A vent in the Delirium

Wikipedia puts excellence as “ Excellence  is a talent or quality which is unusually good and so surpasses ordinary standards.” These ordinary standards are surpassed by a continuous extraordinary effort and dedication. Thus being Excellent is a long process and not an end-result. It’s important that we realize this because most people around us are looking at the results. The results don’t make people excellent, the process does. A Vinod Kambli or Abhishek Bacchan wasn’t in the excellent league for this precise reason while Sachin Tendulkar or Nawazuddin Siddique are in that list. They made some extraordinary efforts to finally achieve what they have. Since excellence lies in the process, it’s imperative that you choose the path that excites you and something that you are passionate about. A Sachin would have made a dismal actor and a Nawazuddin would have been a pathetic cricketer. Most of us have deprived ourselves any chance of excellence as we are busy doing things ...

Ours is a nation with the largest young population the world. This youth of our nation today is full of aspirations. We have built several stories around them and announced ourselves as the future superpower of the world. All these prophecies are based on the growing GDP of our nation, which is just a number, hardly indicative of the living standard of the citizens. The country is rife with scams; there is utter distrust in the ruling class and lack of dynamic leaders. Within the last two decades we have seen tremendous growth in the country. The IT sector has seen a boom and purchasing power of people have increased many-fold. We are also home to the largest under 25 population in the world. This population has seen this growth in front of them and hence is full of desires and aspiration. But this quench for success has largely remained unfulfilled for a large section of this population. Unemployment and underemployment is what has engulfed this generation. The sudden ...

India is a nation blessed with an exceptional constitution, not just exceptionally comprehensive, just and impartial but also exceptionally voluminous, archaic and irrelevant at times. Certain instances which have now become accepted as part of our lives still exist in the archaic law as violations. Our politicians lack the will to accept what is already prevalent but would make for a bold political and moral step. The country which claims to be the world's largest democracy still has a sedition law, which was enacted to prevent dissidence against the British rule. Betting is still illegal in the land where in Diwali it's a part of tradition. Driving age is 18 but where movies have school boys driving in Ferraris. Prostitution is too taboo to even make a reference and drinking is acceptable but too bold a step politically. India is no longer the nation of snake charmers that it used to be but we still resist taking things heads on. We as a nation love status-quo ...

We are a nation that is obsessed with absolute numbers. Our policy and decision making is based on these statistical gimmicks. The human or the emotional angle is almost never counted for. The nation is being driven by GDP numbers and the corporate world by CTC numbers. Just like GDP is the most flawed way of assessing any development or growth of a nation, CTC is the most flawed way of evaluating your career and its growth. GDP is only a measure of the total worth of a nation and CTC is only what a company is willing to spend on you. Both these numbers are too centered on money as the cornerstone of decision making. While money is important, it isn't the only factor on which decisions should be based. This is precisely why we need something like HDI, Human Development Index, which takes into account Life Expectancy and Education along with Income into consideration. For a nation it's more important for the people to feel the growth than just seei...

The United Nations was constituted in 1945 with an objective to promote international peace, economic development, social progress and respect for international law. It was the successor to the failed League of Nations. It is the world's largest international body with 193 member nations but has only 5 permanent members of the security council. In the last decade UN has failed to serve any of its desired objectives. In terms of International peace, we have seen attacks on Iraq and Afghanistan by the US. There has been civil wars in Libya, Syria and Somalia. While the tensions have been on the rise in Iran and North Korea. UN has played no major role in preventing these attacks. The mighty powers, like US and Israel, have largely had there way in world politics without any respect for the UN. In the past 60 years UN has also failed to resolve the Israel-Palestine conflict and territorial disputes are prevalent all over the world. India has disputes with Pakistan and China, an...

There has been a lot of debate recently on growth vs inflation with the government pushing for reforms and higher growth. The Government has been pitching for India as an attractive option for investment, but the growth model has gone wrong. The growth has not been inclusive. Our country has more mobile phones than toilets. This growth is futile. The unbalances growth over the years has led to a widening gap between the rich and the poor. While the rich are enjoying tax benefits, the poor are struggling to make ends meet. This gap between the rich and the poor is bad for the economy itself. It will lead to a very unstable economy. High rates of inflation are bad for the society as well. We have 57% of our population that lives below the international poverty line of $1.25 per day. This means that even a small rise in the inflation is detrimental to the fate of millions of Indians. In a country like India, high rates of inflation will have its political ramifications...

There has been a rise in the amount of mergers and acquisitions across all sectors. In the wake of the global economic slowdown, it has helped in consolidation. A merger is the convergence of two firms, in the same or allied sectors, that see synergy in them working together. An acquisition is a purchase of a firm by another firm as a part of its strategy to either expand or consolidate. But mergers and acquisitions come at a cost to both the corporate and the customers. Consolidation, as a result of M&As, leads to reduced competition. As the number of companies in the sector gets reduced, it is easier for the new firm to increase prices. We saw such increase in the aviation sector after the acquisition of Deccan air by Kingfisher and that of Sahara by Jet airways. There is also a chance of cartel formation when the industry has just 3-4 major players. M&As are good for bringing stability but are bad for innovations. When two firms merge...