An issue as big as the captioned matter deserves more than one blog. In this blog, I am just giving some random thoughts:

(1) When it comes to the position of India on the International forum or its prestige, we should keep aside our political differences and project one face. Certain political parties have needlessly taken a contrary position, though thanks to a very strong government, the damage caused has been arrested to being minimum. Some of these parties and their representatives will have to stand the test of scrutiny for their myopic stance till eternity.

(2) What has changed for Pakistan that it is behaving like having an internal emergency or a serious international crisis affecting it? India was neither offering Kashmir to it earlier nor is it going to do now! How internal restructuring of states impacts our neighbour is beyond comprehension?

(3) I read somewhere that eminent and respected journalist Shobha Dey has belittled the issue by asking Amit Shah to fix traffic problem in a certain area of Mumbai now that Kashmir issue is fixed! It only belittles her own reputation in the eyes of her thousands of admirers and readers!

(4) While I am sure that Governments of India and Pakistan and their armies have enough sagacity to decide when to start a war and use nukes, if the conversations on Twitter are to be perused and believed, the war seems to have already started with at least one of the countries going to get obliterated from the world map. In fact one Pakistani twitterati has even gone to the extent of saying that while the use of nukes will destroy both the countries, Muslim race will survive as this race exists in several countries. On the contrary Hindus exist only in India and obliteration of India would mean extermination of Hindu race from this world! Very imaginative I must confess!

(5) People are largely happy; this includes people of Jammu as well as Ladakh. But what’s in it for Kashmiris? It’s incumbent upon all of us, the people of India to ensure that we welcome them into the mainstream with open arms rather than playing it as victory and defeat! This also need not be compared to efflux of Kashmiri Pandits, which is now being sought to be neutralised through influx of non- Kashmiris into Kashmir! We should not forget that all the states resist too much influx of outsiders, especially if it impacts job prospects and Kashmiris need not be treated differently. Let the Government and industrialists and entrepreneurs create new infrastructure, skills and jobs leading to the overall economic prosperity of Kashmiris!

(6) Government should not play to the gallery by raising the issues of POK and Aksai Chin at this stage! As aforesaid, on ground nothing has changed for either of India, Pakistan and China and while we must ask all third parties not to poke their noses into India’s internal matter, passions of public should not be aroused by fanning such sentiments!

(7) Though I am no expert on international diplomacy and I am sure Government’s PRO machinery must have been galvanised, we must veer the world’s opinion around this fact that a historical wrong has been set right and that we have no other evil design behind this! Pakistan is playing Islamic card and Trump’s unpredictability we all know!

It’s a big moment but the matter deserves to be handled with utmost care and sensitivity. Secondly, it’s for the people of the two countries to build bridges rather than demeaning each other and flexing nuclear muscles! Let’s see how the “heaven on the earth” that’s God’s own creation Kashmir is, can be made a true heaven to be enjoyed in one’s lifetime and not after!

J&K is currently cut off as Government has promulgated section 144 there and internet has been disabled. Also, most of the prominent leaders have been placed under house arrest. Under the circumstances, it’s difficult to gauge the mood there aftermath abrogation of Article 370 following the ordinance approved by President. However, going by the social media, the mood of the country appears to be euphoric as at last complete integration of the state into Republic of India has been made possible.

I am no political commentator or a historian of great eminence to judge merits or demerits of this. Integration of princely states into sovereign India was itself a big challenge and J&K has been a vexed issue since independence. Apart from the cross border fuelled dissidence ( which was a precursor to full fledged militancy for the last 20 years or so), the situation in the “heaven on the earth” has remained quite hellish! Repeated elected governments have not been able to complete their tenors and the state has largely remained under Central rule.

As peaceful gestures, development agenda of the state and all the efforts to bring the state and its people into the mainstream didn’t work, a strong Government with a strong people’s mandate had to have gumption to take this step and Modi 2 has bitten the bullet.

We will have to await the reaction of the world at large and Pakistan in particular. We also have to await reaction in Kashmir. But how does it matter to a sovereign and powerful state like India? As a generalist, I can only say that if India is one country, no part of India should enjoy any special status and Indians must have the liberty of living, buying property or doing business in any of its states – of course, this action reduces number of states by 1 and increases UTs by 2. Let’s embrace Kashmiris by providing jobs to the youth, up-skilling them for their economic progress and applying salve on their wounds ! If last 20 years were filled with strife, let next 20 years be filled with love so as to emotionally amalgamate Kashmir into ourselves now that physical and constitutional amalgamation is complete!

Had another occasion of listening to discourse by the Head Priest of ISKCON, Juhu His Grace Swami Ramkrupa Prabhuji.

Addressing the congregation in his inimitable, humour laden but deeply effective style, he says that one of biggest evils of the modern days affecting mankind is worry. He uses beautiful context of the Internet acronym www by saying that a student worries about www i.e writing writing written ( test papers, assignments, projects) that converts into wealth wealth wealth in young age before becoming worry worry worry in the old age for all the time wasted! He adds that hurry ( young age), worry (middle age) and sorry (old age) can be overcome if we bring Hari (the lord) in our lives. Research has proven that 60% of the incidents we worry are not worth worrying and in real life only 8% events should cause us to worry!

He cites a beautiful example of a leaking boat, that requires someone to constantly drain water using a bucket as worry enters us in a similar fashion through a hole in our minds that needs to be plugged. Another example he gives is of a brick, which is very easy to lift for a few minutes, but becomes increasingly weighty and burdensome if held in hand for a prolonged period. Similarly, a small worry if clung on to for a long period can become a big mental problem affecting the very survival. He says that the main cause of worry is gap between the expectation and reality.

Thereafter, he also crisply provides the solution to get over the worries:

(1) Mind the mind. Our mind has the power to make a mountain out of molehill or vice versa as far as our problems and worries are concerned.

(2) Power of interaction, participation and non-intervention are three powerful tools as these help us clear our mind and thoughts.

(3) Chant the name of the lord. He cites some beautiful examples of how worry leads to depression and depression leads to suicidal tendencies. But all this could be overcome if the company of the lord is solicited.

Like always, he ends his discourse with the simple yet holy chant:

Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare

Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

This discourse by Swamiji coming immediately aftermath the tragic suicide by CCD owner V G Siddhartha couldn’t have been timed more appropriately. I place on record thanks to the hosts Vidhi and Sushil and heartfelt gratitude to Swamiji for liberating the audience from worries and teaching them the art to live life!

Friends are forever,

But the Friendship day is one,

There’s no normal human being,

Who has none!

One, two, three of four,

Friends are dear and take care,

In grief and happiness,

Not only present, they’re there!

Relatives move away in life,

And colleagues are just office friends,

True Friends last a long long time,

Till eternity ends!

Folklores are full of tales

Of lasting friendship and pure love,

But Krishna and Sudama take the cake

For their unique relationship as above!

I am not Krishna or Sudama,

Nor I my friends for that was yore,

However, all my friends are loveable,

Having a heart of gold that’s pure!

Happy friendship day to all my friends – not the girl friends or boy friends or fair weather friends or friends in need either, but just plain and simple friends who do not need any specific designated day to be remembered and are there in my heart irrespective of the day or purpose. Don’t want to write more about it for such days have become a fad with origin unknown and this is just a relationship that doesn’t require any eulogy.

The rise of V G Siddhartha from a young Masters in computers, who came to Mumbai to make a fortune, to being the undisputed coffee king of India is the stuff folklores are made of. How he borrowed a small sum from his father, invested in coffee plantation, made money on bourses and finally felt inspired to start Coffee Cafe Day (CCD) will be an unputdownable read should some decide to write this story.

Somewhere his ambition got better of him and though still not conclusively evidenced, him having indulged in some sort of financial jugglery through balance sheet management cannot be ruled out. But it’s also true that he was an extremely conscientious person and being unable to beat the burden of all the expectations and demands, he chose the softer option of ending his life.

Some very serious systemic issues have been raised in the aftermath of VGS’s death and let’s sincerely hope that like several other matters, his death doesn’t go waste and these systemic fault lines are erased from public memory. What are the issues highlighted by this tragic incident that require immediate fixing? To my mind, these are:

(1) Internal governance. Company’s must improve internal governance , especially for related party transactions and diversion of funds. We could be sitting on another time bomb with one promoter having raised grave issues against the other in Indigo.

(2) Sanctity of balance sheet- Promoter, directors, auditors, bankers need to collaborate and ensure that balance sheet reveals true state of affairs sans any artificially manufactured facts or figures.

(3) More friendly ecosystem- Not every default may be wilful and definitely not a fraud. Even the investigating agencies viz. CBI, SFIO, ED may not have bandwidth to handle so many cases ! To treat every case of default as fraud and nexus between borrower and financier may not be conducive to the economic growth of the country.

(4) Tax demands and attachment of accounts by the authorities for prolonged period of time can choke the company to death by blocking its working capital. In the event of doubt, further investigation must be undertaken but it should be unobtrusive.

(5) Bankers and promoters should build mutual trust and confidence so that in the times of emergency, company can get some relief and leeway instead of funds getting recalled.

We must make India an investor friendly, business friendly and preferred place of doing business and the tax, banking and investigative regimes must be made more sensitive. This will be a fitting tribute to a great visionary, who almost succeeded in building a chain that had the capability of becoming the first Multi country brand, till his heroic journey was cut short by cruel destiny. For now, let’s hope CCD and other businesses that VGS built survive and thrive. He might have died young and so did Steve Jobs – but like Apple acquired iconic status after his death, do should CCD after VGS’s death, which the managers/other directors running CCD and other companies must ensure!

RIP VGS!

Life is all about paradoxes and mysteries. The need is to constantly adapt to the changes and challenges being faced by us everyday.

Let me pose a philosophical question here? All of us,whether in our 30s, 40s, 50s or in the higher age brackets, still get a feeling that it was only yesterday that we were a kid in secured environs of our homes with our parents! Today, at whichever stage of our lives we find ourselves in, it seems that our schooling, higher education, the first job, marriage…. all happened in a jiffy as if it was only yesterday! Time simply seems to have flown at rocket’s pace. Speaking for myself, now that I have playthings in the form of two lovely cutie pies, my grandchildren, I fail to understand how come my daughter grew up so fast to be an independent entity living far away from me. And this is the design of life and applies to everyone who had a relatively peaceful and comfortable existence to date.

Readers must be wondering that it’s such a common feeling experienced by each one of us, failing to understand where lies paradox in all this? I will explain. The paradox is about the time already spent and elapsed and the time that’s yet to come! While it seems like yesterday when straight out of college, a scrawny, unsure of himself, young man, that’s me, joined his first job and it’s already been close to 36 years! However, the remaining tenure to superannuation, which is less than 3 years, seems like a mountain, very high and difficult to climb!

In another blog written a few months ago, I had touched upon the tendency to crave for the future. A child wants to grow big, when big one wants to acquire goodies of life and enjoy the same after meeting one’s responsibilities and by that time one becomes old and infirm! This is something of an offshoot of a similar feeling albeit a bit nuanced!

I think remediation for all this is to live in present and enjoy the moment! It’s easier said than done but is worth practising.

The denizens of this country have recently been through a roller coaster ride, confusing them whole lot whether they are in for a boon or a bane. It started with India’s super show in the World Cup cricket, including a convincing win over the arch rivals Pakistan, till the team’s meek surrender to Kiwis in semifinal, ending the team’s WC campaign. In between, Dhoni, Shami, Kuldeep became heroes one day and villains the other! Jadeja shone after being categorised as a “bits and pieces cricketer”.

Then came the concerns around monsoon. From weak monsoon affected by El Niño to plentiful of rains in some parts causing unprecedented floods, deaths and miseries, has left the people floundering whether to celebrate rains or worry ! Of course, while some parts have received and are receiving record rainfall, including our Mumbai, the drought like situation in Marathwada hasn’t improved much with some of the dams reporting less than 1% water holding of their total capacity! If the rains don’t catch up in next few days and become more fairly distributed, it’s going to cause catastrophe in over watered as well as under watered areas!

Towards the May end Modi Government came back to power with overwhelming majority and the first statement made by our PM was in favour of the need to include all sections of society in the growth agenda. However, the nation again witnessed a couple of cases of mob lynching, enough to divide the intelligentsia into worriers and warriors with 49 writing to PM against this polarisation and 62 opposing those 49! Mob mentality is a very fearsome phenomenon and no amount of security and law enforcement can totally arrest this unless the society itself realises the perils of this! Mob lynching tantamount to people taking law in to their own hands and stray instances have the potential to flare up in to a full fledged civil unrest. India has largely remained a tolerant and peace loving society and both the sets of ideologies will do their best by working on the ground level to make a difference rather than this showy gesture of shooting out their mouths and pens! Euphoria over Modi’s inclusive policies or dangers of the polarisation of communities and societies – both are a bit confusing!

Social media celebrated the cold reception on Imran’s arrival in US, but his clever manoeuvring in eliciting Trump’s mediation offer for settling Kashmir issue and restoration of US aid towards the end of his visit shifted celebration to the other side of the border!

Indian cricket team, rains, Modi’s inclusion agenda or Imran- all these are to be seen as events that have some very serious messaging in store for us! Let’s not view these are booms to celebrate or banes to lament , but as learning to improve our future. Let’s adopt water harvesting and plant trees, look at cricket as a mere game and encourage other sports also, spread the message of unity to wrest the initiative from these intellectuals who have lost credibility and leave Imran to Pakistan and worry about our beloved nation and all these would become boons for us!

Chandrayaan-1 was the first Indian lunar probe under Chandrayaan program. It was launched by the Indian Space Research Organisation in October 2008, and operated until August 2009. The mission included a lunar orbiter and an impactor. India launched the spacecraft on 22 October 2008 at 00:52 UTC from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, at Sriharikota. The mission was a major boost to India’s space program, as India researched and developed its own technology in order to explore the Moon.The vehicle was inserted into lunar orbit on 8 November 2008. With Chandrayan 1, India entered the elite club of nations that had their flags hoisted on the Moon’s surface.

Prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee announced the Chandrayaan project on course in his Independence Day speech on 15 August 2003. The mission was a major boost to India’s space program. The nation shall always remain indebted to its one of the most charismatic sons, Vajpayee for his vision.

Chandrayaan 2 is India’s second lunar exploration mission after Chandrayaan-1.Developed by ISRO, the mission was launched from the second launch pad at Satish Dhawan Space Centre on 22 July 2019 at 2.43 PM IST. It consists of a lunar orbiter, lander and rover, all developed in India.The main scientific objective is to map the location and abundance of lunar water.

A successful landing would make India the fourth country to achieve a soft landing on the Moon, after the space agencies of the USSR, USA and China. If successful, Chandrayaan-2 will be the first mission to land at lunar south pole.

It’s moment of great pride for the Nation and it’s team of dedicated heroes working for ISRO. Under the proud leadership of the current ISRO chief, K Sivan, the team has achieved a great feat, providing the nation a great reason to rejoice. This is a great moment and all of us should pray that the mission achieves all its objectives beginning from soft landing to landing at lunar South Pole and ultimate lunar probe on the proposed agenda. The first objective of successful launch is already achieved.

For once let’s overcome World Cup disappointment, interest around Imran’s visit to US and dirty political game happening in Karnataka and celebrate Chandrayaan-2!

These are difficult times. On one hand, jobs are drying up and whatever jobs are left, artificial intelligence and robotics are replacing the manpower requirement. This technology ensures accurate and error free processing and untiring work 24X7 without the requirement of any break , with much faster processing.

Ironically, while unemployed youth are unhappy, those who have got jobs are also unhappy! They lament long working hours, stiff targets, insufficient compensation and limited opportunities of career enhancement. They look here and there for a change, but change does not appease them because new organisation is hardly different!

I, as a senior level manager leading a large team, am facing this challenge like never before. On one hand, increasing automation is creating a sense of insecurity in the staff on the prospects of continuity of their jobs. On the other hand, in the transition phase, they are being called upon to work extra hard by attending to their normal work as also facilitate automation. This is affecting their work life balance and creating dissatisfaction.

However, I view all this differently. For me, an age old saying, ” Work is worship”, is motto of my life. I feel blessed to have my plate full, even if it means stretching myself a bit. Also, I have recently come across a new concept that emphasises on the life itself, and especially work, being a celebration! As I read:

Everything we experience from food to clothes to shelter, the comforts and the luxuries we enjoy… are all rewards from the work we do.

*So, revere your workplace.*

*LET YOUR WORK BE YOUR PRAYER

Also, to my ambitious, restless, hurrying young friends, I will quote from the same source that says:

Anyone who plants a seed today and expects fruits tomorrow should relocate to another planet. It isn’t possible on planet earth.

Here, you don’t win unless you consistently and continuously back up your attitude to win with the attitude to prepare to win.

Eleventh hour preparations do not work beyond the ninth standard in school.

In life, preparation to win is a prerequisite to win.

Before you ask yourself or others, ‘Will you win?’, you’d better ask,

*Are you prepared to do what it takes to win?

Even after a career spanning almost 35 years, I have spring in my feet and song on my lips while coming to office. Every bit of new business enthuses may no end and every new challenge stimulates me to try harder. I also try to learn something new.

However, I neither like sermonising nor want to be a preacher. What I want to convey to all the youngsters, including my team members is that they should celebrate work and enjoy, because we are there as Work is there and we’re blessed because there are millions looking for work!

The above Doha by Sant Kabir ranks Guru higher than God, for realisation of God wouldn’t have been possible without the Guru.

Gurur Brahma, Gurur Vishnu, Gurur devo Maheshwara,

Guru sakshat, Parma Brahma, tasmai Shri Guruvay nama.

Guru is Brahma (creator), Vishnu (preserver) and Mahesh (destroyer) and I pay my obeisance to my Guru who helps me realise God by removing darkness.

Today is Guru Purnima. As per the legend, this was the day when Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa – author of the Mahabharata – was born to sage Parashara and a fisherman’s daughter Satyavati; thus this day is also celebrated as Vyasa Purnima. As Veda Vyasa is universally acknowledged as a Guru, hence his birthday is celebrated as Guru Purnima.

In yogic lore, it is said that Guru Purnima was the day that saw Shiva become the Adi Guru, or the first Guru. The story goes that over 15,000 years ago, a yogi appeared in the upper regions of the Himalayas. Nobody knew what his origins were. But his presence was extraordinary, and people gathered. However, he exhibited no signs of life, but for the occasional tears of ecstasy that rolled down his face. People began to drift away, but seven men stayed on. When he opened his eyes, they pleaded with him, wanting to experience whatever was happening to him. He dismissed them, but they persevered. Finally, he gave them a simple preparatory step and ‘closed’ his eyes again. The seven men began to prepare. Days rolled into weeks, weeks into months, months into years, but the yogi’s attention did not fall upon them again. After 84 years of sadhana, on the summer solstice that marks the advent of Dakshinayana, the earth’s southern run, the yogi looked at them again. They had become shining receptacles, wonderfully receptive. He could not ignore them anymore. On the very next full moon day, the yogi turned south and sat as a Guru to these seven men. Shiva, the Adiyogi (the first yogi) thus became the Adi Guru. Adiyogi expounded these mechanics of life for many years. The seven disciples became celebrated as the Saptarishis and took this knowledge across the world.

In modern lore, when the education has become highly commercialised and Guru-shishya parampara a thing of the past, I have seen some posts on social media worshiping the most knowledgeable of all the Gurus – Google!Whether it’s Ved Vyasa, Adi Guru, our school/college teachers or “know all” Google, the theme of Guru Purnima is that knowledge should be respected and the source from where knowledge is obtained is more venerable than God itself. In that context, even our parents are our Gurus being responsible for the first knowledge bites! On this auspicious day, let’s make two easy resolutions – (1) knowledge is power and given its vastness let’s imbibe a small nugget each day and (2) let’s respect our elders, who bestow their blessings on us besides providing worldly knowledge, something that Google is incapable of!

Happy Guru Purnima!