Blog@GraceJunction

The loud music coming from inside the huge canopy, huge halogen lights all around, smell of excitement rising above the small stench of animal presence, vendors selling popcorn, wafers, cold drinks, balloons, toys etc, and anticipation and excitement of my elder daughter and even myself are some of the first few things that come to my mind when I look back to the evening a couple of days back. I had never seen a circus for real. There were huge gates to greet us and to make sure people don’t barge in. The show inside was still on and we could hear faint sounds of announcements by the ringmaster rising above the din of music and the murmur of hundreds of people.  Suddenly, they appeared. Hordes of them smiling, talking, some amused, some with a look of disbelief and most only thinking about the next chore on their list. They kept trickling out and I was surprised by the number of people that tent had accommodated! Read the rest of this entry »

In my wee-wonder days of childhood, the classic debate was “Will robots replace human beings?” The person who stood “for it”, always won the debate by justifying the fact about the improved quality of life, faster production & development, maximum utilization of natural resources etc. Hearing the debate I always wondered what type of a dumb and wobbly feeling would have measured-up in the heart of the person who stood against it! 

But today it would be foolish to, not admire and be thankful for the great achievements of modern technology over the last century: advance medicines, advance energy, advance weapons, high speed communication and navigation systems. Read the rest of this entry »

New York

David Letterman, the popular host of an entertaining talk show in an episode last week made a reference to 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin saying that she had the style of a “slutty flight attendant”. He also made an inappropriate comment about Palin’s daughter linking her to a baseball player. The daughter who accompanied Palin is just 14 years old. Letterman retracted his statement saying that he was infact talking about Palin’s other daughter who is 18 and is an unwed mother. Read the rest of this entry »

“One life. Why so serious?”.. Goes the latest ad campaign for the much awaited hatchback from the Honda stable, Honda Jazz. Let me take you thru a small history of this car. The car was launched in the year 2001 in Japan and in Europe, US and some other markets the car is known by the name “FIT” and in singapore, and some other markets its known as “JAZZ”. Read the rest of this entry »

On most days, a racist attack, anti-abortion riots and a crucial national health plan would have automatically been the important news of the day. But June 11, 2009 was not one of them. Donald Trump, who owns the rights to Miss USA, the beauty pageant announced that Carrie Prejean, crowned Miss USA runner up was being sacked for breaking her contract with him and the furore that followed has divided the United States of America into two. Read the rest of this entry »

 
Dear Investors,

As I write for the final time in this newsletter column through which I have led this company for the last half a century, it’s difficult to steer away from that nostalgic feeling. When I was being driven home this morning in my car and as I looked through those tinted glasses, I was reminded looking at the school going children how my mother would give me a hug and my father would place his hands on my head and pray for me, before I left for school. Those were the strong foundations on which I ran this company and led the employees. Ambitions never overtook character. Read the rest of this entry »

June 2009, Beijing, China.

Unlike its sassy sister cities of Shanghai and Hong Kong, where an energized nightlife rocks into the wee hours, Beijing seemingly slumbers early in the night. But, like in most of China, its parks and plazas spring alive to greet the rising sun with taichi, ball room dancing, croquet, Chinese martial arts and other sports! China has surely come a long way since Deng Xiaoping. The ultramodern skyscrapers in the backdrop of a booming economy, the mind blowing pace of development of infrastructure and other amenities and the dead earnestness and meticulousness of the Chinese technocrats and businessmen can put any other counterpart to have a complex. Read the rest of this entry »