Value based decision making

@Random

Business, as they say, is all about 'Value' creation by fulfilling some needs. In doing so, the major issue, organizations come up with is 'Decision Making' (DM) - Given the limited resources, they keep asking 'What to do?', 'How to do?'. As Porter said, business strategy is all about making choices. However, it's one of the most difficult things to do, given the grays, maroons and violets,  the context of DM spans across.  Something that helps companies make quicker and probably what they call 'right' decision is having prioritized "core values". One example recently I read was from Johnson & Johnson. How its then CEO, James Burke, made a decision, which literally make the busting company come back, post the Tylenol cyanide episode. The company had the prioritized values as: customers, employees and shareholders in that order which simplified the otherwise humongous & complex decision making process.

Decision Making in personal life is as complex, if not less, as of that of business - time & energy consuming, its grayness. So, will having prioritized set of personal values help one make quicker and righter decisions? I felt the answer should be "yes". Yes, values may not be a cure-for-all for all the DM problems in life, but could definitely help in reducing its complexities. History tells the same: People with strong values make tougher decisions and achieve otherwise difficult to achieve things - Gandhi (Non-violence), Harichandra (Truth), Karna (Generosity). If you think these are too old to be practical: Mohammad Yunus (Economic development for poor), Kalam (Technology dev for 3rd world country), Dhoni (Always Team First). Yes, there will be millions of examples.

Few additional things that I felt about values:

• There needs to be a strong association with the values. We need to live by it
  
• Not that all the values have to be fixed through out our life. As we mature, values can get moulded. But some of the most important and core values have to be static
  
• Values are not just meant for accomplishing big things in life. It helps even making day-to-day decisions simpler. E.g. Meeting a good old friend Vs GF, or working Friday late hours Vs taking your kids for a movie
  

Ok, fair enough. Agreed that we need to have values. It's not just the realization which is difficult - it's actually coming up with the real personal values. Yeah, absolutely. There is no systematic process to find it out than to do a relaxed but determined self-inquiry.

May be on a relaxed weekend, go to a desolate island, a beautiful beach, a lush garden, a lovely park, a country side travel, or simply your own balcony.. Sit with a freshly brewed coffee or a refreshing Darjeeling tea and set your mind on what particular virtues made you completely being yourself, at the same time, everyone (including you) felt happy and proud about you.. Balance between past (how we were) and future (how we want to be).. It might give us a glimpse of our values..

The third and probably the most difficult part is "living" one's own values. Environment may not be positive, situation may not be conducive, we still need to live it.  The more the struggle we go through, the stronger will be the association between us and our values. The stronger the association gets, the struggle becomes lesser. Not to mention, the reduced complexity of decision making! :)

[After thought] Added after a day:

Ok, I wrote only the positive side of the story of having values. Yes, values could lead to conflicts, which in turn could be destructive. Countless examples in the history. So, it's not just important to have values for oneself, but rather respect others' values as well.  In fact, it should be our first value to have non-destructive, positive values, giving enough value to others' values. :)

 

@Regular

Travelled to Hyderabad for D's marriage - Visited Hyd after quite some years. Felt the city refreshing and probably much more developed. Got to meet good old friends.  Good weekend trip!

As I writing this blog, Slumdog millionaire got 8 records and our fav. ARR got 2 Oscars as well. Was touched by his humbleness when he thanked his mom and God (yes, in Senthamizh!). Some connection with the book I started - Shantaram - A long time pending one. But this biggie needs quite some free time to finish off.

I should definitely write about this philosophical tamil song "Pitchai Paathiram" from Naan Kadavul by Ilayaraaja. It kept me hooked to it last week. Deeply meaningful, probably asks why there is much ado about life, its struggle, its constant materialistic search and the constant "me me me"? Even your body is not our creation - the lyricist (Ilayaraja) says we are all beggars and our body the plate we carry.

Doing away with Dualities

@Random

Life is just beautiful. Look at the smiling baby, budding rose, sun rise, lush forest, beautiful peacock, cute parrot, playful puppy, tantalising aroma of food, impressive Taj, amazing Aish, handsome Hrithik.. there is beauty everywhere.. there is joy everywhere. there there are friendship, love, parents, work etc.. so many things to cheer about.. You just need to be positive and be happy always. This is one way of living.

It was one of the empty Mumbai locals. The time was fast approaching midnight. A guy with a long stick enters the compartment. Yes, he was blind but wasn't a beggar - started shouting at his peak for selling buds and plastic covers for 5 bucks. You get down the train and walk home - you see the slew of people sleeping on the sides of the road (including kids less than 2 yrs). Then there was this old man trying to sell channa for as low as 2 rupees. Then the dog with 3 legs struggling to move ahead. The next day morning. It was the near by kirana store. You see this really small kid (with dirty torn cloths and running nose) begging desperately to the store visitors - The store-wala is shooing away the kid. You can't resist but getting a biscuit pack for the poor little one. Then, the crowded train - people just struggling every day to earn their living. Then, the road-side hawkers who are sweating and shouting the whole day for tens of rupees. "Come on, stop it", I can hear you shouting. It's the reality of life. Most human beings are not happy. Life, inherently is sad, painful, sickening and depressing. This is another way of living.

Which one of the above is probably the right way to live - Be happy & unaware of things around OR get muddled with sad aspects of life? Yeah, there is no simple answer to this. And it's not that these are discrete states for different set of people. Just that each person will have one state dominating over the other.

I thought more about it. Happiness/Sadness, Peace/Revolt, Surplus/Deficit, Powerful/Weak, Beautiful/Ugly, Superior/Inferior, Positive/Negative. Let's call these dualities. Probably, life is not about dualities. We would never feel complete in one of these dualities. The feeling of neutrality and equanimity but with a strong sense for action and a clarity of thought is what we should constantly strive for. And I believe it would help in the betterment of the self and the world around.

And Psalm of Life captures this vividly:
Reference Courtesy: My DeaR friend

A PSALM OF LIFE

TELL me not, in mournful numbers,
Life is but an empty dream ! —
For the soul is dead that slumbers,
And things are not what they seem.

Life is real ! Life is earnest!
And the grave is not its goal ;
Dust thou art, to dust returnest,
Was not spoken of the soul.

Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,
Is our destined end or way ;
But to act, that each to-morrow
Find us farther than to-day.

Art is long, and Time is fleeting,
And our hearts, though stout and brave,
Still, like muffled drums, are beating
Funeral marches to the grave.

In the world's broad field of battle,
In the bivouac of Life,
Be not like dumb, driven cattle !
Be a hero in the strife !

Trust no Future, howe'er pleasant !
Let the dead Past bury its dead !
Act,— act in the living Present !
Heart within, and God o'erhead !

Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time ;

Footprints, that perhaps another,
Sailing o'er life's solemn main,
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
Seeing, shall take heart again.

Let us, then, be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate ;
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882)

@Regular

The tamil movie was called "NaanKadavul" (means "I am God"). A very dark and hard-hitting movie. But hats off to the veteran director Bala for his boldness and making us aware of the lesser known worlds - those of Begger Mafia & Saadhus who proclaim themselves as Gods. When you come out of the theatre, it takes a while to come to normalcy.

"Life of 25 people" seem to be the pattern of the books I picked up this week. Be it "Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish", which discribes the struggle and success of 25 Indian entrepreneurs OR "Lasting Leadership", which tells the story of 25 global business czars. Both are interesting and different from each other - Will post more about it next week once I complete them.

Brands and Contradictions

@Random

Warning: Lots of references to Indian advertisements

A couple of months back, there were giant billboards in Mumbai - the Mom pours a packet of potato wafers which transforms and lands as oil in the kid's bowl. The caption said 'potato chips contain 25% oil'. Recently, all those billboards were replaced with Marico ads of 'Saffola Zest' with the caption "It's baked, not fried". Hmm, smart ad with a smart product placement - don't you think so? Yes and No. 'Yes' because it targets and lands well in the minds of today's consumers who can't get away without junk food, but feeling guilty of eating so. 'No' because there is potential for confusion - I can hear a consumer asking 'All through my life I have seen and known Saffalo as a cooking oil brand. Suddenly one fine day, you come and say that oil is bad. Isn't your oil used for frying?' Can you see the contradiction?

But is contradiction new Indian consumers? Let's take the case of popular Indian Brand ambassadors. Yes, the King Khan - He endorses the ultra premium Tag Heuer, then poses for the premium Bel Monte suits, the next moment he says 'Tanda Tanda.. Cool Cool' or 'Hai handsome.. hai handsome..' for Emami personal care products and for the Linc pens (the list goes on). Ok, let's take another example - Amitabh Saab. First, he makes the woman in swimsuit ogle at him (read as his premium Reid and Taylor suits), next moment he's selling Dairy Milk in a college canteen (yes, Pappu Pass Hogya!). Hmm, seems like what B-Schools teach is different from the real world - brand ambassadors have a personality and it needs to match with that of the Brand personality. Aren't these multiple personalities portrayed by the ambassadors contradicting with each other? Wouldn't it cause confusion in the minds of the consumer?

It has NOT yet. We have seen and enjoyed the same above-mentioned characters singing & dancing for the diametrically opposite "Main hoon Don" and "Pan-banaras-wala" songs. We still relate to them as actors and not as brands. We are just fine with that.

Having said so, I thought I would try something completely non-sensical: What if we replace the supposedly positioned as 'class' products with the 'Mumbai mass' products. Here we go..

• There is a custom of eating Vada Paav in Mumbai. You hold it firmly with two hands symmetrically.. open the bread.. feel the rich aroma.. have a bite.. take a pinch of fried green chilli.. It ends as: You just don't eat a Vada Paav. You earn it! (Original: Cadbury premium dark chocolate)
• [Context: Advertisements for alcohols are banned in TV, so the marketers do a smart job of promoting the brand using related products like music CDs. Suppose Mumbai corporation decides to ban eating pan in public places (with the objective of making the city clean) and subsequently all ads on pan as well. Pan sales crashes like Sensex. So, our Pan-walas engage a leading ad agency to come up with an ad to promote the consumption of Pan. The marketers find that there is high correlation between people who eat pan and those who drink cutting chaai (half glass tea). So the ad goes as follows..] The common man of Mumbai is just sitting at home watching TV, without having pan. Suddenly, a thundering sound. People are dancing outside, chewing something in their mouth.. they seem to relish everything.. It ends with the caption: Life is calling. What are you waiting for?.. Banaras Cutting Chaai. (Original: Smirnoff Cassettes and CDs)
• A series of Mumbai Local Trains go one after the other with people hanging not just around the doors, but wherever there is a bar to hold in the chassis. It ends with Mumbai Locals, Desh ki Dhadkan. (and the driver applies the brake) Dhak Dhak.. (Original: Hero Honda)

Mumbai mass is always a class apart. May be you can't just use adapted ads. You need to be innovative, at the same time comprehensible, short and to-the-point. But contradictions are fine! After all, we are Indians! :)

@Regular

The 'Emosanal attyachar' song raised the expectations for the movie "Dev D". I would say the movie was a bit of a disappointment. Yes, it was eccentric and bold.. and its way of portrayal of modern day Devdas was unique. But I expected much more humor than just the brazenness and alcoholism.

The book I was reading last week carried the title "Business Games" - thought it was to do with Game theory. But it was a verbose self-development kinda book. It wasn't path-breaking, nevertheless some of the core concepts were interesting:

• Not just in business, we just keep playing games everywhere. Most of the games are played within a frame - frames are our thoughts or the meanings we make. The frame or the context decides how we play the game. So, you can choose what game to play or how to play. So, play positive, life enriching games
• Meta thinking - thinking about your thinking, feeling about your thinking, thinking about the feeling you have for your thoughts - i.e. recursive thinking
• 4 access to our power - Thoughts, Feelings, Speech, Action. Take responsibility for all these - by Observing, Owning, Accepting & Appreciating.

Adieu to Attachment

@Random

Do your duty to the best of your ability, O Arjuna ... abandoning attachment to the results, and remaining calm in both success and failure

One of the well-known and much debated teachings of Gita.  Today, the immediate response to this from people: This is idealistic, impractical and non-sense. How can one survive without attachments? There is attachment everywhere - Relationship, Work, Wealth & Self - Dialogues like 'I love my work since I am so thrilled at getting the results',  'I hate this work, but still do it since I have to get this big house',  'You know, I am so much attached to my wife that I can't stand anything bad happening to her'. 

So, it seems fair to conclude that a non-attached life is equivalent of death. Hmm, Not exactly! 

First, let's try to understand why the so called 'wise' sages are hell-bent on non-attachment: As much as Mr. Attachment gives joy & excitement, he is skilled at pushing one to the other side of the coin. For example, if you are so attached with your spouse, let's say - when he or she goes through a pain, you will go through it as well.  Analogy is that of a parasite attached to the tree - when the tree is cut, the parasite suffers as well. Or let's say, you are attached to the poor street children & have a very good intent of helping them - But the their current state of affairs is so deplorable that you just can't do anything other than crying with them.  

But it is also true that one can't live without attachment since life ceases to have meaning without attachment. Hmm.. unless, may be, we replace Mr. Attachment with someone else, who could keep us moving in life, still not get us to the mire of sorrowful states. 

Ladies & Gentlemen, let's welcome, the one and only, the star of the attitudes, the never losing, the ever enthusiastic, Mr. Commitment! 

I think that's what Gita tries to say in the first part as "Do the duty to your best" - I think we just need to start saying "Committed to my spouse", "Committed to the friendship", "Committed to the roles & responsibilities of my job", "Committed to my employees", "Committed to the street children", "Committed to the country", "Committed to the peace" etc

May be, not just saying, but being!

@Regular

Expected another 'Rock On' from  Farhan Akhtar - But 'Luck By Chance' was a disappointment. Yeah, I have this predilection for fast movies, but LBC is way too slow for anyone. But yeah, appreciate the honest effort from Zoya Akhtar. 

Oh, I should tell about this place called "Manee's" in Matunga, Mumbai. For the Authentic-Tamil-food-sicken-Mumbai, Manees is a bliss. You would get rice & sambhar served in banana leaf with all kootu, poriyal & aviyal. It's not even 25% of the best southie food you would get in Chennai. But still, we enjoy it.

Last time, when I went home, I picked up a random book on Business games - I was reminded of the game theory taught in B-Schools, which I, like most people, enjoyed learning. So, started off with that book which explains them in the context of NLP.

Bonjour Bonjour Avalanche (Wk #04)

Hmm, seems like deadlines ought to be instituted and made sacrosanct for my blog posts. Going forward, 12 midnight Sunday it is!

@Random

'The progress of the nation at the perils of its politicians. And it's unfortunate that most of them are corrupt, dishonest, incapable & selfish' - the easy way Indians pass the bucks for any problem. Not to deny that, I thought 'Chuck the politicians, what's wrong with our Government officers?' - To that end, this post is dedicated to some thoughts on Public Service (PS)

Have you ever seen people preparing for IAS? The hard work, the commitment, the intelligence! They are some of the best brains in India. Not just IAS, but the officers working in departments such as Education, Infrastructure & City management, People welfare, Finance, Economic Development etc. If PS is not working well, there is something wrong in the system. I tried drawing the parallel with private organizations. The overarching root cause I felt for the problem is that Indian Government as a HR organization is failing miserably (I know you would complain that HR in your pvt organization is inefficient & dumb as well! But after working in a public service for a week, you would say your current HR is far more efficient and beautiful!). To get to the specifics:  

1. Poor Leadership

In public service (PS), if a leader is honest, predominantly his subordinates tend to be honest as well. So, there is this great china wall between honest and dishonest crowd in PS. Then there is capable vs incapable category. It doesn't take an IAS officer to come up with the following 2x2 matrix. 

(I know some people will have reservations reg. the choice of animals with claims such as the mosquitoes at their home is very intelligent and very very honest. Ok, assume a dishonest mosquito which doesn't repay for the blood it sucks and a creature incapable to escape even the blow of a hand or the one rupee coil. And for the animal activists, the post is not to demean any animal - I love / fear a mosquito as much as a lion - Both bite and suck your blood! Oh, enough of justification, let me get to the post!)

So, when the head of the department is a lion, the entire department behaves like lions. Some people hate to be led by lions or cows, as these animals expect their subordinates to be kempt as well. 

Ideally we want the PS to be an Utopian world full of lions - Neither the lord Brahmma who is touted as the creator nor the Indian Govt HR which recruited them made it possible. So, we need to be put up with other animals as well. 

One might think fox is the most dangerous of all, but contradictory to popular belief, it's the mosquito! A fox takes his share, but gets the job done partly. Irrespective of his cunning behavior, he has some stuff which makes progress possible. The cow wants to keep its hand clean oblivious of getting things done - could lead to possible exploitation of public resources. So, foxes could turn out to be better than cows. Actually, mosquitoes are differently capable - capable of making negative-development with all the public resources. So, the primary objective should be to get rid of them. As my consultant friend says, you can either kill them or move them from quadrant one to another. Morphing a mosquito to a lion may not be possible overnight. But moving them towards lion via fox or cow is not impossible.

2. Recruitment & Training Process is weak

Inefficiency, favoritism, unfairness, bribery and reservation are widespread in PS recruitment process. Yes, there are some reliable and rigorous selection process such as IAS / IPS. But the cadre below it have issues. The entire process need to be revamped. How about forming a forum / regulatory agency / industry body like SEBI, TRAI, CII to take care of the recruitment and training process in a fair and transparent manner.

Unused brain or bicycle, both will start rusting - need to be used and overhauled periodically. So,we need to make their jobs interesting, engaging and periodically provide training 

3. Lack of Performance Management

Oh, this is the most important reason for the very poor performance of PS. If my age matters more than the results I produced, I will snore at my office chair the whole day gulping the aging tablets. There needs to be handsome rewards for excellent performance. The PMS should separate the weed from the pulse. There should be pressure on the under-performers. There should be severe punishment for preaching the code of conduct. The HR department should act like the watchdog with which the mosquitoes and foxes dare to survive. I know what you are asking - how can this PMS be without politics and bureaucracy - we can't uproot them even in private organizations easily - Yes, it's going to be difficult, but instituting a PMS is lesser of the evils compared to not having it.

To summarize, our PS officers are not born mosquitoes, but more because of the systems and processes, which when revamped can go a long way in ensuring the next generation of growth for India.

@Regular

The dance in the beat Prabhudeva

The beat in song is DSP

The girl in the groove Nayanthara

And to rock the floor Ilayathalapathy

Feel like dancing? I felt so when I watched the tamil movie Villu. But my Mom felt like sleeping. In night shows of action movies, she sleeps happily in the last 1 hour. But Villu was far more efficient in making her sleep in the first half itself. While returning from the movie, I asked 'Ma, do you remember what happened in the movie?' To my surprise, she told me the entire story. I asked 'I saw you sleeping. But how?' She replied with her usual smile, 'I was awake for the last 10 mins. The villain gives the executive summary of the movie!' I continued 'The movie was so noisy, how did you manage to sleep?' She replied 'The movie is no different from others - 5 sequences of dance followed by fight followed by heroic dialogues. It feels more heavenly to sleep than being awake in the hell' Oh, too much to tell these to a Ilayathalapathy fan! I quite liked the dance sequences. Vijay's foot never seemed to be in ground - be it dance or fight sequences. A 100% vijay movie. Give it a miss if you ever hated him or his movies.

Got to visit City of Sentamizh and God's own country. Hey Kerela, you always mesmerize me with your lush forests, winding roads, cool backwaters and the beautiful women. Kochin was no different. Quite an interesting place! Got to see a different marine drive.

Oh, how can I miss telling about the book I read - The Great Indian Novel - Shashi Tharoor's intellingent and funny blind of Mahabharata with modern Indian history. Absolutely brilliant! Not that it's a page turner (esp. for people who hated 'social science' subject in school days), but was quite exciting, humorous and thoughtful. A definitely recommended reading! Now curious to read the original version of Mahabharata by Rajaji. Also, picked up the novel 'Critical' by Robin Cook.

Individually Poor, Collectively Rich (Wk #03)

@ReelNReal

The book "We are like that only" was quite an exciting read. It gave some simple but unconventional & wow insights about Consumer India. The author Mrs. Rama Bijapurkar, gives two compelling take-aways

1. Develop 'Made for India' strategy. Dont try to replicate your global strategy here. Reasons being (a) India is a bundle of contradictions - Any truism about India is negated by another, (b) Schizophrenic India: The pattern of many Indias becoming many more Indias will continue, (c) DNA of Indian society is "This as well as that"
2. Dont ignore Consumer India just because it's complex to understand and difficult to execute in. She is affirmative that Consumption in India is certain, even if people are abysmally poor. She calls it "The Great Indian Number Trick" - i.e. Individually poor, but collectively rich. Couple of humorous quotes, "Consumption is like maternity, a certainity. Income is like paternity, merely a matter of inference."; "Consumer India is like a drunken man - 2 steps forward, 1 step sideways, 1 backwards. But eventually, he will be back home"

This blog is not just to give you the summary of the book. Nor is to recommend you to read the book [Though given a chance, I would do so ;)] - The catchy phrases "Individually poor, collectively rich" & "This as well as that" just stuck me. I tried to recollect any personal experiences. Here it goes:

• Share Auto* - People wanted the convenience of getting dropped near their home and probably the convenience of sitting while traveling. Public transport is less frequent and have limited stops, but private auto-rickshaws are way too expensive. Came the Share Auto Service! Frequent. Convenient. Affordable.
• Self Help Groups - The successful emergence of women SHGs and Micro-finance is a clear case in point. Banks and organizations which once ignored them have started taking notice. Yes, not as strong as a lion, but garner strength through the group of cattle
  
• Amman Pongal - This is prominent in Tamil Nadu, if not everywhere, definitely in villages and semi-urban areas. For the less-informed, it's a yearly celebration for the small Goddess idol kept in every street - residents pool in money (as small as 10 or 20 rupees) for the festival and get a sense of it being THEIR function. One can't imagine such a fanfare from that kind of population. True indeed, collective richness!
• Surf + Wheel - I remember when I was a kid, the product Surf Excel was considered very expensive but works well with washing machines. My parents used to use 1 spoon of Surf Excel and another spoon Wheel in the washing machine. Yes, innovations started happening in Indian households before the R&D labs of Unilever.
• Chota pack - The miniature version of everything! From shampoo to coke to vodfone. The packaging innovation helped mineral water, which was considered only to be served for the rich, reached poor through 'Water packet'. Indian housewives buy vegetables on a daily basis. Everything is cut, sliced and made affordable. An interesting piece here is the triangular coconut slice (It's a different story that its size get reduced when the moms send their sons to the shop ;))
• Organized Retail - Who said organized retail is untested, unworkable with Indian poor. The famous Saravana Stores in T.Nagar, Chennai is on par and at times ahead of Wal-marts of the world when it comes to operational efficiency. Quite true that Kishore Biyani himself acknowledges it for being inspiration to Big Bazar.

Yes, Indian mass wants choice, quality at affordable prices! Perplexed at how everything is possible? Yes, possible - Where there is Will, Skill and Brill! And if Rama and CKP are to be believed, the Thrill is guaranteed!

--
*Share Auto - Bigger size autos used in cities like Chennai - it allows people to board or alight at their desired location. Fares are marginally higher than public transport.

@Regular

I thanked the Almighty for being 30 mins late to the movie Chandni Chowk to China! Expected it to be a laughter-coaster, rather it was a crying-coaster - The poor Sidhu of the movie gets sentimental with every damn thing - from potatos to his step-father to his girlfriend to her dad to Liu Cheng (if you are curious to know who this is, watch the movie!). I am sure the Cricket Siddhu would have made us laugh a lot better than CC2C's!

The Ferry ride @ the Gateway of India, the reopened Taj Palace & Towers and the bustling streets of Colaba, InOrbit mall - Yes, finally.. I have spent time in these much-talked about places after being in Mumbai for 6 months. The queues and the crowd really made me think are we really in a slowdown.

I think the thread and the theme continues - another book on India. 'The Great Indian Novel' by Shashi Tharoor is next on cards!

Have a colour-full life (Wk #02)

@ReelNReal

Was wondering why the side walls of the railway tracks (of Mumbai locals) are painted in maroon. Similarly the lower portion of train coaches. Came the answer when I saw the lower portion of a bridge being coloured naturally in maroon color thanks to the beings called human. Yes, welcome to India, the land of Pan-lovers.

Colours! Some people claim content is more important the colour. Yes, absolutely! What matters is how good the tea is than the colour of the cup. Still, one can't defy the importance of colours in our life - Many a times, colours become the content. As we know, colours have 2 angle to it - scientific and emotional.

The science of colours is really amazing. Different colours have different properties (such as frequency) that helped scientists to make many discoveries - e.g. to guess the composition of a galaxy or planet by analyzing the missing colour (which ought to be absorbed its atmosphere) of the spectrum. The reason why an object is red is a bit counter-intuitive: It's red because it contains all colours except red (To be scientifically right: It absorbs ALL the other colours and reflects red) - So, next time when a person reflects "good deeds", don't just blindly go by that :P. The industry which has benefited hugely from the scientific improvements of colours is entertainment - from B&W movies to stunning colourful movies - makes one believe that it's worth spending 250 bucks for a single movie.

But what makes colours more appealing to everyone is the emotional angle. We know of wars in the past due to skin colour and still the differences are not completely rooted out. Colours have the power to emote different feelings in us. It could be different for different people - age, sex and culture could play major role. A kid chooses jazzy colours - lemon yellow frocks, pink gowns, bright blue pants - I have seen Moms telling to kids "no, it's not a nice colour" - who defines 'Nice', I would say. Men get embarrassed when associated with pink. Some people have a strong preference / liking for a colour that they would invariably use it for everything - Blue shirt, blue bag, blue desktop theme etc. Some people go with what general public likes - what others feel beautiful, stylish and appealing. A mix of the 2 extremes would be good.

Different colours stand for different purposes. "Go Green" is the mantra for environmentalists. White stands for peace. Black stands for expressing opposition / condolences. Red stands for passion. Yellow stands for New/bright. Blue stands for cool. This reflects in how people want to paint their houses, offices and commercial complexes.

Another interesting area where colours are heavily analyzed is products and branding. Marketers ask this question frequently 'Shall I change the colour my product to improve sales?' Advertisers want to register in consumers' mind through colours. Red is coke and Blue is pepsi - marketers have succeeded in registering this in people's mind. You and I won't believe how much companies are spending on getting the colours right for their logo and branding.

With so much beauty being evoked through colours, it's definitely worth to wish a person "Have a colourful life!" I wish you the same!

But are colours just meant for eyes? What would different colours mean for say, a blind person. I think his higher perception capabilities of other senses might help distinguish colours - Just that he might not know what we call as red is red. I am sure he would have a colourful life as well, probably not in the literal sense of ours!

@Regular

• Saw: Madagascar 2 - Complete fun for 89 mins that we didn't realize that the movie got over. Man, I should tell you, the penguins are way too awesome!
• Read(ing): We are like that Only, the book by Rama Bijapurkar, saying Indian consumers are not about logic, rather magic!
  
• Visited: (a) Kyber @ Khar - L^2, the infamous drink, dance and chit-chat night of IIMB was replicated at Mumbai - We couldn't replicate the campus atmosphere, neverthless it was good fun. (b) Noodle Bar - Good place for people fond of Chinese - You gotta make the noodle of your choice - You can't blame the restaurant for it not coming out well (c) The 'Croma' @ High Street Phoenix - Made us wonder when they are going to break even!
  
• Met: The other day when I was getting back home, saw the posters "Remember Hanuman, Vote for Monkey", "You like Milk? Vote for Buffalo", "For Auspcious prosperity, vote for Elephant"- I couldn't look at the details of the poster - I just thought that the college elections have gone innovative and felt like laughing for the moron who chose Buffalo and Monkey. Last week I realized that it was the new and interesting campaign to save tiger. What I missed in the posters is the tag-line that follows the voting request - "Vote as the NEW NATIONAL Animal" - Last I heard, this has created quite some buzz in colleges and malls. You can check out the website of the 2 energetic brains behind this - http://www.sproutsenvttrust.org/ and if you want to vote, follow this link. What I quite liked about their idea is the whole angle of positiveness to their programs. Also, met a lot of old friends this week.
  
• Quote of the week: A leader sees a leader in everyone
  

Never give unsolicited advice (Wk #01)

Mr. X said cheerfully, 'Happy New Year!'
I replied 'Thanks! Wishing you the same. Have a great year ahead!'
X continued 'So, what are your new year resolutions?'
I replied 'Nope, I didn't make any'
X immediately said, as if he is Columbus' Akka Purushan (Bro-in-law), "Yeah, right. What's the point? People eventually break all resolutions!"

World full of 'X'es! ;)

I have inherited a bit of do-it-when-people-say-you-can't attitude from my dear friend P. Yes, I am going to make a resolution! Weekly blog! (that's why the title "Wk #01"!) - The resolution is to get an unbeaten half-century i.e. "Wk #50" by end of 2009.

It's a resolution trying to prove wrong that resolutions are invariably broken. I wanted concrete answers for the 'What If I ..' questions viz: (1) Am not in a mood to blog (2) Am really busy (3) Run of topics (4) Feel that it is completely useless to blog (to me and others) (5) End up in an eventuality like getting ill

Out of the above four, personally, I found #1 is the most difficult to handle - Just reminded of what my friend K says "Be committed to your word, not mood". The answer to solve #2 & #3 came as: Have 2 sections in every post - @ReelNReal (like the current posts - any Random topic under sun), @Regular - very brief update on what/whom Saw, Read, Visited, Met during the week. #4 is ensured, since I resolve to write only interesting / useful / funny stuff. The regularity helps me to be more disciplined and do more of meaningful things. No point discussing #5 - Make-up posts if required.

Ok, time to get into the post..
----------------------
@ReelNReal

Lets get to the topic of the post: Advice! Something people find it easy to give, tough to listen to, tougher to accept and toughest to practise. But it's absolutely interesting to read what advices inspired the most successful people, the words of wisdom which made them keep going irrespective of all odds. Business Today (Jan 11 issue) has a nice cover story titled 'The Best Advice I ever Got' for 60 successful Indians (mostly business-men). Here is a summary of the most interesting advices:

1. Son, One of every 10 men who are born in this world, 9 men work for the tenth. Prepare yourself to be the tenth - Jamshed Irani, Tata Sons
2. Reach for the stars, but always keep one on the ground - L N Mittal, ArcelorMittal
3. Whichever decision that will give you peace of mind and help you to go to sleep peacefully in the night is the right decision. Listen to your conscience - Seshasayee, Ashok Leyland
4. Results matter, efforts don't - Jignesh Shah, MCX
5. Shreya Marg & Preya Marg (Beautiful & Difficult path) - Choose the difficult path, since it leads to your desiny, while beautiful path is a destiny in itself; Believe in the present and do justice to it - Prasoon Joshi, McCann
6. Follow Your heart. It's better to go wrong on your instincts than on someone's else's - Aamir Khan
   
7. Never take more than 1 risk at a time - Venu Srinivasan, TVS
8. Take your work seriously, but don't take yourself too seriously - Piyush Pandey, O&M
9. Ultimately, management is common sense - N Sankar, Sanmar
10. Invest in people, empower them - Harsh Mariwala, Marico
11. Every problem can be traced back to failure of Management & Leadership - Akhil Gupta, Blackstone
12. The most important principle in life is humility and conservatism - Uday Kotak, Kotak Mahindra
    
13. Understand your true strength - M V Subbiah, Murugappa
14. Poor know a lot more than us - Vikram Akula, SKS Microfinance
15. Live and Let Live - Venugopal Dhoot, Videocon
    
16. Go with your Gut - Malvinder Singh, Ranbaxy
17. Be fair in life, work and relationships - Deepak Puri, Moser Baer
    
18. When you allow yourself no choices and risk everything, the survival instinct in you will bulid up an obsessive passion. It'll give you the courage to be successful - Dilip Chabbria, DC Design
19. Share the credit for success, take responsibilty for trouble - Madhavan Nair, ISRO
20. First know what you really want from life - Aditya Puri, HDFC
21. Every failure opens up a new Vista. Learn to fight failure with a spirit of challenge that will make you stronger - Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Biocon
22. Have total Shraddha (involvement, devotion) - Gopinath, KingFisher / Deccan
23. Do what you really love doing, and nothing less than 200% - Chetan Maini, Reva
24. You have the right to the actions, not the fruits of it (from Gita) - Harsha Goenka, RPG
25. Trust your intuition - Gautam Adani, Adani
26. Reinvent the wheel - Sivakumar, ITC
27. Remain focussed in times of crisis and use it as an opportunity to become stronger - Shantanu Prakash, Educomp
28. Surround yourself with the best people and set them free - Raghav Bahl, Network 18
29. And finally, the title quote - Vinita Bali, Britannia
    

I tried to group these. The winning categories are 'Facing Reality' and 'Knowing & Following your heart'


Ultimately what makes the difference is not knowing, rather practicing. :)

@Regular

• Saw: Ghajini, Slumdog Millionaire - Both are must-watches
  
• Read(ing): The Theory of Everything, Stephen Hawking - Collection of his lectures on the orgin and probably the fate of Universe - Good for anyone interested even a bit in Physics / Astronomy
  
• Visited: (a) Newyorker Restaurant in Chowpaty, Mumbai - Isn't my personal favorite, but good for people who love pizzas but getting bored of Dominos and Pizza Hut (b) Kurla, Mumbai - Got to witness some of what I saw in Slumdog
  
• Met: 2 New people, each with an interesting conversation

Bye, Have a good week ahead! See you next week.

The Theory of Convergence

Frequently, I stumble up on the question "Is there an Ultimate Truth?" - I am sure I'm not alone here.

Few schools of thought on this rather intriguing question:

1. There is ultimate truth (UT). With our limited comprehension in various fields, we come up with infinite theories, beliefs & hallucinations. We claim what we think of as UT is indeed the UT. The spectrum of this interpreted UT is wide: Love, Music, God, Selflessness, Family, Friends, Work, Fun, Work, Booze, Joy, Pain, Awareness, Service, Sex, Money, Inventions, Making-a-difference, Death, Sleep, Universe, Being, Self, Commitment, Integrity, Power, Happiness, Success, Patriotism, Peace and 'I, me and myself' - to name a few. People have freedom - they choose their UT, which in turn gives some sense of meaning to their life.
2. There is nothing ultimate or truth about 'Ultimate Truth'. This is simpler of the two thoughts since (a) it's too common that people of first category shift from one UT to another in the passage of their life, which in principle, defeats the definition of 'Ultimate' in UT (b) It's always simpler to deny something and ask for proof than proving.
3. The third and last group would say that we really don't know.. May be that UT is intentionally left unanswered, since answering would end the struggle and joy of living. It's like a thriller - who would be interested in watching if the story including the twists, plots and the end is known? Out of the 3, this is the safest and simplest.

Like many of you, I had (am having) been through all the 3 schools at different times. Only the third state makes it possible for one to be through the 3 possibilities. Though it's the simplest, human beings never stop and settle for simple things. We always ask "What Next?" We would like to explore, seek, know and eat the apple.

I started thinking of the pillar areas, we human beings analyzed, tried to understand, have shown interest so far. Through our reading, listening, thinking and experiences, we lived and believed in all these areas through out our life - not just our generation, but millions of them. That made me feel that we can find out the Ultimate Truth based on, what I would call, the Theory of Convergence - If there is something that all the pillar areas could converge to, that would be the UT. Yes, the convergence of Science, Business, Spirituality, Arts and Society. Pictorially, something like this [Ok, excuse me - This's definitely not an insightful piece of venn diagram - Just decided to include a picture for the first time in my blog ;)]


Yes, it's not that easy to find the convergence, given billions of population with trillions of ideologies under each area and zillions of conflicts and battles among these areas. Yes, traditionally there been more fights and incongruities than convergence among these pillars - E.g. the fierce fight between science and religion, the incompatibility between society and business. So, is it possible at all to find the one that binds all these areas? Can we get a genius who discovers the deepest insights that could potentially connect all the dots?

Let's HOPE we find. Let's HOPE we get.

Year End Comparison - RNBDJ Vs Ghajini

What kind of stupidity is this? Comparing Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi (RNBDJ) and Ghajini? Where is the connection? Both are different type of movies - completely different genres, story, heroes, style, narration. One is 'Ghar Ka Khana' and another is 'Feast with all masala'. You will compare just because they got released in the same month and you managed to watch them both? What the hell is that?

Yes, I understand your concerns. But let me tell you, irrespective of its differences, there are few similarities in the movie - Let me explore them in this post:

• Memory Loss Effect: In Ghajini, it's apparant - Sanjay (Aamir Khan) suffers from Short-term memory loss. In Rab Ne, it's very subtle - The girl Tanni (Anuksha Sharma) suffers from permanant memory loss - yes, someone who can't remember her husband's voice or face
  
• Terrorizing fights Effect: In both the movies the heroes fight difficult villains. The fights are way too violent and terrorizing. In Rab Ne, it's a humungous and gross sumo fighter who is made to fall on the floor in a single flow and in Ghajini, with a single blow, he makes everyone hurl and fall on the floor.
• The Duality Effect: In both movies, there are 2 different versions of the same person. The girls in both movies get deceived of the true identity
• "Shake Shake" Effect: (Courtesy: McDonald's commercial) The heroes shiver and shake in both movies. Suri (Sharukh) in his usual style makes his hands, lips, face and entire body shake, shiver trying to deliver very emotional dialogues (Yes, girls went crazy and shed the tears whose magnitude could solve the water problem in India). Sanjay was shaking his head vigorously frequently (yes, camera man / editor had to do it so that people can understand that he's getting confused and not remembering anything)
• Old Daddy Effect: The heroes get to romance with girls of their daughters' age, some call it grand-daugther. (I can hear my N.Indian friends saying "what the heck? Your southie heroes romance with great grand daughters" :P) But it's good fun watching them - Tremendous effort from both given their age
  
• Pani Puri Effect: Did you notice? Both the heriones take heroes to pani puri shop
• Girly-2-wheeler Effect: Yes, the guys had to sit behind the girls in the two-wheeler tricks, chases and stunts
• Lady Teacher Effect: The girls teach the heroes. Tanni teaches Raj to dance. Kalpana teaches Sachin (Aamir) to act.

This list is just indicative - We can go on just like this. Let me conclude with the last, both movies managed to have a good paisa vasool, bring smile to the producers (though it's not guaranteed for viewers) - ultimately, that's what matters no?

Ashtavakra Gita

Came across Ashtavakra Gita. It's supposed to be the conversation between Rishi Ashtavakra (Yes, he is the one who listened to Vedas from his mom's womb as per mythology) and King Janaka - containing some of the core teachings of Vedanta in a lucid manner. A bit abstract, but really short and sweet. Some seems too Impractical and Instructional, but still worth giving it a try since some of them are truly Insightful. Don't ask me more about it - Like you, I am pretty new to these.

Some excerpts from the poetic translation:

To be free,
shun the experiences of the senses
like poison.
Turn your attention to
forgiveness, sincerity, kindness, simplicity, truth.

A single understanding:
'I am the One Awareness,'
consumes all suffering
in the fire of an instant.
Be happy.
You are unbounded Awareness'
Bliss, Supreme Bliss

He who is unattached,
untouched by opposites,
free of desire,
experiences neither pleasure nor pain
as events pass through.

When there is no 'I'
there is only liberation.
When 'I' appears
bondage appears with it.
Knowing this,
it is effortless to refrain
from accepting and rejecting.

Realize Self in All and All in Self.
Be free of personal identity
and the sense of 'mine.'
Be happy.

One who abhors sense objects avoids them.
One who desires them becomes ensnared.
One who neither abhors nor desires
is neither detached nor attached.

The great soul
remains poised and undisturbed,
whether in the presence
of a passionate woman
or observing the approach of his death.
He is truly free.

One who knows Self,
whose mind is serene and spotless,
does not desire to give up anything,
nor does he miss what is not there.

Having had enough
of the endless workings of the mind,
the wise one comes to rest.
He neither thinks, nor knows,
nor hears, nor sees.

The mind of the liberated one
is neither troubled nor pleased.
It is actionless, motionless, desireless
and free of doubt.

The liberated one
does not exert effort
to meditate or act.
Action and meditation just happen.

Depending on nothing,
one finds happiness.
Depending on nothing,
one attains the Supreme.
Depending on nothing,
one passes through tranquility
to One Self.

When one realizes
he is neither the actor
nor the one who watches,
the mind-storm is stilled.

In short, the great soul
who has realized Truth
is free of desire, enjoyment and liberation.
In all of space and time
he is attached to nothing.

Goals

We are getting to the end of an eventful year. Every news paper and news channel is busy with covering 2008 - Terror attacks, Economic turmoil, Olympics & Cricket everywhere. People would be ranking whether the year was personally a blockbuster or mediocre or disaster. Few would be working on resolutions for 2009. That stuck me to think on its remote cousin know as "Goals". To be more specific, I was thinking whether one should have goals or not. If you feel "What a silly question - If you want, have it, otherwise leave it. What's there to think about it?", you are not far - closer to how I might conclude. ;)

First, coming to "why this question?" I believe answering this question could fundamentally change the way we live our lives. I think there are 2 different ways of living: (1) Take life as it comes (2) Have goals and constantly strive to achieve that. A bit of clarification here: Under #1, there are 2 sub-categories: (1a) Be open to opportunities that life may throw at you and give your 100% (1b) Be a lazy irresponsible bum. Obviously, (1b) is out of any discussion here. The fight is really between #1a and #2. In some sense, it's like the classic fight between Fate (call it Karma / God / Luck / Fortune / Universal plan) and Intelligence. Supporters of Fate say 'Everything has been planned out in detail for you - You just execute it honestly'. Advocates of Intelligence believe, ‘It is stupid to think that someone decides your destiny. You and you alone plan and execute everything.’

Let me take my personal example. Some of you, who know me, would be surprised on why I talk about Fate, since I 'come across' as an ambitious person. (Looks can be deceiving ;)) Let me tell you, my best of, what they call, 'achievements' happened not by absolute planning and meticulous execution - but more through opportunities and by enjoying what I was doing. On the other hand, there are many instances where I had set the goal "A", but ended up getting "B" - Too many examples in this category: Targeted IIT, but went to CEG; Yearned for top US Schools, but worked for Trilogy; Envisioned to be a great coder, but excelled in management and the IIM gates opened (literally got B over A here!) Thought I would die for this one girl, but was reborn anew. Similar story with job. But on hindsight, I think it is best that B has happened to me than A – E.g. Had I got what I initially targeted for, I wouldn't have experienced the great life of Trilogy and eventually an exciting career in India. Thanks the entire Bs! Some of the happiest days of my life had been when I took life as it is - giving 100% to whatever opportunity that pops up. So, as I see, there are 2 issues with setting goal:

• Figuring out what is the right set of goals for oneself – Most people say 1000 things on what their dad / kid should do, but can’t go beyond half a dozen when it’s intended for them – typical conversations like “I really don’t know what’s good for me”, “will I be able to do this”, “this is not for me”. Or that people become too greedy and end up setting too ambitious goals which don’t make much sense later
• Second, we forget about living the life when the focus shifts solely on the final objective - it's like a mirage - you constantly run behind something - there is never an end to it.

Let's now take a U-turn to explore the other side.

From childhood, we have been encouraged to have goals / ambitions and almost all motivational books suggest us having goals – Don’t think so many people can be collective idiots. Tam saint Thiruvalluvar says Ulluvathallam Uyarvullal (Means “Think Big” – oh, nice caption for Mr. Anil Ambani!). They say aim at star to shoot at the sky and fortune favors the brave. Going back to my personal examples: Who knows, I got "B" just because I tried for "A" and / or that I didn’t give my 100% for A. Also, it might be short-sighted to architect our lives just based on past. Life is like a stock market - one can't predict tomorrow based on yesterday - Everyday is new. Apart from my personal example, I think there are few reasons why it makes sense for everyone to have goals:

• Goals help one to stretch himself.. to bring out his best. So, if not for personal reasons, goals might be good for the progress of the society at large. Many people who made great discoveries and improvements had a great vision or an ambition.
• Goals are somehow related to one's personal, professional, financial or societal developments. So, it's difficult to skip them - You need to have goals, unless your goal is not to have goals.
• By nature, human beings are desirous (if not greedy), want their ego to be satisfied, want recognition (both self & others), need a sense of contribution / doing work, prefer being in control of their lives - Having goals could tie all these.
• For many people, though having goals may not be the best way to go about, there is no other better way - Life is not generous enough to always throw things at us - not having goals or aspirations could lead to boredom, desperation and frustration. For most people, life could be difficult and clueless without proper direction in the form of goals.

Ok, do all these mean we have no other choice but have goals? Of course, NOT. It all finally boils down to our values and how we want to live our lives. In fact, most people spend more than half of their lives trying to figure out what life really means. I think life is nothing more than what we say it IS. If one says life is all about "Peace", he can choose to not have goals and be content with whatever he has. If you define it as "Success", have tones of goals and go about accomplishing them all. If life is all about "Happiness" - It's a mixed bag - some people are happy about doing something, for others, it's doing nothing. The list can go on. Just would conclude with 2 points (a) We can do whatever we want, unless we regret later in our life for doing / not-doing something (b) One can keep an eye in the destiny, but still enjoy the treasures and pressures during the journey.

So, are you going to have goals? Irrespective of whether you are have it or not, have an awesome year ahead. :)

Mumbai - A week of transformation!

Mumbai. What a transformation within a week! From a passive, helpless city TO an active, WE-CAN-attitude city. The leader-less, organization-less, promotion-less pure-citizen-based initiative of yesterday - mobilization of thousands of people near the Gate way of India - with people expressing their views - It was simply electrifying to be part of the crowd.

Like most others, I also felt it was just an emotional pouring or a spam, when I first got a random SMS from a friend last Sunday. But it was totally IN-ACTION yesterday. People shouting to their core - "Bharat Maatha Ki.. Jai", "Vande... Mataram..", "We want... Action" etc. The environment of huge mobs carrying posters ranging from "Enough is enough", "A'chut'han", "Vote for 49'o", "We want justice", "No Security, No Tax" etc. Flaunting the tri-color flags was scintillating. I wrote and carried a A3 poster with my favorite phrase "ONE India". We didn't forget to sing our national anthem with atmost sincerity. I could imagine how the freedom fighters would have felt!

Till yesterday, I used to wonder whether people protesting like this could make any REAL difference - Yes, people make their point - it also looks good to say to your friends that you have participated in it - that's it - everyone would go back to normalcy after a week. BUT yesterday definitely gave a different HOPE. The rage people showed on politicians - the way they are becoming aware of things happening around them - the way they call others for action - the way they get into action - all are really promising. If not great leaders emerging out of it, they are getting prudent enough to chuck ch**** out of the system. The politicians can't take it for granted that people are dolls who will just dance to regionalism / ideologies OR dogs which will run for the bone they throw. People want Justice, they want Change, they want their Tax to be used properly, they want Security, they want a Justification of the official post. And most importantly, they didn't just stop at asking what the politicians can do for the country, they discussed what they can do for the country. That is REAL difference.

The other day, my friend referred this long but thoughtful article on why poor countries are poor. In line with that article, no doubt our politicians have a played a major role in keeping this country in a pitiful state irrespective of its great resources. Hello... Our dear politicians, please Jaago Re. We have woken up - You can't keep cheating us! If we make a mistake in electing a wrong person - we shall throw him out and find a new person. In a country of 1.2 billion people, we are not short of leaders! Hey Joker, if you can't truly deliver what you promised, make way for others! These thoughts were reflected in the entire crowd.

Before I conclude this post, I just wanted some concrete ideas for a cause. It was great to sing the national anthem together in a group - Reminds us of our nation and our patriotic feelings - Reassures that we are ONE India! Mumbai does a great deal by having the national anthem played (in screen) in theaters before a movie - ensuring that we think of the nation at least for 0.8% of time we spend on the movie. In fact, I was so happy looking at the level of respect Mumbaikars give when it's being played - standing still, either singing or remaining silent. It's definitely a great deal. Now, the question is: How can it be done nationally?

Yes, I was told, it used to be played in theaters earlier, but was stopped after the reasoning that people are not respecting it properly - Seems like they reasoned it "Better to not have it than disrespecting it". Yes, point taken. But that's not a solution - it's like "When people don't follow the traffic rules, I will remove all traffic signals" - My comparison may sound extreme - But the point is simple: For anything and everything, there will be some dissidents. Why care about them? Think of the positive impact it could have. Even if it's one person, it's worth it. I also presume people's attention would go up with the latest inspiring visuals in big screens (yes, thanks Bharatbala).

Ok, let me come to the action part. It can be made possible in 2 ways - make it mandatory (through Government) OR inspire the theater owners to take action. Yes, the second solution may not be very sustainable in long term. But in any case, to make it happen, we need the buy-in of all the stake-holders: Government - State & Central, Theater owners and People. Few quick top-of-the-mind ideas. If you have any ideas / suggestions to make it happen, please comment.

• Theater owners: Target cities first - the multiplexes are more organized - Few owners to target - Through the top management or its board of directors, try to influence companies like INOX, Adlabs and PVR. Even if one makes its mandatory in ALL its screens in ALL cities (Yes, it will get a good PR for the Co. for doing it), others will follow it. Pretty soon, I believe, small theaters would follow - Not doing it would be not just a lack of respect for the nation, but the fact of being left out of the big league.
• People: Media can play a huge role in it. Some NGOs and volunteers can chip-in to create awareness.
• Government: Yes, Government Ji, if you implement it, i'm sure you can put it in your "List of achievements". But how can we influence you to do it? But.. Please don't tell us we need to BRIBE you!

Will post an update when I make that difference.