YIL - Young Indian Leaders

CNN-IBN, the Indian version of CNN had their YIL -Young Indian Leaders awards ceremony today. These awards "is about celebrating the achievements of Young Indians who personify the spirit of youth. It is an effort to identify, honour, and showcase the young achievers, from various fields of expertise, who in turn can be a source of inspiration to the nation's youth."

Their website created specially for this occasion answers the question Why, very well.
"As young as your faith, as old as your doubt.
As young as your self-confidence, as old as your fear.
As young as your hope, as old as your despair."

India has the second largest and youngest population in the world. There are more than 700 million Indians below the age of 35 in the country. Bharat Ratna Dr. Abdul Kalam once remarked that there was no credible platform in the country to recognize the achievements of youthacross various walks of life.

We at CNN-IBN, IBN7 and IBN-Lokmat have taken it upon ourselves to create a nationwide credible platform to identify, recognize and showcase the achievements of young Indians. This initiative we hope will channelize the aspirations of the youth and in turn inspire them. An inspired Young India means that India is on an accelerated path to take its rightful place in the world order as one of the greatest nations in the world.
http://ibnlive.in.com/youngindian/index.php

Interestingly the 8 winners were from a cross section ofsociety and professions. All very impressive and extremely inspiring.

The 8 winners were

CHAVI RAJAWAT

A young educated woman who gave up a hi-fi corporate job to return to her home village in Rajasthan and become the sarpanch. And make a huge difference to the lives of people and villages around.


D UDAY KUMAR

The IIT professor, who designed the new rupee symbol.


  
KRUSHNAA PATIL

This 20 year old not only became the youngest to conquer Mount Everest, but set off on a 7 summit quest, attempting to climb the tallest peak in every continent. She has so far managed 6, missing North America, when she had to return 700 metres from the peak after her guide fell ill.


INDRANI MEDHI

The 32 year old has developed text-free user inerface that allow even an illiterate first time user to interact with minimal or no assistance.


AGA RUHULLAH

The youngest minister in the J&K cabinet, believes in refusing security and living in his village. He's working towards providing lasting peace through prosperity with dignity.


IRFAN ALAM

The 29 year old IIM grad is the founder of Sammaan Foundation. The foundation equips rickshaws with music, magazines, newspapers, first-aid kits, refreshments and advertisements to help rickshaw-pullers. Today Sammaan boasts more than 500,000 rickshaws across 8 states.


SUDARSAN PATTNAIK

This 33 year old sand artist become the world champion in 2008. His "Help Tsunami Victims" touched the hearts of millions globally.


AKHIL GOGOI

The Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti founder takes on powerful politicians in his home state of Assam.

You can see videos of these super-achievers at:
http://ibnlive.in.com/youngindian/videos.html

Akhil Gogoi used the forum to request Navin Jindal, an MP and part of the Jindal Group not to go ahead with
their major electric projects in Assam. Jindal himself is one of the youngest MPs in the coountry. It was very refreshing to see him walk on stage and explain their plans in a nutshell and their handling of the environmental issues. Most important he publicly committed to Akhil, that of they could convince him that the project was not in the overall interest of either Assam or India, he would ensure that it did not go ahead.

All in all, an impressive and deserving list of winners, giving all of us hope in the India of tomorrow.

the Swami who stands apart - Baba Ramdev

Last night whilst switching channels we came across Swami Ramdev. He was saying something about health and Ivy was immediately interested. We listened and for the next 45 minutes were hooked. He was speaking and we listened. And listened. And were in complete agreement. Not because of his charisma but because of the content. It made complete sense.

Baba Ramdev, as he is popularly known as, is particularly known for his efforts in popularizing Yoga as it is enunciated in Patanjali's Yoga Sutras. He is one of the founders of the Divya Yog Mandir Trust headquartered in Haridwar, that aims to popularize Yoga and offer Ayurvedic treatments. 

The first part of his discourse was on Yoga breathing exercises, called Pranayamas. He mainly focused on a breathing exercise that anybody who can breathe can easily do. "Kapalbhati Pranayama". This pranayama consists of rapid forced exhales followed by passive inhales. In between demonstrating this exercise, he spoke about the benefits to the various parts of the body.

He was aware and was mapping each of the internal organs, their functions, the benefits the exercise would give to each part and their interdependence and impact on each other. It was amazing. Even a medical physician was impressed not only at the depth of knowledge but the art of being able to present it correctly and accurately to common folks. In a language they could understand.

The New York Times calls him an "Indian who built Yoga Empire", "a product and symbol of the New India, a yogic fusion of Richard Simmons, Dr. Oz and Oprah Winfrey, irrepressible and bursting with Vedic wisdom".

You can visit his website that is filled with quite a few interesting insights into his organization.
 http://www.divyayoga.com/

The most interesting part however is the huge collection of over 50 videos, many in English, that teach various yoga exercises. These are categorized into wellness related and disease related.
http://www.divyayoga.com/yoga-a-pranayam-videos.html

And as if this wasn't enough, he surprised at least me. He asked the audience for 2 more minutes of thoughts to finish his discourse. And talked about the primary issues facing the nation. His list of 3.

1. Distribution of GDP by sector.
Whilst Agriculture is around 16%, Manufacturing 27%, Service is 57%. This leads to major lack of balance in supply and consumption. His solution - Governmental policies and incentives to increase Agriculture and Manufacturing to around 33% each.

2. Corruption
I guess you don't need to be Einstein to identify this problem. His figures suggested that around 5 trillion USD is lying overseas. And around that much within the country. His solutions. Make all large currency notes (Rs. 500 and Rs. 1000) illegal, with a 1 month period in which it can be returned to banks, if the source can be shown. This would make all ill gotten and illegal cash of zero value. It would also make being corrupt a little difficult, because of the sheer volume of the physical notes. The 2nd to sign treaties with various overseas countries to declare Indian owned deposits and repatriate them legally if their owners are unable to show the source of their income.

3. Political Accountability
Ultimately change can only be brought by having a conscientious political class that was honest and willing to be accountable for their actions.And since the current politicians were neither honest nor accountable Baba Ramdev has done the next best thing. Launched his own party, the "Bharat Swabhiman", which plans to contest all 543 Lok Sabha seats in the next elections.
http://bharat-swabhiman.com/en/

Here's hoping and wishing Baba Ramdev all the luck with the hope that he will succeed in his dreams. And more important, that if and when he does get the power he desires, he remembers this unfortunate truth.

Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts, absolutely.

From shame to fame in 12 days – Commonwealth Games, Delhi, 2010

India had won the right to host the XIX Commonwealth Games in Delhi. This was to be a prestigious opportunity to show the world that India had arrived, just as China had done a couple of years ago, buy hosting the hugely successful Olympics at Beijing.

The Games are allotted almost 6 years before the event and the host country has a clear 5 years to prepare. It’s probably the 2nd largest event after the Olympics with 71 participating countries. Preparations were to start in 2005. And they did. Unfortunately the pace was not sufficient. And the plans did not go as expected. There probably was no Plan B.

In the build up on the final stretch particularly in the final 3 months, there was serious concerns expressed. By the media, the opposition parties, the participating countries and even detractors within the government. To add to the problems of the Organizers, things started going from bad to worse. An athlete was injured when a tile came off in the new swimming pool, in another new stadium a part of a roof caved in. To add to the woes, associated facilities faced major issues. A bridge collapsed injuring several. And the Gods weren’t kind either. Unexpectedly heavy rains resulted in residential quarters in the CWG Games village and even some stadia getting flooded.

There was an outcry for the Prime Minister to get involved. And finally with 1 month to go, and it seemed like there was no hope, the complete government machinery got into action. And when the mammoth government machinery wants to get something done, nothing can stop it. And this time was no exception.
Quarters got ready on the day the athletes arrived. Stadia got completed on the day of the practice events.
Several countries had threatened to pull out. Several high profile athletes had already pulled out. But finally as D-Day approached, countries started arriving. And finally when the count was made, all 71 countries made it. A great relief. And the 1st major positive of the CWG Games, Delhi.

And finally D-Day arrived. Oct. 3, 2010. The opening ceremony. It was a magnificent ceremony. And went without a hitch. It surpassed all expectations. And was a auspicious beginning to the Games. The next 11 days were equally good. All the stadia and facilities turned out to meet international standards. The athletes were happy with both the training facilities as well as the competition. Several records were broken.

The icing on the cake was the performance of the Indian athletes. By the penultimate day, India with 36 gold medals was just 1 gold behind England and competing for the 2nd place. Australia with 70+ golds was way ahead of everybody else. During the 10 days of competition leading up to this day, the race for 2nd was being fought hard and was switched several times. Sometimes England was ahead. And then India would forge ahead, till India once again took the lead. On the final day, India was in a chance to win 3 golds and coincidentally so was England. To come in 2nd India had to win at least 2 more golds than England. If both tied with the same no. of golds, then England would be 2nd by virtue of their superior silver and bronze medals. This was turning out better than a T20 cricket match or even a Bollywood thriller.

And finally the final day. England started badly with their mixed doubles pair losing the finals. India had hope. India opened the day well with India’s badminton double pair of  Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa winning gold. The score 37 golds each.

And  then the much awaited hockey finals. The Indian team was all but out and came back strongly to best Pakistan 7-4 and then beat England in a penalty shoot out in the semi-finals. The opponent was the highly fancied Australia who had won every single Commonwealth hockey gold, since the sport was introduced 3 editions earlier. The match was a 1 sided affair. Half-time 4-0. Full-time 8-0. Great score-line. Unfortunately we were on the wrong side. But then, the silver lining was the silver medal. India’s 1st hockey medal in the Commonwealth Games.

The English have always been a kind and gentlemanly nation. And they obliged by not winning either of the 2 gold opportunities. It all boiled down to the Badminton Women’s finals. India’s favorite sports woman Saina Nehwal. But then she lost the 1st set. And was trailing in the 2nd. At match point, we were on the verge of performing once again, the great Indian trick. Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. But Saina was the modern Indian. She fought back. For the first time in her career, she came back from match point down to win the set. And the next set and match. Get India the 38th Gold. And the 2nd position. With a record 101 medals, India had achieved both their stated goals at the beginning of the Games. Come in second. And get over 100 medals.

Inquiries into corruption, misappropriation of funds, and all kinds of charges will be investigated by various authorities, commissions, and committees. And maybe we’ll be surprised by actually having responsibility and accountability fixed. But that maybe expecting a miracle.

Notwithstanding all of that the Indian athletes have shown that in spite of all of their limitations, they could perform. And excel. Indian sport had arrived.

p.s.: You can view the final medal tally and other information about the CWG Games at : http://www.cwgdelhi2010.org/

The Black Swan – Extensively Quoted, Rarely Understood

In the last 5 seminars or talks I’ve attended every speaker has referred to the “Black Swan Phenomenon”. Interestingly not one of them mentioned the author or the book, but used general phrases, such as “the well known Black Swan Phenomenon”.

Now normally, this would be a good thing, especially since the Black Swan is a popular book and has an extremely interesting point of view that Nassim talks about. Now I’m not an economist like Nassim is, neither a financial analyst as Nassim is, nor an acclaimed author like Nassim is, and therefore have no pretense of being an expert on his theory. However, I think that I did get what he was saying. And with due respect to all of the presenters and speakers, I believe none of them did.

It’s my theory that the only reason, none of them got what the Black Swan theory is all about was because none of them bothered reading it. It was something fashionable. Thrown around at cocktail parties. And in order to not appear ignorant, one probably says “Oh yes, I completely agree”. And then when one has to make a presentation, which chances are came about, as their company was one of the main sponsors, slaps together some half baked slides. And amongst them is the Black Swan comment.

It might be a good idea , especially if you haven’t read the book to see the original author give his comments or answer to “What is a Black Swan ?”.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDbuJtAiABA
http://fora.tv/2008/02/04/Nassim_Nicholas_Taleb_A_Crazier_Future

It’s a fairly simple thought. The impact of the highly improbable. As Nassim defines it, The Black Swan has 3 properties.
1. Low  prospective predictability
2. High consequence
3. Retrospectively predictable

However, in all of the presentations and 3 were about IT Security, the speakers were suggesting that the design of the security system should cater to the possibility of a Black Swan event. By predicting the possible Black Swan events. And then calculating their probability.

Wait a minute. Isn’t that an oxy-moron ? By definition an event is a Black Swan event if it can’t be predicted. The moment an event can be predicted or projected and therefore countered, it’s a normal risk event. And can be handled using traditional risk mitigating methodologies. Another speaker used the Black Swan theory even more creatively. He actually suggested that IT budgets should be increased by x% to cater to Black Swan events.

The take away as far as I’m concerned from the Black Swan is slightly tangential. Whilst its impossible to predict its downside, it’s possible to identify companies who could benefit if such an event took place in their industry. If we’re able to identify such companies across a broad spectrum of industries, it would be like hedging your bets. It’s not only possible but very likely as in any form of wagering that nothing will happen. But if, such an event takes place and it impacts 1 of the companies I’ve wagered on. Bingo ! Downside, the total value of the wager. Upside, who knows ?

Just 1 small problem. Where the hell does one get that kind of money to wager on ? Maybe if I write a book, tentatively titled “The Blank Swan”, and pray that enough idiots buy it, thinking that it’s a sequel to “The Black Swan”, I may not need a Black Swan event to get rich.

Oops, Elie Awach beat me to it.
http://www.amazon.com/Blank-Swan-End-Probability/dp/0470725222/ref=sr_1_10?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1287240963&sr=1-10

Freia raises a toast – Cheers !

Yesterday my cousin Rodney married Poorvi, his friend for the last few years since they both met at their workplace. Whilst Rodney's marriage was a surprise, especially since he seemed to everybody to be the conventional Indian boy, who would marry as per his parents wishes. But that was not to be. And his family wasn't exactly delighted. But luckily for Rodney and them, I have several cousins who led the path and so it wasn't that big a deal anymore.

And then came an even bigger surprise. My daughter Freia, all of 15 is asked to raise the toast. A mystery of life, especially since she was preferred to me. Having said that, she did a decent job. And here's what she said.

"
Happy marriages are made when you marry the one you love. But they blossom when you love the one you married.

Good evening Ladies & Gentlemen.

I know weddings and toasts are supposed to be traditional. But as you can see, not much about this wedding or this toastmaster is really traditional.

Now, I'm not one of those women who lie about their age. Although I’m 21, I know nothing about being married, having a family or living together. And so have no advice to give to Poorvi and Rodney. Come to think of it, maybe that’s why I was asked to raise this toast!

First, let me tell you a little about the two families. The beautiful bride, Poorvi is the daughter of Mr. Sudhir Shrivastav, a retired bank official from State Bank of Mysore. Her mom, Sandhya has been a mentor not only to her 2 kids, but also to several kids in her role as a Teacher.

The handsome groom Rodney is the son of Peter Martis. Peddy uncle, as we know him, was with the RBI prior to his retirement. His mum, Agnes Aunty, works with Syndicate Bank. And makes awesome Panpolle and Chutney, a traditional Manglorean dish. As you can see, all of them shared banking bonds before and must be having lots of money! and now today start sharing family bonds.

The siblings of Poorvi and Rodney being from Generation Next share the new gen IT bonds. Poorvi’s brother Sandhir is an engineer with Moserbaer, a company we all love for their cost effective DVD’s. Rodney’s brother Rohwin, who is also a and engineer, works with TCS, India’s largest and as Rohwin says best, global IT company. Both share the distinction of being single, eligible and I’m told available. Sandhir is here from Hyderabad and Rohwin from Detroit especially for the wedding. If you’re eligible and single and interested, act fast! They fly away real soon.

Last and not only not least, but the stars of today, the lovely couple. Since I get paid only after the toast, I have to keep saying nice things!

Poorvi is a computer engineer from Hyderabad. She currently helps Bill Gates get richer at Microsoft in Hyderabad and has promised to share some secrets with me. Prior to that, she worked with Symantec in Pune.

Rodney, an engineer from Mumbai did his post graduation at IIT Bombay before joining Symantec at Pune. One of the few young people in the IT industry who’s managed to stay with the same company for over 5 years. Wait a minute. It’s not a coincidence that both of them worked at Symantec at Pune. Its where they met and their friendship blossomed into love, bit by bit and byte by byte.

Today is 2nd October. Gandhi Jayanti. And today I simply cannot lie.

I’m here to tell Rodney that I hate him. He is every student’s worst nightmare. Every time my mom see’s me not studying, all I hear is “Rodney did this. Rodney did that. Rodney got a rank in 12th. Rodney went to IIT. My new retort is going to be, “And guess who raised his toast”.

Poorvi who in addition to being as intelligent, is smarter, as women normally are, and prettier, as women normally are and she’s so sweet and cute! And that should hopefully earn me a bonus.

A toast is incomplete without advise to the couple. And since I can’t advise the bride and groom, let me quote my good friend Mark Twain.

Dance like nobody's watching.
Love like you've never been hurt.
Sing like nobody's listening.
Live like it's heaven on earth.

And finally, my favourite quote, “Aaika Jagaasa, Kara Manasa”. Oops, you already did.

Ladies and Gentlemen, please  join me and raise your glasses, as I raise my glass of sprite.
To Poorvi and Rodney! May your journey of life be filled with success and love and happiness, and most importantly togetherness, forever,and ever.

Cheers ! And have a wonderful evening.
"

p.s.: Aika Jagaasa, Kara Manasa is a Marathi saying, which loosely translated means, "Listen to the world. Follow your heart."