Don't Write Me Off - How True Dr Rajan!!!

Fly he will, and he would in September ...

Yes, Dr Raghuram Rajan announced he is going back to academia ...

Wasn't happy, for someone special had bet quite the opposite ...

But I was preening proud to see the truth coming true ... but had to receive flak from the dear ones ....

So, what next?

Life moves on and we all have to flow with it ... that's the philosophy of being Indian ... sab kuch achche ke liye hota hai, and the next moment you start feeling better ... there's deep meaning in this philosophy, and that's why you would find Indians humane, an anti-thesis of ISIS - I make this statement ...

Dr Rajan, who made the government to scurry for cover with his open statements, was "thorn in the flesh" and would remain so for the next three years as well .... Whatever the new RBI Governor would do, he would be measured in terms of what Dr Rajan did ...

The ghost of Dr Rajan is certain to follow the new Governor as his shadow ...

Did he mean this, when in Bengaluru, he said: Don't write me off, not yet ...

Did he mean his ghost will follow the incumbent for next three years. Could be ... haha ...

But one thing is certain ... What? ...

Narendra Modi government would be hounded if it appoints a poor cousin to Dr Rajan ... I wish the government does not want to land itself into the turf of controversies, as it had when it announced Pahalaj Nihalini and Gajendra Chouhan as CBFC and FTII chiefs ...

Though, I don't believe in qualifications, but deliverance ... One needn't be a cook to know the taste ... haha ...

Deliverance, if the new governor brings on the table, Modi and his team will be spared for sure ....

But will that be easy? Not so for the new Governor ...

The successor will have to live with unfair and dogged comparisons with his illustrious predecessor ... for instance .... the Barkhas and Arnabs and last but not the least "someone special" will be at my neck for the next three years, if he allows interest rate cuts - that could be misconstrued as succumbing to government pressures ... haha ...

This apart, the new Governor will have to deal with challenges, from reforming the NPA-ridden public sector banks to playing a key role in triggering economic revival and growth at a time when the world economy is on the brink of a downturn ...

Pause ...

What makes a good RBI Governor?

To me, I believe in TSR Subramanian, a former cabinet secretary's thouroughly unbiased article published in The New Indian Express, dated June 26 ...

He says, "Ideally, every RBI governor needs to have two key qualifications —one, he must be an internationally renowned expert on monetary policy, and second, he should know India well and be familiar with field conditions."

Subramanian further says, "There is no question that Dr Rajan commanded respect in international circles—indeed, many saw him as the guardian of national interests in the world arena, symbolising Indian financial stability. The sad fact is that many governors in the past had familiarity with monetary policy issues; alas many did not know India well."

Who could be the guiding force ... who could make us understand India better?

Mahatma Gandhi, the answer lies there, for sure ...

Hope, Arundhati Bhattacharya, Urjit Patel, Subir Gokarn or Rakesh Mohan - go into the Mahatma's mind and find out ways to understand India, better ....

Pause

Who could be the next Governor?

I bet on Arundhati - she has lived and wallowed in NPA-ridden public sector banks ... and this is the biggest concern of Modi government ...

She is much better placed than others to face the NPA raagaa ... not that Raagaa (Rahul Gandhi) for sure ... haha ...

Jumbo - The Silent Assasin

[I am reproducing this piece written for Meri News on Nov 4, 2008 when someone special was 22]

RENOWNED FOR his ten wicket haul in a Test innings against Pakistan in New Delhi in 1999, becoming only the second bowler to achieve the feat after Englishman Jim Laker; his best one-day performance was six for twelve against West Indies at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata during the Hero Cup tournament in 1993. He is the leading wicket-taker for India and the third highest in the world with 619 wickets from 132 tests and 337 from 271 one dayers.

Yes, we are talking about Anil Kumble, Jumbo as he was known in the cricket world, who hung his boots up on the final day’s play of the third Test of Border - Gavaskar trophy played at Feroz Shah Kotla.

Kumble had been a true ambassador of cricket. He certainly did not spin the ball as prodigiously as the great Aussie leggie Shane Warne did but he was a bowler of his own kind. He was famous for his nagging line and length and the lift he used to get on any pitch. He was more in Bhagwat Chandrashekhar’s mould.

Warne could be a great competitor and most aggressive spinners of all times, but Kumble too was not far behind. What is striking about Kumble is that he is a great ambassador of cricket. It was reflected in his 18-years-long international career when he only once pushed his way into the match referee’s room in the infamous Sydney Test. The one-liner statement which he made after the Test in a press conference defines what Jumbo is all about - he had said only one team was playing in the spirit of the game.

There had been a number of occasions when Warne had overstepped the code of conduct, but Kumble did not slide himself into that orbit. He never even passed banter, leave alone resorting to sledging. This quality of Jumbo certainly makes him bigger in the cricket world than Warne. Patience and perseverance are two of the most important elements for a spinner’s success and present abundantly in Kumble’s character.

His ability to raise the morale of the team especially when the chips are down played a pivotal role in some of the team’s notable performances. Who can forget the 2002 Test against West Indies at Antigua where Kumble came out to bowl with a broken jaw and heavily bandaged around the face or more recently the first Test of the Border - Gavaskar Trophy at Bangalore where after suffering a shoulder injury he came back to bowl just hours later, leaving everyone awe-struck. Further still, he took a catch running back of Mitchell Johnson, caring little for the 11 stitches on his left hand in the third Test at Feroz Shah Kotla stadium.

His workaholism was well drafted when he tirelessly bowled 72 overs in a Test innings against Sri Lanka at Premadasa stadium in Colombo, in 1997. In this inning Sri Lanka scored 952 runs in 271 overs in reply to India’s 537 in 167.3 overs and the match ended in a draw.

Kumble has broken numerous records in his nearly two decades long uncelebrated career. In 2001, he became the first Indian spinner to capture 300 wickets in Tests and went on to achieve the landmark in one-day cricket just a year later. Earlier this year, Kumble became the first Indian bowler and only the third in the world behind Muttiah Muralitharan and Shane Warne to take 600 wickets in Test matches. The icing on the cake came at The Oval as he put together a well crafted century, a feat which he later described as one of the most cherished moments of his life.

After Sunil Gavaskar, there came Sachin Tendulkar. After Kumble, there certainly is somebody waiting in the wings of his calibre to fill up the void. But sheer calibre and skills will not make him slide into Kumble’s shoes. The successor can only be so called when he plays cricket the way Jumbo played - a thorough gentleman. Let’s salute for the last time this ’silent assassin’ from Bangalore for laying down his gun.

To Be LinkedIn With Microsoft - What Does It Mean To Satya

Engrossed in a writeup on "maamooli banker" and later towards the evening about Vijay Mallya's case in DRT, pat came a news falling on my ears ...

Microsoft buys LinkedIn for $26.2 billion ... the headline rocked across media ...

As usual all business media got into act, first hailing the acquisition and a couple of days later, dishing out some harsh realities of the deal ...

To me, Microsoft is like a desperate middle age woman trying all cosmetic products or services expensive to regain her beauty and admirers ... haha ...

Will this damsel succeed in regaining her beauty and admirers?

Surely very few can do it, one among them being The Eternal Beauty - Hema Malini.

And in tech annals, Bill Gates come to my mind, who was the smartest among all. He knew the art of making right moves at highs ... These endeavours cemented his reputation forever as super successful czar ... how true!!!

Can Satya Nadella ever be a Bill Gates? ... This may sound small ... let's make it even bigger a query ...

Can Microsoft transform businesses and workers’ productivity worldwide by Linking Up the LinkedIn? It seems fanciful ...

They LinkedUp $26.2 billion to buy LinkedIn ... Could have waited a year or so, the cost could have been considerably less, for shedding $11 billion from its market value when their share price shrank by more than 40 per cent in a day, was an indication clear, the ship was sinking deep since February ...

Despite these worries, Microsoft paid a generous 50 per cent premium for buying a headache - that is LinkedIn ...

How Microsoft adds users to LinkedIn’s platform more quickly and how it can make more money from their data, remains to be seen ... a bad headache at that ...

And why Nadella intends to keep LinkedIn as an independent company .... Perhaps his company has seen the pitfalls of integrating large acquisitions at first hand ....  And Microsoft has a history, a history replete with big deal failures - they squandered over $6.3 billion on aQuantive and $7.6 billion on Nokia’s handset business ...

These misfortunes happened before Nadella took over, but in coming days these might take him over ... let's see ...

Now let's turn pages of behavioural headache that Microsoft has to deal with ...

Keeping the employees of large firms LinkedIn will be a big challenge because they block or restrict access to it as it makes money from recruiters out to poach their staff ...

Users may also grow uncomfortable if Microsoft deploys their data elsewhere and could stop using the service. Mr Nadella has acknowledged they will have to treat what they know about users “tastefully”.

But sometimes there are Microsoft successes like X-Box, but they are few and far in-between ... Their strategy is like throwing dung at the wall - something sticks, but mostly slithers down ... haha ...

This new deal means Microsoft can embed LinkedIn with Skype, its email system and other Microsoft enterprise products so that, in the words of one Silicon Valley expert, it will be able ‘to recreate the connective tissue for enterprises. ...

For more positives click here - http://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/why-microsoft-wanted-linkedin

All said and done,  I only hope Nadella continues to take good care of his company's bread and butter: Windows. They may need it to pay for their big mistakes ... haha ...

Note: Mamooli Banker is the comment made by Arun Shourie, not me ... Hope I am forgiven by someone extraordinarly special .....

Muhammad Ali - From The Pages Of Verses To The Bouts Of The Rings

March 8, I always cherish and also abhor ....

International Women's Day is celebrated on my birthday ... which I cherish about ...

And I abhor, for Muhammad Ali faced his first professional loss in his boxing career ... yes he lost to Joe Frazier after 15 rounds on March 8, 1971 .... I abhor more, for I always have a soft corner for poets, and Ali was no mean poet ... His "I float like a butterfly, sting like a bee .." being my all-time favorite ...

Trounced he was, but avenged the defeat, and never allowed his bete noire Frazier to overpower him for life .... he defeated him twice in two bouts, on January 24, 1974 and October 1, 1975 ...

That fighting spirit, to hit back at the opponents including the most powerful governments around the world, is not a joke but commendable, an inspiration for generations to come to raise voice against something which you think isn't correct, politically or apolitically .....

I wonder, the Virats and Tendulkars have the fighting spirit of the legendary boxer to take on the government of the day by its neck, questioning its policies ...

Or even a word against Vijay Mallya, the Man Friday who is holed up in a rat hole somewhere in London to catch a glimpse of his team RCB losing in IPL finals against Sunrisers Hyderabad .... 

The Bevada (Mallya, the drinker) had left India, for he owes over Rs 9,000 core to the Indian banks ... what a fall for Mallya - from opulence to misery ... thats another issue ...

I wouldn't be surprised if Mallya had a tough time with Ali, famously known for his maverick braggings ... 

The boxer wouldn't have spared Mallya either and verbally punched him as he did punching the sandbags ... would have done without much caring even if he was bought over in an auction by the liquor baron ...

I don't think Virat has that juice to juice up the media space ... and hence it wasn't worthwhile for any of us (Journalists) to ask questions on Mallya in all nine matches played at Chinnaswamy in Bengaluru ...

But there was one ... asked by a very respected and veteran journalist, but the question was evaded as cowardly as a wild duck  ....

VIETNAM WAR

Getting back to Ali, he had championed many issues relating to civil rights and racial equality ... also stood up against the US war in Vietnam and refused to be drafted in the Army ...

The incident was highly controversial at the time and Ali even took his case as high as the US Supreme Court where he was acquitted of all charges ...

But before he could win this battle, he fought a different kind of a battle off the ring, without the gloves on ... He was denied a boxing license and stripped of his passport between the age of 25 and 29 ...

But the legendary boxer donned the gloves of social activism and made public speeches, criticising the Vietnam war and advocating African-American pride and racial justice ... This stance even, it is said, inspired Martin Luther King Junior to publicly voice his opposition to the war ...

IRAQ WAR

And how he infused life into the hopeless condition of 15 US citizens who were taken hostage by Saddam Hussein in the run up to the Gulf War ... is a well-documented episode ...

He flew to Iraq, and hardly could walk, talk and stand due to the Parkinson's disease, and yet succeeded in flying out all the 15 in tow out of Baghdad, but he had to wait for a week's time for Saddam to invite him for a talk, till then he had ran out of his Parkinson's medication .... 

He flew out of Bhagdad on Dec 2, 1990 ... and was humbled. The released hostages thanked him, and in reply the legend said: "They don't owe me nothin."

For this humane work, Ali was criticised by Bush White House alleging the mission was one of self-aggrandizement, that he was just in search of more publicity

The ringmaster that he was landed a knockout punch on Bush administration by saying, "I do need publicity, but not for what I do for good! I need publicity for my book, I need publicity for my fights, I need publicity for my movie — but not for helping people. Then it’s no longer sincere."

He did not stop at that he had undertaken many such missions in South Africa, Cuba, India and many other countries ... travelling as the UN Ambassador of Peace

A POET-BOXER 

All these, a poet only can do with eloquence, for a poet's heart is full of love, even if the verses sound rebellious ... the verses, the anger stems out of supreme love for humanity, nothing else ...

And Ali lived a life of a poet, made boxing look poetic, brought  grace into the world of the rings with his style and grace ... surely a poet could only import that from the pages of verses to the bouts of the rings ...