The Yaxis Live by Rajesh Kumar

I completely refrain from commenting on my workplace matters on this space but in the last fortnight have been absolutely bombarded from friends asking how I felt at  the corporate governance scandal at Satyam. When I tell them that I felt bad, some of friends feel quite disappointed. “You mean you are just feeling bad? You must be quite devastated, buddy”, some of them suggest helpfully. Others probe even further.

How does wife feel?

She’s alright.

And parents?

They’re supportive.

And how about in-laws?

They are calm?

What does your brother say? Is his company hiring?

I have not asked him and he has not told me.

And what are you doing about it?

Haven’t thought about it. Just came back from work.

Work? You mean you still have, mmmmm………..

At this point I cut them off. Can I call you later? I am rushing to a party.

Party? You have to hear the shock from the other side. As if gangrene has been discovered in my limbs and I am shaking a leg in party instead of wailing in pain inside an ICU.

I see the possibility of Sholay inspired dialogue sequence on this episode. This goes to all my friends.

Arre O Samba?

Ji Sardar.

Kitne Aadmi the?

Teen Sardar.

Teen, kewal teen?

Ji Sardar?

Woh Teen aur tum tirpan hazaar! Woh teen aur tum tirpan hazaar?!

Sharm aani chahiye. 

Ji Sardar.

Kitna Inam rakhe hain sarkar

Saat Hajaar Karore.

Saat Hajaar Karore?

Woh teen aur tum tirpan hazaar.Fir bhi kha gaye. Poora ka poora.

Ha. Ha. Ha.Ha.Ha

(And the Sardar drops dead in anguished laughter.  Compounded by his worthlessness and despair in only a pachis hajaar bounty on his head. R.I.P.)

I just returned back from Ranchi which is also my place of birth. Ranchi is a weird city. Unlike most cities in India where usually a political figure of past days occupies pristine town estate, this one has a martyr soldier of the Indian Army who has his statue in the main town plaza. Lance Naik Albert Ekka died fighting in 1971 and was awarded the Param Vir Chakra. He stands tall in the heart of the town holding his rifle and in a ‘charge forward’ posture. You ought to see the statue to feel the awe.

But that is not all what makes Ranchi earn the title of ‘weird’ in a positive sense. The city is a highly multi-religious and multi-cultural. If the marwaris from Rajasthan running the wholesale business, the best restaurants in town are owned by Punjabis. The tribal cultural is all around. Then there are folks from Bihar and Bengal who are living here for ages. Arguably, the best Durga Puja celebrations outside Calcutta happen in Ranchi. The best part is, it is possible to get a flavour of each and every culture in this city. That, one can say is the Ranchi culture. The sense you get there is of an extremely proud and confident city. Proud and confident, just like MS Dhoni.

Dhoni incidentally is not just the captain of the Indian cricket team, but a super class icon, the most well known sportsman that the city has produced – and by the way, they have produced not one or two, but dozens hockey players that have played for India- both men and women. Coming back to Dhoni – Everything around Dhoni is followed with a microscope. His arrival into town during Christmas is a front page picture in newspapers, as well as his departure out, with details right up to which flight he took! I incidentally learnt that his much talked about upcoming villa is just couple of hundred yards away from where my parents stay. However, in the interest of MSD’s privacy, I have no pictures to post here. Instead I have a picture taken by my phone when I went to see MSD’s boys at CSK play the Delhi team at an IPL match at Chepauk.

What I also noticed was a Mahi eatery close by, which had heavy advertising across the town. It isn’t owned by Mahi, but someone saw a business opportunity around this brand and decided to act. See the billboard on top of the Firayalal building.

The Rock Garden next to Kanke Dam was an absolute revelation, where the terrain has been beautifully used to create an ambience of leisure.

We also went to the Jagannathpuri temple on the other extreme of Ranchi. This temple is atop a hillock.

Like Puri’s annual yatra, Ranchi has a mini-yatra too, in which the mythological Lord Jagannath (Lord Krishna) goes to his aunt’s place for a brief period every year in a wooden cart (‘rath’ hence rath-yatra, and this event held at Puri is the etymological origin of the word ‘juggernaut’) pulled by enthusiastic devotees. This is the picture of the frame of the cart. As a child I remember seeing it drawn by crowds on a rainy day.

In closing, there were some amazing dahlias and roses in my parents’ garden, and I made this collage out of this.

If there is one word that I have for the recently concluded PAN IIT 2008 conference, it is magnificent. There were multiple tracks, and spread over 2 days and I happened to attend a few. The collage on the left actually captures Chess World Champion Vishwanathan Anand playing simultaneously on 16 boards at PAN IIT Conference which was organized at IIT Madras in December. Anand and his wife Aruna also took some questions from the crowd that was in attendance at Pan IIT 2008. Anand was at his witty self. Imagine the world Chess Champion being asked whether arranged marriage is better over love marriage. Anand responded by saying this is best answered by someone who has experienced both!

If you thought PAN IIT 2008 was completely indoor affair, see the below picture of the resplendent Gajendra Circle. Frankly speaking, the picture hardly does any justice to the beauty and grace of the GC.

Frankly, when I entered the conference hall expecting to see social networking site Orkut.com founder Orkut Buyukkokten in person, I was a little disappointed to see him join via video. It turned out, I had not read the program sheet carefully, which happened to mention it. That disappointment vanished once the interaction began. Then came the typical Indian question -Why does Orkut not facilitate matrimonials?! Even Orkut Buyukkokten could not stop his smile and answered that still he gets pictures of babies asking for suggestion on names as the parents happened to meet via Orkut.com.

What I really liked as the panel discussion on innovation, where Ramadorai, CEO of TCS, Muthuraman of Tata Steel, and Ravi Kant of Tata Motors were spoke on innovation moderated by C.K.Prahalad. I had a rather selfish motive in attending this session, which was to get my copy of Dr Prahalad’s book on innovation autographed. Needless to say, there was crowd around, this is the best picture that my eight year old daughter could take. Do you know any morphing technique that would make my face look complete?!

You could also read my post of the book on innovation by Dr Prahalad here.

The grand finale was without doubt was the electrifying presence of Dr Amartya Sen and his talk. True to expectations, Dr Sen kept extolling those present to work on the basic issues of poverty, basic healthcare etc. Personally I felt it was a lifetime opportunity to see and to listen to Dr Amartya Sen, the Nobel laureate.

An excellent ending to an excellent programme. I can go writing on and on, but would stop now. Meanwhile, if you would like to check out the PAN IIT 2008 event site, click here.