2013 August

Undoubtedly the passing of the long standing Companies Bill, 2012 by the Rajya Sabha on the 8th of August, 2013 is the most prominent news for both the professionals as well as the corporates, hailed as it is as a panacea for many of the ills plaguing the corporate world ??!! Whether it is or it isn’t, it surely calls for a lot of unlearning and learning for many of us along with wide opportunities. Watering down of many restrictive conditions for setting up and operation of SEZs, easing of FDI norms in select sectors and the Government’s desperate efforts to bridge the Current Account Deficit in its bid to uplift the sagging Rupee are the other important headliners.

But, do spare a thought that amidst the grey, black and white of the dooming economy there are some wonderful colors and hues of flowers to be admired and cherished – a visual treat at Bangalore’s Annual Lalbagh Flower Show to mark our Independence Day.

On this occasion, I cannot resist but share this short patriotic poem roughly translated from Hindi:

“I don’t have the desire to be an ornament for a damsel;
I don’t have the desire to be a garland to woo a lover;
I don’t have the desire to on an emperor’s corpse;
I don’t have the desire to adorn the head of some God;
O Gardener, pluck me and scatter me on the path
taken by many courageous men who sacrifice their lives for the motherland !”

That was the ‘Desire of a Flower (Phool Ki Abhilasha)’ by the famous Hindi poet Makhanlal Chaturvediji. What is your desire on the eve of the 67th Independence Day?