How to Do Daily Planning ?

A poet once said, “The most powerful time is when you are alone, thinking about what you are to do rather than the doing itself.” You’ve been reminded many times, “A stitch in time saves nine.” Daily Planning is the time you ought to set aside each evening to plan out and take control over the most precious resource at your command, the next twenty-four hours. Done correctly, Daily Planning is not an expense that will cost you time but an investment that will pay you back many times over the time invested.

Here are four important steps to follow each day during your Daily Planning time.

1. Create a To Do list of everything you “have to” do and everything you “want to” do during the next day. If you want to manage it, you have to measure it first. Add actions steps to take care of your commitments and responsibilities but also include other action items to help you to balance your life more effectively and achieve more of your goals in each of your Seven Vital Areas: health, family, financial, intellectual, social, professional, and spiritual.

2. Review every item on your To Do list and ask yourself three questions with regard to each item:
1. “Is this the best use of my time?” If it is, plan to do it. If it isn’t, try to figure out a way to delegate it.
2. “Is there a better or more efficient way of handling or completing this item?” For example, combining telephone calls and making them all together.
3. “Is there anything I can do in advance to prepare for this task?” Do you need supplies or information from another to get it done?

Most of the time I cannot delegate my tasks, find a better way to do it, or do anything to better prepare for it, but I can always find a few ways to improve. Whatever those improvements are, add them to your To Do list as action items

3. Review any Appointments and Scheduled events you have planned for the next day and ask yourself the same three questions you asked in step #2 above. As you review each commitment, determine if it is the best use of your time. Maybe you are scheduled to attend a meeting that has little value to you. Try to get excused. See if there is a better way to handle each commitment. For example, instead of an actually meeting with someone, are you able to fax, email, or call that person instead?  Can you do anything to better prepare for it? If you have a doctor’s appointment, are there questions you can write down to ask the doctor. Whatever these improvements are, add them to your To Do list as actions items.

4. Prioritize your To Do list. Place the number “1” next to the most important item on your list.  Place the number “2” next to the second most important item. Continue prioritizing the entire list. You now have a To Do list of all the items you “have to” do, but, more importantly, all the items you “want to” do, including action items to help you achieve your goals and better life balance and make your appointments and scheduled events and To Do list items flow more smoothly. 

The process of Daily Planning will save you more time in the long run than what you spend to do it and will increase your daily productivity each day.

* This post is based on personal experiences

Unethical Behavior - It's Impact on Today's Workplace - REF: "MARUTI SUZUKI" DIRECT RECRUITMENTS OFFER.

It is a sad truth that the employees of just about every business, in every business, will occasionally encounter team members who are taking part in unethical behaviors. Such unethical behaviors include a wide variety of different activities. Among the most common unethical business behaviors of employees are making long-distance calls on business lines, duplicating software for use at home, falsifying the number of hours worked, or much more serious and illegal practices, such as embezzling money from the business, or falsifying business records. 



Though there is sometimes a difference between behaviors that are unethical and activities that are actually illegal, it is up to the business itself to decide how it deals with unethical behavior - legal or not.

Many employees find that discovering unethical behavior among co-workers actually tests their own values and ethical behaviors. After all, unethical behavior that is not illegal frequently falls in a grey area between right and wrong that make it difficult to decide what to do when it is encountered. Furthermore, different people have different views regarding what is ethical and what is unethical. 

For example, some people feel that it is alright to tell a little "white lie", or to make one long distance call on the company's nickel, as long as they can justify it in their mind.

When employees discover other employees doing something that they know is wrong by the company's standards, their own sense of what is right and what is wrong instantly comes into question. That employee needs to consider how s/he feels about that particular activity, as well as informing about that activity, or turning a blind eye.

Even by deciding to do something about it, the employee who has discovered the unethical behavior is presented with a number of difficult choices. Should the employee speak to the individual directly, or should the employee head directly to a company supervisor?

To make this decision a bit easier, many companies have adopted several techniques that allow for the management of unethical activities. The first step is to create a company policy, in writing, that is read and signed by each employee. This erases most feelings of ambiguity when it comes to deciding what to do after witnessing an unethical behavior.

The second is to give a clear outline of what is expected of the person who has discovered the unethical behavior. It should include the person who should be contacted, and how to go about doing it. With clear instructions, there will be less hesitation in reporting unethical activities, and then they can be dealt with quickly and relatively easily, before they develop into overwhelming issues.

Furthermore, the repercussions of unethical behaviors should be clearly stated. This way, both the person doing the activity, and the witness to the activity will be well aware of the way that things will be dealt with, and there won't be any risk of someone not reporting unethical behavior because they're afraid that the culprit will be unfairly treated.

Communication is key in the proper management of unethical behavior in today 's workplace.

Example:

MARUTI SUZUKI INDIA LTD (MSIL)

Head Office Maruti Suzuki, India Limited 

Nelson Mandela Road, 

Vasant Kunj, New Delhi-110070  

Board no.46781000 

Email: [hr@marutisuzukijobs.co.in] 

Tel: +91-1130164000 (10:00 AM TO 5:30 PM)

REF: "MARUTI SUZUKI" DIRECT RECRUITMENTS OFFER.

It is our good pleasure to inform you that your Resume has been selected from naukri.com for our new plant. The Company selected 62 candidates list for Senior Engineer, IT, Administration, Production, marketing and general service Departments, as well as Company offered you to join as an Executive/Manager post in respective department. You are selected according to your resume in which Project you have worked on according to that you have been selected in Company. The SUZUKI Company is the best Manufacturing Car Company in India; The Company is recruiting the candidates for our new plant in Pune,Bangalore, hyd and Mumbai.

Your Appointment Interview Process will be held at Company HR - office in Nelson Mandela Road,Vasant Kunj Delhi  –3rd of December 2012.

You will be pleased to know that Company has advise you in the selection panel that your Application can be progress to final stage. You will come to Company HR office in Delhi. Your offer letter with Air Ticket will be send to you by courier before date of interview. The Company can be offering you as salary with benefits for this post 50,000/- to 4, 00,000/- P.M. + (HRA + D.A + Conveyance and other Company benefits. The designation and Job Location will be fixing by Company HRD at time of final process. You have to come with photo-copies of all required documents.

REQUIRED DOCUMENTS BY THE COMPANY HRD.

1) Photo-copies of Qualification Documents.

2) Photo-copies of Experience Certificates (If any)

3) Two Passport Size Photograph

You are to make a REFUNDABLE cash security deposit of Rs.16,700/-(sixteen Thousand seven Hundred Rupees) as an initial amount in favor of our company accountant name in charge of collecting payment. This payment covers Registration, Interview, insurance, Processing & Maintenance charges. The refundable interview security deposit of Rs. 16,700/- should by paid through any HDFC BANK Branch closer to you to our company HRD accounting officer in charge. HRD Account officer information will be provided to you upon your response to this mail.

REASONS FOR INTERVIEW SECURITY DEPOSIT: This is a measure we have taken to check bogus applications from unserious candidate who applies for job and we send them offer letter and air ticket and also make the above mentioned arrangements in other to give them a comfortable interview and they fail to appear for interview which is a huge loss to the company and the interview becomes shabby and hence we fail to recruit the needed manpower. But with your security deposit we will be assured that our expenses will not be wasted.

Please do comply with us as your refundable security deposit will be returned to you in cash immediately after the interview is over at the very premises of the interview.

NB: You are advised to reconfirm your mailing address and phone number in your reply and also reply email or call to collect account details to make deposit. This Company will be responsible for all other expenditure to you at the time of face-to-face meeting with you in the Company.

The Job profile, salary offer, and date -time of interview will be mentioned in your offer letter.

IMPORTANT NOTICE:

Last date for security deposit is 2^nd DECEMBER 2012. The earlier the deposit is made the earlier your position will be secured by the Company HRD -direct recruitment manager.

Regards,

Mr. Aiko Hiroko

Tel: +91-1130164000 Email: [hr@marutisuzukijobs.co.in] 

HRD -direct recruitment office

MARUTI SUZUKI INDIA LTD (MSIL)

Source: e-mail received on Mon, Nov 26, 2012 at 8:05 PM

HOW TO GET A JOB IN HALF THE TIME

When I received my degree in human resources in 2007, our graduation speaker told us we ought to plan on three or four jobs in our careers. When my friend graduated from college just a few years ago, his graduation speaker predicted that they ought to plan on three or four different careers in their work lives. Today, the average person changes jobs every three years. Job change is one of the less desirable tasks we must perform in life, right up there with a root canal, for many. Why? We don’t like rejection. We don’t like to be judged. And as if we only played golf once every three years or so we wouldn’t be too good at it, so if we go through the job seeking task every three years or so, we probably are not going to be comfortable with our skills.

There are lots of resources to help in networking, sending resumes, and interview preparation. Let’s discuss here how to do all that in half the time.

First, if you were out of work tomorrow, voluntarily or by choice, how long would you estimate it would take you to secure your next employment? We never know for sure, but it is important to form an educated guess so that we know what we are up against. To find out, talk with 5-10 people who have recently gone through the same type of job search you are about to do. Ask them how long it took to secure their new positions. You will quickly get a sense of an average length of time it is likely to take. Let’s assume that for your objective, in your industry, at your skill level, and desired geography, it takes about 90 days to successfully complete the new employment campaign. Certainly you may beat those averages or maybe take considerably longer, but it is useful to know a range of probability.

Next, analyze the three building blocks for getting a new job. It starts with resumes, targeted to specific recipients. This leads to interviews done well. Get enough good interviews completed and you will receive offers.

Let’s assume you would like to have three offers to consider. How many interviews does it take, in your area, to get one offer? Few really know. How do you find out? Talk with 5-10 people who have recently secured the type of job you want and ask how many interviews they conducted and how many offers resulted. Talk with hiring authorities for your type of position and ask how many interviews do they typically conduct to generate one offer. Let’s assume you have ascertained that it takes, on average, five interviews to get one job offer. If your goal is three job offers, you need to create fifteen interviews.

How many resumes does it take, on average, to generate one interview at your job objective level? Don’t know? Most don’t. How do you find out? Ask. Who? Talk with 5-10 people who have recently secured the type of job you want and ask how many resumes they had to send out to secure one interview. Talk with hiring authorities for your type of position and ask how many resumes do they typically generate for your type of job and how many interviews do they extend? Let’s assume you have ascertained that it requires ten resumes to generate one interview. If your goal in fifteen interviews, you need to send out 150 resumes during your campaign.

Why go through all this? Job-hunting is a sales operation. Like good sales people you need to know your “numbers.” If you don’t know your numbers, the temptation is to “work hard,” in the blind, not really knowing how far along you truly are on the path to that new position. And when you just don’t know, it builds in stress, fatigue and fosters discouragement.

Now having determined that it takes, on average, three months to complete the job search campaign, knowing that you need to circulate 150 well placed resumes, you now have a monthly goal of 50 resumes or approximately two per business day. So what’s your goal tomorrow? Get out two targeted resumes. Does that get the new job for you? No. But when you go to bed tomorrow night, you know you have taken the right first step on this journey. A week later, you have sent out ten resumes, received three rejection letters, and no interviews. Are you discouraged? No, you’re on target. You’re developing the quantity to get to the quality. You understand your numbers.

So, how do you get a job in half the time? Double the daily output of targeted resumes sent from two per day to four per day. You will “expose” yourself in the quantity necessary in half the time and increase the probability of getting the required quantity of interviews and resulting job offers in significantly less time.

It’s a victory for the country after spending Rs.100 Crore : Ajmal Kasab hanged

Ajmal Kasab lived and died a pawn—first of evil and crazed men like Hafeez Saeed, and finally of Indian political plotters (though their interest was only in the ‘when’ of his death).

So Ajmal Kasab is dead. Hanged by the neck till death at 7:30am on Wednesday at Yerwada jail, almost four years to the day that he burst into Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, guns blazing. By Indian standards, justice has been swift.

Tickers of spontaneous public reactions running at the bottom of the screen on TV news channels, one supposes, reflect the general reaction to the execution. A few of them would surely strike some people as macabre. “Hurrah!” read one. “At last!” “He should have been hanged the next day!” said another.

So were some of the responses from 26/11 survivors, when they were asked if they felt a sense of closure now.”This should have happened years ago,” said a doctor. “I had in fact offered to your channel that you bring Kasab to your studio and I’ll demonstrate how he can be killed instantly by lethal injection.” “Closure?” said a lady. “I am jumping up and down in joy! The fear that I went through that night has never left me. Especially since it was also my birthday. This year I can again celebrate my birthday with complete happiness!”

Others were more circumspect. “A foot-soldier has been hanged, but has justice been achieved? No,” said a gentleman. “We have executed merely a pawn in this terrorism game, while the chief planners and perpetrators of terrorism are roaming free and every day saying terrible things about India. There is no reason why we Indians should celebrate like the Americans did when they got Osama bin Laden. If the government wants us to believe that justice has been accomplished, that’s far from the truth.”

The government had obviously worked out the timing carefully. Hanging Kasab on the anniversary (if that is the right word) of the attack would have been stupid and barbaric. But getting it done five days before 26/11/12 is a clever communication attempt. Both the Union and Maharashtra governments can even hope that the usual discussions that take place around this time every year about the massive bungling by senior Mumbai police officials that could have saved some lives, and the entirely inadequate response of the then-Home Minister would be muted. Even the callous reference to the tragedy by the state home minister, that “accidents happen in big cities” may be forgotten. Though it was the same man who made the official announcement of the execution on behalf of the Maharashtra government.

Above all, the execution comes just as the winter session of Parliament is beginning, and this session promises to be tumultuous. Reminds one a bit about the case of Yakub Memon, co-conspirator in the 1993 Mumbai blasts, who was arrested by the CBI under mysterious circumstances just before Independence Day in 1994. Mysterious, because Yakub was most probably arrested by the Kathmandu police in July and then brought to India and produced by the CBI as their catch just before then Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao addressed the nation from the Red Fort).

Thus, one can’t help get the feeling that Kasab, the deluded terrorist, has lived and died as a pawn—first of evil and crazed men like Hafeez Saeed, and finally of Indian political plotters (though their interest was only in the ‘when’ of his death). His body will, of course, remain unclaimed (India has sent the customary request to Pakistan to take the body back, but that request will be ignored), and he will be buried in an undisclosed location like his nine other companions on that night.

This does not in any way mean that I do not support Kasab’s death sentence. If anyone ever deserved it, it was Ajmal Kasab. But 11 years after the Mumbai blasts, four years after 26/11, we are no closer to striking a decisive blow to the medieval fanatics and criminals who mastermninded the deaths of hundreds of innocent Indians. I mean no disrespect at all to the men and women who died in these attacks, and their families and loved ones. But rejoicing over any hanging is morbid. And rejoicing over this particular one is also naivete, something that we can hardly afford in our fight against terrorism, which is not going to end very soon.

Information: Livemint

Bala Saheb Thackeray: The Proof of Leadership is found in the followers.

This was the situation I have observed yesterday on ABP News when people were giving their obituary to Shiv Sena President Late Shri Bala Saheb Thackeray.

Bala Saheb proved that the true measure of leadership is influence – nothing more, nothing less. If you don’t have influence, you will never be able to lead others. So how do you measure influence?

20 lakhs devotees during his funeral!

People have so many misconceptions about leadership. When they hear that someone has an impressive title or an assigned leadership position, they assume that he is a leader. Sometimes that’s true. But titles don’t have much value when it comes to leading. True leadership cannot be awarded, appointed or assigned. It comes only from influence, and that can’t b e mandated. It must be earned and the same leadership has been showed by Bala Saheb Thackeray with entire India.

When the Real Leaders Speaks, People Listen

Bala Saheb Thackeray is remembered as an outspoken man of action and proponent of the vigorous life. He didn’t become a great leader overnight, either. His road to the Shiv Sena presidency was one of slow, continual growth. As he served he is various positions, he kept learning and growing. He proved himself, and in time he became a strong leader. That was further evidence that he lived by the Law of Process.

According to Bala Saheb, every past success and failure can be a source of information and wisdom – if you allow it to be. Successes teach you about yourself and what you’re capable of doing with your particular gifts and talents. He was a true navigate for Raj Thackeray and Uddhav Thackeray.

Bala Saheb was examined the conditions before making any public commitments. I think when you prepare well; you convey confidence and trust to the people. Lack of preparation has the opposite effect. You see, it’s not the size of the project that determines its acceptance, support, and success, It’s the size of the leader. That’s why I say that anyone can steer the ship, but it takes a leader to chart the course. Leaders who are good navigators are capable of taking their people just about anywhere.

Why We Divorce?

Time Management only has to do with making up a good “to do” list and following through. Right? 

Not really. Time Management has a lot more to do with what we are NOT doing rather than what we ARE doing.

Good Time Management requires that we get what we “have to” get done but, more importantly, what we “want to” get done.

This requires balancing our lives in all of life’s Seven Vital Areas: Health, Family, Financial, Intellectual, Social, Professional, and Spiritual. If we are out of balance on one (never mind two or three!) it is going to adversely impact on the other legs.

There will be about 2 million marriages in the country this year. Isn’t that nice? And there will be 1 million divorces. For the last thirty years, I have been a Professional Speaker and also an attorney and I have participated in over 200 divorces, representing an equal number of men and women in all age groups. (And out of the 200 divorces I have been involved in, I have never represented the party who was at fault!)

Why is marriage and divorce a Time Management issue? Well, let’s say you are 25 years old, you get married, and now, 20 years later, at age 45 you are going through a divorce, all so common in our culture. In one day in divorce court, you give up over 50% of everything you have ever worked for in your adult life through a property settlement. Now that’s good Time Management.

It is so much like the squirrel, hoarding the nuts in his tree while someone is drilling a hole in the bottom of the tree to steal his bounty, but the squirrel doesn’t pay attention to the drilling sound. He is so caught up in doing it the wrong way, he cannot find time to plan how to do it the right way.

And the cause of divorce? You typically hear reasons like money issues, “he has a girlfriend,” “she drinks too much,” etc, etc. But in my experience, 95% of all divorces are caused by one thing. A lack of communication.

The average working business professional spends, on average, just two minutes per day in meaningful communication with their spouse or “significant other.” I don’t know about you, but I can’t get out my story let alone hear what my wife Nancy did in her day in just two minutes. (Interesting to note also that the average working business professional spends less than 30 seconds per day in meaningful communication with their children. That’s just a bit more than, “Hi. How was school? Good. Do you have homework? Go do it. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

Now, when we go back to the beginning the relationship that preceded the marriage, was the couple communicating? Sure. Why? Because they were spending time together. They were going places together, laughing together, crying together, doing this thing called “communication.” And then what happened? After the wedding, “something came along.” Lots of “something’s” came along. He was busy traveling and she was busy getting her degree, and the kids, yes the kids, and like two ships in the dark, we frequently pass each other daily with only slight notice.

I am not who I was five years ago, nor are you. I am not who I am going to be five years from now, nor are you. Don’t you think that this is true about that special person in your life? Of course and without substantive ongoing communication we tend to grow apart and then one morning at the breakfast table one asks, “who is that stranger sitting across from me and who is the young pool boy she’s with…we don’t have a pool.”

NEAT NETWORKING

So you want to significantly increase your personal productivity and success in all areas of your life? You can go it alone or enjoy the help of others.

Networking is a major Time Management tool helping us to learn from others, getting introductions more easily, and saving precious resources of time and money in the process. I have accumulated five “Neat Networking” suggestions that might help.

1.      Make the List. There is power in writing things down rather than trying to remember everyone you know. I use a software contacts program to help. Who do you include? Everyone. Everyone you know, everyone you have met. Don’t just copy the white pages from your local telephone directory. “Contact” means you have had “contact.” Add everyone to the database. Leave no one out. Include name, address, and contacting information. The average person can easily come up with an initial list of over 1,000 contacts. Sounds unlikely? Start with your family, then your neighbors, and co-workers. How about the co-workers from your last job(s)? Your high school and college graduating classes and the teachers you had. You belong to a professional association, a club, a church? The bank teller, your dentist, your bookie, they all go on the list.

2.      Categorize the List. This is when a contacts software program is really useful. Identify those who are friends, those who are acquaintances, customers, suppliers, politicians, professionals, or those who enjoy golf or tennis. The more categories you can place people in, the quicker you can access the right contacts. Through my database, there is not a problem I cannot get answered for myself and those whom I want to help.

3.      Feed the List. Once you create the list you have to continue to feed it. Update, correct, and add more and more people as you meet them. We probably meet dozens of new people every week. My database has grown to over 4,000 now. I spend about an hour every Friday to feed my list. It’s a chore. It’s not convenient but it’s worth it.

4.  To Have a Friend, Be a Friend. Here’s how you make all this data work for you. Networking is not a selfish technique. If you want this tool to work, you have to be like a good Congressman. You do things for people. You help them first. I’m always clipping articles I come across and sending them to people I know. I send a lot of birthday cards. I call the majority of the people in my database at least once a year to talk about them, how they are doing, what they may need that I can provide for them. Then when it comes around “election time,” when I need something, I feel no hesitation to ask for a return favor.

5.      Use it.  Whenever I start anything, a new marketing program, a career move, buying a house or a car, I think of my network first and talk to those in my database who may be able to give me some answers. I have saved tons of time and money and advanced my success in so many ways by tapping into my Network database first.

Philanthropy can do better than Rajat Gupta

Few days before I was watching a YouTube video in between playoff games (both of which disappointed). Conan O’Brien was accepting an honorary patronage at the philosophical society of the University of Dublin. His speech was hilarious, and there was an extended, intimate Q&A session afterwards.

One thing he mentioned was an amended version of the (to me, very moving) words he had closed his last NBC Tonight Show with, “If you work really hard and you’re kind then amazing things will happen.” Namely, he wanted to add this sentence: “If you work really hard and you’re a huge asshole, then you can make tons of money on Wall Street.”

These wise words came back to me this morning when I read about Bill Gates and Kofi Annan’s letters to Judge Jed Rakoff regarding Goldman Sachs insider trader Rajat Gupta. The letters were intended to reduce sentencing, considering how unbelievably philanthropical Gupta had been as he was stealing all this money.

I’m not doubting that the dude did some good things with his ill-gotten gains. After all, I don’t have a letter from Bill Gates about how I helped remove malaria from the world.

But wait a minute, maybe that’s because I didn’t steal money from taxpayers like he did to put myself into the position of spending millions of dollars doing good things! Because I’m thinking that if I had the money that Gupta had, I might well have spent good money doing good things.

And therein lies the problem with this whole picture. He did some good (I’ll assume), but then again he had the advantage of being someone in our society who could do good, i.e. he was loaded. Wouldn’t it make more sense for us to set up a system wherein people could do good who are good, who have good ideas and great plans?

Unfortunately, those people exist, but they’re generally poor, or stuck in normal jobs making ends meet for their family, and they don’t get their plans heard. In particular they aren’t huge assholes stealing money and then trying to get out of trouble by hiring hugely expensive lawyers and leaning on their philanthropy buds.

The current system of grant-writing doesn’t at all support the people with good ideas: it doesn’t teach these “social inventors” how to build a charitable idea into a business plan. So what happens is that the good ideas drift away without the important detailed knowledge of how to surround it with resources. And generally the people with really innovative ideas aren’t by nature detail-oriented people who can figure out how to start a business, they’re kind of nerdy.

I’m serious, I think the government should sponsor something like a “philanthropy institute” for entrepreneurial non-revenue generating ideas that are good for society.  People could come to open meetings and discuss their ideas for improving stuff, and there’d be full-time staff and fellows, with the goal of seizing upon good ideas and developing them like business plans.

Rajat Gupta joined McKinsey & Company, the elite and secretive management-consulting firm as an earnest, under-stated young man, fresh out of Harvard Business School, and IIT Delhi before that. He rose rapidly through a competitive system, going on to rule boardrooms, chair nonprofit boards, and move with CEOs and heads of state from Bill Gates to Bill Clinton. Rajat Gupta broke through racial glass ceilings in the corporate world in a way that no other Indian and few people of colour had done before. 
Upon retiring from McKinsey, in 2007, after nine years as its managing director, Mr Gupta was a sought after figure on corporate and nonprofit boards, and joined those of Goldman Sachs, Procter & Gamble, American Airlines, and Harvard Business School.

Despite his stupendous success in America he never forgot his Indian roots. He created the American India Foundation, which brought in millions of dollars in philanthropic contributions from NRIs to development programs across the country. He founded the Indian School of Business and the Public Health Foundation of India. And he ensured McKinsey worked, pro bono, with India's leading NGOs, including Sewa and Pratham, to help them learn from international best practices.

But Mr Gupta's philanthropic work did not sway the Judge who sentenced him to two years in prison today. He is accused of leaking Goldman Sachs boardroom secrets to a hedge fund manager at the centre of the US government's crackdown on insider trading, Raj Rajaratnam. Mr Gupta had hoped that the sentence would involve only community service; the prosecution had pressed for  years in prison. 
 
Before today's sentencing, Rajat Gupta himself summed it all up in a statement to the court. He said, "The last 18 months have been the most challenging period of my life since I lost my parents as a teenager. I have lost my reputation that I have built over a lifetime. The verdict was devastating to my family, my friends and me. Its implications to all aspects of my life -- personal, professional and financial -- are profound."
 
The judge overseeing the case had earlier warned that "If Mother Teresa was charged with bank robbery, the jury would still have to determine whether or not she committed a bank robbery." Today Judge Jed S. Rakoff  said, "He is a good man. But the history of this country and the history of the world is full of examples of good men who did bad things."

Mr Gupta's fall from grace began in April 2010, as part of the investigation into Raj Rajaratnam, a Sri Lankan hedge fund manager accused of insider trading. The government accused Mr Gupta of tipping off Mr Rajaratnam of Warren Buffet's decision to invest $5 billion in Goldman Sachs. Mr Gupta allegedly learned this information on September 23 in 2008 at a board meeting. His tip allegedly allowed Mr Rajaratnam to buy the stock before the news was made public the next day. Mr Rajaratnam made a profit of $800,000 in just 24 hours.

Managing Partner of Westwood Capital, LLC Daniel Alpert calls this a "very disappointing episode because Rajat Gupta was an extremely senior guy and clearly was living the life of jealousy of the enormous returns that were being made by the people who did not quite have his CV but nevertheless were making enormous profits"

The difficulty for the government is that they don't actually have hard evidence of this. They have proof that Mr Gupta called Mr Rajaratnam after the board meeting. And they have one tape of a separate conversation between Mr Gupta and Mr Rajaratnam where Mr Gupta summarises the discussion in a Goldman board meeting. But that tape did not lead to any trades being made, nor is it clear that it leaked inside information. And the trade that was made a few minutes after a Goldman board meeting concluded cannot be traced to a recorded conversation between the two men. 
 
But the tapes are still very embarrassing for Mr Gupta.
 
First, they showed that he earlier had conversations with Mr Rajaratnam where confidentiality had been compromised, even if securities laws had not been violated.

On July 29 in 2009, Mr Gupta discussed the offer Goldman Sachs was thinking of making to purchase Wachovia, another American bank, with Mr Rajaratnam.

Second, they showed that Mr Rajaratnam had bragged to someone else that he had inside knowledge of the Buffett deal from someone on the Goldman board.

Third, Mr Rajaratnam, in a conversation with Mr Gupta's former partner at McKinsey, Anil Kumar, who pleaded guilty to leaking confidential information to Mr Rajaratnam in exchange for payments, speculates that Mr Gupta's motivation was financial greed.

Mr Rajaratnam can be heard on the tapes talking about Rajat Gupta saying. "I think he wants to be in that circle. That's a billionaire circle, right? Goldman is like the hundreds of millions circle, right? And I think here he sees the opportunity to make $100 million over the next five years or 10 years without doing a lot of work."

However, Mr Gupta's friends claim that these leaks are selective and the charges completely without basis. 
Atul Kanagat a former director at McKinsey himself counters "None of the tapes have a mention of Rajat by name. It is a careful selection of a handful of facts out of a mountain of fact to paint a picture that they want you to see. How many other calls did he make to Rajaratnam? How many calls did he make to other people? Right after a board meeting? Is Rajaratnam the only guy he called after a board meeting? If he calls me after a board meeting does it mean that he is giving me insider information this is all complete conjecture by withholding relevant information that fits your narrative. I think it is all nonsense."

Mr Gupta has been convicted of conspiracy and three counts of securities fraud. A jury acquitted him on two other securities fraud counts. The case had gone on trial on May 21, less than a month ago - an interesting reminder to us in India that it shouldn't take years to decide if someone is innocent or guilty.

Source: NDTV Online Edition

Remembering Jaspal Bhatti

Jaspal Bhatti is household Indian television personality famous for his satirical take on the woes and problems of the common man. He is most well known for his television series Flop Show and mini capsules ulta pulta which featured on the national network in India in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Jaspal Bhatti (Full name: Jaspal Singh Bhatti) was born on 3rd march 1955 at Guru ki Nagri Amritsar into a Sikh Ramgharia family of Bhatti clan, got married to Ms. Savita Bhatti on 24 March 1985. He graduated from Punjab Engineering College, Chandigarh in Punjab, as an electrical engineer. He was famous for his street plays like his Nonsense Club during his college days. Most of these plays were spoofs ridiculing corruption in society. Before venturing out into television, he was a cartoonist for the Tribune newspaper in Chandigarh. He is a pioneer of home-made comedy on Indian Hindi TV channel Doordarshan.

His low budget Flop Show show in the early 1990s is remembered even today.His wife Savita Bhatti produced the show and also acted in all the episodes as his wife. Only 10 episodes of the show were ever produced, but the show has had a long and powerful legacy and is remembered even today. One of his co-actors Vivek Shauq has been the most successful since Flop Show days, having found a footing in Hindi cinema. Bhatti's big break in TV came when he acted and directed the popular TV series "Ulta Pulta", "Nonsense Private Limited" and "Flop Show" for the Doordarshan television network. What attracted audience to his shows was his gift of inducing humour to highlight every day issues of the middle class in India. Bhatti's satire on the Punjab Police Mahaul Theek Hai (1999) was his first directorial venture for a full length feature film in his native Punjabi language. The movie was well received amongst audience for its simple and honest humour. He played the role of Jolly Good Singh, a guard, in the movie Fanaa. He also acted as a comical college principal in Koi Mere Dil Se Poochhe. What India’s leading media critic Amita Malik has to say about Bhatti’s work is Bhatti has correct style for TV, an understated, quiet humour which sinks in without shouting, and which mercilessly exposes both corruption in our every day life and the typical people, who thrive on it. The grim fact and the hard truths of our society so bitter otherwise are made so funny through the adept handling of Bhatti, that cleansing laughter is created out of common malpractices. The cartoonist, humorist, actor and the filmmaker is nowadays focusing on acting as he is getting numerous offers from Bollywood producers as a comedian. Jaspal Bhatti has now set up and is busy with a training school and studio in Mohali near Chandigarh rightly called "joke factory" which is popular and quite sought after.

Bhatti also appeared in SAB TV's "Comedy ka King Kaun" as a Judge,with actress Divya Dutta. In his latest stint, Jaspal Bhatti along with wife Savita competed in popular Star Plus show - Nach Baliye which went on air in October 2008. The couple put their best foot forward to entertain the audiences with their dancing as well as comic skills. After several years now, Bhatti is shortly launching a new 52 episode comedy series entitled "Thank You Jija Ji" on Sony's family entertainment channel, SAB TV. Bhatti, along with wife Savita is busy conducting auditions these days for his new comedy series. The serial will be shot at his own MAD Arts film school at Chandigarh. Bhatti at a recent carnival at Chandigarh has put up a stall displaying various vegetables, daal (pulses) and Oils. The onlookers are invited to throw ring around them to win these costiler goods as prizes to poke fun at the government's failure to control inflation. Play the game and Win Vegetables.

Also recently Bhatti film school’s - Mad Art’s animation film “Nanhi Chidiya”, on female foeticide, has won the second prize in the Advantage India organized by 1take media. The film has already won a certificate of merit at IDPA-2008 Awards in Mumbai. Mr. Bhatti was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award, at the first Golden Kela Awards.

What India's leading media critic Amrita Malik has to say about Bhatti's work is Bhatti has correct style for TV, an understated, quiet humour which sinks in without shouting, and which mercilessly exposes both corruption in our every day life and the typical people, who thrive on it. The grim fact and the hard truths of our society so bitter otherwise are made so funny through the adept handling of Bhatti, that cleansing laughter is created out of common malpractices.

The cartoonist, humorist, actor and the filmmaker is now a-days focusing on acting as he is getting numerous offers from Bollywood producers as a comedian. Jaspal Bhatti has now set up and is busy with a training schooland studio in Mohali near Chandigarh rightly called "joke factory" which is popular and quite sought after.

Lately, Bhatti also appeared in SAB TV's "Comedy ka King Kaun" as a Judge,with actress Divya Dutta. In his latest stint, Jaspal Bhatti alongwith wife Savita is competing in popular Star Plus show - Nach Baliye on air since October 2008. The couple is putting their best foot forward to entertain the audiences with their dancing as well as comic skills.

Data Source: wikipedia

Dusshera - Celebrations of Worshiping Goddess Durga, Burning Ravana’s Statues

Dussehra is a very significant festival for Hindus. It is celebrated with great zeal and enthusiasm throughout the country. Dussehra festival is also known as Vijay Dashami. It is a day which is a symbol for the victory of truth over lies, good over evil.

According to the lunar calendar Dussehra festival is observed on the tenth day in Shukla Paksha of Ashwin month. Generally, Dussehra falls in the months of September or October each year. Dussehra festival in the year 2012 is on October 24.

There are a number of reasons for the celebration of Dussehra festival. The most popular reason for the celebration of Dussehra festival in northern India is that on this particular day Lord Rama killed the demon Ravanna for abducting his wife Seeta. It is for this reason Dussehra festival is considered as a day which stands for the   conquest of righteousness over wickedness.

Dussehra festival is celebrated by igniting the effigies of demon Ravanna and his brothers Meghdoot and Kumbhkaran. These effigies are made huge and have crackers in them. People start making these effigies many days before the day of Dussehra festival. It is a very significant day of ‘Ramleela' as well.

In other parts of the country Dussehra festival is celebrated for different reasons.  In west Bengal Dussehra is the final day of Durga Puja of Navratri (nine days of fasting). On this very day, Durga Visarjan takes place.

According to another story Dussehra festival is taken to be a hopeful time to pray tool used at work. It is done for the reason that, according to the fable in the epic Mahabharata, Arjuna (one of the Pandavas) concealed his weapons in a tree. He returned after a year on the day of Dussehra and found his weapons safe. He then worshiped the weapons and the tree.

Thus, in accordance to every story Dussehra festival will tell again people of the actuality that reality for all time wins and inspires them to go on the course of ‘dharma'. Dussehra festival will be the day to stand for the take-over of good over evil. It is as a result considered as a positive day.

The Dussehra festival celebration is unique in its perspective and significance. Is the celebration of the Victory of Good over Evil. 

On the day of Dussehra / Vijay dashmi, Ram, killed the great demon Ravan, who had abducted Ram's wife Sita to his kingdom of Lanka . Rama, who was a devout believer of Durga, the Goddess of War, prayed to her for the first nine days of battle and killed the evil Ravana on the 10th day along, with his brother Lakshman follower Hanuman, and an army of monkeys fought a great battle to rescue his lovely wife Sita. He shot Ravana with a bow that pierced his navel. Out flowed the nectar of immortality that was stored in a pot in his navel, thus destroying his invincibility. Sita had been returned to her husband Ram and they now make their way to Ayodhya in triumph and glory. Thus, it is on the Diwali day that Lord Ram, the incarnation of Lord Vishnu in the Treta Yug, returned to his capital Ayodhya after the exile of fourteen Years. 

Consequently, to commemorate the return of Ram, Sita and Lakshman to Ayodhya, people celebrate Diwali with the bursting of crackers and by lighting up their houses with earthen diyas. This grand style of celebration have continued, year after year. To this day, the whole of Ramayana is enacted in dramas staged in huge pandals and maidans, in cities, towns and villages, on the occasion of Dussehra and Diwali. 

Dussehra is the culmination of Navaratis in India. Popularly known as Vijayadashmi, Dussehra is celebrated with great enthusiasm, all over India. It is observed differently in different parts of the country, depending upon the legend that is followed in each region. In North India, Ramlila forms the highlight of Dusshera, while in south India, it is the triumph of Goddess Durga over Mahishasura that is celebrated. Eastern state of West Bengal has its own story connected to the festival, while in Mysore the concept of Shami tree is centered. Learn about the celebrations of Dussehra in different parts of India, by going through the following lines.

Organizing Dussehra celebrations in a housing society can be an absolutely thrilling experience, mainly if you take into consideration the many rituals and rites associated with this festival. Dussehra is one of the most awaited festivals in India, given the commercial and social extravaganza that accompanies the religious festival.

The Blend of Beliefs and Cultures

Dussehra is a festival that’s celebrated with different beliefs and rituals in across the country. A housing society is an ideal place to celebrate Dussehra, mainly because people who come from various parts of the country and from different cultural background stay in such apartment complexes as they provide a cosmopolitan and multi-cultural environment.

In your housing society, you can provide a stage where the Mysore Dasara can blend seamlessly with the north-Indian Navaratri and the Bengali Durga Puja, within the same premises. Children will be exposed to the various aspects of their own festivals, and they will be able to gain an understanding about the different festivals celebrated across all states.

Some Tips for Celebrating Dussehra

You’ll need to bring together many members from your housing society for the celebrations to be a success. Planning the strategy in advance can help. Always ensure that the apartment association is aware of what’s going on.

Allocate a budget for Dussehra celebrations. The source of funds can be in the form of donations from residents, and this can be collected before the event or in monthly amounts throughout the year. Local businesses may also be invited to set up stalls for food and entertainment purposes, and you can try and contact other businesses that can sponsor the event and put up advertisements.

Try and involve the maximum number of residents. Notices circulated well in advance before the celebrations can ensure that individual families don’t make other plans for the festivities. This increases the level of participation.

Detailed plans should be put in place for the day of the event. Detailed planning can help you avoid last minute modifications and inconveniences. The schedule for the event should be put up on notice boards and other common areas so that people know what to expect.

Ensure representation from the different communities of people who live within the complex. This will enrich the event and make it more enjoyable for everyone, without seeming bland.

Make sure that all government laws related to pandals, loudspeakers, and fireworks are abided by. This is something that the apartment association should take care of.

The food served can be across different cuisines, cooked up by representatives of the many communities present. It would be safe to stick to delectable vegetarian fare throughout the festivities.

Volunteers should be picked and invited from among the residents of the housing society. Dussehra celebrations are generally large-scale, so a handful of people may not be able to put all measures in place smoothly. A large, structured group of volunteers, with clear line of duties and reporting lines will help you execute the plans.

Safety and security measures like fire-extinguishers and first-aid-kits should be arranged, along with contact numbers of in-house doctors. Loudspeakers should be used minimally and a lost-and-found desk can be added too.

Cultural programs for children and adults, like rangoli, drawing, drama, dance, and singing or recitation competitions may be organized.

Dussehra celebrations in a housing society can provide a multi-cultural, enriching and enjoyable experience for all residents, irrespective of their age, culture or roots.

- Deepak Bhatt, October 23, 2012, 06:30 a.m.