Monday, December 29, 2008

Rest In Peace




Writing your own obituary used to part if the curriculum of many college courses, even in B Schools. And I was quite looking forward to it here in IMI, not that I wish I was dead, at least not yet. But alas, it wasn't in the curriculum here.

Not many people know why Alfred Nobel started the Nobel Prize. And also that He owned Bofors (of the bofors scam fame), a major armaments manufacturer, which he had redirected from its previous role as an iron and steel mill.

When Nobel's brother, Ludvig, died in 1888, a French newspaper inadvertently published an obituary about Alfred, who was most famous at the time for having invented dynamite. The translated headline read, "The merchant of death is dead."
This shocked Nobel, he realized that this was the way he was going to be remembered. So he decided to put in his life saving in starting the Nobel Prize. Nobel signed his last will and testament and set aside the bulk of his estate to establish the Nobel Prizes, to be awarded annually without distinction of nationality. He died of a stroke on 10 December 1896 at Sanremo, Italy. He left 31 million kronor to fund the prizes which, allowing for inflation would be hundreds of millions of US dollars today.

But not all people are so lucky to see their own obituary, most can only speculate.

And here's my speculation -
Anirudh Singh Chauhan, the famous businessman, Restaurateur and owner of the Bar Chain - "The Watering Hole" died yesterday after crashing his brand new Lamborghini in the Hangar while racing his own plane. He was 75.
Born in Rajasthan, Chauhan graduated from M S Ramaiah Institute of Technology, Bangalore and then completed his MBA from International Management Institute, New Delhi before joining General Motors in 2010. He spent the next 5 years working as a manager in GM India which he then quit to start his chain of Bars with two of College Classmates.

In 2015, he opened his first Bar in Bangalore. Followed by the 2nd in 2019 in Mumbai and then soon in all the major cities of India. At 2030 he opened his first international Bar in Singapore.

"I can see everybody having a good time in my bar, a place where leave their worries behind and live in the present, like I tried all my life" Chauhan once said.

Chauhan was also an avid music fan and a collector; he had items like a burnt Jimi Hendrix Guitar, Drum Kit of Lars Ulrich of Metallica and others. When 50, he also wrote his memoirs titled ***** (Haven't thought of the name yet), which went to become a best seller.

Chauhan was considered Richard Branson of his times, and was a connoisseur of Race Cars, Watches, Old Bi - planes and Scotch whisky.

Chauhan is survived by his wife and one son. In his final years, he stayed in his Villa in Goa, and enjoyed sailing and the playing the Guitar.


The Bucket List




After watching Dasvidaniya and The Bucket List (and probably because of Scent of a Woman) I started thinking about my death. Not that I'm in a hurry to go or afraid so but I just started contemplating(I sometimes do that) what if I had got only three months to live. What do I wanna do and how will I wanna be remembered if I kicked the bucket.

This post answers the first question (Later for the second). So here goes the list (In a not much of a priority order) -

  • Learn the Guitar
  • Learn to Ball-Dance
  • Learn to Slam Dunk (Yes I always wanted to do that)
  • Visit Mom Dad and Big Brother.
  • Have a bottle of Johnnie Walker Blue Label
  • Throw a Grand Party Inviting all of my friends and play the music in it myself.
  • Attend a Metallica Concert
  • Go on a Eurotrip - Walk the cobbled stone streets of Rome, Take a ride in Gondola in Venice, Look out to the sea sitting on the shore of Athens and wonder is this where the western civilization as we know it grew from. Drink Lager in Berlin, Visit the Red light area of Amsterdam, See the Eiffel Tower lit up in Paris, Order a dram in a pub in London....
  • Donate some money to Wikipedia
  • Bungee Jump (And I don't mean those sidey jumps from a Crane or something, I mean a real jump from a Helicopter or a Bridge).
  • Buy a real Sports Bike and Rip a Highway apart at 180 km/h
  • Have a threesome (I know it sounds gross but come on, I'm a guy and every guy wishes this)
  • Go on a real Date (In which you wear tuxedos, hire a limo and take the girl to a fancy restaurant and order the most expensive wine bottle available)
  • Write a book or atleast some memoirs (Doesn't seem possible now but maybe my dying days will give me inspiration to write on)
  • Tell the people Liked and Hated in my life what I felt about them and why.
  • Go Hunting
  • And _____________________ (Intentionally left black)

These are nearly all the things I can think of right now, these are basically all materialistic but maybe I'm a shallow person.

P.S - If you think you really know me then attempt to fill the blank and write in the comments.