1. I hate sleeping

2. I have enjoyed my life in childhood

3. I can’t live without tension 4. I want to have disturbed family life

5. I believe in Geeta”Karm karo phal ki kamna na karo”

6. I don’t want to spend time with my spouse

7. I want to take revenge on myself

8. I wanted to break up from my friends

9. I want social boycott

10. I love to work on Sundays &holidays

With the wishes rolling in, time having passed, age creeping up, no longer have the fascination or energy to make resolutions which are normally broken within a month of the new year; hence decided for the first month to pass by before I pen down some thoughts….for the new year.

The last year with a lot of time spent with self, family, friends led to quite a realization & thanks to that, am beginning the year on a focused note.

1. Clean up - Having done so in the last 6-9 months, have seriously decided to continue doing so in the coming year.

Life - try and continue keeping it simple. It shall always consist of Paradox, Humor, Change.

Mind - forsake - anger, worry; respect others; work hard; honestly; be grateful - All of this just for today!

House - keep it clean, rid it off old things that may be of use to others, gives you more satisfaction.

Wardrobe - clean it every 60-75 days. Do not hoard, you will always find a better use for things.

2. Negative People - Avoid them like the plague, ignore them if that does not work or be upfront, brutally honest to them once.

3. Remove the confusion between friends; business contacts; acquaintances. Make time to connect with friends & those who matter. Besides the SMS, brief birthday calls; catch up for a coffee, drink, movie, dinner.

4. Increase the % of reading, the more serious kind, whilst still enjoying fiction.

5. Spend less time online surfing & more reading, writing about what you love.

6. Stop trying out all the Fad diets; start work out (after all the wife’s given you a birthday gift - gym membership).

7. Decide where you wish to go professionally this year & over the next 3 years & implement.

The cost of Living is going up and the Chance of living is going down

Bela Gupta, Tehmasp Printer & B.P. Singh waxed nostalgic just before the new year!

I want to go back to the time

When “getting high” meant “on a swing”

When “drinking” meant “cider”,

When “dad” was the only “hero”

When “love” was “mom’s hug”,

When “dad’s shoulder” was the “the highest place on earth”

When your “worst enemies” were “your siblings”

When the only thing that could “hurt” were “skinned knees”

When the only things “broken” were your “toys”

and

When “goodbyes” only meant “till tomorrow.

And Yes I agree with them…

Deepavali as I remember two decades/decade & a half back……

The preparations used to start right in earnest the next day of Dushera. Cleaning of the house to be done - all the cupboards to be emptied, with shouts of joy finding the same things over again (never mind that they would be kept back in the same place for another year) sheets, curtains to be washed in the olden days, then came dry cleaning, the entire house to be washed; lots of savories chakli, mathia, gathia, puri (3-4 varieties) amongst others & different variety & array of sweets to be prepared. This entailed kids to be shooed out since they would insist on tasting everything. No matter the women in the house would taste everything & then also invite criticism…Woe betide anybody who dare say something bad…. Read the rest of this entry »

May this festival of lights protect you & your loved ones; fulfill your wishes, dreams & ambitions; bring peace, happiness, prosperity that helps you make a bigger difference in the coming year.

Wishing you Happy Diwali & a Prosperous New Year

As a leader, your word is only as good as your last promise kept …. or broken

This thought has been relevant in the past, but more so in today’s scenario. It does not matter whom you lead, whether you are a parent, teacher, manager, CXO, CEO, politician so on & forth….. this is applicable.

In the employee focused environment of today, where the knowledge perception is extremely high & you hobnob with extremely bright youngsters who know exactly what they want in life, it is extremely important to have a clear communication line constantly open, sharing thoughts, worries with them openly. They are no longer willing to accept just because the leader has said so!

And it is here, it becomes imperative to think your promise before you give it & more importantly once given, follow it thru to ensure it does not break.

Over the years, this principle has brought & caused me grief, though to be honest I have not been able to keep to it every time.

Time Management is something most of us claim to either have mastered or are completely useless at. Some signs are, being perpetually running late for meetings, not able to schedule, so on & forth. Over the years passing thru these phases & watching a bunch of friends & colleagues namely R. Sriram; Soeb Fatehi; Sunil Sheth; Hemant Gajjer; Devangshu Datta to name a few have managed to change myself to a greater extent, more importantly becoming adept at managing time most of the days — Read the rest of this entry »

According to the media & the highly qualified common man, the last month has been extremely bad for India, with inflation at a record high etc. etc. These articles, comments (most of them given by people who have no clue or at times by people who can only retain their job provided they comment) are mostly to be taken with a pinch of salt. Whilst there is some truth involved, some thoughts that occur to one that can be practiced maybe now or forever by businesses -

1 Remember what Sam Walton said: Trust your customers. Go talk to them, bad times or good times.

2 Ask yourself what you want to look like when recovery comes & start working towards the outcome. Read the rest of this entry »

“Two’s company, three’s … a hindi movie”

“I dont think so, therefore I’m probably not”

“Friends may come and go, but enemies tend to accumulate”

“Few women admit their age. Few men act theirs” Read the rest of this entry »