Faster, Higher, Stronger-XXX London Olympics

27th July saw the commencement of the XXX Summer Olympics being held in London. A spectacular opening ceremony, which had some of the best entertainers performing and a special appearance by the Queen and 'James Bond', Daniel Craig kept the audience spellbound. Bollywood great Amitabh Bachchan's run with the Olympic torch and AR Rehman's performance during the opening ceremony were the high points for all Indians during the inaugural part of the sporting extravaganza.

The motto of Olympics is Citius, Altius, Fortius which in Latin means Faster, Higher, Stronger and was proposed by the father of the modern Olympics, the French nobleman Baron Pierre de Coubertin and introduced and accepted during the Paris Olympics in 1924. The spirit of the games has over the years bonded the world together and has also given rise to some phenomenal sports persons and their tales of heroism and indomitable spirit have become legendary.

Jesse Owens tryst with 'Nazi' Germany and Adolf Hitler during the Berlin Olympics of 1936 or Nadia Comaneci's perfect 10 during the Montreal Olympics in 1976 are just two incidents that come to mind where  superhuman efforts at the Olympics became part of folklore and inspired millions around the world.

The wrestler KD Jadhav, independent India's first individual medalist fought not only against his opponents in the Helsinki Olympics of 1952 but also against government apathy and poverty. He had to himself sponsor his trip and participation in the Olympics. He fought and won inspite of the system not because of it. The main thing was he had confidence in himself and did not buckle under pressure be it mental, physical or financial. 

What every Blue Carameler needs to learn from the Olympics is that though the participants have enormous pressure to cope with, the rewards of coping with pressure and fighting it out and becoming victorious has a feeling and satisfaction that no other thing in the world has. Best of Luck to the Indian Contingent at the London Olympics and all the very best to the Blue Caramelers for these last 2 days of July! GodSpeed and no rest till we are the best!

Captain Lakshmi Sahgal-Salute

July has been a month which has seen stars being robbed from us, be it the glamour world or be it the social arena. The latest star to have departed for her heavenly abode is Captain Lakshmi Sahgal, a revolutionary of the Indian independence struggle.

Born Lakshmi Swaminathan in Chennai, Dr Lakshmi Sahgall led a very colorful  heroic life and was a famed gynecologist and a devote social worker. She had to face a lot of hardships in her life like the early demise of his father and a failed marriage but she she was determined to fight it out. Her life took a new direction after she went to Singapore post the failure of her marriage when she came in contact with the members of the Indian National Army (INA), popularly known as the Azad Hind Fauj. Lead by the great revolutionary Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, INA was formed to free India from the clutches of the colonial British rule. Dr Lakshmi became Captain Lakshmi when she was entrusted upon to form and lead the all women's INA regiment the Rani of Jhansi regiment. The regiment performed heroically during the IInd World War but INA after initial successes had to beat a retreat. Most of the prominent INA commanders including Capt Lakshmi were arrested by the British and a trial was initiated against many of them. In fact, the famed INA trials or Red Fort trails of Delhi also acted as a catalyst to hasten the end of the colonial rule of the British as it led to larger discontentment amongst the masses.

Till her very end, Captain Lakshmi led a very active life and tended to her patients even 2 days before her demise at the ripe age of 97 years. She was also a member of the Rajya Sabha, the House of Elders in the Indian Parliament and was also a presidential candidate in the year 2002. The revolutionary and visionary that she was, she even donated her body to the medical college for research rather than getting it cremated.

The thing that all Blue Caramelers should learn from Captain Lakshmi is that life could some time become very miserable but the real mantra is to learn from it and not be captivated by it. If Captain Sahgal had only lived in her past brooding over her father's early demise or maybe the failure of her marriage, then she might not have become the Captain Lakshmi Sahgal, the country came to respect and adore. The fact that she  remarried and had a very happy married life is also a testimony to her zest for life. Let us not be the prisoners of our past but be the architects of our future by doing things in the present. Let all Blue Caramelers in Jaipur, Jodhpur, Udaipur and Mumbai stretch ourselves in these last 7 days of July and open the gates for a wonderful future, that is all I wish, for now atleast!

Babu Moshai, Kaka, Rajesh Khanna

18th July happens to be my wife's birthday and is usually associated with fun and frolic. This year too personally it was a time to rejoice but it was also a day marked with a certain degree of sadness because of the death of Rajesh Khanna, the first super hero of Hindi film industry, Bollywood at the age of 69. Though surrounded by his family, the super star of yester years, basically died a lonely man.

The rise of Jatin alias Rajesh  Khanna was phenomenal. He started his film career after winning an acting talent contest and then continuously churned out 15 hit films in about 5 years making him the undisputed king of the Indian cinema of the late 1960s and early 1970s. People and more importantly he himself thought that he had the 'Midas' touch and was invincible when it came to giving hit movies. He was loved and adore by the millions of Indian cine lovers and he had a legion of doting female fans. This immense success, unfortunately, made him arrogant and he started believing in his own invincibility

One has to run the hardest when one is at the top just to retain his position and this is just what Rajesh Khanna, believing in his own world, did not do. He took things for granted and did not re-invent himself and remained caged to his chocolaty lover boy on screen image. Post the 1971 Bangladesh war saw the emergence of a new more combative India and people wanted to see a new avatar on the Indian cinema scene. Rajesh Khanna was offered many roles which exemplified a new persona, that of an Angry Young Man. he rejected them all. As is the case always, some one's loss is some one's gain, these roles were clinched by the new kid on the blocks, Amitabh Bachchan and the rest as they say, is history. It was the beginning of the end of the Super stardom of Rajesh Khanna. The once invincible super star became a prisoner of his own creation. He fell out with most of the directors with whom he had worked during his hey days and gradually faded out of the public's memory. Amitabh Bachchan's super stardom has continued till date but Rajesh Khanna died basically a forgotten star. A star who evoked fond memories of an era gone by but not connected with today's world.

Blue Caramelers have a lot to learn from the life and times of Rajesh Khanna. The most important thing for all of us is to never take things for granted. We need to continuously innovate and re-invent ourselves so that we are not left behind by the competition. The second thing is that we all need to be very aware of our own surroundings and immediate environment for which we need to do our homework well with respect to our competitors and products and services available in the market. And last but not the least, we need to understand that getting to the top might be any easy thing but to remain there is perhaps one of the toughest jobs.Anyway, with the month of July in full swing and with Jodhpur and Jaipur having opened up their revenue accounts, the fight for the numero uno of Blue Caramel for this month is on. May the best location win!!

Champs all the way!

Today is the death anniversary of my grandfather, Mr Ashoke Chandra Mitter, former director of DMG, Rajasthan, an administrator par excellence and a human worth emulating. He lived a very disciplined and a very enjoyable life and left us at the ripe age of 87 years, still enjoying his meal and malt. His principle in life was very simple, enjoy each moment but never over indulge. A true Champion and an idol, will always miss you.

Talking of Champions, this week saw the re-emergence of two supreme athletes from the field of tennis. The Wimbledon this year took all, back in time and the champions in the mens's and women's categories were ex-champions Roger Federer of Switzerland and Serena Williams of the USA. The irony of these triumphs was the fact that most people, except the duo themselves, believed that they were past their prime and were gradually becoming spent forces.

Roger Federer, the boy from Basel, has over the years become the most prolific champion in modern day tennis with 17 Grand Slam titles. Winning this year's Wimbledon made him the joint highest winner of the title along with the great Pete Sampras of the US and William Renshaw of Great Britain, but this win was his first grand slam title since his 2010 US Open triumph. All was not well for the "FEDEX" as Federer is popularly known, as age was catching up with him and he was accused of loosing his motivation in this fiercely competitive sport. The emergence of new players like Rafael Nadal of Spain and Novak Djokovic of Serbia also saw the undisputed King of the Courts loose his throne. But that is when, Federer decided to have a relook at the way he was playing the game and made some finer adjustments in his game, which have reaped him dividends now.

Serena Willaims, with 14 grand slam titles is again a Champion women's tennis player. Through her tennis career, she has seen ups and downs on a regular basis both professionally as well as personally, but on all occasions she has prevailed through sheer grit and determination. After a freak accident in 2010 she was diagnosed with a hematoma and pulmonary embolism. This was a career threatening ailment and most people started writing her professional obituary, but she did not give up and after long spell of rehabilitation, she won the Wimbledon title this year for the 5th time.

All Blue Caramelers should understand that the human story has always been of "Fights" and "Flights". Those who have confidence in themselves and their own skills, keep on fighting till they are the Champions; on the other hand those who flee away from situations, keep on fleeing all their lives. So, lets salute all the Champions and also the Champions in each one of us, so that we are remembered as Winners and not Loosers, even when we are not there.