Monday 27 July 2015

The Missile goes Silent

A tribute to Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, Former President of India


Here was a man
Who cared for his entire team
Be it a Director or his car driver.

His empathy and leadership
Tales are legendary.
Like taking the family
Of one of his colleagues 
Out for dinner.
Because the father got tied up late
With project work.
It was his colleague's son's birthday.
Not to disappoint the child,
Dr Kalam himself deputised for his colleague.
How many of today's leaders would do this?

Such was his concern
for his team.
He would take the blame for a mission failure.
But stand behind when it succeeded.
A picture of utmost humility.

Once returning from Hyderabad
He got the aircraft doors reopened
And gangway reconnected
To come down from the aircraft
Only to shake hands with his car driver.
He had forgotten to thank him for his services
Which he did every time.
Can there be a better example of empowerment?
And empathy?
And leadership?

Being a designer himself
He loved being in a laboratory.
Even though head of DRDO
And Scientific Adviser to Raksha Mantri,
He would quickly finish chairing the meeting
And spend longer time in the labs in WESEE, New Delhi.
His face would lit up
On seeing a new design
Or on seeing its test and validation in the field.

Man of few words 
He embodied humility.
His curls
His infectious smile
His bonding with school children
His clarity of thought 
His visionary ideas
Have inspired many.

Alas
The Missile Man's
Last missile has fired
And left a deathly silence
In the hearts of those 
Who had the fortune of working with him (like me)  
As well as every Indian.

Our salutations
To the greatest son-of-the-soil
India ever had.

His famous quotations will circulate on the net now.
But my all time favourite line from him is
May his soul rest in peace.

Jai Hind.

In respectful homage 
    -Harsh-the-Ghumakkad/ 27th July 2015

Tuesday 21 July 2015

Social Entrepreneurship

Dear Fellow Citizen of the World,

This post from Ghumakkad, is not on the usual physical plane of places, flora or fauna but on the cerebral plane.
It is about launching of a new course in the PGDM program where Ghumakkad teaches.




Titled 'Social Entrepreneurship', this core course has the following learning objectives:


  1.  Respond to the societal realities and how it can create business value
  2.  Identify the challenges of setting up and operating an Enterprise for common good of the society
  3. Apply inter-disciplinary management knowledge and practices for sustainability of a social venture 
Being the inaugural batch for this course, the students of PGDM graduating class of 2016 at Vishwa Vishwani School of Business, Hyderabad are all charged up. So am I.

It is after a gap of nine years, that a new course designed by me at MBA/PGDM level has been introduced. You can click to read about previous new courses introduced while I was at IBS Hyderabad.

Purpose of this post is to acknowledge the contribution of following individuals who made it happen.
  • Dr Archana Pillai
  • Dr Ashok Agarwal
  • Prof KL Srivastava
  • Dr Sabyasachi Rath
  • Ms Shree Ravindranath
  • Dr Kinnera Murthy
  • Dr Malini Reddy
  • Mr Verghese Jacob
  • Dr B Ranganayakulu
We would also like to thank the social enterprises and NGOs who have agreed to partner with us in this challenging journey of sensitising tomorrow's business leaders about social responsibility.

Ideas and suggestions to make this program more realistic are welcome. We would be happy to help other institutes to introduce similar programs.

Happy browsing

   -  Harsh-the-Ghumakkad/ 21st July 2015

Saturday 11 July 2015

Nature is awesome

Nature is awesome

Ghumakkad's last story on Brahma Kamal ब्रह्म कमल flower had many readers sharing their own plants and experiences. It was very heart warming to see how Nature binds mankind across regions and continents.

Continuing with Nature as the theme, we have two Picturesque Quotes (PQs) for you. Both pictures were shot in Stebbins Cold Canyon Reserve, California. If you live in USA and are fond of Nature, don't miss this trail. It is a partnership for research and upkeep between University of California Davis and the Forest Department. 

Let the pictures speak.
Borrowing Leigh Hunt's immortal words "Colours are the smiles of Nature", the first PQ for you.
 Followed by Vincent Gogh's famous line...
Isn't Nature truly awesome?

Thanks for browsing.

   Harsh-the-Ghumakkad/11th July 2015

Thursday 9 July 2015

Brahma Kamal Queen of the Night

Brahma Kamal ब्रह्म कमल 

Four years on dot.
Nature's magical calendar.
July 2015 to July 2019.
Full moon night and Brahma Kamal has bloomed again!

Ghumakkad is not repeating the earlier story. We have added four pictures taken today in our garden to highlight the magic of Brahma Kamal. It flowers once in a year and that too at night! How does it synchronise the blooming to a full moon night give or take a day? Read on.




End of postscript dated 16th July 2019.
___________________________________ 

The original story posted four years ago in July 2015.



A unique flower of the orchid cactus family which blooms at night.
Peculiarities of this flower shot in our garden in Secunderabad, India during July-- the monsoon month are as follows:
  • Plant has long leaves, 12 to 24 inches long and about two inches wide with few longitudinal projections. Best planted in area getting filtered sunlight.

  • Buds sprout from the edge of the leaves.

Tall slender leaves can be cut and planted in water to take root and then shifted to a pot.
  • Buds take 7 days or so to grow and bloom.
  • Blooming takes place in dark hours at night.
  • The bloom lasts only one night.
  • The lotus like petals open up fully around midnight and then fold up around sunrise. The flowers appear like a cross between multiple layers of petals as in a rose and conical shaped buds and flower as in a lotus.






  • After blooming, the retracted buds hang lifelessly and wither away.


  • Maximum number of blooms occur around full moon पूरणमाशी 
  • Pollination is done by bats and moths which are attracted by the aroma of the flower.
Enjoy the beauty of Brahma Kamal from close range.
It is a native of Himalayas as well as Sri Lanka where it is called 'kaduphul'. It also grows in other parts of India. It is considered auspicious for the house where it grows.
Part of above research is by observation in our garden and the rest came from Indian Botanists site. Its botanical name is Epiphyllum oxypetallum.

Parting shot of a Brahma Kamal.



Thanks for browsing.

    Harsh-the-Ghumakkad/ 9th July 2015