BookFish is 2 years old. Happy Birthday !

I co-founded BookFish Community with Anant Awadhut, Tushar Nafde and Dhimant Bhundia, a community of Book lovers in MindTree , Pune about two years ago. Yesterday we celebrated BookFish's 2nd birthday in Pune. BookFish is one of the most vibrant and active communities in MindTree which has over 9,000 employees across the world. 

BookFish has over 500 members across various MindTree locations. This is a community of volunteers who believe in the power of Books. They believe that we must not limit ourselves to reading books, we must also share the knowledge we get from the books. BookFish organizes book readings, discussions and fun sessions all connected with the thoughts of learning and sharing knowledge. These sessions are open for all.

I helped this community grow from a mere 4 people to over 100 people in MindTree, Pune and other locations. I love books so creating and helping BookFish grow was the most normal thing to do. But when I started working on it, I realised the power of Communities. How can few people come together and create something that goes on growing even when they are no longer around? I found the answer to that question. I also realised the power of ideas! They say one idea can change the world - that is so true and I have been lucky to experience this myself.

MindTree is a wonderful company. I say this to people all the time, " You can go out of MindTree, but MindTree will not go out of you!" :) Thanks to amazing people like Ashok Soota, Subroto Bagchi and others who founded this company. 

I will post pictures from the BookFish birthday celebrations soon. 

Meanwhile, Happy Reading to all of you ~~  :)

The Foreign Hand by Subroto Bagchi

An interesting article about the "The Foreign Hand". Indians would be able to catch this term easily as we as a nation have got accustomed to hearing about 'the Foreign Hand'. But it looks like countries like America are also picking up on it now!

From the article:

 The quantum of government contracts that comes to Indian IT companies is a fraction of the nearly $57 billion of export business we do all over the world. So, whether Ohio or some other US state bans outsourcing, there would be miniscule impact on Indian companies. But, on the other hand, the rhetoric could mislead the American people and create a “whipping boy” mentality that blames the Indian IT industry that has become synonymous with the term “outsourcing.” In addition to making outsourcing feel “unpatriotic,” it could create fear in the in the minds of the American private sector. What is extremely disconcerting is the fact that any opinion coming from the US President becomes the overall sentiment, the official line on any subject. That alone is bound to affect the US law enforcement and border agencies. We are beginning to see isolated, though serious acts of unfriendliness. Unchecked, such posturing can hurt the complex supply chain process in which bits and bytes that travel by ether need a substantial free-flow of human beings between the two countries. So far, the industry has acted with restraint in the face of US utterances but continued silence could signal servility. Hence, a few key issues need to be raised by us ahead of the US President’s proposed visit to India later this year.