Will you marry me?

It is very well understood in many parts of the world that the question above represents the ultimate commitment by one human being to the other. A commitment to a lifelong relationship however does not seem to be a major problem for most Indians (as evident by the number of marriages in a month or the growing population). The problem is with day to day commitments to each other.

Let me illustrate through a recent example. Bangalore has been quite hot (the weather!) in recent weeks and there has been an increase in the population of mosquitoes (if people can do it …. ). A slat in one of our bathroom windows broke a couple of weeks ago and there has been an invasion of mosquitoes through the gap. Mona reported the issue to the Home Care office in our building. This office was established by the developer of the complex and is designed to quickly respond to any issue related to the care and maintenance of the homes in the complex. But turns out that the office does not fully understand any part of the phrase "quick response".

Despite repeated calls and visits to the office, the problem remained unresolved for over a week. And these guys have a full time maintenance staff consisting of a carpenter, electrician and a plumber. It wasn't until Mona and I confronted the manager and virtually had to yell at the top of our voices to finally get heard. The problem finally got resolved yesterday after we went and bought a mosquito net and the carpenter installed it over the bathroom window. We are relieved that this issue has been taken care of but we remain disturbed and disappointed at the lack of commitment of the maintenance staff.

IPL 3.0

The third annual edition of the Indian Premier League cricket tournament is currently underway and cricket fever has once again gripped the country. The tournament is back in India this year after moving to South Africa last year due to security concerns. In three short years, IPL has become one of of the most significant sporting events in the world. It has also become a money making machine for the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) - the governing body for cricket in India.

The revised and shorter format of the game along with player auction and the entertainment components have fueled the popularity of this league. The brand value of the IPL is in excess of $300MM and the value of the individual teams are inching close to $50MM. New teams (Pune and Kochi) have sold for over $300MM.

The franchise is set to expand in the fourth edition. Meanwhile, the semi-finals are scheduled to begin this week and most Indians are looking forward to more cricketing action over the next couple of weeks!

My story

Last week the senior management team of 2adpro spent a couple of days at a leadership development boot camp. One of the activities that the team had to engage in required each one of us to write a story in eleven minutes. I used to write short stories when I was a teenager but I don't think I have written one in a couple of decades. But I did come up with one and was quite proud of it and wanted to share:

Love Story

He sat next to her, as she lay comatose on the hospital bed. Her bruised and injured body and her labored breathing filled him with grief. He couldn’t help but reflect back on the decades of togetherness and hundreds of joyous moments they had together. He couldn’t imagine being away from her and living life without her.

The accident was a painful memory in his mind. He couldn’t believe that he missed seeing the truck speeding towards him on the highway. Perhaps they were lost in each other’s eyes and locked in conversation at that time.

His heart leapt as he saw her eyes flutter and he noticed some movement in her limbs. As she started mumbling, he began to lose the sensation of her hands in his. As she started to gain consciousness, his own started fading away. Sadness filled him as his life and soul disappeared.