In Hindsight Vision is 20/20

I started my Company long back many years ago along with P (A friend's friend then - now 1 of the two I consider my closest friends). We were young, hard working and willing to the extra mile to make the business work. We got a big break within the first year and took in a lot of employees. We had to give24/7 support. We handled it well but still felt the need to employ a senior person to manage the show.

One of my ex-colleague, let's say K, was freshly out of job, and over talks we just decided to take him in.  As work started in  earnest I realized that my workload had increased instead of decreasing. K was making small mistakes in a number of places, which ended up having large impact. I was forced to double check everything and cover it up for him. I was getting desperate.

P noticed the incompetence of K, (P was the MD), and asked me to pull him up.  Instead I started defending K in front of P. A sense of loyalty played a part at my end. I and P ended up having a major fight. Employees were afraid. No one knew which of we both will get angry next. Some of the senior guys (age wise I & P were quite young), started advising us. I have to say that many of them meant well.

I continued in the rooms which I and P had rented, whereas P started sleeping in the office itself. We started avoiding each other. We were not on talking terms, and this was exploited by one specific person. By a strange twist of events, both I and P had put our faith on K. He played the part of "Narada" the instigator perfectly. He will create his own stories, and then carry our response to the other. Luckily for us, K got another job and left our company.

I was convinced that the end of the company  was nigh. I had planned to leave everything and go to Hyderabad where my parents were settled. P had the same plans for his hometown. One day, we met each other on the road and started walking around. Both of us remember the words, but don't accept who said it. One of us said, "Our greatest strength was we both could always sit down and discuss whatever be our differences. Why has it changed now?"
 We  discussed and openly asked each other questions. Slowly the many layers of  deceit started peeling off. We realized while we were the masters of  the company, there was a ring master who took both of us for a ride. 

Destroying that day's team was quite easy, but the same tricks will not be effective today. Now the team has been forged through fire and the trust level is too high as compared to anyone else. A system of updating each other on various issues established that day continues even now.

Hindsight: Get your info direct, do not respond on what outsiders (sometimes insiders too) have said.


DISCLAIMER: ALL  THE INCIDENTS REPORTED ARE THE IMAGINATION OF THE AUTHOR. IT DOES NOT CONTAIN ANY RELATION WITH ANYONE LIVING, PAST PRESENT OR FUTURE

National Herald Case

Salient points of NH case: 

1)Financial crisis forced Associated Journals Limited (AJL) publishers of NH founded by Nehru to close it down in 2008.

2)To pay off the employees & to help the closure congress party gave interest free loan of 90 crores to AJL.

3)With NH shut AJL had become mere real estate with properties in Delhi, Mumbai, Lucknow worth over 2000 crores. 

4)Against 2000crores  properties, AJL owed just 90 crores  to congress. Otherwise it had 0 liabilities. 

5)This 1910 crore property legally and morally belonged to AJL's 1000+ shareholders. 

6)If the properties had been auctioned, most of them would have got near 1 crore rupees. 

7)In Nov 2010 a trust co named Young Indians was set up with a capital of 5 lakhs.

8)This was 76% owned by mother-son duo. 

9)In just 3 months control of this 2000 crores was passed on to #CorruptMomSonDuo

10)Balance 24% of YI is held by Motilal Vohra & Oscar Fernandez

11)In dec 2010 congress assigned 90 cr dues from AJL to YI for just 50 lakhs. Congress wrote off balance of 89.95.

12)Just to be clear, at this time AJL OWED 90 cr to YI & YI owed nothing to congress.

13)To pay off this 90 cr, 99% of AJL were allocated to YI.

14)So using 50 lakhs, SoGa&RaGa became owners of 2000 cr properties with 0 liabilities.

15)Today the court (Delhi HC) has recognized it as a scam and told the two to stand trial as accused.


BASED ON TWEETS OF @SGURUMURTHY 

Abhaya - A new phase for Indian books

*****WARNING - MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS ******
I read the first novel of a new Author @sai_swaroopa, yesterday. Amazing book. If it had been an anonymous writer, I would have assumed a Dan Brown novel though based  in India.She leaves the more established Indian writers in the dust. A good novel, for me, should have a clear plot, with characters who live up to their build-up. This book has all the twists and turns to keep you hooked. Now for the Review (this is the first time I am trying a review, so please  excuse me for any faults):

This is the  story of a "Peoples Princess" -Abhaya - who really cares for all. She is forced to leave her home when it is destroyed. Her initial "villain" Anuvinda is the arrogant prince who tries to take her by force. Krishna (more mortal than God here), saves her. But rest assured, our heroine is not just a "damsel in distress". She takes refuge in the city of the Pandavas. After getting to know that a girl has been kidnapped by a cult,  she chases them and frees her up while joining the sect itself.

She still maintains her independence. The Mahadevi of the cult, (a good woman) tries various methods to make Abhaya to accept the cult completely. How Abhaya's brother along with his wife & mother(not Abhaya's mother) and  Krishna come to save her and how Abhaya still ends up accepting the cult's rituals has to be read & enjoyed.

Please do download the book at Amazon.in


@sai_swaroopa: Anuvinda seems to be a loose end. He was left in between. Maybe you can develop his character more in a future book.

This is the original Piece written by Chyetanya Kunte but later on he had to retract because of legal pressure from NDTV. I have posted it here for posterity & preservation since Google Cache may clear it anytime. (http://cuntradiktion.blogspot.com/2009/02/chyetanya-kuntes-original-blog-post.html)
Shoddy journalism

This is the original Piece written by Chyetanya Kunte but later on he had to retract because of legal pressure from NDTV. I have posted it here for posterity & preservation since Google Cache may clear it anytime.
Shoddy journalism

Appalling journalism. Absolute blasphemy! As I watch the news from home, I am dumbfounded to see Barkha Dutt of NDTV break every rule of ethical journalism in reporting the Mumbai mayhem.

Take a couple of instances for example:
In one instance she asks a husband about his wife being stuck, or held as a hostage. The poor guy adds in the end about where she was last hiding. Aired! My dear friends with AK-47s, our national news is helping you. Go get those still in. And be sure to thank NDTV for not censoring this bit of information.

In another instance, a General sort of suggests that there were no hostages in Oberoi Trident. (Clever.) Then, our heroine of revelations calls the head of Oberoi, and the idiot confirms a possibility of 100 or more people still in the building. Hello! Guys with guns, you’ve got more goats to slay. But before you do, you’ve got to love NDTV and more precisely Ms. Dutt. She’s your official intelligence from Ground zero.

You do not need to be a journalist to understand the basic premise of ethics, which starts with protecting victims first; and that is done by avoiding key information from being aired publicly—such as but not limited to revealing the number of possible people still in, the hideouts of hostages and people stuck in buildings.

Imagine you’re one of those sorry souls holed-up in one of those bathrooms, or kitchens. A journalist pulls your kin outside and asks about your last contact on national television, and other prying details. In a bout of emotion, if they happen to reveal more details, you are sure going to hell. Remember these are hotels, where in all likelihood, every room has a television. All a terrorist needs to do is listen to Ms. Barkha Dutt’s latest achievement of extracting information from your relative, based on your last phone-call or SMS. And you’re shafted—courtesy NDTV.1
If the terrorists don’t manage to shove you in to your private hell, the journalists on national television will certainly help you get there. One of the criticisms about Barkha Dutt on Wikipedia reads thus:

During the Kargil conflict, Indian Army sources repeatedly complained to her channel that she was giving away locations in her broadcasts, thus causing Indian casualties.
Looks like the idiot journalist has not learned anything since then. I join a number of bloggers pleading her to shut the f⋅⋅⋅ up.
Update: In fact, I am willing to believe that Hemant Karkare died because these channels showed him prepare (wear helmet, wear bullet-proof vest.) in excruciating detail live on television. And they in turn targeted him where he was unprotected. The brave officer succumbed to bullets in the neck.

Update 2 [28.Nov.2300hrs]: Better sense appears to have prevailed in the latter half of today—either willfully, or by Government coercion2, and Live broadcasts are now being limited to non-action zones. Telecast of action troops and strategy is now not being aired live. Thank goodness for that.
Update 3 [30.Nov.1900hrs]: DNA India reports about a UK couple ask media to report carefully:
The terrorists were watching CNN and they came down from where they were in a lift after hearing about us on TV.
— Lynne Shaw in an interview.
1. Oh, they have a lame excuse pronouncing that the television connections in the hotel has been cut, and therefore it is okay to broadcast. Like hell!
2. I’m thinking coercion, since Government has just denied renewing CNN’s rights to air video today; must’ve have surely worked as a rude warning to the Indian domestic channels

Read more on the reactions on the Indian blogger being silenced at http://globalvoicesonline.org/2009/01/30/india-blogger-silenced/