Durga Puja-The Worship of the Mother Goddess

The time of the year has again come when all of India fervently worships the Mother Goddess, Ma Durga.  Also known as the "Nav Ratris" or nine nights, this time besides the religious angle is also a time of merriment, a time to rejoice and have a good time.

Mythology states that in the olden days, the Puja was held during the months of March-April but the Puja during the months of September-October was started by Lord Rama of Ayodhya during his fight with the demon king of Lanka, Ravana. An interesting trivia about this Puja was that is is believed that the Puja was performed for Lord Ram by none other than Ravana himself, who was a Brahmin of the highest order as there was no other able Brahmin priest available who could perform the Puja with all its rituals. The fact that Ravana readily performed the Puja for Ram, even after knowing that it was being performed for Ram's victory over him, brings forward a virtue, the virtue of giving priority to duty over everything else, in this case even one's own life.

The format of the idol which is usually worshiped during the Durga Puja is known as the "Mahishasura Mardini Roop", the manifestation of Shakti or Power which the Mother Goddess took to vanquish the demon king Mahishasura. Along with the main idol of Goddess Durga mounted on a lion killing Mahishasur, are the idols of Goddess Laxmi, Goddess Saraswati, Lord Ganesha and Lord Kartikeya. Each of these deities are a manifestation of some virtue for example Goddess Laxmi signifies wealth, Goddess Saraswati signifies learning, Lord Ganesha signifies wisdom and Lord Kartikeya signifies organisational capabilities.

So, if someone looks at the summation of the "Mahishasura Mardini Roop" and its significance then the point would become very obvious that if one wants to overcome difficulties in life then one would need to have concentrated physical as well as mental powers (Ma Durga), wisdom (Lord Ganesha), financial resources (Ma Laxmi), unquenchable thirst for knowledge (Ma Saraswati) and organisational capabilities (Lord Kartikeya).

All Blue Caramelers need to strive towards gradually imbibing the virtues as signified by the Durga Puja to be somebody in life. Even the virtue as displayed by Ravana of giving priority to duty over everything else, if properly inculcated by all in Blue Caramel, will surely lead to more professional glory....

Time is Money!

The easiest thing to waste is time, this saying though heard very often is hardly heeded by most. As the month of October completed its first week and we at Blue Caramel had our Quarterly review session, it was observed that some individuals were whiling away their time and in turn whiling away the company's resources as well. The easiest thing to do with such individuals is to phase them out from the organisation but we the Blue Caramelers have decided to give them a last chance to prove their detractors wrong and retain them in the family, The Blue Caramel family.

The importance of time has been revered by all the successful people in life. Dhirubhai Ambani, the founder of the Indian business conglomerate, Reliance was once just a petrol pump attendant in far off Aden. He could have whiled away his time there but he had the foresight and guts to turn his hardships into opportunities and the petrol pump attendant gradually became the owner of one of India's largest petrochemical refineries along with diverse interests in textiles, power, finance, telecommunications and so on.

Bill Gates, of the now world famous Microsoft Corp is a college drop out. People in that age group have impressionable minds and he could have whiled away his time as well but he put his mind into the work in hand and transformed Microsoft into a global giant with Paul Allen.

Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne started assembling handmade computers from a garage, Ronald Wayne left the company soon after but the Steves continued and the rest as they say is history and  Apple Inc today is one of the most valuable brands in the world.

For all Blue Caramelers the thing to understand is that to maintain status quo is the easiest thing, while away time is probably easier, but the opportunity lost by these (in)actions have long term repercussions in one's life because flowing water will always come down and hence one should not always float with the tide.    

Pride

As the month of September and the 3rd quarter of 2012 draws to an end, I am in the process of taking a stock of things that happened or did not happen in the Blue Caramel universe during this period. Today being a Sunday, I also indulged in some serious book reading and also scanned through the newspapers of the last few days and came upon a movie review of "Fire in Babylon", a documentary film that documents the rise of the West Indian Cricket Team from novices to legendary world beaters. The journey of the incredible rise started when the team members all fought together for the "Pride" of the team and their respective countries.

The West Indies Cricket team for long was a favorite whipping boy of the cricket playing nations. The team was also subjected to racial taunts and discrimination. There were times when they were verbally abused on the cricketing grounds itself with chants like "Go back to the trees again". Then something happened. The late 1960s saw the West Indian cricketers fight back. They started retaliating in pure cricketing terms to cricketing power houses like England and Australia. The submissiveness that they showed to theses countries especially the old "masters", colonial England gradually gave way to a certain level of cricketing aggression.

They started not taking things lying down. The genesis of this feeling was a sense of "Pride" which all the West Indian cricketers of that era started feeling for themselves and their team. This feeling catapulted them to "Invincible" levels, when during the 1970s, other teams shuddered at the very thought of playing against the Clive Lloyd captained West Indian cricket team.

The lessons that all Blue Caramelers should learn from this is that for every difficult situation in life, there are two types of people available- 1) The Trier and 2) The Crier. It would have been very easy for the West India team to have cried hoarse about the injustices (both actual as well as perceived) melted out to them and try to garner sympathy of the others. But as true champions instead of "Cry" they worked hard on the option of "Try". They focused on the job at hand with a renewed sense of pride and commitment and succeeded in shutting up the critics and their detractors with their performance on the field.

In the last 3 months, there have been cases of individuals in Blue Caramel highlighting both the "Try" as well as the "Cry" phenomenon. Triers are champions, they will always have the backing of all. But for the criers, who would like to have a cry baby tagging along forever?? 

T20 World Cup Sri Lanka- Super Eight

The T20 World Cup cricket is being played in Sri Lanka in which the various cricket playing nations are slugging it out to be the World Champions of the shortest form of International cricket. After the preliminary rounds , the super eight level is presently on, in which the top two teams from the four groups that had initially been formed at the start of the competition play each other after being divided into 2 groups. The top 2 teams from each team then move into the semi finals, the winners of which then fight it out in the finals.

Anyway, the main aim of my post is to highlight a certain point which I am sure would be very useful for all Blue Caramelers, a point that is exemplified by the erratic performance of Team India, the Men in Blue. The team which has world beaters in their own right, players like Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Gautam Gambhir, Virendra Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh and R Ashwin has been playing without consistency. After struggling and beating minnows Afghanistan in their opening match, Team India played out of its skin to annihilate defending champions England in the subsequent match, only to be demolished by a below par Australia in the first match of the super 8.

When you are in the flow, you need to make every moment count. Luck and fortune are very fickle mistresses, so you need to make hay while the sun shines and deliver your best. Team India reached the pinnacle of world cricket when it won the world cup 50 overs championship and also reigned supreme in the world test rankings. But as the saying goes, you need to run twice as fast when you are at the top, just to retain your position and that is where India seems to be failing.

So, all Blue Caramelers need to understand that Well Begun is Only Half Done, it is not until things END WELL that THINGS are actually WELL.

Ganesh-The God of Wisdom and Remover of Obstacles!

As the month of September roars on, all the offices of Blue Caramel has seen a flurry of activities but not actual results. The proverbial "blank shots" have been fired left, right and central. An important development from the Udaipur office has been the re-induction of Ms Heena Pathik. Heena who used to be associated with us at Jaipur, has now resumed duties at the Udaipur office. Sanjay, Santosh and Mehul are yet to draw first blood in this month, which in a way is the starting point of the many important festivals that Indians celebrate in a huddle, starting with Ganesh Chaturthi.

Ganesh Chaturthi is celebrated to commemorate the birth of Ganesha, the Hindu God of Wisdom revered as the Remover of Obstacles. Worshiping Lord Ganesha at the start of any auspicious work, it is believed, leads to the successful culmination of the same and hence the deity has a place of great prominence in the hearts of Hindus all over the world. The story of Ganesha is a very unique one. Hindu mythology states that Lord Ganesha, who is depicted as a deity with a human body with the head of a tusker, is the son of Lord Shiva and his wife Parvati. According to a legend, Goddess Parvati created a child like figure by sculpting clay and sandalwood paste and then infused life into the child. The child so created was entrusted upon by Parvati to guard her and protect her. When Lord Shiva came to see Goddess Parvati, the child oblivious to the fact that the mighty Lord was in fact the husband of Parvati and in turn his father, refused entry to him. This enraged Lord Shiva and a vicious fight began. The child or "Gana", a semi divine figure, who was outclassed by the powers of Lord Shiva, nevertheless continued to combat the mighty deity, as he put his responsibility and commitment to his mother over anything else. Soon, in this battle of the unequals, Shiva beheaded the child.

When Parvati came to know of this, she flew into a rage and the grieving mother took on her husband. When Shiva understood the series of events, he too admired the dedication and loyalty of the "Gana", his child and was filled with remorse. As he had beheaded the child, he got the head of a tusker and fitted it onto the child's body and then infused life into it. The child sprang into life albeit with the body of a child and the head of a tusker and was named "Ganesha".

The story of Ganesha has a lot to be learnt from for the Blue Caramelers.
1) Dedication and loyalty that Ganesha showed to fulfill the commitment that he had given to his mother is something that should be imbibed by all.
2) Ganesha continued to fight against Lord Shiva fully knowing that he was fighting against all odds. But the important thing is that he kept on fighting.
3) Last but not the least is that the dedication and unwavering focus on the committed job at hand coupled with a never-say-die-attitude was even recognized by Ganesha's adversary Lord Shiva and eventually Ganesha was rewarded and he become a divine deity "Gana+Ish (lord)" from being an ordinary semi divine "Gana".

The Monsoon Surge!

The month of September is well and truly on. All members of Blue Caramel have many new vistas to look forward to this month which I would be disclosing in my subsequent posts. This month is seeing an unusual surge in the Monsoon rains in the Indian state of Rajasthan. The state that was facing a drought like situation during the months of July and to a certain extent in August is now been blessed with more than adequate rains in most regions.

First coined by the British in India during the British Raj, Monsoon which is said to have been derived from the word "Mausam"- the Arabic word for season. refers to the rains that engulf the Indian subcontinent due to the seasonal winds that blow from the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea. The Monsoon accounts for nearly 80% of the total rainfall in India and is the primary source of water for irrigation for the farmers. Hence, its success or failure is of utmost importance for the Indian economy as nearly 70% of the total population of the country is still agrarian in nature.

After the sweltering heat endured by the population during the Indian summers, the rains brought by the Monsoon act as a nectar for the tortured masses. But along with all the goodness it brings, many cities in India especially cities like Mumbai are brought to a standstill by the rains because of the water logging virtually every year.

Cities in Rajasthan like Udaipur or the hill station of Mount Abu are in full bloom during the Monsoons. When the lakes in Udaipur fill up, it transforms the city  into a paradise which is beyond words. The surrounding Aravali Hills cloaked in lush greenery enhance the serenity and beauty of the region.

What Monsoon does is, it brings happiness and acts as a medium by which the business (read farmers) is able to grow. This is exactly what is envisaged of the mydestination.com platforms that Blue Caramel has in India ie it should be a medium by which all our associates in the field of leisure and travel, be it hotels in Rajasthan or Mumbai, Wellness and Spas, Cafes, Restaurants and Shops  to name a few are able to grow and prosper. They should look to Blue Caramel with hope as the farmer does when he waits for the monsoons!

Nothing Succeeds Like Success-Bruce, Bachchan & Blue Caramelers

As the eventful month of August draws to an end with the Race4Pace contest in its final lap, there have been some success stories from Team Blue Caramel Jodhpur and to a certain extent Team Jaipur, with Team Mumbai being a work in progress and Team Udaipur, still a disaster. Though the month is not yet over but all Blue Caramelers can learn from the experiences of many distinguished personalities from the World theater that failures are the stepping stones to successes. I will take 2 examples today.

The first person who comes to mind, who garnered success after prolonged periods of failure, is the legendary Scottish King, Robert the Bruce. In fact his adventures gave rise to the idiom, "If at first you don't succeed, then try and try again". The legend goes, Bruce who was one of the greatest of all Scottish Kings, during his struggle with the throne of England, was defeated seven consecutive times. In desperation, he fled and hid in a cave. While he was pondering hard and cursing his fate, he came across a spider, which was trying to spin a web trying to connect one part of the cave with the other. The spider, slipped and faltered seven times, but did not loose hope. It was successful the eight time. Inspired by this incident, Robert the Bruce returned with a new vigor and started inflicting on the English a series of crushing defeats, which finally resulted in him becoming the King of the Scots.

Amitabh Bachchan, the super star of Bollywood, is a living example of the try and try again idiom. Bachchan who quit his job with an MNC to start off a career in acting faced hurdles right from the go. His height and voice were deemed unfit for acting initially by some directors of Hindi movies. But he did not loose heart and got his first film "Saat Hindustani" after a brief period of struggle. Then there was no looking back for this Super Star as he created a niche for himself as the "Angry Young Man". His voice and height which was ridiculed initially became his greatest assets and he started churning hit movies after hit movies. In 1982 while shooting for his film "Coolie", Bachchan suffered a near fatal stomach injury after which he quit films for sometime. He dabbled in the quagmire of politics during this period and was even a member of Parliament from his home town of Allahabad. Realization soon dawned that politics was not his cup of tea and he resumed his acting career.

The mid 1990s were a torrid time for the Bachchans. Amitabh Bachchan's popularity as a Super Star was in wane and the company he floated ABCL was in shambles and filed for bankruptcy. When everything looked dead and over for Bachchan, he fought back with a vengeance, this time through the medium of television. He became the host for the Kaun Banega Crorepati, the Indian version of the "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire" and the rest as they say is history. Not only did Amitabh Bachchan gain back his lost glory as a Bollywood SuperStar, he also overcame all the financial difficulties he had to face during the 1990s.

It was very easy for Bruce as well as Bachchan to call it quits and lead a life of  failures but they understood that the tag of being a looser was much harder to carry than becoming a martyr in the quest for success and hence got inspired from happenings, when their chips were down. They learnt from their mistakes and strove hard and did not rest till they were the best. This is the spirit that is envisaged in all Blue Caramelers, the spirit of never giving up, the spirit of dealing with challenges head on and the spirit of succeeding and inspiring others with stories of success because Nothing Succeeds Like Success.