Publish with Us

Follow Penguin

Follow Penguinsters

Follow Penguin Swadesh

© 2020 Penguin India

Why we need to start talking about Indian millennials

Posted on by malika

India is one of the youngest countries in the world, thanks to its population of over 400 million millennials. Being in such great numbers shows how this demographic makes their country a huge well of untapped potential. What is it that makes millennials the true influencers, and what is their greatest obstacle?

In this interview, author (and millennial) Vivaan Marwaha answers some key questions about how he worked on this book and the method of writing and researching about such a massive data set.

~

What Millennials Want||Vivan Marwaha

Born between 1981 and 1996, roughly numbering more than 440 million, Indian millennials are without any doubt the largest millennial cohort on the planet.

But how much do we know about this generation? India’s youth is India’s future, but in order to build a prosperous future, we need to comprehensively understand the economic aspirations, social views, and political attitudes of the young Indians who will take the country forward.

Like every other generation in India, millennials are incredibly diverse: with not just significant economic division, but also important linguistic, regional, caste, gender and religious differences, which make the generation difficult to understand as a cohesive group.

Yet millennials have the potential to be India’s most significant generation. If you’re not convinced about why they could become the country’s most important—and potentially most disruptive—generation, consider some of these numbers.

India’s median age, according to a 2021 estimate by the CIA World Factbook, is twenty-eight years. This means that half of its population is under the age of twenty-eight. By contrast, the median age in the world’s top three economies— namely, the United States, China, and Japan—is thirty-eight, thirty-seven and forty-seven years respectively. Among the top ten economies in the world, India has the youngest population followed distantly by Brazil, which has a median age of thirty-two years. By 2021, two-thirds of India’s population will be within the working age of twenty to thirty-five years.

These young Indians will be the world’s largest labour force and market for goods and services. This is what is referred to as India’s ‘demographic dividend’. This term was popularized by academics, journalists, and businesspersons keen on investing in India in the early 2000s, who saw the country’s youth as an asset in the longer-run, particularly when compared to China, a country whose one-child policy was viewed as a demographic crisis in the making. It was believed that with the right education and investment in human capital, a growing middle class and an increase in foreign investment in the economy, India would not only enjoy high single-digit and even double-digit GDP growth, but its millennials and working-age population would power the country to transform itself like many east Asian success stories.

India’s millennials can only become a global power if they have cash in their wallets and stable jobs.

But there’s scant attention paid to millennials as a unique generation. Instead of viewing them as independent islands of young Indians based on their caste, class, or religion, in my book, I shine light on what brings them together—their common aspirations, anxieties, and experiences. When new policies and cultural issues are debated in India, lawmakers, news reporters and commentators all too often neglect to consider the impact these developments have on the millions of young Indians currently getting their education or joining the economy. The quality of their education; their opinions on hot-button cultural issues; their political beliefs; and whether they find employment will be crucial to India’s future in the economic and political order of the 21st Century. As the country seeks to become a global leader, members of its most populous generation will soon become its most powerful, and it is hard to overstate the importance of understanding the attitudes, behaviours, and views of India’s millennials. What Millennials Want is a book which combines data and anecdotes to narrate an intimate biography of this dynamic and important generation.

 

 

On the Open Road—About reality and dreams

Posted on by kavyawahi

In Stuti Changle’s On the Open Road, you’ll find Myra, Kabir and Sandy standing on the cusp of making life-changing decisions. The road to their dreams may not be easy, but their spirits remain high.

Here’s an extract to give you a glimpse of Kabir’s life and his desire to make a name for himself and achieve his dreams.

*

On the Open Road
On the Open Road || Stuti Changle

The moment my flight lands, I think of Sandy and how I want to meet him. I pick up my Steve Jobs book and a black leather handbag in haste. I comfortably make my way through the aisle. That’s the advantage of travelling business class. Unlike the economy passengers, you don’t have to wait for the queue to move before you can deboard the plane. I am back in India, exhausted and burnt out from another business trip.

‘Nice shoes, sir,’ the stewardess compliments me as I reach the exit. Her name card reads Susan. She has been acting strange throughout the flight.

 

‘Thanks.’

 

She hands me a folded recycled tissue paper. I don’t know what to do with that.

 

‘Is something sticking to my face?’ I quip like a fifth grader.

 

She laughs out loud.

 

A little embarrassed, I walk off. I unfold the tissue paper and read it closely. A mobile number is written on it in pink ink. I flip through the pages of the book and place it randomly between them. I am not part of the mile high club yet. But I can’t keep Sandy waiting any longer! God has been merciful to me in some ways. My body is the biggest gift to me. I can turn heads and make things happen with a meek smile.

 

Just like in a flight, there are three types of people in the world.

 

The aisle-seat passengers are too content to try anything new. The middle-seat passengers are in a constant struggle with the self as they want to break free, but something holds them back. The window-seat passengers take risks and follow their hearts as all that keeps them moving is the view of the infinite.

 

I certainly belong to the middle-seat category.

 

My life is seemingly perfect but I want to know what imperfections feel like. What it feels like to give your everything to something and appreciate its outcome one day. I am proud of my lineage, but I always think about what life would be like if I built something on my own.

 

Life goes on in an endless loop. If it is a weekend, you’ve got to booze. If it is a weekday, you’ve got to watch downloaded TV shows from Pirate Bay. Even if there are thousands on your checklist, there are still a hundred more on the wish list. The hangover of the TV shows stays longer than that of the booze though. For a week you’re Harvey, the next Walter, then Tyrion. When you’re stressed out, you try to act cool like Chandler.

 

But I wish to be like Sandy. He is the one in the window seat. He dropped out of engineering college and developed a series of unconventional apps. He works on his dream, day and night, like a ninja with coding superpowers.

 

He tells me you might not have a penny in your pocket, you might sleep on a hungry stomach, your uncle might not support you, the world surely won’t, but don’t let the spark in you die. When you look into the mirror, you should know that you’re born to reach for the stars.

**

Read On the Open Road to find out if Myra, Kabir and Sandy succumb to the obstacles or achiev their dreams.

A sneak peek into Tendöl’s childhood in Tibet

Posted on by prhi-dev

Tendöl Namling turned 60 in March 2019. She was born at the time when the Dalai Lama fled from Lhasa and the uprising of his people by the Chinese People’s Army was brutally suppressed. She has lived for 22 years under Chinese rule. As the daughter of a high government official, she underwent the ordeal of ‘re-education’ with full force. All she has kept from these years are painful memories and some crumpled photographs.  Thanks to the efforts of her family in exile, Tendöl was able to leave Tibet in 1982. After twenty years of hardship, she landed in prosperous Switzerland. It felt as if she had to start her life all over again.

Here’s an excerpt from A Childhood in Tibet that depicts the oppressive ways of the Chinese regime and how it wreaked havoc in common people’s lives.

*

Tendöl takes her mother’s arrest warrant out of an envelope and bursts into tears. Fifty years later, the traumatic event stirs her up as if it had happened the previous day. ‘My brother Tenor was already in prison then. My mother and I were back from the camp in the east, and the road was finished. We lived in my aunt’s house in Lhasa. It was already dark that December evening when my amala came home. There was a red note on the door. She had no idea why. A little later she looked out of the window and saw a car turning into our narrow alley. She wondered what that might mean. I was sitting on the balcony listening to a Tibetan propaganda broadcast on Chinese radio. We had to listen to such broadcasts every day. Older people often found this so unbearable that they usually put blankets over the radios.‘Suddenly I saw many flashlights illuminating our front door. Chinese military police had come to pick up my mother. One of them read the warrant in a loud voice. It said that my mother was an “active counter-revolutionary” guilty of sabotage. They handcuffed her and searched the entire apartment. But the Chinese had already looted it before. All objects of any value had long since disappeared. My aunt and her daughter, Lochoe, who lived in the lower apartment, were locked up in the kitchen. I begged my amala: “Take me with you! Don’t leave me behind!” Children are not allowed to accompany their arrested parents, shouted a Chinese. I cried, squeezed my way under the barrier to my mother and pulled the chain she was tethered to. My mother called out to me: “Please stop. The prongs are cutting into my skin.” The Chinese policemen, accompanied by a Tibetan collaborator, pushed me aside. They locked the apartment, took my amala with them and drove away.’The next day, Tendöl and her cousin Lochoe went in search of her mother. They took some tea, boiled vegetables and a blanket with them. The girls knew more or less where the prisons were, even if they weren’t marked. First, they went to Drapchi prison and asked the guards at the entrance if new prisoners had been admitted but there was no trace of Tendöl’s mother. The girls continued their search but could not find her.

On their way home, they passed Gutsa prison. There the guards confirmed that Choekyi had indeed been admitted the day before. They asked the guards to at least give the prisoner the food and blanket they had brought with them.A few days later, Tendöl happened to see her mother being dragged into an office in Lhasa by uniformed officials. She had no way of following her or finding out what had happened to her. It took her several months to be able to visit her amala in prison for the first time. But she was not allowed to talk to her because her mother had not yet been convicted. Once a month, relatives were allowed to take food to the prisoners. Her aunt gave Tendöl a bowl of barley soup for her mother. The little girl was so hungry that she drank some soup on her way to the prison. But on that day she was refused entry. She should come back in a month, they told her. Disappointed and sad, Tendöl made her way home and was afraid that her aunt would notice that she had furtively eaten a few spoons of soup because she was so hungry.

 

*

In Tendöl’s words, ‘this little book is dedicated to all the Tibetans who continue to rebel against the Chinese occupation’.

Four things that India can learn from the battle of Rezang La

Posted on by kavyawahi

On 18 November 1962, the Charlie Company of the 13 Kumaon Battalion, Kumaon Regiment, fought a Chinese attack at Rezang La Pass in Ladakh, India. The company comprised 120 soldiers and was led by Maj. Shaitan Singh. Of these soldiers, 110 were martyred in the attack.

The Indian search party, which visited the battlefield on 10 February 1963, made a startling discovery-the frozen bodies of the men who had died were still holding guns in their hands, having taken bullets on their chests. The valour of the Charlie Company not only successfully stopped China’s advance, but it also resulted in the Chushul airport being saved, thereby preventing a possible Chinese occupation of the entire Ladakh region in 1962.

The battle, although rarely mentioned or recounted in books, has many lessons to offer to the willing listener. After all, those who do not learn from history, continue to repeat their mistakes.

 

The Battle of Rezang La
The Battle of Rezang La || Kulpreet Yadav

1. A nation’s internal issues can quickly make it vulnerable to outside attack.

China attacked India on 20 October 1962. Six office bearers, who were holding the top positions of decision-making in New Delhi, were not present at their offices in the final few months before the attack. Who are these and where were they? Let’s start from the top. Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru left New Delhi on 8 September 1962 to attend the Commonwealth Prime Ministers’ Conference and returned on 2 October 1962, but once again departed on 12 October 1962 for Colombo from where he returned only on 16 October 1962, i.e., just four days before the war. The defence minister, Krishna Menon, was in New York from 17 September 1962 to 30 September 1962 to attend the UN General Assembly meeting. Lt Gen. B.M. Kaul, the Chief of General Staff, was on holiday in Kashmir till 2 October 1962, and the Director of Military Operations (DMO), Brig. D.K. Palit, was away on a cruise on the naval aircraft carrier Vikrant. This underlines the government’s apathy towards nation’s security resulting from a complete intelligence failure.

Jawaharlal Nehru didn’t trust Krishna Menon when it came to China due to the latter’s leftist leanings and therefore, the prime minister had ordered certain matters to be brought up directly to him. Lt Gen. B.M. Kaul and Krishna Menon were not on talking terms as explained by Brig. D.K. Palit in his memoirs. Gen. P.N. Thapar was in awe of Lt Gen. B.M. Kaul due to the latter’s proximity to Jawaharlal Nehru, who was also related to Gen. Kaul. These interpersonal issues further compounded the organizational structure at the top.

 

2.  A nation should proactively strengthen its security forces to prepare for any untoward strike on its sovereignty, while simultaneously aiming to resolve conflicts peacefully first.

It’s a well-known fact that Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru abhorred violence. But the fact that he allowed his personal choice to eclipse the security needs of the nation by downsizing the army after 1947 was the real reason why India had to face humiliation at the hands of the Chinese in 1962. Nehru was indeed one of the finest global leaders of the time and the principal architect of the nation that Indians even today owe a lot to, but his complete dislike for the army can be deduced from this anecdote from the biography of Maj. Gen. A.A. Rudra written by Maj. Gen. D.K. Palit: ‘Shortly after Independence, General (Robert) Lockhart as the army chief took a strategic plan to the prime minister, asking for a government directive on the defence policy. He came back to Jick’s (Rudra’s) office shell- shocked. When asked what happened, he replied, the PM took one look at my paper and blew his top. “Rubbish! Total rubbish!” he shouted. “We don’t need a defence plan. Our policy is ahimsa (non-violence). We foresee no military threats. Scrap the army! The police are good enough to meet our security needs.”

 

3. It’s critical for a nation to rightly gauge the enemy’s intention and the scope of their preparation in order to win the war.

The intensity of the shelling and the diversity of the weapons used by the Chinese were an indication of the determination to take the position at any cost. To destroy bunkers, they wheelbarrowed anti-tank guns to the flanks of our (Indian) positions and fired them massively. The four-feet-deep craters found in solid rock around company headquarters were a clear indication that they even used a certain number of big rockets. The shelling was indeed a spectacular display of the Chinese at night. An officer watched it from 4 miles away. ‘I saw missiles,’ he later said, ‘with flaming red tails falling on Rezang La. The spectacle was so weird, we thought the entire Rezang La was on fire.’ Another soldier at a post 4 miles south reported, ‘The explosions were so great that the walls of our cookhouse collapsed.’

 

4.  A strong and dynamic intelligence unit is key to ensuring a nation-state’s welfare and safety.

On 21 October 1962, when an Indian transport aircraft flying over Ladakh reported a 2-mile-long column of Chinese military vehicles heading towards Chushul along the road from Rudok in Tibet, alarm bells started to ring in the army headquarters and the defence ministry. Until then, the Indian intelligence didn’t have any idea about the military build-up on the Chinese side of the Ladakh border. This was going to cost India heavily. The Indians were ignorant of the aggressive road-building activity of the Chinese that had connected all their border posts to their support bases in the deep. Due to this, the PLA’s mobility of troops, artillery and stores was swift. Compared to this, the Indians in Ladakh had just completed the road that connected Srinagar to Leh. A jeepable road that connected Leh with Chushul was also made weeks before the Chinese attacked India as we have seen before. All other thirty-six forward Indian posts were still connected by mule tracks, which took days to reach and had obvious load-carrying restrictions.

*

In The Battle of Rezang La, Kulpreet Yadav evocatively narrates the untold story of the soldiers of the Charlie Company who valiantly fought the Chinese till their last breath.

The YES Bank Fiasco Explained by the Former Chairman of SBI

Posted on by malika

As the Chairman of SBI, Rajnish Kumar recounts in his memoir, The Custodian of Trust, his term was rather momentous as the period-from 2017 to 2020-during which he shouldered this responsibility, was rather unique under any circumstances. The Indian banking sector was going through one of its most tumultuous phases. The problem of non-performing loans (NPLs) had severely impacted the balance sheet and profitability of banks, especially those in the public sector.

Here is an excerpt from the book that talks about the YES Bank fiasco!

 

Custodian of Trust FC
Custodian of Trust||Rajnish Kumar

The Saga of YES Bank

The successful rescue of YES Bank in a short period of time is a unique example of perfectly coordinated action by the government, the RBI, and Public–Private partnerships. Of all the names, I have picked YES Bank to write about because of this uniqueness.

The saga of YES Bank started unfolding in June 2018 for me, when I received a request for an appointment from GVK Reddy of the GVK Group, a company in the construction business. My brief for the meeting with Reddy was to discuss the financing of the Navi Mumbai International Airport. GVK Group had built international airports at Mumbai and Bengaluru under the Public– Private Partnership model (PPP) and now had been awarded the contract to build another International Airport at Navi Mumbai. Although the SBI had re-financed Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) a few years ago, it was not otherwise involved in financing any other project for the GVK Group. However, that was no reflection on the credibility or stature of the Group that had created world-class international airports at Bengaluru and Mumbai, especially the latter, which is undoubtedly one of the finest airports in the world. The infrastructure at airports in other countries may be better than at the Mumbai airport but the unique artworks at Amchi Mumbai never fail to fuel a deep sense of pride in Indian traditions and culture among travellers like me. I was actually looking forward to the meeting, mainly because of the deep impact created by MIAL in India’s infrastructural space.

 

It was fascinating to learn from Reddy how he had entered the infrastructure business exactly after his return from the USA, and how the GVK Group had subsequently become one of the leading infrastructure companies in India, at par with other large south-based infrastructure companies like the Grandhi Mallikarjuna Rao (GMR) Group, Iragavarapu Venkata Reddy Construction Limited (IVRCL), Lagadapati Amarappa Naidu and Company (LANCO), and Ramky Infras. In addition, many other smaller companies have mushroomed in the South, especially in Hyderabad, arousing my curiosity about the business environment in southern India that nurtures their growth and what distinguishes them from their counterparts in the North. While each of these companies deserves admiration for creating a unique niche for itself, I later learnt from one of the promoters that political patronage had also played a critical role in their success.

 

The Mumbai airport is also a reminder of the rapid economic progress made by India over the last 25 years, especially when compared to the pathetic conditions witnessed at the Delhi and Mumbai airports in the mid-1990s with stinking carpets and toilets. The modernization of many of the airports in the country has been carried out successfully under Public Private Partnership (PPP) between the Airports Authority of India and a private developer. The PPP model has been relatively successful because of the capability to generate higher revenue by levying higher user fee and development of real estate around the airport.

 

YES Bank, the Lender of Last Resort

During discussions with the GVK Group, it became clear that the proposed project of the new international airport in Mumbai would be a highly complex one. Construction of the airport entailed flattening of an entire hill and re-routing of a rivulet that flowed right through the land designated for the project. It also necessitated a huge amount of earth work. Of course, the future of the project was never in any doubt as Mumbai badly needed a second airport. The existing airport was running to its maximum capacity and flying in and out of Mumbai had become a nightmare for passengers. The departure and landing of most flights were inevitably delayed and it was very rare for any flight to take off or land on time at Mumbai. Since the existing airport was surrounded by slums, there was no scope for its expansion. Both the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) and City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO), the local authority, which was responsible for the development of New Mumbai, were keen for work on the project to commence at the earliest.

 

The mandate for appraisal and arranging of financial closure for the project was accepted by SBI without much persuasion. The project finance team started working earnestly on the project. The MoCA, CIDCO, and the Maharashtra Government were keen to ensure an early financial closure, and ‘in principle’ approval had already been given by SBI. However, there was a lot of apprehension and unease within SBI on one issue, that of defaults on loans by group companies in the power and road sectors, as a result of which the bank had been insisting that the promoters should settle the default payments of the group companies. In the midst of this, suddenly one day, I learnt that YES Bank had sanctioned the entire loan amount enabling achievement of the financial closure. Simultaneously, reports were doing the round that YES Bank had charged a very hefty fee for the transaction.

 

These developments took the entire team at SBI by surprise. Reddy called to explain the urgency for achieving the financial closure and the difficulty the Group was facing in complying with the terms stipulated by SBI. Deciding to end the matter then and there, I wished him good luck and did not discuss the issue again with him. The lending model of YES Bank was apparently to be a lender of the last resort for borrowers who were under stress or were unable to raise borrowings from other banks, and to charge a high fee for this service. These dealings were shrouded in a degree of ambiguity, and only ongoing investigations by the Enforcement Directorate would reveal whether a part of the fee was being diverted to group companies owned by the family members of the management of the bank.

 

He was silently managing the crisis in India’s banking sector then. Now he shares these stories in his memoir. Get your copy here!

Five evergreen songs by Gulzar that will turn your day around

Posted on by prhi-dev

Gulzar Saab’s poetry has carried us through many difficult days, his lyrics a balm to the weary soul. His songs have filled our days with light and love, given us strength to go on when all seemed lost and reminded us of the myriad gifts that life has to offer.

 

In his latest memoir Actually… I Met Them, Gulzaar Saab goes down memory lane to bring to light his relationship with the doyens of cinema, music and literature, who he had known and worked with over a long period of time.

 

We bring to you five of the evergreen songs that he talks about in the book, sharing nostalgic stories of how they came to be.

 

  1. Mora gora ang lei le… (Take away my fairness and…)

 

This was the first song that Gulzar wrote for Bollywood. Penned for Bimal Roy’s Bandini, the song gave us a glimpse of his genius early on. Created with undertones of Vaishnav bhajans, this soft melody had a depth that few can manage to conjure.

This song led to what was to be Gulzar’s first encounter with legendary Bimalda. Gulzar was in awe of the simplicity that the film directed exuded, despite his stature in the film industry.

Talking about the song sequences Bimalda’s movies had, Gulzar had the following to say:

‘Bimalda believed he was not very good when it came to directing song sequences. Consequently, he worked on every such sequence with so much attention to detail that they became exemplary. If in the middle of a song a musical arrangement was changed or a new one introduced, he would immediately say, ‘Change the shot. How can the rhythm or the instrument remain the same in the shot?’’

 

  1. Humne dekhi hai in aankhon ki mahekti khushboo (I have seen the fragrance in these eyes…)

Perhaps one of his most iconic songs, Humne dekhi hai in aakhon ki mahekti khushboo beautifully puts to use synesthesia to play with sight, smell and touch that are characteristic of the literary device.

A lesser-known fact about the song that Gulzar reveals in his memoir, Actually… I Met Them is that the song was written from the point of view of a man. However, Hemantada, who had composed the song, felt that the song would suit Lata Mangeshkar’s voice. Though Gulzar was aghast at the decision at first, he later realised that Hemantada’s music and power of observation were magical.

 

  1. Mera kuch saamaan… (I left some of my things with you . . .)

Quintessentially ‘Gulzarish,’ Mera kuch saamaan’s poetic imagery is why Gulzar’s lyrics are deeply cherished by his fans. Seemingly mundane in its theme, the song is a deceptively beautiful ode to heartbreak and lost love.

 

  1. Musafir hoon yaaron… (I am a wanderer . . .)

A short, sweet melody, Musafir hun yaaron… evokes the journey of life and how it asks of us to keep moving forward, no matter the circumstances.

This was the first song of Gulzar that Pancham set to music and the rest, as we know, is history.

 

  1. Ek hi khwaab… (Just this one dream…)

In his memoir Actually… I Met Them, Gulzar reveals the hilarious reaction that the song’s lyrics elicited from Pancham, the song’s composer.

‘What are these lines? You call this poetry? How can song lines be so trite? Gullu, can’t you write stuff properly? And you’re asking me to put these lines to music?’

He went on to tell Gulzar to put the lyrics into a scene, asking him to write a different song.

To this, Gulzar calmly responded with,

‘Pancham, I can always do that. But the thing is, when I work with you, we do it because we want to do something unconventional, isn’t it? So…’

Isn’t it wonderful that this splendid duo stuck to the original lyrics?

*

 

Actually…I Met Them by Gulzar

 

Chatty, anecdotal and deeply personal, this book of memories chronicles Gulzar Saab’s life and career through different eras of Indian cinema as he successfully transcended commercial and critical arts.

Studded with rare photographs, Actually .. I Met Them will be a treat for his huge and devoted fan base.

 

 

 

Three trailblazing mathematicians who put India on the world map

Posted on by prhi-dev

India’s mathematicians have made significant contributions over the last 5000 years. From the ever-popular Aryabhata, widely recognized for revolutionizing the number system and Shakuntala Devi, universally admired for her fast mental calculations to pioneers forgotten by time, like Baudhayana, who explained the Pythagoras’ theorem nearly 3000 years ago, India has produced many trailblazers in the field of mathematics.

Here are the stories of three such inspirational figures whose passion for knowledge and love for maths not only earned them worldwide acclaim but also brought prestige to the country.

 

Madhava – He is considered the greatest mathematician-astronomer to emerge from medieval India whose works laid the foundation for the Kerala School of Mathematics, which flourished between the late 14th century and the 18th century.

Madhava was a genius. He went a step ahead and linked the idea of an infinite series with geometry and trigonometry. He even obtained a way to calculate the value of pi correct to 13 decimal places, and this was two centuries before Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, a polymath from Germany.

It is perceived that Newton and Leibniz independently found the methods of calculus by building on and borrowing from the works of mathematicians like Fermat, Taylor, Gregory, Pascal and Bernoulli. But what is not known is that the elements of calculus were already known in Kerala, India, for over 250 years. The West has now recognized this and accordingly renamed some results regarding the trigonometric series, previously known as the Newton, Gregory and Leibniz series, as the Madhava-Newton, Madhava- Gregory and the Madhava-Leibniz series, respectively.

 

Srinivasa Ramanujan – During his short life, Ramanujan independently compiled over 3900 identities and equations, which have all been proved by later mathematicians. This contributed to breakthrough research in mathematics and remarkable discoveries in crystallography and string theory.

It was in January 1913 that Ramanujan wrote the famous letter to an English mathematician Prof. G.H. Hardy of Cambridge University with numerous theorems he had researched and worked upon himself. Hardy was initially skeptical of Ramanujan’s work assuming that he was a fraud but soon had to change his mind as he went through the theorems given in the letter. He finally concluded that Ramanujan was ‘a mathematician of the highest quality, a man of altogether exceptional originality and power’. Hardy then immediately made arrangements to invite Ramanujan to Cambridge University from India.

Ramanujan was elected as a member of the London Mathematical Society in 1917 and the next year, in 1918, Ramanujan was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society—the youngest ever at thirty-one years of age.

 

Shakuntala Devi – was India’s iconic ambassador in the field of mathematics and travelled the world enthralling audiences with her number-crunching prowess.

She was found displaying exceptional memorization skills by her father while he was showing her card tricks. She was only three at the time. At six, the young wonder, Shakuntala Devi started travelling with her father, doing roadshows, where she displayed her unique calculation abilities of large multiplications, cube roots of huge numbers and even questions related to dates! In 1980, at the Imperial College of London, she rose to meteoric success and global fame by multiplying two 13-digit numbers in 28 seconds flat.

In her book In the Wonderland of Numbers, she wrote ‘As for numbers, they hate nobody, and nobody can afford to hate them!’ She continues to give us hope that mathematics can also be fun and exciting and that it is essential to approach it with a spirit of curiosity!

*

The Great Indian Mathematicians by Gaurav Tekriwal

To know more about India’s finest mathematicians, read The Greatest Indian Mathematicians. It is an ideal introduction for the next generation of tenacious and curious maths wizards.

 

 

What is the one thing successful managers do differently?

Posted on by kavyawahi

The best way to keep growing one’s team and creating a community of positive leaders is by carrying one’s team together and passing on the learnings. Therefore, it is imperative for the managers to exhibit true leadership skills and focus on results through teamwork and delegation.

A Tata group veteran and the author of 10 Steps to the Boardroom, Gurpal Singh Rattan, distils years of experience into lessons useful for the readers. Read this excerpt to know about the essential ingredients required to cook up your own recipe for your team’s success.

*

10 Steps to the Boardroom
10 Steps to the Boardroom || G.S. Rattan

You are responsible for your team’s success and failures. You carry all of it on your shoulders. No one likes or promotes a person who will take credit for success and dump failures on the team. Giving credit where it is due, identifying the winners and throwing the spotlight on them will not only enhance your credibility in the eyes of your team members, but more so in the eyes of top management. As you move ahead in your career, remember that every year new graduates will come in, new technology will be introduced and new skills will be required to keep moving ahead. Lead your team by being the first person to upskill and learn new technology. When you lead by example, you let them know that life doesn’t halt when the rules of the game change. You learn the rules and then change the game. Your team will look towards you to lead them. Their trust in you is what will move you ahead.

Our company had a vision of introducing IT across the board and SAP ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning software) for the ease of managing business. This was announced in 1995 and computers were being introduced in all departments gradually. Many old timers like me were not familiar with computers and the company offered to train middle and senior management executives on the basics of computer learning to start with. Without any inhibitions, I immediately opted for this and started devoting lots of my spare time to upgrading my knowledge, contrary to many seniors who avoided it and delegated this job to their subordinates. The first day of class was a tad intimidating, as I seemed to be the senior-most person there. I braced myself and entered the class with a learning mindset. The trainer was far younger than me and being one of the seniors in class could be perceived as a disadvantage if I were to ask a question. It took me another hour or so to let go of my age prejudice. I knew this was my opportunity to learn. If I hadn’t clarified my doubts then, despite the snickering from the backbenchers, I might not have got a chance again. My team members started talking about my newly acquired knowledge and I quickly became at par with them and was able to discuss the subject with ease in person and virtually, I encouraged all my team members to follow suit.

Being a part of the first rush of learners paid handsome dividends as, with the passage of time, I became fairly good at it and could successfully survive the onslaught of the computerization tsunami in the organization that followed. In a couple of years, your proficiency with a computer became one of the parameters that decided how your career progressed. Letting go of my inhibitions, discomfort at being judged for asking questions and learning from young trainers was an advantage that led me far. If I had to, I would do it all over again rather than sitting in a shell and pretending to know.

Carrying a team also means that you will spend a lot of time managing people and planning ahead. If you have the right team working with you, then spend more time micro planning and foreseeing pitfalls, anticipate obstacles and look at providing timely interventions and resources for your team. Your role at the helm will be crucial till the last minute. The game is not over till the last second.

Tête-à-tête with Kulpreet Yadav

Posted on by prhi-dev

Kulpreet Yadav’s The Battle of Rezang La documents the bravery, gallantry, and patriotism of the soldiers who fought for India in 1962 war. The soldiers chose to hold their ground to the end, despite the fearful odds, defending their nation. We got the opportunity to ask him a few questions. Here are excerpts from our conversation with him.

 

What inspired you to write about the battle of Rezang La?

The story of Rezang La is very popular in Haryana, particularly South Haryana, from where most of the soldiers who laid down their lives in the battle came from. I hail from that part of the country and since my childhood, I have been hearing about this brave last stand of the Indian soldiers. But, at school, at college, and later as an officer in uniform, I realised that no one had heard of this battle. Somehow, due to lack of information, these brave men who sacrificed their lives for the nation had remained heroes for only the people of the villages they belonged to. After writing a dozen books, around 3 years ago, I thought, I must bring this true story of valour before the nation. The Indians, particularly the youth of the country, need to know the story of Rezang La.

 

The Battle of Rezang La

What kind of research did you undertake before writing the book and did you face any particular challenges during the process?

I found out the addresses of the 4 survivors from 13 Kumaon battalion. Then I drove down to meet them. Their personal accounts were as moving as they were informative. I then started to read all the available books on the 1962 war with China and there are quite a few. This took me more than a year. The next step was to read the articles in defence journals and web portals. These articles were written by either those who had participated in the 1962 war or had information about the Ladakh sector through their colleagues. I also accessed the newspaper articles from the period just preceding or during the war. The memoirs written by the officers who were involved in the war either at the headquarters or in the field, further added to my understanding of the battle.

I also visited the 13 Kumaon battalion headquarters a few times. Since the Rezang La museum is co-located with the battalion headquarters, it became a good resource for me. The CO’s team successfully located the old war diary and when I was shown this old, hand-written account of the battle, I could get a better grasp of some of the events. I also read the official MoD’s account online. I also met and spoke over the phone to some of the officers and family members of those who were directly involved in the battle. Finally, there were a few private researchers who had been collecting information about this battle for a long time and I’m grateful that they shared the information with me. I have thanked each person by name in the acknowledgement section of the book.

 

What kind of emotional trajectory did you go through while writing about such a painful period in history, where we lost so many of our soldiers to the war?

It was tough. Since two of the soldiers who sacrificed their lives were related to me, it was emotionally exhausting to relive their final moments. But reliving the battle was important to write honestly and authoritatively. I had to be strong and travel back in time to see all the events through my mind’s eye. As I expanded my research, it was easy to imagine the sequence of events. I also spent a lot of time thinking about the individual soldiers, their respective positions (section post / platoon post / command post / LMG det / mortar section / Listening post (LP) / Observation post (OP) etc.) in the battle and what they must have been thinking in their final moments. To appreciate their unimaginable courage better, I also researched about their families. All of this was disturbing, but it turned my resolve to write this book that much stronger. If earlier I was sad that Indians didn’t know about this true story, by the end of my research, I was mad about why the nation didn’t know about it. Now that the book has been written and it’s available for everyone to read, all I feel is the deepest respect for these soldiers.

 

In what ways did you find writing a book about war different from the other books you have written?

Every book is different and takes the writer on a different journey, both internally and externally. Comparing the genres would not be the right thing to do. Let me give you an example. When I wrote my first romance novel called “The Last Love Letter”, I was confident that I would not be able to write a book that has no antagonist. But, as I started to write, it helped me discover a part of me I didn’t understand that well. Whether we write a book or read a book, books have the power to change us. To answer the question specifically, this book was different because it required me to research a lot, so it took longer and every aspect needed to be double-checked for correctness before putting it down on paper.

 

What do you hope readers will take away from your book?

The readers would perhaps value freedom more after reading this and realise that they need to become better citizens. That would be the proper homage to these martyrs. And one doesn’t need to be in the army to serve the nation. Each one of us needs to do what is expected out of us — in our professions and at home — and that is enough. The bottom line is, these soldiers fought and died for our motherland because they loved her. We, the readers, need to dive deeper into ourselves and learn to love our motherland more, and respect the freedom we have. Last, but not least, I would request all the readers to travel to Chushul in Ladakh at some point in their lives and pay homage to the war martyrs at the memorial called the “Ahir Dham, Chushul” that’s maintained by 13 Kumaon there.

 

 

Only way to find peace is to be at peace within you

Posted on by prhi-dev

Witnessing the devastation of 9/11 before his eyes and narrowly escaping death, Kushal’s life was never going to be the same again. Suddenly, all his pursuits felt meaningless and he felt a void within him like he had never felt before until one day when he reluctantly decided to spend an afternoon with a spiritual master in New York City.

 

From being a Wall Street trader immersed in the material world to embarking on a quest to find answers to life’s biggest questions, Kushal Choksi writes about his doubts, struggles and revelations on a spiritual path as a left-brained skeptic in On a Wing and a Prayer.

 

Read an excerpt from the book that emphasises the importance of finding peace within oneself instead of looking for it outside.

 

*

 

It had been a year since we had moved back to the US. My entrepreneurial struggles were showing no signs of slowing down. The previous week had been a period of intense inner turmoil. The sense of balance and security I had come to rely on had all but vanished. My body was fatigued, and my mind was in a complete funk. To take a break from our maddening routine, Alak and I had decided to visit the Art of Living Ashram in Quebec, Canada. I knew that Gurudev was going to be there. I always experienced a peculiar feeling of warmth and unconditional support around him. I could use some of that.

A Canadian autumn always starts with a tinge of melancholy, yet the crispness in the air and the hazy evenings add a unique texture to the surroundings. The autumn foliage in Quebec was at its peak. White birch, pine, and sugar maple trees were showing off their new wardrobe, and the entire countryside was breathtaking. But when the mind is not at ease, nothing gives joy.

Nestled amidst this setting, in the heart of one of the most beautiful forest regions of Mauricie National Park, rests the quaint Art of Living Ashram, sprawled across acres of natural surroundings.

…

Gurudev was at the front of the room, sitting on a small couch, deep in meditation. The lights in the room were subdued. I was sitting on the floor in a corner, and my view of him was partially blocked by a slender, white column. The soothing chants of kirtans filled the room, creating waves of uplifting energy. I keenly observed everyone. People in the room seemed to be happy and peaceful at the same time. This put me even more on edge. I badly wanted that feeling, but given my current mindset, it seemed out of reach.

The singing concluded, and Gurudev opened his eyes after a long meditation.

‘Hmmmm?!’ The familiar conjecture appeared again. ‘Are you all happy?’ He asked right out of the gate. The crowd responded affirmatively in a loud chorus.

‘Nooo!!!!’ I screamed in my head. ‘I am miserable. Help!’

I felt even more isolated.

‘Pierre, do we have any questions in the basket?’ he asked the person sitting next to his couch, who had been collecting questions from the audience. Although Pierre’s flowing white beard covered most of his face, his pleasant smile shone through.

‘Dear Guruji, how should I deal with a failure?’ Pierre read as soon as he uncurled a piece of paper from the question basket.

My ears perked up. Clearly, I was not the only ugly duckling in the barnyard. Somebody else was hurting just like me. I scanned the room in the hope that I could somehow identify this other misfit. Misery loves company after all.

‘Do you want to hear a Mullah Nasruddin story? I think I’ve already told this story before,’ Gurudev asked.

…

In his inimitable style, Gurudev began narrating the story of Mullah, who once got into a very bad accident. The poor guy had multiple fractures all over his body, and pretty much every part of his face was bandaged. A friend of his came to visit Mullah in the hospital, where he lay in pain.

‘How are you Mullah?’ the visitor asked.

‘Oh, I’m fine. It only hurts when I laugh,’ Gurudev asserted Mullah’s response with a smile on his face.

The perplexed visitor began to think that Mullah had completely lost it.

‘What is there to laugh, Mullah? Have you looked at yourself? How could you laugh in this condition?’ asked the concerned friend.

Gurudev paused. One could have heard a pin drop on the carpeted floor.

‘If I don’t laugh now, I have never laughed in my life,’ said Mullah.

More silence in the room.

‘Everyone can laugh when things are going well. It takes tremendous courage to smile through when the world around you comes crumbling down,’ Gurudev said with a level of conviction I had never seen before.

…

On A Wing and A Prayer by Kushal Choksi

Gurudev ripped open this topic, talking about how the disappointment of failure is amplified by underlying desires.

‘Just before a desire arose in you and after a desire completes, where are you? Have you noticed?’ He asked the everyone in the room. By the look of his face, I could tell it was definitely a trick question.

‘The same place.’ He quipped. The answer had now created more questions in my mind.

How? I had really never thought about that. He continued. ‘And in the process of fulfilling the desire, one loses the sight of the self.’

‘You don’t lose the self . . . you just lose the sight of it, hence the restlessness and agony,’ he added.

My mind was always on the run. Desires arose. I started chasing them. In that chase I was sometimes happy, sometimes miserable. Most of the time, my desires were fulfilled. When that happened, it boosted my ego and brought some satisfaction. Then I went back to the same place that I was in before that desire had arisen in the first place. And repeat. I was beginning to appreciate the big picture that had just been revealed.

Was there any point in chasing desires? Did I really have a choice to not chase them?

‘It is like being on a merry-go-round. You start and get off at the exact same place, having gone nowhere.’

As the evening concluded, the waves of negativity in me had somewhat subsided. I wondered what had changed. The problem at hand remained the same. So did my circumstances. However, in that moment, I could detach from the thick wave of negativity that had enveloped me. I could see how easily I had lost sight of the self, the inner space that is always joyful and at peace.

*

On a Wing and a Prayer is a true account of one man finding himself on a fifteen-year-long journey shadowing the spiritual leader Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar.

error: Content is protected !!