Saturday, July 11

Mystery solved

Guess what! It was a loyal fan, trying to set up a Facebook fan page, who accidentally set up a page in my name instead :)

Anyway, he has promptly emailed me, so we shd hv the whole thing sorted out in a day or two.

Thanks S, yu actually did everyone a favour coz I wd hv been far too lazy to set up a Facebook page on my own.

So as the matter stands, we shall most probably let him continue with the same page, but of course we will add a line indicating that its a fan page and not my personal page. Will also set up a link to www.vikramhazra.com so that it can bring more people to the blog.

Our conversations here will continue as before :)

JGD

V

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I'm NOT on Facebook!!

Seriously. Have avoided all the social/networking utilities as its almost more than I can do to just keep up with emails and blogging. However, it seems that some kind soul has set up a Facebook page in my name (without my knowledge and permission), and a lot of people (including some of you) have been posting, and obviously not getting any replies!!
So what's the solution? Should we all get together, report the page and have it discontinued?? Or perhaps you could all write in to whoever it is that started the page, and request him/her to hand over the account and password to me, or delete the account so I can start an authentic one? Do let me know your views on this, and let's resolve it asap.
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Back home again!

In more ways than one. Have been in a phase of deep introspection for over a month; though outwardly participating in several social and professional activities, I was really far far away, and not just geographically. Thanks first to Guruji for ensuring that I never stagnate and always continue to study, learn and grow; and secondly to Tina for providing an unearthly level of space and understanding.
I tried so many new approaches to teaching, music etc this month; most of them worked admirably and most importantly they opened several new doors and paved the way for much more satisfying creative work to come. Am literally bursting with ideas, and hope it should translate into several posts over the next two weeks.
I realized I am a "slow blogger" and prefer to mull over things for a long time before committing them to paper (or web) by which time they may actually have lost their relevance! Shobhaa De is exemplary in that sense - she makes it a point to post every day, which makes her blog very exciting and au courant.
I guess I should do both: keep sending short updates (almost like tweets) from my blackberry; and then do sets of opinion pieces and of course the long overdue q&a's. Thank you all for your loyalty and support, and don't hesitate to pull me up if I am slow to post :))
Love and Jai Gurudev
Vikram
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Sunday, June 28

Sunset at Boracay!

Sunday, June 21

I have run away to Boracay!!!!

Actually I'm here for a course, but hey...sometimes we have to rough
it out for the sake of the job! What to do....heheheh

Tuesday, June 9

Congratulations Amit and Ritika!!!

Saturday, June 6

Practising for Tuki-Amit's sangeet

Thursday, May 21

A bit of wisdom

As the dentist said to the lawyer, "I want the tooth, the whole tooth and nothing but the tooth!" Yes that is, or was, my wisdom tooth :)
Apparently I had an impacted (and decayed) upper left molar, which meant that I needed to be operated by a maxillofacial surgeon; I was told that there would be a lot of pain and possibly swelling for 2-3 days etc etc, but lo and behold (Jai Gurudev!) -- no stitches were reqd, there was no pain (at all!!) and absolutely no swelling!! In fact I smsed my dentist and asked if I cd play tennis that evening, of course he said a flat NO! But I was able to attend rehearsal that evening, and the next day I cd perform at the AIDS Candlelight Memorial organised by Parmeshwar Godrej and the Heroes Project at Shivaji Park, Mumbai. It was an emotional evening, with HIV+es, families of deceased victims, industrialists and celebrities coming together to light candles and pledge to support the cause of AIDS sufferers.
Sorry I have been away fm the blog for so long, I travelled and taught two corporate programs, and of course we had Guruji's birthday celebrations in Mumbai, which was a total blast. Anyone with photos of the event, please do mail them in to vikramandtina@gmail.com so that I can put them up here. We had a wonderful surprise as Ehsaan Noorani came onstage along with the talented singer Anusha Mani to perform a couple of songs from Rock On! the crowd went wild :) and of course I was so charged after the long Kriya, Guru pooja and satsang that I cdnt sleep till 3am!
It's good to be back in Bbay, and the back to the tennis courts after a gap of nearly 15 years (yes I used to play at the national level as a teenager, and have always been ultra-passionate about this true gentlemen's sport) McEnroe was and remains my all-time favourite, I dont think there has ever been another touch game like his in the sport (maybe if he had done AOL then he cd have avoided all the tantrums and gaali-galoch!)

No excuses, but...

Wednesday, May 6

Why Vote - Aadesh ka sandesh!

My dear friend Aadesh Goyal is one of India's most highly regarded HR experts, and someone whose opinions I regard very highly, as they are always well thought out, balanced and tempered by experience. I really liked this mail he sent some of his friends, and allowed me to share with you; wish he had written it before the Mumbai polls though!

Dear Friend,

Hope all is well. The purpose of this mail is to discuss a very important subject with you. It will take 5-6 minutes to read this email, it would be great of you can do this now.


* A Lok Sabha constituency has about 15 lakh voters.
* On an average, about 50% people vote, i.e. 7.5 lakh.
* Winner usually gets 1/3rd of the votes, i.e., 2.5 lakh votes.
* The 1st runner up usually loses by up to 50,000 votes.
* Most people in the middle class (including you and me) don't vote.
* Actually, we do not count for the politicians! Has anyone from any political party approached you yet?
* Basically, the politicians know that we do not vote, hence we do not count.
* People in the economically and/or academically poor segment vote, and hence are counted by the politicians!
* Who can make a bigger contribution in making India a better place? The guys who usually vote or us? Obviously us, because we have the experience and ability.
* If only 3.5% of the people who don't vote decide to vote for the 1st runners up, he/she would emerge as the winner! This is the power we have.
* If 1/3rd of the people who do not vote decide to vote, they can choose anyone they want as the MP!
* But we don't vote because we think that our single vote won't matter! But, if we join together, it does matter.
* The 2nd reason we don't vote is because there is no one good enough to be selected. But the point is that they are being selected anyway.
* When the choice is between devil and the deep sea, choose the one who is less evil. If we can get this person to win, then he/she knows we have the power, and will listen to us. Next time, we can negotiate with this party for better results and performance and less corruption. Gradually, the system can get cleaned.
* This may be somewhat slow, but it would work. All you have to do is to cast your vote tomorrow.


Actually, you can do a little more, with only some effort. Please read the following:

In a T20 match, we have to make 15 runs in the last over, it is not easy, but good teams know that they can do it. So imagine that you are on the crease in the last over, and a six, a couple of fours combined with a single would take you home, as a winner.

Here is how we can bat in this last over :

* The Single: Make sure that you cast your vote tomorrow.
* The first Four: Call at least 20 of your family members and make sure that they cast their vote.
* The second Four: Call 10 of your friends and neighbours, and make sure they cast their vote - each family will have 3 voters on an average, this means 30 people cast their votes.
* With the above, you have got 51 people to cast their vote.
* The Sixer: Inspire 5 people to do the above – this means another 255 people will cast their votes.


Tell people not to worry about the bouncers (like hot weather) or the wide deliveries (we are going for a movie), etc.

If 1000 people do the above between now and tomorrow evening, 2.55 lakh people will cast votes tomorrow, majority of who may not have cast their votes otherwise! This can make a big difference to who the winner is. Generally, the difference between the winner and 1st runners-up is not more than 50,000 votes.

So, let us all get ready, only one more over left, this is the time to give our best.

Let's vote for change.

With warm regards,

Aadesh


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