The 200

I was at office when Sam called me and said, “Do you know what the score is?”. My reply would have impressed my boss, “No”. Sam told me the score and Sachin’s distance from the landmark. A voice rose from inside, “WTF are you doing here? Yeah right, that email is going to get you into the Guiness book of world records for the most number of cumulative ‘regards’ anyone has sent to anyone’. So I packed (yes I scatter myself all over at office!) and left to a cousin’s home at a stone’s throw from office. Went there and asked her to switch on the TV. Sachin was on 190. And that’s where I was when It happened. And that needs to be recorded. Like where I was during that WC’96 quarterfinal with Pakistan at Bangalore. Like where I was when ARR won the Oscars. Like where I was when Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore won the first individual Gold Silver (Thanks Yesh!) for India. Like where I was when the tsunami, 26/11, 9/11 happened (I don’t mean to be insensitive here, just a reference to the past, that’s all). For me that’s a record! ;)
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How to write a business plan

One of the occupational hazards of working for a VC firm is that you need to go through business plans of every kind. This is especially true of the space in which my fund operates. Early/seed stage deals. This (irrelevant business plans) could arise due to various reasons and we shall not get into that now. This post refers only to those who are making business plans for the purpose of fund-raising. Let me get straight to the point.

What is a business plan? I think most people refuse to ask this question when they start building out one. It is a set of well-accepted business jargon that people continue to use and reuse. Wash. Rinse. Repeat. A business plan, in my opinion, is a document created for a certain purpose detailing the core aspects of the business addressing the basic questions of what, how, why, who, when and a few other purpose-relevant questions.
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Transform The World, Start From Within

In every human being, there is an aspiration to become better, more loving and more concerned about one another and the planet. But people are trying to work towards it from the wrong end. People are trying to be loving, they are trying to be good. When you look at yourself, if you are happy and joyful, naturally you are a very loving, generous, wonderful human being. This is true for everybody. On the other hand, when you are in a state of unhappiness, frustration or any other sense of unpleasantness within yourself, you may be nasty. There is no point trying to be loving, trying to be pleasant to somebody else.
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Federer 1, 2, 3,…,15

Found this wonderful article summarizing the 15 Federer wins in numbers. I think they should replace the number Fifteen with Fedteen! Awesomeness personified, humility magnified and perfection achieved. The greatest. Period.
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keekate

That’s what my son calls Cricket!

And that’s exactly what I am upto nowadays on the weekends. This game makes me look forward to my weekends. There is a club called RunsNwickets – which was formed by some wonderful people (KK, Anba and Guna) that I have had the fortune of coming in touch with. The unique aspect of this club is that any cricket enthusiast based out of Chennai is welcome to join in! And that’s exactly what this club is excited about – cricket enthusiasts. If you are one and are in Chennai, just walk in.
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A namaskaram can take you beyond

Yesterday my colleague and I had a longish discussion on ‘free will’ and ‘determinism’ (Ok ok, don’t close the window, they are in fact the world’s way of communicating simple things. Look at these links [1] and [2]. Don’t read in detail – just the first couple of lines will give you an idea of what they mean) and his conclusion was that ‘Illusion of free will is necessary for society to carry on’. Okay so at a fundamental level I don’t believe in either of them. And no this is not going to be a long post about my philosophy and all that. Just a word on how my experience transcended both the above-mentioned concepts!
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Maa Tujhe Salaam

This is by far the best dance performance for the song I have seen till date. Great formations and near flawless coordination. Considering that these are kids who are doing this, its even more awesome. I just wish I can get my hands on a more professional video version of this. For now, this will do!

Rahman’s music is available to those who are willing

I am yet to come up with a way of writing this. Rahman won the Oscar – not one but two. And he did it in his characteristic matter-of-fact style. His acceptance speeches have already attained legendary status. He was christened a ‘Living Legend’ by one of the news channels. Another channel was discussing with one of the great Bollywood personalities who was saying some stuff about Rahman that we have already heard a million times. And that’s precisely the problem with Rahman – you cannot say anything about him that has not been said before. And he never gives you even a hint of a chance to say something about him!
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I chose love…

…and I am here. God Bless!

Those were Rahman’s words on winning his second Oscar (for Best Original Song – “Jai Ho” alongwith Gulzar) of the day. This is his full acceptance speech [Link]:

I just want to thank again the whole crew of Slumdog Millionaire, especially Danny Boyle for giving such a great opportunity. And the whole, all the people from Mumbai. The essence of the film which is about optimism and the power of hope in the lives, and all my life I had a choice of hate and love. I chose love and I’m here. God bless.

When he one the first one too he was quite at ease with the whole situation. This is what he said when he won his first one [Link]:

Before coming, I was excited and terrified. The last time I felt like that was during my marriage. There’s a dialogue from a Hindi film called “Mere paas ma hai,” which means “I have nothing but I have a mother,” so mother’s here, her blessings are there with me. I am grateful for her to have come all the way. And I want to thank the Academy for being so kind, all the jury members. I want to thank Sam Schwartz, I/D PR, all the crew of Slumdog, Mr. Gulzar, Raqueeb Alam, Blaaze, my musicians in Chennai and Mumbai. And I want to tell something in Tamil, which says, which I normally say after every award which is… “God is great.” Thank you.

If you didn’t know he won two Oscars today, then you have been living on the Moon or something! What a day! Thanks to all those who passed on their congratulatory wishes on the win! Really value each and every of those calls, sms’es and mails! Thanks guys! Thanks!