To my roots

The last weekend was a long weekend here starting with the Indian Independence day on 15th. We decided to have a weekend break to our ancestral homes at Deshnoke and Bikaner. We left for Jaipur on way to Deshnoke on 14th August afternoon after the kids were back from school. The drive is max 5 hrs to cover the 300 kms but it took us 10 hrs and we reached past midnight at Jaipur. There was a huge traffic jam because of consistent and heavy rains. Next day we did another 5 hrs drive to reach Deshnoke - place famous for Karni mata temple. Deshnoke is also the place where my Great Great Grand Father lived before migrating to Purulia. We still own the plot of land where his hut is still there. The kids - 6 generations away from him got some pictures taken in front of that hut. My Grandmother was also with us and she told that she had spent 10 days here after her marriage in this hut some more than 60 years back. We plan to build a two room apartment in this piece of land now.

Our kuldevi or family God is Sri Karni Mata. Her temple is at Deshnoke. My everyday prayers are to her. I had not been able to visit this temple and town for last 8 years and so had planed this trip with the kids and Minoo. Goddess Karni has amazing faith following and you can see thousands of rate , called kabas, in the temple. These kabas are said to be descendants of Goddess Karni. Its so surprising that despite they moving around freely, there has never been a case of plague in this town. There are more than hundred thousand foreign tourist coming every year to this temple to see this miracle apart from millions of Indians. If you click on the link above you can see more details about this temple.

Well, I am not sure why my Great Great Grandfather Sri Thakurdas Mall, shifted out of Deshnoke but the best guess could be because of economic reasons. As this is in the Thar desert and source of daily earnings might have been limited so he must have moved out of this place. There is a very interesting story behind his move. Once his cousin who was working in Calcutta came to Deshnoke with a Dhaka silk Dhoti , Thakurdasji wanted it but his cousin joked and made fun saying that if he wants to wear this he must work hard and earn himself one. This Thakurdasji took as a challenge and travelled all the way from west India to eastern India using all various means like train, bullock cart and camel cart. That's how he moved out to Purulia.

We spent the day at Deshnoke. We had dinner at the home of one Mr. Anand Sharma. His father was cook to our family - my Great Grandfather and Grandfather. We visited a newly set up hospital which was inaugurated in the morning by Chief Minister of Rajasthan. Papa had humbly given some contribution to build the hospital. I am sure this shows his attachment to this place and a way of saying Thanks to the town and its people. Next day we were at Bikaner, 30 kms from this Deshnoke. We had a Haveli in this town which is listed in a recently published book on Indian Havelis. Unfortunately we had to sell it off to some unauthorised occupants who had taken over the property as we never lived here. I took the kids to see Junagadh palace, the kings fort. Wonderful Rajasthan architecture and heritage. Minoo went out for shopping - something women never give a miss.

We had a long drive back on Sunday - around 10 hrs plus to come home. The trip was a very hectic one but very refreshing - connecting me to my roots. For the last few years we have been trying to trace our ancestry. We have been able to find out details of at least last 14 generations. We are building a family website to save all this information for future generation. Its such a proud heritage that you would like to share with all.

Happy Birthday India.

Tears rolled down my eyes when the Indian flag went up and our national anthem was played at the Olympics couple of days back. Abhinav Bindra had won the Gold Medal for India after 28 years and of course its the first individual Gold by an Indian. India last had won the Gold in 1980 in hockey and at that time I was a student of class VIII and in my hostel wardens room had heard the commentary live on his radio.

I was just changing channels on the TV at home and suddenly came across the Mens 10Mtr air rifles final on. Abhinav Bindra was in the second position after 7 rounds. I felt he was in a great position to get India a medal so called every one at home to see the moment. After 9th round he was tied with Hakkinen at the top. I just told to everyone he is going to shoot a 10.8 and he did that. I shouted out of joy seeing the moment of India's first individual glory in Olympics in 116 years and after 2 billion births in this116 years. I was suddenly proud of my country. The last 3 days have almost 3-4 pages dedicated to Abhinav and I believe now every body in this country knows each small thing about him - how his father has built for him a private shooting range and a 2000 million INR hotel he is going to get as a gift from his father etc. etc. Suddenly there are new columnist born in newspapers - his class 3 schoolmate, his high school principal, his sponsors, his sister. Every body had known from when he was born that this guy had talent from his birth. Suddenly Abhinav on his return to India tonite will find new friends and relatives.

Any way, I am proud of him like any other Indian for giving me that precious moment in my life when I saw my country flag go up in a sports event. Other wise the politicians and leaders had made our golden land into a drama stage - a drama no one wants to watch but are forced to act. My friend Rajesh's father had an appointment at the Apollo hospital today but they had to come back midway as one political party had jammed all roads in the country protesting some religious decisions. I heard in the news few people died as there ambulance could not reach the hospital because of these blockades. Billions of public property is burnt and damaged by these political parties - bought from tax payers money - unfortunately only 3% of our people pay taxes. The media also adds fire to these political dramas. If our media is proactive these things will not be spreading. What ever positive we hear and see in India is just because of individual brilliance of people of this country. We are amongst the most intelligent community in this world and if we get a support from the Government India's growth can be something which no economist can even predict.

There is so much of apathy from these govt. officials in every thing they do. No clean air, no pure drinking water, nothing moves without the wheels of money, absurd misuse of power, no basic infrastructure, cast ism - I mean it can be such a huge list that you at times feel punished living here. And no solution in sight. Its such a mess. Life remains nasty for far too many Indians. India is in the bottom third of the human development index.Poverty and illiteracy is still a major problem. Bribery is rampart. Corruption is in every sphere of life. Economic growth has not touched majority of the population. The human cost for this is rising farmer suicides.

But its not all that is bad. Our democracy is something for which we all Indians should be proud of.Its election machinery, given the scale and complexity of the task, is the best in the world.Using purchasing-power parity, India is now the world's fourth-largest economy. The economy is expected to grow by 8 percent annually and account for more than 12 percent of world's economic growth in the next 15 years. India will jump from 24th to the 10th biggest trading nation in the world. Unlike China's foreign investment fueled growth, Indias growth is self generated. There are more MNC's India produce then chinese or other developing countries. Its Indians like Mittals or Tatas who dream and make it happen when they take over bigger entitities then they are to make India proud.

When I see Phelps Michael going up the podium for his 5th Gold , 11 golds in Olympics as of now and expected to win three more in this Olympics, I don't know what emotion does each American go through. But whats so special about these American or Chinese sportsmen that we don't have. I am sure talent is not missing in this country , its the system which is rotten.

2 days from now we celebrate the 61st Independence day. I am not sure this is what the freedom fighters dreamt when they fought for our independence. I am also not sure do we want our children to live in this country as it is. I know for sure that all these politicians who play with our sentiments - there children don't live in this country.

Every birthday brings new hope and new possibilities. India today is the youngest country in the world. I am confident the young generation will slowly takeover and rebuild this great country.History shows India has always picked itself up and kept going. I am sure it will be same now. Happy 61st Birthday India, I love you.
(Some inputs and data in this blog has been sourced from an article by Mr. Ramesh Thakur in www.chowk.com)

Beijing 2008

Hey if you missed out on the spectacular opening ceremony of Beijing 2008 go to this youtube link http://www.youtube.com/beijing2008. To keep yourself updated on whats happening at Beijing go the official website http://en.beijing2008.cn/.

08/08/08

5 Hrs from the Beijing 2008 will start. Any Olympics is special but this one has the world watching it closely and eagerly as it takes place in China.

As the world turns its gaze to Beijing for Friday's opening ceremony of the Olympic Games - set to begin on 8/8/08 at 8:08 p.m. - a record throng of 9,000 Chinese couples also will be lining up to get married. It's no coincidence that the world's athletes will be marching into the Olympic stadium at the same time that history's biggest bridal registry becomes the great wall of wedding china.

It's all about the power of 8.

The number is viewed as so "auspicious" among many Asian cultures, and has become so entwined in native superstitions, that Friday's collision of those figure-8/8/8s is expected to reverberate all the way from Shanghai to Silicon Valley.

Among the qualities that made 8/8/08 so attractive to Chinese Olympic officials is the numeral's perfect symmetry: it's the only number that can be sliced in half, horizontally or vertically, with each half mirroring the other.

I do believe this as a lucky date. 20 years back on 8/8/88, I was inducted into Rotaract - the youth wing of Rotary. My days in Rotaract were a wonderful training ground for me to prepare for my life ahead. I learnt to work and live in community. Rotaract helped me develop myself professionally while doing community service. I recollect our trip to our adopted village Ramnagar near Purulia every weekend for adult education, free health checkup camp, tree plantation, polio vaccination etc. We used to go from house to house to collect unused medicines and toys and then distribute it. As the chairman of the Rotaract District Conference in 1992 "Sampark" - we hosted more than 500 visiting Rotaractors from all across Bengal, Nepal & Andaman. In 1993 I was elected as District Rotaract Representative of RI Dist 3290 (now 3291) for the year 1994-95. My trainings took me to Kathmandu and Agra. At Agra I was also declared as the best DRR of South East Asia. I went as a trainer for new DRR's at Mysore. As a DRR I travelled to more than 70 clubs from interior Nepal to Sunderbans to Calcutta. I interacted with people from different societies, culture and have done some of the most proactive community service. As the period I was in Rotaract had more highs than lows I count the date 8/8/88 as very lucky and I am sure August 08 will bring lot of luck to me.

A month of resignations- Will miss Duane

July has been a month of resignations. Apart from three supervisory positions getting vacant at LNM, couple of my buyers in one of my customers plant in Pune also quit to move on. I had mentioned about one of them in my blog in June. But the biggest surprise was Duane with whom I have been working since last more than 10 years. Today is Duanes last day at work and to put it bluntly we worked wonderful as a team and Duane will be missed.
I have travelled with Duane 1000's of miles on road across US visiting our customers. Duane has always been caring enough to take care of me during my US trips, to locate vegetarian restaurant and ensure I dont feel out of place in a different country. Couple of months back we had a more than 2000 miles trip across 9 US states and Canada in 5 days. I have detailed that trip in My May blogs of all 5 days. We share a very friendly relation and his family is more like an Indian family with lot more values than what we perceive about Americans. I have had couple of opportunities meeting Michelle, his wife and last summer when Minoo and I were on holidays to US we had a wonderful dinner at Olive Gardens. I have still pasted on my pin up board in office a small note Duane had given me with a food hamper when I had hit the road with RLD few years back.
Duane likes to adventure and runs marathon also. He cherishes his Boilermaker marathon run with his son and daughter as he always shared pics of this. Though I have never got an opportunity till now to meet Megan and Kyle, his daughter and son, but as much as I have heard about them from Duane , I am sure Duane and Michelle had been great parents to them. Though Duane had been to India couple of times but it was in his previous jobs and not after getting associated with LNM. He was scheduled to come last winter but his passport had expired and may be I will get an opportunity to host him here if he happens to travel to India in his new assignment or on a holidays. His daughter Megan is getting married this month I believe and it will be a great moment in Duanes life.
One thing I would like to mention about Duane here is how organised he was. He could pull out any communication we had in a minute even if that happened 10 years back. I used to make fun of his dependency on the system.
Good bye Duane, Its a surprise and shock at LNM though no one has met you but have always heard about you. We will miss you here. You have been quiet an impact at LNM and will leave a gap here. I wont have any shortage of memory and you will be remembered for being so supportive and dedicated.Most of all I will remember you for a great person to work with. I and my Team at LNM wish you all the best in your life and I am sure we will be in regular contact. Enjoy yourself.

Lucky to Have friends - My first call

Since last more than 10 years the first call I am making every day is to 9811….49 to wake up Rajesh Agarwal for our game of Tennis. He used to be my partner earlier now plays against me.

I met Rajesh for the first time some time in 1996. We had been allotted shed no 222 for our plant and Rajesh owned 220 with his partner Aman. To find out about the locality, me and Papa went to his office where he had set up a CNC job shop with two CNC machines. I still recollect that scene exactly and his blue Maruti parked outside. Once we shifted to 222 we started meeting regularly. After some time we decided to have lunch together and since then we have been having lunch together everyday since last 10 years when ever we are at work . I am pretty sure the maximum time I have spent my day time and maximum calls I have made in the last 10 years is with him. And same must be the case with him also.

Rajesh and I share some common hobbies. Both of us like to read and play tennis. Because of this we have developed a great understanding amongst each other. We do have a daily discussion on stocks though we are not into it much. Cricket season sees us cursing the Indian team(they loose so often). Politically we are inclined differently so we have our arguments on that. Another thing we have common is patience, I believe, though he has tons more than me. What I like about him? There are many. As I mentioned above first is his patience. Secondly his habit to make a “To do” list even for trivial things. If you visit his office you will notice some sheets of rough scrap papers on which he will scribble his To Do list. In fact he is so systematic that I tease him as Mr. System. When he took a 4 week long vacation to USA couple of years back – the amount of planning he did can help any tourist to plan a trip to US.Once though I have seen his system fail also. Last year we were in Germany and while traveling on city bus at Munich he forgot his digicam in the bus. More than the loss of camera he lost out on the pictures he had taken during the trip. Another virtue that he has is he is a very satisfied guy. Always happy. Never bothered about something that he does not have. He is very organized and he will preserve the envelop also along with the letter. Couple of things I would like him to do – reduce some fat and quit smoking. I am sure he also wants to do this but has not been motivated enough to do this and he will do it pretty soon.

I keep on boosting I am lucky to have some of the best people God created as my friends and I will never be lonely in my life with these great friends. God bless them

Lucky to have friends - My 24 hr helpline

Some time in 1993 Papa informed me about a new Chartered accountant who will take care of our books of accounts and asked me to meet him when I visited Faridabad next time. I went to his office in Sector - 7 , a small one. I was impressed meeting him. Madhu Ladha came from a very small village near Jaipur in Rajasthan. Many years later I went to see his village Bhesalana and its real praise worthy to see some one coming out from that village and reaching where he is today. We developed a immediate rapport amongst each other. Madhu used to live bang opposite our small apartment at 2060/7D along with his wife Neelu. Minoo joined me in 1995 at Faridabad and Madhu and Neelu became almost our local gaurdian as my parents used to live in Purulia at that time. Sometime in 1995, if I remember right 13th Nov, they were blessed with their first son Naman. Neelu was seriously ill at that time and i still recollect driving to South ex in Delhi to bring blood from a blood bank driving 35 odd kms in 20 minutes. 28th June 1996 - It was Madhu & Neelus marriage anniversary and we had gone to celebrate the same. Minoo was three months pregnant at that time and at night she started bleeding. I didnt know any doctor in faridabad at that time and was so confused what to do at 2 AM at night. Madhu was my only acquaintance and I called him and we rushed Minoo to the hospital. Since then Madhu has been my 24hr helpline on anything and everything. He has been by my side at all times whether happy whether sad. When mom was detected with cancer and I was travelling in USA ,the first person Dad called up was Madhu. Same when Dad got detected for Cancer the first one I called for support was Madhu. Madhu has become more of a part of our family. I am lucky to have a friend like him and I am proud of him.

Madhu came to do his Chartered Accountancy in Faridabad from his village with few bare essentials. In the last 15 years he has established himself amongst the most prominent CA’s in Faridabad. He was elected as the President of Faridabad Chapter of Chartered Accountants last year. He is part of all major social and charitable organizations in the town. I am always amazed at the way he can manage his time and be part of all this. His energy levels are superb. I am continuously learning from him and thank God to have him as my friend.