Recently there was talk that the chess czar, Vishwanathan Anand, should be awarded the Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian award. So far it has never been awarded to a sports person, though there has been a clamor from time to time that it should be awarded to Sachin Tendulkar, who will shortly be sworn in as a Continue reading
Have you experienced this phenomenon concerning time and memory? There are some days when you don’t remember what happened yesterday or even a few hours ago. Yet, there are others when events and chance meetings bring back memories of decades ago. You remember things that happened so long ago as clearly as if they happened the day before.
I had some interesting experiences recently. A couple of days ago, we had the Pan South India Alumni Meet of my alma mater, XLRI, at the ITC Gardenia in Bangalore. I met my class mates from the Batch of’74. There were as many as seven of us and it was great to see them again. Someone pointed out that forty years ago, in May 1972, we had joined XLRI together as 20-somethings, eager to learn and grow.
At the same XLRI get together, I met people with whom I had worked twenty years ago in 1992. There were many old friends at that gathering. Advance to 2002, a decade ago, by which time I had become an independent consultant offering specialist services in Talent Management. I met at the same party, several executives for whose organizations, I had done consulting and training work. They had been my clients at one time.
Cut to the present in 2012. Since 2010, my focus has been on writing and here I met several people who spoke of my book. It warmed my heart to know that people had liked my book and were asking when the next one was due.
Yes, as I started off by saying, memory at times does play tricks. Luckily, at other times it holds you in good stead as it did for me that evening, when I was delighted to meet friends cutting across four decades.
For us authors, our books are like our kids. More so, our debut novels. A friend once described the process of waiting expectantly for your book to be published as being akin to delivering a child. “It Can’t Be You”, a psychological thriller, which was my debut novel published in November 2010 continues to do well. Continue reading
I was delighted to hear that the 154th Founder’s Day celebrations of my alma mater, The Lawrence School, Lovedale,would have a unique event this year. A Book Reading Festival has been organized in which Old Lawrencians who have written books in recent years would get an opportunity to show case their writing. On May 2 and May 3, five authors , including yours truly, will participate in this event which culminates in our formally presenting our books to the School Library.
I shall read from my debut novel, “It Can’t Be You”, a psychological thriller. It would be a great experience to read extracts at a place which inculcated in all of us a love for reading and books. I remember the fantastic library we had at School and how I developed my fascination for human psychology and the military, even in those far off days.
The other Old Lawrencians who will take part are: Badrinath Nuggehalli, batch of ’74 with “Clear Line of Fire”; Saaz Savur Aggarwal, batch of ’77 with “The Songbird On My Shoulder”; Solayappan Lakshmanan, batch of ’82 with ” I Lost My Job But..”; and, Enakshi Choudhuri, batch of ’87 with “Naina’s Adventure.” For the record, I may add that I am the oldest of the lot being from the batch of ’67.
I hope this event will be a great success and become a regular feature in the Founders Week celebrations in future years.
Cricket fans are getting their money’s worth and every bit of entertainment that they want with the ongoing fifth season of the Indian Premier League (IPL). However, it is unfortunate there have been a few cases of unsportsmanlike behaviour, which have marred the spirit of the game.
As R. Mohan writes in his article, there is no huge dollar prize for the team that wins the Fair Play Award. Perhaps that’s the reason teams don’t take it too seriously. Doug Bollinger of the Chennai Super Kings deliberately blocking young Naman Ojha of the Delhi Daredevils was shocking. It was totally unprovoked and spoke poorly of the big Australian fast bowler. It’s quite another matter that he probably wouldn’t have done it to Chris Gayle or Kieron Pollard, who are as big if not bigger than him. Ironically, the Chennai Super Kings have won the Fair Play Award for three years.
In another match, Harbhajan Singh and Munaf Patel of the Mumbai Indians put huge pressure on the on-field umpires forcing them to reverse their original decision. The decision was wrong as shown by the subsequent re-plays but bullying the umpire was not the way to go about things. This has started a dangerous precedent. Instead of being banned for the next few matches, they were merely fined. To put the incident in perspective, Harbhajan is the captain of the team and expected to be a role model!
It would appear some people don’t learn, or as is more likely, simply don’t care. In a recent match Munaf Patel was in the news once again, for the wrong reasons This time for sledging young Kings XI batsmen who played him with ease. He was fined 25 % of his match fee for the first offense and now 50 % of his match fee. Considering the huge sums cricketers like him have amassed over the years, this is peanuts for him. It is time cricket tournaments like the IPL have a system of yellow flags and red flags to bar players from the game. This is the only way some people will learn their lesson.
A two match ban is the minimum one would have thought he would get, but like everywhere else, money power probably triumphs.
Have you felt others have lied to you at work? Did you come away feeling you had been taken for a big ride? Here’s an article which could help you. Carol Kinsey Goman writes on “12 Ways To Spot A Liar At Work” in Forbes.
A word of caution though. The liar at work could have read this article too ! Be vigilant that the liar, like all good liars, isn’t going out-of-the-way to con you by making you believe he has your best interests at heart.
On April 3, 2012, patriots of India celebrated the 98th birth anniversary of one of India’s military legends, the incomparable Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw. So much has already been written about his exploits that they need not be repeated. My thoughts instead went to how our establishments in India frequently get things wrong and then scramble like crazy to make amends. Continue reading
I am disappointed with Sachin Tendulkar though I have been a fan of his since long. I have no hesitation in saying that his feats have been quite incredible. The stats. speak for themselves but a note of discord has set in, to my mind, in recent months. Yes, he has finally scored his 100th international century and the whole world is happy and relieved that this milestone has finally been reached. Continue reading
They say a good title for a book tells you up front what it is about. “Go Put Your Strengths To Work” by Marcus Buckingham is one such title. It’s all about an area which traditionally has been relatively less addressed as executives the world over have scrambled over each other, causing themselves and others great stress in the bargain, to overcome their “weaknesses.”
| Article first published as Rahul Dravid Announces Retirement From First Class Cricket on Technorati. What a great ambassador for the game of cricket! |
