Remembering Salil Chowdhury

Salil Da, as he is known, is a musical genius. Many of his compositions were a mystical blend of the Indian and Western classical music. He always said that his genre is one which will transcend borders and will be emphatic. He was an equally good poet and a story writer and also very good music arranger, a rare combination, which he confessed, confused him many a time.

Salil Da’s love for Western classical started when he was a young boy living in the tea gardens of Assam. The source being, a large number of records and gramophone of an Irish doctor. The song “ Mausam Beeta Jaye” from his maiden hindi film “Do Bigha Zameen” was based on the famous red army marching song. Another famous composition “Itna Na Mujhse Tu Pyaar Badha” from the film “Chhaya” was based on Mozart’s Symphony No. 40.

Salil Da’s mastery over the Indian classical & folk music was remarkable. Compositions for the 1958 Dilip Kumar starrer “ Madhumati” are easily the most breathtaking music ever created in the history of Indian cinema. The rare gems of his melodious creations in Maaya, Kabuliwala, Rajnigandha, Anand and Mausam are some of my favorites. One of them being a song from film Maya “Ja Re Udhja Re Panchhi” , which remains to be my all time favorite. None other than Lata Mangeshkar, could have done justice to that composition.

Salil Da’s Genre was unique and has left a lasting impression on the people of his generation and beyond.

Pragmatism or Values

In a recent employee engagement activity, a discussion on the topic “Pragmatism or Values”, ended in a debate on whether pragmatism, necessarily means compromise with your value system.

For many, pragmatism meant a deviation from the ethical practice to reach one’s goals. I argued that both the terms, ‘pragmatism & values’, have a deeper meaning to them and are related, but are not mutually exclusive. The presence of one doesn’t necessarily mean the absence of the other.

Collin's dictionary defines pragmatism as “the doctrine that, the content of a concept consists only in its practical applicability and that truth consists not in correspondence with the facts but in successful coherence with experience”. To simplify, it means a practical “fact of the matter” approach towards taking action that leads to known consequences or those experienced in the past.

The term 'Values', on the other hand, has been defined as “the generally accepted mode of conduct and the set of norms, goals, and beliefs binding any social group for determining what is desirable or undesirable , which serve as a frame of reference for the individual or the group in their pursuits”.

In essence, one can be pragmatic in one’s approach while being within the boundaries of one’s value system. I would lay special emphasis on the word ‘generally accepted’, which means such a belief or norm must comply with the social and legal system as well.

In our day-to-day lives, we make many such decisions based on our knowledge of the possible consequences without breaching the limits of the values that drive us.

IPL..vision for the future

A game of cricket might have been won, but the credibility of IPL and the people behind is lost. While the investigations and judgements will take their own course, it is time that we, as Indians, and for the love of cricket, demand a fair and transparent administration of this sport. I have a suggestion to end the current crisis and would like to share that with you.

As an immediate measure to put a method to this madness, each franchisee must be incorporated as a public limited company where 60% of the shares must be offered to the public via the IPO route and 40% can remain with Franchisee owners as promoters of the company. In such a case the future market cap or valuation will be decided by the stock market, which I am sure is quite sensitive to the industry fundamentals.

I can see two huge benefits. One, The administration of the IPL will be carried out under the well established regulatory and governance mechanism put in place by Govt bodies such as SEBI, ICAI, Dept of Company Affairs etc. And Second, it converges India's biggest passion (cricket) with its economic engine i.e the stock market and allows people to share wealth while they cheer for their favorite team. Additionally, the menace of illegal betting can be reduced as people will prefer to derive benefits via the stock market rather than the illegitimate means.

Just think, what is getting created here.....A situation which is referred by the economists as " Consumer surplus" where you enjoy your favorite sport and make money too.

Most organizations in the modern world stress upon being passionate towards goals, customers needs, values and ethics that the organization stands for. The organization I was working for a few years ago, was no different. The whole atmosphere was so charged up and it was difficult to escape. After a few years, it was incomprehensible to have a day at work without passion to excel and exceed all expectations.

I was pursuing some of the hardest tasks, many of them unheard of, before. I was taking on challenges that stretched my thought and mind. I was discovering new things about myself everyday. Every time a task was accomplished, I experienced a rare feeling of pride and pleasure. With time, I was deeply in love with those accomplishments and was flying high. So much so, that they became a need for me and I developed an addiction to everything around me and now before I could realize I was obsessed with perfection and the feeling of being the winner always.

But not everyday is yours. With one stroke of failure, things began to change. The usual things started to fail. It was like a chain reaction. One after another, all my good work turned inept and I was just wondering why? It took a while for me to understand what was going on and really needed to fight back. I gathered courage and opened this topic with a senior HR colleague. He heard me for a good 45 minutes, looked into my eyes and said in a deep voice, “You are too involved” Detach!” There was a silence in his room for about thirty seconds, before a phone call breached it and got us moving in different directions.

We could never discuss this topic again, but I was left with a thousand questions in my mind. I introspected and learnt that my mind was working tirelessly on finding ways to manage perception. It was not willing to accept that I had actually failed and overlooked the pertinent need to do small things differently. I was actually in a spiral. My colleague's words resonated in my mind. He was mentioning about detaching from my favorite pass-time of that time, ‘thinking about myself’. I chose to go with him.

I pushed myself to stay objective on the task on hand and do what it demands. I tried to stay focused and not worry about how any action could help or harm me. I just started doing what I felt was right. I felt lighter and less stressed. Gradually, things were back to where they were a few months ago. I felt the change.

My colleague’s advice probably made the most profound impact on my thinking. I started to understand how important it was to nurture a deep passion for our goals, for our customers and values to make us successful, but at the same time, we must also allow our mind to keep us steady, away from prejudice and fear.