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Subroto Bagchi: In Search of the Zen Moment

The writer of the popular Zen Garden on the process behind the moments of enlightenment

Published: May 25, 2010 10:08:07 AM IST
Updated: Oct 3, 2011 04:55:07 PM IST
Subroto Bagchi: In Search of the Zen Moment
Image: Abhijeet Kini

Forbes India was in the womb for a long time. The procedural delays in its arrival actually helped IG and Charles to convert their frustration into an opportunity: To, unhurriedly, ideate and plan and collaborate with me to conceptualise the Zen Garden. A lot of the column’s subsequent success goes back to the pre-natal attention it got.

Zen Garden was based on three premises. First, entrepreneurs are valuable people who often carry deep insights that can spark others. Second, these people are sometimes solitary individuals; they need the right probes and there are even times that they do not know what they know. The third premise was that if we bring in an entrepreneur to talk to an entrepreneur, these great men and women feel secure enough to explore the deeps and bring out valuable insights.

There are three most frequently asked questions about the column. How do you choose the people you interview? How do you know what to ask? And, finally, how do you find the time?

When we conceptualised Zen Garden, we thought of inclusion before we thought of exclusion. We told ourselves that it should evenly represent different sectors, regions and demographic profiles. That is how, if you notice, the column has carried stories of people from all parts of India, from different industries and business segments, and of course it covers both men and women, as well as for-profit and not-for-profit.

We generally avoid people who are on the cover page anyway, because not many would-be entrepreneurs can relate to them. So, the less the limelight and the more usable the wisdom, the better the chance of being in the Garden. That said, we also decided that a couple of times in a year, we must seek entrepreneurial knowledge from unusual sources. That is how the Dalai Lama was featured as CEO of the Soul. Him aside, we seek out other interesting people, sometimes well-known and respected like V. G. Siddhartha and Anu Aga, sometimes completely unknown, like Sanghamitra Jena and Anita Shah. Who I interview is planned months in advance. The Forbes India team and I agree on the guest list based on the learning potential for our readers, and we take into account the level of media exposure. We want to be very sure that the person has respectability beyond just material success.

Once we know who is coming, I prepare for every meeting. I research the individual; sometimes imagine page layout itself, or the questions and the hook. But when I sit across from them I suspend everything, because I do not want my visitor to feel that he or she is facing a journalist.

During the time I’m with the person, I am a fellow entrepreneur, awed, fascinated, eager to hear their tale of the journey, just the way the column describes it. I am part-sculptor of words, part-photographer.

When you are fascinated with people, they allow you into their innermost recesses and they show you their wellspring. People who have come to Zen Garden are not looking for branding themselves. So, usually I find myself across from an emotionally secure individual and all I have to do is to ask them to begin from the beginning. But the difference is in the subsequent engagement. I stop them to ask questions, sometimes I offer my own point of view, sometimes I show them something they did not see in their own journey and ask them to reflect.

Sometimes, I must surprise my visitor so that he or she gives me the gem I am looking for. Usually, that surprise is a question no one has ever asked before.

When I met the Dalai Lama, I asked him: What would the Buddha have to say to modern day business if he were here today?

He listened intently and then he had a profound answer: I do not know. Then he burst in to a hearty laughter, subsided and started gushing like a mountain spring.

All I needed to do was to listen.

There are times when, in search of the Zen, I bring back a mountain and not the herb. For days and months it simply sits on my desk and I sheaf through transcripts that my colleague at work, Shanti, makes for me, and wallow in the other pages of information that I might have collected.

From a maze of information, my visitors let me sculpt their story, and then I hold aloft something readers would love to behold and admire and learn from. Memorability is a key requirement for that process of learning. Hence, in every journey, I look for a story that serves as a hook. But the story is not the thing; it is the one or two pithy points of self-realisation that stay in the mind. That is where the sculptor stops and the photographer of words takes over. A photographer must know the object, the exact angle and lighting, and in a fleeting moment pick the one that is of essence, one that must be brought into sharp focus.

The real photographers, by the way, the ones who shoot for Zen Garden, are some of the best. They are not outside of me and the visitor; they are part of the process. They know the nuances, they are listening to the conversation through the lens. What you do not notice is that they laugh when we laugh, they frown when we frown, and that is why the picture on the page is so real.

In order to get the best, sometimes I have to suspend expectations that I must get the wisdom of the entrepreneur in a pre-packaged manner, in a finite session. On occasion, long after the visit to the Zen Garden was over, I have returned to the source with the one question that made all the difference. The insights gleaned from designer Sujata Keshavan, for instance, were found after the actual visit.
So, this is not about meeting tight deadlines. I get my work done sometimes months and weeks in advance so that, like good wine and cheese, it can simply sit on my desk and ferment and age and become priceless.

That brings me to the third most frequently asked question: Where do I find the time?
Usually, every visit to the Zen Garden takes half a day of intense preparation, half a day in the Garden with the visitor, and a day’s work thereafter, making it roughly two days of work per issue at my end.

Usually, it is my weekends that are devoted to it; that makes it 48 weekend-days in a year dedicated to the Garden. Sometimes Susmita, the gardener’s wife, comes along to help me. After that, my handler at Forbes India, a serious young lady named Sveta Basraon, takes over. If I am a sculptor, and sometimes a photographer, of words, she is the curator of the exhibit. She has her own way with the layout and the blurb and the caption that makes you, the reader, think that you were right there when the conversation actually took place.

Subroto Bagchi is co-founder & gardener, MindTree and a best-selling author. His brief:  Every fortnight, exchange tales of the road with successful entrepreneurs

(This story appears in the 04 June, 2010 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)

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  • Roy

    Hello Subroto-da, I stay across the world and had read long time ago the first part of the making of MindTree. And now couple of days back ran into Zen Garden. I admire your way of giving back to entrepreneurship and making a difference. Thanks and please never stop ...

    on Jun 19, 2010
  • Munish K Gupta

    During my interactions with you, the biggest quality i observed was the emotional connect you make with the person. The other person feels wanted and that makes him share some of the insights which otherwise is difficult to share. Hats off to you.

    on Jun 8, 2010
  • Jeev

    Wow, what an article. You are like a superman, a God, who can make things happen. I just wish we have so many people like you. You have encompassed everyone from IG to the middle ones to your wife ...she seems to be super as well. What a calibre, what an achievement, wow, hats off.

    on Jun 1, 2010
  • Febin Moosa

    I appreciate your effort to bring limelight on other hardworking budding entrepreneurs. More than just being an entrepreneur you are an entrepreneur's entrepreneur. Hats off to you. I try not to miss the Zen Garden every fortnight.

    on May 30, 2010
  • Raj

    Mr Bagchi I can see a deep sense of fulfillment in your eagerness to collect pearls of wisdom from your guest.<br /> You come across as a genuine high quality entrepreneur who is keen to build houses for others to stay and not interested in just collecting the rent from the built houses as many others do.

    on May 27, 2010
  • Pranay Sharma

    Zen Garden is the most insightful piece of the brilliant Forbes Magazine. I am a big fan of Mr. Bagchi and his writings. I eagerly wait for latest addition to Zen Garden to appear on the website!

    on May 26, 2010
  • M. Vijay

    Kudos to you Subroto! Its amazing that so much hard work and preparation goes behind the Zen Garden. The way you have explained the process is really captivating and awe inspiring. Thank you for writing Subroto!

    on May 26, 2010
  • Srinivasan B

    Wow! Are you for real? Yeah - you are -- I have met you. I think this is your best article - & I am sure all your guests would also agree - The intensity of your thoughts, the preparation & planning, the teamwork & perfection - it's just like the orchestra conductor -- Symphony!

    on May 25, 2010