Quo Vadis?

It’s been a while since my last post and when I look back I see quite a lot has happened that warrant a mention. So here it goes in no particular order: 1. Got a forward from a colleague and being a real sign of the times, many people in USA woke up to another bank that ceased to exist. Wall Street is the new Fall Street and all those who once envied its lofty heights are rubbing their hands in glee at the depths it has reached. Brings and old Red Indian saying to mind, “What goes up, must come down”. What is indeed sobering is that this is not an isolated case and many top shot companies may cease to exist if they don’t correct their courses… 2.Saw an absolutely gripping F1 race yesterday. The Singapore experiment seemed to be a big success and a big part was the absence of rain. Also it showed how team work can work wonders. We had Nelson Piquet Jr. crashing into the wall and handed the victory though not on a platter but somewhat closer to his team mate Alonso. With all due credit t...

The other day I saw a post box. Now, there was nothing remarkable about that post box to warrant a second glance but I couldn't help myself. I looked back and thought when was the last time I actually posted a letter. I guess it must have been in Pondicherry when I was doing my MBA. Back then we were so cut off from communication that the post box was the best friend for poor students like me. In those days mobile phones were a luxury I could only dream off and only the cream of the lot had one. I remember vividly my classmate and good friend Jonah sitting on the terrace of our hostel trying to catch a clear signal so that he can talk to his folks living in Uganda. The others like me had the option of walking two kilometers to the nearest phone booth and if that was closed hike, take a bus, cycle or whatever means possible to get to the nearest PCO (remember those?) 3-4 kms away from the campus. Every incoming call to the hostel was an event in itself. But since this p...

The theme of the call-in show was “Generation gap – does it exist today?” I thought of calling in and giving my point of view but sadly I was too late. Anyway debating the topic in my mind I came upon this insight that I thought I will share it with you so. I believe that the most important responsibility for parents apart from bringing up children, providing for them etc is instilling values in the children. Value systems are the building blocks to character which is probably the best heirloom that children can inherit from their parents. So there will be a generation gap if value transfer stops. But it is very fashionable to take trivial things as the basis for generation gap as it exists today. What people take to be a generation gap is often the different metrics people use for the same values. Values are fundamental but I think everyone can have his or her own metric to measure the values. My parents instilled values in me but I can see before my eyes how they measure the same val...

It’s been two whole weeks since I last blogged. It’s been even longer since I received a visitor or even a comment on my page. Maybe my writing standards have dropped or maybe others have improved while I have stagnated. I think it is time to start blogging again, because in my blog I can be just me. I do not have to be politically correct nor must I try to balance the feelings, sensibilities, responses, expectations of those around me. At some point of time being selfless is self defeating in itself. Of late life in isolation does not seem to be a bad thing after all at least in good doses. I have realized that often the best solutions to problems come when one detaches himself from the problem and analyses it rationally. But either I am too emotionally attached or I just cannot seem to be rational. Rationalism by itself can be so cruel. If failures are the stepping stone to success, I guess I’m ascending a very long staircase. Why do we climb such high staircases when we know that w...

The inevitable happened yesterday. I’m talking about the fire that ravaged a part of one of the many death traps in Chennai. This trap which goes under the named of Saravana stores like many others of its ilk are grotesquely ugly multi-storied buildings that are built with scant respect for the laws and rules of the land. These buildings have neither fire and other disaster safety mechanisms nor simple things like a fire exit or even worse windows. The damage from this fire is estimated at 1.5 crores, peanuts when you view in perspective of the business done annually. What is disturbing is that money power has tied down the legal and government machinery here. Unlike Delhi where on the strength of the Supreme Court verdict, mass demolitions of unauthorized constructions went on till politics intervened. Sadly nothing will change, despite this accident and all the hue and cry it raised. Why? Simple, nobody died. Down the ages someone had to die for others for any good to come about. It ...

Two things happened yesterday that will stay in my mind for some time. First: I was on my way to the part time MBA class (I was going to teach) I had to cross the railway gate at Tambaram Sanatorium. Like many other crossings on that line this one also will be shut for long periods. Anyway when I saw the drop gate closed I pulled up my bike and started to wait. As usual there were so many who ducked beneath the gate and went across the tracks on foot or on two wheelers, many often chatting on their cell phones. Parents’ handholding their kids and showing them how to cross train tracks added to the absurdity of it all. In some time there were a few other motorists who pulled up alongside and waited for the gate to open. I was happy to see that in the midst of all this law breaking madness there were still a few who believed in self discipline. Suddenly a delinquent sporting a big moustache tried to muscle his way through and started screaming at all for blocking the way. The bike rider ...