Lessons from Entrepreneurship: 4. B CREATIVE!

Disclaimer: I do not claim to know it all but I do hope to share it all. This is a series of 11 lessons that I have learnt dealing with Entrepreneurs and being one myself.

Someone once told me that successful entrepreneurs have a great sense of humour.  I took this statement very seriously and went around making a list of those who did not get my jokes.

Okay, I did not expect you to laugh at this one.

Seriously, I actually found the trait of sense of humour in all successful entrepreneurs. They may not have laughed the same way nor had the same wit but they got the sense. They got the jokes and imagination. They loved the creativity. I realised that they all accepted a carried thinking and could laugh on even stupid imaginations. After all they themselves were also breaking the rules.

Break away from tradition

My generation grew up accepting change and resisting to it simultaneously.  We lived our childhood and teens in a social India strapped for choices. Middle class was a very tiny population and hence the size of the market was small. That coupled with licence raj made the job of businesses very tough. Being an entrepreneur meant you were good at managing the environment and no this had nothing to do with the trees! To be an entrepreneur those days creativity was tested in in using your network and getting licences.

As a result we had 2 models of scooters, 2 models of cars, 1 brand of cycles, public banks & airlines, no pubs, and 2 TV channels. Our world changed very quickly as we hit youth. 1991 happened and so did MTV and advent of foreign brands.  The technology revolution started in the late nineties with internet, Hotmail and Google! We got exposed to the world. Everything kept changing at a fast pace.

There were many who saw this as a threat and there were others who saw this as an opportunity. Capital was available more easily and the consumer demand multiplied. Since then, everything  has continued to change and grow albeit at varied pace.

Our world today allows new questions, new ideas and it accepts failure.  There has never been a better time. To question. To think impossible. To change what and how it has been done. To break away from tradition. To be creative. To be an entrepreneur.

One more of my heroes, Steve Jobs once said, “The ones who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do it”

Change the world.  Question the norm.  Question tradition. Find an incomplete puzzle. Find a hole. Don’t like it. Change it! ‘Coz, if you don’t and continue to do what was always done then you will get what you always got.

There are enough examples of celebrity entrepreneurs who broke away from tradition and brough creative solutions to our problems. They built Airtel, Apple, PayTM, Oyo, Uber, Zomato etc. They saw the problem differently. They did not stop at getting a licence for telecom co. They did not constraint themselves with the idea that to be the biggest taxi company you had to own a fleet of taxis. They challenged the norm, broke from tradition and changed our world.  

I don’t need no satisfaction

Coming back to the original trait, the sense of humour really comes from being creative. But what really breeds creativity is insecurity.

Insecurity is the feeling of not being satisfied with what you have achieved and quickly getting on to the next problem, next solution, next goal. Amongst many entrepreneurs I have met or worked with, those who can live in this insecure and uncomfortable state are the ones who generally succeed.

I see myself as a problem solver. If I don’t see a problem, I create it. If don’t have a problem, I don’t have a job, I feel lost. At the same time, if I have a problem then I know we are on the right path. It is only when you are riding up the hill you have to pedal hard. Riding a bike on descent is generally very easy and comfortable.

We all know the frog in the cauldron analogy. Frog never gets fried if dropped into the hot oil. It gets fried only in a slowly heated cauldron of oil. Comfortable positions can be very dangerous.  I believe that we don’t have to wait for a problem to present itself rather visualise it and solve it. Once we have solved it, we must find the next problem, next goal.

Breed Creativity

Besides staying insecure, there are other ways of breeding creativity.

·         Change your daily office dress pattern. Formals is what I wore to office for 15 years. Then thanks to my new business partner, Sandeep Kohli, I discovered colourful socks. I started wearing jeans and casual shoes to office. I have never been as free and creative in my life.

·         Change your office space. Looking at the same corner, same window, same pictures on the wall can get boring. Sit somewhere else. See your office, your people from another angle. It will give you new ideas, new vision, new solutions.

·         Drop your inhibitions. From my founder partner in SUPAFoods, Suprateek Deb (the SU of Supa) I have learnt, amongst other things, to drop my inhibitions. This guy never feels shy. He can go up to anyone and ask any question, anywhere. Learning from his trait I am able to talk to more strangers and get more inputs on my research questions. I am not scared of looking silly. I am now embracing new and learning, constantly.  

·         Take a break. Well, a vacation helps. Everyone knows that. However, if you can’t do that then go watch a movie, meditate, go out and cycle, read a blog. I must confess that I have solved a lot of problems while swimming laps in the pool.

The Lesson 4:

Opportunity lies in breaking from tradition and being creative about solutions. Breed creativity in you, breed insecurity in you. Do not get too comfortable, in fact, get comfortable only with discomfort. An American novelist, Jack London once said, “You can’t wait for the inspiration. You have to go after it with a club”.

So if you ask Pintoo about his blood group then in most likelihood he will say, “B Creative”!

Lessons from Entrepreneurship: 3. CARPE DIEM, Strike the Iron!

Disclaimer: I do not claim to know it all but I do hope to share it all. This is a series of 11 lessons that I have learnt dealing with Entrepreneurs and being one myself.

I think all my friends know that while I am a movie buff, I am a big time Sholay fan. This epic movie from ‘70s seems to have a dialogue written for all situations. There are just so many small anecdotes and simple dialogues delivered with so much style and passion that their messages become that much more hard-hitting. One such moment is when Thakur, Jai and Veeru are making their strategy to catch Gabbar. They get to know that an arms supplier to Gabbar has just arrived and is meeting him at a certain place to do the deal. Thakur, in his inimitable style says, “loha garam hai, maar do hathoda!”  (translated: Iron is hot, strike it).

Timing is everything. You cannot be too early or too late with your idea. You have to be ready with the answer when the question is raised. You have to grab the deal when it is on table. You have to put your body in, when you have got the foot in the door.

Sale Closure, learning from the job!

Ask any star sales man and he will tell you that the most important thing in a deal is the quick closure. These star sales men are always looking for that small window of opportunity to close the deal.

 One of the first things that I learnt as a sales person was to communicate really well but never in a hurry. Take your time in a meeting, in fact, take a lot of time. Tire the buyer and close the deal.

In my original business I used to go for meetings with customers setting up a big hotel, needing multiple F&B facilities. All bidders were mostly called on the same day for a series of meetings with a team of 4-5 people.

Having done a few of these meetings and their analysis I figured that the person who got the order was usually the one who spent most time in the meeting.  So my prerogative became to talk more in a meeting. I talked about my company, myself, my history, our history, about the hotel, the market, the project, the city, the food and while doing that I would find connections. My stories and connections built trust.

 In the mean time I would figure out the decision maker, influencer and nuisance makers. Having done that, I would wait for their issues, their problems and their fears.  By this time, they would be mostly convinced about my knowledge, our company’s capabilities and would have all the trust in me to do the job.  I had already fitted into the jig saw puzzle with the last bit of discount remainig. That would normally close the deal.

I heated up the iron and struck at the right time. Well the timing was not always right but then, lets say mostly!

Sachin Tendulkar’s debut

Here is a little story of the little master. This is from his debut series in Pakistan when another great Waqar Younis also made his debut. This incident was on the 4^th day of the 4^th match of this series being played on a green top Sialkot wicket.

India were 38/4 when the young boy named Sachin walked in to join Navjot Singh Siddhu. Shortly after, Sachin was hit on his nose by a Waqar bouncer. He was bleeding when even Imran Khan offered him to go to the dressing room and return later, “chhote chot lag gayi hai, chalo baad mein aa jana”. However, even at that raw age Sachin knew this is where he makes his mark, this is where he has to rise and this is where he seizes the opportunity. He told Siddhu, “mein khelega!” (I will play). Sachin made 57 in that innings and helped India draw the match on juicy green wicket.

A Star was born. Imagine had he opted to go back and nurse his nose.

Opportunity of a lifetime

There will be times when you will feel dejected and frustrated in your work life. You might even start to put pressure on your personal relations because of that. You will be clueless, looking for answers. Some of us turn to God, some to Godmen. Some to palmists and others even to past life analysers!

They may find some answers and be satisfied with it. However, the game is not about finding the answers or hoping for favourable circumstances but about actually making them.

This life itself is the big opportunity. Seize it. Set your goals. Stay Focused. If circumstances do not allow, change them. Look for circumstances you want, if you can’t find them. Make them!

Carpe Diem stands for “seize the day”. I first heard this term in another one of my all-time favourite movies called “Dead Poets’ Society”. There is this scene where Robin Williams, the professor, tells his students that they have age and opportunity on their side to change the world. He encouraged them to seize the day and make their lives extra ordinary. If they don’t then, once buried, all that would become of them would be a fertiliser!

The Lesson 3:

Life will give you opportunities. Life itself is a big opportunity. Seize it. Make something big about it. Opportunities will come to you in the form of a big problem or crisis. They will come when you want to win a sales order or close a funding deal. Opportunities will keep coming in your life, many times over. You have to be ready for them and seize them. If circumstances stop you, change them. Make the iron hot. Strike it!

Lessons from Entrepreneurship: 2. FOCUS, LAGE RAHO PINTOO!

Disclaimer: I do not claim to know it all but I do hope to share it all. This is a series of 11 lessons that I have learnt dealing with Entrepreneurs and being one myself.

If ever anyone told you how easy it was, smile and tell yourself, it’s not. It’ll never be.

In my life I have been a very keen sports lover and player. Sports have taught a lot of things to me. I draw a lot of inspiration from Sportsmen and their achievements. In this post and the next few I will share many such analogies and learnings.

The biggest learning for me has been the ability to lose. In every match you play, someone has to lose. If you lose today, do you get bogged down? Do you lose track of your vision or your goals? Or do you come back with a bang and launch yourself again? Hitting back with even more determination to win?

I am a big fan of MS Dhoni and what has made him a great leader is that for him winning is important but losing is not that important. He makes it a point to never lose moral or track with a loss in a match. He sets his goals and continues to work hard on them with plans that he totally believes in. He knows it takes time and that there will be hiccups.

It takes time! Stay focussed.

Rome was not built in a day nor was any business. Don’t lose your Focus. Break your long journey into smaller segments and win the marathon by achieving better results in each segment. Focus on a segment at a time. Make sure that each segment or shorter term goal is taking you to your vision and then Focus on a shorter term goal at a time.

I think that every business must be built in style of a Cricket Test Match. 5 days of determination and concentration on the field can be tiring and seem impossible for any great player but then the better teams win it by playing session by session. In business, once the long haul vision is in place, work on it by setting smaller goals. Write them down! Monitor them, measure yourself every week. Week after week. Get organised. Stay Focussed. Each week sow a seed, each day water it. One day it will become a big fruit bearing tree.

ACTIVEKARMA EXPERIENCE: What not to do!

In the beginning of this century I had set up a venture called ACTIVEKARMA in partnership with a very close friend of mine. It was about bringing concept of Active and Healthy Lifestyles. We started off with an idea of making a software that will have some kind of AI and will build a unique diet plan for all our users. We were going to set up offline centers of our own as well.  Activekarma was set up in year 2000, the year of first internet boom.

We got funded! We lost track. This was the time when the number of “eyeballs” was the measure of success for any business. We built a website and focussed on registrations online. Our website had a lot of content. Through the website, we were giving gyaan on stress management, diet plans, fitness, sports coaching and even fitness travel. We had tie ups with experts on meditation, yoga, nutrition, fitness. We had celebrated sports gurus on board along with dieticians and travel experts. We had an online diet management software called MYDIETMATE and we were selling holiday packages even!

We had a great team of seemingly very intelligent people. But we failed! The single biggest reason was lack of focus on our real Goals. We were trying to do too much and we were in a hurry. We did not build an ACTIVEKARMA center. We ran after eyeballs, way too fast.   

Obviously nothing worked! Desperation grew.

One day I woke up to realise that we had become a company providing services on website & software development, ticketing, event management all rolled into one! We were not doing anything actively about ACTIVEKARMA. We had lost track. We had lost!

We set out with the correct Vision. We had found the right gap in the market and we had right ideas. We had to stay focussed on them and should have gone slower.

PIVOT, What? Why?

Staying Focussed on initial goal does not mean to follow it even if you know that you are heading for doom. Change track. Its ok. However, don’t do it for reasons such has fashion!

Few hours of the month, I spend learning from the new age entrepreneurs. Reading about them, listening to them and investing money with them, hoping to grow with them.

Once I met Pintoo. He used the word PIVOT 3 times in his presentation and with a lot of pride. He had changed his business idea 4 times already and I wasn’t sure when the next pivot was going to come!  He was obviously in some kind of hurry to catch the bus and was majorly suffering from FOMO.

Okay, so I do not have a problem with pivot or with changing directions. For me it really means that you started off to do something but soon realized that you had made some wrong assumptions and judgments about the model or market. You were headed in the wrong direction so you changed your track. So you Pivoted! Nothing wrong with that.

If you lose, lose fast. Go back, change path, change direction, do the pivot, if you have to. However, find answers for the “why” , “what” and the “how”.  

If you started your venture to solve logistics problem but pivoted to become a “HyperLocal” grocery company then it better be for reasons of it being a bigger opportunity. Then make sure that you have the skill and passion to do it. Make sure that you have got your business model right this time.

However, if you are going to Pivot because that word is fashionable or that business plan will fetch you money or that is the new flavour of the month then you have lost Focus and you are heading the Activekarma way.

Don’t!

So the Lesson 2 for me is my biggest lesson. STAY FOCUSSED. It will take time. Just keep going. Keep moving. Slowly, yet steadily. It has taken time for each one of them. Even for the great Messi.  After all, it took him 17 years of hardwork to become an over night success.

In other words. Lage raho Pintoo!

Lessons from Entrepreneurship: 1. BHAG PINTOO BHAG!

Disclaimer: I do not claim to know it all but I do hope to share it all. This is a series of 11 lessons that I have learnt dealing with Entrepreneurs and being one myself.

Pintoo came home that evening, panting and puffing! Profusely dripping of sweat. He stood in front of the main gate crouching, head bent down, eyes closed and hands resting on his knees. He was tired but was smiling. His wife opened the door and asked him worriedly about his condition. Pintoo smiled back and said in a rather victorious and proud tone as if he had just won a marathon, “I saved 20 rupees today!”

“Nice, but how?” asked the wife, bewildered.

“You see when I was walking to the bus-stop, I saw that my bus was just leaving. So I thought of running after it to catch it. I ran but the bus was faster and went on going. I did not stop. I told myself, Bhag Pintoo Bhag. I kept running after the bus just to realise that I had run 10km and had reached home.”

“So you saved twenty by not taking the bus but running after it?” wife asked rather unimpressed. “I wish you had run after a taxi.”

“Taxi? Why?” Pintoo was shocked that his wife was not happy with him.

“Well, you would have saved two hundred rupees!”

Pintoo learnt a lesson that evening. If at all you have to run, run after a bigger goal. Make more money or save more money. Make your Goal, your vision bigger.

In one of his lecturers, one of my heroes, Niren Chaudhury (former head of YUM India) talked about the same concept. He said, while explaining the concept of BHAG, that once you have figured out how to achieve your goals, then just double them and see what you will do differently to achieve them. Ask, ‘can you?’ If they answer is yes then go ahead and grow you Vision, grow you Goal. Let it be BHAG: Big Hairy Audacious Goal.

I have seen many a times Entrepreneurs stop. And then fall. I have also seen Entrepreneurs run everytime and everywhere. And yet fall. I think there needs to be a balance somewhere.

LOW HANGING FRUITS:

As a player in the commercial food service equipment industry I often faced entrepreneurs without a vision. The whole model is around making the margin and not on giving a value! Quote for a project, use relations, clout and get the business pretty much based on low margins. Then go back and cut corners! Have low paid staff, have low tech machinery, use lower grade material and age old components, don’t pay taxes and then supply a low quality product at a low price. The frustrating part of this whole business was that even the customers, or at least most of them, did not care much! 

Everyone was trying to pluck the low hanging fruits.

Don’t get me wrong! There is no problem in going after the low hanging fruits. The problem is with going ONLY for low hanging fruits!

If there is no vision to climb the tree and there is a big block, a blinder that does not let you set your eyes beyond then you will never get to the top of the tree. Most of the players of this industry never grew out of their region, forget nation. Most of them never even tried to work on value creation and hence still continue to fight in the near commodity business.

May be it is a case of low aspirations or just fear. However, the problem with no vision or going after the low hanging fruits only is that soon your business model becomes a commodity business. If you never had great aspirations and obviously no vision, then you might still do well for yourself, but then you are not an entrepreneur! Imagine what if Dirubhai Ambani or JRD Tata or Narayan Murthy thought like that.

VISION ON THE CLOUDS BUT FEET ON THE GROUND:

Yes, vision needs to be high. But how high?

The problem with a huge vision that pushes you to the skies is that you can’t build a stairway to heaven, looking up! Just can’t! You have look at the road you are walking on, the steps that you are building and treading on.

Vision should be large enough to never dissuade you from your path and yet nurture your passion to keep pushing you hard to get you to your place in the clouds, one day. This can happen only if the vision is broken down into smaller goals. Annual, Quarterly, Monthly goals translated into weekly tasks.

I am a huge fan of weekly task sheets. It serves many purposes.

One, my weekly tasks are based on my bigger goals and hence I know that I am taking steps or strides towards them. Secondly it allows me to look at the goals broken down into smaller pieces. This helps as I do not get bogged down by the enormity of my audacious vision. At the same time, thirdly, it keeps me focussed on my goals.

Whenever I started a new business, a huge number of ideas came flashing in my brain. It was almost like opening a big bottomless treasure trunk.  There is a sinister voice inside me telling me that I can do this and that and that and then that one too. Well I fell for it. Not once! The voice never stopped but I kept on getting smarter at handling it. During one such “weak” moment I decided not to fall into this trap ever!  I made a policy for myself. I made my Monthly Goals based on my vision. Every Monday morning I look at those goals and make my weekly tasks. These tasks are like a checklist for each day of the week. The voice kept coming. I didn’t mind it. However, I started putting the ideas in what I call ‘the parking list’. Every once a month, I look at my Goals and the parking list and see if I can push my goals for the month. The voice continues. Grows my vision and gets me more passionate about what I do but I never let it dissuade me from my path.

So in short, one needs to have a bigger vision and a huge passion. In the words of Warren Buffet, “Passion builds enormous energy. Without Passion there is not energy. Without Energy there is nothing!”  Use your passion to build your BIG vision. Yet, have clear goals. Smaller goals. Achieve them step by step, stride by stride, leap by leap but never by a flight.

So yes Pintoo, BHAG or run. But not fly.

Reduce the consumption of Petrol & Diesel

No space for Cycles! 

As Mr. Moily dabbles with various outrageous suggestions on reduction of fuel consumption, I thought of giving my suggestions as well. Please note that these are all serious and workable suggestions and I hope that the government looks at them and better still, implements them. 

1.       Make CNG easily available: Every morning I see long queues and hence traffic jams near CNG filling stations. If getting the gas is going to be so inconvenient and painful, I have no incentive to get my car converted. CNG has multiple benefits and this suggestion must be worked on immediately. Benefits:

a.       Reduction in consumption of petrol, saving the DOLLAR.

b.      Reduction in pollution.

c.       Reduction in traffic jams, leading to further saving of fuel.

2.       Improve Last mile connectivity: Metro stations, in many places, let out people in no man’s land. Eg., HUDA CITY CENTER. The stations should be connected via FOB to nearby place of interest including malls, offices etc, so that people do not have to walk on the road. Benefits:

a.       More people will be encouraged to use Metro as it is dependable and safer anyway.

b.      All the benefits of point 1.

3.       Ban production and trade of Fuel guzzling vehicles.  Big SUVs and cars that run for less than 6 Kmpl should be banned. Charge high custom duty, excise duty for those that run less than 10 Kmpl. Penalty could be in the form of higher excise and custom duties. Benefits:

a.       Reduced demand for such vehicles (Hopefully)

b.      Dollar saved for import of such banned vehicles

c.       Lower pollution

d.      More space on roads – hopefully for cycles.

e.      Extra money for government that it can spend on making cycle tracks!

4.       Ban all politicians and their families from using such SUVs. Penalise the owner, If a beacon is found on a vehicle that runs at less than 10Kmpl fuel consumption. Benefits:

a.       Earn the respect from the common man (you can’t under estimate their power)

b.      All Benefits of Point 3

5.       Stop licence distribution. Let’s face it. We do not really have strict training and exams for getting a driver’s license. It is almost like a birth right that is distributed very easily to almost anyone. There should be a strict course for this and all licence seekers must pass this. Make sure all drivers go through strict tests, regularly. Benefits:

a.       Less accidents

b.      Less traffic Jams

c.       Easier introduction of new rules and technology

6.       Create Designated cycle paths:  If there are secure paths and well lit roads, Many young executives working in various IT firms could use cycles for their daily commute. Many young kids could use cycles to go to school and after school activities. Benefits:

a.       Fit young population

b.      Great impetus to local cycle industry

c.       All benefits of Point 1

7.       Create Cycle Stands: Make all buildings, malls, high street markets, schools etc. have parking space for at least 200 cycles. Only if this is done, will point 5 will happen. Benefits:

a.       All of point 6.

8.       Create and maintain Pavements: There is a beautiful walk path along the road that leads to Delhi’s T3 Airport. All roads must have such pavements for walking so that many executives living 2 KM away from offices can walk to their offices. Benefits:

a.       Employment generation: more work for labour and road side vendors.

b.      Fit population

c.       All benefits of point 1

9.       Create Exclusive Non-Motor areas: this may not be easy but we can try and create some spaces where no car, motorcycle, etc is allowed. Ever! More people walking, playing, eating, shopping etc. Benefits:

a.       More tourism. Such areas, if around Historical monuments attract many tourists

10.   Make parking very expensive: Once the above points are taken care of and there is infrastructure in the city to use cycles or just walk, then reduce the car parking spaces and make it very expensive. Benefits:

a.       More space for recreation, trees

b.      All benefits of point 1

A lot of my friends will have more suggestions and they may even discard few of those mentioned above and I respect that. Even though every point of view is open for debate but one thing is clear that we need to change the path we are on. It is nothing but a road to self-destruction.

May the debate begin. May the work begin. May the change begin!

Price of Freedom

An author makes an innocent tweets and a politician challenges her to come to the street to be “given the treatment” by his blind followers. She takes up the challenge and continues to write against these new age loud mouth politicians. She exercises her freedom.

A civil servant takes the fight to the big time politicians and their kin to expose their corrupt dealings and ways of amassing huge wealth. Under all kinds of threats he continues to push the system and ask beaurocrats to “do their duty well” to stop scams from happening. He exercises his freedom.

There are many stories of many whistle blowers, social workers and other ordinary citizens who have raised their voice against wrong. Some have been successful and some not. Some got us to follow them and raise the decibel of their shout while others were just left fighting all alone. No matter what was the eventual result of their fight, these are the people who exercise their freedom and fight for their freedom. In my terminology, they are the current age freedom fighters. They fight to keep their and our freedom intact.

Margaret Hefferman, http://www.mheffernan.com/, a keynote speaker and author talks about it. She says, “Freedom Exists, because we use it!” It’s like an iron utensil which will rust if not used.

If we choose to keep quite, those given the power by us will not sit calmly, they will grab our right to speech. If we don’t vote, those who could have got a thumbs down from us, will abolish elections and take away our right to choose. If we choose to let them, they will take away our right to live and right to die with or without dignity.

So let’s pay the price for freedom. Exercise it, use it. In our small ways, we can change our world.

16^th Aug 2013

Catch the Criminal, Punish the Criminal!

I don’t remember the year but it was, may be, a decade back when I was watching a program on a News Channel where the panelists were arguing why India should not become a dry state. As one can imagine, the views were one sided, no one could count the benefits of alcohol after all and definitely not on a public medium. The balance was totally tilted against the liquor baron who had an innocent defeated-from-the-start look on his face. The debate was so one sided and boring, when a celebrity politician made a point which she thought could be the last nail in the coffin. “Alcohol breeds crime, crime exists because of alcohol. If there is no alcohol, there will be no crime!” Her voice became more authoritative as she pronounced the judgement, “India should be a dry state!”

How absurd, I thought. Pakistan is a dry state, Singapore is not. Really could not see the connection in her glorified absurdity. She should go back and listen to the famous song of Amitabh Bachchan “Nasha sharab mein hota to naachti botal!”, I thought.

This was not the first time I had heard such a vehemently stupid statement from a politician and I knew it wasn’t the last. However, I never imagined that these people and their by-products will give me vertigo by reaching incredible heights by making absurd connections of crime to almost everything from Western Culture, Valentines Day, Jeans and for God’s Sake – to Noodles! Give me a break, will you?

Crime in India is not a result of anything but the knowledge that you will not be caught and that you will not be punished for it. In India we almost take pride in committing crimes especially because we get away with it. I am no different in this case. I have done it and I have gotten away with it. However, I am no more proud of it! It is time we start to change things around or else we will be left with nothing but proud criminals. I, for sure, do not dream of an India like this.

So how can we do this? How can we catch the criminal, how can we punish the criminal? Here are my ideas for the state and its people.

1. Catch The Criminal Fast. Punish Even Faster. Face it! Criminal exists in India and commits crime. No matter if the reason is no money or too much of it. No matter if the reason is alcohol or lack of it. No matter if the reason is FTV or illegal prostitution. Let me make it clear, there is one and only one effective way of stopping crime, by catching the criminal and punishing the criminal! Yes the state has a strong role to play in this.
2. It is not the victim’s Fault. Police and other people of this country should stop blaming the victim. If a thief has broken into my house then it is not because my pad lock was not strong enough. If an old man gets murdered it is not because he forgot to do a police verification of his servant. If a girl is raped it is not because of her fashion sense. The criminal may get “aroused” by an easy prey but he is encouraged to commit the crime because he normally gets away with it. Here, a word of caution, this attitude is not limited to our police only, it exists in all of us and we have to drain it out of our system. Identify the criminal, punish the criminal – not the victim.
3. It is not the law, stupid: Oh these cries for stronger laws and screams for bringing stricter laws! Give it to Indian Laws, we have a very big and thick law book already. In fact, the laws are just so many and so convoluted in spaghetti of existing procedures that even the lawyers and judges are getting indigestion. To stop them from burping and farting we should, in fact, reduce / reform the laws! However, the need of our society and the hour is implementation of laws. We have to implement them; we have to help implement them. Criminal is out there, catch the criminal, punish the criminal. Any punishment will do.
4. The basement is but the lowest depth: We are like frogs getting fried, slowly. We will be fried unless we jump out of the cauldron now! Each day we get an opportunity to bend not only the laws but also our principles. Each day we get an opportunity to get a little worse then yesterday. Each day we fall a little more and there comes a time when we break the depth barrier and reach lower depths than the basements we had originally designed in our minds. We cross the line without even realising it. We get deep fried. First we jump red lights, park badly, and drive on the wrong side because there is no cop to catch us and then we end up drunk, driving over people sleeping on the footpaths. First we break a queue to get our movie ticket and then we end up being rude and callous, shooting at waiters and women. First we lean over in crowded places to rub against the ass of the woman going by and then we just grab her at the next opportunity. First we forget all courtesy towards elderly, the poor and then we just murder them. Stop doing wrong things because you can get away with it. Stop falling now. Catch the criminal inside you. Leave it in the cauldron to get destroyed.
5. Respect thy neighbour: In Hindu religion there is a very big importance of “Janeu”, the sacred thread. There are 3 strands in this sacred thread that signify gurus or teachers, parents and sages. We are always taught to respect these 3 categories of people. However, I believe that together the thread symbolises all of God’s creation including humans! It is my firm belief that respect to God is possible only if you respect his or her creation. So respect your neighbour, her parents, her maid, his driver and your own! Help a stranger, smile at the door man, don’t break the queue, let people come out of the lift first, park properly. For my and God’s ears do not blare out your bhajans from a loud speaker! Anyway, God may not even have ears that catch the frequency of the sound that emanates from them. Respect for others will bring courtesy and social strength that will bind us together against the crime! Flush out the criminal from the society, ostracise him.

Having said all this, I am personally very disturbed and hurt by the recent heinous gang rape in the city. Rape is the worst form of crime and especially in our society where it not only permanently damages the lady’s psyche but also puts a social stigma on her and her family. Rape has to be dealt with firmly and swiftly.

The police have the responsibility to catch the rapist, quickly. Such a crime must be considered of the highest order, even more than a murder! Produce him quickly in the court for the punishment order and make sure he gets it! Even if this is done, it will help!

It may not be enough, though. I believe that there should be fast track courts to punish him, severely. Any punishment will do but it should be severe. No, please no, death penalty is not severe! Here are my ideas of punishments:

• Life imprisonment with a job to clean the toilets of the jail. He should be given 1 meal a day, in the morning. This meal should be given only after he has cleaned all the toilets after the morning jobs done by other fellows in the jail!
• Put a tattoo “I AM A RAPIST” on his forehead. Here I dare to think – an eye for an eye – that the tattoo should be put on his son’s arm (or some other close relative) aka Amitbach Bachchan in another big blockster, “mera baap rapist hai”
• All of the above!

Here I would also like to bring an amendment that the severity of the punishment should be decided by the victim. It is not her fault, remember?

It is my appeal that while we should struggle and fight for more security for us and our loved ones, we should dig out the criminal intent from within us because one of us will get a chance to be the next corrupt leader, the next callous cop, or may be even the next rapist!