The unchanged india..

Had been to Chennai for a day for my wife's US visa interview. Traveling by train offers an excellent opportunity to see the people around.. refreshing. Airports are always mundane and drab in that regard.

Train journey always bring a fairy tale touch to the trip. When I was a kid, I vividly remember the trip to Delhi. It was a grand 3 day trip in train, I had religiously noted down the station names in the trip. I still have it in the old diaries I have kept. The total number had come upto 52 or so..

People rushing around.. old men trying to hide their brow lines when searching for trains, kids moving around excited, parents trying to seem calm as they vent their ire, porters trying to shepard past the crowds.. the beautiful old train stations (and their ugly more modern extensions), the loud announcement, the ever increasing sea of people, the buzz around as a train approaches. Actually..... nothing seems to have changed in the past decade ... may be nothing has changed since we got independence...

May be this is the unchanged India which people talk about..

Ciao till next time...Harsha

The mirror image...

Got married recently. Life just changed recently. The biggest change has been in thinking. I would call it the multiplier effect (in simple terms 2 is better than 1 as long as they add up in one direction). I used to think for myself, make decisions and live them for myself. Not an inch given to someone nor taken.

Its interesting to see in a mirror. The image is always exactly the same as yourself. Not an inch different- same expressions, same notions, same appearance as yourself. I have come to realize that marriage is the same too.

Its like a mirror- WYSWYG: What You See is What You Get. Get on the colgate smile :-) You see I want a smiling MEEEeee....

Ciao till next time...Harsha

Job - No Job: The mon(k)ey dilemma

Appraisals are round the corner.. the general feeling of anticipation runs high... first appraisal in this company- a wait of 2 years (since I was not eligible for the first year as I joined late for the cycle).

Suddenly there is news of Lehmann, Merril Lynch, AIG... people getting fired. Companies which stood ground for centuries going down the bankruptcy route..

People joining these companies with lots of aspirations getting pink slips without even knowing what 'work' means..

These are turbulent times- probably first time in my life I am thinking- where is the money? Suddenly the words from this film 'Lord of war' is ringing in my ears: 'We all live for mortgage'. Loans, borrowed money.. liabilities: house loan, education loan, expenditures, house advance, marriage expenses, etc etc.

'The juice must be worth the squeeze'. Probably the first time in life, significance of these words ring aloud. Am I getting enough out of something... in all seriousness 'am I even'? Its the best feeling to be satisfied. Contented. Its important to learn. Its important to earn. Its nice to have a balance.

May be someday I should do something on my own, be the master of my own fate. Eat my own fruits. Live my own life.

May be this.. may be that.. may be may be.. But, not yet. When time comes, when the field is set, I will know.

Ciao till next time...Harsha

Fairy Tale

Sometimes fairy tales come true.
Sometimes you get incredibly lucky
Sometimes time seems too fast and you wish there was a pause button
I am just passing through this fairy tale phase.. Oh God, please press pause!

Ciao till next time...Harsha

Thoughts.. After thoughts

God, grant me the serenity
To accept the things I cannot change;
The courage to change the things I can;
And the wisdom to know the difference.

Ciao till next time...Harsha

Boxing the golden goose :-)

Three Indian Boxers - Akhil, Jitender and Vijender have surprisingly reached the quarter finals in Olympics.

MAY THE COLLECTIVE FRUSTRATION OF ONE BILLION PEOPLE FALL AS PUNCHES ON THEIR OPPONENTS........... AMEN [:-)]

Ciao till next time...Harsha

Gold hunt: Mission accomplished.

No piece of gold was awaited so eagerly by so many people in the history of mankind. I wanted to update my blog on a lot of different things, but somehow the news of a Olympic gold is simply unbelievable. Hence I am not waiting any longer.....

The statement 'beyond wildest expectation' is truly applicable to this. But looking back.... a faint ray of hope always existed... one of the nicer things to happen to India is the way we have been concentrating on the non-favorite events (events where US, Russia and China are not very very focussed): Games like shooting, Archery, Wresting, Boxing, etc..

People have been consistently winning medals in world championships, Commonwealth and Asian Games- consistency always bears fruits. Sooner or later. A silver in last games was always a pre cursor to greater things to come..

India is on the path which China followed.... it was only in late 80's that China started winning medals consistently. The focus again was on non note worthy events... probably we will get there too.

Whatever happens, we will always remember Bhindra.... the first piece of gold won by an individual in a 1 billion plus populace.

Ciao till next time...Harsha

The New Bangalore International Airport: Crib, crib, crib... the best crib story of the town!

Indians crib. No doubt. We crib about anything and everything. The roads are not good, the government is bad, petrol prices are high, water problem, people around us (read 'you') are bad, facilities are bad, corruption is rampant, yadi, yadi.. yadi.

In short everything around me and you is bad or insignificant or unimportant. Yes, may be that is the reason we are still one of the under developed countries in the world. We never get finished with our problems- to start fixing them.

I landed in Bangalore International Airport on 24 May 08' (a day after the opening). There are 2 versions to my story:

1. Crib story:

I calculated the space that was cribbing about the airport in TOI on Sunday: whopping 1.5 pages.. with at least 25% of the front page reserved for this (the rest was exclusively talking about elections: that is another topic for my next blog post).

Now, let me summarize my own cribbings with the common ones till now:
- The airport is too far (too far are you crazy? its like traveling to a different city altogether.. OMG its 60kms from my house!)
- Roads are narrow (now tell me where in Bangalore you find broad roads!)
- The airport is unorganized (ever heard someone wait longer to collect baggage than it takes for the entire journey!)
- The airport is small (OMG why do we need a Changi airport in Bangalore?)
- The ground staff are inexperienced..
- Taxi rates are high (whopping Rs 15/km)
- Announcements are bad, immigration check still takes such a long time, security check is still the same..
- The bus service is bad! The journey is so long!
- The information desk is not operational fully..
blah... blah... blah!

2. The good story:

Whopping 4,000 acres (World's best airport, Changi Airport, S'pore has 3,200 acres). There is potential. Its a sad story that there is only 1 terminal with 8 aerobridges; but I do hope that the sheer size will come in handy.

Ok, summarizing the good side of things:
- 12 million passengers a year can be handled!! Where was the scalability before
- NH7 to expressway. I know it is not enough but... i still feel this is great start
- A metro connection to city planned... I know it takes time. But, all failings will go with this one move
- Entrepreneurial potential... what else could have offered so much freedom to develop services sector (transport- taxis, buses, metro; food, luggage handling, more hotels in outskirts, etc)
- Outer Ring Road, Peripheral Ring Road, Express ways... more and more roads... how else could so many roads come up..!

All in all, its ok. Sooner or later the airport located on outskirts will drive more infrastructural work. It offers an excellent opportunity for a small city to dream of becoming a well planned international city one day!

Ciao till next time...Harsha

A lot can happen over coffee.

Hmmm..

Ciao till next time...Harsha

Weekend checklist

Sundays are ideal. This is that period of the week which is ideally spent. Doing not what is demanded from me, but what I want to do.

The day begins not so late, and not that early. Just ideal. 7AM. A short jog around NMK park- I love the spring time flowers that have bloomed... I like that particular tree which has started shedding its pink flowers. The flowers which have fallen form a pink circle encircling the tree. I want to take a pic of that before its gone come summer..

Newspaper seems like bliss along with a cuppa coffee. Deccan Herald and TOI. I like to read the paper backwards. With IPL taking all the back pages.. I usually skim through them nowadays. Swaminathan holds me spell bound usually making me think. Shoba De, Chidananda Rajghatta, etc are glanced through too. I totally love the travel and living sections. I should write them someday. Now its usually 10AM.

A full breakfast and a round of sleep usually is enough to take me to afternoon. A evening meet with friends, a short outing and a fresh exchange of ideas and arguments keep spirits rolling for next week!

Now, what are the 3 things I want to do?
1. Make a visit to the friendly bookstore to pick that book which I can skim through in a day.. I think I can afford Crossword/Landmark or Strands now.
2. Travel. Trek. I want to make more frequent treks around Bangalore.. shed that laziness and get more physical!
3. Put some thinking into the week ahead. I remember this saying.. better think about future- you would be spending quite sometime there..

Well.. there goes my weekend checklist. Now let me get back to my day time reverie...!

Ciao till next time...Harsha

A Flower

Somehow the time seemed right. For the first time, it seemed ideal. No words, no expressions, just the presence.

The sweetest flower that blows,
I give you as we part,
For you it's a rose,
But for me it's my heart.

Ciao till next time...Harsha

IPL- A dash of bollywood, cheerleading and some cricket

Its here finally. Indian Premier League. Its now official- the final trial of the bollywood gyrations, baseball cheerleading and some cricket is here.

Will it succeed- I would want to say yes. But, logic says no. DLF paid 200Crs for title sponsorship, Shah Rukh Khan, Mallya, Preity Zinta + Ness Wadia combo, etc have spent $100M odd each. Can they recover this all?

I think not. Why- I will give you an example. This is the oft quoted example of 'Law of diminishing returns' in economics. If a person is thirsty- he drinks a glass of water. If he is very thirsty, may be 2 glasses of water. Very very very thirsty? May be a third glass. Can someone drink 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 glasses of water? No. May be if you are participating for the Guinness records :-)

We are a cricket crazy nation. No doubt. But, the question here is - are we that crazy to watch Warne, Mc Grath, Hayden, Kallis, Ntini and co. fight it out day-in and day-out? Will we be as passionate when we cheer them as we usually are when it is Sachin, Dravid or Ganguly? Donno.

This will decide if IPL is a success or no irrespective of the naach gaana, cheer leading and the accompanying dance sequences.. Or am I wrong?

Ciao till next time...Harsha

Muthukrishnan - A prof remembered

Somethings make you feel you should have attended classes properly! Especially if the prof happens to be the best guy for the subject in the country. Muthukrishnan- the best prof for Operations.. ever volatile.. spirited.. ethusiastic.. humane.. but now will remain only in our memories. He died of a massive heart attack recently.

One of the regrets I would harbor from NITIE days is missing out on attending lectures and interacting more with Muthu sir. I remember the time when he asked if I ever attended his classes in module 1. Another incident which I would remember is about the time when I asked him if I could skip his lectures for the week- I was going to some B School debate/case study competition (I do not remember which one, though I vividly remember Muthu sir's reaction- 'Kya IT job karna hai kya?').

You see for Muthu- there are only 2 jobs where worthless people can end up- IT or Banks :-) His impression about me considerably improved towards the second year after he came to know that I was a guy who did not get through 13 interviews in summers after clearing all GD's. I even ventured to borrow couple of books (one of which I never returned- never read as well... I need to read it someday).

One of the things that hits you is- How would people remember you after you are dead? Most people would not even be worth remembering (aam junta... usual feeling is chalo.. 1 person less in the world).

With couple of recent deaths in family- I have come to the realization that wantingly / unwantingly people in their old age become "don't cares" or "its only a matter of time" types. Also, old age is like time bomb. You know its going to end.. you know you cannot live on.. everytime you fall ill- you feel its time (only to get a small reprieve).. the wait is tantalizingly painful.. god save people from old age!

Yeah, probably that is the reason they say that good people die young. Its better to leave with a feeling that the promise was yet to be complete than leave with a feeling of living beyond expiry date!

This is precisely why one feels so much for Muthu- lots of unanswered questions like 'who can fill his shoes', 'can there be a more commanding guy with Ops?', 'will the companies have the same awe when it comes to Ops recruitments.. now that the pillar is gone'.. these and many more! The condolences seen for Muthu is also worth mentioning- right from old students (dating back two decades) to all the present lot, colleagues, industry friends, everyone has a small tale/story to share about their association with the great man. They say legacy lives on..

A small thought does pass by- 'will we be remembered at all when we are gone?"
Only time will tell.

Ciao till next time...Harsha

The best podcasts I've listened to- Part2

Back with Podcasts after the previous lists (check here). Couple of interesting ones which I came across.

Yeah and I have come to the conclusion that this guy Robin Sharma rocks. ROCKS. Did I tell you he rocks?

1. Get Brilliant at Asking: Some will.. some won't, so what. Ask.. you never know what's in store. So, ASK.
   
2. Randy Pausch's last lecture: This is good. Seriously good. You know it is so good that I want to again say its good. I have linked the most condensed version of Randy's lecture on 'Childhood dreams'. For more detailed version- go ahead and search!
   

Ciao till next time...Harsha

Reminiscences of the Bus Traveler

I traveled by BMTC bus today (Formerly called BTS: Bangalore Transport Service). There have been quite some changes to the BTS bus now from the days when I used to be a regular commuter- in a small way it is an indicator of the forward movement of the aam aadmi in Bangalore.. the volvo buses, automatic door locking, power steering/braking system, FM radio, wider seats, etc..

I know people might say that these are not enough, what with the killer attitude of the BTS bus drivers, over speeding, insufficient buses, yadi yadi yadi... But wait.

My association with the BTS bus travel goes back to early 90's. I vividly remember the first day I traveled alone in BTS bus. This was in 1993, Jan 2 (I remember the date vividly as it was a new year and I was in 6th Std). The rate for a half ticket from St Josephs Indian Middle School (the bus stand was called Pallavi Talkies- which used to be a celebrated theater in those days) to Koramangala was 50pc.

As luck would have it- I had carried that 50pc coin in my uniform shorts pocket (the navy blue shorts we used to wear). A small 'yet to be of concern' type hole in my pocket did no good to protect the small treasure it contained. Soon enough, in the hype and hoopla of catching the bus no. 171, I lost my 50pc coin. Not risking climbing down from the running bus, I got in. Soon enough the mustached bus conductor demanded for my bus pass or money.. With half moist eyes- I told him my sad tale. Being a man of some concern, the conductor just looked into my eyes and with a kindly word or two let me travel on! That was my first money-less travel. Something which I can never forget- the kind conductor and also the ticket which he gave me without taking any money (this, I had preserved till recently along with my old coin and stamp collection- I think it is still there!).

Subsequently, till I passed out of Engineering (this was the toughest time- traveling no less that 20Kms from Koramangala to RVCE in Mysore Road changing no less than 2/3 buses..), I have had many unforgettable journeys in the BTS bus. I loved traveling in the old double decker buses (I used to board them for fun in school days though it did not ply on my route to home), first volvo bus service, the front engine drive (getting that elusive gear box seat) and ah... the 171A bus at 3.45PM which I used to catch at the signal near Kanteerava stadium (now long gone as it is a one-way.. those days the road used to be tree lined, and policeman controlled traffic with his hand signals)... it was crucial for me to catch this bus as I wanted to reach home at 4PM and watch the 1 hr cartoon show on DD Metro! Driving 6 Kms in 15mins is impossible anywhere in Bangalore now!!

Well, coming back to present times- I do pity the poor souls called 'bus driver' and 'conductor' who are paid pennies to take in all the carbon emissions, the rush hour traffic snarls, the thousand abuses from God knows who all (right from the traffic policeman to the irked bus commuter to the driver of that slick new car who is in a hurry to reach one of the glass buildings housing the celebrated IT offices!).... I really pity them... and yes, if I was the driver why should I not over speed and try to overtake that millionaire kid racing on the road in his swanky new car.. or for that matter if I was the conductor- why not hurl abuses at the North Indian commuter who does not even know how to speak the local tongue and yes, why take pains to learn that alien language (read hindi) when not even paid 1/5 of the lowest paid IT worker.. why? why?

I don't know the answers to these- but I surely know that this cannot continue.. when I came today by that BTS bus, I could see the morose, tired, overworked and frustrated conductor trying all languages to ask where I wanted to go.. I have seen more amicable conductors in the past 15 years, I still remember the old guy who gossiped about the latest movie or politics on the No. 164 I used to take to reach college. I was much pained to see the changes around- may be Bangalore is turning cosmopolitan, a true metro, a city which is waiting with open arms to welcome one and all- the Indian immigrant and the foreigner who buys the services of the big IT firms.

In the Western world (the one that we are trying to ape)- there is dignity of labor. Is it an alien word here? What has that poor conductor or driver done to deserve this treatment? Does he not have dreams/aspirations which he wants to bring alive? Can he make a decent living in Bangalore with the pittance he gets paid?

I don't know. Do you?

Ciao till next time...Harsha

A comma, a full stop.

Manjunath Kalmani: Was a software engineer in Silicon valley. Paralyzed from neck down. Spinal cord injury level C4 when he got injured in a car Accident at Nashville, TN, in April 2002.. slowly injury level became C2 complete. On ventilator 100%. Only communication- writing through sip n puff mouth control device.

Presently in Safdarjung Hospital, New Delhi.

Well, you think you have problems? Think again. Do you have enough problems?

I don't know why I started writing this on my blog- may be sympathy, may be frustration at seeing someone so helpless, may be the fear at a 'what if scenario' (what if something like that happens to me?), may be this... may be that... may be...

For one, I did see (and yes, experience as well) a similar situation to a far lesser degree where you see someone helpless, bedridden slowly waiting for the day when there can be a full stop to the suffering. My grandmother was bedridden (more for age related issues) for nearly half a year, a month in hospital. I understand the pain that comes along.

Why did I write 'A comma, a full stop' as the heading: Manjunath's life is a full stop. he knows he is not mentally ill, he knows he can do all the mental activities you and I are capable off... but still he cannot do those. He is a chronically ill patient. I actually pity the family of Manjunath too. Some people may not appreciate it. But I am sure the lives of his parents and immediate family at Koppal would have sorely got affected. When someone you know very well suffers, a part of you automatically starts suffering too... a comma seems to crop up in a smooth flowing life.

As someone says - 'If 'ifs' and 'buts' were pots and pans, there would be no tinkers'. Life goes on. But, lets take in a moment's silence. Lets do something which will lessen the burden of a fellow human.

May be he can lead a near normal life. Look at the pic. There's a person sitting- he's Perry. May be he can sit too. You know that is a great pleasure for someone who has slept for past 5 years- to sit, to move on a wheelchair. That's bliss.

Contribute. Don't just read. Click here.


Ciao till next time...Harsha

The pleasures of gyming!

I strongly recommend this to all those souls who feel they need to be in the thick of action all the time... every time. Gyming.

Of all the basic human needs, the most important one seems to be 'the need to be counted.. the satisfaction of having achieved something every single day'..

Since yours truly falls into this category and gets bored at the drop of hat, gyming time has becoming crowning glory everyday nowadays!

Yeah also, who doesn't want that sculpted 'Greek God' body! Its been a month now since I started visiting the local gym.. and though no actual physical improvement on outset can be seen, the joy of getting physically stressed out makes the day ahead look a lot rosier!

For all the unlucky folks struck in jobs like me where male-female ratio seems to be rather skewed... more like 100:1 (whoever keeps telling there are 929 females for every 1000 males in the country must be kidding!) its a chance for seeing the 'chicks'..

Well.. I can go on.. but, I see you've got my point- join the gym my friend!

Here are some good cartoons I came across- worth reading for laughs..



Ciao till next time...Harsha

Valentine's Day!

Well, yes. Its that time of the year when Saint Valentine sends his cupid to strike people across all religions, boundaries touching the right chord at heart. For all of you in love- wishing you the very best ahead.

For those who have been SAD (Single Always Day) throughout, let me advise you to celebrate it in your own style! Get on the best clothes, do all the pub hopping, get onto the dance floor, tap onto that music and keep the tempo going.. you never know when the cupid strikes, after all love is blind and can hit anybody!

For the rest of the aam junta who care for neither of these- its afterall another day! (why did you care reading this anyway).


Ciao till next time...Harsha

Creative Spoofs & Ads

I am a big fan of Webchutney. They have the best bunch of creative people according to me.

Here are some of their Ads & spoofs I was checking through on this lazy sunday morning (I love this time of the week- waking up at 8AM, hot cuppa kaapi, jog around the park, browse through the net for all the little arbit happenings around the world).

Makemytrip: Moving train

Makemytrip: Udee.. amazing idea!

Aids Campaign: Simple and Awesome!

Don't forget to check out some of their previous beauties, the Happydent Ad still remains my all time favourite, if you find something better let me know through your comments!

Makkadman, our desi Spiderman!
Happydent and others

Ciao till next time...Harsha

The art of winning..

The recent India-Australia test series has been really exciting. Since I am one among the herd who likes to watch, crib, cry, laugh and rejoice with cricket.... this was a treat for me.



After the second test at Sydney, I was wondering- what is the secret of winning... what more does one do to win? Why do some teams get all the half chances, marginal decisions while the other always ends up on the wrong side? Why, why... why? May be people who judge are biased or may be one team has the extra special way of appealing (to make it look only logical to lift the finger to indicate consent) or may be it is the home advantage..

I was actually thinking along these lines. But, after watching the third test at Perth, I just changed the reasons to much more intrinsic.. more basic level of human behavior. If you watch the decisions in Sydney and Perth- there were many decisions that were wrongly judged. But, if one watches the last day of each test... surprisingly the marginal decisions went to the team that had the extra bit of 'urge to win'.

Human beings are wired to believe that the 50-50 marginal decisions should always go towards those who deserve that a little more... Somehow, just like in the movie Cinderella Man where the old champion keeps fighting... giving that one last punch to the younger, stronger opponents; or like in Forrest Gump when one man running across the country gives hope to many others spurring them to follow him... It is intrinsic human nature.

It was really nice to see that willingness to give that little bit 'extra' (watching RP Singh fighting to make every run in second innings, Ishant Sharma bowling 9 overs in a row, Sachin Tendulkar chasing the ball from widwicket to long off boundary to stop one boundary, etc etc) to win in Perth. For millions of people who watch the game with religious fervour in India, it gives that little bit of hope... that some day they can have the same winning attitude... may be they are spurred to give that 'little bit extra' in whatever they do....

Ciao till next time...Harsha

Taare Zameen Par

As I walked out of the theater, I could see grown men with moist eyes. There were no comments like- 'Aamir Khan stole the show' or 'The title song was good' or for that matter I did not hear any comments at all..

In a strange way there was a general acceptance that - a raw nerve was touched here. The movie demanded a minute's silence to digest the message it tried to convey.

It's a fast paced world.. men are breaking all sorts of records left, right and center. Man running 100m below 9.5s looks a real possibility, 20-20 cricket seems to be catching the craze waves, computers a commonplace now to accomplish our tasks at that lightening speed, 24hrs a day sometimes seem a little less for the work we try to accomplish in a day...

Speed, in short.. has become the name of game. Where is the place for those who do not fit into this world? What happens to the chap who finishes last in the class, where will a non-Engineer/Doctor/MBA be in today's world? Does one have hope if he does not perform academically? Does academic failure in short mean failure in life? Does everyone needs to run in the same track, is it necessary to always take the beaten path? Can one live life on the parallel paths along the mainstream...?

These are some of the questions that the film tries to pose.

In the midst of it all, one message come out strongly- 'It is OK to be different'. World not only requires the fast paced professionals who have become one-too-many, but also those who can bring in fresh ideas, remind us that it is still a beautiful world to live. We also require artists, poets, paintists, actors, musicians...

The story is reminiscent of Dickens caricaturization of Tom Sawer or David Copperfield. The difference seems to be more mental than the physical variety depicted in these classics of Victorian age.

All in all... without getting philosophical, let me just say- this movie is simply too good. This is just the right kind of wake up call for all of us.

As W H Davies has commented in the poem 'Leisure'-
"WHAT is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare?"

Ciao till next time...Harsha