The Billionaire's Apprentice

I'm currently reading Anita Raghavan's 'Billionaire's Apprentice' . It's a rivetting account of how highly accomplished individuals with ivy league educations behind them fell prey to the seductive greed that seems to spread like old world plague in the modern world.

This is a fascinating real life rags to riches story of Rajat Gupta who rose to corporate greatness by his brilliance and untiring effort. However his fall from greatness to a convict is even more sharp. What drives a man to committ seemingly obvious blunders? Why do men go in search of more wealth when they have already got it all?

Perhaps in blind search of wealth, there cannot be ever enough. There are always billions to chase after you have made your millions. What is bizarre is a man of Rajat's pedigree and education never seemed to have considered the fallout of his deviations. How could he have mingled with the likes of Rajaratnam-the pot smoking wheeler dealer and shady hedge fund billionaire.

In retrospect, maybe he never thought he was doing anything wrong. Caught in the heady dance of success he appeared to have become brazen.

The other great characters in this strange tale-Sanjay Wadhwa, Preet Bharara and their team who bring Gupta, Rajaratnam and others to justice, complete the immigrant circle.

One of the most engaging books I've read.. As they say truth is sometimes stranger than fiction.

Amul's India

I recently got this delightfully nostalgic book-Amul's India based on 50 years of legendary ad campaign that put together a microcosm of India much like a slice of Amul butter!. Flipping through the pages,I was transported to decades that have gone by,with the little girl in polka dots portraying the hard and the good times with that impeccable sense of humor that has become the hallmark of the Amul ads and has created such an endearing connect with the common man.

This is one of my personal favorites along with scores of others..hats off to Amul!

I resume what I once started

I suddenly remembered that I used to blog once,haven't done recently. Writing to me is cathartic, it allows one to delve deeper,organize and express. I plan to restart this rather naive attempt of me trying to be an amateur writer. To me its like a workout for the mind, after all not everything  in life should be done for a purpose,profit or ambition. Somethings should be taken up just because you enjoy doing it- no peer pressure,no wild ideas of success and certainly no clamor for the end result for their is none. As they say, the journey itself is the destination.

Self Help

Self Help books are a strange deal- no doubt some of them like "The power of positive thinking" can be rated as a classic,however a vast majority of them fall into the terrifyingly mundane category.I was browsing through flipcart and noticed some titles like "life is what you make it","Power of subconscious mind" and so on and so forth.I have read my fair share of these and realized that mostly its an exercise in glorifying the obvious. Unfortunately self hep books are packaged like the numerous over the counter drugs promising to rid you of every ailment that you can think of at the pop of a pill.I don't need to read a book that says "The Secret" for I know that when it comes to self help there's none.The only person who can help is yourself.

The Bucket List - Final Scene

Absolutely fascinating....watch it!

A brief interlude

I realized that I've not signed into this blog for a while now,7 months actually. In the interim,my midwest journey continues as I am now in Omaha,Nebraska after a brief but incredibly busy stay at Minneapolis. Its yet another winter and the wind chill is immense here in Omaha.On a particularly frigid night,the mercury downed to -22 F,that's the coldest I've ever seen. Its better now,guess the benchmarks have been considerably lowered,20 F seems pleasant now!!.

Its a crazy world out there-an economic downturn getting worse by the day,Rahman and Sukhwinder opening the Oscar night and "Q &A"- a book I read late in 2005 is now a widely acclaimed,academy award nominted movie(Slumdog Millionaire). Rahman never ceases to amaze.Listen to "Arziyan" from the upcoming 'Delhi 6'....unputdownable if ever a song can be called that.

Ganguly and Kumble have bid goodbye from the cricket field,Sachin still going strong.The man and his undying love for the game-an inspiration always.

In the USA,Bush has left presidency and Obama has taken over. A spectacular orator,I just hope he lives up to all the trust and the hype.I remember watching the inaugration back in 2001. This time around it was big,millions turned out on a frigid winter day to celebrate a new President.

My little boy turned 1 back in Oct,how time flies. The seconds keep ticking and the business of life and existence goes on.....

An ocean of memories- Farewell Queen City!

When I arrived in Cincinnati on that balmy night in the summer of 2005, little did I know that this all American city in the mid west would be our home for the next three years. Well, time has literally flown and as I find myself days from leaving this fantastic city, I look back on my time here. Though professionally these were my most languid years, yet personally I think I definitely enjoyed my stay here.

We lived at the Harper's point community in Symmes township, nationally known for its excellent school district. This is a fantastic location,you walk across the street from the apartment complex and there are shops,restaurants, saloons...in short everything. There is another shopping complex right next door appropriately named "The Shops at Harpers Point" which houses a Kroger for grocery needs and a host of other shops and some very popular restaurants. All major brands, be it Best Buy,Circuit City,Sam's Club,Costco,Meijers... are right on the main Montgomery road, all within 5 mile radius.There is the excellent Bethesda North hospital a stone's throw away. If you want more choices, you could drive a couple of miles into Mason which has the picturesque Deerfield township center with a great array of shops and restaurants. In all the places I have lived in the US, I have never come across such easy access to all conveniences one needs in daily life. My work was only 4 miles away in Mason. So the setting couldn't have been any better.

Another fantastic place which we frequented during our stay here was the Sharonville park- over 700 acres of lush greenery housing a lake,beautifully maintained grounds,a golf course,fishing and picnic areas and the ever so popular children's play area.All this less than four miles from our home. Cincinnati's park system is enviable- thousands of acres of greenery and lakes with walking trails and picnic areas for families. The much bigger Miami Whitewater park is also nearby.

Downtown Cincinnati offers many great outdoor locations. The Cincinnati Museum is a spectacular structure which offers visitors various displays round the year and also houses the breathtaking Omnimax with a gigantic 360 degrees screen. I have seen some memorable nature documentaries here. The Titanic display which I blogged about in 2006 was also here and featured actual artifacts from the most famous ship in history.

The Newport on the Levee - the Ohio/Kentucky riverfront is also gorgeous specially in summers. It features an array of shops and restaurants on the riverfront offering picture perfect views of the Cincinnati downtown. You could drive into Kentucky and enjoy scenic views of Cincinnati across the river.There is the famous purple people's bridge which is a complete pedestrian zone and also offers climbing for a fee during summers. We spent many a pleasant summer evening enjoying a stroll here.

The Khron conservatory was another of my favorite places with its annual butterfly and flower show being a crowd puller.Cincinnati's zoo - the second oldest zoo in the nation is also fabulous though it was not a pretty sight watching polar bears in climate controlled areas when the outside temperatures soared.Another very popular retreat - the Paramount's King's Island entertainment park in Mason is also stupendous though we never made it there.

Every summer Cincinnati hosts the Western and Southern financial Tennis tournament featuring the top players in the world.It was a privilege to watch some of the biggest names in Tennis live here-Roger Federer, Andy Roddick, Serena Williams. Also got to see Sania Mirza playing Patty Schneider here back in 2006. The two regrets I have is I missed an opportunity to watch Tiger Woods when he played in Pittsburgh in 2007 and never made it to the Indy500/F1 in Indianapolis- about a 100 miles or so from here.

We also made several long weekend trips in and around- to the Cumberland lakes and forest,the enchanting smoky mountains and national park in Gatlinburg, Tennessee,the Memorial day trip to Sandusky and the Put-in-bay island in 2007,Hocking hills, the Red Indian serpent mound, the riveting Air Force museum in Columbus....

Cincinnati in winter is also very nice because it does not get pounded by snow as much as some of the other states. It does get very very cold but during my time here there were only a couple of snowstorms every season. I did get caught in traffic during one of those and it took me a marathon three hours to complete the four mile journey home!

I had a wonderful time and would love to be here sometime again.Though I was itching to move from here for a while, it was more due to professional reasons. Over the remaining few days I plan to take pictures of all the places I talk about here and do a picture blog and also video tape the local area.

Thank you Queen city,the wonderful people I met here, the friends we made...you all are part of a memory which will last a lifetime.Many years from now I would love to come back and visit all these places where we spent these memorable years.

So long Cincy...be well...Adieu!