Business to the Buddha

Author: KRD Pravin

  • Perhaps, eyes are forever!







    Have you had eye sight related issue? I recently had a very strange one. I observed – at occasions – faces of people elongated. It was strange and I started thinking what if I lose my eyes? Well, I wont die! only eyes would be lost. I am not the eyes, eyes are part of me. I went one step further, what happens when we die? We lose eyes, ears e.g. all five senses. But does it mean that if we lose the senses we would be dead? What dies when a person dies? I wonder when I say MY eyes, MY this and MY that. Who is this MY? Who am I? Does this ‘My’ e.g. possession, end when we die? Are we just body or there is something beyond body?

    Well, that seems too complicated. I rushed to an specialist. Thankfully, there seems to be no apparent problem, I am under observation though. I informed I have filled eye donation form, what happens in such cases, how does eye donation work? He said cornea is used in eye donation. So even if I have specks there is no big issue. That was good feedback, if you have not filled eye donation form do it, because you can help someone even after your death. Perhaps! eyes are forever!

  • I have a dream!







    Related blog – Why this title?
    Have you read the book – “I have a dream” by Rashmi Bansal? One of my friends gave me this book and said – ‘it might change your life, read it.’ It is on social entrepreneurship. I am reading the book nowadays, and found ‘author’s note’ very interesting, I am putting the note here.

    QUOTE
    There are two kinds of people in the world. Those who think, and those who feel. The ‘thinkers’ see a child begging on the street and say to themselves ‘that’s not my problem.’ Those who feel, however, will give that child something, if not a coin, at least a moment of compassion. Thinkers believe the world is a neat place, with boundaries. ‘My house’, ‘My family’, ‘My community’, ‘My welfare’ that’s where there the boundary ends.

    But those who feel see the entire world as One. Beggar and bourgeois, sinner and saint. We are all interconnected in ways we cannot understand. And Hence, in serving another, we are only serving ourselves.

    For too long now we – the ‘middle class’ of India – have chosen to be thinkers. We have deadened our hearts and our minds to the poor, the hungry and the homeless and the hopeless. Because that problem is really not ‘ours’.

    And the small minority who feels, it’s doing the best it can. But it is never enough! I see now, a new breed of people. Thinking-feeling individuals who look a problem in the eye and declare war. These people think like entrepreneurs but feels and work for the cause of society. And hence, they are ‘social entrepreneurs’. These are people like you and me, not Mother Teresa. They are using the principles of business, to create a better world. A world where profit does not equal greed. Where people come together for a greater common cause. A world where ‘I’ does not mean crushing ‘them’. Because the bank balance you have here on earth will remain, when you depart. Your Karma you carry forward.

    So no matter what your problem in life is, spare a moment for someone else.

    Spread love, laughter and goodwill.

    The more you give, the more you will get back.
    UNQUOTE

    I see a connection between teachings of the Buddha, these entrepreneurs and what Rashmi is saying – i) greater common cause ii) a world where profit is not equal to greed iii) we are all interconnected and iv) we are ONE world.

    I too have a dream – to see all of us – business men/women – as compassionate and thinking in the lines we – as a single world. This for sure would ensure peace, harmony and economically stable world.

  • Welcoming’12, Seasons of ’11 and accountability







    For some new year is getting new fancy, even more exposing table calendar and flaunting that. For some it is a continuum of the life – life as usual. For some it is a time to celebrate. I think this is the occasion when we should ask ourselves what happened last year and what should be improved? In 2011 I asked myself -” would I support places such as Barasti in Dubai?” I felt that Barasti is a place which supports racism and I decided against going there.

    When it comes to the year 2012, some time back there was a rumour about the year 2012. Hollywood made a movie – 2012. That movies speaking about this year as a question of existence, right? Well, why start the year with that question. Or we can start thinking about existence and ask questions to ourselves. Look at the 2011, what we did not see? We saw Arab Spring, Summer of India/USA and Winter of Europe. Let me elaborate –

    Arab Spring – I was in middle East during the time when Egypt, Bahrain, Yemen and other such uprising were in news. I wrote in 2011 about Arab uprising – Power Corrupts. Yes, it does and had been in question for Middle East in 2012.

    Summer of Europe – Have you not noticed that the production in China, industrial growth figures of India and other developing nations were not positive lately? The likely reason for that is slow or negative growth of developed nations e.g. USA and Europe. Euro zone saw a unique problem this summer of 2011 when countries were likely to default on their loan payment! I asked a question to myself Euro is it dead? and in May 2011 asked my Teacher of economics – Professor Mankad is Euro dead? We saw the turmoil of Euro for couple of months. Lately, I read on Reuters that “the Euro is not an experiment…” ECB executive said that. On a lighter note – “as if it was supposed to be an experiment until now”. Personally, I am in favor of the kind of economic zone Euro has created. However there are problems with accountability which needs very strong measure.

    Winter of India and USA – Euro zone crisis did not end and we saw another people’s movement – the Lokpal movement in India and Occupy Wall Street in USA. In brief Lokpal bill is to curb corruption and bringing high and mighty beurocrates and politicians under the ambit of LAW. Strange a democratic country India talking as if it is an autocratic country where KING/QUEEN (beurocrates – include lower and upper – and politicians) is above the law. On the other hand citizen of USA were questioning ‘the top 1% holding maximum wealth‘. Why not Investment Bankers take responsibility for not only creating toxic assets but also burning those assets which eventually ruined the economy – of the whole world.

    Well what do you make out of these seasons of 2011. If I look back and take a macro perspective – all these big events of 2011 were Questions on “accountability”. Let us begin the new year with taking responsibility of our actions and working towards a peaceful (Middle East), moral (India) and equitable (Europe and USA) world.

  • A dancing elephant







    Louis Gerstner… Remember him? The legendary CEO of IBM and I crossed our paths this week when I decided to go through a book titled, Who Says Elephants Can’t Dance?. As chance would have it, it was also the time when I bought my new Lenovo laptop. For all those who have been disconnected from the world, Lenovo is the company that bought IBMs PC business some years ago. After using many renewed brands like Samsung, Dell, HCL, HP and compaq, selecting a new laptop should have been easy. It was, but not because I am more intelligent than 3 years ago. Only because the industry has consolidated a little bit.

    Is not it true with you too, that one factor for decision making is price – this holds true for me too. In first few chapters Lou says IBM had to do a price rationalization of its servers. This event of the book brings back memories of class of Prof Tomas Lopez and my long nights cracking the case with my buddies of MBA – Saurabh Deshmukh, Nikunj Pandya, Ashar and Chanchel Menon. How often have you made an opinion and written about a book even before completing it? I have made my opinion the book is very interesting and I am so impressed that I thought to write.

    IBM a gigantic and bureaucratic organization of 90s! If you are an Indian and have repeatedly circled tables of Govt offices and babus you would be able to understand what challenges Mr Gerstner must have gone through at IBM in first couple of months of his assignment. Honestly, only a few have to chance to lead such place and change this. However, seeing Indian bureaucratic system I believe there are a lot of opportunities for Indian Gerstners (Govt officers would read this blog). I can relate to IBM of early 90s (reminds me of one series of Asterix in which they have to clear a task of Greek Office). We in India say we are democratic country yet currently we are democratically fighting for Lokpal which is not heard by Govt.

    While reading that book I am asking myself – what is the purpose of existence for IBM (of 90s) and of Govt? Don’t you ask similar question to yourself – the purpose of our existence?

    Customers were last in the list at IBM (clearly not in the first few on the list) and in India Citizen are not the first priority (alas! it is democracy). Priorities are – Govt/political parties/bureaucracy, at IBM priorities were country heads/department etc. IBM was (not exactly though) out of touch with changes in IT industry Govt seem to have lost touch with masses. IBM was a big fat elephant so seems the Indian Govt system. “One has changed and is dancing now, will the other too?” is the question to ask.

    Also, I could relate to the teachings of the Buddha while I am reading the book. More on purpose of our existence and middle path later.

    Related blogs – Line of understanding, Lost in translation, Playing golf, work and meditation”…you have to swing naturally”

  • Durgasakha – an organization







    Last week I went on trekking with an organization named Durgasakha. First thing first – thank you to my friends Abhishek Ranjan Jha and Santosh Jagtap to pull me and registering me for the same and thanks to the Durgasakha team. It was a great experience and a good outing after long work hours and weeks. Beyond a break from work, why I enjoyed this trek is also the reason of why I am writing this blog.

    Tringlewadi Igatpuri

    I liked this organization, thanks to Abhi, Subodh and Nene Kaka who informed about the mission of this organization during the trek. Durgasakha is a Hindi/Mararthi word which means – Friends of forts. The organization came into existence as a group who were trekking enthusiasts. Slowly these guys realized that few group visit these forts and litter here and there. So, one thought – to keep forts clean (source of water and temples on the fort) whenever they visit there – came in mind. Plantation and finding history of the place etc. Well, initially any person may think that it is a good thought and perhaps every trekking group would want to do that. This organization goes beyond it.

    This group took another initiative, to help underprivileged yet bright kids, question was how? This initial thought was materialized on two levels, one to distribute used cloths etc – I will come on the ETC in some time – to the interior areas of Maharashtra. The ETC part was – people are moving from CRT TVs to LED/LCD TVs so if those old TVs can be distributed to schools of the interior areas with educational CD and CD players that would help learning of these kids. A fact was, this group – currently – does not take any cash donations in general from anyone, any profit from the trekking events go to sustaining these activities of helping the villagers. Is not it interesting? These people are no ‘corporate bigwig’, these guys are like many of us, who are working in Mumbai struggling in trains on daily basis, for example.

    One other friend of mine – Nitin Chandorkar – was with me on the trek. He suggested “I am of the opinion that we should not just give them facilities but also make them self reliant” (give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, you teach him how to fish and you feed him for life). A very good thought, to our surprise the group – Durgasakha – has already started and done that too. Few Namkins we took on trek were from similar organization they are trying to nurture.

    After this trek I was thinking to write about this experience. I was wondering one does not need to be politician or very rich to do something for the society. What is needed is – preparation of heart and mind or desire to do something. I remember few lines of a Hindi Song – …’Mushkil nahi hai kuchh bhi, agar thhan lijiye’ मुश्किल नहीं है कुछ भी अगर ठान लीजिये. Nothing is difficult if you are committed!

  • Need of the hour!







    Recently, I woke up early in the morning, it was not because I had to go somewhere, but because in the night I forgot to switch on my mosquito repellent. Apparently, I didn’t have to kill the mosquito. All of them put together had sucked enough blood to wake me up and as individuals had sucked enough to full their bellies that none could fly. And they all fell under my weight to die!

    I was wondering about the same in different context and thought about politicians of India and some corporate houses (include Kingfisher). In current context the Anna movement, Occupy Wall Street movement and economy world around has made every commoner – like me – to think seriously about what is happening around. Now it seems that not all politicians and executives can get away with the deeds. They have to be accountable and answerable because the pinch of the rash and extravagant decision are backfiring. If I compare the scenario to my waking up and inadvertently killing few mosquito, the weight of economy has killed some companies (Lehman Brothers) and some are in the lurch. Either politicians and executives have to understand that there has to be enough and more responsible actions and decision or people would gather on streets to protest.

    I am not against development and taking risks yet we have to balance risk and be responsible for the powers offered to us by the shareholders, banks and others. Is it fair to party when you know you are under debt of 1000s of cr (tens of billions) rupees? Is it fine to sponsor and own events when you are under lots of liabilities? I was wondering when I read the news – LIC may be forced by the Govt to rescue Kingfisher. Thankfully it does not seem to happen, otherwise LIC policy holders – such as me – would feel robbed of their hard earned income.

    The collective power has toppled a Govt in Middle East – I term it as French Revolution of Middle East – and other countries of Middle East are feeling the heat. Credibility of a company was on stake when Murdoch was summoned. We see a strong voice against corruption in India and against the reckless decision of bankers as Occupy Wall Street movement. Is not it fair to assume that all educated people (politicians and executives) would understand that commoners are asking for only fairness and accountability, and perhaps it would solve many issues we face in current times, That’s it!

  • The world is imperfect!







    When I was in my teens, I wanted to change a lot of things. The political system, the education system and even the social system of India. This was furthered by the program – the Big Fight of Rajdeep Sirdesai. Once my father told me – “world will remain the same, it was same at the time of the Buddha (people pelted stones on him, conspired against him), it was same at the time of Kabir. Jesus was crucified, Mira poisoned and so was Osho. The world still, is the same and would remain the same. Why do you want to change the world? Look at yourself and why do not you think of changing yourself.”

    My father is right the world is the same and will remain the same. The need of the hour is to change oneself, because everything starts with ‘I’ and surprisingly everything ends with ‘I’ (earlier blog on Forbidden word). Is not it an irony? I did not understand the deeper level of my fathers message for a long long time. Many ‘I” create the world, and each single ‘I’, has its own definition of ‘perfect’. Interestingly, the definition of perfect keeps on changing and therefore, the single definition of a perfect does not remain intact within the mind of ‘I’. This starts one conflict then the other and so on. The conflicts are -at least – as many as the ‘I’ in the world.

    The world is imperfect, the world will remain imperfect or perhaps we – as individuals – are not attuned to accept it and live with it. Effectively, perhaps we – as individuals – are not perfect. I think this is why we suffer and perhaps this is where the Buddha started on the four noble truth – there is suffering, there is cause of suffering, there is a solution and lastly ‘the path’. I believe, the suffering is not because of the world, but because we see things as we want to see and when something does not work according to our logic we feel the world is imperfect.

    Related blog based on The book of Mirdad – Ego and Forbidden word

  • Money – what is it?







    This was a very candid question Prof Mankads asked once – ‘What is money?’ and he answered – ‘Money is what is accepted a money.’ True, money is what is accepted as money. Humanity needed some tangible measure so we deviced various forms of money at various time. For example at the time of barter system ‘everything’ was weighted against the other. So everything was acceptable in trade as money. Then came matels and now paper and plastic money (credit cards).

    I started thinking if we needed something tangible as money what if we made something like Camay (soap) a currency? If some other things be made money what would happen? Take an example of age – everyone would gradually get money. Fun or being funny – comadians would have maximum money in the world. Seriousness – patients in extremely intencive care units. Trust – Indian politicians or politicians in general would stand nowhere. Spirituality – the spiritual masters would be at the top, one I know is Sri Sri Ravi Shankar.

    Now if we ask ourselves – who is rich? The simple answer is one who has ‘more’ money. ‘More’ is contextual (adjective). Now, if we take money as fun, being happy or being funny. How many of us are rich today? Kids in school are competing, people are jealous or many of us have only instant gratification and long term sorrow. Not many of us are rich! Has money made anyone happier?

    Assume Trust be the currency. How many have earned it? Yes trust is hard earned currency, right? Bankers have lost their trust of 100+ years (see the occupy wall street movement), politicians have lost it. Citizen vote because they think someone will improve the systems. On the contrary we all still remember Jesus, the Buddha and other Masters. Plato, Aristotle and Chanakya. We named unit of force on the name of Newton we say Da Vinci was genius. Were they ‘RICH’ in terms of hoarded money? So, what if we measure richness on different factors now and in future. See this engineer mind thinks of formulae (which is not correct, yet I am writing it) –
    Richness = [{(money + Happiness)*Trust/greediness}^(1/greediness)]*(peace of mind)*spirituality
    and other important stuff
    Range of the variables
    0 > Money, Happiness and Trust > 1
    Greediness > 1 upto infinite
    peace of mind and spirituality> 1
    ^ stands for raise to the power

    I think everyone of us has to identify what we want from our life and that one or few things would be The thing(s) which would make each one of us Rich (not necessarily Money). Of course, this richness should not come at the expense of others or harming others.

  • We – “the Societies…”







    I read a book on the Buddha – Old Path White Clouds. Really, the path is very old. We are still struggling after many centuries. The book starts with a young Bhikku – Svasti a buffalo tending boy. The Buddha had tried hard to bridge the gap pervading in society at that time. During the time of Mahabharat (even before the Buddha) Karna had to face it (as son of a charioteer, check Wiki). I am talking about the societies we have formed. We are divided by race, religion, nationality, region, caste and sub-castes. Therefore we are not a society we are ‘societies’.

    I read two news items and thought to write about them. Though personally I feel religious belief is a personal matter and therefore no ‘group’ should interfere with beliefs of individuals. However, we have made religious belief system an organization which now has become a business as well as tool to discriminate. Anyways, the first news item was – First whiff of justice for Gujarat riot victims and the second was – Dalits enter Madurai temple after two long decades. In northern part of India people feel that southern states are far less discriminating, is that true? This news item shows different picture.

    At the time of the Buddha there was only four divisions of Indian society (as only Hinduism existed). Now we have many religion, languages, states, castes and sub-castes. The task of bridging gaps has become difficult in our times. Take an example of one belief system of India. The concept of this system was ‘a casteless society’, within 1000 years of its existence there are about 16 different sub-caste in this single belief system! The number is alarming because old Hindu system has only 4 castes (of course 4 are then sub divided) and this example less than 1000 year old has 4 time more sub divisions. I have heard Islam has 70+ sects, Buddhism has at least 3, Christianity has a few. Phew! how long will we divide as well as fight the so called holy wars?

    If we see at a macro level – we are divided in nation we live in, language we speak, color of skin, economic status for that matter brand of car we use. I am sure no spiritual master had meant to use his/her teachings as a tool to discriminate. We are humans and is not that enough to thrive, survive and grow physically, mentally and spiritually? ‘The path’ is really very old, we are still not able to understand it. We are ‘societies’ and we do discriminate, why?

    Related blog – Business of religion!

  • Abundance of scarcity







    I was watching NDTV after a long time no no…TV after a long time. Also, NDTV has not been my favorite for a couple of years now. Anna movement gave chance to every news channel, however, only Times Now could make it to my consideration set. So, by chance I was watching NDTV. Well to be precise, I was not watching; by chance NDTV was on and we were talking about something. I gave it a heed because the news was about increase in petrol price in India. Some experts were talking and one said – “India has grown, we are producing more grain, (Precisely, the number thrown was about 250 units to 270 units). So when we are growing, with growth if inflation is high it is fine!…”. The argument was largely – we are growing and so is inflation thus it is fine if petrol price is also increasing.

    I started thinking, if we are producing more than why people die of hunger? If we are growing then why still we are not satisfied? If India of today is better than India of 90s, 80s or 70s why we are still struggling with roads with potholes (even in Mumbai), load shedding (for non-Indians load shedding means power cut in different location because of scarcity of power) and other problems. We are producing more, in fact the argument was we are producing more than we consume.

    We can see that we have enough and more mediums for entertainment (I was watching TV and thats why this came in mind first), enough food (as per the expert invited by NDTV). Surprisingly we do have enough and more Money – in Swiss bank accounts in Indian context and in developed economies hefty bailouts. Still there is inflation, there are economic issues.

    Largely, the basic problem is greed. Because of greed we see scarcity of many things. In fact after reading an MBA case we felt that Diamonds are not rare as we believe. In other words, we are in a world with abundant supplies of required things however we create scarcity of other things (and of the basic necessities). Greed for growth, money and possession. Effectively, we need few things which are in abundance but we live in artificially created scarcity of those. Because of greed abundance becomes scarcity and we live in the world of abundance of scarcity.