iDiya Labs CEO Krishna Reddy with Ajit Balakrishnan, Rediff founder & CEO about eight years ago. Ajit Balakrishnan, founder and CEO of Rediff.com with his signature on the Nasdaq tower behind.
Today is the 68th birthday of Mr. Ajit Balakrishnan, CEO of Rediff.com.
He is one of the greatest visionaries of our times, having founded a business that would rival the best in the frontiers of internet, he stands tall among Indian entrepreneurs of our times. I am happy to have worked with and learned a lot from Him.
He is an entrepreneur with a great business acumen, who understands the technology, great mentor, caring colleague and above all a compassionate human being.
Ajit, wish you many many more splendid years of road mapping India’s future!
He is one of the key people who had lobbied with Indian government for India’s telecom revolution in late 1990’s, fruits of which (especially cheap mobile call rates) we all are enjoying now. Balakrishnan sat on the government committee reviewing the Indian Information Technology Act. He was also one of co-chairs the Confederation of Indian Industry Task Force on eCommerce and is the chairman of the Board of Governors of the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta. His life and vision is an inspiration for the aspiring youth.
Read Ajit Bakrishnan’s Convocation speech at IIM Calcutta, an inspiring article.
Also read an interesting article by him A Minute that has lasted 168 years .
Spoorthi is my (K V Krishna Reddy’s) debut short film as an actor!
This movie was directed by Kranthi Prasad and brought to you by Bharateeya Film Productions in association with Yess! Media. A short film on a young school student’s determination to win and the power of Yoga, spirituality & mediation. Please watch and share with your friends. English sub titled version will be uploaded soon.
What people said about this movie..
“స్పూర్తి” ఒక చక్కని లఘు చిత్ర ప్రయత్నం. నా సరికొత్త మిత్రుడు “కృష్ణా రెడ్డి (IIT ముంబై)” యాక్టర్ గా మరియు తన “Yess!! మీడియా” ద్వారా associate అయి ఒక మంచి సందేశవంతంగా చిత్రీకరించటానికి దోహదం చేసాడు. “యోగా” శక్తి ని ఒక చిన్న నిరుపేద స్కూలు కుర్రవాడి ద్వారా సమర్ధవంతంగా ప్రదర్శించాడు. గొప్ప ఫొటోగ్రఫీ, గొప్ప సందేశం, ఫరవాలేదనిపించే నటన కాని కుర్రవాడి నటన ప్రశంసనీయం. లోపాలెన్నున్నా, మేలితునకలు మరెన్నో. – Raghava Rao Bontha, CEO, Glow Worm Softlabs Pvt Ltd
I am not expecting anything from you sir. This is a real appreciation (normally people praise each other with future purpose). I did not remember how I added you on facebook. But I am happy with it. You are really unique human being, talented, responsible to the society and serving for our country spiritually and economically. I won’t say your smile but purity of your face is amazing. From the bottom of my heart wish you all the success in your life…. May be I am little boring and complicated… I am expressing this after following your facebook posts so much.
(Today I was pleasantly surprised by my facebook friend Kishore Reddy with this unexpected message. Thank you so much Kishore for your lovely words..)
ABIDING IN THE SELF Abiding in the self you become the Valentine for the whole world. Spirit is the Valentine of matter and matter is the Valentine of the spirit. They are made for each other. They uphold each other. If you hold onto matter and do not respect the spirit, then matter is not pleased. If you honor the spirit then you will care for the world, and when you care for the world, it will take care of you. I am the Valentine of the whole world and I reside in every heart. If you are my Valentine, you will see me everywhere. Have the same love for everyone, with different flavors. You cannot behave the same way with everyone, but you can love all of them the same. Love transcends behavior and etiquette. Radha Krishna, the eternal Love BE LOVED
You don’t need to worry to maintain knowledge. When knowledge is lodged in you as wisdom, it will never leave you. Wisdom lodges itself in your heart. Make the Divine your Valentine (your sweet Beloved). This is the last thing to do and the first thing to do.
Keep your heart in a safe place; it is too delicate. Events, small things make strong impressions on it. And you cannot find a better place than the Divine to keep your heart safe and your mind sane. When you keep your heart in the Divine, the moving time, the passing events, will not be able to touch it, will not create a scar. A precious stone needs a setting around it, gold or silver, to hold it and to wear it; so wisdom and knowledge are that setting around the heart which will hold it in the Divine.
See the Divine in your Valentine and make the Divinity your Valentine (your sweet beloved). Just BE… and know that you are LOVED…That is BELOVED.
Wisdom is to consider the earth as your Valentine. Whether it shakes or breaks, it is dear to you. You always see good coming from it.
Dear friends, Wish you a very happy Rakhsa Bandhan. Here is what my guru Sri Sri
Ravishankar’s wisdom
“This full moon is dedicated to the seers — the rishis. It is also called the raksha bandhan.
Bandhan means bondage, raksha means protection. A bondage that protects you.
Your bondage to the knowledge, to the master, to the truth, To The Self, All Saves You. A Rope Can Be Tied To Either Protect Or Strangle You. The Small Mind And Mundane Things can strangle you. The big mind or knowledge saves you. Raksha bandhan is that bondage that saves you.
You are bound by your bondage to the Satsang. Your bondage to the master, to the truth, to the ancient knowledge of the Rishis is your savior.
Bonding is essential in life. And let the bonding be divine in a life free from bondage.”
Question: Who is an atheist?
Sri Sri Ravishankar: One who has a concept of God.
Here is the news from today’s discussion at Lokpal Drafting Committee Meeting shared by Mr. Gitesh Devhane on the cause – India against corruption. Do your bit to spread the movement and get people to make a missed call to 022-61550789. . यह अधिक से अधिक स्पष्ट होता जा रहा है की केवल नागरिक दबाव और एक जन आंदोलन से ही हम भारत के लिए एक मजबूत भ्रष्टाचार विरोधी बिल प्राप्त कर सकते हैं. 022-61550789 पर एक मिस कॉल कर अपना समर्थन दें, कम से कम १० लोगों को यह बात समझाएं.
The government’s intentions became very clear today. It wants to kill Lokpal before it were born. They want to create a Lokpal without any administrative or investigative machinery – an emaciated and disempowered Lokpal.Government says that it would be an eleven member body. Benches of these eleven members would take all decisions. Government says that Lokpal would have powers to receive public grievances from ordinary people. So, if an income tax officer demanded a bribe to give an income tax refund in Bangalore, the citizen will have to make a complaint to the eleven member body in Delhi and come to Delhi for hearings. “There would be thousands of complaints from across the country. How will these eleven members deal with it?” asked civil society members. The government did not reply. They just announced their decision. This is a sure way of killing Lokpal before it was born. We wanted a Lokpal with officers working under it at district level, who would have powers to deal with cases at local level. Government refuses to accept that model.It was clear today that the government had already made up its mind. The talks were just a formality. Inside the committee, the civil society members keep arguing strenuously on each point and the government ministers simply announce their decisions, even if they do not have arguments.In the end, the government nominees suggested that we bring our version of Lokpal Bill in the next meeting, they would bring their version of Lokpal Bill. In the next meeting, they would see whether there could be consensus on any more issues. Finally two Bills will be sent to the Cabinet.
We demanded copies of audio tapes of the proceedings so far. They refused. We said that we were committee members and should have a right to take copies of audio tapes of the proceedings. They said they could consider it after all the meetings were over. We said – “do you promise to give us copies of all tapes in the last meeting?” Again they were non-committal. It is really surprising why is the government hesitating in making the discussions public? Perhaps the world would come to know that the government has vetoed on practically all points without having any valid arguments.
It is getting more and more apparent that it is only citizen pressure and a mass movement that can make sure we get a strong anti-corrutpion bill for India. Do your bit to spread the movement and get people to make a missed call to 022-61550789. Only one call per person please.
Also invite more people to this Movement so that we can get Jan lokpal.
With the current situation in India a Rang De Basanthi could be inevitable to rid the system of its evils.
Here is an interesting conversation between me and my friends on the present anti-corruption movement in India.
Roshan D’Silva Really ridiculous what is happening in India. Whatever nonsense the baba was upto the government has clearly over reacted and behaved stupidly.
Krishna Reddy Dude, I feel that we surely need a 2nd independence war (It could be of a Rang De Basanti type.. we need not only Gandhis now but also Bhagat Singhs and Netajis) to cleanse the Indian society, political system, legal system, bureaucracy etc from corruption, red tape in order to enjoy a true independent and happy and prosperous India. Peace alone is not a solution. We probably need some rebels and RDB kinda revolutions and complete reorganization of some of the systems – political, legal, education, social etc – for a faster growth in India. I think that this change is inevitable and imminent. What do you say? Pl check one of my previous posts n share your opinion.. http://blog.krishna-reddy.com/2011/05/injustice-in-india.html June 5 at 10:35am
Pratik Das Agree with you, Roshan – the planned protest was excessively dramatised and disingenuous. Nevertheless, this Congress led government has no legs to stand on. The growth of the Indian economy has been surpassed only by the growth of corruption and there seems to be no lack of imagination in the scale or scope of corruption either. I was a huge fan of Dr. Manmonhan Singh but this coalition government has paraded the flaws in the Indian democratic system – that one good apple in a basket full of rotten fruit is no delight to behold. June 5 at 12:16pm
Pratik Das: Until very recently I’d never heard of a lakh crore in the media, although I’m sure many Indian governments have had projects of that scale. The first I came to hear of it was in the context of the telecom scandal. June 5 at 12:17pm
Pratik Das: Krishna, I admire your passion, but I’d urge you to ponder over something. The collective efforts of so many Indian heroes steered India to independence and, despite the subsequent civil riots, wars, insurgency and the Emergency, their efforts conceded to the Constitution every time. Yet, the foundation of morals and behaviours which rallied the nation was slowly but surely forgotten to give way to corruption before that leading generation had even faded away. What went wrong? If another revolution were to happen, what would keep corruption from taking root once more? What really needs to change? June 5 at 12:51pm
Krishna Reddy: @pratik, I agree with you.. Yess! we need to ponder on this and analyze the past & learn from it lest the system fails again. Here I am using revolution in a broader sense that includes the ones like we witnessed in the past – green revolution, economic revolution of early 90’s, internet n telecom revolution of late 90’s, dotcom bust to name a few. I forecast we will witness a few revolutions soon, probably, in a much larger scale – most of them for good. A revolution has already started (by Anna Hazare, Sri Sri Ravishankar, Kiran Bedi etc with active or indirect support of most of us) and it had to start.. the time has ripened. When a system reaches a collapsing point, drastic changes will happen in it or the system will vanish. I think we have reached that point now. People now think that enough is enough and no more. It is at this kind of time that massive revolutions happen as history tells.. it might lead to great upheavals resulting in completely different – political, legal, education, cultural, religious, scientific, technological
, power generation etc – systems. I believe this is bound to happen in near future.. we could witness massive change(s) (whether we call it revolution(s) or something else) in 2 to 8 years from now. As you said Yes, we all, collectively as a people, need to ponder what needs to be changed and how. All of us could be part of this change…. June 5 at 6:16pm
Tears roll down my eyes as I think about Acharya Sri Ratnanandaji, a humanitarian, who has gifted the world our beloved Guru Sri Sri Ravishankar, a great man who has made this planet a better place to live in.
TheART OF LIVING family in obeisance, expresses its sincere gratitude to Pujya Pitaji for his selfless service and his gift of Gurudev to us.
He was a true Gandhian and joined the freedom movement.
A scholar, educationist and social worker, he served tirelessly for woman empowerment and education. He dedicated his life to service.
He remains our eternal inspiration.
Join the prayer meeting for Pitaji at the Art of Living International Center, Bangalore at 6:30 pm (Indian Standard Time) on June 9.
I am feeling intensely angry, frustrated and helpless…. frustrated over Indian legal system, corruption unethicalness in police, government administration politics and general public. We are extremely helpless about the… incompetence, inefficiency, ineffectiveness, red tape and unnecessary delays (and then expecting and forcing us, the hapless citizens, to respect and follow “Honorable” judges’ orders and (dis)”Honorable” courts without caring for your convenience of dates, for delivering justice.). Many judges autocratically misuse their “authority” by simply dictating and forcing you to attend at a date of their choice without caring for your request for an alternative date. Most of the court work is wasted just to give you “another” date.. but you are forced to attend the court “hearing” where they give you very little time.. just a few seconds to few minutes every time; so wasting your valuable time, money, efforts leaving behind your urgent appointments, meetings etc. A very small, minor and trivial civil problem that could be easily sorted out just in 2-3 hours of logical, legal and clear discussion/questioning/counseling are enough in most cases. But such a trivial case typically takes 3 -10 years to receive final judgment, and at the end, there is no guarantee for for justice.. due to inefficiency, red tapism (and judicial corruption in some cases). There are false matrimonial (divorce) cases that have run for more than 15 years only to be dismissed or granted, in which case the justice is no longer relevant and it is not justice any more, some times when the couple’s ages will be over 50-60 years! So when the legal system and judiciary are so inefficient why should we, hapless citizens, respect and follow such an anarchic legal system? India needs a massive revolution.. a second independent war. The only beneficiaries in the case are your incompetent lawyers who will have brought a plush flat from the legal fee you pay them for lying, cheating, misleading, wrongly advising the clients, colluding with the opponent parties. Of course there are a few exceptions.. competent good, honest and sincere lawyers exist; but very few of them are there.. they are like an oasis in a desert; but their services are too costly for a common man to afford. Typically a judiciary which is supposed to handle 300 cases has 2000 cases. So the judges themselves acknowledge the such incompetency of the courts. Most of the cases are evidently false and illegal ones and they could be dismissed at the beginning itself so it will save the time of courts and the parties involved and avoid the agony caused and the victims could be saved from unnecessary agony. I have a few ideas and solutions to problems facing Indian legal system.. which I will share later. The problem is not just with legal system. It is with many other systems.
Solutions to the problems facing India
So what are the solutions for the problems facing India, the spiritual light of the world?
We must fight a second independent war.
Be the change you want to see in the world.” – Mahatma Gandhi The change happens from the ordinary citizens like you and I.
India against corruption: Anna Hazare with Sri Sri Ravishankar, Kiran Bedi and Swami Agnivesh
Mahatma Gandhi in Dandi march.
Friends, please share your views/opinions/ideas/solutions to tackle this monstrous problem?
Spoorthi is my (K V Krishna Reddy’s) debut short film as an actor!
