I spent some time this week at the Garudmaachi campus of High Places (www.highplaces.co.in), a company that offers outdoors based management development programs.
High Places is run by Vasant Limaye
Garudmaachi is breath-taking. This 19 acre spread nestles at one end against a camel’s back shaped peak of the Sahayadris and at the other end a peak that Vasant likes to call the Phantom Head.
Vasant has taken care not to disturb the natural habitat.
Accommodation within Garudmaachi consist of dormitory tents which while proving all creature comforts blend in unobtrusively ( for the “senior boss” types from the corporate teams that frequent Garudmaachi want more ‘conventional’ accommodation, High Places has ‘four-star’ kind of facilities just across the road from Garudmaachi).
Even the rappelling tower and the Burma bridge seem camouflaged so as not to offend the animals.
The quietitude of the place goes beyond a lack of noise to the silence of fulfillment.
Vasant was at IIT Bombay with me. I always knew him as the outdoorsy type and the original conservationist decades before the whole green hullabaloo started.
He missed scaling Kanchenjunga by a few hundred feet and his concern for preservation of nature reflects in every inch of Garudmaachi.
To my pleasant surprise however, on this visit, another facet of Vasant was revealed to me.Vasant the writer.
Vasant, I now gather, is a published writer with a compilation of his columns for a Marathi newspaper in its third edition, as also a couple of highly appreciated short stories.
And his fondest future project now is a book he is contemplating writing over the next year or so.
Vasant adding to the quietitude of fulfillment a note of mystery, narrating a story of his as we sat around the burning embers of a stove on a chilly night, is a memory that will stay with me for a long time.
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Gandhi and Tagore
Gandhi & Tagore were contemporaries. Though they openly admired each other, their views on many issues differed dramatically.
Gandhi was an arch conservative and a nationalist. He believed that India’s progress lay in going back to our traditions and rejecting most Western mores and practices.
Tagore was a liberal and an internationalist. He believed that the essence of India and its progress lay in its assimilative nature that incorporated and harmonized influences from all quarters of the world.
Gandhi was a man of action.
Tagore was an artist who created out of thoughts, words, music and paint.
Tagore gained quick recognition and admiration in the West and then as quickly became a figure of derision and is internationally almost forgotten today.
Gandhi gained international recognition slowly but remains a much admired and cited world figure.
Paradoxically Tagore endures in the culture and daily life of Bengal and Bengalis while Gandhi’s influence in modern India’s culture and its daily life has faded away almost completely.
Tagore and Gandhi. The contrast, I believe, is multi-dimensional, fascinating and archetypical of the essential duality of life, nature and civilization.
Gandhi was an arch conservative and a nationalist. He believed that India’s progress lay in going back to our traditions and rejecting most Western mores and practices.
Tagore was a liberal and an internationalist. He believed that the essence of India and its progress lay in its assimilative nature that incorporated and harmonized influences from all quarters of the world.
Gandhi was a man of action.
Tagore was an artist who created out of thoughts, words, music and paint.
Tagore gained quick recognition and admiration in the West and then as quickly became a figure of derision and is internationally almost forgotten today.
Gandhi gained international recognition slowly but remains a much admired and cited world figure.
Paradoxically Tagore endures in the culture and daily life of Bengal and Bengalis while Gandhi’s influence in modern India’s culture and its daily life has faded away almost completely.
Tagore and Gandhi. The contrast, I believe, is multi-dimensional, fascinating and archetypical of the essential duality of life, nature and civilization.
Saturday, December 19, 2009
The Politics of Technology
The cop out at Copenhagen should surprise no one.
It was a confabulation of the Establishment, by the Establishment, for the Establishment.
The Establishment is invested heavily in oil, coal and all other dirty technologies. You would not expect them to get to solutions when they themselves are the largest part of the problem.
It will be, as always, the innovators and the entrepreneurs who will solve this problem. They will do so by treating the carbon emissions problem as an opportunity. To the entrepreneurs and the innovators, the bigger the problem, the bigger is the opportunity.
The next two decades will see the coming of a new order, an order invested in renewable energy systems, ultra-efficient batteries and smart energy management.
The real action is in the trenches where this new order is fighting the Establishment, inch by bloody inch. Not in talk fests like Copenhagen.
It was a confabulation of the Establishment, by the Establishment, for the Establishment.
The Establishment is invested heavily in oil, coal and all other dirty technologies. You would not expect them to get to solutions when they themselves are the largest part of the problem.
It will be, as always, the innovators and the entrepreneurs who will solve this problem. They will do so by treating the carbon emissions problem as an opportunity. To the entrepreneurs and the innovators, the bigger the problem, the bigger is the opportunity.
The next two decades will see the coming of a new order, an order invested in renewable energy systems, ultra-efficient batteries and smart energy management.
The real action is in the trenches where this new order is fighting the Establishment, inch by bloody inch. Not in talk fests like Copenhagen.
Friday, December 18, 2009
The Beginning of a New Movie Era?
It is 2am in the morning of the 18th of December 2009.
I have just come home from a preview of James Cameroon’s Avataar.
Tomorrow the reviews will be swarming the media. I want to have my say before I read any of them.
Avataar, I believe, is a disruption in the science of movie-making.
It not just blurs but completely removes the line between live action and animation.
And in addition it is the first instance of the evolution of a film grammar which moves 3D beyond being just a technical gimmick.
I believe Avataar will be marked as the beginning of a new era in the science of movie-making.
What about the art? The content, I believe, does have soul but art is so subjective so let us leave the pundits and the critics to fight for the scraps as the world gorges on the stunning visual beauty of the film.
As I prepare to sleep I perhaps will dream about Pandora and its inhabitants and for a couple of days maybe the movie will tinge my view of reality.
In my book that is what a good movie all about.
I have just come home from a preview of James Cameroon’s Avataar.
Tomorrow the reviews will be swarming the media. I want to have my say before I read any of them.
Avataar, I believe, is a disruption in the science of movie-making.
It not just blurs but completely removes the line between live action and animation.
And in addition it is the first instance of the evolution of a film grammar which moves 3D beyond being just a technical gimmick.
I believe Avataar will be marked as the beginning of a new era in the science of movie-making.
What about the art? The content, I believe, does have soul but art is so subjective so let us leave the pundits and the critics to fight for the scraps as the world gorges on the stunning visual beauty of the film.
As I prepare to sleep I perhaps will dream about Pandora and its inhabitants and for a couple of days maybe the movie will tinge my view of reality.
In my book that is what a good movie all about.
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Being a CEEEEO: The Yoga of Leadership
Early management thinking was premised on the paradigm of a military campaign.
Resulting in the hierarchical, command and control system that even today is followed by many an archaic business.
The cutting edge in management thinking however has since then moved on.
Thinkers like Peter Drucker started the process of liberating management processes from the confines of military-like strategy.
Over the last two decades, the world of business has increased immeasurably in complexity. There has been a tectonic shift brought about by unprecedented technological change and more importantly the rising primacy of business in human affairs.
Whenever things become too complex, Vedic thought seems to have the capacity to strip them to pristine simplicity. Ask the physicists.
So can we apply some yoga to management science?
There are two poles around which much management thinking today is coalescing: Leadership and Innovation.To my mind these are just two sides of the same coin.
In an increasingly interactive and instantaneous world, leadership needs to be rooted in the moment.
The yoga of leadership is to reflect the triumvirate of Creation, Conservation and Destruction with all three dimensions active and alive in every moment.
The yoga of leadership recognizes the principle of centrality. It is a mathematical fact that in an infinite universe every point is at the centre.
So also with every human being it is only the self that leads and only the self that follows.
The true leader therefore engages and enables everyone around her to envision and execute.
And as every person engages to enable everyone else to envision and execute, the resultant network effect will push not just the world of business but humanity itself to a new level of being.
The age of the CEO is past.
The coming age is of the Chief Engage and Enable to Envision and Execute Officer, the age of the CEEEEO.
And in the very DNA of being a CEEEEO is that you recognize that everyone around you is a CEEEEO. It is just that some know it and some are yet to catch on.
Without comment:
Resulting in the hierarchical, command and control system that even today is followed by many an archaic business.
The cutting edge in management thinking however has since then moved on.
Thinkers like Peter Drucker started the process of liberating management processes from the confines of military-like strategy.
Over the last two decades, the world of business has increased immeasurably in complexity. There has been a tectonic shift brought about by unprecedented technological change and more importantly the rising primacy of business in human affairs.
Whenever things become too complex, Vedic thought seems to have the capacity to strip them to pristine simplicity. Ask the physicists.
So can we apply some yoga to management science?
There are two poles around which much management thinking today is coalescing: Leadership and Innovation.To my mind these are just two sides of the same coin.
In an increasingly interactive and instantaneous world, leadership needs to be rooted in the moment.
The yoga of leadership is to reflect the triumvirate of Creation, Conservation and Destruction with all three dimensions active and alive in every moment.
The yoga of leadership recognizes the principle of centrality. It is a mathematical fact that in an infinite universe every point is at the centre.
So also with every human being it is only the self that leads and only the self that follows.
The true leader therefore engages and enables everyone around her to envision and execute.
And as every person engages to enable everyone else to envision and execute, the resultant network effect will push not just the world of business but humanity itself to a new level of being.
The age of the CEO is past.
The coming age is of the Chief Engage and Enable to Envision and Execute Officer, the age of the CEEEEO.
And in the very DNA of being a CEEEEO is that you recognize that everyone around you is a CEEEEO. It is just that some know it and some are yet to catch on.
Without comment:
Saturday, December 5, 2009
In Bed with the Media
Modern media has become a smoke and mirrors act.
Look at this shot taken by Harry Benson, a renowned photograph, on the sets of the Sean Connery movie Thunderball.
.jpg)
Consider the labyrinth.
An act for one "70 mm" camera becomes a piece of hot focus for a gaggle of another group of news-hound cameras which then finds play in the cool art of an avant garde photographer.
Reminds me of the lyrics of a John Mayal (if I remember right) song: “She was looking back to see if I was looking back to see if she was looking back at me”
Look at this shot taken by Harry Benson, a renowned photograph, on the sets of the Sean Connery movie Thunderball.
.jpg)
Consider the labyrinth.
An act for one "70 mm" camera becomes a piece of hot focus for a gaggle of another group of news-hound cameras which then finds play in the cool art of an avant garde photographer.
Reminds me of the lyrics of a John Mayal (if I remember right) song: “She was looking back to see if I was looking back to see if she was looking back at me”
Friday, December 4, 2009
Stumble
stum•ble
v. stum•bled, stum•bling, stum•bles
v.intr.
1.
a. To miss one's step in walking or running; trip and almost fall.
b. To proceed unsteadily or falteringly; flounder. See Synonyms at blunder.
c. To act or speak falteringly or clumsily.
2. To make a mistake; blunder.
3. To fall into evil ways; err.
4. To come upon accidentally or unexpectedly: "The urge to wider voyages . . . caused men to stumble upon New America" (Kenneth Cragg).
v.tr.
(Source: The Free Dictionary by Farlex)
When a word has multiple meanings, is it just a result of accidents in linguistic history or can one draw deeper meaning?
In the definition of ‘stumble’ how does “to come upon accidently or unexpectedly” relate to “miss one’s step” or “make a mistake”?
Can the relationship be defined through the concept of “serendipity” or is it also a statement of the adage of learning from one’s mistakes?
And what about “to fall into evil ways or err”, is that the result of not learning from one’s mistakes?
I stumble regularly.
Things are going smooth and suddenly a dark cloud of dissatisfaction descends on me.
In days past each stumble would mostly cause me to err and sometimes even fall into evil ways.
These days instead mostly I recover with a new insight into myself and the world around me.
Wonder whether this happy change comes naturally with age or is it one of the many symptoms of, like good wine, aging well?
PS I am in a stumble right now and this post is part of the process of getting back my stride.
v. stum•bled, stum•bling, stum•bles
v.intr.
1.
a. To miss one's step in walking or running; trip and almost fall.
b. To proceed unsteadily or falteringly; flounder. See Synonyms at blunder.
c. To act or speak falteringly or clumsily.
2. To make a mistake; blunder.
3. To fall into evil ways; err.
4. To come upon accidentally or unexpectedly: "The urge to wider voyages . . . caused men to stumble upon New America" (Kenneth Cragg).
v.tr.
(Source: The Free Dictionary by Farlex)
When a word has multiple meanings, is it just a result of accidents in linguistic history or can one draw deeper meaning?
In the definition of ‘stumble’ how does “to come upon accidently or unexpectedly” relate to “miss one’s step” or “make a mistake”?
Can the relationship be defined through the concept of “serendipity” or is it also a statement of the adage of learning from one’s mistakes?
And what about “to fall into evil ways or err”, is that the result of not learning from one’s mistakes?
I stumble regularly.
Things are going smooth and suddenly a dark cloud of dissatisfaction descends on me.
In days past each stumble would mostly cause me to err and sometimes even fall into evil ways.
These days instead mostly I recover with a new insight into myself and the world around me.
Wonder whether this happy change comes naturally with age or is it one of the many symptoms of, like good wine, aging well?
PS I am in a stumble right now and this post is part of the process of getting back my stride.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Of empty roads and aimless drives
Very often, when my 20 year old son is home, we set out for a drive around 11 pm.
The traffic has thinned out, the city is into cruise mode too and seems to be grooving to whatever it is that is playing in our car.
Bombay by night has the ability to resonate with whatever mood you are while Bombay by day drives you hard tethered to your ambitions.
The work-in-progress suburbs are left behind on a surreal new bridge and the soft lights of South Bombay reflect the Empty Nest syndrome writ large.
A twenty year old gets hungry and we stop at a doughnut joint on Breach Candy. The tangles of young people hanging out there underline the middle-aged gentility of the neighborhood.
Next stop Mucchad Paanwala. Muchhad has now been a Bombay legend for over three decades and now employs a panwala’s dozen of similarly mustachioed gentleman who run a drive-in service that could have the making, I think, of another HBS case study on the lines of the dabbawalas.
I pull out my mobile and Mucchad preens and swirls his pride. The guy is used to attention.
We take the JJ flyover back home to Versova passing through the grittier parts of Bombay including Dharavi.The city continues to resonate to the music.
Bombay is not just a concrete maze, it is a state of mind.
As we get home around way past one, a quiet "good night" caps male bonding at its silent best.
The traffic has thinned out, the city is into cruise mode too and seems to be grooving to whatever it is that is playing in our car.
Bombay by night has the ability to resonate with whatever mood you are while Bombay by day drives you hard tethered to your ambitions.
The work-in-progress suburbs are left behind on a surreal new bridge and the soft lights of South Bombay reflect the Empty Nest syndrome writ large.
A twenty year old gets hungry and we stop at a doughnut joint on Breach Candy. The tangles of young people hanging out there underline the middle-aged gentility of the neighborhood.
Next stop Mucchad Paanwala. Muchhad has now been a Bombay legend for over three decades and now employs a panwala’s dozen of similarly mustachioed gentleman who run a drive-in service that could have the making, I think, of another HBS case study on the lines of the dabbawalas.
I pull out my mobile and Mucchad preens and swirls his pride. The guy is used to attention.
We take the JJ flyover back home to Versova passing through the grittier parts of Bombay including Dharavi.The city continues to resonate to the music.
Bombay is not just a concrete maze, it is a state of mind.
As we get home around way past one, a quiet "good night" caps male bonding at its silent best.
Without Comment
"Hoshina noticed how, very gradually, all sounds disappeared. How the real sounds around him steadily lost their reality.Meaningful sounds all ended up as silence. And the silence deeper and deeper, like silt at the bottom of the sea. It accumulated at his feet, reached up to his waist, then up to his chest"
From Hakura Murakami's novel "Kafka on the Shore" (emphasis is mine)
From Hakura Murakami's novel "Kafka on the Shore" (emphasis is mine)
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