Book: I have a Dream by Rashmi Bansal

Finished reading “I have a dream” by Rashmi Bansal. It is a collection of real life stories of 20 entrepreneurs who contributed to the society through their ventures and efforts. Rashmi has done a great job with this book.

The book starts with the story of Bindeshwar Pathak of Sulabh International fame and goes on to describe many brillient individuals with kind souls like Anand Kumar (Super 30), Dhruv Lakra (Mirakle Couriers), Anshu Gupta (Goonj), Madhu Pandit Dasa (Akshaya Patra), Vinayak Lohani (Parivaar Ashram) and Shreesh Jadhav (Belur Math) among others. Each individudal tells his or her story full of struggles, setbacks and successes. While all are ver y inspiring, some really touch our soul. The book has been written in conversational style. While the book is very soul touching, at times the manner in which conversations are recorded irritates readers since it is difficult to find if the statement is made by the author of the book or by the person narrating his or her story. The paragraphs are in the form of one sentence each and at many places it looks like scrapbook or a blog not well edited. Apart from the lacking in editing, which can be improved upon in future editions, the book is a master piece. I highly recommend all to read this book; it is very special one you will surely remember for life. 

Narendra Modi to be Our PM

It seems like a personal achievement! Thank you everyone who voted for BJP/NDA, supported Narendra Modi and helped him win in any manner big or small... It is certainly a historical victory. It is a moment of pride for India and our democracy! Let us hope India takes fast lane of growth and let us continue to contribute towards our national causes.

Just Thinking...

In childhood, we had three small gardens/ kyaari of plants and flowers - one for each sibling. Each had plenty of roses and other flowers in it - mine had white roses and its plant climbed over our house's walls to reach even the roof. We kids used to maintain our gardens, water the plants, remove the weeds, also apply ash as insecticide at times. Till our younger sister was a too young, my elder sis and I used to maintain her garden also. Once father planted a coconut plant each in my sisters' gardens and also three Ashoka trees which have over the years grown into big trees. We also had guava trees, papaya plants and lemon trees - in which many birds made their nests, tweeted around the branches and played hide-and-seek with us.

I think growing up took so much toll that I closed all those nice real memories in a shell and tried to behave as if nothing really happened. About two years back when we moved to our own flat, my wife bought many plants and we kept several flower pots in our balcony. Since then, we see flowers in our balcony daily; we water the plants; worry about them on vacations; and rush to see them first thing when we are home. She also managed to grow some green chilies in the flowerpots! Of course we have Tulsi ji in one pot too; and she leaves children before going dry every time.

When children traveled far, our mothers would give us something to cling on - a hanman chalisa, some beaded garland, or some piece of cloth. Once I saw a stranger boy on the road bringing out his wallet which had passport size pics of both his parents - how positive was the feeling! I think the idea is to keep us connected to our true self... This is how human civilizations survive and keep moving without losing the soul...

Narendra Modi and Indian Share Market

Even my old loss ridden ULIPs have turned profitable in the weeks leading up to Narendra Modi's big day. Thank you Modi ji... Hope to see you do more for us :)

Book: Financial Planning for Doctors by Amar Pandit

The title of this book sounded too promising and flipping a few pages in the store made me very much interested; so I brought this home. It is published by Network18 publications. The book tries to cover as many aspects of financial planning for doctors as possible. Amar Pandit writes in a very simple and lucid manner and I am sure all readers will benefit from this book. Only if you have already read many books on financial planning then you will find less new points to discover. Also, this book has great many overlaps with another book from the same author titled “The Only Financial Planning Book that you will ever need”, so if you have read his other book then you can ignore this book for doctors; or else still decide to go with it since it has some specific examples for doctors. I highly recommend this book to all doctors.

Inspiring Movie: Million Dollar Arm

Yesterday we watched Million Dollar Arm and enjoyed a lot. Based on a true story and set largely in India, it is a story of success amid adversities. It is the story of two poor boys in India whose lives change when an American comes searching for talent. I also confess that I was expecting the foreign producers to have some negative portrayal of India but it did not happen. Some episodes were too touching. We wondered how foreign film makers were able to capture the essence of Indian mind and culture so well; while our own Bollywood is bringing out most typical movies without a soul. Its punchline: "Sometimes to win you have to change the game."

Book: The Only Financial Planning Book that you will ever need by Amar Pandit

A very successful friend recommended this book to me. The title of this book sounded too promising and fliping a few pages in the store made me very much interested; so I brought this home. It is published by Network18 publications (CNBC TV18). The book tries to cover as many aspects of financial planning as possible. Amar Pandit writes in a very simple and lucid manner and I am sure all readers will benefit from this book. Only if you have already read many books on financial planning then you will find less new points to discover. Still the book is very good. I highly recommend this book to all. 

Besan Laddus and My Need to be Right

Discovered a pack of 'Besan Laddus' lying on the dining table. As if to encourage my temptations further the pack was already unsealed. I started by tasting one laddu, and the next ones started testing my capacity. But I made sure not to touch the last piece. When wife came in, I proudly announced that I had left one laddu for her. This process repeated itself every time a pack of sweets was found on the dining table. I noticed that even after doing this theft, I was keeping a moral high ground focusing on the fact that I controlled my temptation and sacrificed the last piece of sweet for wife. Not sure if it was ethical or unethical but I think it can be called creative for sure. So the eaten laddus satisfied my taste buds and the last one standing satisfied my need to be morally right. Perhaps this is why it is so difficult to differentiate between good and bad, true and false, ethical and unethical, because we are partially all?

Heard Hrithik and Sussanne Roshan’s news

It is said that when God gives us a lot, he also keeps something away from us; perhaps the idea is not to allow perfection so easily. Great achievers had some fallacies or the others. This is why in India since childhood when we pray, we ask for apart from other things, “santosh” (content). Scriptures are full of verses which say that richest person is one who has content; poorest who is unsatisfied even after being king. But it is so hard to practice! We humans are still fighting against the vices thousands years ago our Rishis tried to fight.  All the material progress can be wiped out by one act of nature; but are we growing within? 

When I Sold Laddus

Our school used to celebrate ‘fun fair’ on every Republic Day. We used to sell its tickets in the neighborhood and then ran stalls selling sweets and games. One year our Principal also gave me the opportunity to sell. Perhaps my qualification was my personality which suited it most; so he declared “Rahul will sell laddoos”! I got a tray of laddoos to keep company for the whole day while my friends enjoyed being vagabonds as usual. It did not help either that the Bundi Laddoos were of immensely tempting color and aroma and I always had a sweet tooth. Though I found it surprising that not many came to buy so lovely laddoos which cost Re 1 each. By evening, since the sales were low, I had to eat some of those and keep the money in my collection box out of my own pocket money. With regretful heart, I returned the remaining laddoos in the tray and explained the accounting of sales to the Principal. I think it is always better to be customers than salesmen; especially if the items of sale are so delicious…

(Childhood memories...)

Supporting Narendra Modi!

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We live in a country where a young boy who once had to sell tea to passengers in trains along with his father could grow up and become the Prime Minister, using his hard work, honestly and talent; despite big empires and international forces working against him. The day Narendra Modi becomes our PM, we shall prove that "the Indian dream" works; our democratic system works (no matter how hard some leaders try to break it into pieces); and no matter how much some leaders complain and crib, we have plenty of reasons to be proud of!

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Thought about Narendra Modi coming to UP from Gujarat and an interesting observation came to mind. Lord Krishna was born in Mathura (in present day UP). Lord Krishna left UP and settled in Dwarka (in present day Gujarat) making it his capital. So the "UP-Gujarat connection" appears to be very old; Modi is only refreshing it!

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Giving and Receiving it While Debating

Someone wondered why people who are seeing putting hard truths even at the cost of hurting others personally, take it otherwise and are offended when they are at the receiving end. If they expect others to take it, why can’t they themselves take it without getting offended?  

I think it is not about "truth" per se. There are people who choose to put their opinion bluntly (not all opinions can be called true/false, so I think key is that they share their opinion which they know may not be liked). When it comes to receiving feedback, they may not agree with the other person who is trying to give blunt feedback to them; and they get angry because they take it personally and feel insulting. Their anger is understandable and I don't think it is hypocritical if you are thinking it as, since while sharing rude opinion they know that the other person will get angry. Getting angry is a common way people react to rude personal comments and in such case both parties are getting angry, so it becomes a game. Just like badminton or tennis; both players hit the other hard; and if one is not hitting hard it is considered weakness rather than being gentle.

I think comparison with games is good way to understand it. Arguing and debating is king of "game", literally and figuratively. I myself play such "game" at times :) I think when I am playing it, even if my comment may hurt the other person, I am not personal. Means it does not matter who the other person is, at the heat of argument I would still say what I wanted to say, strongly/bluntly. Just like when we are playing the game, it is not that we are "personally" trying to defeat the other person. The other player can be just anyone and we shall play at our best. And when it comes to receiving it :), we take it in the same sportsperson's attitude. After a few weeks we should ideally forget who was exactly the person, who said what. So we should be debating with a person for months/years all on different topics without agreeing much, but we seldom quit :) Because it is a game...

An Encounter

It is not regular that we encounter a policeman in our daily lives. That day was one for a change. As the policeman settled himself down on a seat of the bus I was also travelling in, I decided to have a good look at him. He had boarded the bus carrying a long barrelled heavy gun and a leather bag with some items hidden in it. His uniform indicated that he should be from the lower ranks, perhaps a hawaldar. His body was rugged but strong; skin tanned and made coarse by the elements; and his hand bore marks of several cuts and bruises from the past. Somehow that brought respect in my heart for him. His cap fitted his gradually balding head very well, which he adjusted once in a while perhaps as a little self-indulgence he could afford. Act two began when his cell-phone rang. To my surprise, it was a touch-phone which he preserved well in a leather case. As he answered his phone there was something that was not sailing smooth. He was holding and speaking in his cell-phone as if one spoke on a Walkie-talkie! With one hand he held his heavy gun tight while with the other he struggled to manoeuvre his touch-screen cell-phone like a walkie-talkie. I could notice the other two men sitting behind him busy controlling their chuckles. After a while the object of my distraction, our policeman, reached his destination and left to get down. The other two men smiled looking at each other. It was interesting that men who perhaps knew nothing about guns could laugh at one who knew how to fire and shoot but won’t know how to handle a cell-phone! Oh man! Men and their machines…