Learn to be Still!

My thoughts in the words of "The Eagles"... thank you for the music


It's just another day in paradise
As you stumble to your bed
You'd give anything to silence
Those voices ringing in your head
You thought you could find happiness
Just over that green hill
You thought you would be satisfied
But you never will- Learn to be still


We are like sheep without a shepherd
We don't know how to be alone
So we wander 'round this desert
And wind up following the wrong gods home
But the flock cries out for another
And they keep answering that bell
And one more starry-eyed messiah Meets a violent farewell- Learn to be still
Learn to be still

Now the flowers in your garden
They don't smell so sweet
Maybe you've forgotten
The heaven lying at your feet

There are so many contridictions In all these messages we send (We keep asking)
How do I get out of here Where do I fit in?
Though the world is torn and shaken
Even if your heart is breakin'
It's waiting for you to awaken
And someday you will- Learn to be still Learn to be still
You just keep on runnin'
Keep on runnin'

Its not about the beer!

As I sipped the latest offering from Budweiser on a sultry Saturday evening in St Louis, I knew that a piece of heritage would soon to be relegated to the pages of history. Sure enough the next days papers were awash with the news of Anheuser Busch (the parent company of Budweieser) being taken over by InBev, a Belgium based beer conglomerate. What surprised me was not the astronomical money that would change hands ($52 billion) or the fact that the merger would result in the world’s largest beer company but rather the fact that tradition and history had to bow down to economics at the end of the day.

From my office in downtown St Louis, I gaze at the Anheuser Busch refinery and the Busch Stadium (home to the St Louis Cardinals baseball team) and can empathize with the sense of loss that fellow citizens would feel . I am not yet even contemplating the economic loss that this could mean to my current city of residence.

Connoisseurs believe Budweiser isn't the best beer in the business but then Budweiser is not just a beer. No beer has as much history attached to it as the Bud. It’s what binds America together along with Levi’s Jeans , Hot Dogs, Hollywood and Coca-Cola.

To many non-Americans who wish to come to this country and make it big, it is a shining beacon of hope of all that life can possibly offer. To merely dismiss it as a 5% v.v alcoholic drink made from grains in USA would be like calling the Taj a marble building.
I am yet to think of an Indian equivalent of Budweiser- Cricket comes closest to it in terms of its ability to bind a country together.

In this time of economic despair, the take-over seems most uncalled for. And yet the silver lining to it may be the fact that the takeover indicates that the US economy is driven by hard facts and profit motive-something that will definitely help it tide over the current trough.

InBev hopes of taking the Budweiser brand across the world. One only hopes it doesn’t end up diluting the great American heritage.