Couple of days ago me and some of my friends headed to local sports bar in town to catch the grand finale of the IPL, for the uninitiated (which rock do you live under?) it’s the Indian Premier League. The latest iteration of the gentleman’s game. Personally I’m not much of a cricket fan, but was always fascinated how this game (The regular version) bought together the entire nation. Cricket was one-day affair. A family and community one at that! People would wind up work early; Kids were let off from tuitions early, the neighborhood store Walla would have a tv or transistor Radio facing towards the crowd so that the less fortunate can take a quick glance at the proceedings, That’s was then…
In comes the Indian Premier league, The magnamopus of a game, The Glitz, the Glamour and not mention the Moolah!! The cheerleaders, the after parties, all the ingredients that make a perfect recipe of a game palatable to gen next (as we call ourselves!). In short, Cricket has come of age, it has become cooler, more flamboyant and audacious .The next generation of the game catering to the young and the restless generation, who do not have time to do anything right the first time but always have time to correct it later.
As I was saying , me and couple of my buddies headed down to a local joint to watch the show( I don’t think it’s a sport anymore) and got ourselves perched on one of those couches. The place was buzzing with fans of both the teams. Team jerseys, Catch phrases.. basically the works!!!! The finals was a total nail biter with its Hits and Misses. But…. Something Didn’t feel right!!!!!! There was no camaraderie among the people. I was cheering my home team (which eventually one) when I suddenly realized I was a minority. I could sense there was more than beer that was brewing in that place, I cannot explain but the feeling of unity and oneness the game brought just wasn’t there anymore... We were not team India... We are the chargers, challengers, royals,knights, anything But team India...
Now you might say that I’m old school and that this is our answer to English premier league or that the game is going global. But, what I see is the brown man’s insatiable need to emulate the western way of life. That might not be entirely bad, but hey!! Isn’t that the place with highest acts of racism and Sports related violence? Don’t you think we have enough problems in that arena already?
The players themselves act less like sportsmen and more like rock stars with their on and off pitch antics. In all aspects looks like…
The gentlemen’s game…. just got rowdy.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Values- Do we have the right one's?
Many of us have begun our internships/hardships.For most of us this is our first tyrst with the " Real World" as they call it. Many of us must have had a first hand experience of what we've been reading and talking about for a while now......"Recession".
Many leaders agree that the current slowdown is a great teacher. Each mistake and oversight teaches you a lesson -the hard way. Never before the leaders of the world have faced a tougher test, that too after their best innings ever. What’s more heartening is their response to the situation… The old adage “Deer caught in the headlights” best describe their initial reaction.
With each bad news, more and more management blunders came out of the woodwork, the skeletons started coming out of the closets and haven’t stopped yet…..The management fraternity has been caught offguard. They were unprepared to deal with a crisis of this magnitude.
The delayed projects, brutal layoffs, drastic pay cuts, sudden reshuffling of the top managements and unrealistic cost cuts are just knee-jerk reaction to this situation.
Warren Buffet once said “ It's only when the tide ebbs you find out who is swimming naked” and sadly many of the leaders have been found without the proverbial fig leaf to cover up their short comings.
But there are few companies who have managed to survive and are still braving it out and should say, doing a good job of it.. Companies like HDFC, L&T, Hero Honda continue to grow profitably despite the downturn. Tata and Infosys might be having a rough ride but have managed to take tough decisions with maturity and dignity.
The reason being these companies (Leaders) have a clear set of values, a sense of urgency on what needs to be done and clarity on where they want go. Don't get me wrong, Those companies which faced the wrath also had "Values". The Gazillion Dollar question is, Did they have the right one's?
Well, I think We all know the "Satyam" behind that question.
Many leaders agree that the current slowdown is a great teacher. Each mistake and oversight teaches you a lesson -the hard way. Never before the leaders of the world have faced a tougher test, that too after their best innings ever. What’s more heartening is their response to the situation… The old adage “Deer caught in the headlights” best describe their initial reaction.
With each bad news, more and more management blunders came out of the woodwork, the skeletons started coming out of the closets and haven’t stopped yet…..The management fraternity has been caught offguard. They were unprepared to deal with a crisis of this magnitude.
The delayed projects, brutal layoffs, drastic pay cuts, sudden reshuffling of the top managements and unrealistic cost cuts are just knee-jerk reaction to this situation.
Warren Buffet once said “ It's only when the tide ebbs you find out who is swimming naked” and sadly many of the leaders have been found without the proverbial fig leaf to cover up their short comings.
But there are few companies who have managed to survive and are still braving it out and should say, doing a good job of it.. Companies like HDFC, L&T, Hero Honda continue to grow profitably despite the downturn. Tata and Infosys might be having a rough ride but have managed to take tough decisions with maturity and dignity.
The reason being these companies (Leaders) have a clear set of values, a sense of urgency on what needs to be done and clarity on where they want go. Don't get me wrong, Those companies which faced the wrath also had "Values". The Gazillion Dollar question is, Did they have the right one's?
Well, I think We all know the "Satyam" behind that question.
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Nano-The Indian Marque.
When it came to cars it always bothered me that we had nothing to claim as our contribution to the world. Our fifteen seconds of fame, our share of the pie... catch my drift!!!
The Italians had the Ferrari's n Lambhogrhini's which represented their passion and sense of style, The Germans dispalyed their engineering prowess with their Audi'n Merc's, The americans had their big trucks and Hum-Vees to show off their Muscle, Japanese had their Honda's and suzuki's to show off their tech wizadry and her majesty's factories were churning out fine examples of british opulence and subtle snobbery vis a vis Bentley's and Rolls's.
Every country had a car or dare I say a mascot in the automobile arena which represented their beliefs, values and customs.Indians had nothing to call of their own. The amby is British and the 800 is a Suzuki.
The Nano has changed all that. It has done more than proving India's engineering prowess. It has got a permamnent parking spot for india in history books. Our Two cents in the automotive dollar. The Italians have the ferrari's and Lambo's and we have our Nano. "The Indian Marque." An odd comparison you might say, but they have a lot in common.... All three of them are rare engined and rare wheel drive, come in same colours and there parents are related to each other.
The Italians had the Ferrari's n Lambhogrhini's which represented their passion and sense of style, The Germans dispalyed their engineering prowess with their Audi'n Merc's, The americans had their big trucks and Hum-Vees to show off their Muscle, Japanese had their Honda's and suzuki's to show off their tech wizadry and her majesty's factories were churning out fine examples of british opulence and subtle snobbery vis a vis Bentley's and Rolls's.
Every country had a car or dare I say a mascot in the automobile arena which represented their beliefs, values and customs.Indians had nothing to call of their own. The amby is British and the 800 is a Suzuki.
The Nano has changed all that. It has done more than proving India's engineering prowess. It has got a permamnent parking spot for india in history books. Our Two cents in the automotive dollar. The Italians have the ferrari's and Lambo's and we have our Nano. "The Indian Marque." An odd comparison you might say, but they have a lot in common.... All three of them are rare engined and rare wheel drive, come in same colours and there parents are related to each other.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Ingenuity
There are products that are good and meet all the requirements and practical, but there is that nagging feeling that something is missing.. a feeling compounded by views and reviews....( Thanks to internet anybody who can frame a sentence and has a thought can express it...).
This is where ingenuity comes in . The one thing that separates the good from the best....
There have been many ingenious products and innovators..but for me the till date the most ingenious product is an automobile... Yeah !!! you read that write... ( I know there are a lot of techie eyebrows raising and begging to differ but...). It has changed the world for ever..
Coming to the central theme of ingenuity and automobiles, the one man that lead this race in india . is none other than the man of the moment ..Mr. Ratan Tata.
His passion and ingenious thinking have given us products like the Indica.. Which when being conceptualised ......In his own words " A car the size of a Maruti and the spaciousness of the Ambassador( Ambassador remember..... The white bubble like thing on wheels that ferrys the Netas ) and Diesel engine" ..was thought to be infeasible , impossible and so on . But here we are today celebrating the 10th anniversary of the same thing and of course the apple of the eye of the automobile industry ..the new kid on the block.. call it whatever... The Nano. Again quoting the man himself" A car which can carry four people comfortably and cost only Rs. 1 Lakh".. the bean counters and analyst thought this concept would'nt be feasible. Everybody from engineers to industry heads thought that this was an impossible feat. but here we are just a few days away from its launch.
Indica, Nano and the recently launched Xenon XT all are a paradigm shift from what the norm is in the market....and the results are here for us to see (Do I hear all the Techies and bean counters... "THE NON BELIEVERS" crunching their words).
This also reminds the anecdote of the "Deaf Frog".. you know the one that climbed to the top of the well...while the others listened to ...... whatever.
All of Mr. Tata's concepts was written off by the so called experts of the field. But he Kept ploughing ahead..
As somebody rightly said and I quote " Winners don't do different things.. They just do things differently" ( Sorry ... can't find the link for that one. But I'm Damn sure I read it somewhere..)
Lesson: There are many to be learnt..But I think...(and I always wanted to say this,but was waiting for the right moment, guess this is it) "Dont let anybody tell you what you can or cannot do.You want something, go get it! period."
Disclaimer: This Blog is not intended to offend on anyone. Any such quotes or comments is purely unintentional and coincidental.
This is where ingenuity comes in . The one thing that separates the good from the best....
There have been many ingenious products and innovators..but for me the till date the most ingenious product is an automobile... Yeah !!! you read that write... ( I know there are a lot of techie eyebrows raising and begging to differ but...). It has changed the world for ever..
Coming to the central theme of ingenuity and automobiles, the one man that lead this race in india . is none other than the man of the moment ..Mr. Ratan Tata.
His passion and ingenious thinking have given us products like the Indica.. Which when being conceptualised ......In his own words " A car the size of a Maruti and the spaciousness of the Ambassador( Ambassador remember..... The white bubble like thing on wheels that ferrys the Netas ) and Diesel engine" ..was thought to be infeasible , impossible and so on . But here we are today celebrating the 10th anniversary of the same thing and of course the apple of the eye of the automobile industry ..the new kid on the block.. call it whatever... The Nano. Again quoting the man himself" A car which can carry four people comfortably and cost only Rs. 1 Lakh".. the bean counters and analyst thought this concept would'nt be feasible. Everybody from engineers to industry heads thought that this was an impossible feat. but here we are just a few days away from its launch.
Indica, Nano and the recently launched Xenon XT all are a paradigm shift from what the norm is in the market....and the results are here for us to see (Do I hear all the Techies and bean counters... "THE NON BELIEVERS" crunching their words).
This also reminds the anecdote of the "Deaf Frog".. you know the one that climbed to the top of the well...while the others listened to ...... whatever.
All of Mr. Tata's concepts was written off by the so called experts of the field. But he Kept ploughing ahead..
As somebody rightly said and I quote " Winners don't do different things.. They just do things differently" ( Sorry ... can't find the link for that one. But I'm Damn sure I read it somewhere..)
Lesson: There are many to be learnt..But I think...(and I always wanted to say this,but was waiting for the right moment, guess this is it) "Dont let anybody tell you what you can or cannot do.You want something, go get it! period."
Disclaimer: This Blog is not intended to offend on anyone. Any such quotes or comments is purely unintentional and coincidental.
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Dreamz unlimited....
Yes, that is the name of a famous bollywood star's production company. Thats not what this is about. This is about our dreams... Dreamz unlimited. The Dream of making a good life for us and our family, the dreams of finding a beautiful partner, of finding that Dream Job. starting your own company, being the best student in your class...........Dreamz Unlimited...... Everybody dreams of all these things and more but only some seem to realise their dreams.. why? Are they the god's favourite child? Or just plain lucky..... Not everybody seems to have an answer for this question.
What is that makes some people's dreams turn into realty... What is that one thing separetes a dreamer from a visionary?
I know ..I know.. there are hundred answers that comes to one's mind for that question. But how many of you have asked this questions to yourself. When was the last time you took a stock of your dreams? when was the last time you actually made an attempt to reach for the proverbial stars....... Too many questions???
Some times its important to question ourselves. our thoughts , our belief's and our actions. How close are we to our dreams?
Day dreamers or visionaries....... Who do we want to be?. It's all upto us.
What is that makes some people's dreams turn into realty... What is that one thing separetes a dreamer from a visionary?
I know ..I know.. there are hundred answers that comes to one's mind for that question. But how many of you have asked this questions to yourself. When was the last time you took a stock of your dreams? when was the last time you actually made an attempt to reach for the proverbial stars....... Too many questions???
Some times its important to question ourselves. our thoughts , our belief's and our actions. How close are we to our dreams?
Day dreamers or visionaries....... Who do we want to be?. It's all upto us.
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