Kahin Zameen tho Kahin Aasmaan

“Kabhi Kisi ko Mukammal Jahaan nahin milta

Kahin zameen tho kahin aasmaan nahin milta” 

These lines are echoing in my mind for the past few days.  The context is that of my shifting to Delhi from Hyderabad.  I am, at once,  with a mixed feeling of happiness and dampness!!   

Happy because I am moving back to my home ground, Delhi,  after a loooonnnnnng time.  Damp because I will miss the warmth and love of mentors’ in Hyderabad. 

Happy because I will be in the thick of tons of action. Damp because the task is unfinished at IWS, Sainik Puri. 

Happy because I can get back to my cricketing mafia in Delhi. Damp because I will miss the glorious Hyderabad year-round weather……and so on.!!! 

We spent the sunday with the mentors and their families at the ‘farewell lunch’ organized by Indira and Uma yesterday.  It was a lovely long day.  Uma and Indira worked hard to make it happen. Sreeni, being Sreeni, cannot but contribute to such efforts.   I was the only in-house guest J !! I had the fun of arriving late night just in time for the do. 

The food was just too good (ever heard of a ‘host’ praising arrangements at his own place… ??? J ).  The company was great. The weather, wonderful.  Many mentors stayed back to continue with a long session of song and dance.  The ‘Vanarasena’  (Children of mentors) that included Harshita, Khushi, Mallika, Sakshi,  (and a few more )   brought the abandon that we,  adults, struggle to muster any time. 

Quite fortuitously, the idea of going to Chak De occurred to one of the members at the right time.  We managed to get tickets for the movie with some difficulty. 

Wow…what a movie. In the mood that we were in,  I thought it was a great movie to watch.  Quite unambiguously, it is one of the top three modern / recent Indian Movies that I have seen.   

Tight script,  insightful screenplay, powerful dialogues, world-class production values,  young-at-heart editing,  strong content, overwhelming message clarity.   With such strong attributes, I would not be surprised if it sweeps not just the box-office but a lot of awards for the year.  Of course, SRK adds to the joy of watching a delightful work of art.  

Do not miss ‘Chak De’.  May be,  you must watch it with your team members on a working day!!   Tell your boss that you have planned out  a powerful training module of two hours for your team J !!!  It costs just Rs 100 per student.  Jai Yash Chopra !! 

On the theme of my ‘Dilli Chalo’ – I must forewarn my CL colleagues at Delhi that they would see more of me and my non-sense, here on.   I also want to wish the best for my IWS, Hyd colleagues including mentors, JP, the Reddy eduprenuers.   There is a lot of work that has just begun.  We have a long way to go. 

Under the leadership of IPR,  I am dead sure of  IWS, Sainik Puri progressing in the right direction.  All of you – have fun!   I look forward to my earliest unannounced (as usual) visits to our campus.    

One significant unfulfilled task at Hyderabad – the folk dance (and music) under JP’s direction has not happened yet !!   JP – Listening J ??   May be,  we will time that session with my next trip to Hyd. 

Sisur Vetti, Pasur Vetti, 

Vetti Ganarasam Phanihi……    

(Sisu = Child;  Pasur = Animal;  Vetti = Knows / possesses the knowledge of;  Phani = Snake ) 

The best place to take advantage of this age-old saying is a place like CL and IWS !!  Education includes song and dance.   Don’t you think so ??    

Satya   

Aug 14, 1995 - Random Recollections

I read Ashish’  message on CLMS.  I realized that I knew a thing or two about how CL looked on this day 12 years ago – on Aug 14, 1995.  I thought it might not be a bad idea to share a few random recollections of that day.  Not sure,  if it interests you…..anyway,  here are some snapshots…..

 The New Innings

I  did not have to go to office today !  Usually,  I would leave home by 0820, take the lift downstairs, seven floors down to the groundfloor,  turn right to reach the indoor scooter garage of  M S Flats, Gole Market on Peshwa Road,  take ‘Meri Vespa – UP 32E 4112’ and find my way towards Nehru Place.  I would start early so that I could beat the traffic and also because of my paranoic need to be early.

 

Anyway,  on this day…I did not have to go to office any more.  I got relieved last evening. No one is expecting me to come to office today.  Yet I was ready at 0820 at home on the first day of my new employment – at Career Launcher.  Yes,  that is the faint  recollection I have of my first day at CL.

 

A few more recollections too -  I was worried that I might grow lazy as no one is going to be monitoring me. And, I kept telling myself that I need to be more disciplined than usual.  Funnily (now that I look back),  I passed a few rules to be on a tight leash :

 Rule #1 :  DRESS FORMALLY !!

I must be formally dressed (tie and black leather shoes)  every day at 0820 when my time to leave home comes.  You would not believe if I were to tell you that not even GOD could make me wear a formal set of clothes under normal circumstances.  But then,  entrepreneurship is all about exceptional  (or abnormal) things !!

 

My mom was quite surprised to see me dressed up !!  And yet,  I stayed back home and was doing somethings on my computer in the office@home.  The bedroom closer to the exit had just become the CL office !!  It just has begun to look ‘kewl’ with those famous four chairs bought at Rs 360 and the computer table donated by Bata (Sujoy Bhattacharjee, a friend)!!

  Rule #2 :  FITNESS  !!

I also made another rule that I will do my daily routine of exercises in the mornings instead of evenings.  OMG – what a pain to inflict upon oneself !!

 

At IIMB,  there is a tradition of playing a cricket match every year.  It is played between students who are under-25 (years of age)  and the over-25 teams.  I was leading the under-25 team and not only had a great amount of pride in being young but also a lot of sympathy for the oldies.  I really felt sad for them J  Now – I was a recipient of the same sadness and sympathy from my youthful self of yesterday!

 

In order to compensate,  I made it a point to hit the stadium (National Stadium at India Gate) in the mornings on my bicycle,  jog around, do some stuff in the Gym etc,…..before returning home and getting ready for my office at 0820 hours !!

  

Jobless Day  or  Inspired Poetry  at Work !

I was scared about how jobless I might be on that day.   Luckily,  that was not to be.  As you know,  the CL action had started off over 7 months ago. Our first batch had already graduated and over 65 had reached the top B-schools after going through our PDP in the months of Jan-May 2005.

 

So, the plans were all brewing in our heads – GP used to moonlight too.  There were a few more friends who would be visiting resources – Naren, Arun Pai, Alok, Thadi, Hari, etc, etc,.

 

Day one went into planning for the All India Mock Cat that we were planning four weeks ahead of CAT 1995.  It almost is poetry flowing out of you……than a laboured job!!   Awesome, day one!

 

Aug 14, 2007 :

There are many ways of looking at this journey.  Let me share the perspective of  me – the individual.  Many a time,  the right of being an individual is sought to be denied because of the roles that a person plays. 

 

I feel just too happy that I jumped off the cliff so early.  I also feel very lucky / fortunate / blessed that I ‘escaped to victory’.  I feel relieved that I did not have to show up at my Boss door after 18 months or so saying – ‘Sandeep – Sorry,  You were right…I should have listened to you.  It did not work.  Is there any way you can take me back’

 

On the other extreme,  I also feel many a time that Google started around the same time that CL started.  A few more people know more about Google that those who know about CL.  Their spread is just a little more than ours.  Their revenues are a few years ahead of ours J

 

That little gap keeps me converting my ‘jobless days’  into some kind of a ‘inspired poetry’  so that my mother would not walk in and say the same thing today – “But, when do you work at all ??”.  

 

Satya