Invictus

What is your magic?

noreply@blogger.com (Raghuraman Sundararaman) — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 06:16:00 +0000

Reliance Capital eyes major expansion, banking, overseas foray- Hindustan Times

noreply@blogger.com (Raghuraman Sundararaman) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 08:06:00 +0000

Reliance Capital eyes major expansion, banking, overseas foray- Hindustan Times

The Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group's Reliance Capital has unveiled an ambitious plan for the next three-five years, including an entry into banking industry, globalisation of operations and tripling the customer base to 50 million.

"We have drawn up exciting growth plans for the next three to five years," Anil Ambani, chairman of Reliance Capital, informed his shareholders ahead of the company's annual general meeting here later this month.

"Together, these initiatives will further accelerate our growth and lead to substantial value creation for each of us," he said in his letter, listing the future plan of action options before the company.

These include:

Increase the distribution reach from 5,000 to 25,000 cities and towns

Increase the number of business partners from 500,000 to one million

Enter the banking sector when regulations permit

Globalise operations

Expand asset management, insurance, and broking operations across Asia, Africa and the Middle East

Ambani said his group as a whole enjoyed the support of a customer base of over 150 million and a shareholder base of over 11 million, adding this was the largest for any business group in India.

"Today the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group touches the life of one in eight Indians, every single day."

He said Reliance Capital reported a 22 percent jump in consolidated total income at $1.3 billion in the fiscal year ended March 31, a consolidated net profit of $221 million and an earning per share of nearly $1, with total assets topping $4.8 billion.

The company has interests in asset management, mutual funds, life and general insurance, private equity investments, broking, depository services, consumer finance, financial products distribution, asset reconstruction and institutional equities.

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The Education of a Reluctant Businessman with Yvon Chouinard

noreply@blogger.com (Raghuraman Sundararaman) — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 05:03:00 +0000

Get Inspired

noreply@blogger.com (Raghuraman Sundararaman) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 11:17:00 +0000

Conversations with History: Shashi Tharoor

noreply@blogger.com (Raghuraman Sundararaman) — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 12:47:00 +0000

All the world's a stage by William Shakespeare

noreply@blogger.com (Raghuraman Sundararaman) — Sun, 31 May 2009 18:20:00 +0000

As You Like It [Act 2, Scene 7]

JAQUES:

All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. At first the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms.
And then the whining school-boy, with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress' eyebrow. Then a soldier,
Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon's mouth. And then the justice,
In fair round belly with good capon lined,
With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws and modern instances;
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slipper'd pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side,
His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank; and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.

Banker to the Poor & Nobel Laureate: Dr. Muhammad Yunus

noreply@blogger.com (Raghuraman Sundararaman) — Sat, 30 May 2009 17:09:00 +0000

The Last Lecture by Dr. Randy Pausch

noreply@blogger.com (Raghuraman Sundararaman) — Sat, 30 May 2009 13:53:00 +0000

Mahatma Gandhi's Gospel on Fearlessness

noreply@blogger.com (Raghuraman Sundararaman) — Fri, 29 May 2009 18:07:00 +0000

Fearlessness is the first requisite of spirituality.
Cowards can never be moral.
Where there is fear there is no religion
Source: http://www.mkgandhi.org/philosophy/fearlessness.htm

Fearlessness is a sine qua non for the growth of the other noble qualities. How can one seek truth or cherish Love without fearlessness? The Path of Hari (the Lord) is the path of the brave, not of cowards.' Hari here means Truth, and the brave are those armed with fearlessness, not with the sword, the rifle or other carnal weapons, which are affected only by cowards.

Fearlessness connotes freedom from all external fear-fear of disease, bodily injury or death, of dispossession, of losing one's nearest and dearest, of losing reputation or giving offence, and so on.

Attainment of Fearlessness
Perfect fearlessness can be attained only by him who has realized the Supreme, as it implies the height of freedom from delusions. But one can always progress towards this goal by determined and constant endeavour and by increasing confidence in oneself….

As for the internal foes, we must ever walk in their fear. We are rightly afraid of Animal Passion, Anger and the like. External fears cease of their own accord when once we have conquered these traitors within the camp. All fears revolve round the body as the centre, and would, therefore, disappear as soon as one got rid of the attachment for the body.

We thus find that all fear is the baseless fabric of our own vision. Fear has no place in our hearts when we have shaken off the attachment for wealth, for family and for the body.

The Wealth, the family and the body will there, just the same; we have only to change our attitude to them. All these are not ours but God's. Nothing whatever in this world is ours. Even we ourselves are His. Why then should we entertain any fears?

The Upanishad, therefore, directs us 'to give up attachment for things while we enjoy them'. That is to say, we must be interested in them not as proprietors but only as trustees. He on whose behalf we hold them will give us the strength and the weapons requisite for defending them against all comers.

When we thus cease to be masters and reduce ourselves to the rank of servants humbler than the very dust under our feet, all fears will roll away like mists; we shall attain ineffable peace and see Satyanarayan (the God of Truth) face to face.

Fear of God
Let us fear God and we shall cease to fear man.
There is so much superstition and hypocrisy around that one is afraid even to do the right thing. But if one gives way to fear, even truth will have to be suppressed. The golden rule is to act fearlessly upon what one believes to be right.

Fearlessness does not mean arrogance or aggressiveness. That in itself is a sign of fear.
Fearlessness presupposes calmness and peace of mind. For that it is necessary to have a living faith in God.

Fear is a thing, which I dislike. Why should one man be afraid of another man? Man should stand in fear of God alone, and then he can shed all other fears.

Bravery of the Soul
Each individual must be taught the art of self-defence. It is more a mental state that has to be inculcated than that our bodies should be trained for retaliation. Our mental training has been one of feeling helpless. Bravery is not a quality of the body, it is the soul. I have seen cowards encased in tough muscle and rare courage in the frailest body… The weakest of us physically must be taught the art of facing dangers and giving a good account of ourselves.

We stand on the threshold of twilight--whether morning or evening twilight we know not. One is followed by the night, the other heralds the dawn. If we want to see the dawning day after the twilight and not the mournful night, it behaves everyone of us…to realize the truth at this juncture, to stand for it against any odds and to preach and practice it, at any cost, unflinchingly.

We have chosen for our march towards freedom the ancient path of truth and non-violence, and we must let God's covenant that those who tread on the straight and narrow path shall never come to grief, inspire us with faith and hope.

In this country of self-suppression and timidity, almost bordering on cowardice, we cannot have too much bravery, too much self-sacrifice… I want… the greater bravery of the meek, the gentle and the nonviolent, the bravery that will mount the gallows without injuring, or harbouring any thought of injury to a single soul.

There is no bravery greater than a resolute refusal to bend the knee to an earthly power, no matter how great, and that, without bitterness of spirit and in the fullness of faith that the spirit alone lives, nothing else does.

We have two choices before us. We can become a great military power or, if we follow my way, we can become a great non-violent and invincible power. In either case the first condition is the shedding of all fear.

"If" by Rudyard Kipling

noreply@blogger.com (Raghuraman Sundararaman) — Fri, 29 May 2009 16:54:00 +0000

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too,
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream--and not make dreams your master,
If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings--nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much,
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And--which is more--you'll be a Man, my son!