Learnt this and still more to learn...

Let's go back a bit to the +2 days when solving problems in physics was something that was really interesting and challenging at the same time. Cracking problems from books in Physics by Halliday-Resnick-Walker and Sears-Zemansky was absorbing and engrossing. For instance, solving problems on topics such as velocity, acceleration, momentum was fascinating but when it came to relative velocity, I have seen many students get a bit jittery. Reason for this is that both my subject and object of reference are in motion. Even initially, I used to have problems, but once I grasped the concepts well, I realized that its nothing difficult but an extension of the solving problems related to velocity.

But why am I talking about relative velocity out of the blues?

Though the link is not that straight forward, I scribbled the above part to draw an analogy.

Think when was the last time, you took an awesome picture using a camera. I can smell something here. When the composition was still, you managed to capture the frame, pretty decently to your personal satisfaction. Now when you tried to photograph any moving subject, you were disappointed with your results. Either the picture was blurred or something was faulty that you didn't like.

Can motion pictures be clicked with ease? I feel, yes.

All one needs to do is to understand the shutter speed and aperture adjustment in the camera. I know of a simple technique called panning, which I learnt recently and with this, you can accurately get the output as the one you would have conceived in your mind.

Without getting into too much of technicals, I would say that the aperture adjustment would control the amount of light entering the camera and the shutter speed would control the duration of time the light is exposed. For panning, I would need a slow speed, may be 1/15 second or slower. To take pics of moving subjects, you may opt for a fast shutter speed to freeze the subject. If the selected shutter speed happens to be faster than the subject speed, the final output that you would get would be static and the pictorial element of motion would be missing.

A recommended technique is to select a slower speed and follow the subject along as you take the photograph. This is essentially what panning is all about. There is no rocket science in this and all it needs is a bit of creativity and imagination and then your pictures are just perfect.



In panning outputs, the main subject is sharp against a blurred background. The idea is very simple, just follow the subject when it passes in front of you and keep continuing doing that as you press the click button on your camera and then even after the shot is taken. It's like the inertia.



How do I do it? Just keep your feet firm and still, and then rotate the top half of your body as you chase your subject. Before doing that, you should have pre-focused your camera, with all the necessary settings at a reference point where your subject will pass through. A darker background is always preferred and adds to the output. Like the relative velocity analogy, in this case, once you are comfortable with the shutter speed and apertures in the camera settings, and add to it a pinch of one's imagination, panning becomes an easy nut to crack.



In all the three pics that you see above, the shutter speed was set at about 1/15 seconds.

More on panning here. Try this and it's really addictive, don't you feel so? Hey, and don't forget to share your pictures, so that even I can learn more.

Keep reading and remain connected.

An Unsung Hero : Girish Bharadwaj...

In India, when we browse the newspapers these days, we read volumes about the story of 'digital divide' and how many of the telecom vendors and other entities are attempting to bridge this gap. To me, to be connected with the outside world, comes in the second level of requirement, after the core essentials for the proper functioning of a developing society are met.

The luxuriant Western Ghats kissing the borders of Karnataka and Kerala are a fascinating series of greenery dotted with hills and valleys, simple people, countless rivers and loads of freshness. Traveling across this stretch in the Indian Railways is the best way to soak oneself with the flourishing vegetation. To an occasional visitor, all these appear charming, a perfect way to break free from the randomness of city life. But come rainy season, this region is completely cut from the outside world, a place where people use boats or coracles in their daily lives to commute and to transport kids to the schools across the water bodies.

Living in cities and towns, we are tuned to getting all the facilities to reach our offices, schools, banks or for that matter any destination at any time of the day. Now think of a scenario in a village where the boats are the only savoir, and with the overflowing river during the monsoons, most boatmen are reluctant to ferry their boats. Life would come to a standstill, kids can't go to schools in time, pregnant ladies needing medication in the middle of the night can't be transported to the nearby hospitals and the problem list becomes endless.

But there is this unsung hero who with his engineering skills and humanistic activities has brought smiles and cheer in the faces of many people. This is Girish Bharadwaj, who hails from a small village Arambur, in Aletty district near Sullia town on the western slopes of Kodagu. Born in Mangalore in 1950, this virtuoso received his formal education from P.E.S. College of Engineering in Mandya near Bangalore. He learnt the classical techniques in Mechanical Engineering, during the 1970's, a time when not much stress was laid on experimentation but rather on the application part of it. During those days, getting a job was considered a remarkable achievement, and Girish took up a part time job while running Ayas Shilpa (sculpture in steel), a small fabrication unit in Sullia town.

It was in 1988, that Girish's career took a dramatic turn, when few people from his native approached him and requested him to build a bridge. Girish replied that since he was Mechanical Engineer and was not at all adept in Civil Engineering and construction related designs, he was not qualified for the assignment. But persistence, tenacity and the people's faith in him, triggered an unusual fire within him and he started studying about bridges. He consulted the technical faculty at two of the top technical institutions in India, National Institute of Technology, Surathkal and Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai and thus started his journey.

Today at the age of 58, Girish is the proud architect and constructor of close to 68 bridges in the deep hinterland, the average length of most bridges being 70 to 80 meters. The skeptics who had the impression that bridges, cannot stand without the pillars in difficult terrain, are speechless today with his marvelous creations, the suspension bridges.



I know Girish for a while now and after interacting with him, he shared with me few other facets of his artistry.

Initially big trees were used as pylons, if those were available at the right place as in case of Kodagu district. The trees were the perfect fits, when the bridges stretched from 10 to 30 meters. Concrete pylons are now preferred for longer stretches because of their assured long life. The hanging floor element is quite stable supported by anchors and transoms. On both sides of the bridge, PVC coated chain-link fencing is erected till waist level. Over the years, the bridges have seen many conceptions and engineering innovations.

Girish is supported in his work by a team of 36 members, of which 18 perform the core design and implementation tasks. Since there is no other organized body in India, which is consistently building hanging bridges at a low cost, with uncompromising importance to safety and quality, Girish has to yield to pressures now and then. I learnt that very recently he has got invitations from Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir and Bhavnagar in Gujarat to undertake some new initiatives in those lands.

Because of various reasons such as distance to commute from Karnataka and to adjust in these new lands with different climatic conditions, lack of a skilled team to backup his core team members who are getting old, Girish is more than willing to share his knowledge and know-how's to interested people. He told me that all he needed were a dedicated engineer and a bunch of smart working boys and he would accompany and guide them till the completion of two or three bridges in a new region. Thereafter, the new team can carry on this task all by itself.

Girish, a father himself never pressurized his own children to carry on this tradition, and he is scouting for people interested to perfect the craft and utilize this workmanship for the benefit of the people and society. Although Girish, has not been advertised in the print and the online media much, he has found himself admirers from far and wide like Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Cambodia, etc.

Girish's people-based approach towards his work has always attracted considerable local support and it is very practical. When construction is in progress, his entire team, lives in small tents constructed on the river bed. They share the work and the food, concentrating till the project gets over. Girish recently completed a project in the naxalite terror afflicted, Warangal district in a placed called Laknawaram in Andhra Pradesh. He told me that, at night the common villagers used to come and share the tent with his entire team, providing the much needed security more out of thankfulness and appreciation, rather than his personal petition.

Trifle makes perfection but perfection is not a trifle, these words of wisdom apply to this master artisan who has lived his life bringing goodwill to millions of hearts. A rare individual to find in this bribe hungry bureaucratic world, not bothered about the felicitations, and all that drives him in his selfless endeavor is the gratitude and the warm blessings of the people.

Girish Bharadwaj's story is informative for those uninformed of India's social dynamics and wish to bring about a change by engaging in action-less dialogues and debates in television channels. Much of the exclusive economic growth and development is centered around urban areas and most of us in these concrete jungles, do not have enough time and energy for making a change in the bowels of India. But that hasn't stopped few humble folks from exploring ideas and gathering a core of dedicated people around their passion. Isn't that a miracle ?

Keep reading and remain connected.

(Note: Incase any reader is interested to interact with Girish and wish to learn more about his work, do drop me an email, (its there on my profile) to collect the contact and email details. Doing this to avoid misuse of the contact number and email account with unwanted calls and spam mails.)

'Super 30' rocks again in IIT JEE'2007

Yesterday, the results of the coveted and one of the most challenging entrance tests, IIT Joint Entrance Examination' 2007 were declared. This year, 2,43,029 candidates wrote the entrance test, out of which 7,200 candidates are eligible to seek admission to 5537 seats in IITs at Mumbai, Delhi, Guwahati, Kanpur, Kharagpur, Chennai and Roorkee and the other two institutions in Varanasi and Dhanbad. This year 54,025 girls wrote the entrance test and 587 of them have qualified.

The results of this pattern come every year, but the results are something, which offer complete satisfaction having made to one of the best schools in the world. Most of the selected students come from middle-class or upper middle-class backgrounds and prepare for the exams through private coaching and correspondence course material from groups like Brilliant Tutorials, FIITJEE, etc. Cost factor being a prime concern and access to good study material another important factor to consider, students from rural or semi-urban are generally not able to match with those students from towns and cities. This point assumes that most of the students who crack the IIT JEE undergo some sort of training or mentorship other than the regular course material used at +2 level. To put a halt to the practice of more than two attempts to make into the IIT's, thus indirectly discouraging the mushrooming of private tuition schools, IIT examination board has introduced the new rule that allows an aspirant a maximum of two attempts to take this test.

Whatever may be the case, in the past few years, a small group of desperately poor, talented students have made it into the IITs. This year also 'Super 30', a grooming school located in Patna, the capital of Bihar, one of India's least developed states in India will be sending 28 bright chaps to the IITs and the remaining two, both Dalits are hopeful of sailing through once the results of SC/ST aspirants are out.

What makes 'Super 30' special is this. Anand Kumar, a local mathematician, and Abhayanand, Patna's Deputy Director General of Police and a lover of physics, founded the school in 2003 to help promising locals get ahead in the caste-based society. The name of the group is 'Super 30' as both Anand and Abhay scour Bihar's least privileged communities for 30 bright students to coach them for the exam, providing free lessons and housing. The results from this intelligent group speak it all. 18 of them cracked the test in 2003. In 2004, 22 of the 30 came out with flying colors. The number of successful candidates increased to 26 in 2005 and 28 in 2006.

The 'Super 30' heroes this year include Pranav Prince whose mother works as a tailor to support the family. There are also a nurse's son and an FCI godown watchman's son. "Hard work + 'josh' = success," formulated Abhishek Kumar, another 'Super 30' star who is ranked 327th in the IIT-JEE this year.

Reading this news, it reminded me of one of my batch mates, Sudhanshu from my graduation school days. Sudhanshu hailed from a small town in Bihar. He was called 'Pondy' in my batch, a sort of introvert who in spite of a tight schedule and strict regime with the course program was often lost in his world, engrossed in solving problems in Mathematics and working out puzzles most of the time. Four years back when we left campus, he had a high paying job in a multi-national firm. But the sophistication, worldliness and chamaak dhamaak of corporate world, couldn't hold back his true inherent aptitude for long. He ditched his job within one year and took to teaching Mathematics and helping students to crack IIT.

Dost, I am proud of you.

Also why I felt good when I read this news is because of the fact that, today education is a trump card for those from the lower [both in terms of economy and information] strata of the society to march with the new world, kaadam se kaadam milake. Moreso results like these spread the awareness among the rural populace that even they can make a mark. To give an example, Santosh Kumar, was one of the products from the 2006 batch of 'Super 30', and his story is classic example of never-give-up and dream for the best in the world and work towards it. Santosh is from Dumari, a village in the Bihata district, about 22 miles from Patna. Nearly all in the village of 3,000 residents scratch out a meagre living as farmers. Santosh after attending the village school used to sell vegetables the family cultivated in a nearby market town.

Santosh saw that "education was the only way out of poverty," he says. At first, he planned to study so he could become an officer in the Indian civil service. After high school, he enrolled in the Patna College of Commerce, and then he heard about the IITs and the Super 30. "I went straightaway to Anand Kumar and told him: 'I dream of IIT, but I have no money.' He gave me his test, and I came second in the class. [He] let me into his Super 30 -- free," Santosh recalls.

In the IIT JEE'2006, his efforts paid off, when he won a coveted seat at IIT Kharagpur. He ranked 3,537 out of the 5,000 students chosen.

Early this year, Norika Fujiwara, a former Japanese beauty queen and actress, made a documentary film on 'Super 30' for its innovative and successful attempt to send poor children to India's top Engineering Colleges.

Also, this post was of special interest to me, as someone in my own family had a more low-toned version of what few chaps had undergone as mentioned above. Close to 26, years ago my father's younger brother had topped in his Bachelor's Degree at IIT Kharagpur and was awarded the Gold Medal in Dept of Electrical Engineering. He had got scholarships to make to the top schools in the US for his Masters Program, but the family didn’t have enough funds to sponsor his air-tickets then. Somehow the finance part was taken care through loans. My uncle later completed his Masters and then his Ph.d and today heads and operates one the best Electrical Engineering Company with offices at various locations in the US and in Canada.

As in the words of Bubli the movie in "Bunty Aur Babli",
chote chote sheroin se
khaali boore dopehroin se
hum to jhola uthake chale

Keep reading and remain connected.

Window With a View.

Yesterday, late evening I had been to NIMHANS to meet a person for a casual visit. This gentleman, Dr.N is one of my father’s friends, someone with whom my father had spent his school days and that relationship continues to this day. Today Dr.N heads the Dept of Psychiatry in this esteemed and reputed hospital. I often visit him, as he calls me to his place to have food and just spend some time. Dr.N, his wife and children are more or less part of my family. Staying away, I visit him on and off to get the feel of home and what I like the most about the family is the simplicity and meaningful deeper relationship.

As I entered the NIMHANS campus and was going towards the doctors’ quarters, it suddenly started raining, the rain drops falling with force and it actually hit hard. To avoid the rain, I took shelter in a newly constructed building around which a new hospital block is being built. There I saw this family, a father, a mother and two kids. One of the kids was around seven years old [Raju] and this cute sweetheart [Laxmi]in the pic is barely less than a year old. The mound of sand, with a blanket on top was the kid’s playground. Since it was raining now, the mother of the baby, immediately got a bed sheet stitched out of the cement bags and placed it over the blanket. The child was playing with an old plastic tiffin box. She was blushing, smiling, and completely carefree lost in her own world, only to constringe herself when she heard a sudden holloa of thunder.

To my understanding, although the material deprivation experienced by this child is often impossible to precisely quantify, it was apparent that she was using this open environment to sustain normal behavioral development and life. She may be completely oblivious of this fact but I feel she had learnt it that life is not going to be easy for her in future and she has to struggle. Her chubby legs, smeared with mud, adorned with skintight ankle bracelets were making small movements, as she was not able to walk. She was crawling.

It continued to rain for another half an hour and I was basking in this simple umbrella of togetherness. The wife of the laborer made tea and all three of us sipped from the broken cups. The kids took sips, from the parent's cups. I was pretty comfortable in their company, and the feeling of consciousness and discomfort disappeared from the laborer’s wife face, the moment I said, 'Chai badiya hai'. The family though hailing from North Karnataka, had picked up few words in Hindi and so our communication channel was not stymied.

Later when the rain subsided a bit, I took the two kids to a small shop within the NIMHANS campus and got chocolates for both of them. The elder one started munching the chocolate as soon as he got it. The other cute one was struggling to peel off the cover. But once she had the chocolate in her hand, it was she and the saliva mixed with chocolate streaming out of her mouth. Intermittently she was kissing me on my cheek. Awesome: rain, tea and now this cute baby.

Before leaving them and rushing towards the campus colony, I thanked the parents and requested them to take care of these two gentle souls. But I have a small confession to make, while I was proceeding towards doctor uncle's house, a question came to my mind. Another three months after the first rains, once the construction at the site gets over, this family would move on, and so also the children wedged in between struggling life and survival. The way ahead is not easy, predictable or certain but then life goes on. Also a question kept pinging in my mind, did I do the right thing by offering the kids chocolates. Well for me, it was simple joy and few moments of ethereal bliss ness. But what if the kids ask the parents, the same stuff the next day, what are they going to do?

On one side are materialism, modern life and commerce, accelerating at a breakneck speed. Plenitude of fortune, accumulation of gigantic power, and intense self-pursuits defines life for one segment of the society. On the other side is a world that is still struggling and manages to lead a life with dignity in a small bed sheet spread on a hillock of concrete.

Keep reading and remain connected.

[ The pic in the post is shot using my mobile camera. ]

Keeping One’s Cool: "Nimbu Pani"

Last week, I had been to the hinterland in South India where during summer temperature reach as high as 45 degrees. There was a function in the early hours of the day, but as the noon approached, everything succumbed before the blazing rage of the summer god and there were hardly any people on the streets. Since the place was a small mid-town, I never found many people going around in A/C cars but found few on two wheelers like scooters, bikes and few on tractors with most of their heads wrapped in a sheet of white cloth or towel, used as a cap. The outdoor activities, as I realized during these sweltering hours are more out of compulsion rather than enthusiasm.


I just walked down the street and found a group of people under the shade of a small tree, withered by the strong sunstroke. It's high summer and as is expected, everyone wanted some thirst quenching drink for coolness and turn up the heat mixing up a few refreshing drinks. This being a simple place, I never meant the refreshing drinks to be Mojito, Daiquiri, Lorina, Pina Colada, Pschitt [there is an interesting story on this] and few others with alluring hues, exotic names and certain light deliciousness, which I have tried before. Here as the mercury soared, the people had gathered to satiate their dehydrated souls with humble, homemade "Nimbu Pani". The way it was made was simple as is followed in most Indian homes with a small variation as one crosses different parts of India.

Preparation here is for one glass, as I saw it there.
1. Cut the lemon in halves center wise, remove the seeds and squeeze out the juice. Again those of you feel its not hygienic, please note that a wooden crusher was used to extract the juice. No use of hands at all.
2. To this juice was added a tablespoon of syrup. This is called "Nanari" extracted from the herbal roots, crushed and preserved. [I got this information, conversing with the shop owner with my limited knowledge of Telugu language toasted with bits and pieces of Hindi and English.]
3. Now add water, which may be ice-cold water or soda water as per the orderer’s selection.
4. Sugar or salt is added as per the orderer’s choice, or it may be a combination of both.
5. Stir the contents and it is served chilled.

Note that the addition of "Nanari" syrup was not mandatory and again it depends on the orderer’s preference. Also depending on choice, pepper and an assorted powder is mixed for added tang.

End result is simply awesome. Other than providing a lip smacking luscious taste, the economics part of it, also beats the heat wave of price rise in Indian cities hands down. The rates are something that one will agape with wonder compared to those in big Indian cities. The simple ice-water lemonade was priced at Rs.3 per glass and the soda watered one was priced at Rs.4 per glass.

The makeshift shop is a self-sustained entity. If you notice, the picture, there is cylinder on the left hand side. This is a cylinder of carbon dioxide, wired meticulously to the internal conversion unit on the bottom side of the stall and is used to prepare carbonated water, also known as soda water. There are four filling taps, the two on the either extremes with a black tapering mouth supply soda water and the central ones supply normal ice-cold water. New age colas have dominated the markets and TV screens with our favorite superstars advocating what they certainly don’t practice. But in this small town, I found that even though the shop owner had a good stock of Limca, Thumps Up, Sprite, etc very few consumers [sample space of 20 people, whom I say] ordered for those aerated drinks. Was it the high rates or their general distinct preference for local drink, that dictated their decision, I am really not aware of this.

But one point is clear.

The supermarket culture is steadily becoming a predominant part of our life, especially in the cities. People rush to stores and get cartful of aerated drinks for summer these days, with most of the brands offering 20% extra for the same existing price, 'Buy-1-Get-1-Free' bottle sales and aisles devoted to cool drinks of imports grade.

"If I serve nimbu-pani at my child's birthday party, children ask, ‘Where's the Pepsi, Aunty?' It's as if they don't recognise homemade nimbu-pani any more. And certainly not at a party!"

Does this mean that, our good old simple "Nimbu Pani" is dying a slow death ?

Keep reading and remain connected.

A Visit to the Holy Beacon - ISKCON, Bangalore

The introduction of intra-city air-conditioned Volvo buses across various routes in Bangalore covering all vantage points is one the first effort of its kind in the country. This has been running for close to one year or so in the city but I never got an opportunity to use this facility. The coverage of a long distance to reach ISKCON temple, which is located in Rajajinagar, a locality pretty far off from my residential complex offered me this chance, few days back.

I was impressed by the bus facility and these are exactly similar to the ones that I have used in Europe. Even the conductor uses an electronic ticketing gadget, a welcome change from the regular hand signed, tickets placed in the pockets of a tattered leather bag. The only disappointing and unsatisfying feature to my notice was the cost of the ticket, which is pretty high for the regular commuters [i.e. vendors, construction site workers, maids, even humble students as the monthly/daily passes are not valid in these buses.]. The bus was effectively vacant for most part of the journey and by the time we reached the destination it was just my friend and myself. Does this really serve the purpose, as the public transport, be it simple regular buses or the A/C buses should logically cater to regular commuters. But on the contrary these A/C buses just cater to a certain segment of the society, those who can afford. This can serve as an example of the tunnel effect, which was discussed elaborately by Amartya Sen, in the recently concluded NASSCOM meet at Mumbai.


Digression again, back to the topic then, so let me get back to my ISKCON impressions. It was a unique experience for me. A noteworthy place to visit in Bangalore. The ISKCON [International Society for Krishna Consciousness] temple dedicated to Lord Krishna is situated on the top of a small hillock.

We had to climb several steps to reach the sanctorum but that was not very difficult. First of all, we went up few steps to reach a place where we deposited our footwear and camera [no photography is allowed inside the temple] in the safe custody of the temple authorities. As per Hindu traditions and customs, any form of footwear has to be strictly removed before one enters the temple premises. The temple is like an small amusement park in terms of the maintenance and the peripheral physical infrastruture, and I sincerely apologize if that sounds sacrilegious. Before climbing the marble stairs to the entrance, the visitors and devotees are called for to wash their feet at a washing station. After that starts a human chain meandering through metal railings, similar to those that one would find at an amusement park or while entering through the gates of any open-air concert with a metal detector gate for security check and inspection.

Even if it was a normal day sans any fesitivities, still there was a pretty big crowd. Another interesting thing to notice, are the numerous placards warning of pickpockets. The massive crowd of visitors had no problem pushing up close against us, whether it was intentional or un-intentional, I am not aware of that. But it was not the body-to-body kind of close that you find in a typical crowded bus in India. All the while, a bell tolled somewhere ahead in the line and a recording droned on:
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare Hare....

There were people of all shades, all age groups and in different moods and there are few foreigners in the crowd too as we climbed through 108 marble steps. So the queue wasn't really for anything in particular and it wound its way through a series of shrines. If I remember it correctly, first there was Lord Narasimha's temple and then Lord Venkateswara's temple which finally ended in an open courtyard from where the entire city's skyline looked splendiferous. The main temple, is large and impressive and few pillars/structures are bedecked with gold. This is the Krishna temple and has a huge hall where devotees and visitors, sit in peace after offering their prayers.


While Ju was sitting here, I walked to an information counter and started gathering information on Akshaya Patra Project about which I had heard and read lots in newspaper and magazine. Akshaya Patra Project is the mid-day meal scheme, where school children in government-run schools are given free lunches in Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Orissa. The reason and rational behind this program is that food could lure children to attend school. Only when a child’s stomach is satisfied, s/he would show some postive inclination for studies in schools in rural or semi-urban areas.

"Akshaya Patra" means the container that never gets empty. It is the container Lord Krishna gave to Draupadi, before the Pandavas started their journey into the forest. The Lord wanted his cousins to eat well and never struggle for food, which finds a parallel in ISKCON's scheme. The entire program is managed by some really smart, experienced and educated people who hail from some of the top engineering schools in India like IIT Chennai, REC Warangal, REC Nagpur, IISc Bangalore, etc. Few among them have even worked in business houses both in India and the US, before dedicating themselves to this altruistic activity. I did a simple calculation to realise that an amount close to 30-32 Lakhs Rupees is spent each day for this Akshaya Patra Project across the various centers in India. Assume that each meal costs around Rs. 6 and there are close to 5,00,000+ children fed daily by this selfless initiative and so this amounts to figure stated above. On enquiry, I learnt that the funding for this comes from software/tech companies, philanthropists, business houses, voluntary donations, and also from the various centers of ISKCON spread across the globe.

This main temple winds its way through a bookstore before culminating in a food stall. There are a number of counters where you can buy books, trinkets, religious icons, posters, postcards, sweets, fruits, savory food, jewelry, incense sticks, dresses, saris, t-shirts, etc. There is also an amphitheatre, equipped with the latest state of the art by BOSE and DOLBY Digital, but unfortunately there were no shows the day, we were there because of some repair and maintainence work. The food stall is a center of attraction and offers a wide variety of mouth watery eatables such as jalebis, samosas, dhokla, chaat, dahi vaada, etc. At few vantage points there are donation counters where one can donate money (credit and debit cards are accepted, although this sign was posted above a drop-box).


The food court goes over a pedestrain footbridge back to the parking lot where a man with a stack of dried banyan leaves shaped like bowls hands each one a leaf, and another man serves spoonful of hot yellow sticky rice pudding called prasadam into it. It's an offering, and one should eat it with good spirit and appreciation sitting on the limestone benches that borders a pool of placid water there. Birds chirping chee chee and a cacophony of sounds provide the natural music at this sunset hour.

Was it fear of God, spirituality, or just an invitation to see a new place that drew me to this place, ISKCON. Whatever may be the reason, it gave me an inexplicable confidence that one can pass thorough the vicissitudesof human life in this world without any fear and falterings. I recked little of time during this gratifying experience. I don’t know how I can satifactorily explain the mystery of serenity and divine within-ness of this place, with its independence of any temporal sense. By this time it was twilight, and somewhere in the recesses of my mind, I was aware that in the world below, nights come with suprising quickness of traffic jams, yet I felt no concern about that matter.

I stood there and took some pictures from outside the temple premises. Then within a few minutes Ju and I returned to the humdrum of daily life.

We got stuck in a traffic imbroglio and it was life back on normal turf again.

Keep reading and remain conneted.

Thinking Inside 3x5

I have been following a blog by Jessica for a while. Its a coooooooooooool blog and she uses this canvas to think a little more relationally without resorting to doing actual mathematics.

Jessica's way of conceptualising Venn Diagrams, X-Y graph, solving linear equations,
and understanding polygons is so very pragmatic and humourous.

Her little blog is called Indexed [something that I use day-in day-out] and she has created her 'salmagundi' of her ideas in 3x5 inches.

Smart, Simple and Succinct. Smarty Jessica, shine on.

Keep reading and remain connected.

Exactly what you tell it to?

The entire last week was a bit hectic with a tight schedule in my work hours, which generally spills beyond normal work hours, if you wish you can even brand me a poor time planner of my activities. I have no issues at all but as they say, "The wearer of the shoe knows best where the shoe bites the most" (or something similar to this, that is not very important as long as you get the point). I knew things would turn out that way, but that’s Ok for me as long as the people I work with and deal with don’t have an attitude. Also I have worked with some smart people, who have so much to offer when it comes to learning both here and in foreign lands. Its like learning becomes a routine affair and it happened without me making a conscious attempt. For me age doesn’t matter as long as there is steady exchange of views and ideas with the person I am dealing with. But I guess, this population is very rare and most end up having truckloads of ego and superiority complex.

I just don’t understand WHY? Now, I don’t personally like meetings. They are affairs, which people higher up in the corporate like to do for long hours. However, what I have seen is that no real work gets done at meetings. What happens at the most is some amount of planning but nothing concrete ever comes out. This is not something new but has been there since the times of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table.

However, that is not the moot point. Without exception, there are few people who have climbed the ranks within an organization based on seniority (not skills in a particular domain). In the end these people have found themselves in a position where they don’t understand the subject matters anymore but what makes them survive is glib talk. By itself, this issue can be sidelined if their management skills were sublime. I’m talking about taking control of projects, designing a new product, working proactively with the team mates and always coming with new ideas (I know these people cannot implement new ideas to the minutest details, but then your experience should germinate new thoughts), creating smart and challenging opportunities and most important motivating individuals.

But trust me, I am talking in a fools world, if you are looking for all this at one place. This is utopia and I have seen some of the best organizations in the world in my 4.5 years of work life so far but not in any place I found all these parameters in place. Fine, I have no comments but then why can’t we achieve that excellence and set the bars to those limits. My funda is only when I set something un-achievable, can I achieve something and that’s what gives me kick to strive for better and more. In the real world, managers will without exception create hassles, slow things down, and ask one to work on an architecture without being clear of what technology they are taking about or may be prepare tons of business logic and intelligent reports. But why? Because they have to validate their presence, as I like to call it. If they wouldn’t bug you with all kinds of questions [mind you most of them are irrelevant to the context] and demand you to report to them about every little detail, the hierarchical level above them would find out that they’re irrelevant in the organization. And egomaniacal as they are, they obviously will never allow for that to happen. At some point of time, they need to show it somewhere, so make someone else "bakra". Bacchu grow up, act smart and not like school kids.

If you think you’re then stuck in this situation, don’t worry. Have you ever wondered why this happens? 99% of all managers will have a direct boss above them and they are sort of middlemen between the top boss and the team below. So in order to show his/her efficiency [no, no its like bahar se efficiency and andhar se inefficiency], this person always wants to impress his/her boss. Often with activities, which are not, possible and attainable in a particular time frame even if one cracks the underlying algorithms on a rapid-fire mode. If that’s the case department managers can be ignored, they can be made extraneous. Just stop following the standard ranks of the organization, and go straight for the top. In most instances, the top management will appreciate to be involved more directly and efficiently, and you will automatically undermine the position of your idiot department manager.

Problem solved, everybody happy. Ah well, if the strategy has proven itself, why not apply it again. Simple, effective, and also a lot of fun.

Hmm, enough of gyan but then I was in some different state of mind for the last few days and this blog window, became my canvas to articulate my thoughts. Now leave all this lets get back to some good fun I had the last Sunday over a late night dinner. I was unluckily to be at work on a weekend but then realized that we had to bid farewell to SUMO, one of my teammates, a pretty senior guy but fun to work with. Since SUMO is moving to Florida for good, so planned immediately, got a gift from Shoppers Shop [thanks to AJ, HadeBoss for taking the role driver for a change, a welcome deviation from his long hours at work digging through the code.] and invited him and his wife for dinner at Magnolia, a Chinese restaurant that is hop-skip-jump from the place where I stay.

The late evening get together was entertaining and the food was good too. Very next to the table where we were seated was a small family with their only kid who would be barely 4 years old, having a good time with the food as well as the relaxed atmosphere. I liked the cute kid sitting next to me and popping her head intermittently while having her food. She was talking to her mama what all she learnt at school the entire last week, was teaching her Mama how to differentiate between a spoon and a fork. The most interesting part in the entire conversation was when she said, "Mama, we will take noodles with the same fork and I will feed you sitting in your lap and I will eat at the same time". She was trying to explain her Mama about a new concept and word that she had learnt in her play school, the word "Sharing".

I was so impressed with this, when I thought this kid is so much better than the junta who talk shed loads only, chucking bombastic jargon often. This kid learnt something, understood it and was applying it in her real life in the most practical way. That’s knowledge.

Life is all about perspectives and I am certainly not clear about the first group called the managers but I am definitely very sure about that kid for her crystal clear approach in understanding and application.

Keep reading and remain connected.