For the love of money

“Why did you name your blog Fridays with Rahul?” a dear friend of mine asked. I said, for two reasons. Two purposes that any blog should serve – when to expect and what to expect. One, for any successful blog, it has to have repeat audience. When one fixes a day for new columns, surfers know exactly when to expect the blog to be updated. It’s like a date with your audience. And two, the audience should have a reason to come to your blog. They definitely expect something out of it. Not necessarily for your grammar and your style of writing, but for your point of view. Your opinions and views.

Three weeks hence, and a conversation with my dear friend (whose heart is as big as he himself is when it comes to helping his friends), I decided to provide the audience of my blog ‘Fridays with Rahul’ with a dose of the week gone by, and the week ahead sprinkled with my own views and opinions this week.

Why Friday? Friday is the day for new releases. The day for new beginnings.

The week gone by

But of course, the biggest story of the week is that of Satyam. The saga is still unfolding as I write. Much is still being uncovered. But whatever we know as of now is really shocking. Fraud to the tune of Rs 7000 crore. And that is your and my hard earned money. It is the trust that was broken. Trust that we put in a company that ranks one among the top four IT companies in India. Repeatedly, over the years, Mr Raju abused Satyam’s shareholders, its partners, its employees.

What would be going through his head at the end of the day, each day before he would retire to bed? “Aah! Fools, I tell you. So easy and gullible people can be! What fun. Tomorrow lies another day, a fun, packed day with some more lies to hide the earlier ones. What fools I tell you, what fools!” So true. Satyam was conferred the Golden Peacock Award for Excellence in Corporate Governance in 2008!

Till about last week, I used to consider myself fortunate to have met and interviewed this extremely humble gentleman – B Ramalinga Raju. On various counts, he gave me interesting views and trends on the IT industry, insights into the business and a few stories to break. Never did I imagine a more down to earth and a grounded person could now be facing a 10-year jail term.

But not always what you communicate to the outside world is the real you within.

The week ahead

The week ahead is certainly filled with excitement. As the Satyam drama keeps unfolding, it gets funnier day by day. Statements made by the top management show just how weak their foundation is.

Some investor must lodge a complaint (FIR) against Mr Raju. That is all it will take for him to surface and face the nation to answer some crucial questions.

My wife can come home, and so can my maid if the strike by the state-run oil companies’ employees is called off, and I’d be a much happier man.

I hope India and Pakistan just end this tu tu main main which has been going on like the saas bahu saga after the terrorist attacks. The donkeys of India would also probably be smart enough to know that Pakistan is simply playing footsie.

One last observation: Money can buy you happiness only if what you claim actually exists in your bank account!