11,11,11

Lot was predicted of 11.11.11. entire decade falshed back. these dates have been hectic
Y2k (marraige), 01-01-01 (family event), 02-02-02 (UK), 03 -03-03 (during WC 2003), 04-04-04 (landmark for business)05-05-05 (social service), 06-06-06 (WC soccer germany), 07-07-07 (death of colleague), 08-08-08 (bejeing olympics and lights off), 09-09 (posted here), 10-10-10 (family function), only 12-12-12 to go...
someone messaged me saying we just missed 11.11.1111 by a millenium.. haha thats for the numbers

Its mere number and we always fall for numbers when they mean nothing. Just as we wait of 100th 100 when its just another inning. ash has delivered baby girl. Euro crisis is still unresolved. Indian ecnomy slowed down for sure thanks to some ineffective economic policies and in action. Corruption is at forefront. Mood is not so positive for an occasion like 11.11.11

We celebrated round table week by organizing Taare zameen par painting competition for differently abled children. Had a Gala time and thanking lord for making us what we are. November also saw IIT KGP alumni gettogether in Pune at a lovely resort amidst great weather. Weather has turned excellent with chill in air. KGP renuion always takes you back to those wonderful years . can we turn time back. lets hope our batch meets in 2012 to celebrate 20 years...

all set for December the king of the months and festive season. November acts as precursor. so was it this time but this Nov had 11.11,11

Rare Partnership

Life springs around some rare partnerships in business and personal life. in sports you have sehwag and dravid. Both different school of thoughts. i had audacity to compare two in some earlier post gloryfying shewags positive attiture over dravids negativity. How so ever you be positive, there are some days when you have to guard. you have to be cautious. remember england 11 summer
anyways strangely that works in professional and personal life as well. some couples are diametrically poles apart but yet they have good life. some business partners add dimensions to business. so variety sometimes helps. though your thought process, interests,values dont match but bet they add new perspective in life. Life is beautiful and new perspectives are always beautiful....
There is lot to learn from each of your partner. in fact learning from others has been my greatest past time. Collaboration is need of date in business for gone are the days for solo enterpreuners....

Celebration of Hope and zeroth law of nature.

Nights are dark. Clouds of Corruption, inflation, terrorism, recession looming everywhere. But we humans have came across every challenge.
Thats the spirit of Diwali: Triumph of good over evil. Light over darkness.
Diwali is celebration of Hope.

Life is fast and furiuous. Only thing constant in life is change. The Indian team which could not win a single game in english summer, is invincible here back home. Remember 07 world cup when we failed to qualify. The next cup was ours. Gaddafi who ruled libiya was found dead in gutters. No one beyond those interested in Maharashtra politics knew about Anna Hazare. we in pune who suffered due to load shedding in 04-05, have gone back to those days after enjoying zero load shedding for 2-3 yrs, sensex has gone shambles. Those in IT benefitted by Microsoft, have to look forward to oracles, apples, googles for innovating.

There are few things which are also constant apart from change: price rise and terrorism. Petrol costing 50 rs same time last yr is now 72. as we celebrated much hyped 9/11, we ended up getting 11/7,26/11, 13/2,13/7, 5/9,list never ends.

Nevertheless there is a hope this things can be changed by some astute policy making and leadrship. In 2008 we survived because of that as due to solid fundamentals in our system based on Indian values. This time we lack that leadership and indian values have been discounted. Thus we need to believe that we can change the things. And we need to trust zeroth law that change is constant. Be it individually, for family, neighbourhood, state, country or for the world.

so lets celebrate human spirit, hope and change. Time for diwali clebrations. Celebrations have changed over the years but spirit is same. Time to be with friends , family, eat, enjoy, travel, celebrate...

wishing you a very happy diwali

Bikhare Sabhi Baari Baari..

Year 2011 started on bad note with Panditji 's demise. This year had its more than normal share for losing stalwarts. Shammi, Pataudi , srinivas khale and now Gazal Maestro Jagjit singh just to count few.
Jagjit singh had special bond for me. I had met him at KGP during SF. Heard him live thrice. His gazals were the ones which i can sing reasonablly (as per comments by others maybe just as a consolation for my attempt). The voice the depth , the honesty in voice, stress upon lyrics, simplicity of music, all combined to make him legend. I was in state of shock for two days. His gazals are on in a loop till now.
Popular and not so popular yet beautiful ones.
Only evitability in life is death. another inevitable thing about this world is change. so his death will cause change in this world and that inevitable as well. Remembering a poem in marathi: Jan pal bhar mhantil haay haay. meaning people will mourn for two minues on our death and move on. Life always move on
Point is why will people remember you for. Then is publicity important that people will remember only if you are popular. There are many unsung heros who have led meaningful lives yet we dont regret a bit about their death. Is life unfair say for eg to a jawan or young officer on border who is killed due to dirty valley politics?
So is life only about recogintion from others ? or self belief and pleasure will make your life more meaningful. and i have not even touched money issue here. Money give you many pleasures thats sure. But is happiness only about money?
Huh many confusions. Idea is to stay happy, help others, do meaningful things important for you and others, live in today, stress for excellence. Life today as if there is no tomorrow. Make your mark today.. Kal ho no ho

Last Quarter

As we enter last quarter of 11, seasons have changed globally. Rains have given way to autumn here. Fall has already started in US. English summer has ended. Its now 3D time, dandiya-dasara-diwali. This is special season for fun. Then after lull of november the king of the months set in with winter, parties, travel, events personally for me. Empirically for me, new things plan start from Oct and firm up in Dec and next year is action to get into some herrings by monsoon and 3rd quarter, which creates need to innovate on that plan in last quarter. I think its the same everywhere. In india, people traditionally start their conquests on dasara. so time to regroup and recharge. This year was fabulous in terms of getting back to old dreams. Live cricket, treks, world cup win and last but not the least Purshottam karandak.
This year had a chance to see final plays of purshottam karandak the most prestigious intercollegiate drama competition in pune. I had partcipated in 91 and now after 20 yrs was back at bharat. the slogans, the shouts etc were the same. tempo and prestige has increased. The quality of drama was amazing to believe lack of professional touch. that was the case in our time as well that alumni who later went big into professional stage used to proxy direct the plays. Now i think a trend of outsourcing can be experienced. so we have merceneries (motivated by money than college pride) helping out. But issues, depth , acting etc was amazing.
As coming back to 2011 last quarter, world economy still continue to scare. The mild shackles which were being broken in 2010 are again back. Companies are more scared. IT companies though is cautious. But its easy to predict a large panic like situation eauivalent to 2008 levels. and this time india wont be so lucky as inflation, rupee and interests have gone to recession levels as global slowdown has caught up this time and internal parameters are unsound. Need some real good policy making. But govt seems to be on tricky situation due to corruption and other political issues. The Euro govt intervention and US policies also are eagerly observed and any trend can setin mass actions from investors. Markets have already taken beating here. So 2012 will be fingers crossed and can turn out landmark. Ofcourse there still can be opportunities for innovation. tech scene is also tricky with new paradigms are set in cloud, mobility, social media. But end clients adopting them in such situation is a big question mark. again there is room for innovation.
Few new lessons learnt during rainy season last time can be bit help as well.
that marks beggining of new season, new hopes, new plans. Last quarter has always been challenging... same with indian team to recoup after a disaster that was in english summer.

Ganesha Time again

This blog started on Ganesh Festival. so its third anniversary of this blog.was just browsing archives from ganesha 08 where i had lamented on inability to transmit Ganesha traditions esp neighbourhood fellowship, art , drama etc to my daughter. in 09 festivities were marred by swine flu in pune. in 10 i had opportunity to transfer legacy to my daughter with rejuvinated spirit in my colony and had written blog about drama experiences. This year was great. We did Varshikotsav from Varyavarchi varaat by P L Deshpande. It was challenges but kiddos aged 7-12 did great job. People enjoyed it. so did kids . the process is amazing. practice, dialogues , props etc. Now that its done there is emptiness. There was a lot of socialization with friends, family and lots of food. must have added few kgs...

To look back upon this blog, i see it from personal archive of memories, events, thoughts. More of society, politics, cricket, cinema, a bit of technology and business. Idea is theme of social leadership, to articulate thoughts and generate discussion. in some way this blog has served purpose with exposure to print/online media. Have received good feedback. period no more ambitions here but to share thoughts.

Anna Hazare and landmark august has come to end. so has england series. New season in India will start soon. I hope all lessons from anna movement and england defeat will be learnt and issues dealth with. Rains have lashed pune. administration hasnt learnt from past exp be it roads, flooding or water management. monsoons seem to have reached deficient areas.so food inflation wont go out of control hopefully. markets are down, world economic problems see no solution, inflation is hitting hard.
we need to see petrol prices going down. Terror has struck today again in delhi so we havent learnt there as well. Big netas are behind bars but only scapegoats. The major behind scene leaders are still at large.

This rains had opportunity to do two treks (lohagad, rajgad-shivthar), three outings (m'war, mulshi, lonavala). so all yearly rituals have been done except sinhagad..

Looking forward to autumn filled with 3Ds: dasra, dandiya and diwali.

what would be life without festivals???

Landmark August

It was my birthday 6th Dec in 2009, Two wickets to take off srilanka in mumbai, they did in an hr to help me go ahead with usual sinhagad trip and party following. India displaced South Africa to get No1 test ranking. Its been 18 -19 months of some good cricket. Both SA series lived upto their reputation with 1-1 draw home and most imp away. srilanka can be tough opposition in lanka. They were drawn. Aussies were whitewashed though on home grounds. NZ defeated at home. Also there was world cup though in 50 overs format. It was key series with Eng in Eng. And we bungled. and bungled so badly that we went back to 90s when indians away were pathetic. Under dada in naughties we had away victories and series were tough. so what went wrong, is it begining of end as golden generation has set. (though only notable performance was from oldest member Rahul Dravid). Future atleast in tests looks bleak. Bowling looks very weak . that underline importance of a fit sehwag and zaheer to cause of test cricket. Injuries were blamed for this show. I agree totally as we had winning moments in 1st and 2nd test which we could not seize to to lack of key players. So has reality sunk in that our next gen of batting and bowling is incapable as aussies found two years back after retirement of warne, gilly and mcgrath. or is it because of IPL and its riches. Many theories have comeup. But as a fan these are disgusting times. aug was painful and even 100th 100 did not come up. Only time will tell the future but what is needed is involvement of Ganguly and Kumble in some form of authority to manage cricket. let corrupt politicians manage ' monies'. I hope BCCI comes under purview of lokpal.
That takes me to another landmark event in aug which is in news . Anna phenomenon. There are many theories one suggests it to be stage managed by super rich to sort of have check over govt to avoid arrests. some theory suggests US hand. whatever or whoever might be doing things following points are truth
1. Public is fed up with corruption and inflation which led them to roads. it was fashionable to be on roads one can argue due to media hype as we saw in world cup.
But aam aadmi suffers for sure. and that is truth.
2. Politicians have lacked credibility . There is leadership vacuum due to lazy and corrupt govt and non existent opposition. Team Anna used this.
3. Its positive phenomenon that youth have been involved in national causes. They used to shun politics. But this youth energy is positive phenomenon which can be landmark movement in Indias history
4. Strong laws like janlokpal can help on curbing corruption if not remove . But challenge is just begun to create effective system.
5. armchair philosophers, writers and so called elite failed to gauge public mood and have fallen from grace as they criticized anna movement for wrong reasons and personal vendetta. Its time to retire this useless institution of elite columnists, communists and free sensationalizers. Height was most corrupt politicians BCCI benefitted ones talking about parlaimentary system to be supreme after abusing sams system on caste and religion line....
Anna movement with all its flaws as attacked by these deadly tribes, is very landmaker event for India. We those who claim to be intelligencia, should not undermine this. Time to participate....

Message to Dhoni: Need to take blows when you are down

All and sundry experts and cricket analysts have spared no stone to hit at Indian tea, after england disasters at London and Nottingham. These were the same critics who were singing praises for indian team and its capt dhoni in april for WC win.
The 11 (14) players were treated like gods thereafter and folklores were created of every event...
Purely on cricketing sense one can analyse that main reasons in order of their problems
Absence of Zaheer and sehwag ; Two outright winners and holding prowess of Gautam Gambhir.
Dhonis fatigued captaincy: No inspired moves
Lack of fielding sharpness
Inadequacy of new players to support if not substitute the ageing and great middle order.
No century partnerships except one in first innings of second test where india actually got leads
Reason i am making this list is because i dont treat this english team as great at all. It might be good but batting has many problems which a fully fit indian team could have exploited by dhoni's captainship brilliance. Bowling is at the most sharp and steady and never destroying like aus in 90s and wi in 80s. I firmly believe that there is no clear no 1 team today. Eng/India/SA form a trinity and we will see no1 spot changing hands series after series for next few years.
So what do you make out of remaining series. with sehwag, zaheer, gambhir back, we can expect more fight. A win here will restore parity and its not impossobile though very difficult. even if we lose the series a win is necessary. You remember what durban win did to indian teams aura and respectability. The armchair eng/aus/sa critics also were made to take note of. same happended at perth after monkey gate. This time this sound bit difficult but thats waht champions are meant to bounce back. remeber how aussies bounced back in 2004 in india after debacles of 98 and 01. so a series loss is by no means end of world. But it gives chance to retrospect and learn. If we do not do that then doomsday is not far ahead.
But for next 10 days , we need to take full on the blows from all and sundry including our own past cricketers who are paid to echo public sentiments.
same inlife when you are down you need to take and absorb blows. Importance is to believe in your abilities and rise.... Then its your turn to give it back. Hope we rise from this situation. we have to....