Under the Bodhi Tree

After a long time!! This one is actually in the middle of my placement week!

Should not be that surprising because it is I guess only during this time that you tend to brush-up everything that you had possibly (if at all anything by mistake 🙂 done in the year gone by.

CVS-Caremark: A pharmacy giant in the making

Kindly take a peek at this “Pitch Book” & let me know of your opinions, thoughts, comments, criticisms, etc.

Cheers!

Sid

Open letter to my son,                                                                                            19th Jan 2007

On the New Year’s Day, Times of India published a front page editorial of sort and started a new platform for its readers, to voice out their concerns, pool in their opinions and paint their dreams about Future India. It aptly captioned it ‘India versus India’ and highlighted the two sides of all of us – individually and collectively.

We all face our own share of dilemmas, sometime or the other. We all know the enemy within us, who also has a potential to act as our trusted friend – because he is part of us. We hate him, when we choose to think negatively. We crave for his help and advice, when we perceive him positively. Faith has tremendous power….Am I boring you with the usual fatherly sermon? – well, it depends on your point of view.

Let us talk about ‘we Indians’ and remember SRK’s famous song – Dil Hai Hindustani. It was a musical picture of – the many faces of India. But why we are like this? Difficult to understand – not only for foreigners but even for ourselves. Why we are so confused? Times said, one India wants, the other India hopes. What we want and what we hope for? How we want to be remembered by others? Who are our idols & icons? Where our faith & hopes lie?

Long time ago, two epics were written about two great sons of this soil and now they are regarded and worshipped by most, as gods. They are the role models of behavior – not so much for self, but mostly serve as scales to judge others. Ram and Krishna. They lived in contrasting ways and our faith in them pulls us apart from within.

Rama, as an avatar of God, came to this earth to live the life of a Nobody – a zero. He gave up power, luxury, authority and comfort to fulfill an old promise made by his father. He not only accepted to live in forest, but also consented his loyal wife and brother to stay with him in forest. He later punished Ravana for overstepping his limits and luring Sita with the luxuries of a palatial life. His victory was made possible by the army of Vanaras, disgruntled Bibhishan, loyal Sita & Hanuman, the organizing & technical skills of Vanarsena. They built a Setu to stretch Ram’s limits and invaded the un-impregnable Lanka. They blew up his heroic capacity to overshadow his urge to remain a zero. He returned to Ayodhya after 14 years and accepted the crown. He once again showed his zeroness, by asking his life partner to prove her own set of values to commoners, by going through an illogical test called Agnipariksha.

We, as Indians, prefer to read some glaring zeroes as potential leaders on Ram’s scale. The zeroes can easily challenge the conscience of a group, society, kingdom or individual and make them aware of their own urge to step on other’s toes. Mahatma Gandhi proved it by the principle of Ahimsa, when he forced the conscience of British people to leave India. Now we are left to be at our own mercy.

Krishna presented himself as a hero to his parents, Gopalas and Radha, by performing the superhuman feats as Kaliya-mardan, lifting Govardhan, etc. He also maintained his superiority, by living on both sides of the law. The seniors and the custodians of established law were made a laughing stock by him and he soon became the ‘ladla & messiah’ of the weaker lot. He punished others but never accepted punishment from others. His acts were always supported by onlookers because of the goodwill he earned and encashed at the right time. Later, on the epic battlefield, he told Arjun – ‘I am god, you are a Nobody. I decide everything, you just carry it out. Don’t be your own enemy. You have no powers. If you allow your ego to interfere with (my) divine plans, you will have only yourself to blame (for the consequences). Perform your Karma without thinking of the results. I (as god) have already fixed the results.’

Finally, he became the cause of discord, chaos and wars among his own domain. The Yadavas picked his attitude (sans goodwill) of being above the law and perished in anarchy. The golden city Dwarka got drowned in the sea and forgotten. Krishna continued to be the iconic measure of heroic success. We, as Indians, prefer to read some lawbreakers as potential leaders on his scale.

Think over son, every coin has two sides. One side symbolizes the authority that circulates it. The other shows its worth for us in our everyday dealings. Hero puts his stamp of authority and offers us a framework to operate. Zero puts a materialistic value to the deal, showing how far we are interested. The confusion and chaos set in, when we get ready to deviate from our own set of values and distort the deal, under the influence of ambition, greed, power or ignorance.

Closer to us, in our close circles of family, friends, neighbors and colleagues, we all have a certain ‘accepted’ level & potential. That is also called goodwill & creativity. Seniors have more goodwill and (relatively) less creativity. Juniors are expected to be more creative than the quota of goodwill sanctioned to them. The social structure, anywhere, creates barriers or thresholds between every senior-junior relationship. The senior expects Ram-like behavior from juniors, while a junior expects Krishna-like framework to operate in. Senior expects unconditional and unquestioning follower ship from juniors. Juniors expect unconditional freedom and absolute support from their leaders – so that their creativity can follow any path of their choice and a guarantee that they will never have to face any ‘outside’ music. But we are always senior to somebody and junior to another. Can we act like Ram & Krishna at the same time? Can we be hero and zero at the same time?

That is the dilemma. Being above and below at the same time, makes us walk the tight rope. We sit on the fence. We remain stumbled at the threshold. We keep buying time. To move forward in life (and world) we should be bold enough to see and accept the ‘order’ in our own worlds. That order is itself the law – the currently accepted law – the way of life. Accept it first and then pursue your case with the establishment, to change for the better. Many have accepted it and are proud to be part of the circle called India. Those who want to be ‘out’ are refusing to follow our leaders’ framework. Some have become terrorists, some are traitors. They are marching in the same platoon like us, but are following the beats of a distant drum.

The hero worshippers are easily accepted as seniors, by majority. They hardly ever look back to see who is following them. They have their hero to show the path. He is their Fuehrer. And the operating system, that he provides, is protective and less restrictive. They are more positive than negative. They are natural, they are wild. However, they have a darker (private) side which remains the cause of their downfall. Once they lose power they are quickly forgotten by their followers and replaced by another hero.

The zero worshippers, who manage to become leaders, have their gaze fixed at their own feet, to see if they have enough support. They tend to create a police state, where everybody lives in fear of getting caught by the law sometime, somehow, somewhere. They are more negative than positive. They are un-natural, they are civilized. But they reduce friction and maintain peace, by employing zero tolerance. They are fondly remembered long after they are gone. They become heroes, mostly after their demise.

We are neither leaders, nor zeroes or heroes. We are sometimes seniors and other time juniors. And by going one step further, our seniors have their own set of seniors. Our juniors have their own juniors. We should not expect our juniors to ‘follow’ us so much, that they can never again act as seniors. We should not tolerate our seniors to such an extent, that they don’t feel the need to obey their own seniors.

Self respect, identity, pride, superiority and arrogance are various levels of ego. It is nourished by goodwill and kept healthy – or thrown overboard. Self preservation, personal space, privacy, selfishness and aggression are various levels of self expression. Creative skills serve as a tonic to expression. A balance between goodwill and freedom of expression keeps an individual mind and a group/ family/ society or country happy and healthy.

We don’t need Ram or Krishna; we need the blessings of Ramkrishna and his famous disciple Swami Vivekanand.

Vishwas Ghaisas

Sentosa Beach party hai! Ticket nikalu na tera? Hmmm..haan nikaal…

No regrets for making this choice. I thoroughly enjoyed the Beach party (or rather FOAM dance party) @ Sentosa, Singapore. Tried hard to complete my assignments due the next day but just could not 🙂 Left for a hair-cut with one of my roomies. If I had the slightest idea that it would take two and a half hrs, I would go some other day (as I really don’t have a choice here). But I did end up wasting/spending (you choose the word) that time in a hair-cut. I admired the barbers patience but only until it was my turn to sit on the chair!

Anyways, got the new hair-cut (Singapore style where the barber bared my skull skin from the back and the left side of my head, however, being generous to the right side). Went home (hostel room) after already having received frantic calls from another roomie. Had dinner in 15 mins, got ready in another 10 mins. Attire for the occasion: a nice light-blue electric shirt & SHORTS (yes u read it right: SHORTS). I was just obeying what was requested by the organisers of the party :). Left for the venue – Bus # 100 to MRT – Special bus arranged from MRT to Sentosa.

What was the first thing that the roomies (Japs, Somania & me) decided to do once they get down?? Any guesses – grab a can of beer. However, one of my roomies started getting into the jive even before entering the party area, courtesy the STRONG beer that he chose (Japs). March we did into the place enjoying the flora and fauna around (pun intended) 🙂 It was really well done inside – at least 5 good DJ’s for the night blasting rhythmic music until 6 am, stalls selling coupons, drinks, eatables & games all around!! Very well spaced out and planned as you would expect in Singapore.

The roomies decided it was time for another beer…so we did grab one…we moved from one end to another meeting our college colleagues amongst many other faces. At around 15 mins to the New Year I entered the Foam dance arena. Fantastic is what I would call it. Got drenched entirely in soap and water. Danced thoroughly to the foot-tapping music being churned out by the DJ’s. At just some time b4 12, the music reduced to only a regular beat only to welcome on board a group of Drummers playing very good percussion, all in sync – we even got to see some fire-breathers performing some dangerous stunts for us….and then suddenly you could hear……..10, 9 ,8, 7, 6…..3….2…..1!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2007!! Bring em on.

Hugged my friends around, jumped, shouted, screamed….n what not…yet another year passes by. As I was enjoying at that moment, somewhere down inside was this feeling that was trying to assess the year gone by – what good and bad had been done – successes and failures en route – and that pounding heart promising to make it in my own manner very soon! Oops…we forgot, I was here drenched and enjoying…after which we just danced until our legs started aching.

Came out only to dance in the sand as we caught up on another drink. Looked around and saw smiles on every face…someone’s dancing, someone’s drunk, some are holding hands, some are sitting in a group chatting, etc. Nice to see. I made friends and danced with, I guess, the maximum # of people coming from all parts of the globe!! 🙂 Danced my back, legs and heart out until 6 am when we could take no more. We come home have a hot bath and crash into our beds in for a long & much deserved sleep.

Thus we ended our odyssey – Welcome YEAR 2007!! Wish you all a very very Happy and Prosperous New Year! Do your bit & keep walking.

I always had a penchant for Music.  It might have been either actually playing it or then just listening to it.  At one time I would actually refer to a track by its # in my playlist!!  Ripleys believe it or not!!  Hillarious when I look back at it but thats the degree of passion I had (n still have) for the songs I really liked.  🙂  Apart from a stint at learning to play some strings, I never really trained myself at any form of Music.  The first time I played an instrument was when I was part of EYF (Express Youth Forum, under the aegis of Indian Express, Pune) where we were more famous for managing VERVE.  It was during my time at this forum that I started playing some percussion.  Bongo, congo, tumba to be specific!  Forgive me for sounding a bit arrogant but it was then that I learnt that I had a flair for playing percussion.

Somewhere down the line….I started enjoying making my friends listen to my fav tracks.  Tracks they had perhaps never heard and least identified with.  However, they would lend their friend an ear for a few minutes.  There is no doubt that staying in Nigeria at an impressionable age had its effect on me….Musically 4 sure!  MJ would be a regular menu and a part of daily chores.  I have been and continue to be a great fan of MJ, although I do listen to many other artists now.  Enjoy artists like Midival Punditz, Deep Forest, Safri Duo,  Irish music, Linkin Park, Rammstein, etc to name a few.

Coming back to the title of this blog.  Its just a few days back that my roomie shared a new software that he had.  A free source “Virtual DJ” turntable software!! :)))  Boy was I happy.  Played around with it for a few minutes and after that I am nothing but HOOKED to it.  The bad part is that my study time has taken a beating (not that I did study alot :).  Have learnt how to mix songs, fast to fast – fast to slow n vice versa.  Enhance the mixing by using external sounds embedded in the software, rec my mixes (still getting better at it though), tampering with the pitch or tempo of a track to allow mixing, etc…

I guess we all need something different to keep our sanity intact and survive the mad race that you run each day.  We all need that free time when we wish to do only what we like and enjoy doing most.  Well I’ve just stumbled upon something that keeps me Musically engaged..something I definitely seem to like at this moment :).  N I wish to spare some time for this as long as possible…

An “Analyst Report on Cipla Ltd” that I worked on & presented as part of my Corporate valuation assignment on 9th December 2006.

Please feel free to go through, copy, edit, update and anything else you wish to do with it. For any kind of further details & discussions feel free to contact me*. I’ll share the Report that I worked on from which the presentation originated after which we could discuss further.

Eagerly awaiting all and any comments on it.

The Presentation

Cheers! 🙂

*mailto:siddharthghaisas@gmail.com

The Bodhi tree was a large and very old specimen of the Sacred Fig, located at the Mahabodhi Temple at Bodh Gaya (about 100 km from Patna in the Indian state of Bihar) under which Siddhartha Gautama, the spiritual teacher and founder of Buddhism later know as Gautama Buddha, arrived at Bodhi. The Bodhi Tree belongs to the Sacred Figs (Ficus religiosa), also known as Bo, Pipul (Peepal) or Ashwattha trees, which are sacred to Hindus, Jains and Buddhists. According to Buddhist belief, Siddharta Gautama meditated under this tree, mentioned as Ashwattha in the Tipitaka, when he achieved Nirvana. The word ‘Ashvattha’ is derived from the Sanskrit roots ‘Shwa’ meaning tomorrow, ‘a’ indicating negation, and ‘tha’ meaning “one that stands or remains”. (The Hindu philosopher Shankaracharya interprets the name to indicate “One which does not remain the same tomorrow”, such as the universe itself.)The Sacred Fig currently growing at the Mahabodhi Temple is not the original specimen, but probably a direct clone descendant of it. This tree is a frequent destination for pilgrims, being the most important of the four holy sites for Buddhists. Another sacred specimen, also propagated from the original Bodhi tree, is the Sri Maha Bodhi in Sri Lanka, planted in 288 BC, making it the oldest verified specimen of any angiosperm.

In religious iconography, the Bodhi tree is easily recognizable from its heart-shaped leaves, which are usually prominently displayed.

Cheers!

Siddharth Ghaisas

Source: A curiosity to find the origins of my name led me to the follwing site. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodhi_tree