In pursuit of achievement

A long time ago, I, a fourteen year old, was sitting on the window seat of my school bus. My eyes were focused on the road below, trying to capture anything and everything on the road. As the bus stood still in the traffic jam, I saw a young couple getting out of their car, hand in hand and walk inside a up-scale store. Fifteen minutes later the bus had not moved an inch, but the couple was done with their shopping and they walked towards the car with shopping bags in their hands. They left, and miraculously my bus moved a full tire circle. That very moment, I said to myself, "When will I achieve this?"

Fifteen years hence, I am married to a wonderful woman and have two cars standing in my garage. We are shopping freaks and do all the normal things, which all couples do. It is amazing to see that how "achievement" is replaced with normal.

I know that you will say that this is very normal. Child desires are always trivial and cannot be compared to adult desires or achievements. But I beg to differ.

What is a 'normal' adult desire?

• Career Progression
• Calm married life
• Loads of money
• House
• Car
• See Exotic Locations
• etc...

The above are my desires as well. I would love to have all the above. But 30 years hence, when I might have 'achieved' all the above, wouldn't these achievements be a 'normal'. At that time, will I have enough time left to ponder whether my achievements were really achievements, or just a small part of "The Matrix".

Now, my thoughts come to a full circle. My desires as a child were trivial for an adult, and my desires as an adult, would be trivial for an old man. So what is a real achievement, or say a practical "Nirvana".

A quick brain search came up with the following results:

• Visit unvisited places in the world, learn what people from different cultures perceive as achievements and sources of happiness
• Invest time and money in a cause which would positively impact people. It could be anything: Teaching and sharing knowledge, Grow more trees to reduce pollution impact and depletion of water resources, etc.
  
• Open a business and generate employment
• Make people in rural parts of the world aware of the favor they are doing to the world by producing food. Helping them bridge the divide between city and rural life, while still staying in the rural areas. The word "rural" in itself is negative. Just imagine being called a rural citizen. It is sometimes synonymous with the word "backward".

So even I am not sure what is an achievement? But, I am happy that at least I started thinking about what it could be. Hopefully, soon, I will at least know one achievement I want to accomplish in life.

Will keep you, and myself posted :)

Update

So its been a year and a half since my last post. There can be a zillion excuses, but none better than the loss of interest to share my events of life.

A lot has happened since Jan 1st, 2007:

-Neetu's arrival to the US in March'07
-Parents visit to US
-Summer Internship with Qualcomm
-Got involved with the concept of internal innovation and entrepreneurship
-Tried my hand at Golf and Racquetball
-Graduation
-Full-time with the New Business Development group of Qualcomm
-Dad is trying hard to recover. He is a tough person, and I am sure he will get out of this.

So what next?

-Try to absorb as much information as possible, considering that the information super-highway is becoming a race track, rather than a brainstorming medium
-Blog regarding some interesting recent experiences
-Form a regime for myself. Adnan is quite an inspiration
-As the MBA fever fades, I realize the real world is quite different than what an MBA expects in the first month of graduation. I have to keep myself focused on competing with myself rather than self-select my benchmarks.
-Though I didn't end up joining a consulting firm, and rather chose a corporate career, I need to develop certain skill sets which will make me universally acceptable

I hope the next post is not an update post. Henceforth, I am going to make a conscious effort to write more substance.

Keep the faith!!

Another beginning to a new end...

Earlier, every time a new year approached, I would be excited what all I wanted to do in the coming year. But this time, when I started looking at the new year, I saw myself looking beyond the next 365 days..I guess this time, the point of reference had changed and I could easily just turn back and see my life as a map laid down on the table. Only that it had more zigzag lines than any complicated map would have !! But this view of 27 years of life actually helped me formulate some postulates about me and help me decide what I want to do next.

And I guess the only way to make things better, is to make life simple. Once you remove the complications, everything becomes crystal clear and you start functioning as an open loop system. Though isolated, but very efficient. And at this phase of life, this looks to be an optimum solution.

This year ended with a low and a high. The low not because I still could not get to my dream destination, but due to the inability to bring myself to a level wherein I could not be easily dismissed. But that low has brought in a high in the form of rejuvenated vigor to extract the maximum of what I have. I guess most of the times, we do not make the most of what we presently have and try to mix future with the present.

Well,this new year seems to have a lot in store for me to achieve :

-Get back into shape.
-Start playing racket ball.
-Realized that I am devoting too much time on MBA studies. I need to keep myself updated or else things will just crash.
-Get my wife here so that we start living our married life together. Its been four years since we have not lived with each other. Kudos to her for maintaining this long distance relationship.
-Start testing the concept of Gandhigiri. After seeing Lage Raho, I am gonna give one serious try to it. I still dont know whether I have the patience of being hit once and still allowing the other person to hit me again. But I am gonna give my best shot.
-Make life simple. Am not gonna distract myself and for once, allow myself to pursue my career in a field which excites me.
-Be a good son to an ailing father. We sometimes are so engrossed with our own lives that we tend to forget the very reason we are here.
-Treat the past as a sunk cost. Just stop worrying about it..

Things which I expect :

-US and Indian economy dont crash. I am due to graduate by the end of this year.
-Neetu (My wife) gets her visa.
-Yogesh and Nadkar have an amazing married life.
-Life becomes simple for Nitesh.
-My dad recovers.
-Amitoj gets his dream job.
-Arjun Singh becomes sane.
-Bharani starts blogging more regularly.

I just hope that Murphy's law is not applicable this year !!

Enjoy..Zindagi Rocks..

Yaaron !!

Once down !! Twice down !! It took me a long time to let the feeling sink down. There are times when you just wish that time rolls back and you make amends to things which can determine your future. But then eventually reality strikes. But then as Bharani said "I have come to realise that many things in our life happen for a reason...and we just need to take the positive thing out of the event."

Well it may be a generic advice, to always extract the positives from whatever happens to us. But frankly it works. There are so many things happening in our life that if we look back and analyze each situation..then it strikes that if that incident would'nt have happened, we would not be able to enjoy the present situation we are in. But again, however good the present situation is, we always anticipate that future is brighter than the present. And thats when we stop living life.

I guess we should stop living life for a reason. We should start living it for the sake of replenishment. Replenishing our faith in happiness. We need to extract the maximum of whatever we get. So many times we just let go of things which we think have no meaning. But when we look back, we regret not holding to them.

When i walk down memory lane, the moments spent with friends and family make me nostalgic. Those moments spent with Yogesh, Nadu and Nitesh are invaluable..I still remember those lengthy talks with Yogesh when we spent half the time discussing how and why some things should happen..and I am so happy that they happened.. Nadu pursued whatever he wanted to do.. And both Yogesh and Nadu are gonna be marrying their sweethearts nearly in the same time frame. I feel so secure to be around with Nitesh. He has a solution for every problem and has been a life support system. I dont know what I would have done without these guys.

Was just reading Bharani's blog a little while ago. I just adore this person !! Sometimes I just place him as a role model !! His thought process is so clear and his cravings so special.. There are so many times I can relate to whatever he writes. There have been times I would like to do certain things. But eventually I dont. God bless this master of thoughts !!

Well..I have just started with the winter break. It should be an exciting as well as a relaxing one though !! Gonna catch up with old friends in California and then head to Houston to be with family. There are change of plans and I have to now redirect myself to the new way of expectations.

Life has a lot to give you !! How many days do we remember when we actually lived our life the way we want to.. I guess hardly 10 or 15. In 27 years of age i.e. 9855 days..Gosh that means only 0.0015 % of my life I have lived it to the fullest. There is something seriously wrong !! I guess I have to find a new way to live life kingsize !!

MBA...Change of Perceptions !!

Friday Night --> The only night when owls are left alone...Why ? Cos MBA students are sleeping !!

Generally, whenever I am standing in a queue at a Take away joint, I would generally let some vague thoughts cross my mind and pass my time away. But yesterday, things changed. I was standing in a queue at Chipotle and I saw myself calculating serve time,arrival rate etc etc. I was trying to gauge the "fat rabbits a.k.a bottlenecks" and trying to figure out how much time would it would take me to pick up my burrito Thats what a good class of operations does to you !!! But all credits to Dr. Rogelio Oliva for making operations so natural to you. The guy is awesome !! He is an former Harvard professor, has amazing stamina (runs close to 3 miles in a lecture) and makes you think, think and think.

In the end, I guess, MBA changes perceptions. It allows you to take liberty with your thought process and give one opportunity to think the way you want. And once you start ticking, that opportunity becomes your routine activity. There was a time when I used to fret about the work load. But I guess, the program was simply asking us to evaluate our time management skills and improve them for judgement day !!

Similar things are happening with the Finance course. Each rational thought ends at NPV. If its a negative NPV, forget it !! And the mother of all truths...Forget the sunk cost. Its gone. Think about future cash flows and compare them only....Gosh..Only if I could understand this early in life..Would have quit Reliance long back !!!

Anyways...For anyone thinking of doing an MBA !! Do it..Not for money, not for education !! But for change of perception !!!

Expectations...and loss...

Ram lay still on the bed. A couple of nurses checking his pulse and confirming whether there is any bleeding. A doctor just went by trying to figure out who is inside the dearranged body. But Ram lay still with his parents at his side, praying for the life of their son.

Just three hours ago, Ram had much against his parents wishes, taken the bike of his uncle to ride to the board center. The moment he came out of the center with pride that he has excelled in his examination, Ram with his friend Anuj started the bike and rode away to glory. He didnt realise what hit him next and only gained senses in the hospital.

All this time as he lay on the bed, his father would stay by his side ready to serve any need he had. Infact his father was so desparate to tend to his need, that anytime the eye blinked , he was ready for action.

Ram recovered. He entered high school and his father would try to extract maximum time of his schedule to see him through. Everytime he faltered, his father though tough, would give him a second chance. Ram would recover and then fall. At every fall, his father stood there and tried to get him back on his legs.

Ram did his bachelors. At around the same time, his father went through a ordeal and was trying to get out of it. Ram fell in love with a girl he would eventually marry.Though his parents had earlier denied the pair a chance, but they eventually gave in. Ram married his beloved. Marrying at such a young age gave the young couple a lot of reasons to fight. Ram's father would always try to make things better.

Ram's father would always ping him for his future plans. He would write him letters to keep him focussed. Ram wanted to do his MBA. Ram's father left no stone unturned to pave way for his son to pursue his goal. Ram and his wife started with this goal. Ram's wife went on to do her MBA. One down. Ram gave his first gmat under difficult conditions at work. He didnt do well. But his father would always call him and motivate him. Ram's wife and his father was his biggest support at that trial of destiny.

Ram's goal was to get into his dream college. He didnt get in. But instead he got an admit into a United States school. Ram had no savings by this time. Ram's father though into semi-retirement brought his spirits back and complemented his scholarship to cover the initial burst of expenses. At every stage he was ready to help him out, be it his tickets, insurance or anything else.. His son has to study. That was his goal.

Two weeks to go. Ram could realise something wrong with his father. But he didnt disclose. Ram's father arranged a party for his son's departure and his grandson's arrival. He did everything under the sun to make it a success and give his son every oppurtunity to cry when he would depart from his motherland.

Ram reached his overseas abode. Started on with the grind. Ram's father was diagnoized with cancer. Ram's father got his tryst with destiny. His lifeline was now defined.

Ram is broken. Ram could remember each phase of life when his father was behind him. Support him at the drop of the hat. Be a shield at worst of times. Would be a sincere advisor. A lot of times, Ram took him wrong. But he could never take Ram wrong.

I hate to be Ram.

IN SEARCH OF INDIANNESS ABROAD

A very good blog post by Saurabh Saksena on Indian's attitude about India and the image they reflect of the motherland.

Watan...

The movie was Omkara...I could see plates of samosas, kachori's and some amazing katti rolls being traded. Occasional guju chats (decibel a bit higher--as always) and some real well-dressed punjabi's turning some eyeballs in seemingly opposite directions (again - as always).. And all the pre-movie noise and excitement...But the only difference was..that the movie theater was owned by a Paki in the city of Houston !! The whole environment was just so Indian that for a moment I forgot I am away from desh.

Anyways..the whole crux of describing this theater was the discussion I had with one fellow-Indan out there. And it was actually a 2 min discussion in the men's toilet.

He was an Indian who had been in the US for a major portion of his life. I was an Indian who had been in this place for hardly two weeks. The moment he came to know that I had just come, he started being nostalgic about India and the beauty of staying there. But on being asked why he hadn’t gone back, the whole nostalgic tempo went for a toss. He didn’t have any definite answer and nor could I think of any. The generic ones - standard of living, work culture and corruption free life were pretty much the same. But then there had to be more.

I guess.. It’s the sheer perennial loss of adaptability which is the reason most of the Indians don’t go back. We just intend to.. When we were back there in India..We intended to study further..And we did everything under the sun to achieve that. Wrote GRE's / GMAT's.. Wrote some real good stuff..Went through the Visa ordeal.. Once we were here...We did things which we never did in our life..cleaned our toilets..cooked our own food..washed our utensils.. Can’t list all of them.. At that point of time we were adaptable.. We adapted to virtually everything.. Be it the ascent, eating habits, study formats..everything..

But where does that adaptability go when we ponder about going back. I am sick of seeing people crying over the phone and saying the "missing" etc on the phone. Cmon..if u are actually missing.. Go back and live that life which u want to...

I may sound paranoid..But I have been thinking about adaptability is such micro forms these days.. Somehow I feel the whole world revolves around it.. If one is ready to adapt to a particular situation, he will do it... I have seen people wanting to quit jobs but wouldn’t for the fear of living a lower standard of living. If they could only adapt to it. I am no better. Even I didn’t adapt to a lot of situations in life. But I see a wide scope of improvement on that front.

Sometimes I don’t realize where these postings lead to.. For me..Its just a vent.. maybe a pain to many !!!

During this whole blog posting I might have listened to Jana Gana Mana innumerable times..Gosh..Now I am getting nostalgic.. And I seriously hope that twenty years hence I dont end up meeting an indian newbie at an american theater..

End of the beginning.. Classes start..

Its been a long time since I last updated my blog. But I guess its was my own laziness which tempted me to sleep around most of the time.

Two weeks in houston pre-college gave me an oppurtunity to unwind myself. After working 14 hours a day at Reliance and then an immediate lull made me realise how well one can manage his time.

Orientation started on 10 August with a welcome desert dinner. It was one hell of a ice breaker. Post that it was more like a pre-term than an orientation with a statistics camp and some initial case solving sessions. But the awakener was the Beer Game. It is a classic game to be played if one wants to get a gist of Supply Chain Managment.

The assignments and homework has just started to prowl in me and I guess I should be adapting to it pretty fast. We got our classes divided evenly. 37 each and a team of 4/5 in each. Ours is beta4.

Classes begin on Monday and a lot of pre-reading down the aisle.

I came to Mays with least expectations.. I hope to be proved wrong in the long run.

Last week happenings : Swapnil finally got engaged..Really happy for them... They make an amazing couple. Yogesh quit Wipro and all set for a marriage in Feb... Neetu is gearing up to come here here. Gosh..I miss her so much.. Some problems back home. I really hope to seem them resolved... These are things which prompt me to come back to India as soon as possible.

Really looking forward to the MBA program. It is exciting and I have a gut feeling that I will enjoy the tenure here. Guess the 80 hour/week home study schedule shouldnt be that bad.

Next blog shouldnt take as many months as this one. Hope to trim the period down to a week.

The big journey to US

I was contemplating hosting a FAQ for the same cos I needed it too.

The whole MBA application process takes more than a year. If i gauge each phase on a minimum basis, two months for GMAT prep, Four months in applications, 2 months awaiting interviews, 1 month giving interviews, 1 month waiting for admits, 1 month negotiating with adcom,1 month renewing passport (worst case scenario), visa application, making travel arrangements and miscellanous stuff.

Well anyways. The TAMU Indian Association was kind enough to make an amazing document which has helped us a lot.

The Accounting prof has asked us to download a software called Aleks which will help her gauge our accounting knowledge at the start of the class. Lets see how i perform cos I have no accounting background whatsoever..

Yogesh is coming to Mumbai this weekend. So I hope to share a drink with him.

Swapnil has got busy again and R has got a job. Really happy for her.

Read Bharani's blog. He is an amazing person with a very clear thought process.

Good Morning ISB

This was one trip I had been contemplating for a long time. All credits to Nadu (T2) to pull me through to ISB (My second love...) . T2’s term 1 had just ended and he was in midst of a much deserved break. The night longbus trip hadnt worked wonders on me and somehow my spirits had gone to an alltime low. But the very sight of "Indian School of Business” flushed all thoughts and generated all the excitement to enjoy the very beauty of this awesome institution.

The security guard brought a smile on my face by referring that my name is identical to that of the Chairman’s and the very thought of being “The Rajat Gupta” made me nervous.
As I rode towards the student village I was amazed to go through the signboard. It read “Drive Slowly, Peacock Crossing”. Gosh it sounded as if I am in midst of an sanctuary.

And then I get to meet Freddie aka T2 in true bohemian style. I could see the very excitement in him to show me across ISB as he knew the crush/love I had for it.

One thing I realized about ISB, is that it will take a lot of a student’s commitment to remain fat cos u need to walk amazing distances to reach from one point to another. But on the whole it was fun cos I got an opportunity to talk about a host of things with T2. We talked about professors, carbon trading, artium and squash. Infact, I got to meet his squash partner at lunch and we talked all about ISB. How it is positioned, how it needs to grow and how more global finance companies need to be seduced..

And then I get to meet someone who actually complements T2, his would to be other half. I didn’t know that T2 could have made such a good choice knowing his earlier bent of mind. R is a true person at heart, very down-to-earth and has a distinct simplicity. The next two days passed off in a jiffy with T2 treating me at some great places. I was in awe with his hospitality and bored of his “I will take ur dollar treat later”.

The final day at Hyderabad was made memorable by our visit to the Golconda Fort. It was one rare example of spectacular architecture and unforeseen engineering. I couldn’t believe that medivial architects were so advanced. The sound and the light show with Mr. Amitabh Bacchan’s voice relived the history of Golconda.

After coming back to ISB we stayed awake all night talking about anything under the sun. Calling long distance and talking to our old friend and discussing some untouched areas of life made this visit a memorable one. I had come to visit ISB. But in the space of two days, I not only graced ISB but I got to know T2 and R much better and became emotionally attached to them.

T2 and ISB Rocks…

Getting Ready...

It has been an hectic month. Getting passport re-issued (=heroic task), getting my I-20 done and following up with the admissions office for a better deal to study at Mays.

Swapnil is at ISB now and is very excited about being there. Check his blog for a realistic view on ISB. Prospective students should be in touch with him for the simple reason that he can give a very holistic view about the whole process.

Neetu has completed her MBA and her convocation is scheduled on 8th May.. Her family and I shall be present there. She is going to join TCS in June.

Yogesh is in Pune and shall be joining WIPRO in May. God everyone is getting settled and I am going the study way at 27. But then.. I have to..

Am really excited to meet Amitoj at Mays.. He has been an inspiring force for me towards this journey for my MBA. Frankly I hadnt even given a thought to attend Mays when I was writing my GMAT. But when I put every piece together, I feel its a good option and gives me an opportunity to come back to India..

Weekend is going to be at Pune. Have a ceremony planned for the new born baby... (Yuvraj).. He is a very sweet child....

Guess.two months are gonna go away soon.. I am going to schedule my visa date as soon as possible..

Hope to see Swapnil in the coming week...

Also intend to blog more :)

MAYS..It is...

It was a tough decision. But then.. It had to be taken. All pro's and con's considered, I have finally decided on accepting the admit at Mays Business School in United States.

I was going through Swapnil's blog and was actually very impressed with his balanced perspective. In this whole application and acceptance saga, we forget the basic intention of doing an MBA. I strongly believe that in the end, it all boils down to the placements. Quality of education somehow gets tagged with the placements. Going through Ram's blog and reading about Prof. Nirmal Gupta's way of teaching, I feel that the Q of E should be a paramount factor of choosing one's b school.

Mays has some really good faculty and an amazing Alumni network. I know its tough comparing ISB to Mays. But then, its a trade off of gaining an year, a much debated international exposure, real diversity and virtually doing an MBA for free (read=scholarship + GA).

I am really looking forward to the course. But deep within, ISB will rule the heart.

Acknowledgements : Swapnil Nadkar, Amitoj Arya, Yogesh Garde, Smriti Gupta, Neetu Singh and Nitesh Batra.

Meeting T2... Part II

Met T2 again...

Its always a pleasure to meet T2. He is amazing individual and has such innovative and precise ideas and thoughts that one can listen to him for ages. It was an amazing evening at one of my favourite *resting* joints--> barista. I,T2 and N discussed anything under the sun. We had pics taken with our laptops and did some crazy things which brought me back to childhood. Well T2 is on the marriage way, so dont want to say anything else.

Well T2 will be joining ISB in April and I am going to miss him a lot. His confidence in me was unwarranted but it surely has brought me closer to ISB.

Hope T2 dosent disappear post- ISB. One panelist asked, you took a couple of gmat's. will you get so many retakes in life. And I guess the answer is, that each situation, meeting anything... is a retake... Its just that we dont realise it.

Meeting....T2

Yesterday I could finally get to meet my long time friend SN aka T2.. :) Well..according to him I am T1. FYI T stands for --> Taku.. SN was my classmate in Engineering college and post engineering took a complete different direction. I hardly know any one who had the guts to reject an IIM call during college. Speaks a lot about a person's belief in his capabilities. BTW he is ISB R1 amit and future star placement of ISB :) Amen...

His first glimpse brought a smile on my face. He rightfully looked like Andrew Flintoff and anybody could mistake him to be a monk dressed up in casuals :) Anyways.. Most of the time we were discussing ISB and my anxiety about the DDDDD day... Well.. I am actually very anxious now. I just want it.. Accept or Reject.. Whatever is the verdict..... Well anyways.. one of the panel members was already sending me crude vibrations signalling my reject.. But then..we live on hope.. and its hope which has brought me to this juncture. ...

Well..then... after the dinner we went to CCD.. And for the first time I had hot Irish Coffee... BTW I forgot to emphasize that T2 was on a treat spree..was treating me at Pizza Hut and paid for all the transits..

Anyways.. CCD was good.. I did get interrupted by some stupid phone call from office where the only speaking I had to do was to call a meeting tomorrow. Anyways.. We discussed about R, his financials and his vision post ISB.

His belief in me getting an admit from ISB boosted my lagging confidence. Though my gut feeling is roaring that "you got a chance" but my brain keeps on negating that.. But... well.. I can only pray,hope, eat,drink till Feb 28th.. If things go the other way I will start to pray,hope,eat,drink and WORK again towards the very goal (=dream) to be part of ISB.

T2 rocks....

Moment... long awaited......

Finally the moment has arrived... Am scheduled for an interview with ISB on Monday.. Just woke up today morning only to realise that this would be a make or break situation..

When I was graduating out, I had started dreaming about ISB. But during the last five years i could bring sense to that dream...

Well..Got to work on my interview and hope to see myself as a R2 admit..:)

Cut off from the world

There was a time when anyone could have imagined going through the real life experience of Mr. Tom Hanks in Cast Away...

But... right now.. we are living in a world when I feel isolated if I happen to leave my mobile phone at home while venturing for a walk.. Recently.. I was in my Corporate GYM working out... We are not allowed to carry our phones out there... As I know its official not to carry the phone, I feel so relaxed while working out.. I feel I am in own world where nobody..yes nobody can disturb me ... But then..these feelings where very short lived... There was someone calling that the BOSS wants me back...

The point is.. We have graduated from the world where we had our own lives after office and would just take the time off to cool her heels...But as work pressures and continous hammering has increased.. Our life spans are bound to decrease.. Some one told me that dog lives less because the speed with which they breate is faster than human beings...At that moment it didnt make sense to me... But now it does...

We are responsible for our own lives...And whatever happens to us..Is not a curse of God...But an after effect of our own deeds... or whatever u may call it..

Mar's Syndrome

Well.. this is about a bit about branding... Mar's syndrome is connected with a certain style of branding.. Mars is a one of the top confectionery brand in the world..they started with milky way and the famous Mars bars... the company grew and profits swelled.. As the management changed and new product innovation led to pet food production. After a extended think process, it was decided that the pet food would not carry the Mar's brand name.. this was primarily done to avoid dilution of the brand and also to protect it from getting effected if the pet food didnt do well.. this singular branding process was then christened Mar's syndrome...

On the contrary, Richard Branson of Virgin, launched every product under the company's stable carrying the Virgin tag.. Be it virgin airlines,virgin music or the latest virgin erotic lingerie... all carry the virgin brand name... This british baron has off and on commented on the risk he carries.. Virgin is synonymous to quality and innovativness.. according to him, whenever a consumer see's the Virgin (the famous Mermaid_) logo, he can imagine the product to be different from others.. there is a risk of dilution and one product loss may effect the other.. but then.. it seems..the risk is worth it...

overall..what i wanna say is.. that.. its the perception of each one of us, which can carry a product to any destination which we wanna reach... very few success stories have revolved around market research.. most of them have had an element of gut feeling and risk.. innovation is actually all about these two.. if u can risk to think the way you feel.. u can do wonders...

just do it...

hey you.....

Each day... every night.. 24 hours.. life goes on... but somewhere.. an urge to do something different... be different.. is there in each one of us... to achieve is everyone's yearning.. but some make it..and other's dont... what is that.. which differentiates...

is it talent.. hard work (which i feel has become synonymous to life..).. iq ...or.. just common sense....am i being paranoid.. or i want to become one.. nah... its not that.. its something else.. its that want.. want to acheive.. nah.. its the want to be myself.. not to pretend.. not to act.. not to bloom but to blast.. what is it that which makes us what we are... its the goal within ourselves..

A goal exists within each of us.. as a baby..to have that every drop of our mother's milk... as a child..to break everything in our sight.. as a teenager..to break free.. but from what.. we never know.. as a youngster.. to sleep with every woman we meet.. as a bachelor..to marry no one less than salma hayek..as a married man.. to make your wife the happiest woman on earth... as a father.. making ends meet.. as a elder to be respected.. .... life goes on..

we always have a urge to outshine... to perform better than someone... and that urge is what makes a man a product which can be banked upon... a product to be used until it delivers.. but in that process.. the fundmental concept remains forgotten... what makes a product.. its one.. which learns.. which acquires.. which has a close system where in every feedback is seen upon with utmost care.. which... on its own..want to live a life of his own.. a life..not affected by social rules..stigma or responsibilities.. only when one is devoid of this can he shine.. bcos..to shine.. purity of thought is needed...

me,myself and he

i just dont know..
why the heck am i here....
gosh.. makes me crazy...
whether i am alive or dead...

relevance.. or not...
socially and mentally....
me or without me..
does it matter...
whether i am here or not...

the thought...
to live...seems exciting...
but where is the game...
which i saw in my dreams...

i couldnt live through it...
but i wanna do it...
is it because...
i am on the "other side"..

Wanna see the end...
as it is...
plain vanilla..
with a topping of reality...

death seems so mysterious..
scary at times...
but what a moment it shall be..
when eyes shut down...
soul creeps out...and shouts..
hey you.. take me your arms..
and guide me to....where i belong...

Today... and hopefully tomorrow...

This day.. .. a day where i could actually take a major decision in life..  Life  dosent give u many situations wherein you have to decide what you wanna do...

today.. a confusion prevailed where i had to decide between a lucrative job offer or a hope.. a hope to learn and reach somewhere i always wanted to reach....

I have to work.. the rest will follow..

end....

everything is ok in the end... if its not ok.. its not the end...

On Road

I was so confused what to do..what not to do.. am in a booming industry..the whole world kept on saying....gosh..u thinkin to leave telecom..u gone nuts.. u plannin to do a full time mba !! forsaking a lucrative salary...
 
But... I want to reach my destination...my goal... to become someone who could directly enhance and plan the growth or an organization/institution...
 
Its not that I was not growing.. I was... But i needed vertical growth.. i need the pressure.. i need the environment which could sustain continous growth and responsibilities.. i needed myself.. wanted to reinvent myself every moment.. live each moment as if its the last one i got !!
 
Someday... I wanna see myself on the cover of the "TIME"... and once i achieve that out of my corporate career, i would like to get out of the rat race and get into teaching..to teach at the Indian School of Business.. two reasons... why i wanna teach there... bcos the vision and mission of the school are so clear and precise.. the following is so sleek... secondly.. its at hyderabad.. one city i cherish...
 
 

Book

i just came across this book : The ultimate book of business brands by stuart crainer.. wonderful book... very informative..
 
my friend yogesh just made in curious regarding the "the marketing blunder of the century "... and i have been troubling google since then....
 
 

Kandisa......

the best fusion music to ever grace any human's ear.... its just eternal bliss.... drop in a ear...

keyboard.......

Our destinies resembles a keyboard... what u type in.. u get on the screeen... what u do in life.. u get the same as your destiny...
 
students work hard.. clear exams.. work hard .. clear courses.. work hard..perform... work hard.. satisfaction...
 
similarly..all our endeavours are basically a result of some event that has occured in our lives.. In business.. ethical practices are getting rarer by the day.. but companies which have stuck to it are reaping its benefits now.. take the case of Johnson and Johnson... a company of great repute.. financially stable.. and ethically rightly placed... in the late 70's the company underwent a situation which could have lead to the company's disaster.... One day due to somebody's mischief. a whole batch of a particular medicine was mixed with poison. The effect ..deaths... J & JJ had options.. either release a ad in the paper to warn people against purchasing the medicine.. or call back the entire batch... (which was a tougher option).. But the management decided to go for it.. and then it began.. the call back exercise involved the employees to reach every house where the medicine was sold.. even the MD of the company was involved in this house hunting process.. after two months of this rigrous exercise the company could manage to call back the entire stock... and now.. J & J holds one of the top positions as "the most ethical brand"....
 
 

Insecurity

Are men only insecure ??? or is it just a part of human nature ?? these questions keep pinging me all the time. I may have a lot of drawbacks, but one sureshot drawback is my insecurity.. i may fight the world.. but ... fighting that insecurity within myself has become a challenge..
 
what is it which causes this feeling ?? attachment...possession... emotion... friends... love ???? but what do they mean to business.. or we just refering to relationships... there is a bond somewhere between the two... insecurity related to job.. work.. assignment..money..future.. anything under the sun i guess... the basic reason for every insecurity is the "sinking feeling of loss"..... "risk of survival without the "insecured" (not insured) being/item.. 

friends....

friends... mean a lot to me..and i am lucky enough to have two great friends... one is yogesh..and the other . they both make my life complete...
 
i have learnt a lot of things from these two... one thing common in them.. they speak the truth.. i was devoid of this virtue for a long time.. secondly..the sincerity and ability to perform even though sleep consumed the better half of the day....
 
we can brand them actually.. everything is a brand..u ...me ..everyone.. basically we symbolize zomething.. i may symbolize fat... dark... whatever... if u say pele.. u will immediately recalll the brazilian who wears yellow shirts and green shorts.... the goal..so many things...