Category: Business

18 # Year 2015’s Resolution- Read/Listen Books

by Rudra, posted in Business, Culture, General Interests, Spirituality, Wisdom of Living

WARNING : LONG BUT USEFUL BLOG

Dear Readers

This is the end of the year and I am about to cross my annual book reading/listening target of minimum 20 books a year as reading is one of my resolution for year 2015 and will be forever in my resolution list.

Due to time and other commitments, I couldn’t read any of the books through physical copies but thanks to modern day storytelling via audio books, I was able to  listen 28 books till date.

Here is the list of books which may interest you if time is the constraint to you.You can use your commute time to listen such wonderful books.

  1. Jaya -An Illustrated Retelling of Mahabharata by Devdutt Pattnaik  – Wonderful peace of ancient epic covering all the stories some of them which you may not have ever heard of with different / logical perspective however it appears that it is high influenced by Wendy Doniger’s ideology and works showing derogatory views on Hinduism.
  2. Business Sutra – An Indian Approach to management by Devdutt Pattnaik – An Indian way to understand the management, very interesting illustrations and simple language.
  3. 7 Secrets of Shiva by Devdutt Pattnaik – An approach to explain Lord Shiva- An Indian Supreme Deity and his incarnations in simple logical way however it appears that it is high influenced by Wendy Doniger’s ideology and works showing derogatory views on Hinduism.
  4. Yatharth Gita (Bhagvad Gita) by Swami Adgadanand – Explaining Bhagvad Gita in its true meanings for life, more for spiritual growth and about winning internal war within your mind. Very different than stereotype Gita explanations. I actually ended up listening more than 3 times. MOST Recommended.
  5. Chanakya’s New Manifesto by Pavan K Verma – Very good book explaining India’s core problems and its possible solutions. Author is very well known ex-bureaucrat and politician.
  6. Asura : The story of Ravana & His Men by Anand Neelkanthan – A good book if you want to fantasize that Ravan was the victim of Brahim atrocities. This is fiction books which may have little historical facts embedded in it. Well narrated sending subliminal messages however it appears that it is highly influenced by westen liberal (breaking india) ideology showing derogatory views on scriptures, social fabrics and false fault lines.
  7. Ajaya : The story of Kaurava Clan by Anand Neelkanthan – Similarly a good book if you want to fantasize that Kauravas were innocents. This is also fiction having little facts sequenced in. Great as fiction book.Well narrated sending subliminal messages however it appears that it is highly influenced by westen liberal (breaking india) ideology showing derogatory views on scriptures, social fabrics and false fault lines.
  8. Krushnayan : Story of God Lived as A Human by Kajal Oza Vaidhya – A fiction novel imagining Lord Krishna’s feeling while he was leaving the earth as human. Very well narrated and I fell goosebumps even in some narrations.
  9. Stri – Lecture by Kajal Oza Vaidhya – A lecture recording speaking about Gujarati/Indian women, her attitude and empowerment.
  10. Gita : Karma and Destiny by Kajal Oza Vaidhya – A lecture on difference between Karma and destiny,which one comes first Karma or Destiny. Very interesting explanation those who are looking for the answers. Fresh perspective to those who wants to know about Karma and Niyati (Destiny).
  11. Gandhi and Celibacy by Kajal Oza Vaidhya – A lecture on mis interpretation about Gandhi and his actions especially on celibacy. Gandhi lovers/haters must listen to this.
  12. Scarcity and Childhood by Kajal Oza Vaidhya – A very emotional lecture addressing to the kids of orphanage and schools who live in scarcity. Wealthy/ advantaged must listen to this to have an empathy and compassion for disadvantaged ones.
  13. Draupadi by Kajal Oza Vaidhya – A lecture on the spirited woman character of Mahabharata, her empowerment and message to modern age women and men.
  14. Personality of Krishna by Kajal Oza Vaidhya – A lecture on character of Krishna and his personality explained in epic Mahabharata.
  15. Bringing Up the Child by OSHO Rajneesh – Osho speaks in response to a question about the right way to help children to grow without interfering in their natural potentiality.
  16. The Oath of Vayuputras by Amish Tripathi – he Oath of the Vayuputras is the final Audio book of the Shiva Trilogy. In the earlier Audio books of the trilogy, Shiva finds out that the Nagas are not his enemies and joins hands with them to reach the root of all evil.
  17. Chanakya Neeti by Chanakya –

    Chanakya was not gifted with beauty or looks, however, he was gifted with intelligence, creativity and statesmanship. He is the best administrator to be born to date. The greatest strategist of his time, his hard labour, perseverance and guidance bore fruit to Chandragupta Maurya and who became the Emperor of the great Mauryan Empire.
    Chanakya served as his Prime minister and he is still known for his great wisdom, far -sightedness, power of persuasion, manipulation and spreading dissension.Chanakya Neeti is a treatise on the ideal way of life, and shows Chanakya’s in depth study of the Indian way of life.
    ‘Once you start working on something, don’t be afraid of failure and don’t abandon it. People who work sincerely are the happiest.’ – Chanakya

  18. My Journey : Transforming Dreams into Actions by Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam -Transforming Dreams Into Actions documents the life of a young boy from Rameshwaram, who not only became a renowned scientist in India, but also held the highest post that the country could ever offer. Through the course of this book, Kalam tells his readers about key events in his life that brought him to where he is, today. Kalam doesn’t only talk about him being India’s former President, but as a boy, son, student, and scientist. Kalam’s hometown, Rameshwaram, was indeed a serene place to dwell.A very motivational piece of stories about his life.
  19. Gautam Buddha by Rahini Chawdhary – Very unknown facts about the life of Gautam Buddha starting from before his birth to after his death. Referenced from Pali Cannon. Very interesting to know more about Gautam Buddha.
  20. Swami Vivekananda by Devika Rangachari – I have read Swami Vivekananda’s biography many many times since my childhood however haven’t read from last 10 years which gave me fresh source of inspiration and energy. A great read with all facts about the life of Swami Vivekananda- The youth monk of modern India.
  21. Turning Points : A journey through challenges by Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam– Dr. Kalam spoke to the PM, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, his life was set for an unexpected change. Turning Points takes up the incredible Kalam story from where Wings of Fire left off. It brings together details from his career and presidency that are not generally known as he speaks out for the first time on certain points of controversy. It offers insight not only into an extraordinary personality but also a vision of how a country with a great heritage can become great in accomplishment, skills and abilities through effort, perseverance and confidence. It is a continuing saga, above all, of a journey, individual and collective, that will take India to 2020 and beyond as a developed nation.
  22. Wise and Otherwise by Sudha Murthy – As a chairman of Infosys Foundation-philanthropic foundation, Sudha Murthy come across to variety of people with variety of situations. Their lives and incidents are well narrated in simple language.
  23. The Day I stopped Drinking Milk by Sudha Murthy – As a chairman of Infosys Foundation-philanthropic foundation, Sudha Murthy come across to variety of people with variety of situations. Few incidents which made Sudha Murthy to stop herself drinking a milk. Very emotional narration to the heart touching incidents happened to her.
  24. Stay Hungry Stay Foolish by Rashmi Bansal– The story of 25 such IIM Ahmedabad graduates who chose the rough road of entrepreneurship. They are diverse in age, in outlook and the industries they made a mark in. But they have one thing in common: they believed in the power of their dreams. This book seeks to inspire young graduates to look beyond placements and salaries. To believe in their dreams. A good read to those who wants to take knowledge based entrepreneurship.
  25. Connect the Dots by Rashmi Bansal – The story of 20 enterprising individuals without an MBA, who started their own ventures. They were driven by the desire to prove themselves. To lead interesting, passionate, meaningful lives. Their stories say one thing loud and clear. You don’t need a fancy degree or a rich daddy to dream big and make it happen. It’s all in your head, your heart, your hands.
  26. I have a Dream by Rashmi Bansal – This book gave me a motivation for my further course of life. The story of 20 idealists who think and act like entrepreneurs. They are committed to different causes, but they have one thing in common: a belief that principles of management can and must be used to achieve a greater common good. These stories say one thing loud and clear change starts with one person, and that person could be someone next door. Someone like you.
  27. Poor Little Rich Slum by Rashmi Bansal – What we think of Dharavi a biggest slum of Asia . Just a filth, poverty and deceases . We are wrong. I was wrong. One little two little three little Indians, four little five little six little Indians, seven little eight little nine little Indians… One million little Indian entrepreneurs. These are the stories of the little people who make up the Big Idea of Dharavi. A slum of energy, enterprise and hope.
    Where every hand is busy, every head held high.Where people could be miserable but choose to be happy. A choice each of us can make.
  28. Enterpreur -5pm to 9am by Kanth Miriya – You have a job. And an idea for a business. What do you do then? Crisp, reader-friendly and practical, Entrepreneur 5 p.m. to 9 a.m. tells you how you can become an entrepreneur even if you have a full-time job and are risk-averse. With facts, flowcharts and illustrations, this is a fast and super-useful read through which you will come away with a clear and solid roadmap for converting your idea into a viable enterprise and taking your venture from zero to launch. To be very honest this is the last book I am going through for the year but it is not as interesting as all of the above. This could be my experience only.

The transformation I have found in myself and my thinking is enormous and can’t explain it in words however can tell you one thing for sure that the person I am now was not before. Started to love my own company. I become very inclusive to the various perspectives. I hope it will keep transforming in upward spiral.

I am hungry and I am foolish.

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Happy Reading to All

13 # Chanakya Niti: Fruitless Acts

by Rudra, posted in Business, Culture, General Interests, Nation, Profession, Society, Spirituality, Wisdom of Living

 

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“One, who try to teach the fool disciple; nourish and protect the wicked wife and keeping the close relationship with the depressed one, will be at pain regardless of being Pandit (Wiser).”

Chanakya is trying to highlight the importance of fruitless acts which may cause you the pain here.

The fool person described here is about the dumbness of the disciple but this is more about the unwillingness to change oneself and negligence towards the acquisition of the knowledge surely gives the pain to one’s teacher or Guru because if one who is not willing to learn, how could anyone teach to oneself. It will just increase the pain of the person who tries to teach disciple but he can’t because disciple doesn’t want strive for it which will fill the heart of even very wise person with guilty of not teaching the disciple properly.

 
The wicked wife, who shows no love, dedication and sacrifice for the household then surely she will cause a pain to even a wise householder. The love comes with care, dedication with commitment and sacrifice with empathy. If wife doesn’t care about the family, how family will survive as the woman can do multitasking and she was considered the mother goddess of the house in ancient India. If she doesn’t have commitment towards the home for nurturing the family then how can family be happy and grow it should be grown. If she is not willing to forego her personal passions for family good then how can she will understand the value of controlling the streamlining passions for the family good which will eventually be her fortune too. Absence of these important qualities for cohabitation will lead the wise person’s house to the insensitive cohabitation and eventually cause intense pain to even wise person.

The depressed person mostly spreads the depression as the personal filled with negativity and no hopes. He doesn’t trust himself or someone else. Helping the depressed one with material things like money and food does not last for long until internal transformation happen which is hope and blissfulness. If one stays with the depressed one the repetitive negativity will affect the wise person too. Constantly being in contact with such a person will lead to initial few random negative thoughts then he starts to contemplate on those negative thoughts which prevent the person to think in the positive perspective of the matter. This state of mind leads a wise person to the depression and hence pain.

 

Radio Article #4 An interview of an Indian Gujarati living in Tropical North Queensland

by Rudra, posted in Business, Culture, General Interests, Nation, Profession, Radio Program, Society

રેડિયો અંશ # 4  વિષુવવૃતીય ઉત્તરીય ક્વિન્સલેન્ડ માં રહેતા ગુજરાતી સાથેનો  સંવાદ

Listen my radio segment about an        interview of an Indian Gujarati living in Tropical North Queensland on 24 June 2015 on SBS Gujarati.                                                  
મારો રેડિયો અંશ સાંભળવા નીચેની લીંક પર ક્લિક કરો       

http://www.sbs.com.au/yourlanguage/gujarati/en/content/migration-story-amit-patel
Or listen the podcasts SBS Radio App

Also please like SBS Gujarati Facebook page and give us feeback/ comments on the programs of SBS Gujarati.

5# Management Concepts : Dharma – The Absolute Duty

by Rudra, posted in Business, Culture, General Interests, Nation, Society, Spirituality, Wisdom of Living

Dharma is the term with multiple meanings in the Hindu,Buddhist,Sikh and Jain philosophy. It is a central concept of the way of living.

Dharma translates into the duty, law, righteousness, rights, conducts, order, model or virtues. Dharma in a simple way can be described as personal righteous duty.

For example, Earning for family is a Dharma of family head. Working in the interest of the employer is the Dharma of an employee.

In more details, Dharma is moral responsibility of the person in the context of the society he/she is living in. For an example, An employee sees his employer earning out the profit by anti-social or anti-national ways. It is employee’s Dharma to educate or stop the company’s decision makers about their acts affecting their social and national responsibilities. another one ,

The nation’s Dharma is to protect their citizens and prosper but not in the cost of others’ sovereignty, environment and other resources.

So Dharma’s definition vary for person to person and it is complex however the one, who is conscious about the world,nation,society,family,environment and shared resources, shouldn’t have problem to distinguish the absolute Dharma from relative Dharma.There will be always relative Dharmas in your way while you will be thinking of the absolute Dharma.

When the person who put his/her self-interest before the general interest and affecting overall population is called relative Dharma, Absolute Dharma bent for self-interest is called relative Dharma. For example, A thief steals to feed his/her family. It is his/her Dharma to feed his/her family but not by the cost of anybody’s resources via wrong ways. The absolute Dharma is to feed one’s family but it shouldn’t be by wrong ways.

How to check your Dharma?

Think of Universe First then World then Nation then State then Community then Family then lastly Yourself. It may give you more clear direction to choose your absolute Dharma.

I hope you all will pick your absolute Dharma for yours and whole universe’s betterment.

If you like this article please feel free to give me feedback for my self-improvement.

4# Management Tactics: Indian Street Shop Businesses

by Rudra, posted in Business

In almost every business, the regular customers and their loyalty is a major motivational factor in longer terms. In India during 1990s, I have noticed some of the small amateur street vendors followed some management tactics unknowingly to run their businesses successfully which are modern management theories.

Particularly Indian small towns today and 20 years back, the local street shop businessmen always made me wonder for their ” earning enough ” street shop businesses.They were doing good 10-20 years back in cut-throat competition.

Now I could analyse the few common tactics and business policies they were using to keep their customer loyal and happy.

  1. Attitude of  “Customer is God “: I have seen motto or attitude in small shops ” Grahak Bhagvan Hain/Chhe ” literally means “Customer is God” which resembles current day sales management theory of “Customer is Always Right”. This attitude always lead to best customer service and providing what customer wants not what you want to sell. In the shops all customers felt special and satisfied one-on-one customer service. The kids were given a seat and sometimes free chocolates while mother was shopping so kids wont get irritated and mother can take a bit longer time to shop.
  2. Close and longer term relationship with customers : The grocery or vegetables were used to be home delivered by the vendors if you couldn’t go to the shop during monsoon season or any other reason.As a regular customer the vendors also remembered you and in case you didn’t have money to pay him starightaway the vendors still let you go with the stuff you wanted with the condition of pay them back in month or two time.This approach is similar to the today’s supermarkets who runs customer credit cards and loyalti programs if regular customer won’t be able to pay on the spot in some cases.
  3. Thin profit margin with high turn over : This is one of the main businesss tactics common in southeast Asia and Indian subcontinents. Due to lower profit margin and wholesale buying overall price were low and everybody could afford it. It was noticed that who were well above average in affordability would have bought more because it was cheaper so turn over went up due to high consumption.This approach is analogous to today’s supermarket’s sales tactics….lower the price higher the turn over.
  4. Local advertisements : Local events and festivals were sponsored by these vendors to promote their products especially food industry. The “opening of the shop” ceremony used to be completely free food event so all invited guests could come and have a feel of their food. Some of the successful businessmen who had a food chain in the town used to keep side dishes free upon buying a main dish to pull out the crowd to promote their new venture for a year or so.In other product shops upon “opening ceremony” free food event was used to be there but people would buy their other products as a curtesy on the day of opening. Current days I find many bakeries and other companies keep product promotions but not entirely free though.

There may many more points to be discussed about these business tactics.

I still wonder how businessmen were using modern era management theories in their businesses in 10-20 years back. I believe this is just a complete cycle of knowledge transfer  .The old theories get researched and polished to suite new era demands and they are generally showcased as modern theories.

Thanks for reading this blog..

I would like to get your feedback and comments about my blogs for selfimprovement….