IndianMaze

Over the weekend, I was wondering as to how little I have seen the country? Having pondered over the same, I got to my experiences in travelling across India on road. It was nice to recall all the old memories of travel, food and other interesting stuff. In a nutshell, have travelled through 39 National highways (plus 5 NH extensions). These are 1, 1A, 1B, 2, 3, 4, 5 ,6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 12A, 17, 20, 21, 21A, 24, 25, 28, 29, 31, 33, 34, 35, 43, 45, 55, 56, 58, 69, 70, 72, 77, 83, 86, 88, 96, 200, 205, 544 and 716. In my cars, I have clocked more than 250,000 kms. Have taken about 2,500 flights and equal number of train journeys. Of the airports covered within the country are: Srinagar, Jammu, Amritsar, Chandigarh, Dharamshala, Delhi, Jaipur, Udaipur, Lucknow, Varanasi, Patna, Siliguri, Guwahati, Dibrugarh, Kolkata, Jamshedpur, Ranchi, Bhopal, Indore, Raipur, Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Rajkot, Gandhidham, Bhuj, Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Goa, Bangaluru, Hyderabad, Vijaywada, Rajamundhry...

India is always seen as the land of diversity. From high mountains to sea, from world's wettest to driest places, from dense jungles to vast deserts, from thickly populated areas to remotest areas, from -40 C to +50 C. 16 official languages to one common business language. She is simply amazing. This is true of the economy as well. India is attracting the close attention of some of the most expensive brands in the world just as ironically the poor vie for bare minimal calorie intake for survival. This may make people smile with $$$ signs blinking as almost 8 millions earn as much as $46k+, a size that is more than the population of Singapore. Another 16m earn $ 30k+, a size comparable to the poulation of Australia. Paradoxically 748m earn almost 50% of what the poorest zone, Sub Saharan Africa earns...... India produces amongst the highest number of engineers in the world just as much that most number of illetrates are added every year in the world in this very country. ...

It was a great statement conveyed with amazing simplicity. "The best way to clean a staircase is to start at the top" were the words conveyed in chaste Haryanavi by on of the industrialists I respect. Yes, indeed he was referring to the management styles. He was talking over a drink well past midnight about the challenges he faced in his experience with many a professionals in the past. I am reminded of the story in another context of another successful entrepreneur. He is disappointed that he is to deal with trivial issues of the organisation whereas he has hired a number of capable senior professionals. The answer was apparant in no time, when a call came in to check if a message can be sent to a business associate. The entrepreneur was furious - why do you have to call me on this small issue? I have hired you to manage this on your own and why even you have to deal with it as this could be dealt by a junior person and so on for next few minutes. I empathised with the ...

I was dumbfounded today. I could never believe that I did not see it for weeks despite the fact that it was in front of me many times a day virtually every working day and then like electricity flowing through an inactive bulb - pop..... The story started about 6 months ago. On an interaction, we discussed an embarassing issue but in  a perfect harmonius manner that necessitated a change in behaviour. Then I just forgot about it. I continued meeting this individual, a colleague, everyday for work and would meet him sometimes half a dozen times in a day oblivious to the discussion held earlier. Today, we were in a discussion and all of a sudden I realised that the discussion we had many months ago has had a dramatic result and I could not see it change from the previous scenario. I was blind despite seeing things. It was a true awakening for me. How many more changes are there that I am seeing but not processing.... I learnt about the difference between hearing and list...

It was interesting that in a media interaction today, I was asked to wish the viewers a new year. All of a sudden it dawned that how quickly this year has passed by. Its been almost 10 months since I wrote a piece on the blog. The key question in my mind immediately after the interview was - why wait for the new year? Hence a new look and a new post. The reminder to me of the age old Indian saying  - जब जागो तब सवेरा - morning is when you wake up. Today is my new year and I am going to celebrate it with the same set of rituals. Resolutions - start any day - everyday. That's my note to myself. What is your note to yourself for this new year! All the best

It was a noble effort by my banker to invite youngsters for financial awareness programme for the wards of their clients. A renowned financial expert was the star attraction. In an interaction after the programme, I was talking to a participant and asked about the efficacy of the programme and compared to the objectives set by the bank. - need for saving - no additional learning - types of investment - marginal gain in knowledge - how each type of investment grows in future - went over my head - "X" bank takes care of investments - OK, what's the big deal The table turned, when I asked that what were the biggest learnings from a day's programme and the response was stunning: - we need to plan - we need to draw our future - have high interdependence amongst experts - all my peers are struggling with same problems but not sound them off - its easier than I thought! A skill enhancement programme worked as a behavioral transformation programme. Consumer...

Interesting case narrated by a friend. Jaguar sales were very low in this part of the country with petrol version (circa 5 a year). With diesel version launch it is 5 a month. Car costs Rs 50L plus. Any insights! India continues to amaze me every day.