Seeding a thought of India-Pakistan re-unification

The only solution to the Kashmir issue, according to me, is reunification of India and Pakistan under a strong, secular, modern minded government which does not tolerate religious fanaticism and deals with it firmly.

Am I mad to write what I have written? Maybe YES , maybe NO.

Let me give you a real life experience. During my stint with Ceat Tyres as an exports manager, I was In Ethiopia – in a foreign country ,different culture, colour and race. One evening I found a man of my colour loitering in the hotel lobby.I introduced myself in English and asked for his identity .He said – I am Malik from Pakistan.Then, the next 3hours was spent with him talking in Hindustani about cricket, Bollywood , music and business. We both felt so good to have met each other because it helped us to converse on topics that were so relevant to us.Never did we even broach on Kashmir nor politics. The next 3 days were spent in his company that was awesome. Similar experience repeated in Mauritius when I met my distributor there who was a Pakistani married to a Mauritian lady.

What I am coming to is when we meet Pakistanis (and I am speaking from my personal experience), we feel no different from them. We talk in Hindustani and feel one. In foreign countries, Indians and Pakistanis mix up as if Partition has not taken place. And what is the basis of Partition ? It is the bogus two nation theory, that Hindus and Muslims are two separate nations. I submit that this theory was only a product of the British policy of divide and rule to make Hindus and Muslims fight with each other. 

If this theory, that religion is the basis of a nation, is accepted then logically England(there are many chrisitians – protestants /catholics, Jews,Hindus,muslims) , Nigeria(half muslim, half Christian), France and other such countries should be partitioned into two halves. France has a sizeable Muslim population (descendants of North African Arabs belonging to the former French colonies in North Africa). The French Muslims too should be given a separate state (if the two nation theory is accepted as valid ). 

I believe that a unified sub-continent is a big plus for all of us.The biggest benefit is PEACE. Pakistan raises its defence spending every year because of its historically uneasy relations with us – last year both neighbours matched each other by equally raising their defence spending by 12%, though the size of Indian defence budget(50 billion USD) is much higher than that of Pakistan(5 billion USD).Imagine if 10 % of a total of 55 billion USD(5.5 billion USD) was spent on economic development!!!
It would mean education, infrastructure, health for all of us without depending on World Bank mercies….
Also, unified cricket, hockey teams from this region then will be ruling the world forever. Tourism industry can be leveraged in a unified Kashmir which has one of the most enchanting natural world.
Will this happen?? In my life time?? A thought , a seed is sown.. A plant will grow , a tree will spread its roots, will bear fruits…How long will it take?? I don’t know but no harm thinking that it will happen…

Corporate Winners

Reliance Industries has been declared the OVERALL CHAMPION CORPORATE TEAM in the CORPORATE GAMES 2012 conducted at Goregaon Sports complex between 6th to 21st Oct,2012 where 55 Corporates and 700 athletes participated.  

RIL got this trophy in its second year of participation itself. We had secured 4^th place last year with a small contingent.

This trophy is given based on the points received in various events. In the 10 -year history of this tournament, “Reliance Industries” has become the first corporate team to cross 2000+ points.

Reliance Industries also received the “Best Male Athlete of the tourn
ament award” – Sreenivas Vemulapalli , the captain of  Reliance team.

Mr.Vemulapalli also took the intiative of co-ordinating internally to get budget approvals, team selections, nominations, conducting practice matches and assembling a WINNING RELIANCE team.

Now, how did the team deliver this result?

We at Reliance believe that Talent is hidden & not absent!!

Tus, in all earnestness we started to scout for the talent…

1)      Inclusive participation – this involved co-ordinating with various sites viz Jamnagar, Baroda, Nagothane  apart from RCP. The best of the talent available needed to be chosen. Result -  A contingent of  50+ athletes from RIL!!  

2)      Women Power – This was a foregone conclusion.We wanted the women from our company to participate in various sports disciplines because this would allow us to remain competitive in the tournament.This year, we had a total of 5 women particpiants against 0 last year which still is a low figure. We need to get more women to participate.

3)      Going beyond Badminton – We wanted to get into other disciplines where we not only participated but made a WINNING impact.This involved identifying the RIGHT talent and choosing the RIGHT mix and combination of athletes

4)      Organising Qualification matches – WE started the process of identifying the athletes by conducting the qualification matches for various disciplines and also shortlisting the athletes based on their past achievements. This allowed us to create a pool of accomplished athletes across various disciplines  and thus increased our chances of finishing on the podium.

It is very heartening to submit to you that what started as Passion for Sports is now becoming a CULTURE  - the impact of this is already seen in the Intra –Site RCP sports meet being conducted from 28/10/12 to 4/11/2012

All this would not have been possible without the support of the management(in recognising the need for participation, passing the budget), the respective managers of the athletes (without their approval, the athletes could not have made it )

A big THANK YOU to all

Congratulations  to all the athletes who WON and who Participated – both of these MADE IT HAPPEN

I won’t see others with my complaining eye…

Why do we see the imperfections in other persons? Why cant we  see just the good in a person? If you see imperfections, you will complain. A spectacle with scratches on it will always see blurred images

Its true with us too..What we want to see is upto us.If I want to see the thorns and not the rose, then whose fault is it?My eyes? My thought  process?

What does a complaint result in? Does that benefit us in any way? The more you complain, the more you build  negative energy in and around you.

Why do we keep complaining about things that we cant control? Why do we keep complaining to people who cant help us in reducing our pain area?

Complaints take us away from constructive thoughts. Complaint is a form of escalation. The person whom you are taking your complaint to, will have to address it in a way that will satisfy you(more often than not , you would want him/her to agree to your complaint)  -  but is that the end of the “complaint” thoughts  – NO

Complaints on a person crop only when you are not compatible with him/her. Incompatibility leads us to see only negative traits in that person and thus manifests the “complaint “ thoughts.

Lets pause for a moment and see the ROSE part of the person and not the THORN part. Will it not help us to take a more tolerant view then?

Think, lets resolve to reduce our complaints and lets just celebrate LIFE…..

Pleasure - Less or More??

What do you desire? Less pleasure or more pleasure?

We all love sleeping long hours. As a student, we hated to wake up early mornings to study.

Now , if you have to get up at 4am to receive your best friend at the airport/station, do you still feel  the pain/stress to get up? No –  infact you would get up at least 3 times during the night just to see if the alarm has set off or you missed the alarm ring…isn’t it?

This brings us to the moot point – the pleasure of meeting your best friend is more than the pleasure of sleeping.

The pleasure for the right things in your life is what will make you happy. If my pleasure of succeeding in academics/ workplace/family/sports(take your choice) is higher than any other pleasure, I will be happy to put all my focus on that activity/subject to ensure I am successful in my objective of attaining higher pleasure.

Can we force anyone to take up exercise/Gym because you feel it is good? The other person needs to see the “pleasure” of health rather than you seeing the “pleasure” on his behalf. So, make him see that pleasure.

Hell needs to be replaced by Heaven for anyone to have the pleasure.

When the desire of climbing the ladder is so highly insatiable only then you will leave the fourth step and climb the fifth.. else you will remain at a low altitude and keep fighting for the LOWER. Reach out to the HIGHER and end your struggle.

Trust Me

I am such a gullible fella – I trust others.

Why some  people trust easily and why others don’t?

Which is better – trusting or not trusting?

Trust is a matter of experience. Child trusts a mother  when she joyously throws her child in the air and catches in time.

When a child grows and starts getting  experience of interactions with various people, he/she either builds the trust factor or depletes the trust factor. The more you encounter positive experiences the more you trust others.

The bigger hurdle for trust is the human nature that borders on cynisim. WE don’t trust strangers. How many times have we given a lift to strangers in our cars? Why don’t we? Imagine a situation where you are looking for a lift as you are stuck with a car that has broken down on a desolate highway (now you are the stranger),where you are willing to trust the other person(who still is a stranger) giving a lift because it is suiting your purpose!!

We don’t trust others but expect others to trust us..

How do you feel when you meet somebody for the first time?

1)      Does it make you feel that you have to prove that you are trustworthy? Is that a good feeling?

2)      It perhaps makes you jump to negative conclusions about that person – Why is he behaving like this,whats his problem..these are your reactions of suspicion as a response to lack of trust from that person

Now, we look at the flip side

How does it make you feel when you meet somebody for the first time and get a warm response, feeling of trust and openness? You like it , don’t you?In fact , you start liking that person instantly and you are much more likely to treat them with respect in return

If you want others to trust and respect us, do the same to them too.Thats a good beginning , isn’t it?Trusting others sets up a subconscious desire in them to live up to that trust

Trust is a form of approval – People like to deal with people who have their approval because it is a sign of acceptance and respect.

Successful relationships are built on trust – the more we count someone as trustworthy, the higher they get rated on our personal relationships.

Back to our opening question – In a world where some people are looking to take advantage of others,is it unwise to trust others?All I am talking about is the attitude that we project towards people we meet for the first time.

If you greet most people with trust and give them the benefit of the doubt, you will not be disappointed( I speak from my experience).Helping others feel good about themselves will raise the quality of their life and ours too

So use your common sense and exercise caution when it is required

Trust me, trusting is a good virtue…J

Random....

Just penning down a collection of random thoughts and not related to any specific topic..

1.    Self

Who we are is our destiny

What we become is our doing.

2.   Love

My heart says to Love all

This world says to be practical

Love is an emotion that now is rare

Not everyone deserves this as their right

I will thus use this sparingly

Till the world again pleads to me

            LOVE ALL

3.   Cycle of Life

Life is a cycle of experience…

Childhood is the first pedal that we Explore,

Teenage is the first gear with which  we Experiment,

Youth is the speed that we Enjoy,

Middle age is the balance that we Adopt

Old Age is the brake that we apply to our Needs.

Apply Brakes and Break Away

I am going to FAR EAST for my holidays

I am a big fan of London and the shopping it offers

Big Apple,  I am coming!!

GOA – whoa…..

Monsoon holiday for me….

When the body or mind reaches its threshold, efficiency declines. As much as we take rest at the end of the day to replenish our energy levels, holidays rejuvenate our mind, intellect and emotions and thereby the spirit.

If at all we do go on a holiday, we exhaust ourselves with seeing seven different places in a day’s time. It is plenty of travelling, sightseeing, visiting places of worship and endless shopping. Such holidays, instead of serving as a break, actually break you down. What to say of people who do the same even during their honeymoon!

Some people tend to maximize their holidays by booking and looking to stuff many options in to a limited period of holiday.Some people wish to go totally opposite. They will get up at 1pm and have their breakfast and lunch at 4pm and dinner at 1am –result – acidity ,upset stomach…

My view – both are a bit extreme as they will stress the system and by the time you arrive back at your base location – HOME , you are tired and longing to take another day off to recuperate from the schedule

Holidays are meant to be a “routine breaker” which allows you to step back from your daily schedule and take a look at life from an “outsider” perspective.

 Taking family holidays is the best investment one can make to rebuild family ties. Likewise, taking a holiday with your friends greatly strengthens the emotional bonding, we get nostalgic, remember the silly things that we did and still not get embarrassed in front of our friends.

 A holiday provides uninterrupted time with each other and hence reduces the accumulated emotional baggage. It breaks the pattern of routine life which has turned out to be a professional drill for most people. It not only provides recreation, but also re- creates your spirits (the solid one, not the liquid).

Leave your mobile phones, laptops and your tight inner garments behind. Dress comfortably during your holiday and forget modeling. Resolve not to call your office till your holiday is through. For heaven’s sake, do not go there and start cooking your own food. Treat you tongue to new cuisines.

Its always a welcome break for the housewife (who works the hardest in a family) too from her daily routine – breakfast for the husband, getting the kids ready for school, endless hours in the kitchen – getting lumch,snacks and dinner.. whoosh next day begins. Even she is sick and tired of eating her own food..She is the person who enjoys the most on a holiday as she gets to eat what she wants and not what she has prepared…

A holiday to unwind... a holiday to break the pattern of thought and work…a holiday to rejuvenate…a holiday to breathe different air…a holiday to look back and to look ahead…a holiday to dedicate yourself completely to the family…a holiday a holiday to free yourself from your labels and designations ,  where you can  be purely YOU without any inhibitions…

Holidays are mandatory. Without breaks, we will break down.

So, apply brakes to your work and Break away