Sri Krishna and Shishupala

As June comes to an end, I have been pondering about the actions and inactions that have taken place in the world of Blue Caramel during this month. We three, Shinod, Himanshu and myself were more preoccupied with other endeavors, so in a sense it was an appropriate time for the rest to stand up and be counted. Analyzing the performances, I suddenly remembered the interesting story of Shri Krishna and King Shishupala from the Hindu Mythological epic, the Mahabharata.

Shishupala was a cousin of Lord Krishna, who was born with 3 eyes and 4 arms. Lord Krishna cured him of this deformity. But unknown to Lord Krishna,  Shishupala was born under a curse in which it was prophesied that he would be killed by the person who cures him from his deformity.  When Shishupala's mother, Srutakirti, the aunt of Lord Krishna came to know of this, she begged Krishna for mercy. Sri Krishna promised that he would forgive Shishupala for 100 sins that he committed but would kill him, if he committed his 101st sin.

With time, Shishupala grew up to be a handsome prince and eventually succeeded his father as the King of Chedi. But his arrogance and recklessness kept on increasing. As promised, Sri Krishna overlooked 100 of his misdeeds but as soon as he committed his 101st sin, he beheaded Shishupala with his Sudarshan Chakra.

All Blue Caramelers should understand that they are being watched and analyzed for all their deeds or misdeeds and believe me, if things are being overlooked as of now, it is just because, we want to overlook them. But when even Shishupala met his fate after he went too far at the hands of Sri Krishna, what are we? We are mere mortals!

Indian Express-The clash of the Titans!

The summer of 2012 is seeing a flurry of activities from the field of sports. After the success of IPL5, UEFA Euro12 and the impending London Olympics are setting up the pace. Speaking of pace, brings me to the curious case of Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupati, the two stalwarts of Indian Tennis and their love-hate relationship.

Paes and Bhupati, who formed one of the most successful Doubles pair that the tennis world has every seen, have some how fallen apart in the last few years. Dubbed the "Indian Express", the pair which once was the top ranked doubles tennis team in the world has broken up because of issues which are more personal than professional. The aim of every sports person representing the country at the Olympics should obviously be to get a medal for the country but in this "Clash of the Titans" the aim seems to be brinkmanship and nothing else, with even other players like Rohan Bopanna and Sania Mirza jumping into the fray.

The All India Tennis Association (AITA) too has been guilty in leaving things and important decision making for the last moment and that has acted as a catalyst for the unfortunate flare up in the tennis arena. Sania Mirza's grudge that she has been used by the AITA as a bait for the "hurt and disappointed " Leander(Lee) Paes, the highest ranked doubles player in India, today, seems to be genuine. That she has been asked to pair with Lee just after she has won the French Open title with Mahesh (Hesh) Bhupati defies logic. 

The focus now seems to be how to manage the bloated egos of our tennis heroes and not how to win a medal at the Olympics. In this mish mash of clashes and disputes, Indian tennis seems to be the greatest looser. The AITA by failing to have a concrete plan for the London Olympics seems to have managed to come up with a perfect recipe for impending Tennis disaster at the Games, in a sport in which every Indian would have hoped that the country would get at least one medal after Leander's bronze medal at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996.

For all Blue Caramelers, the lesson we all need to grasp is that ego clashes lead you nowhere and that by failing to plan, we are planning to fail.

Mr Trouble Shooter

As the month of June continues in all its fury with the sun blazing and Rajasthan facing regular power cuts, it has been a heated month filled with activities both within as well outside Blue Caramel.

The most talked about activity that has taken place and in fact is still in process is the election of the President of India. As the tenure of the first woman President Smt Pratibha Devisingh Patil came to an end amid unprecedented controversies, the political parties were embroiled in a literal slug fest to elect the new President.






After Trinamool Congress(TMC) chief Mamata Banerjee and the wily Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav came to an understanding, the Congress was forced to announce the name of its most trusted lieutenant Pranab Mukherjee as its Presidential candidate despite strong opposition from the TMC chief. After the TMC backed former president APJ Abdul Kalam withdrew his name from the presidential race, the election of Pranab Mukherjee, as of now, seems to be a forgone conclusion. 

Pranab Mukherjee has been a politician par excellence for the last 4 decades and the aura that he has, has no competition in the Indian political scenario today. The well educated Pranab has had a rich experience in policy making and has held important portfolios like Home Ministry, Finance Ministry, Defence Ministry to name a few. He also shares an amazing camaraderie with business leaders, policy makers and politicians cutting across political lines and that actually makes his stature all the more creditable.

His political longevity has so many lessons for all Blue Caramelers to learn from. Some of the the things to grasp from Pranab Mukherjee are:

1) It is never too late to learn-  The erudite Pranab is an avid reader and still looks forward to grasp new things.

2) No one has ever died of hard work- Pranab at age 76 still puts in more than 16 hours a day at work.

3) Mr Trouble Shooter- Pranab, through the years, has never ever shied away from any responsibility. This has helped him develop his all round abilities and made him Mister Trouble Shooter of the Congress and the government.

4) Developing and nurturing relations- Pranab is a typical networking man. He has gradually developed and nurtured relations that have stood him in good stead..

5)   Subordination of personal goal over organisational goal-  Pranab has always kept the requirements/goals of the country or his party above his own goals. He served under Manmohan Singh, the very man whose boss he was, when Pranab was the Finance Minister and Manmohan Singh was the governor of the RBI. Another example is when Mamata demanded a special financial package for West Bengal, that would have seen him being hailed, he replied that he was a Finance Minister of India and not India, thereby provoking Mamata and TMC. 

All in all, though Pranab da might have a long list of short comings but his strengths clearly outweigh his weaknesses and these strengths are something that all Blue Caramelers should emulate.

The grass always looks greener on the other side!

June, the sixth month of the year has begun its journey in full earnest. Time ticks by so quickly. It seems just yesterday that we at Blue Caramel celebrated the super success of our events (RajRadio Con and RNT Goldfest) and ushered in 2012 with great joy and now, half of the new year would be gone when June ends.

We have been pegged back on some of the fronts during these months but on others we have shown sparkle and great resilience. There have been cases when we had to grapple with manpower issues and some ideological differences. But we, the Blue Caramelers have been able to tackle those. It is a tendency of every animal that it always seems to be greener on the other side and Man is no exception. I was both happy as well as saddened when a former Blue Carameler, came back to me after leaving the organisation in search of greener pastures. I was happy because he after scanning through various companies and  their present work environment came to the conclusion that the freedom, growth and benevolent work culture that Blue Caramel gives, is hardly to be found. I was sad because we could not take him back.

It is sad that in search of an elusive better tomorrow, we usually bugger up our present. The best thing to do in my opinion is to have a clear cut idea for future and work relentlessly in that direction putting in use the resources you have with you , instead of chopping and changing them and realize after a few years that u had destroyed your present for the future and you still are in the middle of nowhere, completely LOST. But this is my own opinion, each has to live his/her own life and that individual would be the best judge to judge his/her own decision!