Reflections

In many ways, as a nation, we are living in a never-never land, and dreaming of a situation that is untenable in reality. As a nation, it is high time we faced upto some uncomfortable truths about ourselves, our attitudes, our motives and that of the world around us. We can no longer continue to live in the same delusions that have characterized us and our approach any longer. In the first part of this article, I shall dwell only on some peripheral matters, subsequently taking up more complicated and central matters in the later parts of this series. This is a first article in an attempt to make myself, and as many of my countrymen as I can reach, face the realities of us as a people and as a nation. At the outset, let me be clear who I mean by “us” in this article : I am specifically referring to Indian Citizens only, not PIOs. Not only that, I am referring only to the English-educated, top few percent of the population, who are largely in a blissful never-never land. The diplom...

The latest India-USA spat over the diplomat has brought an interesting divergence in the popular discourse - with the internet chat rooms, and sites being loaded with comments on the "vitality" and the importance of the India-US "Strategic Relationship", blaming India squarely for its retaliatory actions; and the offline discourse in Newspaper Media being decidedly pro-India and far more balanced, ably supported by the views of the general populace, in whose eyes USA has gone down several notches. Given this divergence, this article attempts to arrive at a balanced view of both the relationship and some of India's recent actions THE STRATEGIC RELATIONSHIP First, the much-vaunted "Strategic Relationship" - we need to examine what a strategic relationship means in concrete terms, and then ask ourselves whether the US connection fits that description. We then further need to ask ourselves are we benefiting from the connection, and, if so, how. A s...

THE CHARACTERS Sundeep Srivastava : Anything Goes Swaminathan : Mr Ethical - Smart, Intelligent, Sharp and Straight Kalpana : Mrs Swami, and his biggest support Natasha : Mrs Sundeep, mature and balanced Aditya : The Real Kingmaker  Naresh : The string puller, unscrupulous and unstrustworthy THE PLOT If God Was A Banker is a story of 2 methods - ethical results vs results by any means, and acts as a salutary warning to all corporate honchos as to what can happen if things go awry. This is a tale of Corporate India, where one needs a Guide or Mentor who watches over you, and gives you the opportunity and chances to grow. It is a tale of your choices, and how you use the chances your mentor provides you to make your own life and career. It is a tale of character and internal priorities, weaknesses and value systems - and how you adjust these value systems to the external realities.  It is a tale of 2 friends and their spouses, and the story ...

Author : P. R. Ganapathy The Author is a former management executive, having held leadership positions in India and the US. He now supports entrepreneurs working to alleviate the problems of the poor THE CHARACTERS Rohit Gaekwad : Lover, brat and an idiot in that order. Unfortunately for India, also PM-designate Sunaina Gaekwad : Disillusoned Pavithra Munjal : Sunaina's duaghter - nondescript, but beware! Vikram Munjal : Swine - of the first order Varun Mathai : Troubleshooter with a... well, lets keep this a secret, shall we? Pushpinder Singh : Minister, and invisible... Anwar Islam : War Hero, indebted to another... Colonel Gupta : War Hero, and a Hero, Period.  DIG Karandikar : A rarity - a police officer with a conscience. Also smart. Very Smart Indeed THE PLOT The book centers around a political family : one matriarch, and her son and daughter. The son is slated to become PM, but is just not interested in politics. He further wants to migr...

The Second Book Featuring Mehrunissa Khosa By Manreet Sodhi Someshwar THE CHARACTERS Mehrunissa Khosa - Art Historian, Intelligent, Resourceful, with a troubled past RP Singh - Sr CP, Police, straight but tough, with a deep and silent passion for Mehru Raghav - Quintessential straight tough cop Mystery Guy - Find out who in the novel. Cant say more! Babur Khan - Also a mystery. American Muslim, Ex-US Army, but a terrorist. Methinks we might meet him again... Jag Mishra - RAW boss. And a raw boss, if you can get a dual application of terms For me, this was the most awaited book of this year. And to cut a long story short, it was worth it. And in more ways than one. A book which, to me, conclusively establishes Mrs Manreet's credentials in the .fiction world. A book which is a let-down in one way, but a huge, huge positive in another. A let down since you expected another chase through clues and hints - a-la Dan Brown; but a huge positive since you are tre...

Book Review : The War Ministry By Krishan Partap Singh This is the third and concluding book of the Raisina Series; and is the best of the lot. The journey, begun at a steady pace in Book One (Young Turks), and ably supported by the absorbing but different book Two (Delhi Durbar) is taken to a crescendo, a rapid and heady speed that will leave you in awe of the writer’s skills in terms of penning words as well as his understanding of international and Indian political realities and byplays. This current book is the fastest paced among the three, the most enthralling as well as the most engaging book of the entire series. As you close the book, you are left wanting for more,  alongwith a tinge of sadness that never again will you have the pleasure of wondering what happens next to Azim, Karan and Raj… For those new to the series, the main characters are:  Azim Khan : Steady, Ambitious, Idealistic Yet Practical, Patriot with a dream Major Karan Nehru : Karg...

The trend in Employee - Organisation relationships, as brought out in a few recent surveys, shows a majority of the employees are not engaged with the organisation; that the dissatisfaction levels are very high. Alongside this fact is the lament - or statement from organisations that they are making the organisation more employee friendly. And yet, there is no discernible impact on dissatisfaction levels in general - which are, if anything - rising.  Reason for that is not one single attempt has dealt with the core issue/s at hand – why are the employees dissatisfied? Why are they disengaged? In my experience no one has even tried to attempt this. As a result, the efforts at engagement are centering around employee activities, rewards and recognition, feel-good programmes, dress-up and dress-down days, cafeteria enhancements, remuneration and emoluments, Saturday half-days which are applicable only to the HO, Gift programmes, intranet links and mailers, parties etc. Not one o...