The Hindu Business Line : Never too big for toons

JULY 1999. "Azim Premji pushed Ispat's L. N. Mittal off the perch as the world's richest Indian." Then there is an accompanying cartoon showing Premji riding a massive truck. May 1998: "In came R. Seshasayee, safely in the driver's seat" of Ashok Leyland. October, the same year: Chandrababu Naidu, "the self-styled CEO of Andhra Pradesh Inc, grabbed a prestigious B-School project for Hyderabad, edging out Mumbai and Bangalore". And there he rides a trouncing horse.

For these and more, you have to turn the pages of CEO Toons from Business Today, a `humorous look at Indian CEOs' feats and foibles.' The blurb explains: "Indian CEOs are notorious for their sense of humour, or rather, the lack of it.

"This is a book that shouldn't be read at one sitting," advises the intro. "Open it when you have a few minutes — actually, open it to a random page." There are eight groupings. `Achievers' is about CEOs who actually went ahead and did something of note. `Flak catchers' had things blowing up in their face. Sometimes, for no fault of theirs, chief executives and their companies falter, and the book puts them all in `Oops'. Corporate aggressors come under `raiders', and there are routine happenings too that merit a CEOToon.

Nobel words

WHY is there war? Why do we have to go to school? Why are some people rich and others poor? What is politics? What is love? Why do I forget some things and not others? For these and more questions, Nobel laureates answer in The Nobel Book of Answers, edited by Bettina Stiekel and published by Simon & Schuster.

The blurb explains: "The answers from the Dalai Lama, Mikhail Gorbachev, Shimon Peres, Desmond Tutu, and seventeen other Nobel Prize laureates are rich with surprise, humour, and of course, wisdom."

Jimmy Carter, winner of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, writes in his intro to the book: "Sadly, in the industrialised world there is a terrible lack of understanding or even concern about what is happening to people who are enduring lives of despair and hopelessness in poorer lands. We have not yet made the commitment to share our wealth with others who desperately need it."

Richard J. Roberts, who received the Nobel Prize for medicine in 1993, writes about food:

"You don't need as much food as you think. Your stomach will tell you exactly how much — grumbling when it's hungry and feeling heavy when it's had too much food."

Daniel L. McFadden, winner of the 2000 Nobel Prize for economics, reasons, "Whether people are rich or poor is first and foremost a matter of luck." There are three ways to acquire income, he writes. "By selling your capacity to work to somebody else; owning something that has productive value; and from entrepreneurial talents."

John C. Polanyi, who received the Nobel for chemistry, sketches the characteristic of a science researcher: "The most important thing is, you really have to want it. Scientists do their research with great passion and with all the energy they possess."

H. H. Dalai Lama answers an important question, "What is love?" It is not to be confused with pleasure or momentary feeling of attraction to a person. "Buddha's recipe for happiness is stunningly simple: Try to become a good person."

Automatic route

ALMOST everybody wants to live rich and retire richer. Is there any automatic route to achieve that? David Bach offers a "no-budget, no-discipline, no-nonsense system" to help you finish rich. His book, The Automatic Millionaire, published by Broadway Books (www.broadwaybooks.com), offers "a totally realistic system, based on timeless principles, with everything you need to know, including phone numbers and Web sites."

In chapter two, the author introduces readers to a paradox: "Ask anyone who got a raise last year if their savings increased. In almost every case, the answer will be no. Why? Because more often than not, the more we make, the more we spend."

Also, "most of us don't really think about how we spend our money — and if we do, we often focus solely on the big-ticket items while ignoring the small daily expenses that drain away our cash." Bach is anti-budget. "What budgeting boils down to is depriving yourself financially today for the sake of your future well-being."

So, take those budgets you've been struggling with and throw them into the garbage, he exhorts. There are basically six routes to wealth, he says: Win it, marry it, inherit it, sue for it, budget for it, or pay yourself first. How do you pay yourself first, one may ask, because there is the taxman waiting when a dollar reaches you?

Answer: Plan a retirement account, and legally avoid taxes.

Serendipity sync

GDP is growing, India is glowing, and miracles happen. "Not just in remote country villages or at holy sites halfway across the globe, but here, in our own lives," says Deepak Chopra in Synchro Destiny, published by Rider (www.randomhouse.co.uk).

The book is about harnessing the power of coincidences that are usually brushed away as chance events but Chopra insists that you can turn them into miracles. "We worry when opportunity approaches a little too closely, and hide deeper in the shadows when fear overcomes us. This is no way to go through life."

So, what should you do? "Pay attention, watch for clues, decipher their meanings, and eventually the truth will be revealed." Looks exactly like what your auditing book taught you. Don't dismiss coincidences as meaningless. "Every coincidence is meaningful, otherwise it would not happen in the first place. The very fact that it happens is meaningful. It's just that sometimes we are able to glimpse its meaning and sometimes we aren't." The book discusses `seven principles' starting from ah-HUM brah-MAHS-mee to REE-tahm, based on sutras such as aham brahmasmi and so forth. "Every event has a particular likelihood of happening, or probability," states Chopra, reminding you of your statistics teacher. "The probability of winning the lottery is very low. The probability of winning the lottery without buying a ticket is even lower."

Since your behaviour is conditioned by past experience, to increase the probability of something to happen, you may have to break the bonds. "Creativity and freedom exist in the unknown... Never pass up a chance to see what the universe has planned for you."

(Books courtesy: Landmark, Chennai. www. landmarkonthenet.com)

Tailpiece

"Goodu, goodu morning, good morning!"

"Looks like you're feeling too good?"

"No, I've been watching Virumaandi commercials."

ReadingRoom@TheHindu.co.in

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication

Stories in this Section
Bills in bank and bonus to broker

My would-be's dad wants to gift me a house

`Science + Patents + Capital = Biotechnology'

Invest money and time, not merely consume

Never too big for toons