All about fundamentals

During the recent 4-day trip, I had a great time to introspect on some thought provoking fundamentals.

We ( 3 of us- 2 fellow colleagues and I) made a reservation ahead of time expecting the floating crowd that would be at Arunachalam for the full moon day, due to the connectivity reasons obviously we got delayed and the lodge guy gave away the room conveniently ( Mind you, there is nothing wrong on what he did, he was trying to minimize his losses, if you will). So we had a good 5 minute "ethics" talk on how can you do this b.s and knowing their absolute organizational and management skills, I realized it was a criminal waste of time, every minute we are spending talking here, we are loosing another possible available room in some other hotel/lodge. Being a first timer there we had all good reasons to panic, we did not, we just walked around the corner and all lodges had a "no-vacancy" board (read it as no room available). We went to one lodge that was all booked. Spoke to him for few minutes and boom he opened a door for us and showed the next door marriage hall available and handed us over to another person, who walked us to a non-a/c room and it was pretty good. I asked him if they had an a/c room and he took us through and while we were taking a look at it, there was another party that wanted to take the a/c room, so we just grabbed the offer and went in. It was the only choice we had! After a week, as I recall the journey and enjoyed every moment in the divine company, it reminded me of some simple fundamentals that helped us during the whole trip. Here they are:

1. Patience is a virtue - holding on to our horses really helped, we could have very well yelled at the guy who did not honour our reservation, that did seem as an easy option, but we did not opt it rather took his help in getting pointed to the next available hop and that worked wonders.

2. It is better to be the solution than the problem/landscape. - When we were given a room that had 2- beds and a small walk way, we asked the guy for an additional bed sheet and pillow to define our solution. Nature/System has a way of helping people who are part of the solution not the problem.

3.Give a little respect
Respecting others no matter how big you are by money/muscle/status should be a given,
because you are famous or more successful than someone else, it doesn’t give you the right to treat them like shit. To give you an example: when you need to address the security/watch man/attendant - rather than addressing them with an excuse me or hello to address these mortals, checking their name and addressing them by their name always helps.

4. Emotions Affect Decisions During the recent trip we felt terrible to show up at the reservation counter and to learn "No-Room" deal, especially after 18 hours of journey by train and 2 buses. We hid our emotions and asked out the guy to help us and he was Ok to help and that got us a room. Emotions affect your decisions and they can burn the bridges very effectively. So don't make decisions wearing the emotional cap.

Honestly, You don't need much to be happy in life. the more you want or desire the more the rabbit hole takes you deep. Play it hard but remember there will be variables that are beyond your control. Give your best shot and never forget the fundamentals.

India ahead
Last week, I had some work at Allahabad Bank. I hit the website and was glad to see a feature "Locate a Branch"- I located the required branch and called the phone #, no response ! I called another branch an office picked and helped me with the contact number. I wanted to give the feedback on Bank' site and it came back with a broken page-not a good sign !

I got to the bank (took an hour to get to bank-7 Kms an hour?) got done with the transaction and the officer was discussing the plight of Indian infrastructure and how it is impacting their business-his thoughts.

His questions were, when would we have china like infrastructure, when would we have Institutional framework like US- basically- when would we be like some one else- and answer was probably NEVER! definitely not in the life time of most of the late 1900's.

How would India Grow?

• By 2030, close to 20% of the world's population would be in India- the center of gravity is slowly towards the populous India- marketers cannot ignore India-simply because of the numbers
• India is getting less poor- the great Indian middle class is growing- I was talking to one of my friends and the following discussion came-up-" as kids it was a dream to start a life-style that dad's have provided with before their retirement-but most of us start a life style that is slightly above where dad's have ended (don't blame your dad- he gave the best life style possible, praise the liberalization march that is taking us forward)
• The private-public partnerships,the organized charity and innovations in education/health care/micro-finance to help the weaker India is in the best interest of stronger India- taken a collective look at all these efforts, these micro-events are all set to create history;
  
• The concept of gurukulams in AP to empower the rural youth to be employable is an example of innovation. The increasing shares of credit industry(remember a time? when debt was BAD, but for the poor who had no option but loan for survival, today loans are an indication of confidence in tomorrow)
• Most of the MNCs stopped asking whether it is India or China? it is now India AND china-- that speaks of our road ahead
  

India 2007
Black-Swan: The current one that is keeping me up is Black Swan: The Impact of Highly Improbable. The recent blasts at Lumbini park,Hyderabad were a black swan, it changed the perspective of the city so much ! With in moments the news was every where, some of the IT project managers onsite, I knew of, called their team to check the welfare. It is not only the country economy but the global economy that is at stake due to these terror attacks. The ripple effect of blasts could be expensive and irreversible.

Then there was another crazy incident at Agra, where a mob set the trucks on fire as accidentally a truck ran into a procession killing 4. The chaos resulted in curfew and lot of property destruction.

If Eye for Eye will only leave the world blind- recalling the words of Mahatma, shame and uneventful to see such barbaric and heinous crime. Something needs to be done to get a fundamental change in the way things operate, whats it? another Gandhi?

Recalling the mother Theresa on her 97th birthday,If only each of us cleans our doorfront, the entire country will be cleaner and hygienic, Jai Hind !

There are two Indias in this Country, One India is training at the leash eager to spring forth and live upto all the adjectives the world has been recently shoving upon us,the other India is the leash

One India Says Give me a chance and I will prove my self,the other India says prove yourself first, may be then you will have a chance.
One India lives in the Optimism of our Hearts,the other India lacks in the skepticism of our Minds,

One India wants the other India Hopes,

One India Leads and the other India follows

these Conversions are on the rise, with each passing day, more and more people from the other India are coming over to this side and quietly, while the world is not looking a pulsating dynamic new India is emerging.. an India whose faith in Success is far greater than its fear of failure

an India that no longer boycotts foriegn made Goods but buys out the companies that make them instead.

History they say is a Bad motorist, it rarely ever signals its intentions when it is taking a turn. this is that rarely ever moment. History is turning a page. For over half a century our nation has sprung,stumbled,run,fallen,rolled over, caught up and dusted her self, but now, In our 60th year as a free nation the ride has brought us some breathtaking moments.

One India,A tiny little voice at the back of the head is looking down at the bottom of the Ravine and hesitating, the Other India is looking up at the sky is saying it is time to Fly together..

My Dear Fellow Indians, Wishing you a purposeful Independence Day!

*************************JAI HIND***********************************