Bird on the Railing

Taken at Boys Hostel, Symbiosis, Pune, 

bright Sunday morning, just after a rainy day.

Glimpses of the white sand Alleppey Beach

Introducing the Alleppey Beach. I was born 500 meters away from that shoreline (in the Beach Hospital).

Alleppey is well known for its backwaters. The white-sand beach is something that visitors discover after they reach the town. Post lunch is the best time to visit the beach, when the water is cool, the tide is low, and the beach is nearly empty.

This particular day, the tide was extra-low, the sky was overcast. The previous night, the tide was extremely rough,.. the hallmark of its fury being the smashed crustaceans washed up on shore. In some areas, there was a layer of broken shells, about an inch thick! I held the largest shell I've found so far... (not the largest one I've seen, but the largest one I've found)

The sea at Alleppey is usually very inviting, its hard to resist a dip. But calm waters run very very deep. A few meters away from the shoreline, the sea bed takes a sudden dive, and the currents are strong, and pull  swimmers down. Many experienced swimmers have perished. So, if you are going into the water, go till waist deep. No more.

Alleppey was once a bustling center of trade and commerce.. until the Cochin harbour was developed. Many decades ago, ships docked a few kilometers off the Alleppey coastline and tug-boats brought in the goods, which were loaded into railway wagons waiting on the pier. Now, Alleppey is a sleepy little town, and all that's left of the proud days is the skeleton of the pier.

Make no mistake, that pier's made of real sturdy steel... It's lasted for more than a century. I searched the pillars for some evidence of its early days. I expected to find inscribed on the steel "Made in England"... but the salt of the sea had already destroyed any such evidence.

:D I would pay to watch someone walk that pier, Super Mario style...

(Pics by Cyclops, the Android)

The Coconut Oil Mill at Trivandrum

The smell of coconut oil that comes out of the oil bottle you purchase from the nearest retail store is no where close to the original smell. To get that authentic smell, you need to visit a coconut oil mill. Walk in, and you are hit by an invisible curtain of heavy, warm, almost suffocating coconut flavour... I wondered if I would get high if I stayed too long.

The coconut mill crushes sun-dried coconuts...

... into golden yellow coconut oil ...

... and oil cake - which goes into cattle feed and biscuits ...

At the center of it all is the crusher machine. It takes in the dried coconut from the attic above. The pipe coming down from the attic chops the coconut into smaller pieces, which are then force fed into a horizontal, spiral tube which crushes the oil out. The oil drops down in the circular tub below. And the oil cake comes out into the basket, at the end of the tube.

Fresh coconut oil, they say, is healthier than the refined version. All I can say is, when you see that coconut being converted into that golden yellow oil, all you are thinking is, "I need something to fry.. NOW!!!"

Snapshots of TVM, a.k.a Thiruvananthapuram

That's the view from the Trivandrum Coffee Day.
Thursday afternoon, 2:30 IST

Shawn, my cousin, on his dad's Yezdi.

That bike's an antique and I can find a lot of people who'd love to 

lay their hands on that one!

A Protest in Progress.

A hallmark of Kerala, thanks to the Comm un.ist party

A Crystal Clear Day,... and Gandhi smiles :)

'Twas a morning after the rains... 

'Twas warm, bright, and so crystal clear you could see for miles together...

The sea was a brilliant blue and Gandhi seemed very pleased...

Too bad it wasn't a Sunday, else I would have had Breakfast on the shore.

Do you see the Giant in the shadows?

So, do you see him? With his big club?

Photo taken from my kitchen's balcony. 

The rains brought a bright green layer of grass on the previously stony brown ground.

My Theory on the Genisis of Experts

Are you looking at an expert?

You know, true experts are rare. These are game changers. These people redefine the industries they operate in. They remain on the cutting edge of discoveries, inventions and innovations in their industry. These people see change much much before anyone else. These people can be truly an inspiration to work with.

How did he/she get to be an expert? What did they do to get there?

Turns out there are only four ways someone can be an expert:

1. the person's a prodigy
2. the person's got a smart mentor and coach who spends time with the person
3. the person's in an environment with smart people all around
4. the person's facing a smarter opponent.


Either the person uses in built ability to become an expert. Or the person learns from the surroundings.

So do YOU want to become an expert? If you fall under Category 1, good; just keep going. If you don't, then search for the other three situations and get yourself in there.

Meet Florence...

Meet my new Ford Figo, codenamed "Florence".

Yes, it has something to do with Florence Nightingale... I started the lookout for a car after I rammed a dog at 11:30 in the night on my two wheeler. So, Florence will ensure I reach home in one piece...

The best thing I like about it is the space inside; after I push the front seat backward, as much as possible, the back seat still has enough of space for the person behind to sit comfortably.

Besides that, the insides are comfortable, the fuel economy is good, the handling is surprisingly very good and very easy, the air conditioning beats the Swift and the Indigo, the boot's got plenty of space... and the list goes on.

It even got a review...

"I don't like the front seat 'cos the ceiling seems low, but the backseat is excellent!"

- Ritesh Rajani

Hard-nosed product critic

3 Goals.. One Lifetime

It's quite something to be caught between three goals in life...

following a passion to make technology work for people, ...

running a business which makes ample amounts of money, ...

making people in touch with me happier...

... and having a ball doing all three. Each goal points in a different direction. Each one requires a different behaviour-response pattern. Each one requires a different knowledge set. Each one has a set of multi-variate whatever whatever...

I look at them and my mind goes blank... and then it goes wild... why not ALL 3? The mind focuses, pupils dilate, adrenaline pumps,... yeah.. all 3 ;)

College Art! Class A... by Harmeet Kaur

After the rousing response I got for the Office Art! post in office, I was reminded of a College Art! photo I took in my MBA class in Feb 2007. Here it is:

Whiteboard-Marker on Whiteboard,

Created by Harmeet Kaur,

In the 10 minute break, I believe.

It was simply too good to let it be erased off... so I immortalized it.

Some details of the photo itself:

Yes, I am still proud of my E50, the slim phone which Sindhu introduced me to.

Office Art! : What if Newton...

Issac Newton wondered "Why did that Apple drop down?"...

My office colleagues wondered, "What if Newton was not under an apple tree?"

(That piece of Office Art was captured from a whiteboard in our R&D room. Credits: Jenila, Selvi, and the quote by Ritesh)

How to take a call before getting a load off your back...

Clinton's Travel Log, Earth date 26.01.2009

Was walking on the streets of Pondicherry when I came across this rice loader. He was moving rice from a transport vehicle to a shop when he got a call. To my amazement, he let one hand go of the rice bag, fished the cellphone out and answered the call.

To my greater amazement, he stood in that position for 5 whole minutes. What a back!

World class vs. Local class

What is it to be world class? It means to be a master in the field. It means having solved 80% of the problems in that field. It means knowing more than 99% of the rest of the world in that field. World class stuff cannot be denied.

Local class on the other hand is comparing yourself with yourself, or with your peers. It means being better that what is immediately visible. Being top local class in one place implies that you can be bottom local class somewhere else.

So question is, should one be world class in everything?

Turns out, its practically not feasible. World class demands time and effort. Dedication. Discipline. Deliberate practice. You can't be world class at more than two fields. And for most of us, its just one.

World class has its perks, but has a price. Trying to be world class in everything actually moves you away from life, away from friends, away from fun. And then any new thing you have to do, you suddenly set such high standards for yourself, you end up hating to do it, rather than having fun doing it.

So lets be practical Clinton, one world class item... please,... and we'll be GREAT at it.....

Yours truly,

Your Brain.

Leaving behind dots to connect the picture

Steve Jobs, in his speech at Stanford says 'you can connect the dots backwards...'

Just realized, if you leave more dots, the past picture becomes clearer... useful when you become a leader to recall what thoughts you had when you were a follower....

Here's one of those dots.

Imagine you were standing there... at 38000 feet up..

SCMHRD is 4th in Business Today's Best B-School Survey

Symbiosis Center for Management and Human Resource Development (my college :) has been rated as the 4th Best B-School in India by Business Today's Best B-School Survey (ON THE STANDS October 18, 2009).

Business Today bases its results on the opinions of critical stakeholders - aspiring MBA students, current B-schoolers, and corporate recruiters, on parameters of the Nielsen's "Winning Brands" model.

Kudos to the Director (a.k.a Subbu Sir) and his team of faculty...

Here are the scanned images of the magazine...

Auto Art @ Chennai

Chennai's autorickshaws are famous for their quarreling drivers who are masters in over charging their customers. Fact apart, there are lesser recognized for the graphic art works that adorn the inside and outsides of their vehicles, which I might add, can be quite interesting. Not only to they depict local tradition, local hero worship and the fads of times current and past, some of them even go international, for instance, this one who's picked up a ... ahem... well known American cowboy phrase.

Fwd: Dosti bole toh...... !

This might be out of tune with this blog's theme, but it's the funniest description of friendship ever...I've got to put it here... Kudos to the creator....life has been captured in all its reality!!! :D

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Astuti <...>
Date: Thu, Oct 8, 2009 at 10:43 AM
Subject: Fwd: Dosti bole toh...... !
To:

Friends,

Friendship is not about "I m sorry "
its about "abbe teri galti hai "

Friendship is not about "I m there for u" or "I missed u "
it's about "kahan marr gaya tha saale.."


Friendship is not about "I understand "
its about "sab teri wajah se hua manhus"


Friendship is not about "I care for u "
its about "kamino tumhe chhod ke kahan jaunga "


Friendship is not about "I m happy for ur success "
its about "chal party de saale"


Friendship is not about "I love that girl"
its about "saalo izzat se dekho tumhari bhabhi hain "


Friendship is not about "R u coming for outing tomorrow "
its about " nautanki nahi, hum kal bahar ja rahe hai "

Friendship is not about "Get well soon "
about " Itna piyega toh yehi hoga"

Friendship is not about "All the best for ur career"
its about "bahut hua, abhi toh switch mar saale"

--

You can catch me blogging at:
(http://astutalks.blogspot.com
http://officiallyspeaking.blogspot.com)

Mumbai Subway

This pic is of a Mumbai subway. Impressive.
For the non-indians, a subway over here currently means a walkway under a busy road.

Waiting for the Yearbook

My two years in SCMHRD are almost over. Convocation, or the "Commencement Ceremony" as they are calling it this year, is on the 20th of April, a week away.

I'm waiting to get my hands on the yearbook. This one was actually designed by Mohit, Tawheed, Rathi and I. It's got Tawheed's awesome graphics. I wonder where the guy gets his inspiration from. Simply amazing, simply undeniable.

And it's really the last thing we'll be doing for the college and that makes it special. What makes it sweeter still is that we have kept the last page for the yearbook all to ourselves. Well, we did take the initiative and the effort to do this. We deserve every piece of that last page for the work we did.

Anywa, waiting for the hard copy... one week is simply too longg.....