Weekend morning walks at Bengaluru Lalbagh.

It has been almost a year since myself and Ravi ( my brother in law ) had started our weekend morning walks at Lalbagh. I have been always a regular morning walker but used to walk on our tar roads and it came as an idea to me to go Lalbagh for the morning walk during weekends and I discussed with Ravi and he immediately agreed and the immediate motivation for him was to take out his Bullet bike which he had just then purchased.

We went one weekend and we got immediately hooked and we have ever since been going. On some weekends we miss but not due to lack of motivation but due to some other family commitments.

We start around 5.45 am on Ravi ‘s Bullet and in about 15 minutes time we zip to Lalbagh.

We make one full round of Lalbagh in about 25 minutes time , walking on the inner periphery of the Lalbagh wall.

The vast expanse of 200 acres with more than 4000 species of plants and trees opens its arms to us and immediately sweeps aside all tensions or worries if any existing from our normal day to day life.

The walk is pretty brisk but at the same time the eyes are savoring the surroundings having the eye catching greenery.

There are a pretty huge number of morning walkers of all shapes and sizes to give us company.

Observing the walkers is an experience in itself.

There are some walkers who seem to be regulars and carry a strict demeanor and do their walking in a serious fashion and are focused to complete their rounds in a stipulated time. It looks like they have brought their goal orientedness from worklife to inside Lalbagh, nevertheless they act as motivators to other walkers.

There are some jay walkers who come in a group of 4 or 5 and walk together literally arm in arm and keep discussing loudly about usually politics or any other topic in an usually animated way.

Everyone in the group seems to have some or the other opinion on the topics discussed. The Lalbagh seems to be melting pot where they can freely exchange their opinions but I get a feeling that as they are walking out of Lalbagh, each one is pretty much retaining their own original opinions.

There are middle aged couples walking silently and at a leisurely pace. Some of them seem to be on the heavier side. At the pace they walk, it may take ages to melt away the fat or it may get added if they visit MTR for breakfast on their way back home. Some people visit MTR after the walk which I consider sinful and self defeating.

There are young couples in colorful track suits with shapely figures doing the rounds at a good pace and showing lot of zest for life. These people are the envy of people with barrel shaped figures. Nevertheless the young people inspire us to become young at heart.

There is another group of people who are over 60 years and literally over the hill. They seem to be spending little time doing the rounds and more time sitting on the benches and chatting away to glory. They seem to be really enjoying their hard earned leisure in the final lap of their journey in life.

There are some individuals walking with their mobiles blaring loudly the morning devotional songs. They seem to be disliking the quite inside the Lalbagh and hell-bent on increasing the decibel levels. They seem to be type of people who can excel only in noisy surroundings.

You may be all wondering whether I go to Lalbagh for doing rounds or keep watching people.

You see it has been drilled inside us that we can excel in life by only multi tasking. I am doing the Lalbagh rounds and at the same time don’t miss an opportunity to look at some beautiful things I mean the ducks in the lake and the birds on the tree and not the birds doing the rounds.

National Seminar --- Paper presentation on Manufacturing excellence - ways to achieve in India

Hi All,

I had presented a paper at the National seminar on " Achieving Global competitiveness in Manufacturing : Challenges for India" conducted by Vignana Jyothi Institute of Management , Hyderabad during 21 Oct 10 - 23 Oct 2010.

Paper Title -- Manufacturing excellence --Importance and ways to achieve it for Indian companies in a globally competitive world.

Synopsis

In the present scenario where globalization is happening at a fast pace, the competition has become intense and also has reached our own backyard. If we have to survive in the manufacturing sector and also become globally competitive, then it is imperative that we achieve manufacturing excellence i.e. increase productivity, achieve global quality standards in the products and services, and manage our scarce resources efficiently.

It has also become inevitable to treat resources across the various departments as one resource and manage them holistically or from the company point of view. We cannot and should not have redundancy and wastages. Having an efficient supply chain management by linking raw materials to manufacturing and to distribution can go a long way in improving efficiencies and bringing the cost down.

There are many companies in the world which have achieved great successes from achieving manufacturing excellence, like Toyota ,Motorola , KFC, Dell computers and HP to name a few.

The above companies have achieved excellence in various areas like JIT, Six Sigma concept, standardized delivery across continents and efficient supply chain management.

This paper looks at the challenges faced by Indian manufacturing sector , the global emerging trends in the manufacturing sector and the best practices with a view to adopt or adapt them to suit our requirements to help Indian manufacturing sector to become globally competitive.

Also some of the steps that the Indian manufacturing industries and the Government

have to take to mitigate the challenges faced has been recommended.

Full paper will be available on request to Author.

Rajneeti -- Hindi movie Review - a must see

The other day , I viewed Rajneeti a Hindi movie directed by Prakash Jha .Some how the movie got me hooked lock ,stock and barrel for the two and half hours I viewed it. After a long time , I felt so totally engrossed by a hindi movie.

The film is a telling story on the politics and the director has taken Mahabharatha’s characters and woven a modern political drama with full of intrigue , deceit , cunningness, machinations and opportunism.

A major political party’s president dies of a heart attack after a shootout and because of a shadayantar and before he dies appoints his brother as the president of the party. The fight starts for gaining the power and the upper hand in the party by the sons of the two brothers ( The deceased and the present president ) The cousin brothers play all the tricks in the political trade to gain the edge and finish off the other. It is a total free for all and the only justification is everything is okay in the political war .

The movie editing is slick and the movie moves at a fast pace giving no time for the cinegoer to speculate what is in store next. In a see – saw battle , we see the power shifting to and fro from the cousin brothers. For getting the power, everyone is used as a pawn and the entire police system and the official machinery is hand in glove with whatever happens , so that they can share the spoils.

The performance of Arjun Ramphal and Manoj Bajpai as the two warring cousin brothers is riveting.

Ajay Devgan is the equivalent of Karna and he stands by his friend till the end. As usual Devgan brings an undercurrent of burning emotions to ensure justice is done to the dalits.

Nana Patekar as the Mama of one of the brother has given a subdued performance and is the one able to bring a sense of direction and ensure the right decision is taken to achieve the political end. He is emotionless while taking decision (A La Chanakya).

As the movie progresses , Ranbir kapoor as the younger brother of Arjun Ramphal slowly gets on us. He is a research scholar who comes to meet his parents , but while about to leave India , his father gets shot and killed . Ranbir gets dragged into the politics and his aim is to help his elder brother take revenge on the cousin brother for getting his father killed.

Ranbir looks totally convincing in his role. The movie depicts very clearly that a good natured person can totally change and become ruthless and opportunistic if the goal is to take revenge and gain political power.

Katrina’s character becomes important towards the end as she is forced into the Gaddi of chief Minister to keep the seat hot for her yet to be born son ( a la Sonia Gandhi ). For most of the time , she is a silent spectator and is unable to prevent herself from being used as a pawn by the political family.

I feel it is worth watching the movie as it unfolds in front of our eyes , the sordid happenings in our present political system.

The movie leaves us with numb feeling and reminds us that we are unable to do anything inspite of knowing what is right or wrong in the present system. We are confused whether politics is a means to an end or an end in itself. What is to be done to cleanse our political system ?