The Magic

Influencers in my life - Timeline

2011-12-18T03:07:00.003+05:30

After Facebook published Timeline, I had this urge to recollect moments,places and people who have had strong influences on my life.So the list goes like this :-

Age 0-5 -> My grandfather turns to be the only person who influenced me into learning Sanskrit shlokas,some of which I can recollect and recall and bring myself to the awesome days.
Age 5-18 -> My father for bringing the concept of Positive thinking,Goal and Planning in life.I am not sure ,how much of it I have executed,but this was by far the single most differentiator for me from the rest of my peer group.
At KNIT Sultanpur,probably no single individual.But the students in general,who helped me enjoy the small things in life in difficult circumstances.There was also this book "The Magic of Thinking Big" that led me to create some real super goals in life and motivated me to reach them.
At Infosys, my mentor Pinaki who told me the golden rule "You do 100 good things,people don't remember you.You do 1 wrong thing and people remember you forever".Murphy's law was another of his favourite rule to use.
At IIM Lucknow, I was deeply influenced by Dr. Himanshu Rai.He has created such a strong framework about life ,that it seems difficult not to retrofit human beings into it.Some of his ideas that are also part of his blog,my blog and advices he gives to the aam aadmi are :-

You must learn to love yourself for what you are. Do not seek love or approbation from outside; seek it from within.

Next, you need to tell yourself that you have choices in life. What makes you different from other species is “free will”. Tell yourself that you have it. It is okay if you are confused right now over your future course of action. Very few of us, if any, know what we really want to do with our lives! So welcome to the world! Reflect on your achievements in the past and correlate them to the effort you made to get them. Auto suggestion is a powerful tool when used wisely.

Eat healthy, sleep well and counter negative thoughts

The concept of detachment as propounded by Vedic scriptures relates to living one’s life and doing one’s Karma while not attaching oneself to the fruits of the effort (Nishkaam karma). Fear is a consequence of attachment. When we are attached to someone or something, we are afraid of losing them, and it manifests itself as fear of failure, fear of success, fear of unknown and so on.

Other thoughts are already part of the "Leadership through Literature" posts.

6. How people remember things or become leaders can be through simple aspects like "Reading","Writing","Listening" or even "Talking" .This was part of "Managing oneself" series I was reading last year in my free time.
7. Find your zones or spheres of control.List them and change only those that you can control first.Something that I learnt while interacting with my team in Kolkata.

Does winning matter ?

2010-10-10T19:59:00.000+05:30

Was just thinking of the topic of the blog I have created 3 years ago.
For me the answer is yes and no.

Yes .. when I see the likes of the big consulting companies that look for excellence in your academics,work ex and extra curriculars as an indicator of your future performance.They are ruthless to punish you for any mediocre performance or lacuna in something.

No..when the likes of Australian army rejects people who have been throughout winners in life and never had a single failure.They argue that never seeing a failure, will not make a person strong enough to counter and take decisions when he has failed in his job in the army.He will not be able to give corrective actions and reactions.

Its important to fail in life and strive hard to reach excellence.
But what is more important is to enjoy travelling from failure to excellence.
As they say in 3 idiots , Strive for Excellence , Success will come to you any which way.

Imagination is more important than Knowledge

2010-03-06T17:46:00.000+05:30

The caption was my Orkut fortune for the day.I could not comprehend if Imagination is related to creating any fortune or not.But when I checked Wikipedia, I found an interesting example on Imagination and Perception :-

From the work of Piaget it is known that perceptions depend on the world view of a person. The world view is the result of arranging perceptions into existing imagery by imagination. Piaget cites the example of a child saying that the moon is following her when she walks around the village at night. Like this perceptions are integrated into the world view to make sense. Imagination is needed to make sense of perceptions.

It clearly signifies that we form our perceptions based on imagination and hence when we are dealing with an object,imagination can take precedence over our existing knowledge of things.Perhaps this could be the reason of so many poets,writers and painters with more imaginative powers have been able to make sense of mundane and ordinary things surrounding us.

Its also well known that things normally happen twice,'Once in the mind and second time in reality'.So we create some images in the subconcious mind and then do those things consciously.Seems logical.

The greatest example in Imagination for me are the people who wrote the ancient texts in different religions.They have created such a document through scriptures and other texts that majority of us find it difficult to even question them and fight over them inspite of the strong scientific evolutions and marvels.

Infact ,research has also proved that some of the instances mentioned in those books seem to be true through rigorous experiments.For eg. astronomical calculations to prove that Mahabharata war did happen based on the eclipse timing and all.There is a simple explanation to this phenomenon :-

Apples used to fall since time immemorial.It was Newton who suddenly got this insight that all this is due to a force called 'Gravity' and explained its nature and behaviour.

So all these texts and body of knowledge could be mere imaginary creations but they form the very basis of the Knowledge that we all live upon.Perhaps Philosophy is nothing more than imagining a different or better world and Wisdom is something that we all gain through more imagination in our experiences.

A better imagination can overrule the existing knowledge as has happened in the case of the crisis of 2008 where people created imaginary financial products,profits and what not for years together inspite of the knowledge that it was not sustainable.

A winner we love - Sachin Tendulkar

2010-03-05T00:31:00.012+05:30

Posting after a long interval of 4 months.Haven't received some good gyaan of late.So from now on,I am going to discover the winner among the different people we meet,talk,see ,believe etc. in our daily lives.I hope that it will be inspirational to whoever reads it and carries forward their own set of stories.

To start this series, I will like to share some info about some one the whole of India has gone crazy after his record of 200 in ODI - 'Sachin Tendulkar'.People have started calling him 'GOD' and are now mad that he must get a Bharat Ratna.

I do not favour crazy cricket fans who behave like maniacs.They worship the new cricketer like a great person by showering gifts and awards on his success and will also be first to blacken the house of the cricketer the next day.

Sachin has his share of greatness of being the Superman to hit the 200 mark,maximum number of centuries in Test and ODI format of Cricket,serving the Indian Cricket for the last 20years with immense talent in different capacity and what not.

Sachin for one has had his share of controversies of not acting like 'GOD' when it mattered esp. World Cup,some matches with Pakistan and some crunch match situations where it mattered that he should play and win the game.

So what is it that makes him a winner ?

He is a winner because he believes in giving his best in his craft.He is successful in many such situations and keeps improving on it.He has grown with my generation and people look up to him when they want an ideal so that they emulate the same in the area they work in and be successful.

We can't expect Sachin to be a run machine and avatar ,just because he has achieved some milestones, that had not been reached till now and should continue to do so and help the country win every cricket match.

What do these milestones stand for ?

These milestones for me are more personal in nature and stand for the society so that tomorrow, when one goes to work in his desired career,he does that with perfection.Their will be errors,brickbats and what not in spite of your best efforts.But the winner will not fret over them and continue to work to achieve his aim.
Sometimes we all need some one to show that dedication and determination is a must to achieve the "Ends".Sachin is one such person who has achieved his personal ends and also helped the team by being 'a one man army' in many occasions. We all can do the same if we know our goals and give our efforts accordingly.

LTL - Post Midterm

2009-12-06T15:02:00.003+05:30

Writing this one for Sridhar, the Neo Gandhi.

On Character
As per Satre,

Existence precedes Essence
Stable disposition of feel,think and behaviour are due to Project (Mobile and Motif)
Mobile -> Fact about agent that acts (I cleaned my room)
Motif -> Agent environment ( My room is dirty) -- anticipation of future
Motif causes Mobile

As per Aristotle

Building due to habituation (Safety > Honour) i.e. from experience

From all this ,

Character is non -deterministic - This is due to freewill (Difference b/w human and animal..You can plan your suicide)
Freewill with anticipation of right and wrong makes one responsible

As per Rouseau,

Freewill of common good -> Utility theory of ethics

Again,

Choice of Projects define character (Good or Bad)

Difference between thinking and feeling ->

Feeling -> Subconscious
Thinking -> Conscious -> Cognitive
[Hriday,Man,Buddhi]

Hence Character is not behaviour and Unexamined life is not worthy of living.
Gandhi believed in Deorontological theory against utilitarinism or ethics of consequnce.
The Course
Previous defn of leaders were unique and hence heroic in nature.
Business were driven by interest but no ethics.
Managers brought ethics but were in subordinate position
So a combination of Manager + Entrepreneur needs ethics more than before.
Ends vs. Means Debate
Terminal vs. Instrumental values
For Gandhi, Nationality was ends while for Joan , it was divine works.
Machiavelli believed in autocratic democracy,while Socrates in aristrocracy (to rule after working for 50 yrs)
Chankya believed that welfare of people was welfare of king.He proposed the following to be given maximum salary (Minister,Bureaucrats,Teachers,Army chiefs)
Leadership comes from role and not position.
Arthashastra framework for leadership

Control on 5 senses
Clear soul
Control ego
Control anger (Manifestation of attachment)
Speaks well (In good language , thoughts,words and means)
Humility
Integrity (Truth)
Moment you do not get attached to extrinsic rewards
Not happy/sad in adversity
Education,Continuous improvement of conscience

As you sow,so shall you reap.

Leadership through Literature

2009-10-13T03:10:00.002+05:30

I have taken one of the most creative elective of this term i.e. 'Leadership through Literature'.Its not going to make a leader out of me any ways.But its really a good course for one to reflect on what's right and wrong.Does everything necessarily has to be black and white or we need shades of grey everywhere.
After reading 4 books,there have been lots of learnings and unlearnings.Concepts created ,shattered and what not.Its the most dynamic course of all the course and must have.
Some of the key lessons derived :

Heroism -- With 5 important paradigms of leadership i.e Personal capability i.e. vitality and endurance,Decisiveness,Persuasiveness,Responsibility and Intellectual abilities.The 4 important things that make heroes are moral greatness,action,action in face of historic cause,death/martyrdom/spiritual triumph.
Selfishness is the act of keeping one's desires above others
4 battles to win in 'Alchemist' -Fear of thinking the dream is realizable,Fear of losing love when its the stimulus,fear of failure and fear of realizing the dream when its near.
Human being is made for Action('Yoga'). Other species do not have such purpose as such and are thus made to enjoy ('Bhoga')
Morality is to differentiate between 'Good and Bad' while Ethics between 'Right and Wrong'
In some cases means are more important than ends (Gandhiji during the freedom struggle) and in some cases ends justify means(Krishna teachings to Arjun).Never thought that this is conceptualized at the entrance of the college.
3 kind of trust - coercive,knowledge based and Identification

Some are just repeat of the BIO lessons ,but more necessary anyways.Many more gyaan to come in the coming days.

On Leadership

2009-07-26T15:26:00.004+05:30

Yesterday was an eventful day for me.I was part of the crowd listening to the CyberMedia CEO doling out gyaan on strategy and leadership.In the evening,we had a MTS case on BMG International CEO Rudi.
The learning that came out for me is very important for all leaders.All CEO's should be responsible for delegating certain things and not delegating some things.Things that must not be delegated are formation of organization culture (the DNA of the organization) and the top level decisions.Other things like strategy formulation,operational activities,financials etc. should be delegated to the next level.
This gives the next level a sense of responsibilty and prepares them for the future challenges.CEO's need to look at increasing the toplines and not just cost cutting to improve the bottomlines.Cost cutting can help to only in a short term benefit.For long term vision, the leader must show the path to the managers and have trust in his team,that they will perform.
People like Steve Jobs,Rudi,etc. have shown charismatic leadership but have not been able to pass a good organizational culture to their organization to develop the next generation of leadership.This has resulted in failure of many companies in the past.

Living in Present

2009-07-19T18:49:00.003+05:30

I was having a discussion with a friend of mine who has read some psychology books and seems to have some knowledge on the area.As per him,living in present is the most difficult thing one can ever do.We either live by worrying about the past or future.Whatever we say or do,we do it on the basis of what we have done in the past.The past keep harping us.Its like you wake up from your sleep and the bootstrap loader starts to load all the past information on to your brains.There is no alternative ,but to live in the past in that case.Through yoga,meditation and other aspects, one can try and remove those barriers of living in the past.
Only those who live in present are true winners.A case in point is Roger Federer.He can hit the shot wherever he wants to and aims for ,during his peak level.It is because he lives in present and hence has a single focus.The same holds good for Zen archers.They are also able to hit the target with 100% accuracy.This happens because once they see the target ,they transform their intention to hit it ,to the arrow and there is no way it will fail.
These analogies are quite interesting on how things can happen if one starts to believe in himself and live in the present.

40 years on Moon- A tribute to the Human spirit

2009-07-19T12:28:00.004+05:30

Tomorrow, we celebrate 40 years of a historic event ,when man landed on moon.Its a triumph of the human spirit and the vision that people set to achieve.It not only commemorates the zeal of mankind to win unchartered territories ,but to keep challenging himself.
The biggest fear that we all have is nothing but the 'Unknown'.To win over that and move ahead in life is the biggest challenge we all set to achieve.
Saluting all the winners who have achieved what they dream of in their life!!

Some learnings

2009-03-04T23:07:00.005+05:30

Inspite of being a student for nearly 75% of my life, there are few words that have always been there with me to inspire my thought process.
Some of them are :-

I am what I am.No one can change my identity.
-Father Leo (Value Education teacher taught this in class 7th much before the Reebok ad became vogue)

Having a good night sleep is better than any other thing in the world.
Don't ever love the company you work for.Love the work you are doing because you never know when the company can leave you.
- Narayan Murthy (Infy Mysore days)

Perception is everything.Its the key to everything.
- Prof. Himanshu Rai (BIO Class , Term 1 in IIM L )

Profit and success have no long term impact.Its the pursuit of happiness that matters more in life.
- Article in Hindu on the Satyam fiasco

The rest seem to be lost in some corners of my mind.I will try to take them out some day.

Recession and Terrorism

2009-03-03T21:48:00.006+05:30

The buzz word of the times is Recession and Terrorism.One can see it everywhere.
Be it the news report on IIM Placements that define the Indian job market or the amount of time I am spending on padhaai or the grades I am getting. - Recession is everywhere.
What surprises more is that even terror and war related activities around the country has been increasing. Take 26/11 , attacks in Lahore on Sri Lankan team, LTTE war at peak and Bangladesh coup.

Reminds of the popular 3.4 song taken from Roxen :-

jal rahe hai diye... ik nayi aas liye
ho rahi hai subah...ik naya suraj liye
sanson ka kafila...ruk gaya kyun yahan
maut se ladh ja... kyu chinta hai yahan

payenge jo khoya hay,,,andhero ke us par
jayenge aur dekhenge,,, roshni ki naayi deewar
payenge jo khoya hay,,,andhero ke us par
himmatein hai kai,,,jalne ko hai tayyar
roz nai diwar,,,roz nai diwar

Seems only economic growth is the solution to curb the widespread evil roots.
This can happen when the will to grow is there.I just hope everyone believes in it and tries to succeed in the one life we have.

One needs to rise from the walls that we have created around us.

1/24 of the year over...

2009-01-15T15:27:00.004+05:30

Wow ..what an year its turning out to be...
First the Satyam fiasco,read the Nortel bankruptcy thing somewhere yesterday.
Slowdown affecting things in various ways on campuses.
And here I am at IIML waiting for the events starting from tommorrow ,MANFEST 2009.
Its something everyone waits for to showcase the college in the best spirit.
Aptly said by someone here "Brand IIML stands for Manfest ,Index and Manjunath besides being an IIM".No one appreciates the truth behind all this.
Just went through the below article link to suggest how the new generation of leaders are being created in Amrika.Its sad but the same story is being replicated here in India as well.Globalization u see :)

The Disadvantages of an Elite Education
Our best universities have forgotten that the reason they exist is to make minds, not careers

http://www.theamericanscholar.org/the-disadvantages-of-an-elite-education/

The Magic of 2008

2008-12-29T18:22:00.005+05:30

Finally the roller coaster year of 2008 is going to come to an end.
An end that has had an imprint on me too hard to be lost.
Here are those magical moments that I recall as of now
*January :- CAT Results are out .After lots of tense moments, I have aced 3 IIM calls.Coaching karni padegi dhang se else mere types logon ko poochega kaun :)
*February :- Coaching bekaar hai ..confidence is everything
*March :- Ab to kuch dino ki baat hai ,fir to nayi life honi hai.Holi after a long time was great fun.
*April :- Office mein promotion and my resignation after 1 week.True Magic !
*May :- Infy,Bangalore and KNIT parivaar is too good to be lost..Mujhe ghar jaana hai..mujhe ghar jaana hai
*June :- After ghar ,its new life @ my dream B-school .1st year..New life,enthu junta..bad thing - less holidays ,more rigour
*July :-Maggu junta,ghissu junta ,ajeeb si junta,what the hell ??
*August :- Kya karte hain log 1-1 number aur CV point ke liye..what am I doing here ?
*September :- Ab Summers nautanki ka agaaz ho.But so was the global recession.Aish maadi..Magical Moment - Taj visit :)
*October : Ye log mujhe bulaayenge bhi nahi ,mujhe in companies mein jaana bhi nahi..fir bhi bharo forms,shaayad kuch mission,vision ban jaaye..khilaate pilaate to hain kam se kam PPTs mein
*November :- Sahi mein nahi bulaaya ..to zabardasti ek company ke ho liye :)
INDEX Mela..Magical Moment - Giving Housie Prize to a boy jiska usi din birthday tha.Shaayad hi koi itna lucky gift pata hoga.
*December :- End terms ..bus ye term kisi tarah nikaalo ..aage dekh lenge ..koi enthu nahi hai,pata nahi kya karna hai life mein..Khair ..ghar visit for 1 week was the welcome respite.

Well ,all the jolly and enthu things that happened in the 1st part of the year were counteracted by the 2nd part when the truth behind the brand started to seep in.

Anyways , I have learnt lot more things and am bit wiser than I was in the beginning of the year.My approach is a bit global and I can apply anything into everything -- Everything is Connected.

I have talked bit more,made lots of friends and enjoy things as they come.
What I lack currently is a bit of mission ,vision and what I seriously have to do,given the various options that are currently available .
Hope the magic of 2008 repeats itself and guides me to the right path in 2009.

The Air of Optimism

2008-10-20T20:03:00.002+05:30

In this crisis that affects the world economy ,the biggest challenge that the firms face today is survival.Its all about going back to the basics and identifying your mission,vision and values.Perhaps ,its also the time for people like me to do the same and work accordingly.
With no clear focus , things tend to become hazy.I realize myself to be a part of the rat race.Its just to prove that I am a different rat and offer some customer value proposition for anyone who believes in me. :)
I am writing all this after realizing certain values I stand for - things that had no importance for me in the past.

I think I will laugh few days after seeing this arbit post.But then,its the most cliched post I have ever written.MBA does lots of things to you.

Ye kya ho gaya ?

2008-09-19T20:01:00.004+05:30

Some interesting observations by the blogger on Lehman bhaiya...

Why Lehman Bros went bust; what it means for you……..

I am not sure if these views are 100% correct in totality.But it is the truth we all have to face.

It just means one thing.Nothing is permanent or sacrosanct in this world.Change happens.

I-Day Gyaan

2008-08-15T18:29:00.002+05:30

Slept @ 7 AM today..chutti thi ..neend nahi aa rahi thi..
Last thing I did was watch the Harsha Bhogle Video on his learnings @ IIM.It has some really interesting and true stuffs that I can relate to.
The only positive thing that IIM gives you is that "I Belong..".Whenever one has self doubt on his capabilities ,he must just think one thing .. I belong and things start to shape up.
Things that they really don't teach here ,maybe it might be true to a extent true:-
* How to relax and de stress ?
* How to communicate effectively ? (Although I had a subject on comm. but the less said the better )
* Ethics and all (there are some fine lines that we do learn but when it comes to implementation ,its a different case)
*Indians by nature are thinkers and not doers.If we start doing what we think .. the world is conquered.

Kiss the World !!

2008-06-06T16:59:00.000+05:30

Address by Subroto Bagchi, Chief Operating Officer, MindTree Consulting to the Class of 2006 at the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore on defining success. July 2nd 2004

I was the last child of a small-time government servant, in a family of five brothers. My earliest memory of my father is as that of a District Employment Officer in Koraput, Orissa. It was and remains as back of beyond as you can imagine. There was no electricity; no primary school nearby and water did not flow out of a tap. As a result, I did not go to school until the age of eight; I was home-schooled. My father used to get transferred every year. The family belongings fit into the back of a jeep – so the family moved from place to place and, without any trouble, my Mother would set up an establishment and get us going. Raised by a widow who had come as a refugee from the then East Bengal, she was a matriculate when she married my Father. My parents set the foundation of my life and the value system which makes me what I am today and largely defines what success means to me today.

As District Employment Officer, my father was given a jeep by the government. There was no garage in the Office, so the jeep was parked in our house. My father refused to use it to commute to the office. He told us that the jeep is an expensive resource given by the government – he reiterated to us that it was not ‘his jeep’ but the government’s jeep. Insisting that he would use it only to tour the interiors, he would walk to his office on normal days. He also made sure that we never sat in the government jeep – we could sit in it only when it was stationary. That was our early childhood lesson in governance – a lesson that corporate managers learn the hard way, some never do.

The driver of the jeep was treated with respect due to any other member of my Father’s office. As small children, we were taught not to call him by his name. We had to use the suffix ‘dada’ whenever we were to refer to him in public or private. When I grew up to own a car and a driver by the name of Raju was appointed – I repeated the lesson to my two small daughters. They have, as a result, grown up to call Raju, ‘Raju Uncle’ – very different from many of their friends who refer to their family drivers as ‘my driver’. When I hear that term from a school- or college-going person, I cringe. To me, the lesson was significant – you treat small people with more respect than how you treat big people. It is more important to respect your subordinates than your superiors.

Our day used to start with the family huddling around my Mother’s chulha – an earthen fire place she would build at each place of posting where she would cook for the family. There was no gas, nor electrical stoves. The morning routine started with tea. As the brew was served, Father would ask us to read aloud the editorial page of The Statesman’s ‘muffosil’ edition – delivered one day late. We did not understand much of what we were reading. But the ritual was meant for us to know that the world was larger than Koraput district and the English I speak today, despite having studied in an Oriya medium school, has to do with that routine. After reading the newspaper aloud, we were told to fold it neatly. Father taught us a simple lesson. He used to say, “You should leave your newspaper and your toilet, the way you expect to find it”. That lesson was about showing consideration to others. Business begins and ends with that simple precept.

Being small children, we were always enamored with advertisements in the newspaper for transistor radios – we did not have one. We saw other people having radios in their homes and each time there was an advertisement of Philips, Murphy or Bush radios, we would ask Father when we could get one. Each time, my Father would reply that we did not need one because he already had five radios – alluding to his five sons. We also did not have a house of our own and would occasionally ask Father as to when, like others, we would live in our own house. He would give a similar reply, “We do not need a house of our own. I already own five houses”. His replies did not gladden our hearts in that instant. Nonetheless, we learnt that it is important not to measure personal success and sense of well being through material possessions.

Government houses seldom came with fences. Mother and I collected twigs and built a small fence. After lunch, my Mother would never sleep. She would take her kitchen utensils and with those she and I would dig the rocky, white ant infested surrounding. We planted flowering bushes. The white ants destroyed them. My mother brought ash from her chulha and mixed it in the earth and we planted the seedlings all over again. This time, they bloomed. At that time, my father’s transfer order came. A few neighbors told my mother why she was taking so much pain to beautify a government house, why she was planting seeds that would only benefit the next occupant.

My mother replied that it did not matter to her that she would not see the flowers in full bloom. She said, “I have to create a bloom in a desert and whenever I am given a new place, I must leave it more beautiful than what I had inherited”. That was my first lesson in success. It is not about what you create for yourself, it is what you leave behind that defines success.My mother began developing a cataract in her eyes when I was very small. At that time, the eldest among my brothers got a teaching job at the University in Bhubaneswar and had to prepare for the civil services examination. So, it was decided that my Mother would move to cook for him and, as her appendage, I had to move too. For the first time in my life, I saw electricity in homes and water coming out of a tap. It was around 1965 and the country was going to war with Pakistan. My mother was having problems reading and in any case, being Bengali, she did not know the Oriya script. So, in addition to my daily chores, my job was to read her the local newspaper – end to end. That created in me a sense of connectedness with a larger world. I began taking interest in many different things. While reading out news about the war, I felt that I was fighting the war myself. She and I discussed the daily news and built a bond with the larger universe. In it, we became part of a larger reality. Till date, I measure my success in terms of that sense of larger connectedness.

Meanwhile, the war raged and India was fighting on both fronts. Lal Bahadur Shastri, the then Prime Minster, coined the term “Jai Jawan, Jai Kishan” and galvanized the nation in to patriotic fervor. Other than reading out the newspaper to my mother, I had no clue about how I could be part of the action. So, after reading her the newspaper, every day I would land up near the University’s water tank, which served the community. I would spend hours under it, imagining that there could be spies who would come to poison the water and I had to watch for them. I would daydream about catching one and how the next day, I would be featured in the newspaper. Unfortunately for me, the spies at war ignored the sleepy town of Bhubaneswar and I never got a chance to catch one in action. Yet, that act unlocked my imagination. Imagination is everything. If we can imagine a future, we can create it, if we can create that future, others will live in it. That is the essence of success.

Over the next few years, my mother’s eyesight dimmed but in me she created a larger vision, a vision with which I continue to see the world and, I sense, through my eyes, she was seeing too. As the next few years unfolded, her vision deteriorated and she was operated for cataract. I remember, when she returned after her operation and she saw my face clearly for the first time, she was astonished. She said, “Oh my God, I did not know you were so fair”. I remain mighty pleased with that adulation even till date. Within weeks of getting her sight back, she developed a corneal ulcer and, overnight, became blind in both eyes. That was 1969. She died in 2002. In all those 32 years of living with blindness, she never complained about her fate even once. Curious to know what she saw with blind eyes, I asked her once if she sees darkness. She replied, “No, I do not see darkness. I only see light even with my eyes closed”. Until she was eighty years of age, she did her morning yoga everyday, swept her own room and washed her own clothes. To me, success is about the sense of independence; it is about not seeing the world but seeing the light.

Over the many intervening years, I grew up, studied, joined the industry and began to carve my life’s own journey. I began my life as a clerk in a government office, went on to become a Management Trainee with the DCM group and eventually found my life’s calling with the IT industry when fourth generation computers came to India in 1981. Life took me places – I worked with outstanding people, challenging assignments and traveled all over the world. In 1992, while I was posted in the US, I learnt that my father, living a retired life with my eldest brother, had suffered a third degree burn injury and was admitted in the Safderjung Hospital in Delhi. I flew back to attend to him – he remained for a few days in critical stage, bandaged from neck to toe. The Safderjung Hospital is a cockroach infested, dirty, inhuman place. The overworked, under-resourced sisters in the burn ward are both victims and perpetrators of dehumanized life at its worst. One morning, while attending to my Father, I realized that the blood bottle was empty and fearing that air would go into his vein, I asked the attending nurse to change it. She bluntly told me to do it myself. In that horrible theater of death, I was in pain and frustration and anger. Finally when she relented and came, my Father opened his eyes and murmured to her, “Why have you not gone home yet?” Here was a man on his deathbed but more concerned about the overworked nurse than his own state. I was stunned at his stoic self. There I learnt that there is no limit to how concerned you can be for another human being and what is the limit of inclusion you can create. My father died the next day.

He was a man whose success was defined by his principles, his frugality, his universalism and his sense of inclusion. Above all, he taught me that success is your ability to rise above your discomfort, whatever may be your current state. You can, if you want, raise your consciousness above your immediate surroundings. Success is not about building material comforts – the transistor that he never could buy or the house that he never owned. His success was about the legacy he left, the memetic continuity of his ideals that grew beyond the smallness of a ill-paid, unrecognized government servant’s world.

My father was a fervent believer in the British Raj. He sincerely doubted the capability of the post-independence Indian political parties to govern the country. To him, the lowering of the Union Jack was a sad event. My Mother was the exact opposite. When Subhash Bose quit the Indian National Congress and came to Dacca, my mother, then a schoolgirl, garlanded him. She learnt to spin khadi and joined an underground movement that trained her in using daggers and swords. Consequently, our household saw diversity in the political outlook of the two. On major issues concerning the world, the Old Man and the Old Lady had differing opinions. In them, we learnt the power of disagreements, of dialogue and the essence of living with diversity in thinking. Success is not about the ability to create a definitive dogmatic end state; it is about the unfolding of thought processes, of dialogue and continuum.

Two years back, at the age of eighty-two, Mother had a paralytic stroke and was lying in a government hospital in Bhubaneswar. I flew down from the US where I was serving my second stint, to see her. I spent two weeks with her in the hospital as she remained in a paralytic state. She was neither getting better nor moving on. Eventually I had to return to work. While leaving her behind, I kissed her face. In that paralytic state and a garbled voice, she said, “Why are you kissing me, go kiss the world.” Her river was nearing its journey, at the confluence of life and death, this woman who came to India as a refugee, raised by a widowed Mother, no more educated than high school, married to an anonymous government servant whose last salary was Rupees Three Hundred, robbed of her eyesight by fate and crowned by adversity – was telling me to go and kiss the world!

Success to me is about Vision. It is the ability to rise above the immediacy of pain. It is about imagination. It is about sensitivity to small people. It is about building inclusion. It is about connectedness to a larger world existence. It is about personal tenacity. It is about giving back more to life than you take out of it. It is about creating extra-ordinary success with ordinary lives.

Thank you very much; I wish you good luck and Godspeed. Go, kiss the world.

Awaaz

2008-06-05T11:50:00.003+05:30

It was a long time that I had read a book which reminded me of Hindi and my Class Xth days.Finally , I got hold of a book which is at par with that.
Its written by one of my cousin who is a part time poet now.
He criticizes the aspect of human nature in a very innovative method.
Few lines that make us think of what we are :-

सोच तुम्हारी इतनी ऊँची उठ जाए
की वक्त का ज़हर वहाँ पहुँच ना पाये

समय की धारा रूकती नही किसी के लिए
लोग रुक जाते हैं समय के लिए

हम पहुंचे हैं मंगल और चाँद पर
जीवन की खोज में
हे खोजी मानव
पहले धरती पर टू जीवन सबका एक सा बना
आमिर गरीब की खाई टू मिटा

I hope that his Awaaz spreads out in the new horizon.

World Environment Day

2008-06-05T11:38:00.002+05:30

Today is World Environment day.
All I remember and can tell about its impact on me are the prizes I used to win in Shaktinagar on this particular topic as well as Energy Conservation.
I think I haven't done even 2 cents for the environment and energy conservation other than that.
Anyways ,things have changed a lot from the cool Shaktinagar days to the crazy Bangalore days and finally some rest @home.
But environment is still a cause of concern. I was watching some serial on discovery titled 'Man and Wild'.Here a man goes to the jungle in Amrika and tries to survive there with whatever is available.He sleeps in a marshy land surrounded with all kinds of things on a bed made of palm leaves.That person is quite afraid of alligators and waits for 1 hour to ensure that there are none, when he is crossing a small lake 10 ft wide on foot.
All this shows the power that nature still has over human beings.But still , its the will and fantasy of the human that rules over our mother Earth.Hope that the power gets its worth some day and all co-exist peacefully for years to come.

My Tea Teacher

2008-02-17T12:06:00.004+05:30

Yesterday,one of the key members of the gang forced me and finally taught me to prepare tea.I have no special liking for the tea,but people feel its very important to banaao chai.Its a good bonding factor for all ocassions,easy to prepare and more easy to drink.

My tea teacher is a very active guy and wants other member of the group to be more active than their current levels.On Friday, he was offering gyaan to one of the key members to be active all the time.Hence,to avoid more gyaan, i conceded and prepared tea.

Method of preparation :-
Take 3 small glasses of water and put it in the cooking vessel.Let it boil along with tea leaves and sugar.Once,it starts to boil, pour 1 glass of milk.
Allow it to heat up till you feel its prepared fine.

Servings - 4cuppa

25 years of existence

2008-02-07T12:44:00.001+05:30

3 days back , I celebrated my 25th year of existence on this planet.
It was a good feeling to reach this milestone.
More special with the way it was celebrated.
No netas and crowd as they normally have to commemorate someone's birth anniversary.
Hope that happens at my 50th birthday as well :)

Winners or goodness !!!

2008-01-25T18:08:00.002+05:30

Taken From Gurcharan Das blog

Recall, great souled Yudhishthira, tormented and embattled, refuses to enter heaven at the end of the epic. He insists that an unclean, stray dog, who had been following him, is admitted into heaven as well. It turns out to have been a test, and Yudhishthira and his ethical goal of anrsamsya or compassion, are paid the highest compliment. He is told, ‘Great king, you weep with all the creatures!’ I wonder why no Indian mother calls her son, Yudhishthira. There are millions of Arjuns. It is not because it is difficult to pronounce. The fact is that Arjuna is a winner in the self-defeating kshatriya rat race of life. We prefer winners to goodness.

Breaking the sound barrier

2008-01-11T11:05:00.000+05:30

It was in the X-1 that Chuck Yeager was the first person to break the sound barrier in level flight on October 14, 1947, flying at an altitude of 45,000 ft (13.7 km).

I don't know why this thing came to my mind today morning.Maybe I have broken some mental barriers somehow and somewhere.

A ship in a harbour is safe

2008-01-07T17:04:00.000+05:30

Got this from the NITIE junta site.. quite inspirational.

Judgement Day 1

2008-01-07T17:01:00.000+05:30

Lets see kya hota hai ..
aar ya paar..
jo jeeta wahi sikandar
ugte suraj ko sab salaam karte hain..

All these zabardasti ke quotes are coming to my mind spontaneously.
Lets see destiny kya kehta hai.

Indian Heroes for you

2007-12-30T00:14:00.000+05:30

80 years back --- Bal Gangadhar Tilak,Gopal Krishna Gokhale
50 years back --- Nehru,Mahatma Gandhi
Today ----------- Dhiru bhai Ambani,Premji

This is the story of the heroes and how their face has changed.Today, the people who are the role models for the youth of our generation are not political leaders but people who matter more in business.This shows the changing mentality in the Indian Middle Class.

Wishing to see more Phoenix rising from nowhere !!!

Is saal ka winner kaun ??

2007-12-23T16:11:00.001+05:30

Well, this question was raised by Bhatti on 21st December.The question is ki ,who is that person ,jisko we can call winner of the year from KNIT 2005 batch.

Nomintations invited for all years after 2005..
Some possible winners :-
2005
Ashwani Tyagi - NTPC Electranix ka pehla ladka jisne PSU mein jhande gade
2006
Ratnakar Srivastava - Fair Issac mein highest package from batch
2007
Anay Agarwal - Batch se pehla IIM
Bhavna Kaushik -IES Rank 11 .Electronics
2008
????

If anyone from KNIT parivaar (Batch 2005 )is interested in nominating themselves or nominating someone else ,please post your comments in the blog.

"The Day you cease to learn, is the day you cease to exist..."

2007-12-05T10:50:00.000+05:30

Found this line somewhere, not sure where.
But it has lots of gyaan stuff about it.

Our existence is to learn something or the other daily.
Still trying to learn and unlearn things of life.

The Magic of Gurcharan

2007-12-02T23:00:00.001+05:30

These Days, I have got hold of a book called .'India Unbound'..The Book is written by a former CEO of P&G ,India - Gurcharan Das.The best part of the book is the presentation.Just like his articles in Sunday Times ,the book has a personal touch about it.This makes topics on India's triumph and failures to be looked upon with a different perspective.
As of now , one thing that I will like to share after reading the first 100 pages is the story he mentions of Porus and Alexander.
All know the history stuff that Porus lost to Alexander in the war.Once Alexander asked him as to how should he be treated, Porus replied "As a King treats another King".
But his learning from this story is from a managerial point as well as Indian Psychology.Porus lost because his infantry strength was low and the support that he received from his cavalry got hampered by Alexander's strategy.In the end , his elephants were killing his own foot soldiers.
What the author mentions here is that although , there was no caste lines in those days in the army , there were still some divisions due to which the infantry never got the desired support.Same has happened in the Indo -Pak and Indo-China wars , though not a larger basis.

Another point that I got from his learnings was that Indians esp. males are not team players (its not in our blood).It all starts with the bride getting married.She has immense pressure to get a male heir for the family.Once the son is born , he is a pampered lot.All his wishes are fulfilled. No doubt about this.
Once he grows up ,all this plays an important part in developing his ego.That way ,he either gets arrogant and never becomes a team player or he gets subdued and frustrated.Hopefully , with more working mothers , this situation might also be resolved for better.

Winning by small margin

2007-11-29T19:29:00.000+05:30

A victory is a victory ..a Loss a Loss..
But what about winning by small margins ??
Its more of a reflection for the victor that the opposing strength was just too good to move things till the end .The game could have gone either ways.
Similarly, the loser can take pride in having ended with a good show.
But what about the Victory on the edge.
It is the ultimate heart breaking moment for both the sides. (e.g. Indo-Pak T 20 Final).

Victory is sweetest when you've known defeat.
Malcolm S. Forbes

Saluting all the victors and losers , because the ultimate winner is the spirit that guides them.

IF

2007-11-23T12:20:00.001+05:30

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise;
If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build ‘em up with wornout tools;
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on”;
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And - which is more - you’ll be a Man my son!

- Rudyard Kipling

Today's fortune: Versatility is one of your outstanding traits

2007-11-23T10:39:00.000+05:30

Ye orkut waale bhi nahi maante.
They write same fortune for the world.I had seen a fortune in my scrap book and after some days , it was in my friend's scrap book.

If fortune were to be one and the same for all ,then the world will be a boring place to live in.

D-Days

2007-11-21T16:48:00.000+05:30

Well it takes a long wait when finally a D-Day arrives.
1 of them came last week in the life of around 10k ppl in India.
10k because out 2.3 lakhs aspirants,only 10k are really serious and put their heart and soul for the toughest of all exams.

Still the winners of these events rock and rock too much in the minds of the whole country.

Hoping to be a winner some day :)

The Quiz

2007-11-04T00:43:00.000+05:30

Think of quiz and my mind first goes to the days when we had a Quiz show -- BQC on AIR..and the lively Derek O'Brien as its host.
Somehow those memories got captured in the Landmark Quiz this Thursday.

The winning moments for me in the Quiz were :-

* Seeing Derek O'Brien ,in the show, in person.
* Shwetank working out 'Blooks' -- Blogs on Books or Books on Blogs ..whichever way you call it.
*One uncleji recognizing the 'Grace' connection with great grace
* Seeing a team called XX Saints comprising former lady school teachers ..making through the prelims.
* Seeing a granny leading charge of team that came 2nd.
* School Kids of 8th ,9th getting more than 20 correct /40 questions in prelims.
* Finally the deserving winners Q.E.D. and the attitude/passion/zeal shown by them towards Quizzes.

Offcourse there were few more sensational things that happened there..but that's a different story.

But the quiz was less abt. trivias and more on 'work that out' funda.

Think that I was just a small frog in Shaktinagar waters...during schools..
Kids here know the entire Rock and Pop Gurus which will put many enthusiastic buffs to rest.

Trust Me , I am a Liar

2007-10-20T16:02:00.000+05:30

I saw this T-shirt punch line and somehow remember it after 2 hrs.
Kahaan dekha - ghar ka khaana mein
kab dekha -- lunch time..
kisne pehna tha-- hoga koi IT industry ka maara
kyon dekha -- saamne baith gaya tha..bhagaa nahi sakta tha..mujhe bhi khaana tha
kaise dekha--abhi aankehin thik hain..unhi se dekh liya

Now the main theme after I have somehow done my SWOT on this :)

All these silly quotations reminds me of the questions that are asked by IT junta companies to check someone's reasoning ability.Maybe that's the reason these geeks think so much into what they wear.

Kaash meri ability kam hoti..aise post ke baare mein sochta bhi nahi..

Dussehra days !!!

2007-10-20T15:21:00.000+05:30

A festival which is most nostalgic to me other than any is the magic Dussehra days...
Let me try to capture it in chronological order :-
* Came to know of Dussehra through the mega hit TV serial of the 80s - Ramayana
* So that meant going to watch the Durga Puja celebrations and Ravana's effigy bonfire ,cracker works at Central School..Shaktinagar..most of the time.
*Pehli baar gas wala balloon yehi se liya tha (hmmm...remember so much)
*Have never been lucky to watch a Ram leela for a long time in person
*We used to have many half yearly exams in school ending by Dussehra.So this was a big break after the slog overs :).College mein to koi exam ..exam lagta hi nahi tha...it was more of funtime.
*Navaratri concept---came very late..but still if u r getting delicious food to eat and respected so much..that's the best part of it
*Went to Patna once at Durga Puja time.Person from a small town going to a city.Was the same with me.Patna delighted with so many kind of pratimas ..from the regular ones..to a maakhan ki pratimaa (that was kept in AC so that it didn't melt) ,tel ki pratima (strong in concept) ,sabun ki pratima,mom ki pratima (ab koi cheez to rehne do )
*Miss.... Benaares days and durga puja there..Ramnagar ki ramleela is world famous..(sab fame ki peeche hi hain)
*Went to my native village once.Again got awed by the small town guy going to ur village.Was a great experience to see my roots and the rituals.
*Went to Nepal once,new country ,new customs there..some of which might not be heard of.
*Tanda ramleela..typical of UP style ones and the way ravana's effigy is burnt with the help of basket ball stand's support(the jugaad)
*Sultanpur days..gr8 days..ghar jaane ki jaldi after midsems
*Mysore days..watt lagi thi...generic compre pass karni thi
*Bangalore days..yahaan to koi festival josh se manaate hi nahi hain..ajeeb shahar hai..its more on style and theme than anything...

But still I am happy, for the Good always wins ...

The Attitude

2007-10-02T13:23:00.001+05:30

Lots of people have lots of things to say on your attitude.
Your attitude towards thing was correct/wrong.
One thing that we have noticed recently is the attitude of Indian Cricket team and its Attitude man --Sreesanth...
Music Industry and its attitude man---Himesh
Indian Politics already has a PM with attitude - Manmohan...sorry ..if it never appeared to anyone :)
But he really had guts to bring liberalization in 91 and all that was a real attitude stuff those days.

Well positive attitude to anything does a great deal of good than having no reaction or a smaller tinge of negativism.
But the attitude that I am trying to light up here is more in terms of confidence than anything...Be confident with your views and forget the rest...

Now thats a no nonsense attitude.

Morning Raaga

2007-09-30T01:28:00.000+05:30

Every morning is a hectic one ,after I have entered the officedom part of my life.
School days were fun..mummy used to wake u up , help u to get ready ...and somehow used to reach school by 7:30.
All changed in College.. classes at 9 or 10 were meant to be bunked.Practicals never happened in the right spirit.

All this changed after I joined a company...
They were strict that u reach for trainings by 9 or lose ur leaves..Even leaves had quota that were very strict.
Suddenly all the Final year college folks who used to seldom have any class were forced to attend each and every class.

After the trainings , although the rules are relaxed , the practice hasn't.
Onsite calls in the services company and all the crap that u do has to be planned and done ASAP.There is no scope for lethargy anywhere ,else u r caught easily by the system.
This has led me to leave home by 8 to 8:15 on a daily basis.Some ppl who come from far leave for office at 6...That's crazy stuff..but well ppl do wake at 4..

Even I used to wake at 4:45 for one month..reason ..some tennis camp.Never in my life have I woken up before 6 except for few exams.I confess.. I love sleeping and can be hungry even till 1PM and sleep off..

ये पागल पेट न होता ,
में सारी रात चैन से सोता !!

The mornings , i have a 1KM walk to catch the bus...so many things happen around.

Most noticeable are the school buses and school children catching them.
Noticing so many small children with their parents ,grandparents just reminds me of my one school days.They were far better ...no tension , no worries..just a happiness to spend time with friends ,teachers, the atmosphere was electric at times..
those prayers,march past,PT days,things that made u disciplined..those are the moments..one surely cherishes.

Things haven't changed much,its the perspective and the vision ,the growth of the being that has..
Many more things to learn out still.

Creativity

2007-09-29T23:32:00.001+05:30

Just like tatoos and paintings ..writing blogs,displaying Orkut profiles,making movies,taking decision etal are all creative things.

Yes... I am writing of a latest flick on Sports --Chak De.India
Something that caught the entire nation by storm.
Suddenly people started to look out for heroes among common things and events.
Your orkut profiles/friends will have a Chak de moment atleast for once.

Well a Chak De moment happens in everyone's life...Waiting for mine to happen..

Winners Rock

2007-09-29T23:20:00.001+05:30

Thanks to Bangalore Times.. I have got a new life and a new blog name for my blog.
Last week has been one of the inspirational weeks in the life of many Indians.
Just like every Bollywood flick ,they have proved that cricket underdogs are also capable of doing miracles.

Talk of miracles and well we did have one today ,when rain gods of Bangalore saved India from what looked to be a tough situation in the match.
It had not rained for the past 2-3 weeks here , but it started to rain in the evening suddenly when one of the cricket gods Sachin got out.

So much for the miracle and gods that we all believe in...
We always forget the same gods if they loose out a couple of series and term them as uncapable.Remember the same people did to Dhoni's house after the world cup debacle.

Books worth reading

2007-04-16T14:28:00.001+05:30

Big Read Top 100 list (and some)
The BBC released a list of the UK's 100 best loved novels.
Since then, it seems, the list has been circulating the blogosphere as an ever-evolving 'books-I-have-read' list, with people adding three extra titles onto the list as they go,
which means the list has ended up being over 400 entries long, further meaning I just can't be bothered going through them all and ticking them off.
Here then is the much more concise top 100, in its original form.
Rules...
Bold those you've read.
Italicize started-but-never-finished.
Underline those you own but haven't gotten to yet.
Add three of your own.
Post to your livejournal.

1. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien
2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman
4. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling
6. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
7. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne
8. 1984, George Orwell
9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis
10. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte
11. Catch-22, Joseph Heller
12. Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte
13. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks
14. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier
15. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger
16. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame
17. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
18. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
19. Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres
20. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
21. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
22. Harry Potter And The Sorcerer's Philosopher's Stone, JK Rowling
23. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, JK Rowling
24. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, JK Rowling
25. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien
26. Tess Of The D'Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy
27. Middlemarch, George Eliot
28. A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving
29. The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck
30. Alice's Adventures In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
31. The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson
32. One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
33. The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett
34. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens
35. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl
36. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
37. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute
38. Persuasion, Jane Austen
39. Dune, Frank Herbert
40. Emma, Jane Austen
41. Anne Of Green Gables, LM Montgomery
42. Watership Down, Richard Adams
43. The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald
44. The Count Of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
45. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
46. Animal Farm, George Orwell
47. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
48. Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy
49. Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian
50. The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher
51. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
52. Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck
53. The Stand, Stephen King
54. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
55. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth
56. The BFG, Roald Dahl
57. Swallows and Amazons, Arthur Ransome
58. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell
59. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer
60. Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
61. Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman
62. Memoirs Of A Geisha, Arthur Golden
63. A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
64. The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough
65. Mort, Terry Pratchett
66. The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton
67. The Magus, John Fowles
68. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
69. Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett
70. Lord of the Flies, William Golding
71. Perfume, Patrick Susskind
72. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell
73. Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
74. Matilda, Roald Dahl
75. Bridget Jones's Diary, Helen Fielding
76. The Secret History, Donna Tartt
77. The Woman in White, Wilkie Collins
78. Ulysses, James Joyce
79. Bleak House, Charles Dickens
80. Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson
81. The Twits, Roald Dahl
82. I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith
83. Holes, Louis Sachar
84. Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake
85. The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
86. Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson
87. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
88. Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons
89. Magician, Raymond E Feist
90. On The Road, Jack Kerouac
91. The Godfather, Mario Puzo
92. The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M. Auel
93. The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett
94. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
95. Katherine, Anya Seton
96. Kane And Abel, Jeffrey Archer
97. Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
98. Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson
99. The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot
100. Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie