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Satya

Agassi Connects

Agassi connects 

I picked two books since I had to cover a lot of time on flights over the past week.  One was the autobiography by Andre Agassi while the other was the Satyam story by an Indian journalist, Kingshuk Nag.

 ‘Open’ – Andre Agassi’s story

Agassi Connects. Andre Agassi always connected. During the two decade long career on the tennis tour, Agassi was not one to be disconnected from followers of the game. There might have been people who hated him for defeating their favourite player while at times even his fans hated him for losing some games silly.  In between these, he always  connected positively with his attitude, talent, constant growth, some great battles, commitment to the game, longevity etc,. 

 

Agassi’s book too connected for me. In fact, this is one of the most well-written autobiographies that I have read recently. Surely among the best among the sportsmen for a long time.  Terrific job – AA or the ghost writer for AA!

 

AA’s hatred (may not be the most accurate way of describing it) for his father, his proclaimed dislike for Tennis, his clear-headed views on a large number of players from McEnroe to Connors to Pete Sampras to Leander Paes or Srichapan,  relationship with Gil, Stefanie, Brooke Shields etc, - they all make for a very insightful read.

 

The pain or the easy shrug after a loss, the sleeping on the floor, the gil drink, the over-simplified arithmetic of grand slam path put out by his father are all nuggets or anecdotes that embellish this body of work immensely.

 Admiration for Stefanie :

Being an ardent admirer of Steffi, I found this part of the story very interesting. Agassi’s unqualified respect and admiration for her is all pervasive. Incidentally, there is not one place where Agassi uses anything but ‘Stefanie’ for the lady. I found the reason interesting. The hardwork that he put in to win her over is very cute.  You are reminded of the fact that achievers are human too. His shaving off their son’s hair and Stefanie going ballistic on her returning home (that too in German) was very cute too. 

 Quite Antiseptic :

Overall, a very thorough research and process of building a life of success into a book is very evident. Champs do not become one just like that, we know!  One disappointment though -  I refuse to believe that the crystal meth is the only solitary episode of ruckus in the life of some one like AA.  While this one scandalous paragraph was what got covered in the media reviews,  I think there is a lot more that I expect from a life time as colourful and super-achievement as Agassi.  Even lesser mortals who go to a hostel for a couple of years will have more stories to tell.

 

Go, Buy. Worth having it on your self.

 

The Double Life of Raju (the Satyam Story) – K Nag

This book could have been a best seller that captures the most gripping corporate drama of the decade, if not the Indian corporate fraud history. The fall of an icon and his empire from ionosphere to the ground is what the Satyam story is made of. This unique and immense opportunity is squandered  by this effort of a journalist.

 

I was reminded of P Sainath’s critique of the journalists of this era in India – Digital Stenography. This body of work can be called something close to that. A copy-paste of newspapers or magazines is what it came through to me as.

 

There is not enough research that I could see in spite of the claims by the author at various places. Shockingly, at one place the unit of currency is incorrect making it look like a piece of sub-amateurish work (The value of India world acquisition was Rs 499 Crores not USDollars). I just hope I am right J

 

I was left feeling that the author was too scared of being beaten to the market by some other book and did the whole job in haste.  To grab the FMA (First mover advantage), as they say in the world of marketing. Alas, this is a damp squib.

 

I still think and actually hope that some one puts in a 2 year research in the Satyam saga and brings out a body of work that can go to the shelves of many discerning readers but also into the teaching of business and management students across the globe.

 

Sorry, Mr Nag.  I have always been a votary of being a positive critique. Yet, I found myself with the above appraisal at the end of my journey with the book.

  

Satya

  

Nippon - II

Nippon - Part II

 

Super fashion Society

In most places that I have travelled to, I have found people and their dressing as an engaging piece of information. You need not go searching for it. It is in your face. It is inescapable.

 

Tokyo appeared to be a super fashion conscious society. Of course, what one would expect in a super-developed economy. While women are always well-dressed in most parts of the world, Japanese men too seem to be spending inordinate mindshare on looking good. A significant percentage has their heads well curated.  I am told Venuezuela beats most countries when it comes to women’s fashion.  Am waiting to get there some time and see. But, it might not be an exaggeration to say that the Japanese well-dressed girls make Indian girls look like simplicity personified !

 

Bullet Train – A Ride

One key task that we had chosen was to board and experience a bullet train. GP and I managed when we took the day off to go visit Mount Fuji at Hakone. The experience from inside the train is similar to our own Shatabdi. However, when got down and saw another ‘Shinkansen’ (Local name for the bullet train) go past in the station, we saw what it meant. It was like a tornado through the platform in a micro-second. We managed to not get blown along by the tornado!

 

Pin Drop Silence

The city came across as a city of pin-drop silence. No one speaks in any place. They are pre-occupied in their hand-held devices playing games etc,. No honking on the streets. Very few car for a city of this size. No shouting / fighting / backslapping on the streets. Of course, I was suffering from the chaos-index back home.

 

Density – People and cars

Tokyo is a 20 million population city. I reconfirmed this fact when I did not find as many people as I should have. On day one, I attributed it to that being a Sunday.  But, I have not found enough people at all over the past week to reflect the population density that we have heard about.

 

The other thing that I found missing was cars. Or parking lots. In a place like Delhi or Mumbai, there are cars every where and we find roads once in a while. In Tokyo, I kept searching for cars on the roads. No where.  The public transport is amazingly well networked and is super efficient.  Delhi Metro can get to Tokyo of today if Mr Sreedharan continues at the helm for the next 10-15 years with the same amount of funds and execution mandate.  Nowhere was the station more than a few minutes of walk. We did not have to hire a cab even once for our city trips.

 

Just one illustration – the Chairman of a company with a multi-billion dollar market-cap and his entire senior management that we met travelled by local metro to meet us for the dinner.  And we too travelled the length and breadth of the city on metro while visiting their offices / businesses. Incidentally, the VP in this company owns a Lexus. Of course, I did not venture to ask which car the Chairman owned J

 

Smoking and Mobile

Every society has some things that are strange to a newcomer and almost inexplicable. One such thing about Japan pertains to the way they view smoking. You  find people smoking anywhere and everywhere. It is not disallowed anywhere. So, you find them smoking inside a train (air conditioned), in a five star hotel, in buses, in offices. In fact, the places where smoking is not allowed is mentioned specially. I am told by local friends that Japan is a smoker’s paradise.

 

On the other hand, mobile usage is disallowed in public transport. Prominent posters urge you to keep the phone on silent mode and not to disturb other passengers by speaking. Can u imagine that I put my ultra-modern Nokia on speaker mode in India since it does not work otherwise J  (Nokia, Listening ?).  No wonder, Nokia is not doing great business in this far eastern country !

 

Palika Bazaar and Pahar Ganj

We are experts at finding the place for the best deal, as Indians. We were successful here too. We found the local version of the Janpath or fashion street or Palika bazaar. We put our best Karol Bagh skills of negotiations to work for us. In Tokyo, these markets go by the name of Akihabara and Ueon respectively and managed to grab a few things for the kids so that we get our entry back into our homes with little negotiation.

 

Sayonara

Satya

     

The Nippon Diary

The Nippon Diary - 1   The Super Cabbie :

We got into a Taxi from our Hotel to get to the office in downtown area of Tokyo this morning. Inspite of a local resident who played the role of an active navigator for the cabbie, a couple of mistakes led to the drive getting longer than necessary – say, by about a couple of kilometers and ten minutes of time. We were, in fact, displeased enough to crack a joke or two amongst ourselves (in Hindi) about the Cabbie.  Soon, we had to eat the humble pie. At the end of the journey, the cabbie not only apologized but insisted on taking only 1000 Yen against the meter reading of about 1920 Yen. 

 

You can imagine the impact that it had on us – we travelled from ridicule to admiration about the person.  Just imagine – this is a normal cabbie that we hailed outside our hotel. On the street experience #1!

 

 

 Is this normal for a youngster to do ?

In the afternoon, we were travelling by the local train from Gotanda and had to change at a particular station. With enormous effort and after overcoming his hesitation, Rajesh politely enquired a young girl about the directions.  The hesitation was due to the fact that she was waiting for her own train during peak hours and more importantly, was enjoying her music with the iPod / ear phone. The response was unbelievable. Just as she took her ear-phones and began assisting Rajesh, her train arrived on the platform. However, she felt that she must accompany us to help us find our way. She gave up her chance of boarding her train, walked along with us over the bridge until a point from where she could clearly give directions to us towards our destination.  We were left stunned and soaked in admiration for this college going young girl of 18 or 19!   On-the-street experience #2!

 

As you know, the first impressions are very important. They end up playing a crucial role in building a lasting perception of any new experience – a person, a place, an event etc,. As a traveler, I have also been fairly conscious of the inaccuracy that the first impression could build vis a vis the reality of a new place. As I landed in Tokyo and prepared for the days ahead, I was looking forward to a nice experience with my own discounting factor built in my head.

 

At the end of day two and with a few on-the-street experiences, I do think that the reality is reasonably closer to my perceptions. My earlier experience of Japan is that of a day-long loitering on the streets of Osaka. This is a first on-the-ground experience of the country of the rising Sun. I am not jumping to conclusions as a traveler should not. At least not prematurely. But, the country is growing enormously in me. Perhaps, on us.

 

Some obversations – orderly, no honking on the roads, spit-and-polish clean, humility is institutionalized in the society, very hands-on people and so on.

  Electronic shitpot

Can u imagine a commode that is more of an electronic device than a mechanical one (because of the flush J). Imagine (or see the pic on FB) a shotpot that has sensors that you have taken your seat, that has electronic buttons just you would have in your high value car to adjust the stereo or lights.  You are controlling the variables such as the type of jet (mono / dual), the angle, the speed, gender sensitivity etc,.  I am told that this is still far from the real e-commodes with sensors that are already in the market.

 What is ICU for us -  is first aid for them !

For any one who knows a bit of healthcare, AED is a known acronym. It stands for Automated electronic defibrillator (AED) that is deployed first on the patient in the case of a heart attack. It is believed to be an effective intervention in at least 75 per cent of the cases. You will find the doctors applying it in hospitals across the world including India.

 

It is just a tad different in Japan. You find AED in malls, rail stations, hotel lobbies (all public places – See Picture on FB) with greater frequency than the first aid kits that I have seen back home. I guess it is partly to do with the economics of the country. India might get there when we get to a per capita of USD 40,000!  

 

Of course, there could be reasons that are less forgiving or escapist for ourselves as an individual or society.

  

Satya

           

Tera Bachpan

Hindustani :

Tera bachpan sirf chand ghadiyon ka hai

Uthaoon lutf waqt jo pariyon ka hai

Tera bachpan sirf chand ghadiyon ka hai

 

English :

Your wonderdays of childhood are indeed very few

May I enjoy to the hilt these precious moments with my fairy

 Hindustani :Kuch Resham (Silk) hai tho kuch makhmal (velvet) hai

Tera har zarra (atom) mere liye ajmal (most beautiful) hai

Har soch mein, har harqat mein khuda si pakeezgi (purity) teri

Dua hai taa-umra bana rahe shabanami (morning dew) taazgi teri

 

English :

Some things about you are as fine as silk and some soft as velvette

Every atom of yours is the most beautiful for me

God’s purity I see in your thoughts and deeds

I pray that you retain this freshness forever

 

Hindustani :

Tera bachpan sirf chand ghadiyon ka hai

Uthaoon lutf waqt jo pariyon ka hai

 

English :

Your wonderdays of childhood is indeed very short

May I enjoy to the hilt these precious moments with my fairy

 

Hindustani :

Lautkar na aayega yeh lamha phir kabhi

Jaane kab ho fursat – o – tanha phir kabhi

Lutaoon mohabbat ka har boondh har pal

Na mehasoos (feel) karo pyar se mahroom (deprived) muasat phir kabhi

  

English :

These moments will shortly be gone forever

Will I ever get this leisurely time of solitude with you

I intend exhausting every drop of love on you

Lest you ever feel short on affection from me

 

Hindustani :

Tera bachpan sirf chand ghadiyon ka hai

Uthaoon lutf waqt jo pariyon ka hai

 

English :

Your wonderdays of childhood are indeed very few

May I enjoy to the hilt these precious moments with my fairy

 

Hindustani :

Tera bachpan sirf chand ghadiyon ka hai

Uthaoon lutf waqt jo pariyon ka hai

Tera bachpan sirf chand ghadiyon ka hai

 

English :

Your wonderdays of childhood are indeed very few

May I enjoy to the hilt these precious moments with my fairy

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