Pavan Choudary's Blog

As far back as I can remember I always wanted to play by the rules and win. But as a young corporate executive I was losing.

So almost since I started my corporate career, about twenty five years ago, I wanted to develop a system which could make the good man win. Let me narrate five stories, which are like milestones, in this journey I have undertaken.

The Girl And Her Drawing: The Crafty corporate games were too much for me to handle. I was bruised and beaten and of course not succeeding...

Published in: Times of India

One of the first residents of Gurgaon, Yudhishthira (of Mahabharata fame) was in a way a stray dog lover. As the Pandavas, post the war, set East towards the direction of the Himalayas, a stray dog follows Yudhisthira. On the way Draupadi and the younger brothers fall one by one but Yudhisthira trudges along with the mongrel in tow. At the door to the heaven, it is said, Lord Indra welcomes Yudhishthira but tries to deny the dog entry. Yudhishthira pleads the dog's...

Published in: Times of India

This paper carried news of the launch of a campaign to make the city Gurgaon a no-honking zone by an NGO - Earth Saviour's Foundation and the members of a major horn manufacturing company. They went a step too far and tied a dog onto a post at the busy Shankar Chowk and wrote a mighty offensive line with the cartoon of a dog on a poster – ‘Kutta bhi bina vajah nahin bhonkta. Horn nahi bajayen’.

While the initiative is laudable, assuming and generalising that ‘Hum ho...

Published in: Times of India

The other day I went to see a movie at a mall situated on the outskirts of Gurgaon. My aunt, 55 and my niece 22, came along. While we were waiting for the doors of the theatre to open, a middle aged man came up to me, introduced himself as Mr Gupta and complimented me for my show, Hum Aise Kyun Hain on DD. He went to bring his wife, his school going son and daughter to introduce them to me. I was happy to note that that my aunt and niece had already heard the accla...

Published in: Times of India

Earlier this year Ms.Kanthi Kanan founder of the Right to Walk Foundation filed a petition to the National Women’s Commission and the Andhra Pradesh State Human Rights Commission stating that Peeing in public is equivalent to stripping in public and it should be made a punishable offence.

The Government has not yet acted on it. And wisely so. As it can't forbid people from peeing in public till it has provided public toilets. Civic infrastructure has to precede civi...

Published In: Times of India

Writing in his weekly Navjivan on Our Dirty Ways Gandhi said that those who spit on the streets have no consideration for others. Today- Many decades later- while the world has become cleaner, spitting continues unabated in our country. And we can't blame the government for this one.

In fact the only lull in spitting in public came in India in the 1960's. When through posters and films- some governments to prevent the spread of TB- took up a mass education programme...

Published in: Times of India

Malls are helping us getting used to technology which we were unfamiliar with. First is the use of escalators. I particularly remember one of my aunts who was mortally scared of taking escalators. She feared that at the time of disembarking her saree would get caught in the moving steps of the escalator. With frequent practice- she is a Gurgaon resident- she is an expert now. I also remember that many years ago a tribal woman from Bastar who badly needed a job as h...

The Prime Minister of UK, this week stated, that UK would no longer offer AID to the Indian poor as it is the Indian rich who should help their poor bretheren (Sic). But the Indian rich don’t usually help their poor bretheren. They don’t even consider the poor their brethren. Instead they have so blinded the world with the vulgar display of their wealth that the so far generous Western world is also no longer willing to extend financial aid to India.

It is saying that if your rich have so m...

Dear Friends,

Some of you have asked me about the sone ki chidiya-baaj (Veer) case.

Since the matter is sub-judice I would not like to comment on it yet but pose before you a broader question.

If someone who is more famous misappropriates something from us. Should we just bear it silently fearing that if we protest the famous personality (himself or through his team) will accuse us of trying to get cheap publicity? And through such an attack try to hurt our good will and credibility. Fearing t...