Oh Child

I couldn't resist recording it.

This kid has a set idea. Kids who come in the school bus, are not loved by their mother. If the moms won't come on time to pick them up, again they are not loved by thier mother.

So simple yet powerful thought :)

Remembering Paul Calello

I saw Paul in our New York Office. A short American with Swiss look. (Totally my bias:)
My co worker whispered "look at him.. the one with back blazer.. He is Mr. Calello, IB Chairman"
I again saw him that evening near OMA office. I went to my desk and search the MxB profile to know about Mr Calello. A Columbia B- school grad, from Bankers Trust to Credit Suisse First Boston to Credit Suisse Group. Most amazingly the way he navigated the bank in last recession time.
After that whenever we received the corporate communication about Paul, I always read. Some time in 2009 we received an e mail about Paul's illness (non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma) and his reduced engagement in IB division.

And today when I came back to office after 4 days leave, I saw this "remembering Paul" message..shocking though fact. My sincere condolences...

In Mr. Brady Dougan’s words "Paul will be greatly missed. For many of us, the simple and ongoing personal experience of spending time with Paul will be what we remember and miss most. I know I will miss having our informal, walk-in business discussions, sharing a joke or a story, or going for a run together. But what he accomplished in his life was exceptional, and in true Paul fashion, he would not want us to focus on the hole in our hearts today. Instead, I am sure he would want us to focus on celebrating his life and accomplishments, on the many good things he did for all of us, and the fun that we had with him.

Paul Calello was committed to being a positive force in the world. With his extraordinary energy and enthusiasm, he was able to achieve much in the short time he was given. We have lost a great friend, but his spirit will remain part of Credit Suisse. Please join me in saluting Paul and celebrating his remarkable life. "

Columbia B-School set up the "Paul Calello Scholarship Fund" as a way of remembering Paul.

Banking community feels the pain of losing you. Paul you are always remembered.

**I took the title from CS site. I think there could not be any better way of putting it.

Life loves

A wonderful trip to Niagara. It's bliss to go near rain-fall, completely being wet with mist... a beauty one can capture with mind and soul. Pictures/videos can never do justice. I stopped clicking the photos. My words do fail to explain the state of roaring water, rainbows from the mist...I once thought how lucky the people who work in the tower of Niagara falls state park. :)

While climbilng up, I was thinking about visiting other wonders of nature. Nature and its beuty can never even be compared with anything man made. Nature is really soothing.

This is how Niagara looks like in my camera-eye.

One of the several rainbows...

This beautiful dream turned into harsh reality, when the tourist bus met with a nasty accident.

I was dumbfounded with the conflicting thoughts. Is it a good experience or a bad experience!!!!

It looks like, life tells me again and again "I love you. Never give up :)".

Why we hate oil companies

I didn't know actually, I haven't yet complete reading this book. But I choose to select the title from the book written by former Shell president John Hofmeister, who says there are many reasons why people hate oil companies.

The infinite mess caused by BP in the Gulf of Mexico and the helplessness to reverse the damage, sends the shiver. Unless mentioned in the book (till now) people do hate the companies like BP for the irresponsible way of carrying the business, damaging the environment it is operating in.

Hating BP, however doesn't repair the damage to the nature. It definitely sent out the strong message to all other energy sources/companies not to operate in environmental hazards way.

As once said by Narayan Murthy -bigger the mistakes rely on government to resolve. ((Insead-Fontainblue-2008)"If you borrow 100 dollars, it is individuals' responsibility to pay off. If a bank borrows 100 million dollars, it's government responsibility to pay" )
Now the mistake (or blunder)caused by BP is the headache for the government and the society.

Who and how to bear/reverse the damages..

ಪಯಣದ ಹಾದಿ -೧

ಸಂಜೆ ಆರೂವರೆ ಹೊತ್ತು, ಮುಂಬೈ ಇಂಟರ್ನ್ಯಾಷನಲ್ ಏರ್ಪೋರ್ಟ್ ಗಿಜಿಗುಡುತ್ತಿತ್ತು. ನಾನು ಪ್ರಯಾಣ ಮಾಡಲಿರುವ ವಿಮಾನದ ಕೌಂಟರ್ ಎಲ್ಲಿದೆ ಎಂದು ನೋಡುವ ಪ್ರಯತ್ನ ನಡೆಸಿದ್ದೆ. ಒಬ್ಬ (ಬಹುಷಃ ಅಮೆರಿಕನ್) ಮಹಿಳೆ "ದಿಸ್ queue ಇಸ್ ಫಾರ್ ಜೆಟ್, ಡು ಯು ನೀಡ್ ಹೆಲ್ಪ್?" ಎಂದಳು. ಅರರೆ, ಮುಂಬೈನಲ್ಲೆ ಇವಳು ನಂಗೆ ಹೆಲ್ಪ್ ಮಾಡ್ತ್ಹಿದಾಳಲ್ಲಪ್ಪಾ!! ಅನ್ನಿಸಿದ್ರೂ..."ನೋ ಥ್ಯಾಂಕ್ಸ್" ಎಂದೆ ಆದಷ್ಟು ಸೌಜನ್ಯದಿಂದ.

ಮತ್ತೆ ಉದ್ದುದ್ದದ ಜೆಟ್ ಸಾಲು ತಪ್ಪಿಸಿಕೊಂಡು ಮುಂದೆ ನಡೆಯುತ್ತಿದ್ದಾಗ, ನನ್ನ ಪರಿಚಯದ ಜನ ಸಿಕ್ಕಿದರು. ಎಂಥಹ ಖರಾಬ್ airline ಕೊಟ್ಟಿದಾರೆ ಈ ಬಾರಿ ಎಂಬ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ದೂರುಗಳ ವಿನಿಮಯ ನಡೆದಿತ್ತು. ಹ್ಮ್ಮ್... ಯಾವ airline ಟಿಕೆಟ್ ಕೊಟ್ರು ಈ ದೂರುಗಳು ಇರೋದೆ. ಒಮ್ಮೆಯಾದರು, ಟ್ರಾವೆಲ್ ಡೆಸ್ಕ್, ಕಚೇರಿ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ದೂರದೇ ನಮ್ಮ ಮಾತು ಕಥೆ ಮುಂದುವರಿಯೋ ಹಾಗಿಲ್ಲ.

ಒಹ್.. ವಿಷಯಕ್ಕೆ ಬರ್ತೇನೆ.. ಏನಪ್ಪಾ ಅಂದ್ರೆ ನಮ್ಮ ವಿಮಾನದ ಬುಕಿಂಗ್ ಇದ್ದದ್ದು ರಾತ್ರೆ ೧೦.೩೦ಗೆ. ಆದ್ರೆ ನಾನು ೬.೦೦ ಘಂಟೆಗೆಲ್ಲ ನಿಲ್ದಾಣ ತಲುಪಿಬಿಟ್ಟಿದ್ದೆ. (ಆದಿನ ಮುಂಬೈ ನಲ್ಲಿ ರೈಲ್ವೆ ಮುಷ್ಕರ ನಡೆದಿತ್ತು. ಸಂಚಾರದ ಸಮಯದ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ತಲೆ ಕೆಡಿಸ್ಕೊಂಡು ೧.೩೦ ತಾಸು ಮೊದುಲೇ ಹೊರಟಿದ್ದೆ. ಆದರೆ ಟ್ರಾಫಿಕ್ ಜಾಮ್ ನಲ್ಲಿ ಸಿಕ್ಕಿಕೊಳ್ಳದ ಕಾರಣ ಸಮಯದಲ್ಲಿ ತಲುಪಿಬಿಟ್ಟಿದ್ದೆ)

ಇನ್ನೊಂದು ಒಂದೂವರೆ ಘಂಟೆ ಕಾಲಹಾಕಬೇಕಲ್ಲಪ್ಪ ಎಂದುಕೊಳ್ಳುತ್ತ ಒಂದು ಕ್ಯಾಪ್ಪುಚಿನೋ ಕಪ್ ಹಿಡಿದುಕೊಂಡು ಅಲ್ಲಿಯೇ ಇರುವ ಕೌಚ್ ಒಂದರಲ್ಲಿ ಕುಳಿತು ಕೊಂಡೆ..ಕಯ್ಯಲ್ಲಿ ನೆವಕ್ಕೊಂದು ಪುಸ್ತಕ.

ಒಂದೆರಡು ಸಿಪ್ಪು ಕಾಫಿ ಕುಡಿದಿರಬಹುದು, ಅಷ್ಟರಲ್ಲಿ ಜೆಟ್ ವಿಮಾನದ ಉದ್ಯೋಗಿಯೊಬ್ಬ, ಇಬ್ಬರು ಹುಡುಗಿಯರನ್ನ (ಸುಮಾರು ೧೫-೧೮ ವರ್ಷದವರಿರಬಹುದು.. ನನ್ನ ಕಿರಿಯ ತಂಗಿಗಿಂತ ಕಿರಿಯರು) ಕರೆದುಕೊಂಡು ಬಂದು ಪಕ್ಕದಲ್ಲಿದ್ದ ಕಾಯವ ಸಾಲಿನಲ್ಲಿ ನಿಲ್ಲಿಸಿ "ಆಪ್ ಲೋಗ್ ಇದರ ರುಕ್ಹೋ.. ಯೌ ಸ್ಟ್ಯಾಂಡ್ ಹಿಯರ್ " ಎಂದ. ಇದೇನು ಅಂತಹ ವಿಶೇಷವಲ್ಲ.. ಬಹಳಷ್ಟು ಮಕ್ಕಳು, ಹಿರಿಯರು, ಒಬ್ಬೊಬ್ರೆ ಪ್ರಯಾಣಿಸುವಾಗ ಹೀಗೆ ವಿಮಾನದ ಸಿಬ್ಬಂದಿಗಳು ಸಹಾಯ ಮಾಡುತ್ತಾರೆ.

ಹಾಗಾದ್ರೆ ಏನು ಅನ್ನದೆ ಯಾಕ್ಹೀಗೆ ಎಳೀತಿದಿಯ ಅಂತೀರಾ...

ಈ ಇಬ್ಬರು ಎಳೆಯರ ಮುಖ ನೋಡಿದ್ರೆ, ಅವರಿಗೆ ಆವಯ್ಯ ಹೇಳಿದ್ದೇನು ಅರ್ಥ ಆಗೋದಿರಲಿ, ಕಿವಿಗೂ ಬಿದ್ದನ್ತಿರಲಿಲ್ಲ. ಒಬ್ಬರಿಗಿಬ್ಬರು ಒತ್ತಿಕೊಂಡು ನಿಂತಿದ್ದರು. ಮುಖದಲ್ಲಿ ಯಾವುದೇ ಭಾವನೆಗಳಿಲ್ಲ.. ಈವಯಸ್ಸಿನ ಹುಡುಗಿಯರು ಸ್ವಲ್ಪ ಜಾಸ್ತಿಯೇ ಅನ್ನೋಷ್ಟು articulate ಆಗಿರ್ತಾರೆ. ಅದಿಲ್ಲಾಂದ್ರೆ ಸ್ವಲ್ಪ ಮಟ್ಟಿನ ಅಸಹನೆ, ಸಿಟ್ಟು ಅಥವಾ ಅಸಹಾಯಕತೆ ಅಂತು ಇರಲೇ ಬೇಕು. ಸಾಲಿನಿಂದ ಹೊರಗೆ ಕರ್ಕೊಂಡು ಬಂದು ಸಾಲಿನ ಕೊನೆಗೆ ನಿಲ್ಲಿಸಿದರೆ ನೀವ್ ಸುಮ್ನೆ ಇರ್ತೀರಾ?

ಐದು ನಿಮಿಷ ನಾನೇನು ಗಮನಿಸಿಲ್ಲ ಅನ್ನೋ ಹಾಗೆ ಪುಟ ತಿರುಗಿಸುತ್ತಾ ಕುಳಿತೆ. ಆದ್ರೆ ಈ ಮರ್ಕಟ ಮನಸ್ಸು ಇದೆಯಲ್ಲ... ಮತ್ತೆ ಅವರನ್ನೇ ಗಮನಿಸೋದಕ್ಕೆ ಶುರು ಮಾಡ್ತು. ಇಬ್ಬರು ಹುಡಿಗಿಯರ ಕಯ್ಯಲ್ಲು ನೇಪಾಳಿ ಪಾಸ್ಪೋರ್ಟ್. ಅಷ್ಟರಲ್ಲಿ, ಕೌಂಟರಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಕುಳಿತಿದ್ದ ಜೆಟ್ ಉದ್ಯೋಗಿ ಅವರನ್ನ ಕರೆದು "ಇಮಿಗ್ರೆಷನ ಅವ್ರು ತಿರಸ್ಕರಿಸಿದ್ದಾರಲ್ಲ .. .. ನೀವು ಇನ್ನು ಈ ಕೌಂಟರ್ನಲ್ಲಿ ಚೆಕ್ ಇನ್ ಮಾಡೋ ಹಾಗಿಲ್ಲ.. ಹೋಗಿ..ಹೋಗಿ" ಎಂದು ಇಂಗ್ಲಿಷ್, ಹಿಂದಿ ಎರಡು ಭಾಷೆನಲ್ಲು ಜೋರು ಜೋರಾಗಿ ಹೇಳಿದಳು. ಮತ್ತೊಮ್ಮೆ ಹುಡುಗಿಯರ ಮುಖ ನೋಡಿದೆ, ಅದೇ ನಿರ್ಲಿಪ್ತ ಭಾವನೆ. ಅದು ಅವರಿಗೆ ಹೇಳಿದ್ದೆ ಅಲ್ಲವೇನೋ ಎಂಬಂತೆ.

ಅಷ್ಟರಲ್ಲಿ ತಿರುಗಿ ಬಂದ ಇನ್ನೊಬ್ಬ (ಮೊದಲು ಅವರನ್ನ ಅಲ್ಲಿ ನಿಲ್ಲಿಸಿ ಹೋಗಿದ್ದನಲ್ಲ ಆತ) ಸ್ವಲ್ಪ ಮಟ್ಟಿನ ಕಥೆ ಹೇಳಿದ. ಆ ಇಬ್ಬರು ಹುಡುಗಿಯರಿಗೂ, ಇಂಗ್ಲಿಷ್ ಆಗಲಿ ಹಿಂದಿಯಾಗಲಿ ಬರುವುದಿಲ್ಲ. ದುಬೈಗೆ ಹೋಗುವ ಟಿಕೆಟ್ ಇದೆ ಅವರ ಬಳಿ ಆದರೆ ಅದಕ್ಕೆ ಪೂರಕವಾದ ಇನ್ಯಾವುದೇ ಕಾಗದ ಪತ್ರವಿಲ್ಲ. ಇಮಿಗ್ರೆಷನ ಅವ್ರು ಪಾಸು ಮಾಡೋದಿಲ್ಲ ಎಂದು ಹೇಳಿಬಿಟ್ಟಿದ್ದಾರೆ. ಆದ್ರೆ ಈ ಹುಡುಗಿಯರಿಗೆ ವಾಪಸ್ ಎಲ್ಲಿಗೆ ಹೋಗಬೇಕು ಅಥವಾ ಹೋಗಬೇಕು ಎಂದು ಅರ್ಥವೇ ಆದಂತಿಲ್ಲ.

ಇಂಥಹ ಕೇಸ್ಗಳು ಅಪರೂಪವೇನಲ್ಲ.. ಆದ್ರೆ ಅಪರೂಪಕ್ಕೆ ನೋಡೋ ನನ್ನಂಥವರಿಗೆ ಬಹಳಷ್ಟು ಕನಿಕರವಾಗುತ್ತೆ. ಯಾರದೋ ಮನೆಯ ಕೆಲಸಕ್ಕೋ ಅಥವಾ ಇನ್ಯಾವುದೋ ಕೆಲಸಕ್ಕೋ, ದುಬೈ ಅಂತಹ ಪ್ರದೇಶಕ್ಕೆ ಹೊರಟಿರುವ ಇವರಿಗೆ, ಯಾವುದೇ ಕನಿಷ್ಠ ಮಾಹಿತಿಯೂ ಇಲ್ಲ. ಯಾವ ಕೆಲಸದ ಮೇಲೆ, ಎಲ್ಲಿಗೆ ಹೊರಟಿದ್ದೇವೆ ಎಂಬುದರ ಅರಿವೂ ಇದ್ದಂತಿಲ್ಲ.

ಪ್ರತಿದಿನವೂ ಇಂಥಹ ಹಲವರು, ಆ ದಿನದ ರೆಜೆಕ್ತ್ ಫೈಲಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಒಂದು ಸಂಖ್ಯೆಯಾಗಿ ಮುಕ್ತಾಯವಾಗುತ್ತಾರೆ. ಅವರ ಬವಣೆಯ ಬದುಕು ಆದಿ ಅಂತ್ಯವಿಲ್ಲದೆ ಮುಂದುವರಿಯುತ್ತದೆ.

Life & Randomness

Sara Ferguson, Duchess of York was talking to Oprah Winfrey about how chronically she pushed herself which led to the vicious scandal for 40,000 dollars.

Sara Ferguson, Duchess, led a red carpet life in a royal place with the royal family, is struggling to make some thousand dollars.
Oprah Winfrey, came up a long way in life looks at Sarah with "unbelievable" look.

Watching this Oprah episode, I can't help thinking about the randomness of life. Life gives an option to live, but there is no real strategies apart from living it as it comes. What ever is the plan, strategy, and the way you live, tomorrow is totally unpredictable. I can give many more examples about how life changes randomly, for better or worse its random.

However life is not defined by randomness, human will is supreme. Need to accept the element of randomness and work on the will power. :)

Uncertainty

Uncertainty
= hopes
= guts
= tolerance
= patience
= perspective
And
Uncertainty
= desperation
= grievance
= anxiety

I think uncertainty is what time makes bright. If everything is certain, how boring life could be.
For me, certainty looks like end of beatiful dream, a realized dream like retiring from a successful career.

Banking on Life

I got my life with a forward contract for a premium price thinking that the spot price will be high in future.
I hedged it with another person who agreed to join hands in this contract.
After more than a quarter century I realized that, it wasn't a forward but future contract. The regulator here, had fixed the price tag while entering the contract. (Ignorance of law is no excuse !!)
Hedging doesn't mean anything in the time of crash.
We together agreed that life takes it own time to get corrected. We are forgetful about the crash and keep investing with different notions. Till the time we live, we are bound to go through the recessions, go through the booms.

**Thanks to Credit Suisse "Banking on Voluteers" tag line.

Papaya Boy

One more memorable trip to Bangalore. The city I always love because of my near and dear ones.
This time I got a chance to spend lot of time with my nephew and got to see better, the imaginary world of a kid.

How natural and genuine they are with what they want. He always want the papaya, plays with papaya and likes all the papaya street vendors. Any story he is telling or listening must have a papaya tree with yellow and green papaya, the papaya vendor near his house (Jaggesh - who always keep the better papaya for Ani..later my sister told me they don't know his real name) and every tree which grow small papaya for him.
If you talk anything apart from papaya, cows, dogs, birds (bulbul, which only eats yellow papaya and leaves the green one for my nephew) or coconut, that's of no worth to listen. After all his world is all real. No artificial toys, puppies or machines.
Every street dog knows him, I think even the birds on the coconut trees know him and listen to him.

No wonder they are smart, and these kids are getting smarter. They are simple, honest, fiercely know what they want (no business school is required for that), know what they want to listen (no meditation is required for that) and perfectly determined in getting the thing in their mind.

That's why the kids are wiser than adults. Aren't they?

A Salute to Pt. Puttaraj Gawai

A finest musician, a gifted writer, a wonderful humanitarian and above all an ideal to selfless living, Pandit Puttaraj Gawai, well deserved PadmaBhushan Award.

Congratulations Mr. Puttaraj Gawai.

A born blind, created/made the life of thousands of blind and poor children. Overcome the limitations of physical handicap and grown the the height any normal person need to look up to. I never wonder why the people of North Karnataka worship him as living god.

**(Photo from Internet)

**More Information on Puttaraj Gawaiji : www.puttarajgavaiji.com

Your Shot Jigsaw Puzzle

Woman, India and facts

Hi, How are you doing Venessa, I am Vanita.
Hi, take out my coat, and sit. (She puts her coat in the visitor’s chair, where I supposed to sit). She greeted be back, thanks GOD. Otherwise I am used to all the cold welcomes from these high profile teams and will take the chair without being offered.

I looked at her, she is carrying, may be in 7th or 8th month, and I am a prospective candidate too. So we can definitely talk these things and have a little good conversation to begin with. I asked her ‘how many more months?’, ‘Till December exactly like you’ (I am supposed to complete the project by December and leave the team). ‘ So..Have you started shopping for the baby’ (They do it America, as they have to manage every bit of life independently; they finish of the baby shopping before delivery)
‘Yeah.. I did, it's a baby gal, I love to shop for gals’ (Of course, America is always consumerist)

Now I did the mistake of my life, trying to give a bit out side America. I told her, In India, sex of the fetus will not be revealed. It is not yet legal and common. So we all need to wait till the delivery to determine the sex of the baby.

Yeah…. obviously, in your country they kill the baby gals, and also females in many names.

Are we...really... I just can't accept this as fact!!!!

Living life

Not all the time our print media is praised. But I should praise them today for printing this photo.








I am sitting at my desk, not even bothered to see, what is happening out side, it is just another Friday for me. Finish of the work and go home tired.
This old man, (might have seen many solar eclipse) is so enthusiastic to see what is happening around with child like curiosity. Isn't this called living the life?