Puneetkumar Pattar

Vaatsalya Hospitals - A Case Study on Modern Healthcare #ApolloTouchingLives

noreply@blogger.com (Puneetkumar Pattar) — Sat, 18 May 2013 07:29:00 +0000

In 2004, a phone in Malaysia was ringing. The owner of the phone observed that it was an unknown number from India. On picking the call, “Hello, am I speaking to Dr Veerendra Hiremath?” The brain was making every possible effort to decode the voice, “Ummm, Yes.” The caller, “Hey Veero… This is Ashwin… Ashwin Naik…” There were spontaneous exchanges of pleasantries as the mind wandered down the memory lane exploring those lovely days these two had spent at Karnataka Medical College, Hubli, now KIMS, almost a decade ago. Veero never knew what was in store after this call or that this call would change his life forever.

The two got down to business talk in the coming days. Ashwin proposed the idea of setting up a hospital network in Tier-II and Tier-III cities to Veero. Veero was delighted as he had been aspiring to do something like this ever since his college days. Off late then, he had been looking at Preventive Healthcare space to get his entrepreneurial journey started. On a couple of occasions, he took a couple of steps ahead and then, took them back. This time, it was different. Veero decided to resign from his job, return to India and get going with Ashwin to set up low cost hospitals in certain urban areas. While some thought he is perhaps too stressed out of his job and wants a way or a reason to get out, some others thought that it was absurd to do something like this. There were some who also thought that there could be a ray of hope but the sun doesn't shine too much in these parts of the nation. Perhaps, this was exactly why these two wanted to explore these parts. In the coming weeks, after a lot of brain storming, Veero booked his flight back to India for good.

Neither of them knew that they were in for a ride to touch a million lives. Today, Vaatsalya Hospitals (now Vaatsalya Healthcare), defining itself as A Private company promoting health in rural and semi-urban areas of the country, is the preferred destination for medical services at numerous locations. Leading magazines have referred Vaatsalya as a pioneer in healthcare services delivery in semi-urban and rural India. The All World Network featured Vaatsalya in 5th place in their list of India Fast 25 List published in 2010. Vaatsalya is a recipient of several awards including Frost and Sullivan Award for Healthcare Excellence in 2010, Sankalp Award for Healthcare Inclusion in 2009, LRAMP award in the enterprise category in 2008, BiD Challenge India in 2007 and many more. Vaatsalya provides affordable primary and secondary healthcare services across eight districts in Karnataka and three in Andhra Pradesh. Vaatsalya is currently managing 800+ beds, making it the largest low cost hospital chain in India.

A lot has been written, spoken and heard. The Vaatsalya story has been telecast several times in several TV channels. IIM Bangalore did a study on Vaatsalya and the same, further, featured as a case study at Harvard Business Publishing. This is a story about real human beings who took a bold decision to provide medical care with affection, in line with the meaning of the word Vaatsalya, to fellow human beings. Vaatsalya’s story is known to the world. When Ashwin & Veero speak, everything sits to listen to them like if it was a fairy tale. I felt the same when I sat with Dr Veerendra Hiremath (Veero), the Chief Operating Officer, who spoke about Vaatsalya's ideas, vision, future plans, business and entrepreneurship. It was too hard for me to believe. How could something so significant like Vaatsalya pop up successfully merely due to vision, plan and action? Is a good business model all that you need to succeed, in India?

I decided to take a dig into the micro story. It took a lot of time for Veero to come down to the micro level as he has been used to give interviews over the last couple of years where the general talk is about the economy, population, healthcare, governance, statistics, etc. Finally, he was digging into his memory lane to tell me what exactly happened. The Vaatsalya story, unheard, was soon in revelation.

In 2004, after Veero returned to Hubli, India, both Ashwin and he sketched their plan on a sheet of paper. A deep down analysis showed that there is a definite lacking of healthcare facilities in many towns in India. It was also learnt that most large hospitals are set up to treat the complicated medical conditions. People visited a clinic or a small hospital for primary healthcare treatment. Some basic information about prospective locations, the population, existing hospitals, services, etc. was studied and they decided to take the first shot at Gadag considering that many people from Gadag and nearby places traveled to Hubli for treatment as Hubli some fine hospitals. The initial capital was equally contributed by them and they realized that it does not suffice even half of their requirement to just get started. The obvious route for them was friends and family. Considering Ashwin worked in the US for a long period and Veero had a good number of friends abroad, they appealed emotionally to all of them. Money started flowing in. With a total of about $0.12 million (Rs 60-65lacs) in the bank account, Vaatsalya was ready to take off.

It was not a very difficult task to incorporate the firm, get the required permissions, lease the space and get started. When they decided to buy the property in Gadag, the price quoted consumed more than half of their seed capital. Strategically, they thought, "Let’s buy the property, mortgage it to the bank and get loan on the property. Thus, we would not be running out of cash." After due diligence, they decided to go for it. In the process of registration, they saw the other side of the world, which many see each day, for the first time. Whenever and wherever land is involved, India and Indians get more excited than usual. The land registrars discovered an unusual discovery and put the transaction on hold. On inquiring around, it was learnt that this is a regular yada-vada that should be answered with the required greasing. In the process of elucidating this issue, there were many lessons learnt, the hard way. It was resolved that, no matter what it takes, Vaatsalya would not be built on anything wrong.

Veero studied at ASCI, Hyderabad after MBBS at KMC. He never practiced the profession of a doctor. After ASCI, Veero worked for the Hinduja group managing numerous hospitals. Further, he worked in Malaysia with Medicom (which later became iSoft and now, IBA). His expertise in building graded hospitals was exemplary. For obvious reasons, he took over the ground process of setting up Vaatsalya, the land, the building, the premises, the equipment and the likes. In line with Ashwin’s expertise, he took over the responsibility of HR, administration, communications, etc. However, the duo handled everything that they could and this demarcation became visibly active only recently. Veero recollects, “We were like mad bulls, cocky people, chasing everything that it took to build Vaatsalya. Like with any startup, Vaatsalya became our life. There was nothing to look back. Conversely, there was also an unknown fear within us at times that we were unable to decipher. However, we kept running. Whenever I had any problems, he was there for me. Whenever he had any problems, I was there for him. Life went on.”

The Gadag registration issue did not seem to end. It now seemed that the Hubli project nearing completion and would ideally begin operating before Gadag. It happened.

In February 2005, Vaatsalya began its operations in Hubli. All was well. Things moved as per plan. Vaatsalya had some unique services to offer and believed that these would drive patients to their premises. 24x7 healthcare services in most small towns are unheard as the clinics/hospitals are run by individuals/family of doctors. The Government Hospitals ensured that someone, PG students in most cases, manned the hospitals at night and thus, they could be considered shut though the lights said otherwise. Further, it is a general trend that hospitals avoid admitting serious cases for various reasons that include unavailability of required equipment/facilities as well as the unending legal formalities that the hospital, the individual doctor personally in many cases, would have to do in case of a death. Vaatsalya began 24x7 services and due to availability of equipment and resources as well as willingness to do whatever formalities by, may be, making an employee responsible for all such interactions, Vaatsalya accepted most emergency cases and treat them. From a business point of view, there was a lot of stress due to these cases as a number of resources, including human, would have to work meticulously to get the result. Soon, it was observed that the cases that were hitting Vaatsalya after visiting 3-4 hospitals started hitting in the 1st or 2nd instance. Unknowingly, Vaatsalya was becoming the preferred destination for medical services for thousands of people. Nothing works better in a business involving human values than referrals.

Soon, doctors at Vaatsalya were seeing a good number of referral cases including some from other clinics. There were some flaws, for sure. One such example was that, unlike retail outlets, the glossy finish of the building was shying away people from entering the hospital assuming the hospital is expensive. It took them a lot of effort to change the perception through advertisements, referrals, contact programs, health drives and various other initiatives. The numbers were not very good but these were the only ones. The roses continued to shine but there were many unseen thorns and stress continued.

There was no respite in Gadag. Catching a bus to Gadag in the morning and returning to Hubli in the evening with a sorry state of affairs had become a routine. Vaatsalya could not give up on the project as a lot of capital expenditure had already been incurred. Veero says, “Honesty is very expensive in India. That’s the reason why someone who has lived with honesty is always the most valued in the long run of life.” Things worsened. It was not about money anymore. Time, energy, patience, sensibility, everything was running out. It was time to take a final decision. They could not let this continue as it was impacting operations at Hubli as well as causing delays at Karwar, the next destination in line. Experienced elders suggested, “We told you that it would take a bit of compromise on whatever you boast as ethics. Your work would have been done on the first visit itself. In Rome, behave like Romans do.”

There was silence, a long one. Veero spoke, “The worst that could happen 5 years from now is that I could still be travelling between Hubli and Gadag like I do now requesting the officials to do the work. Even worse could be that I will lose whatever Rs 20-30 lacs that has gone out from our accounts. I am ready. I don’t want to spend sleepless nights all life thinking of the wrongs I did to build Vaatsalya. I would rather sleep peacefully accepting that I failed.”

Environment makes people. What an apt quote! In Rome, do as Romans do. For someone who has spent his childhood, the learning years, at a school like SSBJ, severing values is worse than anything else. A man who has spent his life with honesty, integrity and truth is a true success in himself. He doesn't need to do anything to prove his success more than holding his head up and walk in the crowd. “The school days were wonderful”, says Veero, “For me, even today, it is disbelief that we had teachers spending almost 18 hours a day with us. Can you even imagine doing this for someone? At 5.30am, we had our hostel superintendent ensuring we get up, have a cup of tea and reach the ground. At 6.00am, we had our PT teachers jacking us off. From 7.30am to 1.30pm, our classes run. At lunch, teachers accompanied us. At 4.00pm, they played basketball, volleyball, football, hockey, cricket, etc. with us. At 6.30pm, they would join us in the evening preps. At 8.30pm, they would be there at dinner. After dinner, they would stay back for an hour or two to help us in our studies. The next day, they are back. It literally shakes me up when I think of this now though I never felt anything unusual about it when I was in the school. The system is designed to build people. We have been built for the good. If not for the school, I would have been nothing today.” Indeed a strong statement. Conceivably, I had dug Veero too deep down the memory lane. He continued, “They cheered us at all competitions. The house spirit was not just a student affair. Unknowingly, we have learnt the true meaning of competitive spirit. We would be the worst of enemies on the ground. Back to the class, we became the best of friends. Unknowingly, our minds developed ahead of our age. We became our own support system. Sometimes, I read such stories in novels and I feel proud that I have lived this phase of life. By the time we reach 12th, we were, like, done with life. Today, I am blessed with the giant additional family. This is the greatest gift of life.”

Miracles do happen. After Vaatsalya resolved that they would not give up the Gadag fight on the previous night, one such miracle happened. The next day, when Veero reached the office, things had changed. The file went through. Vaatsalya bought its first hospital premises. Incidentally, it is the last one too. Miracles, generally, do not have an explanation. It went through just as easily as this. One important business lesson Vaatsalya learnt from this saga is to stay out of the business of real estate. It sucks time, blocks money, stresses nerves, trashes hopes and kills plans. Moreover, from cash flow point of view too, owning a building did not make much sense compared to paying the rents that were cheaper in these cities. Vaatsalya decided to either takes buildings under construction where they make changes as per their requirement or takeover existing hospitals. Vaatsalya began operations at Gadag in June 2005 and at Karwar in October 2005. “Even a moment’s distraction in the Gadag decision would have caused a lifetime’s guilt for Vaatsalya. There is God. He tests you. He helps you. He is always there for you if you do the right things. Today, we stand as an example to the world that one can strive, survive and drive business with clean hearts, minds and hands.”

3 hospitals were up and running. They didn't realize early that they were burning cash in the expectation of generating revenues. Full time doctors were hard to come. Consulting doctors charged a bomb. The Karwar project ran like a clinic, the Gadag project ran like an OPD and the Hubli project ran like a Daycare hospital. The experimentation with these 3 business models was on to learn the pros and cons. All of a sudden, Vaatsalya had become big. The salary bill went up, admin costs went up, rents went up and all these hollowed a dent in the Profit and Loss account. Things were running out of control and they realized that there is a need, now, to form a team and set systems in place. After some planning, things were put in order. These were mostly internal to Vaatsalya like the procedures, processes, work flow, reporting authorities, responsibilities, etc. There was a sigh of relief. However, in the course of working on urgent problems, the most important problems lost their significance. Soon, these conspired to create a panic. There was no more money in Vaatsalya’s bank account.

Problems become panic when you face them unprepared. Veero was average in academics but fantastic in sports and extra-curricular activities. After SSBJ, when he landed in KMC, he was in a state of panic. From being a lord of the rings, he felt like a frog that jumped out of the well. Seeing some of the brightest academicians as his classmates made his medical life hopeless ever before it began. There was a cultural shock. To beat all this, there was new found freedom. However, he could take control of the situation as well as temptations. “No matter what kind of life comes, I can take it and make things work. After all, I have been built for life. I wholly believe that the past cannot be changed, the future cannot be seen and the present is all yours.” says Veero.

Vaatsalya mortgaged the Gadag property with SBI for a loan. The line of credit was the first and the last lifeline that Vaatsalya had in this game. The plan to build a network of hospitals was appearing shaky. There was not a single rupee of profitable business transacted over the past one year at any of the hospitals. There was neither a ray of rope. Generally, hospitals break even in 2-3 years but they show some symptoms in terms of revenues as well as expenses, which was not being seen at all. The shrinking effect caused huge stress. At a business discussion, someone told, “Medicine business is not a joke. The way you are doing it, you will never make money. Close down now before you are forced to. Save whatever you can and run.” These words came in as a reaction to Vaatsalya rejecting a proposal to buy medicine from a vendor offering kickbacks. It appeared like the vendor was right.

In 2007, Vaatsalya exhausted SBI’s line of credit. It felt like you were just chucked off from the hot seat on 'Who wants to be a Millionaire?' and all that you earned till now is strapped off. Veero was there for Ashwin. Ashwin was there for Veero. Two cocky people mad at their passion, cohesive forces and a rush of unfound enthusiasm. Some phones across the world started ringing. To their surprise, there were more people asking for the bank account number than asking for the cause of this situation. “Luck plays a great role in life”, acknowledges Veero, “Today when I look back, I question myself, How did this happen? I mean, I was selling someone something that never existed. When I look at it now, I feel, I would not have considered investing it myself if I was in their position. While it was not so difficult for me, Ashwin faced a lot of problems this time in raising funds. He even went on to draw some funds from local money lenders on high interest rates. We had no other go. We didn't have money to pay the salaries or for any necessary expenditure at the hospital. The beds were unoccupied. Our calculations had gone haywire. People were taking too long to switch over to Vaatsalya. We could see change happening but at a frustratingly slow pace. We decided to stay on.”

Veero started developing an inclination for the hospital at Gadag. He started focusing most of his time there. On observing the day to day activities, Veero felt that there is a need to install an NIC here. He claimed that this could be a game changer for Vaatsalya. Due to various constraints, financial and otherwise, there was no decisive action taken. In the meantime, Veero met Preeti. The intuition to install the NIC was so strong that Veero pulled out Rs 5 lacs on his own front and installed the NIC on August 26, 2007. On September 26, 2007, Veero married Preeti. On the same day, the NIC was running a full fledged capacity. The hospital’s monthly turnover jumped from Rs 1 lac to Rs 3 lacs and today, it churns close to Rs 30 lacs a month. “Look, here I come. Your good time has begun”, chuckled his wife. It was too true to believe, for him then and for me now. Veero says, “It appeared like the most foolish, the stupidest thing to do but I did it. Sometimes, intuitions are too powerful. This is one decision that has stood by me ever after.”

Veero realized that there is a need for a scanning center at Gadag. Considering that Vaatsalya has no plans to do it, Veero embarked on a new journey to set up the Gadag Scan Center. He got in 68 doctors to associate with the center. In December 2007, Gadag Scan Center was live. The pace was just unbelievable. However, after a few months, Veero moved out of the board of Gadag Scan Center as Vaatsalya needed 100% of time. “2007 was a significant year for me. I was doing so many things at a time. It was great fun stretching beyond limits. It was the toughest year of my life and the best in productivity terms.” said Veero and coincidentally, his wife walked in to the home. This is not a fairy tale.

Soon, Vaatsalya was in news as it won a couple of prestigious awards. The financials were improving. The pace of new walk-ins rose. In April 2008, Avishkaar and Seedfund funded Vaatsalya with $1.5 million and this was a great breather. The expansion plans were back.

Vaatsalya started looking at many other cities across Karnataka. This time, they focused more on existing hospitals that could be bought and re-branded The big question that came up was, “Why would an existing hospital sell itself to Vaatsalya?” Nobody was able to find an apt reason. Soon, they guessed that there could be some doctors whose children might not be in the same field and thus, there could be a question on succession. Even if they decide to sell it to another doctor, the goodwill would never pass on as these hospitals were more famous due to the doctor than the name of the hospital. Other doctors were unwilling to join as it was a family business or they would have their own hospitals. It is a fact that practice and maintenance are two different activities and many doctors faced this problem of managing on both fronts. Vaatsalya decided to go ahead and put a word to see the response. In any case, there were only a few hospitals in each city were on their radar. Different approaches like meeting the doctors directly or through a common friend, organizing a Doctors’ Day and inviting all doctors in the city, etc. were followed. Things started to move. In one case, a doctor running a nursing home got a proposal in the evening, he called up Veero, they met at dinner and the deal was done overnight. In some cases, the discussions went on for more than 6 months with no serious results. Vaatsalya’s rebranding service agreement not only made these hospitals neutral entities but also carried forward the goodwill and other doctors were now willing to join. By the end of 2008, there were 10 hospitals under Vaatsalya.

Yet again, Vaatsalya had become big. The turnover had jumped from Rs 1Cr last year to Rs 5Cr. Vaatsalya was grappling with too many issues. The team had grown haphazardly big and aggressive. Ashwin and Veero were taking too many calls for too many issues that could have been resolved without their involvement. For a moment, Veero felt that they are losing out. They had been working 24x7 with no Diwali, no Eid, no Christmas and no new year. Operational difficulties were on rise. They discovered that most of these were permission related queries. It was decided to delegate responsibilities, restructure the team and stabilize growth. They started working on the ground to find ways and means to improve revenues by offering better facilities. Vaatsalya’s approach towards building facilities has been a game changer for them. Instead of offering facilities that all the hospitals already had, even though there was a good margin, they decided to offer facilities that are not available at other hospitals. They observed that there are no Dialysis facilities in Bijapur. People would either go to Solapur or Belgaum or Hubli for the same. The same was the case with Bagalkot and Gulbarga. The patients would travel every week to these cities and it added more to their pains. A patient, on facing a kidney failure, would have no hope of survival due to these issues and this loss of hope had become a bigger problem. Vaatsalya was gung ho with the plan. A critical life supporting treatment was made available at economical price of Rs 1000 per sitting against a price of Rs 2500 at Bangalore. The equations of the game were changing and this time, the odds were in favor of Vaatsalya.

Vaatsalya observed that there were significant numbers of cases of premature birth, low birth weight, etc. Thus, there is a need to have these children under observation for some time. Most districts did not have the facilities. In line with the objective, Vaatsalya started Neonatal Incubator Care Units (NICU) that has been another game changer in the growth story. Pediatric services were introduced. These services coupled with a transparent billing system grabbed attention and Vaatsalya started earning tremendous goodwill. So much that in a couple of complicated pregnancy cases, parents named their child ‘Vaatsalya’ expressing their gratitude to the doctors. “That day, I felt, I had made a difference”, says Veero.

Today, Vaatsalya has become a referral center for small areas. The degree of goodwill that Vaatsalya has earned is tremendous. Whenever there is a medical emergency, it has become common to say, “Vaatsalya bhej do!” meaning, “Go to Vaatsalya”. With a turnover of Rs 80Cr in the previous year operating at an EBIDTA margin of 12%-15% at hospital level and 3%-5% at the company level, Vaatsalya is a VC’s dream deal. Today, Vaatsalya faces the macroeconomic problems that all the hospitals in India face. A large number of patients in these areas have no health insurance, one major reason for corporate hospitals shying away from these areas. In most cases, the patients sell their assets or take a loan for surgeries. There have been numerous instances where the family gives a green signal for the surgery considering the criticality and Vaatsalya goes ahead and post surgery, the family declares that there are no funds. The low occupancy rates have also been a cause of concern from the business point of view. Vaatsalya continues to fight these issues like every other hospital in India.

Large plans are on way at Vaatsalya. With more funds coming in from VCs, the doors have been opened to explore opportunities. Veero has now taken up a project to set up Vaatsalya Training Academy that is supposed to train nurses on management skills, communication skills and other required skills. Veero says that nurses are the backbone of a hospital. He says that these skills can be learnt by them in 3-6 months. Today, nurses do whatever the doctor tells which is good in some ways and harmful in other. A general understanding of the system would help them take better decisions and contribute in the delivery process. Small matters like asking for the payment, breaking a bad news in the right manner, etc. go a big way in maintaining a favorable environment at the hospital. A lot of ideas have been flowing in to create the best low cost hospital network in India. From 17 hospitals under its cloud today, Vaatsalya aims to have 40 hospitals with a consolidated turnover of Rs 200Cr by 2014, a goal that doesn’t seem too impossible. Above all, Vaatsalya continues to touch thousands of lives each day helping them become better. That perhaps is the greatest source of happiness and inspiration for Ashwin and Veero.

It goes without saying that India needs more and more Veeros and Ashwins who can give us many more Vaatsalyas. Apollo Hospitals is undoubtedly another leader in providing superior healthcare services in India. Fortis, Manipal, Max and many others are doing a yeoman service in the space of medicine. Most of these hospitals have also been promoting and helping poor people to make use of facilities like the Yashaswini scheme, Rashtriya Swasthya Bhima Yojana, etc. while they are treated. All the organizations have to work together to ensure that the focus continues to be on ensuring a healthy life among people. We need many more initiatives in the field of modern healthcare. The time is not far when entrepreneurs will realize and we might see healthcare facilities mushrooming across the nation just like the way we saw an education revolution, gym revolution or the e-commerce websites revolution. Modern Healthcare is Touching Lives and I sincerely wish that the healing goes on forever.

Health is a state of complete harmony of the body, mind and spirit. When one is free from physical disabilities and mental distractions, the gates of the soul open.

B.K.S. Iyengar

This blog post has been written exclusively for Apollo Hospitals and IndiBlogger under the 'How does Modern Healthcare Touch Lives?' initiative. All the content on this post are an outcome of my discussions with Dr Veerendra Hiremath (Veero) who is an alumni of my school, Sainik School Bijapur. All images and illustrations used in this post are sourced from various websites owned by other individuals/organizations and I have no claim over them. Wherever required, on request, due reference could be added or the image/content can be removed. Apollo Hospitals is doing a wonderful work in the field of healthcare innovation and modern practices. I was thoroughly impressed when I read about the cutting edge technologies that the hospital has been providing. I encourage you to read more at http://www.apollohospitals.com/cutting-edge.php. I always feel that if India has to be able to be a healthy nation, it can happen only when healthcare becomes affordable, accessible and simple.

BJP pays price for mismanagement of Karnataka

noreply@blogger.com (Puneetkumar Pattar) — Thu, 09 May 2013 05:06:00 +0000

Long ago, I heard a politician quoting in a TV show/movie, "Yeh politics humko chod do. Yeh sab tumhare bas ki baat nahi hai". Today, I feel that the people know politics far better than what the politicians claim to know. Politics, after all, is the most discussed subject among Indians.

The games of power are not merely played by the politicians. The politicians are like the cricketers on the ground, expected to perform for the nation/team. When they don't, the crowd still supports them. When they cheat, the crowd doesn't take it. When they show ignorance to the crowd's expectations, the crowd knows how to respond. There are some great players who get cheered in spite of their performance. There are some other players who get battered despite of good performance. These are IPL days and we all know how it works. In politics, its the mid finger that finally decides. It gets inked to decide the fate of the politicians, once in 5 years.

There are numerous reasons and speculations on the loss of BJP in Karnataka. While some explain this as the weakness of BJP, some explain this as the strength of Congress. However, one should remember that when people vote, they don't vote based on campaigning. If it was so, I guess, none of the major political parties would come to power. The way smaller parties like Loksatta campaigned, it was touching. When a person educated in IIM Bangalore comes and tells you that he wants to enter politics and bring about a change in the nation, you just give in. But then, it doesn't happen that way. What drives the people when they finally press the button on the voting machine is how their life has changed in the last 5 years. It is the holistic experience over this long period that makes a common man take his decision.

When power is not used responsibly, be sure you will lose it

Now, I wouldn't either call this as a loss of BJP or the win of Congress. I would call this as a victory of common man. The common man has told finally that, "Here, we can do it". What makes me make this statement is that the Congress won Karnataka with absolute majority. I wouldn't call it a people's victory if we had to again fall into the ditches of a coalition Government where the Government itself won't be certain of its future, forget the people or state's future. I am neither a supporter of Congress party nor an opponent of the BJP/JDS but I am a strong supporter of people who want to really bring about a change. Now, every politician says that he wants to bring about a change. Who do we trust? Either All or None. To bring about a change, you ought to have enough power to pass a bill or to take an action. When you are uncertain about your power, in a coalition, how do you bring a change even if you wish to. All the 5 years of the Government goes in safeguarding the seat and all the 5 years of the opposition goes in pulling the legs of the Government. Karnataka has been prone to these daily doses over the last 7-8 years.

Its NOT the Yedyurappa Factor

Apart from these generic reasons, there are some other reasons that have brought about a change in people's mind. I don't think its because of Yedrurappa to a large extent. Because, even if he had to stay, BJP would still lose the election, considering the total votes of BJP and KJP. Now, if Yedyurappa had led Karnataka in the right spirit, the story would have been different. But then, his entire tenure was lost in safeguarding his seat. Even the JDS is responsible in some way because they never gave a chance for the CM to do CM's work by continuously making an attempting to break the Government. There was a continuous movement of politicians from one party to another. At so many occasions, the Government was down to its knees. Its all a known story. Now, if people were really upset with Yedyurappa and happy with BJP, BJP should have ideally won because Yedyurappa in not anymore a part of the BJP. Yet again, its the holistic experience the people had that made them say, "That's it"

The Women uncomfortable with certain events

Urban voters, mainly women, have been expressing their griefs as they were attacked by moral police on several occasions. No matter what the reason is, a man becomes a transgender when he hits a woman. In fact, being the major promoter of the concept of respecting women, it was sad to see the same people attacking women in Mangalore and other places. Even the RSS played a role in spoiling the image of BJP in the long run. May be, the BJP also understood this point towards the election days and that's why BJP promised a longer night life in Bangalore to woo young voters. Now, in AP, the Andhra Congress has decided to ban women from pubs after 10 pm. I don't know what's right and what's wrong. I am only stating that these are some reasons for votes to move from one party to the another. When people take money for votes, it doesn't appear wrong to ask for a good life, like in so called advanced nations. Its more about the feeling of freedom than culture. Its that people want this for them. Utilizing the freedom or not is their option.

People know what's Drama and what's not

You can not undo all that you have done in 5 years by bringing an influential face for a day. Ultimately people know that Narendra Modi will not lead Karnataka. One of the biggest problem of today's political chaos in India is that the people do not want Congress in the center and they also do not want other parties in the state. In simpler words, people want BJP (NaMo) to lead India but do not want BJP in their state. This is the greatest dilemma in our nation. While this is the greatest weakness of BJP that their leadership doesn't go well in the states, it is the greatest strength in disguise for the Congress stay at the center. No fringe benefits or cash giveaways can get you votes. It is a well known fact that people take all that you give and vote for whoever they want. That's true India. It is also for the leaders to understand that all those attending their rallies, speeches, etc. are not their supporters. A large number of them are looking for some free entertainment to spend time or looking to have that free food or drink after the rally or speech.

You've time till 2018 to prove yourself

Finally, one ought to remember that in May 2008, it is the people who said, "Enough" to other political parties and gave BJP a chance to work towards growth and development of the state. The BJP won the 2008 election with a historic 110 seats and Mr Yedyurappa was the poster boy. Same way, the Congress has now been brought into power by the people with the hope that they will do something. This time, they have been given such a strong majority that they don't have to worry about remaining in power for the next 5 years. The people are hoping that their leaders will not have to worry about their seats and thus, can work for the people. If the Congress doesn't perform in line with expectations, people will answer in it in 2018. People can merely trust leaders and bring them to power but the unfortunate part of it is that the leaders forget it after coming to power. The people are merely asking for the state's growth and development. They are not even asking something for themselves. The Congress has to keep this in mind and I seriously hope that they start taking required initiatives to make Karnataka a better place to live in. And on the other hand, I also hope that the BJP/JDS will introspect, take corrective steps, work for the people and be strong contenders for the 2018 elections, rather than going the "Let's pull the Government down" way.

Positive politics is still a Distant Dream for India but I sincerely hope that this election result gives a wake up call to all our leaders to work towards the tasks for which they are hired/paid/elected, "Growth of the State, Development of the Human Capital and a Better life for the citizens." On a lighter note, people would not bother much about your scams or loots as long as you are also working for their progress...

Remember, With great power comes great Responsibility!!!

Hair Hair Everywhere, Not a Single on the Head... #TRESemmeRampReady

noreply@blogger.com (Puneetkumar Pattar) — Tue, 07 May 2013 12:20:00 +0000

As the world grows on the industrial lines, there are apparent signs of diminishing healthiness among individuals. The world that we are headed in to is less green and less clean. While the instances of life taking diseases like cancer, heart attack, etc. are on rise, there are also some diseases like obesity, hair loss, diabetes, etc. that are catching up with us due to our lifestyle changes. We don't get to eat a lot of good food because all our food is made up of either wheat or rice. Nobody has time these days to look at other cereals, vegetables or fruits. There is a buzz of a healthy lifestyle across the globe now that promotes following practices that are considered healthy, spend on quality goods, consume nutritious food, exercise especially yoga and de-stress/rejuvenate regularly.

Hair Loss - The No. 1 Cause of Worry among Men

Though the exact reason for hair loss in people is difficult to establish, as it varies indefinitely from person to person, a large number of surveys have established that hair loss is a major cause of worry among men. What men forget is that this worry itself is another stimulant for further hair loss. Hair loss now ranks ahead of obesity as well. In our preceding generation, men would generally start losing hair in their forties. However, in our generation, it begins in the twenties. A large number of hair loss treatments have boomeranged and many company have mushroomed to treat this disease in the last 5-6 years. Yet, reading the reviews of these treatments, it is clear that none of these have worked in most cases. Switching over to a healthier lifestyle remains, by far, the best answer to healthier hair.

Unfortunately, or not?, there is hair across our body. The hair is healthy and at most times, at most parts, it is unwanted too. All we need is hair on the head but it grows everywhere else in the most perfect manner. I have been pondering on this from a long and yet to find any strong answer that could convince me. Its like the water on earth, 71% of surface of earth is covered with water and yet, not everyone gets good water to drink.

Water Water Everywhere... Not a Single Drop to Drink...

Hair Hair Everywhere... Not a Single on the Head...

Getting Ramp Ready with TRESemmé

TRESemmé has been making hair related products for over 60 years. After providing solutions for hair care in 25 countries, TRESemmé has entered India with its basic product portfolio namely, Keratin Smooth, Smooth & Shine, Climate Control, Hair Fall Defense and Styling. The company was started by a high-profile hairstylist Edna Emme, who's name inspired the brand name, TRESemmé. While the company's claim that some of these products have been especially formulated for Indian Hair impressed me, what did not impress me is the point that I couldn't see anything on offer for men on their website. Of course, it might have missed my eye. But then, this is a common trend across the industry that the beauty products are customized for women. After all, its women who are beautiful. Men are merely handsome. Even the youtube page has tips for women to get ramp ready and men are not in scene. Men have been ignored in grooming segment and that explains why we are not Ramp Ready. Even if we did, it would not be our hair that we flaunt. When men go for a hair cut, there are definitely hair being cut. When women go for a hair cut, you don't know if the hair were cut or some hair were being patched. Sam Ewing rightly says, "Inflation is when you pay fifteen dollars for the ten-dollar haircut you used to get for five dollars when you had hair."

Classical Hair Moments in India

Indians by default are addicted to cricket or to bollywood or both. There is definite trend of some Indians slowly getting addicted to other things as well but our basic DNA is perhaps built to love cricket and our bollywood stars. I often remember some moments when I think of hair.

A classical composition "Na Jhatko Zulf se Paani, Mera Dil Toot Jaayega" by Mohd Rafi. These are certain evergreen songs that we will continue humming forever. It is also interesting to observe the simple hair styles these actresses wore those days. Yet, the beauty of their hair was so lucid. That is the major reason why they say, "No beauty equals Natural beauty". Another classical composition "Yeh Reshmi Zulfein, Yeh Sharbati Aankhein... Inhe Dekhkar Jee Rahein Hain Sabhi..." also talks about how hair has an impact in the overall outlook of a lady. Indeed it does. There is no need for any evidence for this. A mere sight tells all the story. Martin Luther says, "The hair is the richest ornament of women"

In those days, when there was no Sunsilk, All Clear, Pantene or TRESemmé, these evergreen beauties depended on, may be, natural products like Shikakai powder, herbal shampoos, amla, etc. The technology has far advanced from then and today, we have numerous hair care products from shampoos, oils, conditioners that offer close to natural remedies to products like certain pills, capsules, etc. that claim to support the hair follicles from within the system. Companies now clearly distinguish between the contents of all their products to customize them to the hair type. Scientific advancements have enabled stripping off of these products into finer contents like Vitamin H, Silk Proteins, Keratin, etc. and then combining them to formulate solutions to different types of hair problems.

From the days of Mohd Rafi to the days of Aamir Khan, the hair care industry took a significant change. The bollywood beauties now had access to superior products and that perhaps made Aamir Khan sing, "Kaali Naagin ke jaise Zulfien Teri Kaali Kaali, Sagar ko Moti aur Suraj ko Tu deti hai Lali", to impress upon Rani Mukherjee.

An amazing ad comes to my mind when I try to recollect the hairy moments. This ad by "" where the lyrics take a little pause to tell how the hair is a trouble in the lady's outlook. "Chehra Hai ya Chaand Khila hai... ZULF... ZULF... ZULF..." and then changes to "Zulf Ghaneri Shaam Hai Kya... Sagar jaise Aankhoan wali, Yeh toh bata tera naam hai kya..."

My experiment with TRESemmé - The Many Faces of a Woman - Courtesy the Hair

As I browsed through some videos on TRESemmé youtube page, I was amazed at how dynamically a lady can change her look merely by changing the way she styles her hair. I did some further research to find even more evidence. As I could not find anything to do with my hair, I thought I should at least do something with someone else's hair. I couldn't get my hands on Deepika Padukone but I could definitely google out some images that show her in different hairstyles. In some cases, its difficult to believe if its here, especially if they are from her photo shoots before entering bollywood aka the kingfisher days.

While the first image represents the hair in a typical European style, the second image makes her a desi girl. The 3rd adds an urban look while the last one combines modern style with a traditional twist.

Yet again, these 4 images give a totally different perspective of the person in the image. One make you call her beautiful, the other might make her look average and one of them contains an ugly look as well. "Hair brings one's self-image into focus; it is vanity's proving ground. Hair is terribly personal, a tangle of mysterious prejudices.", Shana Alexander says.

The vintage looks compared with the simple girl from a village looks, the airport runaway look compared to a little ugly look at an ad campaign. Hair does it all. Hubert de Givenchy said in a Vogue issue of 1985, "Hair style is the final tip-off whether or not a woman really knows herself."

And the typical Deepika Padukone as we know. Long, beautiful, gleaming, steaming, flaxen, waxen or whatever. Hair definitely plays a great role in the way we look. As far as men are concerned, the mere presence of hair reduces the apparent age of the man by several years. There is nothing more despicable than a bald man who pretends to have hair. One has to take care of hair in order to ensure that it lasts long, strong and stays on with us.

Here's how Anne Hathaway looks in different hair styles. Incidentally, I read that TRESemmé has been the official hair care sponsor of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in New York for the past eight seasons, with top fashion and celebrity stylists using the collection to create gorgeous, fashion-forward looks for the runway.

The Steps to Get Ramp Ready

One can search the internet for a million tips on how to have great hair. So, I am not going to write about that, about ways to comb hair, mixtures of various fruits, vegetables, etc. to be applied, soaps and shampoos to be used, etc. From my personal experiences and interaction with people, I have the following points to convey

Stop Smoking. Now, Right NOW. I have observed with enough evidence that people who smoke tend to lose hair quicker than those who don't. In fact, hair loss is a small problem that arises out of smoking. There are many other dangerous outcomes that we all know. For sake of everything in your life, mainly the hair on your head, kick the bud away forever.
Stop Worrying. Start Living. Doctors, honest ones, say very clearly that there is no definite solution to hair loss except synthetic solutions, wigs or hair transplantation. For natural growth of hair, there are no answers in this world. In case your hair isn't coming back, don't worry. Worry will only make you lose more hair. Hair follicles have a life span of 4-5 years. Keeping yourself cool will ensure that these grow back in the long run.
Consume a lot of green food. Add more green leafy vegetables into your diet.
Check if the hair loss is due to hereditary reasons. If so, the advise would be different. You have to take it from a hair specialist only.
Follow the Baba Ramdev's method for better hair. There are many people claiming that it is one natural way that works.
Either use natural products for hair wash, styling and growth or use only high quality products from hair experts. I was browsing through some products on TRESemmé India's website and they look good. Interestingly, I see product description, prescription as was as process of using the product on their website in a simple language. TRESemmé has dedicated products for each objective. Always ensure 100% focus on quality. Don't ever forget that quality comes at a cost.

Once you are ready to go, check the How to Videos at http://www.tresemmeindia.com/how-to-videos/ to know the latest styles from some of the best hair stylists in the world.

And Here you go...

Every woman deserves to have salon-style hair, everyday.

A simple truth that drives TRESemmé

This post has been written exclusively for the TRESemmé Ramp Ready Hair contest on IndiBlogger. All images used in the post belong to their respective owners. Representations are imaginary. Stories are work of fiction. Solutions, Discussions, Answers spoken above are mere learning from internet and not absolute. And of course, Ms Deepika Padukone or Ms Anne Hathaway has nothing to do with this post, for reason whatsoever. Its no rocket science to decipher that the mere relationship between me and them is that I could be their fan.

Time's running out, #RingTheBell

noreply@blogger.com (Puneetkumar Pattar) — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 14:19:00 +0000

I was sitting with some of my friends alongside our office. We saw some young boys and girls, probably 15-16 year olds, trying to experience a smoke. Some looked professional smokers as well. When I heard a girl telling a boy who was not willing to smoke, "Dude come on, be a man", I was in a state of shock. Freedom. What's that? Is it this? What's happening?

Off late, there is a huge buzz about giving an equal space to women, fighting for their rights and ensuring that they live just as happily and freely like their counterparts aka the men. Aur kyun na ho, hakk bantha hai. It is women's right to be free to do what they want to, live how they want to without having to explain to men or the society. Though I am a proponent of equality, in fact I would be happy to women going ahead of men, I am a little worried about the definition of free. I have seen people fight their parents saying, "I want to live my life how I want, let me free" and ending in alcohol indulgence, smoke addiction, etc. There are examples of women, who have earned their so called freedom from multiple husbands. No, I am not saying that divorce is wrong. I am only saying that if this is the freedom that women are fighting for, its not worth it. The society is heading for a disaster if we are demanding equal space for women in bars, pubs and smoking zones. In fact, we might not have a society at all. So, the most important point that we have to clear up on is that we are not fighting for filthy things as this. We are fighting for real reasons, real pains and real agonies that women are going through.

Ring The Bell - A Breakthrough IndiBlogger Presentation

So, I attended this meet by IndiBlogger called "Ring The Bell" which was organized in collaboration with Breakthrough under the IndiChange initiative. One can check the website for further information. In simple words, the organization is focusing on bringing forces together for the cause of standing up for women. Bell Bajao is a global campaign asking men and boys to pledge action against violence against women. I loved this ad that they played at the meet today.

You can watch a lot of pledges by a lot of people including many celebrities who have joined the campaign at http://www.youtube.com/user/LetsBreakthrough/videos

The Causes

Often, I try to think what exactly causes such behavior in men and amid all reasons of ego, culture, upbringing, psychology, dressing, etc, the reason that most logically satisfies me is that men are fed with information that they have to prove their manliness. Now, how can they do that? The only difference between men and women, biologically, is that one part. So, they start showing that to say, "Look, I am better than you".

One major reason that is responsible for a lot of these issues is the tons of information that is thrown on to us by the different types of media. Sometimes, these make me think on whether we are really heading ahead as a society/nation or are we falling back each day trying to become something that we are not.

Open a newspaper and you see the most revealing pictures of women, just covering enough to ensure the newspaper doesn't get sued for obscenity.
Turn the TV on and you get to hear all the stories of cruelty, heinous crimes, rapes, etc. Nobody speaks of the good things happening around. The whole focus is to show that this country is in shit.
Look around and the billboards say, "Be a MAN" with an image of a super hot chic inviting the man. Now that men who are distracted by that billboard can not get that lady, they try to get someone else.
Go to the movies and you hear, Sheila ki Jawaani, Munni Badnam Hui, Chikni Chameli, Halkat Jawaani, etc.
Open facebook and you see a whole lot of stuff promoting promiscuity. People without girl friends or boy friends are looked down upon (treated as failures). Your pride is in question
Today's girls, if I am to believe internet forum discussions, want to lose their virginity by 15-16 years. Else, they are again in a fix among their friends. Now, everyone can ask me, "What's wrong with that?". Nothing at all, as long as you are conscious and not under peer pressure.

The Effects

So, everyone who we follow is trying to tell men, "Get her, go, get her". Look at any famous website and you get to see the same. We never complain against them because they are award winning companies and would do anything to sell something to you. While some companies strip women off, some women do that themselves to grab eyeballs. In fact, women too are very fine with this. The supermodels, the super duper heroines, the so called achievers or role models to other women, the ones who feature in every magazine and every show, etc. have reached that stage by showing themselves as objects. You would hardly find the youth following women who have made efforts to build the nation, build an organization or have really added value to the world. The youth follows celebrities and what these celebrities promote is clearly seen. They are equally responsible. If I have to fight for such rights, I'd rather lend a deaf ear. Sorry but for a few dollars, there are women who are putting out vulgarity in the world and then these same women dramatize the rights for women.

In other words, we, the innovative people as we call, are depicting women as objects ourselves. Then, we cry on why men are mad on women who show flesh in lieu of fur. Do we dare to question the advertising agencies? Do we dare question these women who try to tell men how luscious they are and how men should readily attack them? No, we only question the men giving some women the freedom to play around. Of course, we should question these men but more importantly, we must also question other elements that have led to this crime.

The After Effects

When the poor do not have any food to eat and the rich are draining food their glory, the poor revolt, attack the rich and snatch food. In the process, they break law, harm the rich and are also labeled thieves. Reason - the poor were deprived of food.

When women are faced with societal difficulties, they rise, they fight for their rights and declare their freedom and in the process, they might hurt a lot of men. Reason - the women were deprived of freedom.

Just the same way, the men who see women enjoying their lives going around with their boyfriends. There is a set of men who do not have girls along them. In a society that still considers sex as taboo, it is difficult for some men to see women going around so freely. So, they attack a girl in the process of enjoying all that they seem to believe that their counterparts are. Reason - these men were perhaps deprived of a good relationship or sex.

Please note that these are not justifications. These are explanations. I want to make it clear that none of these reasons are any good for a man to take a wrong step. Not at all. For no reason whatsoever can anyone justify harming the other person, be it a man or woman. For no reason whatsoever, raping a woman is justified. For no reason whatsoever can a man justify doing anything against a woman's desire. Such men should definitely be punished. To build a good society, we must develop a good understanding among people, get them to learn to respect women. The women should not consider men, who tell them about dress code or behavior, as moral police. Its just that they want you to be safe, strong and happy. Its none of your mistake but its just that, we as a nation, are not yet mature/ready to see what you want to show. Respect their concern.

Should we stop recognizing genders? Remove the M/F column from all documents?

Long ago, and even now, there were regular debates on casteism. There were hundreds of views on how to get rid of this evil. While initially, the SC/ST/OBC were the disadvantaged and the leaders decided to facilitate their lives through reservations, the scenario is different now. Today, we are all fighting to end this reservation because it is evident that merit is being killed in the process of reservation. Its time for us to abolish the religion/caste system in legal processes and thereby make it a cultural/social subject in lieu of a political subject. That will end all the differences between people on the basis on caste, leading to a society of equality among people.

Applying a similar logic, if we stop legally recognizing people as men and women, and recognize them as human beings, we would get a lot of our problems solved. Neither men would try to dominate women nor women would want to do an equalizer with men. The only people who would have problem with this would be the media as they would not have anything to write/show that can excite people. I am trying to say that the world is not as bad as it is made to appear. Like me, there are hundreds of men sitting to blog about fighting for women's rights.

The day we start looking at each other as human beings and not as males and females, a lot can get accomplished.

Solutions - The simple ones and the not so simple ones

Fear and Enticement work wonders in the short term. Bosses use fear to get work done from employees. Women entice men to buy gold for them. In neither cases do these stay on for long. Fear ends one day and the employee will repel. Enticement ends one day and husbands will declare bankruptcy. Understanding is the greatest virtue of life that works in the long run. If the employee understands his work and its significance, there is perhaps no need of a boss. If a husband understand his wife's desire for gold as well as financial angles to it, the wife doesn't need to ask for it. Now, should we wait till all the people on earth understand that women need to get all that men get? That might not happen in decades. It is a slow process. In the meanwhile, we should put fear and enticement into work.

When Enticement doesn't seem to work, Fear works

Now, of course, putting enticement into work has not worked till date. We tried candle light marches, we tried spreading awareness, we tried equipping women with some skills, etc. but on the other hand, we get at least one rape report everyday. Gang rapes are perhaps motivated by the group orgies depicted by the so called developed nations who we try to follow. Now a days, it is no more shocking to listen to these news. I mean, how many times can you get shocked for the same news?

So, its time to try fear. In fact, fear has worked in several nations. I am a strong supporter of Mr TV Mohandas Pai who said, "Rapists should be punished with chemical castration, like it is done in the US and the UK". In fact, we should chop off their parts and show them to the world. The last time, I said in the IndiBlogger meet that we should not hide the faces of these rapists. The media should not question the victim about what happened and what she is going through. The media must question the rapist, his family and friends. One such cases and fear will catch up. We might see a short term break and in this break, we must build a strong culture among people.

Instead of asking victim's family, ask the culprit's family, "ur son is a rapist, aapko kaise lag raha hai?" @indiblogger #BangaloreforWomen
— Puneetkumar Pattar (@puneet3210) March 23, 2013

Right Understanding is the Ultimate Answer

In simplest words, "Ask me to rape a woman and I will not do it. Not because I can't but because I understand that it is wrong. Ask me to copulate with a girl other than my wife, I wouldn't. Not because I can't but because I understand that it is none of my business. Ask me to harass a woman, I will not. Not because I can't but I would prefer beating you black and blue than her." When we ensure that men understand these couple of points in the right spirit, we will head towards a world that sees everyone with the same eye. Today's world continuously asks men, "Can You?" and men are forced to say, "I Can". I bet if women were men, they would do the same. The day men say, "I can but I won't", we have solved the women's issues forever.

Take the National Pledge

When I was a kid, studying at Kendriya Vidyalaya, I took a pledge every day which had a statement saying that all Indians are my brothers and sisters. I remembering discussing with my friends, "Dude, if all Indians are my brothers and sisters, I will have to marry a foreigner". Kids, we decided to whisper the words "except one" in to the pledge, thus making it, "All Indians except one are my brothers and sisters". Our teacher caught us one fine day and she was, in fact, very happy to see us being serious with the pledge. Today, I think, its time for all of us to revisit this pledge.

India is my country and all Indians (except if I marry an Indian) are my brothers and sisters. I love my country and I am proud of its rich and varied heritage. I shall always strive to be worthy of it. I shall give my parents, teachers and all elders respect and treat everyone with courtesy. To my country and my people, I pledge my devotion. In their well-being and prosperity alone, lies my happiness.

Exercising your Right to NOT Vote

noreply@blogger.com (Puneetkumar Pattar) — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 16:43:00 +0000

This post is focused on those citizens who do not want to vote. Those who have decided to vote responsibly may please skip reading any further.

Image Courtesy: UNC

So, its that time of 5-year period when leaders, in a role reversal, knock our doors and ask us to vote for a better city, a better state and a better life. For regular voters, this is not an uncommon sight. We have been seeing in since decades and perhaps, will continue to see. These days, the candidates also penetrate the veil through various other channels like the television, radio, social networks, etc. In the US, President Obama spent a billion dollars for his recent election campaign. Elections in India, too, are a mega festival. In a 2009 report, Centre for Media Studies (CMS) said, "The April 16 general election will witness an outlay of something like 100 billion rupees (two billion dollars)".

Electoral Process in India takes at least a month for state assembly elections with the duration increasing further for the General Elections. Karnataka Assembly election will be held in a single phase on May 5 with a total of 4.18 crore voters in Karnataka. A sum of Rs 200 Crores would be spent on conducting elections by the Government. Karnataka Government has also taken up a SVEEP (Systematic Voters’ Education and Electoral Participation) plan under which it plans to spend Rs 2.5 lakhs in each constituency to create awareness on enrollment of names in the voters' list. In Bangalore, the effort is being made to increase the percentage of voters to the population from the present 62% to 65%. There are 65 lakhs voters in the city.

Now, we come to the questions we all have been wondering about. Should I vote? If yes, who should I vote for? If not, what should I do with my voter id card? These are the most generic questions we all above the age of 18 face. After all, we are clueless about what is happening in the nation. The colleges and offices keep up so busy, for whatever reason, that we never get to think about the nation. The outsourcing fever is so high in India that we have assumed that the policy making and leadership activities have been outsourced to the 500+ people in the parliament.

It is interesting to note that Right to Vote is not one of our fundamental rights. It is a constitutional right (Article 326 (in Part XV) of the Constitution). Over the last 7 years, I have been wondering if I should exercise this right and the answer that I have got is, "Yes, I should". But then, because our voting process asks us to select one out of the many candidates, I seldom get to know who I should vote for. It bothered me for sometime and I decided to look for more information. I went through the websites of the political parties and all of them made similar promises that they will give us water, power and make our city greener. I looked at the ads on TV as well as Youtube which claimed how, if elected, they can make our lives better. In the past as well, there have been similar promises. While some leaders of some parties have fulfilled those promises, most have not. Now, being a secular person, I even do not want to vote based on religion, caste or community. Even if I did, there are people of all communities in each party.

I started reading about the failure of each party. There were a plenty, a large number of them alleged by the other parties. The performance of a region, district, state or the nation has been more or less in line with the way the world has been performing in general. So, I did not find any major point/reason to vote in one party to power and vote out the others.

As I researched further, I found this interesting Rule 49-O in The Conduct of Elections Rules of India. It says, "If an elector decided not to record his vote, a remark to this effect shall be made against the said entry in Form 17A by the presiding officer and the signature or thumb impression of the elector shall be obtained against such remark." However, recording such data easily violates the secrecy of the ballot. Before the Electronic voting machine (EVM) were in use, the easiest way to do this would be to stamp on multiple candidate names and thus, giving a null vote, by invalidating the vote. There is even more information about 49-O on the net but this was sufficient.

An argument in favor of provision of neutral voting is that it ensures the individual's freedom to choose whether or not to vote. Russia allows voters to vote "against all" candidates. It has been reported that activist Anna Hazare supports the 'Right Not To Vote'.

Now, I see that some of you might have an answer for the dilemma. We consider all the parties and leaders as capable as the other. Some of us do not think that any one person can make a difference, so different from the other. So, we do not want to vote for one of these. We want to vote for all of them. Of course, there are many others who have perceptions and in some cases reasons, to vote for one leader. Let such people decide who should be the leader.

But then, we MUST vote. We must exercise our right by voting for all (or none) by going to the polling booth and ensuring that our vote is counted. Of course, the easier way to do it is to lie down at home but the objective here is to exercise your right to say, "Look, I am fine with all the leaders and all the parties" because sitting back at home would mean, "I am not fine with these guys". When you are not fine with these guys, it would be very important to define the guys with who you are fine.

This May 5, as Karnataka enters the elections day, lets all ensure that we vote, we vote for one person of our choice or we vote for all of them standing out for our cause. This May 5, lets ensure that Karnataka sets an example for the world through a large voter turnout. This May 5, don't sit back at home, not because you can come out and run the nation, because you have a responsibility. This May 5, lets get together to say whatever we have to say by voting rather than cribbing the next 5 years. This May 5, ensure that your name on the voter list is ticked and your finger nail is inked.

Jai Hind, Jai Karnataka!

Amarjeet Sinha: An India for Everyone - A Path to Inclusive Development

noreply@blogger.com (Puneetkumar Pattar) — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 16:01:00 +0000

Image Courtesy: Telegraph

Amarjeet Sinha, IAS, is the Principal Secretary (Health and Family Welfare), Government of Bihar. In his latest book, An India for Everyone: A Path to Inclusive Development, the education expert who has played a major role in designing the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and the National Rural Health Mission, offers a companion dream to the economic one. I had the opportunity to meet him and listen to him while he addressed a gathering at TERI, Bangalore on 15 April 2013. When I read his thoughts in a couple of articles, I was able to relate them to similar thoughts that I have been having in my mind from quite some time. We all speak about the huge economic divide that the nation is seeing, we all know that education is so important, we all know that child labor has to stop, we all know that the growth should be inclusive but then, we all are clueless about how to bring all that we know into our lives. Administrators like Mr Sinha are taking some interesting initiatives that can go a long way in helping India find some solutions to the problems that she faces. Here are some of his thoughts from the address.

India has seen high rates of growth seen since 1991 due to economic growth. However, what holds good for economic growth may not be the right path for human development.
What makes a difference between accident of births and living life is qualitative factors like education, healthcare, nutrition, etc.
Human development is the supported cause by any advanced nation. Across the world, it has played a major role in determine the trajectory of the nation and its people's growth.
We cannot grow away from the public system. Partnerships with private sectors are definitely required, but then, still, the ultimate strength lies in developing our public system.
We do not have systems to correct our mistakes in India. A lot of good academic work happens but as far as public systems are concerned, we do not have any strong evidence based research to take appropriate decisions, unlike in the developed nations.
When I took the book to Harper Collins, they were glad to take it but they wanted in a perfect shape. My wife was doubtful on who would read it.
Completed the draft during the 5 week training programme that was held for IAS officers at a university in Mussorie.
Private sector is not the ultimate answer. Developing a good public system is no rocket science. The book argues for crafting a better public system.
Brazil 8% of GDP education expenditure, 4.5% healthcare.
Critic - How do you guarantee service? The book deals with these questions. While dealing with failures of system, there are exemplary systems in India that others want to adopt. For eg, India's electoral process. We make every effort for such systems. However, for greater issues like say NREGA, we do not make so much effort and pass the buck to the lower offices.
The intent is always good but the outcomes are not in line with expectations because our decisions are ideological but not based on evidence based facts.
Instead of policy making, our leaders are involving themselves into the executive. That is the main reason why we have lost focus. Community organisations must be seen as a complement to the PRI.
The habitations must be seen as units and not the gram panchayats.
It is easier to get into the government than to be thrown out. We need to revisit the skills that public servants need. The public service commission has played an important role in this process. Now, we need people with different and better skilled people to manage programs in this world. In the health mission, most states hired health managers at district level and the results are better. In case we had hired people purely based on competitive exams testing one's math and English, we would not have achieved such result.
In Rajasthan, Shiksha Karmi project selected local teachers to teach students in some 15% schools where no teachers taught. The gram panchayat selected some people who had education beyond class 7. These people were taught rigorously for a long time. They hired them at Rs 2000. A group of leaders, including some NGOs, said that in case they clear all the 8 levels, all these people will be paid regular salaries. Today, most of them earn regular salaries.
Irrespective of the type of Organization, they have to be assessed and accredited.
Tamilnadu medical services corporation system is a great example from which all states can adopt from.
Number of schools, colleges, students, educators, everything has gone up but the way education is being delivered has remained the same.
We can't have mediocrity in training institutions.
It is national shame to have such a high nutrition deficit in India.
But then you will not find a single professional who understands nutrition completely. Unless we have a proper nutrition level in the nation, we can not progress in education and healthcare.
Clean water, food security, basic public health facilities, basic health practices, barefoot doctor in every village to do the 4 above. 18 months mandatory course for all doctors. This was done by China.
We are far ahead in advanced medicine in India but we don't have basic expertise on basic medicine.
Janani Suraksha Yojana.
Public health and hygiene is the most important factor for any city or nation, we have to fight for water and sanitation instead of fighting for antibiotics.
We should not only have an economic advisory council but also human development advisory council that advises the PM on bettering our human development index.
Departments have to come with clear outcomes and analyse their performance at the end of the year.
The development as the best contraceptive - article in business standard.
We can be far ahead in the BRIC category in case we implement some basic changes in our system. A little increase in healthcare expenditure can make a huge difference in the quality of life.
Public systems ought to be strengthened.
RSBY Rashtriya Swastha Bhima Yojana - insurance company model. Claims ratio varies from 30% to 600% in some districts. Thus, the premiums shoot up next year and people can not pay the premiums.
Yashasvini - group of hospitals give services at fixed costs and a major portion of it is contributed by the government.
Between 1949 and 1979, China worked with a single belief to grow. Austerity was the most important thing, nobody could buy a car, wear a steel buckle belt, etc. The single mindedness helped them take a strong growth path.
Thailand has achieved a phenomenal improvement in healthcare by appointing community level healthcare experts.

Often, 2-3 questions on education, economy have been going around in my head.

Several NGOs claim that at Rs 2000 per head, they can make a person literate over a period of one year. We are not speaking about education, we are speaking about literacy. After all, when the Government speaks about education levels in the nation, they speak about literacy and not education. So, when 25% of our population is illiterate, the cost of reaching 100% literacy would be Rs 50,000 Crores (Rs 2000 x 25 Crore people) against the center's Education Budget of Rs 65,000 Crores and aggregate State Budget expenditure of Rs 5 Lac Crores. Why don't we make this one time expenditure and get rid of the drama behind education and literacy? Why should we increase literacy at 1% every year and wait till 2050 for 100% literacy? In fact, if our aim is to be 100% literate by 2050, we don't need to make any effort. After all, children are going to school, at least up to such standard that we can stamp them as literate and the illiterate adults will die of old age by 2050. If somebody is really serious, they should aim at reaching 100% literacy by 2015, not 2050. Its not a rocket science.

We all speak about changes in the education delivery system. I'm a strong believer in chalk and board system of teaching. I have been thinking on this from a longtime. If we try to copy the systems that advanced nations have implemented, they have clearly failed. Europe has an unemployment rate of 25%. US grows at 1%, though they spend a billion dollars on election campaigns. In the name of bringing technology to education, we have only helped companies like Apple, Google to hoard billions of dollars while websites like Wikipedia do not have funds. Education has been almost equaled to google. I read an article recently that said, I hate schools but I love education. We ought to understand that exposing children to computers even before their brains grow can only make them brainless. Gosh, whoever invented computers and mobile phones saying they will save our time, he would kill himself seeing what happened to his inventions, if he were alive today.

We all speak about human development. One of the biggest gauges of it is happiness. Should we rather go the Bhutan way, which tops the happiness index? They do not do anything, they just live life. What kind of race are we into? The world tell us that we have to buy an apartment and a car and we start running behind them. The economy makes it even more difficult with each passing day to buy these and thus, the unending struggle to grab those papers printed by the Government goes on. Sometime we sound philosophical while we look at this hysterical life.

I put up a couple of questions to Mr Sinha and he did his best to answer them. An important point that he made, which I completely believe in, is, "Good nurses and teachers are irreplaceable." Of course, they are not.

The Story of a Torn Shirt...

noreply@blogger.com (Puneetkumar Pattar) — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 10:32:00 +0000

On the morning of 8 June 2010, I got a call from the HR of HDFC Bank. He told me that I have been selected for the job I applied for. On being asked when I can start, I was excited to tell him today, this moment. To be honest, I was not prepared to join right then as I had come from my hometown to Bangalore for a couple of days just to while around some time. I had not carried any formal clothing with me. Yet, I wore a black shirt, which was supposed to be a party wear along with the best possible trouser for the occasion, a quadra clothing, as the others were jeans. Even more disgusting was the fact that I did not have shoes and thus, I wore a pair of sandals. In this shape, I presented myself before the HR at 11AM asking him to give me my offer letter. A pitch black shirt, a brownish trouser, a pair of haphazard sandals and a sky blue tie. Undoubtedly, he was shocked.

"What is this?", he asked.

"I know its not what you call formal wear. But then, honestly, I'm on a vacation right now and all my clothes are at my hometown", I said.

"Can't you buy a new pair? Do you think you can walk into a bank like this?", he seemed really angry now.

I stood silent.

"Before we discuss any further, I want you to dress up appropriately. I can't send you to meet your boss in this shape and take a stinker from him. Please come back when you are ready", he said and walked away.

Definitely, I was not so dumb that I would not have thought of buying a set of clothes on such an important day. But then, the truth was, I did not have any money to buy anything. I had been going through a tough time financially and there was no money in my bank account. I had also quit my job at ICICI Bank about 5 months back and whatever bit of savings I had was already exhausted. I was at the peak of helplessness. In fact, I had been living helplessly from a long time. Life had been pushing too hard on me and I had been trying to be even harder.

I was so broke that day that I just walked out of the premises of the bank with no hope. I had already been taking help from my friends and did not want to ask them again. There was a conflict in my mind. Those days were so hard. I feel a jerk in me as I remember them even today. From Richmond Road, I started walking towards the Richmond Circle. Hopelessly, I had to call a couple of my friends and request them to lend me some money. Two of them transferred Rs 500 each to my account and I was relieved. I went to a Big Bazaar nearby (Shantinagar bus depot) as they sell the cheapest clothing and shoes.

On searching all over the place, I found one shirt within my budget as well as meeting my requirements. A decent white shirt with very light blue lines that could be seen only when you come too close to it. The shirt had a tag of Rs 299 and Big Bazaar offered a discount of 33%, making it available for Rs 199 only. That was perhaps the shirt made for me. I picked it up and went to the billing counter. The very moment, I remembered that I am also required to buy a pair of shoes. I looked around and bought the cheapest possible black shoes. With a bill of Rs 498, I was ready to go. Though I wished to buy a trouser, I didn't dare to. I wanted to sneak in with whatever I had on me right then.

While I started walking towards Richmond road, I started thinking about what was happening with my life. I was so reckless in taking taking some decisions. Though I left ICICI Bank with big dreams and hopes to do something better, things did not happen. The last 4-5 months had been terrible and my dependency on others to live my life had shot up.

The shirt in discussion

With a decent face and a broad smile, I peeked in to the HR's cubicle and he was okay, if not happy, to see me. "Push up your tie and unroll your sleeves", he said. From school days, I have been habituated to wear a tie like a scarf and roll the sleeves in two folds. I followed his instruction and moved in to the room along with him. I collected the offer letter, put my signature, got more information about my job, my reporting authority, reporting location, etc. and thus, I was ready to go.

That was the day this shirt came in to my life and from then, every time I wear it, I am reminded of all these incidents. The mere look at the shirt would send shivers down my spine. Today, it mellows me down when I think of those times when I was literally cloth-less.

Today, on 8 April 2013, this shirt completes 34 months of living with me. Even today morning when I wore this shirt, I did remember the memories associated with this shirt. As a matter of coincidence, I wore the same quadra pant to work today. And then, the unfortunate thing happened.

I expressed my tiredness to myself by stretching my hands and moving them behind my head, lifting my body from the chair, performing some kind of a yoga. Then, I leaned forward to stretch in the opposite direction. TRRRKKK. I realized that it was the end of this beautiful cotton shirt that had been with me from such a long time. Fortunately or unfortunately, I had to spend one more hour in the office. I just remained stuck to my chair for the remaining hour.

Thank God, it was the shirt and it was on the back. I was not carrying a jacket. It would have been so helpful. Luckily, I was carrying a bag today. So, I just decided to remain stuck to my chair till everyone leaves and then, wear the bag and move on. I had to extend my time at work for no official reasons and finally, after everybody had left, I adjusted the bag to cover my back and left. I observed that the shirt was slit into two halves against my assumption of a small cut. It was saddening. Though I escaped unnoticed, there was nothing for me to be happy about. If not this shirt, may be, I could have felt like James Bond.

Memories make us attached to things. Losing such things almost risk the loss of memories. The kind of nostalgia I would experience each time I would wear this shirt would not be experienced ever again.

Dr Safety Franklin Joseph - Readying A Battalion for Women

noreply@blogger.com (Puneetkumar Pattar) — Sat, 30 Mar 2013 06:13:00 +0000

This post is a part of #Soldierforwomen in association with BlogAdda.com

Introduction

Of the numerous men and women who stand up for women I know, my recent interaction with Mr Franklin Joseph, also called Dr Safety, has, without any doubts, blown my mind. In a way, I was thinking, should I even write about Dr Safety, because, he's not a soldier, he's a full fledged battalion.

Mr Joseph is a Social Entrepreneur working on Girl Child and Women’s Safety Awareness, Self Defense and Psychological Empowerment against Crime, Violence and Sexual Abuse under his project Power to Women. He has conducted workshops on Women Self Defense with more than 60 corporate including Infosys, Yahoo, FirstSource, TataInteractive etc. in Bangalore, Chennai, Mumbai and Jaipur and has also been invited as a guest lecturer in Jain University, Bangalore’s Center for Management Studies to speak on Women Psychological Empowerment against Crime, Violence and Sexual Abuse. He is also working on promoting Corporate Social Responsibility initiative called iTeachiPower where the corporate female staff members or college students would volunteer time to help educate school girl child students about Safety Awareness and Self Defense. Thus the role model are women themselves... Empower the girl child by women power!!!

Mr Joseph is also a Senior Civilian Krav Maga Israeli Self Defense Instructor (2003 batch) in Bangalore. In Bangalore, Franklin Joseph created BadAzz Combat Academy after seeing the depleted state of self defense training provided to clients in the name of martial arts. In this organisation, he is upfront with his clients exposing them to the dirt reality of self defense which surviving under the shock, surprise, painful, violent attacks of the street using Israeli Krav Maga deviant, deceptive and brutal tactics.

He also promotes Non-Lethal Self Defense Pocket Size Tool for Women like Ninja Kubaton, Collapsible Telescopic Hardened Long Steel Baton and Knife Fighting and Knife Self Defense Street Tactics under his project ‘StopCrimeonWomen.com‘.

Power to Women Workshops

Mr Joseph is a specialist on Women Safety Empowerment Workshops. He is the founder of Power to Women workshops, which are a very different approach to tackle women safety and self defense. He doesn't believe that punching and kicking will solve a problem, especially when the women has to live in the same locality or even the same house as her attacker. Moreover, these situations involve emotions involved with the attackers, fear of repeated attack or the attacker, shock of the incident, surprise attacks, pain of attack, etc. that would affect the women even before she can raise a hand to defense herself. On top of that, a women is fighting her own insecurity like being told for decades to be a nice person by her father, family etc, or the insecurity of being small in size, lack of strength, not big enough or lack of fitness & stamina, or too old or too young, etc. Power to Women workshops empower women to look into herself to find the tigress hidden inside and find her own solutions with that power. Focus is to diffuse, prevent, avoid and escape from any threat to her life or dignity.

Background

Mr Joseph was born into the slums of New Delhi and was exposed to the world of crime and violence early on in his life and had to learned street awareness, predator instincts and no-rules violent street tactics to survive. He is also a survivor of sexual abuse as a child onto his youth, and has experienced the trauma of street gang violence, various knife attacks and escapes 2 bomb blasts and mob riots by God’s grace and street awareness. Mr Joseph spent many years working through the emotional toll which survivors experience and developed a first hand knowledge of preventing and fighting abuse, crime and violence.

An ardent worshiper of practical knowledge and real life experience, Mr Joseph went to great lengths to learn the just emerging world of internet which proved to be the start of a very fulfilling and enterprising career for him as a web-designer. Having spent 11 years in the IT sector, Mr Joseph felt compelled to leave the comforts of the corporate world to work in the social sector and retired after working in several positions like that of a Creative Director, Project Manager, Senior Website Designer and Search Engine Optimization Specialist.

He spent 7 years working with an NGO that focused on child labor where he came across many cases of abuse against women and children. He did extensive research on how much crime, violence and sexual abuse played a role in the lives of these children and women and what traumatic effects they faced due to its exposure.

Transformation

Based on those experiences, he also founded PowertoKids.in where the focus is to teach the children and parents how to deal with issues of violence and sexual abuse on children where the focus is prevent, avoid and escape instead of punches and kicks.

Having experienced and dealt with crime at a very personal level, the conventional world of martial arts with its rules did not appeal to Mr. Joseph, who recognized that criminals fight dirty without the honor, skill-set and rules of martial arts. Instead he chose Krav Maga, a tough, battle hardened, no rules, no holds-barred Israeli Combat System, the training for which fortified his conviction and grit to help survivors of crime like himself overcome the trauma of the crimes that they have been subjected to.

Mr. Joseph’s own experiences helped him understand that conventional martial arts school, while true to their art form, did not address the topic of crime prevention and safety properly especially when it came to Women Self Defense. Additionally, he saw that there are psychological and emotional angles that a women faces when it comes to self-defense, like fear, compulsions at home, insecurity as to strength, size, emotional ambivalence towards perpetrators, particularly spouses; which were not being effectively addressed in martial arts curriculum.

His critical analysis of these deficiencies in conventional martial arts and women self-defense programs has earned him the ire of peers in the industry who did not take too kindly at being criticized. However, driven by a strong desire to infuse a much-needed revolution in the women self-defense sector, Mr. Joseph has persisted in his vocal criticism of a deficient system of women self-defense, in-expert instructors and continues to advocate for greater innovation and appreciation of realistic scenarios while devising self-defense curriculum. He is all too conscious of the fact that this will, not only be well received, but necessary in view of how dangerous an incomplete understanding of crime prevention and self-defense can be for a person especially a women.

Initiatives

Thus, BadAzz Combat Academy was born cultivating his training of Krav Maga and his vision of an honest Self Defense training academy. His students have come to appreciate the straightforwardness with which he explains the reality of the training and many are grateful for how his classes have helped in improving their confidence.

He has pioneered many innovative training workshops in BadAzz Combat Academy including Knife Fighting Self Defense classes, Blind Fold tactical and Water Based Self Defense Drills with many more in the pipeline. He also started BadAzz Urban Warrior Apparels to help promote this radical concept and attitude of his institute.

Mr. Joseph’s students swear by his classes and have come to form a strong bond with their teacher and the academy. Some of these new programs under BadAzz Special Weapons and Tactics (B.S.W.A.T.) include Ninja Kubaton a pocket-size stick self-defense tactics that uses pressure points, more effective than pepper spray; Knife Fighting and Knife Self Defense designed for women and men to offensively use this weapon for self-defense and Collapsible Baton a very effective self-defense tool against robbery and road rage. He has recently introduced ‘Stop Crime on Women‘ where he merges Knife Fighting Tactics and Ninja Kubaton’s Pressure Points tactics to help women who have to travel a lot or stay home alone.

He also designed and created a peer based education program, ‘iTeach iPower‘ which would be either a Corporate Social Responsibility indicative or a volunteer indicative where the corporate female staff members or female college students would volunteer time to help educate school girl child students about Safety Awareness and Self Defense. Thus the role model are women themselves… Empower the girl child by women power!

The Road Ahead

Mr. Joseph, in essence, represents the changing face of self-defense especially women self-defense education. He is among the pioneers who have recognized that as crime is dynamic, changing and adapting, so should crime prevention and fighting tactics. He has tirelessly, and often at great personal sacrifice, overcome enormous hurdles to advance the cause of safety. No matter what the cost, he is clear that he will achieve his mission of a safer world through proper education, training and a holistic approach to self-defense

He has been featured widely in the media including Times of India, Hindustan Times, Bangalore Mirror, DNA, Deccan Herald etc., Magazines like Tehelka, 080 Bangalore, Bengaluru Pages, LiveMint.com, GlobalPost.com, TimeOut Bengaluru, etc., TV shows and News Channels like ZeeTv, CnnIBN, NDTV 24×7, TV9 News, Swarna Channel, Aaj Tak, Headlines Today, Times Now etc and is relentless in pursuing his goal of a safe world, free of abuse and crime especially for girl-child and women.

People like Mr Joseph are empowering women around and getting ready an entire battalion to fight evil forces that have an ill effect on women's life. For me, he is a true soldier for women.

Source: Franklin Joseph

The Go Giver by Bob Burg and John David Mann

noreply@blogger.com (Puneetkumar Pattar) — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 17:23:00 +0000

Bob Burg was kind enough to stop by on my Facebook update. Thank You Bob!

And guess what, he was even more kind to look at my Twitter update. I can't believe my eyes

Completed reading The #GoGiver, an amazing parable by @bobburg and @johndavidmann, in < 5 hours flat. Intrigued. puneet3210.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-go…
— Puneetkumar Pattar (@puneet3210) March 16, 2013

@puneet3210 Thank you, Puneetkumar. I appreciate that, and so glad you enjoyed the book!
— Bob Burg (@BobBurg) March 16, 2013

The Go Giver is one among the global best selling parables. It is the story of how Joe, a hard go-getter stumbles to learn that, to succeed, you ought to be a go-giver. The book tells stories of people, companies and situations that show how giving is the order for success. It is an interesting fable and I must acknowledge that it keeps the reader interested. If not, I would not have read it breathlessly in less than 5 hours.

Though the book has a bollywood kind of a fairy-tale ending, yet it is sort of justified. Firstly because fairy tales do happen in life. Secondly because most good things come to us when we least expect them.

It outlines the 5 laws of stratospheric success as

The Law of Value
Your true worth is determined by how much more you give in value than you take in payment.
The Law of Compensation
Your income is determined by how many people you serve and how well you serve them.
The Law of Influence
Your influence is determined by how abundantly you place other people's interests first.
The Law of Authenticity
The most valuable gift you have to offer is yourself.
The Law of Receptivity
The key to effective giving is to stay open to receiving.

Though I can not, right now, comment on how effective these 5 principles are, I am ardent believer of giving. I have a strong belief in the fact that we all get what we give. One important learning from the book that I had it that Win-Win situations do not lead to success. It is either 100% or 0%, 50% leads to failure. I have just jotted down some important points from the book that impressed me, after this video that speaks about the book.

Please note that all these lines have been taken directly from the book and I advise you that you read the book in lieu of reading any further.

For some people, the harder and faster they work, the further away their goals seem to be.

There's nothing wrong with making money. Lots of it, in fact. It's just not a goal that will make you successful.

Most of us have grown up seeing the world as a place of limitation rather than a place of inexhaustible treasures, a world of competition rather than one of co-creation.

In life, you often don't get what you want. But, you get what you expect.

Ultimately, the world treats you more or less the way you expect to be treated.

You can live like a healthy immune system - the disease is all around you but you don't catch it.

Nobody has the power to waste your time except you.

Its not just money, its something far more powerful. Identify.

It never hurts to be kind to people.

Appearances can be deceiving. Truth is, they nearly always are.

All things being equal, people will do business with and refer business to those people they know, like and trust.

A restaurant tries to give just enough food and service, both in quantity and quality, to justify the money it takes. A good restaurant strives to give the most quantity and quality for the money it takes. A great restaurant strives to provide a higher quality of food and service than any amount of money could possibly pay for.

You give, give, give. Because you love to. Its not a strategy, its a way of life.

All the great fortunes in the world have been created by men and women who had a greater passion for what they were giving - product, service or idea - than for what they were getting. And many of those great fortunes have been squandered by others who had a greater passion for what they were getting than what they were giving.

Its not about seeing. Its about doing.

You get to determine your level of compensation - its under your control. If you want more success, find a way to serve more people.

There are no limitations on what you can earn, because you can always find more people to serve. Everybody can be great because anybody can serve. Everybody can be successful because anybody can give.

We have been grown with some wrong beliefs. Like, there are two types of people in the world. There are people who get rich and there are people who do good.

You just make it up. Being broke and being rich are both decisions. You make them up, right up here.

What you focus on is what you get.

Sometimes you feel foolish, even look foolish, but you do the thing anyway.

Of course, he seems relaxed. He is relaxed. Whoever said being anxious gets more accomplished?

Regardless of how much or how little she cared for the task itself, she relished the opportunity to survive, save and serve.

They are the 3 universal reasons for working. Survive to meet your basic living needs. Save to go beyond your basic needs and expand your life. Serve to make a contribution to the world around you.

Most people spend their entire lives focusing on the first. A smaller number focus on the second. But those rare few who are truly successful, not just financially but genuinely successful in all aspects of their lives, keep their focus squarely on the third.

When you've got your own army of personal walking ambassadors, you'll have referrals coming your way faster than you can handle them.

Stop keeping score. Just do that. don't keep track. That's not networking, that's poker. You know how people say 'win-win'.

When you base your relationships, in business or anywhere else in your life, on who owes who what, that's not being a friend. That's being a creditor.

Watch out for the other guy. What out for his interests. Watch his back. Forget about the fifty-fifty, son. Fifty-fifty's a losing proposition. The only winning proposition is one hundred percent. Make your win about the other person, go after what he wants. Forget win-win, focus on the other person's win.

Some people call it enlightened self interest. Watch out for what other people need, with the faith that when you do, you'll get what you need.

Money, Position. May be, a history of outstanding accomplishments. Those things don't create influence. Influence creates them.

They love to give. That's why they are attractive. Givers attract.

He rubbed his face, amazed. It wasn't about complaining at all. She just wanted him to listen. Just wanted to be heard.

I believe there is one reason, and only one reason, that we have stayed together so long and are as happy together as we were forty eight years ago, more so, in fact. That reasons is this: I care more about my wife's happiness than I do about my own. All I've ever wanted to do since the day I met her is make her happy. And here's the truly remarkable thing: she seems to want the same thing for me.

Its what's inside that makes you beautiful, not the wrapping.

Whatever it is, you can excel by adding valued. If you need money, add value. And if you need a lot of money, add a lot of value. And if you need a lot of money fast, add a lot of value fast.

What I'm here to sell you on is you.

People, remember this. No matter what your training, no matter what your skills, no matter what area you're in, you are your most important commodity. The most valuable gift you have to offer is you.

As long as you're trying to be someone else, or putting on some act or behavior someone else taught you, you have no possibility of truly reaching people. The most valuable thing you have to give people is yourself. No matter what you think you're selling, what you're really offering is you.

You want people skills? Then be a person. Can you do that? Will you do that? It's worth ten thousand times more than all the closing techniques that ever have been or ever will be invented. Its called authenticity.

Pindar's principles of co-operative commerce, from A to Z.

Another age old principle tells us, "Its better to give than to receive."

Its not better to give than to receive. Its insane to try to give and not receive. Trying not to receive is not only foolish, its arrogant. When someone gives you a gift, what gives you the right to refuse it, to deny their right to give?

Receiving is a natural result of giving. It has to come back in, just as your heart has to contract after relaxing.

Every giving can happen only because it is also a receiving.

Human beings are born with appetite, nothing is more naturally geared toward being receptive than a baby, and if the secret of staying young, vibrant and vital throughout life is to hang onto those most precious characteristics we all have as children but which get drummed out of us - like having big dreams, being curious and believing in yourself, then one of those characteristics is being open to receiving, being hungry to receive, being ravenous to receive.

The world certainly was designed with a sense of humor, wasn't it? Inside every truth and every appearance, there's a bit opposite tucked inside. Just to keep things interesting, perhaps.

The secret to getting is giving. And the secret to giving is making yourself open to receiving.

The point is not what you do. Not what you accomplish. Its who you are.

I just told that we're giving this contract to your competition. Your response was to thank me and give them a compliment. You've got heart.

Cobra Post's Money Laundering Allegations, though sensational, don't make Sense

noreply@blogger.com (Puneetkumar Pattar) — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 15:14:00 +0000

The Cobra Post has become one of the most read website, especially in the financial markets circle, withing a couple of days after the sensational new items alleging private banking giants, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank for Money Laundering. The website blatantly puts it out in bold letters, embarrassing the big brands of Indian Banking System.

HDFC Bank: Bank on Us to Make Black Money White

ICICI Bank: True to its Motto, Khayal Aapka, ICICI Welcomes Tainted Mon

Axis Bank: Axis of Money Laundering

The websites throws all the evidences of how they arrived at these conclusions. After going through these cases, there is nothing really strong to stay that banks are laundering money, though the same could be derived. Science is not the ultimatum.

Having been a banker myself with 2 of these banks, ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank, I dare say that there are numerous checks to prevent money laundering at these banks. Take an example. Just search for complaints on these banks on the internet and you will find a bucket of complaints stating that the bank is not accepting cash beyond Rs 50000 or the bank is not accepting cash at other branches though they call it anywhere banking or the bank is asking for a cheque for even a simple withdrawal transaction and so on. You will find numerous complaints on cash deposit charges as well. So, from the bank's point of view, they have taken all necessary steps to prevent any money laundering or passing of money from accounts, unaccounted. But then, of course, no matter how far the police goes, the thieves are a step ahead. In fact, its only when the thieves are ahead that they exist.

Like many consumers have already pointed out, there are huge targets for bankers to cross sell products like insurance, mutual funds, gold coins, etc. Generally, when you go to people who are waiting for you and pose a question, "Is is possible?", the definite answer is "Yes". We have to understand here that, in case someone comes to me saying that he has to invest Rs 1Cr in an insurance product, I will jump out of my seat. I will say yes to whatever he says. I will even tell stories, true or otherwise, on how I have been helping other customers in similar cases. If money is a game of trust, banking runs on relationship. Cobra post plays the game till here and calls it Quit. What Cobra Post doesn't realize is there are people, systems and processes beyond this. It is easy to publish a story at this juncture quoting that the bank was willing to take my Rs 1Cr. But, would it actually take? Rather, would it be able to take?

I believe, Cobra Post should have taken the next step. They should have handed over the money to the banker and asked him to invest it. I am certain that the deal would not have gone further. Any cash transaction of Rs 10lacs and more in an account gets reported to the RBI. We have to understand that the bank can do a basic background check of the customer based on the principle of utmost good faith (uberrimae fidei) of the statements by customer. Large transactions are also scrutinized by the branch level auditors and many other teams that come in the process before the transaction goes through. One must note that the banks that have mammoth sizes would not take a risk of indulging into petty cases like these and take a hit on their reputation. So, the point is, it is not illegal to think about crime. Crime happens when it is done. Merely because a banker told you ways of transacting doesn't suffice to prove that it could be done. Propositions can not be conclusions. If that was so, would we not have more terrorist outfits in the nation than media houses vying for attention?

We all must understand that no matter how many steps we take to ensure righteousness, someone who wants to do something wrong, finds a way. There is no denying that some people in banks might try to break rules for their benefit, either to reach targets or to improve productivity, etc. However, that is not the bank's culture. It is an individual's attribute. Saying that more than one lac employees working in these organizations are money launderers is not only grossly wrong but also lunatic. Similar situations were created in 2008 when a media report declared that ICICI Bank is going bankrupt. Nothing happened to the bank but the bank's shares tumbled grossly. Even today, I remember ICICI Bank's greatest gesture to its customers by keeping the branches open on the half yearly closing day and letting customers withdraw funds or close account without any questions. It was an example to the entire banking industry. We often see these efforts to flaunt sensationalism, exactly what the media wants as exactly what the people also want. But then, at what/whose cost?

Over my experience, I have firmly built a strong trust in the Indian Banking System. The Reserve Bank of India is one of the strongest central banks that has always been on the consumer's side. Banks have hardly any margin for notoriety, even if they wish to. Every rule that the bank frames, in most cases, has to get the RBI's approval. The checks and balances are so strong that once can not muddle with them. Above all, the culture at these banks is clear. There is no scope for any activity that is not in the interest of the bank and the customer. Above all, to be very plain, it is only because of the banking system that black money is discouraged. It would really be illogical to claim that banks are encouraging black money transactions.

There is a general misconception that when money is deposited in the bank account or when the transaction is routed through the bank, the money becomes white. I, at least, did not expect someone trying to act as a whistle blower to continue under the misconception. By definition, black money is money/income that is not accounted for. It is very much possible that people transact everything through bank accounts and yet generate black money by not accounting it or reporting it as income. In case people transact in cash and report it as income, it is not black money anymore. Just because you see a bunch of currency notes, you can not call it black money and just because the amount is in the bank doesn't make it white. Basically, all the money that is recorded in the statement of accounts are white. It is not merely about bank account. It is about the Books of Account. On a lighter note, when people deposit their hoarding in the bank accounts under this thought, are the banks not helping the economy by getting the money into circulation rather than letting it rust in the beds or walls of the hoarders?

I am sure many would have faced numerous inconveniences with these banks to open an account. Though we are under a feeling that it is easy to open account in case we have money, it is not true. The maximum a sales oriented employee can do it collect the form, documents and send it for account opening. A large number of forms get rejected on account of various reasons. I remember there were more than a hundred reasons why an account opening form could be rejected. In fact, in urban areas, knowing that everyone has a bank account already, these banks demand a token cheque from existing bank account to open account. All the AML/KYC guidelines are adhered to strictly. The banks have checks on every transaction by following a wonderful rating process. The sales guys are rated by the number of forms they submit (along with the account opening amounts). The operations / authentication guys are accept only such forms where there are no violations of guidelines. Now, the operations guys send the forms to account opening department. It is very important to note here that the operations guys are rated on the basis on percentage of acceptances, which means, if I get 15 forms from Sales, accept 10 and send them for account opening and only 8 forms are accepted, my performance is affected drastically. While the sales guys are under pressure to generate forms, the operations guys are under the pressure of accepting only such forms that are perfect in all aspects. In numerous cases, this is a major point of contention between bankers. But then, in the long run, the maker-checker concept that is implemented in our banking system, is the most natural way to ensure things go in the right direction.

I would not deny that the cases for insurance are different. There are some deviations taken but then, all these deviations can be taken only with approval of higher officials. Higher officials are not sitting to approve merely to generate sales. They are genuine people who have bank's larger interests on their minds. When Cobra Post offered to invest into insurance and the sales guy gave numerous ways of doing it, even the sales guy knew that it will not go through because there are checks in place. But then, please understand that their duty is to sell and keep up the hope. Sir, kuch toh rashta nikalenge is what they say. In all these cases, if the transaction really proceeds further, the sales guy is of hope that he will at least get Rs 1lac of insurance, if not Rs 1Cr. Human nature is such that it runs where it sees hope. If you go into a street and tell someone that you have Rs 5Cr and you don't know what to do, you will get numerous ideas like buy land, go abroad, etc. from people who have only seen things on television. Why would someone want to to invest a large chunk of money into an insurance product, unless he is totally financially illiterate? Even the bank knows this and if you tried to do it, I'm sure, there would be a thorough investigation before accepting the funds. Merely because someone offered doesn't suffice to allege that the system is wrong. There are numerous cases where employees have been ruthlessly fired for having indulged in unethical practices. Nothing in the world is 100% pure. Even Gold stands at 99.99% only. There are definite glitches. However, those are to do with individuals. My point here is that when these individuals offer to do something wrong, there are many others who are involved in the process who are required to authorize transactions and they would put an end to such activity.

When I joined the banking industry, at ICICI Bank, I was made to sit for 21 days and my brain was drilled with just one statement, "Integrity or Get Out". The volume of importance that was laid on ethics, integrity, compliance and other factors was a clear communication to me that, "Boy, if you are not going to be honest in the business of people and money, you better leave this business". Those were times when there were enough rumors in the market that ICICI Bank will close down. I knew on that day that it is this bank that will, in the coming future, be an example for all the qualitative aspects of life. Even today, I remember our center manager shouting on the top of his voice at least a 100 times, "Compliance with Conscience". Nobody will ask you to do it. You should do it on your own. At HDFC Bank's induction too, there was so much emphasis laid on being truthful to the customer and honest in performing duties. The banks can not come and sit at the homes of all employees to find out what they are doing. The employees have their responsibilities and they do it well. One off cases are definitely there. 20 cases from 56000 employees is not a good sample to conclude. Cobra Post should have rather tried to pose these questions to Operations team or Audit team or the Senior Managers to know the real answers. When you go to a patient and ask him if he wants an apple, what else will he say. How right would we be if we call India a speechless nation referring to a leader who doesn't speak much or how right would we be if we call India a rapist nation considering the recent cases of rapes? Sensible?

I am not sure if the banks will sue Cobra Post for defamation, considering Indian banks are generally generous. It is not right to make an attempt to write statements as they appear on the website. These are not long term business building proposition. The attention stays for a few days only. The maximum that could happen is the stock prices may drop. After a few days, its banking as usual. Banks that have so many checks against malpractices have nothing to lose. However, the impact of such news items can be devastating. Most times, stocks fall, not because of any significant change in business, but because of huge selling, followed by margin calls leading to sales of pledged shares. One must find out whether in the process of creating sensation, is he making sense?

As a last piece, we must all understand that banking is not a business of money, it is a business of trust. Attempts like this to grab tremendous attention and become an overnight hit, but in turn damage the financial system and thus, should be curbed. If someone is really interested in helping the nation, they should report such happenings to the bank's management and demand an answer from them. Go to the RBI. Go the the Government. Then, in case there is no action seen, expose. I am not sure of the Government. I am a little sure of the RBI. However, I am very sure of bank's managements. They understand situations and consequences. Actions will be definitely taken in the first place itself. I am glad that someone is trying to do something but just because someone is doing something, we can not appreciate it. Saying that the policies of banks or the bankers are anti-customer is one side. It can be heard, accepted and worked upon. But then, saying that the bankers are anti-nation is something that definitely hurts the community of bankers who have been living all their life, thinking of each moment, about being trustworthy. There is a huge difference between money laundering and tactful methods of money transfers. While one is against the nation, the other is against the law. Being against the law, to some extent, can be worked upon to resolve. Being against the nation is something that is shameful, pathetic and equivalent of a national enemy. Its okay that you put us on the wrong side of law. Fine, we'll try to discuss, discover and improve. Don't put us on the wrong side of the nation.

Journalism should come with responsibility, if not for the people, at least for the nation.

Updates:
RBI 'de-stings' Cobrapost, says no money laundering at ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Axis
Systems to prevent money laundering in India perfect, says RBI
Money laundering sting: too many questions

Research Proposal for IGNOU PhD - Emerging Patterns of the Indian Economy

noreply@blogger.com (Puneetkumar Pattar) — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 11:09:00 +0000

Long ago, I thought of joining for a PhD from Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU). But then, things did not happen as I was too skeptical of going to New Delhi to take up the exam. I guess, if they had a test center somewhere close by, I would have taken up the test.

This is the Research Proposal that I had prepared for my application

Emerging Patterns of the Indian Economy

Introduction

While the Indian Economy has been on a fast track of revolutionary changes over the past decade, Indians have experienced a super fast change in almost every sphere of their life. People have been exposed to such changes all of a sudden. While these economic changes turned into blessings for some, they turned a curse for a few and from an economic front, these were blessings in disguise. The world sees India with a new eye now. From being seen as a pain in the world economy due to huge population, lack of education, facilities & infrastructure, India is now seen as an opportunity and a harbinger of a new age revolution in many spheres of activities to such an extent that Indians are now acquiring companies overseas and turning them around. There have been numerous instances of foreigners coming to India to learn on how such a turnaround happened. Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, former President of India, once quoted, “Dreams, Dreams, Dreams. Dreams turn into Thoughts. Thoughts turn into Actions”. While we all have the results of the actions before us in black and blue, we ought to understand how the thoughts have changed over a period of time and brought in these actions to life. On a deeper note, what dreams propelled these thoughts that transpired on to the minds to bring us where we are today. It is also interesting to note that not everyone is a part of this rally.

A significant portion of India remains where it was a decade ago. In the coming decades, it will be possible for us to grow only if this significant portion decides to take a part in the race. While so much has been written, spoken and discussed about this revolution, there are ample proofs that say that nothing has changed. This study will go further to find out whether we live in a new world or whether we are just the same old wine in a refurbished bottle. At this juncture, it’s quite interesting to note that old wine is far more valuable than the new one. India is a land of culture, traditions, customs and strong foundations that has quickly adapted to the revolutionary changes that the western world has brought into our lives. However, till now, we have sustained and been going strong because of the strong foundations that we have been built upon. Days are not far when the new blood will be born without these foundations but some other foundations and principles of life. In such a scenario, how does an economy adapt to deal with this new lot of people that have a totally different approach to life?

These are perhaps reasons why the strong western economies collapsed. What does a nation do when most of its population is on the internet 24x7 browsing websites like Facebook? How does the nation bring about productivity? What happens when the nation has to promise a minimum wage irrespective of the type of work? What happens when promises overtake logic on the macroeconomic front? A few such examples of results are before us - Greece, Italy, Germany, Portugal, etc. Time is not very far when India will be featured in this list if we continue to follow the progress of the western world. In such a scenario, how do our economic policies need to be shaped? Is it good for us to continue being the same old wine or should be bring in something new and risk losing the value of the old wine? The study will work on these areas to find out the deeply hidden implications of the changes that the Indian economy is witnessing and will attempt to point out what change will have what impact on the growth of the economy.

Review of Literature

A large number of international institutions like PWC, KPMG, McKinsey, etc. have written about the dynamics of the Indian economy. To mention a few, India – from Midnight to Millenium by Shashi Tharoor, The Idea of India by Sunil Khilnani, In spite of the Gods by Edward Luce, India Unbound by Gurucharan Das, The Algebra of Infinite Justice by Arundhati Roy. Some works like those by PWC, World Bank, Central Asia Caucasus Institute not only mention about the pace of growth but also offer solutions to sustain growth as anything that goes up faces a great risk of crashing. Growth bubbles created must be filled by the necessary stuff to energize them into power generating resources lest they burst creating an economic depression like some of the greatest economies of the world have landed into. We have a huge volume of information, advanced analytic highly processed statistics and highest levels of science & technology research studies but none of these over the decades have been able to alleviate the basic problems of human life like poverty, unemployment, etc.

Rationale & Background

While nations like ours, China, Brazil, US and the UK are registering growth numbers, its nations like Bhutan that have been hitting highs on the Happiness Index. Details like this go to prove that there is a missing link despite all the monetary planning, budgetary allocations, programs and plans to develop the economy. This study aims to discover such links that motivate the actions, the thoughts behind them and the dreams that instigate these thoughts on to the minds of the people. After all, it’s the people who ultimately move the economy. The Government policies and economy do play a role but the supremacy of the players will rule all the time. The study will do a level deeper into analyzing the growth numbers. It will not be restricted to patterns of growth but will go into finding the reasons for such patterns of growth. What will be the result of an economy where everyone is a millionaire? What happens to the construction industry after all the roads are built and everyone has a house to live? Who will work as a plumber / cobbler / farmer if everyone is educated and wishes to run a business or be employed in a Fortune 500 company? Though there has to be equality of labor, what will be the situation if we practically treat all labor equally? What will motivate people to become an engineer or a doctor or a scientist if a sweeper has the same value as them? Such are the questions that the study plans to address.

As a part of my job as a banker over the years, I have been going through a lot of data and research activities. There have been many instances where some of most advanced indices and numbers appear quite meaningless considering the economic scenario at those times. The stock markets react differently to the same set of numbers at different times. This behavior evidences that there are logical gaps in the systems and processes that we follow. To eliminate such gaps, we have to look into the roots from where these fruits (numbers) originate. The study aims to accumulate knowledge through research on people, their lives, aims, aspirations, growth plans and their thoughts on different instruments, financial and non financial, that play a vital role in decision making process of the individuals and thereby define the nation’s economy. To quote an example, there has been a varied pattern in the retail mutual fund investments in India. While the data might signify that people have lost interest in mutual funds and thereby, the capital markets, the fact may be that people might not be finding a right way to invest into mutual funds as SEBI/AMFI have put a tight cap on agent commissions and a large number of agents have quite from the mutual fund sales business. Banks might have seen this as an opportunity to sell insurance products to the customers who look for mutual funds. Later, we saw SEBI/IRDA putting a cap in agent commissions for ULIP products and banks found it more profitable to sell endowment plans, thereby leading to an increased investment in debt instruments. However, the data, when solely seen, indicates that individual interest in stock market related products (first MFs and then ULIPs) has declined. The research plans to look beyond what is available before the eyes. Further, the study also plans to go deeper into the individual level and understand what made people to take decisions to bring about such changes in their life, be it a change in their home, a change of a car, a change in their spending approaches, a change in their contention with their job and so on.

Indian economy is robust and in such a gigantic place, one can find every kind of happening. Reliability is one very important factor for anything that comes into our lives. The study shall aim to get into reality of individual lives and through their voices, express thoughts and actions to bring out the steps that we ought to take if we have to realize the dream of being the crown of the world in the coming decades.

Aims & Objectives

Let’s consider this. Smoking has been consistently projected as an evil that only harms the smoker but also the people around him. In India, smoking has been banned in public places. Later on, the Government even decided to mention on all the cigarette packs in bold letters, ‘Smoking Kills’. Further, it was proved that smokers are prone to cancer. Smoking on screen (movies, TV, etc) was also banned. However, with each step to curb this evil, the Indian Tobacco Company and all its competitors have only been seeing rising number of cigarette sales. What’s more, we even have a new class of active smokers forming a mass percentage of the smokers’ community, the Urban Women. What went wrong? Why did not of such steps bring down smoking numbers in India. The study aims to find solutions to such problems that appear to only increase with each solution that has been tried to solve them. Some of the very specific aims of objectives of the study will be to explore the following fields and learn the underlying elements.

The changing trends in lives of such part of population that has been supplied with more money than it actually requires to lead a comfortable life and thereby, their considerations for luxury.
Drastic changes in the thoughts of urban youth. While till 2000, we had a generation change every 15-20 years, we can now see a generation change every 3-5 years.
People’s opinion on the meaning of various points of life like education, job, work, marriage, love, children, etc that have been changing over the years and how such a change will impact the nation’s GDP.
What do people do now to spend their free time or whether they even get any free time? What is the people’s idea of quality time? Do people still consider visiting a temple? What age category thinks what about God, Religion, Caste, etc?
What are the people’s thoughts on owning a house? How do they plan to work on their dreams?
What people think about money, banks, finances, investments, etc?
Who are the most important people in current day’s people’s lives? How significant are parents in the relationship chain? How such chains affect the national growth?
Is there a line drawn to define freedom? How much freedom is free?
What do parents tell their children now? What do they expect from their children? What do current generation of children expects from their children and what did the current generation of parents expected, when they were children, from their parents?
Changes in people’s tastes, eating habits, cooking habits, etc.
Changes in people’s approach to topics like health, fitness, communication, shopping, technology, sports, defense, national issues, politics, etc.
How do people decipher words like infrastructure, environment, agriculture, trade, finances, credit policy, inflation, university, governance, poverty, etc. and how such definitions varying define the quality of life, standards of living, efforts of individuals, decision making abilities and thereby, undoubtedly, the national growth.

Further, the most important objective of the study will be to ascertain how these changes will affect the nation’s growth in the long run. After all, changes in thoughts are ones that drive the nation over the long run. In one of the most advanced cities of the world, London, we have seen instances of the citizens stealing, looting and resorting to illicit methods to meet their basic needs for life as they were unemployed. The study will be aimed, as already mentioned, to get deep into the subject, go beyond the causes and reasons, and establish the points that drove these causes and reasons into our lives.

Hypothesis

The study will apply important economic theories into analyzing the data in an all new approach. For example, the law of diminishing marginal utility may even be applied to education and not just water & food. When we do so, we come out of the box of thinking that education, no matter how much, is always useful. When we come out of this thought & apply the law of diminishing marginal utility, one will realize that too much of information serves no purpose. We live in a world that is overloaded with information. Something that comes today becomes outdated tomorrow. In the process, our brains have been losing their memory retention capacities. We might use a calculator to find out what is 2 + 2.

The study aims to apply these laws to such fields to which they have never been applied before. The study will also make use of the basic laws of economics like Supply & Demand theories, Capitalism & Socialism theories, Efficient Markets hypothesis, Life Cycle hypothesis, Game Theory and other laws to find the hidden meanings of the data available. Further, the study shall aim to analyze what effect these have been having on the progress of Indian economy and how we should deal with these to ensure our economy moves on a right as well as a righteous path.

Methodology

The first step of the research methodology will be to define the requirements of the data that the study will require. As per the preliminary plan, most of the economic data is available from the CSO, budgetary documents, Planning Commission, Trade Bodies, Organizations like BSE, NSE, AMFI, SEBI and various other institutions.

The next step will be to meet people to find out their views. This would involve meeting economists, government officials, teachers, trade bodies, etc. who will provide a general view of the trends. Further, to strengthen the understanding, the next step will be to meet people from different walks of life, viz. students, engineers, farmers, politicians, housewives, auto drivers, etc., who will provide an insight into the topics of discussions and their views on the changing economy and how it impacted their thoughts and actions. A lot of emphasis will be laid on how their aims, goals and dreams have been changing over the years due to the changing world. Who of them saw this as an opportunity and who of them saw this as a killer coming their way and how did these thoughts impact their lives?

Both qualitative as well as quantitative research will be undertaken in the study. Efforts will primarily be done to understand reasons that govern human behavior and not just the behavior. Questions shall be broad based to learn more about the topic of discussion and will further focus to greater details to narrow down on a theme. A systematic empirical investigation of numbers will be done at different places to gather data that will be used for statistical analysis. Sampling & Derivative Research will also play an important role in the process of establishing relationships between the variables.

Significance of the Study

Mumbai is one the world’s most posh city where some of the world’s richest people live and large volumes of business happen. Yet, why does near to half of the population in Mumbai live in slums? In India, minimum food requirement for a person in rural areas (2400 calories) is more than the person living in urban (2100 calories) areas and how do we plan to meet this requirement considering that the production as well as the land under production is reducing drastically every year? Several schemes like Swarnajayanti Gram Swarojgar Yojana, Jawahar Gram Samridhi Yojana, Prime Minister Rozgar Yojana, etc. have been sanctioned by the Government but these have not been able to do much about the unemployment situation in the areas that these schemes target. Unemployment of different types like - Disguised unemployment, Seasonal unemployment, Structural unemployment, Cyclical unemployment, Technical unemployment, etc. continue to haunt the Indian economy. A new scheme titled The Rural Landless Employment Guarantee Programme, aiming at generating gainful employment, creating productive assets in rural areas and improving the overall quality of rural life, could not do much to solve these issues.

This is just one case scenario to understand how important is this study that plans to go deeper into the reasons behind such issues. For example, one reason might be that the farmers are lured to sell their lands to the industries and housing societies who offer them a mouth watering deal. Though we say, ‘farmers are the backbone of the nation’, the quote is not as attractive enough compared to the quote (price) that the builders give the farmer to sell his land. What needs to be done to motivate the farmers to continue their work? Such are the questions that the study plans to address.

Thus, the study is very significant as it will help in understanding the underlying elements. As already mentioned, India is on a super fast road of growth and there are a lot of potholes & speed-breakers on the way. While making effort to remove all hurdles to make a smooth sailing is the motto of the world and thereby, countries are called developed economies, the study will rather do deep and might find out that it is wise to cover all the potholes but we need to have the speed-breakers on the road to monitor the economic progress and be in a position to exercise control over the nation. A lot will depend on the thoughts, actions and dreams of Indians in deciding how far India will go.

Bibliography

Websites

Wikipedia
Planning Commission
India Budget
SEBI
National Portal of India

Reports

PWC report on Indian Economy
India report by Cushman & Wakefield
The India Opportunity by KPMG
Janagraha – Urban Governance in India by Planning Commission

Others

Times of India
Economic Times
Business Standard

Reminiscenes from Sukhi Jeevana Residential Retreat at Melukote

noreply@blogger.com (Puneetkumar Pattar) — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 17:04:00 +0000

Oscar Wilde said, "To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all" and this has been becoming a stronger fact with each passing day on the earth, more with lives of people like me who live in cities that run 24x7 to transform their citizens into machines of economic power. Over the last many years, a lot of people have been revisiting life and attempting to find out if this is really what life means. I have been a party to it as well. Sitting in front of a computer with Microsoft's Excel and Adobe's Acrobat Reader for half the day, riding on the road that hardly has any space, breathing air that has more CO & CO2 instead of O2, lying on the bed like a dead body at the end of the day in order to rise to leave to work the next day, the routine has definitely made life miserable adding to physical unfitness, mental weakness and emotional imbalance in life. There's no one to blame except ourselves. The companies pay us for the work we do and we are extremely grateful to them. There is a dire need to strike a balance between work and life to ensure that we lead better lives.

In a mail that was forwarded to me, I noted that some Samaritans had taken an initiative to conduct a 3 Days Workshop on living life with wisdom. Titled 'Sukhi Jeevana Residential Retreat', the program was scheduled from Feb 15 to Feb 17, 2013 at Melukote. It was broadly based on the themes of Jeevan Vidya, Holistic and Simple Living, Food and Health, Education, Ecology, etc. The organizers identified themselves as Arivu Educational and Cultural Trust, Janapada Seva Trust and Suvidya. The facilitators named in the mail were Vinish Gupta and Karuna Morarji of Jeevan Shala Trust, Dr AN Nagaraju (an Agricultural Scientist who has authored books on Holistic Living) and Dr SN Gananath (Founder of Suvidya, Environmentalist and Educationalist). I had a look at my leave calendar and found that the attendance was possible. I sent out an email for registration and another mail to apply for leave.

On 14th, I boarded the Chamundi Express from Bangalore (6.20PM) and reached Mandya, the nearest railway station, at around 8PM. From there, I took a bus at 8.45PM and reached Melukote at around 10PM. By around 10.30PM, I reached the Hosa Jeevana Dari Farm on Melukote-Chinakurli road where the retreat was scheduled from the next day. A few participants were already present at the venue. I decided to go to sleep. Seeing that I had to sleep on the floor, I thought I would have a tough time. However, I was so tired that I dozed off quickly. Sometimes I think, what is the use of getting luxuries in life, especially early on in life? In a way, it makes us weak and just in case, life throws up difficulties in the future, we are in a fix.

At 9AM on 15th, the retreat began. Some breakfast and tea preceded. Dr SN Gananath started the day stating that it was time for us to discover where we are headed. The retreat was an attempt to improve the quality of our lives by understanding relationships within us and the world around with emphasis on family, society and the nature. Of course, 30 people can't sit and solve the world's problems but we can definitely try to better our lives. As the birds chirped in the background and the pleasant sound of the movement of Charaka (spinning wheel) from an in-house cotton manufacturing unit hit our ears, we were experiencing a different life away from vehicle horns and ambulance sirens. The breeze kept reminding us silently that there is nothing wrong in the world, we just need to stitch things around to make life beautiful. Philosophies do not produce actions directly but influence the decisions and thereby, the actions. Each one of us wants to be happy and each one of us have our own definitions of happiness, thus creating this dynamic world.

The workshop formally commenced and the stage was handed over to Mr Vinish Gupta. Vinish Gupta, a linguist by formal training, has been a teacher and educator in different universities and colleges for over a decade. He has been involved with environmental and social movements and campaigns. He was also the member of a Buddhist monastic order for over a decade, during which time he had the opportunity to study and explore traditional Indian philosophies and systems of living. Vinish was educated at Jawaharlal Nehru University, at IIT Delhi, and at Deccan College, Pune. His current interests include value education, and design of environmentally sound systems and technologies. Vinish is the Managing Trustee of Jeevanshala Trust. He was accompanied by his wife, Karuna Morarji and their son, Naman. Karuna Morarji has a long-standing concern with understanding relationships between education and visions of human possibility and development. As an educator, she enjoys sharing an appreciation for critical social theory as a lens to see relationships between things that often appear independent and disconnected. Other current interests include food, film, processual/historical analysis and collaborative ways of teaching, learning and living. Karuna was educated in Sweden, India and USA. The duo, along with many others, have been proposing a better way of learning life through Jeevan Vidya.

Physical facilities are needed to lead a proper life. However, there is a need to examine how much physical facilities are needed and what their role is. It is also important to ask the question - besides physical facilities, what else is important in human life? The lack of attention to relationships leads to strife in the family, in spite of all the worldly successes. It is human relationships and human values that are a source of our perennial happiness. We all possess these human values inherently, and what is needed is to bring them out in each one of us.

The workshop addresses the self in the human being. It draws attention to human needs - need for human relationships, inherent desire to seek knowledge, and the joy that we naturally derive from these. In our current situation, we might be seeking different things. Thus, it brings about a dialogue between what we are and what we want to be. It does not posit happiness in an after-world, but here and now, based on a "humanness" common to all human beings. The approach is rational, secular and universal.

A Study of What IS

Most of our problems stem from false understanding. Jeevan Vidya is a study of ‘What Is’ (Jo Hai) and NOT of What is Not. For instance Light IS, but darkness is NOT. Darkness is the absence of light. There is existence of light – it can be brought to a place (say a lamp) but darkness cannot be brought to a place. What we call darkness is actually a shadow, which is created by putting an obstacle in the way of light. Similarly there is ‘samaadhaan’. ‘Samaadhaan’ is knowing what IS. Problems are an absence of Samaadhaan, when we do not know WHAT IS (Jo Hai). So problems like darkness have no real existence.

Language makes mental categories, without our being conscious of these categories. In most languages there is no distinction made between WHAT IS and WHAT IS NOT. From childhood we are taught to believe that we live in a world of opposites. For instance, we are taught that the opposite of light is darkness, opposite of good is evil etc. This gives a false impression as if both (the opposites) have an existence. But the reality is that one exists while the other has no existence. One is real (has bhav) while the other is false (or absence of the real or absence of what is, i.e., abhav). During the adhyayan prakriya one realizes that there is a difference between the word and its meaning (artha).

Background Questions

Is it possible to UNDERSTAND?
Is it possible to COMMUNICATE understanding?
HOW MUCH/WHAT can one understand?
How does it FEEL to understand?
Can understanding be SHARED UNDERSTANDING?
Is it possible to LIVE OUT one's UNDERSTANDING?
How can the FACILITATOR/WORKSHOP help you in this process?

Jeevan Vidya - Self Exploration

Self Exploration is a dialogue between what you are and what you want to be. It helps us in knowing ourselves, better. With right understanding, we evolve. All the entities in existence are self organized, be it plants, animals, rivers, rocks, clouds, etc. Even human beings are self organized by default, but we keep hurting the organization frequently, leading to all catastrophes of the human life.

Content of Self Exploration

Desire - Purpose, Aim, Objective of life = Happiness + Prosperity
Program of Action - To understand and live in harmony

Process of Self Exploration

Verify it on your right (on the basis of Natural Acceptance)

We all face situations with same pressures and yet, most times, our decisions are different. Further, decisions vary vastly from person to person. Jeevan Vidya dwells on what I am, my needs, relationships. – to be verified by every individual on their own right. Basis for verification is the self, so no stated truths here. Self Verification is the highest form of authentication. Natural (Spontaneous) Acceptance (Sahaj Sweekruti) is the same for all human beings Every statement is a proposition that each individual has to verify for himself/herself. Proof of understanding is in living it. If it can’t be lived, it is not true/not understood.

Nirikshan - Verify with Self (Self Realization is true, trans-spatially, trans-temporally and trans-culturally)
Parikshan - Verify with Others around
Sarvekshan - Verify with All (universal)

Jindagi ka Lakshya - Sukh Samriddhi. The goal or objective of life is Happiness and Prosperity. While happiness can be defined as Harmony without and contradictions, Prosperity could be defined as A little more than what one wants. Fact that you do not have a choice makes you unhappy. The next level of prosperity comes on sharing. If you do not have anyone to share, you feel deprived. All through the workshop, the attempt is to focus on means, not words. There are no implied opposites as it leads to mis-communication. There is a need to see the I through the eye. You get answers when you look at the I of other person and not just the eye.

On the first page of every economics text, we read that there are limited resources and unlimited wants and thus, we see deprivation

Deprivation

Exploitation

Corruption

Opposition

Struggles

WAR

More than 50 wars are in progress around the world and most of these have been waged by nations that have all the physical facilities and yet, they feel deprived because their definition is prosperity is flawed. The most unfortunate fact we see around the globe is that the soldiers of different nations are standing facing against each other with guns in their hands. Yet, we call it as peace just because the trigger has not been pulled.

The world is snatching from people who already have less. The lesson that there are limited resources and unlimited wants has been the harbinger of all the fight for resources. The source of current problems seems to be an overemphasis on physical facilities, glamour, consumerist lifestyle, and a false sense of satisfaction in competition and one-upmanship (Neighbors Envy... Owners Pride...). The focus on the external things leads to ignorance about the concerns of the self. It leads to a blind race for wealth, position and jobs. Many times, in spite of achieving ones goals, the individual remains dissatisfied - jobs and positions that are intellectually and mentally unfulfilled and wealth that breeds chaos in family, problems in society, and imbalance in nature.

In my own thoughts, I felt that the point that somebody doesn't have something shouldn't necessary result into deprivation. Most successful people take motivation from it and try to move on to achieve, of course, until the actions are in right direction and efforts are with understanding. I just tried to put up a corollary to the proposed theorem on deprivation to war.

Limited Resources, Unlimited Desires

Motivation

Exploration

Goals

Effort

Success

Anyways, that apart, a Jeevan Vidya workshop is an intensive 40-hour learning experience that seeks to bring one’s attention to neglected and subtle facets of life; issues related to interpersonal relations, education, society, environment, aspirations, success are discussed and participants are provided critical tools to help them explore the rich web of connections between seemingly disparate aspects. There is no sermonizing. The facilitator presents sets of proposals, and helps participants bring their attention to bear on the inner workings of their thoughts, fears and aspirations. Gradually one begins to interrogate hidden assumptions and get a sharper, clearer view of the whole intricate fabric of life; one begins to see new possibilities for positive human action. The idea is to trigger an empowering, self-critical inner dialogue that begins with the workshop, but doesn't end with it.

We all live life on 3 major components which determine almost all that we do and aspire to do in life.

Suvidha - Physical Facilities (Food, Clothing, Shelter, Instruments)
Sambandh - Relationships
Samajh - Right Understanding

Focus on Physical Facilities constitutes Animal Consciousness while focusing on all the 3 components in required proportions constitutes Human Consciousness. By moving from AC to HC, we develop and make our lives better. Unfortunately, the world has misunderstood the term Developing/Developed Country with the word Developing/Developed Economy. The world has forgotten that economy is a part of it. In the process, the economic interests have become way larger and significant than the nation's interests.

To be happy, one must have sound mind and sound body. Stress uses up a large volume of nutrients from the body. In the natural course of life, Fear (Bhay) and Enticement (Pralobhan) do not work.

Self & Body

An attempt is made to understand human beings as comprising of two entities that coexist together – the ‘body’ and the ‘Self’. The needs or requirements of the body (food clothing, shelter) and the self (to know, be satisfied, respect, love, help others, etc) are entirely different, both the needs are required to be fulfilled. This is the basic human design. It is quite easy to understand this distinction between the body and the self, once our attention is drawn to it. For instance the body tastes, smells, hears, touches, sees through its sensory organs and passes on the information to the self. It is then the self, who comprehends or makes sense out of all this. It also evaluates these senses – likes them, dislikes them etc.. It is the self who thinks, perceives, has likes and dislikes, reacts, responds etc.

But what we finally understand is that the need of the self is intangible in nature. It craves for intangibles like knowledge, happiness, trust, respect, love, bothers about people around it etc.. Also these needs (of the self) are constantly there, incessantly and are without any limits. While the needs of the body are those of the tangibles and are not incessant. For instance once we have had food we can eat again only after an interval. Also there is a definite limit to the food we consume. Likewise all the needs of the body are limited. But the need of the self is continuous.

All the participants were asked to list out what they want from life. A list of 50 desires was written on the board.

On completing this exercise, all these needs were analysed one by one to conclude that there are 2 types of needs that we all want

Needs of the body
Needs of the self

Our conditioning and teachings make no distinction between the self with the body. The two are taken as one therefore no distinction is ever made between the separate requirements of the two entities, which can be said to coexist in a human being. Because of this basic confusion most human beings put their entire effort in satisfying the bodily requirements. But satisfying the bodily needs does not satisfy the self. And the yearning of the self for the non material, the intangible remains in a human being. It is part of the human design. So the dissatisfaction remains. The dissatisfaction prompts the human being to strive for more and more tangible items because they are unable to understand the self -whose requirements are entirely different, intangible in nature. There are no limits to the demands of the self, for the intangible. The self wants happiness/satisfaction, love, respect, trust.

While needs of the body are the same for all the human beings, needs of the self vary materially. It was important to note that there is enough in this world to meed the needs of the body. The ones marked in red in the list above indicate the needs of the body. As far as the needs of self concerned, again, there are enough resources to meet them to an understandable extent. Further, on analyzing all the needs of the self, it was concluded that, ultimately, these all converge into the following 6 needs

Happiness
Justice
Relationship
Respect
Trust
Understanding

At any given point of time, there are 3 things that happen with human beings that end in decision making. This is called the mental visualization technique.

Ichha - Desire - Imaging
Vichaar - Thought - Analyzing
Asha - Selection or Expectation - Selection

For every action that we do, we are the Drishta (See-r), Kartha (Doer) and Bhuktha (Enjoy-er/Sufferer). Generally, all actions are taken in 3 motivations (directions)

Sensation
Preconditioning
Right Understanding

When we take actions based on right understanding, the results are better. We have to check the reason behind our actions and which motivation has influenced the decision. Swatantra (Self functioning or Self organized) decisions are no dependent on sensation or preconditioning. They come out from our own understanding. We create a Swarajya by spreading of the self awareness and self organized. In an example, a rich businessman wanted to buy a new car while his existing Honda City was in absolute working condition. The motivation had arisen on seeing the neighbor buy a new one. On discussing with someone, he realized that the reason is not good enough to indulge into. In case he bought one and someone else bought a better one, he would again feel deprived. So, finally, he decided not to buy a new car until the existing one was in reasonably unusable condition. More than Rs 10lacs, he saved himself from the trap of deprivation. People build floors and floors of buildings to fight such deprivation. It is, therefore, essential to understand what is required to be done and do it accordingly. We have to understand that the objective of advertisements is to make us unhappy with what we have. At most times, ads are scaring, misleading and yet, seducing.

In the process of education, we move from assuming to knowing. However, modern education has merely become a programming of preconditioning. The human inhabits the following ‘levels’ and has a need to understand the each of them and his relationship with and within each of them:

Within the self (knowledge of self, no contradiction within the self)
With the body (Healthy body)
With family (Mutually fulfilling relationships)
With society (Harmonious systems for functioning of the same)
With nature (Protection, enrichment and right utilization )
With the entire existence (Consists of space, atoms, molecules, etc - Know the relationship and fulfill it)

The whole of existence is in the form of co-existence, as units submerged in space. Each unit is in self-organization within itself and fulfills its relationship with all other units. Every unit is reflected onto every other unit. There is harmony in existence. One does not have to create the harmony, it is already available/there. One only needs to understand existence and align oneself with it. The basic human need is to understand this.

Nurture and Protection of the Body

The body is the most complicated and advanced physio chemical instrument. Whether one uses the body or abuses it, the natural acceptance of every human being is for the nurture and protection of the body. Some critical points to note here are

Aahara-Vihaara - All intake, roughly food and lifestyle
Vyaayam - In the normal course of life or to be supplemented by additional exercise
Aushadha - In case food, lifestyle and exercise are not in sync, we need medicine
Swasthya - Healthy body is one which can do what the mind tells. All organs are in harmony with the mind
Sanyama - Only the self taking responsibility for the nurture and protection of the body

Unfortunately, today we work from 9am to 5pm to lead a hazardous lifestyle. Off late, we have started working from 7am to 9pm as well to ensure that we have money to buy medicines in the future. We earn to insure our health and our lives and yet, we fail to realize that we are not doing anything to facilitate a good health or a better life. A black liquid with a secret formula, proven to be dangerous for the health, is consumed without a second thought at an enormous premium to the production price. We call them soft drinks. We see ads where people stand with a cigar in hand and claim 'Life life, King size' and fall prey to them. When science itself says that skin is soluble and thus, whatever we put on the skin can very much enter our bodies, why do we produce cosmetics and related stuff? Even after knowing the harm, how/why we put anything our skin that we can't put in our mouth? Some questions are really challenging to answer. The body has an inbuilt cleaning mechanism. In fact, there is no need to use a soap as well. The body has an inbuilt time sensitivity system as well which initially runs on sunlight senses and further, based on lifestyle and changes, improves and advances to tell us time. We don't need a watch either.

The solution lies in Aahar-Vihaar and the relief lies in Aushada. We must focus on the solution.

Human seeks themselves as separate beings and that gives rise to loneliness. To overcome this sense of deprivation, we start doing all funny activities. We try to dominate others as it makes us feel expanded and kills loneliness. We also try to get affiliated to other people or groups to overcome being lonely. At times, we submit ourselves due to pressure. Neither domination nor submission is a permanent solution to loneliness. Human beings, by nature, want to be free and do what they want and thus, the fight to freedom will continue internally. Even when you constantly dictate terms to a child, he/she retaliates.
Extreme dominance creates an inferiority complex in the child
Extreme giving creates a superiority complex in the child
The best way to overcome loneliness is by loving everyone and treating them as equal to us. We must accept others' shortcomings as imperfections are a part and parcel of life. Instead of continuing our negative attitudes, it would be better now to love and live now. Ultimately, acceptance or rejection of all that hits our ears depends on how our mind perceives it. We ought to keep doing something good for others and love them with respect.

Anger comes to us as a result of expectations (exaggerated importance and unrealistic expectations). The mental visualization technique can help in overcoming the different complexes. One thing that you get from self righteousness is anger.

Harmony with Family

Propositions for Harmony with Family

Relationship IS between Self (I) and Self (I)
There are feelings in relationship
These feelings can be recognized and fulfilled
The recognition and fulfillment by right evaluation leads to natural happiness

Respect
Respect = Samman = Sam Maan = Samyak Mulyan = Right Evaluation

Adhimulyan = Over evaluation
Avamulyan = Under evaluation
Nirmulyan = Other evaluation

Right evaluation is naturally acceptable to all of us. However, since the past, we have been evaluation people based on differentiation of body (size, color, sex, age, etc), physical facilities (power, position, money, etc) and ideology. Through out the history, there is evidence of massive movements to end such differentiation as it leads to exploitation. We must evaluate everyone rightly and only then, respect is possible. When we do it, we realize that the other is strikingly similar to us. Perhaps, if we had not evaluated each other on the basis of our bodies, the cosmetics markets would have never taken birth. On the other hand, I was thinking that we must respect people with good health as the underlying assumption is that they would have done the required effort to maintain their bodies in good health. Of course, when we evaluate people based on body composition and feel good, it is only relative, ie, till someone better than us passes by. Life doesn't come with guarantees and warranties. It comes with possibilities. We must live with respect, in respect, eternally.

Understanding

Understanding is Sarvathomukhi, i.e., All encompassing, Preemptive and Irreversible

Trust

Assurance that the other also wants my happiness and prosperity (Abhay = Sukh Samruddhi ka Aashwasan)

Trust = Intention + Competence

Propositions for Intent

I want happiness for myself
I want happiness for others
The other wants happiness for himself/herself
The other wants my happiness

Propositions of Competence

I am able to always make myself happy
I am able to always make the other happy
The other is always able to make himself happy
The other is always able to make me happy

On analyzing trust as a combination of intent and competence, it was realized that people have right intentions at all times but they lack competence to execute their intention due to lack of right understanding and thus, create distrust in others. The lack of trust generally arises when we question the intent of the other person. As a general observation, when others do something wrong, we question their intent while when we do something wrong, we blame it on our competence and claim that our intent was right. In the process, the world has gotten so busy questioning others' intent that it hardly spends time to build people's competence. For example, we isolate a criminal from the world by locking him up in a prison as we question his intent. However, we should actually help him realize that he performed criminal acts due to low competence and help him move up the competence ladder and be a better person.

Today, we teach the children to become special. A teacher says in the class, "You all must come 1st", and that is never going to happen. The message given to us from childhood is that we are Vishesh (special) and the others are Shesh (the rest - others or the ordinary). We forget that the others too have been given the same message and thus, the race begins. The world further plays a spoilsport by rewarding special people. Race is good and rewards are better. However, the race should be for excellence, not for being special. The rewards should be for excellence. The focus should be for excellence of all children as that is achievable proposition. The world is heading towards low competency levels as we are not concentrating on systems to make people excellent. We put our man on the moon to prove that we are special while we never bothered to feed our fellow brothers who kept dying of hunger. We must remember that everything special comes to an end while excellence can only be explored further. Excellence comes with responsibility as well. For example, when we say, "Indian culture is special", we do not mean anything to be done from us. But then, when we say, "Indian culture is excellent", it bestows responsibility on us to ensure to continue the excellency. Wherever humans have paid attention, amazing results have been achieved. From soil, we have built mobiles and computers. However, we have forgotten to pay attention to some very important and critical parts of life which has created troubles in the nature. It has become more exotic to live with dogs because we can't live with humans. We have done things that are of tall order and in the process, the regular things like values have become tall orders. We, unfortunately, put a price to everything. Somebody even sold their virginity online. That is the extent of craziness we have reached.

Proposed Definitions of Values of Life

Affection = Feeling of being related to the other

Care (Mamtha) = Concern for the well being of the body of the other

Guidance (Vatsalya) = Concern for the well being of the self of the other

Reverence (Shraddha) = Feeling for excellence (of understanding)

Worship (Puja) = Any effort made towards excellence of understanding

Glory (Gaurav) = Feeling for people who have worked for excellence in the past

Gratitude (Krutagnyatha) = Feeling for people who have contributed for our excellence

Love (Prem) = Feeling of being related to all people (Poornatha ke anth mein Anubandhan)

Relationship

Sambandh - We have relationship with everyone and everything. The choice to recognize them or not is in our hands. Its just that we do not have contact (Sampark) with others. Relationships exist only in the presence of trust and respect. We must never make enemies with others as we end up sleeping with them (they never get out of our minds). Today, we have more guards and less security, more guns and more insecurity, more relief measures and less solutions.

Family

Set of people living in proximity, fulfilling values

Justice

Justice can happen between people only with their own trust and respect. Courts can only deliver a verdict, not justice. Justice happens when all the stakeholders understand each other's values. When the mood is either you or I, we get no solutions.

Marriage

Vivaah = Vidhi-Vadh Sambandh ka Nirvaah
Marriage is the fulfillment of a relationship in a proper way taking responsibility for nurture of children and passing on values to them and engaging in productive meaningful work as a family.

We must understand that we all have the same potentials. We excel in whatever we pay attention to. However, the world has certain definitions of success and thus, we all try to live by them. Excellence is attained by everybody in their own interests. It requires a great zeal of energy,enormous confidence and tremendous guts to go against what the world has defined as success, happiness or for that matter, what is good for all of us. We have to mark a distinction between the following points to grow, develop and live happily in life.

Assuming -> Knowing

Agreeing -> Understanding

Price -> Value

Relief -> Solution

Fear/Enticement -> Understanding

Special -> Excellent

Essential -> Optional

Complete happiness is achieved in life only when all the stakeholders are happy. It happens only in cases of win-win situations. We have been running behind things that are optional as they have been marketed to us as essential. In the process, the optional have become more powerful than essentials.

Sapeksh Atma Vishwas - Self confidence dependent on others
Nirpeksh Atma Vishwas - Self confidence independent of others (absolute)

Natural acceptance needs not be majority's unanimity.

Anger is the manifestation of not having the solution in the situation. Once we see the solution, we become calm by default as our natural acceptance is for the solution.

Harmony in Society

At the society level, the decisions are taken by the lawmakers in the form of policies and guidelines. These policies and guidelines must be aimed at helping people reach their goals.

Maanav Lakshya = Human Goals

Samadhan = Resolution (Right Understanding)
Samriddhi = Prosperity
Abhay = Trust
Saha-Astitva = Coexistence, especially with the nature

To help people achieve these goals, the policies must focus on

Shiksha-Sanskar = Educated Living
Swasthya-Sanyam = Responsible Healthcare
Utpadan Karya Yojana = Productive Work (Right Utilization, Production, Protection)
Vinimaya Kosh = Exchange and Storage
Nyaya-Suraksha = Justice and Security

When we tried to analyze how policies are being framed, we find the following differences

Policies do not focus on Abhay or trust (absence of fear). They only ensure that we are prepared to fight the fear (Nirbhaya).
Policies have confused prosperity with monetary gains. Prosperity is the feeling that you have a little more than what you need.
Exchange of goods should ideally focus on bettering one another's lives. However, the focus is on giving something in some form to snatch what the other person is having. It is a system of maximizing monetary profits.
While we would store for future, corporations only concentrate on disposing off all that they have.
Today's biggest insecurity is whether the nature will be able to fulfill our needs. This has triggered a chaos to consume now.

Harmony in Nature

In existence whatever we see – all the physical entities (the ikais) can be classified into four major categories. These are

Padarthavastha (or the material world)

Inherent Nature is to ‘compose and decompose’

Pranavastha (the world of trees, plants and vegetation)

Inherent Nature is to ‘grow’

Jeevavastha (the world of birds and animals)

Inherent nature is ‘will to survive’

Gyanavastha (the human world ).

Inherent nature is ‘will to survive’ with knowledge and happiness/satisfaction/sukh

There is harmony in the nature by default. All the three orders, Material Order, Plant Order and Animal Order are in harmony with one another. Even within themselves, there is an internal harmony. However, at the human order, there is neither harmony within us nor with the other orders. We must understand that no matter what we do, everything comes back to the material order. Thus, we have become responsible for spoiling the harmony in nature. Science says that 8 trees are enough for producing food for one person for his lifetime. Initially, medicines were coming from the plant or animal order. Man came in and started producing them from the material order. For a scientist, the whole world lives in the periodic table. He doesn't understand the relationship between these orders. Modifying the genes of plants not only corrupt the plant order but also spoil the animal order that consumes these plants. We know that plant order can be replenished and yet, we do not build homes using naturally available material and rather produce various substances that spoil the material order.

When water passes through the soil, they improve one another's quality and enrich themselves. Such systematic is the order in the nature. We have done tremendous research and developed technology to build devices and systems for our need but still, we have not done anything that could make us impermeable to diseases or bettered our lives in happier way. The happiness index only reports a lower number each year. The primary characters of the animal order are deenatha, heenatha and kruratha. We distinguish ourselves from the animal order as we are featured with Dheeratha, Veeratha and Udhaaratha. However, it seems that we have been progressing towards becoming one with the animal order in the race for physical desires.

Jeevan Vidya is presented in the form of the above propositions, and does not expect anything to be accepted on faith but to thoroughly examine the truth or veracity of these propositions. Through adhyayan prakriya (process of learning through propositions) it helps us understand the basic nature of all entities. The participants are requested to evaluate these propositions on their own right (adhikar) without taking any recourse to past beliefs (manyata). The basis of evaluating the propositions is natural acceptance or sahaj swikriti (which is inherent in every human being and does not change with space or time) instead of past beliefs or conditioning, which are subject to both space and time. Human beings of any race, color, creed, caste, sex or age tend to agree on certain issues e.g., ‘every one wants to be happy’ or ‘everyone wants respect and trust’ etc.. There are no disputes over such propositions. This agreement, which remains unaffected by time and space, stems from the fact that sahaj swikriti on such issues is inherent in all human beings. It is part of the design of a human being. The entire adhyayan prakriya is in the form of propositions and dialogue (samvaad). The adhyayan prakriya uses tarka (logic) and language for drawing the persons attention towards things in existence.

Jeevan Vidya is a human central existence based study. It helps us understand the basic nature of all entities - viz from atoms, molecules, space, planets, plants, animals, to the human being -needs, nature, behavior etc. Jeevan Vidya is presented in the form of propositions, and does not expect anything to be accepted on faith but on the basis of rigorous self-examination the truth or veracity of these propositions. It is distinct from adhyatmavaad or spirituality (which ultimately takes us into secrecy - rahasyavaad and reaches the conclusion that life is an illusion and consequently takes one towards either bhakti or virakti). On the other hand materialism (which denies anything but the senses and ultimately takes us in the direction of limitless consumption at the cost of the self & nature) has concluded that life is chaos. Vidya in some sense, comes up with a resolution for the Human Condition in its entirety. One is able to evaluate all states that one inhabits: within the Self, with Body, Family, Society, Nature & Existence and find answers to all questions that one may be concerned with. Vidya has no known similarity with any current human teaching or knowledge system and does not have any ritual, worship or supplication. Each human being has independent free will and evaluates all the propositions on his/her own right.

Conclusion

Limited Resources + Well Defined Needs = Prosperity

Holistic Living - Dr AN Nagaraju

Dr AN Nagaraju is 84 years old and says that he plans to live on for another 40-45 years. Well, the mere mention of these words can inspire a large number of people who plan to retire from work at 40 and the world at 60 in the ongoing craze of 'Live life, King size'. In the first 40 years of his life, he suffered from various health complications like arthritis, asthma, frequent headaches, psychological complexes, etc. He was working as an Agricultural Scientist in the United States of America. One fine day, he decided to head back to India and promote Organic Farming. When he started speaking about it, nobody took interest. However, he continued to focus. He also worked on health, diet and other factors relating to a holistic living. In the process, his health took a better shape and over the last 40 years, he has been living healthily. He doesn't need a chair while he delivers his lecture. It is very evident that chemical farming spoils the quality of food as well as the soil. Modifying food, the genes, corrupts the food severely. Though we can produce more quantity, the quantity will fall in the future as the soil will not have the required nutrients to facilitate the growth.

We are being brain washed to modern food and we have cheated our tongue by adding sugar. Cooked polish rice has become the biggest enemy of health. The world has forgotten all grains except Rice and Wheat in the run for economic growth. Thus, it would not be wrong to say that the best food to eat would be the ones which men ate when they were evolving from apes to human beings, in the absence of technology, i.e., Fruits, Vegetables, Nuts, etc. We have forgotten many nutritious millet that are wonderful for our body, solely because their shelf life is low and in case they are not sold, the retail outlets might make a loss on them. It is also interesting to note that crabs, frogs and similar animals have a vegetarian diet and thus, their body composition is different. Modern food, vegetarian as well as non vegetarian, comes along with enough harmful chemical contents to harm our bodies. However, we have been completely brain washed to pay no attention to this. A research shows that it would need at least 100 years of completely healthy food for our body to get to rid of the DDT content we intake every day. Fat is an essential component of balanced diet. Groundnut oil and Olive oil are recommended while sunflower and soybeans oil must be avoided.

When you enter a departmental store and look at the shelves, there is hardly anything that you would need. Yet, when you walk out, there is no space in the bags. The corporations have successfully transformed us from human beings to consumers. In other words, the animal consciousness has overtaken the human consciousness by miles. Eat Maggi once and you get addicted forever. The same is the case with Gobi Manchoorian or Pani Pooris. We must consciously make efforts to move from bad food to good food. By bad and good, it means bad or good for the body. A sudden jump can hurt metabolism and therefore, a silent move is essential.

The psychotropic drug industry is a million dollar industry now and has been growing at a great pace. This itself indicates where we are headed. More than 60% of our scientists are working on producing weapons of destruction. Ironically, according to our scientists, we already have weapons that if operated, have the energy to destroy earth 4 times and yet, they are working to build more. Have we forgotten that things, when destroyed once, cease to exist? Would it be wrong to say that the taxpayers money is being misused to create such jobs? We have forgotten that pain killers can only curtail the signals of pain reaching the brain and thus, giving us momentary relief. Ultimately, the body repairs itself in cases of injuries. We have to look for solutions and not for relief measures. We have to focus on value rather than price. Fresh air and drinking water are priceless.

Dr Nagaraju also spoke on the environment as well covering the points

We all think, what can one person do? The history is full of examples of all that has been done by one person alone. We ought start working to make a difference. The support shall follow. There are numerous examples of people stopping the Government and corporations from installing factories that can damage the environment. Everything starts with one person.
Pesticides used in chemical farming are the biggest pain points in our food value chain. The devastating effects are being seen in the form of cancer today. Cancer is not accidental. It is a creation of our greed for economic growth.
The body produces cancerous cells everyday. However, the body also produces required components to kill these cells and keep the body healthy. With all the chemicals entering our body, we are losing the abilities to kill these cancerous cells through our immune system and thus, the need to kill them through other systems and in the process, kill ourselves.
People have to come together and demand healthy and organic ways of farming lest there is all chance that we all will go back to farms. It is possible. It has taken only 2 decades to bring in all the industrial and service transformations.
All the essential commodities we buy are polluted. Food that we buy comes with free diseases.
Reverse Osmosis (RO) takes out all the minerals from the water. The process should only be used for hard water to make it soft. Using RO for regular water makes it dead water.

Video Session and Creative Sessions

After the 1st half of day one came to an end and it was lunch time. After the lunch, we listened the Ted talk by John Francis (http://www.ted.com/talks/john_francis_walks_the_earth.html). John Francis has been a planet-walker traveling the globe by foot and sail with a message of environmental respect and responsibility (for 17 of those years without speaking).

The next on schedule were some creative sessions based on our interests. The options available were

Haiku - Japanese poems
Kirigamy - Paper cutting
Cartooning
Gaadhe Maathu (Riddles from Karnataka)

I chose to go ahead with Haiku. Haiku is a very short form of Japanese poetry, often represented by the juxtaposition of two images or ideas "cutting word" between them, a kind of verbal punctuation mark which signals the moment of separation and colors the manner in which the juxtaposed elements are related. The essence of haiku is "cutting". Traditional haiku consist of 17 syllables, in three phrases of 5, 7 and 5 respectively. Any one of the three phrases may end with the cutting word. Although haiku are often stated to have 17 syllables, this is inaccurate as syllables and on are not the same. A Haiku in English is a short poem which uses imaginary language to convey the essence of an experience of nature or the season intuitively linked to the human condition. It is a development of the Japanese haiku poetic form in the English language. The class was taken by Shashi Bhushan Singh. We read a few Haikus and started writing our own Haikus.

Some Haikus that I managed to write

Tri Color...

A glass of Beer...

Sachin Tendulkar...

Tired?

Black Ants on Red Wall...

More Reasons?

You and I...

A Cup of Chai...

Time flies...

Shaky Networks...

Vaastu Compliance...

Cheers...

People... Love...

Things... Use...

Permutations... Combinations...

Kirigamy - The Art of Paper Cutting

Cartooning

Video Sessions on Day 2

After lunch on day 2, we watched a video titled Small Pleasures (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flkFW5E0XcM). This was another evidence that happiness is a state of mind and we all can be happy if we have well defined desires in life. The parallel sessions on day 2 were on the following topics

Transitional Analysis
Anger Management
Video Session

I opted for the video session. We had a look at The Story of Stuff - How thing work, about stuff (http://www.storyofstuff.org/movies-all/story-of-stuff/). The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world. The Material Economy is a system in crisis as it is a linear system while we live on a finite planet. It has been bumping over its limits. In the process of focusing on the system, we have forgotten people who form the part of this system at all levels. The Government and Corporations have made the people slaves. The life cycle of products.

Extraction - Exploitation of resources
Production - Pollution. Toxins In, Toxins Out
Distribution - Externalizing the costs
Consumption - Buy or you lose your value in the world. Work - Watch - Shop
Disposal - Making other nations dumping backyards

The next video we looked at was Story of Bottled Water (http://www.storyofstuff.org/movies-all/story-of-bottled-water/). It employs the Story of Stuff style to tell the story of manufactured demand - how you get Americans to buy more than half a billion bottles of water every week when it already flows from the tap. Over five minutes, the film explores the bottled water industry's attacks on tap water and its use of seductive, environmental-themed advertising to cover up the mountains of plastic waste it produces.The film concludes with a call to take back the tap, not only by making a personal commitment to avoid bottled water, but by supporting investments in clean, available tap water for all. In the process, I was thinking, perhaps, like Starbucks or Cafe Coffee Day rent their real estate space in the name of selling coffee, the water bottle companies are selling the plastic in the name of water.

We had a small discussion session after watching the videos where we tried to discuss the value chain, ecology, solutions to the graving problems, etc.

Self Introductions

The self introductions happened at the end of the first day. Everyone spoke a few lines about themselves and the purpose of attending the retreat. I had no purpose. I just wanted to get out of the city. But then, I have been thinking of this from a long time and it was only because of the concurrence of the theme of the workshop and my thoughts that I decided to go on.

Yoga

Yoga classes were conducted at 6AM on day 2 and day 3. The classes began with warming up session, followed by Pranayama and Meditation. Several asanas (positions) and breathing exercises were taught in the course of time. The yoga teacher, Sri Maruthi, was also kind to gift all the participants with a book that contained all information to get started with Yoga in daily life.

Kayytutthu - The eco-friendly dinner

The second day's dinner was a memorable one. The first day's dinner too was memorable for me considering it had all the stuff that I do not eat. Kayytutthu is a concept generally employed in North Karnataka where the mother (or father) prepares rice balls and hands them to the other members of the family for consumption. This has several reasons including care for the family, sharing, etc. I was remembering the song from Kaliyuga Bheema while I was experiencing this (www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQ1pl0aPymI). It was a new concept for many people. It is similar to a family dinner.

Entertainment Program

After dinner on second day, we had an hour of variety entertainment session. Some participants sang songs, some performed a bit of music and some indulged in dance as well. The most catching part of the session, at least for me, was the Neele Aakash Mein, Chaand Taare Saath Mein ice breaker dance.

Chikki Making

One of the participants took an initiative on the third day to teach us how to prepare chikkis (a traditional ready to eat sweet made from groundnuts and jaggery). It was an interesting learning experience. While I did not participate in the preparation process, I did do the quality testing and certification.

The Mini Library

Kashaya and Lemon Tea

Though the regular tea and coffee was available, participants were encouraged to savor Kashaya and Lemon tea which have medicinal benefits.

Self help is the best help

All through the workshop, participants washed their own plates and tumblers. Doing our work by ourselves, in the presence of an opportunity to outsource, makes us humble.

Dariya Dil Dukaan

The entire workshop was based on volunteerism and gift culture. For all those participants who were unable to pay, scholarships were provided. The cost that participants had to bear was just the cost of food and boarding. It came to Rs 1150 per head for a total of 3 days, which almost blew my head off. I had initially estimated the cost to be Rs 1000 per day. This was another clear evidence between price and value. The Dariya Dil Dukaan (Large/Kind Heart Store) is a concept where all the people get all things that they do not use but believe that others could use and place them in the open. These products are displayed for some time and participants pick up whatever they need the most. It could be a book, a mobile charger, tripod stand, a recipe, a DVD etc. In the money dominated culture, it can be an enriching experience just to give something and receive something for free, with love.

Closing Comments

With no doubts, my 3 days were best spent. It was a joyous learning experience to meet many people who share similar thoughts, objectives and instincts and are seriously worried about bringing about a better world. I wholeheartedly thank all those who were involved in making this possible right from the facilitators to the organizers to the participants to the people who helped us extensively by cooking food and taking care of other necessities in these 3 days. It was a memorable experience and most of us are going to carry it with us for a long time to come. The reflections will continue to go on and I am certain that there will be fruitful activities performed as an outcome of the workshop. I got an opportunity to interact with many new people and learn more about their perspectives. It would not be wrong to say that I cherished every moment of the workshop.

I left the workshop by around 4pm and reached the hustly bustly Bangalore city at 10pm. As I retired to bed, I knew that the same old life awaited for me the next day. But then, I also knew that I am going to look forward to it with the new I.

Disclaimer: While most content has been written based on experience and learning, some content (especially textual) has been directly copied from other websites. Jeevan Vidya got its roots from Sri Agrahari Nagaraj, originally from Karnataka, living at Amarkanta, Madhya Pradesh. He belongs to a family of Vedamurthis and since his childhood, certain questions he had on Vedas were unanswered. He kept looking for answers by meeting and speaking several Gurus and in the process of this exploration, Jeevan Vidya was developed. At the age of 95, he continues to work as an Ayurvedic physician and says that he paid attention to this concept and thus, discovered. Anyone can pay more attention and discover more. Jeevan Shala Trust is one organization which is in the process of discovering more.

We'd rather accept being ineffective than take you fake it... #OriginalCopy

noreply@blogger.com (Puneetkumar Pattar) — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 17:45:00 +0000

Mera Jootha hai Japaani, Yeh Patloon Englishstaani...
Sar pe laal topi Rusi, Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani...

In an era of extreme globalization where everything except our birthplace is on a run to get associated with a foreign land, it confuses me all the time, what in this world is Original? We want to follow others, others want to follow us and in the process, we forget what we originally are and others others forget what they orginally are. However, I am certain of one thing that there is nothing called as originality in this world, at least not now. Movies copy scripts, authors copy life stories and lives are lived as per what we see around us. All aspirations in our lives come through some referencing. So, everything is in evolution. Its just that when we see something different for the first time, we tend to refer to it as original.

Over the past many weekends, I had been idling time at home for not having anything to do. It was a great relief for me when I saw a mail reading "The Original @IndiBlogger Meet with HP #OriginalCopy at Bangalore on 20 Jan 2013, Sunday". So, all I had to do is somehow spend the Saturday as Sunday would be taken care by IndiBlogger.

The Legend Returns #NokiaAppTasting with Rajiv Makhni & Vikas Khanna

noreply@blogger.com (Puneetkumar Pattar) — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 08:16:00 +0000

After being invited for the #NokiaAppTasting event, I was excited. I am the one who believes strongly that the experienced guys are stronger than the new coming intellects. Nokia has been the harbinger of mobile revolution in India. However, in the recent times, it has been losing the battle to Samsung, Sony and Apple that have ran over to the next track. We have these discussions at our workplace often and we realized that Nokia missed one point that other companies explored. While Nokia continued to innovate and produce wonderful products at lower prices, it did not recognize that the appetite of Indian consumers is growing and people are looking for the next level of mobile technology. Their pockets had a larger allocation towards mobile phones. Nokia's N8 did hold on the market strongly for quite some time. However, in a few months, the whole scenario of the mobile phone industry in India changed and Android became the buzzword. The speed of switch over was unimaginable and in moments, Nokia's phones were losing out to the new world of smartphones. Many a times in history, the big boys have been beaten by the newcomers. Some vanished while some came back in a bigger way. Microsoft came back with a wonderful Windows XP to fight Linux. Bajaj came back with the mighty Pulsar. On the verge of bankruptcy, Apple partnered with Microsoft to survive and today, Apple has ~$120 billion of cash reserves. Nokia, it seems, is on its way.

I had no big expectations as I walked in to the Mysore Hall 3 at The ITC Royal Gardenia, Bangalore as I knew that we would be introduced to the Nokia phones. Nokia, obviously, has a huge justification to do before it places its products back on to our minds. Even today, if we were to buy a budget phone, we blindly click Nokia. However, when it comes to a smartphone, Nokia doesn't seem to be on the list. With the launch of Nokia Lumia series, Nokia has announced to the world that it is in the battle of the smartphones and it is going to play it aggressively. A couple of my friends use these phones and claim that they are fantastic. I honestly did not believe them as my loyalty to Google's Android didn't permit me. Read more reviews on the phone on different websites, most giving it 4 or 5 star rating, it had been on my mind that the giant is making a comeback. I did not have the conviction yet. But then, as I left after the #NokiaAppTasting event, on my way back home, I did feel that Lumia can create the impact.

Technology Journalist, Rajiv Makhni
Gadget Guru, Cell Guru, NewsNet 3.0
Managing Editor, Technology, NDTV

After registering for the event, we were served some mouth watering starters. Yeah, we had to believe Rajiv Makhni who claimed that Vikas Khanna had cooked them for us. Delicious, yes, they were both at this event organized by Nokia and wonderful people at IndiBlogger. This was my second meet and I could catch up with some familiar faces. With hoardings all over telling us about the 'Nokia India - Your Wish is My App' contest that aims to fill the app kitty of the desperate lack of apps in the store, I was stunned with the strategy being used. Of the people, by the people, for the people. Its going to take a lot of time, but its going to be worth every effort and makes an impact in the long run. We all sat down to think over our ideas but nothing seemed to come up. Ideas don't generally come when we sit and think. They just populate at vague times. Some people already had ideas. Soon, we were told that some amazing red wine and white wine is ready at the bar. Perhaps, the ideas that came further were inspired by the untagged freedom that the minds entered after gulping one, two, three and in some cases, five glasses of wine. Dwindling faces, shaking hands, flickering eyes. Finally, all the app suggestions reached where they had to.

Rajiv & Vikas bowled us all over with their wacky skills and great sense of humor. The way Rajiv said things about Vikas which he did not even know and the way Vikas had an expression of 'What?' on his face were the most interesting moments for me. I have been watching the NDTV Gadget Guru from quite some time and also have read about Vikas in many articles, specially the ones that cover Junoon, New York cooking food for President Barack Obama. They were absolutely dazzling on the stage and did everything with fine perfection. Considering that there were 300+ people and the time we had was less, not all bloggers got a chance to introduce themselves and their blogs to all of us. The funny competitions as well as the serious ones kept going and the gifts kept coming. I could see people thoroughly enjoying every moment, and that includes me.

Microsoft is making a superb entry (or should I call it a comeback considering that the original idea of the tablet was introduced by Microsoft and Apple mastered it over time) in the tablet space with the Surface. Entering a space that is head logged by Apple and Samsung, Microsoft has a lot of explaining to do and it has done it fantastically well. Perhaps, Nokia could have structured a deal with Microsoft in the tablet space as well. Windows 8 seems to be making a serious attempt to grab significant market share in the mobile and tablet space. Nokia seems to be just in time.

Michelin starred Indian chef, Vikas Khanna
"Sexiest Man Alive" - People magazine
Host, MasterChef India (Season 2)

In the meanwhile, Vikas Khanna called up some bloggers to chop onions. He demonstrated the technique. The one who chopped them as required, oh my God, she won a Nokia Lumia 920. Spellbound. He called up people to taste a soup and recognize the ingredients. The 2 who did it, what did I hear, won a Nokia Lumia 510 for themselves. Its was amazing. One girl was in tears and said, 'I did not know something like this could come without hard work' and a witty Rajiv claimed that chopping onions can win you a Lumia. One of the most interesting part of the event was the Gangnam style dance competition. 2 teams, Techies led by Rajiv and Foodies led by Vikas, used the Gangnam app from the app store to learn the dance and performed the steps, wonderfully, in a couple of minutes (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1NuFOpa6ao). Nokia's city lens, the ovi maps, video recording apps, camera apps, etc. were displayed in the process. I loved it all. Perhaps, I am now giving thought of switching back to Nokia a stronger thought.

Towards the end, the most important part of the event was to check out who suggested the best app idea for the day. 5 out of all the 300+ ideas were picked up by the judges from Nokia & Microsoft. All the 5 bloggers were given a chance to present their ideas. One suggested an app which would give us information of the content in every product that you scan, one suggested an app for shooting all the potholes in the city and create a social web of potholes and further take required action to close them, one suggested an app to shoot an item and know the nearest store where this could be bought from (of course, this has to be a lady), one suggested an app for hiring, firing and appraising employees in order to avoid the human interface during these tougher times and the other suggested an app, which when activated, kills running game application after 5/10 minutes so that the kids can enjoy the game, stay non addicted and the phone goes back to parents. Of all these, the lady and the pothole app were declared the winners. And guess what, again, they had won themselves a Nokia Lumia 920. The greatest astonishment across the hall was that it was the same girl winning her 2nd Nokia Lumia for the day. God, luck plays such a big way in life.

To wrap up, it would have been interesting if Nokia could have placed some devices to play around for the bloggers to experiment. Windows 8 interface is a little difficult to get started but will definitely catch up soon. The effort to build up apps is perfectly on track. Definitely, a higher speed would be required to fill the gap before somebody else grabs off the the market. A stitch in time saves nine. IndiBlogger team was, as always, lovely and helpful. The few moments that we could spend with the celebrity tech guru and the celebrity chef were our own moments of the day. Luck does so much to our lives at times. When it does not do anything, we ought to get back to work hard and earn whatever we want. Its time for me to get working and earn my Nokia Lumia 920.

This post appears on the IndiVine at http://www.indiblogger.in/indipost.php?post=189609

Quarterly Review of Life... Q2FY13...

noreply@blogger.com (Puneetkumar Pattar) — Sat, 22 Sep 2012 19:08:00 +0000

The quicker you do things, the faster you are going. The quicker you do things, the more idle you have been. As I begin to write this, the second statement is apt. Perhaps, I have been blessed by the Lord with so much time that I have no idea of what to do and I am pulling ahead things that I have to do later. But then, that doesn't mean I have anything to do. There is a whole lot of stuff that I have been doing a whole lot of it in the to-do list. Its just that there is a big mismatch. Sometime, I fall apart of time to even do my basic activities while sometimes, there is so much time and nothing to do. This generally happens because most of my plans and work depend on availability of other people. For example, I recently wanted to watch a movie. In fact, a couple of my friends called me to join them. I had different plans. Now, I am calling my other friends. They have either watched it or they have different plans. This is just an example to make it easier to understand the intricacies.

The quarter is not over but the review for the quarter is almost there. Considering there are no major plans in the days ahead, it would not be wrong to take a review a little early. Q2FY13 has been significant. There is no doubt on it. In many ways, life has been complementing me with certain basic expectations I had been having ever since. Social interactions have gone up. I have been meeting a lot of people and learning a lot. Its my personal belief that people are the most significant asset that everyone has in their lives. These lines have also been mentioned by Dr KP Singh in his book, 'Whatever the Odds' which I read recently. Knowing people can work miracles in life. A lot of opportunities reach us through people. Very recently, I met someone who told me that he got into a fantastic business because he had a good friend who approached him. He grew in the business in spite of all troubles because he had friends to support him at every stage. Indeed, there are no doubts on the fact a person who knows you can help you better than someone unknown. The human element plays the most significant role in every interaction, discussion and decision irrespective of whatever the books or the law or the constitution says. The relationships are beyond any laws. That makes us human beings. The law is only to ensure there is no misuse of whatever is availble in the world.

August has been one of the busiest months of my life. Things were so jampacked that I could not even get time to meet my friends in the weekends. July was something full of planning a little bit of action too. September, however, has been a little lenient and things have slowed down.

Let us go in for an objective check up

As usual, getting up at 6AM remained a joke. This has been the greatest drawback in life. Unfortunately, when you sleep late, you can't get up early. Going early to bed is not a possible option. It works in theory. There would be so many things to do that you never get to know when the date changed. There has not been a single day on which my alaram doesn't ring at 6AM and I just put it off. While numerous reasons like stress, energy loss, need for rest, etc. can be attributed to justify, I would rather accept that there is no fire in my belly to wake up at 6. My office is 8.30, I need 30-45 mins to get ready and 30-45 mins to drive. So, I have made myself comfortable waking up around 7-7.15. I know that I have no motivation to wake up early and run. However, considering that my tummy is swelling beyond acceptable limits, the inclination is very high. I have to make up my mind, at least now, and work towards a healthier life. Its just about the tummy. There are a whole lot of issues one faces on putting on weight. Its time to wake up to reality and spend time for health before health demands time that you can't afford to spend.

Work has been good and in line with expectations. There has been learning as well as improvement in numerous spheres. There are more plans lined up and will be achieved going forward.

I read Whatever the Odds. All other reading plans have been squashed. While the reason that I was doing something else can justify this for the initial weeks, it was merely my error of judgement expecting that I would be doing something and thus, not taking a book in my hand. Generally, I pick up a book with a plan to complete in a maximum of 5 days. Else, I never complete the book. Mix ups have been keeping me away from picking up a book. The android plan worked well. But then, the phone is damaged and things are back to as they were before the purchase.

I have been meeting a lot of people, businessmen and corporate. I have gotten to know more friends from existing ones. This makes me very happy. Learning about people, their journeys, their experiences and their dreams is the most real as well as easiest way to learn life. It makes a lot of difference to your life when you know what made someone successful or failure, happy or sad, laugh or cry. If you observe and understand, you can inculcate the good things that people did that bought them joys & success and avoid such things that bought them nothing. This process of learning becomes even stronger when you learn about people who you know and are of the similar to you in one of more ways. There are numerous books by numerous people on success and failure but, if you have observed, hardly does anyone inculcate those lessons into their lives. That's merely because there is no connection. Learning from known people becomes a part of our lives naturally. Learning from unknown people takes a lot of time, energy and effort and needs to be pushed into our minds and hearts.

Education is up for a toss. Perhaps, its time for me to stop thinking of it unless I am ready to take it full time.

The bachelor trip to Bangkok or wherever has found the dustbin. Plans to explore something outside the city has also not been possible. Though I keep thinking of visiting some new place, it just doesn't happen.

There were no marriages this quarter. However, the school day celebrations at SSBJ on 15-16 September has been the highlight event. It was a great experience visiting the school after quite some time.

There has been definite progress as far as certain plans are concerned. It needs more time and effort from me to progress further. In fact, this progress has been a little beyond my expectation. I had been planning from a long time to get started but I never imagined that I would get so much done in such a short time. There is a lot more to do. Objectively look at it, I have not even completed about 5% of what I intend to do.

Q3FY13 is going to be the most significant quarter for me in the short run. The plans need a big time action in the coming quarter. There is a big list of things to do. While there is a large need to work on the main goals, there is a strong need to work on adjacent goals like getting healthier, learn more, meet more people, etc. as there add tremendous energy to life and value to the purpose of achieving our goals. Sacrifice is required in the process of reaching the goals but not compromise. There is a need to judge what is sacrifice and what is compromise. Most of these are situation dependent. Not doing something required to be done can be termed as compromise. However, not doing the same thing, although important, when the necessity to do it is not very high can be termed as sacrifice. Another main distinct in that sacrifice generally makes you something you like to do in lieu of something you might not like to do. Compromise generally makes you do something you like to do in lieu of something else which also you like to do. Compromise is a choice. Sacrifice is a decision.

“I can't change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.”
Jimmy Dean quotes

Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable... Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

The New Apple iPhone5 - Designed for Women...

noreply@blogger.com (Puneetkumar Pattar) — Tue, 11 Sep 2012 20:10:00 +0000

This is an imaginary write up on how the new iPhone5 could be in case man had the power to do whatever he wants. This is an imaginary speech which the CEO would give on an imaginary product. All the words/pictures used in the write up belong to the original owners. In case of any objections, requested content can be removed by contacting the writer by leaving a comment.

Just for fun... Don't take it seriously... ;)

The New Apple iPhone5

Ladies and Gentlemen, Welcome. Today, we are here to announce an innovation that will take the world to the next level. Whoever says that the world in 2012 might be telling that a new world will rise in 2012. If that's how we interpret, then yes, the world will end in 2012. We are about to give rise to a new world, a world where women will lead us men. This will be the greatest ever transfer of power in this world from the man to the woman. We'll unlock a whole new world with the Apple iPhone5. After all, it is 'Designed for Women' (patent pending)

The new Apple iPhone5 - Designed for Women - Transforming the World

At Apple, it has been our endeavor to offer the customer, the best of all the worlds. Though we have been doing it ever since we were born, unfortunately, we could not give the customer hardware worth the money we collected. However, our customers are more than willing to pay $600 just for the experience of our world class software. The Apple iPhone. The beauty is that our interface, our innovations, our device's experience offers our customers more value than the hardware. This time, we thought, lets play it different. We have not touched the software as it is already ahead of the world's technology. After all, our women customers feel proud that they can use their iPhone as mirror whenever they require. That has been the greatest ever utility of an iPhone on the earth. We have decided to use all our cash reserves and give our women customers a product, the hardware part, worth more than they could have ever imagined. They are the ones who showed us that we can build hardware too. We are here to make you happy. The new Apple iPhone5 is here.

We welcome all of you to the launch of happiness with the new Apple iPhone5

One of the biggest value addition in the iPhone5 is the Flexapple (patent pending) technology. Your iPhone5 is made of flexcells. Flexapple is the greatest ever innovation in the world of science and technology. Using this technology, your phone becomes flexible, which means, the iPhone5 could be a square, a cube, a cone or any amoebic shape that you wish to. You could tie it around your wrist, wear it across your neck or tie it across your waist. What's more ladies, you can use it as a hairband, a bangle or an eyewear. You could even make it into 2 parts and wear it as earrings. Using the wonderful apps in the app store, you can get various designs to suit your desires.That's Flexapple for you beautiful women. Apple's gift to the womankind - the flexcells. The possibilities are limitless

Halle Berry flaunts the numerous accessories she could create using the Flexapple technology in the new Apple iPhone5

Our customers were very disappointed with us as the previous iPhones showed them a lot of dreams. However, none of these ever came true. Right now, we are making one such dream come true. Ms Matthews from San Francisco Bay area complained that she does not get time wash clothes as she is on the beach all the day partying with her friends and showing them her iPhone. As a goodwill gesture, we have introduced a path breaking technology in the iPhone5. Its called 'The Washing Machine'. Your iPhone5 can now wash clothes. All you have to do is put the clothes into a tub and place the new iPhone5 over the clothes. Enable the wash mode and the iPhone5 will wash the clothes in no time. Thank you Ms Matthews, if not you, we could have not been able to change the world.

Vanessa Minnillo experiments with the new Apple iPhone Washing Technology

The iPhone5 comes with inbuilt lathering technology. After brain storming discussions at Apple headquarters, our team of men concluded that women spend most of their time in the shower. That was when we decided to make their experience at the shower, a memorable one. The lathering technology, when enabled, produces lather of your choice when the iPhone5 is rubbed. It can even produce the bare minimal essentials like the lipstick, the kaajal, the gloss, a little amount of hair oil, petroleum jelly, etc. Amazing, isn't it? When you buy an iPhone5, you have bought a lifetime's supply of soap, shampoo, conditioner, moisturizer, sunscreen and various other beauty products. The iPhone5 is designed with women in mind

Julia Roberts expresses her joy on using the lathering technology in the new Apple iPhone5

The new Apple iPhone5 will complete your incomplete world. It will be only device you will ever require in your life. After all, our world class innovation of a technology called 'Magic' (patent pending) will make all your dreams come true. At the moment, our engineers are working on this technology to convert the iPhone5 to other devices using Magic. We are in constant touch with Harry Potter (patent pending) to give us the The Magic Wand (patent pending) so that we could implement the technology soon. Right now, we have enabled the 'CarMaker' app in the iOS using which your iPhone can be converted into a car of your choice. Women love cars. Of course, when Harry filed a case on us, we told him that there were no cars in his time. Coming back, women, when you come out of your home and want to go to party, all you need to do it enable the CarMaker app and your iPhone5 will turn into a car of your choice. Drive. On reaching the destination, disable the CarMaker and you have your iPhone5. You don't even have to pay for parking. You get a lifetime free car parking along with your new Apple iPhone5. Loving it, aren't you?

Paris Hilton converts her new Apple iPhone5 into a pink Bentley using the CarMaker app

We, at Apple, have been working on needs of every woman. In fact, we have been the greatest creators of needs in this world. There was a world which did not need an iMac, an iPhone, an iPad or for that matter, even an iPod. But today, with the world class innovations by us, the world is in dire need of all these devices. Apple is proud to have entered into the value chain of every consumer. The new iPhone5 creates a greater impact on every mind that is a must buy. We are making the product available only for women across the world. Men are banned from purchasing the new Apple iPhone5 unless they prove that they are buying for a lady. Ladies, join hands with us and let's take over the world.

Meg Ryan is delighted at the way the new Apple iPhone5 is going to change the world

The iPhone5 comes with the nut cracking technology, Sirious (patent pending). The Sirious is for real. What we mean by this is that the new Apple iPhone5 will come with a real human being, yes, a real human being. The Sirious will be your real life assistant who will guide you using our maps, location services, question answers, puzzles, etc. The Sirious could be anyone of your choice. However, due to limited availability of human availability, only one body per person, the Sirious will work on a first come first serve guideline. This is all the more happy reason for women to buy the new Apple iPhone5, which is not for sale for men. We, at Apple, have decided to transfer every power in the world to the women and the new Apple iPhone5 will do it for us.

Nicole Kidman tests if Keith Urban can be her Sirious

While our engineers continue to work on newer applications of the Apple iPhone5 to be used for various applications like that of a Microwave Oven, a Furniture set, a cupboard, etc, our dream extends to the iPhone5 being able to convert itself into a makeshift home. At Apple, we make dreams come true with the world class innovation. Our engineers are working on a technology that could convert the iPhone5 into a sandwich, a burger or a pizza and thus, on buying the new Apple iPhone5, we take care of the hunger of the entire world. Our engineers are also working on lines of recycling the excreta after consuming such food created from the Apple iPhone5 into a whole brand new Apple iPhone5. Now, that's where we are heading towards. At Apple, we dream big.

What's bigger than dreaming for a better world? At Apple, we rejoice Angelina's contributions. She makes us proud.

Ladies, by the way, its a phone as well. You can make calls and send/receive texts using the new Apple iPhone5 ;)

Our experiment of converting the iPhone5 into CatWoman bike was a big success. Anne Hathway was impressed.

Well, we have proved to you beyond every limit that the iPhone5 is the world, the new world, from 2012. And of course, "If you don't have an iPhone5, you just don't have it."

Cameron Diaz almost breaks down after Alex Rodriguez told her that he will buy her an Apple iPhone5

PS for men only : Well, the most interesting aspect of the new Apple iPhone5 is that men can download it from websites like PirateBay. With the greatest ever innovation at Apple, we have made it possible for you to download a torrent that will convert itself into an Apple iPhone5. Plus, hey guys, the Sirious is actually designed for us, the men. Women will never understand how to use the iPhone5 and give it to us men. After all, the new Apple iPhone5 is Designed for WOMen, the World Of Men. Now, HOWZAAAT...!!!

Shakespeare impressed with the new Apple iPhone5

Quarterly Review of Life... Q1FY13...

noreply@blogger.com (Puneetkumar Pattar) — Sun, 01 Jul 2012 11:50:00 +0000

Previously : http://puneet3210.blogspot.in/2012/04/quarterly-review-of-life.html

The quarter that went by can be rated as one of the worst quarters in recent times of my life. Plans were a plenty while none got executed. I still fail to understand what kept me away from working on the schedule that I had set up during the previous review. There was huge amount of pressure, tension and energy consumption, all for no reasons. When I look back, I find myself where I was. In fact, I wouldn't be wrong if I say that I am a couple of notches down. On every front, life seems to have become a more complicated affair than what I thought it would be

To rate the performance of life in Q1FY13, let me look into the objectives set and the scale of achievement

Getting up at 6AM was merely a joke. It never happened. Life is back to the routine of getting up, run to bath, drive to office. So, the score here is a zero. There is a need to take this one very seriously. Getting up early in the morning has a lot of advantages. Yet, most do not follow. From this day on, I want to make it a point to get out of bed by 6AM and ensure that no reasons stop me from doing this
At work, things have been good. However, I have not been able to outperform. I have only been in line with expectations over the last couple of months against previous months. There have been certain plans that have been floating on my mind to value add to certain things that I work on everyday. Now on, I wish to ensure that I put these mental calculations on to the sheet. By next review, I have an objective to be achieved in this aspect
I completed reading one book, Revolution 2020, against the target of 2 books. To make up for the loss, I plan to complete reading at least 3 books in this quarter. Some books that have been lying unread in my shelves for a long time are Stay Hungry Stay Foolish, The Game Changers, I Steve, Whatever the Odds, The Intelligent Investor, Customs & Etiquette in the Services, General Knowledge Manual 2012, etc. There is a lot to do in this front. The most important point for me to note here, like I have been repeatedly noting over the last few months, is that I have to give up the usage of laptop after being back home. The reason I use the laptop is to update some things on facebook, keep connected and stay updated, integrated with the happenings across the world. Though this does not have a real impact on life directly, I feel there is some indirect value addition this does. But then, spending too much time for these things is a big negative. To ensure I do not spend too much time, the first step I have taken is to change the settings on fb in such a way that I receive most updates from close friends while only the most important updates from others in my friends list. This way, my home page would appear a lot cleaner & neater as the unwanted shares, photos, causes, game requests, etc will be done away. From the time I have done this, fb looks more a professional network than a social network to me while amid the close friends, I still get the social network look. Further, with the new android phone purchase, I have enabled fb over it and thus, this has given me the freedom to disable email notifications making my mail box too cleaner. Going forward, the plan is to do away with the usage of laptop/internet and spend the time reading books and at the same time, the cellphone notifications will ensure I don't lose touch with social networking also
On the fitness front, it has been another big zero. In fact, I guess, I have put on more weight. There is a dire need to make a serious move on this front. I don't know how practical would it be to try some Yoga. Joining a gym has been a terrible experience for me. Each time I join, I pay the full year's fee considering the financial cost-benefit analysis and I am never seen in the gym after that. In Hubli, it so happened that the gym owner saw me in a traffic signal and asked me why I had not come to the gym. I, to save my face, said that I have been transferred to Hyderabad. Unlike any other businessman, he offered me to come to his office and collect the fees back. I even failed to do that. I am not sure on a plan to do this, working out or exercising or jogging or running or whatever. But soon, I need to get on. Better late than never
I have been able to attend the social events viz., Siddu's marriage, Arun's marriage and things were quite fine. I did write the IIBF exam that did not go good. I also wrote the UGC NET exam that was a total disaster. IGNOU exam was out of radar considering the requirement to fly to New Delhi to write it did not make sense

In furtherance to these plans, I am looking forward to some more targets. On academic development front, after the PGDBA from Symbiosis, things have come to a standstill. There is a need to add more considering the voluminous competition that the world is producing each day. In the past, I have enrolled myself for the ICAI, the ICWAI as well as the ICSI. However, none of them were taken seriously by me. Moreover, considering that I have to go in for articles training (leaving the job) for a period of 3 years, the option of ICAI become nonviable. The ICWAI as well as ICSI also stipulate certain rules in this line but also offer some relaxation too. Perhaps, I can consider one of these, mainly the latter, to get more academic progress into life. All these days, the plan was to go in for PhD but the amount of complications involved to get the course started in India have suppressed the plan. Even till date, I have failed to understand how exactly to get a PhD without enrolling in a college as a student/lecturer, i.e., doing it independently keeping my job. I have to actively consider a possible format of continuing education to stay in line with the world's demands as well as life's

There are a lot of things that I have been ignoring/postponing from quite a long time. I can not mention them as it would be the most shameless point to make over a publicly accessible portal. There are some serious plans underway to ensure that I give all the attention that these important aspects of life deserve. More updates to flow soon

Off late, I have been observing that I am not only turning impatient & impulsive but also losing my temper too quickly. The reason, of course, is that some things repeatedly happen in my life even after making it a definite point that they shouldn't happen. These are from a lot of angles. It may be my everyday reminder to get up at 6AM which does not happen. It may even be some things that I am doing without any interest. There may be a lot of factors. But then, there is a need for me to stay cooler. Generally, I am not a person who loses cool easily but it has been happening off late. Before it becomes a part of life, I have to put an end to it

There are no major events coming up that need me to travel or make any great effort in the coming quarter. We had been planning for a Bachelor trip to Bangkok but the key person involved got engaged recently and now, we are not sure how the plan will progress. If this does not translate into reality, I plan to at least get acquainted to places other than MG Road, Brigade Road, Indiranagar, Koramangala, Domlur, Sanjay Nagar, RT Nagar and the sorts. I plan to explore something outside the Outer Ring Road

Another big plan to do something big has been cooking in my mind from a very long time. There have been no concrete steps taken by me in this regard. But then, its high time now as the deadline for the dream is very near. If I do not wake up now, perhaps, it would be no worth waking up later

The moment your dreams get replaced by regrets, life indicates that you are turning old. Such time seems to have dropped in to my life. Before I get older, I plan to enter the dream land, no matter how impractical, impossible or immature it might sound to be. We are, in the end, what our dreams are. Men of action are dreamers

Let's see how Q2FY13 performs. Time to dream more, do more & live more

Father, O father! what do we here

In this land of unbelief and fear?

The Land of Dreams is better far,

Above the light of the morning star.

- William Blake, The Land of Dreams

Arun weds Shefali... The Solapur Tour...

noreply@blogger.com (Puneetkumar Pattar) — Wed, 16 May 2012 09:49:00 +0000

Its marriage season in India and finally, I got to know one of my friend, Arun, is getting married. The marriage was scheduled on 11 May 2012 at Solapur and we started preparing for the same. There is nothing much that we have to prepare except that we have to inform all our friends and prepare the itinerary. Considering it was a Friday, a low attendance was expected. However, it was shocking for me know that the attendance was shamefully low. Modern world has made our lives such a hell that we don't care for our own breaths. Attending someone else's marriage is away, attending our own marriages is a dilemma. Thanks to the lovable HR policies that ensure that our bodies remain in the office buildings, no matter where the hearts and brains are

The Attendance Time

After all the initial discussions, formalities and judgments, it was decided that we will be leaving from Bangalore on Thursday evening to reach Solapur by Friday morning. The wedding was scheduled in the evening. The next big question was, "Who are these we?". At some point of time, we meant Arun only. Later, Rajendra & I decided to make ourselves a part of it. That was it from Bangalore. Kiran agreed to join us on the way at Gulbarga. The Pune guys were quite certain that they won't be attending but kept pretending that they are uncertain. A bunch of guys from Bijapur/Bagalkot were expected to make it to the wedding and they were my only hope

The Train Circus - DDLJ

The Basava Express leaves to Solapur from Yeshvantpur. Blame it on my ignorance or negligence, I planned to go to Majestic. With just an hour to go, I learnt this and immediately called others to inform the same. I called Rajendra who was in a rick to Majestic and asked him to change the route to Yeshvantpur and also pick me up on the way. With Rs 500 gone into the driver's kitty, he ensured that we reach just on time to the station and catch the train in complete DDLJ style. Now for sure, I knew, I am going for a marriage. Luckily, there was no circus in Gulbarga where Kiran joined

The Arun's The Killing The Accent

Capt Arun is a style icon. He speaks such hi-fi English that, most times, even he fails to understand what he is speaking. We reached Solpaur and called him. As I spoke to him, I considered it would be better if I do things myself. After all, I knew that the accommodation is set at Hotel Heriytage (I have spelled it right. That's how it is. Heriytage). Somehow, I got to know from him that we ought to get into Room No. 105 and that was all I needed. I kept saying OK to whatever he told. Blame it on my ears. I told him to come to the room and speak as I didn't understood a word. He smiled and asked us to get fresh and he will reach soon

The Solapur Tour

Siddheshwar Temple in Solapur is an attractive place of visit. We had been to this place long ago as a part of SSBJ trip (I guess, 8th or 9th standard). Visiting this temple again brought back those sweet memories. I was also happy to see that the lake around the temple is so well maintained. Due to lack of time or whatever, we could not go elsewhere. In the morning, we had a buffet breakfast at Hotel Pratham and it was sumptuous. The lunch at Kamat Hotel was another memory refreshed. Seeing the Bengre Kamat board outside the restaurant made Solapur look like Hubli. The numerous auto rides that we had been taking all the day was another highlight

The Wedding

The wedding was scheduled in the same hotel at around 5.30 in the evening. Being a Buddhist wedding, things happen in the evening. It was a different experience altogether, unlike the regular Hindu weddings (specially the North Karnataka style weddings) that I had been attending ever since my birth. After all the prayers, the bride and the groom promised to lead a life of a couple. Many more promises came on. The monks (read Swamijis) lined to tie them together for the remaining journey of life. In a few minutes, Arun & Shefali were announced Man & Wife. The focus quickly shifted from the stage to the delicious food that was awaiting everyone. I was amazed the speed of switch of the focus. I was busy with my new found hobby, iPhonography. I had borrowed the iPhone 4S from RD and was shooting my way to glory

The Reception

A grand vehicle landed with the couple, they were garlanded and the Military Band followed with great valor and fantastic rhythm. This was a feast to the eyes. Definitely, life in the Armed Forces is envious. I was stunned, to say the least. iPhonography continued. People starting moving up the stage with gifts and bouquets. I just awaited. We were just 3 of us and I was thinking on what could we do. I had no idea and considered it better to keep quiet

The Embarrassment and The Face Saving

Flashes of different marriages of my batchmates kept scrolling over my eyes. Instead of frowning, we decided to ask a few army personnel around to help us give the traditional dips to Arun. Just then, I received an SMS asking me where I was. I knew the Bagalkot/Bijapur party was here. I was so excited that I started running to search them. There they were. In big numbers. It was a great reunion. Better than expected. I rejoiced the moment. This was a total turnaround. We all moved on the stage. The Hugs. The Kisses. The Hi-Hellos. The Oh My Gods. The Wows. The Smiles. Soon, life had become wonderful. It makes such a big difference to have your childhood friend along your side on such wonderful occasions of life that happen once in a lifetime. Soon, Arun, who was on cloud nine dipped the 10th time to almost hit the ceiling. My wish was fulfilled

The Adieu

After munching some food, the Bijapur team left. We spent some more time at the venue. Arun was happy. A marriage cake was cut. A new life began. I was blessed to be able to see these wonderful moments. For those who missed them, we definitely have the pictures and this small write up. We left Solapur at midnight. Coincidentally, May 12 was Rajendra's birthday. At midnight, in Solapur, all we could do is give him birthday bumps. The Karnataka Express whistled its departure and soon, Bangalore welcomed

There is tremendous happiness in making others happy, despite our own situations. Shared grief is half the sorrow, but happiness when shared, is doubled. If you want to feel rich, just count all of the things you have that money can't buy

Quarterly Review of Life...

noreply@blogger.com (Puneetkumar Pattar) — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 18:41:00 +0000

Life is a long process. It takes such a long time for most of us to cruise through it. Each day of life is such a long one and takes its own time to complete. And when things are not fine, the times don't seem to pass at all. We track so many things so closely; like a company, a person, a trend, a technology; and most of us might not have even thought of something like tracking our own life. We all have been told from the day we were born that we ought to dream, set goals, work plans and taste success. But then, nobody tells us what to do after reaching success. Most management experts skip this question stating that success is a process and not an end. Mr Shiv Khera defines Success as a progressive realization of a worthy goal. I have been wondering if I can try something to track life and its progress on a regular basis on various grounds just like how investment bankers track the businesses listed on the stock exchanges. Tracking on a quarterly basis seems ideal considering life is a super long term game. After our school/college days, we forget about the progress reports. If we happen to work in a company, there is something called as a performance appraisal but that is more concerned with our contribution towards the organization's progress and not our own progress. Of course, there is some indirect linkage. But then, we never get to know, on a serious note, the way our life is moving till, one day we realize that we are in a mess and start reworking things.

A quarterly progress report of life could include a lot of things. It could start with a objective statement on what we would like to achieve in the coming 3 months. If I am asked this question now, I would list out

Getting up by 6AM at any cost
Complete all the work assigned by my employer, efficiently and effectively
Read at least 2 books
Make some effort on the fitness front. A brisk walk or a light jog to begin with
Reduce time spent on the computer and drastically cut down the usage of spare time to browse Facebook

The next thing on the radar could be the events that are coming up in the next 3 months and how do we plan to go about them. Right now, I could list

April 28 - Marriage Function at Bijapur - Attending
May 11 - Marriage Function at Solapur - May Be
May 27 - Examination - Attending
May 27 - TCS Marathon - Coincides with exam date
June 24 - Examination - Attending

We could also write down a lot of things relating to our lives. For example, if someone wants to give up smoking, he can keep a track on the number of cigarettes smoked each day and check if a conscious effort to see a smaller number can help him get rid of the habit. If someone wants to lose weight, it would be more important to keep a track of the effort that goes towards this goal along with a track of weight. For example, the number of kilometers run, the effective hours spent at gym, the food consumed (on a qualitative view and not a quantitative view), etc.

A lot more customization could be done basis on the individual needs. For example, if someone has a hobby of traveling, he/she can set realistic deadline to take up the travel rather than browsing through SnapDeal everyday to find the right travel deal. A movie buff can keep a track of the new releases coming up and decide which one's he's hitting at the theater and which ones on the Torrents.

At the end of every 3 months, one can review whether the set goals were achieved and then, one could make attempts to improvise things in the coming 3 months. There are websites like Schemer, 43Things, etc. where we can list our goals and find people who have the same goals, share the progress and cheer one another.

Such an activity will help us in being better individuals. We could even budget our finances on a quarterly basis by provisioning for all the expenditures and making room for savings. It helps in being more disciplined in life. We can keep a tab on a lot of things that can tell us how our life/lifestyle has been changing. Even a small track on the number of times we get angry can tell us how we are facing life.

Are you game for your Quarterly Review? I am... ;)

25 years on Earth... Not less than an achievement...

noreply@blogger.com (Puneetkumar Pattar) — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 21:05:00 +0000

Having born on 5 March 1987 and having survived till 5 March 2012 helped me mark completion of 25 years of life on this planet. By survival, I am not referring to being alive. Lifespan is a decision of God. I am referring to the ways & means of living this lifespan. I mean, I have been able to live through amid all the challenges, uncertainties and adventures that the humans have thrown on each other to ensure complications in each other's lives in the name of development, growth, etc. Cruising through the rapid economic changes has been an opportunity for a few but a grave for many. I, somehow, have been able to cruise over these hurdles created by the mankind in the last 25 years.

Life has been quite normal with nothing great nor anything not so great happening over the past couple of years. The only major news are career path changes from ICICI Bank to HDFC Bank to Sanlam. Each of these organizations have taught me a lot and have played a tremendous role in making me what I am now. May be, work places make us better people though they do not have such an objective. Colleges, though have an objective to make us better, often fail in doing so. A lot of things happen in life subconsciously. I keep saying that the reason for learning subjects like history/geography was more to improve our memory powers that to remember the whole bunch of stories. Life teaches a lot to us without our knowledge. Most times, we can't even recognize such things.

This birthday, the photo suggests, is one of the most significant ones for me. Not because its a silver jubilee of life. After all, whats in a number. But because the way it came to my life. I had an intuition that this will be so but had no idea of how it will be so. I knew it would be magical. I am trying to recollect some of those moments back to life. Though its been about 20 days now, all is as fresh as it happened today.

Deepak called me saying he wants to buy a bike and wants me to accompany him. I knew there was something fishy. I knew for sure that this is Priyanka's plan. To my best guess, I thought she is in Pizza Hut with Geeta and we both will be going there to celebrate the day. After a lot of yada-vada, we reached the Pizza Hut and found her. The way the tables were arranged, it was certain that about 10 people are hitting the place. I guessed that it would be her PG friends. To my amazement, I could see my IFBI & SSBJ friends walk in soon. Now, this was a real surprise. We had some great food and fun. After this, we all visited the Shiva Temple behind Total Mall, Domlur. I was very happy for all the effort that had gone into making this day so wonderful. No number of thanks can be enough to thank the organizer. It was a marvel.

All this happened on 4th March 2012. At night, 12am, a cake was presented before me by Sushma & Spurti. A quick celebration was beautiful. On the B-Day, we visited the temple in morning and went to work. A cake cutting did happen in the office as well. Back home, there was another cake waiting. Some lovely decoration and planning was in progress. After about 2 hours, I cut another cake and we went out to dine.

I enjoyed every moment of these 2 days. What was more important for me was to see people who took so much interest in celebrating my happiness. In fact, there were some more plans which I could not attend to due to shortage of time. However, I compensated for them the next weekend.

Lines that I had written on my Facebook account on my birthday, "If birthdays were really so beautiful, I confess that I have missed on a lot of occasions for I never believed them to be special days (as far as I am concerned only in respect of my birthdays)... But then, this one day was so fulfilling that it nullified everything that was missing... Had some of the most amazing birthday times with family & friends... Never expected something on these lines... 25 years of life on earth... This day made me feel that I have created value in these years... And a lot lot lot more is yet to be done... With love comes responsibility... Humbled, Honored & Delighted... Thank you Lord for blessing me with such beautiful people in my life... Now I understand what your best blessings mean... ;)"

This collage has been prepared by Priyanka. I don't know how much time, energy and thought this has taken for her to make. But I know for sure that I can never equal the kind of value & happiness this gave to me.

Coca Cola Ad for 2012... Umeed wali Dhoop... Sunshine wali Aasha...

noreply@blogger.com (Puneetkumar Pattar) — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 13:54:00 +0000

I had been waiting for someone to come up with a good video/ad to welcome 2012. A few did come but did not impress me. This was caught my attention like none. Umeed wali Dhun... Sunshine wali Aasha... ;)

Prasoon Joshi is back with this fantastic 1 minute ad for Coca Cola again and it is my jingle for 2012. Bollywood music composer Shantanu Moitra has composed the music. The film is directed by Kaushik Sarkar, and produced by the production house Apostrophe

Umeed wali dhoop, Sunshine wali aasha...

Rone ki wajah kamm hai, Hasne ke bahane jyada...

Zidd hai muskurayenge, Khush rehne ka hai waada...

Umeed wali dhoop, Sunshine wali aasha...

Tum dil se agar poochoge, Woh Khush rehna hi chahe...

Jab sachhe mann se maango, Toh khul jaati hai rahein...

To khul ke khushi lutao, Ye kya hai aadha aadha...

Umeed wali dhoop, Sunshine wali aasha...

The slides read (Indian version of ad)

For a tank built in the world, 131000 stuffed toys are made...

For a fence someone puts up, 1500000 "Welcome" mats are placed...

While there are some ignoring the environment, 3000000 trees are being planted everyday...

For every grown-up who can't write his name, there are 15 kids who can read a fairy tale...

LOVE has more hit than FEAR...

While some believe we are nearing the end, there are 5000000 people sending New Year wishes...

While some fight over petty issues, Millions share a Coca-Cola everyday...

The ad also runs in another few nations. Some catchy lines that featured in it

Based on a 2010 study about the world's current situation.

For every tank that is made in the world...131,000 stuffed animals are made.

For each stock exchange that plummets...There are 10 versions of "What a Wonderful World."

For every person who's corrupt...There are 8,000 donating blood.

For every wall that exist...200,000 "Welcome" mats are placed.

While one scientist is designing a new weapon...There are one million mothers making chocolate cakes.

The is more Monopoly money printed than dollars in the world.

There are more funny videos in the internet...Than bad news in the whole world.

LOVE has more results than FEAR.

For every person who says everything is going to be worse...There are 100 couples looking for a child.

For every weapon that is sold in the world...20,000 people share a Coca-Cola.

There are reasons to believe in a better world.

The Marriage Tour, Dec 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Puneetkumar Pattar) — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 06:04:00 +0000

After a lot of discussions, debates, talks, seminars and symposiums, finally, 2 marriages were fixed for the month of December 2011. Shravan weds Sudha and Gurushant weds Deepa. These decisions have taken quite some time to come but the execution of the decisions have happened in no time as there is always a risk of change of decision if the execution of it is pending. Its wise to quickly swim when the waves are on your side. The invitations dropped into our inboxes, considering the modern technology, and our plans began. The regular gifting plan was put into task and with a lot of struggle, it did get completed. We logged on to www.irctc.co.in immediately and ensured that we have a seat to sleep while on journey. It was decided that 12 of us will be leaving to Bellary on the night of 15th Dec (Thursday) from Bangalore and many others will be coming from their respective places. The expectation was for about 25-30 of our batchmates to make it. After the marriage, scheduled on 16th, we were on discussions about what to do on 17th as Gurushant's marriage was scheduled on 18th at Dharwad. The talks were on and conclusions were off

The Surprise Numbers

While 12 of us were supposed to be leaving from Bangalore, the number jumped to 16 as another 4 joined us in the last moment. Thanks to the tatkal service. We were meeting after a long time. Chats and discussions went on till 2 am and there was a lot of fun. There seemed to be no end to the dicussions. After reaching Bellary in the morning (6.30am), we headed to the Marriage Hall directly. After getting fresh, we ensured that we were on time for the most important part of the marriage, i.e., tying the knot

The Marriage - Shravan

The muhurtam was scheduled at 7.30am and at the right time, the knot was tied enabling 2 of them to enter into a marital commitment for life. We all wished them all the very best. After a quick breakfast, we went on the stage and did our regular SSBJ stuff that enthralled the entire crowd. Our slogans, punchlines and dips were really memorable for everyone. We could see everyone with so much happiness in their eyes and soon, we were in the limelight. Our teachers, Sri SR Hiremath & Sri CK Rao, also graced the occassion. After lunch, we packed and left from there. While some people headed home (native places), some decided to go to JSW Steel, Torangallu where Mallikarjun worked. Even my plan of going to Hubli changed at the last moment when I had almost got into the bus. I joined the Toranagallu team

The Toranagallu Bouquet

This was my second visit to the Toranagallu. The place is indeed an amazing township. One will never believe that there is such a city in a village. We decided to go for swimming as it was a long time since most of us did it. After a cup of tea and some time seeing the mueseum, playground and other facilities, we plunged into the water that was shivering cold. We spent about an hour in the pool and headed for food. Everyone did love those moments. The next morning, we left from Toranagallu and headed to Hubli

The Drama of an Unnecessary Adventure

Mostly, when we travel, there is some or the other issue that creates unnecessary hurdles. While things had been fine till now, the bus in which were going to Hubli turned a hurdle for us. After travelling some distance, the driver said that the brakes are not working. So, we got on to another bus till the next stop. From there, we had to take another bus to Hubli. There were some confusions of the schedule at Hubli. So, we all decided to go to my grandpa's home and get fresh. Soon, we left to Dharwad after a lot of yes/no for Gurushant's engagement. The yes/no was because it was already too late and the engagement, in this case, was more like a family affair and thus, we could always give it a miss as we would attend the marriage tomorrow

The Engagement

We reached Dharwad and had some good time on & off the stage

The Homestay

It was decided that we will go back to Hubli and stay at my place. Coincidentally, a 2BHK belonging to my grandpa on the 1st floor was vacant and that was of a great help. We headed home and went to sleep quickly. In the morning, I had some very good exercise of carry hot water from the ground to the first floor. Soon, we were ready and took off to the marriage

The Marriage - Gurushant

This was one great reunion. A lot of other batchmates reached the marriage hall and we were around 50 SSBJ students over there. That was a really amazing time was us. Gurushant had a blast on the stage when we went and pranked him. The best moment (for me) was making him sing the song 'atthi atthi nann atthi...' on the stage. It was decided that it has to happen and everyone agreed. He refused to it for at least 10-12 minutes and slowly people backed off. But then, some of us had no mercy. It did happen. Guess what, his mother-in-law (atthi) enjoyed it the most. After all the yada vada, we headed for lunch and soon, left to Hubli

The Nruptunga Hills

It was a long time since I had been to the Nruptunga Hills in Hubli. Its the most beautiful spot in Hubli. I had heard that it has been turned into an ecological park and there have been a lot of changes. Indeed, there were a lot of changes including the Rs 10 entry fee. We used to come to this place in our college days. As my home was just below this hill, my friends used to tent at my home before going over

The Delicacies of Durgad Bail

This is a nostalgic location for me. A lot of memories are associated with this place. This is like a food street in Hubli where you get variety of food like Pooris, Idli, Dosa, Vada, Pani Poori, Other Chat items, Dhokla, Dhabeli, Girmitt, Mirchi, Bhaji, Paav Bhaaji, Rasgullas, Badam milk and so on. A lot of my friends were struck at the Girmitt stall and even the Girmitt maker wondered at the way we were eating it. I too had some good pet puja. We also had a fantastic gudbud ice cream at the juice center near Ashoka Hotel. I had no control on my mind as it wandered over a lot of happenings in life as some of the most significant days of life were spent here

The Journey Back to Pollution, Crowd, Work, Pains and Problems

Though not interested, we had no option but to get into the train that would supply us to meet the Monday's demand at our offices. Unwillingly, we got into the train and believe it or not, nobody spoke a word and everyone was asleep in 5 minutes. Everyone knew the kind of life that awaits as soon as they get up. Sad that we have turned into machines. But then, at least, these gathering, get togethers and journeys make us feel that, 'Yes, even we are human beings and we have a life other than living to earn a livelihood'. The final good bye happened quickly in the morning and even more quickly, the hi at our offices

These were some lovely moments that we all will remember for a long time to come

Shivanand Belavanki weds Badami... Infosys not to expand in Bengaluru... 2 Happy news...

noreply@blogger.com (Puneetkumar Pattar) — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 11:38:00 +0000

Roll No. 3258, Hoysala House, Mr Shivanand Belavanki, famous as Patkure, became the second person from our batch to ring the wedding bells. The auspicious occasion was attended by a good number of us all to shower our best wishes for a happy married life to him

It all began with a mail that was shot on our group mail ID declaring that Patkure is getting married on 12th Feb 2011, Saturday and everyone has to attend the wedding. A huge number of responses started flowing and the planning began. We all knew what the plan would be. However, we invited suggesstions from everyone. I guess, the purpose of inviting these suggestions was more to make fun of the suggestor than to implement or make note of what was being suggested. Reservation plans, gifting plans, behavioral patterns, etc came into limelight and the debates, discussions, seminars & symposiums started. Most people who suggested something different or tried to make any changes were literally R A P E D. The mail flow increased to a level where, I guess, it was becoming difficult for Google to manage them. With 100-150 mails from my office & 50-60 mails in relation to Patkure's marriage, I was spellbound. For a moment, I sat with my hand on my head and thought, 'WTF?'

The funds were collected, the tickets were booked, the return journey was planned & then, a new melodrama began. A fresh set of mails requesting to cancel the tickets. The recently wed Arvind who had taken up the initiative of booking the tickets was in a dilemma. 60% of the tickets to Badami were cancelled & 100% of the return tickets were also cancelled. Those 40% who were going did not want to come back without visitng their native. Further, Wednesday being a holiday, taking leave on Monday & Tuesday would mean 4 days at home. Even I was featured in list of persons who cancelled the tickets. But then, I decided to go to the marriage. By then, it was too late and there were no seats left. I joined the few people who were supposed to leave from Anand Rao circle by a SRS Travels bus to find some luck. There seemed no luck & I decided to join Gurushant & Rajendra who were travelling randomly without any reservation. But then, lady luck listened to me & a passenger cancelled his ticket. The bookie (context - the one who books bus tickets) called me & I bought it. I happily joined Raghavendra (3188), Prashant (3236), Pradeep (3241). Mahantesh (3194) & Madhusudan (3225). All my friends are working with all software giants sitting around a banker

The bus cruised in a few moments and we were on the ride. The age old talks about life at Sainik School began. We cherished the moments that were spent together and remembered instances which were so pleasant. It was such a relief thinking of past. The current day's life is full of stress. A reunion with old friends makes us forget all the pains that the modern world is ushering on us. Soon, discussions lead to talking about current day's life, companies, work, future plans, etc. I had a comparatively bad time at this point as everyone with me was a techie & I never understood their C language, Java programming, J2EE, etc. I waited for an opportunity and soon got a topic to speak about. A lot of discussion happened over that topic between me and Madhu. And today, that discussion is a history (historic story)

We reached on time to Badami. There were already a good number of people to welcome us - Bendigiri, Abu, Annappa, Shivmurti, Shantisagar to name a few. Soon, another bunch of cadets who were traveling by train reached the place (Chotya, Pujari, Keshav & others). It was a collusion of

How to avoid a break up - A True Love Story

noreply@blogger.com (Puneetkumar Pattar) — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 21:15:00 +0000

Based on my experience in life about love due to my interactions with my friends, I am making an attempt to understand what exactly it takes to live a happy life. Of course, there is a huge volume of material available on the topics of life, happiness & success but then, we do not remember anything that we read when it comes to practical life. We know that we should not lie but we do, we know that we should not bribe but we do, we know that we should wake up early but we sleep, we know that we should make sincere efforts but we don't, we know a lot of things but we never put them in to practice in real life

Very recently, my friend broke up with his long time girlfriend. They had been together for more than 5 years and I would look up to them as role models for anyone who wants to rise in love. But then, like someone said, you always fall in love. When I look back to the reason why this happened, I feel it was so silly, cheap, meaningless or insensible but then, I should also agree that there are many things in the world which we ignore and many others value. When I asked the girl, she told me that he went out to purchase something with another girl and it hurt her. I was totally taken aback. It could be a case of possessiveness but then it can not be a case to break the relationship that is standing from more than 5 years. I mean, come on. My brains were blown off. But then, the girl explained to me that the guy has been doing such things in the past also. Despite her warnings, he has not stopped such activities. As far as I know the guy, I had complete faith in him but listening to these words, even my faith was shattered. I understood that there is a terrible misconception at one of the ends. To ensure that the girl puts out everything without anything hidden in her mind, I played a trick of supporting whatever the guy did. The girl was in no mood to talk to me, perhaps, she did not like a third party interference. As far as I remember, this is what we discussed

Me: So, whats the problem if he goes to a shop or for a movie with another girl?

She: I don't like it. Will you take it if your wife goes for a movie with another guy?

Me (shocked to some extent): Hmmm... May be no, but, I would not mind if she went to shop with some other guy

She: That's you. But I am not you. I don't like it

Me: But, come on. In which century are you living? Do you still believe in gender bias? Moreover, he has not done anything wrong. He has just accompanied the girl to a shop

She: You can explain me whatever you want but I do not like it

Me: Then why did you have this relationship with him for 5 years. You should have broken it a long back

She: I truly love him but he is interested in other girls. In fact, this matter has come up many times and we have had many fights because of this

Me: Oh, I see. How many times?

She: 1 week back (current issue). He also went out with a girl in 2008 and that too twice for a movie. Then in 2009, I think he went to a girl's house

Me: So, 3 times in 5 years. I mean, do you think he should not contact any girl at all. What are you trying to say?

She: No, I have no problem if he speaks to other girls but I don't like if he goes out with any girl alone

Me: But he told me that you have problem if he speaks to other girls. You have created a lot of scenes whenever he has spoken to any girl. He says that you have always fought even if he were to say hi to some girl. You even asked him to delete all the phone numbers of girls from his mobile

She: Yes, what's wrong in that? Why should he have any girl's number saved in his mobile? In spite of all this, he speaks to girls. He has spoken 2 times to one girl this year. Last year, he has spoken to at least 3 girls

Me (going mad, psyche, fool): Do you mean to say that he should not speak to girls at all?

She: No, I already said that I have no problem if he speaks to any girl

Me: You just gave me a statistical count of the number of times he spoke to a girl in a particular year?

She: Yes. That was FYI so that you don't tell me that he does not speak to girls

Me: OMG, I speak to at least 2-3 girls in a day. I mean, nobody even counts such things but I am trying to count. What is all this you are speaking? Don't you feel this is non sense? After all, what at least are you trying to prove?

She: You don't know the pain as you don't have a girlfriend. When you have one and it happens with you, you will know then

Me (thanking God for not having a girlfriend): Hmmm, so what do you intend to do now?

She: Break this relationship

Me: What?

She: Yes, it has been already decided

Me: Why are you in such a hurry? I mean, 5 years of relationship getting over in 5 seconds because he met some girl for 5 minutes? Is this all you people call love?

She (angrily): Don't speak about my love

Me: Or are you seeing someone and want to dump him quickly

She: That's none of your business. Do what you have come for here. Nothing more

Me: OK, so, what do I go and tell him now

She: Tell him that he is dead for me and not to contact me in any manner for any reason

Me: OK

After this discussion, I moved to my friend. In fact, my friend was just sitting nearby. I had asked him to stay away so that they don't fight and the discussion doesn't get lost. She drove her vehicle away from us and never even bothered to say a bye. I don't know what has happened. She was never like that. May be, the ego is playing a bad role in these lives. I know these people from a long time but I have never seen them like this. And the reason for which they are going to the extent of breaking the relationship is really something that I can't digest. I started to get a feeling that there is something else. The truth is something else and both are not telling that to me. I tried to take it off from the guy and this is what we discussed

He: What did she tell?

Me: Go to hell

He: What?

Me: She told, 'Go to hell'. Don't ever contact her

He: Hmmm, I knew. I told you right. Nothing is going to happen. You simply wasted so much of time

Me: What the hell is wrong with you people man? 5 years of relationship and this is all that you have?

He: That even amazes me

Me: People understand each other so much in days and you are like sucking each other's blood

He: This is all a long story. There are huge stories behind all this

Me: Tell me the truth

He: Whatever you know is the truth. There are a lot of stories behind each of these words. Not today please, we'll look in to it some other day. By the way, what is the use now. Its all over

Me: Oh come on, tell me. I know, if not today, you are not gonna tell me ever

He: Hmmm... if you insist, let me tell you. She is a very sensitive girl and very very very ziddi. Unfortunately, I am ziddi but not not very sensitive. I keep my sad feelings for myself. It all started in our college days. I will keep in short. There was a girl who she hated. I, unfortunately, spoke to her for some reason. The warning bells rung. I went to prove my zidd that nothing is wrong but she getting hurt due to high sensitivity. My purpose was solely that she should understand that personal life & professional life are different. I also wanted her to understand that a guy speaking to a girl or vice-versa should not be construed as wrong as the society still considers it a taboo. Now, that was the greatest mistake of my life

Me: Why? What's wrong in that?

He: Nothing. But she mistook it as my interest to speak with that girl. All explanations, debates, declamations happened and it was proved that I was right but nothing can ever change your thought unless you want to change it. The whole world called Osama a terrorist while some called him savior. Its just like that you know. The more I tried to explain her, the more the things went out of order. Slowly, it spread like viral fever and my speech with any girl, even the ugliest of them, was referred as wrong. I kept opposing to ensure that she will improve her thoughts, get the right thoughts on her mind and correct herself. My only intention was to ensure that such creepy thoughts should not kill the future. I wanted them to end them at the earliest. Unfortunately, its 5 years and the fight is still going on

Me: Hmmm, now I got you. This is a case of complete misunderstanding and selecting the wrong option which appears to be right

He: Huh, sort of. As we progressed, I kept making attempts to improve her thoughts but with each attempt, I was only writing my defeat. It was like a series of battle that I was aggressively fighting. Who knew that I am going to lose the war itself?

Me: That's sad. They say, whoever wins the maximum battles wins the war but in your case, I know that you have lost it. I must say that she also has lost it bro. Don't worry

He: I have always been a very social kind of person. I always had this dream of having my girlfriend introduced to everyone and everyone appreciating us and all that stuff. You know right, I always behave like a celebrity though I do not have anything

Me: Haha, no doubt in that

He: It so happened that I introduced her to a couple of girls I knew at my workplace. My friend's girlfriend also was introduced to the same girls and they had a jolly good time. I was asked to join them but I denied. So, I thought, once my girlfriend meets them, they will know each other and have a nice time together. You know, the social recognition need. Something that makes you do what you like in other's doing. But things turned into utter dismay. She came under an assumption that I wanted to be a friend with those girls and I used her for that or something like that. Within minutes, things came to an end

Me: Oh my, this is really sick. You got to be joking

He: No. That's the truth. Though I blamed her and fought with her then, I do not blame her now. I blame myself. Imagine how much my one mistake costed me. Everyone around me goes around in groups and have such a nice time and each time, I just keep avoiding giving some or the other reason. Soon, the people even got to know this reason and it was so embarrassing for me. For the kind of person I am, all these are critical for me. Else, I would never care. But then, I said, nothing is more important than love and I did whatever was told to me. Of course, there have been slips here and there. What hurts me the most is that she did not even make a single effort to understand why all this is happening and what is the solution to this? She kept saying her own demands and if not met, break the relationship. We have broken this relationship, like some 1000 times, easily

Me: OMG, I gave your example to the world for being true lovers

He: Sometimes, I turn mad when I think about all this. You know what, women are crazy characters. Specially when they have people who care for them, they turn too too too possessive, have expectations beyond limits and live in a world that no one wants to enter, not even the one they love. It is just a world with you and the girl. I mean, come on, its good for a day and not for life. The stomach needs food the next day. They never understand and never move on

Me: I guess you should be right. I have no idea of this. Mate, the best solution to your problem would have been to keep quiet. You should have let her sleep in her dreams. You did a mistake by waking her and trying to bring her to real life in a instant. May be, you should have spent some time and then slowly got her into practical world without her knowledge. You have erred by putting words directly. You should have followed the indirect approach

He: Yeah, I know. I have thought about this. But then, I do not want to be a kind of management guru at least in front of her. I know I could have easily dealt this matter with the indirect approach but I wanted to be truthful and straight forward. You know, I had so much trust in her that I was certain that she will understand. I had so many dreams in life, so many, and none of them pictured before me without her being at least 90% of the part. I did a lot for her. I spent a lot of time for her. But these couple of matters, I never compromised on. It was not that I would go to a girl and f**k her or flirt with her. All the time, it was a genuine reason. I was totally pissed off whenever she pointed fingers at me. Because I have so much love for her but I never expected such a thing in return. This was discussed many times and decision was taken that she will improve but it never happened. Each time, she only made her thoughts stronger that I am interested in other girls and all that stuff

Me: Oh, this is crazy man. Now I know how good my life is

He: There are lot of joys too bro. Its not that love gives you pain only. Why are we fighting? Its because we resolve and get together. Why do we want to be together? Its because we love each other. Why do we love? Because we like each other's company and having a good time. This indicates that our life is better. But we have made it worse due to all this external crap. I have been telling not to discuss these things but these keep creeping in to life every now and then and make life terrible

Me: Hmmm, so what do you plan to do now?

He: I have to firstly find out what at least is the source of all her thoughts. I mean, it can not be just her thoughts that is creating all this trash. Sometime back she was referring to some friend who told her that boys are always flirting. May be, there are some more such girls who are adding fuel to the fire. Something has to be done to stop this

Me: Yeah, I do remember a similar problem faced by my friend. She never got any gift from her boyfriend. At a party, someone put it in her mind that, it means, her boyfriend is seeing someone else and he is cheating on her. She got angry and blasted him. Poor fellow, he started buying gifts for her and she was delighted. At another party, someone told her, 'Men give gifts to women when they are cheating on them so that the woman does not doubt on them. They act sweet when they want to have some work done or when they have done something wrong'. She went back and fought with the guy. He comes and tells me, 'What should I do? If I do something, it means I have an affair. If i do not do something, it means I have an affair. Where should I go and die?'. All I could do is sit and laugh at him. Nothing happened in their life, you know. It all came to an end. And that poor guy did not know anything except the route to his office and back home

He: Yeah, such things do happen. Especially with women who receive a lot of love, this is bound to happen. I will tell you another incident. When one of my friend went to see a girl, the girl asked him, 'Would you save a girl if she were to be caught by a few goondas?'. He thought practically and considering his lankiness, he said no. The girl rejected him saying he does not even have the will. At the time of seeing another girl, coincidentally, he got the same question and he answered, 'Yes'. The girl rejected him saying that he can not be normal husband. He will poke his nose in to other women's matter. He will not give due attention to her, etc. Thoughts are so contradicting you know. You can conclude anything you want. The conclusion is already there on your mind. Same way, whatever I have been saying/doing has been concluded in the way she wants over the past 5 years. Thus, the truth has never ever come to the picture. So, I wish to give truth the chance now. I guess, I will keep quiet and see what happens. All the effort to convince her over the years have been wrongly interpreted by her. Lets see if she has gets a right impression at least now

Me: But, she's already gone

He: Everytime she left me, I have gone back and set things right. The only reason would be that, from the bottom of my heart, I knew that I am nowhere interested in even seeing any other girl. But I would have fought with her saying that it is not wrong. This would make her assume that I am interested in other girls and she leaves. I go back, clarify and set things right. And this process has been going on from years together. There are a huge number of remakes and sequels as well. I guess, its time for me to stop now

Me: If both of you stop, who will solve the problem?

He: God. He knows what is right and what is not. All these days, I forced the right upon her which made her feel it is wrong. Its time for her to understand what is right

Me: What if she never understands and sticks to the same point?

He: Does that make a difference?

Me (totally shocked): What?

He: Bro, I am not interested in f**king any girl or something. My mistake is just that I told her over and again that me speaking with a girl is not wrong. That's all. I will stop doing that. It hardly makes any difference to my life whether I speak to another girl or not. The one & the only reason I have been fighting all these days is only to ensure that she removes these wrong thoughts from her mind. I have no benefit from it at all. I just don't want them to be there because you never know what the future has in store for you. Though the world is so big, you repeatedly hit the same people time and again

Me: My mom keeps saying that a husband and wife have a lot of differences when they meet each other for the first time. The success of their relationship depends on how quick they turn these differences to common interests. She keeps saying that the major role in the relationship is played by the woman only

He: Hmmm, that's right. Lets see what is in store for me. Someone has rightly said, "Every woman wishes her man doesn't change after marriage and every man wishes her woman changes after marriage". I really do not know how this decision of mine will be taken. Whether it will be taken as a ignorance, not interested kind of attitude or whether it will be considered as ego or whether I will be considered as a cheat or whether it will be assumed that I had no love and wanted to end this relationship or whether it will be assumed that I am going around with someone else. Some bitches seem to have entered into our relationship who are guiding her. They would be the happiest to see their prediction of our relationship coming to end come true. I really do not know what has been filled into her mind by who or whether it is her own thought or whether it is due to this cumulative effect of what been happening with us or whether it is the pampering or whether the relationship itself has lost its value...

He broke into tears and fell over my shoulder. I guess, it would be the same case with her in case she too is, as per her words, really in love and it is still alive. I, for never having been in love, do not understand what this is all about. All I have been able to understand that there is a lot of force, energy and power in this one feeling. We left the place and had our dinner. While on the way, I got to know the greatest truth of love which my friend said, "Its got nothing to do about the girl or the feeling or thought or anything. Its just that she wants me to do something based on which she is deciding whether I love her or not. Coincidentally, I am also deciding on the same parameter whether she loves me or not but my need of results is exactly the opposite of her need'. How true...!!! This is all the problem they have. In fact, this is all the problem the world has. While the Congress calls something good, the BJP calls it bad and vice-versa. If the guy agrees to the girl, he will feel that the girl will never improve her thoughts and he is struck with a wrong girl. If the girl agrees to the guy, she will feel that he is a flirt and he will never improve and her life is struck with a bad boy. Nobody wants to lose for the reason that they will treat the other person with a wrong thought. Thus, both are good and both are correct in their own senses. But then, both can win if and only if both of them lose. I guess, there is no direct solution to this problem. All that can be done is to love each other so much that these problems will just disappear. Insult the problem, insult the thought that created the problem. Do not insult yourself. Do not insult love. And now, I have been dwindling over this dilemma from the last 5-6 hours. Its 3am and I guess, I need to go to bed now

Hope this helps some young lovers out there. Make efforts to grow love. Don't ever have a doubt on it. Love so much that the one who is cheating feels ashamed to have done what he is doing. There is a quote in kannada, 'Pratyaksha kandaru Pramanisi nodu' (even if you have seen, check the validity by taking a promise). Life is more about having the right thoughts and approach than anything else

I wish all the lovers a very peaceful life ahead. Keep smiling. No one in the world wants you to be hurt. You are hurting yourselves due to the wrong thoughts you have. Don't ever take someone's suggestions for your love or for that matter any other problem you have except from the ones who you trust completely. 50% of them do not care and the remaining 50% are glad that you have those problems. Take your decisions yourself. Always have faith in God. And like my friend, do NOT go to force anything on your girl/boy as the chances that they will assume that you are taking advantage of them, using them, etc. is very high. Just spend time together, enjoy each other's presence, speak good things, think about growth & progress in life, chit chat about bollywood, in case some issue like this comes up, try to joke on it and close it unless it is really necessary to do a research. You are lovers and not CBIs. Learn to also understand each other and express each other's needs in real terms and put them into practical application. The 3rd person has nothing to lose. Its only you who will lose all the the time, energy, peace, love and above all, trust. Don't forget the the 3rd person also has a relationship, life & duty to perform. He/she is the 1st/2nd person in another relationship. Everyone has got their own life. No one wants to enter your life. Its only you who pull them into your mental life. When you practically see, they are nowhere to be seen. Even in the above case, the girl does not seem to trust the boy and the boy is hurt because she does not trust him. Those girls about who the girl speaks are nowhere in the scene and these people are still fighting over them. They know it but still they don't stop. Trust is the foundation for every type of relationship. If the foundation cracks, the building just has no value. Its always good to lose the top floors (ego, jealousy, hatred, zidd, etc.) than to damage the foundation. Give it up. After all, if you really love someone, you are one and the same. What's the problem in giving up for your own happiness? Life brings many real challenges in the future. Keep up your energies for them. Don't burn them away in such unnecessary thoughts. True love survives everything. Take care

Watch this nice video that I watched recently. Its about marriages. But observe the thought process of the boy & the girl. There are so many differences and yet, they go about the right way and end up in a happy life
This has a lot to teach

You may also consider watching movies like Khushi that go to describe what happens when clashes come into relationships. Don't just leave them there. Learn from them. Life is not a fancy dress competition

IDBI Bank - I'm Lovin It ;)

noreply@blogger.com (Puneetkumar Pattar) — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 17:51:00 +0000

Most of us hold just one account which our employer gives us, a salary account. If you have changed your employer, you would have one more. And you would have one more from the great State Bank of India which our father or our grand father would have opened for us

I have been using IDBI bank for a few months now and I would suggest you all to walk in to any IDBI Bank branch and open a Savings account

I have listed down some attractive offerings that have impressed me

Savings account in IDBI Bank is a ZERO balance account. You don't have to maintain any minimum or average balance. Use as you like
NO charges for ATM card (issuance fees, transaction fees, annual fees, etc)
UNLIMITED ANY BANK ATM usage. Most banks allow you to withdraw only 5 times a month at other bank ATMs for free. Further, they charge Rs 20 per transaction
NO charges for NEFT. Free online fund transfer to any Bank account in India (with IFSC code)
NO 24 hours waiting period for activating payee. You get a password on registered mobile using which you can activate payee immediately
NO charges for issuing DD, cheque books, statements, etc
NO limit on number of transactions by any mode. It means you can even deposit cash in the account from anywhere
Internet banking, Mobile banking, SMS banking, Phone Banking, ATM Banking, SMS Alerts, etc. All FREE
NO pesky calls or SMS for loans, credit cards, investments, etc. Good customer service when you go to branch. Less crowd
High interest rates on Fixed Deposits, Recurring Deposits. For FD more than 1 year, you get 9.50% which is among the highest in India. (Senior Citizens - 10.25%. So, if you want to open accounts for your parents or grand parents, its a viable option)

You should always have an account for your own savings and financial plans other than the regular salary account. Considering current conditions, IDBI Bank is a very good option. Try it. If you like it, continue. If not, close it. There is nothing to lose ;)

Finally, we must also not forget that IDBI Bank is a decent, stable and profitable bank which has majority of its banking business into industrial sector. This is their initiative to foray in to retail banking and thus, all the freebies

Updates
1. Even Visa Money Transfer is FREE. Other banks charge Rs 20 per transaction. This effectively means you can transfer funds to any Visa credit card in India absolutely free
2. Mobile recharge by SMS - Just send an SMS to get your mobile recharged. You don't even have to log on to net banking or do anything. The bank will automatically deduct the amount, send to your service provider & recharge your mobile. All this in seconds