Saturday, May 8, 2010

Happy Mother's Day Maa !!!

This Sunday, 9th of May, would be just another regular day for some, but we need not forget that it happens to be also one of the most important days for someone special - someone who was born a girl, matured into a woman, became a wife and then God who thought as if it was not enough, he needed  to be at so many places and thus needed someone to represent his own self - went on to sculpt the most wonderful thing - He created Mothers !

Whether it's a new mom, a mom-to-be or a grand-mom, it's a day where we all should stop for a moment, take a step back and wish the moms a very happy Mother's day ! It's the day to give these special ladies the much deserved recognition, a round of heart felt applause and warm hugs only to appreciate a simple fact - that it's the mother who has unselfishly been the center of the spinning wheel of our life. It's a day to treat them to something special and acknowledge the time, efforts and perseverance of our sweet moms who has endlessly committed to doing the very best for the ones she loves, and only expecting to receive that same love in return.

It's worth a thought to realize how the role of a mother has changed over the years. There was a time when a mom was expected to take care of the daily household duties, raise her children, take care of her in-laws, look after her husband's routine - on the whole - dedicate her life to her family - and that would make a great mother. Between the laundry, raising children, cooking 2-3 square meals a day, shopping and even housekeeping to an extent, mom's have had hardly any time to their own self.

Significant as it may seem, the role of a modern mother in today's world has now changed - changed but not to exclude the already mentioned duties, but in fact to include even more on her platter. A 2010 super-mom, as we may want to tag, is someone who alongside her family duties, also is expected, maybe to work, handle a business, seek out and resolve new challenges other than the regular motherly duties.

Put it in a simpler way - Being a mother is in itself a life-time full-time job !

So let's make it a point this Mother's day, if not gift our mom something extravagantly surprising, even if not treating her to something nice (for those away from their moms), but then at-least just wish her from the bottom of our hearts and thank her for a simply "awesome" job she has done all these years in handling kids like us !

Happy Mothers Day to you Maa !

Wishing you a very happy mother's day maa, as I hug you to say a great great thanks for all the wonderful things that you have done for me and for our family, standing firm and confident through the thick and the thin, and more importantly for keeping up with a naughty, hard-to-handle, prankster, debateful child like me !

Cheers
Samy

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Connect The Dots - Book Review !!!

The first glance at this new release sequel from Rashmi Bansal, and the book cover strikes a resembling chord with it's predecessor "Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish" - a book which talked about 25 IIM-A graduates who made it big. Of similar sorts, comes the "Connect The Dots" - a book that talks definitely about people who made it big, but those who actually did not pursue the path of an MBA and still managed to make their mark ! The title "Connect The Dots" has been derived from the same speech by Steve Jobs (@Stanford) where he mentioned about "Stay Hungry Stay Foolish".

People featured in this book are the not-so-well-known big guns of the industry but their stories and their endeavors are worth reading as to how they managed to fight their own way and carve out their own destiny in things that they believed did not need any formal educative knowledge or the accolades of being a MBA degree holder but survived only on one simple fact - Passion, hunger and the desire to succeed - come what may.

Of-course education does matter at some point of time, but the inspiring stories about these 20 entrepreneurs definitely makes one think twice (maybe thrice) as to whether the traditional way of following a path of education and then applying the formal knowledge is more fruitful or is it the unconventional, experimental, fearless option of saying no to a reputed degree and instead practically just throwing one's own self into the world of business turns out to be a more successful venture? 

Prominent names and their ventures covered under this title are:
Prem Ganapathy :: Dosa Plaza
Kunwer Sachdev :: Su-Kam
Ganesh Ram :: Veta
Sunita Ramnathkar :: Fem
M Mahadevan :: Oriental Cuisine
Hanmant Gaikwad :: BVG India
Ranjiv Ramchandani :: Tantra
Suresh Kamath :: Laser Soft
Raghu Khanna :: Cashurdrive
R Sriram :: Crossword
Saurabh Vyas and Gaurav Rathore :: PoliticalEDGE
Satyajit Singh :: Shakti Sudha
Sunil Bhu :: Flanders Dairy
Chetan Maini :: Reva
Mahima Mehra :: Haathi Chaap
Samar Gupta :: Trikaya Agriculture
Abhijit Bansod :: Studio ABD
Paresh Mokashi :: Harishchandrachi Factory
Krishna Reddy :: Prince Dance Group
Kalyan Varma :: Wildlife Photographer

These are real life stories of people ranging from such a diversified industrial background, people from Agriculture and Food, Politics, Photography and Theater, Software and Hardware, Re-cycling and Creative mediums, Cosmetics, Books and Education and even Housekeeping and Cleaning.

A good read I must say in my personal opinion, as Rashmi Bansal shines again with this yet another great book to learn about certain people's success/failure stories ! The book has been categorized in 3 major categories: Jugaad, Junoon and Zubaan !

Jugaad :: "These entrepreneurs have no formal training in business. They learnt by observation, experimentation and application of mind. Because ultimately, business is not 'rocket science'."

Junoon :: "Some entrepreneurs are driven by a particular idea, or passion. Something which is different, ahead of its time. These ventures are about making that dream, a living reality."

Zubaan :: "Creative people need a platform to express themselves. When that talent is unique, the platform must be created. And in doing so, the artist too becomes and 'entrepreneur'."

About the author ::
Rashmi Bansal blogs at :: Youth Curry
Connect The Dots Website ::  Click Here
Stay Hungry Stay Foolish Website :: Click Here
Follow Rashmi Bansal in Twitter at :: www.twitter.com/rashmibansal

Cheers
Samy