A Tribute to my Mother!

Today being Mother's Day I thought I will write few words about my Mom.

Just like everyone's Mom, my mother is also a special woman. A God fearing woman I can say. I and my Mom share a relationship that is more like a friend than a parent. I mean that never stopped all the spankings and corrections though! But I hardly would think twice to share anything with my mother. She is like the shock-absorber of my family. She can contain a ton of worries and still be very calm and composed. Though me, my bro and my dad get to her nerves, at the end of the day she still makes our favorite dishes! Her patience is like a perennial river which never runs dry. I can easily write a book on how her life has had a major influence on mine. I am truly thankful to have a Mom like her!

Finally I would like to wish my Mom and all the mothers a very Happy Mother's Day!

INADEQUATE IS INADEQUATE

Eventually I end up with the inevitable. Inadequate is inadequate of words to speak, of moods to convert, of emotions to express and of the mind to comprehend. As the clock ticks by every second, the entropy of life seems to be all the more increasing. The randomness has been a conspicuous attribute of my daily routine. Someone once said, “Every morning I wake up I realize I am one more day closer to my grave.” Though it is an unpleasant statement to make, it certainly has an element of truth in it. There is a portion of solace that I derive from that thought. It helps me live my life with utmost meaning and abundance. Surely God would want the same from me.

My profuse introspection makes me realize that I am inadequate of things that could make me better. It’s like thinking how can a bird in the cage which wants to fly be different from a free bird that does not want to fly. Is it true that at some point in our lives we virtually build cages around ourselves and fail to exercise our wings? The void in my mind has been uncontrollably overflowing and all I can do is sense it. And sense it in excess always. The only thing that comes to my mind is everything is worthless. I mean look around I see the meaningless elections (no matter who comes into power it’s a truth that nothing is going to change!), the rat race for power, the spit spat of the rulers, the lack of money, the deprivation of life, the excess flow of money in IPL (a million dollars for KP who could hardly score), the cheerless cheer girls, the unending fight against terror, the suffering of the people and the peace of the dead. All this is reality but then does anything make sense? At least not for me! When I am gone I think the only thing that matters is the difference I could make in people’s lives. Between, I always had this doubt – Do people add meaning to our lives or does life add meaning to people?

I reckon each one of us come to a point where we are left with some unsolved puzzles. What if all my rest gives restlessness? What if all my efforts keep going a “waste”? The exquisite concern of oneself can only make one overwhelmingly confused. No matter how far you go, how high you fly, how deep you swim you cannot escape from your conscience, your irresistible thoughts and above all God. Looks like I am inadequate of space to contain my thoughts! If my words cannot make sense then how on earth can my silence be heard? Anyways the perplexing fact is I am inadequate of words to describe my very own silence. You can obviously see the inadequacy of order in my writing today!

Howbeit I resolved to break out of this cocoon phase of silence or inadequacy or “orderlessness”. The added surprises (in a depressing way!) are passing clouds with lasting effects. Well you guys have to figure out what that line means for yourselves.

Inadequate of more to pen, I’m signing off….

p.s: The title was not coined by me, but you can be sure that the words of inadequacy are mine ;-) !

Simply Smitten!

This post is dedicated to all my friends who made my birthday very special and made me feel special :)

Well it is true that sometimes what others do unto you actually helps you learn more about yourself. One of my friends was saying that God has blessed me with very good friends. Yes I know God always gives me the best was my reply! :) This birthday, I thought, would just pass by silently unnoticed. I really was not in the mood of the day since I was on the spree of sleepless nights. With heavily loaded eyes and fidgetiness, all I wanted was some rest and peace. I knew I wanted to be alone. However that proved to be absolutely wrong when I was swept away with all the surprises and lovely gifts I received from my buddies. I was simply smitten by the love of all my friends. I was humbled by their affection. All my spirits went straight up and I had an amazing time with all of them. Their simple thoughts and plans for my day is something very precious and invaluable.

One good thing about birthdays is you get to speak to all of your friends whom you have been away from for ages. Though we are very close we are very far! Reminiscing all those sweet memories can only strengthen your faith that there still exists love in the air. The beauty of life, family and friends kept overwhelmingly unfolding to me as the day passed by. Though this birthday was different in many ways from those in my past, I can very easily say it is one of my most memorable birthdays.

I want to thank all of my friends for their wishes and above all God for blessing me with such wonderful people.

p.s. I know this post seems to be kinda sentimental...could not help it folks, words just came after a real long break :)

Satyam- A Shocker!!

The other day as I entered my home , my Mom was on her feet staring at the television set. I reckoned it was the "Grand Finale" of some music show. I was wrong! She said Ramalinga Raju, Founder and Chairman of Satyam resigned admitting fraud and the next moment I was also starring at the television set. I had no comments to make but was absolutely shocked at the horrifying magnitude of the fraud that was involved. Can this actually happen? Is this some kind of a practical joke? Or may be the whole world was being Punk'd and probably we'll get to see Ashton Kutcher!! (sorry that was a little over the line...! )

By writing the letter and very plainly mentioning that it was all his fault and that none is to be blamed for, what was Raju trying to display? All I can see is another big lie. Such horrendous stuff cannot be single handed and he cannot be blinding the eyes of the public and more importantly the investors, the employees and all those who trusted in him and the company. Nevertheless there is a human side of him that he atleast admitted the whole fraud and took up responsibility for his act. But does that help? Such corporate crimes are like eye openers to the governance bodies and need to remind them that they have to prudently circumspect all the other companies who are sailing on the same boat yet have managed to be under the cover so far. I mean atleast there is a chance that one of these many big shots in the corporate world are playing it safe and pulling it off just like Raju managed for nearly 10 years. I heard on TV it was 10 years and I quote from his letter "The gap in the balance sheet has arisen purely on account of inflated profits over several years (limited only to Satyam standalone, books of subsidiaries reflecting true performance). What started as a marginal gap between actual operating profit and the one reflected in the books of accounts continued to grow over the years."

Whatever might be the laws of the land to punish Raju, whatever be the assurances given by the Interim CEO, whatever steps are taken to bridge the gap, I am more than certain that the damage is irreparable. Things are never going to be the same for Satyam. Many corporates, banks and agencies all over the world have rebuked this shameful act. Finally there are few questions that remain flummoxing to me:

• Why did he want to own Maytas when he knew he was already in a mess? Was it personal or motivated by the interest of the company?
• Was not 10 years if I am correct, too long a time for a person of his stature to realize that he was playing around with nearly 53,000 lives?
• He mentions that he was making efforts to fill the gap. What were those efforts? Is it not that making a lie of Rs7000 crores causes every effort to be meaningless?
• Satyam has been kicked out of the World bank and other indexes so what damage control steps as mentioned by the Interim CEO, Ram will bring them to their past glory?
• Will the company actual emerge stronger from this crisis and reinforce the faith of those broken?
• Last but not the least if Raju was courageous enough to write a letter and take the blame why is he sneaking into hotels or not answering calls? Why can't he make himself public?

All we can do is WaW!! (Wait and Watch!)