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

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.

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!

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

Sunday Times..!

I have a little routine on Sunday's which is my early morning trip (or pilgrimage!) to Lalbagh, the best and the biggest park in Bangalore. And its just about a 5 min ride from my home!

Now if you have never visited Lalbagh before, let me describe it a little.

Lalbagh is quite a vast expansive park in the heart of Bangalore. With entry gates in all four directions, east, west north and south (and maybe a few more), they all lead to a central 'Greenhouse', a glass/plastic structure. Around it, the park spreads its green wings of trees, flowers and lawns. As you stand there, you can see nothing of the outside of the park but only pristine greenery of beautifully manicured lawns, rose gardens and nurseries, stretching from one end to the other. A very large lake is snuggled in another area of the park. You can walk around the lake on a narrow but well made and lovely walkaway and enjoy the slightly heavy but breezy winds from the beautiful water body. Many birds inhabit the lake and you can easily spot ducks and long-billed birds.

When you walk around the lake, the road leads to one of two exit points of the park, or, you can turn around, and walk right back into the park itself (I would choose the latter!). As you walk around, you would find a Japanese garden, rose garden, bonsai garden and so many others. There is one with its bushes cut into the shapes of animals like rabbits, elephants, camels and horses! All these are spread across the park. There are many free open spaces too. Large lawns where you can just rest under casurina or banyan trees and watch the scurrying squirrels or the cooing birds! In either case, its a most enjoyable and relaxing experience.

There used to be an aquarium (the building still exists), but its not operational anymore (but I have been lucky to see it when it used to be there). There is a large clock dial too, made on a slight incline with many fairy-tale plastic characters surrounding it. Something which kids enjoy a lot! And everywhere you can find wooden benches, as you would most definitely take sometime to absorb the beauty of Lalbagh!

I normally jog around the park on Sunday's, sometimes covering the lake area too. In the company of nature. I rate it as one of my best moments of the week, something that I look forward to every week.

Connecting back to nature gives a sense of quiet and calm, away from the the hum-drum and noisy world!

Or to quote Hardy, "Far from the madding crowd..!"

Have a great weekend!

Toasty meeting today...

Had a Toastmasters meeting today here in office. Must say it turned out to be pretty good inspite of the fact that there were just about 10 of us and that we were meeting up after a long time that too on a odd day (unlike the regular weekly day we usually meet). Yea, we have membership troubles you see! The theme for the meeting was, "New Beginning" and it indeed seemed like we were starting all over :) We ran through the regular agenda which involved the Sergeant-at-arms opening up the meeting, followed by the President's address to the meeting and thro to the TT, speeches and evaluations.

Being the table-topics master today, I had prepared for giving out a few topics of interest like innovation at the workplace, Breakthrough ideas: myth or reality, Travelling: Planned or unplanned, and a few others. It always amazes me the amount of creative ways in which people can come up with ideas to speak on any topic, and my club is very clever in that! It was good fun and lots of ideas were shared.

Even after more than five years of being a Toastmaster, I have found that there is always so much to learn and know about...and it helps when the members are so talented!

Servicing a Product

I was chatting up with a friend when the talk drifted to (as it is know in sprightly parlance) The great debate! The topic was whether working in a service company is better or working in a product company is. A service company offers services which can be in terms of maintaining equipment, software, providing IT solutions or some sort of end-to-end product maintenance and support. A product company on the other hand creates products based on customer requirements (sometimes even otherwise), has significant investments in R&D and does a lot of core engineering work. Ultimately, there is a brand that the product creates and which the company identifies itself with.

Now both of us have had some experience in working in a service company and a product company. While the scale and complexity of work is clearly different in both (service companies normally having more focus around client interactions and support, and product based companies more around product engineering and R&D), clearly there is a lot more than meets the eye.

Talking about growth and opportunities itself within any of these, both product and service industries have plenty of examples. From a more technical perspective, working in a product company is technically more challenging and requires some sort of specialization. You cannot expect to lead and manage teams though, in a product company, in a span of just a few years because usually the product itself has a long and winding history, and because the processes are quite strong and it requires putting in many years of work and experience in various domains to have a grip over the work involved.

Whereas in a service oriented company, the focus is always around handling a client and issues and getting involved in more 'variety' of work, even if you are not an expert in any of them. You can expect to lead teams and manage them more quickly, since it involves more of people skills and you do have the opportunity to serve in various roles. It might not be cutting edge work but there is a focus on maintenance of products and seeing that all the parts of the client's system executes flawlessly.

There are so many more factors differentiating the two industries, in terms of which of the two earns more money, which of the two sustains longer, how do both compare in terms of working conditions, where do the two gel and how do they operate.

Which industry are you suitable for is a question one needs to ask. What kind of work excites you more? Is it engineering a product or managing a client? Is it variety of work or complexity of work?

Ultimately, you need to answer, what will you be happy doing?!

But I am neither an expert on the subject nor a celebrity :) so I will leave it here. Do add your thoughts to it.