Opportunity amidst opportunity

My first post in a Magazine in my previous company Caritor.Thought let me put it here, lest i lose it!

"When written in Chinese, the word "crisis" is composed of two characters - one represents danger and one represents opportunity."

- John F. Kennedy

The world has seen the scripts change in the annals of history too many times to stumped by even the worst trials and tribulations.God forbid we need not have a 9/11 or a tsunami or a IT crash or for that sake the Great Depression of America.But we have all emerged out of it;some more successful with just guts and grit by their side ,men who sensed something that the others missed -opportunity even when adversity towered against them.You don't need the sixth sense to grab a opportunity .Its right there up for grabs but you need to take it with a pinch of risk and let your skills handle the rest.

A retrospection into the past year and you will find all sorts of disasters ,the aftermath of the tsunami ,a series of storms in coastal America,the great deluge in Mumbai,earthquakes in Kashmir,in addition to all this the industry had its own sets of worries oil touching the $70 barrel mark,more taxes and the list goes on.But still the India grows at 6 to 8% with the sensex fast closing onto the historic 10K mark,the FDI's are steadily flowing in and the FAB's are all decided on choosing India as a desired location.Seldom has the country looked any brighter.So where does all the growth come from amidst all the calamities of life and our own speculations and worries?

We had NGO's ,organizations ,individuals(silent heroes) who woke up to task whenever a disaster occurred ,men who could absorb the shock and the awe of the challenges posed.We had businessmen,venture capitalists stockbrokers even students cashing in the moolah this year on the unprecedented run of the bull in the stock market.Billions of dollars that were washed away in the blink of an eye were being compensated for .Better villages and hospitals are coming in place of the older dilapidated ones both in quake hit as well as disaster hot zones.The opportunity of building a better tomorrow was being visualized and built .Even in Iraq and Afghanistan that lay devastated by the war,companies were competing with each other for contracts and they sensed the golden chance that lay hidden in the barren lands.Companies are moving away fro the traditional markets of America and Europe and going east as well as Africa when they understood that their their products no longer thrived the markets.

Each of us are facing a problem and await the all important solution,the challenges may be in various circumstances,scale,forms,regions or situations.At the end of the day we all hate risks,adversities,changes not necessarily in that order but we hate them all the same .But studies suggest that these factors play a major role in deciding the success rates.With the changing dynamics of economy ,the stature of men seldom matter it is the genuine opportunity seeking skills that each one sees and sees first,when the chips are down that we make the quantum leap from men to demi-god status.

A smooth sea never made a skillful mariner, neither do uninterrupted prosperity and success qualify for usefulness and happiness.History always reminds us that civilizations were lost once it started to saturate or stagnate in its riches.Learn to make lemonade out of life's lemons by taking a step back to consider the bigger picture.You have two choices shape up or ship out. It builds those who are strong enough to withstand its fury and shrewd enough to learn from its repercussions - the Darwin Theory .The weak become diffident and lose focus which takes away his natural propensity to identify the big opportunity that lies hidden within the perils of the disaster.In short when such a person sees adversity, he loses many opportunities to redeem himself from the adverse situation, where as leaders of men would remain calm and composed and seizes the opportunities. They view every problem in life as a challenge or opportunity that one can benefit from.

So let us take refuge in a qoute from Disraeli -"What appear to be calamities are often the sources of fortune."

Black Friday

I am always non-superstitious.But sometimes you just feel its not your day! One such day was my last day of my stay in Minneapolis.As I woke up ,as usual late ,I checked the baggage,it was strewn all around.By then it was already 9 am,and i had not even booked the taxi to the airport.Brushed my teeth in a jiffy and took a double quick bath and decided to keep my fast without breaking in the morn.After messing up twice with the taxi guys with respect to the pickup address,i decided to go to the office to drop off my stuff .I needed to say bye to a few folks there and then drop off my laptop and phone.And then i rushed back to my room to clear off all the remaining stuff from the room as was the norm .I was too preoccupied to note that i hadn't weighed my baggage yet.So i rushed down to the front desk of the service apartment to check for a weighing machine.Again none at the office even though it was a week day.As i decided to hang around and then i realized that i came down without the room keys.So i took the lift back and dragged both my bags down after locking my room and then finally found a chick in the front office.I checked the weight and was pleased with to know that i had lots of space for xtra stuff to dump.

After lots of more mishaps i finally found myself in the airport cab at 1.30 pm thought the flight was at 5 pm i thought i might as well as play safe.I reached well ahead in time all along having a healthy conversation with the taxi driver who happened to be from El Salvador.I checked myself in and then after that thought that i might as well take a look around.As i just put my hands into my pocket ,I realized i had the room keys with me.I had two options either to catch the Haiwatha rail back which comes every 20 minutes or so or take a usual taxi.But the problem  was I didn't know either of them where to catch! But i found the nearest taxi as i was fast running out of time .I reached LaSalle,and threw the keys at the front desk and hurried back,pretty sure that this would be last time at least that day that i would need to return back!But since i had already checked in and had the boarding passes till Bangaluru already in hand i was pretty confident.

At around 4 i went through the security check and patiently waited for an hour before the flight took off.Once i landed in Chicago,i waited only to see that an hour later the flight was cancelled.So there goes my itinerary for a  toss.I got the new tickets ,but then i lost 1 whole day,thanks to the cancellation.The cancellation had more to with less travelers than with the official reason of mechanical failure.So there i stay overnight at Chicago(atleast they gave me a hotel room),and next day i catch a flight to London,where i had to sleep overnight there too,this time at the airport.By the time i landed at London the only ones left at the busy Heathrow airport was  a Pakistani housekeeping guy and a Chinese sweeper.When i took the last connecting flight from London next day afternoon,i was pretty tired and then i didn't really care what time/day i reached as long i was i would be there.And did i tell you ,i hardly caught a nap in the London flight thanks to the kicks and screams of the kiddo behind.Well don't blame me for that header now,hmm..waise i am not superstitious u know…