Here's my tribute to India at the Oscars - Jai Ho

Busy Schedule in Hyderabad

Flew in from Mumbai yesterday evening, was in the Mumbai Airport reading a book titled "Jesus" by Deepak Chopra. Didn't do much last night as I checked by dinner time, had some RC whisky at the Cocktail hour at the Hotel F.O.C.

Woke up pretty early as my body was still following Malaysian time and after that it was a busy schedule with the Auditor and then the Lawyer. Bought some more books at Walden first thing in the morning. Picked the following books:

1. The Associate by John Grisham

2. Outliers by Malcom Gladwell

3. What Got You here Won't Get You There by Marshall Goldsmith

4. It's not how Good you are, It's how Good you want to be by Paul Arden

5. The Rules of Management by Richard Templar

Looks like I have a lot to read when I get back. And guess what I had for lunch, the famous Hyderabati Dum Briyani and for breakfast I had super soft idly with chutney. It's been awhile since I had all these goodies.

Well tomorrow is going to be equally hectic as I have lined up a few meetings and I got a little bit of shopping to do. And on Sunday midnight I will be flying back to Kuala Lumpur. Yeah before I forget my office guys had screwed up with my phone bill and they just paid it today, but it's to late as my calls are barred, only incoming and it's getting a bit difficult moving around now without that wonderful creation called "mobile" phone...which has immobilized me here....

Leaving for Mumbai on 18.02.09

Yes all of a sudden my boss had informed me that I have to make a trip to Mumbai tomorrow and I would be with him for day there and then fly to Hyderabad for some work with my Auditor and Lawyer. I hardly had any time to prepare for the trip and I have a presentation to make to my company board of directors on my objective for the trip tomorrow afternoon before flying off.

It's like jumping from the frying pan to fire as I have no answers as regards to my objective but I know I have a lot of work to do when I am there with regards to tidying up the company accounts and other matters.

Besides the work, I should be able to do some shopping with regards to stocking my medicines, get a few books namely the best sellers, Indian sweets for my wife and finally get to bring back some of the things like my DVD, books etc, that I had left in Hyderabad.

I hope to meet up with friends too and finally get to relish the famous "Hyderabad Dum Briyani" and the kebabs.

Bad day at work

I guess it is one of those days where I won't forget as I had the pleasure of meeting up with a car repossessor. It was a cool affair, he was waiting beside my car Nissan X-Trail (Company Car) and informed me that I haven't paid 3 months instalment, I told him that my company must have forgotten as there are some new guys in the accounts department. But he was polite and I told him that I want to drive the car to my office which was close to the site and then talk to my accountant. He told me to sit down next to him as he had the keys and he drove me to my office.

At my office I informed them about the car being repossessed and so I was told to negotiate with them and finally we agreed to a certain sum, for them not to take the car and I assured them that the company would pay up the amount owed to the Bank.

In the evening, my accountant got the cheque prepared and had to look for my Director for his signature and tomorrow after another signature on the cheque and he will be in the bank to pay and lift the order for repossessing the car.

I guess they were a decent bunch of car repossessers as they waited with me and they left without the car. I could imagine, how difficult it would be for me to travel back and also to come to office without a car. But then who am I to complain on the company's blunder. Let this be a lesson for them, for me it is very simple, no car....no work at site.

The 11 Rules To Change Our World

Taken from Robin Sharma's blog and please pass this around......

1. You be the change you dream of seeing (Thanks Mahatma Gandhi). "If everyone of us would sweep their own doorstep, the whole world would be clean," observed Mother Teresa. She was right.

2. Make time every day to reconnect to your highest ideals and boldest dreams. Without hope, people perish. 

3. Leave every person you meet better than you found them. Life's too short to withhold encouragement and kindness. 

4. As I wrote in 'The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari", see every setback as a stepping stone and every problem as a blessing in disguise. Contrary to what critics might say, these are NOT corny aphorisms. They are timeless truths of humanity. (And critics are just people too scared to grow their dreams anyway - pay no attention to them. The world needs more people lifting people up rather than putting people down).

5. Go the extra mile in everything you do - you don't need a title to be a leader. And on your deathbed, you'll never regret expressing the best within you

6. Do what's right rather than what's easy. Being a great person isn't a popularity contest. Many of the greatest leaders were disliked because they refused to bend to the winds of public opinion. That's called Strength of Character

7. Care for your health. You elevate the world by elevating yourself and your health really matters. Why be the richest person in the graveyard?

8. Tell your kids they are geniuses - and how much you adore them. Each of us are born geniuses but lose that gift within the first 6 years of our lives as we adopt the fears and limiting beliefs of those around us. Your kids are the leaders of the future. Grow their potential. Now.

9. Learn something new every day. As you grow, you begin to see possibilities you didn't have the eyes to see before. Read from an inspiring book, listen to an audio program, visit a good blog, go to a powerful workshop or have a conversation with an elder. One idea is all it takes to transform your life.

10. Keep your life simple. Please. The secret to success and happiness is building your life around a few important things. The person who tries to do everything accomplishes nothing. As I recently mentioned on my blog, "What's the point in being busy doing the wrong things?"

11. Remember that life is a mirror and we receive what we give out. To get more joy, give more joy. To have more respect, give more respect. To realize your dreams, help others realize theirs.

P.S. I've written these lessons to help you make this year the single best year of your life yet. And to do my part to improve things. I need your help!

If you were inspired by The 11 Rules To Change Our World, you can inspire others - and do YOUR part to improve our world. My goal is to circulate this list across the world via The Net within the next few hours. TOGETHER we can touch so many people. Just circulate The 11 Rules to all those you know. Let's change the world by spreading good ideals rather than celebrating negative ones. Thank you.

When God invented law

Paulo Coelho

I AM someone who believes in the judicial system. Despite all the drawbacks, we see — for example — the US Supreme Court disqualifying torture as a method of interrogation, even when the President and his vice have, through legal artifices, tried to justify it.

Nonetheless, my belief is not shared by many people. A lawyer friend said to me, “The law is not made to solve problems, but to prolong them indefinitely”. Just to exercise my imagination, I decided to use his theory analysing Genesis, first book of the Bible.

If God were alive today, we would all still be in Paradise, while He would still be replying to pleas, appeals, letters rogatory, court injunctions or writs — and would have to explain at countless hearings his decision to expel Adam and Eve from Paradise — just for breaking an arbitrary law, without any legal grounds: not to eat the fruit of good and evil.

If he hadn’t wanted that to happen, why did he put that tree in the middle of the Garden — and not outside the walls of Paradise? If he were called to defend the couple, an experienced lawyer could allege the theory of “administrative omission”; besides putting the tree in the wrong place, he didn’t surround it with notices and fences, failing to take the minimum safety measures and exposing all who passed by to danger.

Another lawyer might accuse him of “inducement to crime”: he drew the attention of Adam and Eve to the exact place where it was growing. If he had not said anything, generations and generations would have passed through this earth without anyone being interested in the forbidden fruit — considering that it should have been in a forest, full of similar trees, and, therefore lacking any specific merit.

But Genesis happened before the judicial system and, therefore, allowed God to have full freedom of action. He wrote a single law, and found a way of convincing someone to break it, just to be able to invent punishment. He knew that Adam and Eve would end up bored with so many perfect things, and — sooner or later — would try His patience. He stayed there waiting, because also He — Almighty God — was bored with things working perfectly: if Eve had not eaten the apple, what would have happened that was interesting in these billions of years?

Nothing.

When the law was broken, God managed to get what he wanted. He expelled the couple, and their children ended up paying for the crime (as happens until today with the children of criminals), and the judicial system had been invented: law, breaking the law, judgement and punishment.

Taken from Deccan Chronicle 08.02.2009 Hyderabad Edition

Doctor jailed for Rs 25 (USD 0.50)bribe taken 24 years ago

Taken from Times of India Hyderabad Edition dated 05.02.2009.

Patna: A court here sentenced a 75-year-old doctor to jail for accepting 25 rupees (USD 0.50) as bribe nearly a quarter of a century ago, officials said on Wednesday.
The police had arrested Balgovind Prasad for accepting 25 rupees (USD 0.50) from a sweeper in 1985 for issuing a fake medical certificate.
The case dragged on for years and Prasad was convicted in 1992 and given a one-year jail term. However, he was freed after he appealed against the sentence. On Tuesday, a higher court in Bihar reduced the one-year term to three months, saying the bribe amount was too small, but directed the police to take Prasad into custody as he was guilty of the crime.
“The case was dragging and the bribe money was too small, so Prasad thought he would get a reprieve from the court,” prosecution lawyer Vipin Kumar Sinha told reporters after the verdict. “But all the charges has been proved against him.” REUTERS

I bet the lawyers fees and time spent in running between courts would be much higher than the bribe amount. The Government was actually spending more money in terms of court machinery and time in getting this case prosecuted. Why can't they just slap a fine or throw him into jail for a couple of days as punishment instead of wasting tax payers money in the name of justice and by the way "Justice delayed is Justice denied".

Man fined for drunken driving – on a horse!

A British man has been fined 185 pounds (approximately 13,000 rupees) for riding a horse while drunk. Godfrey Blacklin pleaded guilty for being drunk while riding the animal bareback,through the streets of Newcastle, England. 

    The Newcastle magistrates heard that cops found that Blacklin was slurring his words, and was unsteady on his feet. The large horse, called Bart, was held by a police officer for more than an hour near Wellbeck Road, while Blacklin was taken to a police station. “It is not a charge you see everyday. The police had concerns about him and, in the process of speaking to him, became aware of his intoxication,” a daily quoted constable David Thompson as saying. “The concern was that he was in control of a large animal where there were other road users. It was clear that he was drunk and that is definitely an offense,” he added. 

    Defending the charges, Blacklin said that he rode the horse as he knew it needed some exercise. “It is ridiculous. No one seems to have heard about a case like this,” he said. “I had been at my grandmother’s house before I went over to the stables, and I had drunk only a couple of cans of beer. Bart needed some exercise, so I took him out and let him have a loose rein, so it looked like I wasn’t in control,” he added. ANI

Sounds rather bizzare, getting fined for drunken driving a horse and what could be next....

Things that I have to do

Yes I started the New Year with some resolution but I can see now that it is like a distant past. I have broken all my resolution. One of the things that I want to do is cut down on snacking, my passion for fried peanuts. I know I am putting on weight around my waist and that has to stop (I mean the munching of peanuts) and also my passion for beer.... 

As they say as you get older it is that difficult to lose weight and I know how true the statement is. What else I have to do....I told myself I have to look for another job....and I am slipping away...

I just got a call from my friend on a job opening in East Malaysia...and I am going to send my resume afterwards...and hopefully attend the interview within the next couple of days.

So I guess I have to tackle my resolution one at a time....