My Love Affair with Japan

These are incredible times. My mother tells me

 she never heard about an earthquake that read 

'9' on the Richter scale. My mind races to this 

photograph I saw in the newspaper; of a young 

woman standing besides the remains of what 

might have been her house sometime back. I do 

not know her; not even her name; we have 

never met before and the chances are good that 

we never will. But we are no longer strangers; 

the moment I looked at her photograph a 

spiritual connection established itself and 

suddenly she is in my prayers now. It is as if I 

am in love with her; I think about her everyday; 

I cannot get that photo of her out of my mind. I 

never thought I would ever be in a relationship 

with a Japanese but I think now I am; like every 

other non- Japanese on this earth; in a 

relationship with every one of my fellow human 

being living in that once beautiful island nation 

of theirs. No one deserves this; neither did you.

The pessimists are happy; it is Christmas coming 

early for the people who think that the world is 

going to end in 2012. I stand by my 

interpretation of the Mayan’s prophecy as a 

satire on the mortality of humans, as a warning 

for our race which strayed from its path long 

ago. The high and the mighty will be the first to 

be down and dusted.

Having said that I have to admit that air is not 

what is used to be and nor is the water and as 

for the human race, well; it is the greatest 

problem for this world and at the same time; 

earth’s best hope.

To my brothers and sisters, who are not having 

the best of times.

Love and Hugs,

Ishaan Kumbkarni

Pure Humility; Nothing Else.

To start off; i shall quote some lines quoted long back.

"Look, we've grown because the industry grew. We were lucky enough to be sitting on the nose when the rocket took off. We don't deserve a damn bit of credit."

After a moment of silence which followed this statement; someone else spoke.

"Well, Bill, at least we did not louse it up completely."

Now you may ask who said these lines.

Well, the first set of words was quoted by Bill Hewlett and the second set by David Packard.

Do these set of names sound familiar? I am sure they do. These are the names of the two co-founders of the Hewlett- Packard Company which is a very house hold name across the globe.

These statements of remarkable personal humility were made in an executive counsel meeting after HP was an established billion(s) dollar enterprise.

Jim Collins in his book Good To Great writes, "Shortly before his death I had the opportunity to meet Dave Packard. Despite being one of Silicon Valley's first self made billionaires, he lived in a small house that he and his wife built for themselves in 1957, overlooking a simple orchard. The tiny kitchen, with its dated linoleum, and the simply furnished living room bespoke a man who needed no material symbols to proclaim I'm a billionaire. I'm important. I'm successful. Packard bequeathed his $5.6 billion estate to a charitable foundation and, upon his death, his family created a eulogy pamphlet, with a photo of him sitting on a tractor in farming clothes. The caption made no reference of his stature as one of the great industrialists of the twentieth century. It simply read: David Packard, 1912 - 1996, Rancher, etc."

Well what do we learn from this small peek into Mr. David's wonderfully lived life?

For starters, his alarming humility enthralls me, befuddles me to the extent that i close the door of my room, turn off the lights and ask myself a question ~ How in the name of Jesus could he have 5.6 billion dollars and live the way he did? Think the way he thought? and be humble to the extent he was?

And after much deliberation i get the answer.

These people here (David and Packard) were legends.

Money was not their core value; they were humble as there good sense had not been clouded by their achievements.

They were rich because they followed their passions not instincts.

They were what they were because they were driven by what made them happy; not what made them profits.

Love, Regards and Hugs,

Ishaan Kumbkarni,

Learning from the Legends Programme,

The Success Corporation

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