This Saturday is definitely dedicated to a good friend Nasir - who made a perfect ending to a very eventful day. He made me watch Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic!!!!! Its like with every movie Yash Raj movies get more pathetic. Somehow I fail to understand who was the movie targetted towards. There were kids, a loving dog, an industrialist and an item number!!! The kids in the audience were left wondering about the new female features they would have seen for the first time in their lives and the moms and pops cusring under breath searching for the damn remote control wishing they could just change the channel or send the kids packing to their rooms under the pretext of packing theire bags for next days school!!

The scene opens to a visible frustated baby Saif who ends up losing everything and winning evey award..cut to today as a leading businessman knocking over a couple...a court case..four children (and a dog)...guilty!!! Where are my tissues!!! sob sob!!!

So the kids (and dog) land up to live with our hero and find an amazingly sexy (and equally blond) Amisha and they hapily live on!!! But alls not well in the happy family..so angelic Rani cycles down a rainbow by God's diving grace and the family then happily lives ever after...yawn yawn!!!

Must really thank Star Movies for showing Rocky Balboa on the Sunday afternoon. Helped me get over the state of shock!!! So that was my Saturday late evening thanks to my friend!!! Neways good time..got to laugh at the movie...after the eventful office day was really required.

Theres a new phenomenon goin on. Its called the "i-effect". Kinda love it. Pioneered by Apple, the i range stands for a wave of innovation. The i pod, the i phone,i con, iwoz...all the right things. Peek into the other innovative companies of the world, theres a new I effect. I did it, I came up with the idea, I planned this, I pioneered this, I got the numbers, I came up with the idea, I realised we are going off track, I corrected this, I was responsible for all the good things that happened..and when the goin gets tough...the "U effect!!!!!"

They served Red Bull in Air Deccan!!! That was like the most unexpected surprise ever...guess they were preparing me for what was the most turbulent flight I had ever been on. At one point of time I was wondering if I was in Essel World! All said it was a great end to what can be called and amazing two days. Must have met around 200 people in those two days. It was great trying to know the aspirtions of the guys most important in any retail company. Also it was a peek into their world..their struggles, their family, their dreams, their take on careers etc etc. KInda remimded me that in life not everything is a given. Looking forward to having some of them work with us. Now back in the world of "HO". Looking forward to more of "cocktail accountability". Will catch up

MLTR was so right in penning the song Sleeping child....sometimes you just wonder is actually we followed the sleeping child the world would be a better place. Its heartening to see people ripping each other apart at the cost of productive work. Its not just professional, its when it gets personal the situation becomes bad. Its amazing to see how we develop a sense of ultimate superiority given a whiff of importance. While its not bad to do the same, I admit one has to draw a line between confidence and arrogance. Mediocracity is a sin and should always be removed but superiority at the cost of morality...never. So here I am looking at the developments around me as an awake child. Have to involve myself at some time or the other. Sometimes I wonder which role to play, a sleeping child, awake child, angry child, sulky child, evel child, mischievous child, inquisitive child, crusader child and just hope that the others around me act like mature adults!

Football fever is on and everybody seems to have just forgotton that theres an India Pakistan final today!! Compare this to a few years back when people would have seriosly considered taking a day off just to indulge in the rivalry. Came across an interesting comment from Aaqib Javed. Throught the last decades Pakistan had kept India on the tenterhooks. It was an even contest. A contest of their bowlers in Wasim and Waqar and our batsmen. Even the contest between our bowlers and their batsmen was an excellent one. The fear when a Saeed Anwar or Aamir Sohail would start clobbering our bowlers or when a Srinath would go flat out and see them fall like nine pins....the intensity with which people prayed that Sachin survives the opening burst by Wasim and Waqar....he was right they did have us on tenterhooks back then..now its the other way round but the famous rivalry seems to have lost....aah...is it an India Pakistan match today???

Its been an amazing trip. Two days on the field, spending time with people who understand the difference between sitting in an air conditioned office and sweating it out on the battlefield. The unwinding at the end of he day is always a bonus. Its good to see new blood infusing new ideas and enthisiasm. One thing striking me was the use of the word "passion" by a person who somehow I never got to work with but it would have been intersting. Any work without passion is not work, its only an obligation. The passion to do better, challenge yourself and others is what motivates some people. Its like you can spot them when you just look at them in the eye. People have their selection and judging criteria, what rarely gets captured is that passion. If it does, its one attribute that is rarely nurtured. A passionate person is answerable to himself at the end of the day rather than any superior or the society. Its common to see a passionate boss lose it when the same passion is not reflected in his team. The same is true vice-a-versa. If you look around its not diffucult to find such people as there are quite a lot of them. The guy at the pawn shop, the person standing next to you in the train, the shop floor associate, the high flying corporate,the loving mother,the auto ricshaw driver....there are so many its actually hard to miss them. The irony is, they are not tapped to even 20% of their potential. Look around and you will happily find every mechanism running to only 20% of its potential. Be it our companies, retail stores, civic cleanliness and amenities and at times our cricket team (currently at 120% thatnks to IPL!!!)

Fact remains am looking forward to my next trip and my next brush with the real people. Trying to be even 20% like them is a huge learning.

Children of the world...future of the world...guess that applies to India as well....and if thats the case then I am already getting jitters! So the other day I was waiting for my train to arrive with some Bryan Adams Room service soothing my ears was just waiting. The next train was due in half hour so that gave me one of my favourite passtimes...just watch people..and be amazed...so this guy in his thirties comes up..takes out a melody...and bang!! the wrappers on the platform..as someone whose pockets forever filled with candy wrappers ( I hate littering) it was an awful sight. Cursing him under my breath I continued to chase other people. So here I see a nice little child..some 10 year old at the max...he goes to the same shop and buys 4 of those Melodies. I was just hoping this one would do the right thing and show the man what an ass he was...but I was in for another one of those WTF shocks! This little brat opens and sprays the wrapper all over the platform. So here I am staring at two wrappers in the platform put by two idiots. The kid didnt disappoint me. He went on to do exactly the same with the other three Melodies in the next three minutes!! It was as if he was sending me a message that what a jerk I was to have any expectations out of him!!! Seated next to me was a man handicapped in his mouth. He atleast sympathised with me it seems and was saying something in sign language to me..something I coudnt understand...but in his eyes I got the message. He was with me. Actually telling me the usual - " Whats the point...go home..we are like that only!!" So I promptly did the same. Then on the way back I completely forgot about it till it just hit me. One set of children are playing playstation ( and not cricket and football like we did), the other set is littering away to glory in public places, the other set has never seen a school and neither their parents have or not seen parents, some are locked up in their books studying things which have little relevance in real life (most will end up going to US for their MS and probably never return)....gosh!! Where the hell are we headed!!!!! Guess the dumb guy was right. We are like that!!!

Read a very interesting line in my friend Speedy's blog (http://thewarringthoughts.blogspot.com/). Activism comes from learning and not vice-versa. A very interesting statement and i have to admit, its made me reflect on my MBA days. Its true that there cannot be a substitute for academic learning and power,politics,activisms are not its replacements. In an environment which is healthy, power, politics and activism provide an excellent exposure to groom students to the real world. The real world does not provide any cushions. Its a forgive no one forget no one world. So the access and exposure to play the games is actually beneficial. But as it was said famously "With great power comes great responsibility" - gotta play by some rules, even the Mafia and the Underworld have their rules!! Where I agree with Speedy is that the authorities have to act refrees and demarcate the lines dividing power use and abuse. The line I believe has to be reviewed every year as every batch is different and needs different set of "rules".

Apart from that....Mumbai had its first brush of monsoon rains for the year 08 today. The best part was the trains. Its an awsome feeling to stand near the gate and have the rain splash on your face. so gotta njoy it while the novely factor lasts...after thats its gonna be like wtf!!! rains again!!!

Its really funny how problems sometimes increase when you try too hard to solve them. But when it happens, you wonder whether its the problem or the problem solvers who are a bigger problem! Lifes been going good. Finally got my hands on a book I had been searching since months - The P*&% Prince...a biography of someone who made Indians dream big, someone who was a visionary who realised his dreams with open eyes. Dream on world, cause only if we dream can we even think about achieving them. Dream and attack the dream to realise it..my mantra!