The last month

The last month has been really hectic.

The first thing I remember that happened last month was that INSEAD gave me also an admit!! So that puts to rest the huge question of how we were going to deal with separation. It was the happiest day in our lives :)). So then, we celebrated with a nice dinner and beer at Rice Bowl on Lavelle Road. Immediately after the celebrations, it was time to start working on all kinds of things. Sale of items at home, the loans, the tickets and so on and so on. The list is endless!! We are now in shape to leave in 10 days' time. It's been one really hectic journey.

The financing was the biggest question mark. An angel came in the form of Deepthi - my cousin who lives in the US now. She agreed to co-sign a loan from IEFC for me. There was a point in time when we wondered if it was worth putting in all the effort of convincing the Adcom that I'm worth it - whether it the MBA is only for really rich people from the really rich countries. It's amazing there are organisations like IEFC and there are people like Deepthi :).

Next thing was to sell all the stuff at home. We are going to completely shift out of Bangalore - move to Singapore. The B-school dream. And that too, in our dream B-school, INSEAD. There is one problem in this compared to IIMA. It was so easy to tell folks and friends in India, that I had an admit from IIMA. But, INSEAD needed explanantion and riders stating that it is ranked No.6 in the world! And then even tougher, convincing them that the 'investment' was worth it. One thing we always wondered, was the way people ranted about their b-school experience. What did they mean by it? Well, since we're almost there, we'll experience it ourselves!!

Office work seems to be in control. But, I'm going to be working till Jan 4th next year. Yes, I need every paisa possible. This b-school is costly. Every b-school outside India is costly. Someday, we'll work on a loan scheme that's available right here in our doorsteps in India. I'm also going to be taking every other loan available in town - we need to live and eat too :)

We've also been having people over to enable them to say Goodbye to us and wish us luck. We need all the luck in the world! We're entering this new unknown world. But there's one thing out there - the Brand and the experience. Singapore's going to be different. It's not like India, it's not going to be like US or Europe - it's a different combination of peoples.

There's no TV at home. Life without the idiot box is difficult. We just realized how much of a stress buster this TV is. Especially missing some good cricket action .. The very idea that you give control of your mind to something else, something external - that's how the TV watching works!

Then set in this huge inertia. I haven't blogged in a while! So it I decided it was time to convert the inertia of rest to ineria of motion. So hopefully, I will blog regularly for the next few days :)

Roger Binny

We both bunked office yesterday mainly to work on the loans for Pooja's INSEAD admission. So we had to spend half a day in Canara Bank Indiranagar. We were made to wait and wait for every little progress possible in the deal. The most exciting part of the wait finally was when Roger Binny walked into the bank and stood in a line for the teller. I told Pooja I know him and he's Binny and thanks to her encouragement I went and asked him if he was Binny. He said yes and I came back happy. Then again I ran out after he left the bank and got his autograph :-). That was the most exciting event in the bank in the morning!

 

Anyway, rest of the day went really well. Later in the day we went to KSCA for a bookfair happening there. In the Pavilion, was Binny's portrait. I went on a little memory lane trip on his bowling. I remember him as being a star in the 1983 world cup win as well as the 1985 Benson and Hedges World series in Australia. I have very fond memories of that world series under Gavaskar's captaincy. Waking up at 5 o'clock in the morning to watch India get almost every team all out. And of Kapil and Vengsarkar's batting - of Ravi Shastri splendid all-round performance - of Srikanth's blitzkriegs - and of course of Roger Binny's swing and Mohinder Amarnath's batting and walk-bowling :-)

Power of Gandhi

I'd seen this ad of Italian Telecom sometime back. Just chanced upon it again today.

The power of Gandhi is a well-debated topic. The power of Gandhiji is the inherent strength in the concept of non-violence. It's again debatable whether non-violence was the right approach to win our freedom. Every other nation on earth went through some really violent struggles for nationhood. They value that freedom. I don't know if that means we take freedom for granted. Whether we would've been a more disciplined society. I guess not!

When India got independence, we could've taken two different paths - one is the way we are today a single nation politically, but more of a continent, culturally. The other way could be that we got split into independent nation states and princely monarchies. We would very well been another Africa - civil wars and tribal rivalries and equally forgotten to the rest of the world.

That's exactly the power of Gandhi! It's him who got us our spiritual maturity and political democracy. Salute to the Father of the nation!

Do watch this ad!

The Passion of Christ - the Movie

This movie will go down as the worst movie we have ever tried to watch! I say 'tried' because we couldn't watch it! What is point in making a movie so gross and so cruel and just show the sufferings of Jesus through the process of crucifixion.

It's the most atrocious attempt to show that Jesus suffered for us. There is so much violence shown against one man. We couldn't understand how human beings can be so cruel! Of an entire lot of guys trying to inflict wounds to a lone unarmed guy.

We wanted to watch it for just curiosity! Really regret that decision. For others, please .. to maintain your sanity, don't watch this movie! Don't even plan it.

The Crusades

We've been trying to catch up on the series on The Crusades on the history channel. My God! I had no idea that the crusades were so brutal and vengeful. Violence and so much of it to prove what? That My God is greater than yours!! The way the crusaders butchered and vanquished anything that came in their way is quite gross.

Here are two religions trying to take control of the 'Holy land' - Jerusalem. In a way, the persecution of the Jews started right then. I guess it started much earlier, but they bore the brunt quite some bit during the crusades. The word 'Jihad' was born in that period meaning holy war. I don't understand the concept of war - even less of 'spiritual wars'. What is the point?

The Abrahamic religions are very different from the eastern religions. Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Taoism are very mystical. And the western religions have something in them to prove that they're better than the others. The concept that 'only my way' is weird. Quite a contrast to what we are used to in terms of pluralism.

Christian crusaders described the Muslims as Pagans and the Muslims described the Christians as Infidels! Today these are the most dominant religions in the world in terms of numbers and wealth. Though the depth of belief in the Christian society is much lesser than the faith in the Muslim religion.

Religion itself is a oncept introduced for the sheep that follow the shepherd. The Abrahamic religions were spread with the concepts of devil, fear and heaven/hell concepts. So in today's individualistic societies, is there place for religion? I guess not.

There must've been some level of fanaticism that fuelled wars for 3 centuries! The kind of injuries and fatalities inflicted by the crusaders are part of Muslim folklore even today. Doesn't help much in the cause of world peace in the unstable world of today.

It's a very interesting series and gives a good insight into western religious conflicts. Yes, I'm on a history trip these days :)

Who are my ancestors?

I came across a very interesting link about tracing human ancestral trees. Independent of that, I've wondered about my own ancestors. I don't know why it matters, but somehow I feel the urge to know what they did for a living, where they lived, how and why they migrated. I have only wondered about these questions and probably won't do more than that. But I'd love to speculate on them.

I belong to a Madhva family that has origins in Coimbatore. Now, that itself is a mystery in today's conditions. How did my ancestors land up in Coimbatore. They were probably just scholars or temple priests and probably moved to places where they had work. Traditionally, brahmins never owned anything in terms of property. So, brahmins never had any great emotions attached to a particular place or state or kingdom.

So who are the Brahmins? Should I believe in the Aryan invasion theory. I came across some very interesting points of view while researching this on the web. Firstly, I have always refused to believe that I'm Aryan. But if I'm Dravidian, why is my skin colour lighter than other proclaimed Dravidians? So, may be I'm a mix - which is most probably the case. I have wondered if our origins can be traced back to say, the Caspian Sea or the African continent. May be the Dravidians came from there - like some people say, the most original Dravidians are in the Andaman Islands.

What is Hinduism? Was it the religion or way of life of the Aryans or Dravidians? I had a theory regarding Ramayana and Mahabharata. Rama and Co were the Aryans and Ravana represented the Dravidians. And Ramayana was a propaganda war to enslave the dravidians. But somehow, things don't fit in with this theory! Dravidians were supposed to be worshippers of Shiva and Aryans of  Vishnu. But the concept of Vaishnavism was completely in the south! So again things don't fall in place. So I don't believe in my own theory any longer.

May be, then, that Hinduism was the religion of the natives. Aryans just came in and got localized? What about the theory that the Rig Veda was written on the banks of the Saraswathi which was probably in Iran when the Aryans were moving from West to East? What about the Sanskrit origins of Aryan languages like German and Polish etc? So, there is some connection.

Lots and lots of things to figure out. It may not be important, but I'm just curious. Hope I will find answers soon .. somewhere .. Till then, I will keep time travelling on the blog.

Whistle-blower!

Manjunath was an honest man. He wanted to set right a few things. He was just doing his job. But, he's been killed just for doing his job. I salute his conviction and his ability to stand by what he believed was the right thing to do. But, did he have to pay the price with his life?

What is this society we are trying to create? Corruption! The word is so rampant in our daily lives. We accept it for convenience. We always shrug our shoulders and say what can one man do. We accept defeat even before the battle begins. He was 27 years old. IIM-Lucknow. SJCE, Mysore before that. Nice brands. Big future! Good career. Does his death have a meaning?

Corruption itself can be of several kinds. The common form of corruption we see in India is people and officers taking bribes to do just their job. Ministers and politicians take money to just shut their mouths. If they remain silent on an issue, it's bad! If they talk, it's even worse! Deve Gowda - the man who holds Bangalore's future in his hands the biggest example. Lalu Yadav - held Bihar in darkness to achieve his own goals - which are themselves not recognizable to the common man. We see it rampant in every Government office. Is there a solution?

This is the second such death in recent times. SK Dubey, of the IIT Kanpur fame, did the same job, that of a whistle-blower. He too was just blown away, just like that! Isn't death too heavy a price to pay for honesty?

Book Review: God of Small things

I finally read it! It was second attempt at reading it, first time I couldn't cross Page 50 because I thought I was going into a depression. But that was four years ago! I'm much more grown up now and like to read for the sake of reading.

The book is a perspective of life as seen by a real cynic. Happiness is not common to the people of Ayemenem, one would believe, after reading the book. It's a reflection on south Kerala society. Deep divisions between the touchable(the Syrian Christians, the Pillais and other caste Hindus) and the untouchables(the Paravans, as they're called in Kerala).

The language used is beautiful and the creates its own vocabulary. The description of some incidents just transports you to that place and environment. Description of development over the Meenachal river brings out the conflict between environment and economics in a nice way. The best description in the book is that of a Kathakali performance in the Ayemenem temple. The description of the incidents of Mahabharata and the expressions of the performers described is so real. It felt as if I witnessed the whole performance live!

The Story - it's a lot of sadness packed into this book. The concept of the 'laws of love' - that prescribe "who should be loved, how and how much?" is brought out powerfully. The story is that of non-identical twins Rahel and Estha. And of their family - Ammu, her brother Chacko, Baby grand aunt Baby Kochamma and the grandmother Mamachi. Almost every man is shown as a wife-beater, drunkard or an unfaithful. Except of course Velutha. Velutha is the untouchable Paravan who has achieved more than his due as per the laws of the society. The style of narration does not maintain chronology in the strict sense. So, it takes you back and forth in time and the puzzle is revealed part-by-part.

It also gives a good description of the Syrian Catholic society of Kerala. Of the rise of communism and how comrade EMS' appeal to the Hindu masses of Kerala. Descriptions of the adventures of Estha and Rahel to the other side of the river are so real. The story of Sophie Mol - the child of Chacko and Margret Kochamma is touching.

Overall, a very good book. But read it slowly and let the words and language sink in. One does get a feeling of melancholy when he/she reads it! Pooja also can certify this as a book that is beautiful but the story is very sad.

Sandpaper article

My article on the diljales' work for the Ramana Maharishi Academy for the Blind got published.

As usual, the photos are thanks the best digital photographer known to the discovered world - wifey, Pooja.

http://sandpaper.bitsaa.org/12_community/diljales.htm

Cities and People

It's amazing how we form an opinion on a person based on where s/he's from. In India, in particular cities seem to have character and characteristics. And based on which city a friend likes, you can judge a lot about his/her character and what s/he enjoys the most in life.

Let's take the city of Bangalore. Once a sleepy pensioner's paradise, I would still rate it to have the best climate in the whole world. Good natured people are a natural consequence of such an ambience. Even people who come from outside love to absorb Bangalore into them and feel good about it. A long walk and feel like sipping a coffee, it takes 5 rupees and an idly to cool you off. English is understood and spoken by most residents. Nature is part of life - there are no air-conditioners and weekend getaways are plenty and interesting. So, a typical Bangalorean loves nature, loves the rain, loves his coffee! Bad roads and crazy traffic are just collateral damages of the unplanned expansion of the IT world into Bangalore.

Bombay. I have never lived in it. So all my opinion is based on perceptions and what I've heard from friends. Well, Bombay is hard working, work-hard, party hard kind of place. It has resilience and is mighty active. Food again is cheap and plenty. South or North Indian - any food is available. It's also the city of Bollywood. Plenty of action out there in terms theater. Again, rain is part of life and so is the train. The local trains carry people up and down from work places and the city just does not sleep! Weather's okay - I love humidity so it doesn't affect me much.

Delhi. Fast and furios. Agressive and brazen. New Delhi is an awesome place for checking out cinemas, monuments and is full of history. It's been a capital city of the sub-continent for centuries. But, it's populace is largely of refugee composition. Have fought their way up in life from harsh conditions of the partition and the aftermath. The landscape is a dull shrubbery and lots of dust in the air. There is a natural amount of SPM in the air! The city has extreme weather. With horrible summers and not-so horrible winters. Two months in the year are lievable! Overall, I'm a bit biased against this city - it's people seem loud and have started occupying the rest of the country with aggression.

Pondicherry! The word is a magic. Beautiful seashores, lovely beaches and warm people define this 'not-really-a-city'. But, I've lived in it for most of my life. The air is dense with water vapour - but love humidity. Life is slow paced and the landscpaes are occupied by kids playing cricket and basketball and football. Eating some french cuisine and visiting the serene places of the Ashram and Auroville are a pleasure. Like the Pondicherry tourism advertises, it's a place to 'Give time a break'.

Dallas. Resembles Delhi in landscape and climate. Big cars and fat texan dudes and a whole lot of George Bush worshippers. That's not much of a praise for the city. I hate flat landscapes. It's boring and all one can do is drive a few thousand miles to find the nearest green spot. Finding a tree is an achievement here. Shopping and watching TV is about the only thing one can do here. Desis in plenty in this Amru city! Overall, too much of an indoor place.

There's one other city I've lived in and I really hated every moment of it! Madras. Chennai. Horrible weather. This is the city where I hated humidity! Always thirsty. Always short of water. When it rains, it stinks. When doesn't, it still stinks. But I've always got along well with people from Chennai. English speaking. Philosophical. And I love the beach in Besant Nagar :). But it's main asset - it's only 160Kms to Pondicherry from there.

Chandrashekara Temple

I'm still on with a hangover of Hampi! Hampi is a world heritage site, formerly a capital city of the Vijayanagar kingdom.

Some pictures from the area near the Chandrashekara temple.




There was one guy who was reading sitting in the temple premises. It just added to the serenity of the place!












This is an Octogonal bath near the temple. Seems like bathing was a pretty public activity is all historical civilisations.










The best way to explore Hampi is by bicycle. The slopes of the landscape and the beauty of the ruins flex different parts of the body - the legs and the heart respectively!










The landscape is weird like in no other place. There are rocks of various sizes and shapes hanging and placed in precarious looking equilibria. Nature's creations and man's manicuring - giving fantastic visual delights!

'Bangalored' has a new meaning!

Wet, wet, wet! That's the theme of the month for Bangalore and it's 8 million populace this October. All old records have been broken in term so rainfall and wetness of every day.

Under these circumstances, the daily woes of the residents of Bangalore getting stuck in no man's land and having to wade through water all the time has become a common story in every hosehold! May be, that's the new meaning of 'Bangalored'! The infrastructure or whatever is left of it, is in shambles. Complete shambles!

The reason for this deluge is more man made than nature's fury. Earlier, Bangalore was known to be the city of lakes. Lakes had natural inward and outward flows that could distribute the rainwater among themselves. Then came the ugly side of 'development'. Layouts were created out of Lake beds and reclaimed land. Damn it, when there is so much land in the country, why destroy a lake to claim land. Well, such is the mentality of land sharks and their real estate dreams - money and only money is their motive. And look who's paying the price for such deeds! Are we all not 'Bangalored' now?

Do we have disaster fatigue?

This is a thought that has been haunting me in the last few days in the aftermath of the Kashmir earthquake. I'm forced to compare my own feelings as well as the reaction of our nation to the disaster that has struck Kashmir(both sides) in the form of the earthquake! When the Tsunami struck the East coast, we all toppled over each other to rush aid and rescue materials to Nagapattinam and Cuddalore. When the earthquake in Kashmir happens, not even my company which is a very socially conscious firm, has declared any kind of donations to the Prime Minister's Relief fund! Why? Are these Kashmiris not our people? It's true that most of them don't consider themselves Indians, but I'm beginnin to wonder how much we consider them Indians. There's a feeling that had the same thing happened even in Jammu, just south of Kashmir, we would've again given the same kind of reaction as what we gave Tamil Nadu or Mumai or Western Maharashtra.

That brings us to the next question. Are we doing this because or religion by any chance? Had it been Hindus/Sikhs/Christians killed and affected, would we have reacted differently? Or may be even if it was a mainland muslim? By mainland I mean the large parts of India that does feel part of the same country. I'm not saying that this would've been the case, but just thought occurs in my mind. I'm appalled even at my own biased reaction to these incidents!
I thought this would've been a golden oppurtunity to send the message that we care. But we have failed quite badly. Even the media has largely ignored the tragedy. We don't find that many articles in newspapers! No coverage!

The other argument is that we are truly fatigued by disasters. We are beginning to accept them as part of life. First the Tsunami, then Mumbai and then these incessant rains that continue to lash Karnataka, Maharashtra. May be we have started treating things as everyday occurences!
Any thoughts? Any alternative explanations ?

Humans the Virus : Perspective

This is a picture taken in the Valley of Flowers in the Himalayas - Uttaranchal state of India. This is a very unique ecosystem where you can see green, white and multitude of colurs of the flowers. This is from a friend's recent visit to this valley.







Consider the Earth as a human being. What happens when a virus attacks us? We get a fever - that's Global warming for you. The virus cannot survive outside a host - so it kills to survive - that's what we human beings have done!

Virus spreads from one part of the body to another rapidly - virus multiplies at a alarming rate and can even cause death if the immune system cannot cope. That's why you see flooding in NJ, Bomaby, a Tsunami or an earthquake - that's the body of the Earth reacting to us - the viruses!!

The more powerful viruses take more than the weaker viruses - that's why a human being in US consumes 1000 times more paper than an average Indian. Dumping toxic wastes in all parts of the body - that's exactly what a virus does!! The only way this planet can survive is when we stop taking more than what we deserve! Money is a device created by the more powerful viruses to occupy more space and more power .. let's stop being viruses and start using that brain of ours! Otherwise, death for the planet is certain - and death for a host also means death for the virus ..

The point is - how do we start? Begin by saying 'No' to plastics. Use for really essential things. Don't cut yourselves from Nature. Stop enclosing your souls into closed spaces with air-conditioning! We have a beautiful ecosystem of existence in India now - we need to clean up surroundings definitely - but let's not cut ourselves off from the host called Earth!

First day at School

I have very fond memories of my school and of the JIPMER campus. Most of what I am today in terms of opinions and impressions were formed from those days. I trust fellow human beings so much because Pondicherry is a place where nothing wrong seemed to take place! I am optimist who believes that the world will find its balance eventually - because even if wealth was not around so much, there was always happiness. Even today I see glowing faces, smiling teeth and an unshakable faith in the world, in Pondicherry. An extremely mild people who do not talk too much - is a gift of Shri Aurobindo and the Mother to Pondicherry.

But in today's world, will people like me get consumed? Am I living in a fool's paradise thinking everything is alright with the future of the world and my place in it? Everywhere I look around, aggression seems to be the way. And I can never get aggressive for any logical reason, I do get aggressive as a reaction to something stupid! It's more a form of defense.

Coming back to those days of Childhood, I took photographs of the hard copies of the snaps from those days when I went to Pondy last weekend.




This was the first day at school in Kendriya Vidyalaya, JIPMER! The other kid in the photo is Sandeep, my cousin-bro.
















This snap was taken in Wilson Garden house with Sandeep and Ashwin. People say there's a huge resemblance between Sandeep and me - lot of teachers at school always confused our names!

Ahh Pondicherry!!

Pondicherry is home. That's where I spent my formative years. Everytime I go back there, I feel part of the environment. Outsiders say people don't talk much in Pondy - life is a meditation living there! Here's a photo essay of some of the places in the old city or town area of Pondy. These pictures should speak for themselves.

North-east Monsoon?

Growing up in Pondicherry, I was always a weather freak. Well, the growing up in Pondicherry part was just for effects. Anyways, being a weather freak and observer of nature, it always mattered to me which side the wind was blowing, which clouds are going to bear rain, and whether we would get a school holiday due to a depression the in Bay!



Like I know that the wind reverses direction around September 23 year after year. It's definitely something to do with the equinox. Same with March 23, when the official summer begins in the northern hemisphere.

Last morning's rain in Bangalore reminded me of those monsoon days in Pondicherry - the typical depression rain; of a continuos and determined bunch of clouds to not stop raining - without any hurry.



Well, I'm off to Pondicherry today to see the real North-east monsoon :). Here I come, the holy land ..

Rainy bandh day

I woke up at 7 AM - an hour earlier than usual. It was still pretty dark outside. Ah, there's the reason - it was raining. It'd started raining last night! The front door opened to a beautiful world outside. But my sweetheart was away in Delhi - can't hear the music of appreciation of nature from her today :(.

The day crawled in anticipation of a break in the rain. The wind chimes in the balcony refused chime. This house is so different without her. Okay, she's only gone for three days! So I pull along.

I decided to chug along in the rain. Today's a bandh called by the communists. I still saw school kids arunning in their colorful raincoats. As I went past the ADE campus, I saw a few red flags and a couple of workers standing there. Others just went past them for work. So much for communism in Bangalore city!

As I took a turn towards Krishna temple road, the inevitable happened. My bike stopped! It's been giving me so much trouble. Rain or heat or traffic or speed - just any reason to stall. So I push it along and let it dry the electrical circuitary. I left with my mechanic and told him to do whatever to do something with the electrical connection.

But, now - no autos! Those contraptions I'd belittled just yesterday; they were off the roads. And the steady rain had no intention of letting up. So I walked along in my new role of being observer. The traffic seemed to flow better than normal. I thought what a pity that some companies are closed today to compensate on a good saturday.

As I walked along, I was also getting pretty wet, naturally :). In my observer cap, I thought about the amount of rain that just drains. If only, we made good use of this water ..

I just stood on old madras road asking for lift - and got dropped at the ulsoor fork .. then i walked from there till office again - drenched pretty badly ..

IT and the farmer

We've all seen the ITC ad on how they're tranforming lives in rural India. The e-choupal is an interesting case study on the Supply Chain System.

ITC, in a bid to shed its image of being a Cigarette manufacturer and take up a social cause combined with a long-term sustainable profit introduced these e-choupal concept. We do see ads on Indian television about these e-choupals about how ITC is transforming lives. Well, there really seems to be some changes happening.

Check out : http://www.digitaldividend.org/case/case_echoupal.htm - a very interesting case study.

And for a feather on their cap : ITC has won the 100,000$ Development Gateway Award : http://home.developmentgateway.org/award

Hope for a better future for the poor farmer!

Letter to the Editor

My letter to the editor of Deccan Herald was published on September 12th, 2005. This is a subject close to my heart.

http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/sep122005/editpage1554292005911.asp

The Braille Slates

At the Ramana Maharishi Academy for the Blind reception. In the background, you can see the trophies and awards won by the organisation. For the 2500 alumni of the school, "respect not sympathy" has been the motto.







The Braille slate being used by a visually impaired. We - the diljale, had donated for the purchase of braille slates. This girl was extremely enthusiastic to show us the use of the braille slates.

Six Years ..

6 September, 1999 was the day I joined Infosys Tech Ltd. It's been 6 years already! My God, time flies ..

Such milestones are good times to reflect back on what's happened.

• How do I rate myself career so far?
• What have I achieved so far in my career?
• What is my action plan for the next few years?
• Where do I see myself 2 years from now?
• Where do I see myself 5 years from now?

These are the typical questions to my mind whenever I think of my career.  But overall, to judge in a qualitative manner, I would say average. I have followed the path that a average Indian IT male would've had. Very average indeed ..

In terms of my aspirations, if I look at my yearbook, I wanted to be a manager - I still want to enter the management field. That way, my long term goal from a 10Km height still remains the same. What else has changed? I started as a enthusiastic Telecom development guy - I was very enthu about writing code for the Telecom network and swicthes. Over the years, certainly a lot of events have influenced me. And, I took to testing as a career. Boy, that was one significant move in my career. Today, I lead 4 engineers in a multi national product company. But, I need more .. I want to direct and manage an entire project on my own.  Some day ..

Now, an MBA looks more achievable than ever before. My wife has played a huge role in this transformation. It's amazing how much life's changed since she came in into my life! In terms of experience and reading and knowledge, I'm more ready for an MBA now than ever before. Only time will tell, where my career is headed. But, as of now it's Chalti ka naam Gaadi. :-)

Book Review: Managing in the Next Society

Peter F Drucker is a man of experience. This book is a collection of essays from Drucker on the trends of change in society and the way people work in the next century. This was published in 2002, so certain conditions and trends might not be covered in this book.

But, overall his analysis based on the 250 years of Industrial revolution and how the Knowledge revolution will impact societies and economies is amazing. His description of how the railroad changed the concept of distances and how the internet has zeroed the distances now is excellent.

To summarize the book, the take away are as follows:

• In the Knowledge society, the specialist  will be in demand and so instead of generalists that we have in the IT industry cannot differentiate for too long.
• The developed countries of the world, especially in Europe, will start facing a demographic crisis in the sense that the average age of the population will steadily increase and so also their competitiveness.
• As the average age of man increases, people will see the beginning and end of corporations within their lifetimes.
• Temp workers will also start be dominant component of workforces as companies will increasingly find it difficult to employ everybody that works for them.
• The world is definitely gravitating toward the east - China and India to be specific.
• His view on China - there is a huge discrepancy between the public sector communist West to the highly Capitalistic Eastern Shanghai region. There is very low quality in the produce of the Chinese public sector.
• Manufacturing will face the same future as Agriculture faced after the second world war. It's no more going to be capitalism, it's going to be a Knowledge Society.
• Two areas that desperately need management are : Non-profits and Governments. As I speak to my counterparts in Europe and US, I realize that nowhere in the world, politicians are respected! These areas need focus because the Goals are not easily identifiable.

Weakness of the Book : It is very repetitive in the messages it tries to convey. Also, I was specifically looking for any views and opinions on India - but could not find too much reference to India. His later articles though have to lot to say about India.

It is definitely a very good read for all who plan any venture into the Business world.

Blind Candidate's exam

This is an open letter to the Vice-chancellor of Bangalore University. I'd written this letter to the VC, but haven' received any response yet. Yet, I shall not give up.

Dear Sir,

I was a scribe for one of the blind candidates for the correspondence course II Year BA examination. Some of these sentences below describe the situation in the exam center, the tasks I had to do and what actions I took.

1. The exam center had no special arrangement for blind candidates. I had to run around the exam center with my candidate and serach for the location of the candidate's roll number. After a lot of huffing and puffing, I managed to locate the center. And then, all we get is a table and two chairs to sit in the corridor!! Pathetic is an understatement!!!

2. In the History question paper, there were map questions. How do you expect a blind candidate to 'dictate' the answer?

3. The course material distributed had nothing in it for blind candidates.

Some small steps that can be taken to make life easy for the visually impaired candidates:

1. Please arrange for a special room for the blind candidates.

2. Please have a look at the curricullum and make some small adjustments for the sake of visually challenged people - make it a fair playing ground.

3. As a whole, we in our society should be sensitive to these people. They don't need our sympathy, they need their own self-respect! And we can help them achieve that ..

No more plastic bags in Maharashtra

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1210272.cms

I hope this ban by Maharashtra sets a precedent for other states to take up similar measures. Hopefully, this gets passed and strict enforcement happens. But, you never know what the communists might say. They might come up with an argument that the scavengers will lose their livelihood. Trust them to come with the most obscure of reasoning.

The last two days' rain in Bangalore caused so much confusion and Ulsoor was beginning to break the barriers and overflow. It was just some timely action by the army folks that saved some very serious flooding!

The essential areas that might be of consequence will be for milk packets and waste bags. Other than that, I don't see any other area where we would need plastic bags. When I buy vegetables, I too use plastic bags. But there must be some other way of buying vegetables. When the vedors with pushcarts come on the streets, it's very easy - we just use the direct container that is needed for storage. But for the big chunk of bikers who buy vegetables on the way back from office, it will be a challenge initially. But, it can definitely be worked out. Say, carry a cloth bag in the office bag along with other stuff. After all, if the planet needs to be a safer place, we need to sacrifice some 'conveniences'!

STAR

A very important learning as I was doing my MBA essays was that whenever you describe an achievement or failure, you should structure it in this way. It kind of kills the creativity, but acts as an effective checklist while writing a formal business communication.

S - Stands for Situation : Describe the basic situation that you intend expanding on.

T - Task : What was the task assigned or initiated by you. This is a specific thing like a deliverable.

A - Action : What Actions did you take toward fulfilling that task.

R - Result : What was the result of that action? Did it succeed because of something specific step or method you followed?
If it failed, what have you learnt from it. How do you say that you have learnt something?

Strategy

I've been involved in formulating a Test Strategy for our project. I just wanted to list some of thoughts on the process of formulating this. I really want to check later if I achieve the objectives set here.

First thing about strategy - I can never forget a Sam ra Babu quote "Never put tension, put strato". I think the first learning is that very fact - that in order not to put tension, you need to have a strategy. It's indeed a very interesting subject on its own.

In short, what the strategy involves is : stating what, how and when - whatever be the project for which we need a strategy. More sermons on strategy as I develop one. Itih ~!

Patience quotes

There's some nice soul who puts up colour print-outs near the coffee achine in office. Today's quote was on Patience - something I consider to be a key strength of my personality.

The main quote stated there was an old chinese proverb -" It is through patience that a mulberry leaf turns to silk".

I did some more search for quotes on patience. Some of them listed here:

• "Patience and perserverence have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish."--
  John Quincy Adams
• "Patience with others is Love, Patience with self is Hope, Patience with God is Faith."--
  Adel Bestavros
• "If you would know strength and patience, welcome the company of trees."--
  Hal Borland
• "Forgive, forget. Bear with the faults of others as you would have them bear with yours. Be patient and understanding. Life is too short to be vengeful or malicious."--
  Phillips Brooks
• "Our patience will achieve more than our force."--
  Edmund Burke
• "We smile at the ignorance of the savage who cuts down the tree in order to reach its fruit; but the same blunder is made by every person who is over eager and impatient in the pursuit of pleasure." --
  William Channing
• "Patience is power; with time and patience the mulberry leaf becomes silk."--
  Chinese Proverb
• "Patience is the art of caring slowly."--
  John Ciardi
• "Patience is bitter, but it's fruit is sweet."--
  Lida Clarkson
• "The greatest power is often simple patience."--
  E. Joseph Cossman
• "Patience serves as a protection against wrongs as clothes do against cold. For if you put on more clothes as the cold increases, it will have no power to hurt you. So in like manner you must grow in patience when you meet with great wrongs, and they will be powerless to vex your mind."--
  Leonardo da Vinci
• "There is no road too long to the man who advances deliberately and without undue haste; there are no honors too distant to the man who prepares himself for them with patience."--
  Jean De La Bruyere
• "Patience and time do more than strength or passion."--
  Jean de La Fontaine
• "If we could have a little patience, we should escape much mortification; time takes away as much as it gives."--
  Marquise de Sévigné
• "Beware the fury of a patient man."--
  John Dryden
• "Infinite patience brings immediate results."--
  Wayne W. Dyer
• "An ounce of patience is worth a pound of brains."--
  Dutch Proverb
• "Patience can't be acquired overnight. It is just like building up a muscle. Every day you need to work on it."--
  Eknath Easwaran
• "Everything comes to him who hustles while he waits."--
  Thomas A. Edison
• "I think and think for months and years, ninety-nine times, the conclusion is false. The hundredth time I am right."--
  Albert Einstein
• "Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience."--
  Ralph Waldo Emerson
• "No greater thing is created suddenly, any more than a bunch of grapes or a fig. If you tell me that you desire a fig, I answer you that there must be time. Let it first blossom, then bear fruit, then ripen."--
  Epictetus
• "He that can have patience can have what he will."--
  Benjamin Franklin
• "To lose patience is to lose the battle."--
  Mahatma Gandhi
• "The key to everything is patience. You get the chicken by hatching the egg, not by smashing it."--
  Arnold H. Glasgow
• "Patience, persistence and perspiration make an unbeatable combination for success."--
  Napolean Hill
• "There is no royal road to anything, one thing at a time, all things in succession. That which grows fast, withers as rapidly. That which grows slowly, endures."--
  Josiah Gilbert Holland
• "With love and patience, nothing is impossible."--
  Daisaku Ideda
• "Patience has its limits. Take it too far, and it's cowardice."--
  George Jackson
• "To hear complaints with patience, even when complaints are vain, is one of the duties of friendship."--
  Dr. Samuel Johnson
• "You can learn many things from children. How much patience you have, for instance."--
  Franklin P. Jones
• "All fruits do not ripen in one season."--
  Laurie Junot
• "Face your deficiencies and acknowledge them; but do not let them master you. Let them teach you patience, sweetness, insight... When we do the best we can, we never know what miracle is wrought in our life, or in the life of another."--
  Helen Keller
• "Patience is necessary, and one cannot reap immediately where one has sown."--
  Soren Kierkegaard
• "The practice of patience toward one another, the overlooking of one another's defects, and the bearing of one another's burdens is the most elementary condition of all human and social activity in the family, in the professions, and in society."--
  Lawrence G. Lovasik
• "Genius is only a greater aptitude for patience."--
  George-Louis Leclerc de Buffon
• "Never think that God's delays are God's denials. Hold on; hold fast; hold out. Patience is genius."--
  George-Louis Leclerc de Buffon
• "They also serve who only stand and wait."--
  John Milton
• "Patience is the key to contentment."--
  Mohammed
• "Patience and Diligence, like faith, remove mountains."--
  William Penn
• "All's well in the end, if you've only the patience to wait."--
  Rabelais
• "Good ideas are not adopted automatically. They must be driven into practice with courageous patience."--
  Hyman George Rickover
• "Have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves ... Don't search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them. And the point it, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps, then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer."--
  Rainer Maria Rilke
• "Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet."--
  Jean Jacques Rousseau
• "Patience is the companion of wisdom."--
  Saint Augustine
• "The two most powerful warriors are patience and time."--
  Leo Tolstoy
• "Patience is the key to paradise."--
  Turkish Proverb

Aug 14, 2005

Time 9 AM : Trips, Heku, Pooja and I left Bangalore for a 1 day picnic to the Shivasamudram falls. We were having lots and lots of topics for debate - about life, about software industry etc etc. We had a nice journey until we crossed Malavalli - there was a traffic jam there as half of Bangalore was heading. The usual problem we face on any long weekend - everybody's heading for the same destinations!

12.20 AM : We are just 12 Kms from Shivasamudram. Trips was driving. A Maruti Omni right in front, breaked while trying to overtake the car ahead of him. Trips applies the break and the car skids but hits the Omni van - result - a crashing accident. The radiator and engine had imploded! Luckily, no major injuries to anyone. The guy in front started arguing. We had a huge build up of crowd. Every passer by became an expert on driving and justice. After debating and fighting and talking for about an hour - we had to yield to the driver and pay him of 1000 bucks! Also, it helped in dispersing the crowd and think of what next. As always, the accident occurred in the middle of nowhere and Airtel or Hutch did not have connectivity there.















1.15 PM : We just drove the car back some distance. But it was fuming all kinds of vapors of weird smells. We suspected that it might be the coolant burning. We opened the bonnet and saw that the coolant pipe was broken and something like battery acid was leaking all over.
















1.25 PM: We decided to walk to the nearest village and call somebody from insurance or Maruti emergency helplines. Some villagers told us that it was 1 Km away. But never believe a villager when he says something is just 1 Km - it just went on and on. Trips and I'd walked more than a Km. Pooja and Heku stayed back to look after the car remnants. After some distance, I decided to try my luck with asking for lift. The only gracious soul who took pity and offered help was a tractor guy. He also said that he could arrange for the car to be towed to the nearest town - Malavalli. We stopped at the first village. There were phone booths there. We told him that we would take help if needed. We made a few frantic phone calls to all Maruti helplines/emergency numbers. Only one Mr. Shankarappa picked the phone and he said he would start from Bangalore only at 7 PM - the time now was 2.30 PM.

2.30 PM : We hitched a ride in a posh car. 1 man, 2 women - gave us lift to sight the of the accident. They were drinking beer while! The irony - nothing happens to such people! We got back to the sight and decided that we would go back to the town of Malavalli to get the car towed till there atleast so that we are back in cell phone territory. So that we could talk to people and get some help. And people trying to help us could contact us.

3.00 PM: After hitching another ride from a bunch of guys this time to Malavalli - we found a garage. The foreman picked up some 'tools' which included a couple of spanners and a hammer. He said he would talk to some taxi guys and we could all go there and if couldn't make the car worthy of driving, he would tow it back to Malavalli and work on it. Our hopes were dwindling - and increasingly, the option of calling for help from Bangalore which was 100Km away seemed like the best option. We started in an ambassador car and on the way the car ran out of diesel. When things go wrong, the world conspires to screw you! After some huffing and puffing, we reached the sight. They connected the car and started the towing process.

4.30 PM : We reached Malavalli. Malavalli is a small town - there were restaurants/tea shops and a horrible main road. We parked ass at a school playground. It had the paintings of Nehru/Gandhi, painted with the tri-colour in places! We had a big argument with the foreman and the car towing guys. The argument went on and on - finally we gave in and gave the towing guy another 100 bucks other than the 200 we'd alreday given.

5,30 PM : We were still desperately trying to call all helplines of Maruti for towing service. Bangalore was 100Kms away. Finally, Prakash and Shankarappa said they would come to tow us back to Bangalore.

This duration, we were just observers of the small town life. Friendly and concerned people, smiling kids playing cricket and goli, smaller kids using the ground to cycle around. That was the general atmosphere on the ground. every now and then people came asked what happened and we would repeat the story over and over again. We took turns to explore the town and have chai/coffee. First, Trips and Heku went on a walk - then Pooja and I went around. We were just killing time waiting for the promised Mr. Shankarappa to come.
















7.00 PM : I called Shankarappa again. He tells me he's started from Bangalore and already travelled 30Kms. So we estimated that he would reach by 8.30 PM. In the meantime, we had so many topics to talk about. We generally discussed the freedom vs development debate that I so much love nowadays. I also made some friends in the village - some kids, some middle age men. Time just crawled by ..

8.00 PM : I called up Shankarappa. This time he shouts at me saying don't keep calling every 2 minutes. He assured me that he's on his way! Whatever happened to the concept called Customer service.

We just lay around there. Took a walk to the medical store - Pooja wanted a lense case. We made conversation with more people - the general attitude of people was that of help and sincerity. This medical shop guy gave us bondas to eat and didn't charge for it! Something we forget living in the hustle-bustle of a city. Time still crawled .. Trips was beginning to sulk a bit!

10.00 PM : After a long wait, again I call up Shankarappa - he gives the heart attack. That they were in Ramanagaram - on a completely different highway towing somebody else's car!! We scream in vain and again he assures us that he WILL come. Pooja and I took a walk to the town and got some food. Again, the restaurant had closed down - we told them our situation and they opened the hotel for us and made fresh food! Some jeera rice and friend rice! We again thank the niceties of small town India.

In the meantime, some people from the office opposite the school offered some temporary accommodation on 'humanitarian' grounds. It was getting cold sitting out in the open in the school grounds/verandah.

11 PM : We woke up the watchman of the BESCOM office and asked him if his offer still holds. Graciously, he agreed and we pushed the car into the compound. He made a small arrangement for us by putting some tables and desks and made a temporary hard bed for us. Pooja and I slept in the room - Trips and Heku chose the car.

Finally, Mr. Shankarappa arrived at 2.30 AM, 15th August. They toed up the car's front wheels to the tow crane. We all decided to sit in the car itself. So thus began our final journey towards Bangalore. The weird spring action of the chain attachment between the truck and car made us swing like crazy. Our driver was not least bothered about potholes - he just anted to get the hell back to Bangalore. He said he'd one 30 service calls that day!


7.00 AM, 15th August : We are back home, back broken, neck sprained! But thank God! It could've been much worse.

The talkative Indian

If I have to describe life in Bangalore in three words, I would say - booming energetic anarchy! This I guess will represent the general state of the Indian mind in general, and of a booming creative city like Bangalore in particular.

To describe the energy of us Indians, take the example of a average conversation of the common man in any of Bangalore's darshinis. Firstly, we all have so much to talk! Whether it's the state of an unfinished flyover, or the water-logging in xyz colony, or the stock price of the reliance share and where the economy in general is headed. An average man is aware of his surroundings - of what's happening to the country, the economy and his job. One can judge this energy from the animated way of talking in coffee joints. There are so many business ideas floating in the air - it's this energy that's driving us currently.

Amartya Sen's new book, The Argumentative Indian,  must be a good read. I want to pick up and read it sometime soon. The french guy who interviewed Pooja asked what she thought of our argumentative nature - whether that causes a lot of delays. In my opinion, it's a historical and religious trait we have possessed since time immemorial. The great debates that happened in the courts of Krishna Devaraya or Akbar or the great religious debates by Vadiraja are all proof that our religion by origin and nature encourages us to debate. And I think, it is this trait that has been genetically preserved and progenated that makes us what we are today. We are ready for the Knowledge society precisely for this reason.

We are good readers in general. On any bus journey, whether it is through the traffic jammed roads of Bangalore or a train journey from Bangalore to Mysore or the bus journey from Madras to Pondicherry, I have observed that people like to read their books, magazines, politics and newspapers. Though I haven't really travelled a lot through any other country as much as I have through India, I'm generally happy to see that people read and are aware of things around them. This is particularly prominent if one drives through Kerala - I really admire the political awareness and societal consciousness of the average mallu.

History is one area we desperately need to improve on. We all love to talk how great our history was and so on. Our sense of history and pride needs to be improved a few thousand folds. Especially I guess in heartland of North India, unfortunately a lot of the cultural pillars and identities have been destroyed. And the punjabi society is doing itself any service further westernizing itself! A point of history is that we lack documentation as a culture. I was showing to my sweet heart a sculpture in Somnathapura. There was this carving of Vishnu holding the Earth in his hands as a Globe - an elongated sphere. Now, this is sculpture from the 11th century of the Hoysalas. It took the western world another 400 years to re-learn the same fact. And yet, from our textbooks, we have to learn that Copernicus/Magellan proved that the earth was spherical!

We also talk about the daily comparisons between China and India. There this mail going around about how Nandan got Bangalored in Beijing - the vast expansions in infrastructure. In contrast, we have to wait for Deve Gowda's death before Bangalore can go somewhere in term of infrastructure. But hey, hold on! Do we have to make a choice between infrastructure and democracy. Any day, I would prefer my freedom. I don't want to live in a country where the state controls what I think and what I write! Blogs are screened for words like democracy and freedom! Ideally, I want both my flyovers as well as my freedom. And I know that with time, I will get my flyovers. Delhi's showing us the way today. I don't want to lose my talkative Indian .. Never! It's just not us!

MBA Apps so far

It's pouring outside. Can't go home yet, and so I write this post.

This is one activity we've been involved in for sometime now. But, I've just not been in a mood to document it!

To begin with, I must admit that it's a completely satisfying satisfying experience in terms of getting to know about oneself. What're you strengths, weaknesses, goals, failures, perspectives etc. Kind of represents who you are to the Adcom of the University.

Our first app was for INSEAD. The apps went off well - so did our interviews. Now, the waiting game till September 10th.

Meanwhile, IIM-A has shortlisted both of us for an interview. This one's going to be very tough!

The questions for the essays are as below:

1. What do you expect to gain from the PGPX at IIMA?
2. Describe a situation in your life that demonstrates your leadership qualities.
3. Describe the single event or achievement that has significantly influenced your life.
4. Give a description of yourself, stressing the personal characteristics you feel are your strengths and weaknesses.
5. Any other information that you believe may help us make a decision on your application.

I'm goign to recycle most of my INSEAD essays. The Why IIM-A question needs some research. But, neither of us has the same enthu to research and find out about faculty as much as we did for INSEAD. God, God, God - please get us into INSEAD!

Bad tummy and Philosophy

I have an upset stomach! Actually, it's not an upset stomach. It's a stomach that's not digesting the loads of food queued up in my intestine. I ate only one solid meal yesterday and still there's no sign of hunger today. Had a lovely preparation of honey and bread made by my cutie wife. I had some curd rice and more curd for lunch. I thought that would help me get some food in and also help the digestion - but no luck!

When you have an upset stomach, and not slept enough the previous night - the mood is ideal for philosophizing. I'm not feeling good - mentally and physically. I'm trying to listen to some Clapton numbers and do some work. But no, somehow work's not kicking off! Today being Monday also doesn't help.

I tried the drinking-water-to-flush-the-bad-things-from-stomach technique also - but no success! My tummy's feeling bloated like a balloon. It feels ugly. It's not a good day. The weather outside's also pretty murky. No sunshine - yesterday there was plenty of it. It was such a beautiful day - until ..

I'm gonna try and do something - like say read something interesting. Like say Bertrand Russell's book - "Our view of the external world". We all love to philosophize. More so when you have an upset tummy - okay, I know I've spoken enough about it!

On the more serious side - what is our view of the external world? I haven't read the book yet fully. But independently, I do have some views. It's basically my upbringing. Our view of the external world is largely based on the environment - parents, family, friends etc.

My philosophy is based on these two points I list below:

• Happiness is a decision, not an outcome.
• Nobody means harm - I mean nobody is out here to mean bad things for a person.

I love the first quote. It really keeps me going. Also, removes all hang-ups I've had. I had a lot of hang-ups in life before I went to that magical place in the North-west of India called Pilani. My friends in college have given me the exposure and strength to get over these hang-ups. Today, I'm a relatively hangup-free person. Somebody calling me something, or telling me something really doesn't affect me. I'm glad I'm here today. It's the desert that makes you stronger. It's the ability to see things in bigger picture!

The second point - I really am not sure yet on what I mean by this. All I know is - that when people try to harm you, it's for a reason - there're no psychopaths in real life who just get kicks by harming you. Everyone's out here to do something - whether for themselves or for the world! Mostly, for themselves - so harming you can't be their priority. This gets me going too - especially in corporate life - when one faces allegations, challenges, questions, reasons - the why, how and when part of everything. I'm getting used to this as part of a minuscule manager. Someday, I hope to be a little further up the corporate ladder.

Getting bad to the upset tummy - I'm already feeling better. I've blabarred enough on this blog. Weird, bad tummy implies philosophy implies better tummy!

End of Capitalism?

Listened to Peter Drucker's interview at http://www.onpointradio.org/shows/2005/08/20050802_a_main.asp.

Quite an amazing interview considering his age is 95. I haven't read any of his books. But I've heard so much about him from so many sources including the course on Management I did during my second year in college.

Just a brief of what he says :

• America's domination of the world are over
• Leaders can't be trained into leadership in B-schools
• Multi-polar world with Europe, China and India as other powers of center is a reality now

The most interesting point he made was the days of Capitalism are over - we are moving to a knowledge society! I really have to think and research on what he mans by that.

Most knowledge workers like me and my team members have this habit of thinking that any tom-dick and harry can do the work we do. But that's actually not true. Specialists are the reality of the day and nobody can do my job as well as I do :). An ego boost ;).

India's headed in the right direction I would say. We are a very hard-working people - atleast I believe we are heading that way.Everybody wants to make it somewhere in life - hopefully this intent and hard-work translates to results. Only time will tell!

Tadiyandamol Trek

This is from my archive of trekologues. We went to Tadiyandamol in Dec 2003. Truly an amazing trek. Read on when you find time.

hey guys,

3 of us 'd been to tadiyandamol in coorg last weekend .. everybody shud go there ! we really had an awesome time there .. read on the trekologue when u find time .. it's a really looong one !

Tadiyandamol

------------

This was one trek that was pending for so long. I think we'd set our sight on this peak at least 1.5 years ago. But somehow it kept getting postponed due to some reason or the other.

Since we were only 3 of us going for the trek, there wasn't much planning required; a couple of googles was enough to get almost all the info required for the trip.

Day 0 (Friday night)

-----

We assembled at Majestic bus stand for the 10.45 PM bus to Napoklu. It was a luxury KSRTC bus - much more luxury than we usually have on trek journeys. The bus left the Blore bus stand almost on time and then our journey into the unknown had begun.

Day 1 ( Saturday )

-----

We reached Napoklu at 5.30 AM. Already we'd started feeling the cold of the Coorg winter when some of the windows in the bus kept opening on their own. But we got the full picture when we stepped out of the bus. Man, it really was a freezer. All 3 of us were shivering almost immediately. We spoke to some of the local guys in the bus stop to enquire about how to get to our immediate destination - the Nalaknad Armane ( Palace). They told us that the next bus to the place was at 6.45 AM. So we just ambled around the main road in Napoklu; we found a Tea shop just opening shutters. We rushed in and sat on the wooden benches inside the tea shop. Dennis and I went into the kitchen; given a chance we could even have sat on the stove !

At 7 AM , our bus slowly started moving to the tunes of some lovely devotional Kannada songs. And then we kept telling the conductor to tell us when we reach the bus stop for the armane. But he told us to get off at some place; and on enquiring with a guy at the tea shop he told us the we should 've got off 3 Kms earlier. So there began our trek on the road itself. We walked till the armane bus stop and then reached the armane itself eventually.



















There was a film shooting going on there. The name of the movie is "Shanthi" - a kannada movie being made for award purposes, so we were informed by one the guys in the shooting crew. Then we freshened up and did basic morning duties in a nearby stream and started off for the peak. By this time, I'd lost track of time or consciousness. Just let myself free and was enjoying every moment of the trip.

The trek started off with very easy looking jeep tracks - intermittent spells of open tracks and forest cover. Over all it wasn't too difficult terrain. We had company in the of another threesome with a guide - they were Belgians. We were doing the hare and tortoise with them; only difference being the hare and tortoises - both taking rest and breaks at regular intervals.


I was already feeling full happy coz this was the first dry and leech less trek in a very long time I could remember. We trekked and trucked along gradually - we had more than normal level of luggage to carry. A tent , 2 sleeping bags and loads of food. So the weight on the shoulders was always dragging us down on every upward climb.



















After a while, the jeep track ended and so did the forest cover. Then it became a full open grassland trek with trails. A landmark in the trek is a huge boulder. There was another group of french people on the boulder when we reached the place. We decided to halt ass for a while just after the boulder We just sat and chatted - also heard a stream in the vicinity - the pure music of water gushing through the gaps in the rocks and mountains.

After the break, we started again - chugging and puffing. We started on one trail and after sometime the trail just vanished ! We sat and wondered what we should do next. We started on another trail we saw nearby and again hit another dead end. We were definitely lost ! Dennis was leading the way in exploring the trail and route. Shiv and I just followed him quitely. The scenic view of the place where we got lost was qute amazing. We just feasted our eyes with the views all around !

We trekked and trekked trying to somehow get back to the stream. We put all kinds of fundas in listening to the sound of water and try to reach the stream. And the finally we crossed a point that looked familiar - and oops - where are we ? We were back at the boulder after 2 hrs. And we had the the belgian man greeting us " you guys still here ? ". He had gone halfway to the peak and returned coz his physical condition couldn't drive him up. His other 2 pals and their guide had gone on all the way.

We sat and had our lunch - some readymade rotis and mango pickle. After the lunch we had a small siesta and decided to give one last try at the peak. At this point, I went to speak to the begian guy. He told us to take the straight trail ; he also warned us the night would be really cold. He said the previous night they'd slept at the village and he felt as cold as he feels back home in belgium. We looked at each a scared glance at each other. Anyway, "no matter what" we were going to camp in the wild for the night. After all the effort of carrying the tent and sleeping bags.

Then started our ascent toward the peak - it kept going up up and away and reminded me of the Poochipara peak we'd climbed earlier in Silent valley. There's this with peaks - the more you climb the same the distance it looks as earlier. The views we got as went higher and higher improved in quality and sheer beauty of the entire place sinks in to you. You feel the present and only the present - I think that's the best form of meditation.

Finally we reached the peak ! We were on top of Tadiyandamol - meaning the highest point in kodava language. The elation and high that scaling a peak is unmatched. In the far distance we could see the outline of a meandering river merging into the ocean - the Arabian sea was visible from that distance.



















We just sat in silence for a good amount of time. And by 4 o'clock in the afternoon, cold winds had already started on the peak giving a trailer of what was to come. I feasted on the all the views and sights I could set my eyes on. It was simply superb and no words can describe the feeling.

We slowly and sadly started our descent from the peak. The climb down as usual was steep in places and quite a strain on the knees and ankles. And by this time, Shiv had twisted his ankle quite a few times. But he kept going. Then we reached the place near the boulder where earlier itself we'd decided to pitch the tent. We sat down there and had a quick nap, before putting up the tent. I felt so happy about my tent. Must be the most decent purchase I'd made in the recent time. In the meantime, the cold blast of wind had set in on the lower plains and reaches also.

We pitched the tent and then we saw yet another beautiful sight - the moon. It was almost a full moon and by that time we could already see Venus in the western sky almost about to set. And the wind just kept getting stronger and colder !




















We had dinner in the moonlight - it was so bright that we could see our shadows in the moonlight. The stars also started multiplied in number kept getting better and better with time. And so did the cold. After sometime, the cold winds had started cutting through our bones and then we decided to get into the cozy interiors of the tent. Parked ourselves into our sleeping bags and then I slept like a log.

Day 2
-----
Since we'd slept pretty early the previous night, I was up and awake by 5.30 AM; waiting for the Sun to come out. For once, I'd won the battle of waking with the sun ;). Shiv also woke up and we started preparing ourselves for the sunrise. We climbed a distance on the adjacent hill till a rock and sat there waiting for the sun to come up.




















This sight is a really divine experience. When the first light lights up the eastern sky, the beautiful red line and then the adjacent areas getting slight tinge of blue. The sounds of the animals from the forest hardly 500m from our campsite; the chirping of the birds all over. The first light in the morning is simply brilliant. This was also the clearest ever sky I'd seen for a perfect sunrise. Shiv and I were just mesemerized by the beauty of the entire place. The different shades of red orange and yellow of the light, the lighting up of the peak with this light, the shades of green in the adjacent valley - simply fantastic ! We kept clicking snap after snap. And then I dropped my camera and just felt the experience. Both of us did a brief version of surya namaskar.

If anyone saw this sight, you would really salute the sun for its brillance and life sustaining light.

Only when the sun was up sufficiently, did we climb down back to the camp. We then woke up Dennis and headed to the stream for morning duties. We then had a quick breakfast and packed our stuff and left toward the Armane ( palace). One last glance at the peak and the surrounding forests and valleys and plains all around and I could get high on this sight for ever and ever ! If at all there was a way to do a trek, this was it, I thought.

On return to the Palace, the film crew was still there. We made PC with the heroines of the movie, Bhavana, who's apparently won the national award for the best actress last year. She was quite friendly babe, and we assured her that we'll try to watch out for her movie.


Then we hit the road and took a bus to Madikeri. And guess what, it was the same conductor who dropped us off far away on the 1st day ! Anyway, didn't feel like asking him any soul searching questions, and we just enjoyed the bus ride toward Madikeri. The views were enchanting - of the hills, plains, the coffee plantations and the valleys deep down below ! The statue of upright Gen Cariappa welcomed us into the town of Madikeri.

We had a nice lunch - hot steamed rice and hot sambar - awesome change from the bread and cheese we'd had for the last 2 days. Then took a bus to Kushalnagar and reached Nisargadhama. The highlight of this leg of the journey was a cool elephant ride we undertook :). We had a nice refreshing bath in the Cauvery river and then headed back to Kushalnagar. From there we took a bus to Mysore and from there to Bangalore.

Yet another amazing trip came to end when we reached Majestic bus stand. The recollection of all the beautiful feelings, the air, the wind, the tricks of the moon and the sun, the different shades of green on the peaks, in the valleys, on the plains, off the coffee plantations - all will remain etched in memory forever. Just can't forget that sunrise we saw from atop the rock ! Over all, a very very satisfying and memorable trip.

Lighter moments
---------------

- We kept bugging Shiv for all his pronunciations and English language usage of aint, cant etc ;).

- He called "Elnir" or tender coconut as "Bonda". That was the first time, I'd heard anyone call it "bonda" .. we just burst out laughing ; that really got psenti ;)

Swings of Life

Life is nothing but a see-saw of emotions. One feels high for a period of time and then sinks low deep down the woods at other times. The aim of spiritual gurus is to balance these emotions and be free of this world of being-affected!

I am not a believer in the sheep-shepherd way of life. That I live in the dark and I'm a sinner and a messiah will come and show me the light and redeem all my sins. I don't want to believe that I'm sinner in the first place. Makes me feel like a hopeless case. May be the thoughts and prayers of those type were valid for a certain period of time and the conditions that prevailed at that time. But certainly not in my case.

As I examine the vagaries of emotions one feels - I think the enemy lies deep within. It's so easy to take offence to what somebody else says and dismiss the person a 'weird' guy/girl, stupid, mean etc etc. But the effect of being hurt is completely internal. You feel hurt only if you want to. And I know for a fact that people want to! If only we sat and cried for all the pain we cause to ourselves, a lifetime is not enough. Atleast for some people.

The main culprit I presume is the devil called 'expectation'. One does so many things in anticipation of something in return. That's living in a world of expectations. I somehow have got out of that world a long back. When I do something good for somebody, it's because I know that that person will be happy if I did it. Not because I expect them to do something for me someday when I feel that someone should do it for me! Whether it's buying a sweet for a near one, whether it's making the person by showing around some place - it's completely out of the feeling of doing good - not out of expectation.

Today I'm in the trough of feelings. I don't know how to express it! So I blog here.

In conclusion, there are two ways of being philosophical - happily philosophical or depressedly philosophical. When one is happy, the philosophy is not evident. You just want to have the moment with you. You don't even realize that you are happy philosophically or spiritually. But when the going gets tough is when one realizes how tough it is lose that spiritual capital.

Visitor

I saw this bird in a quite corner of the Kaveri river in the Ranganathittu bird sanctuary. Did he need a visa, passport or other documents? Fly like a bird and go around the world! Any ideas on what he's thinking?

Weekend TV and some preaching

TV viewing over the weekend, suddenly there was so much to watch on saturday.

Simultaneously, there were three amazing events happening:

- Wimbledon women's finals which was a good fight right through to the end. We watched this between the over breaks of the Cricket match.
- The best cricket match I remember watching in the recent times - the England - Aus Natwest trophy finals. The way it swung from one side to the other; the the best 2 teams in one day cricket today showed why they're up there. The way England's going, I don't think Aussies are gonna be the no.1 for too long.
- The live8 concert had some of the best music in the world being played across the world. The highlight of course was the Pink Floyd got together after 20 years. Their part came at almost 4 AM on Sunday morning. Luckily, we had to go for a party which which was on till 3 AM .. so just got back home in time for the GODs. The other band which was simply awesome was The
Who. I've listened to their music for a while now. It was amazing watching grandpas playing like they always did! Class is permanent is the best way to summarize what we saw.

Some of the ads and documentaries shown during the show were quite psyching. I didn't know Africa was in such deep shit. I thought they were only a little worse off than India.

I hope the CDs of the show are sold. It was really one event the world won't forget in a hurry.

On another note, the BIG jokers of the world, lead by the chief is meeting in Scotland. I sincerely hope they do something about emission of carbon. Bush in an interview yesterday that it "might" be possible that global warming is being caused by human activity. How much of it has been
contributed by bombing Afghanistan and Iraq, should be a study on its own.

As all you guys in the US get used to the "lifestyle" of America, and as this "lifestyle" spreads to India also, I think some very simple steps can be taken for the overall cause of the energy crisis and global warming:

- Especially in India, use the Sun to dry your clothes rather energy guzzling washing machine dryers. I don't know how much it applicable in the US, but I'm sure there must be a way
- Always ask for paper covers or no covers - no plastic please! I hope plastic is banned in Bangalore very soon!
- I know it's damn cool thing to be driving SUVs - but be concious that fossil fuels can't last too long. While today you still get the fuels of the world by bombing and capturing all oil containing nations.

Okay - that's a lot of preaching for the day :) .. Good day!

Imrana and the fatwa

TV channels are buzzing with activity on debates over the Imrana issue. There are so many articles written in all newspapers. It's a shocking discovery to many, that in a crime, it's the victim who is being punished!

This article gives a summary of the issues involved.

The so-called muslim elite have been interviewed on so many channels. What I fail to understand is : How all of them are compltetely against or very vague in their opinion about a uniform civil code? Is there something wrong in implementing a civil code that is equal to all?

The great secular leaders are also pretty silent on the issue. Why should anyone have a problem with a law that treats all communities equally ensuring gender justice? Beyond politics and that too of the vote bank kinds, I see no reason at all!

Evolution obstructed!

As we move into more automated homes and jazzy home theater systems, are we cutting ourselves off from a very essential component in our environment called Nature? The more we lock ourselves into our rooms, the less resistant we become to diseases.

Isn't a construction labourer more resistant to common cold and fever than I am? Is a guy richer than me and one who's not seen or felt anything of nature less resistant to virus and bacteria than I am? As we go through our so-called economic 'evolution' the less resistant we become to changes in nature. Weather changes inflict diseases, change of water cause colds and fevers all over. A guy who lives in India is quite resistant to diseases and pollution. When you take him and put him in an environment where everything around him is more protected like say in the US or Australia, he's doing great while he's there. But the moment he returns to India - he needs mineral water, he gets bronchial diseases and can't step out in the traffic! What's happened to his body's ability to fight the disease?

In the animal world, there's no concept of medicine. How does an animal survive a disease? I guess, only the fitter ones survive? The weaker ones are eliminated gradually and what you have is a gene pool of strong individuals! As the genetic pool keeps its variety and strength, it aids in evolution. Over centuries and millennia, the need to perform some particular activity lead to some adaptations and consequently evolution. In the human world, we have successfully prevented this from occurring!

The invention of Penicillin was a revolution indeed. It was a revolution that prevented many deaths at that time. But, the bacteria we were fighting got stronger! Today, penicillin is useless. The dosage of antibiotics have increased - so have the strength of many of these antibiotics. But, what's happened to our bodies? What's happening to our WBCs which are supposed to fight anything external? Weakened! By what? By our own action of cutting ourselves off from the rest of our planet!! And fighting every damn problem with external medicines.

Today we have WBCs which can't do anything on their own. Whether it's a skin acne or common cold or headache, there are scores of people who love to chew their antibiotics and 'just get rid of the damn disease'. Hello, what happened to your patience? The next time the same bacteria would've learnt to survive that stupid drug. Next stop? Stronger anti-biotic!!

Imagine a completely different situation. I'm talking about a world without drugs and medicines. Our WBCs would've become stronger? Result? Stronger lot of humans. So that's the evolution we've arrested on the biology front.

Now, we have automated accounting and counting. The human mind slowly loses its ability to think. As we get greater to automated lifestyles, the human mind draws a mental map of familiarity. And what happens when this mind is taken out of its familiar territory? Chaos! Insecurity! Take the simple example of the art of counting and mental arithmetic. Growing up in India, the best exposure to arithmetic came from the neighbourhood grocery shop. The kanaku pullay or the accounts guy always seemed to have a way with numbers. Today with automated cash registers and billing systems taking control of the world of arithmetic, even simple addition and subtraction has become quite an arduous task for the mind.

Automated lifestyles prevent evolution of the second kind - of the mind! If everything is so well taken care of by the system in which we live, what does the mind do? It wanders into so many feelings and thoughts. As we grow into emotional islands, we start suspecting everybody of deceit! Anger and frustration grow ! Alas, that is the evolution of the mind obstructed!

Mysore Trip - Day 2

Day 1 of the trip ended in some confusion over the hotel rooms. We needed 2 rooms because we were four people. But the guy in hotel goofed up and we had to find another room at 11 PM!

Anyway, the next morning we woke up at 8.30AM in our new room at The Gallery view hotel right opposite the Jaganmohan Palace which is also the Art Gallery.

After a few hiccups with an auto driver which led to much bigger hiccup between me and my wife, we started planning our day. We ate mallige idlies for breakfast in Hotel Siddhartha. I strongly recommend this place - very clean and reasonably priced.

Our travel day started with Chamundi betta.

Chamundi Hills

The drive up to Chamundi Hills is serene. On the wat there is the Karanji lake. The views of the Lalith Mahal palace on the way is fantastic.

On top of Chamundi betta, is a huge statue of Mahishasura greeting you. The temple's gopura can be seen from quite a distance. Like any other pilgrimage place, it was very crowded. Sunday is completely different day in the calender of the indian tourist. Every place looks so scrowded. And the same place when visited on a weekday would seem like heaven!

Anyway, it was a long queue for drashan of Chamundeshwari. There were lot of people and quite some pushing around. The sevaks also looked ill-trained to handle crowds. But on darshan it felt good. The deity was done up nicely.

Shots here:

























View of Lalith Mahal from Chamundi betta:




















Somnathapura

Tucked away deep in Mandya district are the magnificent ruins of Somnathapura. It's 40Km from Mysore near Bannur. We drove through the countryside of Karnataka - the richer side of Mandya district.

As we arrived in Somnathapura, we had some Tea in local tea shop. There was an art store with bronze structures and carvings made by different tribals in India. That was a unique collection of bronze art and resembled the kinds we'd read in history textbooks about the Harappan culture. The stuff there is really impressive - but then so are the prices! There were art items from Todas in Nilgiris, Gonda tribe in Madhya Pradesh and some Naga tribal art too!

The main monument of Somnathapura is very well protected. The entire complex is beautifully maintained. The lawns all around the temple gives an impressive backdrop for the main attarction.

The deepa sthamba of the Keshava temple:
























The temple has some of the most intricate carvings I've seen made on soapstone.
Most of the sculptures are based on Ramayana, Mahabharata and other Vishnu's avatars. As we drove out of Somnathapura back to Mysore, it was a feeling of satisfaction.