Mar&Apr

 Ok so i missed the Mar updates :) and here i try to combine both Mar and Apr. But honestly, time flies and much more happens when you are into the thick of things. March and April have both been super hot this season, and while i did travel to a few places they were equally hot if not more, both Chennai and Trichy. I got to know some fun names of the different dishes there - like perpusli, vethakolzubu, moorkozumbu, kootu and all (ok I know i got all those spellings wrong!). So yea, looking forward for the summer to go and rains to come by — today it started to rain super heavy suddenly so there is hope. In fact it rained so hard that the tree branch fell on our house gate and wrecked it! Just got those fixed and blah. This city also needs a big re development project, everything seems to be falling apart..!

Book readings have slowed down noticeably last few weeks- maybe it’s the heat and everything-but haven’t been able to finish any book last two months, super slow progress. But now i am reading a new book - Orhan Pamuk’s Other Colors. The other book of his was My name is Red, which was a long read but very interesting literature. This is more auto biographical and short stories in a way - it’s also a book that has won the Nobel Prize. So looking forward. 

Things have picked up in office with more projects added into the fray. Taking stock, one by one! The office visits are a good things still - I find the interactions more positive, quick and in some ways more meaningful - like humane., Anyway i guess that’s here to stay so that helps. 

May seems like another busy month. I may take a few days off for a few hospital checks and visits for parents - but that’s about it. Too hot still to plan anything more. Looking forward to June already :)

- NB

Feb’26

A few days already since end of Feb but here goes..! As the summer started to set in, and leaves began to wither and fall, there were still others which were in bloom this season, like the Tabebuia roses or the pink trumpet trees which lines many a roads here! Even the Nile tulip trees were in full blossom, and several others. 

Coming to the reading i had started in Jan, it continued in Feb - Sampath, Revolutionaries, and 1-2-3 were done! There were several other readings that i have added in the list - one of which is called “Freedoms Forge” by Arthur Herman, and the other more of a self-help book called “Unposted letter” by Mahatria Ra on practical ways to manage one’s life. Have several others waiting, like Bose or Gandhi, Waiting for Shiva, Genome, The end of an era, and so on…so many on the reading list this year and hoping if i take some time out daily, i can read these gems.

I am also contemplating reading more on economics more as a subject, this great book by Hubbard and O’Brien seems like a good one to get more into the nitty-gritty of macroeconomics. Apart, work picked up more steam, several more activities/projects are ongoing and planned keeping this year full of activities. We also had several exciting team events which makes our workplace interesting and fun at the same time! Several events and get-togethers - both at work and with friends/alumni from college/iim - made the month more tolerable :) 

I did manage to take out and dust my guitar :) it had been ages since i got it out. Had some re tuning to do. The online apps really help now, earlier i used to rely on devices for tuning, now i can just do these with an app/online. With that done, tried out a few of my fav’s to know if i still remember! My finger tips were hurting, which meant i was doing fine! Once the finger tips harden after repeated playing, it does not feel so hard. Anyway there are many other songs to learn on it - but i am not able to get my head around how to record them and master them, Earlier used to maintain a book of songs (the guitar teacher insisted it!) - maybe need to follow that mode again. Need to think more!

Ofcourse nothing these days end without talking about AI :) The classes i took from iisc now seems prehistoric, it was just two years ago! But a lot has changed now with generative AI and LLMs gaining so much momentum. I do have licenced versions of M365 and Copilot - it’s time to think of use-cases to make full use of them - for e2e workflow automations and the like. Agentic AI is something to explore further..thats the task for March!

Ciao. 

Jan’26

Considering the fact that i am finding it hard to get time to write here regularly, I decided to try some kind of monthly round-ups this year ! So here goes for the month of Jan…

The year and month began with lot of hope, promises and resolutions both professionally and personally! 

I would like to do more reading this year, so i have 4 books currently which i am actively reading. The first is “Mr Sampath: The printer of Malgudi” from RK Narayanan. It’s a book describing the life of one printer in a small town in India. The scenes are rustic/rural, and describes in great detail of the life and times of this printer, who well starts as a printer but goes on to produce movies (that’s where i am in the book currently!). Been a while since i read any RK Narayanan’s. 

The next book is called “The Revolutionaries” which is about India and its freedom fighters (the revolutionaries). When you read through it you realise how much of sacrifice has been made to get our freedom, and how little we know about them through mainstream history per se. It’s a great account of several of the most daring revolutionaries who showed a lot of courage to face the occupation of the British in India. So many characters come to life in this Sanjeev Sanyal’s book and it’s a very interesting read. Many of them are awe-inspiring and you start to realise the tremendous amount of human capacity that we all can have for a cause, but remain untapped. 

The third book is called “One, Two, Three..Infinity”, by George Gamow. It’s on the facts and speculations of science. At the onset it would feel like an easy science read on aspects of irrational numbers, space-time curvatures, microcosms and macroscosms - and it’s not such an easy read after all! It is deeeply riveting and so many ideas are packed into each chapter and made as much easy reading, (which is really difficult for such complex topics). It’s not a new book, but rather quite an old publication, but the ideas and logic never fades and it packs so much of them in those pages. I am still mid-way and my head is already reeling!

The last book is a re-read of the “Monk who sold his Ferrari” by Robin Sharma. I started to read it again in one of the holidays at the end of last year - and i once again liked the quiet strength it gives, I especially like those little nuggets of wisdom it packs, which makes you think more slowly and absorb life more deeply- and you start to question what really is meaningful to us in our limited time on earth. 

So those were on books- which i am glad i could start again in Jan.

Other than those, i still find it very meaningful to take long brisk walks in the mornings (especially if i am able to do it in parks or such). January gave me plenty of opportunities to do these - the little break in Jan at one of the resorts was a super place too! 

Then of course work was at the brim from mid Jan onwards with several new challenges and changes to deal with. We are still going through several transformations and looking forward to more interesting times ahead. There are tons of learning’s while we deal with the daily challenges. I did have two thoughts which i left my team with in the team meeting this month. The first was “What got you here, won’t get you there” and the second one, “If you always do what you always did, you will always get what you always got!” 

With those summing up my thoughts right now, calling it a day!

 

Right First Time

So its a book, and quite an old publication too, somewhere in the 80s! I heard about this from Dad who read this book on quality control, several many years ago, I remember seeing it with him when i was in school i think! He had borrowed it from the library. He had told me that it was an excellent introduction to quality control and how it gets applied in the manufacturing world (his line of work too). 

Several years passed and i was in college and we did have subjects on statistics and probability and application of the normal distribution in many areas of work. And i was into these quality books too by then, inspired by dad again, and had read works of Edwards Deming (Out of the Crisis), Scherkenbach (The Deming Route to Quality), Phil Crosby (Quality is Free), Frank Price (Right Every Time) and a few others. The one by Frank Price was actually a sequel to the first book, Right First Time, which i was never able to get. The ones available for sale online were priced 4k and 5k (international editions, and way too pricey) and i could not find it in the British Library or other places too. 

Until now! I got the copy from the IIM-B library recently and of course I borrowed it! Its been a month (or more i think!) since i have it and just completed it now! The book, the style of writing and the concepts were very easily presented in such an entertaining way too, a testament to the expertise of the author to make an otherwise drab subject, as interesting as a novel! 

The book starts with the ill's that plague the companies in the industrial sector, faced with tons of quality issues, and rejections. It goes on to explain about how to measure process capability, measure it against tolerance limits (after much negotiations on the specifications based on the ultimate function), and find answers to the question "Can we make it ok?" in this stage. Subsequently, moving on to answer the question "Are we making it ok?", where it gets into sampling and measurements, and understanding drifts of averages and range, and setting control limits to the process. And finally trying to answer, "Can we make it better?",  a question towards continuous improvement and action. Here the concepts of t-tests and f-tests were introduced, as a way to compare between capabilities of different machines and to enable us to make a distinction of which one is better (using statistical significance). 

While the above made part-1 of the book (where there was a fair bit of math), part-2 dealt more with people and quality, as after all, the outcomes are indeed due to a large measure upto the people incorporating the practices of quality control. To this extent, it explained several concepts from behavioral science, especially covering the fallacies of Fred Taylor, and McGregor's theory X & Y. And moving into more recent studies of Heizberg and Maslow (Theory Z) and Lawler, towards breaking down the activities of work and the motivations (will) to make a good deal of it. 

Overall, the book is a managerial treatise on quality control, explained in a language that is ironic, and witty, and towards the end, dealing a lot with psychology and human behavior. It was a good read, and almost felt like a literary work towards the end, due to the inimitable language and the ease with which difficult concepts were introduced fairly simply. 

I am glad i could finally read this work, and appreciate what my dad must have appreciated so many years ago! And i told him i read it...you should have seen the glint in his eye :) 

Ciao!

The Ocean of Churn

 Hello hello,

Checking in to write a very brief review of a really nice book I happened to read recently! 

I don't write book reviews often (well i don't even update this blog too often!) but this time I thought about writing on this book because it was so well researched and narrated in a really nice manner. I couldn't believe history can be written in an interesting manner too! My school history classes were such a bore! Or maybe, I am now more mature to appreciate history :) Whatever the case, it was a welcome break. 

So this book is by Sanjeev Sanyal and its called The Ocean of Churn. Now I have read Sanyals earlier books, Land of the Seven Rivers and another short story book, so in a way i knew what to expect. A thorough work, with a bit of irony and humor, and a lot of interesting stories from history and how it has shaped our world, and India especially. 

This book does the same, and this time it is from India's maritime history and how it has shaped the subcontinent. There were so many interesting characters from history that were brought to the fore. Many forgotten, and many links unknown, and all those came together into this wonderful melange of narration from Sanyal. I could transport myself into those voyages taken up by so many from the past, and relive those times. It was really helpful that maps were provided in between as well, to show the important places where different events took place, across the entire coastline of India, Africa and Southeast Asia. 

The matrilineal lineage and its importance to several of the kingdoms of the south, the wars, the after-maths, the voyages, the different discoveries of trade routes, the rich history of India with its extraordinary progress in trade across countries in the Indian ocean, the violence and bloodshed of invaders, the coming of the Europeans, the contribution of India and many of its stalwarts, the grey shades of characters, and so many facets and connections. Indeed, if history were to be taught in this manner it would be so much richer. Our schools need to seriously think about making the past come to life in a more evocative manner! For from it, we realize how we landed here, what has shaped our thinking and our culture, and how it's being shaped further as well. 

I am so intrigued by this book, I think I would want to re-read it and the earlier ones as well! 

Just to relive and understand better, ourselves and the lands whence our ancestors tread, and the waters they sailed..!

Reflections..

 

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.”

― Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

Indeed these words could not have been more apt for the times we are living through today. The world has been swept by the pandemic, and here it has just turned in for the worse with the second wave being even more gruesome than the first. Not just the virus itself which seems to be mutating and coming up with new strains which are more infectious, but to combat it, our own preparedness has been under question. Surely no one might have guessed the deadly and sudden impact it would have and how all around us, there would chaos for medical and other support. But that’s the sad reality.

Was speaking to a friend the other day and we discussed about the Spanish flu that is so often cited as the last great pandemic. We imagined how lost the people might have been then, with no communication devices, volunteer groups, information availability and so on, adding to their woes. To that extent, we have  indeed come far, and with video calling and digitisation, we are atleast able to see our near and dear ones virtually, and do many of the activities that otherwise required us to visit a place, be it shopping, paying bills, entertainment (the indoor kind) and such. How much these count, is something we realise even more during such situations. This is not to discount the physical interactions and its many benefits, but surely helps just to get us through with daily chores and life.

The other spectrum is the number of people out there helping and sacrificing for the greater good, the frontline groups, volunteers, and so on, bringing out the best of human nature; while we also see on the other hand, some other aspects of humanity which are disgraceful. Indeed then, the best and worst of times..Many of the experiences has then made some of us wise or foolish, as you see it. Wise especially when you realise how fragile life can be and its many aspects, and foolish when we still pursue the more fleeting things. 

But hope is what man lives by - we plan our lives, what we would do and how we would do it and all of it, hoping for a better tomorrow. While despair knocks its icy hands on our doors, we are swept by it and yet not, because of hope. Some seek to look inwards to find solace, and some in other ways. In the end, human kind has triumphed through the ages, and while we do not know if we will triumph still, that hope is what keeps our kind going. 

Hope to see better days ahead.

Auguries of Innocence - revisited!

There was a discussion recently on how and why naivety and its many dimensions, is unacceptable. To be sure, while it is not to be encouraged, or accepted in its entirety, can't help but think back upon the poem by William Blake, on the Auguries of Innocence!

For as simple as 'ha! la, ta-da!' , the poem brings back to life the cruelties and barbarism against innocent creatures and how they do not augur well for human beings!

Auguries of Innocence
BY WILLIAM BLAKE

To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour
A Robin Red breast in a Cage
Puts all Heaven in a Rage
A Dove house filld with Doves & Pigeons
Shudders Hell thr' all its regions
A dog starvd at his Masters Gate
Predicts the ruin of the State
A Horse misusd upon the Road
Calls to Heaven for Human blood
Each outcry of the hunted Hare
A fibre from the Brain does tear
A Skylark wounded in the wing
A Cherubim does cease to sing
The Game Cock clipd & armd for fight
Does the Rising Sun affright
Every Wolfs & Lions howl
Raises from Hell a Human Soul
The wild deer, wandring here & there
Keeps the Human Soul from Care
The Lamb misusd breeds Public Strife
And yet forgives the Butchers knife
The Bat that flits at close of Eve
Has left the Brain that wont Believe
The Owl that calls upon the Night
Speaks the Unbelievers fright
He who shall hurt the little Wren
Shall never be belovd by Men
He who the Ox to wrath has movd
Shall never be by Woman lovd
The wanton Boy that kills the Fly
Shall feel the Spiders enmity
He who torments the Chafers Sprite
Weaves a Bower in endless Night
The Catterpiller on the Leaf
Repeats to thee thy Mothers grief
Kill not the Moth nor Butterfly
For the Last Judgment draweth nigh
He who shall train the Horse to War
Shall never pass the Polar Bar
The Beggars Dog & Widows Cat
Feed them & thou wilt grow fat
The Gnat that sings his Summers Song
Poison gets from Slanders tongue
The poison of the Snake & Newt
Is the sweat of Envys Foot
The poison of the Honey Bee
Is the Artists Jealousy
The Princes Robes & Beggars Rags
Are Toadstools on the Misers Bags
A Truth thats told with bad intent
Beats all the Lies you can invent
It is right it should be so
Man was made for Joy & Woe
And when this we rightly know
Thro the World we safely go
Joy & Woe are woven fine
A Clothing for the soul divine
Under every grief & pine
Runs a joy with silken twine
The Babe is more than swadling Bands
Throughout all these Human Lands
Tools were made & Born were hands
Every Farmer Understands
Every Tear from Every Eye
Becomes a Babe in Eternity
This is caught by Females bright
And returnd to its own delight
The Bleat the Bark Bellow & Roar
Are Waves that Beat on Heavens Shore
The Babe that weeps the Rod beneath
Writes Revenge in realms of Death
The Beggars Rags fluttering in Air
Does to Rags the Heavens tear
The Soldier armd with Sword & Gun
Palsied strikes the Summers Sun
The poor Mans Farthing is worth more
Than all the Gold on Africs Shore
One Mite wrung from the Labrers hands
Shall buy & sell the Misers Lands
Or if protected from on high
Does that whole Nation sell & buy
He who mocks the Infants Faith
Shall be mockd in Age & Death
He who shall teach the Child to Doubt
The rotting Grave shall neer get out
He who respects the Infants faith
Triumphs over Hell & Death
The Childs Toys & the Old Mans Reasons
Are the Fruits of the Two seasons
The Questioner who sits so sly
Shall never know how to Reply
He who replies to words of Doubt
Doth put the Light of Knowledge out
The Strongest Poison ever known
Came from Caesars Laurel Crown
Nought can Deform the Human Race
Like to the Armours iron brace
When Gold & Gems adorn the Plow
To peaceful Arts shall Envy Bow
A Riddle or the Crickets Cry
Is to Doubt a fit Reply
The Emmets Inch & Eagles Mile
Make Lame Philosophy to smile
He who Doubts from what he sees
Will neer Believe do what you Please
If the Sun & Moon should Doubt
Theyd immediately Go out
To be in a Passion you Good may Do
But no Good if a Passion is in you
The Whore & Gambler by the State
Licencd build that Nations Fate
The Harlots cry from Street to Street
Shall weave Old Englands winding Sheet
The Winners Shout the Losers Curse
Dance before dead Englands Hearse
Every Night & every Morn
Some to Misery are Born
Every Morn and every Night
Some are Born to sweet delight
Some are Born to sweet delight
Some are Born to Endless Night
We are led to Believe a Lie
When we see not Thro the Eye
Which was Born in a Night to perish in a Night
When the Soul Slept in Beams of Light
God Appears & God is Light
To those poor Souls who dwell in Night
But does a Human Form Display
To those who Dwell in Realms of day.


A good poem to remember in these troubled times!

Black Box Thinking!

At the end of last year, as a new year gift from office, we had each been given a book to read! There were two choices infact, between 'Team of Teams' and 'Black Box Thinking'. I chose the latter, because it sounded interesting and had something to do with developing a growth mindset.

Happy to report, I completed reading it :) It did take me a while, I agree... still, better late than never!

Black Box Thinking is written by Matthew Syed and talks about the importance of having a different approach to failure and re-imagining the concept of failures. The book talks about the healthcare sector in the beginning and the various slip-up's that plague it, in terms of the unreported failures of doctors or nurses, and how those failures, are not really followed up thoroughly as they should be, and used as a learning to get better.

It is followed up by analyzing the aviation sector and how every mistake and every crash has been thoroughly investigated to make improvements in the industry, by using the feedback mechanism of the black box (which is in fact quite orange in color!). Surely, that was not always the case, but over time, the aviation industry has improved by leaps and bounds, so much so, that it has become one of the safest ways to travel. The power of marginal gains.

The book also goes on to talk about some areas where a novice or an experienced person, does not add any value by either's involvement in the system, like for example psychotherapists, due to the lack of follow-up and long lead times, making it a poor example of a system that takes in feedback to make improvements and changes to get better and more refined outcomes.

The later chapters delve into the criminal justice system on wrongful convictions, and the scared-straight program, on cognitive dissonance issues, and blame-games. It introduces the method of RCT (Randomized Control Trials) to test a hypothesis, to be certain our conclusions on an approach to a problem is really working or not, and make changes without feeling frustrated due to failures. It talks about the pit-falls due to narrative fallacy's, intellectual contortions, and many other such errors of judgment which impedes learning, and therefore prone to stagnate the system, than improve it.

The book talks about complex systems, with its multitude of variables and their interactions, which makes it difficult to analyze and predict system behavior, and therefore advocates a fail-fast approach, in which, an evolutionary approach to problem-solving is taken up. This is an incremental change, test, develop, approach through experimentation rather than a grand design. The Nozzle Paradox is introduced and so is the Dyson design approach.

It does not concede that designs are not useful, only that the way to make change faster and learn from failures, far outweighs the achievements we can get by grand designs. In that sense, it advocates to accept the failures in a learning method in a bottom-up approach with a failure-averse approach in a top-down approach and marrying the two in a unified measure. What it really then says, is not to underestimate the power of feedback-driven designs. It gives many examples of Dyson and NetFlix and other such companies, and I can think of even Sony when they started off, having this approach.

Surely we would think 'break-through innovation' might not happen in this way, but it does, through failures again and being resilient to see the changes through till the goal is met. Infact, it goes on to say that you need not worry that you might be going up the wrong way, because those who follow the approach will know it sooner than those who don't!

Overall, it introduces and advocates concepts such as marginal gains, fail-fast, RCT's, pre-mortem's, which can be introduced in organizations and many industries, to make improvements and drive innovation. I found it a good read and there are many concepts to explore further!

Love in the time of Corona!

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.”

― Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

Its been a long long time since I got back to blogging, and apologies to my few, but dedicated followers for being patient about it (or did I do you all a favor?!😏). 

I did get many requests to restart my writing, as somewhere, somehow, some of you felt it interesting and related to it :) I thank you for it!

The world is living through a very different time, a time which is going to go down in history, due to its unprecedented nature and its sheer magnitude, affecting almost every country in the world. The covid pandemic has created almost a dystopic world, and a world where our imaginations and meanings of living, have gone through a sea change. 

The metamorphosis has been very quick, from being a busy outgoing world, into a more muted, careful world. Where our handshakes and open waves of laughter and smiles are now made from behind a mask or a screen. In fact, when I think about heterotopias, a world within a world, I wonder if this world was ever imagined, where things are seemingly as they were, and yet not as it was experienced so far. We have found new means of doing things, new means of interactions, new means of going about everyday life. A veiled world indeed. 

If VUCA as a concept was created to explain an increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous world, the pandemic that you and I are living through, takes it to its limit. There have been numerous statistics, data, facts, explaining it, and I hear there is already a movie getting made and a book being written. I suspect there will be many more books and articles written on this subject and with numerous narratives talking of how things worked, or how they didn't, how fortunes were made, or lost, how the best of humankind came to the fore, as did its worst. In short, it is no less a time, than when stories come out of a war's end. But I am going ahead of myself! We are still in the thick of things, and a vaccine or a cure is still nowhere in sight. So fingers crossed, that we live through this time to experience the other, brighter side, once again!

In spite of the lockdowns and the various restrictions, our work at the office still continues with great gusto, which by the way, included critical R&D equipment transfers between countries (going through customs and transport and the like) installations, and delivering our planned R&D programs on time and with good quality. It indeed called for a different kind of working and coordination, but it was never considered the end! If project management has taught us something, it is that risks need to have a mitigation plan, and those plans can be plan A, B, C...till we exhaust all options! If we need to live through this time, every event and a situation needs to be worked through like a project, covering all aspects & mitigations! And yet there will remain that 'unknown' that will always crop up! Did someone say 'black swan'?!

But talking about the best and the worst, it also brings to my mind the innumerable times we become self-defeating in our outlook, finger-pointing, and the like. We forget that we can't even handle our own matters with consistency or clarity, but want the world around us to be predictable and certain. When it is precisely in these times that we need to be introspective and really work through the problems by standing together (in spite of the social distancing!) and seeking solutions to problems, than become a problem ourselves! Since Gabriel Garcia Marquez wrote about love in the time of cholera, I am propagating love in the time of corona (sorry Marquez!). But indeed, what I do mean is to spread positivity, hope, courage and stand by the people who need it the most, and to do something, anything constructive, to get over this! It will never be right answers or wrong answers, only no answers, that will be our end.

Would close with just these words (our messaging through the workforce): Stay Safe, Keep Calm & Carry On. Maybe I would add, and spread the love!

Birds of a feather - 2 !

"Far from the madding crowd..."

I could repeatedly hear myself say these words as I drove down the quiet stretch just a few miles away from the city.  It is quite unbelievable how the most quiet get-away's can be found in the most crowded of places, if we know where to look!

It was a good change to catch up on birds again after a long time; though I must admit I have been constantly looking them up in my books and wherever I have traveled. But this time, there were a lot of "land" birds to check out, having seen quite a few "water" ones already.

The first exciting one was the bee-eater. It is a small bird which is quite colorful. There are twenty six varieties of these birds! Most of them have some amount of green in their plumage. They are called bee-eaters because they, well, like eating bees! They also eat other flying insects but honey bees make up their primary diet. Interestingly, before eating its meal, a bee-eater removes the stinger by repeatedly hitting and rubbing the insect on a hard surface. During this process, pressure is applied to the insect thereby extracting most of the venom. And the birds only catch prey that are "on the wing" and ignore flying insects once they land. Now that's principled living! 

They stay in colonies and live in a community of sorts; some species are known to have some of the most complex social structures. Another interesting aspect of these birds is that they do "dust-bathing" and "water-bathing" to keep down parasites!

The next bird was the green-pigeon, a very elegant bird which has a green plumage with a yellow collar! It was the first time I saw one, (and looked it up in my book now), so that was cool.

There were also a lot many red-whiskered bulbul's. Their cries very much resemble the words "pleased-to-meet-you", said very quickly and in a shrill tone!  It is more often heard than seen, but will often perch conspicuously especially in the mornings when they call from the tops of trees. Bulbul's feed on fruits and insects predominantly. An entire family was spotted in a brush nearby and I could see them from quite close. Their life span is about 11 years. [Courtesy Wiki!]

Many sun-birds were seen flitting about and now I finally know that not all small birds are sun-birds :P One interesting point to note, told by a veteran ornithologist (!) is that sun-birds are not only small and colorful but also have a curved beak. So finally I have one way to classify them!

Also spotted quite a few Munia's. They were flitting between bushes and were quite difficult to spot. They prefer open habitats and feed on seeds. The one I saw was a scaly-breasted Munia.

I saw an entire tree with lots of weaver bird nests ! And lots of weaver birds as well. They make some of the most complex of nests and it is done by the males of the species. They make home together in a colony apparently for protection. The males are brightly colored (for attractive reasons!). I think we saw a Baya Weaver, though I am not too sure since I was far away and could not really spot them clearly. They feed on seeds and are know to damage crops. Baddies in that sense!

Then there were the Indian Robins, brilliant black with a red rump; Tailor-birds were found in bushes and make a warbling noise. They are short little birds. Tailor-birds get their name from the way their nest is constructed. The edges of a large leaf are pierced and sewn together with plant fibre or spider's web to make a cradle in which the actual grass nest is built. Never saw a nest though.

Also spotted a Copper-smith barbet. They are called so since they make a noise like a copper smith striking metal. These live mostly on wild figs. It was one of the spectacular catches since they are quite difficult to spot. We saw two of them sitting close-by! One was constantly making a hole in a bark of a tree. Like other barbet's they chisel out a hole inside a tree and build their nest. I should know...some years ago, a normal pair of barbet's had made home in a tree outside, right opposite to my room! Right now that home is taken by parakeets :)

These were some of the new birds that were seen. 

The sights constantly reminded me that we were only a few miles away from the city, and so much of beauty awaited us. I guess it comes down to having a discerning eye and a bit of patience as well.

Now I am humming the famous song; Ahista...ahista..!

Birds of a feather..!

In my last blog I mentioned that once I recover my senses, I will write about the experience I had. Guess it has taken a year for that to happen, and I think I might just go senseless again, after this one!

But the raison d'etre for the predicament that beeches me this time, is intricately related to the one faced the last. That of putting in words an experience and appreciation for beauty. Shakespeare had said, "If music be the food of love, play on...", and I will rest my case for the last blog with that.

Looking at nature though, one realizes that all of the wonders that man creates, is just a speck of dust compared to what nature itself has to offer. After all, so many of the designs and art that we create or incorporate, are inspirations drawn from nature and nature's laws. Music too, for example, draws inspiration from the beauty of nature. Our feelings of looking at a sunset on the ocean, or a majestic waterfall or the flutter of wings (or eyelashes!) or just of the silence in a forest, is more accurately described through music, more closely than what words can, the experience that our senses witness.

In that context, how many times I would have seen birds and been to a zoo or other such places and just taken a look at them. But I think this time it was a whole different experience altogether. And it helps when you have a bird expert to explain all the different qualities about them! You tend to notice what was always there..

So it was really nice to look at a wide variety of birds and take "stock!" of what was on offer.

The first was the Egrets, part of the heron family, and a white bird that comes in various sizes (the great, intermediate, cattle, little and many others!) and I realized they are hard working fellows. Wiki says: The word "egret" comes from the French word "aigrette" that means both "silver heron" and "brush", referring to the long filamentous feathers that seem to cascade down an egret's back during the breeding season.

I saw Cormorant's as well, but I did not appreciate it very much. It looked way too clever and I got negative vibes from it! Interestingly, the cormorant was the disguise used by Satan in John Milton's "Paradise Lost", a classic epic poem which I fondly remember for various reasons. The cormorant was known to be a traditional symbol of greed and greedy men. Perched atop the "Tree of Life" (apples anyone?!), Satan took the form of a cormorant as he spied on Adam and Eve during his first intrusion into Eden..!! No wonder I got negative vibes looking at it :)

Of course, that is only on a lighter note. It appears that some of this species were present even at the time of the dinosaurs and its structure has not changed very much. They come in various shapes and sizes as well. So they are really a pretty old and solid species which is awesome.

Then there were Heron's, birds characterized by their long legs. There was a Grey heron,  a Pond heron, a Purple heron and a Night heron. The last one is a red-eyed, yellow legged birdie which gives a feeling that it has either not slept at all or is high on something! The others were a variety of whites yellows and browns. And they have an interesting method of catching fish - by deception! Apparently, they put bits of grass or leaves in the water so that the fish come out enquiringly...and of-course, the heron is waiting in anticipation..you know what happens next!

Pelican's are majestic looking birds, with large pouch carrying throats. I saw a spot-billed pelican but I think there are lots of other ones in the world. They look really massive up close. I saw one which was feeding its young one. Wiki says that pelicans were considered as very compassionate birds in literature. In Europe, the pelican was thought to be particularly attentive to her young, to the point of providing her own blood by wounding her own breast when no other food was available. The legends of self-wounding and the provision of blood may have arisen because of the impression a pelican sometimes gives that it is stabbing itself with its bill. In reality, it often presses this onto its chest in order to fully empty the pouch.

This apart, I also saw a Stone Plower, a bird which looks just like the color of the rocks that it dwells on. Also saw a Painted Stork (not "stroke", "smock" or "sock"!!), which had a orange beak and pink-white-black colored feathers. The Stork and the Ibis apparently belong to the same family of birds. I am not sure how true it is, but it seems that when the juveniles in this species are threatened by bigger birds, they feign their death!

There was also a River Tern - yellow beaked and yellow tongued - which is a little nut of a bird which lays its eggs outside on the rocks. They are tough little fellows, as it seems they will peck away at any birds or even the eyes of the croc's which might want to eat their eggs. Even though I was at touching distance to it, it just sat there sternly..hmm Tern-is-Stern :)

There were others too, Open bill and a Spoon bill, both characterized by the peculiar shape of their bills, with the latter also having a little color on its bill tip! I also saw the Wagtail, characterized by their long tail feathers, and the common Mayna, which can be seen everywhere actually. There was also Darters, also called as snakebirds, which was sun-bathing! Similar to cormorats, they too get into water to get fish, so actually, they need to dry their wings..

I also saw a small blue Kingfisher too. It was beautiful. It was so near, and yet so far... :) There are many varieties of them it seems, but did not get to see any others. Then there were the sunbirds, coucal (which makes a screechly sound) and fruit bats, called so because they live off on fruits and berries. Also saw a Brahminy Kite, they have deep brown color wings and a white head.

All in all, I think the experience of seeing and knowing about these few birds tell me, just how un-aware we are of our surroundings. When we keep our eyes open and our ears attentive, we can see and listen to nature in all its magnificent splendor. It also seems that nature, literature, music and everything of art, does a fusion of sorts to play out a grand enigma, which while not to be deciphered thread-bare, can still be savored eternally..

Shakespeare had this to say: "One touch of nature makes the whole world kin..", which I think rings true. There appears no walls of differences in our awe and splendor for nature.

So when you see the wide-expanses of the sky and birds flying high above your head, realize how much is possible. We have much to learn..!

Yanni by your side...

Its been a very long time. More than 6 months have gone by and without a post...tch-tch.

Its better late than never though! And what can be a better time than now..Here I am listening to "True Nature" from one of the composers I admire the most. Yanni. I have listened to his compositions for more than 15 years now. And yet, I never tire of listening to his music as each time it is so refreshing and so peaceful. Oh..."Reflections of Passion" just started :)

The first time I saw him was on TV. I was in school then. It was some 17 years ago, when Yanni performed in front of the Taj Mahal. A symbol of love. And I fell in love with his music instantly! His uplifting, inspiring and ever so beautiful music. Since then I have been following and listening to all his albums and performances in so many wonderful places (at one time I thought he was going to cover all the 7 wonders of the world..he has mostly though).

I remember 17 years ago there were cassettes, and I was a proud owner of a "Walkman"! Heard of those things lately?!? Well, I listened to his albums on it for years ! I used to sleep with those headphones on and let the music come to an end..by then I would have fallen into a peaceful slumber..! So many days and so many nights, Yanni was by my side. That was also one of the names of his album! And I remember thinking once that I should put up a huge poster of his in my room..but out of sheer embarrassment, I never did!!

But it did inspire me some to try music and got me into learning about music. I took up Guitar lessons (Reynold's anyone?!) and performed a few times at school concerts. Also had a little band in Wipro and we performed, but just once in front of our Finnish clients :)

Time and tide took over and well, that was that.

Ah, "Dance with a Stranger" is on now..

And now guess what?!! Yanni is going to be performing. In India. In Bangalore. In Manyata Tech Park. Opposite to my office building. TOMORROW!!! It is as if he is coming just for me!!

And yea, I have my tickets booked and I am going!!!! Oh boy...I just can't wait!! It is going to be like..gee...I don't know. Something like meeting your childhood hero..!!

Once I recover my senses from his music I will surely write about the experience!!

But let me take a little time out now to write a little about music itself and especially the kind Yanni creates. Oh...what perfect time. "Tribute" just started...! The most soul-stirring of all music that I have ever heard till date. It just doesn't let you be you. It draws you out and puts you under this beautiful beautiful spotlight that is so enchanting..its like a drug! Everything just flashes by you in an instant. All your fears are put to rest. Everything just falls away and you remain in the midst of your feelings which are filtered out to its purest form. Its lovely. Shakespeare rightly said, " If music be the food of love, play on..." Sigh, I have no more words to describe it. I have lots of words to describe it and yet...all those fail me. And it always brings a little tear in my eyes.

I will write more about music later. Its time to listen to "Tribute" one last time before I sleep...tomorrow I shall hear it from its maker!

The curious case of company identity...

When I joined Motorola some years ago, it was one company. After a few years, Motorola got split up into two companies, Motorola Mobility, which became the handsets business and Motorola Solutions, which was primarily the networks and push-to-talk business. I became part of Motorola Solutions after that split.

A few years later, Motorola Mobility got bought over by Google. And a part of the Motorola Solutions business by Nokia-Siemens Networks (NSN). That brought an end to an 80 year old company called Motorola; though Motorola Solutions is still around carrying the legacy of Motorola, albeit only a small piece of the giant it once was. For many of the old-timers, it was a defining moment.

Well, I became part of the NSN group after that (A joint partnership between Nokia and Siemens). Later this year, Siemens pulled out of this partnership and we became Nokia Solutions and Networks (still retaining the name NSN!).

And now, just a few weeks ago, Microsoft has bought over Nokia itself. With it, another company, with almost a 150 year old history has come to an end. And I am sure that very many emotions were at play on the minds and hearts of those who had been associated with it.

So I was wondering for a while if we will soon be called MSN (though I had a sneaky feeling I had heard that name somewhere before!). But that was not the case and our company continues to function as NSN, a Nokia company.

But imagine I am introducing myself and I am asked where I worked. Earlier it was simple. I would simply say, “I work for Motorola”. After a few years, “I work for Motorola Solutions”. Now here comes the confusion. People unfamiliar with the Motorola brand would automatically associate it with mobile phones, and I would have to patiently explain the difference between the network world and the handset world. And then after a few years I said, “I work for NSN..it stands for Nokia-Siemens Networks, which recently acquired the networks divisions of Motorola Solutions”. So they would say, “Ah, so Motorola exists no more?”, and I would say, “It does, Motorola Solutions is still around..”. Confusion!

Thankfully, the name NSN qualified what world I worked in, but many would still continue saying I work in “Nokia” (the devices company), which wasn’t true!

From this year I have been saying, “I work for Nokia-Solutions and Networks”. And now when I say this, they would say, “But didn’t Nokia get bought over by Microsoft” (someone’s reading up the papers!)”. I would go on to explain that Nokia (the handsets company) is bought over. The Nokia legacy still lives on, albeit in a smaller form, as NSN.

By the way, all this was only what I have seen happening. I have not gone into the legacies of these companies, or the numerous companies that were an offshoot from them, in previous years! But, having seen some of the action, I have now developed this ability to roll-off words like mergers and acquisitions and consolidation in the telecom world etc, quite adroitly!

In any case, what is quite apparent is that many of the earlier so called “software-only” companies are getting into the mobile eco-system and mobile computing/devices business.

I am sure many others might have witnessed something similar elsewhere! Do share your thoughts.

Of painted caves and evolution...!

Thinking back upon civilization, man and evolution, the entire gamut of human and other life, leaves a sense of awe and at some level, even a suspension of belief in the grandeur of creation. For it all begets the question of time and its beginning. It begets questions on how we came to be, what we came to be and at some level, why we came to be! If we give that a skip, it still stares at you and forces you to step back, pause and wonder. For the questions are all around, in every little thing out there in nature, and possibly in every act of ours.

So, what is making me write about this? Well, I have been reading this book called "Secrets of the Past". Its a seriously old publication (somewhere from the 50's) from the Reader's Digest editors. It takes you through a tour from the beginning of time, at the creation of the earth and the stars, the awesome forces that makes up the universe including white-dwarfs and black holes and many such others. The sheer numbers, when it describes distances, temperatures and forces, is fathomless.

It then starts the journey of creation on earth, the tectonic plate’s shifts, the different eras, the first signs of life, the first great wild animals and life. It goes on to the beginning of the appearance of many, many millennia ago, of prehistoric man (prehistoric, because that’s the time when history was not written/recorded, but we are beginning to understand it from facts gathered through research and study of fossils and archaeology and whatever remains of our own earliest forms, from what they left in their wake) It takes you through this roller-coaster ride, where man, the hunter-gatherer, the fellow who lived in trees, finally, with the passing of aeons and aeons of years, begins to climb down those trees, begins to scan the vastness of the lands, learns, understands and survives, ever so slowly, through many more millennia's. It seizes your imagination, thinking of the enormity of our evolution!

It also talks of our far off ancestors, leaving a trail of their occupations, embedded in the ages long gone by, and in many different places too, scattered all over the world. The way they lived, what they ate, how they survived, what kept them going are the very many things, that makes the book extremely interesting to read. Oh, and so far, it’s just a quarter of the book!

Or of course, if you choose not to let your mind do the imagining, you can tune into National Geographic on tv :) but hey, it doesn’t even come close!

In any case, it probably isn’t just this book, but others too which might be equally interesting, if you like that kind of stuff...now let’s see, where was I, ah..the painted caves of the Tassili in the Sahara.. :)

Chao!

Como estas?!

Esta es un blog en español. Yo amor español. Yo estoy el aprendizaje español en la clase en el fin de semana. Yo voy de clase en y aprender muchos la palabra. Y yo soy intentando a usar estas aqui! Yo poder preguntar tu nombre, de donde viva, y tu numero de mobil! Asi, preguntar mi!!

Hola..!

Its been a while since I posted. Interestingly, my inactivity has coincided with my changing teams at the workplace! Hmm, that's a coincidence..but I am glad I am getting to post something to get me started this year..

My to-do list has been ever increasing, now going up every day! I need to get into the groove and get those tick marks on them :) Maybe its the weather that is making me dull..it has never been this hot! And apparently its going to touch the 40's in a few weeks. Sigh..

Anyway, talking about to-do lists, I think the ultimate to-do list is the one created by John Goddard. You might have heard of him many times, as he is a well known speaker, motivator and coach. Apart from the fact that he has achieved the most daring, the most adventurous and the most sought-after goals that any of us can think of. I had read about him while in school, in one of the chicken-soup series of books, and since then he is like the macho-man when it comes to to-do's :)

Here is his much talked about "life-list" of 127 things to-do. And he has achieved most of them..oh and one more thing, he wrote down this list when he was 15 years old!

Explore:
1. Nile River
2. Amazon River
3. Congo River
4. Colorado
5. Yangtze River, China
6. Niger River
7. Orinoco River, Venezuela
8. Rio Coco, Nicaragua
9. The Congo
10. New Guinea
11. Brazil
12. Borneo
13. The Sudan (Nearly buried alive in a sandstorm)

Study Tribal Cultures in:
14. Australia
15. Kenya
16. The Philippines
17. Tanganyika (Now Tanzania)
18. Ethiopia
19. Nigeria
20. Alaska

Climb:
21. Mount Everest
22. Mount Aroncagua, Argentina
23. Mount McKinley
24. Mount Huascaran, Peru
25. Mount Kilimanjaro
26. Mount Aratat, Turkey
27. Mount Kenya
28. Mount Cook, New Zealand
29. Mount Popocatepetl, Mexico
30. The Matterhorn
31. Mount Rainier
32. Mount Fugi
33. Mount Vesuvius
34. Mount Bromo, Java
35. Grand Tetons
36. Mount Baldy, California
37. Carry out careers in medicine and exploration
38. Visited every country in the world (visited 122 already).
39. Study Navaho and Hopi cultures
40. Learn to fly a plane
41. Ride horse in Rose Parade

Photograph:
42. Iguacu Falls, Brazil-Argentine border
43. Victoria Falls
44. Sutherland Falls, New Zealand
45. Yosemite Falls
46. Niagara Falls
47. Retrace the travels of Marco Polo and Alexander the Great

Explore underwater:
48. Coral reefs of Florida
49. Great Barrier Reef, Australia
50. Red Sea
51. Figi Islands
52. The Bahamas
53. Explore Okefenokee Swamp and The Everglades

Visit:
54. North and South Poles
55. Great Wall of China
56. Panama and Suez Canals
57. Easter Island
58. The Galapagos Islands
59. Vatican City (saw the Pope)
60. The Taj Mahal
61. The Eiffel Tower
62. The Blue Grotto
63. The Tower of London
64. The Leaning Tower of Pisa
65. The Sacred Well of Chichen-Itza, Mexico
66. Climb Ayers Rock in Australia
67. Follow River Jordan from Sea of Galilee to Dead Sea

Swim in:
68. Lake Victoria
69. Lake Superior
70. Lake Tanganyika
71. Lake Titicaca
72. Lake Nicaragua

Accomplish:
73. Become an Eagle Scout
74. Dive in a submarine
75. Land and take off from an aircraft carrier
76. Fly in a blimp, hot air balloon and glider
77. Ride an elephant, camel, ostrich and bronco
78. Skin dive to 40 feet and hold breath two and a half minutes underwater
79. Catch a ten pound lobster and a ten inch abalone
80. Play flute and violin
81. Type 50 words a minute
82. Make a parachute jump
83. Learn water and snow skiing
84. Go on a church mission
85. Follow the John Muir Trail
86. Study native medicines and bring back useful ones
87. Bag camera trophies of elephant, lion, rhino, cheetah, cape buffalo and whale
88. Learn to fence
89. Learn jujitsu
90. Teach a college course
91. Watch a cremation ceremony in Bali
92. Explore depths of the sea
93. Appear in a Tarzan movie
94. Own a horse, chimpanzee, cheetah, ocelot and coyote
95. Become a ham radio operator
96. Build own telescope
97. Write a book on the Nile expedition
98. Publish and article in National Geographic magazine
99. High jump five feet
100. Broad jump fifteen feet
101. Run a mile in five minutes
102. Weigh 175 pounds stripped (still does)
103. Perform 200 sit-ups and 20 pull-ups
104. Learn French, Spanish and Arabic
105. Study dragon lizards on Komodo Island
106. Visit birthplace of Grandfather Sorenson in Denmark
107. Visit birthplace of Grandfather Goddard in England
108. Ship aboard a freighter as a seaman
109. Read the entire Encyclopedia Britannica (Has read extensive parts in each of the 24
volumes)
110. Read the Bible from cover to cover
111. Read the works of Shakespeare, Plato, Aristotle, Dickens, Thoreau, Poe, Rousseau,
Bacon, Hemmingway, Twain, Burroughs, Conrad, Talmage, Tolstoy, Longfellow,
Keats, Whittier and Emerson (not every work of each)
112. Become familiar with the compositions of Bach, Beethoven, Debussy, Ibert,
Mendelssohn, Lalo, Rimsky-Korsakov, Respighi, Liszt, Rachmaninoff, Stravinsky,
Toch, Tchaikovsky, Verdi
113. Become proficient in the use of a plane, motorcycle, tractor, surfboard, rifle, pistol,
canoe, microscope, football, basketball, bow and arrow, lariat and boomerang
114. Compose music
115. Play Clair de Lune on the piano
116. Watch fire-walking ceremony (in Bali and Surinam)
117. Milk a poisonous snake
118. Light a match with a .22 rifle
119. Visit a movie studio
120. Climb Great Pyramid of Cheops (Egypt)
121. Become a member of the Explorers’ Club and the Adventures’ Club
122. Learn to play polo
123. Travel through the Grand Canyon on foot and by boat
124. Circumnavigate the globe (four times)
125. Visit the moon
126. Marry and have children (2 sons, 4 daughters)*
127. Live to see the 21st century


Woah...right?! Well it is indeed an amazing list and every-time I look at it, it seems even more incredible, and yet he has achieved almost all of them.

Which brings me to share the rule that seems to work. That "anything-written-gets-done". Of-course you need to work on it, but it gives you a strong base to work from. I mean how else can we explain the passion that is needed to achieve something like the above list. Any ideas?

There is a thought-provoking poem and something we can all probably relate to at some point in time. This was by Napoleon Hill in "Think and Grow Rich":

"I bargained with Life for a penny,
And Life would pay no more,
However I begged at evening
When I counted my scanty store.
For Life is a just employer,
He gives you what you ask,
But once you have set the wages,
Why, you must bear the task.
I worked for a menial's hire,
Only to learn, dismayed,
That any wage I had asked of Life,
Life would have willingly paid."


Henry Ford once said, "One of the greatest discoveries a man makes, one of his greatest surprises, is to find he can do what he was afraid he couldn’t".

What are your thoughts?

An Ode to Tyson...

Where do I begin..I don't know. But I can't let this moment pass and I want to express all that I can.

Tyson was our family dog, our pet since the last 12 years. And today, he is no more.

12 years...It was just a few years after Mike Tyson had bitten off the ear of Evander Holyfield. And we could'nt help naming our new dog...Tyson!

It also reminds me of the time when I had just entered college. And when I would come home from college and step into our compound, this little ball of fur would come rolling towards me! He was always around playing, chewing and keeping watch. Playful yet alert. Lovable but also aggressive. A perfect pet.

He was so cool, that we could actually feed it with a spoon and even if I took away its bowl playfully while it was eating, it would just howl, make a face and snuggle because it wanted more! I mean...there aren't too many dogs out there you can do that with!

As it grew older, he became so much more fun to be with. The golden years of his life were I guess between the ages of 3 and 8. He was especially frisky when there were a lot of people around him. It was as though he enjoyed all the commotion and attention. He would find some empty space between us all and roll on the ground, all happy and gay!! Damn, we are going to miss him...

Diwali days were his worst though. The noise would practically make him all uneasy and tried to find peace within the house. He would scratch up the door to let him in and then when we did, dash to his corner and lie low, like he was going to be attacked anytime! It was a very funny scene, though at his expense! I remember one particular Diwali night when he was in the house. We thought of keeping him there all night as he was whining away because of all the noise. A few minutes after I had gone to bed, I felt a cold snout poking into my arm. I was at wit's end and so freaking startled! And there he was, cowering and wagging his tail! That was it for me though, he was shoved out of the room the next instant..!

There were so many other incidents too. Like how anyone who had been away from home for a few days, would be greeted most warmly by Tyson jumping all over him/her with gleaming eyes and a dripping tongue..! Or how he would be scratching his chin by sitting next to the gate, so as to make the gate-stopper go cling and clang, at the dead of night!

In his last couple of years, the aging had become more prominent and we could see him becoming tired easily and not as playful as he used to be. But you could say he maintained a quiet demeanor, almost zen like.. Sometimes I wondered, when I came back from office. He was almost like in peace..quiet. Remember, 1 year of its life is equivalent to 7 years of our's. Which makes him the eldest in the family at the age of 84!

There are so many things that I can write about Tyson, so many..12 years is indeed a long time, come to think of it. And its only in some such times you think about it...

So here is to Tyson, wherever you are,
Keep those lick's coming, and don't be too far,
Diwali night's won't trouble you anymore,
But we will miss you, that's for sure...


R.I.P

Mobile App Conference...

Silicon India had organized a Mobile App Conference today. I went for it, thanks to a colleague who wanted me to tag along. And it turned out to be pretty nice! Lots of panel discussions and sales ("Elevator") speeches by quite a few start-ups who are in the mobile app space. There were talks related to the entire app eco-system and economy, monetization of apps, segmentation and all the jazz, that is marketing! Quite some time was devoted to understanding the business proposition and revenue models of companies who are trying to carve a business in this whole space. Interesting and refreshing.

There were many exhibitors and start-ups with their products. Almost all catered more to the services sectors rather than the product sector. More opportunities? Sure, but also because product sectors would mean more customized and "enterprise" apps. And before I went I used to always wonder what are the things that can be done at the enterprise level. There are lots of things, as I learnt! Right from automation of processes, to task-based jobs, material, inventory and checklists. Useful in many different industries. There was one company which I felt were very clear in their entire thinking and approach to it. Rossi-tek was their name I think..

My personal best was one with cloud services and seamless UX across any operator connectivity/availability! All your apps and data synchronized across any platform and any network operator. Phew! The guy there explained it really well. I think they were called United Mobile Apps.

I hope the app story does not turn out to be something like what happened in the dot com bubble though. Lots of fabulous ideas and "fantasies" which never took off because of lack of proper knowledge of monetization, marketing and business models. A sustainable model at that, which is another way of saying you need to bet for it for the long term. I wont be surprised if it turns out to be a bubble, just like that of the dot com era. People can dismiss it, saying we have really learnt our lessons and fund houses are more smarter than to believe in jacked up and fantastic growth projections...But I think we might be overestimating their abilities! That's not to dismiss their abilities but just because there is so much happening out there! I don't see how someone can really pick something which will work and skip others by believing something wont. Its a gamble at best, and no one "really" knows where the next big wave is going to come from. And just because, again, there is so much happening out there (in that space) and so many interesting creative ways of doing businesses!!

Ofcourse, the few good ones would always remain, finding their niche and discovering themselves successfully. The world is a stage, and hopefully, they will have "happy" parts to play! The others..well, something else maybe.

As for my part...for now, its the audience :)

A Thousand Splendid Suns...

There are some books that really move you emotionally...

Sometimes I wonder what is it that I really gain by reading books on fiction, art or just plain biographies. Or works of literature and poetry. What is it that really brings feelings deep inside ourselves actually felt? Then we read some works that brings an answer to our never ending quests.

I have been reading this book called A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseni. Its a poignant story about the hardships of two women who I believe are the protagonists of the novel, but in a way are representatives of all those people in Afghanistan that need a voice to make the world hear of their plight and hardships. And about the humaneness that is expressed in them that we all tend to need reminding..It touches me greatly to be expressing so much for it because it brings to me a very sad reminder of the places which are not too far from us, which are altogether god-forsaken and need the expression of utterance to be able to comprehend the immensity of their tragedies.

There are not too many novels that are able to realize that end of the spectrum of human endurance and experience. And not that many able to move us in a way that captures the images of their world and bring it closer to our heart's. And this book manages to do just that. I have read many others of the same order, and they really wreak you emotionally. Its only the very strong who wont be moved by reading them. Its real, its in flesh and blood, its in every waking moment that you are reminded of their stories, forever embedded in our collective human conscience. Maybe that in itself is a tribute to their lives and those that are unheard of..

Which again beings me back asking the same questions at the beginning. What is it about them really? Maybe its just recognizing another human being as human enough to merit our attention. And that in itself is worthy enough. Sigh, I would be doing a great dis-service if I expressed further. I would suffice to say, try and read it. And others too which might seem tedious. Its worth every tear drop, for those to which it is dedicated..

Fixing my mob screen - 2

I went over to the workshop where the mob was getting fixed and asked the guy there about the whole screen setup. It turns out that on older phones, the touch sensors and the display are two separate units. The sensors are the first thing on the screen, behind which is the actual light and display screen setup. So one is independent of the other (I also got a look at my mob innards). But this is not the case with the newer phones on which the touch sensor (screen) and the display are integrated into one. It also explains why the newer phones are slimmer than the older ones.

My Sammy is an old phone, as mentioned in my previous post. So in a way it is a good thing as one screen can be replaced without affecting the other, and it is way cheaper too. The touch sensors are the costly part whereas the display's are not as much.

In any case, my problem isn't solved yet...

Turns out that they were out of stock for the displays, and I might have to wait for another week before they 'might' get a fresh stock from the company. All this while they were trying out with existing display's (and local made ones too!). Its not easy to get those displays anymore, according to the folks there.

So I have said bye to my Sammy (atleast for a while) and taken up on an old Windows Mobile phone which Dad wasn't using anymore. Its the Motorola Q8 which runs on WM 6.x. Yeah, kinda old when you think that Win7 and Win8 phone are the current running versions in the Lumia range of mobs from Nokia. Can't help it!

But which also brings me to my search for software for WM 6...Now let me tell you this. After getting used to the Android app store (Google Play), there is no way Windows comes even close to it. Just doing a search for apps for WM will make you realize how poor their app eco-system is when compared to Android (and ofcourse Apple).

After a lot of searching I found a few apps for Twitter, FB, gtalk and a few others. And it was an absolute nightmarish experience to know what about the whole .NET compact framework thing that is out there. How do ppl get around all of that? I am not surprised why there are very few takers for WM.

On the other hand, the best thing that I find with it is the ActiveSync function. It works well and integrates well with Outlook. So atleast mails are a breeze.

Will update more on the status of my mob later. Till then, will try and catch a few more ".cab's" (get it?!)