Sachin, the phenomenon . . .

Two decades of any man’s life is long enough to see multiple cycles of ups and downs (In fact, world’s largest economy has already seen two recessions in less than a decade). In this process, every human makes choices based on the available options and goes ahead with life. In many cases, the choices made can drastically change the turn of events in one’s life. Now, all this is relevant for a normal human. For a super-human like Sachin, it has been just one course – CRICKET, CRICKET AND MORE CRICKET. Through the last two decades, he has seen - his senior colleagues retiring with some fading away while others making a good fortune clinging on to the sport in other forms, some colleagues getting disgraced with one of them landing up in lower house of the Parliament (I guess he is still saying “our boys didn’t bat well, field well, bowl well. We hope to win the next match” not realizing the fact that he has to talk policies and welfare…who cares….it’s all hypocrisy!!!), some colleagues unable to stand up to the fame and money that the sport brings, while many others learning from him to their betterment. All the while, we find the little master going out and playing his game, excited and happy at his success as well his team’s success. And when they lose, he is as dejected as a 3 year old would be when denied a Re.1 éclair.

At 37, Sachin is still strong and playing, inspiring some and antagonizing few others. He is a role model for the youth of India and a subject of great respect for his peers from all over the world. The best part of this phenomenon is that he never expresses his dissatisfaction to the umpire nor does he provoke his opponents. And when provoked, we all know what happens….if you still don’t know what happens, please ask Shoaib Akhtar, Shane Warne, Steve Waugh and others. Of late, I also get a feeling that he is conveying a subtle message to the corporate world who moved out from him citing reasons like “we are a young brand and we look forward to the youth” blah blah and ended up signing controversial film stars and other cricketers who aren’t certain about what they would do next. I am sure they are regretting their decisions.

Every Indian like cricket, but Sachin brought passion to this game and pulled more people and ad revenues. I still remember one of the first knocks that he played as an opener in a New Zealand ODI. That was the turning point for Indian cricket. And now, he is pulling more and more to the shortest form of the game as well. With him around, teams can be valued even at a billion dollar :) Let the phenomenon continue …….

Survival of paid service in the digitized world

If I am asked to select the top two theories of all the theories that I have learnt, I would select the theory of "survival of the fittest" and Maslow's “theory of hierarchy”, because one could easily analyze the behavior of humans and organization from the prism of these two theories.

Let us take the example of the survival of paid news service in the digital/print world. With the emergence of 24 hour news services on the net as well as on the television, the need to pay for this service is going down. I came across an article "Google Settles Book-Search Suits" on Wall Street Journal's website. This article was only for premium customers who subscribe to WSJ's online service. Big deal! I go to Google's news service and read the same news on a different website absolutely free of cost. One could give many more examples.

The dot com bubble 'exploded' in 2001-02 since a viable business case was not built around the internet. It has been 7 years and still a perfect internet business model has not emerged, though one could see the Googles and Amazons of the world succeeding. But, what is their core competence?

In search of a solution!

My fascination with the financial market continues……
The stock markets around the world have been touching new lows every other day; obviously the news channels are the net beneficiaries to keep ‘breaking’ some news or the other….and when there is absolutely nothing to ‘break’, then the natural choice – whether the ‘Fab 4’ of Indian cricket team should retire, should we provide legal aid to the terror suspects blah blah…
But, how do we solve this financial mess that we have got into, thanks to the ever increasing ‘greed’? Should we consult Alan Greespan? Comon, are we not blaming him for his policies? Should we make Bill Clinton the next prez? Comon, he is too busy ‘licking’ Hillary’s debacle wounds in the primaries. Then who can give us an answer? Mebbe God, but are we following “ceiling on desires”, which is the only long-term solution?
Hmmm, being confused and helpless, I turned on the TV and wow, I got an answer. Can you guess? Yea, I am sure our ‘captain’ Vijaykanth, who has eliminated so many terrorists, who can kill his enemies by catching and throwing back the bullets fired at him and who can do many such marvels; I guess he will have some solution to this problem. Only if George W Bush listened to him, instead of being too busy in doing nothing worthwhile. ;-) :-P

Why will the current Australia tour be a super hit?

Date: Sept 30, 2008. Time: 1.17 AM.
Latest news indicates that the US financial bailout plan has been voted out by the house in USA. I am sure that there is going to be mayhem in Asian stock markets when they open in the day. This is going to have ripple effect across the Indian economy and the picture of "gloom" is cast all over.
And the only thing that brings cheer to the nation is Cricket! People are going to switch off their minds from this 'fear psychosis' to have good time pass and obviously the Australian tour has a perfect timing. Thank gosh, pakis aren't touring now :-)
An investor myself, I hope the day is better tomorrow. God bless us!

The Jesse Owens story

I am sure many of us know this famous Jesse Owens story in Berlin Olympics. In fact, we had this story as one of the chapters in high school English. Here is the truth:

http://www.rediff.com/sports/2008/aug/19flip.htm

Relating Mythology and Management

Here is a good article on relating mythology and management.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/2431831.cms

Francois Gautier talks about the recent events

Article #1 http://www.rediff.com/news/2008/jul/28franc.htm

Article # 2
Francois GautierHumiliation has caused the rage we see in JammuInstead of calling an all-party meeting to resolve the Jammu crisis, the Government would have done well to try to understand the fury of Hindus and not to limit the scope of the introspection to the Sri Amarnath Shrine Board land transfer issue only. Are Hindus angry only about the hypocrisy of the Government on the land transfer issue? Are there no other issues that make them furious?
Hindus are peace-loving people. The average Hindu that you meet is an easy-going and accepts you and your diversity, whether you are Christian, Muslim or Parsi, Arab, French or Chinese. He goes about his business and usually does not interfere in yours.
In fact, Hindus take it a little further: They hate trouble and go out of their way to avoid it. Have you noticed how every time there is a possibility of a strike or trouble, Hindus stay home? Or how - forget about rioting - Hindus never speak-up, complain or protest in a united manner?
Despite this, everywhere in the world Hindus are hounded and humiliated - be it in Fiji where an elected democratic Government was twice deposed in an Army coup, or in Pakistan and Bangladesh where Muslims indulge in pogroms against Hindus every time they want to vent their anger against India (read Taslima Nasreen's book Lajja). There were one million Hindus in the Kashmir Valley, but there are only a few hundred today. In Assam, Tripura, or Nagaland, Hindus are being outnumbered by illegal Bangladeshi immigrants and terrorised by pro-Christian separatist groups, such as the Bodos or the Mizos, while local Governments often turn a blind eye. Their temples are being taken over in many States and the donations appropriated by the State Governments.
Yet, in 3,500 years of their known existence, Hindus have never invaded another country, never tried to impose their religion upon others by force or by induced conversions. It has rather been through peaceful invasions that Hinduism has stormed the world whether in the East - witness Angkor Vat -- or in the West, where the by-products of Hinduism, yoga, meditation, ayurved and pranayam have been adopted by millions.
Hindus also gave refuge to all persecuted minorities of the world -- the Parsis, the Jews (India is the only country in the world where Jews have not been persecuted), the Armenians and the Tibetans. The first Christian community of the world, the Syrian Christians, flourished in Kerala, thanks to Hindu tolerance. Arab merchants were welcomed by Hindu rulers to live in India while freely practising their religion, from very early times. It's a pity that these two communities turned against Hindus - the former by way of conversions and the latter with bloody invasions.
Thus Hindus, who accept everybody and welcome all religions, do not receive in return any gratitude and the same respect. On the contrary, they get mocked at, bombs are planted in their markets, their trains; their temples are attacked, they are chased out of their homeland; the media makes fun of them, their own politicians ostracise them.
Sometimes enough is enough. After years or even centuries of submission, Hindus, the most peace-loving people in the world, erupt in uncontrolled fury. And it hurts. It hurts badly. It happened in Gujarat. It is happening now in Jammu. It may happen again elsewhere, as Hindus are reaching boiling point.
Hindus never complain about their Government giving billions of rupees in subsidies to Indian Muslims so that they can visit their most holy place, Mecca. But when Hindus need shelters, toilets and basic facilities at the height of 15,000 feet to worship at the Amarnath shrine, these are denied to them by the same Government. So they erupt in fury against ignominy and injustice.
Instead of appealing for calm and communal harmony and giving us all this hogwash about Kashmiriyat, political leaders, journalists, as well as spiritual leaders would do well to look at the root cause of Hindu fury and try to address their demands and frustrations.