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!

KKR, IPL2012 Champions and things to learn!

Yesterday saw the thrilling end of the IPL 2012 season in which Gautam Gambhir led Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) ended the dream run of the 2 time defending champion, Mahendra Singh Dhoni led Chennai Super Kings (CSK).

The match went upto the last over and was sealed in favor of KKR when Manoj Tiwari dispatched Bravo, the wily West Indian playing for the CSK, for 2 consecutive fours. KKR was the deserving winner having played one of the most consistent games during the entire course of IPL2012.

But things were not that great when the franchisee co-owned by the Bollywood megastar Shahrukh Khan, started its journey in the inaugural IPL of 2008. The team was beset with problems since then during the course of the next 3 IPLs. Though having some of the most fearsome professional cricketers like Sourav Ganguly, Chris Gayle, Brendon Mccullum, Brad Hodge and Ajanta Mendis to name a few, the team consistently under performed. There was constant bickering within the team and KKR became synonymous with Controversy. Things went from bad to worse for KKR when there was a change of guards in the form of a rotational captainship policy under the high flying coach Johan Buchannan and even the most die hard of KKR supporters started fearing for the worst.

Then the KKR management did the most obvious thing. They booted out players who had high egos and were constantly at the forefront of all arguments. These cricketers who were constantly worried about "I" at the cost of "WE" were the root cause for the under performance of the talented team. This decision, though highly unpopular amongst many, was the precursor to the rise of KKR from the ashes like the phoenix.
The team today seems to be a very cohesive unit and the culture of "I" seems to have been takeover by a culture of "WE". Each team member seems to be relishing each others company and success. KKR seems to have learnt the lesson, though the hard way, that "ILLNESS" can be changed to "WELLNESS", if we drop I and bring in WE.

We at Blue Caramel always envisage that the culture of WE is always at the helm of any decision that is taken because as the saying goes, Together we rise, divided we fall and to divide only the rise of an "I " culture is required, of which we should be always beware.

Growth and Money, Honey!

Last week was a time to rejoice as I had some of my old friends visiting me and then I was also out of town for a couple of days and that was again a great opportunity to catch up with some old friends. These friends of mine, most of them Udaipurites, have made a name for themselves in their corporate lives, in the bustling metros of Mumbai, New Delhi, Bangalore, London and beyond, all in the echelons of top management and all super successful in life with super growth and super money.

But during our get together, more often than none, the discussions that took place all revolved around our “Good Ol Days” and that too in our very own Udaipur. I gradually found out that these memories have formed such an ineradicable mark in the minds of my super successful friends that they easily outweigh the “Growth and Money” that they have amassed in these years. A friend from Mumbai, who is now a top honcho with a leading Investment Bank put it aptly by saying that though he might have ample money and power now but what “he misses in life is life itself”; Money galore but hardly any time to spend it with his family. What is precious is not wealth but quality time with family and friends, which is such a scarce commodity! He even admitted that he envies me for being in Udaipur, away from the maddening run against time of a large mass of Humanity, probably in the same way I envy his growth.

The problem with us humans is that we hardly appreciate the things that we have with us and look and compare with others and think of ourselves as being “have-nots”. Though to keep a track of others is not bad per say, as it drives you to be better in life, but to continuously ape somebody else may lead you to bugger up your present, in search of an elusive future.

The proverbial “Rat Race” which starts as soon as a child starts his educational journey and intensifies over the years and culminates only when it becomes too late for the person to realize that he has been running all his life for a better future and in the process has compromised on his family’s and his own life and neglected on the small things in life that actually make it precious, like a simple walk in the rain or seeing kids grow, their first steps and their innocent naughtiness.  But, as the wise men have said, “You cannot have the Cake and eat it too”, you too have to have tradeoffs in life and that might involve you taking decisions that might lead you to breaking down bridges to the way of being “Super successful” and amassing unthinkable money. But at the end of the day, the wise men have also said, “Its All “bout Money, Honey!”, so that makes a tradeoff very tricky and very personal (oh, these wise men!)

At Blue Caramel, we strive to give each member a quality of life along with growth, so that the member does not have to make any major tradeoff, at least professionally. If the Blue Caramel family takes care of its members then they sure can have a great time with their families! 

Happy Mother's Day??

Today Mother's Day is being celebrated all over the world and that has set me off to write a post dedicated to this "special??" day.

Mother, for most of us, happens to be our first "friend, philosopher, guide and more", our first support system, the  angel, whose face we usually see and register first as we open our eyes to start our journey of life. She is the person who bears the maximum pain, be it child birth or or compromises that she makes, so that we gain the utmost as we try to live and realize our dreams and her's as well.

Which mother would want her young ones to go away from her, which mother wants an empty nest, a nest which she so patiently and with doting dedication creates. Do we ever think of it?? No because she keeps on aligning her dreams as per our changing wishes. She never ever makes us realize the whole range of emotions that she has to encounter, day in and day out as her children grow.

Then celebrating a single day as a "Mother's Day", does it actually do justice to mothers, the world over, especially Indian mothers. For people in the west, there might be a case to have a particular day to celebrate "Mother's Day", "Father's Day" and maybe even "Family Day" because the concept of a family bond is not that strong as what it is in India. The concept of these "Special Days" though propagated mainly by various big Card and Gift MNCs, also play along nicely on the guilt feeling that many people might have because of the way they neglect their parents and their family. They see celebrating a particular day dedicated to "Mother", "Father" etc etc as a way that absolves them from their sheer negligence that they show towards their parents and brings down their guilt feeling considerably.

By aping these "Days" blindly from the west are we not making it very obvious that we too take our parents for granted for 364 days and try to make them feel special (that too a very superfluous and window dressed special) only for one day?? Why cant we make them special everyday??? Believe me, giving cards, cakes and gifts do not actually make parents special. Even flaunting how much you love them on the social media do not make them happy. It is the simple deeds that you do each day, which culminates into you becoming a better child, a better citizen and a better human, that make parents special.

Have you ever wondered if we have a "Shravan Kumar" who made his parents feel special day in and day out, who does the west have as an equivalent, in spite of celebrating these Special days every year? None that I can recollect!!  

All Blue Caramelers too should not wait for some special day but should work each day as thought it is special, only then can the company attain growth that is envisaged. If you work only superfluously and window dress each day, then remember, it is only you who you are fooling yourself. Your every step and action or inaction is being watched and scrutinized.

  

May- the month of discoveries

The onset of the month of May has set me on a deep reverie. Personally, May has always been a month in which I have had new experiences and have made new discoveries.

Since childhood, I had always associated May as the month to rejoice and relax. May was the month when the summer vacations were on and many a family trips were planned, if not, then to scamper around our locality, New Fatehpura, Udaipur, with the "Band of Boys" and some girls as well, planning excursions and adventure trips or lazing around the lakes, were delights that make me yearn for them even today.. Ah those amazing wonder years!

May is also the month when we have birthdays and wedding anniversaries in plenty in my family, making it a month filled with parties and goodies. This actually acted as the icing on the cake as parties, frolics and holidays acted as a deadly combination and made us look forward to this month, from June onwards itself.

May- the month to rejoice and relax, is also the month when my grandma expired. Life is a great leveller, you cannot have everything of your choice, every time. You win some, you loose some and this discovery was  made by me in the month of May. With this loss, the fun value of the month eroded in my mind forever.

What all Blue Caramelers need to understand is that everyone's life has its fair share of ups and downs and thus when you are in a good phase of life, make it count the most and enjoy it to the fullest and make provisions (if possible) for the proverbial "rainy day" because all days are not alike and during the bad phase, the experiences and discoveries of the good phase go a long way in reminding you that "it is the darkest just before the sunrise".