Before questioning Mallya should we also ask why not also question Air India.

This is probably the best time for the aviation industry not only in India but the world over. Almost all well managed Aircraft operators have been making profits thanks to the low crude prices for the last couple of years and the story is no different in India however there is one exception to this and the company that has not been able to become profitable in such benign conditions is the state carrier Air India. It is well known fact that Air India has been a sucker for public funds for many years and every other government has only diverted money into Air India from other key social projects just to keep the Airline floating or rather flying.

What we have witnessed in the last few months in terms of the banks going after Mallya who owes banks a sum of 9000 crs is a welcome step but going by the same logic the banks should have also gone after Air India whose combined debt runs into more than 40000 crs. Why arent the public sector banks taking this step , why arent they held accountable for the huge debt that Air India is sitting on. The close nexus between politics and the Babudom exposes this truth.

Old private air carriers like Jet and even the relatively new ones like Indigo or even Spice jet have figured out what needs to be done to remain profitable but Air India inspite of being present for decades hasnt still got the right mix . Even if Air India is closed down it will not impact the Airline industry in any way as the market share of Air India is only about 15% which can be made good by the private players.A bloated organization like Air India will continue to extract money as we have seen in the past and all the half hearted attempts to make it professional have gone down the drain.Unpaid vendors , pending bills from the Government , improper route planning are ailing problems that have now become legacy problems with the Airline.

In in current form with its networth being wiped off years back no investor will want to touch the company, the only way forward is to write off all the debt and start of on a clean state and make it favorable for private operators to invest in the company. The airline has been around for a while now and has a huge fleet with experienced staff, alliance partners across major routes and also all necessary permissions at major international airports. It is up to the Government on how they will want to capitalize on this while inviting bids from private players. It is high time Government gets out of the business of running airlines if for any strategic reason they might want to still hold a stake it should be limited to about 15-20% and the rest should be offloaded to public or private investors.

The Narendra Modi Government's recent election victories have given it a thumping majority to push forward such reforms and it is time they bite the bullet .

Made in Detroit to Make in Silicon Valley ....

To stay relevant in business means to Innovate and to Innovate means getting the right talent who can envision the future and create it. The iconic Ford Motor company yesterday announced a new CEO even before the current CEO Mark Fields could finish his term. Industry experts see this as a sign of desperation by Ford . The current CEO failed to communicate the strategy for the future and it was time the board decided to look for a change and get in someone who could deliver results sooner.

The automobile industry is going through a big phase of experimentation and a massive churn is likely to happen in the coming few years. The likes of Google, Uber and Tesla have been investing into self driving cars and electric cars. The shift would mean that the current crop of car makers like Ford or the GM, Chrysler can no longer sit back and not worry about the future of their businesses. While it is true that Ford and its likes have started investing into the self driving or electric cars the point that really needs attention is if it is enough? Do they have the right talent to drive these initiatives. On the other hand the current generation of companies who are driving these changes be it Google or Uber or Tesla or the self driving software makers have to an extent succeeded but that does not mean they will find find it easy in the future.It is still early days.

Marketplace is very dynamic and we have seen enough examples of how companies who were giants in their fields were thrown out of business in a few years by much smaller but innovative competitors. We have seen how Kodak was replaced by the digital camera and how the Walkman gave way to the I Pod or how CDs were replaced by the USB drives. All these changes happened in a span of few years. Having said that making cars is not a joke , the sheer no of components that go into making a car and the supply chain that is needed to make it fully functional is something that the traditional car companies have learnt and mastered over the years. Do their nimble footed competitors have what it takes to build factories and assembly lines of the size that a Ford or a General Motors have done throughout the world.

Only time will tell who will be the ultimate winner....

India's vision for mobility - Can India replicate the Telecom revolution for its electric cars.

The NITI Aayog's recommendation to have a deadline of 2032 for all cars to be only electric is surely a welcome sign. On the face of it I am sure it will make most of the people who work in the area of sustainable living give this a thumbs up. The recommendations to the government 

 include lower tax and interest rates on loans to buy these cars. This step will mark a key shift in a market which is the second fastest growing passenger car market for conventional cars in the world.

A similar scenario has happened in India almost a decade and half back when land line phone were still penetrating households in India and tele density was in its growth phase and the mobile revolution took over India. With the opening up of the telecommunications sector and private sector investment pouring in the sector grew phenomenally over the next decade.Call rates fell dramatically and at the end almost every other Indian had a mobile phone connection. The shift from landline phones to mobile phones was a quantum leap. Even before people could own a landline phone the mobile telecom industry was in place to ensure that every citizen could now afford a mobile phone.

Can we expect the same in the case of cars, can the shift from conventional cars to electric cars be replicated in the same way as the telecom revolution,can we avoid the mistake that developed markets in the west made of going through the entire cycle of owing conventional cars and then shifting to Hybrids before finally moving to Electric vehicles? The answer is yes but it comes with its own caveats. There are many steps that should happen for this vision to become a reality in the coming decade. Most important addressable issue is on the cost part of the battery and the charging infrastructure around it. The government must subsidize battery manufacturers to bring the cost of cars on par with regular cars. Enough charging points , standardized batteries for all cars is also something that the NITI Aayog has recommended. Incentivizing electric cars used as Taxi's with lower per kilometer charges is also another welcome step.

The commission had also planned to have a restriction by way of a lottery on the sale of conventional cars, however this does not make sense at this stage in a nascent market like India and will have a negative impact on the entire ecosystem. With limited and pathetic public transport this will be shooting oneself in the foot.

Currently India has only one electric vehicle maker which is the Mahindra group the makers of Reva. Ever since Mahindra has taken over Reva they have consistently been investing in technology to make the car better on all aspects. There has been talks of Tesla the American EV giant also wanting to enter India, the company in its latest press release denied that they will not want to enter India anytime soon as there were some restrictions in terms of percentage of local components sourcing. Any such conditions should be sorted out on a case to case basis and competition should be encouraged to come and invest in India. This will not just ensure that the consumer gets the latest technology but also competition ensures that the best practices in the industry are shared by all manufacturers. In an industry which is still get its feet on the ground this is the need of the hour.

The target to go fully electric by 2032 is a bold one but surely not one that cannot be achieved !!

A genius called George....

Maradona Good...Pele Better....but George Best

For most kids of the 70s and 80s growing up watching football our heroes were the two Latino giants, Pele and Maradona and I was no different. It was only a few years back that I accidentally while changing channels on TV came across this program on a player named George Best. It was for about half an hour and the documentary was about the life what they described as probably the greatest footballer ever and that made me curious to start reading and watching videos about George Best and over a the next few weeks I was also of the same opinion that George was easily one of the best the football world ever saw.

Best was an Irish Born footballer who played professional football for Northern Ireland and made his debut for Manchester United at the age of 17. It is said that the a talent scout when he spotted George at the young age of 15 immediately sent a telegram to the Manchester United coach Matt Busby saying " I think I've found you a genius " and he was right. Pele called him the greatest player in the world. Maradona said that both of them were very much alike when it came to creating magic on the field. Much before the Ronaldos and the Beckhams , George was the first superstar in the world of football.

His remarkable ball control and dribbling skills left the opposition spell bound.When he turned up to play for Manchester United the entire stadium would be on their feet chanting the name of George. Best was also part of the United Trinity at Old Trafford comprising of George Best, Dennis Law and Bobby Charlton. The same United trinity who helped ManU win the first European cup in the year 1968. A statue of the three has been erected outside the Old Trafford to honour them.

George had everything going for him at such an young age he had fame , money and anything else that he wanted. Women and fast cars were now his constant companions of the field. Addicted to drinking almost everyday , the high life of work hard party hard had now started to take a toll on this phenomenally talented youngster from Belfast. George could neither give up football nor the late night drinking and partying.The long hair like the hippies, the side burns made women droll over him and at some stage George was as popular as any of the Rockstars of those days the Beatles or the Rolling Stone. His prime came at a time when youngsters were still hoping to play for their country or a club like ManU and his decline also came at time when other youngsters in the club were hitting their prime. Unable to manage all this and work with the new players who came into the team George quit ManU at a age of 27 , he did play for 10 more years after that but was never the Best again. Success had become his biggest enemy , the same success that he could not handle had let him down.

Alcoholism took over his life and eventually he died due to liver complications in the year 2005.His life was glorious and his end was tragic. His final words from his hospital bed were:"Don't die like me." George will not be remembered for how he walked into oblivion and died but will be remembered for the way he played this beautiful game , at a time when football players were treated like any other players George attained the status of Football's first Superstar.

Journey from " Trespassers will be Recruited to Pink Slips " the story of Indian IT.

The last few days have seen IT services majors from India announcing major lay offs anywhere from a 1000 upto 10000 to be shown the pink slip in the coming few months. The major reason they attribute is restrictions on H1B visas in their biggest market the United States. Some of them even announced that would hire local staff from the United states which in many ways would align with what President Trump wanted to do to get back jobs to America. The IT services scene in India was anyway getting way too competitive with pressure from other low cost countries who could do the same job at a lower cost and now we have the H1B problem to live with. Was this expected ? I would say yes ,anyone who understands business cycles will agree that no country in the world will be able to maintain its competitive edge forever and in today's globalized world with constant pressure on corporations to cut cost these cycles tend to be even more shorter.

The IT boom which started in India somewhere in the mid 90S primarily grew as a cost arbitrage business model to provide IT services to the biggest corporations in the US. The TATAs were amongst the first to start this global delivery model which was also replicated by other IT biggies like Wipro, HCL, Infosys and many other mid tier companies. A shot in the arm came in the form of the Y2K problem and the industry did what it took to ensure that the majority of the work outsourced was done from India. Most companies used the Y2K boom to prove their worth and get a bigger slice of the IT services pie. A lot of investment was done to aquire staff, new demand for office space was growing briskly across all major IT hubs of Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad and Noida. NASSCOM had predicted a revenue of 50 billion by 2008 was pretty much on track. To add to it we also had the BPO and the call center industry contributing to job creation and in turn demand for other services created by these employees. Everything was on a roll, campus recruitment which was once limited to only the Tier 1 cities was business as usual in almost every engineering college across the country. It had reached a point where some people joked that IT companies that visited campuses with a tagline of " Trespassers will be recruited ".

Promotions, onsite opportunities,developer forums to attend were common jargon for most IT professionals. Would the party last forever was a question most people never asked or never bothered to reflect on. Youngsters just out of college with a job on hand were the envy of the outside world.The consumption boom that got created was very obvious in the unplanned way that cities like Bengaluru, Chennai, Gurugram etc etc grew. This obviously put a lot of pressure on the physical infrastructure of these places.

While all of this was happening very few gave a thought on what next, am I really skilled enough to handle the uncertain ways of the job market. It was not as if Trump created this problem. In any industry that believes in the principles of free market it is common to expect jobs to move to places where it the cheapest with reasonable quality. Some of East European countries saw this as an opportunity and started competing with Indian firms and the market got a lot more competitive. The famed global delivery model was cracking and if anyone smart enough would have noticed it when we saw major India IT companies reporting lower margins and slower year on year growth. The writing was getting clear , pull up your socks now.

Is it the end of IT , I am certain that it is an overstatement but yes it may surely be the end of the cost arbitrage model that we were offering. There is still enough of opportunities to grow. Technology is such a dynamic changing phenomenon that it is impossible to say that it is the end . With never technologies coming in, the advent of social media, big data, mobile technology and huge domestic market to cater to Indian firms still have a lot of it going their way. Will the managements of these firms re-engineer their business model and cater to the new demands, will they motivate their employees to reskill themselves , will they position themselves to the corporations in west as partners who offer value rather than just vendors....if the answer is Yes then we have nothing to worry about till the turn of the next business cycle.

What next in the fight against black money

The fight against back money is a long drawn battle and each step will progressively help if not in totally eliminating black money but at least reducing the avenues that generate black money. By black money our definition in this case is money on which tax is not paid.

There are many steps taken so far like appointment of Special Investigation Team , Voluntary Disclosure of income scheme and the latest being demonetization. All of them may not have yielded the desired outcomes but have in a sense indicated the positive bias of the government to take decisions instead of leaving things as status quo. The next steps needed to further curb generation of black money should be more radical.

First and foremost the government must consider doing is to legalize betting. It is common knowledge that be it cricket betting or football betting or even betting on outcomes of certain events the amount of money that changes hands in cash runs into a few thousand crores. Countries like UK have legalized betting for a long time now and have established legal bookmakers who take bets on various sporting encounters , football being the most popular one. A similar system can be implemented here in India as well. Once betting is legalized it not only brings back a lot of this unaccounted cash into the system but also helps the government in collecting tax from betting operators. A case to support this horse race betting which is legal and is prevalent for a long time. If the numbers are to be noted the Karnataka government earns about 150-200 crores annually from the horse racing authorities in Bengaluru. With the popularity of cricket I am sure the money flowing into legal betting channels will be much more and so will the tax collected and all of this will not only add to the kitty of the government but will also remove the hassles for punters to bet with some shady unknown operators.

The second radical move to curb black money generation is to ensure that all agriculturists also start filling their returns. The NITI Ayog has suggested that they will want the government to start taxing all farmers but considering the current situation and the state of our farmers most of whom are marginal this does not seem to be a viable option. It should not come as a surprise that many people have misused this loophole of zero tax on farm income and hence have used to convert the money generated from other means into white money by showing it as farm income. It is a known problem and nothing has been done to stop this, a small but radical step to change this is to make it mandatory for all farmers to file their income tax returns. At least by this measure the tax authorities can question these so called farmers on their source of funds.

Will the government bite the bullet and take these radical steps is something only time can tell ....

What ails Indian Football

The headlines read that twiterratti celebrates Indian football teams FIFA ranking reaching a 21 year high of being in the top 100 among all FIFA nations. Something to cheer about? Yes, considering that at one point we were ranked somewhere below 130 and many times lower than countries which many of us wouldn't have even heard of.

What ails Indian football, why is that we are so lowly ranked in the world. We have some of the largest fan bases in the world. The English Premier League or the Bundesliga or the Copa America has probably more crazy fans in India than in their own home counties. I can see almost every pub or lounge bar on the weekend playing live matches of the EPL with crowds of youngsters throwing comments and strategies on what Paul Pogba should do next or why Vincent Kompany is the best Manchester City has had in a long while or why Jose Mourinho can never become the next Sir Alex Fergusson. The same exuberance is displayed once in four years when the FIFA world cup is held. All though India would have failed to qualify to the finals much before the elimination round the interest shown by Indian football fans in tracking the performances of other teams is simply amazing.

After all this one would certainly expect a country with such a vibrant football support base to be atleast highly ranked in Asia but is not the case. To add to it the Indian soccer league between teams named after regions and cities of India has bought a lot of interest to the game. But a point is what is that ails Indian football while we can claim glory in cricket even though not many countries play cricket as compared to football and we are quite successful when it comes to hockey why is our performance is below par in football. The answer could lie in the fact that how many of us actually play football, how many of us would encourage our children to take up this game on serious level. Professional football is a muscular sport requiring extreme levels of training and fitness coupled with a disciplined training regime, do we have enough staff to coach the new generation of players. Baring a few States like Kerala, Goa, West Bengal and North East India most of the other states hardly have any talent to showcase.

Probably the answer to the question 'What ails Indian Football?' is we just don't need a few players from handful of states to play the game, the game will grow when all of us get out of the house onto the field and start playing it in our own little way and not just watch it on television.

Who Took my Red Beacon Away

I recall reading an article a few years back of a politician who said that the biggest kick one gets by becoming an elected representative was the power that accompanies the post . The power to walk your way through a queue in a temple or bypass voters waiting in a queue on election day or having a separate entry at airports or having the top cops salute you as you get out of your car or just having a government car with  red beacon on top of it. Yes a read beacon which when switched on in traffic makes everyone on the road to move and give you way, a red beacon which ensures that the traffic cops shout at anyone on the road that obstructs your way and send a signal that a VIP is on his way.

The move my the union governments and a few state governments to have red beacons removed on all government vehicles is certainly a welcome step in the right direction. For decades many from the political and bureaucratic class had misused these privileges which we had unknowingly acknowledged as their right. A privilege which on many occasions was abused to a point which left a bad taste amongst the millions of honest tax payers of our country. In a hierarchical society like ours such rules are pretty common, these rules are not only discriminative but are outdated and should have removed long back. Except for the Prime Minister,President and the Chief Justice of India I feel no one should be given this privilege. Now that the order has been passed many from the political class who have been pampered for years will find it uncomfortable for a while and will resist this change giving the usual excuse of time wasted in traffic jams which in the process leads to loss of productive time forgetting that the  common man faces these issues on a daily basis. They will try to persuade and seek exemptions from the authorities on theirs should be treated as a special cases and they should be allowed to use the red beacon. They will seek workarounds and possibly ask for a convoy or some may even start using a green or blue beacon by suggesting that the law states only a red beacon is not allowed. 

It is up to the authorities to strictly resist any temptation and fearlessly do their duty as such small steps will slowly add up in changing the culture of politics in India. Such small steps will go a long way in sending the message that the common man is frustrated and angry with the abuse of power and privileges by the political and bureaucratic class that he has now lost his patience.

The main question however remains is who will blink first the implementing authorities or the Neta.

Book Review - Panama Fever

A thrilling tale of exploration, conquest, glory, money, politics and medicine.What amazed me most about the book is the amount of information the author has collected from multiple sources while putting together this epic story in the form of a book. The smallest of incidents that happened more than a century back are all well documented and archived in multiple sources. The book is about the epic story of building one of the greatest engineering marvels of the modern era the Panama canal. For centuries kings,business leaders and explorers were constantly looking at ways to connect this small passage across the Isthmus of Panama which in turn would connect the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific
and whoever controlled this canal would get enough power and influence over global trade and in turn a control on the fate of nations.The effort was literally back breaking and took almost 35 years before it was finally commissioned in the year 1914.

The French initially led the effort to build the Canal in the year 1881 and the man incharge was the Ferdinand De Lesseps the same genius who had build the Suez canal
a few years back. The ambitious project took America and Europe by storm and drew everyone's attention including engineers, drafstmen,diggers, machinists all
wanted to be a part of this project and take advantage of the high wages and in turn be amongst the men who were part of his high profile project. Politicians and businessmen from Europe and America were constantly involved in high stakes diplomacy and in deciding the path to be taken, the technology to be used, the funding plan and where to get cheap labor from. While most of the administrative and engineering jobs were led by the French the construction jobs were invariably from close by West Indian colony of Jamaica.

Unfortunately the French effort to build the canal didnt last for long and after about 14 years they had to give up due to many reasons the most important being cost overruns and thousands of deaths of workmen in the tropical climate of Panama due to Yellow fever , Malaria and Typhoid. Thousands of people lost their lives due to these diseases and many returned to their countries never to come back to work in these horrific condition.

After a decade or so the effort was again revived and this time the Americans took the lead and were backed by the US Government itself. Extremely committed and highly decorated Engineers were now sent to Panama to get the work back on track. In spite of poor living conditions in the humid tropical climate and racial discrimination against the West Indian black workforce the project managed to go on as per schedule. At the later part the US army was also involved in the construction work. Eventually after 10 year from the time the Americans started the work and more than 20000 people loosing their lives due to diseases and accidents in the site the canal was finally commissioned in the year 1914.

The story shows how a small strip of land in a small Central american country suddenly changed the world and made it smaller and launched the era of American Engineering dominance. The Americas were separated by the canal but the world of global trade just became one.

Book Review - The Ocean of Churn

This book covers much more than what the title suggests, all though a lot of research has gone into building the narrative at times the sequence of events and timeliness get a bit confusing for a novice reader on history. Nevertheless a good read to know more about various civilisations that ruled the world, maritime and trade history of the world, the colonial era and the impact of the industrial revolution in trade.

Aspects of formation of continents and land masses , the life of Man in the ice age to the bronze age and finally the iron age are covered well in the first few chapters.

The role of the Indian Ocean in facilitating trade between Europe empires and south East Asian powers including the Greek, roman and later on the turks is something which many of us wouldn't be aware of. The Arab merchants who frequently visited India and how they set up their trading bases in south India and later on Yemen, Oman and Africa are worth knowing. Not many of us would be aware that India also contributed immensely to global trade and would see merchants from mainland India travel as far as Kenya, Oman, East Africa, Iran, Iraq in search of new business opportunities. No wonder that even to this day we can find of people of Indian origin in many of these independent countries.

The south Indian empire of Cholas had a big role to play when it came to exploit trading opportunities in south East Asia and they used their military conquest to spread their empire upto Indonesia which was then followed by business expansion by private merchants.

The post mid 15th century started the new era of European intervention to control trade in the Indian Ocean right from mainland China to south East Asia and upto East Africa. The Arabs who had dominated this route were not very comfortable with this and how all the colonial powers including the British, French, Dutch etc used trading as an opportunity to slowly grow their empire is explained in detail. The major wars, treaties between the colonial powers and the native powers in India, south East Asia and sequence of events that lead to their domination and eventual decline post world war two are aptly examined in depth.

The Indian Ocean trade routes have shaped history and will continue to remain the most important trading route in the world as it touches Asia, Africa and Europe partly and with the growing influence of China and India it will only get bigger .

A good read to know history and the little facts that somewhere are lost in this information age.

Book Review - Veerappan Chasing the Brigand

There was something mysterious about why it took so many years and so many lives to capture Veerappan. Afterall he was once a small time bandit who was into poaching of elephants and later became one of the most wanted fugitives in India. Once you finish the book you will understand the complexities that were involved in bringing this operation to a successful end.

The book written by Vijay Kumar(IPS) Head of Special Task Force Tamilnadu who one of the chief architects behind the final operation " Operation Coccon" that eliminated Veerappan gives a very detailed account of what happened in the numerous encounters conducted by STF in both Karnataka and Tamilnadu. The saga of more than 15 years saw Veerapan become the most wanted bandit in India.

A lot of details of the encounters, strategies used by the STF make it a gripping read, the various tactics used by the police and counter tactics used by Veerappan to hoodwink the police give the reader an idea of what goes on in the minds of the police and the various challenges faced in a complex terrain like the MM Hills from where Veerappan operated. The kidnapping of Dr Rajkumar and sequence of events that followed are explained in detailed, the complex network of police informers and how they are cultivated is something most of us wouldnt be aware of and is worth appreciating the hard work put in the both the police from KA and TN.

Meticulously researched with lot of examples on some ground rules that police us while conducting operations, counter insurgency operations, examples from other countries prove that the author knows the subject well.

Someone wanting to read a thriller should read this book.

Book Review - Out of my Comfort Zone

Steve 'Tugga' Waugh or Iceman Steve as he was popularly known never had the talent of a Tendulkar or the Charisma of Shane Warne nor was he intimidating on the field like McGrath nor was he as flamboyant as Jayasuriya but if you look into what he has achieved in his nearly 20 years of cricket you will easily acknowledge Steve as one of the greatest to have played the game, his sheer grit, discipline and never say die attitude is something cricket fans will speak for generations. This book is quite detailed I would say really detailed and is spread over 700 pages but still worth a look for anybody having interest not only in cricket but in general about sports leadership and management.

The initial parts of the book is from Steve’s younger days in school and local school cricket which I was not very interested in, the interesting part starts from his journey into the Australian team lead by Alan Border , his initial failures and successes , rapport he shared with some of his senior team mates from New South Wales and how they helped him gel into the national team , various anecdotes from his cricketing tours in the Subcontinent , the Ashes and the West Indies make it interesting to read.

I can only imagine what it means to win the Ashes for the Aussies or the English only after reading this book, the intensity in which the Ashes are played seem to be much more than a typical India VS Pakistan match. Many epic test matches and incidents over the 80S , 90s and 00S take you back down memory lane, most notable amongst them are the 1986 Chennai test against India which ended in a tie, the 1995 Trinidad and Tobago test against the windies and the famous face off he had with Ambrose, the Eden Gardens test against India which saw the heroic innings from VVS and Dravid, the 2003 Adelaide test which again saw VVS and Dravid get the better of the Aussies and the infamous incident involving McGrath and Sarwan.

Steve has also shared some memorable moments in the book, insights into Australian Cricket culture, the loneliness of being a captain, the highs and lows associated with the success and failures of your team, winning the prestigious Laureus award , playing the Ashes, the Frank Worrell Trophy ( version of Ashes aginst the Windies), his association with Udayan a NGO based out of Kolkatta and his love for India ( initially it was love to hate ), his first meeting with Mother Teresa , the bribing and match fixing controversies that rocked the cricketing world which involved senior layers from India, Pakistan , Australia and South Africa. The resurrection of Australian cricket under John Buchanan and Waugh himself is something worth going through, it offers lots of life lessons, be it on team play, strategy, planning fitness and discipline something that the previous generation of Aussie cricketers had not taken very seriously.

Some nice little superstitions which cricketers follow, Steve himself had this red handkerchief which he always carried with him while playing right from the days he started playing for Australia in mid 80s till the day he retired, he was so particular about it that in one of Ashes tour in England he had forgotten it back home and was going through a rough patch on the field, he immediately asked for this hankie to be couriered to him to England.

Steve hasn’t been very generous in his praise about other cricketers especially non Australians but the few that he has praised include our own Maestro Sachin ( for his talent and cricketing mind) , Dravid for his professionalism and perseverance( btw the foreword to this book has been written by Dravid and both of them have huge respect for each other ), Sehwag for his dare devil style of playing , Wasim Akram for his sheer bowling ability, Hansie Cronje, Ambrose, Walsh, Alan Donald ,Waqar, Imran, Muralidaharan and Lara .

BTW a quick fact Waugh made his test debut against India and also played his last test against India maybe that’s why his special love for India.

If you want to know the life story of an inspiring sportsman and what it takes to become one, do read this book.

Book Review - The Marwaris From Jagat Seth to the Birlas

Very few books have been written on Indian Business history but these series of books edited by Gurucharan Das make up for it. The book primarily deals with what factors have led to make the Marwaris extremely successful businessmen not only in India but also outside of India.

A good amount of information about where these Marwari businessmen came from, how they migrated across different parts of India and set up businesses is covered in the book. A lot of comparison between the family firms set up by Marwaris and the Jewish family firms (mainly into money lending) is presented, the manner in which these small firms scaled up from money lending to becoming leading Industrialists in pre and post-independence Era is explained in detail. Marwari is a generic term which refers to the business community who were predominantly from the Marwar region in Western Rajasthan, they were typically Agarwals or Jains. It is interesting to note that most of these Marwari firms were not only into money lending to the peasants but also the preferred business partner for the smaller kings and also the East India Company when the British came into India to set up their trading business in India.

Most of the Marwaris migrated towards the Eastern part of India and set up their trading firms in and around Calcutta, Assam and to an extent Bihar also, while some of them ventured towards Bombay but it was usually the Parsee and the Gujarathi businessmen who dominated the trading empires in Bombay.
Over the period of 19th century many of these family firms had graduated from just money lending, to private banks to becoming dealers for various multinational products from Europe and this set the stage for the MNCs to enter India post-Independence.

The reader get a good overall picture of what fundamental traits the Marwaris have to make them so successful in the field of business. The most important of them being a good accounting method (Parta as it is called), ability to allocate capital in the most efficient and productive way and form a good network within their own community to help each other in times of distress. What initially started of just Opium and cotton textiles trading over the years has now seen Marwari firms into various industries be it old economy or the new age business. As the fundamentals of business management haven’t changed much the family firms have changed and adapted to the new paradigms of business.
Case in example is of the Birla group which has been extensively covered by the Author and also taken input from the book Business Maharajas by business historians Swati Piramal. The challenges faced in today’s complex business world be it about succession planning, corporate culture etc etc is something the new generation of Marwari firms have to deal with. The GD Birla group seems to have got their act together by appointing professionals to run the company but the family still monitors it on a regular basis and also involved in key decisions, something that other first generation non business group will have to learn from.

A good book for anyone interested in knowing Indian Business history and the rise of Marwari businesses in particular.

Book Review - Tigers of the Snow

Anybody interested in the history of mountaineering in the Himalayas should read this book, the author Jonathan Neale has done lot of ground research, conducted interviews with former climbers mostly from Europe and off course last but not the least the Sherpas. The book is written to present to the readers an unbiased account of what happened in the early years of climbing the various peaks in the Himalayan range between the 1920s and 50s. There is enough literature which have written about the experiences of the climbers from Europe and America but nothing has been written from the perspective of the Sherpas who are the most important people in any expedition. The book attempts to give the Sherpas also called as the “Tigers of the Snow”their due share of credit which has mostly been eluding them for a long time.

The early part of the 1920s saw many expeditions led by various European nations all of them trying to conquer the big peaks in the Himalayan range which were mainly the Everest , K2, Kanchenjunga, Annapurna and Nanga Parbhat. A good amount of information of the Sherpas ( Tibetans who migrated into Nepal and India) and their life style and what made them the people of choice to assist and ferry goods in expeditions are given in details. Most of the expeditions preferred these mountain men as they were physically suited to this altitude more than the others, their strength and Iron will to survive in high altitudes was something that made them the first choice compared to any other clans who were also ready to do the job of a porter (ferrying goods from camp to camp along the mountain). Needless to say in spite of their huge contribution to the expedition they were still treated like second grade citizens, the Europeans particularly the Germans and the Brits. Things however started to change somewhere in the mid 30s after a series of setback to many expeditions most important among them was the expeditions to Nanga Parbat ( the naked mountain , the ninth highest peak in the world and considered more deadly to climb then the Everest) .

The Germans after many attempts to scale Nanga Parbat planned another one in 1934 with almost 20 Sherpas as part of the troop , things looked comfortable but as the days progressed the captain of the troop realized there were running out of time and money , there was tremendous pressure way back at home with Adolf Hitler personally monitoring the progress of this expedition, there was some sort of political rivalry between the British and Germans in who would scale the peaks in the Himalayas first and make their country proud, in this whole rush a series of fatal mistake by the captain led to death of all but three from the troop of about 30 people which included German climbers supported by the Sherpas.

Similar setbacks happened in the expeditions to K2, Kanchenjunga and Everest leaving the Sherpa community with not just loss of lives but also confidence and the fact they were not treated as equals when it came to sharing equipment, sharing tents and compensation for the job done added insult to the injury. Things slowly started to change for the good with the Sherpas taking more control of the happenings during the expedition, they were more proactive in giving warning signs, setting up tents and handling the Logistics during the climb. Initially this probably led to lot of friction especially amongst some of the European climbers but it slowly started to change and quite of few of them started getting the recognition they deserved.

A good amount of details about high altitude, the need for acclimatization, the finer details and technicalities of mountaineering, frostbites and its dangers and avalanches are covered and make you nervous about how these people did what they did about 80-90 years back, numerous lives were lost because of high altitude sickness, frostbites but that never stopped people from trying again year after year until the summit was finally conquered.

Surprisingly all major peaks were conquered between 1953-1956 including the most feared of them the Nanga Parbat and the mighty Everest .A good amount of information that went into the conquest of Everest in the 1953 is given, the planning that went into it, the thought process of the captain of the expedition John Hunt and his strategy for the final assault are worth knowing, as per plan the captain had made two teams the first was of two Englishmen and the second was as Edmund Hillary the New Zealander and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay , Hunt being an Englishman wanted someone from England to reach the summit first and make this event coincide with the coronation of Queen Elizabeth which was to happen in the coming week but somehow due to bad weather they couldn’t carry on and the chance to ascent was now given to Hillary and Tenzing.

Finally On that event full day of May 29th 1953 the two men scaled the mighty Everest and stood and could see into Tibet, they shook hands, Tenzing hugged Hillary and they patted each other. The mighty Everest had taken many lives but was finally conquered, both of them took pictures with their Ice Axes and flags of Britain, Nepal, India and the United Nations. When they came down everybody asked which of the two men on the rope had first got to the Summit, Tenzing and Hillary agreed between them not to answer this question, It dint matter , they said, they had done it together and the fact remains that Hillary wouldn’t be there without Tenzing and Tenzing wouldn't be there without Hillary.

Book Review - Infinite Vision

Book Review - Infinite Vision
How Aravind became the world's greatest business case for compassion
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I had heard a lot about Aravind Eye Care Hospital (Madurai) but never knew about what their contribution to Eye care in India and the world was until I saw this book and decided to buy and read it.

The authors have done a fantastic job to not only introduce us to the now very popular Aravind model of Eye care ( Low cost , high volume and high value model) but also described in detail of how this whole model evolved over a period of more than 3 decades.

The model which its founder Dr Govindappa Venkataswamy started ( in the late 70s in Madurai) works on the main principles of Integrating innovation with empathy, business principles with service and outer transformation with inner change. At a time of his life after retiring from active Govt service Dr V ( as he was popularly known in the medical circles) decided to start of this 11 bed eye care nursing home in Madurai , the underlying spirit of service was at the core of this project. Realizing that this low cost model for the poor would not take him to far to achieve his mission of curing avoidable blindness, Dr V then used the cross subsidy model where in patients who want to pay can pay an amount their choice , patients who could pay market rates paid it and poor patients who could not afford it were treated free . This model has succeeded and survived for the last many decades and is still going strong at Aravind Eye care till this date.

The whole philosophy of this venture was to reach out to maximum no of poor people and cure avoidable blindness (cataract) and not to turn away anyone who cannot afford treatment. Dr V and his team ( many of whom were his family members ) have successfully used assembly line operation methods even in hospital management which has helped them provide affordable eye care at a fraction of the cost compared to other hospitals in India and the west. A laser like focus on cost, standardized processes, metrics and feedback have helped Aravind to cut cost of an typical cataract surgery and also hugely impacted productivity , a typical doctor at Aravind does about 2000 cataract surgeries a year while the national average is about 400.

The spotlight on Aravind and how it has managed to scale this socially committed business operation to multiple cities across Tamilnadu and build the largest eye care hospital chain is worth understanding.

Dr V who had been influenced a lot by Sri Aurobindo ( hospital named after him Aravind is another name for Aurobindo ) his constant questioning about life and its purpose and all his teaching seem to be the corner stone while this organization was being built.

To get some statistics Aravind in all its centers put together see 7500 patients daily, does about 900 eye surgeries daily ( cataract glaucoma etc etc) 5-6 out reach camps in village are done daily , 500-600 tele-medicine cases daily, 7000 Intraocular lenses produced at their lens manufacturing facility daily.

Aravind’s journey from an eye care hospital to a manufcaturer of Intraocular lenses to Ophthalmology medicines and a few Ophthalmology equipment and opening of Aravind Training institute ( trains doctors and other hospitals to help them learn and implement Aravind model in their country ) is well documented . Aravind till this day trains doctors, nurses and support staff from various countries in Africa and Asia, they learn about the Aravind model and how to replicate the same back home.

All this has bought them a lot of praise some of which are the Padma Shri for its founder Dr Govindappa Venkataswamy numerous awards and grants from leading social impact funds and organizations like Acumen, Skool, Schwab and Gates Foundation. Innumerable no of business schools have included this case study in their MBA programs including the most famous of them Harvard.

Succession planning, scalability model like in any organization is a challenge and Aravind is no different, what started of as business based on compassion today's stands at the crossroads with the new generation facing the dilemma of the road ahead. With increasing competition w and growing materialism the generation now at the helm face this challenge on how to retain the founding principles when this institute was started.

An excellent read, not only to understand the challenges faced in delivery of low cost eye care but also understand and reflect upon why businesses need to be more compassionate in their outlook.

Book Review - What I Talk about when I talk about Running

Haruki Murakami is a Japanese writer in both fiction and non fiction categories, quite popular in the literary circles, his books have been translated to more than 40 languages and have won numerous awards. Murakami also happens to be an enthusiastic leisure long distance runner and Triathlete and this book is all about his memoirs as a runner and triathlete.

I had heard a lot about Murakami and about this book, may be my expectations were too high and I expected to read more about running techniques, form etc etc in this book, never the less I think overall it is an above average book.

The author has written the book like a memoir, he talks a lot about importance of being fit and how he used running to get in shape. Being an author needed him to think a lot and maintain his creative thoughts flowing and to relax and let go the tension he started running long distances. He has given enough advice to runners on importance of training and building stamina and strength to avoid injuries. His own span of long distance running for more than 25 years has taught him many important life lessons the most important of them being discipline, focus and hard work.

Marukami stresses a on training, building muscle memory and most importantly listening to your body and then talking a call if you need to push or stop. His experience as an Ultra Marathon in an event in Japan exposes some of his beliefs that he had before the race and shows how ultra marathons can be such a humbling experience.

The author shares his experience of training and running in the big marathons of the world including the New York City Marathon and the prestigious Boston Marathon and his transformation to a Tri athlete.

The best sentence I liked in the book read as follows
“ If I used being busy as an excuse not to run, I would never run again “

A quick read if you are at an airport in transit or taking a short flight, not something you can add to your collection but if someone gifts it to you certainly read it once even if you are not a runner.

Book Review - The Siege The Attack on the Taj

Multiple award winning Investigative journalists Adrian Levy and Cathy Scott have put together this detailed book on what exactly happened on that eventful night what we popularly call as 26/11 , the attack on Mumbai.

A lot of research and time has gone while writing this book, the authors have met with various people associated with this incident, traveled far and wide, met numerous government, police and Investigative authorities in India and Pakistan and have tried their best to present an accurate account of what happened on this fateful day that bought Mumbai to a halt, all though they themselves claim that there may be many contradictions in what people they met have said and what some other books on the same subject may have written.

Quite a few chapters have been dedicated to create the background of how this Operation was planned, the early days  of getting David Headley on board how he ( original name Daood Gilani double agent working for ISI and FBI)  was inducted into this operation, the details of his stay in Mumbai and his multiple visits to the Taj Palace to get an idea of the layout etc etc have been detailed out well.

The authors have also met multiple Lashkar leaders to understand how their organization works and what kind of relationship they have with the ISI ( Intelligence unit of Pakistan) .A lot of ground work has been done to understand how the 10 Lashkar attackers ( Fidayeen) who came to India had been selected for this  Operation Bombay, what kind of training schedule was followed, how the religious indoctrination took place, the physical training that one needs to undergo in these training camps in remote north west Pakistan, the technology training that they undergo( learning to use GPS devices, Internet Phones ) and Marine training that they underwent ( as the plot was to enter mainland India via a Boat from Karachi to Mumbai) .At the end of it all ) was a graduation ceremony where the gift was a Matchbox, a goat and a Knife ( things most needed to survive in case of any eventuality)

A minute by minute details of what all happened from the time they left Karachi, how they captured an Indian boat as they approached Mumbai and killed it Captain and used it to enter mainland India through Mumbai. All the strategies that they had rehearsed , the team formation, the locations that they will start attacking( Taj Palace and Towers, Trident-Oberoi, CST and Chabad House) are written in such detail that one can imagine oneself in such a situation) .

The main focus however remains on what happened in the Taj Hotel ( Pride of the Tata Empire) , the manner in which the gang of four entered this lowly guarded five star entertainment hub and how within a few minutes took over the entire hotel , leaving the various occupants and employees of the hotel in complete disarray.

The authors have spoken to many survivors of the attack and taken their accounts of what it was like to spend time ( some spent almost 36 hours ) while these terrorists were going one floor after another and one room after another recklessly spraying bullets and killing many of them .The various employees of the Hotel and a few guests in the hotel  from India and Abroad who were present there some of whom had shown tremendous bravery to remain till the end and help others is something we readers should really appreciate.

A lot has been said about our system and its under preparedness and the red tape associated in the decision making (like time taken for NSG to arrive, the equipment used by the Police etc etc )

A good weekend read but will make you angry and sad at the same time, angry about the fact that more than 150 innocent people  lost their life and sad about our under preparedness to handle such situations and attacks

Book Review - Caravans Indian Merchants on the Silk Road

This book is a part of series of books under the name of ' The Story of Indian Business' and it is mainly about the Multani and Shikaripuri merchants and how they went about building their trading empires in Central Asia .The much romanticized Silk Route as the west have called it was not an easy route that was built overnight but it was built with lot of effort, time, resources and money being spent to make it happen.

The book starts of with firstly throwing away the popular narrative that it was the East India Company and the Dutch who were the first to introduce cross border trade from the northern parts of India.The fact is trade between this region and Central Asia and Europe can be traced to as early as the Ghaznavid period in the 900 AD.

The merchants from Multan ( now in Sind province of Pakistan )most of them from the Khatri and the Arora Community and some even from the Muslim community had traveled far and established trade links in Central Asia( now covering Iran, Afghanistan, Azherbaijan, Uzbekistan and parts of Russia). Trade prospered and was encouraged by the Delhi Sultanate under the Lodhis and also under the various Mughal Kings most prominent among them being Akbar. They realized that it  was in their own interest that they did enough to ensure smooth trade happening between their traders and the far off lands in central Asia. The main incentive being the tax collected from the traders, the same was reciprocated by the rulers in these lands across the Hindu Kush Mountains. The kings took many steps to ensure that the road that the traders took to move their caravans , camels laden merchandise was free from enemy and attacking tribes by deploying armed guards and outposts along the route, had enough trees with shades for these traders to rest and enough wells to provide for drinking water.

The major cities that hosted these caravan merchants from India also referred to as Multani or Shikaripuris were Bukharan, Ishrafan, Baku, Samarkhand etc etc all of which had thousands of merchants from India coming year after year and settling down in separate settlements given to them to sell their goods. The main goods they sold were textiles, Indigo, Sugar, Rice and human capital in the form of Slaves and in return they used to bring back Horses ( to be used in the cavalry) fruits, and wool.What ceases to amaze today's historians is also the fact that these merchant s who were predominantly Hindus were very adapt in setting up businesses in there Islamic states of Central Asia, which speaks volumes of how important it was for the local rulers to keep trade and business going, many a times there was friction between these merchants and the locals but the rule of law ensured that the business interests were never harmed.

Various travelers from Europe who were passing through central Asia were is awe of the network that these traders from India had built in the central Asia . They not only were involved in trading but also offered a complete set of financial services including money lending ( Shroff community) and also brokerage services for the farm produces( Dalals ). The concept of Hundis or Bill of Exchange where in to avoid carrying cash across long distances people to carry home to India just a piece of paper with coded language in it and presents it on their arrival in India and get their money here is something that the Multani traders had mastered and is something the European travelers were very impressed with and write about it in their chronicles . They also mention these traders from Multan, Shikaripuri and few Marwaris also were much better and smarter than the famed Jewish money lenders.

The heart of this trading firms that they built was the family firm which ensured that things do not go wrong as they all were part of an extended family or at least the same cast.Trade in this route prospered for a long time until the mid 1800s but after due to Russian invasions, invasion of Multan by the Sikhs, Marathas and British and instability in the Afghan region somehow this once famous busy trading route got dull as traders started looking for new pastures and route.

The book has been written By Scot Levi a Professor at Ohio State University and is more like a text book format taking reference from many books, papers and Chronicles but is worth reading to understand how trade happened and what techniques were used by these shrewd masterful traders from Multan.

Book Review An Unfinished Agenda

Some dream, some discuss and very few actually do it, this is the story of Dr.Anji Reddy, son turmeric farmer and his journey from a humble town called Tadepalli in Andhra Pradesh to getting his business Dr. Reddy's labs listed on the New York Stock exchange the epicenter of capitalism. A book written by Dr.Reddy himself about his early days as a chemical scientist and how his entrepreneurial journey started.

A lot of details about the policy environment during the 60's in India like the MRTP act, price controls specifically related to Pharma products have been described in detail and will give the reader an idea of how difficult it must have been to start an enterprise in India. In spite of all the ups and the downs and multiple failures Dr.Reddy's is one among the few Indian Pharma success stories that has created tremendous wealth for all its stake holders.

Very few might know that Dr Reddy's was the first company ( all though it had a different name then) to make bulk drugs at such a large scale in India, while older stalwart Indian pharma companies like Cipla and Ranbaxy were too apprehensive to get into the bulk drugs market , Dr Reddy's takes this huge risk and comes out with quite a few block buster chemicals like Metronidazole, Sulfamethoxazole, Ibuprofen etc etc.

The book also gives an overview of the golden period of the 60s and 70s which is often reffered to as the golden era of antibiotics when penicillin, Norfloxacin, Ciprofloxcin became extremely popular in treatment of various medical complications. We also get to understand how competitive the international pharma market is and why there are so many litigations, patent infringments every now and then in the pharma world, the sheer size of business opportunity and stakes make it so competitive. DRLs journey outside India, especially the lucrative markets of western Europe and US are well explained with all details of challenges faced and is a lesson for future generation of Indian companies that might want to enter the US market.

DRLs foray into drug discovery and its moderate success in this field, the failed acquisition of German company Betapharm( at that time it was the biggest Pahrma aquisition by ann Indian firm) , DRLs entry into Biotech and DRLs CSR initiatives have all been elaborately detailed out.

Lots of anecdotes of Dr. Reddy's work style, why Hyderabad is the pharma capital of India,how he dealt with the MNC competition when he started the business, his relationship with industry peers like legendary Cipla Boss Dr.Yusuf Hamied, Bhai Mohan Singh of Ranbaxy, how they decided to name a molecule of the glizatone family as Balaglizatone in honor of Lord Balaji etc etc make it all the more interesting.

Lots of technical stuff that mostly a pharmacologist or a organic chemist can only understand have been written, I personally did not understand most of it but I sure understood one thing that Dr.Reddy was fascinated by chemistry and medicines and never ending ambition to find new methods to produce drugs and thereby reduce cost and make it more affordable to people in the developing world.

The dominant theme throughout the book was about good science, affordable medicines and reasonable business sense to deliver profits.

A good read to understand the early years of the Indian Pharma Business.

Book Review - The way of the Runner

A completely new subject - Book on Japanese Running.......

The two countries that most of us know about when it comes to long distance are Kenya and Ethiopia, however very few of us know that Japan is also a very serious and seasoned competitor in the world of long distance running having had 5 Boston Marathon winners till date and many more top level finishes in major races around the world. Japanese and their obsession with distance running is something unknown to a large part of the leisure running community

Author Adharanand Finn an Englishman who is also a very serious leisure runner has written this very engaging book about this journey and stay in Japan to find out what has made this sport so popular in Japan. Finn after having spent time with the elite Kenyan runners now shifts base with family to Japan and in his year long stay meets various stake holders in the Japanese running community.

Running took center stage in Japan mostly after the world war, running was used more as a community building exercise in those difficult times and since then has been becoming popular year after year, the most popular events are the Ekiden ( running relays as they call it ) where teams of anywhere from 5-12 members run over distances from 21 kms - 220 kms sometimes Ekidens last for more than a couple of days.

Ekidens are held at various levels right from the shcool level to corporate championships. In such a scenario it is quite natural that the pool of runners is going to be huge and unlike
other countries like the US or UK running and being part of a top corporate Ekiden team is not a bad idea to make a career and living out of running.

It is no surprise that the timings of many of the top university level runners in Ekiden is on par with some of the best professional runners in the west off course nothing compared to the east African runners. The level of intensity and popularity with which people compete, watch and cheer the top Ekiden runners speaks volumes about how ingrained running is in their culture( Many Kenyan and Ethiopian athletes also are recruited to be a part of Japanaese Ekiden corporate teams). The most popular Ekiden, Hakone Ekiden is to Japan as what Super Bowl is to America or FA cup is to Europe.

That brings the author to a question, why is that in spite of such intense competition and such a large pool of talented athletes, why arent they able to beat the Kenyans, many reasons have been attributed to this which include training.

Japanese believe in this core philosophy in life that if you need to achieve something you have to work hard and the same is used in the field of long distance running, they focus more on covering long mileages very week, running on asphalt roads unlike the Kenyans whose training is more tactical and in the trails on soft mud. This strategy of the Japanese has often lead to runners getting injured at a very young age and hence not reaching their true potential, coaches in Japan focus on discipline to such a large extent that they rarely tell the runners that they should also enjoy what they are doing unlike the Kenyan training atmosphere which is much more fun and relaxed.

As it is the Japanese are known for hard work and putting in long hours at office, the same culture seems to have been carried to the running field also where focus is to always train hard and run long something that the east African runners cannot relate to when they come to Japan and train with the Japanese for the Ekiden runs.

In japan sports is not just about winning but it about using sport to unify body with the soul and that is why they take running so seriously , and Ekiden running is not about an individual running but the team running in harmony, Finn also runs a few Ekidens during his stay in Japan and has very nicely detailed out what it takes to run in an Ekiden. Finn also meets the Marathon Monks also known as the Daigyoman Ajira who is pursuit of spiritual enlightenment run a thousand marathons in thosuand days, they use the time when running in these long distances to reflect upon life and its purpose to attain spiritual mastery.

The pinnacle of success for runners in Japan is winning the Ekiden and that is why so many of them take up to running, even an Olympic qualifying or win cannot replace the thrill that these runners get when they win the biggest Ekiden run in the country which is the Hakone Ekiden. For a Japanese runners who is part of an Ekiden it is not just another team and a run, it is all about Bushido( loyalty , courage and honour) that is how seriously they take this event and competitive running in general.

Finn also writes about his interaction with the country's biggest running star at the moment ,Yuki Kawauchi and his philosophy in life, Yuki has resisted the temptation of joining a Ekiden team to avoid the pressure of performance, instead Yuki who has a regular day job trains on his own and run about 10-12 marathons in a year, in fact a couple of years back he finished 6 marathons under 2 hrs:12 mins time. After having finished 14th in the Tokyo marathon ,Yuki shaves his head as as mark of punishment on himself for faring so badly on home ground, such is the commitment and insanity with which some of these athletes in Japan train .Finn gives another example of a Japanese marathoner Kōkichi Tsuburaya who finished 3rd in the Tokyo Olympics of 1964 and the fact that he let his home crowd down he then takes a vow to get gold in the 1968 Olympics , unfortunately due to some health issues he cannot take part in the games of 1968, unable to bear the ignominy he kills himself and a day later his body is found with the bronze medal in hand.

A lot of research has been done to see why the Japanese have not yet beaten the Kenyans and many reasons have been attributed to it the most important being the training regime itself somethings which is also endorsed by the legendary long distance running coach and Boston Marathon winner Alberto Salazar of the Oregon Project.

A good engaging book, with a decent dose of humour and at the same time you get a glimpse of Japan's obsession with long distance running.