Why we give in to Temptation

I fail every day to my temptations of sorts. Getting up early and doing exercise would give me a healthy body but I give in to the temptation to be in the bed. Doing deep meditation everyday would give me great focus for my day ahead; I give in to temptation of day dreaming and distractions. Taking my work seriously in office would do wonders to my declining and stagnant career graph; I give in to the temptation of taking it easy. If I become stingy; I can get rid of all my loans and build a small fortune; I always give in to my temptations to spend.

I am not alone in my weakness against temptations. Sreeshanth allegedly gave in to temptation of making quick bucks in betting and so did Kundra, Shilpa Shetty and our beloved Vindu Dara Singh! Phaneesh gave in to temptation of carnal kind and the list is endless.

I close my eyes and try to imagine a world where humanity has control over its temptation. I open my eyes with shock. Imagine what would happen to world economy if citizens could not be tempted by the corporate? There would be no cigarettes, liquor, high end fashion outlets, coke, pepsi, smart phone wars on the high street. You would come across only life saving drug stores, organic unprocessed food stores and khadi outlets in city centre.
Temptation is probably nature's best tool to keep the wheel of samsara rolling. . If everyone starts waking up early; do exercise, meditation, have controlled and good diet and lead a very disciplined life; perhaps the life expectancy of the world would rise to 200 years. How would mother earth provide to this ever increasing population? If all the successful people never get distracted by temptation; would the underprivileged stand any chance to excel and succeed in this world? If the citizens of prosperous and well heeled countries do not become distracted by their comfort; would the third world countries ever get a chance to progress? Nature recycles the limited resources judiciously by the necessary evil, temptation.

What will it prove if NRN succeeds in his second stint with Infosys

Majority of the Infosys employees have breathed a sigh of relief at the news. While the actual outcome of this move is to be seen in times to come; it has brightened the moods like the pre monsoon showers in Bangalore. We live in an era of instant gratification. Eggs are counted before they are hatched. It is not very difficult to imagine that Infosys stocks will reach highs in coming week (unless and until counter balancing news of some US federal rulings about visa usage irregularity by India based Software service providers hit the news headline).

NRN’s return to Infosys draws comparison with some other famous comebacks like that of Steve Jobs to Apple or Pele’s return to Brazil’s national squad for 1970 world cup though he had announced retirement post 1966 world cup. The 7.5 Billion Dollar question is; “Will he be equally successful at that?”

There are critics and skeptics within and without the organization. I have heard the arguments that success of Infosys can also be attributed a large extent to the timing rather than the pure brilliance and talent of founders. TCS, Infosys, Wipro, Satyam, HCL, Mahindra BT; almost every India based IT companies grew handsomely in the first 25 years of their existence (1980 – 2005 era). Government showered the IT industry with ample tax holidays, there was no backlash in US, Europe for outsourcing jobs; recession was yet to hit West in the way it has been hitting in the recent times.  There was untapped market and Indian companies reaped the first arriver’s award. The test of the true mettle is going to be the next 25 years (2006 – 2030). What attributes have got the Indian companies to this status in last 25 years doesn’t guarantee the same trajectory in next 25 years. Everyone needs to reinvent, adapt and innovate to avoid dinosaurs’ fate.

Irrespective of the changed industry dynamics; NRN as an individual, commands respect. He is and will remain one of most admired entrepreneurs in India. He has led by example when it comes to imbibing the values of sharing credit, sharing fortune, not letting success get into the head, non-attachment to position of power, building successors, leading a controversy free life and what could be loosely termed as compassionate capitalism. He put his integrity and transparency above everything else. Some values that have really defined the character of the company, Infosys. One can only admire the decisions of Infosys like not bidding for any work for National UID scheme launched by Government of India when Nandan was chosen to lead the project; or not to make any attempt to gobble any of the assignments being executed by Satyam when it went bust.

It pains me to see that a man has been forced out of his well-earned retirement as the successors faltered. He is 67 years old now and has taken up the role for next 5 years! Perhaps it is not a burden for him as I see it. After all Infosys has been his middle baby. I wish him good luck as I wait and watch out for his magic touching my life one more time. J