and travelling economy isnt on irrespective of how she spends it. Corporate employees have been sacked for such offences.

NGO or no NGO it sets a very sad precedent

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Wafers didn’t know how to react. The last few days were devastating. She was on an audit and scented a racket. Executives at Titanic (the company where she audited) traveled extensively during the year. The taxi fare from their residence to the station and from the station to the hotel was Rs 250/- apiece. They all claimed this as a matter of course. No documentary evidences were attached. What if they traveled by bus and pocketed the differential, she had asked herself. Her audit professor had told the class, “Auditors are watchdogs and not bloodhounds”. But that did not deter her.

When she looked into the tour reports and tour plans she noticed that the executives generally traveled in groups of five. Their work demanded so. She reasoned that from the station to the hotel and from the hotel to the station they wouldn’t be hiring five cabs, but only one. If true, it meant that they would really be spending only Rs 500 but between them would be claiming Rs 2500/- pocketing the Rs 2000/-. Wafers’ audit firm had drilled into her the virtue of sampling and extrapolating. She conducted 50 verifications and found that in 40 of them this was the practice. 80% of the sample committed this fudge. They had all charged the company Rs 500 each. She extrapolated the numbers. 1000 employees traveled during the year in groups of 5; this meant that 200 groups traveled. Such travels were 5 times a month. The excessive payment she reckoned was 200 groups X 5 times X 12 months X Rs 2000 = 240,00,000. Since 80% of the sample committed the fudge, the excess payment could be of the order of Rs 192 lakhs or close to Rs 2 crore she reasoned.

She had spoken to one of the Finance officers at Titanic and he was pretty evasive saying under the rules of the company proof of expending was not required. Her suspicion further strengthened, she spoke to one of the executives who regularly traveled and he took it cool saying this was par on course since he was drawing only what he was entitled to. She countered, “By that measure is it okay if one of your bosses travels by overnight train and claims air fare merely because he is eligible for it”. He simply smiled suggesting that Wafers was clearly wet behind the ears. Wafers ran through more documents and was shocked to find that senior executives at Titanic had checked into their hotels at 0600 hours, attended meetings at 0900 hours but claimed airfare for flights that would have actually arrived only at 1400 hours! Boarding passes and flight tickets weren’t required to be enclosed. A declaration would suffice. As Wafers ran up the audit on this she found that the company was out of pocket by another Rs 2 crore thanks to this practice. And in quite a few cases the boss’s wife traveled; “business promotion expenses” read the accounting entry. “The funeral expenses” of a senior manager was a business expense; “packing and forwarding” read the accounting entry. Aghast by all this she spoke up with her principal. He said he would talk with the management but his body language told her a different story.

Rather glum she narrated this story to the gang. Muscles winked, “So your auditor chose to look the other way?” He couldn’t forget the gossip at the medical college. And sounded out to the gang of how the brilliant professor who teaches them nephrology travels round the world thanks to pharmaceutical companies sponsoring expensive all paid trips for him and other top-notch doctors. A surprised Wafers asked, “do you think there is something hanky panky”. “No”, said Muscles, “The professor has a lily white reputation.” Rinku, the young reporter asked, “buy why should he accept these. Surely the pharmaceutical company would be expecting a quid pro quo of some kind.” And imagine doctors receiving referral fees when they send patients to the laboratories for tests, added Wafers. “No one is suggesting that there is an incestuous relationship in this but shouldn’t Caesar’s wife be above suspicion?” asked Muscles aloud. “You folks have a wrong sense of morality,” remarked China. “Titanic had the money to spend. In any case they were willing to spend. What the hell whether the employees spent it and collected or didn’t spend it and collected?” And then added, “the pharmaceutical company has to advertise its products. What the hell if this was the way to advertise to a doctor?” Its wrong if it acts as an inducement to taking a decision, it isn’t wrong if it’s a gift; a recognition of a good that you have done. “What should be the distance between a doctor and the detail person? The difference between the judge and the convict, the umpire and the player, the customer and vendor?” Rinku asked aloud, sounding a shade uppity about doctors and corporate executives.

That, in a sense, got into China’s goat. “Has the press been a shining paragon of virtue” he fumed. And slammed, “On the one side the papers attack the government and on the other side they make a song and dance if the government withdraws advertisements with the paper.” Wafers joined the match. “They carry huge advertisements of say Reliance and their analyst does a story on Reliance Mutual.” Muscles added for effect, “The food reviewer tastes the food on the house and then waxes eloquent on how it tastes.” The normally vociferous Rinku put up a feeble defense, “how do you expect newspapers to sell for Rs 2 when even a cup of tea costs more? Advertisements are the only way out.”

Wafers remembered her professor comment, “You scratch my back, I will scratch yours” as the philosophy that drove businesses. And had ventured to advise, “young ones when you step into the world tomorrow as fresh chartered accountants, if you want to leave footprints on the sands of time (his favorite turn of phrase she had noted) you have to stand for what is right even when the rest of the world is up against you. Well, well what about the corporate executives, the doctors, the auditors and the journalists she asked aloud. She must talk to her professor.

Sardar pumps the Pope

2011-10-12T06:14:00.001-07:00

From my Inbox
About a century or two ago, the Pope decided that all the Sikhs had to leave
Italy. Naturally there was a big uproar from the Sikh community.

So the Pope made a deal. He would have a religious debate with a member of the Sikh community. If the Sikh won, the Sikhs could stay. If the Pope won, the Sikhs would leave. The Sikhs realized that they had no choice.

So they picked a middle-aged man named Harbinder Singh to represent them. Harbinder asked for one condition for the debate - neither side would be allowed to talk. The Pope agreed. The day of the great debate came.

Harbinder Singh and the Pope sat opposite each other for a full minute. Then the Pope raised his hand and showed three fingers. Harbinder looked back at him and raised one finger.

The Pope waved his fingers in a circle around his head. Harbinder pointed to the ground where he sat.

The Pope pulled out a wafer and a glass of wine. Harbinder pulled out an apple.

The Pope stood up and said, "I give up. This man is too good. The Sikhs can stay."

An hour later, the cardinals were gathered around the Pope asking him what had happened. The Pope said, "First I held up three fingers to represent the Holy Trinity. He responded by holding up one finger to remind me that there was still One
God common to both our religions. Then, I waved my finger around me to show him that God was all around us. He responded by pointing to the ground and showing that God was also right here with us. Then, I pulled out the wine and wafer to show that God absolves us from our sins. He pulled out an apple to remind me of original sin.
He had an answer for everything. What could I do?"

Meanwhile, the Sikh community had crowded around Harbinder Singh. "What happened?" they asked. "Well," said Harbinder, "First he said to me that the Sikhs had three days to get out of here. I told him not one of us was leaving. Then he told me that this whole city would be cleared of Sikhs. I let him know that we were staying right here."

"Yes, and then???" asked the crowd.

"I don't know", said Harbinder, "He took out his lunch, and I took out mine!"

Yasaswy was an extra-ordinary visionary

2011-10-08T23:30:00.001-07:00

V Pattabhi Ram

The iconic N J Yasaswy, the man who co-founded ICFAI, the Rs 5,000 crore value proposition is no more. If there was someone who oozed optimism, big-time thinking and who dared to execute them irrespective of opposition it was Yasaswy.

He touched my life tangentially and I have been richer for it.

During my industrial training I was fed on a daily dose of his brilliance that when I qualified I gave up the opportunity to work in plum jobs in the public and private sector (six job offerings in some of India’s top companies) to join his organization; not ICFAI. I spent a little over a year with his consulting and other engagements, had minimal interaction with him as his priorities lay elsewhere, but made a few friendships that lasted a life time. I was extremely rich by the off-beat experience there and till date have not regretted the choice.

Later, as a freelancer, writing columns and stories for a city magazine I met up with him after a talk that he delivered at Chennai, wrote an article, which he apparently liked so much that he invited me to write a book that would chronicle the growth of ICFAI. Yes, by then he had moved his full energy on the fledgling institution that over the years grew to become a monument of what ambition can deliver. That was my first book.

Since then I had been in touch with him on and off; people said that it was difficult to work with him from close quarters and that I was lucky because I worked with him from a distance. He was charismatic, a great motivator who had his limitations but when the balance of life is measured I would vote him as a visionary who lived his dream and was years ahead of his time.

Widely read, he was a mesmerising speaker who could hold the audience in thrall. He once told me when we were at the lounge in the Chennai Airport that so much can be done but there is only so much time to do it. On another occasion he said that economic liberalization was the best thing to have happened to the country and to him and that in 1992 he decided that he would spend all his time in transforming CFAI into a large institution.

Yet behind that ferocious ambition was a simple man. He once invited me to lunch at his home and I watched with rare astonishment him picking up his plate post lunch and washing it.

He indicated people should work till they turn 70. He has left long before that and leaves behind a huge network of educational institutions that will stand testimony to the adage, “What can be imagined can be achieved.”

In one week we have lost two icons.

Steve Jobs 2005 address

2011-10-07T18:04:00.001-07:00

Steve Jobs touched the lives of millions across the world with his sheer genius. Gates may be better known and may have earned millions more, but Jobs shall remain the quintessential dreamer and achiever

This is the text of the Commencement address by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, delivered on June 12, 2005.

I am honoured to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life.

That's it. No big deal. Just three stories..

The first story is about connecting the dots.
I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?

It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: "We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?" They said: "Of course." My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.

And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn't see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.

It wasn't all romantic. I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on.

Let me give you one example:

Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating.

None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, its likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.

Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something - your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

My second story is about love and loss.
I was lucky - I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees. We had just released our finest creation - the Macintosh - a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.

I really didn't know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down - that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me - I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.

I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.

During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I retuned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.

I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle.

My third story is about death.
When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything - all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.
About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn't even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor's code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you'd have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.

I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I'm fine now.

This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope its the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960's, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.

Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish." It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.
Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Thank you all very much.

Fast and furious

2011-09-16T00:54:00.000-07:00

V Pattabhi Ram

I am introduced at a seminar to Fred Das. Here goes the conversation

I: Hi, Nice meeting you. You can call me just Ram

Das: Hey Ram, what do you do for a living?

I: The last time I heard that phrase, the movie by that name bombed. And many years ago Gandhiji reportedly said that on being assassinated.

Das: Okay, Ram. Pray, tell me what do you do for a living?

I: You mean what I do between 9 in the morning and 6 in the evening?

Das: Whatever, time. What makes the kitchen going? (Rough translation of a Hindi saying)

I: Of-course, the cooking gas; which is becoming costlier by the day.

Das: OMG. What’s your occupation?

I: Oh I am a CA. What about you?

Das: I am a fast consultant

I: What? Fast consultant? Do you pull a fast one?

Das: No. People consult me before they go on a fast. Or, they consult me for image makeover. And then I suggest them about how to go on a fast.

I: Surely you must be joking. What’s the big deal about suggesting relating to a fast?

Das: You see a former CM, a client of mine, went on a fast. It was I who advised him about it.

I: You mean Karunanidhi?

Das: Yes, it was I who suggested the fast between breakfast and lunch

I: And you thus helped manage pull a fast one on people

Das: Cut the crap. It was I who suggested AH to fast between 8am and 6pm. That is, between breakfast and dinner.

I: Ha, the one-day match variety?

Das: Yeah

I: And what about the 11 plus day long fast that he did later?

Das: Well, to use your lingo it was intended to be test match stuff. But something went wrong. The spectators refused to leave and it had to be prolonged as AH was left with no choice

I: You mean the TV crews refused to leave?

Das: I mean the TV crews also refused to leave

I: But surely you weren’t consulted when Irom Sharmila decided to go on a fast?

Das: Yes, that’s the reason she has been unable to break her fast till date. It’s easier to start a fast than to end one.

I: How about HDK? He announced one; started one and quickly ended it.

Das: Well, did anyone notice the fast in the first place?

I: Don’t tell me you advised the Gujarat CM?

Das: Of-course it was I who did it. I call it the county cricket variety. I suggested that it be played over 3 days, in cool weather in front of a 15,000 audience like the county cricket of England.

I: What about Vagella?

Das: He came dashing to me when he heard the CM was going in for an image make over courtesy fast. I advised him to go on a fast, albeit in a different location.

I: But, why this noise about fasting? 26% of the population live below the poverty line. I guess they must be fasting regularly. Isn’t this fasting amounting to mimicking them?

Das: Well, I don’t know. I think we are showing solidarity. The real challenge in fasting is not for AH. He generally doesn’t eat much. It is actually for those who normally feast. From feasting to fasting is not just one letter drop away.

I: I actually advise them on how to carry out the fast. And also on what behind the scene steps to take to break a fast.

Das: You see this way I am contributing to the nation. Making them remember Mahatma Gandhi.

I: But have you ever gone on a fast.

Das: Fat chance

I: Is anyone getting in touch with you.

Das: Raja and Kalmadi

I: But why?

Das: They do not want any new entrants to Tihar

It's raining scams; and no one is clean

2011-09-06T05:31:00.001-07:00

V Pattabhi Ram

The cash-for-vote scam has come back to roost. The moral: these days the come-uppance takes place in this life itself; there is no need for a life-after-death for punishment.

I am not privy to the facts of the case except for what I have seen on national television. Three years ago when cash was played up in parliament I was personally shocked. I was shocked at the fact that so much money could be smuggled into parliament, security notwithstanding. I was shocked at the fact that the Leader of the Opposition sat ashen faced allowing this to happen. And I was shocked at the claim that money was changing hand for a vote.

Many months later it came out that the whole thing was in a sense stage managed. A former BJP aide euphemistically calls it whistle-blowing. Independent magazines have made it out that while the UPA was eager to buy votes, in the actual incident that happened the BJP was going around asking to be bought. Neither party comes out with its shirt clean. And it was clear to what extent they could sink.

Today some are asking who the ultimate beneficiary was. Truth be told, the ultimate beneficiary can be one of two. It could be the Congress, and Dr. Singh, because it ensured that they stayed in power. It could also be the then Leader of the Opposition who has never hidden his naked ambition of becoming India’s prime minister. Well, there is nothing wrong with that ambition. By discrediting the UPA and the prime minister, the BJP and its leader would have the shot at governance. So the beneficiary can be either.

Interestingly, to my mind it brings back the old question. In a bribery who is the culprit; the giver or the receiver? We can't pick and choose based on our convenience. On the one side you call the receiver corrupt and that he forces the giver to give. And now say the receiver isn’t corrupt. My take is that both parties are guilty.

The trouble with Indian politicians is that they are animals of convenience. When their partyman is accused and arrested, they scream vendetta politics. So long as we have politicians of this hue, there is no way forward. Our jails are getting filled with politicians of every colour. That’s a sense a saving grace, if you can get my general drift.

Looking Inwards ... 1

2011-08-25T23:56:00.000-07:00

V Pattabhi Ram

The Anna Hazare struggle has shown that people are tired of brashtachaar (a k a corruption). Some used it as an opportunity to vent their justifiable anger; others used it as an opportunity to ride the wave. Because as someone said, “It was the cool thing to do”. Anna would squirm if he hears it.

The sad part is that instead of using it as an opportunity to clean the augean stable, the national political parties were more keen on scoring political points at the expense of each other and in the process allowed Parliament to be debased. While it is nice to stand up and scream in a crowd, it is important to stand up and be counted in what one does. While it is easy to throw stones at politicians (the easy punching bag) let’s look inwards and follow a few things sans ifs and buts.

Inward 1: Traffic
How many of us have refused to pay the traffic cop when we jumped the traffic signal? Most of us, I guess. We then in righteous indignation say that the cop is corrupt forgetting that in this case we had the choice of refusing to pay come what may. Yes, there would be an inconvenience if we do that. Yes, we may have to go to court to pay up if it comes to that. But if we decide that for overcoming this inconvenience we are willing to pay a bribe we do not end up smelling roses. Remember, this is not the same as when you go to the crematorium and the undertaker wants money to get the cremation done.

I am sure there are many who when penalized begin negotiating with the traffic constable. These guys then wear the badge of honour of being practical. If you want to be dishonest because you think that is being practical then it is the first of the many justifications that you will offer as you get down to doing more of “practical” things at the work place. We should then say being dishonest is being practical. In that case, why blame the dishonest.

It is our innate disrespect for following traffic rules that has pushed the government to have cops man spots where an automated traffic signal is in place. This is an insult to our integrity. We have now become experts in spotting whether a cop is there before flouting the traffic rule. Shame on us; elsewhere in the rest of the world no such thing happens. Okay, we argue that the rest of the world follows the rule because the retribution is swift and huge. But then what happens to self-restraint and self-respect?

Lets now trivialise the issue by saying "it's just a traffic offence." Let's begin the clean up act by being clean. In the end charity begins at home.

To be contd...

Boy atop the burning deck

2011-08-24T21:26:00.001-07:00

V Pattabhi Ram

This happened three years ago. It happened in a bookstore in Chennai. And I was a personal witness to it. I have narrated this story now 5 times at different cities to different audience and wish to share it with you all.

I was at Chennai’s Landmark, standing in a queue waiting to pay for my books purchase. The invoicing system had failed and the Billing Officer (BO) was making out manual invoices and collecting payment. Ahead of me was a little boy; must be max 9 or 10 years old and looked younger still.

He had on his hand an army of books; I helped him place it on the counter. The BO made out the bill and handed it over to the boy. The boy took one glance at it (I thought this guy will grow to be a CA), mentally audited and said, “Uncle, you have billed me one book less. I bought 11; you have billed me only 10. Harry Potter has not been billed.”

The Officer took the invoice, double checked, found that he had made a mistake and redid the invoice and gave it back to the boy. The boy again took a look at it and minus a calculator said, “Uncle, you have billed me Rs 2,370 instead of Rs 2,730. There is a totalling mistake.” (I was now certain that this tot will become a CA). The Officer was stumped. He took the invoice back, used the calculator once, used it a second time and then corrected the invoice to Rs 2,730. He was now perspiring.

The boy handed over six Rs 500 notes. The Officer took it and returned Rs 370/-. The boy counted the notes and said, “Uncle you have given me Rs 370/-. You need to give me only 270/- and returned the extra Rs 100/-. The Officer took the money back.

And then something remarkable happened. The Officer dipped his hand into a corner of his desk, picked 5 yummy chocolates and gave it to the boy. “This is for you” he said. “But why, Uncle” asked the boy. “Your reward” said the BO. “But have I done something outstanding that no one does that I should be given a reward?” asked the little one in all innocence.

A tiny drop of water dropped from my eye-lid.

This is reflective at a time when many are swarming the streets on an anti-corruption campaign.

It’s my way or the highway

2011-08-24T03:02:00.001-07:00

V Pattabhi Ram

Most of us Indians have only heard of or read about Mohandas Gandhi. The man derisively dismissed as the half-naked fakir by the British was responsible for ensuring that the sun set on the British Empire. His reward: one, India’s Independence; two, his assassination by a religious fanatic; and three, unending ingratitude from a group that trusts a different version of history. Surprisingly the Mahatma revered across countries and continents never found resonance in his own country.

Three decades later, a neo-Gandhi, answering to the name JP, talked about bringing a total revolution. He galvanized the Indian middle class and triggered the chain of events that led to the eventual defeat of the Congress. The new government made up of JP’s chosen ones, where JP did a Gandhi in refusing take a role, was supposed to lead the country to a new path. No such thing happened as the quibbling nincompoops, many of whom are today part of the Saffron party and some perhaps in the Congress, ensured that the people voted the Congress back to power. JP died a disillusioned man.

And now, in 2011, an unlikely hero in Anna Hazare is seeking to emerge as a modern day Gandhi. There are no two opinions that the spectacular corruption that we have seen in recent months as also the grassroots corruption that the common man faces in his ritualistic existence has hurt us so much that Hazare is getting a resonance from the people. That is as it should be. It for sure is great that one man is standing up to be counted for the cause of a clean India.

But there in hangs a tale.

While no one can quibble with his end or his intentions, the means to the end is for sure questionable. And for a man who swears by Gandhi that’s a tragedy. For better or worse India has been a successful parliamentary democracy. The law is made in Parliament and not on the streets. The law is made by our elected representatives whom we have elected either by exercising our franchise or by choosing to stay away from the husting. And for those who have cast their votes to now come out saying, “we will frame the law; to hell with the parliamentarians” is neither fair nor legal.

It has turned into such a rotten pitch that one of the activists, apparently things have gone into the head, says that the parliament is not supreme; that the people are. The phraseology may be right but the context and the intent are clearly wrong. Hazare may be drawing the crowds; but the crowds don’t make law. The crowd wants a good law for sure but for Hazare to claim that he is the best law maker is a tad funny.

Hazare says he is being targeted and tarnished by the government. Hazare forgets that he and his chosen few have used choice epithets against politicians as also against the prime minister. To say, “it’s my way or the highway” is to show a reprehensible contempt for discourse and for democracy. The right thing for Hazare to do, since he seems to be gunning the government (soft option) more than anyone else, is to talk to the Opposition (the BJP and the Left) and bring about such far reaching changes that the final Bill resembles what he and his team call the People’s Bill.

If you don’t like this government, vote it out. If you don’t like all political parties, form one. India does not want dictatorship, howsoever appealing it might to some look to be. India’s problem in India is that the political parties are at logger head with each other; each wanting to score brownie points and thereby foolishly undermining the temple of democracy, the parliament. When Hazare first stormed on the scene in April, a friend of mine who wears his shirt saffron said that Hazare was a Congress plant; today, the Congress is saying that the thousands who are thronging Hazare’s fast are RSS plants!! Aside of ethics deficit we are seeing trust deficit.

I had said it earlier in these pages that what we need is not another law; India has enough laws. We are an over-regulated but under-implemented nation. Another superman with super powers is not the answer. We don’t want super inspectors. The answer lies in swift and expeditious justice and not in street like theatrics. For his stature and standing, Anna has been accorded the necessary respect; but he can’t take that as a licence to stretch things too far. The solution, I repeat, is not fasting for another law but fasting to make the judiciary work faster and smarter. And to tell people that they should not act bribe giver. For some to say its okay “I give bribe, I don’t bribe” is to be dishonest.

In the end Anna may win out because the Congress may extend the olive branch because it perhaps fears that the kind of anger that was seen in the streets of Egypt may happen here, more for bad than for good. But the process, sorry to say, would set out a poor precedent. To imagine that anyone who questions Anna’s process is against corruption is not simple nonsense but fantastic nonsense.

Vaseline, white-man’s burden, Tea and run-outs

2011-07-31T21:12:00.000-07:00

V Pattabhi Ram
English cricketer Vaughan suggested that VVS Laxman had possibly applied Vaseline on his bat to stop hotspot from catching his snicks. A few doubts cross my mind.

Like, how does Vaughan know that applying Vaseline would help beat hotspot? Is he talking out of personal experience? Like, how does he know VVS did it? Has his bat been taken for testing? Like, Vaughan himself says seasoning the bat with Vaseline isn’t illegal. Well, if it wasn’t illegal what was the point in calling VVS a cheat? And how could they just take the bat from VVS to show it to the umpire? Is it because the stylish Indian cricketer is a gentleman? Could they have tried that one on Miandad? And why did the match referee or the umpire not pull them up for that? Or for that matter pull up Broad for sitting in the middle of the pitch, on his haunches, with his two hands on his head as though, as Gavaskar said, his house was on fire?

Is this the age old story of the white-man’s burden? The Englishmen know a thing or two about Vaseline. Ask Peter Lever and Tony Greig.

This was followed by the run-out crisis. I like sports to be played within the letter and spirit of the rules of the game. I watched the Bell run-out. I could be wrong; but I got the distinct feeling that after having slowed down and then watched the ball come back bang to the keeper, the slowing down was even quicker. Yes, you understood what I am suggesting. Now, to take the stand that the players thought it was a four, that they thought it was tea time, blah..blah..blah doesn’t wash; neither by the letter or the spirit of the law. So when a bowler bowls from close to the crease, can a batsman assume it was a no-ball, then go bang-bang with the bat, fail and claim injured innocence?

Bell was out and had no reason to come back. There was no cheating from India’s side. They were playing fair and square. Boy, this is international cricket as the chairman of selectors Kris Srikkanth learnt in his maiden test when he was run out while gardening the pitch. Like, Tendulkar learnt in the infamous Calcutta Test when Akthar ran into him and Sachin was declared run-out. By that token do you ask a batsman to bat again because he got out for 99?

Now, I don’t want to get into whether India was right in allowing Bell to return to bat. Remember, this is not the same as calling back a player who has been wrongly adjudged out. Looks like Strauss and Flowers checked with Dhoni whether India would withdraw the appeal. You could call it the Indian team’s magnanimity or naiveté (depending on which side your bread is buttered) in letting Bell back. You need to check whether they received a call from India instructing them on how to go about with it.

Maybe India did not want another diplomatic row. While the Indians, like true gentlemen, conceded space it would have been outstanding if Bell had returned the compliment by refusing and saying “Mate, I was out; my mistake”. May be that’s too much to ask for from the Englishmen who want to be world’s number one Test team. By all means be number one but don't ask for another batting opportunity as though this were some street cricket.

Gaddy’s red book

2011-07-29T17:16:00.000-07:00

This crazy guy from Chennai sometimes calls me the resident fatso and at other times calls me a gadfly. Actually, I think he is paying me a compliment but you see my party isn’t pleased because there are too many competitors (yes, you guessed to it right; for the title of fatso and that of gadfly).

You see this man is Bangalore (I forget his name; yeah, BSY); he is turning out to be bulkier than what he looks. He told me he will listen to me, but now he is refusing to budge from his seat. This, despite the collective push of all of; that is myself, Arunji Jaitleyji, Sushmaji Swarajji, Rajnathji Singhji, Venkaiahji Naiduji and of-course our tallest leader, Lalji Kishanji Advaniji.If he can resist that weight he should be bulky, bulk, bulk.

Actually I think the problem was compounded by our two national spokespersons. Our Raviji “Manmohan-where-you-sleeping-on-th-job” Shankarji Prasadji said that the parliamentary board had decided to effect a change in leadership in Karnataka. Why could he not have simply said, "We have asked BSY to quit"? Now BSY is taking the stand that leadership change does not refer to him. The pitch was further queered by that very photogenic Nirmalaji who said that BSY had built Karnataka BJP from scratch, that he was a mass leader blah...blah...blah. I don’t know which side of the bread she butters.

Oh, oh in case you are wondering whose red book you are reading, it’s me, Niinji Gadkariji.

I wanted to teach BSY a lesson. Last time around he blackmailed us into submission. Now don’t ask me why we succumbed to his blackmail and what were we scared of. This time he is not directly, but indirectly blackmailing us. You see, he is a money bag and we need money to fight politics. The party in governance at the Centre has cartloads of money with it. These have been stashed in a foreign bank. But we lead a life of austerity, like the Left. We have two rotis for breakfast, and two for dinner with an orange juice for lunch.

For all those who say we have acted late, let me remind you we acted within 24 hours of the report coming out. This, despite the fact that the report was tainted because it was leaked. This despite the Lok Ayukta’s phones being tapped. This despite the personal meets that some people had with him on behalf of the accused. This despite the fact that the report did not hear out the accused and is so bad in law. This despite....

BTW if BSY refuses to budge we will go to the Governor. Hey, who said majority is decided on the floor of the House. It is decided by the Governor based on what we say.

(As imagined by Pattabhi Ram)

Yeddy’s red book

2011-07-27T06:59:00.000-07:00

My name is B S Yeddyurappa. I like to be called BSY (short for busy) but these silly fellows in the media call me Yeddy. So I call them buddies. Across chief ministers, I am the best known. How many of you know the name of the chief minister of Himachal Pradesh or for that matter of Madhya Pradesh. Okay, you know the chief minister of Gujarat; he is like me, in the language of the media, tainted. And remember, I can give the Congressmen a run for their money (pun intended). If you who haven’t still spotted me, I am the chief minister of Karnataka.

Those of you who know me are chanting “Santosh Hegde, Santosh Hegde”. I understand that I have been named in his leaked report (again pun intended). I am writing this because I am currently holidaying outside India and the television channels and some of the channels are invading my privacy. They scream that I am away when Karnataka is burning. Frankly I see no smoke there.

Let me tell you something about this Hegde. He is publicity hungry. Or, why should he talk to the Press? Or, for that matter side with Hazare. You see the office of the Lok Ayukta is akin to that of a judge. And have you seen any sitting judge chatting with the Press, hobnobbing with social activists and generally speak out of turn. And I am sure he leaked his own report. And has the temerity to say his phone was tapped.

Let me make it clear in the name of the Lord Almighty that I am lily-white. Neither me nor anyone in my family has ever received any money from anyone anywhere in the world. I can swear by anyone in any temple in India. You can also ask our spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad or for that matter our erudite Rajiv Rudy; they too will swear by me and either ask whether the Congress was honourable or use colourful language against the prime minister.

Ha, that brings me to the prime minister. If the PM isn’t resigning why should I? After all, Raja has named him. If PC, the home minister, isn’t resigning why should I? After all, honourable Raja has named him. If all Congress MPs resign (the way my party wishes) only then I would give up being chief minister to take up a role in the centre. Forget my party; they will not ask me to get out. If they do, I will rat on all of them, including the tall poppies. I used that line successfully once.

There is nothing wrong in receiving Rs 10 Crore. BTW I didn’t receive it. It was for a charitable cause. In earlier days like they used to say, “It was for the party”. Even if I took it, that’s small change over which they are making a noise. And what if I make some allotments in the names of my children? What else are children for? And that tall poppy Karat calls me the most corrupt chief minister.

Incidentally, bribe-taking isn’t wrong; it’s called whistle blowing. Remember how in the cash-for-votes scam where we didn’t take bribe but sought bribe by acting whistle-blowers. Even in the matter of illegal mining it was I who blew the whistle to the prime minister. You see I should know (pun again intended). Okay its time for me to do the Delhi and Bangalore rounds.

As imagined by Pattabhi Ram

E mail tracker programs and other stories

2011-06-24T06:37:00.000-07:00

I received this mail; I have cut, copied, pasted and then heavily edited, to make it what I think is ‘more readable’.

1. Foward this mails: When you see an email that says "Forward this on to '10' (or however many) of your friends", or "Sign this Petition", or "You'll get bad luck" or whatever hell --- it almost always has an email tracker attached that tracks the emails of those you forward to. The original sender is getting a copy each time the mail gets forwarded and then gets lists of 'active' email addresses to use in SPAM emails. Ditto with emails which talk about a missing child or a child with an incurable disease. Ignore them and don't participate!

2. Petition mails: Email petitions are NOT acceptable to any organization. To be acceptable, petitions must have a "signed signature" and full address of the person signing the petition. So do not get carried away by this.; its just a waste of your time.

3.Tips for Handling Telemarketers:

a. Three words that work: If you receive an unsolicited call from a telemarketing company do not get angry. Simply say 'Hold On, Please...' Saying this, while putting down your phone and walking off (instead of hanging-up immediately) would make each telemarketing call time-consuming. Then when you eventually hear the phone company's 'beep-beep-beep' tone, go back and hang up your handset. These three little words will help eliminate telephone soliciting.

b. Machine calls: If you get a call with no one on the other end you are the victim of a telemarketing technique where a machine makes phone calls and records the time of day when you answers the phone. This technique is used to determine the best time of day for a 'real' sales person to call back and get someone at home. What you must do in such a situation is to immediately hit your # button on the phone, several times ASAP. This confuses the machine that made the call, and it throws your number out of their system.

4. Junk mail help:

a. Junk ads: When you get 'ads' enclosed with your phone bill, return these 'ads' with your payment. Let the sending companies throw their own junk mail away.

b. Pre-approved letters: When you get 'pre-approved' letters for anything from credit cards to 2nd mortgages, do not throw away the return envelope. Most of these come with postage-paid envelopes. It costs them more than the regular postage, 'IF' they receive them back. It costs them nothing if you throw them away. So discard some of your other junk mail and put it in these postage-paid return envelopes. Send an ad for your local chimney cleaner to American Express; or a pizza coupon to Citibank. If nothing else send them their blank application back or just the envelope. It will cost them,

Rs 50 for helmetless travel

2011-06-02T23:17:00.000-07:00

V Pattabhi Ram

The government has announced a fine of Rs 50 for helmet-less travel. A few folks asked me what was the big deal about a Rs 50 fine; that it is small change. Absolutely. Here’s my two-bit on the issue.

As a nation we are the most corrupt and least law abiding nation. We jump traffic signals, ignore lane discipline, overtake from the wrong side, honk at every conceivable place, allow the underage to drive and in the bargain cause road rage. When caught we don’t give a second thought about bribing the traffic cop because it’s a hassle for us to go through the proper route. We call it speed money. Of-course when the businessman pays like money we call it bribe and when the politician receives it, we pounce on him. Rightly so; after all there is nothing wrong in the pot calling the kettle black. Now don’t say hey that’s a traffic offence, meaning its insignificant. A bribe is a bribe is a bribe

If you got the general drift, fine. Now, let me get down to the specifics.

By announcing a smallish fine the government is trying to ensure that the traffic cop bribe gets killed. After all, I guess, many did a cost benefit analysis in paying the cop rather than the government because the cop had said, “If you pay me its Rs100 and if you pay and receive a receipt it is Rs 500/”. Now the incentive to pay the bribe is off as the fine is kept at a low Rs 50/-. To me the Rs 50/- fine therefore makes great sense. Of-course, if the cop still wants Rs 10 and we are ready to pay that then God should bless both the cop and the helmet-less traveller.

Guilty until proven innocent

2011-06-02T06:51:00.000-07:00

Pattabhi Ram
Anna Hazare is a good minded man; but he is no Mohandas Gandhi. For the greater part of his life a crusader in Mumbai, Anna, now 72, finds himself in national limelight. Yes we need to fight corruption; but that will not happen by talking in our drawing rooms and from TV studioS. Hazare won Round 1 by forcing civil society into the drafting the Lok Pal bill. nOT exactly constitutional, it was still par-on-course given the good intentions that he carried.

But somethings haven’t gone down well. Like, on television Hazare asked for chopping off of the hands of the corrupt. Now that’s Taliban like; of-course the media didn’t report it big time because either because it thought it was not in national interest to do or because the media isn’t neutral. Threats, innuendos and constant barraging aren’t the way to run a parliamentary democracy; do that constantly and you will end up as a banana republic.

The way out is to defeat the party in governance at the husting. But Anna knows that this will not help. He knows that across the spectrum politicians are corrupt to the toe. He has made his observations on Gujarat , Santosh Hegde has pointed out that perhaps it is perhaps his indictment of the Reddy brothers that has opened up the turf war in the BJP. After having endlessly called the Congress names for not allowing chief ministers to pick ministers of their choice, the BJP President now says the decision to bring in the Reddy brothers was a consensus one between the central and state leadership. Pray, what;t the central leadership's locus standi.

The civil society team will over time lose credibility if it constantly holds a gun over the government’s head. They need to understand that the government is essentially negotiating; drop the PM and CJI from the Lok Pal and we will get the MPs in. The government reps smart enough to understand that minus MPs the Lok Pal bill will not be worth the paper on which it is printed. Also civil society needs to understand that if they can throw innuendos on others, innuendos can be thrown at them as well. You can’t have different set of rules for different people

Now the yoga trainer with political ambitions, Baba Ramdev, is jumping into the fast queue. Like any right thinking body, the government stepped in to persuade him to not do so because these things can go out of hand. The media said the government was kneeling before the Baba. If they had not tried to persuade they would have been held guilty of fiddling while in governance. You see, we can all talk both ways. I still feel you cannot paralyze a democratically elected government.

What we now need is not endless legislation. What we need is swift delivery of justice. Our courts sit over things endlessly. What we need is two shift working, more judges and more courts, less court holidays, cap on adjournments and exemplary and swift punishment. Otherwise we will see what we are seeing today. Kangaroo courts in public display where you are guilty until proven innocent. And by the time you are proven innocent it would be so long that people would presume you are guilty.

Anna and Baba must first fight the judiciary. Of course, they won’t; for they would be held guilty of contempt of court. Phew.

Mamata, I and West Bengal

2011-05-31T23:17:00.000-07:00

V Pattabhi Ram

The chief minister of West Bengal shares a few things with me.

Like, she travels in a black Santro. I too use a black Santro; except that I am my own driver. She stops at traffic signals and wants no special favours. I too obey the law and seek no favours; ofcourse even if I sought no one would grant me special favours. She works long and late hours. I too; but no one cares. She has near zero dress sense; having never known how to drape a sari around her. I too have near zero dress sense and haven’t bothered about it.

She lives out of a small house; mine isn’t a palace. When she speaks English, you don’t know if she is speaking English or Hindi or Bengali. When I speak Bengali people don’t know what the hell I am doing. She walks on the road; from Raj Bhavan to Writers Building. I too walk on the road; well not from Raj Bhavan to the Secretariat; but from my home to my second office.

Ha, that’s where the similarity ends. Mamata Banerjee won an election by a landslide margin. I haven’t contested one and haven’t voted in any save one. She threw the Left out lock, stock and barrel; I can only endlessly talk, without making sense, about how to throw someone out. She was the one who ensured that Tata pack off Nano from Bengal; I would never have dreamed of doing that. Banerjee wears Hawaii slippers; I can’t imagine sporting one.

Now that the blabber is over, let's get down to brass tacks.

She has her task cut out. After 34 years of the Left rule (some call it misrule) Bengal, needs to come out of its Babus-of-Nayanjore syndrome. The state’s people have got so used to the culture of cynicism and confrontation that they require a massive push to wake up. For, given their innate talent, “up” is the place where they rightly belong. The city’s traffic is in a royal mess, the government’s work culture is archaic, investments need to come into Calcutta as also the other cities of the state and we need to see a modern, vibrant city. Banerjee will have to give up her image of a lady born in a complaint-counter and take up issues that are central to the state.

The electorate is a strange animal. It can shower you with votes galore. But if you don’t perform it can kick you out of office and into the pot-hole. This is Mamata’s date with destiny and she should keep that date.

Boss, give Gambhir a break

2011-05-26T23:50:00.000-07:00

V Pattabhi Ram

Gautam Gambhir is in the thick of a needless controversy. The media has gone at him hammer and tongs for his decision to play for KKR against MI in the Eliminator. The charge: Gambhir was carrying an injury; that despite it he chose to play for his franchisee and now wishes not to play for India. Or worse still, that he knew at the right outset of the IPL that he shouldn’t be playing, that by playing he aggravated his injury and jeopardized his chances of playing for the country in the West Indies. Verdict: He put his franchisee above his country; his commitment is questionable. QED.

Let me add my two-bit of nuisance to this ongoing saga.

The God of Indian cricket, Tendulkar, has often chosen not to play for India, preferring to rest and stay back with the family. Do we question his patriotism? Currently he is playing Mumbai Indians and is opting out of the West Indies tour. Should we question his commitment? Ditto with Dhoni and Zaheer. So, have they placed franchisee over country? In IPL3 Sachin played with a broken hand; and we sang hosannas of praise in his favour.

The lightening kid, V Anand, who despite living 95% of his time outside India, still holds an Indian passport and plays under the Indian flag, has often skipped the Olympiad thus not representing India because either it would upset his ELO rating or because of prior commitments. Is he guilty of putting self before the country?

Gambhir is a cricketer of standing. He won the World Cup for India; his stellar knock in the final set the stage for it. His value is so high that KKR pays him Rs 11 Cr for a season that involves about 20 matches, each of half day duration and is over in 2 months. That’s about 10 working days; a crore a working day. You can call it repulsive if you so desire; your choice.

I know what bugs those who hit out at Gambhir. It’s the cash cow that is coming his way. Let us for a moment accept that he consciously chose to play for KKR and give the country a skip because of the money. Well that’s his personal choice. It is not as though he is a scarce commodity. India has enough bench strength should he step back. Also like it or not, talent gravitates to areas where the reward (fame, recognition and money) is highest.

I know there would be a motley crowd that would scream hoarse saying Gambhir is chasing currency notes. Okay, pray tell me what does a person who switches jobs do? What does a person who models for liquor and cigarettes do? Gambhir knows that unless he is a top draw international player he will not get a rocking pay in IPL There is no reason to call him names. Give him a break

World class teachers .. and the debate continues

2011-05-25T00:50:00.000-07:00

V Pattabhi Ram

Jairam Ramesh is known to make controversial statements. By saying that the students at IIT and IIM are world class but the faculty is not world-class (I do not know what the provocation was) he has opened up a line of attack on the faculty. In normal course that should have stayed as a battle between him and the faculty or on the outside amongst him, the faculty and the students. There should have been no scope for anyone else to jump into the fray. But you see we don’t live in normal times.

Let’s get first things first. In the intangible industry, which is what teaching is, judgments on world class come from perceptions. If teachers aren’t perceived as world class why lose sleep over it. You can have less than extra-ordinary teachers convert ordinary students to extra-ordinary levels; just as an outstanding organization does not necessarily have to have on its roll only outstanding employees.

There is an argument that if the boys are world class and the teachers aren’t, why don’t MNCs pick the boys post their JEE or CAT exam. Such an argument is juvenile and needs to be consigned to the dust bin. Remember, at the IIT they learn engineering; at the IIM they learn management; and to that extent there is a huge value addition. This does not ipso-facto make the faculty world class. Yes, they are good; they add value; but does that necessarily make them amongst the best in the world? That’s debatable.

Ramesh says not much of research happens at the IIT or at the IIM. I can’t respond to that because I don’t know much. But if there was tons of original research going am sure someone would have pointed that out. I haven’t heard of a star professor going on to develop something great in recent times. Has there been a Robert Kaplan or a C K Prahalad from here? The professors have said that they have lots of teaching and administrative engagement and that that’s the trouble. Ha, the Minister said almost the same thing in different words; namely these institutions have become teaching shops than centres that generate new ideas (a k a research). Some have hit back saying that many of these professors are from the same institutions. But that doesn’t wash; a world class student need not be a world class teacher.

In the end there are a few things of importance. One, the teaching class needs to be paid world class salaries. That’s the only way you can attract world class talent. If you offer peanuts, you get monkey. Two, education unfortunately has become a product, rather than stay as a profession. It’s crass commercialization, including in the Test prep market where you have both ambush marketing as also gate crash marketing, leaves a sour taste in the mouth. And three, why in God’s hell, should politicians (am not referring to Ramesh) step into this to make it acerbic. Why should the BJP talk about the need for world class ministers and then the Congress talk about third class people. I have my mouthful for the political class; but let that pass.

Finally, if some of these teachers have made a difference to the lives of their students, I think they would be leaving footprints on the sands of time.

The 2 days that I worked with Anand

2011-04-24T09:18:00.000-07:00

V Pattabhi Ram

Many years ago I used to write for a city magazine.

One day, the editor asked me to do a feature on S Gurumurthy that would become a cover story. I was excited. He was then a media celebrity having been in the thick of things relating to Reliance and later Bofors. I had grown admiring the then writing style of Gurumurthy; the man wrote with the kind of clarity and precision not normally given to accountants. We had 3 rounds of chat across a 5 day period.

On day two, the editor said a photographer would accompany me. The photographer and I went in our respective bikes. He brought with him big equipments and shot Gurumurthy from all angles. The following meet we travelled together. When the copy of the magazine came I was stumped. The photographs were stunning. I had never seen anything like that in magazines or in newspaper. I called up to congratulate him.

Years later, after I wrote Advantage CA, (now Roadmap) I was looking for someone who would shoot. I remembered him. And so spoke to my co-author who had worked in the same magazine. “Hey, there was this photographer called Anand you remember? I want him to do some photos for our book.” She smiled and said, “I don’t know whether we can afford him.” I responded, “Hey he was great. I think I will somehow pitch the amount.”

She had a hearty laugh. “You know he is K V Anand.” The K V Anand

Anand for sure has gone places from being a print photo journalist of enormous talent. He will not be able to place me. But I am extremely happy for the distance he has gone. I understand that his Kho has received good reviews.

For a long, long time I had with me a copy of the magazine that carried the cover story, primarily because of the photos. At some point, I suppose I discarded it without knowing how precious it was. How wonderful it would have been today if there was with me this magazine with K V Anand photographs and my by-line. Help

2011-03-31T17:46:00.000-07:00

V Pattabhi Ram

We are lucky folks; for, we get an opportunity to set in New Year Resolutions several times a year. Today is one; not because it is All Fools Day but because it is the start of the new fiscal. Ofcourse each of us has our goals but if you could put down the following to be done for the next 12 months it would be great

1. 3 non-fiction that you will read
2. One new relationship that you will build
3. Two old relationships that broke which you will restore
4. One professional exam or something similar that you would pass
5. One thing that you would do that would make you outstandingly proud
6. Hold private and public discourse in language that smells of dignity and grace.

Like someone said, "the choice is ours". We can do it and change our lives. Or we dont have to do it and live like the usual way

HAVE A WINNING CULTURE

2011-03-28T01:08:00.000-07:00

Edited excerpts of the Valedictory Address delivered by Gaurav Taneja, National Director of Ernst & Young's India Tax Practice, delivered the Valedictory Address at the Concluding Day celebration of Prime Academy’s 24th session held on 31st March 2007.

Let me move on from what’s happening in the globe and what’s happening in India to are the lessons that I have leant from working for the past 20 years? What is it that my colleagues and I look for from people who join our firm as Interns or as chartered accountants?

1. Have Integrity: There is no question in my mind that the most important thing is integrity. It is a fundamental value. It is the ability to say no when you see something wrong and not getting tempted by temporary benefits. It comes from your core. Without integrity you will inevitable slip, whether it is your business or whether you are working in a company or a partnership firm.

2. Work Hard: CA is the first real test of hard work. It is not easy to become a chartered accountant and if YOU think becoming a chartered accountant is hard work, its only a start. Hard work is critical. No one has succeeded for a long time successively without putting in hard work. You may be very talented, you may have lot of luck and may succeed temporarily because of your past karma but Consistent hard work is required to be successful. Success is 99 % handwork and 1 % luck.

3. Respect Others’ views: As you work in an organization learn to respect other people’s views. You may not agree with what the other person says, it may not be the right view but if you want to grow, you must hear people and their views. Otherwise people may not respect you. How ever senior you may be people will work for you only because you have ordered them to do so and not because they wish to work with you. Remember you are only as strong as the weakest link in your chain. So, respect for people around you, both seniors and juniors is vital. You will start your careers shortly. You will be at the bottom of the pyramid tomorrow but the day after you will become leaders. You will have to make sure that you adjust well with people and that you get the best out of people. Even if one person is left behind in a team, you will not be successful.

4. Have enthusiasm: Your career is not a sprint but a marathon. You will need energy for the next 40 years of your life. Not all days will be good and sunny. If your energy and enthusiasm levels are good and it is cloudy, everything will turn out fine and that is the true spirit of a successful human being. And for that you need the courage of a warrior. Courage to say, “No matter what, I will find the solution”. It is very easy to say that the circumstances were bad and hence you couldn’t succeed, but it is your enthusiasm, energy and courage that will make you successful. Courage comes from within. People can only motivate you only up to a point. They can lull you with high money, share their experience and inspire you a shade. But it is only you who have to motivate your self. Winning is not somebody else losing, it is your energy, integrity, hard work and courage that will make you successful. Courage is the most important. Courage to say “No” when something is wrong and the courage to stand up to the right thing; these are your core values that you imbibe from your parents, teachers and relative when you were small. As you grow you tend to forget these things. You have to find it within your selves. If you can find it you will become successful in what ever you do.

5. Have a Winning Culture: You must have a winning culture whether as a group, individual or as a team. A very good example of this is the Australian cricket team. Winning culture in an organization is the sustainable competitive advantage. Technology is not a sustainable competitive advantage; it can be bought. IPR is not a sustainable competitive advantage, it can be created. But a winning culture can neither be bought nor created over night. It is truly a sustainable competitive advantage. Think about that when you start your work a couple of years from now. And finally if you are successful, remember it will come with a lot of sacrifice.

6. It is lonely at the top: The road to success is lonely. At the top of the mountain you are alone and you have to pay the price with blood. It is painful but you have to go mentally behind that barrier if you want to win. Michael Schumacher is a superb example of someone who wants to win and is determined to win no matter what the circumstances are. But remember, at the top there is place for only one person. You will have certain doubts from time to time, but you will have to overcome them. No one will help you with that. Not your mother, not your father, not your wife not your husband. Those self-doubts have to be overcome by you. It is a lonely place. There is only one Prime Minister of India. There is only one CEO of Infosys technologies. There is only one Ratan Tata. And Ratan Tata had to take the important decision on the Corus deal all alone, all by him. His advisors may have told him many things but finally it was his call. The 12 billion dollar decision, was finally his to take, which if it goes wrong could significantly effect theTata group. So are you ready to make sacrifices to get successful? Are you ready to pay with blood and sweat? Because, this is what is required in the journey to be successful.

7. Be a Nice person: But no matter what whether you are successful or not, be a nice person . Because that is how people will remember you finally. And finally do try to make God a part of your daily life. No matter what you do without God’s grace it is really difficult.

Best of luck

10 things to learn from Japan

2011-03-25T07:42:00.001-07:00

Source: Outlook Magazine

1. THE CALM: Not a single visual of chest-beating or wild grief. Sorrow itself has been elevated.

2. THE DIGNITY: Disciplined queues for water and groceries. Not a rough word or a crude gesture.

3. THE ABILITY: The incredible architects, for instance. Buildings swayed but didn’t fall.

4. THE GRACE: People bought only what they needed for the present, so everybody could get something.

5. THE ORDER: No looting in shops. No honking and no overtaking on the roads. Just understanding.

6. THE SACRIFICE: Fifty workers stayed back to pump sea water in the N-reactors. How will they ever be repaid?

7. THE TENDERNESS: Restaurants cut prices. An unguarded ATM is left alone. The strong cared for the weak.

8. THE TRAINING: The old and the children, everyone knew exactly what to do. And they did just that.

9. THE MEDIA: They showed magnificent restraint in the bulletins. No silly reporters. Only calm reportage.

10. THE CONSCIENCE: When the power went off in a store, people put things back on the shelves and left quietly

Why I dont vote

2011-03-25T01:40:00.001-07:00

V Pattabhi Ram

Let me make a confession of which I am not ashamed.

I haven’t exercised my franchise in India’s elections, Lok Sabha or Assembly till date. I don’t think that position will change in the foreseeable future. I will provide you with my compelling logic and, on the aside, an economic rationale for my stand.

The moral fig
First up is the choice from amongst the parties. In our country it’s a toss up between Tweedledum and Tweedledee. It’s a choice between one “corrupt” party and another “communal and corrupt” party.

If one was guilty of being otherwise busy when the Sikh riots were on, the other had its leader mastermind genocide in Gujarat. If one had Adarsh on its blood, the other had coffin gate, not to speak of Tehelka. If one was guilty of 2G, the other did not come smelling of roses in its own spectrum allotment, disinvestment, and money bag exercise, among others, in Karnataka. While one acted against some wrong doers, the other remarked, “Do you expect us to commit hara-kiri and sacrifice a local election”. If some in a party bought votes, others right at the top “set up” the purchase.

I will not call them a bunch of jokers, lest jokers take offence. To say vote for the less corrupt is like saying if you want to kill, kill less people.

True, good people elect bad politicians through abstinence. But the irony is that many of those who have gone to the top are uncivil, lacking in public courtesy, conduct debates in a scream and shout approach thinking that decibel levels are more important than intelligent quotient. Lying, ranting and using language uncharacteristic of seniors has become part of life.

Look at the quality of discourse. The telecom minister defends the indefensible; side stepping key issues. The man who wants to be prime minister when he would be in the middle of an octogenarian life has lowered himself several notches by his constant rant against the prime minister. His own conduct in recent episodes hasn’t been above board. For anything and everything, the parliament is not allowed to function. And in Tamil Nadu, the principal groupings are out-performing each other in dole outs (a k a corruption).

And you expect that I should go and vote; my foot.

To those who argue that there is a moral obligation to vote I ask, “Where does this morality spring from”. If there is a moral obligation then why have Rule 49O? Because Dr Kalam as president went and voted doesn’t mean I should vote. In fact I have my own reservations about a president voting. And because I don’t vote does not mean I can’t ask why politicians aren’t functioning. After all, every other person questions the skills of our cricketers and our actors without having ever graduated beyond gully cricket, book cricket and throwing tantrums at home.

The economic rationale
When there is no emotional attachment to vote, voting can happen only if there an economic rationale. If voting is perceived as a collaborative exercise one can vote even without economic rationale. But when the heart doesn’t listen, the mind starts working. And the concept of economic rationale steps in. Alas there isn’t any.

Why should I vote? Let me explain without making it complicated. I should vote only if my vote will make a difference. If my constituency has 200000 voters, (That’s an Assembly election) then the probability that might vote would matter is 1/500,000. Now suppose the average wealth of a majority of the population is Rs 20 lakhs. By voting a voter having that kind of wealth cannot gain more than Rs 20 lakhs. Since the probability of vote proving decisive is 1/200,000, the expected benefit from voting is Rs 20 L x 1/2L or Rs 10/. Phew. Remember if my constituency has close to 400,000 then its Rs 5/-. Now I don’t even get a bottle of soft drink for that

Surely the cost of voting should be much more. Even if I catch an auto to go to the polling booth, in Chennai that would a minimum of Rs 40 up and Rs 40 down. Forget, about the cost of time because in any case I don’t do much otherwise! Spend approx 100 to pick Rs 10/-. Well, I shall if it was a noble cause. But the problem is it doesn’t appear to be so.

Of-course people vote because they believe it is the right thing to do so. In the last Assembly election in 2007 70% voted. That’s regarded a very high turnout. 30% did not vote. They were like me.

Robin Sharma writes

2011-03-23T05:37:00.000-07:00

Robin Sharma's Mail

BE THE CEO OF YOU INC.

Just off the tour as I write this. It was a genuine joy to meet so many LWTs (Leaders Without Titles) on the tour stops in Germany + Norway + Kuwait + Qatar + India + Dubai + South Africa. Which brings me to one event in particular, as it relates to the 6 leadership ideas I want to share.

DU Telecom, the upstart telco in Dubai, that in just four years has become truly world-class, brought me in to speak at a special function for a few hundred of their CEO clients. My job was to inspire them, to challenge them and to help them get their leadership genius to its next level of excellence. As I finished, I offered them 6 challenges:

1. GET OUT AND EXPLORE: Extracurricular activities are not a waste of time. The best leaders are interesting people. They pursue passions. They love art. They experience unforgettable travel. And they engage in conversations with fascinating people. This allows them to stay inspired. And hungry. And offers them a steady stream of ideas that actually makes their businesses more successful.

2. LISTEN TO THE PEOPLE WITH THE DIRTIEST HANDS: Want to know what your customers love - and can't stand - about your business? Listen to the people on the front line. The grocery clerk hears exactly what's being said about the products on the shelves. The person answering the phone knows what people are most dissatisfied with. The technician gets exactly what needs to be fixed for the brand to grow. Learn to listen to the people who are closest to your customers.

The data they carry is priceless.

3. YOU ARE PAID NOT ONLY TO WORK. YOU ARE PAID TO BE SCARED: It's easy to do what you do every day until it becomes second nature. But what leadership's truly about is having the courage to out-think + out-perform who you were yesterday. And that's scary. Because you need to consistently do what's uncomfortable. But all growth lies on the outer edges of your comfort zone. Commit to not just doing your work but accepting the challenges that frighten you.

4. HEALTH IS YOUR WEALTH: These were peak-performing CEOs leading 24/7 careers. There was utter silence in the room when I shared this statement: "Health is the crown on the well man's head that only the ill person can see". Why be the richest person in the graveyard? And what's the point of getting to the mountaintop but reaching it sick? Get serious about becoming superfit. Then watch the caliber of your work and the quality of your life fly.

5. FAMILY FIRST: With children, we have a little window of opportunity. And once it closes, it's very hard to open it up again. Having a strong family foundation of deep relationships with those you love makes you a more effective businessperson. And who wants to get to the end of your career and realize you're all alone?

6. BE VALUABLE: Business, to me, is nothing more than a breathtakingly great vehicle to deliver unusual value to as many people as possible. Want to double your sales? Then double the value you bring to your customers. And the whole game of life's about much of the same thing: contribution. Being of value. Making a difference. No one on their deathbed wished they had made more money. Most of us do wish we have had a greater impact. As a seminar participant in Qatar shared with me: "The measure of the greatness of a person is the length their shadow casts on the future."

Why do I share the 6 challenges I offered to the CEO crowd with you? Because you are the CEO of your own career and the Leader of your own life. I encourage - and challenge - you to reflect on these ideas and then to act on them with speed. There's never been a bigger need for leaders in our organizations and within our world. And whether you have a title or not, that need applies to you.

Keep Leading Without a Title,

Cash for Votes; Wiki Leaks

2011-03-17T03:06:00.000-07:00

V Pattabhi Ram

Wikileaks, America’s whistle blower site, a k a Peeping Tom, has told the world that politicians in South India pay cash to voters. The Maha Vishnu of Mount Road, the venerable Hindu, has splashed this very Page 3 stuff on Page 1 running into multiple columns, thus giving it a whale of publicity.

I think it’s the biggest joke of 2011; let me tell you why.

a. Is this piece of information breaking news in India? The way the Hindu has gone about reporting it, it looks like no one in the country knew that money was paid. Hello, ladies and gentlemen this is the most open of secrets, if you can call it a secret.

b. Television channels have gone ballistic called it a South Indian phenomena. Hello, have they forgotten a certain Jaswant Singh caught on camera handing over money days before his son’s electoral battle has gone to town? And have we not heard of gifts in UP?

c. By the way how is cash payment different from offer of free television or rice at Rs1 per kg? Didn’t anyone know of it or were we busy collecting it because we had a ration card. Then why the sudden song and dance. To say that the Southern parties do this is unfair to northern politicians! Hello, every party across India does it in some form or other

d. I have no soft corner for politicians; in fact I don’t vote. But to paint them as baddies because they pay out cash during election is outrageous. In India that’s traffic offence, a k a chicken feed. Hello, how many of us have not paid a cop some money for getting out of a traffic offence when we could have taken the option of being challaned and paid up the full money?

e. With due respect for the media, and I have a lot of that, for I have interacted with them fairly regularly, what’s paid news. What about blocking an article unfavourable to a fund house because you carry an advertisement of the fund on the front page?

f. Just as cash based campaigning is bad so is communal based campaigning. Hello, which political party in our country has not resorted to communalism? And which newspaper hasn’t blatantly taken sides on either side of the divide on both these issues based on exigencies and conveniences?

Yes we must fight corruption but we must start first with ourselves. Let’s not act as though we are hearing all this for the first time.

The Prime Minister struggles... But

2011-02-15T23:13:00.000-08:00

V Pattabhi Ram

I dropped many things to watch the prime-minister’s press conference with TV editors. I missed the first hour, but the second hour was instructive

At 5 past 12 when the meet got over, I had the impression of seeing a very halting, half assured prime-minister responding to the media that asked calibrated questions. But it was very clearly an honest man speaking his heart out, though not with the kind of oratory that you would associate with an Obama.

Some would believe that Dr. Singh wasn’t looking like the man in charge. That’s because they are used to seeing politicians as prime ministers; men who argue and who have a condescending demeanour. But here was a reluctant politician who retained basic courtesies even after becoming prime-minister; the best of which was visible in the end when after it was announced that the interview was over a few TV journalists wanted to quiz him further and the prime-minister asked them to go ahead.

When asked if he owned moral responsibility for what was happening he surprised everyone by saying that it was not as if he was unaware of his responsibility; someone in his place would have come with an acerbic response. It was touching to hear him admit that we need to improve the quality of our governance. And suddenly he looked every inch a half economist-half politician when, while not defending Raja, he suggested that a no-auction wasn’t exactly a fraud because it could also be a subsidy like the fertiliser and kerosene subsidies. That somebody allegedly took money is something that can happen both in an auction and outside of an auction appeared to be the refrain.

He was fairly humble in saying that his accidental drift to politics, while not exactly his cup of tea, was a huge learning experience. He wasn’t just using a cliché when he said that there can’t be a compromise on corruption and was bang on when he suggested that while the delay could be frustrating the rule of law has to be allowed to run its course. He was clearly enunciating that we cannot have kangaroo courts.

Such incidents sap our self-confidence he conceded, and remarked that he wasn’t very happy about it. This is not something any other politician would say. Yet on the matter of reforms he looked very much a politician in stating the main opposition party was creating a stumbling block; am not sure whether the reference, howsoever valid, was warranted.

He was calibrated in his response when he said that while the media was free to air its opinion it should be objective while reporting facts and should not twist it. The remark came while acceding to the fact that corruption was hurting India’s image internationally.

But the best one was the one where he said that while it was not that he had never erred in his two terms, he has not erred the way it was being made out to be and that if 7 of 10 decisions were right in the corporate environment the CEO would be appreciated by the shareholders.

I think he came across as the honest man, now a shade wanting in confidence, a good man who hadn’t given up any of his goodness. Yet, India needs a person who will wield the stick because that is what this country needs and understands

Blogging Ethics

2011-02-10T09:18:00.000-08:00

V Pattabhi Ram

One of the basic courtesies in public and private discourse is to identify oneself. That's why people who send in annonymous letters and annonymous mails are scorned upon.

Hiding one's name and thus not coming out in the open or disclosing a false identity is an act of shame.

The world of blogging believes in open readership, open expression of opinion; it however does not encourage people to make defamatory statements on someone else on another person's blog. For that those who make should take it to their blogs.

This piece will get constantly updated. I welcome people to add to this (as in wikipedia) so that in the end we have a document on blogging ethics and blog commenting ethics

Watchable, but....

2011-02-10T08:48:00.000-08:00

V Pattabhi Ram

In more ways than one it was a long day. One hour of pre-dawn professional work; seven hours of class, including an hour break; one hour of trying to write something and then one hour on the treadmill; I thought it was time to step into a theatre. It was my second one since Enthiran.

Oops; the movie was a sort of soothing balm. I haven’t watched this guy, Karthi, before. But if this movie is an indication, well he is a class act; a terrific actor for sure. Santhanam is fun, bringing in the laughs though some would dismiss it as juvenile. There isn’t exactly a great story line but since when did movies have stories beyond the beaten track. And of course the leading lady plays just the glam doll roll without offering any substance.

After what was a promising start the film began to fall apart moments before the intermission. Post intermission, it's violence all the way and reminded you of Mani Ratnam’s Ravanan.

On the whole, it was like a curator’s egg; good in parts. Oh sorry, the movie is Siruthai

The Garden of shame

2011-01-28T01:08:00.000-08:00

V Pattabhi Ram

I grew up in a place that was an overnight journey from Calcutta. I have friends in and from Calcutta and have stayed extended days in that city. None of what I am going to say next will change this.

The ICC has booted the Eden Gardens out of the World Cup in the land of the ICC president. This either calls for extra-ordinary gall on the part of the ICC or it must be that the venue is hopelessly under-prepared. I have no proof but I will vote for the latter given the offers that Jag Dalmia is now making so that the match stays in the so called city of joy.

From Jan 27 he wants to push the deadline to Feb 7. Apparently the erstwhile grand daddy of Indian officialdom feels deadlines are lines meant for the dead. He has offered an alternative. That matches be swapped with other venues. If he is sure of Feb 7 why this? To a nation with a chalta-hai attitude the tonic administered by ICC is welcome. The argument that the inspection team only 20 minutes doesn’t wash because you don’t have to eat an entire omllete to know that the egg is rotten.

Anyways I have never been a great fan of Calcutta. I will tell you why. In 1996, the city shocked our collective conscience when it made a scene of the situation that India was in the World Cup semi-finals against Sri Lanka. India was clearly losing and the crowd did the unthinkable; didn’t allow the match to continue believing that the organizers will call off the game and have a fresh one played. Match referee Clive Lloyd announced Lanka as the winners and the sight of a sobbing Vinod Kambli pleading with Lloyd to get the game going is something that I will never forget for the rest of my life as I watched the sordid drama unfold. A placard by a spectator that said "Sorry Lanka" was the saving grace in that shameful episode.

Worse still, the chief minister of West Bengal, Jyoti Basu, sat in the pavilion like a statue. I thought leadership meant he would come out into the middle or atleast on the public address system to tell the audience that this was not on. But he did no such thing. If a player had done what the crowd had done, the player would have been banned. I honestly believed that Eden Gardens would be banned for two years. But I guess pecuniary considerations prevailed.

Because no punishment was meted out and because no one showed any remorse it was action replay in a Test match later. In 1999, Eden Gardens made a song and dance out of a Sachin run out that forced the police to empty the stadium and push an outstanding cricket match to be completed in front of an empty stadium. It brought another piece of shame to the nation.

I am therefore neither saddened nor worried about Eden Garden being dropped from the Cup venue. The loss is for Calcutta. That it may in the end get added doesn’t bother me as well. Those who cannot stay disciplined need to be disciplined.

Financial Lessons from Unusual Examples

2011-01-17T01:32:00.001-08:00

V Pattabhi Ram

This are the broad lessons that I propose to speak at in Calicut at the ICAI-Calicut University program. The lessons will be peppered with unusual examples

1. If your processes are right, your output will be correct.
2. In business, as in life, there are no free lunches.
3. When we make a choice, it always appears that we should have made the ‘other’ choice.
4. Don’t trust statistics; for averages can lie
5. You don’t have to take responsibility for someone else’s omissions and commissions
6. The line that divides right and wrong may be thin; but most often it is clear.
7. There are a few things that reside in the mind which are wrong. We know them, yet we practice them
8. Sometimes you take risk; other times you don’t. Your rewards are linked to what risks you take. But there are no guarantees in life
9. Competition can make a monkey of even the most enlightened men.
10. Price discrimination can be used to take advantage of impatience
11. Co-operation can kill competition
12. The law is an ass but it is still the law
13. You cannot kill the minority which is right merely because the wrong doers are the majority
14. Ask and thou shall know

Financial Lessons from Unusual Examples

2011-01-17T01:29:00.000-08:00

V Pattabhi Ram

Thes are the broad lessons that I propose to speak at in Calicut at the ICAI-Calicut University program. The lessons will be peppered with unusual examples

1. If your processes are right, your output will be correct.
2. In business, as in life, there are no free lunches.
3. When we make a choice, it always appears that we should have made
the ‘other’ choice.
4. Don’t trust statistics; for averages can lie
5. You don’t have to take responsibility for someone else’s omissions and
commissions
6. The line that divides right and wrong may be thin; but most often it is
clear.
7. There are a few things that reside in the mind which are wrong. We know
them, yet we practice them
8. Sometimes you take risk; other times you don’t. Your rewards are linked to
what risks you take. But there are no guarantees in life
9. Competition can make a monkey of even the most enlightened men.
10. Price discrimination can be used to take advantage of impatience
11. Co-operation can kill competition
12. The law is an ass but it is still the law
13. You cannot kill the minority which is right merely because the wrong doers
are the majority
14. Ask and thou shall know

Simply Knocked Out

2010-12-25T07:46:00.000-08:00

V Pattabhi Ram

Oops I saw Knock Out and was completely bowled over. I haven’t seen greater edge of the seat thriller. Glued to the seat; ten minutes into the show I realized that the entire movie would be centered on a guy forced into conversing from out of a phone booth. Someone referred to an English movie Phone Booth but given that I don’t watch movies of that language, I didn’t bother a shade. And in any case it was stand out performance by Irfan Khan and a near equal show by Sanjay Dutt

Oh sorry, I missed the story. Well let me cut it short; it’s about an investment banker (Irfan) held hostage on the phone line by a super sleuth. Even as you wonder whether it is another silly story of revenge you see twists and turns … national politicians, television reporters all rolled in the right dose. I believe every Indian citizen must watch this one; I would place it among the 10 best movies that I have ever seen. Yes, I said the same thing about Enthiran; this one is simply out of the world.

I just cannot understand why this movie did not turn out to be a box office hit.

Fifty hundreds and counting

2010-12-21T19:10:00.000-08:00

V Pattabhi Ram
I have written more than once why my generation thinks a world of Sachin; I will therefore not get into it again. But what I shall tell you because it matters to us all is that.

In a world marked by brinkmanship and showmanship (where screaming and ranting are thought to be fashionable) Sachin has maintained an extra-ordinary cool; never having lost his temper on the playing field, never having questioned an umpiring decision. He’s taken longevity to a new level. Some of today’s cricketers I guess were born after he debuted. In a game where only one other man (Brian Close) post Second World War played over 20 years and that too in fits and starts Sachin has shown what staying power is all about. He is someone who has measured what he is good at and what he is not good at. It takes enormous courage to give up captaincy and play under juniors when you realize you aren’t captaincy material. This speaks of humility. In a cricket crazy world he is revered as God. That can go into anyone’s head, not Sachin’s. That’s what I call maintaining honor. Humility, honor and honesty are things that matter in this world.

Everything else; his 30000 plus runs, his inevitable 100 hundreds will come next

Another day, another time I will tell you why I think he is greater than the Don himself.

Yes I Can

2010-12-21T19:00:00.001-08:00

Third and concluding part of presentation at SICASA 2010 at Tirupati

If you want to be up there, straight in the pinnacle of success, up with the pantheon of greats, you need to have a few qualities. I may not have the time today to talk about all of them. Instead I would speak about three of them.

COMMUNICATE First you have to shed your inhibitions and ask questions. When in doubt you should ask. I don’t know who said it but he was right when he said, “It is better to ask a question and look like a fool for a few minutes than to not ask the question and appear like a fool forever.” If you don’t ask, if you don’t update and if you don’t upgrade yourselves you will find yourself on the wrong side of this exchange.

In today’s world, knowledge alone won’t do. COMMUNICATION is a must. You must hone up your communication skill. If you don’t, it’s like going to war without ammunition. Communication does not mean great public speaking. It is the ability to convey to others, exactly what you have in mind in a manner that it is exactly understood that way by the other person.

Take a listen to this conversation to get a feel of how things can go hopelessly wrong.

And this series of conversations to understand how communication can get garbled!!

COMMITMENTAll winners have a sense of commitment which is reflected also in the kind of long hours of work that they put in. When we see winners often we see only the hand-claps and the tons of money that they make. We haven’t exactly seen the behind the scene events, the hard and grinding work that has preceded their arrival. You see success can never ever precede work except in the English dictionary. What we call luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.
Many of us make lose statements about commitment. Commitment means keeping your word, come what may; whatever the consequences. If say that I will meet someone at time X at place Y on Day Z; I must come hell or high water meet him at time X at place Y on Day Z. If for some reason I cannot, I should let him know. If you say you will call back at 9pm tonight, you shall call back at 9 pm tonight. Commitment builds trust and trust cements friendship. If you break commitment, you break trust, break friendship.

Commitment is what sees some work 24x7 and also on weekdays and holidays though there for sure is the need for a work life balance

This video should give you a real idea of what commitment is

Right and wrong 176,000,00,00,000. This is perhaps modern India’s most famous number. It’s easy and comfortable to rip open the politician; but the sad point is that there is muck all around. There is open scandal in the Judiciary. The media has come under the scanner. The corporate sector has never been known to be lily white

But what about us, the commoner like you and I. We talk about speed money with impunity; we speak about cost of doing business when we all know what we are talking about. It is not as though we are lily white. We bribe cops, Bribe cops, break traffic rules, impersonate others in elections, fudge travel expense with impunity and look the other way when something wrong happens. We cheat almost everywhere. Patriotism is not about pinning the national flag on Independence Day and Republic day, it is not about maintaining candle vigils; it is about treating your country decently, it is about obeying traffic rules, it is about keeping the environment and the country clean. Be the change you want to see happen in the world.

In the end you must be able to stand tall and walk tall. You must be capable of being proud of you. Whatever you do must stand the test of right and wrong. Let’s not deceive ourselves into thinking that everything goes and that there are shades of grey. I believe that you always get to know what is right and what is wrong; there is the still small voice of God in you that tells you just that

When I did my CA my economics professor said India is a sleeping giant. You guys are extremely lucky you now live in a world pregnant with possibilities. And importantly, the giant has woken up. The opportunities outside are legion. We are one of the most powerful economies of the world. If you have the right skills and the right attitude the world will be your oyster.

I close out with this spellbinding video that tells you why success matters.

Good luck and best wishes for 2011.

Yes I Can Part 2

2010-12-18T08:16:00.000-08:00

2nd Part of my talk at SICASA 2010 AT Tirupati

I will not talk to you about any of them because they belong to a completely different generation; a generation with which even I may be unable to relate to. I will not talk to you about any of them because they don’t belong to your present avocation of chartered accountancy studentship or to our profession, the profession of chartered accountancy. So I will speak to you about examples that either belong to your generation or to your avocation or to our profession.

Here we go; first from your generation.

Imagine someone had cerebral palsy. This is an umbrella term that refers physical disability in human development. Its closest cousin is spastics. It has no cure. Imagine a spastic wanting to do CA. We would have laughed our heads off. Even to the best of brains CA is a challenging course. But a person born with cerebral palsy cleared the CA exam in June 2009; the 27 year old Ajit Shekawath.

A young lad, going 95% visually challenged, under went internship in Chennai, attended classes like any other soul, did his reading with the help of a computer and wrote his exams with the help of a scribe to qualify in 2006 as a CA. Today, he works with the Reserve Bank of India in Hyderabad. That’s a clear victory of mind over matter. B Jairam.

He lived out of a 12x25 room in a ghetto with a family of five; a housemaid mother and a textile loom worker father. He himself worked as an office boy and rode 7 kms to office for work. But none of this stopped Shailesh Ghule from emerging as a Chartered accountant. Indeed, a classic case of rising above poverty to compete with those who are materially well off and turn better off than them.

Next from your avocation

A stock broker came back 20 years after finishing his Intermediate to take his Final exam and qualify. P S Menon. A woman, aged 42, on the untimely death of her young husband, decided to do CA and at age 46 qualified; Padma Harirangan. A banker took voluntary retirement at age 56 to pursue a childhood ambition namely to become a chartered accountant. He went through the hardships of Internship and of long hours of study and days before he turned 60 became a CA, S D Bala.

But the most romantic story of them all is an of an elderly practicing CA, all of age 69 years, who took the jibe of a young Intern seriously and enrolled himself for the ICWAI exams and 2 years later at age 71 qualified as a CWA. Bala Gangadharan.

Each of them symbolized the spirit of “Yes we can.”

I can go on and on but I would like you to listen to this amazing video to get an idea of what it means when we say nothing, absolutely nothing is impossible. And to this video to appreciate the fact that what happens to your life is what kind of brush you use and strokes you draw.

If you want to be up there, straight in the pinnacle of success, up with the pantheon of greats, you need to have a few qualities. I may not have the time today to talk about all of them. Instead I would speak about three of them.

To be contd.

Yes I Can.

2010-12-16T21:08:00.000-08:00

Part of my talk at SICAS Conference, 2010 at Tirupati, Dec 16, 2010. Over the next three four days will place other parts

I must thank the SICASA, in particular its chairman, Phalgun Kumar, for this opportunity to address a gathering of future CA. Across the next sixty minutes I will speak to you about the audacity of hope, the magic of dreams and about the sheer breath of possibilities in a session whose title “Yes I Can” I have adapted from the electoral tagline of America’s transformational president, Barack Obama,

Back in your CA classes, or in your Class XII, or in the first year of college, your teachers must have spoken to you about the sensational rise of a lady, from being a single mother living on unemployment allowance to becoming richer than the Queen of England, J K Rowling, the creator of Harry Potter. They would have also told you about a newspaper boy and his remarkable journey from Rameswaram to Raisina Hills; Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam, the people’s President. And of the improbable story of Oprah Winfrey; born to unwed teenage parents and raised by her grandmother, who went from being a radio announcer to a news anchor, to a television host who today has her own television channel. These are extraordinary triumphs of the human spirit.

But I will not talk to you about them.

Back in your CA classes, or in your Class XII, or in the first year of college, your teachers must have spoken to you about a physicist who lives out of a wheel chair; but who despite that has gone on to propound science’s most famous theory, more famous than Einstein’s theory of relativity; Stephen Hawking and the Big Bang theory. They would have told you about a young girl, who, despite polio afflicted legs that made doctors say she would never be able to walk, went on to run; and who in the Summer of 1960 created history winning three gold medals at the track and field events of the Rome Olympics. It was Olympics regular, not that of the differently abled. Wilma Rudolph. We are today in the 50th year of that extraordinary achievement. Your teachers must have walked you through the story of the man who held the most powerful office in the world that of the president of the USA, serving from out of a wheel chair and who gave them a pathbreaking deal. Franklin D Roosevelt and the New Deal. These are wonderful stories of the triumph of the mind over matter

But I will not talk to you about them.

Back in your CA classes, or in your Class XII, or in the first year of college, your teachers must have spoken to you about how a college drop out set up office in a garage, went on to create the largest world-class company and in the process became the world richest man; Microsoft and Bill Gates. Or of how a man who barely finished school turned out to be the father of the modern assembly line, Henry Ford. Or better still, nearer home, of a petrol pump attendant who began life in a single room apartment but ended up as the chairman of a Fortune 500 company; Dhirubhai Ambani and Reliance. These are inspirational tales that tell you that you don’t need formal education to become a business success.

But I will not talk to you about them.

Back in your CA classes, or in your Class XII or in the first year of college, your teachers must have told you about a transformational Indian lawyer who did not forget an insult, did not forgive an injury, thought out of the box to fight the first ever non violent war in history to win us our independence, Mohandas Gandhi, the man whom we fondly call the Mahatma. They must have told you of how Gandhi, derisively dismissed by the British as a half naked fakir, inspired two men belonging to two different generations hailing from two different countries in two different continents to follow his path of non-violence, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in America and Dr. Nelson Mandela in, of all places, South Africa. These are extraordinary stories indeed that prove the adage that what can be imagined can be achieved.

But I will not talk to you about them.

I will not talk to you about any of them because they belong to a completely different generation; a generation with which even I may be unable to relate to. I will not talk to you about any of them because they don’t belong to your present avocation of chartered accountancy studentship or to our profession, the profession of chartered accountancy. So I will speak to you about examples that either belong to your generation or to your avocation or to our profession.

To be contd

Three men in a boat

2010-11-19T01:15:00.000-08:00

V Pattabhi Ram

As events begin to unfurl, it is increasingly becoming apparent that it is dangerous for good men to get into politics, more so into the hot seat, that of prime minister.

Let me dip into history to explain what I have in mind.

In 1985, when Rajiv Gandhi became prime minister, in the grim aftermath of Mrs. Gandhi’s assassination, it created eerie expectations. Rajiv was young, esternized in outlook and a political green horn all of which came as a breath of fresh air in the murky world of Indian politics. The reluctant entrant started off on the right note – Panchayati Raj, computerization of railways as also the first signs of opening up of the economy. When he talked about the nexus between power-brokers and politicians, made a splash in the US with his spontaneous wit and spoke of racing India into the 21st century, many in my generation believed that he was ddirectly addressing us. Unfortunately somewhere along the line the former pilot lost his plot, got embroiled in a trial by media over Bofors that lead to loss of a massive mandate. And just when it appeared like he was the prime-minister in waiting he was assassinated of all places in god-forsaken, Sriperumbudur on the outskirts of Chennai

One down, two to go.

Sometime in 1996 a poet, with a penchant for oratory, the right man in the wrong party, stepped in to hold the prime-ministerial gaddi. That his charisma notwithstanding he couldn’t add a single number to his party’s tally meant that his first government would be a 13 day wonder. His party’s spin doctors used it to suggest that they weren’t in the business of suitcase politics. His vision of the golden quadrilateral, of peace with Pakistan and talk of Ram Rajya post Gujarat marked him out as a statesman. But like all gentlemen politicians he was tripped both from within and outside. The Agra talks were derailed, in part, internally; his authority was overridden on Gujarat; but his biggest error of judgment happened on Kandahar, a decision he would never be able to live down. That 13/12 was a direct fall out of this decision will forever remain a fact. And in 2004 he was buttered into taking another term as prime-minister; tricked because his party knew that he was the only acceptable face. Alas the electorate dumped him; and a man who should have walked into the sunset with head held high was left tongue tied and forlorn.

Two down, one to go

In 2004 we had India’s first technocrat prime minister, essentially a part-timer in politics who took to being prime minister as a job rather than as a position. He wasn’t exactly spectacular but ran his government with reasonable efficiency without making celebratory noises. India during this period moved quite a few notches in the comity of nations and today represents an important power. The world respects the man; forget the small fries who throw in taunts. The RTI Act, the nuclear deal (Dr Kalam has been all for it), e-panchayats, taking Vajpayee’s vision of the golden quadrilateral forward; well he did leave his mark. Today the knives are out. "Throw muck at a spotless man so that the muck stands out there" appears to be the credo. I don’t know what the Supreme Court meant but the media seems to have interpreted it as the court asking the prime minister why he took 11 months to respond and a certain tall poppy now has claimed that the prime minister is personally culpable.

The country has had a reasonable balance between executive and judiciary and while the judiciary should stay eternally vigilant there is also a Lakhman Rekha that can’t be crossed. Eleven months is too long a time; is it? I am no legal pundit but I think that by ordering a CBI probe, by having the CAG look into it, by ensuring their completion as also expelling the man from the Cabinet which now means that there is no need for permission to prosecute, Dr. Singh has done what any reasonable man would have done. Would the courts themselves not have questioned him if he had accorded permission with alacrity? Your honor, some things do take 11 months when similar things can take 11 plus years. Yes, by all means ask him whether he was under political compulsion, but couch the language carefully.

If we don’t keep a sense of balance, it will be three down, none to go. It would mean that no decent man, who isn’t a hard core practicing politician, will ever step into politics. And that would be a shame

Letter to Mr. Advani

2010-11-15T09:24:00.000-08:00

Dear Mr. Advani

I am sorry I do not know the exact position you hold today; else I would have addressed you by that. I logged into your site and found a number of references to “Advaniji” but I couldn’t locate it; I am not very tech-savvy o could have missed out. Anyways, that’s beside the point. You must be the chairperson.

Well, I am mailing you for a reason. Before I do that let me make a couple of confessions. One, I have been an unabashed fan of the man whom you have always called your friend, Atal Vajpayee. He was a class statesman, gentle and polite, and as someone said, the right man in the wrong party. Of-course he did make his mistakes; like allying with the ADMK after your party had talked about probity in public life. And then there of-course was the killer blunder, Kandahar.

Confession Number two; I have never been your fan. How could I have been? Did you not bring terrorism to our doorsteps courtesy “Mandir Wahin Banayenge”? Until then turmoil was restricted to Kashmir, but thanks to you it started coming closer home. Many years after Kandahar happened you said that you weren’t in the loop. It made some wonder that at the critical moment you had been to the restroom to wash your face. And then there was the case of your supporting, in contrast to Vajapayee, the man who had unleashed a state sponsored genocide.

In 2004 when the Congress won your party went ballistic saying Mrs. G should not become prime minister and a few canards were spread, you did not raise a word to stop it. Anyways, that wasn’t as important as how how you threw tantrums at one of India's most decent prime ministers . You once said that he threw the paper at a delegation that you took to him. Nobody believed you. You name called him. You said he had diminished the office of the prime minister. You watched silently when your party men shamed us all not by bringing cash into parliament but by not allowing the prime minister to reply to the debate.

Yes I can understand your animosity towards Dr. Singh. After all, the man was an economist turned professor turned bureaucrat who courtesy an accident of history became India’s finance minister and who through another quirk of fate became prime minister. But his next stint as PM was a vote of confidence from the people. And you of-course were the practicing politician, perhaps the only one in his twenties when India attained its freedom, wanting (and rightly so) to become prime minister and being torpedoed by a rank outsider.

OMG, I have digressed. Sorry Mr. Advani. The purpose of my mail was to know why in God’s heaven your party is always screaming whether in parliament or outside. Why does your party always name call every institution? You know something? Your party looks like the spoilt child that keeps yelling when it doesn’t get what it wants. The prime minister sent Raja packing and still you don’t let parliament run. You hide the fact that the CAG pointed out a loss of Rs 36000 crores in the first come policy adopted by the preceding telecom ministers, two of whom belonged to your party. I am not accusing them of corruption; while the first man wasn’t lily white, no one in his right mind will call Shourie corrupt.

You scream against Korruption. But you defend defense deals, petrol pump, summary sacking of naval chief and of-course Yeddy and Reddy. Okay, I am not too bothered currently about all these but I would humbly request you Advaniji to tell your men and women to let parliament function.

You know it too costs money.

Please. Please

With regards
Pattabhi Ram

Letter to the Prime Minister

2010-11-14T00:40:00.000-08:00

V Pattabhi Ram

Dear Mr. Prime Minister

You wouldn’t know me, though I more than know you. Many years ago when you were finance minister, I asked a question to you that caused some ripples and you answered it with aplomb. I have since moved on but have always held you in the highest esteem. After all, what we are today could not have been without you; you having opened up our economy big time.

When you became prime minister, I was more than joyous. We have never had a professor and technocrat as the country’s CEO. What appealed to me most was your realization that the country be best run by you looking after governance and the UPA chairperson looking after the politics. Of-course a lot many who were keen that this should break-down called you names, said you were demeaning the office of prime minister but you never bothered and rightly so.

Well, this is not intended to be a eulogy.

Yes, you could have done more than what you have during your prime-ministership There has been shreds of disappointment. The CWG didn’t exactly get ready well in time. Media reports suggest that somewhere along the line money went through a quicksand and in some-ways right under your nose. That the Games were an organizational success is another matter. I, for one, don’t buy the story that the deep rooted corruption shamed India in public eye. Our politics has shamed us a lot more. It was good and great that instead of getting into a knee-jerk reaction you waited for the Games to be over before sacking the man who presided over the corruption

Ditto when it came to Adarsh Housing. I don’t fully know the facts. But from what has appeared in the media, whether the housing was reserved for the Kargil soldiers or not, it was clearly unbecoming of politicians, army officers, drivers and others to pick prime land at a fraction of market price. That this cut across party lines and that land scandals are par on course in quite a few states where your party is not in power doesn’t make the charge any the less grave. What was good was that you didn’t allow the rightful howling to push you to taking a knee-jerk reaction prior to the Obama visit and you waited for his departure before wielding the axe. Sometimes in politics perceptions do matter though I am not comfortable with perceptions taking precedence over facts.

We now come to Raja. Despite my background in finance I honestly do not understand what has happened. Media reports with one sided coverage (depending on which side of the bread needs to be buttered) and journalese haven’t helped matters. Party spokespersons, secretaries and sundry others scream minus substance.

Is this one of blatant corruption or one of bad business judgment is one question. Given the fact that most politicians are businessmen they couldn’t have that easily slipped up. Remember, the rights were resold at huge profits. Raja claims he was following his predecessors including Arun Shourie. Is that a fact? If yes, what was the context? One may disagree with how Shourie takes sides but till date one cannot question his essential integrity. He has been an inspiration to an entire generation. Raja has also claimed that he had kept you in the loop. Why don’t you answer these questions directly or through someone like PC?

Finally while I understand the compulsion of coalitions you will have to rid your team of people who aren’t lily white in their action (though they may be in their dress code). This has nothing to do with whether the CVC under its present head can investigate the functioning of a department in which the CVC worked although it does raise issues. After all, the CBI reported to a Deputy PM who it was supposed to be investigating.

One way to look at is to say let’s wait for the Supreme Court tomorrow. Another way is wield the axe. I don’t know which is politically right. But you will have to use your invisible charm to get Raja out.

With regards
Pattabhi Ram

Balle, balle Sardar.

2010-11-08T18:44:00.000-08:00

V Pattabhi Ram

Moments after Bhajji cracked his maiden hundred, I statused (is that word okay) on FB "Singh is King."

First 15/5 (that reminded one of the famous 1983 World cup of 9/4 and 17/5) and then 65/6 when the Sardar of spin walked in. With over 4 sessions to go, just 90 runs ahead and a deepish tail, India was staring at the barrel of a gun, defeat. That's wwhen the Sardar and the man of the "quicksand" moments, VVS got into the act. That VVS scored is no big surprise, but that the tempermental sardar did is. And boy did he bat with a straight bat.

My best moment was when an irritated (seeing wickets fall at the other end) Harbhajan decided to "walk down the wicket to hoist Vettori over the ropes, then drop his helmet, sort of take fresh guard and point a finger at the pavilion". Ofcourse he was doing a Sachin (the act) and the little big man was all smiles not because he was being immitated but because his earthy friend had scored his hundred.

Oh what joys of sports. Two great events made up for a great day for India, I suppose. The other ofcourse was the Obama talk

Obama's address to the Indian Parliament

2010-11-08T07:39:00.000-08:00

India Monday, November 8, 2010 )

by Sri Harsha Phani Deep on Monday, November 8, 2010 at 8:49pm

"Mr. Vice President, Madame Speaker, Mr. Prime Minister, Members of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, and most of all, the people of India.

I thank you for the great honor of addressing the representatives of more than one billion Indians and the world’s largest democracy. I bring the greetings and friendship of the world’s oldest democracy—the U.S.A, including nearly three million proud and patriotic Indian Americans.

Over the past three days, my wife Michelle and I have experienced the beauty and dynamism of India and its people. From the majesty of Humayun’s Tomb to the advanced technologies that are empowering farmers and women who are the backbone of Indian society. From a Diwali celebration with schoolchildren to the innovators who are fueling India’s economic rise. From the university students who will chart India’s future, to you—leaders who helped to bring India to this moment of promise.
At every stop, we have been welcomed with the hospitality for which Indians have always been known. So to you and the people of India, on behalf of me, Michelle and the American people, please accept our deepest thanks. Bahoot Dhanyavad.

I am not the first American president to visit India. Nor will I be the last. But I am proud to visit India so early in my presidency. It is no coincidence that India is my first stop on a visit to Asia, or that this has been my longest visit to another country since becoming President.

For in Asia and around the world, India is not simply emerging; India has already emerged. And it is my firm belief that the relationship between the United States and India—bound by our shared interests and values—will be one of the defining partnerships of the 21st century. This is the partnership I have come here to build. This is the vision that our nations can realize together.

My confidence in our shared future is grounded in my respect for India’s treasured past—a civilization that has been shaping the world for thousands of years. Indians unlocked the intricacies of the human body and the vastness of our universe. And it is no exaggeration to say that our information age is rooted in Indian innovations—including the number zero.

India not only opened our minds, she expanded our moral imagination. With religious texts that still summon the faithful to lives of dignity and discipline. With poets who imagined a future “where the mind is without fear and the head is held high.” And with a man whose message of love and justice endures—the Father of your Nation, Mahatma Gandhi.

For me and Michelle, this visit has therefore held special meaning. Throughout my life, including my work as a young man on behalf of the urban poor, I have always found inspiration in the life of Gandhiji and in his simple and profound lesson to be the change we seek in the world. And just as he summoned Indians to seek their destiny, he influenced champions of equality in my own country, including a young Martin Luther King. After making his pilgrimage to India a half century ago, Dr. King called Gandhi’s philosophy of non-violent resistance “the only logical and moral approach” in the struggle for justice and progress.

So we were honored to visit the residence where Gandhi and King both stayed—Mani Bhavan. We were humbled to pay our respects at Raj Ghat. And I am mindful that I might not be standing before you today, as President of the United States, had it not been for Gandhi and the message he shared with America and the world.
An ancient civilization of science and innovation. A fundamental faith in human progress. This is the sturdy foundation upon which you have built ever since that stroke of midnight when the tricolor was raised over a free and independent India. And despite the skeptics who said that this country was simply too poor, too vast, too diverse to succeed, you surmounted overwhelming odds and became a model to the world.

Instead of slipping into starvation, you launched a Green Revolution that fed millions. Instead of becoming dependent on commodities and exports, you invested in science and technology and in your greatest resource—the Indian people. And the world sees the results, from the supercomputers you build to the Indian flag that you put on the moon.

Instead of resisting the global economy, you became one of its engines—reforming the licensing raj and unleashing an economic marvel that has lifted tens of millions from poverty and created one of the world’s largest middle classes.
Instead of succumbing to division, you have shown that the strength of India—the very idea of India—is its embrace of all colors, castes and creeds. It’s the diversity represented in this chamber today. It’s the richness of faiths celebrated by a visitor to my hometown of Chicago more than a century ago—the renowned Swami Vivekananda. He said that, “holiness, purity and charity are not the exclusive possessions of any church in the world, and that every system has produced men and women of the most exalted character.”

And instead of being lured by the false notion that progress must come at the expense of freedom, you built the institutions upon which true democracy depends—free and fair elections, which enable citizens to choose their own leaders without recourse to arms; an independent judiciary and the rule of law, which allows people to address their grievances; and a thriving free press and vibrant civil society which allows every voice to be heard. And this year, as India marks 60 years with a strong and democratic constitution, the lesson is clear: India has succeeded, not in spite of democracy; India has succeeded because of democracy.

Just as India has changed, so too has the relationship between our two nations. In the decades after independence, India advanced its interests as a proud leader of the nonaligned movement. Yet too often, the United States and India found ourselves on opposite sides of a North-South divide and estranged by a long Cold War. Those days are over.

Here in India, two successive governments led by different parties have recognized that deeper partnership with America is both natural and necessary. In the United States, both of my predecessors—one Democrat, one Republican—worked to bring us closer, leading to increased trade and a landmark civil nuclear agreement.
Since then, people in both our countries have asked: what next? How can we build on this progress and realize the full potential of our partnership? That is what I want to address today—the future that the United States seeks in an interconnected world; why I believe that India is indispensable to this vision; and how we can forge a truly global partnership—not in just one or two areas, but across many; not just for our mutual benefit, but for the world’s.

Of course, only Indians can determine India’s national interests and how to advance them on the world stage. But I stand before you today because I am convinced that the interests of the United States—and the interests we share with India—are best advanced in partnership.

The United States seeks security—the security of our country, allies and partners. We seek prosperity—a strong and growing economy in an open international economic system. We seek respect for universal values. And we seek a just and sustainable international order that promotes peace and security by meeting global challenges through stronger global cooperation.

To advance these interests, I have committed the United States to comprehensive engagement with the world, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. And a central pillar of this engagement is forging deeper cooperation with 21st century centers of influence—and that includes India. This is why I believe that India and America are indispensable partners in meeting the challenges of our time.
Since taking office, I’ve therefore made our relationship a priority. I was proud to welcome Prime Minister Singh for the first official state visit of my presidency. For the first time ever, our governments are working together across the whole range of common challenges we face. And let me say it as clearly as I can: the United States not only welcomes India as a rising global power, we fervently support it, and we have worked to help make it a reality.

Together with our partners, we have made the G20 the premier forum for international economic cooperation, bringing more voices to the table of global economic decision-making, including India. We have increased the role of emerging economies like India at international financial institutions. We valued India’s important role at Copenhagen, where, for the first time, all major economies committed to take action to confront climate change—and to stand by those actions. We salute India’s long history as a leading contributor to United Nations peacekeeping missions. And we welcome India as it prepares to take its seat on the United Nations Security Council.
In short, with India assuming its rightful place in the world, we have an historic opportunity to make the relationship between our two countries a defining partnership of the century ahead. And I believe we can do so by working together in three important areas.

First, as global partners we can promote prosperity in both our countries. Together, we can create the high-tech, high-wage jobs of the future. With my visit, we are now ready to begin implementing our civil nuclear agreement. This will help meet India’s growing energy needs and create thousands of jobs in both our countries.
We need to forge partnerships in high-tech sectors like defense and civil space. So we have removed Indian organizations from our so-called “entity list.” And we’ll work to reform our controls on exports. Both of these steps will ensure that Indian companies seeking high-tech trade and technologies from America are treated the same as our closest allies and partners.

We can pursue joint research and development to create green jobs; give Indians more access to cleaner, affordable energy; meet the commitments we made at Copenhagen; and show the possibilities of low-carbon growth.

Together, we can resist the protectionism that stifles growth and innovation. The United States remains—and will continue to remain—one of the most open economies in the world. And by opening markets and reducing barriers to foreign investment, India can realize its full economic potential as well. As G20 partners, we can make sure the global economic recovery is strong and durable. And we can keep striving for a Doha Round that is ambitious and balanced—with the courage to make the compromises that are necessary so global trade works for all economies.

Together, we can strengthen agriculture. Cooperation between Indian and American researchers and scientists sparked the Green Revolution. Today, India is a leader in using technology to empower farmers, like those I met yesterday who get free updates on market and weather conditions on their cell phones. And the United States is a leader in agricultural productivity and research. Now, as farmers and rural areas face the effects of climate change and drought, we’ll work together to spark a second, more sustainable Evergreen Revolution.

Together, we’re going to improve Indian weather forecasting systems before the next monsoon season. We aim to help millions of Indian farming households save water and increase productivity; improve food processing so crops don’t spoil on the way to market; and enhance climate and crop forecasting to avoid losses that cripple communities and drive up food prices.

Because the wealth of a nation also depends on the health of its people, we’ll continue to support India’s efforts against diseases like tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS, and as global partners, we’ll work to improve global health by preventing the spread of pandemic flu. And because knowledge is the currency of the 21st century, we’ll increase exchanges between our students, colleges and universities, which are among the best in the world.

As we work to advance our shared prosperity, we can partner to address a second priority—our shared security. In Mumbai, I met with the courageous families and survivors of that barbaric attack. And here in this Parliament, which was itself targeted because of the democracy it represents, we honor the memory of all those who have been taken from us, including American citizens on 26/11 and Indian citizens on 9/11.

This is the bond we share. It’s why we insist that nothing ever justifies the slaughter of innocent men, women and children. It’s why we’re working together, more closely than ever, to prevent terrorist attacks and to deepen our cooperation even further. And it’s why, as strong and resilient societies, we refuse to live in fear, we will not sacrifice the values and rule of law that defines us, and we will never waver in the defense of our people.

America’s fight against al Qaeda and its terrorist affiliates is why we persevere in Afghanistan, where major development assistance from India has improved the lives of the Afghan people. We’re making progress in our mission to break the Taliban’s momentum and to train Afghan forces so they can take the lead for their security. And while I have made it clear that American forces will begin the transition to Afghan responsibility next summer, I have also made it clear that America’s commitment to the Afghan people will endure. The United States will not abandon the people of Afghanistan—or the region—to the violent extremists who threaten us all.
Our strategy to disrupt, dismantle and defeat al Qaeda and its affiliates has to succeed on both sides of the border. That is why we have worked with the Pakistani government to address the threat of terrorist networks in the border region. The Pakistani government increasingly recognizes that these networks are not just a threat outside of Pakistan—they are a threat to the Pakistani people, who have suffered greatly at the hands of violent extremists.

And we will continue to insist to Pakistan’s leaders that terrorist safe-havens within their borders are unacceptable, and that the terrorists behind the Mumbai attacks be brought to justice. We must also recognize that all of us have and interest in both an Afghanistan and a Pakistan that is stable, prosperous and democratic—and none more so than India.

More broadly, India and the United States can partner in Asia. Today, the United States is once again playing a leadership role in Asia—strengthening old alliances; deepening relationships, as we are doing with China; and we’re reengaging with regional organizations like ASEAN and joining the East Asia summit—organizations in which India is also a partner. Like your neighbors in Southeast Asia, we want India to not only “look East,” we want India to “engage East”—because it will increase the security and prosperity of all our nations.

And as two global leaders, the United States and India can partner for global security—especially as India serves on the Security Council over the next two years. Indeed, the just and sustainable international order that America seeks includes a United Nations that is efficient, effective, credible and legitimate. That is why I can say today—in the years ahead, I look forward to a reformed U.N. Security Council that includes India as a permanent member.

Now, let me suggest that with increased power comes increased responsibility. The United Nations exists to fulfill its founding ideals of preserving peace and security, promoting global cooperation, and advancing human rights. These are the responsibilities of all nations, but especially those that seek to lead in the 21st century. And so we look forward to working with India—and other nations that aspire to Security Council membership—to ensure that the Security Council is effective; that resolutions are implemented and sanctions enforced; and that we strengthen the international norms which recognize the rights and responsibilities of all nations and individuals.

This includes our responsibility to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons. Since I took office, the United States has reduced the role of nuclear weapons in our national security strategy, and agreed with Russia to reduce our arsenals. We have put preventing nuclear proliferation and nuclear terrorism at the top of our nuclear agenda, and strengthened the cornerstone of the global non-proliferation regime—the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Together, the United States and India can pursue our goal of securing the world’s vulnerable nuclear materials. We can make it clear that even as every nation has the right to peaceful nuclear energy, every nation must also meet its international obligations—and that includes the Islamic Republic of Iran. And together, we can pursue a vision that Indian leaders have espoused since independence—a world without nuclear weapons.

This leads me to the final area where our countries can partner—strengthening the foundations of democratic governance, not only at home but abroad.
Now, in a new collaboration on open government, our two countries are going to share our experience, identify what works, and develop the next-generation of tools to empower citizens. And in another example of how American and Indian partnership can address global challenges, we’re going to share these innovations with civil society groups and countries around the world. We’re going to show that democracy, more than any other form of government, delivers for the common man—and woman.

As the world’s two largest democracies, we must also never forget that the price of our own freedom is standing up for the freedom of others. Indians know this, for it is the story of your nation. Before he ever began his struggle for Indian independence, Gandhi stood up for the rights of Indians in South Africa. Just as others, including the United States, supported Indian independence, India championed the self-determination of peoples from Africa to Asia as they too broke free from colonialism. And along with the United States, you’ve been a leader in supporting democratic development and civil society groups around the world. This, too, is part of India’s greatness.

Every country will follow its own path. No one nation has a monopoly on wisdom, and no nation should ever try to impose its values on another. But when peaceful democratic movements are suppressed—as in Burma—then the democracies of the world cannot remain silent. For it is unacceptable to gun down peaceful protestors and incarcerate political prisoners decade after decade. It is unacceptable to hold the aspirations of an entire people hostage to the greed and paranoia of a bankrupt regime. It is unacceptable to steal an election, as the regime in Burma has done again for all the world to see.

Faced with such gross violations of human rights, it is the responsibility of the international community—especially leaders like the United States and India—to condemn it. If I can be frank, in international fora, India has often avoided these issues. But speaking up for those who cannot do so for themselves is not interfering in the affairs of other countries. It’s not violating the rights of sovereign nations. It’s staying true to our democratic principles. It’s giving meaning to the human rights that we say are universal. And it sustains the progress that in Asia and around the world has helped turn dictatorships into democracies and ultimately increased our security in the world.

Promoting shared prosperity. Preserving peace and security. Strengthening democratic governance and human rights. These are the responsibilities of leadership. And, as global partners, this is the leadership that the United States and India can offer in the 21st century. Ultimately, however, this cannot be a relationship only between presidents and prime ministers, or in the halls of this parliament. Ultimately, this must be a partnership between our peoples. So I want to conclude by speaking directly to the people of India watching today.

In your lives, you have overcome odds that might have overwhelmed a lesser country. In just decades, you have achieved progress and development that took other nations centuries. And now you are assuming your rightful place as a leader among nations. Your parents and grandparents imagined this. Your children and grandchildren will look back on this. But only you—this generation of Indians—can seize the possibility of this moment.

As you carry on with the hard work ahead, I want every Indian citizen to know: the United States of America will not simply be cheering you on from the sidelines. We will be right there with you, shoulder to shoulder. Because we believe in the promise of India. And we believe that the future is what we make it.
We believe that no matter who you are or where you come from, every person can fulfill their God-given potential, just as a Dalit like Dr. Ambedkar could lift himself up and pen the words of the Constitution that protects the rights of all Indians.

We believe that no matter where you live—whether a village in Punjab or the by lanes of Chandni Chowk…an old section of Kolkata or a new high-rise in Bangalore—every person deserves the same chance to live in security and dignity, to get an education, to find work, and to give their children a better future.
And we believe that when countries and cultures put aside old habits and attitudes that keep people apart, when we recognize our common humanity, then we can begin to fulfill the aspirations we share. It’s a simple lesson contained in that collection of stories which has guided Indians for centuries—the Panchtantra. And it’s the spirit of the inscription seen by all who enter this great hall: ‘That one is mine and the other a stranger is the concept of little minds. But to the large-hearted, the world itself is their family.”

This is the story of India; it’s the story of America—that despite their differences, people can see themselves in one another, and work together and succeed together as one proud nation. And it can be the spirit of the partnership between our nations—that even as we honor the histories which in different times kept us apart, even as we preserve what makes us unique in a globalized world, we can recognize how much we can achieve together.

Thank you, Jai Hind!, and long live the partnership between India and the United States."

I lost my heart, what about you

2010-11-08T05:22:00.000-08:00

V Pattabhi Ram

He came, he spoke and he simply blew our minds away with breathtaking oratory.

I can’t think of one person, anywhere in the world, in modern times, with perhaps the singular exception of Clinton, who has such a mesmerizing effect when he speaks. Scripted in the head and delivered straight out of the heart, with no written script, no tele-prompters and no cue cards; if he had a speech writer working for him, it didn’t show. And if he had a tele-prompter and I understand he did, it didn't how in his delivery.

In my school days Lincoln’s Gettysburg address was touted as the most impressive speech ever; of-course we never got to hear it, we just got to see the script. Obama’s was a standout delivery which should be the first video that any public speaker, prospective or seasoned, must hear.

This is perhaps a defining moment in India’s history when the leader of the world’s oldest democracy openly acknowledged the emergence of the world’s largest democracy as having arrived in the comity of nations and sought an open, near equal partnership. His references to Gandhiji, Tagore, Vivekananda, Ambedkar, the Panchatantra all reflected the fact that he had done his home work very very well. That he was bowled over by our RTI Act and the e-panchayat speaks volumes of how much distance India has traveled in the last decade. His indication that he was ready to welcome India and see her as a permanent member of the UNSC should have cockled quite a few hearts though some would point out that it did sound as though he would attach a few conditionalities there. The second best applause came when the talked about this.

For those who argued that he hadn’t referred Pakistan by name earlier, well he did it quite a few times now. The maximum claps came when he referred to 26/11 and 13/12. In case you thought he was being nice to India because he was a guest; sorry no. He made it clear that with leadership comes responsibilities and he chided us for not taking a stance on Mynmar, a country for whom he had a whiplash

With a three point agenda; viz., shared prosperity, peace and security, and strengthening human relationships and most importantly suggesting that this ought to be a people to people rather than a president to prime-minister relationship and the promise not to just cheer India from the sidelines but stand should to shoulder with us in what he called the “promise of India” I guess Barrack Hussein Obama simply stole our hearts away.

I lost mine, what about you.

What I hate about India 2

2010-11-04T21:02:00.000-07:00

V Pattabhi Ram

Those who wear there patriotism on their sleeve, need to read this with care.

Yesterday, I said that we as a nation have no respect for the law and that it is one of things that I hate about India. Today, I will tell you about the second; our argumentative nature.

We see corruption around us. Every political party has a finger in it though they are great when it comes to finger pointing. There is the mining scandal in Karnataka a state run by one of the most corrupt governments in history. The Adarsh Housing in Mumbai is of a different genre. I am not sold on the Kargil widow line (more of that in another blog). It’s the sheer audacity of allotting governmental land to friends and relatives that takes my breath away. Of-course Coffin Gate drove the nail on the martyrs’ coffin. If CWG was in a class of its own there was the Petrol Pump scam which lead you right to the home of a relative of the head of government. And we have been talking about Bofors for God knows how long.

Each party, when it come to their party would like to have incontrovertible proof (Salman Butt style) even though they might have been caught with their hand in the till. But when it comes to the other party circumstantial evidence or worse still trial by media will do. We saw what trial by media was in the Aarushi Talwar case when the media went hammer and tongs at Dr. and Mrs. Talwar. I had never felt more ashamed to have been an Indian than at that time.

We want Kasab to be hung but there’s a motley group that revers Godse. “Godse Zindabad”, a party-man screamed in parliament and a white paper was prepared as to why the Mahatma had to be assassinated. The other day a newspaper columnist took umbrage at Ram Guha not including Subhash Chandra Bose amongst India’s 19 most influential thinkers. I shudder to think what would have happened if we had followed Bose’s ill placed idealism to fight the Allies. We still have capital punishment in our statute and pride that this is the best way to avoid crime.

We argue, argue and argue. We don’t know how to move on. We don't know about reconciliation. We don’t know how to be civil with people. Watch our television debate see how some of our anchors (not all) conduct themselves and you know what I am talking about.

To be cont...

Who owns the software

2010-11-04T19:42:00.001-07:00

V Pattabhi Ram

In Ethic 2 we talked about you attending a vendor presentation for a desktop publishing package because your company is looking for one and you were deputed. Now, at the end of the presentation, the organizers announce door prizes. One of them is software packages for desktop publishing costing Rs 20,000 and is exactly what your organization needs. Personally, you have no use for the software. If you won the software, would keep it? Who owns the software, you or the company? Would you tell anyone in the office that you won?

Source: Anon

What I hate about India - 1

2010-11-04T07:07:00.000-07:00

V Pattabhi Ram

Those who wear there patriotism on their sleeve, need to read this with care

One, we as a nation, our lawyers included, has no respect for the law.

Like, when the High Court upheld the government decision to peg the age limit of chiefs of association to 70 years and tenure to 12 years, a certain politician said that if the prime minister at 78 is not required to retire, he a politician and sports association chief at 78 need not retire. Well by that token why should employees retire at 58/60/62? He may be right in what he thought of himself but the right way to go about it is to go to the Supreme Court. If the law is bad or unacceptable, the way out is not to break the law, not to mock the law, but to have the law changed

Then there was this fantabulous situation where a political party called a press conference to support a man whom the court monitored investigation team was looking for. The man was absconding, fugitive of sorts, and here was a party which had once held power bad mouthing all and sundry. I didn’t like that one jot

It of-course all started in 1975 when Indira Gandhi unseated by Justice Sinha for what many believe was a traffic offense instead of politely stepping down in deference and re--contesting chosen to brazen things out with an Emergency. To a nation that pride’s in its right to vote (once in five years) and right to write a letter to the editor this was sacrilegious and rightly so. And the party she represented has men who had done a double quick with public money. Of-course, our courts take their own sweet time to announce judgments.

There is one set of rules for the rest, another set for the connected. Take the case of India’s only self confessed scamster for instance. He engineered India’s Enron. He escaped jail and stayed in a hospital for a very long time. The moment the courts gave him bail and God knows why, he walked out of the hospital making one agree with Oliver Goldsmith that the “law grinds the poor and rich men rule the law”. And then when the Supreme Court cancelled the scamster’s bail they said he had to surrender on Nov 8 so that he could be with his family during Diwali. My foot.

The common citizen has no respect for the rules. Take our traffic sense for instance. We jump traffic signals routinely and snigger at those who follow it. We must be the only nation the world over to have traffic cops man automated traffic signals. We fly into road rage in a jiffy. We honk, honk and honk.

I dont think you can be a nation like this and be condoned. If we love our country, let's kick off by respecting the law.

To be continued…….

Cricket shirts

2010-11-03T17:05:00.000-07:00

Ethics 2

Your company deputes you to a a vendor presentation for a desktop publishing package because your company is looking for such a pack and you are the sole computer star in your company. The attendance to the presentation is free.

The product on offer is insanely great and you decide that your company will place the order once you are back at work. Suddenly the end of the program, the organizers announce that there are some door prizes. There are some 50 dozen cricket shirts with the vendor corporate logos for distribution

Would you accept the prize if you win? Would you tell anyone in the office that you won a cricket shirt?

Source: Anon

I served beef..........

2010-11-03T02:26:00.000-07:00

Ethics 1

Maria cooked beef for lunch, a meal the family shares wtih the children's nanny. But she forgot to inform the nanny, a Hindu whose faith forbids consumption of beef. Maria's husband suggests that they stay silent, as the knowledge of having eaten beef would upset the nany enough to make her quit the job. But Maria cannot stop feeling guilty. What should she do?

Courtesy: Open

Robot flies

2010-10-20T19:44:00.000-07:00

V Pattabhi Ram

I was at Satyam between 610 and 930 last evening; I watched Enthiran. But before I talk of my experience or the lack of it, hear out a few confessions.

One, despite my many years in Chennai I have NEVER been to Satyam. This notwithsstanding offers by several well meaning friends. A colleague had once indicated that the place itself would be an out of the world experience.

So, it wasn’t very surprising that I took the wrong lane, and had to, in a helpful autokaran’s lingo, “turn left, again turn left and again turn left” to reach the car parking. I was just on time, could not chew in Satyam’s ambience but was impressed enough to believe that the place was worth a second visit.

Two, I do NOT watch English movies. Two decades ago I watched “M…… Gold” albeit my aversions. People say that I am missing something; I am okay with such misses. I somehow have always thought that English pictures were war movies, films with unrealistic scenes (had they appeared in Indian language films we would have laughed our heads off) and carried story lines that I couldn’t relate to. Put simply, the conversations were beyond me.

At Endhiran the first 10 minutes really got me hooked. The swanky lab, the free open space, the near perfect photography and I told myself “Hey look this is likely to be fun”.

Well, Ladies and Gentlemen, please stand up to salute the man they call Shankar, the man with bold, hairy audacious, goals. And also stand up to salute the grand old man (literally) of Indian cinema Rajnikanth. His role as the Robot was a standout performance. Subdued and well played out, it was a performance which even the prince of acting, Kamal Hassan, would have been proud of. There were none of those stupid antics and flashes that Rajni is often associated with and which have kept me off his films.

Suave and slick, the movie moved at quick pace. For sure, there were inane scenes as in Aishwarya Rai Bachan (ARB) playing a medical student. Why in God’s heaven she could not have played her age, a doctor? May be it had to do with the hi-tech copying in the exam. Well, you see, movies are shot for all people and at popcorn time I told myself, “Hey, this one is too good to be true; will Shankar be able to maintain the tempo?” In short, I was impressed. I don’t know about you but I thought the hospital scene was futuristic. Doctors tell me that this could become the order of the day.

In the first half, Dr.Kanth had created and then destroyed his creation. I felt Shankar did much the same thing though in two halves. He almost killed the movie in the second half. If he wanted to say that man should not play God, I wondered why he should bring in arm-candy angle. ARB was restricted to a dancing damsel despite her histrionic skills and most of the song sequences were sort of awful. It started to look appalling. Fortunately, to me it wasn’t noisy. You see I always carry a lot of cotton with me when I go to movies. The settings were lavish. A lot of money seems to have been flushed down the tube in the myriad wreckage scenes that had some kind of parallel to Hindi movies of yester years.

A good part of the second half was a gorgeous let down by the standards of the first half.

And then the movie, really and truly came to life in the final moments; the last ten minutes I would say. While the fight sequence (if I could call it that) may have looked a shade amateurish, if you chose to look beyond it, it was a sort of man vs. the beast fight, both using intelligence, one natural and the other artificial Okay the court scene was theatrical but Shankar, by not explicitly playing the man-should-not-play-God card and by focusing on the virus-card (the red card), had a message for those who aren’t too cynical.

You see in life there are people who when they go up become plain insolent, greedy, disrespectful and plain ungrateful. The Robot was getting to be that until the virus got removed. If all of us who watched the movie can remove our viruses, it would be money greatly spent.

A good 10 hours after watching the movie, I would say that on balance, this one was worth watching. May be because of the background of my movie watching, may be because of how it was essayed, may be because of the novelty, and despite quite a few inanities and absurdities that reminded you of Hindi villains of yore I would think that this was amongst the ten best movies that I have ever seen. And to imagine that a man known for near zero acting skills should have done a great acting job as Robot spells out that life can be full of surprises.

Perhaps it may be a reflection of the kind of movies that I watch!

La affairs CWG

2010-10-14T21:52:00.000-07:00

V Pattabhi Ram

The CWG is finally over. By all reckoning, there was the “performance success” of the athletes. Target: 100 medals and Second Spot. Result: Achieved. The credit is there, the non-participation of a few athletes not-withstanding. You see it’s not the prize winners fault.

Also by everyone’s reckoning including of those who had been unabashed critics, the self styled patriots, the CWG has been an organizational success and it’s time now to take a holistic stock of the issue.

Larceny:
First things first. If even a fraction of what appeared in the media prior to the Games is anything to go by, has been large scale larceny in the run up to the Games. Some at the highest level might have connived; some might have been hopelessly inefficient. Any which way you look at, they must be brought to book quick and fast. The extent of apparent corruption was mind-boggling. The government should crack the whip now and see that the guilty are booked so that no one will ever have the thought of playing up such a fraud.

Your way, my way
The media cried hoarse. There was the claim that London is already ready and that India wasn’t. Had India been ready four years ago, we would have screamed why get ready so soon? Well, some would say that “Why do today, what can be done tomorrow?” Each has his way of cracking things in just as an official rather amusingly said that standards of hygiene differ from country to country. Actually I agree with him. What do you want? “Water or Tissue paper”?

The Media
Having said that the role of the media unfortunately hasn’t been anything to write home about. The Indian media competed with the foreign media to pull the nation down. Even after the games had been a success and even as the curtains were coming down on the Games, it got into a blame game. They screamed that there was a battle for appropriating credit. That the Lt. Governor had written to the PM. Assuming for a moment that the letter was in bad taste, none of us knew it. Why air it and make it public. And if you can in the media distribute blame why can’t you distribute credit. Don’t the media itself take credit for “you heard it first here” types?

The sad part was that most of us panicked and played into the hands of the foreign media when we should have been keeping quiet. Yes there was a problem. But it’s an internal problem. Yes there was a problem. But in War time you don’t blame each other. Remember America’s response to 11/9?

The politicians on the other side
One great worthy even remarked that the Games will never commence on time even if the prime minister comes and personally cleans up the place. The man has a colorful language. If he ever thought that the games were a matter of national pride he would have extended a helping hand and volunteered to clean. He seems not to know that the prime minister is one who acts not one who speaks. Now that the Games have happened and everyone agrees that there was no organizational crisis, what say you Mr. Worthy?

Once the din dies down India should get ready to bid and host the Olympics. And let the organizing for that be left to professional hands. And in the mean time book the culprits on la-affairs CWG.

Ode to Sachin

2010-10-14T01:39:00.000-07:00

Compilation: Anon

“I want my son to become Sachin Tendulkar”.
Brian Lara (WI)

“We did not lose to a team called India. We lost to a man called Sachin”.
Mark Taylor (Aus)

“Nothing bad can happen to us if we were on a plane in India with Sachin Tendulkar on it”.
Hashim Amla (SA)

“He can play the leg glance with a walking stick also”.
Waqar Younis (Pak)

“There are two kinds of batsmen in the world. One Sachin Tendulkar and one all the others”
Andy Flower. (ZIM)

“I have seen God. He bats at number four for India in Tests”
Mathew Hayden (Aus)

“I see myself when I see Sachin batting”.
Don Bradman (Australia)

“Do your crime when Sachin is batting. Because even God is buy watching his batting”.
An Aussie fan

"On a train from Shimla to Delhi, there was a halt in one of the stations. The train stopped by for few minutes as usual. Sachin was nearing century, batting on 98. The passengers, railway officials, everyone on the train waited for Sachin to complete the century. This Genius can stop time in India!"
Peter Roebuck

"Beneath the helmet, under that unruly curly hair, inside the cranium, there is something we don't know, something beyond scientific measure. Something that allows him to soar, to roam a territory of sport that, forget us, even those who are gifted enough to play alongside him cannot even fathom. When he goes out to bat, people switch on their television sets and switch off their lives."
BBC Sports, on Sachin Tendulkar

"Even my father's name is Sachin Tendulkar. He also plays cricket."
Tendulkar's daughter, Sara, tells her class her father's name after the teacher informs them of a restaurant of the same name in Mumbai.

Six and Seven Figure Speaking Blueprints!"

2010-10-14T01:22:00.000-07:00

A mail that I received from Richard Andrews

No matter where you currently are along your path to professional speaking success, there are things that you can be doing to make your speaking message, and your presentation style, more impactful. The following three elements of presenting should be revisited again and again to ensure that you are fully leveraging the power of your onstage presentation.

Sincerity In Your Message
As a professional speaker, you should always be striving to demonstrate sincerity and a deep conviction in what you are saying. A good way of consistently expressing sincerity is by talking only about what you already know and have already experienced. Nothing comes across as more hypocritical than preaching to your audience about what they should be doing, when you yourself have yet to accomplish it.

An effective method for basing your message on sincerity and authenticity is to include many personal stories in your presentation. This is an approach that is used by top speakers because they understand that personal stories deeply engage their audience. Since true experiences are not conceptual but are rooted in reality, it is much more likely that audiences will feel your message is realistic, sincere, and directly applicable to their own circumstances. You should certainly adopt this technique when you start your speaking business.

Using Stories To Enhance Your Presentation
There is real power in telling true stories to a live audience. One of the best and most frequently employed strategies for using stories during a keynote speech is based on personal tales of triumph over adversity.

If a speaker tells a story about a time in their life when they were struggling or facing great challenges, and then imparts knowledge that was gained and lessons learned from overcoming their circumstances, it can be very powerful for audience members who relate. In this way, someone who is striving to become a motivational speaker becomes a conduit for empowering others who are now faced with similar problems that the speaker already undertook. If the speaker portrays the stories honestly and clearly, it will captivate the audience and spur them into action - exactly the point of hearing a motivational speaker in the first place.

Visual Aids
Truly masterful speakers do not rely on using props like handouts, slides, or digital projection of any kind. Rather, they are so magnetic and charismatic that there is no need to divert the attention of the audience. That said, there will be times when supportive visual aids make sense to highlight a given point or message.
However, some of the most accomplished speakers use very simple props to aid their presentation, including the use of whiteboards and red markers. This is a good approach because it keeps the focus of the audience constantly on you, rather than on a handout or a digital visual image of some kind.

It is very helpful to the audience to clarify the main points of a complex issue or thought with simple, succinct written thoughts on a whiteboard. Though digital projectors can be useful at the right time, it is important that speakers learn to not rely too heavily on the use of such visual aids. When seeking to become a motivational speaker with a good presentation, make yourself the central focal point and your audience will ultimately be more deeply affected by your presentation.

To your speaking success,
Richard

The curious case of Arun Jaitley

2010-10-13T20:16:00.000-07:00

V Pattabhi Ram

He was all along quiet. And suddenly he has woken up. Arun Jaitley (AJ). Here is the conversation he had with me. Not exactly!!

AJ: We have “demanded” that the Governor be recalled.

Me: Wow, whose property? Who is the Boss? Really, you expect the Governor to twiddle thumbs when the Speaker commits a fraud

AJ: “He has failed to stay politically detached”.

Me: Wow, attack another institution. Really, you expect the Governor to twiddle thumbs when the Speaker commits a fraud

AJ: The second vote should not have been called because the Speaker’s decision is final.

Me: Well, a fraud by a Speaker is not necessarily final. Yes, the second vote should not have been called not because the Speaker’s decision is final but because the matter was sub-judice.

AJ: We accepted it in order to avoid constitutional confrontation and agreed to a second vote.

Me: Wow. What a joke. “To avoid constitutional confrontation”? Create a crisis and then say we are solving it?

AJ: The Governor must be recalled

Me: Yes he must. But first recall the Speaker for organizing a vote that never was. And first agree that this farce was masterminded right by the top brass in your party

AJ: Raj Bhavan is the epicenter of horsetrading

Me: Yes Sir. Ready (Sorry Reddy) Brothers

INR 70 lakhs CR in Swiss Bank

2010-10-12T22:19:00.001-07:00

V Pattabhi Ram

A mail that dropped into my mail box. Can't confirm veracity

Our Indians' Money - 70, 00,000 Crores Rupees In Swiss Bank

1) Yes, 70 lakhs crores INR belong to India are lying in Switzerland banks. This is the highest amount lying outside any country, from amongst 180 countries of the world, as if India is the champion of Black Money.

2) Swiss Government has officially written to Indian Government that they are willing to inform the details of holders of 70 lakh crore rupees in their Banks, if Indian Government officially asks them.

3) On 22-5-08, this news was published in The Times of India and other Newspapers based on Swiss Government's official letter to Indian Government.

4) But the Indian Government has not sent any official enquiry to Switzerland for details of money which has been sent outside India between 1947 to 2008. The opposition party is also equally not interested in doing so because most of the amount is owned by politicians.

5) This money belongs to our country. From these funds we can repay 13 times of our country's foreign debt. The interest alone can take care of the Center's yearly budget. People need not pay any taxes and we can pay Rs. 1 lakh to each of 45 crore poor families.

6) Let us imagine, if Swiss Bank is holding Rs. 70 lakh Crores, then how much money is lying in other 69 Banks? How much they have deprived the Indian people? Just think, if the Account holder dies, the bank becomes the owner of the funds in his account.

7) Are these people totally ignorant about the philosophy of Karma? What will this ill-gotten wealth do to them and their families when they own/use such money, generated out of corruption and exploitation?

8) Indians have read and have known about these facts. But the helpless people have neither the time nor the inclination to do anything in the matter. This is like "a new freedom struggle" and we will have to fight this.

9) This money is the result of our sweat and blood.. The wealth generated and earned after putting in lots of mental and physical efforts by Indian people must be brought back to our country.

10) As a service to our motherland and your contribution to this struggle,please circulate at least 10 copies of this note amongst your friends and relatives and convert it into a mass movement.

The Shameless Fraud

2010-10-12T19:21:00.000-07:00

V Pattabhi Ram

What happened in the Karnataka Assembly at the confidence vote was a shameless fraud, a ruthless murder of democracy. It was incredible, yes plain unbelievable.

What made it all the more shocking was the stunning silence of the “clean” leaders of the BJP. The party’s “tallest” leader was silent. Of-course in a sense that wasn’t surprising; remember he was silent post Gujarat, he was silent post 2004 elections, he was silent at the sacking of J Singh; he was silent when cash was brought into parliament, he was silent when other politicians were bad mouthed, he was silent when such a din was made and the prime minister was not allowed to reply to the debate in parliament that involved a confidence vote. Silence after all is his tallest quality.

What one saw inside the assembly was plain hooliganism. MLAs making a scene of themselves, whatever the provocation; policemen brought in; manhandling policemen; no vote taken or recorded there wasn’t even the mandatory ayes and nays; any other speaker would have been ripped apart in the Press. But you see the party with a difference enjoys a different reception.

For many of my generation who earnestly looked forward to an alternative to the Congress there has only been disappointment and disappointment. Many of these men are academically highly qualified, professionally well placed but the manner of their speaking, their loud talks on television, the lack of common courtesy to let others speaks, their excitment to run others down, their turning a Nelson eye to corruption amongst their party-men and the plain killing of democracy, their denigration and assault on every constitutional position, has left one appalled. One understands that politicians have little ethics; that they sup with people whom they once name called and they do that to save (!) democracy. But………..

If, and only if, their “tallest” leader had gone public saying that what was done by the Speaker and the Chief Minister was wrong, how dramatically he would have risen in public opinion. What a wonderful opportunity to change the rules of politics was lost.

I am now clear in my mind that 95% of Indian politicians do not have a fig to stand on. And may be that's why I will never vote. Its time we now had Speakers outside of politics (Like Independent Directors); it's time that we had Governors also outside of politics though these are no guarantees that politicians won't throw muck at them.

Lovely Story 2: Frogs

2010-10-12T01:17:00.000-07:00

The Frogs
From a mail that I received

A farmer came into town and asked the owner of a restaurant if he could use a million frog legs. The restaurant owner was shocked and asked the man where he could get so many frog legs! The farmer replied, 'There is a pond near my house that is full of frogs - millions of them. They all croak all night long and they are about to make me crazy!' So the restaurant owner and the farmer made an agreement that the farmer would deliver frogs to the restaurant, five hundred at a time for the next several weeks.

The first week, the farmer returned to the restaurant looking rather sheepish, with two scrawny little frogs. The restaurant owner said, 'Well.... where are all the frogs?' The farmer said, 'I was mistaken. There were only these two frogs in the pond. But they sure were making a lot of noise!'

[ Next time you hear somebody criticizing or making fun of you, remember, it's probably just a couple of noisy frogs. Also remember that problems always seem bigger in the dark. Have you ever laid in your bed at night worrying about things which seem almost overwhelming like a million frogs croaking? Chances are pretty good that when the morning comes, and you take a closer look, you'll wonder what all the fuss was about.]

Lovely Story 1: Turtles

2010-10-12T01:14:00.000-07:00

The Turtles
From a mail that I received

A turtle family decided to go on a picnic. The turtles, being naturally slow about things, took seven years to prepare for their outing. Finally the turtle family left home looking for a suitable place. During the second year of their journey they found a place ideal for them at last!

For about six months they cleaned the area, unpacked the picnic basket, and completed the arrangements. Then they discovered they had forgotten the salt. A picnic without salt would be a disaster, they all agreed. After a lengthy discussion, the youngest turtle was chosen to retrieve the salt from home. Although he was the fastest of the slow moving turtles, the little turtle whined, cried, and wobbled in his shell. He agreed to go on one condition: that no one would eat until he returned. The family consented and the little turtle left.

Three years passed and the little turtle had not returned. Five years...six years... then on the seventh year of his absence, the oldest turtle could no longer contain his hunger. He announced that he was going to eat and begun to unwrap a sandwich. At that point the little turtle suddenly popped out from behind a tree shouting, 'See! I knew you wouldn't wait. Now I am not going to go get the salt.'

[Some of us waste our time waiting for people to live up to our expectations. We are so concerned about what others are doing that we do not do anything ourselves.]

The Beauty and the Beast

2010-10-11T02:52:00.000-07:00

V Pattabhi Ram

Bangalore (Sorry for the Anglicized name) was witness to two amazing feats today; these once again brought out the contrast between our sportsmen and our politicians. I call one of the feats a “beauty” and the other the “beast”. No prizes for guessing which is what.

Let’s begin first with the beauty.
The 37 years young man who burst on the international scene some 21 years ago as curly haired boy with prodigious talent and who has now matured into a gentleman cricketer extraordinaire Sachin Tendulkar brought in another moment of joy cracking his 49th Test hundred, his 95th overall in the international circus, that almost makes sure that India will not lose this match. Of-course it’s an interesting matter of fact that he listened to his son Jr. Tendulkar who had advised papa quite sometime back that when he gets into his nervous nineties he should for the aerial route. That’s exactly what the Senior did; first at 93 and then at 99 as an entire nation held its collective breath.

And now let’s get to the beast.
Initially I thought of writing an open letter to Mr. L K Advani and mailing him (After all the great Indian politician is busy blogging) but I have had after thoughts. May be it will wait for another day. I would first prefer to hear what the man says. I hope he would say that this was the second saddest day of his life. What happened at the Karnataka assembly was an extraordinary tamasha which would have had all of us in splits had it not been a serious matter. Consider these:

One, the Speaker disqualifies members after a trust vote is announced. Some joke indeed
Two, the Speaker disqualifies Independent candidates; God know for what
Three, number chopped off is convenient as it gives a 1 vote advantage
Four, the best of them all is that the Vote is passed as a voice vote. Wow
Five, the party president threatens the center not to interfere with the powers of the Speaker
Six, and then quite a few sundry politicians started accusing others of playing dirty politics!!

Like I said it merited a hearty laugh but for the seriousness. The depths to which Indian politics has fallen!! It’s a fit case for the Courts to step in and offer their considerable wisdom as they did earlier in a case where a Governor played spoil sport and Dr. Kalam was for once caught on the wrong foot. Was that Bihar?

Hey, VVS rocks

2010-10-05T01:32:00.001-07:00

V Pattabhi Ram

VVS has done what only VVS can.

He has won another match from another impossible situation. 138/8 with Ishanth and Pragyan around, the genial giant from Hyderabad, not given to airs and never given his just dues, VVS has shown that age is just a number or better still just a matter of the mind. The miracle at Sydney, then of-course that famous partnership with Dravid in Calcutta and only a few months back that extra-ordinary performance in Sri Lanka; VVS is clearly India’s best bet for the fourth innings. And to imagine the selectors always talk about his fielding. And to imagine that once upon a time people said he was in the team courtesy Azhar. Medical world’s loss has been cricket’s gain.

For those like me who have always admired Sachin when he was at his flowing best it has been a disappointment that the little master hasn’t mastered the art of the fourth innings. That’s a sadness that we have learnt to live. The good thing is that he doesn’t sulk and like a true gentleman enjoys his teammates’ success.

Remember Laxman had refused the icon status which would have given him a 15% extra pay over the highest paid Deccan Chargers player. That’s remarkable. Who would have ever done that? And who can forget MS Dhoni famous statement after the win against King’s XI when he scored some 40 plus runs in three overs and remarked in the post match interview that they pay us so much that we have to perform.

VVS performs not for the money, but for the country. May his tribe grow.

Campus Placement Talk: The Other Side is....

2010-08-30T05:55:00.000-07:00

Pattabhi Ram

Part 2 of my presentation at the Campus Placement Orientation Program

Let’s get down to picking Lesson number two.

Now carefully consider this example. There are two envelopes. Let’s call them Envelope A and Envelope B. You are told that one of them has money equivalent to two times what the other envelope has. Of-course you do not know which envelope has how much money. You are given the choice to pick and keep any one of them. You pick Envelope A find there is Rs 1000 inside it. You are now again given a choice. You can keep the Rs 1000. Or you can leave it and opt to open envelope B in which whatever lies is what you will take home. Now will you open Envelope B?

Well expected value that you read in strategic financial management should give you some clue.

The Envelope B you know has either Rs 2,000 or Rs 500 in it each with a probability of 0.5. Hence the expected value is Rs 1,250. Since the expected value (Rs 1,250) is greater than money in the first envelope to be foregone (Rs 1,000) you should according to the theory of expected value select the second envelope. So far, so good

Now suppose you had originally selected the Envelope B. and found it to have Rs 2,000/-You have the choice of keeping the Rs 2000 or giving it up and opt to open the other envelope in which whatever lies is what you will take home. Now will you choose the other envelope?

Well expected value that you read in strategic financial management should give you some clue.

The other envelope (Envelope A) you know has either Rs 1,000 or Rs 4,000 in it each with a probability of 0.5. Hence the expected value is Rs 2500. Since the expected value (Rs 2,500) is greater than the money in the envelope to be foregone (Rs 2,000) you should according to the theory of expected value select the other envelope.

So whichever envelope you selected first, you would still want to opt for the “other” envelope.

What then is the Lesson? May be, that “the grass on the other side is greener”. So instead of simply hopping jobs thick and fast first make sure it is not just a case of the grass on the other side being greener.

To be continued

Match fixing is back; ban Pakistan

2010-08-30T04:15:00.000-07:00

Pattabhi Ram

Pakistan has brought shame to the game of cricket.

Someone might say “Hey, after all this is spot fixing. How do 3 no-balls make a difference to the match?”

Well I will tell you why. If someone can predict with exactitude which ball of a match will be a no ball and that too three balls coming in different overs it only means that those no balls weren’t accidents but were planned. It means that the bookie, or whatever you call him, has extraordinary control over the players and this was just a trailer to what can happen in the future.

For this to be proved wrong we have to prove that the video was a fake because if it wasn’t then the probability of going right with those predictions is too big to be a coincidence. And in recent times too many questions have been asked about the propriety of a game’s outcome.

The ODI series should be called off. And Pakistan needs a long rest from the game of cricket. We don’t want cheats in this game.

Campus Placement Talk: Unprofessional vs Unethical

2010-08-29T22:51:00.000-07:00

Pattabhi Ram

My presentation at the Campus Placement Orientation program

Good morning to you all

Whenever I receive an invite to address at the Campus Placement Orientation program I never let go the chance, whatever the distractions. I will tell you why. One, it is an humbling experience to see such a large assembly of freshly baked CA minds come out of the never ending supply chain of the ICAI . Two, it’s a chance to see the 20 something get ready to step into the big bad world of business and profession with hope in your heart and dreams in your eyes in much the same way I did many years ago.

Today I am going to talk to you not so much about what can make you successful in your corporate career but more of what can make you successful in life. I am no success doctor; I cannot recommend pills. But I can tell you something from deep within my heart which I believe if you follow you will be on the road to success.

First I need to tell you what I think is the definition of success. No, its not how much money you make. One day, sometime in the future, you will understand that success is not about how much you leave behind in your bank account, how swanky a car you drive or in which penthouse in which city you live. There are multi-millionaires whom we don’t care about. One day, sometime in the future, you will understand that success is not about how many friends you have on your social networking site. A former minister has over 0.5 million followers on twitter. One day, sometime in the future, you will understand that success is not about whether you become the CEO of a company. This notwithstanding the fact that I wrote a book titled CA to CEO.

Success is about what admiration and what respect you command amongst your peers. Success is about how you leave footprints on the sands of time.

I think the first success lesson is to understand what is right and what is not.

It was the most talked of ball in history; the irony is that it was a no-ball. Suraj Ranadiv uncharacteristically bowled a no-ball that was clearly an intentional one which left Virendra Sehwag stranded on 99. Every one and his uncle made such a song and such a dance over the Ranadiv delivery. Was it illegal? Yes and No. Yes; in the sense that it was in cricket an illegal ball and hence the 1 run penalty. No; in the sense that every one is entitled to bowl a no ball. When Greg Chappell asked his younger brother Trevor Chappell to bowl underarm when 6 runs were required off the last ball of an ODI, it created a noise. But Chappell was well within his rights to bowl an underarm delivery.

But….while what Ranadiv did was legal it was un-sportsman like; it was unprofessional. What Chappell did was a worse transgression bordering on cheating because the win or loss of a game was involved. Whether you want to be a professional or not is your choice. Professionalism comes out of conduct, how you do things and it does not come from which examination you pass.

Unprofessional I guess is different from unethical. When a batsman snicks, knows he is out and doesn’t walk that’s unethical; that’s worse than what Ranadiv did. . When a fielder appeals knowing fully well that he has grassed a catch; that’s unethical; that’s worse than what Ranadiv did. Perhaps the batsman’s action and the fielder’s action are cheating. Bowling a no-ball is perfectly legitimate, just as it was perfectly legitimate for Dhoni to keep the game going without scoring a run so that Sehwag can get his hundred. But the sad part is that we seem to have condoned cheating and taken cudgels on un-professionalism. I will tell you why. It’s because we have gotten used to batsmen not walking and fielders appealing even when they have grassed.

Let’s look at the kind of examples we set. Footballer Messi punched a ball into the net; it was allowed as a goal. When in the post match interview Messi was confronted with what he did, he said well that is what my hero Maradona did in 1986; or words to that effect. For those who do not know Maradona punched a match winning ball into the net and then said it was the hand of God. That was plain cheating. To my generation the question on who was the icon; Pele or Maradona was settled that moment. Maradona may be an outstanding footballer but Pele will be our icon forever. Today when my generation thinks of Maradona it thinks only of the Hand of God. It’s okay even to be dubbed un-professional but on no account should you be dismissed as a cheat; as a person with no integrity.

Put differently integrity is the first quality of a good professional

To be continued

ICAI bowls a doosra

2010-08-24T04:00:00.000-07:00

V Pattabhi Ram

In the first week of August the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) bowled a googly. Or should we say a doosra?

That day the ICAI announced that students undergoing chartered accountancy can take the examination six months ahead of completion of Internship. Nothing wrong with that. In fact, that has been a demand raised often in the past including in public platforms for quite sometime now. After all in the last 25 years almost every student has been allowed to take his CA during his Internship

But the point is why did the announcement come so late in the day? It was so late that people eligible for the May 2011 exam were now asked to take the Nov 2010 exam if they so wanted. Some of them picked the news only when they were filling up the form! Surely 2.5 months of preparation for someone who was mentally not ready for the exam wasn’t the ICAI’s idea of being prepared for what they call an “examination that is going to become increasingly tougher”.

This of-course is not the first time this is happening. Last year, at one month’s notice the ICAI announced that examination question papers will carry all-compulsory questions. (http://patbram.blogspot.com/2009/10/icai-scraps-choices.html)

Coming from the country’s apex accounting body “Is this fair”?

What some do and some won't do for money

2010-08-24T02:20:00.000-07:00

V Pattabhi Ram

Every accused has a right to be defended by a lawyer in a court of law. If the accused cannot find a lawyer or cannot afford one, the court will assist in finding one and even pay for it. Those are good news; for the accused. It’s touching as well; as a nation we can feel proud of ourselves. But what do you do when the accused is a Kasab where the case is open and shut? Or when he is a self-confessed fraudster who has committed a 25,000 crore fraud?

As a lawyer do you defend them? What if your profession is to defend those who are accused of murder and where you know that your client is guilty? Should you say that “defending” is a job that’s legal and is therefore okay? Or should you say that doing that job is “not ethical” and therefore not okay? Or do you duck the question saying that what is ethical is a matter of opinion.

In an interesting aside, very recently a 75 year old doctor was arrested for having taken an Rs.25 bribe (yes Rs.25) some 25 years ago!! That case must possibly stand out for the greatest triumph of law. That if you commit a crime howsoever small and howsoever long ago you will be punished!

Early this year the Clay Institute announced that it was awarding a million (ten lakh) dollars to a Russian mathematician, Grigoriy Perelman, for solving the Poincare Conjecture. The Poincare Conjecture is a math problem that had remained unresolved for long. Surprise of surprises, Perelman, who is not exactly a Bill Gates when it comes to affluence, rejected the award. “I am not interested in money or fame” he said. And for good measure added, “I don’t want to be on display like an animal in a zoo. I am not even that successful; that is why I don’t want everybody looking at me.”

A few years ago a journalist threw a shoe at George W Bush. The journalist was lauded but was arrested and served a term. Another journo lobbed a shoe at P Chidambaram. PC said he forgave the shoe thrower and the man wasn’t charged. And most recently a security officer did the shoe-act at the chief minister of J&K. As is now the fashion, the man was let off.

The point is the shoe was not thrown at Omar Abdullah but at the office of the chief minister. Can you insult an office and get away with it? Does it send the right signal? Of-course to keep the perspective, these acts were not done for money. If all of us threw shoes at each other because we didn’t like what the other does do, we would end up as a nation of shoe throwers. As someone said, today the security officer can justifiably claim that he has done what no one ever could dare do and got away with it.

Crime pays and courts wink

2010-08-19T22:34:00.000-07:00

V Pattabhi Ram

It was India’s Enron. Or, worse still Enron, WorldCom, Tyco and Xerox all rolled in one. When those scandals hit the US we patted ourselves on our back saying, “Hey, this happens in those countries, not in ours”. We told ourselves that while our business class might commit not be lily white, they would only be traffic offences not murder. And then the truth happened; yes Satyam happened.

For sure there were positives. Unlike Enron, Satyam survived. Unlike Andersen, PwC survived. But that’s not the issue now. The issues is about the principal offenders.

There were doubts that the perpetrators would be let off. Yet many argued that given the size and nature of scandal there would be no way that they would not be punished. And then there was also the other matter of it being a company listed on NYSE. The Yankees wouldn’t allow them to go scot-free given that jurisprudence in their country is swift and heavy.

But now our worst fears are coming home to roost. Ramalinga Raju, the self-confessed fraudster who by all accounts had a ball inside the prison and who was a guest for nine months in an expensive hospital has now been granted bail. If his stay in the hospital itself raised quite a few eye-brows, the present one namely the decision that he could be given bail and go home is incredible.

Looks like in India crime pays and courts wink. If the fear of punishment goes, then we have a crisis on hand. For a nation that wants to become a super power this is sad.

Oh My God

2010-08-17T08:54:00.000-07:00

V Pattabhi Ram

Oh My God. A matter that deserved three lines on FB, 140 characters on tweet and a couple of paragraphs on a blog or in Newspapers is hogging television headlines and studio discussion.

Yes, Suraj Ranadiv bowled a no-ball by an yard. Yes, that wasn’t exactly sportsman like. Everyone and his uncle are going to town calling him a cheat. A channel wondered whether Sri Lankans are the new bad boys of cricket.

Now that’s a shade too long. When you bowl a perfectly legitimate ball you are not exactly cheating. Yes you are not being sportive and that’s bad; but that’s not the same thing as cheating. Sehwag agreed as much when he came out of the field.

You cheat when you punch a ball into the goal, like Maradonna did and get away with it. You cheat when you box a ball into the goal like Messi did and get away with it. You cheat when you grass a catch like both Clarke and Ponting did and claim that it was out and get away with it. You cheat when you appeal for what you patently know is not an out. You perhaps cheat when you snick a ball, know that you are caught but don’t walk.

He has apologized and that should be the end of it. Let's move on with lessons learnt

Murali, the magician

2010-07-26T00:26:00.000-07:00

Pattabhi Ram

He’s been outstanding.

Of-course I wasn’t a great fan of his, considering that he doesn’t play for my country. But then over the years, you get to learn to appreciate excellence irrespective of which camp the excellence belongs to.

Of-course even today I don’t buy his action. Yes, he looks like a javelin thrower. I still think it’s not the action under which conventional bowling is done. But given the fact that ICC has cleared it I let that pass. If Malinga can sling, I guess Murali can bowl the way he does.

The sheer weight of statistics speaks about his genius. Maximum balls bowled; maximum maidens bowled; maximum times 5 wickets in an innings; maximum times 10 wickets in a match. And the number of runs he has scored as a batsman is under 2 times the number of wickets he has taken!

He may not have had the elegant run up and bowling action of Shane Warne. He may not have taken to the more difficult art of leg spin bowling. But remember Murali was a one-man army. Warne had a battery of fast bowlers to support him; Murali had none. Sri Lanka’s hopes and aspirations would rise or fall with Murali’s performance in just as much as India’s hopes and aspirations once rose and fell on the basis of how Sachin performed.

The sheer audacity of “I will play only one Test; if I crack 800 fine, if don’t, it doesn’t matter” speaks volumes about the man. That it was a dream finish is another story. If a Bollywood scriptwriter had written that 30% of the match will be shaved off and that the protagonist will pick his 800th wicket off the last ball of that match, people would have dismissed it as being theatric. But sometimes life imitates art.

His eyes too spoke. I don’t know whether they were mischievous. But I remember when he crossed 500 or so Shastri had asked him “What Next?” and Murali had said “900. 900.”

For sure, no one is going to break his record for a long time to come; definitely not during my life time.

All style and no substance

2010-07-18T09:42:00.000-07:00

Pattabhi Ram

Saw Ravanan recently. Was more than a “shade disappointed”. Mani Ratnam’ moves are increasingly coming out of a template. One would have expected a story. But it’s too sketchy and is no different from any of those masalas that come out of Bollywood. That’s a shame given Mani’s extra-ordinary talent. While the cinematography was top-draw the songs didn’t steal my heart. In short, Mani lives up to a “all style and no substance” credo.

The way I would like the world to be

2010-07-15T03:51:00.000-07:00

Pattabhi Ram
This one came on a mail to me. You must read

One day, a poor boy who was selling goods from door to door to pay his way through school, found he had only one thin dime left, and he was hungry.

He decided he would ask for a meal at the next house. However, he lost his nerve when a lovely young woman opened the door.

Instead of a meal he asked for a drink of water! . She thought he looked hungry so brought him a large glass of milk. He drank it so slowly, and then asked, How much do I owe you?"

You don't owe me anything," she replied. "Mother has taught us never to accept pay for a kindness."

He said ... "Then I thank you from my heart."

As Howard Kelly left that house, he not only felt stronger physically, but his faith in God and man was strong also. He had been ready to give up and quit.

Many year's later that same young woman became critically ill. The local doctors were baffled. They finally sent her to the big city, where they called in specialists to study her rare disease.

Dr. Howard Kelly was called in for the consultation. When he heard the name of the town she came from, a strange light filled his eyes.

Immediately he rose and went down the hall of the hospital to her room.

Dressed in his doctor's gown he went in to see her. He recognized her at once.

He went back to the consultation room determined to do his best to save her life. From that day he gave special attention to her case.

After a long struggle, the battle was won.

Dr. Kelly requested the business office to pass the final bill to him for approval. He looked at it, then wrote something on the edge, and the bill was sent to her room. She feared to open it, for she was sure it would take the rest of her life to pay for it all. Finally she looked, and something caught her attention on the side of the bill. She read these words ...

"Paid in full with one glass of milk"

(Signed) Dr. Howard Kelly.

Tears of joy flooded her eyes as her happy heart prayed: "Thank You,
God, that Your love has spread broad through human hearts and hands."

There's a saying which goes something like this: Bread cast on the water comes back to you. The good deed you do today may benefit you or someone you love at the least expected time.ã€€ If you never see the deed again at least you will have made the world a better place - And, after all, isn't that what life is all about?

The hardest thing to learn in life is which bridge to cross and which -- To burn .

Their track record

2010-07-12T08:29:00.000-07:00

Pattabhi Ram

Their party's External Affairs minister escorts a terrorist back home
The terrorist returns to plan an attack on the Parliament
The Supreme Court awards the death penalty to the perpetrator
The perpetrator's lawyer is awarded a seat to the Rajya Sabha by the party
The government sits over the death penalty
The party screams blood, call the government a coward.
The party’s leader calls the prime minister names in the run up to the election.
Its president calls some politicians dogs and others as sons of a mughal ruler
He calls the perpetrator the son-in-law of the party in governance.
The government retaliates saying that the man has lost his min

Oh God. Where have we landed in public discourse. Why dont we learn from the Americans

Son in Law vs Brother in Law

2010-07-09T03:36:00.000-07:00

V Pattabhi Ram

“Is Afzal Guru the Congress’s son in law?” ranted the new tiger on the political horizon, Nitin Gadkari. He should know. After all, he belongs to a party which has a history of name calling.

He leads by example. Wasn’t he the one who called Lalu and Mulayam dogs? Wasn’t his party member Mahajan who had said that Sonia hadn’t done anything in life than conceive two children? Wasn’t it his party’s spokesperson who said that his party leaders were right in calling Dr. Singh was “a nikkama” because there wasn’t anything wrong in saying the truth?

Wasn’t it his partly leader who called Dr.Singh a puppet and the weakest prime minister India had ever had; weaker than the man who allowed his external affairs minister escort a terrorist in full global view. Isn’t he the leader of a party that has no qualms about name calling others but who themselves are the biggest bigots. You know they are the true patriots because they wish to ensure that India belongs to Hindus. Rabble rousers they sure are; they keep falling in people’s esteem day by day.

Thank you Gadkari, for not asking whether Afzal was the Congress’s brother in law. After all that’s a common Hindi abusive. Gadkari should be thankful that the Congress responded with another hate statement instead of simply saying, “Yes Gadkari, he is our son in law. See our girl married into your party.”

Great reportage

2010-07-04T08:04:00.000-07:00

V Pattabhi Ram

I am a shade tired of our television channels. I mean the News Channels. And without doubt I mean the English news channels. Increasingly trivia is touted as Breaking News and some of the reports are plain stupid. Take what's happening on la affair Dhoni.

Dhoni gets engaged. A channel reports that he is getting wedded to his childhood friend. Another reports that the duo first met in 2007. Obviously one of the channels got the facts wrong or in the language of today's anchors "One of them is plain lieing." Surely Dhoni was not a child two-three years ago.

A channel says that they were classmates. Now Dhoni is all of 29. Per one channel she is 21 and per another she is 23. Either they got her age wrong or Dhoni must be a dull head to have been in the same class as someone eight years his junior.

Some quality of reporting indeed

Rajiv Gandhi must stand trial for Bhopa

2010-06-19T02:05:00.000-07:00

Ha, I was like Rajiv Gandhi sleeping this last 40 days... But I have finally woken up and hence this blog

Hi Fellow Indians

The ghost of Bhopal (or of Union Carbide or of MIC) has woken up 25 years hence. Since more than half of you weren’t actually born at that time or were perhaps in your diapers let me tell you who was responsible and who struck what deals. Hey, hold on. I won’t trouble you with the technical niceties; today it doesn’t matter. I will trouble you with the other subtleties because it matters. Here we go

1. Bhopal was a tragedy waiting to happen. This most people appear to know for a fact. What nobody knows is that it was Rajiv Gandhi, then 40 days young as prime minister who ensured it happened. Let me tell you why. Because he wanted that tragedy, on top of Mrs. Gandhi’s assassination, to ensure that the voters came in droves to vote for the Congress. Now don’t ask me how.

2. Okay, lotus (I mean Rajiv) lovers don’t scream. All right, Rajiv was not directly responsible. But should he not be tried for culpable homicide? After all, was he not negligent? Should he not have read the many reports and taken emergency action ahead of what happened? Was that not failure on a grand scale? We should bring Rajiv back from his grave and ask him to stand trial. Or he should at-least apologize to the nation. That would best serve the ends of justice.

3. Okay Congressmen, you don’t have to get your blood pressure racing. Agreed Rajiv could not have read all the reports. After all he was new to office and was busy racing India into the 21st century. But was he not responsible for letting Anderson get off from India? And that too like a state guest; setting the precedent to 31st Dec 99? How could a mere chief minister have taken the decision? How could a mere congress home minister have taken the decision? Since they must have briefed Rajiv and since Rajiv agreed with them (otherwise how could Anderson have gone) Rajiv must take the flak.

4. All this nonsense that Anderson’s continued presence in India would have ignited violence is just that; nonsense. Was he not the Butcher of Bhopal? Have the butchers of Delhi and of Ahmedabad not stayed back in India? Did it cause any great violence? We should bring Rajiv back from his grave and ask him to stand trial. Or he should at-least apologize to the nation.

5. That we asked no questions for 25 long years is not the issue. We were busy looking at other things like Ayodhya, Mumbai blast, Gujarat riots etc. These riots are chicken feed; after all didn’t we survive partition. But industrial negligence is of a different kind. Actually, we have been asking these questions; only thing is that no one knew that we were asking.

6. The Congress is guilty of betrayal, mistrust and what have you. Or how could they have got such a miniscule compensation for the victims. But for some eight odd years during this phase they were in power during the other 17 years. And even during those eight years they were in the Opposition. Should they have not reminded the government in power? If Rajiv cannot be brought to apologize to the nation, the Congress should. No there is no need for anyone else to apologize for anything else that may have happened like Gujarat, like Ayodhya, like Kandahar etc. That they were themselves large scale violence or triggered large scale violence is not germane to the issue

7. You see the Congress was responsible for the Supreme Court ruling based on which the current trail court ruling has happened. The Congress should apologize for the delay in judgment and for the nature of judgment. We held midnight vigils and we have been constantly highlighting this travesty these last 25 years but the Congress hasn’t done anything. The people of India should punish the Congress.

8. You see Anderson was let off in return for higher compensation from Union Carbide. That’s the inside information that we have. Isn’t that like taking bribe? Also sources tell us that the money was received but since it was never understood for whom it meant, this must have been pocketed by the party. The party should apologize to the people of Madhya Pradesh, forget the fact that the Congress hasn’t been in power in that state for sometime now.

9. Anderson has not been named by the courts in the judgment recently delivered. The Congress is responsible for that. We now want Anderson to stand trial for his heinous act of omission or commission. That’s the best way that the ends of justice would be met because the very contours that our courts take will surely kill a 90 plus man. That’s capital punishment. There is no need to go to the President with a mercy petition.

10. The Prime Minister and the Congress president are against the people of Bhopal. They care more for America than for India. Should they not have got punitive damage from the company for the employees? Would any other government not done this? Yes, yes there were a few other governments but you see they were very busy with other things. You can’t blame them.

Yours sincerely

Kasab hangs; BIG DEAL

2010-05-10T03:32:00.000-07:00

V Pattabhi Ram

There is such a big song and dance being made over the Kasab judgment. 17months after 26/11 it’s now possible to look at the events in perspective. And when one does that one realizes that we, Indians, are tall on rhetoric. Let me explain.

The home minister says the judgment is a strong message to Pakistan. Bull shit. We hang a bit player in the sordid drama, a guy who was anyway willing to die (remember he was almost a suicide bomber), and claim that’s a message. Pray tell me what kind of message is this?

What have done to the king pins, the Hafeez Saeeds and the David Coleman Headleys?

The wife of one of the slain policemen has demanded that Kasab be hanged in public. While we sympathise her grief this kind of language is not on in a civilized society. How would then all this be different from Khaap courts? The father of the lad who gave up his life in the real act of bravery, Unnikrishnan, rightfully maintains a dignified silence. That’s the dignity that we expect others to maintain as well.

I have my reservations on a man’s right to take another man’s life and that includes capital punishment but it can await discussion another day. Suffice to say that recently in China a man thought to have been murdered came back to “life” eleven years later; and his “murderer” is currently serving a 20 year term after originally having been ordered to be hung till death. So much for the wisdom of the jury.

Look at America. Post 9/11 there hasn’t been a major terror act. Even in the current NY bombing the perpetrator was arrested under 50 hours. And in India, post Kandahar we have had hazaar incidents of terror culminating in 26/11. And what do our politicos do? Talk big. Like a party which claims it is hard on terror but which catapulted to the biggest shame, courtesy Kandahar circa 1999. And what do we do? Celebrate the death penalty on a bit player and claim we have beaten Pakistan. God save us.

Sub-140 scores

2010-05-01T06:01:00.000-07:00

V Pattabhi Ram

Post IPL its a shade surprising to watch sub-140 totals. But that's how the 3rd edition of the T20 world cup has kicked off. The Lankans scored under 140 and the Kiwis just about managed to wrap up the game. Ireland had the Windies on the mat by closing them out for under 140 but then their batting collapsed to half that total. Why are such sides in the Cup; just to make the numbers?

Groundsmen and the ways of the selectors

2010-05-01T05:59:00.000-07:00

V Pattabhi Ram

After a 15 day hiatus this blog is back. It should stay busy atleast until the world cup gets over

It’s a shade odd. India get into the 3rd T20 World cup without both the orange cap and the purple cap winner at IPL. And of-course also missing is one of the most ruthless exponents of slam bang cricket, Robin Uthappa. Interestingly one man who was serving a one-year ban from IPL, Ravinder Jadeja, got picked. “The-ways-of the-selectors;” indeed. Of-course each time I am stumped by the selectors’ decision I am reminded of what the legendary cricketer Sunny Gavaskar once famously said, “I don’t want to be chairman of selectors. In India, 12 of the 15 players pick themselves automatically. It’s only a fight for the last 2-3 slots. And in respect of that everyone, including the grounds-man has an opinion. Being chairman of selectors is a thankless job”

Is Shashi Tharoor guilty?

2010-04-17T20:56:00.001-07:00

V Pattabhi Ram

I have no inside insight into what Shashi Tharoor did or did not do in la-affairs IPL-Kochi. Like most others I can only set up a construct and via the prism of that construct ask myself whether the Minister was guilty of either corruption or of plain impropriety. I am privy to both sides of the story in the sense of what have appeared in the papers and what Shashi Tharoor told on national television. Newspapers have taken positions based on which side of the political divide they stand.

Let’s first get a few things in place.

A group of people wanting to bid for a franchise in IPL met Shashi Tharoor. That is known and is not disputed. What we don’t know is why they met him. After all, at best the Minister is a cricket buff like you and I. He had no known connections with the IPL whatsoever. The best guess-estimate is that they were looking for some advice from an internationally traveled diplomat of eminence. If that’s so it is their look out and I don’t think the Minister can be blamed for that.

By his own admission, Shashi Tharoor led the consortium towards Kerala. From the shareholdings now made public the balance of evidence suggests that this could be true since the principal owners do not appear to be Keralites. Why did Tharoor want them to go to Kerala? His reply that being a parliamentarian from that state he was interested in the development of that state looks perfectly in order.

The 5% free equity (5% of the total 1500 crore) to a Sunanda Pushkar, a lady admittedly close to him, has thrown up a can of worms. There are many who are raising the legal question as to whether sweat equity can be issued either by an unincorporated body or by a corporate before a certain number of months are over. That’s beside the point. If the Rendezvous Group broke a law, go after them by all means.

Well, if Tharoor marries Pushkar the money goes to him is an interesting point. One, does a wife’s earning always go to her husband? Two, is this hard cash or plain paper that may turn out to be either gold or a piece of tissue paper. By current reckoning it’s unclear. But as Tharoor said, if he wanted to be corrupt why would he parcel money thro a person who was close to him.

If this amount is supposed to be a bribe to the Minister, the simple common sense question that needs to be answered is what was the act that Shashi Tharoor did that entitled him to this amount? This is where his detractors do not provide you with a straight answer. Could he have guaranteed the outcome of the bid? Everybody agrees that this was not possible. Then why would he be paid? Was he responsible for bringing the consortium together? That’s a question no one seems to have answered in the affirmative. In Kerala would he be able to ensure that benefits would be passed on to the owners? No one till now has suggested that.

I am not here to hold a torch for Minister Tharoor. I have actually found his taking on colleagues on Twitter a shade funny. But I think the evidence against him in this case is too flimsy to hang him.

Dr. C K is no more

2010-04-17T01:25:00.000-07:00

V Pattabhi Ram

One of India’s and the world’s red hot strategic thinkers, Dr. C K Prahalad is no more. A product of Loyola College Chennai, he studied at IIM, Ahmedabad and at the Harvard Business School.

His influential books include “The Core Competence of the Corporation”, “Competing for the Future”, “The Future of Competition,” and “The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid: Eradicating Poverty through Profits,” and “The New Age of Innovation”. He taught at the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad and later at the Paul and Ruth McCracken Distinguished University Professor of Corporate Strategy.

I heard him once over video conferencing and was stumped by the clarity and precision with which he spoke

Tech is wonderful

2010-04-13T21:21:00.000-07:00

V PattabhiRam

Sometimes things look so fascinatingly remarkable.

Back is school one used to play scrabble during holidays; Sunday summer afternoons, say. Being a ‘thinking’ game it used to be difficult to get people play with you. And it wasn’t very okay to play UNO, that being a game of chance. When you played either, you had the opportunity to make new friends and bond existing ones.

Now look at the leap in technology. You can play scrabble on the Internet. You can play different rounds with different people at the same time. He can be from any part of the world. You can play against an American, a Swede, a British all at the same time. The game can be kept open and each can play at the time of his convenience. You don’t have to hang out there to know whether they have made their next move. The mails tell you that. Wow!

Technology has done wonders. Of-course you get to appreciate this only if you grew up the pre-Internet days. For sure, there is the flip side. Human interaction is falling. Playing the game on the Internet is not the same as playing the game one-on-one with all the chivalrous shouts and brouhaha that go with it.

The tale continues....Or...

2010-04-10T01:46:00.000-07:00

V Pattabhi Ram

You see after the national television debate the story continues.

S2 flies into India to be alongside S1 and tents in her place.

As soon as A1 files a case on S1 the police swoop in to question S2 at S1’s residence. For sure, that’s a better place than the police station. The media of-course is camping outside her residence keen for every sound bit.

Matter hots up as the police impound his passport which means that he cannot leave the city, let alone leave the country. This could also mean that the case against him is strong. The police in the meantime interrogate A1 and she stands by her story. The lady gives interviews to multiple television channels through telephone. She even drops a bombshell to the effect that she and S1 had in-fact met earlier in person in Sharjah

A journalist goes on record on national TV that S1 and S2 are more credible since A1 is not coming in front of the camera. S2 makes much the same point saying why is she not coming before the media. S1 says S1’s and S2’s family as also the media’s family are all respectable. The slur is visible, the innuendo clear.

Less than 24 hours later S2 acknowledges that he had in fact married A1 and signs the divorce papers. A1’s family withdraws all charges and doesn’t press for defamation. “Let Go”, is the attitude. S2 simply goes missing.

Now your view. Should the story close with the earlier blog or should we have this as well in the script.

My script for my "Untitled" Film

2010-04-04T02:30:00.000-07:00

V Pattabhi Ram

I have just completed writing the script for a movie. Karan Johar has agreed to produce and direct it. Check out and let me know whether you like it.

First the cast. A1 is an Indian lady; whether she is beautiful or not is not known. After all beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder. S1 is a young Indian lass and a rather overrated athlete known to crash out of most tournaments by Round 2. Frequently in the news for the wrong reasons including for her theatrics like insulting the national flag or shooting at places without permission. She has a huge fan following. S2 is a Pakistani cricketer part of the team in the World Cup that saw the iconic Bob Woolmer die under mysterious circumstances. For sure a star player but his commitment is believed to be suspect by his country’s Board.

Sometime in 2001-02, in distant Sharjah, A1 met S2 over the telephone, romanced over the net and continued to date over the phone. That’s 21st century style. Since S1 had never met A1, A1 sent in some pictures which S2 later discovers and claims were not that of A1 but were that of A2. Based on these pictures A1 and S2 get married, again over the telephone and there is a marriage certificate. There were no honeymooning, no housewarming and no personal meetings; only telephoning and telephoning. Thus it went on for about 4 years.

In the meanwhile S2 stayed in the house of A1 a few times without ever meeting his wife A1 and on one occasion went sightseeing along with a couple of cousins of A1. During a cricket match S2 says he is already married and names the city where A1 lives as the city of his wife. A few years later sometime in 2005-06 or so the nephews of the b-i-l of S2 said that their teacher in Saudi was married to S2. They sent in her picture. For sure it was A1’s picture but horror of horrors it also turned out to be that of one of the so-called ‘cousins’.

Now S1 gets into the act. She announces a wedding with S2 and all hell breaks out. Incidentally S1 had herself been engaged to X, a family friend. That of-course took place in full public glare but post engagement something happened and the two decided to call off the engagement. [It's a side plot that I may develop] X’s parents are willing to attend the wedding of S1 with S2 but X is abroad and cannot make it convenient to attend.

A1’s mother goes on national television claiming S2 visited their place 14 times and also spent time with A1. A1 speaks on national television to the b-i-l of S2 as to why despite knowing the truth and despite promising to support her he was now taking the side of S2.

Incidentally A1 and S1 belong to the same city. A1 has no objection to S1 marrying S2; she simply wants a divorce. S2 says the question doesn’t arise since there was no marriage in the first place. He then tells on television that yes he married A1 but when he married her on telephone he thought she was A2

A1 files a legal case against S2 both in India and in Pakistan. S2 files a legal case against A1 in India.

The movie closes with a national debate on television where Clergies, lawyers, the two parties, sundry analysts and myriad anchors participate and in Mani Ratnam style closes with no solutions offered. Ofcourse I will make a few changes to suit screenplay but the broad plot is this.

Hey, do you think the film will be a hit?

What a match

2010-04-03T09:12:00.000-07:00

IPL: CSK Vs. RR
Man, what a game it was. First Murali Vijay went berserk on a belter of a wicket. 127 off 52 odd balls and 11 sixes to boot is the stuff of which dreams are made. And then that miserly spell plus an out-of-the-world catch by Bollinger was the real match winner. If these werent enough, RR were game enough to fight to the finish. If only the burly Bollinger hadn't bowled that extraordinary 19th over, we would have had a real thriller. 480 runs in under 3 hours; Wow.

Sania's case gets curioser

2010-04-03T03:18:00.000-07:00

V Pattabhi Ram

I have always held the view that the private life of a public figure is nobody's business. But I am not all that sure whether that would apply in the present case of Sania Mirza. The issue is NOT one of whether she should marry a Pakistani or not. The issue is NOT one of whether she should get married so soon after a broken engagement. The issue is NOT even whether post marriage she should play for India or for Pakistan. The issue is whether she should marry a person who is already wedded and who isnt divorced. I watched the debate on national television where Shoaib's b-i-l and Maha's (Ayesha) mother appeared and I didn't hear a denial of the wedding cerficate. Ofcourse it is Sania's lookout as to what she wants to do but role models if they want to be role models are expected to follow a certain path. It's nobody's business, least of mine, if she doesn't want to be a role model.

Bhajji has a ball

2010-03-28T22:51:00.001-07:00

IPL Match 25: MI Vs. DC

When he knocked 49 runs of 18 balls Bhajji woke up the stadium after Mumbai, Sachin included, had put them to sleep. Walking in at 119/7 at the fag end of the 17th over, he took the tally to 172 or so which in the end proved a match winning total. The moral: A T-20 encounter can be turned around its head in the space of a few overs. The interesting sidelights were Sachin’s laboured 55 and the fact that Bhajji batted with Sachin’s bat. Was Bajji suggesting we add those runs to Sachin’s score?

This is the most open tournament

2010-03-28T07:33:00.000-07:00

IPL: RR Vs CSK
Two cameos, one by Murali Vijay and the other by A Morkel couldn’t help CSK overcome Rajasthan Royals. This was so notwithstanding the three straight sixes off Warne in the 18th over. With that loss CSK will end the front leg with just two wins; something that for sure does not justify their talent and potential. With the Royals bouncing back with four wins after three losses, one thing is becoming clear; this is perhaps the most open tournament of all times

Panthan's blitzes

2010-03-26T10:35:00.000-07:00

IPL: RR Vs DC

After the Chargers made heavy weather of the opportunity to bat first and scored a sub-150 total, it was always clear that the Rajasthan Royals would win the encounter but I guess no one believed that they would be runaway winners with 4 overs to spare. That kind of victory in this format of the game is an emphatic won. Full credit for that should ofcourse go to the elder Pathan, Yusuf, who cracked 8 sixes in yet another blitzkrieg. It was as though he was celebrating his selection to the T20 World Co[‘s third edition.

The Unanswered Questions

2010-03-26T05:46:00.000-07:00

Pattabhi Ram V

Anju Gupta has brought the nightmare of Babri back to haunt the man with the wringing hands. Whatever the spin doctors of BJP say, Advani’s guilt cannot be condoned. I only have a few questions which I hope those who wear their saffronization on their sleeves would answer without bringing the roof down.

1. Did or did not Advani go on a Rath Yatra in the early 1990s?

2. Was or was not the Yatra intended to stir up emotions on the so-called Ram Janmabhoomi issue?

3. Did or did not 200,000 plus people assemble on that fateful day, December 6, at the Babri Masjid on December 6?

4. Was or was not the call to assemble there given by the BJP?

5. Were or were not L K Advani, M M Joshi, Uma Bharathi and other BJP honchos present at the place on Dec 6?

6. Were the tombs brought down merely with people’s hands or were equipments like pick-axes used?

7. If pick axes were used how did it find a place there if it was not brought in by the people who brought the structure down using it?

8. If these instruments were brought there was that not an indication of the a preset mind (a k a conspiracy)? Was the demolition then not pre-planned?

9. What security reasons prevented L K Advani from getting inside the mosque and asking the Kar Sevaks to stop the demolition?

10. Were or were not M M Joshi and Uma Bharathi seen publicly rejoicing at the demolition?

11. Wasn’t the man with the wringing hands doing a Jyoti Basu at Ayodhya? Remember four years later, when the Eden Garden crowd disrupted and brought a halt to the World Cup 1996 semifinals Basu sat dumb faced at the pavilion without even battling an eyelid?

12. What kind of leader is then this man who does everything to give a call to bring down the structure, who actually overseas it’s happening and then says he didn’t think it would happen?

13. Can’t the leaders of the party with a difference atleast have the courage of their conviction and take responsibility for their action instead of passing the buck on the followers?

Almost 20 years on the case continues as is so typical of India.

Another Sach day

2010-03-26T01:48:00.000-07:00

IPL: MI Vs CSK

What an innings it was from Suresh Raina. God knows where from this pint sized cricketer packs his power. If there is a greater flat hitter of sixes, let me know. I only hope he continues the good work when he plays the World Cup.

The sad part was that his 83 runs was unfortunately overshadowed by the man who is turning out to be the biggest revelation of this tournament, Sachin Tendulkar. No savage hitting, simple artistry from the Big Man and MI overcame a stubborn CSK in a match that didnt really rise to great heights.

For rabid Dhoni fans, the return of their hero hardly made a difference

Shilpa beats Preity

2010-03-24T18:49:00.000-07:00

IPL: RR vs. KIX

KIX Punjab must be comprehensively complemented for comprehensiely losing a match where they were required to score 183 and had already scored some 78 in 6 overs. That’s what I call a standout performance in a tournament where standout performances have been the order of the day. CSK lead from the front in such performances and now KIX is fast catching up! The way Bisla batted and the way Warne was carted around for 17 in his over No 1, I felt that the match would be wound up in 16 overs. Ofcourse no such thing happened. With this loss KIX is holding the wooden spoon as of now.

What say you, Mr. Mallya?

2010-03-23T10:44:00.000-07:00

IPL: RC Vs. CSK

When in the first edition of IPL, RCB did a flop show, team owner Dr. Mallya publicly chided Rahul Dravid saying that Dr. Mallya’s friends commented on his team composition by asking him whether he had picked a Test team or a T-20 team. In the second edition when the team reached the finals, Dr. Mallya kept rather quiet. Today, in Mark 3, the very same team has won 4 out of 5 games to lead the table. And the victory against CSK was comprehensive. What have you got to say, Dr. Mallya? Are you willing to eat your words? Or will you just mouth the cliché that you are happy for your team?

Sachin takes KKR to the cleaners

2010-03-22T19:31:00.000-07:00

IPL: MI vs KKR

Ha, I didn’t watch it as I was in a train. I am told that in the early overs he played out of his skin to pull the match the MI way. One thing is becoming clear. The Big Man has finally conquered his aversion for T20 and realized that if you have talent you can crack any form of game. He may not today possess the raw aggression of a Hayden, Sehwag, Gilchirst or even a Raina but as Sachin has shown you can clip at a strike rate of 150% by playing it the classical way. It’s unfortunate that he has decided not to play for India in the smallest version of the game but I guess it should be upto the chairman of selectors to impress upon the bonzer and take him to the West Indies. Yeah, by the way, I understand the Dada of Kolkatta plucked a catch out of thin air. Good for him

CSK had no business to lose

2010-03-21T19:24:00.000-07:00

IPL: CSK vs KXI

CSK made a monkey of an abysmally small target in the game against KXI. First, they had no business to take it to the Super Over. They should have finished it off in the main leg. The target itself was so small. And then you had 1 run to score off 2 balls. Even a bye would have worked. The Super Over target of 10 also wasn’t great shakes. Ha, it proves the old adage, “Cricket is a game of glorious uncertainties”; except that it wasn’t exactly glorious for the CSK.

Kadi Arambam

2010-03-20T21:56:00.000-07:00

V Pattabhi Ram

Some times you tend to do strange things. Like I chose to skip watching MI play RCB to watch a movie called Kacheri Arambam (KA). Rs 240 and close to 3 hours later I realised I had made both the right and the wrong call. Not watching MI was fine; watching KA was a pain. I dont know how these folks decide to make movies. Arcane, canned stuff, the only good thing about the move was its ending. And to imagine that it was produced by Super Good films, Phew. Jiiva was a pain. Vadivel was passable. The leading lady was horrendous