7:15 pm: With this, we wrap up the live blog for the event. We hope you all enjoyed keeping a track of the latest on Business Today MindRush 2013 from The Oberoi, Gurgaon. See you next year!
7:13 pm: Emcee Shweta Punj wraps up the evening by thanking the guests and panelists alike. The audience is invited to continue the conversations over drinks. "We'll be back next year," she concludes, to a round of applause.
7:10 pm: The session concludes with Pattanaik being presented a token of appreciation.
7:08 pm: Pattanaik says he has given the company leaders a framework and a vocabulary to communicate their ideas more effectively.
7:05 pm: To a question about his title, "Chief Belief Officer", Pattanaik replies that it was created out of a sense of fun, mainly to get invited to conferences. (Laughter in the audience).
He says converting others to his belief is not his goal. That is the western way of thinking. His work, Pattanaik says, is a different process, of addressing people's risk aversion with sensitivity.
Asked how his work has made a difference to the Future Group, Pattanaik says with a small smile, "I know the market cap has gone up." (Laughter from the audience).
7:03 pm: Pattanaik says "We are stuck in the Indra mode". He says that people have too much of a sense of entitlement, nobody wants to outgrow their hunger. Another person's hunger is not important, he adds.
6.55 pm: In response to an audience question about how Ayn Rand's ideals have played out in India, Pattanaik quickly says, "Ayn Rand committed suicide, didn't she?" (Some laughter in the room)
6.52 pm: Pattanaik's presentation concludes, and the floor is open to questions from the audience.
6.50 pm: What you believe influences how you behave, and that is how you choose your promised land, he concludes. (Enthusiastic applause from the audience).
6:48 pm: There is a give and take between outgrowing one's hunger and focusing on other people's hunger, he says. "If I believe my hunger matters first, I will be prosperous, but without peace," he says. That way, he adds, I would create a battle ground. "If I believe your hunger matters first, I will outgrow my hunger, and I will create a rangbhoomi, a playground," he says.
6:44pm: In the western linear way of thinking, charity is what the richest people do. Not so in Indian culture - charity has nothing to do with how much money you have.
6:39 pm: Indra believes "My hunger matters first", says Pattanaik. Shiva believes "I can outgrow my hunger." Vishnu believes "Your hunger matters first." That's what we need to keep asking ourselves in business - whose hunger matters first.
Shareholders? Employees? Customer? Vendor? Politician? Regulator? Society? Environment?
6.38 pm: What is the difference between human and animal hunger? he asks. Humans are hungry for much more than food, compared with animals. We want wealth, power, identity, domination, he says. One more difference: "As humans, we are capable of sensing other people's hunger," he says, "because we have empathy."
6.35 pm: Pattanaik shows a visual of calendar art of Shiva, Parvati, Ganesh, and all their respective vaahans. He points to the number of predators and prey in the happy portrait. Shiva's snake and Ganesha's rat. Shiva's bull and Parvati's lion.
Why are they happy? Because none of them is hungry to devour the other.
The third Promised Land is Vaikuntha, the happy playground. There is no sense of siege there.
In Swarg, there is Lakshmi but she's always running away. In Kailash, there is no Lakshmi. In Vaikunth, Lakshmi is there and not trying to get away.
Which promised land do you inhabit, he asks the audience? (Some laughter in the room). In Vaikunth, Vishnu engages with Lakshmi - that is the difference, he says.
6.32 pm: So can the Puranas give us a hint to an Indian form of management? Pattanaik shows visuals of symbols of Swarga - all symbolizing wish fulfilment. You can have anything you desire. Yet, he says, swarg is always under siege. Indra is always insecure, he says. Swarg is one promised land. Another is Kailash - a mountain of stone, covered stone. A place where hunger is not indulged but destroyed, he says.
6.27 pm: Pattanaik talks about stories of the Bible and how they are reflected in modern management. Problem statement is the enslavement of people, mission statement is the Promised Land, the tasks are the Ten Commandments, and the problem is non-compliance with the rules (sinners).
6.26 pm: Who writes the business school text books, Pattanaik asks? Answering his own question, he says mostly white western men. Again he displays a picture of the formal western meal and adds, "People who eat in this way." (Laughter in the room).
6:25 pm: Pattanaik shows the audience a visual of a formal western meal. A place setting for a four course meal - Soup, starter, main course, dessert - served sequentially.
Contrast this with an Indian meal, he says, and shows a visual of a thali with everything served at once. You can customise your meal, and the cook doesn't know what you ate.
The western meal is linear, sequential, step-by-step, systematic. The Indian is cyclical, simultaneous, customised.
Pattanaik says this is not that one type of meal is better than the other. It just shows how differently people think. "If you udnerstand people, 50% of your problems are solved," he says.
6:20 pm: People reveal themselves by always wearing black, or never being on time, or other such patterns, he says. "This study of stories, symbols and rituals is called mythology. Mythology is the tool for me to understand how people think," he says.
6.19 pm: Pattanaik throws up a question: "How do I get access to the mind kolam of, say, my competitor?" He says kolams/mind patterns reveal themselves through stories, rituals and symbols. That is how we can see mind-kolams, he says.
6.18 pm: "All of you have a mind-kolam inside you," he says. "Other people create different patterns even if they have the same data points," Pattanaik says. Every pattern is beautiful and valid, he says, even if it's different from yours. In your business, your investor, your colleagues, your clients, all see the same data differently, he says.
6.13 pm: Pattanaik says people often wonder how mythology, which he has been writing for a long time, can be related to business management.
He displays a picture of a south Indian kolam (rangoli). It's a line that winds around a set of dots to create a radially symmetrical pattern. He says the dots represent the data that is in our mind.
"You'll observe that some people can handle more data, more complexities, than others," he says. Even with the old data, we can join the dots differently to create a different pattern, Patnaik says, showing a different visual.
The line is our belief system.
6.12 pm: For the last session of the day, Emcee Shweta Punj introduces the next speaker. Devdutt Pattanaik, Chief Belief Officer, Future Group, takes the stage to talk about Mythology and Management.
6.11 pm: India Today Group CEO Ashish Bagga delivers a vote of thanks. He thanks the sponsors and partners.
6.10 pm: The session draws to a close with Kejriwal being presented with a token of appreciation.
6.09 pm: The contests winner, Vikrant Rai, comes on the stage to receive the award.
6.07 pm: It was the ability to understand what people steal that gave the company clues to what the market wants. "Pirates, I love you, you are my gift from God... the lesson we learned was that pirates help us," says Kejriwal.
6.04 pm: So the solution at Games2Win was to create a technology that worked like a Trojan Horse - an invisible ad that would travel with the game stolen by pirates. Before the game would start on a pirate site, it would display an ad. Games2Win did not insult the pirates or make the consumer feel uncomfortable about using stolen content. Rather, it invited consumers to the official site. "We went up 4X on our traffic," says Kejriwal.
6:03 pm: Are digital pirates "angel marketers"?, he asks.
6.02 pm: Kejriwal says if you can't beat your enemy, get him to join you. He says if people steal your web content, it must be great stuff. More people get the chance to enjoy it.
5:58 pm: Kejriwal on stage now to announce the winner. Most of the responses were negative, but the winning response was positive.
5:56 pm: Emcee Shweta Punj says it's time for results to the Bright Spark contest. Games2Win CEO and Co-founder Alok Kejriwal had requested solutions from the audience to a business problem earlier in the day.
5.55 pm: Moderator Josey Puliyenthuruthel, Managing Director of Business Today, thanks the panelists. Tokens of thanks presented to all.
5.53 pm: Bansal notes that Internet businesses have great disrupting power. You have to be on your toes, he adds.
5.49 pm: A question from the audience to the panel: Did you have a Plan B when you started out?
Amlani says: "We didn't have a plan A". (Laughter from the audience)
Kalra says that you can't have a Plan B for your raison d'etre. Within the business you can have plans B, C and so on, he says, but you have to believe in your basic project. He says he and his team allowed one D-day a month - depression day. Before that if anyone started off on a gloomy theme, the others would remind him to bring it up on D-Day. Now, he says, D-day has become decision day. No more depression days.
5.46 pm: The floor is now thrown open to the audience for questions.
5:32 pm: Deep Kalra says it's a big mistake to make people do everything. At an early stage of the business that is all right, he says, but when it scales up, people with special skills are necessary. He adds it is crucial to give people with expertise the right task.
5.30 pm: KAE Capital founder Sasha Mirchandani says his father taught him to look outward, not inward. After coming back from the US to India at the age of 22, he asked his father to buy him a Mercedes, and his father refused. Mirchandani says all his friends were driving fancy cars, and was shocked that his father refused.
But the lesson he learned was that he was not automatically entitled to everything his father could give him, and that he had to earn his own.
It took him 18 years to buy himself a second-hand Mercedes, he says.
KAE Capital MD and Founder Sasha Mirchandani
Amlani says that for a business with no money for branding or publicity, getting your customers to be your brand champions is great for a business that is starting off... The connection that we made with the customer was a very emotional one... That's what helped us become what we have today, he adds.
Impresario Entertainment and Hospitality's Riyaz Amlani
5:24 pm: Impressio Entertainment and Hospitality's Riyaaz Amlani says much of his life has been a series of accidents. Tired of working in the entertainment business, he decided to take the plunge into the restaurant business that he and his friends would talk about at the end of the day. The restaurant was literally assembled together with furniture from homes, Amlani says. He adds that even the watchman of his building donated a stool.
"It looked like no restaurant at the time," he says. Soon he noticed an interesting pattern, he adds - a customer who stumbled upon the restaurant would make himself at home there, and then bring 4 or 5 friends the next day.
5:17 pm: Flipkart CEO and co-founder Sachin Bansal says that often people around you have more perspective than you do, of what you are doing. When you are in the thick of things, you may not have that perspective
5:11 pm: MakeMyTrip Chairman Deep Kalra says the biggest lesson he learned from a previous failure was to ask: Is the market ready? He says with humility that some of MakeMyTrip's success has been "being in the right place at the right time". He adds that if anyone says "I made this happen", that's bull****
.
(L-R) Flipkart CEO Sachin Bansal with MakeMyTrip Chairman Deep Kalra
The moderator for the session is Business Today Managing Editor Josey Puliyenthuruthel.
Business Today Mananging Editor Josey Puliyenthuruthel moderates the session
Emcee Shweta Punj invites the panelists on stage for the next session. These are - Riyaz Amlani, CEO and MD of Impresario Entertainment and Hospitality; Sasha Mirchandani, MD and founder of KAE Capital; Sachin Bansal, CEO and co-founder of Flipkart; and Deep Kalra, Chairman and Group CEO of Makemytrip.com
(Session: Rapid Fire Round - What clicked and transformed me)
4:35 pm: Till our guests return from their power break, read through how wellness dominated the first half of today's session at Business Today MindRush. (
http://bit.ly/1dzmfls)
4:30 pm: Emcee Shweta Punj now invites the audience to continue the conversation over coffee.
4.28 pm: The Q&A session concludes, with a token of appreciation presented to Professor Madan Pillutla.
4.24 pm: Another question from the audience - When there are multiple rounds of negotiation, when do you reveal all your cards?
Pillutla shares that personally, he would never negotiate when all the items are not on the agenda at the beginning. "When items are thrown in later, it endangers the negotiation. Putting everything on the table at the beginning shows respect for the other side."
4.18 pm: India Today Group CEO Ashish Bagga ask: Why do you think children are the best negotiators when it comes to their parents?
(Laughter from the audience.)
Pillutla says negotiations with loved ones are different. "We want to give them what they want, and when we don't, it's also because of love... Giving more to your children and to your wife is a good thing."
4.15 pm: Answering to a question from the audience about the importance of body language in negotiations, Pillutla says "it's very important for the body language to reflect who you are. It should come naturally to you. You need to have confidence in what you are offering the other party."
Pillutla's negotiation tip: "Be yourself, but with a little bit more skill." It's the same with body language, he adds.
4.13 pm: After Pillutla concludes his talk, the floor is thrown open for questions
4.12 pm: Pillutla says "it is important, when negotiating, to ensure you are dealing with a person who represents the interests of their constituency well."
To summarize, he says: prepare, have faith in the other side, and negotiate with the right person.
4.08 pm: "If you trust someone, it's more likely they will trust you. It is beneficial in negotiating," Pillutla says. He suggests that the next time you negotiate, take a chance with trust.
4.07 pm: "One study suggests Indians are lower on the general level of trust in others than most developed countries." Excessive cynicism, he says, paralyzes decision-making. As a result, we fail to give the benefit of the doubt to others in the negotiation process, he says. Pillutla adds: "Trust begets trust."
4.05 pm: Pillutla conducts a quick thought experiment. He asks the audience, on a scale of 1-10, how trustworthy are people? And on that scale, how trustworthy are you?
4:01 pm: The Professor brings in the topic of emotion in negotiations. "If the display of emotions is strategic, it will be sooner or later seen as disingenuous and harm the negotiation. If genuine, it compromises decision-making accuracy." For example, threats made when you are angry, he says, can be dangerous.
4.00 pm: He says "mere exposure leads to liking. This is the basis for much of advertising." Pillutla says that bringing up "difficult" issues a few times before negotiating about them can help.
3.58 pm: Pillutla says the first offer in a negotiation has an effect on the outcome. "Be prepared and be the first to make an offer... The first offer creates an anchor around which to structure the rest of the negotiation."
3:51 pm: Pillutla says people pick the fairness principle that gives them the best outcome. He says that a lot of the intractable conflict in the world is because of the egocentric approach 'we are right, they are wrong'.
"We are egocentric in our advocacy of fairness or other principles. Be a little aware of this, and be a little sympathetic, and you may increase the chance of a better outcome."
3.48 pm: The London Business School professor says "India is seen as a villain in climate negotiations. India is now the third biggest polluter. But if you look at the per capita emissions, it is one tenth of the US."
3:44 pm: Pillutla says "It is important to figure out what the other party wants and values, and give it to them ... at a price."
3:39 pm: Explaining the concept of loss aversion, Pillutla says losses loom larger than gains. "In an experiment in a Chinese factory, one set of workers was told they were going to get a bonus, but would lose it if they didn't achieve their target. Another group was told they would get a bonus if they achieved the target first. The former group was more motivated."
Lesson from the story: "I can help you reduce your losses, I am more likely to get an agreement with you."
3:37 pm: "Agreement on small issues makes it more likely that the other party will attempt to move on the more difficult ones," he says.
London Business School Professor Madan Pillutla hosts a session on negotiating a deal.
3:35 pm: Pillutla defines ADD as Ambition Deficit Disorder. "Besides the bottom line, this is the other thing that produces a better negotiation outcome. With higher ambition, you will produce a better outcome."
Pillutla gives the example of an initiative in California to get people to drive carefully as part of an experiment. "One group was asked to display a big ugly sign in front of their home saying 'Drive carefully'. Less than 17% agreed Another group asked to put up small poster, "Be a safe driver". Most agreed. Then the second group was asked to display that big ugly sign. 76% agreed This is known as the foot in the door," Pillutla says.
3:29 pm: Pillutla says "it's important to know what your bottom line is... Without a bottom line, there is no point in negotiating... The product of a negotiation should be a good deal. The goal should not be agreement."
3.27 pm: Pillutla cites the story of Alice in Wonderland, in which the Mad Hatter tells her that it doesn't matter which way she goes, if she doesn't know where she wants to go.
3.26 pm: Professor Madan Pillutla of London Business School takes the stage to begin his talk.
(Session - Better negotiation outcomes: Tips from Science)
3.25 pm: As the session wraps up, Nayar is presented with a token of appreciation.
3.23 pm: Nayar says "leaders have to earn the respect to lead every day. It is an art. Leaders cannot be created or are born".
3.14 pm: "I would focus on the efficiency of citizen services if I were in the government," Nayar tells the audience. "Focus has to be on delivery"
3.13 pm: "We have to believe in ourselves," he says.
3.11 pm: "We need leaders who can imbibe their own uniqueness," the former HCL Tech CEO says.
3.07 pm: Nayar says leadership is about standing for something... "If you want to lead, first develop deep rooted conviction. People will align next"
3.02 pm: "Life is about taking chances, but structured chances... On foot should be on the ground and one should experiment," Nayar says.
At one point, Nayar had the audience standing on their chairs to make a point.
2:57 pm: To make a point of 'do the impossible', Nayar asks everybody to stand up on their Chairs! And everybody does.
2.55 pm: "We need to step out of reason and logic. Leaders have to create things outside the boundaries of logic," Nayar says.
2.53 pm: Nayar says "reason and logic is limiting creation of imposible things".
HCL Technologies Executive Vice-Chairman Vineet Nayar holds the session on Leadership Ideas and what works when.
2.48 pm: Introducing his session as a 'thinking' one, Sampark Foundation Founder & former HCL Technologies CEO Vineet Nayar says the only certainty now is uncertainty.
(
Session: Leadership ideas and what works when!)
2:47 pm: Next session's speaker, Vineet Nayar, is getting ready to speak. Wired up!
2.45 pm:You can track the entire coverage of Business Today MindRush 2013 here - http://bit.ly/1dziRaf
2.40 pm: The audience also got to know about mindful eating by Dharmacharya Shantum Seth
2.30 pm: Yogi, mystic and visionary Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev was next. He spoke on how the human mechanism is the most sophisticated machine on the planet and why we ought to understand it better to find bliss.
2.25 pm: Actor and fitness enthusiast Neha Dhupia opened Day 2 of MindRush 2013. She took to interacting with members of the audience and shared her fitness mantras, including 'rubbing golf balls under your feet'
2.20 pm: While our speakers and guests enjoy their lunch, we bring you a recap of today's talks so far.
1:35 pm: As he looks for a bright spark in the audience, we break for lunch. Stay tuned for more updates.
Games2Win CEO Alok Kejriwal takes to the stage to 'present' his business problem.
1:29 pm: Kejriwal presents a business problem and throws the floor open for solutions
1:27 pm: Time for the next session. Alok Kejriwal comes on stage
(Session: MindGame: Are you the bright spark!)
1:26 pm: Kao is cutting his birthday cake and playing Happy Birthday on the piano
1:16 pm: The audience is deliberating on the activity worksheet. It calls for reflection and silence.
1:01 pm: Kao begins an activity workshop.
12:57 pm: "Is technology synonymous with innovation?" Kao asks. "There are many businesses that have cropped up that do not have disruptive technology or engineering. Innovation is what people want."
12:53 pm: He says all companies are in the incremental innovation as well as in the disruptive innovation business... Jazz musicians have found the middle ground between incremental and disruptive innovation.
12:49 pm: Kao says creative people are motivated by other people who are as good, a place that has the best infrastructure.
12:45 pm: Kao says the role of a CEO is that of a chief innovation officer. He talks about the 'Suggestion box problem'... "Organization invites ideas and there are 300 ideas that are submitted. They are never looked into. And employees become less motivated"
12:42 pm: Kao says: "America's advantage is they allow people to take risks... if you fail, people cheer... If you have not failed once or twice, you are not trying hard enough (Kao cites an American expression)"
12:40 pm: Kao says during a recession, people in the US start companies in the garage. There are less jobs, starting up companies seem to be a good option. "Countries that are smaller tend to be good in innovation. India and China are complicated..."
12:21 pm: He takes the audience through the history of innovation
12:18 pm: "Innovation is realization of a desired future," he says. "Innovation is about technology, talent, processes, perceptions, business models, emerging opportunities."
12:14 pm: Kao explains how newness and value equals innovation. "Just because something is new, does not mean it is innovative."
12:09 pm: "Innovation is a capability, not a wish," Kao says. "Innovation leads to value"
12:03 pm: Kao says the piano notes he just played were all from his mind... (he plays another tune) He seeks to demonstrate the different ways piano can be played depending on the musician and the genre.
11:57 am: Kao says the word innovation is being used indiscriminately; "it can become meaningless".
"I am he is teaching innovation to teenagers...". He suggests a small workshop activity at the end of his session
11: 54 am: "What is creativity?" Kao asks the audience. "Challenges before us is complex. How do we go from here to the future? It will be powerfully influenced by innovation."
Kao uses the piano to make a point to the audience at the event.
11: 53 am: John Kao says he missed celebrating his birthday because he came to India.
11: 50 am: John Kao of the Institute of Innovation is playing the piano(Session - Disruptive Innovation: A habit, a practice, a way of life)
11.40 am: In case you missed some of the sessions from Day 1, here's a quick gist of who said what -
http://bit.ly/1fbzGcA.
11.30 am: (The session breaks for a short tea break)
11.27 am: The session draws to a close. A token of appreciation is handed to Dharmacharya Shantum Seth.
11.22 am: Seth concludes his talk to applause. Emcee Shweta Punj invites questions from the audience.
Q. How we can inculcate mindfulness in our children.Dharmacharya: I grew up without it. But there are many ways to do this as children are imaginative and tactile. Children can be encouraged to become conscious by imagining they are a flower or a mountain - what do they feel? How do they breathe?
(He holds up a book on the subject of mindfulness for children)
11.19 am: (The session is drawing to a close) Seth says he uses his telephone as a bell of mindfulness in his life. He lets it ring three times - stop, breathe, smile. "Anything can become your bell of mindfulness. Inserting the key in the lock of your door at home can be your bell of mindfulness."
11.16 am: Seth says "The food in our plate is also a sign of the universe that supports us... It reminds us that everything is interconnected. Mindfulness develops the areas of the brain that control memory and the experience of stress... Indian gyaan is now being confirmed by scientific studies in the universities of the US."
11.15 am: "In the monastery," Seth says, "we eat in silence. At home, many of us are not eating food at all - we're eating the movie on TV, or the conversation we are having. We could take a small amount of time to become conscious of the food. Another outcome of this is a sense of compassion... We have a plate full of food, which many people in our country don't have. This is not to say it should be a guilt trip, but rather to be inspired to action.
11.09 am: Another audience member says she became conscious of her taste buds like never before. A third member says he felt a sense of divinity.
Dharmacharya says "we are all part-time Buddhas. We all have the potential to awake. We need to become mindful of each moment... Practice is key, not some magical manifestation, just as Roger Federer did not become arguably the greatest tennis player suddenly. It took practice"
Dharmacharya Shantum Seth holds a session on mindful eating.
Seth remarks: "It's the first time most people have eaten a kishmish like that" and he invites audience members to share what they felt or saw during this process.
(Thoughtful silence in the audience.)
An audience member says before Seth started the experiment, he had 10 or 15 raisins absent mindedly. He was not feeling full. But with this one single raisin, eaten after contemplation, he ate it very consciously... that this was nourishing him by going into his blood.
(Applause from the audience.)
10:59 am: Seth begins an experiment. Bowls of raisins are placed on every table. He asks everyone to hold just a single raisin in the palm of their hand, and breathe, as he rings a bell. The bell is a cup that he strikes with a wooden stick, and it makes a sweet, sustained sound. Some audience members have their eyes closed, everyone is sitting still.
Seth asks everyone to smell the raisin and to put it in their mouths but not chew it at once. He asks everyone to eat the raisin slowly, with their eyes closed. He himself does likewise.
10:55 am: Seth takes to the stage and starts by telling a Zen story about a man riding a horse. "When asked where he's going, he says, 'I don't know - ask the horse'.... That is how we live our lives, driven by our circumstances. So it is important to live mindfully, and to be mindful of ourselves and our bodies... This is why meditation and mindful eating are important."
10:54 am: Emcee Shweta Punj introduces the next session, on mindful eating. The speaker is Dharmacharya Shantum Seth, Buddhist scholar and practitioner.
10.51 am: The session concludes with a token of appreciation being presented to Vasudev Jaggi Vasudev.
10.49 am: Continuing his reply, Vasudev says: "Have you noticed that when you're joyful, you're at your best?" He asks the audience: "Do you want to be among joyful or miserable people?"
The audience choruses, "Joyful!"
Vasudev replies, "Please remember, everybody else expects the same thing."
(Awe and laughter in the audience.)
10.45 am: There is a question from the audience about work-life balance. "Is it really necessary, and how can we get it?" Vasudev says if you're successful, you probably spend more time with the people you work with. He questions the dichotomy between work and life. "There are people who sleep and eat in their workplace and joyfully do what they are doing. Work and life are not different... there is life and life."
There is no such thing as balance between the two, he says, "the balance is within you... Just fix this one person - everything will be fine."
10.44 am: The moderator invites questions from the audience.
10:38 am: Vasudev says in Isha Foundation, 70 per cent of positions are held by women. Not because of their gender, but because of their competence. That's how it should be in the workplace. "For example, you don't have to have a female anchor on a TV station because there is a male anchor. Gender should not matter in most aspects of life."
10:35 am: Purie raises the issue of sexuality. "Genuine cases of assault and harassment, as well as being perceived as being inappropriate. How and when and why will these fears of ours pass? Why are they so prevalent now, or were they always there and we are aware of them now?"
10:33 am: Vasudev says "Life is not suffering. It's your choice, make it fantastic or miserable. Once you make the choice, the right steps will naturally follow."
10.32 am: Vasudev says "perspective is very important to fix the problem. In the cosmos, this planet is a speck. On the planet, the country is a super-speck, and Gurgaon (where we are) is a micro-super-speck... In that micro-super-speck, you are a big man (hands folded in ironic deference). (Laughter in the audience).
Having perspective will fix the problem, Vasudev says. If we are all wiped out right now, the world will go on just fine.
10.28 am: Moderator Koel Purie asks him for tips for people to be in the state he is in, working with people they can't fire.
Vasudev tells a story of a man who drinks to cope. "People under the influence of alcohol are yogis. They become timeless." (Laughs from the audience). Vasudev adds: "And also senseless."
(More laughter.)
The drunk man gets home somehow, crawls into bed and sleeps. In the morning his wife wakes him up with a bucket of cold water. He swears he hasn't touched alcohol in six months. Then the man, who tried to fix himself in his drunken state the previous night, sees that he had stuck band-aids on the mirror.
(Laughs from the audience as Vasudev concludes his story.)
The problem, Vasudev says, is not because of the situation. He says the problem is that you're trying to fix the mirror.
"Are you so insignificant a creature in your own life that you can't take time for that?"
Vasudev suggests a 12-minute meditation CD. Put it on your cell phone. With some 30 hours of time, we can give you the ability to do inner engineering.
10.26 am: Vasudev says he works in no-less toxic an environment than most of us. He does not sit in a mountain cave and find peace. He runs a big organization, and it's not run by the creme-de-la-creme from IITs. He gets volunteers. "You can't even fire them" (Laughter from the audience.)
10.24 am: "Technology has become more sophisticated. People used to pound with "iron fingers" on Remington typewriters. Now they lightly tap touch screens... The significance of being human is having a sophisticated body, a sophisticated neurological system. We are given these for doing sophisticated things, not crude things."
The Yogi, mystic and visionary led the session Ctrl+Alt+detox
Vasudev says that the breath changes when you sit and breathe with the palms down on your knees, and that when the palms are up. He says: "Unless you do the right things, the right things will not happen to you."
10.20 am: Vasudev looks to the audience and asks "Where is the keyboard for this brain?" He says when people think about this, they scratch the back of their head. "And I tell them, that's not where the buttons are."
(Laughter in the audience)
Sadhguru asks the audience to put their hands on their knees and breathe deeply and focus on their breath. A small experiment, as he puts it.
(Silence in the hall as people sit with their eyes closed, breathing softly.)
Sadhguru asks: "Do you notice a change in your breath?" The audience is thoughtful.
A member of the audience says he was in the present moment. Vasudev laughs and says: "If you are a businessman, you presumably think of the past and future pretty often."
Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev with Purie at the event.
"It's like you're sitting in a car but you don't know how to drive. When it starts rolling, you feel fear because you don't know how to drive... Nobody in your life is 100% the way you want them - your spouse, your boss, your colleague, your children. Not even your dog - these days even they do their own thing (Laughter in the audience)."
10.10 am: "You have been given a supercomputer, but you are using hammer-and-anvil technology... We have not learned how to use it... We have the buttons Ctrl - Alt - Del, he says. The machine has those because of a design flaw. The mind - the greatest blessing - has become a problem because we don't know how to use it."
10.07 am: Sadhguru says "our problem is that our mind, our body, nothing is taking is instructions from you, if you are suffering in your daily life... You are allowing situations to make choices for you. You have not made the choice how to be if you are suffering in your work or family life."
TVTN Executive Editor Koel Purie introduces Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev
10.05 am: Purie introduces the Vasudev as the "monk on a motorcycle" and a "rock star" guru. Sadhguru smilingly denies that he is a rockstar.
10.02 am: Vasudev takes to the stage with TVTN Network Executive Editor Koel Purie. The session - Ctrl+Alt+Detox - begins.
10.01 am: (In the vidoe, we see Vasudev in meditative situations, riding a motorcycle and also a bullock cart, and swinging a golf club)
9.59 am: Emcee Shweta Punj introduces the next session. "In this world of stress, how can we do inner engineering of the mind?". A short video by the Isha Foundation is played to introduce Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev.
09:58 am: The session with the Bollywood actor concludes. She's presented with a token of appreciation.
09:55 am: Dhupia asks the audience members - "How do you fight stress? Get a beer?" An audience member responds with Pranayam, and the actor looks very happy with the reply.
She replies: "To fight stress, the most important thing is to stay hydrated. Drink water... Take your shoes off and roll golf balls under your feet. A lot of pressure points are in the foot... Drink herb tea. I favour camomile."
Bollywood actor Neha Dhupia at the event
09:53 am: Dhupia seems happy to see that quite a few audience members are active and aware about fitness. "You don't exercise to look beautiful. You look beautiful because you exercise."
09:49 am: John Kao, who is scheduled to speak later in the day, says he does pilates and other things to change his routine. Another audience member says she does kick-boxing.
Dhupia continues to interact with the audience. "A lot lot of people overdo cardio... there's a need to change one's routine."
Bollywood actor Neha Dhupia interacts with a member of the audience at the event
The actor asks an audience member what he does for his morning workout.
Reply: I run on the treadmill.
Dhupia: Do you do any weight training?
Reply: No
The actor emphasises on the importnace of weight training and assures women that they will not bulk up by lifting weights - "that is not possible".
09:44 am: Dhupia's tip for our executives: Have "walking meetings". She adds that though it's okay to work out any time of the day, early morning is the best time. "It's a good idea to kick-start your metabolism by eating something."
09:41 am: Dhupia counsels the audience on maintaining a fitness routine. "It's okay to give yourself one cheat day, but you really have to resist the temptation to make excuses to not work out, or to binge, or to eat poorly."
"I don't believe in dieting. Eating less is not the solution," she says.
Bollywood actor Neha Dhupia at the event
The actor asks another audience member, who says he does not exercise regularly. "Why?" she asks. Reply: "I think a large part of being fit is eating healthy, which is what he does."
Dhupia agrees enthusiastically, but adds that "strength and flexibility come from working out"
09:30 am: (Dhupia steps down to interact with the members of the audience)
Dhupia asks an audience member what she does first thing in the morning. Reply: "I say my prayers and then I take my dog for a walk", and the actor is thrilled with the reply.
09.29 am: Neha Dhupia takes to the stage. "In the industry I come from, there is so much pressure to look good. Fitness is crucial to that... You guys have it easy." The audience doesn't seem to agree wholeheartedly. (Some laughter)
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09:27 am: To start off the day we have Neha Dhupia, well-known actress and fitness icon who will take forward the session on 'Celebrating Life and the Spirit of Being Healthy'.
09.25 am: Business Today Associate Editor and emcee Shweta Punj welcomes guests to Day Two of Mind Rush. "Yesterday's speakers included Commerce And Industry Minister Anand Sharma and Infosys founder N.R. Narayana Murthy... Mr. Murthy spoke on work-life balance yesterday, and that's what today is about. We are asking you to join in the journey right here."
09.19 am: Staffers and guests are settling into their seats after a nice breakfast. A short while ago, Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev, one of our speakers this morning, who arrived well ahead of scheduled time, was seen chatting with staffers in the business centre at The Oberoi.
09:17 am: Good morning all and welcome to a live blog of Day 2 at Business Today Mind Rush 2013 at The Oberoi, Gurgaon. It is expected to be a power-packed day.
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