From selling tees to owning an eatery: Karma

Mansi Hemdev is an entrepreneur -- and a very young one, at that. At the age of 21, she already owns her own cafe in Chennai. rediff.com's Ganesh Nadar caught up with this enterprising young lady to learn more about her business and career success.

Born and brought up in Chennai, Mansi completed her graduation in commerce and went on to work for American Express and the British High Commission. In the meantime, her parents were busy with a garment business, selling label Karma's tee shirts on St Mary's Road in the Alwarpet area of the city.

Nine months ago, Mansi decided to venture into the restaurant business. "I noticed that there were no good eateries on St Mary's Road, where my parents run their shop," she explains. "I didn't go looking for a place to start off -- I decided to use the very shop from which my parents were selling tee-shirts."

With no background in hotel management, Mansi read up as much as she could on the subject and visited as many restaurants as she could, to pick up on how they functioned. She then invested Rs 6 lakh to renovate her parents' store, revamping the decor, bringing in new furniture and cooking appliances. A good friend who also owns an eatery in the city helped train the cooks she hired. With four employees under her, the cafe opened for business.

"I named it Cafe Karma because my parents sold Karma tee-shirts there," she smiles. And they are still sold from here -- a single shelf displays the tees, which Mansi says are their bread and butter, given that the cafe is still young. And she plans to continue selling them. Besides the fact that they are of good quality, the tee-shirts' themes are primarily Indian and sales are aimed at tourist customers. A few carry witty one-liners, like 'Eat healthy, live right, die anyway'!

"Our USP is healthy food," says Mansi about the food that her café sells. "Our burgers are not fried, they are pan-baked. Our sandwiches are not loaded with butter or oil. Our cooking methods are environment-friendly: we do not use any fuel like gas or kerosene. Everything runs on electricity."

And what if the electricity conks on them, like it often does in various parts of the country? Pat comes the reply: "We don't have to face power cuts like the rest of the city because a lot of VIPs live in this area!" In any case, Mansi has invested in an inverter should the need arise. The electricity bills are high now that she is running a full-fledged eatery, but the way she sees it, she would have to pay even if she used gas.

Now for the food. Cafe Karma serves up hot and cold beverages -- tea, coffee and fruit juices are all on the (menu) cards. If you feel like something fancier, opt for one of their mock-tails like Blue Curacao or Marijuana. If you're feeling peckish, there is a host of munchies like burgers, hot dogs and sandwiches available. And of course, they serve both vegetarian and non-vegetarian food.

Mansi's personal favourite off the menu is the Redemption sandwich; she also recommends the Jerk Chicken. Pastas, bakes and garlic bread are all available too, as is an array of desserts, which are not prepared at the cafe but outsourced.

Cafe Karma also provides take-away and delivery services. And Mansi has made all this possible in the three short months that the restaurant has been running. "I'm already planning other outlets in the city, besides adding full-course meals to the menu," she explains. "At the moment, we have one other take-away counter in Chennai where you can buy Karma food and I'm hoping to add on a few more of those, at least, if not full-blown outlets." She is open to the idea of franchising too, but feels she should first establish her brand.

How has Mansi managed to make such a success of her venture so soon? "Well, it's not easy, because I'm an only child and I manage the restaurant alone," she explains. "My parents provide me with a lot of moral support, but they don't come in every day to run things; they're busy manufacturing Karma tee shirts."

"Getting the place started, I had the usual problems with labourers who were re-modelling the shop," she continues. "On some days they wouldn't turn up, on others they took their own sweet time to do so. Sticking to a schedule and getting the place up and running was very difficult, because we were dependent on the labourers to complete their work in time and they didn't."

Once they were finally open for business, the first problem Mansi faced was serving the food. "We were using disposable plates, cups and cutlery which could be thrown away after use. I thought this was a real waste of money and it didn't look too presentable either. So we switched gears, bought cutlery and stopped the use-and-throw method," she says. "Also, we start preparations for an item only after an order has been placed -- if we ready things in advance, it may go to waste. This way you're served a fresh meal and food is not wasted."

What is the reaction to the new little eatery on St Mary's Road? "Customers have liked the taste of the food and are satisfied with the large quantities they are served. Some are very specific about their likes and dislikes and we always prepare things in accordance with their instructions. We also prepare special dishes and order special desserts that are not featured on our menu for regulars," says this business-minded young lady. Not only that, Mansi shares a personal rapport with everyone who comes in and it's easy to see why most people leave satisfied and eager to return.

Most importantly, a meal at Cafe Karma is an economical option -- a couple can dine here for as little as Rs 300 including dessert. That comes as a relief during these hard times and speaking in the same vein Mansi is a real inspiration to youngsters her age. After all, she has invested her own money (no bank loan), set up her own business and made a sensible success of herself in the midst of a recession, when millions are losing their jobs.

'My father thought I was crazy to start a business during the recession'

In an interview with rediff.com's Insiyah Vahanvaty, Jay and Sandeep discuss how they came up with the idea of opening their own firm and their future plans.

What's the story behind the launch of Foresight Communication?

Jay: Well after school I pursued a degree in computer engineering, but soon realised that coding and programming was not something I wanted to do all my life. Moreover, I enjoyed the subject of communication skills immensely, training to give interviews, participating in debates etc. So after graduation three years ago, I joined PR firm Hanmer MS&L, which is where I met Sandeep.

Sandeep: I completed my BMM course from a Mumbai college and was passionate about football, but I couldn't see myself making a career out of it, of course. So after graduation I joined a call centre to make some money. It didn't appeal to me much, though, so soon after I took up a job with Hammer MS&L. We became close friends and even moved jobs together to another agency; that's when we realised our potential and decided to start up on our own.

Any interesting story behind the agency's name?

Sandeep: Well, since we're still a small company, we can't charge very much right now. Also, in this time of recession, we don't expect to make a success of our venture overnight. So it's all about looking forward. Therefore the name, Foresight Communication.

What were your family's reactions when you decided to start your own business?

Jay: See, I'm a Gujarati; business runs in my blood. So my family was very happy when I told them I wanted to quit my job and run my own business. And they could see that I was limited by my job -- doing things that I was not necessarily in agreement with and things like that.

Sandeep: I'm a Catholic and we don't really run businesses and stuff (smiles). We have our jobs, which give us a monthly income and that's it. My dad thought I was pretty crazy to talk about starting something new in this recession. He told me, "You have two kids, what are you doing?" My wife just delivered twins last month, so I was in two minds as well -- I couldn't decide whether I wanted to start this or continue with my job, which was a problem for Jay also. And my pregnant wife kept having mood swings, which meant that one day she was supporting me, and the next day she wasn't (laughs).

But now things have changed. Just yesterday, my dad actually gave me the thumbs up before setting out to go to church -- I think he sees the point of it now. And I think it's exciting for him to see his son running a business. My wife is really happy too, because I'm earning as much as I used to earlier and am working from home. Even when she was in the hospital, I could spend the whole day there with my laptop. A lot of people were also concerned about the fact that Jay and I are working together, because partnerships often lead to clashes. Hopefully that won't happen too much -- I think we're quite in sync with each other.

Was it a struggle to start off? Did people take your idea seriously?

Jay: Whatever clients we got, we got based on our work. And we had results to show -- our earlier work spoke for us. But yes, we did have to work hard at convincing them to take us on. Fortunately, most of the people we've worked with so far liked our pitch plans and our work. So they had faith that we'd do a good job.

It's still early days, but tell us a little about when you just started off.

Sandeep: One day, we were sitting at (Bandra) Bandstand, wondering whether we should really go ahead with this. And we decided, this is it -- we're doing it. So we thought up a business model, and figured out our game plan. We started with one project -- a book launch for my professor, David D'Souza -- and from there on, we got recommended to other clients. Right now we're working from our homes, but we're looking at setting up an office in the next 3 to 6 months.

Jay: But we're really glad we did it; we have the right to pick and choose our work now, we do what we believe in, and can choose our working hours as well.

What kind of challenges have you faced so far?

Jay: There haven't been too many challenges because we haven't been too ambitious to begin with. We've started small, taken on only what we can handle. Overall, its been good, because people have backed us up, and shown faith in us.

The only challenge I can remember is the fact that both of us have worked for clients only in particular fields -- I used to work with dotcoms and Sandeep in the automobile industry. When you're on your own, your clients are varied, so you have to reach out to the right people, media contacts are different. You have to be really focused and smart about it.

Sandeep: For me, the challenges were mostly personal. They were about my family and newborn twins. I wasn't sure it was the best time for me to start something new. I ended up putting a lot of pressure on Jay also.

Also, a lot of journalists look down upon PR people. But that's because so many PR people will call up the wrong person and waste their time. The trick is to contact the right individual and make it sound interesting for them. You've got to treat it as a science and use logic to approach people.

But so far, there haven't been too many road blocks -- our clients have stayed with us, so that's good. If someday they decide to leave, then that will be a major challenge.

What tips do you have for today's youngsters looking for a break as young entrepreneurs?

Sandeep: Believe in yourself. In the beginning, I kept questioning myself and looking for reaffirmation from outside. And if you're in a partnership, brace yourself for fights -- that's inevitable. Try and keep things black and white -- get things in writing as much as possible. And plan your finances -- that's very important.

Also, have a long term plan for yourself, so you know where you're going. Be well-connected, network as much as you can and lose all your inhibitions!

Jay: There is no replacement for hard work. You've got to be at it all the time. And you have to believe in yourself -- don't get demoralised if things don't go right from the start.

What are your future plans?

Jay: We want to work for a while before hiring more people. Once we have our basics in place and a client base, we'll hire people in different cities and have an all-India team. Ideally, we'd like to have dedicated people to handle day-to-day affairs and let us concentrate on business development. We would like to offer a 360 degree service -- all marketing and PR tools and services.

Sandeep: We want to expand not only all over India  but abroad as well. And it's not just a crazy dream; it's very do-able.

This man saves lives, one click at a time

For over ten years now, Khushroo Poacha has stood by the sole belief that to do good work you don't need money. Poacha runsindianblooddonors.com (IBD), a site that lets blood donors and patients in need of blood connect with each other almost instantaneously. He also does not accept cash donations.

The site has been live for almost ten years and with over 50,000 donors in its database, IBD is perhaps a classic example of what the Internet is truly capable of. But more importantly, it is a reflection of a single human being's desire to make a difference to this world.

It all started in the mid-'90s when Khushroo Poacha, an employee with the Indian Railways in Nagpur saw a doctor being beaten up because he couldn't save a patient's life. No one in the mob seemed to understand that it was the lack of blood that caused the death.

"A few years later, I witnessed the death of a welder because he couldn't get blood. The two incidents really shook me up," Poacha says, "And that was when I expressed to my wife my desire of doing something."

Poacha, however, had no clue about how he could make a difference until one day, sitting in a cyber cafe with a 56 kbps connection, the idea came to him.

"I did not know head or toe of the Internet, let alone about domain names, but I knew this would be the tool that would make a difference," he says, explaining the dotcom extension to the site.

Over the next few months, Poacha liquidated practically all his savings, purchased a domain name and started up indianblooddonors.com.

"During the time, there were no companies booking or hosting web domains in India [Images ]. I was paying USD 300 every three months to keep the site live and running. Meanwhile, I had spent almost Rs 40,000 in developing the site and had gone practically bankrupt," he says.

Poacha says he even went to a local newspaper to place an ad. "I needed visibility and that was the only way I thought I could reach out to the people. The day the ad appeared, I was expecting a flood of registrations," he recollects. "No one registered."

The silver lining to the dark cloud came when someone from the outskirts of his hometown Nagpur contacted him, expressing interest. "It was a saving grace," Poacha says.

Meanwhile, the dotcom bubble had burst and Poacha was being told what a fool he had been. And then there were household expenses to be taken care of too.

"There were many occasions when unpaid phone bills would be lying in the house and there would be no money to pay them off," Poacha recollects, adding that "things always have a way of sorting themselves out. And mysteriously during such times, a cheque would make its way into the mailbox."

Poacha admits that his wife was quite apprehensive about his endeavour. "But she believed in me," he says, "And that has made all the difference."

Visibility, however, was still an issue. No publication was willing to write about him. No major hospital or blood bank was interested in taking his calls.

And then the 2001 Gujarat Earthquake happened. As visuals of the devastation flashed before his eyes on television, Poacha realised yet again he had to do something.

Only this time he knew just what.

"I called up (television channel) Zee News [ Get Quote ] and requested them to flash the site's name on the ticker and they agreed."

Five minutes later, the ticker was live. Ten minutes later, the site crashed.

"I spoke to the people who were hosting the site (by now website hosting had started off in India) and explained to them the situation. They immediately put me on a fresh server and over the next three days or so I received some 3,500 odd registrations," Poacha recollects.

Realising the difference he had made, the 42-year-old started working on getting visibility again.

Over the next few months, Poacha had contacted every major magazine and sure enough, a few responded. "Outlook(magazine) wrote about me, then (British newspaper) The Guardian followed suit and then came the BBC," he says.

Along the way, IBD had also gone mobile. All you had to do was type out a message and send it to a short code and you'd have a list of blood donors in your inbox.

As luck would have it, the service became far too popular for Poacha's pocket. "By then I had stopped taking cash donations and had to discontinue it," he says.

Interestingly, IBD is not yet registered as an NGO. "We function as individuals. We don't take donations and only accept bumper stickers (of IBD) and postage stamps to send out those stickers and create awareness," he says, "I was asked to deliver a lecture at IIM during a social entrepreneurship seminar and was asked what my sustenance model was. I replied I didn't have one. And I have been doing this for the last ten years."

Today, the database of IBD is growing at the rate of 10-15 users every day and the requests have grown from 25 to 40 per day.

Poacha says he eats, drinks and breathes IBD. "The zeal I had ten years ago has not diminished and the site continuously sees innovation." The latest, Poacha tells us, is the option of being an exclusive donor to one patient.

"During my journey, I realised there were some patients who required blood every month. So if you want, we can put you onto them so you can continue making a sustained difference to one person's life."

IBD is currently on an auto pilot mode and Poacha continues to keep his day job. He says, "Initially I would take the calls and personally connect the donor with the patient's relative. But I know only three languages and I'd get calls from all over India," he laughs.

Poacha recounts an incident that never left him: "A man from Chandigarh called me and told me he was desperately seeking A-ive blood for his 2-year-old. About five minutes after the call, he got the (difficult to find) blood group he needed. Soon after the surgery he called me up crying, thanking me for saving his child's life. For me, it was just another day at work. But his whole world was at stake that day. I can never forget that call."

Last year Poacha was invited to the Asian Social Entrepreneurs Summit 2008 in South Korea where venture capitalists argued that it wasn't possible to sustain an endeavour without money. He says, "I pointed out that Mother Teresa [ Images ] had no revenue model when she started the Missionaries of Charity. If you want to do good work, you simply do it."

For someone who has sustained his enterprise for a decade with just a few bumper stickers and postage stamps, Khushroo Poacha knows best.

"India's youth, educated but unemployable"

He trained as a chartered accountant, and drifted from one job to another, before founding the India [ Images ] Today Group in 1975. In a chat with Urmila Rao, Aroon Purie, Editor-in-Chief, India Today, expresses his views on government regulations in the education sector, apathy towards vocational studies and the mismatch between industry needs and the education imparted to India's employable youth.

The students there were from every walk of life; rich kids, children of bureaucrats, engineers and armed forces, among others. It was a very egalitarian kind of community and everyone was treated equally. This created a great bond between the students. Besides, the school gave an all round education; physical activity, community service, sports, and studies were all integrated into our lives. That is what I don't see today. There is so much pressure for percentages.You studied at the prestigious Doon School. What was your experience there?
At Doon School, there were quality teachers, very passionate about whatever they taught. They created an interest in the students. I didn't realise it at that time but did later on, how well I was taught, how well I was introduced to English literature, geography, chemistry and other subjects.

How was college life?
At The London [ Images ] School of Economics, I realised that I was surrounded by people who were ten times brighter than I was and the only way I could keep up with them was through hard work. So, I worked hard and played hard too. I think the biggest experience was to have these people as my friends. It was a really great experience.

An economics graduate and also a CA, why didn't you opt for a career in finance?
I didn't study thinking that I wanted to be a CA. I was one of those kids who really didn't know what to do. My father said 'you will get into a good job if you are professionally qualified'. From economics, accountancy seemed to be a good option, so I went for it. I worked for a little while and was bored to death.

My CA training did hold me in good stead for many things. It gave me an opportunity to organise my mind, look at figures and not get intimidated by them. It helped me to be able to probe into things as an auditor, to get the right answer and not to take anything for granted. But in the end, I wasn't enjoying the work.

You did not even join your father's business? 
My father was actually from the film business, and had set up a printing plant in collaboration. I started working in the printing plant as a production planner. And I soon realised that this printing plant will not make any money if we didn't have our own work.

And that's how we got into publishing children's books. My vision at that time was to create children's books for Indian children with Indian themes. But in those days paper was very highly priced in India, so commercially, books were not viable. So, our next venture was magazines. And then the magazines became much bigger than the press.

Why a news magazine?
There was no grand vision. We stumbled from one thing to another. Actually it was a niche magazine, a comprehensive news digest, meant for Indians living abroad. But it failed as we couldn't get hold of the Indians, who were all too spread out. So then we decided to put it into the local market and it got a good response. Actually India Today grew from a failure in the sense that it went from one project to another before it took final shape.

What do you admire in the youth of today?
I see a great energy, a great desire to succeed and get ahead. And get ahead very quickly. They want success right away. Today kids create a company or a product and they think about selling all over the world. So, there is a great degree of enterprise and energy which the environment has brought about.

Today children are born in affluence. So now they look towards the future; enjoying life, spending money, looking for very quick returns. They are willing to try so many things and the opportunities are also there. Earlier there were so many restrictions from the government; today the world is open for them.

As you pointed out, kids want to become rich too fast. Don't you find that a bit disconcerting?
It's not a bad thing to go after money but I think sometimes kids get carried away. They are not able to take a longer view. They are willing to shift to another company for a little more money, which in the long-term is not good for their future career.

But that is also a way to learn; soon they will find out that it is harder to take jumps only for money. However, mobility is always good. People move, change, new challenge comes in. As long as society is full of that kind of mobility, it is good for everybody.

Are you happy with our state of higher education?
Not at all. People should be allowed to set up institutions with certain standards laid down by the government, and they should be allowed to charge whatever the market is willing to pay. At the moment, people make money under the table; there is capitation fee and all sorts of unhealthy practices are on because the sector is completely restricted.

Ideally, public education should be so good, that people should not have the need for private education. But since this is not happening, the government should try and focus on public education and let private education flourish under some standards and regulations that have been laid down.

Do you think the role of state governments is enough in higher education?It's a complete failure on both the sides, states and the centre. I think both have to work together. They must set up quality institutions. I think we have gone sometimes too much for quantity, and not quality. There is no point in producing people who are in reality unemployable. Then there is a whole layer of vocational training, which in India, exists in very sparse manner. It is not degrading to be in vocational education.

And parents must realise that it is okay to be in vocational training and everybody is not capable of benefiting from an educational institution. No point being a graduate and becoming a bus conductor. A focus on vocational training will help both the economy and society.

How much faith should students have in the B-school rankings brought out by various publications, every now and then?
It depends on who is doing the ranking and how it is done. In our case, in India Today and Business Today, the rankings are done by outside agencies. We only publish the research. So it is done in a very fairly independent, autonomous way and there is no axe to grind one institution or the other. The fact is that there is no other information available, and the surveys can be a good guide. Students should match a lot of surveys and see the common outcome and then verify the information.

Some colleges don't hesitate in giving misleading information. What is the way out of this?
There has to be some kind of government supervision to see that whatever has been promised is delivered. Maybe the HRD ministry can look at this in terms of the kind of advertisements being given out. There should be some kind of monitoring, either by the government or by self-regulatory bodies to censure such practices. I feel that nobody can hide these things for too long. Sooner or later institutions come to be known as fraud and people will stop going there. The only question is how long does it take and who continues to suffer because of it.

There is no point being a graduate if you end up being a bus conductor. A focus on vocational training will help the economy and society. It is a complete failure on both the sides, states and centre. I think both have to work together to set up quality institutions.

Careers360 is a complete careers magazine. 

'India's rich fund temples, not educational institutions'

In college, Tarun Tejpal, the editor-in-chief of news magazine Tehelka, was an avid quizzer, participated in debates, played sports, and dated Geetan, now his wife.

What was school, college like?In a candid interview with Careers360, he expresses his disappointment over India's [ Images ] conservative, intellectually challenged primary and higher education system, poorly constructed national education agenda, its fall-out on society and nation as well as on lack of honourable tag to vocational studies, among others.

I schooled all over the country; my father was in the army so we were transferred every two years. I studied at different kinds of missionary schools. I graduated from DAV College, Chandigarh.

At that point a transition period was on, so when you went to Chandigarh, you actually saved a year, following 10+ 1+ 3 system while Delhi [ Images ] and other cities had shifted to the 10+ 2 + 3 structure. To be honest, in my three years of graduation, I didn't attend a single class!

Weren't you worried about poor academic scores?It's a great embarrassment but I got a first class in Economics (Honours). The week I took my graduation papers, my friend, who now works for the World Bank in Washington DC, and I wanted out. I remember having very long arguments with my father. But in his wise, persuasive way he asked me to carry on and I graduated, came to Delhi and started working.

Do you subscribe to the idea of parents imposing academic decisions on kids?
In my case, not even once in my entire school or college life did my father or mother nudge me in a direction I didn't want to go. I owe a great debt to my father for the education he provided around the dining table.

The conversations were about history, geography and world affairs. So even as a young school boy I had this kind of wide world opened to me by my father. To be told what you should do, I think that's bad news. I am extremely distressed by and suspicious of parents who try to push their children into spaces they don't want to go. That is a worrisome aspect.

A very high number of Indian students migrate to foreign destinations to pursue higher education. What is missing in our system?
Our academic system is not as wide or liberal as it should be. It's very rote and result-oriented. Much emphasis is laid on marks, degrees and divisions. Education must expand one's horizons. My elder daughter attended an American university on a fellowship and I saw how good it was for her. I visited the campus and realised how much more valuable education there was, as compared to India.

The students there had concerns, which were of serious cultural and intellectual values. These were kids interested in Afghanistan, in gender politics, in race politics. The main concern of elite children in India seems to be  which night club to go to and what's the new drug in use! I would like to see campuses here breed a culture of engagement of cultural and political issues of the day.

What changes should be brought about in the education system to enhance employability?There are two things to education. One is to basically expand the mind to understand the issues of justice, issues of equality, 'non-casteism', 'non-classism' and so on. I call them life issues wherein the education provided opens up your mind, takes you away from bigotry and prejudice.

This has no obvious co-relation with the earning power but they have deep co-relation with the kind of human being you are and the kind of society you will build. This education is crucial. The second kind of education is that which leads to vocation and earnings. Both kinds of education should grow. Unfortunately the way our education system works, neither is being done effectively. And that's a loss.

So we do need radical changes in our education system?Change is totally due, especially in the area of primary education. It's a shame that after 60 years of existence of modern India, primary education is a total failure. I don't understand how anybody can call the country a superpower when we can't teach our children and clothe our children.

The spillover effect of the failure of primary education is that it leads to population explosion, raises environment issues and there are concerns of people management. Primary education is the first building block, and the absence of this will lead to greater issues.

Many colleges claim to be world-class institutions but the slate is not as clean. Do you think their false assertions should be investigated?I think change will come if elite society, government policies and wealthy India has better orientation on education. In India, most educational institutions function like teaching shops. In slums people are trying to teach English to children and make money out of that.

The real struggle is to reduce the 'shop element' in all these teaching institutions and increase the educational element, but it has to be a societal initiative, which must start at the top, beginning with government policy. It has to start with the wealthy setting an example that we need educational centres and not teaching shops. The demand and supply situation is so skewed that the demand for the education is going relentlessly high and the supply is low. This is bound to lead to corruption of both spirit and intent.

To what extent should students believe in media rankings and advertisements by leading publications? It's a catch-22 situation. It's possible that those universities that advertise could also be providing a good education; clearly all of them are fulfilling a need because they are thriving. I think the problem really has been in the construction of the national education agenda. It should have been constructed with far greater intelligence and insight to create great enclaves of higher education.

In America, institutions are funded by endowments. On the other hand, the rich in India fund shrines and temples, rather than invest in educational institutions or create something of genuine value to the young of the country.

Careers360 is a complete careers magazine.

'SELL yourself at every stage in life'..........An interview with Jerry Rao

Divya Nair 

From books that will inspire you to dreaming beyond the obvious, read on for life lessons from these successful IIM alumni.

Jaithirth or Jerry Rao, as he is popularly known, is a man full of wisdom.

From playing an instrumental role in founding MphasiS, an IT services company, to being declared Ernst & Young's Entrepreneur of the Year 2004, Rao has contributed in ways that have inspired many.

Even as his dream of building affordable homes in Bangalore is yet to materialise, one can't dismiss the verve of this 60-year-old when he talks about the virtue of being patient and advises young Indians to nurture their hunger for knowledge for success in life.

Kindly recommend five books that you think today's young Indians must read.

Discovery of India by Jawaharlal Nehru, Waiting for the Mahatma by RK Narayan, Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie,Samskara by UR Anantha Murthy and Gora by Rabindranath Tagore

Can you outline why you have recommended these books?

I think it is very important for Indians to develop a sense of context. Otherwise, we are very much into day-to-day life problems -- 'how do I get promoted', 'how do I move ahead?' We do not understand the historical, social, anthropological context in which we are working. That's why I recommend these books.

What are the common mistakes that young people make when it comes to careers?

I think the biggest mistake people make in their careers is being in a hurry. People are asking for quick resolutions, quick answers, promotions, fulfillments.

Patience is a virtue each one of us must pursue. Lack of patience often precipitates to crises, which can be avoided.

Can you share an incident from your career that inspired you and changed your outlook towards success?

Years ago, I used to work with an American boss, a guy called Alan Williams. He was known to take very tough and difficult organisational decisions. He was brutally honest and had superior intelligence. But he lost out on his career, because he did not know how to handle organisational politics. I've always remembered that incident -- I learnt that doing the right thing doesn't always make you a winner.

Should Alan have learned critical lessons along with doing what's right (because I think doing right is important)? I don't have the answer, but this incident is left with me as an enduring event that I keep revisiting all the time.

What are the important lessons you learned at IIM?

• You have to write well. There is no way you can become a good manager if you can't write well.
• You have to speak up. This whole thing of class participation was important, because it forced people to speak up. The idea of being strongly silent is good, but it's wrong. It might work in Hollywood movies, but it doesn't work in real life.
• Most of my classmates at IIM were intelligent. But IIM teaches you that intelligence is not everything. There are issues of character, communication, friendliness and lateral networking which are more important, or equally important.

What career advice would you like to share with the batch of 2012?

• Don't pursue what is the most fashionable thing to do. Today, the most fashionable is private equity. I think you need to look at something that's contra-intuitive.
• If you want to do something different, think of the steel industry, everybody has given up on steel -- or you may consider pursuing your career in manufacturing.
• I think it is important to be useful while trying to do something different. You want to get into private equity because the best go there and you want to compete with the best. So why not go into steel and be the best in that field? So doing something that's contra-indicative is what I would suggest.

What's your advice to young Indians?

I would like to tell the youth that if you want to be successful, you have to be broadly-skilled.

You have to learn how to learn. Don't just learn Java or derivatives for the heck of it, because these things will go away in ten years. You must know how to unlearn a particular computer language or a financial instrument, given the need.

I have seen that many young people choose a niche field of interest and learn the skills pertaining to that field. Rather try and pick up the skill to learn how to learn. To my knowledge, if you are going to develop this skill over a period of 20 or 30 years, you are going to do well in life.

Jerry Rao Author of Notes of an Indian Conservative ( 5:36)

      

Amazing images of Burj Al-Arab's Royal Suite

Burj Al-Arab is a luxury hotel located in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. At 1,053 ft, it is the fourth-tallest hotel in the world. It stands on an artificial island 920 ft out from Jumeirah beach, and is connected to the mainland by a private curving bridge.

The shape of the structure is designed to mimic the sail of a ship. The hotel's Royal Suite is the most luxurious and the most expensive.

Let's take a look at the Royal Suite.

The beachfront area where Burj Al Arab is located was previously called Chicago Beach. The hotel is located on an island of reclaimed land 280 metres offshore of the beach of the former Chicago Beach Hotel.

The locale's name had its origins in the Chicago Bridge & Iron Company which at one time welded giant floating oil storage tankers on the site.

The old name persisted after the old Hotel was demolished in 1997. Dubai Chicago Beach Hotel remained as the Public Project Name for the construction phase of Burj Al Arab Hotel until Dubai's ruler announced the new name.

Burj Al-Arab was designed by architect Tom Wright of WS Atkins. The design and construction were managed by Canadian engineer Rick Gregory also of WS Atkins.

Construction of the Island began in 1994. It was built to resemble the sail of a dhow, a type of Arabian vessel. Two "wings" spread in a V to form a vast "mast", while the space between them is enclosed in a massive atrium

The architect Tom Wright said: "The client wanted a building that would become an iconic or symbolic statement for Dubai; this is very similar to Sydney with its Opera House, London with Big Ben, or Paris with the Eiffel Tower."

Several features of the hotel required complex engineering feats to achieve. The hotel rests on an artificial island constructed 920 ft offshore.

To secure a foundation, the builders drove 130 ft long concrete piles into the sand.

The hotel is managed by the Jumeirah Group. Despite its size, Burj Al-Arab holds only 28 double-storey floors which accommodate 202 bedroom suites.

The smallest suite occupies an area of 1,820 sq ft, the largest covers 8,400 sq ft. Suites feature design details that juxtapose east and west.

White columns show great influence. Bathrooms are accented by mosaic tile patterns.

Prices of rooms vary from $1,000 to $27,000 per night for the Royal Suite