Unearthing the next Dhoni

Once upon a time, the India cricket team comprised of players from big cities. The current CEO of a big outsourcing company was once a budding cricketer who was interested in making a career in cricket, till a senior counseled him. “How many people from your Ranji team have ever played for India?” This one sentence changed his life.

Today, if you look at the Indian cricket team, the big city representation is limited. There are an equal number of people from small towns. Ravindra Jadeja, Cheteshwar Pujara, MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya… the list is endless.. Talent is coming from the hinterland. What has happened? Where has talent suddenly sprung from? The answer is talent was always there, talent scouts were absent. The people from small towns did not have the confidence to compete against the boys from big cities.

One of my ventures has taken me to Pune to run a finishing school. Last week, we gave an advertisement in the local vernacular newspaper for admissions, which has a geographical reach upto a 100 km radius.

The response was a flood. People travelled more than 2 hours to apply for a job. People aged 30 plus called asking whether they stood a chance. I met three ladies who came from 75 kms away, all engineers, instrumentation engineers, a commodity which is in short supply. For a moment I forgot my role and started speaking to them about engineering and their careers. They were brilliant, but had one drawback… they were not fluent in English. Engineering jobs on the shop-floor were very low paying- lower than even the minimum wage. Travelling  two and a half hours one way to work on the shop floor with a largely male dominated work force and spending entire money in travel and not saving much at the end, really doesn’t make sense.

I met another person, who literally begged me to give him a job. He lives on a cot basis, can’t go home to his villages as there has been no rain and the crop had failed. To those who are uninitiated, cot basis means, he lives in a big hall where there are 20 cots. Our friend gets a cot, and lives out of a suitcase which he keeps locked beneath his cot and access to a washroom shared by 20 people. All these people are in search of jobs. Every day, when I meet five such people, I struggle to hold back my tears. Clearly meeting these people is a humbling experience and reminds me of how fortunate I am.

There was another girl, who was even willing to pay for the course, which I am offering, but can’t speak English to save her life. She is hugely talented, has great hunger and I can clearly see her succeeding …if given an opportunity.

At the same time, I see that the recruiters still come from good B- Schools. The interview will be conducted in English. At the third question in English, this girl will clam up, which means she will not answer. It is not she doesn’t know the answer, she will be overawed by the language and will have no confidence to reply in English. I clearly see, that she will be rejected by the corporate.

And that is where my dilemma begins. I have invested money, big money in my venture, have fixed costs and need admissions to sustain my venture. Should I give her admission, take her money and cut my losses? The socialist in my heart wins over the capitalist in my brain. I reject her… to her utmost disappointment. My principal and partners will be unhappy with me for not generating enough sales. At the same time, I cannot be at peace with myself if I have given a wrong admission. What is right is not always good, and what is good for me may not be the right decision. Life never ceases to surprise and teach you.

I am reminded of something I did nearly 15 years ago, when I was on the admissions panel of leading B-School. There was a brilliant chap, who I quickly realized was not comfortable in English and I conducted the entire interview in Hindi. That is when he opened up and was free flowing. We selected him, and today he is at a very senior level in a leading Private Sector Bank. My question is does corporate India have a similar mindset?

In the early 2000s BCCI spread its wings, and had talent development officers scout the hinterland. Munaf Patel was picked from obscurity. Dhoni’s Ranji team was Jharkhand, which was just a speck on the domestic circuit, one of the teams which turned up to make the numbers. It is time for Corporate India to do a BCCI. There is talent, raw talent which is available in the villages.

Make in India and Skill Devlopment are good initiatives. Corporate support is needed. Over and above the funding and the CSR, what is required is a change in the recruiting mindset and patience in nurturing these people. There are enough and more Dhoni’s available there to be unearthed.

In Duryodhana's footsteps

Duryodhana will be proud of me. Now that I have attracted your attention, don’t worry, I have not succeeded in disrobing any Draupadi, nor do I intend to. Unfortunately Duryodhana is remembered only for his one wrong act of ordering Draupadi’s vastraharan or disrobing. However, I respect Duryodhana for his quick decision making.

During the graduation ceremony of the Kaurava and the Pandava princes, Arjuna excelled in Archery and was the favourite to be crowned as the champion. Suddenly an unknown masked warrior entered, and proceeded to do everything that Arjuna had done and even bettered them. However he could not be crowned as a champion, as he was Karna, the son of a charioteer and not a Royal. To cut a long story short, Duryodhana  on the spot crowned him as king of the kingdom of Anga, thus raising his stature. He did not ask for permission from his seniors, parents or elders.

Just imagine, if he had been asked to prepare a proposal. Come to think of it, how many of us cringe when we have to prepare a case and write up to justify a junior’s promotion? And then it is questioned and half the promotion cases don’t go through. What were the chances of the masked warrior’s proposal sailing through a discussion in the ‘evaluation committee’, or in this case the learned people in the court? Zilch – Zero, not a chance in hell. First of all he would be pulled up for not having come through the ranks… he doesn’t have enough experience to promote him to a king straightaway. His qualifications, caste etc. would be questioned and he would be discriminated against. In today’s corporate environment, Duryodhana would never be able to crown Karna the king. Instead he would be disciplined for insubordination.

In this case, Duryodhana was extremely quick on his feet and took a very fast decision, and capitalized on the opportunity. That is exactly what I did, when I began my entrepreneurship three months ago. I got into a deal, where my counterparty increased the price and in a fraction of a second, I said yes, and signed the deal, before my counterparty could even react. I am sure he was caught completely off guard.

Prudent businessmen would say that I should have bought time and negotiated etc. But the fact remains that I saw value in the price I was paying. I followed two principles :

1.      You don’t look at a gift horse in the mouth

2.      Opportunity doesn’t knock twice

I am sure that if he had gone back to his partners with the decision, they would have done their math and would have upped the price further. I still tell him that he sold me his business very cheap. Excel sheets don’t make decisions. Back of the envelope calculations, gut feel and conviction is what you need to take a decision

Now that I got into a deal committing a certain price, and was wondering how to get the funding. I spoke to a few friends, and they agreed, but subjected my proposal to a complete body scan. I hold no grudges against them; they are completely justified, as they are putting in their hard earned money. As discussions progressed, they wanted me to lay down all the risks on the table.

That is when I learnt a huge lesson, maybe one of my biggest learning over the last six months. Their entire perspective seemed to be what are the risks and what can we lose. My perspective was how soon we can fly and I had started building castles. Actually both perspectives are right as well as wrong. Let me explain.

Raj Kapoor (Kareena Kapoor’s grandfather for the younger generation) was bankrupt after producing his dream project “Mera Naam Joker” which bombed at the box office. At that time it was the costliest movie made. He was blind to the fact that his movie could fail, and maybe he could lose everything.

When Ratan Tata announced the ‘people’s car’ at a price of one lakh, everybody laughed at him. It was a rare case, where the product selling price is announced and then the design is made. A classic case of gut feel and conviction.

Now let me look at the risk evaluation perspective. Too much risk analysis paralyses you. At that time, you allow the projected negative of the project to overpower the projected gains.  And then your conviction begins to falter. A lot of achievements and innovation happen because, people who set out on the journey never believe that it can’t be done.

Some madness is required for innovation, at the same time the madness needs to be controlled so that you don’t lose your shirt as well as underwear.

I have the following takeaways from my experience over the last few months

1.      Projects should not be evaluated on past performance, but on future potential. No innovation would have been possible if all projects were evaluated on past performance

2.       For a new project, or innovation to succeed, you need one mad or passionate person who is blinded by potential success. His / Her thought process should not be clouded by fear.. Remember Gabbar Singh said in Sholay “Jo dar gaya, samjho mar gaya”

3.      The second partner should be risk focused, with a very clear focus on when does one bail out and exit the project.

4.      You need a third partner, who is a referee between the risk taker and the risk averse guy.

When I was working, and getting a fixed income, I used to think ten times before spending. Today, in entrepreneurship, when I am earning half my earlier salary, I have lost the fear of money. Is it me, or does it happen to all entrepreneurs? Am I looking at the bigger picture or am I foolish?

I have no clue. One is wise only in hindsight.  Duryodhana never regretted the decision to make Karna the king of Anga.

Freedom of Speech

Over the last few days, I have seen an interesting phenomenon. There is a daily soap going on, and interestingly, the same soap is being played simultaneously on different channels. One rarely sees all channels colluding in unison. As an advertiser, I think I have missed out on the biggest ‘eyeball grabbing’ opportunity. Debates on nationalism (or anti nationalism depending on which side of the political spectrum you are) gather higher TRPs than an inconsequential India Sri Lanka cricket match or the latest Khan movie.

I shall refrain on commenting on the appropriateness or otherwise of the slogans raised or the arrest made or whether there are curbs on freedom of speech or limits to freedom of speech, as the matter is sub-judice.Saying that the matter is sub-judice is a great excuse to conceal the fact, that I am confused. 

I then wonder whether speech is really free. If I were to talk about the situation at home, speech is free for one spouse, while there are extreme curbs on the other spouse. After listening to all these debates on TV, I think of filing a writ petition in the Honorable Supreme Court for protection of my rights under Article 19 of the Constitution.

Unfortunately this thought is the by-product of watching debates on TV which happen at prime time, when the throat is being lubricated by nectar of the evaporating kind. A heady combination, leads me to think about Article 19 and exercising my fundamental rights. Unfortunately at that time, the only two bones in my body that move are the hands and the tongue for all the wrong reasons. By the time I get up in the morning and get a nice smile with a cup of coffee, all these thoughts evaporate. Yes even after fifteen years of marriage, I get a warm smile, which is nothing but softening of the target before going for the kill.

Driving on the way to office, the thoughts come back. I think about exercising my right to free speech. I want to talk about everything that is wrong at work. How I think my manager is an idiot, my co-worker is wasting his / her time at work, with a Machiavellian streak and would be fit for politics, organisation policies suck, life is unfair at work, performance management systems are doctored to work against you, targets are impossible. And then I see my family photograph on the desk. I come back to mother earth and look at the monthly pay cheque which hits the bank account regularly, and all thoughts about Article 19 evaporate. I dream about the promotion, being a yes man, sucking up to my manager and other senior people and come back to reality

Come to think of it, the number 19 has always been a stumbling block since childhood. I dreaded mugging up the table of 19 and now Article 19 is a nemesis.

No sir, Freedom of Speech is nothing but a figure of speech. The sooner we understand it the better.

Big Runs and Tall Tales

This one is going to be controversial. The headline must have indicated very clearly what I am going to write about. As part of my maverick ways, what will follow is a discordant note. In India, there are only two things on which you write a discordant note and stand the danger of being controversial.

No, it is not Patriotism, Journalism or Politics. Only two issues spur emotions which are at the core – Cricket and Religion. As I don’t want to risk stone attacks and dharnas outside my home, I will refrain from speaking on Religion. I will instead speak on the next big religion in India, cricket.

First of all, let me give compliments where they are deserved. Pranav Dhanawade of K.C.Gandhi high school, take a bow. Scoring 1009 runs unbeaten, is no joke. Whatever the quality of the opposition, and the size of the ground, a thousand runs is a thousand runs. It is more than a test of the cricketing ability. Ability decides, whether you score four runs or forty runs. Temperament decides whether you score forties or convert forties to hundreds.

For those of you who don't play cricket, scoring 1009 runs is akin to running... say 4 marathons continuously.. say 100 miles. To score those many runs, you need temperament, patience, focus and fitness. M.S. Dhoni has written one very important thing, “I would have been bored.” One can get tired and throw away the wicket, knowing that the job is done.

Now let me begin the real reason of this post. I think, his coach needs to be sacked. 

Long long ago, in my career, I got an award for an ‘individual’ contribution. The prize was a lunch with the Managing Director. I was excited and looking forward to the same. On the day, my MD asked me about my achievement and the award. I proudly talked about the scheme that I had created. I was beautifully floating in a balloon of achievement that I had created myself, only for the Managing Director to puncture it in one sentence and bring me back down to earth. He asked me, “Was your scheme successful?”  I had no answer. Actually the scheme was one of the biggest failures of the organisation. I could have said, that “I had created a great scheme, but the sales guys did not know how to sell it.” I decided to swallow my ego and pride and keep quiet.

Today, ten years later I have understood the meaning of that statement by the MD. It was one of my first lessons in teamwork. I wish I had understood it earlier, I would have been a better corporate citizen.

Corporate India rewards Individual excellence over Team Performance. Non- Performance is always externalised. I have seen teams which have performed extremely badly, but one person in the team getting a promotion for good individual work. Even as private citizens Indian believe in cleanliness in their own house and don’t care about cleanliness in the vicinity. What most Indians lack is 'Ownership'

At this juncture, another cricket match comes to mind – October 1998, Australia vs. Pakistan in Peshawar, Pakistan. At the end of Day 2, Australia were 599 for 4, with Mark Taylor being unbeaten on 334. What is the significance of 334? At that time, it was the highest score in a Test match by any Australian, jointly shared by Mark Taylor and Don Bradman. Taylor had an opportunity to bat for 15 minutes on the next day, and surpass Don Bradman, and be the sole holder of the individual score. What do you think happened? Mark Taylor himself was the captain, and declared the innings overnight, thus denying himself the opportunity. It was a great example of putting the team above self.

Something similar happened in March 2004 in Multan. The then Indian captain declared the Indian innings at 675 with one Mr. Sachin Tendulkar not out on 194. The next day the headlines were about how Tendulkar had been robbed of a double hundred by his captain. Conspiracy theories started doing the rounds, and not about a great strategic declaration by the captain.

A great opportunity was lost by the K.C. Gandhi coach by not declaring overnight. We need to build team spirit and ensure team success than individual success. 652 not out on Day 1, World Record achieved, team score at 956, what was the need to play on further? The additional 350+ runs scored by Pranav have no value in my books, as they have not made any difference to the team result. For the record the team won by and innings and 1382 runs.

A lot of people are known to say, I will give my best at work. I disagree fundamentally with this statement. Please don’t give your best, give your optimum. Confused? Let me explain.

If Usain Bolt plays soccer, and runs to the best of his ability, what will happen? He will overrun the ball and will be a bad soccer player. He needs to run at the speed of his teammates, to ensure that the team succeeds, and only when he has the ball, he needs to run faster than the opponents, at the same time controlling the ball. His best will actually be a failure, his optimum a winner.

All the Best, Give your Optimum and Take Ownership; wishing you lots of Success in the New Year.

Gods Must Be Crazy

It is that time of the year when one reminisces about the year gone by and takes stock of what has happened. Children have been born, marriages have happened, people have got divorced, people have passed away, new jobs, new courses, new careers, new friends, falling in love, breakups, good fortune, bad fortune everything has happened. Each one of you would have had some or more of the above. Some of you would have made huge progress; some would have had a roller-coaster year and for some the year would have been largely uneventful.

When I look back at what has transpired with me in the last twelve months, I think it I need to share it with the world. Twelve months ago, I was headed towards a simple uneventful year. Good job, decent money, lovely family, a cute four year rascal, some great friends, playing golf two days a week... life looked simple.

If any fortune teller had told me that by end of 2015, I would have quit my job, be on the verge of publishing my first book, be a regular blogger, preparing a digital media strategy for launch of the book, interacting with PR professionals to arrange media publicity, be consulting with a manufacturing company on production, playing golf on weekdays, lost some money, earning a fraction of what I was earning, commenced entrepreneurship, fallen in love once again, and still be happy, I would have laughed. I would have checked what the fortune teller was drinking or smoking. I would have said, even God can’t write such a script.

But it turns I would have been wrong. 2015, has really been an exciting year. Truth is stranger than fiction and the script could not have been written by anyone else other than God. In August 2014, I trekked to Tungnath, the highest Shiva temple in the world with my mother and a cousin. Lord Shiva is one who is said to smoke opium and drink bhang. By the time I reached the temple it was one in the afternoon. I am sure he must have had his lunch and whatever else, and must have been high, when I met him, which is when he blessed me by deciding to write my script. 

It all began with a life changing event. A friend from college passed away in February. This was the second such person passing away in the last six months. That’s when the fickle nature of life struck me. Everything that one works for, all aspirations which one postpones can come to a naught in a jiffy. I realised life is so uncertain, it is no point postponing the pursuit of your dreams. What is the point sacrificing today, for a better future, if there may not be any future? Carpe Diem has always been my motto, and seize the moment I did. I decided to quit my job to aim to play golf professionally. I am sure everyone in office and my family would have felt I have had a knock on my head. My family would have very easily sent me to a mental asylum, but then there was one catch, I am the sole breadwinner, so they put up with this.

I am sure when Lord Shiva was writing my script, he showed it to Goddess Parvati to approve. And like all wives, she made her presence felt, by adding Angels in there. After all, no script is exciting enough without the presence of Angels, other than the spouse. So the Lord agreed and has been sending Angels time and again to add twists and to bless me.

A lot of people ask me, how we plan our careers. My experience, over the last 20 years tells me, that it is very difficult to plan your careers. You have no clue what destiny has in store for you. There was no way that I could have planned what I have been doing. Many times opportunities knock at our doors, and we don’t open them, think too much about the risks, whether it is the right thing do, what if it doesn’t work out etc. I was telling a friend that I have been extremely lucky. He disagreed. He said that over and above luck, what I have done is I have been open to opportunity. I have taken risks. I still don’t know whether I have taken the right decision; one is right or wrong only in hindsight. So my advice to all you people out there is, take some risk, laugh a lot, dance to your heart’s content, have a few drinks, live life, follow your heart, spend time with your near and dear one and don’t take money and work too seriously. Keep that child in you alive and count your blessings.

Gods only know what script they have written for me in 2016. One thing is sure – it is not going to be an uneventful year. I will end this blog with the following words:

Aansoo hain jo sone nahin dete .....(Tears not letting me sleep)

Aur Sapne hain jo rone nahin dete.....(And Dreams not letting me weep)

Happy New Year and see you all in 2016

Coffee with Fat Fingers

“Mobile-only makes sense for Flipkart” , says Sachin Bansal of Flipkart (Times of India 8^th December 2015).

1986 was my first tryst with computers. Since then it has been a love hate relationship with technology. I love technology, but not sure that the feeling is mutual. Or maybe technology loves me so much, that it gets tongue tied in my presence.. the way I do in the presence of the women I have a crush on. Everybody who has fallen in love in their teens and early twenties, will understand what I mean.

In the 90s when I was young, I wished damsels fell in love with me.. but computers and printers did. My mere presence was enough to hang desktops and jam printers. Once I even made a great impression on a foreign damsel. I was at my client’s office and his son had just got an inkjet printer from the US which was a novelty in India at that time. The moment I entered the room, the damsel swooned and started crooning. It spewed out junk characters.... I understood the message, but my client was at wits end. It was only when I was out of the room, that normalcy returned.

 On another occasion, I was conducting an audit in a small village town called Kudal, on the southern border of Maharashtra. The moment I entered the computer room, the line printer got tongue tied and stalled. I could only laugh at my fan following.

With age the fan following has gone down, and my charm has diminished. Last week, I was invited for a dinner in Pune with my spouse, but unfortunately she could not join me. The host mentioned that I should have got my girlfriend. I joked that at this age and with this paunch, having a girlfriend is not possible. He said, don’t give up hope, you will be surprised. His words were prophetic, only this time, I fell in love and this blog is about my newest girlfriend.

Well she is young, beautiful, slim and desired by many. In the last twelve months, she has had hundreds of marriage proposals, but she is an eternal flirt. Some people have managed to go on a date with her, while she has dumped quite a few. She is so amazing, I am head over heels in love with her. If you have not guessed by now, it is... the app on my smartphone.

Today evening, I was a bit lazy to get up and switch on the computer. I wanted to know the movie timings in the nearby cinema hall, so picked the mobile phone and accessed the movie booking app. Last week we were in Nasik for a week and had accessed the app from there, so it returned movie timings for Nasik, while I wanted them for Mumbai.

I scanned the screen for the button which would help me change the location. She was looking back at me, smiling. Her smile was sunshine and enchanting.

 I was as tongue tied as I was twenty five years ago, when I went out with my first crush for the first coffee. Both of them said the same thing. “I know what your intentions are, but I won’t help you. I will play along with you and watch the fun. Let’s see if you can make me fall in love with you.” Flirting at its best.

 I was looking at her as I would look at all my crushes, tongue tied and not knowing what to say or in this case do. But the conversation had to begin. I could not spend my entire date gazing at her with stars in my eyes. If she had to be mine, I had to say something.

 On my first date, I asked her what will you have and she had said, “Juice.” I had to ask for the menu card.  Suddenly an idea struck me and I put my finger on that part which showed me my current location – Nasik. The menu and a list of cities appeared.

Chivalry demanded that I make the choice from the menu. Also the attempt to impress her means I have the same juice that she has. Only if our tastes match, is there a chance of taking this relationship ahead. I suggested pineapple and she wanted watermelon. I clicked on Mumbai, but she returned the search result for Bengaluru. Disaster - History repeats itself after twenty five years.

I did not want watermelon, and she was insisting on the same. Three times, I put my finger on Mumbai, only to return results for Bengaluru. Clearly the conversation was not going on desired lines. I tried to remember, what I did twenty five years ago. Yes, I told her that I did not want watermelon, and asked her to pick a flavour she liked.

I looked for a search box and found one. I put my finger in the box so that the keypad would get activated. Instead of activating the key pad, it returned search results for National Capital Region. After repeated tries, I gave up, got up and switched on my faithful computer.

I have since shared many coffees, but haven’t progressed beyond that for some reason. I seem to be incapable of succeeding in the art of wooing a woman. When I shared my predicament with an agony aunt, she told me, that I have fat fingers. Well, I can use a nail file to chisel my nails, but how does one chisel fat fingers without bleeding?

Thank God for the concept of arranged marriages in India, else I would have remained a bachelor. Spouses may not be glamorous, the technology may be old, but they are willing to live with fat fingers.

I am no longer willing to spend money in this pursuit (other than a few coffees). If a woman wants to fall in love with me, it has to be on the basis of my intelligence and accept my fat fingers.

However, hope is eternal, and I will continue in my pursuit of pretty young women. Yesterdays’s newspaper carried articles of Celebrities in Hollywood getting married to younger women, with the age difference being more than fifteen years.  It is time to upgrade my smartphone and explore newer apps. After all, Men will be men!!!

Decoding Aamir

Aamir Khan has put his foot in his mouth. Going by the traffic on media – social, print or television –  his statement has generated enough comments. As per him, his wife feels there is a state of despondency in this country and fears for their child. One can’t argue with maternal instincts.

But why is it that I do not feel the intolerance and am not suffocated and fear for my children? The pattern that arises in this country over the last so many years is that intolerance, threat of existence, fear etc. are only felt by some minority communities. Is it because they are in the minority and fear the majority community?  68 years of independence has shown that all communities can co-exist with each other.

I interact on a daily basis with all minorities – at work, in a cab, at the marketplace. I do not see the fear in their eyes. I have a lot of friends from minority communities, and nowhere have I got an impression that they live in fear in this country. It is not that when the minority and majority communities come in contact with each other on a daily basis, they are on a state of high alert, ready to thwart off any attack from the other.

Maybe, my inability to feel the intolerance arises from my being a non- celebrity. Celebrities live in a cocoon. In a fan crazy country they love the adulation. They also live a tough life. They and their children cannot live a simple life like we do. It is very difficult for them to go to a movie, or take a hit in the park. They live in their exclusivity and continue to weave that web around themselves. They do not travel by public transport. They do not have to visit the supermarket to shop for groceries. In a literal sense, “Unhe daal aate ka bhaav pata nahin.”

They also have another problem- they need to be in the limelight. The warmth of the focus on them is what gives life to the cocoon. They fear that if the focus on them dwindles, their cocoon will fade. Let us look at Aamir Khan’s story. He does one movie at a time and focuses his energy on the same. His last movie was PK which was released in December 2014. Now we are closer to December 2015. There is a general impression that this statement of his is a publicity stunt, a lead in to the marketing campaign for Dangal.

There are enough Aamir Khans in corporate life. As you grow senior, your year - end appraisal depends upon, among many things, your ‘visibility’. It is important to make your point felt, ask questions in cross functional meetings, so people notice you. There is a pressing need to constantly raise points, issues, questions, irrespective of whether they are relevant.

It does not matter whether these questions are actioned upon. You need to ask a question just to stay in the limelight. And if you go three such meetings without a question, people wonder whether you have lost your touch.

A few things can happen when you ask these questions. One, they can be brilliant questions, which can shape policy or strategy. Cheers to that. Secondly they can be disruptive. Your question might be relevant and very close to the truth, which unfortunately the person chairing the meeting does not want to be asked. It is at that time when the response you get is of sarcasm. This is exactly the way people have reacted to Aamir Khan. Thirdly the question or point you raise can actually go against you. It could be nonsensical but you never intended to make sense. You just wanted to make your presence felt.

I believe Aamir Khan clearly wanted to increase his visibility. The noise against intolerance, which had died down after the Bihar elections, lent credibility to the fact that the entire noise including ‘award wapsi’ was a manufactured debate with a political intention. There would not have been a better vehicle to flog and Aamir did the same. Like the corporate analyst, the objective was to ask a question, and increase his visibility.

This statement has created a lot of negative visibility for Aamir. Is the statement irresponsible? Definitely. Has he overplayed his hand? I don’t think so. Given the short public memory, the issue will die down after two months. His objective was to return to the limelight, which he has achieved. The tolerant and forgiving country that India is, the issue will be forgotten at the release of Dangal, which will be a superhit, and Aamir will laugh all the way to the bank.

It is sad that a great story about two women wrestlers (Geeta and Babita Phogat who to me are bigger heroes than Aamir) and their father has got mired in this controversy.

Every person creates a personal image or a brand within the organisation or society. It takes years to create an impression and one bad statement to shatter that image. I wonder what is more important, visibility or cultivation of a personal brand. Wonder what pays off in the long run.