Now on a personal note. In 1994 I spent an hour with Ravi Baswani at
his home in Bombay – trying to persuade him (and separately the other
four protagonists) to do a sequel to Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron. The original
dialog writer Ranjit Kapoor was hired as the new Director and we went
door to door to sell the promise of the original magic. (The project
was funded by friend Hari Bhartia – thanks). It didn’t take off
because two of the five (Naseeruddin, Satish Shah, Om Puri, Ravi
Baswani, Pankaj Kapoor) said you just can’t make that fission happen
again. (No wonder the Jodie Fosters of the world never do sequels).

But back to Ravi Baswani. The Director Ranjit and I knocked on his
Andheri flat at three in the afternoon and woke him up from his usual
‘late night.’ He answered the door in his underwear (not boxers, but
underwear of the Jockey kind). After hospitably seating us he said
he’ll just change and came back wearing a banyan. Visualize this,
you’re trying to sell to a guy who’s lying on the floor in front of
the sofa, smoking, and all he’s wearing is a banyan and an underwear.
What’s worse is that you can’t shift your gaze to look him in the eye
because of his squint.

He talked about the grand old experience of the original production.
Ranjit and he did the usual who’s where with who (Om Puri had a new
wife, Naseeruddin had switched from hash to grass, Satish and Pankaj
were not on talking terms…). I reminded Ravi Baswani of the IIT. He
used to take drama lessons for the Dramatics Society in our final years.

Ravi was more or less out of work that year – no real projects in
hand. Even so he was one of the five who said he would not do the
sequel – “you can’t recreate spontaneity.”

Rest in peace Ravi. Lucky to have known you for a few moments and
you’re right, “ you can’t recreate spontaneity.”

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First a request to you and to the Group. Controversial references to
G(h)andi are best avoided. There have been precedents (such as Sasthi
Brata who in exile has now authored ‘Traitor to India.’ Another beauty
Nikki (Bedi’s) got thrown out for interviewing Brata on the air in
which he said that Gandhi was a baniya ‘b….d.'). Let’s avoid any
misinterpretation at a Raashtra level.

Second, I would like to understand why some (many?) of us want to
‘control the world.’ (as you said, “Why NO ONE is calling for an Asian
Union?
We can control the world !!!”). I do have sympathies with the
Palestine (but prefer to be neutral). Fuad you’re not ‘chicken’ and
they no longer knight you for smashing your bike head-on to play for
honor.

As your bridge partner in the final year, I remember your bidding
system for the tournaments. (For the uninitiated a bid of one-spade
signals that I have a good spade suit with over 12 points in high
cards, etc. If I have below 12-points I would usually say ‘pass’ or
‘no-bid.’). Fuad you taught me to signal 8-11 points with a ‘Pass’ and
less than 8 points with a ‘No-bid.’ And to avoid confusion as we
entered the tournament hall you said to me, “busturrd, remember Pass
is pass (like in ‘I might pass,’) but No-bid means no cards at all.

We still lost.

P.S. I would love to invite you home and you can fearlessly drive on
the Right side of the Road here. A few million Delhiites are already
chicken.

On 31-Jul-2010, at 11:00 AM, Fuad Numan wrote:

Hi All Delhi IITians....

Let me introduce myself first....

Fuad Rashed Husni AlNuman
B.Tech 1977 (Mech), M.Tech 1979 {Production & Industrial)

I was an active student of IITD, and U all shd remember that Jordanian
Student staying in Kumaon all the way!
Squash #1 & Captain all the way...
Football team & Captain who won U Gold at IIT Bombay inter IIT meet....
Got plenty of cups and awards from IITD....
Got the Roll of Honor and Freedom of the house.....
What else.. A Devil Biker and a "Chicken" player !!!
Do U all know what is that crazy game?
Its going on a bike straight against another from the opposite
direction at high speed head on... Whoever sways away to any side is
the Chicken and looser!!!

Now, lets get serious here...

I have seen India more than U all for sure.... I visited almost every
city...from Big ones to
Khajraho...Nanital...Jabalpur...Allahabad...Alighar...Kashmir...Simla...Jaipur...Bhopal...Luknow...Banares....
can keep listing to make U get the point!
I was a translator during my training at (ITI Bangalore) between
south&Noth Indians who did not know English!!

The point is that I mixed with people from diff states and
cultures...Languages...Religions....etc...
I did not meet Indians who understand the fact that the Indian
sub-continent was divided as a conspiracy and shd be united again!
U all shd understand that it was all a plot to slow down progress in
this part of the world, and Asia in general!

Right from the time of Ghandi Jee, they started this plan....
When the National movements rose up to resist the English occupation,
and started killing army men and British Land lords...
Naxalites and resistance groups used to act... aquire guns and
Bullets... Run away at night to hide in any nearby village to find
doors Open!

The British found a way to fight this back without having to push in
more troops..... Make people resist peacefully....!!!!

At that time, any one caught with a bullet only was hanged...

Suddenly, Ghandi arrives and lays down in front of the governers
motorcade..... That never stops for any reason...
It stopped for the unknown new comer... and was requested to get up
and go away....He refused...
The British guards removed him and the motorcade moved on its way.....
Later, Ghandi lays down on the railway track in a major station, and
was requested to move away, then carried away....

U all know how curious Indians are.... Get a couple of guys to stand
in a Que behind U against an open windowin C.Place,
and U'll have a long line coming behind U to wait and see what's
being given or sold out there.....

Indians were asked to resist peacefully after that and all followed
this policy...The Resistance died...
If any one Kills a British and runs away to any door step to hide, he
found closed doors asking him to stop this violance...

The British lived happily ever after..... until independance...which
was not WON...But was granted like all other coloneis all over the
world in 1947..
Thats how we lost a big part of our homeland in Palestine that time...1947...
Iraq..Syria...Jordan.... all colonies of the British and French got
independance without any Ghandi.....
So, why did Ghandi suddenly come to India from South Africa?
Why did he allow the Partition of India? He did not want it, but on
the other hand, he did not stop it..
His role was over...thats why he was killed.... No real trustworthy
investigation was made to find the motive....

Now, I want all to get my point... They wanted a weak region with
differences to hault progress...They Succeeded for long.

Now India is a big power and economy, but would be bigger and stronger
if united with Pakistan & BanglaDesh for sure...

All this is done by the west to Hault Asia...Why NO ONE is calling for
an Asian Union?
We can control the world !!!

If China, Japan, United India, The Gulf states, All Asian countries
and many more come together; we'll control the world!!!!!

We have the Huge land... Food...the Oil...The Technology...The
Manpower, which is an assit if U employ it!
We can dictate our terms and control trade and be stronger than all
Unions around the Globe.... Right?

When India resolves to use an official language for all states beside
the local ones, many things get straight there,
But we are now talking about an ASIAN UNION .....how about that?

I hope that I did not interupt Yr debate without a brain storming
issue that matters to our Asia...Our Future...

With Best Wishes...........
Fu'ad Nu'man

To: IITDBatch1979@yahoogroups.com
From: bala@imsc.res.in
Date: Fri, 30 Jul 2010 14:35:41 +0530
Subject: Re: [IITDBatch1979] Fw: Why India needs Narendra Modi?

Hi
I have to say that I find myself wincing everytime I read some of
this communal stereotyping that I see in some of these mails!

eg "bengali brain is no less than any Tamil Brahmin one or a Mumbai
one" or
" Mumbai may believe Fiat set up shop in Maratha-land because Marathas
are better workers"
"Bible Belt" (In India???)
What's going on here? Is there a conspiracy among the NRI IIT-ians to
undermine the concept of India as a nation?!!

Here's a counterpoint (some fresh air!) that I came across:

A wonderful way of looking at India's pluralistic diversity!

BY : G.V.DASARATHI

(GV Dasarathi is director of a software products development company)

This when I was born 46 years ago.

I was born to Tamil speaking parents,

my father had a dark skin and my mother a light one.

My ayah was a light-skinned woman from UP who spoke Hindi.

We lived in a thickly forested area in Jharkhand,

where the majority of the population was dark-skinned

tribal people who spoke a language called Ho.

On my trips out of home I saw people wearing all kinds

of attire -- from sadhus wearing nothing at all,

to the locals who went topless, to women in burqas.

Most of the guests in our home spoke English.

We were Hindu, my ayah was Muslim, and the tribals

were either Christian or Animists who worshiped trees,

animals or the spirits of their forefathers.

People around me had all kinds of food habits.

Some ate only vegetables, some did not eat cattle,

some did not eat pigs, some ate anything including

rats and monitor lizards.

Our small mining community celebrated festivals

of all religions with equal gusto.

We lived in the middle of an almost virgin forest

that was home to a huge variety of wild animals

that included elephants, bears and deer.

The animals added to the fun and the unpredictability

of life by occasionally walking into our tiny community

of 10 houses (sometimes into them).

This was my small introduction to the enormous diversity

of this wonderful land. Even as an infant I was listening to

people of different colours and facial features speaking four

languages, of four religions, dressing in different ways, and

eating a variety of food.

These must have been the lessons that I learned ;

anyone looking like a human was a human, irrespective of

skin colour or features; humans worshiped all sorts of gods,

wore all sorts of clothing, ate all kinds of food, and spoke all

kinds of languages.

As I grew up, my father's company transferred him every

two or three years through about half the states in India.

I saw the rest of India. I learned that Indians believe in far

more gods than the four that I was introduced to as an infant.

I learned that each state has three or four different regions.

People in each of these regions speak different languages or

dialects and may not even understand the other dialects in

their own state. Each region eats a different kind of food,

wears different clothing, is culturally very different,

and looks very different geographically.

Today, nobody can convince me that I am superior to

someone else because of my religion, skin colour or language.

The diversity that I experienced, accepted and enjoyed as an

infant is not unique to me. Every Indian experiences this --

only the details differ. I believe that this is what makes us the

most tolerant country in the world. I enjoy our diversity so

much that I cannot even think of living in one of those countries

where everything is homogeneous -- everybody looks the same,

eats the same food, believes in the same religion.

Think of countries like the Netherlands, Germany, Japan,

Sweden... hundreds of them.

Yes, the diversity occasionally makes us kill each other,

usually over different religions or sub-religions.

This is tragic and should never happen, but look at it this way:

Sunnis, Buddhists, Roman Catholics, Sikhs, Bohras,

Digambar Jains, Parsis, Khurmis, Iyers, Agarwals, Nairs,

Syrian Christians, Shias, Shwetambar Jains, Jews, Ismailis,

Seventh Day Adventists, Bishnois and a whole lot of other

groups live together in India.

In Britain and Yemen two sects of the same religion were

killing each other for decades.

In Lebanon, people from two religions have been killing each other.

The US and South Africa have seen huge problems over two skin colours.

In Canada it's over two languages.

As an Indian, I laugh at these silly reasons for their conflicts --

two religions, two colours, two languages.

I feel like saying "Hey guys, try Digamber Jain, Gujarati-speaking,

pyjama-kurta-
wearing herbivore co-existing with Syrian Christian,

Malayalam-speaking, mundu-wearing carnivore".

Where would we be if we had been as intolerant as them?

I believe that the religious intolerance that we are seeing now

is confined to a small percentage of us, and that in the long run

we have the sense to not take our differences too seriously,

to acknowledge that the whole lot of us are a wonderful amalgam

of different races, religions and cultures.

I can never be a global citizen. Contrary to the advice that

any stockbroker would give, I've invested all my emotional

stocks in this company called India, because I'm sure that

the value of these stocks can only go up.

Not because of the amount of steel, armaments and textiles

we can make, but because we know how to live together.

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

I first met him at ragging time when he said he’d got the second prize
in shooting in Springdales. That was the only time I’ve heard him
being vain about anything. I knew him well – three years in Aravali,
some weekends at his home in Patel Nagar and then on a weeklong trek
together.

Vinod was great to be with. I don’t mean the kind who fills up the
sird-shops with anecdotes or those who ponder over the state of
society or the future of our world. He was good company – (truthfully,
I felt good in his company).

I told him things, things that were too cowardly to be mentioned or
known. But secrets were safe with him. Once told they seem to get
cushioned in compassion. His powerful specs would just stare and say
tell me more, without comment, without judgement, but nudging you
along with ‘it’s OK.’

Nothing ever bothered him. No success, or mediocrity was significant
enough to spoil a nice cup of tea. If he had desires, they were to be
alone with nature. Long walks, empty sit-downs with absolutely no
baggage.

He tried everything once. Had a pack of cigarettes one year, tried
some dope, and tried shaving daily. With his usual conclusion that
nothing is really that important. He never wanted more. He never
wanted things to change. Total acceptance of himself. Any conversation
with him that went like, ‘why don’t you try to do …’ would end quickly
with ‘maybe some day.’

I remember one conversation about wanting to learn to fly (a plane).
He was not one to try power craft and climb climb climb. He would
choose a glider – just take him up there and leave him be. Free.

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

We sat on the banks of Lake Travis (Austin, Texas) smoking unbranded
cigarettes and pondering over the futility of the rat race. Shekhar
Govind was the one who’d act on it.

Shekhar was different from you and me. He passed out of the IIT with
plans to do – nothing. Yes, in April 1979 he actually said he wanted
to catalog his book collection for a while and collate his pre-apps
for the NEXT year. All of you with kids you’d freak at the thought of
them and a gap year sitting in Delhi making a home library.

I met him with his sister and mother in the US and he hadn’t changed.
Life to him was meant to be taken slowly, savored and observed. And an
observer needs to stay still. I was the one asking stupid questions
like, “so what do you plan to do next.” Must you (we) do something? He
had an answer to that twenty years ago when he cofounded a Repertory
in Austin and wrote an adaptation of Canterbury Tales (among others).
He taught at the University but becoming a Professor would be a
setback for him – too much responsibility and such little time.

He was the Editor of Pulse in our final year. Or maybe he was the
Production Head or GSec or something (never mind what precisely). But
he loved planning, schedules, and coordinating stuff and pulling
peoples' leg. He could spend hours at it – certainly more engrossing
than the safety factors offered by the Civil Engineering Department.

Time to get back now to our own safety factors. It’s Monday tomorrow,
one kid’s got to be dropped at the school bus at 6.30, then the gym,
then off to work, commute back late evening, bath, nice drink, TV,
dinner, family talk, and then I want my internet. We live in exciting
times.

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Param was at one time an Executive Director with Xerox India. She was
one of the global women leaders personally chosen by Anne Mulcahy,
CEO. An XLRI grad, Param’s key role at one time was to wield the
hatchet and cut some ‘deadwood.’ Tall, commanding, and decisive she
could get execs to cough up a lot on their balanced scorecards and
KRAs. She loved every bit of it.

The more conservative of us called her ‘hyper,’ but her energy rubbed
off on everyone. Wide eyed to every little gossip, she’d make your own
world come alive as well. If she got a raise she would keep reminding
you till the time came for the next one. If she rotated her Gurgaon
property she would keep you in an involved debate about boom or
bubble. She loved her world.

She went at under 50 but if life is to be measured in moments, she had
more alive moments than an average person with an above average life
expectancy.

Baldip and she left for Nigeria last year and then back during an
India visit she died of a strange case of malaria. Maybe she wanted to
leave a legacy – while you live – BE ALIVE.

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Sunil Agarwal
Date: Sun, 25th July, 2010 at 12:27 PM
Subject: KM
To: Sunil PVT

The challenges of putting together a knowledge management system for 20:20 Media

First, have one; second, keep it simple. I’ve learnt that “not
perfect” is better than “not at all,” and that I should want to use
it.

My ideal KM system would be an invisible one, so that people use it as
part of their day to day work, without realizing that they are doing
knowledge management. I am talking about an in-the-flow KM system,
where KM is a by-product of people doing their day-to-day work. An
in-the-flow KM system is more likely to be adopted that an
above-the-flow KM system, which involves people stepping out of the
daily flow of work to reflect, codify, and share knowledge. See
Michael Idinopulos‘s great post on in-the-flow and above-the-flow
wikis.

So, my ideal knowledge management system will actually be a built on
top of a project management or customer relationship management
system, which people use to perform their day-to-day line tasks. I
don’t yet know how it will look, but I can imagine that it will
involve a more powerful, and more intuitive, wiki and robust tagging
and searching capabilities.

I can bet my savings that all the big PM and CRM vendors have serious
plans to add KM functionality to their offerings. I also believe that
there’s an opportunity here for a new player to build a SaaS-based
PM-CRM-KM hybrid for the SME market, one that actually works, unlike
the present avatars of BaseCamp and SocialText.

Permalink | Leave a comment  »