Two things are coming to my mind as I prepare for Diwali pujan. First is the reaction by an old friend of mine to my yesterday Diwali blog, where she has beautifully expressed transition from cleaning house and bursting crackers to realising the real significance of Diwali, which is to clear the internal clutter by reducing negativity within ourselves that will lead to – less anger, less jealousy, less inequality, less division! In times, when we all run for more – wealth, happiness, luxuries, respect, status, the connotation of “ the less is not always bad”, has left me thinking. In this short journey of blog writing, what I have got from my friends and readers outweighs what I might have given, by several hundred times!

Second is the last part of the book that I just finished, where the protagonist exhorts people to adopt a different attitude that’s based on love, compassion and piety. As he says, “ why you always hear – fight a bad habit, fight a vice, fight an enemy, fight your weakness ? Why can’t all these be overcome by pure love?” Actually, the book is about Sufism and Dervishes and their philosophy of pure love and guidance by the heart rather than by mind.

I have been fighting this Covid menace through what I know the best – In my own humble way through my writings and communications. Now that on this Diwali day, I have been tested Covid positive, should I interpret having lost the fight to Covid? (Thought 2) Or should I lament about not having maintained sufficient cleanliness ? ( thought 1). I am thankful to god for letting me celebrate this Diwali with pure love and by taking another step towards decluttering my internal self! I am confident that Corona is now breathing it’s last and with mutual love, understanding, harmony and oneness, we shall make it happen!

Historical significance of Diwali is return of Lord Rama to Ayodhya after 14 years in exile during which he faced several challenges, but finally people welcomed their favourite Rama by lighting lamps. Symbolically, Diwali represents removal of all obstacles, evils, darkness and problems surrounding us to be stepping into a brightly lit future.

Corona pandemic is one of the biggest challenges that mankind has faced in long long time – probably the first for our generation of post world war 2. In India, virus seems to be weakening and success of vaccine by Pfizer has lifted the spirits.

Let Diwali herald bright and prosperous future for not only our country but the entire world. Let all of us revert to simple joys of life that we took for granted.

We shopped

Till we dropped dead

And burning crackers

Would start a full month ahead

Who cared for diabetes or obesity

There was hardly any weight to be shed

Things have since changed like everything else

But there’s no reason to dread

Won’t burn crackers, eat sweets but wear mask

But spirit of Diwali will be upheld.

A happy, bright, healthy and prosperous Diwali to all if you and your family members!

We have been brought up on fables or more importantly moral stories that were told to us to build our character. We have heard the story of the fox, who was not able to reach grapes hanging up out of her reach and so she solaced herself by presuming the grapes to be sour. We also heard the story of hare and tortoise, where a conceited and smug hare is beaten in the race by a persistent tortoise and we learnt a lesson forever that “ Slow and steady wins the race.” Thanks to the evolution of social media, the imagination of people knows no bounds and we end up by hearing the other side of the story – the Hare’s version. Here is it as told by the Hare to the so called author of this counter fable!

We started the race and in seconds I was miles ahead of the tortoise, who was just crawling. I decided to rest under the shade of a tree. With the cool breeze blowing, I couldn’t resist the temptation of a nap. In my dreams, I met an old man with a flowing beard, sitting on a rock in a meditative pose. He opened his eyes, gave me an all-knowing smile and asked:

“Who are you?”

“I am a hare. I am running a race.”

“Why?”

“To prove to all the creatures in the jungle that I am the fastest.”

“Why do you want to prove that you are the fastest?”

“So that I get a medal which will give me status which will give me money which will get me food…”

“There is already so much food around.” He pointed to the forest in the distance. “Look at all those trees laden with fruits and nuts, all those leafy branches”

“I also want respect. I want to be remembered as the fastest hare who ever lived.”

“Do you know the name of the fastest deer or the largest elephant or the strongest lion who lived a thousand years before you?”

“No.”

“Today you have been challenged by a tortoise.

Tomorrow, it will be a snake.

Then it will be a zebra.

Will you keep racing all your life to prove that you are the fastest?”

“Hmm. I didn’t think about it.

I don’t want to race all my life.”

“What do you want to do?”

“I want to sleep under a banyan tree on a makeshift pillow while the leaves rustle and the bees buzz.

I want to hop over the meadows near the hills and swim in the pond.”

“You can do all these things this very moment.

Forget the race.

You are here today but you will be gone tomorrow.”

I woke up from my sleep.

The ducks in the pond looked happy.

I jumped into the pond, startling them for a moment.

They looked at me quizzically.

“Weren’t you supposed to be racing with the tortoise today?”

“It’s pointless.

An exercise in futility.

All I want is to be here.

Hopefully, someday, someone will tell the world my story – That I lost the race but got back my life

I found the Hare’s version to be as inspiring as the Tortoise’s version that was always taught to us. In fact, in today’s milieu when everyone is in a mad rush to achieve more – success, money, happiness, materials- Hare’s version to my mind seems to be more relevant, a learning re-emphasised by the ongoing Covid pandemic that has forced us to rethink the way we have so far lived our lives.

I also read somewhere – “ Even if you win a rat race, you are still a rat “ – which in a way is another endorsement Hare’s version. While let us continue with teaching Tortoise’s version in primary schools so that children understand the virtues of being slow and steady rather than being over confident and smug, those past their childhood should also read Hare’s version.

In our office building, in the common passageway on each floor, the significance of the number representing that floor is explained in detail. It makes for an interesting reading and is quite informative.

The book that I am currently reading is a complex book, where two stories, one relating to 13th Century and the other to 21st century are running as parallel tracks. In the 21st Century track, there’s an email exchange between the two protagonists. In her email, the female protagonist shares her feelings on having turned 40. She goes on to say, “ They say turning 40 is a defining moment, especially for women. 40 is new 30 and 60 is new 40. But for me 40 is 40 characterised by start of grey and wrinkles.” The male protagonist replies, “ 40 is the most beautiful age for both men and women. In mystic thought, 40 symbolises ascent from one level to a higher level and spiritual awakening. When we mourn, we mourn for 40 days. When a baby is born, it takes him 40 days to start life on earth. And when we are in love, we need to wait for 40 days to be sure of our feelings. The flood of Noah lasted 40 days and while the waters destroyed life, they also washed all impurity away and enabled human beings to make a fresh start. In Islamic mysticism, there are 40 degrees between man and god. Likewise, there are 4 basic stages of consciousness and 10 degrees in each, making 40 levels in total. Jesus went into wilderness for 40 days and nights. Muhammad was 40 years old when he received the call to become a prophet. Budha meditated under Linden tree for 40 days. Not to mention 40 rules of Shams.”

He adds further, “ You receive a new mission at 40, a new lease of life! You have reached a most auspicious number. Congratulations! And don’t worry about getting old. There are no wrinkles or grey hair strong enough to defy the power of 40!”

Readers must be wondering the context of all this. This is dedicated to a very special person who turns this special number that’s 40 on 7th November. She calls me Dada, though it’s she who’s worthy of all my respect and blessings!

While the readers can enjoy the blog and guess as to who this person could be, the protagonist will know that this blog is on her and for her!

In Hindi, an ode to anyone is generally called “Nama.” Also, normally an ode is paid after the person or event comes to end. Hopefully, this ode to Corona will also herald the end of the pandemic.

It was peaceful, it was quiet,

Days were bright, peaceful were nights.

Roads were busy, markets were brisk,

It was all safe and normal, there was no risk.

People would go to office and children to school,

Everyone was busy yet things were cool.

And then struck lightning, call it Corona or covid

It shocked the humanity like a monster most livid.

Schools were shut, shops were closed,

People were locked inside, life was frozen cold!

Virus killed people, up went daily toll,

Old and weak fell like nine pins, life became a loll

Jobs were lost, immigrants were stranded

People ran helter-skelter, for pandemic had landed!

Gone were happy days, freewheeling spirit of yore,

People feared Corona for it had no cure!

Cure is on its way, so is vaccine,

Lockdown is easing, hope is in the offing.

Man has learned lesson, understood that life is fragile,

Only goodness matters, rest all is futile!

I am delayed in penning my thoughts about 31st October by 2 days as today we are already on 2nd November.

I clearly recall the October of 1984. I had turned professional a few months ago and was looking forward to enjoying my first Diwali as a professional as that gave me some handle on additional money to spend. A South Indian colleague of mine had invited for Diwali brunch at his home and I had a hearty meal of South Indian delicacies – dosa, idli, vada, uttapam finally washed down by a steaming hot cup of filter coffee. Diwali was rather early in the last week of October.

And then the tragedy took place. Mrs Gandhi was shot by her trusted security guards and she was fighting a losing battle in AIIMS. Incidentally, my residence at that time was quite close to AIIMS, about 2 kilometres away. While the rumours were having a field day, it was not before evening that the news came that Mrs Gandhi was dead. And there was palpable tension everywhere. We could see discomfort all round and the first of rioting seemed rather understated and harmless with rioters asking people to stay indoors and not to come out on roads. But as the evening progressed, the news of anti Sikhs rioting started spreading all over. Ours being a sedate, cosmopolitan, government employees’ colony was calm and we all ensured that Sikh families were saved from the wrath and rage of rioters. Of course, how this spread like wild fire everywhere resulting in death of thousands of innocent and damage to the property is all encapsulated in the dark chapter of the history of our nation.

There had been riots before, but not on such a scale and of such ferocity. In fact, those who had seen the woes of partition termed these riots as the next worst thing. It’s a matter of gratitude to the almighty that the nation has since moved on from that dark phase, burying the memories of the tragedy forever by embracing the brave snd hard working Sikh community back into the national mainstream. And it’s back to same Hindu Sikh bonhomie that makes the two communities almost like one, while retaining their distinct identities.

This 31st October added another bad news into its repertoire as the first and original silver screen James Bond, Sean Connery, died at the ripe old age of 90. His persona, demeanour and portrayal of Ian Fleming’s flamboyant spy remained unmatched with repeated surveys voting him to be the best Bond ahead of Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig. His delivery of the catch line – “ My name is Bond – James Bond” remains immortal.

RIP Sean Connery.

An important event in the Indian banking industry missed the fanfare and coverage that it merited. Aditya Puri, MD & CEO of HDFC Bank, one of the world’s most valuable companies, retired after an uninterrupted run of 26 years, a record of sorts.

He was heading Citibank Malaysia, when he was chosen to head this new generation private sector bank promoted primarily by HDFC. Though not on records, foresight and judgment of the doyen of the financial sector Deepak Parekh cannot be underplayed, who betted on this young foreign banker. And Aditya let down no one – HDFC, it’s other promoters, investors, including foreign institutional investors, customers, regulators, share market and above all Deepak Parekh himself, who must have been as satisfied a person as Aditya Puri himself would be.

Being in a peer new generation private sector, who also started his journey in this space around same time, I had the privilege of seeing HDFC Bank’s great strides under Aditya Puri from a close quarter. The Bank was all along growing well organically while keeping its eyes open for acquisition opportunities and in fact, acquired two peers – Times Bank first and then Centurion Bank of Punjab that itself had earlier merged Bank of Punjab into itself. This helped the Bank leave behind its other peers, becoming the second largest bank in the country behind the behemoth , SBI.

And the story is not all about growth and valuation. Acquiring numero uno position in almost all product segments, particularly by dislodging foreign banks in credit cards space, adds much sheen to the story. And behind all this was a rock solid Aditya Puri, in complete command and control.

His dislike for mobile and computer, need to ensure work life balance, cutting wasteful expenditure notwithstanding comfortable operating margins are the stuff folklores are made of and these things will be the topic for brainstorming in financial circles for long long time.

I had the opportunity of having his audience for a few moments aboard an international flight. While I was returning along with other colleagues from an official event held in Europe, Mr Puri was with his family returning after watching World Cup soccer final. The unassuming man was happy to see a large team from a peer organisation and wished all of us well. He came forth as an unassuming, simple and accessible person, who had taken all the success and fame in his stride.

While his successor will be stepping into his very large shoes, Mr Puri has set a benchmark for all future CEOs for such a heady mix of a strategist, administrator, leader, visionary and above all a fine human being all rolled into one is rare and extraordinary.

Have a great next innings sir! You deserve all that wealth, recognition, respect – such edifices of excellence right from a scratch don’t get built every day.

Archie is amongst my favourite cartoon characters and the daily strip in Bombay Times is my staple. The beauty of this comic strip is that it has updated itself with time and therefore, continues to hold interest of readers.

We are all aware of communication revolution that started with mobile phones ( remember Nokia and Motorola?). While the new avatar of mobile phone, smart phone, is altogether in different league, the basic objective of the mobile phone of being contactable while being mobile is now an integral part of our lives.

Those who love and savour Archie comics know Veronica’s father’s dislike for Archie whom he treats as good for nothing fellow wasting his daughter’s time. In today’s strip, he’s seen lamenting to his butler about his disgust with mobile phones. He sees his daughter Veronica talking to Archie on phone and then his sight catches Archie standing outside their house about to enter. So he laments , “ You know I prefer old phones to these cells. It used to be when she was taking to Archie there was at least a reasonable chance that he was at his house! “

And we have all experienced in real life situation people lying about them being out of city or out of country or alternatively children lying to their parents being only 5 minutes from hone, when in reality they could be in altogether different location!

Of course, we now have apps that help one locate the actual coordinates of other person and catch his bluff.

But as is my experience, sometimes this light hearted banter in comics contains very deep rooted and pertinent message and the message from this take on mobile phone and new technology is to use the technology to build better character and become a better human being and not misuse it for nefarious objectives. If we use technology for betterment and upliftment, there will be no spams, vishing attacks, cyber crimes and tendency to avoid and lie.

‘‘यदा यदा हि धर्मस्य ग्लानिर्भवति भारत।
अभ्यूत्थानंमधर्मस्य तदात्मानं सृजाम्यहम्।।
परित्राणाय साधूनां विनाशाय च दुष्कृताम्।
धर्मसंस्थापनार्थाय संभवामि युगे युगे।।’’

Now that this Covid pandemic has unleashed all its power on the mankind, it’s time for its end. All these Corona warriors – doctors, nurses, health workers, sanitary workers, police personnel etc are members of vanar sena and one who invents Covid vaccine or its cure will be a Vishnu avatar like Lord Rama, who will slay this modern day Ravana, Covid. That day we shall celebrate Dussehra again.

जो महा शक्तिशाली और महा बलवान था

लंका का राजा रावण जिसका नाम था

ख़ात्मा किया उसका भगवान श्रीराम ने

वही इतिहास दोहराया जाएगा कोविड के इंतक़ाल में!!!

Happy Dussehra!

If Bollywood and movies made in India are our strength, our neighbour is quite strong in plays, dramas and stage acts. In fact, Bakra Kishton Pe made Pakistani comedian Umar Sharif a household name on both sides of the border. Since then, Pakistani theatre scene has remained replete with many success stories, churning out several stars. Zee TV had started Zindagi channel that gained quick popularity as it was mainly airing Urdu plays and serials mainly shot in Middle East but having content from Pakistan. However. the channel had to go off air following deterioration of bilateral ties between two neighbours.

However, thanks to lockdown and an opportunity to surf through contents of Netflix, Prime video and YouTube that accidentally led me to watching a few episodes of political satire cum comic show Hasb e Haal aired on Duniya TV, hosted by Junaid Salim. Like our Kapil Sharma show, while the host lends grace and identity to the show, life of the show is very popular stage actor and comedian, the redoubtable Sohail Ahmed, who dons a different avatar in each episode. And this virtuoso talent copies almost everyone – mostly Pakistani politicians but also their other dignitaries and people of importance from across the world. A few episodes that I have watched , I have seen him playing personalities as varied as Donald Trump, Queen Elizabeth, Navjot Singh Siddhu, Actress Mira and host of politicians such as Maulana Fazlur Rahman, Sheikh Rashid, Shah Mehmood Qureshi etc.

While copying their mannerism and speech is Sohel’s talent and coming out with sharp and witty comments evidence of his tremendous timing and sense of humour, what is most remarkable thing about the show is openness of Pakistani society and patience and big hearts of the politicians, who are sometimes made a mince meat of by Ahmed through his barbs, satirical remarks and provocative humour! On the contrary, in our country, the world’s largest democracy and one of the most peace loving societies, there’s absolutely no tolerance! Politicians, actors, dignitaries – leave apart presenting them in lighter vein or making a spoof on them on TV or in movies, in fact, we have become so sensitive and touchy, that any slightly uncomfortable comment leads to polarisation, trolling and in some cases physical assault! Where’s our sense of humour, tolerance, patience and openness gone? I am told that Mrs Gandhi used to respect cartoonist R K Laxman, though some of his cartoons and caricatures of hers were quite vitriolic and critical! And here look at the reaction when a segment in Kapil Sharma show based on a popular and very aggressive news anchor got severely trolled on social media!

To carry on Pakistani humour further, Sohel’s special targets are loud mouthed Pakistani Railway Minister Sheikh Rashid ( yes the same guy who said that Pakistan has made a bomb that will not kill Muslims in India) and the current man in news Maulana Fazlur Rahman, who is leading opposition unity against Imran Khan government. He’s arranging a big congregation this month, a show of strength for his movement. When asked by the host that how many people were expected to attend this congregation, Maulana replied , “ 2 Arab” ( which is 200 crore). On being asked whether he was expecting people from India and China too as the population of Pakistan was only 22 crore, Maulana replied, “ my two friends from Saudi have promised me to attend by protest and that’s a confirmed number.” I thought that was quite a sharp humour – comical, satirical and hard hitting at the same time. And it’s accepted by Pakistani public and tolerated by their politicians. We need to be more open and tolerant , because this trolling, polarisation, anger, lack of humour are not what we inherently are as a nation and society.