Longing among the clouds

It was late morning as the train began its descent into the ghats.

Rain clouds slowly enveloped peaks in the far distance casting a dark shadow over the valley beneath as they slowed down. Clinging on like lovers who have waited far too long.

Raindrops splashed against the window blurring the scene as we picked up speed. Flashes of lightening in the hills beyond and the thunder rolled. A Lovers fight - like we do so often.

Wisps of clouds invaded the compartment. The cold wetness invading everything it touched. The cardboard cup filled with luke warm coffee in front of me was not up to the task. I need you to envelope me in your arms, just like the clouds do the hills. I need you here in the seat next to me as the train climbs higher into the ghats, into the dark foreboding rain clouds.

The Customer WOW! Factor

Just saw this video and from a customer WOW! factor, just look at the change in expressions on the people in the store when the dancers come in! It goes rapidly from "wtf!" to "lol!" to "wow!"

Guess how many of those customers are going to go home to wherever and tell whomever they know and how many of those 'whomevers' are going to drop in. Amazing stuff.

[H/t] Neha.

Angels and Demons and Peach Ice Tea

I finally got around to seeing Angels and Demons a couple of days back. Hectic travel and much back log of work had kept me away from theatres for some time now, but P2 wasn't having any more of my excuses. 

The first thing that struck me was how little of the original book I remembered. I had read all the Dan Brown creations in reverse order (like 99% of the population) and then had liked Angels and Demons the best. This was sometime in 2005 and I was sad that I had been to Rome before reading the novel or it would have been a different experience all together. 

Nevertheless, I enjoyed the movie. P2 switched off sometime after the scientist at CERN loses his eyeball (yeah she is the queasy kind) and to calm her nerves she had a chilled peach ice tea which only served to make matters worse. 

The movie is decent, it might be better if you read the book first. And its more fun if you go to the super late shows like we did. 

And while I was driving back on empty roads close to 1am, I was happily giving P2 'gyan' about how the church had suppressed scientists and how the scenes where everybody rushes from one point to the other was realistic considering how congested the Vatican really was (I was there on Christmas eve) and P2 suddenly turns and says - "there is just one thing I didn't understand in the movie"

I am ready to give her one of my deep insights into the movie and the history behind it all

"Why didn't they use scooters to rush around instead of that car?" continued P2 in the most sincere tone which only she can have.

The facts and presenting them

The airlines have a new way of telling their customers that they are sorry you are screwed - the flight is late, and its late because the incoming aircraft is delayed.

In the world of customer service not giving a reason is bad, but giving a bad reason that basically means "don't bug me, there's nothing we can do" is not far behind.

I am stuck in the airport, my friend waiting for me at my destination is stuck, its late, I left home hours ago, I am hungry

I needed to vent, an these indifferent announcements aren't helping and I have GPRS on my phone, so ....

Archie hedges his position

The ad-infinitum love triangle apparently seems to have come to an end. Archie has decided to marry Veronica! While it's not clear if she accepts but I guess when the publisher decides to end the classic conundrum in favor of the rich belle, its just a confirmation of the recessionary markets in the real world. Even good ol' Riverdale can't stay unaffected.

Apparently the story (in the upcoming issue) is that Archie will propose to Veronica after they graduate and are going to hit the job market. And considering Archie's grades in school, in today's job market scenario it makes perfect sense to hedge no ? 

Sigh!

Time Out: The MBA's are so loved :)

(Click on image to expand)

Now this would explain all the weird body pain I have been having off late! 

Image Source: www.dilbert.com | (c) Scott Adams | URL: http://darkgate.net/comic/images/dilbert/1242804011.gif

grafikpun's design among top 100 in the world!

grafikpun's work on the Nicholas Piramal brand redesign has been adjudged among the top 100 re-brand designs in the world! 

More about the actual work on this link

http://www.rebrand.com/2009-distinction-piramal-enterprises

And the write up on the work is on this link

http://www.edenspiekermann.com/en/news/eureka-moment-among-2009-rebrand-100-global-award-winners

grafikpun is the goddess of design stuff, and extremely professional. So unlike me, if you want great design work to be done and are not just stuck with a hazy idea on what you might want to have - work with her! 

Be warned - She's brilliant and extremely intolerant of fools. (I speak from experience)

Dataquest and IndianWeb2 rate 'kwench among top 20 Indian Web 2.0 sites

We are speechless!

http://infotech.indiatimes.com/quickiearticleshow/4530503.cms

And very happy!

Hattip: Vivek! You know why :)

"Kiss my Hot Lips"

Cable invaded my home in '92, exactly a week before I was to appear for my tenth board examinations. The first music video I saw was "Remember the time" in glorious clarity and the first TV series I fell in love with was M*A*S*H. More than a decade later, I still am.

And the timing on Star Plus (those days World hadn't started, and Plus hadn't degenerated into what it is today) was just perfect. The episodes finished just before mom returned from office, and so I could, even on exam days have my days fill of "Hawkeye" Pierce, McIntyre and of course "Hot Lips" Houlihan. I was in my teens and hormones were raging.

 

Now, thanks to a very generous wormwood, I have a huge collection of VCD's of the past seasons and they serve to fill up my time when nothing seems to really going right and I need to see something really funny and cynical - like today afternoon for example. 

The thing I like about (most) of the episodes is how each one of them holds up on just the story line - there is no gory killing or rampant shooting to act as fillers - just plain jokes on human nature and the sheer stupidity of war. 

And now having seen way too much crap that I don't really care to see, I am also amazed at the level of tolerance the 'establishment' had against pot shots like these. Not that it did help in anyway, but still. I think the world has become more intolerant, not just of each other - but of humour in general. 

Politically correct statements are expected all the time from everyone - sort of takes the fun out of everything. I grew up with on stuff like M*A*S*H and MAD mag. These two iconic creations went out of their way to poke fun at everybody and everything, which maybe explains why I turned out like this. 

I wistfully turned off the telly - Maybe I will now do some politically incorrect creative stuff to compensate for a lack lustre world - what say ? :)

Alootechie.com on 'kwench

Alootechie has written a piece about us. The text is reproduced here in full. 

Kwench.in enables companies to offer online library service to their employees

08 May, 2009

by Satrajit Sen 

Mumbai-based Kwench Library Solutions has launched Kwench.in, an online library solutions provider that enables companies to provide their employees access to books sourced from various distributors in India. The website allows users to order, track and provide inputs and recommend books. Users can also form communities of interest and connect with like-minded people. 

“We work with companies to provide library solutions. This ranges from simply providing access to books, to consulting on setting up an integrated learning platform using their existing infrastructure in conjunction with ours,” Prashant John, co-founder, Kwench, has told AlooTechie. 

“Corporates would benefit by using our service as there is no capex (capital expenditure), no opex (operating expenditure) and no admin (administrative) overheads needed from their side. For the employees it’s a convenient means to order books covering a vast array of topics both professional and personal,” added John. 

Kwench claims to have attracted more than 20 companies, including Tata AIG, McKinsey, WNS Global Services, Yes Bank and Wipro, as its clients, since its launch in June 2008. Currently, Kwench operates in three Indian cities namely Mumbai, Pune and Delhi-NCR. Recently, Kwench received an undisclosed amount of funding from Indian Angel Network. 

According to the company, the term Kwench is a play on the English word Quench derived from its mission to quench the thirst for knowledge. The spelling for the company name is the way the pronunciation of the word Quench is depicted in the English dictionary. The forward slashes in the logo emphasize the forward looking nature of the enterprise.

Phantom Rings

It's a blistering summer afternoon. The curtains sway in the hot wind and there is that uneasy afternoon calm. I have been on the phone all day answering calls and now it lies listlessly in a corner of the room. 

I am lost in thought over some silly analysis that isn't getting anywhere. 

Thought I heard the phone ring. The screen seems to be switching off, as if it had come alive for a minute. But there is nothing there. No missed calls, no messages, nothing.

Was it my mind playing tricks, or was it you? 

Did you call?  huh? Did you?

Sometimes ....

You browse ...

You stroll over to the other shelves ....

You read the blurbs, you read what NY times has to say ...

Nothing seems to excite you. 

Then out of the corner of your eye, you spot it - stuck in the wrong section... 

You fall in love instantly! Head over heels! - with no hope of recovery.

Sometimes, you don't choose the book, the book chooses you. Thats just the way it is!

Photoessay: Juhu Beach

My first attempt at anything of this sort. It wasn't planned, but then I thought I would try my hand at a photo essay.

Not really much of an essay though, more like a musing and then it ends before really getting anywhere- but I really enjoyed making it and that's what counts, right ? I couldn't figure out a way to get the high-res versions onto the blog, directly or via a link to the pdf version I created. In case you would like to see it in the original format drop me a mail or put your mail ID in the comments and I will send it over.

"I have been to the beach here a couple of times before, and I love it more each time I go there. It is quintessential Mumbai in action. Teeming masses, finding a way to get a piece of the sea.  Couples snatching a rare moment of intimacy in this crowded metropolis.Hawkers try to sell you  all kinds of stuff, families enjoying a breath of fresh air. Kids and adults squealing in delight as the waves rush up to wet their feet. It’s a place where Mumbai seems to come to forget itself. to take a deep breath of fresh air and unwind for a minute"

Corn cobs grilled over a charcoal flame is the one “must have” The ‘bhutta’ is served with spicy masala powder and lemon juice spread liberally over it. You grab one of these, and walk down the beach with your jeans rolled up to the knees, waves lapping at your ankles, the laughter of children ringing in your ears – nirvana!

A man displays his collection of colorful charkhi’s hoping to entice the little ones. There are all kinds of little gizmos on sale all across the beach. Airplanes made of paper that are flown like kites, balloons, even soap bubble blowers. The ability of these hawkers to identify potential clients would put any hard core marketer to shame.

The little ones get a chance to drive their own cars and bikes. Bumper to Bumper of course! – there is no other way to drive in this crazy city.

A device straight out of a Science Fiction Thriller with pulsating lights and all kinds of weird tubes. I was enthralled by it and stood around for a while fascinated and strangely drawn to it. That it turned out to be a Weighing Machine that said your weight out rather loudly, didn’t reduce the charm one bit.

Absentee Voting rights

I think the time for this has come.

http://voterswithoutborders.org/

Full support!

On being an entrepreneur (again)

Lil baby 'kwench is now taking firm steps towards growth. Family, friends and a few others who know me from way back have been a bit surprised at the turn of events over the last year or so. I was a die-hard proponent of not doing 'business' partly because of traumatic experiences in the past and also because of my extreme impatience with bureaucracy. 

Add to that, the fact that I am 'fluid' most of the time in my thought process and generally have been lucky to have people around, who kept bringing me back to the tasks on hand every time I went all over on flights of fantasy. "Grounded" wasn't a term associated with me.

So, when post my stint at IIM, I decided to take the plunge - understandably quite a few eyebrows were raised and the inevitable question posed - Are you sure?

I thought a lot about it and tried very hard to figure out why. I knew a major reason was the excellent team that got together but there was something else. Finally poet extraordinaire Khalil Gibran came to my rescue - again (He helped me out in winning a few hearts in the teen years ;). His wonderful poem 'On Children' is the best explanation of why I would do something I swore to never do. 

On Children

Kahlil Gibran

Your children are not your children.

They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.

They come through you but not from you,

And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts, 

For they have their own thoughts.

You may house their bodies but not their souls,

For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, 

which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.

You may strive to be like them, 

but seek not to make them like you.

For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children

as living arrows are sent forth.

The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, 

and He bends you with His might 

that His arrows may go swift and far.

Let our bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;

For even as He loves the arrow that flies, 

so He loves also the bow that is stable.

Like children, your venture tends to consume you. You may house their day to day workings, but its soul, the sheer concept and the passion is something much larger. And if you get it right, like all successful companies, it will outgrow you and oulast you. And a true entrepreneur like a good parent, knows when its time to let go and let his baby be what its destined to be.

My first entrepreneurial venture circa 8th grade was a lending library in my living room, getting friends and neighbours to borrow my comics for Rs 2 a pop.  There was a lot of passion and quite a bit of excitement around it. It lasted for three weeks of my summer vacations, making my home quite a public domain. Kids I hadn't ever seen, walked through the door and plonked on the sofa - sampling what was on offer before handing over the 'largish' coins or crumpled notes. And the end of it all, I lost seven comics that never got returned, and still owe mom about Rs 50 in rentals for the corner where I set up the library (assuming she doesn't impose penalties on late payment). 

It took more than two decades and an MBA to start a variant of that venture. But this time around, we pay the rents. The "child" was always there, it was just a matter of time. Or maybe as they say in college, 'keeda tha yaar, kya karen?' 

Press Release by IAN

Here is a link to the press release on IAN's investment in /'kwench/.

INDIAN ANGEL NETWORK ANNOUNCES INVESTMENT IN KWENCH [pdf document]

Where is W?

Stuck at home on a hot Sunday afternoon, having tolerated 2.5 mind-numbing movies on TV, understandably I was a bit woozy. 

All the news sites keep playing the efforts of Barack Obama to try and fix the economy, try and fix the wars, try and fix the planet, and doing it all in perfect style. No gaffes, no quotable quotes, nothing that makes you want to throw something at him - not even rolled up socks. He is too perfect, almost boring now. 

Which brings me back to good ol' W! Now there was an entertaining man, and he seems to have all but dropped off the surface of the planet. Last year I was (along with 5.99999 billion others) wishing exactly that, but now I miss him. A google search for "where is george w bush" threw up hardly any links. One interesting one through about his 'presidential library' popped up. 

How quaint, I didn't know the man read books. But, where is he ?

Funded!

After months of negotiations, valuations, discussions, projections and lots of learning, 'kwench is now officially funded by the Indian Angel Network. 

The final signatures were put on documents in a board room at the stately offices of Bennett Coleman and Company at VT yesterday evening. It was a fitting culmination to several months of hard work on everyone's part (ours and theirs) to get in seed money for various strategic moves. Raising funding in this market has been one of the biggest challenges and lots of things have refined along the way - our approach to the biz itself has been radically altered by the high expectations set for us. 

I celebrated by going down to the Juhu beach - never been there in the 6+ effective years I stayed in the city so far. It was past 9pm when I finally got there. The crowds had thinned, and several photographers wanted me to pay for pics with P2. Neither of us was very interested and one of the more outspoken ones advised me that 'it was more fun to get photographed before getting married'. Very Brave - Luckily P2 was in a good mood, otherwise he would have been slamdunked into the sand by her (she is pretty good at that sort of thing). So finally I spent the larger part of two hours letting the waves wash up my feet while watching the planes take off overhead. The vast sea streched out into nothingness, and it was a bit like our situation. We gorged on overpriced Pulav and Pav-bhaji - but what the heck! I drew the line at the "ice-golas" though.

The 'kwench team is on the beach now, ready to take the full plunge - we had just been testing the waters till now. And the waters, while a little choppy - are very inviting. 

Rating: Vintage, going on moldy

You realise that you are on the wrong side of 30 when ...

(1) You switch on VH1 classic and think you are still in touch with whats happening in the world of rock and roll. 

(2) You find the 'poke' function in Facebook a downright stupid way of saying hello.

(3) You think 'twittering' should be left to birds

(4) Crisp Newspapers evoke fond memories

(5) Your concept of a social network is less than 100 people and you try to actually stay in touch rather than 'poking' once a year (refer point 2)

(6) When you huff and puff through a half hour on the treadmill and spend 2 minutes in shock searching for the missing "k" when the display reads 100 Calories.

(7) When processed cheese becomes a delicacy 

(8) When the kids playing cricket across the compound ask 'Uncle' to return the ball. And they are really sorry for having spilt coffee all over those dorky kurta-pyjamas you are wearing. 

(9) When your batchmates send pics of their kids 5th birthday. Its even worse when your juniors do so.

and 

(10) When your concept of relaxation is a dimly lit room, a comfortable arm chair, a glass of vodka and the stereo playing Don Williams. 

India Glistening - Redux

A take on SDM$ by Tarun Tejpal. 

Much better written that what I could ever muster. 

10 Items or less

Just saw a part of the movie by the same name and loved the game they play (Morgan Freeman and the chick whose name I didn't get). 

You have to list 10 Items or less of Keepers and Losers. i.e. The top 10 items in your life you want to keep, and the top 10 you would like to lose for ever. 

Now the catch: when you read my keepers and losers, you are auto tagged. If you are nice (and I know you are) you will respond by listing your K's and L's. Go ahead - try it, its fun.

My Keepers: 

1. Books - for where would I be without all the joy they give me.

2. The wind - I love it when it messes up my hair. Especially on a cold rainy day. 

3. Music - Any kind of music, especially Country and anything by Springsteen.

4. Friends - They fight, they laugh, they cry, they drive me up the wall and down again. 

5. Jeans - I hope to be buried in a comfortable pair - don't know how the after life is

6. Mountains - I like to sit near the ledges and be reminded of how small I am

7. The old mariners compass - it doesn't do much, just sits there. But then so do I

8. Blue - love the color! Wish there was much more of it.

9. A ranch where all I see is the rolling skies and fields of green - my fantasy 

10. Memories - the good ones since they make me smile, the bad ones since I can't get rid of them.

My Losers: 

1. Flab - No brainer, this one!

2. Fear of cold calling people - and I head marketing duh!

3. Dust - hate the way it just covers everything I own, me included. 

4. Sleep - wish I could stay awake for ever and ever

5. Arseholes who make you feel lousy - Life would be so much better with just polite nice people. This covers agressive characters, terrorists and politicians. 

6. Traffic - Imagine a world where there is no honking! Blissss.....

7. Mobile Phones - haven't seen anything more intrusive.

8. Pink - the color. I don't think much of the singer too btw.

9. Summer - especially in India. I like mangoes but they don't justify 6 months of torture. 

10. Concrete Buildings - I really don't like them. Swear! 

India Glistening

Caution: This might seem like a wet blanket post to some. The post contains abritrary theories on topics that don't concern me in the least. But in a pathetic attempt to feign familiarity with recency and pretend to see a correlation between unrelated events I shall nevertheless torture you with my post. 

Even as I write this, Slumdog Millionaire (popular texting tag: SDM$) seems to be mopping up the Oscars. The great A R Rehman has finally got "International Recognition" and "Made India Proud". But somehow I don't seem to be all excited by this achievement and not sending broadcast SMS's announcing this win, to all contacts in your phone is akin to High Treason right now. (I already had a friend nearly burst into tears and hang up on me, since I refused to share her excitement.)

STOP: In case you haven't done the mandatory task of sending the broadcast SMS, please do so now. Or risk being convicted of not loving your country enough. 

So why am I not excited? Here are the multiple wet blankets I shall now put on you. 

Wet Blanket 1: I believe its the 'Indian Economic Divide' season. Anything and everything on those lines shall get instant recognition. 

While I don't deny that such a divide exists, its a little strange that two works which are run of the mill description of this divide have shot to international fame at the same time. 'The White Tiger' won the booker prize and 'Slumdog Millionaire' swept all kinds of awards. Neither in my opinion does real justice to the heights they have been taken to. Rehman himself, is a genius! He deserves the awards he has been given (and more), but 'Jai Ho' is in no way anywhere close to decent (by Rehman standards) and I doubt if it would have gotten any attention if it had been associated with a 'non seasonal' movie. 

Wet Blanket 2: Its about the 1.2 bn people, stupid! 

Remember a time when Indian beauties won the Miss World and Universe titles. Cosmetic brands, so far the mainstay of expats and 'phoren returned' suddenly appeared by the dozen on the shelves. Indian's were made to realise that they had major skin and hair-fall problems and unless you shampooed with fruit extracts and other four-letter Chemical components (the full form of which is never made public) your hair was bound to disappear. The ladies now needed to have hair strong enough to pull out bar platforms or bear the assault of sticks in a martial arts class for some mysterious reason. 

Intrestingly once the markets were flooded with these products, Indian women simply stopped winning the paegents. One could conclude that now my country women were not as beautiful, once they started using all the cosmetics available or cynically I would say that there were executives giving hi-fives in a conference room somewhere at having 'educated' a vast untapped market on the "need to look good." 

Wet Blanket 3: We now need to save the publishing industry and the movie industry from their downturns globally don't we?

Pin striped executive in a plush leather chair - chews on his cigar and thinks "1.2 bn - lets say um! ah! 10% of these guys fork out 100 Rs to watch my movie thats 120 million Rs or nearly $60m in one go! And the going rate for the Oscars are ..... Maybe a few Oscars this time and suddenly Hollywood discovers India! - Perfect! Now I can order that Embraer jet I had defaulted on last month"

Richard Gere suddenly feels that he would happily make movies here. Err...

So are you soaking wet by now?

PS: Yes I have read 'The White Tiger'

PPS: No, I haven't seen 'The Slumdog Millionaire'

Network Externalities @ Play [sic]

Long Long time ago in a course at IIM, my team mates and me wrote a report on Apple. It was a lot of yada on the strategy of the company and as expected of all wannabe business school grads' it contained confident predictions of what the company would do as its strategy to grow. We predicted that it would follow a very internet centric strategy and create network externalities using its media products (basically itunes) and that the Mac itself would not be the driver of revenues going forward.

We got a C. This was mid 2006.

Today Apple derives most of its revenues from the network externalities created from its itunes platform. The iphone and the ipod drive revenues and the mac is a strong interlinking platform for all mac devices but has not been a major contributor in increasing revenues and in fact has been basking in the positive offshoot of increased sales in the other devices. On Jan 21, 2009, in its latest Quarterly Earnings Report the company said

Apple sold 2,524,000 Macintosh® computers during the quarter, representing nine percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter. The Company sold a record 22,727,000 iPods during the quarter, representing three percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter. Quarterly iPhone units sold were 4,363,000, representing 88 percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter

As I had reported in my 2008 wrap up post, my sis gifted me a Mac in the hope that I would finally break my torrid love affair with the black Thinkpad's (I never bought any other notebook ever!) and it looks like she is not really going to suceed.

While the Mac is ubercool - in all things media, I spend 90% of my time doing stuff that is very no-nonsense non-media. My Outlook mail client is my lifeline and I especially use it because it seamlessly integrates with my htc mobile. My daily tasks, calendar, mails all are in synch and my ipod works fine with the itunes for Windows. The rare pics that I do take with my mobile are synched back to the notebook and Picasa does rest of the magic.

So I use products from Apple (itunes,ipod), Google(Picasa, et. al.), and Microsoft(Windows, Office) - all of which work just fine together. Synching my phone takes 2-2.5 mins and is a bit of a pain since I don't have a docking station, but not really a turn off.

Now MS plans to launch a myPhone service and the rationale being

The service will automatically upload photos to the user’s My Phone site each day (the user will have some control over frequency, to help manage their data service fees). That way, users can later use their PC to edit, view or share the photos. Or they could delete lousy shots from their phone, and upload new ones from their hard drive—activities that are now possible but rarely used by most phone owners, according to the company. And since one of out of six phones are lost, stolen or damaged each year, according to the company, My Phone means photos and other content on those phones won’t be lost forever.

[Read the full article here]

Basically MS feels it has a strong grip on the work segment through its Office suite and now hopes that it can get a grip on the Fun segment (and thus the title of this post). Okay I am not a teen and so not really a big user of the camera on my phone. Then again teens tend to have Macs because it can do infinitely cooler stuff with pics that any Windows based machine can. All my pics are uploaded to my machine during synch. The web itself is not OS dependent though Google would love to change that too.

The whole logic of creating myPhone seems to be that people really don't synch their phones with their PC's often. I am sure a company with gadwadzillion $'s must have done its market reasearch, but I am extremely surprised if that is the case.

I really don't see this product making a big dent in any of the existing players' marketshare, because it really doesn't seem to do much other than try to revive Windows Live in an indirect way. And I have dropbox to store my stuff in "the cloud" and it works well too.

So did my ipod and itunes encourage me to shift to a mac - the answer is No. Does the seamless interworking of all my applications between my phone and PC make my work easier - Yes. Would I shift to this myPhone and any other service like that - No, not until it makes infintely more sense and I doubt if it ever will.

Will the myPhone strategy fly? - I think not. But then I got a C :)

Onion, Cheese, Sweat et. al.

Now I know why the awful Cheese-Onion chips are still on the market.

Apparently Men smell of cheese, Women of Onion

Now is it my fault if I find those Onion Pakoda's so irresistable? They smell like Angelina Jolie me thinks.

The inauguration

Yes, I know - its been an overkill of sorts. Everybody has talked about the Obama inauguration to death, but it was worth it. The expressions on the people who braved the bitter cold in Washington DC to see the inauguration said it all - this man is the biggest glimmer of hope the whole world is clinging on to. 

I sat through most of the process, up until the parade started and then I sort of lost interest. After flipping through commentaries on most of the leading channels I settled on BBC. And the following things struck me during the course of the telecast. 

(1) The number of times death was referred to: It was almost as if the commentators were hoping something would happen. After all mentions on assassinations and deaths, there was a long winded description by one of the commentators on how one of the previous presidents (didn't catch the name) hadn't worn his hat during his inauguration ceremony and died of pneumonia later. And after a long disconcerting pause, (almost) reluctantly adds that 'of course that isn't going to happen here today'. 

Again when Biden was sworn it, this chap was back with comments on how often vice-presidents become presidents after presidents die or resign while serving their term.

Who are these people?!

(2) The number of times Hussein was NOT referred to. Jeez! You like the guy, you expect him to save your souls - what the fuck is the hang up about telling his middle name. Even the official announcer introduced 'Barack H. Obama', the senator in charge of inaugrations only talked about Barack Obama - the Chief Justice didn't have an option I guess. Yes, he has a Hussein in his name and dear US of A - learn to live with it, like it or not!

(3) Number of times Bush's unpopularity was referred to: This day was about Obama, not about Bush. But I guess if some the reporters had it their way they would rather talk only about the negative feelings. Yes, some people booed when the (in)famous mug appeared on the screens - but that was not worth the airtime repeatedly given to it. And yes, everybody including Bush hopes that 'history will look kindly on the Bush term', but till that happens lets just forget it happened. 

(4) The choice of music was good. The poetry reading was bad. The inaugural speech itself - could have been better. 

But still, there is so much expected from this man - none of these really matter.  I for one hope he does a good job of delivering what he promised to. Maybe the hype is justified, only time will tell.

The year that was!

Its a bit late for the 'Year That was' post, but lets just say my life has changed quite a bit and it has taken this long for it to sink in. It was a year that grabbed me by my feet and turned everything I had decided on, upside down and sideways - leaving me quite fuddled by the time 2009 came rolling around. 

By the time summer of '08 happened the first of my grand moves happened. I had promised myself never to do the foolish thing of quitting a job and starting off on my own. That is exactly what I did in May. 

So there we were, bunch of us, freshly baked MBA's setting out on our own. Everybody was proud of us and we were just getting warmed up when the markets collapsed. So now there I was - bankrupt (savings? whats that?) and badly needing a root canal treatment. The pain tends to muddle logic. 

I had promised myself never ever to get married. By the end of the year I was married. And then again I had always wondered why people spend 2 whole days and waste so much money on weddings. Even if I did have to tie the knot I, it would be a sober simple affair at the Registrar's office. My marriage involved travelling across four states in a complicated process spread over two months. 

The markets tanked, the terrorists came calling, the rains didn't come, the book never happened, but lots of other things did. 

I am now in transition to a Macintosh from my Windows machine. My sister decided that the third black Thinkpad was more than enough and it was time for me to shift to a white Macbook. The transformation to uber-cool underway - though none of my Excel files work but the pictures look pretty.

My apartment is getting cleaned like it never has been in the past. The bai is none too happy at the new set of instructions from the wife overrriding my 'simbly enjoy and stay out of my way' doctrine. My business partners, quite fed up at my disorganized efforts have now issued clear DO's and DONT's. More DO's than DONT's this time round.

So, in '08 I did all that I had promised myself to never do. Yes, I still insist that I am firmly in control of my life as the new year rolls in. That bottle of vodka in the kitchen cabinet (which has a door missing) is my best friend right now. 

So there, thats the year that was. Not bad huh! 

Happy New Year all (hic)

The Tree is up!

Reached home at an ungodly hour and slept through most of the morning. 

But since then sis and me have been busy with the part we love best about Christmas - setting up the tree. 

Half way through the day we felt it wasn't quite getting there. Off we went to get more shiny thinga-magics to put up. 

And now she is up. The exposed wiring, a speciality of all township homes sort of ruins the background. But our gaze stops at the tree. 

Nice no ?

Motion redefined

I am on the road quite a bit these days. Of course, the shuttling between cities continues, but this is more about getting around in the city itself. Pune, unlike Bombay doesn't seem to be too good in the Public Transport department. And on the outskirts of the city things only get more confusing and chaotic.  

This is tuk-tuk territory. Those things that look like a cross between a pick-up truck and the standard auto. It makes a racket and shakes enough to make you feel like being in a blender. But that's the machine, the operational aspect of how to use one is quite an art. This is how it works down here in Pune.  

To flag one down:  

Unlike the standard horizontal extended arm to flag down an auto, you are expected to flail your arms for all you are worth. The more desperate you appear the better your chances that one of them will stop for you. 

Screaming abuses at one that passes you by also works at times. The driver will stop the vehicle, call you over, reply to your abuses with a flurry of his own and then ask you to get in.

Bottom line, the driver has to have the last say.

Fitting in:  

Technically this is a six seater vehicle. But usually it carries multiples of that number and this is where the fit bodies of people in the rural areas lead to optimization. There is no concept of personal space. A total stranger might just plop into your lap as the driver tries to squeeze in more. 

Bags containing anything from manure to tools are pushed in and often land on your feet. One gradually masters the art of raising the feet enough for the bags to slide underneath. You are expected to put your feet on top of the bags - this is something that I took some time to realise, and since then I have never kept my laptop bag on the floor.  

For all the cries for reserved seats for women in buses (P2 is a strong supporter of this) - rural India seems to have its own equation. Everyone - Men, Women, Children, Bags all are compressed into one indistinguishable mass as the vehicle goes around on its merry route. People magically untangle themselves to get out at stops and rush back in to reform the mass.

Getting out:  

Every time I do manage to flag one the tuk-tuks down, I am always invited to sit up front with the driver. At first I thought it was damn sweet of everyone to let me be comfortable, then I realised it had more to do with the fact that I would occupy the place of two people in the back and didn't quite fit into their compression algorithm.  

My dysfunctional Marathi is no good here. so I generally point and wheeze and flail my arms again. Mostly I get pushed off in and around the place I intended to reach. And then just before I can recover, the beast is off, belching a huge cloud into my face - so much for clean pollution free air. And all that excitement for a mere 5 Rs. Beat that!

Popular Science for FREE

The lovely people at Google have done it again! Google Books now has added magazines and they have Popular Science! (link)

Why am I getting all excited? 

(a) All boys Loooovveeee Popular Science. Its just genetic, I guess one of the molecules in the Y chromosome just makes us that way. 

(b) Boys never grow up. 

Vacations till the fateful year of '96 were spent gobbling up dog eared, half torn back issues of Popular Science in the Officers Club Library. 

Rest of my life shall be spent reading issues dating all the way back to 1870! (Yes thats right its not 1970, its 1870). Stuff dreams are made of!

From CDO to Plain Ol' Debt ?

Guess who has been rubbing their hands in glee at the collapse of the financial markets? 

VC's - thats who. The logic goes thus 

(a) Historically Wall Street and associated 'shady' narrow lanes attracted the creme'-de-la-creme' of the Math and Science grads, not to mention almost all engineering and MBA stars 

(b) Now Wall Street resembles Elm Street (from the Nightmare on Elm Street Fame)

(c) Stars used to creature comforts (BMW's, Louis Vittons, Armani's, Learjets and some more brands that I am not even aware of) will go to whichever land looks 'relatively' stable. And who wants to be on the same street as Freddie.

Sidestep Note: This was too important to not mention. Nightmare on Elm Street has a 'orrible character (Freddy) who through 14+ sequels mauls, maims and generally creates a bloody mess on this nice lovely neighbourhood called "Elm Street". Wall Street had "Freddie Mac". Nothing more needs to be said. 

Okay now back to the main feature.

(d) Start ups offer 'huge' rewards in the 'distant future' so on paper NPV calculations make them look awesome compared to a pink slip. 

(e) Stars will outperform in any field they are put in (Case in point: O J Simpson as a robber and suspect murderer, Kapil Dev as Golfer, L K Advani as novelist. Okay okay I was kidding)

(g) Smart guys can come up with better ideas. And people who can create the best spaghetti mess ever can definitely create an idea which can then be projected as a potential billion dollar project and equity offloaded to the poor sod who agrees to next round of funding who in turn searches for the next ... wait! Isn't this starting to ominously sound like how the CDO's went round in the first place?

(f) Okay if you are not able to get the point I am trying to make by now, you definitely are not the intended candidate of this message I found online encouraging the fin-types to "Leave Wall Street and Join a Startup". 

While in principle the logic looks sound, so did the logic behind CDO's (Collateralized Debt Obligations for the non investment banker types) - but we all know where that got us. 

The way I see it - the fundamental need for taking the tough road into entrepreneurship is 'wanting' to do it as against 'needing' to do it for want of a more convenient option. When the going gets tough, and believe me it does at times, guess which category of people are going to be bailing out first? I am at no point doubting their potential - all of them must be 100x times smarter than moi, and definitely know how to survive in ultra competitive environs. 

But the last few months has taught me that while brains and ideas are all fine, there are times when you just need to hunker down and live on plain hope. When the car fuel indicator is perpetually on the red mark because you cant afford to fill the tank and there are multiple reminder mails for payment of one's student loan in the inbox 'cause you cant really payup all of it without doing some real financial juggelry, hope can be a challenge. The Excel sheets showing future earnings can blur behind tears welling up in your eyes and there is nothing like a warm hug or a friends voice at the other end to take you through the day. 

Real assets vs Paper you see. (Hugs and a warm voice on a very congested line are quite real assets)

There are days when I would have gladly given all my equity to anyone who could just make me smile. (Obviously the offer stands withdrawn. The window of opportunity in these cases is fleeting and its all about being around me when I go into one of those moods) But at the end of the day you convince yourself that this was "your" choice and get on with the task on hand.

While I am sure all other much neglected domains will benefit from the super smart guys coming back into it, will they be able to stay in it long enough to make a difference is - in my humble opinion - suspect! 

But hey, no downside to trying though. And as usual VC's are first off the block!