More than 33 years ago when I joined banking industry, a senior banker, who had come to address the young officers’ batch that I was part of told us “ If you think you are into a cosy place with luxury of having an easy job, you should quit and join some Government Department, because banking is going to remain anything but a cushy job.” Of course, he was speaking in a different context for at that time, 2 years of rural stint was about to become mandatory  should one desire elevation to senior roles and some of the Bank branches were indeed located in remote places with virtually no accessibility or infrastructure.

Come circa 2018 and banking indeed seems to be getting extremely tough. While the perpetrators of frauds are merrily ensconced in exotic places such as St Kitts and London, poor bankers, some of whom are leading retired life, surviving on their PF and other retiral benefits in their respective native places, are being summoned for their acts committed by them several years in the past, which would not be in their memory too! In fact, recent arrests of few senior bankers has sent a wave of panic amongst working and retired bankers fearing who next?

Credit decisions are matters of judgment and discretion and unlike small loans, the larger loans go through series of checks, including vetting by Risk Department. If certain executive decisions are not timely taken, the very economics of a project can go haywire. Moreover, for one check applied by the banker an unscrupulous borrower can have multiple surreptitious ways of siphoning of money! It is not to say that all bankers are clean, but then there are black sheep in every profession!

Government, regulator and law enforcement agencies should focus on the fraudsters instead of witch hunting poor bankers, who would have already professionally suffered for bad credit decisions! Let the bankers work and retire in peace. They should be treated as innocent unless otherwise proven through clear money trail and solid evidence.

Yesterday I was reading an article in the Economic Times that explained why Modicare programme of the Federal Government might not be getting readily accepted, especially in the non BJP states. For them Mamtacare, Naiducare or Kejriwalcare would sound better names. Whether it’s adopting a programme or name of a place- politicians cutting across ideology display the same hue!

When we used to study geography, we were taught that India had 4 international airports – Santa Cruz, Palam, Meenambakkam and Dumdum. Today this answer will fetch me zero marks as all these airports have been renamed. High Courts of Chennai and Mumbai are Madras and Bombay High Courts, though I am not sure whether Calcutta High Court has been able to retain its original name.

Pedder Road, Crawford Market, VT, Altamount Road, Flora Fountain, Connaught Place, Duplex Road etc. still exist but you may not be able to reach there with the original names.

The names have been changed purportedly to change the slave mentality that these were representative of. But change has to be inner and not cosmetic. We would be truly liberated when we get over female foeticide, dowry deaths, casteism, communal hatred, dirty habits etc. Till that time whether we call it Swachch Bharat or Clean India, it hardly makes a difference. Not these names but our own thoughts are representative of our slave mentality.

Certain places have an iconic aura attached to them. Fort in Mumbai, Connaught Place in Delhi, Parry’s in Chennai, Dalhousie in Kolkata- the list is endless. One such iconic place that I got lucky to be associated with for last 16 years is Juhu. What comes to one’s mind when the very name Juhu is mentioned? Chowpatty or beach, Pav bhaji, bhel puri, Prithvi theatre, Amitabh Bachchan, ISKCON temple…… one can go on and on. When I moved to Mumbai some 17 years ago, we started life at Four Bungalows, Andheri , but soon shifted to Juhu to a larger accommodation and in proximity to our daughter’s school, which was Maneckjee Cooper. Some 16 years later, when our young school going daughter is already grown into a beautiful lady, a mother of a sweet little and relocated to Johannesburg, it’s time for us to move back to Four Bungalows, albeit to a dream home of our own!

When I told them of my Juhu coordinates, people envied me for my proximity to beach, film stars and other glitterati. But I hardly ever went to beach after the initial euphoria, seldom waited to see the film stars, saw very few plays at Prithvi, ate more Pav Bhaji at restaurants than at the beach, yet the luxury of having all that close at hand was always available. While excitement of shifting to our own, well furnished, designed to our taste home is inevitable and moreover our new residence is just about 2 Kms away from the current residence, somewhere deep in the heart is a tinge of sadness of no longer be able to call ourselves Juhu residents. After all, only a lucky few get to reside at such an iconic place and 16 years is significant period of one’s lifetime.

Eid is celebrated by communities around the world and with special fervour in India that has large Muslim populace and where secularism takes a precedence over religionism of any kind. With social media now the order of the day, I haven’t seen so much messaging on FB, WhatsApp, Twitter across social, office and other groups! As I observed earlier in one of my blogs, Social Media, if put to good use is not all evil.

I am a self taught connoisseur of beautiful language called Urdu and look for materials of interest published in the language around the world. Search once took me to the website of popular Pakistan Urdu daily “Jang”. The paper and the media group is known in India for having started “Aman Ki Asha” initiative with “Times of India” Group, a commendable effort to bring the two nations at loggerheads together, but it became a victim of border tensions. Though the news in the paper are full of jingoism as regards India and Kashmir are concerned, painting our great nation as an evil in perpetuity, there are a couple of daily writings that touch the chords of humanity through sheer sincerity by commenting on the day to day affairs we grapple with. One is a daily couplet by Anwar Shaoor that sometimes become a full verse on the special occasions like Eid. The other is a short story in 100 words by Mabshar Ali Zaidi that weaves magic of deep messaging in few words.

I thought let me wish my friends a Happy Eid through this special blog, where I make a sincere attempt to translate the above two posts appearing in the yesterday’s newspaper. The poem first that reads

How can anyone celebrate Eid,

When there’s despair all around, hardly any good deed!

Supplies are bloody so expensive,

And requirements have become a luxury;

Household are struggling for daily needs,

The common man is in a quandary!

Discordant notes can be heard from shops, factories and Offices,

And people don’t know where to proceed;

Every moment is mired in uncertainty,

How can anyone celebrate Eid!

If dark clouds continue to hover overhead,

And Humanity does not succeed;

Moon will be sighted year after year,

But people will say Whose Eid? Which Eid? Why Eid?

Though translation can never capture the essence of original language, doesn’t the poem say it all and doesn’t it apply equally to Diwali, Christmas and Gurupurab?

Now the 100 words story:

Modern technology has brought the world closer by reducing distances, said my son enthusiastically. He was making a video call from US, where he’s employed. This year also, he’s not visiting Pakistan for Eid and therefore, he is calling on the moon night. “Papa, distances are shrinking. We speak to each other 4 times in a day. We can hear each other’s voice on real time basis and can also see each other live!” I replied, “That’s fine sonny, I can see you, hear you, talk to you, but I can’t hug you to wish Eid Mubarak.”

I wish Eid Mubarak to all of you whose support to my blog has made me share more and more with all of you.

The news of the former prime minister Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee having being admitted to AIIMS for respiratory and renal complications brought back the memories of the achievements of this rarest of the rare personalities and one of the tallest leaders in Indian polity.

He sat in opposition for the longest period and brought lot of dignity and stature in the role of the leader of the opposition. His views were always widely respected and accepted and he never fought shy of collaborating with his opponents if it meant good for the country. He worked with Pt. Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Indira, VP Singh, Charan Singh, Morarji Desai, Rajiv Gandhi, PV Narasimha Rao till he himself became the Prime Minister and completed one of the best phases of rule in this country. People chose to punish him for his “India Shining ” campaign and he chose to bow out of public life and active politics with utmost grace to spend his ageing years with his foster daughter and son-in-law’s family.

An orator par excellence, a moderate to the core, a poet, an amiable person and a titan amongst his contemporaries, he lived a simple life setting the highest standards of probity in public life. He seamlessly merged his RSS ideology with a statesman like maturity that encompassed secularism as the core ethos of existence for this country. Politics were so much more dignified and decisive when he led either the opposition or the Government.

His medical bulletin says he is critical. I don’t know whether he will be able to defeat the death this time, the eternal winner that he remained his entire life. But may be the ruling and opposition parties will fulfil the man’s desire of CO-existence for the betterment of this great nation and give a befitting respect to this great personality who will always remain revered- in his life as in his death. Let’s pray to God to help the great man fulfil whatever he wishes in this last leg of his life’s journey. Such persons live eternally, inspiring a whole lot of generations to come by the sheer example they set in their lifetime. This is not a premature obituary for, as aforesaid, ABVs never die; they are eternal!!!

Quotable quotes outside the city churches are always delight to read for these are witty, informative and quite profound in their meaning at the same time. I have always been fond of reading these messages whether I was passing by the church at Gol Dakkhana in Delhi or Mahim, Dadar and Ville Parle churches in Mumbai. There are three recent and not so recent quotes that readily come to my mind for having left a deep and lasting impression on my mind.

(1) We are a Facebook church; we see his face and read his book.

This is very topical and conveys a wholly new perspective of social media, especially at this time when ills of social media are being hotly debated.

(2) We always love to “Rest in peace (RIP)” but never “Live in peace”.

This is a fantastic thought that hits you like a sharp edged sword! In our death we rest in peace but in our lives, we resent others who are more successful than us, treat low down people with disdain, fear our insecurities and fight in the name of religion, caste, creed and nationality! We strive for everything- success, money, assets etc and tend to possess almost everything we aspire or once aspired for and yet peace eludes us to be ours only in our eternal sleep!

(3) Love people God has given because one day he will need them back.

We take our relationships for granted. In our rat race, we seldom have time for our aged parents, friends, siblings or other relatives, but we lament their loss. How good it would be if could share our and their joys and sorrows and treat them as gift of good to us!

We all talk about rapid pace of change being witnessed all around and commonly used term these days is disruption. But in reality, let’s ask ourselves honestly that what has really changed in say last 50 years?

– Seasons come and go every year in a cyclical manner! Right now monsoon has set over Mumbai and it is raining like always!

– Since my childhood when the price of wheat floor was 10 paise to a kg to date when it’s Rs50 to a kg, the noise on inflation refuses to die down!

– Love of Indians for a male offspring continues unchanged for centuries what to talk of 50 years!

– We used to lament about traffic then and after widening of roads and scores of flyovers, traffic remains a major issue!

– Kids have all along hated exams and awaited vacations.

– Film buffs await release of a new movie each Friday like they have been doing for decades!

– Mumbai was commercial capital of the country then and enjoys that status even today!

Change is really a hype! But if we dwell a little deeper, we will realise that though certain things have remained unchanged for decades yet it’s not “business as usual”!

– Seasons come and go, yet summers and winters are shorter but more intense and each rain floods the city killing a few hundred people in the process.

– At monthly salary of Rs100/ wheat floor at 10 paise a kg seemed expensive but at Rs5 lac a month, Rs50 a kg for wheat floor hurts!

– Desire for male offspring has not changed but abortion of female foetuses was unheard of in those days.

– Traffic has seemed bad all along but who had heard of traffic jams in Varanasi, Indore or Mangalore?

– Kids have all along hated exams, but young boys and girls committing suicide under stress was unknown!

– Plans for movie releasing on Friday used to open on the preceding Monday and “House full” boards were a common sight during the first 2-3 weeks. Now blockbuster movie making 100 crore over the first weekend can be easily watched on the first day!

– Mumbai continues to be the commercial capital though the national capital boasts of world class metro network, roads smooth like cheeks of Hema Malini ( to quote our beloved Lalu Yadav) and the largest airport with 3 runways!!

We worry about technological disruptions but ignore subtle changes happening all around us!!!

After yesterday’s rather heavy piece on Life, I have tried to lighten the mood through a quickly composed limerick, inspired by a morning WhatsApp message received from my friend Sunil Babbar. It reads:

Though we work with our hands,
We’re advised to do legwork;
Leg piece is a quaint delicacy,
While partying in friends’ network!!

We’ve heard about leggy beauties,
To see them we go to floor shows;
For this we have to stand-on-one-leg;
To ensure that big money flows!!

Short skirts exposing long legs,
In India is a strict no- no;
We love these sights abroad
But at home it’s a big taboo!!!!

Life is anything, but funny,

Clouds looming always, seldom sunny.

Long dark tunnel with no end in sight,

Daily’s rigmarole and intolerable plight.

Hunger, death, starvation all around,

Problems galore everyday to hound.

There are numbers & targets repeatedly to chase,

Life seems bereft of a peaceful phase.

Then I chose to leave the rat race,

And put up to life a brave face.

Took inspiration from the message of Geeta,

Keeping moving without expecting feta.

Because one can control actions not outcomes,

Life is to lived to hilt before death beckons.

Now I am no rat, dog or slave,

Living life of my own like a brave.

I live, eat and sleep well,

Without any fear of going to hell.

Who has seen heaven and hell,

Better is to live the life well.

With family and friends by your side,

Life is always on a high tide!!!!

We all talk about big things/ big change, big data, big bad world , little realising the impact small things can have ! There’s an old saying that don’t ignore the small as what a small needle can do a sword can’t!

Yesterday, while attending a management workshop, the trainer spoke about the impact  even a small shift in our attitudes could make ! Of course, he was preparing us for transition that would be taking place in my organisation in the days to come. He was advising us to make small changes in our attitudes and not any big strategic shift as even small shifts could make large impacts. To support this argument, he cited two examples. For a ship originating from UK for US, if compass is wrongly setby mere three degrees, the ship would reach Venezuela instead of US. He also cited the example that chimpanzees were as intelligent as humans but they could not imagine because of difference of mere one strand in their DNA in comparison to human DNA.

Small things can make big changes – difference of one millionth of a second separates an Usain  Bolt from others, it’s only difference of one chromosome that determines sex and BJP was only six seats short and is exposed to grave humiliation and embarrassment! Let’s all start with small- small has capacity to result into big!!!