Where's the innocence gone?

This evening, we had some innocent fun. Oh yes, it was me and my pals here at college. We chose to play a game from our childhood, something I used to be really fond of. And during those few minutes, each one of us was just as happy as innocent kids are. As we closed it, once again we were all serious individuals with loads of thoughts in our minds, to each one his own. And this is what left me wondering long enough, to come up with the lines that proceed.

Why is it so that as we grow older, one of the purest qualities of human nature, the quality of innocence drifts away gradually? Why is every grown-up so different from his childhood? Or are we all just actors, hiding our real self, adorning our cloak of maturity and wisdom, because this is what the society we live in expects us to be like?

As we grow, there are so many biases that we face. For instance when parents say,” Oh come on! You are not a kid anymore” or “Don’t be childish!” or “You are not mature enough. Look at this friend of yours who is so wise and responsible, takes his decisions for himself”.

Wish things had been different. Wish there was no such obligation to adorn this cloak. Wish my childhood had stayed longer and if not, wish at least the society wouldn't have looked askance on grown-ups who chose to stay the same, with their child-like innocence on.

Bagchi and his Bio

The post carries my 20 cents on Subroto Bagchi’s “Go Kiss the World”. In the initial pages, it felt like just another autobiography with a lot of effort put in to make it a literary piece, clearly evident by the drama woven around simple incidents of an average childhood story. Some would say that the emphasis here is on the family connection and the petty details, though I find it to be an average account.

However, towards the later part of Bagchi’s career, that of the sowing of Mindtree’s seed, its nurture and growth are definitely worth a read. Here are some of my takeaways:

 How important it is to create memorability in your first meeting! As they say, first impression is the last impression.

 Why is Laalach such a buri balaa? The mention of the story from Panchtantra about the Brahmin and the clever tiger where the tiger being weak, offers the Brahmin his golden bangles for penance and entices the Brahmin to take a dip into the pond before receiving it. The Brahmin gets stuck in the pond’s mud and the tiger devours him. Who killed the man? Is it the tiger or the man’s greed?

 The importance of not having the word ‘panic’ in your lexicon. And the importance of taking time to think rather than taking hasty decisions in the crisis hours where the flow of emotions tends to work against you.

 That ‘All growth can be inherently destructive’- Drucker

You would say that these are all lessons we’ve already heard of, so what’s extra that Bagchi has offered!

Well, the most important aspect is that it’s simplicity with which success can be attained, just by pure effort and being there at the right places at the right times. The story reinforces the idea that one doesn’t have to be an extraordinary person to make big. All one needs is focus and the rest just follows.

P.S.: Subroto Bagchi is the co-founder of Mindtree Solutions

The Kite Runner, Me and the Journey

A lot has been happening these many days and I regret not being able to give enough time to something I’ve started to love, the love of penning my thoughts down.

Another semester has gone, taking me closer to the completion of my MBA and here I am today, writing from my train to home. Of course I’ll post this draft once I am in the confines of my home, when every byte of data will struggle to get uploaded from my small town’s BSNL broadband - a service that promises much more than its ability to deliver.

Its 3:15 p.m. now on the second day of my journey, a 46.5 hours one in total, with me on the side upper berth where there’s just enough space for me to lie down straight and yet I’m glad. Not because I’m perched high, glad because I could finish reading this awesome piece by Khalid Hosseini, “The Kite Runner” in a period of a day and a half straight. This is not how I usually spend my monotonous and long train journeys, I prefer peeping out of the tinted window and occasionally chatting with complete strangers around.

But this time, the vibes were not just right and I decided to get immersed in “The Kite Runner”. Now that it’s read, I’m glad that I began. The desire to read it was stronger because of the fervor with which Shreya gave me this one in my hand and said “You must read this” while I stood confused in front of the fiction section of our an year and a half young library. And now, I’ve been so moved by the story that I decided to pen down a few thoughts about it.

The pictures of Hassan & Ali, Amir & his Baba, Rahim Khan, Soraya & her parents, Aseef, the Talibs and the landscapes of Kabul – before & after, are all painted so clearly in my mind now that I won’t wonder if my tonight’s train dream will have them all or maybe there won’t be any dream at all, maybe no sleep even, all because I’m going home after ONE LONG YEAR. The last time I’d been home was on the morning of Diwali’08 and tomorrow will be Diwali’09, exactly a year has passed and I keep wondering of things that would’ve changed. There’s so much drama entwined with all our lives that often I feel, the direction of it all is just perfect, something that no human can judge and no Oscar can reward.

I could witness some serious drama in the pages of “The Kite Runner” too and I’m left wondering at the deadly skill that the art of writing could be, wondering that how easily could Amir write his first story, how naturally he got the talent of writing ‘irony’ in the same, and how simply his illiterate servant Ali’s illiterate son Hassan, who later turned out to be his half brother, had pointed out the ‘plot hole’ in his interesting small first story.

I had never realized this before until I read from Khalid’s pen – not that there are people in this world who mean every word they say, but the fact that these people think that everyone else does the same too. So when they speak of something, casually do they take the words of everyone else, as if they were also meant exactly like them! How true & how fascinating!!

I was fascinated by the drive that Amir had to win the kite flying tournament so that in the eyes of his Baba, he could become someone who was looked at, not seen, listened to, and not heard. So much to strive, for a dream that was not his own, but his Baba’s. A whole lot of the world does that and I’m not judging the extent to which it might be right.

But yes, the drama woven around the tournament was so captivating that I regret not having learnt the art so far. Maybe this time when I’m home, when my neighbours’ kite will be up in the sky on the festival of Chatth, 6 days after Diwali, I’ll try my hands at it and in those moments, maybe I’d think of Amir to get the rush of adrenaline, a must to drive one crazy at any sport.

At one point, I could not keep myself from smiling when I found the melodrama that a Bollywood film has, when towards the end, in desperation to save a loved one’s life, Atheists turn to God, pray, become believers and stay on like that.

Also did I find out that a dialogue from one of my recent favourite romantic movies, ‘Jaane Tu’ was an abridged version of the lines by Hosseini – ‘You can take Afghans out of Paghman, but you can’t take Paghman out of Afghans’. Pardon me for my ignorance if something like this is a clichéd phrase that the author had passingly mentioned. And if it is not, we should appreciate Bollywood for being so diverse!

The crux of The Kite Runner’s story is something I’m not disclosing here. It’s a recommended read for all those of you passionate about fiction and who at the same time wants a peek into the Afghanistan of the Monarchs, the Rebels and the Taliban.
It makes me wonder though, how people change for and with power and how they forget the larger interests of humanity in this quest of theirs, which they shamelessly try to justify in the name of God, of religion and of the past.

Siddharth
(Onboard Sanghmitra Express)

Religion & Me

Before writing this post, I am definitely sure of one thing that no matter what your religious view is (or is not); you will find something here that you can relate to.

Born and brought up in a deeply religious Jain family, there’ve been quite a few customs/rituals that have become a part of my daily life. And these have not come up by my choices or my conscious decisions, rather as learning from my parents and grandparents as to what is right and what is not. Isn’t this the case with many of us?

Don’t the majority of us look up to God only when we get into some trouble or when we need something really badly and are worried that we are not strong enough to get out of the trouble or not capable enough to achieve the need!

Even those who religiously follow the customs would agree that the best they achieve out of their prayers is a sense of security that there is a power higher up which will save them from the perils that might come on their way. And that, in their times of need, they can offer prayers, make wishes and in the hope that these will be granted, continue to do their daily chores with a little more ease. Believe me when I say this that I do the same too and the kind of support I receive by the mere offering of these prayers is inexplicable.

With the instinctive quality of curiosity that all humans are born with, I’ve had my set of many questions too and in response to those many, I’ve got a few answers, a fewer of which have convinced me and others till date have failed to do so. All these unanswered or unconvincingly answered questions on God, on religion or on the many aspects of our social lives have made me realize that learning on these will come from time to time and in many hidden ways. All I need to do is to keep my eyes open and follow my own way.

SIBM Bangalore : The Year That Was

This is an attempt to share some of the experiences that the pioneer batch at SIBM Bangalore, had in the year just gone by and I’m sure this will give all the new joinees, a lot of things to look forward to in the days to come.

It all started with an induction an year ago on 16th June- with butterflies in our stomachs, with some smart and pretty faces, some confident ones and some apprehensive- yet all determined to start on this beautiful journey of MBA life.

A little later we had a formal inaugural by Shri Arjun Singh- the then Cabinet Minister of Human Resource Development, in the presence of our founder and Chancellor – Padma Shri Dr. S.B. Majumdar and many other dignitaries.



The student leadership team came next, under the presidentship of Satej and thus started the student-driven institute in its true sense.The first wave of pride came our way when Bikash and Mudit won the Business Plan Contest at IIM Bangalore. And by then, each one of us had started to actively participate in events and competitions nationwide as the proponents of this new entity - SIBM Bangalore.

A little later, there was this confusing period of zeroing-in on our specializations which ultimately all of us did and the course progressed.And then, towards the end of the first semester, we had our Prof. Pankaj Gupta joining the institute as the first director, which marked the point for many more things to come and all for the better.

The second semester began in November with a flurry of activities and the academic rigor had just set in with visiting faculty from the best institutes. Our entrepreneurship cell was inaugurated on 15th November by Mr. Rakesh Shukla, Founder & CEO – The Writer’s Block.

Apart from the many guest lectures from industry stalwarts and CEOs(including Mr. Bijou Kurien-President and Chief Executive-Lifestyle Division, Reliance Retail; Mr. Shailesh Chaturvedi-CEO - Tommy Hilfiger Apparel India; Dr. Sudarshan K Maini-Chairman, Maini Group of Industries(REVA Cars); Mr. Vinay Luthra-MD, KSTDC; Mr. Suhas Gopinath-CEO & President, Globals Inc.and others), we hosted a colloquium on the Global Economic Downturn on 28th December where the keynote speaker was the very eminent- Dr. S.P.Kothari, M.D., Global Head of Equity Research at Barclays Global Investors.

On the 1st of December, the very active and socially responsible students of our batch participated in an AIDS awareness campaign in the city organized by the Team Daayitva in association with Action Aid, an international agency. The event brought out the humane face of SIBM Bangalore and was followed by more such initiatives.

The month of February saw another grand event, a HR conclave viz., “Audeamus” on leadership challenges in the current economic scenario, chaired by Mr. Ranjan Acharya, Sr. V.P. at Wipro in the presence of eminent panelists.

All through this period of one year, there was wholesome learning for us - both didactic and experiential. And of course, there was our fair share of fun and frolic.
The year ended with the commencement of our summer internships which brought with it valuable insights into the corporate world.

At this stage, I get my satisfaction from the fact that I’ve been involved with some of the major events that happened last year in some or the other way. The hard work that I had put in with my friends from Team Daayitva really paid off with the success of the AIDS awareness campaign. And as the compere and organizing team member of Audeamus, I got to learn a lot from the hurdles the team faced.

I must also mention that all through the year, I have met great people and the best part is, my wonderful friends here, who are now an inseparable part of my support system.

And now, the journey continues…..

More about Life here at the SIBM blog!!