Wit Wisdom and Whoop

The Defining Moment in POTUS 2024 Elections Enough and more is being debated and discussed about the victory of Donald Trump in the USA Presidential elections. Here is my take on the issue. Before the elections, one felt that Trump had a chance but given his unpredictable behaviour, was most likely to lose. Further, it was obvious that the left socialist deep state did not want him in the White House. The popular expectation was that the deep state would use the election system to legally rig the vote in favour of the democrats. With Joe Biden as the opponent, his chances were optimistic. Then suddenly Joe Biden nominated Kamala Harris in his place and walked away into the sunset. At that time – she had everything that was perfect based on what we heard/read – Black, Woman, Active proponent of LGBTQ, Abortion etc. Soon the Hollywood glitterati and Silicon Valley corporate honchos officially endorsed her. Given the long line up of big names, a very partial list here, her winning was a f...

Incidents have happened, there is blowback and only time will tell how this will end in the short run and in the long run. The long run is what is more troubling, and it is not about what happens to Israel/ Palestine/ Gaza/ Iran/ Lebanon, but how the incidents that have unfolded will impact global security and even life. Again, rewinding to early 2001, my first trip to USA. Landing late at New York airport I ran like a maniac trying to catch my connecting flight, jumping, dodging. Later during the same trip, hopelessly lost in Washington DC, I managed to reach Dulles airport literally minutes before my flight was to depart. Once again, I ran, jumped, dodged and literally entered the aircraft even as the flight attendant was closing the door. Everybody, including the flight attendant were either sympathetic to my run or at best mildly irritated. 4 months later, September 9/11 happened and life as we know it changed. In a post 9/11 era, I would have been shot dead within seconds in b...

First, lets rewind to 1985-87 and what happened to the Indian army on its “Peace Mission” in Sri Lanka (termed as India’s Vietnam) as the Indian Peace Keeping Force. For the only time in its long history, they got “clobbered” and returned with a bloody nose, they failed, no peace was achieved. The army deployed close to 100,000 soldiers which was far more than what they deployed in the Kargil war. India officially lost 1,165 soldiers, 3,009 wounded and the body count of LTTE, never known. What is however known is that about 5,000 Sri Lankan’s were killed. The balance sheet reads as 4,174 – 5,000. This would be unacceptable to any army anywhere globally. The strategy of LTTE was to have a large group of women and children in front as they confronted the Indian army and it is common knowledge that the Indian army was ordered to fight with one hand tied behind its back so to speak. Read this account by a senior commander who was in the operations to know how churches, temples, children,...

Ratan Tata – Man Extraordinary Reams have been written and spoken by many, and most are based on their interactions with this great man – so I, who have never met him, can add little except for what I call the WiFi connect with the person and what his name meant. The closest I came to meet him but failed to do so was at the wedding of a friend’s son in December 2015. The Tata group, 156 years old, was established in 1868, by Jamsetji Tata. It remained a clutch of businesses till 1917 when Tata Sons was created. While Jamsetji and his brother Dorabji were Chairman of the “group” for 36 yrs and 28 yrs respectively, the Tata name became a real group only around 1917. JRD Tata created the Tata group in the real sense, consolidated it over 53 years and when he died in 1991, it was still a sum of various parts and a group at the same time. During that period, it was essentially Indian, and Tata was not a “brand” in the classical sense. It was more a personal name with Jamsetji & later a ...

After the elections in 2014 and 2019 when BJP obtained majority, one did expect a certain level of anti-incumbency. The opposition had come together in an intelligent manner. There were no contentious issues that could have helped or harmed BJP. Abrogation of Art 370 and Ram Mandir inauguration gave BJP some talking points. Yet the results were such that the debate was, the opposition, especially Congress had won. The mood created by media and BJP supporters within themselves was one of despondency and defeat. The opposition, especially Congress and Rahul Gandhi carried the day even if BJP had been the victor. How true is this perception? For long Congress leaders kept talking of how more than 60% of India “rejected” BJP because the vote share of BJP was between 30 to 40 %. This same logic when applied to Congress, it had been rejected by 55% of the voters in the first election held after independence. Even in 1977 when everybody had come together to cobble up the Janata Party, they ...

A brief thought as I complete 2 years dealing with many folks in a new role - as consultant - very different from as a employee since my own way of dealing with them changes. The reader looking at this from a employee/sales person eyes versus the more neutral eye can understand my comments better. At one level very often these head honchos want to use a consultant to independently endorse their ideas so that they can get their shareholders/ family/ others to accept them. Some decide to jump on a horse that looks to be the flavour of the day and expect the consultant to make that happen. Some others think the consultant is their operating manager who will given them the results while they go on a "vacation" and when the penny drops blame the consultant for not giving them results. One lot don't listen to the advise given, do their own thing and then when they stumble, hurting themselves expect the consultant to make the pain go away. There are some folks who thrive and are...

Quite a long time back when I first got the opportunity to sit in a company board meeting, I noticed the Chairman making a strange remark as he opened the board meeting. He used to say something like – “Please unhide your hidden agendas and keep your vested interests outside”. Young, intrigued I finally summoned enough courage to understand this from some other seniors and got a lesson I have never forgotten. He said that be it a person or an organisation, in many a situation, they have a stated intent and a real intent. Meaning that when they approach a situation, they explain what is their intent which would be more popular, acceptable and palatable to the audience but the real intent could well be very different. Most likely the real intent would be self-defeating or unpopular. In this just concluded election for the Lok Sabha we saw this happening in full flow and to my mind the BJP likely missed reading the message. It is not as if I have some inside information but am using log...