some 10 billion years ago..when doordarshan was considered the hottest thing on the indian soil..there used to be this 30 seconder ad or whatever you may call it…which went “let us discover the Gandhi in ourselves”

now no one really used to take this seriously…unless ofcourse if you were a farmer and were hooked on to ‘krishi darshan’…so much so that you saw reason in every ad that followed the same. however…one non-farmer must have been influenced by it…and i had the amazin forture to meet this gentleman today.

amol karnad, CEO of alacrity, chennai

our entrepreneurship prof is one hell of a dude. he got amol, the subject of our case study, to come and talk to us on a personal basis. now if you…(and i so wish everyone could) went through the case…trust me..you wont have many good things to say to amol. cause he is a maverick…eccentric…trying to do something that not people are capable of. he owns a construction company in chennai and is known to process his business at the highest level of ethics. no bribery (mind you…the construction business…!)…no black money..nothing that will not allow him to sleep with a guilty conscience…!

unfortunately…i cant really call alacrity a success. yes..at some point of time they did have 25% of chennai market share. however…as of today the company is a financial mess. and its hard for someone to see how they will be able to build themselves up. so…yah…amol might have failed as a businessman…not believing that the social responsibility of business is to make profits.

however…this is not why he fascinated me…! his conviction…his passion…his tired face which was a reflection of the battlefield he was a soldier of…his hands which were trembling with the burden of responsibility that he was carrying……and the faith he has in the society…..all moved me beyond bound.

i salute u sir…i truly do…!

dmo results out…done as expected…! have to (and i am repeating myself here…sic…!) start studyin for the finals. have loads of assignment due this monday…will surely die….!

~a