the end of everything

There is a lot of literature on topics around death - the afterlife, moksh, rebirth and of course, the Geeta.
So, I am not even going to try and examine the philosophical angle here.
However, there are some things which I want to record for later.
First off, I think that I miss Baba more now than ever before. I think about him much more than earlier. I miss him. I think that even at home, we talk about him more.
Next, you need to be very careful about what you say to your loved ones. It is very easy to be mean to them. Once a person goes away, what you have said to them can never be undone.
Parents are special. They will always care for you - no matter what.
Three days after he passed, there was a function at my uncle's house to remember him. All of my father's brothers and cousins showed up and stood shoulder to shoulder. I realised the power of family. I had never thought of it like that.

Watching time zip by

Just under a third of the new year is up and here I am still getting used to the idea that we are in 2011 - pausing for a second while writing the date and so on. Things are going on fast - Envigo is growing, Sugandh and I have been busy working and busy planning for a few trips we are going to do this year.
We just got back from a quick trip to Dalhousie. The place was nice - I am sure there are prettier hill stations. What was nice about the place was that there were such few people, few cars, a very slow pace of living - all of which were a welcome change from everything around us.

Gurgaon is just the opposite. More people, many more cars - everyone is in a hurry. We were stuck in a traffic jam yesterday in Gurgaon, which happens only because people do not obey traffic lights. As the pileup becomes larger, you have 4-5 lanes of cars facing each other. I was walking down lane number 5 (2 more than what fits on the right side of the road) and was asking people to get back to their side of the road. The blue-collar folks - taxi drivers, drivers etc were all smiling sheepishly, knowing exactly what they were doing was wrong and acknowledging it. The car owners - the businessmen and the executives - all made excuses. Some of the gems were - 'I wasnt sure whether this was a one-way or not', 'I am lost, I dont know where I am'. It is sad to note how the education does not increase civic sense.

So Envigo is growing. We need to be very careful and take decisive steps - I think very soon we will be at the place where we can either get into a trajectory which will take us close to 100 mark in 2 years from now. If we fumble, we might be stuck where we are. There are good signals from customers and from employees. As always, macro factors are in Envigo's favour.
 

birthday number 3

Envigo turns 3 today. I am not sure if we are doing better or worse than expected, but only because there was not much of a plan, which I had to beat. I am sure I need to start planning - Planning and tracking are important.

I learnt this at ebookers. The results speak for themselves. Before that, ebookers was famous only for the wrong reasons - for lack of corporate governance, for buying something for $70mn and selling it back for $15mn, for being sold at 3x of fair valuation and so on.
Post-Orbitz, we started having daily meetings in which MTD and YTD numbers were compared to plan.
It was a very simple thing to do - it seemed magical because I was seeing it done for the first time. ebookers is now one of the fastest growing OTAs and is profitable to boot.

Even at Envigo, we need to plan better and anticipate business better. I am still under the table there - fixing computers, working with accounts. I need to be out in the field a bit more.

A lot of twists and turns are happening elsewhere. I hope and pray for the best for my parents, my sister and my wife.

Papa's birthday

My surprise party score is now tied at 2 all. 4 parties attempted in which in two, the target remained in the dark till the very end. Papa was an easy target - completely clueless till the end to all the deception that was going on.
There are some snaps, but before that, I am attaching a video which was made by K and S on this occasion.