BYE BYE 2010

Friends
Finally today, the last day of this first decade of twenty first century has come. Tomorrow would be not only the first day of year 2011 but also the first day of second decade. Last 10 years remind me lot of developments, events, happenings, khushi (pleasure), Gamm (sadness), tensions and uncertainties. This 10 years have seen kids becoming older from school going to college going, more independent and intelligent, Me growing older with almost 80% silver hairs, specs on eyes and so on. The decade started with severe earthquake in my city, followed by communal riots, economic recession, political uncertainty and ended with good satisfaction on almost all fronts. Life is Good and nothing to complain. God is kind enough and has given more than I asked. I know even God can not satisfy all the wishes in life but at least he has been kind enough to me. Many friends and collegues left the city, settled some where else and many friends have been successful much beyond my expectations.
I wish the coming decade will be better than this and would help me to achieve my aims in life to the extent that when we analyse again the decade on 31.12.2020, I feel satisfied and happy on all the fronts. Me and my family wish a very happy and prosperous "New Year 2011" and "New decade 2011-2020" for all my friends, family members, Relatives, Collegues and well wishers. God bless to all of us and fulfill all the wishes we take to him. With this let us say good bye to 2010 and welcome 2011.
CP

Year 2010

Friends
Year 2010 is about to go. I wish it was a good year and pray to god that 2011 would be better than this. If I recollect the year 2010, it was one of the successful year of my career professionally and on social front it was satisfactory. To summarise the year 2010 :
1. I visited many locations i.e. Mumbai, Delhi, Jaipur, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Cochi, Andaman & Nicobar, Singapore, Banaras, Sarnath, Tirupati, Allahabad and Pune.

2. Hitisha moved to Pune for building career in media and journalism, My brother Rajesh moved to Uganda for Job.

3. we started office in Mumbai and also moved to new location in Ahmedabad also the team strengthened and moving towards right direction.

4. I could reconnect with my old friends after many decades (gap in years written)like: Alok Kala ( 20 years), Balkishan Jajoo ( 32 Years), Amit Goyal (28 years), Chandra Shekhar ( 30 Years), Dinesh Jain (18 Years) and Raghunath Singh ( 27 Years).

5. I read some good books like: i. Chanakya Neeti ii. Stay Hungry Stay Foolish iii. The Ultimate Life iv.The Five Dysfunction of a Team v.How Starbucks saved my Life vi. The Tipping Point vii. Blue Ocean Strategy, viii. India Unbound ix. Brida x. Ambani & sons xi. Connect the Dots & xii. Bachchan Madhushala. I wish I could read more books.

6. I could see the temple in my village fully constructed.

Over all the year 2010 was good on all fronts. However it was also full of mental pressure, tension, uncertainty but still it was good one.

CP

Friends
The travelling has suddenly been replaced by the social events. Lot of Marriages, Reception, Sangeet etc. are in place. Though as per Hindu religion there is no Muhurat for Marriage from 15th Dec. 2010 to 14th Jan. 2011, but for the NRIs this is the only period when they have vacations and can afford to spend 15 days in their home country. So in almost all the cases this is the marriage season for NRIs. It is also the time when kids have some vacations and they are back at home for some time. Of course this would not continue for long and after a week every thing would change.

Gujarat is going to celebrate new year with lot of functions and most important of all the functions is "Vibrant Gujarat' being held from 10th Jan 2011 to 13th Jan 2011. This even would witness presence of many leading industrialists in the State and delegates from many countries. In addition to this Kankaria Carnival, Patangotsav and Rannotsav would be great attraction.

In life we start with some thing, move forward and knowingly unknowingly change the track as per the situations. By the time we cross some distance, it gives feeling of substantial changes in the original plans, change in the team, change in relationship,change in business and so on......In every aspects of life the change is certain and continuous. It changes the priorities, preferences,tastes, behaviour, attitude every thing. Change is good in life but human nature never likes it initially and once accustomed to it then resistance develops for change again. And if change is forced then we feel bad and react boldly. But change is unstoppable and continue to be there in life whether for the good or bad.It happens with every one every time universally. We should take that change positively and try to adjust accordingly for making such changes beneficial.
As the year 2010 is passing, people have started analyzing the good and bad about this year and learn from the mistakes and move further for betterment of 2011.
CP

Friends
Last week I got the chance to visit Banaras (Varanasi), Allahabad, Sarnath and Bangalore. Except Bangalore all the three trips were social and it gave me chance to visit Kashi Vishwanath Temple (one of the Twelve Jyotirlingas), Sangam (Ganga , Yamuna & Saraswati Rivers) and Anand Bhawan. These are really great locations to visit.
I also finished two books i.e. 1)"Connect the Dots" by Rashmi Basal and 2) "Bachchan Madhushala " by Dr. Harivanshrai Bachchan. Rashmi Bansal has done good effort second time after her popular Book " Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish) in finding the entrepreneurs who are not MBA and without much education have succeeded in life achieving the success. This is a very inspiring book and worth reading. Madhushala by the legendary Bachchan Sb. needs no introduction and comment as this is being read since last 75 years. An excellent book of poems on life.
The year 2010 is about to become history and soon 2011 will be the happening year.
CP

Friends
Yesterday I was in Bangalore for some official meetings and got chance to meet some techno entrepreneurs. I also had chance to spend some time with Nikita. She mentioned about her newly launched blog which I read today. I am overwhelmed and proud with the first post written by my lovely daughter Nikita (http://nikitacjain.blogspot.com). I can not imagine that kids have grown up and think so deeply and positively.
cp

RICH VS WEALTHY

Friends
Again gap in writing blog. The thought in my mind is about the difference between "Rich" and "Wealthy". What is the key feature which differentiate a Rich person from the Wealthy one. In my view Rich may be having lot of money but the he /she needs to work continuously to remain Rich. He carries the risk of loosing richness and in most probability looses too. His income flow is very fast and uncertain and this keeps him busy, tense and vulnerable. On the other side wealthy person lives life lavishly, have sufficient time to enjoy the life and is not vulnerable to environment risk. The flow of income is good, certain and continuous. As I could understand the basic difference is in the income flow module. Wealthy people create fixed and certain income flow which is continuous and does not need their much of the personal time and attention. Such income flows are mainly from rentals, interest, royalty, dividends etc.
We should think seriously about becoming wealthy and not rich.
CP

Friends
Returned back to India on Saturday, 27Th Nov. morning after almost a week's stay in Singapore. The trip was very helpful professionally and it helped me a lot in understanding people around me and planing for the future. This country offers great business opportunity for every one who wish to burn himself for minimum period of two years. This was my second trip in last two years and I wish to travel this country more frequently if chance given. When ever we shower our happiness, become more humble it is taken as weakness and misused. The humble behaviour if seen as weakness develops more expectations and ultimately the tumors in relationship. It really needs great level of maturity to handle such situation.
On personal front NIkita came to Ahmedabad after completing her internship in Mumbai and now planning to go to Bangalore soon. Hitisha is still in Pune and may jump in soon.
CP

Friends
This is my fourth day in Singapore and in these 4 days I have tried to meet as many people as possible. Tomorrow is the last day here and then by late afternoon I would return back to India. After 4 days, the information and suggestions are being processed in mind and may be by tomorrow it would start taking shape. In addition to the various professional meeting I got the opportunity to roam around the city and understand the culture, life style etc. People here are very cool and patient. They follow the rules strictly display highest level of civic discipline. Singapore is a developed country and it is a cosmopolitan city. One part of the city is called "Little India" which is densely occupied by people from Indian sub continent. This area has many temples, mosques, Arya Samaj office, lot of Indian, Pakistani and B'deshi restaurants and shops. But the area is not maintained properly. People don't follow the civic sense properly and even the taxi divers avoid coming to this area. One can easily feel the difference between this area and rest of the Singapore. The city is full of high rise buildings, Shopping Malls, Commercial spaces and residential properties. It is a great country worth living and doing business.
CP
Singapore

Friends
Day two at Singapore was equally interesting and exciting. The meetings with some people was very fruitful as far as the basic purpose of my visit is concerned. May be by the end of the trip I would get some idea about the business potential in this country. People advise and view on the basis of their experience. I have noticed many people are very good by heart, very honest and transparent but still they do not make the desired progress. Such people are very emotional and sensitive and they always tilt to one side to the maximum. This ultimately ends up with no gain and more loss. The business is of relationship which takes very long time to build and seconds to break. In my view the success mantra for any field lies in positive attitude and relationship.Knowledge can be borrowed but attitude can never be borrowed or lend.
CP
Singapore

Singapore, 22ND Nov. 2010
Friends
Today morning landed on this country of opportunity. I was here about two years back too. The country inspires every visitor with its huge business potential and beautiful tourist places.
Singapore is a cosmopolitan city country with population of about 48 lacs (Lesser than Ahmedabad). It is a developed country with world's best infrastructure set up. It is rated amongst the best location for financial dealings. I have come along with Gaurang Acharya to get the feel of the place and find out if any thing can be explored in the field of our activity.
Meanwhile the office in Ahmedabad is completely shifted to new location and soon every thing would be settled.
Life is taking turn day by day and the decisions taken in past are now leading to the results which are combination of both positive and negative. The expectations and aspirations increase day by day irrespective to the performance. Probably this is what the business has in its store.
CP

Dear Friends
During Diwali season, Gujaratis take holidays of about 10 days. It is just like curfew in the city as most of the people go out to their native places or to other places of touring. Finally from Monday, i.e. 15Th Nov., the city got back to normal.
New office at Ahmedabad has become partially operational now and soon it would be fully operational. New recruitment and activities would take place soon. I wish this development (shifting to new office) would take the business to new heights with blessings of all the friends and relatives.
Recently I finished the book " Ambani & Sons" by Hamish Macdonald. The book analyses the ways and means of Ambanis in doing business. It has given detailed information and analysis about Dhirubhai from the year of his birth till today. However, the book seems to be one sided only and criticises ambanis too much. It seems that the writer is biased about ambanis. Over all the book is worth reading for knowing about the ambanis, business atmosphere in the country, political atmosphere, corruption etc.
CP

Dear Friends
I wish every body a very happy Diwali and prosperous new year. One month is ling enough gap for not writing on blog. It should not happen but some house the lethargicness has developed in all spheres of life. IN last one month lot of events have taken place. 14th October was birthday of Shashi, then the great Gujarati festive season of Navratri then Dussehra and finally Diwali. This last one month also witnessed some exciting development in regard to our business. We did the pooja of new office at Ahmedabad on 10Th Nov. 2010, which in turn resulted into arrival of some very important guests for this purpose. This period put lot of pressure on me mentally and physically and kept me away from regularly updating on blog. Both kids came and went back to their respective locations (mumbai and pune for the present). Hitisha could not attend the pooja ceremony die to the exams going on and we all missed her too much. This is the life and most of the time we have to live this by missing some one very dear. I dont know why such situation arises but this is the fact of the life and we should accept as it is. Good thing was that this ceremony was blessed by my father, who could not come in earlier such occasion.
CP

Friends
Travelling day also helps me in reading books. Most of the books are finished when I am travelling . Yesterday also I finished another great book "India Unbound-by Gurcharan Das". The book is in depth analysis about the economic policies of our country post independence and where we could have done better. The Indian Government's attitude towards socialism, capitalism, present state of our country and future prospects. This book is a good blend of politics and economics and worth reading to understand our leaders' past mistakes, vision and personal interests.
Moving to another book now named "Ambani & Sons" by Hamish Mcdonald. He had also written another book named Polyester Prince which was banned in our country. Seems an interesting book, but can not comment right now in detail.
CP

Friends
Despite my rigorous efforts, I am unable to post more frequently. This Friday we went to Bangalore, Hitu joined from Pune and Nikita was there itself. It gives immense pleasure to get together ans spent time with family. Saturday morning we left for annual pilgrimage to Tirupati. Due to Gandhi Jayanti, the rush was huge but with the grace of God, we got the Darshan in one and half hour and left for Bangalore immediately. Visiting Tirupati is great opportunity and fortunately this was our 4Th continuous trip to this holy place.
Next day, 3rd Oct. was day of some shopping and then again parting of the family. By afternoon Hitu left for Pune and we for Ahmedabad, leaving Nikita with her friends and colleagues.It makes heart heavy and tense when we leave kids away from us but there is no option.It is for their better career and this small sacrifice is required from all the family members.
In present time, the communication and travelling facilities are so good that one can travel anywhere in no time.
CP

Friends
Yesterday it was Anant Chaturdashi. A very special day for Jains, for them it is last day of paryushan and for Hindus it marks the end of 10 day pooja of lord Ganpati. Ganpatiji is brought home by millions of people on Ganesh Chaturthi and for 10-11 days it is big ceremony and finally on chaturdashi they are immersed into sea or river with request to come early next year. It also marks the end of good days in hindus because from next day i.e. Poonam, the shraadhs start for next 15 days upto Amavasya. We remember and worship our ancestors who are no more in this world but without them we would have been not in this world. In most of the religion the period of last one month is very important. Muslims keep Roja for one month and probably all religion become silent by the end of anant chaturdashi. Next 15 days people would avoid buying new property or starting new business.

People say "Aadmi khali haath aata hai and khali haath hi jata hai". In my view he come fully loaded with hitech mind and fresh body machine which starts getting unwrapped slowly and gradually it blowns up to its full. The all machines and tools starts performing and he creates own identity in this world. He lives as a social animal and always surrounded by lot of social and professional relationships. He becomes part of many incidences, actions and happenings. In the process he may please some and annoy others. But in the end his presence becomes memory for every one in the society. Probably later on when his machines starts getting deteriorated he starts surrendering and when goes the machine gets useless. But he leaves a legacy behind him, lot of memoirs to this world. His actions, views, nature, achievement etc. are left here in this world. Hence I would say he neither comes empty handed nor goes empty. What you say?

"Best tip for weight reduction and to remain healthy is to finish dinner before 7pm. This would automatically lead to good health and no obesity".

Michhami Dukkadam: Jane anjane mai yadi hamse koi bhul hui ho ya kisi vajah se kisi ka dil dukha ho to mai and meri family dil se kshama chahati hai. UTTAM KSHAMA.
CP

Friends
Expectations and Aspirations are the key reasons of frustration & depression in the present world. A person when grows and starts understanding this world aspire to achieve every thing under this sun. Then gradually with some efforts, luck, positioning, environment, support and attitude he moves to the desired direction, he achieves some and fails in some but expectations continue to move forward. At certain point he surrenders quietly and pass on the unfulfilled expectations to the next generation. All unfulfilled aspirations are passed on intelligently to the next generation. He cooks up various great stories about himself and equally strong reasons for not achieving certain aspirations. All the failures are due to some one else' fault and hence he starts looking through the eyes of next generation. He commands the kids to do what he could not achieve and if the new generation does not follow his dream he gets frustrated and ultimately into depression. I agree that parents have every right on the kids to fall upon them but why one should attach to such an extent that it generates depression and frustration.
In many cases parents dictate to the kids to select a career of their choice and also the stringent parameters to achieve that. Through out the life they reprimand and insult the kids for less number of marks or lesser achievement. Such parents don't leave any space for the kids to speak up their desires and when they grow up they carry very less confidence. They find it very difficult to create their own space in this world and ultimately become a tool without self guidance and direction. Parents should avoid and never dictate such things to the kids. They should be given proper direction and support to achieve whatever they aspire. Would it not be good to see the kids successful in whatever they desired and that too with the support of parents. Such kids are always full of self confidence and energy to fight in this competitive world. They just need guidance and support of the parents nothing more than that.
CP

Friends
After opening office in Mumbai the progress seems quite visible. Gaurang, Brij and their team working excellently and the fruits of efforts would soon come to the organisation. It is widening the vision also and new thoughts coming in the mind are very exciting.
Once kids left the home, the silence takes over the reign and nothing moves. What a life?
These days paryushan parva going on in jains and the temples are over crowded, people do pooja and keep fasting. In our country temples are more like exhibition centres where the clothing and jewellery for ladies are displayed. Every one desires to show one up man ship than others, the pooja takes back seat. But still every one visits the temple and do some pooja. Also the discipline in daily routine reminds the life style of childhood. The lunch has to be in morning, no breakfast and dinner before sunset. This gives huge benefits to the body as the gap between dinner and sleep is more than 4 hours helps in better digestion. The religions are in fact scientifically designed for the better of human beings but some where we have drifted knowingly or unknowingly.
The control over tongue is of immense importance for the human being. Tongue is the the softest organ of the body surrounded by the ruthless 32 teeth. Still it not only survives but guides every one too. It shows the personality of a person and also can take him to any where. Similarly it manages the body too. It decides what should go inside and what should not. We mostly become slave of it and spoil the whole body. An organ of 25-30 gms can spoil 70 Kgs' person. What a miracle really. We cant imagine life without it.
CP

Friends
Michhami Dukkadam to every one. Jane anjane mai koi bhul hui ya kisi ko hurt hua to I beg a pardon and forgive me.
Kshama or Forgiveness is a tool which wipes out all the grudges and complaints. One need a great courage to forgive and greater to seek forgiveness. That is why it is called "Kshama Virasya Bhushnam". In our tradition we seek forgiveness once in a year but if we use this regularly, there can be no substitute to this in relation building and relation maintaining.It does not downgrades your stature if we seek forgiveness on every occasion when we hurt or harm some one.

Nikita and Hitisha are here for a very short trip and would go back tomorrow to their present habitat. It is great feeling of watching kids growing, become intelligent day by day, taking care of themselves, living independently and so on. It gives tremendous satisfaction and joy to see all this happening. But when they go, it also pains a lot but probably this is life where every one has to move for better career.
CP

Friends
Yesterday I had been to Delhi. The travelling in this monsoon is really a big challenge, particularly when the whole journey is turbulent. The Common Wealth Games are approaching fast and probably Government has waken up after so many years of sleep and trying to catch up. In the process the general public faces the music. In Delhi the traffic was put to complete halt for almost 3 hours and this spoiled my visit partially. I am advised not to visit Delhi for next 2 months or else don't fix up any meetings. The position of the Government of India is like a student given very tough assignment which is beyond the capacity. It is pity that CWG were allotted in favour of our country about 7 years but the attitude of taking such things lightly lead us to present situation. Corruption apart it is lack of management skills of all our politicians which is embarrassing all Indians without their fault.
The book "India Unbound" is yet to complete but this is really a great book for economic introspection of our country. It is true that our country is full of legends, intelligent people in all segments, but we could not utilise their calibre properly.
CP

Friends
September month has started which witnesses lot of religious festivals of jains particularly. Most of the jain temples are full of bhakts and worshippers. The discipline of food, fasts and timings are in place.
My brother, Rajesh has just moved to Uganda (Africa) for better career prospects. The education provides platform to every one to perform in this competitive world and I wish him great success in his career. The joint family system has almost gone away in cities particularly and the effect can be seen in behaviours too. These days the kids of nuclear families do not know many close relationships and always avoid too. For them it is useless to know about the family tree, various relatives, history etc. Neither they are interested to know about them nor they feel such need. This may lead to loneliness, depression, insecurity and frustrations in long run. I agree that colleagues, friends and neighbours are always very important in life but they can not replace the relatives. In my view the coming time would witness a different westernised atmosphere where no body cares for the relatives and only for the colleagues and friends. This would further dent or may scrap the Indian culture where the values, security and teachings come more from relatives.
In any case the world moves on.
CP

Friends
Wish you all very very happy Janmashtami. May Lord Krishna take care of our safety, prosperity and happiness. Lord Krishna did struggle through out the life. Parents in jail and the Kans mama had already killed his six brothers and sisters. The threat to kill him forced his father to take him out to nearby village. Somehow he grown up under Nanad-Yashoda but threat to life remained till last. Then his other cousins (Kaurav-Pandav) fought and he had to divide his army and himself between both the groups. We all know what happened there and lastly he was forced to leave Mathura and move to Dwarika. Life was never easy for him rather it was very tough. Still he always listened to every one. Every human has to live life full of challenges irrespective of normal person or God. The lessons of load krishna are the most precious treasure of we Hindus and if followed properly, these are great blessings.
CP

Friends
Good to share the views. The monsoon season is at its peak and this year it is good across the country. When we are born the love , care , knowledge every thing comes from Mother and family members. Later the support from friends and relatives is extended. Then the knowledge is pored through education. The kid is in constant shadow of Maa Saraswati. Once she is confident to handle Laxmi, the boy or the grown up man is transferred into the shelter of Mata Laxmi. Soon he becomes staunch devotee of Laxmiji. Forgets the teaching of Ma Saraswati and whole life the greed takes him away from knowledge. In he process he spoils his health and when he reaches to the dead end of life, he tries to go back to Maa Saraswati. By this time every thing goes out of control. This is the life where he a man curses the luck, or the time which are not in his control. He forgets the real reasons which are mainly attitude, knowledge and relationship.
CP

Friends
The views on soulmate were made on the basis of various books and newspaper clippings. It is no where related to the need of finding soulmates. I simply mentioned that since soul is immortal the soulmates are always there in this world. It does not mean that we should go out to hunt the soulmates and spoil the family. The family is the creation by humans during the journey of life and it is nurtured by lot of love, affection, dedication, faith and committment. There can not be any replacement or substitute to that. Please dont take my views about the Brida book as need of finding soulmates.
CP

Friends
Saturday Night and Sunday Morning i.e. the time between 7th evening to 8th morning was horrible. It was lightening and thundering whole night. After all my city Ahmedabad received 14" of rain in just 6 hours. The thunders were clear sign of the might of nature. As if the area of hundreds of kms. was under seize of the mother nature. Only thing I can remember is the pray to God. We are nothing as compared to the Nature and only way to safe guard is Pray to God.
I recently finished one more Paulo Coelho's book named "Brida'. A good fiction book about soul mates and rebirth. Brida is in search of her soul mate with whom she can live her rest of the life but in the process she come across to many other persons and start learning about her past birth and all. I do also believe that we all have soul mates who come across at least once in the life time. The book mentions that Adam and Eve were two souls initially and later from the same souls the humans created and hence there are many soul mates but God has not given us power to recognise them but may be the feelings lead near to them. Very few are lucky one to know their soul mates. In this book, Brida also gets her soul mate finally. In my opinion it is a very good book for those who like fiction.

Meanwhile, I have moved to now another book named "India Unbound " by Gurucharan Das. I have heard a lot about this book and very excited too. It is rainy season every where and wish every one would be enjoying this wonderful season.
CP

Friends
Some times a good book can force you to read it again and again. The contents and learning from such is so much that satisfaction of reading the book would be almost zero and would try to read that again. "Blue Ocean Strategy" by W. Chan Kim & Renee Mauborgne is such book which I came across these days. It changes the perception about the business and lead to formulate new strategy for long term which can sustain for very long period. I did read it but probably would read again to understand it better. The book is a treasure of many strategic thoughts and can help in building up business.It is really a wonderful book.

I also wish to share one thought these days coming to my mind and also noticing practically. People start business from scratch, struggle a lot and then build up step by step. It takes long and crucial period of life before everything is settled. After some years or decades he gathers good name, wealth and luxury of life. By this time the business starts flourishing rapidly, the person becomes matured and experienced. He is happy but starts fearing of loosing the assets he gathered so far and therefore stops moving further in business and stops taking risk. He becomes defensive, totally risk averse and always carry a fear of loosing the wealth and social reputation. A dynamic, intelligent and great entrepreneur starts moving towards slow, easy going, not competing, happy go lucky and then his business starts deteriorating and one day he feels lonely after every thing goes away. Had he taken the risk and failed, his entrepreneurial capability would remain same and he would have bounced back with more force but a person becoming redundant by this route would never take on the baton and fight back. Does it mean that the success also acts as negative factor for entrepreneurship? It seems like this only to me, May be I may wrong. Whatever, I would at least suggest that success should not be allowed to take away our qualities which brought the success. We should not fear about the failure and loosing whatever we collected so far. These would go any way if we kill the qualities that brought them.
CP
Ahmedabad

Friends
While in Pune I started feeling the repercussions of my presence in humid area for more than 3 days. By the time I reached Ahmedabad, the asthama and other family members of this disease had taken the control of my body. finally I got released from the clutches though partially today. Such disease not only affect the body but also the concentration, mental ability to think and planning for future.

We are trying to set the daily routine without kids but not yet succeed. The efforts would go on till it is achieved to the best satisfaction level. On professional front after successfully achieving first milestone of having office in Mumbai we are moving towards building up business there before taking any major leap. We all working hard towards achieving the goals set for the next 3 years.

These days I am also getting reconnect with my school time friends with whom I lost contact about 25-30 years back. It is really pleasant feeling to reconnect with them and talk about all the past memories. In this line so far I have reconnected with Alok Kala, Balkishan Jajoo, Amit Goyal, Dinesh and Chandrashekhar. I strongly believe that the life is only and only about relationship and rest are just products which results from this. There can not be any substitute of relationship but yes it can be a wonderful gift if fuelled by good attitude. If both mixed, there is no power on this earth which can fail your dreams and happiness.
CP
Ahmedabad

Friends
Finally I am back to ahmedabad yesterday late night. Hitisha is now stationed at Pune and all her initial challenges are properly managed. I wish she touches new heights in her career. Almost about one month was full of tension and uncertainties but every thing resolved in one hour.
We grow and settle in life before marriage and then unsettle again after the kids come in this world. When they grow, the challenges from different sides also grow and we need to take care of them. At certain age the task of shaping the kids' career take front seat and all parents put in their best efforts in this direction. Results are always with the mercy of God but efforts can not be let off lightly.
When kids grow up and go out for higher education, suddenly a vacuum creates in life. At home no complaints from any sides, no demands, no fights but the issue changes. All these are replaced by their study, assignments, food, health, clothing, holidays and travelling plans. Suddenly we feel as if nothing vibrates at home. It happens generally when all the kids go out for study. Most commonly asked question is what would be the daily schedule now? In my view this is the another phase of life when we can enjoy a lot with spouse. More outings, own choice food, candle light dinners, more travelling for professional and social purposes and so on. Above all we can spare some time for study too which so far not available. Certainly in such situation life would be different where we would be missing a lot to kids and also try to fill the vacuum.
I hope we all pass through such phase and better enjoy this.
CP

Friends
Today is 7th day of my stay in Pune. The situation is stagnant and still no light seen out of the tunnel. Whenever we face such situation in life where nothing is in your control and only solution is in waiting for some more time. Being away from the home puts lot of pressure on every front but such situations are temporary and very short term.
Shashi has successfully done the darshan of Amarnath and now returning back to home. Looking forward to end the present uncertainty.Meanwhile Mumbai office has started operation in full swing.
CP
Pune

Friends
Still at Pune. It is testing time for my patience and I don't know when this test would end. Today Shashi went to Amarnath directly from here after no result in last 4 days. Me and Hitu also went to Mumbai to change the mood and also for some meetings. It was good change for me too. Amongst some meetings, I had an opportunity to meet one Mr. Vijay Jain. The face was slightly known but could not recollect when and where I had met him earlier. Finally we both came to know that the meeting took place in 1992 when he was heading Finance & Accts. deptt. of a leading pharma company. I was meeting this man after 19 years. It was the time in 1992 when I was sent to this company to serve in accounts deptt. I could not get that job but the experience was most insulting and tortuous. On one side I was out of job since last 7 days and on this 8th day I was told that now you can join this firm. I came to the office of this company with full fire in belly as if I am the most lucky person. As soon I entered in the office, receptionist stopped and told to wait as she was not informed about my job. After half an hour and no response from any body, my fire just vaporised and after next two hours of waiting at the reception the depression could be seen easily by any body. Finally this person called me inside after 3 hours waiting and disapproved in 60 seconds. Then after another one hour the owner of the company came and told me his inability to keep in job. It was 2.00 pm and with tiffin in bag, I was without job again. Finally the person who sent me to this office, sent to another small firm who was kind enough to give me job. Not only this, the new employer first asked me to have lunch before doing anything in office. It was 4pm and the day had taught me lot. World is too small and any such incidences even if reminded after many decades shakes you. I returned back to pune after finishing the meetings.
CP
Pune

Friends
Came to Pune on Saturday i.e. 26Th June, 2010 to settle my younger daughter Hitisha. Wish she soon settles down and take the challenge to shape the career. To wait for some thing is like passing through a tunnel beneath the earth or inside the hills. Every thing uncertain and suspicious. In such situation neither you are convinced not you convince others. No solution except to pray the god.
Such situations are more tense if the uncertainties or wait is for the career of kids. You feel help less and sorry for the situation. I know once we re out of the tunnel, every thing gets over and the past becomes happy moment. Till it is present, really very painful.

CP

Friends
Yesterday again I was in Mumbai. It was the day when mumbaites had to live without yellow-Black taxis. Taxis were observing strike and hence lot of travelling challenges. Somehow I reached to Nariman Point where we have also started operating since about a week. I entered in the new office and got tremendous positive vibrations. The cabin was opposite to some other buildings. I m writing this to share with you certain memories of past. Just backside to my office building is a building where I had started my second inning of the career. It was May 1992 when I was totally burdened with debt and the practice in jaipur was total failure. It was full of challenges from all the sides and I was forced to restart the job in Mumbai. The CFO of this company which offered me job was very shrewed and fixed the salary @Rs. 7500/- per month. When I landed to Mumbai after closing down office in jaipur he said the salary would be Rs. 4500/- p.m. for next 3 months and would be reviewed only after reviewing my performance. There was no option for me so I joined that in the hope of getting better salary after 3 months. Later when the month end came and I was given salary for part of the month i.e. about 10 days, the calculation of salary slip were shocking. It was based on Rs. 2500/- p.m. I requested to clarify and then told that Rs.1000/- is deducted as deposit fearing that I may leave the job in between and another Rs. 1000/- is kept aside to be paid after one year as bonus etc. Remember in those days salary for a CA of my experience of 7 years,the prevailing rate was Rs. 15000/- p.m. What a great experience that was. During the same time, I remember another incidence. In the nearby building, there was a PCO in the basement which was only option available to talk to family in jaipur. In those days mobiles were not at all heard.Due to some urgency, I had to call back home at Jaipur and the bill of PCO was Rs. 22/-, unfortunately I did not have that much money in the pocket and top of that the challenges were tremendous from job side. I pledged my wrist watch to the PCO with the promise that I would pay his outstanding by tomorrow and take back my watch. He was kind enough to keep the watch and gave credit for a day. Certain memories in life never wash away and always hit your mind. Today I was in the cabin of my own office looking to other buildings and offices. It does not matter from where we are coming but what matters is where we are going now. With this area I have lot of memories attached to my struggling period. God has been kind enough to bless with this opportunity to me. After some meetings came back to Ahmedabad.

Friends
Yesterday I had been to Mumbai. A day full of event and couple of meetings. Due to heavy rain in the evening,it was total chaos at the Airport. People were sitting on the floor, long ques at food outlets, watching TVs and display boards with curiousity. A rare view at this airport which proves the failure of planning of Airport Authorities. I noticed people were more irritating and impatient in such situation which makes the situation worst and uncontrollable. The week ahead would witness lot of travelling in the family and new challenges & issues would be faced.
These days me reading a wonderful management book "Blue Ocean Strategy" by W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne. It opens up the vision and provide lot of insight about business strategy and planning. I would write in detail about this once I finish it. But one thing I wish to share is that while working out the business strategy one should always look beyond the market to make the competition irrelevant. By focusing on big canvas and looking beyond the market, one can build a successful organisation.
CP

Friends
Pain and Gain go hand in hand and we have to face that boldly. This is the observation of elderly people and always quoted. We have opened new office in Mumbai which would start operating in next couple of days. In business/Profession the plans and actions never go together. We propose and god disposes in his own way. But if the efforts are done persistently and consistently, the God would always fulfil the dreams. No one knows what is in store for the future but at least we can guess to some extent. The competition would always be there but with proper strategy and planning the goals can be achieved in right time.
Parents put their every thing in developing us but we dont reciprocate properly and that is where the attitude and sanskars play crucial role. We believe that our kids would always do better for us irrespective of whatever we did for the parents. But in my view the life is mirror where we get whatever we give. We reap whatever we plant, if we give something, we are going to get more, give respect get respect, give suspicion get the same, give love & affection get the same in much more volume, be humble the response would be humble too.
CP

Frequency of posts has reduced substantially.One of the main reason may be fear of self. Fear of repeating the same topics, fear of posting bore topics and fear of creating impression of hypocrisy. But the fact is that I am blank these days about the topic on blog. some times many topics crop up in mind but immediately thereafter I feel these are of no interest to my friends. Most of the time I am lost in imagination, planning and thinking. Consultancy is more of planning and thinking. The services are invisible and so the product is. The advice, efforts, planning nothing is visible only the result in some other form is visible. and hence it happens often that when ever I start writing on the blog a phone call is sufficient to kill the writing process on blog. Travelling is another factor which though gives opportunity to read but not to write. Travelling also adversely affects the daily routine of exercises and walking. But this is life which needs balancing and should not be of complaints. There is no gain without pain but some times gain is negligible as compared to the pain. Pain is mental factor which can not be shown but felt only. In present socio culture system where the families are broken into 2X2 segments, this is going to increase further. The education has forced the kids to move away from the parents and better education further takes them to lucrative jobs which are mostly away from the parental locations. Once they settle there, the marriage, family every thing also settles there it self and it all takes away from the parents. I agree it is essential for better career and growth in life but one can not deny the pain it creates in life. Human beings mostly have to move always otherwise they would deteriorate in one location. This may not be true in case of business families but in case of middle class families it is very common. The process of getting away from the parents also affects the mind set and the marriage takes it further away. The locational and cultural differences occur in relationship and it becomes very tough task to keep balance. Thus the pain of studying hard, leaving the parents for higher study and doing job away from the parents give lot of gains in term of career, money and good life but this gain further generates the pain of balancing, pain of aloofness in life and loss of social identity. The cycle moves on and would continue to move for next unknown generations.

Meanwhile Nikita has moved back to Bangalore after completion of summer vacation and Hitisha is still waiting for her new academic session in media and communication in Pune.
CP

Friends
Yesterday I had been to Hyderabad and could feel the vibrancy in that area for the growing business. Travelling also gives me opportunity to read the books and hence finished "The Tipping Point" by Malcolm Gladwell. The book gives detailed insight about the communication and human behaviour. It talks in length about the change in ongoing behaviour, taste, demand etc. It proves beyond doubt that change happens not gradually but suddenly at one dramatic point. It mentions that few people can change the world provided they have capability to communicate in right manner and also the context of the message is specific. It is good book worth reading.
CP

Silent Prayer

Friends
Silence is the solution for many things. We pray to god in silence, he listens,we speak but silently. He helps us silently. We meditate silently, we talk our self silently. Many times silence is the loudest reply and many times it helps us in surviving the situation also. We are insulted many times but we reply by silence, we suffer humiliation, hurt physically many times but still face silently. In career we struggle a lot but face silently. On many occasion and situations, the silence is the only solution to survive. We may be capable enough to handle a situation loudly and with full force but still face silently due to certain other compulsions. We remember many dear ones silently, talk with them and react silently. Lot of conversations take place silently with in one self. Today I wish to pray for the good of my all friends, relatives and dear ones silently. God bless all and take care of all of us.
CP

Friends
Mumbai is becoming more and more working place for me these days. Three trips in a week or rather 4 trips in 8 days are indicating this suddenly. It is a happening and vibrant city with most of the stalwarts of my segment are stationed there.
Meanwhile Hitisha is likely to head for Pune soon to pursue the media and communication course. It is really a tough time for me and Shashi to send her out of the protected environment, but it is also the test of parents to judge how well the kids are groomed. In present scenerio the kids will have to armed themselves with more knowledge, high level of self confidence, and above positive attitude. I am sure she is already equipped with some of these factors and she has tremendous capabilities to survive and achieve the career she is dreaming.
These day reading a book named "The Tipping Point" written by Mr. Malcolm Gladwell who also wrote "The Outliers". The tipping point is more on human psychology and behavioural science but bit interesting.I would write more about this book once finish the reading.
CP

Entrepreneurship Vs Education

Friends
Immediately after birth parents starts planning to make the child's life one of the most successful. They are ready to sacrifice much more than they possess to achieve this goal. The only dream they carry is to see their kid on the top of the ladder. Nothing wrong in that thinking too. We all think the same way and give every thing we preserve. We promote them to get highest marks in the academic and then take them for professional courses. There too we expect them to finish every level on top and with in earliest possible time. Then if by grace of God the kid clears every thing the struggle for job placement starts. We believe that a good job is one with very high package in the most renowned company. The kid by then becomes Boy/ girl. They are armed with lot of degrees, full of knowledge and zeal to perform. Gradually they settle down in certain areas and then after lot of struggle, manage good life. But I have noticed that such people with great managerial capabilities lack entrepreneurship. They put their life on the secured platform of fixed salary, pension, gratuities, fringe benefits, leaves etc. etc. At certain point of life they feel contended and proud of their achievements. But in the second phase of the life the descent commences and the word retirement starts hounding. It is the harshest word of life one wish to hear and mentally programmes the retiring person that he is no more useful for this job. He starts planning for himself and many times feels frustration for the rest of the life.
Other side, an Entrepreneur keeps working for longer period. He uses his failures and success for his business, takes risk and remain active in whatever he has created in the life. He may not be very intelligent in education, may never have received gold medal but may be a rich person in life. At the end he builds an empire, leaves his mark in this world (in job too one can achieve this).
In both the situations, the only difference is of entrepreneurship which takes a person ahead the other one in most of the cases. There is no specific education for entrepreneurship and hence the parents can not suggest career in this segment. Mostly entrepreneurship is circumstantial.It is not dependent totally on education. In addition to education it needs attitude, knowledge, risk taking ability and self confidence.
I suggest we as parents should look in to this sector seriously and groom the kids accordingly.
CP

Friends
Just finished a Book "How Starbucks Saved My Life" by Michael Gill. It is a story about a high flying executive who works very hard in the life at the cost of Family and in the fag end of career when the movement starts reducing, he is fired from the post. After lot of frustration and depression this guy virtually broke. Gradually he is discarded by every one and the circumstances lead him to work in a coffee shop of Starbucks. Here he starts working at the lowest level of cleaning toilets and mopping floors. In the process of this job, he finds the happiness and satisfaction through small small things. He passes through a very tough time.A touching story of man who slides down from riches to rags and finally finds again. Truly said life is journey and it gives every thing but when takes back, it takes skin too. We don't know what is in store in future of our life but only can try and pray for better.
CP

Friends
1st May,1960, the state of Bombay disintegrated into two seperate states based on linguistic parameters. Gujarat for the areas where Gujarati is spoken and Maharashtra where Marathi is prominent. After 50 years both states are amongst top two states of the country. Both states offer immense opportunities to entrepreneurs and job seekers. Both states celebrated their 50 years of existence with grand functions across the states.

50 years is reasonably a good period to analyse, memorise the history of any occassion. Whether it is a state or life or marriage anniversary or professional or business life. History is the best teacher and guide to learn and move further.

Last week was spent mainly in discussions, strategic planning, positioning and brand building for my company. Wish the nearing future would bring some good news professionally.

My younger star Hitisha is seriously working on giving shape to her career. She seems to be more interested in media and communication due to its glamerous character. She would be finalising in next couple of weeks and then may set out for long journey of building career.My all the blessings and best wishes are always with her.
CP

Dear Friends
I was scheduled to be in Mumbai today but due to some other issues, had to postpone it at the eleventh hour. Today is birthday of my rakhi sister Vinita and I wish her a very very happy returns of the day. May god bless her with healthy, wealthy and happy life ahead.
Birth day is always one of the most important day in life of every one. It brings back the memory of past and great feeling of being human. Every one lives the life but if it is satisfactory then there is no comparison. Many relations are gifted with birth in particular society but lot many relations are built by us from day to day interactions, thought sharing, professional necessities, educational interactions and all. Some time I notice that such relations become more powerful and long lasting than the blood relations. I define the blood relations 'by chance' but the other type of relations 'by choice'.
CP

Five Dysfunctions of a Team

Friends
I wish to share with you some of the key contents of a wonderful book "The Five Dysfunctions of a Team" by Patrick Lencioni, which I recently finished. The book cautions about the major causes of a business failure and also suggests how to handle such reasons. As per Book, a team which is soul of a business can be disastrous due to five major reasons namely; Absence of Trust, In attention to Results, Fear of Conflict, Lack of Commitment and Avoidance of Accountability. It also highlights the repercussions of these dysfunctions namely; Invulnerability, Artificial Harmony, Ambiguity, Status and Ego and Low Standards. The book is about a company which was on top in its segment and slipped into red in just two years and how the new CEO revived the company. She had to pass through a very painful process but finally she managed to bring back the company to the earlier level. Really a wonderful book and worth reading.
Today is Sunday but for some social meeting had been to office and tried to write this small write up about the Book. Tomorrow would be in Delhi.
CP

Vacation to Andaman & Nicobar Islands

Friends
From Evening of 10Th to late night of 15Th would be a memorable time. This was the vacation time and Me, Shashi, Nikita and Hitisha had gone to Andaman Nicobar Islands. A great place to have vacation and equally great historic location. A & N is a group of about 572 islands located in Bay of Bengal. It is about 1300 kms east to Chennai. Unlike Arabian Sea the water is much cleaner and greenish blue color. Port Blair is the main city of the Islands and well developed too. A & N also habitats some tribes who are still in undeveloped stage and one can find them in the remote areas. These tribes live in jungles and hunt for living. While going towards Banathan from Port Blair, we can come across to one such tribal called "Jarawa" . It is interesting to see them but equally painful too to see our own brother en in such situation. I wish soon they would also join the main line of civilisation. Government and NGOs need to do a lot for such tribal. Havelock is another beautiful location in A & N which has one of the best beach in the world (probably amongst top 10 best beaches). It also has coral beach where you can see the corals and many different color fish in the sea water. Port Blair is mainly famous for the Cellular Jail where the freedom fighters were kept, tortured and hanged. It is really painful to know the history of this wonderful jail. The jail can house more than 750 prisoners, and as per history many prisoners were kept for 40-50 years too in the jail. The cells of the jail don't have any window and very torturous. There are many locations worth visiting in A & N and one should plan for minimum 6 days to stay there. In last 10 years A&N has become a very interesting tourist place and it is really a great place to visit.
CP

Friends
In between quick visit to Mumbai and then some routine stuff at Ahmedabad. It gives really great feeling if you conceive, nurture and build something. Whether it is human being, business enterprise or anything else. Whatever we conceive is the result of dream and when we have faith in ourself we start working on such dreams. It is long and tough process and by the dream comes true lot of sacrifice and heart burn takes place along with the faith, hand holding, team building and so on. That is why when you achieve the dreams you feel great and forget the thorns hurt you during the journey. God tests the faith and belief in yourself before giving the result so that when we get the result, we value that seriously and dont let it take lightly.Our dreams are ours and neither you can pass it on to others nor any body can steal them. If we have faith in God and belief in ourselves there is no power on this earth which can stop you from making your dreams come true. It requires tremendous patience, consistent and persistent efforts, crazyness to achieve and single point focus. Yes God would definitely ask for the price before making your dreams come true. He would make you humble, patient, sacrificing and calm before awarding your dreams in reality. Depends how we take it all.
Despite lot of business travelling, the vacations to distant places is always a fun. This time we are going to Port Blair and wish it would be a great vacation.
CP

Friends
Every thing we see in this world is moving. The people, animals, time, relationship, Business. Nothing is static not even the planet or universe. What is static in this world is probably uncertainty. This is never going to change and would remain always like this. There is no certainty in any sphere of the life. We don't know what is in store tomorrow for us individually or collectively. Though we cannot be certain abut anything but we can gauge the uncertain part by studying the past or learning from the experience of others. History always teaches the future and if read properly the uncertainty part can be reduced to a great extent. Whatever is happening today or where ever we are today is the result of past and the same is going to continue in future too. The destiny is written by us only which is reflected in future. We celebrate or repent the result but forget that this is nothing but only end product of the actions taken in the past. Such results can always be bettered or corrected with certain amendments and the result in future would be different. We may not be perfect but we re also not completely imperfect. There is always gap between these two but with learning from past and with experience of others this gap can be reduced. Another thing is that uncertainty keeps us motivated too and this is really fun. Just imagine if there had been full certainty, the excitement would not be there, no entrepreneurship, no challenges in life, no dream, nothing. Life would have been really hell for most of us. In fact it would be proper to say that uncertainty is blessing in disguise. In nutshell both certainty and uncertainty are integral part of the life and we should know how to enjoy both.
CP

1st April is considered as new year in business fraternity. This is the beginning of the new inning with fresh energy. This day is also dedicated to Fools and never taken seriously. If some one is fooled today, he would not mind probably. My best wishes on this so called practically new year. I wish we achieve our current years' goals and targets.
Learning is part of the life and ends only with the life. We learn every day some thing or the other from dealing with the people, Books, work and other sources of information. One should never shut the doors for learning and if it happens, it is the beginning of End. In fact Learning lights a candle in the darkness that illuminates our dreams. And it is known fact that people without dream are almost dead. So friends, the flow of learning should always be uninterrupted so we live the True Life. "We may know, what we know but we don't know, what we don't know". This is the fact of life and hence shall be always kept in mind.
CP

Friends
Yesterday been to Mumbai and while passing through the new four lane at worli sea link I was thinking about the controversy created due to the presence of Amitabh Bachchan. Politicians behave more like hypocrite than any body else. Travelling also provides me opportunity to read books and just finished a wonderful book named "The Ultimate Life" by Jim Stovall. Book is an all weather friend full of knowledge and which is always available to share the knowledge. It never complains, never demands anything. This is the best companion one can have. So when ever I travel, I try to use maximum time in reading books and grab whatever information/knowledge I can. I liked this Book very much. It reminds that the life is nothing but series of days. It has lot to offer us and we should also make it better by Giving, Gratitude, dreaming, learning and Love. Good Book I wd say. Meanwhile me catching up another book " The Five Dysfunctions of a Team" by Patrick Lencioni.
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Friends
Yesterday I was in Delhi. Today is Ramnavami, Birthday of Shri Ram Bhagwan. It is being celebrated all over the world by we Hindus. As we learned through out the life that Lord Ram was the best human being on the earth born so far. That is why he is designated as " Maryada Purushottam". There are in fact no word to decorate Lord Ram. He is the ultimate Power. If we read his life as mentioned mythological, it was full of challenges since his birth. Initially sent to Gurukul to the Ashram of Guru Valmiky which was surrounded by lot of Asuras. He had to fight there and clear the area. When came back to palace again sent to Jungle for 14 years along with his wife Mata Sita and Bhagwan Lakhshman. It was a long, full of challenges life till first 13 years which became worst after the Kidnap of Sitaji. We can imagine how a person starts loosing every thing and at the end even his wife. Top of that he could not take the help of his brothers, kings,army etc. Forget this he could not get support of humans even to search and get back his wife. It was supported by non humans like Monkeys (Lord Hanuman, Sugrive, Bali, Angad etc.), Beers, Birds (Lord Garuda) and so on. Again when he came back to Palace, he was forced to send back his wife to the Jungle because of certain comments from the public. This happened when she was pregnant. Again Bhagwan Ram was left alone. It is said that Bhagwan Ram lived for about 11000 Years and out of that only for a fraction of period he enjoyed married life and luxury of a king. In fact the life of most of the Gods has been very challenging be it Lord Shiva, Jesus Christ, Lord Krishna, Bhagwan Mahavir, Lord Gautam Budha and so on. They came on this earth learned and taught us many things but never enjoyed their personal life. They were best humans and showed the world value of truth, humbleness, sacrifice, Ahimsa etc. Does it mean that if you are good, challenges would also be too much? I don't have answer to this tricky question but wish to share with you one advise by a very old man to me that "Behave like Ram at home (means with family and socity) and like Krishna with outside (means in business or job or profession). If you do reverse it would spoil every thing". My best wishes on this auspicious day of Ramnavami.
CP

Friends
A slight change in the model and money pours. This is happening in the sports world these days. Cricket was a boring five day test game which gradually turned into one day match about 30 yrs ago. There was no change in the game module in almost 100 years and when it changed to one day game, the public interest developed to a great extent. IN last three years the model has further been changed to 20 overs and the result is that billions of rupees is pouring in the sports. Who could anticipate that a team would be bought by some one for Rs. 1800 Crs. in India. Yesterday Pune and Kochi teams were auctioned for Rs. 3200 Crs. approx. India has about 10 teams now and technically the market value of all the teams taken together is about Rs. 15000 Crs. A figure no one could imagine three years before. Same thing happened in many sectors. Bottled water was never anticipated to be a must product while travelling or dining outside. It has changed the whole game plan. Aviation sector changed a lot in last 10 years. Telecommunication is another sector which changed the definition of business. One day we would see the change in many other sectors of business, society and life.
This means the opportunities are just around us, probably we need to change the module. We are pulling on with same old modules and expect miracle. I don't think it is going to happen, yes it can happen if we make minor amendments in whatever we are doing or pursuing in life. Any body looking at some thing differently would change the whole game and the rest would follow.

CP

Friends
We as human beings have one face which is visible to the outside world. But behaviour wise we have multi faces. We advise so many good things to our friends, neighbours, clients, relatives, kids and all as if we are the best person on this earth. In fact the advise we give or commit to the society is different then how we would react if the same situation we are also dragged into. We pretend and advise to be open minded, honest, broad heart, cool, satisfied, confident and so on. Give lot of examples but do we follow the same advise? I don't think so. It is always easier said than done. One of my friend recently lost his son in accident. The saddest moment in life of every father is to carry the body of son on his shoulder for funeral. He had come from that and at home when he was crying like a child, every one was giving him advise to keep cool, have faith in god, think beyond the loss, care for rest of the family members and all. I understand, it is very easy to say some thing but most difficult to follow. In another incidence one of my known relative was being advised to have faith in husband, open minded, never suspicious and so on.. The same person when slightly dragged into such situation became the most vocal and tried to spoil the life of her all family members.
I am not the expert in behavioural science or human psychology and hence fail to understand the multi faces of we humans.
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Sundays

We get about 4200 Sundays in our life time. In fact we get almost all week days equally i.e. 4200 in normal healthy life. Sunday is always taken as the best day of week. The treatment to this day is very special as compared to the other days of the week. Initially it goes on without noticing but soon when education starts, it becomes the most preferred day. After attaining maturity we start planning for this day and finish off many pending chorus at home and office. It is the day we repair ourselves most, we worship the God, we take afternoon rest, we go for shopping, we touch base the social gatherings and interactions. All in one day. Probably this day comprises all activities and still we say,"Sunday is Rest Day". It means we are tired of work only and if any day we don't have regular work or school, it is always treated as rest day. This mindset is worldwide, because through out the life we are never tired of social work, entertainment, play etc. what tires us is work and study. In western part and now in almost all the continents, we have doubled the number of Sundays by working five days a week. Soon it would be tripled also (Four days is being asked in developing nations). Are we really tired or it is just the mental sickness of feeling tiredness. If we enjoy the work and study, there would never be any need of so many rest days. God is not going to enhance the life by additional Sundays. Whatever we lost, it would be from our own account and hence should be planned accordingly. In my view we should change the mindset and working days should be treated as rest days. Though it may sound bore to feel so but if we reverse the mindset, it would give long and healthy life. Most of the people feel stress of business, job and study. All this would have gone and the life would be different.
CP

Friends
Yesterday was Duleti, the second day of color festival. Infact Holi is the festival of colors but next day of Holi, Duleti, we all play with colors. The festival is celebrated for two days. On day one we worship Prahald , who was innocently put in the fire by his Bua Holika , who took him to the fire to kill him but with God's grace, Prahalad was saved and holika burnt. Bad person gone and good remained even in fire. This is the well known story we are hearing since birth. The point here is Holika believed in her brother Hiranyakashyap and took the risk of burning an innocent. She forgot that job is too risky but still the faith prevailed upon her and the result was death. No one should have blind faith and take only calculated risk.
My best wishes to every one on this festival.This festival gives us the chance to forget and forgive and all whether rich or poor or black or white look same.
One thing which always hits me is that celebrations are causing lot of damage to the nature and human beings too. The year starts with Makar Sakranti and thousands of birds are trapped in the kite thread and get killed. That day also causes lot of human casualities across the country. Then Holi Pooja is done through out the country and lacs of trees are cut to burn the holika. Further people use dangerous colors which affects the body and also the water is spoiled. Janmashtami is more remembered for gambling, drinks etc. Even Diwali is more popular for gambling, air and noise pollution. Lot of silent birds get disturbance for almost three days. I dont say that we should not celebrate festivals or the systems and methods of celebrations are wrong, what I mean is that during the course of time, we have forgotten the nature completely and now the damage is apparent.
We should seriously look into the methods of celebration to maintain ecological balance.
CP

Friends
Last 6 days gave me the opportunity to be active out of Ahmedabad. I visited Shivganj (Rajasthan)for some marriage function, Cochin for some business get-together and Mumbai for routine business work. All these visits gave me chance to meet my close relatives, friends and business associates.
Every time we meet to business associates and competitors, a feeling of more action comes in the mind. I start feeling that more speed and actions are needed to achieve the targets. The world is full of opportunities but the over analysis kills them. Feeling of left behind, feeling of under performance, feeling of not visualising properly, feeling of not keeping the relationship strong and wide, feeling of weak network, feeling of lesser knowledge, feeling of better team etc. etc.
These feelings work in two ways 1) Depress you for lesser success and 2) Inspire you to move faster. I wish I get inspiration and move further and faster to achieve the goals set out. It is always better to make ourselves bigger than praying to cut short the others.Some body has rightly said "In this new world, size of companies would not be a threat but the speed would be key factor." Those who move faster would be capable to become bigger and those who are slow would face the threat of becoming extinct. Choice is ours only, no one else is going to decide for us.
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Happy Valentines Day

Friends
Wish every one happy valentines day. We humans have the power of god to express emotions and hence the Love can be expressed in words too. Other creatures are not so lucky and cant express love in words. We love our parents, brothers, sisters, friends, colleagues,peers, neighbours etc. There are no separate days for each love and hence valentine day is good to express love to every one.
Love is mostly linked to only one relationship which graduates to marriage or infidelity. In my view love is much more vast and covers lot of relationship. It is not defined by relationship, rather it is given the name of relationship for better understanding and acceptance by the society. One need not be in love just for extra marital relationship or lust or sex. It is more of emotional attachment and mental satisfaction.The problem is if it is between male and female and that too of same age group,it is always mistaken. Love is an eternal thing which flows in this world since the life created. It is the source of pleasure, satisfaction, security, fidelity, safety, emotional attachment and so on. Love is built by sacrifice,understanding, affection and complete faith.It is selfless and goes on through out the life.
Wish again to all my nears and dears, friends, colleagues, neighbours,brothers, sisters, both lovely daughters and wife a Very Happy Valentines Day.
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Stay Hungry Stay Foolish

Friends
Recently finished "Stay Hungry Stay Foolish" by Rashmi Bansal. The book is about selected 25 entrepreneurs passed out of IIM Ahmedabad and with passion became entrepreneurs. Some of them are very successful today. The story is about how each individual sacrificed initially and then reach to his/her goal. The feeling of achievement in life is always great but it is never easy and cheap. It needs blood, sweat,time, sacrifice etc. Nothing is free in this world but if we work with passion and focus, nothing is impossible too. It is good book to read. My daughter Hitisha had given me this book on my marriage anniversary.

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Friends
Today is the birthday of my lovely daughter Nikita. She promoted me to father on this day exactly 19 years back. It was winter time in Jaipur but the hearts were warm enough to welcome her. Whole night was passed in veranda of the hospital in waiting for her to come out, finally in the morning at 9.05am I heard her first cry. I pray to god to bless her long, healthy, wealthy and happy life ahead. May all her wishes and dreams come true.

I am writing post after long gap of almost 14 days. In past two weeks travelling was too much and that caused the disturbances in daily routine.
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Friends
My annual day has come today. I completed 47Th year of my life with the blessings of God , parents & elder ones and Best wishes from the friends, peers, colleagues, kids and wife. I am thankful to all of them for giving me space in their hearts. It was sheer winter on 27Th Jan., 63 and the sky was covered with dense fog in Jaipur. Abt 10 am I came into this world but probably for about 15 days did not open the eyes. The confusion and tension mounted about my visibility but soon it got cleared that it is still meditation period going on and after some time I would look into the other matters around the world. My parents say that I used to always remain patient of cough and cold, pneumonia and typhoid. Later on I catch up asthama in mumbai. After my birth in Jaipur father completed LLB and moved to Tonk to start own practice. He did it for six years but could not get satisfaction and joined Govt. of Rajasthan Job in 1971 in jaipur. Thus we too moved back to Jaipur and then my next move was in 1985 to Mumbai before completion of CA. History repeats itself and in just 15 years after my father left the practice, I started in jaipur CA practice. I too had tried there for 6 years almost but failed miserably and took job in 1992. The only difference between my career and father's career was that I re ventured into practice in 1997 and this time God was kind enough to help me get little bit settle down. Infact in 2002, my father had expressed great concerns about my career and told that even after 17 years of post qualification, I am not settled. Probably god helped and now when my father was here in last Dec. 09, he was satisfied enough and happy. Life is journey and we should live it to the fullest possible. It is mirror, jo dete hai vo vapis aata hai and jaisa karte hai viasa hi fruit milta hai. I pray to god to keep me healthy, wealthy and happy in life ahead and fulfill all my dreams.
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Dear Students

Friends

Since last I wrote on blog, we have celebrated Makar Sakranti, Lohidi and Pongal. Different festivals are celebrated in different parts of the country. India has highest number of festivals in the world. In most of the cases people end up with more than capacity expenditure in festivals and remain at same level through out the year. Due to social pressure they fail to save and always remain short of funds. I am not against the festivals but in my view, the expenses part should not be affected by social pressures.

I wish to give a message to the kids/students/youngsters: Exams are approaching, there is going to be huge pressure on them to perform. Every parent wish their kids to perform much better than they themselves did. They want them to be best in the world. But parents forget that God has made every kid special and they are destined to perform better. I believe parents are not going to change themselves despite so much messages from all walks of the life e.g. movies, media, incidences etc. There is no point in making them understand so better students understand. Kids/students/youngsters should prepare themselves mentally that whatever parents say or ask for commitment, they would not let themselves down under this pressure. Education is must but the world has many good things in addition to the high score of marks, merits and position in school/colleges. God has plans for every one and he is not going to put you in bad shape unless you yourself wish. So for God's sake, dear kids don't let yourself be in pressure. If things are not happening as per your plans, there is something else which God wants you to do. Don't worry and be prepared for the message from God. If you would close your eyes and ears under pressure by doing something wrong, how he would communicate to you. So be happy and cheerful. World is not going to fall if the marks are not up to the desired levels. If you not enjoying the field, don't hesitate to change and do whatever you enjoy most. And don't compare yourself with other students, they may be lacking something which you have. Don't ever think that by not doing something which your parents wish, you would be shattering their dreams. Believe me their dream is to see you successful and happy, which you may achieve from any stream.

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3 Idiots with in us

Friends

Recently all of us may have watched the movie 3 Idiots. While watching it I was thinking that we always carry 3 idiots with in ourselves which if management properly can be blessings but if let loose then nothing can be worst curse. I hope you would agree that these 3 idiots are placed with in One ft. range of the body. These idiots are:

Idiot no. 1- Tongue: This idiot is surrounded by 32 teeth, bones upside and down side, so soft in nature till it starts functioning. If we control it , it can do wonders but if let loose can be dangerous. Despite it is surrounded by many dangerous elements, it can put the complete body in big trouble.

Idiot no. 2-Heart: This is most important idiot of the body. It is needed every second of life. It can be very helpful in building up image and self respect but if we let loose, it can spoil every thing in life. It can make life miserable if not controlled properly.

Idiot no. 3- Eyes: This is also very important part of the body. Very precious part and most important if we want to live properly. It showers love, affection, guides about surroundings, gives enjoyment, sorrow every thing available in this world. It is the best gift god has given to us but can be turned into worst thing if not controlled properly. This idiot needs to controlled strictly otherwise can put the whole body on risk.

I have just linked the above crucial body parts with the movie 3 idiots but this is fact too that these idiots of the body can be great blessings for us if controlled and guided properly.

Yesterday, the 10th of January was birthday of my lovely younger daughter Hitisha (Hitu). She completed 17years and turned to 18th. I recollect the moment when she came out of her mother's womb early by almost two months. We were in Jaipur, as the marriage of my younger sister was approaching, and Shashi felt uneasy in the evening of 9th Jan. 1993. We went to a doctor to consult and she advised to admit immediately. There was nothing to desperate but precautionary Shashi and my mother stayed there only for the night. I came back to home with no anticipation of next day. We did not have telephones in those days so at abt 4.45 am on 10th Jan. this god gift dashed to the earth. My mother shocked and got unconscious and shashi was left with no attnedent from the family. At abt 5.30 when the process was over and shashi recovered to give the phone number of the neighbour to the doctor, I got a knock from the neighbour that there is urgent call. On phone got the news and immediately rushed to hospital. I asked the doctor where is my lovely daughter, she said it is here, a small creature in a tray under the bulb of 100W. She was put under heat. Time has passed so fast and today she is studying in 12th standard. Amongst us four, she is the most tech savy person with hands on solution to many technical gadgets. I pray to god for the long, healthy, wealthy, and happy life ahead for her.
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Friends

First week of the new year 2010 was full of travelling. 3rd and 4th was in Bangalore, 5th in Delhi and 6th in Mumbai. The indications of first week are very encouraging and hope this to be most successful year. Travelling also gives chance of studying and hence finished a book which has collection of thoughts of Chanakya. The book is named as "Chanakya Neeti" and commented by Vishwamitra Sharma. Though Chanakya wrote his thoughts long back but many of his teachings are still having same importance. However some of the thoughts particularly on women, son and Brahmins are no more relevant in present world. There is no doubt that Chankya was the greatest diplomat in the indian history and his teachings about character, management, attitude, belief in god and domestic issues carries highest importance. The book carries many couplets by Chanakya but some of them are very much relevant:

i. A wise person must always keep in mind the following thoughts being pondered over ; How is time treating me?How many true friends I have made?How is the place I live at?How much do I earn and how do I spend?Who am I and what I am capable of?

ii. Too much beauty got Sita kidnapped, to much ego got Ravana Killed and too much charity got Raja Bali in deep trouble. Too much anything is bad.Stay away from too much.

iii. Don't ever trust; the beasts with claws or sharp horns, rivers,the armed persons, women and members of the royal families.

There are many such couplets. A good book with sufficient food for thought. I would try to put some more couplets soon .

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WISH YOU ALL A VERY HAPPY , JOYFUL AND PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR 2010

Me, Shashi, Nikita & Hitisha