"Think big, think fast, and think ahead, ideas are no one’s monopoly"

What do you think that dreaming is a bad habit? I don’t think so, and I learnt it from a person whose name is Dhiru Bhai Ambani. Moreover, I saw, saying to people that dreaming is a bad habit whether it is day or night dreaming, because they afraid to taking dreams. Often, they think that they don’t have this much of courage and caliber to fulfill their dreams. I think the 90% of people on this earth are always afraid to taking dreams. And only 1% from the rest of 10% has a real desire to fulfilling of their dreams, and Dhiru Bhai Ambani is one of these people. My favorite slogan of Dhiru Bhai Ambani’s “Think big, think fast, and think ahead, ideas are no one’s monopoly”.

Dhirubhai Ambani

Born: December 28, 1932
Died: July 6, 2002

Achievements: Dhiru Bhai Ambani built India's largest private sector company. Created an equity cult in the Indian capital market. Reliance is the first Indian company to feature in Forbes 500 list

Dhirubhai Ambani was the most enterprising Indian entrepreneur. His life journey is reminiscent of the rags to riches story. He is remembered as the one who rewrote Indian corporate history and built a truly global corporate group.


(1) Early life Dhirajlal Hirachand Ambani was born on 28 December 1932, at Chorwad, Junagadh in the state of Gujarat, India, into a Modh family of very moderate means. He was the third son of a school teacher. When he was 16 years old, he moved to Aden, Yemen. Initially Dhirubahi worked as a despatch clerk with A. Besse & Co. Two years later A. Besse & Co. became distributor for Shell products and Dhirubhai was promoted to manage the company’s oil-filling station at the port of Aden. He was married to Kokilaben and had two sons and two daughters.
(2) Life in Aden In the 1950s the Yemini administration realized that their main unit of currency Rial was in disappearing. After investigating the matter it was realized that all Rials were routed to the Port City of Aden. There a young man in twenties was placing unlimited buy orders of Yemini Rials. During those days the Yemini Rial was a pure silver coin and was much in demand at the London Bullion Exchange. Young Dhirubhai would buy Rial, melt it in pure silver and sell it to bullion traders in London. In the later part of his life while talking to reporters it is believed that he said “The margins were small but it was money for jam. After three months, it was stopped. But I made a few lakh of rupees. I don’t believe in not taking opportunities. ”
(3) Reliance Commercial Corporation Ten years later, Dhirubai returned to India and started a business Reliance Commercial Corporation with a capital of Rs. 15000. 00 (US$ 375). The primary business of Reliance Commercial Corporation was import polyester yarn and export spices. The business was setup in partnership with Chambaklal Damani, his second cousin who was also there with him in Aden, Yemen. The first office of Reliance Commercial Corporation was set up at Narsinathan Street at Masjid Bunder. It was a 350 Sq. Ft. room with a telephone, one table and three chairs. Initially they had two assistants to help them in their business. In 1965 Chambaklal Damani and Dhirubhai Ambani ended their partnership and Dhirubhai started on his own. It is believed that both had different tempermants and a different take on business, while Mr. Damani was a cautious trader and did not believe in building Yarn inventories, Dhirubhai was a known risk taker and he considered that buliding inventories with anticipating a price rise and making some profit is good for growth. During this period Dhirubahi and his family used to stay in an one bedroom apatment in Jaihind Estate in Bhuleshwar. In 1968 he moved from the chawl to an upmarket apartment at Altamount Road in South Mumbai. His first car was Premier Padmini, the Indian version of Fiat 1100, later he brought a Mercedez-Benz Car. In 1970s he brought a white Cadillac Car.
(3) Reliance Textiles sensing good opportunity in the business of textiles, Dhirubhai started his first textile mill at Naroda, near Ahmedabad in the year 1966. Textiles were manufactured using polyester fibre yarn. Dhirubhai started the brand “Vimal”, which was named after his elder brother Ramaniklal Ambani’s son Vimal Ambani. Externsive marketing of the brand “Vimal” in the interiors of India made it a household name. Franchise retail outlets were started that used to sell only “Vimal” brand of textiles. In the year 1975 a Technical team from the World Bank visited Reliance Textiles’ Manufacturing unit. This unit has the rare distinction of being certified as “excellent even by developed country standards” in that period.
(4) Initial Public Offering Dhirubhai Ambani is credited with starting the equity cult in India. More than 58,000 investors from various parts of India subscribed to Reliance’s IPO in 1977. Dhirubhai was able to convince people of rural Gujrat that being shareholders of his company will only bring returns to their investment. Reliance Industries holds the distinction that it is the only Public Limited Company whose several Annual General Meetings were held in stadiums. In 1986, The Annual General Meeting of Relaince Industries was held in Cross Maidan, Mumbai, was attended by more than 30,000 shareholders.
(5) Dhirubhai’s Control over Stock Exchanges In 1982 Reliance Industries was coming up with a rights issue of partly convertible debentures. It was rumored that the company is making all efforts to ensure that the stock prices did not slide a inch. Sensing an opportunity a bear cartel which was a group of stock brokers from Calcutta started to short sell the shares of Reliance. To counter this group of stock brokers till recently referred as “Friends of Reliance” started to buy the short sold shares of Reliance Industries on Bombay Stock Exchange. The Bear Cartel was acting with a belief that the Bulls will be short of cash to complete the transaction and would be ready for settlement under the “Badla” trading system prevalent in Bombay Stock Exchange during those days. The bulls kept on buying and a price of Rs.152 per share was maintained till the day of settlement. On the day of settlement the Bear Cartel was taken a back when the Bulls demanded a physical delivery of shares. To complete the transaction the much needed cash was provided to the stock brokers who had brought shares of Reliance by none other than Dhirubhai Ambani. In case of non-settlement the Bulls demanded an “Unbadla” (penalty sum) of Rs. 35 per share. With this the demand increased and the shares of Reliance shot above 180 rupees in minutes. The settlement caused enormous uproar in the market and Dhirubhai Ambani was the unquestioned king of the stock markets. He proved to his detractors as to how dangerous it is to play with Reliance. The situation was completely out of control. To get a solution for this situation the Bombay Stock Exchange was closed for three business days. Authorities of Bombay Stock Exchange intervened in the matter and brought down the “Unbadla” rate to Rs. 2 with a stipulation that the Bear Cartel has to give the delivery of shares within few days. The Bear Cartel brought shares of Reliance from the market at higher price levels and it was also realized that Dhirubhai Ambani himself supplied those shares to the Bear Cartel and earned a healthy profit out of The Bear Cartel’s adventure after this incident many questions were raised by his detractors and the press. Not many people were able to understand as to how a yarn trader till a few years ago was able to get in so much of cash flow during the crisis. The answer to this was provided by then finance minster Pranab Mukherjee ] in the parliament. He informed the house that Non-Resident Indian had invested upto Rs. 220 Million in Reliance during 1982-83. These investments were routed through many companies like Crocodile, Lota and Fiasco. These companies were primarily registered in Isle of Man. The interesting factor was all the promoters or owners of these companies had a common surname Shah. An investigation by the Reserve Bank of India in the incident did not find any unethical or illegal acts or transactions committed by Reliance or its promoters.
(6) Diversification Over time his business has diversified into a core specialisation in petrochemicals with additional interests in telecommunications, information technology, energy, power, retail, textiles, infrastructure services, capital markets, and logistics. The company as a whole was described by the BBC as “a business empire with an estimated annual turnover of $12bn, and an 85,000-strong workforce”.
(7) Criticism Despite his almost Midas touch, Ambani has known to have flexible values and an unethical streak running through him. His biographer himself has cited some instances of his unethical behavior when he was just an ordinary employee at a petrol pump in Dubai. He has also been known to have links with the V P Singh government and later the BJP government. He has been accused of having manipulated government policies to suit his own need, and has been known to be a king-maker in government elections. Although most media sources tend to speak out about business-politics nexus, the Ambani house has always enjoyed more protection and shelter from the media storms that sweep across the country.
(8) Unauthorized Biography Hamish McDonald, who was the Delhi bureau chief for the Far Eastern Economic Review for several years, published an unauthorised biography of Ambani in 1998 in which both his achievements and shortcomings were reported, but the Ambanis threatened legal action if the book was published in India.
(9) Death Dhirubhai Ambani was admitted to the Breach Candy Hospital in Mumbai on June 24, 2002 due to a major “brain stroke” suffered by him. This was the second stroke, the first one had occurred in the year February 1986 and had kept his right hand paralyzed. He was in a state of coma for more than week. A battery of highly efficient doctors was unable to save his life. He breathed his last on July 6, 2002, at around 11:50 P. M. (Indian Standard Time). His funeral procession was not only attended by business people, politicians and celebrities but also by thousands of ordinary people. His elder son Mukesh Ambani performed the last rites as per the Hindu traditions. He was cremated at the Chandanwadi Crematorium in Mumbai at around 4:30 PM (Indian Standard Time) on July 7, 2002. He is survived by Kokilaben Ambani, his wife, two sons, Mukesh Ambani and Anil Ambani, and two daughters, Nina Kothari and Deepti Salgaocar. On Dhirubhai Ambani's first death anniversary, the Union Government released a postage stamp in his memory.


(10) Film A film inspired by the life of Dhirubhai is set to release in January 2007. The Hindi Film Guru, directed by Mani Ratnam and music by A. R. Rahman will show the struggle of a man who strives to make his mark in life. The movie stars Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai in leading roles
(11) Awards and Recognitions November 2000 – Conferred ‘Man of the Century’ award by Chemtech Foundation and Chemical Engineering World in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the growth and development of the chemical industry in India 2000, 1998 and 1996 – Featured among ‘Power 50 – the most powerful people in Asia by Asiaweek magazine. June 1998 – Dean’s Medal by The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, for setting an outstanding example of leadership. August 2001 – The Economic Times Award for Corporate Excellence for Lifetime Achievement Dhirubhai Ambani was named the Man of 20th Century by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). A poll conducted by The Times of India in 2000 voted him “Greatest Creator of Wealth in the Century”.
(12) Famous Quotes from beginning Dhirubhai was seen in high-regard. His success in the petro-chemical business and his story of rags to riches made him a cult figure in the minds of Indian people. As a quality of business leader he was also a motivator. He gave very less of public speeches but the words he has spoken are still remembered for their value.
“Growth has no limit at Reliance. I keep revising my vision. Only when you dream it you can do it. ”
“Think big, think fast, think ahead. Ideas are no one’s monopoly”
“Our dreams have to be bigger. Our ambitions higher, our commitment deeper, and our efforts greater. This is my dream for Reliance and for India. ”
“You do not require an invitation to make profits.”
“If you work with determination and with perfection, success will follow.”
“Pursue your goals even in the face of difficulties, and convert adversities into opportunities.”
“Give the youth a proper environment. Motivate them. Extend them the support they need. Each one of them has infinite source of energy. They will deliver. ”
“Between my past, the present and the future, there is one common factor: Relationship and Trust. This is the foundation of our growth”
“We bet on people.”
“Meeting the deadlines is not good enough, beating the deadlines is my expectation.”
“Don’t give up, courage is my conviction.”
”Think big, think fast, think ahead, ideas are no one’s monopoly”
“Our dreams have to be bigger, our ambitions higher, our commitments dipper, and our efforts greater. This is my dream for Reliance and for India. ”
Growth through Vision:
“Growth has no limit at Reliance. I keep revising my vision.
Only when you can dream it, you can do it. ”
“Between my past, the present and the future, there is one common factor: Relationship and Trust. This is the foundation of our growth. ”

-         Dhirubhai H. Ambani
Founder Chairman

The two faces of Dhirubhai Ambani

HE achieved what almost everybody would consider impossible. In a life spanning 69 years, he built from scratch India’s largest privately controlled corporate empire. Dhirajlal Hirachand – better known as Dhirubhai – Ambani would often say that success was his biggest enemy. He was a man who aroused extreme responses in others. Either you loved him or you hated him. There was just no way you could have been indifferent to this amazing entrepreneur who thought big, acted tough, knew how to bend rules or have rules bent for him. He was a visionary as well as a manipulator, a man who communicated with the rich and the poor with equal felicity, who was generous beyond the call of duty with those whom he liked and utterly ruthless with his rivals – a man of many parts, of irreconcilable contrasts and paradoxes galore.
Dhirubhai Ambani expired on Saturday July 6, roughly ten minutes before midnight, at Mumbai’s Breach Candy Hospital where he had been admitted after he suffered a vascular stroke on the evening of June 24. This was his second stroke – the first had occurred more than sixteen years earlier, in February 1986, leaving the right side of his body paralyzed. At his cremation, the well-heeled rubbed shoulders with the ordinary. No Indian businessman ever attracted the kind of crowd that Dhirubhai did on his last journey. After his cremation on the evening of Sunday July 7, his elder son Mukesh reminded those gathered on the occasion that in 1957, when Dhirubhai arrived in Mumbai from Aden in Yemen, he had only Rs 500 in his pocket.
He was not exactly a pauper since Rs 500 meant much more than what the amount means in this day and age. Nevertheless, one could not ask for a more spectacular ‘rags-to-riches’ tale. The second son of a poorly paid school-teacher from Chorwad village in Gujarat, he stopped studying after the tenth standard and decided to join his elder brother, Ramniklal, who was working in Aden at that time. (Not surprisingly, Dhirubhai ensured that his two sons went to premier educational institutions in the US – Mukesh was educated at Stanford University and Anil at the Wharton School of Business. )
The first job Dhirubhai held in Aden was that of an attendant in a gas station. Half a century later, he would become chairman of a company that owned the largest oil refinery in India and the fifth largest refinery in the world, that is, Reliance Petroleum Limited which owns the refinery at Jamnagar that has an annual capacity to refine up to 27 million tonnes of crude oil.
When he died, the Reliance group of companies that Dhirubhai led had a gross annual turnover in the region of Rs 75,000 crore or close to US $ 15 billion. The group’s interests include the manufacture of synthetic fibres, textiles and petrochemical products, oil and gas exploration, petroleum refining, besides telecommunications and financial services. In 1976-77, the Reliance group had an annual turnover of Rs 70 crore. Fifteen years later, this figure had jumped to Rs 3,000 crore. By the turn of the century, this amount had skyrocketed to Rs 60,000 crore. In a period of 25 years, the value of the Reliance group’s assets had jumped from Rs 33 crore to Rs 30,000 crore.
The textile tycoon’s meteoric rise was not without its fair share of controversy. In India and in most countries of the world, there exists a close nexus between business and politics. In the days of the licence control raj Dhirubhai, more than many of his fellow industrialists, understood and appreciated the importance of ‘managing the environment’, a euphemism for keeping politicians and bureaucrats happy. He made no secret of the fact that he did not have an ego when it came to paying obeisance before government officials – be they of the rank of secretary to the Government of India or a lowly peon.
Long before Dhirubhai entered the scene, Indian politicians were known to curry favour with businessmen – licences and permits would be farmed out in return for handsome donations during election campaigns. The crucial difference in the business-politics nexus lay in the fact that by the time the Reliance group’s fortunes were on the rise, the Indian economy had become much more competitive. Hence, it was insufficient for those in power to merely promote the interests of a particular business group; competitors had to simultaneously be put down. This was precisely what happened to the rivals of the Ambanis.
Who remembers Swan Mills? Or Kapal Mehra of Orkay? Even Nusli Wadia of Bombay Dyeing is a pale shadow of what he would certainly have liked to be. The undivided Goenka family that used to control the Indian Express chain of newspapers – which carried on a campaign against the Reliance group in 1986-87 – is currently divided into three factions. Whereas the multi-edition newspaper has not entirely lost its feisty character, it is yet to fulfil its late founder Ramnath Goenka’s cherished dream of becoming a market leader in at least one of its many publishing centres.
A popular joke starts with a question: Which is the most powerful political party in India? Answer: the Reliance Party of India. Others divide the country’s politicians into two groups: a very large ‘R-positive’ group and a very small ‘R-negative’ section. It is hardly a secret that Dhirubhai’s support base would easily cut across political lines. Very few politicians have had the gumption to oppose the Ambanis, just as the overwhelming majority of journalists in the country preferred not to be critical of the Reliance group. The Indian media, most of the time, has chosen to lap up whatever has been doled out by the group’s public relations executives. The bureaucracy too has, by and large, favoured the Ambanis, not merely on account of the fact that many babus have got accustomed to receiving expensive hampers on the occasion of diwali.
While Dhirubhai did not have too many scruples when it came to currying favour with politicians and bureaucrats, what cannot be denied is the fact that perhaps no businessman in India attracted the kind of adulation he did. He was more than just a legend in his lifetime. He successfully convinced close to four million citizens, most of them belonging to the middle class, to invest their hard-earned savings in Reliance group companies. He was fond of describing Reliance shareholders as ‘family members’ and the group’s annual general meetings acquired the atmosphere of large melas attended by hordes.
What cannot also be refuted is the fact that the Reliance group believed in rewarding its shareholders handsomely. Much of the credit for the spread of the so-called ‘equity cult’ in India in recent years should rightfully go to Dhirubhai, even if the Reliance group was often accused of manipulating share prices. Two group companies that once carried the cumbersome names of Reliance Poly-Ethylene and Reliance Poly-Propylene – popularly called Ilu and Pilu – went to the extent of blandly stating in the fine print of their public issue prospectus documents that the value of the shares of the companies had been increased though thin and circular trading. On another occasion in January 1998, a functionary of Reliance Petroleum replied to a show-cause notice served on the company by agreeing to shell out a sum of Rs 25 crore to ‘buy peace’ with the income tax authorities.
 When, after having spent eight years in Aden, Dhirubhai returned to Mumbai, his lifestyle was akin to that of any ordinary lower middle class Indian. In 1958, the year he started his first small trading venture, his family used to reside in a one room apartment at Jaihind Estate in Bhuleshwar. After trading in a range of products, primarily spices and fabrics, for eight years, Dhirubhai achieved the first of the many goals he had set for himself when he became the owner of a small spinning mill at Naroda, near Ahmedabad. He did not look back.
He decided that unlike most Indian businessmen who borrowed heavily from financial institutions to nurture their entrepreneurial ambitions, he would instead raise money from the public at large to fund his industrial ventures. In 1977, Reliance Industries went public and raised equity capital from tens of thousands of investors, many of them located in small towns. From then onwards, Dhirubhai started extensively promoting his company’s textile brand name, Vimal. The story goes that on one particular day, the Reliance group chairman inaugurated the retail outlets of as many as 100 franchises.
He had by then already succeeded in cultivating politicians. Indira Gandhi returned to power in the 1980 general elections and Dhirubhai shared a platform with the then prime minister of India at a victory rally. He had also become very close to the then finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, not to mention the prime minister’s principal aide R. K. Dhawan. He realised that it was crucial to be friendly with politicians in power, especially at a time when the group had embarked on an ambitious programme to build an industrial complex at Patalganga to manufacture synthetic fibres and intermediates for polyester production.
In 1982, Dhirubhai created waves in the stock markets when he took on a Kolkata-based cartel of bear operators that had sought to hammer down the share price of Reliance Industries. The cartel badly underestimated the Ambani ability to fight back. Not only did Dhirubhai manage to ensure the purchase of close to a million shares that the bear cartel offloaded, he demand physical delivery of shares. The bear cartel was rattled. In the process, the bourses were thrown into a state of turmoil and the Bombay Stock Exchange had to shut down for a couple of days before the crisis was resolved.
The mid-eighties were a period during which the Reliance group got locked in a bitter turf battle with Bombay Dyeing headed by Nusli Wadia. The two corporate groups were producing competing products – Reliance was manufacturing purified terephthalic acid (PTA) and Bombay Dyeing, di-methyl terephthalate (DMT). Wadia lost the battle and reportedly became the source of information for many of the articles against the Ambanis that subsequently appeared in The Indian Express. In 1985, the Mumbai police accused a general manager in a Reliance group company of conspiring to kill Wadia, a charge that was never established in a court of law. Many years later, a newspaper owned by the Ambanis would accuse Wadia of illegally holding two passports and played up the fact that he was Mohammed Ali Jinnah’s grandson.
1986 was a crucial year for Dhirubhai. He suffered a stroke in February that year. A few months later, the Express began publishing a series of articles attacking the Reliance group as well as the Indira Gandhi regime for favouring the Ambanis. These articles were coauthored by Arun Shourie who, ironically, as Union Minister for Disinvestment in the Atal Behari Vajpayee government, presided over the sale of 26 per cent of the equity capital of the former public sector company, Indian Petrochemicals Corporation Limited (IPCL), to the Reliance group in May this year. By gaining managerial control over IPCL, the Reliance group would now be able to dominate the Indian market for a wide variety of petrochemical products.
Shourie’s coauthor for the famous series of anti-Reliance articles was Chennai-based chartered accountant S. Gurumurthy who happens to be a leading light of the Swadeshi Jagaran Manch, an outfit that espouses the cause of economic nationalism and is closely affiliated to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the ideological parent of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The Express articles written by Shourie and Gurumurthy meticulously detailed a host of ways in which the government of the day had gone out of its way to assist the Ambanis. One article was on the subject of how the Reliance group imported ‘spare parts’, ‘components’ and ‘balancing equipment’ of textile manufacturing machinery to nearly double its production capacities. The article provocatively claimed the Ambanis had ‘smuggled’ in a plant.
Another story detailed how companies registered in the tax haven, Isle of Man, with ridiculous names like Crocodile Investments, Iota Investments and Fiasco Investments had purchased Reliance shares at one-fifth their market prices. Curiously, most of these firms were controlled by a clutch of nonresident Indians who had the same surname, Shah. Though Pranab Mukherjee had to change a reply he gave in Parliament on the investments made by these firms, an inquiry conducted by the Reserve Bank of India could not find any evidence of wrongdoing. Yet another article detailed how the group had been the beneficiary of a ‘loan mela’ – a number of banks had loaned funds to more than 50 firms that had all purchased debentures issued by Reliance Industries.
Vishwanath Pratap Singh was one of the few politicians who took on the Ambanis. In May 1985, as finance minister in Rajiv Gandhi’s government, he suddenly shifted imports of PTA from the OGL (Open General Licence) category. At that juncture, Reliance needed to import this product to manufacture polyester filament yarn. It was found that the group had ‘persuaded’ a number of banks to open letters of credit that would allow it to import almost one full year’s requirement of PTA on the eve of the issuance of the government notification changing the category under which PTA could be imported. It was hardly a coincidence that soon after V. P. Singh fell out with Rajiv Gandhi, various tax agencies of the Indian government raided the premises of the Express group.
Things got difficult for the Ambanis after V. P. Singh became prime minister in December 1989. In 1990, government-owned financial institutions like the Life Insurance Corporation and the General Insurance Corporation stonewalled attempts by the Reliance group to acquire managerial control over Larsen and Toubro, one of India’s largest construction and engineering companies. Sensing defeat, the Ambanis resigned from the board of the company after incurring large losses. Dhirubhai, who had become L&T chairman in April 1989, had to quit his post to make way for D. N. Ghosh, former chairman of the State Bank of India.
Once again, in an ironical twist of fate, more than eleven years later, the Reliance group suddenly sold its stake in L&T to Grasim Industries headed by Kumaramangalam Birla. This transaction too attracted adverse attention. Questions were raised about how the Reliance group had increased its stake in L&T a short while before the sale to Grasim had taken place. The watchdog of the stock markets, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) instituted an inquiry into the transactions following allegations of price manipulation and insider trading. Reliance had to later cough up a token fine imposed by SEBI.
These are hardly the only controversies involving the Reliance group. Two senior executives of the Reliance group, including one who was known to be close to Dhirubhai, have been accused of violating the Official Secrets Act after a Cabinet note was found in their office during a police raid. One of these executives reportedly had links with a mafia don. Earlier, there had been a major uproar in the stock exchanges over alleged cases of ‘switching’ of shares and the issue of duplicate shares. Some of these transactions pertained to Dhirubhai’s personal physiotherapist.
More recently, last year, Raashid Alvi, a Member of Parliament belonging to the Bahujan Samaj Party, levelled a large number of allegations against the Reliance group. He distributed a voluminous bunch of photocopied documents to journalists that included the letter in which a Reliance group company had sought to ‘buy peace’ with the income tax department. The MP accused the Reliance group companies of manipulating their balance sheets and annual statements of account.
A week after Dhirubhai’s death, the Department of Company Affairs (DCA) confirmed that there was basis to some of the allegations raised by Alvi and that there were certain discrepancies in the balance sheet issued by Reliance Petroleum seven years ago. A group spokesperson sought to dismiss the discrepancy as a minor printing error that had been inadvertently committed. The DCA subsequently confirmed that different Reliance group companies had transferred interest income to one another in a questionable manner.
The plethora of scandals and controversies surrounding the Reliance group left Dhirubhai’s supporters completely unmoved. His supporters – and there was no dearth of them – would argue that there was no businessman in India whose track record was lily-white. Had the textile tycoon himself not acknowledged once to Time magazine that he was no Mother Teresa, they would ask. Even Hamish McDonald’s unflattering portrayal of Dhirubhai in his book The Polyester Prince – published in Australia by Allen and Unwin and not available in India – acknowledges his remarkable entrepreneurial talent that made him one of the few Indians on the Forbes list of the world’s wealthy and placed Reliance among the leading 500 companies in the developing world compiled by Fortune magazine.
Senior journalist T. V. R. Shenoy, in a tribute to Dhirubhai entitled ‘A Superman named Ambani’ posted on the rediff. com website, points out that the Reliance group accounts for three per cent of India’s gross domestic product (GDP), five per cent of the country’s exports, 10 per cent of the Indian government’s indirect tax revenues (excise and customs duties), 15 per cent of the weight of the sensitive index of the Bombay Stock Exchange and 30 per cent of the total profits of all private companies in the country put together. Another journalist, Manas Chakravarty, concluded his not-so-adulatory article in the Business Standard with the following sentence: ‘…it was (Dhirubhai’s) common touch combined with his uncommon vision that was the secret of his success. ’
Dhirubhai’s supporters like to recall instances of his ‘common touch’ and his ability to interact with individuals from different walks of life. In 1983, he had hosted a lunch for 12,000 of his company’s workers on the occasion of the marriage of his younger daughter Dipti. The departed Reliance group patriarch would often wonder aloud that if he could achieve what he did in a lifetime, why could a thousand Dhirubhais not flourish. He was sure that there were at least one thousand individuals like him in the country who would dare to dream big. And if all these entrepreneurs could achieve their ambitions, India would become an economic superpower one day, he would remark.
Dhirubhai’s managerial skills were undoubtedly exceptional and he would repose his faith in professionals, many of whom had earlier worked in much-maligned public sector organisations. Whether it was the building of the petroleum refinery at Jamnagar in three years at a capital cost that was 30 per cent lower than comparable projects, or the restarting of the Patalganga plant in one month’s time after sudden floods had occurred in July 1989, the Reliance management team displayed their competence on many occasions.
The Ambanis often scored because they stuck to their knitting or focused sharply on their areas of ‘core competence’. The group flopped when they entered new areas, be these the print medium or financial services. The group’s foray into power generation too has so far not yielded significant results. Dhirubhai’s sons, Mukesh (45) and Anil (43) are keen on effectively implementing their plans of diversifying into the ‘new economy’, into new areas like telecommunications, life sciences and insurance. The Reliance group intends proving telecom services in many parts of the country and is currently building an optic fiber based broadband internet network connecting 115 cities. Only time will tell whether Mukesh, and Anil prove to be worthy successors to their father. But one thing seems certain: they will try their level best not to be as controversial as Dhirubhai was.

"Dhirubhai Ambani's life is a rags-to-riches story, from Bombay's crowded pavements and bazaars to the city's extravagantly wealthy social circles where business tycoons, stockmarket speculators, smugglers, politicians and Hindi film stars mingle, make money, make and break marriages and carry out prolonged feuds-sometimes violent, often histrionic. "--BOOK JACKET. "Until the arrival of Ambani, India's big business scene was dominated by a few industrial houses from British times. In just 26 years since its foundation, Ambani's Reliance group has risen to rival these houses. By 1995 the group had 2.6 million investors." -- BOOK JACKET. Along with the dramatic expansion of the Reliance Group have come intricate political connections, a whole raft of corruption charges and a rollercoaster of booms and crashes for Ambani and his company. This study shows how capitalism emerges by fair means and fouls in the new industrial countries of the Third World, and is one of very few studies of Asian or Third World tycoons." -- BOOK JACKET.

The story of Reliance's shares:

The Times of India reported on 5th May that [[Reliance]] Mutual Fund has kept its position as India largest fund house with assets crossing INR 48,000 crores. Reliance has the distinction of being the first Indian company to be named among the five hundred listed in Forbes. Â How did all this come about? Let us dig into the rags to riches story of Reliance. The one name associated with it from its foundations is Dhirubhai Ambani.

What is Reliance? The Reliance Group is India largest business house with total revenues being more than $22.6 billion. This is equal to 3.5% of India GDP. Reliance contributes to 10% of India total indirect tax and 6% of her total exports. Reliance network of exports spread out to more than one hundred countries across the globe. Â
What are the activities of Reliance? It is involved in oil exploration and production, gas refining and marketing, petrochemicals, textiles, financial services, insurance, power, telecommunications and infocom initiatives. Â
The names of Reliance and Dhirubhai Ambani go hand in hand. He was born on 28th December 1932, in Chorwad, Gujarat. He belonged to the Hindu Modh Bania community. Dhirubhai built India largest private sector empire, Reliance, and created an equity cult. His father was a schoolteacher. Dhirubhai started off by selling fried snacks to pilgrims in Mount Girnar during weekends. After school he became a dispatch clerk at A. Besse & Company. The latter became distributors of Shell and Dhirubhai was sent to manage an oil filling station at Aden. For sometime he also worked in Dubai. In 1958 he returned to India with INR 50,000/- in his pocket. With this he set up a textile trading company.

This was the first chapter of the story of Reliance. Aptly helped by his wife and two sons Dhirubhai diversified his interests to petrochemicals, telecommunications and information, technology, energy, power, finance, capital markets and logistics. Reliance gave new dimensions to India equity culture. Till then the market had been dominated by financial institutions but with Reliance coming into the picture thousands of retail investors jumped into the fray by putting their trust in the name of Reliance. With innovative instruments like convertible debentures from the 1980 Reliance became a hot favorite in the Stock Market. Reliance was the pioneer Indian company to raise funds in the international markets. Only India sovereign rating restricted its high credit taking in international markets.
The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry named Dhirubhai Ambani of Reliance the Indian Entrepreneur of the 20th century. The Times of India conducted a poll in which he was acclaimed to be the greatest creator of wealth in the 20th century. Â
Thus we see that Reliance Industries Ltd was the brainchild and product of the labors of Indian business tycoon, Dhirubhai Ambani alias Dhirajlal Hirachand Ambani.
The story of Reliance makes fascinating reading. During the 1950 the administrators of Yemen discovered that a lot of their currency, the Rial, was disappearing through Aden because of a young man placing unlimited buy orders for Rials. The Rials, at that time, were made of pure silver and was greatly in demand in the London Bullion Exchange. Dhirubhai bought and melted the Rials and sold it to the London bullion traders. Within three months his work came to a halt but by that time he had made few lacs.

In the 60 Dhirubhai returned to India and started Reliance Commercial Corporation with a humble capital. The business was related to the import of polyester yarn and export of spices. Â
The first address of Reliance was in Narsinathan Street in Masjid Bunder “ a small 350 sq ft joint with a telephone, table and three chairs and only two assistants. The family too managed in a one room flat. Â
The fortunes of Reliance soon began to change. In 1966 the first textile mill was set up at Naroda using polyester fibre. He branded his products Vimal and thanks to intensive marketing, Vimal became a household name. Financial retail outlets were set up where only Vimal brands were sold. Â In 1975 a visiting World Bank team certified it to be excellent even by the standards of the developed world. Â
The next step of Reliance was to enter the equity world. An equity cult came to be created. Nearly 60,000 investors from all parts of India placed their trust in Reliance IPO in 1977. Rural India and first time investors learnt to place its trust and money in the name of Reliance.
In 1982 Reliance Industries came up against a rights issue about partly convertible debentures. It was rumored that Reliance was making all efforts to see that their stock prices did not fall by even an inch. Ready to strike, a Bear cartel consisting of a group of stockbrokers from Calcutta began to short sell Reliance shares. Another group, friendly towards Reliance began to buy the short sold shares on the Bombay Exchange. The Bears were confident that the Bulls would soon run out of cash and be prepared for an understanding under the ˜badla™-trading scheme prevalent in the Bombay Stock during that time. But the tables came to be turned in favor of Reliance. Dhirubhai himself provided the required cash when the Bulls demanded a physical delivery of shares. The net result was that Reliance shares shot up from INR 152/- to 180/- within a few minutes. The market was in uproar with Dhirubhai as the uncrowned king. The Bombay Stock Exchange came to be closed for three full days. Authorities intervened and brought down the unbadla rate to 2/- with a ruling that the Bear cartel would have to deliver the shares within the next few days. The Bears bought Reliance shares from the market at higher price levels and most probably Dhirubhai himself supplied these shares and earned a healthy profit from the great adventure. Â
Questions naturally arose around Reliance. How could a yarn trader within a few years cough up such huge amounts of cash during a crisis? Parliament began to face queries. The Finance Minister gave the information that a non-resident Indian had invested nearly 220/- million INR in Reliance from 1982/83. These had been channelized through many companies “all registered in the Isle of Man. The peculiarity was that all the owners had the common surname or Shah. However, Reserve Bank investigations did not find anything wrong done by Reliance and its friends.
Keeping its core in petrochemicals “Reliance soon diversified its activities to telecommunications, information technology, energy, power, retail, textiles, infrastructure services, capital markets and logistics. BBC described it as ˜a business empire with an estimated annual turnover of $12bn, and an 85,000- strong workforce™. Reliance has the distinction of being the only public limited company whose many annual general meetings had to be held in stadiums with more than 350,000 shareholders in attendance.
Success creates jealousy. Reliance had to suffer its share. Nusli Wadia of Bombay Dyeing group was once the biggest competitor of Reliance. Wadia was known for his clout in political circles during the time when the economy had not been liberalized. Competition took an ugly turn when during the seventies Wadia got a permission from the then Janata Party ruled government to build a DMT (Dimethyl Terephthalate) plant. Then Ramnath Goenka of Indian Express turned his pen against Reliance. It seemed that Goenka was using a national newspaper for his own personal vendetta. But despite everything people did not lose faith in Reliance. Reliance ran into rough weather also with the V. P. Singh government. The license for importing Purified Terephthalic Acid was cancelled. This was essential as a raw material for manufacturing polyester yarn.
The first stroke had paralyzed Dhirubhai but the second stroke spelt out the death sentence for him. He died in 2nd July 2002 leaving behind at the helm of Reliance his two sons Mukesh and Anil, wife and two daughters. His funeral was attended not only by big business and politicians but also by thousands of ordinary folks. He is an example of what a common person can do to help himself as well as the economy of his country.
At the time of his death the Reliance group had a gross turn over of INR 75,000 crores from 70 crores in 1976/77. In 20003 Government of India issued a postal stamp (denomination 5/- INR) in Dhirubhai honor. 
Reliance began to flow through two channels after the death of Dhirubhai. Differences broke out between his two sons over ownership issues as well as private matters. It was expressed that this would have no impact on the functioning of the company “ it being a company managed aggressively by professionals. This is of great importance to the Indian economy as a whole. The wife of Dhirubhai, Kokilaben mediated for her sons.
Mukesh was awarded Reliance Industries and IPCL and this group came to be known, as Reliance Industries Ltd. Anil became head of Infocomm, Reliance Energy and Reliance Capital known as the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG). The pages of the book called Reliance thus continue to be written as it meanders through Time.

How to Make an Atom Bomb

This idea suddenly came in my mind that how does an atom bomb works. I have no all idea that how does it works, but I have a bit idea that somewhere we need uranium or plutonium to do this type of explosions or to make a nuclear bomb. actually, all this happen through chain reaction of atomic energy. I hope this article will help you to understand the nuclear fission or chain reaction of atomic bomb. So, lets start from here, today at what you need in order to make a nuclear fission bomb. You need some money, as it would really help if you were the prince, sultan or other royalty of a small, but rich state. If not, you need to know on a first name basis some evil leader with lots of cash, oil, diamonds and so on, of a small but ambitious country, with a need for revenge on the world.

Step 1 - What is a nuclear fission bomb?

Fission bombs derive their power from nuclear fission, where heavy nuclei (uranium or plutonium) are bombarded by neutrons and split into lighter elements, more neutrons and energy. These newly liberated neutrons then bombard other nuclei, which then split and bombard other nuclei, and so on, creating a nuclear chain reaction which releases large amounts of energy. These are historically called atomic bombs, atom bombs, or A-bombs, though this name is not precise due to the fact that chemical reactions release energy from atomic bonds (excluding bonds between nuclei) and fusion is no less atomic than fission. Despite this possible confusion, the term atom bomb has still been generally accepted to refer specifically to nuclear weapons and most commonly to pure fission devices.

 

Step 2 - What do you need?

a. The fissionable material

Plutonium239 isotope. Around 25 pounds (10 kg) would be enough. If you could find some Uranium235, that would be good, but not great. You would need to refine it using a gas centrifuge. The uranium hexafluoride gas is piped in a cylinder, which is then spun at high speed. The rotation causes a centrifugal force that leaves the heavier U-238 isotopes at the outside of the cylinder, while the lighter U-235 isotopes are left at the center. The process is repeated many times over through a cascade of centrifuges to create uranium of the desired level of enrichment. To be used as the fissile core of a nuclear weapon, the uranium has to be enriched to more than 90 per cent and be produced in large quantities.

You could try buying it from a former Soviet Republic, or from Iran, since they're trying so hard to produce it. North Korea is not ready yet, and unfortunately, Iraqi dealers retired from the business.

b. The explosive to start the nuclear chain reaction

100 pounds (44 kg) of trinitrotoluene (TNT). Gelignite (an explosive material consisting of collocation-cotton (a type of nitrocellulose or gun cotton) dissolved in nitroglycerin and mixed with wood pulp and sodium or potassium nitrate) would be better. Semtex would be good too, but it's a bit hard to get, these days.

c. The detonator

To fabricate a detonator for the device, get a radio controlled (RC) servo mechanism, as found in RC model airplanes and cars. With a modicum of effort, a remote plunger can be made that will strike a detonator cap to effect a small explosion. These detonation caps can be found in the electrical supply section of your local supermarket. If you're an electronics wiz, you should be able to make it using a cellphone.

d. The pusher

The explosion shock wave might be of such short duration that only a fraction of the pit is compressed at any instant as it passes through it. A pusher shell made out of low density metal such as aluminium, beryllium, or an alloy of the two metals (aluminium being easier and safer to shape but beryllium reflecting neutrons back into the core) may be needed and is located between the explosive lens and the tamper. It works by reflecting some of the shock wave backwards which has the effect of lengthening it. The tamper or reflector might be designed to work as the pusher too, although a low density material is best for the pusher but a high density one for the tamper. To maximize efficiency of energy transfer, the density difference between layers should be minimized.

 

Step 3 - How to build the nuke?

You will need to get the fissile material to the critical mass in order to start the chain reaction, which depends upon the size, shape and purity of the material as well as what surrounds the material. Your weapons-grade uranium will have to be in sub-critical configuration.

First, you must arrange the uranium into two hemispherical shapes, separated by about 4 cm. Since it's highly radioactive, the best way do it is to ask the friend owning the small country to let you use one his facilities. You could use a nuclear plant, a steel factory or even a well equipped pharmaceutical installation as a disguise for your plans.

It is not sufficient to pack explosive into a spherical shell around the tamper and detonate it simultaneously at several places because the tamper and plutonium pit will simply squeeze out between the gaps in the detonation front. Instead, the shock wave must be carefully shaped into a perfect sphere centered on the pit and traveling inwards. This is achieved by using a spherical shell of closely fitting and accurately shaped bodies of explosives of different propagation speeds to form explosive lenses.

After a few careful calculations, all you need now is to carefully pack and transport your nuclear bomb to the targeted location. If you happen to be an Al-Qaeda fan, you should try to infiltrate a military facility, for the psychological effect. Watch it, though, they are usually well guarded!

Step 4 - Disguising the bomb and placing it for detonation

The smallest nuclear warhead deployed by the United States was the W54, which was used in the Davy Crockett recoilless rifle; warheads in this weapon weighed about 23 kg and had yields of 0.01 to 0.25 kilotons. This is small in comparison to thermonuclear weapons, but remains a very large explosion with lethal acute radiation effects and potential for substantial fallout. It is generally believed that the W54 may be nearly the smallest possible nuclear weapon, though this may be only smallest by weight or volume, not simply smallest diameter.

The best way to disguise it would be in the form of an ordinary appliance, like a copier, a wide-screen TV set, or any other inconspicuous electronic device.

Now, all you have to do is transport it to the selected location and get to a safe distance of a few tens of miles, but not far enough to get out of the range of the remote detonator. That is why a cellphone is strongly recommended for its wide range capabilities.

Obstacles in Life?

      We do always worry about obstacles in life. Each and every day we have to face them. While we all pray for each other that one should not come across any obstacle in life,but what will happen if obstacles will not be in Life? I have a different view after read the following, Please read the given story:

      We must come across obstacles and need to pray for each other to overcome obstacles (with some pain) and progress.

      One night recently my daughter, Elizabeth, was showing me an aquarium full of tadpoles. She had purchased a whole bag full of them for her children (my grandchildren) to watch grow from tadpoles into frogs. It was fun watching all of those little wiggly creatures swimming around in the aquarium! It brought back many fond memories of my own childhood, playing with “critters” down at my grandparent’s house.

 

      I noticed that there was a big rock in the aquarium. When I asked her why she put a rock right in the middle of the tadpoles’ environment, Elizabeth told me an interesting story. I can hardly believe that I have lived almost fifty-nine years without having heard it because it is so good.

      Elizabeth said that when she went to the pet store to buy the tadpoles, the gentleman told her to be sure to put a big rock right in the middle of the aquarium. The tadpoles must have this obstacle to give them the incentive to climb up and thus split their little wiggly tails so that their legs can begin to develop. If they have no rock or obstacle to climb up on, they will never turn into frogs. They cannot learn how to hop by just swimming around in water. They must have something causing resistance to give them the incentive to leap forward.

The man went on to tell her that last year a school teacher came back to the store and complained because none of her tadpoles had ever turned into frogs. She had put all of them in an aquarium and let them swim around but they never became frogs. He asked her if she had put a big obstacle, like a rock, in the middle of the aquarium. She said that she had not. She did not know that a tadpole will remain a tadpole unless it faces some obstacle or barrier that forces it to grow. Neither did I, but it makes perfect sense.

      So, my daughter was excited to show me all of the tadpoles swimming around the rock. In time, they will begin to try to climb up it and eventually they will make the transformation into a more fully mature creature.

      I was amazed and delighted to hear that story. It helped me begin to see, once again, why we have obstacles and barriers in front of us. They are not there to hinder us, but they are there to cause us to grow. It is not so much what the object is in front of each one of us that matters as much as it is our attitude towards it. If we realize that the obstacle we are facing is really a gift that has come our way to help us grow and mature, we will be much more likely to face it in a positive manner.

      Since I watched those tadpoles the other night and saw the big rock in their aquarium, I have begun to see the obstacles I face in a different way. Instead of being rocks in my path, those obstacles have become stepping stones to help me leap forward in whatever situation I find myself.

      I know that those little tadpoles have no idea what is going on. They just are not that smart. The truth of the matter is, neither are we. Most of us have no idea what is going on in our lives either. We don’t understand that the barriers and obstacles, challenges, difficulties and hard times that come our way each day are actually there for a purpose. There is no way we will have the incentive to grow, or to become better, or to strive harder, if everything in life is just a simple situation. I know the harder I work at anything, the more profitable it is for me, not only financially, but personally, in my own heart and character as well.

      So, the next time you see a frog hopping around, smile at him and thank him for the lesson, remembering the struggle he has gone through to get where he is. Perhaps out in the wild somewhere, he faced a difficult rock or barrier in his life, but rather than swimming away from it, he just crawled up on it and began to develop his personal strength until he eventually matured to become the frog that you see hopping around.

Moral: Remember... Obstacles are there to help you...

All the best once again.

A few good quotes related to Obstacles:

Sometimes things which at the moment may be perceived as obstacles--
and actually be obstacles, difficulties, or drawbacks--can in the long run
result in some good end which would not have occurred
if it had not been for the obstacle. 

Steve Allen

 

 I’m not afraid of storms, for I’m learning how to sail my ship.
Louisa May Alcott

The things in life we call obstacles are mostly the experiences
we find ourselves unable or unwilling to welcome.
Christina Feldman

One who gains strength by overcoming obstacles
possesses the only strength which can overcome adversity. 

Albert Schweitzer

The battles that count aren't the ones for gold medals. The struggles within
yourself--the invisible, inevitable battles inside all of us--that's where it's at.

Jesse Owens

_______________________________________________________

“Whatever the mind can conceive, and believe, it can achieve.” Napoleon Hill

Love at first site.......

          What I feel that a person whether he/she is very attractive or ugly, very cruel or polite, very talkative or shy, very bold or coward or whether he/she is very rich or poor, but in his/her young age often he/she fall in love. Here I am trying to define, love at first site........ 

 

"10th Grade:-

As I sat there in English class,

I stared at the girl next to me.

She was my so called 'best friend'.

I stared at her long, silky hair,

and wished she was mine.

But she didn't notice me like that,

and I knew it.

After class,

she walked up to me and asked me for

the notes she had missed the day before.

I handed them to her.She said 'thanks'

and gave me a kiss on the cheek.

I want to tell her, I want her to know

that I don't want to be just friends,

I love her but I'm just too shy,

and I don't know why.

11th grade:-

The phone rang. On the other end,

it was her. She was in tears,

mumbling on and on about how

her love had broke her heart.

She asked me to come over

because she didn't want to be alone, So I did.

As I sat next to her on the sofa, I stared at her

soft eyes, wishing she was mine.

After 2 hours, one Drew Barrymore movie,

and three bags of chips,

she decided to go home.

She looked at me, said 'thanks'

and gave me a kiss

on the cheek..I want to tell her,

I want her to know that

I don't want to be just friends,

I love her but I'm just too shy,

and I don't know why.

Senior year:-

One fine day she walked to my locker.

'My date is sick' she said,

'hes not gonna go' well,

I didn't have a date, and in 7th grade,

we made a promise that

if neither of us had dates,

we would go together just as 'best friends'.

So we did.

That night, after everything was over,

I was standing at her front door step.

I stared at her as She smiled at me

and stared at me with her crystal eyes.

Then she said- 'I had the best time, thanks!'

and gave me a kiss on the cheek.

I want to tell her,

I want her to know

that I don't want to be just friends,

I love her but I'm just too shy,

and I don't know why.

Graduation:-

A day passed, then a week, then a month.

Before I could blink, it was graduation day.

I watched as her perfect body

floated like an angel

up on stage to get her diploma.

I wanted her to be mine-but

she didn't notice me like that, and I knew it.

Before everyone went home,

she came to me in her smock and hat,

and cried as I hugged her.

Then she lifted her head from my shoulder

and said- 'you're my best friend,

thanks' and gave me a kiss on the cheek.

I want to tell her,

I want her to know

that I don't want to be just friends,

I love her but I'm just too shy,

and I don't know why.

Marriage:-

Now I sit in the pews of the church.

That girl is getting married now.

and drive off to her new life,

married to another man.

I wanted her to be mine,

but she didn't see me like that,

and I knew it.

But before she drove away,

she came to me and said 'you came !'.

She said 'thanks' and kissed me on the cheek.

I want to tell her,

I want her to know

that I don't want to be just friends,

I love her but I'm just too shy,

and I don't know why.

Death:-

Years passed, I looked down at the coffin

of a girl who used to be my 'best friend'.

At the service, they read a diary entry

she had wrote in her high school years.

This is what it read:

'I stare at him wishing he was mine,

but he doesn't notice me like that,

and I know it.

I want to tell him,

I want him to know that

I don't want to be just friends,

I love him but I'm just too shy,

and I don't know why.

I wish he would tell me he loved me !

'I wish I did too...'

I thought to my self, and I cried"

         So, the last conclusion is that if you really love someone, please tell him or her at the correct time, otherwise, you have to be repent later.

A guy who got into IIT and Google

 

A guy who got into IIT and Google.

Naga Naresh Karutura has just passed out of IIT Madras in Computer Science and has joined Google in Bangalore.  You may ask, what's so special about this 21-year-old when there are hundreds of students passing from various IITs and joining big companies like Google?

Naresh is special. His parents are illiterate. He has no legs and moves around in his powered wheel chair.

Ever smiling, optimistic and full of spirit; that is Naresh. He says, "God has always been planning things for me. That is why I feel I am lucky."  Read why Naresh feels he is lucky.

Childhood in a village

I spent the first seven years of my life in Teeparru, a small village in Andhra Pradesh, on the banks of the river Godavari. My father Prasad was a lorry driver and my mother Kumari, a house wife. Though they were illiterate, my parents instilled in me and my elder sister (Sirisha) the importance of studying.

Looking back, one thing that surprises me now is the way my father taught me when I was in the 1st and 2nd standards. My father would ask me questions from the text book, and I would answer them. At that time, I didn't know he could not read or write but to make me happy, he helped me in my studies!

Another memory that doesn't go away is the floods in the village and how I was carried on top of a buffalo by my uncle. I also remember plucking fruits from a tree that was full of thorns.

I used to be very naughty, running around and playing all the time with my friends. I used to get a lot of scolding for disturbing the elders who slept in the afternoon. The moment they started scolding, I would run away to the fields!

I also remember finishing my school work fast in class and sleeping on the teacher's lap!

January 11, 1993, the fateful day

On the January 11, 1993 when we had the sankranti holidays, my mother took my sister and me to a nearby village for a family function. From there we were to go with our grandmother to our native place. But my grandmother did not come there. As there were no buses that day, my mother took a lift in my father's friend's lorry. As there were many people in the lorry, he made me sit next to him, close to the door.

It was my fault; I fiddled with the door latch and it opened wide throwing me out. As I fell, my legs got cut by the iron rods protruding from the lorry. Nothing happened to me except scratches on my legs.

The accident had happened just in front of a big private hospital but they refused to treat me saying it was an accident case. Then a police constable who was passing by took us to a government hospital.

First I underwent an operation as my small intestine got twisted. The doctors also bandaged my legs. I was there for a week. When the doctors found that gangrene had developed and it had reached up to my knees, they asked my father to take me to a district hospital. There, the doctors scolded my parents a lot for neglecting the wounds and allowing the gangrene to develop. But what could my ignorant parents do?

In no time, both my legs were amputated up to the hips.

I remember waking up and asking my mother, where are my legs? I also remember that my mother cried when I asked the question. I was in the hospital for three months.

Life without legs

I don't think my life changed dramatically after I lost both my legs. Because all at home were doting on me, I was enjoying all the attention rather than pitying myself. I was happy that I got a lot of fruits and biscuits.

'I never wallowed in self-pity'

The day I reached my village, my house was flooded with curious people; all of them wanted to know how a boy without legs looked. But I was not bothered; I was happy to see so many of them coming to see me, especially my friends!

All my friends saw to it that I was part of all the games they played; they carried me everywhere.

God's hand, I believe in God. I believe in destiny. I feel he plans everything for you. If not for the accident, we would not have moved from the village to Tanuku, a town. There I joined a missionary school, and my father built a house next to the school. Till the tenth standard, I studied in that school.

If I had continued in Teeparu, I may not have studied after the 10th. I may have started working as a farmer or someone like that after my studies. I am sure God had other plans for me.

My sister, my friend

When the school was about to reopen, my parents moved from Teeparu to Tanuku, a town, and admitted both of us in a Missionary school. They decided to put my sister also in the same class though she is two years older. They thought she could take care of me if both of us were in the same class. My sister never complained.

She would be there for everything. Many of my friends used to tell me, you are so lucky to have such a loving sister. There are many who do not care for their siblings.

She carried me in the school for a few years and after a while, my friends took over the task. When I got the tricycle, my sister used to push me around in the school.

My life, I would say, was normal, as everyone treated me like a normal kid. I never wallowed in self-pity. I was a happy boy and competed with others to be on top and the others also looked at me as a competitor.

Inspiration

I was inspired by two people when in school; my Maths teacher Pramod Lal who encouraged me to participate in various local talent tests, and a brilliant boy called Chowdhary, who was my senior.

When I came to know that he had joined Gowtham Junior College to prepare for IIT-JEE, it became my dream too. I was school first in 10th scoring 542/600.

Because I topped in the state exams, Gowtham Junior College waived the fee for me. Pramod Sir's recommendation also helped. The fee was around Rs 50,000 per year, which my parents could never afford.

Moving to a residential school

Living in a residential school was a big change for me because till then my life centered around home and school and I had my parents and sister to take care of all my needs. It was the first time that I was interacting with society. It took one year for me to adjust to the new life.

There, my inspiration was a boy called K K S Bhaskar who was in the top 10 in IIT-JEE exams. He used to come to our school to encourage us. Though my parents didn't know anything about Gowtham Junior School or IIT, they always saw to it that I was encouraged in whatever I wanted to do. If the results were good, they would praise me to the skies and if bad, they would try to see something good in that. They did not want me to feel bad.  They are such wonderful supportive parents.

Life at IIT- Madras

Though my overall rank in the IIT-JEE was not that great (992), I was 4th in the physically handicapped category. So, I joined IIT, Madras to study Computer Science.

Here, my role model was Karthik who was also my senior in school. I looked up to him during my years at IIT- Madras.   He had asked for attached bathrooms for those with special needs before I came here itself. So, when I came here, the room had attached bath. He used to help me and guide me a lot when I was here.

I evolved as a person in these four years, both academically and personally. It has been a great experience studying here. The people I was interacting with were so brilliant that I felt privileged to sit along with them in the class. Just by speaking to my lab mates, I gained a lot.

'There are more good people in society than bad ones'

July 28, 2008

Words are inadequate to express my gratitude to Prof Pandurangan and all my lab mates; all were simply great. I was sent to Boston along with four others for our internship by Prof Pandurangan. It was a great experience.

Joining Google R&D

I did not want to pursue PhD as I wanted my parents to take rest now.  Morgan Stanley selected me first but I preferred Google because I wanted to work in pure computer science, algorithms and game theory.

I am lucky. Do you know why I say I am lucky?

I get help from total strangers without me asking for it. Once after my second year at IIT, I with some of my friends was travelling in a train for a conference. We met a kind gentleman called Sundar in the train, and he has been taking care of my hostel fees from then on.

I have to mention about Jaipur foot. I had Jaipur foot when I was in 3rd standard. After two years, I stopped using them. As I had almost no stems on my legs, it was very tough to tie them to the body. I found walking with Jaipur foot very, very slow. Sitting also was a problem. I found my tricycle faster because I am one guy who wants to do things faster.

One great thing about the hospital is, they don't think their role ends by just fixing the Jaipur foot; they arrange for livelihood for all. They asked me what help I needed from them. I told them at that time, if I got into an IIT, I needed financial help from them. So, from the day I joined IIT, Madras , my fees were taken care of by them. So, my education at the IIT was never a burden on my parents and they could take care of my sister's Nursing studies.

Surprise awaited me at IIT

After my first year, when I went home, two things happened here at the Institute without my knowledge.

I got a letter from my department that they had arranged a lift and ramps at the department for me. It also said that if I came a bit early and checked whether it met with my requirements, it would be good.

Second surprise was, the Dean, Prof Idichandy and the Students General Secretary, Prasad had located a place that sold powered wheel chairs. The cost was Rs 55,000. What they did was, they did not buy the wheel chair; they gave me the money so that the wheel chair belonged to me and not the institute.

My life changed after that. I felt free and independent.  That's why I say I am lucky. God has planned things for me and takes care of me at every step.

The world is full of good people. 

I also feel if you are motivated and show some initiative, people around you will always help you. I also feel there are more good people in society than bad ones. I want all those who read this to feel that if Naresh can achieve something in life, you can too.

Abraham Lincoln Didn't Quit

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"The sense of obligation to continue is present in all of us. A duty to strive is the duty of us all. I felt a call to that duty." ____________________________ ABRAHAM LINCOLN

"The path was worn and slippery. My foot slipped from under me, knocking the other out of the way, but I recovered and said to my self, "It's a slip and not a fall."" _________________ ABRAHAM LINCOLN (After losing a senate race)

Abraham Lincoln One of the most respected & reputed President of America (16th, 1859)

It is an old saying that whenever you keep trying to cannot be a looser. And I think it is one hundred percent correct. The struggle and winning story of Abraham Lincoln's tells us the truth of this old saying.

PROBABLY the greatest example of persistence is Abraham Lincoln. If you want to learn about somebody who didn't quit, look no further.

BORN into poverty, Lincoln was faced with defeat throughout his life. He lost eight elections, twice failed in business and suffered a nervous breakdown.

HE could have quit many times -- but he didn't and because he didn't quit, he became on the greatest presidents in the history of county.


LINCOLN was a champion and he never gave up. Here is a sketch of Lincoln's road to White House.

1816 -- His family was farced out of their home. He had to work to support them.

1817 -- His mother died.

1831 -- Failed in business.

1832 -- Also lost his job-wanted to go law school but couldn't get in.

1833 -- Borrowed some money from a friend to begin a business and by the end of year he was bankrupt. He spent the next 17 years of his life paying off this debt.

1834 -- Ran for state legislature again -- won.

1835 -- Was engaged to be married, sweetheart died and his heart was broken.

1836 -- Had a total nervous breakdown and was in bed for six months.

1838 -- Sought to become speaker of the state legislature defeated.

1840 -- Sought to become elector -- defeated.

1843 -- Ran for Congress -- lost.

1846 -- Ran for Congress again -- this time he won -- went to Washington and did a good job.

1848 -- Ran for re-election to Congress -- lost.

1849 -- Sought the job of land officer in his home state -- rejected.

1854 -- Ran for Senate of the United States -- lost.

1856 -- Sought the vice-presidential nomination at his party's national convention -- got less than 100 votes.

1858 -- Ran for U.S. Senate again -- again he lost.

1859 -- Elected president of the United States.

Truth of Life.....

                Many stories tell us the reality of life. Here are I am writing a story which I heard at the age of 9 years. When, I was in 4^th standard. This story is all about two friends friendship story. One of them was Jill and another was Jack, both of them were fast friends. They were never go anywhere without each other. They were always ready to help each other at any moment. So like this their friendship is an example for others.

                 One day both of the friends decided to go to the jungle for a small trip for fun. When they were going towards the jungle; during the period of their journey when they were at the middle of way suddenly they saw a bear is coming towards to them. After looking to him both friends were frightened and they started shivering with fear.

           Suddenly, Jack got an idea. He thought he knew climbing so he quickly climbed on the tree. Now, Jill is rest there on the ground. He did not know how to climb. By the time the bear had already come to near. So he lied down on the ground and stop breathing. When the bear crossing to him. It stopped and smelled to him for a moment and then left. Now the Jill who was lying down on the ground was looking pale with fear and nervousness. When he felt that the bear had gone. He opened his eyes and stood up. Now his friend Jack also came down from the tree. He came to him and said Jill how you are dear and what the bear said in your ear.

            Jill, who is now happy to find a second chance of life thought a bit and said Jack my dear, the bear asked me about my health and said NEVER BELIEVE ON A SELF-FISH FRIEND……

            After hearing these words from his close friend, Jack felt ashamed a lot…

Many days passed, nowadays both were friends but not were as before.

Many years passed, they almost forgot the things of early memories. Now, they were friends again. One day again they both have decided to go for a trip again. Now this time they had decided to go for a boating in the sea. On their journey, when they were enjoying of boating on the sea. Suddenly, the boat began to sinking in the sea due to a hole in bottom of the boat. Now Jack and Jill both were frightened and bewildered. They both had started to prey to the god now. Suddenly the boat began to sink. So they began to sink. Now the Jill who knew swimming....

Difference of thinking...

 

Winners never loose hope:

Two boys were going in a village’s road. Then they saw the two canes full of milk were there, which need to give to the nearby city people. Nobody was there, so they opened the cap of first cane and a fatty frog put into it. Then they opened the month of second cane and done the same.

While journey, the first cane’s frog said to itself, it happened very bad. I cannot open the cap of the cane because it’s too heavy. And before this I never did milk bath. And I cannot go down to open its cap with full of my force. Then what should I do? And he looses his hope and he left trying. And when the cap of first cane was opened, then a dead fatty frog found in it.

The same thing happened with the second frog and it said to itself, I know that I cannot open the cap of the cane, because it’s much tied and heavy too. For my safety, I nor have power and neither have anything to drill. But the blessing of Water God, I know one thing with liquid things and that is swimming. Therefore, he continued swimming, swimming till that milk converted into a butter ball. And he sat on it. When, the cap of other cane was opened. He came out with jump.

The moral of the story is: Winners never loose hope and who loose hope never get success.