Rumble in the Wind

 Once upon a time a man appeared in a village and announced to the  villagers that he would buy monkeys for $10 each. The villagers, seeing that there were many monkeys around, went out to the forest and started catching them. The man bought thousands at $10 and, as supply started to diminish, the villagers stopped their effort. He next announced that he would now buy monkeys at $20 each. This renewed the efforts of the villagers and they started catching monkeys again. Soon the supply diminished even further and people started going back to their farms. The offer increased to $25 each and the supply of monkeys became so scarce it was an effort to even find a monkey, let alone catch it! The man now announced that he would buy monkeys at $50 each! However, since he had to go to the city on some business, his assistant would buy on his behalf.  In the absence of the man, the assistant told the villagers: 'Look at all these monkeys in the big cage that the man has already collected. I

Global X interviews Rahul Barkataky, founder of the Community Friendly Movement in New Delhi. CFM creates a global market for handmade ... http://www.socialedge.org/blogs/global-x/archive/2008/01/15/rahul-bartaky

An article on Mint featuring my first start up- MITRA Technology Foundation IRMA graduates Nainwal, Shalabh Sahai and Rahul Barkataky set up iVolunteer—a skill exchange for voluntary work http://www.livemint.com/2008/07/18235343/Welfare-over-wages.html

For some strange reason we as a nation tends to forget this great philosopher When I Asked God for Strength, He Gave Me Difficult Situations to Face When I Asked God for Brain & Brown, He Gave Me Puzzles in life to Solve When I Asked God for Happiness, He Showed Me Some Unhappy People When I Asked God for Wealth, He Showed Me How to Work Hard When I Asked God for Favors, He Showed Me opportunities to Work Hard When I Asked God for Peace, He Showed Me How to Help Others God Gave Me Nothing I Wanted, He Gave Me Everything I Needed - Swami Vivekananda

'You've got to find what you love,' Jobs says This is the text of the Commencement address by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, delivered on June 12, 2005. I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal. Just three stories. The first story is about connecting the dots. I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out? It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a

Convocation Speech Delivered at University of TorontoBy Jeff Skoll, 06.18.03 Thank you, Dr Dellandrea, for the wonderful introduction and thank you to Chancellor Jackman, President Birgeneau, Dean Martin, Dean Venetsanopoulos and the University for conferring upon me this honorary doctorate. Finally, my mother can say "my son, the doctor." Better still, since this is a doctorate of Laws, my mother can also say "my son, the lawyer." Since I'm already an Engineer, I think that completes the proud mother trifecta. Speaking of proud mothers, this day truly belongs to those of you who are graduating today and to your families. You have come to the fruition of many years of hard work and you should be proud of what you have accomplished. But keep in mind that none of us made it here entirely on our own. We had the support of this university, a society and culture that values education and, in particular, we had the help and encouragement of our parents and families. S

How does one build a successful technical career? SUBROTO BAGCHI gives you the nine key factors. THE other day, I met a bright young engineer in MindTree and asked him what his ambition was. He was very clear. "I want to be an architect". My next question to him was, what does he read? He looked surprised and then replied that he does not read much outside what appears on a computer screen. My next question to him was whom all does he admire in MindTree among the three best architects? He named the predictable three. Then I told him what the fundamental gap was between him and the best three. It was about the ability to make intelligent conversation about any subject under the sun - a capability borne out of serious reading habits. The next thing I asked him to do was to poll these three on what were the six books they had read last. The result was amazing. The three named eighteen books in all - of which at least six were common. Ninety percent of the books had nothing to do

Address by Subroto Bagchi, Chief Operating Officer, MindTree Consulting to the Class of 2006 at the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore on defining success. July 2nd 2004 I was the last child of a small-time government servant, in a family of five brothers. My earliest memory of my father is as that of a District Employment Officer in Koraput, Orissa. It was and remains as back of beyond as you can imagine. There was no electricity; no primary school nearby and water did not flow out of a tap. As a result, I did not go to school until the age of eight; I was home-schooled. My father used to get transferred every year. The family belongings fit into the back of a jeep – so the family moved from place to place and, without any trouble, my Mother would set up an establishment and get us going. Raised by a widow who had come as a refugee from the then East Bengal, she was a matriculate when she married my Father. My parents set the foundation of my life and the value system which mak

This was a foreword for a manual on social entrepreneurship written way back in 2005. "Some men see things as they are and say, 'Why?' I dream things that never were and say, 'Why not?' "-Robert Kennedy The social sector is full of stories of how in spite of all odds some individuals rise above the occasion and come up with innovative solutions. Although in the corporate world such stories are well documented and provide interesting case study, only recently there has been an effort to recognize the efforts of individuals who go beyond the immediate problem to fundamentally change communities, societies, the world- whom we know today as ‘social entrepreneurs’. In 1991, a few young undergraduates in a small town called Jorhat, located in the Northeastern part of India, over some hot cup of tea were just casually discussing about the state of environment in the world and Assam in particular. Those were the days when television had spread across homes in India an

Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as: Knowing when to come in out of the rain; why the early bird gets the worm; Life isn't always fair; and maybe it was my fault. Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more than you can earn) and reliable strategies (adults, not children, are in charge). His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a 6-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition. Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job that they themselve

For life and death are one, even as the river and the sea are one-Kahlil Gibran. With profound grief and sorrow we had to bid final adieu to our dear borta, Padma Barkataki (Xoontida). A noble soul with high values and unique literary skills, he almost revolutionized the trend of Assamese literature with Manor Dapon. The best impression of borta that I have is of a human being with such positive energy who could inspire others to achieve higher deeds in life. An individual with a strong will power who never let any frustration or hurdle come in the way of his passion-writing. Hailing from Baligaon in Jorhat, which still lacks a decent road, and without support from anyone, it’s really amazing that an individual could achieve so much success in life through sheer hard work. A multifaceted individual who didn’t know what failure is, he inspired a generation of people through his writings. But for some strange reason the kind of laurels he should have got from the same institutions that h