I grew up in Chennai where Diwali was (and still is) a big thing, although it wasn’t exactly the celebration of Mammon it is in most parts of the country.

Back then, we were taught that Diwali was to celebrate the victory of Krishna over a demon called Narakasura. So, I viewed the Diwali soirees and Lakshmi pujas my father’s friends would invite him to with a fair degree of condescension and suspicion (both, I realized later in life, are weapons Tamilian Brahmins use to navigate life).

Now, of course, I’m older and wiser, and recognize the importance of worshipping the Goddess of wealth. After all, we all know what makes the world go around, don’t we?

Diwali may be the time the link between religion and business is most evident in Indian companies (other than those in South India where this link is most visible during Ayudha puja when machines, including computers are worshipped), but Gods and Godmen have always had their role to play in the world of business.

Many executives and businessmen turn to Gods and Godmen in their hour of crisis. Thus, Anil Ambani’s all-too-public appeal to his estranged brother Mukesh Ambani, aired from the shrine at Kedarnath, isn’t an exception but the norm.

Many businessmen do not take critical decisions before consulting with their gurus such as the four Shankaracharyas, Satya Sai Baba, and the Beas Sant .

For instance, the patriarch of the Radha Soami sect headquartered at Beas (he is also called the Beas Sant or the saint of Beas) is reported to have played his role in the succession drama at Ranbaxy after the death of then CEO and promoter Parvinder Singh in 1999.

The use of gurus isn’t an oddity in the global business environment. After all they fall in the same category as mentors, executive coaches, and consultants.

The pujas, however, are. The New York Stock Exchange doesn’t, for instance, doesn’t open a special trading window for New Year the same way India’s National Stock Exchange and Bombay Stock Exchange do for Mahurat or Muhurat trading on Diwali day.

Still, that’s one of the things that makes India unique.

I must confess that I hadn’t heard of Where the Wild Things Are till around four years ago. Like many other things — for instance, he’s piqued my interest in birds and definitely helped widen my limited social circle, but these are subjects for another post, if at all — my son was responsible.

I have a friend who used to work in the books business in those days. Actually, she had a thriving books business. Four years ago, while visiting the city where she lived and worked I took my son along to meet her. She responded by literally sweeping her office for gifts for him. Among the assorted goodies he came away with that day was Maurice Sendak’s book, written in 1963, and very popular elsewhere, but with little following in India. Read more…

As he has grown his family’s business from bicycle parts and gelatin capsules to India’s largest telco, Sunil Mittal has displayed several interesting traits. One, he has been willing to dilute his family’s stake in the company as long as it means they end up with a smaller (but still controlling) holding in a much larger company. Two, he has been quick to walk away from deals that haven’t really worked out, including a proposed joint venture with Singapore’s Changi Airport for modernising Delhi’s airport, a contract that was eventually won by a consortium headed by the GMR Group.

So, why has he tried hard, twice, for MTN (and failed both times)? Read more…

I think the Anil Ambani – Steven Spielberg deal marks the beginning of a trend that could, er, see, say Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie dancing at the sangeet (a sort of pre-wedding song-and-dance thingie) ceremony of an Indian businessman’s daughter/son.

This isn’t a rash prediction but one based on sound logic. Here’s how: Read more…

Most people have by now heard of Matthew Robson, the 15-year old who is currently enjoying his 15-minutes under the sun, thanks to his efforts to help the folks at Morgan Stanley and in Big Media to understand how teenagers consume media.

While the report and Master Robson’s insights have been received with much oohing and aahing by media companies — making some of us worry about how little everyone seems to know about, say, building a succesful financial model around a twitter feed — it has also come in for some criticism, most notably, here, and here. Read more…