I will give you 3 reasons to believe that the poet and the CEO are very similar except they differ in the things they are looking at. Both use tools of imagination and intuition to look at things in a whole new perspective.

Think Tagore, think Tata. Both were fearless visionaries. One inspired generations to fight against the poverty of mind. The other created a wealth of opportunities through employment.

Consider the following:

1. Both the poet and the CEO have a very intense relationship with Time.

One figures time is immaterial while the other estimates every moment is time and material.

Forgive me if I sound a little carried away by the season sentiments, but I do believe that Social Media is the new Bible of the masses where Content creation, Connectivity and Conversion form the new media trinity. Most of the bustle, the hype and the confusion revolve around these three entities.

As long as people are alive, there will be Content creation, for god said: “Be Social. Let the Web teem with living conversations, and the tweets fly above the earth across the expanse of the Internet.”

So conversation took wings and the Web was filled with content of every kind, with corporate and individual blogs, videos and tunes, and flickering images and apps of every kind, animating the Web with the spirit of life.

Glamor and the Grim
When I tell people that I toured with the Indian cricket team to cover the world cup, a lot of them tell me that I am lucky to have got such an assignment. Agreed, I was lucky enough to shake hands with the likes of Sachin Tendulkar and Chris Gayle. I have been behind the camera in various events of pomp and show, those that came with a lot of glamor.

There were also days when I waited for hours in a stinking mortuary to take shots of someone brutally murdered. This was life in the traditional media, one day there was a sumptuous buffet at a five star hotel and the next day went without even a glass of water to drink.  Not complaining, I knew this was a part of my job and I did it with passion.

I slept analog and woke up digital.
I was never bothered about the “just a cameraman” notion some people had, but was tired of the sarcasm people showed when I told them what job I was doing. In most news channels, cameramen are not expected to be thinkers. I believed that I could do better than a few of the self-proclaimed ‘intelligent’ reporters in the industry, but was never given a chance. You are considered over-smart if you give inputs for production or pitch in with new ideas, and that was when I realized, that I was capable of doing better things than just shoot news visuals. My transition into the digital media did not happen instantaneously.

With India all set to hit a networking boom and the future being predominantly mobile, the Government of India has finally come out with a draft Social Media Framework and Guidelines.

The draft is aimed and designed to engage with all its stakeholders (especially citizens) in real time to make policy making citizen centric. The guidelines have been developed for all eGovernance projects under the National eGovernance Plan.

With social media transforming the way people connect with one another on a 24×7 basis, and with its viral ability for exponential spread of information by word-of-mouth, it is redefining the way organizations and people communicate.

Taking a cue from this, Governments across the world are taking to social media to interact with their citizens. In the US, for example, The White House has its own Facebook page and Twitter profile. In Victoria, Australia, the prime minister’s office uses YouTube, Facebook and Twitter as well as Live Chat and blogs to interact with its stakeholders.

In India, many Government organizations are already using social media in a limited manner. The Delhi Police, for example, uses Facebook and Twitter to ease handling of traffic related issues.

The Public Diplomacy division of the Ministry of External Affairs made its debut recently on Twitter with the ID IndianDiplomacy which was used recently very successfully during the recent crises in Libya and the Middle East.

One of the prime reasons for backing off from your responsibilities, I believe, is the lack of confidence, the other is being lazy, for which there is no cure but self-determination. Either way, we might find ourselves entangled in a maze, lost in thoughts of ‘Can I do it?’ or ‘nah, I’ll give it a pass, let someone else take the trouble’. But what really holds us back is something we need to ponder upon.

I have to admit that I was one of the ‘no’ people, but that’s just the past. Everything changed for me from the day I laid my hands on a motorcycle, a ‘Royal Enfield – Classic 500’ to be specific. So how does a motorcycle really change a person? Isn’t it just a mode of transport for the less fortunate who cannot afford a car? Well, that’s what everybody else thinks at least. But for all they know, a motorcycle is a window to the world out there. It lets you explore, dream and discover. For me, it is my soul reviver.

Look back at your past and you will wake up to a rude shock that people just threw muck at your true potential by institutionalizing your whole life. Twenty years of schooling and they put you on a day shift? Is that the real you? It’s time to think beyond and break free to the other side. Rediscover yourself.

A casual meeting with my friends last Thursday evening sparked the excitement for yet another road trip. “So, guys, we have been riding to all the popular tourist destinations, why don’t we push our limits and ride a thousand kilometers in 48 hours flat? Let’s ride to the Western Ghats,” suggested both Diwakar and Prajwal. “Are you out of your mind? Its monsoon and it rains 24/7 there, plus Western Ghats means off-roading without tarmac!” replied the rest of the gang. I said, “Why not? Let’s get some excitement” and lo! The road trip to Kodachadri was on.