The Real Hero

About a month back on 23rd March, I updated my Facebook status with 23rd March, 1931: The day we lost our great freedom fighter "Bhagat Singh". I was expecting people to put some comments in praise of Bhagat Singh and some "likes". At the end of the day, I got 2 likes on this status. Yes, I was a bit disappointed that people in my network did not care for this statement. I was surfing TV channels while having my dinner that night. I saw a news channel reporter asking few youngsters in Mumbai what is special about 23rd March. There were very few who remembered the significance of this date. I was further disappointed and thought of doing my bit. I sent a sms to few of my friends as a tribute to Bhagat Singh. I was not expecting any reply on that and I actually didn’t get one.

The next day when I logged on to Facebook, I saw an update from a friend saying "Exactly 8 years back on 24th March, Australia defeated India in 2003 WC Final, it is now the time to take the revenge". There was an India v/s Australia quarter final match scheduled on 25th March. I saw few likes and few comments on that update. Some thoughts again ran in my mind and that was the time I thought of writing a blog on Bhagat Singh.

"The Real Hero" is the title of the blog for Bhagat Singh and he is the real hero for me. I had read about him in my school days. The history text book dedicates one paragraph on Bhagat Singh. I became a real fan of him after I saw a movie "The Legend Of Bhagat Singh". The movie shows so many things that I never learnt from the History text book. I am an admirer of Bhagat Singh not just for his great work but also for the age at which he did this. He was hanged when he was just 23. Bhagat Singh was well aware of the fact that after throwing a bomb in the assembly, he would be hanged. He sacrificed his life for the nation. He wanted people to learn from his sacrifice and he wanted to be an example for others.

His statements in the court, his letters and his speeches are great illustrations of his ideas. In a detailed statement he made at Lahore court in 1930, he explained the motive behind throwing the bomb in the assembly and he ends it saying "...... as the matter of punishment, it is irrelevant to us". This shows the courage of the man.

I wanted to write a lot more about Bhagat Singh but I couldn't. I thought I will not be able to do justice with my writing skills to the great acts and ideas of Bhagat Singh. I always think that Bhagat Singh has not got enough credit for what he has done for the country. I wrote this blog with an only intent to pay a tribute to my Real Hero. This is the least I can do for him.

What encouraged me to write this blog was the episode with which I started the blog. However, while writing this blog I realized that it is not important to remember a date but to remember the freedom fighter himself. One may not remember these dates but yes, we should remember the freedom fighters who fought for us and gave away their lives for freedom of our country. For me that freedom fighter is Bhagat Singh, for you it may be someone else. These Real Heroes deserve a lot of acknowledgement and if you agree with me, it is time for you to pay a tribute to your "Real Hero" in whatever way you can!!

Making It On My Own

Just thought of writing a blog and was not sure of what to write. So finally thought of sharing my thoughts on the book that I read very recently "Making It On My Own".

The author of the book is Prashant Karhade who did his graduation from IIT and did his masters from the US. The book "Making It On My Own" provides the stories of 10 entrepreneurs. How these entrepreneurs became entrepreneurs, the problems they faced and their views on entrepreneurship.

The book is different from other books in the entrepreneurship area in terms of the entrepreneurs whom the book refers to. There are many books available on the entrepreneurs like Ambani, Tata, Birla etc. However, with this book, Prashant Karhade has come out with his own entrepreneurs who definitely are not in the league of Ambanis and Tatas but have interesting stories. All the entrepreneurs are different in terms of the business they do, the way they became or co-incidentally became an entrepreneur.

The author has ensured that all the entrepreneurs in the book are from different industries/sectors. As a result of this, the book provides some good insight in the variety of areas like IT project management, IT corporate training, stone crushing business, international education counseling, etc. The book also covers the story of a Doctor, a Civil Engineer and IIT graduates who became entrepreneurs after serving as an employee to some other organizations during the start of their career.

Each chapter starts with the background of the entrepreneur during his/her childhood days and then continues to unfold his/her life on how the person became an entrepreneur as what he/she is today. This is followed by the issues faced by the entrepreneur and his/her future plans to expand his venture. Each chapter ends with some sort of analysis or views of the author on the entrepreneur that he covered in the chapter. The author tries to highlight the unique or noteworthy points about the entrepreneur and his venture.

Some stories are really worth reading like the one about the 3 guys who started with a small workshop for their hobby and eventually setup businesses in diversified areas. Also, the story about the IT project management software organization is a good one. The incident of a potential client visit to the office and the simple sales/marketing points that were later induced in the organization are worth reading in this particular story. The other story that I found interesting was of the International education counseling organization. One of the fact of this female lead counseling organization is that it has all female employees.

The best of all for me was the story of the entrepreneur who quit his job at 50 and then started his business. This is a very inspiring story for the people who seek to be an entrepreneur at some stage of their life. It really shows that age is not a barrier for becoming an entrepreneur if one really wants to.

One may not enjoy reading all the stories in the book but I think the book is unique for its content and concept. I think it is worth reading this book whether or not you want to be become an entrepreneur.