Random Thoughts

Well, my good friend Shashi Shekhar wanted me to write an article for his college magazine on Sustainability and Green Initiatives. After procrastinating for 2 weeks, i finally had to concede to his request. I decided to write the article in a case format. So here I paste the contents. What is the one of the questions that is one the top priority of all executives across the globe apart from the economic scenario? According to a recent ‘Top of the Mind’ study by ‘The Consumer Goods Forum’, sustainability and corporate social responsibility feature amongst the top three priorities of the consumer goods industry. A similar finding is resonated in the IBM Institute for Business Value study. Many of us would be thinking why companies and businesses are thinking about Green Initiatives, when they should be focusing their energies on growth and other strategic issues. Energy and water efficiency not only helps the planet, but also saves on bills. The technology employed to optimize logisti...

Last week I visited Lord Venkateshwara Temple at Tirumala. It was a good trip and by the grace of the Lord,we had a very quick darshan. It just took us one and a half hours for the darshan. I was impressed by the overall management and cleanliness of the temple, given the fact that thousands of devotees throng to the temple every day to seek the blessings of the Lord. At the temple thousands of devotees contribute to the 'Hundi'. The legend goes that Lord Venkateshwara borrowed a huge amount of money from Kuber to finance his wedding to Princess Padmawati. It is said that the amount was so large that the Lord is supposedly still paying off the debt and the interest on the loan. The contributions to the 'Hundi' are supposed to go towards paying off the debt and people contribute to the Lord by offering whatever they can. It is said that the contributions go towards the payment of the Lord’s debt . Interestingly, I think that such legends have shaped the lending and borro...