Wake Up Smit: February 2011

Saturday, February 26, 2011

Pencil

A boy was watching his grandmother write a letter. At one point he asked:
‘Are you writing a story about what we’ve done? Is it a story about me?’
His grandmother stopped writing her letter and said to her grandson:
I am writing about you, actually, but more important than the words is the pencil I’m using. I hope you will be like this pencil when you grow up.’
Intrigued, the boy looked at the pencil. It didn’t seem very special.
‘But it’s just like any other pencil I’ve ever seen!’
‘That depends on how you look at things. It has five qualities which, if you manage to hang on them, will make you a person who is always at peace with the world.’
‘First quality: you are capable of great things, but you must never forget that there is a hand guiding your steps. We call that hand God, and He always guides us according to His will.’
‘Second quality: now and then, I have to stop writing and use a sharpner. That makes the pencil suffer a little, but afterwards, he’s much sharper. So you, too, must learn to bear certain pains and sorrows, because they will make you a better person.
‘Third quality: the pencil always allows us to use an eraser to rub out any mistakes. This means that correcting something we did is not necessarily a bad thing; it helps to keep us on the road to justice.’
‘Fourth quality: what really matters in a pencil is not its wooden exterior, but the graphite inside. So always pay attention to what is happening inside you.’
‘Finally, the pencil’s fifth quality: it always leaves a mark. in just the same way, you should know that everything you do in life will leave a mark, so try to be conscious of that in your every action’

Love,
Smit

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Vibrant Gujarat

Gujarat no longer competes with the rest of India in terms of growth.

It now competes with China.
As per the data of the Central Statistical Organization the growth rate of Gujarat’s SGDP from 2002 till date is 12.8%.
It is at par with Chinese GDP and way above the Indian average of 7.7%.

Gujarat is the driving force of Indian progress.
In terms of proportion of Indian output, Gujarat accounts for 67% of petrochemical production, 40% of pharmaceutical products, 39% of industrial output, 25% of textile production, and 20% of exports.

Some are bravely saying that the roads in Gujarat are even better than the famous American interstate joining the Great Lakes to the inter-mountainous regions – the I-94!
Remember how people were agitating against the Tata Nano project in West Bengal, and the Tatas shifted their factory to Gujarat?
Well, here is the latest, the Tata Group now employs 5,000 people in Gujarat and has the potential of indirectly employing many thousand more.
There is a chain reaction of progress. But what about the poor farmers whose land lay around the Tata Nano project in Gujarat?

Hold your breath. The land that was going for about Rs. 2 lakh per acre is being estimated to now going for Rs. 60 lakh per acre.

And the poor farmer?

Well the poor farmer of Ahmedabad and Sanand drives an Audi now.

Metamorphic marvel of Modi’s magic?
It seems that the corporate attraction towards Gujarat is on full swing.
The Tatas are now intending to sign an MoU to provide rural transport.
Gujarat’s per capita income has grown by 13.8%.
Not only the Tatas, but also the international rail wagon manufacturing company Bombardier that has setup shop in Gujarat.

Why does an Anil Ambani promise to invest Rs. 50,000 crores ($11 billion) in Gujarat in front of some of his elder brother Mukesh Ambani, Ratan Tata, Anand Mahindra, Ajit Gulabchand, the Adanis – some of the biggest wealth creators in India?

The reason is simple:

Gujarat!

In the 2009 Vibrant Gujarat summit MoU’s worth a whopping Rs. 12 lakh-crores ($266.67 billion).

The 2011 Vibrant Gujarat summit is expected to witness MoUs worth Rs. 15 lakh-crores ($ 333.33 billion) being signed.

Someone may say that perhaps Homosapiens no longer live in the state, but a curious evolutionary mix of the Homoeconomicus (Economic man) and the Homoreciprocans (Cooperative man) dwell here!

With 83 Pharma companies committing to invest in Gujarat, the state is well on a trajectory into the outer space of business investment!

It may be true that not all MoUs result in actual investment, but it is also equally true that a lot of MoUs are indeed converted into actual investment.

But more than the lure of the moolah, the astronomical increase in land prices in Gujarat, and better employment opportunities for Gujaratis, is the socio-cultural revolution that Narendra Modi has ushered in rural Gujarat.

The “Dikri Devo Bhavah” (the girl-child is divine) program has ensured that Gujarat’s male:female ratio has improved tremendously.

Female literacy in poor families has improved.
Modi and his entire team of ministers and officers go to villages before the commencement of the academic year and ask people to pledge to ensure that the girl child is sent to school and educated.

Narendra Modi has focused on the emancipation of women as a means to make the Gujarati progress.

His logic is simple, if you educate a son, you educate one person, but if you educate a girl, you educate an entire family.

It is a woman afterall who ensures that if she is educated her family progresses too.

In the 3Es (emancipation, empowerment, and education of women) lies Narendra Modi’s secret to the socio-cultural progress of rural Gujarat.

Gujarat is after all the land of the Mahatma, no wonder the business savvy Chief Minister has named the main enclosure of the Vibrant Gujarat 2011 summit as the “Mahatma Mandir” or the temple dedicated to the Mahatma.

It was one of the dreams of Mahatma Gandhi to uplift the poorest of the poor.

And Narendra Modi is well on his way to achieve this.

The investment coming into Gujarat and the progress that the state is making is helping even the most economically impoverished sections of Gujarati society.

But the progress of Gujarat is not just a one-time phenomenon.

Narendra Modi has brought in a work-culture change in the state.

At a time when Indian bureaucracy has been rated as one of the worst in Asia, the bureaucracy in Gujarat has a very different work culture.

Here, the bureaucratic creature is a proactive being working overtime to ensure that he can deliver.
Why?
Because Narendra Modi focuses on accountability and deliverability.

The entire Gujarati society is rising up injected as if by the steroid of development.

Welcome to the Mahatma Mandir!

No Adarsh scam here, no 2G-spectrum ghotala, no coalition compulsions to permit the wholesale loot of the people, no CWG scam, no Bofors, no giving land to son-in-laws, no Reddy brothers here.

This is the domain of the Gujaratis and their leader Narendra Modi, a socio-economic reformer in the garb of a Chief Minister – perhaps a modern-day quintessential Lee Kuan Yew (the man who made modern Singapore into what it is today).

No wonder Anil Ambani raised a simple question, “Imagine the possibility of India if Narendrabhai becomes its next leader?”

To bolo - Jai Namo - Jai Ho !

Love,
Smit

Monday, February 7, 2011

Why I am Hindu?

I have no biases against any other religions, I believe in the religion of humanity.. but somebody's perspective on hinduism..

Nice one :)

Four years ago, I was flying from JFK NY Airport to SFO to attend a meeting at Monterey , CA. An American girl was sitting on the right side, near window seat. It indeed was a long journey - it would take nearly seven hours. I was surprised to see the young girl reading a Bible unusual of young Americans. After some time she smiled and we had few acquaintances talk. I told her that I am from India

Then suddenly the girl asked: 'What's your faith?' 'What?' I didn't understand the question.

'I mean, what's your religion? Are you a Christian? Or a Muslim?'*

'No!' I replied, 'I am neither Christian nor Muslim'. Apparently she appeared shocked to listen to that. 'Then who are you?' 'I am Hindu’, I said. She looked at me as if she was seeing a caged animal. She could not understand what I was talking about.* A common man in Europe or US knows about Christianity and Islam, as they are the leading religions of the world today.

But a Hindu, what?.*

I explained to her - I am born to a Hindu father and Hindu mother. Therefore, I am a Hindu by birth.*

'Who is your prophet?' she asked.

'We don't have a prophet,' I replied.*

'What's your Holy Book?'* 'We don't have a single Holy Book, but we have hundreds and thousands of philosophical and sacred scriptures,' I replied.*

'Oh, come on at least tell me who is your God?'*

'What do you mean by that?'*

'Like we have Jesus and Muslims have Allah - don't you have a God?'*

I thought for a moment. Muslims and Christians believe one God (Male God) who created the world and takes an interest in the humans who inhabit it. Her mind is conditioned with that kind of belief.*

According to her (or anybody who doesn't know about Hinduism), a religion needs to have one Prophet, one Holy book and one God. The mind is so conditioned and rigidly narrowed down to such a notion that anything else is not acceptable. I understood her perception and concept about faith.

You can't compare Hinduism with any of the present leading religions where you have to believe in one concept of god.*

I tried to explain to her: 'You can believe in one god and he can be a Hindu. You may believe in multiple deities and still you can be a Hindu. What's more - you may not believe in god at all, still you can be a Hindu. An atheist can also be a Hindu.'*

This sounded very crazy to her. She couldn't imagine a religion so unorganized, still surviving for thousands of years, even after onslaught from foreign forces.*

'I don't understand but it seems very interesting. Are you religious?

' What can I tell to this American girl?* I said: 'I do not go to temple regularly. I do not make any regular rituals. I have learned some of the rituals in my younger days. I still enjoy doing it sometimes..'*

'Enjoy? Are you not afraid of God?'*

'God is a friend. No- I am not afraid of God. Nobody has made any compulsions on me to perform these rituals regularly.

'* She thought for a while and then asked: 'Have you ever thought of converting to any other religion?

'* 'Why should I?. Even if I challenge some of the rituals and faith in Hinduism, nobody can convert me from Hinduism. Because, being a Hindu allows me to think independently and objectively, without conditioning. I remain as a Hindu never by force, but choice.' I told herthat Hinduism is not a religion, but a set of beliefs and practices. It is not a religion like Christianity or Islam because it is not founded by any one person or does not have an organized controlling body like the Church or the Order, I added. There is no institution or authority.*

'So, you don't believe in God?' she wanted everything in black and white.

'I didn't say that. I do not discard the divine reality. Our scripture, or Sruthis or Smrithis - Vedas and Upanishads or the Gita - say God might be there or he might not be there. But we pray to that supreme abstract authority (Para Brahma) that is the creator of this universe.'*

'Why can't you believe in one personal God?'*

'We have a concept - abstract - not a personal god. The concept or notion of a personal God, hiding behind the clouds of secrecy, telling us irrational stories through few men whom he sends as messengers, demanding us to worship him or punish us, does not make sense. I don't think that God is as silly as an autocratic emperor who wants others to respect him or fear him.

'I told her that such notions are just fancies of less educated human imagination and fallacies, adding that generally ethnic religious practitioners in Hinduism believe in personal gods. The entry level Hinduism has over-whelming superstitions too. The philosophical side of Hinduism negates all superstitions.*

'Good that you agree God might exist. You told that you pray. What is your prayer then? she asked'

'Loka Samastha Suk ino Bhavantu. Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti,

'* 'Funny,' she laughed, 'What does it mean?'*

'May all the beings in all the worlds be happy. Om Peace, Peace, Peace.

'* 'Hmm ..very interesting.. I want to learn more about this religion. It is so democratic, broad-minded and free' she exclaimed.*

'The fact is Hinduism is a religion of the individual, for the individual and by the individual with its roots in the Vedas and the Bhagavad-Gita. It is all about an individual approaching a personal God in an individual way according to his temperament and inner evolution - it is as simple as that.'

'How does anybody convert to Hinduism?'

'Nobody can convert you to Hinduism, because it is not a religion, but a set of beliefs, practices and a way of life and culture. Everything is acceptable in Hinduism because there is no single authority or organization either to accept it or to reject it or to oppose it on behalf of Hinduism.

'* For a real seeker, I told her, the Bible itself gives guidelines when it says ' Kingdom of God is within you.' I reminded her of Christ's teaching about the love that we have for each other. That is where you can find the meaning of life.

Loving each and every creation of the God is absolute and real. 'Isavasyam idam sarvam Isam - (the God) is present (inhabits) here everywhere – nothing exists separate from the God, because God is present everywhere. Respect every living being and non-living things as God. That's what Hinduism teaches you.

Hinduism is referred to as Sanathana Dharma, the eternal faith. It is based on the practice of Dharma, the code of life. The most important aspect of Hinduism is being truthful to oneself. Hinduism has no monopoly on ideas - It is open to all. Hindus believe in one God (not a personal one) expressed in different forms. For them, God is timeless and formless entity.

Ancestors of today's Hindus believe in eternal truths and cosmic laws and these truths are opened to anyone who seeks them. But there is a section of Hindus who are either superstitious or turned fanatic to make this an organized religion like others. The British coin the word 'Hindu' and considered it as a religion.

I said: 'Religions have become an MLM (multi-level- marketing) industry that has been trying to expand the market share by conversion. The biggest business in today's world is Spirituality. Hinduism is no exception'*

I am a Hindu primarily because it professes Non-violence -'Ahimsa Paramo Dharma' - Non violence is the highest duty. I am a Hindu because it doesn't conditions my mind with any faith system.

A man/ woman who change 's his/her birth religion to another religion is a fake and does not value his/her morals, culture and values in life. Hinduism was the first religion originated. Be proud of your religion and be proud of who you are.

Love,

Smit

Why I am Hindu??