Mahatma and the Jalebis

Year 1850, Delhi was the central hub of Indian Culture and tradition. Red Fort and its big walls ruled the city and was the pride of Delhi. View of Jama Masjid and pigeons sitting on top of the tombs and huge terraces added to the scenic beauty and smooth flow of Yamunna behind the fort added to the serenity. Big grounds around the fort were always filled with people enjoying kite flying or sitting in groups betting on bird fights. Crowded and neatly decorated bazaars and food shops presented the other side of the city. Standing tall at Lahori Gate and looking down at the city you can see the bi-lanes and people sitting outside pan shops or below a tree enjoying a scented hukka and sharing lines of urdu poetry.
At one of these lanes called 'Mithi Galli', Gulabi Ram owned a sweet shop. Gulabi Ram was famous for the ‘Jalebis’ which he and his family had been making from decades.
Every evening he would put up a canopy outside his shop; place some wooden stools for people to sit. He himself would sit on a bit elevated shop floor, next to a big black 'kadai' in which he would make his jalebis. The 'kadai' seems as old as Gulabi Ram himself with years of oil burnt and stuck on outer side. Gulabi Ram himself was a big fat man of 50. He was always seen in his trademark off-white kurta and blue check dhoti, and was famous for his shrewdness and arrogant behavior.
Whatever it was, but his jalebis were very popular. No one could pass the shop without having a bite or two. From kids to old people every one used to come to his shop everyday and return satisfied. Gulabi Ram always felt proud of his popularity and used to think that he could even make dead people wake up and have his jalebis. Many a times he used to have bet with people where they have to stand outside the shop without eating them for one hour. No one could remember if he ever lost. Such was his glory that shopkeepers around him used to say that he is the sugar in this 'mithi galli'.

One day a 'Mahatma' happened to pass by the ‘mithi galli’. The God man was medium but strong built. Dark Saffron color dhoti and kurta added to the grace, turban on the head matched the color of the dress. He had a glow on his face which he had got after years of meditation and yoga. An aura of calmness and purity surrounded the man who had given whole of his life in search of God.

Mahtmaji felt a strong aroma of saffron and rose in the air. He soon realised that it was coming from the jalebi shop, and immediately decided to have a look. As he went near he could see people enjoying jalebis and praising the shop keeper. Mahatmaji saw big display of round saffron color Jalebis stacked one over other. Rays of sun falling on the jalebis added an extra sparkle to them. The air smelled sweet and jalebis looked just crisp and inviting.
'4 anna for a kilo, Mahatmaji' came a voice from the shop. Mahatma immediatly went down to his kurta pocket to take out some money only to realize he was not carrying anything. Mahatma had a look at the jalebis again. He gave a disappointed smile to Gulabi Ram and decided to back off. The sweet smell was very intoxicating and it was having his effect on him. But he had no option but to turn back and walk away. He turned around a few times to take a look at them. The picture of jalebis and its sweet smell just got imprinted on his mind.

The same night Mahatmaji left for his ashram in Dehradun. Somehow all along the journey he kept thinking of the jalebis he so dearly wanted to have. He finally reached his destination in few days and got busy with his daily activities. But the feeling of not having jalebi had not left him. He thought of having some other sweets, thinking that it will satisfy its urge but nothing could make the feeling go away. He was not able to concentrate and meditate also. Every time he tried to close his eyes and find peace, picture of sparkling saffron jalebi would haunt him. He tried his best to divert his mind but nothing was working. A week had passed and feeling was getting stronger day by day. He had completely lost his peace of mind and concentration.

He thought to himself what those jalebis had that he became slave of them so easily. It had made him week and somewhere inside him he was cursing himself of not being able to control his desires. Years of practice of self control and brahmcharya, all had gone waste. He could hear his inner voice getting stronger. But somewhere he thought that it was only jalebi, he's not committing any sin that he should be ashamed off or feel low about. Inside he was completely torn into two parts. One which constantly reminded him of jalebis, and one which was telling him to be strong. It was this self control and strong will that had made him leave the worldly desires and chores. But after years of separation, the desires were back to haunt. Mahtmaji could feel his heart was getting heavy and he had to so something, and it had to be done fast. Right at that moment he decided to go back to Delhi. Delhi, where the jalebis awaits, where his destiny awaits.
Finally after 2 days of long journey he reached ‘mithi galli’. Strong aroma which he had felt few days back felt even better and stronger. He could count his steps as he approached the sweet shop. From distance he could see people standing and eating jalebis. There was a sense of urgency in his walk, almost running and hurriedly he reached the shop. Gulabi Ram was sitting and handing over jalebis to other people standing around.
'Mahatmaji how much?' said Gulabi Ram with a smiling face. 'one killo' said the mahatma handing over 4 annas to Gulabi Ram. Gulabi Ram neatly packed hot jalebis for Mahatma and slightly got up to hand them over. Mahatma extended both his hands to take them. He had a big smile on his face as he took a long look at them. 'I knew you would come back. No one crosses this shop without having them. You were the first one and now I will tell everyone that even big mahatma cannot resist my jalebis. Big kings and generals come and have jalebis from here only.' Mahatma could feel the sarcasm in his voice.

Mahatma gave him a smile and nodded his head, as to confirm and support Gulabi Ram's words. He then moved his gaze from Gulabi Ram to look around. There was a small boy standing near the shop. The boy was standing a bit away from shop but was constantly staring at the jalebis with hungry eyes. Mahatma turned towards the boy and went straight to him, got down on his knees and handed over the packet to the boy. 'Go and share it with your friends' said Mahatma in his calm and smiling voice, moving his hand on the boy’s head. The boy ran away with the packet. Gulabi Ram was watching all the events from a distance. Mahatma got back on his feet and turned towards Gulabi Ram. Gulabi Ram was looking puzzled and trying to understand what he just saw. Mahatma gave him a smile and took a big sigh of relief, as if the burden he was carrying all along had been taken off. He raised his hand as if to give blessings to the master of sweets. Gulabi Ram was standing with his hands folded and accepted the blessings by slightly lowering his head. Mahatma turned back and started walking in the opposite direction without even looking back. From the side you could see his sparkling eyes and smiling face which just tasted the sweetest thing in the world.

War of the Messengers

One of the biggest news of the week, Microsoft and Yahoo join hands and join user base to communicate across their messengers. The news is welcomed across the community as it combines two very popular services into one creating one of the biggest user base in the messenger domain.
The messenger world is clear now and various hidden camps, friends and foes are out. On one side we have MSN-Yahoo alliance, on the other side we have very popular AOL, e-bay owned Skype and fast catching Google Talk.

Benefits from the alliance
By joining hands MSN and Yahoo have created a huge user base which can communicate with each other seamlessly. You can talk to your friend having a yahoo account while you are using your MSN Identity. This is a huge advantage for the giants as they can now concentrate on winning the market, rather finding means to fight each other. Together, specially the kind of money they have, they can give a new meaning to the messenger services.
On the other side AOL who has the biggest market share, had earlier refused to open up its messenger, but the alliance surely has send bells ringing.
e-bay owns very popular net telephony Skype. Skype though comes under communication domain and competes with other messengers for users, but it still stands out in terms of the technology and usage.
Google Talk, someone may not have got addicted to it, but surely would have tried it. Anything that carries the brand name 'Google', surely gets the attention and a huge user base. It’s a nice product and Google has also urged other small vendors to come and join them. But the response is nothing as of now to go by.

Will AOL respond to Google call? The move looks unlikely. E-bay has already distant itself from Google especially after its payment service launched in competition to PayPal.

The war to me seems to be the first step of more and bigger battles; to gain more internet user base, provide more services and retaining consumers. Whatever it be things are surely getting hot and next few weeks we can expect some more announcements from all the camps, the advantage is surely on the consumer side, who are getting all the smiley's in their messengers.

LITTLE Johnny's BIG Joe Problem

Little Johnny was very happy today, and he had every reason to be. Finally his long cherished dream was getting fulfilled. He turned major just 3 months back, had passed the driving test and was one of the youngest bus drivers around. As he was handed the bus keys he knew he had kept the promise he made to his dad, who himself had earned a name by driving people in and out of the village.Every one knew Little Johnny, a subdued character, thin, tall fellow, blue eyes, long unkept blonde hair, a small red cap which was always with him ever since people could remember. He had learned to live life happily , all by himself , specially after those long years in school where he was a constant target of bully and pranks. But then that was then, now he was a proud driver of a big yellow bus, which he would drive around, across the lush green fields of the village into the concrete jungle of the city.
On the first day of the duty, he made two up and down trips from the village to the city. He had taken up the duty of both driver and ticket conductor. Everyone who boarded the bus took the right ticket to their destination and congratulated him. He could hardly hide his smile throughout the trip. He drove smoothly, stopped at every bus stop, helped pessangers with getting off, was particularly careful with women and children. It was just the perfect beginning he wanted. Next few days went on well, he was now settling down in his role and could almost remember everyone who boarded the bus.
It was just another regular day for Little Johnny, as he went from one bus stop to another. At one of the bus stops' he saw a large crowd standing and waiting for the bus. He stopped gently keeping some distance from the crowd. One by one people stared boarding the bus. As he sat giving tickets to the passengers, he felt a sudden tremor, as if something heavy had been placed by the main door. He tried to peep through the crowd and saw a huge man standing by the door. He was triple the size of Little Johnny, thick french beard and was bald. You could easily mistake him for a wrestler. Passangers took each of their tickets and kept moving on. Litttle Johnny was a bit scared to ask him for the ticket. Somehow he mustered up all his courage and asked him 'Ticket sir'. 'Big Joe does not need a ticket', came the stern reply. He could sense the arrogance and his immense strength in the voice. Little Johnny swalloed hard and turned around back to the wheel. From the corner of his eye he could see Big Joe sitting on the first seat, with hands folded across his big chest and firm muscular stomach. Sensing him sit so close and given his impudence and audacity of not buying a ticket, poor Johhny was rattled. He could hardly hear the cars honk on the street nor the cries of people on the road. The smile which he always carried on his face had suddenly deserted him. The only thing he was doing was to look straight ahead and drive hard without turning back to look at the people getting on or off the bus. It wasnt untill the last stop in the city when Big Joe finally got down that Little Johnny sighed , the life that was ebbing out of him was slowly flowing back in.
Things continued to be the same the whole week. Everytime Little Johnny asked for a ticket he kept getting the same stern reply 'Big Joe does not need a ticket'. So petrified Johnny had become that he stopped asking Joe for the ticket, Big Joe used to board the bus everyday but never got himself a ticket.
After a hectic day Little Johnny reached home. Tired as he lay on his bed he thought of all that was happenning with him for the past few weeks. Big Joe was tormenting him , he had no respite , Big Joe was haunting him. Big Joe was so monstrously big and strong that Little Johnny could visualise him stopping a STORM by just standing in its way, well one couldn't blame Johnny for his wierd imagination , such was the impact BIG Joe had made on LITTLE POOR Johnny. No one in the village knew much about Big Joe. The very thought of Big Joe was weakening Johnny. It was resurrecting the old ghosts that Little Johnny believed all this while that he had vanquished, memories of his old school days when he used to run to his dad to hide from his bullying friends. But he had no place to run now. 'Be strong and fight it yourself' he recollected his father's words. At that very moment he decided that he was going to be like Big Joe. He would work out every day, become strong and big like Joe, then he would ask him for a ticket. Then he would like to see how Joe would refuses him.
From the very next morning Johnny made the gym his close accomplice - he started working out everyday. Days melted into months. People had already started noticing the difference. Little Johnny was no longer "LITTLE"... he was "putting" on muscles and was already feeling good about himself. But still there was a long way to go to be in the same league as Big Joe.

'Naughty Jack' boarded the bus one day.'Naughty Jack' had been Little Johnny's nemesis as long as they were in school, and words couldnt express how much Johnny wanted to get even with Jack the Rascal as Johnny adressed him . He with his vociferous friends got into the bus, seeing Little Johnny in the driver's seat, he glanced at his friends and made a mischevious gesture. Everything looked ominous; a showdown looked imminent. 'Ticket' said Little Johnny keeping his cool, 'We'll buy it tommorow' said Jack in a jeering tone and then started walking off. Suddenly he felt a strong force that was pulling him in a direction opposite to which he wanted to go . Little Johnny was holding Jack by his forearm . Little Johnny looked right into his eyes and rasing his voice a bit said 'Then better come tommorrow'. There was sudden silence in the bus. Naughty Jack felt the resistance , the steely grit, the resolve in Johnny's voice that was hitherto missing, as he looked at the passengers sitting in the bus, he could feel that all of them were with Johnny. He reached his pocket took out a cent and handed over to Little Johnny. 'It can only take you to the next stop. Make sure you get down safely' said Johnny in a slightly contemptuous tone as he released his hold and turned back to the wheel.Little Johnny felt a sudden rush of joy. The Smile which he had lost for quite some months now was adorning his face again. More than anything else , it was a huge morale victory for him. He always knew he had a tough side to him but some how he never managed to surface it and finally it was there. Johnny continued with his workout and followed them with a vigorous determination. He dreamt of the day, which seemed unbelievably close now , when he would hold Big Joe by his arm , stop him in his track ,then stare him in the eye and ask for the ticket. He wanted to see the same fear , the sense of helplessness , the feeling of embarrassement and surpirse as he had seen in Jack.
One year passed by and Johnny had grown from a small subtle character to a big strong man. He knew the day was not far when he would stop Big Joe and punish him for his indignity , right infornt of everyone. But the problem was that Big Joe had been very irregular of late. Johnny had been looking forward to "Judgement Day", as he called it now, but somehow the days kept crawling by but there was no sign of Joe .Finally the day of reckong did arrive - Johnny saw his man standing at the bus stop. His conscience , his inner voice told him that the day had finally come. He slammed the accelarator and careened the bus towards Joe and the slammed the brakes hard as the bus came to a screeching halt by Joe's side.Big Joe was startled by Johnny's driving and he boarded the bus mutterring something under his breath , it was clear that he was displeased by Johnny's rash driving. 'Ticket' said Johnny strecthing his vocal cords to produce a dominating effect. 'Big Joe does not need a ticket' came back the reply. As Big Joe started to step ahead, Little Johnny held him by his left hand. 'And why dosen't Big Joe need a ticket' said Johnny slightly increasing the pressure on Joe's wrist. Johnny heart was beating hard but he tried to maintain his calm demeanour. Big Joe was taken by surprise. He turned around to take a look at the driver and gave a puzzled look. He went down his pocket to take out his wallet. Johnny could sense that the final frontier was about to be his , sweet victory was his , Joe was sinking...... Big Joe rummaged through his wallet trying to find something. He took out a small card from the wallet and presented it to the driver. 'Beacuse Big Joe carries a monthly card' snapped Big Joe in a frustrating tone, thrusting the card towards the driver for him to have a closer look. Johnny could feel that whole bus stairing at him and he slowly let go of his grip and turned back to his driving wheel. Big Joe walked ahead nodding his head and murmuring something to himself and Johnny felt the same rush of blood which he had felt when the first time Big Joe had boarded the bus.
Many months have passed now, Big Joe still carries a bus pass and boards the same bus. But the driver has changed.

Though the story was not a happy ending for Little Johnny but he realized one fact 'Make sure you have a problem at hand at the first place before going all out to solve it.' Though Johnny had the motivation and determination to solve the biggest of problems but ultimately it did not serve him well , there was no point wasting all of it at something which never existed.

Why?

Sometimes it feels so good
just to stand next to the road
watching people passing by
don't know where they came from
and don't know why?

But then it feels better
to walk on the road
watching people standing by
still don't know where they came from
and don't know why?

Its been same story ever since
every one walks every one stands
but no one will ever know
where we came from
and the reason why?

Soaps, boxes and a fan to blow

This is particularly a nice story I got my hands on to. The study is about a soap manufacturer and how automation helped them reducing their defect rates and employee bonus too.

This company manufactured soaps, had state of art manufacturing unit and assembly line. Soaps were made, cut into cubes, packed into each of their small boxes. All this while soaps keep moving on the assembly line from one step to another. At the end of the assembly line they used to drop in a bigger carton. This carton was then sealed and passed on to the customers. The complete cycle had very minimal human intervention.

All was well and going fine when one fine day they received a complaint from one of its customer that some of the soap boxes in the carton were empty. Complaints became more frequent with more customers coming back with same problem. Top management could sense that customer satisfaction was going down and they needed to act fast.

Senior executives and managers got together to discuss the issue. Every one came with their ideas and support. Someone suggested using lasers to check if the box is empty, if it is so it should be moved out of the assembly line to a separate line. Another suggested creating a region on the assembly line where they can weight the soap, if the weight is less then expected, the box should be moved to a separate line. After days of discussion, analyzing the statistics and Cost-Benefit ratio, taking into account employee's productivity rate they finally decided to implement the laser mechanism. Complete assembly line was modified in the next one month, while workers worked manually all this while to remove the empty boxes to make sure no more complaints are reported.

Finally the system was tested and was ready to use. Change had proved successful beyond expectations and lasers were doing what they were supposed to. Top management was really happy to see the result and customer satisfaction going up. But all this had come for a price. It had cost the company a hefty bill and employees had to do away with their quarter bonus.

At the end of the first week since new installation, CEO decided to go around the factory floor and do some inspection. He wanted to check out the workers and see how they must be relieved to see the new technology in place and how it has improved their efficiency. Though at the back of his mind he knew that workers were a bit upset because of the loss of bonus, but he could not wait to hear the good things from them. He went around the factory, before deciding to speak to the man standing at the end of the assembly line. He thought to himself who else can be the best person to ask for comments than the person who has been in the firing line.

He went near him and asked 'What do you feel about our new Multi-million dollar; Six Sigma approved robots and lasers?' The worker looked at the CEO with a disgusted expression but did not say anything. 'You must know that it has a success rate of 99.9%.' said the CEO expecting a response this time. The worker gave him a hard look and said 'I kept telling them give me $50, I will get a fan, put it right next to me and it will solve the problem by 100%'. The CEO was taken back with the response, but as top managers do he maintained his gesture and said 'This is a centralized air conditioned unit with no single particle of dust. What do you think your $50 fan would have done?'. The worker gave a sigh, looked calmly into the eyes of the CEO and said 'It would have blown away the empty boxes'. CEO realized he has stepped on the wet soap bar and has slipped a long way.

Sometimes most complex problems have a very simple solution, its just about finding the right fan that can blow it away.

World does need a Superman

30-06-2006 Superman Returns to the screen and I jumped on the opportunity to see it the same day. Pretty neat effects I would say. But the thing that caught my attention were the lines 'World does not need a Superman' and 'World does need a Superman'.

Who symbolizes to be a Superman? A super human having extra-terrestrial powers, is strong both physically and mentally, courageous, strong will and determination to stop the evil. He rises to the occasion when required the most. And off course he wears a tight suit and has a hair style which never gets out off place even if he flies at the speed of light!!!

We see people around us who we say and idolize as super-humans, they may not possess extra-terrestrial powers but they have got all the other traits that superman has. History and present is full of example of people who have proved them selves to be super-humans showing great grit and commitment, strong will and determination to achieve unthinkable.

People like Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, and Mother Teresa have shown great leadership qualities, high values and principals. There lives have moved and changed lives of billions of people.
In the field of art and music people like Leonardo da Vinci, Mozart, Beethoven who despite being hearing impaired wrote the world’s best symphonies. Shakespeare’s writing and plays still stand unparallel from ages. These people have shown dedication and persistence to achieve greatness in their respective field.

In the more present scenario we look around the corporate world we see and hear more super human stories all around. Michael Dell started what is know as 'Americas most admired company' in his hostel room. Lakshmi Mittal born in a very modest family in India is now termed as the 'Steel King'. Steve Job's rise to the glory is nothing less than a super human effort. Bill Gates and Warren Buffet transition to world's richest man is the proof that nothing is impossible if you have strong will to achieve your aim.

Every one has its own different success story, but all have few thing in common; strong faith in themselves, dedication to their work, zeal to go extra mile when it requires, never stopping and never getting tired, keeping the motivation and fire on to achieve what they dreamt off. Fearless of failure and ready to pounce back strongly when faced one.

All these qualities make them special, make them super humans. And world does need these super humans to remind us that superman did not come from a far galaxy but is one of us, there's one inside every one of us.