Passionate About India

As I look back, over the years, I realise that I’ve ventured far away from what I started my career with... I was supposed to be this management teacher whose passion lay in the areas of leadership and motivation. However, with time, especially after I wrote ‘The Great Indian Dream’ with my father, I have given very less time to writing on management! So much so that when I look back today, ever since the start of The Sunday Indian, I have only – and only – written on economics and politics, and at times on sports and cinema, but never on management! So this time, I thought I’ll write on my first love! More so, I have a reason for it. I really have been thinking – with the way our system is functioning, the best way to feel good and change things around is by changing ourselves, and by ourselves being the change we want to see! There is hardly anything that we can’t do if we want to, because we are all diamonds in waiting – in various stages. Some of us yet to be discovered, some of us...

I’ve always been an admirer of China. I have also been an admirer of Mao Tse Tung – despite the scandalous (true or untrue) details of his private life – and believe that today’s China, good or bad, is an absolute direct result of his vision. What I have admired the most about China is the way they have been able to pull out millions of people from below poverty, in a matter of a few decades. This feat of China is unmatched in recorded history. What has made them achieve this unbelievable feat is their macroeconomic bottom-up model, wherein they focused on creating purchasing power directly within the poor. This has enabled them to become one of the formidable forces in the world today. They also know that if there is one nation which could pose challenges in the path of Chinese glory, it is India. So some time back, I came across an intriguing article, which generally got overlooked by most. It was reported by almost all mainstream newspapers that a Chinese strategist has contended th...

My Dear friends! This blog has been used to upload my TSI edits over time… But today I am excited to make my first personal posting… nothing in a long long time has made me think as much as my following edit on the desirability of living forever has! I consider it to be the BIGGEST EVER BREAKING NEWS FOR MANKIND… If you have time please do read this one for sure! It might be great food for thought and could make your weekend discussion more exciting! Happy Diwali and all the Best always! Also its really overwhelming to see that so many of you feel that this blog is worth following. Thanks a million. Cheers!

Two weeks back, I read this most amazing article in The Times Of India’s international news page. It spoke of a scientist claiming that those who live for another twenty odd years might actually go on to live forever. The scientist, Ray Kurzweil, has been dubbed by none other than Bill Gates as the smartest futurist on earth. So when he speaks, you listen. As per Ray, in another twenty years, science would probably invent ways to re-programme our bodies and thereby reverse the ageing process; and then nano-technology would let us live forever! Already, ‘submarines’ called nanobots, no larger than even blood cells, are being tested on animals. And soon, they would be tested on human beings. These nanobots can be used to destroy tumors, unblock clots and perform operations without scars and should ultimately replace blood cells in human bodies and help the body work thousands of times more efficiently! Thus, in effect, what it could mean is that people who are currently aged around sixty...

Just a couple of weeks back, some tens of thousands of American citizens got together to protest US President Barack Obama’s healthcare plans. Obama has been trying his best to expand health coverage for American citizens, at the same time also trying to arrest the ever increasing healthcare costs in the US. As per his plan, healthcare is going to adequately cover as many as 97% of the American population. Currently, it is estimated that around 46 million Americans do not have health cover and around 25 million of them are not adequately covered. Now, on the face of it, the plan looks fine; but what has agitated an average American is the very fact that this plan (of adequately covering 97% Americans under health insurance) calls for a budget of $600 billion, which would be mobilized through higher taxes. This element of higher taxes has antagonized the Americans, coupled with the fact that they do not want the government to interfere into health affairs. Such is the fury among America...