Modi, Man Mohan & the shoe chucker...

While on the subject of Narendra Modi here is another one from Modiland.......

A man made an attempt to throw a shoe at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at a rally in Ahmedabad on Sunday. The shoe landed a few metres away from the PM's dais. He was addressing an election rally in the city.The youth who attempted to throw shoe at PM was taken away by police. PM has asked police not to file a case against the 28-year-old shoe-thrower.
The Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party has condemned the incident, terming it as an unestablished means of protest in a democracy.
Reacting to the incident, Congress star campaigner Priyanka Gandhi has said that 'shoe throwing is not our tradition'.
"If there is a problem, there are two ways to express it -- wrong way and the right way. This is not the right way. This is not our tradition," Vadra told reporters at Dadaur village in her mother's parliamentary constituency.
In the recent past, there have been similar incidents. In one of such attacks, a shoe was hurled at Home Minister P Chidamabaram at a press conference by a journalist. At a rally in Kurukshtra, Congress leader Naveen Jindal was the target of a shoe thrown by a schoolteacher. The shoe missed him. BJP leader Lal Krishan Advani has also faced a shoe attack, which missed him. Chief Minister Narendra Modi, known for his innovative ideas, recently at a rally, came up with a unique technique to avoid such attacks. He tied up a volley ball net infront of his dais to prevent any hurled shoe from reaching him. (With PTI inputs)

Now Priyanka Ghandi, feels that 'shoe throwing is not our tradition'. I'm not going to talk about the shoe chucker because.

1. the shoe never finds its mark.
2. the chucker is always forgiven.

The obvious question to follow is 'then what is?' I guess our traditions would include the following:

1. Stashing away large sums of money in foreign banks ( Swiss).
2. Using violence to coerce people to our point of view.
3. Consider no issue or person beyond being used as a political tool to garner votes.

Politicians make you weep............, particularly those that are at a total disconnect with issues that are close to the heart of the poorest of the poor.

I salute Modi, not for his economic prowess or the riots that he allegedly engineered, but because of his creativity in getting a Volley ball net to protect him.

Mai Lai & American justice!

When Narendra Modi was denied a visa to the land of opportunity the USA, it was an act applauded by the hoi polli. Modi, if found guilty, is not to be condoned and must face the full wrath of our penal system.

Modi's story we all know, but I'm sure a story that you would not be aware of is Mai Lai. Read on.....

'Soldiers went berserk, gunning down unarmed men, women, children and babies. Families which huddled together for safety in huts or bunkers were shown no mercy. Those who emerged with hands held high were murdered. ... Elsewhere in the village, other atrocities were in progress. Women were gang raped; Vietnamese who had bowed to greet the Americans were beaten with fists and tortured, clubbed with rifle butts and stabbed with bayonets. Some victims were mutilated with the signature "C Company" carved into the chest. By late morning word had got back to higher authorities and a cease-fire was ordered. My Lai was in a state of carnage. Bodies were strewn through the village.'

The massacre described above, is an excerpt from a BBC report and not a Hollywood flick. the perpetrators, were an elite company of American troops, fighting in South Vietnam, forty years ago, to this day.

My Lai, the village has neither forgotten, the massacre and the scars are still very fresh. There is bewilderment that so called civilized men could organize a crime of this magnitude, and there is plenty of evidence, that the massacre was planned and orchestrated rather than a spur of the moment act by a group of stressed American soldiers.

To this day Mail Lai exists and lives on as proof of the horrors of war.

An extensive cover up, by the US Army failed and eventually a court martial was ordered. What was the outcome:

Court martial
On November 17, 1970, the United States Army charged 14 officers, including Major General Samuel W. Koster, the American Division's commanding officer, with suppressing information related to the incident. Most of those charges were later dropped. Brigade commander Henderson was the only officer who stood trial on charges relating to the cover-up; he was acquitted on December 17, 1971.
After a four-month-long trial, in which he claimed that he was following orders from his commanding officer, Captain Medina, William Calley was convicted, on March 29, 1971, of premeditated murder for ordering the shootings. He was initially sentenced to life in prison. Two days later, however, President Nixon made the controversial decision to have Calley released from prison, pending appeal of his sentence. Calley's sentence was later adjusted, so that he would eventually serve four and one-half months in a military prison at Fort Benning.
In a separate trial, Captain Medina denied giving the orders that led to the massacre, and was acquitted of all charges, effectively negating the prosecution's theory of "command responsibility", now referred to as the "Medina standard". Several months after his acquittal, however, Medina admitted that he had suppressed evidence and had lied to Colonel Henderson about the number of civilian deaths.
Most of the enlisted men who were involved in the events at My Lai had already left military service, and were thus legally exempt from prosecution. In the end, of the 26 men initially charged, Calley's was the only conviction.
Some have argued that the outcome of the My Lai courts-martial was a reversal of the laws of war that were set forth in the Nuremberg and Tokyo War Crimes Tribunals.Those tribunals set a historic precedent, establishing the principle that no one may be excused from responsibility for war crimes because they were "following orders". Secretary of the Army Howard Callaway was quoted in the New York Times as stating that Calley's sentence was reduced because Calley honestly believed that what he did was a part of his orders — a rationale that stands in direct contradiction of the standards set at Nuremberg and Tokyo, where German and Japanese soldiers were executed for similar acts.

President Nixon, resigned in disgrace, not much later, over the Watergate Scandal. But that is another story....

American justice! Let's hope our judicial apparatus can take a call and come clean on the 'Godra killings' and the riots that followed. They owe it to the common Indian.

Employee Engagement: Your life boat in rough seas!

Many years ago, as a young cadet, in the merchant marine, I was thrown in with a group of ten other cadets to row a life boat, a mile to our ship. The exercise, in itself, was an unmitigated disaster, because not only was the Bay of Bengal choppy but we rookie sailors were inexperienced and afraid. After futile attempts to get the boat going in the intended direction, amidst growing panic, our instructor calmly took charge, spoke a few soothing words and got us to row together on count and after a few misses we settled down to getting home, in good time.
Today, the global economy is in shambles, a boat in distress in choppy seas and times are tough; there is panic in the air, with both employers and employees groping for a means to survive the downturn. Many organizations have employees blinded by bad economic news pulling in different directions causing greater turmoil. During hard times, it is best to help ensure everyone is engaged—and pulling in the same direction, to get your boat back to safety.
One way of weathering the storm and retaining talent so that you can bounce back at the end of the down turn is by actively engaging your employees and keeping them on board. When the economy improves you do not want to be left in a situation where your most important human resources have left or looking to do so.
How do you do this? The following strategy could do the job of actively engaging employees:
· Focus on internal communication:
At the end of the day, it’s about honest communication and being a good listener, allowing employees to vent and express their concerns. In turbulent times employees crave news and it is the fundamental duty of the top management to establish channels of communication wherein employees are kept informed, irrespective of the propensity of the news. Candidness and honesty are the order of the day and would go a long way in preventing rumor mongering. Look for improved ways of improving internal communication.

· Quality Circles & Task Forces:
Have frequent meetings at different levels and brainstorm continuously. This would not only engage employees but also allow them a stake in your survival strategy. After all it is the lowly shop floor worker who has his ear closest to the ground.
Meeting could be held over lunch fostering camaraderie and brainstorming sessions could throw up ideas that could well save your organization.
· Promote stability:
Promote stability and help calm employees’ nerves, and resist the temptation to play on their panic. Show them how they fit in with the vision of the company; and remind them they are invaluable members of the organization.

· Remember Peter Drucker.

It is a good time to remember the management guru and his Management by Objectives (MBO). Clear goals, in setting which the employee has participated would get them to stay focused and engaged. It would keep the recession blues at bay and the manager can discuss performance at regular intervals, showing that he clearly values the employee’s contribution.

· Career progression through Training & Development:

A great way of showing employees that you care about their future is through training. Get them to learn new skills, and chart out a career path and you will have actively engaged employees with a strong commitment. As employees up skill, they can be job rotated to more challenging assignments.

· Reward more, not less:

In times of recession, reward programs are jettisoned in the garb of cost cutting. This could have major detrimental effects. A great way to keep employees engaged is to reward them for outstanding performance allowing them to see that they are appreciated for their efforts.


· Get your managers to lead and not just manage!

Counsel your managers carefully. Leadership at this juncture is crucial and like all good leaders have shown your managers will have to take on the addition responsibility of shepherding young employees who have had no prior experience with economic downturns.


Employee engagement is critical to your organizations future well being and studies show that it costs an average of two and a half times an employee’s salary to replace them. It’s much more cost effective to keep the employees you’ve got and concentrate on good employee engagement practices.

Pirates-Are they for real!

The Horn of Africa- The Somalian Coast, is a a place where most sailors do not want to find themselves today.

I grew up on tales of Henry Morgan and Edward Teach or 'Black Beard'. Sir francis Drake was a romantic, who plundered Spanish ships of their gold, on their way home with Aztec & Inca gold, which they had stolen themselves. All pirates and men who were legends, they asked for no quarter and gave none. It is said that when Black Beard, a huge man, was finally brought down by an American frigate off the Carribeans, he had six bullets in his body and score of cutlass wounds. The deck of his ship shook when he crashed down, with a bullet to his brain.

Most pirates died fighting or on gallows and as we approached the 21st century, seafaring slid into another dimension, where pirates had little or no place.

Piracy made a comeback with ships being boarded and looted, off the straits of Malacca and the Indonesian Archipelago and then, now its the Somalian coast.

The following article paints a contrarian view of why ships are being preyed upon off Africa.

By Johann Hari
April 12, 2009 "Huffington Post" ---
Who imagined that in 2009, the world's governments would be declaring a new War on Pirates? As you read this, the British Royal Navy - backed by the ships of more than two dozen nations, from the US to China - is sailing into Somalian waters to take on men we still picture as parrot-on-the-shoulder pantomime villains. They will soon be fighting Somalian ships and even chasing the pirates onto land, into one of the most broken countries on earth. But behind the arrr-me-hearties oddness of this tale, there is an untold scandal. The people our governments are labeling as "one of the great menace of our times" have an extraordinary story to tell -- and some justice on their side.

Pirates have never been quite who we think they are. In the "golden age of piracy" - from 1650 to 1730 - the idea of the pirate as the senseless, savage thief that lingers today was created by the British government in a great propaganda-heave. Many ordinary people believed it was false: pirates were often rescued from the gallows by supportive crowds. Why? What did they see that we can't? In his book Villains of All nations, the historian Marcus Rediker pores through the evidence to find out. If you became a merchant or navy sailor then - plucked from the docks of London's East End, young and hungry - you ended up in a floating wooden Hell. You worked all hours on a cramped, half-starved ship, and if you slacked off for a second, the all-powerful captain would whip you with the Cat O' Nine Tails. If you slacked consistently, you could be thrown overboard. And at the end of months or years of this, you were often cheated of your wages.
Pirates were the first people to rebel against this world. They mutinied against their tyrannical captains - and created a different way of working on the seas. Once they had a ship, the pirates elected their captains, and made all their decisions collectively. They shared their bounty out in what Rediker calls "one of the most egalitarian plans for the disposition of resources to be found anywhere in the eighteenth century." They even took in escaped African slaves and lived with them as equals. The pirates showed "quite clearly - and subversively - that ships did not have to be run in the brutal and oppressive ways of the merchant service and the Royal navy." This is why they were popular, despite being unproductive thieves.
The words of one pirate from that lost age - a young British man called William Scott - should echo into this new age of piracy. Just before he was hanged in Charleston, South Carolina, he said: "What I did was to keep me from perishing. I was forced to go a-pirating to live." In 1991, the government of Somalia - in the Horn of Africa - collapsed. Its nine million people have been teetering on starvation ever since - and many of the ugliest forces in the Western world have seen this as a great opportunity to steal the country's food supply and dump our nuclear waste in their seas.
Yes: nuclear waste. As soon as the government was gone, mysterious European ships started appearing off the coast of Somalia, dumping vast barrels into the ocean. The coastal population began to sicken. At first they suffered strange rashes, nausea and malformed babies. Then, after the 2005 tsunami, hundreds of the dumped and leaking barrels washed up on shore. People began to suffer from radiation sickness, and more than 300 died. Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, the UN envoy to Somalia, tells me: "Somebody is dumping nuclear material here. There is also lead, and heavy metals such as cadmium and mercury - you name it." Much of it can be traced back to European hospitals and factories, who seem to be passing it on to the Italian mafia to "dispose" of cheaply. When I asked Ould-Abdallah what European governments were doing about it, he said with a sigh: "Nothing. There has been no clean-up, no compensation, and no prevention."
At the same time, other European ships have been looting Somalia's seas of their greatest resource: seafood. We have destroyed our own fish-stocks by over-exploitation - and now we have moved on to theirs. More than $300m worth of tuna, shrimp, lobster and other sea-life is being stolen every year by vast trawlers illegally sailing into Somalia's unprotected seas. The local fishermen have suddenly lost their livelihoods, and they are starving. Mohammed Hussein, a fisherman in the town of Marka 100km south of Mogadishu, told Reuters: "If nothing is done, there soon won't be much fish left in our coastal waters."

This is the context in which the men we are calling "pirates" have emerged. Everyone agrees they were ordinary Somalian fishermen who at first took speedboats to try to dissuade the dumpers and trawlers, or at least wage a 'tax' on them. They call themselves the Volunteer Coastguard of Somalia - and it's not hard to see why. In a surreal telephone interview, one of the pirate leaders, Sugule Ali, said their motive was "to stop illegal fishing and dumping in our waters... We don't consider ourselves sea bandits. We consider sea bandits [to be] those who illegally fish and dump in our seas and dump waste in our seas and carry weapons in our seas." William Scott would understand those words.
No, this doesn't make hostage-taking justifiable, and yes, some are clearly just gangsters - especially those who have held up World Food Programme supplies. But the "pirates" have the overwhelming support of the local population for a reason. The independent Somalian news-site WardherNews conducted the best research we have into what ordinary Somalis are thinking - and it found 70 percent "strongly supported the piracy as a form of national defence of the country's territorial waters." During the revolutionary war in America, George Washington and America's founding fathers paid pirates to protect America's territorial waters, because they had no navy or coastguard of their own. Most Americans supported them. Is this so different?
Did we expect starving Somalians to stand passively on their beaches, paddling in our nuclear waste, and watch us snatch their fish to eat in restaurants in London and Paris and Rome? We didn't act on those crimes - but when some of the fishermen responded by disrupting the transit-corridor for 20 percent of the world's oil supply, we begin to shriek about "evil." If we really want to deal with piracy, we need to stop its root cause - our crimes - before we send in the gun-boats to root out Somalia's criminals.

The story of the 2009 war on piracy was best summarised by another pirate, who lived and died in the fourth century BC. He was captured and brought to Alexander the Great, who demanded to know "what he meant by keeping possession of the sea." The pirate smiled, and responded: "What you mean by seizing the whole earth; but because I do it with a petty ship, I am called a robber, while you, who do it with a great fleet, are called emperor." Once again, our great imperial fleets sail in today - but who is the robber?
POSTSCRIPT: Some commenters seem bemused by the fact that both toxic dumping and the theft of fish are happening in the same place - wouldn't this make the fish contaminated? In fact, Somalia's coastline is vast, stretching to 3300km. Imagine how easy it would be - without any coastguard or army - to steal fish from Florida and dump nuclear waste on California, and you get the idea. These events are happening in different places - but with the same horrible effect: death for the locals, and stirred-up piracy. There's no contradiction.
Johann Hari is a writer for the Independent newspaper

Serendip & Serendipity!

I may have caught a few of you off balance by using the word ' Serendipity'. what I meant was that I'm having the time of my life, by chance.( A story I will share later)

The word has quite a history....................

Serendipity (noun) ; a natural gift for making useful discoveries quite by accident.
The word has its roots in "The Three Princes of Serendip", a Persian story about three princes who had the knack of discovering things quite by chance.
"The Three Princes of Serendip" was published in Europe in 1557 by a Venetian, Michele Tramezzino, and eventually was translated into other languages. The British statesman Horace Walpole read the story as a child, and later coined the word serendipity in a letter dated January 28, 1754, sent to Horace Mann (envoy to Florence). Walpole wrote about learning some news quite by chance, and stated that "this discovery, indeed, is almost of that kind which I call Serendipity, a very expressive word."
He explained that this name was part of the title of a "silly fairy tale, called The Three Princes of Serendip; as their highnesses travelled, they were always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things which they were not in quest of..."
In 2000, serendipity was voted Britain’s favourite word.

The question that would naturally follow is, 'Where is the Island of Serendip?'

Serendip is an ancient Persian name for the Island of Sri Lanka, and the Persians were enamoured by the wonderful easy going life on the Island, which one of their navigators discovered.

A good example of serendipity would be:

Electromagnetism, by Hans Christian Oersted.

While he was setting up his materials for a lecture, he noticed a compass needle deflecting from magnetic north when the electric current from the battery he was using was switched on and off.

A discovery by chance that had a major impact on physics!

Golden Oldies!

Day 1 of IPL 2 is behind us and the NRI version of the Indian Premier League has kicked off to a rather surprising start with both of last year's finalists being beaten by rather lowly teams.
It must have looked like a repeat of last years poor performance for the Royal Challenger's from Bangalore, being 0 for 2 but then strode 'The Wall' in and made it clear as to why he is called 'The Wall'.
In a post match interview, Rahul Dravid said that the wickets in SA would give batsmen like him a chance. How difficult it would have been and hurt as well, for batsmen of his calibre, to see novices score big run's on flat Indian wickets, during the Indian version of the IPL, last year.
The pitches and conditions, in SA, are a different cup of tea and cricketing technique is fundamental for success, as was shown by three greats, Sachin Tendulakar, Dravid & KP. The game between BRC & RR was closed out by another golden oldie, Anil Kumble, who followed a class act by yet another veteran, Shane ' The Wizard' Warne.
I suspect that many of the boys, from our part of the world are going to find that cricket abroad is a little more complicated than it looks in India and will return wiser for the experience and would make better travellers in the future.
Young legs are good, but as the cultures of the East, have always said, you discount experience at your own peril.
As the saying goes ' The tough get going, when the going gets tough'. I for one enjoyed the games watching my yesteryear favorites come good, in tough and demanding conditions, sipping my mug of 'chilled lager', parked on my favourite and most comfortable chair, at home.
Life thy name is serendipity!

News from Poland!

Poland has always made history! A nation at virtually the cross roads of Europe.
The Huns, passed through with devastating effect as did the Mongols and Ottoman Turks. Poland disappeared from maps for a few years and Hitler followed by the Russians dealt with the Poles with particular ruthlessness.
Poland survived & lived to tell its tale, from the Huns to Hitler, and it is a country which is close to my heart, as it has suffered the ravages of time, just as we in India have, and more so as both the Poles and we have been victims and survivors.
Gdansk, is a wonderful modern port and place of origin of Lech Walsea, a Union Leader, at Gdansk Shipyard, who lead a freedom movement against the Communists. He later went on to become president of Poland!
Poland once again caught my eye the other day, and it has once again, made history of a different sort, this time due to Ninio.
Now, Ninio, happens to be a rather robust ten year old male elephant bought by a Polish Zoo for a large amount of money, with the hope that he would help create a herd in Poland.
However Ninio, prefers elephants of his same sex and refuses to mix with the female sex, leaving zoo authorities red in the face for having squandered large sums of money in importing a gay elephant!
Apparently the issue is being discussed by the Polish politician as well but to end the story, all is not lost and there is a vestige of hope left, as elephants are said to reach their sexual maturity only by age fourteen.
Well, we will have to wait and watch!

The Shoe Chucker

In a scene reminiscent of the attack on George W. Bush, a Sikh journalist flung his shoe at Home Minister P. Chidambaram to express disgust over the Central Bureau of Investigation's (CBI) clean chit to Congress leader Jagdish Tytler in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots and the fact that Tytler & Sajjan Kumar have been given 'tickets' to contest the forthcoming general elections.

I'm jumping the gun, so please excuse me!

What is intriguing is that:

1. Jarnail Singh, the journalist missed his target at about ten feet and
2.Mr.Chidambaram instantly forgave the offender in a burst of magnanimity.

Since the incident, it has transpired that Jarnail Singh, has attained cult status among the Sikhs and would in all probability contest the very same General Elections, that I had referred to earlier and Mr.Chidambaram is being praised for his composure.
It is also likely that the chucker & chucked at would share space in Parliament and considering that shoe chucking is the flavor of the season, it would be prudent to get all Honorable members of Parliament to leave footwear outside.
All's well that ends well, but amidst the bonhomie, can we spare a thought for the victims of the 1984 anti Sikh riots!

English Law

Lawyers are some of the most hated species in the United States. the following would probably explain why.....

The following conversation apparently took place in a court room in the US of A:( At least courts are convened)

ATTORNEY: Is your appearance here this morning pursuant to a deposition notice which I sent to your attorney?

WITNESS: No, this is how I dress when I go to work.

The attorney guilty of using jargon, went right over the head of the witness.

This piece brings home the point that English is a wonderful language when free of jargon and is not convoluted.

A few more pieces of conversation would drive home the point.....

ATTORNEY: She had three children, right?

WITNESS: Yes.

ATTORNEY: How many were boys?

WITNESS: None.

ATTORNEY: Were there any girls?

WITNESS: Are you shittin' me? Your Honour, I think I need a different attorney. Can I get a new attorney?

ATTORNEY: Doctor, before you performed the autopsy, did you check for a pulse?

WITNESS : No.

ATTORNEY : Did you check for blood pressure?

WITNESS : No.ATTORNEY : Did you check for breathing?

WITNESS: No.

ATTORNEY : So, then it is possible that the patient was alive when you began the autopsy?

WITNESS : No.

ATTORNEY : How can you be so sure, Doctor?

WITNESS: Because his brain was sitting on my desk in a jar.

ATTORNEY : I see, but could the patient have still been alive, nevertheless?

WITNESS: Yes, it is possible that he could have been alive and practicing law.

Dravid not a natural.......

It's a proud day for Indian cricket as Rahul Dravid takes up position as the worlds foremost catcher, overtaking Mark Waugh, with 182 catches.

On the occassion, this is what Mark Waugh had to say.......

Dravid is not a natural catcher: Mark Waugh
Sydney: Australian Mark Waugh, whose record of catches has been broken by Rahul Dravid, feels the Indian is not a natural catcher but he makes up for it with his high level of concentration.
Dravid has edged level with Waugh on 181 catches. He has taken the vast majority of his catches from spinners - 99 from Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh alone - a feat that Waugh rates highly because there is often less time to react.

"You might only get one ball in the field all day and you've got to catch it an inch off the ground. That's a concentration thing, switching on and off between deliveries," Waugh was quoted as saying in Sydney Morning Herald.

"Dravid is good but he's got a funny style. He's not a natural catcher but he's got great concentration and he's in the right place at the right time," Waugh said, while predicting Ricky Ponting, who has racked up 148 catches in 131 Tests, would one day dislodge the Indian.

Do we see sour grapes? why is it that an Australian cannot see a cricketer from another nation upstaging them. A while ago, there was this issue, with Muralitharan & Warne.

Though Ponting might catch up with Dravid, there is Greame Smith, of SA, lurking in the shadows and is not far behind Ponting....... So the Aussies can stop squealing.

KPS and MBA

Yesterday, after a dinner of ' Sweet & Sour' soup, followed by Aloo Dum Biryani with Subz Kolhapuri & raita followed by kulfi, at 1947, on the way back home, I ran into an old acquaintance of mine, a young girl, on the verge of completing her MBA from a local institution here at Bangalore.
I opened the conversation with the usual ' What's News', which seems to puzzle a lot of folk here. Whats news can mean:
1. What is news with you?
2.Have you any news?
3.What are you doing these days?
4.I'm fine but have no news?
5.How's the weather?
And so on.......................................... I guess you have the drift.
To my query the girl replied, 'KPS', which I took to mean Karnataka Police Service & I was nonplussed. How could a youngster from distant UP, not having completed her PG, make it to the police force and take on 'Goons' here at Bangalore?
Well it turned out that 'KPS' mean, 'Kanha, Peena, Sona', and I was saddened to see the pained look on my young friends face. I'm saddened because the young in India are in the throes of an economic meltdown that none of them comprehend even as they are buffeted by a sinking job market and unemployment.
They will also have to admit, that this crisis owes, a great deal to management experts who went overboard in their greed and tossed integrity and ethics to the winds.
I guess many of my young friends will emerge stronger from this economic quagmire, just as we did many years ago, in the early 1980's. There is also a message, in that all parties do eventually end and when they do it is the wise who have secured themselves to face the tough days ahead.
Personally I was interested in 'KPS' because, after working for the last 25 years without a break, a short KPS looks inviting.
Work, I find, like many other ills is rather addictive and debilitating but then my young friends have many a mile to travel before they reach the crossroads of life where 'KPS' looks inviting and not a curse.
Returning to 1947, the North Indian fare is very good, simply because it is made by North Indian chefs and not South Indians looking to cook North Indian cuisine! Another young friend of mine, also an MBA has a stake in the restaurant and displayed a great deal of vision and chutzpah in setting up the place!

A Life at Sea

A life at sea is a wonderful experience & not too many are blessed to go through a career which encompassess personalities,emotions and the tides of life that few other careers can boast of.

Sea farers are very simple folk and love a yarn, so here's one:

Once upon a time there was a famous sea captain. This captain was very successful at what he did; for years he guided merchant ships all over the world. Never did stormy seas or pirates get the best of him. He was admired by his crew and fellow captains. However, there was one thing different about this captain. Every morning he went through a strange ritual. He would lock himself in his quarters and open a small safe. In the safe was an envelope with a piece of paper inside. He would stare at the paper for a minute, and then lock it back up. Afterwards, he would go about his daily duties. For years this went on, and his crew became very curious. Was it a treasure map? Was it a letter from a long lost love? Everyone speculated about the contents of the strange envelope.
One day the captain died at sea. After laying the captain's body to rest, the first mate led the entire crew into the captain’s quarters. He opened the safe, got the envelope, and opened it and... The first mate turned pale and showed the paper to the others. Four words were on the paper; two lines with two words each:
Port Left
Starboard Right

For the uninitiated, port is to turn left and starboard is to turn right when you are facing ahead or in the direction that the ship is travelling.